ARGH!

As I always seem to run into one setback, or another, this post shouldn’t be all that surprising.

Last night, after nearly 6 years of faithful service, my monitor decided it was going to die. It didn’t just wink out, though. I can turn it back on, but only get a few seconds of picture. Then? Sudden blackness!

I am using the downstairs computer to write this, but, I don’t want to use this PC for everything. I don’t have money for another monitor, and don’t know when I will.

For now, my posts will be even fewer…

Dreams…(Part IV)

I meant to write this one a bit sooner. It’s a rare occurrence for me, but, sometimes I have semi-prophetic dreams. I am not saying that I can predict lottery numbers, or have foreseen the death of someone famous, but I have had dreams that have…well, sort of, come true. I’ll explain.

Usually the following day, the context of the dream will make some sense. My most recent involved my father and his crazy ex-girlfriend. No, I haven’t mentioned her on the blog before, because she is a whole lot of drama in a small package. I don’t like to burden people with any of that.

I dreamt, a couple weeks ago, that my father had come back to town. Not an odd thing, but he was planning to do so–which I had found within a few days after. Well, in my dream, when he came back into town, he came to meet up with his ex.

While it’s true that they are very on-again/off-again, Dad lives in Florida now so it’s more along the lines of off-again. When I woke up the following morning, there was an e-mail in my in box from Dad. He said that he was in contact with his ex (he called her…nightmare come true!!), and her brother wanted to buy his boat (which my sister and I have, currently).

That kind of seemed prophetic to me. It’s happened, too, with friends of mine. A while back, my friend Jordan moved to Connecticut. One day, I dreamt that he came back to Plattsburgh, and we were hanging out. The following day, I was in the store where we both worked, and a friend of ours said he was in town for a couple days.

I don’t want to go around saying that I am psychic, but, these couple instances do tell of something. I am not saying it’s just me, but, I think the human brain is capable of picking up on…something…from others. And that might manifest as an ability in some. For me, it seems to be in my dreams

PS22 Chorus Sings!

I wanted to share this. Firstly, I love the song–the original and this one, not that horrible Dixie Chicks version–and it’s grea to hear it done by a school chorus.

They are the PS22 Elementary School Chorus out of New York City. Their teacher is the awesome–I’d have love to have a music teacher like this guy–Gregg Breinberg. Enjoy this touching rendition of “Landslide” by Fleetwood Mac.

(Oh! And enjoy it. The RIAA might just have YouTube yank it. Bunch of jerks! Even Stevie Nicks likes it!)

Web Comics!!

I mention it, again and again, how much I enjoy web comics as an entertainment media. I try to update my links with comics that have piqued my interest. This post, though it might end up being short, is for that reason.

I have recently become completely obsessed with another web comic. And by obsessed, I mean obsessed. This comic has been running since 2003, and I read 600 pages of it the first day I started reading. 600 in one day! That’s quite a lot of sitting–and sleeping arse time, too!

This comic is called Questionable Content. It is basically the life of this indie rock loving guy and his friends as they cope with many things that life throws their way. It was great to read through (the current panel count is 1410!!), and get to see how these character–and their artistic representations–evolve. The artist, Jeph Jacques, really has gotten so much better!

I was sad when I got to the last page, and am currently eager to see what’s next in the comic itself. I always seem to do this… I get obsessed with a comic, and read it until I am caught up. I should learn to pace myself.

While I wait for Questionable Content‘s new comics (it does update 5 days a week!), I am reading another comic called Octopus Pie. This is the about a Chinese-American girl who lives in the Brooklyn. It was recommended by Jeph in one of the QC comics, and it is quite good, as well.

I am trying to pace myself here. I have only read 100 pages worth. I guess that’s not really pacing. Whoops…

Some new, cool stuff!

I am all about sharing things I find on the web that speak to me in a special way. Usually it’s a cool video that I share from YouTube. In this case, though, there are three pretty awesome sites that I have stumbled across. Well, one I actually knew about, but, I have gotten very into–including joining the forums that the site has for it’s community.

I suppose that’s the one I will talk about first. This site–which now appears in my links (though they all do)–is There Will Be Brawl. This is the site of a live action web series that is based on a favorite video game of mine: Super Smash Bros.Brawl, for the Wii. This is a very interesting, and dark take on this Nintendo fighting series.

The costumes and acting really are top-notch. Seeing such beloved Nintendo characters in such gritty situations is very awesome. All the little nods to other Nintendo series, which might not make grand appearances in the series itself, is enough to give any die-hard Nintendo fanboys a nerdgasm. Yes, I typed nerdgasm. I believe you are allowed to talk about nerdgasms only after you have experienced one. And boy did I!!

The second site, which is one I stumbled across just the other day (it was linked in one of the sites I frequent), is Daisy Owl. Daisy Owl is a really well done, web comic. It is about an Owl who is raising two human children–one being the titular Daisy–as his own. The writing is very funny, and the artwork is great.

The characters are also very easy to get to know and like. Especially Mr.Owl’s friend, Steve the Bear. Steve was raised by humans, and has incessant nightmares about having a failing stand-up comedy career. It really is very good stuff. I actually sat and read everything they had on the site yesterday afternoon. It only keeps me wanting more!

The last one is another web comic. I really enjoy this one, because it’s autobiographical. That’s not to say that it isn’t entertaining. It really is! It’s called As Seen In Vermont. The title, alone, really was a draw. I am from Plattsburgh, New York, and the artist lives in a favorite place to visit of mine, Burlington Vermont.

Her writing is realistic, because it is word-for-word from her daily life. It’s also very touching, as she often remembers a friend she lost when she was younger. The first of these remembrance panels literally brought me to tears. This is another well done comic that had me hooked, and made me spend a whole afternoon glued to my screen. I read everything she has–and since it’s a LiveJournal site, there are some wuick writings in there–and I really want more. I am interested to see her life unfold!!

Greatest commercial ever?

I love to share YouTube videos. I have shared quite a few, already. This is a little gem I ran across in my daily browsing. It’s quite good, for a commercial.

Here is the States, DirecTV really does have some pretty blah commercials. I mean some of them are good, especially the DVR ones, but, they haven’t made anything like this one.

This one features a number of movie villains/monsters all acting very peaceably. Apparent music doesn’t soothe the savage beast, Direct TV does!

The cast really is all-star. Freddy and Jason, as well–one of the greatest villains–Darth Vader are shown doing some very non villainous deeds! All set to the song “Silent Night”!!

I especially enjoy the part where Vader is blowing on a dried dandelion, to scatter the pips around! Watch, and enjoy:

Dreams…(part III)

So I did promise more dream-related blogging. If I am not mistaken, I said that this one would tell of a dream I became…well…an active participant in. And, as I may have said before, there is nothing sexual here. So, if any perverts wish to read that kind of thing, you are looking at the wrong blog.

This dream does involve, oddly enough, some penguins. They also played a part in the last dream that I blogged about. This dream is more realistic, however. Nothing animated here, just me and some penguins. And it’s pretty bleak.

At least, I say it is bleak. I don’t remember a lot of the details. Writing about this might take a stretch of the imagination, only because all I remember are the intense feelings. Details will be a little short in this case. But, it’s the participation that is the focus.

I was walking along in this barren landscape. You know the kinds of places penguins live? Snow and ice, pretty rocky. There may have been some snow flying through the air. too. Not a blizzard. More like mood weather. Sparse but there.

I am not quite sure if I was in the colony of penguins, or just studying them. I do know, however, that I was carrying a bundle rolled up on my back. It was like a tarp, and it was wrapped tightly around, what the dream me knew was, a penguin corpse.

Something in the dream disturbed me, though, and I threw the bundle to the ground, and knelt beside it. I began to tear it open, trying to find the source of whatever was bothering me. I frantically opened the layers as if I only had a short time.

And that’s when I woke up! I was kneeling on my bed, my comforter rolled up and positioned in the very way the bundle lay on the ground in my dream. I was fiercely tearing at it, trying to unroll it, just as the dream-me was doing.

I felt very foolish, and quite happy that no one was able to see me at the time. The foolish feeling came from the fact that a dream had never been so intense before. Not enough to motivate me to act it out. I just wish I could remember what really happened, and why I needed to get into that bundle so badly.

Originally, I had planned on only these three parts of the blog. However, a dream I had just the other day gave me something else to write about. It’ll, most likely, be pretty short. But, it deals with semi-prophetic dreams! Stay tuned!