Jake Gyllenhaal/Yillin-hoolah-hey

Okay, so last time I featured him he was in that Vampire Weekend video and while I was pro-Jake cameo, I was meh on the rest of the video.

But this is just pure fun/adorableness!

[From Jezebel]

[P.S. How sad is it on a scale from 1 to pathetic that I spelled his name right on the first try? To be fair, I'm also a fan of his sister, Maggie Gyllenhaal.]

Frak it Friday: Banksy Grafitti spotted in Boston

Last time I talked about Banksy I was pretty harsh about his selling a book of his pieces called Wall and Piece. I've gone back to admiring his pieces of grafitti. Some was spotted in San Francisco and more recently, in Boston (above picture).

I haven't seen any in person, so now I'm hoping one or two will pop up in DC. Here's hoping.

This blog does not have an existential crisis

I was walking to the metro after work today and thinking about the purpose of me keeping this blog. After all, when I started I was underemployed with a lot of time on my hands. Two, three posts a day!

Now, I'm lucky to get one in a week. But even with the tiny output, this blog still helps me think critically. Reading, I'm on constant lookout for a good quotation. I'm always listening or on the lookout for a good video. A good soundbite. Interesting advertisements. Or formulating general angst. Even if I don't post about it.

I'm also equipped for Adsense on this blog, and now am an Amazon Associate. Am I going to make money? No. Over the past two and a half years, I am a tenth of the way on Google Adsense to making enough to actually have a check. It doesn't hurt to try, no? Plus, its supposed to be super easy to use the Amazon Associates, which will be nice sense I almost have posted on several books and gave up when I couldn't find a decent picture of the book. (Also, I assume that Google is making money, however little, off of being able to put ads on my site. Especially if they don't have to pay me.)

So this blog continues to exist. I want to post more.

Anti Sarah Palin Advertisements at the Silver Spring Metro

I work in Silver Spring and commute there pretty much every day. I work across the street from the Discovery Communication building, so this is pretty much a dig at them as well as Sarah Palin.

They were put up by the Defenders of Wildlife. They're attempting to get people to sign an online petition to keep her show off the Discovery Network.



I definitely think that while its a great idea to make all these different, how many people are going to walk around to each one to see the different messages?













[I do realize that I've had a NO SARAH PALIN rule for a while but I haven't written about her since last December. Once every six months isn't bad, especially since I passed up an opportunity to comment on Tina Fey as Sarah Palin on Saturday Night Live a little while ago.]

Stephen King's IT (continued)

So since Thursday I've gotten a handle on why Stephen King is so great. Or maybe just an example of why he is so great. Whatever. Its nearly the same.

In IT, there are pretty much seven main characters. And I don't know about you, but sometimes, even when watching a movie, seven main characters are a little hard to get a handle on. But Stephen King is able to handle this pretty masterfully.

They're all kids, which might complicate the matter, but he gives each one trait that makes them stand out from the other kids. For example:

1. Beverly is the only girl
2. Eddie has asthma
3. Ben is extremely overweight
4. Bill stutters
5. Richie does impressions
6. Mike is the only black kid
7. Stan is the only Jewish kid

Bill and Richie are pretty easy, because you can tell by their speech who they are. Its an excellent marker. Beverly is easy, since all her descriptions are listed with "she". Ben gets a lot of descriptions of his pudgy belly. Eddie is constantly pulling out his aspirator. Which leaves Mike and Stan.

With Mike and Stan, its as though they know there must be something different about them, because they get treated so differently by people all the time. Stan isn't sure what his Jewish identity means. And Mike knows he gets treated differently and is constantly on his guard. The kids joke a lot about Stan being different, mostly because of the tension between him having to be different than them because he's Jewish, and the fact that he's not different at all. With Mike, there's less joking, but they accept him as one of their own against the fight of IT. They almost need Mike more, because before they were six, and they needed seven.

I'm still in awe how good the book was.

[Side note: its the 35th book I've finished this year!]

Stephen King's It

I've been feeling like I've been in between things lately, and part of its the fault of the book above. Its long (1000 plus pages) and a freaking epic.

But I like it. It makes me have nightmares, but I gotta say, Stephen King is where it is at.

Octupus: Beautifully Creepy

They're my new fave, and there's one down at the National Zoo! Maybe sometime soon I'll walk down and take a peek at it.