Great big spooky craziness!

Halloween, one of my favorite times of year, is only two days away. And just like last year, Ill be studying. What is it with teachers and Halloween? It seems like every year there's at least one professor who assigns an incredibly important essay or exam to be turned in November 1. There are parties going on tomorrow which I would normally attend, but can't because that same professor wants the class to meet at the same time they're being held. I swear! It's like there's an anti-Halloween conspiracy within America's educational institutions.

Now that I'm done complaining, I think I'll talk about all the spooky stuff that makes Halloween great. Mercer is about 170 years old, so we have our share of ghost stories, the most famous of which is of the girl who allegedly hanged herself in the freshmen girls' dormitory and haunts it to this day (a story which was thoroughly debunked by my old friend Katherine). I personally don't believe in such things, but I will admit there are some freaky places on campus.

For me, the scariest place is the administration building. It's a tall structure, I'd say between 75 and 100 feet high, and is about a century old. You can get to the top via a huge spiral staircase, and the internal walls are adorned with portraits of very serious-looking dead guys that stare out the windows. I can't put my finger on it, but something about that place creeps me out like nothing else, especially at night. Maybe it's the portraits of the dead guys.

Here's a frightening true story for you: I remember one time I was taking a late-night walk around campus with my girlfriend. I told her of my irrational fear of the administration building, which prompted her to drag me straight to it (I mean that literally - I don't like that building!). As soon as we got within ten feet of it, all the power on campus went out. I, of course, shrieked like a little girl and ran away. Carol could barely stand up from laughing so hard.

Ever since then, I can't help but feel like I'm being watched, like something is following me wherever I go, plotting to bring harm to me, or worse, my loved ones. Sometimes I hear voices late at night, or heavy breathing just outside my door. Wait, what's that? I think I just heard something now. What's that over there? Did you see that?! There is is again! Wait, no, not you! Somebody help! It's more horrible than I could have imagined!! NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!

Yes, you do have to fill out the form

Unfortunately, to vote on the Insomnia submissions, you do have to fill out that registration form. I honestly have no idea why. I think the phrase "Captain Information" is a mistype. Actually, I think the whole registration page is a mistake. I spent an hour on the phone with Apple today, and nobody was aware of this problem. Bleh. I wanted to go into a big rant about Apple, but I don't think that would be a good idea at this point. I'm really tired today, so I think that's all the writing for today. Peace out.

It's Voting Time!

On Monday, I told you about Mercer 99's entry in Apple's Insomnia Film Festival. Well, today marks the beginning of voting season! Today through November 9th, anybody with an Apple ID can vote on the various movies' scores in this year's festival. You can give each film between zero and four stars, zero being the lowest score, and four being the highest. Please remember that YouTube ratings do not count; only the Apple ratings matter. Every link you'll need for more information on voting and the Festival in general is below. Remember to tell your friends to vote, too! I can personally attest that everybody on the team deserves a lot of praise for all the hard work they did (Especially our editors. Though their nitpicking nearly drove me insane, we wouldn't have qualified without their ridiculously observant eyes). Thanks in advance to everyone who votes, and on behalf of Mercer 99, we hope you enjoy the film!

Links:

Apple's Insomnia Film Festival Home Page

Create an Apple ID

Mercer 99's submission - American Safari:University Campus

Voting Reminder

I just wanted to remind you that official voting on Apple's Insomnia Film Festival begins tomorrow (Friday, October 19, 2007). That specific reminder is there because there's something wrong with my blog time stamp, so it says my posts are up the day before I actually make them. I'll be posting a link to the voting site sometime tomorrow once the video is up on Apple's website.

Now, the video is available on Facebook and YouTube, and I encourage you to view it and comment on those sites. However, it you want to vote for us in the Apple festival, you need to vote on Apple's website. Apple doesn't care about the YouTube rating or Facebook comments (but that doesn't mean we love them any less).

Peace out.

Super-Important Big News! Pay Attention!

Some of us at Mercer 99 got together and entered Apple's Insomnia Film Festival yesterday. The challenge was to create a three-minute film in twenty-four hours, following certain criteria set by Apple. From beginning to end, it took just over twenty-one (though my spirit broke and I went to bed after eighteen while our resident engineers finished editing). We all nearly strangled each other.

The festival will have two winners: one selected by a panel of judges and one chosen by you, the people that made me the mildly awesome person I am today. I hope everyone will enjoy the movie (written by and starring yours truly) once it's made public this Friday. On that day, I will update my blog with a link to the voting site. You need an Apple ID to vote, which you can create at this link if you don't have one already. So remember to come back here on Friday for an update! Tell your family and friends to vote, too! It's their constitutional right! And if you're against voting, I guess you're just a communist. It's just as well, because commies aren't in my target audience anyway. Lousy reds.

To keep you entertained until this Friday, I'll share another creation of mine. I was trying to make Halloween Funfetti cupcakes in a pumpkin-shaped muffin tin last week. The problem is, I forgot to grease the tin, so all the poor pumpkins' faces got ripped off. My roommate and I decided to salvage the scraps and put them together into one big lump. By pure coincidence, it ended up looking slightly like a ghost. The roomie added a couple of bubblegum eyeballs, and viola! Our masterpiece was complete.

Television stuff

So I watched a lot of TV this weekend. Like, way too much. We got OnDemand at my house recently, so I can watch all the cheesy cartoons and B horror movies I want. And before I get into the meat of this week's rant, I have a message to all past, present, and future creators of zombie films:

Zombies are not supposed to be smart. They are not supposed to be able to work machinery, make complex plans, or fall in love. And most of all, they are not supposed know that they are scary, causing them to lurk around like a "Power Rangers" villain.

Okay, now that I'm done with that, let's talk about the news. Some people already know my opinion of cable news networks, and it has yet to change. Britney Spears is in the news again, and I still don't care. You know, I'm usually for bashing celebrities, but hasn't our media bugged her enough? You'd think the paparazzi would've gotten the message when she tried to beat them with an umbrella. Call me old-fashioned, but in my day, that usually meant, "stay the heck away!"

The other story bugging me is this nonsense over the cheer leading teacher. Honestly, what is the big deal? I can't see how she did anything wrong other than waste class time. If I know high school students, they probably coaxed her into doing it, anyway. The most punishment she should have received was a warning to stop wasting time, and perhaps a quick rap on the knuckles (like I said, some might call me old-fashioned). I mean, that stupid cheer doesn't necessarily indicate that she's a bad teacher. One of the best science teachers I ever had once stood on a desk and danced while singing the "Spider-Man" cartoon theme song. He did it to demonstrate how to properly form a hypothesis. Seriously!

The big issue I have, though, is the media coverage, which can be summed up with this question:

Since when did YouTube videos become a source of national news?!

I mean why? Why?! Seriously, I want someone to answer this question. I can't remember ever seeing a YouTube video that was important enough to warrant national attention. And if you can justify using YouTube as a news source, then please explain to me why my videos aren't on TV yet? At least mine are mildly funny.

Monday Updates!

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, after a two-week absence, I have decided to resume my weekly updates on Mondays from now on. Why? Well, because last time I checked, this is America.

So I'm living in an apartment this school year, which has been fun. One of the best parts is having a full kitchen, and I am proud to say that I have only used my microwave five times this semester (and one of those times was to melt butter for a cookie recipe), and I have yet to eat a single package of Ramen. I will, however, admit to having the occasional frozen pizza.

I've found that I really enjoy cooking, as it allows me to feel like I'm doing something productive so I feel less guilty when I put off studying. I've actually gotten to the point where the things I cook actually taste decent. Now you may be asking yourself, "how do you manage to cook so many tasty meals by yourself?" Well, I'm about to tell you a secret about my cooking, the thing that brings out the delicious flavors of my creations. And here it is:


Yep, that's right, Kroger seasoned salt. I use it on beef, pasta, chili, eggs, grilled cheese, chicken alfredo, and just about all the other 95% of the meals I make with a frying pan. You could probably butter a slice of bread, shake some of this stuff on it, and fry it up by itself and it would be delicious. In fact, I think I'll go try that now. But before I go, I wanted to let you know that Carol and I have begun work on an animated short which I plan to release between early and mid-December. I'm keeping lid on what it's about, but I'll give you a hint with this hilarious set of photos I took at the local Target (click on them to see more detail).

Peace out.