Good news! Someone pointed out the other day that The IT Crowd is now airing on US TV! Set your DVRs and Tivos to record it from 3-3:30 am on Wednesdays, on IFC (which apparently is the "Independent Film Channel").
And stay tuned... in a week I'll have more to say on this topic! :)
Ah, well, there goes the illusion of democracy. I hope our nation's shadowy overlords forgive the technical glitch.
Diebold Accidentally Leaks Results Of 2008 Election Early
Hooray for the illusion of democracy! :)
Ah, yes. Fall television shows. Thanks to the writers' strike, they're all ending soon. Alas. I just might have to start doing productive things rather than watch TV. Anyway, here are my reviews of some fall TV:
- Kid Nation: Despite what some have said, I don't really think of it as child exploitation. It's more like a long, strange summer camp. They did have one of the worst challenges I've ever seen--chewing bubble gum, then handing it off to their team leader to create a "chew by numbers" picture!?! Yuck. And not hygienic.
- Pushing Daisies -- I love this show!! I can't even force myself to delete old episodes from my DVR. But I don't want to give anything away... so you will just have to watch it!
- Project Runway is back! No script, no writers, no strike, right? :) Anyway, one of my favorite things about Project Runway is the auction site--you can watch what people actually are willing to pay for the designs. Or you can buy them. But they only fit 6'1" size 0 women. Well... so they say. But this season's designs are telling me that I don't understand the latest fashion. This winning design would fit more than 6'1" size 0 women. It will also fit REAL women, including ones who want to dress like a pumpkin for Halloween. Top fashion? Um... okaaaaay... but if you tape eyes and a mouth to the front, you'll be a jack-o-lantern!
- In general, I'm not a fan of car shows. There is one exception: the British show Top Gear. I first happened upon this a few years ago in London. They had a race to see if it was faster to drive or fly or drive from London to a ski resort in Switzerland. It pretty much ended up a tie. Anyway, BBC America has started showing episodes. Example episode: take some arbitrary car, cut it in half, and turn it into a limo. Then drive a famous person to an award ceremony in it. Niiiice! But apparently it is also controversial.
- Bones? Yes, the acting is cheesy as ever. And the puns and other silliness. Like the tech episode featuring "Gil Bates." So creative. Yet still I watch...
- House this season is totally blah. If today's episode is as dumb as the rest of this season has been, I'm done watching it. I swear the first season... maybe even two seasons... was good. Alas, no longer.
- Heroes has been good this season... suspenseful and unpredictable. Too bad next week is the end of the "chapter"!
- Flash Gordon - This one surprised me. It started out cheesy, and is still cheesy, but it has drawn me in.
- Amazing Race - I haven't watched it for a few years. I was curious because I wanted to see how the goth couple would do. So far, they're doing well... interestingly, in the Top Dancer challenge, a group of VERY picky African villagers liked their dancing.
OK, that is enough. Time to go do something not TV-related.
On the finale of Last Comic Standing, they counted down some of the top moments in Last Comic Standing standup. This quote of Kathleen Madigan stood out:
I don't believe in anything. Anything on A&E, Aliens, fine. I believe them. My brothers are so scientific. "Well, there's no proof." What if they're just smarter than us, and that's why we don't know they're here... Like fish don't know we're up here, but we're certainly snagging them whenever we feel like it. Every time you catch one, those other fish are swimming around going, "Hey, wait a minute... where did Bill go?" And you know when we throw Bill back, the other fish do NOT believe his story about where he was.
This past weekend I visited my sister Melissa and her family in LA. My niece and nephew (Lauren and Robbie) are child prodigies... in sarcasm! It's great. Even my two and a half year old niece, Lauren, can dish it out. Impressive.
We were at the beach walking toward the water... I said something like, "Lauren, do you see the water?" But she didn't say, "Yes, over there," pointing to the ocean (like you'd expect a 2 1/2 year old to do). Instead, she put one hand on her hip, held the other out in an exaggerated questioning manner, then gestured back toward the sand and parking lot. "Where? Where?" she said, swinging around to point away from the ocean. "I don't see any water! What water?" Man, those moments you wish you had a video camera...
There's no doubt that she's part of our family! Our sarcasm bones develop early... :)
p.s. according to this article, kids aren't supposed to "get" sarcasm 'til they're at least 6, much less dish it out!
This evening I saw an inspiring commercial for some weight loss pill. It inspired me to laugh. It wasn't the "eat all you want and still lose weight" part that caused me to want to roll on the floor laughing. It was the next part: "We couldn't say it on TV if it wasn't true!" Riiiiight. THAT should inspire confidence in their product. As we all know, everything on TV is absolutely true. Does anyone believe otherwise?
Case in point: that SciFi channel show "Mind control with Derren Brown." Yeah, sure, you can trust it (after all, it is on TV). Just be sure you pay attention to things like shadows (especially in the episode where he was doing mind control tests on twins). That's all I'll say on that topic.
Speaking of entertaining commercials, I also have to note the latest commercials from our modern day Richard Simmons: John Basedow. First it was his "get fit" videos. Then it was the "get fit" videos with the cheesy 80s-style theme music. Now it's a triple-length symphony of cheesy music, fitness videos, and--of course--advertising for his MySpace page (which apparently features even cheesier videos of him as James Bond or something). Faaan-tastick.
One last noteworthy commercial: the one for the movie Stardust. The commercials seemed rather serious, but the movie was hilarious!! Two (or more) thumbs up, absolutely. Go see it! NOW!!
Wirelifting. You know, like shoplifting, except wireless Internet style. Do you hate it when your neighbors steal your bandwidth? Yeah, well, so does this guy. Check out his tips and tricks for discouraging neighbors from Intersquatting:
The Upside-Down-Ternet
We should build a statue in this guy's honor! Maybe in the shape of a nutria...?
This happened back in 2001, but that doesn't make it any less funny. I can just picture some young manager thinking this would be a funny joke:
"Toy yoda." And Snopes says it's true. Yay litigiousness. It reminds me of the little "I'll give you a hundred doll hairs" thing we did when we were 8 or do. Never did trick anyone with that. I wonder why not...
As soon as I saw this, it reminded me of a certain little apartment in Iasi (that's pronounced "Yash"), Romania:
http://www.voltier.com/hot/
Melissa knows what I'm talkin' about. :)
Philippines. Prisoners + Michael Jackson = amazing choreography.
Or maybe they just have a warden who is really into dance...
It's that time. Time for a recap of current TV shows! Yaay! These are the ones I consider noteworthy right now:
- Food shows. Three of them, to be exact. The Monday night boring pointless yelling one on Fox, and then the two I like. Let's contrast them. Next Food Network Star ends on Sunday night. I'm all for having guys pluck unruly eyebrows, but this guy is outta control. Put the tweezers away! Oh, right--the show. I'd prefer to have Amy win. In contrast, there's Top Chef, featuring this season's TALL GUY. Best line:
Guest Chef Judge: Wow, you're really tall.
CJ: Thanks for noticing.
- On The Lot. It's an anagram for Hen Lotto. Despite my Hollywood brother-in-law's feelings on the show, I've found the show to be entertaining. I like Will and Zach best. And I can't believe America has already voted all the girls off! Anyway, these are the films I've liked the best:
* Lucky Penny
* Nerve Endings
* Die Hardly Working
* Spaghetti
* Polished
* Dough: The Musical
* Danger Zone
* Worldly Possessions
* Broken Pipe Dreams
* Dr. In-Law
- Pirate Master. It's an okay show. They do have some interesting strategery going on. For instance, the current captain magically acquired a really fake British accent as soon as he put on his captain's jacket and hat. Plus they've already kicked off all the hot guys. Shame. UPDATE: I like the twist they added in today's episode, because it negated a significant portion of the strategery used by the captain and his mates. They brought back the eliminated players as "ghost pirates," and raced them for the treasure. Considering that they've been eliminating all the people they determined were their strongest competition, they've ended up creating quite a competition for themselves. Hmm, the show may be getting more interesting...
- Last Comic Standing, the International Version. Best line so far, from the Sydney tryouts:
I was watching a DVD the other day, and it had all this anti-piracy information at the beginning of it, you know? It was saying things like, “You wouldn’t steal a car, would you? You wouldn’t steal someone’s wallet, would you?” And I was thinking, “You know, that’s right! I wouldn’t steal a car.” But you know, if a mate of mine called me up and said, “Hey, I just got this new car, would you like me to burn you a copy??” I reckon I might consider it...
- Doctor Who. Creative as always. And, thankfully, I do like his new companion! Better than Rose? We'll see...
- Psych. It's back on! Hooray!
- Eureka. Nerd humor. Ridiculous and infeasible, but typically entertaining.
- Just for Laughs. I'm not impressed. It's an identical copy of the Just for Laughs that they show on BBC America periodically (though I think the show is originally Canadian).
- I almost forgot: Traveler! I watched the first few episodes of this show. It was painfully boring. Dumb plot line, and the frat boy main characters aren't interesting or cute. Even the dark haired blue eyed one (my favorite combination) isn't that attractive, with his googly eyes and perpetual confusedness. The show is now on my "please cancel" list. I never had a "please cancel" list before now.
Things that will be on soon:
- Dressed Up Crazy People and a Cheesy Host. Last season prompted much eye rolling. I haven't decided whether I'm going to watch this one yet.
- The IT Crowd. I love this show enough that I'm kinda expecting a disappointment. They're recycling British Moss. I wonder if he'll use an American accent for the show, like House. I bet his unique fashion sense will overtake the US IT community. Heck, it even makes ME want to wear a short sleeved checkered shirt with an ugly tie!
And I'll end on an IT crowd note. This is one of the reasons I love the show:
Ponder on those mostly-flightless birds.
Video #1: Chickens, flash mob style.
Video #2: Whatever you do, keep the chickens HAPPY.
Hmm... maybe I need more sleep!
Here it is:
Skywalkers in Korea cross Han solo
Whoever came up with that headline deserves some sort of prize. Do they award prizes for amazing headlines?
Despite the fact that this story has been proved to be a myth, I still find it amusing (indeed, fiction is allowed to be funny). Penguin thievery. But stories like these have their impacts: people apparently are calling a zoo in Utah and accusing them of harboring the stowaway penguin from the story. Stories that sound too good to be true (and that are full of plot holes and improbabilities) probably aren't true. Ah, well, you can still look at pictures of penguins on this penguin blog. Penguins are all the rage.
And here is xkcd.com's view of Snopes (the urban legend and myth debunking site):
This almost makes me want to sign up for a Facebook account! Or play the recorder. I can't decide.
These guys iz funny! Check out the Encyclopedia Rap. Or Pimp My Stroller.
Emily insists that I have to relate the full tale of the blog title. It all started many days ago. No, wait, it was Thursday. Emily's birthday. We went to Carrabba's for dinner. We had the same waiter that we had last time we ate there. Note, of course, that last time he gave us free ice cream for no apparent reason. No such luck this time around... he rushed us through our meal, and took my dinner away to box it up when I was pretty much still eating. It was fun. I suggested that perhaps the rush and lack of free sugar was because Emily was less attractive this time than the last visit. For some reason, she didn't like that possibility. To console her, I said, "your looks rock!" And now it's the title.
Rejoice, and show mirth, for behold, ye are now in on the inside joke.
Amazing what you find if you look closely...
Example.
Incidentally, try typing the following text into MS Word:
=rand(3,4)
Then press enter. It'll automatically insert the text "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." You can change the numbers around. One represents the number of sentences per paragraph, and the other represents the number of paragraphs. Hours of non-stop entertainment.
Sorry, non-nerds out there. You might not be able to comprehend the vast amount of humor in this posting. Maybe next time I'll say something about TV shows or something more widely understood by mainstream America. Maybe.
But today it's tech humor. Yaay!
Part 1: A Joke.
Years ago, when Apple first came out with their text-to-speech applications, two computer guys decided to use it to settle a score: the pronunciation of the name of a popular Unix text editor. The application is called vi. One guy said, "It's pronounced 'vye,' and rhymes with 'sky' or 'bye.'" The other guy disagreed, saying, "you just say Vee Eye -- it's just the names of the letters, it's not a word."
So into the talking computer application 'vi' went. And it said...
"SIX."
(get it? vi = roman numeral 6. oh, never mind.)
Part 2: Chaos Theory.
This picture demonstrates how not to set up your network. Yikes.
Part 3: Toys.
Specifically, USB toys. (fine, and some funny USB storage devices)
- You've heard of thumb drives, right? But you probably didn't think there was a real THUMB drive, did you?
- I don't know what to say about this digital storage device.
- This is arguably old technology (4 years -- that's ancient in computer terms), but it's still clever. It's a USB-powered rice noodle strainer.
- Everyone needs one of these. It's a USB-powered hamster wheel.
- If you're a workaholic (like me), you shovel your lunch down at your desk. Dropping too many crumbs into your keyboard? Clearly you need a USB-enabled duck-shaped vacuum cleaner. Why don't I have one of these?
-Have you declared war on your cubicle neighbors? It's your civic duty. Surprise them with a USB cannon, then beat them down with a USB-powered rocket launcher.
Who comes up with this stuff??
