Paramore Tomorrow!!! [pics & music)

Tomorrow Nuria and I are hitting up the Paramore concert @ Qualcomm. To be honest, just over a month ago I didn't have a clue who this band was. Then Nuria told me she wanted to see their show here in SD. I worked my magic and got us 4 tix to the Aug 1st show. And now for the last week I've been pretty much listening to their stuff non-stop to prepare myself for the big event. We're getting ourselves all psyched up around here for the show - planning our outfits, memorizing lyrics, and such. I've finally finished painting my shirt and am ready to wear it with pride :) see pics below along with a couple songs from Paramore's two albums "All We Know is Falling" and "Riot!"

Discover Simple, Private Sharing at Drop.io

Discover Simple, Private Sharing at Drop.io

Endgame: Scrabulous Gets Wiped Off Facebook

Long outplayed by two Indian brothers, Hasbro finally delivers a massive counter blow to Scrabulous, one of the most loved games on Facebook.

read more | digg story

My Knight in Matte Black Armor

I meant to write this mini-review of The Dark Knight the morning after the midnight premiere but then I got busy and have been running around with my friend all weekend.  It's hard to focus on writing when it's PRIDE!  And now I'm watching blue collar comedy and can't focus. o well.

There's not much else I have to say about The Dark Knight.  There are already about a million trillion blogs, mags, and newspapers singing its praises.  Believe the hype.  It was the best midnight premiere of my life and COMPLETELY worth the $10 and 3 hours of waiting.  I already plan on seeing it again in IMAX because as I'm sure you've already heard, 20 minutes of the original footage was shot in IMAX quality, meaning IMAX WILL BE ILLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!  Plus I totally need to see this movie again to better absorb all of its amazing storytelling and beauty.  Christopher Nolan is a master and has completely outdone himself, along with every other superhero/comic book movie ever made, ever. period.

I'z don't need no knight in shining armor, allz I need is Batman.

A Quick Lesson On Viruses & Hoaxes

This morning I got a forwarded email from my mom with the subject line "FW: Virus Warning." She went on to ask me to try and verify if this message was what it said it was. The original email read as follows:

This was sent to me by a friend and it reads.
/> BIG VIRUS COMING !!! PLEASE READ & FORWARD !!!
/> > http://www.[address removed].asp
/> >
/> > Hi All, I checked with Norton Anti-Virus, and they are gearing
/> > up for this virus!
/> > I checked Snopes (URL above:), and it is for real!! Get this
/> > E-mail message sent around to your contacts ASAP. PLEASE FORWARD THIS
/> > WARNING AMONG FRIENDS, FAMILY AND CONTACTS!
...

(the full email and its variants can be read in this about.com article)

I carefully read through the body of the email and the more I read the more I realized that this email was not a warning of a coming virus but was in fact a type of virus in itself. After doing a little googling on this subject I found an article on the trustworthy About.com website confirming my suspicions that this email is a hoax. It is apparently just one variant of an email hoax that has been circulating for years. In the article on About there are some great tips for how to distinguish hoax & malicious emails from legitimate ones. There are 3 things to keep in mind.

(quoted from about.com)

1. It is true that there are real viruses, trojans, and other forms of malware currently being distributed by means of fake e-card notices.
2. In general, forwarded email warnings such as the 'POSTCARD' alerts above cannot be trusted to provide accurate information.
3. Protecting yourself from real virus and trojan threats entails a few simple but critical measures. Follow them religiously.

The article elaborates on each one of these points.
It all basically comes down to this: protecting yourself from scams and viruses requires that you consistently maintain a small amount of skepticism and the willingness to do a little quick research online. Google is your friend (or whichever search engine you prefer).

Protecting yourself from scams and viruses is easy as long as you consistently take simple and easy precautions. Keep your computer updated, regularly scan for viruses, and use anti-spyware software.

For more info on the best anti-virus software check out lifehacker.com.

Unbreakable Fighting Umbrella

I soooo want one of these :)

Mary Poppins Has Nothing On The Unbreakable Fighting Umbrella (John Steed, however...) [Unbreakable Fighting Umbrellas]

via Gizmodo by Jack Loftus on 7/13/08

Unbreakable Fighting Umbrellas have been around for a little while now, but today we know of one government that actually uses them to protect its president. Read more at Gizmodo.

[Wired]

NY Times: Phone Call From China Transformed '84 Games

From the NY Times:

Phone Call From China Transformed ’84 Games

By LYNN ZINSER

Published: July 14, 2008

As the world prepares for the Summer Games in Beijing, China’s defiance of a Soviet-led boycott is all but forgotten.

Untitled Podcast #1

Here you've got the first podcast of what I expect will be many. I'm experimenting with this concept of podcasting while driving. Being a Southern Californian and all I spend a lot of time driving around in my car, and on these long straight highways I have a tendency to do lots of thinking. So now I'm going to capture all those wild and random thoughts and post them here. I've wanted to do a podcast type thing for awhile now but have been too lazy to actually do it. But now I have found what I think is the perfect formula for producing a podcast. It's so easy and low budget that even I won't get bored of doing it (at least not right away). Without further ado, here it is -

Untitled Podcast #1[wma]


For anyone who might actually listen to this, I'd love to hear feedback and whatnot. I also really need ideas for a title for this thing. Somehow "Untitled Podcast" just doesn't have that oomph I'm looking for ;)

Oh, and for anyone who just isn't in to podcasts. Here's a cool french track for you -

Dis Moi by BB Brunes[mp3]

"OURS...to fight for"

That phrase graced the tops of Norman Rockwell's Freedom Posters which were used by the gov't during WWII.

This NY Times Slideshow highlights some modern posters in a Florida exhibition that take their inspiration from Rockwell's original Freedom Series.

It's definitely some interesting stuff. Especially for someone of my age group who only knows Rockwell for his iconic Americana paintings.

‘Thoughts on Democracy’

Wolfsonian-Florida International University

Published: 20080708

A surprising new exhibition titled “Thoughts on Democracy” features 60 artists’ responses to Norman Rockwell’s wartime “Four Freedoms” series.

Technorati Tags: norman rockwell, ny times, freedom, art, war