nobody's reading.

The Man Crush

2009-06-01T14:49:00.003-04:00

I was talking to someone the other day, and I used the term "Man Crush," when he suddenly became completely confused. He had no idea what the concept of a man crush was, and it left me shocked. I have been using this term for a few years, and it amazed me that it was still somewhat foreign. In order to fix this I plan to do two things: 1) Explain the concept of a man crush. 2) Give a history and explanation of my man crushes.

First, the concept of a man crush.

Now the first basic thing to know about a man crush is that it is not a sexual attraction. I mean that can be an element of it, but that is not the basis of a man crush. A man crush is a guy that you look up to and idolize. It's like, "wow this guy has won 85 superbowls and has stared in 30 movies. I want to be him." A man crush is kind of like that guy who has done what you want to do with your life. Also, he can be a good looking guy. As a straight man I have no problem saying a guy is decent looking. Girls do it all the time. However, the basis of a man crush is to have that guy that is just so awesome that his awesomeness just kind of ends world hunger and stops global warming. Well maybe not that great. But something along those lines. It's not so much a Bromance, but more of a father figure that you can look up to.

Anyways, that is the concept of Man Crush. Now, here is my list of man Crushes over the years.

Zach Braff: My original Man Crush. It came about in early 2005 when I saw Garden State for the first time. Then I found out Zbraff had written and directed the movie, and it was just about the time when I had gotten into writing. He became an instant role model for me. Not only that, but Scrubs was an incredible show.

George Clooney: The only reason I think I had a short lived Man Crush on Clooney is because he stared in the Ocean's movies, and I was obsessed with those movies for a good amount of time. Then he decided to direct Leatherheads and that was that.

John Krasinski: In March of 2005 "The Office" premiered on NBC. I was immediately hooked to the show, and was a huge fan of Jim. In all honesty, I feel like I don't know John Krasinski enough to have a Man Crush on him, it may just be his character Jim. But I like to think they're one in the same.

Michael Cera: This is a strange Man Crush since Michael Cera is basically my age, but this crush blossomed during the time of "Arrested Development." Although I didn't know too much about Michael Cera at that time and only really knew George Michael, I quickly found out Michael Cera was just as socially awkward as his character counterpart. I'm a pretty socially awkward guy a lot of the time, and it was good to know that someone as awkward as I could figure out a way to be successful in the Hollywood sense. Even if he does play the same role and personality every movie (Here are my suggestions for Michael Cera's next movies)

Robert Downey Jr.: RDJ has done a lot with his acting career as well as going to hell and back with all his crazy stuff. Then he emerged from hell to star in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, and a Man Crush-spark was ignited. Since then, he has done some awesome movies that have yet to disappoint me, and seems to be really down to Earth and a lover of life.

Jason Segel: One of my favorite TV shows that I always try to get people to start watching is "How I Met Your Mother." In this show, Jason Segel stars as Marshall, the best friend of the main character that is married to Alyson Hannigan. Also, he is the man on this show. If there was ever a sitcom character that I would like to be friends with in real life it would be Marshall. Then, Segel decided to write and star in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, and it made me realize that he is as awesome in real life as he is on HIMYM. My favorite part about him writing Forgetting Sarah Marshall is that he also composed the songs for the Vampire Musical. Pure Genius.

As for a new man crush, my top prospect is Paul Feig. He created and wrote "Freaks and Geeks," and he also has a hilarious childhood and dating life as I've read in his two memoirs, Kick Me and Superstud. Many of the stories in these books have incredible similarities to my life and my misadventures with women and dating, and it gives me hope that I can be a successful writer/anything else in Hollywood.

So who are your Man Crushes (or Female Crushes for the ladies)?

Tweeting Too Hard

2009-06-01T11:25:00.002-04:00

I am all for Twitter. I kind of dislike Facebook because it's just become a little too much, like an uncle who would drink and become a huge comedian, but then he just kept drinking and became a raging alcoholic that no one really liked or wanted to be around anymore. I'm not sure if that metaphor makes sense, but if it does then awesome. Anyways, Twitter is a great way to update and keep track of not only friends but celebrities, bands, etc. I have found few flaws in it until I came across tweeting too hard. Basically, the site allows users to submit tweets from people that are just completely self-centered and over the top. To this point, I have never seen anyone I've been following tweet anything near what these tweets are before, but the fact that these people exist make it hilarious. Anyways, check it out, and if you have Twitter you should follow these 3 celebs I recommend:
@robhuebel
@rainnwilson
@paulfeig

And feel free to follow me.

Link: Tweeting Too Hard

The Black Cab Sessions

2009-05-24T17:58:00.002-04:00

I am a big fan of music. I'm an even bigger fan of musicians doing really cool stuff while playing songs. Like when Arcade Fire played Neon Bible in an elevator. That's why I've become obsessed with The Black Cab Sessions. The Black Cab Sessions takes artists, throws them in the back seat of a cab, and has them play beautiful music. They get one shot to play a song all the way through and then its posted on their website. It's pretty sweet seeing bands play as double decker buses and cars are riding right on by, and there all some really solid bands on there. These bands include Death Cab For Cutie, Fleet Foxes, My Morning Jacket, Cold War Kids, Spoon, Peter Bjorn and John, Bon Iver, The Kooks, The New Pornographers, and many many more. There's really no point in me still talking to you about this anymore.

You just need to check it out: The Black Cab Sessions

Pick The Perp

2009-05-08T20:53:00.004-04:00

I came across a hilarious site today called Pick the Perp. Basically, the website gives you 5 mug shots and a crime, and you decide which person committed that crime. Not only is it fun, but it also shows how much you profile people:
Like how I was very wrong thinking the skinny white guy would commit domestic battery when it was really the blond haired girls. Anyways, it's a good way to waste some time. Get on with it: Pick the Perp

Cafe Disco

2009-05-08T12:53:00.004-04:00

So I really enjoyed "The Office" last night. Cafe Disco was a huge success. One of the songs was this kind of indie type song that I very much enjoyed so I tracked it down and got it on here for your listening pleasure. Listen to The Blam - Various Disgraces.

Texts From Last Night.

2009-04-30T22:42:00.003-04:00

One of the big trends of late as been the website FML. I'm a pretty big fan of the website, and I think in general I just enjoy personal humor, which is why I've become a huge fan of this site my friend Spencer turned me on to. Texts from last night is basically exactly what it sounds like: actual texts from actual people that have been submitted to the site. Basically all of them were originally sent by people who were intoxicated or on some other sort of drugs, which makes them all the better. Here are some examples of texts submitted to this site that I really enjoy:

(678): did not feel like going to store to get condoms last night so went to her pantry and got a sandwich bag and a rubberband
(404): did it work?
(678): nope

(954): the guy I was hooking up with asked me if he could wear a guerilla suit during sex.

(410): You are still hot in my book. I wanna dry hump u like a 9th grader then hump for real when the herpes is gone.

(832): I have the sudden urge to buy a Snuggie and wear it to the grocery store.

(804): So how Liz Lemon is this? I bring a boy home, we get in bed, and I realize there's a lean pocket wrapper in the sheets.

(205): Dude, she had a vegina. I felt like Indiana Jones cutting a path through the jungle.

(973): Do you remember getting into a Delorean last night?

Those are just some of the gems on that site. Go check it out: Texts from last night

Review: State of Play

2009-04-23T14:07:00.003-04:00

Going into State of Play, I was not exactly sure what I would think of it. I knew it had a great cast and one of those trailers that makes a movie look very intense, but I did not know much more than that. Basically, Russell Crowe is the old timer journalist for the Washington Post who is college pals with a Congressman (Ben Affleck). Affleck is looking to take down PointCorp, a mercenary program profiting off war when his lead researcher ends up dead and it is leaked that he had an affair with her. Now, a young blogger at the paper (Rachel McAdams) goes to Crowe to try to get answers. Crowe is reluctant on first, but the two start to unravel a story that begins to interweave with and impact personal lives. Crowe and McAdams try to break the story without breaking the law (too much) and keeping their lives.

This is one of those movies where you start watching, and then suddenly you realize youre basically sitting in the next row you're so far on the edge of your seat. The story is so well mapped out and its the perfect amount of mystery where you as a viewer can put the pieces together, but you still get a few big curveballs thrown at you. It also has one of those early twists where Crowe and McAdams are working on two stories that suddenly become the same story (or a Johnny Gossamer novel for those Kiss Kiss Bang Bang fans). The story comes together really nicely, and they are not afraid to throw in one last twist.

Not only did this movie have great performances by the main cast (Affleck, Crowe, McAdams and Helen Mirren), but it also had some very strong supporting roles. Jeff Daniels played a great congressman with his own secrets. Jason Bateman played a dopey PR guy who becomes a big piece of the puzzel. It also features Michael Weston (Kenny the cop from Garden State) as another journalist). Overall, the cast puts on a great performance. There is a line in the movie that says "those are the kind of cases you only find in movies." Once they said that I realized how real this whole movie felt, which was pretty sweet.

See if you like:
The Departed

Rating:
8/10

Fan Facebook Pages

2009-04-23T07:42:00.002-04:00

So I mean Facebook is pretty cool most of the time. Like it has its ups and like ways of communicating with people and stuff, but it has its stuff that's kind of weird too. I think I've generally been a fan of this new Facebook that most other people hate (any time Facebook ever changes anything it always becomes of topic of hatred conversation for everyone, and I always find it amusing), but there is one aspect that I just don't understand: fan pages.

It's not so much as I don't understand them, I do get the concept, it just amazes me some of the things you can be a fan of. I mean I would love to make a joke list of things you can be a fan of on Facebook, but I feel as if I would actually pick real fan pages. Well let's see. I will pick 10 things right now Facebook should have a fan page for and then see if they have it:

Sex - Yes, over 500 results, even though a good amount of them were Sex and the City. There was a group that was just SEX!!! (It was under Sports/Athletics)

Murder - Yes, the REDRUM picture from The Shining was the group picture. There are currently 71 fans of murder. I did not see the Craigslist killer on there though

Porn - The first result was Overcoming Porn Addiction. It had 1,453 fans. Hardcore Porn only had 244 fans. I wonder how many people are fans of both those.

Gravity - There are 569 fans of Gravity. I feel like this is a small number considering its a pretty important part of life.

Oxygen - there are 18,443 fans of Oxygen. This number is still kind of small. I mean there are people out there right now who when asked if they like oxygen respond, "eh, I can take it or leave it. I'm not really a fan."

Tailbones - This was byfar the most hilarious thing. I only found the Tailbone and Sciatica Pain Help Seating System. Even better there was only 2 fans. I think we should push to put this past Oxygen.

"The Wave" - There was actually not anything specifically for "The Wave," which is interesting since every fan page could do the wave as fans for their particular thing. There were 999 fans of French New Wave though.

Earthworms - Nothing, closest match: Aesop Rocks: Music for Earthworms (2,047 fans)

Cotton - While 8,503 fans for Cotton may be impressive, it is not nearly as impressive as the 52,735 for Cotton Candy

5 Dollar Footlongs - while there are 510,827 fans of Subway. There are 0 fans of the 5 dollar footlong. That is just depressing.

There was pretty much no rhyme or reason to those, just whatever obscure thing came to my mind that Facebook may or may not have a page for. It's incredibly ridiculous that most of those actually had fans. I mean I was suggested to be a fan of sleeping the other day by Facebook. I was wondering if Facebook was suggesting I wouldn't be a fan of sleep or if they somehow knew about my insomniatic tendencies and were mocking me.

I also think that with this become a fan deal there should be become a hater or something along those lines deal. Cause if you think about it, there are things you hate and you should be able to express that via Facebook. Like my little thing said that 6 of my friends were a fan of New Jersey. I hate New Jersey. It's where I live when I'm not in Boston so I put up with it, but New Jersey is like that relative that you really don't like but have to suck it up to see every once in a while. I would love to be a hater of New Jersey on Facebook. Similarly, I think you should be able to dislike things. Like when that girl you have been eyeing in French class becomes in a relationship, you should have the right to dislike it. Or I guess you can just become a fan of Ice Cream and drown your sorrows. Whatever works.

Review: Adventureland

2009-04-01T22:47:00.003-04:00

Greg Mottola's first film after 'Superbad' does not disappoint. If you were to make this movie into an equation from 'Superbad,' it would look something like this: The Same Amount Bill Hader + Heart - Laughs + Vampire Lovers + Substituting a new awkward lead = Adventureland. Mottola really steps it up with this movie, and there was really so many enjoyable parts to this movie. Yes, it may not have as many laughs as Superbad, but it is close; Where it completely beats Superbad is story.

'Adventureland' has such a solid story that is funny, heart-warming, and mostly realistic. It's got the twists and turns, problems, and dialogue that a good script needs. Jesse Eisenberg shines as the awkward, post-college grad kid who needs a summer job to pay for graduate school. He really is like a less known Michael Cera with curlier hair. Kristen Stewart also shows she has really grown as an actress and puts a lot of emotion into her character. Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig provide great comedic releif during the dramatic parts of the story, and hold the movie together.

The movie is also great at creating a product of its time, the 80s. The songs, clothing, and attitudes are all extremely accurate to its time period (not that I would know, but I feel like this would be the 80s). 'Adventureland' makes me wish I had a one of these summers in my town where you had a great time with the people you worked with an romance thrived. While the story seems like a high school tale, it does take place four years later, which means I still have hope.

This film also features the great Martin Starr from the extraordinary "Freaks and Geeks," which alone is worth watching it for. Him and Eisenberg turn into best friends and they are both incredibly geeky, and they play those roles well. The story of course has the question of friendship after betrayal, as well as the theme of will the geeky guy get the girl? While I don't want to answer those questions, I will say that Mottola finds a way to make the answers extremely realistic and that's what really hits home.

Rating: 8/10

Top 250 Movies

2009-02-25T18:30:00.002-05:00

I decided on a new goal the other day: that I would see all of IMDBs top 250 movies. This is going to take a long time, but I figured I should do it at one point in my life. Anyways, I also wanted to post a bit more, so I will most likely post after I watch each movie just to give a quick review of what I thought. Some will be quick, some will be lengthy, lots may just be haikus like this one for The Usual Suspects, number 81 finished for me and #22 on IMDBs list:

Spacey pulls a con,
They're convinced he's not the guy
Shoot, turns out he is.

Clem Snide CD Out Tomorrow

2009-02-23T22:10:00.002-05:00

For the past three years singer/songwriter Eef Barzelay has been on his own. He released two albums in addition to creating the soundtrack for the indie movie Rocket Science. And last year, he came to Northeastern, opening for Ben Folds. You may remember him; he was that awkward guy singing about pretending to be drunk in order to get with a girl he liked. But before Barzelay was a solo act, he was a member of the band Clem Snide. Clem Snide released their first album in the late 90s and had plans to release their sixth full-length album in 2006. However, before it was released, the band broke up, and Barzelay was left alone with an unreleased album.
While the reuniting of bands seems like all the rage these days, Clem Snide wants more than just money or fame. They are not a huge, mega-band that is reuniting in order to have a reunion tour and generate a lot of money. They are not looking for a grand resurgence. Their reunion is about setting aside whatever differences existed in the past to release new material. Their album, which should have released three years ago, is titled Hungry Bird.
In addition to their release on February 24th, Clem Snide is also going on tour to let people know that they are back in the music world. It may not be as big as the Blink 182 reunion tour, but for them and for their fans it will be a great experience.

See Clem Snide in Boston on March 19th at The Middle East and buy their album Hungry Bird, which releases on Tuesday, February 24th.

Valentine Cards

2009-02-18T17:08:00.007-05:00

Here are some Valentine Cards that did not quite make it to Hallmark. They may or may not be offensive:

The Ultimate V-Day Song

2009-02-13T00:04:00.003-05:00

Now I have a lot of music I would consider nice and romantic: the perfect music for a lovely date on Valentine's Day. However, if I were to go through all my music and find one song which would epitomize Valentine's Day and romance in all its beauty (which is really freaking hard), I would have to go with You Belong To Me by The 88. The reason is as simple as the song: It's about love and being with someone. There is not a lot more to it than that, and that's what makes it so lovely sounding. Also, it is used in the show "How I Met Your Mother," which gives it some big bonus points. Anyways, give it a listen, maybe send it to your lover, and if you hear it on the streets this weekend its probably cause i'll be walking my single self around playing it until I impress a girl enough to be my Valentine. It works 2 out of 3 times. Listen

Odds on Things You Will Hear During Brett Favre's Press Conference

2009-02-11T22:29:00.005-05:00

What's Heard

"This really will be the last time." 4:1
"The only reason I do this every year is because I like the attention" 6:1
"Coming back and playing for the Jets was a bad idea" 3:1
Thanking God for what he has done for him 2:1
Brett Favre crying EVEN
"The only reason I'm retiring is in hopes the Packers will take me back" 5:1
"Life is not all about Football. Actually, yes it is" 10:1
"You guys are all suckers. I'm not retiring" 3:2
"If I could do this all again, I probably would have found a better team" 20:1

25 Things That May or May Not Interest You

2009-02-05T23:51:00.002-05:00

It seems that everyone is doing this next big thing on Facebook that happens in the Note section. It's that great game called 25 things about me. I would explain how it works but I mean it is in the title and if you don't get it you can read the instructions that everyone has on Facebook. The best thing about these lists is that 90% of the people making them have a disclaimer or their first fact that goes something like this: I hate these things and normally never do this, but i have nothing better to do/i'm bored/i'd rather do this than homework/any other excuse to keep people from thinking I actually enjoy these things. If you need something fun to do and waste some time, there are plenty of other things to do. I promise you. Talk to me I'll give you some great ideas. But like I will admit I do kind of like these things from time to time, but I'm not that intriguing of a person. Instead I though I would give you 25 random facts that may come in handy some day, instead of 25 pieces of useless information about my life:

1. Cable television was first introduced in Pennslyvania in 1948

2. India produces more movies a year than the US

3. Angora wool comes from rabbits

4. Mikhail Gorbachev was the last president of the Soviet Union

5. Wind Speed is measure in knots

6. The leading ballerina of a dance company is called the prima ballerina

7. Halley's Comet returns to earth every 76 years

8. There are about one billion illeterate adults in the world

9. Bananas are comprised of 75% water

10. The Lincoln Tunnel is the only three tube underwater vehicular tunnel in the world

11. West Virginia was the first state to have sales tax

12. The cable cars of San Fransisco are the only moving nation landmarks

13. The first People's Magazine Sexiest Man Alive was Mel Gibson in 1985

14. The most common birthday in the US is October 5th

15. URL stands for Uniform Resource Locator

16. Richmond, Virginia was the captiol of the Confederacy

17. Charlemange was the first emperor of the Holy Roman Empire

18. There are more tennis courts per capita in Vermont than anywhere else in the U.S.

19. Northwestern is the only school in the Big 10 that's not a state school

20. It is illegal to kiss for more than 5 minutes in Iowa

21. The average American works 9 more weeks a year than the average European

22. The big toe is called the hallux

23. The 1939 novel Gadsby by Ernest Vincent Wright does not contain the letter "e"

24. Sting was born Gordon Matthew Sumner

25. People who collect teddy bears are called archtophilists

Get Paid To Watch Porn

2009-02-03T12:33:00.003-05:00

So you know all those Comcast subscribers in Tuscon, AZ that were subjected to about 30 seconds of porn during the Super Bowl Sunday? Comcast decided that the best way to get people past all that scarring was to give them a $10 certificate towards Comcast's service. Not only is it only $10, but you only get it if you call Comcast's number. Best way for Comcast to get out of taking responsibility for its mistakes or the best way to make money watching porn?

They Only Fire The Winning Coaches Now

2009-01-28T10:07:00.011-05:00

In a girl's high school basketball game the other day, The Covenant School beat Dallas Academy 100-0. As amazing of a feat as that is, the more amazing part is that the winning coach was fired for not taking it easy on Dallas Academy. I mean yes, the margin of victory was pretty large, but this is high school sports. Growing up in the competitive town I lived in, this kind of stuff would happen in Recreational League sports more than it would happen in the High School leagues. There is a difference between playing to win and playing without class.

There have been many times where I was reffing a middle school rec soccer game and a team was up 4 or 5-0, and the winning coach would be getting all his players excited by putting down the other team. I would hear the remarks, and I would not even know how to react. Out on the field is a bunch of 12 year olds learning the game of soccer and trying to have a good time, and the winning coach is openly mocking the team. In my town though, this was far from a rare occasion. There was an article from Rick Reilly a year or two ago that told a story of a little game in which the team that was winning had a choice to make. They could either pitch to the losing teams best player in the bottom of the last inning with two outs, or they could walk this batter to get to the worst hitter on the team, a 9 year old, scrawny, cancer survivor. They chose to walk the best hitter, the scrawny kid struck out, and the coach with absolutely no morals won.

With High School sports though, it's different. When you enter the realm of High School Teams, or even travel teams, there is a commitment that is made by the player. That player knows what they are getting into, and they plan on working their hardest to win. High school sports make cuts, take the best, and do whatever they need to do to win. It's not like Covenant as been a powerhouse for the past few years and has always dominated basketball, just four years earlier they lost a game 82-6. When you're coaching High School sports or above, you have your team playing their hardest to win. In this situation, the coach is working hard to win, and getting his girls a chance to play.

However, Dallas Academy did have its disadvantages. The school only has 20 girls to begin with, and 8 of them are on the basketball team. It's hard to say that those girls are the real deal, especially since they have not won a game in four years, but they are on the team to play hard and it takes a lot to play on that team every day when you know you have not won a game in four years. Also, the school focuses on helping students with short attention spans and dyslexia, but more and more teens have those same problems no matter what high school you go to.

While it may be a little classless to score 100 points in a game on one team, what is really impressive is that the Convent School held Dallas Academy to 0 point: not one basket. That is an incredibly defeat that I have only seen a few times before reffing 4th grade girls games, but the opposing team usually scores around 4 points. For any high school sports basketball team to hold a team to 0 points is an extreme feat that deserves recognition. Should the coach be fired? No. He was playing to win, as were his girls, and they were victorious.

More Fun Than You Know What To Do With

2009-01-26T21:30:00.003-05:00

There is this great website on the interweb called Zoomdoggle. Zoomdoggle is a blog that is filled with fun ideas and fun things to buy, and its really like the perfect website. One of the really great features of Zoomdoggle is its mobile service. At any time during the day, you can text NEED FUN to 30644 and Zoomdoggle will give you a fun idea or fun fact. I was in class earlier today when I decided I was in need of some fun, so I sent a text and got this:

"Bored in class? Put your hand up, and when the teacher acknowledges you, just say 'I'm pointing at the ceiling.'"

I'm not sure how Zoomdoggle knew I was in class at the time, but it was a pretty awkward moment when I put my hand up and replied with that when the teacher called on me. It was pretty fun though. Not only can you get a great idea at anytime, but if you have some fun idea that you would like people to get at anytime, you can text you fun ideas to 917.406.0165 and they will be added to the Zoomdoggle database of fun. Try it out. It's fun. I'll leave you with a fun idea that I just asked for:

"Tag someone. Right now. Go for it. Remember, no tag backs. They're it now! That's old-school fun."

I better follow orders.

The Truth.

2009-01-21T10:51:00.003-05:00

I Can't Make This Stuff Up

2009-01-17T16:11:00.001-05:00

I'm not really sure why I am writing this here, but I just feel like this story has to be told. The following story is 100% true and happened to me last night:

I was walking back to my apartment after playing basketball at the gym with some friends. it was Friday night around midnight, and I had just turned onto my street. I was walking down, minding my own business, when four girls emerged from a party at an apartment. It did not really phase me, but then one of the girls shouted out, "hey there sexy" in my direction. I turned around and when I did I saw that she was right behind me, and she grabbed my ass. Flustered at first, I realized she was probably pretty drunk, and laughed and smiled. I continued walking. She then shouted out, "yeah keep walking. Let me see that ass move." I laughed some more and continued along. She then told me she wanted to suck a certain part of my body, which was followed by her friend quickly apologizing to me. I turned back, still laughing, telling the girl that I was flattered, and continued walking. Before I could even full turn around, she quickly replied, "well if you're flattered come back here and lick my tit." At this point I was laughing pretty hard, and arrived at my door. I went to open it, and she called out "now I know where you live and I can stalk you whenever you want." I told her that she was welcome to come by anytime. As I was unlocking my door, she came up to me and pulled down my pants. Luckily, I was wearing shorts underneath, and I wardrobe malfunction was avoided. I'm not really sure why I found all of this so amusing, but I continued to laugh as I walked into my building. One of her friends then told her to make out with me. As she was attempting to do that, I apologized, saying that I could not do that to her in this situation. I closed the door and that was that.

The Glory That Is Trivia Night

2009-01-15T00:12:00.002-05:00

Here is a fact for everyone: I have a very big obsession with all things trivia. Not only do I own both of Ken Jennings book, one of which has 8,888 trivia questions, but I also attend Stump Trivia on a weekly basis. Stump Trivia is a great chain trivia game that they have in a few different states around the New England area. The way Stump works is pretty simple: there are 4 quarters. Each quarter has 4 questions, with 4 point values (1,3,5,7 in the 1st and 2nd quarter; 2,4,6,8 in the 3rd and 4th). Each time you answer a question, you have to pick a point value you want to put on that question, and once you use a point value for that round you cannot use it again. There are also bonus rounds between the quarters that usually have a theme and allow you to get more points. At the end there are two final questions that you can wager anywhere from 2-10 points on, but if you get them wrong you lose half of what you wager.

Since last semester, I have made every Thursday night trivia at our normal place, Coogan's. However, this week I found out that I had a meeting Thursday night and I would not be able to make trivia. This news was pretty devastating, and I needed to find another place to do trivia on a night other than Thursday. Luckily, Boston is full of Stump Trivia locations, and there were two good options that I found on Wednesday night: Fire + Ice and The Tavern and Porter Square. My friend Spencer was visiting so we decided we were going to tackle both locations in one night. Here is the great story that follows that could be possibly be one of the greatest nights of my life.

Game 1: Fire + Ice
Team Name: The Gaza Strippers
We arrived at Fire + Ice at 6:15 to find my 4 friends squished around a small table in the bar area; the only open table available. We were also expecting two of our other friends to show up, and we planned on having two teams of 4 (Stump only allows a max of 6 people per team). However, we only had one small table to split between the 8 of us, which was not that ideal. I told the 4 girls that were there about our idea of going to two trivias in one night, and they decided they would go and eat during this trivia, and then head over to the other trivia with us to play. Now we had a team of 4 playing among 10 other teams that were all mid to late 20s working professionals. We were clearly the youngest people there, but that has never been discouraging. We got every question right in the first quarter, and the halftime bonus was a bunch of TV/Movie duos (Sanford and Son, Bill and Ted). We nailed every question in the second quarter too, and were well on our way to victory. We nearly sweeped the whole second half, and came in first with a score of 114. The amazing part about all of this was that while our prize was a $25 gift card to Fire + Ice, the 4th place team received 3 free lift tickets to Sunday River. Spencer and I were pretty pissed, but we gave our gift card to the two girls we were playing with who were about to go eat at Fire + Ice, and made our way to The Tavern, completely pumped up on trivia.

Game 2: The Tavern
Team Name: Dr. Funke's 100% All Natural Good Time Family Band Solution
We arrived at The Tavern at about 8:45, ready for trivia round 2. The 4 girls who had went to eat at Fire + Ice while we were playing teamed up with us, and we had a solid team of 6. The Tavern was the major leagues compared to Fire + Ice; not only the Tavern have about 25 teams, but the teams seemed a lot smarter and into trivia. We would have to bring our all out A game. The first round was a very easy start and we swept (What is a dried up plum called? How many degrees are in a circle?). We did alright on the first quarter bonus, and swept the second round as well. Going into the second half, we had 48 points, 2 away from first, but there were many other teams right with us. We kind of blew it in the 3rd quarter, missing our 2 and 4 point questions. The 3rd quarter bonus asked us to name the 7 countries in Central America below Mexico, and we managed to get 6. We did ok on the 4th quarter, and going into the final two questions we had 103, with the top team at 120. While first seemed a little out of reach and there were about 6 or 7 teams in between us and first, we knew if we could get these last two questions that we could possibly crack the top 3. The first question asked us the type of dog that commonly is used in hunting and is named after the French word for very low. We luckily had a few people who took French and went with Basset Hound, which was correct. We also were able to get the final question for 10 points, giving us 123 for the game. We also got third place; a huge accomplishment considering the number and calliber of the teams playing. Two Trivias in one night: two top 3 finishes. A truly great night.

The ShamWOW

2009-01-13T16:53:00.002-05:00

Has anyone ever noticed that if you took the WOW away from the ShamWOW, it would just be a Sham?

No Pants Boston

2009-01-11T21:00:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was a spectacular day in Boston. It was No Pants Subway day. The original idea of No Pants started in New York City 8 years ago, and the phenomenon has since spread to 24 cities around the world. I first learned about the greatness that is Improv Everywhere in 2005, and I've wanted to participate in no pants since then. Last year, Boston had its first No Pants, and I sadly could not participate. This year was my year. I was going no matter what.

I was not alone. There were a little 300 people that congregated at 3pm at the Alewife T stop at the end of the red line. Here were the terms of No Pants from BostonSOS:
- You must be willing to participate (as in take your pants off in public)
- You must be able to keep a straight face about it and act perfectly normal. Save the partying for after... (more on this later)
- You don't know any of these other people and you don't know why they also aren't wearing pants. Don't talk to them! Don't even look at them! Not looking at the other participants will greatly help in keeping a straight face.
- Wear relatively modest underwear (no thongs!) and preferably an extra pair of underwear underneath! IT IS COLD and an extra pair will not only help keep you warm but diminish the risk of "wardrobe malfunctions" (and the subsequent trip to the police station).

The instructions were simple, we were going to split up into groups. Each group was assigned a train car. That group was then broken up into smaller groups of about 4 people, and each of those people we given a train stop that they were going to get off at. The stop before their assigned stop, each person would calmly take their pants off, and get off the train at their stop. Now, they would wait at the stop until the next train and get on. They would then ride this to Park St., and then follow the same pattern back to Alewife, with their pants off the whole time.

The rest of the post is my personal experience with no pants. I could barely contain my excitement on the way to Alewife. I dragged along my friends Dave and Andre, and they brought their friends Anita and Carl. The 5 of us grouped up and arrived at Alewife, eager to go. There were a bunch of people kind of hanging around the station, everyone waiting to take part in the festivities, unsure of where exactly to go. That's until everyone began to notice the subtle sign that was posted on one of the station signs:

Yes, we made it. Next, James Cobalt, the brains of the operation, took the five of us and placed us into a train car group with about 30 people. We were led by Eddric, a great guy who gave us our next instructions. First, we needed to be split into our smaller groups for the individual cars. Luckily for us, the five of us were placed in a group together. Unluckily for us, our stop was Charles MGH, the only stop that was outdoors. Not only would we have to be waiting outside for the next train, but we would be pantless. Eddric asked if we were up for the challenge, and before I really thought about it I yes no problem. We waited around a little longer, and then we finally got the signal to board the train. We all spread out on our car, I pulled out a crossword puzzle and waited for the show to begin.

Almost immediately after the train started, the people getting off at the first stop began removing their pants. Even though all the people on this train were all involved in the hoax at this point, it was still pretty funny to see. The train stopped at its first stop, and a few passengers boarded the train. One guy in his older 20s sat right next to Anita, who was still fully clothed at this point. Immediately after the train started, a few more people took off the pants, two of whom were right in front of this guy. I looked up at the right moment to see this guy have a look of shock and fear at the same time. He quickly turned to Anita and asked what was going on, and she replied that she did not know, with a little bit of shock and confusion. The man had no idea what to do.

A few more stops went by, and it was now our moment. We were the only people left on the train that were going to be taking our pants off, and there were now a good amount of people who had come on the train that had no idea what was going on. An older couple in our section was particularly confused, asking everyone around them if they knew what was going on. At one point, the woman made eye contact with me as she was asking, to which I gave her a shrug and went back to my crossword. About a minute later, I was now taking off my pants, and the woman had no idea to react. She began to ask her husband what she should do. She even asked him if she should take a picture. At this point, her husband really didnt want anything to do with what was going on, and turned away from the spectacle. The train stopped and we got off at our stop.

At first, it was not cold at all. I think it was the adrenaline. About 30 pantless riders were lined down the stop, and the people waiting across the tracks just kind of stared. Others completely ignored us. There was a hotel near the platform, and a few people were looking down at us from the windows, utterly confused. The next train arrived, and we boarded to find a new group of riders, as well as our pantless friends. We rode this train one more stop until Park Street, where every pantless rider exited the train. Park Street was pretty packed and I don't think a lot of people knew what to make of the situation. One guy who was playing guitar began singing about "people riding the red line in their underwear, what the heck is going on here." The next train then arrived back to Alewife, and the pantless posse got on. My small group got back off at Charles MGH, where this time I felt the cold a little bit more.

Our final train of the day arrived, and we got on. I made sure to find a seat right in between two people fully pants and squished my way between them. Right when we got on, one girl realized that the pantless T ride was happening today, and she got mad at herself for not going. It's never too late to get pantless on No Pants day, however, she went back to talking to her friend as I continued to chip away at my crossword. This was about the time when one guy in his mid 40s began to get pretty frustrated. He saw all these people on the T with no pants, but he had no idea what was going on. He turned to my friend Dave to ask him why everyone was not wearing pants, and the conversation went like this:

Aggrevated Man with Beard: "So you guys are pledging for a frat right?"

Dave: "I'm sorry, I don't have any frats at my University"

Beard man: "Well then why is everyone not wearing pants?"

Dave: "I have no idea why no one is wearing pants, I just left mine at my apartment"

Beard man: *turns away in utter frustration*

It was a great moment, and it was hard for me not to laugh. We got to our final destination at Alewife, we we had started about an hour and a half ago, and the celebration began. Although most of us had come into this event not knowing each other, we all bunched together for a group photo:

Success. The ride back to Northeastern was mostly pantless, and when we put our pants back on, everything felt a little different. I felt like I could take on the world, or at least be pantless in public without embarassment.

Overheard at Northeastern

2009-01-07T16:51:00.002-05:00

There is this wonderful site called Overheard in New York that is incredibly entertaining if you are looking to kill some time. Basically, the site is pretty much explained by its title, but people submit the humorous conversations they have overheard in the city. I may start a little segment with some of mine own overheard conversations from the Northeastern/Boston area, only because the one I heard today was worth recording:

Hipster: Yo dude, this line for the za is so long.
Friend: Yeah...what?
Hipster: The za man, there are so many people here, I'm never gonna get any.
Friend: What the hell is za?
Hipster: Pizza. It's like the shortened version for it.
Friend (under his breath): I've never heard anyone call it that before.

The Worst That's What She Said I've Ever Heard

2009-01-06T22:08:00.001-05:00

Guy in Line at Dinning Hall (to girl): Hey can you get me a big plate of French Fries? (pause) That's what she said.

Facebook Predator Status

2009-01-05T22:46:00.005-05:00

The Discountinued Merit Badges of Boy Scouts

2008-12-30T20:36:00.004-05:00

There was this kid from New York who managed to receive everyone of the 121 Merit Badges offered by the Boy Scouts of America. While that may kind of impressive, it would have been completely different if he had to get all the Merit Badges that have been discontinued. Every single one of these has a use in the world today:

Agribusiness:
If Buster Bluth took 18th century agrarian business classes, then every Boy Scout should have to have to get the Agribusiness merit badge.

Blacksmithing:
You never know when the world will suddenly be in the dark ages again and the most important job will be the blacksmith.

Bookbinding:
After baseball, bookbinding is the national pastime of America.

Botany:
I truly think that if you are not able to put together a lovely flower arrangement and know a good amount about flowers, being a Boy Scout is not for you.

Cement Work:
The Boy Scout's motto is "Be Prepared." What says being prepared like being able to put down a house's foundation on command.

Carpentry:
Once you lay a house's foundation, you should be able to put up the walls and everything.

Consumer Buying:
All people are consumers. You should know how to buy things.

Farm and Ranch Management:
What's going to happen when machines turn on the human race? Were gonna have to go back to farming. Without Boy Scouts trained in farming, America will fail.

Foundry Practice:
Again, dark ages people. Everyone needs a good founder.

Machinery:
Well maybe this should be changed to defeating machines. Since that skill will be necessary when the machines do in fact turn on the humans.

Pathfinding:
I feel like a big part of the Boy Scouts is hiking and camping. A big part of that is being able to walk on trails and such. If you cannot find a path, you're screwed. Especially when that bear comes along and kills you.

Printing/Communication:
I guess in our world today communicating is not really important or essential. Maybe I was wrong about this one being necessary.

Rabbit Raising:
No explanation needed. This one is a given.

Signaling:
Without this, you would be one of those asshole drivers who never uses their blinkers. And you would fail at hand signals while riding a bike.

Taxidermy:
You're hunting out in the words. BAM. You shoot a raccoon. What better way to celebrate than to take out whatever materials needed and taxiderming that coon on the spot.

Wood Turning:
Wikipedia describes Wood Turning as a form of woodworking that is used to create wooden objects on a lathe. That sounds important enough to me.

Top 5 Dwight Scrute Faces

2008-12-30T14:34:00.003-05:00

5. The Epitome Dwight

4. The Bobble-Dwight

3. The Pervert

2. Darth Schrute

1. The Jim Halpert

Top 10 Albums of 2008

2008-12-30T08:41:00.019-05:00

10. Ben Folds - Way To Normal
It may not be quite as good as his past albums, but it still has that great Ben Folds feel.
Track to listen to: Bitch Went Nuts

9. Coldplay - Viva La Vida
Yes, it's like the most popular album of the year, but I mean it does get a little repetitive.
Track to listen to: Viva La Vida (The most overplayed one of them all)

8. The Mountain Goats - Heretic Pride
The singer's voice may be a little weird, but they got a great sound.
Track to Listen to: Lovecraft in Brooklyn

7. Flight of the Conchords - Flight of the Conchords
They may be more comedy than music, but the lyrics are just so well written and Brett and Jermaine are two good looking guys.
Track to Listen to: Foux Du Fafa

6. Eef Barzelay - Lose Big
He is probably the most awkward guy to ever see in concert, but he has some great sounding music, even if its a little weird.
Track to Listen to: Could Be Worse

5. Mates of State - Re-Arrange Us
What happens when you take a husband and wife and mix in synthesizers, organs, and a glockenspiel? Great, extremely catchy music.
Track to Listen to: My Only Offer

4. Kings of Leon - Only By The Night
Not as great as Because of the Times, but it still has that great KoL feel.
Track to Listen to: Sex on Fire

3. Death Cab For Cutie - Narrow Stairs
Death Cab is always great to listen to, and with this newest album they took a bunch of different styles that are mostly hits.
Track to Listen to: No Sunlight

2. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
Vampire Weekend is the biggest new band of the year, and there is not one song on this album that I do not enjoy.
Track to Listen to: Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa

1. Jukebox the Ghost - Let Live & Let Ghosts
While this may not be the biggest new band of the year, it should be. Not only that, but if you ever have a chance to see them live, do it. It'll be the best experience you ever have.
Track to Listen to: Hold It In

The Joys of Craigslist

2008-12-23T00:09:00.004-05:00

Not too long ago, I discovered this great site called craigslisting. Bascially, this guy just finds articles on craigslist and then e-mails the person and messes with them for a while. It's quite entertaining and I was inspired by this guy, so I tried doing some of my own scheming. Unfortunately, I do not have as much luck. So far, I have found about 6 photographers saying that are looking for work at holiday parties. I sent each one of them this message:

Hi! My name is Andrew and I saw your ad in Craigslist and I would be interested in your services. I plan on having a Holiday party with about 50 people, and we would actually really love a photographer to document the event. My Christmas Party does have a theme though, which I think makes it an even better event to take pictures for. My party is going to be religiously themed, since I feel like people don't really care about the religious aspect of Christmas anymore. Don't you agree?

Anyways, I will be dressing up as Joesph, my wife as Mary, and our newborn daughter will be playing Jesus. Yes I know she is a girl, but she will be playing a man's role for the night. Everyone else at the party will either be dressed up as angels, wisemen, or shepherds, as well as a few people dressed as animals. It should be a really great time and we were looking for someone to capture the experience. Of course, on top of money you would also get to enjoy our food and alcohol. What do you think?

Thanks,
Andrew

With no luck. I'll keep at it.

Mojo is the Coolest Thing Ever.

2008-12-17T19:40:00.006-05:00

The thing I always used to hate about iTunes is whenever you saw people's shared libraries. Yes, you could go to them, and listen to their music, but that was it. You were always so close to being able to take that music, but then, it never could happen. Until this very moment. Well unless you've known about this program before; but if you haven't, you are in luck! Mojo is a program that allows you to download songs off the shared network, right from your friend's libraries. Now you can always have that copy of Rehab that you were always too embarrassed to download by stealing it from a friends library. It's ok, it's a catchy song. Anyways, its easy, here's a quick step by step:

- Go here, or if you have Windows, there's a beta version here
- Download Mojo
- Open it, make a user name and password so people know who you are.
- Now a little window comes up that looks like this:

- Now have a friend get mojo on your network. When they do you can click the little plus sign and add their user name as a friend. Once they happens, you have full access to all of their music.
- Now if you hit the song note button, you can see their whole library
- If you want a song, click the little down arrow next to it on their library
- Now it downloads and its on your computer
- Also, Mojo will tell you if you have a song already that is in their library, so you won't be downloading repeats. Enjoy!

Unhitched Poster

2008-12-14T17:27:00.006-05:00

In the Spring there was this TV Show on FOX called "Unhitched." It was a decent comedy that I watched and laughed at at times, but it only managed to have six episodes. However, I thought of it today and was looking at it on IMDB, when I noticed the poster for the show:

The placement of the food in drinks in this poster is ridiculous. If you don't see it at first, keep looking. It'll happen.

Twas The Night Before Finals...

2008-12-11T12:09:00.025-05:00

Twas the night before finals, and throughout the school,
Not a student was studying, they were way too cool
There was a sense of panic throughout the air
But everyone was really too lazy to care

The freshman were cramming info in their heads
While seniors were scoring hot chicks in their beds
And Shannon had just gotten back from the Gap,
While Tim was beginning a four hour nap

When out on the quad there arose such a clatter
I sprang from my desk to see what was the matter
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
I tripped on a shoe and went down with a smash

Just when I thought I had broken my toe,
A shout was heard from a memorable Bro
When what to my wondering eyes should appear
But a outdoor kegger, with plenty of beer

It was led by Rob who's a really big dick
But wait there's Karen, she's such a hot chick
More rapid than eagles the students they came,
And Rob stood there as he called them by name

Yo Barnes, yo Homes, yo Andrews and Simpson
What up Gill, and Bird, and Roberts and Gibson!
To the kids at Dav A, to the ones at White Hall,
Drink, drink, drink up you all!

Their livers will probably cause them to die,
They drink until the keg runs dry
There on the quad was quite a large crew,
The liquor was gone, now what should they do?

And then, there was Rob, now on the roof
Dancing around, he looked like a goof
I brought in my head and was turning around,
When suddenly I heard a loud sound

Rob fell through the ceiling, right onto my foot,
His body was covered with debris and soot
He looked in pain with a hand on his back,
Quickly he stood, and was cured with a crack

His eyes were glazed over, they looked very wary,
He reeked of booze, and boy was he hairy
He cracked opened a beer, and drank like a pro,
Rob truly was the ultimate bro

He held a Camel in between his teeth,
And packed some tobacco in hip lip underneath
Boy did he have the biggest beer belly,
That shook when he laughed like a bowl full of jelly

He looked in the mirror an admired himself,
There was nothing about him that resembled an elf
He then noticed me and calmly he said,
"If you say I was here, you're gonna be dead"

He finished he sentence and proceeded to smirk,
I always knew this guy was a jerk
He turned away and with a tap from his toes
Rob was off and running, there he goes

He met up with his team, and gave them a whistle,
And just like that, they sped away like a missile
But I heard him exclaim, as he ran out of sight,
"I'm the greatest of all, Let's go get in a fight!"

How Yesman Came To Be...

2008-12-09T21:34:00.004-05:00

Producer: Ok Jim, so let's come up with an idea for your next project.

Jim Carrey: Alright, well what do you have for me?

P: Well there was some talk of a third movie in the Almighty series. Steve Carrell doesn't want it. What do you think?

J: I don't think so. This isn't the Fast and the Furious and i'm not Vin Diesel.

P: I totally get that. We could always do another Ace Ventura. How bout you have a kid and you're training him to talk to animals?

J: Not to be a dick or anything, but that sounds really awful.

P: Alright, another Eternal Sunshine. You get together with Clementine, but you both wake up one morning and remember everything that has happened.

J: I think we should steer clear of sequels. They don't really do it for me.

P: Come on Jim. You're turning down every idea I give you. What do I need to do to get a yes out of you?

J: How about something that's not a seq...

P: I GOT IT! You're a guy that is constantly turning down everything until you agree to say yes to everything. Comedy ensues.

J: So it's sort of along the lines of Liar Liar? This isn't a sequel is it?

P: No. Completely original idea. You'd just be a guy with a lousy life that completely changes when you agree to say yes to everything.

J: This sounds quite a bit like Liar Liar.

P: Trust me Jim. It'll be completely different.

J: How much money will I get for it?

P: Um, well we can't pay you anything now, but you'll get a certain amount based on how much money the movie brings in.

J: You've got to be kidding me.

P: Jim it'll be a big hit. People love you.

J: Whatever. I'll do it. I have nothing else to do.

What I'm Listening To...

2008-12-07T23:28:00.005-05:00

Explosions in the Sky - An Ugly Fact of Life (listen)

Since it is finals time, Explosions in the Sky becomes my go to band. Hailing from Texas, Explosions in the Sky is a band which consists of three guitarists and a drummer, and it is completely instrumental. For those of you who think its hard to study or write a paper and be productive while listening to music, Explosions in the Sky is for you. The are by far the most soothing band to listen to while working on a paper. Check them out, they may even help you on your finals.

Songbird 1.0 Out

2008-12-03T22:56:00.004-05:00

The other day I wrote about Songbird and its great features. While I wrote this post when the program was still in its beta phase, Songbird 1.0 came out yesterday. It has all the same great features I described with a few more great add-ons. Check it out at http://getsongbird.com/

My Favorite Michael Scott Quotes

2008-12-01T23:58:00.005-05:00

Top 10:

10: Michael: In my opinion the third date is traditionally the one where you have sex. Does Holly feel that way? I don't know. I will probably find out tonight. If she starts having sex with me I'll know for sure.

9: Michael: Nobody likes to be flashed. When Meredith flashed me at that Christmas party I nearly vomited.

8: Michael: So have you felt the vibe yet? We work hard, we play hard. Sometimes we play hard when we should be working hard. I guess the atmosphere that I've created here is that I'm a friend first and a boss second...and probably an entertainer third.

7: Michael: Wikipedia is the best thing ever. Anyone in the world can write anything they want about any subject, so you know you are getting the best possible information.

6: Michael: Yes, I was the first one out. And yes, I’ve heard “women and children first”. But, we do not employ children. We are not a sweatshop (thankfully). And women are equal in the workplace by law. So I let them out first, I have a lawsuit on my hands.

5: Michael: Jan says anything that doesn’t scare us is not worth doing. I don’t know, maybe we’re different people. I like cuddling and spooning abd she likes video-taping us during sex and then watching right afterward to improve my form.

4: Michael: It’s a bridal shower for guys. A guy shower. An hour-long shower with guys.

3: Michael: Toby is in HR which technically means he works for corporate. So he’s really not a part of our family. Also he’s divorced, so he’s really not a part of his family.

2: Michael: I enjoy having breakfast in bed. I like waking up to the smell of bacon ----- sue me -- and since I don’t have a butler, I have to do it myself. So most nights before I go to bed I will lay six strips of bacon out on my George Foreman Grill. Then I go to sleep. When I wake up, I plug in the grill. I go back to sleep again. Then I wake up to the smell of crackling bacon. It is delicious. It’s good for me. It’s the perfect way to start the day. Today I got up, I stepped onto the grill and it clamped down on my foot. That’s it. I don’t see what’s so hard to believe about that…

1: Michael: Yes, it is true…I, Michael Scott am signing up with an online dating service. Thousands of people have done it and I am going to do it. I need a username and…I have a great one. Little Kid Lover. That way people will know exactly where my priorities are at.

Quotes found at Dunderball.com

We're All Dead.

2008-11-26T14:51:00.005-05:00

The other day, the Shell Oil Company was drilling for oil and found a strange creature about a mile and a half underwater. It looked a little something like this:

This squid is a new type of squid found to have elbow like arms. It's also really freaking scary. I think this is the first step of evolution of squids, its only a matter of time before were gonna be running from this:

I never knew Cloverfield was actually based on a future true story. Crazy squids.

Songbird

2008-11-24T09:58:00.008-05:00

I may have found a music program which...may be better than iTunes. Now wait, before you go and grab your pitchfork and coming storming towards my house, just listen. Yes, iTunes is the top music program that people use, but I feel like that's mainly because people use iPods. I'll admit iTunes does have some pluses. I really think its great with its podcasts, but there are more and more places you can get these podcasts. As far as purchasing music goes, yes iTunes is easy, but you can only listen to purchased music on your accounts and only on iTunes. I have used iTunes this whole time because it does its job. It plays my music, and puts music on my iPod. But the other day I came across a program that completely beats out iTunes in terms of awesomeness: Songbird. Developed by Firefox (no surprise), this music program is great because it allows add-ons to its normal program, just like Firefox. Here are the reasons why Songbird is worth getting:

1. iPod Support
Songbird has an add-on which allows your iPod to work just as easy with Songbird as it does with iTunes.

2. Last.FM Scrobbling
If you dont know what Last.fm is, you should stop reading right now and go get it. Last.fm basically logs all the tracks you listen to (on your computer or iPod) and puts them all on your user profile. Then you can see your most listened to tracks, as well as music compatibility to your friends (well maybe its not as good as eHarmonys compatibility, but it works). This feature is supported in Songbird, which means any song you listen to on it will get scrobbled. Oh, they also have a thing where last.fm finds you cover art automatically for songs, as well as music recommendations based on what you like.

3. Concerts Near You
Being in Boston, I like to know whenever artists I listen to come to any of the many music places in the area, and this add-on is truly great for that. It goes through your library, and lists artists playing near you. Instead of tracking all your favorite artists' shows down, they're all in one convenient location.

4. LyricMaster
LyricMaster is this sweet program that automatically finds the lyrics to the song you are currently playing in Songbird. So if you're in the mood to sing along badly but aren't sure of the words, now its easy to know. It's one step away from those sing a long songs on TV that have the lyrics show up as they are being said. Maybe Songbird will have that one day.

5. SHOUTcast Radio
Not only do you get all the music in your library, but Songbird as a great radio station add on, where you can type in your favorite genres and listen to new music from that genre, for FREE. It's a nice little add-on that gives you something else iTunes doesn't.

The Unneccessary X-Factor: still not convinced? Well this is probably the dumbest thing ever (or the coolest thing ever), but Songbird as an add on that let's you tap out the tune of a song, and then it will find it for you. So if you have a song stuck in your head and forget the name, you can tap it out on the spacebar and SongTapper will find it for you.

While its still in its early stages and there's probably a few things that could still be fixed about Songbird, its definitely becomming my favorite program to listen to music.

Attack of the Cats

2008-11-19T23:01:00.005-05:00

Apple may be coming out with its next OS, Snow Leopard in the first quarter of 2009. At first this struck me as hilarious since I just finally got around to getting Leopard on Saturday. Now, they decide to come out with a whole new operating system. Just my luck. Then I realized that the only difference between the names of the two was adding in Snow this time around. Which made me think, what are they going to keep naming these operating systems in the future?

So far, Apple has used these names:
10.0 - Cheetah
10.1 - Puma
10.2 - Jaguar
10.3 - Panther
10.4 - Tiger
10.5 - Leopard
10.6 - Snow Leopard

Obviously, Apple seems to have some weird cat fetish. But that being the case, Apple is slowly running out of options for their future operating systems. I mean they are only so many types of cats out there. Well then I decided to look at Wikipedia and found out that there are a lot more species of cats that exist in this world that I could have even imagined. I figured they could get by with Lion, Lynx, Cougar, and if they were really stretching for names, the Ocelot, but there are still so many other possibilities. Here are some that I think would really be great for Apple:

10.7 - Kodkod (Really rolls of the tongue.)
10.8 - Colocolo (I guess if you just repeat a weird sounding work it is a type of cat.)
10.9 - Clouded Leopard
11.0 - Bornean Clouded Leopard (You can never have enough Leopards.)
11.1 - Flat-headed Cat (This is the point where they just gave up on coming up with cool sounding names and just started describing cats by how they looked.)
11.2 - Rusty-spotted Cat
11.3 - Geoffroy's Cat (Apparently Geoffroy gets his own species of cat. What a douche.)

And byfar, my favorite one (complete with picture)
11.4 - Medantereon

Jinni...The Pandora of Movies

2008-11-19T00:16:00.003-05:00

Everyone loves Pandora. It's a great music website that lets you not only listen to music for free, but find new artists that sound similar to artists you like. Now, I know everyone is thinking to themselves: Wouldn't it be great if they did that for movies? Well guess what? They do now. Jinni, a newly developed website that is still in its beta stage, is looking to do to movies what Pandora is doing for music. Not only are they looking to do the same thing, they are looking to blow Pandora's matching out of the water.

Jinni does not just want to take a movie that you like and give you similar movies (I mean Netflix does that), but you can do so much more. You can type in a mood you're in, certain genre you're looking for, a good movie for a date, and basically anything else you can think of. So say you want a romantic comedy thriller set in post World War I that was shot on location in Croatia. Well like, maybe that movie doesn't exactly exist, but if it does Jinni will find it. Say you want a sci fi indie movie set in the stone age. Seriously, if you're actually looking for that you're a moron.

My Day...In Haikus

2008-11-17T18:00:00.006-05:00

I woke up today
I'll hit the snooze one more time
Mondays are a bore

Bacon for breakfast
Stuck with cheerios again
What a crappy meal

It is freezing out
Some jerk just bumped into me
Did he have a knife?

I'm in an alley
He is moving really fast
What is happening?

There's another guy
Oh my god he just stabbed him
What do I do now?

There's blood everywhere
I better get out of here
Oh crap he sees me

Running away fast
Adrenaline is pumping
He's right on my heels

Tackled to the ground
What a bad day to record
Mondays always suck

2012 Election

2008-11-05T21:20:00.002-05:00

I think we need to get this 2012 election going. Who's running? I want a constant stream of election news.

What I'm Listening To...

2008-10-29T23:08:00.005-04:00

Band of Horses - Our Swords (Listen)
While you may think the song is initially by the Blue Man Group with that PVC pipe sounding beat, ghost-like lyrics are added by singer Ben Birdwell, and may remind you a little of My Morning Jacket. The rhythmic timing then sends you into a melodic trance. The guitar takes you along as if you are moving with the song. I can see a great stop-motion music video as I listen to this song. Maybe taking place on a subway with people rocking back and forth to the jerking of the train. Listen to it and think about it. Our Swords is a song that keeps it simple but still packs a lot. With their new CD Cease To Begin (Which came out October 7th), Band of Horses has quickly become one of my new obsessions.

What I Want To See From 30 Rock This Season

2008-10-25T01:22:00.002-04:00

"30 Rock" is one of the best written comedy shows on television, and its 3rd season starts next Thursday at 9:30. There has been so much hype for this premier that they already put it up on NBC.com so you can watch it before it airs on TV. With the new season, here are some things I'm hoping to see:

Clips from Tracy Jordan's movies: While Tracy's movies are alluded to a lot, and we have seen some of his past music success (Werewolf Barmitzvah, A Jordan Christmas), we have yet to really see any of his movies. I would love to see a scene from Who Dat Ninja?, as well as other Jordan flashbacks.

Kenneth's family: Kenneth's mom comes into New York City for the first time in her life, just think of the possibilities. She could think her son is corrupted by the media and try to shut down NBC. Or just get in a fist fight with Kathy Geiss.

Liz's adopted kid: While Liz did attempt to adopt a baby, I would love to see her get stuck with a 13 year old from Honduras who's into drinking and hard drugs. She could attempt to return the kid, since she'd never want to deal with that. Or just give it to Tracy.

A Michael Richard's cameo: Jerry Seinfeld got his episode, why can't Kramer have his? Toofer could start off the episode angry because he overheard a man being racist on the subway. Just as he finishes telling the story, Michael Richards, the man he overheard, walks in as the new director of diversity programming.

More Will Arnett: Will Arnett has been near to my heart every since his days as GOB on "Arressted Development." I think "30 Rock" should keep him around as long as possible. Once he divorces Kathy Geiss, he can make a real try at Kenneth, or at least take out an ad on match.com for a replacement Kenneth.

Jack Donaghy's Brillant Lines: Much much more of "Do you think he'll call me Jackie Boy? Then I'll be in Erection Cove," "I bow hunt polar bear," and "Your hair is your head suit." These Jack witicisms need to be all over season 3

All of that would be pretty satisfying. Of course we could always use more of Frank's hats, Josh's bad impressions, and Griz and Dot Com.

Future Professions For Sarah Palin

2008-10-23T22:51:00.006-04:00

If Sarah Palin doesn't become the nations Vice President (if, i meant when), she's gonna want something more to life than just being the Governor of Alaska. I mean, now that she's a huge celeb she's gotta take advantage of that. Here are some new jobs she can try out:

Disney Cast Member: I heard they needed someone to wear the costume for Talek, the new lip-stick wearing pittbull Disney character:

Waitress: At a Hollywood restaurant themed as the good old Alaskan back country:

SNL Cast Member: Like Tina Fey, but a lot worse. She can just sit around while everyone else does her sketches.

Whatever this could be (either a FBI agent in a beauty pageant or a stripper dressed as an FBI agent in a beauty pageant):

Birthday Presents Will Never Be The Same

2008-10-20T23:15:00.003-04:00

Think of all the great things the internet has brought us:

E-mail, so we we can sit around on our asses all day without having to go to the mailbox or call someone. E-vites, so now you don't have to spend the price of a stamp, which i think is around $2 these days to invite friends to your crazy party. Cybersex, so you can have internet sex with someone because you're too creepy for anyone to have real sex with you.

But what happens when you're having cybersex with someone and you have a cyberSTD? How can you tell them without ruining your friendship? Or if it was just a cybersex one night stand and now you feel awkward telling them but you feel like you have an obligation. Well, the great thing is, you don't have to worry about cyberSTDs. Unfortuneately, there are real STDs, and people do get them. If you find yourself in a situation where you have an STD but you're too embarassed to tell all the women you've infected, inSPOT has the answer for you: E-cards that tell a person they may have an STD.

Just think of all the unpleasant awkward conversations you can now avoid. In this past, these conversations would have probably ended with some harsh language or you being injured. Now, your one night stand can open their e-mail one morning and find out the easy way. Maybe they'll smash their computer, but at least that computer isn't your face. And the best part is your conscience in cleared. Everybody wins!

Citizen Kane in 10 seconds

2008-10-19T21:49:00.003-04:00

What does Rosebud mean? Let's spend two hours trying to find out. Shoot. No one finds out and Rosebud is burned in a fire. Now, no one will ever know.

Baby Names

2008-10-17T19:19:00.000-04:00

My projected most popular baby name of 2009: Astird.

Nick Raps - Alex Mack

2008-10-15T21:30:00.001-04:00

Not every 90s Nickelodeon theme song can't have a sweet rapped theme song by Coolio, but every show wish it had. What about "The Secret World of Alex Mack?" That should could have been ten times more badass if it had a rapped theme song. Luckily, I found one:

Puddle of Goo: By Nick Cannon (feat. Linda Ellerbee)

Puddle of Goo (goo goo goo goo goo)
Puddle of Goo (goo goo goo goo)

Alex was walking home one day,
When she suddenly a barrel went astray ,
It was a secret sample, it hurt a ton,
Now Alex is infected with GC-one six one

She can move things with her mind,
Maybe she can save all mankind
But someone's looking to intrude upon,
That evil plant leader Danielle Atron

She wants to find Alex and experiment on her,
So Alex must hide hoping she can deter,
With the help of her sister and her best friend Ray,
She's hides from Vince much to Atron's dismay

Alex Mack, she's great in the sack,
You better watch your back, cause its the MACK ATTACK

Puddle of goo (goo goo goo goo goo)
Puddle of goo (goo goo goo goo)

Uggh, boots.

2008-10-14T12:31:00.001-04:00

Outside Temp: 65 degrees Fahrenheit
Number of Ugg boot sightings before 12 noon: 9

you've got to be kidding me.

Apple's New Laptop

2008-10-09T17:44:00.008-04:00

Apple is introducing some new designs for their MacBooks on Tuesday, and I heard these laptops are also coming with some cool new features:
- Fans with a combined heating and A/C unit
- Microwave Oven (optional)
- Tanning Bed Dashboard Widget
- Calling features. Who needs an iPhone when your laptop can make calls?
- Cable jack. TVs are outdated anyways.
- Built in iSight laser. For security purposes.
- New apple key. Press it, and a PC user dies.
- An upgraded superiority complex

Michael Cera's Next Movie

2008-10-08T12:26:00.009-04:00

Let me start off with a disclaimer: I Love Michael Cera. I have loved him every since he started out at the awkward George Michael on "Arrested Development," and I have enjoyed every movie he has been in since then. I write this, Michael Cera, not cause I do not like you, but because I am worried about you. After watching Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist yesterday, a movie I really enjoyed, and I realized Michael Cera needs to take action. He needs to go outside the box and do something he has not done before: a drama, an action movie, a horror movie. Anything. Here are some suggestions for future movies:

The Cure
When the youngest scientist (Cera) in a group accidentally creates a neurological deadly disease, he is worried of the consequences. While looking to find a way to destroy this specimen, a group of terrorists break into the complex and steal the formula for the disease. Now, the scientists must work to find a cure before this virus is released, and Cera decides to go after the terrorists, feeling responsible for the fate of the world. When the terrorists end up being a group genetically altered super bears, Cera faces the ultimate challenge of man vs. wild.

Frostbite
Five high school kids (Michael Cera, Ellen Page, Jonah Hill, Kat Dennings, and Clark Duke) head out for a ski weekend at Cera's remote cabin. What starts out as a enjoyable weekend suddenly turns to strange. Their skis go missing. The car won't start. They begin seeing and hearing things around the cabin. What started out as a race down the mountain ends in a fight for their lives against a group of cannabalistic stay-at-home moms.

The Warning Track
Dennis (Michael Cera) had always loved baseball. He was a star on the varsity baseball team in high school, but when a brawl broke out against their rival team, Dennis was suspended for the rest of the regular season for killing a player. Now, Dennis starts working with the coaching staff to make the playoffs so he can get his chance to play again. Everything leads up to the championship game against their rival team. Is the glory of victory worth losing his life to the gang of ornery oponents? Based on a true story.

Condemned
After failing his AP US History Test, Jack Alexander (Michael Cera) wakes up the next morning to find himself in 1776. Now, he must relive US history as a social figure from that period in order to get it right this time. Jack starts out as George Washington, and becomes other famous historical figures like John Wilkes Booth, Andrew Carnegie, Hitler, Martin Luther King Jr., and George W. Bush. What starts out as Jack trying to relive history ends in him changing it entirely when he acidentially blows up the world. Oh well.

Porn
Not just regular old porn, but kinky, toys and all porn. I'm talking laser light shows, fog machines, bounce houses, roller derbies, and Burger King ball pits. But when Michael Cera is clothed he should wear a striped polo with a zip up hoodie, as well as courdoroy pants. He should also have a shy, awkward personality. Instead of traditional porn music there should be indie music chosen by Michael Cera himself.

What I'm Listening To...

2008-10-06T23:44:00.004-04:00

Jose Gonzalez - Hand on Your Heart

What happens when an Argentinian man is born in Sweden? Beautiful, melodious music is born, that's what. Gonzalez has one of the most relaxing voices I've ever heard, and his lyrics speaks to me. While this song could have some cheesy love references, Jose makes it seem like something more. His lyrics have meaning. His guitar also makes listening to this song more than just listening, it's an experience. Whether he's speaking to the people in the world who have lost someone close, or giving advice to those blossoming new relationships, or if you just like good relaxing music, listen to this song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmLGMWgHIgw

10 TV Shows I'm Excited For This Season

2008-09-17T11:58:00.010-04:00

The 60th Annual Emmy's were last night. The best in television were honored for their great work in the past year. Now, A new year is upon us.

There are a few times during the year I really get excited. One of them is March Madness. I guess that may be pretty much it. Besides now. Not only is it turning to the awesomeness of fall, but TV shows are beginning their new seasons. I always get ridiculously excited for the new seasons, as well as new shows to get into. Here are the 10 shows this season I'm looking forward to:

Heroes
Monday, September 22nd
8PM on NBC
I don't know about the rest of you, but last season of Heroes was such a tease. The strike shortened season kept the season from never really getting an exciting flow to it. However, this left the show with a lot of exciting questions to be answered. What does the future hold in store for the Heroes? What will Sylar do next? Will Villians take over this season of Heroes? Find out tonight.

How I Met Your Mother
Airs: Monday, September 22th
8:30 PM on CBS
As much as I would like to know who Ted's wife is, I'm more interested to find out what will happen with Barney and Robin. Could Barney finally end up actually dating someone? And what will Stella say to Ted's proposal? This show is always finds a way to just make you feel good, and I hope in continues into the 4th season.

The Office
Airs: Thursday, September 25th
9PM on NBC
The season ended with an accepted proposal, but not the one we were expecting. What will Pam do? How will the Dwight/Angela/Andy Love Triangle play out? How long will it be until Michael asks the new HR girl to marry him? Although The Office had a somewhat rocky last season, it finished strong and will hopefully continue into its 5th season.

Dexter
Airs: Sunday, September 28th
9 PM on Showtime
Dexter is one of my new favorite Showtime shows, along with Californication. This show's 2nd season was nothing but edge-of-your-seat suspenseful, and hopefully more of that will come in the 3rd season. How much longer can Dexter go keeping his identity a secret?

Californication
Airs: Sunday, September 28th
10:30 PM on Showtime
The sex-addicted David Duchovny returns as the sex-addicted Hank, who has finally won what he has been fighting for throughout the first season. Hank may now finally have what he wants, but will that be enough? Will he let his new book stay in the hands of the 16 year old daughter of Karen's ex boyfriend that he had sex with? Will Hank be able to stay with one woman for the rest of his life?

Chuck
Monday, September 29th
8PM NBC
No show has really found the perfect harmony between Comedy and Action like Chuck has. The quirky Chuck along with his Buy More associates each have their Nerd Herd qualities that make for a great supporting cast. The fate of Chuck, the one man superdatabase, lies in the hands of Sarah and Casey, his federal agent bodyguards. How much longer will Chuck be safe, even from the ones who are supposed to be protecting him?

30 Rock
Airs: Thursday, October 30th
9:30PM on NBC
30 Rock cleaned up at The Emmys last night, picking up awards for Best Comedy, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Writing. 30 Rock has consistenly become funnier since the show aired two seasons ago. Kenneth never ceases to make me laugh, and Tracy Jordan is comdeic gold. The writers of this show are the smartest writers out there right now.

24
Sunday, November 23rd
FOX
This show didn't even get to air last season because of the strike, so it has been a long time since Jack Bauer has killed everyone in sight. While the situations do get a little ridiculous, and more happens in those 24 hours than will happen in most years, the high intensity of 24 always finds a way to keep me entertained.

Scrubs
ABC
Scrubs is on its final season, and it goes into it with a new network. I hope the show moving to ABC does not ruin anything about it. While it has gone down in humor a little over the past season or so, the writers will find a way to make sure it goes out with its old fashion humor and lovable characters.

LOST
February
ABC
Not a lot needs to be said about the anticipation for this show. Anyone who watches LOST can never wait for the next episode. Although we have to wait til February for the 5th season, we get to see it without any breaks or reruns. Hopefully answers will start to pour out of the show, since there is only one more season after this one until the series ends.

LOST: The Soap Opera Episode

2008-03-07T12:50:00.006-05:00

I guess LOST was putting too much drama in the form of action and questions(with some answers from time to time) so they decided they should put that drama in the form of a daytime soap. This episode, creatively titled "The Other Woman," focuses on Juliet's relationships, past and present. This episode brings us back to Juliette's early days with the Others. They introduce a new character, Harper, who is the therapist on the island and also Goodwin's wife. This is the foundation for the drama to occur in the rest of the episode. Juliette and Goodwin have a secret fling, and Juliette has her emerging from the ocean in a bathing suit scene that all of the women on LOST are required to have:

I can't wait for Rousseau's. Harper figures out what's going on with her husband and Juliette, and tells her she's not really that pissed, but Ben will be if he finds out. After a long scene of events, Goodwin is sent out to be one of the Tailies, and then Ben takes Juliette to see Goodwin's dead body. Instead of just killing Goodwin himself like the regular soaps do it, Ben creates an intricate plan to get Goodwin killed. When Juliette asks why he did this Ben tells her, "You are mine." It was pretty creepy on Ben's part, but he's a creepy guy.

Back in real time (or not real time, whatever time happens on the island) Charlotte and Daniel Faraday have peaced the beach and Jack, Juliette, and Jin and Sun take off looking for them. Juliette then hears some whispers and encounters Harper, who tells her she needs to kill Charlotte and Daniel based on Ben's orders. Is she dead or is it actually Harper? I was convinced she was dead and it was the security system/monster, but then Jack had a conversation with her. Could the security system be that good? Anyways, Jack starts asking Juliette questions about Harper and what is going on, but Juliette does not answer him. I don't think anyone will every answer Jack's questions. Jack always has so many questions, and people just kind of ignore him and he never really has that big of a problem with it. What's up with that Jack? Demand more answers, start taking names.

Apparently Charlotte and Daniel are on their way to an electrical station to release a deadly gas that will kill everyone on the island. But Kate is there to stop them, until she gets knocked upside the head by Charlotte. Jack and Juliette find Kate, when Jack proceeds to ask more questions with no answers, and Juliette disappears to the The Tempest where Charlotte and Daniel are. Juliette arrives to Daniel trying to kill everyone on the island, only to find out he is trying to keep everyone from being killed by Ben. Juliette and Charlotte get in a slightly dramatic chick fight, which is not really helping Daniel concentrate on saving everyone's lives. So selfish girls, so selfish. Daniel ends up saving everyone and they run into Jack and Kate. Juliette confesses that Ben wants her, but she wants Jack. Then they have hot, passionate sex right there in front of everyone. Actually, they kiss after everyone left. That is the one flaw in this relationshiped up episode. Juliette just became Jack's other woman, and Jack should have had he way with her.

Oh yeah, and there's those other survivors doing their own thing at the Barracks. Here Ben gives Locke some new information, which is all the guy wants anyway. In these scenes Ben reminds me of that girl Jerry dated in Seinfeld who only looked good in certain light. Ben goes from being bruised and suffering from jaundice to just a few cuts on his face.

The miracle of lighting. The surprising part of Locke and Ben's conversations is that you find out that Charles Widmore is the one who sent out the boat for the island. Charles Widmore? I knew that guy was a sketch. A war is developing between the members of the boat and Ben. What will happen? At least we finally find out who Ben's man on the ship is:

It's Leonard! Actually they don't tell you anything, but I have high hopes for next episode.

What I'm Listening To...

2008-03-04T15:15:00.004-05:00

Cold War Kids - We Used to Vacation (listen)
While the Cold War kids have been around since 2004, they started getting big after releasing their CD, Robbers & Cowards in the fall of 2006. The Cold War Kids have a really 50s style to them, but with a catchy present day sound. We Used to Vacation is one of those songs that you can really develop an addiction to with its sharp piano. While the piano does begin the song, the Cold War Kids show you their edge by adding in some distorted guitar and a really strong bass. The Cold War Kids show you that even with their class, they can still blow away their listeners.

The 80th Oscars

2008-02-25T23:23:00.000-05:00

Last night was kind of a big night last night in the world of movies. It was also the first big show since the end of the writers strike, and I gotta say movie world, where was the effort? With the exception of Javier Bardem and a slightly insane Daniel Day Lewis, everyone else didn't really realize the Oscars were occurring.

What I really missed from this years' Oscars were those awesome people from last year that made all those sweet shadow images:

While stupid at the time, I really appreciate the work done by those shadow artists, especially in comparison to the montages of this year. Even though it was the Oscars, it just didn't have that usual Oscar feeling. It basically felt they were just trying to get everything over with as soon as possible. I am glad for the Coen brothers though. Their movie basically wrecked the Oscars, especially in the later categories. Javier Bardem was byfar the most excited to win an Oscar, I mean look at that face:
He was the one guy who truly seemed ecstatic to win an Oscar, or maybe he was just excited he didn't have that old sexy head of hair anymore. I am sad that Michael Clayton only received one award, although I did think Tilda Swinton deserved the award. That was until I saw Tilda Swinton in some sort of cut up bed sheet made from a velvet/plastic material looking like some sort of alien. I'm not sure what to make of that.

What I was more excited for was the nomination for Best Actor. I had seen There Will Be Blood the day before the Oscars, and laughed. A lot. I could not take anything Daniel Day Lewis said seriously in that movie since he sentence he spoke sounded as if it were his last after a lifetime of hatred for the world. Which I guess wasn't too far off. Anyway I was fairly certain this movie had caused him to go somewhat insane, and my instincts were correct when he won and proceeded to kneel to accept the Oscar:
The best was Helen Mirren's confusion, when she then decided the best thing to do in this situation was attempt to knight Daniel. When i thought this was Daniel was at his peak insanity, he then blew me away by thanking the academy for "whacking me with the handsomest bludgeon in town." He also addressed his wife as Mrs. Planview and wished he could share the stage with his fictional son HW. I'm fairly certain he left the Oscars with a band of gypsies and went on to cause mischief throughout the land.

While I'm fairly sure this was only my second year watching the Oscars in its entirety, I don't plan on losing all hope for the future Oscars based on one sub par year. By next year the lingering effects of the writers strike will be over, and they should probably just give Daniel Day Lewis the hosting job, and the insanity will inevitably continue.

"No More S'mores"

2007-11-08T21:01:00.000-05:00

Thursday night's episode, "Survivor Man," was full of Michael not being as awesome as he thinks he is. First off, you find out there was a special camping trip that Ryan put together where Michael wasn't invited. You find this out from 4 or 5 different interviews. The best part is, Toby was. This has been the first episode in which I have actually laughed at Toby's jokes. The incredibly corny "no more s'mores" was definitely his best line. After Michael hears he wasn't invited, he decides to come up with a ridiculous idea to 1-up Toby and Ryan's weekend. Michael is inspired by Survivorman, and decides he will go and be dropped in the woods of Scranton and then have to fend for himself. Jim declines the invite since today was his day to donate blood. Also, there may be some asbestos in the office.

Now Michael needs to things to survive in the wild: duct tape and a knife. This is when Dwight really shines with his office knife collection. I especially liked his dart blow gun from the bathroom. Not that Michael and Dwight are ready to go, Michael puts Jim in charge and tells Pam he is taking a personal day for the next day or two. During the car ride, Michael blindfolds himself, and Dwight proceeds to hit him with his shoe in order to knock him out. Genius.

Back at the office, it is Creed's birthday. Of course, Angela is planning and Jim has to deal with her. Jim is not a big fan of the whole birthday celebration, so he decides to group all the November birthdays into one day. Angela is not ok with that. And surprisingly, neither is the rest of the office. For the first time, Jim has to deal with the office like as if he is the boss, and everyone treats him like the boss. After the peach cobbler and fudgey the whale cake requests, and an additional birthday request from Toby, Jim is annoyed with what is taking place. This is when Phyllis calls him Michael, which causes Jim to really look at his life. Is Jim going to be the new Michael?

Back to the jungle. or forest. Michael cuts his pants into shorts, then realizes its cold, and proceeds to duct tape his pants back together. Only Michael. Dwight, concerned for Michaels safety, stays close behind Michael. My favorite quote of the episode is when Dwight is talking about watching Michael explaining, "I will let him die, but I will not let him lose his dignity." Classic Dwight. This is also followed by some more classic Dwight when he takes a bird's nest from a tree, and steals the eggs for lunch. At this point, Michael's pants are now a shelter, and it's time to look for some food. Of course, he decides to eat mushrooms, where a intense Dwight sprints towards him from across the woods, tackles him, and rips the mushrooms out of his mouth. A normal day in the life of Dwight.

Jim has finally decided to celebrate just Creed's birthday, and Michael and Dwight return just in time for Michael to sign the high harmony for "Happy Birthday." He then tells Creed to skip around the room, in which Creed does some sweet Irish-type jig for a bit. Everyone is happy again. Andy has his fudgey the whale, Jim and Pam share a fun moment together showing they're still happy, and Michael is decked out in Dwight's Battlestar Galactica sweatshirt. The final scene is Jim and Michael talking about the whole birthday fiasco, where Michael tells Jim he made a rookie mistake trying to put the birthdays together. Then Jim proceeds to make a "thats what she said joke." This heartfelt moment made Jim realize that Michael is not necessarily a bad guy, he is just the boss so he basically has to be hated. It also makes Jim realize he needs to do something with his life.

Sadly, next weeks episode could be the last episode for a long time. It's the last episode written before the writers strike, so I really need to decide how I'm going to spend the rest of my Thursday nights. Jan decides to sue Dunder Mifflin, and an epic ping pong game takes place between Jim and Darryl. Savor it, people. Savor it.

The WGA Is On Strike

2007-11-05T22:22:00.000-05:00

The Writers Guild of America (WGA) went on strike, which is pretty big news. The strike against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTT) has caused many writers and produces to put down their pens and pick up a sign. More than 50 shows have had their staff picketing at one point over the last two days. The notables include The Office, Lost, Heroes, Grey's Anatomy, Desperate Housewives, and CSI. For the most part, this strike affects all shows besides reality shows, whose writers are not part of the WGA.

The reason the WGA is on strike is fairly legitimate. With all the new media today shows are available in so many more places. DVD seasons now are available for almost every primetime TV show, even if it is The Rules of Engagement. Also, the 4 major networks offer select shows on their websites for viewers to watch, for free! This is a great new development for the people who have that meeting every Monday at 9 and always miss Heroes. The WGA believes that with these new opportunities for shows to be viewed should give them a higher salary. Since there work can now be viewed in many more places, they should be paid for more than just their work on the TV. Until this problem is resolved, there won't be writing anytime soon.

While this may not seem like a big deal to some avid TV viewers, the big problem could occur in 2008. The Screen Actors Guild and Directors Guild of America both have contracts expiring. If these contracts aren't renewed, then all actors, directors, and writers in these guilds would be on strike. There would literally be no more movies or shows. That would be just too up setting. I am already upset enough that The Office production has closed down, I would not know what to do if it was gone forever. I think the writers deserve support, and they should keep fighting.

The Office Kind of Disappointed me Last Night

2007-11-02T13:14:00.000-04:00

So I was pretty pumped for The Office last night. The hour long half-good episodes were a thing of the past, and I loved last weeks episode (break me off a piece of that applesauce and 'limitless paper in a paperless' world, genius). I sat down to this episode with high expectations.

Those expectations didn't really come through for me.

The episode starts off with Michael pulling a Ferris Bueler, which I found funny because Michael would rather have people think he is sleeping in his office instead of out. Another enjoyable pre-theme song scene. Then i just feel like it sort of went downhill from there.

Karen wants Stanley in Utica where she is the new Branch Manager, and Michael cannot let this happen. He decides to pull some pranks on the Utica branch after unsuccessfully trying to win over Utica's top salesman. Of course, Dwight is ready to go with Michael, and they con Jim along telling him they're on a sales call. Jim's reaction when he finds out they're going to Utica is priceless.

Meanwhile, Pam, Oscar, and Toby create a 'Finer Things Club' where they just sort of hang around and dress up. I felt this whole storyline was filled with forced humor. Andy showing up with the book before he is shot down by Pam, Kevin getting a snack from the vending machine, and Phillis using the microwave in the break room to make popcorn because the other one smelled like popcorn. Creed could have made a humorous appearance sometime during the scene, but he was non-existent during this episode. The same goes for Kelly, Angela, and Merideth.

Back to Utica. Now Jim, Michael, and Dwight are decked out in mustaches and warehouse suits. I must say the shot of the three of them wearing mustaches brought laughs. Then that was followed by Dwight peeing into a can, where he proceeds to scream out: "I think I cut my penis on the lid." I'm glad Dwight is back to being the ridiculous person that he is and not moping over Angela. They arrive at the branch, and Jim refuses to go in. This then creates a "The Injury"-esque walkie talkie conversation with Michael and Dwight and how they are stealing an industrial copier until you hear a smash.

This is when Karen enters the picture and talks to Jim for the first time since they've broken up. It's awkward of course. Karen then yells at the three and tells them Stanley is hers. Jim then is awesome and indirectly (or maybe purposely) makes Karen upset. Great point of the episode.

When everything comes to the end, Stanley was just bluffing for a raise and doesn't take the job. Does this mean he actually likes it at Scranton? Michael's whole mission was unnecessary , and the episode ends with nothing new and everything the same as it was when the episode started. Although it did get its laughs (which The Office always does), it went absolutely nowhere.

I am already anticipating next week's episode, "Survivor Man," where Michael tries to survive in the woods with nothing more than what he is wearing, while Jim works on an awesome birthday party back at the office.