Links R Us.

In the absence of actually having anything to say at the moment (seeing as it's late at night and my brain has stopped working for the day), why not enjoy these links?

Firstly--and this is part of the reason my brain's not working--I found this rather useful page, complete with amusing photographs, upon trying to get a song out of my head. The song? Hall and Oates' "You Make My Dreams Come True." Why? Saturday Night Live's Election Special. (It starts about a third of the way through the clip.) Now, it's not that the skit wasn't funny, or that I don't like the song (or at least enjoy it for its cheese value); it's that the shit kept me awake at night. This happens to me occasionally--an "earworm," as they call it, will annoy me while I'm attempting to sleep. I likes me my sleep, so this is extremely irritating.

Anyway, via Twitter, I think it was Elimare who drew my attention to James Gunn's PG Porn starring the cute Nathan Fillion. As it states on the site: "How many times have you been watching a great porn film – you're really enjoying the story, the acting, the cinematography – when, all of the sudden, they ruin everything with PEOPLE HAVING SEX? A bunch of times, right?" Uh, right. Anyway, watch the "Nailing Your Wife" video. Highly amusing.

Tuning In To Say...

No, I haven't dropped off the face of the planet. Not yet, anyway, though various and sundry forces seem to be attempting to conspire to make me do so. But I WILL BLOG! Today all you get is a LINK, but trust me, it's a good one. It comes courtesy of TadMack and will remind you of the bad old days of portrait photography (still alive and well in some places, I assure you). Speaking of portrait photography, there is a picture of me and my dad that horrifies Rob every time we go to my dad's house for a visit, because in the photo it's just so obvious that I was just crying my eyes out. I can't remember exactly why I was so upset, but I think it was some combination of not wanting to visit my dad in the first place + not wanting to go get some stupid Sears photo taken + not wanting to be forced to wear a traditional Pakistani outfit + being eight-ish years old.

Anyway, speaking of childhood trauma, I do fully intend to finish that story (started below) about Groter School and my fun and fabulous second year there. Mouths washed out with soap! Bare bottoms spanked with rulers in front of the class! (Neither of those inflicted on me personally, thank God.) Woefully old-fashioned reading material! Random German songs! Pink Floyd! You'll just have to wait to hear the stories.

The Most Amazing Link I Have Seen in Months

Thanks to Fuse #8 (and Neil Gaiman), my eyes have now been opened to the phenomenon that is Tuscan Whole Milk, 1 Gallon, 128 fl oz. Unfortunately you can't give this amazing item as a Christmas present, as it is currently out of stock. However, it may comfort you to know that people who viewed Tuscan Whole Milk on Amazon also viewed Uranium Ore, Fresh Whole Rabbit, and Summer's Eve Anti-Itch Gel. And you ain't seen nothin' till you've seen the lyrical paean, modeled after Kubla Khan, singing the praises of Tuscan Milk in the Customer Reviews section. And if poetry's not your bag, there are 975 other reviews that might be more to your liking, such as:

"For those of you foolish enough not to know the joys of a plastic pitcher of Tuscan Whole Milk, 1 Gallon, 128 fl oz: I thoroughly pity your wretched state."

"This whole milk is smooth and milky in consistency. Not at all gritty, chalky or sandy. An excellent purchase."

Oh, and for the love of God, don't forget to click on the Customer Images. Seriously, this could entertain you for hours. If you're really bored.

Overcommitted? I don't know the meaning of the word.

I believe I have involved myself in the mother of all time wasters. I got myself a Second Life account.

Last night we saw a guest lecture (via webcam and fancy projection equipment) with Bruce Damer on the subject of Virtual Worlds. Among other things, there was a live projected demo of Second Life, which I'd heard about quite some time ago, and in fact had heard a whole NPR interview with the creator. However, I'd assumed that it was a typical "game" in that you'd have a starting cost and some kind of maintenance subscription cost.

Not so. You can get a basic account for free. You only have to pay if you want a premium account, which allows you to own "land" and build on it. Since I agreed to part with some personal info, I got $250 free "Linden dollars" (the currency of Second Life), and now I'm wondering if that's enough to buy, say, a sign board, for the purposes of shameless self-promotion. Even if not, I'm sure I'll have fun making an avatar. Currently, my avatar looks almost, but not quite entirely unlike me, sort of like the tea that came out of the dispenser in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Anyway, if any of you have a Second Life account already and want to try to find me, my avatar is named Aquafortis Swot. (I had a limited selection of last names. This was the most palatable, though I almost chose "Triskaidekaphobia.") However, I will probably not be in Second Life all that often. I need to keep my priorities straight...and I have a lot of work I'm behind on. (Too much going out of the house this weekend, though we did go see Pan's Labyrinth, which was excellent.) I'm guessing that once a week is probably the MOST frequently I'll be in there, if that.

So, yeah. I had a little wine. Now I have to finish attaching a sponsor's logo to the poster I designed for the latest Prospect Theater Project play. (You can see a tiny snippet of the poster design at the preceding link. I'll try to post a version here later, too, since I'm inordinately proud of my first efforts with my new Adobe software.)