You Can't Fight The Signal

Hello there my neglected Vox blog. How are you?

Don't be so upset that I haven't been using you much lately, I haven't been doing much of anything. I had a single goal for myself, come up with a review of "The Innocents" for one of my other blogs (don't worry you are still dear to me) by June 18 and yet here it is the 21 and all I have is a version of the review that I am completely and utterly dissatisfied with. I also have a wicked case of writers block, low caffeine headache, and I am quite sure the heat+humidity is slowly driving me insane.

Things aren't all bad though, on Tuesday "Black Snake Moan" makes it's way onto DVD. This makes me happy because I desperately wanted to see that in the theater but unfortunately in the middle of nowhere/bible belt here no theater within an hour and a half carried it.

If anyone needs me I'll be up in the balcony with Waldorf and Statler working on my cranky skills.

TV, books, movies: Who's your favorite fictional father?

Until recently I more than likely would have had trouble coming up with this one. Oh sure after a little back and forth inner dialog I would have come up with a name (Probably Peter Griffin) but then I went and watched "To Kill a Mockingbird" and frankly my opinion on fictional dads changed quite a bit. So My answer is of course Atticus Finch, I truly couldn't think of a better role model for any children.

Plus to be fair you have to admit. The name Atticus is completely awesome!

In case you are interested I did a little bit of a review of Mockingbird Right Here

I managed to edit four pages down to five and a half. I'm still not sure how the math worked on that one...

Normally I feel like I haven't written enough when I sit down to put my thoughts into word. Not tonight!

My plan was simple, watch a crappy movie that has been stuck in my head since I was 14 and then do a little write up on it. Unfortunately what ended up happening was four full pages, that isn't even counting image space. That would take up a whole lot of blog real estate. Too much in fact. So it looks like tonight was draft night and tomorrow is editing time. The problem with that is I know that when I have actual time to think on it I will want to add more. I'm good at adding, not so good with removing.

I think my main problem tonight was I got over explainy.

What's in a screen/user name? Tell us how you found yours.
Submitted by Bill.

Well my oldest screen name which I rarely use anymore was Randal.  That is an important milestone for my online life as it marks the first (but not last) time that I stole borrowed a name from writer/director/genius Kevin Smith.  Randal of course being taken from Randal Graves the character played by Jeff Anderson in all things Clerks.  I went by Randal for years until I started attending ITT Tech.  That is when I ended up moving to a new name as in my class I had a friend whose real name was in fact Randal. It was only fair that I gave it up, after all he had the name first right?

So after losing my old identity I was pretty inconsolable for a while there, seriously there may have been tears (probably not though).  So I thought about it for a while, contemplated, busted my brain, and eventually I came up with something so incredibly creative.  I went with .... my last name.  Hey I admit it, as far as last names go I got lucky and so why shouldn't I use it? 

The only drawback is, well Pierce is a cool name.  Probably too cool for me to actually pull off.  Luckily I have the law on my side.  It is my name and I get to use it no matter what!

.... what were we talking about?  I lost track.

I'm not a big car person.  But every once in a while a movie or TV show will come along that showcases a car that catches my eye.  When I was much younger that car was a 1982 Pontiac Trans Am.  A specially modified Trans Am called the “Knight Industries Two Thousand” K.I.T.T. for short.  Everyone wanted to own K.I.T.T didn't they?  Well now someone can.   

I think I'll wait until they sweeten the deal by having William Daniels always at the ready to ride shotgun and make with the witty/sarcastic banter.

For the record I would like to point out that my K.I.T.T obsession was rather short lived. I may be a geek, but I am not “that geek”.  

Also I don't believe I currently have a dream car.  Any suggestions?

When is the last time you stayed up all night?

I routinely am up until somewhere between 3 and 5 in the morning (it is 4:45 am as I am writing this).  So nothing special run or incriminating there.  My problem comes with the fact that I cannot go to sleep once it is light outside, I can barely sleep in once light has come (unless of course the room is totally shut off from all light, which mine no longer is). 

I think the most memorable up all night moment I have is from a few years ago when I was attending ITT Tech.  It was midterm time and I had a Visual Basic test the next day.  I started out by doing some last minute cramming, VB isn't really that difficult so I thought I could take it easy.  Then around bedtime I realized that I was going to have a fun insomnia night. Not fun when you have to be up between 4:45 and 5:00 am and he clock is already reading 12:00.  So I layed there in bed... awake.  1:00, 2:00, 2:30, 2:45, 2:53, ... I just couldn't get to sleep so I decided to give the books a little more attention.  Perhaps I could bore myself to sleep.  No go, I started reading and quizzing myself, and shockingly enough being exhausted is not helpful to the memory.  I was messing up left and right, forgetting simple bits of important code, all the good stuff.  Now I was tired, unable to sleep, and stressed out/worried.  Go me!  Back to bed 3:30, 4:00, 4:00, 4:30, 4:45, BUZZZ!! 

Long story slightly longer, I got to school and completely bombed the test.  But I wasn't alone, as it turns out the teaching didn't exactly cover the test so everyone was a bit dead in the water which lead to a second test a week later.    . 

Ok this is entirely too good to just ignore. I read it first on Wil Wheaton's blog, then over at Dvorak Uncensored and now I bring it to you.

A student has been suspended for doing nothing more than acting in accordance with his religious beliefs.

“Bryan Killian says that he follows the Pastafarian religion, and that as a crucial part of his faith, he must wear 'full pirate regalia' as prescribed in the holy texts of Pastafarianism.“

You know it would be easy to take the cheap road and make jokes at the poor lads expense, it would even be easy to make fun of the fine religion of Pastafarianism but I would never do anything like that. I have a healthy fear of The Flying Spaghetti Monster.

Just before posting this I also noticed that the article made it to Digg. Not surprising at all, but still worth mentioning.

For further reading you can also check out The Flying Spaghetti Monster's Wikipedia entry.

If you could write like one fiction author, who would it be?
Submitted by Marilyn.

I'm gonna have to go with Douglas Adams.  The Hitchhiker Trilogy reaches a level of controlled insanity that almost no other author has been able find.  I would love to have the ability to mix silly with smart, while keeping a coherent (if somewhat confusing) story on track the way he does.