Fantasist's Scroll

I’ve got the spirit.

The spirit of Christmas, that is!
Hey, look for the first time in three years, I actually put up a tree. And I live alone, so there’s no one to see it. Well, no one but the girls at work who saw it on my cellphone and cooed. Okay, so now you know the real reason I put up the tree, but still…

Well, in keeping with the speedily approaching holiday, I’ve got some toy and Christmas related links for you.
First, there’s a virtual Advent Calendar. Each day links to a Christmas memory and a link to something fun. For instance, the second day had a “paint your own Christmas tree” web thing. Kind of cool.
Next, I have a link to a BoingBoing article about an illustrator from Popular Science magazine who makes the most incredible Rube Goldberg Christmas cards you’ve ever seen. Really, you have to look at these and wonder.
Now, when Christmas is over, you have all kinds of boxes laying around, right? Well, don’t throw them out! Instead, use carboard rivets to make them into something cool to play with!
If you’re looking for a great stocking stuffer for geeks, try the Christmas Stocking USB drive. Yeah, it’s kind of specialized, but, hey, it is a USB drive they can enjoy all year long.
But, for my money? The coolest thing I’ve seen all year is the Custom Action Figure. Yes, this is not just a web toy. You can design and actually purchase the GI Joe-sized action figure you design. And, considering the customization factor, the prices are damned reasonable.

So, now you have a way to waste a little time with just 8 shopping days until Christmas. How much work were you planning to do this week anyway?
(And, yes, this was originally posted on my other blog, Diary of a Network Geek.)

O, wow, it’s been another long week.

My job is eating me alive, so I have another collection of semi-random links for you this week, again. Though, most of them seem to have an underlying theme…
First, on Gizmodo, I have a link to a jetpack convention. The interesting thing about this to me, is that there are enough people who own jetpacks to justify an actual convention about it.
Next is a link to a stroy on Street Tech about personal, flying, transportation devices, which reinforces the whole idea that a convention is really a good idea after all. (Trust me on this one and follow the link then check out the WASP. It looks so Logan’s Run to me that I just love it to death!)
But, if that’s not enough, you can try either the palmsize microcopter, for fun, or a story on Livescience.com about levitating small animals via sound waves. Yes, it’s actually a ral thing and not a hoax or clever picture. Freaky.

But, now it’s late, or early depending on your point of view, so since I don’t have either the breakfast art toaster to welcome me in the morning or the antidepressant pillows to welcome me to bed when I snap, I’d best get off to bed for a couple hours, before I do it all again!
Happy Friday! (grumble)

As I mentioned in a previous post, here’s my Magna Carta I.

Well, just to refresh your memory, Chris Baty talked about two Magna Cartas of noveling in his NaNoWriMo primer No Plot No Problem. The first is all the things I think go into a good novel. (That’s what this one is.) And the second is the list of all the things that I think should be definately left out of a good novel. (That’s for a future post.)

So, without further ado, here’s my Magna Carta I, Elements of “Good” Fiction:

• Violence. Lots and lots of violence.
• Mystery
• Exotic locales
• Magic, or at least the hint of magic
• Religious beliefs
• A real villain who has good points (ie. “loves his mother”)
• A tough “everyman” hero who’s good but has bad habits
• Surreal interiors (ie. Basement hothouse, warehouse filled with Asian antiques, building facades that hide something super cool)
• Smart use of current technology
• Slightly futuristic/near future sci-fi stuff
• Exotic creatures
• Characters who change based on the plot
• Characters who LEARN during the course of the book
• Something criminal, or potentially criminal
• Books, lots of books
• Libraries
• Big, strange houses filled with rooms of unusual things
• Quirky supporting cast
• Characters who worry about bills, money and similar every day concerns
• Characters who have bodily functions
• At least one scene inside a bathroom
• Guns
• Knives and swords
• A monk, or hermit, or wiseman or guru
• Characters with strange things in their pockets
• Secret organizations
• Adventure and daring-do and, maybe, even a bit of swashbuckling
• Memorable images
• Cinematic moments: action and description
• Humor from what the characters say, not bad writing (ie. Humor from the characters being funny with each other.)

Up next… My Magna Carta II, Elements of “Bad” Fiction.
(And, sadly, I had computer trouble last night on my main system, so I have sincere doubts that I’ll be able to make up my 12000 word deficit at this point. Still, I keep working at it. Hope springs eternal!  And, yes, this also appeared on my other blog: Diary of a Network Geek.)

Hey’s it’s Friday and I have no theme to my crazy links.

Look I paid all my important bills last night and I’m too tired to come up with any real theme here, but these all are perfect links for a Friday.
First, in honor of Halloween, I bring you a link to the story, via Boing Boing, of a cyclops baby born in India.
Also in honor of Halloween, and via Boing Boing, I bring you horror furnature props.  Those things are totally cool!  And, luckily, they’re not cheap or I’d be giving my friends heart attacks all the damn time.
And, finally, since I’m sure you’re probably reading this at work, I thought it was high time I helped you sneak around on the web without getting caught. It’s a site called Work Friendly and it will open browser windows that are camoflaged as Micro$oft Office files. Pretty clever, huh?
So, if I do this NaNoWriMo thing, I’ll have to queue up a bunch of Friday Fun Posts this weekend, since I won’t have time otherwise. Well, in any case, this Friday, you can enjoy these crazy links.

Well, more specifically, SteamPunk machines.

This great site, called CrabFu, which seems to be dedicated to cool toys of a steampunk flavor, offers some advice about how to draw steampunk machines. Now, I’m no artist, but their advice really made sense!
Still, if you just like the pretty pictures, scroll to the bottom of the page and you can see some rockin’ steampunk concept art.

Way cool!
Enjoy your Friday!

You know, I could rewrite this…

But, it’s easier to just link to the post over at my other blog, Diary of a Network Geek. Go there, and look at what I wrote then check the links for cool fractal art.

Hey, it’s free! Besides, it’s Friday and what else do you have to do?

Oh, these are strange, but good.

Here’s a link to a DefenseTech article about the CIA’s Online “Personality Test” which is supposed to open our eyes to what it’s really like to work for the CIA. Apparently, it’s not ALL like James Bond. Who knew?

And, in a totally different vein, this is the most disturbing wallpaper I’ve ever seen. Look really closely at it. Hmm, maybe for one of the guest rooms…

But, finally, for the geeks, How to Make StarTrek-style LCARS Panels. I cannot make this stuff up!

So, go, link and enjoy. It is, after all, Friday! Whoops! Now, I’m late to work!!

Okay, this might not be what you were expecting…

No, I’m not talking about pornography in a library, but images of libraries that would excite book enthusiasts.  At least, it got me all excited.  Interestingly enough, the book is discussed on the Cool Hunters website.  It’s brought to us by Kids Republic and, based on the pictures, I can only describe it as library porn.
Seriously, if you like libraries, or old books, or just lots of books, at least go look at the Cool Hunters website, if not the book itself.  Way cool.

Besides, it’s Friday, what else do you have to do?