Just needs a little sparkle

Feeling down this Valentine's Day? Just add a little sparkle to your life...

I hope we understand one another

I don't really have anything to say at this immediate moment, but I noticed that my November blog posting count was fairly low. So I'm going to flashback, and talk about my first ever blog -- on Look Around You. OK, no I'm not. I'm just going to link to that article, and display the video for Little Mouse.



Ah, yes. That's why I love it. You rock, Peter Serafinowicz and Robert Popper. You rock. I'm still depressed that the screening of the Peter Serafinowicz Show (that is, the one I had tickets to see while I was in London) was canceled... Alas. Maybe someday it'll show up on BBC America...?

Little Mouse Lyrics.

The drought is over

The IT Crowd, Season 2 has started! The first episode aired on BBC on Friday night. I found it here. It was pretty funny (yaay for Richmond and Moss!), but based on my calculations, the next episode will be funnier. Why, you might ask?

Well, it all started with Season 1. Episode 1, pretty funny. Episode 2, extremely funny. Episode 4, really funny. The rest were funny, but not quite as funny. Following the pattern, that means the 8th episode will be very funny. Using some really tricky math that is way too complicated to explain to mere mortals, I have concluded that this means the 2nd episode of the 2nd season will be very funny.

And yes, I hyperlinked as many things in this blog as I possibly could.

Reasonably useless information

Every now and then various family members pass on relatively interesting pieces of information. Here are some fine examples:

From my brother:
Can't decide where to eat lunch? Spin the Wheel of Lunch. You can even run such queries as (your zip code) and "Thai," and it'll limit your options to Thai restaurants in the area. If you want details, read the explanation.

From my mother:
Go to google maps. Click on "get directions." Ask for directions from New York to Paris. Scroll down to Direction #23 or so.

From my sister (The Conqueror):
A new TV show! It's called Robin Hood, and it's on BBC America. It's about Robin Hood (did you not guess that already?). I discover many good shows on BBC America. Examples: Look Around You. My Hero. Shakespeare Retold. And I'm sure there are others.

What color is a mirror?

Now that I've gotten you thinking with my deep and philosophical subject line, I'm going to point you to two amusing but otherwise completely unrelated video clips:

1. All good stories are really the same.
2. Money can't buy everything.

That's some food for thought...

Goths are people too!

This is the point at which I admit to being a nerd. Yes, I have a degree in Computer Science. It's true. So here's the caveat: I think that the main topic of this entry--a British comedy called The IT Crowd--would be funny to non-nerds and non-geeks... but I can't entirely be sure. I'll give you the details, and you can be the judge.

I came across this show by accident, and was instantly convinced that I should purchase the DVD. It was worth every £.

Reasons I like this show:

1. A catchy opening sequence.

2. Maurice Moss. Is there a fire in the office? No problem--just e-mail the fire department.

3. Richmond Avenal--a.k.a. "The Goth Guy." Incidentally, when I researched the name (I figured it must be an anagram or something) I learned that Avenal, CA is "...the smallest city of approximately 16,187 people." Can anyone tell me where I can find the largest city of approximately 16,187 people?

4. The DVD lets you display l33t subtitles!!

- Episode 1 - some l33t, plus random tech speak/quotes/cultural references. Example: As Jen goes down the elevator, the subtitles state, "You are standing in an open field west of a white house, with a boarded front door." I miss the days of text-based games. It was the golden age of computers.
- Episode 2 - The subtitles are a monoalphabetic substitution cipher. More specifically, they are ROT-13 encoded. If you love browsing the Windows registry, you know all about this.
- Episode 3 - All the words from the episode's entire script sorted in alphabetical order
- Episode 4 - MIME base 64 encoded. Kinda like an e-mail attachment, before the computer turns it back into something you can double click to open.
- Episodes 5-6 - direct l33t translations

5. Great quotes:

Jen: Goths are people too.

Moss: Roy is stuck underneath a lady's desk.
Jen: What? Still?
Moss: Look, I know that normally this would be very funny, but he's been under there too long for reasonable explanation. If that woman looks down she's going to assume he's a desk rabbit.
Jen: What's a desk rabbit?
Moss: I just made that up. But that's probably going to be what they start to call people like Roy. But Roy's not a desk rabbit, he's my best friend.

Denholm (looking at the frame of a broken computer monitor with a raging fire behind it): Nice screensaver!
Later: I love the way the smoke seems to be coming from the top of it.

Moss: I am a giddy goat!

Moss: Events seem to be taking a downward turn.
or, if you have the l33t subtitles on: 3V3N7$ 533m 70 b3 74KiNg 4 d0wNw4rD 7uRn.

If you want even more details, check out the Wikipedia page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_IT_Crowd

Also, it sounds like a US version of this show is going to air sometime this year. If it's like other copycat/recycled show ideas, it won't live up to the UK version. Not that I'm cynical.

Where bluebirds fly.

I have a birdfeeder. Most of the birds that visit the feeder are either squirrels (shake my fist at them) or avian creatures with names that you may feel uncomfortable saying in polite company. Thanks much, introverted male ornithologists of days past.

Interested in learning more about these winged wonders? Try this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfvEgWINUFc

Yes, very educational. You probably didn't know about worker ducks or upside-down pigeons, did you? C'mon, you can admit it.

Look around you: Learn about music.

I love BBC America. It introduced me to one of my favorite TV shows: Look Around You. This show defies description... and it introduced me to one of my favorite songs: "Little Mouse."

Here is the BBC site for Look Around You:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/lookaroundyou/

Learn about music with Look Around You:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYfBTXiurDs

More about Little Mouse: (Canterbury rocks!! Go Jack Morgan, B.Sc.)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/lookaroundyou/series1/littlemouse.shtml
Full video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g09gOh2qwug

My second favorite video - Sulphur:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0dyvoVV5Tk