Doodles From A Dream

Movement: The SOLD Project

2009-02-16T21:43:00.000-05:00

An estimated 2 million children, the majority of them girls, are sexually exploited in the multi billion dollar commercial sex industry. – UNICEF

Child prostitution is a huge problem. The Sold Project is aiming to stop it before it begins. They're doing just that by raising money to keep kids from Northern Thailand in school, so that they don't have to travel to the cities for work, where they'll most likely end up in the sex business. They're a small grassroots organization armed with statistics, a passionate crew, and a new film, The Sold Project Thailand. They haven't reached the size of one of my other favorite charities Invisible Children, but they're off to an amazing start, and I can tell they're going to be big. Change the world big.

The SOLD Project: Thailand trailer from The SOLD Project on Vimeo.

Random Links to A Not-So-Random News Story

2009-02-08T14:06:00.006-05:00

People are really backing up Phelps on this one. Maybe public opinion of marijuana is changing. Maybe people don't care because they're more concerned with the whole "Our Economy is in the Crapper" thing. Various Facebook groups and peti tions have popped up in support of Phelps, urging people to boycott Kellogg. It seems like supporters may be having an impact. When you call Kellogg's customer service, you get this message"Thank you for calling the Kellogg Company. If you would like to share your comments regarding our relationship with Michael Phelps, please press one to speak to a representative. If you're calling about the recent peanut butter recall, please press two now. Otherwise, press three or stay on the line. Thank you." Are more people calling about Michael Phelps than the peanut butter recall?

It's going to be interesting to see how the situation plays out.

What I Did In Algebra

2009-02-03T10:00:00.000-05:00

"Why don't you try reading the rules shankapotamous!"

2009-02-02T10:28:00.000-05:00

All over the blogosphere and media today, is the review of the Super Bowl. Or the Super Bowl commercials. I have 15 minute to kill before The Office comes on, so I though I'd get a post out of the way. There's no way in hell I'm actually going to provide any kind of insight or review of all of these commercials. To be honest I didn't see all of them. However I did pick a favorite. (Well of the ones I saw at least. I was making dinner, I didn't catch everything.) Here it is.

Golf Baby

Then I was googling it and found a reel of Outtakes that are priceless

Another Random Doodle

2009-02-01T15:00:00.003-05:00

Random Doodle

2009-01-29T16:35:00.004-05:00

Random Mini Happy News Story

2009-01-09T00:04:00.003-05:00

Invisible Children is planning a "Big Event"

My guess is it'll actually end up being huge given their last two events The Global Night Commute and Displace Me.

Wicked Site: Glogster

2009-01-08T18:14:00.009-05:00

So my guess is if you're reading this, you have a blog. Or at least you know what blogging is. Or you're Amish, 100 years old, or just now leaving Liveunderarock and staring at the screen and wondering what the hell this fancy contraption is. (If you really are that lost please click here to see a definition of blogging.)Glogging is like blogging with more Gs and less Bs. Alphabetically anyway. Really the two are very similar but glogging uses more pictures than words. It's like getting a virtual piece of paper and adding pictures, music, videos, and graphics to it. Sure you can do a bit of the same thing on your blog, but it's a heck of a lot easier on glogster. (See example in previous blog entry.)

The upsides.

+When you're done, your finished product sometimes looks like it could be in a magazine. Which I find kind of cool.

+You can easily share your glog with family and friends. (You can even post your glog to Blogger right after publishing it.)

+You can post just about any kind of media on your glog.

+It's really helpful if you want creative way to blog, but often have writers block, or words just don't seem to do your "genius" justice.

The downsides.

+There are a ton of graphics and fonts to choose from, but you can't really create your own on their site. (Though you might be able to upload them in the form of a picture.)

+You can't save your work as you go along. This can be really bad if you're like me and you always have a ton of windows open and accidently navigate away from pages a lot. (Thank you blogger for auto-saving for me!)

+There's a ridiculous G point system. It's basically just to motivate users to be active on their site. For the most part you can ignore it, but you won't be able to start new topics on Glogster's message boards if you don't have enough G points.

+Also whenever you go to the home page, you'll notice a lot of people just post a big photograph with depressing song lyrics and/or poetry. (Maybe because there's an entire category of graphics dedicated to "Emo." Can some one please explain this Emo trend to me?)

Check it out here.

Oh look, a Glog

2009-01-07T18:56:00.000-05:00

Podcast: The Midwest Teen Sex Show

2009-01-05T18:37:00.002-05:00

Sex Sells. It's also pretty damn funny. I'm talking about The Midwest Teen Sex Show the podcast about teen sexuality made from only the finest organic ingredients. They say that sex is happening, not all teens are doing it, and not all are abstaining either. The Midwest Teen Sex Show talks about a range of topics in a helpful yet snarky lingo (See quotes)It's been said that the podcast it to be used more as a conversation starter rather than an educational resource. They really only scratch the surface when it somes to some of the issues.

So why watch a podcast about sex? (And there's no porn, not even in the episode about porn,if you were wondering.) Sure there's some valuable information in it, but most of the podcast consists of tounge-in-cheek humor and various skits parodying teenagers and whatever topic they're covering this month.

The Midwest Teen Sex Show's audience reaches way beyond teens. They've reached 20 and 30 somethings and even parents. (I also remember hearing something about grandparents, you should really be monitoring their internet usage, they might spend your inheritance on internet poker if you're not careful. Or maybe internet bingo.) The parents episode is one of the best, even though "Madge the Vag" kind of gives me the creeps.

The only downside is that episodes are released monthly. They've got 21 out now, but depending on your level of boredom, you could get through all of those in one afternoon. On the upside they do have a live show on Tuesdays at 10 ET on their website. However I can't really vouch for the funniness or lack of funniness this may contain, because I haven't seen it yet. (There were kind of these holidays going on in the past two weeks, and you're supposed to hang with your family... and stuff.) Although if you're left wanting more, and it's not Tuesday, the whole "Take our Survey!" thing you might see on their website, is totally worth it, the bonus scenes are priceless.

You can subscribe to the podcast in iTunes, or find them on their website.

Random Happy News Stories

2009-01-04T18:16:00.006-05:00

The world sucks. In my attempt to be less pessimistic, (for the moment at least) here's some happy news.

+A lady in Connecticut won the lottery from a ticket her husband bought a few hours before he died.

+I always though algae was kind of gross, but if it's going to save us from global warming, I think it's pretty cool.

+Some scientists have found out that true love can last a lifetime.

+A brother and sister were reunited in England. Turns out they were living 300 yards away from each other. "I have walked past her house lots of times and I have even seen her in the garden. I have walked past her in the street and never realized it was my sister," he said. I guess there weren't any jokes about being poopy head exchanged, cause that would have been a dead giveaway.

+Here's an adorable video of Michelle Obama talking about when she first met Barack and their first date.

+And here are some cool benches. I'm slightly tempted to go to Istanbul just to sit on the one that looks like a book.

Kick Ass Program: Got Noise

2008-12-30T22:08:00.004-05:00

So I am a fan of filmmaking. I am also a fan of teenagers making films. (Well, most of them anyway.) So a few, or several, months ago, I posted an entry about Samsung Mobile Fresh Films. I also got to have the amazing experience of participating in their program last summer. Well they have a new sibling in the form of the Got Noise? program. (It's sponsored by milk.... get it yet?) If accepted into the Got Noise program they'll fly you out to L.A. for a week to make Usher's new music video with other teens from across the country. The coolest thing about the program? They give you the equipment, guidance and everything you need to make the music video, but you get to make a lot of the decisions. (AKA you might be able to work it in that Usher is shirtless in your general vicinity at some point. Possibly.) Now I leave you with a really cool promo video and a link. Oh, and did I mention you could win a MacBook?

Wicked Sites: Finding the Perfect Presents

2008-12-16T16:17:00.000-05:00

It's December. You can tell by all the chesnuts, Snowmen, Santas, Jesuses, and jewlery commercials that are blasted at you anytime you have contact with the outside world. The holidays are upon us, meaning we have to find presents for people. Here are a few sites I find really helpful for getting out of this conundrum.

Gifts.com has a personalit y profiler to help you find gifts for people. I've found it pretty handy, they give you a ton of options for each personality so there's bound to be something perfect in there. It's also very helpful for finding gifts to give yourself, and there's no harm in steering your friends and family to the site so they can be sure to find gifts to fit your personality. (Ok, sometimes I find myself pretend shopping for myself with my imaginary million dollars on here, it's just like they know me.)

Changing the Present is like a database for gifts that give back. I was surprised at how many small ones there were (six pages of gifts under $5!) Have a friend that's all for saving the environment? $11 reduces 2,000 pounds of carbon (or 6,000 miles of air travel) or $125 can adopt a Polar Bear from Defenders of Wildlife. There are also micro credit loans, (around $40 to $500 give loans to help small businesses in developing countries) education gifts, (everything from school supplies, tuition, and uniforms for students in need) and research (things like $67 for 1/2 and hour of Breast Cancer research or $100 for 300 DNA samples for the Strang Cancer Prevention Center.) There's something for everyone.

Uncommon Goods could be the solution for the person who has everything. Products range from funny, useful and even recycled. There's stuff like picture frames and bowls made from vinyl records and bags made from reclaimed billboards. Oh and if you need to furnish your home you could always get the rocking chair made of skies. Or if you have $3700 laying around you could get the Road Tested Chair made from "Walk/Don't Walk" signs from New York City. I could go on for a while, this site is packed with unusual stuff, and it can be addicting.

P.S. Sarah Haskins sums up the ridiculous-ness of all those annoying jewelry commercials.

"For once I'd love to drive down a road and actually get lost" Show I'd Love to Save

2008-12-14T22:03:00.003-05:00

So I seem to have a thing for cancelled TV shows. Or TV shows that get axed before they're even aired. We live in a world where there are more votes in most reality shows than elections and the People Choice awards have a category for youtube videos (actually more than one.) Quality TV, smart TV, and non-cheesy TV are rarely aired anymore.

So a few days ago I found a hidden gem in this world of mutilated quality TV. "What Goes On" is a drama about a bunch of kids living in the suburbs. There are a million ways this plot line could go wrong, but "What Goes On" has a surprisingly fresh air to it while still remaining realistic. The show was scheduled to air on The-N in 2007, until something happened and something else happened causing "What Goes On" to be axed into oblivion. (I have no idea what exactly went on behind the scenes, but given what that channel has turned into, it's not that surprising they discarded quality to restock tweeny-bopper rubbish.)

Head on over to the Sri & Company Website for a trailer (I can't link to it directly, click on "Our Work" at the bottom, the the "What Goes On" tape, make sure you let it load all the way)

Oh, and that amazing song in the trailer is called "Fireworks" by Threes and Nines.

Then I have youtube links (yay!)

Each episode is only a half hour long (Though the first two kind of go together) and they've got a bit of a "Skins" vibe to them, they alternate which character they follow in different episodes.

Here's the user page that has all the videos.

And the first part of the pilot.

Wicked Site: Post Secret

2008-10-16T17:03:00.003-04:00

Ever have a secret you wanted to get off your chest, but didn't want to tell anyone? Meet Post Secret, a blog/book/event/organization where people anonymously send in their secrets. There's an emotion for every secret, and every Sunday I find myself relating to a secret sent in by a stranger.

Read People's Secrets every Sunday

Watch Videos of Secrets

Send in a few of your own

Thingy: Cheesetastic TV

2008-10-04T17:00:00.004-04:00

You know what's fun? Cheesy TV. Seriously. Those after school special-esque melodramatic shows you'd never admit to watching because you love to complain about all the crap on TV these days. My recent cheesy obsession? Degrassi: The Next Generation

They may have dramatic moments like this, that can either be seen as dramatic or cheesy

but then they also have moments like this

I post this because it it Degrassi Spirit Week at the-n.com and I have been feeling very spirit-y. Plus I feel guilty that I spend more time there, than I do blogging here. I think I'll blame Canada.

Pictures from Chi-town

2008-09-13T02:20:00.007-04:00

So since I'm returning, again, and it's late, I'm at a loss of what to post, so how about some pictures?

Bad Ass Bloggers

2008-07-02T21:34:00.002-04:00

I saw this on Current. Blogging is Bad Ass.

P.S. I'm working on new blogs, but I'm having difficulty getting some stable internet connections,

I'll be back home July 10th so I should be fully back then, or around then.

Also, what's with airports charging for wifi?

I thought technology was supposed to make things more accessible.

Proof That America Is Crazy

2008-06-24T22:46:00.004-04:00

Legally Blonde.... the Musical. Yeah. Oh and they have a reality show too. I think Joel McHale's comments sum it up best.

The Great Computer Crash of June 2008

2008-06-23T01:15:00.004-04:00

So I've come to the conclusion that I have put off posting again for long enough. I hate how I can't seem to get some kind of regularity here. This time it wasn't entirely my fault though, my computer died. I had to back up my stuff, and then get the hard drive replaced. Unfortunately I have yet to figure out if I can retrieve my bookmarks for my back-up drive (or if they're even on there.) So I have to work on building that back up, and I'm afraid my blog may suffer a bit as I don't have all my links committed to memory. Among them I also lost the links to some of the blogs I read, which bums me out a bit. Thankfully I can still get to the cool ones since those people have left me comments ;)

Storm Pictures

2008-06-03T19:45:00.003-04:00

Some pictures from the storm that knocked out the power. It's finally back on.

Rain Drops.
Probably as close as I got to actually capturing a bolt of lightning, the camera was too slow, my brother got some pictures that turned out ok, but he has a super nice camera and wasn't willing to share.
Sometimes the lightning was so bright and constant it also seemed like daylight.
This was actually taken around 11pm (I'm guessing) It was surreal.

Thingy: Blue for Roseline Bracelet

2008-06-02T18:05:00.005-04:00

An accessory that helps save the world! Well maybe not, but it makes a difference, plus they're uber-cool.

If you don't know about Invisible Children, 1) Where have you been? 2) Prepare to be amazed, inspired, shocked, uplifted, and empowered. 3) Here's a video to explain it

And here's the Roseline Video

"Hiatus"

2008-06-02T13:18:00.002-04:00

My power has been out since Friday, and it might not be back on until next Friday. Until then...

A Clip From My Favorite "That 70's Show" Episode

2008-05-30T15:55:00.002-04:00

Let's go to Canada!

Link to second blog

2008-05-30T10:35:00.002-04:00

Well, I have no patience when it comes to creating these things apparently. I fell I should forewarn you, it's a bit orangey, as I also ran out of patience searching for template. Perhaps I shouldn't be getting on the internet late at night. I finally decided to call it "Three Flights Down" though the url has to have "-"s in-between the words cause some loser already took the normal url and then never even posted anything. Oh, well. Now I can get back to making this blog somewhat cool. Oh, right, here's the link. Though I'm sure it's on my profile by now.