mercat: (Default)
So, first day back in my car, successfully went out shopping and bought some beautiful things such as stripey reusable drink straws in my favorite colors. And delicious chocolate with caramel and Hawaiian sea salt (om nom nom). And then I went up to Urbana to hang out with peeps and see Avengers...

...and got a speeding ticket.

Idk. I'm torn between being pissed at myself and just being over it. I mean, I deserved it, I was not paying attention and I was speeding. But I'm simultaneously sort of happy that I didn't start freaking out and crying, because I do not deal with social pressure well. But also... wtf? It's kind of assholish to be like "I'm proud I gave less of a fuck than I should". But I also don't want to hate myself. Not that I don't. I just hate guilt, which I don't know if it's my own empathy or the fact that I was raised Catholic, which I may never know. But I hate the fact that I am way too self-conscious. Second-hand-embarassment ruins so many social situations for me.

On the other hand, Avengers was PRETTY FUCKING BEAUTIFUL and Joss Whedon writes a goddamn beautiful piece of cinema. Nice, tight, snappy script. Characters with depth. Handled a multitude of characters fantastically well, without too much weakness to any. Although I hope Cobie Smulders' character gets some more attention in (a) sequel(s), as she seemed kind of like a "uh crap we have a lot of dudes in here let's get some chicks for balance". Granted, I would like to thank Whedon for actually being able to recognize that in the first place, which is kind of sad that I have to say that.

ALSO I fucking love Tony Stark. He + Banner geeking out was THE BEST THING EVER, and his dialogues with Steve were be-god-damn-utiful. Mark Ruffalo as Banner was surprisingly great, because I really liked Norton in the earlier film. But, I mean, does anyone hate Mark Ruffalo? Not that I'm aware of. Black Widow and Hawkeye were beautiful and I am SO EXCITED that she's getting an origin film! :D Loki, despite Tom-Hiddleston-with-black-hair, and Thor were aawwweeeessssoooommmeee. (It totally blew my mind when someone pointed out that Chris Hemsworth was Kirk's dad in the new Star Trek, which is adorable and honestly I think he looks much better without the Thor-locks-and-facial-hair.) (Then again Avengers is pretty hard to complain about, I mean two tech dudes and at least three other guys running around being muscly and badass, yeah.)

SOOOOOO I spent the ride home trying to channel my inner Tony Stark and not give a fuck about the fact that I got a ticket. I deserved it, I can pay it, and hopefully it doesn't affect the insurance too badly. Luckily my parents weren't too upset, which I suppose would have been the really worst part. (Also-- glad Whedon kept some of the jokes going from Iron Man 2 and such. Yay continuity!)

So, all in all, hopefully I can keep working on getting over social anxiety bullshit and get to work on summer projects.

Lots to do.

Oh my gawsh

Feb. 1st, 2011 09:11 pm
mercat: (Default)
I'm alive! I'm posting! I know!

My lappy's hard drive took a dive the day before the semester started and I just got it back a few days ago. I have a lot of stuff to catch up on, but in the meantime enjoy this paper I wrote the other night about the book Cradle to Cradle (and the Biomimicry Institute) for my LEED class while I nearly pulled an all-nighter. It got a little bit ridiculous.

In Which I Did Not Write a Technical Paper )



I can't even believe I wrote that. Apparently when I stay up late (and then only get 1.5 hours of sleep) my brain transfers function from "ability to form coherent sentences and thought patterns" to "creative but wildly ridiculous thought patterns".

IDEK

Oh my gawsh

Feb. 1st, 2011 09:11 pm
mercat: (Default)
I'm alive! I'm posting! I know!

My lappy's hard drive took a dive the day before the semester started and I just got it back a few days ago. I have a lot of stuff to catch up on, but in the meantime enjoy this paper I wrote the other night about the book Cradle to Cradle (and the Biomimicry Institute) for my LEED class while I nearly pulled an all-nighter. It got a little bit ridiculous.

In Which I Did Not Write a Technical Paper )



I can't even believe I wrote that. Apparently when I stay up late (and then only get 1.5 hours of sleep) my brain transfers function from "ability to form coherent sentences and thought patterns" to "creative but wildly ridiculous thought patterns".

IDEK

PCHOOM

Dec. 17th, 2010 04:00 am
mercat: (Default)
Oh... my god.

I just got back from seeing Tron: Legacy in IMAX 3D. (We also watched Tron beforehand.)

IT BLEW MY GODDAMNED MIND.

You see, I hate 3D movies on principle. I do not want to go see a gimmick, to break the--I don't know, 3rd wall?--and tear me out of the immersion of the story. That's not to say I've never seen one, just that I do not like them.

Tron, however, was GLORIOUS. They used it incredibly sparsely and they used it well.

Also, the sets were amazing.

Also, the costumes were amazing.

Also, the scoring was amazing.



BASICALLY EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS MOVIE WAS AMAZING AND IT WAS TOTALLY WORTH $17. (Except for a little bit of Uncanny Valley effect, ugh, but I am SUPER picky about that shit.)

(Also, Daft Punk was kind of perfect.)


Also, R.I.P. Mr. Edwards, your Pink Panther movies are a beautiful thing.

PCHOOM

Dec. 17th, 2010 04:00 am
mercat: (jedi master Pooh)
Oh... my god.

I just got back from seeing Tron: Legacy in IMAX 3D. (We also watched Tron beforehand.)

IT BLEW MY GODDAMNED MIND.

You see, I hate 3D movies on principle. I do not want to go see a gimmick, to break the--I don't know, 3rd wall?--and tear me out of the immersion of the story. That's not to say I've never seen one, just that I do not like them.

Tron, however, was GLORIOUS. They used it incredibly sparsely and they used it well.

Also, the sets were amazing.

Also, the costumes were amazing.

Also, the scoring was amazing.



BASICALLY EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS MOVIE WAS AMAZING AND IT WAS TOTALLY WORTH $17. (Except for a little bit of Uncanny Valley effect, ugh, but I am SUPER picky about that shit.)

(Also, Daft Punk was kind of perfect.)


Also, R.I.P. Mr. Edwards, your Pink Panther movies are a beautiful thing.
mercat: (Default)
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).
mercat: (Default)
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).
mercat: (Default)
I realized that another reason I like Iron Man 2 so damn much is that the writers didn't jump to the ultimate baddie right away, doing what you would expect for the sequel-- they set up the Ten Rings in the first one but then brought in Hammer and Whiplash for the first sequel. I mean, besides their already great stories and fantastic dialogue, I just fucking love these writers. Whomever they are.
mercat: (Default)
I realized that another reason I like Iron Man 2 so damn much is that the writers didn't jump to the ultimate baddie right away, doing what you would expect for the sequel-- they set up the Ten Rings in the first one but then brought in Hammer and Whiplash for the first sequel. I mean, besides their already great stories and fantastic dialogue, I just fucking love these writers. Whomever they are.
mercat: (Default)
I think I am turning into some sort of weird math nerd. (I know, and you're saying, like I wasn't already.) No, but really, more than the interest in science and math I already have, I just bought a box of cereal because it had a very well-designed box with hexagons on it. It was a very sexy design. Sexagons.

...Or something. I'll just leave that there.

Even I don't know what that is.



THESE ARE HORRIFYING. I was looking up tiki home dec stuff on Amazon (yes... this is the sort of thing I choose to do w9ith my time) and all of a sudden JUST WTF IS THAT. Seriously. Would you put those in your yard? Only if you own a Fun House, I hope. Because everyone knows those are secret terrors. Places of Weird. And not in the good Neil-Gaiman-American-Gods way. Yeah.

So I think I got dehydrated over the weekend. I didn't have an unusual amount of mountain dew last night but fuck if I DIDN'T SLEEP. I felt like I was 90% asleep for five hours and when my alarm went off I felt like I was hovering in my bed, YES, HOVERING, because I felt so shaky. Wtf? I don't even know. But I felt sick to my stomach and sore and I couldn't sleep and it was miserable. So I skipped my classes (ugh, because like I need to be more behind) and tried to sleep and IT JUST WAS NOT HAPPENING because damned if today wasn't the day of all days Ohio decided to get warm. And someone's car alarm kept going off. And the guys upstairs decided to stomp up and down the hall or something. ARRRRRRGGGHHHH. I must have gotten at least some sleep though because there was a dream with an escaped mad monkey and a banana to catch him and a magazine article about Ted Mosby. idfk. To summarize, I felt like shit and still kind of don't know why. And spring break, of course, was not so great, with gramps in the hospital and the weather sucked and I feel like I got nothing done because I went through junk papers in my room and in total cleaned only about four boxes worth of stuff. Granted, they were giant boxes and I went through every piece of paper, but I feel like I had a miserable break over all. Idk. I need a legitimate break... from something. I don't know what that means. I don't know what I want anymore, and it's driving me crazy. Egh.

Anyway. I'm ready for Easter and St. Patrick's Day because they're at least theme holidays and I can go dress up in fun ways or something.

ANYWAY, enough of that, this entry took a sudden turn for the depressing. =/

Here! Have a cat playing a theremin. There is nothing about this that isn't awesome.



I feel like I want to go into my little rant of the moment about steampunk and my renewed love for post-apoc fashion and pirates but I feel like there's enough complaining in this post. Hahaha. (tl;dr version: is it just me or is there an overwhelming amount of "HEY I PUT SOME BRASS GEARS INTO THE DESIGN, ISN'T THIS COOL NOW"? Yeah, I just... not unless you started a bike club. In which case, yes, it very much is. OR YOU'RE BUILDING A STEAMPUNK SKYNET, in which case, YES IT'S AWESOME BUT WHAT THE FUCK WERE YOU THINKING?! YOU'VE DOOMED US ALL.)



How would that even work, a steampunk Skynet? Skynet doesn't activate "until" 1997. Idk. Clearly, I have weird thoughts sometimes. Weird, nerdy thoughts.

Speaking of which I need some good post-apocalyptic boots for kicking ass. They're hard to find.
mercat: (Default)
I think I am turning into some sort of weird math nerd. (I know, and you're saying, like I wasn't already.) No, but really, more than the interest in science and math I already have, I just bought a box of cereal because it had a very well-designed box with hexagons on it. It was a very sexy design. Sexagons.

...Or something. I'll just leave that there.

Even I don't know what that is.



THESE ARE HORRIFYING. I was looking up tiki home dec stuff on Amazon (yes... this is the sort of thing I choose to do w9ith my time) and all of a sudden JUST WTF IS THAT. Seriously. Would you put those in your yard? Only if you own a Fun House, I hope. Because everyone knows those are secret terrors. Places of Weird. And not in the good Neil-Gaiman-American-Gods way. Yeah.

So I think I got dehydrated over the weekend. I didn't have an unusual amount of mountain dew last night but fuck if I DIDN'T SLEEP. I felt like I was 90% asleep for five hours and when my alarm went off I felt like I was hovering in my bed, YES, HOVERING, because I felt so shaky. Wtf? I don't even know. But I felt sick to my stomach and sore and I couldn't sleep and it was miserable. So I skipped my classes (ugh, because like I need to be more behind) and tried to sleep and IT JUST WAS NOT HAPPENING because damned if today wasn't the day of all days Ohio decided to get warm. And someone's car alarm kept going off. And the guys upstairs decided to stomp up and down the hall or something. ARRRRRRGGGHHHH. I must have gotten at least some sleep though because there was a dream with an escaped mad monkey and a banana to catch him and a magazine article about Ted Mosby. idfk. To summarize, I felt like shit and still kind of don't know why. And spring break, of course, was not so great, with gramps in the hospital and the weather sucked and I feel like I got nothing done because I went through junk papers in my room and in total cleaned only about four boxes worth of stuff. Granted, they were giant boxes and I went through every piece of paper, but I feel like I had a miserable break over all. Idk. I need a legitimate break... from something. I don't know what that means. I don't know what I want anymore, and it's driving me crazy. Egh.

Anyway. I'm ready for Easter and St. Patrick's Day because they're at least theme holidays and I can go dress up in fun ways or something.

ANYWAY, enough of that, this entry took a sudden turn for the depressing. =/

Here! Have a cat playing a theremin. There is nothing about this that isn't awesome.



I feel like I want to go into my little rant of the moment about steampunk and my renewed love for post-apoc fashion and pirates but I feel like there's enough complaining in this post. Hahaha. (tl;dr version: is it just me or is there an overwhelming amount of "HEY I PUT SOME BRASS GEARS INTO THE DESIGN, ISN'T THIS COOL NOW"? Yeah, I just... not unless you started a bike club. In which case, yes, it very much is. OR YOU'RE BUILDING A STEAMPUNK SKYNET, in which case, YES IT'S AWESOME BUT WHAT THE FUCK WERE YOU THINKING?! YOU'VE DOOMED US ALL.)



How would that even work, a steampunk Skynet? Skynet doesn't activate "until" 1997. Idk. Clearly, I have weird thoughts sometimes. Weird, nerdy thoughts.

Speaking of which I need some good post-apocalyptic boots for kicking ass. They're hard to find.
mercat: (Default)
So Geoffrey Rush was in a film about Peter Sellers life? I maybe should have bought it, it was $2 at Second Time Around, but I didn't feel like watching a semi-depressing bioflick. Even if Geoffrey Rush is super amazing, and Peter Sellers is even cooler.

Anyway, the Iron Man 2 trailer is out, and awesome, despite how lame Whiplash looks, and I CAN NOT WAIT. More hot engineering action? Oh, you know it. If only they hadn't dumped Terrence Howard, there really was no reason for that.

Total moral quandary: on facebook, I cannot decide if my profile pic should be Ancient Mew or Blastoise. BOTH ARE AWESOME. BOTH ARE HOLO. Breaking news: I am a nerd. ngl it makes me want to pull out all my old cards. I probably will when I get home.

You know another reason I love Troop? Everyone there is freaking HUGE NERDS. I swear to god every time I meet up with Troop people we have at least one small discussion involving Pokemon. Idek why, it just ALWAYS HAPPENS.

So there's been that video going around of the octopus using a broken coconut as a tool, you know, disregarding the fact that octopi at aquariums break out of their tanks all the time to eat other creatures, or spit out their night-lights, or crack puzzles to get to snacks. I HATE CEPHALOPODS. D: Dear Discovery Channel, thank you for horrifying me with your future-of-evolution special about how octopi/squids/whatever will climb out of the seas and live like monkeys and become the next intelligent beings. FUCK. YOU. Not to mention their texture is terrible for eating.

So Adidas finally released their Star Wars collection, and... it looks horrible. I mean, good on you if you like skater shoes or REALLY LIKE DARTH VADER or even x-wings. And the stormtrooper ones looked promising before... But the Princess Leia ones? *gag* Really.

Sadly, the only ones I'd probably wear would be the Falcons. =/ And they're not even that interesting. Sad day. ([EDIT] I LIED, I found better pictures, the Falcons suck too and the coolest ones are the TIE fighters.)

Interesting article about technology and relationships, although, it is from Cracked so take it as you will. ngl I'm kind of excited for psych 101 next semester. (Somewhat unrelated, I know.)

Anyone have one of these lying around somewhere? I kind of want one. To match my flashlight. And because it's adorable. yesssssss
mercat: (Default)
So Geoffrey Rush was in a film about Peter Sellers life? I maybe should have bought it, it was $2 at Second Time Around, but I didn't feel like watching a semi-depressing bioflick. Even if Geoffrey Rush is super amazing, and Peter Sellers is even cooler.

Anyway, the Iron Man 2 trailer is out, and awesome, despite how lame Whiplash looks, and I CAN NOT WAIT. More hot engineering action? Oh, you know it. If only they hadn't dumped Terrence Howard, there really was no reason for that.

Total moral quandary: on facebook, I cannot decide if my profile pic should be Ancient Mew or Blastoise. BOTH ARE AWESOME. BOTH ARE HOLO. Breaking news: I am a nerd. ngl it makes me want to pull out all my old cards. I probably will when I get home.

You know another reason I love Troop? Everyone there is freaking HUGE NERDS. I swear to god every time I meet up with Troop people we have at least one small discussion involving Pokemon. Idek why, it just ALWAYS HAPPENS.

So there's been that video going around of the octopus using a broken coconut as a tool, you know, disregarding the fact that octopi at aquariums break out of their tanks all the time to eat other creatures, or spit out their night-lights, or crack puzzles to get to snacks. I HATE CEPHALOPODS. D: Dear Discovery Channel, thank you for horrifying me with your future-of-evolution special about how octopi/squids/whatever will climb out of the seas and live like monkeys and become the next intelligent beings. FUCK. YOU. Not to mention their texture is terrible for eating.

So Adidas finally released their Star Wars collection, and... it looks horrible. I mean, good on you if you like skater shoes or REALLY LIKE DARTH VADER or even x-wings. And the stormtrooper ones looked promising before... But the Princess Leia ones? *gag* Really.

Sadly, the only ones I'd probably wear would be the Falcons. =/ And they're not even that interesting. Sad day. ([EDIT] I LIED, I found better pictures, the Falcons suck too and the coolest ones are the TIE fighters.)

Interesting article about technology and relationships, although, it is from Cracked so take it as you will. ngl I'm kind of excited for psych 101 next semester. (Somewhat unrelated, I know.)

Anyone have one of these lying around somewhere? I kind of want one. To match my flashlight. And because it's adorable. yesssssss

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