Pretty much sums up that network in a breeze. So the other day a “FOX News Contributor” Liz Trotta had a very interesting remark live on-air:
Wow. You stay classy, Faux News. She wasn’t fired or even reprimanded - she only gave a contrived and condescending “I’m SOOOO sorry! *snicker*” apology as an afterthought at the end of another segment a few days later. Y’know, maybe that “apology” is all she had time for - knitting all those white hoods must really cut into your free time.
So to cheer everyone up after that:
PANCAKES. Apparently Cabin Fever was supposed to be scary - news to me! I just laughed when I saw this. :P
As an update to something I previously wrote, MSN will allowed Youtube links now - they fixed that fast, thank goodness.
So I didn’t do too much at work today, sadly. I got to read Tricia’s paper on the Haitian Vodou religion and proofread it back for her, then I stalked Marci for a while to get her to look at the website stuff I’ve done. Unfortunately after a long weekend Marci had a lot of other more important things to get done, so I scanned a TON of drawings with Amanda in Document Control. I came home and sleeeeept. About to sleep some more, and work, and sleep… I hate how that happens to my summer. Sure, I get a nice paycheck, but all my time just goes…. away. Which is worth more? Time or money? Money’s only important if you have none… *shrugs*
Rap entertains me when it’s done right. That is to say, intelligent humorous lyrics help. :P That said, check this video out (thanks to Maria for this):
I feel rotten for not having posted here in a while. I feel like I’m failing whoever might still read this.
Ugh. I feel rotten overall, too. I had Waffle House tonight - we (Stan, JJ, Cody, and I) went there and got a midnight snack. I guess it didn’t agree with me… Overall today was pretty long, but rather cool - Cody graduated and all.
……Fast Forward.
I wrote that last night. Got tired of trying to write and instead spent the night online with Tricia. :)
Whenever I sleep at Stan’s I get very, very strange dreams. Unfortunately I can never remember them. Sometimes I do for some time of the morning… but never long enough to write them down. As was the case this morning, too - I was in a daze as Cody drove home, I went upstairs and flopped onto my bed and I was out for the next several hours of dreamless sleep.
I also sat around and rearranged my iTunes songs for my iPhone and ended up downloading some trailers via iTunes: Tropic Thunder, which looks terribly entertaining, and the new The Incredible Hulk trailer:
The Motherfucking Hulk SMASH. I think they nailed this one. Looking forward to it. :P Let it buffer for a while - someone managed to get an HD video on youtube, but it takes a bit. Speaking of movies, my brother and I just finished watching Fight Club. :D
Anyway, back to what I’d written last night. As we were watching the graduation ceremony for my brother, I found myself in conversation with his girlfriend about the… exaggerated appeal of it all. It’s just high school, we remarked. Yet the excitement and the seriousness, the “sanctity” of the event - all laughable. No air horns, no beach balls, yet people still yelled and cheered for their kids like lunatics - as if that diploma was the sole culminating achievement of their children’s lives. Speeches by students saying “We did it!” Well… yeah, so did about 95% of everyone else sitting out in the audience did too - let’s face it, the district we live in has a ton of money and wealthy families. Given the resources and help, anything less than graduation would be pathetic. If this were the county next door, or inner city kids, then that’s a different story. And the little Valedictorian girl was pretty pompous; full of hot air and an overwhelming sense of self-pride. Go on and tell everyone at college you were Valedictorian of your class and see how long it takes and how many “so whats” you’ll get before you realize it’s a one-time title, and after that it’s essentially useless. Get over yourself.
*coughs* That being said, I beat GTA 4. Probably the best story for a video game I’ve ever seen, period. Especially the ending. SPOILERS AHOY!
To sum things up:
11:47:54 PM Chik and Lemming: so? GTA?
11:49:14 PM Fish: so the game begins with Niko stepping off the boat, ready to start his life anew in Liberty City. He is met by his cousin Roman, and Niko soon discovers that the “American Dream” Roman told Niko about is a lie - Roman is a struggling owner of a small cab business
11:49:46 PM Fish: Niko is frustrated, but also learns that Roman has a bit of a gambling problem and owes money to the Russian mob.
11:50:43 PM Fish: Niko begins taking oddjobs from them to pay it off, eventually earning some clout with them. Finally, one of the bosses goes kinda nuts, so his best friend and right hand man, Dimitri, has Niko kill the boss.
11:51:29 PM Fish: Turns out Dimitri was using Niko, and wanted Niko and Roman dead, but you and your cousin eventually escape. Dimitri torches both the cab business HQ AND their apartment in the slums.
11:51:52 PM Chik and Lemming: o.o hmmmmmm
11:52:17 PM Fish: Roman’s girlfriend takes them in for a while, and you do oddjobs for other mobs around town. You also find out why Niko came to the states aside from a new beginning… he fought in the Bosnian War.
11:53:11 PM Fish: his squad was betrayed for money, and they and their entire village was slaughtered… he and only 2 others of the squad survived, so one of the other two must’ve betrayed them, and they both live in Liberty City.
11:53:24 PM Fish: Niko wants to know why - they were practically brothers.
11:54:06 PM Fish: that’s why he’s taking these jobs… so the mob can find these men for him.
11:55:40 PM Fish: so… the plot continues… Roman eventually gets engaged to his girlfriend…
11:56:11 PM Fish: Niko takes more jobs, meets more new interesting people… the McReary’s are an Irish bunch of mobsters, but they have a sister, Kate, who Niko begins to care for.
11:56:31 PM Fish: Niko finds one of his old squad guys, Florian.
11:56:52 PM Fish: Florian changed his name to Bernie and is now a gay aerobics instructor - not the betrayer.
11:57:17 PM Fish: Florian’s obviously moved on.
11:57:28 PM Fish: which brings me to me finishing the game tonight.
11:57:43 PM Fish: They got the other guy, Darko.
11:58:13 PM Fish: you’re given a choice - execute him for his deeds or leave him.
11:58:17 PM Chik and Lemming: mhmm?
11:58:42 PM Fish: I left him. he was obviously ill in the head - tortured himself with drug addictions…
11:59:12 PM Fish: it was powerful, but just after that was the final mission.
12:00:22 AM Fish: Jimmy Pegorino, an Italian mobster you’ve been working for, has finally got buyers for a HUGE shipment of heroin you’ve been helping to hide and stash for a while: The Russian Mob. Their contact and business parter? Dimitri.
12:01:27 AM Fish: Niko refuses, but Pegorino threatens him and Roman and says once this is done, they get a huge payload, he’s no longer indebted to any mafias, and he can start his new life having settled his troubles from the Bosnian War past.
12:02:28 AM Fish: Well, after the “assignment”, Niko calls Roman for advice, and Roman slips that he found out where Dimitri is.
12:02:45 AM Fish: Niko now has the choice of killing Dimitri or doing the deal.
12:03:19 AM Fish: Roman begs him to do the deal. Niko calls Kate for advice, she begs him not to trust Dimitri, he’s betrayed him before and will again.
12:03:35 AM Fish: I was given the choice.
12:03:51 AM Fish: I chose to do the deal for the betterment of Niko and Roman’s new lives.
12:04:14 AM Fish: of COURSE the deal goes sour, but you get the money and Niko is still alive.
12:04:34 AM Fish: this sealed the fate for the final mission - Roman’s wedding.
12:04:49 AM Chik and Lemming: mhmm?
12:05:15 AM Fish: you go to the church, watch the wedding…. when one of Dimitri’s hitmen shows up to silence Niko.
12:05:29 AM Fish: they scuffle over the gun, and it goes off, killing Roman in the arms of his new wife.
12:05:46 AM Chik and Lemming: o.o
12:06:33 AM Fish: Niko looses it - unloads the gun into the corpse of the assassin, and vows revenge on Dimitri (who you witness murdering Pegorino so he can keep all the heroin money)
12:07:26 AM Fish: after a lengthy chase involving cars, speedboats, helicopters.. you finally kill him at the base of the Statue of Happiness (Statue of Liberty, basically)
12:07:39 AM Fish: just…. incredible cinematography.
12:07:42 AM Fish: and the dialogue.
12:07:43 AM Chik and Lemming: yeah? o.o
12:08:07 AM Fish: I don’t think it’s a stretch to say it could be the best game ever.
12:08:24 AM Fish: I was choked up by the end of it. Niko is a powerful character.
12:09:16 AM Fish: after the credits, the game saves and Niko calls Roman’s widow to say he’s avenged his cousin… you find out she was pregnant, and they were planning to announce it at the reception.
The other ending, less powerful, was that you chose to kill Dimitri, then at the wedding Pegorino and his men perform a driveby, killing Kate by accident. Then the chase is after Pegorino. An FAQ summed up my feelings on the ending perfectly:
“In my personal opinion, however, after having played through the entire game twice, I believe that the “Deal” option is actually the better ending, for several reasons. First, the loss of Roman is quite a bit more substantial of a blow to Niko than Kate. Roman is literally the first character we as the players meet in the game, and the tendentious bond between the cousins is substantial and even poignant at times. Kate is merely a single love interest in a series of potential love interests in the game, and the player can quite easily progress through the game while ignoring Kate almost entirely, save for her appearances in a few pre-mission cutscenes.
The “Mr. and Mrs. Bellic” cutscene respective to the different endings underscore this distinction quite nicely, in my opinion. The cutscene with Kate’s death seemed rather abrupt and poorly acted by comparison to the one in which Roman was killed. Niko, who rarely loses composure, firing the gun repeatedly into the lifeless corpse of the assailant was an extremely powerful scene and one that brought to life the powerful drive for revenge that would culminate in the final showdown with Dimitri. The event also solidified the folly of trusting Dimitri, both with respect to honestly carrying out the drug transaction and the likelihood of him leaving Roman and Niko alone.
The finale sequence is laden with irony in this respect. Those who had grown to have an affinity for Roman, and were thus inclined to accede to his wishes for Niko to forget his thirst for vengeance and do the deal with Dimitri, were punished with Roman’s death. By listening to Roman, you seal his fate, which is actually quite appropriate given Roman’s tendency to get himself into bad situations. By listening to Kate, you end up losing her. It is an appropriate twist for the rather grim and dark tale told in Grand Theft Auto IV.”
I can’t think of much more to say, other than you should play this game. You need to, if you love a good story. Even my telling of it all cannot do the real thing justice.
There’s a display up at my campus right now as a memorial to the war, a multimedia event including army boots to represent each Oregonian killed in Iraq, hardhats (which I have not found; they may be indoors somewhere close) for Oregon contractors, an prayer flags for American service people. There were also poster stands telling facts about the war, such as what life would be like if America were in Iraq’s place- thousands killed daily, NYC would have four hours of electricity a day, etc. Somewhere they also are playing videos for the event.
As usual, I will let the pictures do the speaking for me.
104 pairs of boots in the EMU amphitheater surrounded by civilian shoes.
Many had photos, flowers, or other keepsakes around them.
These represented Iraqi civilians killed.
Although far from the youngest, this pair disturbed me the most.
Also poignant. The youngest I saw was 18 months.
There were thousands of prayer flags, flapping wildly…
Each was personalized with dates, pictures, RIP, etc.
I don’t know why this one effected me so, but it did.
I’ve not done very much lately. Worked all last week, having a great time doing it. It really makes time fly - Disneyworld will be here in no time at this rate. And I have a 4-day weekend coming up! Victoria will be visiting, and I might get to see everyone in Atlanta again. I sure hope - I really miss all of them.
Last night I spent the night at Stan’s house and we spent a good portion of it looking at videos of Mario mods. I’d figure I’d share them.
First up is Cat Mario. Thanks to Brandon and Eowyn for this hilarity:
The video has a slow start, but give it a bit to really get you laughing. It’s not so much of a mod as it is a completely from-scratch game that resembles Mario in level design… until you realize all the components you take for granted in Mario don’t apply here. Bricks and platforms dodge to avoid you, appear out of nowhere to kill, enemies and items don’t do their normal functions, etc. It’s rather a bitch. You can play it here at this applet.
Next is a rather difficult mod, but the humor in this is the voiceover for me. XD
This time, there’s no floor, but at least items act as programmed. It’s just a bitch. :P Not too much to say other than I love it when this guy gets upset. XD
And now for Asshole Mario:
This one is INTENSE. Everything works as you’d expect it to in Super Mario World, they just program stages on a Legendary difficulty. It’s pretty much rape, and you have to rely on exploits (mostly spin jumping on enemies you wouldn’t expect). There are quite a few installments of this series, and the editor does a nice job of cutting out the unnecessary.
Anything else? Let’s see… I played Rock Band for the first time the other night. I give it hell, and for some good reasons. The difficulty for the guitar is nothing compared to Guitar Hero’s… The GUI is SHIT. I couldn’t figure out what the hell I was selecting for multiplayer. The animation is choppy and feels incomplete. The only redeeming factor is having friends aimlessly yell into the microphone (the mic detects only pitch and not the word… so “blah blah blah” or “bitch dick whore” work just fine) and banging on the drums as loudly as possible to drown out the rest of the game. Because controllers should always be louder than the actual game. *rolleyes*
Tricia sent me a box of goodies! A bunch of awesome ducks are now miiiine, and a Free Tibet bumper sticker is on my car. I got some kettle corn, some carmel corn, and some magnet toys and Stephen Colbert’s “I Am America (And So Can You!)”. I can’t wait to read it cover to cover. :)
I feel rather guilty that I’ve not written in a few days. I started my job at SRS Monday, and since then I’ve had my free time severely cut down. I wake up at 6AM, get to work at about 7AM, and work until about 4:30-5PM. Then I drive an hour home, and have about 4-6 hours do to what I want before I sleep….not a lot, sadly. Since I’m waiting for an opportunity to get the computer at work fixed up for me (and a computer account in general), I’m more or less Marcie’s workdog, doing oddjobs (mostly pulling staples out of papers older than I am to be scanned and digitized). Today I did sit in a meeting for 4 hours though. @_@ At least the company of my coworkers is the same great group.
As you can see, though, in the meantime Tricia’s been writing quite a bit. Please keep up with and read and comment on her blogs! <3
Tonight I spent hanging out at Border's and Wal*Mart with Charlotte, Aaron's girlfriend. We had fun talking this and that about movies - good times. I fueled my media whoring a bit and I purchased T2, The Emperor’s New Groove, and The Mask.
My grandfather has malignant melanoma on his face. At first they thought it was carcinoma and removed it, but found out it wasn’t when it came back… and worse yet, it’s an odd strain that travels via nerves as opposed to tissue… So my folks are driving him short-notice to Orlando, FL, tomorrow for radiology treatment. They don’t know how long they’ll be gone. Until then, it’s just my brother and I holding down the fort. Kinda worried…
An interesting video I ran across earlier - so apparently back in the day it was popular if, during a radio interview, if you didn’t want it to be aired you simply laced it with as many profanities as you can muster. This made me laugh so hard - you can hear the baseball coach almost laugh twice near the end:
One last thing since I’m a bit… unable to sleep. Wal*Mart bathrooms are ridiculous. 2 stalls, 2 urinals…. and SIX sinks? Who the fuck thought that up? Why do we need to be able to handle more hand washing than pissing/crapping in a restroom!?! Furthermore, the sinks hardly fuck work. They have automatic sensors that are so out of alignment that by the time you get them on to wash your hands, they cut back off. One sink drained the water straight onto the floor! Nice job there, Lou. Good to see technical school for plumbing paid off in full. Then again, if I could con people THAT well, I’d be a bit more rich, eh? :P
And that’s all I really have to say for now. More survey to come later!
So I was in line for food on campus, and the two guys in front of me, obviously friends, were named Luke and Han. Not EVEN kidding. I thought that the sheets they filled out for their meals might have had aliases, but those were the names on their student ID cards.
By now you should have guessed that I’m at least politically aware enough to believe my vote counts and to pay attention to what the candidates are up to. If you read my last post, you could guess that I’m a pretty big Obama fan (much like the Fish himself). However, that wouldn’t stop me from going to a Hillary rally Monday night …or more specifically, a rally for the woman that has someone else speaking in her place. And who would be best at that? Why, her husband Bill, of course! So tonight myself and my friends Marie and Jess waited in line for about two and a half hours for the rally - it was supposed to be one, but he got caught up in traffic coming down from Corvallis (home of our rivals, the Beavers of Oregon State).
The crowd wasn’t quite as big as Obama’s, reaching between 2,300 and 3,200 attendees, but it was still so much larger than expecte that we had to forfeit the right for it to occur at the EMU Ballroom (largest room of the building in the center of campus) — instead when the line finally moved we snaked our way through the building and back out the other side, finding ourselves in the outside amphitheater, pushed together like we were ready to mosh. Not that it was a bad thing - it was getting pretty cold by then (around 9:40), so all the body heat was fantastic. Unfortunately, although I was only about 20-30 feet from the stage the tallest guys near the front were directly in front of us. So any pics that I have to offer are blurry for a number of reasons- limited chances to get a view above swaying, tall heads, twilight dark and bad stage lighting, a shifting crowd overall…and not necessarily the best shutter speed on my camera. Oh well, it worked well enough to make memories. <3
Crowd.
Bill.
Terrible Youtube I made of him speaking for about 40 seconds about the environment- only clear thing about it is the sound. At least it tells you pretty well how ticked off I was getting at people Fish’s height or more (6-foot-something) who couldn’t stand still and couldn’t understand that 95% of the people behind them couldn’t see. XD That’s alright, I enjoyed the experience all the same. By seven seconds in you also realize that it’s not my fault that the man is completely dark- his secret service agent to the left side is lit up like a lightbulb. Someone even made a shout in the crowd for them to move the spotlight, heh.
Now I’ll get the rest of my two cents on politics for the time being out of the way. If anyone wants to read more about the Obama rally at UofO that I went to on Friday night, go here. l About 8,000 attended the rally, and an estimated 7,000 new individuals in Lane County (here) registered as democrats specifically to vote in the Primaries.
Among items mentioned in the article include that he attempted to appear more casual for the student population by appearing without a tie, the man visited a track meet unannounced beforehand, two Oregon super delegates already support him openly while shouting how “McCain’s four more years of Bush!” — I think that this has become one of the new slogans of the campaign season, as this is the second or third time I’ve heard it so far (the first was Michael Moore, not surprisingly).
He wants 25% of energy used in the USA to be solar by the year 2025, plans to expand AmeriCorps and the Peace Corps and establish a tax credit of $4,000 annually for students who perform 100 hours of public service a year.
As a folklore student, I get a kick out of discovering that there was a banner hanging from a window above that said “Folklorists 4 Change” (actually, the real text was Folklorists 4 Continuity and Change, but I guess the irony of that didn’t seem as pro-Obama to the newspaper). Speaking of, the head of the department is actually teaching a course on Tracktown traditions and running culture this summer. And on that note, the U.S. Olympic Track and Field trials will be happening this June on my campus, and Eugene is going crazy preparing for it. The trials will only last ten days, but millions of bucks are being put into renovating bits of the town- hotels, touristy areas, etc. Hayward Field on campus has a nice new digital scoreboard, and has the occasional sign already of who they’ll be catering to….
Starting this last Friday and lasting through the weekend was the annual Pow Wow on campus, as I mentioned in the last post. To read more about the 40th annual event, go to the Daily Emerald’s article… Just too bad the Obama bit overshadowed the beginnings of it. Also unfortunate that there aren’t clearer representations of Native American culture in the area, as the campus used to be tribal territory not so long ago. We do have a Natural and Cultural History museum and a longhouse behind it, and I’ve heard that there’s a statue somewhere of a Native American girl with a deer, but it’s apparently a bit hidden in the bushes. Unlike the Pioneer statue and Pioneer mother, the former of which might look a little familiar to Simpsons fans….
Well, it’s University Day, the time we celebrate by planting trees and bark-dusting flowerbeds. I’ve got all my day’s errands run- including putting my ballot in the mail, so here’s to a relaxing day after a long and exciting weekend!
So Friday was fun. Come midnight an Indian pow-wow took place in Mac Court (MacArthur Basketball Court at UofO for those who aren’t in the know), Friday was also the last of our campus semi-annual Street Faire (which I’ll talk about more in my next post), and biggest of all- Obama was coming to town.
Here was the dilemma for me. I had to clock on for work at 5:30 (a three hour shift at one of the school cafeterias- not hard work and not long, but I get a free meal every shift and I like the people), and the Obama rally started seating at 5:45. I got off work at (the latest) 8:30, and he’d begun to speak at 7:30. There was no way I would get to see the candidate that I have every intention of voting for as my president.
The line was intense. The sign may say “Do not enter” for vehilcles, but there were hundreds of human bodies that I could see as I walked just to my dorm, and I knew that thousands more were behind them and heading toward the throng. They had blankets, books, and poker cards at the ready to entertain themselves for the next few hours- and they had definitely started gathering several hours ahead of time.
The security was also fitting for a presidential candidate: a straight line of courthouse/airline worthy security checkpoints, each manned with the Secret Service Police and other officials. After the event had started, they penned all those who entered into a metal fenced area, after which there was a line of officers patrolling the flock, then another fence behind them. Those who came late had to watch from afar. Made sense, of course- couldn’t let knives/guns/bombs close to the stage.
So I had a terrible time at work, depressed that I’d missed Obama, and short of staff - myself and someone who had never done the work station before were together, and the language barrier of trying to explain things to a Hong Kong kid was…less than stellar. You know what it’s like when someone tries with all their might to help you, but they only make things more complicated. You just smile and thank them all the same. Anywho. Myself and another coworker rushed off as soon as we’d clocked out at about 8:15, hoping that it might still be going.
And was it. We were a few blocks still off the main campus when I heard the boom of loudspeakers, clear as day from hundreds of feet away. He was still going strong (later I heard that the last part of his performance was the best anyway). I took a while trying to get anything that even resembled a view, moving to the edge of the hundreds gated out to look into the main crowd…
…then I wandered like a hungry jackal to the other end, convinced that there was no way I was going to see the man. Finally I got up on a little bit of raised ground beneath a tree where the roots had pushed up the soil, and there he was- pacing on stage, laughing loud and joking. It was too dark and faaaaar too distant to get a good picture, but hey, at least I tried.
He discussed fair trade agreements, the price of oil, being proud when he had refused to personally respond to his opponents and regretful of when he’d taken a swing, said we need to raise the salary of schoolteachers, and praised his mother for raising him well after at age two his father left them and she had to at times depend on Food Stamps. He felt like real America- certainly at least the type of person that Oregon wanted to hear from. And he wasn’t just coming to my campus- his website showed three or more other locations in the state that he was to visit in the next couple days. It was so big and so sudden that even one of my professors had to at the last minute send out an email saying she couldn’t come to her office on her day off to drop off our papers — because the campaign had been given her parking spot.
It was certainly a fun event- and Obama continued speaking until nearly 9pm, a full hour and a half after he’d begun. He was coughing from an obvious dry throat long before he stepped down from the stage. It was riveting. I hope the man wins, because he certainly knows how to make a girl swoon.
As in birds. Because I’m known as “Chik”. Moving along.
As you can immediately tell, Clint has foolishly given me the power to write here, which will eventually lead to a most imminent demise. In the mean time, I’m thanking him greatly for letting me have access in lieu of obtaining my own blog.
I hope that my writings can serve the site well, although nobody should expect me to be quite as active as Clint. He’s got a creative genius in journalism that I can’t compare to.
Anyway, I’ll offer you a bit about myself (hopefully not too much of which you could have gotten from reading my response to his surveys thus far). My name is Patricia Lownds, 23 year old senior at University of Oregon. Brown hair, green eyes, 5′3 and about 98lbs. An Aquarian Rat who only likes long walks on the beach if the breeze isn’t too strong and I haven’t been out wading in the water too long. Trust me, sea salt on your legs itches.
In other words, I grew up in a coastal town of about 5,000, though the population can get up to about half a million in the summer when we host the Hood to Coast Relay, the largest relay race in the world, which (big duh) starts at Mt. Hood east of Portland and ends in Seaside, lasting two days before large-scale festivities occur on the beach. We also host an international volleyball tournament in August and an amazing fireworks display on the 4th of July, at least so far as you can expect for one hosted by a small town. The official ones (and thousands more illegal ones) are being shot off right above you, so pretty damned fun.
Let’s see. Interests. I’m majoring in Cultural Anthropology and and also trying to get a certificate (which really counts for nothing but looks nifty) in Folklore (as they only offer Masters and Doctorates in the field here). Enjoy drawing, fave T.V. shows that are on the air include Desperate Housewives, Lost, and Heroes. I love food. Loooove food. I can be a bit picky, but eating’s always on my mind. Blame the high metabolism. Oh, also like the interwebs, but otherwise I wouldn’t be talking to you right now for a variety of reasons.
Well, need to cut and run- about time to go after dinner! So I hope to see everyone soon and actually give you something to look at!
Sorry about the downtime, everyone! I’m hosted off of Khuffie’s server, which he warned me would be going down for some scheduled maintenance (server reinstallation, weee). I think I lost a few comments on the last post, though. :S But, we’re back, and thanks to the wonders of K2 RC6, we’re back with new useless doodads too!
As you’ll notice, if you scroll on the main page, the thingy at the top follows you. Click “Older” and a scrolling bar shows up to scroll through previous months - spiffy. The search bar on the right is a live search - just type and wait a second and it’ll show up with results. There’s an RSS feed to recent posts, now, too. :) Also, I added a spam filter to the comments of the site, so if you can’t comment (this was the case last time nobody could comment - the spam filter went Terminator-crazy and wouldn’t let ANYTHING through), alert me, k? Shouldn’t have that issue this time though.
I haven’t really much else to add, other than I missed being able to get to Atlanta and hang out with everyone, which is upsetting. u.u So… I’ve been entertaining myself with old animated films and the like that were/are touching. I’ll post about them later, if I remember. Also, Earthworm Jim. So much fun - I forgot that was so awesome. XD
I saw Iron Man and then Speed Racer recently. Iron Man was incredible - Robert Downey Jr was perfect for the role, and the special effects were top-notch…. but Speed Racer’s CGI was so, so much better. Speed Racer really nailed the futuristic, super-saturated colorful world, blending it with an anime feel, great actors and humor, and gave it the campy, quirky feel that movie needed and deserved. The movie felt animated. That was the important part. And if racing was that KICKASS in reality, I’d watch it. The choreography and action was fantastic - I want to have an excuse to go see it again. :) Next… I have Indiana Jones to look forward to (!!!), then The Incredible Hulk, and WALL*E… and if I decide to do it, The Love Guru, Get Smart, and You Don’t Mess With The ZOHAN. And in August… Star Wars: The Clone Wars…. Yay movies!
Okay, that’s all I got. XD
EDIT: Found something pretty upsetting. Microsoft IM servers are blocking YouTube links as of last night. This would explain why it seemed like none of the videos I was linking to Jessica and Tricia were going through - they weren’t. Completely monopolistic bullshit. I tried this myself with Khuffie - neither his nor my links went through. There’s a loophole, though - you can remove the “http://www” from the front and it still works. And, I guess, if you wanted you could always just send the random letters at the end to affix to the youtube url (like “oHg5SJYRHA0″, for instance) - there’s no way they could block that. Still, this upsets me greatly. The article speculates that Microsoft is attempting to block competition, as Messenger TV launched in 20 countries today… I just hope it’s a corporate fuckup rather than MS being truly evil. Others have been reporting that deviantart links are blocked too! Makes no sense…
First things first: I had a good day today. Didn’t get much sleep, but I did wake up, have a nice chat with Mom, and ended up mowing the lawn. We went out to Kohl’s and I finally picked up some new shorts (from Urban Pipeline, the same company that made my favorite pair of pants - and the shorts were on sale for like $15 a pop!). Then we got lunch at Panera Bread, and went to Home Depot, then Michael’s Crafts (where I picked up a discounted picture frame to frame my Phi Kappa Theta Fraternity certificate), and finally to Best Buy where I got my Kodak Z1012 IS digital camera, a rechargeable battery (who the hell packs a disposable battery with a $300 camera?) and a carrying case. Then to Kroger and home. :P
So, I took some pictures, and had quite a ball doing so. First, a few of my car:
I would have uploaded the crisp, wonderful 10 megapixel images, but they’re too big for Wordpress, and if the site gets a lot of hits (RIGHT), I’d suck up Khuffie’s bandwidth. But the bumper stickers are nice - a few Firefly ones (Fruity Oaty Bars, You Can’t Stop The Signal, My Other Car Is A Firefly), the ORYGUN one, “Visualize ‘Whirled’ Peas”, there’s an FSM decal, an Apple logo, Jake the Alligator Man, and I plan to get more.
I found my camera also has a nifty panorama function, where I take three shots and it stitches them together seamlessly (even accounting for lighting differences) for a panoramic shot. I took one of my room (beware messyness… after all, half the room is storage):
It’s a thumbnail, so click and enjoy a scaled down version (again, original is too big!).
Hillary.
Might finally be a thing of the past. I can only hope, what with her stubborn attitude and all holding her back, that this might be what the press is making it out to be - a conceding from the nominations.
So, she needed to win the landslide Indiana to keep going, right? (Just like all the other “landslides” she “had” to win). Thing is, she won Indiana by a HAIR margin - <2%. BUT, she lost North Carolina to Obama at something like >14%. So, he ultimately gathered more delegates than her… so she cancels all talk show and public appearances for tomorrow (now today). Furthermore, here’s the video from the screenshot of that link:
“We now know who the Democratic nominee will be”. I like that. Perhaps, at tonight’s DC fundraiser, she’ll have prepared a conceding speech?
