Weekly Selects #37

I get so many new YouTube clips a week that I can't possibly include them all even though I still want to include them. So, before the weekly DC highlights, I'll toss hyperlinks to some of the better videos from the past week, and you guys can decide on which one you like the best. 

Alrighty. Let's do this:

Videos:
-Slayer Goes to Church (Think church service meets mosh pit)
-Swagger Wagon (You can't tell me it's not catchy -- should be in contention for a Grammy)
-Will Ferrell Express (Watch Ferrell start a basebrawl and throw beer at other players)
-Sauerkraut Wrestling (You'd better not dive in with any open cuts...could sting)

-Via TXT from DJA:

Quoting the "gentleman"@the nxt window making his transaction@the bank: "& i need 100 singles...thats right...100 singles." yes.

Well, at least someone was having fun over the weekend.

-Via Email from JMill:

the squirrel that died in your wall...

You might recall the squirrel that got stuck in our wall and that I feared would die and would become a ghost Clown-Squirrel and haunt me. But a drunk Clown-Squirrel?? I just wet my pants thinking about it.

But really, I watched this video, felt bad for the squirrel for a split second, then immediately began thinking of the animals that I would like to see drunk (I've already seen a cat high off of dope, so cat doesn't make the list). In no particular order:

• Giraffe: Their necks are so disproportionately long already, can you imagine a giraffe feeling like its head is twice as heavy as it normally is, swaying on the end of that neck? You would laugh.
• Tree Sloth: It would be like the squirrel trying to climb up the tree, but. much. slower.
• Badger, Hippo, Grizzly Bear: I'm just curious to see if they are angry drunks. I think they would be.

Any that you would like to see?

-Via Google Reader, because you know I can't go a DC Highlights without pointing out some strange thing going on over in Japan:

Robot Priest Marries Couple in Japan

Girls always talk about their dream weddings. Somehow I don't think that "Robot priest saying 'Do you take this man to be your wife?' " was part of anyone's scenario. Well, of course, except this Japanese girl's. Oi.

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Cherry Blossoms at Sunrise -- Photo(s) of the Week 17 May 2010

Washington DC takes pride in the cherry blossom trees that Japan gave as gifts back in 1912. (History books tell us it was a gesture to signify the growing relationship between Japan and the US, but I think getting the trees was a last-ditch effort by President Taft to be remembered as "the dude that got us the trees" and not "wait...wasn't that the fat president?")

At any rate, there is about a two-week window in April where the blossoms are in bloom, and this year I dragged AM with me Easter morning so we could catch some sunrise photos down at the Tidal Basin. So sure, I suppose they're over a month old, but I still like them:

This one was taken with a fish-eye lens I borrowed from the man next to me because he basically shouted: "Anybody have a Nikon who wants to take a few shots with a fish-eye lens?" I basically snatched the lens out of his hand before he had finished his sentence, took a few shots, and was immediately filled with a consuming, covetous* Lens Lust (photographers out there know what I'm talking about). I reluctantly returned the lens. But don't think that I didn't start visualizing scenarios -- think Holmes while he's brawling in the latest Sherlock Holmes movie -- about how I could incapacitate the lens-owner and his buddy in four swift blows or less and run away with the lens.**

*(Yup. Guilty of breaking the 10th Commandment)
**(Go ahead and tack on breaking the 8th Commandment, as well)

Anyway. I'll send you off with a Happy Monday and three more that I felt turned out well (which of course you can click on to embiggin'):

Publish Post

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Weekly Selects #36

Sorry 'bout missing last week. Let's do this:

-Via Google Reader, and email from White Josh:

Headline: Biker's corpse propped on motorcycle for three-day wake

So this dude was murdered (sad, and unfortunate), but his last wish was to be propped up on his bike.

Well, this makes me think about a few things, besides the obvious "Huh?" that some of you may have on the tips of your tongues. It got me thinking about what worldly possession I care about enough to be buried with, propped up on/against, or put in my hands in the casket. Root beer? Bacon? A good book? An awesome chrome Barbecue grill? I have no idea.

White Josh chimed in with:

You can prop me up with my racquet and goggles. Yacquetball for lizife.

Yacquetball is a story for another time, but let's just say it was a game we made up at college involving racquetball equipment, eye and/or crotch protection, and caused $800+ damage to the basement of our dorm hall.

-Via Google Reader:

cupcakes flying out of a 120psi cupcake cannon and into people's faces.

I don't know why that's so awesome. But it is.

-Via Email from White Josh, from Williams & Sonoma:

Speaking of BBQ'ing...

Why brand something that you're just going to stuff in your face? Someone needs to explain the relevance of this to me. I mean, yeah, it's cool because it feeds the ego -- I won't deny that seeing 'JD' branded onto a steak would be awesome -- but still...

-Via Email from Case, LOST-inspired Bentos from www.aibento.net:

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Inception -- Photo of the Week 10 May 2010

Behold the latest movie poster for the movie that I'm most excited to see this year: Inception.

In the words of Liz Lemon, I want to go to there.

Sure, I've been excited about other movies that turned out to be overhyped and abysmal failures (see: Wolverine and Terminator: Salvation, the cinematic equivalent of JaMarcus Russell), but I have a good feeling about this one. Here are some reasons why:

• One of the current, most solid actors taking the lead role? Check (Leo DiCaprio)
• The director for Memento, Batman Begins, The Prestige, AND The Dark Knight? Check (Christopher Nolan...who has said that the movie is "the biggest challenge I've taken on to this point")
• Japanese dude and all-around bada** playing the villain? Check (Ken Watanabe. Swoon, ladies. SWOON. He may have some male-pattern baldness and his accent may still be a bit thick, but you know you are gravitating toward his austere, rugged handsomeness right now)
• Trailers that don't make much sense and don't give away the best parts of the movie, but are nevertheless enthralling? Check (Folding street blocks, anyone? Uh. Whoa.)
• A tagline that vaguely and enigmatically reads "Your Mind Is The Scene of The Crime"? Check (It's also been described variously as sci-fi crime thriller, a corporate espionage thriller, and other such things)
• A poster that makes me dizzy just looking at it? Check. (That being said, I am the guy that spins his nieces/nephew in circles and ends up falling down before they do)

Look. I won't guarantee that you will like this movie -- because despite what Case thinks, whether something is likable or not is an opinion, and not an irrefutable fact. I can, however, guarantee a few things: (1) Yes, in typical Nolan fashion it will likely be dark; but (2) It will be gripping, and you will be glued to the edge of your seat; because (3) your head will be spinning to figure out what is going on for the entire two hours; and (4) It will be absolutely original and unique. It may even reach into the "weird" or "strange" category, but aren't we always complaining about formulaic and predictable plots, bland characters and dialogue, and stale movie concepts? This is going to be good.

Needless to say, I'm looking forward to it.


Happy Monday, all! I missed DC Highlights last week. I have been busy. And pondering the future of RoSA. But that's neither here nor there.

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Mt. Eyjafjallajokull -- Photo of the Week 2 May 2010

I realize that the huge eruption of Mt. Eyjafjallajokull (yes, somehow the Icelandic people communicate via a language with each other) that took place in Iceland was a few weeks ago, but I still can't get over the pictures that various news agencies and individuals took. You must go here to see some amazing ones. Here's one:

(REUTERS/Lucas Jackson)

  

Mother Nature is beautiful but destructive, and is often both at the same time...

 

 

Happy Monday, all... 

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