Random Notebook

Because a writer is nothing without a good notebook...



I'll be getting this little guy in a few short weeks.

(from HP)
HP Pavilion dm1z
Power for the road
This series is ready to make you productive on the go. You'll get:
-A dual-core AMD Fusion processor E350*** for fast Web surfing and smooth HD video
-Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium
-Fast, easy, trusted Web browsing with Windows Internet Explorer
-AMD Radeon HD 6310 discrete-class graphics and support for DX11
-Our CoolSense technology, which adjusts the temperature when the PC is not on a stationary surface
-An 11.6" diagonal high-definition§§ (720p) display
-2GB DDR3 system memory (upgradeable to 8GB)
-A 250GB§ hard drive (upgradeable to 750GB) or a 128GB Solid State drive for lighter weight and better battery life
-A full-size island-style keyboard
-An optional external CD/DVD drive for installing software or Blu-ray drive for watching HD movies
-Support for 1080p HD content playback
-Dolby advanced audio and Altec Lansing speakers for premium sound
-A 6-cell battery that keeps you running for up to 9.5 hours2
-5 free HP games, already loaded on your PC
-ENERGY STAR® qualification

READ MORE

Random Born Wild

I'm such a sucker for these cheesy animal movies...



I'm too much of a wimp to see them in theaters, but I'm all about the NatGeoHD viewing

Official website!

Random Trash Talking

It started for me last November, but this is about right...



and no, we don't consider Philadelphia to be a legitimate sports town!

(from Wiki)
The New Era Cap Company (or just New Era),located in Buffalo, New York, is a headwear manufacturer. It was founded in 1920 by German immigrant Ehrhardt Koch. New Era is the exclusive manufacturer and marketer of the official on-field cap worn by every Major League Baseball team and their minor league affiliates, as well as select teams in the KBO and NPB, and maintains agreements with other licensed entities including NHL, NBA and over 200 colleges and universities in the United States. New Era will also become the official on-field cap provider for the National Football League in April 2012. READ MORE

Random Action Audition

Classic videos never get old...



Keep an eye out for the AfroNinja! My all-time favorite internet clip.

Afro Ninja Interview - watch more funny videos

Random Television Madness

Looks like the NCAA's gamble is paying off...



by showing all of the games on 4 different networks they've grabbed their best ratings in decades.

(from Deadline)
NCAA Basketball Scores Best Combined Overnight Rating In 20 Years
With NCAA men's basketball coverage expanding to four networks this year, CBS’ and Turner’s second-round coverage of the 2011 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship on TBS, CBS, TNT and truTV last night combined to deliver the highest rating for the first Thursday of the NCAA Tournament since 1991. Switching to all-live coverage on TBS, CBS, TNT and truTV in four windows, the games drew a combined 5.7/13 overnight household rating, up 24% from the 4.6/11 for CBS Sports’ 2010 coverage, in which the network switched back and forth between games. READ MORE

Spotted @ Newzjunky

Random Swivel Heads

After looking at that pic of Ferris Bueller (see below), I wanted to see that scene...



and then realized it's really all about the song. Good work John Hughes (or whoever has the awesome job of assigning music to certain sequences of a film... aka my dream job)

(from Wiki)
The Beat (known in North America as The English Beat) are a 2 Tone ska revival band founded in England in 1978. Their songs fuse ska, pop, soul, reggae and punk rock, and their lyrics deal with themes of love, unity and sociopolitical topics. The Beat released three albums: I Just Can't Stop It (1980), Wha'ppen? (1981) and Special Beat Service (1982), and a string of singles, including "Mirror in the Bathroom", "Too Nice To Talk To", "Can't Get Used To Losing You", "Hands off She's Mine" and "All Out To Get You" READ MORE or HEAR THE ORIGINAL 'ROTATING HEADS'

Random Teddy Ballgame

Ted Williams (Baseball Great) + Ted Williams (Homeless Radio Voice Guy)...



= Teddy Ballgame (My 2011 Fantasy Baseball team)

(from Wiki)
Fantasy baseball is a game where participants manage a roster of Major League baseball players. The participants compete against one another using those players' statistics to score points. It is the oldest form of fantasy sports[citation needed], and the most commonly played fantasy sport; and is arguably one of the most difficult and time-intensive due to the 162-game season of the MLB and the inconsistency of player. READ MORE

Random XX Intro

I heard this song during an episode of Hard Knocks (or 24/7)...



It's probably the perfect badass, slow motion walking music. Hit play and picture this:

Badass car driving through dark city streets, close up of badass rims spinning, door opens to reveal a crew of badasses, crew of badasses slowly exit the car wearing badass suits and begin to walk into the night... like badasses

car explodes... badassley

and scene

bad ass!

Random CheBama

If I didn't have a job, I would make crazy politically themed t-shirts...

Viva La Revolucion!

Win The Future

Random Homeless Champion

I've been playing these things for years and never win anything...



maybe easy access to a computer is to blame.

(from SalemNews)
Salem man is on top of the fantasy football world
There are memorable fantasy football seasons, and then there's the season Nathan Harrington had. Harrington, a Salem native, bested 3.1 million competitors to finish No. 1 among prize-eligible fantasy football leagues this season on ESPN.com. He did it all despite a crippling car accident, despite having no permanent residence and no computer. It's a feat not even the most ardent fantasy owners would dare to dream possible, and it has him on the verge of finding a new home. "It was a ton of bad luck and good luck all rolled into one," Harrington said yesterday. The bad luck began in the fall of 2009 when a car accident left Harrington with nerve damage and unable to work. It got worse in October of last year when Harrington, his fiancee and his 3-year-old son were forced to move out of their Beverly apartment because the building was so infested with rats it was unlivable. The family was forced to move into a cheap motel; Harrington's computer went into a storage unit. READ MORE

Random Girl Scout Cookies

These damn Girl Scouts have quite the racket going on here...



A co-worker brought in his daughters product and within six minutes everybody had their hands on some of the goods. Cocaine never had it this good!

(from Wiki)
Girl Scout cookies are any of several varieties of cookies sold by Girl Scouts of the USA (GSUSA) as one of its major fundraisers for their local Scout units. Members of the GSUSA have been selling cookies since 1917 to raise funds. Top-selling girls can earn prizes for their efforts. There are also unit incentives if the unit as a whole does well. As of 2007, sales were estimated at about 200 million boxes per year.

The best selling Girl Scout cookies are:
Thin Mints (25% of total sales)
Samoas (Caramel deLites)(19% of total sales)
Tagalongs (Peanut Butter Patties) (13%)
Do-si-dos (Peanut Butter Sandwiches) (11%)
Trefoils (Shortbread) (9%)
The other varieties combined account for the remaining 23%.

READ MORE

Random QWOP

This game is ruining my work life...



The physics of the human body should not be this difficult to master.

Play QWOP HERE... and it you can run past 10.4 Meters, I salute you and you're probably some kind of video game demi-god

>>>UPDATE! I cleared 49.9 Meters... BEAT THAT!

Thanks To R. Southwick for the link!

Random Keys Everywhere

I'm happy they're getting the attention...



I just hope we don't become over saturated in the wake of the Black Keys recent commercial success...

(from Billboard)
Behind the Black Keys' Breakthrough Year, Grammy Nominations
OOn "The Go Getter," a cut from the Black Keys' "Brothers" album released last May, frontman Dan Auerbach sings, "I'll be the go getter/That's my plan/That's who I am." They may not have been explicitly autobiographical at first, but Auberbach's words foreshadowed the winning streak that he and his sole bandmate, Patrick Carney, have since come to enjoy. In 2010, the Black Keys were among the leading alt-rockers (including Arcade Fire, Vampire Weekend and the National) garnering mainstream winks and recognition from the Recording Academy for their most recent work. The Akron, Ohio duo's throwback brand of blues-rock earned four 2011 Grammy nominations, including best alternative music album for "Brothers" and best rock song for its lead single, "Tighten Up," while Carney's brother Michael -- who has created the band's visuals since the beginning of its career -- picked up a nod for best art direction on "Brothers." READ MORE

Random Photoshop Skills

Photoshop is a great time waster...



Even better if you're doing it for work purposes. (regardless of how much I despise the Eagles)

Yes... I'm a beast!

Random Moon Viewing

Space nerd strikes again...



I'm a little too pumped to stay up till 1:45am tonight to watch the eclipse.

(from MontrealGazette)
Solstice-eclipse overlap first in 456 years
This year's winter solstice — an event that will occur next Tuesday — will coincide with a full lunar eclipse in a union that hasn't been seen in 456 years. The celestial eccentricity holds special significance for spiritualities that tap into the energy of the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year and a time that is associated with the rebirth of the sun. "It's a ritual of transformation from darkness into light," says Nicole Cooper, a high priestess at Toronto's Wiccan Church of Canada. "It's the idea that when things seem really bleak, (it) is often our biggest opportunity for personal transformation. "The idea that the sun and the moon are almost at their darkest at this point in time really only further goes to hammer that home." Cooper said Wiccans also see great significance in the unique coupling of the masculine energy of the sun and the feminine energy of the moon — transformative energies that she plans to incorporate into the church's winter-solstice rituals. READ MORE

Spotted @ Drudge

Random Google Phone

No interest in the phone, but the commercial is awesome...



(from Wiki)
The Nexus S is a smartphone designed by Google and manufactured by Samsung. It was announced by Google-CEO Eric Schmidt on November 15, 2010 at the Web 2.0 Summit and will be using Android 2.3 "Gingerbread". The phone will be available for purchase after December 16th in the US, and December 20th in the UK. It will be the first Android device which will support NFC in both hardware and software. In the US, the Nexus S unlocked is available in Best Buy stores and with a 2 year contract through T-Mobile. In the UK, the Nexus S will be exclusively available through a subsidiary of Best Buy, The Carphone Warehouse. The Carphone Warehouse are making pre-orders available on four UK carriers, T-Mobile UK, Vodafone, O2 and Orange. MORE

Random Yankee Lee

Let the courtship begin...



(from NYYankees)
Yankees reportedly reach out to Lee's agent
The Yankees haven't wasted any time touching base with the top free agent in their sights. On the first day of open negotiations for players who became free agents at the conclusion of the World Series, New York officials placed a call to the agent for left-hander Cliff Lee. According to the report by The Associated Press, the Yankees contacted agent Darek Braunecker simply to let him know they will get back to him shortly with an offer for the top starting pitcher on the open market. Lee is generally perceived as the Yankees' top priority among the 166 free agents, after the 32-year-old veteran had gone 12-9 with a 3.18 ERA in a season he split between the Mariners and the American League champion Rangers. READ MORE

**I'm gonna pat myself on the back for that Photoshop work**

Random FarmVille Death

FarmVille doesn't kill people...



Meth-addicted Florida mothers playing FarmVille do.

(from NYDailyNews)
Florida mom Alexandra Tobias pleads guilty to murdering baby for crying during her FarmVille game
A Florida woman admitted shaking her 3-month-old baby to death after the little boy's crying distracted her from playing a wildly popular Facebook game. Alexandra Tobias, 22, told cops she was playing FarmVille and her baby, Dylan Lee Edmondson, wouldn't stop crying. According to the Florida Times-Union, she confessed to shaking the baby, smoking a cigarette to calm down and then shaking the baby again. The baby may have hit his head during the January incident. Tobias pleaded guilty on Wednesday. The young mom called paramedics after he stopped breathing. He was taken to a hospital with head injuries and a broken leg, The Times-Union reported. Doctors said the infant died from "abusive head trauma." READ MORE

Random Cawabunga Carl Van

When I was 12, this was my dream car...



Then I grew up a little and now I want an Infiniti m45... But, the TMNT van is still pretty cool

(from Jalopnik)
How A Co-Ed Built The Van From Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
There are custom vans, there are cartoon cars, and then there's 23-year-old Brittney Schneck's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles van, a '94 Dodge Caravan obsessively reworked into a life-size piece of turtle power realistic enough to call out Shredder. Schneck, 23, says she started working on the van last July, paying for it from a part-time cashier job and working in her father's auto-detailing business while also going to college. "The Turtles played a huge role in my childhood," Schneck said. "Growing up with all my male cousins, playing Ninja Turtles while my Uncle Harry (Uncle Shredder) chased us around doing an exact voice of The Shredder. He used to drive us all around in his Caravan, and when I see one, I just think of the Turtles and all the memories." READ MORE

Thanks to Ted Hef for the link!

Random Droid Showdown

So, no longer will I get be getting a Droid phone...



Instead, the question is which of these Droid phones will I be getting?

(from LANewsMonitor)
Motorola Droid Pro Vs Droid X, Droid 2, Droid Incredible: The Droid Showdown
Motorola Droid Pro Vs Droid X, Droid 2, Droid Incredible: The line of products (mobile handsets in particular) that are gracing the network of Verizon Wireless has just been appended with one more jewel. The set of Droid phones that were already available on their network was easily top notch, and now they have just got another new droid – the Droid Pro. This new smartphone was introduced by its makers, Motorola, in an event conducted earlier this week. Besides being a new Droid from Motorola, it also fills in the segment of the business phones. It is particularly comparable to the Torch from BlackBerry, and all the more so given that it features a QWERTY keypad although it doesn’t slide out from under. The phone comes in to try and conquer a market that they have not conquered as yet. It is precisely to compete with the other business phones that are available in the market. And in particular, their main competition is with the BlackBerry Torch. They would expect a chunk of enterprise users to look to buy it given that it provides professional mask as well as smart android features. READ MORE

Decisions Decisions... I'm such a loser