Hadn't been here in a while.  I think I'm going through a more exploratory phase, or something.  I don't feel like being as productive as I normally do.  It's been going on for about a month.  It happens.

  True to Aries description, I throw myself into a project, and I focus on it... until something new comes along and divides my focus.  Sometimes my focus becomes completely redirected, and the previous project goes unfinished, though I do sometimes eventually get back to it.

  My desire for knowledge has me going every which way, because there's just so much to know.  I guess times like now are like after a breaking point.  I don't keep a continuous moderation, so it goes in cycles or waves, as does so much else in life and the universe.

  Maybe after a certain amount of unbridled input and conscious processing, I need to turn it down and let the subconscious finish processing.  So this is me just going through some various thoughts with no real point.

  That Grace Park, of Battlestar Galactica, is some serious hottie.  I want one of those for the house.  But not the done-up Maxim Magazine Grace, not that she's bad looking there.  I don't like the glamored-up versions of people.  Just way too fake.  Of course, I realize the tv show version is not exactly her natural look either, but it's closer that Maxim has gotten.

  I like those two pictures of her.  The Galactica stills don't do her justice.  She looks better in live action.  And not to be confused with the pro golfer also named, Grace Park.

  Brings back memories of Shane Vansen, from Space: Above and Beyond.

  I've been watching Who Wants To Be A Superhero (see Sci-Fi Channel page version).  I think that's a pretty cool show.  At first glance, it looks silly, but if you look beyond the costumes and the made-up abilities, it really hits on something I think is extremely important and that people are losing site of: Strength of character and willingness to do what's right for it's own sake.

  Anyway, the prize is appearing in your own comic book.  Right now, I think it's going to come down to either Lemuria or Major Victory.  Major Victory has all the makings, but in looking at the character profiles, I think Lemuria has greater general appeal.  MV may have the heart, but Lemuria is just an all-around great character.

  I discovered an online RPG called Adventure Quest.  It's pretty cool.  I've been at it for only a couple of days.  Well, one day, really.  I'm a level 23 Adventurer, right now.  The game is all in Flash.  I was apprehensive at first, but it has impressed me.

  Phrase you may not want to hear:  "Okay, now just relax your anus."

  Some weeks ago, I watched a portion of an episode of an anime called Full Metal Alchemist (see Adult Swim page version).  Wasn't that interesting to me, though I am digging this outfit... minus the sandals.  I hate sandals.

  and hello there.

  But it did inspire an idea.

  There's a large "robot" that is actually an exo-skeleton.  Inside is a person, and this person gets teamed up with the hero.  I suppose he can know that there is a person inside, but he does not ever see the person for at least most of the story.

  What he does not know is that the voice he hears from the machine is an altered voice.  What he hears is basically a male voice that seems to suit the large and somewhat intimidating exo-suit.  He just assumes the person inside is a male, but this assumption makes no real difference to most of the story.

  The audience would not know either, but there would be subtle behavioral indicators that would suggest that there might actually be a female inside.  The audience would not know for sure.  The person in the suit would behave in a sexually ambiguous way.

  For the sake of some effectiveness of the appearance of the suit, she needs to not be noticably female.  But she prefers a certain neutrality, since trying to "act manly" would be distracting and just be not worth the bother.  The suit and the altered voice are adequate.

  Throughout the story, the hero often confides in his partner, telling "him" about what he'd like in life and in a relationship, and what kind of girl he'd like to have.

  This is where I have second thoughts about the audience not knowing a female is inside.  All his descriptions and dreams generally match up to what she really is and wants, so I want the audience to share in her view of all this.  She's hearing it all, and liking it, but she doesn't want to reveal herself, for various reasons including altering their dynamic.

  She won't be revealed to him until much later, and it will be by her coming out of the suit in front of him.  I have no other definite details of that event.

  This concept is similar to one I've had in mind for quite a long time.  Some years ago, back when I was in junior high, perhaps, I saw a breif scene of some movie or tv show.  I think it was someone in full welding gear.  It was set in the future, I think, or was just a sci-fi story, and I think it was underground.

  Anyway, that inspired the idea of a person new to the place (as was in the show/movie) being taken to some other part, but passing along the way a person dressed in a rumpled, dirty leather and canvas material outfit, welder's gloves and a full welding helmet.

  The guide says something to the welder, the welder nods in response, and at some point the welder takes off the helmet to reveal it actually a very attractive female with dirty smudge marks on her face.  And I don't mean obvious glamor attractive.  Someone closer to cute than sexy, and would not necessarily turn heads, but if you were already looking at her, you wouldn't mind continuing to do so.

  I want to see a movie or something where a female gets the crap beat out of her and then doesn't give a shit.  What I mean is, she's beat up, bruised and bleeding, but doesn't act emotionally traumatized by it.  And I don't mean some spousal abuse situation.

  Someone with enough inner strength that she would even be in a spousal abuse situation to begin with.  I want to see a female who can brush off what the common female would blub about.