it's been snowing a lot here recently. and for a florida guy, that equates to about two inches. kristy and i went outside the other night to enjoy it while it lasted, and i snagged some photos of her in the process.
and here's what it looked like the following morning.
the kids down the street built a snowman, while i have simply been standing around outside, enjoying it like an old man. and for the record, kristy took that last shot, and edited the ones i took of her. gotta give props where they're due.
my apologies for spamming you with video clips....without a single ounce of photography to go with it. but i wanted to share this clip of montel williams talking about how the media focuses on celebrity deaths (lately heath ledger) and yet never seem to mention the names of those who are dying in iraq. i completely agree with him.
the hosts make some arguments, but would it truly be that difficult to spend five minutes each day focusing anyone who has sacrificed their life in the war in the past 24 hours? no. it wouldn't.
This clip from The Daily Show does a great job of showing how television media completely blows things out of proportion.
Here's another example. This report on a new video game called Mass Effect, claims the game shows full digital nudity and graphic sex, implying the player has complete control over the different types of sex acts you're able to perform in the game. They bring on a guy to defend it, and everything he says is true. Funny enough they cut him off early and go on to a 'discussion panel' (of completely uninformed idiots) where they continue to bash the game without knowing anything about it or having actually played it themselves.
Let me tell you, after playing through this game completely, this story is completely unfounded and completely false. Here's the real deal: The game shows nudity and sex on the level of a PG-13 movie. You see the top of a butt, and the profile of a breast. They don't show the sex, and there is no frontal nudity. None. Also, the sex comes as a result of establishing a romantic relationship throughout the 30 plus hour game. When it does show up, it is not interactive in any way whatsoever. It's even very possible to not even establish this romantic relationship at all...leading to, surprise surprise, no sex. The game is 30 plus hours of dialogue, space exploration and space shootouts, with a possible 2 minutes of PG-13 rated sex.
Seriously...no research at all was even attempted in this story. It's completely and utterly blown so far out of scale it doesn't even count as journalism. They basically just made stuff up (or made zero attempt to check their facts, which is just as bad) and there has been an outcry from the video gaming public about the issue. In response, many gamers have left numerous negative 'reviews' on Cooper Lawrence's book on Amazon without actually having read it...just as she did with the game Mass Effect. And while this is basically stooping to her level, I think it also has the possibility to make a serious impact on how she'll 'review' things in the future. What kills me is that when she was asked whether she'd even played the game, she laughed happily as she said, "No". THEN she makes the claim that the game objectifies women and isn't respective of them, yet refers to her male counterpart as Darlin'. Yeah, great objective and insightful reporting there Cooper.
I know this probably all sounds trivial...but I just want everyone to realize how preposterous television news channels are. They all have an agenda. None are fair and balanced, especially Fox (as the game manufacturer has asked for an apology and a correction, with the argument that 100's of people worked hard on this game, have their names attached to it, and do not deserve to be slandered on completely unfounded accusations. Yet Fox has refused this request). So please don't listen to everything they say and remember to think for yourselves first. I'm not saying television news outlets are completely bad or worthless. Not at all. Just don't follow them blindly.
My apologies for the rant. At least The Daily Show clip was funny.
i know i said i knew kristy lee cook, who auditioned for american idol and made it onto the show. but i just found out that a girl i knew in college just auditioned as well. i met her through some friends and even talked to her sitting on the front steps of her house. and with that being said...
this is London Weidberg...(the picture is messed up for the first five seconds or so.)
so her audition wasn't incredibly strong, but i think she has potential. now the question is...do i root for her to win, or for my future wife miss kristy lee cook. of course i'm rooting for both...but if they make the final two, then i might turn into this season's crying girl.
and yes, i realize how sad it is that i'm blogging about american idol.
and yes, i realize it's even sadder that i know about the existence of crying girl.
every couple of months i search for the name 'mac mitchell' on facebook. today's search came up big. two new mac mitchell's have joined facebook recently. and of course i automatically sent them friend requests. here's a quick synopsis of some of the other mac mitchell's i've discovered out there:
1. mac mitchell: age 21 (lufkin, tx) - graduating from sfasu in '08. he enjoys tennis, grey's anatomy and doesn't like to read. 2. mac mitchell: age 15 (houston, tx) - graduating from cypress creek high school in '10. he's single, like's video games and WE HAVE THE SAME BIRTHDAY! 3. mac mitchell: age 26(?) (gainesville, fl) - UF graduate, married and has two dogs. i actually heard about this guy from some of my UF friends. i also met his roommate who came to clemson for a tour. 4. mack mitchell: age 19 (cheyenne, wy) - graduating from WU in '09. enjoys break dancing, the ladies and has excellent taste in music and movies.
i am really interested in the other mac mitchell's of the world. the ones i've found thus far are all different and live all over the country. it's amazing. though, they are all named mckenzie...while my name is macgregor.
which led me to search for macgregor mitchell as well, and all that came up was a married couple whose last name is macgregor-mitchell. they weren't interested in adding me as a friend as they prefer to keep their profiles 'private'. and i guess by private they mean not private, as i was able to see all their photos and interests and everything. which led me to the saddening conclusion that it is possible for people to have the greatest last name of all time and still be jerks. i hope their kid (whose name is clarissa....ya, real "private" profile you got going there guys) does the name justice as her parents are clearly smearing it with mud.
p.s....if i was to marry clarissa macgregor-mitchell, i'd drop my middle name of dean, and replace it with my last name of mitchell...making me:
macgregor mitchell macgregor-mitchell. i might just have to keep tabs on this kid...
for those of you who saw American Idol this week, you may remember kristy lee cook:
well i know her. so booyah! alright, alright...i don't ACTUALLY know her. but i do know someone who actually knows her. my friend kevin is a local photographer, and has used kristy as a model for years. apparently she did really well on her audition and has a shot at making it pretty far in the competition. she can't tell us (yes, US. can't you let a man dream?) whether she made the top 12 or whatever, because of the secrecy agreement she has to maintain with fox. but she probably did. and kevin probably told her all about me. and she probably wants to marry me and be famous together and stuff.
the link is to one of the TED lectures i mentioned in my previous post. the speaker talks about how our current/modern educational system kills creativity. he makes some excellent points and even more excellent jokes. it's worth twenty minutes of your time without question and i highly encourage you to watch it.
some of you may know about TED. and i'm not talking about your favorite drunk uncle. TED stands for technology, entertainment, design. it's a conference held (from what i can gather) twice a year. it features performers and speakers spanning the three previously mentioned topics, and everything in between. it's basically a smart people conference. and a creative people conference. and they have posted a ton of videos of said speakers and performers. and out of the twenty or so TED lectures i've seen over the past couple of months, every single one has either been incredibly enlightening, inspirational or entertaining, if not a combination of the three...much like a favorite drunk uncle. though sadly, unlike your uncle, the videos aren't able to tell stories about how crazy mom was back in college.
in all seriousness...go check out some of the TED videos. allow me to suggest a couple to get you started.
my apologies for leaving everyone in the cold here. i flew home for a couple of weeks to spend the holidays with the family. it was a couple of weeks well spent. i learned how to make pasta with fresh clam sauce. i got to talk, laugh, hug, argue and laugh again with close friends and family. and i jumped in the atlantic ocean early in the morning on new year's day. it was hard to have to leave...though i do feel as if i'm returning with a renewed spirit and slightly more direction. i'm hopeful for 2008.
i'd hate to leave you empty handed, as i don't have any photos to share, so instead i'll simply encourage you to watch the following movie trailers.
wall-e: looks to be the most charming pixar film yet. and that's saying something. quiet city: sort of an indie 'lost in translation'. i have high hopes. b-boy: documentary of the world breakdancing championships. what more needs to be said?
