So very industrious

It's been quite a decent weekend for getting things done.

-Went to work.

-Got a perfect score on the first online exam for my Advertising Class. And I only had to cheat on a few of the questions!

-Scouted out a new game store. And found out that their tournament players are mostly not douchebags.

-Had Taco Bell.

-Had Noodles & Company.

-Had chili. (Yes, these are all accomplishments, shut up)

-Took care of taxes.

-Balanced the checkbook.

-Took out the apartment's trash AND recycling.

-Found Brawn at my local dump of a Wal-Mart. I can get behind any figure that has dual pistols AND a shoulder-mounted chain gun.

-Finally saw Moon, and I have to say that it's a goddamn crime that it's not up for a single Oscar.

-Read 100-ish pages of Underworld by Don Delillo.

-Read nearly half of In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, bringing me perfectly up-to-date for my class on New Journalism.

-Caught myself saying "In True Blood" instead of In Cold Blood more times than I am entirely comfortable admitting to. Again, I blame the bookstore.

-Made a post on my increasingly neglected blog.

YOU ACTIVATED MY TRAP CARD

Because the bookstore is being stingy with the hours, I'm looking into second jobs. I really like the bookstore and don't want to leave it, but it's not bringing in the green that it used to, especially now that I am living somewhat on my own. I don't plan on leaving the bookstore though, because the idea of having some control over what the masses read is incredibly attractive to me.

So I'm going to try the UWM library. I have a contact. And I've seen the people they have doing the shelving there, and I can tell you I can shelve CIRCLES around them. And it's actually a lot like the bookstore anyway! There's a multimedia area, a children's book area and a coffee shop! They both even have hobos come in sometimes!


This may come as a shock, but I was pretty big on the Yugioh scene, back in the day. Even had a gig as a columnist on a fairly prominent gaming web site. (No, I'm not linking it for you. If you really want to see how and what I wrote six years ago, you're gonna have to work to find it.) The game has improved somewhat over the time that I was away from the game once Konami got it through their heads that the game needs a little thing called BALANCE. So I've been tentatively dipping my feet back into the pond. I blame Andrew.

This means buying packs of cards. This is much easier to do when you're twenty-one compared with fourteen because you can drive, have income, and a certain disregard for what the register monkey thinks of you. Among the cards pulled, I grabbed this thing:



It's a Blackwing Tuner that can be used in a Synchro Summon even while it's in the graveyard so long as you're using it to summon a Blackwing Synchro monster like Blackwing Armor Master.

That's not important.

What is important is that this thing is selling for BIG BUCKS. A piece of shiny cardstock is selling for 50 bucks on the secondary market easy. And what's more, most players are predicting that the card will only skyrocket in value once the next Banned/Restricted Card List comes out next month.

That's a 1250% fucking return for something that I got out of a four dollar booster pack. What I am trying to get across to you, dear reader, is that I am now (proportionally speaking) FABULOUSLY WEALTHY.


Card game players have a tradition of shelling out insane amounts of currency for these pieces of paper. I remember when the only way to get a Mechanicalchaser was to fork over nearly half a grand for it. And of course, Magic the Gathering players are well familiar with the Black Lotus, a card that at one time could be auctioned for a final price well into the four figures.


No, I can't imagine why I'm single at the moment.

In the dungeon you encounter a Swarm of Hipsters. Roll for Initiative.

Swarm of Hipsters has resist 5 radiant damage thanks to their stupid ugly sunglasses. However, they take double sonic damage when you play music that they thought they were the only ones who liked. Their armor class is poor thanks to mostly shopping at underground thrift stores, but beware. You grant combat advantage to them since they always think they have the high ground.


Let's talk Oscars. The awards that kind of matter. And it's less of a wank fest than the Golden Globes or the SAG.

Best Picture has been expanded to 10 nominees. The only good to come of this is allowing Up a chance. This is only the second time an animated movie has been up for Best Picture, the first time being Beauty and the Beast back in the nineties. There's no way Up will win, and after all it still has Best Animated Picture (or the "Pixar Invitational") but can you imagine? If Up won I'd be deliriously happy. So much so, that I'd probably blindly say yes to anybody who asked a favor of me for like a week afterwords. (...ladies...)

Realistically, I'm hoping that the Academy will do what they did for Scorsese and give Best Picture to Inglorious Basterds to honor Tarantino's past films. And also, it was a pretty darn good film.

-District 9? HAH. No way, not in a million years.
-Avatar? I doubt it. A Golden Globe means nothing. It'll sweep the techie stuff thought.
-Up in the Air? I can see it, but there's too much competition.
-A Serious Man? Possible, but the Coen Brothers just got a Best Picture two years ago.
-The Blind Side? GOD NO. PLEASE NO.

So it's a toss-up between Hurt Locker, An Education, and Precious I think.

Best Director could be Tarantino, but I think it'll be Bigelow. If only because I think the idea of James Cameron losing out to his ex-wife for a movie with a fraction of the budget of Avatar's is high-larious.

I'm going to say Jeff Bridges for Best Actor, though this could be Colin Firth's year.

CHRISTOPH WALTZ VILL BE ZA BEST SUPPORTING AHCTOR, JAH? VAHT ZAY YOU, FRAULIEN?

If Sandra Bullock gets Best Actress, the Academy Awards will lose so much credibility. Mo'Nique will take Best Supporting Actress.

Best Screenplay I'm firmly calling for Tarantino. You just can't beat lines like "Say Auf wiedersehen to your Nazi balls." *gunshot*

Best Adapted Screenplay I'm gonna go ahead and call for Precious.

So many loyalties at conflict here for Best Animated Picture! I want Up to win because I love Pixar so much, but I really want Princess and the Frog to show that 2D animation is far from dead. And what of Coraline, whose roots can be traced back to Neil Gaiman aka "Jesus the Christ"? I can't choose!!

And Best Foreign Language film? Um... *throws dice*. Ajami (Israel) will win. Totally.

And those are all the awards I feel qualified to talk about.



I finally found a store that restocked and put out Bludgeon! I can say with complete confidence that it is the best action figure of a skeleton samurai that transforms into a tank I have ever encountered. If only because I was only a year old when his original iteration came out. The 2003 release doesn't count because he's just a repaint of Generation 2 Megatron and as such, has absolutely no samurai elements. They didn't even bother with a new head!