More Christmas Mentions

I think my favorite kind of picture to take of people is the "sit and sleep" position.

It must take very high levels of Tired-agens(tm) to makes someone fall asleep sitting up. I find it consistently amusing and often hilarious.


I think my second favorite type of picture is the "American Gothic" pose.


My Uncle David should be a professional model for photos I take and find funny.

----
During my trip home I mettup(tm) with some high school friends.

Here is Seth, Duncan and Jack talking like adults at a fancy sushi restaurant.


They were so involved in their discussion that Jack didn't realize I had kidnapped his wife and was about to tie her to some train tracks.

Xmas All Over

Mr. Blog, my New Years resolution is to update you more. So hang in there.

Since I was little my Christmas has always lasted longer than just December 25th. Growing up with divorced parents and an extended family that extends all over Virginia, Florida, North Carolina, Ohio, Indiana I always had at least 2 and as many as 5 Christmases.

This year was no different:

It all began early in December with Chrissy's company's holiday party.

We danced

and drank wine.

It was a very fun evening.

Later I had a Pudding-thank-you show. They buried me under a pile of chairs for half the show, which was a shame because I was wearing a really nice suit.



The next week of Christmas was the iO holiday party. It's a lot like an office holiday party except people don't get drunk and go "crazy".


That's not true at all... Look how drunk a crazy these dudes are.

Then I flew home to Virginia. The flight there was bizarre because there was no auxillary power on the plane. The axillary power keeps all of the secondary functions going when the engines aren't running. One of those secondary functions is the heating of the plane. So inside the plane was the same temperature as outside the plane, -10 degrees farenheit. It was the longest runway taxi Ive ever had to sit though.

Luckily when the plane took off it got warm again.

But once I was home I had a blast and a half.

My Grammy got a new faux fireplace from my dad. It looks pretty real and actually put out heat as well. GIFT SUCCESS!

People wonder why I never take serious pictures. Neither does my dad. But there no connection between those two facts whatsoever.



Christmas morning at my dads place and Santa came for Maggie.



She got this little white Tiger that purred and meowed. She didn't let it go all Christmas morning.

After Christmas morning it was off to Newsomes for my other other Christmas.


One of the most gifted presents were Nintendo DS games. Which those of us in the second generation of the Taylors couldnt get enough of.


Miles played Tecmo Bowl.

Here is Briana modeling for Nintendo.

The Taylor tradition is to go around and one at a time open the present we got from our secret Santa. The process can last an hour or more, and when you have an unwrapped present in your hand it feels like forever.


My 90 year old grandfather waited patiently as we opened present but about half way through he got too tired and excused himself to his recliner.



He was down for the count. Along with his cat Blackie.

Return of Reviews

Ive been "into" a bunch of things recently so I thought In would recommend them to those people who may need something to be "into".


THE WIRE

Without-a-doubt, I can call this the best written show I've ever watched. EVER.

In a nutshell the show is about the Baltimore police and a drug empire, which would not usually be something that interests me. Yet, it keeps a critical yet sympathetic eye for both sides of the story. In the end, SO GOOD!

(warning: there is lots of cursing in the show, just in case you are sensitive to that... )

Lars and the Real Girl

A very unexpected movie about a man who loves a life size doll. It seems like it would be a wacky comedy, but it ends up being a sweet moving story about family, community, growing up, and mental illness. Very very good.

Kung Fu Panda


Hilariouso!

Contest!

So here are pictures from the concert on Saturday. Some are a little blurry and intentionally ambiguous. But there are clues in each picture as to what the game is. Some are easy and some are meant to throw you off.

Rules:
- Post your numbered answers in the comment section.
- It has to be the exact game, if it is a sequel you have to know which sequel it is.
- First person to get them all wins.

Prize:
- Some DVDs and a Threadless T-shirt

1)


2)


3)


4)


5)


6)


7)


8)


9)


10)

Geek Symphony

I was debating internally whether or not I should post this. Revealing this type of information to everyone makes me feel naked and vulnerable. But in order to go on with my life I need to tell the world:

I am a Geek!

I submit to you a glaring example of life in the realm of nerds.



A concert of orchestrated Video Game music. If there is any place a group of dweebs can feel safe is here:








Actually the concert was very fun. Despite the laughs had at the expense of people dressing as video game characters, I have to admit these are my people.

Ill post pictures of the actual concert sometime soon with a fun quiz (prizes!)

Tourism

Sometimes I still feel like a tourist in Chicago despite the fact that I have lived here for over 4 years. There are always new sights and attractions that surprise me.



This awesome statue is in the NBC plaza. It caught my attention. And someone elses:


On another note:

Macy's seems to think they have the ability to manipulate time so that Christmas is close enough to start putting up decorations.



Creepy decorations. Yeesh. Although these window displays are terrifying I also found them strangely hypnotic. As did someone else:

We Did It!

I was there!



It's a brand new day for America!

1 month ago is now

Oh man am I a terrible blogger. I guess my habits of taking pictures and writing about life events have given way to my habit of doing work at work. BOO!

Here are some thing cool that happened to me:

David Byrne and Of Montreal Concerts made my feeble head explode.



Highlights:

- David Byrne had 3 dancers in white doing choreographed dances to half his songs. Very sweet visuals to go with very sweet songs.

-Of Montreal's stage show is the greatest thing I have ever seen. It included an old school saloon fight, life sized gold Buddhas, tons of animal masks, a centaur, Ken Barnes (the lead singer) hanging himself, and more...

Jeff

Wow, now I guess I have to measure myself by how high I am up on Jeff's blog. His "Blog List" is in order of the most recently updated, and I am second to last. But the second I hit PUBLISH I go straight to the top. That is so like Jeff, even on a boat he can passively aggressively give people writing assignments.

Random Reviews of things that aren't typicaly reviewed

Leaning Bookshelves



Space saving? Yes! Helps organize books by size? Affirmative! Opens up any room? Bingo! Looks like it always about to fall over but is in reality not about to fall over? Check!

I give it:

4 out of 4 Cold Mountains

Jet Skis



I dare you to find one object in the universe that is more fun than a Jet Ski. No? Then I double dog dare you! Still no? Then I triple mango dare you!

I give it:

7 out of 6 mangos

Mangos


Smoothied, dried, kabob-ed, freshly picked, distributed, delivered, eat-ed...

anyway you slice 'em... their delicious!

I wish there was a mango council. I would run for president under the platform of Juicy Sweetness.

I give them:

Lots of babies eating mangos