Strange Phenomenon

Can anyone tell me why I had a huge influx of traffic on my blog yesterday? There were people coming in from all over the place and I'm wondering how they were getting here. Maybe you're one of those people and you came back. If so, how did you find me?

I'm interested in knowing what I might have done so maybe I can do it again. =)

Look What My Boss is Getting for Christmas!

Click on the picture to buy your boss one.

I did warn you about my Office obsession, yes?

My boss loves the show too and I'm sure he'll display this proudly on his desk.

I Think I'm Getting Addicted

If you haven't noticed, The Office is quickly becoming my favorite show, and while I start catching up on the episodes I've missed there may be a high concentration of Office themed posts.

This one is just a picture. The funniest picture I've seen in a while. Have I mentioned my love for Steve Carell? Maybe that will be the topic of my next post. For now, here is the picture (and just imagine your boss at work giving an anti-drug presentation named this):

THE OFFICE:
Better
than
drugs.

I Swear if I Had Work to Do Right Now I Would Be Doing It

Things I want to do before I die.
1. Go back to Australia
2. Live in a foreign country
3. Be in love
4. Get certified in scuba and dive all over the world
5. Change someone's life

Things I can do.
1. Dance/choreograph
2. Sing the words to almost every song
3. Take fairly decent pictures
4. Survive on my own
5. Talk intelligently and convincingly about almost every subject (even if I really have no idea what I'm talking about.)

Things I cannot do.
1. Wear a bikini
2. Make that popping noise that Donkey makes in Shrek 2 (just ask Kelly, it's not pretty)
3. Eat mushrooms
4. Flirt
5. Talk intelligently and convincingly about politics.

Things that attract me to the opposite sex.
1. Eyes - especially blue or green
2. Sense of humor - especially sarcasm
3. Scruffy hair
4. Cute dorkiness
5. Manners (I know that sounds old-fashioned, but who doesn't melt when a guy opens a door for you?)

Celebrity crushes.
1. David Duchovny (obviously)
2. John Krasinski (who, btw, is from Newton and I would die if I saw him out at a bar in Boston)
3. Zach Braff
4. Gavin DeGraw
5. Jimmy Fallon

(Think this list upholds what I said in the previous list?)

People I want to do this next.
1. Even if I say it, no one will do it anyway.

Link Update

I just updated the link to the free TV site below. I think between the day I did my post and yesterday, they moved the site. So it should be working now.

Here it is again if you don't want to look for it in the post: http://allfg.alluc.org/cms/cms/

The Best Things in Life Are Free, Part Deux

Just in case you missed the memo....THE INTERNET IS AWESOME!
(If you were hoping for better commentary from a Boston University College of Communication alum on the state of media and communication in 2006, please remember that I have two jobs and no desire to think any more than necessary apart from them.)

So, my latest, greatest find in the arena of fabulous internet content is this site - http://allfg.alluc.org/cms/cms/. On here you can watch FREE episodes of your favorite TV shows - LOST, Grey's, Seinfeld, The Office, etc. Of course, my own personal favorite is The X-Files! Only seasons 1, 2 and some of 5 are up, which is random, but I'm not complaining.

A few down-sides to the site are - you will need Quicktime installed on your computer (easily acquired) and a fast internet connection (we have cable and an hour long episode uploads quickly and runs fine). The video quality also isn't exactly HD TV, but how much does it really matter when you're probably watching the episode for at least the 6th time (or is that just me)?

Lastly, I do not promote piracy or illegal downloading (especially of moves and television). This site provides strictly streaming video content (non-downloadable) and I did look into the legality of the content posted on the site. Apparently, like the free music download site I had recommended in an earlier post, the site manager is just acquiring the links to the content and listing them in one handy place for people to browse. Most of the videos link to external sites where the people who have uploaded them have had to (hopefully) prove their legal right to share the content.

So my advice: get while the gettins good. This may be like Napster (circa 2000) where the content is given free reign until someone realizes the money they are potentially losing and finds a better way to cash in.

If you need to find me, I will be retracing the beginnings of Mulder and Scully. Please leave your jokes about my giant dork status below.


P.S. Speaking of....congratulations go out to Gillian Anderson (aka Scully) on the birth of her son.

P.P.S. Congratulations also go out to David Duchovny for being hot.

Photographic Scavenger Hunt

The fun people at Sh1ft have a really cool photography exercise to check out. Once every couple of months they post a list of 26 Things for people to try to capture and express through the pictures they take. Once you take the pictures, you can upload the best ones onto the 26 Things Flickr Group to share with everyone else. It's interesting to see what images people come up with to represent the word or phrase on the list.

I have yet to participate in this, so I have decided to work through November's 26 Things. The goal is to try to shoot at least one thing a day. On the right column of this blog I have posted the list of things I will be looking to shoot. Once I get a good shot of one I'll upload it here and also link it to my Flickr account.

SexyOffice

I am in love with this video someone did that merges "SexyBack" with clips from The Office. HI-arious, and way better than the Justin version. In fact, people should petition MTV to show this instead of the real one. Oh, wait. MTV doesn't play videos.

Thank you YouTube and person with lots of extra time on their hands for making this possible.

My Plans for the Future are Ruined!

All because of this.

Doogie Howser, I'll never love another child genius doctor like you again. And you'll always be every best answer to the questions in Girl Talk.

Blog Tag Topic #1 (To find out more about Blog Tag see previous entry)

Tag Topic #1: Take your favorite book and turn it into a movie - tell us who you would cast as the actors, director, etc. and why. (If your favorite book is already a movie, tell us how you would have done it differently.)

My favoritest book is The Odyssey, (yes please stamp "BIG DORK" on my forehead now), but there are far too many characters in that book to cast. So instead I will do my second favorite book, The Lovely Bones (I am also kind of cheating since I did a paper on this for my Careers in Hollywood class).

For those that haven't read it, The Lovely Bones is a novel by Alice Sebold about Susie Salmon, a 14-year-old girl from the suburbs who is attacked on her way home from school by a neighbor who then proceeds to rape and murder her. She narrates the whole story from heaven where she is able to look down upon the family, friends, and even the murderer she left behind. Through her eyes we see how each of them struggles through life as they carry the burden of her death with them.

Actors:
Susie Salmon - Jenna Boyd (The Missing, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants)
Why: She's not as overly exposed as someone like Dakota Fanning and she's proven herself in dramatic roles.

Detective Fisherman (investigates Susie's case) - Billy Crudup (Big Fish, Trust the Man)
Why: There's just something about him I really like. And I enjoy his work. I think he has the ability to play many different types of characters - from a cocky rock star in Almost Famous, to a clean cut, no nonsense son in Big Fish and a slacker boyfriend in Trust the Man.

Susie's Dad - Ewan McGregor (Moulin Rogue, The Island)
Why: I'd like to see him take on the role of a distraught father with a family coming apart and see his physical change as the years go on.

Susie's Mom - Toni Collette (The Sixth Sense, Little Miss Sunshine)
Why: I guess I like her as the mother of bizarre families. She's done so well in the past.

Mr. Harvey (Susie's next door neighbor and killer) - John C. Reilly (Chicago, Talladega Nights)
Why: I think he is an amazing actor who could bring humanity to such a hated character.

Susie's Grandma - Ellen Burstyn (Requiem for Dream, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood)
Why: Like Reilly, I think she's a very talented actor and I'd love to see her take on this emotional role.

Director: Sam Mendes (American Beauty)
Why: I think he could capture the same creepy underbelly of white-bread, suburban America that he did for Beauty to put to use in this very different time and story.

So, there's my movie. If you haven't read the book, don't wait for the real movie to come out. No matter who is involved, most movies just don't measure up to their books. It'll be interesting to watch for the cast list to come out though and see if any of my picks make it (I had to do this exercise in another class for The Five People You Meet in Heaven, and when the movie came out at least one of my character picks matched up to the real one!).

Let me know what you think of my list and (if you've read the book) let me know what you might do different.

Then check out Sara's entry on the same topic. Tag Sara, you're it!

You're It!!

I am officially starting a game of blog tag. How to play:
1. I am going to write about a subject.
2. Then I am going to tag someone in the comments section on their blog - including a link back to my post for them to see.
3. They have to write about the same subject, then tag someone they know and on and on it goes.

When you tag someone you should:
- make sure you put a link to their blog on the bottom of your blog entry so that people can follow the links and see the chain of entries.
- remember to put a link back to your entry when you tag them in the comment section. The links should be carried over into every tag so that as the game progresses there is a longer and longer list of links of posts on the same subject by different people.

For example: I am going to write a post on a topic. Then I am going to tag Sara by commenting on her blog and posting a link to my post. When she goes to tag someone new in their comments section, she will copy and paste the link to my post and then add the link to her post above it:

Like a Poem Poorly Written
Invincible Summer

The next person who tags someone will copy both our links and then add the link to their post to the top.

Get it?
Got it?
Good.

Some Pre-Halloween Creepiness

Every Sunday, I like to go to the Post Secret blog to take a look at the new postcards that have been put up on the page. They are artistically and emotionally interesting, as well as shocking, sad and funny. If you've never been to the site it is worth a look.

Anyway, I went there today and at the end of this week's new card listings there is a postcard that I remembered from the week before that was just a brown piece of wrinkled paper with coordinates on it. Below it, the Post Secret webmaster has now posted an image he got through an email that seems to be a picture of what is at those coordinates (they must have been in the email as well). Posted above it are the coordinates and when you click on the link, it brings you to a Google Maps look up of that coordinate. It shows it to be somewhere near Germantown, Maryland. The closest things to it are farms and parkland. Frank from Post Secret said that he would post more as soon as he knew anything about the pictures.

So I don't know if he's thinking what my twisted brain is thinking, but my initial reaction was "Oh my god, someone buried a body there and sent in the coordinates as their secret!". Maybe being a criminal justice major and watching too much X-Files, CSI and Forensic Files has warped my mind and made me immediately jump to the worst possible conclusions, but did this cross anyone else's mind?

If what I'm thinking is right, we could have the new generation in creepy murderers on our hands. It would also be the most scandelous secret on that site to date. And maybe the worst part about my theory is that it wouldn't surprise me a bit if it were true. People are crazy and people do crazy things. If I've learned anything about life so far, it is not to underestimate the possible loonacy capable of the human race. I know. I've taken abnormal psychology and I ride public transportation every day, plus I've spent time in the south.

Happy (Belated) Blog-Day to Me!

That's right, on Monday, October 9, 2006, Invincible Summer officially turned one year old! Who actually thought I'd still be writing in here a whole year later? Certainly not me. In leiu of the extremely long and very witty post I was writing the other day that got lost when my web browser decided to freeze up (grrrrr!), I have made a list of some of my favorite posts from the past year for you to check out.

If you are a loyal reader (aka blog stalker) I invite you to tell me what your favorites have been or, if you rather, you can tell me that mostly this blog sucks. Either type of comments will be appreciated. =) This would also be a great time for those of you who just blindly stumbled here for the first time and those who read and never comment to say "hi!". Think of it as my blog-day present.

And if you are thinking to yourself - "Hey, I read this crappy blog all the time, what do I get?", here is a gift just for you.

And on to the favorites...

Procrastinating
October 9, 2005
The post that started it all and an explanation for the name.

The Happiest Town on Earth?
October 11, 2005
Post numero dos. A rant on how 5 major media outlets own everything we see and hear, and a little town named "Celebration". Plus there's a picture of the Hamburglar.

Here's an Equation for You
October 21, 2005
Short and (not so) sweet.

I'm a Fucking Genius
November 17, 2005
I still think this is a great idea.

Evil Allison
November 23, 2005
The holidays always bring out the best in me. I like this one mostly because I am a sarcastic bitch in it and also because it's the one post I have where Jess leaves a comment. Big ups to the Bear.

Who's a Ho?
December 6, 2005
Another sarcastic gem. I feel I have gotten soft in the past year and I'm going to have to step up the sarcasm again. Time to have a Lewis Blackathon.

CLR Tribute
January 3, 2006
Love to my girls.

Things I (Still) Miss
February 9, 2006
Life is sad when you don't have a job.

Why I (Still) Love Heather Gould
March 30, 2006
This just has to be reposted for anyone else who graduated in 2004.

The FCC Can Derelicte My Balls
April 1, 2006
I just realized I did this post on April Fool's day. Maybe that was Comedy Central's joke to us - bleeping out "balls". Hehe, yea Bevis, you said balls.

Summer
July 16, 2006
I chose this one because it goes with the blog theme and I actually still like what I wrote. Usually with poems, I go back a month later and hate it. Also, I realized I had 10 favorites listed and decided that a top 10 list is SO overdone. So that was my top 11 list.

Take that David Letterman!


Thanks for reading folks (all 5 of you).

I Need Your Help

For my second job (the old one) I have to make contests for this video/audio contest site called Bix.com and I get paid per the amount of people who view and/or enter the contests I make. I have two new contests up that have $50 first prize awards. So, if you could just click on these links to view the contests even that would be a big help to me. If you want to enter them go right ahead! That would be an even bigger help.

One is a stupid human tricks contest - I already entered myself. Check it out here: http://www.bix.com/contest/801.

The other is a rock star karaoke contest that I am not going to enter (no one wants that). But if you want to enter please do so here: http://www.bix.com/contest/800.

Thank you thank you thank you!

And Just When We Thought Global Warming Was Our Biggest Problem

Then this happens.

The George W. Bush Center for Kids Who Can't Read Good
(And Want to Learn to Do Other Stuff Good Too)

I love the smell of irony in the morning.

I Love Lists (said in my best Brick impression)

There is nothing I like to do more than go down a list of somethings and check off the somethings on that list that I have accomplished in my life. I guess it makes me feel like I am not totally wasting my life away. I especially like my 2001 Things to do Before You Die book and I take great pride in putting check marks besides the tasks I've completed.

So, when I came across this pointless list task, I just had to bite. Basically, there is a list of 100 movies that someone makes or steals (the one I found uses AFI's 100 Top Movies). You go down the list and bold the movies you've seen, italisize the one's you want to see (I added this part), and add 3 more movies to the bottom that you think should be on the list. Then you post your list to your blog so others can see it, complete it and add it to their site too (linking back to your post, of course).

If you don't have a blog (or even if you do), I also invite you to post your 3 movie add-ons in the comment area of this post, or refute the ones already on the list if you think they suck.

Enjoy!

1. CITIZEN KANE (1941)
2. CASABLANCA (1942)
3. THE GODFATHER (1972)
4. GONE WITH THE WIND (1939)
5. LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (1962)
6. THE WIZARD OF OZ (1939)
7. THE GRADUATE (1967)
8. ON THE WATERFRONT (1954)
9. SCHINDLER'S LIST (1993)
10. SINGIN' IN THE RAIN (1952)
11. IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946)
12. SUNSET BOULEVARD (1950)
13. THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI (1957)
14. SOME LIKE IT HOT (1959)
15. STAR WARS (1977)
16. ALL ABOUT EVE (1950)
17. THE AFRICAN QUEEN (1951)
18. PSYCHO (1960)
19. CHINATOWN (1974)
20. ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST (1975) <---- I have this on Netflicks &still need to watch it
21. THE GRAPES OF WRATH (1940)
22. 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (1968)
23. THE MALTESE FALCON (1941)
24. RAGING BULL (1980)
25. E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL (1982)
26. DR. STRANGELOVE (1964)
27. BONNIE AND CLYDE (1967)
28. APOCALYPSE NOW (1979)
29. MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON (1939)
30. THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE (1948)
31. ANNIE HALL (1977)
32. THE GODFATHER PART II (1974)
33. HIGH NOON (1952)
34. TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD (1962)
35. IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT (1934)
36. MIDNIGHT COWBOY (1969)
37. THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES (1946)
38. DOUBLE INDEMNITY (1944)
39. DOCTOR ZHIVAGO (1965)
40. NORTH BY NORTHWEST (1959)
41. WEST SIDE STORY (1961)
42. REAR WINDOW (1954)
43. KING KONG (1933)
44. THE BIRTH OF A NATION (1915)
45. A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE (1951)
46. A CLOCKWORK ORANGE (1971)
47. TAXI DRIVER (1976)
48. JAWS (1975)
49. SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS (1937)
50. BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID (1969)
51. THE PHILADELPHIA STORY (1940)
52. FROM HERE TO ETERNITY (1953)
53. AMADEUS (1984)
54. ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT (1930)
55. THE SOUND OF MUSIC (1965)
56. M*A*S*H (1970)
57. THE THIRD MAN (1949)
58. FANTASIA (1940)
59. REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE (1955)
60. RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (1981)
61. VERTIGO (1958)
62. TOOTSIE (1982)
63. STAGECOACH (1939)
64. CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND (1977)
65. THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS (1991)
66. NETWORK (1976)
67. THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE (1962) <--- I saw the new one 68. AN AMERICAN IN PARIS (1951)
69. SHANE (1953)
70. THE FRENCH CONNECTION (1971) <----- I worked in the office of the producer of this movie in L.A.
71. FORREST GUMP (1994)
72. BEN-HUR (1959)
73. WUTHERING HEIGHTS (1939)
74. THE GOLD RUSH (1925)
75. DANCES WITH WOLVES (1990)
76. CITY LIGHTS (1931)
77. AMERICAN GRAFFITI (1973)
78. ROCKY (1976)
79. THE DEER HUNTER (1978)
80. THE WILD BUNCH (1969)
81. MODERN TIMES (1936)
82. GIANT (1956)
83. PLATOON (1986)
84. FARGO (1996)
85. DUCK SOUP (1933)
86. MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY (1935)
87. FRANKENSTEIN (1931)
88. EASY RIDER (1969)
89. PATTON (1970)
90. THE JAZZ SINGER (1927)
91. MY FAIR LADY (1964)
92. A PLACE IN THE SUN (1951)
93. THE APARTMENT (1960)
94. GOODFELLAS (1990)
95. PULP FICTION (1994)
96. THE SEARCHERS (1956)
97. BRINGING UP BABY (1938)
98. UNFORGIVEN (1992)
99. GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER (1967)
100. YANKEE DOODLE DANDY (1942)
101. THE CAINE MUTINY (1954)
102. METROPOLIS (1927)
103. PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE (1959)

My total: 28. That's kind of sad.

My 3:
104. MARY POPPINS (1964)
105. THE MATRIX (1999)
106. THE EXORCIST (1973)

Your turn!

What the World Has Been Waiting For.....

It feels like only yesterday I was sitting at the bus stop around the corner from my house, rocking my leggings and She-ra backpack, and talking about important 2nd-grader things like Lisa Frank Trapper Keepers. There were quite a few boys in my neighborhood, and many a pre-grammar school morning was spent listening to them talk about their Mortal Kombat scores and sing lyrics from Weird Al Yankovich songs like Eat It and Like a Surgeon. Mostly, I thought the lyrics were pretty funny, but to uphold my position in the girl world, I had to come to the consensus with the other girls that the boys were sooooo stupid. But what I really wanted to do after school was hang out with the boys and listen to their Weird Al tapes too.

Maybe that just makes me White and Nerdy, but if being that way is wrong, I don't want to be right.


White and Nerdy

"They see me roll on my segue."
Priceless.

But I do have to say my favorite part is Donnie Osmond dancing in the background.

Welcome back Weird Al, it's been far too long.

The Best Things in Life are Free

Especially if one of those things is music.

Today a stumbled across a site called It's Free Downloads that is making a directory of ONLY the free downloads from iTunes. That way us cheapies don't have to search through the whole iTunes website to find those little treasures. It's not just for music either - there are links to free TV show episodes (special eps of LOST and Grey's Anatomy anyone?), video clips and audiobooks. Plus, there's this free song list for Facebook members. Check that out here.

So, it's not exactly Napster circa the year 2000 (sweet, sweet times), but it also won't land your ass in the middle of a ridiculous lawsuit where the plaintiff is an artist worth 100 times more money than you'll ever see in your life. Don't EVEN get me started.

At Least I'm Not Crying in the Bathroom this Time

New Job Post #1:

I've decided that starting a new job is a little like starting a new high school - with less teen angst and better clothing choices. There is meeting your new peers and your superiors, learning where everything is located, what your schedule is like and what your options are for lunch.

Today, my second day of work, I ventured down to the cafeteria at lunch time. It made me think about twelve(!) years ago when I started the 7th grade in a new school district with no friends. Back then, I dreaded lunch time because it always meant severe anxiety. Who was I going to sit with?! What if my lunch isn't cool?! Why doesn't anyone want to be my friend?! Honestly, this terror led me to spend more than a couple lunch hours hiding in the bathroom being miserable with life and wanting the security of my old school and friends back.

Even in college, most of us spent all of freshman year in large groups flocking to the dining hall at meal times. No one wanted to get left behind. If you somehow missed the big group trip, you would frantically IM everyone else on your buddy list to find out if they had already gone too. Then if they had - the horror! The only choice then was to go get something to go and bring it back to your room and your friends (those traitorous group meal thwarters).

It is on days like today when I look back at those memories and really see how (blessedly) far I have come. I still have a tendency to be shy and somewhat awkward around strangers, but I now have the ability to walk confidently into the cafeteria where I know absolutely no one, find myself a seat and eat my lunch with no anxiety whatsoever. Did I really ever care so much? It's hard to believe.

I still don't have any friends though.

I guess my next life lesson should be "Strangers and You: How to Approach Someone Else in the Cafeteria Without Friends and Make them Yours."

Question for My PC Using Friends

Is the right side bar actually situated next to the blog post box or does it not start until after the end of the blog blox? The sidebar should be next to it (hence "side" bar), but when I brought it up on a PC today in Internet Explorer, the side bar was all the way at the bottom of the page. It looks fine on my Mac so I just want to check and see if it is just this computer or all PCs.

Thanks for your help!