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What up yo!
savage
on 05 Apr : 08:31
savage
on 17 Mar : 06:29
Happy St. Patty’s Day! 
"Man I wish I had writers like those." - Said out-loud to myself in reference to the dialogue in Scrubs.
savage
on 05 Feb : 22:27
Poll
What are you most looking forward to doing this spring?
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I know... I know.... it's Buffy
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So, how can I have a serious post about Buffy the Vampire Slayer? Well, basically, it's because of Hulu.com which, if you haven't notice, is pretty much THE place to view online television and movies legally.
Anyway... they've relatively recently put Buffy seasons 1 - 3 online (and Angle Season 1, as well - side note). . More importantly, beyond the stereotype that follows Buffy, Buffy Season Three - possibly only after viewing the first two seasons - is still THE greatest season of any series I've ever seen.
Now, granted, I've gone on record as saying that Fire Fly is possibly the greatest series ever... but, it's only half-a-season (since Fox sometimes sucks; I mean, they did cancel Family Guy several times already).
But, for an overall season (complete season - full 22/23 episodes (or 24 episodes if you're "24")), nothing beats Buffy Season three, specifically the last few episodes.
The true is, it's an excellent series about growing up, becoming an adult, taking charge, and feminist power. It's about being a good-person despite the horrors that surround the world. And it's about appreciation for what is good.
Oh, and love.
Lots of stuff. 
Anyway, while it's legally free (occasional commercial break - but only one commercial for the entire break), and, while it's up there, I'd highly recommend viewing.
There's still a lot of good, sometimes great, material that comes from the remaining few seasons, and "Angel" spiin-off, but, for the time-investment, nothing beats viewing up to the end of the third season of Buffy.
- Savage
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Posted by:
Savage
on
Friday 08 May 2009 - 16:41:41
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 comments: 0
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Even Peter Pan Grows Up
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I know this is an odd, "Escapist Reality" post, but, I don't have much time these days and I feel this is an appropriate post, all things considered. It relates to role-models. And not the incredibly funny (much funnier than even I excepted) movie, no, this is more literal.
See, in the past, my role models focused on really awesome, albeit painfully alone characters who, despite their best intentions, ultimately decided that the only way for them to live, was to live alone. Let me cite such characters as Dr. Gregory House, Drizzt Do'Urden, or, I don't know, the main character from "Fallout".
But these days, characters such as several of the lead roles in Chuck, characters such as Chuck, himself, or Captain Awesome (no links... just watch the series) are my modern-day role models.
These are adult-males, living in the "real" world who truly just want to be awesome guys. Men who live up to that ancient code, that knightly rules-of-conduit, that I have always admired and, as a guy, always hoped to epitomize.
Beyond holding the doors and offering an arm, these are guys who understand love and sacrifice and devotion. They are just great role-models. And if they can get a good joke or two slid into the scenes in the process, more power to them.
But it's tough to translate ideals and conceptional acts of fictional characters into a life that, truthfully, one didn't consider possible. But having someone to share your life, your passions, your dreams, your stupid, boring stories is so much better than having a stoic, brooding persona. It's more difficult as well. But it's worth it. It's something to work at and work towards, but the payoff is there.
I know this is a sobering post considering my absence on this site. But, honestly, I don't know how much time I have to devote to this site right now. Ideally, a lot more than I have. Realistically... who knows.
But, if this post must linger as "the most recent post" for a long time, I think I'd like to leave it as this: the world of fantasy and escapist reality is within reach; it can be part of the every day. I've always believed this and, though it might be something you have to fight for, it's worth fighting for.
"Reality" in all it's painful glory is a necessary, much like making sure you have internet access to get to EscapistReality.net. But reality in quotes is just the stuff you have to do. Escapist Reality is the stuff you want to do, the stuff you'd rather do than the stuff you have to do.
You should never give up on trying to get to your Escapist Reality. What's there might, and likely will, change over time, but it's a worthwhile place to be. You've lost not when you fail to get there, but when you no longer strive to get there.
I'll see you later in Escapist Reality,
- Savage
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Posted by:
Savage
on
Saturday 25 April 2009 - 16:42:40
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comments: 3
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Okay, I'm sorry... I've been neglecting you.
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What can I say, I've been incredibly busy. That's not necessarily a good excuse, so, let me extrapolate. I've been doing stuff.
Stuff such as discussing the global-political ramifications of international trade relations and class structure.
Oh, that and soccer.
And beer.
Oh God. Speaking of beer. I just took a sip of the stout I brewed a year or two ago. I don't have much left, but I put a few in the fridge in preparation for sampling with my new stout, and, I've got to say, I love my first stout so much. It's so tasty. It's practically perfect in every way.
Speaking of love and being practically perfect in every way, I've been spending a ton of time with my girl friend. And by ton, I mean a lot, but not nearly enough. She's totally cool. I can't think of a single friend I have who wouldn't be cool with having her hang out too (unless they just wanted a 'guys night out', then, well, they probably wouldn't want her around). Anyway, she's pretty awesome.
So, to recap: Love my beer in that I thoroughly enjoy it. Love my girlfriend in that I long to be with her and feel that my existence is better because of her.
See the difference.
Words are fun.
Speaking of words that are fun, I had a chance earlier tonight to engage in a conversation about my favorite literary theory, to which I profoundly stated, "Reader Response Theory."
In that regard, I feel the need to public apologize to my favorite teacher from Rhode Island College: Richard Feldstein. I felt bad because earlier tonight I couldn't remember his name at the time and I wanted to give him a shout out.
Not to go off too much on it, but this is the guy who made me excited about literary theory. Specifically, he was a passionate teacher who was psyched to talk about a subject he was passionate about. And, well, that carried over to reaching me and, in doing so, lead me to a combination of my favorite concepts in application.
So, there's the plug for this guy. If you're at Rhode Island College, and looking for a great teacher, you'll be hard pressed to find better.
If you come across this guy randomly at a bar, buy him a round and just ask him to talk about anything; it will probably be interesting.
Now, in relation to Escapist Reality related events... well, there isn't necessarily much to report on. I recent borrowed X-Men Legends from a buddy of mine. So, I've played a bit of the game. More than anything else it makes me want to go back reading comics. There was one section of trivia within the game that I nearly aced. It got me nostalgic for the past. When I was spending hundreds of dollars a month on comics.
Now I just spend hundreds of dollars a month on dance.
One is less geeky then the other.
Yay. I'm less geeky than me from several years ago.
Granted, I often hang out with friends talking about work related things that deal entirely with web programming... so, I don't know, we'll call it even.
But, the game is a pretty solid opportunity to spend short periods of time destroying absolutely everything in sight. I wonder how much fun it would be if I didn't love comics. But, especially if you're a fan boy, it's a great amalgamation of escapist genres.
In the music realm, my hands are starting to get callused from drumming on the table while listening to punk music. I think I need to find a band soon else I'll find myself without my totally manly, seemingly manicured hands. 
I've been slowly reading through a book loaned by a friend. I'd mention its name, but, well, I don't want to look up a reference to it because I don't want the ending spoiled. Apparently, the back of the book ruins the entire story. So much so that the text was blacked out with a marker by my friend so it wouldn't ruin it for anyone else. Whether or not he blacks out every copy of that book he finds, I'm guessing not, but, well, he might. It'd be a cool story if he did.
In TV news, Family Guy is on right now as I write this post. It's the spoof on Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. It includes such classics as, "Pure inebriation"
Take a drink,
and you'll sink,
to a state of pure inebriation.
You'll be tanked,
like the whole Irish nation.
When you drink enough of my beer,
you will find this magic brew'll,
Make your every joke a jewel.
You'll drive drunker than Oksana Bayul.
Go on buds drink my suds,
'till you've reached that pure inebriation.
though the beer may be free,
you're just renting it from me.
Great episode, great movie to take inspiration from... perfect execution of pop-culture references. Something to inspire towards.
- Savage
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Posted by:
Savage
on
Tuesday 19 June 2007 - 22:15:52
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comments: 3
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Still Number 1 (Not me... the other thing)
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For over a year I've been telling people that my absolute favorite ballroom dance competition had been the Holy Cross Ballroom Dance Competition. This past Saturday was the anniversary of the comp. And, upon return, without question, without a shadow of a doubt, the Holy Cross Ballroom Dance Competition is still my absolute favorite ballroom dance competition.
I love the venue, from its two story windows that over look the ballroom and provide natural light, to the balcony that provides spectators with an excellent view of the floor, to the people who run it. The Holy Cross Ballroom Dance Team is easily among the nicest and most welcoming group that hosts competitions that I've encountered.
And, I'll admit, it doesn't hurt that I traditionally do really well at the comp.
This year, I placed in three of my six events: Bronze Foxtrot, Tango and Cha-Cha, and made it to semi-finals for Rhumba and Swing. And I looked good doing it too, if I might say so.
It was just really great to come back to my favorite comp and leave equally as happy as I did the year before.
In other news, here's some totally random events. Last night I was waking in Providence and I passed a book store with a book in the window titled, "The Way Of The Belly. What really amused me was that it got me thinking of the book I read back when I was a first year freshman titled, "The Way of the Peaceful Warrior."
Skip ahead to this morning when I'm looking up some info on IMDB.com and I see in the, "Now Playing" area that there is a movie titled, "Peaceful Warrior" which is based on the book I thought of the night before. Listed under its description is a link to get free tickets to the film.
Now, what type of Escapist Reality host would I be if I didn't provide my faithful readers with access to free movies. You can see the trailer and get free tickets to the film at: http://www.thepeacefulwarriormovie.com
The free tickets are only for opening weekend (March 30 - April 1) but are pretty simple to obtain.
It's an interesting marketing strategy. If you don't think people will pay to see the movie based on the trailer, try to get people to pay to see the movie based on word of mouth. After spending $20 bucks on two tickets for a movie last night, I applaud anyone getting me into a movie for free. And as such, as long as I actually do make it to the film this weekend, in compensation, I'll give them some added free press of an Escapist Reality review.
My little way to peacefully help fight for the under underdog.
- Savage
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Posted by:
Savage
on
Monday 26 March 2007 - 09:51:31
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comments: 1
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Beannachtam na Feile Padraig!
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Well, loyal readers, what can I say but that I had a really excellent St. Patty’s Day. The day itself started off pretty much perfectly and, really, the high of the morning just maintained its bliss throughout the rest of the holiday.
And though the day was basically spent at home, it was a day filled with sharing food and drink, a day of song and silliness. It was a good day; a really, really good day.
Oh, and did I mention food and drink? How about starting the morning off with a mighty breakfast of eggs, meats, potatoes, breads, coffee and Guinness?
Then, as the day progresses, and as I continued both steadily sampling a fair variety of Irish beers and toasting a steadily obscurer group of people, places and things, I eventually got around to making my Corned Beef and Cabbage Dinner.
And, if you’re going to be waiting around drinking while dinner cooks, you might as well have some snacks. Including some cheeses such as Hand Crafted Irish Cheddar With Porter.
And what is a traditional Irish-American St. Patty’s Day without the Corned Beef and Cabbage dinner
All-in-all, the day was filled with almost exactly what I would have wanted throughout the day.
What a great holiday.
- Savage
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Posted by:
Savage
on
Monday 19 March 2007 - 05:31:16
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comments: 2
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An Open Invite and Other Ramblings
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Well... it's now less than a week from the high holy day of St. Patrick's Day, a day that unites the world in escapism via inebriation.
This year, I'm planning on celebrating the blessed event with a typical (albeit excellent) corned beef and cabbage dinner, some Irish culture which might include reading some works by Irish writers or reading up on Irish history (a key element of appropriate holiday celebration, I feel), and lots and lots of beer (another key element of appropriate holiday celebration, I feel).
So, this coming Saturday, my plan is to be home enjoying good food and drink until after dinner time and then probably off to the pubs. And, as such, this is an open invite to any of my faithful readers here (even those prodigal sons and daughters who have only recently returned, as well as those new to the site) to come by for free food and drink and a pleasant bit of escapism and community.
Granted, many of my readers exist in realms far too distant for random droppings in. But, then again, I'm not throwing a wedding here; it's St. Patty's Day. There will be a lot of food and beer and if I have left-overs - excellent. If I run out, then we go to the pub earlier than planned - also excellent.
So, if you need directions to my place (new place if you haven't been over to see me since before July), e-mail me at savage@escapistreality.net.
For those of you who are new to the site or were hoping to see it again, you can also a transcript of an instant message conversation I had detailing exact instructions on how to have a great St. Patty's Day.
Ah... St. Patty's Day. What a great holiday. The one day of the year where every body is Irish. And, like they say, "If you’re enough lucky to be Irish... You’re lucky enough!"
- Savage
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Posted by:
Savage
on
Saturday 10 March 2007 - 21:11:38
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comments: 1
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Vista Vucking Vucks
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Okay, that's an exaggeration, but, seriously, on what would basically amount to the second day of use, Vista crashed and could not recover. The activity that froze had well over a half-hour to correct itself (cause I had stepped away for dinner) and then, when I came back I tried to close the problem so I could at least move on with work (I mean, hey, I've been using computers for decades, I know they're not perfect so I'm fairly level headed). But it took literally 15 minutes and Vista simply could not cancel the ailing issue AND in trying to close the problem window, the rest of the computer became basically unusable.
THEN I figured I'd just restart the computer. So, I control-alt-delete, select restart, and it couldn't close. Many many minutes past and Vista just couldn't close. Finally I just held down the power button until it gave up. And, upon restart, it actually gave me the clever DOS-esque menu of, "Do you want Windows to start normal mode, in safe mode, or in terrified-that-I-royally-screwed-up mode."
I mean, come on, with a computer that's totally new, has no illegal software, no random viruses or craziness. Heck, I haven't even had a chance to check out porn on this machine. And yet Vista just couldn't handle a frozen window. Wow. Talk about your let-downs.
- Savage
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Posted by:
Savage
on
Monday 05 March 2007 - 14:23:16
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comments: 2
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Laptop Update
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Under its first real test, Microsoft Vista failed miserably.
Basically, I was doing a lot - multiple huge downloads (all legit), running programs, going to install software and basically, I killed it.
After basically freezing, Vista acknowledged that there was a program not responding, offered three options: cancel, try to resolve the issue or just wait it out. I canceled the operation and, after "canceling it", it took Vista several minutes (about 3) to finally resolve all the issues and get back to where it was.
Now, I think the plan will be to allow some of the stuff to finish before trying to install new software. But, at this point, test one: failed. We'll see how well the rest goes.
- Savage
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Posted by:
Savage
on
Sunday 04 March 2007 - 17:39:13
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comments: 4
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An actual first
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Well, dear readers, you and I both know that my postings are few and far between. Basically, the reasoning behind this is simply that I am pitifully busy these days. Yet, the business comes from a really good job that pays well, a second job that pays okay for what it is and provides tons of bragging rights, and dance, dance and more dance.
However, tonight I am posting out of the shear desire to share my continuing excitement over my brand new laptop.
It arrived yesterday, 40 minutes before I had to leave my house. Since then I've have about 4 hours total of time to sit down and play with my new, entirely professional, toy.
This machine is beautiful. I love it. And, oddly enough, it's actually the first computer I have ever purchased.
How can this be so, you ask? Well, my last store bought computer was purchased when I went off to college (roughtly a decade ago). That computer was, like all my computers previous to that one, was purchased by my parents (great people, hooked me up).
However, since then, I have built all my subsequent computers. The parts were picked out, ordered or purchased, and then, usually in a living room, the mutt of a computer was assembled much to my video gaming delight.
Then, when I purchased my first laptop, I purchased a used Dell (a machine that provided me with countless hours of enjoyment as well as accountable hours of paid work - a process that lead to my ability to purchase a new computer).
And so, I selected all the parts and upgrades I wanted from Dell.com and allowed them to build me a brand new computer.
This computer is so new that I still haven't installed nearly half the software I need to, yet, it's already starting to get that familiar feeling of use behind it.
Now, I decided to run Windows Vista on this computer because I wanted exposure to the latest and greatest software on the market. And, let me say, at this point, Vista is fun. Currently, the bells and whistles far outceed the annoyances that come/might come with the new operating system. And, because I enjoy exploration, I'm finding new things and it's cool.
Amusingly, this machine was purchased because my old laptop could not run or effectively run many of the programs I wanted to run for work. So, I bought a laptop that would allow me to work better. Far cry from the days of purchasing computers strickly for video gaming purposes, huh?
Or is it?
Hopefully this machine will allow me to get back into the direction of video game development. I have a great gaming mini-game that I want to code up into a video game (mostly for practice), and several other ideas that, if executed, will be a lot of fun.
So, with the new laptop comes a lot of excitement. It's going to be a fun ride.
- Savage
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Posted by:
Savage
on
Saturday 03 March 2007 - 21:03:06
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comments: 3
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February - The month, the holidays, the controversies
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People are prone to anger. I've found this. Everyone probably has, but this is my website and my turn to rant, so, this time, it's about me and my findings.
Anger is an easy emotion. Happy comes pretty easily too (just tickle someone till they laugh; though, granted, they often get pissed when you do). So, when someone is angry, though it's totally a valid emotional response, it's also the easiest one. However, maybe because it is so easy to be mad, the reaction to anger isn't necessarily sympathy, or empathy, it's often times anger at the anger. "Why are you mad at that?" Implying that the reason for the anger isn't worth the emotional response.
But anger isn't necessarily based on reason. It's not necessarily based on what is logically known (though that can definitely be the reason), but what is emotionally felt. The, "I know I shouldn't be mad, but I am" mentality.
Granted, there really isn't necessarily any good way of reacting to this. If you address the logic, you'll end up pissing people off. If you sympathize, you're just lying because you don't actually feel that way - after all, you aren't angry at the same thing.
So, how should one address anger, especially if it is coming from loved ones?
After all, today is Valentine's Day. The day when the concept of love is forced upon all of us like a drunken date-rape scene.
And, like all good, single men, I'm planning on spending much of today wallowing in self-pity, engaging in my tradition of drinking my misery away in a dark, lonely bar.
But, for the rest of the human race who enjoy the tender embrace of loved ones, today represents a day when despite all social-barriers of shame and peer-pressure, women and men alike may open their hearts and share their feelings with each other in a vulnerable, yet protected, state.
And today might be a day when someone, filled with anger, might let their guard down enough to be, if at least albeit temporarily, blinded by a showering of love and affection. And today might be a day when miracles of love and affection blossom into an ABC after school special (or possibly even a cable channel late-night program). But, either way, love is in the air.
Today, all across Christendom, people will be wearing red to symbolize love. Some of us will be wearing black, but that's for different reasons. But the hope of every one of us, even those garbed in the fabrics of our hardened, blacked hearts, is that today, for even the briefest of moments, the joys of life, the happiness of love, the miracle or romance, will manifest itself for us to see and take part in.
- Savage
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Posted by:
Savage
on
Tuesday 13 February 2007 - 19:54:53
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comments: 5
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