Happy Spring, I guess

Well yesterday was the first day of spring... and it snowed.  Screw that.  The rest of the week is supposed to be crappy, too.  But I was promised that it would change soon. 

It better.

Happy St Patrick's Day

Today is St. Patrick's Day, the universal day of boozing it up.  Thanks to my craptastic work hours, I won't be celebrating it this year (again), but I hope everyone out there who does has a fun (but safe) time. 

The other thing in this strip I want to talk about a moment is 3D.  I've seen a couple movies in 3D, such as "Avatar" and honestly.... I dunno, it's not that I don't see it, because I do, it's just that I don't care about it.  Like any other special effect, it's pretty to look at sometimes, but it doesn't actually make movies better.   

It could be argued that 3D is no different than the introduction of color or widescreen, but honestly I didn't need to put on a pair of uncomfortable glasses in order to see either of those things.  And neither color nor widescreen failed to catch on multiple times, as 3D has.  A shitty movie is a shitty movie, and making shit jump off the screen at me isn't going to change that.  A good movie is a good movie, and will remain good regardless of whether shit is jumping off the screen at me.

At PAX last weekend, there were a number of options to test out 3D gaming, and I avoided all of them.  I suppose I should have at least glanced at Nintendo's 3DS in order to get a glimpse of 3D gameplay that supposedly works without glasses.  But honestly, until I get something like this... I'm just not interested.

PAX Olympus

I attended PAX East last weekend.  At best, it was an experience full of hilarity and video gamey goodness.  At worst, it was a semi-awkward nerdfest wherein I witnessed much gawking at the female sex.  Now, I've gotten quite good at not being noticed in crowds, particularly by the aforementioned female sex.  At these conventions, it can be expected to find people dressed up as various fictional characters (some less fictional - pretty sure I saw a "Modern Warfare 2" 'terrorist'), and, yes, many of them are women.  Our group came across one girl in particular who was dressed, I was informed, as "Zero Suit Samus" - the heroine of the long-running "Metroid" franchise for Nintendo. 

She was, predictably, surrounded by a group of males taking numerous pictures with their cell phones. 

Love Me, Love My Wardrobe

People who know me well enough know that I have a gray fleece jacket form Old Navy that I've worn nearly every day for... I don't know, like... a decade.  I've had this thing for years.  I love it.  It is one of the most comfortable pieces of clothing that I own.  My mother is constantly trying to convince me to throw it out, and others have less than subtly suggested that looks could use an update.

To this I reply, "Pfffffft."

 I actually was complimented on it the other day by a Wendy's cashier.  He asked which Old Navy I got it at, since he'd not seen one like it.  I informed him that it was rather old, and they likely don't sell them in this style anymore.

"Why's the old stuff got to be so much better?" he asked.

Why, indeed.

Singles Night

Well, another Valentine's Day come and gone.  I had a conversation with someone recently about how I felt I wasn't able to "exude that boyfriend aura" - that difference in energy that makes me seem like a potential mate rather than just a really nice dude to hang out with.  Cheev once told me it had something to do with how I just need to be... sexier... somehow.  And he wasn't referring to my physical appearance (though, frankly, that could use some help, too).  I've never gone to any kind of singles event, or speed dating or anything of the like.  But I imagine it would've gone something like the above.  I guess I'm just not wired to woo.

Super Bullshit XLV

Srsly?

Normally, I don't give two shits about football except for that I'd like my home team to win out of some kind of, I dunno, local pride.  Frankly, the game is simply over-complicated, stuffed far too full of meaningless rules and regulations that do nothing but glorify stats instead of just playing football.  But once a year, we get the Super Bowl.  Typically I enjoy the Super Bowl because of the food and the commercials, but working on Sundays means that now mostly the Super Bowl is background noise in the office at night.

This year I happened to catch the intro voiced by Hollywood heavyweight Michael Douglas.  At first, this might seem like an impressive little bit of filmmaking, with lots of epic moments in American history set to dramatic music.  But then you realize what's going on - Michael Douglas is comparing the sacrifices of American soldiers, the dreams of JFK and Martin Luther King Jr., the space race and more... to a football game.  

God is Dead to Me

Newsflash: I hate snow.  In particular, the last month has been pretty awful, with the northeast being pounded by storm after storm, and another on the way this week along with some of the coldest temperatures in the last few years.


This would be pretty unbearable in general, what with the hating snow, but what makes it even worse is the fact that the snow we've been getting isn't melting before more arrives.  There are still heavy piles of snow several feet high on the side of every street, no longer a pretty white but instead a disgusting dirty mottled gray color.  Not only is all this snow simply in our way, but it has to look nasty, too, like kicking a guy in the nuts when he's already down and crying.