For the A, the R-lington hizzos

I know. Long time no post.
A friend posted this on Facebook. For locals only, but it’s really good and post-worthy.

Twitter Big Brother

During the SuperBowl, the NY Times has a neat time lapse of keywords taken across the country as the game and commericals went on. Click on the image below to see it in action. You can move your cursor to a city and see the tags. Va Beach is represented (hometown).

In Honor of SuperBowl Weekend

There’s a Jim Beam commercial making a bit of a comeback on TV. I’ll let the masses debate about whether I endorse it, seek it or post it to make example of its bad form. Hmmm.. The on-air commercial and an interesting spoof.

Spoof-

When Headphones Just Get in the Way…

Another entry in the continuing saga of “Now, I’ve Seen Everything”.
Ever go to your bathroom, sit down and wish you could’ve had your favorite music with you? Sure you could have your iPod, but with those darn headphone wires dangling, they certainly get in the way.

I present to you the iPod tissue holder/speaker/charger dock…. oh, and in Stereo. Click on the pic to take you there, but Overstock has it for a mere $82.99. So my question is, what do you say when someone asks “So what’s this playlist on your iPod called “Takin’ a shit”?

A Life Ended in an abrupt and strange way

This is a story making its way through the net, I’m guessing because:

• The person, Mariana Bridi, was a 20 yr old  Beauty Pageant/Model
• She contracted an infection that was resistant to medication and her hands and feet were amputated (can someone explain to me why or how does this help)
• All this happened in 30-40 days from seeking medical attention, she is now dead
  Article

This probably just adds to a situation I’m sad about.

This past week a female Chinese student was killed with a knife by another Chinese student in an eating area of a school building. It was a gruesome act on the part of the attacker. He’s alive and in custody. Some articles on evidence and the initial story.

I felt awful for the girl’s family. Then I felt bad for my alma mater and the students there. It’s a selfish thought, but one I’m pretty sure felt by many. The men’s basketball team had just beaten the #1 ranked team in the nation, Wake Forest that night. Positive news about typical campus stuff. However, the news of that victory quickly gave way on the national front to news of yet another tragedy at Tech and another horrible act, coincidentally performed by a student of Asian ethnicity.

You want the school and all of its students to get past the bad stigma it has been saddled with: Home of Vick 1, the dog abuser and Vick 2, the irresponsible douchebag, the tragedy of April 2007, and now another violent murder. It just makes me wonder what’s changed? In less than two years, two violent crimes of such a visceral magnitude.

Inauguration 4 Pack

Some Inaugural Odds and Ends:

1. Fashion Fail: My uber disappointment over what most fanboy’s favorite gal, Olivia Munn, wore to the Oath of Office ceremony. I know the idea is to keep warm but really, even Britney probably has better house clothes than this outfit-
   
2. I SAW YOU ON THE MALL: Kinda. CNN bought rights to a satellite photo taken by a company, GEOEYE. They ended up taking a photo at 11:20 on the day of the Inauguration. From the looks of things, it’s a shame thousands of folks didn’t get in. You can see how people gathered around the jumbotrons. Now while CNN commissioned the photo, the Washington Post actually has a better user tool, HERE.  You can download a HighRes pic of it here.
   
   If you were a VIP, you might be in this massive panoramic shot. See here and here.
   
3. THE-MOMENT: Whoever the News Chief is at CNN, he’s constantly pushing the use of New Technology. (Remember the Election Night Holograms?). This one is in conjunction with Microsoft’s new software called Photosynth. CNN asked viewers to send in their pictures of the exact moment President Obama took the oath.  Photosynth creates a virtual world, stitching all of the photos together, putting you at Ground Level. Use it HERE. Click on the Pic to see a video on how it’s used.
4. Funny Vid. There are a lot of them out there, but I was amazed at how many celebs and political peeps agreed to be in this one. Plus, I was impressed with how they used a lot of the city in such a short time. High Five!
   

more about “HIGH-FIVE INAUGURATION! from Almost T…“, posted with vodpod

Open Letter from the Bush Daughters to the Obama Girls

A sweet open letter written by Jenna and Barbara as sort of a “here’s what we learned growing up in the White House” to the newest White House princesses. It was done through the Wall Street Journal and was posted Monday, Jan 20. A neat behind the scenes read. Article Here.

Dick Clark’s Rockin’ Inaugural Eve Bash

I’m enjoying the Neighborhood Ball, “brought to you by ABC”. I make that distinction because what I found interesting was the business side of a lot of the entertainment. ABC paid $2 million dollars to have exclusive air rights to the Neighborhood Ball. HBO paid $2.5 million to air the We Are One concert. Disney paid money for the Kids’ Ball and MTV paid money for the Youth Ball. All of this money gets paid to the Inaugural Committee.  I think $5 million all together. Where it goes after that, I have no clue. I’m not complaining either. I’m channel hopping and picture-in-picturing as I type–televisaphonernetting, if you will. That was a serious star studded line-up for the Neighborhood Ball. The Beyonce serenade was a great moment.  I hope they post Beyonce’s interview afterward. It was televised during the after-show but was definitely one to watch, she was so emotional.

In any adminstration before, you never saw this much involvement by the television “entertainment” community. Thinking this, it struck me I was more entertained by the Neighborhood Ball show than any Dick Clark Rockin’ Eve show– ever. If anything, I can only hope this starts a trend for more celebs in DC. My autograph collection could use some bolstering. Chris Kattan’s is the only one I have. Um, exactly. Article here.

UPDATE: I’ve made the video of the Beyonce’ interview myself (I like this Gizmo)
Forgive me if it takes a while to buffer-up, but to see how sincere her answer is, I think is worth it.
And Cameo? Nick Cannon should know better. (he was the DJ) You’ll hear.

Minute Review: Gran Torino

Dirty Harry in retirement. Not exactly, but you can’t help think of Clint’s other role, Harry Callahan when you see “the squint”. It’s been 38 years since that hard nosed cop movie and Gran Torino shows Clint can still carry a movie. He’s a proven director and this can only add to his list.

Clint plays Walt, a military vet who is Archie Bunker and Dirty Harry in one guy–a racial slur filled badass. But, as the cliche’ goes–he’s got a heart.

Walt just wants people to do the right thing. And mostly, just leave him alone. Most of the story centers around Walt’s life after his wife dies and the relationship he develops with an Asian family next door and the boy and sister who live there. The movie’s not an action flick nor has any really high drama. What you get is a really good tale of a man who befriends a family next door. The boy’s acting skills aren’t very good, but Clint’s screen presence carries you through the entire movie.

My father owned a Gran Torino just like the one in the movie–except his was blue. I never got to drive it, it was breaking down and my dad sold it before I was old enough to even think about driving it. But one thing I remembered was that it sounded like a jet engine driving around — in a cool way for a kid. The car itself doesn’t play as huge role, but is one of Walt’s prized possessions. Respect it, respect him and he’ll respect you. Covet and you’ll get a Clint squint, growl and a can of whoop-ass.

Bottomline: Fullpricer