A dictator don't. Notes by dictation. I love blogs.

Okay.

I am writing this blog by dictation. I don't intend to type a single word. So far, things are going pretty well with this dictation software and I'm rather impressed. Actually it is really, really good. Even Alanna thinks it's pretty good. I mean, it does actually get her name right, and that is really impressive. Sure, it does spell my last name DeYoung, but I can put up with that.

So tonight is the last no-no show of the season. It's sad to see it come to an end, but we'll be back next year. I can't wait.

All right, you know what? Dictating is a lot more work than I thought it was. And it's not really as fast as typing. While it's fast, it would be a lot faster if I knew what I was saying ahead of time. I think this will be the last note that I dictate. Probably not, but there won't be many that I dictate. This is way too much effort for what it's worth.

Well, ladies and germs, I'm off. I'll write more some other time. Boobs. LOL. I will never LOL again.

Whoops! Runaway balloon leaves parachutist grounded

I don't know if anyone has been following Michel Fournier's skydiving attempt, but did things ever go wrong in a big way today! I wonder if he'll try again or just sulk and slink away with his tail between his legs.

Whoops! Runaway balloon leaves parachutist grounded: "A French parachutist's hopes of setting world records for high-altitude jumps were deflated early Tuesday when the balloon designed to ferry him into the Saskatchewan sky drifted away, unsecured to its gondola."

(Via CBC | Canadian News.)

Word of the Week — May 26-June 2

What's happening everyone? Nothing? Good. Same here.

arriviste • \a-rih-VEEST\ • noun

: one that is a new and uncertain arrival (as in social position or artistic endeavor)

Example Sentence:

The young entrepreneur was viewed as an arriviste in the business community, and many old-timers were leery of his ideas.

Did you know?

An "arriviste" is someone who is just beginning to "arrive," in the sense of achieving success or making a name for oneself. Often the word can have slightly negative connotations, indicating a person who is highly aggressive or perhaps unscrupulous in his or her climb to the top. Like its synonym "parvenu," "arriviste" can also indicate a lack of certainty or confidence in one's newfound position. "Arriviste" is something of a new arrival itself, relatively speaking. English speakers borrowed the term from French in the early 20th century.

Courtesy of Merriam-Webster Online

Yesterday, I was an arriviste in the Standardized Patient community, since it was my first time.

So does arriviste = virgin?

Indiana Jones and You Expect Me to Believe That?!

Ok, so Alanna and I just got out of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls, and I have only one thing to say. What the fuck? That didn't make a lick of sense. I'll warn you now that there are likely to be spoilers in my review, so if you don't want to know what happens, don't read this. I'm brutal at spoilers. But mu pros and cons at the end are spoiler free, so you can just read those.

The opening sequence, in Area 51, is kinda lame, but it does set up the enemy pretty well, so it's alright. I mean, it didn't seem incredibly far-fetched. Well, ok, Indy surviving a nuclear blast by hiding in a refrigerator does, but I can live with that. It just felt like he was helping the bad guys more than Indy would. Somewhere in here, you find out that Cate Blanchett's character is psychic. Seriously?

It doesn't really feel like Indy until he meets Mutt. Then! Then, there's plot. Then, there's intrigue. Then, it's like they realised they knew exactly how to do this and do it well. The next hour or so is CLASSIC Indiana Jones. Especially when it's just Ford and LaBouef, searching for the skull. And when they get captured and taken to the Amazon, well, it's still all good. Ok, so the Russians' plan to use the crystal skulls to hypnotize the world into doing their bidding sucks, but I can look past that. Besides, the chase scene that's about to happen ranks right up there with the Raiders chase scene.

From then out, well, now the movie becomes kinda farcical. I mean, would they really survive going over three waterfalls like that? I don't think so. And while the trip to El Dorado was cool, it just seemed like everything was too easy.

The end sequence, though, turned what could have been a great movie into a mediocre one really fast. It's a serious WTF moment. I mean, I was able to suspend disbelief that, ok, these crystal skulls were from aliens that landed thousands of years ago and taught the Incans everything. And, ok, whoever returns the skull to its place will be granted its power. Sure. These are legends. But when the whole temple becomes first an inter-dimensional portal and then a flying saucer, complete with a CG alien, well, then you lost me. I was ready to leave, and was very happy the movie was over.

I left this film feeling dejected, like it was a piece of crap. Like I had just sat through the worst movie ever. That's how much I hated the end. But as I talked about it, and thought about it more, I realized that the good far outweighed the bad, and while the final scene moved from far-fetched to outlandishly stupid, I enjoyed it overall.

Harrison can still play Indy (though definitely an OLD Indy! Everything he did screamed, "Oh, not again!"), and Shia held his own against him. I used to have a beef with LaBouef, but he was good. He can't take over, but he was a welcome addition. Cate Blanchette's character was lame, but she looked cool. That's about it. And it was nice to see Marion back.

Speaking of Marion, I think the final scene, the wedding, was a touching tribute to the fans, just like all the little nods and winks along the way. If Shia ever puts that fedora on, though, there will be hell to pay.


Pros: C'mon! It's Indiana Jones! But seriously, we get the epic nature of the originals, and the acting is great. Mutt Williams is a great addition. Also, possibly a better chase scene than Raiders (shock)!

Cons: The CGI is a little strong in places, even if it does make things more grandiose. There are more then a couple feats that not even Indy could pull off (nuclear blast, anyone?). The plot is more than a little far-fetched. The climax will leave you scratching your head saying WTF!

Overall: The more I think about this movie, the more I realize that, despite my gripes, I definitely enjoyed it and would go see it again. It's fantastic to see Indy on screen again, and I'm (apparently) willing to look past all the flaws and just have fun. Highly Recommended!

Grade:
B

Indiana Jones Monopoly!

Ok, this is officially cool!

Indiana Jones Monopoly! [Official Guide to Indiana Jones]: "

So there have been quite a few awesome versions of Monopoly over the years but for Indiana Jones fans, this is (for the lack of a better comparison) your Holy Grail edition. This Indiana Jones Monopoly Edition is exclusive to Wal-Mart. Starting with the ‘artifact crate’ packaging, down to the game tokens and fertility idols for houses and Ark of the Covenant for hotels…this is one badass collectible. I bought mine at Wal-Mart for just under $30.

Source: Throwmetheidol.com

If you have any suggestions for our Officially Cool feature, please send an email over to Brian@filmschoolrejects.com.

Related Reading:

• Become Indiana Jones: Part II, The Attitude
• Indiana Jones’ Biggest Fan…
• Movie Drinking Games: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
• The Ten Coolest Indiana Jones Collectibles of All Time
• An Indiana Jones Spoof Fit For The FSR Fat Guys
• Win a Free Copy of the Indiana Jones Trilogy!
• ‘Crystal Skull’ Is Made for Indiana Jones Fans!
• Photoshop Your Own Drew Struzan Indy Poster

"

(Via Film School Rejects.)

Word of the Week — May 19-26

Ah, the long weekend… Yeah, means nothing to me. Whatever. Here's the word!

propensity • \pruh-PENN-suh-tee\ • noun

: an often intense natural inclination or preference

Example Sentence:

"My brother has a propensity for exaggeration," said Daniella, "so you should probably take his claims with a grain of salt."

Did you know?

When it comes to synonyms of "propensity," the letter "p" predominates. "Proclivity," "preference," "penchant," and "predilection" all share with "propensity" the essential meaning "a strong instinct or liking." Not every word that is similar in meaning to "propensity" begins with "p," however. "Propensity" comes from Latin "propensus," the past participle of "propendēre," a verb meaning "to incline" or "to hang forward or down." Thus "leaning" and "inclination" are as good synonyms of "propensity" as any of those "p"-words.

Courtesy of Merriam-Webster Online

I have a propensity for eating donuts. And procrastinating on this blog. Soz.

WTF, That's Gross: Bread Head Bakery

This is the most intense bread I have ever seen!

WTF, That's Gross: Bread Head Bakery: "

Kittiwat Unarrom got a master's degree in fine arts and now makes lifelike body parts out of bread at a bakery in Thailand. All the disturbing yeast sculptures are made out of dough, raisins, cashews and chocolate. He'll also paint the outside with some sort of edible paint to give it an even more gruesome appearance. When asked why he does it, Kittiwat replied, 'I'm a wackjob and I like making people sick'.* And what does The Geekologie Writer think of these bready body parts? We may never know -- he's too busy puking up the Spaghetti O's sandwich he had for lunch.

*As interpreted by yours truly.

More pictures after the jump, but warning: they're more graphic than the first one. Yes, I'm a girl. I wear frilly panties."

(Via Geekologie - Gadgets, Gizmos, and Awesome.)

World’s First Swimming Mask with Integrated 5MP Digital Camera [Snorkellers Say ‘Cheese’, And Drown, Possibly)

World’s First Swimming Mask with Integrated 5MP Digital Camera [Snorkellers Say ‘Cheese’, And Drown, Possibly): "

Whilst there are a host of underwater cameras currently available – such as the previously featured SeaLife SL321 ECOshot – these, in the main, tend to be hand operated but, for those that want to leave their hands free (to swim, for example, or gesticulate in sheer terror as a shark swims by) this swimming mask with integrated digital camera, billed as the world’s first, could be the answer.

(...)
Read the rest of World’s First Swimming Mask with Integrated 5MP Digital Camera [Snorkellers Say ‘Cheese’, And Drown, Possibly) (145 words)

(Via Thoughts from the Sidelines.)

Adventures in Plumbing!

So Saturday was a true experience. Replacing a kitchen faucet. What could be easier, right? Wrong!

What I didn't count on was how incredibly difficult it would be to remove the old, ten year old tap that has been there as long as I can remember. That was hard. We had been debating for weeks how best to remove the old plastic nuts that were never going to be unscrewed. But Saturday, wow, it was business time.

Shut off the water and cut the old plastic tubes. Then, the plan was to install shutoff valves and turn the water back on. Unfortunately, I didn't have a crescent wrench large enough, so it was off to Canadian Tire. Half an hour later ,get the shutoff valves installed, and we're ready to turn on the water, right? Again, wrong! There was a little leak in the hot water, so I tried to tighten it a little. Unfortunately, with all the pressure behind it, the whole valve just shot off. There was water everywhere! Everywhere! Holy crap. Turn the water off and clean up.

Take two! Get the shutoff valves on, and slowly turn on the water. So far, so good. Now to get rid of the old faucet. Wrench: useless. File: useless. Hammer and chisel: useful. Yeah, I know. Good thing that tap is going in the garbage. I chiseled the plastic bits until they broke, and removed the old faucet. Time for the new one.

I'm not going to get into it, but the new one was super easy. I'd like to thank Moen for not only making their products super easy to install, but having good tech support too. Even if it did take five business days before they got back to me. Ugh.

All in all, a job well done.

That story was lame.

R2D2 Ice Bucket with Han Solo Ice Molds Makes Any Drink Nerdier [Star Wars]

Oh Man! Is the not the coolest or what?!

R2D2 Ice Bucket with Han Solo Ice Molds Makes Any Drink Nerdier [Star Wars]: "

Your cocktail parties will surely be the talk of the town once you acquire one of these R2D2 ice buckets. Not only will it keep your ice nice and cold, but it'll do so using Han Solo ice cube molds, providing ice that's shaped like Solo trapped in carbonite. What ladies will be able to resist the combo of your charm, your extensive knowledge of Dr. Who episodes and a vodka soda kept cold by Han Solo? No ladies, that's who. No ladies. [The Green Head via Oh Gizmo!]

(Via Gizmodo.)

NES Controller Coffee Table Actually Works!

NES Controller Coffee Table Actually Works!: "

We've seen a NES controller case mod, a gigantic fake NES controller, and even a huge functional Atari controller, but never a humongous working Nintendo controller that doubles as a coffee table. Until now. Kyle Downes, a man I wish lived next door, was the creator of this wicked controller table.

Kyle spent months putting this together, starting with a scanned image of his original NES control. This he then simply scaled up, carefully crafting each piece out of MDF and hacking his own wiring onto a broken old controller board.

The glass can be removed if you want to use the controller to play (see video after the jump) and there is plenty of storage for other video game systems in the compartment beneath the controls (see picture after jump). Say, this gives me an idea...

UPDATE: Well they say hindsight is 20/20, but you've got to admit -- a fully functional Wiimote coffee table sounds like a good idea you first time you hear it, doesn't it? No? Well thanks for the warning. Now what the hell am I gonna do with this thing?

A bunch more pictures and a video after the jump. Have a good weekend everyone."

(Via Geekologie - Gadgets, Gizmos, and Awesome.)

Word of the Week — May 12-18

Well, this is it, folks. It's back. Word of the Week. Every Monday, a new word for you to chew on. To savour. To enjoy. So without further ado, ladies and gentlemen, I give you THE WORD.

chockablock • \CHAH-kuh-blahk\

1 : brought close together

2 : very full

Example Sentence:

Chandra's tiny apartment is chockablock with fabric, yarn, and other craft supplies.

Did you know?

"Chockablock" started out as a nautical term. A block is a metal or wooden case with one or more pulleys inside. Sometimes, two or more blocks are used (as part of a rope and pulley system called a "block and tackle") to provide a mechanical advantage -- as, for example, when hoisting a sail on a traditional sailing ship. When the rope is pulled as far as it will go, the blocks are tight together and are said to be "chockablock." Non-nautical types associated the "chock" in "chockablock" with "chock-full," which goes back to Middle English "chokkefull," meaning "full to the limit" (a figurative use of "full to choking"). We thus gave "chockablock" the additional meaning "filled up." "Chockablock" can also be an adverb meaning "as close or as completely as possible," as in "families living chockablock" or the seemingly redundant "chockablock full."

Courtesy of Merriam-Webster Online

So there you have it. A return to the old again. Every Monday!

Get Your Party On with the Emergency Party Button

Check out this AWESOME button. Let's get this party started

Get Your Party On with the Emergency Party Button [Weekend Project]: "

You're a busy person, with a button-up career gig that takes up most of your waking hours. So when you clock out, you don't have time to put in all the work to get into party mode. What you need is a button—a party button—to take you from straight-laced to party in a matter of seconds. The emergency party button, activated by turning a key and pressing a big red button, does exactly that. After dimming the overhead lights, the party button turns on the party lights, turns up the music, and fires up the fog machine. Hit the jump for a video of the party button in action.

Emergency Party Button [via Lifehacker AU]

\

(Via Lifehacker.)

Track Your Domino's Pizza Order from a Terminal [Friday Fun]

Track Your Domino's Pizza Order from a Terminal [Friday Fun]: "

Now you can truly see why our commenters dubbed Python the programming language that 'can do anything.' One intrepid (and hungry) hacker, possibly named Nick Jensen, put together a small script that tracks Domino's Pizza orders from phone call to door bell ring. Download and launch the script (with instructions at the link), plug in your phone number, and you don't have to get up until that cheese-covered saucer is at the door. It's just another true sign of how life-changing the command line can really be. Thanks, HowToGeek

dominos.py

(Via Lifehacker.)

Stolen MacBook Victim Uses Screen Sharing and iSight to Bust Thieves [ISight Theft Prevention]

Stolen MacBook Victim Uses Screen Sharing and iSight to Bust Thieves [ISight Theft Prevention]: "

A White Plains, NY woman who was the victim of burglary, including her MacBook, used the Back To My Mac screen sharing feature to turn on her webcam and capture images of the unwitting culprits using the computer. As a result, police were able to arrest the thieves and recover most of the stolen goods, which included two laptops, two flat-screen televisions, two iPods, gaming consoles, DVDs and computer games.

This plan first launched into action when a co-worker of the nameless woman at the Apple Store noticed her computer online and notified the woman. She was then able to log into her computer and the rest is history. So the moral of the story is this: If you steal a MacBook, please be sure to cover the iSight with some tape. Otherwise, you could also be charged with a second degree felony. [Iohud via TUAW]

(Via Gizmodo.)

A New Beginning

That's right. I'm starting over. Completely afresh. I even deleted the old blog that was here. That's hardcore. But really, I think it's time. Time for a new beginning.

So what can you expect on this new blog? Well, mostly the same as the last one. I plan a Word of the Week, reviews (movies, books, music, tv, whatever), and generally, posts on whatever I feel. And probably plenty of links I found interesting. There might be some sports now and again. Really, I just want something new. Something to occupy my time. Here goes nothing!