You ever see those automated check-out counters in the super-market
(like Albertson's)?  I've never used one of those before so I
decided to try it out, since I only have one item.  It's a pretty
cool setup actually.  It first asks if you want it in english or
spanish.  Then it tells you to scan your items, and then tells you
to put it in one of the bags that is on a weigh machine. 
Afterwards it tells you to choose your form of payment, like cash,
credit card, ATM, etc...  Originally I was going to pay through
credit, but I noticed that the cash machine is set up to except bills
and coins.  So I decided on cash, since my item was only
$4.62.  I had four $1 bills, two $0.25 and a bunch on pennies in
my wallet.  So I put in the bills, the quarters, and proceeded to
put the pennies I had.  Unfortunately, I was short three pennies
for full payment, so I had to put another dollar bill.  I got my
change from the coin dispenser, got my receipt, and picked up my item
that's in the bag.  So how long do you think that took me,
compared to just going to a register with a clerk manning it?

You ever try to call a radio talk show before?  For the first time
ever, I actually tried.  The show I was going for was "the John and Jeff show,"
which is a talk show specifically for the 3rd shift work hours. 
The main topic of the show was commentary about this 29 year old woman
who apparently molested an 8 year old boy, and the other main topic was game
recommendations for the videogame systems xbox &
playstation2 because the host Jeff just bought them.  What a combination of topics ey?  Considering
my recent encounter with the hosts of xplay, I'm sure you can guess
what I was calling for. 

Originally I was reluctant to call and was acting overtly shy about
doing it.  But then I started hearing calls from people who were
handing out some unworthy information to the hosts of the show. 
Considering the hosts admited that they don't know anything about the
video game world, it's unfortunate that these were the kinds of calls
they were getting. Callers would recommend some games but then would
give them misleading
information of what the games are about (I guess they just don't know
how to choose their words properly).  The topic about videogames
and the military came up, but what was said was quite misguided from
some callers.  Piracy of videogames came up, and some of the
callers actually said that they don't really exist, when considering
that I know for a fact that they do.  There was also a strong push
in recommending Halo 2, which was to be expected since November 9 is
Halo TWOsday.  So after hearing all that, I was convinced that I
had to call.

The first couple of attempts were busy signals, but I did get a ring
and got a hold of the screener.  He asked me what I was going to
be talking about and then put me on hold.  So I started hearing
the radio from my phone as I was on hold.  Next thing I know I got
silence.  I checked my phone to see if I was still connected, and
I was.  I turned on my radio again to hear what I couldn't hear
from the phone.  One minute goes by without sound and I checked my
phone again to find that I was in fact disconnected.  I called
back and told the screener that I was disconnected.  He then told
me that he can't put me on anyway because of the volume of calls they
presently have on hold as it is.  He asked me what my game
recommendations were to pass on the hosts, I told him and he thanked me
for calling.

wow, I was almost on the radio.  Maybe I will try this again in the near future.

randombomb

aarrgghh! Godzilla is attacking my xanga (link)

Man tries to convert lions to Jesus, gets bitten (link)

it's PiPi Max! (video)

Who will save rock? (link)

bikini girls fight on balance beam (video)

beware of...cat? (pic)

the sexiest music video remix (flash)

condom clothes (link)

they came to attack us (video)

subtle safety defensive ring (link)

motorcycle roller coaster (pics)

even legos need a place to worship (link)

dude falling (flash)

theatrical contact lenses (link)

So me and my friends went to check out this book signing at the Grove
in Beverly Hills.  It's the book signing of the hosts of G4TechTV's X-Play,
Adam Sessler and Morgan Webb.  What's funny was that they didn't
really advertise much that they were going to be there.  Their
website doesn't really have much on it.  The Grove's website
doesn't have it listed in their events.  The venue that they have
it at (Barnes & Nobles) doesn't have it listed either.  I
actually was able to hear about it only because it was mentioned on the
Screen Savers, which is another show from G4TechTv.  Luckily
though, I'm glad that they didn't make a big deal about it, because
there wasn't really any room for anymore than 50 people.  In fact,
that was about how many showed up.

When they arrived they quickly did a question and answer session for
about 20 - 30 minutes.  Some of the questions were pretty geeky
though, like "when is Kingdom Hearts 2 coming out?" "What is your
favorite console?" or "do you think Halo 2 is going to be better than
the first one?"  I mean c'mon, are those some questions you really
want them to answer?  There were also an unecessary amount of
Final Fantasy related questions too, that were sooo bordering on
over-nerdiness.
Ofcourse they weren't all stupid questions like those, as some people
asked questions that actually dwell more into Adam and Morgan's history
/ personalities.  Some questions like "how did you get into the
show?" "what did you start out from, what college, degree?" "Do they
think video games are getting easier compared to the old days?" 
One question even got Adam Sessler to go "now, that's a really good
question." and guess who asked that question.  Yeah, that's right,
ME! bwahahahaha I asked them what
their opinions are about the upcoming Nintendo DS and Sony PSP. 
They talked about their opinions about the two handhelds, and it
basically broke down to the fact that the technology for the DS is
very innovative and exciting, while the PSP has too many question marks
around it that causes some concern.

After the question and answer session, they did some trivia for
t-shirts. After that they went to the book signing.  My friend
bought the book, so he got it signed, but all three of us went up to
meet them.  We talked with Adam about a couple of things, and I
even got to make fun of him a little, which is to be expected
ofcourse.  For some reason, we actually did not say much to Morgan
Webb!  It's not that we were intimidated or anything, it's just
for some reason it was mostly on Adam that we talked about. I know
there were a couple of things that I would have wanted to say to
Morgan.

Well we took a couple of pictures and we were on our way.  I've
got to say that they were really cool.  They talked and acted like
they usually do on the show.  They really come off as people who
you would just want to hang out with, especially if you are into
videogames. All in all, it was pretty cool, and I will be on the look
out for another one of their appearances that I can attend.
 

Another plus from the experience was that we got to visit a new
shopping and dining place that we've never been to before.  The
thing was at the Grove at Beverly Hills, and it was really a nice posh place to hang out at.  Right next to it though is the Farmer's market,
which specialized in many dining options and the usual tourist gift
shops.  We even bought a sign placard for my friend from there,
which we thought was pretty appropriate (License to Bitch - you know
which one that was for).  Definitely a place I would like to go
back to (Ruthy, I'll take you there when you come back to visit).

So, I recently watched the movie "Mean Girls" with Lindsey Lohan, and
I've got to say that it was actually pretty good.  Based on the
trailers and such, I thought it was going to be your stereotypical high
school teen comedy, but it turned out to be much more than that. 
It was smartly written and had an interesting set of characters. 
The characters drove the plot of the movie, and not the other way
around (which is what most teen comedies do).  I originally did
not want to watch it when it came out in theaters because of my initial
preconception of what the movie was going to be.  That was even
though I heard that it was supposedly good.  I suppose that should
be my lesson into not thinking that just because a trailer makes a
movie look bad, doesn't mean the movie really is bad. 

... but then, I did go see Resident Evil 2, even though the trailer for it looked really bad as well.  Go figure.

extraordinary random links

Some stats on the voter trends (link)

Star Wars Episode III teaser (video)

Legos Rise of the Empire trailer (video)

Punch Out! (java game)

Movie Studios launch legal offensive against P2P users (link)

looks pretty neat (link)

Piano fun (video)

After you (video)

World's biggest skateboard (link)

Taiwanese politicians bitchslap! (video)

did you farted? (video)

Count the stars (flash game)

the gauntlet - Lego (video)

Morgan WEB OF DESTRUCTION! (video)

* update * no more than four hours after I posted the links for
SWEp3Teaser and Morgan Web clip, but they are now down. 
Sorry.  You can catch the official unveiling of the Star Wars
episode III teaser trailer right before the movie "The
Incredibles."  As for the Morgan Web clip, eventually the xplay
website will have it available for download.

*2nd update* new Star Wars ep3 teaser link - http://www.dtheatre.com/read.php?sid=2791

You ever accidentally leave your ATM card in the machine?  For the
very first time, I have.  So the story goes is that I went to the
ATM to withdraw some money, then afterwards I thought "hhmm, I need
some stamps.  I believe this ATM allows you to buy stamps from
it."  So I took out the stamps and was thinking "cool, I never
have to go to the post office for stamps," and took off.  I get
home, I open my wallet to take out the receipt and I noticed a slot
that's empty that I was sure should have something in it.  oh
look, chocolate! *munch - munch* yeah, I got distracted from my train
of thought.  Afterwards, I go to the mall to buy a couple of
items, and once again I open my wallet and noticed the empty
slot.  This time my brain's gears were finally moving and I was
deep in thought of what should be in it.  After a minute (yes it
took me that long) I realized what should be in it.  So my mind
goes backwards and starts thinking about where it could possibly be.
(key Jeopardy music) The ATM!  But that was over an hour
ago.  So I get in my car heading for the bank that the ATM's
at.  The bank's still open so I went in and asked if they found a
card that was left in the ATM.  THEY DID!  So they took my
identification, went to the vault, got some papers, I signed some of
them, and I got my card back. Apparently, if you don't pull out your
card, in 30 seconds the machine sucks it back in and puts it in a "left
item slot."  That's also the reason why the machine always sticks
your card back out after every single transactions you make.

so..... looks like Bush is going to get four more years. 
Unbelievable.  Democrats can't even blame this on "hanging chads"
or the electoral college, because it's all going for the big W. 
Apparently, the majority of the U.S.A. wants a leader like Bush, a
leader who is caught on a major lie (W.M.D.s) that cost people's lives,
and yet he is still going to win.  But that doesn't matter to
those who voted for Bush, because that's their boss, and they have to
back him up unconditionaly.  After all, this whole Democrats vs
Republicans thing has taken a gang mentality,
and the issues were never really the point but which side you are
on. 
That's kinda sad ey?

But here we are, Bush for four more years.  Abortion to be
illegal?  Maybe.  The draft to be used?  Once they
realize they logically have to use it for this war, quite
possibly.  More spending for the war that's going to put our
country in a depression?  It just might happen.  More
censoring in the public media?  Quite likely.  Are we going
to catch Osama Bin Laden?  I hope so.  Are countries around
the world going to continue to have a no-confidence attitude with
Americans?  For
sure.  I could make a whole list as to why Bush should not be the
U.S. President
anymore, but I think he is going to make my case for me in the next
four years. 

I'll leave you with this.  One of the reasons that George W. Bush
used to go to Iraq, is the 9/11 attacks on New York.  John Kerry
won NY.  What do you think that says?

Random election day

It's time to get funky fresh! (flash video)

Backyard wrestling means self-ownage (video)

pictures of drugs courtesy of the DEA (link)

ogre battle + lightning bolt (video)

squid's revenge (pic)

experiment of tape + cat (video)

be your own Sumo (link)

don't touch my car (video)

the AndreaMosaic program (link)

Road Blocks (flash game)

the evolution of Mario (link)

Dragon optical illusion (video)

Improv Everywhere + Virgin Megastore (link)

Improve Everywhere + Virgin Megastore (video)

Thinking Machine Chess (java game)

Normally I would post my random links today, but Nov 2 is too important for me to not plug who I'm voting.


VOTE for John Kerry 2004 !!! Vote for a fresh start for America !!!

Why? Primarily because I don't like Bush more.  Vote for the
lesser of the evils I would say. What did Bush do so bad that I don't
like him more than Kerry?  Simply put, I did not like how he
handled Iraq.  If anything else, that's my biggest beef with him.

The many years that Saddam was in power, how many times has he attacked
the U.S.? None.  In fact, under George Bush senior, the U.S. used
military power to stop Saddam's invasion of Kuwait, to show the world
that no country has the right to willfully invade another
country.  What happened a decade later? His son; George W. Bush,
uses military power to willfully invade another country. 

The planes that crashed into the World Trade
Center in New York, how many of those terrorists were Iraqis? None, as
the majority of them were from Saudi Arabia.  Why didn't we attack
them instead?  What was the reason we went to Iraq? Weapons of
Mass Destruction.  Did we find the WMDs? No, in fact it turns out
that it was just "a hunch" that Iraq had WMDs.  So we went to war,
causing many people to die and suffer because of a hunch, a theory, a
guess that Saddam had WMDs?  Yup, we apparently don't need solid
facts to attack people.  Here in the U.S. if the police needs to
go through somebody's home, they would first need valid facts and
evidence to get a warrant for permission to do so.  Why isn't that
basic idea applied to invading Iraq?

Remember that old quote, "nothing good ever comes out of war?" Well Bush provided us with a perfectly good example of that.

Did you know...

The Washington Redskins have proved to be a time-tested election predictor. In the previous 15
elections (since 1936),
if the Washington Redskins have lost their last home game prior to the
election, the incumbent party has lost the White House. When they have
won, the incumbent has stayed in power.

Guess what happened Oct 31. The final score was . . . Packers 28,
Redskins 14.  So I guess Kerry is suppose to win.  But the
pessimist in me believes that Bush is going to win anyway. We shall see.

We can always build a better Bush. (link)