Sci-fi people: Look at this cool graphic I found

So anyway, I was looking for the album art of Santana's "Caravanserai" (at least I think that was the album) for my music library on Google Images, and this cool sci-fi wallpaper came up:
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It's a little scaled down, but you can click it to view the full-size version. Enjoy!

Why Eat'n Park cookies smile

DISCLAIMER: This post is what many would consider stupid, so unless you're a little strange/geeky/dorky/"out there" like me,I would strongly advise you to stop reading. Or don't, whatever your gut tells you.

Why do Eat'n Park cookies smile? You're eating them, ending their short life, and yet they keep smiling. They smile because although their bodies are being eaten, their souls are going to Cookie Heaven. No, not the bathroom, but a wonderful place beyond Earth, in the "Milky Way". I thought of this last night during a late-night meal with friends and thought I'd blog it. It's probably a good story to share with a little kid or younger sibling the next time you're at an Eat'n Park and they get their smiley cookie. On a side note, their attitude is sort of like the Pizza Planet aliens in Toy Story: "I'm going to a better place". :^)

A super hero draft

It's been a long time, readers, I know. I've meant to post here for a while by now but I've been too distracted and lazy. That ends today. Now, without further ado, here's the post I've had in the back of my head for a few months:

In my daily daydreaming, an interesting thought hit me once. Now, I've never been a very hardcore comic book enthusiast, but this idea intrigued me. It seems like the big two of comic books, DC Comics and Marvel, carry distinct roles within the world of comic book geekery. While DC predominantly carries super heroes with traditional "knight-in-shining-armor" identities such as Superman, Wonder Woman, the Flash, etc., a great deal of the Marvel roster consists of confused, misunderstood protagonists; "anti-heroes" if you will. These include the X-Men, the Incredible Hulk, The Punisher, and to a lesser extent, characters like Spider-Man. However, A distinct anomaly exists within the headlining super heroes of each brand. On the DC side, we have Batman. Unlike his more traditional counterparts such as Wonder Woman and Superman, Batman is a vigilante of the night, shaken by the death of his parents and determined to take revenge on criminals everywhere. He's a good freak battling legions of bad freaks, much like a great deal of Marvel's heroes. Conversely, we have Captain America. A Marvel character, he's a U.S. Army officer who fights for truth, justice, and the American way. Yes, I know, that's Superman's line, but this helps prove my point. Batman and Captain America are a lot alike: they both have no super powers persay, but make up for it with their intellect, physical ability, and access to technology. However, they each posess the core image traits of the rival comic book label. The Wikipedia article on the "Marvel vs. DC" series made me think of this, but another idea in the same vein recently came to my mind.

With the "Iron Man" movie recently released and "The Dark Knight" on its way out, another hero comparison hit me. Bruce Wayne and Tony Stark are both wealthy industrialists and genius inventors whose lives are changed forever and who dedicate themselves to using their wealth and genius for good. Batman and Iron Man: now there would be one hell of a team-up. It would be possible, too, if only they weren't on rival labels. Furthermore, the comic book anomalies don't end with Batman and Captain America. While DC has Martian Manhunter, a sort of alternative-style superhero a la Marvel, the Fantastic Four are more DC-esque in terms of their valiant image. This led me to the idea of a "super hero draft" between DC and Marvel to shake up the rosters of each one. If this were actually applied then it would destroy nearly a century of continuity in addition to making superheroism look like a team sport, but its an interesting thought, right?

"The Road" by Cormac McCarthy (2006)

The sky is blackened, ashes are spinning in the breeze, and civilization has disappeared. Your Uncle Bob's last barbecue? No. The remnants of Iraq in a couple of years? No. Where the world will be in several decades? Maybe. In his bestselling novel "The Road", Cormac McCarthy shows us a post-apocalyptic future so bleak that it makes the "Mad Max" trilogy look like "The Sound of Music". The survival tale follows a father and son, known only as "the man" and "the boy", across the burnt landscape in a quest for the coast and a warmer climate. Along the way, they have to deal with bone-chilling cold, bands of highway marauders with no shame, constant shortages of food, and little hope. However, the duo somehow manages to carry on through the power of love. From time to time, the father flashes back to the burning end of civilization which brought his Hell on earth to be and to the woman he loved who is no more. One would think you'd give your main characters names, but perhaps McCarthy made them anonymous to remind us that in another world this could be any father and any son. This novel didn't for the most part send chills down my spine or wrench my heart, and the fact that the author uses no quotation marks got kind of annoying, but it was an interesting read nonetheless. I never thought that I'd like anything which was, as it turns out, named an Oprah's Book Club pick, but my math teacher made a good suggestion with this piece.

wallpapers, etc.

Q: What do you get when you combine a snow day with internet access? A: Me wasting time on the computer. Through snow days off of school, rainy days stuck inside, and afternoons with nothing to do, I eventually discovered that I could create image files using Microsoft PowerPoint slides (yeah, I know, mild to moderate computer-nerdism), which led to the fruit of my trivial labors, these wallpapers. I hate to let them collect e-dust, so maybe someone will use them. Enjoy!

The Batmobile Wallpapers

Over the course of digging myself into a wiki-hole one day, I stumbled upon the article on that legendary pimp mobile, the Batmobile. The article included a link to this fan site which included a history of the car in its many incarnations. Upon going through the main chronology, the idea to compile the many Batmobiles into a black wallpaper struck me, leading to these three.

Batmobiles 1
Batmobiles 2
Batmobiles 3

The Sports Wallpapers

Sadly, the only pro sports I watch on a regular basis are football and hockey, but putting logos together into a league wallpaper seemed like an amusing idea, so I took it and ran with it. Rather than leave you wondering "Why is there no NFL wallpaper", I'll explain. I did in fact create a wallpaper of NFL helmets, but I'm saving this for a football season mega-post.

NHL hockey
NBA basketball
MLB baseball

Wait, one more thing!

Windows solitaire is so addictive, it's like a drug. I started opening windows of solitaire while I waited for websites to load, but I get sucked in every time. Know the facts because knowledge is power!

Don't worry readers, it's not abandoned...

Wow, I've just realized it's been 19 days since my last post. However, this doesn't mean that I'm quitting or even that I have nothing to blog about. I'm a procrastinator, plain and simple. I'm kind of like the Radiohead of bloggers: my releases are spread out far apart but when they do come out, they're really good. It feels like the computer is rotting my brain from sheer overuse (of the computer, not my brain), so goodbye for now!