I am in a pretty good mood today. You probably would be too, if your day consisted almost entirely of slack, as my Thursdays usually are. That said, I can't help but feel a little rebuffed by something which recently came to my attention. It is, of course, nothing of great importance, but when your days consist of thinking about video games, Arrested Development, and volcanoes (usually in that order) small things seem more significant.
Given my good mood, I ventured to open an email that I would usually classify as spam, since it is generated by a facebook application. It was one of those "compare people" applications. I rarely use it. I rarely use any of the applications actually. And I really should get rid of one of wall functions I have on there that don't really do anything. Most of them exist as some sort of virulent personality test that I have no interest in. Ideally, we'd know the people we are friends with intimately enough to know their basic ideologies and favorite movies, books, television series, politicians, quotes, deities, and historical figures (Meriwether Lewis for the win!). I also like to consider myself a humorous person. Whether I succeed at this, I don't feel fair to judge. But I try and like to think people know that I make an effort to make them laugh and whatnot. Perhaps this has some part in why I was so taken back to learn:
WHAT THE HELL PEOPLE?? I AM ZERO PERCENT FUNNY?! ZERO MOTHERFUCKING PERCENT?? I HATE YOU ALL!!!
There.
Now supposing anyone reads this, that should boost my score for "crazier". Which is already at 100%, but with only 1 vote. THE SAME 1 VOTE THAT SAYS I AM ZERO PERCENT FUNNY!!!
I'll now spend the next 6 posts denying that I really care that much about this. But seriously, I want to know who I was up against that caused me to lose, twice. I'm dwelling on this too much. I'll just rationalize it by saying that everyone just votes for the person they like more anyways.
Anyways, following this discovery, I went on a tirade to all 2 of the people I bother to talk to on aim, venting and the whatnot. I decided to go through and have what I thought in the moment to be a subtle sort of revenge: catharsis through that same compare friends application. It was going well until I hit this question:
This struck me as humorous in a plethora of ways. Some background information will be required. I will say that the girl on the left embodies many of the qualities I consider ideal in a mate (one of which is laughing at my jokes). The one on the right was a freshman when I was a senior in high school and appears to have filled out rather nicely, as I was telling Steve. I'm trying to find a way to describe this without making me sound like a complete bastard. That is probably not going to happen. Rather than an exhausting summation that will fail to redeem my image, I will present this article of conversation with my pal Steeeve with whom I first shared the capture and my juvenile quips.
In the early 1980s, the Naval Investigative Service was investigating homosexuality in the Chicago area. Agents discovered that gay men sometimes referred to themselves as "friends of Dorothy." Unaware of the historical meaning of the term, the NIS believed that a woman named Dorothy was at the center of a massive ring of homosexual military personnel in the Chicago area. The NIS launched an enormous hunt for Dorothy, hoping to find her and convince her to reveal the names of gay servicemembers.
This may become my new favorite picture of McCain. It's too soon to tell. He does love the thumbs up. It must be his go-to victory pose. That makes a lot of sense now that I think about it; The V might be difficult for him. But I've seen at least 3 pictures of him doing the fonz.
I am making a note to myself that the website for my philosophy class can be found here. That is all.
In an act of unadulterated fail, I bought myself a copy of The Orange Box using the tainted logic that it was (approximately) the amount of money I would have spent on a special someone for Thursday. Instead I spent it on my most special someone: myself. It has been a rewarding decision so far. And I haven't even ventured into the Half-Life series yet!
I was going to write something snarky here about how no one reads this and then does it really matter if posting rate declines because I'm too busy playing games, but I haven't the heart for it right now. I know I'd certainly be more inclined to post more often if I recieved feedback. Tell your friends!
I was referred to this related video and I enjoyed it. Maybe you will to. If not, I highly recommend checking out Portal anyways.
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Now playing: GLaDOS - Still Alive
via FoxyTunes
I found the image using the search engine Answers.com. I didn't expect it either, so take that! By this point the search itself had become more important than the image. I even looked at gossip sites thinking it might have been posted there if deemed too unsavory for other outlets to publish. They are both attractive women, don't get me wrong, but I still find Jenna Fischer, among others, much more attractive than either of them. I would feel bad if I didn't link to the website where I found them.
The payoff was rather weak compared to the amount of time searching, although I have honed my search-fu in this adventure (level up!). The real loot was found here in the pictures of Finding Nemo on ice. Even with watermarks, I find them amusing.
It's been an exciting Singles Awareness Day. I was going to watch the valentine's day episode of The Office, but I can't find the dvd. So I'm watching America's Ballroom Challenge instead. I keep hoping for a collision, or some sort of mechanical failure that will send them skidding off into the wall of tires, but nothing yet. I'm not much of a dancer, that is at all, but I can appreciate it to an extent. Not enough to really want to try it. But I enjoyed this enough to post it.
They did a James Brown medley this year. I enjoyed it. I did some more youtube searching and found a clip from the championships last year in which a couple did a show dance to Justin Timberlake's "Sexyback" and my mind melted as a cliche shattered. I'm posting the clip, which is rather long. Said dance is in the middle of the clip.
I think I could really get into this program in the future. My sister walked past as I was looking at these youtube videos. My family thinks I'm crazy...
At seven funereal minutes, The Late Cord's
"My Most Meaningful Relationships Are with Dead People" feels about as
uplifting as its title would indicate. Amid a moody, molasses-slow
arrangement that would do Angelo Badalamenti proud, great young singer
Micah P. Hinson applies his prematurely world-weary croak to an
oppressively sad dirge. "Is it too far gone," he asks, "to be saved?"
Yeah, probably.
These five songs — all great, all released in the past five years — are for those wishing to wallow in the holiday's sheer, soul-wrecking brutality. Each is carefully selected to provide a vivid soundtrack for those moments when alcohol isn't even necessary, so drunk is the listener on his or her own misery. Enjoy!
I got this The Office t-shirt from someone who loves me, my mom. My mom is awesome. The Office is awesome. Life is awesome. It also matches the pajama pants I'm wearing right now, but you'll have to go private to get those images.
"The hardest part was keeping the pirates quiet the last few months," Jensen said of their desire to let everyone know that they'd been involved. But the pirates, along with everyone else involved in the production of the Swimsuit Edition, were sworn to secrecy.
I'd been waiting to post that piece of Team Fortress humor for a while. Now some more Orange Box!
I love Weighted Companion Cube!
This is a bear I concocted a few years back. I still think it's pretty wonderful, even if the images I just took aren't. The hearts aren't sown on the message can be switched with some safety pins. All three messages are displayed here. The text was inspired, if not blatantly lifted, from the Despair, Inc. candies.
Peanut Butter & Banana Creme - layered cup with top chocolate layer, bottom banana creme layer and peanut butter filling; released in summer 2007 in tribute to Elvis Presley; available in standard, Big Cups and Miniatures sizes
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I've just set up a new blog, Textually Transmitted Diseases. Like many good ideas, this one came to me while I was naked--not the idea of a keeping a mobile blog, but the title. I think it's a nice name for a mobile blog.
It's going to suck for a while; I'm still figuring it out. I've accidentally claimed multiple mobile blogs trying to figure out post titles and multimedia. After I figure out all these simple things it will probably still suck because it's composed of text messages no one wants to read. Kind of like this blog in a way.
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I am not a fan of Singles Awareness Day, but this sign around campus was intriguing enough for me to stop and take a picture. I don't really have a reason to go, but I want to know more about this condom darts game. No, I must know more. What are the rules? Are there prizes? I'm pretty good at cricket, but will my skills carry over? Although it has been a while since I last played...
I imagine it is a multiplayer game... Annnd, I'm done.
In order to properly discuss what “selling out” is we must make a few distinctions. First, a group must have some contain skill or style that it might be able to sell in exchange for fame, wealth, or both. While groups with neither talent nor flair auction themselves off with regularity, nothing of value is lost in the transaction from the consumer’s standpoint and these groups shall be excluded from this discussion. Also, engaging in activism, of any nature, cannot be considered selling out unless there are financial incentives for doing so. While Madonna may extol the United Nations to help starving children in Africa, she remains untainted until she produces a song to benefit the starving children. If she has done this, I remain unaware. Furthermore, supposing the benefits from such work are donated, the publicity from such an action may be viewed as selling out instead. Finally, a group cannot “sell out” by being popular if no change has occur aside from an increase in exposure. While many hipsters may claim that a group has “sold out” because everyone likes them now, this is a fallacy. Mere popularity is not a qualification to be considered “sold out.” Supposing this were the case the product Hannah Montana would have sold out quite some time ago, but this is not possible because the Hannah Montana brand has always been a commercial enterprise and no significant change in derivative products can be observed. This is excluding the literal meaning of “sold out” which implies an absence of available concert tickets for purchase, in which case the above example is quite true.
With the proper exclusions in place, we may define “selling out” as an intellectual compromise in which the artist, for those to whom the label can be properly applied, alters future endeavors, in comparison with past productions, in order to secure greater fiscal rewards. Special focus must be applied to role in which financial incentives affect artistic development. Often times a musician will change style naturally as a part of musical development without consideration paid to monetary incentives. An example of this could be seen in Miles Davis, whose style changed dramatically from bebop to cool to avant-garde throughout his career but never strived (or achieved) great financial success with these transitions. Some degree of commercial success must also be obtained to properly sell out. A group such as The Aquabats has changed radically since their conception; although starting as a ska band they no longer contain a single wind instrument, but cannot be considered sell-outs because they have not reached an adequate level of success, although some would certainly disagree with me on this matter. With popularity so often intertwined with financial success, it is easy to see how hipsters would confuse becoming popular with selling out. Hipsters are also by popular definition forbidden to enjoy things that are popular, and proclaiming something a sell-out allows the hipster to maintain a sort of moral high ground.
Unfortunately, this moral high ground is imaginary. In one of the most competitive industries possible, any musician who achieves success is to be lauded. The musician, unlike the politician, owes no debt to those who endorse him. Although his success is dependent upon them, they are free to discontinue their patronage at any time and he is not obligated to only appeal to their interests. Although some may feel betrayed when the musician decides to increase his exposure by signing a contract with a major distributor such as MTV, it is the musicians’ choice and it’s his product, mostly*.
I'm skipping my first class to do this. Also, because I hate that class with the fire of a thousand suns.
Anyways, the ethical ramifications of selling out. Inspired by The Merchants of Cool.
The Grammys (a spelling which troubles me to my core) were yesterday so you'd think I should have no problem with this. I've asked a few friends, with various degrees of fail between them, and a few humorous incidents where people mistakenly believed I was referring to ticket sales. I was confused because in my mind Hannah Montana had always been a corporate enterprise. People also said U2, but failed to quantify how they sold out. To the Earth perhaps? What a poor sponsor choice.
Using an example of a performer or group that has "sold out," explain what "selling out" means to you, how you believe they have sold out and why you believe they behaved ethically or unethically in doing so. Once again, my utter lack of cool (I lost track of cool shortly after it's birth) to be a handicap. Oh, I am not looking forward to this class today, listening to idiots try to quantify the decomposition of some music that was never very good to begin with. Can it still be selling out if nothing of value was lost? Doesn't it require some sort of decrease in artistic quality? I find many artists lacking the ability to sell out entirely in this case, or perhaps the selling out occurred before I was made aware of them (more likely). I must be sure to differentiate between selling out and shark jumping. Further complicating things are those darn hipsters, always being hip, that refuse to acknowledge an artists fiscal success on some supposed moral grounds. Must an artist starve to make something of value? I disagree, perhaps the art that supports itself has the greatest value. Certainly it does financially, and what is wrong with being successful? I understand there is always some conflict between doing what you want and what you need. I should also mention product placement. Some of my favorite shows have numerous corporate parasites. I don't mind so much; they fund something I enjoy, and it can be funny at times. Although it does bother me a little knowing that there is no Chili's anywhere near Scranton. Never mind me, I'm having a discussion with myself.
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Now playing: Reel Big Fish - Sell Out
via FoxyTunes
"Dear Tom Cruise,
Your lack of belief in the existence of clinical depression tells me one thing: you didn’t spend $10. to see War Of The Worlds. If vitamins can possibly help me out of this spiraling funk, please let me know which ones. Dinos? Pebbles? Freds? Please, I’m crying out for help."
- Alton Brown, Food Network host of Good Eats and Iron Chef America
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I'm reading up on Feb 10th. It's here already in Australia. They made the front page:
Will Anonymous do as well here? There is also a gallery.
This is my new favorite picture of Obama:
And this is my new favorite picture of Clinton:
She left quickly after her speech, departing before Obama's scheduled arrival. But his supporters made their presence known, as chants of "Obama" floated up from the audience as she made her way offstage.
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I took this picture of my brother's homework assignment. It's best read aloud and with expression.
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Maharishi Mahesh Yogi has died. He wasn't on my deadpool, sadly. He hadn't been in the spotlight for some time. His political party had dissolved by the time I had learned of it. It's a real shame, because we may now never know if yogic flying can end poverty and create national force fields. I'm less interested in learning yogic flying than I am in learning the yoga flame. The Maharishi is survived by his website.
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I am moderately interested in applying for this job just because it requires working in the Zoo's dinosaur exhibit. I didn't even know they had a dinosaur exhibit! But I'd have to work at the zoo...
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Now playing: Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up
via FoxyTunes
It's always a little weird when you see people on television who you've heard on the radio. Today I found out what writer Byron Beck, a frequent mention on The Rick Emerson Show, looks like. That girl talked to him on PDX 49, because they were showing the episode of The Simpsons with John Waters and the gay steel workers. I guess because Byron Beck is gay? He didn't talk about any upcoming project of his or anything that I saw; he danced with the station hostess or whatever. After that I watched How I Met Your Mother, which while entertaining, at least 15% of that is due to Alyson Hannigan, if not more. Suddenly, a pilot! A new show! It just came out of nowhere, so I watched it. I enjoyed Welcome To The Captain. It wasn't amazing or anything. I'll admit the two largest reasons I continued to watch were sloth and unending loyalty to the Arrested Development cast. I spent a few minutes trying to place Joanna Garcia, first thinking she might have been Kristen Bell, finally realizing I recognized her from Reba. I feel very foolish for this mistake and guilty for recognizing anyone from the cast of Reba. I don't know if the show will take off (it has a decent hook[likes a pretty girl in his building but whoops she has a long distance boyfriend, will he get the girl?], but a shaky premise[he lives in a strange apartment building with lots of interesting neighbors, so what?]). I was really tempted to bust out a triple bracket there, but I felt I was pushing it as is. I apologize! I hope it does well; I want all the cast of Arrested Development to do well (and not do this). Also, I wouldn't mind to continue seeing Joanna Garcia a little more either. At least, until Heroes reclaims that Monday night time slot.
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I heard about these guys on NPR this morning and decided to check them out. I've been on a bit of an anglophile kick as of late with Primeval and found That Mitchell and Webb Look very entertaining. I spent the majority of my leisure time today watching their many sketches on youtube. Here's one of my favorites:
This one is also good if you can get past the whole biscuit business:
You should also definitely check out Numberwang and all it's derivations. If only I had cable...
NPR: BBC Comedy Hit Heads to U.S.
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