This Is How I'm Dumb

I had a brilliant idea: I'll get my laundry going and then take a shower. That way, the time I spend waiting for my laundry to finish and the time I spend in the shower will overlap. I'm a genius!

So I got my laundry going, and I'm about to get in the shower.

Guess where all my towels are?

Bye-Bye Moosebutter *UPDATED*

I've been meaning to post about this since mid-December, but then it was too late, but then again recent developments have brought it up again.

It's about the John Williams video...

Originally, I was going to write about how it WASN'T sung by Corey Vidal.

Corey is lip-synching to the 2002 studio recording of moosebutter. It was recorded at June Audio, Provo, UT. Corey filmed his video in his kitchen.

He was lip-synching? Well, that explains why he's not wearing headphones. Still, very convincing. I found out that it wasn't his voice when he updated the description of the video (so it wasn't like he was trying to be sneaky about it). This was around the time it was nominated for a People's Choice award.

Anyway, never got around to posting that, and the PCA have come and gone (Barack Roll won), and NOW (Jan 18th) the videos have been removed from YouTube by Warner Music Group. The entire ApprenticeA account (Corey) has been suspended.

Corey Vidal and our Star Wars videos were taken down by Warner Music Company, or Warner Brothers, or Warner INC ... all we know is, Warner has gotten picky about 'their' content on youtube, and even though there are a dozen other videos on youtube with our Star Wars song, and hundreds of videos that illegally rip footage from Harry Potter DVDs, and fake Batman trailers and etc etc etc Warner has been kind enough to target our stuff.

This means one thing: we've finally hit the big time! Maybe.

Wait, WHAT? How is it POSSIBLY a copyright violation? Parody is explicitly allowed as fair-use (one of the very few things that are actually spelled out).

My bullshitometer just exploded.

UPDATE: ApprenticeA is Back.

BIGGER UPDATE:
OK, so after this posted (which means most people won't come back and read this, but whatever), Cory posted a new video. The two important things from the video are:

1. There is a pretty high quality (better than YouTube) upload of the video over on Cory's Facebook page.
2. There is an important article on what's been happening, over at cnet. Go there and Digg it.

From the article (emphasis mine):

On YouTube, Vidal posted a humorous video tribute to John Williams, the man who scored the soundtracks for such blockbuster films as Indiana Jones, and Star Wars. In his clip he included some of Williams' music. By now, everybody knows that YouTube removes videos that violate copyright law. What's different about Vidal's work getting pulled is that when he posted it in October, he was permitted to use Warner's music.

Until last month, YouTube had an agreement with Warner Music--one of the four largest recording companies--that allowed video creators to include the label's content in their clips. Last month, talks to renew the deal broke down and that means YouTube and its users no longer have access to Warner's library. For this reason, the case is much different than YouTube's high-profile fight with Viacom or run-of-the-mill piracy that once flourished on the site.

I did not know that.

I Accidentally The Whole Template

I just wanted to update my picture
oh god how did this get here
I am not good with computer

Her Morning Elegance

Some stop-motion for Thomas.
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To NSFW Or Not

I saw an amusing video about how to become a porn star. Lots of, er, "tongue" in "cheek" humor.

But definitely not safe for work. Or minors. So, do I post it or not?

Hmm....

(link removed)

Yeah, was originally going to post it, decided against it at the last minute (less than 12 hours before it will post).

Sorry fellas.

Wednesday's Foreign Commercial

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I know kung fu.

Wait, don't I already have a post for today? Yeah, forward posting has a lot of drawbacks. A major one being: I was forward posting everything, and some things (like random videos) aren't really .... substantial. Almost content-free posts.

So they'll be posted roughly same-day, but after the daily post (so, 9am or later). So yes, this is still forward posted from even earlier today. ^_^

So.

(That being said, there are still several weeks of posts in the queue, so some days will just be a random video. Sorry.)

Bad Sci-Fi Warning

So, one of my classmates recently alerted me to a sale going on. Apparently, there is this robot toy. It's a scaled down version of a robot developed for the military by a defense department subcontractor. There's just one, and it is heavily discounted for some reason.

WHERE have I heard this premise before? Oh, right, EVERY HORROR-SCI-FI MOVIE EVER.

Update: Apparently, the robot is named SENTINEL. Duh duh DUH!

Opera of Khan *UPDATED*

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WHEN did this Robot Chicken episode air? How could I have possibly missed it?

Update: Original sauce. Hmm, seemed bigger on the site.

Action-Star Obama

(Well, more action-FIGURE Obama.)
Via

The originating site has taken the page down, but the dolls action figures can still be found here. On sale for 8,072円* right now, but the sword and gun accessories are not included. It's a damn shame. You know, now that I think about it, I would totally watch an Obama Action-Movie. It would be so random!

*Holy crap, the dollar has dropped that much against the yen?!

Tuesday's Groggy News

I was woken up by the sound of someone banging on my door. It was 10am.

I went to the door, and no one was there. I poked my head out and saw a UPS guy downstairs knocking on another door. A UPS guy? On Sunday? Odd.

"Hello?" I called, wondering if I had a package, and if so from whom? I hadn't ordered anything that I could remember.

He came up and told me the package was for my neighbor (ah, well) and asked me if I could take it until she got home from work. (Work? On Sunday? Odd)

I said sure, since hey, it's my day off and I'm going to be here all day anyway. Signed for it and he left.

Around this time I realized that it was TUESDAY*, and I have to leave for work myself.

Doh.

*Until last night, I had been up since Saturday. So...

Tuesday's Feeling Old News

There are people who were born in 1990 that are 18 now.

Japanese Beat Doll Revisited

OK, we all remember the Japanese Beat Doll video, yes? Click here to see it




Well, now there's TOFU
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Good News, Everone!

From Digg.

I almost never post Digg stuff here. If you want to see Digg stuff, go read Digg.

....But this was excellent. ^_^

Phoenix Watches a Lot of Commercials

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I like the idea, but am I the only one that thinks it's a bit long? And too many short clips of songs. I'd prefer fewer songs with more to them.

This is what happens when multinational corporations undertake expensive productions without checking with me first.

(Also, spoiler in thumbnail AGAIN. I really wish people would take the time to set their thumbnail properly [eg, earlier in the video])

How I Spent My Morning

I woke up too early this morning, and there was nothing on TV yet. So I started playing a computer game (S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - Shadow of Chernobyl).

And in the game, I fell down a hole.

Now, looking back, I think the fall was supposed to kill my character, but for some reason it didn't. But I was stuck at the bottom of the pit.

Now, this sucked, because I hadn't saved for like an hour. So I was going to have to replay that whole hour unless I figured out a way to get out of the hole. With MOST games, there is a noclip code that will allow you to walk through walls. I looked and looked online, no noclip code for this game.

Then I found a cheat that would put me 200 ft up in the air (which would get me out of the hole), but it didn't work for my version.

Bear in mind, this is the result of lots and LOTS of web searching and scouring. But no luck. I spent about TWO HOURS trying to get out of the hole. It would have been MUCH FASTER to go back and play from that last save.

Which I will still have to do because I'm STILL STUCK IN THE HOLE!

So that's how my morning went.

Cadbury Commercials

I saw this video just now:
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It's by the same people that did the Trucks** video and the Gorilla playing the drums* video; all three are commercials for Cadbury.

*Have you seen this remix?

**UPDATE: Also a "remix" (more of just a music swap) for Trucks***.

Both of these updated commercials have played officially on TV.

***UPDATE III: There's also apparently one with Final Countdown. Is there anyone who can hear that song now and not think of Arrested Development? There's even a stair-car!

I don't know why, but commercials with music just really do it for me. Like mini music videos. (Also, it helps that the Cadbury commercials are so completely random).

The people that made this have an interesting Myst-like site. What is the mystery word? How far can you jump? Why is Phoenix so very easily amused? The world may never know.

UPDATE II: Saw the following comment on the eyebrows commercial:

12. Troy - January 24, 2009 9:41 PM
Where the f*** did she get a baloon?! SOMETHINGS NOT RIGHT HERE.

Hard Drive Rules

Rule#1 - Always back up!
Rule#2 - Always back up! (This is a backup to Rule#1)

Goodbye, Google Services

Google is closing down some of its many services, including Google Video and Google Notebook.

Now, I use Notebook ALL THE TIME, so I panicked until I read that the service itself will continue to function (just development is shutting down).

Google Video is another disappointing closure, as it has been host to a number of longer-running documentaries and shows. Will YouTube be an adequate replacement? We'll see.

No word on another Google Service that I use DAILY, GrandCentral.

Amanda Has Not Seen Star Wars

Here's what she THINKS happens.
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Star Wars: Retold (by someone who hasn't seen it) from Joe Nicolosi on Vimeo.

Another Awesome Commercial

Now, you guys already know what kind of commercials I like... ^_^
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Tuesday's West Wing Post

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(OK, yes, no actual post. Also, spoiler in preview.)

I Miss Ze

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Bacon

One of my vegetarian friends sent me this video:
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Foreward Posting

So, perhaps everyone has spotted it by now, but I'm not necessarily posting the same day I write something. That is, I'm writing this on Wednesday. Is today Wednesday? No, it is not. (Well, YES, it is right now when I'm writing this, but it won't be by the time you read it)

When I have time to post, I used to post a bunch of stuff at once, and then nothing. The problem is that when there's TOO MUCH stuff, nobody reads it, and when there's nothing, there's nothing to read.

So, now I spread my posts out. My post on the 10th (about flight of the bumblebee) was written on the 3rd, I think. Originally I had planned for a bunch of other posts in between that were more important, but I didn't have time to write them up properly, so nothing got written. :-/

Anyway, it occurred to me today just how creepy it would be if something (science forbid) ever happened to me. For example, my birthday meme post has been written, but is scheduled for my birthday (in October). Now, if I *gulp* were to .... you know what? Let's just say I became a Luddite. So, no one would be expecting anything new on my blog, but every once in a long while... there would be a new post. Because I wrote it before .... becoming a Luddite.

So, there's that. Just... FYI and all.

Soy la _soy_.

I am soymilk. (Actually, yes, wouldn't it be estoy de leche de soja?) Anyway, this post is about soymilk.

Soymilk can replace regular milk in a lot of recipes.

Hamburger Helper is not one of them.

That is all.

You Shouldn't Use Dropbox

I signed up to the beta for Dropbox (a service that backs up and syncs all of your files in a certain folder over the Internet). Since I work on multiple computers, I thought it would be a handy tool.

And it WOULD BE, if the developers weren't so clueless.

For example, during installation in Windows, it will close ALL of your Explorer processes. Without warning.

I mean, I can understand that it has to close them to add itself. I get that. But the lack of warning is dumb (I lost a couple of deeply-nested folders this way).

But that's not the big one. The big one is when you set your Dropbox directory.

No matter what you specify, it will APPEND "My Dropbox" in Windows. Supposedly, this is to protect people from installing into their root directories (people are dumb), BUT it also won't allow you to install to ANY root directories, even on OTHER DRIVES/PARTITIONS. Which is to say, you can't even have F:/My Dropbox (also, appending a subdirectory with a *SPACE IN IT*?). So the best you could do would be F:/Dropbox/My Dropbox (which is a lot of header for the path of EVERY FILE in your Dropbox). It's dumb.

But even THAT'S not the REAL BIG ONE. The REAL big one is that it will append "Dropbox" in Linux! *NOT* "My Dropbox". So, if you dual-boot on your machine, you can't point both Dropbox directories to the same location! You're forced to sync EVERYTHING TWICE, in two different places, taking up twice the disk space. WAY DUMB.

The current official "solution" is to use an OLD version of Dropbox that isn't as retarded. Seriously, that's what they tell you to do. They've known about this problem since version 0.6.394 and now we're at 0.6.402 and it's STILL NOT FIXED (months have passed).

The Dropboxers just seem to have NO CLUE, which does not bode well for the tool. At this point in time, I have to recommend that people AVOID DROPBOX LIKE THE PLAGUE. It's definitely not ready for prime-time, and it is getting WORSE. I think I might have to close my account there, because it's getting to the point where I don't feel I can trust the people behind it (if they're THAT clueless).

It's enough to make me feel all RANTY RANT!

Your Fair Share

So, interesting bit of information (if it's true), there is about $140 trillion worth of combined assets on planet Earth. That's EVERYTHING.

Now, there are almost 6.8 Billion people on this planet (holy crap, remember when we hit 6 billion? Sure doesn't seem that long ago).

Anyway, $140 trillion divided by 6.8 billion people is roughly $20,000.00 per person.

So, if you have more* than $20k worth of assets (a car, a house, savings, belongings**, etc), then from a certain perspective, you technically have more than your "fair"*** share.

In case you were wondering. ^_^

*If you have less, of course, then you're not working hard enough.

**Hmm.... "belongings" or "possessions"? Different words, different connotations...

***Such an arbitrary value. To me, that's the opposite of fair.

Linux is Awesome

The above is true, and has been for a while, but I am always learning NEW WAYS in which Linux is Awesome.

For example, I'm currently installing Linux on my work computer. That is, THIS computer. I'm writing this in Linux WHILE LINUX IS INSTALLING.

Frankly, that's pretty fucking awesome.

Wednesday's Horrible News

Yes, yes, Joss Whedon said (again) recently that Dr. Horrible will be back. That's not the news.

The news is about the DVD.

It's only like $10*, and Commentary! The Musical! is worth the price of admission alone. I want MP3s of these songs (I've listened to the entire thing twice three times** already; they're just so random!). Lots of my kind of humor, and actual commentary stuff (like, did you know that Nathan Fillion was in Halo 3? Or how much the Horrible crew played Ninja Ropes Extreme? Nathan has the high score [119.7 yards])

There's also a separate ACTUAL commentary which is also interesting, plus making-of shorts and fan-made Evil League of Evil application videos.

It's been out on DVD for almost a month, so if you don't have your own copy by now, you're just an awful person. :-/ Why do you hate Joss? Is it because he always kills your favorite characters? Yeah, I hate that too, actually.***

*The price of a solo! (You'll get that joke later.)

**Dammit! Listened to it again accidentally while writing this post. :-/

***I am a leaf on the wind.

Tuesday's Missing Mug News

Hey Phoenix, why aren't you enjoying a nice hot cup of coffee?

I don't have my coffee mug.

Where's your coffee mug?

I don't know; it disappeared.

Did someone take it?

I don't know! Maybe? I looked everywhere.

Who would take a mug with your name on it from the community kitchen?

I DON'T KNOW!

I bet you're longing for some coffee though, am I right?

YES!

Thieves are awesome!

Tuesday's Changing-Weather News

Hey, Phoenix, enjoying the sunny weather?

GAAAAHHH!!

What's wrong? Does your hand hurt?

YAAAAAR!

Is it because your hand was broken and now it hurts whenever the weather changes even if it's a change for the better?

GAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHHH!

This beautiful day must be like TORTURE for you!

JUST KILL ME NOW!

Sorry, first law of robotics! ^_^

Tuesday's Rockin' News

Hey Phoenix, I heard that your neighbors have Rock Band.

They sure do!

But, can you hear it through your apartment walls?

You bet I can!

Even at night when you're trying to sleep?

Mostly then, yes!

Sweet!

SUPER sweet!

Thundercats Live-Action Movie Trailer

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Yes, it's fan-made. But there are a brazillion fan-made trailers out there and they all suck, which is why this one is unique.

The Lyrics to Flight of the Bumblebee

Many many moons ago, I watched this video called Paramount Comedy Theater (Vol. 1: Well-Developed). It was an old VHS tape that my friend Sean had.

In addition to introducing me to the blue side of Danny Tanner, there was a guy who came out and sang Flight of the Bumblebee.

Bruce Mahler was that guy.

It was great. Actually, his whole act was great, but Bumblebee stood out.

Every once in a while, I hop on the ol' Internets and search for the complete lyrics, or an MP3 or video of his performance. Seriously, that song has stuck in my head lo these many years.

The Paramount Comedy Theater never came to DVD, and there's no place to buy the old VHS version. And it's not on the Internet ANYWHERE.

If anyone ever finds it, please let me know.

Sung

Classes have started again, joy.

Yesterday, I met someone new. He introduced himself as Sung (pronounced sahng), and spelled his name out. One of my classmates said "Oh, like the past tense of sing."

To which Sung, the non-native-English-speaker, replied "Past participle."

Boy howdy am I easily amused. ^_^

Claiborne Pell

It was with a heavy heart that I read about the passing of Claiborne Pell, who died last Thursday after a lengthy battle against Parkinson's disease, at age 90.

A Rhode Island Senator, Pell was the father of the Pell Grant, and for this I will always be grateful. It was the Pell Grant that allowed me to go to college, get a degree, and travel outside the U.S.

Thank you, Senator Pell, for broadening my (and many others') horizons.

All The Who-ha

Nobody probably cares but me, but for anyone watching the New-Who, the 11th doctor has finally been revealed as: Matt Smith

I don't know about you, but when I saw him my first reaction was "What is he, twelve?" A bit young looking for a 900+ year old man, but we'll have to wait (until 2010) and see.

[Although, I guess he has worked with Pipes before, so he was only ever two steps from DT anyway]

Post #567, the Glorious Return

Phoenix is back in Cheney! Hey, welcome back! How do you feel?

COLD!

Thanks, Phoenix!

Snowmageddon

Just got this e-mail from my boss:

Fellas,

Due to the absurd amount of snow (National Guard is in Cheney helping to get rid of it), campus will be closed on Monday 1/5. We're tentatively opening on Tuesday 1/6. Be sure to call the snow line at 359-SNOW or check out the emergency Web site @ http://www.ewu.edu/x4801.xml on Monday to see if we'll be opening Tuesday. Stay safe and see you next week sometime.

J

It's no secret that the Spokane area has gone snow-crazy. Saw this on the national news:

Spokane finished December with 61.5 inches of snow, far eclipsing the previous one-month record of 56.9 inches set in January 1950. Snowfall records in the area have been kept since 1893.

We've gotten more snow in one month than we usually get ALL WINTER.

And finally, if you haven't seen them already, Tycho* has had a couple of great snow-related posts as of late:

First:

Spokane has many faults, chief among them that it is the source of all human woe - a cleft in the wounded crust of the world that grants Satan and his twisted lieutenants easy access. But one thing you do learn there, other than the ability to create a tourniquet from your own intestines, is now to drive properly in the snow. We're snowed in here in Seattle, and not because you couldn't get around out there, but because driving in the snow with Seattle natives is like NASCAR in slow motion. It's not worth exposing yourself to those people, so you stay home. Even the sidewalks aren't safe.

Second:

What I said about the residents of Seattle vis a vis snow was true, but shortly after I said it we received the kind of snow that one might be genuinely skeered of, especially in a town that owns no snowplows. We drove to Spokane after our flight and all others were cancelled, and things are an order of magnitude worse here. The snow is so high that there's no other interpretation: some god (or fraternity of gods) is trying to erase this wicked land.

Happy Everwinter**, everyone.

*Tycho is great, and I am jealous of his way with words.

**Tycho again.

Happy New Year!

From The Doozies
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In an unrelated note, YouTube lets you choose the size of the embedded video now. Here is the interface:

If you're not colorblind, you won't see (haha!) the problem. Unfortunately, I AM colorblind, and all these look pretty much the same. I get it YouTube, you hate the colorblind. I get it. All the time. :'-(