Year: 2005

Boing Boing recently pointed out a music video created by Jonathan Coulton. Mr. Coulton went to Flickr and found a bunch of images with Creative Common licenses. He then created a touching music video based on those images. This is the sort of thing that could not have been done without Creative Commons as Mr. Coulton would have have been tied up for weeks & weeks searching for the copyright owners of the images to get each of their permission to use the images in his project.

Mr. Coulton also has a selection of his other songs (also CC licensed) on his website which are worth downloading.

Just a quick meme idea that occured to me. Below I’ve listed the top 100 movies (according to IMDB.com’s all-time worldwide box office results). Copy the list to your blog and bold each of the movies you’ve seen.

All-Time Worldwide Box Office

  1. Titanic (1997)
  2. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
  3. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001)
  4. Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999) But I wish I hadn’t
  5. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
  6. Jurassic Park (1993)
  7. Shrek 2 (2004)
  8. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)
  9. Finding Nemo (2003)
  10. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
  11. Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (2005) But I wish I hadn’t
  12. Independence Day (1996)
  13. Spider-Man (2002)
  14. Star Wars (1977)
  15. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
  16. Spider-Man 2 (2004)
  17. The Lion King (1994)
  18. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
  19. The Matrix Reloaded (2003)
  20. Forrest Gump (1994)
  21. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)
  22. The Sixth Sense (1999)
  23. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)
  24. Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones (2002) But I wish I hadn’t
  25. The Incredibles (2004)
  26. The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)
  27. The Passion of the Christ (2004)
  28. Men in Black (1997)
  29. Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi (1983)
  30. Armageddon (1998)
  31. Mission: Impossible II (2000)
  32. Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (1980) Best Star Wars movie, ever!
  33. Home Alone (1990)
  34. War of the Worlds (2005)
  35. Monsters, Inc. (2001)
  36. The Day After Tomorrow (2004)
  37. Ghost (1990)
  38. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
  39. Aladdin (1992)
  40. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) Harrison Ford & Sean Connery, woot!
  41. Twister (1996)
  42. Toy Story 2 (1999)
  43. Troy (2004)
  44. Saving Private Ryan (1998)
  45. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005)
  46. Jaws (1975)
  47. Pretty Woman (1990)
  48. Bruce Almighty (2003)
  49. The Matrix (1999)
  50. Gladiator (2000)
  51. Shrek (2001)
  52. Mission: Impossible (1996)
  53. Pearl Harbor (2001)
  54. Ocean’s Eleven (2001)
  55. The Last Samurai (2003)
  56. Tarzan (1999)
  57. Meet the Fockers (2004)
  58. Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005)
  59. Men in Black II (2002)
  60. Die Another Day (2002)
  61. Dances with Wolves (1990)
  62. The Matrix Revolutions (2003)
  63. Cast Away (2000)
  64. Mrs. Doubtfire (1993)
  65. The Mummy Returns (2001)
  66. Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003)
  67. The Mummy (1999)
  68. Batman (1989)
  69. Rain Man (1988)
  70. The Bodyguard (1992)
  71. Signs (2002)
  72. Madagascar (2005)
  73. X2 (2003)
  74. Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991)
  75. Gone with the Wind (1939)
  76. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
  77. Grease (1978)
  78. Ice Age (2002)
  79. Beauty and the Beast (1991)
  80. Godzilla (1998)
  81. What Women Want (2000)
  82. The Fugitive (1993)
  83. Hitch (2005)
  84. True Lies (1994)
  85. Die Hard: With a Vengeance (1995)
  86. Notting Hill (1999)
  87. Jurassic Park III (2001)
  88. There’s Something About Mary (1998)
  89. Planet of the Apes (2001) I never did get around to seeing this modern remake, but I have seen most of the originals.
  90. The Flintstones (1994)
  91. Toy Story (1995)
  92. Minority Report (2002)
  93. A Bug’s Life (1998)
  94. The Exorcist (1973)
  95. My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002)
  96. Basic Instinct (1992)
  97. Batman Begins (2005)
  98. The World Is Not Enough (1999)
  99. GoldenEye (1995)
  100. Ocean’s Twelve (2004)

*sigh* Given the quality of these films, I’ve seen faaaaaaar too many of them. I should be reading more.

Today marks the completion of my third decade on this planet and I am quite pleased to be able to announce that I ain’t dead yet. 😀 But worry not gentle reader, I’ll not be subjecting you to some passé retrospective about my life. Instead, I’ll just recap today and today alone.

I was up playing Wild Arms 3 till about 3 am as I just couldn’t sleep. Most likely due to an excessive amount of munching on holiday goodies while downing glass, after glass of soda1. I found one monster to fight that took around an hour to defeat but it jumped my characters up 4-7 levels! *grin* Then when I eventually got to bed; I slept poorly. Our apartment is just too dry this time of year and our little humidifier stopped working. This causes me to keep waking up with sinus headaches and a terrible thrist. I got out of bed about 8:30 – 9 and went back to playing the video game a bit more. Shortly there after, Michelle got up and gave me my birthday present.

What’d she get me? A case of blue balls Bawls. Then after lazing around most of the day; we headed out to the local mall to meet some friends.

I’d foolishly asked a bunch of friends to join us in watching the Narina movie with a follow-up plan to eat dinner together. There was one point that I’d not factored in these plans. This year, my birthday fell on a Saturday. Just about the last Saturday before Christmas. Traffic was insane and people all around were grouchy, though we did run across some nice people that helped us get around the parking lot2. We went over to the mall a little early and bought a new humidifer and then headed down to the theater. We got tickets, met up with our friends and went in to watch the The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

*whew* What a movie! While not perfect, it was probably as good as we could hope for from a Hollywood production.
High points:

  • The actress playing Lucy was spot on. Most of the other actors cast in the movie were also quite good
  • The backgrounds were gorgeous.
  • The addition of the Nazi bombing run at the beginning of the movie really helped to give context to the time of the story.

Low points:

  • The costuming on the witch. Her outfits were ugly and just didn’t work with the imagery I have in my head for the character. Though I do have to admit the black , soulless eyes did work for me.
  • The witch was not nearly as afraid of Aslan as she should have been. In my memories of the book, the witch was terrified of Aslan but the movie seemed to put them on a more even footing.
  • Maugrim’s voice. The actor doing the voice did a fine job, but being the only character without a british accent really stuck out and annoyed me.

Overall, I’d say it was worth seeing in the theater and it is something I’ll be adding to our DVD collection when it becomes available.

After the movie was over, we headed to the restaurant. Oh, I should mention we had called earlier in the day to try making reservations but were told they don’t do that for parties of less than 8. And that they would have plenty of room for the 6 of us. When we got there; we were told it would be a 2 hour wait. We decided to switch to the Oyama Sushi restaurant. They seated us within minutes of our arrival (even though they were already pretty packed). Then they plied us with drinks until our food was ready3. We had a jolly time chatting and drinking (non-alcholic, for the most part) but all good things do come to an end and eventually we all headed home. It was a very good day and while I ain’t dead yet; I am a bit tired so good night, sleep tight and don’t let the space bugs bite!

1 a.k.a. pop to you heathens.
2 A few people threw their cars into reverse to open up bigger areas for us to drive through and things of that nature.
3 It turns out this weekend contains not only my birthday and practically the last weekend before Christmas but it’s also graduation weekend for the University! No wonder everything was so packed today! This also explains why it took so long for our food to arrive.

Ok, I’ve been saving these quizzes up for a while now but the Cthulhu one was the straw that broke the camel’s back. So enjoy the insanity!

You scored as William Wallace. The great Scottish warrior William Wallace led his people against their English oppressors in a campaign that won independence for Scotland and immortalized him in the hearts of his countrymen. With his warrior’s heart, tactician’s mind, and poet’s soul, Wallace was a brilliant leader. He just wanted to live a simple life on his farm, but he gave it up to help his country in its time of need.

William Wallace
63%

Batman, the Dark Knight
58%

Neo, the "One"
58%

Captain Jack Sparrow
54%

James Bond, Agent 007
54%

El Zorro
54%

The Amazing Spider-Man
54%

Lara Croft
50%

Indiana Jones
50%

The Terminator
50%

Maximus
46%

Which Action Hero Would You Be? v. 2.0
created with QuizFarm.com

You're Ash, baby.
Gimme some sugar baby.

Which B-Movie Badass Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Snuffleupagus
You scored 66% Organization, 48% abstract, and 61% extroverted!

This test measured 3 variables.

First, this test measured how organized you are. Some muppets like Cookie Monster make big messes, while others like Bert are quite anal about things being clean.

Second, this test measured if you prefer a concrete or an abstract viewpoint. For the purposes of this test, concrete people are considered to gravitate more to mathematical and logical approaches, whereas abstract people are more the dreamers and artistic type.

Third, this test measured if you are more of an introvert or an extrovert. By definition, an introvert concentrates more on herself and an extrovert focuses more on others. In this test an introvert was somebody that either tends to spend more time alone or thinks more about herself.

You are somewhat organized, both concrete and abstract, and both introverted and extroverted.

I bet you didn’t think you were Snuffleupagus. Let’s find out why.

You are both somewhat organized. You have a good idea where you put things and you probably keep your place reasonably clean. You aren’t totally obsessed with neatness though. Alloyius Snuffleupagus (and all Snuffleupagus’) is not sloppy by nature, but he moves so incredibly slowly that it is impossible for him to be totally organized.

You both are about equally concrete and abstract thinkers. You have a good balance in your life. You know when to be logical at times, but you also aren’t afraid to explore your dreams and desires… within limits of course. Snuffy generally has very basic interests, but he explores his abstract sensitive side when he plays his snuffleflute.

You both are somewhat introverted. Originally Snuffleupagus was very shy and was only Big Bird’s invisible friend. However as he has aged he has started to build new friendships with new characters. Like Snuffy, you probably like to have some time to yourself. However, you do appreciate spending time with your friends, and you aren’t scared of social situations.

The other possible characters are

Oscar the Grouch
Big Bird
Cookie Monster
Ernie
Elmo
Kermit the Frog
Grover
The Count
Guy Smiley
Bert

If you enjoyed this test, I would love the feedback! Also if you want to tell me your favorite Sesame Street character, I can total them up and post them here. Perhaps your choice will win!

My test tracked 3 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender:

OKCupid.com OKCupid.com
You scored higher than 72% on Organization
OKCupid.com OKCupid.com
You scored higher than 42% on concrete-abstra
OKCupid.com OKCupid.com
You scored higher than 51% on intro-extrovert

Link: The Your SESAME STREET Persona Test written by greencowsgomoo on Ok Cupid, home of the 32-Type Dating Test
You Are A: Bear Cub!

bear cubBears are strong and independent creatures who roam in the forest in search of food. Bears are usually gentle, but anger one and be prepared for their full fury! You’re big, you’re tough, you won’t back down from a fight — classic attributes of a bear. Intelligent and resourceful, though lazy at times, you are a fascinating creature of the wild.

You were almost a: Monkey or a Parakeet
You are least like a: Chipmunk or a SquirrelWhat Cute Animal Are You?

Oh Great Cthulhu!

I have been an extremely diligent devotee this year.

In May, I rescued [info]amabaku from being sacrificed (-200 points). Last week, I recruited [info]aizuchi as a new cultist (30 points). In October, I burnt my copy of the Necronomicon (-75 points). When the stars were right, I rammed a ship into you (sorry Cthulhu!) (-1000 points). In September, I stopped [info]aizuchi from defiling Lovecraft’s grave (-20 points). In June, I exposed [info]komainu to soul-rending horrors (250 points).

In short, I have been very bad (-1015 points) and deserve to be flayed alive.

Your humble and obedient servant,

manzabar


Submit your own plea to Cthulhu!