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I keep visiting online umbrella shops looking for a nice one. Most likely, I've already posted a link about umbrellas. Today's link has some real cool umbrellas for a somewhat expensive yet decent price: expensive because an umbrella costing over a hundred dollars is ridiculous and decent because there are even more expensive ones out there. These are relatively good. I'm hoping that they are. I may buy one.

Why do I want an umbrella?

Bring on the rain!

http://www.londonundercover.co.uk/shop/umbrellas?all

Labels: art, commerce, hint, lotd

A classic of the left side political spectrum today's link makes everything alright because you too can get a pony.

http://examinedlife.typepad.com/johnbelle/2004/03/if_wishes_were_.html

Labels: classic, clever, lotd, wishing for a pony

The MegaMillion jackpot is up to $500 million!

I had bought tickets last night. Actually, I only bought one for $1, but hit the $5 free play or something like that. The clerk said that I got a $5 credit and that I can buy another $5 worth of tickets. Being confused I went ahead and bought them. I thought she was asking for another $5 which I didn't have. I wonder if I could've just cashed out and called it a day coming out $4 ahead. (In reality, it would be $3 ahead as I bought a ticket last Friday, too.)

Not any of the numbers I had received hit. Ain't it a suckers bet?

Labels: games people play, such is life

Sunday Noon Chesapeake Hyatt
Originally uploaded by browsermetrics.

All this eating is making me fat.

Labels: picture

7:00 PM Glyndon Post Office
Originally uploaded by browsermetrics.

T. G. I. F.

It's sunny and warm in March. Global warming is a myth perpetrated by a vast global conspiracy of trees and flowers. What now will April showers bring? Floods in the Northeast.

Labels: picture

Jock rock!

No reason to post this except that this was one of the first songs I tried learning. Right? I know. T.G.I.F.

Labels: music break

Fantastic! We're a long way from the zeroes. I think the car had about 98 miles on it when I received it. That's a lot for a new car considering Itsuki-chan had 23. But it's still about 16K per year. When I did get Itsuki-chan, she had about 145K on her. That was three and a half years ago.

Labels: automotive

Labels: music break, runaway

"I'm fascinated how a person's sense of consciousness can be... so transformed by nothing more magical than listening to words. Mere words."

Jose Chung (Charles Nelson Reilly), The X-Files, "Jose Chung's 'From Outer Space'"

Labels: qotd, The X-Files

This Means War came out around Valentine's Day. I only got to watching it today, and while watching, I can see the trappings of why it was released as such. You have lots of action: things blowing up good, guns a'popping, and fists and punches thrown. That would bring in the male demographics. The fact that the men doing the action are the pretty boys, Chris Pine and Tom Hardy, would also bring in the ladies. The female demographic can also settle for it being some kind of love/relationship story. The marketing threads are so apparent for this movie that it is no wonder that they went for the bang on Valentine's day.

The movie as much as it was marketed for the ladies spends much of the time with Pine and Hardy. They're good buddies in the CIA after the deadly Jonas Brothers. After a botched (incompetent) opening, one of the Jonas Brothers was dead and the surviving one has vowed revenge. He'll be important as the third part will have to resolve this part of the story.

Pine and Hardy after that incompetent opening are desk bound. They're left to wonder about what to do. The slack in the story allows Hardy to go all emo and Pine to go all debonair. Hardy has a kid and an ex who doesn't want a wimp as a lover. Pine has his fun chasing women. What he doesn't have is a copy of the bro code. Hardy starts web dating and meets up with Reese Witherspoon's character. She, as all female leads in rom-coms, is a successful entrepreneur who isn't successful in her love life and has to rely on her wacky female friend to put up an entry in the internet dating site. Witherspoon and Hardy meet and hit it off, but soon after Pine bumps into her trying the pick her up. She goes out with both.

Pine, no matter how close he's to Hardy, goes against the bro code once it is revealed that they're now dating the same girl. He doesn't yield to Hardy's emo. He doesn't respect his buddies choices. Instead he lets his girl-getting ego take over and challenges Hardy to her. Then they both end up using government assets to spy on each other to slow the other's progress with Reese. Bro code be damned!

Nothing good will come out of a marketing driven movie. I can see all that they threw to attract both males and females to this movie. I couldn't take it serious. This was a product meant to attract the most movie goers. It's just that. Guns and love. Everything is nothing.

2 of 5 stars.

Labels: movies, review

Is that how the show began? I knew that Jeff was after Britta, but didn't know that the Study Group started as a means to get with her. I started watching at the episode wherein they show Annie enrolled in Greendale to follow Troy.

Anyhow, Community is back tonight. You can bet that I'll be there. Or at least time shifted on my DVR or downloaded tomorrow from iTunes or watching next week on Hulu.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2012/03/15/britta_on_community_why_the_gillian_jacobs
_character_is_confusing_the_show_s_writers.html

Labels: boobtube, lotd

I've whooped it up at a couple of epic parties like the idiots in Project X. The best one was the 10th Floor around the world party at The U my freshman year. The one that ended up like the house in the movie was another around the world party at The U in my junior year when we demolished our floor and got our RA fired from a job he hadn't even started yet. Epic parties -- you can only handle a few in your life, but if you have an epic party be careful with it and don't let the party get out of bounds like the one in the movie.

The movie purports to be a chronicle of some geek's buddies making his 17th birthday day legen--- wait for it -- dary. The mastermind is an obnoxious New York transplant who keeps complaining about not getting girls like he did in NYC, but you find that hard to believe from a guy hanging out with those losers. There's the chubby guy who is McLovin' but not as dorky. Then there's the birthday boy (I don't remember any names) who agrees to a smallish party which escalates and escalates until it became legen-- wait for it -- dary.

One last part of the group was the birthday boy's childhood friend that was a girl. You know that they should hook up, but childhood friends shouldn't be a couple. Thought they remind of the anime trope of childhood friend. It could happen. It will happen. That's how they make this movie not as obnoxious; someone learns something in the end.

The party was epic. If it had been real, it would've been truly insane. Hundreds of people. One small neighborhood. Tons of booze. Tons of drugs. Girls. Girls. Girls. A pool. Two DJs. A bouncy castle. A dog. Boobies. High school boobies. Middle school security guards. A taser. Hapless neighbors. Angry drug dealer. A gnome. All of it contributes to the insanity.

I don't know whether to be scared of how crazy dumb that generation is or to be jealous of not getting to experience anything like that in my crazy dumb days. I missed the boobies.

One thing I noticed is that even though there was beer, liquor, sex, and drugs there were no cigarettes. NO SMOKING! In all that mayhem, there was not one cigarette onscreen. And if there was I missed it.

2 of 5 stars.

Labels: movies, review

One of the first movies I bought off of iTunes was an Oscar nominée for short live action film of 2006, Cashback. While it didn't win the Oscar, it became fixture on my iPhone for the simple fact that for a long time it was the only movie I had. Not until I figured out how to rip anime torrents did I have something else to watch.

I've watched the short film many times, and when I got Netflix I noticed that there was a full length feature similarly titled. How could I not notice. That damn one sheet with the topless girl on it kept popping up as a Netflix recommendation. I wasn't so sure that it was the same movie, but I eventually added it to my queue. After several months it has finally popped to the front.

Cashback, the feature, expands on the story from the short. Ben Willis is working the night shift at the local grocery. He's working his way through art college. It gives him the opportunity to stop time and draw the lady patrons naked. But it wasn't all that. The back story included his breakup with his girlfriend, causing him insomnia, forcing him to take the night job to keep from being up all night, and falling in love with his co-worker.

Yup. It was a love story.

It was also a story about the work place. His supermarket was filled with the standard characters -- an extreme stunt biker, the biker's obnoxious hanger on, and the manager a la Michael Scott except into football. While he doesn't hate his work or co-workers his passion for art makes him an outsider. He's got ambition and while he gets over his breakup, he'll make some money at work.

That's about it. I really don't have much to say except for boobies. Yeah, it wasn't so bad as a film, but it really didn't go beyond the short. I think that it could've been better if it focused more on his time stopping power. But it did have a wonderful moment: after being caught kissing his ex by his co-worker, whom he likes, he spends days in stop motion time trying to figure out how to win her back. All he knows is that he has to get her back, because he loves her. He shows it in an art show which I found somewhat creepy, but I don't know - do girls dig that? Well, at least it had that moment in the movie.

One last note, did Trainspotting influence every British movie or what?

3 of 5 stars.

Labels: movies, Netflix Queue, review

The only version of this song I can find is one without the hilarious popup notes. Now it looks like a regular rap video which this was trying to make fun. Clearly its potency has been emasculated.

Labels: music break

I bet we won't have to worry about checking this site too often because the answer may be no.

That's the "half empty" me talking, but every spring hope does spring eternal.

http://www.didtheorioleswin.com/

Labels: Baltimore Orioles, baseball, lotd, winners

I've had some of the dashi I made for ramen taking up space in my freezer for a few months now. I also have a ton of shiro miso in the cupboard. I think I'll make some miso soup. How hard can that be?

First, I thaw out the last of the dashi and get it boiling on the stove. It's about a cup and half of dashi. I then decide that I should put some vegetables in the soup, so I slice up a carrot and throw it in the boiling dashi. I cook this for a few more minutes. In a moment of stupidity, I decide to throw some wakame seaweed in as well. After all, most of the miso soup served at your garden variety Japanese restaurant is contains wakame (and tofu). Then comes the miso. Just 1 tablespoon. I let this cook for another few minutes then plate and serve.

Blecc! I can only get throw a couple of spoonfuls before I throw it all away in disgust.

First of all it is too salty. I always thought it was 1 tablespoon per cup, but now I know that it should be less. The dashi probably adds to the salt as well. As far as the carrots and wakame go, they don't do so well together. I should stick to the tried and true wakame and tofu recipe or maybe find some other vegetables that would work with carrots. What's scaring me is that I had some sardines staring me in the face and I wanted to add it to the mix.

All my attempts at Japanese cooking needs more research.

Labels: cooking, oops

Once more with a lame and meager blog post. Spinning wheels here with nothing interesting to say. So here's a nice screencap from Amagami SS+ anime currently showing in Japan. It's a pretty ridiculous show. It's kind of hard to describe if you don't want to know about it. I'm posting it for my own benefit.

Labels: anime, screenshot

Continuing on with the meager and lame blogposts for 2012, I give you a link to CNN's perspective on what Tokyo means. Meh. Instead of reading I should be visiting. What say you?

http://www.cnngo.com/tokyo

Labels: get me out of here, get off your butt, go there now, lotd

"I'll tell you what I'd do, man: two chicks at the same time, man."

Lawrence (Deidrech Bader), Office Space

Labels: qotd, yeah baby

"Lumbergh's gonna have me work on Saturday. I can tell already. I'm gonna end up doing it, because, uh, because I'm a big pussy, which is why I work at Initech to begin with."

Peter Gibbons (Ron Livingston), Office Space

Labels: I'm a fool, qotd

I don't think I have much to say about Safe House. It's standard action fare -- everyone mailing it in. Lots of close ups. Very grainy high definition video. It will be on video very soon. I don't think you should watch it unless you are a Ryan Reynolds or Denzel completist.

3 of 5 stars.

Labels: movies

"Uh-oh. Sounds like somebody's got a case of the Mondays."

Random IniTech worker, Office Space

Labels: ha ha, mondays, qotd

My Mini Cooper drives me nuts. Most cars have a regular N number of miles before service: my Jetta recommends service every 5,000 miles. The Mini doesn't. It relies on the computer to tell me when it's ready. I think it talks to me a Botchie because I don't know when it signals me to bring her in for service. That's why I went and did the Mini Cooper service festival this weekend. I knew that it was about time for service plus I went for the recall. Oh, yeah, she'll catch fire on occasion if you're not careful. I think I want to get that fixed.

Now, the last time I was in the Mini dealership it was empty. A weekday would do that. But on Saturday, it was busy. There were a few people doing the same thing I was doing, and there were a few people shopping for cars. I also saw a lady picking up her new Mini Countryman trading in a bigger SUV. People actually are buying this car? I can't believe it, just as I can't believe that I have one myself.

An hour into the wait, the service manager gives me the first diagnosis of the ills of my Mini Cooper. I already know what he's going to say. Tires. Mine are bald. I know that. He's trying to sell me on 3 tires for $1,000+. Come on. I could probably get all four for that much. That price because of the tires being run flats. I didn't know that they also offered Pirelli run flats. I'm looking for an upgrade and for slightly cheaper than the Goodyears that are currently on her.

From behind me, I hear a lady groan about tires, too. She's got a 2006 Cooper and she knows about tires. If you have to replace tires every 30,000 miles with $1,000 set of four, you'll know something about tires.

We start a conversation about the tires. How terrible it is and the cost. It's one of the worst parts of owning a Mini Cooper. We start discussing how we like the Mini, though. Her's, as I mentioned, is a 2006 in a blue which they don't offer any more. She takes hers to the beach with her bike on the back hitch. She's able to pack a whole hell of a lot into her Mini. She's put a beach umbrella in there! We both like our Minis but would definitely buy another. She's got a Benz that she may or may not trade in for another Benz. Her Mini, like mine, is her summer driver.

As we discuss our Minis, we take a stroll through the showroom floor. She tells me of the older Coopers having a chintzy cup holder that is easy to break. We look at the current Cooper S. We discuss how the rolltop cover to the convertible causes visibility problems. We both agree that the white convertible is cute. We stroll over to the Clubman and check out the back barn door. That center pillar has got to cause rearview problems. We agree that the Clubman kind of grows on you after a while. We checkout a Countryman. Then we wander over to the new Coupe in JCW black. I get in and she compliments me that it fits me. Not really as it is really compact in there. The black headliner makes it dark as hell, too. I kind of like it.

I wonder about this interaction I had with this lady. I wonder if she was flirting with me. I wonder if I was competent in my flirting back. Is all of this in my head or was it palpably real? Or am I grasping at straws? Older, upper 40s or 50ish. Not bad looking slightly beautiful in the older white lady way. I am grasping at straws...

Anyhow, the Mini Cooper is ready for another year, and I have to get her tires...

Labels: let's get together yeah yeah yeah, mini

"Your revolution is over Mr. Lebowski. Condolences. The bums lost!"

The Big Lebowski (David Huddleston), The Big Lebowski

Labels: hoboes, qotd

Can the Orioles show as much spunk against those damn Yankees?

Fight, Orioles! Fight! Fight like Elaine Benes!

Labels: Baltimore Orioles, baseball, get off your butt

There's too much caffeine in your bloodstream
And a lack of real spice in your life

The Smiths, "A Rush and A Push And The Land Is Ours"

Labels: coffee, lyrics, pathetic, qotd