In honor, anticipation, and fear of desperate loathing for next week’s release of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, here are some of the film’s stars in what could quite possibly be the best robot song ever…
Vodpod videos no longer available.
Well, maybe that’s the second best. You be the judge.
(There are more tags than words in this post. Hee hee!)
Sure… during my month of not boozing, I might have woke up each morning with an extra bounce in my step, but at work, more mistakes were made and more things were forgotten. Yeah, it’s possible I slept better or longer (courtesy of passing out) during the many sauced months that came before, or that the heaped upon hours I spent in front of the boob tube boobed out my noggin and rendered my work performance lackluster.
So I started to wonder… maybe I’m smarter under the influence. I do play a lot of trivia at the bar, and maybe that’s like running with ankle-weights for my brain. Research ensued and I discovered this headline:
Whuuuuhhh?!
Dost thine eyes deceive, um, me?
From the BBC article:
Mice fed moderate quantities of alcohol grew extra brain cells, but also showed a preference for alcohol over water.
Lead researcher Professor Stefan Brene said: “We believe that the increased production of new nerve cells during moderate alcohol consumption can be important for the development of alcohol addiction and other long-term effects of alcohol on the brain.”
Okay, maybe it doesn’t sound perfectly fantastic – or does it?
Alternatively, the extra cells might help with learning and memory, [Brene] said. Another theory, according to the researchers, is that the tranquilising effect of alcohol triggers the growth. All of the new cells developed normally.
My favorite line:
A spokeswoman from the Campaign for Real Ale said: “It is well known that alcohol in moderation is good for your body so it’s no surprise it’s also good for your mind. “Maybe that is why lots of pub quiz teams are so bright.”
Some other favorite lines… from The Legend of Bagger Vance:
Rannulph Junnah: Now, the question on the table is how drunk is drunk enough? And the answer is that it’s all a matter of brain cells
Hardy Greaves: Brain cells?
Rannulph Junnah: That’s right Hardy. You see every drink of liquor you take kills a thousand brain cells. Now that doesn’t much matter ‘cos we got billions more. And first the sadness cells die so you smile real big. And then the quiet cells go so you just say everything real loud for no reason at all. That’s ok, that’s ok because the stupid cells go next, so everything you say is real smart. And finally, come the memory cells. These are tough sons of bitches to kill.
And then there’s always Cliff Clavin’s take:
Well you see, Norm, it’s like this… A herd of buffalo can only move as fast as the slowest buffalo and when the herd is hunted, it is the slowest and weakest ones at the back that are killed first.
This natural selection is good for the herd as a whole, because the general speed and health of the whole group keeps improving by the regular killing of the weakest members.
In much the same way, the human brain can only operate as fast as the slowest brain cells. Now, as we know, excessive drinking of alcohol kills brain cells. But naturally, it attacks the slowest and weakest brain cells first. In this way, regular consumption of beer eliminates the weaker brain cells, making the brain a faster and more efficient machine.
And that, Norm, is why you always feel smarter after a few beers.
Holy Magnolia cupcakes… New York City rocks! In preparing to tackle the monumental amount of momentous situations that occurred over my weekend in the Big Apple, I thought, “What would be the nerdiest way to unfold such adventures?”
As if it was the Star Wars saga! (I’m not sure if I’ll do the prequels… I’ll probably do the prequels…)
EPISODE IV
A NEW YORK
As we arrived in Newark, NJ (that we being cousin Steve and I), we parked our car in a 24 hour lot, stored our ticket to retrieve said vehicle, and noted that we needed gasoline prior to our journey home.
Realizing we had no idea exactly how we were getting to NYC via the train system (each for our various reasons), we flew by the seat of our pants, as we’re prone to do, and which usually tends to be more expensive.
We walked up some train tracks to find a NJ Transit machine, and luckily, a woman offered to help us the entire way through the process. She almost missed her train, which ended up being our train as well. Guilt-free help!
May not be inspiring to the locals, but to a guy from Detroit: "It's alive!"
Upon arriving at Penn Station (we thought we were heading to the WTC station – we were way off!), I witnessed a monk wearing a baseball hat and an old man in a super pimped-out Little Rascal cart. We reached surface level and my first view was this:
We had attained some sizable pamphlets from underground, and after ripping away all the advertisements, we had all the map that we’d need. We pinned down our location (Madison Square Garden), and our hotel’s location, and we got moving.
On the way, the saw Fuse Network Studios, the Sbarro restaurant that I thought Michael Scott on The Office referred to as “authentic New York cuisine,” and a comic shop that had a Silver Surfer in its window. (We stopped inside because of this, but not much else was going on. This is obviously why they have a Silver Surfer in the window.)
"Look up for power lines." "But I don't see anything." "That's good." (Detroiter inside joke)
Then I had a chance to take this photo up above. When I take things like this, I hope to impress my sis that’s a photog. Eees good, Becks? (Too bad she doesn’t read this blog.)
I think it's so the pigeons can be comfortable.
At my hotel, we had a nice view of the back of buildings, which I still thought was cool. For some reason, there were a bunch of pillows, down below.
Anyhotelincidentals, I have to put the brakes on this post. To quickly wrap up the rest, we walked from our hotel to 30 Rock because of the show (the skating rink is not as big in person). We hit up Broadway and Times Square, and figured out how to take the subway down to the World Trade Center reconstruction. The Statue of Liberty was visible in the distance (has anyone realized her initials are SOL?), and I think we found the area that Will Smith rented jet skis in Hitch (over in the financial district).
Okay, there’s more to come for sure. Stay tuned! (I’m losing my TripleDoubleU connection shortly hence the wrap up… EPISODE IV is not finished.)
Remember this?
Well, actually yesterday was the 18th birthday of the song Voices That Care, and it is quite the time capsule. Made originally to raise money for the Red Cross during Operation Desert Storm, it has now, well, let’s reflect on the highlights:
In my research, I stumbled on this must-see Where Are They Now video. Check it out.
monkeyBLOG monkeyDO 
