It's kinda hard to say anything that's gonna top the Comey hearing happening this morning. This past half of the week I was at a conference in Indianapolis, and I just got back last morning (when pubski was fresh). The conference was great. My boss got a big award, I got to meet up and hang out with my old lab mates. The whole environment felt very comfortable and I felt valuable and optimistic. I'm still in recovery/recollection mode, so #scificlub will be a bit delayed. I still have to figure out what our next material should be.

Work is going well. I'm finally getting results of the quality I want from the instrument setup I've been working on for the past few months, and I'm feeling confident I can get this project to where it needs to go.

I've also been having fun with recording stuff. I acquired a pair of studio monitors from a friend that needed some quick cash, and I've been having lots of "make a 1 min composition and record it this evening. GO!" sessions.

You just don't get along with VW do you?

I can relate to the built-in activity connection. Being in a band means there's a group of guys I see multiple times a week, the extended connections of those people I see with less frequency, and the built-in comraderie that comes with it. Thanks to that I think I am a lot more connected than I would expect for my personality and lifestyle. I also don't have kids which I suppose helps a lot. That said there's only a few relationships outside the ones affiliated with an activity that get much attention.

Last week I had another car issue that I was able to resolve quickly. I had previously changed put the ignition coils and all was running well, but one afternoon coming home from work I got barely half a mile away and the car started shaking violently and the check engine light went on. It was a major "oh shit" moment.

After some quick googling and driving back to the work parking lot, I deduced that another coil had gone bad/something was wrong there. I cursed the cheap Chinese coils my friend had hooked me up with and got a ride back home (where all my tools and the old coils were stashed).

The next day I got a Lyft to work with my tools in tow. In the work lot I swapped out the old coils (which were worn but usable) and confirmed that it was an issue with the new coils.

While doing this swap I found one coil had a bit of plastic sheared off on the inside, and I was able to confirm that was the one that had gone bad. I swapped it out with the least-worn of the old coil set and all is good again.

You really do feel super manly when you can pop the hood in a parking lot and fix a barely-functional car without a mechanic or tow.

I'm also still thinking about music names still. I realized I should sift through some literary muses for ideas. Repent, Harlequin! has a nice ring to it.

I love these videos that break down the artistic details in films. Now I'm hankering to watch Blade Runner again.

I've also been on a big synthesizer kick lately so rewatching it just to hear the score seems like a great idea.

Well now I'm quite motivated to have a #scificlub on this. What say people?

It really was pretty obscure.

Yeah, I don't know why I like that name but it sticks out.

Alright, so I've been thinking of what moniker I would use if I start a solo music channel on YouTube/SoundCloud etc. I made a matrix of things/words/band names I like, hoping an idea would jump out at me, but no dice. In fact, the only names I'm still considering have nothing in common with that list. What's you're gut reaction to:

Catelope

Suckaduck

Slutty Dingo

?

I'm not sure what I think of these ones, but they stuck with me so far.

So I've actually seen the new movie. Overall, I think it was better than expected. The visuals and atmosphere were true to the original with lots of little details that pay service to the franchise. Various iconic scenes were remade nearly shot-for-shot, which I had no problem with. The part where it really suffered was the Hollywood retooling of the plot to hit all the groan-worthy tropes. The villain was overly villainous and lacked any credibility or realism. Some of the character relationships also suffered due to unknown reasons. The Major is untrusting of Batou at points?

Also some dialogue was traded out for crappier dialogue. And The Major's character was... uncharacteristic of what it should be. Uncertain and overly emotional rather than detached but confident. There's plenty for a purist to rag on.

Also acting was kind lousy. WTF scarjo, you can't act well and be famous at the same time? On top of that there was an almost amazing amount of word slurring going on for a feature film.

Are you not happy with it or just in shock?