ad hoc.

No more home computer!

The cooling system has failed. Or so it tells me.

It is sad how dependent I am on that computer for entertainment.

You're a Gryffinclaw!: You are a determined and
intelligent person who is used to getting your
own way all the time. You are very passionate
about your beliefs and will defend them until
your last breath. Often Griffenclaws work as
lawyers or activists because they have feel so
strongly about a certain subject. You feel that
knowledge is to be used in a practical way and
you often have a very low tolerance for people
you consider of low intelligence. Although you
aren't a social butterfly, you don't have
trouble making fiends, people are usually drawn
to you. Your weakness is that sometimes you can
be insensitive, you're too busy being witty
that you don't realize that you're hurting
peoples' feelings, often your friends. With the
wit of a Ravenclaw and the passion of a
Gryffindor you can face all your battles in
life head on!

Which Mix of the Hogwarts Houses are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

great, I am obsessed with these blog chain things now.

7 things I plan to do before I die:

1. Live in Madrid.
2. Publish a book.
3. Develop a cult following.
4. Wear a size 00 to see what it feels like.
5. Help create an underground revolution.
6. See my gay friends marry legally.
7. Perform with an improv troupe.

7 things I can do:
1. Hold a good pity party.
2. Play the bass guitar (kind of).
3. Knit.
4. Read quickly.
5. Find other people's mistakes.
6. Explain anything I'm thinking and feeling, as long as it's written rather than spoken.
7. Rebel.

7 things I cannot do:
1. Sleep straight through the night.
2. Play sports or ride a bike.
3. Sing.
4. Live with my parents.
5. Have children.
6. Compromise my principles.
7. Understand why people are such morons.

7 things that attract me to another person:
1. Humor
2. Cynicism
3. Appreciation for pop culture.
4. Original taste in music.
5. Intelligence (book and street smarts)
6. progressive political views
7. arm hair (don't ask)

7 things I say most often:
1. WHAT?
2. I'm going to kill myself.
3. I'm bored with the conversation.
4. Whatevs.
5. Don't even get me started.
6. Look at this picture of a hot celebrity.
7. That was a really interesting story.

Now your turn! Post yours in the comments, or on your blog and leave a link here. I am sure I will see my usual readers, but Kevin, Brian, Mario, Justin…I know you lurk here, so I want to hear from you too.

This has kept me entertained for hours, and is now the desktop on my computer. Word has it there are at least 50 band names represented here.

So far I have:
Smashing Pumpkins
Alice in Chains
Garbage
Scissor Sisters
Guns and Roses
Whitesnake
The Eagles
White Zombie
Led Zepplin
Rolling Stones
Spoon
The Eagles

Brenda reinvents the irritating art of chain letters in blog form:

If your blog is listed below, here's what you have to do:

1. Go into your archives.
2. Find your 23rd post.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the sentence in your blog along with these instructions.
5. Tag five other people to do the same thing.

My sentence is:

It's still my cell, but I am trying to make someone think that I changed my number.

I believe I was explaining why I had a the computerized voicemail on my cell phone. That was back when I actually used a cell phone. I believe someone kept calling me (perhaps of the male persuasion) that I so maturely wanted a way to not talk to him anymore, so I pretended it wasn't my number anymore. Shit, I should write for Cosmo.

I don't even think I know 5 people who have blogs, but here are my 5:
Erin
Laila
Andrew
Onnie
Brandon

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (AP) — Stan Berenstain, who with his wife created the popular children's books about the Berenstain Bears, has died.

He was 82 and lived in Bucks County. He died in Pennsylvania on Saturday, said Audra Boltion, a spokeswoman for HarperCollins Children's Books in New York.

In more than 200 books, the Berenstain Bears, written and illustrated by Stan and Jan Berenstain, helped children for 40 years cope with trips to the dentist, eating junk food and cleaning their messy rooms.

The first Berenstain Bears book, "The Great Honey Hunt," was published in 1962. The couple developed the series with children's author Theodor Geisel — better known as Dr. Seuss, then head of children's publishing at Random House — with the goal of teaching children to read while entertaining them.

Despite changes in society in the last four decades, little has changed in "Bears Country."

"Kids still tell fibs and they mess up their rooms and they still throw tantrums in the supermarket," Stan Berenstain told The Associated Press in 2002. "Nobody gets shot. No violence. There are problems, but they're the kind of typical family problems everyone goes through."

Stan and Jan Berenstain began drawing together when they met at Philadelphia Museum School of Industrial Art in 1941.

The two married soon after he got out of World War II-era Army service and began submitting cartoons to magazines. They became contributors to The Saturday Evening Post, McCalls and Collier's.

They got into the book business when an editor at a New York publishing house who enjoyed their magazine cartoons asked if they would like to do a book, according to their Web site.

Their sons Leo and Michael joined them, and many of the recent books are credited collectively to "The Berenstains."

The characters are the subject of their own public television program, DVDs and a Christmas musical.

Pitchfork has a pretty accurate review of the new Darkness.

Unfortunately for Hawkins, there's still a very real possibility of him experiencing this Hell on Earth, despite the Darkness' surprising one-year slingshot from obscurity to worldwide fame. Even with millions of albums sold, the cynical legions still question the seriousness of the Darkness' intentions, often confusing the sense of humor apparent in the band's songs and videos with insincerity and winking satire. But all the discussion of falsettos and leotards misses the obvious: If the Darkness were anything less than completely honest devotees of the large-scale rock they're determined to resurrect, their music wouldn't be so successful or so unconditionally welcomed by the Pyromania tour-shirt-wearers that pack their live shows.

And it shits all over Panic!At the Disco, deservedly so.

It's sad that this is what emo has become. The genre's always had some irritating characteristics, but this newest batch of heartbroken heartthrobs has managed to build their careers solely out of those characteristics. The whining, the emotionally exposed lyrics, and the passionate choruses are there, but there's no sincerity, creativity, or originality.

What's cuter than the new baby panda?

No one told me my brother had a dvd coming out!

I'm stealing this quote from Hammers' blog.

'Isn't man an amazing animal? He kills wildlife - birds, kangaroos, deer, all kinds of cats, coyotes, beavers, groundhogs, mice, foxed, and dingoes - by the million in order to protect his domestic animals and their feed. Then he kills domestic animals by the billion and eats them. This in turn kills man by the million, because eating all those animals leads to degenerative - and fatal - health conditions like heart disease, kidney disease, and cancer. So then man tortures and kills millions more animals to look for cures for these diseases. Elsewhere, millions of other human beings are being killed by hunger and malnutrition because food they could eat is being used to fatten domestic animals. Meanwhile, some people are dying of sad laughter at the absurdity of man, who kills so easily and so violently, and once a year sends out cards praying for "Peace on Earth".'

preface from Old MacDonald's Factory Farm by C. David Coats

Right now I am theoretically vegan. Meaning I do it in theory and not in practice. My one year goal is to go vegan in the summer of 2007.

Pride & Prejudice was fantastic. Who is this Jane Austen and why is she such a good screenwriter?

I try to imagine myself living in that time period. The outfits look comfortable- kind of nightgown-esque. I'd probably be the town gossip. Either that or I would be dragged out on the street and shot.

Back to work after the holiday weekend. I fucking forgot how to do my job. I am sitting here staring at my computer screen. I almost forgot how to retrieve my voicemail. No joke. For the first time ever, I have zero meetings scheduled for today. I can catch up on stuff, like maybe actually balancing my budget. I have a budget of 20 grand that I take care of, and up until now, I haven’t been recording anything that was spent. I’m awesome.

Enought work talk. Yesterday I saw Rent. Oy vey. For a movie adaptation, it was hellacious. I am sore from cringing and clenching through the whole thing. Chris Columbus can’t direct for shit- he just films exact interpretations of the script (i.e. the first two Harry Potter films).

-Rosario Dawson- awful. Gross. And can they get her a better looking weave?
-Roger looks rough. It was funny to see a guy who looks about 40+ playing a young bohemian.
-wtf was with “What You Own”? Was is a fucking Creed video?
-It is funny to see the East Village protrayed as a poor, run down place. Now it is filled with yuppies with 8,000/month rent
-Ugly set. Didn’t look like New York- but props for putting Mars Bar on the street. But HELLO, IT’S NOT ON AVENUE A.
-Ok, I’ll admit, I did get a bit teary during “Will I”, one of my favorite songs.
-Here’s a secret: I knew every word to every song.

Associated Press
Nov. 23, 2005 12:15 PM

PAINESVILLE, Ohio - Snow and temperatures in the 20s are expected Wednesday night when a northeast Ohio woman begins a 15-day jail sentence by spending a night in the woods.

A judge in Painesville came up with the unusual punishment for Michelle Murray. The 25-year-old pleaded guilty last month to charges that she abandoned 35 kittens in two Lake County Metroparks. The animals were recovered but many had upper respiratory infections, and nine died.

Judge Michael Cicconetti said he wanted Murray to feel what the kittens experienced.

She will have no food or shelter but will have water and a way to communicate with Metroparks rangers in case of and emergency.

BENNINGTON, Vt. (AP) — A high school teacher is facing questions from administrators after giving a vocabulary quiz that included digs at President Bush and the extreme right.

Bret Chenkin, a social studies and English teacher at Mount Anthony Union High School, said he gave the quiz to his students several months ago. The quiz asked students to pick the proper words to complete sentences.

One example: "I wish Bush would be (coherent, eschewed) for once during a speech, but there are theories that his everyday diction charms the below-average mind, hence insuring him Republican votes." "Coherent" is the right answer.

Principal Sue Maguire said she hoped to speak to whomever complained about the quiz and any students who might be concerned. She said she also would talk with Chenkin. School Superintendent Wesley Knapp said he was taking the situation seriously.

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"It's absolutely unacceptable," Knapp said. "They (teachers) don't have a license to hold forth on a particular standpoint."

Chenkin, 36, a teacher for seven years, said he isn't shy about sharing his liberal views with students as a way of prompting debate, but said the quizzes are being taken out of context.

"The kids know it's hyperbolic, so-to-speak," he said. "They know it's tongue in cheek." But he said he would change his teaching methods if some are concerned.

"I'll put in both sides," he said. "Especially if it's going to cause a lot of grief."

The school is in Bennington, a community of about 16,500 in the southwest corner of the state.

Hey, here is some residential life humor (yes, there exists such a genre of humor). A colleague sent me this, and it illustrates the joy of working with parents:

Hello! You have reached our parents automated answering service. In order to assit you in connecting to the right staff member, please listen to all options before making a selection:

To complain about what we do/don’t do (or what your child says we do/don’t do), Press 1

To cuss out staff members and to remind us that your husband, father, mother, uncle, neighbor, neighbor’s friend, etc. graduated from our school and has power at our school, Press 2

To ask why your child didn’t get needed information that was already distributed to them via multiple fliers, emails, newsletters, etc. Press 3

If you want to reach out and touch, slap, or hit someone Press 4

To insist that your child’s roommate is crazy and needs to be moved out of the room, Press 5

To insist that your child’s roommate is a slob and that housekeepers (not your child or his/her roommate) must clean up their room, Press 6

To lie for your child about why they need some sort of absurd request (ie. “My child has a rare sleep disorder that requires they not have a roommate.”) Press 7

If you realize that this is the real world and that your child must be accountable/responsible for his/her own behavior, school work, roommate problems, judicial issues, etc., and that it’s not OUR fault that your child is lazy, unmotivated, unreasonable or is actually capable of doing wrong, hang up and have a nice day!

Turns out Hollywood movies are getting a tad more quality. Some upcoming movies that I actually may pay 9 bucks to see.

Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest. Dumb name, pretty cool trailer.

Memoirs of a Geisha. Although it is already getting bad reviews.

M. Night Shamalyan has a new movie, Lady in the Water. He may be getting just a tad too full of himself, in the way Wes Anderson has:
In "Lady in the Water," a story originally conceived by Shyamalan for his children, a modest building manager named Cleveland Heep (Paul Giamatti) rescues a mysterious young woman (Bryce Dallas Howard) from danger and discovers she is actually a narf, a character from a bedtime story who is trying to make the treacherous journey from our world back to hers. Cleveland and his fellow tenants start to realize that they are also characters in this bedtime story. As Cleveland falls deeper and deeper in love with the woman, he works together with the tenants to protect his new fragile friend from the deadly creatures that reside in this fable and are determined to prevent her from returning home.
I can't stop thinking of "I am the Lady of the Lake" or "I'm emerrrrrrging for you, Blaine" from the Upright Citizens Brigade. Second of all Paul Giamatti sucks and graduated from the school of overacting. However, the plot is intriguing. We shall see.

Oh, on another note, I just got a copy of Jenny Lewis' solo album. I'll let you know how it is.

Rize, directed by David LaChappelle. Love, love, love him. He has done some of the best photoshoots, videos and album covers.

The movie was mediocre, but the filming of the dance sequences were incredible.

Edit: now you too can learn to Krump! I think I would hurt myself in the first .25 seconds.

Aeon Flux- Music from the Animated Series
http://s62.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=1SUP9MGO6JT9J1OVR6LGLR04HY

Brokeback Mountain Soundtrack. Mostly country-esque, with some stuff by Rufus Wainright (obvs, it’s a GAY movie…)
http://s62.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=2LEHJF413BFD02EXRK5NJIXR6V

And, by request, a good lalbum from the Delgados (Universal Audio).

http://s62.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=08C9K9SG9MJ7928U2L9D6WGX9V

Folks, I don't ever want to see you on here.
http://www.patheticpersonals.com/

Random celebrity picture time.

I can give two shits about Brangelina, but apparently they are house hunting in DC. WTF? Do they need a place to say while Angelina lobbies the government for her causes? Is Brad interning at the 'Way? Can anyine identify where this is? I would assume Georgetown, but looks Dupontish.

Also, is it sad that the Harry Potter kids are becoming hipper than I will ever be?

Why is Katie Leung there? She had about 2.5 lines in the movie.

Oh please please please lat me make it through today and into break. Although, Tgiving, when you think about it, is 2 days off. Nothing major. But I need those days so badly.

Last night was my last improv class. I am really glad I pushed myself to do it. It is a really good stress reliever. Turns out I am amazing at the question game- if you watch Who's Line Is It Anyway, you've seen this- where you have a conversation but you can only speak in questions. If you trip up, you're out. At least I have found one thing I am talented at. My classmate asked if I had asked a lot of questions as a child. Actually, I told her, I find myself debating and arguing with people a lot, which probably helps.

My weekly tallies of most listened to artists:

1 Murder City Devils 78
2 Johnny Cash 64
3 Blondie Greatest Hits 59
4 Saturday Looks Good to Me 56
5 Gang of Four 49
6 Ash 46
6 Brand New 46
8 Blood On the Wall 45
9 We Are Scientists 42
10 Sean Paul 40

I thought I was the only one who cared about this. Some scholarly journal has some academic essays on the films of Whit Stillman (aka genius).

I didn't know if anyone of you knew this, but I am not a fan of holidates. Thanks to Snopes, I feel a little less hostile towards some of these corporate monoliths.

BOYCOTT LAUNCHED

A woman who recently complained to Wal-Mart that the store was replacing "Merry Christmas" with "Happy Holidays" received an e-mail response from Customer Service. It appears below in its exact form:

Walmart is a world wide organization and must remain conscious of this. The majority of the world still has different practices other than "christmas" which is an ancient tradition that has its roots in Siberian shamanism. The colors associated with "christmas" red and white are actually a representation of the aminita mascera mushroom. Santa is also borrowed from the Caucuses, mistletoe from the Celts, yule log from the Goths, the time from the Visigoth and the tree from the worship of Baal. It is a wide wide world.

To which Catholic League president Bill Donohue says: "This statement was signed by someone called Kirby. When I read it, I thought he might be drunk. But I was wrong. We sent Kirby's response to Wal-Mart headquarters only to find that Dan Fogleman, Senior Manager, Public Relations, agrees. After acknowledging that he read Kirby's response, Fogleman said, in part, the following:

"As a retailer, we recognize some of our customers may be shopping for Chanukah or Kwanza gifts during this time of year and we certainly want these customers in our stores and to feel welcome, just as we do those buying for Christmas. As an employer, we recognize the significance of the Christmas holiday among our family of associates and close our stores in observance, the only day during the year that we are closed."

Bill Donohue says: "It's nice to know that Wal-Mart is closed on a federal holiday. Now here is why I am asking the leaders of 126 religious organizations that span seven religious communities to boycott Wal-Mart. Go to its website and search for Hanukkah and up come 200 items. Click on Kwanzaa and up come 77. Click on Christmas, and here's what you get: We've brought you to our "Holiday" page based on your search. In other words, Wal-Mart is practicing discrimination. Contact Fogleman at xxxxx@wal-mart.com.

Yes, I see your point. Yes, we're even. I think for me, the Holocaust might as well not have happened because I have the ability to shop for Chanukka merchandise at Wal-mart.

The American Family Association is all up in Target's shit:

Follow the link below to add your name to this important issue.
Go to http://www.afa.net/petitions/signpetition.asp?id=1470 to sign.

Target Stores have decided to ban the words "Merry Christmas" in their stores starting this holiday season. Please sign this petition, which is about this important issue. The American Family Association is calling for a national boycott of Target Stores on the day after Thanksgiving (the busiest shopping day of the year), please join in…do not shop at Target! Let's get the message across that you cannot take Christ out of Christmas, even if you are trying to hide the very words Merry Christmas!

Holy shit guys, how can tv producers do this with a straight face?

TWENTY-FIVE BEAUTIFUL BACHELORETTES WILL BE PAGING NEW BACHELOR DOCTOR TRAVIS STORK — STAT — AS HE ROMANCES THEM IN PARIS, WHEN THE BACHELOR RETURNS TO ABC ON JANUARY 9, 2006

Vanderbilt Medical Center's Own "Dr. McDreamy" Will Star in the Popular Romance Reality Series, Which Will Be Set — for the First Time Ever — Outside the United States, In the Most Romantic City in the World

Travis Stork, a handsome 33-year-old ER doctor who is completing his residency at Vanderbilt Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee, has been selected to star in the eighth edition of The Bachelor, when ABC's popular romance reality series returns to the network on MONDAY, JANUARY 9 (10:00-11:00 p.m., ET). For the first time ever the series will be set outside the United States in the most romantic city in the world - Paris!

The hunky 6'4" doctor is a favorite with all the nurses at Vanderbilt. However, the Ft. Collins, Colorado native, who has a traditional Midwest upbringing, yearns to have the type of relationship that he has seen played out during his parents' 37-year-long romance. Travis considers himself a simple guy with simple pleasures, which he thinks accounts for his being a happy person. When he has time to take off, he's is a huge outdoors enthusiast. A real devotee of mountain and road biking, he also enjoys kayaking and hiking.

Thank you for giving everything I believe in a slap in the face. Of course I have to watch this train wreck. Call it "opposition research". I find it hilarious to see how long it takes for these blubbering 30somethings in halter tops to claim "they felt a connection" and that they are in love with him.

Oh, how great is it that they assumed all the nurses at the hospital are female? Wait, maybe they aren't. Then again, I don't ever want to see another season of Boy Meets Boy.