Monday, November 23, 2009

Pandas Explodo Lab--GO!!

Let's catch you up on what's been happening with your Too-Cool-to-Blaug Protagonist!

The end of August was... interesting. Molyneaux and I parted ways with our apartment, but neither of us had any idea where we were going next. He is currently sort of in State College and sort of in Shrewsbury (long story).

I, on the other hand, am back in York.

And the astute ones in the crowd quickly ask,"But, dude? What do you mean by back in York? Weren't you living in York the last time you updated your dilapidated little online journal-thingy, here?"

Um, yeah. About that? Heh...

I had to move back in with my parents for a month.

Now, some people might think this would be torture. But I get along with The Tauz 'Rents pretty well, so I wasn't expecting it to be a bad experience or anything. It just put a tiny ding in my pride. But, all in all, my return to Cellar Dwelling was quite temporary, partially comforting, and totally free. Even the nasty sinus infection I had for almost the entire time I was living there didn't make the overall experience a bad one.

After a month had passed, my next (and current) place was ready to be moved into. So now I'm shackin' up with Jordan and Conor, my buddies from So-Yo-Co who are 2/5 of Pandas! And even though I occupy the smallest room in the house, the unusual setup here at The Pandas Explodo-Lab has been working pretty well, so far. The amount of hugs I get every day from these guys is unsettling! (I find getting no hugs daily to be unsettling.)

I say unusual setup because, my room is quite tiny. Here are some pictures I took, to show you just how small it actually is, so you know I'm not just exaggerating like I do constantly, all the time.

The view from outside my door


The view from in my doorway


The floorspace between my bed and The Non-Bed Wall


The view from The Closet Corner


The floorspace at the foot of my bed


Don't get me wrong--it's completely livable, and, actually, rather cozy. But it is almost literally a BED ROOM.

As you can see from the photos, I was able to squeeze a couple of shelf units and an area rug in there, but the bed is pretty much the main feature. But there are definite upsides to my minuscule quarters. For instance, I have no room to leave clothes lying around, so I am forced to be at least a little more tidy than usual. I have a bathroom pretty much to myself, just a few feet outside of my room. And I can't foget the brand new ceiling fan. That thing is pretty tits. They installed it just for me, and it is now the new home of my Monkey Bells!

Respect the Monkey Bells


But since my room is so tiny, my desk and computer are in the Very Long Living Room.

The Tauz Auffice


How wacky, right?!? About a fifth of the Very Long Living Room is dedicated to being my "office". (And for the record, only two of those longboxes of comics are mine.)

The rest of the Very Long Living Room


(First of all, Respect The Pawpaw Wade Anvil.) And I'll bet you're thinking that the lack of privacy would kill you. But for me, it's actually pretty cool. I can hang out with people while I'm cruisin' the 'net or type out a Blaug entry while watching Jordan play a video game that I'll never enjoy playing myself. So that's workin' out pretty well for me.

After having lived here for a couple of months, we decided to have a house-warming party this past weekend. A whole mess of kickass people showed up and warmed our place right the hell up.

I only took a few pics, so here they are!

In preparation for company, I made time to decorate my cubby hole walls and shelves with my girl-repellent brick-a-bracks!



Also, there were people visiting! Below are Greggy T., Calvin, Aaron and Jordan, bein' all up in the Living Room. We were happy to see Greg, as he now lives in Jersey, and we miss him. Calvin and Aaron live much closer than Jersey and I suppose we were happy to see them, too.



My dear friend Molyneaux and his Lovely Lady Catie also were in attendance. Here's how Molyneaux chose to salute his hosts for the evening. (To be fair, that's how he always salutes us. Also, we usually kinda deserve it.)



This group of hooligans was playing cards in the Dining Room for a bit. They are (L-R) Engler, Brossman, Big Cal and Autumn. We played a calm and fun round of Mau. I'm pretty sure it was the first round of Mau that has ever been described thusly.



This guy and his mustache were there. I hear he plays in some band. (The guy... not his mustache.) Oh, Mr. Parkinthepark. You do gesture so oddly, sometimes. But you are fun!



Now those people from the dining room are in the kitchen. BritBross was gettin' all hand-talky and shit. The Calebs seem entertained.



Mere inches away, I am cornered in my own kitchen. I was okay, though, since I was sporting my R.I.P. Henchman #24 t-shirt. Engler's shirt, was also in the kitchen.



At one point, Bruno was playing on our home theater system in the aforementioned Very Long Living Room. There were a ton of people watching said movie with great intent and loud laughter. And then there were these guys. Conor, Big Bro Mark, and Witmer were all hangin' out in there, too! Note the unsure face on BBM's face as he caught bits and pieces of Bruno from the far end of the Very Long Living Room.



Maybe it's not his kind of humor, but I was really happy to have Mark-o stop by and chill with his kid bro for a while. It was also very awesome of The Wit to come and hang for the evening. I'm glad he got to geek out with my musically-inclined flatmates, finally!

We were really glad that there were a whole bunch more people who came out to spread the cheer that night, even if some of them didn't make it into the pictures. I hope a good time was had by all. I know I had a blast. And I continue to have a blast living here. We are a weird little trio, but the circumstances are good, the house kicks ass, and we all have gas. A lot. So we have stuff in common. Which is nice.

Now... about those hugs...

Monday, November 9, 2009

Memory Wipe

I just found out that I lost over five years worth of old/sentimentally meaningful emails from my hotmail account.

I am The Tauz's held-back tears.



I am The Tauz's shock and awwwwwwww.


Is that a normal reaction for someone to have? Sadness over the loss of electronic data?



I mean, yeah. In reality they were just a shit-load of ones and zeroes, but in virtual reality, they were some precious moments shared between friends. And, being a total pack-rat, I like to keep everything that I can, so this was a huge loss for me. I had e-mails that dated back to the summer after I graduated from college, for shit's sake!

Now what am I going to do when I want to read old, long-ass surveys that my friends filled out in college? Or the one or two big, long emails from old girlfriends? Or remember how my friends responded to my overly-proud email about getting hired on at my first big-boy job?

Since this has OBVIOUSLY had quite an effect on me, you're probably wondering what the hell happened. Frankly, so am I. But I at least can put it into perspective for you.

Not too long ago I started using the Mail program on my iMac. It collects all of your incoming emails from any number of accounts and displays them in one window. It saves me the time of logging into two different e-ddresses every time I want to check up on my correspondencing.

There are drawbacks, though. One is that it doesn't let me see my junk mail. I normally scan through the senders in my junk mail folder before I flush it all. But on occasion, I've been lucky enough to spot the random fun messages from unexpected people as well as important stuff like tax return info by doing this.

Also, as I found out tonight, (apparently) the backlog of emails I've kept for the past seven years will not be maintained if I don't physically log in once a month or so. By not logging in, I am giving Microsoft permission to make my memories go away...



There's nothin' funny about that!

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

The List

Some friends have recently posted their lists of "Shows I've Seen Every Episode of" to their Facebook pages. Every time one of those popped up in my news feed, I was tempted, but I really wanted to give it a bit more thought before I posted mine.

I actually spent extended periods of time thinking about this extraordinarily important topic. For example: I specifically remember doing a large chunk of memory-stretching while in the shower one day, even.

So, when it showed up again in my FB news feed this evening, I clicked the link and went to work trying to remember the 5 shows I'd come up with. I didn't want to post it and then remember a show that I'd be ashamed to have not mentioned in this, The Most Important List of My Life. I even went so far as to sign in to my MySpace account (I had to click the "Forgot My Password" link first, though) to check my own profile to make sure I hit all the important shows.

And I'm glad I went to the trouble of retrieving my password to my defunct account, because I almost missed one that would have made me cry, had I excluded it. (It ended up at #3.)

Once I'd come up with a list that satisfied my own standards of excellence, I clicked through and I was going to leave a list of "I've seen almost all of these" shows in the comment box above the results. But once I hit the sixth title in the growing second list, I was all like... "Fuck this! I haven't dropped a Blaug entry on the world in a while, so... LET'S DO THIS!"

So here's the glorious, honorable list, with creator commentary, the list of "Almosts", and some other extras thrown in at the end that have little relevance to the rest of this entry! WOO! Just like a shitty, barely-interactive DVD! Except this was free. Enjoy!



1) The Venture Brothers

Seriously. This is the show I'm most proud to have on my list. I've always loved animation, and this is animation for "old kids", a.k.a. Man-Children like myself. This amazingly-written, hilarious super-hero/kid's cartoon spoof is the epitome of awesome entertainment for The Tauz. I love this shit so much that I have 14 T-shirts related to this show. So get hip, you posers.

2) LOST

Just so, so good. This complex show is definitely an incredible investment of time, but I don't regret a moment of it. And though it's not without its flaws, I still have high hopes that the conclusion to the series (coming at the end of the upcoming season) will not disappoint its dedicated fans. This fucking show...

3) Weeds

Look, I don't smoke the shit, but I'll watch the HELL outta this show. Mary-Louise Parker is hot as balls, first off. Then you add her into a smashingly talented cast working with scripts that run the viewers between gut-busting moments to heart-rending revelations, and you have this bomb-diggity show. The first two seasons are undoubtedly my favorite so far, but I'm sticking with this one to what is certain to be a bittersweet end.

4) 30 Rock
Tina Fey, Alec Baldwin, and Tracy Morgan are all top-shelf and the writing has me laughing out loud EVERY episode. The following ten-second clip is a good representative of all of these reasons to watch this fucking brilliant show.



5) Fullmetal Alchemist

I'd rate myself a moderate fan of anime. But I went BONKERS for this show when it was airing on [adult swim] a few years ago. I've seen all 52 episodes, the movie, and read about half of the manga issues. Excellent story, awesome action, real drama, kickass sci-fi/fantasy elements. As in accordance with Equivalent Exchange, this investment pays out whatever you put in. For me, the price was worth it.



Although I've seen every episode of the following shows, too, they didn't quite make The List, for one reason or another:

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Fucked-up, ridiculous, brilliant comedy.

Cowboy Bebop
Another classic anime series that was just quality story and art in motion.

Firefly
I really liked it. But would I consider myself a Browncoat? Not really.

Heroes
We'll see how next season goes...

Earth 2
If anyone else remembers this show, let me know. The Tauz Fam watched this as Quality Time together, folks. Every. Week.

Star Wars: Clone Wars
The micro-series done by Genndy Tartakovsky was totally tits.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars
The ugly CG, clunky, sub-par ongoing series on Cartoon Network. I still watch, though, dammit.

Batman: The Animated Series
I memorized the crash cymbal part to the opening theme. Because I marched cymbals for three years at Susky High, and this was on every day when I got home from Susky High. I have such fond memories of this show. I hope it's not just teenage nostalgia that makes me proclaim this as the Best Batman Series Ever.

Tale Spin
C'mon. Disney Afternoon, dude!

Darkwing Duck
Seriously. He was The Terror that Flapped in the Night, for fuck's sake! Respect!


Close, But No Cigar Awards:

Arrested Development
I still haven't seen all of Season 3, even though I watched the finale episode live.

South Park
I'm pretty sure I've missed some early episodes in seasons 1 - 3ish. I've seen every one since they went into 4th Grade, though...

Futurama
Just when I think I've finally seen 'em all, Comedy Central airs one that I've only seen part of before.

Wonderfalls
Never finished this one out when I temporarily had the DVD set, although I remember being really close to the end when I had to return the disc to... work? Mysterious cloudy memories here...

Prison Break
...and then they ended Season 2 in a way I could not tolerate...

Samurai Champloo
Another beautiful anime series that I'm pretty sure I caught almost every episode of while it was on [as].

Seinfeld
Between watching it when it was still new and working with the show in syndication at my place of employment, I'm pretty sure I've seen nearly all of the "Best Comedy in the History of Television".

Friends
I was a huge fan, back in the day. I petered out near the end, though. Could I be more disappointing?!?

The Office (U.S.)
I came late to the party on this one, so I'm trying to catch up with DVDs of the early episodes I missed. Great stuff, through and through.

Reaper
Check it out. I know it's on The CW, but it's worth suffering the humiliation. I still have about five episodes of Season 2 to get through on Molyneaux's Tivo, which is now in State College, which will make it difficult to finish up.

There are many other series that could probably earn a CBNC Award, but I'm tapped out for now.

Now admit it. That was more fun than reading some lame Facebook update, right? So as a bonus, here are some more Movie Haikus!

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Hormones hit Hogwart's
Young wizards gettin' horny!
Great book; decent flick.

Transformers 2: Revenge of The Fallen

Poor choices abound
Soundwave humps a satellite
Sweet forest battle


District 9

Reveals human flaws
The way sci-fi should be done
Then blows shit away

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Believe what you want...

I recently made a huge mistake.

Yesterday morning, I was perusing the right column of highlights of my Facebook Newsfeed when I spied something that made me groan in disgust.

The item in question looked much like this:


...except the thumbnail was much more disgusting than crabs of any variety. The tiny picture was of Kathy Griffin >spits on ground in disrespect<, and the gut-wrenching text beside it held two links. You know the ones. One proudly informed me that 2 of my friends are fans, while the other was an offer to Become a Fan.

I felt obligated to find out which two of my "friends" had such disparate taste in entertainment than most of humanity, let alone me. I was mentally preparing the snarky quips I would fire at them once I discovered their identities, all the while hoping it wouldn't be somebody I only kinda knew from, like, my obscure Susky past, or something. I was really hoping it was someone I could go a few rounds with and trade jabs with about how bad Kathy Griffin >spits on ground in disrespect< is and how much I disagree with anyone being a fan of hers.

So, with my mind racing with really mean things to type out at a couple of the Fans of Kathy Griffin >spits on ground in disrespect<, I accidentally clicked the "Become a Fan" link instead of the "2 Friends" link. We now go to the feed of The Tauz's inner monologue at that exact moment...

Fuck.

Me.

In the goat ass.

Really? You just did that, dude? REALLY? And now all of your smartass friends will leave comments about your newly-proclaimed love for this terrible, terrible woman. Really. See above expletive phrase. [end inner monologue feed]

Now, this is not the first time I've accidentally made this same mouse misfire. The day before this very incident, I intended to see who among my online buds was a fan of "Being on a Boat", and inadvertantly became a fan myself. I didn't want to be in that Facebook club, even though I am a fan of The Lonely Island. But I left myself among their number until I found out how to remove myself. So there's precedent, is all I'm sayin'.

But back to the debacle at hand.

What followed was an interesting amalgamation of reactions: The Helpful, The Mocking, The Wrong, and couple of The You're an Idiot but I Love You Nonetheless.

Photobucket

My responses:

Thank you, Dawno. You're a true friend.

The only nudes I take are classy and artsy, Wit, so I think that plan would backfire and she'd beg me to stay a fan. The threats might do it, but I like traveling on airplanes un-molestedly.

No, Liz. No I don't. What a hurtful thing to say. Frowny-face at you.

Not a chance, Mr. Park, right-side guitarist for Pandas. I's loves yous guys.

Autumn, you lie so hard that you poop lie-colored doodies.

This mis-click made my Top Ten Regrettable Moments of My Life, Tony. You were right to scorn me.

I hope this makes you laugh, Dana: Poop!

Abby? I was honestly not surprised that you were one of the "2 Friends" that got me into this mess. Grr.

Sentiment appreciated, Liz H., but please spell check before commenting next time. (I'm a spelling/grammar jackass.)
-----

So those people took the time to comment, but the harshest of all was the damning blog post over on The Love Show, online bailiwick of my boy, Tony. I know he has my best interests at heart, but, man! Did I disappoint him? Let's just see...

BOOM.

Oucha. But you know what? He's right. Even though I un-fanned that sub-D-Lister the same night that I hit the wrong link, I am forever tarnished. I'll start scrubbing now, but I don't think it'll make a bit of difference.

I mean... you believe me. Right?