My top tens

Tastes shift, and favorites come and go.

It's a fact of life.

Because of this any attempt to list my ten favorite whatevers will only result in a list of my tastes at the moment. A year down the road, things in favor could fall out, and others could take their place.

With all that as caveat, I offer up my all-time top tens (or so, and in no order within each list)...

• Movies...(not necessarily the greatest, just my favorites)
• Hero
• The Usual Suspects
• Dr Strangelove
• Fight Club
• Hoosiers
• The Muppet Movie
• The Player
• The Thin Red Line
• The Big Lebowski
• Goodfellas 
• Books (must've read each at least twice to earn inclusion in the list)
• Brave New World
• Slaughterhouse 5
• The Electric Brae
• The Book of Basketball 
• Infinite in All Directions
• Haunted
• Iowa Baseball Confederacy
• Radioactive: a tale of love and fallout
• The Disappearing Spoon
• The Great Shark Hunt 
• Albums/CDs (the most prone to shifting tastes...avoiding Greatest Hits packages)
• My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy - Kanye West
• The Heist - Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
• Blood on the Tapes - Bob Dylan bootleg
• A Ghost is Born - Wilco
• Plastic Beach - Gorillaz
• Alright, Still - Lily Allen
• Gold - Ryan Adams
• Graceland - Paul Simon
• Step Inside This House - Lyle Lovett
• Body Talk - Robyn
• Traveling Wilburys - Traveling Wilburys
• Television Shows (also very much prone to shifting tastes)
• The Wire
• Deadwood
• Scrubs
• Mad About You
• Parks and Recreation
• Bob's Burgers
• Archer
• The Daily Show
• The Colbert Report
• Sportscenter
• Albums/CDs (greatest hits collections only)
• Action Packed: The Best of the Capitol Years - Richard Thompson
• The Best of 1980-1990 - U2
• A Quiet, Normal Life - Warren Zevon
• Carry on Up the Charts - The Beautiful South
• Decade - Neil Young
• The Hits/The B-Sides - Prince
• Just Another Band from East LA - Los Lobos
• Personal Best - Harry Nilsson
• The Very Best of Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons
• The Very Good Years - Frank Sinatra 
• Comics (not full series)
• Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow
• Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader
• Spider-Man: Blue
• Supreme: Story of the Year
• Pride of Baghdad
• Superman: Secret Identity
• Eternals
• Batgirl: Year One
• Superman: Red Son
• Batman: The Long Halloween
• Superman/Batman: Absolute Power
• Dark Knight Returns 
• Comic series
• Planetary
• Sandman
• Invincible
• All-Star Superman
• Powers
• Watchmen
• Astro City
• Ultimate Spider-Man
• Astonishing X-Men (Whedon's run)
• Fables
• DMZ 
• Locke & Key
• Scott Pilgrim
• Restaurants & foods
• cajun - Knotty Pine on the Bayou
• burger - Terry's Turf Club
• steak - Jeff Ruby's (downtown)
• breakfast - Waffle House (Cincinnati-Dayton Rd location, specifically)
• all-around casual - Troy's Cafe & Catering
• best fries - Senate
• pasta - Paesano's
• pizza - Dewey's and Betta's Italian Oven
• Greek - Greek Isles
• bbq - Eli's

Are there any other 'favorites' that you'd like to know?

"Hoosiers revisited" visited

A couple of weeks ago Calen and I went to New Castle High School to see the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame Classic tournament - won by Greensburg in two impressive performances - and stopped by the Hall of Fame and museum across the parking lot. While we were there we tried watching "Hoosiers revisited", a video playing in the museum.

Luckily there was a sign saying the video was available on YouTube.

And, yeah, I have something in my eye. There's an eyelash. Shut up...

And, man, I need to gets to Knightstown.

The speed of plot returns just in time

I've mentioned things happening at the speed of plot before, and it's absolutely one of my favorite story tropes.

The concept makes a brilliant return in the most recent Order of the Stick comic, one of the best ongoing comics out there. Read along and catch up. The plot'll wait for you.

Quotes from the past

Back when I was in college I collected quotes. It feels very much a college thing to do: to use other people's words to explain who you are. I was beginning to look beyond my walls, to explore a far larger world than New Albany, and I wanted to know with whom - with which great thinkers - I was going to align myself.

I included these quotes in my teacher education portfolio, at which every intereviewer would allegedly (but not really) look, or so my professors told me. I printed the quotes out and made them into a bulletin board. I saved them into a Word file that's been following me around, stored on computer after computer for nearly twenty years now.

I haven't looked at the quotes in a long while now, and I don't know that every one agrees with who I am so much as who I was or at least who I wanted to be.

• “ Mankind must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression, and retaliation.  The foundation for such a method is love.” - Martin Luther King, Jr. - December 11, 1964
• “ L’amor che mouve il sole e l’altre stelle. “ - Dante Alighieri
• “ A kiss is a lovely trick designed by nature to stop speech when words become superfluous. “ - Ingrid Bergmen
• “ What you do speaks so loud that  I cannot hear what you say.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson
• “ Iron rusts from disuse; stagnant water loses its purity and in cold weather becomes frozen; even so does inaction sap the vigor of the mind.” - Leonardo da Vinci
• “ Remember, people will judge you by your actions, not your intentions.  You may have a heart of gold - but so does a hard-boiled egg.” - anonymous
• “ The universe is full of magical things, patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper.” - Eden Phillpotts
• “ What is life?  It is the flash of a firefly in the night.  It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime.  It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset.” - Crowfoot
• “ A thermonuclear war cannot be considered a continuation of politics by other means.  It would be a means to universal suicide.” - Andrei D. Sakharov
• “ An invasion of armies can be resisted, but not an idea whose time has come.” - Victor Hug
• “ First they came for the Jews and I did not speak out,
  Because I was not a Jew.
  Then they came for the Communists and I did not speak out,
  Because I was not a Communist.
  Then they came for the Trade Unionists and I did not speak out,
  Because I was not a Trade Unionists.
  Then they came for me,
  And there was no one left to speak for me.”
  - Pastor Neimoeller (Nazi Victim)
• “ I may not agree with a word you say, but I shall defend unto my death your right to say it.” - Voltaire
• “ You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.” - Robert Zimmerman
• “ Good and evil both increase at compound interest.  That is why the little decisions you and I make every day are of such infinite importance.” - C.S. Lewis
• “ Love your life, poor as it is.  You may perhaps have some pleasant, thrilling, glorious hours, even in a poorhouse.  The setting sun is reflected from the windows of the almshouse as brightly as from the rich man’s abode.” - Henry David Thoreau
• “ Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the things you did.  Do throws off the bowlines.  Sail away from the safe harbor.  Catch the trade winds in your sails.  Explore.  Dream.  Discover.” - Mark Twain
• “ Avoid what is evil; do what is good; purify the mind - this is the teaching of the Awakened One [Buddha].” - The Pali Canon
• “ The fact that man knows right from wrong proves his intellectual superiority to the other creatures; but the fact that he can do wrong proves his moral inferiority to any creature that cannot.” - Mark Twain
• “ The worst sin toward our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them; that is the essence of inhumanity.” - George Bernard Shaw
• “ Lord, what fools these mortals be!” - Puck - Midsummer-Night’s Dream
• “ Human subtlety...will never devise an invention more beautiful, more simple or more direct than does nature, because in her inventions nothing is lacking, and nothing is superfluous.” - Leonardo da Vinci
• “ To waste, to destroy, our natural resources, to skin and exhaust the land instead of using it so as to increase its usefulness, will result in undermining in the days of our children the very prosperity which we ought by right to hand down to them amplified and developed.” - Theodore Roosevelt
• “ From the intrinsic evidence of his creation, the Great Architect of the Universes now begins to appear as a pure mathematician.” - Sir James Hopwood Jeans
• “ There is only one religion, though there are a hundred versions of it.” - George Bernard Shaw
• “ Education’s purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one.” - Malcolm Forbes
• “ One impulse from a vernal wood
  May teach you more of man,
  Of moral evil and of good,
  Than all the sages can.” - William Wordsworth
• “  Thou hast most traitorously corrupted the youth of the realm in erecting a grammerschool; and whereas, before, our forefathers had no other books but the score and the tally, thou hast caused printing to be used; and, contrary to the king, his crown, and dignity, thou hast built a paper mill.” - Henry VI, Part II - Shakespeare
• “ All of us can think of a book...that we hope none of our children or any other children have taken off the shelf.  But if I have the right to remove that book from the shelf - that work I abhor - then you also have exactly the same right and so does everyone else.  And then we have no books left on the shelf for any of us.” - Katherine Paterson
• “ Use the talents you possess for the woods would be a very silent place if no birds sang except for the best.” - unknown
• “ In some sort of crude sense which no vulgarity, no humor, no overstatement can quite extinguish, the physicists have known sin; and this is a knowledge which they cannot lose” - J Robert Oppenheimer
• “ Science is built up of facts, as a house is of stones.  But a collection of facts is no more a science than a heap of stones is a house.” - Jules Henri Poincare
• “ Some scientists claim that hydrogen, because it is so plentiful, is the basic building block of the universe.  I dispute that.  I say that there is more stupidity than hydrogen, and that is the basic building block of the universe.” - Frank Zappa
• “ The plow is one of the most ancient and valuable of man’s inventions, but long before he existed the land was in fact regularly plowed, and still continues to be thus plowed by earthworms.  It may be doubted whether there are many other animals which have played so important a part in the history of the world, as these lowly organized creatures.” - The Formation of Vegetable Mold Through the Actions of Worms - Charles Darwin
• “ Had I been present at the creation, I would have given some useful hints for the better ordering of the universe.” - Alfonso the Wise
• “ Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
  Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
  All mimsy were the borogroves,
  And the mome raths outgrabe.
  Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
  The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
  Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
•    The frumious Bandersnatch!” - Lewis Carroll
• “ Golden teeth and golden tones, welcome to my presence!” - Dr. Teeth - The Muppet Movie
• “ When I am playful I use the meridians of longitude and parallels of latitude for a seine, and drag the Atlantic Ocean for whales.  I scratch my head with lightning and purr myself to sleep with the thunder.” - Life on the Mississippi - Mark Twain
• “ One food for the rest of my life?  That’s easy - cherry Pez.  Cherry-flavored Pez.  There’s no doubt about it.” - Vern Tessio - Stand By Me
• “ Your reality, sir, is lies and balderdash and I’m delighted to say that I have no grasp of it whatsoever.” - Baron Munchausen
• “ Be happy while you’re living, for you’re a long time dead.” - Scottish proverb
• “ Life’s like a movie / Write your own ending.” - Kermit - The Muppet Movie
• “ There’s someone out there for everyone- even if you need a pickax, a compass, and night goggles to find them.” - Harris T Telemacher - LA Story
• “ One word frees us from all the weight and pain of life: the word is love.” - Sophocles
• “ Consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds.” - Henry David Thoreau
• “ What most people need to learn in life is how to love people and use things instead of using people and loving things.” - unknown
• “ And in the end, it’s not the years in your life that count.  It’s the life in your years.” - Abraham Lincoln
• “ Man is a successful animal, that’s all.” - Remy de Gourmont
• “ Man seems to be a rickety sort of thing, any way you take him; a kind of British Museum of infirmities and inferiorities.  He is always undergoing repairs.  A machine that was as unreliable as he is would have no market.” - Mark Twain
• “ Let us give Nature a chance; she knows her business better than we do.” - Michel Eyquem de Montaigne
• “ If cattle and horses, or lions, had hands, or were able to draw with their feet and produce the works which men do, horses would draw the forms of gods like horses, and cattle, and they would make the gods’ bodies the same shape as their own.” - Xenophanes
• “ Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than going to a garage makes you a car.” - Laurence J. Peter
• “ Operationally, God is beginning to resemble not a ruler but the last fading smile of a cosmic Cheshire cat.” - Sir Julian Huxley
• “ Friends do not live in harmony, as some say, but in melody.” - Henry David Thoreau
• “ What is a friend?  A single soul dwelling in two bodies.” - Aristotle
• “ Soap and education are not as sudden as a massacre, but they are more deadly in the long run.” - Mark Twain
• “ Give a man a fish, and he’ll eat for a day.
  Teach a man to fish, and he’ll eat for a lifetime.” - Chinese proverb
• “ A teacher is one who makes himself progressively unnecessary.” - Thomas Carruthers
• “ True science teaches, above all, to doubt and be ignorant.” - Miguel de Unamuno
• “ The science of one age becomes the superstition of the next.” - George Lyman Kittredge
• “ But then they danced down the street like dingledodies, and I shambled after as I’ve been doing all my life after people who interest me, because the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes ‘Awww!’” - Jack Kerouac
• “ We Americans live in a nation where the medical system is second to none in the world, unless you count maybe 25 or 30 little scuzball countries like Scotland that we could vaporize in seconds if we felt like it.” - Dave Barry
• “If an unfriendly foreign power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre educational performance that exists today, we might well have viewed it as an act of war.  As it stands, We have allowed this to happen to ourselves.”  - Glenn Seaborg
• “ It is an unfortunate fact, borne out by research and much anectdotal experience, that by the time they reach high school, most students have already decided whether or not they like chemistry, and whether or not they are good at it.”  - Glenn Seaborg   

I don't know what to say about all these quotes, so...um...now they're saved for me.

You know...just in case...

Now, it's only a half...

• Coming to a nightmare near you - The Old Spice "MomSong"...[chills]
• More links after the jump...

I want me

I've been happy with my choice of throwing my lot into the Wii camp, but there is now one reason why I wish I'd gone for the XBox Kinect: the ability to get a personalized figure of myself via 3d printer and Kinect from shapify.me.



Anybody out there have a Kinect? Can I come over?

Update: Update: Update: Lego SImpsons...my guesses

Apparently the Simpsons Lego rumors only beat the official rollout by a couple of days as the Lego Group made the official announcement today (perhaps nudged by the leaks, I dunno). There are loads and loads of high-res pics at the link above or on Lego's official Facebook page. They also announced the listed price of $199.99 and the impending release of February - possibly on February 17 - and the new prices for the May minifigures at $3.99 per figure (hopefully only inflated because of the Simpsons license and need for new head molds).

The Hall of Fame...the only one that matters

I don't know why I care so dang much about baseball.

I don't really like watching the games. Yeah, I go to a couple a year, but I'm there as much for the social aspect as I am for the beauty of the game.

I don't pay a whole lot of attention to the day-to-day standings during the season. Yeah, I follow the Reds a bit, but I'm not checking every day until the last couple of weeks of the season, and then only if the Reds are in contention.

I certainly never played the game more than my very infrequent visits to the batting cages, a couple of homerun derby games, and some Wiffle ball games.

For some reason, though, I care far more about Baseball than I do about baseball. See, there's a distinction there for me. I love Baseball, the capital B kind, the Game, the history, the legends and stories, the records...all of it. Just because that doesn't translate to a total love of baseball doesn't mean I love Baseball any less.



I blame James Earl Jones and W. P. Kinsella and Annie Savoy and Crash Davis and Bill James and Rob Neyer.

Because of all this, though, I care about the baseball Hall of Fame far more than I should. In reality, the Hall of Fame is a dumb, arbitrary, collection of some of the best (and some of the not-quite-so-best) players in major league baseball history. Today's voting announcement won't really matter in the scope of the world. Some players who I think should get in will probably get in. Some players I think should get in probably won't. Some players who I think shouldn't get in just might get in anyway.

But still I care, and I'll be following today's 2pm announcements like nobody's business because I care.

That also means I'm paying a lot of attention to the announced ballots, ballot analyses, and predictions in advance of the announcement.

I particularly enjoy Chris Jaffe's predictions article on The Hardball Times. He sees Greg Maddux, Frank Thomas, Tom Glavine, and Craig Biggio going in. I'd be fine with those choices.

The IBWAA sees the same four going in, though with Glavine ahead of Thomas.

Honestly, Joe Posanski's thoughts are pretty close to mirroring mine. There are more deserving candidates this year than there are spots on any ballot. And there are players who deserve to get in and won't because of PED issues and rumors. I don't know that I agree with his #13, but I do think there are fourteen Hall-worthy players on this year's ballot.

The Baseball Hall of Fame continues to matter, and I'm thrilled to have read Bill James's The Politics of Glory (now published as Whatever Happened to the Hall of Fame?) for my understanding of the history of the Hall. Give it a read if you have any interest in the Hall's past, present, or future.

Update: Update: Lego SImpsons...my guesses

This morning I posted an image from Carlos S of the front of the box of the new Lego Simpsons House. At forum requests, Carlos S (via GrooveBricks) was able to get a photo of the back of the box showing the inside of the apparently hinged house.

Dang...that's a whole lot of detail in the place, and it looks like a lot of new pieces, too.

Update: Lego Simpsons...my guesses

The first leaked image of the Simpsons' 742 Evergreen Terrace Lego set has been leaked, and it's massive.

It also includes the full Simpsons family and Ned Flanders, six of the characters I guessed we'd see in the next collectible minifigures line. Assuming the leak (from Carlos S via Uproxx) is real, how does that change my guesses as to which figures we'll get?

I'm going to go with thinking it doesn't change things much. I think the Lego Group will give us alternate versions of the family - other than Maggie and Marge. There have been enough different costumes and versions of Maggie, Bart, and Homer through the years that I think we'll get duplicates of those three. I don't see another Maggie or Marge outfit because they're really in the same things most all the time. And I'm thinking Ned's already getting his one version - unless we get a set of the Leftorium or Praiseland (complete with gas leak).

That drops out three of my fairly certain characters and leaves me with three to replace. Here are my original choices and reasoning...

• Waylon Smithers
• Selma Bouvier - probably not because Selma requires Patty
• Patty Bouvier - probably not because Patty requires Selma
• Duff Man - This might be the one that I want most just for its quirky nature, but I think Lego will avoid the alcohol overtones.
• Ned Flanders
• Lenny & Carl - That's two characters who really can't be done individually. When we're this tight on spots, I don't think we can use up two spots on these goofs.
• Troy McClure - They've been resolute about not bringing back Phil Hartman's character on the show, so I'm assuming they won't bring him back in the Lego world either.
• Itchy & Scratchy - I don't know how these two would translate to the Lego world and whether they would be two separate figures or one with an accessory of the other.
• Chief Wiggum
• Ralph Wiggum - Ralph stands onstage with Lisa, but bringing him in edges Lego to dealing with special needs characters, something they might want to avoid.
• Comic Book Guy - I would love getting one, but he seems to be a far lesser character in Springfield.
• Hans Moleman - This would be a quirky choice, but he's never been a lead character in a story, and I can't see him as anything other than a cut-to gag character.
• Principal Skinner
• Edna Krabappel - Edna's voice, Marcia Wallace, passed away in October. I'm thinking they'll let Edna pass on peacefully.
• Nelson Muntz
• Groundskeeper Willie - Like Hans Moleman, Willie doesn't drive stories in the Springfield world, so I think we can manage without him.
• Sideshow Bob - Lego isn't known for characters with dark, violent pasts. This one might be a little murderous for Lego's self-professed target audience.

With three new spots to fill, I'll go with bringing back in Ralph Wiggum, Sideshow Bob, and Groundskeeper Willie.

That means my official guesses are now...

• Homer - alternate
• Bart - alternate
• Lisa - alternate
• Apu Nahasapeemapetilon
• Montgomery Burns 
• Moe Syzslak
• Milhouse Van Houten
• Krusty the Clown
• Barney Grumble
• Grandpa Simpson
• Waylon Smithers
• Chief Wiggum
• Ralph Wiggum
• Principal Skinner
• Nelson Muntz
• Groundskeeper Willie
• Sideshow Bob

Wait, that's seventeen. Apparently my original guesses were too generous by one. Let's drop off Sideshow Bob so Lego isn't endorsing murder.

Oh, and if you're wondering how much the Simpsons' home is going to cost, here are some vague comps based on # of pieces and minifigures.

• 71006 The Simpsons House - 2523 pieces, 6 minfigs, licensed set
• 10243 Parisian Restaurant - 2469 pieces, 5 minifigs, non-licensed - $159.99
• 10234 Sydney Opera House - 2989 pieces, 0 minfigs, non-licensed - $319.99
• 10237 Tower of Orthanc - 2359 pieces, 5 minfigs (and an eagle), licensed set - $199.99

I don't know what the new set's price will be, but I'm thinking I won't be buying it.

Separately, I'm not sure I like the very much non-Lego-minifigure-looking Simpsons shown on the box above. THey look too blocko-ish for my taste.

Don't worry, San Diego, Daddy's here.

• Anchorman 2 isn't funny. Don't waste your money in the theater. But the sort of sequel made entirely from outtakes from the first film is worth watching. And, as of earlier this week, it was available for free in low resolution on YouTube.
• Used to be a Pizza Hut - There are so many former Pizza Huts out there, and some of them are at least creatively being recycled. 
• By some designer - anybody know who designed this piece?

Lego Simpsons...my gueses

With the rumored confirmation that Lego's thirteenth series of collectible minifigures, to be released in May, 2013, will be Simpsons-themed, I'm feeling like taking a few guesses as to what sixteen figures we'll get in the series, which are the sixteen most iconic/important/essential Simpsons characters.

All of this is predicated on the fact that no figures are held back as full-set-only inclusions. It appears that we'll only get one set, 742 Evergreen Terrace. If they make it so that you can only get Marge, for example, by buying that set, then my sixteen won't be quite right.

Absolute musts...

• Homer
• Marge
• Bart
• Lisa
• Maggie

Next round, the ones I feel fairly confident should be among the released...

• Apu Nahasapeemapetilon
• Montgomery Burns 
• Moe Syzslak
• Milhouse Van Houten
• Krusty the Clown
• Barney Grumble
• Grandpa Simpson

That takes us to twelve of the sixteen figures. Now things start to get tough with only four spots left in the series and a whole bunch of regular characters who deserve a shot. I'll list reasons why the individuals will not be included. Let's see if that can get us to the four.

• Waylon Smithers
• Selma Bouvier - probably not because Selma requires Patty
• Patty Bouvier - probably not because Patty requires Selma
• Duff Man - This might be the one that I want most just for its quirky nature, but I think Lego will avoid the alcohol overtones.
• Ned Flanders
• Lenny & Carl - That's two characters who really can't be done individually. When we're this tight on spots, I don't think we can use up two spots on these goofs.
• Troy McClure - They've been resolute about not bringing back Phil Hartman's character on the show, so I'm assuming they won't bring him back in the Lego world either.
• Itchy & Scratchy - I don't know how these two would translate to the Lego world and whether they would be two separate figures or one with an accessory of the other.
• Chief Wiggum
• Ralph Wiggum - Ralph stands onstage with Lisa, but bringing him in edges Lego to dealing with special needs characters, something they might want to avoid.
• Comic Book Guy - I would love getting one, but he seems to be a far lesser character in Springfield.
• Hans Moleman - This would be a quirky choice, but he's never been a lead character in a story, and I can't see him as anything other than a cut-to gag character.
• Principal Skinner
• Edna Krabappel - Edna's voice, Marcia Wallace, passed away in October. I'm thinking they'll let Edna pass on peacefully.
• Nelson Muntz
• Groundskeeper Willie - Like Hans Moleman, Willie doesn't drive stories in the Springfield world, so I think we can manage without him.
• Sideshow Bob - Lego isn't known for characters with dark, violent pasts. This one might be a little murderous for Lego's self-professed target audience.

I'm stumped on narrowing it does further than that. That leaves me with seventeen characters for sixteen spots. On sheer blind guessing, I'll say we don't get Waylon Smithers.

Click on through to a website that'll let you identify every character in the poster.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year, everybody!

Yearly wrap-up of yearly wrap-ups

• Every movie trailer from 2013 supercut -  I didn't see Upstream Color anywhere.
• Top movie mistakes of 2013 - Some are kinda picky.
• LA Film Critics and AFI reveal their best films of the year - I've seen none of the movies on that list.

• XKCD's year in review - I'm pretty bummed by it, too. 

Lego Collectible Minifigs Series 12 LEGO Movie figures

Looks like I have a few more days to figure out a feel guide for the newest series of Lego collectible minifigures. January 1 is the official release date for the LEGO-movie-themed figures.

1. Robot girl - slant dress and rifle (2 per case)
2. President Business - funky hair, coffee cup w/ handle (6 per case)
3. Emmitt - 1x2 tile, no handcuffs (6 per case)
4. Wildstyle - slant dress and fan (4 per case)
5. Abe Lincoln - hat with beard (they're attached) (4 per case)
6. Scratchen-Post - cat (2 per case)
7. Scribble-face Cop - 1x2 tile and handcuffs (6 per case)
8. Will Shakespeare - 2x2 tile and quill (2 per case)
9. Gail, the construction worker - jackhammer (2 per case)
10. Larry the Barista - coffee cup without handle (4 per case)
11. Velma Staplebot - 2x2 tile and round wig (2 per case)
12. Taco Tuesday Guy - sombrero or cheese plate (4 per case)
13. Where are my Pants? Guy - two legs (4 per case)
14. Wiley Fusebot - dynamite, gun (4 per case)
15. Panda Guy - Panda helmet with ears, panda (6 per case)
16. Marsha Queen of Mermaids - mermaid tail (2 per case)

I'm thinking this set is going to be tough to recognize through the bags. Three figures have 2x2 tiles. Two have 1x2 tiles. Two have slant dresses. Two have coffee cups. I've never felt the dynamite before.

I've had to buy eighteen figures to get the full set of sixteen in each of the past two sets (#10 and #11). I'll aim to be better, but it's going to be tough.

Addenda - Since I started typing this post on Friday, From Bricks to Bothans posted a review and feel guide of the new set. Thanks, folks. I also found some confirmation that the next collectible minifig set will be Simpsons-themed and should show up in May 2014 then that series 14 will tie into the Minifig MMO.

Also appearing this January 1 is the newest Lego Cuusoo set, the Mars Rover, which is a must-buy for me. That'll, of course, be far easier to get absolutely right, and the $25 Lego gift card that I got from a student for Christmas makes that almost free. (Thanks, ND)

Well then I'll sail this ship alone...

As this posts, I should be sitting in New Castle Chrysler High School's gymnasium, the largest in the country, waiting for the start of the Hall of Fame Classic. In other words I'll be in heaven.

• Penguins fall down resulting in the best sound ever - The movie is tragic, but this post is right.
• The Legend of the Oregon Trail - It's about the game, folks, a classic of my childhood.
• Darren Davis of Clear Channel on new Christmas Songs - The state of radio in the US is pathetic with far too much centralized ownership, but this very open conversation is an interesting glimpse into what the programmers do.
• What's it like watching your spouse grow older? - Sometimes Reddit is actually worth reading. Warning: emotions and heartstrings
• NBA's possible solution for tanking: the wheel - I always appreciate a league looking at radical solutions.
• The Memphis Tigers out-globetrotted the Globetrotters in a late play of the year contender - Passing is gorgeous when it's done right.

Fallen Astronaut

I know I should keep posting Christmas ephemera, but I feel like taking a little left turn today. I might fit some more Christmas something in later today.

Instead, I want to marvel at the brilliance of the only sculpture on the moon: Fallen Astronaut.

The sculpture is among the most touching, beautiful efforts of commemoration that I've ever heard of. One of the astronauts worked in advance to find as light-weight, hideable tribute to his fallen comrades (some of whom were actual, Soviet comrades - brotherhood knows no political bounds). He managed to sneak the sculpture up TO THE MOON, and then he and his fellow astronauts had to distract mission control long enough to set up a make-shift memorial.

I love the moon. I love the idea that we as a species walked on the moon. I desperately want us to get back to the moon.

More info about Fallen Astronaut on Wikipedia and at the Smithsonian.

For What It's Worth

• The Phillie Phanatic Got His Own "What Does the Fox Say" Parody and It Is Amazing -
• How to not suck...at last-minute Christmas gifting - Pretty decent last-minute suggestions
• Brad Holland - pretty art piece

Taking a break from Christmas playlists

My Joy from PHSChemGuy on 8tracks Radio.

I'm going to take a break from the Christmas playlists and go with the forty seven (8tracks wouldn't let me include all three John Mellencamp songs, so sorry to "I Need a Lover") that always make me happy.

Merry Christmas, folks

Christmas playlist #15

Kids Christmas from PHSChemGuy on 8tracks Radio.

Christmas is for kids. It seems like a very straight forward playlist for me to put together, but these folks did a better job than I did.

Strange Christmas Songs for Strange Kids from blueheron on 8tracks Radio.

Christmas playlist #14

Instrumental Christmas from PHSChemGuy on 8tracks Radio.

It's essential that you have a wordless Christmas music playlist. Some would even say that it's instrumental in your holiday enjoyment.

Christmas playlist #13

Mixed Up Holiday Tunes from cassieyoung22 on 8tracks Radio.

I didn't come up with the Mixed Up Holiday Tunes, but I can endorse it...except maybe for the Ludacris song.

Christmas playlist #12

Not Your Average Christmas Mix from rileegabrielle on 8tracks Radio.

I kind of like this one, so - even though I'm enjoying this banter, it won't pay th ebills.

Oh, and I finally got around to wearing a 

Christmas playlist #11

Cowboy and swing jazz Christmas from PHSChemGuy on 8tracks Radio.

Sadly I couldn't include more of Django Bells, a great Christmas, swing jazz album from the Gypsy Hombres. 8Tracks has some sort of 'no more than two per artist per playlist' rule in their contract. Hopefully the mix of cowboy Christmas and Texas swing- jazz Christmas will tide you over until you get the Django Bells album

Are you going to watch things happen or make things happen?

• David Thibault - Elvis - "Blue Christmas" - It's not Elvis, but I could be fooled. 

Don't You Four Cheddar 'Bout Me

• How to toothpaste - I've apparently been doing it wrong for years.
• The Bob's Burgers Experiment - Funny show...neat blog idea...
• We were in the supermarket near us - There's a 5kg jar of Nutella out there? Why didn't anyone tell me?
• Faces in things - simple blog, funny idea
• Great dune of Hyla, France -  Makes me think of Sleeping Bear Dunes in Michigan
• Minimalist GAB - loving 'em
• Wonder Woman bread - cute combo
• Grand Canyon filled with clouds - so pretty

Christmas playlist #10

Happy Soulful Christmas from PHSChemGuy on 8tracks Radio.

The soulful Christmas playlist might be my favorite of the ones I've posted so far. Very happy stuff...

Christmas playlist #9

Loving the remixed Christmas classics here. I'd embed the straight Christmas Remixed album because it's outstanding, but this is as close as I could manage.

Buy or download that one immediately.

Christmas playlist #8

Guitar Rock Christmas! from PHSChemGuy on 8tracks Radio.

Today we bring down the guitars and crank the amps to eleven for Christmas rock!

Christmas playlist #7

Surfin and Oldies Christmas from PHSChemGuy on 8tracks Radio.

There just aren't enough oldies and surfin' oldies Christmas tunes out there for my tastes.

There should be more like these.

Christmas playlist #6

Novelty Christmas from PHSChemGuy on 8tracks Radio.

Novelty Christmas songs are some of the best Christmas songs. They're just so cutesy and novel.

Christmas playlist #5

Modern classic Christmas from PHSChemGuy on 8tracks Radio.

You know all the songs, but you probably don't know these updated versions in today's modern classics of Christmas playlist from 8tracks.

Christmas playlist #4

Lounge Christmas from PHSChemGuy on 8tracks Radio.

Today's Christmas playlist: lounge music Christmas tunes.

Amazon Prime Air?!?

Really?

It's sort of odd timing for an April Fools joke, so maybe Amazon Prime Air is actually a real if very early prototype program?

Christmas playlist #3

Folk music Christmas from PHSChemGuy on 8tracks Radio.

It's a folk music Christmas...sadly without any actual songs from Steve Martin, though I would love that.

Christmas playlist #2

Classic Christmas tunes from PHSChemGuy on 8tracks Radio.

Come out to the mall and enjoy today's selection of non-threatening, appropriate to all, white bread Christmas music. We've got Andy Williams, Burl Ives, Nat King Cole, Bing Crosby, and more.

Honestly, I love 'em all.

34 years ago today...

Christmas playlist #1

Brit Pop Christmas from PHSChemGuy on 8tracks Radio.

Today, Brit Pop Christmas.

More music to come over the coming days.

Happy December!

You could do a lot worse than to follow along with Chris Sims's advent calendar of daily christmas finds from YouTube.

If you need some Christmas music, I have a couple of mixes from the past couple of years that I particularly enjoy...

Christmas 2011 from PHSChemGuy on 8tracks Radio.

and...

Christmas in 2009 from PHSChemGuy on 8tracks Radio.

Or there are dozens of Christmas music internet radio stations: celtic christmas, celtic christmas, various christmas, pandora Christmas, Cincinnati's Christian Christmas, and lots more.

I'm gonna go down to Snooky's Bar. Anybody with me?

• Here's 'How to Fight a Baby,' the Citizen Kane of internet outrage videos - funny stuff
• Proper & improper handshakes for your next business meeting - I know how to shake hands thanks to Lee Hamilton's advice from decades ago.

• A Horrid Coincindence - wow...that's very odd and tragic
• The best trolling advice to a homophobic parent - Thank you, Dear Amy

• Kid President gives us 20 things we should say more often - agreed on all counts 
• Burning stuff with solar power - wow...wow...wow...I want one... 

• Samsung PN51F8500 - The Girl and I got a new TV for Thanksgiving & Christmas.
• Harry Potter ornament - I could make that, but I wouldn't've come up with it.

• A spinning ice disk forms on a river - very cool...literally...
• Caution: dead whale contents under pressure - The website's title is , and the video is disgusting. Enjoy!

He is at a gun store. That's not so good.

• Haunting Attire - Yeah, ghosts...not terrifically logical and all.
• Making every Bob's Burger of the Day - Some of them do sound tasty, and the show's hilarious.
• Soon - They are coming.

• Joker's funhouse immortalized in Lego - wow...
• 8 memorable tv scenes that were improvised - I'll go with the Bob's Burgers scene being the best.
• Building guides - Lego Christmas ornaments...I want 'em...
• Beastie Boys in Copyright Infringement Tussle with GoldieBlox Over Use of "Girls" Parody in Ad - Tough call here...like the ad a lot and the idea of girls in science...very much like the Beasties
• Some 'Odd' Theorems - Quirky but kinda interesting math 
• Massaro House - Apparently Brad Pitt owns it now
• 
  

The 80's from SNL

Bomb diggity...enjoy it while it's up and around...

Talky Teller

I watched this video this weekend, and the sound of Teller's voice still creeps me out.

It's hard to take advantage of all the Black Friday deals when you're being accused of stealing...

• Miley on Jimmy Fallon - The singer's trashy, but at least the song's catchy.
• Manko Manev - digging that third image
• How to be a teacher for more than five years without killing yourself - The profession is getting really tough, and sometimes I need to be reminded.

In which our hero gets involved

So, it appears that I'm on the Ohio Education Association's Board of Directors.

Near the beginning of the school year, one of my coworkers asked me if I would be interested in filling a vacant position on the Board. Apparently the previous office holder had been lucky enough to retire from a local school district and was henceforth no longer eligible to be on the Board.

I'd been saying for a few years that I wanted to get more involved in union (technically Association in Princeton) business, and I know I'm not well cut from a cloth that makes me good for building-level negotiations and mediations. I turn far too quickly toward combat and not nearly enough toward compromise and understanding. Knowing that local route is likely closed to me, I was at least interested in the higher position within the union hierarchy. So I gave a hearty maybe...

I made it to a Board of Directors meeting, sitting as a guest in the sideline seats. Then I said yes and attended another meeting (there are about nine a year, all in Columbus at the OEA building, at which I was elected to fill the position until the next local Representative Assembly, at which the position would be officially elected. The local Rep Assembly has now come and gone, and I was elected to serve out the balance of Haven's three-year term - unopposed, not even needing a paper ballot. I'm apparently a Board member for at least a year - after which I can run (probably unopposed again) for two three-year terms.

From there I've gone to two local council meetings at which the presidents a dozen local associations pass along and respond to the issues of the day, passing their opinions and challenges along to me and an OEA labor relations consultant (LRC) so that the LRC can try to solve the problems and I can represent their positions appropriately at the state level.

It's been interesting so far, and I'm looking forward to a few more interesting years.

Thoughts so far...

• I'm honored to have been invited. I know I got tapped because a state-connected PHS staffer was impressed with what I did back in the Issue 2/SB 5 fight. Lots of people who came before me sacrificed a lot to get me the contracts and protections that I have. I can certainly attend a few meetings over the next year(s) as my turn in the barrel.
• The protocol of the meetings is fascinating. Each time there's an agenda, a motion to accept the agenda with flexibility, and a series of motions, seconds, discussions, votes, and all sorts of Robert's Rules issues. Some part of me wants to chuckle at the absurdity of five people sitting at a table running through Robert's Rules of Order to say 'hey, how's life in your district,' but I do understand that one of the major goals (and legal requirements) here is absolute transparency for the membership, so I don't chuckle aloud.
• I'm becoming far more educated in everything Union-related. Man, the learning curve is steep because so many of the people are long-timers who know all the acronyms and histories, but there's just so much to learn. I'm in heaven with that aspect.
• Everybody I speak to seems to have most of the same issues. We're all wigged out over Ohio Teacher Evaluation System (OTES) pressure, Common Core curricular changes, decreased funding, increased class sizes, the impending Right to Work fight, increased health care costs alongside frozen pay scales. So many of our issues aren't local, and that's the case all over the state.
• Some of the issues do continue to be local, and there are clearly dozens of radically different ways to solve the problems that we all have. Some districts fight for school safety with more resource officers; others choose to arm individual teachers with handguns; still others lock guns in fingerprint-protected safes at the end of academic hallways. It's all for the same problem: keep the kids safe; but those are shockingly different ways to solve that same problem.

I know I'll stick around for at least a year. I'm leaning toward sticking around a little longer than that.

Help me choose

Which Lego tie should I get?

I'm not asking which style or which maker? That's decided. I'm ordering myself a Brick Your Neck! tie in the original long style.

What I need to know is which color I should order: red, white, blue, or black?

They all come in plain and can be adorned in all sorts of brilliant ways, none of which I would frequently have time for, sadly.

These are some jeans of yours; I don't know if you want them.

• 100% soft - so many movies
• Finding the right words - Proposal via Lego
• Explore demographics of your ZIP code - The 45069 is an 87. What's yours?

• What does Earth look like? -  VSauce teaches me things every time.
• DC & Marvel characters get a Pixar makeover - Some of those are spot on.
• 12 Most Fascinating Visual Stories in 2013 - Fukushima, Atomic Overlook, and The Struggle to Right Oneself...best three
• Please enjoy watching Felipe Reyes hit the king of ridiculous, lucky buzzer-beaters - in a twenty-three-point game...

• Nearly Vintage Alyssa Milano - long-time crush
• Android tricks you should be using - I have one of these phones. Maybe I should be using these tricks.
• Einstein on the Beach: highlights from 2012 in Montpelier - most magical night ever

• 20 essential documentaries of the century - 1,3,5,6,8,12,14,15,17 all brilliant, spectacular films
• "Yeezus" album review - I'm embarrassed to say how much I love Kanye West's music.
• The Gettysburg Address - still stunningly short and marvelously moving

First listen: Inside Llewyn Davis

NPR's First Listen currently has the soundtrack to Inside Llewyn Davis available for streaming in full.

You can check out the full track listing over at allmusic and the trailer below.



Apparently the film is based on Dave Von Ronk's memoirs and is directed by the Coen Brothers. The soundtrack is pretty and pleasant and makes me wonder what the tone of the film is going to be - mocking, reverential, loving, funny...

Either way, I'll give it a look and hope it's not in the same vein as was A Mighty Wind which hit a little too close to home for somebody who still watches the folk PBS funddrive specials with love.

Where are the angels?

• Die Maiers: comedy trapeze artists -  slow to start...impressive a couple of minutes in
• How to use Amazon Glacier as a dirt-cheap backup solution - I need to look into this
• Marvel and Netflix join forces to create four series culminating in an epic miniseries - I may just have to suck it up and get Netflix. Of course, I haven't caught a single Agents of SHIELD yet, and that's on broadcast.

• 2013 Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta - Gotta add in one more vacation destination
• Report: Idling Motors Outside Schools and Dangerous - This doesn't make me more eager to hang out for my after-school bus duty.
• Six out of Seven Dwarfs - hilarious tweet humor

• Kentucky player scores for opponent - 
• We want to hear from someone who will prepare and eat a ham banana roll - I'm not going to win their $50.
• It's Optimus (sub) Prime! American Miss Universe contestant sports VERY unglamorous ensemble inspired by Transformers film - The title's ridiculously long, but the photos are fun.
• Pink Ribbon$, Inc - I've been suspicious. 
• Dave Capelle's Block Party - full movie on YouTube...watch it...enjoy...

PHSChemGuy's Protopage

iGoogle is fully and officially dead, and I'm a little late to the party.

Sure, Google posted something sixteen months ago saying that iGoogle would be heading into the sunset. So I, of course, waited until the day after iGoogle went belly up to really do anything about the impending doom. On Thursday, I saw the note saying 'iGoogle will not be available after November 1' and assumed I had until the end of the day on November 1 to make my desperate, eleventh-hour decision to choose a replacement. Instead, when I woke up on Friday, November 1, my homepage of iGoogle was no longer available, and I was forced to switch.

After skimming through a few other the recommended options, I've gone with Protopage as my replacement.

 
Reasons I picked protopage...

• Visual similarity to iGoogle - Each widget shows the seven (default number) newest items from any RSS feed in an individual 'window' with a simple title bar with clickable links for each story/entry. A single page can be set up to include individual tabs of different rss feeds.
• Ease of use - Adding a widget is easy as can be: click Add Widget up top and type in the name of the page. Occasionally Protopage can't find the appropriate rss feed, but the correct link is usually just a click or two away on the blog's site.
• Customizability - Individual RSS feed windows can be colored differently. The background of the various pages can be changed to any color, a couple dozen built-in backgrounds, or any image on the web. (I went with this image of bokeh for now.) The widgets can also be resized to any width (as with the calendar that I've spread to three columns wide.) Individual widgets and tabs can also be renamed as you choosen.
• Link management - I'm a right-click-open-in-new-tab guy, but that caused an initial problem because links opened that way don't appear in Protopage to have been visited, leaving them looking identical to any un-visited links. Protopage does, however, grey out (with strikethru, also) any pages clicked to via Protopage. I don't know yet whether links visited from outside Protopage would also grey out. Gotta check on that.
• Google integration - Protopage has a number of widgets built in including Gmail and Google Calendar, both of which are kinda important to my organizing on the web.
• Sharing - It's possible to make your protopage public and share it with anyone on the web for view-only privileges or editing privileges. I haven't chosen to take advantage of that yet, but I may in the future.

Drawbacks I've seen so far...

• I can't customize each page's background uniquely. It seems that changing one changes them all.
• The Google calendar widget doesn't seem willing to sync multiple calendars. I have The Girl and Calen's calendars visible on my Google calendar when I go directly there, but the widget will only show my calendar entries. They're clearly the most important ones, but I'd like to be able to see the others, too.
• Visiting an blog's page (for example, neatorama.com) doesn't grey out the various links that I've seen because I didn't visit each individual story's link. That was an issue with iGoogle, too, though.
• Yeah, that's about it.

If you were an iGoogle user, what've you chosen as your replacement, and why is it better (or worse) than Protopage.

Songs of Death

Astride a pale horse... from PHSChemGuy on 8tracks Radio.

No reason here, no worries...just looking for good playlists.

Songs of Death from 8Tracks

Please have pfeffermintz in you...

• An Idaho sportscaster was Ron Burgandy for Halloween and did it right - Dang, straight he did
• The Sandman: Overture - Missed this coming...gonna not buy it until it's collected...
• Pixelstick - pretty gif