Category: …And Little E Makes 3

Categories
...And Little E Makes 3 Critters Music

The opposite of cold dog

We have our first freeze warning of the season tonight, and the wind is positively fierce into the bargain, so Xena’s spending a rare night inside with us. Too bad Evan was already in bed – he’d be delighted to see her. As much as he loves kitties (and he even says “kit-ty!” when he sees one of the cats), he gets so excited and forgets to be gentle. Olivia bears it up to a certain point and runs away; Oberon takes a lot more abuse, probably because he’s bigger and obviously not as “fragile” as Olivia, and will make a token “I’m gonna bite you” gesture before taking off and hiding. (He never actually bites. He just tries to psych the kid out.) With Xena, Evan’s not-so-gentle pats are par for the course. And since he’s learned to say “dog-gie” too, she’s perfectly happy. If he gets too overbearing, she just asks to be let outside – problem solved.

Doctor Who: Series 4I gave the 30-second track-by-track previews for the Doctor Who series 4 soundtrack a listen today, and I’m much more excited about it than I already was – it’ll certainly be better than the series 3 soundtrack, which was heavy on stuff from Human Nature, which, while it was based on my all-time favorite Doctor Who novel, turned out to be far from my favorite episode. Now, the flipside of that is that there seems to be a notable lack of action music from the Sontaran 2-parter on the series 4 CD – at least if the track samples are anything to go by – including the repeated build-up to (and avoidance of) the nuclear launch, but I’m waiting for the CD itself to see if any of that stuff is tucked away somewhere. You can pretty much bet on a couple of selections from this working their way into what’s looking like it’ll be an epic-length year-end favorite-music podcast. With my recent lucky find of a very, very cheap (i.e. less than $3 – yay eBay) copy of Levinhurst’s House By The Sea album, as well as the final trio of Alan Parsons Project remasters, the Doctor Who CD is the last thing on my music want list for this year. At least soundtrack-wise, this has been a dandy year for music (Lost Season 3, Torchwood, Prince Caspian, Wargames, the Stargate direct-to-DVD movies, and new Indiana Jones and Batman music); I’m not complaining too much on the non-soundtrack front either.

How I made the leap from Evan and the dog to soundtrack music, I have no idea. Which probably means I need sleep.… Read more

Categories
...And Little E Makes 3 Critters

Welcome to Evan’s Man Cave (formerly Daddy’s Man Cave)

Evan has figured out how to open and close the door to my game room; the only thing he hasn’t quite gotten his head (or his height) around is the operation of the doorknob (or, for that matter, the lock – daddy senses a bit of doorknob surgery in the near future before that happens…), but other than that, he’s likely to open the door, greet you and welcome you in. I don’t even think this is my game room anymore. :shocked:

He’s also taken on another bizarre habit. He has a blankie horse, you see, and it’s become clear over time that this is his “comfort animal” – his security blanket with a horsie head, if you like. But lately, he’s taken to walking through the house with blankie horse’s head clamped in his teeth, “hands-free.” It took me a moment, and then I realize where he had seen this behavior, and it wasn’t from either of his parents.

PUFFBALL!

My son’s being raised by cats.… Read more

Categories
...And Little E Makes 3 Home Base Music Television & Movies

It is broken. We look for things to make it go.

You are smartArgh. For some reason that I can’t figure out and don’t really have the time to screw with much, Scribblings (the original, you might say, at theLogBook.com) is broken. Videos don’t work anymore for no real reason that I’ve been able to fathom, actually getting it to accept new content is hit-or-miss, and it’s just emblematic of the site as a whole – WordPress was supposed to liberate me to some extent, and let me just concentrate on generating content, because I write almost constantly, and don’t want to have to code pages almost constantly. But it’s maintaining the infrastructure that’s killing me. When I upgraded the WordPress that drives the episode guide, it completely wiped out all categories, and I’m still going through those 2,500-odd entries and re-categorizing them (i.e. Star Trek? check. Deep Space Nine? check. Season 4? check.)…I’m up to 1995 now. Which is quite a feat when the thing starts in the ’50s. It really renews my appreciation for just how much ground the site covers, how much written material (and hopefully well-written material) it represents…and makes the back of my brain throb and beg for More Help With The Damn Thing. It’s not WordPress’s fault, but the early days of the toddler era is not a good time for me to be able to find the kind of time it takes to prop up that infrastructure all the time. The news page has also been hit by the same bug, and I just. don’t. have. the. time. I’ve stopped updating the news page. I’ve looked for someone to take it over, but there’s only so much I can offer when the site’s revenue basically covers its own bills (and to be honest, that’d be a misnomer this year – the PDF DVD is what’s paying the site’s bills right now; the site itself – aside from hosting the ordering page for the DVD – hasn’t made a cent this month). Next year is theLogBook’s 20th anniversary, but I’m starting to wonder if it might not be time to start dialing the whole thing down a bit and just doing sporadic updates. When I feel like it. Rather than trying to generate, on a weekly basis, what I would’ve needed to fill the 6-page print fanzine that theLogBook was in the 1990s.

I don’t even know if this entry will post, so before I hit the ‘submit’ button, I’m going to grab the whole thing and copy it to the clipboard. 😆

On the home front, I’ve just finished a bit of marathon data entry for the in-laws, which proved to be an exhausting, round-the-clock-for-several-days exercise that made me want to say “Uh…you guys do realize I have a child to look after…right?” I’m relieved that that’s over.

Today Evan uttered a new word quite clearly while patting Xena on the nose: DOG-GIE! Her tail started wagging so fast that I was afraid she’d start helicoptering and her butt would raise into the air and lift the rest of her away. Evan has also proven quite capable of playing with Oberon with a length of thick string (I think it’s the drawstring from the swim trunks I wore incessantly in 2007 that no longer fit me – even with the drawstring, they’re too big). He’s really picking up on the “animals-are-your-friends” thing at a very early age, and he seems to have a natural tendency to be gentle toward them (aside from occasionally wallowing all over Olivia like she’s an escapee from his stuffed animal collection that jumped out of the crib and somehow attained free will). Hopefully he’ll never outgrow that.

Work is continuing on the CGE DVD project, and after that I think I’m going to take a break of a week or so to just chill out and not edit any video for a bit. I’ve done more editing lately than I’ve done since the first PDF DVD, or maybe even since the TV station days, and it’s worn me out just a little bit. (The data-entry-o-thon sure as hell didn’t help to alleviate that sense of fatigue.)

Listening-wise, I’ve been devouring the last trio of Alan Parsons Project remasters, Ben Folds’ really uneven new album, and some other stuff. Supposedly, tomorrow we’ll have the tracklist for the new Doctor Who soundtrack album due in November, which I’m looking forward to tremendously. There was some fantastic music this season, moreso than in season 3 I thought. As far as watching stuff… I’m so far behind on Heroes that I’ve almost given up on it. It’s going to become one of these things where I’ll just wait until it’s all over and watch it in marathon viewings, the way some folks are doing Lost if they haven’t been in on the joke from day one. (For that matter, I’m beginning to feel that way about Lost too.) I have been watching The Sarah Jane Adventures (cool), as well as meandering through a couple of other short-lived BBC series, Star Cops (very ’80s, but really not bad) and Moonbase 3 (an early ’70s British companion piece to The Starlost…with about the same tone and pacing and bizarrely overdramatic characterization). I recently finished watching the first season of Alien Nation, picking up on all the episodes I missed out on the first time around, and while it too is hopelessly ’80s, it had so much potential that I’m depressed all over again in retrospect. The TV movies were initially a nice consolation prize, but then they became victims of the law of diminishing returns. A lot of this stuff I’ve been watching to add to the episode guide section, and between that and my general state of fatigue, I’ve been doing all of this viewing and listening in a kind of dazed mode. I haven’t picked up any new viewing habits from the new season, and I think it’s just a combination of not having the energy to devote to appointment viewing and the current crop of stuff just not hitting me the right way. Even The Sarah Jane Adventures don’t really qualify as appointment viewing – I download the episodes, burn them to a DVD-RW, and watch them when I have a chance, and then wipe the disc and reuse it when I have both parts of the next story. Suddenly I understand how/why parents can seem like they’re so out of touch: here I am, listening to new releases of old music, playing (or thinking a lot about) old video games, watching (for the most part) old TV shows. I’m clearly way past it.

I should probably hold off on writing anything else until I’m – ha! – less tired.… Read more

Categories
...And Little E Makes 3 Funny Stuff Gaming Home Base

Numerous random strings of written syllables

I’m in industrial-sized shitheaps of pain right now. Somewhere between Sunday and this morning, I did a number, probably a very large whole number, on my back. Sunday consisted of me working on the farm and doing a lot of lugging-around of the birthday boy and his copious haul of presents; today consisted of me moving at little as possible and repeatedly saying “ow.” I felt like I was just going to fall over ever time I had to pick Evan up today. I’ve taken lots of extra strength Advil just so I can keep moving/functioning enough to keep up with him, and even then, “keeping up with him” has consisted largely of “sitting/laying in the same general area where he’s playing.”

Thank God for the nice haul of nifty new toys; that’s made it possible to keep him concentrated in one area of the house. He got a little electronic basketball goal thing (which, being the little hacker that he is, he’s already figured out how to score infinite points without actually doing anything with the ball), and neato little steering wheel dealie with a little screen on it, which will run through the alphabet, counting 1-10, various songs, or just play a somewhat primitive driving game depending on what he does with the wheel, the horn, etc.; the steering wheel thing is really kinda cool. (I admit it, I played the little driving game while he was messing with the basketball goal today.) He also got a couple of shape-matching toys, new storybooks, and other goodies. His party, such as it was, went well for the most part; he was already tired by the time the birthday cake rolled out, so he was pretty chilled with everything. “Electronic steering wheel thingie? Cool….cool…”

In other news, AtariAge is having its first label contest in some time, for a new Atari 2600 homebrew called Lead. I had to download the latest public beta to see what the heck it was about, and found that it’s a really cool game with a very interesting take on in-game sound. So I’m going to enter my first AA label contest in 4+ years on this one – this would be a cool game to be a part of.

I’ve also entered a much goofier contest on doctorwhoforum.com, in which the rules are to make a funny single-panel “comic” using only action figures – and the only Photoshoppery allowed is to put text on the image. This is my entry, which only works if the “odd figure out” is recognized (it’s a Star Trek: First Contact Borg figure):

Cybermen vs. Borg

I’ll let you know if I win any Adipose. I’m pretty sure that I won’t, because the individual running the contest has made it clear that bonus points can be scored by playing to his interests and quirks, of which I, being mostly a lurker, was largely unaware. *shrug* Oh well. I’ve still got enough fat on board even if I don’t win any Adipose.

Back to gaming for a moment – I’ve actually been getting some gaming in lately, largely in preparation for PDF Level 2, but I’ve also been trying to write reviews for the site as I go. I’ve been on an Intellivision binge lately, so that’s not a bad place to start looking for recent reviews. I’ve even posted the (long overdue) first Aquarius game review. And it is, in fact, as bad a game machine as legend would have it.

Adipose gags aside, if I may say so myself, within the context of still being a short fat bald guy, I thought I was – relatively speaking – lookin’ good for Evan’s birthday party. I got a pair of slacks on that hadn’t fit me in five years, and dug out one of my favorite shirts, which now no longer looks like the buttons are going to burst open, Hulk-style, which is how it’s looked for the past couple or three years. I think I’ve got a good start. Chasing around after a toddler will probably help me lose another 30 pounds by the time he turns two. If I can just get my back straightened out, this whole fatherhood thing is a pretty healthy gig.… Read more

Categories
...And Little E Makes 3 Toiling In The Pixel Mines

Birthday boy!

Evan and his daddy on Evan's first birthdayEvan’s birthday is today, and I’m working on a little video piece to celebrate the occasion. I temporarily ceased any other video work I had going so I could load every piece of Evan video I have into the Avid. I won’t tip my hand about the music, other than that it involves the Traveling Wilburys. But going through all that video has kinda made me realize how much he’s grown in the past year, and how much I have too – I kinda had to grow the hell up, a bit more than I’d realized. I still don’t know what the heck I’m doing, really – I don’t have a playbook that I’m operating by. All I do know is that it’s now been a year since I become A Guy With A Baby. Somewhere in that year that’s passed, I’ve become Dad. And I don’t doubt for a moment that it’s an improvement. He’s the best part of being me, and from here on out he always will be.

This also means that it’s been a year since I gave up full-time gainful employment. Despite that, I’ve surprised myself and, I think, everyone else by still pulling in some money while I’m on daddy duty. There were people who predicted dire things for us income-wise, and you know, it hasn’t been easy… but for the most part it hasn’t been a train wreck either.

In other news, it looks like those of you hitting gaming events “up east” will have two chances to pick up the PDF DVD – at CCAG in Cleveland on October 12th, and the following week on October 18th in Reading, PA at TooManyGames. I won’t be there in person, but plenty of DVDs will be. 🙂 The sudden surge of duplicating I’ve done for these two shows has brought the total print run up to 200, so if you’re in those parts of the country and haven’t picked on up yet, hit up Tim Snider at CCAG or Scott Stilphen at TMG those weekends and get caught up…especially before the PDF Level 2 DVD comes out next year!

OK, back to the birthday boy for me. I’ll have his video up for your amusement and amazement this weekend, and I’m hoping that next week I’ll have another treat finished at last for those who enjoyed that little video piece I did about catching you up on the mythology of a certain TV show in 35 minutes. Little hint: you’ll need another 30 minutes free in your schedule somewhere, and then you’ll be caught up on the rest of what’s going on in that universe. 😉… Read more