chrryblssmninja

First: 7 dead in bridge collapse; 4 survivors share stories.

okay, need some happy news now.
via fanthropology:
Cosplayers at Japan's Foreign Ministry office

Also, Was Brazil’s national team drunk at World Cup matches?
Sean Bean’s drunken anger at Sheffield’s relegation
via TWOP thread: Click here, then go down to video/audio box. Check out the highlights of the FC Dallas-LA Galaxy game. Dallas came from 4 behind, only to lose to LA 5-6.
Short but sweet piece on Iraq's Asian Cup win
-claps-
And 9 year old signed to Man U.
I just noticed yesterday that two Mancunians, Naomi and Charlie, died in the Lost season finale. Interesting.

Oh, that reminds me: tommorow I want to try streaming the Arsenal-Ajax match. I looked up some stream providers. Which would be best? My teams are Arsenal, Valencia, Werder Bremen. One of the Spanish-language TV stations here shows random matches from everywhere EXCEPT the English Premiership. Here's a stream info link I got from gunnergirls. I'll have to watch it around 12:30 PM here. It'll play on the computer while I watch X-Games on the TV. Hey, that's only once a year...

My favorite X-athlete right now is Travis Pastrana. I like calling him a "geeky farmboy," because that's what he looks and acts like outside the arena.
I went checking up on X-Games results yesterday, and found some links.
Excerpt from Pastrana’s upcoming biography.
I didn't really care that Nate thought he was better than me. And yet, I did care. He pissed me off. He motivated me. And he fueled the greatest and most fun year of my life.
yay honesty.
"Don't do it, Travis! Think about the money. If you get hurt, you're throwing away your X Games." It was my agent. No time to be logical now. I had a double backflip to do.
awesome
Pastrana’s shadow
And more Pastrana
Travis Pastrana may be a lot of things—motocross superstar, race car driver, master showman, bionic goofball and all around nice guy. But one thing he's not ... is done yet.
"I do have a hard time focusing on just one thing. I love BMX. I love motocross. I love freestyle. I love driving cars or go karts. I feel like everything helps everything else."
"For a year and a half, I did try to concentrate on motocross and nothing else, and I actually got slower. I lost that creativity, fun or whatever it was."
Aw cool he's kind of like me. Except he can drive stuff.
Okay, and an article about European riders, specifically the Swiss Mat Rebeaud and the Spaniard Dany Torres. Americans tend to dominate motocross, but I saw these guys in some competitions and they're pretty good. And hee article picture- Dany looks like a mix of Cesc Fabregas and Fernando Torres.

Does anyone else here follow extreme sports?

Finally...ever I since I woke up in an unpleasant manner this morning, I've been thinking a lot. It's not been a very happy day. I just wanted to melt in the heat of the car, but my dad had to turn on the air con. Just family stuff, and school coming up, and things I want to do, and things I can't get over no matter how much I want to rip them from my head...
Had a few bright spots. The neighbor's cat Kerri made an appearance, and I was able to grab a pearl tea and read a fun magazine feature on Muse and also read FABLES VOL 8 WOLVES YAAAAY.
I keep telling myself that things could be much worse, and I don't deserve to feel so miserable.

Okay, I need some crazycracktasticness right now.
Via threthiel9:
1. I have made a list of 1520 characters, which I am keeping to myself for the moment.
2. I ask you, dear flist, to post questions in the comments. Crazy questions. Whatever you like. For example: "4, 6, 12 & 15 are starting a band together, what is their name and what kind of music do they play? Also, who's the lead singer, and what instruments do the others play?"
3. After you ask enough questions, I will round them up and answer them using the 1520 characters I selected beforehand, and then post them.
I'll keep on posting about this until Wednesday or so. I've done this meme before, but threthiel9 inspired me to be more crazy in my character selections. So ask away! Shippy questions are welcome, though I won't get into any bedroom details, 'cus my gross-out tastes tend towards matters of weapons and toilet bowls.

Sorry for the long post. I just need to spill right now.

First: US 1- Paraguay 3
I watched this one. There’s a possibility that we can still advance. Despite the two losses, I think we played better than expected. How I feel about this “b” team:

The Unexpected

Slippery and strange, the way this team plays;
Yet sprightly, full of spunk- those words must follow.
Their lungs, at least, are strongest; so many times, so many shouts!
If all their tries
Their passing plays
Succeeded
They’d have won.
Most do not care
Find the phrase too worn
But the truth stands tall:
They did try their best.
Skill wasn’t enough,
but the potential
shines,
waiting,
there.

Wow, that was weird. And aww, I’m watching the sports highlights and I wish I could have seen the Argentina-Columbia game. So much action, in just the first half? And 4-2, final! And Basile’s voice is so deep it makes me laugh.

Comment and I'll give you a letter. In your journal, list 10 of your favorite songs that begin with that letter.
Rebelstrike21 gave me “D.” Aack, must extend to 14. If you really want a letter, just ask for it.
( the songs )

Music link time!
New songs from Emily Haines and the Soft Skeleton as well as Muse. The Muse song, “Man of Mystery,” is an NME mag exclusive (they‘ve got Muse on the cover and have a bonus CD of songs picked by the band), and you can download it off the site there. It’s just a two-minute instrumental track, but it’s got the surf guitar/spy feel that I’m always a sucker for.
For more Muse goodness, watch this video of the intro to a recent performance at Wembley Stadium. Oh my gosh they start with that cool Dance of the Knights (?) song from the Romeo and Juliet ballet and then they go into Knights of Cydonia and wheeeeee

Check out this Culture Bully post about the latest album of the Montreal DJ Socalled. The video and first song up for download is a witty little rap about a time “where man woman and child can all log onto the internet and text message each other from across the house.” The video shows the DJ sporting six arms and playing the accordion while on the computer. But the second song, “You Are Never Alone,” is the song I’ve been playing over and over again. At first I was like whaaa? And by the end I was totally into it. It’s a great blend of pop, R&B, and a dash of rap. I think the vocal beats are samples of The Comedian Harmonists, a fun acapella group. There are whistles and pretty lyrics and a tuba? and soul singing and it’s just nice. PLEASE give this song a try.

BBC shows Glastonbury performances! I can’t see the videos, for some reason…
New site for all music fans: Soundpedia. They have a ton of albums that you can listen to.
Animated music vids FTW!
The ending made me gasp really loud, even if I guessed it a split second before.
Another creepy music video. Even the muppet ghosts creep me out.

Watch the White Stripes, Lily Allen, and Wayne from the Flaming Lips get interviewed by a goat puppet
Why did nobody tell me about Pancake Mountain before? Pancake Mountain is a cute kid’s show that consists of interviews and performances with indie bands. Check here and here for videos.
Really, you have not lived until you’ve seen Conor Oberst interviewed by Rufus the Goat. Some of the videos aren’t there anymore, but I did get to see 2 members of Wolfmother dancing and rapping with Rufus, so that was fun.

Finally, from an interview with Paul McCartney:
I was interested to hear the theory of vinyl vs. CDs. One of my engineers said we record something and the frequencies will go [makes high-pitched frequency sound] and beyond that we can't hear, but they are on the vinyl. Similarly, the other way [makes low-pitch sound]… those frequencies that are in the bass. You can't hear them, but they're there in the vinyl. You can measure them on VU meters, but our ears can't pick them up. So he said, that's why vinyl's better. That's why people think of it as warmer and fuller, because it actually is. Whereas a CD, if you go [makes high-pitched sound again] the CD doesn't need any information above that, so it goes to whatever it is -- 5,000 KH -- and cuts off. Similarly in the bass. That's why engineers, some of my engineers anyway, don't think this is good.
That is so true. Let the word be heard!

Has anyone seen the videos on Youtube?

I…I think we need some other videos now. Yeah. Especially since you can see it all in person if you wander enough.

Gnarles Barkley’s “Crazy,” as performed with theremin

Via gunnergirls:

Another Thierry Henry vid…playing in his house…I think there’s Saha and Rafa and Freddie and the starting lineup of Man U…but what’s funniest is what the neighbor says.
Henry (pronounce it right, announcer lady!) does cute trick

Terry Gilliam's Nike ad # 1 - "The Secret Tournament" 24 footballers in cage match. Henry, Totti, Nakata (retired now), Thuram, R. Carlos, Ronaldo, Ljungberg, Saviola, Figo, Davids, Vieira, Nistelrooy, Scholes,
Wiltoro, Lopez, Crespo, Ronaldinho, and more. Ronaldo and Figo dance, while
Henry and Totti (-gasp-) are fist-pumpingly awesome at the end.
The rematch

I wonder if we’ll have sports after this.

New video for the next UNKLE single, Burn My Shadow which features Ian Astbury (from The Cult) on vocals. A really powerful video. Goran Visinjic in a particularly dangerous predicament. Go watch it.
John Mayer + Kanye West = haaaa. Kanye lets someone else talk!
More John Mayer stand-up
Wow parody of the “lightest” rock station ever.
Cute and weird stop-motion animation vid for They Might Be Giants

I haven’t been able to watch this yet, but I’ll just post it: Trailer for new CW show Reaper.
more Reaper clips

30 Days of Night trailer. I’ve read the graphic novel this is based on, about vampires that attack an Arctic town. It was good, not super great as others have said, but still good. But the movie looks too Hollywood pretty. (Fantastic music choice for trailer, though- “Apocalypse Please” by Muse.)
This is the comic that made Steve Niles comics’ current horror king. His raw, sketch + paint style really enhanced the story and atmosphere. Compare the trailer with pics from the comic like this and this. Oh, just check out the preview of the comic here.. Yeah.
Although, with the current situation, methinks this film shall be shelved for some time…

Time for lunch.

that sport that prefers feet over hands
- I think even non-soccer fans can appreciate veintitres23’s link to the fantastic manpiles of Real Madrid. Yay they won on Iker’s birthday. But what is Becks doing in one of those pictures…
- via rennylyleanna: The Diving Ronaldo action figure!
- Bremen finished third in the Bundesliga this year, but we’re still rated the most financially responsible team! Oh, and congrats to Stuttgart.
- what was with all those clásicos today in the Americas? An end-of-the-year thing? Even in LA (Galaxy vs. Chivas USA), and also in baseball (Bay Bridge, Chicago, New York).
- via gunner: Arsenal itself may have finished 4th in the Premiership, but the Arsenal Ladies get new honor after fantastic season. Yay! Some quotes from the article:
As a contemporary Islington twist, the ladies team will also receive free cappuccino for a year from a classy Upper Street café.
This is both slightly amusing and slightly sad at the same time.
Most of the team have full-time jobs, two are mothers and each captain of the English, Scottish and Welsh teams plays at Arsenal.
Wow. Not fair that they can’t play in the new Emirates stadium, though. Here in the US they’re thinking of starting up the women’s league again partly so that the new soccer-only stadiums can get more use…gah.

Music
Check out the second new video from the Beastie Boy’s all-instrumental volume. I like this song better than the first one.
Brandon Flowers breaks his voice in concert
Elijah wood to play Iggy Pop?
Oh, and after finding the following video via Chargle, my Muse fandom returned full-force:

Wow Matt. That weird amp thing he does at the end? I learned about it in Physics and Music; it makes the vibrations last much longer, as you could hear.
This got me looking for more Muse videos…
the sci-fi cheese of Bliss.
One of my favorite songs, New Born
Another favorite, Feeling Good. Also check out the Nina Simone version used in a Six Feet Under ad, as well as the slick Michael Bublé spy version. I like each of them equally in their own way.
Time is Running Out. Dr. Strangelove references!

Finally, we go from the paranoid sci-fi rock of Muse to the paranoid sci-fi stories of H.P. Lovecraft.> (really! Most of his works are truly about aliens, just written in a horror style.)
Meme via kiratollan:
1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the next 3 sentences on your blog along with these instructions.
5. Don't you dare dig for that "cool" or "intellectual" book in your closet! I know you were thinking about it! Just pick up whatever is closest.
6. Tag five people do it if you want.
( From the Lovecraft story “The Shunned House”: )
Ah, that’s how I feel now. Also, cheese (the edible kind) shall be the end of me. The sweet, delicious end. Good night.

It’s been a bad week, and yesterday I really messed things up with school stuff. I might not post next week, though I will continue to comment because that makes me happy. The chocolate I am eating now makes me happy (the bar cost $6.25 , but it is Amano and so hard to find and so worth it). Supernatural made me happy- “Maybe they have superhearing!” New Heroes will also make me happy. Anyways…here’s the massive link dump.

Music
MUSE (well, 2 out of 3 of them) stopped by the Live 105 studios when they were in town two weeks ago. Here’s video from their interview.
Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3. They like Korean barbeque!
Descriptive track listing of the White Stripes’ latest album, “Icky Thump.” The list sounds like NME on full-on promo mode, but I like hearing that there’ll be some psychedelic twists on the CD. Awful album name, but it I think the songs will sound awesome.
Which emo are you? According to it, I’m most like the Indie emo, since I like the Mars Volta (they are influenced by Can) and MUSE.
Want to know what song was in that movie preview?
France’s Eurovision entry has been getting quite a bit of blog buzz. One of the you tube comments is classic: “barthez is a singer?”
“New Rave” Klaxons seek to ban glowsticks
Dude, these guys sound so much like early MUSE. Free, legal MP3 to download on that page. I don’t like the singer’s voice as much as Matt Bellamy’s, but you be the judge.
Stanford has a hip hop archive?

Via cleolinda:
William Fitchner to be in The Dark Knight? wow.
Matthew Fox to be in Speed Racer?
Laurence Fishburne to voice the Silver Surfer?
Edward Norton is the next Incredible Hulk?
Evangeline Lilly to star in movie?
Giovanni Ribisi to play Einstein?
Ender movie to go on?
And, something less insane: Pizza as a weapon.

The World
Fat is the feminine ideal in Mauritania. Fat or thin, forcing body image can hurt people.
Oh, and cleolinda said something great that I wanted to post here:
“(Here's my thought on that in a nutshell: Violent movies and videogames do not make people violent. Violent people are attracted to violent media. Of course, so are many of the rest of us, just for different reasons. I ended up watching The Matrix about 46,000 times--at one point on a three-day loop--for the book, and I shot nobody. If you want to talk about warning signs, don't look at the kid's taste in movies or his literary output--look at those two things in the context of his real-life behavior, which was already disturbing his teachers and classmates. Stephen King? A folksy, personable guy in real life. Quentin Tarantino? Full of energy and enthusiasm. Consequently, no one expects them to go on shooting rampages. The bitter, stalkative kid who won't even speak when spoken to, who also writes about bloody murder sprees? For God's sake, keep an eye on him.)”

Videos
Even if you don’t like Will Ferrell, you MUST see this video. Soooooo cute. There are no words. Oh my gosh. Please watch this.
Another great video, via greeniebach: Johnny Weir, Gregory, and Petukov perform together on ice. Yup, that’s right, three people on ice. I so wanted to see this. Not perfect, but still creative, refreshing, and well executed.
Mohinder teaches Sylar FUN!
And, finally, my brother found this great video of Dean Winchester quotes.

I want to post my Exploratorium pics someday. Waah.

Happy belated birthday to soleta_nf!

First off, Mika’s “Grace Kelly” > Mickey Avalon’s “Jane Fonda.”

UN urged to take on asteroid threat to Earth

The Oscars: the most regally bizarre mainstream televised event to come from the United States. I watched the whole show (and taped it- it’s less than two hours sans ads or those preview things). More thoughts maybe later, if I have time.

foresthouse has a cool new community up: a_plus_products, where you can evaluate various products. Go check it out - I so need to sometime…

Random things from the liner notes to 2400 Fulton Street, ( a best of Jefferson Airplane CD… )

Something to distract me from the Baby!Gunners’ loss at the Carling Cup final (at least we played well. And Baby Theo scored! Felt sorry for JT though):
Via sharkina: Footballer baby pics!
Cesc looks evil, Zizou looks dazed, and Miro is cute as always. Mini!Henry is cute too, while Rooney is freaky, Kaká has mushroom hair, Leo Messi is adorable, and…just click the link!
Schalke lost, but Bremen only tied. Oh well, we still get one point. 2-2 -that’s okay.
Back in about September I posted about a footballer named Francesco Flachi. He caught my attention after jumping up to keep a ball in bounds, crashing into the stands, knocking out a camerawoman, getting fouled, then scoring the penalty- all in the same game. He was soon suspended two months for betting on games. Later found out that he makes great goals, yet always gets into trouble. Interesting guy, no? Well, now he’s tested positive for cocaine. Sheesh. Still, I knew more interesting things would come from this guy. And hey, one of his Sampdoria teammates was the THIRD man to ever headbutt Monkey Materazzi. I’m kind of liking Sampdoria. They’ve got character. Not good character, but more amusing and tolerable than GRR INTER SOMEONE BEAT THEM ALREADY.

Seriously, Materrazzi has this like secret power to attract headbutts. Guess that’s one power Sylar won’t be taking…

sharkina gave me the letter S for this music meme:
List 10 songs that begin with the letter given to you and explain why you picked them. Comment and I shall give you a letter.
( I went overboard and did 25. You don’t have to. )

And finally, taken from canadian_turtle:
( Which Heroes character are you most like? )

I am a sunbaby!

Yesterday was so beautiful outside. Even at 8:30 AM on BART it was so sunny . Between classes I wandered about the campus, eating lunch on a bench by Sproul, soaking in the sun while shielding the chocolate in my purse with shade. It was right next to Strawberry Creek, so if I wanted a break from the heat I could just turn my head and get a cool breeze off the water. Ah.
I spotted Liliana, talked to her for a bit. Then I walked into one of the many small forests and just sat on a bench, looking at nature while eating chocolate. Really good chocolate too- a Verona 85% bar that I bought on Valentine’s Day. It’s both bitter and smooth. It’s sitting right next to me here. I think I’ll take another piece.

Okay, back from my chocolate break. (Actually, I’m typing with one hand, holding the chocolate up to my mouth with the other. Oh well.) So I walked around a little more, sat by the sundial next to the Campanile. Wrote two poems. Smiled at the little kids running around. Went into the library, and found some little blue insect skittering on my neck. My good mood made me only flick the insect away, instead of squishing it like usual. Online, I surfed along to Myspace songs by The Cassettes, Honeycut, and The Fratellis. Good mood continued through my next class.

When going home, I was finally able to spot Angel Island and even Alcatraz from the train. And SF was really clear. The lakes before Fremont station just rippled with sunlight. At home, I just crawled onto on my bed, wanting to nap in the afternoon light.

Gaah, I’m a romantic.

There are only two things I am consistently excellent at. Those things are:
1) wandering aimlessly
2) making pretty AND effective Powerpoint presentations.

Now, on to other things.
Scientists find lakes under Antarctica

On the DW-TV Journal yesterday, I saw a short clip of Diego speaking German. I’ve never heard German spoken with a Brazilian accent before. Yay Diego. Oh, and my dad said that the German deli here is run by a person from Bremen. He told her that I like the team, but got a few details confused. I hope I can meet her now, clear a few things up, ask about the place or chat or something.
Footie-related tangent: Arsenal meets the Queen. Hee, Cesc doesn’t know how to hold a teacup.
And Arsenal’s playing PSV on Tuesday. I will so be in the Bear’s Lair that day. Aww, I like some of the PSV players. But I’m still rooting for Arsenal. Waah, we tied today.

( some more Lost and Heroes thoughts )

TV pattern of the week: Forced yet still funny comedy. Everybody Hates Chris was trying a bit too hard on Monday, yet I still got a few laughs, and Orlando Jones was a surprising good guest star. Knights of Prosperity (must…resist…typing… “Cydonia”…) went a bit overboard with the whole Columbian accent and drug lord thing, yet it still stuck to its sweetfunny core, so it wasn’t too disappointing. The best parts were Rico’s bodyguards (the receipt thing was hilarious) and Gary playing with the light-up menorah. And, then, there was Supernatural.

( Tall Tales )

Oh, and Smallville was ( more or less okay too. ) If Heroes has my brain, then Lost has my heart. And Supernatural…Supernatural has my fannish feet. For jumping. When things get scary. Or funny. Or just plain cool.

I saw Slither. Fun and twisted, though nothing can touch the blood-soaked lawn gnome zombie mastery of Peter Jackson’s Evil Dead.

Let’s end with a TV meme from readywreadywrit:
I changed the rules a bit, and added a few shows to the list:
Underline = seen one or two episodes, or bits of various ones
Italic = more or less follow, or catching up, on TV or DVD, caught but dropped, etc.
Bold = watched since the first episode, finished, or a show you’re just totally obsessed with now

( the list of shows )

Yay, rebelstrike21 is back!
Hahaha, via cleolinda: Banned Words of 2006
And, these (caution, not all work safe) death by indulgence pics that you just have to see. Morbid humor of the highest order.

I just saw three men, dressed as classical composers, skate on ice with shiny numbers affixed to their backs. Joining them was a woman dressed in a light, tan toga-style dress and holding a lyre. A man at a piano was watching them, smiling. Wow.
And then I watched (thanks to censorthiis via 5upamofo) Robin Van Persie spank Thierry Henry on the bottom, and Henry dancing with Ade. Go Gunners! Way to start the year!


Eat more movies. Yup. And go to Muse every Sunday? Woo!
Via viralmemory

In the year 2007 I resolve to: To get a carnivorous fish. Get your resolution here.

Yup.

New Year’s Eve-In the afternoon, I watched parts of the NHK Red and White Singing Festival (Kohaku) broadcast from Japan. It’s just the spectacle of it all that appeals to me. I’m not big on most enka, and the pop fluff is pop fluff (gaah Ayu and Aiko). But they have dancing and pretty or weird costumes and mascots and game show-like interludes! It was nice to see Ken Watanabe as one of the guests of honor. One question: does the current incarnation of Morning Musume have less energy or what?
Later that night: Listened to some of the mashups (I still like that “Grease” vs. Snoop Dogg one) and party music on Live 105. I bounced around, surfing the TV channels and then skimming the newspapers and then eating lechon from a baby pig and then drawing flowers and more channel surfing, literally running from each activity to the next. Then-Happy New Year! My family has a tradition that we turn on all the lights in the house, and at the stroke of midnight we start jumping around. It’s supposed to make us taller in the new year, although there’s no hope for me anymore…and then we hug and stuff and my brother and I keep on jumping because it is fun.
Then we have to eat noodles of some kind. My dad made fettucine alfredo, and it made me so full that I couldn’t eat the pancit. But I did have an incredible craving for milk.

Napped a bit and then went online. Went crazy on LJ and did interest searches and I friended new people (hi!) and joined the almost_unknown and shiinaringo_ communities.

New Year’s Day- finally started to deal with the stuff from school. To put away last semester’s textbooks, I had to stuff them onto my already crowded little bookshelf. So they’re double-parking on each shelf, basically. Started Season 2 of Aqua Teen Hunger Force, and started working on the banners for my profile so it isn’t so talky. Oh, and we went to Christmas in the Park. Yay animatronic bears! Yay tree dressed like Santa! Yay carnival rides! Yay fat fluffy churros! There was also this little black bunny fluffing itself in front of a street trumpeter. Later caught about two thirds of the Heroes marathon, and the previews for 1/22 look exciting!

BUT OUR PHONE WAS DEAD. So, no ‘net that night. Sorry if I missed some posts. Was able to read most of them, but didn’t have time to comment on everyone.
It’s fixed now, though.

Finally,

Yeah.

Oh, and supersyncspaz7, did you get the little gift I put in the comments to your New Year’s post?

First, a nice little holiday story:
Thanks for the whale barf!

I saw a a blender grind up super-hard stuff on Tech Now and it was shocking.

Funny interview with Rainn Wilson, aka Dwight from The Office (US).

It took some time, but I finally figured out that Channel 40, which I can sometimes get with the antenna of the living room TV, is actually MTV Trés. Besides the occasional movie star interview, it plays English and Spanish-language music videos all the time. Hmm, Channel 28 (the mainly Korean local channel) used to show MTV 2 until about 2 years ago.

Trailer talk:
-Saw the trailer for 300. It appears to be an excellent visual translation of the comic‘s art, though I hope that they still keep the undercurrent of the King’s stubborn, fierce Spartan sense of humanity that really made Frank Miller’s graphic novel great.
-My brother called me to see the Children of Men trailer because it uses “Map of the Problematique” by Muse and Muse is awesome but I missed it! Cuaron’s direction of the third Harry Potter movie was interesting and visually admirable yet left me cold. But his Little Princess, which was done using a much more traditional approach, is one of my favorite movies ever. We’ll see how it turns out.

Well, ( speaking of Harry Potter… )

Via viralmemory, ( a much cooler meme )

It’s time for the end of the year lists…
Rolling Stone has their songs of 2006. I think it’s trying to appeal to a mass audience (Pussycat Dolls?) while throwing in a few indie songs to for cred, but ( we can agree on some things. )

Books of the year:
The Washington Post’s list
Boston Globe’s list
The New York Times’ list
So want to read The Road and The Omnivore's Dilemma.
Aack, Marisha Pessl. To me she's like the Cristiano Ronaldo of American fiction: good looking, clever, young for their respective fields, with brilliant tricks and undeniably great talent yet an annoying showoff tendency and this hyperactive, whiny feeling. And they both divide their audiences! I'm sorry to judge an author without reading the book but just reading excerpts from Special Topics in Calamity Physics made me feel exhausted and dumb.

Top 50 music videos of 2006. What, no Knights of Cydonia? Grr.

Top 10 Creepiest food mascots. My brother has that “Sneak King” video game and it is just surreal.

And, of course:
The handy dandy list of best 2006 lists

Like the new icon? It's Shiina Ringo, one of my favorite singer/songwriters.

Just saw Garden State. Good stuff.

By the way, I just got a myspace account. See it here. I'm not going to blog on it though- the blog feature will be only for posting that I have new self-made icons posted on that picture page thing they provide. My profile has a cool scrollbar and the song I put there is "Hysteria," by Muse. I will still post here, though!

I heard this funny yet true story on Wait Wait Don't Tell Me:

Squirrels Addicted to Crack
Based on the number of articles that appeared on the Google Search, I guess that this is a minor epidemic on the East Coast. I think.

ETA: I just realized after looking at that site again that the comments below lean a little towards the right. Whoa, not an expression of my political interests. Just the most concise article I could find in a minute of searching.

see y'all later.