mikesedge

I'm still dithering over the fursuit design. I swear I'm the most indecisive person ever. :-)

I still see the value of avoiding white feet, but I'm just not crazy about making them black. I thought I'd try a darker brown (same color used in the "hair"), and I do like that better (third one kept white for comparison).




I'm still a little bothered by having the hands and feet different colors... but I don't really want the hands all brown either. Here's an idea I had, the "fingerless gloves" look.





Let me know what you think!



Happy Thanksgiving to all! Hope you have a nice day and some good food to eat. I'll be heading to my Mom's this evening and probably returning Friday night.

I thought these were amusing... :-)

Taking another tentative step towards possibly getting a fursuit, I had the artist Mary Mouse draw me a possible design concept. I got the final image today! I'm open to any comments or suggestions.

Kyward is the name I'm thinking of using for this character.



I also had her do a version with black feet, mainly for practical reasons (knowing that white fur is hard to keep clean). It doesn't look bad, but I don't know if I like it as much.




Let me know what you think.

Idea: Open a shop in an interesting area of the Mojave desert. Call it "Store in a Cool Dry Place"

Remember when there used to be good news? :-)

Hard to believe it's been 20 years. That must have been one of the first historical events I was really aware of and had some sense of its importance. I remember being vaguely aware of Reagan's reelection in 84... the next big thing was the Challenger explosion. But the Berlin Wall I remember our teachers talking about in school, seeing on TV every night, etc.

So we all know Germans Love David Hasselhoff... but who knew "The Hoff" may have been key to  the downfall of international Communism? Apparently his song "Looking for Freedom" was #1 in Germany for 3 months before the wall fell.

David Frost interviews David Hasselhoff about the events of 1989

(Personally, I think "Frost/Hasselhoff" would be a worthy sequel to "Frost/Nixon")

Then again, when you watch the video, it all kind of makes sense. Clearly seeing the Hoff make sweet jumps and... blow up planes... in his black Camaro swept them up into such a freedom-loving frenzy that they had no choice but to throw off the bonds of tyranny.


If that's not enough Hoff for you, check out this live performance at the Berlin wall... mainly for the historical importance... of his blinky-light jacket and piano key scarf. :-)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zXiClnK8oE&feature=related

Thanks to Belic and FurFright, we've all heard of War Dogs... But how about a Combat Bunny?

There was a public radio story recently about an army sergeant who adopted a rabbit in Iraq.

You can read a brief summary and listen to the whole show here: http://thestory.org/archive/the_story_899_Carolyn_Schapper.mp3/view
The interview is fairly long and unfortunately has a sad ending.

A couple of pictures here:
http://thestory.org/sidebars/where-s-combat-bunny

Since FF I've been thinking more seriously about getting a fursuit... I've looked into it a couple of times in the past but never went very far, for one reason or another.
FWIW, the maker I have my eye on is Arend Studios.

Just wondering if anyone has any thoughts/advice, whatever...

I'm still a bit intimidated by the cost... but, I'm also feeling more confident that it's something I want to do.

[[Don't worry, no spoilers below :-) ]]
I saw Where the Wild Things Are tonight and enjoyed it a lot. For me, they really captured what it felt like to be a kid. I'm sure that depends a lot on what kind of kid you were and how you grew up, but for me, it connected. If anyone's worried about this being a typical Hollywood kids' film, don't be. It's a very personal, intense, at times dark, "indie"-style movie but with a big-studio budget.

It's always dangerous to do an adaptation of such a classic book. But I think they managed to embody the spirit of the book, even while adding a lot of material to create a full movie. The book will always be the original, and I don't think the movie takes anything away from it.

I identified with a lot of the themes explored in the movie. Chances are if you were ever a kid (and I don't know anyone who wasn't *smiles*), you will too. There are some very emotional scenes, so expect to tear up once or twice. :-)

As for the visual experience, it's beautiful. There are some amazing landscapes in the island scenes (which I've heard were shot in Australia). They use a handheld camera a lot, which, although it's probably been overused in movies recently, is completely appropriate for this one. The monsters look great, true to the book, appealing without being cutesy.

I could definitely find things to criticize if I wanted to--the pacing is a little slow in parts, and I think at times the symbolism and psychology gets a little heavy-handed. But overall the story won me over. Again, it might not be for everyone, but if you saw the trailer and liked it, you'll get everything you're expecting and more from the movie. :-)


BTW, there was a trailer for Fantastic Mr. Fox before it. Basically the one I've already seen, but I thought it looked great on the big screen! Can't wait for that to come out. :-)

Bob Dylan has just released a Christmas album.

I know that sounds like the premise of a throwaway SNL sketch... and indeed, that's exactly what the music sounds like. The man has become a parody of himself... or he has a much better sense of humor than I've given him credit for. :-)

I should hurry and get ready to go down to CT for more FF stuff (only two weeks away!!!!), but I just wanted to share some cool things I found.


First check out these awesome pictures of a white tiger at feeding time!



These are some of the most amazing and beautiful wildlife pictures I've ever seen. Many of them look posed or like they were created in a studio, but they were all taken in the wild. The photographer, Nick Brandt, doesn't use telephoto lenses, he actually gets within a few feet of some of the animals, to really capture them up close. I think they're very powerful images. More here.




And finally, see a life-size blue whale on your screen! (I recommend opening this in a new window because it may resize your browser window.)

In anticipation of the Fantastic Mr. Fox movie coming out in a few months, I checked out and read the book today (it's very short).



It's a simple but fun story, and of course very charming and English. I don't have any recollection of reading it as a kid--I think by the time I discovered Roald Dahl I was probably a little older than the target audience for this book. Based on the trailer, they clearly added a lot of elements that weren't in the original story. Which COULD work... or not. Some things I hope they kept for the movie--Fox calling Badger "my dear old furry frump," and the Badger telling him he loves him (bring on the slash fic! *LOL*) ;-) and everyone's reaction to the cider, including the kid fox and Badger ("it's like drinking sunbeams and rainbows!"). :-D

The one I checked out was the same cover in the picture above, and said it was a first edition. The illustrations were cute, sort of a classic Beatrix Potter style.

--------------
Now, an unrelated rant:

The owners of the Lizzie Borden Inn (in the actual house she lived in) have apparently trademarked the name Lizzie Borden and sued to keep other people from using it. How does that work? OK, I know you can technically trademark a name like Walt Disney or Kodak, but those are people that started a company and put their name on a particular product. These inn owners just came along 100 years after the fact and decided that they "own" the name of a historical figure. They said they were trying to "protect the Lizzie Borden experience"--what, the experience of being accused of murdering your parents? Sometimes the law makes no sense to me...

/rant
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Still plugging away at the job search. It's really discouraging how difficult it is to get a response, even a "no," from anyone. Most places don't even give you a name or e-mail address to follow-up with, so there's not much to do but wait. I even got a referral from a former colleague with a name and e-mail address, and a week later the person hasn't even acknowledged receiving my e-mail. I did get a callback from one place, but I'm not really sure it's the right job. I'm tempted to jump at the first thing that comes along, but I'm really trying to hold out until I find something I'm confident will be better than where I am now.

I probably wouldn't ever get a tattoo... but if I did, it might look like this. :-)



I got bit by the music bug this weekend... even after spending several hours working with Kiffa on our FF masquerade song, I got inspired to start recording a new cover... hopefully I'll have time to finish it soon.

I've been actively sending out resumes... I don't know how much longer I can last at my current job. I'm just not happy with how things have been going there. Hope I can find something new before I just get fed up and walk out. :-)

This new giant rat species was recently discovered in New Guinea:


So cool! I want one as a pet. :-)

This is a different species but adorable Gambian giant rat and baby.

OMG... yet another reason to go to Japan. :-)


Found this on Urlesque where they're celebrating "Bunday" today (also calling it "A Day Without Cats on the Web," but let's focus on the positive). :-) Hop on over before it ends!

Kyle Eschen.... saw this guy (magician/comedian) on the Jerry Lewis Telathon, of all things... pretty entertaining, actually, especially considering he's still in high school.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3tEEy_a2NA

And speaking of high school, this is teen comedy series from Britain (so it's actually funny) called "The Inbetweeners"... apparently coming to BBC America this year.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGu9Vs8o76M&feature=related

I realized Luna almost never appears in my dreams--after dreaming about her last night. We were outside somewhere in a yard, and there were woods beyond it. She kept running into the woods and trying to tempt a dog into chasing her--which it did, but she got away. :-)

Then I went to a dream where I was on a boat reading a book about the Kennedys (mostly just pictures). Then a huge wave came out of nowhere and washed me overboard. I survived, but I was trapped in between that boat and another one, then I woke up.

I'm sure you were all just FASCINATED by that. :-) Any armchair psychologists out there want to interpret these for me?

Interesting that I tend to dream more when I'm away from home...

I'm so glad this week is over and it's a long weekend... work was crazy this week, so much stuff coming in that needed to go out by Friday. Of course everyone is on me to get it out on time... apparently not understanding that if they didn't send it to me weeks late in the first place, there wouldn't be a problem. *grumbles*

One interesting thing did happen on the way to work... looking out the train window, I saw a family of swans swimming in a pond. It seemed to be just a natural pond in the woods, it didn't look like a private pond someone would stock with "ornamental" birds. I've never seen wild swans before, so it was pretty cool. Looking them up on whatbird.com, I guessed that they were Mute Swans (not originally native to America, but some escaped from captivity and established a population). There was at least one adult and 2-3 smaller ones.

Hard to believe FF is coming up so soon... The next 5-6 months are the spendy part of the year for me, between cons, holidays, trips, and several other things I probably can't put off much longer (new computer). I did a quick back-of-the-envelope calculation and... well, I'm definitely going to be trying to save a bit more over the next few months.

This has to be the best site ever (too bad they haven't updated since 2007):




And this is one of the best games I've played in a long time:

This Is the Only Level
Yes, there's only one level (but many stages). Just turn up the sound and let the music slowly drive you insane. :-)

Lots more time-wasting games like that here: http://www.pointlesssites.com/games-and-puzzles.asp

This Enneagram thing seems to be going around... so here's mine. I don't know how much any personality test can really say about you, but this seems at least more than 50% accurate.

Your result for The Quick & Painless ENNEAGRAM Test...

4- the Individualist

Thanks for taking the test !

( Click for details... )


After that I found another site where you take a test and then other people can try and see how accurately they know your personality. If you want to check mine out, it's at http://www.youjustgetme.com/tofuburger

Work has been driving me a little crazy recently... mainly a couple of people who seem to get more clueless every day. A long weekend sounded awesome, so using my birthday as an excuse I took a vacation day today.

With the weather calling for a nice summer day, not as hot as last week, I decided to bike up to Singing Beach in the nearby town of Manchester-by-the-Sea.



( Read more... Cut for bandwidth and large pic )

Well, I've had a couple of questions submitted for the Ask Me Something/Anything meme... so, as promised, here are my answers:


I was just wondering if and when you might ever come back to Michigan for a visit. :-)
I can't say for certain... it would definitely be nice to go back more often than I do now. It's possible I'll be there over the holidays... depends on the family's plans.


*ponders* Ooh! Can I join your and Kiffa's band? :D
Might be tough being in different states... but you're certainly welcome to make a guest appearance! :-)


What is your favorite karoake song (to sing)?
Good question... I am still getting comfortable with getting up on the mic and performing. Often it depends on who's there with me, either in the crowd or singing along. Doing "Don't You Want Me" with Kiffa was certainly a blast. I also tend to have fun with "Wonderwall" since it's kind of a crowd-pleaser and it's comfortably within my range.