Monthly Archives: December 2008

Because We All Needed More Reasons to Fear Video Games

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  1. This is a sad story in and of itself
  2. It fuels the media’s obsession with hating video games, so I’m doubly angry

But the dad seems to be forgiving:

“Dad, I’m so sorry for what I did to Mom, to you and to the family,” Daniel Petric said, according to his father. “I’m so glad you are alive.”

“You’re my son,” Mark Petric responded. “You’re my boy.”

This next story would be sad, if it were real. The Earth Collider…

“The Large Earth Collider will surely gain us priceless scientific insight by offering a brief glimpse of the universe at the moment of its destruction,” Fermilab director Gordon Josephs said. “But because the Collider achieves this by hurdling Earth into another large celestial object, there are some who feel the risks associated with annihilating our world are too high.

Fans of the LHC will relate.

And then this just isn’t news, but I still heartily endorse its coverage.

Top 10 NBA Beards


Yeah, buddy.

Steve Kerr/Robert Sarver duo…Geniuses…or Moronic?

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It seems like a long time ago since the Phoenix Suns were going on 10+ game winning streaks, and it seems like even longer that the Suns have gotten past the Semi-Conference Finals. A lot has happened with the team this past off-season til now, some good and some bad.

I don’t know about the rest of you who will read this post, but I for one am a fan of Brian and Jerry Colangelo. I think they built the Purple Palace from ground zero to a Finals appearance against what most consider a legendary ’93 Bulls team led by the larger than life Michael Jordan. From father to son, they carried on and built one of the most entertaining and revolutionary basketball teams ever assembled in 2004-2005, and that looked like the start of an incredible run…only to be halted by a series of weird occurrences against the San Antonio Spurs. Brian Colangelo left the team in the hands of Robert Sarver, and pursued his chances with the Toronto Raptors. Since the shift of power, in my opinion the Suns have progressively become worse, even literally by losing in a regressive motion from the Western Conference Finals, to the Semi’s, to a first round exit.

During the year of 2008 the Suns have lost key employees such as Shawn Marion, Raja Bell, Boris Diaw, and Mike D’Antoni. I’m not sure that Shawn Marion was ever going to be happy unless he felt like he was on a team where he could be “the man” and get a Kobe/KG-like max contract with a boat load of money to go along with it. It has now come out apparently that Amare Stoudemire is seeking the same treatment as Marion, Raja Bell requested a trade 2 weeks ago due to his unwillingness to follow a slow-motion grind it out offense that Terry Porter wanted, and that Steve Nash and Porter disagree strongly when it comes to the two offensive styles…Run and gun aka 7 seconds or less and feed the ball to Shaq when you can’t run and gun, or never run and slow the pace down considerably, to an insomnia-curing offense that rivals the Spurs in level of boredom.

The Suns recently acquired J. Rich from the Charlotte Bobcats in exchange for Raja Bell and Boris Diaw, leaving one more remaining spot that is required to be filled by league rules. My question to Kerr is, what is your plan and vision for this team? Sarver states that he wants to win now. Kerr states that he wants to win now. Having a record of 14-10 while other teams like the Lakers and Celtics have lost only 2-3 games so far, states that there needs to be more done to raise the probability of being able to “win now”, because J-Rich alone is not enough to get past teams like the Celtics or Lakers no matter how many high flying dunks he throws down. This team is aging, and it makes me wonder what moves Kerr/Sarver are going to make to bring about players who can fit into the system most efficiently…wait a minute….what IS the Suns system? As referenced before, they’re stuck between run and gun offense and grind it out diesel powered offense, almost like they’re a multiple personality disorder.

My quickest solution would be to come to terms with the fact that this team’s natural identity is ’80s Lakers showtime with an up-tempo offense. Kareem Abdul-Jabbaar the Hutt would ignite the offense off the rebound for quick fast-break points even up into his late 30′s. That’s the style Steve Nash thrives in, that’s the style the newly acquired J-Rich likes, heck, even Shaq said he’d like to ignite that type of offense…and he’s a good enough passer to do that.

In my opinion there’s still some moves that need to be made to get this team back on track, but we’ll see what Kerr does.

I remember right after the Shaq trade Kerr said, “I’ll either be known as a genius or a moron.” as he chuckled, well no-one’s laughing now, because that’s the reality of the situation, and good ole MJ ain’t around to pull you out of this pressure situation.

They didn’t get scared off by our presentation title

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For those of you who have seen updates on the other site, you’ll know that my conference presentation had a completely cheesy and ridiculous title to begin with. Add in the fact that it was our second year so I decided to add a ‘II’ and a subtitle and it’s a snicker-inducing thought for me.

The presentation went well. It went really well. I did my victory lap at Kabuki right next to the Coyotes arena. That Westgate is a great Downtown Disney imitation. It was really nice having everything within one square mile, since last year we had to jog in the rain to get to Mango’s.

I left the photos in the iPhoto library at school. -5 to all memory checks when using Library-Fine Envelopes (page 42 of the Equipment Guide)(really? to the Office of the Treasurer?)

I ordered the Ninja Platter. I took a picture of the marvel, but it is at school.

At Kabuki we were given celebrity status. People I didn’t know recognized me and congratulated me. It was like the Homecoming parade all over again.

“Why are you yelling my name at me? Oh! My name’s on the side of the car!”

Here’s THE BIG NEWS (sans shuriken tempura) quoted from the site:

On Thursday I got an e-mail about our AzLA presentation, []II (it was a sequel year). I received an invitation from KW to be on the Grand Canyon Reader Award Committee.

To put it into context for the non-librarians followers of the site, the Grand Canyon Reader Award is a collection of the best books within the past five years. The committee recommends ten books and then students vote on the best book, like an Oscar award for a book. On top of that, places like P[] B[]C[] and Barnes and Noble will designate special places of honor in their displays for the Grand Canyon Awards. Librarians will buy multiple copies of the books, even if they haven’t read them, simply because they’re on the list.

I get to do G[] Greats for the state. I am very thankful and excited.

Almost There

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The book marathon is coming to a close (since, frankly, I’m out of time). Check the other site of mine (ahem) and the Twitter feed as I update frequently about the librarian conference tomorrow.

I finished Tales of Beedle the Bard just now. I actually liked it more than Deathly Hallows. It fits with Devin’s and my obsession about fictional historical documents just nicely. It’s like the Brothers Grimm, except where magic is common and won’t solve your problems. Or save your hairy heart.

A Question for the Ages

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Ladies and gentlemen of the internet, I come to you today with one of the most important questions of our time, nay, possibly one of the most important questions of all time.  Now, I don’t mean to oversell the importance of this question- but that’s okay, because it would be impossible to oversell it.  I wouldn’t say that the fates of galaxies rest on this question- because you will implicitly understand such a fact as soon as you read the question.  Think long and carefully before you answer, my friend- this is no simple yes or no question to be answered on a whim.

The question I pose before you today: What late ’90s villain had a better orchestral/choral theme- Sephiroth in Final Fantasy VII or Darth Maul in The Phantom Menace?

I told you it was important.

A Separate Registration for my Ego

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My co-presenter and I are getting ready for our presentation at the state librarian conference on Tuesday. We looked back on our program proposal. I didn’t know they were going to put it in the advertising brochure:

After the standing room only presentation last year, …

For I am Libratorr, Master of All Things Books and Technology. Bow before my information largesse!

Just wait ’til you hear what our program was titled.

Pirates vs. Ninjas – LEGO Universe Style

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Ninja hideout or pirate watership, which is the better to make out of LEGOs?

My personal leaning is towards the pirate watership. (Even if they do exclude airships, which we know all gamblers and raconteurs need to try at least once in their careers.)

I thought that they would have some cool java-powered web app to build a ship. I was going to try and build one quickly while the students type up their poems in the library (an assignment where I made a new haiku up off of the top of my head for each hour…I may have some experience with this somewhere before).

No java app. They want you to upload media files. It’s more of a MyLEGOTubeBucketBook type scenario.

The great irony is the disclaimer:

Copied or pirated images (someone else’s photo taken without permission) and images that are considered indecent or obscene are not acceptable.

Don’t pirates…pirate? Don’t they err more towards the obscene and not acceptable? Isn’t that their niche?

Images of people being ninja-starred or nunchucked to the face are strictly prohibited.

TARDIS vs. Circuits of Time

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“Oh, marvellous. You’re going to kill me. What a finely-tuned response to the situation. “
“San Dimas High School football rules!”

When traveling through time and you don’t have plutonium/a timed lightning strike for the 1.21 gigawatts necessary, a phone booth is an acceptable alternative.

The TARDIS

For sheer room and reliability, the TARDIS wins out. The pilot can be killed and regenerated multiple times.

It’s so trademarked, even the British constabulary lost in court fighting the rights to a police booth. You have much more room, so much so that if you plan on stealing Socrates, Napoleon, and Joan of Arc to pass your report so Wyld Stallyns can continue rocking, you won’t be pressed against the glass immersed in historical B.O.

The Circuits of Time

While not as reliable as the TARDIS, the Circuits of Time phone booth wins out for ease of use. Dial 7560 and the year that you want and off you go. It includes a phone book, making it even more convenient. It is prone to malfunction, since the slightest bump to the hangers on the roof will send it skewing into another year. Repair is easy, as you’ll just need to add some chewed gum. When you arrive at your destination, just put an Out of Order sign on the door and no one will notice. You may not be able to regenerate if you die, but at least your future selves can warn your past selves about winding and setting the correct time on your past selves’ future watches.

The Winner

In the end (and beginning, paradoxically), the time travel consumer is the winner. Whether you want to show up in official police blue or lay low in Circle K rust, both will get you where you want to go.

More or less.

Bill and Ted does hold a special place since it was filmed at Coronado High School and Rufus first showed up with the phone booth at Southern and Hardy, Sunsplash=Waterlube, and Metrocenter got rocked by Genghis Khan.