#26. Another Holiday

I'll be gone for about a month, so you'll have to satisfy yourself with rereading old entries, or attempt to have them satisfy you. Whatever. Have some good holidays. (Obviously, there won't be any new Rogue Unit entries, either.)

#25. The Thief's Journal

Here's an irony I won't go into enough so that it'll be an irony for you as well. Returning, or attempting to return, books for cash at the end of this semester, I found I'd not get close to fair, so I didn't return 'em, and so I put one book in a box collecting for a correctional facility, and that one is The Thief's Journal. You'd have a little laugh as well, and I'd love it if one of the persons being corrected actually read this book. Can't say how much good it'd be for them, but...

#24. Live From New York, Crash

Yesterday I finished Live From New York, that SNL memoir I was talking about when I started this blog. The talk from the people is good, but anytime the editors of the book insert their opinion, you're almost better off just getting the jist of it, because it's painful, like something out of a TV celebrity profile. Sound bytes.

Also, I was forced to see the film Crash in the class I was forced to read the book in. After seeing the film, I actually had a better appreciation for the book, and that means that the film was crap. But please, stay away from both.

#23. Star Trek Nemesis, Part 3

So I did go and see Star Trek Nemesis on Friday, and I did enjoy it. But the rest of the country is going to see it as forgettable, and it probably won't make significant numbers at the box office, and this might really be the last Next Generation feature film, but it's here, I love it, and that can't be taken away. That's all I care about.

#22. Rogue Unit "Non Troppo"

Rogue Unit Ep. 03
"Non Troppo"

Eden Holly's attempts to keep Wally and Tyer away from the Pincers, whose attempts to leave Berlios are frustrated as they are suspected of kidnapping activist Elvin Butler. Wally, in the midst of the confusion, learns what Tyer's business aboard the Memento had been: he's a weapons smuggler.

The confrontation isn't pretty. Tyer is furious that Wally didn't trust him, and claims that he's an undercover agent on a sting, but Wally doesn't believe him. The parting is bitter, and Wally is on his own for the first time on Berlios. He leaves the business of the Pincers behind him.

Dody Tyer, however, does not, and after a rash decision to confront the Pincers himself, he's mortally wounded, and Elvin Butler is found dead as well. The evidence points to a third party, and the Pincers are set free and depart Berlios. Wally Pearce is left to try and pick up the pieces, and continue his search for Rogue Unit.

to be continued...

#21. Star Trek Nemesis, Part 2

goin' to see Star Trek Nemesis today...new episode of Rogue Unit tomorrow...

#20. Star Trek Nemesis

Chances are most of the negative reviews you'll hear about or read for Star Trek: Nemesis will have absolutely nothing to do with the actual quality of the film. Just thought you should know.

Also, I predict that Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers will get glowing reviews. Go ahead. Mark my words. Maybe you'll figure out how I can make these two assertions on your own. I hope to god you can, or someone can...

#19. Blog About Nothing

Have you noticed? Probably not. Nobody ever does. Alas, that's the way it always is. Were that things would be different, but they aren't and probably never will be. Not that I'm cynical or anything. Not at all!

And if you have no idea what I'm talking about, excellent!

#18. (Nonsense)

Blogger this!

(Um, that is all.)

#17. Crash

I'd always been somewhat curious about the controversial film Crash, so when I was assigned to read the original novel by J.G. Ballard I was mildly interested. Well, now I'm sorry and am no longer remotely interested in seeing the movie. Out of four steaming piles of crap, I award it four and a half!

#16. Bad Maine Jokes

Ever find a lumberjack passed out in the back of your pickup track, hogging all the room you were saving for the buck you didn't get? No? Well, you obviously have no connection with country music loving Mainers!

Jokey-hokey. That's what I like to specialize in. Bledsoe is returning today to face his former Patriots again. Poor guy. Brady has already worked his voodoo magic, dude. You might as well retire and become another big-name analyst for a network looking for another quick fix.

I have to go now...

#15. Rogue Unit "Another Fallen Prey"

Rogue Unit Ep. 02
"Another Fallen Prey"

Wally Pearce and Dody Tyer, unexpectedly paired together on Berlios, attempt to complete Pearce's mission of locating and bringing in Rogue Unit, neither of them knowing what exactly it is. A team of Pincers is planetside, and the pair have a good idea that they should continue avoiding them.

A visit to the Simon Café is uneventful, but it gives them a chance to learn more about each other. Tyer still won't say what his business traveling aboard the Memento was. Regardless, they are becoming friends. Learning of a speaker on current politics Pearce is interested in who is in town and soon to give a speech, the pair head off. Picking up a newspaper, they learn that the controversial Elvin Butler has been receiving death threats, and begin to suspect that perhaps the Pincers are here for that reason. Pearce wonders if they would really be operating so overtly, but reluctantly agrees to report to the local authorities what they know.

Badger (as the law enforcers are known on Berlios, in the sense of being servants of the badge) Eden Holly is assigned to Pearce and Tyer, whom the authorities are basically dismissing. Holly tags along for the next few days, and when Butler's speech approaches, he goes missing, and suddenly the Pincers are requesting passage offworld.

to be continued...

Age of Mouldwarp

#14. Not Reading Comics

I gotta say this. I used to be a comic book reader until I couldn't afford it anymore (or something very close to that), and I used to read Wizard magazine. It was then and still is such a whore for Marvel Comics. That accounts for why Spider-man was and is such a smash, and why Marvel always has so many of the highest-selling comics. But Marvel's dirty little secret is that while it hides under the pretension of being a more honest comics company than DC, which I prefer, it really plays to the lowest common demoninator. I stand by that like I stand by a dime as my favorite coin. (See previously-posted babbling about that.) Wizard sometimes appeared to want to be a serious casual read, but it's relentless propoganda campaign for Marvel always won out and in the end I finally decided that I had very little respect for the magazine. It's not something I miss from my comic book days.

Sure, I sound really trite there, but I could go into more detail. I just don't feel like it.

Yes, I know. Slacker.

#13. The Previous Version of This Post Was Eaten

I had a post written up and everything, but then my computer ate it er something. So this is what you get to replace it.





Nothing!

#12. Penny and Dimed

So the other day I had a dime and a penny in my pocket. At some point I reach in and can only find the penny. Now, I love dimes. Dimes are my favorite coin. They're the smallest American coin, yet they're worth more than two others. It's a blast just thinking about it, right? I panic, and decide to write it off, a dime found a dime lost. (Literally; I had found the dime earlier in the week on the ground.) Later in the evening, I reach into the pocket again and find both the penny and the dime. I hate that pair of pants.

Yah, I try to make each post worthwhile...One day until the second installment of Rogue Unit...

Age of Mouldwarp

#11. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Didn't get a post in yesterday...Anyhoo, the idea I had for it will fall into today's...

Ever not want to do something and end up doing it anyway? The other day I was talking about Harry Potter & the Chamber of Secrets, and I mentioned that there were things I didn't like about it. That I discussed a bit, but when asked to enumerate on what I did like, I fell into a quandary. I'd already done this, explain what I liked about it to others, and so I didn't feel like repeating myself, so I emphasized that I did in fact like the film despite evidence to the contrary. My friend wasn't satisfied, but I still did not feel like getting into it again, so I repeated that I had really enjoyed it. Thereby repeating myself, albeit in a different from the way I had hesitated in doing, even with my antipathy to do so.

Quite interesting, huh? That's all, anyway, for today...

Age of Mouldwarp

#10. Back from Thanksgiving

Back from the Thanksgiving holiday...Are you expecting a run-down of what I di?. Well, you might as well expect to see Eminem mature in his subject matter. It ain't gonna happen. I had a good time, saw a good movie, (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets), and now I'm typing away once more for the Monk. It's almost becoming habit. Eh. Maybe tomorrow I'll have something of substance to say, but for now, bamberg in the berg.

Age of Mouldwarp

#9. E-Speak

Y'know what I can't stand? AOL Instant Messaging. Well, literally as well, but it's what people call it that irks me. They call it AIMing or Instant Messaging or IMing. All of it sounds awkward, and I hate thinking about the concept like AOL has a monopoly on it (but of course it does). What I'm getting at is that the concept should have a more neutral name, like e-speak or something. Maybe it does already and I just don't know, but...

This is my last post until probably Sunday or Monday (and the people rejoiced); I'll be away on short Thanksgiving holiday. Until then...

Age of Mouldwarp

#8. Background of Rogue Unit

Do you want some context for Rogue Unit? That'd probably be nice of me, huh? It takes place roughly a thousand years from now and features a human civilization which has colonized a small chunk of the Milky Way, meaning that Berlios and Descartes are both human checkpoints. There aren't any aliens here, much like the TV show Firefly, which I dislike for projecting the past onto the future, and not just any past but the American past, which is even more nauseating than just the simple past aspect. But I won't get into that. That's hardly important where Rogue Unit is concerned.

And concerning Rogue Unit and the Monk, although you might get the mistaken impression that this so-called serialized synopsis series figures greatly into my plans for this blog, it doesn't and it didn't. I decided to start it on a whim, and it will mostly be confined onto Saturday posts, meaning that the rest of the week will be your traditional blog shlogging, whatever that means.

Perhaps this is what it means? Okay, so I have nothing at the moment, but rest assured that you can look through some of the other posts and find what I might mean. That's all for now...

Age of Mouldwarp
(yes, that is beginning to look like a signature)

#7. Rogue Unit "Simply Vanish Says the Night"

Rogue Unit Ep. 01
"Simply Vanish, Says the Night"

Wally Pearce is sent by Colonel Moss to the planet Berlios, where he is to locate Rogue Unit, specifics not required, since Pearce is not to get emotionally involved. So, not knowing what Rogue Unit is, Pearce sets off on the transport vessel Memento to Berlios, unaware that Moss has made a deal with a team of Pincers to meet him there.

Pearce comes across Dody Tyer aboard Memento, which Tyer is taking for a business trip to Descartes. The two experience an assault by Pincers on another passenger, which Tyer takes as a sign that there is someone else onboard the Pincers are in reality targeting, since they are known to send warnings to their victims before dealing with them personally. Tyer then suggests that they blend in with the rest of the passengers, which Pearce takes as hiding without actually saying so.

The rest of the trip to Berlios is uneventful, but then an explosion rocks the Memento, and forces all passengers to disembark on the planet. Pearce agrees to let Tyer tag along for a while, as he begins his search for Rogue Unit.

to be continued...

Age of Mouldwarp

#6. Prelude to Rogue Unit

Today I picked up a new book, Live From New York, a chronicle of Saturday Night Live from the people who have and are experiencing it firsthand. After realizing I had nothing better to do, I read the first chapter this afternoon, and it's worth the price of admittance. That's pretty much all I've got to say on that.

Tomorrow sees the start of Rogue Unit, what I'm describing as a serialized synopsis series, to be featured here at Scouring Monk most Saturdays I'm available to continue it. I call it a series since it will be unfurled in the general television sense, with seasons and weeks off and such, and the first week off will be next week, luckily enough. That'll give me a chance to make sure I want to go ahead with it after getting the headway in the door (I'll be off on Thanksgiving holiday). Then it'll continue for a few weeks, and then a month-long break will take place whilst I take my winter holiday from school, the most reliable source of Internet I've got.

Age of Mouldwarp (but Rogue Unit will be exclusive to the Monk for at least a little while)

#5. Destroy, She Said

So what did I think of Destroy, She Said? I wasn't really sure until I read the interview that was included in the book involving the author and two pretty easily-identified friends of hers. The book was made into a film, as Duras's books were routinely treated, and the bulk of the discussion revolved around the differences between the book and the film, and through this I gained a better understanding of how little direction the basic story really had. As a curiosity, it isn't bad, but not anything I would recommend as something one would need experience in order to better appreciate literature or the art of storytelling in general. It meanders (which you would think might be something I would enjoy) but without any real point other than Duras's apparent political agenda, which was to move civilization past its present form and into communism. The book was published in 1969, and thusly she talks a lot about hippies and how they were an indication of the type of movement that would be needed to wipe the then-prevalent mindset away and allow for a new beginning to take place. She believed that the hippy mentality of passivity would lead to an entire generational apathy that would wipe the slate clean. It's never made clear whether Duras believed in functional communism or actual communism as witnessed already in history by that point. Russia had already been buried by it, and China was well on its way. I can only hope that she wasn't still so deluded as to believe communism would work with the present society and mindset, but perhaps that was the reason for her emphasis on a new start.

At any rate, I thought her reasoning was simplistic and she was most likely not interested in it being anything else. There're other things to read, and thankfully this book was short and quick, so it's more or less out of the way now, aside from the discussion in class I still have ahead of me. Those are always interesting...

um, and here's my site again: Age of Mouldwarp

#4. That Shakes Spoons!

The Face in the Far Well turned out to be a poem after all, and I've written it. Not exactly sure if it's complete, but hey. Also, I've finished reading Destroy, She Said.

...New slang...That shakes spoons! Meant to be taken in the manner that something seems somewhat odd...Garbage! As in "cool."...

#3. People Talking Randomly

Ever meet one of those people, likely just on the street, or possibly in your place of residence for those not owning a home or condo or the like, who talk to you, or at you, with no apparent motivation other than they feel like talking to someone, or simply expressing something? Barring any kind of examination as to what that may be about, let's say that I had such an experience not ten minutes ago, and it occured to me afterward that these blogs are not unlike that experience. Granted, those who read these things are seeking to read them, but the people who are typing them up, such as myself, aren't seemingly directing their thoughts at anyone in particular. It's a bit odd, is all, and thankfully my excuse for participating in said activity is that I'm also a bit odd, but no more than anyone else currently living, deceased in the last million years, or to live in the next million.

Erm, go about your normal business...

Age of Mouldwarp
(that's my web site, which is presumably the reason someone is reading this hokum...)

#2. Batman Nonsense, Reading List, Writing Projects

Batman is attempting to take over the world. Don't believe me? He's already got the season of Spring covered, with the first sign of it being Robin, er, the robin. He's now attempting to do the same with Winter, with Mr. Freeze, er, frost. Back in early November I saw a patch of frost on the walkway and knew that winter was on its way. Sure enough, it snowed soon after. Now that New England has had its first large helping of snow over the weekend, I've been able to enjoy that, see? Today I noticed a frozen patch of snow for the first time, and I also saw my breath. Granted, I could have likely seen my breath earlier, but this is the first time I noticed it. Winter is here. Goodbye mild winter from last year...

Current reading list:
Destroy, She Said by Marguerite Duras (school reading)
Civil Disobediance, and Other Essays by Henry David Thoreau (school reading)
Dave Barry's Guide to Guys by Dave Barry

Current writing projects:
They Saved Eddington's Brain! (a Copernicus tale)
The Face in the Far Well (haven't quite decided what this is yet, probably a poem)
Segue Your Way (part of the Prod Oasis saga Enigma of the Dawn)
Doug's Dichotomy (senior project)

#1. (First Blog)

Have you come here for something enlightening to read? Do you really expect to find that? Have you found that yet on the Internet? If you have, let me know so I can look it over, since I have only found gerbles juggling geraniums, which might mean that 1) I haven't spent enough time surfing and/or 2) perhaps I've started out on a much too quirky note. Oh well, plenty of time to fix that, eh? I expect that future posts will not be so weird...