things that i think

Take Two

Likes:

1) When Harry Met Sally - Laura talked me into watching When Harry Met Sally this past weekend and - wait - let me rephrase that. I talked myself into watching When Harry Met Sally this past weekend because Laura had recently purchased and I knew it would fit perfectly into the category of my guilty pleasure movies, that is, silly love stories.

I don’t know if guilty pleasure is the right term for this, though. I lump WHMS into the same category as movies like Chasing Amy and Annie Hall - love stories you can fall in love with. The only difference here is that Harry and Sally (spoiler alert!) actually wind up together and live happily ever after. Not so much in the other two films, although what do you expect with Kevin Smith and Woody Allen directing.

Regardless, WHMS takes two characters with their own equally bizarre idiosyncrasies and fleshes them out very nicely over the course immediately following their undergraduate lifetime. The film takes place over an eleven year span, in the beginning often jumping around a few times, but begins to pace nicely when our eponymous lovers bump into each other after failed attempts at love.

What the film does best is make us question ourselves and our own relationships. It raises the question of “the one,” and deals with issues like transitional relationships and boy and girl friends, which I suppose are topics that are sprinkled through out all space and time and everyone always has to deal with at some point in their lives. Even 20 years after the films release it dates itself only in hairstyles and was definitely worth my watching.

2) Minus The Bear - My Time - definitely the catchiest song about sex you’ll hear today. Maybe I’m going crazy, but I’m pretty sure every other new band today has a vicious animal in its name. Wolves, bears, lions, oh my.

3) Dominion Alchemy - May 7th, bitches! Cannot wait for the next Dominion expansion. At first I was a little bit iffy about the idea of cards costing potions, but after some extensive reading, they’re growing on me. I don’t like the fact, though, than an all Alchemy game would take forever to play.

Possession sounds like my new favorite card to be vicious with, and the high price means that people won’t go crazy with it, which is good. I’m also looking forward to using the Philsopher’s Stone, although I’m worried about it slowing down play time. Just a few more days, though, and it’ll all be mine.

Dislikes:

1) “Astronomy is a great tool for self-understanding.” - My professor said that last week. As if we didn’t dislike each other enough as it is. I just don’t get people sometimes. Does my horoscope say that?

2) Actors acting drunk - It’s just not possible to do well. If a role calls for your character to be drunk, go knock a few back before the scene. A perfectly mediocre episode of How I Met Your Mother was only sub-par today due to some horrific bad acting by Josh Radnor, and especially Neil Patrick Harris - I expect better from you guys!

3) Living at home - I’m ready go go now….. Just gotta be patient. 13-15 more months…. almost there.

Trying Something

Likes:

1) Surfing Pikachu -Without getting into any embarrassing details I have to say that Pokemon Soul Silver is more than just a remake. I feel like I’m reliving my middle school years, only with better graphics. The weirdest part of Soul Silver? 10 years ago when the original Pokemon Silver came out I was a student in Middle School. Now I’m teaching in that same Middle School. Bizarre.

The PokeWalker pedometer-toy that came bundled with the game is also entertaining, and allows me to take my Pokemon on the go. This has led to more than a few awkward moments, however. For instance, when driving, stopped at a light, I decided to shake the pedometer to get a few extra Watts (points) in. This only led to me look like I was pleasuring myself to anyone who happened to look into my car at the time. Brilliant.

Nintendo released a downloaded freebie this past month though - Yellow Forest - A place to catch all different special Pikachus, and tonight, finally, after countless attempts I was able to catch a SURFING PIKACHU. This is big news.

2) Free Comic Book Day - May 1st was not only May Day, but also Free Comic Book Day, my third favorite holiday, right after Birthday and Halloween. In Geneseo, patrons were allowed to take just one free comic, however, at Jim Hanley’s Universe, just under the shadow of the Empire State Building, shoppers were provided with five free comics! I went with Laura and we each got 5, so I could give them to my students. I needed one more, and for the first time was able to pull the, “I’m a teacher” card to get some extra - schwing!

3) Nicholas Thorburn - founding member of The Unicorns and Islands. I saw Nicholas Thorburn in 2008 at SirenFest at Coney Island, and his garbage can wearing/banging and violent singing immediately grabbed my attention. I went home and downloaded the Islands album Return to Sea and Arm’s Way, both wonderful pop gems. A few months ago, The Unicorns were mentioned on How I Met Your Mother, and like any astute viewer, I decided to check them out, only to find out they were Thorburns band before Islands! A few downloads later, and Who Will Cut Our Hair When We’re Gone? has had a very difficult time not finding time to be played. Gritty, poppy, unpredictable. Please listen to it.

Dislikes:

1) Facebook - No. I don’t want to become fans of every single damn page in the entire free world. Also, sorry, but I DON’T want to share my information with every single inane application you offer. New facebook competition/alternative please soon yes?

2) Queens College - So, about this who library science thing. I’m liking it alright. I really enjoy being in front of students in the library, however that doesn’t happen nearly enough. Also, please don’t send me an e-mail telling me that you’re 2-4 million dollars in debt (what a large margin for error) and then say you’re cutting the amount of classes you’re offering over the summer - particularly the classes I’m in. Oh, and good job getting back to me with information about whether or not the classes will run. It’s only been about 2 weeks - it’s not like I have a life to plan or anything.

3) 24 hour day - Not nearly enough hours. Let’s have six twenty-eight hour days. I don’t care if that fucks with sunrise/set - I could use the extra sleep (though I’d probably waste it….)

Jingle Jangle

First of all, the next time I see I bird I’m going to ask it if they would like it if I pooped on their car. How rude.

I’m really just updating this because I realized while driving the other day that I have a real knack for turning decently popular classic rock songs into TV jingles for spin-off food products.

1. Tangled Up In Blue by Bob Dylan becomes Tiny Muffin Blues, for Mini-Muffins. The idea behind the product is that mini-muffins in this day and age are just too mini. Children are quite hungry these days, and are probably suffering from what we in the TV jingle for spin-off food product world call the “tiny muffin blues.” The remedy, is of course, larger mini-muffins, or perhaps mega-muffins, which are just giant versions of mini-muffins, a.k.a. muffins. Now, about getting Bob Dylan to let me use the song…

2. Eminence Front by The Who becomes M&Ms Bar, for the Mars corporation. This time, there are product ideas. You could either have a chocolate bar, with M&Ms inside of it, or perhaps a normal chocolate bar, coated in an M&M shell, with a regular sized M on it, like an M&M would have. If you took the second option, each bar could be a different M&M color, which you would get randomly in each package. The would obviously take the chorus of Eminence Front, and replaced, “It’s an Eminence Front, it’s a put on!” with “It’s an M&Ms Bar, they’re delicious!” How on earth could anyone turn that down?

A few other liner notes.

Siren Fest 2009 -

Pros: Delicious unlimited soda made with real sugar, The Blue Van, Grand Duchy, Ran into my friend Yana, Laura came, beautiful weather.

Cons: Micachu and The Shapes, no Lenny, too much of delicious unlimited soda.

Also, I went to Woodstock this weekend and bought at a flea market a cool antiquated Chinese chess set. That brings my collection of cool chess sets to an astounding two. I also got the final 50 state quarter, which brings the value of my collection to a whopping $12.50!

Before & After

One of my favorite things about Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune is the “Before & After category both shows use on occaision. Theirs are clever, but I like mine better:

1. Baby Got Back to the Future
2. Tom Cruise Control
3. The Fellowship of the Ring Tone
4. The Long and Winding Road to Hell is Paved with Good Intentions
5. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Soup
6. The Big Bad Wolf Blitzer

I could go on for hours, but I won’t.

P.S. - Teacher? Check. Next stop, librarian!

Twitter

I don’t like Twitter. I find it to be too constricted, impossible to maintain consistent wit on, and otherwise too titillating for its own good. That said, I do enjoy imposters, and Twitter provides means for the sincerest form of flattery. Therefore, I’ve indulged in creating a twitter for my dear old friend Lenny.

Also, who isn’t talking about Twitter these days, I mean come on!

Seriously, though, folks. What the fuck is a tweetosphere? Do people hear themselves when say things like this. I’m not going to get up on any soap box to rant about the media and its obsession with twitter (too late,) but what the hell is with the obsession over 140 characters. Years from now, I hope we can look back at this and laugh. Say things like, “Boy, the economy wasn’t the only thing in a recession those days! Remember Twitter? We limited ourselves to 140 letters in order to prove up to the minute updates about mundanity! Heh - we didn’t even realize that the root word was twit!”

Alright. I’ve said enough. I don’t need to set the twitterverse abuzz.

I’m so stupid, pt. 2

No, I didn’t kill any plants this time. Worse.

I was signing up for my teaching certification online. Very official. Very important. I spelled my last name Misky. In case you didn’t know - that’s not my last name (It’s Mirsky.)

I had to fill out a form asking for a name change, and they asked me for the reason I was changing it. The options were marriage, divorce, legal name change, or other. I selected other, and filled in that it was a typo. They also asked the date of the official change… so I just put in my date of birth, because I suppose that was the last time my name changed - from nothing to Justin.

Anyway, I just felt like I had to share that story. It’s terribly embarassing, but too funny to remain private.