I've got a theme!

Today's post is brought to by the letters W.O.W.

World of Warcraft has been the game of choice for a little while, replacing that increasingly boring and frustrating game that was Star Wars Galaxies (the last game revision pretty much made me and Jay decide to leave that game). No, WoW has not taken over my life (like some other people we know...), it has, however, become a fun distraction.

Because of it's popularity, it is not too surprising that a number of videos, spoofs, and cartoons have been developed. Don't click away from here yet! Even though you may not have played WoW, you may still find humor in a lot of these links.

Like this one - the WoW world sings Avenue Q's "The Internet is for Porn", which is hilarious, and well, has one brief shot at the end that suggests the lineage of the Tauren (a WoW character that is part bull part human...).

Or these two funny "switch" commercials. Perhaps you're familiar with the PC to Apple Switch commercials? This is a spoof on that, switching from Alliance (the good guys - humans, night elves, gnomes, etc.) to the Horde (undead, Orcs, Tuarens, trolls). Although it is way funnier if you know the details of the game to get all the jokes - I think both of these are pretty darn funny without knowing much except that bit about the Horde and the Alliance. So, one switch commercial for Human Men and another for Human Women.

Yes, the poor female character from that last video is doing the Macarena. You see, each type of character has its own special dance (male night elves have Michael Jackson moves). All these dances mean that a special spoof is in order and it needs to expense at those Alliance dancers, so here is "I'm too sexy". One of my characters is a female night elf, after seeing that video I'm sure you'll understand why I don't type /dance when I play her.

But it's not all dance! This cleverly choreographed video of "Just My Imagination" shows what some of the players are capable of. Not to mention, I just love this song. I recommend this one - it's really sweet!

And it's not all music, in this funny one, WoW takes on a scene from Fight Club. (Minor language warning on this one, but if you've seen the movie, then you won't be surprised.)

Of course, there are the various WoW spoofs on other areas of popular fantasy, like this item, The One Ring.

Those brilliant fundamentalist parody writers over at Landover Baptist have also touched on WoW with "Winning Souls to Christ in the World of Warcraft".

Every one needs a good song parody - here is the Battle Hymn of WoW.

And finally, because I think this is classic and a great song: The Gamer's Love Song.

Why, yes, it is all good. Thanks for asking.

Everything is pretty darn peachy right now. Kind of glad I don't had more angst to share, but nope, everything is sunshine, happiness, with a 3% chance of doom coming in from the Northwest.

Actually, there was a fire downtown today. I haven't heard much about it, but what I did find out was that it was at the paper mill by Our Place. I stepped outside of the library around noon and it was all smoke hovering over downtown. I really do hope that we get that rain that's being predicted for this weekend because we need it (there have been a few brush fires and yards set on fire by smoldering cigarette butts already). I don't really know much about the fire today though, I hope that there will be info in the Reformer tomorrow.

Otherwise, I haven't really stuck my head out much this week. It's been April vacation in town which means massive, massive programming. I was doing my evaluation today (because tomorrow isn't really any special programming and I can get most of it done then and add up the rest tomorrow), and by the end of tomorrow I will have had just about 430 people at the programs this week. Oooof! Now I know why I feel so tired. But I'm also a bit wired, hence the post-before-bed.

I did indeed hear about Jay leading the group. I did ask him to make an effort not to kill any characters and I'm pleased that he managed to do that. I just saw Mary's foot on Wednesday - OUCH!! That's gross. She did assure me that it was not an injury anyone could get from using the couch as intended, and required standing on parts that typically aren't stood upon. So, yeah, the lesson here is: don't stand on the couch! Also, don't get in front of Hannah when she is going after Kyle (I'm sure she had a good reason). Poor Ross did and had a shiner to show for it. I was in Albany at the time.

I am Vanilla Flavoured. I am one of the most popular flavours in the world. Subtle and smooth, I go reasonably with anyone, and rarely do anything to offend. I can be expected to be blending in in society. What Flavour Are You?

You don't say... You know, I see these little personality things everywhere, so I thought for fun I would take one and post it. So, there you are. Posted. Consider yourself informed?

We made real onigiri last Monday at Japanese Culture Club. I don't know if you of you Fruits Basket fans have ever had a real pickled plum. It sure sounds nice, doesn't it? The plum part is misleading. When you see it, even the color looks nice and friendly - a soft, gentle purplish, fruity color. Granted, seeing as how they're "pickled" they are also vaguely mini-brain shaped. Their taste, though.... For those of you who have heard characters like Tohru Honda proclaim the pickled plum to be something special, this may come as a surprise. But the taste of pickled plum, omeboshi, is akin to a purplish colored, mini-brain shaped, giant olive, rolled in sea salt with dabs of nail polish remover. Sure, there is a vaguely fruity taste.......somewhere. I'm assuming it's an acquired taste. I have not acquired it. So, while our salmon onigiri was a hit, we basically just dared each other to eat the pickled plums. For future reference: this is a food that Courtney D. will not eat. He tried it. We laughed at the faces he made.

So THIS is how I could become a republican - you have to admit, it's pretty practical. Yeah, I know, republicans are not this simplistic or so clearly evil. I just think it's funny. Speaking of which...Andy Dick as Dubya's speech writer.

Mortal Kombat meets the boardroom. Huh.

I find this little Firefox promo so darn amusing. Yes I do, because it is. It is funny, it is brief. It makes fun of that computer resource whore, Internet Explorer.

Thanks to Kyle for sharing this brilliant little easter-flavored film. We watched it at the desk and came to the conclusion that it was likely Nick in a bunny suit. Or would be, if he had a bunny suit. But he doesn't. So, he's relegated to dreaming about doing this in a bunny suit. Scary, Nick, scary.

So, who do you think this will be in 30 years?

What I'm reading:

Killing Britney. This quick, creepy YA suspense-filled novel totally snagged my interest. Looking for a quick, dark book with a twist like a hook to the gut? This is it.

Marvels - Now the first thing to love about this graphic novel is that Alex Ross is the illustrator. I LOVE his work. It's so pretty and easy to look at. This book is just beautiful on a visual level. I like this retelling of the Marvel world through the eyes of the mundane every-folk that happened to "live" to see it.

Blankets - I just got this one into the library and I think it will do well. It's another of the graphic novel for older, older YAs and some adults - a coming of age type of thing. It's also a nominated title for the Green Mountain Young Adult Book Award for 2006-2007. The art, the pacing, the story, it's deep, it's interesting, it's well done. This isn't exactly a light read. It is rewarding, the character development is spectacular and the book's ability to convey some of the more intangible themes of growth, adult yearnings through adolescence, loss - a whole spectrum of poignant experiences - is utterly brilliant.

What I'm watching:
Not much. I've been watching Robot Chicken. For those of you who haven't seen it, here is a super sped-up version of "Kill Bunny", an excerpt from Robot Chicken. Yes, that is Jesus.

Otherwise I haven't had much time to watch tv or movies (still cable-less and loving it).

A wee bit of 'Hi!'

I guess a follow-up is in order. The presentation went fairly well. I was a bit unprepared for the political landscape among the NY public libraries. So, while I was all set to talk about the happy, sharing outreach program that works in Vermont, it turns out that the NY system is not nearly so cooperative. In fact it seems that the system of thought most of them were still working out is: "The funding/service pie is only this big. So if you're piece gets bigger than my piece is smaller." So, my presentation changed completely when that was made clear. And then I ended up running into a time issue, so I didn't actually get to present it all and I've still got to write it up and send it out to them; it's not a big problem, just something that I need to do. Otherwise, it did go well. I really wanted to facilitate more of a discussion for the last half, and I was pleased that did end up working out - even if it wasn't what I had anticipated.

All in all, I still really love my library and the community it serves.

And HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY NEWS!! A pair of tickets to Spamalot in Boston on Friday just happened to be put my way. So, it looks like I'm going to get to see it again!! Yes!

So, that's about it for right now. I ended up waking up with Jeremy's alarm, so here it is, 6 am and I'm wide awake. (This sucks!) Today should be interesting in its own bleary, constantly yawning, fatigued kind of way.

Oh yeah, the drive home went smoothly, no lost moments there. Jay had a great idea for me to look up directions home from the library rather than the hotel; that was a smart idea.

Later that morning....

I'm in the mood to be entertained and not do something and it's too early to go to work. So, what the heck, I'm going to post some of my favorite videos that I'm finding around and about.

The Lion Sleeps Tonight - oh happy rendering

Dance, Napoleon, Dance!

I know that there has got to be something clever and brief to say about this, but I'll be damned if I can figure it out right now.

Soccer and Monty Python's "Always look on the Bright Side of life" - brilliant.

It's no secret that I love a good parody. Way to go, James Blunt. I am abosolutey annoyed by the song it parodies anyway.

A crazy computer bug. I apologize in advance.

Summer of '69, you know I still thought that was hilarious how you all knew the words too.

Frank Caliendo impressions.

Leprechaun in Mobile, Alabma. You'd think that would be the punchline.

Ichiban.....of D00M!!

So, here I am enjoying the wireless internet provided at the Holiday Inn Express on my new laptop, "Compusam", in Albany, NY where I have been asked to talk up what I do to New York librarians during the Equal Access Institute at the main branch of the Albany Public Library.

Jay and I made it without getting lost once! This was after a few minor arguments of:

J: "Shouldn't we turn here?"
S: "No."
J: "But...?"
S: "No."
J: *begins moving vehicle to the right lane*
S: "No."
J: *sigh*
>>five minutes later<<
J: "oh."

We arrive, we check-in, we decide let's not wait, let's go get lost sooner rather than later on a trip to find the library.

So, I pull up Mapquest on CompuSam and sure enough it looks like it should be pretty simple.

Looks can be deceiving. Finally Jay pulls into a slightly ramshackle Price Chopper and asks directions. This is after a 30 minute drive that was supposed to take less than 10. And the directions he gets say that it shouldn't take more than 5 minutes from where we are. So, 20 minutes later we locate the public library and park across the street. Jay watches a "local" cross the busy 4-lane street while dodging cars, and decides he can do that. I, stupidly, follow. Short story: Jay got yelled at by several drivers and I pointed and laughed behind him and on the other side made him promise not to do that again.

I really love my library. I love having a library that doesn't require security guards constantly walking throughout it. I love that our library is relaxed and you feel like you can talk and relax and are welcomed. I love my youth department that is huge and comparitively well-signed, amazingly more full of books, and waaaaaay more full of kids doing all sorts of things. I found it amazing that they could have so many internet-enabled computers but no kids on them.

However, in all fairness, this is a different library in a different community that has clearly developed different policies for its patrons. They aren't bad or wrong, just different, and given the choice, I LOVE MINE!

Well, we did find the library and that was good. And it was the library I needed to find -not one of the many branches.

Then we decided to leave as it turned out that the balloons weren't going to be released upon my arrival. (Kidding!) And Jay starts heading in the direction he thinks we should be going. I finally get him to stop - actually he drove around the block and it turns out that there is a huge parking lot behind the library that we can park at so Jay isn't tempted to play Frogger again. And I whip out CompuSam, borrow a handy wireless connection from one of several unsecured connections located at the buildings around us, do a quick Mapquest, and navigate our way to the hotel.

At this point Jay was so beat down that he just did exactly what I told him. So we arrived back at the hotel with no surprise mis-turns.

It was just before 5 so we decided to go get dinner now so Jay wouldn't have to drive back in the dark as might happen if we went out later. So, we do this particular stip up once and down the other way and come across Ichiban - a Chinese/Japanese restaurant. And we thought, 'what the hell' - sushi!

No. No...no!!! It's not supposed to be like that. Eeeeeewwww, crunchy salmon sushi is WRONG! Long story, short: it sucked. Worst sushi I've had in a long time. Dry, flaky, and strangely crunchy when it's supposed to be chewy. So, we complained, we left, Jay drove straight to McDonald's where he got dinner and I got a chocolate chip cookie to get the taste of CRUNCHY SALMON SASHIMI out of my mouth.

Now we sit here. Jay channel surfs, something he can't do at home. I blog because when I finish this I have nothing else to distract me from focusing on my presentation for tomorrow (and I need to work on that). Ali is at home probably having a wonderful time.

I guess I'm all out of procrastinate...wish me luck!

Fun (with a big F)

Links of goodness, fun, and distraction are in order.

The Godfrogger.

Honestly, I'm not quite sure what this is about, but the music is nifty and I want an Apple-looking-robot!!

Soooo, yeeeeeah, I really, um, like Office Space. It's a, uhh, very. cool. movie. (And if you've seen it this line makes sense, and is amusing)

This poor dog makes one wonder. Maybe he's schizophrenic and that back leg is talking to him (I'm probably revealing how very little I actually know about schizophrenia with that line, but there you go, it was the best I had.)

Animal Farm gets a shiny, new, animated look for today's pigs - I mean, people. Plus, "Mr. Sandman, gets a weird techno re-write.

Play Blueprint - another fun little puzzle little game.

Enjoy this uber-cute, anime-ish flick about a one-eyed girl and a one-armed boy named Joan and Mark saving the day .

It's true. It is a fish eat fish world. Just eat enough to get bigger so you can eat the other fish.

Who wouldn't want a purse made out of seatbelts?

And that's about all the fun I can handle this morning. The good news is I can turn my head again - but my neck feels all weird and tender. Ouch!

wee bit of stress

(actually posted yesterday, but because of scheduled downtime, is up today)

Interesting: there I was reading Neil Gaiman’s blog this morning when I came upon his list of questions he answered and in it when he’s asked about dislikes in other people he mentions something that has become a HUGE issue in a certain daily part of my life. I’ll just quote directly, because he says it all:

5. What is the trait you most deplore in others?

The conviction that they're right - and the way that justifies their treatment of others.

Wow -he has a very good point right there. Because I have been so fed up with the behavior of someone that I need to deal with nearly every day for this exact reason; she’s so caught up in her being right and absolute that she thinks she has this right to be mean, abusive, and just bully everyone else to giving in to her way as the only way. And she is just vicious and mean and low and insulting and seems to be of the opinion that it’s everyone else’s fault that she behaves this way. Even more frustrating is that it’s like being in an abusive relationship because everything is completely different when someone is watching – so different in fact that there are people who believe she is wonderful and sweet and innocent and not the vitriol spewing demon when no one else is looking.

Alright, venting over and done with, more or less. The good news is that it is looking like I’m not going to need to deal with her much longer – she appears to be purposefully removing herself from the scene. If she needs to call us the dysfunctional ones to do it, then all the more power to us – I don’t have a problem with being called a name that doesn’t actually describe me if it means she’s out of the picture. I think, mostly, she needs to continue feeling like the victim in yet another drama in her life – god forbid she recognize her role as the bad guy. So, yeah, she shall be leaving I hope, I hope, I hope! Because good lord I can't take the stress of another day like today!! Normally I can deal with stress, but since this afternoon I realize that I've been carrying the stress in my neck, how do I know this? Because I can't turn my head right now.

In other news, I’ll be in Albany next week for a fun presentation which should be very cool and interesting, and I’m really looking forward to it. It shall be awesome (and, as much as I really love what I do) it will be far, far away from the library for a few days.

Plus Jay and I went to a fabulous sushi restaurant tonight in Marlboro, NH - just about 10 minutes out of Keene - and it is yummy!! They've got the best dragon roll I've had in the northeast (outside of NYC). I HIGHLY recommend this place, it's called Lee's and Mt. Fuji Oriental Cuisine (or something like that anyway). While we were out we stopped at Target and picked up some spring clothes for me and Allegra that we needed, and Jay found a Monty Python t-shirt so his day is actually complete. So, some happy sushi therapy and a fun new outfit to end the day with.

What I'm reading: Books on adolescent development and marketing - and in one book, both subjects meshed together. I don't recommend them much, most of them have the same effect as banging your head against a table (as those of you also reading dry, dry textbooks can attest to). But I'm researching a few things for my presentation.

What I'm Watching: We have discovered Robot Chicken. Robot Chicken is hilarious. Robot Chicken is dated - clearly the creators are my age and a little older because that's the kind of thing that they reference and OMG!!!! it is funny. Plus it is on DVD.

Also, Tripping the Rift is out on DVD. I don't recommend that for everyone, but I think it's hilarious in it's own perfectly rude CGI way.

Best. Prank. Ever.

I kid you not! There is an April Fool's Day newspaper floating about town called the "B eFfluent Times" that parodies life in this area that you must check out. It's being given out for free all over the place.

The laughing! My god, the laughing!!! Ali and I were downtown today to run some errands and go out to lunch together and this little paper was everywhere and everyone was talking about it.

Go get a copy!

Edit: Upon a closer re-reading I realize that I am referenced in this fun little paper at least once (ack! In the singles section, no less). Along with a few other people I think you'll recognize, and the library, and the local government, and some businesses, and, well, pretty much most of the "public figures" in this area. There's even a blog, albeit there isn't much going on there yet I suspect they're keeping watch on developments. Anyway, I love, love, love their paragraph disclaimer kind of thing going on here and their one comment back is hilarious (especially because I know who was doing that complaining!!!!), check it all out here: The B eFfluent Times They could do so much more online stuff, but it's probably smart that they don't.

And get one of those papers!!! I think they've got some still at Video 20/20 or Athens. We went out to Oona's for dinner tonight and I heard that most of the places where they were dropped off in the middle of the night were running out of them.