February 21, 2009
February 19, 2009
February 5, 2009
Speed Run
This guy makes it look so easy. Many a weekday afternoon was spent trying to beat this game.
January 12, 2009
December 27, 2008
December 19, 2008
December 18, 2008
I'm honestly not sure if anyone still checks this (other that me, and, obviously, Jeff, who is the lone remaining contributor), but I saw this and immediately thought of high school:
Seriously. Real Headline. Here is the story.
Reminds me of a joke I heard in high school. Anyone?
And apologies to Jeff.... if, indeed, you are the only one still reading this, you probably won't understand since I am alluding to a quasi-inside joke.
December 14, 2008
The More Facebook Friends You Have...
A recent study of college freshmen showed those with 200 or more Facebook friends scored lower self-esteem than those with less than 200 Facebook friends.
Link to the study is here.
The reasoning behind it is those with 200 friends are likely not to go out and stress about real-life friends.
December 10, 2008
September 21, 2008
In the Middle
Just in case you hadn't heard. High is now Middle.
But you can still see "High School" on the sign....
August 28, 2008
August 12, 2008
July 3, 2008
How to Photograph Fireworks
I wrote this for another website. Your mileage may vary:
Many a budding shutterbug has attempted unsuccessfully to photograph fireworks by merely pointing their film camera to the sky and shooting, resulting dark useless prints.
With the advent of digital photography, photographing fireworks has become easy, just by following some basic steps:
- Find a location away from the crowd and power lines. An elevated location on a hillside or on the back of a pickup truck might be adequate. You might even want to scout out your perch beforehand.
- Set your camera to use standard quality pics. Having too high quality settings will result in too long of write speed, thereby making you miss shots.
- Set the shutter speed to 1 second or longer.
- Use a tripod. If you can't find a tripod use a nice steady base.
- Turn off the flash. This might seem like common sense. Remember you are photographing lights. Any light projected onto another light will merely take away from the light you are trying to photograph.
- Point your camera toward the sky and shoot. A key to getting a good shot is anticipating when the firework will explode. Initially You will have many hit and miss shots. As the show goes along, you will be able to perfect your timing thereby getting excellent shots. Being able to review the shots afterwards and delete the poor quality shots is satisfaction enough, rather than using up a great amount of film with a film camera.
July 1, 2008
one-way tickets
Here's our address for the next...at least 3 months.
Write sweetly and often?
We love and miss you guys, especially you ones we're used to seeing around.
Let's hook up for an alternative 10 year reunion or something...your thoughts?
Josh & Jesse Hunter, PCTs
c/o Country Director
Howard Anderson
Peace Corps
8 Worthington Avenue
Kingston 5
Jamaica, West Indies
May 29, 2008
I Have Schizophrenia
Well, actually I don't have schizophrenia, but these people do. A surprisingly good episode from MTV's True Life.
Some thoughts -
Josh doesn't want help. His mother is pretty much fed up with him and wants him voluntarily committed. He will probably end up on the street.
I'm not even sure that Amber has schizophrenia at all. She seems just depressed and very unsure of herself. She's afraid to take a speech class, but has the ability to broadcast her life on MTV?
I felt the most sympathy for Ben. Many many people get as depressed as him. His father's and grandfather's illness doesn't help his mental state. However he has a supportive family, so hopefully everything will work out for him.
May 25, 2008
May 16, 2008
May 15, 2008
Bill O'Reilly... THE DANCE REMIX!
this is a dance remix that inside edition footage of him flipping out. i laughed.
May 14, 2008
A Little Political Humor
Presenting Things Younger Than John McCain.
And then there's this little gem:
May 7, 2008
Great Nightmare Material
Ok, so at first, I thought this was a little bit cool. But the longer I watched it, the more creeped out and uncomfortable I felt. The music really highlights that feeling, so if possible, watch with speakers on.
April 29, 2008
Grand Theft Auto IV, anyone?
So GTA IV is coming out today... I pre-ordered mine from BestBuy some time ago. It probably won't arrive for a couple more days,. Its ok though, I am pretty busy during the week.
From what I've read, the game is incredible. I have seen multiple critics give it a 10/10 (which I have never seen before). It is supposed to have some cool multiplayer, so maybe those of us who have a PS3 can get together for some destructive meyham.
April 28, 2008
CNN Headline T-Shirts!
CNN appears to have added a new feature on their website- you can click a little t-shirt next to a headline and order your very own t-shirt displaying the headline....
Here's an example (not making this up- this is a real CNN headline)
Any idea who exactly these t-shirts are being marketed to?
of the c/o 2000 authors listed on the right, the following people are not yet on facebook:
C Bryan, Pappert. that is all.
come on guys... if you don't want to get on there for YOU, that's fine... but why don't you get on there for the rest of us? We've got a lot of pictures and stuff we'd love to share with you... the point is, it's a SOCIAL network and as much as you guys like to try and find reasons not to like it, you've got to appreciate the fact that over 50 million people are using it- there's got to be SOME reason that it's so popular-
I would re-vouch for why I find it very useful for keeping up with friends and acquaintances, but I think I've already done that and it didn't work the first time... suffice to say that the technology has kept up with the times- it makes myspace look extremely outdated when you compare the two-- you can actually put in your AOL screen name, or email address and it'll tell you all the people you know who are members and stuff... once you make a few friends it even makes suggestions about people it thinks you probably know...
why don't the two of you at least just MAKE an account and check out all our pictures and stuff- you don't have to maintain it if after a reasonable trial of 3 or 4 days you still find it to be useless... that's my challenge... jerks
seriously- can someone else on here who uses facebook back me up?
April 14, 2008
Tetris...the movie?
So far, the conversion of videogames to film has not been a flattering process to the source material. Hope for anything more than mediocrity and you'll be very disappointed. I feel that one of the main reasons for this is poor choice of games to adapt. When you have plenty of fairly story rich games floating around, how is it that studios land on fighting games 75% of the time? But, Tetris? Seriously? That's like making Pong: The Movie. Initially I had trouble believing that this wasn't a joke, but I think it might be legitimate. Click on the link in the title and watch the trailer. They must be going for the campy vibe, right?
April 13, 2008
Simple Man
My new favorite old song...
Listen to the lyrics.
Some other notes of interest. Even though the lyrics tell of a mother giving advice to her "only son," author Ronnie Van Zant was one of 3 brothers.
April 11, 2008
I... I don't have an email.... What's this????
This commercial is old in so many ways...... licking a stamp... hah!
April 4, 2008
March 25, 2008
March 18, 2008
March 15, 2008
March 12, 2008
March 10, 2008
Mt. Juliet High School
Ok, so this blog is at least theoretically organized around the fact that we all went to Mt. Juliet High School. Has anyone looked at their faculty lately? I went to the website to see what I could find. It is safe to say that a very large percentage of the faculty has been replaced since we were there. The biggest surprise to me is that Ms. Sharpe is an assistant principal. C'mon. This is the woman who used to apologize to use when she yelled at us after we got out of control. Seriously? Ms. Sharpe dealing with hooligans? I can't see it.
The only other interesting thing I noticed is that Mr. B. is still teaching (thought he would've gotten the axe by now) and his daughter Rebecca is teaching Criminal Justice there too. I don't think there was anything else remarkable.
Thoughts?
March 9, 2008
Graduation stuff
So.... I'll be joining the ranks of the "real world" here shortly. My graduation from pharmacy school will be on Friday May 30th at 1:30 pm at the downtown FedEx forum (where the grizzlies and Memphis tigers play)-
I understand not many if any of you would be able to take off that Friday and make the 3.5 hour trip- (but there's certainly more than enough room for any of you that would like to come)- so I was thinking of maybe having a post-graduation get-together on Saturday and/or Sunday afternoon (or night?) at the Burka house in Mt. Juliet (not unlike Bryan's last year). Here's the deal- I say "and/or" because there will be a general get-together welcome to anybody on Sunday- but I suspect around 20-30 plus of the people in attendance then will be people I know from Church not including all 4 of my grandparents, immediate family, and any other family that might be there.... so because of that- I think if there were 6-8+ of us that were interested it might warrant having more of just a hang-out friend time (pizza, movies, games- you know the drill), low-key kinda thing that Saturday night with just us... if there's not many who would be up for that on Saturday, we'll just combine it on Sunday and you'd of course be welcome for that as well. I just think the Saturday night thing might afford us more freedom to sit around and talk like old times without me feeling like I have to walk around and thank everybody for coming like I will on Sunday.
Can I get a head-count of who might be interested?
March 7, 2008
March 3, 2008
Coolest Board Game... Ever
On Saturday night, Oksana and I went to a friend's house for dinner and hanging out. We played a board game that I had never heard of. Long story short, it was quite possibly the best and most fun board game I have ever played.
The game is called Settlers of Catan. Apparently, it isn't commonly sold in toy stores. Instead, it is stocked in role playing game stores. Its not a role playing game, though. It looks very complicated, but it is quite simple once you get the basics down. It is sort of like a cross between monopoly and risk. Essentially, 3-6 players are settling an island. The object is to get 10 points by 1) creating new settlements, 2) upgrading settlements to cities and/or 3) getting points from "development cards" which are sort of like community chest cards.
Here's why I think this game is great:
- It is easy to learn. I know it looks and sounds complicated, but it really isn't, I swear. A five minute tutorial is enough to get going.
- One of the biggest elements of the game is the element that makes games fun- personal interaction. The game is built to encourage making deals and alliances.
- Nobody is out before the end of the game. Nothing sucks more than taking a dive in monopoly and watching the game finish for a few hours.
- It combines chance and skill. Dice rolling means success relies upon chance. But there are multiple strategies and approaches that can pay off.
- It is hard to dominate. There doesn't seem to be a particularly dominant approach to the game. Nay, even Billy couldn't dominate it.... but I may be wrong (everyone knows ever since Billy was bitten by a radioactive and/or genetically enhanced Monopoly dog, he has exhibited superpowers in board gaming).
If those aren't convincing enough, maybe this is.... Oksana likes this game. Any of you who know Oksana reasonably well probably know she really isn't into board games. She was genuinely engaged in this game and she actually won the first game (we played two even though it is a 1-2 hour game... we stayed until past 1 am to finish).
If I weren't so bloody far away, I would buy this gem and hold it until I can introduce you in person. But since I won't be in town for a while, I thought I would give you guys a chance to try it out and let me know what you think.
March 1, 2008
February 27, 2008
Mario
The People's Mario looks like a Soviet era propaganda film.
Then there's this....if Super Mario Bros. had been put out by Atari...
February 8, 2008
February 4, 2008
LOST baby item
I saw this somewhere and thought it was too clever not to share. It is available for various baby items.
January 31, 2008
January 22, 2008
Letterman
Watch this video. As Biff (the guy standing with the audience holding the mic) is talking to the first guy in the audience, look just above Biff's head.
http://www.cbs.com/latenight/lateshow/video_player/index/php/942590.phtml
January 15, 2008
January 12, 2008
January 2, 2008
Led Zepplin to headline Bonnaroo
Josh, Jesse, and Todd, this one is for you:
Led Zepplin to headline Bonnaroo.
January 1, 2008
New LOST Season Trailer
DO NOT WATCH THIS IF YOU ARE NOT CAUGHT UP THROUGH THE END OF SEASON 3. Don't say I didn't warn you.
December 20, 2007
December 17, 2007
Please no...
*For the record, I am fond of the website of the same name, but I hate that it is called that.
December 12, 2007
Roll Call
I'm just curious who, if anyone, is still reading this blog. We need to spice it up. For now, just let me know if you are still paying attention, even if you don't usually comment or plan to comment.
November 15, 2007
November 9, 2007
November 8, 2007
November 2, 2007
November 1, 2007
October 30, 2007
8 Halloween Costumes Sure To Piss Everyone Off
these are pretty... well, not pc. without a doubt, all are "too soon."
and this...
Ninja Parade Slips Through Town Unnoticed Once Again
October 26, 2007
October 14, 2007
New SNL Digital Short
I don't know what to say. It sort of just speaks for itself. Its just... damn silly. And I can't help but laugh. I'm not sure if it is all the random violence, enthusiastic dancing, funny music, or the zombie cameo at the end.
October 2, 2007
You Don't Know What Hits Are
See video below. Mind you it's on an album that's been out for a good 5 months, yet top 40 radio seems to have ignored it. And I just discovered it on Lightning 100.
Just a sad state of Top 40 who are too busy playing Nickelback or Justin Timberlake....to recognize good songs....
September 26, 2007
September 24, 2007
Discuss...
Nina showed me this editorial in the CSU newspaper on Friday. I was surprised, and assumed that it would produce a good deal of attention and debate, but didn't think it would reach beyond national news. Any thoughts?
September 21, 2007
Things I like
So there isn't anything major going on in my life (I took the GRE this week...yee-haw), and I haven't stumbled upon anything interesting or funny on the internet recently either. So, I thought I'd lay out what I've been doing to keep busy lately. Everything on this list comes highly recommended by me, so I'd advise you to check out anything that sounds interesting.
Superbad: Hopefully most of you have seen this. This has been a really good year for comedies, but I think this one was my favorite. It also has one of the most disgusting things I've seen in a comedy since There's Something About Mary.
Muse: Hunter actually got me started on Muse a couple years ago. If you haven't heard of them, I would describe them as a harder version of Radiohead. I went to see them in concert at Red Rocks on Tuesday and it was amazing. They had 3 huge screens behind them, a display on the platform for the drums and an intricate lighting system. Every song they played had a specific presentation that was tailored to it. It was the best show I've seen in years.
Bioshock: I don't know if anyone else has an Xbox 360 or a high end PC, but if you do, and you like games, you should check out Bioshock. It is one of the best games I've ever played, and I've played quite a few games over the years. You play as a character who survives a plane crash in the middle of the Atlantic only to discover the entrance to a gigantic city built on the bottom of the ocean. The city, Rapture, was founded by a wealthy industrialist who took the philosphy of Ayn Rand a little too seriously, which led to it's collapse (along with rampant genetic modification). There is so much in the game, it's impossible to be concise in describing it. Everything about it is excellent, so click on the link and read the review if you are interested.
(Also Halo 3 comes out tomorrow. All signs point to awesome for that one too.)
Battlestar Galactica (2004): Ok, it's a SciFi Channel original series. Ignore that fact for a second. I would say it is of the same quality as any big budget serialized drama on one of the major networks. The budget is a little smaller, but the special effects are still pretty decent as evidenced by the fairly complicated and intense space battles. The story, acting and direction are all great. The series begins with a miniseries that is the equivalent of about 4 or 5 episodes. Check it out if you enjoy science fiction. Personally this show restored my faith in the genre.
A Song of Ice and Fire: Most fantasy sucks. Tolkein did a great job establishing the genre and providing creatures and archetypes, but it seems like many authors can't move past his ideas. This series of books is shaping up to be better than Lord of the Rings. George R. R. Martin does something that most fantasy writers can't: create compelling and complicated characters. His world isn't populated by virtuous elves and evil hideous orcs. There are only people, many times conflicted and morally ambiguous. His world is also extremely harsh. Beginning with the second book, there is a war raging with the severity of something in Braveheart. HG, if for some reason you read this post, you especially should read this series.
That's all I have. Let me know if anybody checks out any of this and enjoys it.
September 17, 2007
Best Emmy's Moment
Kanye West and Rainn Wilson play "Don't Forget the Lyrics"
Worst Emmy Moment... this is so great. Sally Field says something about the war, but she prefaces it with the word "g-damn" and FOX cut her off (or rather mutes the sound and cuts away on camera). so the internet spins it like this:
Fox censors Sally Field’s anti-war speech at Emmy’s
no, FOX just didn't want to get sued by the FCC... cause you can't say that on primetime television. so so stupid.
September 12, 2007
September 11, 2007
September 7, 2007
August 29, 2007
August 21, 2007
August 20, 2007
August 13, 2007
August 8, 2007
August 7, 2007
August 6, 2007
August 5, 2007
July 31, 2007
woohoo!!
derren brown's new show is on USA right now!!!
(thats the guy who i posted videos about from youtube the one who does mind control stuff....)
he has had a show on the BBC for the last several years and he's finally made it over here...
there have been a few old clips from his show over there but several new segments on the streets of NYC... this guy is so awesome- i just love it-
its on for an hour- between 11-midnight
oh man they just showed some of my favorite clips- with the blank paper money and him getting a guy to hand over his wallet and keys...
Funny Commercial
This is great.
#1, it is really clever, watch it all the way through.
#2, it has a huge french (or french-ish) guy who looks retarded and wears a tiny tiny hat.
You should run this directly in this page as it is embedded below. If you go over to the youtube site, it will ruin the ending for you from the title. You have been warned!
July 29, 2007
pappert-
whats up man? (you're not on facebook, and i dont have your email address so this will have to do)
hows it going?
hows neenya (i'm sure thats how its spelled... 100% sure.... )?
what direction are you heading with your career/ are you planning to do any more school or just gonna stick with the CDC?
give me a call sometime-
615-838-4130
i'm usually up till at least 2am CST... holla...
July 20, 2007
Why I Take So Long to Go Through Pictures
(the one on the left is completely untouched, straight out of the camera.)
hopefully this gives you an idea. i just like giving people the "after" one better.
July 18, 2007
July 13, 2007
July 12, 2007
Look-a-likes
I've never really been a fan of contemporary Christian music. Just merely a personal preference I guess.
Whenever I see the album cover below, I always think of another contemporary pop/rock/alternative album. I would even go as far as to say that Casting Crowns purposesly picked the name and album design to confuse people with Counting Crows.
July 10, 2007
its that time of year...
yeah- nobody cares- but i'm posting a DCI link... cause i like it...
friday is the big MTSU show and if you know me at all- you probably know that i'm feeling like a kid before christmas... hard to really explain- but thats how it is. so suck it.
best part? i guess the first couple of minutes- past the bohemian rhapsody part... this is a mid-level corps ("carolina crown") but one of the best from the southern (musically-underfunded) states- they're sitting about 7th place right now- but their show is a really great experience this year- i gotta give them some e-props...
(FYI: all the music you hear, even the stuff in the background, is them)
yeah... the link is here...
July 9, 2007
July 6, 2007
Fine, I'll post too
Hey everybody. I was shown something interesting on the internet, so I can post it on the blog now. It's a band of sorts that I thought was pretty funny. They are called Flight of the Conchords, and they have a variety of videos on youtube. Check them out, but be warned: their humor is fairly dry. If you'd like specific suggestions: bam, bam, bam and bam.
Did anyone see Transformers? Was I alone in thinking it was AWESOME? In my opinion, it was the best summer movie so far. Let me know what you think.
June 29, 2007
hey bryan, after this post, it's back to your turn to post, then it'll be mine again.
anywho, maybe some random kid from Chile will happen upon this blog and see these pictures and set himself a goal to make it up to Manchester to attend Bonnaroo and then someday actually attend Bonnaroo.
so who's coming next year?
June 27, 2007
June 25, 2007
June 13, 2007
Casa Cantrellsky
So I've been in NJ with Oksana for the last 5 days. It is very exciting, and I can't wait to move (we'll close August 27, 2007) I put together an album of photos of the house. Check it out and let me know:
EDIT (6/20/07): So I finally got around to reading my own post, and I realize I failed to note that the point is that we were in NJ looking for a house and chose this house. Duh
http://www.cbryancan.com/house/house01.html
Also, it is neat to note that the town we are moving to, Parsippany-Troy Hills Township, NJ, was #17 overall on the CNN/Money 2006 Best Places to Live (and top in NJ)
June 4, 2007
My letter from the White House
Ok. I'm going to ask you all to please put aside all your political leanings for a second. I realize this guy is not popular, and frankly I don't know if anyone is happy with him (myself included). But think of the president as an office, not a person.
So, when I sent graduation invitations out, I had few extra. Just like when I got my BA, I figured it can't hurt to send one of these to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue (look it up if you haven't already figured out what is there). It is mostly for feces and laughter, but I did remember that last time (undergrad) I got a nice prefabricated postcard congratulations from the president. The signature on that card was obviously pre-printed, but still a neat little thing anyway. I had like 5 extra, so it can't hurt right?
Well I was surprised when I got the mail today. There was a large hard envelope from "The White House, Washington, DC." Upon opening it, I found it contained a cardboard backer and this letter:
The stationary and letterhead are actually nice, 100% cotton with metallic embossing. So I'm thinking they just sent me a NICER completely prefabricated letter. But then I started taking a closer look. First of all, the signature was hand written by someone. I know this because it bled through to the back a little bit. It was clearly done in a Sharpie or some other permanent marker.
yes, I do know that celebrities often have people who just sign things on their behalf. But take a look at google images search for "George W. Bush signature" or this example from the White House Website. You have to admit this signature matches those. So either an EXCELLENT forger wrote this OR someone wrote all the signatures contained on the google page and whitehouse.gov above OR George W. Bush actually signed this letter.
Furthermore, other evidence suggests authenticity. 1) If you are going to forge a signature, why bother putting it in a nice envelope with cardboard backing clearly designed to protect the document from damage during transport? 2) Real postage stamps were used, although curiously not canceled (maybe they don't bother since most white house mail doesn't need postage?). Again, why go to the trouble for a fake? It wasn't part of a presorted mass mailing.
I am not so disillusioned as to think that W plopped down in the executive chair in the oval office and typed up a letter for me. PROBABLY the body of the letter is a form sent to JDs . What I think is that he gets a stack of these every so often and signs them as a gesture of good will and public accessibility. Whether I got lucky to be selected or he does all graduate or professional invitations I don't know. Of course there is the cynical view that I got this because I consistently vote republican, including voting for him twice (He's not perfect.. or great.. or maybe even good, but I still think definitely better that Gore or Kerry). There is the paranoid view that the government is watching us all and perhaps saw that I am a Republican becoming less satisfied with the party. Who knows?
One last thing, a little oddity. I don't understand why the letter was addressed to "Christopher B. Cantrell" but the salutation is "Dear Bryan." The invitation definitely said "Christopher Bryan Cantrell." The return label said "C. Bryan Cantrell." I just think it is odd that it got address to one but the salutation is another. Some lowly intern was actually paying attention, at least half way.
Anyway, I just thought it was at least a little bit cool. I mean... maybe this letter was in the oval office a few weeks ago? Some might think it is no big deal at all, but I love government and political theory, so it is just sort of cool.
Immersive Media street-scanning car
here's what they're gonna look like...
check out the 11 lens mounted camera on top...
(this is assuming you've all seen the new google street view.)
say hello to the JL421 Badonkadonk Tank
JL421 Badonkadonk Land Cruiser/Tank
(the reviews are hilarious. it's funny how big it looks until you see the picture of the guy in it.)
these are also great:
Relaxman Relaxation Capsule
Inflatable Party Sheep
Subscribe to:
Comment Feed (RSS)
