Here are some of my all-time favorite
1. Blue Rodeo - Five Days in July
Almost every single song on this album is just plain awesome. Blue Rodeo is a canadian country band, although it’s not stereotypical country, it has a lot of other great influences. A must-have album for anyone who remotely likes any kind of music. The guitar solo on the song “Five Days in May” is just AWESOME.
2. Joe Jackson - Look Sharp!
This has a lot of great songs from the single “Is She Really Going Out To Him?” to “One More Time.” It’s a very nice combination of very early punk and alternative - very experimental, but in a very good way.
3. The Beatles - Rubber Soul
My favorite Beatles album features “Drive My Car,” “You Won’t See Me,” “Norwegian Wood” and so much more. Again, almost all the songs on the album are great. That’s really what makes a good album I guess.
4. Bruce Springsteen - Born to Run
Almost every song on the album is really great. Born to Run is a great song,
but Thunder Road is then ten times better. Highly recommended.
5. “Weird Al” Yankovic - Straight Outta Lynwood
This album is definitely Weird Al’s best ever. From the hilarious “White
& Nerdy” to the excrutiatingly long “Stuck in the Drive-Thru” to
the (again) hilarious “Don’t Download this Song” this album does NOT
disappoint.
I’ve made a couple of changes to the site recently:
- The “more” bar has been reduced to just 3 small icons. (Contact, Archives (which had a bug that is now fixed), and Links which has been minorly updated. It’s much less ugly and much more simple than the old one. And it has a nice SMOOOOOTH curved edge, too.
- The RSS icon from the old more bar has now been extended (actually, the whole RSS page) to an image map on the sidebar with a pretty blue RSS feed icon.
- I’ve activated “Rolling Archives” for the blog, which I should have done long ago. It lets you search the entire archives at the speed of light without reloading the page from a little sliding bar at the top of the page.
- Also, some random subtitles under the Netsua.com logo!!!
- And finally, page translations!!! Not that anyone has ever requested it or anything, but after seeing these beautiful icons, I couldn’t resist taking advantage of Google Translate. The entire website can now be automatically translated into English (duh), Spanish, French, Simplified Chinese, Arabic, or German via the little flags up next to the more bar.
I recently upgraded to Wordpress 2.1 (Wordpress is the platform that this blog/website runs on) and it has a couple of improved features and things, most noteably a slightly faster interface and the ability to make a static page the homepage (instead of the blog) without the use of plugins. It was a bit of a hassle, and I don’t really need any of the new (minor) features, so if you’re thinking of upgrading, you should probably wait until a more major version.
Also, a new version of K2 (the theme for Wordpress that I use for this blog/website) was released shortly afterwards, with even more minor changes. I upgraded, but customizations I had made were too many to move over, so I switched back anyway. I’ll wait for K2 1.0 when it comes out of beta instead.
Yesterday I went to Circuit City and bought the new(ish) iPod Nano with Christmas money (thank you) and my own saved up money. Although I have used it before it’s still cool. And I seriously never thought that my (original iPod) would look ugly next to anything. But now it is. The new one is even thinner, has a very nice aluminum case which means it’s much less prone to scratching and fingerprints (although the screen is still a no-touch zone.) It’s screen is MUCH brighter, and a lot sharper than the 1st gen.
Technically, it’s also better - It has 8GB, which is double the memory of my old one (which is the main reason why I bought it.) Also it has new headphones that look cooler, and sound slightly better (even though there are no foam things - the headphones now occasionally fall out of my ear)
Anyway, it’s very cool and stuff, but… I don’t know what to do with the old vintage (but still in good condition) one. It’s a 4GB iPod Nano first generation, it’s white and has a coler screen and a click wheel. (It’s back can also double as a mirror, if that means anything) The obvious thing to do with it is to either just keep it or sell it on eBay, but if anyone here wants it (which I doubt anyone will - but it’s worth a try) then I’ll be glad to sell it to them for around $50. There’s only one catch - no headphones included. Sorry!
So yeah, either leave a comment here or email me at austensquarepants@gmail.com.
Yes, here’s yet another (very) late post. But here are some of my highlights from the Golden Globes:
- Meryl Streep’s speech (very funny)
- Forest Whitaker winning best actor for Last King of Scotland (he soo deserved it, if he isn’t nominated for the Academy Award I’m not going to watch them. But his speech - I mean he’s such a great actor, but did anyone else see it? It looked like he had a nervous breakdown or something. I mean, some actors pretend to be nervous and they’re like “oh, microphone” but Whitaker was seriously like that - it was awkward to watch. But still, he definitely deserved it - see Last King of Scotland if you haven’t already - I think that they’re re-releasing it.)
- Did you notice how during the award for best comedy, four of the five shows are from the four-show NBC Thursday night comedy line-up??? (My Name is Earl, The Office, Scrubs, 30 Rock (the guy said “3rd Rock” heheh)) I think that it shows that they’re doing something right. Alec Baldwin for 30 Rock won. I mean, he’s good but Steve Carell really deserved it.
- Ulgy Betty isn’t actually ugly (!)
- Looks like I have to see Babel now, as it won/was nominated for a bunch of awards
That’s all. I couldn’t find very many videos (from the actual award-giving ceremonies themselves) on YouTube. So it’s just another post with just text. Sorry!
I’ve had a couple of thoughts recently regarding TV, so here they are:
- The Scrubs musical!!!!!!!!! If you didn’t see it, first check out Guy Love and then buy it on iTunes, it’s hilarious, and actually a great musical - seriously - not some cheap excuse for one that’s mildly funny, but a realistic one - it’s great!
- My Name is Earl has really been doing some great stuff lately. From the trip to find Catalina to the Cops episode they were filmed for (even though it had nothing to do with the list, it was soo funny!) to the episode not one, but 4 intros. My Name is Earl, My Name is Joy, My Name is Randy, My Name is Crabman, and oh - my favorite, My Name is Dotty! I hope they keep up the interesting things, because Season 1 of list item after list item was getting a little boring.
- (spoilers) 24 returned, and 4 episodes in they had Jack kill Curtis!!!! And then they nuked Los Angeles!!!!!!!! 24 is back! (spoilers)
- Oh, and Heroes returns tommorow (finally!)
- And Jim and Karen have broken up on The Office! (I hope) FINALLY!
That is all.
This will be a short review, mostly because this movie can be summed up quite simply, and in 3 words: Silly, stupid, and hilarious. Idiocracy apparently was only released in 125 theaters in the country (none in New York!) - and had almost no publicity. It recently came out on DVD.
Idiocracy stars Luke Wilson and Maya Rudolph as two “exactly average people” in 2005. They are the test subjects of the “Human Hibernation Project” and are supposed to awaken from their steel coffins after a year. But lawsuits against the company happen, and they don’t end up waking up until the year 2505 (or something like that.) The world is a MESS. Literally, figurately, physically, and mentally. Everyone is stupid. And I mean like “I forgot what number you want me to guess” stupid. (Yes, I know that was stupid)
Anyway, the two characters have to navigate their way through this new world, and maybe even get home via a new Time Machine.
Is the movie stupid? Yes. Is the movie dumb? Yes. Is the movie immature? Yes. Is the movie idiotic? Yes. Is the movie hilarious? YES!
I can’t say much more without ruining the movie, but it’s a really fun movie to watch, and it makes you feel smart - unlike those movies that make you feel dumb because their plots are impossible to understand.
Hey, I told you it would be short - but still, a very funny movie (in my opinion - many others would disagree.)
YouTube trailer | IMBD | Rotten Tomatoes | Wikipedia
Yeah, I know this (sad excuse for a) review wasn’t very good.
Yes, I know that everyone knew it was coming, but now that it’s official/confirmed all that I can say is “YAY!!!” and, if I were more mature: “Good for her!” and if I were a more professional person: “Hillary Clinton is what this country needs right now, and if she wins, this could be the beginning of a new era where women are no longer a minority.”
This is from Hillary Clinton’s new campaign website:
I’m in.
And I’m in to win.Today I am announcing that I will form an exploratory
committee to run for president.And I want you to join me not just for
the campaign but for a conversation about the future of our country –
about the bold but practical changes we need to overcome six years of
Bush administration failures.I am going to take this conversation
directly to the people of America, and I’m starting by inviting all of
you to join me in a series of web chats over the next few days.The
stakes will be high when America chooses a new president in 2008.As a
senator, I will spend two years doing everything in my power to limit
the damage George W. Bush can do. But only a new president will be able
to undo Bush’s mistakes and restore our hope and optimism.Only a new
president can renew the promise of America — the idea that if you work
hard you can count on the health care, education, and retirement
security that you need to raise your family. These are the basic values
of America that are under attack from this administration every day.And
only a new president can regain America’s position as a respected
leader in the world.
HillaryClinton.com - Special Feature
Don’t think that I’ve forgotten about Obama - he’s cool too - I wish they were different parties - I mean, how cool would it be if the country had to choose between a women AND a black man??? Still, if Hillary or Obama wins the primary, then good for them - I just hope they make it all the way to the presidency. If not, then I guess McCain is ok.
