I love the English language...

Once there was a champion sword fighter who decided to build a fence around his place. He went to a lumber store to get wood for a nice picket fence, then he set it all up and whitewashed it. Then one day he got a court summons. It turned out the lumber he bought was stolen, and then sold to the lumberyard. In court he swore he had no idea the lumber was stolen, and if he knew he would never have bought it.

After hearing his testimony, the judge said: "What we have here is a fencer taking offense at a fence built from materials that were fenced!"

It's been awhile...

So I know it's been a long time since I actually posted, but I've decided to get back into the swing of things. I feel like I've let a lot of things fall by the wayside, and I'm looking to pick at least some of those things up again.

I figure as good a time to start as any would be to hype my friend Zach's comedy group, ImprovBroadway. Full disclosure, I was given a free seat in exchange for this post, but I still left them a tip after the show, because they are indeed worth the money! They've had several different venues over the years, starting out in a piano store, then moving from there to the Covey Center for the  Arts. Now they have their own studio in Provo. The theatre is a bit smaller than the Covey Center, but I think it works better for audience participation. For example, at the last show I attended, they pulled a date couple (who had been dating for a while) from the audience and asked them to describe how they met and their first date. Then they re-enacted with Shakespearean language, and a few other artistic touches.


As you may have guessed from the name, ImprovBroadway is an improv comedy show where no two productions are the same. Each show consists of improvised scenes, many of which involve audience participation, and an on-the-spot musical production. Like  Who's Line is it Anyway?, they're good at coming up with songs at the spur of the moment, and they play off each other wonderfully. Unlike Who's Line, they keep their comedy clean, so it's safe for kids, and safe for a first date. They remind me a lot of Studio C in that respect.

So if your in the Utah County and want to see something fun, check out ImprovBroadway. They even teach improv classes!

Everything's fair game in comedy...except sexual assault

When I watched this SNL segment, I wasn't exactly horrified, but I did feel a little uncomfortable, and upon reflection, I find it interesting that sexual assault is not usually joked about (and pedophilia almost never). Murder, yes, robbery, yes, but not rape.

Here's my guess on why that is. We can at least tolerate black comedy like "Death to Smoochy", "Murder by Death", "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" because death will come to us all anyway, whether by someone else's hand or not, and joking about it shows a bit of bravery. Also, I think most of us, for at least a brief point in our lives, have been angry enough to kill someone, and joking about it releases some of the pressure that anger generates. Same goes with stealing, or numerous other selfish acts. With sexual depredation on other hand, its a different story. It's harder to rationalize, even in jest, someone "deserving" sexual assault, not like killing someone you despise, or stealing you think you're entitled to, plus you'd be doing something to someone that they would have live with, and taking something that could never replaced.

Now it's not my place to judge the people who laughed at this monologue, (to those who DO judge them, you are not God, and you are not mind-readers). But I'm okay with keeping sexual assault, especially on children, a taboo subject, even for comedy.

Back with Batman

Sorry I've been away for so long, things have been hectic with school and work, and I haven't been doing much to blog about the past few weeks. But now I'm getting back into the regular groove again.

I was playing Batman: Arkham City yesterday, and I found some fun little details in the city that I never noticed before.

Dr. Leslie Thompkins is one of Bruce Wayne's confidants in the comics, and runs a medical clinic for Gotham's addicts and criminals in the slums.

As you can see in the top picture, when you look at the police station from a certain distance away, it looks like the Bat Signal is on, but when you zoom in, or move any closer, it turns off.

After Batman and Freeze finish fighting over poison antidote, and discover that Harley Quinn stole it, you can see the hole in the wall she made to take it out of the safe.

 I thought it was funny to see an Arkham mug in the GCPD, as I would expect the Gotham police wouldn't have cared for the place (what with it's lax security and all). Somebody start making these for real!

And here's another pause screen!

Floor Faces

I realized I haven't been at my abstract photography in awhile, so I thought I'd take a couple of pictures of my bathroom floor that I thought I could make something of.

I saw hints of a face here, so I used Photoshop's paint bucket tool to fill in what lines I could, then I used the pencil to fill in the lines. 

 When I started filling in the lines here, at first I was picturing a vulture's head, but as I was connecting the segments, I realized it could also be a vole eating something.

Day of the Dead

What's the party ghost's motto?

Eat, drink, and be scary, for yesterday we died!

Face Your Fears...

Here's another pic from my trip through Lehman Caves. Don't remember Arkham Asylum's Scarecrow being there, it must have been so scary, I blocked it from my memory.

A Haunted House Experiment

Here's an experiment I thought of that some of behavior researchers could try (just remember where you got from:-)). I wouldn't be surprised if somebody's already done this somewhere, but for me this idea was partly inspired by Dr. Marrow's little experiment in The Haunting.

You have two groups of people, Group A and Group B. You put Group A up in a "real" haunted house, meaning a place that actually has a history of rumors about paranormal activity occurring there. You do not inform the members of Group A that the house is supposed to be haunted; for the whole duration of the experiment, you make up some other pretext for them being there, but whatever it is, it should involve recording their activities. Unlike Dr. Marrow in the movie, you make a solid effort not to put the group on edge.

Now for Group B, you put them up in a "fake" haunted house, meaning a place that has had no supernatural history or sordid past. A brand-new house, built far away from any place that might be haunted, would be best. But with Group B, you tell them it is haunted, make up some spooky story about the house's history, and, like Group A, you ask them to record their activities throughout their stay.

So you have both groups staying in their respective houses for a week, with each member of each group making a diary of daily events, and at the end you have a little conference with each group where they talk about their experience. By the end of the week, which group will, in their personal logs or group discussion, report paranormal experiences? Will it be the group that has no idea what kind of place they're staying in, but where others have sworn they had a paranormal encounter? Or will it be the group in a totally innocent place, but who will be more inclined to jump at shadows and small noises?

My hypothesis is that Group B would be more likely to report supernatural experiences, though I wouldn't be too surprised if Group A reported them as well. Since I do believe in God, Jesus Christ, and the devil, and that our spirits live on after we die, I think it's possible that many supernatural reports are real. But I also recognize that some people will tell a good whopper now and again (especially if there is money involved) and that sometimes people get spooked over nothing.

One possible flaw in this experiment is that if Group A doesn't know they are supposed to expect and report paranormal encounters, each individual person may not tell of any such experience they had, if they think no-one will believe them. I know if I had a genuine experience with persons or powers from beyond, but no objective proof of that experience, I wouldn't go out and publish a book about it or make a movie on it, or even write about it here. Unless I was specifically instructed by God to spread it far and wide, I wouldn't share a supernatural experience with anyone who I didn't think would understand. I believe that such things are personal and sacred, and tossing them out to the masses is casting pearls before swine, figuratively speaking, and doesn't do anyone any good.

"Pirates of the Carribean Online", A Look Back

I thought I'd kick off the Halloween season with a retrospective of Pirates of the Caribbean Online, a now-defunct MMORPG run by Disney and featuring your favorite Caribbean pirates. It appears someone is remaking the game, but I'll believe it when I see it.

The game had you facing a villain named Jolly Roger, who has the whole Caribbean (and Jack Sparrow specifically) in his sights.

My fondest memories of the game are the invasions, which would happen on a regular basis at certain islands. The sky would turn green, the moon would acquire Jolly Roger's face, then the ships would come, and you would fight of waves of undead and walking trees (don't ask why) until old J.R. himself would show.

Yep, fighting creatures and undead, ship-to-ship combat, getting "killed" then coming to in jail, those were good times.

Arkham Trailers

Since Batman: Arkham Knight is coming out soon, I thought we'd take a look through the history of the Arkham games.

If only he'd learned defense against fruit...

When I saw this story about a guy robbing a store with a banana, I immediately thought of a certain Monty Python sketch...

Pause Screens are Cool

These "Pause" screenshots are from Batman: Arkham City. I like how they did away with the highlights and refined the details a bit.

Back From the Loony Bin!

Sorry to miss two posts, the last couple of weeks were rather crazy, but I'm getting back to a semblance of sanity. I've nearly been driven mad trying to get this batch of screenshots!

Anyway, I thought I'd pause for a bit to reflect on a black and white issue. I've been playing more of Batman: Arkham Asylum and I thought I'd show off some of the pictures I've taken with the game on Pause, which weren't easy to take, since I had to hit the screenshot key just at the right time to capture the fancy color filter, before the menu pops up. Batty, aren't they? (OK, I'll stop now.)

A Couple of Robin Williams Tributes

More Pac-Man Movies

The first one here I had seen but forgotten about until now, and the second I just discovered when looking up the first.

Pac-Man "Movies"

Hollywood, take note!

Creepy Dolls

When I first read this story about the dolls left on people's doorsteps, I thought of this song:

More Mario

A collection of other "Mario Movies" that I've stumbled upon over the years.

Mario Warfare

Two years ago the beatdownboogie channel began this masterpiece, and now it is finished, so I thought I'd share the majesty, the valor, and the heartbreak of Mario Warfare!

Character Inspiration Math

Arleen Sorkin...

plus Virginia O'Brien...

equals...