Heath C. Ice

A Little Privacy Please

hcice — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 23:33:22 +0000

I’ve been doing a little online spring/fall cleaning. With all of the changes Facebook keeps making to its security settings and policies, I have been debating closing my Facebook account finally. I am not sure if I will end up doing that, but we will see. I also noticed that Facebook keeps track of connections to your account and I found one that didn’t appear to be from me. That kind of freaked me out a bit. Needless to say, I’ve gone through and changed a lot of my passwords . I’m also heavily debating making my Twitter feed private now, but I’ll let the “freaked out” feeling hopefully pass before I decide on that.

My Summer Reading List

hcice — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 05:31:38 +0000

Some may not call this a “Summer Reading List,” but as it is my reading list that I compiled over the summer. A few I’ve read before, but I figured they’d be good to go through again. I’ve marked through the ones I’ve already finished reading this summer.

Walking Workstation v2.0

hcice — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 00:43:16 +0000

Here is iteration 2 of my walking workstation. I had to add the second monitor because bending over to look at the laptop screen while I walked 2 hours killed my back! Also raising the laptop up made the keyboard uncomfortable.

On another note, the Quick Photo feature of WordPress for iPhone finally works. Yay!

PAX – Cosplay

hcice — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 14:54:51 +0000

I attended the Penny Arcade Expo (PAX Prime) this past weekend. I was absolutely blown away by the attendance at PAX, 70,000 people. It was ridiculous! I had no idea it was that big. That is many times the population of the entire town I live in! There is a lot I can write about my experience at PAX, and I might get around to it this weekend. For now, though, let’s focus on some of the Cosplay I saw.

There was a lot of Cosplay that I didn’t get pictures or video of. The one that makes me saddest of is the exceptional Captain Jack Sparrow costume and role-playing that some asian gentlemen did. He played it up with the walk, the demeanor, the attitude, the voice, everything! Having said that, here is the Cosplay I got pictures of.

First, here is Princess Peach and a couple of her friends.

I saw Princess Peach at another point during PAX and decided I needed to get a picture of me with her. At this point I was asking for pictures with a number of the cosplay people, or at least the cute ones.

Speaking of the Mario Brothers’ world, I found Mario and Luigi enjoying some pizza for lunch on the last day of PAX. I figured it was fitting so I had to get a picture.

While walking around the exhibit area I found these three Robins.

Sadly, what convention would be complete without at least one appearance by everyone’s favorite bear! I saw a few other Pedobears, but this was the only one I had my camera out so I could get a picture.

Here is yet another reason I need to look into getting a TARDIS. Granted, I can’t help but look at a TARDIS dress and think it’s advertising “You’d be surprised just how much is packed into this seemingly small dress.” As much as I try, that thought just will not leave my mind. I think I’ll take my chances though. I wish I had found her again so I couldn’t have gotten a picture with her. Oh well.

I have to be honest, I have no idea what show the people in this next picture are from. I just thought they had nice costumes so I asked them for a picture.

This is probably my second favorite cosplay picture from PAX. Although I never saw Felicia Day at PAX, here is a lady who did a really nice job of dressing like Codex from “The Guild.” I couldn’t NOT get a picture with her.

My favorite picture is definitely of me with the two hot nuns! They were at a booth for the upcoming Frima Studios game “Nun Attack.” Unfortunately, I was only able to get a picture when there were two girls at the booth. I had seen 3 working at various times. Somehow I will learn to live with only getting this picture!

Last, but not least, we have two good looking ladies dressed as Sub-Zero and Scorpion from Mortal Kombat. They were posing in various fighting positions so people could get pictures. My picture didn’t turn out to good, but the short video I took turned out nicely.

Frank Turner – “Glory Hallelujah”

hcice — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 07:55:33 +0000

A friend sent me this song last night. I have listened to it at least 40 times so far! I could not find a good place online that had the lyrics correct, so here they are as best as I could hear in the song.

Brothers and sisters, have you heard the news?
The storm has lifted and there’s nothing to lose.
So swap your confirmation for your dancing shoes,
Because there never was no God.
Step out of the darkness and onto the streets.
Forget about the fast, let’s have a carnival feast.
Raise up your lowered head and hear the liberation beat,
Because there never was no God.

There is no God,
So clap your hands together.
There is no God.
No heaven and no hell.
There is no God,
We’re all in this together,
There is no God,
So ring that victory bell.

No cowering in the dark before some overbearing priest,
Not waiting until we die until we restitute the meek,
No blaming all our failings on imaginary beasts,
Because there never was no God.
No fighting over land your distant fathers told you of,
Not spilling blood for those who have never spread a drop of blood,
No finger pointing justified by phantoms up above,
Because there never was no God.

There is no God,
So clap your hands together,
There is no God,
No heaven and no hell.
There is no God,
We’re all in this together,
There is no God,
So ring that victory bell.

And I know you’re scared of dieing man and I am too,
But just pretending it’s not happening isn’t gonna see us through.
If we just accept that there’s an end game and we haven’t got much time,
Then in the here and now we can try and do things right.
We’d be our own salvation army and together we’d believe
In all the wondrous things that mere mortals can achieve,
Well I’ve known beauty in the stillness of cathedrals in the day,
I sang “Glory Hallelujah! Won’t you wash my sins away?”
But now I’m singing my refrain and this is what I say,
I say there never was no God.

There is no God,
So clap your hands together,
There is no God,
No heaven and no hell.
There is no God,
We’re all in this together,
There is no God,
So ring that victory bell.

The Courtyard by Marriott LAX Hotel

hcice — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 07:14:33 +0000

When I have an early flight out of LAX, I typically drive to LA the night before and stay at the Courtyard Marriott LAX, right next to the airport. Tuesday night I did just this, but was pleasantly surprised at the renovations at the Courtyard. I wish I had taken pictures of how it used to look so that I could offer a visual comparison.

Here are a few pictures of the my room with two queen beds.

The TV and desk provided such a nice setup that, even though I was only there for the evening, I decided to set up all of my computers to see how it looked. I want to get a setup at home that is somewhat similiar to this, although I have two additional computers there (an iMac and a Windows 7 desktop).

Finally, here are a few pictures of the lobby, restaurant, bar area. It is much more open and lit than previous. I really liked that there were a number of lounge areas, each with their own TV. The lobby also provided a number of large spaces/tables for meetings, socializing, or working. The previous lobby area was relatively dark and closed off and the previous restaurant was not appealing to one who wanted a light meal before heading to bed early for the next day’s flight. Note that the following photographs were taken at 4:30am as I was leaving for the airport.

Overall, I found the Courtyard Marriott LAX much more inviting than previous. The rooms have always been comfortable, but now the lobby/bar area is so much more appealing.

New Digital Camera

hcice — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 00:32:47 +0000

I decided that I needed a small, simple point-and-shoot camera to take with me to TAM, PAX Prime, and other conventions. I wanted something that would take good video and pictures but be small enough to always carry around. I settled finally on the Canon Powershot ELPH 300 HS. It wasn’t supposed to arrive until tomorrow, but when I got home from work tonight it was at the door!

I’ve had a chance to play with it a little and so far I am really impressed with it. Here are some pictures and a short video I took to test it out.

I wasn’t originally making this video to post online, but someone asked me to so here it is. Some of the sudden movements are so that I can see how well the camera handles objects moving quickly in the frame. I am really pleased with the video!

Let’s add some shots I took outside at night it almost total darkness (with only the camera’s flash for scene illumination).

Walking Workstation

hcice — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 05:32:47 +0000

My walking workstation is working out pretty well so far. I just walked 3.2 miles tonight while browsing reddit, watching youtube, and watching podcasts. The only real problem I have found is that I have to lean over slightly to see the screen and this causes my back to hurt after over an hour of walking. I am working on a way to put a monitor at eye-level to alleviate this. I may end up having to buy a monitor specifically for the walking workstation setup

Can’t Get Song Out of My Head

hcice — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 12:17:04 +0000

Each time I go back to Oklahoma on vacation, my friend Bill Jones makes a mix CD for the week or so I am there. For my trip in June, the CD contained:

“Dog Days are Over” – Florence + the Machine
“The Golden Age” – The Asteroids Galaxy Tour
“Take Off Your Shirt” – Bibio
“Step Out of the Car” – The Boxer Rebellion
“Darling Buds of May” – Brother
“Numb” – The Airborne Toxic Event
“Roni” – Chikita Violenta
“Living in America” – dom
“Helena Beat” – Foster the People
“Say My Name” – Holy Ghost!
“Future Starts Slow” – The Kills
“Kiss & Kill” – Le Butherettes
“Young Blood” – The Naked and Famous
“Still Around” – Toro y Moi
“Holy Holy” – Wye Oak
“Get Some” – Lykke Li
“Love My Name” – Young Knives
“My Body” – Young the Giant
“Get Away” – Yuck
“Morning Thought” – Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.

The entire CD was great, but two songs that will not get out of my head are “Helena Beat” and “The Golden Age.”

“Red State” Poster for “The Sheriff”

hcice — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 22:38:09 +0000

I woke up early Friday morning to find that Kevin Smith (@thatKevinSmith) was auctioning off the rights to host “The Sheriff” movie poster for “Red State” on ones website. I put in an initial bid of $1000 and was quickly beat by a representative of @filmthreat with $1250. I then decided to bid $1275, but was again beaten by @filmthreat with a bid of $1400. Things were too rich for my blood at this point, so I gave up. Since Kevin Smith was going to give the winning bid to the Red Cross Japan fund and also match the contribution, I decided to add $250 to @filmthreat‘s bid, bringing it to $1650. A few other Tweeps also donated extra money towards the cause.

If you’re a movie website or film journalist and you want to feature this poster or use it in a story, don’t be a detail-thin dick.

Be sure to tell people WHY the poster was released: because (Gavin Ap’ Morrygan (@Tearsinrain78), Darryl Clarke, Jamie Calder (@jamiecalder), Dan Duffy (@TheHalfFund), Heath C. Ice (@hcice) and FilmThreat.com (@filmthreat)) bid $2050 to earthquake and tsunami relief for Japan.

If you also include the link for Japanese earthquake and tsunami relief (http://www.redcross.org/) in your story/article, you’re not only being a thorough journalist, you’re also helping to save actual lives.

It only takes a few seconds longer to provide all available facts in any story.

Including THIS fact can help save lives.

Please also note, directly from FilmThreat’s terms for using the below image in a post: “If you use or share this Red State poster, then you also must mention and link to the disaster relief for Japan and Wayne Foundation charities.”

Congratulations to FilmThreat on winning the auction. Thanks you for such a generous donation to the Japan Relief Fund also! Here is FilmThreat’s post about the auction and Red State Poster.

Check out the trailer for “Red State” along with more movie posters for the film at http://coopersdell.com/gallery.html.

Heath C. Ice

A Little Privacy Please

My Summer Reading List

Social Interactions / Management Skills:

Science:

Psychology of Belief:

Skepticism:

Atheism: