Givin' Some Thanks

Wow, it's been nine months since I last made a post. A human can be made in that time. I gotta post more. Ok, since it's close to Turkey Day, I'm making a Turkey Day-related post. It's also a post with my friend the pessimist in mind. Those who never quite seem happy. I'm reminded of another blog post detailing how to be happier. One of those methods is to be thankful for things. Being almost Thanksgiving, I'm gonna list ten things I'm currently thankful for.

• My 4 gig flash drive stocked with the music I can't fit on my iPod. Carry it with me everywhere and it keeps me sane.
  
• The fact that I have this blog to use when I get the urge to do some writing.
  
• President-elect Obama. Don't mess this up starting January.
  
• My parents, who have supported me in everything I've wanted to do.
  
• Indie music, for being mostly awesome.
  
• The fact that if I have a thought, no matter how weird it is, there's someone out there who agrees with me.
  
• The fact that I'm healthy, all my limbs and organs work, and I'm mostly happy.
  
• "Sociables" crackers. For being stinking awesome.
  
• Kevin Spacey, for being an excellent actor in everything he's in.
  
• Finally, my friends. My old friends for still being wonderful. My new friends from Hi-Y Fall Conference for being really cool. And, my friend, the pessimist, for many, many things.
  

Happy Almost Turkey Day Everyone!

To Bill Brasky!

Chuck Norris. The mere mentioning of his name envokes tales of sheer bravery, strangth, and overall manliness. But were you aware that there is someone even greater than Chuck? It's true. His name is Bill Brasky, a mythical, modern-day Paul Bunyan. A man-god who's conquests and achievements make Chuck Norris look like a mere child. His tales have been recounted by drunken businessmen at airport bars and little league baseball games all across the world throughout the years. His name has gone down in history as one of the giants of our time.
A small list of his achievements.
Video of a worship ritual, in which his conquests are retold.

Happy SAD!

Yea, yesterday was Valentine's Day, and I'm sure a lot of people had fun. However, for us single people, VD was a less-than-normal Thursday, devoid of flowers, candy, and love. But instead of moping around, crying to our Livejournals, and listening to The Smiths, we decided to make our own holiday. Or, at least, someone decided to. What's that day? Why, it's Singles Awareness Day, or SAD. It's a special day that can fall on anywhere from the 13th to the 15th, and it's a time for us single folk to go out and show appreciation for ourselves and other single people. What's that mean? It means treat yourself to something nice, have some fun, and forget about the crippling lonliness that tears away at your soul until you're nothing more than a miserable sod who spends every waking moment crying, writing sad poetry, and of course, listening to The Smiths. So go out and watch a movie, go down to the shore and skip stones, or go to the store and by another album by The Smiths. And remember, you may be SAD, but at least you don't have VD.

Of Monkeys and Men

This world is mixed-up. It's a mixed-up, chaotic world we're in. True, there are some good people out there, but for every good person that's out there, it seems like there's a bad person and some change. And there's a lot of bad things that happen in this world. Murder, theft, the "Scary Movie" series and it's spin-offs; they're all bad things that have happened to the world. And we know they happen, but why do they happen? What drives people to do bad things? You could answer that question with examples of morals or religion or a combination thereof, but I recently came upon an article that, despite its title or opening examples, explains the problem very well. The article is "Inside the Monkeysphere," and it takes a new angle on the whole "good/bad" problem. It presents the theory that we are all living inside our own little worlds, and our worlds can only hold so many people, and we fill these worlds with our friends, family members, and so on. And these people inside our worlds are the people that we care about, and care for, and that's it. Everyone else outside of our world is just another face. We know nothing about them, and that's how we want it to stay. We don't know what kind of people they are, what they like, what they don't like, and we don't care. According to the article, this lack of caring is what enables people to do these bad things. We don't care about them, and we don't care what happens to them, so we have no problem doing them harm. And for that same reason, that's why we care about what happens to our friends and family, but not anyone else. They're not part of our world; what happens to them doesn't affect us, so we don't care. Of course, this is just a brief description, and the actual article goes into more detail about the "Monkeysphere." So I highly recommend taking the time to read about it, it's pretty interesting.
"Inside the Monkeysphere"

Happy Non-Denominational Winter Season!

Yea, I know Festivus was the 23rd, but it's the thought that counts. I guess. Anyway, 2007 has been a pretty good year and it's ended beautifully. It's been a tough year at times, but it has been worth whatever trouble I've come across, and I hope it was the same for you. 2007 was the year that this humble little blog was born, and, occasionally, grew. I met some new people, made new friendships, and increased friendships with people I already knew, most of whom I doubt read this blog. I broadened my tastes, tried more things, and became more unique, or weird, depending on how you look at it. I learned a lot this year; some good, some bad, some completely useless, all worth it. I hope everyone who reads this had a good year, and an even more spectacular year coming up. So long, and judging by the frequency of my posts, I'll see you in 2008, right here inside the Brain of, well, you know.

Push the button, Frank.

In the history of things, there have been a lot of movies released. According to the Department of Made-Up Statistics, about 87% of those movies are horrible. And there's one show that takes that 87% and makes them watchable, except one (I'm looking at you, Manos: The Hands of Fate). That show is Mystery Science Theater 3000. The premise is simple: one man, Joel Robinson, is trapped in space and forced to watch horrible B-Grade movies as part of a maniacal experiment. However, he protects himself from going mad by building a gang of robot friends with which he watches these movies and comments on them throughout the entire film. Of course, that's the premise of the first few seasons. Halfway through season five, the host changes to Mike Nelson. So after that, the plot is the same, only with a different host. The show is a zany, madcap romp through the world of bad cinema, and every episode is chock-full of memorable zingers, one-liners, and pop-culture references. I make it required watching in the Brain of Austin. (As usual, information from Wikipedia and review from the Brain of blah blah blah.)
Official MST3K Website
Official MST3K Fan Site

A Portrait of the Artist as a Fanboy

Whether you're playing Kingdom of Loathing or making blog posts, the best way to do it is by using Firefox, the greatest web browser I've seen. You may be thinking, "But Austin, what ever could be wrong with my Internet Explorer?" And to that I say, "Nothing. But Firefox is better. It features tabbed browsing, word searching, and an integrated download manager, among other features. On top of that, Firefox is highly customizable, with over 2,000 downloadable add-ons and skins for your browser. Finally, Firefox is just safer, with fewer security vulnerabilities and faster response times." Now I bet you're thinking, "Austin, you have shown me the way, I will leave IE forever and run into the warm embrace of Firefox." I know that's what I first thought. (Information from Wikipedia, dialog from the Brain of Austin.)
Download Firefox here.

It Lives!

I'm back, and, no, I didn't forget lose interest, or forget the password to my account. I was on my own writer's strike against....myself, for...better conditions, and, stuff. Anyway, my strike is over and I plan on updating this site regularly again for quite some time. Or, until I go on strike again. I have a topic. The Kingdom of Loathing. What is it? Glad you asked. KoL is a turn-based MMORPG. For you non-nerds out there, it's an online game where you are given the task of saving King Ralph XI from the Naughty Sorceress. But on the way, you must complete tasks from the Council of Loathing and other citizens. Dorky as it sounds, it is a fun romp chock-full of pop-culture references, puns, and oddball humor. It's free to play, so join now.
The Kingdom of Loathing (Find me under nietzsche_keen)

Spotlight On:

They Might Be Giants
Apologies for the delay, all 1 of you who read this. But I'm back, and I've got another band to hastily review for you. Today, I bring you They Might Be Giants. TMBG is the brainchild of John Linnell and John Flansburgh. Formed in 1982, the Johns started out playing shows around New York City with J.F. on guitar and J.L. on accordion and saxophone, usually accompanied by a drum machine or other recording. They first got their music out in an ingenious way- Dial-A-Song, an answering machine people could call and listen to their songs. Their first, self-titled album was released in 1986 and quickly became a hit among college radio stations. Around 1992, under pressure from their label, the Johns recruited a supporting band, which caused mixed feelings among fans. TMBG has gone on to produce not only studio songs, but theme songs for movies, children's shows, and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Their music is mostly alternative rock, humorously dealing with themes such as death, obsessions, mundane jobs, or no job at all. Their most recent album, The Else, was released July 10, 2007 , and the band is currently on tour. (Again, information taken from the Brain of Austin and Wikipedia.)
Video Time:
"Ana Ng"
"Don't Let's Start"
"With the Dark"

New Favorite Tool

It's called, simply enough, Rotoscope. What does it do? Well, it rotoscopes images. If you don't know what rotoscoping is, look it up. The tool is also free to download and use, so get to it.
Rotoscope.

Spotlight On:

Talking Heads
Welcome, all, to a new weekly segment I'm doing in order to motivate me to make new posts every once in awhile. Every Wednesday, I'll be letting you know about an artist or group I happen to like. I've decided to start with one of the most creative bands I know of, Talking Heads.
Talking Heads was formed in New York in the mid-70s by front man David Byrne, drummer Chris Frantz, bassist Tina Weymouth, and guitarist and keyboardist Jerry Harrison. They combined elements of punk, pop, funk, art, and world music. Their first album, "Talking Heads: 77" was released, obviously, in 1977. Despite poor sales, it gave the band the jump start they needed. The group went on to make 7 more studio albums before breaking up in 1991. Chances of a reunion are slim, seeing as David Byrne and the rest of the band are at opposing ends with each other. (Information taken from Wikipedia and the Brain of Austin.)
And now, for some videos of the group in action.
"Psycho Killer" at CBGB's, sans J.H.
"Life During Wartime" live.
"Sax and Violins," Talking Heads' last song.

PSA

I like eBay. But, if used improperly, a once happy place of auctions and reasonably-priced items can turn into a world of high prices and general discomfort. Case in point: earlier today, I was looking at Talking Heads albums (more on them in my next post). I happen to come across two albums for $7.90. Good deal, right? I go to ring up my purchase and I happen to look at the total cost, with shipping and handling charges. Total price: $29.90.
(Head explodes.)
Turns out, the records are from Brazil. And apparently, S&H from Brazil come to $22.00. So, take some advice from old Austin, and read all the product details.
-Austin

Pure, uncut awesome.

Some videos are absolutely epic, some are very bad. Other videos are just good. But there is a select group of videos that stand the test of time. This is one of them; it involves a dog, an old man, and an unruly squirrel. That is all I will say. You will have to watch it to see how it all unfolds. Brace yourself.

Graffiti: It isn't so bad.

Ok, my first post that means something. Most graffiti you see is pretty boring and standard: "I love (name) forever.", "(Name) means nothing to me anymore.", "Wesside 4 lyfe." But there is some humor hidden in that big steaming pile of vandalism, and these links prove it.
Part 1
Part 2

If anybody reads this, welcome.

Hello, world, and welcome to my blog. It still has that new blog smell.
Here's what you can expect on this blog:

• My random thoughts, musings, and ideas.
• Interesting things I pick up on my adventures through the Web.
• Music, movie, and book reviews.
  
• Tips to get more flavor out of your holiday birds.
  

So sit back, grab an icy cool beverage, and make yourself at home in my mind. Just use a coaster, though.