I love Paul Rudd and this is one of the funniest things ever. Hence, it also happens to be the funniest screen saver ever. Don't take my word for it, see for yourself:

Oh, and this may be NSFW.

It might get old after a while but it is Rudd so it'll probably take a *long* while for it to get old.

When I started working with my current employer, now going on nearly four years, there was an envelope in my drawer full of old stamps. I wasn't quite sure why they were there, that part of the job was never explained, but I did continue in the tradition of cutting the stamps off of the mail envelopes. At some point, the envelope started to budge and I was left to figure out why they were being saved in the first place.

After doing a little research online, I came across Oxfam Canada's "Stamp Out Hunger" project. Essentially, the group collects used stamps and envelopes to raise money for special projects. Earlier this month I sent them my third batch of stamps and in return, they sent me a letter explaining the details of the project, how it works and how exactly to collect your stamps so that they fetch the biggest dollars:


If you work in an office where you get a lot of mail, amassing a big pile of stamps happens quite quickly but even if you're at home, it's easy enough to take a moment to cut them out. It only takes a minute to help someone and I must say, every time I've sent off a little package I feel a little moment of glee knowing I did something nice for someone else.

It only takes a minute and a few old stamps to make a difference!

Remember a few months back when I got all excited about the upcoming "Guitar Hero: On Tour" for my fabulous DS?

Well, John Biehler has tracked down a video that has me a little concerned. I love the game but I'm:

1) Not sure I'm digging the game play and
2) Wow, that's a bad, BAD commercial.

As Darren said, just go.

As a student, you're always on the lookout for money saving ideas. I don't so much mind paying my fees heck - you don't have much of a choice, but what always irks me is shelling out hundreds of dollars for textbooks. I've been quite lucky in that I've only come across three occasions in the last couple of years where I've had to spend more than $100 for one textbook but then, I'm an English girl. As soon as you venture into the maths and sciences, books can easily start at $100 and work their way up.

I stumbled on a story over at Webaware today which highlights a couple of websites that have textbooks for rent. Yes, for rent. It's a truly genius idea and I must say, looking around I'm also impressed with the prices! Under $20 for renting a book for the semester? Better than shelling out $100!

Photo care of drdrewhonolulu on Flickr.
To sort of "test" the sites, I devised an evil scheme. It's not really that evil.

I picked a book I've used in the past and which is on the summer course list for Douglas College. The text in question is David G. Myers' "Psychology" which is used for not 1 but 2 classes at Douglas - the Intro to Psychology 1100 and 1200. Cost of the book through the Douglas College Bookstore is $113.65+tax for a brand new book and $85.25+tax if you happen to find a used copy. I took the ISBN number and plugged into the three book rental sites and here are the results and some initial thoughts:

Bookrenter.com - Clean, sleek site, easy to navigate and find stuff. They didn't have the book for rent, only available for purchase. Other major problem at the moment is that they don't ship to Canada.

Whyrentblooks.com - Not as clean and nice and easy to navigate but they have the book in question. Their rental cost: 1 semester (125 days) for $17.14 or rent it for 1 quarter (80 days) for $17.04. There's also a buy option starting at $20 but I'm not quite sure how accurate that is. Site is such a mess, I couldn't figure out if they even ship to Canada.

Chegg.com - Also clean and easy to use. This is my favourite of the bunch mostly because they have the book and the usability of Bookrenter. Their cost: $4.97 for a semester, $4.47 for a quarter and $4.22 for a summer. Only downside to these folks is that currently, they don't ship outside the US. :(

All of the sites seem to charge shipping costs based on how quickly you want your book and those charges range from $4 to $20 but still, that's quite a savings, especially if you do your research early and can give yourself enough time to have the book shipped the slow route. To boot, if you can do this with more than one textbook, you could potentially save yourself a whole truckload of money. All of these places even have the option to buy at the end of your rental period. NICE.

Only downside is that from my bit of research, none of these services are currently available in Canada and there doesn't seem a Canadian site providing the same service. Hopefully, this will change soon! In the meantime, I'm sure creative folks can find a way around the restrictions. Whether it's worth it or not is another thing all together.

Shortly after posting my thoughts on Whedon's upcoming TV show, I got an email from a friend urging me to check out another show on the horizon: J.J. Abrams' "Fringe". I'd heard some vague rumblings about this project when the trailer came online but not following any of Abrams' other shows, I sort of wrote it off but when pushed, I figured I'd check it out and I'm happy I did. The show centers on a female FBI agent who is forced to work with an institutionalized scientists in order to rationalize a brewing storm of unexplained phenomena. Watching the trailer I'm reminded of "The X-Files" and of "Lost"...even though I've never seen an episode of it. Weird.

The other good thing is that it brings local guy Joshua Jackson back to TV and though I don't recognize the woman, I get the sense I've seen her somewhere else as well. For good measure, they also threw in Kirk Acevedo who was one of my favourite guys in the long running "Oz".

The trailer is pretty interesting and certainly has me curious about the show. Thoughts?

Since I'm already at it, also worth mentioning that Brit actor James D'Arcy has been cast as the lead in "Virtuality", a new show from BSG god Ronald D. Moore. Sources say the show is "set aboard the Phaeton, Earth's first starship, on a 10-year journey to explore a distant solar system. To help the crew endure the long trip, NASA equips the ship with advanced virtual reality modules, allowing them to assume adventurous identities and go anyplace they want."

I'm only mildly interested in this but I have to admit that the fact that Peter Berg is directing the pilot gives me great hope and has me more than a little curious. We'll see when that one comes around.


Finally, I'll leave you with some thoughts on the TV that has kept me mildly entertained the last two nights, A&E's "The Andromeda Strain". I had high hopes for the show which was produced by the Scott's but now that I've given them four hours of my time, I wish I'd just skipped it. Most of the special effects were TV budget, which is fine, the acting was actually better than I expected but the story was crap. It's been years since I've seen the film and I've never read the Chriton novel but I'm willing to bet they've taken their share of liberties with the story - also fine, as long as things still make some semblance of sense or that the audience can buy.

I thought things were getting odd with the ending of the first two hours but it only got worse in the 3rd and 4th hours and though I give them a little credit for incorporating some pretty wacky sci-fi ideas, it didn't work for me within the context of the show. I wasn't impressed.

I have little to no interest in the upcoming MTV Movie Awards but now that I've discovered that "Twilight" will be premiering one of the first clips of the film at the awards show, I may be inclined to watch.

Who knows, maybe I can control myself long enough for the bloody thing to pop-up on-lin but I'm just not sure I can wait that long...

Chances are that by now you've all heard about the news story of the crazy naked dude to who, yesterday, stole a pair of overalls and a semi truck and caused all sorts of havoc around Maple Ridge (outside of Vancouver).

I get the sense that the Lower Mainland isn't a hot spot for car chases, we only see a few a year televised, but this is the first time I've ever seen a chase with a semi. Thanks to the gloriousness of YouTube, you can check out a big chunk of the chase. I prefer the short and sweet version which shows the police taking down the crazy dude:

For the last few days folks have been going nuts over Weezer's new video. I saw it first pop up last week and now it's made the rounds to the point where people who aren't even Weezer fans have either seen it, heard about it or posted about it. No big deal, especially if the video is really cool but I don't think this one's it.

This is the video in question. I avoided seeing it until this morning when I just *had* to check to see what all the buzz was about and I have to say, I'm not all that impressed. Sure, it looks kind of cool but when did it become cause for celebration when someone incorporates all sorts of pop-culture references of the moment into a visual and it becomes a huge hit? I will admit, it was fun but I don't see the charm. Personally, I'd rather watch this:

Yeah, way cooler.

I'm not sure who this woman is but I was pointed in her direction by someone on Twitter and digging around her profile page, I was curious enough that I followed a link to ijustine.tv.

The only reason I bring this up is because her featured video is a take on the O-Zone song I posted earlier this morning except...it's about being banned from chat? It's pretty darn funny!

Check it:

If you're not European, you've likely never heard of Eurovision but as of now, consider yourself partially informed. For me, this year's contest snuk up on me because, for some reason, there simply wasn't the same amount of buzz as there usually is.

Most folks will tell you that the for the past years, the contest has been more of a political back-scratching exercise than any real measure of talent and this year's contest is no different though I will admit that the back-scratching wasn't quite as obvious as it has been in the past. I've heard a few folks comment that there are talks that if this sort of political play continues, the voting structure of the competition will have to be changed but I simply don't know enough about the inner-workings to comment - I just watch for the music.

For the first time in what seems like year's, Portugal's entry was very good. So good, in fact, that it made it's way through to the finals. We may not have won, that honor went to Russian singer Dima Bilan, but we did kick some serious ass. Congrats to Vânia Fernandes for representing the country in great style with "Senhora do Mar".

At this point I'd also like to mention my disappointment at the fact that so many of the countries chose to present songs in English. I find it so much more interesting and entertaining when singers sing the music in their mother tongue. To each their own but I hope this changes over the next few years (doubtful).

It's a holiday for our American friends but the rest of us had to come to work today. I felt the need for a little energy on the walk to the office this morning so I listened to two of my favourite high-energy songs and I thought I'd share:

Republica - "Ready to Go"


O-Zone "Dragostea tin dei"

But hell, it feels like MONTHS since my last post. It's been a bit psychotic in Marina land and things only seem to be getting busier. I'm hopeful that things will sort of settle back down after the weekend. You know how things go, the short week always seems to be too short to cram in all of the work!

I didn't get out too much this week. Home on Tuesday night, recorded a show on Wednesday and the highlight of my week was the LEO Awards Talkback event with the First Weekend Club. I finally got the chance to meet a few of the folks that spearhead the operation which was fabulous but beyond that, it was awesome to be in a space with so many people passionate about Canadian film.

The panel discussion was excellent and I put a few more thoughts on the whole thing here so be sure to check it out.

Up next: "Postal" tonight with the boy and girl, possible recording tomorrow (jeez...it feels like *weeks* since we did our last ATC) and Sunday...not sure yet...probably Indy? We'll see. Also coming up for those of you out there in local Vancouver - stay tuned for a much anticipated upcoming event in conjunction with the release of the fabulous "Young People Fucking". Should be fantastic fun but I'll keep you posted on that.

In the meantime, here's this week's KFF. I've been a bit lax on posting these so this week, a double whammy! I particularly love the first pic. WOW. *swoon* Reminds me of why I love this man so damned much.




Jesus. Looking at that first picture again...that's an awesome shot.

It's true. It's really true. It's not enough that nearly every other person with an MP3 player carries an iPod, Apple is taking over Vancouver in a big way.

On Saturday, May 24th, Canada's fifth Apple Store is opening at 10AM. The reason this is oh so cool is that it's also the first Apple Store on the west coast. Local geeks are overflowing with excitement and there's all sort of talk from folks about making trips in from Vancouver Island and even camping out for the big opening.

I'm not quite as excited as everyone else but I'm still curious to see what they've got that I can't find at other local electronics shops. I can tell you this much, I won't be dropping any big bucks soon on Apple products...except maybe for an iPhone....

Lots of details on the opening care of the fabulous Miss 604!

I've lived much of Joss Whedon's work over the years though nothing has met my love for "Firefly".

I've recently been hearing a lot of buzz around Whedon's new TV series titled "Dollhouse" and starring the ever fabulous Eliza Dushku but now that I've seen the trailer, I'm not quite sure how I feel about it. I'm definitely going to give this a chance but I'm not 100% sold, mostly because it reminds me of a mix between "The Pretender" and "Dark Angel". Granted, there could be worse things the show could be based on but we'll wait and see how exactly it plays out. My limited understanding is that the show will be a mid season replacement and will air in January.

Does it look like something you'd watch?

That right there is one of the first pictures of the newly designed laptops for the One Laptop Per Child initiative, which provides laptops to children in developing nations. My limited understanding of how the program works is that for $400, the donor gets a computer and a child gets a computer as well. Neat-o eh?

I love the idea behind this initiative and though $400 doesn't sound like a lot of cash, it's certainly more than I have kicking around but I do love what these guys are doing. The initial program was somewhat successful and I hope the new design will encourage even more people to participate. I'm impressed.

All of the details of the new OS can be found here and more information on the project at the OLPC website.

I love my TV but I don't get too many chances to regularly watch specific programs and as a result, I often start off on a show and fall off the bandwagon a few episodes in, mostly because I don't have time for it. There are two exceptions to the rule: "Hell's Kitchen" (because I love me Gordon Ramsay) and "America's Next Top Model". Not quite sure why I love the second one so much - it may have something to do with growing up watching Fashion Television, watching my mom get dolled up for going out or maybe too much interest in couture (it's art damned it!). Between the pretty pretty, the drama, gorgeous photography and the beautiful clothes...I just can't help myself.

The last few season, the producers have cast at least one so-called "plus size" model. I always took it as a cheap way to try to make a statement but whatever, it's TV. This time around, they cast the gorgeous Whitney Thompson.


This girl is beautiful. Gorgeous really. And though she's no where near "plus size" (they refer to her as "full figure"), she's got a little bit of shape and a few curves. She's a real woman - not a hanger.

I missed the show, but Whitney won the Cycle 10 competition and I have to say, I'm impressed. For me, she was the prettier of the two girls but beyond that, she's not your "typical" model and to win such a mainstream type of competition is a move in the right direction - a soft suggestion that one doesn't have to be a size zero to be beautiful. I hope she manages to continue making splashes in her career because she's a beautiful woman and I'd love to see her sporting some of my favourite designers.

That there's just a taste of a load of new photos taken on set. Head over the LA Times online for the rest!

I may have mentioned it before but SIGGRAPH is officially one of the coolest things I ever discovered. Last month it was Droidmaker and this month, to celebrate their five year anniversary, the group pulled out all of the stops and brought Syd Mead, one of the greatest and most recognizable futurists, to speak to the group of 600 or so geeks at an event titled "Visual Futurist: The Art & Life of Syd Mead" and it was fantastic.

Before Syd even stood up, we had a very special surprise. We had the chance to experience Alex Beim's Zygote Interactive Balls. Essentially, these are large balloon like balls with some techy construction which respond to touch. The result, in a darkened room is that every time the ball is touched it responds by lighting up and emanating a sound. The result is a fabulously entertaining, interactive show. Beim has a whole load of videos of the balls in action on his site, including a short video of how and why he created it. I captured a few second of the greatness:


After that great display, Syd Mead took the stage to entertain us and entertain he did. He spoke fondly of his experiences on various projects and shared a load of fantastic pieces, some famous, some not so famous and some from his personal stash of goodies.


One of the great things about Mead, and there are many, is his energy. At 75 he's still wide eyed with wonderment and his love for fantasy and creation is obvious in his work, both old and current. He spoke of the steps of creating an image:

1) Concept - what are they (the client) after? Guidelines? Create a rationale
2) Storyboard - create your image, if possible step away from it for a day and re-visit it
3) Share it with someone with a visual eye, make changes if necessary

Aside from lots of talk about specific projects, I was most impressed with his passion for story telling. Not being an artists myself, at least not in the visual sense - I'm more of a writer, I was surprised by his discussion of each project within the context of a story and I got the sense that storytelling is as important to the creation process as anything else. I've rarely looked at a piece of art and created a story but hearing Mead share the stories within his projects so vividly, I'm inspired to do the same when looking at art.

Photo care of Prof. Michael Stoll on Flickr.
Aside from that, there was a bit of discussion around "Blade Runner" and Mead spoke about the freedom he had when he created the designs for the film and it seemed to me that it was one of his favourite projects.

During the Q&A someone asked him what movie he wished he had worked on and his response surprised me a little: "The Fifth Element". He spoke about how great it would have been to create a floater car which squeaks when the breaks are applied and how much fun he would have had designing the ballroom because he loves that extended shootout scene. I'll have to post a link to the next podcast...I have a feeling we may have a conversation about this...

All in all, another fantastic evening. Next month is looking to be just as great with Sharon Calahan of Pixar for "Teasing the Senses: The Visual Style of Ratatouille". If you're in town, be sure to head over to SIGGRAPH and buy your tickets in advanced for the sure to sell out show.

I think so....can't log in and no new updates in 3 hours. What WILL I do to sustain my addiction?

I've been MIA for a few days, it's been a bit crazy. This week doesn't look like it'll be any better but I hope to post something a little more insightful tomorrow. In the meantime, I leave you with this joke a friend sent me earlier. It made me smile.

A husband and wife came for counseling after 20 years of marriage. When asked what the problem was, the wife went into a passionate, painful tirade listing every problem they had ever had in the 20 years they had been married.

She went on and on and on: neglect, lack of intimacy, emptiness, loneliness, feeling unloved and unlovable, an entire laundry list of unmet needs she had endured over the course of their marriage.

Finally, after allowing this to go on for a sufficient length of time, the therapist got up, walked around the desk and, after asking the wife to stand, embraced and kissed her passionately as her husband watched with a raised eyebrow. The woman shut up and quietly sat down as though in a daze.

The therapist turned to the husband and said, "This is what your wife needs at least three times a week. Can you do this?"

The husband thought for a moment and replied, "Well, I can drop her off here on Mondays and Wednesdays, but on Fridays, I fish."

I've had a pain in my neck for going on two weeks. Last week I thought I'd discovered the reason for the pain, my overly large and heavy bag. It went away for a few days, after I changed bags, but it seems to be back and though I can't really feel it at times, at other times it's almost unbearable. If it continues into next week, I may have to break down and head for a massage. Maybe now is the time to use the spa package my sister gave me for my birthday last year.

We're off to the Vancouver Talent Explosion finals tonight at the Red Robinson Show Theater tonight. I've never been there so it'll be a fun experience - I hope! I'm on the lookout for Steven Seagal (yes, the direct to DVD action superstar) who's in town and will be one of the judges of the competition! Stay tuned to my Twitter page for updates!

So much for a great screening at the 319 yesterday. Ended up NOT catching "The Stone Angel" at all. We were there, at 6:15 only I didn't realize we were at the wrong theater.

The evening wasn't a complete disaster. Leeny and I managed to get down to the theater in time to take in another Canadian film, the beautiful "Fugitive Pieces" and we even squeezed in a podcast but I do feel like a bit of a moron.

I guess the great Margaret will have to wait until Friday.

At some point, I'm going to reach over saturation but for the time being, I'll keep posting little tidbits about Twilight. Here's the newest one, the poster:

So well hidden, in fact, that I didn't find out about it until a few months ago when the First Weekend Club started using the facilities for their special screenings. Still haven't been out there, Leeny and I are headed out there for a pre-screening of "The Stone Angel" tonight, but I thought I'd put up a few photos that I tracked down since I don't believe I'll be able to get photos that look quite this good.

The exterior:


The lobby:

The screen:

And the most exciting thing of all, the seats:


According to the official website, those are "red leather club chairs". And maybe it's just me but those look like foot rests too.......OMG.

So yes, I'm pretty excited. Not just to check out the film but to test run this fantastic venue.

The down and dirty, hopefully with a few pictures, will be coming along tomorrow!

I'm home on a Monday night. Doesn't happen often but here we are, me at home with the rest of "Jimmy Carter Man from Plains" (about an hour left to go) and no interest whatsoever to finish it. I also have a bunch of reviews that I need to finish including "Deception" (crap), "Then She Found Me" (good) and "Savage Grace" (undecided) but all of it seems to require a little too much effort at the moment.

Instead, I'm spending my time downloading the new NIN album. Yes, Trent and the gang has released yet another free album. I love the way this is going - I download the music for free and then I get to buy the album direct from NIN. I don't have to but I'm what they call a "completionist". I have a mild obsession with collecting all of the halo titles.

If you're interested in checking out some great free music, be sure to head over to The Slip official site for your download link.

[Download just completed. Am unpacking the zip file and will be listening in a few short minutes]

Didn't manage to get out to the drive in on the weekend but we did head out to "Iron Man" (my expanded thoughts here) on Saturday. I had fun but was generally indifferent. RDJ was, as expected, fabulous.

Enough rambling for now. Off to try and get some work done.

I'm ready for it, I am. This week seems to have dragged but I'm only a few joyless hours away from escape and the beginning of what is shaping up to be a fantastic weekend.

First, a trip to "Indiana Jones: The Adaptation" tonight with a group of fellow film fans. Should be great fun.

Then Saturday is free comic book day. I think I'll make a stop at my local shop which I haven't been to in ages. We'll see what they've got for goodies there. I'm also supposed to be going to the big coffee meet in Vancouver but hubby and I are headed to the drive in with the car club and I'm not quite sure what time we're meeting up so the coffee may be a write off - we'll have to see if I can squeeze it in. It's my first trip to the drive in, ever, and we're heading out to the Twilight in Langley, the Lower Mainland's only drive in. The main attraction of the evening: "Iron Man", so far the best reviewed film of the year. I feel a bit of disappointment coming on because I can't believe it'll live up to the hype but I'm willing to reserve judgement.

Not sure what's in store for Sunday. Maybe a few films at home or maybe a trip to the mall for a double bill or who knows? Perhaps something else will come up.

Back to work but I leave you with the KFF which has been MIA for a few weeks. This is a big one, ripe for desktop background goodness!


Have a great weekend everyone!

Squeal!

If you don't see any other videos today, see this one. It's a GUARANTEED to crack you up.