Let’s talk ape movies, or I’ll throw poop at you.


I finally watched Rise of the Planet of the Apes, and I realized that I really like movies involving apes. Especially if the apes “win”.  When I was a kid, I checked the Dian Fossey and Jane Goodall books out of the library quite regularly.  My favorite Zoobooks were the ones about chimps, gorillas, and orangutans.  I remember when WPTT 22 existed and they played movies like King Kong or one of the Planet of the Apes series regularly.

Netflix has weird genre splits & sub-genres.  Why don’t I see an “ape movie” category?  Someone over at Netflix, after you’re done burning all the Qwikster proposals, get on that.

Here are some of the ape movies I really like.  In the comments below, let me know some of your favorites.  (You don’t have to login, you can use your Facebook ID, Twitter handle, WordPress ID, or just leave a name & email address.)

  • King Kong | The best of ’em all.  This is a two way tie though, as I dig the 1933 & 2005 versions.  (There are lots of them, but these are the best.)  From Stop Motion to CGI, you get a great story no matter what the effects.
  • King Kong Lives | This movie was ridiculous.  When I was a kid, I totally accepted that after the events of the original Kong, they could have built him a giant pacemaker.  No problem.
  • Gorillas in the Mist | This was the Dian Fossey books come to life.  Incredible.  People really are bastards when it comes to some of our closest living relatives on this planet.
  • Project X | Top Gun meets Planet of the Apes.  Sort of.  It’s sort of funny, too.  Crazy movie, further proof that people are horrible horrible creatures.
  • Congo | The book was a little more thrilling, but the movie was still pretty cool.  Also, if Ernie Hudson is in your movie, it rocks.  Ancient ruins, intelligent apes, genetic memory… exciting stuff.

So, what are your favorites?

Rise of the Planet of the Apes

m/

How to Drink Buttermilk


I’ve been quiet with blogging lately.  I’m not all that busy, and I’m certainly not out of things to ramble on about.  I guess I’ve just been doing other stuff.  I hope everyone enjoyed their holiday & any time with friends, family, or time off of work.  Today. I was inspired to make a post about buttermilk, and thought I’d get it down before I forgot about it.

Charlie’s Old Fashioned Buttermilk

Charlie’s Old Fashioned Buttermilk

I like buttermilk.  Occasionally, when at the grocery store… something hits me that says I want buttermilk.  Much to my wife’s dismay, I listen.  Buttermilk is an acquired taste to say the least.  Most people any more seem to see it as a cooking ingredient.  It makes great pancakes, ranch dressing, and mashed potatoes.  It’s a good dredge for breading.  It’s good in many recipes.  But, it’s also a delicious drink.

Generally I prefer Charlie’s Old Time Buttermilk (by Turner’s) or Country Charm Cultured Buttermilk (by Dean’s).  Uncle Charlie’s has the tiny added butter flecks.  If you like things like sour cream, cottage cheese, or stinky cheeses… you may also like buttermilk.  (Maybe if you like yogurt too… but I personally hate yogurt.)  You may like it only after your first couple of tries, like beer or coffee.

No, it’s not higher in fat than regular milk like you’d expect.  It’s good for you.

I don’t remember not liking buttermilk, but there aren’t many of “us” out there.  My parents always drank it, my grandparents drank it.  I was used to it forever I guess.  It’s delicious, and now something I crave like a special treat.  I’ve had people make horrible faces after trying it.  I’ve had people swear at me, and even hit me after letting them try it.  This is how you man up (no offense to ladies, the dairy-allergic, or the lactose intolerant) & drink buttermilk the right way:

  1. Get a nice tall glass.  (I like a nice beer mug or even a really tall weizen or pilsner glass.)
  2. Pour in just enough buttermilk to cover the bottom.
  3. Add salt & pepper to cover a good portion of the top of the buttermilk.  (Paprika like on old-school diner cottage cheese if you’re fancy.)
  4. Pour buttermilk to the top of glass.  Top off with more salt & pepper if desired.
  5. Make the first gulp obnoxiously large.
  6. Make a refreshing “ahhh” sigh.
  7. Enjoy the rest at a relaxed pace.

…or just drink straight from the tiny jug or carton if you’re a barbarian.

Tall glass of buttermilk

Tall glass of buttermilk

How to pick a band name (for sadly uncreative musicians):


Band names have always been fascinating to me.  They’re rather important for many reasons.  They need to be memorable.  They represent the band on flyers, album covers, in reviews, on T-shirts (& other merch), and anywhere else they can be printed or spoken.

This is why I’m continually surprised by local & national level bands choosing some inconceivably stupid monikers.  (Especially local level bands.)

I realize that it’s a difficult thing to do.  You’re sort of stuck with it once it happens.  (Although, I’ve seen a few bands morph & rename themselves several times.)  A lot of the good ones are already taken.  Metallica is probably the best band name ever as it’s catchy, it’s not something else, and it describes the music.  When you Google Metallica, there’s no mistake as to what you’re going to get.

Some friends & I like to think up band names.  Sometimes we hear a phrase or sentence or word & think (or remark) “…that would be a cool band name.”  It’s important to brainstorm.  Throw all of your goofy ideas at a wall.  See what sticks.

With the internet age upon us, I urge you to use all of the tools at your disposal when naming your band.  Primarily, Google.  Once you have thought of a band name or two, go to Google and type it in the search bar.  Hit search.  Have the idea?

If something comes up & a band is already named that, don’t name your band that.  Seriously.  It takes 3½ seconds to Google something.  You can even use Bing or Yahoo.  If you’re signing up for a website like Reverb Nation or Band Camp or Facebook or even Twitter… and there’s another band there already named what you wanna call your band, change the name of your band rather than having a goofy unmemorable and not even remotely cool url like one of the following:

  • reverbnation.com/[bandname]rocks
  • reverbnation.com/[bandname]1
  • reverbnation.com/[bandname]music
  • reverbnation.com/[bandname]_Pgh

I don’t care if you want to be a hit recording artist, or if you have resigned to just rocking out cover tunes in bars from not until the end of time.  This has been happening since the days of the old MP3.com, MySpace and PureVolume …and it must stop.

Avoiding these things makes your band easily searchable online.  People will give up if they don’t find you right away.  We’re lazy as a species, apparently.  Or we just have short attention spans.

Your band name has to be easily remembered, and your band should be easy to find.  I was in a band called Gasoline Dion.  Google that and nothing comes up except stuff about the band.  Like the name or not (& “get” it or not), it’s easily remembered & easily searchable.  That’s what you need to shoot for.

Maybe later I’ll blog about band name categories & give some examples.

For additional reference:

Have any lists or comments to share?

Batman Infographic: Every (Significant) Bat-Suit Ever [ScreenRant.com]


I just wanted to share this, because it’s awesome.  It’s cool to see the bat-suits in the same style rather than just cut & pasted from their sources.

The source: Batman Infographic: Every (Significant) Bat-Suit Ever | Screen Rant.

Click through for the big one.

ScreenRant.com | Batman Infographic: Every (Significant) Bat-Suit Ever - By Ben Moore

ScreenRant.com | Batman Infographic: Every (Significant) Bat-Suit Ever - By Ben Moore

This is by Ben Moore. As it says in the graphic, check out:

ScreenRant.com ⌘ @BenAndrewMoore

BenjaminAndrewMoore.com ⌘ BAM@BenjaminAndrewMoore.com

Screen Rant FB ⌘ Benjamin Moore FB

…and thanks to the Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader blog for calling this to my attention!

Batman: an iconic superhero whose powers are r...

//^V^"

Dethlehem – ”Circle of Deth” Video


Watch it.  Enjoy it.  Share it.  Buy their album(s).

There is hope for the future of America.


Hope indeed.  I laughed out loud.

The Clarks’ lead singer gets schooled at Shaler.  I found it rather amusing, so will a bunch of my local musician friends because we’re all haters.  No idea if this is real or not, but Mr. Madden was talking about it at the beginning of his show today.

https://twitter.com/#!/NickBuzzelli/status/149946580647149568

https://twitter.com/#!/NickBuzzelli/status/149949890347274241

https://twitter.com/#!/NickBuzzelli/status/149947628690489344

https://twitter.com/#!/NickBuzzelli/status/149947708298379265

https://twitter.com/#!/NickBuzzelli/status/149947830453288961

Ha.  I’d pay $5 to sit in homeroom & not go hear the guy from the Clarks if forced to.

Jagoff Super Hero In Action! (from YaJagoff.com)


I didn’t blog this, but it could easily be one of my road rage rants.  People are ridiculous, especially this blue truck driving Jagoff Yinzer:

Some people just need a swift kick in the ass, even if it’s only figurative.  So, please, read the post, enjoy, & add YaJagoff.com to your reader or follow them on Facebook or Twitter something.  You won’t be disappointed!

YaJagoff.com | Jagoff Super Hero In Action!

YaJagoff.com | Jagoff Super Hero In Action!

Unintentioanlly Humorous Tweet Bot


Filter FAIL.

https://twitter.com/#!/AiXeLsyD13/status/149513393445945345

https://twitter.com/#!/ShopSteelCity/status/149532644986724352

https://twitter.com/#!/AiXeLsyD13/status/149535721525477378

https://twitter.com/#!/ShopSteelCity/status/149569683853549568

I find search terms rather amusing.


I know I’m odd, but there are some real weirdos out there.  What is wrong with you people?  Check out these search terms that have landed people here at my humble little corner of the internet:

Search Terms for 7 days ending 2011-12-20 (Summarized)

7 Days | 30 Days | Quarter | Year | All time

2011-12-13 to Today

Search Views
lorisandra72@yahoo.com (Scammer!) 9
maze 6
batman joker 5
peter steele 4
goofy 4
difficult mazes 3
how to wash your hands sign (Apparently some of you still need this, at least you have Google.) 3
mcdonalds offer letter 3
amish beard cutting attacks cnn mugshots (lol.)
3
complicated maze w/ traps 3
john simson hearing impaired (Scammer!)
3
mazes 3
batman 66 cast 3
us.rop.mcd.com 3
gremlins 3
batman logo guitar six flags (I’d love some help here people!) 3
movies from my childhood 3
гитара (What?  Oh – “Guitar.”) 3
thomas lloyd 2
star wars death star in firing range 2
fart in math (popular!)
2
peter steel 2
amish beard cutting post gazette(lol.)
2
cartoon mouse trap dynamite 2
kai kennedy locksley 2
nutley brass ramones 2
world and lunar (Someone looking for me?) 2
debbieswill@gmail.com 2
star wars logo saber 2
lg arena standing/seating plan 2
ella.jones@us.mcd.com 2
#1 washing your hands is the #1 important thing in history 2
kmartfeedback.com (try the “http://” at the beginning, or read this.) 2
flow chart buy more guitars (yup.)
2
weird guitars (yup.) 2
subaru vs batman (Batman fighting a car? When did I blog about that?) 2
the old batman movies 2
incessant (Who, me?) 2
nude mrs claus (Still don’t blog nudes.) 2
ewok zombie (Click here.) 2
help@customerservice.kmart.com 2
war games joshua 2
paul smith food scam (Bastards are out there…) 2
snooky hats ke a tobogin 2
meatloaf topping 2
“clean water action” pittsburgh sucks (Yup.) 2
washing signs tie 2
star wars christmas death star it’s a trap 2
carrie janota panera (Searching for yourself?) 2
panera vs bostone market (Panera still hasn’t replied.) 2
dave highfield, penn state blue band 2
google southeast asia disbursement center 2
scott kausky mcdonalds email canonsburg (Searching for yourself?) 2
80’s movies 2
remove sprint short codes 2
drunken santa 2
googlegiveawayteam 2
gizmo gremlins 2
c-3p0 data 2
“erin faulk” (Searching for yourself?) 2
fart math (popular!)
2
ort danzig 1661 (What?) 2
difficult maze 2
universal monsters scenario 2
list of van halen songs with intros 2
leonard part 6 cast 2
pizza mazes 1
lourem 1
causes of allergens poster 1
sally wiggin mark madden (Was this an image search? Sally rules.) 1
pizzahut maze (Those bastards never wrote back either!) 1
shirt azrael rising 1
crystal skull vodka 1
please wash and dry your hands sign 1
nudes as santa claus 1
fart volume equation (popular!)
1
fart and math (popular!)
1
woolie cap 1
how to unblock shortcode texting with sprint 1
3472 × 2604 – yeah, you know the ones—-they’re skate shoes or in my book: poser shoes.  (You actually searched all of that?  Why?  What did it bring you to?) 1
reason why to stop playing guitar 1
passive aggressive notes marney thanksgiving 1
google 13th anniversary giveaway sweepstakes draw 1
arthur suydam samhain 1
best intro guitar 1
the misfits glenn danzig 1
gremlins cast 1
wash your hands guide signs 1
ticket #: 899-633/uk-11-001 with cgp # as/my/0010/011 drew lucky #: 9012-2449-4041(17) 1
watch cap wiki 1
lightsaber cheese cutter (Is there one out there?  I want one!) 1
the fish sendwith from mcdonald is bad 1
jelly wars domination (Um…) 1
santa bartender 1
dog domination (Um…) 1
wanted cheese ball 1
=http://0.gravatar.com/blavatar 1
amish ohio 1
feedback training@us.mcd.com 1
с днём рождения бэтмен (That’s “Batman Birthday” according to Google Translate.) 1
scott bergren email id (Searching for yourself?) 1
zakk wylde meme 1
batman guitar pick 1
satan vs santa 1
what does it mean message failed msg 1051 1
the evolution of batman 1
underwears through history (Why did this bring someone to my blog?) 1
mrs moon nudes 1
googlegiveawayteam.asia@shqiptar.eu 1
goonies fat kid 1
lunor jonny depp 1
kyle dine (Kyle rocks! Check out www.kyledine.com!) 1
satan in santa hat 1
izzy stradlin wears a hemet (Are you asking?) 1
hand washing procedures poster 1
excuse me i eating (& Googling.) 1
fender g ii e 1
4coloring.wordpress.com 1
googlegiveawayteam.asia 1
mr paul smith food order spam 1
employees must wash hands sign free 1
crazy discount double check meme 1
kuhns on banksville road (A dirty dirty store.) 1
“local celebrity” “has food allergies” 1
tim bendig (Searching for yourself?) 1
andy biersack batman tattoo 1
john maher state rep conservative 1
allergen warning signs 1
9230 shortcode texting 1
boba fett dragon 1
stop hand washing signs california (Wait, don’t wash your hands?) 1
scrotum domination (WTF? How would this bring someone here?) 1
cars parking lots google earth 1
giant eagle marketplace signs 1
ihop gluten free 1
1051 error message sprint 1
funny math equations (popular!) 1
lori sandra baker (Dirty scammer) 1
doyle von frankenstein and jerry only 1
batman foods 1
foxtrot thermostat comic 1
world.and.lunar.domination (That’s me.) 1
death star cheeseball 1
google uk office 13th giveaway sweeptakes 1
asian retching picture (WTF?) 1
elf in someones ass (WTF?) 1
you tube musicmustard pigs rock punk (What?) 1
sprint short codes 1
google asia give-away lotto 1
chinese new year proclamation governor rendell 1
batman else worlds 1
fart equation (popular!)
1
didn’t panera used to put mustard on the smoked turkey  (Yes, until they decided it was bad for you.) 1
funny guitars (That’s me.) 1
sprint msg 1051 1
luci butler trans siberian orchestra 1
message failed. shortcode may have expired or shortcode texting may be blocked on your account. msg 1051 1
star wars holiday special easter egg 1
message failed. shortcode may have expired or shortcode texting may be blocked on your account. 1
vincents park pizza verses vincents greentree (Almost as hot as the Aiello’s vs. Mineo’s debate.  I still need to blog about part 2…) 1
sonic allergen info 1
warwick davis the phantom menace 1
star wars movie night 1
gizmo being sad 1
death star cheese ball 1
ramones vs danzig 1
wendy’s on west liberty 1
gitarre bb stone (Did you find it?  Why no comments? 1
guitar world top 100 guitar solos 1
“na.ko.com” “dear mr” 1
allow me to apologize 1
chik a fil a polite(The employees maybe.)
1
lorisandra 72@yahoo.com 1
places that ship provel cheese 1
at help@customerservice.kmart.com 1
coal black poop 1
c3po dj 1
michale graves vs jerry only 1
luci butler trans-siberian orchestra 1
help@customerservice kmart.com 1
roger tullgren 1
lunar pawn 1
recipe decadent scalloped potatoes (Did you try/like them?) 1
gremlins gizmo film still 1
hello my name is john simson 1
hetfield santa 1
taco bell allergy warning 1
letter from mcdonalds 1
dingleberry man in the middle attack (What?) 1
star wars blu ray easter eggs not working 1
dan kish panera chef (Searching for yourself?) 1
tossel cap with pom pom 1
lit cigarette guitar (Did you find it?) 1
monster squad stream through netflix 1
the batman and joker part 1 movie pics 1
eagle instruments 1
scallop potatoes recipes “corn starch” 1
yuengling lager sauce (Bring it back!) 1
is long john silvers okay to eat if you have a peanut allergy 1
domination puss (Ew!) 1
meatloaf with cheese and ketchup 1
cooks.com hot dogs in beer 1
noreply@fritolay.com 1
people upstairs doing (…doing what?) 1
m 1
arby’s bronco berry sauce 1
guitar girls thumbs (Is this a “tye 3 random words into Google” game?) 1
police officer james burke 1
dead lobster 1
functionless art 1
dhl domination 1
snookie cap 1
sonic menu allergy 1
dormont chief of police 1
black n white disney goofy tattoos 1
functionless art is simply tolerated vandalism. we are the vandals. 1
f__k. telina mcdowell north van slut (I have no idea what in this string of incoherence would have brought you here.) 1
how to unblock shortcode texting 1
chord avenged lips of deceit 1
6 flags batman guitar (Hello? You guitar people need to leave comments.) 1
purple hand ernie (Huh?) 1
shamrock murphys 1
yoda you will be 1
santa playing guitar 1
google asia give away team 1
why gavin thorn is an ewok (Who is Gavin Thorn, and why is he an ewok?) 1
free mazes to print (Please, send me some completed ones!) 1
dropkick murphys fenway skeleton party t shirt 1
how do they make hot dogs at arenas 1
kuala lumpur,malaysia. office of the lottery funds 1
pizza images 1
farming with dynamite, 1910 1
korean girl with guitar (Very specific tastes?) 1
dewey decible flipout guitar (Why are you guitar searchers not leaving comments?  Let’s talk about these things!) 1
tumblr domination para seguir 1
square guitar (Why are you guitar searchers not leaving comments?  Ask me about ’em!  Show me yours!) 1
what does msg 1051 1
what is the equation of fart (What is the meaning of life?) 1
santa asshole (Someone’s on the naughty list.) 1
little girl butt showing (I can assure you, none of that here.) 1
http://www.the trans siberian orchesrta.com 1
what was “the dumbest idea ever” ? 1
snooki ski hat 1
new wendy’s west liberty 1
sprint message 1051 1
sock monkey beanie hats 1
phantom pooper letter lamebook 1
afaa.org archive 1
where can i buy the eric clapton t shirt in adventureland 1
star wars holiday special” “cartoon pictures” 1
dingleberry cartoon (I’m afraid to Google this…) 1
electric roaster dressing recipe (Did you try mine in the crock pot?) 1
panera galleria mt lebanon general manager 1
cristmasstory 1
whats the common history of snyders of berlin and snyders of hanover (Denial.) 1
kmart in snail ville 1
“the explorers” commodore 64 1
rare vandals song 3:24 1
65.55.92.184 does not like recipient 1
buy more guitars flow chart 1
data vs c3po 1
batman guitar 1
dentist gas domination (Seriously.  WTF?) 1
usa dupont com 1
does w g grinders have a gluten free menu 1
Unknown search terms 51

Please, if you found what you were looking for, leave a comment.  If you didn’t…  You can comment on that too.  Let’s interact.

With the email addresses… think it’s people Googling themselves, or people entering an email address into a search bar thinking they’re sending an email?

Calvin and Hobbes


Calvin and Hobbes

Calvin and Hobbes

Calvin and Hobbes has been popping up over & over on my radar lately.  It was such an incredible strip, and Bill Watterson was awesome for taking such control of his creation.  No Saturday morning cartoons ruining your interpretation of Hobbes, no live action travesties like the Garfield movies.  No licensing, no over-saturation, no Calvin air fresheners.  Just pure, simple, beautifully drawn comic panels with wisdom & wit out the wazoo.

Not that there haven’t been countless Calvin and Hobbes bootleg T-shirts, and the notorious “Calvin peeing” stickers that could express your distaste for anything from a car make to a political figure.  Bill Watterson encouraged me to look at both sides of every issue, taught me many things about friendships, and taught me all about artistic integrity.

Imagination is a powerful tool, and morbid snowmen are the funniest things ever.  I still need to get The Complete Calvin and Hobbes one of these days.

Here are some fun things I’ve found lately:

Originality

Calvin and Hobbes Snow Art Gallery

Snow Sharks

Calvin & Hobbes Snowman Cartoons

Townsfolk

Calvin and Hobbes | Snowmen

Shameless plugs notwithstanding, there’s also the AiXeLsyD song:

And, the “better” quality audio:

Calvin and Hobbes AiXeLsyD – “Calvin & Hobbes”

Please, share your favorite Calvin and Hobbes images, sites, memories, books, quotes, panels, strips, etc. in the comments below!

I’ll start a board on Pinterest.