February 22: Columbo is freaking awesome

Columbo is freaking awesome.

There, I said it. It's out. You all know. I'm addicted to Columbo, and I don't care what anyone else thinks about it. Ever since I downloaded the first season, I've been hooked. It's so awesome! Who could not love it, what with the bumbling antics of Peter Falk and the outdated culture of the 1960s and 70s. It's wonderful. I especially love the unique soundtrack that every episode has. It's just such a well done show. Yeah, yeah, I know I'm a freak, but everyone has a lame show they love. I just happen to have lots. Don't judge me.

It got me thinking, though. If Columbo, of all things, is out on DVD, where are some of the other quirky and beloved shows of my childhood? I decided to do some investigation, and found that most of them actually are available. For example, The Adventures of Teddy Ruxpin is out. So are Count Duckula (Iiiiii'll get it...) and Goof Troop. I need to get buying.

But surprisingly, Captain Planet and the Planeteers isn't. I mean, even Captain N: The Game Master is out, and yet no Captain Planet. What's up with that? I think we need to start a letter writing campaign.

Actually, I think I think too much. Until next time.

February 16: Happy Birthday, Steve

It's that time of the year again: birthday time! Today, Steve and I turn 24, which is just crazy. I can't believe it. Every year I move closer and closer to being a real grown-up, which is a bit disconcerting. Come this time next year, I think it'll be official and finalized. But, at least I'll have cheaper car insurance.

I'm going out with Janet and Mom to Talay Thai, the most delicious restaraunt in the world, and Mom is buying me a birthday copy of Transmit for all of my file transferring needs. That's exciting stuff, there.

In other news, I got a copy of Wii Play this week, which is freaking awesome. It's a collection of nine mini-games, sort of like Wii Sports. Highlights include table tennis, a Duck Hunt-esque game, and billiards. They're all simple, but they're good fun. It's made me want to play real pool, actually. Anyway, the real sweet thing about Wii Play is that it comes with a free controller. David and Katie gave me the controller that came with theirs, since they already had four, which means that I now have a complete set. Woots.

Anyway, I should go get some work done. Happy birthday, Steve.

February 08: Weebl must be stopped

Hello, world. What's happening? It's been a quiet week, but I thought I'd write a blog entry in hopes of amusing myself until my lunch break is over (which is only in a few minutes, so it shouldn't be difficult).

Dancing mango

I just finished watching a video on Weebls Stuff called “Mango”, and now I can't get it out of my head. I went there hoping to get “Chutney” out of my head, but I've just made things worse.

Weebl must be stopped. His catchy, repetitive, insane songs get stuck in my head for days at a time. It's like a virus — once I'm infected, there's not a lot I can do. I'm scared that “Mango” and “Chutney” will mix in my head and become “Mango Chutney”, a force that would be more powerful than even “Strawberry Pancakes”.

What do I do? Right now, all I can come up with for ideas is a spontaneous trip to England to break some kneecaps and forcibly shut down the website, but the songs would still be in my head, and I don't think I could bring myself to do it anyway. Help.

February 05: Adam

So, tomorrow, Adam (one of The Roomies) leaves for a six month assignment in Afghanistan, which stands to be very exciting, scary, and lucrative. It's exciting for him because of the whole exotic locale thing, scary because, well, it's the Middle East and there are insurgents and stuff, and lucrative because high risk = high pay. The assignment is broken into two three month chunks, with a short leave in between. Sketch. Ee. Anyway, wish him good luck for the trip.

So as Adam goes off to help fix the Middle East a bit, I have US politics on my mind. For the past few weeks, a lot the casual discussion at work has been focused on Barack Obama, aka the black guy who could be president. We're pretty much all for him (although our opinion doesn't count for much in the debate since we're in a different country). Wil Shipley, Mac developer (and excellent story-teller) has an entry about the Barack possibility called “Barack Strangelove (Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Obama)”, and it seems to sum up the debate pretty well. For the first time in almost a decade, the US could have an articulate, well-respected president. After eight years of watching GW rape the world, it'd be quite a novelty. There are two tough questions that no one knows the answers to, however: first and foremost is the obvious one, ie, would a non-white candidate actually stand a chance in an election? There are a lot of deep-seated suspicions that people — lots of people, even some who are enlightened in lots of other ways — harbour somewhere inside of them. It'd be a great step for the world if they could put them aside and take a step forward, but whether that will happen yet remains the be seen. The other question is, of course, would he stand a chance against Hilary Clinton? She's got a lot of people backing her and the whole world already knows who she is. That's a pretty powerful lead.

Anyway, enough ranting for now, I guess. How do you feel about the whole thing?

February 02: I Didn't Expect This

Any Wikipedia article that includes the sentence “He constantly gambled his midgets away.” is fine by me.

February 02: Happy Groundhog Day

Early spring this year. Not like we've had a winter, though.
  • Written on 02 February 2007 & posted at 09:41 AM.
  • There are .
  • Permalink.

February 01: Internet Meme of the Month: Infinite Solutions

Infinite Solutions I love the Internet. Just as I was starting to miss having something to show everyone (the most recent meme being “Will It Blend?”), Dan shared the wonderful Infinite Solutions. It's just fantastic.

Infinite Solutions is a public-broadcasting-style show that offers helpful tips for the technologically impaired, ranging from useful things like how to recharge batteries and how to increase your WiFi signal to more frivolous things, like unlocking a hidden mode in Minesweeper.

Of course, the guy is completely full of shit, and everything is made up, which is where the genius bit comes in. Infinite Solutions looks and feels so much like a genuine show that people are actually trying the idiotic things he's describing and asking why they don't work in comments. Although I guess it could be seen a bit mean-spirited, it's utterly hilarious, and I love it. I definitely recommend that you check out the full selection of videos they've put up on YouTube. They're. So. Good.