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September 30th, 2009
01:29 pm - SEPTEMBER
Argh.
That is all.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/classic/angry.gif) argh
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August 24th, 2009
03:43 pm - August Thoughts
Keeping the ol' LJ on life support for another month, it looks like...
Let's see. I got engaged this month, but I expect pretty much everyone already knew that? Still writing words for money. Still not making very much money doing it, but living off it which is more than I can say for many of my peers.
I bet this feels as perfunctory to you as it does to me. Why not go visit me on one of my many other virtual hangouts? I like the Twitters these days: @casciato.
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July 24th, 2009
09:24 pm - July, it's your turn!
Hello ... Is this thing on? I am still sorely tempted to simply mothball this and move on. It was a great My First Blog but I just don't have a lot of use for it at this point. The "random details from my life" niche is adequately filled by Twitter and Facebook status updates. I blog every single freaking day on various blogs about zombies, music, technology, social media and other stuff. It leaves me little energy or volition to come here and write about anything.
I have considered making this a blog on writing. See, editors tell you never to write about writing, but sometimes you want to. So to keep it out of my "real" writing, I could write it here. But then I realize I don't really care that much, you don't really care that much and so I don't.
So, if that picture is to be believed, LiveJournal is ten years old. Crazy, I have been here for five of those years. Maybe that is reason enough to keep it going, right there.
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June 30th, 2009
08:20 pm - Obligatory June Post
June almost escaped without getting LiveJournaled. Not so fast, wily June! The most notable thing that happened in June was Zombie Movie Marathon Month. Thirty days, thirty zombie movies, super big fun. You can read all about it on my zombie blog. Right now, Abby has just returned from her job in Wyoming and I'm looking forward to a few days alone with her before she returns to the wilds of Wyoming. Unfortunately, I have a cold or flu or some goddamn thing and feel pretty miserable. Sucktacular timing, immune system!
Q was here for a three-week visit. It was really fun for me, but she got bored a lot. Because I work a lot, and she doesn't have a lot friends here. We went and saw Repo: the Genetic Opera as a midnight moive and we really liked it, even though that was the night I got sick. It's a pretty weird movie and my raging fever only made it weirder. Earlier in her visit we went to Westword Music Showcase (fun but a long fucking day) and the final Hot IQs show (also fun). So we did some stuff.
So that was June, more or less. Less, I guess.
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May 24th, 2009
01:31 pm - Obligatory May post
So, yeah. LiveJournal. I still read my friends' list. I still post the occasional thing in one of my communities. But my interest in blogging random details from my life? Pretty minimal. I am blogging like fifteen or so times a week at various places (newest one is becoming the Denver Horror Movies Examiner so go there if you like horror movies) and just picked up another five-times-a-week blog (Westword tech blogger). So yeah, basically no time to recount meaningless details from my life on any kind of frequent basis. Here's a quick recap: daughter is great, just finished the school year with kick-ass grades. Girlfriend/relationship is great. Still poor. Still work too much.
June is Zombie Movie Marathon Month, which some of you may remember from last year. I'll be watching a zombie movie every day of the month of June. You can read more about it at The Inevitable Zombie Apocalypse.
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April 23rd, 2009
11:38 am - Obligatory April post
Already April 23 and I have yet to post. I've been posting like crazy on my zombie blog The Inevitable Zombie Apocalypse, on the Backbeat Online Blog and on Twitter, though. Sorry LJ, it's not that I don't love you anymore, it's that my life is pretty static for the kind of stuff I post here. Let's see, Saturday is the big move and I couldn't be less enthusiastic... I really enjoy playing Left 4 Dead. I wish I were better at looking for jobs and/or pitching stories.
Sorry, folks, that is all I've got.
Current Music: Fabio Frizzi - Zombi 2 theme
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March 31st, 2009
04:54 pm - Moving soon, melatonin still weird
Abby (aka ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) fairiecolors ) and I are getting ready to move soon. We found a new place off Colfax, just south of Sloan's Lake. Should be a quick bus ride into downtown. We will be there for a while, since we signed a two-year lease. It's a pretty cool place, a decent sized two bedroom duplex. The other side of the duplex is our landlords, at least for now. They seem pretty cool, about our age and have a couple of dogs for Abby's mutts to play with.
Abby got a job in Wyoming this summer, so for the first few months I will be kinda sorta living alone (she'll be back every ten days or so for a four-day stretch). It will be weird. I haven't ever really lived alone for a significant period of time, and the last time I did was for just a couple months (maybe less) over ten years ago. I assume I will get caught up on lots of zombie movies I haven't had time to watch. Should be good for the blog.
In other news, melatonin does seem to be helping me sleep. I still have the intermittent trouble falling asleep, but nowhere near what it used to be. And the dreams are still vivid and kind of strange. Unless it stops working or the dreams revert to "normal" or something else weird happens, I probably won't have much else to say about it.
Also, I Twitter now.
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March 24th, 2009
03:42 pm - Melatonin dreams keep dreaming on
Still using melatonin, still having some pretty intense/strange dreams. It also seems to be helping my insomnia to some degree, but it's definitely no magic bullet. It took me close to an hour to go to sleep last night, but that isn't bad considering that's the worse it's been since I started taking it and it is not at all unusual for me to take hours to go to sleep.
Bu yeah, the dreams. The only other thing I've used that triggers intense dreaming is nicotine patches, but these are qualitatively different. The nic-patch dreams were intense, typically creepy and had a strange, almost film-like quality to them. These dreams, on the other hand, are very real seeming. I keep running into people from my life (although strangely, they frequently seem to have traded identities/names with other real people from my life...) in relatively normal situations and having normal-ish conversations with them. It's weird for its very normalcy. I might have to start keeping a dream journal again to track what's going on in my head while I sleep.
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March 19th, 2009
05:04 pm - More melatonin data ... maybe
It's hard to say if it is related or not (you know, correlation, causation, all that jazz), but I keep getting really sleepy around 5 p.m. every day. Now, I have noted in the past that this seems to be a natural energy lull point for me, and may be related to the fact that I usually stop drinking coffee around 2 p.m. or so, but since the melatonin experiment started, it's been worse. I guess melatonin is supposed to work on circadian rhythms so maybe it is just reinforcing my natural biorhythm. Whatever it is, it's kind of annoying since 5 p.m. is a terrible time for a nap. Must... power ... through.
Also, I found out yesterday that my divorce was finalized.
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March 18th, 2009
08:04 pm - Fuck Virgin and the geekgasm
Today Abby e-mailed to tell me that Virgin Megastore was having a going out of business sale. While I am sorry about the people that will lose their jobs, hey, sweet -- going out of business sale means lots of cheap stuff and I've been impressed with their selection of zombie movies in the past. Plus, I've really, really been wanting to play Left 4 Dead and I thought, hey they might have that on sale! So I went down in the middle of the day to check. Of course, they had no Left 4 Dead. They did have lots and lots of other games I kind of want to play (including Fallout 3 and Resident Evil 5) but I was kind of fixated on L4D. Foiled there, I moved on to the DVDs but some other zombie freak apparently beat me to it -- there wasn't anything there I don't have or that isn't extremely common, even though I have seen lots of fairly obscure stuff there in the past. Foiled again! I moved on to perusing the general stuff but quickly realized the "deals" from the closeout were a fucking scam. See, Virgin's typical list price is on the high side -- sometimes ridiculously so. The only thing that makes the place worthwhile is their constant sales, like the never-ending $10 DVD sale. Thing is, those $10 DVDs are list priced $15 and up. And they are offering 25 percent off DVDs, but all of the sales are ended now; it's just the going out of business sale on at the moment. Some quick math tells us this is a worse deal than what they used to run almost every single day. To make a long story short(ish) I didn't buy anything, and Virgin can eat a bag of dicks. I may go back in the last few days to pick over the dessicated corpse when they are offering 50-75 percent off.
On to the geekgasm...
See, I was so excited to find some bargains I decided to go ahead and park in the lot while I was downtown, figuring the $4 parking fee for an hour would be reasonable if I bought a game or two and a couple DVDs and saved $20 or so. After realizing I'd been suckered, I decided that I might as well catch an early matinee and validate my parking for free rather than pay the garage -- it's only a few bucks more (actually, turned out to be just $5, so that was sweet) and I see a movie. Watchmen in this case. Hence, the geekgasm.
The short version is, believe the hype. If you liked the book, this will be a great experience. If you haven't, I don't know. i think it is still a great movie, but you might be confused, or even a little bored. As a huge fan of the book, I have to say I think this is probably the best possible adaptation of it that could possibly have been made. I even liked the changed ending (blasphemy, I know!). My buddy jjhalloween got it right -- it may even be a better, more elegant ending than the book offered (double blasphemy, I KNOW!). I didn't even mind the blue wang that much. Seriously, what are you all doing staring at the man's crotch, anyway? It's not like the camera was focused there, for fuck's sake. I do wonder what the experience of seeing it (the movie, not the wang) would be like for the uninitiated. Me, I was constantly anticipating how he'd shoot the next bit and being blown away when he did. I thought the acting was a bit spotty here and there, but nothing egregious and only at a few points. I really liked the performances by the actors who played the Comedian and Rorschach. The Comedian's performance, in particular, made him an incredibly sympathetic character, more so than he comes off in the book. I am officially impressed with Zack Snyder, even though this may turn out to be his Citizen Kane (i.e. a brilliant albatross that keeps him from ever working with the same freedom again). I'm curious to see if he can do an original, non-adapted/remade script, but fuck it; even if he is "only" the film equivalent of a song stylist interpreting comics and other movies, he's the best fucking stylist of the generation. Maybe any generation.
Bold statement, I know. I told you I was having a geekgasm. I'm going to see it again soon, hopefully I will be able to judge it a little more this time rather than just sit there in awe with a geeky lump in my throat the whole time.
Current Mood: geeky
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March 17th, 2009
01:16 pm - Vivid dreams
I've been trying melatonin to aid in my intermittent insomnia. Last night was day (er, night) two of the Grand Melatonin Sleep Experiment. So far, I think it has made it easier for me to get to sleep, but it is hard to say, since it is intermittent insomnia. Maybe it is just intermitting at the moment. In any case, as I was doing research on melatonin before ingesting it, I saw that vivid dreams are one of the side effects. Nice, I like vivid dreams! Well, last night I had a couple of doozies. Mostly I don't remember them now, but I remember scattered images and they were whackily intense. Not as crazy as the intense, bizarro-world dreams I got when I was using nicotine patches to quit smoking, but still some pretty whacked out shit.
In closing - melatonin may help insomnia, almost certainly triggers intense dreams. I will continue to report as developments develop.
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March 16th, 2009
12:20 pm - Moving, new URLS, more
Hello world. I still haven't figured out WTF to do with my LJ since I moved all the zombie stuff over to The Inevitable Zombie Apocalypse and, just today, installed a basic wordpress blog at blog.corycasciato.com to link all my writing. So, I guess this will just be for random updates about my life, incoherent thoughts, etc. I'll probably still put up the occasional whatever here, but if you were hitting this site for zombie stuff, or for updates on things I wrote (because I know my fan base is LEGION), those are the best places for it now, respectively. Here. you can get random updates about our trivia performance (we expect to win again tonight. DOMINATE!) and my stress level.
Speaking of which, man, am I fucking stressed. We're moving and I hate it. I hate the intrusive credit checks, the nosy landlords, the endless looking at places. Hate, hate, hate it and it is stressing me out. I have a killer rental history (never had a landlord that didn't love me, since I always pay rent on time and rarely bitch about anything that isn't actually broken AND causing me a real problem) yet they still feel a need to dissect my life so I can earn the privilege of paying their mortgage. Grrr... it's fucking bullshit is what it is.
Also, every time I try to tell someone in real life about my zombie website, I realize it is a lot to write down/remember, so I bought an extra domain (http://www.apocalypse-z.com) and redirected it to the site. Hopefully that will simplify things.
Oh yeah, we had a flat tire this weekend. And the spare and tire-changing tools were all covered in motor oil, because the person that sold Abby the car spilled a quart or so into the wheel well where the spare is kept. Then, the spare turned out to be flat and we had to have Mike take Abby and the tire to the tire place to get the spare and the flat repaired. So Saturday was eaten alive by the process of changing a stupid tire. And I got a sunburn sitting outside by where the car was broken. Plus, I got to have a looong conversation with one of the neighborhood cranks on the evils of illegal immigration, the evils of Obama and various other favorite conservative wingnut evils. FUN!
Finally, I haven't seen Watchmen yet. I was going to this weekend but Saturday got eaten by the tire and Sunday I felt all crappy and strung out, possibly because of my sunburn. Hopefully this week.
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March 10th, 2009
10:48 am - Talk Nerdy to Me wins again!
Another stunning victory for Talk Nerdy to Me at the British Bulldog Geeks Who Drink pub quiz. This time, we increased our margin of victory to TWO points. Watch out, we're unstoppable now!
On the down side, the soda machine's carbonation unit was busted while we were there so I was forced to drink iced tea. Sobriety really limits one's beverage options at a bar.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/classic/smile.gif) victorious
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March 7th, 2009
03:37 pm - I'm getting Lost
I started watching Lost a couple of weeks ago. I'd avoided it out of disinterest since seeing the premiere episode and bits of a few more the first season. For whatever reason, it didn't capture my interest then. I think it was because I just wasn't that into TV/movies at the time. Now, after catching bits of the current season (Abby and Curt are both watching it), my interest was piqued and I decided to dive in and get up to speed. I'm up to the halfway point of season 3, so I should be all caught up in no time.
I really like it. I think it's one of the best conceived and written shows ever put on network TV. There are times when it drags a little, but they do a really top-notch job of pacing things out and giving you little bits of the puzzle at a time, just enough to keep you interested and puzzled at the same time. Plus, it employs one of my favorite casting strategies, which is to use a lot of fairly recognizable character actors in an ensemble setting. It works really well here. There aren't many of the actors that could manage a traditional "lead" role in it (although, hell, how many actors like that are there in existence right now? damn few) but as role players they are all excellent. My favorite characters are Locke and Sawyer, and that is in large part due to the actors behind them.
I don't have a lot of theories I want to share at them moment, partially because I'm a little behind and I don't want you all snickering at me (or worse, unwittingly dropping spoilers to explain why I am wrong). Maybe when I catch up I will do a big, super-nerdy theory post. Right now, the only theory I will share is that between some of the plot elements of Lost and Fringe (which I am also watching and which just got really good as of the latest episode), I am absolutely convinced that J.J. Abrams did (or still does) a lot of psychedelic drugs. Seriously, between the frequency of one or more of the characters tripping on something or another and the weird, time-tripping/consciousness-warping storylines, there is no doubt in my mind that this man has opened the doors of perception a time or two (thousand).
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/classic/energetic.gif) Lost!
Current Music: John Acquaviva - Cream CD
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February 24th, 2009
11:51 am - Sweet Victory at Last
So for the last couple months, we've been pub quizzing at the British Bulldog with the Geeks Who Drink crew. We have done consistently decent but keep falling short of winning, usually by just a point or two. Sure we've snagged second once or twice, but second place is just first in a long line of losers, right? Well last night, after my absence last week for family funereal matters, we frigging won the SHIT out of that quiz! Naturally, we won by just a single point, which makes sense considering how many times we've lost by just a single point. Our picture is on that blog post I linked to, and as Abby says, we looked pretty good, despite my "interesting" hair situation. We could use one more solid player (or hell, a superstar even) so we can start a run of domination, so how about it? Any of my LJ peeps up for a Monday night trivia team-up?
Current Mood: triumphant
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February 17th, 2009
10:46 pm - Bye Bye Bly!
Dre' Bly released by the Broncos after two crappy seasons. Thank god! The guy was useless. He couldn't cover anybody. I spent the entirety of last season yelling at the guy as he ran after a guy that burned him.
Overall I am pleased with the direction the new regime is taking. There have been a couple guys cut that I am moderately sorry to see go, but no WTF cuts or WTF re-signings thus far, which is far more than I can say for the last couple of Broncos post-seasons.
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February 6th, 2009
03:00 pm - No More Zombies
There will be no more (okay, perhaps very little) zombies on this LJ. Despair not, oh lovers of zombiedom! The reason is not that I have abandoned my love of all things undead. Oh no, quite to the contrary, I am turning the dial on all things zombie all the way to eleven! I'm just now doing it at a dedicated site. Welcome The Inevitable Zombie Apocalypse to the world! It's my new all-zombie blog/site, and I wanted you, my actual friends, to know about it first. So now you do. Add it to your bookmarks, your RSS readers, your daily travel destinations around the web. Tell your friends, link to it in your signature, sign testimonials singing its praises. Seriously, I could use some help getting the word out, so feel free -- no, feel obligated -- to tell people about it. I will slowly be moving all the content on zombies from here to there, but it will remain visible here for the immediate future (and maybe forever, I am kind of lazy and don't really feel like going back to edit everything).
From here on out, I may occasionally post a link here to something there, or just casually mention some zombie thing, but over there, at The Inevitable Zombie Apocalypse, it's all zombie, all the time. It's still a work in progress, so feel free to offer design recommendations. And maybe leave a comment, here or there, if you actualy take the time to check it out.
And yes, I know it is a long URL, but come on, no one acutally types the damn things these days. They just click on it and bookmark it. Which is what you should do. Now.
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February 4th, 2009
11:39 am - Find Things I Wrote!
I promised some links to things here a while ago and some links to things is what you will get. First, if you want to read my more focused thoughts on Otto; or, Up with Dead People, there's the link for that. Then, maybe you want to read my latest piece for Topless Robot, about mad science disasters. Finally, how about my first piece of hate mail, wherein I am called out on my "fudge-packin' taste" and asked to think outside of my "obviously gay box." Homophobia FTW, dude! You can find that bit of genius here, but you will have to scroll down about halfway to find it. If you are lazy, I have cut and pasted it after the jump.
( Who's Ridiculous? ) Humorously, this did appear in the same issue that I praise the gay zombie flick Otto. Maybe this dude knows something I don't!
Finally, there is zombie news right around the corner. Soon, soon, I promise.
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January 5th, 2009
01:50 pm - The New Year, Things I am Liking and More!
Happy New Year to one and all! 2008 was a year that had its ups and downs for me. I'm not sorry to see it go, in large part because I am a bit superstitious in terms of measuring time. Basically, I tend to act as if a new year is a chance for a new start or way to leave behind old baggage and that is what I am hoping to do. I've got a lot of plans and ideas for the new year, a great relationship and my health (more or less). Wish me luck!
So, on to things I am liking at the moment. Here's a quick bullet-point type list, because everyone loves a fucking list.
Movies!
- Scanners I hadn't seen this David Cronenberg masterpiece since I was a wee one. It is awesome, and not just because a head explodes within the first ten minutes (though that doesn't hurt). It's kind of horror movie, kind of superhero movie and all kick ass.
- Texas Chainsaw Massacre Widely regarded as one of the best horror movies of all time, yet somehow I had never seen it. I was under the impression it was way more graphic than it actually is. Not to say it isn't disturbing (it is, thankfully) but what it really focuses on isn't the gore, but the characters' reactions to the situation, especially the last girl/main protagonist. Her reaction is horror enough. I can totally see why this is so universally regarded as a landmark film.
TV! - Weeds It took me the better part of two seasons to really get into this show, but I am pretty well hooked at this point. I really love some of the characters (especially Andy) and the absurdity of the whole thing. It's not one of those best.thing.ever kind of shows, but it is highly enjoyable.
- Battlestar Galactica I emphatically do not love this as much as many other people love it. Frankly, there are several things about it that are driving me nuts (why in the fuck are the munitions both so unbelievably volatile AND so poorly secured?) but it's enjoyable enough if you can overlook the WTF moments (so far, so good). I am only part way through season one though, and if those moments keep piling up, I can see myself bidding farewell to this one well before it ends.
Video Games! - Animal Crossing: City Folk I took a break from AC during the DS era (played a bit, but quickly moved on) so I am totally in the mood for the bucolic, pastoral groove of this game. It's an excellent brain-palate cleanser after hours of horror movies and/or video games. LJ friends that play and want to be AC friends are encouraged to share their Wii friend codes with me.
- Gears of War 2 Apart from finding the normal difficulty a bit too easy and the hardcore difficulty a bit too hardcore, I am digging this game almost as much as I dug the first one. Thanks to Curt for getting it for me for Xmas/Solstice/Holidayness.
Zombies!
- Don't worry, there is some zombie action in the pike. Maybe a lot. Some of those plans I referred to above are zombiecentric.
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December 23rd, 2008
11:46 am - A Winner is Me: Fantasy Football Championship Edition
After playing fantasy football for the past two (or is it three?) seasons, I decided to take this year off, mostly because I slacked on finding a league to join. Then my brother ended up joining a league he didn't actually want to play in because he was bored one day and wanted to do a draft. I inherited that team, which was shortly thereafter christened Chocolate Rain (I do love the dumb Internet memes...). Well, after a crazy, up-and-down season, I am happy to say that Chocolate Rain is the undisputed champion of its league, taking the championship trophy after a hard-fought playoff that saw my team drastically underperform in its biggest game, only to have my opponent basically give me the game by subbing Donovan McNabb in at the last moment (in place of Aaron Rodgers, who ended up having a MONSTER game) and having his team pretty massively underperform as well. It's my first fantasy championship -- my previous best was a third place finish a few years back.
Then, in a bonus Chocolate Rain performance (because it became our team name again), Abby convinced me to go out last night for a pub quiz. It was really fun, and since the one thing my mind seems good at is remembering trivial shit, we did well. We took fourth place, out of fourteen teams. Because of my ridiculous dancing during one of the audio portions, and our ridiculous name (the quizmaster called us "the most impossibly white team"), we got a picture on the Geeks Who Drink blog (scroll to bottom for pic and standings). Like I said, big fun, and anyone who wants to join our team (we'll probably take a new name next time) should please do so. We are probably going to do a new night next time, since Monday seems to not work for a lot of people. Call or e-mail me for details.
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