Posted 17:48 by Grote 0 comments

I guess that there are worse circles of hell

I've been told by the religous reich on numerous occasions that I'm going to hell. Today I took the test to see which circle I'm going to. My Result was:
The Dante's Inferno Test has banished you to the Second Level of Hell!
Here is how you matched up against all the levels:

Level	Score
Purgatory (Repenting Believers)	High
Level 1 - Limbo (Virtuous Non-Believers)	Moderate
Level 2 (Lustful)	Very High
Level 3 (Gluttonous)	Low
Level 4 (Prodigal and Avaricious)	Moderate
Level 5 (Wrathful and Gloomy)	Low
Level 6 - The City of Dis (Heretics)	Very Low
Level 7 (Violent)	Moderate
Level 8- the Malebolge (Fraudulent, Malicious, Panderers)	High
Level 9 - Cocytus (Treacherous)	Low

So let me get this straight, I'm going to be horny all the time with no hope of relief? As I said, there are worst circles. I wonder if Helen of Troy is single.......

Posted 22:35 by Grote 0 comments

"Well, you know, it's the flag. It's just important."

Did you ever wonder why some capture the flag video games are set in the middle of a box canyon in the middle of nowhere? Ok, neither did I, but the owners of the website Red vs. Blue have. They've used the X-box game Halo to make a series of short (2-3 minute) movies. They make fun of the whole capture the flag, shoot 'em up concept. Check it out. Currently there are 4 episodes, the trailer and a P. S. A. about weapons of mass destruction.

Posted 19:13 by Grote 0 comments

LucasArts announces new Jedi Knight game and it sounds cool

LucasArts has announced the latest Jedi Knight Game: Jedi Academy. It picks up where Outcast left off, but this time you play an academy member that is training in the academy. The kicker? You can customize nearly everything about your character. Want facial hair? bald? Go for it. Want to be an alien? Sure. Want all black clothing? Leather or velor? Want to dual wield sabers? No problem. Want a double-bladed lightsaber? Here ya go kid just be careful. Your actions choose your path and you can pick missions. The interesting thing is we're getting near the time of the New Jedi Order. Does this mean fighting the Vong? Stay tuned gentle reader....

Posted 14:49 by Grote 0 comments

New Hulk Trailer

HULK SMASH! Hulk like new trailer! Hulk glad he has dsl and not dial-up.

Posted 14:37 by Grote 0 comments

Not as good as the original but better than the alternative

If you're like me, and I know I am, then you've missed a website like Coming Attractions since they sold out to Cinescape magazine. Well, while doing a little searching I've found a website that doesn't have the same look and feel as CA but nonetheless gets the job done (in my humble opinion). I present to you: Movies.com! I've actually linked to their buzz-bin, but after perusing it for a while I feel it'll do for now. (i.e. until we find something better or it sells out).

Posted 10:45 by Grote 0 comments

*NEWS FLASH* CHEWBACCA TO BE IN EPISODE THREE

Starwars.com reports that Chewbacca will make an appearance in Episode Three and will be reprised by Peter Mayhew. (switches to radio announcer voice) Is this just a ploy by Lucas to distract people from the crappy plot? Or is this a real attempt to tie everything together? Will people even care when they slap down ten bucks to see the final installment? Will Lucas hire a "real" writer? We may never know. (Radio announcer voice off).

Posted 19:56 by Grote 0 comments

Go west young libertarian -or- Let the Idaho jokes roll

The Free State Project is an attempt to move some 20,000 libertarians out to a western state, Idaho, Montana, or Wyoming for example, and set up a libertarian utopia. Libertarians are best known for their legalization attempts of drugs, prostitution, guns, lowering taxes on beer and cigarettes and setting up private schools. Although it seems that no State really wants them. So does this mean that Libertarians are like nuclear waste dumps? Everyone agrees that we need them, but no one wants them in their back yards.

Posted 19:40 by Grote 0 comments

From the "Oh yeah that's makes sen... huh?!" department

"We hope it will start a trend" said PeTA president Ingrid Newkirk. She has in her will that she wants her skin to be made into a leather jacket, her feet to be turned into umbrella stands, her flesh to be barbequed and her liver be vaccuumed sealed and sent to France (whether with fava beans and a nice chianti was not mentioned). All in protest of "man's ill-treatment of animals". Now I'm against canibalism and all but I could use a nice umbrella stand. That is, if I owned an umbrella.

Posted 15:56 by Grote 0 comments

"Freedom, freedom, freedom! Oy! Freedom, freedom, freedom! Oy!"

While perusing the Dumb Laws webpage, I came upon Ohio's law that says "no person may be arrested... on the fourth day of July." Sweet. Obviously this doesn't mean you can't be arrested for crimes commited the day before on the fifth of July.

Follow the white rabbit

Those of you who have visited Jim's webpage have been kept up on the latest Animatrix updates. So this post isn't for you. For those who haven't and don't know what the Animatrix is, its a series of short animated films dealing with the Matrix. Those who haven't seen any of the Animatrix really should hop on over to the Animatrix website and check out The Second Renaissance, Program, and A Detective Story.

Posted 23:34 by Grote 0 comments

Saddam's Golden Guns Found; Scaramanga, Nick-Nack unavailable for comment

Apparently Saddam had golden guns by the crate-load. Of course, our boys being good soliders wanted a war trophy or two. Between these and the erotic artwork on his palace walls ya gotta wonder when they'll find the crack he's been smoking... (Thanks to Fark for both of the articles.)

Posted 21:47 by Grote 0 comments

Stale or Fresh?

As the annual debate of marshmallow bunnies and peeps rages on (I prefer them stale, thank you). The eternal question of what can they actually withstand has never been answered. That is until now. Frickin "laser" beams, hot tubs, death by electrocution and so much more. There is also the sequel page, The bunnies strike back with video footage.

Think you own your PC? Think again.

Microsoft's new encryption software could possibly have absolutely no user control over the security keys. So if (god forbid) you lose your password or security key you might have to *pay* Microsoft to get the key codes. Not to mention that Microsoft may have unfettered access in to your PC. Two of the top cryptographers in the nation have raised questions about what Microsoft has code named Palladium. There's also a FAQ that isn't directly linked to Microsoft.com so take it with or without a grain of salt.

Posted 17:55 by Grote 0 comments

"The infadels have been crushed"

Ever since he started denying the Americans had taken the Baghdad Airport. The Iraqi Inmormation Minister has been a 8 on the unintentional comedy scale. Be sure to check out the Iraqi Information Minister through history!

Posted 10:50 by Grote 0 comments

We now interupt this blogger with a rant

Yay! The war is almost over! Great I'm happy. Saddam Hussein was an evil man and he probably needed to go. But what now? Do we say, "Well since we're in the neighborhood, let's go get that other Axis of Evil(tm) member Iran,"? Let's face it, this war was never over WMD; even the administration admitted that in the end. Operation Iraqi Freedom(tm) doesn't exactly scream out WMD. But if we're looking at evil regimes why don't we look at Africa? In the 90s Rawanda killed (or more to the point ethnically cleansed) 800,000 people. Central African nations in the midsts of Civil Wars are using children as young as 12 to fight them. Why don't we go after them? Easy, Rawanda isn't sitting on that black gold, that Texas Tea, but I digress. What now? We instill, truth justice and the American way in Iraq which means a democracy of course. The problem is we'll never have friends in the Middle East. Why? Because we support Israel. Osama Bin Laden has always hated Saddam. Their common enemy though, has been The Great Satan, America. Does this mean we should stop supporting Israel? No but I think we've got to tell Mr. Sharon that if he doesn't cut that sh*t out over there we will. My biggest fear is that if we install a democracy and the people elect a fundamentalist Islamic government, like they have in Iran or they had in Afghanistan then what have we accomplished?



What it comes down to is that I still support the current administration but on very tentative terms. We currently hold American Citizens (link goes to an example) with out charge basically on material witness writs. Basically what that means is the government (depending on the prosecutor it could be city, state or federal) believes that you have pertinant information in realtion to a crime and/or that you are likely to flee the jurisdiction. Now, Republicans in Congress want to extend the Patriot Act indefinitely.(Thank you, Jim) Suspension of our most basic civil liberties? This is beginning to smack of Nazism. Although, with our current head of the Justice Department, I can't say I'm surprised in the least. I never liked Ashcroft from day one. He's ultra Right Wing and as I've said many times before "I never trust anyone who lost an election to a dead guy." Ok, I'm glad I've got that off my chest. We now return you to our regular blogger already in progress

Posted 14:54 by Grote 0 comments

Movie Review: "Phone Booth" or why I'll never answer a public phone again.

First a word about my reviews: Ratings are out of four stars, I'll give the running time and rating and I'll usually link the principles to the appropriate areas on the IMDb. Ok, on to the review!

Phone Booth: Rated:R; 81 minutes Any film directed by Joel Schumacher brings a little bit of the fear of God into a person. Especially after seeing him turn Gotham City into Goth Vegas in the last two Batman Movies. This one is a little bit different. We join our hero(?) publicist Stu Sheppard (Collin Farrell) as he walks down the busy New York streets setting up deals for his clients. Magazine covers, restaurant parties and the like. When he reaches the last phone booth in Manhattan to call his girlfriend. The problem is, Stu is married. After he hangs up with his girlfriend, the phone rings. The caller (Kiefer Sutherland) tells Stu he has a gun and that he will kill him if he hangs up. The caller knows all the little personal details about Stu's life, right down to the last phone call he made. As things play out the caller shoots someone. Which, of course, brings the police. Things get really hairy as the police arrive because they now believe Stu shot the man. Capt. Ramey (Forest Whitaker) comes along to try to talk Stu out of the booth, while Stu tries to convince him that he's the victim not the perp.

Sometimes, the most simplistic ideas fall the hardest. Not this time. This movie was right to the point. This is the definition of thriller; a crazed man has a gun, he's willing to shoot Stu if he doesn't confess his sins to his wife. What makes this film is Kiefer Sutherland. If his almost invisible performance as the caller doesn't play right then the whole movie fails. Trust me, it works. Since there's really only one scene, you quickly get the same type of clausterphobic sense Stu has, being trapped in a phone booth with a sniper trained on him, knowing that time is running out. Normally, I would complain about a one hour and twenty-one minute running time for a movie that I just paid $6.00 (Matinee) to see. However, this time it felt just right, if they had stretched this into a two hour film, it would have seemed overdrawn. I highly recommend this movie, its not going to win any Oscars and it'll probably be dethroned by Adam Sandler's new movie but it was worth it. I give it: ***1/2

Posted 17:24 by Grote 0 comments

I've got a full house; Husseins over a Chemical and a Nuclear Scientist

The U.S. Defense department has released a 55 card playing card deck to our troops to look for Saddam and his cronies, or at least their bodies. I dunno though, I think the ones with the nekkid ladies on them will be far more popular with our boys overseas.

Posted 18:33 by Grote 0 comments

For Great (well maybe not) Justice!

Remember "All your base are belong to us"? Don't forget the Dork Tower T-shirt: All your Dice are belong to us. Well some enterprising lads have created a sequel to the first one based on recent events. All your base are belong to U.S. Not recommended for those who are against the war. Link recieved through the Daily Illuminator. Fnord.

Posted 17:40 by Grote 0 comments

You think it's warm in the summer now? Try it in full plate-mail.

The Daily Telegraph is reporting that average temperatures in the Middle Ages were warmer than they are now. Apparently, we had a short (on a geological scale) ice-age ending about 1900 and the Earth is slowly warming up again.

Posted 22:24 by Grote 0 comments

Use 357 for an iMac: Boat Anchor

Cute little movie by some unknown comic. Warning for dial-up users: its a 48mb download. You may be waiting a while. (Right Click on the link and chose "Save File As" or not. It's your choice really.)

Posted 17:16 by Grote 0 comments

"Where's the Mountain Dew?"

For those of you who don't already get it, there has been an audio file circulating the net describing the "evils" of Dungeons and Dragons. Or in this case the lack there of. Later it was turned into a video file showing CGI monsters playing D&D. Now thanks to the folks at 8-bit theatre we have another twist. The stars of said theatre are in the video found here. Once again thank you Mr. Sellers.

Posted 13:10 by Grote 0 comments

We're gonna need a bigger boat.

They found this colossal squid off the coast of Antartica. Isn't Great Cthulhu's Island supposed to be around there somewhere? Thanks to Sellers for the article

Posted 22:17 by Grote 0 comments

The Second Season Begins

The road to Lord Stanley's Cup begins Wednesday.

Posted 20:44 by Grote 0 comments

Saturday, April 5th 2003

Welcome to Dreaming Dangerously
or how do you pronounce FAQ?

What is Dreaming Dangerously?
Dreaming Dangerously is a blog. I've joined the likes of Dave Barry, Wil Wheaton, and Jim Spurrier. I'll probably post interesting news articles, rants, and when I go to the movies, a review. Hopefully my so-so html skills will improve into ok to good html skills, but in the interim please be patient.

Okay, I know what a blog is but why Dreaming Dangerously?
Well back in May of 2001, I went to Books & Co. to meet Neil Gaiman. I was sure he was a nice man and good author and all but I had never really heard of him. While I was waiting for him to speak, I started reading his latest novel, I got hooked instantly and when I met him, I told him so and he told me that he thought that was the best compliment he had ever recieved. Anyway he signed my book and wrote "Dream Dangerously." So while looking for a suitable title for this blog, I came upon my copy of American Gods and the inscription. And now you know the rest of the story.

Watch this space for more later!