What to learn how to make cool stuff? Do you make cool stuff and want to show the world how it was made? Check out Instructables. It’s a site with a ton of really neat DIY projects.
Some of my favorites:
And many many more!
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I like to search for mentos whenever I’m anywhere that has some sort of search engine. Wow! A lot of people have made a lot of really bad Mentos commercial spoofs!
With such a wonderful candy though, can you blame them?
I was looking around Walgreen’s today, checking out the Mentos selection (which I do at just about every store that I go into) when I ran across something interesting… Black Licorice Mentos! I’ve had these before, but it’s be quite a while since I’ve seen them… and never in the U.S. The last roll I found was probably around 1997 or 2000. They’re normally sold (from what I can tell) in Denmark. Those Dutch like their black licorice. I’m not a huge black licorice fan. I’ll eat it if it’s around, but probably wouldn’t go out of my way to find it. So, these Mentos are probably at the bottom of the Mentos ladder for me. But, even being on the Mentos ladder puts them head and tails above all other candy. Well, what do these taste like? They taste very much like black licorice. I believe that the candy shell is still mint so they have a slight hint of minty flavor, but the centers are definitely black licorice… so if you’re a fan of licorice, these Mentos are definitely for you.
The smallest web games in the world! This image is not a thumbnail, that is actual size!
Don’t go blind playing!
I bouth a package of Aquafresh toothbrushes and found a code for three free songs on the package. What a toothbrush has to do with music downloads, I have no idea! The unfortunate part about it is that the music is from Sony’s Connect music store where you can only download DRM-ridden Windows Media Audio files. Plus with Sony’s recent DRM rootkit debacle, I don’t really feel like touching these things. So… if anybody wants an Aquafresh code for 3 free Connect song downloads, leave me a comment and it’s yours.
UPDATE: The music code has been claimed!
I guess this is along the same lines as my recent “old school games” posts.
Someone has created a web version of Lemmings using DHTML. It has been quite some time since I’ve played this game! I started playing and got hooked on it last night making it all the way to level 11. I remember it being much harder than this.
Last night was the big game! Who was playing again? I was watching it for the commercials. The one time of year when companies go all out and pay millions of dollars for 30 seconds. Here are a few of my favorites.
Hummer - Monsters
Even though I can’t stand the vehicles and participate in FUH2 every time I see one, this ad was really good!
Emerald Nuts - Druids
Weird, but funny
Sprint - Song for everything
I don’t know… I just thought this was funny.
You can see all the Super Bowl ads from Google Video, AOL, iFilm, or the NFL has put together a “Super Bowl Commercials Show” featuring all the commercials from the big game. Which ones were your favorites?
OK, so it looks like I got tagged. I guess this is kind of the blog equivalent to chain letters. I better do it or be doomed to a life of unhappiness.
Tagged by: Tony Hill
Four Jobs I’ve had in My Life
Four Movies I Could Watch Over and Over, and Have:
Four Places I Have Lived:
Four TV Shows I Love To Watch:
Four Places I Have Been On Vacation:
Four Websites I Visit Daily:
Four Favorite Foods:
Four Places I Would Like to Visit:
Four People I Am Tagging With This Meme:
Earlier this week, I went to the Bijou (The University of Iowa’s indie/art film theater) to see Steven Soderbergh’s new film, Bubble. I’ve been a fan of his movies for a while (Erin Brockovich, Ocean’s 11, Ocean’s 12, Traffic, The Limey, and others) so I was expecting to enjoy this one as well. Outside of the film’s director, this is the first in a series of 6 that will be released simultaneously in theaters, on tv, and on DVD at the same time. That was probably the most intriguing part of this movie to me. Soderbergh and his team have decided to break the mold and try something a very different by doing this type of release. I don’t think I’m the only one, but I like the idea of being able to chose the medium and viewing atmosphere of a newly released film instead of having to wait months (years?) to catch a film I missed in the theaters on DVD. Many theaters have boycotted the release of this movie claiming that, “It’s the biggest threat to the viability of the cinema industry today,” which is pretty crazy. I say anything that gives a viewer more choices is ultimately good. I can make a pretty good hamburger, but that sure doesn’t keep me from going to McDonald’s every now and then.
Anyway, back to the movie. Based on past Soderbergh movies and this special multi-format release, I was looking forward to seeing this film. Well… I was pretty disappointed. Let me preface this with: I have unique taste in movies (my friends will agree with that statement). I don’t think that my taste in movies is really too far outside the norm though. I didn’t really like this movie. Maybe I built up my expectations too much. One of the things Soderbergh said that he wanted to do with this series of films is use local talent, and makes them really place-specific. That’s evident with this movie; it takes place at doll factory in a small midwestern town. It was obvious to me that the “local talent” weren’t the best actors. They weren’t horrible (I’ve seen much worse), but there were several times when you felt like you were watching some amateur film, or poorly scripted home movie. I remember reading that much of the script for Bubble was improvised. At times that point is painfully obvious. Given that the acting in this film is a little below the mark, I can get by it. Like I said, I’ve seen much worse. That’s not the only area that this film falls short. The shooting also leaves a little bit to be desired. Again there were places where I wondered if I was watching a professionally produced film because it sure felt like I was watching a shaky shot that someone had made in their back yard with their wal-mart tripod. I like how Soderbergh shoots his films. He knows how to technically put a film together (quick shots in O11, the different use of colors in Traffic), but this movie just feels cheap. I can remember one shot in the front yard of the main character’s house that pans all the way around and has a little bump like someone accidently kicked the tripod as they were panning. Something like that just feels out of place in a professionally produced picture.
Setting aside the acting and shooting of this film. Yes, there were quite a few instances where both were lackluster, but both could be ignored. The story just wasn’t that great. I kept wondering to myself, when’s something going to happen? When is it going to start getting exciting? I knew (via the movie synopsis I’d read) that someone was going to get murdered, and knowing that it was only a 73 min. movie, I was getting anxious for it to happen (because I was getting bored with the poor improv acting?). Well, somebody finally died, and guess what, the movie didn’t get much more exciting. In wondering why this movie is like this, I’ve wondered if maybe Soderbergh did all of this (poor acting, poor shooting, poor story/plot???) on purpose to really hit home the slow simple life of the smaller midwestern town where this movie is set. But why would he? If that really was his intention, it really doesn’t add anything to the movie. It takes quite a bit away from it.
So… an interesting (and overdue?) distribution concept. I just hope the next film in this series has better actors/story/filming! I don’t think I’ll be able to sit through 6 Bubbles! I like being able to watch a newly released movie in whatever format I chose, but If had been watching this on TV, I think I would have changed the channel.
Another addition in the posts about old-school computer games (post1, post 2). Here’s a site where you can play classic Commodore 64 games in your web browser (this one uses java).
 Bam Bam Bam |