Counting Down

I'm going to this rally thing on Saturday — maybe you've heard of it? My dad just e-mailed me to tell me to have a great time: "We will be watching from our warm, cozy, big screen TV room. (For Free)"  Uhm, thanks?

I kind of left a lot of logistics until the last minute, though — like confirming with my friends who live in the area when we're going to meet up once I get there, figuring out how we're going to get around while I'm there, researching what else I might want to do in Baltimore and DC while I'm in the area, etc. (Every time I say "Baltimore and DC," I keep hearing The Mamas & The Papas version of "Dancing in the Street" in my head. It's been driving me crazy.)

So, instead of doing any actual work this morning, I've been looking up all those kinds of things, plus checking in for my flight. I picked the option of having my boarding pass sent to my cell phone, which I've never done before but sounds very space age-y and cool.

What was very retro and cool was going to see Back to the Future on the big screen Monday night, which was twenty-five years to the day Marty went back in time. I swear I saw a DeLorean cruise through the theater's parking lot before the show.

My friend Missy and I had a hard time stopping ourselves from reciting all the lines with the characters, but I think half the crowd was doing the same thing. A few people dressed up like Marty — plaid shirts and puffy vests — but one guy also had a skateboard, which: Way to commit, dude!

Everybody got a free commemorative poster. I'm thinking of hanging mine up in my cubicle . . . but I'll have to rearrange my OU poster and Demotivators to make room.

I have the trilogy on DVD, and I thought about watching Part II when I got home on Monday night. Instead,  I ended up just watching all the bonus features for Part I, which was still pretty fun. There were some stills of Eric Stoltz in Michael J. Fox's role, but not the actual footage. I can't see myself upgrading to the trilogy on Blu-Ray just to see it . . . I'm sure someone will post it on YouTube eventually anyway.

Before Part I started, I was trying to tell Missy about the 11 Points articles about what Back to the Future Part II got right and wrong about the future. They're pretty funny; check them out:

• Predictions that Back to the Future Part II Got Right
  
• Predictions that Back to the Future Part II Got Wrong

Meanwhile: I'd better make like a tree and get out of here.

Oh No, There Goes Tokyo

Apparently I'm going to Brewzilla on Saturday.

The official closing event of Cleveland Beer Week! BREWZILLA features crafts and imports from more than 80 breweries, a special "Ohio Brewery" showcase sponsored by V107.3 and with plenty of local brews to try, the last chance to taste all six collaborative brews made by Ohio breweries for Cleveland Beer Week 2010, and food pairings courtesy of Heinen's and Winking Lizard.

Should be interesting. I always mean to go to the Ohio Brew Week in Athens and never do.

Monday Timewaster: Sane or Not?

I'm admitting defeat: I will not accomplish anything much at the office today, so I'm putting my limited attention span to work at Sane or Not?

In this case, I have to deduct points for not sizing the image correctly so that all the letters would be visible (Or wait, is that a commentary on how even this slogan about the inability of cramming one's complex views onto a sign can't fit onto a sign? Meta!) and add points for Photoshopping Beohner's head on the Coppertone girl's body. (Click and embiggen; it's worth it!)

Same concept — I'm too complex for this cardboard — in the sign on the right, but a much better execution.

Also worth clicking/embiggening? The fine print in the call-and-response rally chant in the sign on the right.

If you don't feel like rating the signs, at least check out the Sane and Take It Down a Notch sections for the best/worst signs.

I Totally Want This: I'm with Stupid Reasonable T-Shirt

The Rally to Restore Sanity isn't about calling names — it's about making connections. To that end, we've created this new twist on a classic: The Comedy Central Shop exclusive I'm with Stupid Reasonable T-shirt. It's a shirt that says, "I'm willing to bet that the person standing next to me is willing to carry on a completely sane, rational discussion of an issue, without resorting to shouting, bullying or grandstanding." (And if that turns out not to be the case? Just turn around, and the arrow will be pointing at someone else!)

Hmm. I'm going to the rally, but I was planning to wear my classic "The Fake News Is All I Need" shirt from Glarkware.

Ha! I love The Gouda News as well — especially after the Grilled Cheesus on Glee.

Other Glarkware classics include the Stapler and Good Grammar Costs Nothing.

I have the Stapler, although I insist on putting it in the dryer, so the logo is starting to crack. I always think about getting Good Grammar Costs Nothing, but then it seems like the law of the Internet would smite me. (Not that one; the one about how any post pointing out a previous poster's grammatical/spelling error will contain at least one error in grammar and/or spelling.)

One I haven't seen before but which I kind of covet is the Hummingnerd. It just makes me laugh.

Pros and Cons

Two things that are great about this morning:

1. I figured out how to hide the favicons in Google Chrome. Not having a giant blue F or orange and white B or purple Y! blaring from the browser window allows me to persist in my delusion that I am fooling people when I switch to a new tab when someone wanders by my cube while I'm goofing off online.
2. Replaying bits of Denis Leary routines in my head is cracking me up. For whatever reason, the part about Shut the Fuck Up! with Dr. Denis Leary is set on repeat. It's one of the more pleasant earworms I've had in a while.  

Two things that totally suck about this morning:

1. I'm in the office.
2. So is everybody else.

Monday, Monday

I should be getting my act together since I'm going to Athens for Homecoming this weekend  (and there was much rejoicing. . . ) but after two straight days of banging my head against the wall that is the first proof of the last history unit, I think I've earned some chocolate ice cream & pleasure reading.

I'm in the middle of Enchantment by Orson Scott Card. I happened to come across it while randomly browsing the shelves at the Bay Village branch a few weeks ago, and I'm enjoying it immensely.

For Reals, Yo

I usually make a spreadsheet this time of year to track my viewing plans, but I could never come close to the attention to detail shown by this guy: The New Fall Season - The Ultimate TV Spreadsheet (UPDATED).

My spreadsheet is only broken down by prime time (shown below; click to embiggen) and late night (Stewart/Colbert, Leno/Fallon, Ferguson, SNL).

I'm kind of cheesed that Human Target was moved to Wednesdays; I was using Wednesdays to catch up on Monday and Tuesday's shows. And since I've had to triage Thursdays at 8 and watch Community and Bones online,  I cannot wait for Hulu Plus to come to Roku.

I Can Totally Relate

I had to look over some marketing copy yesterday, which make me feel like the big sister in this cartoon.

(Click to embiggen.)

The Teddyssey

You know how kids today think they're all cool with their zombie/Austen mashups and Lincoln-hunted-vampires conceits? Check out The Teddyssey, a 1907 retelling of Teddy Roosevelt's life as though it were The Odyssey, which I discovered on Google Books when I was supposed to be researching something else for work. It is hi-larious.

A book of caricatures of T.R., organized loosely around Homer’s Odyssey, Cushing’s parody consists of eleven “books”: Infancy, Youth, San Juan, Glorification, Inauguration, Temptation, Arbitration, Prevarication, Incantation, Iteration, Apotheosis. Cushing’s Roosevelt, however, though drawn with his glasses on from infancy, is not a figure of fun. He is the hero of this story, living up to his image as a reformer by refusing to kowtow to American capitalists and by exposing governmental corruption. Cushing, a staff artist at Life, made frequent use of the Greek pantheon to satirize contemporary politics and society, of which The Teddyssey is only one example.

— From Theodore Roosevelt In His Own Right, 1904–2004,
Naomi Pasachoff, Chapin Library, Williams College

I very much enjoy this image, with Rockefeller, Carnegie, and Pierpont Morgan as the Sirens:

Book VI: Temptation

"The Sirens try to lure Teddysses to the 'Rocks,' but having bound himself to the Ship of State, Columbia steers him through."