Mi Llama Russell

Say it from the heart – Say it with a llama. If only I could be the one to come up with sites like these…

The Art of Ping-Pong

Whoever said kung-fu should onle be used for for self-defense was a fool. Check out Bruce Lee tearing up a ping-pong game using only a pair of nun-chuks. If this doesn’t make you a bad-ass I don’t know what does.

Praise the Lord!

No need for words here. Just watch. And try not to pee on yourself.

Get Some Nuts

I love Mr. T. It all started when I was a bright-eyed grade school student and saw B.A. Barracus driving around that pimped-out van with the A-Team. I later saw Rocky and thought that Mr. T was awesome. I was right. I really enjoy his positive attitude and outlook on life. In a day where good people and role models are hard to come by, he is one of a kind. That’s my opinion and why I like him.

Having said that, I present you with a Snickers advertisement that Mr. T did that aired overseas. (Mainly Australia, I think.) This ad has been called homophobic, immoral and several other fun words. What do you think? I know Mr. T didn’t write any of this – but should he have known better? Does it offend you? Is it innappropriate?

New Skin

Sweet skins for your electronic devices!

I found a really cool site the other day I want to tell everyone about  – GelaSkins. They sell artist-designed removable skins for laptops, cellphones (iPhones and RAZR’s), iPods, Sony PSP’s, Nintendo DS’s and more. While these things can get a little pricey, they quality and look are awesome. Again, these are artist designed. You want ‘Starry, Starry Night’ to cover your laptop? Done.

They have a ton of modern art from up and coming artists in several mediums – modern, digital, even tattoo artist. They also have some of the classics for you to choose from – Monet, M.C. Escher, Munch and Van Gogh. This is a really sweet way to spruce up an otherwise visually boring device. I’m trying to decide on what to get for my new laptop I just ordered.

Since I mentioned my new laptop (which I got from TigerDirect), let me give everyone who’s not an uber-geek like me a tip. Go to the two big Internet dealers for computer parts, Tiger Direct and NewEgg, and take a look around. These are great technology companies that buy and sell in bulk so you can get GREAT prices. Plus, in most states there’s no tax. (I feel obligated to point out that when filling out your state taxes they DO ask you to list all Internet purchases so you can be taxed on them at that point. Just covering my bases here.)

My new laptop - I am SO stoked!

I got my laptop, a Gateway M-1625 for less than $500. It runs Windows Vista Home Premium  with an AMD Turion™ 64 X2 Dual-Core 2.0GHz processor, 2GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM memory, and a 250GB 5400RPM SATA hard drive. For the geeks out there it also boasts an 8X multi-format dual layer DVDRW with DVD-RAM and Labelflash™ drive, WXGA (1280 x 800) TFT display, 802.11g wireless LAN, a 1.3-megapixel webcam, 5-in-1 memory card reader, three USB 2.0 ports, and a HDMI connector.

Why so cheap? It’s a refurbished computer. That means that it is still under warranty and the internal workings of the CPU are fine. Someone simply mailed it back due to a cosmetic flaw. That knocked $250 off of the retail price. There are bargains out there. Tiger Direct sells Gateway’s refurbs, Dell sells there own at the Dell Outlet, and Compaq and HP are on NewEgg and Tiger Direct. Take a look around the sites, there are a ton of good deals to be had. We all need them in a timed where our dollar gets less and less.

So give me a shout and let me know if you find any great deals or if you can help me decide which GelaSkin to get!

I’m a Twit…terer

What Are You Doing?

Let’s continue with our discussion about Web 2.0 sites. Hopefully someone found our last site – Picasa – to be useful and/or helpful. The service I’m going to talk about today is Twitter. Twitter is a micro-blogging service that ask What Are You Doing?  “What the hell is micro-blogging,” you ask? Micro-Blogging is essentially a miniature blog. You can write little updates about whatever you want and send them out to people who choose to “follow” you. “Following” allows you to see whenever the people you select have posted updates. Of course, people who follow you will see your updates.

That's Twitteriffic!

You can really get some cool implementation into various technologies to keep up with updates as well. You can set all the people you follow or just particular folks to send updates to your cell phone. In fact, you can write and post your own updates via cell phone if you’re so inclined. I have a Twitter application for the iPhone called Twiterrific and one called Twinkle that are both great. No iPhone? You can download one of my favorites called TwitterFox. It’s an addon for Mozilla Firefox that will show updates as people post them in your Firefox Window. OF course, for all the holdouts out there who are still using Internet Explorer, there are a quite a few desktop application for software – there’s a nice list here. Sociagami seems like a really nice one, although I have no personal experience with it. I like the idea of getting all MySpace, FaceBook and Twitter updates in the same place. I might give it a go tonight!

Twitter is not without it’s problems and critics – at times it can be less than perfect. Check out this blog post from Dom Ramsey to hear his take on why Twitter sucks – or just google Twitter Sucks The service essentially grew more quickly than anticipated and at times is unable to bear the weight of all its users. This results in an annoying message about overcapacity or some such garbage. Honestly, it’s hard to tell if Twitter is working diligently to fix this problem – but it IS a free service. So I keep my complaints to a minimum.

This is what the mian page of Twitter looks like

So why use it? I actually was thinking about a friend of mine when I decided to write this post. He’s deployed for 6 months and is away from his family – while nothing can replace a phone call, this is something he could use so his wife and kids could see little updates about what he’s doing. “At the market with a few friends,” “Recording a video to send you,” etc, etc. It’s also a cool way to send neat links to web pages, pictures or whatever you want or find interesting to friends, family and whoever follows you. The key to Twitter is getting more and more people you know to use it – the fun just grows exponentially! Twitter is a service I can’t imagine trying to live without. Give it a chance and I think you’ll feel the same way.

Mr. President

A really wild and cary look at the life of George W. Bush and how he got to be in the White House. I can’t believe Oliver Stone has done this while W’s still in office – that just takes gigantic balls.

Happy Feet

One of my best friends zipped me a copy of a video today that has just blown my mind. This video is simply called Dancing – and it follows a guy named Matt Harding as he travels the globe and does just that – dances. Matt dances with everyone, everywhere – from Zulu Warriors to folks in New York and from the Red Light Districts of Vietnam to zero gravity. My friend, who is a film editor, sent it to me to point out the beauty in the simplicity. While that’s true there is just so much more to this video than the technical aspects. This is one of the most moving and beautiful things I’ve ever see. I’m not a super emotional man, but I was moved to tears of joy while I watched this. And not just the first time I saw it.

This video is really all about the shared experiences that we (human beings) have. It’s about the commonalities that make us people. Despite language, location and the myriad differences we have – there are more basic and inherent feelings and experiences shared between us. From now on if I get down about terrorists in the news, or wars, or any of the day-to-day crap that we are fed by our news outlets, all I have to do is turn on this video to remember that people are basically all the same.

And I’m really jealous. I have done a good bit of traveling in my day – more than 30 countries. But this just relight my fire – it’s time for me to get back out there. If you’ve never left the U.S., just go and do it! I know I will. Asia and Australia are still on my to-do list.

Thanks so much to my good friend Nathan for showing me this. If you want to follow Matt Harding – he’s a really interesting guy with some cool looking future projects – check him out here.

It’s Been A While

Home to an endangered specie of flea

To be completely honest with you, I don’t obsess too much about people’s personal hygiene habits. As long as I can’t smell you and I can’t see you, I don’t really care.

Don’t get me wrong here – I support bathing and flossing and washing your clothes and pretty much that whole regiment of making yourself presentable. If the Air Force taught me anything it was that cleansliness is important, especially when there are 80 guys living in a dorm together.

Having said that though, I realize the homeless struggle with these neccesities because, obviously, they are homeless. I mean, they charge folks to bathe at the truck stop or to get a room at the YMCA even. If I saw this poor soul, or if anyone else does – give him/her/it a few bucks to get a quick shower…and haircut. (Alright, maybe more than a few bucks to get someone to cut these dreads!)

Just an Old Sweet Song

So I’m in Atlanta for the next few days working on a new web project that I think has a ton of potential. I’ve been on camera tonight making a huge fool of myself, which I’m sure everyone (except me) will laught at one day soon. I’d tell you more about it, but I’m not allowed to disclose much about what we’re up too until it launches. Also they haven’t told me everything about it….so I don’t even know all the ins and outs. I guess it’s one of those ‘need to know basis’ things – and I don’t need to know.

Anyway, I hope it all plays out like I want it to, and maybe I’ll end up here in Atlanta for good. I could use the change. It’s always good to shake things up a little bit and get reinvigorated about life. That sounds like what I need. That or a chuckabowkoo – def. a swift spiritual kick to the head that alters one’s reality forever. (Courtesy of John Cusak in Gross Pointe Blank.)

So that’s where it stands at this moment. I’ll be filming more in the morning, so I’ll see if I can get a clip or a screenshot or something to send across for everyone to check out. Until then, take it easy!