The Daily Adventures of Mercat

(The title has nothing to do with anything except that I just took a practice GRE and "gremlins" was the first word to pop into my head starting with "gre-".)

Forgive me for just nearly missing the daily-post--deadline by a few minutes, because I just finished a GRE practice test. How sad is it that engineering has made me excited to take a standardized test?! I work well within boundaries and certain expectations, or no boundaries at all, apparently. I don't know how well I am cut out for slightly-open-ended design work. Which is not good, because that is pretty much anything engineering is. I mean, there are the laws of physics, and the laws of the land, but the problem is that the former is very mathematically complicated and the latter is just very convoluted and you only come to know it really through exposure and experience. Neither of which I really have. And not to mention, mayhaps my brain just doesn't work that way, because I never seem to know where to find the equations/set-up I need for engineering projects. Which makes working in groups good for me because then the other people are good at starting the project, and I'm good at checking things and thinking (maybe a little too far) outside the box.

So... menial desk job or very creative in-charge job for me, I guess. Strange. ANYWAY. Onto the prompt.

My favorite meme of the moment... I don't think I currently have one. Being gone all summer I kind of missed Double Rainbow and Hide Ya Kids and I don't really... "get".... either. Although I think I saw Antoine Dodson a while back but never saw the Bed Intruder Song? I don't know.

Does Rally to Restore Sanity/Fear count as a meme? Because it was probably more that than real political activism (or anything) and I kind of liked that (despite people being bitchy for it). However, it's not quite as wild as Anonymous' protests, so idk.

I guess I don't have a favorite meme right now, so I hope something comes along soon. In the meantime, I'm always a sucker for EFG and since the 5th of November was just a few days ago, let's say that. Even though it was nothing to do with anything, legitimately.

MOVING ON. I was thinking about password access, which led me to think about where you keep that kind of information so that it's safe with you but easily found by others in the case that you were to die. Which led me to think about wills, and the fact that while my mom has every once in a while talked about what she wants (donated organs iirc) and my dad has mentioned his wants (a big party), they don't really know my beliefs in terms of my... lack of faiths... (BUT NOT LACK OF MORALS... byuh) ANYWAY. I don't need any kind of fancy burial, I'll be dead. I've kind of always been about pragmatism, and even when I was really young (early gradeschool) I remember considering the pros and cons of cremation. So this is my current set of considerations: (And let's not call me morbid here, because I honestly approach a lot of what most people would consider "morbid" as just purely interesting. Death is the natural extension of life. Morbid for me is a whole other level. Perhaps I disdain that word... I'm more of a naturalist than a goth? And science is nature, so. )

1. If there's any hint of foul play just preserve as much as possible. Not that I expect this to happen but being slightly paranoid from reading too many detective novels and watching too many crime shows, if there was any hint of foul play I hope there's a really good twist! Which probably means exhuming the body at least once. (...Maaaaaaybe that's morbid. BUT SO ARE CRIME SHOWS)

2. If not, donate any usable body parts to organ donor programs and/or to science. Basically get as much practical use out of it as possible.

3. Bury any remains in a manner as natural as possible because it seems pretty pointless to be dumping lockboxes filled with chemicals into the ground just to sit there and be preserved for... ever.

3b. Plus this ensures that I will never be Undead. (Zombie, vampire, etc.)

4. Possibly do something awesome with the remains such as:
a) use the bones for something awesome such as art, Yorrick's skull in a production of Hamlet, a modern reliquary, et cetera,
b) include them in a treasure hunt/puzzle or as a geocache (WITH ONLY AWESOME TREASURE INSIDE. If I am to be a buried treasure, I fully expect it to be a goddamn bitchin' one.)
c)...et cetera. Basically I think skeletons and eyes are pretty cool things from a design aspect and have many interesting and beautiful (if slightly morbid) options. (BUT I'M OKAY WITH THE SLIGHT MORBIDITY HERE. AT THIS POINT THE MORBIDITY BECOMES MORE WUNDERKAMMER-CURIOUS THAN NATURALIST-CURIOUS BUT IT'S STILL AWESOME.)

5. A really cool headstone. Some classic-and-slightly-creepy design, with a totally clever and awesome epitaph. Like the headstones at the Haunted Mansion, with their Victorian-Gothic-slightly-disquieting style and the totally awesome epitaphs (at least out front--I've never studied the epitaphs inside the ride).

OKAY TOTALLY DONE WITH MY MORBID MOMENT NOW, for those of you who may not like that sort of thing... er... sorry for the lack of warning... =/

At any rate. I have a rant but I don't really want to rant about it right now. Let's just say, between people going back on my Halloween party invite, and being whiny about the party, and my friend failing to do the one thing I asked him to do for the senior show (i.e. leave an appropriate mid-movement moment for the dead-bug), which I told him a month ahead of time when we were planning it as a group, but do people just blow me off when I make comments a few months in advance? BECAUSE I HAVE ACTUALLY THOUGHT THESE THINGS THROUGH, and I mean them. If I change my thoughts, I WILL ALSO BRING THAT TO YOUR ATTENTION.

Do I just... scream "IGNORE ME" or something? (Heh.)

Yeah. Anyway.




...Also I went to trivia tonight for the first time in a good while and I wore by awesome retro-rainbow Star Wars shirt that I bought from Target's boy section last year. The usual awesome trivia guy wasn't there, and the girl taking his place was not as fun. Plus, a lot of the questions were wrong tonight. "A one-note instrument made popular at the world soccer games this summer"? Vuvuzela, except that like all other objects with a natural frequency, if you halve, double, or otherwise multiply that frequency you will get other notes. Octaves, for simplicity, or perhaps... partials... if the instrument is more complicated. Say, like a trumpet. Speaking of trumpets, "a cornet most resembles this musical instrument". Maybe a cornet? It's actually a legit instrument.

And then Pat, being his normal uppity Classics-major self, called out the trivia girl on the question "what famous temple site on the Acropolis?" by screaming "Which temple do you want?! There are at least nine different ones!"

However I also learned that the F22 Raptor can go supersonic without having to use its afterburners which is called "supercruising". Also, the evil wizard on Smurfs is Gargamel and the cat is Azrale. (NO IDEA if I spelled those right, also don't care much.) And the compact disk was invented in 1965 (we guessed floppy disk).

Also-also I cleaned my room today. Go me!

So I was going to write about Sherlock Holmes. BUT ALLOW ME TO FEMINIST!RAGE FOR A SECOND FIRST.


So Jon and I are sitting in psychology, and we're talking about physiological factors. In this case, we are talking about how someone's brain, in extreme cases, can have physical effects. In the example we are talking about how sexually repressed the Victorian society was and Freud's beliefs on that, particularly women in Victorian society. How guys can enjoy sex but women have sex to have babies, and then they take care of the house, et cetera. We're also talking about how very strict societies can cause mental stress when one feels things that seem okay but society claims as morally and socially wrong. Our modern-day example (since this was the overview class, not a deep examination yet) was homosexuals in conservative cultures. ANYWAY, so in this Victorian-times example, a woman comes to the doctor/psychologist/diagnostician/idk with her hand paralyzed. And our professor (who is a hilarious guy, btw) asks, what do you think she was doing that caused her brain to paralyze her hand? What was she dealing with?

And, you know, class that's 90% freshmen, no one wants to say anything, haha, and the teacher knows, so he kind of smiles and says "Does anyone want to say it?" and of course, no one does, but one talkative up at the front says "Can we use euphemisms?" And the professor says, no, I want someone to say it. So we're all kind of waiting and this guy a few seats in front of me raises his hand and the professor calls on him and the guy says "Because she was pleasuring her man?"

LET ME TELL YOU I WAS SEETHING. Thanks, dude, for showing the world that you--at least subconsciously--support those very ideas we were discussing. That men get pleasure and women do the work.

FUCK. YOU.

Argh.


Anyway, Sherlock Holmes. I enjoyed it. I think the complexity of Holmesian stories maybe made it a bit too convoluted, but it's still pretty damn good. And the dialogue is fantastic, not to mention the action and slapstick humor. And Jude Law and RDJ are hilarious together, although I completely forgot Rachel McAdams was in it, and she was awesome, too.

My only problem with it is that they don't really show you the clues so you're puzzling over the mystery; I mean, you're certainly engaged in the story. But I just enjoy plot twists and murders and detective stories more when the evidence has been staring you in the face, yet you missed it. =/ Idk. But it wasn't bad, that's for sure.

Also, Blackwood's snaggletooth bothered the hell out of me. GODDAMN.

Anyway, the way they presented the mystery was great though. The final twist, as it were. And I did like that Holmes was not presented with his deerstalker, though he did almost always have his pipe. And I loved RDJ's portrayal of him as kind of an egotistical intellectual. Especially with all his snarky comments, GOOD TIMES.

And playing the violin like a uke. OMG. Hilariously awesome.

Oh, and the soundtrack was really good, I think because it was so unique. Very odds-and-ends feeling, but in a good way. I don't think I've ever been so conscious of a soundtrack when watching a movie (disregarding musicals, let's say).

So, yes. Definitely recommending it. And definitely spending my $25 Barnes and Noble christmas gift card rectifying the absurdity that I have NEVER READ HOLMES.

And Carroll's Hound of the Baskervilles (or Wishbone's for that matter)... I don't really remember it. It was kind of crazy, I know that. And I wore the murderer's Crazy Dress my senior year and let me tell you that was my favorite dress. It was super-flowy and awesome. Lol. Important things.

I caught up on some of the stuff I missed (but far from all of it) over the summer, so guess what that means? LINKSPAM!

Last survivor of Titanic dies. Rather sad. (And yes, I realize nearly all this news is old for you people who've been in real life this summer.)

Speaking of deaths, the day we all heard Michael Jackson died, none of us believed it because of the Bob Barker effect. Same thing when the tally kept rolling in... Farrah Fawcett, Ed McMahon, (and then after our next block) OMG Billy Mays! No one believed that last one, though by then the Michael Jackson one had been verified by several sources.

I can only imagine what a massive clusterfuck the internet (and ONTD, in particular) must have been that day.

However, I was in California doing breathing tubes (I think that was the last time we got them--when Scott got there) and snowcones. Bleh. And we had a terrible rehearsal run and the staff was pissed and we did laundry and got screwed over on our WalMart run. But I digress.

More Tomb Raider! Hey, as long as we're putting out adventure films, I'm happy. I loved the Angelina Jolie ones, ESPECIALLY the first one, so you'll get no complaints from me. Only one I would is that they even considered conotinuing through Mummy III after Rachel Weisz dropped out. (And I think, sadly, the same thing is going to be said about Iron Man I, which is a shame considering how utterly awesome Iron Man was.)

This photo has a very Firefly feel about it, and with I would answer the titular question with a veritable "yes".

...I don't think I used "titular" right. Meh.

YAY more Series of Unfortunate Events but some DAMN GOOD POINTS ABOUT FUCKING SEQUELS, HOLLYWOOD. goddamnit

Kenneth Branagh is directing Thor?! I am so. there.

Disney to squeeze more money out of Winnie the Pooh. I was actually bitching to my sister about this the other day and ended up twittering about it, so I'm glad I stumbled upon a relevant article.

Look, here's the thing. You know people who flip out when DC/Marvel get new writers or completely reboot or just continue to mess with different canons? That is how I have been feeling about Disney's treatment of Winnie the Pooh as of the past few years. One, that fucking heffalump movie. SPOILER, but the whole point of the heffalumps and woozles is that THEY DON'T EXIST. Baby Pooh? (And Tigger and Piglet and everyone) Okay, I can see that, messing with styles is cool to keep things interesting. Otherwise I wouldn't have that fucking rad purple stylized Winnie the Pooh bag.

And then I saw the new tv show. A mystery show. In 3D to make it even more painful (though you all know I love mysteries, so that's not where I find fault.) So I'm looking at a playset or a commercial or something and what do I see? The human character is a GIRL.

Look, I'm all for equal treatment and shit like that but this is kind of a definitive matter. YOU KNOW, CHRISTOPHER ROBIN, THE BOY WHO KIND OF FUCKING NAMED THOSE DAMN STUFFED ANIMALS?! God damn. Disney is really pissing me off lately.

P.S., anyone know what happened to the Disney award this year? We were really hoping to get it and wipe that smile off everyone else's faces, and then it didn't happen.

=/

Tim Curry in an Alice & Wonderland thing? Yes, please. Already there.

Pirates 4 seems to be on the move. To which I say, HOORAY! I loved 2 and 3, but I must say, they were several lacking in the buried/cursed/whatever'd department.

Remember what I said about Iron Man? Yeeeeeeaaaaaahhhhh...

That is some sexy cover art, and yes I mean the art nouveau.

Patrick Stewart on the new Star Trek, and holy crap it needs to come out on dvd YESTERDAY. I didn't see a single movie all summer I was gone and that was SO. FUCKING. GOOD.

Well, fuck. The plot actually sounds good. Really good. I'm willing to eat that crow if I have to.






Oh hey, what's this? First off, no shit, sherlock. But otherwise,

FUCK YES.

I'll be sad if it's another biblical artifact unless it's out of Revelations, but hey, what was it I said after I saw IV?


At least he can't do the crystal skulls idea anymore. :D



Now, all I have to do is pray they go for the Hawaii or Easter Island or some polynesian (/melanesian/micronesian) angle and I will be happy.

Fuck, I'll even take Australia E];D





apologies if my language seems suddenly harsher. It is. That's drum corps, and that's me. <3

Okay, I have a discussion question for you guys, so I'd really like your input.

I'm not sure exactly when it started, but somewhere along the line I became really concerned about ethical spending. I didn't think of this as too obscure, because, I mean, who allows themselves to be subjected to scams and stuff? And shouldn't you be monetarily supporting that which you only actually support? But it seems like recently I've come to realize most people just aren't aware. And I realize part of awareness is stumbling onto topics, and I spend a lot of time online stumbling onto things, so it would make sense that I know a bit more than your average person on the street; but these sort of things are things we talk about in Environmental Ethics, too, and I'm finding it hard to believe people make it through school without philosophy or some sort of ethics thing.

What reminded me of this was a madTV (ugh) skit about those "name a star" gifts. Those are a total scam, you're basically paying for a random star and name printed on a piece of paper that gets stored in a database that has nothing to do with actual technologies involved in studying stars, and I'm guessing they will sell repeats. I'd find it hard to believe they haven't run out of stars by now--I know there are a lot of them, but people are going to want to buy stars they can see with the naked eye or a cheap telescope.

SO ANYWAY. The other reason this came up is that Laura came up to me the other day and said that through boredom she and Savannah had found the wedding rings they wanted some day, and I went off on my whole diamond/wedding-ring spiel. To me, there are so many things wrong with that market that I just can't support it. Human rights violations, monopolization of a market (leading to prices tens or hundreds of times the actual value), and all the anti-feminist angles including "it's what women should want", it being a status symbol, men should spend twice their monthly salary on it, "it means true love", the fact that the market was MADE UP in the 1930's, all that jazz. How about diamonds don't actually last forever? They're not even the hardest material on earth known to man anymore, sorry2say. And you may say, oh, well, there are still cruelty-free diamonds (usually from Canada, for some reason? or are there actual mines there?), and lab-created diamonds, but how about the monopolizing "natural" diamond market sending mobsters to kill lab technicians and send threatening letters? Or the fact that recently they've started marking what used to be "imperfect" diamonds as colored and "chocolate" diamonds and stuff? (By that I mean the "colored" ones that aren't supposedly "rare".) I mean, good on them for choosing to have less "waste", but then marking up the price and everything... It seems like a huge farce, to me. Even if you're buying an "ethical" diamond, I don't understand why people choose to ignore the other issues at hand.

Anyway, this just continues onto my ethics class--why don't people recycle? It's so easy--throw your paper and plastic and glass in a different wastebin than your food and unrecyclable material. And why do people waste so much? I try to buy stuff with less packaging, or use fewer utensils, or that sort of thing.

And as for packaging, why isn't more packaging efficient? Or made of recycled material?

I dunno, I could go on and on, but I'm not really feeling "ranty" right now, I'm more curious as to other people's spending habits.

For example, one of my favorite blogs is youthoughtwewouldntnotice.com, and through it I've learned that places like Forever 21 and Urban Outfitters, and if I'm remembering it right, Anthropologie as well? I'm only about 25% sure on that one though-- steal designs willy-nilly from independent artists, and because of that, I choose not to shop at their stores. But, for example, if I point that out to Laura, she just says "meh". What does it take for people to realize they are just supporting a destructive sort of business model?

Is it just that I think too much, I read too much, I'm too aware?

I've started trying to buy safe organic stuff, if I can, because 1) it removes a lot of toxins from the entire business cycle, and works just as well if not better, 2) the business are more likely not to have extreme animal testing/abuse or pollution issues and tend to use recyled/recyclable materials (amognst other things--basically, better business ethical practices), and 3) it may be more expensive but I feel like that is not a sacrifice to make for ethics AND, to me, it demonstrates what capitalism is all about. Plus I've started preferring business based on their practices in general; I've read some skeevy things about Coke, for example, so I'm glad I'm a Mountain Dew (a Pepsi product) person, and I was even more happy to find out Pepsi or one of the top guys there had donated a lot to the gay marriage initiative in California. I realize I'm not 100% of everything that goes on, and I'm just starting down the rabbit hole, as it were, but it seems like such small choices per capita can have such a hgue impact, that people's decisions to ignore/remain ignorant of them truly make me curious. The world can clearly not go on with so much human chauvinism.




Basically, I'm curious-- to what extent do your ethics/awareness play into your shopping?

I've been burning some time reading the xkcd fora lately, I love them dearly. I learn a lot and think a lot when I'm there, and there's lots of good fodder for humor as well. There's a lot of high-quality moderation there, with good maintenance results, and they apply the rule to keep posts named accurately, and that generally works to catch my attention. So I just noticed a thread about feminism, split from the confessions thread, which piqued my interest as I saw no logical connection between the two. Reading it, I still don't, just seeing a guy who claims he hates "feminism" but what he really means is anti-male sexism. You know, femmenazis; the people who call them feminists but who really are not equal-rights but "women are better than men" craziness.

Basically, I'm concerned that a lot of girls/women I know are willing to say "I'm not a feminist" because what they mean is "I'm not a femmenazi". FEMINISM IS A GOOD THING, PEOPLE. It should not have such a bad stigma.

Also I was bitching to my mom about what a crock the advertising industry is [what can I say, I'm an engineer... pragmatism is the name of the game] along with other industries and just a few minutes later I heard this total shit commercial for James Free Jewelers, and as you know, the diamond market is one of my biggest rant-triggers. Why? Because they take advantage of people through a completely bullshit market, and sort of prey on uninformed women in that regard, and any time I hear a diamond commercial it pisses me the fuck off. First of all, what is this bullshit about making diamonds a memorial-marker, or buying ones all the time for different occasions? Contrary to popular belief, they do not last forever. Entropy affects everyone. Secondly, this "waiting all her life for this moment" [here, engagement] bullshit? Women do not (or SHOULD not) define their lives by their wedding, and pisses me off that people advertise that and have enough long enough that women actually believe it. Thirdly, diamonds are a fake market created by DeBeers to sell more of them; additionally by making them seem rare they bump up the price exponentially. You might get 10% of what you paid at a pawn shop. Not to mention the whole "blood diamond" market. DISGUSTING.

Ugh, I could go on and on. I'm not trying to rain on someone's parade, I mean if you like diamonds, fine, they are pretty. Just try to be responsible about it? And antiques/heirlooms, those have more value simply because of the emotional attachment. But I'm tired of guy's pockets getting ripped off because they feel they have to buy a diamond (or MANY) for their girl for it to be "true love," and I really don't understand even owning lots of diamonds...? They are shiny but not that interesting. And I'm kind of surprised people who've been dating for only a few years (or LESS depending on how rich and/or ignorant you are) buy eachother some serious bling.

BUT the point of that mini-rant was that a diamond commercial was what led me to make a comment (I try to inform, always, especially in a SORORITY HOUSE, by god) about how the market was anti-feminist and then a few roomies were around and were all like "what? you're a feminist?" and now I have TWO THINGS to rant about. Granted this was like two weeks ago or more, BUT STILL. Bull. Shit.


Additionally I've realized that with blog-collection sites (Livejournal, Google Reader) and forums (IndyGear COW, xkcd) I do a lot less web "surfing" as I stick to a certain number of sites and don't google around for new sites to read as often. But then again, since 1999 the number of down-home small personal webpages seems to have decreased (or at least are harder to find) as it meant there was a lot of obscure and weird knowledge out there. *sigh*

Oh, my god, FUCK YOU PARKING SERVICES. First you didn't respond to my email about buying a pass on time, so even though I COULD HAVE, you failed to tell me, and the lot behind my house ran out of spots. Then you denied my card for no reason and THEN your fucking "we took all year to do this and it's still not working" website gave me a "fatal error, please contact parking services and do not try this again" and the OTHER LOT ran out.

And now I have to park in fucking S2 up by STUART.


GODDAMNIT PARKING NAZIS, I FUCKING HATE YOU.

This is simply AMAZING. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sEYIouqEdU


Also, the other day when I was hating on George Hopkins, it's because of all the electronics and amplification stuff, just FYI. I can't believe electronic equipment passed the Directors Board, now DCI is becoming marching band and I'm going to cry FUCK THE CADETS seriously

or as my dad says, time to start a new circuit

Lol, ok, the video is awesome, and I'm not going to go into a full-out rant on Hoppy. ARGH

I am watching Kill Bill right now, and it is amazing. I love that it doesn't feel like a movie, because all the different elements put together make it more alive somehow. It also has fucking RAD music. (Wait, who the fuck says "rad" anymore?) Uh, it kicks ass...

Also, they are playing Rock Band upstairs. While I do not begrudge them of the fact that it is probably an awesome game (as Guitar Hero is), they are dreadfully out of tune and WHO FUCKING DECIDED THE DRUM PART WOULD BE QUARTER NOTES, THAT IS NOT HARD. ALSO, THE PAD NEEDS TO BE MORE DENSE, I DO NOT RIDE THE FUCKING DRUM BUS FOR A FUCKING REASON. After three years of winter percussion I do not mind drumming, but they invented drum pads for a REASON! Also, you (the people playing upstairs) suck. I would be more willing to forgive you if you were not also wrestling/choreographing fight scenes/making bowling-ball-dropping noises for three hours very afternoon. WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING UP THERE.

Also, the drinking problem I inherited from my mother has returned. =( It resurfaces about once ever year, for both of us...

I spilled my Mountain Dew slushie on my lap. ='( I am a sad panda. (What, you think I'm a drinker or something? I lived on the dry floor.)

OH MAN, I have weird ways with money, too. My sister is a spender. She will spend most any money she has, and I think the only reason she might have money in her bank account right now is because my mom made her start putting some in from her paycheck. (She does work, though, so that's good.) For some reason I have always been a saver. I hoard money like there's no tomorrow. Unless you got me in a bookstore, I never used to spend money. Even going (a little) crazy in a bookstore (or, actually, I could go nuts in an art store, too), I feel guilty, especially if I devour the magazine/book right away, because I could have got it from a library. But one day I want to have my own library so I like to have copies of all the magazines/books/cds/movies I like. (Yeah, I hoard a lot of things. I have a few boxes full of trashy bits for craft projects [I love recycled crafts], but don't worry, they're all clean, and I'm not saving any food garbage or anything. minus that green gummy bear from fifth grade, that thing is fucking hilarious) ANYWAY, so, I usually second- and triple-guess myself before buying anything, ESPECIALLY if it's over $20. (It's dangerous for me to go shopping now, though--since Lara got me into costuming, I'm more likely to find clothing I like! It's crazy. I saw some sweet silver shoes with NOT TOO HIGH HEELS at the mall yesterday, which I may have to go back for because you really don't see heels that low that often. And, they're silver. Shiiiinyyyyy.)

BUT! I have been considering and considering buying an iPod for a long time, because I would find it useful for roadtrips (I love roadtrips), and they keep getting cheaper. But they keep getting better, too, and since I'm not in a rush I have all the money saved ($300, roughly), and haven't bought one yet.

Since the iPod touch just came out and isn't a hard drive, but a flash drive (if I've been informed correctly), then I'm going to wait for that to go up to a huge amount of storage space and a cheaper price. I think then I'll get one.

But in the meantime, something else has been calling out to my wallet... a new fedora. When I first got into Indiana Jones, the fandom (I really hate calling it that, because it's a much more different crowd than other fandoms) was just starting off online, and I followed it really closely. IndyFan, The Indy Experience, and IndyGear were my favorite places. For some reason I didn't visit The Raider as much. Anyway, IndyGear was just getting started as a place where people went to nitpick over the costuming, and I've kind of been following the site ever since. But when I finally got up the guts to start posting on forums, they'd closed the forum to posting unless you had an ISP email, which we didn't. So... I couldn't join until I got to UD and had a student email.

But back when I was first learning it all, there really weren't many options for the gear. (Now you can get completely screen sccurate gear for pretty much any scene in the first three movies, for Indy at least. Not as much demand for other characters. I'm working on Willie's dress because it's AMAZING and no one's been able to find any fabric close enough to to the original [which was antique].) The "real deal" for the hat (a Herbert Johnson from England, who made the hats for the movies, who also made hats for the royal family so was hard to get a hold of and not too picky about details) was about $300 and considered a lot. So most people went with cheaper "close enoughs" (as they're called) and fixed them up a little themselves. Some companies started making hats that were a little closer. Over time some guys started making completely screen accurate hats, but they're definitely more expensive now, and I think they all just started within the past year or two (at least, commercially; they were sort of halfway hobby-ing it before, investigating what it took to do it as a job). In the meantime, I went with the "official" licensed hat, which I could ask for for my birthday because it was less than hundred dollars. I got it, and I loved it, and I treated it carefully because it was a hundred fucking dollars and I didn't want to ruin it. (I think I got it for my birthday before eighth grade? I can't exactly recall.) I kind of fell away from the IndyGear forums because I was only really interested in the hat, (I read the props stuff every once in a while, too, but I must admit there aren't too many I want. We'll see. I only want them if they're done right, whereas a lot of people just want pretty good ones and want anything from the series. I don't begrudge them that, but I really don't want [I can't even understand wanting] a $2000 goldplated ark. Even Marion's headpiece; they're too major for me to want. Sankara stones? Maybe, because there were a bunch of them. Idol? Definitely, it was kind of obscure and I like mesoamerican stuff. Ark/grail...? I dunno. You don't just go around having the effing Ark of the Covenant sitting in your basement with your projection screen home theatre. Though it would make a hilarious coffeetable. ohmigod I tangented in the middle of a sentence I'm so sorry) and then when I came back there had really been a jump. $250-$300 is average price hat range; what I have is now not as good because even though it's official, it's apparently a piece of junk. (Seriously, they didn't make them very similarly.) One of the guys who got into making screen accurate hats for everybody (there's a pretty damn big market) started his own business using the materials of the original hats (same sources), and they're the more expensive hats on the markets. But he's a pretty cool guy. (It's nice knowing all these pretty major players in the Indy fan world--IndyGear has a sort of family to it. They won't let you join if you're using a free email, and it's really VERY limited posting. Gear, props, stuff related to archaeology, and stuff related to the movies or fan movies. Pretty much NOTHING off topic, which I both like and don't like. It prevents people from fighting and also playing forum games [which I hate], but sometimes I want to talk other things. Eh, with this next movie the "indirectly related" section has been a bit more off-topic, but not too much. I think I like it that way. Also, they hard-core moderate, which is easier with more limited numbers, and it keeps idiots away. Also very accomodating to non-english speakers. Lots of IRL contact [summits, get-togethers, a journal that gets passed off from member to member] and lots of humor. It's quite a familial place. Also, I'm debating going to New York for a summit while my parents go down to OBX a week early. I don't know how they'd take it though. "Hey, I'm going to NY by myself to meet these people I know online who are completely different than most people online" [yeah, I can see that one falling apart real fast--my sister's trying to convince me to do it secretly but I would feel too guilty...I guess I just have to wait for the rebellious attitude to kick in {yeah, right}]) ANYWAY (sorry about all the tangets, it's how my brain works), so this guy got the contract to make the hats for Indy IV, HOW COOL IS THAT? (Also, Baron's hats is trying to say they made all the hats, when apparently they were cheap, lazy asses whose hats sucked and didn't make the cut even when given a few chances. They claimed they made Ford's hats directly, too, so I think Adventurebilt is going to sue them. GO STEVE AND MARC WE LOVE YOU [creepy... just realized...my dad's name is Mark and my uncle is Steve. LOL, I love coincidences])

ANYHOW! I am so far off tangent it's not even funny. Guilty about spending. Love costuming. Love Indy. Can't justify so much money even when it's somehting I love. Hats got more expensive, found out mine was a ripoff from Lucasfilm. =(

In summary: I AM BUYING A HERBERT JOHNSON. It is $300 and even though I love that it's the "real deal," I just have some sort of innate money-spending guilt-trigger. I feel terrible about spending that much money on something so unimportant. But my mom didn't care, she knows I'm a saver and she said "whatever makes you happy," which I'm glad she did, because I went ahead and did it. (It's going to take three to four months to size it and ship it... I REALLY hope it gets there in time for the fourth movie.) In order to feel less guilty I decided I'm going to put as much or more money into starting a Roth IRA, though. Apparently if you put $2000 a year into a Roth IRA starting when you're 18, you'll have $1,000,000 by retirement. I don't think I can do $2000 a year yet, but the sooner you get started, the better. (Can't do that much now ESPECIALLY with corps. I want to spend so much on Indy stuff before it disappears again, but corps costs soooo much money...) So, even though I feel bad about money disappearing from my checking account, it's going to important things. (Also, I'm kind of sad being in a sorority costs so much. Where does all this money go? We still have to pay for lots of things and do assloads of fundraisers.)

So, in summary of my SUPER tangential TL;DR: I am getting a new, AUTHENTIC, Indiana Jones fedora! The hat geek in me is in love. Guilty Money Conscience it trying to squish it but I think when the hat arrives everything will be okay.

I also want to start planning for May 22 now, because I've run into some snags. Do I go see the midnight showing with IndyGear people? We'd all be on the same level of appreciation; whereas if I went with my friends, whom I love dearly, I'm pretty sure they'd have fun but they'd still mock it (and talk through it a little) which makes me a sad kitten. But I don't want to alienate them... and if I go with different "groups" of people at different times, are they going to be insulted because they know I didn't go with them to the midnight showing? What about parties? I'm definitely going to watch all three back to back to back before the fourth one, and jump around excitedly for about a month beforehand, but who do I invite? Do I have separate parties? When do I hold different ones? This makes me a sad panda because I am one of those people who gets along with anybody and wants to always have parties where EVERYONE I know is invited and everyone gets to know eachother and the scenes mesh a little. But other people don't always like that. =(

I mean, I'm willing to meet EVERYONE at midnight for Indy IV, but only if they promise not to say ANYTHING until it's over. And I don't think that the IndyGear folks would necessarily appreciate meeting all my friends, because we can get a little racous and I've obviously developed a foul mouth (though I can turn it off in certain company) in the past year or so.

I don't know... what are all your thoughts? I'd love advice, and I'd love to know who wants to go.

Plus, I saw Hitchhiker's three times in theatres. (Once with... Pat and Cayman? Once with my grandparents, and then again in the cheap theatres with my parents.) I'm definitely going to see Indy IV many times, which is going to be expensive, but I'm going to have a hard time not seeing it so many times. Like, at midnight and then again later in the day. And then how many times am I going to see it that week?! Auuuugh. Sooo many queeeestiooooons. Help?

ANYWHOZLE. It's been a pretty good day. I can't wait for my hat (and for my bank account to refill). What am I going to wear to Kipu Falls since I won't have my hat by Spring Break?! Damn... good thing I brought my leather jacket. (except that will be fucking TOO HOT) There's going to be a lot of cool Indy IV marketing, though a lot of it is trying to drag the kids in like they did for Star Wars and that makes me sad. A lot of it looks pretty crappy. Makes me proud to know all the good prop and costume makers though; even if it's all handmade and custom (and cease-and-desist-shut-down by Lucasfilm for the time being), it's the REAL fans. INDY MR. POTATO HEAD SUCKS A MILLION PIECES OF ASS.

Also, I hate Dr. Pepper. Anyone know anything good to mix it with to make it drinkable? (I've heard orange juice...? And I don't do alocohol.) And some shitty Indy poptarts... and crappy looking toys... goddamn you, George Lucas.

SPOILER (highlight to read, if you dare) I swear to fucking god if there are any aliens in this movie I'm going to FLIP MY SHIT. Someone will die. /SPOILER

So... yeah. Yay hat! Boo Lucasfilm marketing. Man, did you hear that they edited the American trailer? Apparently the MPAA won't allow violence or something, so they edited the fact that the guns are pointed at Indy and Ray Winstone's character. (I mean, come on, seriously? They just got roughhoused out of a car BY MEN WITH GUNS. And then afterward LOTS OF PEOPLE DIE FIERY DEATHS.) I guess it's not too bad (it's really just the MPAA being a bit ridiculous), but ADDING IN THE AMERICAN FLAG? Seriously. Whatthefuck. I don't think we're too stupid to figure out they're in the US. (omg russians in america the world is comingtoanendPANIC)

BAH. I am too paranoid that this movie will suck like SWI/II/III and that makes me sad. Sad kittens. Sad puppies. Sad pandas. SAD THINGS EVERYWHERE. CRYING. CRYING FOR YOU, GEORGE LUCAS

BUT! 94 days to Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull! Today's trivia: It's a running joke (sort of) that Indy's hat has to stay on all the time. Basically, it's part of his character so story-wise (well, when he's not being a professor), it only comes off at dramatic or important parts (ie him going off the cliff in Last Crusade). So in Last Crusade it kept coming off in the horse scenes, and as a joke he acted out stapling it to his forehead. Which he didn't, because ow...? but some people thought he did. Anyway. Just thought you might appreciate that. (I have a funny icon of him stapling the hat on that says "COMMITMENT" on it, but I can't post it anywhere because I don't have a good place to host it and I don't have enough icon space otherwise. Also, I'm lazy. So you'll just have to imagine it or hunt around for the image or wait until I have my own server space to host images or a paid account or something. When that day comes you will also get a MACRO FLOOD OF DOOM, because I have many hilarious ones.)

Hey, check out this neat html trick; hover your mouse over this text: Hover over me!

holy fuck it took way too long to do all the html for this entry, why do I do this to myself

Er... sort of poll-ish thing (lol, Polish, reprezent!), is there anyone out there who hasn't seen any of these movies? ie I will be forcing you to watch them at a party for this purpose?

Saw I am Legend yesterday. (Warning! Spoilers ahead.) Um. Yeah. So, I heard from everyone that it was really scary, and that they all came out being paranoid about those mutated-vampiric-humans jumping out at them. No. You know what? I feel ripped off. That ending was crap. Actually, everyone I went with thought the ending was crap. First of all, if these vampires can't break through that glass, why didn't he put that on his house instead of steel doors? And yeah, the blasts outside may have blown the ones on the windows, but the vampires busted right through the ones to the lab, and then clearly got stopped by the enclosure. Also, WHERE DID THE BUTTERFLY THING COME FROM? That came out of nowhere. Bwuh. AND THEN! There was room in the coal chute. What he should have done was put in the girl who was being cured with them. OR, you know, thrown the grenade and hopped in. If he put the girl in they would have had more than enough blood to find a cure as well as did they not have to refrigerate the sample or whatever?! Ugh. However, if I were the writers I would have had him throw the blood sample (which is what I thought he was going to do at first) and have them go crazy over it and eat it and have it cure them, and then not break through the glass. But whatever. =/

What I really want to know is, who looked at Bob Marley music and said, "Damn, this would make a sweet vampire movie."

Though I do laud them on their use of not having any music. It was quite effective.

But... Planes to bomb the bridges? And then how did Anna and her son get there? Whatever. They really could have done better with that movie.

Damn, also it's been TEN YEARS since Austin Powers first came out. Which I was kind of surprised, but then I thought about it and it makes sense. I only remember the rumors about Austin Powers III and then remembering it came out theatres (though I don't think I went to see it).

Eh, important things to talk about today, no?

Soooo... twelfth day of Christmas, right?

On the twelfth day of Christmas, the LJ gave to me--SierraMist Holiday Hawk,



a cute music video,
a funny movie parody,
a Bit of Fry and Laurie,
Aqua/Indy techno,
bearded singing nuns,
tiny kittens miaowing,
CHRISTMASYYYY MIIICHAEEEEL CRAWFOOOOOORD
Chicago and some children,
Straight No Chaser singing,
God Rest Ye lights a-blinking,
and a "happy holidays" so merry!

So Merry Christmas! =)

So Johnny and Pat and I went sledding yesterday, which was fun, except that the snow wasn't good for it, even though it looked like it would be. And then they both tackled me twice so today my head has been utterly killing me. =/ I can't turn it at all. Oooooow...