Dumbrella Team Blog

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Bilbo Hooked on a Ninja

What's better than that good ole video of Leonard Nimoy singing the Ballad of Bilbo Baggins?

Quite possibly David Hasslehoff singing Hooked on a Feeling and DEFINITELY this chemical brothers video.

The Picture of Everything

I was looking at that site Metafilter and saw this link to "The Picture of Everything".

I was thinking that this would be the sort of project that, were I to attempt something similar, would result in a constant state of shuffling and moaning. I think he pretty much got everything. From the FAQ:

"Q: Is it true that you have 157 Pokemon drawn in The Picture?
A: Yes."

santa baby, don't eat that

Corporate holiday parties almost always suck, even the overwhelmingly large ones. partially due to the people who are there, somewhat due to the horrible djs, and largely due to the horrible photos that emerge afterwards. My friend allison really liked my furry ball.

Another problem with big corporate parties that are held outside of the office proper is the unfavorable ratio of photocopiers to bare asses. In this case 0:4,000

p.s. mc hammer was there.

Day of the Xanthine

(cross posted to my livejournal)

Caffeine is a chemical in the Xanthine family - there are bunches of the little buggers out there if you know where to look. Those of us who are murderously addicted to these compounds can differentiate between the highs that come from coffee as opposed to tea or guarana for example. The Food n' Drug Administration might label them as "caffeine" but the rest of us know better.

A good dose of caffeine is like a fine wine, if you go for that sleeping crap. I'm not talking about a "robust, balanced cup of coffee" as opposed to a lousy, bitter one. When my head hurts, I don't really care about flavor. I care about how the sleep receptors in my brain are going to be jangled.

Why do I bring this up? My pal Cowboy_X sent me some Xmas goodies and they included a small "Energy Shot" in a two ounce bottle. It was labeled as caffeinated and I'd never tried such a beast, so I downed it without thinking. It was a spectacular moment in chemical history.

I can clearly remember the Olde Days when caffeine really worked on me. I can very clearly remember my first gorgeous cup of straight Jamaican Blue Mountain. I felt that way again today, for the first time in years.

I don't know if it was the incredibly dense dosage or the blend of chemicals, but I was clearer today than I have been in years.

I am totally going to abuse this stuff if I can get my hands on more.

This post should pretty much explain why I don't allow myself to really get into alcohol.

LINKS:

Caffeine & Xanthine

Gizo: Drinks That Work

Jeff's Turn!

Hi I guess it is my turn to try out this thing! I am ascared of blogs kind of, it seems like an awful lot of people who think they're important by having opinions about other people's opinions about things they can't do anything about.

I am going to write about this comic that has dinosaurs for a second, it is at the website qwantz.com. It is a deal where this guy, Ryan, decided to take the same comic layout and write different words every time. You've seen this done before, unintentionally. You know, some dude been workin on two characters for a couple hours then finally gets it right, and copies and pastes it a thousand times just making the mouth a different shape -- this makes it not funny.

What makes this "Qwantz" thing funny is that this is what Ryan deliberately set out to do. Reading the archives gives you this freaky sense of deja vu, and then you find comfort since you realize that unlike your other deja vu experiences, this one doesn't involve your unpredictable bowels.

I noticed last night (this morning) there is this weird subculture of internettin' e-bay dudes that are at the post office mailing multiple packages at 1 o'clock in the morning. They don't say much, but it's comforting, to be amongst the like-pasty-faced and Paypal-pioneers.

Patches for Sale

J-Ro was extolling the virtues of Kelly V's new comic, "Patches" last week on the front page of Wigu. J-Ro is correct about comics approximately 98% of the time, so I knew it was worth a click.

It was worth a click AND some retinal damage!

Patches contained a lot of the subtle little things I enjoy in some of my favorite comics. Kelly seems to have taken her own wonderfully weird sensibilities and melded them to the simplicity of the early Robot Stories comics, the depressing nature of Jimmy Corrigan & the cutie pie designs of Hounds' Home. It's not HAR HAR HAR crazy-jokey every day, but as you click through the strips you can't help but smile.

This is my first review on this site and frankly, I only decided to start reviewing on this site because I really enjoyed Patches. Easily the best new comic I've found this month.

nice to meet you

i've been going to a lot of meetings at the ole' job recently. most of them are boring old weekly project planning meetings for which i have to make design mockups over and over and over and over.. i also make things like these.

boring long meetings and/or classes are some of the best doodle times. today we had a meeting where bill cosby showed up to talk to us for a few minutes, i didn't doodle during that one. if we had more meetings with bill cosby i would pay way more attention.

Food, Both Gross and Delicious

I just had a warm Portuguese roll with day-old Wendy's fries, honey dijon mustard & ketchup. Best sandwich I've had in HOURS!

Dinner was awesome tonight. Jenny and I met at Typhoon in Middletown for my favorite (Drunken Fried Rice) from my favorite. (Ta Ta, the owner.)

Due to weird traffic, I got to the restaurant about a half hour early - plenty of time to get a new face for a busted cell phone, some fresh Tea Tree Toothpicks & POMEGRANATE JUICE. I was lucky enough to forget my jacket so I was able to fully enjoy the dark 20° weather as I walked around outside. Tonight's work cocktail was POM juice & Mountain Dew with a little caffeine syrup. (Also 2 cups of hot tea and a red bull.)

virtual tumbleweed?

Well if no one else will post something, I might as well keep going. So earlier this week I elevated my nerd alert status from a comfortable yellow Mustard to a red and gooey Cow Blood color. I got myself one of those Sidekick dealies from T-Mobile. How could I resist a device with a color screen, email, web browsing, instant messaging and a cell phone for 20 friggin dollars?

Sure it's like talking into a bar of soap, but who cares. As far as I'm concerned it payed for itself allowing me to read web comics and IM a coworker during that first long boring meeting. Jon over at goats has had one of these things for a very long time, and does all sorts of neat things with it like update his site, download pornography, and shear sheep (often simultaneously).

Just a word of warning: friends and family may not want to be seen near you in public when you pull it out and start typing with your thumbs.