Archive for January, 2008

Alpha 1

Monday, January 28th, 2008

The Award for Most Redundant Name for a Robot in a Film or Television Show goes to Alpha 1 from the episode “Alpha” of the television show, The Flash. Alpha 1 tells us that her name stands for “Artificial Lifelike Prototype Humanoid Android One.” That could almost be a new game… called Alpha 1.

Rule Number 1. Make an acronym of an existing word.
Rule Number 2. Make it as redundant as possible.
Rule Number 3. Make it robot appropriate.

Example: Beta 2: Brainless Experimental Test Automaton Two

Alpha 1 is the newest addition to Robots in Film and Television.

Randomness Renascent

Tuesday, January 22nd, 2008

Last night, I had dreams in which I was swimming in a frog-like fashion on the surface of a body of water at amazing speeds; attending a high class function with a beautiful woman whom I was exhorting to be less condescending to others; submitting an application to a major British university, only to realize belatedly that I had written it on notebook paper and pasted photographs on it as if it were a scrapbook; and watching a “famous” puppet show featuring “Grouch & Grimace,” of which one was a meek and scrawny furry monster and the other was a crazy and talkative showman.

As with my dreams, so with this article. My entries used to be much more haphazardly constructed (q.v.), but with the advent of Web log technology, they have been neater and much more easily pigeonholed. I’m not in a mood for that today.

I am still dissatisfied with the blandness of the Cuparium’s main page. Surely, I can do better. I can draw. I can cartoon. I have both a Nikon digital camera and an old Canon SLR. There is no excuse for using a drab free background image. ‘Tis an embarrassment, really.

I am supposed to be making new puppets, but I’ve not been inspired lately, probably because of the lack of a scheduled gig. That’s the part I hate more than anything else, the business end. I want to concentrate on making puppets, building stages, writing plays, and performing — not searching for venues and making arrangements. There isn’t enough time to do everything on top of everything.

I have a million gaming-related things to do that I haven’t even mentioned yet in Fudgerylog, my gaming Web log. I shan’t mention them here, either. Everything is in development.

There is an Oliva Serie O cigar still waiting to be smoked, but my throat is sore, so it won’t be smoked today.

Mark sent me a link to this article from the Onion. Aye, that’s my city.

That’s all for the moment.

Be seeing you…       :-?

Ah, Cigars

Tuesday, January 8th, 2008

I visited a full-fledged tobacconist only once last year, and that was to buy a gift for someone else, but yesterday Ms. K and I went to the tobacconist (La Casa De La Habana) after work to shop for ourselves. The pipe tobacco selection is fairly small, but the most popular bulk blends of aromatics are represented (the vanilla and cherry cavendishes, for instance). The pipe selection is tiny (unless they are in a room I missed — I’ll report later if I’m mistaken). The cigarette selection consists of the major Nat Sherman and American Spirit lines plus a few others. The main feature of the shop, however, is the cigar humidor and the lounge. In other words, it is more of a cigar shop and smokers’ club than a traditional all-purpose tobacco shop. As a cigar shop, it is superlative. As soon as one enters the large, well-stocked humidor, the boxes of Padrón Anniversario cigars are immediately to the left (and they are the first brand I look for in any humidor). Most of the brands were familiar to me, but there were several I had never tried. I was planning to buy a small tin of cigars, one or two handmade bulk cigars, and a Padrón Anniversario. I settled on a tin of Hoyo de Monterrey Excalibur Miniatures, I couldn’t locate the individual handmade bulk cigars, and as I was pondering the prices of the Padróns, one of the proprietors recommended Oliva as an excellent and more affordable substitute, so I bought a Serie G churchill and a Serie O torpedo. Like Padrón, Olivas are made in Nicaragua with Nicaraguan long filler. I have high hopes for two excellent smokes. The Excaliburs, meanwhile, are even better than I remember. Overall, ’twas a very good after work outing, and I shall be returning to La Casa as soon and as often as I can (at least for the cigars, if not the pipe tobacco).

Cigar: Hoyo de Monterrey Excalibur Miniature

Sudden Resolutions

Wednesday, January 2nd, 2008

This year I will spend more time brushing up on my Latin and French.