Sorry I've been a bit lax the past few days - been super, super busy! Here's the latest scoop:
The Cake Conference saw Carrot triumphing over Black Forest, and Ice Cream beating the crap out of Spice.
In the Pie Conference, it was an incredibly close race between Cherry and French Silk, with French Silk just taking the win by a few votes. Also, Cheesecake dominated over Brown Sugar (mostly because Cheesecake IS A CAKE, AND CAKE > PIE).
This round we now have Birthday Cake vs. Pound Cake, and Apple Pie vs. Pecan Pie. While I believe Birthday is just going to walk all over Pound, I'm not quite sure who will come out on top among the pies.
I am in such a haze today. Lack of sleep will do that to you. However, it's such a gorgeous day out that I can't help but be in a good mood, regardless of how little sleep I got last night. I have the sliding door that leads to the porch wide open - it's so great to get some fresh air in here. Maybe I'll bring a blanket and go sit out on the porch with a book a little later. That actually sounds kind of awesome.
It's been a busy day so far!
Trying to figure out the best health insurance for our buck (I needs my cray-cray pills!)
Switching to a new cable provider and upgrading to HD (finally - we've had an HDTV for like a year and a half already) and saying hello to HV-DVR and goodbye to Tivo (awww, no more boop-boops)
Getting the POS car in to the shop for repairs, inspection, oil change and whatnot...figuring out how to get it back while the hubby's at work (they were supposed to call me at 12:00pm - it's 2:00pm now!)
It may not seem like a lot, but all the waiting around and being unable to leave the house to do things is kinda driving me up the wall. I have a few other errands I'd like to run, but I can't because I am still car-less. Boo!
Ah, well. At least tomorrow and this weekend will be super fun. It's time for PAX East in Boston! Woo! From their FAQs, PAX East is:
...a three-day game festival for tabletop, videogame, and PC gamers. We call it a festival because in addition to dedicated tournaments and freeplay areas we've got nerdcore concerts, panel discussions, and an exhibitor hall filled with booths displaying the latest from top game publishers and developers. Even with all this amazing content the best part of PAX East is hanging out with other people who know their shit when it comes to games.
Awesomesauce. Say it again with me. Awe-some-sauce.
In addition to all the cool panels and games and swag, I am very excited to see the amazing Wil Wheaton (yes, that Wil Wheaton - Mr. Wesley Crusher of ST:TNG fame, among other things) deliver the keynote speech. You may not know this, but he's actually an amazing writer with a great blog and a number of books under his belt, along with being a great speaker as well.
I also can't wait for the nerdcore concerts!! What is nerdcore?? I'm glad you asked! From Wikipedia, nerdcore hip-hop is:
...is a sub-genre of hip hop music characterized by themes and subject matter considered to be of general interest to nerds, though it can appeal to others as well. Self-described nerdcore musician MC Frontalot coined the term in 2000 in the song "Nerdcore Hiphop". Frontalot, like most nerdcore artists, self-publishes his work and has released much of it for free online. As a niche genre, nerdcore generally holds to the DIY ethic, and has a history of self-publishing and self-production.[1]
Though nerdcore rappers rhyme about anything from politics to science fiction, there are some perennial favorites in nerdcore subject matter, including Star Wars, science, fantasy and computers.
Basically, it's some of the best shit ever. Seriously. If you are at all nerdy, and like hip-hop even a little bit, you will like it. I mean, how can you not? One of the most well known nerdcore rappers is MC Frontalot, who is incredibly talented. His lyrics are incredibly clever, often funny, and always nerdy. He has a really unique voice, and unique style to his rapping - he raps a bit slower in pace to many other rappers, and his flow is always changing along with the lyrics.
In fact, he has a very apropos song entitled "I Hate Your Blog". Here are the lyrics.
Fantastic! Tee hee. Other awesome nerdcore rappers include MC Lars (one of the more popular nerdcore rappers), ytcracker (probably the best technical rapper of my favorites), and k.flay (an awesome chick rapper!). I'll have to make another post one day that expands on these guys, because really, they're all so much fun to listen and rock out to that it would be crime not to get their music out there to more people. Someone remind me to do this later.
In conclusion, huzzah for being a nerd and doing nerdy fun things!!
No surprises from last round - the chips fell as predicted, with Red Velvet's trimpuh over Coconut, and Key Lime kicking the crap out of Sweet Potato. Boring! Hopefully this next round will be more interesting.
In the Cake Conference, we now have Carrot going up against Black Forest.
In the Pie Conference, we have Cherry taking on French Silk.
Hmmm, some interesting choices here. I'm honestly not sure how these are going to play out.
Update: Cherry and French silk are neck-and-neck with only a 96 vote difference between them!! Your votes DO count!! Yes, I get excited by the little things in life.
Lately I've been poring through Netflix searching for random movies to add to my Watch Instantly Queue, mostly searching for fun indie flicks and science fiction "B" movies. Earlier this week I came across "Dakota Skye", which Netflix describes as follows:
Superpowers rarely come without a price, and for 17-year-old Dakota Skye (Eileen Boylan), the price is cynicism that stems from spotting the truth in every lie. Disengaged, she watches life go by from the sidelines … until she meets the unfailingly honest Jonah (Ian Nelson). Problem is, Jonah is her beau's best friend -- which leaves Dakota navigating the treacherous waters between friendship and romance in this well-crafted indie drama.
Sounds intriguing, right? I was expecting it to be a bit fluffy, but it really wasn't. It was quite serious, and quite good. Since I didn't really have any cons about the movie, here are some of my non-spoilery pros:
1. Good acting - could have gone either way given the actors are all playing high-school to college-aged kids, but they all play immature well without actually being immature
2. Along these lines, the characters are all likeable, even when being annoying - it's easy to remember being that age and making stupid choices, so you end up identifying with them without even meaning to
3. Cute story - although mostly predictable, there are one or two times where it can go either way on a plot line, which keeps things interesting even though you know how the movie is going to end
4. The characters pose a few thought-provoking questions to one another that get you thinking outside of the movie
5. The way in which they show Dakota's superpower throughout the movie is well done
The hubby also approved - as it turned it, it was a total date movie and perfect for the two of us.
No major surprises in the outcomes of Round 3. The Cake Conference saw German Chocolate win easily over Funfetti (I think Funfetti was just too boring in comparison), and Wedding Cake's deliciousness beat out that of Pineapple Upside-Down. In Pie, Pumpkin trounced its competition in Lemon Meringue, and Blueberry did the same with Rhubarb. No upsets this week - pretty much went as I suspected it would.
This Round, we have Red Velvet vs. Coconut, and Key Lime vs. Sweet Potato. I predict that both Red Velvet and Key Lime will take home the wins, but we shall see!
In the Cake Conference, we had a very close call with Pound just taking the win from Angel Food, and Coffee wiping the floor with Bundt.
In the Pie Conference, I was saddened to see Pecan kick Banana Cream's ass, but my spirits were lifted when Boston Cream* won over Peanut Butter.
*Now, I'm curious about Boston Cream's inclusion in the Pie Conference. Isn't it really more of a cake? Even its Wikipedia entry says, "A Boston cream pie is a round cake that is split and filled with a custard or cream filling and frosted with chocolate.[1] Although it is called a Boston cream pie, it is in fact a cake, and not a pie.[2]" So, although I am firmly entrenched in Team Cake, I will state now that if Boston Cream Pie takes the overall win, I will not be disappointed or upset.
Anyways, in Round 3, we have the following battles:
In Cake: German Chocolate vs. Funfetti, and Wedding vs. Pineapple Upside-Down.
In Pie: Pumpkin vs. Lemon Meringue, and Blueberry vs. Rhubarb.
