Harry Potter and the...

Deathly Hallows

J.K. Rowling announced the title of the last book in the Harry Potter Series. Just so you know.

Mystery: Solution

It's a Mystery.
15 clues to solve it.
Solution: Superwoman and I bought this wonderful house!

Thanks to everyone who sent a guess. I hope it was fun!

Solution


Happy Holidays!

A Thanksgiving Treat from Dr. Mom

For winning the mystery, Dr. Mom has kindly agreed to bless us with one of her excellent posts! Enjoy!

MinneSnowta
By Dr. Mom
As some of you know, I live in Cul-de-Sac, just off the Original Wisteria Lane in the home that looks like a Castle. However, once upon a time, I actually lived in the frozen tundra called MinneSnowta.

Now, Sushiboy and Superwoman were smart enough to move to a land that actually has some landscape rather than to MinneSnowta. Smart move! I’ll be it was Superwoman’s idea all along, wasn’t it? Smart woman, however, she doesn’t spend nearly enough time in Cul-de-Sac controlling Sushiboy. Come for Sunday Tea, we’ll talk dear!

So, Sushiboy has graciously invited me to his domain to provide a guest post. As I understand it, the crux of this blog is food—I choose to disregard the Samurais portion as it just has no meaning or importance to me, and I am what matters! Therefore, I will take the liberty of introducing you to foods common to native MinneSnowtans.

First there is the infamous Lutefisk, pronounced Lu-te-fisk (just figure it out). This is a food brought to MinneSnowta by our Nordic ancestors from areas of Sweden, Norway, and Finland. Lutefisk is made from air-dried cod, which is soaked in cold water for nearly a week before one places it in a lye bath for another two days. If you ever wanted a serious enema, this is the way to go! This recipe is guaranteed to keep any unwanted relatives or solicitors from your door for approximately 30 days.

Hotdish, a hearty MinneSnowtan tradition. One may consider hotdish to be one of a variety of casserole dishes. Hotdish is a staple at traditional family gatherings, weddings, funerals, and a great many social gatherings. In, MinneSnowta, most gormet hotdishes include one secret ingredient, a can Campbell's Cream of Mushroom Soup. Families will safeguard hotdish recipes for generations and some Swedish grandmothers actually take their secret recipes to their graves (which isn't necessarily a bad thing).

Wild Rice is a very common ingredient found in a number of hotdish recipes and creamy MinneSnowtan soups. Many fine restaurants in MinneSnowta serve wild rice main dishes and as a side dish to garnish a beautifully prepared prime rib or tenderloin. MinneSnowtans have harvested wild rice near one of the 10,000 lakes for centuries. Guaranteed to provide the bulk and fiber required to keep you regular.

So, here is a start on MinneSnowtan foods. I have one of two challenges for Sushiboy’s readers, should you be man enough to accept,

1. Submit your favorite lutefisk, hotdish, or wild rice recipe
2. Submit your favorite lutefisk, hotdish, or wild rice experience (remember embellishment gains favor)

We will have a vote at the end of the week for the best recipe or story!

Mmmmm… now that’s good eatin’!

A Cookie

I got a cookie, its nummy.

(click on the cookie to see where I got it)

New Line's Foley

The world is full of idiots, thank goodness most of them flock to Hollywood leaving the world mostly unscathed. But occasionally a group get together and screw something up so badly that even I can't ignore it.

New Line studios has fired Peter Jackson!

Yes the creator of the 3 best movies to come out of Hollywood in years is canned. The reason? No word yet. But I'd be surprised if it isn't about the court case in which Wingnut Films is suing New Line. The basic gist of the case, Peter Jackson's company is promised a percentage of the gross profits from the 3 films. The Films gross a very larg sum (well into the billions). The money payed out to Wingnut is well less than what the percentage promised. Wingnut films has New Line audited to see what owed. New Line has used "shady accounting" to mask it's profits. Wingnut sues. New Line fires Jackson and company shortly after. New Line execs prove their diminished mental capacity in spectacular fashion.

I hereby nominate the Execs over at New Line for the infamous "Idiot of the Week" award as voted on in the cul-de-sac. They deserve it.

Edit: I thought I should clarify that Peter Jackson actually was never an employee of New Line. What I mean by "fired" is that New Line is going to make the Hobbit with out Peter Jackson as the Producer and Director. Bad Move.

Clue #15

It's a Mystery.
15 clues to solve it.
Final Clue: A House

Clue #15
Don't post your guesses in the comments, send guesses to sushiboyemail@yahoo.com.

Clue #14

It's a Mystery.
15 clues to solve it.
Todays Clue: A Logo

Clue #14
Don't post your guesses in the comments, send guesses to sushiboyemail@yahoo.com.

Clue #13

It's a Mystery.
15 clues to solve it.
Today's clue: A van

Clue #13
Don't post your guesses in the comments, send guesses to sushiboyemail@yahoo.com.

Do I creep you out.

Amy at Mish Mash posted this. So I, being the Weird Al fan that I am, have blatantly stole her idea and am posting the video too. Its awesome! To me it reminds me of the creepy song that Clay Aiken did a few years back, "Fly on your wall" , or whatever he called it. Al even sports an Aiken-like do. So I am really curious to know if that is what he was trying to hint at. Anyway enjoy the vid that I stole from Amy.

Edit: According to Al's website this is a spoof of Talyor Hicks, the last American Idol winner. I watched the video again and that is definitely a Taylor Hicks hairdo. My bad.

Do I Creep You Out

Clue #12

It's a Mystery.
15 clues to solve it.
Today's clue: No Picture, I haven't been able to find my camera. (yes that is a clue)

Don't post your guesses in the comments, send guesses to sushiboyemail@yahoo.com.

Been there done that

I found this little gem over at Tug's. Its a nifty little map where you can enter every state you have visited.


Despite what the map may show, I have never laid eyes on the Atlantic Ocean. The furthest east I have been is upstate New York/Penn around the Syracuse area.


Create your own personalized map of the USA

Nobody is Sick

Usually its a good thing when nobody that I know is sick. In this case it isn't. Nobody is sick, really sick. Get feeling better soon!

Clue #11

It's a Mystery.
15 clues to solve it.
Today's clue: Tons of boxes!

Clue #11

Don't post your guesses in the comments, send guesses to sushiboyemail@yahoo.com.

Mystery Solved

Dr. Mom has solved the Mystery and won a fabulous single post stay at From Sushi To Samurais. (should she choose to accept it of course)

I will continue to post clues for those that still want to play and as always you may send your guesses to sushiboyemail@yahoo.com. Which I hope you will because the answer is very exiting news!

Mystery: Clue #10

It's a Mystery.
15 clues to solve it.
Today's clue: More Boxes, stacks of them in fact.

Clue #10

Don't post your guesses in the comments, send guesses to sushiboyemail@yahoo.com.

Mystery: Clue #9

It's a Mystery.
15 clues to solve it.
Today's Clue: An aerial photograph of a residential neighborhood.

Clue #9
Don't post your guesses in the comments, send guesses to sushiboyemail@yahoo.com.

Mystery: Clue #8

It's a Mystery.
15 clues to solve it.
Today's clue: Another box.
This one has all of my Nintendo and Super Nintendo games in it. Some of the highlights: Final Fantasy III, Street Fighter II Turbo, Zelda I, Zelda II, Metroid, R.C. Pro Am, Exitebike and The Super Mario Brothers games from the period.

Clue #8

Don't post your guesses in the comments, send guesses to sushiboyemail@yahoo.com.

A Thursday Thirteen!

So the challenge on Casual Slack today was to not slack and post a Thursday 13. I know its a little wrong for a blog named "Casual Slack" to be challenging us. But I'm too lazy to argue :)

13 basic facts about me

1. I'm 29 years old
2. I've been married 6.5 years
3. We have 2 kids
4. We want 2 more kids
5. I was a Missionary for two years
6. I have worked with the handicapped(it didn't pay well enough to support a family)
7. I drove the short bus :)
8. I had two handicapped brothers
9. Of a family of six (parents and 4 kids), my sister and I are the only ones still living
10. I didn't like cooking or eating until a few years ago (I used to see both as a bother)
11. My favorite food is sushi (duh, you all know that)
12. My favorite televsion program is Iron Chef
13. I'm a geek, and I like it

Mystery: Clue #7

It's a Mystery.
15 clues to solve it.
Today's clue: A box.
(Try to look at the clues as a whole.)

Clue #7

Don't post your guesses in the comments, send guesses to sushiboyemail@yahoo.com.

You No Take Candle

If you have ever played World of Warcraft, you will probably appreciate this Pumpkin.

Happy Halloween!

Its Halloween, so pull you're best Halloween face!

Trick

Or

Treat

Superwoman made these cool costumes! (all but the pirate hat, hook and eye-patch) The kids will look styling when they are bumming candy off the neighbors.

Mystery: Clue #6

It's a Mystery.
15 clues to solve it.
Today's clue: a view.
What does it mean to you?

Clue #6

Don't post your guesses in the comments, send guesses to sushiboyemail@yahoo.com.

Mystery: Clue #5

It's a Mystery.
15 clues to solve it.

Clue #5
Don't post your guesses in the comments, send guesses to sushiboyemail@yahoo.com.

This concludes the five clues of the highest difficulty. Tune in tomorrow when I reveal the first clue of medium difficulty.

Mystery: Clue #4

It's a Mystery.
15 clues to solve it.

Clue #4

Don't post your guesses in the comments, send guesses to sushiboyemail@yahoo.com.

Mystery: Clue #3

It's a Mystery.
15 clues to solve it.

Clue #3
Don't post your guesses in the comments, send guesses to sushiboyemail@yahoo.com.

Mystery: Clue #2

It's a Mystery.
15 clues to solve it.

Clue #2
Don't post your guesses in the comments, send guesses to sushiboyemail@yahoo.com.

Mystery - Clue #1

It's a Mystery.
15 clues to solve it.
Winner* may write a guest post for From Sushi To Samurais, or have Sushiboy write a guest post on winner's blog (or both).


Clue #1
*Guest post subject to approval from Sushiboy. Don't post your guesses in the comments, send guesses to sushiboyemail@yahoo.com instead. Please only send one guess per day.

Dadguy, Bon, Nobody and Superwoman are, regretfully, unable to enter since they know the mystery. But each is still welcome to do a guest post if they wish.

Eragon

This post is for Superwoman. I'm sure she will be exited that this movie is coming soon!

I've fallen off the face of the earth.

Yes as many people have pointed out I am MIA, Fallen off the Face of the Earth or maybe otherwise kidnapped. I've been woefully busy lately and I will be awfully busy for the next few weeks. Darn. I'm not trying to ignore anyone and I am looking forward to my own return to blogging. I do have some exiting news and I even have a post in the works that I mean to publish in the next few days. Until then this meme that I was tagged with over a week ago will have to do. (Sorry I didn't see the tag Dr. Mom) :)

Four Real Jobs You've Had
1. Computer Programmer (current)
2. Advisor to the Mentally Disabled / Driver for the Mentally Disabled
3. Fruit Delivery
4. Insulation Installation

Four Fictional Jobs You Wish You had
1. Author!
2. Chef!
3. Game Designer
4. Teacher (if I had a good class)

Four Movies You Could Watch Over and Over Again
1. Lord of the Rings
2. Most James Bond Flicks
3. Most Jackie Chan Flicks
4. Clear and Present Danger

Four TV Shows You Love to Watch
1. Iron Chef
2. Good Eats
3. Frasier
4. Law & Order

Four Favorite Foods
1. This should be an easy guess!
2. Seafood and Pasta (in all its glorious interpretations)
3. Beef (Hamburgers/Steaks)
4. The many forms of Potatoes

Four Things You Won't Eat
1. over-cooked Broccoli/Cauliflower (I like them raw but there is a nasty flavor that comes out when they are cooked all the way through, if they are still firm I will eat them cooked)
2. Pastry, I don't really care for sweet pastries of any form.
3. Cheese that is made mostly of Oil (Velveeta, Individually wrapped cheese slices, nacho cheese etc..)
4. Strawberries because I am allergic to them.

Four Things in Your Room
1. Bed
2. An HT radio (a hand held amateur radio)
3. Comic Books
4. Magic Cards

Four Things You Wish You had in Your Bedroom
1. Master Bath
2. Hot-Tub
3. New Mattress
4. Central Air/Heating

Four Places I'd Rather Be Right Now
1. Writing a novel
2. Attending Culinary School
3. In my Dream Home
4. Japan

Four Fictional Places I'd Rather be Right Now
1. In a Utopia
2. Hogwarts
3. Middle Earth (preferably Hobbiton)
4. Quidditch World Cup

Four Fictional People with whom You'd Like to Have Dinner
1. Dumbledore
2. Gandalf
3. Ender Wiggin
4. Bilbo Baggins

I'm not tagging anyone.

Mets sweep!

The Mets beat the dodgers tonight, 9-5, to sweep the series. Payback for 1988! Yes, I did watch that series, I was only eleven and I've held a dodger grudge ever since. So the Mets will move on and go for the pennant and hopefully the World Series. I just hope their pitching will be up to the challenge (with no Pedro and no El Duque). Go Amazings!

Go Mets

The Mets just beat the Dodgers 4-1 to take a 2-0 lead in the NLDS! The series now moves to LA. Too bad I'm short on vacation, or I would try to go down and catch a game.

If George got his hands on Tolkien

This pretty much speaks for itself.

(its over 8 minutes long so you may want to make sure you have time to watch it before you start)


If your in the mood for some real weirdness you can check this out too.

The Wednesday Gourmet #1

I started a new blog devoted to food, The Wednesday Gourmet, go check it out! This week I'm cooking a sushi inspired dessert! The new blog will serve two purposes. First, it will keep all my foodie posts in one spot. Second, it will motivate me to write about (and cook) at least one nice meal a week. I'll still be keeping up From Sushi To Samurais, so keep tuning in!

Sick

I hate being sick. Been sick all week. Went to the doctor. Got medicine. Taken time off work. Still sick. Yuck.

Oh brother.

Let me apologize in advance for this.



Ok Star Wars meets Monty Python, I'm sorry, but it's funny.

Demotivation

I made my very own de-motivational poster at Despair Inc :-(. Kudos to the Dread Pirate Rackham over at CLUB PIRATE, for finding this cool little tool!
I hope you liked my poster, let me know what you think.

White and Nerdy Part 2

Ok so this is like 3 or 4 posts just for Weird Al. The video came out and I had to post it. This video cracks me up, I love the Donny Osmond cameo and the spoof of the Star-Wars-Kid.

Hot Dog!

Hot dogs have gone gourmet. There is the salmon hot dog that will run you about $3.50, which sounds pretty good. But when you spend $25 on one hot dog and suck it down with a $250 bottle of wine? Well that is taking things a bit far, don't you think?

YouTube 2

Hooray! YouTube listened to their fans and improved the horrible interface they introduced less than a week ago. Thx for listening to your fans YouTube!

Fabulous Cakes

The kids had their birthdays over the summer. I'm happy to report we made it through the birthday's and the requisite parties in one piece.

Here are some gratuitous cake pics.

This was Cakes' cake. Bon decorated this fabulous cake. Superwoman was going to help, but some unforeseen things came up the evening before the b-day party. So not only did Bon help Superwoman out of a jam, she also decorated this entire cake by herself! Why? Cause she's Bon and she's cool like that. Thanks Bon, Cakes loved it.

Superwoman did this next cake for Cookie Monster. Cookie monster is a huge fan of Scooby Doo. So this cake was another home run. Superwoman did an awesome job on it. The cakes looked great. The kids had fun. Thank goodness we're done!

Flags of our Fathers

YouTube

Have you seen the new YouTube interface?

I don't like it. The bigger buttons are ok, I guess. But the red progress bar is ugly. It clashes horribly with my blue and cream blog. The old interface didn't clash with hardly anything. It fit into loud obnoxious templates as well as the more subdued ones. I've checked around my favorite blogs and the YouTube interface just ends up looking out of place. Yuck! Change it back, or let us choose the progress bar color by giving us multiple interfaces to choose from.

My obituary

I got this from Nobody's blog. Its a faux obituary, mine was somewhat entertaining. Please refrain from laughing too much at my doom.



'What will your obituary say?' at QuizGalaxy.com

If your gonna go, I guess 'screamingly' is the way to do it. I'm being mourned by Vader. I always thought Sushiboy sounded like a sidekick to a superhero, now we find out its an evil-minion-of-a-supervillan name. I'll try to work on that not-being-evil thing.

In Memory

DDR Vids!

I love DDR. I'm starting to get pretty good. But not as good as these guys.

Check these out
(fast feet)


(dynamic duo)


(Last but not least)


If you haven't played yet. What are you waiting for?

White n' Nerdy

My buddy Alpha Fighter just hooked me up with this. It is another Weird Al song off of the upcoming album. The site this is embedded from won't keep it up for long, enjoy it while it lasts!
You'll need quicktime to hear it

A forty? But I don't drink!

Tagged again this time by Doctor Mom. This time I just answer the 40 questions listed below.

1. Do you still have tonsils? - Yup
2. Would you bungee jump? - I don't think the thrill is worth the price of admission
3. If You Could Do Anything In The World For A Living What Would It Be? – program video games/chef/novelist all at the same time
4. How many tattoos do you have? - 0
5. Your favorite fictional animal? – Probably the Kitten/Puppy (its a mix) that my daughter pretends to be.

6. One person that never fails to make you laugh? – Larry the Cable Guy.
7. Do you consider yourself well organized? – Are you Kidding?
8. Any Addictions? - Caffeine via Coca Cola.
9. From what news source do you receive the bulk of your news? - Its hard to find through all the propaganda
10. Would you rather go to a carnival or circus? - Probably the circus, around here less rednecks attend the circus than the carnivals (or maybe more non rednecks attend the circus, who knows?)

11. When you were twelve years old, what did you want to be when you grew up? - Alive.
12. Best Movie You've Seen This Year? - Either The Devil Wears Prada or Empire Falls (the HBO miniseries)
13. Favourite alcoholic drink – I don't drink, I always order a Shirley Temple
14. What is the first thing you do when you wake up in the morning? - Hit the Snooze Button
15. Siblings? – Yes

16. What is the best thing about your job? – Flexible hours, and programming is fun.
17. Have you ever gone to therapy? – See answer to 15.
18. If you could have one super power what would it be? – Super Brainpower, An IQ about 300 points higher than my current
19. Do you own any furniture from Ikea? – No.
20. Have you ever gone camping? – In my younger years quite often. Post allergies its not so fun.

21. Gas prices! First thought? - No wonder I ride my bike to work.
22. Your favorite cartoon character? - Pinky and the Brain.
23. What was your first car? – 1976 GMC pickup
24. Do you think marriage is an outdated ritual? - Heck no, I married up!
25. The Cosby Show or the Simpsons? – Simpsons

26. Do you go to church? - Yes
27. What famous person would you like to have dinner with? – Alton Brown
28. What errand/chore do you despise? – Dishes
29. First thought when the alarm went off this morning? – Where is the *(#@$(@! snooze button.
30. Last time you puked from drinking? – Shirley Temples don't induce vomiting.

31. What is your heritage? - English, Scottish, Irish.
32. Favorite flower? – Carnation
33. Disney or Warner Bros? - pre 1995 Disney post 1995 Warner
34. What is your best childhood memory? – Eating out with the folks and the siblings
35. Your favorite potato chip? – Lays (w/o ridges)

36. What is your favorite candy? - Do CornNuts or chips count?
37. Do you burn or tan? - Burn
38. Astrological sign? - Taurus
39. Do you own a gun? – Shotgun, when I run out of ammo It makes a good club too.
40. What do you think of hot dogs? – Good on a bun, good in mac & cheese, good with chili, good with baked beans. Go all beef, those are the best. (after all who wants a hot dog made from a chicken?)

Word!

I've been tagged by Zed. In this little MeMe I'm taking the words given by Zed then rambling about them until I feel like stopping. HERE I GO!

Diet - Yucky Tasting Soda and other disgusting and over-priced foodstuffs . Eating that crap just makes me feel ripped off. Then I want to eat something else. (and that would defeat the purpose wouldn't it?) Some people can't taste the difference, I certainly can. YUCK! I'd rather eat the good stuff, in moderation, and exercise. Which seems to work for me.

Fluctuation - Electrons, I studied Electrical Engineering in school, (one of these days I'll finish) so all I see is electrons erratically orbiting an atom. (Say that five times fast, electrons erratically orbiting an atom, electrons erratically orbiting an atom ... )

Giggle - Little giggling girls, need I say more?

Hangnail - Fingernail clippers. Owee! make it stop. If I get a hang nail, all I can think about is getting rid of the dang thing. I don't care how much skin it exposes, or how much pain it causes to snip it off. All I can think about is getting it off before it gets ripped off.

Gravity - Back to the Future. I don't know if you remember Doc saying, "Marty you keep mentioning how everythings heavy. Why? Is that what happens in the future, does gravity change?". For some reason this was really funny to my eight year old psyche when I saw the film way back in 1985. It obviously has stuck with me. I still get a hearty chuckle when I hear that line.

So I hope you have enjoyed this snapshot of my head's innards. I would tag some other people but everyone I would tag:

1. Doesn't Blog
2. Has been tagged already
3. Wouldn't enjoy doing it

So perhaps after I have met a few more peeps online I'll start tagging.

International Night

Hey! Guess what? Its my 50th post! And the topic for the post this evening? SUSHI! (yummy yummy!)

A while back some friends of ours suggested we have International Nights. With the idea of us homecooking an entire ethnic meal, then enjoying it together. The first was a French night, where I learned of the delights of the cheese course. Last week we did a Japanese iteration. So Superwoman and I did the cooking.

At this point I would normally bore you to death with an in depth dissection of the entire meal. But due to the fact we were cooking for 6 adults and 5 kids. I was concentrating on moving the food, and not getting pictures of each dish.

I thought we had a nice menu, which spanned many of our favorite Japanese dishes. To lead things off, we served gyoza, which is one of Superwoman's favorites. Gyoza (often called potstickers) originated in China and hopped the pond to become popular in Japan. (The gyoza is located on the far left of the table)

Next up, Soba soup with tempura vegetables. Soba noodles are similar to angel hair pasta. Deep fried vegetables (that's right Japanese food is yummy) add a lot of depth and flavor to the soup.

Ton-Katsu is essentially a deep fried pork chop. (Japanse food is delicious!) First the pork is pounded out to tenderize it, then it is seasoned with a rub. After that the process is very similar to cooking fried chicken, a flour dredge, an egg wash and then into the Panko. Panko is Japanese bread crumbs. (The Ton-Katsu is on the lower left end of the table)

Sushi (located on the plate on the bottom right of the table) was served throughout the meal, as fast as I could get it out. I did a few different types of rolls, the favorite of the night was the Bacon, Avocado and Tomato roll. (and you thought you didn't like sushi) Well this post is already well too long so I'll wrap this up. (ha ha)

Desert was banana's tempura, which is similar to banana's foster in a few ways, and ginger flavored ice cream. The next international night we will be doing Indian food. I can't wait for curry!

So much for not boring you with the details. I have a hard time stopping once I get on a roll. (ha ha another sushi pun)

Magic Comics

Like Magic? Like Comics? If you do, you can get some free Magic Comics here and here. You can download them if you want, which I did cause I'm 71% nerd.

These comics were released as part of a promotion for Magic's new expansion Time Spiral. So far everything looks really sharp. I can't wait to waste more money on cool looking pieces of card-stock.

Nerd Level

I'm nerdier than 71% of people that have taken the test! (Don't worry I still know how to shower)

Tea Party

I've watched this video enough for it to merit its own post.

BLT's

From a culinary standpoint, I love summer, especially late summer when the gardens come on. Tonight we had great beafsteak tomato, perfect for a BLT. We didn't have any lettuce, but the bacon and tomato sandwiches were divine. I love summer food. If I could just get rid of my stinkin' allergies it would be my favorite season.

Samsung TV

After shopping around, we came to the same conclusion as Dadguy and Bon. Samsung makes a good Television. We ended up getting the 30 inch widescreen model from the SlimFit line. It has great picture. Decent sound for a TV (which I don't use) but it does have sound outputs to pipe the sound to a stereo (which I do use), this is a very nice addition. Piping sound of the TV eliminates the need for a receiver or some other unitasker to split the sound out to the stereo. (and less cables cheer!) The back of the TV is a geeks dream. Two sets of componet inputs, two HDMI inputs, two RCA inputs, USB input, S-video input and RCA (video and sound) out!

I sprung for a progressive DVD player at the same time. While this won't take advantage of the HD resolutions like a Blue Ray or HDDVD will, it will support 480p which is noticeably nicer than 480i. Also BlueRay and HDDVD are kinda in a VHS vs. Betamax type of war. Who wants to be stuck with a bunch of movies in the losing format? (I hope BlueRay loses)

The kids like the new TV to. Its a lot easier for Superwoman to just flip it on for them, than waiting for the computer to start, opening the tuner application and dealing with whatever windows wants to come up with.

Please Download this Song

I've been a fan of Weird Al since I was 14.(some people say that I'm still there) Anyway, Weird Al has a new album coming out. On it is, "Don't Download This Song", so of course he is offering free downloads of the song from his myspace page. Its the best entry into the Downloading-Music-Debate that I've heard (and laughed at) so far. Check it out.

Edit: Watch the video of the RIAA chasing down a little kid here.

USB Sushi

Here are some cool little Sushi USB thumb drives. Unfortunately these little suckers run about twice the price as a normal thumb drive (comparing storage only) Check out some other wacky little drives in this slideshow.

Television

We had an unexpected windfall. While pretty much all the money will be slapped into savings for a house. Superwoman and I are going to allot a portion of it to replace 36 inch monitor that went out a year ago. We are looking for a CRT for price, lack of burn in, wide viewing angle and product lifetime. We would like to go HD, but we aren't sure if we want to spend that much. ( I hate being an adult) I liked watching DVD's in progressive, but I don't know if I want to shell out the cash.

Thoughts?

Shaolin Soccer

It's kinda cheesy. It's kinda clichè. It's really Kung Fu. It's suprisingly fun. I really enjoyed it. It's Shaolin Soccer.

(I had originally embedded this off of Quicktime's Website, so you could see the trailer within the blog. I'm not sure if they really want us to do this. Does anyone know "the law" on this? I was tooling around on apples movie trailer site, but couldn't find anything.)

DDR:Sparsomix

I mentioned in my first post that I liked playing Dance Dance Revolution. (the rest of the family likes it too) We have been playing DDR:Ultramix, the first in the series for the X-Box, for about 2 years. If DDR:Ultramix has a flaw, it is that there aren't many songs that cater to beginners (and toddlers). So Friday I decided to get DDR:Ultramix2 or DDR:Ultramix3, which have some great beginner friendly modes.

You'd think finding a popular X-box game would be as easy as 2 + 2. (After all I think I saw Progect Gotham Racing 2 at Big Lots.) And where I'm looking for any one of the two sequels you'd think I'd be able to find a copy right way. Not so. I had to go to eleven, yes thats right, 11 stores to find a copy. Over 2 1/2 hours I went to Marios, EB Games, Wal-Mart -shudder-, Game Stop, K-mart, Shopko, Game Crazy, Circuit City, Best Buy, Barnes & Noble (ok ok, I didn't really expect to find it here, its my favorite bookstore and I can never resist going in if I have an excuse) and FYE. Talk about sparse. Everywhere I went I got the same story. "We get 1 or 2 copies of DDR every 2 weeks or so and they sell within 1 or 2 days. We could sell a lot more if they would just send them." I dunno, maybe Konami making enough on their PS2 products that they don't care about the X-box.


Despite the shopping experience. (since when is that fun anyways?) I ended up finding DDR:Ultramix 3. DDR:U3 is the first in the X-box series to include a freestyle mode. Freestyle mode lets you dance however you please, and judges you on your originality, accuracy and timing. The kids love this mode. (As Cookie Monster shows us in the picture) They get to boogie, and gyrate in ways that only kids can, and the game rewards them for it. NICE! DDR:U3 has more music, more gameplay modes, and is more fun than the first. And I got the last retail copy in about 100 miles!