I'm just happy I finally found a flash game that isn't blocked at work. The name says it all here. You're a dinosaur and you run. The 8-bit graphics are fantastic.
I knew I forgot something yesterday. I am so glad I finally got to meet you, man. I hope you had a good birthday. You're an integral part of this community and your posts pretty much always bring a smile to my face. Here's to you!
Mac has a story today about a teacher accused of wizardry for making a toothpick disappear. I couldn't make this up if I tried.
Teacher Jim Piculas does a magic trick where a toothpick disappears and then reappears.
Piculas recently did the 30-second trick in front of a classroom at Rushe Middle School in Land 'O Lakes.
Piculas said he then got a call from the supervisor of teachers, saying he'd been accused of wizardry.
"I get a call the middle of the day from head of supervisor of substitute teachers. He says, "Jim, we have a huge issue, you can't take any more assignments you need to come in right away," he said.
Wow. If I ever sub again I'll have to remember not to bust out the old disappearing thumb trick. I didn't know wizardry was grounds for dismissal. I guess Florida doesn't mess around. What do they do when Penn & Teller come to town?
I freaking loved the movie. If you haven't seen it, go see it and make sure you stay after the credits. If you saw it already and for some crazy reason aren't going to see it again you can watch the scene here. I haven't geeked out so hard watching a movie in a long time. Props to Favreau, Robert Downey Jr., and the rest of the cast for the amazing work and the 100 million dollar opening.
Robert Downey Jr. was incredible as Tony Stark. I can't imagine anyone else in the role. I don't think I would have liked the movie nearly as much if Tom Cruise had been cast as originally planned. Terrence Howard did a great job as well and as teased in the movie, we'll be seeing more of him in the next one. Jeff Bridges was great as always, despite the fact that it's always hard for me not to see him as "The Dude." I'm not a huge Gwyneth Paltrow fan but I thought she did a fine job as Pepper Potts. Add to that one of my favorite Stan Lee cameos and a Peter Billingsley (Christmas Story) cameo along with lots of nods to the comic and you have a great start to the summer movie season. The new Dark Knight and Indiana Jones trailers almost made me forget what movie I was about to see. It has begun....
After a brief hiatus my PC is back in action so I finally got to load some new stuff on the iPod. I also started using Media Monkey at the urging of Justin and Jon and I'm beginning to fall in love with it. Let's see if any of the new stuff shows up today.
None of my new stuff popped up. The newest thing on that list is the Jay-Z track from American Gangster and that's from last year. Well, it's time to go home. Hope you all have a good weekend.
Hillary: Rich people, God bless us.
Somehow this multimillionaire is trying to paint Barack Obama as an upper crust elitist.
Ben Stein: "science leads you to killing people" - Boing Boing
Stein: When we just saw that man, I think it was Mr. Myers [biologist P.Z. Myers], talking about how great scientists were, I was thinking to myself the last time any of my relatives saw scientists telling them what to do they were telling them to go to the showers to get gassed ... that was horrifying beyond words, and that's where science - in my opinion, this is just an opinion - that's where science leads you.
Crouch: That's right.
Stein: ...Love of God and compassion and empathy leads you to a very glorious place, and science leads you to killing people.
Crouch: Good word, good word.
I honestly don't know how you can take someone seriously when they say ridiculous crap like that. I'm sorry, but whenever people start comparing or equating things to the Nazis, I tune out because they are an idiot. The fact that someone can say loving God and science are mutually exclusive really boggles my mind. Saying science is evil and wrong isn't really helping in the case to try and get the scientific community to take Intelligent Design seriously. Neither is lying and misrepresenting yourself in a documentary where you are trying to do the same. Keep up the great work, Ben.
What is the takeaway message? Only a very small percentage of the Internet population is aware of the RSS format and its benefits, and that number is growing slowly over time.
By creating the RSS Awareness Day and celebrating it every year we should be able to get the general public exposed to this format, hopefully increasing the usage of RSS feeds and related applications among Internet users.
I honestly think the web would be a better place if more people were aware of and used RSS. People always are asking me how I read all the blogs and news sites that I do, and that is the answer. Sadly only a small percentage of web users have taken advantage of the format. I highly recommend that if you haven't to give Google Reader a try. If you're not sure how it all works, there are lots of tutorials out there. I wrote one nearly 5 (!) years ago. Just replace the reader I mentioned with one of the popular feed readers currently available. Viva RSS!
FOX News confuses Stephen A. Douglas with Frederick Douglas
Would the real Stephen Douglas please stand up?
Sometimes when life gets rough, you just need to watch some kittens play with an empty Coke box.
I haven't played World of Warcraft since sometime in November. Yeah. I spent countless hours getting my epic flying mount and then I started the insane Netherwing quest chain. Somewhere into my gazillionth daily quest I guess I just got burnt out and I stopped playing. It became a sort of job that I would do while watching TV or movies, not something that was really a ton of fun for me, which is what playing video games should be.
I'm sure when the expansion rolls out I'll get the burning desire to play again, but for now I'm more than occupied with my increasingly massive DVD collection, my 360, and my DVR. Not to mention those little things called social life, work, and school. Please note that I am not making any kind of attack on people who currently play WoW. I can personally testify to the fact that it is possible to have a life and also play the game quite a bit. It's just gone to the wayside for me, for now.
I really hate that I have to wait for that stimulus check to arrive to purchase my copy of what is surely to be the new crack cocaine. If anyone wants to send me a copy (I know there are many adoring brendoman.com fans at Rockstar, right??) I would not complain. In fact, I would do the opposite. But seriously, I can't wait to play the game. The multiplayer sounds great and I love games that reward OCD types like myself with a completion percentage. My percentage on Bully: Scholarship Edition is currently at 98.73. I have three classes left to complete. It's driving me kind of nuts.
McCain opposes equal pay bill in Senate
"They need the education and training, particularly since more and more women are heads of their households, as much or more than anybody else," McCain said. "And it's hard for them to leave their families when they don't have somebody to take care of them.
I've been avoiding the political thing for awhile but I couldn't help but mention this quote. Apparently McCain thinks women aren't educated enough to get equal pay. Seeing as how 58% of college graduates are women, that's some good reasoning there. Maybe once you women out there get a little more educated, McCain will consider that you might deserve equal pay for equal work. Women are fighting back by sending McCain their resumes. Get all the info here.
So the L.A. Times Festival of Books ended up being a bust. My friend Matt and I got pretty close to the UCLA campus on Saturday morning only to find an insane amount of traffic. Not to mention it was about 95 degrees outside. We decided to retreat to the cooler confines of his apartment and then I went across the street to the Grove and watched Forgetting Sarah Marshall, which I really enjoyed. I then met up with my friend Brett and we went to the Dodger game, which was exciting for the first inning when the Dodgers scored 10 runs and then quickly died down. I love going to the ball park though so I had a great time.
After seeing the traffic situation at UCLA, looking at the current gas prices, and seeing as how it was even hotter, I opted against going to the book festival on Sunday. So I sadly didn't get to meet Wil Wheaton. I'm pretty sure he'll be at Comic-Con though so hopefully I'll get my chance then. Hope you guys all had a good weekend and stayed cooler than I did. The roommate hunt is still on in earnest. Here's hoping for my sanity that something works out soon.
I would've posted it sooner but it was a busy week at work, and then I got entirely too drunk last night. As a side note, I should not be allowed to use my cell phone on Friday nights, Brendan and like 50 other people got drunk texted by me lmao.
I grew up watching Nickelodeon in the 80's and even I thought some of these questions were tough. It took me awhile to remember Turkey Television, but then I remembered that it was the show that introduced me to Monty Python.
It's been awhile and I think my iPod is about to run out of battery life so let's see if we can make it through this.
At this point my iPod died so let's see what my Pandora station has to offer for the last two tracks.
That's quite an eclectic selection. I should be getting my PC back from Jon this weekend so I can get some new tunes on the iPod. I've been listing to Pandora a lot at work and my station is pretty darn good for my tastes. I think I'm really confusing the heck out of it though with the mix of electronic, indie, and bubblegum pop I've been throwing at it lately. Right now it's playing All Saints. I had forgotten all about them. Okay, enough of the embarrassing music revelations. For the good stuff, head over to Justin's. Even he isn't without a few skeleton's in the closet though.
Guillermo Del Toro Comes Out of The Hobbit Closet - Film School Rejects
Variety is reporting the announcement from Executive Producers Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh, New Line president Toby Emmerich and MGM chief Mary Parent that Del Toro will helm not one, but two Hobbit films. The sequel, as the report states, will deal with the 60-year period between ?The Hobbit? and ?The Fellowship of the Ring?, which as you will remember was the first in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Del Toro will move out to New Zealand for the next four years to work with Peter Jackson and his Wingnut and WETA production teams on the two flicks, the first of which will probably not hit theaters until 2010.
I had the great privilege of attending the Hellboy 2 panel at New York Comic Con and Del Toro was being pretty coy about whether or not he would be directing The Hobbit or not. Apparently there was still some legal issues being worked through but he said we would know in the next 5 days. Looks like he's a man of his word. I've been a huge Del Toro fan since Gringo and I went to see The Devil's Backbone at the Ragtag. I'm an even bigger fan after seeing him in person. He reminds me a lot of Kevin Smith in the way he interacts with the fans. He's definitely one of us and he has a huge passion for movies. He's also really freaking funny. If there's ever a dream team to collaborate on something like The Hobbit, it's Del Toro and Jackson.
So now that the gears appear to be moving on the project, let the casting rumors begin! Ian McKellan has said he wants to return and I'm sure Andy Serkis will be there too. The big question is who will play Bilbo. If they can somehow make Ian Holm look younger, I think that would be cool. Hopefully they'll also be able to get Hugo Weaving to return as well. As far as new characters go, if Del Toro is on board how about Ron Perlman for Beorn? Then you have all the dwarves. I don't really know who would fit well in those roles. Feel free to comment with your ideas.
UPDATE: Check out this interview with Del Toro from TheOneRing.net. Lots of good stuff there. Sounds like McKellan and Serkis are all but confirmed.
I've only been back at work for two days and I'm ready for the weekend. I also wish it was July and it was Comic-Con time. In addition to the usual homework and doing nothing, I have a couple cool things on tap for this weekend. Saturday morning I'll be heading out to the L.A. Times Festival of Books with my friend Matt. We'll be hitting up the Mike Mignola panel and maybe a couple others. That night I'm going to the Dodger game with another friend. They're playing the Rockies. It's two teams I don't really care about but I love going to the ball park and I'll be rooting against the Dodgers (quietly, so I don't get killed). Sunday I'm heading back to the book festival. I'm hoping to meet Steve Garvey, who is one of my favorite baseball players (despite his tenure with those pesky Dodgers), and the one and only Wil Wheaton. I'm afraid I might geek out huge when I meet Wil, seeing as how he's the godfather of this blog and all. Hopefully I'll be somewhat cool and collected.
Thanks for all the comments on my China post. It's nice to see I'm not totally insane in my thoughts on the subject. It's also nice to see Lauren alive and well. Apparently she is having her own adventures in far off lands. I'm currently stressing a bit due to desperately needing a roommate. Hopefully things will get worked out in the next week. All right, now I'm rambling.
This is just ridiculous. Chicago pulls bus ads for Grand Theft Auto IV but meanwhile I'm sure there are ads for just as violent (if not more) movies and television shows up all over the place. This focus on video games being the root of all evil really boggles my mind. Censorship in all forms bothers me, but inconsistent censorship bothers me even more. For instance, Wal Mart won't sell albums that have explicit lyrics, but you can buy all the R and Unrated movies you want. It just doesn't make sense to me.
Some people have asked me how I feel about all the protests and backlash against China and the upcoming Olympic games so I figured I would write a little bit about it and if folks wanted to comment we could have a little discussion. Let me start off by saying that I agree 100% that there are serious human rights violations occurring in the country. That being said, I think the reaction of many Americans and other western countries towards China is offensive and counter-productive.
First of all, you have to understand that some of the values we hold are not the same as the values held by the average person in China. While we uphold the idea that personal freedoms are the most important thing, most Chinese uphold the idea that the body, the nation, is the most important thing. This is seen in many different ways, most recently in the way the Chinese are uniting against the attacks on their country from Western protesters. It's creating a very polarizing atmosphere and I believe is very detrimental towards all the work that has been done over the last 30 years to get China to where it is now. If this trend continues, we'll get from China exactly what we think is happening now, only it will be real, and probably worse.
In my time spent living in China, I heard many horror stories from survivors of the Cultural Revolution and the tragedies that occurred under Mao Tse-Tsung. I could see first hand that while there is still a lot of progress to be made, things are definitely headed in the right direction. Yes, there is still lots of poverty and horrible things occurring, but compared to just a few decades ago, things have improved in leaps and bounds. While I do think it might be a little too early, having the Olympic Games in Beijing can only lead to good things. It raises awareness both about the good things occurring in China and also the bad things and hopefully will bring these issues to the forefront so they can continue to be addressed in the proper fashion.
I've heard people I know and respect say some horrible things about China and its people and it makes me sad. That's a billion plus people they are writing off and dismissing as vile and evil. Change takes time, folks. Let's keep it rolling in the positive direction. I know it's a complicated issue, especially with the situations in Tibet and Taiwan, but it's definitely not as black and white as some would make it out to be.
I had the opportunity to see Jonathan Coulton perform at the Quickstop Entertainment panel at New York Comic Con. I had heard his song from Portal before but I wasn't aware of the rest of his work. I guess I'm really late to the game here. This video is for his song Flickr, which is about a series of pictures he found on the photo sharing site. It's really funny. He's playing in Hollywood next month and I'm definitely thinking about going.
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The Complete Far Side 1980-1994 (2 vol set) by Gary Larson, Steve Martin
Twin Peaks - The Definitive Gold Box Edition (The Complete Series)
Everybody's Dead by Brian Lynch, Dave Crosland
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