Robots

Not a robot.

Well, it's official. Robots can, and will, takeover Earth, enslave all of us emotionally unstable and mentally weak humans, and probably make us live out the rest of our lives studying Jeopardy! questions.

Okay, so maybe it's not that drastic.

BUT SERIOUSLY, have you heard about the computer named Watson on Jeopardy!? (Answer: do you live under a rock?)


I'm not going to go into details, mostly because I only know the very basics, but pretty much, here's the Cliffnotes version:

1) Some scientist somewhere designed a computer to compete on Jeopardy! It's programmed to sift through all the info out there on the internet and come up with answers to pretty much all (natural language!) questions ever.

2) It competed against two of the best (actually, I think it was the two best) Jeopardy! players ever, on three consecutive days.

3) Watson (yes, it's got a name) kicked ass. (AND donated all it's winnings to charity! See, even if they do end up taking over the world, they seem like nice... things)

It's actually pretty cool to read about, and has a lot more interesting details than the quick version I just provided. Read about Watson and his ridiculous intelligence here.

Just remember, robots aren't going to take over the world just yet. Even if they do, don't panic, because remember..

Robots Need Love Too (says Dan Mangan)


Is that Said The Whale in the purple?

Happy Valentine's Day

So, I'm not much one for this holiday, but I feel obligated (no.. "bored." That would be more appropriate) to do something in honor for it. So if you're single, happily in a loving relationship, currently seeing three guys and a girl on the side, lusting over that smokin' singer you saw on TV last week, dealing with a messy breakup, or chatting online for, like, two hours every day (so I guess you could say it's getting pretty serious) with that special someone, here it is:

My top five (highly likely to be cheesy) love songs.

Disclaimer: These songs are mostly based on how nice they are to listen to, and not how romantic they necessarily are. Basically, if someone where to serenade you with any of these, it'd be nice.)

1. I'll Follow You Into The Dark, Death Cab for Cutie

     This is, and always will be, one of my favorite songs, and will top pretty much any song list I would ever make.

2. When You Say Nothing At All, Alison Krauss

    Subtlety is not this songs strong point, but it's nice in a cheesy kind of way.

3. Home, Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros 

    Not your typical love song, but this way my cousin's first dance at her wedding, so it's kind of got those nice romantic connections for me. Also, seriously... how pleased would you be if someone sang this to you. (NOTE: Home by Michael Buble is about the saddest song I have ever heard and makes me want to cry whenever I listen to it. Seriously.)

4. Crash Into Me, Dave Matthews Band

    This song is just... nice. I don't really even know most of the words, but this man's voice is lovely.

5. Your Song, Elton John

    What's a love song list without this super cheesy Sir Elton song? Answer: NOTHING.

Honorable Mention to "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" by Aerosmith, for being the absolute creepiest love song (I think? ish?) ever. EVER.

Worst Song to Be Serenaded With: It Ain't Me Babe, various artists (THIS WOULD BE MAD AWKWARD IF SOMEONE SANG THIS TO YOU, I'M JUST SAYING.)

Part of the Reason I Like Sign Language so much....

Also, why do I find my textbooks so funny? I guess that's what they call "easily amused."

If Rap Gets Jealous (ft. Kirk Hammett), K'Naan

I've seen this guy live. He's pretty rad.

Black Eyed Peas

Not quite peas, but close enough?

So, from what I gather, the general consensus is that the Black Eyed Peas sucked at the Super Bowl this year (along with Christina Aguilera). But let's get real here, I probably could have told you that. I've never been a fan of the Black Eyed Peas, and found them more of an annoyance than a good source of entertainment. Granted, 'I Gotta Feeling,' is a damn good pump-up song, and they have a few other catchy ones (most notably NOT Boom Boom Pow), but really, I've never been a big fan. But after seeing their performance on Sunday, I was reminded of one of their old, old songs, and man was I cheered up when I gave it another listen.

So here it is, my message to the Black Eyed Peas and all their fans: Ya'll are kinda annoying, and there's not really anything unique about you. (However, I did enjoy your dancers at the Super Bowl)

Now here is their only song that I actually genuinely like, from back when those other two guys (you know, not Fergie or Will.I.Am... yeah, the guys only that really die-hard fan and that pretentious guy who thinks he's better than you because of his knowledge about these kinds of facts can name.. THOSE guys) were actually a part of their image. I'm not saying it's awesome, I'm just saying it's better than their other stuff, and I like it... so here goes:

Where is the Love, Black Eyed Peas

 
(Again, I can't figure out formatting, hence the awkward look at the top. Oops!)

Did you know...

Not seen: stuffing tissues in your ears doesn't count.

...That many smart and cool people wear earplugs to clubs?

Thanks Psych100, for teaching me many interesting and important life lessons. I appreciate your subtlety.

 

Also, a cat's main function is to be cuddled, and cats' moving under bedsheets is a good metaphor for how your inner ear works. 

Happy Superbowl Sunday! For all you Green Bay fans out there, party hard tonight. (Why yes, I did google that just now.) For us less sport-enthused people, Glee's starting again tonight! So really, it's win-win for everyone.

I'd forgotten about this song until recently. I'd also forgotten how much I like John Mayer's music. Huh.

Who Says, by John Mayer

Experimental Films

This week in my film studies class, we covered experimental film.

It was even more painful that it sounds.

We watched four experimental films, and another one in tutorial later in the week. WOW. I'm all for expressing yourself, and I even kind of enjoyed the first one (in a "I'd like this in the background at an event, but not necessarily, go out of my way to see it" kind of way) but I dunno, for some reason, these kind of films ooze such an air of pretentiousness, I have trouble taking them seriously. Anyways, that's my very very condensed opinion of them. Call me uncultured, but I'm just sayin'....
Here are the ones we watch if you're interested in checking them out:
1. Ballet Mecanique
2. Un Chien Andalou
3. Meshes of the Afternoon (this one actually really creeped me out for some reason)
4. Watching for the Queen -it was basically impossible to find even a clip of this one, but basically it's a 2 second clip of a crowd, well, watching for the queen. These two seconds are repeated and dragged out over 11 minutes. I'm sure you can pretty much imagine how exciting it was.
5. The Phonebook (Couldn't find anything for this one either. But, it was done in Vancouver and actually have narration. WOW.)


Well that was basically a waste of space. My bad.
Ambling Alp, by Yeasayer (I can't embed the video, but check it out. It's some freaky stuff)


Fin.

Ah-coo

Picture unrelated, but still funny.

So you know what's awkward (at least for me)?

When you're with another person, and it's just the two of you, and they sneeze.

Now this doesn't seem like it'd  be a big deal, but I find this to be one of the most awkward everyday situations I find myself in. Why? Well, there's always that awkward pause after a sneeze where you're expected to say "Bless you." Usually, it's said, they either apologize or say thanks, and you both move on with your unawkward lives.

Cover thy mouth when thee sneezes, fool.

For some reason, I can rarely bring myself to fill the after-sneeze pause with a "Bless you." I know that, historically, it was said in hopes that, ya know, your soul didn't leave your body with the sneeze, but nowadays, if I say it, I picture myself looking something like the guy on the right.

I don't know why this is, because I don't feel weird when other people say it, but I just don't like saying it myself.

Ah, the awkward life of me. So don't feel bad if I seemingly ignore the fact that you just sneezed all over the desk beside me, believe me... I noticed. I'm not being rude, just awkward. We can move on and pretend it never happened. Right? Perfect.
(Also, cover it with something other than your hand, it creeps me out when you attempt to catch your sneeze like that)

Anyways, that's my daily dose of neurotic-ism (is that even applicable in this sense?) for you. Pleasant, right? Here's a song to take the uneasy edge off:

Strawberry, by Adrian Lux


See, the good thing about Facebook is that when people post music on their friends walls, you inadvertently gain access to it as well! Not creepy, right?

Double duty

Wow! Two consecutive posts. Weird. Just wanted to point out, this is how I spend a good portion of my day:

1) Ripping music off YouTube (with that handy link I shared before): about an hour or so.

2) Looking a delicious food, wishing I had a kitchen/any cooking skills other than "boiling water," "making pasta," and "making the best grilled cheese you will ever taste," on foodgawker.com. : More time than I'd like to admit.

3) On a not interesting but related note, studying sociology in the library: four and a half hours.

I KNOW. The exciting life of me. While #2 does make me look like a huge fatty, I will gladly embrace the term if it means I can enjoy that website in peace. (Clearly, res food is getting to me)

See? Yum.

And Yummier.

On a less sad note, I added about 40 new songs to my iTunes today, yay! Here are a few I particularly enjoy:

1) Don't Haunt This Place, by The Rural Alberta Advantage

2) Nothing Like You, by Frightened Rabbit

3) The Great Salt Lake, by Band of Horses

I actually got quite a few songs from each of these bands today. You should probably check them out.