Ugly Honesty + Too Many Photos = Tedium Infinitum

Every time I boot up, it says there's an Adobe Reader update, or a Java update, or a Windows Security Update, or a HP Printer Driver update.... mildly annoying at best. I try to look at it positively.... if it weren't for software updates, I'd have no dates at all!

OK, so what was with yesterday's sad little post? No clue. It was just the mood I was in, my apologies. It was true, what I said, and yes, a bit unnerving, but I should have just kept it to myself. And no, I shouldn't blame it on the beard.

Funny thing about the beard (which is now truly epic)... I've tried having pictures taken, but I feel like such a moron... "Hey, lemme post my picture on my blog!" I don't know... it just feels so stupid. Like, good grief, how old am I again? Still in Junior High? Maybe it ties in with what I said yesterday... I don't recognize myself, in a real, weird way... so I don't want to post a picture of an impostor or something.

"Whew! That was close!

So Youngest had her birthday costume party yesterday. Seemed to be a success. I dressed up as exactly nothing, yet again. I wish I'd seen this photo sooner...

I would have painted a white bucket with a Storm Trooper face, big time... How funny is that?

I just yelled at my computers. I am embarrassed. Sure, I could have said nothing, and you would never know... But I always have tech problems, when it comes to importing a video file into an editor. I have an hour-long video that my sister needs two clips pulled from and sent to her. Easy, right? Should take minutes, right? WRONG. It always is a traumatizing, exquisitely frustrating and time-consuming experience... and I never remember that fact until I go to do it again. Then the memories all flood back. And I just lost it. Here I am, home, alone, trying to get a quick video edit job done... and I blew up. I just launched a minutes-long screaming invective-filled diatribe at my iMac and powerbook laptop...

Kinda wish I'd video taped it. Probably would have gone viral.

Man, this is ugly, brutal truth day, eh?

Finished reading The Ten Thousand by Paul Kearney. I wanted to like it, really. But honestly, it was pretty dull. There were some good battle descriptions, but I really didn't care a whit for any of the characters. There are two more books in the series, and I was going to stop here... but I read reviews of the other two in the series, and apparently, the second volume is light-years better than both volume 1 and 3... so I *may* try the second book, if the price is right. Anyway, I give The Ten Thousand a score of 3 out of 5.

Trying (and close to abandoning) another book called The Kinshield Legacy (K.C. May) at the moment. It started off well, but it's quickly devolving into insipidity. Shame. I'd read good things about it. But come on... there's a female warrior character named "Brawna".... LOL, are you kidding me? Brawna? Really? OMG, I can't stop laughing. I thought I was bad at coming up with character names, lol....

Brawna. lol

Nice. I'd live in it. Maybe.

Or maybe I'd live here instead...

OK, that's cool. Even the Union Jack comforter is cool. Are those walls concrete?

That's a great job of colorizing and cleaning up an old photo. Click it and look at it big. That's skill, right there. I've done stuff like that before, so I know of which I speak.

In fact, lemme grab an example that I've done, just to show off a bit.

A couple years ago, the pastor of my church sent me a photo of a dog he used to own, a dog he loved muchly. It was the only good photo of the dog he had left... but there was a chainlink fence in front of him...

So I scanned it and removed the fence...

Now, as helpful and powerful as computers have made things, there's still no shortcut for doing this. I had to go in really tight, and carefully use the cloning tool in photoshop to remove the fence from the whole thing. I must say, I was proud of the results. I even got the ultimate compliment from another member of our church (Mark O.) who said he went in close to find the evidence of photo manipulation, but couldn't see it, even zoomed way in. And he has an eye for those things. He was impressed.

Anyway, Pastor was very pleased with the results as well.

So, on another note, we're moving forward with the play. Only 7 weeks until Christmas... I'm excited and terrified at the same time. We still have two roles not filled yet! AAAAAAHHHHH!!! OK, I won't panic...[takes deep breaths]. All will be well. It always is.

Dang... I guess this is the Ugly Honesty and Too Many Photos Post....

I think I'll end it here.

Hope your week is a good one.

Dave the Meanderer

Bah, What a Waste of Your Time....

This is going to sound far more light-hearted than it is. Cuz I mean it, actually...

Do you ever stare at yourself in the mirror and wonder who in the world is staring back at you? Yeah, sounds cliche/corny, eh? I'm serious, though. More and more often, I look myself in the eye, and have no idea who that yahoo is. Mildly unnerving.

Whatever.

Dave the Mildly Unnerved

I Blame the French....

Ladies and gentlemen, it is 5 minutes until 2 in the morning as I start this blog post. That is a record for me, and you were there! Sort of. I have never started blogging this late in the day before. Are you extremely proud of me, or just sort of proud of me? Does it instill within you a strong urge to emulate me, and stay up waaaay past your bedtime to write a blog post for your (mostly imaginary) blog fan club? Does it, eh? Eh?

Well, Wednesday is my scheduled blogging day! Yes, technically, it's 2 hours into Thursday... but somewhere in the world it's still Wednesday! Like, in Hawaii, perhaps.

Aloha, everyone! It is I, Dave the Late, with an exhaustion-laced blast of hot air for your enjoyment. Although why you enjoy hot air as a casual form of entertainment is beyond me. Shouldn't you be watching episodes of Lie To Me on Netflix instead? If not, why not?!?! It's a great show! In fact, I watched a bunch of episodes of it tonight instead of blogging. The good news is, I've learned a lot about lie detection from watching the show... so now I can tell when you're lying in the comments. So type carefully! I can read facial tics also... so you don't even have to leave a comment and I'll know that you're lying!

Here, lemme prove it. Look at this Tokyo office building that has a freeway overpass going right through it...

Now, let me ask you this: Would you enjoy having to deliver a pizza to this building, or not?

LIAR!!!!

Moving right along...

Today (10/25) is officially my Youngest Daughter's birthday. She's 7! Yay! It rhymes with Heaven! Because she's a little angel, she is! See? It fits perfectly! Well, it also rhymes with "eleven" and "leaven", but I don't know what that means. I'm going with the "angel" thing, if you don't mind.

I made her a little coupon book containing 10 coupons that are good for 1 EXTRA BOOK during our nightly reading time. I'll tell her she can redeem them occasionally, or all at once. Let's see how greedy she will be! MUAHAHAHA!!! Happy birthday, Mags! Here's a social experiment! Well, we're also getting her a new bike and having a party this weekend. Which reminds me... the oven broke yesterday... we were going to cook food for 50 people on Saturday! Yay! Broken oven! YAAYY!!! Well, I hope everyone likes Costco pizza! MUAHAHAHAHA!!!!

Wifey and I are going to dress up as Salt and Pepper for the party. I'll be in all black, with a P on my chest, and she'll be in all white with an S on her chest. We may also wear aluminum foil caps with holes in them. Hey, don't roll your eyes! They are opposites that also go together, just like wifey and I! And besides, it's a step up from what I usually dress as, which is nothing. And I also have gray in my beard, which some people call "salt and pepper", so there... that's some irony right there!

Come on... Marlon Brando and Frank Sinatra in dapper suits, with stogies? The "Coolness Quotient" in this blog just went up 30 points right there. Did you feel it?

So I went and saw the movie Looper the other day, with my good friend Todd F. Really good movie, though too long, and with a couple plot holes. Great acting performances across the board, especially Jeff Daniels' bit, and the kid, Pierce Gagnon. Where they found that little kid, and how they got such a crazy-good acting performance out of him is beyond me. The kid is 5 years old, for crying out loud! I guarantee, you'll never see another performance from a 5 year old that will ever approach this one. See the movie and tell me if I'm wrong. The kid destroyed it. I can't wait to watch the film again when it comes out on DVD, so I can watch the extras and hopefully get to hear the director discussing how he worked with that little guy. His performance blew me away.

So, yeah, good movie.

So, my reading time with Youngest for the past week or two has included our wading through all of the Winnie the Pooh stories. They're such fun to read. Early on, I challenged myself to read the stories and do all of the character voices from the cartoon versions. I have to admit, I have the Pooh and Piglet voices down pat. Eeyore, too, of course, since that one's easy. But it's great fun for me, and Youngest enjoys it thoroughly as well.

Buahahaha! Ah, story of my wife...

So I've been toiling away recently in Minecraft, building a giant glass-and-wood tower. When I get it finished (or at least presentable), I'll post a screen shot of it. I bet you can hardly wait, eh! EH!?!?! I should just break down and dress up as a Creeper for Halloween. All I'd need is a cardboard box and some green paint... So in my mind, Minecraft is indelibly linked with the show Lie To Me... because Minecraft can be played in a browser window, I have the game running on one monitor, while I watch episodes of Lie To Me on the monitor right next to it. Yes, I can multitask my forms of entertainment! That means I can waste two hours of time in only one hour! Man, how efficient is that? I know, right?

Don't get me wrong, I'm still keeping to my writing schedule. I've worked on my novel and screenplay on the appointed days, still going strong. In fact, I've been thinking of making a daily workout schedule as well.

OK, whatever, I've rambled enough for one night. Well, for one early morning. It's 2:30am. See how efficient I am? All this hot air only took a half-hour to generate! Only the best for my (mostly invisible) blog fan club.

Dave the Tired (and Feathered)

Watch a Sunrise at Least Once a Day

Sadly, you know what I think first when I see that awesome woods photo right there? I think:

"Bugs." [shudder]

Isn't that sad? That I would wonder what types of creepy-crawlies would eat me alive as I strolled through the woods? I could tell you something sadder, but I won't... I'll keep that one to myself, thank you very much!

So, here it is, Saturday, and I'm blogging at my appointed time. Gee, I'm so organized! Too bad I don't have anything to say today!

Well, we're closing in on Halloween. The thing I like best about Halloween is that it means Thanksgiving and Christmas are drawing near. I love Fall, more than any other time of year. To me, it brings me back to when I was young, throwing the football around in the grass with my brother Bryan, fallen leaves scattered around, my dog Jesse running around, the cool edge to the air.

Geez, how corny does that sound? Feels like I'm about to break forth into a poem...

Still, I'm a fan of the season. Halloween? Meh, it has it's charms, too. Here, watch this cool video...

The Green Ruby Pumpkin from miguel ortega on Vimeo.

Nice vibe, cool art, I think.

Trying to think of some of my most memorable Halloween-related memories. I dressed as Gene Simmons from the band KISS one year - I was young, under 10 years old, I believe. My dear sweet mom has photographic proof of it somewhere. I had the face paint and the open shirt and the chains and everything, lol. One year in high school, I dressed as a woman and went to the Halloween party at the church I was attending at the time. The youth pastor was not amused. I was sent home. Don't think there's any photos of that, sorry.

That's pretty much it. Nothing pops to mind from my married years. I always contemplate costumes, but never pull the trigger on it. I still have a week or so to decide about this year. We'll see. Basically, I could wear what I wear everyday, and just tell people I'm dressed as a nerd. Well, a nerd with an unruly bushy beard. I think the beard is helping me write gooder. Now all I need is a beret and some John Lennon glasses and I'll be tip-top!

So I worked on my screenplay Thursday and Friday night, as planned. It's exciting to feel like I'm making progress on my projects again. I found a large online screenplay archive, which is helping me see how to structure the script.

I've discovered something about my neck pain, by the way. When I'm standing, it's fine... almost non-existent. When I'm sitting (which I do practically non-stop), that's when the pain ebbs and flows. Gotta be a pinched nerve somewhere. I'll have to consult with my chiropractor this week and see what the good doctor has to say. But what if he gets mad at me and punches me in the kidneys? What do I do if that happens? Would the police believe me if I said my chiropractor rabbit-punched me? Who would you believe: a respected doctor of chiropractic, or a nerdy graphic artist with self-image issues?

"But officer, they said I could park it anywhere..."

I had the day to myself today. Wifey took Youngest and Oldest to Sea World, while Middlest went with a group of church friends to Six Flags to ride rollycoasters. I could have done ANYTHING today! Think of it! The world was my oyster! I have a car with gas in it, a bit of breathing room in my bank account, and fast freeway access granting me a path to anywhere in San Diego! But did I leave the house at all today? Well, did I?!?! You should know, I know you were spying on me. Admit it! You reverse-accessed my webcam again, right? So you could watch me sitting on my duff in front of my computer all day, right? Man, you really need to get out more!

So do I.

Getting the Christmas play rolling this year is proving exceptionally difficult. We haven't even had our first cast read-through yet. In fact, I still have roles that need actors. I could go into all the extenuating circumstances for all of this, but I won't. This blog is a gossip-free zone, thank you very much! But if we can't get things rolling soon, we'll have to pull the plug on the play and go another, less-involved route. The script is going to be tricky to begin with; we really should have been into production for the last couple weeks already...

Ah, well, such is life.

I suppose that's all for now. I'll post a pic of the beard soon. I'll give you ample warning, so you can hide the children and small animals...

Adios for now,

Dave the Hairy

You Can Tell a Lot About a Person from His Biography

Greetings, friends!

At least, I think we're friends. Although "acquaintances" might be a more appropriate term, perhaps... where's that line at, you think? I mean the line between friendship and acquaintanceship? Great, now I have to track down definitions... brb...

ac*quaint*ance (n): a person known to one, but usually not a close friend.

Hmm.... is there anyone reading this blog post right now that would consider me a "close friend"? So would "friend" be sort of an in between stage between 'acquaintance' and 'close friend'?

friend (n): one attached to another by affection or esteem.

Hmm... affection or esteem. Can you be a friend with someone you've never met in person, you think? There's several of you that frequent this blog that I've never actually met in person before. Some of you I've met and have known for quite a while. Friends? Acquaintances? Close friends? How liberally do you apply these terms? I'm trying to think of a list of people that I would consider close friends... hmm... short list. How long would my list of "friends" actually be? Again, where is that transition line between acquaintanceship and friendship, and between friendship and close friendship? How long is the list of people that I would actually call or contact if I was having trouble with something and needed to talk? Would that qualify as 'friend' or 'close friend'? Is there anything wrong with being an acquaintance? It almost carries with it a backhanded insult, doesn't it?

Greetings, acquaintances!

Did you feel insulted? Less-than? Like I'm implying that you're not worth the time it would take to push you into the "friend" realm? "If I liked you enough, I'd make the effort to be your friend, but you're not cool/interesting enough, so you're just a lowly 'acquaintance'..."

Do you have any acquaintances that think you are their friend? Or vice-versa? Have you ever introduced someone you know to a third party as your acquaintance? "Hey, Bill, this is my acquaintance Dave the Goof. He's not interesting or important enough to be called my friend."

I guess I shouldn't over-analyze it, eh?

Anyways, hello all, whatever you are. Sorry for the tangent.

I have a confession to make. I've been reviewing my fantasy novel, mapping out what I've written thus far into a big timeline... so I've re-read vast portions of it. My confession? It's really good, lol. Surprise! An author likes his own writing! Shocker! But, actually, I really do think it's very entertaining. I've decided to actually schedule blocks of time to work on it instead of going with "whenever I feel like it", and it's working out wonderfully. In fact, my writing this blog post right now has been scheduled... Wednesday nights (and Saturday afternoons) will be blog-writing time. Sunday, Monday and Tuesday from just after dinner to 10:30 pm will be novel-writing time, and Thursday and Friday nights (same time frame) will be to work on my movie screenplay.

I'll let you know how it goes. So far so good.

Room with a view, eh? Dang... how'd you like to wake up to that in the morning?

One cool side effect so far of scheduling my time better is that 'play time' is a lot more enjoyable now. I don't have the undercurrent that I should be doing other, more important things.

Of course, one of the drawbacks of scheduled blogging time (as is painfully apparent in this post so far) is writing when you really have nothing of substance to say! In which case it is best to resort to posting overly-cute photos of kids and animals in an effort to subconsciously appeal to your soft heart...

Aww, so cute! Especially the panda bear at the end there!

So I read a short book recently by Ted Chiang called The Merchant and the Alchemists Gate, which was very cool, dealing with time travel, set in medieval Baghdad. Worth the read, if you can find it for cheap/free like I did. The Kindle edition is currently $3, and I'd say it's worth it. Here is the review of it over at Strange Horizons, if you want more info.

I've moved on to reading The Ten Thousand by Paul Kearney, which I also got on crazy discount. Very good so far. By the way, if you like fantasy books and don't want to spend a lot getting them, then check in frequently at Pat's Fantasy Hotlist, which is a blog devoted to the fantasy/sci-fi genre. They routinely highlight books that are cheap/free for limited times, including some noteworthy titles, with links to buy them (from Amazon, usually). I've obtained a large percentage of my library for free or next-to-free by monitoring that site.

I think that's all for me tonight. I'm scheduled to post again Saturday. Let's see if that comes to pass!

Dave the Structured

It Depends on the Burrito...

Run! Run for your lives! The dolphins are coming! RUUUUUNNNN!!!!!

Oh, sorry, false alarm. Dolphins always unnerve me... something about creatures that have blowholes... [shudder]....

So, you made it! The longest week of your life has officially ended. A whole week without a new blog post from Dave. I knew you could survive. I knew it would be tough, but you're one tough cookie to begin with. So, out with it... did you weaken at all? Did you have to lurk through the archives, when no one was watching, to get some recycled Dave? Did it scratch the itch at all, or was it just not the same? Could you have taken another day of withdrawal pains, you think?

But I'm back. Actually, I was planning on updating two nights ago, but I ate something for dinner that did NOT agree with me, and spent some time groaning in agony on the bed, before... um... how to put this delicately..? Let's just say... uh... yeah, it wasn't pretty. And I slept fast and hard until morning... and then last night, I started playing Minecraft at about 3 in the afternoon, and before I knew it, BAM! The midnight bells were tolling. I'm going to have to watch my time with that game...

Of course, for a couple years now I've harbored a certain level of despision for Minecraft... and the more love it received from the gaming masses, the more I despised it. I mean, how could a game that looks that bad be any good? And then, about a half-year ago, when it was reviewed in PC Gamer Magazine along with Skyrim... and Skyrim got a well-deserved 94% rating from them... and Minecraft got a 96%, I decided I would never play it... that seemed sacrilegious to me. I mean, look at these screenshots!

And look at these Skyrim screenshots!

How could anyone in their right mind even compare the two? Well, you know what? I finally broke down and tried Minecraft... and I was wrong. MAN, what fun! And all you do is build and destroy and dig. And occasionally fight big blocky baddies. But the feeling of being able to build whatever you want... really, there's no way I can put it into words. It's the ultimate sandbox. Yeah, it looks like absolute crap... but it might be the most fun I've had gaming...

OK, enough gaming nonsense. All that to say, Thursday night, instead of coming here and ending your agony, I made you wait an extra day.



"I think it's already starting!"

I've given up on The Wizard's First Rule by Terry Goodkind. I stopped at exactly 40% through it (according to my Kindle app), which I'd say counts for a very thorough chance to snag me. Really, the tale wasn't bad, but what sunk it for me was the strong vibe that the book was sooooo impressed with itself. It's hard to explain... the whole undercurrent of the book just oozed the feeling that the author thought he was so amazing, and the story took itself so seriously. Ultimately, it was off-putting enough to frustrate my ability to maintain interest in the story and the characters. I bailed.

Nothing is really screaming out for me to read it now. I'm sifting through some free samples, and yawning a bit. This may represent a reading lull for me. Don't worry, it will end soon enough. I know you were worried about it, see.... I can tell when you're worried. So don't worry! Be assured, I will read more soon!

Sheesh, the things you worry about...

So, I've officially let my beard grow longer than it's ever been. I know what you're thinking... "What's 'official' about it?" Well, good question... not sure what would be involved in unofficial beard growth. Anyway, no reason; I just started letting it grow. I'd post a picture of it, but I lost my digital camera a couple months ago. Anyway, yeah, it's getting all scraggly and unruly, I love it. My wife finds it repulsive, which just adds to my amusement. I was going to cut it short again, but I've decided to let it keep growing, and start referring to it in the third person form, as though it is a sentient being. The Beard wanted Starbucks tonight... and one does not deny The Beard.... that sort of thing. This also annoys Wifey... which, while increasing my amusement level, also is likely not a good move in the long term... so I'll probably stop referring to The Beard in the third-person soon... then cut it before Thanksgiving.

I'll have to find a way to incorporate it into my Halloween costume. Of course, every year, my Youngest Daughter has a costume party for her birthday (since it is only days before Halloween), and every year I threaten to dress up as something... and every year I fail. So the odds of me actually wearing a costume this year are not looking good. We shall see. If I do dress up, I'll need to include this bush I'm growing on my face.

Anyway, time to shamelessly pander to your Strange Pictures needs.... here's a laughing horse...

And here's a jack-o-lantern carved into an Indian head..

And here's an awesome bamboo forest photo...

And here are some Tetris couch pillows...

There, that should pretty much sum up how I'm feeling tonight.

Well, I guess that's enough for tonight. I'm off to lie to myself for a few minutes that I'm going to work on my screenplay, until I succumb to the overwhelming urge to play more Minecraft into the wee hours instead, and then go to bed, trying to dodge the guilt until sleep overtakes me...

Hey, just being honest!

Dave the Spineless

I Usually Take Steps To Avoid Elevators.

If I could find a really good high-res copy of that picture there, I would have it blown up and put on my office wall. That sure does something for me. And I would use this site to do it. In fact, I may try that site out soon, so I can do something about these white office walls of mine, which are dying for something nice and big to go up on them. I'm an artist, and I've got yards and yards of blank white walls around me! What's wrong with me!!!?!

Hello all. Interesting week. Ups and downs. Shouldn't complain, but I do. I stop myself, though, before I complain too much... that's gotta count for something, right? Except, I have a confession to make to the three of you that regularly read this blog.... it is embarrassing, but I strive for total transparency on this blog... you three deserve nothing less... since August first, I have been holding strictly to my new diet. I mean, like a rock! I saved my indulgences (like Starbucks) for Saturday, which is my Cheat Day. Well, this week, sad to say... I did not wait. Between Thursday and Friday night, I ate a pint of Starbucks Java Chip Frappucino Ice Cream. Ate the whole thing. And it was very, VERY good. I loved every bite.

My next step in my march toward total transparency is to ditch clothing, and instead wrap myself in cellophane every day for work. That should earn me back any respect I lost with that whole Frap Ice Cream debacle...

No need to be so literal!

So I finished writing the Christmas Script. It is, admittedly, unlike anything we've done before. That envelope-pushing may or may not pay off, it's hard to say at this point. Cathy O. has ok'd the script and we're moving forward with contacting people for casting. Is the script any good, you ask? Well, I'm hardly objective, eh? The only feedback I've received thus far has been from my wife (who liked it a lot) and from Cathy (who, I'm sure, is a bit angsty over the rapidly-dwindling time left between now and Christmas and wants to get something moving). Haven't heard a peep from anyone else that I've sent the script off to... my fear is that it sucks and people just don't want to tell me! Gahh! Help! Rampaging insecurity! HELLPP!!!

So, the new Lone Ranger movie trailer looks quite good.



The same producer/director/star from the Pirates of the Caribbean film(s), it gives me hope that it will be good. In fact, what gives me the most hope is that it has the same screenwriters (Rossio/Elliot) that turned out that amazing first Pirates movie. Fingers crossed.

So I'm about 25% through Wizard's First Rule by Terry Goodkind, and I am struggling mightily to maintain interest and momentum. It's just so "already been done" that it's hard to press on. I'm hoping for something unique and clever to keep me tagging along, but it has the backwoods hick who is chosen to be the hero, the old mentor who ends up being a famous wizard, the dark lord bent on destroying the world, the beautiful lady with powerful hidden skills, the hellish beasties, the enchanted artifact (a sword) and the big quest to save the world. Well, I guess that's what fantasy fans sign up for in a story, eh? Still, combined with endless monologuing, unnecessary description, tinny dialog and scarce action... I don't know.

And the characters recover from what would be life-threatening injuries so fast, it induces eye-rolls in me. I mean, when a hellish beastie wallops you so hard that you fly through the air and into some trees, you'd think the forces involved would leave you broken into pieces, right? Nope, shake it off and get back in the fight!

I'd better stop before I convince myself to give up on the book. It's a genre classic, I need to give it plenty of opportunity to shine. At the time (1994) the author was paid the most money ever for a first-time fantasy author ($275,000) for this book. I need to know why.

My neck is still bothering me, and it saddens me. Too bad I'm out of ice cream, eh? The chiropractor says there's nothing out of line in my neck. The pain ebbs and flows like the tide. The only thing that seems to work is ibuprofen... but I definitely don't want to get hooked on that. I hear it's not good for your liver. Anyway, my chiropractor says I should go see my doctor and tell him my hands keep going numb, so they'll schedule an MRI, and then he (the chiro) can see what's going on inside my neck. But I don't want to lie. My hands aren't experiencing any numbness. He just wants me to work the system so I get an MRI and not have to pay for it. Ain't gonna happen. I may cheat on my diet, but I don't tell lies!

Well, unless it's on this blog, for entertainment purposes. Hey, but then it falls under "storytelling", right? Not really lying, right? Right? Come on, get my back on this one, please! All liars end up in the lake of fire, according to Revelation! But it says nothing about entertainers!

Here's a fascinating (to me) video on the development of hexaflexagons. Trust me; it's cool.



The same woman has a series of cool videos, including THIS ONE on Fibonacci spirals... trust me, watch it! You'll thank me! Her voice reminds me of my friend Grace.

Cool Blog Stats: So I recently passed 100,000 page views for this blog. Pretty cool, eh? The three of you must check up on this blog hundreds of times per day! Now THAT is dedication. Also, the book review I did for Joe Abercrombie's book The Blade Itself has become the most viewed blog post in the history of this blog. In fact, two of the five most viewed blog posts of mine are book reviews... the other (at #5) is my Game of Thrones review. Glad I could do my part to get the word out about two fabulous authors/books.

OK, well, enough emotional transparency for tonight. If you want to catch me in this state of unprecendented openness, ask me anything in the comments, and I will answer it honestly, for better or worse. Also, if you want to read the script I wrote and bombard me with your frank, unhindered assessment, let me know and I'll email it to you!.

Adios for now,

Dave the Cracked