Nintendo Choir!

So a while back I came across this YouTube video. It's quite remarkable how these people can actually sound like the video games (old school Nintendo).

Take a couple minutes out of your busy day, and listen to the Nintendo Choir!



Laterz

5 Stages Of Facebook Addiction

I wrote the following piece back in October 2007. I had been on Facebook for half a year at that point. Looking back it, I see it's most still acurate.
I would add a little more recent info about cell phones though. We no longer need to go home to log into Facebook. We can access it on our phones, or just log in at work (if you don't have that site blocked at work of course). >br> I think most of what I wrote is still pertinent though. So take a read and see what you think.


5 STAGES OF FACEBOOK ADDICTION

With Facebook being such a common word these days, I did a little soul searching and found I have gone through 5 stages of Facebook addiction thus far.
These stages, from what I gather, may be specific to my age group, since part of the stages involves searching for old high school friends.
Those who are a lot younger may have found stage 4 clumped in with stage 2 from my list, but only because your friends may include a lot of high school friends still.

Anyway, here are the 5 major stages I've gone through:

Stage 1 - Experimenting - This is the first stage where you are just getting to know what Facebook is all about. You will add a few friends, and maybe a few applications as well. It's fun, but you're not yet into it full time. This stage is a crap shoot for how long you last in it. There are too many factors to list.

Stage 2 - Addiction - This is when you start adding friends like crazy (and searching through your other friend's lists for people you know so you can them as friends too), and you're catching up with old friends you haven't seen for years.
You are messaging friends, poking friends, superpoking friends, and joining groups. You are intrigued by the pictures people have on their Facebook profiles, and spends time looking through people's photo albums. This stage usually means you are spending every waking moment on Facebook.
This stage will last anywhere from 2 weeks, to 2 months.

Stage 3 - Coasting - You've now been on Facebook a while, and your friend list isn't growing exponentially anymore. You will log into Facebook a few times a day to check pokes, check messages, and do a few house-keeping activities.
You may spend the odd long session, but you've over-Facebooked yourself in stage 2, so you aren't as fanatical anymore.

Stage 4 - High School - This is the stage where your friend list starts to gather some older momentum. You may happen to find an old high school friends, and your addiction start anew. You keep finding old high school friends and adding them. You also send out pretty much the same message to all of them: "Hey, how have you been? It's been like XX years since I saw you. What have you been up to? Married? Do you have kids? Where are you working these days? We should get together for some drinks soon."
So each of those messages will go back and forth a few times, after which you probably haven't messaged that person again since.
This stage is likely your 2nd addiction, and lasts slightly shorter than stage 2, anywhere from 2 to 4 weeks.

Stage 5 - Complacency - You now have way too many friends in your list, and keeping up with everyone will never happen.
You poke people daily, and they poke you back.
You have tons of applications, most of which you've only used once or twice. Though, you now have 2 or 3 applications which you spends a lot of time on....maybe Scrabulous, Trivia of some sort, Superpoking etc.
You start leaving some of the 35 groups you've joined, realizing some of them are just plain stupid, and serve no purpose.
At this stage you are not really addicted, but Facebook has become a part of your daily routine. You don't necessarily crave it, and you may find you have the urge to get home quick so you can log into Facebook.


That's It! So as I mentioned earlier, this was from almost 5 years ago. Cell phones have come a long way obviously, and there may be a few minor differences in my list, but it's pretty much the same for the most part.




Laterz

MCA - Adam Yauch - RIP!

Adam Yauch (of Beastie Boys), or MCA as he is mostly known, has died at the age of 48. He was being treated for cancer.

You can read the whole article from Rolling Stone HERE.

I remember hearing the Beastie Boys when they released their first albuum, Licensed to Ill.

Awesome I thought!

Yeah they made some good music, that's for sure.

Sad to hear the news.

So for all those who don't know much about Adam and the Beastie Boys, here's a few videos for you to check out!

You Gotta Fight, For Your Right, To Party



Intergalactic



So What Cha Want



Sabotage



Laterz

Fast Hands - Chapter 1

Here is a small first chapter of a story I've wrote a little while back, called Fast Hands.

Nothing too fancy, and I'm by no means a professional writer. So read it with that in mind please.

I'll post more chapters down the road.

Fast hands.

That's what his brother remembered about Tommy.

Not that he was a great baseball player, and could hit the ball over the fence every time.

Not that he could outrun almost anyone on the block.

Not that he could maneuver his raleigh, with banana seat and long curved handle bars, around any obstacle course in his way.

No. His brother said he had fast hands.

In fact, if you asked any kid on the block what they remembered most about Tommy, 9 out of 10 would say he had fast hands.

And it was true. Tommy did have fast hands. Fastests hands on the block!

"How did you know Tommy?" Asked a reporter.

"Um, like he was in my class, and we walked home the same way every day" replied Lukas. He paused for a few seconds, then "he, like he's not here anymore. But I don't know where he went to."

The reporter cut to another child, one who was much bigger and brawnier, and was obviously ready to tell his own take on the situation. "Did you know Tommy Porter?"

"Ya I knew that guy. I seen him all the time at the playground," said the lumbering beast. "He wasn't really tough or anything, I mean I beat him all the time in arm wresting. I can beat pretty much anyone. And I beat him all the time."

Beast went on "But he did have fast hands. Like they were super fast." He chuckled a little, and continued "It was freaky how fast he could move his hands. They were so blurry and jumk. I couldn't even see them sometimes they were so fast."

"And so it would seem" chirped the reporter, "that Tommy did indeed have fast hands. Fastest hands on the block according to most. This is Darv Misco for WTFH, reporting live from Kensington Heights."

"Aaaaand you're clear" said a tech with big ear muffs on, holding a boom mic.

"I think that went well, don't you?" Darv said matter-of-factly.

"Yeah, it was fine." The tech sounded a little confused, however.

"What's up Binky, what's the problem?"

Binky (his real name was Charles Prewett, but everyone called him Binky) stared back at Darv with a blank look on his face, which lslowly turned to bewilderment. Then, he asked "well, don't you even wonder what happened to that Tommy kid? Like where there hell is he? He's been missing for 3 weeks now, and all anybody can talk about is his damned fast hands.......where the hell is this kids?"

Binky's question resonated with Darv, and he paused for a moment of contemplation before answering.

"I just report the news Binky, I'm not a fortune teller. I don't know where the kid is. But as long as he's missing, there's some good interviews to be had".

Binky rolled his eyes about the Earth=shattering revelations which had just come from the kids Darv had interviewed. Obviously this was high quality news reporting. Not, he thought.

"We'll come back next week" he crossed his fingers as if to say he hoped the boy would still be missing then. "There's bound to be some more gossip by then. Maybe we can get an interview with his mother or father too!"

Darv and Binky gathered their belongings, and made haste for the TV news van. It looked like rain was coming, and they wanted to get back to the station before it got to miserable out.

Tommy's brother was right. Fast hands indeed. Fastest hands on the block!

Now where exactly did his brother go?

He may not have figured that out yet, but Kenny was not going to give up just yet.

Not by a long shot.

Kids These Days!

Growing up in the 70's and 80's, I had ample time to watch movies and read books about the cold war, spies, those Russians! Etc.

I played outside with my friends, climbed trees, rode my bike, and skinned my knees.

All things that normal kids should do and love!

We (kids) weren't slaves to pc games, or cell phone apps yet.

I could probably count on one hand the number of evenings I stayed inside to watch TV, or play with my Merlin (if you don't know what Merlin is, search Google for "Merlin old toy").

We were children of the neighborhood. We knew our neighborhood. We could ride our bikes down the street and know exactly where the break in the curb was to jump our bikes onto the boulevard, and then over to the sidewalk.

We weren't afraid of strangers. We followed them, in fact. We would keep our distance, and herd them like sheep (we thought we were herding them. More likely the strangers were just walking exactly where they wanted to go, but we were sheep herders in our minds).

Take candy from strangers?......Hell Ya!! It's candy!! And the strangers back in my day weren't going to abduct you and haul you off somewhere to kill you. They were just giving you some candy.

We even had a Candy Man, and a Cookie Lady on our block. Each would allow you to stop by once per day to collect said goodies. Our parents knew about these 2 houses, and were not scared in the least that we would be poisoned, or would swallow sewing needles hidden in the cookies.

I think in a way we (my generation) were probably very lucky to have grown up in what arguably would be the last childhood without electronics, video games, computers, or smart phones getting in the way of our overall human development.

I am not trying to imply that today's youth are not developing necessary skills. But I do think they may have some deficits in some areas of development.

I think in-person communication has been lacking in more recent years, mainly due to people going on-line for their relationships, rather than nurturing ones IRL.

Nowadays people have ideas and imagination fed to them through console games, pc games, and smart phone apps.

It's like we've handed over our intellectual keys to the almighty tech gods. They in return dole out portions of electronic entertainment in bite-sized chunks. After all, we also have developed attention deficit disorder, so we can't process entertainment in large doses, or over long periods of time.

So what is the point of this post then? What am I trying to get at?

I don't know. I started writing and this is what came out.

I must be getting old, because I do shake my head in disbelief sometimes at what some kids do these days.

I think I am young enough not be shocked by anything yet. Cool enough to appreciate things the kids find cool. And old enough to know better than to try and act like a kid.


Join me tomorrow for what possibly could be another rambling post. Maybe I'll even have a point to make. :P

Until then, here are some mind-numbing videos to enjoy for no particular reason whatsoever.








Some Home Town Pride.....


Laterz

Par Qoui? Oh, Parkour!

Ever think about jumping from your third story balcony to the parking garage below?

Sure, we all have. But have you actually ever tried it? Unless you're reading this from your hospital bed, probably not.

A phenomenon known as "parkour" has swept our athletically gifted, and often intellectually challenged youth into trying grandiose feats of jumping and flipping off of things (I'm not sure how else to describe it, until you watch the videos).

For those who excel at this new "sport", I tip my hat. Some of the acrobatics involved are quite amazing. I sometimes have the thought of attempting some of these outrageous tricks, but then remember I am a forty-something not-in-quite-as-good-of-shape-as-I-used-to-be person, and the thought expires.

I first came across a video of some guys jumping around a set of staircases a few years ago. But from what I remember, there was no tag or name associated with the behavior. Now it seem these videos are everywhere.

I do realize after some rudimentary research, that Parkour and Freerunning have been around for some time.....just not in the limelight.

I doubt this will ever make it into the mainstream sporting world. But maybe one day we will see an X Games version.

You never know.

I will leave you will a few videos on the subject, as well as a parody video on the subject.

Sit back and enjoy!

parkour


Parkour and FreeRunning


Parkour - David Belle - Yamakasi


Extreme Parkour Ahhhhh!!


Parkour


Crash Parkour 2


Parkour Parody



Laterz

I LOVE BACON!!!

Since I love bacon soo damned much, I thought I would share some of the ridiculously great bacon videos I've found.

Say what you will, but bacon rocks, and if you don't think so.....you're not my friend any more! :P





Chicken Fried Bacon

Huge Bacon Eating Contest In Boston
Egg and Bacon Ice Cream

Bacon-wrapped chicken legs stuffed with sausage and pistachios

Worlds largest homemade bacon cheeseburger

Good Eats S5E5P2: Scrap Iron Chef - Bacon Challenge

Bacon Wrapped Shrimp

Deep Fried Bacon

The Simpsons movie Spider Pig & Homer

Oh, and here's a must-see site for all of you bacon lovers out there! http://www.baconunwrapped.com/



Laterz

Sidney Crosby - Rookie!

Do you collect hockey cards?

I do.

And if you do collect cards, you likely know that Crosby rookie cards are in high demand.

Check out the following link to an article from Nick Tylwalk at about.com.

Crosby Rookie Cards

And here is the list of Rookie cards from Nick's article:

•Beehive # 101
•Black Diamond # 193
•Hot Prospects # 276 - autographed jersey card #'d to 999
•Parkhurst # 657
•SP Authentic # 181 - autographed, #'d to 999
•SP Game Used # 101 - #'d to 999
•SPx # 191 - autographed jersey card #'d to 499
•The Cup # 180 - autographed jersey card #'d to 99
•UD Artifacts # 224 - #'d to 750
•UD PowerPlay # 133
•Ultimate Collection # 91 - autographed, #'d to 299
•Ultra # 251
•Upper Deck # 201
•Upper Deck Ice # 106 - #'d to 99
•Upper Deck MVP # 393
•Upper Deck Rookie Update # 276 - #'d to 199
•Upper Deck Trilogy # 211 - #'d to 999
•Upper Deck Victory # 285


Laterz

God, Inc

Sometimes I just love stuff because I find it extremely clever and funny.

Surfing around the web, and specifically YouTube, you can find all sorts of great, clever, and funny videos.

A few years back, I came across a series entitled "God, Inc" which I find to be extremely hilarious!

God, Inc is based on the premise that heaven is like an office. There are numerous departments, such as disasters, miracles, product development, and population control.

There are 6 episodes in the series, and there were rumors it was going to be made into a pilot, and possibly a series on the Sci-Fi Channel.....but I didn't see that come to fruition.

I would love to see this series made into a tv show, I think it would have the funny-factor that The Office has.

But don't let my skewed judgement sway your opinion. You can watch all 6 videos here, and judge for yourself just how awesome God, Inc is!!

God, Ic - Episode 1

God, Ic - Episode 2

God, Ic - Episode 3

God, Ic - Episode 4

God, Ic - Episode 5

God, Ic - Episode 6


And check out the Wikipedia page about God, Inc when you have a moment as well.

Laterz

Doin' It A Capella!

Back in 1989, Spike Lee started recording something called Do It A Capella.

He brought together some pretty amazing artists to make an album of striclty A Capella music.

For those who have no idea what I'm talking about, according to Wikipedia, A Capella (Italian for "in the manner of the church" or "in the manner of the chapel") music is specifically solo or group singing without instrumental sound, or a piece intended to be performed in this way.

So, Spike got all of these aritsts together, and made an album, and a video called Spike Lee's Do It A Capella.

I love A Capella music. I was even part of an A Capella group called Loose Change (formerly called The Kool Tones) which was formed back around 1988. We sang for a number a years, busking on street corners, sing on telethons and TV shows (like Late Night With Bundy, and the Jaret Sereda Show), and singing at kids parties.

We even made a special trip to Canada's Wonderland to audition as a singing group for summer jobs. But we didn't end up getting the job as a group. They did offer us jobs as roving singers (individual singers). We would have to wear costumes and sing throughout the day. But none of us took the job.

Now I don't think we even became as good as some of the groups I'm about to showcase for you, but we were pretty good I thought.

I will endeavor to post some recordings of Loose Change in the future for you.

But for now, please enjoy a few selections from Spike Lee's Do It A Capella. You can also search on YouTube for these videos, and watch all of the remaining ones too!

Rockapella - Zombie Jamborie (with a short 2 minute intro to the whole series)



True Image - I Need You



Rockapella with True Image - Under The Boardwalk



Mint Juleps - Your Love Keeps Liftin' Me



Laterz

Draw Something?

Draw Something, an iPhone app, is wuite popular these days. People are wasting more and more time at work because of this game.

Like most other popular apps, they become popular quite fast, and usually burn out just as fast.

Some stick around for longer periods, ad if that happen, then they usually spawn out-of-app web sites and companion apps.

Check out some crazy-amazing pictures people have drawn using this app!!

http://bestofdrawsomething.com/

Laterz

Smallest In The World!

While surfing the other day, I came across some info about the smallest city hall in America.

That got me thinking what other things people have identified as the smallest of.

Well, here are a few of the world's smallest things, with the accompanying video, picture or link:

Smallest City hall
Maskell, Nebraska
120 square feet

Smallest Web Site
http://www.guimp.com

Smallest Country - Vatican City - 0.2 square miles



Smallest Cat
Mr Peebles, from central Illinois.

Smallest Museum
In Superior, Arizona, with only 134 square feet of space, this is is pretty small indeed. http://www.worldssmallestmuseum.com/

And as you head out, check out this video about some other small animals:

Laterz

More Seinfled!!!

A couple days ago I posted a Seinfeld video from YouTube.

I thought I would follow it up today with the next video in the series, but the user who uploaded the video has disabled embedding for the rest of the videos in the series.

So I am relegated to posting the links instead.

So here are the other links in this series of videos:



Part 2
http://youtu.be/Go5g96vKF1U

Part 3
http://youtu.be/tsdYckwR1qc

Part 4
http://youtu.be/T6FRtMi9NWI

But I won't let you leave without at least 1 good embedded video.

So here is a blooper reel from season 3 as you head out...



Laterz.

I Love Bacon!

I Love Bacon!

Anyone who knows me, knows this fact. It's probably one of the first things people find out about me.

Now I don't claim to be the biggest fan of bacon in the whole world, as it should be fairly evident from talking to me that I am.

I don’t profess to possess the most knowledge of bacon, because I shouldn't have to mention something which is fairly obvious once you speak to me about bacon.

I don't brag that I can cook bacon to perfection every single time, but I can of course, and everyone knows it.

I would encourage everyone to indulge in their salty tooth, and have some bacon at every meal.

But, I cannot condone this next video.

Burger King had a promotion in Japan where they were selling 15 pieces of bacon for 100 Yen (about $1.20 US). This video shows a guy who ordered a Whopper with 1050 pieces of bacon on it!

I would argue that it's too much bacon (gasp). Not only will he not eat all of the bacon, but that bacon, unless consumed by others, will go to waste.

Waste not, want bacon I always say.

Be reasonable. Order 150 slices and be done with it. 150 slices would be a very substantial amount of bacon for anyone,

So check out this video, and let me know how much bacon you think you could eat in 1 sitting!



Laterz

Busy Day

I had a very busy day. Not much time for blogging.

So I will leave you with a link to my favorite TV show of all time.....Seinfeld!

Enjoy!



Laterz

Toys Of Yesteryear!

Today i got to thinking about some old toys I used to have.

There plenty of cool toys that evryone wanted.

Here are a few pics fo some of the old toys from back in my day.

And check out this old commercial as you head out.

Google Project Glass!

So this video has been making the rounds on the 'net. If you've seen it, then you know what I'm talking about.

If you haven't seen it, now's your chance.

Interestingly, I heard the background song on an episode of Cougar Town a couple weeks ago. It sure didn't take long for those producers to pick up on the "buzz" on the 'net and take advantage of it.

It's the newest Beta Test from Google called Google Project Glass (most people on the 'net are calling it Google Glasses though).



Funny too, how once you've watched the video, one of the first things you do is try to find out what that song is playing in the background.

Well it's by an English music producer named Stephen Wilkinson, better known as Bibio. A quick search on YouTube will bring up a slew of his music. If you like thjat sort of music, he's got some pretty good stuff.

Here's the full song called Lover's Carvings

.....Laterz.....

Rewinding Cassette Tapes!

I thought I would throw this last one up as well.

Kids of today would have no idea the other use for a bic pen was for rewinding cassette tapes!!

Video Games!

I grew up the 70's and 80's.

In the 70's, my friends and I were outside a lot. We would play in the community park behind our house, ride our bikes, play hide-n-go-seek, have soccer games with all the kids in the neighborhood, etc.

Seldom was there an evening when we would be inside after supper.....unless it was to play Dungeons & Dragons of course. :P

But in 1982, my dad brought home something interesting.....an Intellivision!!!

WOW!!! My sister and I were blown away! A real video game system?! It was all of our dreams come true!

We had for a while been playing a little here and there on other friends' Atari systems, and thought they were amazing! Never did we think our dad would surprise us with an Intellivision!

Thus started my love of video games. We would play our Intellivision for hours in the evenings and on the weekends. My dad even got into the routine, and had a couple favorite games that he wasn't half bad at (Night Stalker was one I remember he particularly liked).

My progression through the video game system world did not progress as fast or as often as some of my other friends, however. Some would have a new system every 2 years (You could go from Atari, to Intellivision, to Colecovision, to Atari 2600, to Nintendo, to Sega Genesis etc.....all the way through the Playsation, Game Cube, and X-Box stages).

At some point it was computers which caught my eye, and remained my favorite over the game systems.

I do still own the original Intellivision we got back in 1982. I also have an original Atari system, and my Sega Genesis console which I bought 2nd hand in the mid-90's.

Today, I am pretty much a PC-Gamer. I bought a gaming laptop a few years ago, and it still stands up to the rigors of the new games coming out today.

If you would like to read about the history of game consoles, Wikipedia has a good page HERE.

And as you head out, here's a blast from the past!



I love these graphics!!!

The Wild, Wild West!

3 killed, and 8 wounded in a shooting at a cockfight in Texas!

WHAT???

Does this stuff really happen? The cockfight that is, not the shootings.

I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised, when there are still those who breed and fight dogs as well.

The strange part of that story today was the following sentence; "Masked gunmen killed three men and wounded eight others when they opened fire on an illegal cockfighting ring in southern Texas, the local sheriff said Thursday."

Oh, and ILLEGAL cockfighting ring. As opposed to the legal ones in South Dakota?

It's odd, but what I find is the media uses the word "illegal" to describe actions and things which are not quite mainstream illegal activities. It's as if the reader would not know that cock fights or dog fights are actually illegal.

You don't often read about the arrest of "illegal" drug traffickers. Or that they found a stash of "illegal" marijuana!

We already know it's illegal, they don't need to tell us.

Why am I writing about this subject today? No reason other than it struck me as a little funny.

You can check out whole story Here.

And have a gander at this as you head out....



Laterz