Amusing Coincidences in My Life: Shadowgate, Empire’s End, Monuments Men

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You can almost taste the sarcasm.

So THAT’S where that music is from!

For several years I, from time to time, have had this haunting piano tune enter my head. I’ve heard it somewhere before… but I couldn’t place where. The other day, I was randomly browsing my Steam account, and decided that my wishlist of 45 games needed to be cleaned up. I go over there, and discover- hey! One of the games I want is on an 80% sale, so it’s only $3! (This sale is now over- sorry. But Steam is always doing awesome sales, so it’s only a matter of time before it happens again.) It’s the new Shadowgate game that was released about a year ago. I randomly click on a few of the trailers, and… that haunting theme starts playing! Turns out it’s the death / game over theme from Shadowgate. Mystery solved! Continue reading “Amusing Coincidences in My Life: Shadowgate, Empire’s End, Monuments Men”

Have I Made a Mistake? Jerry Jenkins’ Empire’s End: Post #1: The Beginning

The following post is not an official review. It is merely my initial thoughts and first impressions of this title, which was provided to me by christianaudio.com. A review will be written and posted when I have completed the novel. 

I am going to have so much fun with this one. Or I am going to suffer horribly. Either way, it’s going to be a ride.

I participate in christianaudio.com’s Reviewers Program; however, I haven’t done much with it because they often offer audiobooks of publications that were essentially sermons in print form… that are now back in audio form often with someone else’s voice. It’s admittedly kind of odd now that I think about it. In any case, I stopped selecting those titles because I don’t know what to do with them. Do I agree with the teaching, do I disagree, do I find them helpful? Do I proclaim how wonderful they are like so many other reviews I read? I’m at a point in my life where I am… how do I say this… suspicious of pastors and Christian teachers of any stripe. Too many stories of abuse, misuse, self-glorifying zeal, and meaningless humility, both in the news and in my own experience. Reviewing their work? I’d rather not.

So when christianaudio finally offered a fiction book, I was excited. When I saw the author is Jerry B. Jenkins, I jumped for it.

Because, yes, this is going to be so… much… fun!

I think.  Continue reading “Have I Made a Mistake? Jerry Jenkins’ Empire’s End: Post #1: The Beginning”

My random thoughts on the Nintendo World Championships 2015 event

nintendo-world-championships-2015So a while back I heard all sorts of talk about Nintendo bringing back its Nintendo World Championships event; apparently this was a thing twenty years ago that I did not pay attention to then and, due to college, did not pay attention to for the past month. I was randomly on YouTube yesterday and saw their “live from E3” link and randomly clicked it, and it just so happened to be about five minutes after the Championships final had started, and I figured, hey, I’m not doing much right now. I’ll put that up in one window while doing other stuff in another window and see how this goes. The following are the thoughts I jotted down as it was going on, edited up a bit to be, you know, legible and not-so-unprofessional.

Continue reading “My random thoughts on the Nintendo World Championships 2015 event”

PhotoComms #1: Trials in Messaging

One of the things I like best about my cellphone is the ability to take photos anywhere I am of anything I see that happens to interest or amuse me. Here I post three photos of things that caught my eye because, well, the messaging is… off. Click the thumbnails to maximize the photos in a new tab.

1. 2015-01-12 12.46.03The UCR campus is frequently visited by blood donation vans, either LifeStream or the American Red Cross. This van belongs to the latter, and because I have a keen eye for the grammatical mistakes of other people, this jumped out at me. What happened here? Is it the word “giveth” as a throwback to King James Bible language, and somebody put a space there accidentally? Is it supposed to say “give the gift of life” and they lost everything after the first five letters and decided it would be too much work to undo their efforts? Continue reading “PhotoComms #1: Trials in Messaging”

The Birth and Death of the Denim Defense

Denim DayPlease note: This is an article about sexual violence. If that bothers you in some way, please move along. Nothing to see here. Thank you.

The University of California, Riverside, is observing Denim Day, an event promoted by Peace Over Violence to protest social mindsets that encourage sexual violence, rape, and victim-blaming. While the official website states the event is to be held on April 29th, UCR is holding it today, on April 22nd. Not sure why. Participants are to wear a red square pin and denim in solidarity with victims of sexual assault. Why denim in particular? Well, that dates back to Italy in 1999, which is probably why I never heard of it- I wasn’t following the news back then. My introduction to this story occurred last week, when a friend gave me the red square pin and, upon my confusion, explained the story. When I got home that night I did a Google search to find what information I could.

And wow is that story a doozy. Continue reading “The Birth and Death of the Denim Defense”