| By Dwip | December 23, 2015 at 11:50 pm |
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Well, we’re back. As pretty much everyone should know by this late date, the whole Army thing didn’t work due to massive ill health and ill fortune by the author, and while that’s pretty tragic, one of the good things is that this blog will be coming back to life. Yay. As it turns out, I’ve got quite a lot of things to talk about, which I’ll hopefully be doing over the next while. It’s good to be alive again.
| Blog | Comments (0) |
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| By Dwip | August 19, 2015 at 1:50 am |
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As it turns out, and really who knew, Oregon has a pretty world class air and space museum, the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum, all of an hour north of Corvallis. Ever since I got back to Oregon in 2011, I’d really wanted to check the place out, because planes are super cool. Which is why I finally got around to it a month before leaving for the Army. I’d say I was procrastinating, but it’s not like I wasn’t going elsewhere. Anyway, I finally got around to going, and I’m going to show you a small part. Yes, small. I took over 350 pictures. There’s a lot there. Also, warning. There’s like 70 images in this post. I said […]
| Oregon, Photoblogging | Comments (0) |
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| By Dwip | July 19, 2015 at 7:58 pm |
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So, this is going to sound a bit sudden to many of you, but as of somewhere in the middle of August, The Ravings of Demented Rabbits will be coming to an end. This blog and all its archives will be erased, and though this domain will live on, it will primarily exist so I can keep my email. The reason for this rather unfortunate occurance is because, as of mid-September, I will be reporting for United States Army basic training, followed by about 6 months of AIT and a 3 year contract. That too is going to sound a bit sudden to a few of you, so by all means drop me an email or a text or something […]
| Blog | Comments (0) |
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| By Dwip | July 14, 2015 at 4:53 pm |
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For people from the future, this was actually written in March 2016 and backdated, because at the time I was way, way too busy to actually post these things. So, as part of the whole “Erik’s joining the Army!” festivities, we decided to have a last group gaming session out at Cole’s place in Redmond. And since my friends know and support my photography habit, it was further decided that we should go up to Tumalo Falls because waterfalls. This…sort of worked.
| Oregon, Photoblogging | Comments (0) |
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| By Dwip | June 20, 2015 at 7:24 pm |
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As anybody who has followed these photoblogging posts over the last couple of years knows, I’ve made it a mission to hit as many of Oregon’s various natural areas as I can. This is, as you might imagine, a fairly herculean task considering how much wilderness there is in this state. Nevertheless, a slight dent has been made. Since the beginning, I’ve always wanted to make it to Silver Falls State Park, which is supposed to be one of, if not the, standout of the whole system, featuring no less than ten waterfalls, lush forest, and some pretty serious cliffs. Devin and I got to talking, I mentioned wanting to go, and we decided to make a day of it. […]
| Oregon, Photoblogging | Comments (0) |
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| By Dwip | June 17, 2015 at 1:33 am |
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The immediately obvious thing about Season 6 is the move from Showtime to Sci-Fi, along with a switch to HD and some way better visual effects. The writing also got a significant level up, and while the last two seasons were pretty decent, Season 6 takes Stargate to a whole new level as far as the main plot goes. These episodes are almost uniformly excellent, with several (most notably Abyss) being some of the best of the entire series. There’s a lot to like here. The biggest change, of course, is the replacement of Daniel Jackson with Jonas Quinn in a move that a lot of fans weren’t particularly pleased with. Myself, as much as I’m a Daniel Jackson fan, […]
| Movies and Television | Comments (0) |
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| By Dwip | June 16, 2015 at 1:15 am |
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Fresh off the climactic confrontation at the end of the last season, this one wraps up a couple of plotlines…and then mostly just keeps the others running, with no completely galaxy shaking events until Between Two Fires and Summit. That’s not a bad thing – there are plenty of really good one shots in this season, including 2001 and Proving Ground, and a couple that aren’t so hot. Individually, these episodes have a lot going for them, but it’s not until the last half of the season that things start to really pick up, and it won’t be until next season when things get really crazy. JAFFA, KREE! THERE ARE SPOILERS PAST THIS POINT
| Movies and Television | Comments (0) |
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| By Dwip | May 31, 2015 at 4:28 pm |
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This was a lighter month than I expected it to be, given the aftereffects of the pneumonia, never mind the great deal of personal tragedy I may or may not end up talking about in detail. I also listened to a whole bunch of music after watching It Might Get Loud, but of course I don’t ever do album reviews. Suffice it to say I’m a bit of a Jack White fan now. YTD stats: January: : 5 books; 5 fiction (2,398 p.) / 2 videos; 2 movies (4.8 h.) February: : 11 books; 7 graphic (1,411 p.); 3 fiction (1,079 p.); 1 non-fiction (12.7 h.) / 2 videos; 1 anime series (5.4 h.); 1 movies (2.0 h.) March:: 1 […]
| Books, Medialogs, Movies and Television, Music | Comments (0) |
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| By Dwip | May 5, 2015 at 9:50 pm |
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So, about 10 hours ago I decided what the hell, let’s build some Legos, because I mean why the hell not, right? I decided that the thing to build was set 8868, the Air Tech Claw Rig, which was the biggest, baddest Technic set back when I got it in 1993 or so. This thing is a beast. It’s fully a foot and a half long, features an electric motor driving an air compressor, a complex system of pneumatic tubing that drives the claw rig, a fully functional drivetrain, and an engine with working pistons. It’s pretty super rad.
| Random and Ravings | Comments (0) |
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| By Dwip | May 5, 2015 at 10:59 am |
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This is one of my favorite contenders for best season of this show. While it lacks the main plot arc of some of the seasons, and mostly consists of one offs and juggling existing plotlines in various ways, almost all of these episodes are extremely strong, with only a couple of real clunkers in the bunch. Some of them, like Window of Opportunity, The First Ones, and 2010, are some of the best episodes of the whole ten season run. The only fault I can really give it as a season is the introduction of the character of Anise, an apparently network mandated “sexy” character who mostly just serves to drag down every episode she’s in as I struggle to […]
| Movies and Television | Comments (0) |
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| By Dwip | May 3, 2015 at 1:20 pm |
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| By Dwip | April 30, 2015 at 10:28 am |
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I was going to talk about this being a short month, on account of the entire second half of it being consumed with my epic bout of pneumonia, which I encourage you all dear readers to never contract in any form because it’s awful, but on second thought I did a lot here. Couple of very solid books, some really good visual entertainment, and a bit more outside that. Too, this is an important month in the history of this project. Some big things in here. YTD stats: January: : 5 books; 5 fiction (2,398 p.) / 2 videos; 2 movies (4.8 h.) February: : 11 books; 7 graphic (1,411 p.); 3 fiction (1,079 p.); 1 non-fiction (12.7 h.) / […]
| Books, Medialogs, Movies and Television | Comments (0) |
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| By Dwip | April 27, 2015 at 6:38 pm |
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This continues our series on this subject begun here. The thing about Cards Against Humanity, you’ve got to be funny, but you’ve got to know your audience. Thus, in a room full of Republicans, can there be any other winning card in this set than “Not contributing to society in any meaningful way.” ? I think not. The management would like to take this time to remind you that it voted for Obama and believes in his policies. But you gotta do what you gotta do, man.
| Humor | Comments (0) |
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| By Dwip | April 27, 2015 at 6:37 am |
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| By Dwip | April 19, 2015 at 6:06 am |
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In which I follow up previous posts related to assorted ages of dragons here, here, and here as I wend my way through Dragon Age: Origins and Dragon Age 2 before I make my way through to starting Inquisition for the first time. I’m late to this party, I know. As is my custom, I have a few things to say about both games that I didn’t get to in the previous several thousand words on the subject. Yeah, I know. I’ll be sort of brief this time.
| Computer Games - Dragon Age Series | Comments (2) |
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| By Dwip | April 19, 2015 at 4:00 am |
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Season 3 is a bit of an oddball – less cohesive than Season 2, a return to the spate of one-offs that marked Season 1, mixed in with some excellent episodes that wrap up old plotlines and introduce some new ones in interesting ways. It’s a mixed bag that somehow manages to work out, even when the main villain isn’t the main villain and the last part of the season has more to do with the next season than this one. On the other hand, no clip show, so there’s that. JAFFA, KREE! THERE ARE SPOILERS PAST THIS POINT
| Movies and Television | Comments (0) |
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| By Dwip | April 15, 2015 at 3:39 pm |
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Season 2 is something of a transition from the primarily Apophis and going boldly where no Tau’ri have gone before feel of Season 1 to the much larger in scope episodes of later seasons. A truly massive number of new lore elements are introduced in these episodes, which will resonate through the rest of SG-1 and on into Atlantis and Universe. Although Season 2 has some serious clunkers in spots, episodes like The Fifth Race, Serpent’s Song, and 1969 represent some of the absolute best episodes in all of Stargate. Unlike Season 1, where an enormous chunk of the episodes were out of broadcast order for no apparent reason, Season 2 survives mostly intact, with two pairs of episodes swapping […]
| Movies and Television | Comments (3) |
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| By Dwip | April 13, 2015 at 9:02 pm |
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As should have been hinted at by my review of the movie in last month’s log, my next big review project is going to be Stargate, starting with SG-1. I’m a pretty late arrival to the whole thing, with my first watch being in 2009, and I’ve been through the whole lot a couple times since then. But it’s been a few years, so maybe it’s about time to check them out again. From the first, this is a pretty exceptional show. The writers and the people in charge pretty clearly had some ideas of the scope and potential of Stargate as a television series. Worlds to discover. Grand ideas to explore. This is science fiction in the greatest traditions […]
| Movies and Television | Comments (1) |
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| By Dwip | March 31, 2015 at 3:58 pm |
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Less books this time around, way more TV and movies. I don’t think it’s manifested itself on this project yet, but I tend to have giant pendulum swings one way or the other. One month I just want to read, one month I just want to watch TV, the next month it’s video games all the time. I’m fickle and capricious that way. Also, I mean, I just blew through like 4 seasons of Stargate here. I gotta switch it up a bit. YTD stats: January: : 5 books; 5 fiction (2,398 p.) / 2 videos; 2 movies (4.8 h.) February: : 11 books; 7 graphic (1,411 p.); 3 fiction (1,079 p.); 1 non-fiction (12.7 h.) / 2 videos; 1 […]
| Books, Medialogs, Movies and Television | Comments (0) |
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| By Dwip | March 4, 2015 at 4:00 pm |
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| By Dwip | March 3, 2015 at 11:20 pm |
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Present day. Present time. AHAHAHAHA. We’re going to try another experiment here, and I’m going to discuss all 13 episodes (layers) of Serial Experiments: Lain. And I’m going to attempt to sound intelligent about it. This prospect fills me with terror. If you’ve seen it, you know why. This is very much one of those pieces of art where you take the journey and when you emerge from the journey you have gained wisdom but the only way to gain the wisdom is to take the journey and everyone must take their own journey, and all that. It starts off simply enough. Lain Iwakura is a middle school girl in Japan. Her classmate jumps off a building. Then people start […]
| Movies and Television | Comments (0) |
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| By Dwip | February 28, 2015 at 10:51 pm |
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Another month, more stuff gone through. As these things go, this was a pretty good month. I’m starting to work back through some of the things I haven’t read and watched in a few years, and I think I’ve managed to say some things about some very important stuff in my life in ways I’m happy with. This pleases me. Expect more of this in the coming months. YTD stats: January:: 5 books; 5 fiction (2,398 p.) / 2 videos; 2 movies (4.8 h.) February:: 11 books; 7 graphic (1,411 p.); 3 fiction (1,079 p.); 1 non-fiction (12.7 h.) / 2 videos; 1 anime series (5.4 h.); 1 movies (2.0 h.) Year to Date: 16 books; 7 graphic (1,411 p.); […]
| Books, Medialogs, Movies and Television | Comments (0) |
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| By Dwip | February 26, 2015 at 2:56 am |
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There is a point a few hours into Far Cry 3 where you as Jason Brody, super frat boy avenger, storm a pirate base singlehandedly to rescue your girlfriend from torture, slavery, and possible death. Having murdered everyone who stands in your way, you are knocked out by a somehow unseen pirate. You wake up in a temple half the island away where you have a nice little chat with the pirate leader before he sets the place on fire and leaves. You, somehow still in the possession of an arsenal to make Arnold take notice, manage to break free, rescue the damsel in distress, and escape in a thrilling car chase as the temple explodes using a grenade launcher […]
| Computer Games - Uncategorized | Comments (1) |
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| By Dwip | February 25, 2015 at 2:39 pm |
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The other day I had occasion to go out to Junction City for some things, and since I was out there I decided to see if they had any interesting parks, like you do. What I found was Browns Landing State Park, which in the best traditions of Oregon parks is this random little turnaround at the end of this random road that happens to be next to the Willamette. So, you know me, I took pictures. And since I’m trying to make my camera do more things, I decided to play some with shooting at lower exposure. These pictures have also all been played with a bit in Photoshop CS2 using Auto Levels, another thing I am trying to […]
| Oregon, Photoblogging | Comments (0) |
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| By Dwip | February 19, 2015 at 4:33 pm |
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An approximate conversation from earlier: “Well, time to go to Albany and do some errands.” “Hey self, didn’t you want to check out this Hyak Park place and take some pictures of the Willamette?” “Right you are, self. Where’s my camera?” So I did that thing.
| Oregon, Photoblogging | Comments (0) |
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| By Dwip | February 18, 2015 at 11:58 pm |
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Yeah, it’s pretty much gonna be all photoblogging all the time around here for a while, I think. I’ve got lots to say, but it’s mostly waiting for this month’s mammoth medialogging post, which involved no actual mammoths. Anyway, went for a walk this evening, and I brought my camera, because hey practice. And if I share the results I make people happy, so here we are.
| Oregon, Photoblogging | Comments (0) |
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| By Dwip | February 17, 2015 at 8:12 pm |
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| By Dwip | February 17, 2015 at 11:19 am |
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I had occasion to make the trek to Junction City yesterday, and it was a fabulous day, 60+ degrees and the sun was shining, and we all know what that means. Pictures! Today’s pictures are brought to you by the continued need for me to experiment with my various white balance and color functions, and by Great Teacher Lorelai’s post-dentistry picture cravings and want to see the elephant table thing. More on that in a moment.
| Oregon, Photoblogging | Comments (1) |
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| By Dwip | February 16, 2015 at 4:36 am |
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In which, taking a departure from our usual location-based ramblings, I’m going to talk a bit about trying to hone my craft, such as it is. All the photographs are from Fort Hoskins up in the Coast range foothills. I went there two years ago. You can see some more varied pictures there. In particular, I was interested in two things this trip: A) trying to make clouds work; B) messing around with the white balance settings on my Canon PowerShot SD1200 IS some more. All I changed was white balance – I left it on ISO 100 (previously established as something of a sweet spot with regards to noise in the light I shoot in) and didn’t mess with […]
| Oregon, Photoblogging | Comments (1) |
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| By Dwip | February 11, 2015 at 7:13 pm |
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Right around 4:30 today, I said to myself “Self, you need to get out of the house. How’s the weather right now? Not raining? Perfect.” For a while now, I’ve been meaning to go back out in the hills and try and get some sunset type shots. Since I didn’t have time to go where I originally wanted to go, I decided to go back to our old friends Llewellyn Road and Finley Wildlife Refuge and see what I could see. Things were seen.
| Oregon, Photoblogging | Comments (1) |
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| By Dwip | February 8, 2015 at 7:34 pm |
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So we’re having thunderstorms right now. And I have a camera. And a bit of knowledge of GIMP sorcery.
| Oregon, Photoblogging | Comments (0) |
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| By Dwip | February 6, 2015 at 12:07 am |
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So, as most of you know, back in March 2011 I took a little trip across the country when I moved back to Oregon from Connecticut. As most of you are also aware, this was not a happy event, which is part of why I’ve sat on it for almost four years. The other part, of course, is that before the last redesign this blog wasn’t capable of displaying the pictures like I wanted, but that got fixed like two years ago so what am I waiting for. Somewhat more to the point, however, I took a bunch of pictures on my way back, most of them one handed with no aiming from the dashboard of my car, which I […]
| Connecticut, Oregon, Photoblogging, Trips | Comments (2) |
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| By Dwip | January 31, 2015 at 4:21 pm |
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Weirdly enough this is the first time I’ve actually posted one of these for January. Usually I’m on a post-Christmas video gaming binge, but in my post-surgical, plague-ridden state I’ve got a lot of time for reading, so reading I did. Analysts predict this trend to continue. Details for January after the jump.
| Books, Medialogs, Movies and Television | Comments (2) |
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| By Dwip | January 8, 2015 at 5:35 pm |
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