It's Personal

A girl running through lavender fields. Pic via Jezebel via the Getty.








An illustrated Mario death by John-
ny Yakon, via Offwo-
rld.




































Today's speed run time: 14 minutes until the end of 7-1. I tried out a little bit of "Super Mario: The Lost Levels". Here was my reaction: "I don't see why this was considered too hard for Western au-"/murdered.
I used to suck at the first Mario. I played a single game today, got up to 5-3 and then was killed by Bowser's castle.
My mom used to play the first Mario with us and actually was very good at beating it. In fact, she was considered "the expert" in the family on that game.

Speaking of my mom, she picked up Clingy today, who was so shocked he didn't even struggle. She put him down and he proceeded to hide, then come back and play on the patio. My mom corrected me, as it has been over two weeks since we last saw Gaiylee herself.

Look at the language in this article from the Reuters:
"But Paal cautioned Clinton against hanging her reputation too much on improved relations with China.

"We are not in a position to control them," he said."

There is always the possibility that this man's quote was taken out of context. However, it is very telling of the imprints of foreign policy in this country, even if Obama is trying to change them.

I didn't copy or write down a lot of stuff today.

Wouldn't it be cool if there were bridges that were water and held together by water tension in a theoretical world? It would be so trippy to swim through them and put a hand out into the air.

Physorg.com published an article on friction free computer circuits via quantum mechanics. I'm too lazy to link. Go do it yourself!

So I have over two hundred entries in this journal, which is impressive. I love writing and I love sharing cool stuff with people. Blogs are a perfect balance of the two. I feel strange writing a diary on the computer, especially since I don't want to have one somewhere that is ultimately hackable, but I dislike writing by hand since, well, I'm faster at typing and my handwriting starts to resemble random loops after a while. I just figured it out! A flash drive!

Flash drives, though certainly hackable if you put the wrong things in them or leave them connected to the computer, are the first ultra-easy ways to distribute data that don't require linking computers directly and actually keep the information remote from the rest of the digital world(if you don't keep them connected to the computer, again). They are our first private digitilized miniaturized domains widely available to the public. And don't tell me about external HDs, because those are not miniaturized, at least in comparison to the flash drive.

Of course, unlike a book, you need a computer to make a flash drive work, an extra piece of equipment that must take part in the process. And boot before starting the process. Ah, the booting.

The original Star Trek is an entertaining, theoretical and thoughtful show. What it is not is in any way realistic. Which is now I bring to you this parody; look for upcoming ones about Grecian gods appearing, geniuses going insane, and time travel. This particular one is based on "it's scientifically impossible!"; specifically "Shore Leave" from season one, which I actually enjoyed quite a bit.

1.) The landing party beams down and everything looks perfectly normal on their sensors because their sensors are crappy. Also, everywhere looks like Earth because of Somebody's Law of Planetary BS(or, we reuse the same drawings as alien backdrops several times).

2.)Something impossible is seen and hard proof of its existence is found, usually corresponding with the word "fascinating". Spock's soul dies a little more.

3.)People still think that it's a good idea to split up because that makes for dramatic death scenes which lead to dramatic scenes for Captain Kirk to lament over his crew member. Or Kirk still thinks that crew members can handle themselves even though they keep dying because they have PHASERS*
*Note: phasers usually knocked out or taken away by the end of the episode

4.) Captain Kirk meets THE GIRL. All girls in this galaxy have an inexplicable attraction to at least one member of the crew, usually the one who's name is an anagram for "Tiberius Kirk James". And that specific member tends to "genuinely" fall for this woman in return because they have sexual ADD. McCoy, Spock, and Kirk have at least 5 women each who are waiting for them to settle down with.
In this episode Kirk meets a special lady from his past of which he has 6 million. He must have been dating some of these girls at the same time as each other or be a serial monogamist, because, how many relationships can you have in twenty-something years?
P.S. Kirk's charm has won more battles for the federation than the Enterprise herself. The Federation should just package up an "essence du Kirk" and send it around instead of spaceships.**
**Working parts included.

5.) Their phasers stop working. Suprise! Also, The Enterprise is helpless for one reason or another because the scientists in this time period are too busy focusing on how cool it would be to be able to "blow up half a continent" rather than "shields that work properly", despite the fact that the Enterprise is mainly a defensive ship. Communicators are out, too, and for some reason it never occurs to them to use the injectable trackers besides as a deux ex machina for prying them out of their arm and setting things on fire in a Nazi jail. Yes, this actually happened.

I mean, nothing usually goes wrong, right?
Wait.

6.) So now the crew is being chased and seduced by a wide variety of things that turn up for no reason despite the fact that it's pretty obvious now what's happening. Everyone seems to have lost their critical thinking skills....

7.) Which leads to the Shatner vrs. somebody fight. Badly choreographed and involving lots of rolling, I'm never quite sure what the point of these are.

8.) Spock and Kirk figure out the solution and start acting on it, because the show is running out of time and Shatner's shirt has finally ripped open. Then the solution appears out of nowhere, in this case a peaceful creator who was waiting to intervene until the emotional scarring occurred. The explanation is cool, but sort of leaves you going "wait, but what about...". Also, the skimpily clad girls couldn't not show up, so they decided to include them at the end. Everybody is happy and Kirk decides to spend time with a cellular cast of one of his many long-lost loves.

Huh?

From Gaiman's Blog

"For reasons I'm not entirely clear on, emails from my agent that forward jpgs from Germany always turn up with the colours inverted. This one -- an inversion of the upcoming German Paperback cover -- made me smile:

...ah yes, I thought. That's the sequel, all right. CORALINE APOCALYPSE."















You know, Neil Gaiman's blog is not written in a style or manner I would predict.

Edit:
I am taking mini-breaks from my studying to browse the interwebs. I just listened to Fever Ray's "If I Had a Heart"(please click and listen, Chris) and loved it. The first song on their myspace has a female singer. Also, I found this article scary:

How to Be an Indie Girl!
Excerpts:
"Regardless of the fact that indie supposedly refers to a unique quality, it has quickly developed a stereotypical style. If you're into trends, and aim to be an indie girl, get ready."

The irony of this statement is enough to send any hipster into thralls of ecstasy.

"Don't tell anyone that you oppose the mainstream music, movies, culture, etc. Your appearance, interests, books, and music should convey this. If you are caught trying to appear indie, you will be called a "hipster" or "poser," and generally, you'll look like a jackass. So this article is our little secret. Don't tell your indie friends you read it."

Oh my, there are too many ways to mock this. My head is exploding from the amount of sarcasm going through it right now.

"Get the music. This is very important. You can't be an indie girl without a large collection of obscure music.................If you are accustomed to listening to lots of pop music, R&B, or country, these bands may sound like a heap of crap."

Why would listening to music you like lead to you being judged by your friends? Oh, right, your friends are just as fake as you are!
Honestly, it did take me a little while to get accustomed to the sound of indie music when I was exploring it, but I kept listening to it because I enjoyed it, ultimately. Why would someone constantly make themselves miserable?

"After you've acquired music from these bands, begin looking for the most obscure music you can find in the indie genre. The more obscure, the better. Drop the names of the bands in conversation with other indie people. This will make you look very indie."

"I listen to bands that don't even exist yet!"-Threadless

"Buy anything at urban outfitters. It is a pretty expensive store, and they don't have many locations, but if you're lucky enough to live near one, you've instantly got indie style readily available. However, you should not tell people you shop at urban outfitters. They will call you a hipster."

Right now there is a large flashing sign saying "FAIL..FAIL..FAIL" in my head.

"DO NOT get chuck taylors (converse) shoes. These are officially out in the indie scene (everyone has them, and therefore they are no longer indie.)"

*gigglesnort*

"So you've got the clothes, the hair, and the music. What's left? You've got to pick up an artsy hobby (if you dont already have one.) This should be something like painting, photography, playing an instrument, writing poetry or stories, making films, etc. Just something artsy. Not good at art? Try abstract painting. It will make you look deep, and its very easy."

Look, my snark cannot match up to the sheer stupidity of these quotes. Let's just let them make fun of themselves far more effectively than I can.

"Your lifestyle should fit with your indie girl style. Here is a list of things to do that will fit with your indie life style:
-Watch lots of independent movies.
-Ride a bicycle everywhere. Not a mountain bike though. On old fashioned one that you bought from the thrift store.
-Be a vegetarian or better yet, a vegan
-Smoke. I know it's bad for you. But all the indie kids do it. Learn to roll your own cigarettes
-Read books. Not books like "Twilight" or "Harry Potter." Read classic novels, and books about art and philosophy. Read every Hunter S. Thompson book you can find.
-Read the newspaper.
-Develope strong liberal attitudes about politics
-Join an indie band. Learn a weird instrument, like the accordian or banjo. Weird instruments make bands much more indie.
-Hang out at local coffee shops
-Buy clothes at thrift stores.
-Pretend you are poor, even if you aren't
-If you must drive a car, make sure it is a compact car or a hatch back
-Be very, very thin. You can't look good in those skinny jeans unless you are thin. Being a vegetarian should help with this."
"Have opinions about politics and philosophy, and solid reasons why you believe these things."
"Act smart. Use big words. All the things I told you to read should help."
"Every now and again, find something very indie and say you don't like it. Give reasons why. This will make it look like you're not the kind of person who likes something just because it's indie."

YOU'RE MISSING THE POINT, IN BIG TECHNICOLOR LETTERS. To the point where I must yet again abuse caps. All your fault. I hope I never meet one of these people.

History of Myspace

For future reference, my snark is usually not about criticizing a person, just their work. Also, "You suck at Photoshop" is good.

Today, the real history of myspace
More
Condensed:

What News Corp. doesn't want you to know about MySpace

1. MySpace is NOT a viral success. MySpace was advertised on mass levels to reach the public. MySpace was created by a company named eUniverse (who later changed their name to Intermix Media). eUniverse was a marketing and entertainment company who had over 50 million e-mail addresses in their databases, as well as over 18 million monthly web users. eUniverse leveraged their resources to proliferate and advertise MySpace.com. eUniverse went as far as telling 3 million users of their paid dating website, CupidJunction.com, to sign up for free MySpace accounts. (CupidJunction message screenshot)

2. MySpace.com is Spam 2.0. MySpace has spawned an incredibly successful twist on the age-old art of self-promotion, allowing—even encouraging—the marketing of everything from bands to businesses on their site. Essentially, they've opened up a channel through which to solicit and promote everyone and everything, most importantly the individual. The whole site is, in essence, a marketing tool that everyone who registers has access to. Users constantly receive spam-like messages from said bands, business, and individuals looking to add more "friends" (and therefore more potential fans, consumers, or witnesses) to their online identity. A testament to this strange new social paradigm is the phrase "Thanks for the Add," a nicety offered when one MySpace user adds another as a friend. Best yet, to use the site, members must log in, causing them to inadvertently view advertisements, and then read their messages on a page with even more advertisements. In the world of MySpace, Spam is earth, air, fire, and water.

3. Tom Anderson did NOT create MySpace. Most users don't know that Tom Anderson (pictured) is more of a PR scheme than anything else—the mascot designed to give a friendlier feel to a site created by a marketing company known for viral entertainment websites, pop-up advertising, spam, spyware, and adware. As MySpace's popularity grew, the MySpace team moved to create a false PR story that would best reflect the ideals and tastes of its growing demographic. They wanted to prevent the revelation that a Spam 1.0 company had launched the site, and created the impression that Tom Anderson created the site, and the lie worked. According to Anderson, the bulk of his initial contribution is as follows: "I am as anti-social as they come, and I've already got 20 people to sign up."

4. MySpace's CEO Chris DeWolfe is connected to a past of spam and shady business associates and brought those connections to eUniverse/MySpace (see full edition for details).

5. MySpace was a direct assault on Friendster.com. The major key players in the ultimate development of MySpace have Friendster accounts, and name Friendster and its founder in their original business proposal. The current CEO of MySpace, Chris DeWolfe has been a member of Friendster since June of 2003 (MySpace was not conceived until August of 2003).

So I recently discovered a site called Gawker which I now read sporadically for the snarky comments. Though it is a news source I prefer to get the stories directly from the routers, so it's mostly a source of entertainment.
Anyway, Gawker has a love-hate relationship with an internet personality named Julia Allison who is one of those people famous for doing absolutely nothing. As far as I know, at one point she was a sex columnist who is now trying to eek out a living as Carrie Bradshaw 2.0 while crashing a variety of parties. Gawker repeatedly reports on her, though why they do, as some commentators have pointed out, if they truly believe she is an irrelevant personality, is questionable. However, the posts on her seem to get a lot of hits, so she is probably simply entertainment fodder for them.
I was wondering what all the fuss was about, so as part of relaxation time I decided to visit her page and company, Nonsociety. Here are some of the gems I found:

"Nonsociety and Axe: Join forces to solve the hair crisis!"

"The Internet audience doesn’t demand high quality for original online content. It just needs to be entertaining. So why are people pouring six figures into online series (Dr. Horrible by Joss Whedon) when you can spend less than half that and be just as popular?"

"Advertisers and sponsors have to come onboard to fuel your fire. But with their head in the traditional tv/print campaign model, how do we convince them the Internet is where the cool kids hang out."

"I’ll admit to not enjoying Will Ferrell movies, but I don’t find these web shows funny…at all. Am I missing something? Did the botox eat up part of my brain? Any and all explanation would be helpful. Thanks.

The five web shows are:
Childrens’ Hospital
Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog
The Guild
Onion News Network
You Suck at Photoshop"

(incidentally, this last one is quoted from Mary, not Julia)

This isn't even including the live webcast, which, in Julia's case, seems to be full of lip dubs . Meghan is the only one with anything remotely interesting to say IMO, and actually linked to something interesting: Jasmax