Oh, this is truly funny. It’s screenshots from Lord of the Rings, captioned as if it were a D&D roleplaying game. Laugh out loud funny. I am always amazed at how clever and creative people are on the Internet.
Amazing what they have on YouTube. I watched “The Island of Terror” and “Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors”, both of which I actually remember seeing in the Dusk-To-Dawn shows. Perhaps I’ll write about them.
I am now watching “Horror of Dracula”, which, to be honest, I don’t remember seeing except for the very end. It’s remarkable how these people know they’re dealing with a vampire, but they think it’s appropriate to go trying to stake him at almost sunset, or to go checking Lucy’s tomb in the middle of the night.
So, I found an HPC Server 2008 service pack 1 in the form of an EXE (I thought it was an ISO, but I guess I was misremembering). I duly copied it to the disk and ran it. The result:
Windows installer failed to apply the Service Pack (exit code: 1642).
For detailed information, check the Windows Installer log:
C:\Users\ADMINI~1\AppData\Local\Temp\HPC_PATCH.log
Does it strike anyone besides me as odd that in 2009, a Windows installer uses 8.3 directory names?
Does it strike anyone besides me as odd that there is no such file???
Sorry, just had to say that. I seem to have deleted the HPC Service Pack so I have to go download the whole thing again. At least I found the install disk for the compiler. Which I don’t dare install until I’ve installed the HPC Service Pack. Who knows what horrors would occur if I installed the HPC Service Pack after the compiler.
My Vista machine (the one I use on the Internet) is behaving better these days (for some reason). It crashes totally (not even BSOD) several times a week. I figure when it crashes, that constitutes bed time. At least both screens come up.
However, my other machine, the one that doesn’t go on the Internet …
My other machine had WinXP64. This worked just fine and almost never did the BSOD (maybe once or twice a year). However, we need to use Windows HPC Server (our queries at the office have gotten too big for even the current powerful computers and must be distributed). So I decided to install Windows HPC Server.
Famous last words. I tried to install, and it informed me that I didn’t have enough disk space. Okay, cancel the install and try to clean up the disk.
Oops. Somehow the failed install trashed the old OS so now the computer won’t boot at all.
Ooookaaay. Well, most of what I wanted on that computer was backed up, so we’ll just format the disk and install fresh. Format. Install. Windows cannot find a suitable partition.
Uh, what? You just formatted. How can you not find a suitable partition??? Reboot. Format. Windows cannot find a suitable partition.
What??? Lather, rinse, repeat. Turn off computer. Lather, rinse, repeat. Swear at computer for a while.
Hmm, maybe Windows is so stupid that the presence of an external hard-drive connected through USB confuses it. You think? Unplug the hard-drive, try again and … look at that! Windows really is that stupid.
So now we have an operating system again. No programs, no data, no nothing, but at least we have an operating system. Now I get to dig up all the install disks, all the downloaded programs, all the data … I’m getting tired just thinking about it.
Oh, and I have to install the service pack first, which is a trick since the computer doesn’t go on the Internet.
I love Windows.
Our hero, Paul, saw the Gorgon, of course. Her face was reflected in a pool. He had the good sense not to look. Then he ran around and encountered her again. He didn’t get a good look at her, though, since she was in the shadows and he didn’t strain to look at her like his father did.
Now he’s in the hospital but not petrified. We seem to have a dead but not petrified woman. So what killed her? Looks like the orderly in mental hospital did it, frankly, though the doctor seems willing to believe he didn’t.
Our hero has been out cold for five days. He doesn’t seem to know what happened. He remembered a horrible face in the pool.
The doctor is showing him his face in the mirror. But what about his face? It doesn’t look like stone.
He has bad dreams and wakes up screaming. I think Miss Hoffman, the woman who’s been talking to him, is really the Gorgon in human guise.
Ooh, now he’s ready to leave. But he’s holding hands with Miss Hoffman. I still think she’s the Gorgon.
The Doctor really doesn’t want to investigate. Our hero wants to destroy the Gorgon. This distresses the Doctor. So he calls in the orderly? “There’s a full moon tonight. Don’t let her out of your sight.” “She may be close to death.” Huh?
Let’s dig up Daddy! What’s he doing? Confirming Daddy’s really petrified? A woman has come to watch. Miss Hoffman? The Gorgon?
Yep, Daddy’s really petrified. How did they get him to lie down properly in the coffin then?
Miss Hoffman was in the shadows, but was still human when he spoke to her.
The Doctor wanted the father’s letter. Why not just ask for it. Why not cooperate? Because he knows Miss Hoffman is the Gorgon, that’s why.
She says she can’t leave the Doctor. Paul offered to take her away and she got all upset, but she says she doesn’t know why. (Because she’ll turn into the Gorgon more often away from here, obviously.)
Ah! The Professor (Christopher Lee) is here. “What’s happened to you?” What is wrong with his face? Looks okay to me, really.
The Doctor is looking at the dead woman’s body. (No, not like that!) Autopsy, I think. Apparent cutting and slicing actions. Miss Hoffman shows up. Oh, she has a first name: Carla. The Doctor quizzes her jealously.
Clearly an autopsy. He removed the brain and put it in a jar.
Ah, she’s wondering if the dead woman was the Gorgon. He says positively not. But she wants to know who it is, and he says “Not until I’m sure.”
The Professor is a head taller than Paul.
Oh, this is a great idea. We know there’s a Gorgon wandering around in the night, so instead of staying inside with all the doors and windows closed, we chat on the balcony.
Let’s yell at the police. Let’s threaten him with the foreign secretary. We want to see all the women who have come here in the past ten years. Miss Hoffman is one of them. She has been here seven years, and the murders started five years ago. Or at least so the policeman says. Let’s threaten the police some more for good measure.
The Doctor won’t talk to them. Now he’s telling Miss Hoffman there are times when she shouldn’t be alone. But he won’t explain why. She says, “I am sick of you!” This was very distressing to him.
So she calls Paul and says to meet her at the castle. Oh, great idea. Seriously great idea. I hope at least the Professor is smart enough to bring a mirror.
She is enthroned. Now she’s wandering around the pillars where the Gorgon usually hides. No Gorgon so far, though.
They’re kissing. I hope he keeps his eyes closed. I still think she’s the Gorgon. She wants to leave now. He won’t go because he wants to find the Gorgon. He says it won’t be long but she says it will be too late. Longing looks — “I may never see you again”. Now she runs off. He follows.
The attendant from the mental hospital creeps up behind him but is jumped in turn by the Professor. The attendant shrugs him off and throws a knife but not very accurately. So now we’re going to confront the Doctor. All will be revealed. I think the Doctor is going to get petrified in here somewhere. I hope the Professor doesn’t.
Ooh, the Professor climbed in the window. Does he have a mirror? He has a crowbar. He’s breaking into the locked files. How did he know what files to go after? The ones with the lock, I guess. The Doctor is looking around for Carla while the Professor flattens against the wall.
The Doctor didn’t see him, and is now going to look for Carla in her room, though he won’t find her there since she just sneaked out the back door. Going to the castle, I bet, to petrify some more wee beasties.
The Professor brought the file back. Carla started suffering attacks of amnesia five years ago. The Doctor is in love with her and keeps her as a nurse even though she had these attacks. The Professor points out that she still suffers attacks at the full moon. He says the Gorgon’s spirit has found a resting place in her, and that’s why she couldn’t leave (for those of us who hadn’t figured that out).
Now Paul is yelling at him that the only reason he stayed here is because the Professor needed him. What? Paul stayed because he wanted to know why his brother and father died. The Professor dropped everything and came out to find why he hadn’t communicated for days. The Professor is here because Paul needs him, not vice versa.
Wait, what happened? She showed up but the attendant tried to drag her off and Paul pushed him away? Yes, I think that’s right. I love how nobody feels it’s necessary to involve the police in this.
Now they’re all lovey-dovey, and he wants to leave but she says it’s too late. She can’t go today.
We have visitors. The Doctor plus the police. The Doctor does not want to talk to the Professor. He demands to see her. The Professor reveals he knows about the amnesia. The police intend to search the house (very obedient).
The Doctor says if she doesn’t show up, they’ll be charged with abduction. The Professor reveals that they know about the attack by the attendant.
She really isn’t in the house. Wonder how they did that?
She’s supposedly going to take the train to Leipsig. The Professor says she won’t take the train. He suggests calling the hotel where she’s supposed to be at 5:30. He is quite confident she won’t be there.
The police won’t search after dark, since it’s the second night of the full moon. The Doctor is deeply distressed.
She didn’t show up at the hotel, of course. Check the castle, Paul.
The Professor slapped Paul to prevent him from going out into the dark. “I can’t let you destroy yourself.” He’s going to climb out the window, of course.
Paul’s the hero. I doubt he’ll get petrified. I worry that the Professor will, which would be very unfair. I confidently expect that the Doctor will. He “deserves” it for protecting the Gorgon.
The police have showed up to arrest Paul. They’re very obedient.
Paul is at the castle, which is remarkably brightly lit since it is night time. Ah, the Professor knocked down the cops and climbed out the same window. Heh.
Paul is wondering around the castle. The Doctor is standing around with a sword. If he wanted to hurt Paul with it, why not strike without speaking? But he speaks. They fight.
The Gorgon has showed up and is watching the fight. The Doctor won and turned and saw the Gorgon. He didn’t strike fast enough with the sword and is now dead without having struck the Gorgon.
Paul sees the Gorgon in the mirror and is paralyzed with fear. She’s magically forcing him — he’s turning around — The Professor is creeping up — he cut off her head. But Paul looked at her first.
He crawls over to the head and sees that it is, of course, Carla.
The Professor is watching — what else can he do?
“The Gorgon” is a horror movie from 1964. I remember seeing part of it when I was a child — my mother used to take us to the Dusk-To-Dawn horror movies. I think I slept through most of it, however.
It is now on YouTube in its entirety, so I am watching it. So far, Christopher Lee has had a cameo appearance but presumably he’ll show up later. One character got petrified, which is no shame on her since she didn’t know there was a Gorgon roaming the woods. Another character got petrified, and it is a shame on him, since he walked into a ruined house, tripped over several petrified little beasties, then went further in (without mirror) and, when he saw someone moving in the shadows, strained to see who it was.
Well, who do you think would be hanging around in a ruined house with petrified beasties on the floor? Mind you, he suspected the Gorgon might be there, although you’d think a human being turned to stone would be pretty much the clincher.
I am taking time out to type this note, as his surviving son goes wandering about looking into the shadows when he hears odd noises. He does not have a mirror either.