White Bread

First off, the photo blog is gone. It was just a terribly inefficient way of hosting/storing pictures and I'm investigating other means (either flickr or Google's PicasaWeb) - so don't worry, I'll have pictures online in a while. Of course, I'd rather just pay for some decent webhosting and load Gallery on it.

Alright, it's been a while since any non-World Cup material's been posted here - time to get down to business. I've got lots of junk to talk about.

The other night I couldn't fall asleep, so I ended up watching a rerun of the Food Network Las Vegas Pastry Battle. Essentially the tournament was 8 confectioners who had 7 hours to create gigantic sculptures out of sugar and sugar alone. I was pretty amazed by the things these guys (and gals) created. Interesting career.

MCAT scores are in, and I did pretty well. Unless you post a 45, you always have those small nags "I could've done better" and I'm no exception. Getting into a med school will be no walk in the park - it's gonna take work - but I don't see matriculation as an insurmountable goal. I'll get in. It's just going to take the usual - hard work, a little good fortune, and a strong showing during interviews.

The list of med schools I applied to are finalized, as I sent off my AMCAS last week. The contenders are Tulane University (New Orleans), Emory University (Atlanta), University of Chicago, University of Southern California (LA), Wake Forest University (Winston-Salem, NC), Florida State University (here), University of Florida (Gainesville), University of South Florida (Tampa), and the University of Miami (FL). All I need is to get into one. I'd be happy with any of them, and I think it's a good list of schools.

Lately I've been running Ubuntu 5.10 on the laptop (as Ubuntu 6.06 did not play nicely with any of the 3 wireless adapters I had around the house). Great stuff. I can see myself migrating away from Windows if the need ever arises (Vista/DRM hell) but there's still a few apps that I really prefer in the Windows world. On the other hand, I would love to see Amarok, a Linux-based audio jukebox that I personally think destroys iTunes, ported to Windows - but that apparently isn't going to happen any time soon according to the developers. If only I could code well enough...

My latest strike of nerddom has been total infatuation with the DC Animated Universe and the Marvel Animated Universe. The DCAU and MAU are just the continuity of all the two companies' animated series. The DCAU started with Batman: The Animated Series and also includes Superman, Justice League (Unlimited), Batman Beyond, Static Shock, and the Zeta Project. MAU was bigger in the 90s, with X-Men, Spider-Man, Avengers, Hulk, Iron Man, and a couple others. I've managed to get ahold of most of the episodes and am geeking out watching them all. I never could afford comic books growing up, so consider this making up for lost time.

I honestly think that "Batman: The Animated Series" might be my favorite TV show of all time. I don't care how nerdy that sounds.

Oh, and while watching these shows, since I didn't read comics growing up I find myself having to look up characters and their backstories, and I swear that Wikipedia is THE goldmine for such comics information. I love that site.

I've been playing a lot of golf recently. Unfortunately Dad and I always seem to decide to play golf some time in the afternoon and end up playing during the hottest part of the day. Golf in 97 degrees is fun, but exhausting.

I haven't worn a pair of Nike shoes in forever (except for my crappy $15 Nike sandals) but I have to admit that I'm a bit intrigued by the Nike+iPod setup. For those in the dark, Nike and Apple announced a product that integrates Apple's iPod Nano with Nike shoes. The Nano has an attachment plugged into it that wirelessly interfaces with a sensor in the toe of the Nike shoe, and the Nano supposedly keeps track of your running. I'll need to see it in action before dropping the change, after all, a new pair of New Balances and a fancy podometer are still cheaper. At least I need new shoes anyway.

Whirlwind movie review!
Cars: I loved it. Sure it's just Doc Hollywood with Cars, but it was a good story, told well, and honestly done better than Doc Hollywood anyway. The end credits were pure genius.
X-3: Decent. I prefer more Juggernaut. He's my favorite (Marvel) villain.
The Breakup: Had some great one-liners. If you're a girl you'll hate the ending.
Superman Returns: A big long, but good. Would've been better with AC in the theater. (Grr!)

Movies I need to still see: Art School Confidential, Inside Man, Nacho Libre

Music!
Billy Talent II: Not quite the first album, but still a very good album. It grows on me with each playthrough. I give it love.
AFI's Decemberunderground: What happened? Sing the Sorrow was so good! This album is hopelessly bland. There's some bright points here and there, but overall, Bland City.

After listening to their split with Iron and Wine last year, I really wanted to get into the band Calexico. I listened to their new release, Garden Ruin, and was honestly not all that pleased with it. Only then did I learn that the one album I pick to start listening to them with is self-described by the band as "a departure from our norm". Two hours and one Soulseek session later, I had a few of their older albums, most notably 2003's "Feast of Wire". Wow. Now this is what I've been looking for in an album for a while, since last year's top albums. I'm going to listen to it a bit more, then I'll more than likely have to go back and edit 2003's top albums list. It's that good.

My latest obsession has been Donkey Konga 2 on the Gamecube. Maybe it's because I have some terrible addiction to crazy video game controllers. Maybe it's because the game is just terrifyingly addictive. Either way, I love it. That, and playing The Typing of the Dead on my Dreamcast with the keyboard and mouse I bought a month or two back. Again, crazy controllers. I'm going to need a very large closet and a very tolerant wife someday with all the video game junk I've got. I mean, the Virtual Boy has to go somewhere, right?

Before the Cup kicked off, I had to familiarize myself with the teams in World Cup 2006 for the Xbox. The game mechanics weren't stellar, but my real gripe is with the AI. It didn't take long on any difficulty level before I swas stomping the CPU to bits. Oh well.

How nobody had introduced me to the wonderfulness that is USA's "The 4400" is beyond me. Only since I started Tivoing "Monk" and seeing the ads for the show did I get interested. So I downloaded the first two seasons, and to my shock, watched them all in under 48 hours. The show is incredible.

Somebody asked what sites I visit everyday. Here goes: Fark, Slashdot, Digg, Lifehacker, BoingBoing, Memepool, del.icio.us, SomethingAwful, 4ColorRebellion, Kotaku, Joystiq, ESPN, BensBargains, X-Entertainment, Penny Arcade, Make, HackADay, Instructables, Engadget, Woot. My friend Google can provide links, as I'm too tired/lazy to do so now.