Lessons and Adieu

Sometimes life will come at you like a ton of bricks. 

All you can really do is dust yourself off, hoping to learn a little something.

I feel constrained by the limitations of the blogspot experience and am ready to move onto bigger and better things. 

Very soon will come the time to reveal my true nature-- a champion of justice and all that is good. Good luck and godspeed to you all!

I had the time of my life

Que divertida!

It's been the ruin of many a poor boy

What song do you suppose this little fella would sing karaoke? My vote goes for "House of the Rising Sun", because its such a fun song to sing.

Los Supersonicos

I really really miss the days of Saturday morning cartoons. Lately, I generally spend Saturday Morning watching the previous nights Bill Maher episode until football starts-- it isn't the same.

Thankfully, this site has a lot of the old cartoons on demand. Did you know the Jetsons in Spanish were "Los Supersonicos" and the Flintstones were "Los Picapiedres"?

One of these days, I will have some of those anti-gravity boots and will walk all over the damned place.

Whales, Meet Sharks

Hey Charlie, here's a very technical diagram that might help explain a few things for you. I know you have trouble with stuff like this.

Golden Apple Fish

Oh Charlie, don't even get me started. I am more than a match for you, fish-wise.

Whatchu gonna do when they claw for you?

Those clams were just the beginning...

Birthday Twins

Alexandra David-Néel and I share the same birthday. Except she was born in 1868 and died in 1969, living to be over 100 years old. I haven't made it that far, yet. But she's my birthday twin, my heroine, and she lived an absolutely incredible life. Here's just a bit of it.

From her official web page:

Her long life was entirely devoted to exploration and study, the two overriding passions that made her unruly in her childhood, rebellious in her adolescence, anarchist in her youth, and one of the wisest "free thinkers" in the 20th century in her old age.

She wrote books and anarchist treatises, studied Eastern philosophy and Tantra and Buddhism, had an opera career, traveled to India, North Africa, Japan and Tibet. Often on foot. And of course, she learned Sanskrit and Tibetan. Not bad for a century.

(link)

Vicious Attack Clams

This is the kind of stuff I think about on a daily basis. I think I need more sleep.

Aurora schmaurora

If I had my druthers, and could go anywhere in the world right now I would choose the North Pole.

The Northern Lights are so much more interesting than any TV show or movie, and wow how inspiring!

Finish him! But wait for these lingering words first

The whole Kanye West controversy is relatively ridiculous IMO-- who knew people even cared this deeply about the VMAs.

But, this is just absolutely hilarious.

BTW, you can view almost all the Kanye memes at this location.

Nanerpuss!

Nanerpuss is a flailing banana on top of delicious pancakes. It also appears to be floating on water and garnished with D&D dice. What could be more delicious?

thanks go out to Michelle for the tip

Those Birds look just like Musical Notes

Birds on the Wires from Jarbas Agnelli on Vimeo.

Rule # 1

Toucan Sam would crush them all.

Breakfast Giraffe loves breakfast

I can haz syrups with the wafflez?

The Most delicious of them all

Om nom nom

Inside all of us..

After reading this article, I'm more excited than ever about the idea of Where the Wild Things are hitting the big screen. Spike Jonze is a certified genius, and the article really touches well on his ideas of "Wouldn't it be cool if..." that permeates all his films, music videos and advertisements.

This book really affected me as a kid, and I remember it as one of my favorites. The trailer features one of my very favorite Arcade Fire songs off of the Funeral album.

I have a lot of similar ideas to Spike, particularly that "one can skip from fantasy to reality in the conviction that both exist.”, as well as that "there is no difference between childhood and adulthood".

The film comes out October 16th, and it will be one of the few films I see this year in theatres.

Disney buys Marvel for four pieces of eight

If they turn my beloved Dr. Doom into some singing nincompoop, someone is going to get it.

Cinema as Time Machine

Inglourious Basterds is practically a perfect film. I already want to see it a second time, and I just saw it yesterday. Most will admit that Quentin Tarantino does a lot of things right as a director-- and he considered this one his epic movie.

In an earlier review, I mentioned that 2 and a half hours is too damned long for a movie-- but this film is over 2 and a half hours, and none of it is wasted. The only bits I found lengthy were the bar scene which perhaps could have been cut down a tad, but it all still works.

The movie is a revenge fantasy for Jews wronged by Germans during WWII. The Basterds are a group of Americans and switched Germans intent on destroying any Nat-zees around. While Brad Pitt is excellent, and his Italian character towards the end is often brilliant-- the best actor in the movie is Austrian Christopher Waltz who plays the super-villain "Jew Hunter".

Anyone who loves the cinema owes it to themselves to see this film. It's the first movie since Pulp Fiction to rival Pulp Fiction in its sheer audacity.

This is why..

This site pretty much sums it up.

Just look at this ridiculously delectable stuff-- I would eat every single item on there, multiple times, in one sitting if I could.

Criminy on a stick

Yipes and yowzers it's been nearly a month since new posts! In that time, I've managed to take a fantastic vacation to Holden Beach, North Carolina, visit with Charissa, and sign up for my final class.

It's been a busy month.

The LED running went off very well, and I'm really hoping I'll get to do some spot duty for hockey games-- it'd mean I get to go to the games for free, and even get paid to be there! Hockey rules.

So my next big step is Poetry writing, or CRW1301 really. I need to finish this class and obtain a C+ or better and I am officially a graduate of the University of Florida. I'm fully ready to get this over with and have the diploma hanging on my wall.

OMG

OMG I love my Iphone.

The Ribbon Master

Filling in this week for my roommate who is in LA at the X games. I'm running the LED boards, also known as ribbon lights at the St Pete Times Forum (the Ice Palace).

Yesterday, I had to replace a bad power supply in one of the upper lights. This involved balancing on the third row and leaning over to take out a bad power supply, reattach all the connections and put the new power supply in. It felt like the first real challenge I've had at a job in years, and it was wildly fulfilling to finish.

The three shows I'm doing are American Idol, Demi Lovato and Green Day. I'm not really crazy about any of the shows, but it's always cool to acquire new job skills.

Meanderings on a Grey Towel

I bought this towel at Target today for $11.99. It's a Fieldcrest Luxury Bath Towel and it says "100% Supima hygro cotton loops". I have no idea what any of that means, and am too lazy to look it up.

Upon purchasing, it seemed like just another item. But afterwards, something different happened-- I couldn't stop thinking about it. I wanted to touch it in the car-- I couldn't wait to get home and hang it up. For some reason, it became the perfect towel.

I seriously doubt that I've ever owned a grey towel before, so maybe there is some magical combination of grey + towel that equals perfection. Or maybe there is just some artful beauty in the utilitarian items that we have to use everyday, and I caught some special glimpse of it.

More than likely though, I'm just a little nuts.

The Tiger Woods of Poker

The Amazing Phil Ivey made the final table of World Series of Poker main event last night, to be held in November.

Each Final Tablist is guaranteed at least $1 million, and the winner will take home over $8 million.

Phil Ivey, you da man!

Harry Potter and the Artist Formerly Half Blooded

Afer seeing a 98 rating on Rotten Tomatoes yesterday, and an 89 rating today, my expectations for this were extremely high. Maybe I'm just getting older, but 2 hours and 33 minutes for a movie is just too damned long.

The scenes with Slugworth were very slow, and had too many "Merlin's Beard"s. The major final scene was extremely anticlimactic and not well pulled off, and the lake scene where Harry and Dumbledore go to find the horcrux did not keep my attention.

There were some good points-- the scene where Harry tricks Ron into thinking he's given him Felix Felicis during a Quidditch match was excellent and thrilling. All of the death eater scenes (besides the final) were impressive, and I loved an opening flying through the city Imax style. Speaking of which, it makes no sense that the movie would open one day and not open in Imax until two weeks later.

For a film with a $150 million budget, I would give it somewhere around a B- to C+. If anyone's interested, I loved the third, fifth and second films. I hated the first one, and the fourth one was extremely mediocre, even though it was probably the best book.

Sea Monsters and some old Jane Austen book

After the success of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, they're continuing the trend with "Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters."

I like their choice for the next one of Emma and El Chupacabra, and I would nominate Northanger Abbey and Nosferatu myself.

It's On like Donkey Kong

This is quite possibly one of the greatest acts ever performed. The characters are all made out of post-it notes too.

Muppets All Through the Night

So awesome.

Hadouken!

Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell

Blown away is all I can say about this track. The Wallpaper remix that is, which is far superior to any of the others.

It's so simple, so stupid, and yet so ridiculously catchy, I can't get it out of my head. Must....listen....again....

Not sure which is worse..

Rays All Stars

A big congratulations are in order for Tampa Bay Rays third baseman Evan Longoria, as he becomes the first ever Tampa Bay all star game starter.

Other Rays making the all star team include Ben Zobrist at second base, Jason Bartlett at shortstop and Carl Crawford in the outfield.

Meanwhile, a huge boo goes out for not having J.P. Howell, the Rays best reliever, not making the team, despite a 1.63 ERA and ridiculously good numbers.

The Maltese Scorpion

You may remember from a previous post that I was looking for a new pet. My friend Jon came down to Gainesville this weekend for the local Reptile Show, as he is breeding snakes and had some up for sale.

I have no issues with snakes, but did want a pet that was slightly exotic that few people had. Unfortunately, the hedgehogs were $200, albeit adorable.

I decided to go with the Emperor Scorpion which at $6 is very affordable and only requires a $10 10 gallon tank. They can sting you, which is said to be similar to a bee sting, but only if you really tick them off. Also, they do have the claws, but they don't really seem to use them except for catching food.

I've decided to name her Malta, because it's a cool name. If I can figure out how to get pictures from my camera onto here, I will eventually post some.

Welcome to the household Malta!

Don't Stop til You Get Enough

Video Game Art is one of my favoritest things in the whole universe, and I would kill to have a beast like this on my walls.

If you're a big fan of Duck Hunt, take a look at this interesting take as well.

Triple Crown of Stud

Heavy news day today-- deaths in the threes, lots of NBA trades, and a crazy Supreme Court strip search case.

As a poker player though, the most interesting for me was professional player Jeffrey Lisandro winning his third bracelet of the 2009 World Series of Poker. He won the Seven Card Stud event, the Seven Card Stud Eight or Better Event, and finally the Razz event, to complete a trifecta of Stud games.

Because Seven Card Stud isn't a very popular poker game any longer, this will mostly go unnoticed. It's also worth noting that only one other person has won three bracelets in one year, the amazing Phil Ivey.

Congratulations Jeff!

Alice and Kev

I've broken down and bought Sims 3, the first Sims game I've ever played. And the reason is entirely this blog, the story of Alice and Kev. Here's the premise, excerpted directly from the site:

"Welcome to the tale of Alice and Kev.

This is an experiment in playing a homeless family in The Sims 3. I created two Sims, moved them in to a place made to look like an abandoned park, removed all of their remaining money, and then attempted to help them survive without taking any job promotions or easy cash routes. It’s based on the old ‘poverty challenge’ idea from The Sims 2, but it turned out to be a lot more interesting with The Sims 3’s living neighborhood features.

I have attempted to tell my experiences with the minimum of embellishment. Everything I describe in here is something that happened in the game. What’s more, a surprising amount of the interesting things in this story were generated by just letting go and watching the Sims’ free will and personality traits take over."

The characters I've created to play this game with aren't quite as fabulous, but I'm only just getting started.

I want a new pet

It's time for a new pet. Ever since Mrowatamos went to the great gig in the sky last year, I've wanted something new. I think some fish or a scorpion or a snake or something would be great.

I really wish these mudkips were around, but apparently they are very difficult to catch.

Tattoo you

Charissa says that we should get matching tattoos to commemorate our friendship. I'm the needle hating, anti-body art type.

I think my body is plenty a work of art as it is!

This Cracked article on what your tattoo says about you is extremely amusing. Read it before you get that tattoo!

A Circus of Nietzschean proportions

The Nietzsche Family Circus combines German existentialism with sickly sweet Family Circus cartoons to create a wondrous mishmash.

I would vote for all of them

What if all the presidents had been pandas?

Thankfully, Alexander Barrett used his artistic license to depict all 44 presidents as Pandas.

That's Pandadore Pandavelt pictured.

Vive la Différence!

The first in what I desperately hope is an ongoing series of kick-ass tattoos.


(via)

Yes We can

It's a Blast!

I haven't seen these in person, but I'm assuming that they're large enough to carry your boombox in. Hence they are more than boombox-shaped totes -- they are more like boombox COZIES. Something you didn't realize you needed until you saw it.

And now? I'm sure you can't live without it.

Large Ghetto Blaster Bag

Binging Bastards

Those copycat coattail riding such and suchs over at Microsoft created a new search engine, Bing, which I refuse to link to.

Imagine my surprise when this wondrous site Toucan Plan does not show up at all when searching for Toucan Plan.

I wrote them to complain, and let's see what they will say. I feel like a grouchy old man.

Tales of the Monk Fish

I am endlessly fascinated by the simple concept that there are so many lifeforms existing on this planet at the same time as myself, carrying out their own distinct and unique lives. It's especially disorienting to catch such a brief glimpse of a person, a creature, a plant, carrying out its existence, completely devoid of context.

Here is a monk fish, caught for only a minute or so on camera, looking almost wholly other and yet also clearly one of us.

Hey! Come Over!

What makes me saddest of all, looking at this photo I took of a post on the bulletin board at the William Temple House a few months ago, is that I didn't call this number.

Toucan Totem

A totem is a spirit or entity that watches over a group of people, not just one person, typically a family or a tribe. The totem is typically represented by an animal.

When Charissa suggested the name "Toucan Plan", it immediately resonated with me somehow. Not just the clever wordplay with the Two can plan, but also the image of the Toucan--

Toucans are highly prized in advertising and such because they're so beautiful- (just look at that tongue, it's amazing!)

Toucans are also some of the loudest birds in the forest-- their calls can be heard for half a mile. Their spirit represents sound, communication, speech. Proper words in the proper places, and all that jazz.

But, the toucan can also be unpredictable, and do what they want when they want to. (This is me, to a tee) Also, in some areas, toucans are associated with evil spirits and said to be the reincarnation of demons.


I was first drawn to toucans when going to Walt Disney World and visiting Tropical Serenade (it's since been rennamed the Enchanted Tiki Room)

While I don't remember ever going into the attraction, there were toucans outside that would talk to anyone standing nearby. I was fascinated by the animatronic birds, and would just stand and listen. On and on they would go, yak yak yak.

There are a lot of animal spirits guiding my thoughts and actions, but the toucan is becoming prevalenter and prevalenter.

Whereever they may roam

Believe it or not, this is a grammatically correct English sentence:

Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.

It was discovered/invented in 1972 by University of Buffalo linguist William
J. Rapaport. It means "Buffalo from the city of Buffalo that are intimidated
by other buffalo from the city of Buffalo themselves intimidate a third group of buffalo, also from Buffalo." From here.