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Real to Reel: The Expanse
Finally after 8 months of “research”. The article that was the inspiration for this entire series. The Expanse. It consists of 6* books, and 6 seasons of glorious TV. The show did a great job adapting the books. There are certainly some changes, but the overall story and main plot points are the same. And no, I didn’t just decide to write this article because I wanted an excuse to reread and rewatch the story. (Hint: I totally did.) *Yes. I know there are 9 books, and a bunch of short stories, but the last three books weren’t adapted. Read the entire series. It’s really good. The last book is…
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My Neck Tie Presentation
The other day, I was the featured speaker at the annual Bow Tie Club dinner at my job. I got to give a presentation on neck ties, as well as the crazy knots I usually wear. The event was not filmed, but I received a ton of positive feedback from those who attended, so I decided to share it. Since my site is text based, you won’t get the same feeling as if you were here, but hopefully you’ll enjoy it, too. The pictures are the slides from my presentation. Enjoy.
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Collapsible Car Bed
I have a tradition. Every year, I go camping along the coast from Washington State down to… however far I can get before I have to turn around and return home. Then Covid happened, and everyone’s plans got borked. This year, I was going to bring it back. Plus, now I have a dog, so it would be perfect. Just two cool dudes chilling on the beach. While camping isn’t expensive, I do have a TON of supplies. Getting everything setup, and in and out of the car, while managing a dog seemed like a lot of extra hassle. Then I found out about car camping, or stealth camping.
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Catio
I got Balerion when he was 12 weeks old. I wanted to be one of those cool people who walked their cats outside. It took a while, but it soon got to the point where Balerion considered himself an outdoors cat, and I was falsely imprisoning him. He constantly wanted to get out. He ripped a hole in my screen door to escape. He knocked the AC vent hose out of the way to escape. It was time to do something. A catio is basically a patio for cats. Get it? Since I rent an apartment, it couldn’t be permanent. I came up with a solution that would basically use…
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Intent, Interpretation, Invention
Over the decades, particularly the last decade, society has evolved. In most cases, this is good. Progress. Enlightenment. Empathy. Certainly, there are numerous cases where the opposite has happened. Who would have thought that nazis would see a resurgence. Instead, I want to focus on the positive. Don’t worry. It’s still me. This concerns how our messages are conveyed and received by our audience. Particularly the latter.
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Coat of Arms
A few years ago, I got a trademark for my logo. That’s cool and all, but it’s not really silly enough. I decided to make a coat of arms for myself. Plus, I’m not very good at vector images, so I like to do these dumb things periodically to refresh my memory. First, I needed an idea. I had thought about quartering the shield with different things that interested me. Books. Technology. Napping. Nothing really struck my inspiration bone.
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Real to Reel: The Hunt for Red October by Tom Clancy
Welcome back to Real to Reel. Here I compare books to their live action adaptations. Last time, I compared The Count of Monte Cristo with the 2002 affront to gods and man adaptation. This time, I’m going to compare The Hunt for Red October with the 1990 film. In a way, this is the opposite of the last article. Whereas the 2002 Count of Monte Cristo was terrible, the 1990 Hunt for Red October is a great movie. Arguably better than the book.
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Diversity of Thought
Have you ever heard the phrase “like minded individuals”? I’m sure you have. It’s become a sort of buzzphrase. Anytime someone wants to join a group, they say they want to meet like minded individuals. Why do you want to go to see the sports team? “I want to meet like minded individuals.” Why do you belong to that Facebook group? “I wanted to get to know like minded individuals.” Who are you looking for on this dating website? “Sexy like minded individuals who like The Office.” When I see this, my brain automatically translates it to “closed minded individuals”.
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Real to Reel: The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
Welcome to a new recurring segment, where I will compare books to their live action adaptations. Today’s critique is on The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas vs the abomination that is the 2002 version with Guy Pierce and Jim Caviezel. Figures, since my name is Dantes, I should start with this. Now, I know that this book has been adapted 100s of times in various media. I’m focusing specifically on the 2002 atrocity. Hint: I hated this movie.
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Hydrodipped Skateboard
A couple of years ago, I created a longboard. It was sexy. I’m still quite proud of how it turned out. If there were one downside, it would be that it was too dark. The stain made the wood grain in the already dark wood even harder to see. For this art project, I decided to go to the opposite side of the spectrum, and go for colorful.
