I Love the Internet

Sure, it's a small victory, and some sites get this many page views on one article alone, but I'm kind of proud of the fact that Good Bloggie is rapidly approaching 5,000 views. I feel like I should have a party, but I think it would only be me, binge-eating cake as pink streamers de-tape themselves from the walls.

My job has gotten kind of ridiculous lately. I'm finding it incredibly difficult to stay on task, and really, really dread going every day. I used to get really excited at the prospect of being able to blog in the mornings, but sitting in front of a computer for 8 hours kind of drags that out of you. After going to L.A. for a weekend, I'm really, really itching to get out of Colorado. But, the good thing is that I go to Europe in about a week and a half (gulp), so that is going to have to be my precursory adventure before my real-life adventure. To be honest, I'm incredibly nervous about going to Europe. I'm just afraid I'll get terribly homesick, or bored, or lost, or mugged or something. I'll do my best to blog from there, but I'm pretty sure internet access is going to come at a premium. To be totally honest, this is the kind of thing I would love to do. I could be completely content writing all day long. I guess if I had to pick something that I thought I was my best skill, that would be it. Then again, I tend to overthink my sentences. I actually write better (although sometimes less coherently) when I'm drunk. Great, another reason for me to keep drinking instead of stop.

Like I said, I went to L.A. this weekend for a little getaway. And get away we did -- the whole trip was awesome. California is like its own little country. However, I was really surprised by how normal people were. Granted, we didn't spend time in West Hollywood or anything, but even when I went to New York, I was taken by how rude people were. People in L.A. weren't always rude, just in a hurry. Plus, I ate like 4 cheeseburgers and then got back and heard that there was a huge beef recall, from a supplier that supplied to the places we ate at. So if I go crazy in 10 years from Mad Cow, it was nice knowing you. I seriously have tried to stop eating meat, and I cannot do it. I love meat. Meh.

This item is a little bit old (in internet time, anyways) because it kind of goes into the whole "what the hell are we going to do without writers" freakout the networks were having, but Fox apparently ordered a season of a popular Japanese game show for American audiences. The game sounds so ridiculous, and it pretty much is, but watching it on YouTube was actually really entertaining. The point of the game is to squish your body through differently shaped holes on a moving wall, and not get pushed into a pool of water. Even if it doesn't come to fruition, it's a pretty entertaining video to watch.



I'm totally behind on this, but I'll assume you guys are too, because knowing about this show would mean you regularly watch Nick Jr., which hopefully isn't right on your level. It's called Yo! Gabba Gabba and is actually pretty indie. I know, that sounds weird, but it's had Biz Markie, Elijah Wood, The Postmarks singing a song about baloons, and all sorts of other cool shit. But! This is by far my favorite thing from a kids' show in years:



I would fucking kill for a Timbaland remix of that song. So yummy! So yummy!

Say you're in a gang. You've got to have colors, right? Red, blue, black, or... purple. And say you're looking for something that's gonna tie you together, like a shared love for violence, or drugs, or rap music, or.... dance. I mean, it's not too far-fetched, right? I guess that's what these guys were thinking in this after-school special. The song's awesome, I think it might deserve the Pharrell treatment too.



Ahhaha.... so awesomely bad.

What happens if every urban legend were to suddenly come true? The horror!!!



Anyways, there you go. Whit Dizzle out.

Ew.

When you go under the knife as much as Good Bloggie has, something is bound to get messed up. It's like letting a 5th-year English student put your hot neighbor under anaestethia and expecting her to look hotter after a 9-hour surgery. That's pretty much how I feel about the way my stupid blog looks right now. I hate it, but I'm not good enough with html or xml to fix anything. I'm pissed. I just wanted to let everyone know how dissatisfied I am with the way everything looks, and that I'm going to try to fix it soon.

Here We Go Again...

Hi Kiddies – once again, let me apologize for making these posts so few and far between. Work has been hectic lately; yesterday I worked an 11 hour day. Sigh.

Anyways, I’ve got a gang of stuff to put up here, so let’s get started, shall we?

This is terribly old news, and may not even be news to some of you, but did you know that Journey got a new singer? And that he’s Filipino? And that he used to be homeless because his mother died when he was 11? And that he can rock your face off??? Check out this video – it’s so crazy to see him segue from his normal speaking voice into perfectly unaccented, Steve Perry-esque singing. He is seriously good, too.



I’ve been dorking out about Cloverfield for about a week now. Not only was it a pretty sick movie (the best part of my experience being when some random asian guy behind me leaned over to his girlfriend and oh-so-tenderly said, “GODZILLA!!!” in her ear), but it was also interesting because of all the little mysterious bits. Was that the monster dropping into the bay by Coney Island? Does the recording at the end really say, “It’s still alive” when played backward? The buzz on all the blogs this week (I love that phrase – it’s like I read all the blogs in the world. Which I do. Because I’m so… not nerdy at all) was that there’s a possibility for Cloverfield 2 – apparently, when they are all on the Brooklyn Bridge, there’s a quick shot of another guy filming the main characters. The possibilities are endless for something like that. However, whether or not it will come to fruition or not is in question – after being out for only a few weeks, the movie has dropped to number 9 at the box office. I guess the strong opening numbers were because of the awesome viral marketing, and not as much because of the actual plotline.

Lost started up again! J.J. Abrams seriously has me in his pocket. Actually, it seems that he’s got everyone else in there, too. Despite my naysaying because of its paltry second season, there were apparently 16 million viewers for the season premiere. This was in contrast to 18 million for the season two premiere, but it’s still a very solid number. I would just dork out here, too, because I spent a good hour yesterday on Lostpedia, but I won’t bore you if you’re not into it like I am.

Gnarls Barkley has a new track out (well, someone does, I’m not terribly sure it wasn’t leaked). Nothing can probably compare to the popularity of “Crazy” (if you’ll let me get a little nostalgic, that track was actually the second thing I posted on on this here Bloggie. Tear). But if you’re interested in checking it out, Hype Machine has a ton of them from last week. Lord I’m behind the times – click on this link .

I’m going to Los Angeles in a week and a half! Random, I know, especially when I’m supposed to be saving my money for Europe (gulp), but the price was way, way right. Less than 200 bucks to LAX – can you believe it?! Meatball and I are going to visit Mister Mathematics Kraxburgular, and my friend Hanna, who I have known since I was in 3rd grade. It’s going to be a blast – I’ve only been to California two times before, and mostly northern California at that.

Oh, this is a sweet video -- 200 people went to Grand Central Station and just froze where they were, in unison, for 5 minutes. It's crazy.



This is a skit some guys did about Google Earth -- where do people come up with these things?


Remember when I posted "Drunk History" with Michael Cera in it? Well here's another one, complete with Jack Black and Clark Duke. Surprisingly less funny, but still sweet.


And this is just the weirdest fucking thing I've ever seen.


Well, it looks like that's all I have for today. Oh, apparently I missed Fat Tuesday by an entire day because I was working until 8pm. Who does that?! I love being fat! I love Tuesdays! Damn!

Stop!

Before I go off on my little Aspen adventure, here's a picture that made me laugh. It's like, the nerdiest, most Whitney-relevant thing I have seen on the web all day.

Have a good weekend, kiddies!

We're Both Kinda Cute For Two Ugly People

I really don't have much to write about today, I just feel slightly obligated to post something. Also, my boss is MIA, so I've got all the time in the world, baby.

So it looks like John Mayer has retired from blogging. Good thing, too, because he was making me look bad. That guy had the most insanely intelligent writing style. It was so witty and well-spoken, and it only served to make me feel bad about the way I write. Good Riddance, John Mayer's Blog. ...I'll miss you...

Oh, of course, the big news item this week, (that actually eclipsed the "Britney's A Crazy Bitch" normalcy) was Heath Ledger's death. I was pretty saddened by it -- I was always a fan, and I think I still have a "10 Things I Hate About You" poster on my wall at my dad's house (don't judge. My room there hasn't changed since like, 1999). Anyways, I guess the official autopsy won't be back until Monday, and until then, feel free to speculate about what happened to him, because you won't find it here. There have been so many other good posts on his work, and his life, and I really don't feel like I would do him any justice. So if you're looking for some intense pontification, I'm sorry to say, but you just won't find it here today.
Here's a really good post that's a little out of the norm -- from someone who actually met him:
http://chelseatalkssmack.blogspot.com/2008/01/rest-in-peace-heath.html

Alright, that was depressing, so take a look at this:




I've been toying with the idea of moving my blog to an official website -- however, yesterday, Comcast shut off my fucking service before the end of the month, so I am without internet and cable. It. Is. Shitty. Seriously. You don't realize how much time you spend dicking around on the internet until you don't have it anymore. I had this big plan of building my site with Dreamweaver and launching it, but I guess that's going to have to wait a few weeks, until I can get my computer installed at (shudder) one of my parents' house. Guh.

Apparently everyone in the world knew about this song, "Heartbeats", but I just learned of it. It's by The Knife, out of Sweden. It's old, but it's a fantastic song.




A few weeks ago, I was watching Bloc Party's set at Austin City Limits from last year, and the next band that played was Ghostland Observatory. They are freaking awesome. It's just two guys out of Austin that play electronic music. Take a listen.

I spend a lot of time on Flickr, going through photos and finding new backrounds for my phone (bee boop boop, that one's for you Kraxburgular), but this set is really, really cool. It's people posing with album covers. Blogger's picture uploader isn't working right now (ah, memories from the past), so here's the link. Check it out.

http://www.flickr.com/groups/sleeveface/pool/

Alright, my computer is blowing up and I can't hear people coming down the hall, so I'd better stop where I am. Oh! I forgot! I'm going up to Aspen this weekend for the X Games. I'll report back, I promise.

Society, It Was Nice Knowing You

God damnit. I'm going to sound older than my twenty-two years here, but I seriously don't understand kids these days. Like, text-speak? What the fuck is that? Use some vowels! Jesus!

Like I mentioned before, "Crank Dat" jumped the shark the moment I walked through Zydecos and there were more white kids than black kids doing the dance to it. Actually, the moment a rap song hits the Fort, it's probably so out of date that when the DJ bought the album, they had to blow the dust off of it just to make it play. So what do you do if you're a one-hit-wonder like Soulja Boy? Easy! Just make another infectiously stupid song. And the hook on this one? "Blahrgightyhgighbyaaaah!" Seriously.



What the fuck is going on in this video? I seriously cannot wrap my mind around it. Tiny claymation gangster? Dog the Bounty Hunter lookalike? They couldn't even get the real thing?!

I'm sure, though, that I will have the song stuck in my head for the next 3 days, and will most likely be yelling, "YAHH TRICK YAHHHH!" at my friends. Damnit!

Showtunes?

I don't think people take enough videos on their cameras -- I mean sure, I like me a picture or two (or 1300, according to my Facebook page...sheesh), but videos really capture the essence of how drunk you or your friends really are. With this, I present to you: my friends Dan and Will, singing showtunes. So. Freaking. Awesome.

Honest to Blog?

Well friends, I know. Let me have it, I'm just as ashamed of myself as you are. I figured that because I am working full time, which means at least 8 hours of work a day, I should get a longer lunch. And since I usually work right through lunch, I figured it would be a perfect time to blog. Go me.

I suppose I should start this post off with a video from CollegeHumor -- some guy gets drunk, and amazingly recounts the entire Hamilton/Burr duel. What I haven't mentioned yet is that it has Michael Cera as Hamilton. Shitchyeah.



I’ve been a fan of Lupe Fiasco for quite some time now, and honestly, find me someone that doesn’t like Kanye West or Pharrell, and I’ll show you a liar. I’m fairly surprised that there hasn’t been more buzz surrounding this news item – the three of them have formed a “supergroup” (I use the term lightly because, well, it’s stupid).

"Chicago Runs Shit" is not just an opinion anymore. Kanye West, Lupe Fiasco and Pharrell have joined up to form a new super-group named exactly that. Lupe and Kanye both call Chicago home while Pharrell is a Virginia Beach native himself. A more fitting group of Chicago artists might have been Common, Lupe and Kanye. Regardless, the group (which isn't about fashion) is quite possibly the top secret project Lupe Fiasco referred to in an interview with Billboard magazine earlier this month. In that interview, Lupe was said to be working on a "top
secret project" with "another superstar rapper and someone who is a rapper/producer." It was not revealed whether or not this would be for an entire album or just a few songs. The 'CRS' group was revealed over the weekend when details surrounding the "Can't Tell Me Nothing" mixtape were released. The first song the group released is the track "Us Placers" which uses a sample off of Thom Yorke's (of the group Radiohead) "The Erasers."

The single, "Us Placers", is really smooth, and the video has much less hype than you would think – Lupe, Kanye, and Pharrell mini-doppelgangers rapping the song, along with a mini (and slightly out of place-looking) Thom Yorke.



And here’s a really cool Lupe video a fan made – try not to watch the whole thing.



I’m always trying to incorporate new phrases into my speech, because saying the same shit over and over again gets boring. Anyways, I’ve been trying to incorporate “Do me a solid” and “I’m salty” for “Do me a favor” and “I’m pissed”, respectively. I know how ridiculous that sounds, but I just wanted to give everyone fair warning. Hah.

And because this wouldn’t be my blog without it, here’s a video of a cat getting into a fishbowl. Cats! They’re so curious!



Am I the only one who is really, really excited for LOST to come back? I know that there are only six episodes (someone, just pay the fucking WGA already), which in Lost-time means like, one real episode because that show is such a mind-fuck anyways, but I’m still stoked. The marketing that ABC has been doing has been so viral that anyone who doesn’t watch the show wouldn’t get it. I suppose that’s good, because if I were an ABC exec, I wouldn’t want to do a big push to draw people in when the show you’re advertising is already incredibly cryptic and confusing in the first place. Anyways, there was a site: http://www.flyoceanicair.com , that announced the fact that Oceanic had “stopped its search for flight 815”. A little while after the site was launched, someone “hacked” into it, leaving a video message. Anyways, there’s a phone number for booking, and being the good little Lostie I am, I called it, but was just directed to the same voicemail box over and over again. If they’re going to make you do so much work, why not reward you for it?! Anyways, check it out for yourself, and let me know if you have more luck than I did in digging up more clues as to the next few episodes.

Like I said earlier, I got Netflix a few months ago. It’s pretty awesome. My favorite thing in the world is to sit on my ass and do nothing, so it really works well with that. The best part is that I can (blah blah blah, I’m so indie) find all of the movies on Netflix that I can’t get here in the Blockbuster store. I had been waiting for Half Nelson to come out for EVER – I seriously wrote about this movie in September of 2006. It finally came to my house, and lemme say one thing: don’t do crack. Seriously. The movie is about a middle school teacher who does a lot of blow, and drinks a lot of alcohol, all while trying to teach his students new ideas about history. There’s one girl in particular that takes an interest in Ryan Gosling’s character after finding him smoking crack in the girls locker room. They form a bond, made stronger by his increasing solitude and the fact that he is unable to share his secret life with anyone else, and her desperate need for a father figure. I swear to god I would watch Ryan Gosling talk to a cardboard box for two hours… that man is an incredible actor, and not to mention very easy on the eyes. That’s why I’m super stoked about the fact that Lars and the Real Girl is getting a wider release – I saw the trailer for it last weekend, despite the fact that it’s been released (but not widely) since October.

Even though the Rhapsody commercial kind of ruined their outright street cred, Cool Kids are awesome. They’re from Chicago, and have a really stripped down, late 80’s sound about them. This is my favorite track of theirs, “’88”:



Another song that I cannot stop playing is Adele’s “Chasing Pavements”. This girl has the most powerful voice – plus the song is really soulful.



This is a song that I put on Mark’s original CD before I accidentally erased it. I’ll throw it up here because I’m still recreating it, and Mark is stupid anyways. ;)
It’s by Mobius Band out of NYC. So good.



Alright, I guess I’ve written enough to keep everyone sated. Oh! I forgot! In my accidental hiatus, Good Bloggie hit 4,000 views!!! WOOOO!!!!! Thanks, anonymous blog readers! You give me such a heart on!

Ermmmm....

Hi. It's, uh. It's been a while! How have you been? Good? Good. Me? Oh, I haven't really been doing anything, just working. No, no, I don't have a real job. So... yeah! It's so great to see you! We'll have to catch up sometime! Heh.

I'm not sure if you remember me writing about a movie called Be Kind, Rewind a few months ago, but it's coming out next month. If you don't remember the plot, it was about a guy (Jack Black) who's brain erases the entire video library at a rental store. The store's most loyal customer is an elderly woman, who inspires Black and Mister Mos Def himself to recreate movies that she wants to watch. Basically, it's an excuse for the two of them to remake ridiculous movies like Robocop and The Lion King. Should be awesome.

I know that I'm kind of on my own in movie-fanatic world, and that most of you probably don't have Netflix or Blockbuster Online, but I always find it interesting the movies that people put into their queue. Right now, I've got Half Nelson and Kinky Boots coming in the mail, followed by Hard Candy, The Lookout, Lost In Translation (haven't seen it in a while), The Simpsons Movie, La Vie en Rose, This is England, and a few other random ones that haven't been released (Rocket Science, eeeee!). Matt recommended Once to me, I just apparently have forgotten to add it until now.

Have you ever read the "Best of" section of Craigslist? People nominate the especially ridiculous posts they come across, and then Craigslist compiles them all into one place. They're hilarious to go through, like this one, from Denver:

Free BLOW!!
Here's the thing, I'm trying to clean up my life, but I've got to get rid of all the drugs from my past. So last night, as I was trying to empty all my stuff into the garbage, my wife came out and started trying to rip it out of my hands. Needless to say, and argument ensued, and soon the neighbors were in on it too. We all stood there, arguing over what to do with the dope I wanted to throw out, when suddenly, my neighbor tried to rip in out of my hands. Now, I've got a serious problem. The bag ripped and the white powder went EVERYWHERE. I mean, it's all over the lawn, the driveway, up and down the street. There's just a bunch of dope out there lying on the street. I'm terrified that the cops will come at any minute. I mean, this stuff is thick, we're talking several inches just covering everything on the whole street.

Matt actually sent me a post from Denver once that was about someone giving away an entire bag of discarded Hammer pants. Oh, how much more amazing my life would be. Oh, and one post on "Best of" was addressed to "Cockless Fuckmuppet". Bahahah.

I came across a blog today that was entitled "My Blog is Poop". There's something so awesome in being entertained by stuff like that. Speaking of being ridculously immature (and trying not to be a bigot, I swear), I will never, ever be able to keep a straight face when I see this word:


Heh.

This video is cool -- the flight of a paper airplane from a building in New York City.



I don't think I actually posted on the whole In Rainbows Radiohead release, just because there was such a fucking hooplah about it that I didn't want to make myself sick talking about it. If you don't know what I'm talking about, Radiohead decided that its fans could pay whatever amount they wanted to get their new album, In Rainbows -- one cent, $200.00, whatever. It caused a flurry of talk about the "future of record sales", but I know for damn sure that Radiohead is probably one of the only bands that can pull that kind of thing off. I don't see anyone paying $200.00 for a Daughtry album. Then again, who knows. Those American Idol fans are like a pack of wolves. Anyways, I wanted an excuse to post this video of Thom Yorke (the man with entirely too many letters in his name), because the dude is crazy. Crazy genius, maybe, but a wonky-eyed one at that.


"That's betta than havin' two legs!"

I've been playing the shit out of the Cool Kids -- a couple of rappers out of Chicago that are making a moderate buzz right now. They've got a really stripped down 80's style, reminiscent of Run DMC. Check out this song, it is tiiiiight.




I could write something about the Iowa caucus, but I just don't have it in me. Instead, I'll just point out that "caucus" sounds dirty and then copy/paste something from an article.

Predictions, however, are difficult. The polls are all over the place. Among Democrats, a Des Moines Register poll showed Illinois Sen. Barack Obama leading New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton 32% to 25%, but a CNN poll found Clinton leading Obama 33% to 31%.Among Republicans, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney was leading former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee in the CNN poll, 31% to 28%, but the Register poll showed Huckabee leading Romney 32% to 26%.

If you haven't, at my insistence, started watching episodes of "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia", then you eff off. You eff off right now. It is so, so, so hilarious -- if number 1a. in my book is "Arrested Development", then "Sunny" would definitely be 1b. It's that good. Just watch this scene. Maybe my Facebook status will make more sense.

Alright, I can tell my computer is about to crash, so I'll leave it at that. Until next time!

I Promise, I'm on it.

Alright, I usually save the music recommendations for the end of my posts, seeing as my readers don't all necessarily have the same taste in music as I do, but I just have to post this song first. It's by a band named "Friendly Fires" from England. Lemme tell ya, this band is pure indie-pop goodness. They make incredibly catchy music, and this song (called "Paris") is no exception. I've probably listened to it 10 times in the past two days.



Ok, enough gushing. Did you know that Britney Spears' little sister Jamie Lynn is pregnant? Are you the slightest bit concerned that I learned this on a site called omg.yahoo.com? New low? Maybe. But it honestly looked like she was the only one that was going to get out with a regular showbiz career... but then there poor Jamie Lynn goes, sucked into the churning pop culture machine just like her sister.

I got this sweet ass keyboard for graduation -- it's made out of rubber and is all wiggly and you can bend it and spill shit on it. The only problem is that I type so fast that it can't keep up, and I'm beating the poor thing to death with my frustration.

I read today that Kisten Cavalleri was considering joining the cast of The Hills. Fucking barf. Why try so hard to make a scripted show seem real and then let the press know that you're changing it? And if it's not real anyways, why does it have to be so fucking boring?! This video was up on Funny or Die a few weeks ago -- James Franco and Mila Kunis doing a scene from the show. Their parody is perfect; it perfectly captures the silence made by two people who have nothing interesting to say.



Generally speaking, actors are probably some of the least intelligent people on the planet, but they're the ones we hear talking most -- interviews, TV shows, movies. That's weird. I guess people only want to listen when the person talking is good looking, even if they're not even saying anything interesting.

Anyone hear about the whole Jessica Simpson/Tony Romo clusterfuck? I mean, is that girl cursed? Everything she touches turns to, erm, dirt (?). Romo apparently played the worst game of his life when she was there. What was that? Something about football players hooking up with chicks and then playing like shit? Weird.

Oh, this performance is brilliant. Beruit, the city of Paris, street peformances... you don't get much better. Beruit is a band that Mark introduced me to, and sort of like when I introduced him to Silversun Pickups, I fell in love with the band. Zach Condon is a musical genius... the band uses tons of brass, and acordions, and djimbes... ungh. I love it. So unique.



I had so many things to talk about, but I got to listening to all of this music and now I've found myself staring at my computer screen while thinking of all sorts of non blog-related things. I'm going to go to bed, dear readers. Sweet dreams.

Whoa...

It's finals week. I've been walking around in a daze lately (and not my usual "finals-week-Red Bull-and-stress-induced daze" or "finals-week-freakout-bitchfit-aftermath daze"), because I just cannot believe I'm almost out of here. I've spent my entire life in school, and now I'm expected to go out and get a real job? I mean, it's not like I put everything I had into being an amazing student because I am, admittedly, a "B with sporadic A's" student. (I only started really trying about 2 and a half years ago, in order to get into the business school.) But still, college was the time in my life that I really "found" myself, as cliche as that sounds. I have such a better knowledge of who I am and what I am not than I ever had before.

I don't know if I've mentioned before that I often think about whether or not my life would be different if I could be the person I am now back in high school. If you could glean from a few drunken posts ago, I wasn't "popular" by traditional definition. Well-liked, yes, with friends all over the place, of course, but after a few interesting occurrences over Thanksgiving break, I kind of learned something about myself. I didn't hang out with people that were (gag) "popular" because I couldn't; I didn't hang out with them because I didn't want to. And sure, that sounds like a cop-out, but it's true. Sometimes there is so much more to life than whether or not people want to be like you, and I know that now. I still have a lot of growing to do, but I'm happy with the fact that I've become much more self-realized and confident than I was before.

I also realized that I am wearing the exact same outfit as I wore freshman year -- my grey ski hat, black Alkaline Trio hoodie (which I have lost and found again three times in the past 5 years), jeans and my black converse all stars. Talk about coming full-circle.

Anyways, I'm sure you've come here for something more interesting than me rambling about myself, so here you go.

I'm going to start working full-time at my internship for the next few months, in order to make some money for traveling. This probably means Good Bloggie will be back in full-swing, seeing as I don't have the patience for anything but my dear blog anymore.

Oh! Damnit. I asked Mark what he wanted me to write about on here and he said "the writers' strike". I had these great intentions of writing a well-thought out piece on the implications of thousands of the people who make us laugh everyday up and quitting the very thing they do best, but I, erm, never got around to it. So here it goes, me trying to make up for it.

The Writers' Strike: Gimme My Money, Fool!

Whether it be for information, or entertainment, everyone watches television. Even with the advent of the internet, TV is still a medium before which people enjoy plunking themselves down in front of and basking in its warm, vacuous glow. A show's success is outwardly dependent on its actors and producers, which can be displayed by the popularity of reality television. For a while, reality TV dominated the formulaic sitcoms we had grown so accustomed to, with bigger and better ones coming out every season. But after a while, it seemed that the genre had become exhausted, and networks started springing for different shows. These shows needed actual actors, directors, and most importantly, writers. Shows like Lost and Grey's Anatomy took off, garnering a huge viewership in the millions each week.

Soon after, the networks realized the power they held with respect to their most popular shows. People were becoming attached to the characters and, unlike reality TV, would watch them season after season, forming a bond with each one's personality. A new opportunity emerged, as people started spending more and more time on the internet: the networks now had two ways in which to broadcast their shows, and consequently, two ways in which to get money through advertising. Although viewers weren't expected to sit through 13 minutes of advertising for an hour-long show anymore, they were still willing to endure a smaller amount of it in order to watch their favorite shows at their convenience. Networks put full episodes of their most popular shows on their sites, and began to reap the benefits of the increased profits they brought.

This is where the problem began; the writers of the most popular shows got paid only once, while the networks were benefitting from twice the amount of advertising. The writers were paid less than a cent for each click, while the networks were still getting millions each week to feature a different product in addition to a show. They were, in essence, doing twice the work for half the pay. They began to realize this fact, and in mid-November, decided to strike.

The resolution seemed simple: the networks should pay its writers for "new media" -- TV shows that were re-broadcast on the internet. However, the networks declared that the internet was "too new", and that they had no idea or basis for which to pay their writers because it had never been done before.

But wait -- too new? Then why, in March of 2007, did media giant Viacom sue YouTube over the use of its material to the tune of over one billion dollars? It seems that there was, indeed, a price for TV shows on the internet -- numbering in the millions. Why could Viacom expect a site like YouTube to give them a billion dollars, but couldn't be bothered to give the writers on shows like the Colbert Report or The Daily Show a few extra bucks everytime someone watches something they worked so hard on? It hardly seemed fair.

So far, negotiations haven't produced anything resembling a resolution. The networks are simply unwilling to delve into their deep, deep pockets to pay the people who work for them. The choice to strike was admirable, and will probably end up in some sort of compromise, but what about what happens as a result? Most of the crews that support the shows have been laid off, because they haven't worked for weeks. Seeing as it's pilot-production season, no writers mean no new pilots. No new pilots mean more reality shows are getting the green light than they would have without the strike. More reality shows may mean less room for existing shows, and the possibility that when the strike does end, the writers may not even have jobs to go back to.

Hopefully, this whole thing will end up with everyone happy, and the writers will get what they want and need. They are the reason for the networks' success, and deservedly so.

Har Dee Har Har, Old Man

I don't know what my deal is lately; the only things I seem to set time aside for are school, and partying. Apparently, partying parlays into blogging, which is buffered by my drunkeness. Awesome.














I've been listening to the same Daft Punk songs over and over for the past few days -- their MySpace has the most amazing live version of Too Long.


Oh, actually, that leads me to my next topic -- http://www.snap.fm . Interestingly enough, a friend of a friend started a really cool music news website, kind of comparable to Digg.com or Elbo.ws -- you submit music-related articles and people rate whether they like them or find them relevant. Basically, you can find up-to-date news on your favorite artists just by doing a search. I've been asked to write for the blog section of the website, which is great. I basically have ultimate freedom to write about whatever I want (and whatever I want is most likely going to be music). The posts I write for Snap will most likely be more structured, and less stream-of-consciousness like Good Bloggie, but I figure in order not to neglect my baby, I'll post them on here too.

I know that most of you share the same affinity for trash TV as me; either that or you've been around a TV when "A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila" is on. I found a news article the other day about the casting for the sequel to "A Shot at Love" -- nope, no surprise bisexual twists in this one; it's going to feature Dominico, the speedo-wearing Italian. Seriously. Okay, I found it hilarious when he would talk about his junk like it was a living, breathing little man... needless to say, I'll be tuning in. Guh, I'm a sucker. But! The news item that just came about today was about Miss Tequila herself; apparently people are saying that she is not, in fact, bisexual, and that the whole show was just a gimmick. According to Page Six (which, although snarky and bitchy as shit, is usually pretty reliable), Tila has had a long-time boyfriend, who she wouldn't even leave during the filming of the show -- poor, poor Amanda and Dannie -- they never stood a chance. I guess neither did I, when I fell for that shit.

This video is just... awesome. I love when people use kids in their videos and make them do things they won't understand for a few more years:



Oh, also, Britney Spears is apparently pregnant. Again. Yes, our little Brit Brit (ALLEGEDLY) got knocked up by producer J.R. Rotem. How did the public find out? Oh, duh, via Blackberry.

Judicial system got you down? Taking away your kids, giving them to K Fed? The solution is simple, see? Just have more!!!

Ashlee Simpson has a new single (and, I assume, a new CD soon) out, and it was produced by Timbaland. Hrmph. I have an affinity for most things good ole Timbo does, and I really want to give her a chance -- Nelly Furtado went from a free-love folk singer to a bonafide badonkadonk-shakin' pop princess in the course of like, a year. I'm too lazy to post a link, because it's almost 3 a.m. (god damnit, I'm a loser), but it was on the AOL music page earlier, so check it if you must. I'm sure you'll hear it sooner or later.

Like I said, it's mighty late, so I'm going to head for bed. Good nighty!

"Do You Wanna Drink Some Alcohol?"

This is my favorite part about being a (quote unquote) "blogger" -- at the point where people no longer answer their phones (it being 2:27 in the a.m.), I still have someone to talk to. That's you, baby. Ohhhh yeah.

Honestly, I've spent this entire break being a drunk. (I'm actually wondering at this point why my bloody eyes won't focus -- must be a problem with my computer screen. Yeah, if I close one eye, it stops spinning around the room. I win, computer.) I don't mean to, I mean, I enjoy imbibing, but honestly, I'm totally aware of what it's doing to my mind and body -- I was smarter in high school, when I would get made fun of for using "big words", that weren't really big to me. On Friday, CSU beat Wyoming, which led us to winning the "bronze boot". It was being carried around Lucky Joe's, and I thought it would be a really good idea to drink my beer out of it. Bad news, Whitney -- the thing is an actual old-ass BOOT -- bronzed and attached to a pedestal. This, unfortch, made me plow into the bathroom and make the difficult decision to pull the trigger. Pull the trigger I did, and I definitely felt worse for the wear for it. Apparently, later, I was attempting to remove a brick from the wall, which I was positive would lead me to a secret treasure, or passageway. Couldn't remove it, but did gain a valuable insight into myself; apparently, when I drink, I don't give a fuck. Truth.

So tonight, we went to the Rio, where I ran into my entire high school. Okay, there were only like, 75 of us; however, I was confronted with the realization that I a) wasn't very (conventionally) tight in high school, and b) that I was alright with that, as the people who were were that kind of kids that would still make me feel terrible about myself 5 years later were still terrible, unconfident assholes. I swear, kids like that are so self-conscious that they get off on being withholding (thank you, Buster Bluth) -- the kind of people who have been validated their entire lives for being attractive that cannot, cannot handle being face-to-face with someone who is completely comfortable with themself; the kind of person who has no problem being fucking nerdy and identifying with other people like that, and not giving a fuck what they're doing or look like.

Wow. That was a rant... you know; when you get drunk, and you ramble, you get super intense about what you're talking about, right? Right?

Anyways, I made my friend Dan an epic dance mix -- not only did it include my favorite french dance song, "Je Veux Te Voir", but it included this song... amaymay:



"Like, uhhh -- I'm perfect; push it, push it; watch me work it!" So good. I think that if I stripped for a living, this would be my song. Too much? I dunno.

Oh, also, this fits with the theme of the night; we spent like 20 minutes screaming "JAGA BOMBS!!!" at anyone who would listen. This would explain:



And that would be about it. Good night!

Oy Vey.

This weekend was so freaking packed with ridiculous shit, I can't even believe it. I went down to Denver to chill -- Friday, we went to this amazing new bar. The best (and worst) part about it was that it was just like being in Fort Collins. It was so nice to walk into a place and feel comfortable instead of feeling like I needed 4 less layers of clothing. Saturday was shaping up to be amazing, but then, um, my friend Diana got hit by a car. The person that was driving was probably drunk, accelerated, couldn't brake, and she couldn't cross the street fast enough. The car hit her side, made her cartwheel in the air, and she landed on her face. She's alright now, had to go by ambulance to a hospital and we were there till 6am. She lost halves of a few teeth, and has a huge gash on her very broken nose, but she wasn't seriously hurt. Thank god.

Oh, on Thursday I randomly got my Tragus pierced. Don't know what that is? It's the flappy part of your ear that is attached to your head, by your cheek. I got it done for free in exchange for letting my step-sister's friend practice, because she's apprenticing at a tattoo/piercing place. It barely even hurt, and now I have a sweet little diamond stud there. Woot.

Who out of you knew that Quentin Tarantino got his start on the Golden Girls? Yep, sure enough, he was cast as an Elvis impersonator... just goes to show you that everyone has to start somewhere. Apparently he was able to be more choosy with his roles because of it; every month he would get a check for a few hundred dollars, which was a lot for an aspiring director in Hollywood. I've always liked Tarantino's movies, even though I always preface my approval with the judgement that they're mostly knockoffs, erm, homages to movies that have already been done. That's one thing that he does well; he takes something good and manipulates it into something even better. Kill Bill is still one of my favorite movies, because the dialogue, fight scenes, and general imagery are seriously awesome.



I got sweet black-rimmed glasses today; my hipster transformation is underway. I haven't decided yet if that's a good thing.

If you're a dedicated reader of Good Bloggie, you may be aware of my like and/or dislike of zombie movies. My obsession with them started as a reaction to these long, terrifying dreams I was having. In these dreams, I was being chased by the bloodthirsty undead, and was never able to get away -- all I could do was hide. Strangely enough, they got more and more sporadic when I finally fought back (with the help of George W. Bush and a pasta strainer). Anyways, I started watching as many zombie movies as I could bare in order to sort of flush my fear of them out of my head -- I figured I would numb myself to them and I wouldn't be afraid anymore. It didn't really work, but I gained a great appreciation for the genre, despite my general hated of all things "horror". I was reading something today and it referenced George Romero -- director of the original zombie movie Night of the Living Dead. Apparently, he's got a new movie in the works. From Wikipedia:

The film will be the fifth film in Romero's "dead series". However, in "an attempt to re-establish a lucrative franchise," the film will, technically and philosophically, be a reboot, "a rejigging of the myth [sic]" says Romero. Even though the fourth film, Land of the Dead, was studio-produced through Universal Studios, Diary of the Dead was produced by Romero-Grunwald Productions, formed by Romero and his producer friend Peter Grunwald, with Artfire Films.

The plot will be about " group of film students that are making an independent mummy horror film when they become trapped in a world being consumed by flesh-eating zombies. They then turn their attention toward making the film into a documentary on their real life horror experience."

I don't know how many of you saw 28 Weeks Later, or its predecessor, 28 Days Later. The sequel was absoloute shit. I mean that. It took away from the original "what the fuck is out there" feeling by sort of humanizing the "infected" individuals, thus making them something entirely different than what they are -- brainless, hungry creatures that are really fucking fast. Apparently a third movie is in the works, and is being directed by "Weeks" director Danny Boyle. This is not good news. The original directing was so good, and the concept was promising, putting a spin on an old idea. So yeah, in 2009, don't see it. Well, unless I tell you to.

I have been following a particularly maddening and depressing story lately, one that explores the relationships that people form with complete strangers over the internet. It is about a 13-year old girl named Megan Meier, who killed herself after being abruptly dismissed by a boy she met on MySpace. The boy, it turns out, didn't even exist, and ended up being the creation of an ex-friend's mother, who was trying to figure out why Megan was fighting with her daughter. There was nothing her parents could do -- laws that prosecute internet bullies barely exist. Here's a video from CNN if you want to watch it. This is the kind of thing that freaks me out; occasionally I wonder who, exactly, is reading this blog, and what they do with the information. So, um, if you're a creep, fuck off. Yeah.

There was a movie that was screened at Sundance this year, called Teeth. It's a film about a woman with "female dentata"... teeth, erm, down there. It's just being released in New York and L.A., and will see a wider release next month. Would you go see it? I mean, how bizarre is that concept? I guess it got its start as a "warning" for men not to have sex with strange women. But damn. Here's the trailer -- oh, and by the way, it's being billed as a horror/comedy movie. I don't like, hate men or anything.

Haha, god damnit YouTube:

Tochin (2 hours ago)
"so when she's douching...is she really brushin her teef at the same time?"

Side note, I was watching a documentary on The History Channel about Adolf Hitler and his secret diseases; apparently he was addicted to a medicine that contained (among other things) a form of Meth, and was suffering from the effects of Syphilis (which was shutting down his nervous sytem over time). Kind of interesting in hindsight.

Well, this has been a sufficiently random and bizarre post. I'm going to bed. Night!

Do Juno?

I've had this trailer patiently waiting in my drafts for a chance to be included on my blog. It's not because it fits with a particular theme, just that I kept forgetting to put it up here until I unfortunately began seeing it in the theatres. Damnit! I hate not being on top of things. The movie, Juno, seems promising. Jason Bateman, Michael Cera, pregnant chick, awesome. (On a side note, good old Mikey and I were friends on MySpace until Superbad came out, and then he mysteriously defriended me. Sad. I guess it's for the best -- 22 years old and I'm still stalking strangers via MySpace. Cut. It. Out.)



While searching for that trailer, I ran across this video -- Nascargot -- NASCAR with snails. Snails are so much creepier in fast forward!!!



I don't know how many of you spend hours in front of a computer, legs twitching, hands absent-mindedly typing " http://www.facebook.com/ " into the address bar of your browser over and over like I do (come to think of it, I don't know how many of you have raging undiagnosed ADD like I do, either), but I spend a good chunk of time on YouTube. I ran across this web series called "We Need Girlfriends". It's about three guys who recently graduated college and were dumped by their long-term girlfriends. It's really earnest and goofy without trying too hard, and very well acted, considering its audience is the type of person who randomly surfs YouTube. Ouch. Anyways, they're on hiatus right now, but I ran across an article stating that they had been picked up by CBS. I was so proud! CBS has actually done some really interesting stuff, like picking up the Clark and Michael web series. It's cool, because the rest of their shows seem to be really, erm, old-person-centered. Anyways, I hope it doesn't suck, so that in a year or so you can be like, "Oh, shoot, I saw that shit on Good Bloggie ages ago. Guurrrrlll" with or without the attitude. Here's an episode for you to check out.



Oh, there's a really good song at the end of one of the episodes (because, of course, I'm rewatching all of the epidsodes in lieu of trying to figure out what the hell "cationic paramagnetic beads" are and what they do) by a guy who calls himself Plushgun -- he's a pretty cool artist out of Brooklyn. Here's the song:

No...vember

I'm a bad child. No posts yet this month. I have no idea why I feel like I have to apologize for it, but I have been catching some flack lately, so I'm....sorry?

This week has not been fun. I've been stressed and a wee bit under the weather, which does not bode well for trolling the internet in search of entertainment.

I've realized that I put so much random information in my brain that never translates itself to my blog, perhaps because most of it is so random and irrelevant that no one but myself may actually care. However, I watch shows like "The Soup", and realize that most of the topics are rarely new to me. In an effort not to copy the style of individuals like Perez Hilton, and simply regurgitate gossip while drawing coke-noses on celebrities, I decided that I may just jump back on the constantly changing celebuturd machine. (Hopefully, if you are a long-standing reader of this blog, you may know that that was, in fact, the slightly embarassing way that Good Bloggie got its start.) I've realized that in attempting to reach whatever audience I may have, I've gotten almost too broad. My readership is mostly male, and I think in an effort to cater to that, I got a little off track. The fact that it is broad is something that I like about my blog (because that seems to be the way my brain works), but I miss being snarky and writing comments like this one from one of my first posts, about Sarah Jessica Parker's dress:




"You'd have to be pretty brave to wear this. Sarah Jessica Parker wore this tragic tartan over a beige strapless gown recently at The Costume Institute Gala. I'm not sure why, the dress itself is very pretty, although a bit too beige for my liking. Did she look at herself in the mirror before she left and think "jesus, this plaid blanket makes me ooze glamour!" or were the horrified screams of her stylist just muffled by the crinkling of all the material?! "









I crack me up. Anyways, I think I've set myself up for too much, and anything I say may be construed as trying too hard, so I'll just jot down a few bits and pieces.

• Paris Hilton, in a misguided effort to seem more worldly than she may be, has become consumed with the plight of elephants in northeast India. This, by itself, is kind of admirable -- however, Paris isn't focused on poaching or the encroachment of urban cities; she's concerned about drunk elephants. You heard me. A random occurrence of four elephants getting into some homemade wine on a farm, uprooting an electricity pole and subsequently electrocuting themselves has somehow worked its way into Paris' Blackberry, under "Shit I Really Need to be Concerned About". Never mind the overwhelming poverty level and the overcrowding of major cities -- dearest Paris wants to save the elephants. And not even the pink ones. You see those too, right?
  


• Remember Britney's VMA performance? How could you not? The wobbly heel, Barbie doll extensions and miniature shorts are probably burned into your mind forever. But, floating around the internet is a video of the way it was supposed to be. Someone taped the routine using a stand-in (presumably because Ms. Spears couldn't be bothered to look up from her trough-o-margaritas to show up) and released it, albeit a little belated after all the hooplah. Ah, what could have been.
  
  
  


• I'm terribly sorry to inform you that "Crank Dat" by our favorite 17-year-old rapper, Souldja Boy, has officially jumped the shark. See for yourself. (Unfortch, you're going to have to click the link. When I tried to embed the video, my internet explorer bombed out on me. Four times. ) http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1784347


• Advantages of working in a cubicle: none. Disadvantages: whenever you cough or sneeze, someone asks you to do something. I coughed like, 5 minutes ago and now I've got like 2 new things to do.
  
• Good Bloggie, in spite of my pirate mouth, seems to be made for children. I entered the URL into a "readability test engine", and came up with this:
  
  
  

Either that or it thinks you and I are stupid. We aren't, are we? No we're not! Nooo we're not!

• I've decided to quit Facebook for a few days. Sure, that sounds lame -- baby steps, my friends. Baby steps. I'm sick of wasting my time looking people I don't want to look at and people who are too drunk to see. I changed my password to something totally random and then hid a sticky note from myself, as I have no self-control. Should be interesting.

Well, I've been at work for a while and haven't done any real work. Off I go to save the elephants!

Werewolf Bar Mitzvah?

Happy Halloween folks! Are you in the spirit? Is there a spirit in you?

Oh man, that was terrible.

Anyways, I've got my black and orange on (thank you, card companies, for designating colors so that I don't have to), and I'm kind of in the spirit. Leaves flying everywhere and a chill in the air, it's finally the end of October... and I'm ready to party.

I found some Halloween-themed links for you to enjoy, the first being "House of 1000 Muppets" -- a mash up between Rob Zombie's "House of 1000 Corpses" and the Muppets. It's really well done, expecially the beginning.



The second is something from 30 Rock -- a show that I absoloutely love, but haven't been watching this season because, well, it's on Thursdays, and that's when I get ma drink on. Anyways, I guess this season, there was a throwaway reference to "Tracy Jordan", aka Tracy Morgan's character having created a song called Werewolf Bar Mitzvah. Needless to say, the internets have served it up for us, so take a listen.



Anyways, have a good Halloween!!!

Know My Name

I know that I'm supposed to be all indie and shit, but there's this part of me that just cannot, cannot help but love pop culture. Pop music, terrible TV shows, movies that rot my brain -- I love them all. I feel that people who only listen to elitist indie rock or watch Donnie Darko on a loop are cheating themselves out of things that are manufactured... erm, made to get you feelin' happy.

Case in point -- I am completely in love with I Love New York 2. I have to admit that I didn't watch season 1; that Chance guy was far too much to handle. But dayum -- this girl is feisty. I love how she just tells it like it is, and does stuff like make the guys get beat up by chick kickboxers in order to show how (awesomely) domineering she is. She wakes up in the morning and will not leave her room without her 2 inch false eyelashes on, even if she is just going to smoke a cigarette. I wish I could get away with that kind of drag queen-esque behavior; if I wandered around with a giant weave and blue eyeshadow on all the time, I'm pretty sure none of you would hang out with me. However, the best part of the show has got to be Midget Mac. This guy is hilarious. Watch this clip and you'll see just how kick ass he is.



The best part came later when he was recapping the event, and talking about how his "mofuggin froggy popped."

I'm sure I recapped American Idol when it was on last year. I love that show. I've always been of the opinion that second place is where you need to be in order to be an AI success story. Hell, Clay Aiken sold more records than Ruben Studdard, even though the big guy was the winner. (Cheese and rice, Clay Aiken fans -- that's a post of its own.) But I read somewhere that the 1st place winners on that show only get something like $100,000 for their first contract, which may seem like a lot to you and me, but may not quite be enough for all the whoring out they will inevitably do of the winner. I'm pretty sure the artists can't write their own songs, and the ones they do are so over-processed and tweaked that they're probably not even close to the original. This brings me to my point -- Blake Lewis. Two of his songs leaked the other day, and I have to say that they aren't half bad. I mean, something has to be said about the fact that he feels the need to beatbox in every song, but still. They're no "Tattoo" (Jordiiiiiin), which is a good thing. I'm pretty sure he's going to experience moderate to great success, which is always nice to know when said person comes sputtering out of the ever-churning American music machine.
Blake Lewis -- Break Another
Blake Lewis-- Know My Name

This has been a really slow news week (aside from the devastating fires in Southern California, natch). I guess the biggest item has got to be that Madonna dated Tupac Shakur (TUPAC, glarrrghghg) in the mid-90's. Yes. I mean, she was wild, but Pac? Damn. That's hardcore. What would everyone have thought? It was going on just a year before he was shot -- do you think he would be remembered as the American gangster he is now? Or just "that guy who was dating Madonna who got shot"?

This is random, yes, but what is up with Zac Efron seemingly wearing caked on foundation like, all the time? Did anyone see him in High School Musical 2? (I guess I'm disclosing everything today, yeesh.) The sun literally reflected off his skin... he was like this jumping, skipping, singing bronze statue. Does this mean I have to start calling it "Mankup"? Kind of like "Guyliner"? I'm so confused.

And with that, I'm leaving you with this picture. God damnit, I love cats.

Bad Child

Once again, it's been a while since I've blogged. Last week was hellish. The weekend was pretty much the only thing getting me through the week. And what a weekend it was... I would post pictures, but I'm a bit lazy today, and if you're reading this you're probably friends with me on Facebook anyways.

The Rockwell lab is stealing my soul. I spend so much time there... everytime I walk in, someone will give me a glazed look that says, "I've been here for 5 hours. Save yourself". It's so weird -- I was writing a paper on maintaining customer equity (stimulating, I know) and I realized that I've just been writing basically the same paper for the past two years. Every time I write something, I drop the same phrases, like "market share" or "brand equity" or "target market" in there somewhere. Things like that are all important for the topics I'm writing, sure, but man. It's getting old.

I was sitting in my french class today, and we were watching a scene from "Paris, Je T'aime" (which is in my Netflix queue, so excited) and it made me miss that city so much. I realized that if I don't go again soon, I won't have time to go for a while. Since I've got no idea what I'm doing after school (typical), I am entertaining the idea of just going there for a while. Or somewhere. Anywhere but here.

Okay, I know that most of you won't listen, but this song by Yelle (who I am obsessed with) is awesome. So happy. It's in French, but I'm sure you can pick up what she's singing about.

I literally have nothing to post about today. Damnit. It's probably because I have studying to do, and am feeling lazy. Terribly sorry, I'll try to post something when I get my computer fixed on Tuesday. Happy Monday!

Hmm?

If you'll look over to the right, you'll see that I added a poll... I cannot, for the life of me, decide what to be for halloween. My friends and I were all talking about being kid contestants from "Legends of the Hidden Temple", but we just aren't getting on the t-shirt ordering thing. I could very easily make stencils and make the shirts, but that seems like a hell of a lot of work. I figured I would go with a back-up plan. So, if you have like, 3 seconds to waste, pleeeeease, vote it up.

Also, Blogger has created a video uploader, so I'm going to try to upload a video just to see if it works. Oh, the possibilities!!!

It's kind of ridiculous, watching videos of us standing around in a kitchen after drinking for like 12 hours straight... But hey, that's my life. Plus, my friends have such awesome banter... we really do need our own show.