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Anyone whose email address is posted on a web site probably doesn’t bother to identify who sent them viruses anymore. With faked return addresses and the high probability that your only connection to the sender is the fact that they visited your web page sometime in the last month, there really isn’t much point.

Every once in a while, you’ll see something weird.

Today I received what looked like a classic credit-card theft scam: a notice supposedly from PayPal claiming that my account would be canceled unless I re-entered all my credit card information into the linked web page. Right. Normally I just report it to PayPal and delete it, but this one had an attachment instead of a link, and that attachment had been defanged. With a name like www.paypal.com.scr, it was pretty obviously a virus. Continue reading →

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In The Matrix: Revolutions, when Smith asked Neo why he kept fighting, I thought he answered, “Because I’m too stupid.” It wasn’t until I went to the IMDb discussion forums that I figured out he said, “Because I choose to.” I can’t decide if this is better than thinking that, in The Two Towers, Sam said to Gollum, “You’re a wuss.” (Actual line: “You’re hopeless.”) Anybody got others?

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Saw The Matrix: Revolutions yesterday after hearing almost nothing but bad press. We went in expecting nothing, so except for the crappy dialogue, it wasn’t bad at all while we were watching it. Afterward, though, once there was time to digest everything in the context of a single movie as well as a trilogy, it was a different story. I’m not bashing it Kenneth-Turan style, but as a person who appreciates both style and substance, I found myself retrospectively disappointed.

Those of you who’ve seen Evangelion will know exactly what the title is referring to. I’m not big on religious symbolism for its own sake, but if it serves a purpose, as it does in Evangelion, I’ll go with it. There wasn’t really a purpose in this beyond being messianic. I guess what ticks me off the most is Continue reading →

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It’s official: Vertical Horizon now has ten songs to their name that we’ve determined to be at least 75% appropriate for sci-fi, fantasy, or anime music videos. The only other band that comes close to this is the Wallflowers, with four. Don’t ask me how they do this. We just watch (and occasionally read) stuff, then listen to songs, and the songs fit.

Tuesdays, we go over for dinner and Farscape with Kelson’s family. Scapers, get ready to wail: last night’s program was “Self Inflicted Wounds.” Both episodes. For non-Scapers, yes, it was as big an emotional wringer as you may have guessed. When we got home after a round of coffee and sympathy, I checked a hunch on the lyric sheet for the latest VH album, Go. Bingo–“Won’t Go Away” has now officially joined the ranks of the video-able.

At the risk of sounding like an IMDb summary, get the full list here…… Continue reading →

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So work decided to do Halloween on the 30th rather than the 31st because some people don’t work Fridays. This was a good thing, considering that we have not only a potluck but also a costume contest and a pumpkin-carving contest all on the same day and I have a finite amount of time after work. Last year, I was scrambling to make whatever it was I made and carve the Eye of Sauron into a pumpkin (costume was taken care of–Ren Faire outfit) on the night of the 30th, which was very not fun. This year, I baked the cookies on Monday and took Tuesday off for the usual Farscape night. Wednesday, after getting back from the pointless class I’m taking for work, we frosted the cookies while watching Angel and I carved my replica of the “Gourdzilla” face from Monday’s Grand Avenue strip and went out and tossed a mini-pumpkin on the ground to put in its mouth. Easy, simple, and I got sleep.

Here’s what I wore to work.
2003 Halloween
I wasn’t sure what I was going to do until the other people in my unit started talking about making a graveyard in the space between my desk and the cubes across the aisle and then doing makeup like dead people. I, being the genius I am, said something like, “Oh, and hey, I can be the undertaker.” So that’s what we did. The graveyard didn’t get made, but everybody dressed dead and someone played “Thriller” really loud. And I won the costume contest.

Gourdzilla also won a prize.

We are now in possession of four no-restrictions, no-expiration passes to Regal theaters, and $20 in gift certificates. So now everybody can go see Return of the King regardless of cashflow. Cool.

The best part of having two days of Halloween is that I had a chance to carve a second pumpkin.
Aeryn pumpkin in lightAeryn pumpkin dark
I’d been dying to try this since seeing that other Farscape images had been converted into jack-o-lanterns, and I’d been telling Kelson’s mom I’d give it to her. So it was good to have an extra night to get this done and remember exactly how much I love carving pumpkins. And tomorrow night, it’ll be good to get some frelling sleep…..

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The weather has been… unusual the last few days, to say the least. Tuesday afternoon I could see smoke from at least two of the fires that had broken out. There was a huge cloud billowing up from the southern horizon, and another huge cloud creeping over the hills to the north. Both seemed to have died down overnight, but they were back by Wednesday afternoon:

Smoke from fire on Camp Pendleton as seen from Irvine/El Toro area

By Friday morning, there was enough smoke in the air to tinge the sunlight orange.

Then there was Saturday, which has to have been the most surreal experience I have had in a long time. Up to this point, there were plumes of smoke and large clouds covering parts of the sky. Now the entire sky was covered, keeping the day in permanent dusk, and when the sun could be seen it was bright red. Ashes fluttered to the ground. After several weeks of hot weather, it was cold.

Smoke fills the sky in this view from Irvine. Yes, the light really was that yellow.

The last time I remember this much smoke was about 10 years ago, I was in high school, and the nearest fire was in Laguna Canyon. And we had an appointment yesterday to check out wedding locations… in Laguna Canyon. So with this nuclear-winter-like atmosphere, we spent the day driving in and out of the very area I most associated with large, nearby fires.

One location we were looking at was setting up for a reception later that evening, and ashes had been drifting onto the plates.

Overnight the Santa Ana winds we’d been hearing about all week finally made their way over the mountains, stirring things up and driving the smell of smoke into our apartment. This morning, ashes were piled up everywhere, even in the carport.

We went out to lunch today, and I learned quickly that staying indoors was the way to go for the rest of the day. Whereas yesterday was all thick smoke up above, today the smoke is thinner, but it’s all at ground level. The sun is visible, but yellow, and it’s like standing immediately downwind of a campfire and not being able to move.

Yesterday was eerie. Today’s scary. Based on news from the radio, it sounds like the fires have roughly doubled in size and destruction since this morning’s paper was printed.

We’re just hoping the flames will get under control… and that none will spring up any closer.

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Ordered it last weekend. It’s got everything: full coverage up top, pretty beading, short train, and it’s not blinding squeaky-clean wash-me-out white. And it’s made for the height I am in my shoes, with an adjustable lace-up back, so with any luck, I won’t need massive alterations. It’s got this split top skirt thing going, with beading along the edges, that I really can’t say why I think is cool. I never thought I’d be one to go for the Disney princess look, but it works. The one offputting note is the beading is blue. Don’t get me wrong, I love blue. I’m probably the only female in America never to have put any thought into her nuptial proceedings beyond some fuzzy mental photos of a church and a white dress, but I know for certain the white blur never had any color on it. Oh well. Just means I don’t have to paint my toenails blue (though I think I will anyway). Now, if we can just get a location so I don’t turn into a dressed-up cliché……