Playing with Fire

Hmmm...where should I start? Well how about with fire, will that do? Fire can be fun to play with. :-) No of course I'll issue the usual precautions--be safe, if you're a kid don't get near fire without parental permission, yada, yada, yada...but I know all that. Anyway, I've had fun before at a campfire putting dead pine branches and watching the flames soar. One time at a family reunion (I'm sure I've told this story too many times) I even participated in the placing of a small dead tree (less than two feet high) onto a campfire--those flames really soared!

Well that is all well and good, oh but wait, candles can be fun too! I especially like dripping melted wax into paper cups of water and watching the patterns you can make with the hot wax and cold water. But whenever I'm doing this I make sure I'm outside away from plants or I'm over a suitable surface (say a fireplace, bricks, or concrete). That makes sense, right? Oh, and you don't ever light anything bigger than a match indoors, right? Well it isn't always that way. Now I don't intend to humiliate anybody so I won't name names. Please humour me. Now let us begin.

But as some have misunderstood this I'll state clearly, this isn't an autobiographical story!

Imagine this--you're home alone (or nearly so) and you're bored, what to do? Hey! Why don't you play with fire? You've bought some matches at the dollar store, so why not light them up anywhere? Well after that experiment (which left a, shall we say, telling odor behind) let us fast-forward several weeks.

You are again bored, so this time you decide to light toilet paper on fire and drop it in the toilet when it gets really going (you don't want to start a real fire after all, right?). Well the problem is that the smell of the buring paper wafts upstairs where others can smell it, others that tell you to cease and desist--especially since the smell lingers. Okay, on to part three, and no we don't fast-forward weeks, only a couple hours until you're completely alone in the house.

This time there is nobody around to tell you no and so when you're in the bathroom (the euphemism at Twin Peaks is "brushing your teeth" or "talking to John") taking care of business you light up a match. Now this may be to eliminate certain ordors or just for fun--that doesn't really matter. But it is of course no fun to douse the match in water, that would be too much effort to do or to remember to do--so you just drop the unlit (it is safe when you can't see any flames, right?) match into the trash can.

However, the trash can decides not to play along with this little drama but instead to cause trouble. The refuse in the small trash can decided that with the introduction of a hot (but not burning, remember the flames are gone!) match it is time to start a party, a hot party, with lots of smoke! Now at this point panic must set in, especially with all of the thick smoke making it very difficult to breath and see--but you keep a firm grip on yourself and resolve to do whatever is necessary.

Whatever is necessary thankfully only involves taking the small trash can (remember it is just smoking, so there obviously isn't any real fire) into the kitchen and putting it inside the kitchen trash bag (full of paper shreddings) and taking that outside and dumping it in the tipped over trash barrel. No this isn't easy, this is no simple metal barrel, this is a wheelable plastic trash bin! These smoking things will be safe in there, eh? :-) It is only moments later that you realize your mistake.

Much to your dismay the trash barrel now starts to catch on fire and melt. But thankfully the garden hose is nearby and you can finally solve the problem with quite a bit of water. Hey, the barrel is irreparably melted, but that doesn't matter, you had fun! Now all that you need to do is wait for someone to walk in the house and notice the pecuilar odor, then the real fun can begin. Oh, and remember, the air will take hours to clear, even with an open window--but what could be more fun?

Ehm, okay, the story is over, we can stop that and get back to more relevant events in life. I've been to see a couple movies recently and I posted some reviews on my forums, so I thought I would duplicate those here (with some nice visuals).

War of the Worlds

I really enjoyed this film, in fact my nephew and I came out very impressed. Part of the appeal was that it was so different from what I thought it would be. I hadn't read much about the movie and so I saw Tom Cruise's name and though, oh, an action movie like Independence Day. But of course it was nothing like that. There was one scene where Cruise's character plays the hero, but for the most part he was just a father trying to keep his kids safe.

The special effects seemed seamless to me, but that is true of most big-budget movies today. I also thoroughly approved of the different method of arrival for the attacking aliens. The original plot of capsules taking off from Mars worked in the world of primitive late nineteenth century astronomy but wouldn't work too well today.

Anyway, the movie was tightly focused on Cruise and his family, there not being any scenes (or not more than a couple) that didn't feature them in some way. Also while many aspects of the book (from what I remember) were condensed or tweaked many were still there.

Batman Begins

Well like my friend John I thought this movie was great--but I don't know much of the Batman story so I can't really comment from that angle. I really enjoy Liam Neeson's acting so it was fun to see him, and I thought Christian Bale was very believable. I really understood what Batman was about. The technology he used seemed somewhat more believable today than say thirty or forty years ago, . Incidentally the Batmobile was completely real and performed all of its own stunts without CGI or trick photography (except that I'm sure they didn't actually drive on the roofs of Chicago where they did extensive filming).

This movie didn't have a "kiddy comic book" feel like I think is somewhat attributed to some American comic book flicks. Rather it felt like a (pardon me for saying this and i don't mean to imply comics are trashy or low-brow) "real movie." *shrugs* I enjoyed it quite a bit and look forward to planned sequels.

IMAX - Space Station

I know this isn't something you can just go to the nearest theater to see--but if you can you should! This film is narrated by Tom Cruise (forget any personal dislike of the man, he does a good job) and filmed by IMAX crews on earth and Astronauts and Cosmonauts in space. You get to see the very beginning of the International Space Station and experience life with its crews and those bringing up new components as they assemble the pieces. This is the closest we can come (apart from a sci-fi flick) to actually going into space--so if you like space and/or sci-fi this movie should be a must!

As you can see, I did enjoy all three of these movies. The first movie I was quoted a price of $7.00 so I just paid it and went in (though it was the student price). Hey, I won't complain about that, and if they think I look that young, fine, it doesn't hurt me. However, when we went to see Batman Begins the man (well boy really) asked me if I was a student and so, of course, I truthfully replied in the negative. If they want to assume my age and give me a discount I really don't care, I just won't lie to get that favour.

I'm looking forward to seeing Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. See I've long been a fan of Roald Dahl's books (beyond just Charlie and James and the Giant Peach and when I saw the first movie I was sorely disappointed, especially where Charlie got into the stuff he wasn't supposed to (unlike the book--just like Peter Jackson twisted the character of Faramir for "dramatic emphasis" and to give him depth). I've heard many good things about this new movie, chief among them that it is not a remake, but instead a new look at the book. *whew* It is quite a relief that they're not remaking the old movie but instead making a new movie from the book. I think too often people forget that some movies came from books, and most readers will freely admit (yes it is a different format, so don't hang up arguing there!) that the book is better. Movies are good for what they are, and you can have a great adaptation. But books that come first always have more depth and have a different flavour. Speaking of books...

I've also been reading somewhat lately, though it has trailed off a bit as I've been cataloging my books instead of just reading them, :-). I have a book catalog program that is really great. You simply type in the ISBN number and it searches various on-line databases (I usually use the Library of Congress, Amazon.com, and Barnes and Noble) for information. Then you accept that information (usually including a cover image from Amazon) and edit it so that it is completely accurate and in the form you like (I sometimes have to correct the price or page numbers). Then you can enter in "personal information" like where you bought the book, what condition it was in, and what you paid for it. With a good book I can enter all information in under thirty seconds, though some take a bit longer, especially if I have to do an image search for the correct cover. I hate the fact that reissues of a book with a different cover have the same ISBN!! Grrr... It makes life so difficult sometimes, ;-).

And now if you'll permit a seeming non sequitur, please welcome this great image of a black wolf: Now I don't know how many of you know, but my general on-line persona is Black Wolff (or some variation of that when it is already taken--note the two "f"s, that is normal). In my founding story for my sci-fi universe I created the character of Josif Wolff, and eventually the Wolff clan. They've somewhat become surrogate identities for me and I've often used differnt Wolff names in games or where a pseudonym is needed: d'Lexus Wolff is an intelligence operative, Josif Wolff is in special forces, Lakota Wolff is a fleet admiral, etc... Well all of this is to say that I'm going to have a website up soon. Now rest assured, this blog won't be going anywhere. I may not always update on a set schedule (but this update and the last have been abnormally large, so I hope that counts for something, :-), but I'll be here. Now a few years back I gave website design a try with a free site, and remarkably that site is still around (but please don't laugh!) www.blackwolff.i8.com --rather a nice short address for a free site, eh? I just couldn't ever get fully interested in it, and the pop-ups drove me nuts. Well now I have an actual registered address, but the site isn't up yet. One of my friends is going to help me with the designing, but he is currently away on a backpacking trip far from electronic succor and aid. But in the meantime my forums have been moved from their old location on the server of a friend's old gaming clan to his new server, ;-). Yeah, I don't have my own space yet, but for now this is a great fit (especially with a server admin I know so well!). Please feel free to visit www.blackwolff.net/forum/ --though you'll have to be registered, and then your account has to be approved by me before you can post. I usually just invite people I think will be interested--and I think many of those who read this are already site members.

Well back to life... In addition to working in the Space Exhibit at the Cincinnati Museum Center I am the scheduling supervisor for evening events--basically I staff the evening events when the museum(s) are rented out for special events. Well I think I'm getting to be too good at my job--I used to take at least two hours every time I went in (every other week) at the start--but this time if I hadn't done some extra stuff I would have left between thirty and sixty minutes after ariving. *shrugs* But I did do a few things extra and then headed down to the Omnimax (see Space Station above--or look up, you might see the real thing instead of just the reel thing!).

Now I'm sure you're looking at the timestamp and wondering, what on earth was he doing up that late? But hey, these blogs don't write themselves! But if they did I'd have a much easier time of it--heck even if they could take dictation--or no, wait, whenever I think about blogging something (I do often, but I'm usually too lazy to actually go blog) it could automatically blog for me. Yes, there is the future of blogging! ThoughtBlogs! :-) But I suspect they would need a very good edit feature. But that is beside the point. I had the opportunity to sleep in this morning, and I know I'll be fine on just a bit less sleep tomorrow--I've done it before, and I've caught up on sleep over the past few days so I'll be great at work.

Though speaking of sleep... Sunday was no picnic. Chris called me the night before (the little traitor) and asked me if I would take him to the airport at 05:30. I agreed, even though I wished I could somehow take his place and fly out to camp instead of him. (They really need more pictures on that site, the few there do not do it justice!) It was a surprise though when he woke me up right at five thirty--I'd expected a bit of time, but really all I did was throw on clothes, grab my hat and keys, and head out the door--so it wasn't that bad. The temperature wasn't perfect, but it wasn't all that bad at that time either. :-) Chris of course got to the airport okay and caught the second flight out to Colorado, but I couldn't get back to sleep. Finally between seven and eight (much closer to eight) I think I finally drifted off--though without setting my alarm to get up for church. Unfortunately then I slept right through both services, :(. I haven't done this in a while--but then I had to get up later in the day to take Ryan into work, so I didn't just laze around all day! :-) Aye, he works at the Golden Arches and brought me a Parfeit the other day--I'd not had one of theirs before, and it was great! :-)

I think I've mentioned before how cream cheese on bagels is really starting to grow on me, right? Well I'm still enjoying it--though I did make a mistake when I went for the cheapest bagels this last time--shopping at Kroger I noticed that Sara Lee bagels were even cheaper than Kroger brand, so I picked them up. Big mistake! Sara may do cakes and pies (though my dad's homemade are of course better! :-)) she doesn't do bagels. I'm almost tempted to stop wasting my cream cheese and go and get some good bagels--in fact I might do that tomorrow after work. I've been getting the cinnamon raisin kind--I find them especially good to contrast with the flavour of the cream cheese.

Ah drat, I was going to type about one more thing (minimum) but for some reason I can't recall what it was. Now I'm not getting old, well not that old...and I'm not too tired. Zzzzzzz....*looks arund* No, no--that was just my fingers on the keys, no actual mid-post snoring going on here. No siree, not here! Zzzzzzzz....

Whew--I just hit Ctrl S on accident--being so used to it saving in Word and such that I didn't look to see it meant to publish here on Blogger. The post actually published itself for a moment, but I managed to click the edit button and save it as draft once again. *shrugs* Though it may have been all for nothing. I can't think of much more to type, so I think I'll have to sign off here...Wait, I did think of something! :-)

When the shuttle was set to launch a few days ago I was very excited and keyed up--the only bad part was that I would be at work. I even talked to a few people about the prospective launch that day--but I'm glad I didn't have to wait for it for hours--somebody told me of the cancellation a bit after the fact. Now once again a Tuesday launch is coming and I'm very much looking forward to that. I wish it could be like one man I talked to in the exhibit--he told me that he watched every one of the Saturn V moon launches from the beaches of Cape Canaveral: Hopefully we'll see a launch actually come off later today--I'm not sure if they plan on another go before the 31st if this one is scrubbed. Here is to hoping the following image is repeated in eight or so hours...

I tell you watching this and a Russian rocket launch on an Omnimax screen (i.e. IMAX dome--still five stories tall, but it curves, that is what the Museum Center has) is breathtaking an awesome.

Okay, this is what I was waiting for. Now I wasn't just typing fluff, but to some extent I was typing to type, ;-). I was trying to reach 3,000 words. I believe my last post reached that, but it included an extensive quote, so it wasn't all me. Well except for a couple pictures (which don't count in word counts) I typed every word of this post...so all 3,000 + words of it are mine. :-) Farewell and y'all come back now, yah hear?

~Matt

PS I managed to top 3,100! :-)