Big Pickles

Here's an interesting article on what, exactly, makes Guitar Hero so great.

Jack White gets some love at the end.

Labels: games, music, music games

After watching Melissa run her 5K I got motivated to start running again. Along with that I've been trying to eat better and lose a little weight.

I found two websites that are pretty useful if you're wonky like me about this kind of thing, and like to keep track of all your calories. FitDay will let you get as detailed as you want as far as nutrition and exercise, but the interface is a little bare bones. It sure beats the Excel spreadsheet I was using before, though. Sparkpeople is probably just as detailed, but it's a bit more user-friendly and community oriented. It will tell you exactly what to eat every day if you want it to. It reminds me of the online nutrition and workout plans you get with some gym memberships, but it's free.

These sites will track all your exercise info as well, but I use other sites for that. I log my bike riding at My Cycling Log, and my running at Log Your Run. (Both sites will track both activities, as well as others, but I like each for the one it specializes in.)

Each of these sites have cool modules that allow you to plot your routes on Google maps to determine mileage. Or you can do the same thing at Gmaps Pedometer.

And finally, I'm using a training program from Cool Running, (I'm doing the Intermediate 5K), and the calculators at Running for Fitness. Active is also useful for looking up local races. It has other sports, too, so check it out if you're looking for a local volleyball tournament or something.

Labels: exercise, nutrition

First, watch the commercial to get the jingle stuck in your head. I'll wait.

Now then. In the mid-eighties my parents bought my little brother one of these things. I don't know that he ever got all that attached to it, but he seemed to like it enough. What I do remember about My Buddy was that my older brother and I beat that thing mercilessly.

I still don't know what it was about that toy that caused David and I to succumb to violent tendencies we never knew we had. We never abused any of my sister's toys like that. (Sure, Super Grover spent more than his fair share of time up on the roof, but he was supposed to fly.) All I can tell you is that there was nothing more cathartic than grabbing My Buddy by the ankles and smashing his head into the metal bunk bed frame. Over and over and over...

I'm sure it started as a way to annoy my little brother. You punch his toy in the face, he gets mad, a good time is had by all. But it grew into something much bigger. Maybe it's because he really was indestructible--and he was the perfect size for such manhandling--so we took it as a challenge to see if we could really damage him. (I don't think we ever did.) Or maybe there was just something about his face that provoked our wrath.

Anyway, I was reminded of all of this by a blog post that claimed that My Buddy was for kids whose parents thought GI Joes were too violent. I had plenty GI Joes, but they never once inspired the kind of blood lust that My Buddy did.

Labels: nostalgia, violence

Trouble At' Mill will be another thirty-minute film like A Close Shave and The Wrong Trousers.

Wallace and Gromit have a brand new business. The conversion of 62 West Wallaby Street is complete and impressive, the whole house is now a granary with ovens and robotic kneading arms. Huge mixing bowls are all over the place and everything is covered with a layer of flour. On the roof is a 'Wallace patent-pending' old-fashioned windmill.

No word yet on when it's expected to be released, but Nick Park has said that he's using faster production techniques now than he has on his other films.

Labels: gromit, movies, wallace, wensleydale

This comic at Salon.com traces the rise and fall of a hip, ironic catchphrase.

Labels: comics

Someone out there has a blog devoted to anthropomorphic food characters. Huh.

Anyway, if you don't recognize the Del Monte Country Yumkins, it's probably because your mom fed you generic canned green beans instead of the good stuff.

Don't feel bad, I'm sure they were just as healthy.

Labels: nostalgia, plush collectibles

This movie looks awesome.

I do love me some Jack Black.

Labels: movies

I've blogged about Jonathan Coulton before, but he rates another mention. Probably several more.

This is the video to a song called "Flickr," which is really just a bunch of random phrases strung together about random pictures people put on Flickr. Trust me, it works.

Labels: audio, pictures, video

His acceptance speech is long, but very good. He can't resist rhyming and using cliches, but he's so sincere, you love him anyway.

(Originally the video cut out some of his remarks about torture, but in the end it appears that the level of irony involved in censoring a Liberty Medal recipient was too much to bear.)

Labels: video

Did you see this video during combined PH/RS meeting yesterday?

Melissa did. She wasn't sure if it was a church-wide thing or if it was done on a local level, but she told me that she won't soon forget hearing the voices of Chris Parnell and Amy Poehler in the chapel.

They also showed this FedEx commercial.

Labels: church, tv