I love these stop motion movies from PES, not just because they're clever, but really cute, too.

This one is called 'Western Spaghetti' and it reminds me of a Bertucci's commercial. Watch it on youtube at PESfilms or go to eatpes.com

Sometimes, (okay, pretty often) I wish my life was like Chicago (the movie).

(http://spudart.deviantart.com/art/Chicago-Theater-Holga-99275567)

Whenever, wherever, I could just break out in song. Preferably dubbed over by someone who could actually sing, but the sentiment would still be the same.

I was having a terrible day the other week, and then I found this video.

Watching this baby horse run around completely changed my day; I was really happy, and a little mesmerized. I don't know if links are working for the blogs, but type the above title into youtube and it should come up.

I'm pretty sure when I wrote "pony" on my Christmas list as a kid, this is what I meant.

This letter was unearthed recently in an old castle on the French coast. It dates to around the 2nd century. Evidence indicates it had been left in a fireplace to be burned, though it was mostly undamaged except for a few corners. For some reason, it seems there was no reply. (Translated from the original French)

Dear Aurelius,

I think I am beginning to fall in love with you. Watching you laugh with friends, watching you sleep, you have captured my heart, it is yours, Aurelius. I know that you feel the same way, I trust in your love, and though we have our differences, I tell you now, I am willing to look past that. Oh, Aurelius, duke though you are, to me you are a prince. If you only knew how nervous I was when you visited last month. The sight of you at the table made me spill the soup all over the Countess, and I got a terrible scolding, but to see you again, to peek at you from the kitchen; it was worth it. After dinner, dearest, I must confess, while you were riding I traded places with a friend and therefore it was my hands which cleaned your sheets, and touched your freshly washed shirts. Reading your letters to your father and sister during supper was like looking into your soul, love, and I adore you all the more. Oh, Aurelius, when I stayed in your room that night, hidden behind a tapestry, I was so worried when you didn't come in until late, but then you entered the chamber, and I could smell your cloak after you'd tossed it to the floor, and I was content to simply watch you until dawn. My love, I am like a dimmed lantern without you, and I await your return eagerly. The thought of you makes me glow, and when you return, I know we will be together forever.

With all my love, 

Prudence, scullery maid to the Countess D - - - - - - - - in Montmarte Castle

I just got the Killers' new album, Day & Age, and it's amazing. Maybe I'm biased, beccause I even think Brandon Flowers' feather coat is pretty, but the Killers were the first band I ever liked and I've loved them ever since.

(boingboing.net)

These are the neurons from the brain of a mouse. They've been colored according to category, in these wonderful hues. 

Just to make sure Entropic's not colorblind.

I've found my new obsession. It's a literary journal called Bust Down The Door And Eat All The Chickens. I've given it a new nickname (above).

h t t p : / / w w w . absurdistjournal . c o m /

(are the links still broken?)

It's basically been created for me, and I'm going to try to submit to it.

I like space. When I was little I never thought about it much, but now I like looking up and feeling like there's something beyond Earth.

I have found my new favorite tv show. It's called Legend of the Seeker. The dialogue is awful, the animation is full of pixels, and everybody's running around in creaky leather going "it be the prophecy!" but I'm still a little obsessed with it. Especially because everybody lives in "a distant land" and I've never actually been to New Zealand.

I bet they got a discount on fire that week or something.

As I sit here, digesting Christmas dinner, I feel like a Mongol. Mostly because I imagine that Mongol leaders ate a lot, and I'm sitting in the midst of a fuzzy fur blanket; which I didn't kill myself, but I bet Gengis Khan had people to do that kind of thing for him. Makes for a nice atmosphere though. Sort of ancient Mongolia meets the 70s.

So maybe it's the food coma speaking, but I feel really happy and loving right now, like I just want to give everyone a big hug. Even though I'm pretty sure most Mongols wouldn't quite approve of that sort of behavior. (But I'm no expert; most of my knowledge is based off of an episode of Black Adder)

Anyways, I hope you guys had a wonderful holiday, and even if it was terribly boring and disappointing, I hope you were at least able to sneak away and watch funny youtube videos.

Unfortunately, google won't translate my holiday wishes into anything mongol-related, so, in Latvian: Priecīgus Ziemassvētkus!

Today I woke up and found a spot on my finger. It's a small spot, right under my nail, and it's fuschia. Or magenta, I can't quite tell the difference.

It  isn't a new spot either. I noticed it last night during dinner, but I didn't think much of it. Problem is, I think it's spreading. The tip of my nail is already hot pink, and I've got another spot on my thumb. It also isn't really washing off.

There seems to be a lot I don't know about this whole spot situation, including why it's there. I'm worried. I think it's even spread since the time I started staring at it.

Do I have a new disease? Should I try coloring it over with a different colored pen? Oh, my poor epidermis.

I love autochrome. It was one of the earliest color processes for photography, invented in the early 1900s, and it has a beautifully dreamy effect. Three Belgian Autochromists is a site that highlights the work of three photographers, Paul Sano, Alphonse Van Besten, and Charles Corbet, from around 1910. 

http://users.telenet.be/autochromes/introduction.htm

I was a Pushing Daisies fan. I used to wait all week for Wednesday night to come around again, and feel a rush of excitement every Wednesday, and put off anything I had to do that night so I could devote my full attention to ABC. And then the cancellation rumors came. Friends would laugh, and say "I heard Pushing Daisies is getting cancelled" and I would throw heavy books at them, deny the rumors, and then follow them around meticulously explaining to them just how amazing the entire storyline is.

I kid, I kid. I was never that obsessed, but it was my favorite show, and the only tv I would make time to watch all week. I am actually quite upset at it's cancellation. Should I make a vow never to watch ABC again? Perhaps there will be a movie. Should I try to watch Grey's Anatomy as a substitute? Maybe I'll just read a book instead.

This weekend is going pretty well. I found my Little Nemo in Slumberland (For such a large book, I lost it rather quickly) and I came across this video of The Mae Shi taking on Miley Cyrus. It's one of the best remixes I've ever heard, especially for a song I wouldn't normally listen to, probably in large part because of the video.

Here's the link in case the flash isn't working: http://www.vimeo.com/1244285

So, I've been waiting eagerly for a long time for Love to be released, especially because I love the proposed smallness of the system and the awesome settings, (if you haven't heard of it, check out http://www.quelsolaar.com/love/index.html for pictures and updates) 

And now I'm hearing about a new game being released called Marian, which is just as beautifully designed, and has already released some of the art and music from the game.

Marian is a puppet, who breaks away from her puppetmaster, "The Narrator" and living in a dream world, can replace her puppet limbs with various tools. (One thing they didn't mention was what kind of tools she could use. Hamburger flipper, anyone?)

The official announcement is here; http://www.offworld.com/2009/01/infinite-ammo-teases-their-mar.html, and here's the link for the concept art and music. http://infiniteammo.ca/blog/announcing-marian/ 

I love the internet. I no longer have any idea how I spent my time before it's brilliant light came into my life, for better or for worse. Some of my first memories of the internet are of a computer that periodically flashed a screensaver with the devil's face on it, the flaming text around it being the equivalent of "I will get you". I kid you not. It's a miracle I can even look at a modem without running from the room.

But now I find that some of the internet's wonders are troublingly limited, from Wikipedia to WebMD. To date, I may or may not have tetanus, pericoronitis, or an impacted wisdom tooth, and the list just keeps growing. I have had food poisoning, until it became the flu, until it was just a 24 hour bug. A friend had mono symptoms, including swollen lymph nodes, until two days later when she wanted a sip of my water and revealed she probably wasn't that sick.

Am I getting paranoid? Yesterday I heard a radio ad and realized that my hurting jaw could be a symptom of a heart attack. The fact that it's only on one side of my mouth makes me think I might have a stroke. I never would have thought of myself as a hypochondriac (Band-aids on paper cuts are for wimps), but now that I can google stuff it seems to me I've been through a host of diseases without major thought for any of them.  

I've been procrastinating quite a bit lately. How long do you think I can continue to put off all my responsibilities?

(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3043/3089891046_6583a3eea7.jpg)

State your answer in the number of times this song will be played;

http://90210.mysfdomain.com/state_farm_sixteen.mp3

Have you ever wanted a paper toy that looked like this?

Well, I saw it and loved it. (Anyone know what animal this actually is?) It was made even better when I realized I could make my own - out of paper. Apparently the Japanese just have some really cool hobbies, and one of them is making 3-D paper submarines and sea creatures.

http://www.jamstec.go.jp/j/museum/papercraft/index.html

The directions are in Japanese, but it's pretty easy to figure out how to cut them out and put them together.

I haven't decided yet what to name mine.

Update: I just leaned over, and my laptop squooshed my little creature. I'm so sad. It's kinda crumply now.

I love the Mae Shi. I posted before about their Miley Cyrus remix, and they've done it again. It's "R U Professional", a tribute to the rage of Christian Bale.

http://www.vimeo.com/3066094

Wahhhh. I'm in a terrible mood, and it's one in the morning. Clearly, I need something to cheer me up. Clearly, I need to prepare for my future job working at McDonalds. Clearly, I need a Turbaconucken. What, you ask, is this? Apparently, it's a "A chicken inside a duck inside a turkey, all wrapped in bacon."

The wonders of thisiswhyyourefat.com never end, and while my prospects are bleak long-term, I can console myself with the fact that I'm not trying to shove this through my arteries.

I call the Falkland Islands!

Found at boingboing.net.

Today was quite a toasty one.

(http://www.flickr.com/photos/oskay/472097903/)

And it reminded me that I've been really busy neglectful elsewhere lately.

There's a reason stressed is desserts spelled backwards.

(http://www.flickr.com/photos/carolynpom/317006596/)

Oddly enough, I'm not even officially supposed to be stressed. I should be relaxing. I should be tanning, damnit. Instead, it's rainy and gross outside, and I'm missing my chance to develop melanoma like the rest of my age set because apparently vacation has been cancelled.

(http://www.flickr.com/photos/banana2000/2229693077/)

If this keeps up, I'm picketing.

I've been having some strange dreams lately, and in all of my dreams, there's some kind of water. Also, tigers. I keep dreaming that tigers are coming to get me, which I think is caused by sleeping under too many blankets in the early summer.

1. I rode a horse into a park, where I was supposed to pick up trash, and then to a stream lined with garbage where little goldfish were swimming. I then saved someone from being dragged into the stream by a really angry shark/fish.

2. I was touring a college, when it turned into a foggy island, and my friends and I played in the strangely calm lake. No hungry fish there.

3. I was in a jungle, trying to cross a river using a bunch of mattresses because there were tigers in the water, when I turned around and looked in the water and there was a huge fish that looked just like this one;

(http://www.flickr.com/photos/digital_di/862362296/)

I also had this dream where I woke up thinking it had changed my life or outlook in some fundamental way, but now I can't remember what actually happened. It probably had something to do with Infinite Jest, which I just finished reading.

When I was a little kid I had one dream; to move to Nevada and ride horses. I'd read about all the wild horses out on the prairie, and Wild Horse Annie, so I thought I'd just move out there, buy myself a pony, and set up a ranch. Little did I know that that dream wouldn't last (partially because there's almost no wild horses left), but I still want to go to Nevada, because I have a new dream; VEGAS.

(http://www.flickr.com/photos/my_vegas/3584205071/)

Now I want a different kind of mustang, so I can explore the casinos, Bond-style.

(http://www.flickr.com/photos/my_vegas/3610623992/)

Road trip!

I'm bidding on something on ebay. It's my first bid ever, and I'm so stressed out. I'm getting all competitive, and excited, and jumpy, because I can just imagine that at any minute I'm going to get outbid and then my internet will crash and I'll lose. Breathe. Breathe.

My first theory is that just as the bidding time is ending, some jerk is going to swoop in and outbid me before I can refresh the page fast enough. This makes me nervous.

I think I like ebay though. I feel like I'm earning what I buy, like wildly bidding on things validates my consumerism. It's like I'm hunting for my things, where the internet is a metaphor for the jungle, and I'm a hunter. It's meaningful. And hardcore.

I've been thinking of starting a twitter account. My zine is dying, strangled by copyright laws and publication costs, and I'd like to try expressing myself in telegram form. I can just imagine the profound thoughts I should be able to share.

"WONDERING WHETHER ASTRONAUTS IN SPACE CAN SEE THE STARS DYING STOP WOULD LOVE TO HANG OUT IN A SPACE STATION EAT A MILKY WAY AND WATCH THE REAL ONE STOP"

"HATE CEREAL STOP PANCAKES CAN SUCK IT TOO STOP"

"HE REMEMBERS EATING CHINESE FOOD ON THE STORMY BEACH WHEN INSIDE THE RESTAURANT WAS TOO HUMID FOR THE SCALLION PANCAKES AND DAMN TWITTER STOP NOT ENOUGH SPACE fOR MY OPUS STOP"

And if that doesn't work, I'll do a vlog and pretend to be in a secret cult. That should be fun.

I watched a movie about the spiritual element imbued in the culture in India, the ideal of the yogis, to become free from human cares and worries, physical and mental. According to the yogis, nothing in life is real, and they believe this to such an extent that some of them have mastered the art of walking around in the Himalayas barefoot, because they can direct the circulation of their body temperature.

Something in this appeals to me. There's a strong part of me that wants to embrace this detached state, to shed my skin and come out a new person, without any trace of scorn, or dislike, or jealousy.