Thursday, December 31, 2009

Loss of Innocence: Porn a Top Search Term for 7 and Under Kids

So personally I find this terrifying.  While most of these results do make sense, and kids definitely have a right to wonder about sex and such, kids this young shouldn't be searching for porn.  See the results below:



While most of the results make sense, and it's perfectly legit for sex to be on that list, it is quite scary that porn is the number 4 search term for seven and under.

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Kara's Cupcakes: Not As Good As They Claim


So I went over to the city (SF) with my friend Shannon on Sunday to get cupcakes from That Takes the Cake with the coupons we got from TownHog last week.  Unfortunately, That Takes the Cake is technologically challenged and did not post that they were taking a holiday break on their website or on their answering machine.  So I found myself stranded in the city with Shannon and a cupcake craving.

So I pulled out my standard solution for when I'm craving sweets in San Francisco: get an Espresso Escape Sunday from Ghirardelli Square.  So we drove over and found prime parking just off the corner.  We thought we had it all good, until we got to the restaurant and saw an enormous line: clearly someone wanted to keep us form enjoying our sweets.

We got back in the car, and Shannon suggested we try somewhere else, so we looked up Kara's Cupcakes: the number one cupcake bakery in San Francisco.  I figure if it's number one it must be really good.  Turns out they had a location in Ghirardelli square.  Clearly the stars were aligned.

We got out of the car, walked over and walked into the bakery.  It smelled so good.  I looked at all the options.  Unfortunately they didn't have a Red Velvet cupcake (which I was really craving).  However they had a Java cupcake: a chocolate cupcake with coffee flavored buttercream frosting.  I figured I love coffee flavors, this is the coffee cupcake, must be good.

Boy was a disappointed.  While the cupcake itself was pretty moist and tasty, it really wasn't all that special.  It tasted like the standard Ghirardelli cupcake/cake mix.  Nothing ultra special.  The frosting on the other hand was terrible.  When I get something coffee flavored, I want it to be coffee FLAVORED. This frosting was more like the "essence of coffee" or buttercream with a "hint of coffee flavor."  It was goddamn awful.  Well it didn't taste bad, it just wasn't really good.  I personally think my coffee frosting made with instant coffee, butter, and Kahlua is significantly better.

The chocolate covered coffee bean is a nice touch.  Unfortunately, the ones from Trader Joe's are much better.

Overall, I didn't think the cupcake from Kara's Cupcakes wasn't worth worth the $3.25 I spent on it.  In fact, I would never buy another one of these cupcakes because they're not that good.  I really don't see why anyone would buy a cupcake from Kara's.  I think it's more of of a tourist attraction; there must be much better cupcakes out there.

Hopefully the cupcakes from That Takes the Cake will be significantly better.  They definitely look amazing!

Sunday, December 27, 2009

A Shitty Twist ... Make That Just Slow

A really long time ago (like multiple years), I remember reading in Datebook (the entertainment section of the SF Chronicle), this was during the phase between the Datebook being the pink section both times.  Anyways, back to business.  So one Saturday (or Sunday or whatever morning), and I was reading reviews of upcoming movies, or recently released movies, or new to DVD movies or something, and this one review caught my eye.
So anyways, the film is called Twist, it's a modern day version of Oliver Twist set in Toronto with gay hustlers.  It seemed like it could be some fun to watch since the leads: Nick Stahl (Dodge) and Joshua Close (Oliver) are both extremely attractive.  Sadly this was not the case.  Maybe it's just that I didn't click to well with the characters, though I felt like I did, but I honestly didn't think the movie was that great at all.  I felt like it was merely okay and that just doesn't cut it for me.
If you have any plans to watch this film, I recommend against it.  It had great potential, just didn't meet my expectations and hopes.

I change my mind, I liked it a bunch, it was just a tad too slow for my taste.

Saturday, December 26, 2009

Lip Dub Competitions: Who Said Lip Dubbing Was Done and Over?

So we all remember those Lip Dub videos that were big a few years back. If you don't, you should cuz they were actually pretty cool. The fad came and the fad went and we saw some pretty good videos.  For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, people would generally make a music video of lip-syncing. The catch was a pretty big one: the entire video had to be one shot with no cutting in the middle.

Overall we saw some pretty cool videos come out of this.  However lately the fad has come back, as a competition.  Check out the following two videos and read what I have to say about it afterwards.

Shorecrest High  with Outkast's, "Hey Ya."



Rival school Shorewood High responds with "You Make My Dreams."


Personally I think both videos are pretty damn awesome.  Designing any video this long with choreography that goes through a school and has people lip-syncing is difficult in itself.  Shorewood however definitely wins the prize: teaching everyone how to lip-sync backwards is just OUTRAGEOUS.  Whoever taught them how to dub backwards has talent, that must be really tough.

I wonder what will happen in a few years.

Thursday, December 24, 2009

Love and Other Disasters: Quite Fun

Love and Other DisastersSo a while back I was looking for a fun movie on Netflix's Watch Instantly, and I found the aforementioned movie: Love and Other Disasters. It was honestly much better than I expected. Staring Brittany Murphy and Matthew Rhys as Emily 'Jacks' Jackson and Peter Simons. Peter's a writer, trying to make his big break. Emily works in fashion, and is still sleeping around with her x-boyfriend James plaid by Elliot Cowan. At work one day she meets Paolo played by Santiago Cabrera, who she mistakenly believes is a gay photographer (he's actually straight).

She decides to set him up with her best friend Peter. She doesn't realize Paolo actually has a thing for her. This movie is surprisingly entertaining, taking place in England (think lots of hot British accents). This movie packs some nice quirky humor, a fun plot, and some very surprising writing. I enjoyed the hour and a half I spent watching it, and I think you will too.

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Why Can't Growl Actually Work?


So there's this great application for the Mac called Growl.  In my opinion this is a must have for all mac users.  It adds great functionality to nearly all applications either through built-in support or through outside plugins and applications.  Growl itself mimics the built in feature of outlook to pop a notification (on the right I believe) when an email is received through Microsoft Exchange email.  The difference is that this service works for EVERYTHING you can think of.

Pretty much every application out there has a plugin of some sort to function with growl.  For fb it can tell you when someone writes on your wall or sends you a message or whatever, for gmail it tells you when you receive an email.  With iChat or Adium, when someone IM's you and when someone signs online.  There's a plugin for iTunes to display a popup with the song info when you're playing a new song.

Essentially Growl is really handy for notifications.  However, unfortunately, it isn't perfect.  Growl freezes constantly for me (sometimes every hour, and when this happens it hogs my computer's CPU).  This is a major problem.

While I do love Growl, I wish it worked better so that I could actually rely on it successfully.

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

The Final Destination: Same Old Fun


In the fourth (and seemingly final) installment of the Final Destination franchise, The Final Destination, we have another set of teens and adults who evade death and slowly die afterwards as fate kicks in.  I personally felt like this film was significantly better than the second and third, but not as good as the first film.

Beware of spoiler alerts: they are prevalent in this post (for all 4 films).

The first film had very good actors, and a surprisingly good plot-line.  The second film had an interesting twist: death was finishing up its work.  In the second film, everyone had missed an incident in which they were destined to be killed (such as staying in a hotel where everyone died) because of someone being killed by fate in the first film (in this case the girl being run over by the bus).  Everyone started dying backwards, and it was essentially fate finishing up all of its lose ends.

All films do sport very realistic catastrophes: the pride on our biggest fears, and that's why they work so well.  In the first film: a plane crash; there's plenty of these every year.  In the second, film we have a crazy car pile up, and in the third, a roller coaster derails.  Of all the catastrophes, I think the one in this movie with the most "over-the-top" catastrophe: a nascar crash that kills most of the audience.

The biggest difference is that it seems as though the protagonist may die while saving some of the other characters.  And he has a flash-forward in the middle of the movie.  Other than that, it seems as though this film follows a regular, fun, crazy and bloody routine.

Monday, December 21, 2009

Yummy Yummy Cupcakes (from TownHog)


So I recently found this awesome new company: TownHog, a new startup over in SF (that's San Francisco for those of you not from the Bay Area).  It's a pretty cool company with an awesome concept so I figured I would write about it for anyone from the Bay Area.  All you gotta do is sign up for emails at TownHog.com.

A couple times a week you'll get an email with some great deal.  The savings are guaranteed to be at least 50% off!  Anyways, this weekend's deal is awesome, so I wanted to share it with all of you.  You can get $18 worth of Cupcakes from That Takes the Cake in San Francisco for only $9.  While I haven't actually tried the cupcakes, I've heard great things about them from coworkers back at one of my old jobs (Jeff Malmuth and Company), and I strongly recommend you take part in this deal if you like sweets.

To take advantage of this deal (or this week's deal if it has changed), click here.

Enjoy the cupcakes, I know I will!

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Brittany Murphy Dead ?!?!?!

Holy shit!  Reports came in this morning that Brittany Murphy, age 32, known for her amazing performance in Clueless, and Don't Say a Word died of cardiac arrest this morning.

911 received a call at 8am PST from the home she shared with her husband, Simon Monjack in LA.  She was pronounced dead upon arrival when she arrived at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

The story is still progressing; more information will be posted as it is known.

She will be missed.

Saturday, December 19, 2009

Caffeine: Your Mac Needs Some Too



So pretty much all of us watch TV and movies on our computer or make presentations in front of large groups using a projector.  It's happened to all of us: your computer goes to sleep at precisely the wrong moment and screws everything up.

That's why you use caffeine.  It's a small application that essentially consists of a cup of coffee on the menu bar.  You click it, and your computer won't go to sleep.  Click it again and you turn it off.

The application even has a couple cool ways to customize how your computer goes to sleep so that it's perfect.

With caffeine, you'll never have your computer go to sleep at the wrong time.

Friday, December 18, 2009

He Wolf: A Perfect Rendition

So I guess Tim wins again for providing one of the coolest videos I've seen this week.  Check out this video made to She Wolf.  It's pretty much identical which is pretty damn awesome.

No further comment is really necessary.  Enjoy though.

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Lady Gaga's Christmas Mix

So my friend Tim sent me this video.  I think it's hilarious, and decided to share it onward.  Watch the whole thing for the funny Taylor Swift part.
No further comment is really necessary.  Enjoy!

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

2012: Better Than Expected


So I decided last night to watch 2012.  I had seen a bunch of previews for it, and although none of my friends had wanted to see it, it still seemed like a lot of fun, and I decided it would be a blast to watch.

So I searched for it online and finally found it here (in case you want to watch it).  Keep in mind I don't guarantee how long the movie will be available on that site.  Anyways, I really liked that movie.

While it was obviously just a crazy mega (151-minute) action film, it was a fun one and I enjoyed watching it.  There are some fairly impressive special effects, even when I'm watching it in a 5 inch square on my computer.  The plot itself is surprising.  While obviously some things were expected and did make sense and were implied in the trailer, I did not expect there to be as much colossal damage (even after movies such as Independence Day and The Day After Tomorrow).

The actors were also surprisingly good.  I particularly liked the Russian family.  I won't say much more because I would start ruining the movie and throwing out spoiler alerts if I did.  But if you have 2.5 hours or so one afternoon, watch 2012.

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Glee: My Latest Distraction


So I guess I lied a little.  I know I promised that I would be ultra active over winter break on my blog.  Then I posted an announcement, then a short post about a concert with a promise I would post pictures.  I then was totally lame and skipped a day.  So I guess now I'm apologizing and writing a more real post.

I did have a great excuse for why I was absent.  I got hooked on Glee.  I really don't know why, since I can't explain what I like about the show very well.  The plot itself isn't that amazing.  (Spoiler alert for the rest of the post)  It centers around a group of teenagers, some popular some losers, who are all part of a Glee club.  Like all teen comedy/dramas, everyone has crushes on everyone and has slept with someone else.  There's the token everything, and the show is extremely stereotypical.

There's a pregnant cheerleader who lies about the father.  But the drama isn't only in the students.  The guidance councilor is in love with the spanish teacher.  The football coach on the other hand is in love with the guidance councilor.  The principal suffers from the budget cut flu and is over-obsessed with saving money in any way possible.  His loyalties mistakenly lie with the Cheereos coach, Sue Sylvester.

Jane Lynch is simply brilliant in the show.  She is a vindictive crazy-woman who is hell bent on making sure the school's Glee club falls apart and things go back to how they once were.  Personally, I think  she's beyond hilarious, and I think the show would not be nearly as good without her or her character.

I strongly recommend everyone check this show out.  I caught up in one day, and I absolutely loved it.

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Lady Gaga Concert Tonight!

So I figured I should proclaim my excitement for the Lady Gaga concert tonight.

I'll post as many pictures and videos and such (if I can actually take any) tomorrow or tuesday.

Until then, I leave you with the following two songs: a crazy Gaga Remix and a Trevor Simpson mix of Just Dance:





Saturday, December 12, 2009

What's Your Mac Missing?

So after a bunch of people have asked me what apps they should get for their (usually new) macs and such, I decided I should probably start actually recording this information rather than just tell everyone verbally.  That way I don't have to keep telling everyone the same information and I can avoid forgetting awesome apps.

Therefore I'm gonna be starting a new line of posts with the label "Mac Must Have" signifying it's an awesome app you should probably set up for your application.  I'll also comment Mac related informational posts with this tag when relevant (such as a post on how to get your google voice number ringing on your mac).

So here's the important aspect:
Click here to see all posts on this topic.

Coming up: Caffeine.

Friday, December 11, 2009

A New Home!

So I realized that I never formally introduced our new blog.  Life of the Mind = Death of the Soul has a brand new home!  It is most unsurprisingly http://www.lifeofthemindequalsdeathofthesoul.com/.  You should all check it out and spread the word.  Since I'm now on winter break, I plan on blogging significantly more often.  Hopefully Sylvia will too.

I still wanna make a nice logo for the blog.  Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

P.S.  I'm home!
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