The leaves are starting to turn orange and yellow. Before you know it, you'll look outside and see that all of the trees look all bare and weird.

Fall caught me off guard. It felt like it was supposed to start earlier this month, and with some of the warmth in the past month it sort of dashed any hope of fall coming.

I think it's better to be in school when its cold out rather than hot.

I hope you had a good day today.

Not much news over here. It's chilly outside. It's also cloudy. And rainy. I like rain. Life is weird.

I'm about done converting a VHS copy of last week's mime show into a DVD. The copy belongs to Kari (if you're reading this Kari: thanks) and the quality is great. Unlike my copy last year (sorry), you can actually make out facial expressions of mimes instead of ghostly white faces.

I'll be uploading a few sample clips very soon. Any requests on what skits to upload? Please leave them in the comments.

If you want a copy, please e-mail me. I'm thinking that the cost will be around $2 just to pay for the cost of blank DVDs and cases.

Note: you don't need to e-mail me if you're in the Baker's Dozen. You're already on the list.

Well, so much for making a post when I got home yesterday.
I posted about the thing I was going to link to earlier today while at school, but for some reason it didn't upload properly. We'll save that for another time.

Anyway, Demetri Martin's new CD/DVD comes out today. It's called "These Are Jokes", and it comes with live recordings of his as well as his Comedy Central special. If you're a fan of Mitch Hedberg/Steven Wright-esque standup, it looks well worth picking up.

Well, so much for posting when I got home.

Anyway, this is what I was going to post. This handy little thing analyzes faces in photographs and tries to see what celebrities the faces most look like. Apparently, my sister is Mr. Bean. No joke. Try it out.

In our self-defense class in PE freshman year, we learned that if we didn't feel like assaulting our attacker, we should act crazy instead. Their suggestions: say 'I'm pregnant' (especially if you are male) or 'eat grass!'.

I think that this link does a much better job at describing how one should "act crazy".

I also found a fun toy some of you might find entertaining. I might post that when I get home.

Hello again.
Let's see if we can jump on the regular updates bandwagon again.

I think it's time for a bunch of links.

• Sad news (for anyone who cares): Campbell Park is now totally demolished. Even the tennis courts. It'll be "improved" in Summer 2007...but I personally thought it was fine the way it was.
• Elmo news: TMX (or "Tickle Me XTreme") has now been released on the unsuspecting public. It both freaks me out and makes me laugh. Oh yeah, Elmo dances on the moon and Elmo chats with Robert DeNiro (seriously).
• Perverted psychic news: witness the end of a so-called psychic's career.

That ought to do it for now.

Well, so much for audioblog updates this week. That didn't work out due to some reliability issues (with Blogger's servers and me).

Anyway, the mime show was tonight. Typically, I'd be washing the mime white off my face and doing homework, but I'm still pumped from it. So, I thought I'd put some energy into writing a post.

I used to do little reviews of shows in years past. Reviews become a bit difficult when you join the troupe, so here's:

Selected Notes on a Mime Show (Fall 2006)
(apologies if you didn't see it and don't know what this post is all about)

Opening: Those handcuffs could be tricky to get off. Not to mention that (from what I heard), those jumpsuits were tough to get on quickly.

Same Direction: One of my favorite skits from the show. This one was Tyler's. Some excellent work from Tyler, all the mimes, and especially the techies.

A Progressive Mime: This was Spencer's. I'll just address the whole skit here: first off, it was difficult to keep a straight face here. And second, I was afraid the audience cheering and laughing didn't hear the end remark: "And first place in the downhill skiing event goes to Spencer Gilbert!"

Evolution of Mating: Mary's skit. I liked it a lot. Got a great reaction from the crowd, and I really liked the music.

Epilogue: My first skit in the show. How about that? When I first told this skit, they thought it was supposed to be funny...until I got into the gun part. Once again, excellent work by all the mimes and the techies. I was very happy with how it went.
(Oh, by the way: make sure you spell the word 'epilogue' correctly when painting its sign.)

Mind Reader Quickies: Written by Mary, Jordan and myself. Surprisingly, it came out of a "brainstorming session" around my pool table in the basement held a day before skits were due. We were all amazed something show worthy came from that. I was a bit disapointed Jordan's prize contribution to the skit ("That's right, call me poppa!") was a bit drowned out by the audience. But hey, if they want to laugh before we finish talking, that's perfectly fine by me.

G-Spot: This was Kari's. Originally submitted during one of the first meetings I went to. We were all very happy to see this one in the show.

Captain Shocker: Also Tyler's. I was very afraid no one would get that I attempted suicide in a bathtub.

Helen Hunt: Maybe my favorite skit of the show. This was Spencer's. A debate during the submission of this skit:

"This skit could be really offensive. What if blind people hear this one?"
"Why would blind people be at a mime show?!"

Coming Out Of The Closet: A 5 minute discussion was held over whether anyone would "get" this 15 second skit. It went well. I believe it was Kari's.

Love Potion #8: Also Kari's. I was a fan of the (creepy/funny) ending.

Storybook: Oh, gosh. So much to say here. So:

• Luke was originally going to play an administrator character alongside Tyler. Both did an awesome job.
• The Q & A session was based on the entirely scripted Q & A video from early on in the year. This part contained Jordan's second reference to "poop" in the show.
• Apparently, certain Wu-Tang members were mad about our comments about them in Storybook. For the few of them that took it seriously: if certain administrators and the basketball team can take a joke...well, you know.
• "The glowsticks are full of liquid!" is a direct quote from the homecoming dance. Our sponsor also mentioned that he had the student who got the solution in his eye at the dance.
• I was a bit worried about our "God Hates Valley!" moral at the end...but the crowd loved it.

Closing: Props to Mary for discovering the BD hand symbol.

Overall, I loved this show. We all had fun making it, and had lots of fun performing it as well. I feel that in 5 years, I will regret none of it...and that's my critera for helping with something I'm proud of.

I feel like fall has officially begun now and that the drone of school is now fully in session. And for some reason, that's not too bad of a thing.

Once again, I can't describe how much fun doing this is. I'm feeling pretty refreshed now, and I've got ideas for some little projects in mind at this point. And I'm really looking forward to seeing the auditions of all of you hoping to try out.

Wikipedia is amazing.

Anyway, please note the article on our very school. Scroll down to the bottom of the page, and you'll see why I'm so happy.

Because anyone can edit, it may be deleted quickly, so I'll copy and paste the text here just in case. And no, I didn't write this.

"The Great Glowstick Riot of 2006 occurred at the Valley High School homecoming dance of 2006.

The dance was hosted at HyVee Hall, and as part of the festivities, chaperons handed out glowsticks to those who arrived early to the dance. Accounts vary, but it is generally believed that the Great Glowstick Riot occurred midway through the dance when a member of the administration instructed the DJ to cease music playback and instructed any students possessing a glowstick to return them to a chaperon. When the students failed to comply, a second announcement was made, informing those present that the dance was discontinued until further notice. This elicited an angry response from students in possession as well as those without, causing those with glowsticks to throw them at the administrator in question. When this proved ineffective, the enraged students resorted to chanting and threats of violence. The altercation ended without incident, though, when the DJ ignored administrative directives and resumed playback."

Update on Updates

After upgrading my iPod, some albums with songs from the iTunes Music Store appear out of order. I know this can be fixed and I'm 100% sure its not my fault. Until this is fixed, back to pirating music for me.

The following speech should be used instead of the typical "your seatback can be used as a flotation device" deal from now on. Really cynical, but I like it.

In the "news that about five people will care about" department: Wikipedia says filming has begun on the next Mr. Bean movie (tentatively titled "French Bean"). It's cool that Rowan Atkinson will be playing Mr. Bean again (he hasn't since at least the mid-90s), but this is said to be the very last story with Mr. Bean.

The original Bean movie was okay, but there was too much focus on the other characters and not enough Bean. Plus, skits from the TV shows were too rehashed. Hopefully this one'll have totally original stuff.

And to those of you who haven't ever seen him: despite what you might think, you're missing out.

Today's post is a bunch of things I've been meaning to link to, but haven't for some reason.

First off: new iPod, shuffle, and nano. Also new is the ability to play games on the iPod, but they cost more than I'm willing to pay right now ($5). Oh yeah, iTunes sells movies now. Neat idea, but I still prefer to have a hard copy of a movie, and I'm not much of a movie-buyer anyway.

I don't really have reason to upgrade, but it's nice that the big iPod is cheaper. The nano's new casing is cool, too. And if the shuffle gets any smaller...well, let's just say it'd better not.

Second on the agenda: while browsing for guitar chords, I saw the following advertisement:
"Learn to play guitar like Norah Jones!"
Which would be a cool proposition. (As you've probably guessed), Norah Jones can't play guitar.

Though that is kind of cool. If you're going to not play guitar, you might as well do it like Norah Jones doesn't.

And third was the best typo I've ever seen. According to a friend's research paper, to live in the middle ages and be successful, "one must be a jack off all trades". The teacher didn't even take note of it.

Wow. Very disjointed blog post here. Maybe more disjointed than usual.

Making 17 shakes in a row does things to your head.

I loved Garden State, but this guy has a good point. Presenting: how to make a Zach Braff film.

Today I learned that Iowa is home not only to lots of corn and the inventor of the trampoline, but what many consider to be the greatest thing.

I know there are a few Zefrank fans here, and those who like The Show may also like this video of Ze's presentation at a conference called TED. Topics range from dramatic readings of spam email to the process of making stuff. I haven't watched it all the way through yet, but I've put it on my iPod.

I got a haircut. They always look kind of odd when they've just been cut. Hair, that is.

Anyway, more Laramie Project controversy. Nothing really new is said. Pretty impressive stuff, though.
I think we're running out of things to complain about. We've had (in the past) drinking, deaths, arguments of a school district overextending its reach...the best we can do is a play?

Next year's controversy: mime costumes are too revealing for the eyes of our children.

And on a really random note, I think Google News is having some problems with this controversy.

Everyone's favorite high school made the local news last night. Okay, so maybe it's not that big of a deal, but surprisingly, the drama department was covered.

KCCI doesn't look like they have a video uploaded yet, but I think I can get one on YouTube some time this weekend.

I'm a bit busy now, and you can probably guess my opinion here, so I think I'll post the rest later.

Posting from Work

Some updates have been made to comments. You probably won't care much.

First, anyone (not just those with Blogger accounts) can make comments here. Hooray for acceptance.

Second(ly?), you can see off the bat how many comments have been made on a post. Not to mention that the "post a comment" link now is much more noticable than the dinky "+" from earlier.

And finally, minor comments changes so things look a bit smoother.

In conclusion: it's not perfect, but it's better. Give it a try.

You're probably aware of this through the numerous news articles you've likely already seen since this post was made, but Steve Irwin (aka The Crocodile Hunter) died in an accident involving a sting ray in the past few hours. His wife is (as of this writing) hiking someplace remote and has yet to be informed of the death.

This is kind of depressing news. The crocodile hunter's one of those guys you don't think can die. It's on par with Dick Clark dying; you probably aren't a fan of him, but if he were to die, you might think "oh, he can do that?"

Anyway, sad story. Not much else I can say I think.

There's a nice bulletin circulating on MySpace. In short, it's encouraging students to skip school on September 11th. The rational behind the logic: if a bunch of us don't show up on 9/11, they'll have to call the day off.

So to all of those circulating the bulletin: way to be sensitive, guys. I'm all for not going to school, but are you skipping school in remembrance of those who died in the attacks, or skipping school because you don't want to go? And if that's the case, would it matter if it was another day? How about National Talk Like a Pirate Day instead?

Man, I sound like a grumpy old man from the Your 2¢ Worth column. When I start complaining about someone giving me a dime less in change, calm me down.

(Spell check suggested I replace "MySpace" with "mishaps". I don't know why, but I feel like this means something.)

The following video explains why I probably couldn't be a host for a serious talk show. Especially if I had to interview a man with a funny voice.

It's the start of a new month. Remember this thing?

August 2006
Stats Check:
Views This Month: 841
Visits This Month: 484
Difference In Views Between July: 1
Difference In Visits Between July: 74
Most Viewed Day: 8/18 (50 views)
Least Viewed Day: 8/23 (9 views)

(The least viewed day was the first day of school. Coincidince?)

State With Most Visitors (surprise, surprise): Iowa (405 visits)
State With 2nd Most Visitors: Minnesota (9 visits)
People I Know in Minnesota: 1
Number of Times I Talk To Them A Month (on average): 0

Number of Times My Mom Has Searched For Herself On This Blog: 4
Number of Times Searched For "clifford, fair": 2

Number of Visitors On an Average Day During School: 4
Number of Posts I've Made During School: About 6 (with more to come)