what's happening in NE

SO I'm really sorry I haven't written for so long. I'm treating this as both a blog entry and an e-mail update, as it's never really been anything more. Anyway, I can't make you look at my pictures with commentary in e-mail.
Grad school @ UNL is ridiculous, and it's just supposed to get harder, but there is always time for procrastination (e.g., now). I'm spending most of my time working on intellectual, aptitude, and neuropsychological testing stuff. I'm starting to get a hang of it, but I'm wayyy behind at my work. I'm involved in a bunch of different projects for various people's theses. I have not given appropriate time to my own research, which is nobody's fault but my own.
Spent some time in Orlando on Disney property for a conference (ABCT). Needless to say, it was a wretched place, but it was fun anyway. Got to see some Boston VA friends. Also split first place for the Schizophrenia Special Interest Group poster session (since there were only two in our SIG and they were both from our lab... I'm claiming it anyway).
Gotten to know the first year clinical students pretty well, and they're all fun. Most social time is actually study groups, but I guess that's how it is.
So, to start with the pictures, here's what's happened to me in Nebraska:

driving through flyover states on our way to... a flyover state

From NEBRASKA

Laura's momma visits and helps us move in, and we go to a Nebraska winery. Seriously. The white wasn't too bad either.

We drove down to STL for Mel's 30th bday, and she dressed up as Amy Winehouse. Awesome and creepy.

Matador won the best-forcefully-dressed

Laura and I won the look-like-the-chick-and-dude-from-Juno award.

Mel's lady friends w/ great costumes. And a dude in a cow suit.

Orlando for ABCT! We paid 10 bucks to get into a Disney bar... but what else could we do to celebrate seeing Boston folks?

Fabs and Dubbs get down with the m i c k y m o u s e

that night.

later, Laura's dad visits

I did ALL the cooking on Thanksgiving.

OK, Rosy did all the cooking. But I chopped the hell outta some butternut squash

Tanner, Mike, Chuck, Rosy, and I sit down for a proper family meal. Tanner totally inappropriate for the formal occasion.

?

traditional post-thanksgiving-dinner festivities

Laura and Rosy become temporary citizens of the second (third?) largest city in Nebraska

the greatest bike in the history of the world

I look on the wall every day to remind myself that warm places exist, and one day I will again be in one

Our sweet ass car and apartment building

my route to school/work on gameday

This is what the State Fair is all about

stealing Grace's bike

aggression. violence.

retaliation

Jenny Lewis! in Omaha. She smiled at Laura walking by! and ignored me :-(

concert hooligans

some guy... Conor Bright or something...?

THE END!!!

some good news for once

This is an instant classic. Short enough to watch while your boss is taking a leak, hilarious, and socially conscientious. Add this to the 'favorites' list below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaUd6tJt7-k


Lasers. sweet:
http://www.wired.com/gadgets/miscellaneous/magazine/15-12/st_dangerous#

Greatest show ever, besides maybe Flight of the Conchords, returns:
http://www.wired.com/entertainment/hollywood/magazine/15-12/ff_futurama

Obviously:
http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/commentary/sexdrive/2007/11/sexdrive_1130

And, I finished my Dec. 1st Applications. Yay! Now only 12 more to go...

genau.

YouTube, FunnyOrDie, EBaum, and other things I should have written down somewhere and now I'm writing down here.

Chin2 http://youtube.com/watch?v=cgEd27D08qY uber lip sync-ing asian guys. SYTYCD?

Charlie the Unicorn: Candy Mountain http://youtube.com/watch?v=JPONTneuaF4 hilariously odd and a little creepy. unicorns. joy and joyness.
Charlie the Unicorn in SLOWMO: http://youtube.com/watch?v=vrXvygS3Cd8&mode=related&search= awesome.

MadTV - Apple I-rack http://youtube.com/watch?v=rw2nkoGLhrE making fun of Mac and Bush at the same time. sweet.

Look Around You:
1. Maths http://youtube.com/watch?v=MiMWJ1xBo8w&mode=related&search=
2. Water http://youtube.com/watch?v=7LqYBncyKpM
3. Germs http://youtube.com/watch?v=DLeNU3RIm4o&mode=related&search=
4-8 orso. see related videos.

kermit and big bird gettin high http://youtube.com/watch?v=hWRMMhUJTV8 moderately crappy presentation over adam sandler (?) sesameo street skit. funny pot jokes. A B C D B F lar... I forgot what we were doing Kremit!

Potter Puppet Pals:
Mysterious Ticking Noise: http://youtube.com/watch?v=Tx1XIm6q4r4 the best one. if you just know some of the names of Harry Potter characters, it's still pretty funny. Better than the movies even. catchy.
Wizard Angst: http://youtube.com/watch?v=xD-Huwlg2kY&mode=related&search= Maybe best if you know a little more about the series, but still really funny.
There are more, but I haven't watched them.

Dragostea Din Tei, Sock Puppet version! http://youtube.com/watch?v=6FdIiIsCbF0 I don't know why I love this so much.

Birds of Britain: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_o_cu1Uf4Y silly British humour.

Spiders on Drugs: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2HipedgM3I hilarious and not scary.

Snake Show: American Booty call http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xzs-ibFMLQ Hilarious, sad, a little offensive, and definitely sucks for that guy. 'you are my favorite buddha call'

"Thriller" prisoners prepare to make "Electric Dreams" come true. Need I say more?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMnk7lh9M3o
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/09/04/dancing.prisoners/index.html#cnnSTCText

Will Ferrell and Pearl in THE LANDLORD. give me four beers.
http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/74

NEW: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fb5FOa3DrkY
Private, "Secret Lover." legit Danish music video (as opposed to the illegitimate Danish music videos). Super pop, much cheese and silly dancing. The white chick is clearly drunk towards the end of the video. Not as hilarious as some previous posts, but very funny.

Drunk. or something. probably something.
http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/198/

Christopher Walken in Fatboy Slim video. He's my hero. Walken, that is.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMZwZiU0kKs

Grape lady falls, noises. a seal?

http://youtube.com/watch?v=aMS0O3kknvk

The grape lady remix

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ApzPZgUwDaE

Baby HILARIOUS face

http://youtube.com/watch?v=gPvpiSbt8UE

Old woman crossing the street... amazingly funny and short.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjcoRFcmQuo

Frozen people in Grand Central Station (more cool, less funny). Probably also lots more great stuff from Improv Everywhwere.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwMj3PJDxuo


Classic End of the World cartoon. (I am le tired... wtf, mate?). extra-quotable.
http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/end

more to come...

Transformers!

After years giving away my parents money to Hasbro, I can finally see the aliens the toys were designed after on the big screen! Honestly, I knew this movie would rock from the moment I saw the first preview (I believe before seeing Pirates 2? Maybe?). Anyway, if you imagine a continuum b/w a good serious action movie and a good spoof, Transformers does an amazing job of toeing the middle line. The effects are of course awesome, and the characters great (being massive battle robots, apparently with DNA computing power...). The plot is cheesy, the scripting is horrible, but all in a way that is overdone just enough to be laughable, but not too much that you don't get into the action and feel for the characters. Honestly, I can't imagine anything better than having a Bumble Bee around. Anyway, this is a good movie to see in theatres. Expect to laugh at silly alien voices and cheesy lines. Enjoy the super-powered alien robots' excellent decision to rely completely on a pubescent teenager. Watch robots do awesome transformations, do silly robot tricks, and beat each other up. I wasn't able to find a picture of Optimus Prime's big (glowing hot? or so it appeared) sword, but it was cool (though don't get excited. not ninja-like).
Two thumbs up. This movie was exactly what I expected and hoped for, and I don't even mind dropping $8 at the theatre.

Black Sheep

NYTimes Review:
http://movies2.nytimes.com/2007/06/22/movies/22shee.html?emc=eta1

Trailer
http://www.apple.com/trailers/independent/blacksheep/

wotd: abstruse

http://dictionary.reference.com/wordoftheday/archive/2007/06/25.html
after Andrew Bird's Armchair Apocrypha (and not the GREs) reminded me that this word exists, I started to really like it. ("You said I was too abstruse, I thought it was just some kind of bird..." or something like that).
Fr next week's WOTD, I need a word to describe abstruse's reflexivity. Hopefully it will be something as cool and ridiculous as "onomatopoeia," though I imagine it's probably some obscure linguistics term... even worse one of those words Chomsky made up.
In a side note, science is abstruse in order to maintain elitism and prevent cross-disciplinary communication or ... progress. Comments?