Booyor's BLOGgh!

“Do not underestimate the power of the optometrist.”
Thaks, Futile Ohm, for pointing out today’s woot.

Usually when my dog barks, it’s for a very good reason. Like, oh, kids starting fires in the alley…hypothetically speaking. So when Indiana was standing next to the screen door looking up and barking, I came to the most logical conclusion.
The aliens from Signs had jumped on my roof.
Then I heard the hot air balloon ignite some fire to rise up. I appreciated this, since I wasn’t ready to host an airship crew, no matter how close they flew to my home.

Other odd highlights from today:
Two unrelated people spoke the same line from my life’s script. “You’re a librarian? That works. You can reach the highest shelf.” The first person had initially said that I was too tall to be a librarian until the shelf epiphany hit. The latter person (I’m the ladder person, I guess) was at the Apple store.

“You need a new power cord for your MacBook? Let me get the…nevermind.” I pulled the box down. I had to stand a little on my tiptoes – a truly tall display.

Did you see talkinturkey’s exciting MacBook news? Very exciting, to say the least. I should have had the Apple Geniuses/Geniusi etch a giant lumberjack on my MacBook.

And Mike, you will be proud. A conversation teaching my youngest to use the word “rear end” instead of what she was saying devolved into the four of us singing Mr. Roboto in the kitchen.

Nintendo had a big press conference today. Here are some exciting dates:

March 8 – Free Monster Hunter demo disc at GameStop
May 23 – Super Mario Galaxy 2
June 27 – Metroid: Other M

On June 14 the DS will have a “game” called 100 Classic Books that will let you read public domain classic books. The $19 price tag is cheap when compared to other DS games but expensive when compared to Kindle-ish apps for phones. A plus, though, is the ability to download new content via the Nintendo WFC. I’m intrigued to see how this plays out. I know that people bought a PSP just to watch movies. Will people prefer this over an iPod Touch?

Plushenko has shared in Shaq’s affinity for alternate realities. If you were like me, you argued in elementary school about which ribbon was better, red or blue. Both have their merits, but one signifies the true winner.

Plushenko has created the platinum Olympic medal, solidifying his place in history as The Scary Russian Guy That You Have To Beat in a Sports Movie. Ivan Drago, we salute you.

Today I stayed home from work due to a scratched right eye. Today consisted of laying in bed while watching Hulu Simpsons. Did you know that Star Trek Generations is on there now? In the darkened milieu of my Hibernation Chamber, I pondered what it would look like to have a throw-down between Avatar acolytes (I think ‘fan/fanatic’ is putting it lightly) and Macross mavens. Giant transforming robots, no matter how capitalistic, are still cool.

Another fun mash-up from today: Buzz Lightyear as a River/Dollhouse character from Joss Whedon. He has memory loss; his altered perceptions cause him to blank out and shoot lasers at people. I believe that he is the prototype for a Firefly character.

Do you remember these clips from Sesame Street? Did that cake guy always trip? Is the cake guy Jim Henson?

Watching Sesame Street today on non-Hulu it was the habitat/40th anniversary episode. That was playing the last time I stayed home sick.

Saturday, to de-compress from our coordinating/catering, we watched the G.I. Joe movie (not the cartoon movie with Nemesis Enforcer…that would have been more realistic). Yes, I understand that the Bloggh should have certain standards and now I have learned my lesson.

Here’s the set-up: Cobra creates genetically-engineered fearless soldiers. So, if they’re so fearless, why do they scream in panic when they fall down a conveniently-placed shaft and/or have a grenade shoved under their collars? Next time, can I get hired to read over the script? $10 for a quick run-through. Was it supposed to be gritty or cheesy? The language says gritty. The impalements say gritty.

Seriously: next time you watch the film, keep a tally of how many people get impaled in the movie. Double the score for each time the spike is revealed stabbing through another device, like a datapad/pillar/Hummer.

I don’t care what anyone tells you, take it from me: Marlon Wayans is cheesy in the film. Plain and simple.

I was okay with one thing they changed about the franchise, though. I like that Zartan can switch faces. The action figure just turned a sickly blue in the sun. But replacing the president as a shapeshifter? X2 did that well with Senator Kelly. Heroes copied that. G.I. Joe copied that. Through the Xerox effect, the initial luster has dulled and the copy has become muddled and inky.

I also broke down and got Tomena Sennar for my brother’s bachelor party. Yes, it is as psycho as advertised. It was a great way to keep the guys’ attention while we waited for Mike to bail us out with Rock Band 2. With the left-over WiiPoints, I sent Mega Man 3 to myself. I hadn’t played that game for 15-20+ years. I beat Tomena Sennar before I went to bed on Friday night.

Let’s just say video games have been dumbed down over the years. My wife laughs at me losing horribly to a game I could beat as an elementary school kid.

And yes, Chaarli, today’s wootshirt is very librarian-esque:

I’m helping the students research World War II and the Holocaust (as well as some of my own research for the new sermon series on Esther) and I always drift to modern day holocausts. Imagine my students’ surprise when I hung up modern day war criminal wanted posters around my classroom from Interpol. Sadly, more war criminals have been added, but as librarian I have a wider audience than my classroom.

Permit me to rant to my even wider audience about access of information. Why does the status of Jon and Kate’s relationship (you know, the 8 Kate) still rank higher for the news than the capture of the Taliban’s second-in-command?

Also, have you ever taken the time to read the crazy stuff coming out of Ahmadinejad’s mouth? Having hung out with snowboarders at NAU (and by “hanging out” I mean “documenting misdemeanors for Residence Life” – Mike has an even better tale), the comments from Shaun White’s coach don’t surprise me. If NBC has been covering snowboarding for longer than a week, they should know to what degree the trick should be stomped and what adverbs get attached to said stomping. Do people not give Ahmadinejad press time or do we just not care? We care more about a coach’s naughty words, not “I will wipe the entire people group out”.

Hopefully some junior highers will leave school this year with a wider worldview.

While practicing at the local park for the staff basketball game, a teenager skateboarded up to me and asked if he could “bum a smoke”.

Did he not see my staff shirt? Maybe he didn’t think things through.

1. You may sing “It’s the Year of the Tiger/It’s the thrill of the fight” and pose with fists raised at the top of the steps of any government building for the next year.

2. You may argue that curling is a real sport. I, for one, understand its intricacies.

3. You may go to freedom.fcov.org/podcast and see if you recognize any voices.