Community is seriously one of the funniest shows on TV right now. The 30-minute stingers during the credits always crack me up.
Author Archive
Things That Were Awesome
04
Mar
I thought I had finally come up with a way to recap the past two months in a simple format: two posts, one briefly highlighting awesome things which had happened in the second part of the quarter and one covering the not-quite awesome things which had happened. I started thinking about what I wanted to cover, and honestly, for all the hard work, stress, and frustration that went into this quarter, there wasn’t really a “this completely sucks” moment that sticks out in my head. Which is good; winter term is notorious for being really depressing and gray and desperate because it’s 8 weeks of class, no breaks in awful weather (ah, Indiana, land where the weather literally CANNOT MAKE UP ITS MIND whether to rain or snow). So, anyways, awesome things. Here they are.
To start, a few that don’t require much explanation besides a bullet-point mention:
- Having a single
- Volleyball (finally made it to playoffs)
- Grades (3 A’s and a B+)
- Getting a literature minor (a third one I wasn’t expecting to get until I found out I qualified this fall)
Now for those that require a little more explanation.
This Too Shall Pass
03
Mar
It’s been posted a bunch of other places online, but this OK GO video is amazing:
Roommate Powerups
01
Mar
That summary post is coming. Yes, I know it’s been two weeks since I said it’d be up. In the interim:
I need to find D, F (yes.), and Sh powerups for CS.
I should probably find the W powerup for myself to hold onto during finals/heavy project time weeks.
Music!
20
Feb
It seems like it would probably enhance the music reviews I’ve written if you could hear what the band sounds like. I’ve retroactively added these to the posts they belong to, but here’s a sample track (via LaLa) of the last albums I’ve reviewed:
Teen Dream
16
Feb
Beach House’s sound has been fairly consistent over their last two albums, 2006’s self-titled debut and 2008’s Devotion. Alex Scally’s reverb-drenched guitars and Victoria Legrand’s keyboards and distinctive vocals mix in a sea of tinny drum machines and slow, measured tempos to create something dreamy and ethereal.
With Teen Dream, their third album and Sub Pop debut, they’ve cleared some of the fog from their sound, adding live percussion and speeding the tempo up a bit to create something both familiar and refreshing. Songs like “Zebra”, “Norway”, and “Used to Be” are bright and engaging while still retaining the dreamy sound the band is known for.
If there’s any fault in the album’s 10 tracks, it’s that a few of the songs, like “Real Love”, drag a little too long. None of the songs on the album could be considered short; most average around five minutes while the shortest is just under four. Still, these atmospheric songs showcase Victoria Legrand’s low, distinctive voice to great effect. If the growth between this album and their last is any indication of how the band will continue to progress, the future holds bright things for this Baltimore duo.
Rating: 
Full Disclosure: Although after the review was written/turned in, I received a copy of the album and a poster of its cover in blue on one side and in yellow (like the album itself) on the other. The label sent them to the station because we’re playing it a lot lately.
Haiku
16
Feb
Whoever’s been coming up with the new daily haiku at Gawker is awesome. Two recent favorites:
This President’s Day
Let’s remember Gerald Ford
Falling down the stairs.
There should be a sport
Falling on your ass on skates.
I could win the bronze.
Future Imperfect
14
Feb
Note: I’ve been really bad about updating here lately. I’m putting together a recap post for the last 8 weeks, but it won’t go up until next weekend because my focus is on Senior Project being awesome. To tide things over, I’m putting up a few things I’ve written this quarter, two music reviews (Vampire Weekend and Beach House) and the flash fiction I wrote for my science fiction class. Here’s the story.
“Have you used our service before?” the sales representative asked me.
“No” I replied.
“Okay then. Before I go any further I’m going to explain what the process entails,” she said in a chipper practiced tone. I looked at her nametag. Julie.
“What we do here at Future Perfect is take your initial data and with the use of advanced predictive technologies give you alternative timestreams as to how things could go. Once you’ve chosen the outcome you’re looking to find in the situation, we give you a list of steps to take and ensure this future happens. That’s why the screening process to get an appointment here takes so long—we don’t want this kind of information to fall into the wrong hands.”
I nodded. “You wouldn’t want the next potential dictator getting the steps they needed to enslave the Earth.”
“Exactly,” she replied, “Now which of our packages did you choose to go with?”
Future Perfect’s services weren’t cheap at any tier. The basic package cost most of my life’s savings—I couldn’t imagine how much the top plan cost. That analyzed over a hundred potential scenarios of the way things could go. For the basic plan, I only got five.
“The basic plan. It’s all I can afford.”
Julie seemed to understand. “There’s nothing wrong with that. Sometimes I think it’s the best of all the plans we offer—too much choice and you can’t decide. Now what are you looking to do?”
I told her about my goal. I currently worked as a technician on the shuttles running between Earth and Mars, but my goal was to be part of the exploratory missions to planets farther out in the solar system. I had taken the job repairing faulty ships with the hope of advancing or getting some more relevant experience to apply for those sorts of positions, but had mostly been stuck in the same place. Five years later, I needed a plan to change things. Future Perfect’s services were my chance at that.
Julie finished typing into the console. “Okay, I’ve got all of the data entered into the system. It’ll take a few minutes for it to process, run the analytics and determine some options for you. Can I get you something to drink while we wait?”
I took her up on her offer. We talked for a few minutes before the console beeped to indicate that analysis had been completed. Julie took a look at the results. A confused look formed on her face.
“Something’s not right. According to these, you don’t have a future.”
I was taken aback. “What?”
“Sorry, let me rephrase that. I didn’t mean it to sound so hopeless. There’s something wrong with the results—instead of showing the potential ways you could reach your goal, it’s showing that in all five of the possible timestreams, you’re going to die. That can’t be right.”
“Is this a regular occurrence?”
“No, but it has happened before. I’m going to grab someone from IT. I’ll be right back.”
Waiting alone in her office seemed to take forever, but she came back with a technician. He took a look inside the console, but nothing seemed to be amiss with the terminal. He left to go check elsewhere in the office for the problem.
“It’s probably just a fluke in the system. This happens every once in a while—you’d think with all the advancements that keep this place running we could at least keep it online 100% of the time. I’ll refund your money and schedule you for another appointment. Does 3PM tomorrow work for you?”
It didn’t. Another appointment time was set up; I got my refund, and headed back to the main level of the Future Perfect building. As I headed out, I was still thinking over what she said—Julie tried to cover it up, but there was something ominous in her voice when she told me I didn’t have a future. What could she have been trying to hide?
I didn’t see the bus coming until it was too late. So that’s what she meant.
Contra
14
Feb
Vampire Weekend’s self-titled debut exploded on the blogosphere two years ago, with critics either finding its afro-pop meets indie-rock aesthetic amazing or horrible. Two years later, their sophomore album, Contra, should hopefully turn those who weren’t as keen on the first album around to the band’s sound.
The album shows a clear progression from the first album; while the guitar tone and rhythms that defined the band’s first-album sound are still present on the songs (“Cousins” and “Holiday” could easily fit onto the group’s debut), more synth-based rhythms are also present. The group even manages to make Autotune (an overused element in 2009) sound fresh on “California English”.
The group’s experimentation with new sounds doesn’t always pay off—while the electropop influences on “Giving Up the Gun” make the song even better, the muddled, overlayered strings of “I Think UR a Contra” detract from the song’s reflective lyrics. Overall, Contra retains many of the elements that made Vampire Weekend’s first album so unique, it shows a growth and willingness to experiment that indicates a band that has the potential to produce interesting music for years to come. I can’t wait to see what happens next.
Rating:
Imitation of Life
01
Jan
Not that I have a bucket list, but if I did, i could now cross this one off of it: eat fake meat.
Ever since I found out such a thing exists, I’ve been slightly curious as to what a “tofurkey” tastes like. The last time I was home, around Thanksgiving, when shopping at Trader Joe’s with my mom, we passed the larger-than-usual selection of tofurkeys and picked one up. I was joking that we should get one–my mom was adventurous enough to go along with it (and they were only $10 for the entire kit that includes the tofurkey with stuffing and gravy). We didn’t get a chance to make it until Monday. It was an interesting process, to say the least.
Cooking a tofurkey is similar to cooking a regular turkey breast. You put it, along with some potatoes/onion/carrots (for aromatics/flavor) and a baste made from olive oil, sage, and soy sauce into a casserole/roaster and cook it the required length of time. The box shows it sliced thick with sections of stuffing the middle of each piece, but they actually suggest you carve it like a typical turkey, thin shavings on the sides with the stuffing removed later.
I’m not sure what I was initially expecting, but I was prepared for the worst. I’m not a fan of tofu as it usually comes–there’s something creepy about its sterile whiteness and texture that generally doesn’t appeal to me. The tofurkey is actually a mixture of tofu and wheat gluten (seitan) that’s closer to a loaf of bread than the gross assumptions I normally have with tofu. On the other hand, the company’s been in business for a number of years–if the product sucks, no one’s going to buy it.
I think the thing that surprised me most was the fact that the flavor of the tofurkey wasn’t all that bad. I’m not saying it’s good–it’s a little dry and nothing to write home about, really, but had I not known beforehand that what I was eating wasn’t meat, I could’ve easily believed it was (especially with the provided gravy covering the pieces). The other off part is the color–it’s a little too tan/yellow to be truly believed as turkey. Would I get it again? maybe, maybe not. If nothing else, should we encounter some sort of meat-apocalypse where only fake meat products remain, I wouldn’t hesitate to go for the tofurkey.