The Daily Adventures of Mercat

LET ME SHOW YOU THEM.

First off, where have I been? Alas, busy. Trying to get a job/internship, and drum corps. That's pretty much all of it. Trying to catch up on my huuuuuge list of to-dos so I can get back to sitting around and actually posting.

Anyway.

I did see the last Harry Potter movie last night, which was great up until the epilogue, even though I knew it was coming. Because really, their makeup was Not So Hot and I really still dislike Ginny. Despite Chamber of Secrets being my favorite book (BECAUSE BASILISKS), I feel like she really is just an accessory or leftover character after her role in Chamber, and she was Harry's consolation prize because Ron would get the shaft if Hermione ended up with Harry.

P.-the-fuck-S., their kiss was straight-up pandering I-hate-fangirls-and-this-audience-rolling-my-eyes grade ugh. I mean, please.

On the other hand, I thought 7.2 developed very nicely and flowed very smoothly. I was a bit bummed to see Neville didn't get played up more, but then I found out I misremembered THE ENTIRE ENDING OF THE LAST BOOK?! Which was because I read it on tour in '07 (the week it came out! Lucky WalMart stop on that bit) and I stayed up until three or so in the morning, ON THE BUS, reading it. Man oh man. Here's what I thought. Harry gets "killed" and carried back, we see the final little showdown happen and Neville whips the sword of Gryffindor out of nowhere and finishes of Voldy, making him the TWIST ENDING UNSUSPECTED FULFILLMENT OF THE PROPHECY.

So... I pulled that out of my ass or dreamed it or misremembered everything or just straight up my brain blocked the real ending out?! I DON'T KNOW. Because I am a little pissed that it wasn't Neville, and it kinda seemed like More Glory Harry Didn't Need Because He's Kind of Spoiled and Whiny Like James. Yes. Anyway.

CGI on the brooms = STILL FUCKING BOTHERSOME. IT HAS BEEN A DECADE-PLUS OF MOVIEMAKING, PEOPLE, MILLIONS OF DOLLARS, AND YOU ARE TELLING ME THAT PEOPLE STILL FALL FASTER THAN GRAVITY AND MOVE THROUGH AIR FASTER THAN DRAG WILL ALLOW?! WILL YOU FUCKING CUT THAT SHIT OUT ALREADY. Okay then, pet peeve, obviously. (Third one was still the best in that regard despite everyone's boo-fucking-hoos about "uhhhh waaaaah omg the weeeerewoooolf". Shut up. It looked pretty damn realistic. You know why? BECAUSE WEREWOLVES ARE NOT REAL)

Aaaaaand it definitely felt like the end of an era to watch it. And I was a little disappointed I didn't dress up, but I don't have the whole outfit and it would have cost a pretty penny to get a Hufflepuff outfit together, and Huber is a terrible place to hang out (seriously, the crowd was awful-- all fangirly teenagers who cheered when a fucking Taylor Lautner movie ad came on, PLEASE, and no one dressed up well [seriously ghetto central] and there was a girl behind us with a shirt that said "I'M SLEAZY FOR WEASLEY" [classy] and STOP CLAPPING AUDIENCE, WHO ARE YOU CLAPPING FOR.) and et cetera.

But. I miss reading the books already and I want to make a big fort and set myself up with a cooler and a bunch of premade snacks and just read straight through the whole series again. It really is a quality series, despite how much I pick on the movies.

And I do wonder, when will they decide that it is time to remake the movies more true to the books? I seriously fucking miss all the house ghosts and Peeves and all that. And you know they pretty much hired every actor in Britain anyway so it's either going to be American actors (please for the love of god NO) or B-list actors in which case either 1) more production money for sets and CGI or 2) made-for-TV-becomes-a-years-long-television-show. A "miniseries" as it were, but, more actually, a "mega-miniseries".

At any rate. I want to go to Universal Orlando now and GET A FREAKIN' HUFFLEPUFF PIN. I got a Gryffindor one for Christmas from my great aunt, but, alas, I am not a Gryffindor.

True story, when the books first came out my cousins got a little magic-8-ball-style sorting-hat keychain and we sorted the whole family. I still have the list somewhere. Out of something like a dozen people, I was the ONLY ONE to end up in Hufflepuff. Poor Hufflepuff!

Also, in relation to Greek mythology, I suspect that Hufflepuff's "black" color is perhaps iron? Like, wrought iron is black, as is cast iron, and all the other houses have their respective metals: gold, silver, bronze. According to the Greek mythological ages there were the three failed ages, gold, silver, and bronze, and the iron age which resulted in Humans As We Know Them Today. (That is, not Titans, etc.)

As a civil engineer and a mythology aficionado, I APPROVE HEARTILY. (Not the shiniest but we are the strongest? I can deal with that. ;P)

Anyway, um, I think that's all of it. As for other books being made into movies, American Gods is, and I kind of want to refuse to see it, based on the same reasons I refused to see Chronicles of Narnia (it ruins the version in my head). BUT, at the same time, American Gods is REAL PLACES, some of which I have already been to and were in fact the entire reason I got the book in the first place (House on the Rock). So... I am conflicted. We shall see.

Oh, also, I watched the original Planet of the Apes yesterday. It's a shame I already knew the ending, but still, the storyline is sadly relevant to a lot of today's politics and still extremely well done. Well, except for the part where the space crew is two white guys, a black guy, and a white woman, and [SPOILER ALERT] the woman dies in the first ten minutes, and the black guy dies in the first maybe thirty minutes, and the savior of humanity ends up resting on the shoulders of one stuck-up asshole white man who apparently is willing to attack his cagers for their paper instead of signaling with, you know, HAND MOTIONS, the motion of writing or handing him the paper or something. For reals? Sadly. Aaaaaaanyway.

Aside from that, I also couldn't get over how VENTURE BROTHEEEEEERS the whole thing felt, sorry Charlton Heston. Your voice-acting is just tooooo much. (But also, that was the times. I get it. But it's almost a parody of itself, so many years later.)

At any rate! I recommend it nonetheless.

Oh! Trailers attached to HP. Batman was a huge letdown. Sherlock 2 was AWESOME but I can't wait until Christmas, PLEEAAASSEEEE (and where was Stephen Fry?!). Cowboys and Aliens is going to BLOW MY FUCKING MIND. Taylor Lautner makes terrible career choices and sometimes Alfred Molina Satipo does too. The Borat guy, on the other hand, is some kind of mad genius (he's in Hugo, which looks good but odd).

Oh, and Ciaran Hinds was Aberforth, who for a split second I thought was Stephen Fry and was SO CONFUSED, and I remembered how awesome Ciaran Hinds is (Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, the second Tomb Raider), and then I remembered I hadn't come up with Alfred Molina's name yet and we were halfway through the movie (DAMNIT SATIPO) and I also remembered that I hate Daniel Craig's American accent (Tomb Raider, the first one). So. Yes. Also I still have not seen the new X-Men, but I did see Horrible Bosses last week and it was okay but really slow to start and not great but maybe rent it if you're bored and looking for a comedy. Why is Kevin Spacey so good at being evil? (LOL Lex Luthor.) Also I still have no goddamn desire to see Captain America. It just looks so lame and STOP RECASTING DC CHARACTER ACTORS AS MARVEL ONES, CAN WE PLEASE. Fantastic Four was awful. I hate Captain America's costume. FOR SERIOUS.




...HUFFLEPUFF PRIDE! NO SHAME. GO BADGERS. (AMIRITE, WISCONSIN?)

NORMAL POST

LEGIT EXCUSE: I TOOK THE GRE TODAY THEN PARTYFAILED. MOM WAS ALL "HEY WANT TO GO TO SKYLINE AFTERWARDS?" AND I SAID PROBABLY AND I CAME HOME TO COLD PIZZA AND A REQUEST TO CLEAN THE BATHROOMS. SO I DID THAT AND LEFT. AND THEN NOBODY ACTUALLY WANTED TO "GO OUT" LIKE WE PLANNED, EVEN TO DRUNK KARAOKE, SO I WAS KINDA IN A BAD MOOD AND THIS DAY WAS KIND OF A WASTE OF MY LIFE TO BE HONEST

SO I'M UP LATE CATCHING UP ON IMPORTANT THINGS (LIKE LIVEJOURNALLING) AND NOT GIVING A SHIT BECAUSE I'M GOING TO SLEEP IN BUT WATCH THE DAMN PARADE TOMORROW ANYWAY

AND THEN AS SOON AS GRANDMA GETS DEPRESSED AND ASKS ME WHY I'M NOT DATING ETC ETC AND MOM STARTS TALKING AT ME ABOUT GRAD STUFF AGAIN I'M JUST GONNA GTFO AND GO SEE DUE DATE AND THEN GO TO WAFFLE HOUSE BECAUSE I HAVE BEEN LOOKING FOR PEOPLE TO GO FOR THREE WEEKS AND NOBODY WANTS TO FUCKING GO AND YOU KNOW WHAT? FINE. I'LL GO BY MYSELF. THIS IS WHY I HATE PEOPLE SOMETIMES. BECAUSE LITERALLY NO ONE IN TOWN WANTS TO GO TO THE MOVIES WITH ME.

Some fucking friends sometimes, I swear to god. There is more to life than alcohol.

BUT I DIGRESS.

/capsrage!off

(Note, that is not capsrage "yelling" but rather "comically over-loud voice".)

Now onto your regularly scheduled programming.

OH, HOW APPROPRIATE, yesterday's prompt was the last movie I saw in theatres. INCEPTION. WHEN I GOT BACK THIS SUMMER, AND I FUCKING HAD TO DRAG MY SISTER TO GO SEE IT WITH ME. And before that?! Iron Man 2! My moviegoing track this year is a shame! WHY DOES NO ONE WANT TO GO OUT TO MOVIES THIS YEAR?! Fucking idek.

Last book I read... Well, last book I finished was probably Lost City of Z which I read for fun over the summer and was amazing despite its ending. I mean, the ending is still amazing from a historical point of view but (without giving much away) the whole thing is this buildup and then--AUGH. You have to read it, if you are in the slightest a history or Indiana Jones or adventuring fan, oh boy.



...Not gonna lie though, despite being in a general good mood, handling school okay, work is going fine, working out, et cetera, I am a bit emotionally unstable at the moment. I can tell because the slightest little comments are making me upset enough to almost nearly ruin my evenings. I really can't handle people brushing me off much more to go to parties/drink but "oh I don't have enough money to go to a movie". Because alcohol comes out of the faucet for free, I see. Well alrightythen. I'm hoping Laura's not going to be bitchy tomorrow because I think I'm going to need to run away from the rest of the family with her, particularly since the cuzs (cuzns? cuzzes? idek. "cuzs" looks like it should be Polish.) are on the other side of the goddamned country.


...*sigh*. I miss my drum corps family =(

Things I also failed to bitch about earlier this week: The DJ on Saturday, who took requests up to a few days in advance because he couldn't/didn't do on-the-spot mixing (HA, mixing, if you could call it that--what with jumps and awfully apparent tempo changes), in the three hours we were at the dance, played TWO, count 'em, TWO songs that were 1) older than 2000, 2) not a dance/pop/hip-hop song. Seriously, the guy was awful. About 30 minutes in to the dance he played "Wannabe" (Spice Girls--ngl had to look up the title of that song) and with about 20 minutes left he played "You Shook Me All Night Long". The only other song he played that wasn't some currently-top-40-but-actually-shitty-dance-tune-excuse-to-party-hard song was Pokerface. So out of the songs I requested (Fuck You, anything by Gaga, anything by Queen, and anything by Billy Joel), I got one song. Needless to say, I was PISSED THE FUCK OFF. I spent probably half to two-thirds of the dance glaring at the DJ from my chair. I mean, this could be the fault of the coordinators who hired a friend-of-a-friend and maybe forgot to forward our requests, but what kind of shitty DJ plays pretty much ONE TYPE OF SONG all night?! And not even varying between dance tunes and slow songs? WE HAD NO SLOW SONGS ALL NIGHT.

Basically I'm pissed at everyone and everything right now and I'm about to snap. Not angry-snap but just break-down-snap and no one seems to really give a shit, because that's just how things go. Ugh. I'm kinda tired of this crap, really.

Also I do not recommend trying to follow a conversation about a boyfriend's roommate's cousin who is that person's ex and their crazy parents at a party after taking the GRE, because the actual GRE's paragraph and word problems turned out to be much more difficult and brain-power-consuming than I expected them to be and I was (and am) rather brain dead on the this-idea-requires-a-complex-sentence-of-at-least-four-phrases front.

But onto the linkspam:

So, uh, this happened.

MY LIFE MAY OR MAY NOT BE COMPLETE NOW. <3

A really interesting article about Florence Nightingale's influential graph and a common mathematical fallacy of graph creation/interpretation. Fascinating because I encounter a lot of misunderstood data on a fairly regular basis (thank you, journalism majors), and also because these are the type of subtleties you may have to discern between on the GRE. (I did pretty well on the quantitative section, but the reading/vocab was much more difficult than I anticipated and I nearly ran out of time, having to guess haphazardly at a few questions.) Anyway. Data is pretty, and presentation is valuable. I wish I knew more about the historical context of these charts because it might be an interesting topic for Ada Lovelace Day, although perhaps something that focuses on the graphical fallacy is not the best topic. (Nightingale was particularly observant in clinical matters though, wasn't she? Wasn't she the one who told people to wash their hands, basically, kill less people with infection? Or am I thinking of someone else entirely? FIFTH GRADE HISTORY IS FAILING ME.)

An interesting article about Native American culture, race, and steampunk, with significantly more win than all the shenanigans last year. Although I must admit, I don't think I ever heard the story of "the first Thanksgiving" in school. At least, not as a history lesson, but as more of a holiday folklore type thing, minus maybe the "learning how to plant corn" part. ALTHOUGH ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THAT we never approached it from the accuracy point-of-view either. So.

For the record I still don't like "ray guns" as a steampunk thing. I have never come into acceptance of them. Then again I've also become more standoffish about pop culture's reaction to steampunk as a whole anyhow, so, some part of me just also doesn't give a shit (that my entire POV on steampunk is decidedly different, because the generic running-with-steampunk scene is not my cup of tea).

DAMN I AM RANTY TONIGHT. Sorry about that folks. I'm a bit tweaky, it seems.

(I do like that EL wire on the gun, though, despite my active distaste for mods of that nerf gun... Hm. Considerations, considerations.)


Holy crap this test fried my brain a lot more than I expected it to. First I was moody, now I'm just too tired to parse any article with more than one sentence and a funny picture. Basically my brain is running like MemeGenerator at the moment.

THIS IS A LARGE POST, I AM WARNING YOU.

HOLY SHIT I SUCK AT POSTING. This thing has been sitting on my desktop for a month and a half, christ, shame on me. Anyway. I'm trying to make better habits for myself... Some are getting better (I keep a real schedule on my ipod! I'm under 100 firefox tabs consistently!) and some not (I don't check my calendar, I forget things, I haven't organized many piles of files on my new computer... from a year ago...)

Shia says Indy V will be crazy. idk what to think. I'm excited but hesitant at the same time? Eeengh. Like I said after Indy IV, I mean, at least they can't do that one anymore. (Also, I told you so. Also-also, I am kind of sick of hearing about your stereotypical MacGuffins: the spear of Longinus, Noah's Ark, all that stuff.) GO TO HAWAII, PLEEEEASE

But, uuuuhhh, if Spielberg pitched a script, I'm guessing this is happening. So... yay?

...I'm depressed that that last sentence has a question mark attached to it. :(

HOLY SHIT YOU KNOW WHAT'S DEPRESSING?! WHY ON EARTH IS THIS A MOVIE. WHO ON EARTH THOUGHT THIS WAS A GOOD IDEA. SHANE VAN DYKE WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU ATTACHED TO THIS, YOU WERE AWESOME ON DIAGNOSIS MURDER AND NOW YOU ARE VERY NOT-AWESOME. AUGH.





Um...yes.

Also--ADORABLE KITTANZ:




While we're doing videos, this time-lapse-experiment-turned-art-video is absolutely fantastic:

ANTS in my scanner > a five years time-lapse! from françois vautier on Vimeo.

I hope this is just some lawyers having fun, and were not actually hired over legitimate offense.

I didn't even know they had finished the script for this, shit. Three months away was apparently a COMPLETE NEWS ISOLATION, much moreso than usual. (Nobody famous died.)

This movie looks awesome! That hat looks awful. (Short crown + extra-wide brim = grossnasty.)

Ghostbusters/AC/DC mashup:




Lady Gaga kidnaps Comissioner Gordon. Guys, I was about to say "I want to live in that world", and then, you know, I remembered that Lady Gaga is a real person and kicks major ass.

A good essay on Iron Man 2, which I am still excited about. The awesome thing about disappearing from the world for three months to memorize a metric assload of numbers until you've lost 15 pounds is that, when you get back, all the movies you just watched in theatres (and loved) are about to come out on dvd. Fuck. Yeah.

Some awesome shots from the filming of Star Wars.

So, "mad science", you say?!



That is the kind of awesome shit I'd like to do with my life. (I must say, though, that the closest I've ever come was destroying an antique rusted oven with a sledgehammer. Also fun, except for the part where the paint chips were popping off the bent metal everywhere...)

WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS SHIT HOLY CRAPCAKES. NIGHTMARES. NIGHTMARES BEYOND BELIEF.

Jesus, it's about time! They better make these. Not that I'm planning to buy any, but, yeah...

Oh, James Cameron. I thought I couldn't hate Avatar any more, but I was wrong. You think you're God's gift to cinematography when really it sounds like you're just a rich bully. I kind of want to go see Pirahna 3D, even if I hate it, just to fucking spite you. Goddamn.

BUT THE GOOD NEWS? Rick Moranis may come out of retirement for Ghostbusters 3. HELL. FUCKING. YES. As long as this shit is better than the game (a bit repetitive story-wise, in relation to the movies). Also, I thought we were already clear that Oscar is Venkman's? There's some banter toward the beginning of the second one that that is what I took away from it.

OH HEY THERE BLACKBEARD. Why the fuck don't you have cannon fuses in your beard?! Jesus, the man should look MUCH more epic than that. For god's sake his body circled his ship seven times before sinking after he was beheaded! (Fuck yeah pirate lore.)

Chewie: not nearly as adorable as Winnie. But still hilariously adorable.

Here! Have a picture of Viggo the Carpathian.

Okay, now, look. I am all about crazy costumes but I don't even know what's going on here.



So adorable.

If the world is making you feel weary (although I don't see how that's possible after all those adorable kitties), I prescribe this.

Next video: An apparently sanctioned-by-Lucas video about the dumping of Jabba's cargo. With a creepy animation of Han Solo. (BUT I SAW THAT RAIDERS REFERENCE. I SAW IT.)

...Definitely thought it was going to be something like River Tam in the box though, the shape was eerily similar.

Heheheh kitty parkour.

HOLY SHITBALLS this woman has completely missed the point of feminism. Oh my god this article is rage-inducing. OH. MY. GOD.

Good news, videogamers! Playing video games enhances decision-making skills. That is, it enhances your ability to make choices faster.


Oh! An antibiotic-resistant superbug. Awesome. This may be our downfall. However, if you're worried about the apocalypse, I just thought you'd like to know that science seems sometimes straight-up fictional. I know a lot of zombie movies/novels/etc. lately have been leaning on diseases like ebola, mad cow disease, or other things to explain the basis for the disease. So here's a crazy fact: mad cow disease causes cattle's eyes to glow. WTF.

Rechargeable cars are less hurtful to the environment than gas, even if charged using "dirty fuel". And it's crazy, if it could charge using renewable sources--solar, wind, etc.--it's FORTY PERCENT cleaner than a gas-using car. Holy shit. Why is the world so resistant to changing how we use our resources? :(

(Answer: laziness, greed, but it still pisses me the fuck off.)

I read an article the other day about how an old solar panel from the White House was rediscovered, and some students, led by Bill McKibben, took it to the White House to see if they would take it back as a symbol of good faith and an attempt to move conservation forward in the eye of current US politics. Some of the statistics were incredibly impressive--like the fact that seed sales increased by 30% the year Michelle Obama was promoting her White House garden. But the kids were taken into a "war room" and basically told no. The whole thing made me so sad, particularly because I remember McKibben speaking to my freshman class on his book we all read, and because we were stuck in a hot, sweaty gym with a rather heavy book (as in, the material, not the book itself), he kind of got ignored by most people. And trying to sort out the fifty interested students in a room of 1000 or however many it was is not really a simple task. Anyway. The whole thing just makes me depressed for the state of our politics. I don't understand why people want to spend so much money on stuff and on keeping things the way they are instead of helping people who need help, helping the WORLD that needs help. I don't know. Maybe that's my bias of too many years of marianist catholic education speaking. I'm too hopeful, I suppose.


Cats drawn as Marvel characters! Adorable. And hilarious. Particularly Spidey and the Sandman.

OKgo's new video to encourage the adoption of shelter pets. Amazing as usual.

Surprise! Facebook is fucking with you again. And this is why I keep all my info private except to people I know.

NEWSIES IS GOING TO BROADWAY, hilariousyesfantasticyesssss.

If superheros were hipsters. I particularly like PBRman. Also I feel like Spiderman isn't that far from Tobey McGuire Spiderman because DEAR LORD DO I HATE HIM. (Also, LOL at Aquaman--Northwesterners are a silly people. I learned that this summer.)

Mysterious civilization hidden in the Amazon--I think this is the same thing (SPOILER ALERT!) Lost City of Z talks about. BUT NOBODY KNOWS. It's fascinating.

Carnivorous plants dwndling across US; I wonder if this might have anything to do with all the bugkiller sprays we use? (No idea, just a thought.)

Shark attack survivors team up to save sharks.

ATHLETE'S FOOT MEDICATION COULD CURE WHITE NOSE SYNDROME! Finally, a hint of good news on that front.

Bug people are crazy. So are geologists.

Some foreign memes for you. I particularly like Makmende, for some reason. I suppose it's like Chuck Norris, but cooler, because Chuck Norris has kind of turned out to be a douche. (Clint Eastwood = cooler than Chuck Norris.)

A really good article about building the mosque. It sums up my feelings on the subject pretty well.

Where can you find Ned and Chuck, Henry Jones (Sr.), and (old school!) Zaphod Beeblebrox? Cons, of course. (Those PD outfits are fantastic, though, seriously.)

Interesting bit of Raiders trivia.

Oh my god, remember the ad for Iron Man 2 where Pepper smooches Tony's helmet, and it wasn't in the movie, and everybody got upset? I present to you--THE ALTERNATE OPENING:



(Fan. fucking. tastic. Why did they not do this one, now?)

And another fantastic short.


Star Wars yoga, absolutely hilarious. And rather clever.

Obscure Taco Bell trivia! A.k.a. the random shit I will bring up in conversation that may eventually lead to me singing the Gordita Anthem. This, in fact, happened this week despite me finding the article months ago, although it did not lead to Gordita-anthemizing, which is a shame.

Here is a fantastic interview with Patrick Stewart, and within it is a fantastically creepy tidbit of their interpretation of Macbeth, ( which I am cutting for the rare case of spoilers )

Is that not fantastically Halloween-y in the best manner? It absolutely is.

First of all, this article is rather old. Second, I doubt it is more than tongue-in-cheek coincidence, and three, Hex of the Hydra sounds godawful. Like the books series.

OH MY GOD. So I was watching the new Sherlock Holmes (not for the first time), but I also decided to watch the bonus material. Apparently they decided Jude Law was more of the ladies' man than RDJ, so they took to calling him Hotson on set.

omg. Hotson.

I can't even. It's hilarious. Anythus.


Much like Rule 34 of the internets, I surmise there must be a similar rule about blogs and personal interests. If you have thought of it, someone, somewhere, has already posted about it online. There is a cool blog called Strange Maps that posts, well, non-generic maps. This particular post has some interesting material on worldviews. It's rather fascinating, but my main point of this whole thing is that the Bulgarians think Poles are all sexy fembots.

I. Don't. Even. Know.






What I do know is that I need to post things more often because I have AT LEAST this many more links piled up in my Google Reader waiting for me to take action. And FIVE MORE old posts on my desktop from before I left this summer! Luckily those posts actually have some real content, like some book reviews.

So, real stuff now, we went to the Yellow Springs Street Festival today. I got an awesome monster shirt, a necklace for my medusa costume, and a beaverfelt antique collapsible tophat! The sad part is I got home and realized the tophat is too small :( BUT I refuse to get rid of it for the time being. I also walked RIGHT PAST Dave Chappelle without even noticing at first, who was saying that the street fair was "like Yellow Springs normally, but gayer". Which... I don't know what that means? Because it's almost the opposite. All the out-of-town people come to visit for the day, so the percentage of hippies is decreased by at least some...

Also my sister finally found the CORRECT version of the Taco Bell Gordita Anthem (thank you, 1998) and I downloaded it for the sake of posterity. POSTERITY I TELL YOU.



(begins at 1:40ish if it doesn't play correctly.)

[EDIT] If I had been paying attention or had any creative/organizational method of linkspamming (Captain Obvious Hint: I don't) I would have posted the Ghostbusters/Rick Moranis thing followed by the carnivorous plants thing followed by the Newsies thing. Points to you if you know how those three are related.

Alas, I did not, and I also need to post this in the case I missed posting it before:



Also-also, tomorrow is 42 DAY as in, the date is binary for 42 (101010), and it happens only once every hundred years, and tomorrow we are getting together to watch the Hitchhiker's Guide movie, probably have a Vogon poetry reading, and get our brains smashed out by a slice of lemon wrapped around a large gold brick. Coincidentally that is the name of my ipod and there will be no citruses anywhere near my electronics, thankyouverymuch. (I've taken to naming my electronic devices after science fiction things, or other related items; this new lappy is HELPeR486.)

Also-also-also, I am very afraid for this Pan-galactic Gargleblaster recipe, which is, essentially, take Everclear, cut with liquors:

...er, scratch that. I may be looking at the wrong recipe. Anyway, there's a lot of alcohol, plus a little bit of mixers, add olive, et voila.

If I weren't so convinced I'll be smashed rather quickly, I'd throw in a gin & tonic to boot. Maybe I'll pour one out for my gpa who seemed delighted about the affair but clearly can't make it (and probably shouldn't be consuming high levels of alcohols).

[Error: unknown template qotd] When I was a kid I always really struggled with the questions "what is your favorite book", "what is your favorite movie", and "what is your favorite food". I always said Winnie the Pooh for the book, even though I'd never read the originals, I just knew the stories by heart. (And you know what, I don't know if the new books just might have been the old ones with new updated pictures. But I'd read those.) As for movie, I always went with The Little Mermaid, because my mom used to pick on me for waking up dad at five or six am when I was very, very little to make him put the vhs in so I could watch it while he fell asleep on the couch. And as for food, I've never really had a favorite. Everything is good. =/

But then I hit seventh grade, we went to the new COSI, and the rest was history... My favorite movie is Raiders, and my favorite book is Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, although that has nothing to do with COSI or anything presented here, really. Grandpa and I used to love to watch the old BBC made-for-tv version of it, and I tried to read along with it when I was younger but it was too much. Eventually in high-school I went out and bought the all-five-in-the-trilogy hardback and read them all, and that is that.

[Error: unknown template qotd]I got spoiled on the 6th Harry Potter book because everyone had those dumb flashing icons and shit.

Laura told me the entire story of the Ring, but when I watched it it was still unique and awesome enough to be a good movie. She also told me the entire story of Signs, but that sucked when I watched it.

Does it count as spoiling yourself if you guess the ending? Probably not because I love to try to guess where the plot is going. Off the top of my head, two movies with "twists" that I guessed correctly were The Prestige and The Village. Both of which I recommend immensely.

I try not to spoil people on things; I try to explain enough that they get the understanding of it without the details, and if they think it would be shitty then I will end up telling them if they ask. But I don't spoil things intentionally, unless it's like a 30 year old movie that comes up in discussion. Here's a hint: Darth Vader is Luke's father, but Anakin was an emo so no one gives a shit anyhow :D

[Error: unknown template qotd]Marvin the Paranoid Android, though he's not an android nor is he paranoid. He's just depressed.

Nonetheless Hitchhiker's Guide is one of if not the best book ever written. It definitely ties with American Gods in my list.

No, seriously, she does.



Well, okay, it's not brand new. '67 and it needs a lot of work, but she liked it. Sometimes... she is too dramatic for me, though. Her reaction to bringing that car around was a bit much. Then again, maybe I'm an ungrateful, spoiled child. Or I've been too bitter this year (which is true). Or I just don't see that reaction as legitimate... also probably true. Considering my reaction to things I like is usually over-excited jumping-up-and-down-ness. I dunno, Grandma's just kind of a drama queen.

OMG LAURA PICKED OUT HOLOGRAPHIC-SEQUINED CHUCKS FOR ME. I'M SO FUKKEN EXCITED YOU HAVE NO IDEA. NEW YEAR'S HERE I COME

In addition, my new opal, YAY, so I have a replacement ring so I have one fewer finger that feels naked. Plus, in the right light, it looks red and not blue. (It is probably the most gorgeous opal I've ever worn, ffs.)

That sweet antique-postal-box bank... And some Tortugas stuff (tie-dyed shirt, sweatshirt); a calendar (magnetic poetry!); ladybug earrings; I feel like I'm missing something. Oh, Laura and I got a shared copy of Beetle the Bard, but something else is missing...

Wow, how the heck did I come away with one and a half books for Christmas? Usually I have, like... a dozen. At least. Not that I'm complaining, I just can't remember that not happening for many years back.



Also I totally just got online because omg I did not get the #1 thing I asked for which was the Indiana Jones compeltely soundtracks! I mean honestly! D: (Lol, again, complaining facetiously.)

I finally feel all better, minus the Cough That Will Not Go Away (fuck you, sinus infection). More shopping tomorrow, paint for Laura's room and linens for me (Linens 'N' Things going out of business at the new year, fyi), also need to hit up Border's and a toy store. Two more stickers and I can get three limited edition crystal skull action figures with thrones! You think I'm kidding, but I'm not. I WANT THEM SO BADLY. I wish I could afford enough to have 13, lol. (I would need an entire German and a Russian army to get them, though. That is, of the figures they sell. WHY WON'T THEY RELEASE THE NEXT WAVES. I WANT TEMPLE AND CRUSADE FIGURES SO BADLYOHMYGODIAMSUCHANERD.)

OH. OH. I remembered what the other thing was. MOM GOT A ROOMBA! I am so geeked out, it's ridiculous. I want to make a Roomba cover. Dad saw you can hack them to sing midi songs. Some cats ride them around for fun.

I can't set up a poll, but I need your opinions; do we name it

>Rosie (dad's suggestion--you can guess why)
>Rupert (Laura's suggestion--she's been watching too much Family Guy)
>HAL 9000 (Laura's and my suggestion--I'm sorry, Dave, I can't vaccuum that)

For me, Rupert is right out. I'm leaning toward Rosie because midi isn't threatening enough for HAL and there isn't enough capability to fadingly sing Daisy as it works. (Or... shuts down. Or anything.)

SO YAY OMGROOMBA tell me your thoughts and let me know of any awesome Roomba shit you can think of. (If we had two, I'd make them joust. Possibly Roomba/Kitten joust.)

Sometimes, I get some really bizarre thoughts. You know, the kind that would turn your life into a really good fiction? Basically, plot bunnies, but they're usually just something based on my life, so they don't really work well with the "plot" part. More like "Diane is crazy" bunnies. Possibly they are Plot Jackalopes.

Long story short: A lot of personal realizations this week that I haven't got down on paper on LJ yet. (Because I'm lazy, lol.) But I was thinking about all the things that change, and this year, how weird it's been just this summer to 1) realize some of my best friends might be engaged, 2) realize some of my best friends probably will be engaged soon, and that I really need to get over some personal issues there that have nothing to do with them as a couple, and 3) that mom and dad want to move. A lot. Meaning, they are both pretty damn ready to get the hell out of Dodge. But anyway, I was thinking about those things, how your life changes, and how it affects your friends, and where am I going to end up living (what if I get a job with Disney? JPI? COST? None of those are in Ohio as far as I know) eventually, and where will Laura be, and Max, and Kyle? And my friends? And then I started thinking about grade school friends who I haven't seen in a really fucking long time. Like, I haven't seen Zack since graduation, I'm sure, becuse he didn't come to Jacob's funeral, I don't think. Which it then kind of hit me again, wow, someone my age, someone I grew up with, is dead. And, guilty as this may be, I don't remember much about him. I remember him making me laugh in first grade and I snorted chocolate milk out my nose and onto his shirt. (I didn't drink chocolate milk for a long time after that, but I always said I didn't like it. I think it comes in phases, because I liked it for a little while at Carroll but I'm not so big on it again.) And getting in trouble for laughing in like fourth AND fifth and probably all the other grades. Oh, and him spelling "sex" instead of "six" in second grade, and everyone laughed, and I honestly don't know how many of us knew what we were really laughing at. But other than him just being kind of a dumb goofball... I don't remember much. =/ He wasn't one of the guys that I hung out with, and even so, the stuff I remember from gradeschool is really random and generally... scholastic.

BUT ANYWAY, so that was all thoughts I had while mowing today, and then the bike ride comes around, and I do a lot of good thinking on bike rides. And this isn't a thought, really, it's a plot jackalope, which I like to encourage because they're pretty rare, but I just realized, what if he's really not dead? What if he's some super spy and it's all an FBI coverup? Cruel but cool.

Yeah, see? That's the way my brain works. I know I'm crazy.

also, I totally blame it all on the Hardy Boys novels, and I've been jiving to be read them all again.

Weeeeelll, it rained today, so I couldn't get out and take any pics. Instead I unpacked all my bags and I'm going to set up a still life to make up for it. In the meantime, have some reading material!

Uncle Jay explains Congressional recess. ...Someone who tends to not avoid politics, tell me: does Congress really have that many days off?! (I don't really try to avoid politics, I just try to only pay attention when I need to. There's too much drama-gloom-and-doom-desperation for me.)

I can has Tony Stark?

( Crystal skull stolen... not really that interesting of an article )

And now, I'm going to discuss the Twilight series a little bit. I'm going to cut it because I know some of you are fans, and I don't like it, but ( I'm going to try to treat it civilly. )

OKAY. I'm off to set up the photo. Bbl.