RhymePhile's Rat Race

I have nothing to say for days and then I wind up posting a hundred things a day. Sorry.

But this is good! Gawker has created a video of the 100 best viral vids of 2009 in under 3 minutes. After watching the compilation, you can then view each vid on its own.

I'm not a fan of people getting hurt or being made fun of or things like that in videos. My picks are either cool or heartwarming. And I tried to pick stuff that we haven't already seen a hundred times.

For the Cool:
#30, Glow-in-the-Dark Dancers is my top pick
#21, Post-It note animation
#27, This Guy Is Good At Everything

And probably the best one on there, Dog Freaks Out Upon Soldier's Return. Try not to shed a tear at that one.

I was killing time during lunch by watching old Simpsons clips I had in my Hulu queue, when I got to the clip from "Homer's Phobia," Season 8, Episode 15. In the episode the Simpsons meet antique shop owner (and gay dude!) John (voiced by John Waters) and Homer worries that Bart might turn out gay.

To prevent this, Homer takes Bart to a steel mill to see "real all-American Joes doin' what they do best." Of course, all the guys in the steel mill turn out to be gay.

So why am I posting this? Because before the "Gay Steel Mill" clip started I was informed that the clip had been brought to me by the Methodist Church! LOL! I'm sure it was just randomly generated from all their ads, but IRONY! Or perhaps it's a not-so-subtle hint?

See the upper right corner where you can click to be taken to the Methodist Church site.



And while I'm here,

I've been following the adventures of Alice and Kev, two characters created to be homeless in the Sims 3 by blogger Robin Burkinshaw. The tale has ended (though I'm a week late) and if you haven't read it before, now's the time since it's complete. It's really fascinating.

I've been doing some research for a story I'm writing (or hope to write once I get the prompt I want over at the deancastiel AU challenge) and came across this amazing book.

It's called "Letters of a Woman Homesteader" by Elinore Pruitt Stewart. You can read the entire book, all 282 pages, at Google Books.

It's the first-person account of a former washerwoman from Colorado who wants to see the West, and in 1909, along with her 2-year-old daughter, becomes a housekeeper for a wealthy rancher in Wyoming. The book is made up of her letters to a former employer back in Colorado.

What an amazing and inspiring read! Her descriptions of the wilds of Wyoming are vivid, as are the dangers found therein. She sees death, horse thieves, ranch life, and all sorts of wonderful characters. Her words brought me to tears a couple of times.

You have to read the whole book, because she expounds later about certain events she only touches on briefly in the earliest letters -- especially about the death of a child.

I wish I knew what ever became of her. I did find out! According to Wyoming Tales and Trails (read that link after reading the book, if so interested), In 1926, Mrs. Stewart was mowing hay. Her horses bolted and she was run over by the mower. She never fully recovered from her injuries and died in 1933.

If you're into the history of the American West at all, I definitely recommend checking it out.

A rainy Sunday here in NY means that I should be doing chores around the house, but I'd rather lie here and watch documentaries on TV. Right now it's the National Geographic Channel's "Race to Bury Tut." I love Nat Geo.

Earlier on the Discovery Channel I watched the freakin' scary "Killer Jellyfish."

Australia looks beautiful, and although I could never afford to go there (the airfare itself would bankrupt me), I obsessed on it for a time when I was in high school. Unfortunately, as beautiful as it is, GOD PUT ALL THE DEADLY STUFF IN AUSTRALIA! (pride_of_erin, you know it's true).

There is a jellyfish known as the Box Jellyfish, or Chironex fleckeri, down there that is the deadliest creature in the sea. With even a small sting it can kill you.

BUT! There's a jelly even deadlier that wasn't fully understood until the mid-90s. People were coming out of the water in unbelievable pain, but there were no obvious signs. That's because it's a miniature jellyfish, called Irukandji. Here's the first image of it caught in the wild. See that teenty tiny thing illuminated by the flashlight?



Here it is swimming. It's about the size of a human thumbnail with tentacles as thin as strands of hair.



Its venom is 100 times more potent than a cobra, and 1000 times more potent than a tarantula. They are different from other jellies in that they can actually propel themselves through the water; they have eyes and can see right-side up; and they sleep!

The two scientists there in the screencap were stung accidentally while researching the jellies. The guy had one brush his bottom lip slightly and the woman came into contact with a tentacle when she removed her glove.

She was bedridden for two weeks with what they say is almost complete debilitating pain. The guy was sick for two days. Even with the maximum doses of morphine the pain barely subsided. There is no antidote; the only thing that will aid your pain is time. A large sting is pretty much fatal.

My brother was 7 when he was stung by a Portuguese Man-O-War jellyfish when we were in Florida in 1984. He was wading in thigh-deep water, and the tentacles wrapped around his legs, side, and his bicep. He still has the scars. I was only 9 at the time but I distinctly remember the lifeguards pouring vinegar and meat tenderizer on the stings. He passed out from the pain.

I'm sure Australia is beautiful and all, but with the crocodiles, Box jellies, the Irukandji, the platypus with its venomous heel spurs (WTF?), and other weird shit down there, I am *never* going to visit.

This is stuck in my head!

I hate Mondays. I especially hate summer Mondays. Is it winter yet?

Saw The Half-Blood Prince yesterday, and by some fluke my girlfriend and I arrived at the small, old theatre in the midst of a shift change (maybe?) and walked right in without getting a ticket. Does that sound dishonest? I consider it a welcome happenstance, and remain karmically unworried.

I haven't read the book in a while, so as it played I started to remember specific moments. Still, it didn't affect me as much as the book's final three chapters or so -- which I pretty much cried through. My GF, who hasn't read the books, was confused at times. As an adaptation it wasn't very good, but the book is HUGE, so they had to do their best I suppose.

Anyway, here's a quick question: who was that sort-of demony-looking guy who was hanging out with Bellatrix? He was on the "Bad Guy" posters of the movie, but I couldn't figure out who he was. Looking it up on IMDb...was he supposed to be Fenrir Greyback? I need to read the books again, man. Then I need to make graphical representation of who everyone is and how they're related for the last two-part movie.

In other news: I realize all the kids are growing and becoming young adults and blah blah blah BUT HOLY CRAP TOM FELTON REALLY? Why did I notice his sudden hotness in this movie? Is it because he had to be all dark and evil and I might have squeed a little when he gave the "That was for my father" boot stomp? Sorry, but I sort of cheer for the bad guys in the movie versions. FREE LUCIUS MALFOY!

And the first time Alan Rickman was on the screen, my GF leaned over and said, "Reminding you to move the pork chops from the freezer to the refrigerator so they defrost properly. Do not disappoint me."



Also, this weekend my cousin's baby-daddy died at age 24. I haven't seen my cousin since she was little, as they moved to Mississippi years ago. Of my four cousins (all female, my mother's brother's daughters), she was the one that got pregnant at 16. Then again by a different man a few years later, then again by yet another different guy just recently. So, three kids, three different fathers, and she's 30. The most-recent baby-daddy is the one who died. Considering the fact that I don't think she has a very good track record in picking these guys, I'm going to assume it was drugs. My mother doesn't think my aunt will tell her all the details, so I suppose we'll have to guess and assume. Ironically, this is the family that had a strict religious upbringing.

I saw this on Jezebel...

Apparently this was done frequently by the band in the past, according to comments I've read.

Green Day is on tour right now, and at each tour stop lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong asks who in the audience can play "Jesus of Suburbia" on guitar. To get an idea of how he asks, see this July 4 concert in Vancouver. Watch until about 1:44, when the kid gets on stage. He can actually play, which is cool. That's nice. Watch until 1:44 and move on.



Okay? Did you move on after the above? Now watch TOTALLY FUCKING AWESOME ROCKER GRRRL STEPHANIE DO IT IN MADISON SQUARE GARDEN, BITCHES!!!! It's from this past Monday.



You go, Stephanie! Read more on the New York Times Arts Beat.

Also: I remember watching the video to their first single "Longview" (yes, I had to look that up) way back when they still aired videos on MTV. I don't particularly like Green Day, but I feel old.

This morning I went to check out the journal of oiyaoi (*waves*) who had added me as a Friend. I like to poke around and see who people are before I friend back (which I almost always do, unless we have nothing in common, which happens sometimes).

Anyway, oiyaoi had this bizarre John Barrowman clip posted, as seen below (um, sexual double-entendres abound, so kinda NSFW):



Since it wasn't listed exactly where this was from, I followed the little YouTube scroll after the vid and found the comedian was Al Murray, who is popular in the UK for a character he created known as the "Pub Landlord."

So, being American, the first thing I had to do is figure out what the hell a pub landlord was. Then I checked out YouTube for where Al Murray's Pub Landlord was most popular, a talk show called Al Murray's Happy Hour. Here's an episode where Al interviews John Barrowman.

According to Wiki, The Pub Landlord character is a "stereotypical working class British nationalist." He looks like a football hooligan to my American eyes, which I suppose is the look he's going for. John Barrowman is always great to watch when he's interviewed, and Murray is a very quick wit.

Anyway, the whole point to this rambling post is that I didn't believe the Horst Schwul (yes, Wiki told me what it means) character seen in that YouTube clip and the Pub Landlord character were the same guy! Then I spent like two hours poking around YouTube watching bits from the Happy Hour talk show, his stand-up routines, and sketches from Al Murray's Multiple Personality Disorder, his new show (where that JB clip was taken from).

Why can't we have clever, funny hosts like this on American TV? Why do we always have the boring 2-minute celebrity bullshit interviews with the Jay Leno's and the Dave Letterman's, who, I'm sorry to say, aren't really that funny?

Thank goodness for YouTube, and new Friends introducing me to new, better, Britishy things!

I purposely recorded and uploaded this video just so I could make this post!

Have you seen the new commercial by Dell advertising the candy-colored Inspiron laptop? It uses the song "Lollipop" popularized by the 50s group The Cordettes. If you haven't seen it, take a look.



Okay, you watched it?

Now, I bet you didn't see a curious moment at the beginning of the commercial...which is why I uploaded it. Watch it again and tell me why the room is dark at first, and then tell me WHY THE SECOND WORKER GUY POPS UP FROM BENEATH THE FIRST WORKER GUY AND THEN FASTENS HIS OVERALLS. What was he doing down there I wonder? You know where my dirty mind went.

This is what happens when you view the world with slash goggles.

During last week's repeat of the Supernatural episode "Monster Movie" (which I admittedly had on in the background and was sorta paying attention to, because I dislike that ep) the CW aired a promo for Season 4, which was the winning entry made by kookiemonster11 for Supernatural's Making the Cut promo competition, as seen here. I recorded it in high quality and you can see it behind the cut. It's less than a minute long.

( Supernatural Season 4 summer promo in high quality )

Through links of links, I have two new time-killers: Neatorama and Mental Floss. YAYZ.

It was posted a few days ago and I'm sure many have already read it, but here's an interesting article: 8 Starship Enterprise Facts That Every Trekker Should Know.

If the new one is playing at home I'm going to take my mom. I know it's Father's Day coming up, but my dad prefers to sit in front of the TV yelling at the guys who host fishing shows, telling them they're doing everything wrong.

My father hates sports and has never watched football, or baseball, or anything of that sort. His thing is hunting and fishing shows, Saints preserve us. There's only so many times I can watch some dude with a Southern accent catch bass, y'know?

I hope everyone has a pleasant Father's Day this weekend, whether you are celebrating with your dad, or remembering him. In my case, I hope he's not in a shitty mood, because I'm staying at my parents' for the weekend.

ETA -- Facebook lament from my mother: "Facebook: Everybody added me as a friend.....I only wanted to see photos!!!"

I know I'm not supposed to cheer for the bad guys in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, considering He Who Shall Not Be Named killed his parents and I read all the books and cried every time he looked in the Mirror of Erised or conjured his Patronus that was the same as his father's and Gryffindor!, honor!, destiny!, hero!, blah blah blah.

But every time I walk through the Times Square subway connection I keep seeing Tom Felton as Draco Malfoy on the posters and I get this little squee because he looks so ominous. The poster I refer to is here with my other fave Alan Rickman as Severus Snape in the background. Now if they could have added teh sex Jason Isaacs as Lucius Malfoy, all would be right with the (go Death Eaters!) world. Yes, yes, I know he's in Azkaban in the sixth book. I don't care.

All the posters I see every morning are here. They have them all put together one after the other in the station, so everybody's looking at each other.

This is going to be the most bizarre "look what I found on the web" via clicked links EVER.

I knew about Misha Collins' Twitter feed, and I hadn't read it since he escaped the bunker by turning the doorknob the right way. He's Twittering this bizarre tale, starring himself. It's easier to read it than try to explain it (calicokat reminded me of the feed earlier today).

Anyway, in one of his Tweets he mentioned Alyssa Milano and linked to her Twitter. LOL, I thought, let's see what she has to say.

She in turn linked to this really interesting post on Mental Floss, where blogger Chris Higgins discovered a website filled with Polaroid photo images from 1979 to 1997.

Turns out this guy named Jamie Livingston took a Polaroid photo of himself, his friends, his surroundings in New York City or wherever he was traveling, every single day from 1979-1997. He was a cinematographer and music video editor, and his photos show his daily life. Sometimes the photos show common scenes of his apartment, or images of the television, or street scenes.

You can visit the website to see all the photos.

But what's most remarkable about this is that the entire project is a memorial. Skip ahead to 1997, and you will see photos of Livingston in the hospital, after having had surgery. He's had surgery on his brain, as you can see a huge stapled scar on his head.

Within five months of that photo, the final image is of Livingston on his deathbed.

To learn about the whole project and why it was done, visit Only The Blog Knows Brooklyn and learn how his friends took digital photos of the original Polaroids and displayed all 6,000+ photos at Bard College in NY, Livingston's alma mater.

It's amazing to click randomly and see what was going on in the world on that date -- we see a newspaper reporting the death of Princess Diana in one photo for example, and the 1986 World Series was captured via photographs of the TV. It's also a remarkable study of one man's life, however fleeting.

Absolutely worth a look.

Did everyone get a chance to watch the Lord of the Rings fan movie I mentioned the other day?

If not, go watch The Hunt for Gollum now.

Some pros:

The soundtrack is marvelous. Hell, it's better than some television incidental music I've heard over the years. You can download it at their site if you'd like.

The costuming is perfect, and the makeup and prosthetics are professionally done. Oooh, the orcs. Awesome.

The acting is pretty damn good, and happily the actors have professional experience. They didn't get, like, Uncle George and Cousin Lucy to play Aragorn and Arwen.

The locations and set dressing are quite good, especially the outdoor scenes.

The cons:

The only con I can really see is the editing. It's choppy and uneven, and gives me a better respect for the talent needed to make scenes flow smoothly. The fight scenes weren't *too* bad, editing-wise.

Shit, I could never do that, but the editing is what really stood out from what was otherwise an amazing piece of film. It would be interesting to watch the beginning of Return of the King where we get that flashback with Smeagol, then watch this fan film, then start the trilogy.

The Boing Boingers mentioned this yesterday.

It's a fan-made Lord of the Rings prequel film, based on Tolkien's appendices of the time (HRH) Aragorn spent searching for Gollum and the One Ring. It's set before the film, when Aragorn was still a Ranger.

Long story short: it looks amazing for a fan-made film. I've been through the website, and everyone has had some sort of professional experience. They even have an orchestral score, visual effects, and prosthetics. The costuming looks fantastic as well.

It premieres this Sunday at the Sci-Fi-London convention, and online at Daily Motion and the film's website.

Check it out, and watch the trailers:
The Hunt for Gollum

He's an interesting read (if only for the comments): io9 covers "Great Unsung Slash Fiction Heroes". At first I thought it was making fun, but Charlie Jane Anders was actually pretty nice in her post.

Interestingly, she didn't cover Wincest. Perhaps that's outside the parameters of what she intended to write about. Still, interesting.

Got on the L going the wrong way this morning. D'oh! Then I had to get off and pay again to go the right way! Double d'oh!

The Fat Girl Flea Market takes place tomorrow. I have some stuff I'm going to donate, not much, just some dresses my aunt gave me years ago I've worn once. I'm on the lookout for not-boy work clothes, that is, clothes other than my T-shirt/jeans/sneakers ensemble I wear every day. It would be nice to find something!

So, is fandom making head-splodeys from last night's Supernatural? I can see how some people may be upset, but I thought it was pretty funny and (from past sci-fi conventions attended in general) a fairly accurate description of many, many people I've seen over the years. I laughed.

Yes, I recycled this from last year. I don't care. It's teh awsum.



Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone!

I have a Playstation Portable video game system. It's the God of War limited edition, which looks like this. Mine is pimped out though, with an InvisibleShield screen protector, a Joytron protective case, and a God of War skin.

The coolest thing is that the newest version of the PSP software comes with Skype. I've since disabled my phone landline (since I thought I was going to move) so I only have my cell phone.

I got my cell phone plan so long ago with what was then Cingular, now AT&T, that I am grandfathered in at 200 anytime minutes and 1000 night and weekend minutes. Now, this was fine when I barely used the phone, but now it's my only method of contact, I don't want to go over my minutes. There's no adding extra minutes to the plan -- you have to go all the way up in cost, the bastiches.

So, I bought a Skype headset to use with my PSP for $26, and ordered the unlimited Skype calling plan for $2.95 a month. I can call anywhere in the US or Canada for free. The terms of service say that I am limited to 10,000 minutes a month (yes, 10,000), and I can't talk for more than 6 hours at a time. Pretty cool.

If ma calls my phone at night, I'll just tell her that I will call her, and save her minutes too.

Man, technology is awesome.