The Josh and Rob Movie

See, it was a ongoing theme in Highschool (and even a short time afterwards) that we were going to star and direct in our own movie. Often it was really just a collection of short skits in our head that we never really pieced together but somehow involved Josh, Lisa, Phil, PJ and I buying the Crystal Ballroom and turning it into a swing club and we were going to be fighting the mob or something. The closest we ever got was to get our hands on a video camera for a Freshman year birthday party, man I should dig that up and the parents house...

Anyways, I was stumbling around the internet and came across Google Idol. Its like American Idol, but way better and I care a lot more. Why? Its just a bunch of kids lipsyncing and making their own music videos. You vote every week and its a little tournament. The kids I'm most impressed with at the moment are these guys who have a little "company" they call Exclamation! Films. They do school projects (art history videos in the vain of the crocodile hunter), music videos and their own short films. I really enjoy them, not because they're the greatest thing ever, but because they're pretty well thought out and frankly, there could be a future in it for some of them. Here's a first: The First Video on Rob's Space 2.0!!



P.S. In Google Idol, Ro's favorite catagory might just be the "Gay Idol" section.
P.S.S. Josh, do you remember any more of our movie?

I could SO be a judge.

My first Judge related story is this one. Some Christian group tried suing the Di Vinci Code movie on some ridiculous grounds of plagiarism recently in an attempt to pull the movie. Now I've read the book, and I was intrigued by some of its claims, but it took me about 2 seconds of research to realize that the book is completely bullhockey. Its complete fiction, and not science fiction either where it might be based on some sort of plausible truths... this is talking dogs and my dad is a robot alien fiction. He quotes real people, religious groups, and controversial books/theories, but then he jumbled and exaggerates everything beyond recognition. Coincidentally, he wrote a book about hacking and computers called "Digital Fortress" and it's supposedly just as ridiculous and the man clearly doesn't even know how to turn a computer on.

Geeze... I really got off topic there, what was I talking about? Oh yeah.... judges. So this judge threw out the case because it was, well, ridiculous and within his written, formal judgment there were some oddities. Some random capital letters and some crossed out letters. On the first page the capital letter spell out "Smithy Code" (his name is Judge Smith). And I thought judges were boring.

Second judge story, a guy brought a frivolous suit before a judge in Texas and closed his paper quoting: "Mr. Madison, what you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I've ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response was there anything that could even be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points and my God have mercy on your soul."

I could SO be a judge. I'm already in the political track, its not that far of a jump. I'll just be able to tell people they're stupid and wasting my time. I'm going to have to get some experience first though. I think Wednesday is amateur night at Deja Vu... I wonder if they have judges.

Presents

So I finally got Jamie her birthday present today. We decided to meet halfway since we're both really busy, yet she really wanted her new DVD Player (she didn't know exactly what it was, but new that the BEST BROTHER IN THE WORLD wouldn't let her down). Anyways, I needed to wrap it today, and I was SO proud of my wrapping job that I took pictures. And Jamie took the wrapping paper home to show Scott.





Also I played the greatest internet/popup/banner ad game today. You played as President Bush and had to beat up Mike Tyson but pressing this red button. I played it a lot. Turns out it was harder than I expected, because I lost a lot. Actually, I lost every single game. Every time I had to sit through the utter embarrassment of watching Mike Tyson knock out President Bush... I never did find out what they were selling.

What's going on?

Thought I'd bring you up to speed with a few things. You know, keep you all in the loop.

School
Finals are coming up. And I have about 50 pages of project due in a week or so. Yeah, that sucks. Got a lot of reading and writing ahead of me these next several days. Grades are doing good so far however.

The Buy
People in my department have stopped quitting for a while it seems... we've reached a point of equilibrium or something. There's still a couple on the fence but considering in the short time I've been there we've gone through 2 Seniors, 2 Supervisors and at least a dozen employees, its' pretty impressive. Now there's a restructuring going on in the store and looks like at least two managers have quit. It'll be interesting.

Ro
Donating her hair to Locks of Love very soon, maybe this weekend. We'll have pictures for you.

Videogames
I'm playing Puzzle Pirates, which has a bunch of games similar to Bejeweled, Tetris, Dr Mario, etc. Its online and its free. Only downfall is you have to download and install it, which may not work for some of you at business computers.

Also the Nintendo Revolution comes out in November. I'm getting one the day it comes out. I've already told all my managers this, they are all aware of the situation. Jamie also thinks she's getting my Gamecube (Gamecube games/controllers work on the Revolution) so if I'm feeling generous she just might.

Reading Selections
Just finished Barack Obama's book: Dreams from My Father. And I'm part way through American Gospel. I'm also reading Culture War for class.

Must Have Web Link
Deal Detectives

Alright Mom...

So mom gave me the topic of posting about getting shot. I don't know why you'd all be interested in me getting shot, its really not that big of a deal. Sure, my arm is sore as hell, but that's what happens when you get shot. My school has me on a temporay suspension because they think that I'm not safe for other students. I've been safe for a full year at UIS and now because of some legislators at some stupid capital building, this year I'm suddenly unfit for the classroom. Anyways, today I'm in Jerseyville because of my appointment at the clinic, and I have to work at 1:45 today so I have to drive back up fairly soon. Work is also difficult seeing as that it hurts to lift things, or raise my arm at all. This may permently hinder my Guitar Hero playing, and I may blame my inadaquate rock climbing on it for years to come.

The moral of todays story: Don't give in to new governmental regulations reguarding state school immunizations. And the Tetanus one is the worst.

Best Buy Stories

Got two of 'em for you today:

1. A man called and was asking about personal recording devices. He wanted something light and portable, with a good recording time and good quality. I suggested this, but said there were a lot of models to choose from and if he wanted a quality recomendation I'd need some more info. Then, without hesitation, he just said he wanted to hide it in the lining of his girlfriend's purse. I was a bit taken back... but he was very upfront about it. I then recomended the one that can automatically turn off/on when it hears sound. You'd get a much better battery life that way. I did forget to mention that they all beep a lot when the battery/memory starts to run out. Lets face it... they've got issues.
2. I had a very large, very loud woman who was computer shopping. She was one of those happy, likes to talk to everyone sort of people and was very assertive about what she needed and her personal life and finacial situations. Anyways, she had been working with Jason earlier but dismissed him so she could think. She was ready now, but Jason was on a smoke break. I went looking for him, but eventually gave up and picked up where he left off. As I was talking this woman suddenly, out of no where, SLAPPED the table with her hands and yelled across the store: "JASON!! Where the HELL have you been??!?!" She let him hang his head and continue forward a few more steps (still a good 30 feet away) before yelling "Have you been POOPING?!??"
   

I can see clearly now, the rain is gone...

Alright, so I've got two things for you today.

One is a video that I came across. Its a Korean music video, and I don't speak Korean. But I was lookign up Eragon stuff and the submitters name for this video was Eragon1985 and so yeah, that's how I came across it. Its a cute/romantic/touchyfeely thing and some people maybe into that. I am not, I like football and boobs and beer. I just watched the whole video to prove to myself that I could and it was a manly, manly thing and not because I just kinda liked it. (PS its a bit long, and a bit sad for standard music video.)

Now in a related story:

CYBORG VISION! there's a video clip about a quarter of the way down on the right side, where it says "Watch the Video!" Also here's another news clip. Now I know were not to the point of replacing eyes yet, but any step is a good one for me. Also as Ro noted, this article must be taken with a grain of salt. Apparently the news media likes to sensationalize sometimes, who'd a thought? Mainly commenting on "42 Million people are legally blind," too bad of those legally blind, a vast majority has better eyesight than what these roboeyes would give (mere flashes of light and rough outlines.) What do you think? Do you like Cyborgs? I know I do!

Easy Way Out

Today, I'm actually going to reference Josh's Blog. He has an awesome posting about Monkeys that I don't even want to compete with. I want to, just for today, encourge all my members to migrate over there and engage in our heated debate on monkeys. Please feel free to comment on Josh's site, I have a post about the bionic-woman coming tomorrow.

Love,
Rob

The Vandals

I've never really stolen anything. And I've never "really" vandalized anything either, I do have a small collection of signs, but I can honestly say none of them were actually up and in use when I got them. Anytime someone takes something like a Stop Sign from a street... I want to kick them a few times (and then a few more when they're on the ground). Seriously, steal a stop sign and someone can easily die. But this post isn't about stealing signs, it's about vandalism. REALLY COOL VANDALISM.

These first two links are videos. Really awesome videos. I really don't want to say what they are, because it can ruin the punchline (of sorts). If anyone here can't see the videos let me know in the comments but here they are. Creativity. Ingeniuity. No damage done. Museum Vandal (click Brooklyn). Post Office Prank.

Putting poor, begging children on the doors of expensive shops...

Plastering fake iPod ads all over major cities. Nothing big, mean or meaningful. They just wanted to make iPod ads with skeletons.

Fun with Crates.

Techy Type Graffiti.

its not Tahoe but...

I know, I know.... I promised a Tahoe post. But yesterday I overslept and was late for work, which means no post for you - it wasn't intentional, sometimes these things just happen. Don't worry I'll be throughly written up for it today I'm sure. What I got for today isn't Tahoe but it's better!

So for something else I stole from Josh, right underneath the Map-o-Whereyafrom, is my site counter. And under that is a "View my stats" button. Check out the awesomeness I found out in using that just ONE DAY!

First off, someone found my blog by using these key words PORN COMEDY. Man, that dude had to be disappointed. Check it out, sure enough I'm right there... 10th on the list.

Secondly, another person found my San Diego Picture post via: Computer Comedy Photo, what did I learn from all this? Rob's Space and Comedy go Hand in Hand. SNL eat your heart out.

Next on the list... I can get fairly specific information about IP addresses. Like Kimmy and Melinda, might you be the "St Louis Water Company"?

So go ahead, click on view my stats on the left side and see what you can find. I haven't explored it very much so if you see anything interesting, let me know. Scott, since I know you'll steal it from me anyways, the website is StatCounter. I mean, that's all you do is rip me off anyways. I work hard to rip off Josh's ideas just to have them lifted from me...

Hey look at that.... someone from Kuwait...

to tide you over...

Tahoe post coming later tonight/tomorrow morning.

Need an idea of what to get a geek?

So I was shopping around for my sister's birthday present and I wound up looking at stuff for me. And this whole time I'm STILL supposed to be doing a 5 page paper that's due in a few hours. I think I actually have and idea for Jamie but lets face it, this isn't about her. So do you know a geek in the family? Here's some things I think are cool.

Pets are a high maintance item, I've seen a few. Dogs and Cats (stupid cats), fish and Pirhanas. I mean, any animal you can feed raw meat too or if they eat thier own, that's pretty sweet. Here's something that is a "conversation starter". A Carnivorious Plant Set.

Kimmy, you'll appreciate this one. Actually if I was still working at AWR, I'd buy this for you. Terribly Blunt Desktop Signs. Umm let me add this one to the list as well... Totally awesome stamps for work.


No Geek shoping list would be complete without a black T-Shirt. Every dirty, grungy, gaming technophile needs a large black t-shirt collection.

Geek Gagets are always better. Why have an alarm clock for college where you can only set one day at a time. This clock knows what day of the week it is, and you have a preset alarm for EACH DAY. I know I'm excited.

Lastly, you're gonna want to wrap that up in some totally awesome wrapping paper. You're gonna be able to tell which presents are from me for now on.


So there you have it, this list is far from complete, but I just wanted to hilight a few areas. I hope you all learned something today and remember I accept presents on every holiday, even foreign ones. Tomorrow is Phone Day (in celebration of the first telephone being installed in a house.) Not implying anything, just informing.

The Perfect Storm, Take 2

So I guess it was my punishment for being in Cali during the last one. Springfield obviously thinks that a tornado is something I just really need to experience right now. So I used my cell phone and documented the event. Here's the storm 5 minutes before it hit, we looked it up on the internet back at Geek Squad.


yeah, that white word directly next to all that red (right side) that says "Springfield."

So when the sirens went off we gathered up all the customers in the middle of the store, under the major support beams and away from the huge air conditioning vents and tried to keep everyone calm. Some were pissed (like it was our fault), some were crying, it was a good time. I'm a pretty calm person, but when it roof started shaking and you could hear things slamming around outside and the building was creeking... and then the sliding doors blew inward (they're made to do that under extreme pressure (although its broken nonetheless), I was a little nervous. Here's a pic of everyone in the middle. I wanted to get a ladder and take a nice aeral shot, but lets face it, I didn't want to die.


In the end, besides a few very small leaks and broken doors everything seemed to be fine. Lowe's Hardware apparently got messed up a little and there was a small fire, and you can see some of the damage in the link above, it really wasn't that big a deal... now. THEN, it was a big deal. But no harm, no foul.

Oh yeah, someone stole a CD while we were all there in the middle. The nerve of some people.

One last link, tornado related. An interesting video clip.