SHOUT OUT! (now in all caps)

Chris Plante is a giant nerd. Such a big nerd in fact that he is now blogging for gamesetwatch. If you would like to read his debut article go here.
And if you want to read his take on Aristotelian structure in mario bros go here.
Nerdtastic.

Who's not crazy?

Larke's not crazy! From io9:
Astrobiologists seem to have trouble putting their money where their mouths are. Generally among the most ardent supporters of planetary exploration, around 2/3 of them got cold feet yesterday at the Astrobiology Science Conference 2008. During a talk entitled "A One-way Mission to Mars," famous cosmologist Paul Davies asked the audience who among them would volunteer for the first journey to to the Red Planet? About 1/3 — mostly women interestingly — raised their hands despite the fact that Davies stressed it "wouldn't be a suicide mission."

What Is Going On?

So this ad is on Tv all the time. Its one of those Match.com "its okay to look ads" that just have like ten seconds of a person doing something that defines them as a person. I dunno, I guess it's a decent premise for a dating site ad campaign. Its not amazing but its not terrible either.
But then there is this one.
Its of a woman lying on a bench (or a piano, lets imagine piano) and giggling for no good reason and that's it. And I can't for the life of me figure out A) why would a girl giggling make me want to go on a dating site? 2)How does this define her as a date able person? and c) What on earth is going on off frame to make her giggle?
And then I figured it out.
Oral Sex.

I'm totally right.

Protect Your Ears!

I am totally in love with my new tee shirt. I think it is the funniest thing I have ever seen.

Shout Out:

So Dave has reviewed one of my favorite movies from childhood, The Last Unicorn, that I made the mistake of rewatching senior year of High School with Ledah who had never seen it before. Her reaction was something along the lines of “you liked this? Why?”
What I remember from my childhood experience was running out of the room screaming when the Red Bull came on screen (side note: is that where the name for the drink comes from? Because if they named it after “the Last Unicorn” I will give them so much more respect.) What I remember from my high school experience was the prevalence of boobs. Boobs on harpies. Boobs on trees. Lots of giant boobs.
To call it bizaro would be putting it lightly. Go read.

While I'm posting articles I find amazing here is one about the cellphone and its effects on the third world.
When I was in SA my friend Wil did a documentary about small business entrepreneurs and micro finance (I know that sounds boring but it was actually quite interesting) and one of the things he looked at was the development of cell phone ladies who have a cell phone attached to a car battery that you could pay to make calls from.
Anyway the article is long but totally worth it.

Sometimes When I'm on the Subway I Decide Who We Would Eat First If We Were Trapped Under the East River

Pretty amazing article in the New Yorker about elevators. The essay is bookended by the story of Nicholas White who spent 41 hours trapped in an elevator. It's one of those horrifying urban stories you just pray never happens to you. What's worse is that it is accompanied by the security feed from the elevator.

Gawker on the weekend is extra nerdtastic

So no one in their right mind goes on gawker on the weekend unless they are avoiding writing their thesis. And lo and behold the gawker writer for the weekends is a giant nerd. He watches BSG drunk. He posts a video of a cat playing a thermin. But most importantly he spends his time hunting down compilation videos of Buffy's sixth season (the best one) set to music that people put on youtube. Why? Because he can apparently. He even made a list.
"Here are a bunch of videos setting Willow's brief-but-hot time as a psycho-sweet baddie on Buffy the Vampire Slayer to various forms of gloomy pop music. This first one's extra screechy!"
No. Joke.

Who was it who said time is money? Ah yes. Ben Franklin. I listen to you not.

Ads I love

I wish the world was a musical. I really do. How else to explain my affection for this ad.

Really BRAVO?

Confession: I love dance. I love seeing dance theatre, I love dance movies, I love dance reality shows. I know nothing about dance however, I just like watching people do tricks and move to a beat. It’s the same part of me that loves acrobats.
I also love reality television.
So I am totally a giant fan of all these new dance reality shows. “So you think you can dance” and “Americas next top dance crew” are absolutely horrific time sucks. I mean, they’re amazing and heart warming but if they have a marathon on TV my time is G.O.N.E.
I’m also a huge fan of Bravos “Top Chef” and “Project Runway” so I was super excited for “Step it up & Dance” Bravos version of the dance reality competition.
In theory dancers are perfect reality TV fodder. They’re pretty, they’re athletic and they are even more dramatic than actors. What makes ProRun and Top Chef so entertaining is 75% watching talented people use their talent and 25% watching them explode at each other. So if you just put 14 talented dancers in a room together it should make for pretty good television.
Except Reality Television actually does take talent. From casting, to arranging challenges to finding interesting judges to editing the whole thing together in an interesting way requires skill. Say what you will about Tyra Bank’s “America’s Next Top Model” but her producers and editors manage to pack a ton of drama into an hour and the editing cleverly sets up heroes and villains but in a subtle enough way that the winner is hard to guess.
Which gets at the increasingly fabricated nature of reality tv which has not been “real” for a long time. The editors are in charge of finding stories and putting footage together to fill that story. The participants are probably acting or at the least exaggerating in the hopes of developing a spin off series. In 2005 Tyra Banks’ editors went on strike to join the Writes Guild. Its difficult to argue that what an editor does isn’t crafting story. And today reality tv show workers are suing for overtime pay. Reality TV at its best is as finely crafted as any scripted show.
The people who made “Step it up & Dance” do not know that. From the choice of host (Elizabeth Berkley, famous for “Show Girls,” is sweet but uninteresting) to the Judges (catty yet unmemorable) to the selection of challenges (so far a Spice Girls challenge and a Burlesque challenge) just seem boring and uninspired. But while the problems permeate every section of the show its never more clear than during judging.
Early on each episode the characters are give a piece of choreography and then divided in to two groups. One group is the elimination group. This is a problem, everyone should be up for elimination, why would you let 50% of the participants off the hook? Why? They then learn some more choreography, go into an empty theater before the judges perform. In the other dance shows the performances occur in packed arenas. Would it really be so hard to bring in an audience? Its just awkward listening to that smattering of clapping. Then the Judges judge, which occurs while the dancers stand on stage and awkwardly fidget.
During judging the contestants of ANTM and ProRun are sent to a back room we have never seen while the judges cackle about their flaws. On Top Chef we see the back room where the contestants drink and bitch at each other about who should be eliminated. On Step it up & Dance the judges are hushed and not particularly mean because the contestants are standing RIGHT. THERE. Why not send them off stage? Why must it be so awkward?
Then one gets immunity for the next challenge and one is sent home and that’s the end of our show.
Why they should care about getting sent home is confusing however. All that is at stake is $100,000. Which is, I admit, a nice chunk of change but really? You couldn’t even line up a guaranteed part in the tour of “The Lion King”?
The whole thing seems shoddly thought through and poorly executed which is a shame because the dancers themselves are a fascinating mix of ballet and hip hop, prude and exhibitionist, catty fag (this is how he describes himself) and girl next door. Despite being tortured by the stupidly of the producers while watching the most recent show I might tune in again next week just to see if cocky Manuel finally gets cut down to size or if Jessica has that break down she’s been threatening for two episodes now.

Last thoughts:
1. One of the reasons why Bravos formula might not be working here is because unlike food or fashion dance is interpretive and not creative. None of the contestants are a choreographer. They are told what to do and then judged on their interpretation.
2. One of the reasons why I love top chef so much is because they are all drinking all the time. They love good food and good wine. They’re my kind of people.
3. Here are some links on the transitioning of reality TV.
Reality TV show workers sue for overtime pay
Are Reality-TV Actors Professional?
4. The successful Dance Reality shows have all been “American Idol” style call in vote shows. I don’t know why that is but there have been at least three “So you think you can dance,” “Dancing with the stars,” “Americas next top dance crew.”

Will You Be My American Boy?

I am completely in love with this song. It's been running through my head all week.

Its produced by will.i.am who I think I am alone among my friends in being obsessed with. This is strange because I absolutely hate Fergie and should hate him for being involved in her success. But whatever, I have been listening to his "Songs about Girls" for like six months now and I'm still not sick of it. "Over" off that record has the most amazing key change bridge thing that just hits you right in the sternum.
..as you can tell I never talk about music and sort of don't know how to. Mostly that's because my taste is so so pop and all of my friends love the Indie Rock and I don't like to be made fun of.
But whatever, I think this song is awesome. And also American Boys are awesome and deserve their own song. American Girls have at least five, its time for the boys to get theirs.

Me: blah blah blah something stupid some boy said to me blah blah blah.
Asher: He really said that? Wow boys are dumb.
Me: You think?
Asher: I mean, I’ve been told. But this is like when you’ve been reading something in a text book for a while and then you encounter it in real life and you are like wow lions DO eat a lot of antelope.

New Best Website Ever

Stuff white people like.
Sometimes (most of the time) it strikes too close to home. Though I don't know why that should bother me. I am, after all, white.
Here are some of the things they talk about that prove I am a white person. (That likes things)
For example:
Threatening to move to Canada.
Study abroad
Standing Still at concerts
Bicycles
Kitchen Gadgets
The Sunday New York Times
Plays
Public Radio
Art Degrees
Sushi
Paris
Being the only white person around
Dinner Parties
Having two Last Names
And of course:
Tea
"It is a known fact that white people consume, on average 25 different teas in a given year.

Back in the old days, white people would go all over the world to get teas from places like India and Sri Lanka. They were pretty into it and all of a sudden white people are into tea. But as we moved forward, white people were like “man, one kind of tea is not enough, we need more.”

And now people are into Green Tea, Chamomile, Chai, White Tea, Red Tea, Jasmine Tea, Oolong Tea, Black Tea, Orange Pekoe, and other specialty blends. They are even opening stores and websites devoted to sending white people all sorts of tea.

If you find yourself in a situation with a white person, acceptable things to say include “I’m really into tea right now,” or “my favorite thing is to get a nice cup of tea and curl up in a chair with a good book.” But do not remind them about the role of colonialism in tea, it will make them feel sad."

Email from Dave:

"Enjoy the show tonight. Watch out for Cylons. Psst. Slaney's a cylon.
~Dave"

...
UHOH!

We are t-minus 5 hours until the last season of Battlestar Galactica premiers. I usually try not to be too much of a fan girl about things first off because the x-files broke my heart supper hardcore and secondly because its really annoying. And maybe its because I've had to defend the show against so many detractors, and maybe its because its the last season or maybe its because renting me the wrong battlestar disk was why I left Kims video for netflix but I am hopelessly in love with this show. Which is why tonight I will curl up on my couch with other BSG freaks and drink a lot of beer and eat a lot of chips and pray pray pray that Roslin isn't the last cylon. I will also ignore the fact that we are t minus 18 hours until my theis reading tomorrow.
ANYWAY: on to the drinking game rules.
So far I have:
1. If a major character is killed you must chug your entire drink.
1a. If its starbuck (again) you must punch the person next to you.
1b. If its Adama you must punch yourself.
2. Every time Sharon mentions her baby take a drink.
3. Every time tigh (aka John McCain) gets pouty about his dead wife take a drink.
I would say everytime they say frak you have to drink but I would like to keep my liver. And live through the reading tomorrow.
Any more rules post them here.