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October 23, 2005

Advice When Heading to New York

I'm heading to New York City for the day on Monday, so I figured that now would be the time to mention New York Survival Tips for tourists. Be regaled with advice such as:

As a tourist, the best places for you to get the most out of your New York experience can be found in Midtown, especially Times Square. Everyone walks at your speed there, and it's one of the few places you can safely take your camera out without having it snatched away by a local knife-carrying boy. So click away at the stunning neon be-decked architecture of Times Square, content in your safety. If you get tired or wish to partake in some of New York City's finest dining, you can always step into one of our world-famous chain restaurants conveniently located just north of the square. Some may recommend "Applebees," but may I suggest TGI Friday's? The world's largest TGI Friday's can be found within moment's walk of Times Square. New Yorkers love to eat, and so an hour in this quaint cavern of a restaurant will give you a chance to examine Gothamites in their element. While you watch, order the Jalepeno Poppers. Aren't they delish? "Delish" is Yiddish (that's Jewish speak) for "tasty." The secret is the Ranch dressing, slathered over everything.

Posted by Dean at 10:48 PM | Comments (1)

October 20, 2005

Frozen Body of WWII Soldier Found

CNN reports that the body of a WWII-era soldier was found frozen in a glacier, apparently after a plane crash.

I think I heard about something like this. They unfroze the body and found:

Captain America!

Posted by Dean at 10:53 PM | Comments (0)

October 19, 2005

The Science Fiction Canon

John Scalzi announces his release of The Rough Guide to Sci-Fi Movies. He comes up with a list of the science fiction film canon. The ones I've seen are in bold:

The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension!
Akira
Alien
Aliens
Alphaville
Back to the Future
Blade Runner
Brazil
Bride of Frankenstein
Brother From Another Planet
A Clockwork Orange
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Contact
The Damned
Destination Moon
The Day The Earth Stood Still
Delicatessen
Escape From New York
ET: The Extraterrestrial
Flash Gordon: Space Soldiers (serial)
The Fly (1985 version) (Oh, But I've seen The Fly 2 -- the shame!)
Forbidden Planet
Ghost in the Shell
Gojira/Godzilla
The Incredibles
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956 version)
Jurassic Park
Mad Max 2/The Road Warrior
The Matrix
Metropolis
On the Beach
Planet of the Apes (1968 version)
Robocop
Sleeper
Solaris (1972 version)
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
The Stepford Wives
Superman
Terminator 2: Judgement Day (But not the original Terminator? WTF?)
The Thing From Another World
Things to Come
Tron
12 Monkeys
28 Days Later
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
2001: A Space Odyssey
La Voyage Dans la Lune
War of the Worlds (1953 version)

Movies I wish I had seen: Sleeper, The Day the Earth Stood Still, The Fly, Delicatessen, Mad Max 2, Alphaville.

Movies that should be on this list: Them!, The Blob (1958 version), Terminator

Movie that isn't on the list because it just isn't canonical, but should be: Dark City

Elaboration on this after the jump...

Continue reading "The Science Fiction Canon"

Posted by Dean at 6:00 PM | Comments (0)

October 6, 2005

Snack food

If I ever end up working in Korea, I can avail myself of this wonderful snack food:

Silkworm Pupas!

Ok, probably not.

Posted by Dean at 8:25 PM | Comments (1)

October 4, 2005

More Experiments in Cell Phone Abuse

Wow. This is the second disaster entry in a row. Following up from our accidental experiment from Fall 2004 where we discovered that, in fact, a Nokia 6600 cannot survive being run over by a bus, we examine how the phone holds up under a new circumstance. This time around, one year later, we have the Nokia 6600:

versus a (clean) toilet:


(not actual toilet)

I will not elaborate the complicated mechanics which ultimately caused my cell phone to fall into a toilet bowl. Needless to say, it was a comedy of errors.

Day-by-day results of phone performance after the jump.

Continue reading "More Experiments in Cell Phone Abuse"

Posted by Dean at 10:47 AM | Comments (1)