I Love Me Some TV

I bought DVDs of the first season of Chuck and Andy Richter Controls The Universe. Even though the first season of Chuck was only last year, I had already forgotten a lot of what was going on back then. It's such a rewatchable show. I'm so glad it's been renewed for a third season, thanks to fan efforts.

Andy Richter Controls The Universe is a series that aired back in 2002. I remembered finding it very funny, but it got cancelled fairly quickly like most innovative and smart shows seem to. Anyway, I highly recommend it. I'm sure I'll be rewatching those DVDs often.

Finally, I was looking at my livejournal page, and all the keywords I had entered as interests. I think it describes me pretty well:

Aging, arrested development, books, cheers, chocolate, chuck, coffee, cooking, crosswords, dictionaries, french, grammar, montreal, monty python, movies, musicals, neuroscience, newsradio, non fiction, photography, politics, pride & prejudice, psychology, science, statistics, sudoku, teaching, technology, the colbert report, the daily show, the human brain, the office, the office fanfic, the x-files, toronto, writing

How Long Could You Survive Chained to a Bunk Bed With a Velociraptor?

I could survive for 60 seconds chained to a bunk bed with a velociraptor

This concept makes me laugh far too much.

It's Funny Because It's True.

The X-Files Shipper-Con 2008. ;) Well, not the shipper-con but everything else.

Where's Willy?

As I was paying for lunch at the cafeteria today, I received a 5$ bill with a website address on it. The website is called Where's Willy, after Wilfred Laurier, a former Canadian prime minister whose face appears on the 5$ bill. It is so cool because it basically tracks how money travels. I'm such a geek but I find it fascinating! By the way, my American friends, there is also Where's George to track American currency.

In other news, Eve was supposed to arrive in TO tonight, but she is missed her layover and is stuck in Memphis instead. Bah. Take care, Evie. See you tomorrow. Actually, it will give me time to vacuum and clean so I think we're all winners here. LOL

The Wonder That Is The Internet! Plus YouTube-a-palooza!

Those who know me in real life know I have a fairly unusual name. So I was really surprised when someone with the same exact name contacted me on Facebook and she lives right near where I live. How crazy is that? Especially given that she speaks French, and it is not exactly full of French speakers around here. I thought that was cool.

I couldn't sleep early this morning so I played with YouTube from links at a board I frequent. But whenever I get one link, it leads me to something else and so now... Anyway, I present to you fun clips from my hunt.

100 Movies, 100 Quotes, 100 Numbers. This video is amazing. They've compiled 100 movie clips with each number from 1 to 100. It's so cool. Oh, and I had totally guessed what they would use for number 11! LOL (11, 43, and 71 are in my Top 20 favourite movies! :))



How cute are this puppy and kitten play fighting? This kitten is tenacious if a little foolish...



Oh, and an Office video just because... "It's Getting Hot in Here, Scranton Style." (Technically, I know "here" is written with 2 "R"s in that song, but I refuse to write it that way.)

(Not So) Clean Fun

A link to a ton of random, but funny, IRC conversations here.

So after I went to the ballet on Saturday night (which was outstanding), I went to see "Knocked Up". Talk about a different plane of entertainment... LOL Anyway, it was funny and I liked, but not nearly as much as I had enjoyed "The 40-Year-Old Virgin". I think Steve Carell really took that movie to another level. Plus, his chemistry with Catherine Keener was wonderful whereas while Seth Rogan and Katherine Heigl were good, they were nothing outstanding. By the way, "Knocked Up" is raunchier than "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" if that is possible...

Before "Knocked Up", there were some previews and Seth Rogan's next movie is called "Superbad" and it stars Michael Cera (aka George Michael from "Arrested Development"!) Looks very funny. So I'll add that to my list of upcoming movies to watch out for. The one movie I want to go see this week or next is "Waitress". I need to go before it closes.

By the way, my blog turned 2 yesterday! How time flies by!

So Funny!

At a board I frequent on occasion, someone posted this diagram of how blog comments work, which is so hilarious because it applies to about any slightly contentious Internet forum/blog I've been to. Humans are predictable creatures.

Then, someone else posted a lightbulb joke as a variation on the same topic... I've clearly spent too much online, because that was all frighteningly familiar.

How many message board posters does it take to change a lightbulb?

One to change the light bulb and to post that the light bulb has been changed.

Fourteen to share similar experiences of changing light bulbs and how the light bulb could have been changed differently.

Seven to caution about the dangers of changing light bulbs.

Seven more to point out spelling/grammar errors in posts about changing light bulbs.

Five to flame the spell checkers.

Three to correct spelling/grammar flames.

Six to argue over whether it's "lightbulb" or "light bulb" ...

Another six to condemn those six as stupid.

Fifteen to claim experience in the lighting industry and give the correct spelling.

Nineteen to post that this group is not about light bulbs and to please take this discussion to a lightbulb (or light bulb) forum.

Eleven to defend the posting to the group saying that we all use light bulbs and therefore the posts are relevant to this group.

Thirty six to debate which method of changing light bulbs is superior, where to buy the best light bulbs, what brand of light bulbs work best for this technique and what brands are faulty.

Seven to post URLs where one can see examples of different light bulbs.

Four to post that the URLs were posted incorrectly and then post the corrected URL.

Three to post about links they found from the URLs that are relevant to this group which makes light bulbs relevant to this group.

Thirteen to link all posts to date, quote them in their entirety including all headers and signatures, and add "Me too".

Five to post to the group that they will no longer post because they cannot handle the light bulb controversy.

Four to say "didn't we go through this already a short time ago?"

Thirteen to say "do a Google search on light bulbs before posting questions about light bulbs."

Three to tell a funny story about their cat and a light bulb.

and

One group lurker to respond to the original post 6 months from now with something unrelated and start it all over again!

A Beginner's Guide To Faking Your Death On The Internet

This was so funny I was crying laughing... Encapsulates too much of the insane behaviour I've seen on the Net.

Oh Kids!

You know your fandom is all grown up when you get caught in fandom wanking... There are actually people online who spend their time commenting on other people's insane fights on the Internet. What a weird and unproductive way to spend your time, not even participating in discussions on topics you like, although I guess making fun of total strangers is probably a hobby to some. The Internet is a strange place...

In other news, I've been back in Toronto for a week. Always a bit challenging to get back in the swing of things after the Holidays, but life is good overall. I am taking down my Christmas tree today, which makes me a bit sad. See you in 11 months, Christmas tree and ornaments and twinkly lights.

I got a lot of music for Christmas. My 2 current addictions: Justin Timberlake's Futuresex/Lovesounds (I know, shameful but it is highly entertaining!) and Ok Go's Oh No!

Family Love Brain Diva

An Arrested Development reference is always appropriate! I'm going home for 10 days, and I can't wait. I'm happy that I get to spend time with family and friends, and I think the feeling is mutual. However, I just realized that I will be stranded as far as the Internet go. I will have to rely on my parents' crappy dial-up connection. My brother moved out and took with him his fancy computer and high-speed connection. It hasn't happened to me in about 4 years to have to rely on such a stupid connection. It makes me think of one of my techie friends who in 1998, had one of the first high-speed connection in Montreal. At the time, I couldn't understand his disdain for dial-up and he told me he couldn't use one anymore because it was too infuriating. Once you've experienced high speed, it is hard to go back. I guess, it will keep me off the computer for a few days! LOL

It is always weird to go back to suburbia as well. I can't walk anywhere. There is no coffee place around the corner. I have to drive at least 10-15 minutes to get anywhere. Wow, I've become such a city girl.

The Beauty of the Internet Is...

that you can find info on anything out there. So I was called last week to ask if I'd be willing to watch a pilot for a new sitcom. Since you all know my devotion to TV sitcoms, you must know how excited that made me. I might get to see something new that was good and offbeat, and I would be able to tell them so. Or I might prevent somebody from putting another awful, awful sitcom on the air. I got the package today, and looked at the material. There was a self-erasing tape for a sitcom called Dads, but the response material was all about commercials. Huh. It felt fishy so I went looking online. This pilot is 9 years old (i.e., this is never meant to be picked up, probably sucks, & is just a cover story for a study. I kind of know about those! LOL). From comments of other people online, it is indeed only a marketing study. I never watch commercials so I'm not about to start! I always mute the TV when they come on. This is too bad, because it could have been fun. Meh.

Favourite Things

Just because it is nice to post positive things once in a while.

My top 35 favourite things:
1. My family
2. Caffe latte
3. My cat Portia
4. Cooking for a whole afternoon
5. Montreal
6. Getting a call from a good friend
7. High speed Internet
8. Falling asleep on the couch
9. Cinnamon buns
10. Reruns of 80s and 90s sitcoms
11. Bookstores
12. My goddaughter
13. Walking randomly around the city
14. Crossword puzzles
15. Spending time talking with patients
16. My iPod
17. Monty Python and The Holy Grail
18. TV series on DVD
19. The first snow
20. Red wine
21. Pride & Prejudice (the book)
22. Shopping for kitchenware
23. Nail polish
24. The sound of rain falling
25. The Office
26. Dictionaries
27. Singing while driving
28. Post-Its
29. The human brain
30. Oregano
31. Green pens
32. Purses
33. Lemon-flavoured anything
34. Pyjamas
35. Making lists!

I Thought Nothing Could Surprise Me About The Internet...

Yet, someone at a board I visit pointed something I did not know existed: Hitler Slashfic. I was aware that people wrote fan fiction about real people and found that unbelievably creepy, but this really takes the cake. I haven't looked at/read any of them (this is the kind of mental scarring I can do without), but the same person who pointed that out said there was a Hitler/Stephen Colbert fic in there. Brain...Cannot...Compute. Seriously? Romance stories about Hitler. It could be featured on the Colbert Report's segment: "That's The Craziest F%?&ing Thing I've Ever Seen". Some people REALLY REALLY need to redirect their writing energy to something else.

Blog Design & Television Critic Association Awards

I've played around with the layout of the blog because I just realized that it looked like crap on Mozilla (it had no left margin) while it looked perfectly fine on Explorer. It looks a bit better now, but it is still not perfect in Mozilla. I do hope it is easier to read if you are using a Mozilla browser.

On to awards I know nothing about! The Television Critics Association, appears to have been giving awards for the last 20 years! I saw on Office Tally that the Office had been nominated amongst others, but what really caught my eye was the category of Individual Achievement in Comedy. The nominees are Steve Carell ("The Office"), Stephen Colbert ("The Colbert Report"), Lauren Graham ("Gilmore Girls"), Jason Lee ("My Name Is Earl"), and Jon Stewart (The Daily Show with Jon Stewart"). Wow, this is like Sophie's Choice but four ways. ;) I could never pick who of Steve Carell, Stephen Colbert, Jon Stewart or Lauren Graham should win! So Gilmore Girls was not very good this year, but Lauren Graham has been recognized so little for her amazing acting on that show that she deserve to win for the whole run. The Colbert Report and The Office have both been so so so good. This is one tough category.

Jon, Steve, and Stephen were always so good, even together way back when:


For other readers who, unlike me, actually watch more than 3 programs on TV (for me, it's The Office, The Colbert Report, The Daily Show, and sometimes The Amazing Race, and that's it!), here are the rest of the nominations:

PROGRAM OF THE YEAR
"Grey's Anatomy" (ABC)
"Lost" (ABC)
"The Office" (NBC)
"The Sopranos" (HBO)
"24" (Fox)

OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN COMEDY
"The Daily Show" (Comedy Central)
"Everybody Hates Chris" (UPN)
"My Name is Earl" (NBC)
"The Office" (NBC)
"Scrubs" (NBC)

OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN DRAMA
"Grey's Anatomy" (ABC)
"House" (Fox)
"Lost" (ABC)
"The Sopranos" (HBO)
"24" (Fox)

OUTSTANDING NEW PROGRAM OF THE YEAR:
"Big Love" (HBO)
"The Colbert Report" (Comedy Central)
"Everybody Hates Chris" (UPN)
"My Name Is Earl" (NBC)
"Prison Break" (Fox)

INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT IN DRAMA
Alan Alda ("West Wing")
James Gandolfini ("The Sopranos")
Hugh Laurie ("House")
Kiefer Sutherland ("24")
Kyra Sedgwick ("The Closer")

Discuss.

Oooooo... Shining New Course Website!

Lookie: Course website!

In other news, I wanted to be able to view something, which required membership, so I succumbed and now have a My Space page. You are welcome to befriend me. LOL

Margin Tutorial

Okay, guys. I'll just show you what you need to alter in your code to change the margins. One disclaimer though is I don't if all the codes are written exactly the same but at least, you will have an idea what you need to play around with to get that.

For example, the chunk of code in my template that needed to be modified:

/* Content----------------------------------------------- */

#content {

width:820px;

margin:10 auto;

padding:0;

text-align:left;

}

#main {

width:560px;

float:left;

}

#sidebar {

width:240px;

float:right;

}

What is in red is what needs to be modified. They are the width in pixels of your page. First is #content width, which is the whole width of text. This is roughly approximate to width of main comment (posts) plus the width of the sidebar (which is where your profile & links on the side are located) . However, the number of pixels for content width is usually slightly bigger that the exact total of main + sidebar because it needs to accounts for margins included in the layout. So you will need to change the number of pixels for the content width, and do so as well for the main comment width. In my case, I also made my sidebar a tad larger. The values posted above have already been modified; they were something like 560 px, 330 px& 220 px initially. You just need to increase the values to something you like.