gotta blog it all?
can I just sleep instead please?
argfest ftw.

Last night was the special "Kicking and Screening" pre-release showing of Batman: The Dark Knight - only held in 24 cities across North America. Toronto being one.



I picked up ticket #12 of 202, after watching the countdown at whysoserious.com/overture end at 10:30pm, and following the big, final blitz. Each ticket being for two, I convinced (if you can call an immediate and ecstatic 'yes' convinced) mah buddy Dave who loves Batman to join me... unfortunately starbursidereus couldn't fulfill her ticket, so she'll have to wait until her friday engagement.

Dave and I got there just after 7-ish, when they weren't yet allowing a lineup. The ticket guy said lining would happen about an hour beforehand or so (show starts at 9:30). So Dave and I headed around the corner to Montana (the restaurant/pub). Beautiful evening, so we sat outside, chatted..we both ordered a flatbread pizza.. mmmmmmmmm. Took just over an hour, so by the time we headed back it was already after 8:30, and to our dismay, there was already a hefty line, and people were slowly being let in. If anyone was dressed up, they'd be at the front, already in the theatre. Ah well.

Security was relatively lax - metal scan, but no confiscating of phones or cameras. We got seats lower middle to the right. Not too bad. It was at this point that I put my joker goon mask on my head as I said in another community I would so people could find me. Waited too long :P.

The IMAX intro I'd seen before, but it was just entertaining. People were laughing ('laser' show, a/v demonstrations, funky music, cheesy narrative, but all in good fun), but everyone knew - we're in the presence of a quality A/V setup.

So the movie starts.
AMAZING.

Once the movie ended (which we stayed right to the end for, for no additional content) we headed out... still no swag... boo... but I did hear someone call my name twice before I realized Bruce was me :P. 'Sean' or so, from that community recognized the mask. So we greeting, didn't chat at all, just briefly reveled in the 'cool' factor of meeting someone from online, of course... and that was really all she wrote.

It was after 12:15am, and we walked back a number of blocks to the parking garage (thankfully I had a sense of direction, since Dave twice wanted to go the wrong way :P). Ah what fun. Oh and of course a Timmy's stop.
But that's not interesting.
Not that a lot of this really is.
Or the fact that I'm talking about what's ineresting and what's not interesting.

anyhoo...

AGAIN, Friday night, at ARGfest! w00t!
Batman..seriously..freaky, spine tingling, brain twisting, reality crunching, ground breaking, earth shattering, [insert additional metaphors here].

Can you spot it?

More and more, I see simple comments in blogs (and forums) such as:

This.


Yes.


Win.


IAWTC.

And of course, various plays on these.

It amuses me.

I do not know why.

* Durga = This. Every time I go to bed. Instantly she arrives. From anywhere in the house.
* Menacing cuteness.
* Want something? Like Woot's bag of random crap, only $10, potentially relatively useful, and all the time.
* The power of baking soda. A few ideas to try. I'm smelling mold in the basement, coming after the major storm last week. I think we got a bit of a flooding leak. Must notify owners. And test baking soda!

* Addiction of the day: Reaction Effect

My top score: 2147. AgentLex just got 2369.

Strategies/patterns?
BAD:
-Circles (open one as the first move if they exist);
-Lines of synchronous corners with no break along a side (chains need to work around the line to get past it);
GOOD:
-Two or more chains active simultaneously;
-Chains actively moving in different directions (they help break up long lines of identical pieces when encountered);
-Large sections of untouched pieces (once large synchronized areas become unusable, breaking into the untouched area can reinvigorate the chains, even possibly breaking back into the unusable area from another angle)

Technically there is no strategy once you click a piece to get it going, but these are patterns I've seen emerge and their relative effect on the chains. The ideas could be applied in decided where to first click, but I'd say it's next to impossible to adequately predict the most effect start piece :P

I just posted an outline of ARGFest over at Wikibruce.com.

It's going to be a busybusy week...

Tomorrow night, the special advanced screening of The Dark Knight in TO (heeee!) - I'm going to wear the joker goon mask on my head, that I took home from the trip to 42 Entertainment in Pasadena back in November... apparently there's quite a number of people from the SuperHeroHype forums that are going, though I don't really know anyone, just perhaps a couple of faces I might recognize from past TDK events.

Wednesday is a dinner/concert invitation thing from melody2piano...
Then Thursday is early morning drive out to Buffalo with hojo_bds, TheChad, and I believe Tony Walsh... and hello ARGFest!

Tonight... no plans :P but lots to do... *sigh*

ref

here's an ARGish intro for ye...
got a comment in my last entry from ... someone... (linky)

Wednesday night, something kicked in... I started to feel a little hot... when I woke up in the morning, I had that hot/cold feeling, I was light-headed, dizzy, when I was on my feet. I took a thermometer (at the time, just for kicks) and found that it was reading 104. *shock*

I really wanted to get in to work, but I honestly couldn't stand for more than a few minutes without feeling light-headed. Even brushing my teeth I was bracing myself, 'just in case' I'd zonk out. I ended up laying on the couch, practically immobilized... called in to work, telling my condition and that I'd be staying home to rest, and would definitely work from home, since I have 2 personal days left for the year, and I'm a bit behind on some work.

Yeah, that didn't happen. I tried 2 or 3 times over the day to check up on stuff on the computer, but my pounding headache convinced me otherwise.

Thanks to people who showed concern, asking if I'd seen a doctor or gone to the hospital... given I really had no other symptoms than a fever and headaches, I decided I'd give it a day of rest and liquids. If I wasn't better by the next morning, I'd get checked out.

I was feeling a little better later that night, enough to get out to my church's praise team practice, though I was still moving extra slow... it was hot and humid there, so my sweating was compounded (and everyone was sweating, which was a comfort :).

I was given a couple of Advil to help (amongst loads of pampering and concern from a woman who's a nurse), but by the end of the night, I was really feeling better... I could move around normally, headache was nearly all gone, wasn't feeling hot.

I got home in time for the Dark Knight big overture finale... the joker certainly left his mark. I got in as #12 of 202 for free tickets to see Batman: The Dark Knight at the Scotiabank IMAX on Tuesday night :D.
And knowing starbursidereus' small interest in argish things, I txt'd her right away and she got #29. I could think of a couple other people as well, but it was so late that I couldn't get a hold of anyone. Thankfully, each ticket is ADMIT TWO...

Anyhow. Went to bed, after midnight, but before 1am (yay!). Woke up this morning and I'm feeling much, much better. I don't feel hot (though I didn't get to checking my temperature again), but I've still got the trailing end of the headache. So no hospital. :) I think my body was just fighting something pretty significant. *shrug*
This is not my year!

Also,

Whut?

There needs to be a Hellboy bobblehead...

First, Internet Explorer 8 - standards! But other controversial issues (though technically unavoidable at this point)... interested/intrigued/excited/scared

Second, are they serious? Charging for incoming text messages? Thankfully I'm with Rogers. All they have is crappy tech support and ridiculous 3G iPhone plan prices :P

Ok, been a while for (personal) updates... so just quickly noting that I've got an entry about my Hollywood trip on its way (and an official article for argn and wikibruce). busybusybusy!

Here's where I spend a lot of my activity now:
- Wikibruce.com (and the active wikis)
- Twitter (micro-blogging, yay!)
- reading 0hyourgod (sometimes anxiously or frustratingly :P)
- and coming up: ARGfest 08 Boston!

Also, 2 year work anniversary on Thursday! whee!

How on earth... can someone like this exist? o_O I mean, that's not just carelessness, it's stupidity. A baby is fragile! Wow.

and promote Hellboy II

And a resulting lack of hearing...



recap: Hancock red carpet premiere at Grauman's Chinese Theatre. Totally did not know this was happening today. Spent a good couple of hours in the sun waiting :). Had to leave before Charlise Theron showed up. Fun times :) He knows how to work a crowd. He was also there with his whole family, so that was really nice.

I already wanted to see this movie. Now I want to more :P

Yeah, @ Hollywood, tonight's the Hancock premiere, and the red carpet. For the last couple of hours I've been standing in the growing throngs of LAians, in the burning sun, waiting for the special arrivals...

But man. Will Smith. Got some great video :) (no, I didn't interact or shake his hand, I was too focused on filming and a step or two away :P). If I'd have known about the premiere, I'd have brought something for him to sign, but alas, it was not meant to be. Had to leave before Charlise arrived, but man... it was hot, and loud, and long... but a nice experience :)

jamesi linked to the now available Rogers plans for the iPhone in Canada. yay! Or something... As expected, the plan options are iffy at best...

For comparison, I currently pay $57.50+tax, all inclusive (including system access) - that's the basic plan plus a package addition
* 100 daytime/1000 eve+w'end minutes, +50 bonus
* unlimited incoming and Rogers-network calls
* 2500 txt/unlimited incoming/1000 SMS
* Data: 5MB/mo.
* $7.50 sys.access+911

The cheapest iPhone plan is $60, plus a $15 package addition for more features:
* 150 daytime/unlimited eve+w'en mins
* 2575 txt
* Data: 400MB/mo.
* likely a $7.50 sys.access+911 fee
Additionally:
* Visual voicemail
* unlimited Wireless Rogers/Fido hotspots (data I would assume, rather than pay $10/hr or whatever)
* 2500 call forwarding minutes (not sure what that is)
--- That would come to $82.50 before tax. A $25 increase / month. Not tooooo bad, but definitely not impressive. let alone the primary deterrent - no unlimited data, as other countries offer. And a 3 year contract lock-in. =/

Now assumedly, the plan would come with the $200-250 price tag for the phone itself ($199 USD, dunno what they'll price CAD at yet... just checked and various reports say it'll also be $199 CAD, so that's good)
And if news reports are any indication here, response to Rogers' iPhone plans really is not too hot right now...

We'll see how Rogers reacts, but it sounded recently like they were ready for this reaction, even stating that "that's the way the industry goes in Canada". Rather than offer lower prices, it sounds like they're more willing to improve/increase features. *sigh*

Any way it goes, I definitely won't be adopting it July 11th... the $ just isn't there. But soon, perhaps... the cheapest plan still covers my average usage, so it's not a risky plan. But is $200+$25/mo worth the improvement the iPhone has over a regular cellphone?
I guess YMMV...

So, I just received piece #9 for the latest cryptic task at Aladygma.com - but it's been reported as received by thebruce.net (only mentioned in my email sig), rather than Wikibruce.com which I reported...

So if you're here because you linked from that mis-quoting - here's the correct location:

Wikibruce.com/2008/06/aladygma-an-enigma

*tsk* :P
heh

So I'm just watching the Fringe pilot episode, and came across the scene where they showed the exterior of Massive Dynamics.

Now I'm sure this is easily discoverable with a quick google, but hey, I'm happy I noticed this :) Massive Dynamic is the Royal Ontario Museum...



...with a little bit of shady architectural touchups and additions...
- the shadow seems too uniform under the additional 'chunk' on top
- the reflection on the glass at the front of the real upper level is of the building they removed (yet mirrored for a window panel they added in)
but hey, in motion the whole scene looks better than this still, at least. :) And as abstract as the design of the ROM is, their addition I think suits it just fine :)


Cool.