Grumpy Whinging

Checking in, eight years later

markm — Mon, 10 Jul 2023 18:42:08 GMT

If I were patient, I'd wait until the 31st of August to write this. But I was just reminded of the existence of this website by John Scalzi, and I couldn't resist finding out if my password still worked. Guess what!

Anyone got a bluesky invite?

Is this thing still on?

markm — Mon, 31 Aug 2015 16:23:25 GMT

I'm almost afraid to ask.

A Sure Way to Make Me Feel Old, Part IV

markm — Tue, 01 Jan 2013 13:11:18 GMT

Released five years ago this year:

Bolt
The Dark Knight
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
In Bruges
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Iron Man
Kung Fu Panda
Milk
Quantum of Solace
WALL-E

Ten years ago:

Elf
Finding Nemo
Kill Bill: Volume 1
Lara Croft: The Cradle of Life
A League of Ordinary Gentlemen
Lilo and Stitch
Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
Lost in Translation
Monster
X2: X-Men United

Fifteen years ago:

Armageddon
The Big Lebowski
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Lost in Space
Shakespeare in Love
Sphere
Star Trek: Insurrection
The Truman Show
U. S. Marshals
Wag the Dog

Twenty years ago:

The Fugitive
Groundhog Day
Jurassic Park
Needful Things
The Pelican Brief
The Piano
The Remains of the Day
Robin Hood: Men in Tights
Schindler's List
Sleepless in Seattle

And, finally, twenty-five years ago:

The Adventures of Baron Munchauesn
Beetlejuice
Die Hard
A Fish Called Wanda
Gorillas in the Mist
The Last Temptation of Christ
Mystic Pizza
Rain Man
Twins
Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

Beyond that I just won't look.

A Sure Way to Make Me Feel Old, Part III

markm — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 14:40:54 GMT

Released five years ago this year:

Beowulf
Bridge to Terebithia
Enchanted
The Golden Compass
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Hot Fuzz
Ratatouille
Spider-Man 3
Stardust
Transformers (the first one)

Ten years ago:

The Bourne Identity
Catch Me If You Can
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Ice Age
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
Men in Black II
Minority Report
Spider-Man
Star Trek: Nemesis
Star Wars II: Attack of the Clones

Fifteen years ago:

Austin Powers (the first)
Face/Off
The Fifth Element
Gattaca
Good Will Hunting
L. A. Confidential
Men In Black
Princess Mononoke
Starship Troopers
Titanic

Twenty years ago:

Aladdin
Alien 3
Army of Darkness
Basic Instinct
Bram Stoker's Dracula
A Few Good Men
A League of Their Own
The Muppet Christmas Carol
My Cousin Vinny
Wayne's World

And, finally, twenty-five years ago:

Fatal Attraction
Full Metal Jacket
Hellraiser
Lethal Weapon
Planes, Trains, and Automobiles
Predator
The Princess Bride
Robocop
Spaceballs
The Untouchables

Beyond that I just won't look.

A Sure Way to Make Me Feel Old, Part II

markm — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 22:26:26 GMT

(A little late, but better than never)

Released five years ago this year:

300
Cars
Casino Royale
The Devil Wears Prada
The Illusionist
Pan's Labyrinth
The Prestige
Superman Returns
V for Vendetta
X-Men: The Last Stand

Ten years ago:

Amélie
A Beautiful Mind
Black Hawk Down
Fellowship of the Ring
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
Monsters, Inc.
Mulholland Drive
Ocean's Eleven
Spirited Away
Shrek

Fifteen years ago:

The English Patient
Fargo
Independence Day
James and the Giant Peach
Mars Attacks!
Mission: Impossible
Scream
Sling Blade
Trainspotting
Twister

Twenty years ago:

The Addams Family
Barton Fink
Beauty and the Beast
Cape Fear
Hook
JFK
Point Break
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (Costner version)
The Silence of the Lambs
Terminator 2: Judgment Day

And, finally, twenty-five years ago:

Aliens
Castle in the Sky
Crocodile Dundee
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
Highlander
Labyrinth
The Name of the Rose
Platoon
Pretty in Pink
Stand By Me
Top Gun

Beyond that I just won't look.

markm — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 19:08:23 GMT

One of the inventors of the MUD, Dr Richard Bartle, has a blog that's available on LJ: http://syndicated.livejournal.com/drbartle_atom/

If you like computer gaming, computer history, or antique playing cards, add this to your friends list right now.

A snippet from my classic

markm — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 01:04:12 GMT

Roy stood over his apparatus in dismay. The latest experiment was yet another in a long string of failures, and there was nothing new to be learned from this one. He sat on a stool, slowly put his elbows on the table and lowered his head into his hands.

It was in that pose that George found him. George was his Consideratór and was getting close to being done with him. Perhaps another talk was warranted, George thought. But it was close to getting to be decision time.

"Hello, Roy."

Roy looked up. He wanted to be left alone; he wanted to walk away from all this. Something compelled him to stay. He simply said, "George" in reply.

"D'you want to talk about it?"

Roy sighed. "What's left? I've done everything now, and I'm no closer to the solution than I was when I started."

George suppressed a reaction to the unintended pun and took a few steps closer to the lab bench. A crunch underfoot told him he had just destroyed a pipette. At the sound, Roy slumped lower in his seat.

"Couldn't you have trained me more completely?" he asked.

George paused a moment before answering. "As your Consideratór, I am allowed to say that we trained as well as we could train you."

"But not well enough to complete this," Roy replied, waving a hand over the lab bench.

George nodded. "The stupidest farmer grows the biggest potatoes. And your potatoes are so very, very big, Roy."

markm — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 15:54:56 GMT

I tried out the What Should I Read Next? website, and put in Cryptonomicon, The Final Empire, Paladin of Souls, Anansi Boys, The Sharing Knife, Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, and the Illuminatus! Trilogy. Here's what it recommended:

The Cobweb - Neal Stephenson, J. Frederick George
Interface - Neal Stephenson, Frederick George
Idoru - William Gibson
Time Out of Joint - Philip K. Dick
Inversions - Iain M. Banks
Broken Angels - Richard K. Morgan, Todd McLaren
Heavy Weather - Bruce Sterling
Cetaganda - Bujold Lois McMaster
The Anubis Gates - Tim Powers
A Deepness in the Sky - Vernor Vinge

In addition to those, my friends on ifMUD also recommended: Stephenson's Zodiac, Powers' The Drawing of the Dark, Egan's Schild's Ladder and Diaspora, Stross's Singularity Sky, Zindell's Neverness and A Requiem for Homo Sapiens, and Reynolds' Revelation Space

Thank you all! I'm looking forward to reading these.

A Sure Way to Make Me Feel Old

markm — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 19:00:50 GMT

Released five years ago this year:

Batman Begins
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
King Kong
Madagascar
Mr. & Mrs. Smith
Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith
War of the Worlds
Wedding Crashers

Ten years ago:

Cast Away
Gladiator
How the Grinch Stole Christmas
Meet the Parents
Mission: Impossible II
The Perfect Storm
Scary Movie
What Lies Beneath
What Women Want
X-Men

Fifteen years ago:

Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls
Batman Forever
Casper
Crimson Tide
Die Hard: With a Vengeance
GoldenEye
Jumanji
Pocahontas
Se7en
Waterworld

Twenty years ago:

Dances with Wolves
Dick Tracy
Die Hard 2
Ghost
Home Alone
The Hunt for Red October
Kindergarten Cop
Pretty Woman
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Total Recall

And, finally, twenty-five years ago:

Back to the Future
Brazil
Cocoon
The Color Purple
The Goonies
The Jewel of the Nile
Out of Africa
Rambo: First Blood Part II
Rocky IV
Witness

Beyond that I just won't look.

markm — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 03:11:38 GMT

I just added the names of the films that were correctly guessed to the original post, however three films are still unknown.

The first image is from the original post, and the second image is new.

No. 2:

No. 3:

No. 8:

Comments are unscreened, so beware of spoilers.

Film Quiz

markm — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 12:14:10 GMT

I thought it might be fun to do one of these again: guess which film these screenshots are from. Comments are screened, so you can guess as many as you like. I tried to put in a mix of easy & hard ones this time.

[Edited to add: I'll update the post with correctly-guessed titles, and eventually reveal all answers]

No. 1:
The Matrix - Guessed by: huskyscotsman, jrw

No. 2:

No. 3:

No. 4:
Dawn of the Dead - Guessed by: miseri

No. 5:
Joe's Apartment - Guessed by: jotasbrane, coho29's fiancee, katre50

No. 6:
Clash of the Titans - Guessed by: huskyscotsman, jrw

No. 7:
Jason and the Argonauts - Guessed by: jotasbrane, huskyscotsman

No. 8:

As a reminder, this year's interactive fiction comp ends tomorrow at midnight EST, so get your votes in!

Progress

markm — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 22:31:43 GMT

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-hate-gays9-2009oct09,0,3652953.story

More Dreamwidth Invite Codes

markm — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 00:22:19 GMT

Several more codes are available. Email me at mark-dot-musante-atsign-gmail-dot-com if you want one

two dreamwidth invite codes

markm — Sun, 03 May 2009 13:28:12 GMT

anyone interested?

This is me.

markm — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 04:09:08 GMT

ONE and FIVE and six and FOUR and...

markm — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 18:44:27 GMT

Forwarded from a friend: The Axis of Awesome - 4 Chords. There's nothing new about pointing out the way songs re-use chord progressions, but they did a pretty good job.

Unexpected Illusion

markm — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 14:25:47 GMT

This image (from this site) makes it look like the "0" line is curving downwards. For you as well, or just me?

Silver linings?

markm — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 18:56:59 GMT

One good thing about the current blackout (we haven't had power since 9:30pm Thursday) is that I missed out on the 10.5.6 update. Apparently there have been Issues.

http://www.betanews.com/article/Rise_of_complaints_follows_Apple_Mac_OS_X_1056_update/1229442960

Quake Marine

markm — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 15:59:44 GMT

I'm not sure what it is about this video, but I found it highly amusing. The YouTube user "Wintericecrystal" first came to my attention when he started reviewing some of the IFComp 2008 game entries, and the video embedded below just popped up a couple of days ago.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to dry my eyes.

markm — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 02:18:05 GMT

It's possible that you're a WoW player and you have not yet read Jenni's blog. I say it's possible only because I haven't fully grokked quantum mechanics, and I'm sure there's a mechanical quantum out there that represents a universe in which there is at least one person who is a WoW player and has possibly not yet read Jenni's blog.

If this is you, and this is your universe, check out her post on Death Knights, and WoW in general. Brilliant stuff. Almost reaches derspatchel levels of funny.

Yes, I know. But trust me.

markm — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 17:20:00 GMT

Testing Pixelpipe

Pre-K or Player-Killer? You decide
Posted via Pixelpipe.

ProgressQuest++

markm — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 02:21:10 GMT

Warning: this generates sound:

Play free games at WeGame.com

The Book of Accidents

markm — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 18:25:32 GMT

Playing With Horses

Horses are very dangerous, but most useful animals. To be kicked by them is almost certain death: and children often play about them and go near their heels without being sensible of their danger. In the engraving we see a little innocent who had been engaged in gathering locks of fresh grass and giving them to her papa's horse. After employing herself in this way for some time, she carelessly took hold of his tail, unconscious of the danger that she was in, until the horse, by a kick of one leg, laid her lifelesss on the ground.

The Book of Accidents - Designed for Young Children

markm — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 18:01:15 GMT

(from lpsmith, via ifMUD)

The Book of Accidents

In presenting to his little readers the "Book of Accidents," the Author conceives he cannot render a more important service to the rising generation and to parents, than by furnishing them with an account of the accidents to which Children, from their inexperience or carelessness, are liable. If generally studied it will save the lives of thousands, and relieve many families from the long and unavailing misery attendant on such occurrences.

markm — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 10:20:47 GMT

Hamish MacDoctor?