Random Link Dump

I've been accumulating these for a while.

LOST spoof - Ben and Jack Have a Conversation: This goofy little Lost spoof made me laugh a lot. Warning: features spoilers for the episode before last. Probably will do nothing for you if you don't know the show. May annoy you if you're a Jack fan. (Assuming Jack has fans.)

Inside the Inboxes of 15 Fictional Villains: Ever wished you could spy on a bad guy's e-mail? Now you can! Some of these are funnier than others, some of them went right past me because I'm clearly not familiar with the source material, and at least one invites debate over the definition of the word "villain." But some of them are very funny indeed.

Barack Obama is tired of your motherfucking shit: Clips from Obama's audiobook reading of Dreams from My Father, in which he quotes a foul-mouthed friend. Because there's something surreally amusing about getting to hear your president say "motherfucker!", however unfairly out of context it is.

And the Circle is Complete: Covers of Star Trek novels, entertainingly retitled. It's kind of disturbing how many of these I recognize.

Back to the Future Alternate Ending: Short video offering a slightly different ending to the movie. It's all the more amusing thanks to a certain coincidence of casting.

Fishmen: H.P. Lovecraft's "The Shadow over Innsmouth" presented in under two minutes. As a musical.

What Does a Lunar Eclipse Look Like from the Moon?: A picture taken by the Japanese lunar probe Kaguya answers this question beautifully.

Progress on NASA's Constellation: Pictures of the space shuttle's future replacement as it begins to take shape.

Making a proper Doctor Who anime: Unfinished scenes from an anime version of Doctor Who (Third Doctor era), featuring original animation and audio clips taken from the show. Pretty darned impressive.

This Post Brought To You By Too Little Sleep And Too Many Kleenex

Ah, allergy season. Back again so soon.

Sigh. There are times when I really kind of wish I lived somewhere that got more than about twelve weeks of winter.

This Is Entirely Possible.

How will I die? Your Result: You will die of boredom.   Try not to take so many quizzes. And while this answer may seem like a joke, it most certainly is not. Boredom is one of the most frequent causes of death. The body will simply stop functioning. Try not to become an excercise junkie. One cannot escape destiny...
You will die in your sleep.
You will die from a terminal illness.
You will die while having sex.
You will die while saving someone's life.
You will die in a nuclear holocaust.
You will be murdered.
You will die in a car accident.
How will I die? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

But, really, I hardly ever do these stupid quizzes any more.

Confuse-A-Cat

I had the cats into the vet for their regular annual checkup last week, and it appears that Lard-Ass Kitty has lost no weight since I put him on the diet. None. Sigh.

So, in an attempt to supply him with some kind of exercise regimen, I went out and bought a little laser pointer so he could have a nice dot of light to chase around while I sit comfortably in my chair and move nothing but my arm.

It does seem to work reasonably well. He won't always jump up and chase after the thing, although he does always look keenly interested, but when he does, he moves with an insane energy you'd never expect in an animal that obese.

But I dunno. I actually feel weirdly guilty playing this game. Because it's a terrible tease, isn't it? The very laws of physics dictate that no matter how diligently the cats chase down the little light spot, they are never, ever going to have anything to show for it. It's like some kind of cruel kitty mind-fuck, really.

But, man, it is entertaining to aim the light right between their paws and then suddenly turn it off and watch their little "WTF? Where'd it go?!" faces.

Show Me The Money! Or, Y'know, Not.

So, I just did my federal taxes. Apparently I'm entitled to a forty-seven cent refund. I'll try not to spend it all in one place.

Hip, Hip, Hooray!

I'm feeling much better today, I think. The sore throat seems to have disappeared entirely.

Three cheers for the healing powers of sloth!

Ooky, But Undefeated

Since last night, I've had a bit of a sore throat, and a tiny bit of a headache. Bah! Well, actually, it's not too bad, but I'm definitely fighting something off. So, since amazingly enough I don't have to be in to work today, I hereby declare that my plan for the day will consist of lying on the sofa accompanied by my laptop, that copy of Great Expectations I've finally gotten around to reading, a stack of Stargate DVDs, throat lozenges of various kinds and flavors, and large quantities of mint tea.

Fear me, germs! I shall defeat you with my amazing powers of idleness!

Further Proof That TV Executives Hate Me Personally

Oh, god damn it. I meant to record the premiere episode of Dollhouse tonight and completely forgot to set it up. And my TiVo is already recording both Battlestar Galactica and Psych.

Geez. There are all of six TV shows I'm interested in following at the moment, and half of them are on in the same time slot?!

Well, maybe I'll be able to watch it online somewhere.

Happy Scaper

I got my copy of the second Farscape comic in the mail today, and I've just finished reading it. If anything, I think I enjoyed it even more than the first one, though it seemed to be over even more quickly.

These characters? Are insane. I love them to bits.

Random Link Time!

Previously on Lost: Mildly entertaining video about a guy who decides to watch all of Lost in one marathon sitting. It's his facial expressions and incoherent outbursts that really amuse me; I think it's possible to tell from them exactly which episodes he's watching. I believe I made some of those same noises, just not quite as close together. Warning: said outbursts contain spoilers through the end of season 4.

The Planetary Society's Year in Pictures: 2008: A nice overview of what's been going on in the solar system in the last year, with pretty pictures.

Space Station in the Moon: Speaking of pretty pictures, this image of the International Space Station flying in front of the moon is freaking amazing.

Pic Shows Man Robbing Stores With Klingon Sword: News article about a robber with a bat'leth. Except it really looks like a tiny, cheap knock-off. This man has no honor! What really amuses me, though, is that apparently both the clerks he held up were able to identify the weapon. Nerds are everywhere, man! We live on both sides of the law!

Star Trek: Trailer: The version of the Star Trek movie trailer that aired during the Super Bowl. I'm still not feeling good about it, even if the guy playing McCoy does seem to be doing his damndest to imitate DeForest Kelley's voice. (Note: video is only accessible to folks in the United States.)

More On The Inconvenient Nature Of Cats

When you want to sleep, they want you to get up. When you want to get up, they lie on top of you so you can't. They're like perverseness covered in fur.

February Currently

Current clothes: Dark gray sweatpants. Light brown shirt with a drawing of some books on a shelf and the words "Life is short. Read fast," which is very much my personal philosophy. White socks. Black sneakers.

Current mood: Meh. Okay, I guess.

Current music: More random-shuffle stuff on the iPod. I don't quite remember what the last thing it served up was. I think maybe some Bowie.

Current annoyance: Various minor physical complaints, including the fact that I woke up with a tiny bit of a headache this morning, although I think that's fading now.

Current thing: It seems like I have been doing pretty much nothing with my life lately, except perhaps for indulging in random bouts of vague existential angst about how I'm not doing anything with my life. I think I need a vacation.

Current desktop picture: Still Sarah Jane Smith and friends.

Current book: A Trio for Lute by R.A. MacAvoy, which is actually a trilogy in one volume, consisting of Damiano, Damiano's Lute, and Raphael, about a young musician/wizard in 14th century Italy. I'm about halfway through the second book now. The plot is kind of slight -- at least so far -- and while the main character is pretty three-dimensional, I'm not finding him quite as engaging or sympathetic as the author was probably hoping for. But it's very smoothly written and pleasantly character-based, and free of the usual cliched fantasy tropes, so I'm definitely finding it worthwhile.

Current song in head: Doesn't seem to be one at the moment. Maybe the headache chased 'em all out.

Current DVD in player: Disc 3 of season three of The Pretender, which I am watching pretty slowly. I'm still enjoying it, but it's not eating my brain nearly as much as the previous two seasons. Which is probably a good thing. Also disc one of season 8 of South Park, which is my current "watching while I'm on the treadmill" show.

Current refreshment: Water. I also woke up feeling a little dehydrated, which may help explain the headache.

Current worry: I'm worried about my house cracking in half and falling down again. I really need to get the cracks in my concrete repaired, and maybe even have the foundation shored up, if it turns out to be necessary. I keep putting it off, though. I don't actually think I'll have too much trouble paying for it, I just don't want to deal with the hassle. Sigh.

Current thought: While I was writing this, Happiness the cat, who was sitting on the windowsill next to me, started making barfing noises. Not wanting her to throw up on the window, or anything underneath the window, I grabbed her and shoved her into the tiled utility room. She then proceeded to walk all the way through that room, and the one next to it, and the dining room, and on into the kitchen, vomiting a little all along the way. To make this even more entertaining, I was in the process of cleaning my glasses when she started this and threw them down somewhere when I went to grab her. And then, of course, I couldn't find them, because I couldn't see. Somebody remind me again why the heck I have cats? (Oh, wait. While I was proofreading this, Nova came up and climbed into my lap and started purring. Yeah, OK, I guess that's the reason.)

Today's List Of Annoyances

DVD-related things that annoy me:

• Double-sided DVDs. Dude, I like to be able to tell at a glance what the disc actually is, not to mention which direction I ought to put it into the machine. (Level of annoyance: low, if it means the DVDs are cheaper than they would be otherwise.)
  
  
• Title menus that force you to sit through some flashy FX or a video clip before you can access the damned menu. South Park, I'm lookin' at you! (Level of annoyance: moderate, particularly for discs with multiple TV show episodes that I'm not gonna watch all at once.)
  
  
• Spoilery images on episode menus. Um, guys? If the fact that the hero's girlfriend turns out to be a glowy-eyed alien is the big surprise plot twist, maybe it's a good idea not to show her being a glowy-eyed alien on the menu screen. And, why, yes, that is a real-world example. (Level of annoyance: high, although often it just ends up spoiling me for stuff I was pretty much expecting to happen, anyway.)

Welcome To The Future. Have A Pizza.

Ever since I hooked it up to the broadband, my TiVo keeps asking me whether I want it to order a pizza for me while I'm watching. I honestly can't decide whether this is an appalling example of the way in which modern society is trying to turn us all into complete lard-ass couch potatoes -- I mean, heaven forbid we should have to put down the remote control long enough to dial a phone for our food! -- or whether it's a really cool example of clever 21st century technology.

Of course, what it really is, no doubt, is a marketing stunt on the part of Domino's. But that goes right along with both couch potato-ism and 21st century technology, I guess.