http://www.youtube.com/v/zze026EoKj8&ve ... tube_gdata

INTRO: 
(backing: Glad I am!) 
(backing: Glad I am!) 
(backing: Glad I am!) 
(backing: Ahh-ahh-ahh-ahh!) 
VERSE 1 
Awfully familiar 
They try to kill ya, 
Every time.. 
It's a crime 
You're getting stronger, (backing: he's gettin' stronger!) 
While ever longer, 
You resist, 
With your two fists 
(harmony: enemies cease to exist) 

CHORUS 1 
It's okay 
I'm here to stay, 
And I'm glad I am! 
Glad I am! 
Glad I am! 
(backing: I'm chasin' all the bad guys away) 
Always alert, 
Down in the dirt, 
Bringin' the hurt, 
And I'm.. 
Glad I am! 
Glad I am! 

VERSE 2 
I get the picture 
They try to hit 'cha 
They try to kick ya 
When you're down and out 
But they don't know ya (backing: yeah, they dunno ya!) 
Quite like I know ya 
I know .. what you're all about 
We'll help each other 
Cause you're my brother 
We'll win no matter what the odds are.. 
We'll turn the heat up 
Even if we're beat up 
We'll stomp our foes without a doubt! 

((KEYBOARD SOLO)) 

VERSE THE THIRD 
Keep gettin' wailed on, 
But never bailed on, 
Till the end, 
Got a friend! 
I got your back now, 
Pick up the slack now, 
Never fear, 
Army is heeeere! 
(backing: fools better run for their lives) 

CHORUS 2 
I've appeared.. 
Alive and feared! 
Aren'tcha glad I am! 
Glad I am! 
Glad I am! 
(backing: You know we're grabbin' life by the beard) 
Sharing our might, 
I'll be all right, 
Bringing the fight, 
And I'm.. 
Glad I am! 
Glad I am!

----

Yes, it's from a videogame soundtrack. Double Dragon Neon is basically a love letter to the 80s, and has a surprising amount of vocal tracks. The whole thing is good but this track in particular stood out for me as a power song.

What I figure this does is a) power up the target's combat skills and b) increases Doug's coordination with them.

(Bonus: Each of the game's special moves is represented in-game as a song that you put on your training mixtape...and virt actually wrote a short song for each of them. Load up Bomb Toss for 40 seconds of power? Healing Touch for another heal?)

http://www.clockworkquartet.com/closer.html

Gives Doug 5:36 of enhanced vision, equal to the best possible quality optical telescope or microscope. The telescopic effect in particular can use his entire AoE radius as the light gathering element, putting him right at the top of the list of the world's largest telescopes. Five minutes a day is not exactly prime research science material, but I'm sure he can find applications, since it's adjustable through the full range of normal vision to max magnification - he won't be looking at atomic structure with an optical effect, nor distant galaxies from the bottom of an atmosphere, but it gives a whole new meaning to "within visual range." It would also work for night vision, using normal or low magnification with a larger light gathering region.

Look closer, look closer, and surely you'll find your goal, you'll surely find the way

This would be what makes him try the song - the never ending search for a way to get himself home. It could also work as a portal song to Girl Genius or a similar setting, but since that's still a live continuity it's more useful as the above effect.
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

(I could've sworn I posted about this last week, but... )
In case anyone's interested, they're celebrating the 75th anniversary of the The Wizard of Oz by restoring the film from its original three-strip Technicolor negatives, remastering the sound and visuals, and converting it to IMAX 3D.  Or, I should say, they have done this, having spent the last year on the task, and the results will be appearing in theatres for one week only starting tonight.  (In the US, at least; I don't know about anywhere else.)  For many of us it might be the only chance ever to see it on a big theatrical screen instead of a TV...
Peggy and I have tickets for the 9:30 PM show tonight at a nearby theatre; I'll let you know how it came out.  It appears the 3D conversion was handled with great care and took several months to do (unlike the more usual last-minute conversion to cash in on 3D), so I have high hopes for the results.  Some of the stuff I've seen about this also hints that they restored some of the missing material, like the long-lost "Jitterbug" number, but I can't get a confirmation on that.
http://www.inparkmagazine.com/classic-1 ... n-imax-3d/
And a YouTube video on the remastering process:

-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

A news story worth spreading.
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/da ... 05933.html

this is a background story for one of the characters that i'm using in my "Shadows of Time" story
Histories:

“Onkel Klaus,” at the sound of the young girl’s voice the older man smiled and looked up from his workbench to see the blonde hair and glasses of the nine-year-old girl pull herself around the bulkhead stanchion.

“What do you need little one?” the older man asked.

“How did we end up here?” the girl asked plainly, her face scrunching up in seriousness. It was the face of a child trying to understand the adult world and wanting an adult answer.

“That is a big question with a complicated answer.” Klaus answered. “Do you think you and your cousin are ready for the answer?” The girl nodded her face still set. “Very well then,” he sighed, “go retrieve him and meet me in our quarters, I only intend to tell this story once.”

About half an hour later, the three of them had run the other family out of their shared room and Klaus settled in to tell them the tale. “This story starts before either of you were born unfortunately,” Klaus told the two children. “Now, I am going to keep the story to the necessities for now and hopefully I will not have to expand on it later. It just hurts so much, and you were both so young.” At this point Klaus looked up and sighed. “The fact of things is that we are as much refugees as the people who saved us. Why, because we had lost. We had lost the battles, the land, and the war” Klaus said simply. “Whoever controlled the soldiers, whoever controlled the Geisterdamen, they had won the war. Agatha, you were about five when they made their final push.”

The Jaegers were holding the line as the refugees, the last free people in their world retreated toward what should have been safety. Barry was leading the jaegers against the geisterdamen with Klaus right beside him when the cry went up from the line of refugees. They had been flanked, cut off from their last chance of refuge and it looked like it was either die, or become a mindless slave to the master, the other. This realization was just settling in and people were setting themselves either for death or servitude when they arrived on wings of fire shooting beams from their armored suits.

Unknown system
Orbital slot 3: Planet unknown
3132

The Spirit Cat dropship was searching for the new home for their clan, surveying the only habitable planet when they noticed the battle. From orbit they could see that the group of embattled refugees had been retreating toward a walled town with a partially destroyed castle on a hill inside. Maybe they had thought to make a last stand there, but the captain of the dropship had other thoughts. “We have elementals quaiff?” he asked his executive officer

“Aff Star captain,” the XO answered.“Do you wish to intervene or simply deal with the rest of the planet?”

“Aff,” the star captain answered. “I do not like the look of those other locals that they seem to be fighting. Send two points of elementals and recover the refugees that wish to leave. When we find safety, they can go their own way if they still wish to.”

“Aff Star Captain.” The XO answered transmitting the order to the elementals onboard and to the shuttle bay where a shuttle was kept prepped to drop for survey purposes. “The orders are sent Star Captain; we should inform the jumpship that this was a waste of time quineg?”

“Aff, I shall do so once those refugees have been recovered.

They hit the Geisterdamen like an avenging angel, fire and death rays flying into the spider riders and the other's soldiers like an avalanche. The cheer that the refugees set up at that point snapped the rest of us out of our shock and the jaegers counter charged the giesterdamen our own death rays dropping many of the other’s soldiers and opening a wide enough area that their own airship was able to land without being swamped. A door opened in the craft and what must have been the pilot called out something in a language that I did not recognize at first to be English. Understanding his exact words however was a moot point, as his hand gestures made it clear we were being offered a way out for our remnant. We did not hesitate, but they did when they got a good look at the first jaeger to try and step foot on their airship. The problem seemed to be that they were created creatures, something our rescuers called “Genecaste” but Barry, ever the person with a solution told me to take you and Von Pinn and keep you safe. That he would take the jaegers and try to make a strike at the other in her own fortress. His brother had failed to kill her but had gotten his daughter out to Barry, and now Barry was going to see if his brother was still alive and try to kill the other or die trying.

“We came up to our rescuers ship and for the first time I felt stupid,” Klaus finished with a sigh. “Here was all this technology, things we had never thought of, had not even dreamed of in our greatest madness. I vowed then and there that the two of you would learn from them as much as was possible, your madness, and your inventiveness would be with the most technologically advanced capabilities that could be provided. That is why you are not only learning to be warriors, but to be technicians as well. That way when it finally comes you’ll know not just how to use it, but how to make it better to be used in a more controlled and destructive manner. Both children looked at Klaus and nodded, understanding what was expected of them, and as they nodded the zero gravity of the charging jumpship caused two pendants to come out, one bearing the trilobite of the Heterodynes, and the other the winged castle of Wolfenbach.
 

If what her kids said was anything close to true, I am so glad I never met this woman.

-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

as part of the side story/background for my Battletech fiction i wrote this, enjoy:
Histories:

“Onkel Klaus,” at the sound of the young girl’s voice the older man smiled and looked up from his workbench to see the blonde hair and glasses of the nine-year-old girl pull herself around the bulkhead stanchion.

“What do you need little one?” the older man asked.

“How did we end up here?” the girl asked plainly, her face scrunching up in seriousness. It was the face of a child trying to understand the adult world and wanting an adult answer.

“That is a big question with a complicated answer.” Klaus answered. “Do you think you and your cousin are ready for the answer?” The girl nodded her face still set. “Very well then,” he sighed, “go retrieve him and meet me in our quarters, I only intend to tell this story once.”

About half an hour later, the three of them had run the other family out of their shared room and Klaus settled in to tell them the tale. “This story starts before either of you were born unfortunately,” Klaus told the two children. “Now, I am going to keep the story to the necessities for now and hopefully I will not have to expand on it later. It just hurts so much, and you were both so young.” At this point Klaus looked up and sighed. “The fact of things is that we are as much refugees as the people who saved us. Why, because we had lost. We had lost the battles, the land, and the war” Klaus said simply. “Whoever controlled the soldiers, whoever controlled the Geisterdamen, they had won the war. Agatha, you were about five when they made their final push.”

The Jaegers were holding the line as the refugees, the last free people in their world retreated toward what should have been safety. Barry was leading the jaegers against the geisterdamen with Klaus right beside him when the cry went up from the line of refugees. They had been flanked, cut off from their last chance of refuge and it looked like it was either die, or become a mindless slave to the master, the other. This realization was just settling in and people were setting themselves either for death or servitude when they arrived on wings of fire shooting beams from their armored suits.

Unknown system
Orbital slot 3: Planet unknown
3132

The Spirit Cat dropship was searching for the new home for their clan, surveying the only habitable planet when they noticed the battle. From orbit they could see that the group of embattled refugees had been retreating toward a walled town with a partially destroyed castle on a hill inside. Maybe they had thought to make a last stand there, but the captain of the dropship had other thoughts. “We have elementals quaiff?” he asked his executive officer

“Aff Star captain,” the XO answered.“Do you wish to intervene or simply deal with the rest of the planet?”

“Aff,” the star captain answered. “I do not like the look of those other locals that they seem to be fighting. Send two points of elementals and recover the refugees that wish to leave. When we find safety, they can go their own way if they still wish to.”

“Aff Star Captain.” The XO answered transmitting the order to the elementals onboard and to the shuttle bay where a shuttle was kept prepped to drop for survey purposes. “The orders are sent Star Captain; we should inform the jumpship that this was a waste of time quineg?”

“Aff, I shall do so once those refugees have been recovered.

They hit the Geisterdamen like an avenging angel, fire and death rays flying into the spider riders and the other's soldiers like an avalanche. The cheer that the refugees set up at that point snapped the rest of us out of our shock and the jaegers counter charged the giesterdamen our own death rays dropping many of the other’s soldiers and opening a wide enough area that their own airship was able to land without being swamped. A door opened in the craft and what must have been the pilot called out something in a language that I did not recognize at first to be English. Understanding his exact words however was a moot point, as his hand gestures made it clear we were being offered a way out for our remnant. We did not hesitate, but they did when they got a good look at the first jaeger to try and step foot on their airship. The problem seemed to be that they were created creatures, something our rescuers called “Genecaste” but Barry, ever the person with a solution told me to take you and Von Pinn and keep you safe. That he would take the jaegers and try to make a strike at the other in her own fortress. His brother had failed to kill her but had gotten his daughter out to Barry, and now Barry was going to see if his brother was still alive and try to kill the other or die trying.

“We came up to our rescuers ship and for the first time I felt stupid,” Klaus finished with a sigh. “Here was all this technology, things we had never thought of, had not even dreamed of in our greatest madness. I vowed then and there that the two of you would learn from them as much as was possible, your madness, and your inventiveness would be with the most technologically advanced capabilities that could be provided. That is why you are not only learning to be warriors, but to be technicians as well. That way when it finally comes you’ll know not just how to use it, but how to make it better to be used in a more controlled and destructive manner. Both children looked at Klaus and nodded, understanding what was expected of them, and as they nodded the zero gravity of the charging jumpship caused two pendants to come out, one bearing the trilobite of the Heterodynes, and the other the winged castle of Wolfenbach.
 

Show me another browser where just opening a page in a new tab freezes your entire system.
Show me another browser that takes so long to do something like open an empty tab that if you start typing in a URL too soon, you end up changing the contents of an existing tab.
Show me another browser which is so clunky it automatically detects when it's taking too long and offers useless advice on how to improve its response time.  (Sorry, IE, I use no add-ons, you can't blame that lack of speed on anything else.)

ETA:  Oh, and let's not forget disappearing entirely from the desktop when the render gets too hard, locking everything again, until it reappears upon completion of the page.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

Okay, I found out I have to testify in a case I worked on. Which means guess what?
I have to wear a suit.
WHAT!!?
I haven't worn a suit for over a decade and the ones I have are now don't fit.
So off I went to  Joseph A. Banks. They have a current sale of buy 1 get 2.  Do not talk to me about the price because I'm in a state of sticker shock right now.  I ended matching and having tailored 3 suits:
1 gray suit for a court appearance
1 blue suit for going out on the town
1 MIB suit.
Yup, 1 MIB suit like Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith. Only need the raybans and the shoes. Which begs the question. What type of shoes did those guys wear?
So I will either look like a MIB agent, an undertaker or someone who works at Region Bank Headquarters. May wear it to work at halloween.
__________________
Into terror!,  Into valour!
Charge ahead! No! Never turn
Yes, it's into the fire we fly
And the devil will burn!
- Scarlett Pimpernell

Of course, Imageshack is down AGAIN so I can't upload the WIP image, but it's available on Macross World if you have or are willing to sign up for a membership there so you can see attached files:

http://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/index.p ... opic=39938

Like that post says, though, I need some ideas for the head design, aside from including the plane's nose guns. Anyone have a proposition?

- CD
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows