Movies of Myself

New Favorite - Iron Sheik

You guys, I am completely obsessed with the Iron Sheik's twitter. I was never a fan of the WWE and never watched a single minute of it voluntarily, but his rantings are not to be missed.

He is so insane, bizarre, funny and absurd, I can hardly stand it. The Sheik has opinions on politics, celebrities, current events and pop culture. He still has a deep-seated fury towards his old wrestling opponents. There is nothing else like it. I started following him after Andy Richter retweeted this gem: 

And the sheikie has not disappointed. I have to read most of his tweets two or three times before I can discern what he's actually saying, but it's SO worth it.

 

To Pin or Not To Pin

Now I know I already recommended Pinterest to you guys last week, but I have to tell you that I am extra obsessed with it right now because of a flaw in their design which recently came to my attention. I guess Pinterest hasn't added the ability to delete or edit comments yet, so anything that you write is there forever (or until they enable comment management, same diff.) 

Sometimes this is bad because if, like me, you often use your iPad or phone to look at the site, a humiliating auto-correct that you didn't catch in time will just glare at you in defiance. That's right, maybe you meant to call the picture of puppy "darling" but your clumsy fingers made you call it a "dicknut" in a public forum and now there's no turning back. 

But lately what I've loved most, to the point of distraction, is when people accidentally type search terms into item comments instead of into the search box at the top of the site. It's just so absurdly random, so bizarrely hilarious that I can't get enough of it. To wit:

Buffalo chicken! Sirry! I am dying here.

Hanfree

Dear Hanfree,

Please hurry up and become an actual item I can buy and use. I have been getting bizarro neck strain whenever I read Kindle books on my iPad (which is actually quite often lately) because of my ridiculous posture. I could seriously use you in my life.

Sincerely,

--b

Checking In

So Facebook launched their Places feature a little while ago. It's a blatant Foursquare ripoff and since I'm an infrequent and highly ambivalent Facebook user who doesn't use Foursquare in the first place, I thought it highly doubtful that I'd ever try Places out.

However, during an Emmys commercial break on Sunday I found myself logging into Places with the intention of checking in to Tinker's Damn, a furtive gay bar and dance club incongruously located three blocks from Patrick's apartment. That was my original plan, to check into every shady strip club and grim dive bar throughout the Bay Area over time.

But in a sudden fit of inspiration I instead created and checked us into, that's right, YOUR MOM'S HOUSE:

Awesome. If only I'd know earlier that you can fabricate and name your own check-in spots! This could get very interesting.

A light that never goes out

via loveyourchaos.tumblr.com

I see things like this all the time now. No, not hipster cool pictures of song lyrics which basically lose all meaning once out of context (though I see that, too). But lyrics and words with no attribution. And incorrect ones at that. 

This image was on my tumblr dashboard and although I tried at length to follow it to its original source, I never found it. I never saw who exactly had misquoted "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out". The line should read "because I want to see people and I want to see life." One small word replacing another small word. Big difference.

I use song lyrics and literary quotes all the time, too. I use them as post titles here, use them as names for photographs. I have an ongoing quote sticker graffiti project that relies heavily on quotes. I always make sure there is attribution in the body of the description and I make damn hellfire sure that I use the words painstakingly, as they were first put down, without error. If I find out that I've got it wrong, wild horses couldn't drag me away from rectifying it. 

If something reverberates deeply enough that you want to rewrite it and tell it to everyone else, you can take the extra minute to make sure it's right. Unfortunately, I see things like this all the time now. But this is The Smiths (and you bloody well do not misquote The Smiths) and it's a song that captured my heart when I was seventeen years old and made me approach life in a way I never did before. So this time I couldn't let it go.

There Is A Light That Never Goes Out - The Smiths

Google Wave

Our Googlelicious friend was nice enough to grace Jen and me with invitations to try out Google Wave last week. We really like what we've seen so far, which is just the tip of the iceberg where this service is concerned. So what is it exactly? In the words of my sister: "extra fancy instant messaging" with each conversation, or each wave as Google refers to them, stored in an email-type system. So the waves can be real time, or people can add to them as they please. Two people can wave together or dozens of people can collaborate on a conversation. I'm horrid at explaining new technologies so some screen shots might serve us better:

The first thing that came to my mind when I started using Wave was that it would be very nice for talking music. And as you can see we've exploited this already. But I'm envisioning something like a group of people listening to Whiskeytown songs and discussing Ryan Adams' progression as an artist. Bad Boy remixes of Whiskeytown songs, of course.

The other thing I find quite useful is the ability to perform Google searches and then incorporate the results (images, video, websites) directly into the messages. There's an array of tools like polls, maps, conferencing utilities, etc. available, too, and a whole slew of open source apps on the way. Should be fun!



Two other features I also love: tags and threads. Each of the wave conversations is actually split up into individual waves which can be threaded out as long as you need. I do adore tags. For their searchability and for amusement. And our friend joined our wave the next day and was able to respond to each section of the conversation she wished to address. She voted "Yes", by the way. 

I can't wait for Google to process the invitations I was allotted to send. It will be rad to share multimedia of hot soup with more of you!

State of the Blog

I've been thinking a bit lately about this site and what it's for. Over the past year I've finally gotten into a nice rhythm with my posting, and writing here is as fun as it's ever been. I do realize that this blogomatron is an exercise in id and ego satisfaction. I guess it's mainly for me to say certain things to myself. Ironically, as I've realized this, the site has become less and less personal, but really that's a good thing for all of us.

I've had a couple of people ask me why I don't turn this into a full on music site, since that's what I ruminate on most often these days. And seriously, I've thought about it. Quite a bit. More than once I've almost thrown my hat into the Hype Machine ring and just gone for it. Music sites get preview copies of albums. They get breaking news, artist exclusives, interviews and all sorts of exciting stuff. But as much as I love, love, love music, something's always held me back. I read a ton of music blogs and, while I admire their work and rely on them, I just don't want to get caught up in the rat race of music blogging. I want to share the music I that I care deeply about and that's it. I don't want to throw out three line posts just because something new has leaked and I'll be trampled in the music blog dust if I don't mention it.

I've also had a few people ask why I don't whip this thing into a food blog. I guess my constant willingness to drive an hour and a half each way just to eat a slice of pizza or buy an ice cream cone, not to mention things like flying halfway across the country to eat a dinner, indicate that I should be writing about all things edible more than I do. And trust me, I know I should be foodblogging more, too. I'm testing an average of 2-3 new recipes a week now and I'm still always on the lookout for the next good restaurant. I adore talking about food. Plus, food blogs get mega gifts. Dang, dude -- I want some free bacon salt. I'd love to come home to a complimentary box of cookie stuff. But, and it pains me awfully to admit it, I'm not quite passionate enough about food blogging to take Movies of Myself in that direction. I'm still at least one slice short of a food blog pie.

Pus i can't give up all my other random vices. Photography now, of course. Hello Kitty products. Dresses from Anthropologie. Nintendo reviews. Your mom. Sudden candy-inspired monologues. Blinged-out displays of what a BAMF I am. You know, stuff and things.

So I guess this site will have to remain as it's been, a clear reflection of myself: jack of all trades and master of none. I've made a couple of tweaks in celebration of this. For anyone reading through RSS, I've got a new page banner for the first time since like Bill Clinton was still in office. And I've added a search box widget in the columns, so you can more easily hearken back to the high points of my life (i.e. Tale of the Lost Jamie, The Time We Almost Perished in the Floods or Imagined Diatribes Against Racists).

Cheers and thanks for reading.

Ok Computer

Internet Classic:

via chopinkarate (orig. source thisblogrules.com)

via stolenpanties

Yes, I am addicted to tumblr. Quite a lot of it is vomitrociously emo, but the funny bits make it all worthwhile.

Internet Dud:

1) The spam filters on my email account have gone zonkers. Mucho spams are flooding through and it annoys the hell out of me.

2) I have been mistaken for strangers. A Vietnamese person (or maybe a couple?) mysteriously added me to their personal address list of friends a few months ago. I will get the occasional bbq evite from them or an invitation to view holiday photos on Snapfish. Most recently I even got a baby announcement. Yet, despite racking my brain for any memory of these people, despite carefully perusing the pictures of their friends and family, I am certain that we do not know each other. It's simultaneously intriguing and exasperating.

More Than Ever

I have been super obsessed with this idaft Daft Punk soundboard thing for the past 24 hours.

It has even distracted me from my previously obsessive dreams of moving to the Arctic and setting up a muskox ranch.

I feel like I can use it to actually become a Daft Punk bot. This is how I envision it going down:

--I will start talking less and less.

--If you know me, you're probably openly scoffing at the possibility of my talking less, but I think I can do it.

--I will start passing out fresh-baked scones and Reese's Peanut Butter Cups - Crunchy. This will definitely distract from newly quiet me.

--I will start expressing myself through the Daft Punk soundboard, progressively increasing its usage until it is my exclusive means of communication.

--In my head I mostly envision this as having it say "more than ever" a thousand times a day.

--Which is what I will just start doing, at work, at home, etc. Daft Punkness. Hour. After.

Short and Sweet

I know I've been terribly remiss in my blogging habits as of late. I can't quite figure out why, but I've just not had anything to say at length. Hopefully I'll bounce back soon enough, but in the meantime I've resorted to cheating on this blog with my tumblr account.

After over four months of languishing in complete neglect my tumblr page has received a whole lotta love from me this past week. I clicked over there for reasons lost to me now and rediscovered some old links and thoughts that made me laugh. I might start using it as a personal online bookmarking site. The interface is fairly easy to work with and it's a great receptacle for the little random bits of my life that don't fit anywhere else. My favorite old find was this post from last April:

Would Be Killer

A few months ago I dreamt that one of my Flickr contacts (whom I’ve never met in person before) was trying to frame me for murder.

I dreamt that we met up for coffee and pie at a diner and that she committed hit and run manslaughter after we left the restaurant. She took me with her on the run and it was only by accident that a timely combination of overhearing her dastardly plan and catching a few minutes of t.v. news footage showing me as a wanted murderer clued me in to what was going on.

Wrongfully accused, yo. Like the fucking Fugitive.

The dream was so realistic that, every time I see that Flickr contact has uploaded pictures, I’m instantly scared and pissed off in equal measure. 

I should really  maybe try to increase my vitamin intake.

Short and Sweet

I have been home about 10% of this week. Always on the run, my dears. That's how I seem to be rolling this year. If you please, you can follow my small meanderings on Twitter now (I've also put a widget in the sidebar.) Someone challenged me to start using it after I pooh-poohed a bunch of people's twitter feeds. "It's harder than you think to write interesting stuff and be brief." They're right. I am verbose, to say the least, so it's a fun little writing challenge. I predict I will continue to update it for another week or so, at least. Alright, over and out.

Eee!

That pretty little thing sitting with my iMac? That's my new Asus Eee PC! In fact, I'm typing this on the Eee right now.  The keyboard took a few days to get used to but once my fingers acclimated themselves to the smaller configuration I was good to go. I'm kind of in love with it at this point.

I'd had my eye on this micro laptop for months. I wanted something super portable, light and simple to take out to Starbuck's or Border's for nighttime writing sessions. Weighing in at just two pounds, the Eee is about the height and thickness of a typical paperback book and comes ready to connect to any open wifi network, easy as pie. The reviews were impressive and It seemed perfect for me but I held back because I'd never seen one in person.

So you can imagine my utter delight when Chris gave me this pink Eee for Valentine's Day. Jumping up and down and Mr. Burn's finger motions were involved, i think. I've taken my new little baby out and about all week and I couldn't be happier. Keep in mind that the Eee isn't meant to be anyone's primary computer, or even their primary laptop, really. The seven inch screen isn't an ideal viewing area for most applications or websites and the touchpad area could be improved. Luckily I've got an extra Mighty Mouse and I try to use it with the Eee whenever I'm at a tabletop.

For my intents and purposes it's ideal. The Linux system is super easy to work with. The laptop itself is very sturdy. It gets about three hours of battery life.  It fits into my bitchin' Snack Detective Pudding and Jelly lunch case. And get this—it came preloaded with a game called Frozen Bubble which is exactly like Bust a Move. Much style.

I need a new mousepad.

Dear Nelly mousepad that I bought at the 99 cents store from the era in which you always wore the band-aid on your face,

I might have to get rid of you. I'm sorry. I know you still work okay. Sure, your surface is oddly textured and you don't have ergonomics or any other frills. But you do your job.

I just wish you didn't demand pimp juice all the time. And must you keep asking the mouse to take off all its clothes? Dude, the Mighty Mouse doesn't cotton to that.

And for the love of god, please stop telling all my friends and business contacts that you really like "how they fit in them pants"! It's so awkward.

Yours,

b

Modern Life is Rubbish

Some wonky thing happened with my home internet connection last week. We don't quite know what was wrong with it, but it decided to peace out for about 5 or 6 days, for no apparent reason. Just as suddenly it was back again, as if nothing had happened. Actually, it appears much stronger than before. My personal belief is that it went on a cruise to the Bahamas.

The first day I was puzzled and spent a decent amount of time trying to figure things out. But it was late when I discovered the problem, so I left it for the next evening. The second day proved equally fruitless and I quickly grew annoyed. How the hell was I was supposed to keep my Google Reader unread items from spiraling out of control? But on the third day I didn't even turn my computer on, preferring to finish a book I was reading instead. And so it went for the remainder of the time the connection was dead. I got a ton of reading done and it was immensely pleasurable. I went out walking with my ipod more. I continued to avoid doing laundry.

I'll admit that a small part of me is sorry that it's working again. I find myself sick of most of the joys of The Internet and it's good timing. The sun is here again. If things are bit quiet around here for a while, you'll know why. But maybe having some fun in the Real World will give me some more things to share with you here.   

Modern Man

Do you guys read Dethroner? Even though (or maybe because) it's for men, this site delights me. It has brought me sausage recipes, gift ideas and meat cakes. It has made me raise my eyebrows over the minds of men. Most importantly, it has made me laugh.

A recent post, The Time I Wore Leather Pants to the Arcade, reminds me of why I started visiting this site in the first place when it started up last year. This line from it made me especially happy: "I remember the look on her face when I stepped out of my bedroom, something between the shock of wetting oneself and seeing a BMX kid lose his bike at the apex of his jump."

Group graffiti

I've been experimenting the last couple of days with a new web tool call skrbl which is basically an online whiteboard, which is basically awesome. I thought it would be a neat way to keep in touch with my friends.

You don't have to sign up to use it (just to upload files) so anyone could anonymously add to your whiteboard at any time, if they have the session ID. For instance, I might announce my prociivity towards donuts, and everyone and their mama could chime in. Of course, there's password and privacy options for those naughty, clandestine whiteboard sessions, too.

Right now, the user interface leaves a bit to be desired. The home page is a tad messy and the tools are super wonky in Firefox on my Powerbook (I can't erase lines). Even using IE 7, editing the tags was kind of irritating, and my friends seem to be having problems updating it, which kind of defeats the whole original purpose for it. But I love the collaborative and random nature of it. This is such a fun idea and I really hope they continue to improve on it. All that's missing is the smell of Sharpies.

Message in a Bunny

This is one of the presents Chris got me for Jesus' b-day, my Nabaztag (warning: this page loads the most annoying vocals which include the phrase, "toot, toot, express kiss delivery!)

What is a nabaztag? It's the first smart rabbit. What does that mean? It's a little hard to explain. After I stopped cooing over how cute he was I kept asking, "What is it? What does it do? Can you buy clothes for him? And what is it?"

Nabaztags link up to your wi-fi connection and they are basically communications tools. You use the nabaztag site to send messages to rabbit owners: ear movements, colored light flashes, mp3 clips, actual speech messages, etc. If you link 2 bunnies together, moving the ears on one will automatically move the ones on another. My nabaztag does tai-chi, tells me its moods (sometimes he even sneezes--so cute!!) and gives me the weather forecast. As the Nabaztag server gets back on its feet, he'll be giving me RSS feeds, teaching me French phrases and sending me music podcasts, too. Also he'll hopefully be correcting some of his current activities (on Sunday he proclaimed the temperature to be 70 degrees Celsius-yikes!!).

What an awesome, fun and engaging product. My only trouble with him is picking a good name for him! Archer? Giacomo? Burrito? We shalll see, The Internet. We shall see.

Music at home.

Home
Originally uploaded by sevenworlds16.

I've been really wanting one of these iHomes and Judy and Tommy surprised me with one for my birthday!

For the size of it, the speakers sound great, and I love the mini remote control. I can fall asleep and wake up to anything that I want. I'm gonna have to play around with this. Seems like all of my playlists are mellow and when I wake up to them it just makes me want to laze around in bed longer :P I think I'll have to rig it up to play "In Da Club" tomorrow morning.

iPod Nano

The iPod Nano: A Haiku Tribute

Teeny lil' ipod.
That still holds 1,000 songs.
Why don't I have one?

Read All About It

magazine cover
Originally uploaded by sevenworlds16.

A couple of the metasites recently have featured this fun little Flickr magazine cover-making tool cooked up by John Watson at flagrantdisregard.com.  I used the picture of my heart's dearest sea urchin risotto to make a nice-looking blog summary. It's Movies of Myself in imagined written form.

This mouse would further confound my non Mac-using friends. Which is still kinda funny.

I've been looking for a good mouse for a while, and I think the new Apple Mighty Mouse is it. I cannot resist a good scroll wheel/button on a mouse, and the way the design incorporates the scroll button, two customizable side buttons and touch-sensitive left and right click areas into a small, sleek package--baby, I'm yours.

Plus the name Mighty Mouse is irresisitible. Apple just keeps doing it for me, and this is the product that just might get me to upgrade to the Tiger OS.

At least this thing doesn't have sound.

This has been circling around lately. I've seen it on a number of sites, but only went and checked it out now. It's one of the weirdest things I've ever seen: you basically fling a girl around down an endless path of silvery white orbs. Super, super weird.

What it sounds like when I'm in tha house.

Jason Kottke was talking about a website called HTTP in tha house the other day. It's a site that takes the source code from any URL you type in and, in a few magical seconds with the help of a rhyming dictionary, transforms it into an abstract rap lyric. It's awesome. Here are my two favorite results from my turn with it:

HTTP in tha House

lyrics by: http://www.moviesofmyself.com

all the
spring chicken
now that i bought
aah you scot
com images
god was is
typelist thumbnail a href
emphasize enough ref

dollars for that when
com typepad yin
http images amazon
href http moviesofmyself typepad com den
although i am
i went to a clam
see in my sidebar
i have bar

WWW DOT MOVIESOFMYSELF DOT COM IN THA HOUSE
WWW DOT MOVIESOFMYSELF DOT COM IN THA HOUSE
WWW DOT MOVIESOFMYSELF DOT COM IN THA HOUSE
WWW DOT MOVIESOFMYSELF DOT COM

        and

p b
the rocker tee
bound to be some
height scrollbars no resizable no dumb
was tolerable but just barely
a pretty face freaky
i ve already
moviesofmyself typepad com steady

a br script
a faint encrypt
open this
banner Heathen hiss
lowers me about fourteen
hundred dollars preteen
wouldnt try to
tables the fresh honey couple babu

WWW DOT MOVIESOFMYSELF DOT COM IN THA HOUSE
WWW DOT MOVIESOFMYSELF DOT COM IN THA HOUSE
WWW DOT MOVIESOFMYSELF DOT COM IN THA HOUSE
WWW DOT MOVIESOFMYSELF DOT COM

I had writer's blog.

Oh, I've been such a bad blogger. I know I haven't updated in like a week, which in Beckie years equals about 3 years because I'm constantly blabbing about something, and going a day without posting has been unusual.

I'll blame it on my move, which sucked the life force out of me for a couple of weeks there because I'm so OCD, and also on the new job. Not that the new job has been bad (anything but, actually) but I talk to people all day long in a Hallmark voice and an "I totally sympathize and care about you, a complete stranger, in every possible way" manner. It's taken me a little bit of time to rev up my communication levels so that I may both b.s. during the day and blog at night. I am now ready to write again. And also ready to persuade people to join a cult, but that's another story.

I guess I'm basically writing a frivolous post about how I'm going to post more posts. It's good to be back.

I only miss the gay German porn a little.

Sweeties, if you haven't done so already, go ahead and make the switch to Firefox. This alternative to the gates of hell Internet Explorer is really floating my boat right now.

And hey, I know I'm not exatly the first rider on this bus. This browser has been out for a little while now. But let me tell you, I'm totally on board. You had me at "Firefox Start." Like the Joan Cusack in Sixteen Candles of Firefox, I'm sitting dead center with my headgear and my hood on, darting sideways glances at Molly Ringwald.

Firefox uses tabs, not new windows, so that everything is all neat and accessible right up top. This just makes sense. And you can go to one of your bookmark categories and ask to have all the links opened in one browser window with different tabs. Why doesn't my closet work like this??

Firefox has also been very quick, extremely reliable, practical (it has a teensy built in google search box) and safe. As in not a single gay German porn pop-up ad. As in no mysterious new icons appearing on my desktop. As in half of my browser view is not taken up with shady toolbars that I did NOT install myself. And don't be afraid to let go of the past. You can import all your IE favorites into Firefox.

And have I mentioned that it's called FIREFOX? This is the uber-awesome combination of 2 radical things. I love fire and I love foxes. I also love their logo, a flaming fox about to devour the planet Earth. The name is also puzzling and non-utilitarian. If I just said "firefox" you'd be like, "Is it a gun?" "Is it a snowboarding company?" "Is it a sportscar from the 1980's; a competitor for the Delorean, perhaps?"

Yes, yes it is.

It's a 12" Powerbook and I met him at the Apple store in Pasadena. God, I'm so sorry.

Dear Compaq Presario,

I'm really sorry things had to go down this way. Does it help at all if I tell you that you've been sweet and cool and beautiful and devoted and that I still love you and I always will, I'm just not in love with you anymore? I didn't want this to happen. See, it's not you, it's me.

Who are we trying to kid here. It's totally you. Sure, things were just dandy when I brought you home from the Pasadena Best Buy like, five years ago. You were a lean mean 0's and 1's crunching machine then. We were hot together, I'm not denying it. Although I can't be actually proud of the many hours we spent together, climbing higher and higher in the ranks of Bust-A-Move champions, I'm grateful for them. You taught me Visual Basic and how to draw lollipops and cupcakes using Publisher. I won't soon forget that. And the dozens and dozens of seasonal music mixes I've burned in your CDR drive? Those alone make you a legend of computer greatness. 

But lately...things just haven't been the same. I know you've been sick. If I had two wacked out versions of Windows XP running through my system I'd probably be performing WAY worse than you are. It's not your fault. Audrey was nutso--having you shoulder the burdens of Zoo Tycoon, the Sims and ten other of her crazy games? Who needs that much junk in their trunk? I'll shoulder my share, too. You don't like when Music Match Jukebox and iTunes run simultaneously. And you let me know it. I respect that.

But you've changed. Sometimes when I'm typing on the wireless keyboard I spoiled you with I have to remind myself that, deep down inside, hidden away in the recesses of your hard drive, are hundreds of my favorite mp3s. Your innermost heart is still the same! Then I realize that I don't give a ratfuck because I haven't been able to access the files since you decided to go completely bazonkers a year ago. Now everything's slow as frozen molasses and internet explorer is all jacked to hell and I keep getting messages that I have very little available memory. Oh really? Do you think that might have anything to do with the fact that I have the 2 stupid copies of Windows XP on one computer? Do you?? Because, let me tell you, that's shitty. That's like one person having 2 brains - one severely damaged by a stroke and one that needs an SSRI to function (you think I'd be able to sympathize more!) And I have a sinking feeling that you broke my new printer somehow. You know, we might have our issues but when you start to let it affect the peripherals I have to put my foot down.

Fine, I'll admit it. I have found someone new. But, hey. We can still be friends, right?

Take care,

Beckie

Nice catch, blanco niño

I finally got around to watching the Eric Fensler dubbed version of the old G.I. Joe PSAs and they are for real. Collect them all, cause knowing is half the battle.

Who wants a body massage?