I know, I know, stop yelling. I need a computer to update this waste-of-bandwidth. Hopefully that's something that can happen soon.

So I've been watching a lot of TV lately (thank you, NCAA tourney), and I've come to a new rule. I'm not buying anything from companies who think a good ad campaign involves talking babies or small children discussing things wayyy above their paygrades (so to speak). If the product is actually designed for small children (Legos, Barbie, Hello Kitty Island Adventure - reference bonus points time), then yes, feel free. But I don't want to watch a group of five year olds talking about stock options and planning for retirement, because it's just so easy. It's easier than Cute Animals With A Wide Angle Lens (bonus points part 2). I have one exception to the rule, and that's the eTrade ads with the talking baby - "I rented a clown and really underestimated the creepiness." That's good comedy.

Could someone who was alive in the 70's tell me if this was an actual game? I'm convinced this is an elaborate hoax or SNL sketch:



Anyways, I have no real news, so happy Opening Day!

"When masochism's lost its fun..."

Yes, I'm aware I've misquoted the line here, but, eh.

So, spring has sprung, and dumped ten inches of snow on Madison to boot. If I haven't said it already (and yes, I know I have), I'm quite ready for this winter to be over.

Barack Obama has released his NCAA bracket. Call me a cynic, but only a candidate scraping for votes in Pennsylvania picks Pitt to make the Final Four.
Speaking of which, my bracket is officially done for. That's what I get for picking too many underdogs (and the wrong ones, at that), but there's no money involved this year, so I'm not too worried about it. (By the way, I've got Memphis winning it all.)
Back to politics - I'll only say that we've still got a month until the Pennsylvania primary, and all of this down time really forces us to focus on things that don't matter - this is when people like Ferraro and Wright dominate the headlines. Again, it's ridiculous.
I just finished reading Everything Bad is Good For You. It's an interesting read - author Steven Johnson basically argues that today's pop culture is actually making us smarter (whaddya know, I just ripped off the subtitle) - for example, video games are becoming far more intricate (from the simple patterns of PacMan to the sprawling worlds of Zelda), and television is forcing the audience to fill in more of the plot and understand the relationships between characters without actually saying it (see The West Wing and 24). Johnson doesn't argue that books are becoming irrelevant, he just says that society nowadays is too quick to judge the new mass media as "trash" instead of understanding that these new formats are helping us build our brains just as much, which translates to better problem-solving skills in real life.
Okay, so that's it for me.

Who else seen the leprechaun, say "YEE-AH"

I know I'm a little late to the party on this, but Happy St. Patrick's Day!
We'll celebrate with a couple of appropriately themed videos:

First, a classic:



And probably my favorite Guinness ad of all time:



So, have fun with that. I'm out.

Well, that's that...

For now. Yes, I'm being purposely cryptic. All of it's irrelevant, anyways.
So hola amigos, I know it's been a long time since I rapped at 'cha (time for another round of "Name That Reference" on my blog?), but things have been "busy" (or so I like to tell myself), and I don't have a computer except to borrow Tim's whenever I get a chance to do so. Plus, I've got to be in a specific mood to blog, so, there's your explanation. Take it or leave it.
I'm watching the Selection Sunday show on CBS - which we just realized that we get (we don't have cable yet - add that to the list of things to do before baseball season). But I'm off Thursday afternoon, so the tournament will be on, and I've got to fill out my bracket, even though I haven't paid attention at all this year, so I'll be that guy that wins despite it all.
I've got the day off today, and I've spent it reading, wandering around Madison, and playing Halo 2. Yes, my life is quite exciting.
Speaking of reading, I just finished "The Raw Shark Texts" (really, really odd - I'm not sure if I quite followed it) and "Crimes Against Logic" (short, but really interesting). I'm not really in the mood to give full book reports, but I'd recommend reading the latter while recommending that you pay close, close attention if you choose to read the former.
I walked to the library this afternoon, totally forgetting about the St. Patrick's Day parade on Capitol Square. So that was fun. Just a note to all of you Wisconsin-based St. Patrick's Day revelers - wearing your Brett Favre jersey does not count as wearing "green." Thank you.
So I'm going to pay a little more attention to the brackets, I'll catch up with you kids later.

Just...wow.

From the YouTube description:

"The Leningrad Cowboys is a Finnish rock and roll band famous for its humorous songs and concerts featuring the Soviet Red Army Choir.
Currently, the band has eleven Cowboys and two Leningrad Ladies. The songs, all somewhat influenced by polka and progressive rock, and performed in English, have themes such as 'vodka', 'tractors', 'rockets', and 'Genghis Khan', as well as folkloric Russian songs, rock and roll ballads and covers from bands as diverse as The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, and Lynyrd Skynyrd, all with lots of humour.
The Red Army Choir (Choir Aleksandrov) is a performing ensemble that served as the official army choir of the former Soviet Union's Red Army. The choir consists of a male choir, an orchestra, and a dance ensemble. The songs they perform range from Russian folk tunes to Church hymns, operatic arias and popular music.
In 1991, The Red Army Choir participated in Roger Waters' The Wall concert celebrating the fall of the Berlin Wall. They performed an anti-war song "Bring the Boys Back Home".
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Red Army Choir has continued performing, entertaining audiences both inside and outside Russia."

"Real" post after work. And by "real," I mean more videos and links.

"Train roll on..."

Just to forewarn you, I'm in quite the random mood - so get ready for another long and rambling post!
First things first. I finally saw the Obama music video:



Of course, I appreciate the sentiment...but the whole thing comes off as a little creepy, doesn't it? The whole O-BA-MA chant gets a little too Soviet/Glorious Leader for me. And whoever directed it really should understand that to let Jessica Alba anywhere near the first minute only serves to distract the straight-male-demographic from the message, as the rest of the viewing is spent thinking "When's Jessica Alba coming back?." But all me-being-a-pig aside, conservatives are finding it a little scary, too (link goes to Salon.com - you have to watch an ad to get access, but the article's worth it). One thing that worries me about a possible Obama presidency (as the article mentions) is that some of his supporters seem to have drunk a little too much of the Kool-Aid, and expect the guy to be a perfect leader, free of mistakes or flaws. Is it possible to be too charismatic, too presidential for one's own good? (Ask Warren Harding.)
Meanwhile, the idiotic joint ticket nonsense continues, and others wonder if all of this infighting just might end up destroying the Democratic Party. Obama took Wyoming tonight, there's Mississippi on Tuesday, and then Pennsylvania almost six weeks later (seriously, for how long do we need to drag this on?) - this one year out of every four in which we begin spring already longing for November. Should be interesting.

I just finished reading The Year of Living Biblically - One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible. A++, would read again. (Link goes to Amazon, they'll give you a better description.)

Firefox is seriously dragging its feet, so that's probably a sign that I should be done. Don't forget to get up an hour early tomorrow!

My upstairs neighbors are weird. It's quarter to two in the morning (I can't sleep, so sue me). They just got home (presumably from the bars), and I hear the blender going - like it does about six times a day (no joke).
And now someone's lighting off bottle rockets in the street, so, it's bedtime.
Real post tomorrow (maybe).