Category: Geeky Fanboy

Things I Desperately Wish Women Would Say to Me on First Dates. I don’t think Kate’s ever actually said any of those things (except, thankfully, the last one), but there HAVE been quite a few super-geeky bits of conversation over the last year. :)

Seven Things I Learned from World of Warcraft (Go to http://johnaugust.com/?p=718 to read it — I’m killing the link because the trackback spammers are coming back here.)

1. Kill injured monsters first
In Warcraft: When facing multiple bad guys, the temptation is to go after the one who’s hitting you hardest. This is often a mistake. That injured razorback, the one who is running away? He’ll be back in 15 seconds, likely with other baddies in tow. So take a few clicks to kill him now. Once he’s dead, you can focus completely on the guy who’s smacking you.
The real world may not have druids and paladins, but it’s chock full of monsters. They’re called “term papers” and “errands” and “mysterious car problems.” At any given moment, there may be one monster that looms larger than all of the others, who clearly needs to be attacked. But before you do, look around for injured monsters — the half-finished tasks that probably need only a few more minutes to complete. If you don’t deal with them now, they’ll be a constant distraction, and may eventually come back stronger.
This “injured monster theory” is why I try to return every phone call the day I receive it, and respond to every email within 24 hours. If a warning light comes on in my car, I go to the mechanic that day. Whenever I find myself thinking, “I need to remember to…” then I know I’ve failed. I don’t need to remember. I need to do. I need to finish.

There’s more I could write about this, but honestly? I need to train up my Revision skill, grinding on adverbs in Hidden Things.

How do you know that the cast of Hellboy really enjoyed working as those characters? When they ALL get back together to make two Hellboy animated features… before starting work on the next live-action feature.
Weird bit of trivia that came out of this: the guy that physically plays Abe Sapien in Hellboy (Doug Jones) was also Pan in Pan’s Labyrinth and will be playing the Silver Surfer in the next Fantastic Four movie.

Dr Who Tardis USB hub: the light on top works and it makes “the sound.”

• It’s ironic that so many girls were all over the snowboarder at an Abstinence Fundraiser.
• The writer guy is going to tell Simon that the reason he didn’t want to do the Militant Fruit of the Loom sketch isn’t because it’s black, but because it’s stupid and not-funny. Because it’s stupid and not-funny — you can see it in the rehearsals. His line, spoken so softly I have to turn up the television, will be something like “I’m not anti-black… it’s just a dumb idea.” That is my expectation.
• Danny will tell Jordan exactly when he fell for her, and it’ll totally charm her.
• Matt will get metaphorically kicked in the man-parts by Harriet so hard that one of them will pop.
• HOWEVER, his introductory speech at the benefit dinner for her will be so insanely touching that her dolphin heart will grow three sizes anyway. Which effect will just make her angrier, or at least more frustrated.
• Where the heck is the gossipy chick that Matt was dating before? The cast member? She hasn’t been on, even in the background, in ages.

That is all. Back about your business.

M. Night’s Shyamalan just announced he’s doing a movie based on Nikolodean’s (wonderful, funny, inspiring) Avatar: the Last Airbender.
In other news, the Amish have decided they like browsing the Internet — especially shopping for cars online.

The instructions were: Bold the ones you’ve read, strike-out the ones you hated, italicize those you started but never finished and put an asterisk beside the ones you loved.
1. The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien *
2. The Foundation Trilogy, Isaac Asimov
3. Dune, Frank Herbert *
4. Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert A. Heinlein
5. A Wizard of Earthsea, Ursula K. Le Guin *
6. Neuromancer, William Gibson
7. Childhood’s End, Arthur C. Clarke
8. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip K. Dick
9. The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley
10. Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury *
11. The Book of the New Sun, Gene Wolfe
12. A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter M. Miller, Jr. *
13. The Caves of Steel, Isaac Asimov
14. Children of the Atom, Wilmar Shiras
15. Cities in Flight, James Blish
16. The Colour of Magic, Terry Pratchett
17. Dangerous Visions, edited by Harlan Ellison
18. Deathbird Stories, Harlan Ellison
19. The Demolished Man, Alfred Bester
20. Dhalgren, Samuel R. Delany
21. Dragonflight, Anne McCaffrey
22. Ender’s Game, Orson Scott Card
23. The First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, Stephen R. Donaldson (now if I could only strike it from my memory)
24. The Forever War, Joe Haldeman
25. Gateway, Frederik Pohl
26. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, J.K. Rowling
27. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams *
28. I Am Legend, Richard Matheson *
29. Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice
30. The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. Le Guin
31. Little, Big, John Crowley
32. Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny *
33. The Man in the High Castle, Philip K. Dick
34. Mission of Gravity, Hal Clement
35. More Than Human, Theodore Sturgeon
36. The Rediscovery of Man, Cordwainer Smith
37. On the Beach, Nevil Shute
38. Rendezvous with Rama, Arthur C. Clarke
39. Ringworld, Larry Niven
40. Rogue Moon, Algis Budrys
41. The Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien * (Sue me — it’s essentially a history book, but I enjoyed it a great deal.)
42. Slaughterhouse-5, Kurt Vonnegut
43. Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson
44. Stand on Zanzibar, John Brunner
45. The Stars My Destination, Alfred Bester
46. Starship Troopers, Robert A. Heinlein *
47. Stormbringer, Michael Moorcock *
48. The Sword of Shannara, Terry Brooks
49. Timescape, Gregory Benford
50. To Your Scattered Bodies Go, Philip Jose Farmer

As documented here, I went to the very good Casino Royale and returned to the internets gushing about the upcoming Pan’s Labyrinth. I am not alone in my gushing; Guillermo del Toro’s gothic fantasy has been named the best film of 2006 by the National Society of Film Critics. I can hardly wait to see it for myself.