Famer in the Dell

You simply have no idea how delicious these taste. Sorry to tease you about that, but it's true. I've started doing a lot of blended fruit drinks, and today it was time to hit the farmer's market to get all sorts of yummy stuff. So far the biggest winners have been the peaches and the pineapple. I've got high hope for the berries and grapes I got today though.

Also, the bed got delivered tonight. It's big and beautiful. I nearly feel like an adult.

Don't Give It To The Bradys

Been playing around a little bit with carving, and here's the result so far:



Let me tell ya, symmetry is just evil.

Should I Go With The Princess and the Pea Reference, or the Bedbugs Biting One?

Just a quick note to say that I really hate mattress salesfolk. They're pretty much of the same ilk as car salesfolk.

But even more of my ire is reserved for the mattress retailers on a larger scale. Why? Well, I didn't know, until I really looked into buying a nice mattress, that there is a different name for each mattress at each mattress store. How evil is that?

Grr... No real reason for it but to make it harder for me to comparison shop. And the sad thing is that it's not that I didn't comparison shop, it just made me angry at the people selling the product.

I seriously considered building a chart to make sense of the equivalent mattresses because I couldn't really find one online.

Oh, I'm going the latex one. It sounds weird, right? a latex bed? But it's not the kind of latex that you see on those websites you visit at night (I know you go there, don't claim you don't). It's more of a foam thing. Weird, I know, but it's supposed to breathe well and not be as warm, and it certainly seemed comfy enough.

Only time will tell.

Your Early Morning Recommendation

I was wandering around the campus bookstore, looking at the required reading for classes that I wish I could take, and I ran across this:

Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi

It's a graphic novel about a young Iranian girl coming of age during the revolution. She was old enough to start in a French school before the crackdown began, so she tries to figure out who she is right as others begin enforcing the religious laws.

Anyway, it's just wonderful. I ended up buying it and reading it last night (and the second volume, which is just as good).

There is supposed to be a movie out too, and it looks pretty wonderful. I think that's going to go on the old netflix queue

Thanks Tivo, Thivo

Alright, So I got a Tivo not so long ago, and let me just say that yes, I love it. Yes, it's wonderful, and yes, I don't think I'll ever had a TV without one. Right? Right. Ok. Now then.

What is the hell are all these ads doing all over my Tivo? Most of them are just menu items like the stupid Land Rover one that's been there on my main menu forever (If Tivo knows so much about me that it can record things I like, it should not that there's no way in the world I'd buy a Land Rover even if I could afford one).

Then there's the 'would you like to participate in marketing surveys for our commercial partners' one. Well, no. no, I wouldn't.

But those, as awful as they are, are pretty ignorable. Nothing too egregious. This morning, I wake up and look through to see if any of the AFI top 100 movies were added overnight (very cool service that), and the little antanaed black box decided that I needed to watch an infomercial. I thought for sure it was a mistake. Maybe I accidently hit the record button before I went to bed. Nope, there was even a title to the infomercial saying that this infomercial was specially prepared for Tivo watchers.

Thanks Tivo, Thivo. (You really need to watch that clip, and perhaps many more from the "Look Around You" series, like I did, wasting an entire morning.)

Tivo forums info

All I Want For Christmas

So here we go with an attempt at stream of consciousness blogging. Only got a few minutes before I need to be on the bike headed to campus though, so let's all gather together and let our bars low.

I did finally get the last bit of my dental maintenance work yesterday. I discovered that since I am actually in town over the summer and I do actually have insurance (The guy in the commercial has it right - it's not really insurance, it's more like a coupon for X% off - and my X was pretty low. Can someone explain why we still don't have a national health plan again?), and since I actually do have enough cash to pay for it, I might as well go in to the dentist and get things taken care of. A root canal, two crowns and a replacement of all my old fillings later, I'm a new man. Or at least an old man with some new teeth.

I'm pretty happy with the results really. I think I prefer my fake teeth. I'm not sure what the benefits are to real live teeth. Why not get them all knocked out and get new ones put in? Anyway, I no longer have those metal fillings, so my teeth are actually a kind of uniform shade of yellow. Hooray for modern science. Also, I never understood that dental work really is supposed to be without pain. My new dentist actually made sure I didn't feel any of the work. wow, eh?

hmm... dental work. Not a very thrilling post, but a post is a post, and hopefully I'm back on my way to being a functioning blogger.

I Am Here

I hear everyone asking whether I'm still around. I am, I am, I'm trying to put together some posts.

I need to get back in the habit, so I'm going to try to just post some random garbage here (you are saying the earlier stuff wasn't garbage?) until the words start flowing again.

I don't have anything right now, so I'll give you a freakishly realistic spider that will walk around your browser page.

Press space to feed him insects.

Cinematic

Can you guess all these movies from just these letters?

gah - I only got fifteen

Long Live the Fuwa!

Man oh man do I loves me some Olympics.

Regardless of what you think of the Chinese government or the rise of nationalism among Chinese youth, or any number of other disturbing trends, I can't imagine many would say that that wasn't an incredible opening ceremony.

No content here, just a hooray for the games!

Maximum Odd

What's weird?

No... I mean... that is weird, but it's not the weird thing I was thinking of... dang, that was really weird. How do you think of those things?

Ok, so the weird thing is that I just got a copy of Maxim in the mail. Like addressed to me personally. They got the apartment number slightly wrong, but still. Maybe I accidentally signed up for it by not checking a box somewhere online? Is there going to be a payment due card sometime soon.

I don't even like Maxim. The photos are like soft-core porn for those who are afraid to buy Playboy, and it's all wrapped up with a 'hipper-than-thou' tone that's just condescending and really annoying.

Let's look at it in more detail:

62/141 - advertisements (not counting halfpages or quarterpage ads)per page. Now I know that's standard or maybe even a bit low for a glossy magazine with lots of photographers and models and writers to pay, but still, at that rate, you need to be paying me to read it. I won't wear your trademark on my shirts, and I'm sure as heck not going to suffer through Calvin Klein emo-with-a-trust-fund overload to get to what content may lurk inside.

That being said, let's look at the 'content.'

Editor's letter:
First paragraph -17 lines, gist: Maxim editors leave the office during lunch to eat. Look at all the big words I use! It reads like the blog of an unemployed English grad student. Hmmm...

First 'Article:'
(starts on page 20)
5 paragraphs on Autumn Reeser. She was apparently on the O.C. and now she's doing the sequel to the Lost Boys? Are there supposed to be stars here? She's pretty hot and all, but not very bright or interesting. Sample quote, "Sleeping or coma scenes are always great."

Sex article:
How to tell she's into you. Here's a good cut from that. It's a woman talking about how she let a guy she was attracted to know she was interested. "I once told a group of people at a bar that I was turned on by anal sex." Wonder of all wonders, it worked. "When I got up to leave, he ran after me and started making out with me in the street." Ah, young love. Firstly, holy crap. Secondly, maybe that's one of those things that's sexier when it actually happens than in print, but I'm pretty sure if I were either of those people, I'd be running to the clinic after that. And finally, this is the cue that we need to know about? I've been hearing about eye dilation and different body language, and hair brushing, when apparently all I needed to do was wait until the woman I'm into announces her fondness for anal sex?

Yeah. I'm not going to read this anymore.

Notes From A Coffee Shop - Revived

Dude.

Bike helmet.

Take it off when you come in to read your paper.

You look pathetic enough wearing your spandex and waaaaay too skin-tight bike jersey.

Tour De France is over.

You lost.

Seriously.

The Consensus of Genre: Postcultural dematerialism in the works of Gaiman

I'm sure I'm the last person in acedemia to see this website, but I absolutely love it. And on the off-chance you haven't seen it either, here ya go.

Communications From Elsewhere - The Postmodernism Generator

A special note at the end:

If you enjoy this, you might also enjoy reading about the Social Text Affair, where NYU Physics Professor Alan Sokal’s brilliant(ly meaningless) hoax article was accepted by a cultural criticism publication.

Tin Chef

Well, it may not look like much, but daaaaang it was tasty. Also, I errrr... made way too much. Anyone want to drop by and help me finish it off? I think I'm going to be eating this for the next two weeks.

Hot Hot or Spicy Hot?

Looks kinda fun, but will the spices go bad? These things aren't completely airtight.

Ever Dance With the Devil in the Pale Moonlight?

So.

Batman.

Is it good? Yes.

Were there problems? Oh my dear yes. Plot holes and magical technology and deus ex machina, but nothing you might not expect. Well, the fingerprint thing was absurd to to the point of laughter, but nothing too hilarious.

Is it the best Batman movie yet? Maybe. It certainly could be argued.

Did Heath Ledger do well? Yes certainly.

Oscar-worthy well? No. Nowhere near.

Which is Why I Disappear When Someone Says Let's Start a Choir

I know many of you are wondering where you might find a musical blog starring Neil Patrick Harris as a wannabe evil genius that happens to be directed by Joss Whedon.

Well, here you go. Never say I didn't give you nothing.

Also, keeping with the theme, this looks like great fun.

Edited to add: Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-Long Blog is only going to be up online for free until the 20th (that's tomorrow, friends and neighbors). After that it'll be available for download/purchase. Here's the info.

Well, Crap

Root Canal.

Reheatables for the Week

My first attempt at a curry. What do you guys think?

Awkward Moving Blues

Oh, UPS, why couldn't you have come just half an hour later? I would have been here. No you've got to lug that big box around all day again today.

Please take an extra long lunch today. I'll be here as quickly as I can.

Also: Morning song today - "Night Moves." Shouldn't I be singing morning songs? I think I need to listen to song more Cat Stevens.

Line! Line?

One of the coolest things happened this weekend.

I ran off to Trader Joe's to get some stuff for the tortilla soup. I only had a few items, so I got into the 15-items or less line, but right before I got there a very heavily made-up very plastic-looking woman (I'm shallow - sue me) wheeled her heavily-laden cart into the line ahead of me. Ah, crap. Oh, well, no worries, I'm in no hurry. When she gets to the front of the line, she asks the cashier to grab her a bottle of some vodka and she walks off to peruse the bottled water options. Cashier guy was distracted helping another cashier and didn't notice her.

She finally returns with her two cute boxes of Fiji Propaganda, er I mean Fiji Water, and the cashier takes one look at her, takes a look at her basket, and tells her, "This is a 15-item or less line."

She kind of flounced, and batted her eyes, and I swear she shook her saline at him. She said, "oh, really? I didn't even see a sign." (read in a cutsie bubblehead voice) and stayed in line.

"Yup."

awkward silence.

Cashier guy walks around her to get my basket, which finally convinces her that she's not going to get her way.

Woohoo!

Seriously, it wasn't such a big deal. I really wasn't in a hurry, and I certainly wouldn't have made a scene, but I wanted to give cashier guy a tip.