You do WHAT with your free time?!

Staring at a blank white box where my newest witty post has yet to materialize I had to come to grips with the situation, I was out of ideas. This took me to the place where I always find refuge when I've creatively bottomed out:

Magnum PI

Not really, but it was on when I flipped on the TV later. For some reason, Magnum was in a full suit of armor. I didn't stick around to find out why. This was it, the inspiration I needed. I was going to put myself in a wearable suit of armor, not a metal popsicle glued to a stand. Or at least I would shop for one. *Google time passes* I figured it would be about $2500 to put myself in a respectable suit, until I saw this.
"Did you mean stormtrooper armor?"
Well Google, maybe I did.
And just when I thought there were no more corners of the internet I hadn't seen, I find the 501st Legion. Honestly, do yourself the favor and click around this site for a few minutes. This is "the world's definitive imperial costuming organization". Just so that there aren't 400 Vader's running around fighting each other, they've broken into easy to manage categories.Basically, they guys make their own stormtrooper armor and have conventions when they aren't doing charity for the McDonald House or other charity organizations. Seriously, that's what they do. You owe it to yourself to check out the "Off Duty" slide show.

Google, seriously, thanks for the head trip, I need to reevaluate my life(and wonder why I didn't think to make my stormtrooper armor before this)
It's at this point that Google politely taps me on the shoulder and just wants to show me one or two more things. And who am I to complain?

Dressing for the Dark Side got you down? Not a problem, join The Rebel Legion, the 501st sister organization. Just when it couldn't have gotten worse, yep. It's the same guys dressed for the other side. What if your neighbor was a speeder pilot for the Empire and you were a Rebel pilot? Would you have races or fights?
Finally, this is a site for making your own stormtrooper armor. I'm not sure if this corner of the internet gives me hope or fear for mankind.
Please check out these sites, just give them a once over. And when someone wants to make a set of armor, call me up.

The Saturday Post, how clever

Just a short post to keep everyone in the know. Our prize trivia team finished somewhere in the top 50th percentile. Among a very difficult battery of questions that included an entire category devoted to Mountain Ranges. A whole category? Get serious. As expected, Tim is mostly, if not entirely to blame for blowing it. Strange how I called that yesterday, and now through the objective eyes of only one author, it has come true. Amazing.

Go Time

Because Tim is the one to travel to furthest for this trivia night, he'll also be receiving most of the guilt when we don't win. He'll come through with some nerd trivia to win in the clutch.
I'm looking to contribute some finer points on the proper technique for mixing motar to secure our lead. Allyn will be in charge of movies and being awesome. Scott will undoubtedly say something ridiculously awkward, followed by silence, which Scott will misinterpret as an invitation to say something awkward, probably about Pokemon, which could easily turn around in our favor.
What is sure to happen, is a big build-up, followed by subsequent blog fallout, name-calling, and spin doctoring as to exactly why Tim lost it for us.
As a matter of fact, I've already got two blogs ready to go, depending if they ask the difference between millipedes and centipedes for the win.

Thoughts that happen when I'm not paying attention

Does anyone know how to whistle really loudly? You know, when you use two fingers and hail cabs? I'd like to learn how to do that.

If you could sell that ability, how much would people sell for that?

Today I had a peanut butter and banana sandwich. And it ruled.

Today's assignment: Watch This is Spinal Tap.

25 years, still delivers

Joanna- not knowing each other shouldn't put a damper on a great friendship. Allyn and I have tons of friends that we don't know and never talk to. We just don't see them as much as we'd like.

I spent 30 minutes yesterday watching the end of Bedknobs and Broomsticks, a Disney film from 1971, although I lump it in with today's topic. During my time in Ms.Brown's music class, when I wasn't watching Alf, we were watching Bedknobs and Broomsticks. With those kinds of music fundamentals, I'm not sure how I even know how to read music now.
Reflecting on the this movie, I can't help but be reminded how much it rules. Sure I like things that blow up in high definition and not seeing strings during special effect shots. But there's something comforting about clunky movie magic, or just how memorized a film can become.

A recent growing list that I like to call: 80's Films that Still Deliver.
To qualify for this list, it has to be a film, doesn't even has to be from the 80's, but the early 90's really should be the cut off. If Steve Guttenberg stars, it's on this list for sure.
Basically, if you were mature enough to have a kid, these would be the movies you'd start them on. Anything high-def will blow synapses in an infants brain. I'm sure there's research to back this up.
(more thinking on this: if I do have a kid, how much cinema do I have to catch this kid up on? My thoughts are that going back to the original Star Wars and Back to the Future series forward to present day should serve until the kid is old enough to work a remote for himself.)

Nominations to the list begins now.

Trivia Night, or Can you really OD on Pop Culture?

This last weekend Allyn and I had the opportunity to help our friends make that hallowed transition from apartment to house. I guess it's hallowed, I'd like to have a house only so that I could have a dog. However, some might say this is a misappropriation in priorities. And to them I would say that you've already exceeded your daily allotment in syllables, and its my blog, what are you doing with your own comments anyway? All this to say that we put together a team for a trivia night later that day.
If you've never done a trivia competition as yet, I would say that you deserve to. One of the main considerations is proper team selection. This is to ensure that there's always someone who has neat handwriting and someone to remember what that hangy-ball throat thing is called. Anyone that you add to those two individuals is only providing depth to your team. However, if those two people are one in the same, you've probably got it in the bag.
The night was divided up into about 12 topics, 10 questions each topic. First topic, Harry Potter, Allyn ran the topic with her eyes closed, however because of this someone else had to write the answers.
We were flying through topics, Fictional Characters(easy), Movie Titles with numbers in them(challenge us please), Saturday Night Live (Tim, we could have used you). Everything was going fine. Until..
U of I Basketball, 04-05 season.
Our team went 0 for 10. However all the college frat teams were now 10 for 40, and considered this a moral victory.

I'm continually amazed at how much I have stored in my brain, and how much of it has nothing to do with sports.
There's another trivia night next week, we're launching into it with a stacked team.

6 minutes from now.

Holy Poor Blog maintenance, Batman.
Part of the fault lies with having a ridiculous amount of Greek exegesis to do, most of it has to do with Firefox and its fantastic tabbed browsing feature. Activity-induced ADD is the name of the game and it only rears its head when I'm supposed to be doing something important, or not doing anything, or when I look at the blank space where I'm going to type a blog entry. Firefox has made ADD as accessible as Ctrl+T, bringing up a new tab, until I'm so far from what I was doing I have a hard time remembering my name. Usually I'm on the internet to look up one thing and that's all that I'll use it for in that instance. If I think of something else I'll take care of that as well. However now that I can make new tabs for every errant thought, I hear a Johnny Cash song that I want to learn how play, bam new tab. I want to know how much I weigh in stones, bam, new tab. I started yesterday looking for the conversion for oz to lbs and ended up pricing chess clocks and looking up disc golf courses.

In related news, something that I'm sure everyone knows and snickers when they walk past me, knowing that I'm that guy that doesn't know that one thing that everyone knows. When you get a chance, wander over to Google when you have something to convert, currency, measures, weights, anything. Type in what you have and what you need, and Google does it for you! No kidding. Too good to be true? Just type in "124 dollars to pounds" And it does the conversion for you! Amazing. 14 oz to lbs, not a problem. I even converted my weight into stones which rules. I'm not sure who even uses stones as measurement, but I'm excited about it.

Another short one? Yeah, it's my blog.

What's more factual?
When a movie boasts that it is...

Inspired by true events
or
Based on true events

In any case, check out the World Sunlight Map. I found it pretty rad, however after it didn't move quickly enough for me, I lost interest, but for brief flashes the world is amazing.

Bob Costas presents...

Rob- I had no idea there were even ads on the clustermaps, I further had no idea they had anything to do with me. It's like realizing the cool group actually knows your name after all this time thinking they didn't.

Ro- Thanks, it takes a lot of courage to come forth like that. The rest of the human race feels bad for you.

Everyone else-
The opening ceremony for the Winter Games is tonight, Parade of Nations(I always secretly hope for a fight to break out when curling squads see each other from across the stadium. And then someone falls in love, and it can never be, for they are on the rival curling team. I smell sitcom.) and the lighting of the official Olympic Torch. Of course it's going to be a completely impractical method of lighting the torch, like shooting a flaming cannonball from Cleveland, bouncing it off a satellite, landing it in the torch, where it ignites and does a tap routine to and R&B remix of "We Are the World". If this does happen tonight, you'll know who stole it.

I was thinking about the Olympics a few days ago and decided it would be the kind of thing that the world would do if they were all at summer camp together. Just to kill some time and have something going on. But instead of being the best of Camp Otomowacamattanu, you'd be the best in the world. Something good about pulling together and playing games together. *Insert something cheesy about world peace*

You go get 'em world.

Let's Keep This Short

Do you think they make the Seahawks review game film the day after the Superbowl?

However segmented you believe yourself to be from society, we are all connected by the fundamental belief that we are all above-average drivers.

Speaking of, what makes those DMV-ers so sure they're the standard of driving we should measure up to?

Have a great week.

Open Poll

Alright, let's get the whole game out there, MVP of the game: Refs for the Steelers, great job delivering the game. When it's obvious to a cross-country runner who fences, you're doing a horrible job of calling the game.
But altogether more importantly, Super Bowl Commercials, where do you stand? Let's get some thoughts out there, either your top three, five, favorite, whatever, just post what you think and I'll tell you exactly why monkeys in ties are better. And who's nephew thought up clydesdales so that we couldn't move on to a fresh idea in the last nine years? Thanks to that, I hate horses.

Top Five Commercials: (probably in no order)
1. Sprint- Crime Deterrent
2. Both with the "Don't Judge to quickly" tagline -defeating the purpose of the commercial if I can't remember your product (minus 3 points)
3. Fed-Ex Caveman
4. Sierra Mist- Airport Security, nice job Kathy Griffin, I'm bumping you to C-list
5. Monkeys that work at the office

AAAAAAAnd- I'm gone to Chicago.
Thought for the day- If had a pirate ship what would you name it?
You people need to have this on the tip of your tongue in case the opportunity presents itself.

Reminders, Boring Stuff, Redeemed by Ridiculous

Alright, as promised, here's your one month reminder. That's right, one month has already flown by since the New Year started, I know what you're saying, "But Josh, it's only been 30 days!" That's right my friend, January can do that to you when you're not looking. So I hope that your New Year's resolutions are doing well. I'm doing my best to run and get my chess game where it should be.
If you're slacking- C'mon Rocky, dig deep, the Gipper still needs one more.

As promised, the boring:(Don't fear, the ridiculous is close behind. Don't you dare skip down to cheat. Scott, I'm looking your way.)
1.d4...e6
2.e4...c5
3.Be3...b5
4.Nc3...b4
5.Na4...Qa5
Wait for it, Wait for it....
6.b3...Be7!
That's incredible! I know that I don't have to tell you that this chess game went on to stun bystanders (Allyn) and kept them on the edge of their seats(not even close to true) for hours(this is the closest thing to the truth). This concludes my submission for this year's Dullards- an open competition for the dullest blog entry.

Hopefully this can be redeemed by the Internet Product of the Week: The Smitten. Just what is the Smitten? Besides an all-too-clever play on words as your product name? It is a joint mitten to solve that pesky problem of holding hands on a cold winters day. Just what do you do when you want to hold the hand of that special person and muffs have all but gone out of style in the 1900's? Easy, the Smitten!
Seriously?