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Ultimate Power
2If someone in the Harry potter universe combined Muggle technology with magic they would become unstoppable. Really they should first learn to apply the scientific method to magic and do some research and development. The “Dark Lord” is very short-sighted when it comes to Muggle tech. If Harry Potter (or anyone else) owned a gun like a shotgun or Desert Eagle, then Voldemort’s dark reign would be short lived.
They also need to teach more (any) math, at least to Calculus (Maybe to Differential Equations). 🙂
The Real Twilight
0Here is a hilarious video made by G4’s Kevin Pereira and Olivia Munn for Alamo Drafthouse’s Fantastic Fest. I saw the video before watching Ninja Assassin as part of Alamo’s Quiet Zone. I couldn’t help laughing out loud. I don’t really like the vampires in the Twilight movies. I guess I like classical vampires that burn up when in the Sun.
Happy Thanksgiving!! (a week late)
0This Thanksgiving I went to Big Bend National Park in West Texas with my family, friends, and some of my brother’s friends. We left on Wednesday, November 25, 2009 and came back on Saturday, November 28, 2009. With the new speed limit of 80 mph on I-10 (which is awesome and should be 90), the trip only took 7 hours.
Thursday, our first full day, we hiked The Lost Mine trail (4.8 miles round trip). The legend is that the Spanish found a large silver mine and enslaved the local native Americans. The native Americans eventually rebelled and buried the mine so there wouldn’t be a reason to exploit them again. Unfortunately we didn’t rediscover the mine (wink wink).
Friday we hiked the South Rim Trail and Emory Peak (14 miles round trip). Emory Peak is the second highest peak in Texas at 2,375.92 m (Guadalupe Peak is highest at 2,656.94 m). It was foggy most of the day but cleared up by the time we got to the top of Emory Peak. What a lung buster as well as a spectacular 360 degree view!
Saturday it warmed up and since we were all sore from hiking, we decided to go to the Hot Springs next to the Rio Grande River. It was actually a little too hot for the springs so we just dipped our feet in the river. Some of the other visitors swam over to Mexico.
After the Hot Springs we headed back home. I thank Jonathan and Jessica for driving on the way back.
1997… Best Year Ever?
2Last night I went to the Alamo Drafthouse 1997 Sing-Along with several friends (Check out David Wogan’s 1997 post). For the those who haven’t been to an Alamo sing-along it is akin to group themed karaoke with dancing at your seat or on stage. They pick their favorite music videos and subtitle them. This sing-along was especially great because I was in 7th and 8th grade in 1997 and most of the songs remind me of the awkward school dances. I even saw a friend from middle school. It is amazing how many great songs came out that year and that our parents let us listen to them. Alamo is going to have a 1999 sing-along this coming spring. We shall see if 1999 can beat 1997 at having better (more nostalgic) songs. I doubt it!
Alamo Drafthouse is one of the many things that makes Austin great. Some of their other special events include quote-alongs, themed dinners, rouge caroling, master pancake theater (like mystery science theater 3000), heckle vision (text in heckles to bad movies that they show on screen), and Foleyvision (taking old films and creating live dubbing, sound effects, and music instead of the original audio).
Here are the songs that they included in the sing-along in no particular order (I probably forgot a couple):
Bittersweet Symphony – The Verve
Crash Into Me – Dave Matthews Band
Quit Playing Games (with My Heart) – Backstreet Boys
You Make Me Wanna – Usher
I’ll Be Missing You – Puff Daddy & Faith Evans
Wannabe – Spice Girls
MMMBop – Hanson
The Impression I Get – Mighty Mighty Bosstones
Barely Breathing – Duncan Shiek
Karma Police – Radiohead
I Love You Always Forever – Donna Lewis*
Criminal – Fiona Apple
One Headlight – Wallflowers
I Believe I Can Fly – R Kelly
My Heart Will Go On – Celine Dion
Torn – Natalie Imbruglia
Walking on the Sun – Smash Mouth
The Freshmen – The Verve Pipe*
Semi-charmed Life – Third Eye Blind
What I Got – Sublime
Mo’ Money Mo’ Problems – The Notorious B.I.G., Ma$e, and Puff DaddyEverlong
Song 2 – Blur
Don’t Speak – No Doubt
Push – Matchbox 20
Tubthumping – Chumbawamba
Mega Case of Road Rage
1I just saw a guy intentionally run another car off the road to the shoulder of the ramp to the upper deck of IH-35 going north. He looked really pissed when he got out.
I wonder if either of these news articles is related to what I saw.
http://www.myfoxaustin.com/dpp/news/local/110909-Crash-Leads-to-Death-Threats-Car-Chase
http://www.myfoxaustin.com/dpp/news/local/110909-Car-Accident-Leads-to-Stabbing-on-Hwy
Oxi Clean
0Just saw a commercial for Oxi Clean with their new spokeswoman. Sadly she isn’t as memorable as Billy Mays though she does sound similar. Even though I never bought any of the products, his commercials are kinda nostalgic. Out of the 34 products he advertised, I especially liked the putty adhesive, Mighty Putty.
Another great invention is the iTie (www.theitie.com). It is a tie with a pocket that attaches to your shirt buttons so it never is out of place. This invention gives me hope for all the wild ideas i have ever had.
Wikipedia Page that lists the products he pitched
An interesting concept for a cafe
2I recently read an interesting article by Cabel Maxfield Sasser (http://www.cabel.name/2009/09/kashiwa-mystery-cafe.html) about a cafe in Japan. The idea behind the cafe is you order for the next person and you receive what the person before you bought so you get a surprise for your meal/snack.
I like the idea and would like to try it out but I would be worried about going there regularly because I am a very picky eater. It would help if they served a lot of food that I liked. One thing that would suck would be to find something that they served that you really like and not be able to order it and know you were going to get it.
Batman vs Predator with Joker and Aliens thrown in
0There are apparently many short films on youtube made by fans where they pit heroes and villains from different stories against each other. A lot of them are cuts from various movies stitched into an order to make up a plot or trailer. This video actually has them fighting which is AWESOME.
I assume that a predator would win in most situations especially if he is the one to initiate combat since he would blast Batman with his gun. The predator is also much more bad ass than Batman. Maybe if Batman had some prep time he could over come a predator but of course the rest of them would come and destroy him.
Who would want to assasinate me?
2Here is an email I received awhile back that I thought was pretty funny.
“From: Sayid Malik [maliksayid@yahoo.com]
Sent: Friday, June 26, 2009 7:59 AM
To: yindynasty@mail.utexas.edu
Subject: ABOUT YOUR LIFE ….. TREAT URGENT
LISTEN VERY CAREFUL, THIS IS THE ONLY WAY I CAN CONTACT YOU, MY TEAM HAS BEEN
PAID TO ASSASINATE YOU, AND I HAVE EVERY REASON TO CARRY OUT THE CONTRACT,BUT
I DECIDED TO GIVE YOU A CHANCE AND SAVE YOUR FAMILY THIS PAIN,THIS YOUR
ALTERNATIVE,I WISH TO HELP YOU UNLESS YOU DONT WANT TO HELP YOUR SELF,I WILL
SEND YOU ENOUGH EVIDENCE YOU NEED ON A VIDEO TAPE RECORD TO NAIL MY EMPLOYER
DOWN WITH THE LAW.
BEFORE THAT YOU ARE REQUIRED TO MAKE AVAILABLE THE SUM OF $70,000. USD, AFTER
WHICH I WILL DIRECT YOU ON WHAT TO DO NEXT TO SAVE YOUR SELF AND YOUR FAMILY
FROM THIS PAIN THAT WOULD HAVE BEFALLED YOU FROM MY EMPLOYER, THE MONEY WILL
BE USED TO SETTLE THE TEAM MEN INVOLVED TO GO BACK TO THERE DESTINATIONS AND
YOU BETTER KEEP THIS INFORMATION TO YOUR SELF BECAUSE YOU DONT KNOW WHO IS WHO
WHERE YOU ARE NOW, IF HE FINDS OUT I HAVE BETRAYED HIM TRYING TO HELP YOU, YOU
WILL HAVE YOUR SELF TO BLAME, I HAVE ORDERED MY MEN TO SATY AWAY FROM YOU.
DO WE HAVE A DEAL OR NOT?
NOTE: YOU HAVE TWO OPTIONS HERE, (1) YOU HAVE TO GET HIM ARRESTED WITH THE
INFORMATION I WILL GIVE YOU AFTER THE PAYMENT OR (2) YOU HAVE HIM KILLED TO
SAVE YOUR SELF.
I WILL VISIT YOUR HOUSE AGAIN BUT NOT NOW, MY BOYS EYES ARE ON YOU.
GET BACK TO ME AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.”