Oh Yeah? Well, My Prefrontal Cortex Can Beat Up Your Prefrontal Cortex

I have started a new exercise regimen. For once, it's one that I actually enjoy and might even continue doing.

It all started a few months ago, when I got a couple of preloaded credit cards. These cards, however, could only be used at certain stores (which means they aren't really preloaded credit cards as much as store gift cards, and that happens to be a pretty lame move if you are a company giving these away, but that's a very different issue). After browsing through the list of stores and determining that the only participating store I cared about that was anywhere near me was Circuit City, I decided to get a Nintendo DS Lite. (This all took much longer than it seems here, since this also involved having to wait for there to ever be any DS Lites in stock, and there was a shortage that was not quite of Wii-like proportions, but not insignificant either.) For those of you not familiar with the DS or DS Lite, it is the newest Nintendo handheld gaming system, which utilizes two screens, one of which is touch sensitive. (It also has a microphone and is WiFi enabled, but that has nothing to do with this post; that's just more stuff I think is really cool about it.)

One of the game available for the Nintendo DS is "Brain Age," a game in which you perform various tasks (simple arithmetic, counting syllables, word memorization, reading aloud, Stroop tests, sudoku puzzles) all of which are designed to help increase your brain's ability to function quickly. The game first tests your brain's "age," a metric of how quickly you give correct answers in various exercises, and tells you how old your brain is with 20 being the best possible and 80 being the maximum age given. Once you have determined your brain age, you can perform the brain training programs to help improve your score in the future. You can retake the brain age test once a day or as rarely as you'd like to keep track of your overall progress. The more training programs you do, the more programs are unlocked for you to try them. The basic principle is that just like any muscle you must give your brain a workout to keep it in shape and to try to improve its performance (the theory here being that the brain exercise increases blood flow to the brain).

So, how do I think it works? I love it. If nothing else, doing the math training has made me less reliant on calculators. I'm working on skills I had let go long before. Is it really improving my brain function? I don't know that for sure, but it at least makes me feel like my brain isn't going to be the 98 lb 0.98 kg weakling getting sand kicked in its face.

Trivial Tuesday

I have really got nothing this week. Not a single thought remains in my head. This makes coming up with a question very difficult.

One of the movies out in theaters right now is Blades of Glory, in which Will Ferrell and Jon Heder play the first male-male figure skating pair. The film is directed by Josh Gordon and Will Speck. Gordon and Speck were previously known for their commercials, including one campaign which may even be getting its own sitcom spin-off. What is the ad campaign and what company is being advertised?

Congratulations to Invisible Lizard who knew that I was referring to the Geico Cavemen, who are in fact being looked at for a possible sitcom.

It's Fashionable and Informative

I really, really want need this shirt (see picture below) from Threadless, but it's currently out of print.

Go request a reprint. Make your friends request a reprint. Make your friends' friends request a reprint. Even make your friend's dog request a reprint.

Trivial Tuesday

I'm a little disappointed that no one had the answer to last week's question. Let's see if I can make it a little easier (or a lot) by making this week's question have the same answer.

What actor (who was also the actor from last week's question) first found fame by co-writing, directing and starring in a film loosely based on media giant William Randolph Hearst?

Am I giving this one to you? It feels like it, but I thought last week was easier than it was, so what do I know?

Congratulations to Invisible Lizard who knew that this week's answer (and therefore last week's as well) was Orson Welles.

Come On Down

I've mentioned before that living close to work means that a few days each week, Melissa and I go home for lunch. This also means that we typically watch The Price Is Right while eating lunch. As we rapidly approach Bob Barker's retirement and the inevitable decay of TPIR, I have noticed a few things about watching the show and the commercials that accompany it.

Bob is getting up there in age. That's no surprise to anyone. It's why he's retiring. However, as he gets older and closer to his retirement date, he is getting awfully grouchy. When someone has problems coming up with a bid or spends too much time listening to the audience screaming prices at them, Bob starts to get irritated and tries to hurry them along. When that doesn't work, he starts yelling at them. Don't get me wrong, I find them irritating, and I'm yelling at them too, but I'm not getting paid to be the host of the show.

If the commercials shown during TPIR are any indication, Wilford Brimley is on television more than any other human being on earth.

Have you ever noticed that some things never cease to be amusing? It's that way with the scooter commercials where a huge bald guy (who happens to be a nurse and the inventor of this specific power chair) comes out and says, "Hi I'm Tom Cruise." Sure his name is "Kruse," but it still amuses me.

Also not getting less amusing, the Beltone hearing aid ad where a golfer doesn't hear other golfers yelling "fore" and keeps getting hit with golf balls. It's completely ridiculous, but I laugh harder and harder each time he gets hit.

While I'm pointing out things about the show right now, my real issue is that there are apparently auditions for the next host going on even as we speak. Considering the list of people rumored to be up for the job, I can't help wonder why the show doesn't retire with Bob. I may not be his biggest fan (because, let's face it, there are some weirdly crazy Barker fans out there) but Bob Barker is The Price Is Right. If they do end up selecting one of the people on the currently rumored lit and continuing the show, I can only hope that they decide to just go as absurd as possible. After all, one of the people on that short list is Mario Lopez. A mid-day game show with A.C. Slater? Yeah, I'd watch that.

Trivial Tuesday

This summer, a live-action Transformers movie is coming to theaters. There are plenty of people who are excited about it, as well as many who are angered by its apparent differences from the original cartoon. Regardless of one's feelings on the film (mine are general indifference), Transformers are the inspiration for today's question.

Back in 1986, the animated film Transformers: The Movie introduced us to a character named Unicron (which looks like unicorn with a typo, but is actually a giant planet sized robot). The voice for this giant villain was actually the final role for what film star who died shortly after completing his voice over work?

Spartans! Tonight We Dine...

...on ice?



As I mentioned, we're back from St. Louis. What I didn't mention in the previous post is that St. Louis happens to be where the NCAA Frozen Four took place last week. We didn't go to the games, but we did go to the skills competition on Friday night, where I took this picture of Sparty, the Michigan State University mascot.*

Also present and photographed at the skills competition, Barry Melrose, because you can't be in the same building as him and not try to get a picture of the mullet. Not photographed (at least by us), a random dude from the stands winning a Pontiac G6 by making an unbelievable shot from center ice.

*For those of you not following college hockey (which would be just about everyone), Michigan State and Boston College were the teams in the championship game on Saturday, with Michigan State winning the title. That explains why the MSU mascot was skating around. I have some pictures of the BC Eagle, but no captions to go with them.

Back Home Again, A Picture Post

We're back from our brief trip to St. Louis. (See photo of Arch below as evidence.)



Just a couple of quick things about the trip. I have a feeling this guy is stalking me. He showed up when I went to Santa Fe last year, too.




If anyone has any idea about the significance of this statue (I don't know what it's actually called, but I like to think it's titled "Kung Fu Bunny.") please let me know.




It always takes seeing yourself in pictures to really drive a point home, and some of the photos from this trip made me realize that I have really let myself go.




Anyway, I'll have more on this later, but I wanted to give you a few pictures from the trip. (And as always, I cannot take credit for the pictures, as Melissa is the more talented photographer, and I am also not to be trusted with the camera for more than a few seconds.)

That Is So 1991

I'm out of the office for a bit, so please amuse yourselves with these Ralph Wiggum clip collections.





Oh say can you rock! Just for good measure, the Party Posse "Yvan Eht Nioj" video.



And finally, the fan-made video for the Bloodhound Gang's song "Ralph Wiggum". (Ralph's got his own song? Who knew?)

Trivial Tuesday

Thirty-three years ago tonight, the largest outbreak of tornadoes on record occurred in the United States and Canada. A total of 148 tornadoes were confirmed between the afternoon of April 3rd and early morning of April 4th, 1974, including seven F5 tornadoes. (For a little perspective, there have been many times when no F5 tornadoes were confirmed for multiple consecutive years.)

This outbreak is important, not only because over 300 people were killed or because of the economic impact the destruction caused, but also because it serves to show the importance of newer forecasting and early warning systems.

With that in mind, here is this week's question: While the other states had higher total death tolls, the deadliest and most devastating single tornado was the first F5 of the day, which struck which state? (Bonus points if you know the town.)

crse is correct. It was Ohio. The first F5 tornado of the outbreak hit Xenia, Ohio, where 32 people were killed and almost half of the buildings in town were damaged or destroyed.

Mother Nature Has Some Issues With Mood Swings

It's currently 70 degrees outside. It's going to snow tomorrow. I'll give you one guess what's in our weather forecast for this evening.

I think I'd better make sure to put the car in the garage tonight.

Meet The Robinsons

We went to see Meet the Robinsons this weekend. The newer theater in town was showing it in "Disney Digital 3D," so we figured it would be fun. I was pleasantly surprised. The movie was sweet and touching in the way that many kids movies are, but also amusing. The plot was fairly transparent, and nothing really happened that you couldn't see coming a mile away, but that really shouldn't be too surprising. The animation was wonderful, and a few times, I caught myself looking less at the movie than at the details of the animated world: the individual blades of grass, the weathered buildings, the movement of a character's hair. The 3D effects were not the type that were there for the purpose of flying out of the screen and into the audience (for those, we got to see the stereoscopic 3D version of the 1953 Donald Duck and Chip and Dale cartoon, "Working for Peanuts"), but rather simply served to give depth to everything on the screen.

Unfortunately, when anyone releases an animated movie, especially a computer animated movie, the question that many people (including me) will ask is: How does it compare to (insert name of a Pixar movie or use "Pixar's movies")? Invariably, every movie else suffers from that comparison. In reality, it was not on the same level as Pixar's films, but even so, it was worth seeing, even more so in 3D.

Of course, the real joy of going to a 3D movie is getting to laugh at everyone else wearing those ridiculous looking glasses...until you remember that you are wearing them too. Now, I could post pictures of how silly we looked wearing the glasses, but I think I'll leave that to Melissa.