Random Web Offerings

Eat: A $750 cupcake you can buy in Las Vegas.

Improve Your Computer Performance: Top 10 Tiny and Awesome Windows Utilities

Switch to Google Chrome: I've been using Google Chrome since it was first released and I still think its by far the best web browser. Google Chrome now supports extensions, see check out a list of the top 10 Google Chrome extensions.

Listen: NPR's The Year in Music, 2009

Exercise: Read about why you may be more likely to get sick when you are relaxing during the holidays and why exercise might be the key to not getting sick again this holiday.

Watch:

Playing Catch-Up

Now that my senior thesis has been turned in and my ARD interview is over, I am finally able to more fully enjoy the small things in life that make me happy. So far this weekend I have:

• Dinner at Yamato with Jimmy, Sarah, Hannah and Eric Kidder
• Followed dinner with enjoying just channel surfing and sipping on a beer with Jimmy and Sarah at Kevin's apartment without feeling guilty that I had important deadlines to meet
• Re-watched some How I Met Your Mother
• Caught-up on Econ & Poli Sci assignments
• Read a ton of news that has been stockpiling on my google reader
• Updated my concert/theatre calendar

April:

Dan Deacon

The Matches

The Devils (Theatre)

May

Kevin Devine

Manchester Orchestra, Fun (ex-Format), Audrye Sessions

Forgive Durden & You, Me, & Everyone We Know

Spring Sing

June

Explosions in the Sky

The Importance of Being Earnest (Play starring Neil Patrick Harris!)

Speaking of news, some highlights: 

Defense Secretary Gates Attempts to Retool the Defense Budget

4 Pirate Bay Operators were found guilty and are going to jail

Random News Round-up

Local News: California is considering banning black cars to reduce carbon emissions. Interesting idea.

Absurd News: Residents’ associations in the UK are installing pink lighting to highlight teenagers’ acne in order drive them away from the area

Useful News: How to Fake a Clean House

Entertainment: Green Day + The Guy Who Wrote "Spring Awakening" = American Idiot the Musical. I don't have a good feeling about this.

Office News: My love for Manchester Orchestra knows no bounds. If that's not a good enough reason to check them out, then how about this: Rainn Wilson loves Manchester Orchestra.

Personal News: Teaching my first class went well today. It was a lot of fun, even though I was bummed there was no projector so my powerpoint was for nothing.

Marketing News: Asher Roth of "I Love College" fame is going to have the first 1,000-5,000 copies of his debut album wrapped in clear joint paper, so you can smoke it.

Celebrity News: Weird facts about Nic Cage if you are interested

Spring Break!

Happy Spring Break!

I'm spending the week in Washington D.C. to visit my buddy Andrey and see some sights. What is everyone else (that's still in school at least) up to?

Now that you have some free time on your hands, I thought I'd share some random stuff I've come across:

Most of you already know I am not a big sports fan, so it is tough for me to really get into March Madness. However, this is something I can get behind:

March Madness: The 2012 Republican Primaries

Everyone love's "Stronger" whether it was the original Daft Punk or the Kanye West version. Now go crazy with it.

Links to the 99 Things You Should Have Already Seen on the Internet

Watch Prank War 7: The Half Million Dollar Shot on CollegeHumor

A Video Game and a Music Video

There is a Japanese video game called RapeLay. It is simply a "rape simulator." Horrifying and fascinating (once you read about the cultural backdrop in Japan). Ok, mostly just horrifying and saddening. Read about the game if you are so inclined. I hope my friend Anna is being careful on those trains!

A sad story must be balanced with something awesome. Enjoy the new Manchester Orchestra music video that was just released less than half an hour ago.

Manchester Orchestra - The Only One

Mental Health Break

Pure Win

Random

Wired's 2009 Movie Guide
Somehow they left off Up. Pixar never disappoints.

You won't normally find a lot of Top 4o songs mentioned here, but this is an interesting little mash-up of the Top 25 hits of the year.


iStanford iPhone Application
"So far, their program, "iStanford," which launched October 1, is pretty straightforward — users can access a campus map and course catalog, email professors and get news and information about sports teams. Nothing wildly innovative about that.

But the newest version, slated to arrive shortly, also allows students to add and drop courses, see the real-time whereabouts of the on-campus shuttle bus, review their own grades and course history and perform a variety of other administrative tasks that are normally accessible only over secure campus networks."

Video of the new Apple laptop without a keyboard

An interesting post by Anathallo about the story behind their new song "The River."
Excerpt:

"If you go against current and fight it, your muscles become tired, knotted, and worn. What happens if you hop? It takes you. You can loosen your tensions as it carries you down. It's giving in to the complete unknowns which we generally feel uncomfortable about because they take more constant attentiveness and mindfulness...

Erica and I wrote [the lyrics] after hearing about an experience that her mom had while hiking the Pacific Crest Trail. She was crossing a river and the current swept her away. Due to the weight of her pack, she couldn't get to a bank and was certain that she was going to die. Upon that realization, she leaned back, calmed her senses and enjoyed what she thought would be her last living moments... she observed everything with a concentrated mindfulness as she passed underneath the glow of light pouring through the canopy of leaves."

Happy Hanukkah!

This is dedicated to all of my Jewish friends out there. I wish I could make it over to Aaron J.'s this year because I have some good memories lighting my own menorah there and I am always in the mood for some good latkes. However, this year I at least get to celebrate with my good friend Andrey in NY (26-28). Hopefully we'll find time to see the lighting of the World's Largest Hannakuh Menorah. It's 32 feet tall!

Random Stuff

• I've been into photography lately. Here's a cool selection of photographs from throughout the year
• Oh, Australia: "After rude behavior in state legislatures, the call goes out again to curtail drinking and even to initiate breathalyzer tests for members of parliament"
• Cool Video the History of the Middle East in 90 Seconds
• International Council on Security and Development: "The Taliban, which controlled 54% of Afghanistan in 2007, now controls about 72% of the country"
• Ugh. "Prop. 8 supporter Rick Warren of Saddleback Church will give the inaugural invocation." I remember going there when the church first started. It didn't even have a building yet, it was only a big tent. On Easter one year they had the adults outside and let the kids in the big tent for a magician show. My Mother still goes there & tries to drag me when I'm in town.
  

Prop 8 - The Musical

Starring my favorites: Neil Patrick Harris, Jack Black, Allison Janney & Sarah Chalke

Snipets

Came across this interesting idea:

Yesterday I called a woman’s spouse her boyfriend.
She says, correcting me, “He’s my husband,”

“Oh,” I say, “I no longer recognize marriage.”
The impact is obvious. I tried it on a man who has been in a relationship for years,
“How’s your longtime companion, Jill?”

“She’s my wife!”

“Yeah, well, my beliefs don’t recognize marriage.”
Fun. And instant, eyebrow-raising recognition. Suddenly the majority gets to feel what the minority feels. In a moment they feel what it’s like to have their relationship downgraded, and to have a much taken-for-granted right called into question because of another’s beliefs.

Recent Car Crash in LA:

Does the Constitution bar Hilary from being Secretary of State?

Interesting interview about the failure to stop Prop. 8:

"I know a lot of black churches take offense when gay activists say that the gay movement is somehow analogous to the black civil rights movement. And while there is some relationship between the persecution of gays and the anti-miscegenation laws in the United States, I think the true analogy is to the women's movement. What we represent as gays in America is an alternative to the traditional male-structured society. The possibility that we can form ourselves sexually -- even form our sense of what a sex is -- sets us apart from the traditional roles we were given by our fathers."

And finally, do yourself a favor and see Slumdog Millionaire. Easily my second favorite movie of the year (#1 being The Dark Knight, of course).

The Dreams

I put the Weatherbox record on today after Aaron J. mentioned it. Sometimes this record really takes me away to a different place, while other times it just helps me dwell on my day to day existence. One of my favorite lines on this record is from the song "The Dreams" (sidenote: I've also been having some really weird dreams lately).

"I can't abide by rules which are not my own"





Lyrics | Weatherbox - The Dreams lyrics

Random:
Beautiful HDR Photography

Random Stuff

Strange Buildings of the World
UCSD's Geisel Library made the list. There are some really cool buildings on there (I can only count a handful of them that I have been to. Kind of bummed that I didn't make it to the Kunst Modern in Vienna over the summer. Just made it to the original Kunsthistorisches Museum there).

The United Nations (the world organization) has found out about United Nations (the grindcore supergroup featuring members of Thursday and Glassjaw/Head Automatica) and had facebook remove their page. Favorite comment so far on AP.net: "It's about time! The actual UN has officially spent more time on this band then on the genocide in Africa."


2012 Election Comic

Interesting NY Times Article on Stretching

Amendment to Be

Today in ORL training, the department made a valiant effort to parody the Schoolhouse Rock song "I'm Just a Bill." Although it didn't go as well as it could have, it reminded me of one of my favorite Simpson's clips: "An Amendment to Be." Unfortunately, Youtube doesn't have a clip showing the animation but the song is below and you can watch it here: http://www.milkandcookies.com/link/48876/detail/

An Anthropological Introduction to YouTube

I came across this great video by a professor at Kansas State University. He presented this anthropological introduction to YouTube at the Library Congress and I definitely think it is worth watching if you can find an hour to spare. It reminded me of why I originally thought it might be cool to be a professor of sociology or anthropology. I just love understanding how people interact, why things happen the way they do, etc...