Pee-cicles

I'm headed up to Canada in a few hours. It should be fun, the friend I'm going to visit told me its going to be -30 C, which is -22 F. I hoping that this is cold enough to accomplish one of my 'life-goals." I want to pee outside and have it freeze before it hits the ground. I've heard this can happen in extreme cold, I just hope that this is cold enough. 

When I get back next week I'll let you know if I was successful in creating pee-cicles. I also might get around to writing a few more consistent entries when I get back, but its doubtful. 

Embarrassing? Yes. Funny? No.

Last January I recounted an incident that happened to me. I more or less know all the people that I know that read this blog. In other words, as far as I know, none of my close (or not so close) real world friends know this exists aside from those I've shared it with. Apparently I shared it with a Norwegian cousin of mine and then forgot about it. This typically wouldn't be a big deal, but she found the above linked story to be so funny she felt the need to share it with a few friends and other relatives. Initially she didn't think it was a big deal, we're an ocean apart. Lets skip ahead to Christmas this year. 

My cousin made a cookbook for her mother, her grandmother and some other people. Seeing as it was made for Norwegians, by a Norwegian, the whole cookbook was written in Norwegian. Except for one page. She had accidentally mixed a copy of my blog post in with the recipes. A family recipe book with many classic family recipes from both the US and Norway, and one story of extremely unfortunate bathroom humor. This wouldn't have been so bad if her mother wasn't currently living in the US, and she wasn't spending Christmas here. At a small party the Saturday after Christmas this recipes book was passed around for a good deal of my family to see. Seeing as most of us don't speak (or read Norwegian) we just flipped through the book until we came to the lone page written in English, which was my story. Normally I don't embarrass easily, but there was this one woman (my grandmother's cousin) that wouldn't shut up and keep trying to read the story aloud, after she found out I had written it. I've got to admit I was more embarrassed by the typos and spelling mistakes than the actual story. I supposed I should do a better job of proofreading my blog entries in the future. Regarding the recipe book: It doesn't matter now, all the copies, save for one, have now returned to Norway. 

Happy New Year, Merry Christmas, Etc.

I tried so hard last month to make sure I didn't neglect this blog for weeks at a time, but I relapsed. I don't know what it is, but sometimes simply posting a stupid picture, lame joke or link to a youtube video can be too much to ask of me. I could make excuses, I had exams, I got sick, Holidays happened, but the truth is, all of the above happened. 

Christmas was good this year. It was an international affair. Last year I spent Christmas in Vienna, and although I didn't leave the US for Christmas this year the crowd was from all over. We had 5 Norwegian relatives visit us, my cousin had her Egyptian boyfriend over, and my aunt was here with her French-Canadian boyfriend. Aside for the Egyptian guy (I fucking hate him, I'm convinced he is gay and only dates my cousin because he is too ashamed to admit the truth, and she is too desperate to catch on), it was a really good time. I didn't get much worth noting. My girlfriend gave me a new french press. It makes really good coffee, so I've been taking advantage of that. I didn't get much else, my dad got me a good bottle of beer. It was a Hefeweizen from Berkshire Brewing Company. BBC brews small batches of craft beer that are amazing. The best thing is that their beer comes in two sizes, 22oz bottles and 64oz handles. It is awesome. I also got some good music, but I'll go over that in the coming week. 

Drogba Zwei Toilet

Some people like cars that go fast, some people like cars that get good fuel economy, some people like cars that are flashy, and some people like cars with disc brakes. The band that made this song obviously fall into the last category. I would pay good money (someone else's) to find out what inspired this song. It really isn't like anything I've ever seen or heard before.

This may be NSFW, but I guess it depends upon where you work. There is profanity and thats it, no nudity or anything sexual.

Happy Birthday Knut

(Knut's 1st Birthday)

The world's most famous polar bear turns two today. You've probably heard the story about his life by now so I won't go into details. I got to see him in the Berlin Zoo last year just a few days after Christmas, and it was great. I got there just as feeding time was starting, I got a spot upfront by the rail and watched him jump in the water and splash around to collect his lunch. Even at the advanced age of just over 1, he was adorable that day. I would share some of the pictures I took that day, but sadly it was an overcast day which messed with my cameras light sensor causing all my pictures to come out blurry. 

Recently there has been speculation that Knut might be sold to another zoo. He is currently owned by the Berlin Zoo, which is owned by the City of Berlin, which is billions of dollars in debt. I guess their can't afford their kleine Eisbär any longer. Some of the rumored cities he could end up in are Hanover, Stockholm and Oslo. As long as he goes somewhere cold I'm sure he'll be fine, but it will be sad to see him leave Berlin. A bear is the symbol of Berlin, it is even on their flag, and to have the world's most famous bear there only seems appropriate. 

Gobbledigook en Español.

I love this.

How I waste my time.

If there is one thing I'm better than most people at, it is wasting time. Lately I've felt like all my wasting of time has gotten out of hand. I need to find a way to waste my time and still be of some benefit to someone. That is when I stumbled across Google Image Labeler. It's a game of sorts that Google came up with to get people to properly label images. I haven't done any research on it (that'd be wasting time in the wrong way), but from what I have gathered it is so that more people agree upon what an image actually is, therefore making it easier for people to search for images. 

How to play: you are paired up with another person playing the game and they two of you have 2 minutes to agree upon labels for as many pictures as possible. The make it more difficult by having a list of tags that are already established and don't reward you with points. When you and your partner agree on a label you get a chance to attempt a second, third, fourth, or however many pictures you can label in that two minutes. Sometimes you work with someone great and you can label up ten or so pictures, and then other times you are paired with a moron and can't get past the first picture. 

I tried using this program at my university yesterday and it was inaccessible so you may have trouble using it if you are on a corporate network of some sort. 

Thanksgiving

Something about Thanksgiving felt off this year. I don't know if it was because I didn't celebrate Thanksgiving last year (I was in Dublin), or if it was something else. The meal felt abbreviated, the football was lackluster (I can't believe how bad the Lions are), and the day was slow. I'm not complaining, I'm just pointing out that this year was a boring Thanksgiving. 

It could be that Thanksgiving doesn't interest me the way it interests others. I don't see the appeal of gorging myself, and I never have. Back in June I had a little eating contest with some friends which left me unable to enjoy food for about a week afterward. Sure I won, but it wasn't worth it. I had to walk home hunched over, and my stomach felt like it was ripping open for the next week each time I ate or drank something. 

I actually don't really have anything to say today. I'm simply trying to write on a semi-daily basis so that I don't go months between posts again. 

Christmas on Mars

I don't like writing film reviews so I'm going to try to make sure this isn't one.

Saturday night I went to one of only three screenings of Christmas on Mars here in CT. All three were held at Real Art Ways in Hartford. Real Art Ways isn't your typical movie theatre. It is actually an art gallery that shows films in a small theatre. The films are small art house type films that don't see widespread distribution.

The film wasn't what I was expecting. Considering how uplifting The Flaming Lips music tends to be, I figured the film would be of a similar quality. I was wrong. It was hands down the most depressing and oddest Christmas film I've ever seen. Calling it a Christmas film is a stretch, aside from the fact that it takes place on Christmas Eve and features Wayne Coyne as an alien in a Santa costume there is nothing about the film that says Christmas. The acting varied from horrific to not bad. The score was excellent, as were the sets. The fact that much of the sets were built in Wayne's backyard is amazing. Most of the film was shot in black and white, and I think this was done as much for the aesthetics as it was to hide the fact that most of the sets were held together with masking tape. One thing that really caught me off guard was the number of vagina's in this film. It would have been over the top if they weren't the only redeeming quality of the film. A marching band of vagina headed musicians about to crush a baby is oddly comedic when seen in the context of this film. If you decide to watch this movie try to look for hidden vaginae. Some are more obvious than others.

I was considering buying the Christmas on Mars Deluxe Edition, but after seeing the film all of Wayne Coyne's Jim Jones-esqu selling personality couldn't win me over. The film was terrible. I'll probably pick up the DVD/ CD set just to get the soundtrack. I can't justify spending $40 for this even though it comes with so much cool stuff.

Free Dr. Pepper

Only until about 6pm tonight you can get a coupon for a free 20oz Dr. Pepper at www.drpepper.com/text . Enjoy it while you can, act fast.