Feeling Random Lucky

Internet body approves domain name big bang (link)

Water Powered Car (video)

Make John McCain exciting challenge (video)

painful mouth challenges (video)

Larry David: Help A Bald Brother Out (video)

epic ball-girl catch (video)

Internet Intervention - NSFW (video)

Animatronic Rap (video)

Realistic Hollywood Sex Scene (video)

Slap in the Facebook (video)

This past day, my wife wanted to celebrate her birthday at the Disneyland Resort. So we uhm, WENT TO DISNEYLAND! Actually we mostly stayed at Disney's California Adventure more than Disneyland park itself, but that's because there were two particular rides we wanted to get on that were in that park. Besides, despite the majority reaction by the people who go to both parks, I actually prefer to go to California Adventure than Disneyland. I know blasphemy.

First was the new ride that just recently opened up here, "Toy Story's Midway Madness," where you wear 3D glasses and shoot miscellaneous items from darts, hoops, balls, etc at the different objects on the 3D screen. This Toy Story ride was really fun, and it really warrants return visits in the future. I'll tell you this, for those who have been on the ride, it seems to have a little bit of bias towards men, because of the way you shoot your weapon, if you know what I mean *wink wink nudge nudge*. The other particular ride we got on was "Grizzly River Run," which with the heat here in SoCal, it's only appropriate for us to get on a ride that we can get wet in. For some of us in our party of 8, it was more soaked than wet, while my wife happened to seat at the "lucky seat" because she was the one that got the least wet. Heck it's her birthday afterall.

Other rides we went on were the roller coaster California Screamin which is always fun, the ferris wheel which could have been more fun if they did not stop so much, and Soarin Over California which is always pretty cool except for one particular scene that seemed really rough and motion sickness inducing. As for Disneyland, we went on Pirates of the Carribean, Haunted Mansion, Big Thunder Mountain, and Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters. I also had reserved a time to eat at the Blue Bayou, which is the restaurant you see inside the Pirates of the Carribean ride, and the food and service was really good.

If there is one thing that I really took home with me from this trip to Disneyland, was literally something that I took home with me. I bought a "Wheezy the Penguin" toy from Toy Story, and I was pretty much acting like a little 8 year old boy holding on to that for the rest of the day. In part because when you squeeze it, it squeeks, and wow was I having lots of cheap thrills with that. I was squeeking it constantly, and I can now see why my dogs like squeeky toys. hehe, it's just a cool plushy.

Recently, two well known computer software have released updated versions for public download. One is the popular free internet browser "Firefox," and the other is the popular free anti-virus software "AVG." I've been using those two software for several years now, and I've been very happy with them. Firefox 3 has seemingly subtle improvements over version 2, but whatever they did, using it really does "feel smoother and better." AVG 8 however feels a little bloated and was problematic to me when installing it compared to the previous version, although I am still currently sticking with, unless it proves to be more of a change for the worse (I hear "AVAST" is a good free anti-virus alternative).

Along with "ZoneAlarm Free Firewall," "Mike Lin's StartUpMonitor," and "Microsoft's Windows Defender," these five programs are pretty much what I rely on for security against viruses, spyware, adware, pop-ups, hacking, etc.. In fact, I can proudly say that I have never had any of those problems since I started using those five programs together. They are all free as well, which is a nice bonus.

Each one of them have specific beneficial purposes against attacks on your PC. Firefox has proven to be very effective in preventing malicious websites from infecting your PC, through means of pop-ups, activeX related attacks, and other such things (plus I like the add-ons that Firefox has). AVG detects computer viruses, and the most recent version now even detects spyware as well. ZoneAlarm prevents intrusions from unwanted sources through your internet connection. StartUpMonitor alarms you when a possibly suspicious program is attempting to run on your operating system. Finally since I use Windows XP (boycott Vista!), I figured that I may as well rely on Microsoft's very own anti-spyware software; Windows Defender; even though AVG has now added that to it's feature list.

The people that I've recommended these programs to use with their own PCs, have had similar success stories as well (as long as they keep the software updated of course). If you own a PC with a Windows OS and are reading this, I urge you to consider trying these software out if you haven't already done so. It's a good feeling using your computer and using the internet, without worrying about viruses, spyware, hacking, etc... Plus they are all FREE!

Firefox 3.0 internet browser
AVG 8.0 anti-virus software
ZoneAlarm Free Firewall
Mike Lin's StartUpMonitor
Microsoft's Windows Defender

*update* ignore ZoneAlarm Firewall, it's not necessary anymore. Just keep the standard Windows XP firewall set to "on."

Gotta Be Somebody's Random Blues

George Carlin - Seven Words - NSFW (video)

Shaq disses Kobe rap (video)

Robber Attempts Stickup With Palm Tree (video)

tim mcgraw almost fights drunk fan (video)

The Microfame game (link)

Tyke Tyson (video)

Wonka's Fizzy Lifting Drinks (video)

lady spins on escalators (video)

100 best movie posters? (pix)

Kid Rock 'Steal Everything' PSA (video)

Movies I've seen recently...

Get Smart (2008)  B+

Not exactly a spoof and it's not exactly a serious spy film either, but "Get Smart" is a little bit of both. What it is, is a very entertaining, exciting, and funny movie about a novice spy; Maxwell Smart who is played very well by Steve Carell, who braves through dangerous situations that he really has no experience in. That's part of the fun, seeing Maxwell Smart creatively get through those dangerous situations, even if he does it in a very unorthodox and mostly clumsy manner. Some of the circumstances that happened do take some suspension of disbelief however. Great cast, excellent comedic scenes, and exciting action sequences, "Get Smart" is just a good movie all around. The fans of the original TV series this is based on may complain about the changes made, but if they can get past that, they might just realize that this version is very fun in it's own right.

Futurama : The Beast With A Billion Backs (2008)   B-

Futurama has always been an animated series that pokes fun at our society, while having the setting be the crazy weird fascinating yet sometimes backwards future. "The Beast With A Billion Backs" continues that theme but raises the parody level to the point that things can be a little too self-aware for it's own good. This movie moves at such a fast pace with it's visual and verbal jokes, along with it's multiple plot lines, that watching this film can feel very schizophrenic. Futurama fans should enjoy "Beast.." but I'm afraid that the average movie-goer might get too lost and overwhelmed by it.

I Spit On Your Grave (1978)  C

One of the more notorious movies ever made, "I Spit On Your Grave;" also known as "Day Of The Woman," is infamous for it's rather lengthy gang rape scene. In addition to that, the woman takes revenge on her attackers with bloody violent extreme prejudice. It's an offensive and shocking movie for sure, but what surprised me is that there's an actual message being told here. Only worth seeing for it's historical place in movie history, or for those who can't get enough of this genre of exploitation films common in the 1970s.

http://www.dmv.ca.gov/cellularphonelaws/index.htm

Well California, are you ready? On July 1st, 2008, the new Cellular Phone law goes into effect. This is the direct result of lousy bad drivers who can't control their vehicles properly, because they were on their cell phone while driving. With this new law, people are suppose to get the incentive to use "hand free" devices or simply don't drive while on the cell phone unless it is an emergency. The penalty however is kind of weak, in that the first offense is $20 and $50 for subsequent convictions. With the addition of
penalty assessments, the fines can be more than triple the base fine
amount. I don't know about you, but in terms of money, that's not really putting the fear on people to care about the penalty fee. This is a little bit more of an issue with kids under the age of 18 though, because they now absolutely cannot drive while using a cell phone at all, hands free or not.

The truth of the matter though, is that even if a driver is using a hands free device, it still does not guarantee that the person won't get distracted anyways. With this new law, the cops will now have an additional reason to pull a car over besides speeding. I'm sure a lot of people aren't going to see that coming and will get quite the shock if they don't know about the "hands free law."

Electable Random (Give It up)

Credit card fees: Some gas stations say 'no more' (link)

Coldplay accused of plagiarism (video)

Drunk Mexican Wanders Onto The Highway (video)

dumb bus driver (video)

Fox Reporter Gets A Dollar Bill Stuffed In Her Bra (video)

Where is Matt 2008? (video)

The Best of TV News Lip Slips - NSFW? (video)

Dance Off with the Star Wars Stars 2008 (video)

Hitting on Girls That Clearly Are With Their Boyfriends (video)

ambidextrous pitcher (video)

oh what a sad state we seem to be in here in Southern California. It's a cliche subject already at this point, but whatever, IT'S HOT!!! It's wrong when the current problem right now with what seems to also be the case for a lot of people is that it's so hot to be inside our homes, but turning on the Air Conditioning is not an issue because of the energy/money that it'll use up. Die of heat stroke at home or pay the huge price of climate control? You'd think that was a no brainer. But no, we're just making do with what the electric fans can accomplish, which is pretty much a very very temporary relief from the heat. There was one night though where I pretty much yelled "No! I can't take
it anymore!" and turned on the AC for my home. I had to do something
productive at the time, but because it was so hot, my body just felt so
lazy to do anything.

We left our dogs; who normally stay in the house, outside in the yard, because it's clearly a bit a bit a bit more cooler outside than inside the house at this point. They have water, they have shade, they are better off. In fact right now, my brown dog is lying down inside the shade of our gazeebo, literally next to the water bowl. The white dog is nowhere to be seen it seems, so I'm hoping the brown one isn't hoarding the water bowl and not sharing it with the white one.

My laptop was on the whole morning, because it was running some
programs that I needed to run that whole time. After it was done, I was
asked to reboot the computer, but it would just stay shut down and not
start back up because my laptop was apparently too hot to turn back on! An overheating problem is not what you like to have with computers and electronics (I wonder how my xbox360 is going to handle the heat). My laptop is already well ventilated as it is (vented area underneath has additional space for air to circulate), but right now I have one of my electric fans pointed directly at it to cool it down as much as it can. After waiting 15 minutes, my lap top successfully booted back up, and inspired me to write this blog post.

We are still at the start of the summer heat too, so I'm hoping that this is the worse of it, although we know that's probably not true. To frankly put it, THIS HEAT WAVE SUCKS!

My heart wasn't in it when I went to the first day of the Vans Warped Tour at the Pomona fairgrounds in Southern California, and it's probably because after having two years straight of seeing Meg & Dia at this event, I was a little disappointed that they skipped this year. Like a lot of people who go to concerts though, I was one of those who was "pimping" a band who wasn't performing by wearing a Meg & Dia t-shirt. I showed up a little after 2:30PM instead of 1PM like I wanted to, but like I said, my heart wasn't in it. In fact, I was almost tempted to just skip the rest of the day and go home, because I was also a bit tired from only having about four hours of sleep, coming off my graveyard shift at work.

So Warped Tour... a lot of the same old same old here, with some new things. The attendance is still typically high school and college kids. Like previous years, the sun was up and the day was hot. Because of the heat, once again a lot of people were treating the event like a beach party, what with the shirtless guys and bikini tops / short shorts wearing girls. *sigh* I'm reminded at how old I am and how young I'm not. The Pomona Fairgrounds surprised me this year by actually having less dirt to contend with, as they had a lot more grass on the ground which a lot of people must have appreciated. The setup for the stages are about the same as previous years, except for the "Hurley" stage that was well off to the side corner of the main walkway to the main grounds, which confused a lot of people who at first couldn't find that place; like me.

There were only a few bands that I knew I really wanted to see, so my goal was to check out bands that I've never seen live yet, that I had some interest in. First up was "Beat Union" and I liked a couple of their songs, but they have a sound that wasn't going to really keep my interest in the long run. Same thing can be said of "Against Me," the "Horrorpops," and "Maylene and the Sons of Disaster."

"Katy Perry" however has a lot of potential to get really big, and I was really digging her stage presence and her songs. At one point Katy Perry got a fan to go up on stage, and I thought it was kind of funny when that fan overstayed her welcome on stage by being there for over 2 minutes, so they had to tell her to get off the stage. I wish she was on a bigger stage than the "Hurley.com" stage, because she drew a large crowd that I thought was worthy of one of the bigger main stages.

I ofcourse saw "The Color Fred," which I'm starting to really be a fan of, since I was first introduced to them earlier this year. I even took the time to say hi to Fred and took a picture with him, and I thought it was pretty cool when he told me that he remembered seeing me in the audience. I ended the night seeing the first half of "Pennywise's" set, before I decided that I was really ready to go home (after first roaming around the parking lot going "where the hell did I park my car").

An unfortunate common thread with the first day of Warped Tour was the poor sound quality in a lot of the stages. Katy Perry's set would have been even better if they raised the sound up a bit more than they did. In fact Pennywise vocalist Jim Lindberg was very very vocal about how crappy the sound was, and was blaming it on technical difficulties asking the Warped Tour organizers to "fix the problem." Jim Lindberg was a bit embarassed about it, telling the audience that they may as well just leave, and that they needed to practice a bit more but was glad that they have a lot of beer to drink.

I did a couple of things between seeing bands and just roaming around the place. Trying to stay cool from the heat, I bought several frozen lemonades and snow cones, which was probably not the thing I should have been abusing, since it kind of restarted my coughing problem that I was just getting over with. The heat was probably getting to me though, because at one point, after paying for my drink, I actually started walking away without picking it up from the vendor. I had a feeling I was missing something, so I looked back and saw that the vendor person was giving me this confused look. When I went back to pick up my drink, she must have been out in the sun too long as well, because she thought I paid for two drinks (I was honest though).

I stopped by to check out "Guitar Hero Mobile," which frankly shouldn't be a cellphone game, but I did get a free guitar pick out of it. Hanged out at the xbox360 Rock Band tent to get out of the heat and I played a song with some people even though we couldn't hear the music because the "main rock band stage" was soo loud. Probably one of the more significant things I ever did in one of these events is check out the "learn how to play guitar that isn't guitar hero or rock band" tent. For about ten minutes or so, I actually learned to play a song riff on a real guitar, which actually felt really good, and reminded me that I actually have a real guitar I own (hand me down from my big bro) that I could practice on. Got another free guitar pick out of that too.

Although I wasn't completely into the Vans Warped Tour this year, I think that if they continue providing this event at such a cheap price (a little over $20), it'll still be something I would go to every year. I completely forgot to bring my digital camera this time around however, so no videos for youtube this year, and all I got are cellphone photos that you can check out at this link below.
http://s68.photobucket.com/albums/i14/patrick005/concerts/warpedtour20080620/