I just happen to have a chance cube here…

justin D&D, Games, monkey, Popular Culture, Ravings, Uncategorized Leave a Comment

Somewhere around mid-August, 2014, I, along with a handful of old friends and a couple soon-to-be old friends, embarked on a new and fantastical journey. A journey that was so epic that I just had to use up all acceptable commas in my opening sentence. A journey into the Fifth Edition of the perennial classic Dungeons and Dragons. Yes, there …

Losing Heroes and Embracing Purple

justin Awesomeness, Deep Thinking, Music, Popular Culture, Ravings, Religion, Vice Leave a Comment

It’s April 21, 2016 and Prince Rogers Nelson has passed away.  I gotta say that Prince’s death has hit me as much as David Bowie, Joe Strummer and Joey Ramone. I’m sitting here in my home office watching Prince totally nail his Super Bowl XLI halftime performance in what most artists would consider an utterly unperformable situation. It’s pouring down …

Reflections on The Force Awakens [spoiler free]

justin Books, Comic Books, Disney, Fiction, Movies, Popular Culture, Ravings, Star Wars Leave a Comment

I just want to start this by reiterating the title: this blog post is spoiler free. For those readers who don’t know me, or don’t know me that well, I’d like to introduce myself. Hi, I’m Justin and I have a serious Star Wars problem. I’ve had an emotional investment in this franchise since 1977 like a lot of other …

Jólakötturinn Cometh!

justin cats, Ravings Leave a Comment

Iceland is a marvelous and magical place. Aside from being on my bucket list of places I want to spend some quality time, the tiny Nordic island nation has also provided us with the Sugarcubes, Sigur Rós, the most confusing parts of Die Another Day (probably one of the worst James Bond flicks, IMHO), and, in 2010, the terrifying erruption …

The Lackluster Return

justin monkey, Ravings, Stupidity Leave a Comment

Boy howdy I love me some gaps. It’s been almost three years since I have managed to pull together enough gumption to put my thoughts together enough to vomit them all over your screen. Sure, there have been several half-baked and half-thought ideas since early 2013, but never any real motivation to gather them concretely and click the “publish” button. …

Congratulations! You are now the Mayor of the Ministry of Truth

justin Deep Thinking, Internet, Popular Culture, Ravings Leave a Comment

Back in 1948, little Georgie Orwell wrote a book that imagined a world where people where the government rules supreme over all aspects of the life of the citizenry. “Dystopian” and “Oligarchic” are a couple of words that are often bandied about when Nineteen Eighty-Four and many a shitty high-school book report has discussed the growth of a strong Federal …

The gravity of gravity

justin monkey, Ravings Leave a Comment

A little over a month ago I had the distinct pleasure of experiencing the plain truths of Newtonian Physics. I had a whole bucket of Second Law followed by a quick realization of the Third Law. The ensuing aftermath involved me rolling on the wet ground in traffic in the middle of the intersection of Skillman and Eastridge, my scooter …

Our [insert name] is an awesome [insert name]

justin Deep Thinking, monkey, Popular Culture, Ravings, Religion Leave a Comment

Last week when I was heading out from the house, I drove past a rather thought-provoking sign in front of a church (I know “thought-provoking” along with “clever but wholesome” pretty much encompasses all of what most church signs try and pull off, but go with me here) that said “New Year, Same God.” That really got me thinking. Sure, …

Beware of who you ask for

justin monkey, Ravings, Stupidity 1 Comment

My name is Justin. Sure, it’s not the most common name (though I have, for some reason, been friends with many a Justin over my years), but it’s what my folks deemed to label me with. It’s not even a particularly hard name to pronounce. It’s spelled relatively normal with a good ratio of consonants to vowels and it doesn’t …

RIP: Monte

justin cats, monkey, Ravings Leave a Comment

Boy, it seems like I was just doing this not too long ago for big-H. Today, almost six months to the day after his big brother and ultimate hero passed:  Monte, my little Berger, moved on to be with his brothers Higgins and Augie. I can just about remember the day back in 1998 when we went to pick him …