Two Guilty Pleasures Unite!

I've had two posts in row that were text-based, so I'm hoping it's okay if I add another post focused around a Youtube video. The Final Destination movies are a guilty, guilty pleasure of mine, so I'd already planned on seeing Final Destination 5. However, this fantastically macabre version of Saved by the Bell featuring Final Destination 5's cast has definitely added to my interest in the film. My only complaint is that faux-Jessie wasn't sporty curly hair. Before you watch the video, I would like to warn you that it features a fairly decent amount of gore, even if it's done in an over-the-top manner. Due to a gory preview picture on the Youtube video, I've just included a link in consideration to those who hypersensitive to gore.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lNEQAXX43g

Art Time with a Non-Artist (Me)

There's something you should know about me; I'm not much of an artist. The closest I've ever been to feeling like an artist were the multiple times that I was asked if I painted the Van Gogh posters hanging on my dorm wall. Another fact about me: I don't even have much art knowledge. When I was choosing those posters for my wall, I browsed through the "most popular" category and picked the prettiest ones. But despite these two Julie factoids, I'm going to share something kind of arty with you today.

I came across this post http://www.lilmagoolie.com/2010/04/01/get-spotty/ and was greatly intrigued by the idea of eraser artwork. It's pretty much what it sounds like. You dip a pencil eraser on an ink pad and use it make artwork out of the resulting dots (I also used a sharpie to aid in my artwork).  So, one night when I couldn't go to sleep, I decided to give it a shot.  It sounded easy, and I had everything that it required on hand. Well, kind of. I didn't have a working inkpad, but I had an old watercolor set, probably from when one of my siblings or I was in elementary school. But you know what? It actually worked pretty well, and when I inevitably spilled some the paint on my counter, it washed right out. 

Now, I know my resulting artwork is far from great. The ideas are unoriginal and simplistic, and the actual artwork could be easily replicated by a child. That really wasn't the point of this for me. I just wanted to flex my creativity muscles a bit and have some fun. I feel like both of these objectives were achieved, so I'm satisfied. Plus, my artwork may not be great, but I actually kind of like it. Maybe that's just my aforementioned lack of art knowledge talking.

So, if you're bored and are looking for a fun way to show some creativity, I'd definitely recommend trying some eraser artwork. It's definitely gets a stamp of approval from me.

I'm So Buzzed That I Make Bees Look Bad: Crystal Light Energy

 Okay y'all, I have three problems. I'm going to work towards rectifying the first one right now. The second may never be fixed. The third could easily be fixed, but I refuse to do so.

I'll start with the first problem. I have realized that I've gotten incredibly lazy with this blog. Most of the first page is filled with youtube videos and a "check this out" type of comment. Now, the truth is that I think youtube videos definitely have their place on this blog. However, they should be mixed in with posts that require a little more work. So, I'm going to try to write more of these posts that include, well, actual writing by me. This problem is going to be worked on today because I'm about to write, *gasp,* a post that does not include a youtube video. 

This probably should have been my first post because the Wild Strawberry flavor of Crystal Light Energy is probably among my top-used products and may, in fact, be the product that I use the most. I drink it pretty much every day, and lately I've been drinking it twice a day. This is my second problem. I drink too much Crystal Light Energy. Each packet contains 120 milligrams of caffeine, and the recommended amount per day is under 300 milligrams. So if we pretend that I have no other caffeine, then I'm doing okay on that front. The problem is that I'm reliant upon it. If I don't drink it every day, not only do I feel sluggish, but also I get a terrible headache. That's probably not good, right? But it tastes really good and perks me right up in the morning. Plus, it's super easy to "make" because all I have to do is mix it into a water bottle. I could probably just drink coffee for my caffeine fix, but Crystal Light Energy is super enjoyable. So despite it's addictive quality, I definitely give it a "Cool" stamp of approval. Maybe I'll give it up one day, but who knows?

Oh yeah. If you've stuck with me this long, you're probably wondering about my third problem. My third problem is that the title of this post is so incredibly cheesy. However, you're just going to have to deal with it because I like it.

Has anyone else tried Crystal Light Energy? What did you think about it? Or do you drink something else for a pick me up? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Laughing So Hard That I'm Crying

I love watching The Soup. Some episodes are funnier than others, but I typically average a couple of laughs per episode. It's not that often, however, this it causes me to laugh until I cry. One clip from Hoarders in last weeks' episode of The Soup literally had me in tears. I rewound it twice and watched it an additional two times when I found it on Youtube. If you read my last post, you know that strange things make me laugh, and the following clip is no exception. I doubt that everyone will find it as funny as I did, but I enjoyed it so much that I had to share.

So Basically I Have the Maturity of a Ten Year Old

I like to think that I typically have a somewhat mature sense of humor, but every once in a while, something completely stupid cracks me up. The following video is one of those "somethings." It pretty much speaks for itself. So all I have to say is embrace your immaturity as you watch the following video.

A Special Now and Later Edition: All About Mindy Kaling

Wow! Is that title misleading or what? I was trying to be cutesy by using "now and later" as a reference to the fact that this post is going to contain something I think is cool now and something that I think will be cool when it comes out. Instead, it sounds like I found now special edition of now and later candies. Speaking of now and laters, I've never been able to discover if I like them. Every time I've tried one, it's been kind of old and stale. Or maybe they just taste that stale in general. So, I assume that they're kind of nasty, but I can't assert that statement with any kind of certainty. Oh yeah, I was talking about something else. Sorry, my mind wanders. Anyway, instead of a special edition of now and laters, I'm actually going to write about things related to Mindy Kaling.

You actually may recognize the name Mindy Kaling. But, if you don't, you're more likely to recognize her most famous character: Kelly Kapoor from The Office.  In fact, Mindy Kaling is one of The Office's writers. Anyway, she's awesome and funny and you should totally be aware of who she is.

So, I guess I'll start with the now. Right now, you can enjoy Mindy's writing by reading her blog, "Things I've Bought that I Love." She hasn't updated since 2008 so some of the items she wrote about may not still be available. But, that doesn't really matter because that's not really the main reason for reading through it. I mean, I'm very unlikely to be buying flats that cost hundreds of dollars, but I'm happy to read about them when the writing is as funny as Mindy's is.

I also have another "now" for you. Isn't that awesome? This one will particularly appeal to fans/former fans of The Office because, well, it is kind of from The Office. It's one of their short webisode series featuring Mindy Kaling. In these three webisodes, Kelly and Erin have formed a band, Subtle Sexuality, with Kelly as the lead singer. They center around Kelly and Erin's making a video for their song, "Male Prima Donna," and the final and by far the best webisode is the music video. And if you enjoy these webisodes, they've also since created another less-funny-but-still-entertaining video that's a parody of Taylor Swift's "You Belong With Me." I've included the final webisode of the "Male Prima Donna" series below, but if you want to watch them all, you can find them on The Office's official site.

Now, it's time for the later portion of this post. I'm super excited about Mindy's upcoming book, Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns). It doesn't actually come out until November, but a fairly long excerpt is available at http://www.scribd.com/doc/56238687/Is-Everyone-Hanging-Out-Without-Me-by-Mindy-Kaling-Excerpt. I don't know a whole lot about it. Judging from the except, however, it consists of Mindy's thoughts on various things, and it will be really funny.

Credit: Amazon.com

Just a Note

Hey everyone. I just wanted to let all of my amazing readers know that I'm going on a short hiatus. I only have a couple weeks left of school, and there's a lot of studying and schoolwork that I'm going to have to finish by then. So, in the interest of my grades, I'm not going to post anymore until I'm done with this semester. I should have a lot more free time then and will be able to post more often.

Virtual Barber Shop-Actual Haircut Not Included

Close your eyes, and imagine for a moment that you're getting your hair cut. Really stretch your imagination here. Maybe add in some details like the barber's speaking to you. Now, how realistic was that? Unless you have some super imagination, it probably was on the lower end of the realism scale. You're probably wondering why I had you do this weird exercise (which, let's be honest, the majority of you probably didn't do. I know I would have probably skipped it).  Well, it's my way of introducing to you an audio clip to aid your imagination.

The audio, "Virtual Barber Shop," honestly creates a pretty realistic way to imagine you're at the barber shop. You put in some headphones, close your eyes, and listen to this clip. I don't know exactly how it works, but it uses binaural audio technology. Someone smarter than me could give you a much better explanation, but it's basically a special recording technique that makes things sound awesome when you put in headphones. When I listened to "Virtual Barber Shop," I actually got slightly creeped out and had to open my eyes for a second because it sounded so realistic.

Now, I know a "Virtual Barber Shop" doesn't sound that exciting. But it's not the "barber shop" part that makes it cool; it's the "virtual" part. In fact, there's several of these binaural recordings out there if you have something against barbers. This one is just my favorite. If that wasn't convincing, you'll just have to trust me. It's less than five minutes, and if you don't like it, you can complain in the comments. If you try it out and like it, you can also say nice things in the comments.

I've embedded a clip of the "Virtual Barber Shop" from youtube, but here's a link to the website from which the audio originated. They have a couple of other binaural audio clips on there. Enjoy!

U.S. Marines Dance to Britney Spears

I was planning to another review for my next post, but I saw this Youtube video and wanted to share. I'm a sucker for soldier music videos and Britney Spears' songs so a combination of the two was sure to catch my fancy. My favorite dancer is probably the guy in the background starting at :10.

Royal Wedding Dance

This is just a short update to share a video that I thought was pretty funny. To be honest, I don't really get all of the hype about the royal wedding. That being said, I loved the "Forever" wedding dance a while back, and if this were really to happen, I might become more interested in the impending nuptials.

Hyperbole and a Half

Hyperbole and a Half is one of the most awesomely entertaining blogs in existence. You may think from that statement that I'm trying to be cute by using a hyperbole to describe Hyberbole and a Half. I'm not. It really is that awesome of a blog. Now that I've hyped it up, you're probably wondering what it's about.

 http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/11/dogs-dont-understand-basic-concepts.html Credit: Allie Brosh/Hyperbole and a Half

The owner of the blog, Allie, posts hilarious things that are accompanied by computer drawings. Many times these posts are based on her personal stories, but sometimes they're just random. Trust me, every post is funny, and I'm always excited when I see that there's a new one. If you don't trust me, just Google "Hyberbole and a Half," and I'm sure you'll see plenty of other people who agree with me about how awesome this blog is. I don't think I've ever heard of anybody thought it wasn't funny.

http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/03/procrastinator.html Credit: Allie Brosh/Hyperbole and a Half

So, how awesome is it?  Well, the first day I discovered it (keep in mind, this was right before I started college and there was a lot that I should have been doing), I pretty much spent the whole day reading past posts. I've included some pictures from her blog in this post with links to the post they're from to further convince you to read it. I feel like all I've said is "read it; it's awesome" in this blog over and over again, but that's pretty much all I have to say on the matter. I'd do something helpful like recommend specific posts to read, but they're pretty much all awesome. Also, I didn't get a lot of sleep last night, and so there's that.

http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/03/spiders-are-scary-its-okay-to-be-afraid.html Credit: Allie Brosh/Hyperbole and a Half

By the way, I'm making the link the largest size in an attempt to get you to click it. I think all I accomplished, though, is making the rest of my writing look really tiny.
http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/

I'm Not Dead

Hey everyone! I just wanted to write a quick post to tell you both that I'm not dead and that I haven't abandoned this blog. I've been really busy with schoolwork, blogging for class, and blogging in my other blog, I Like TV and Movies. So, you dozen or so people who've seen this blog, fear not. I should be blogging again soon.

Black Shatter O.P.I.

When I first heard of Shatter/Crackle nail polish, I was intrigued. But I'm not one of those super fashionable and cool girls, and I figured like many other trendy items, it was just something that I couldn't pull off. Then, I heard more and more about it. So, eventually I decided that despite my non-fashionista status, I wanted to try some. Thankfully, my grandmother kindly sent me a bottle of O.P.I. Black Shatter polish along with O.P.I. Not Like the Movies.

After class, I ran (metaphorically speaking, of course. My campus is too hilly for my lazy self to actually run around it.) back to my room so that I could paint my nails. Now, when I paint my nails, I'm like a kid who can't learn to paint inside the lines. I do my best, but it often just looks amazingly awful. That being said (I figured I better give a disclaimer because I'm probably going to include a picture of it), I used Not Like the Movies as a base. It's a shimmery polish that looks pink in some lights and green in others. It's a really fun shade that has my easily amused self moving my fingers back and forth against the light to see the color change. If you don't know much about shatter polish, you first have to put a color underneath it (at least I assume). Then you paint some of the shatter polish on the nail. It goes on fairly opaque, but then it "shatters" and you get the shatter effect. I'd definitely recommend adding a clear top coat when using the shatter, because it has an odd, dull finish without it.

As you can see, my polish has already withstood a couple of days of wear, and isn't looking its best. In fact, I didn't include my right hand because the thumb is literally missing half of its polish. So, am I cool enough to pull off shatter polish? Probably not. But that won't keep me from wearing it because it's super fun.

Have you tried O.P.I's Black Shatter polish or another type of shatter polish? I'd love to hear your thoughts on it.

College Daybreak

I'll be honest. I'm not much of news person. When I'm at home, I might pick up the paper if I'm bored, but even then, it's usually just to read the Life section. With all that's been going on in the world lately, however, I've been feeling kind of bad about my lack of news knowledge. I signed up for The New York Times news alerts thinking that I'd at least be aware of something important like a major catastrophe or an alien invasion. Instead, I got "important" news updates like "Charlie Sheen fired from Two and a Half Men." So, I unsubscribed. That's where College Daybreak came into the picture. College Daybreak provides a weekdaily news update. They post a selection of headlines, and under these headlines, they post a few highlights from the article. If you're interested in the article, you can click a link to read the whole thing.

I didn't know what to use as a picture, so I took a screencap of my inbox full of College Daybreak. Don't judge me for still using Juno. Just don't, okay? 

College Daybreak may seem like a lazy alternative to just reading the news. However, for me the alternative would probably be to completely skip the news altogether. It's not a fact I'm proud of, but it's the truth. Plus, I really enjoy reading my College Daybreak newsletter every morning. They have a good mix of fun, fluffy news and serious stuff that I should know. If you're not a college student, you may be a bit wary of this. While it's geared towards college students, I think it's useful to anyone who's not a huge news-reader. It's a free email, so giving it a shot couldn't hurt.

If you thing College Daybreak sounds interesting, you can sign up at their site:
http://collegedaybreak.com/

Words With Friends Is Awesome

Whether or not it's true, I like to think that I sometimes am ahead of the game on trends. 

However, even my delusional self can't claim that to be the case with Words With Friends. After a fun fling with the Scrabble app, I discovered my true love, Words With Friends. And if you found that last sentence to be creepy, I'm going to guess that you haven't tried the app yet (or maybe you're just a lot saner than I am.) Anyway, I'm aware that my newfound love of Words With Friends is far from revolutionary. I've heard tons of people rave about Words With Friends before I tried it out. So, I guess that would make it kind of a slut if I kept going with my above relationship analogy. But, we should probably move on from that because I'm don't want to alienate you readers by being overly weird. So, what I'm trying to do is just humbly acknowledge that you've likely already heard of/played/watched someone play Words With Friends long before this review. If you haven't, let me share a little bit about it with you.

Because I'm awesome, I have pictures to go with this. Here's a sample game.

Words With Friends is pretty much like an online Scrabble app for the iPod Touch, the iPad, the iPhone, and the Droid. As you can see above, I play on my handy, dandy iPod Touch. It's called Words With Friends, but really, you can play with either a friend or a stranger. While it's more fun to play with people you know for bragging rights, sometimes I'm forced to start games with strangers to pass time while the people I know take forever and a day making their move. Anyway, it's got a couple of differences from playing Scrabble in real life. For one, the special squares on the board are set up differently. I haven't yet figured out exactly how the squares are different, but I know that they rack me up a lot more points that I can earn in actual Scrabble. Also, you don't have to count up the points or keep track of them yourself, because it's done for you automatically. Well, I normally just make someone else keep track of my points in actual Scrabble, but most of you probably aren't as lazy as me. Another difference from actual Scrabble is that you can play as to your convenience. In real life, Scrabble is normally played in one or two sittings. In Words With Friends, however, you can play whenever you feel like it. My favorite difference from actual factual (I've been resisting adding in factual ever time that I've said actual, so just give me this one) Scrabble is that you can try out words, and the app will tell you if they work. I'm always scared of the scary word-challenge in actual Scrabble, but in WWF (coming up with this abbreviation earlier probably would have been smart) you can try crazy words to your heart's content. It's quite simply amazing.

Oh yeah--this picture just reminded me. The app is free if you let them show you ads. As you can see, I'm cheap and went the free route. If you have money to spare though, you can buy the app for money (I don't know how much, and it's my spring break, so I'm not going to research) and have the ads removed. Anyway, I leave you with the above picture. It actually makes me look a lot more awesome with words than I actually am, so you can just believe that I win most of the time if you want to believe that.

"Which seat can I take?"

If you haven't seen this wonderfully literal trainwreck of music video that's been circulating the internet recently, you should do yourself a favor (or diservice depending on your appreciation of the horrible) and check it out.

Nerimon

I love Youtube. However, I only subscribe to one channel (that is not owned by someone I know personally). That channel is Nerimon. His videos are almost always hilarious. Plus, he's British! I recommend starting off with one of his hilarious readings of Twilight. In fact, I've conveniently posted it below.

Name Change

I just changed the name of my blog from "Click These Links" to "I Think This is Cool." Why did I do this? Well, I did it for two reasons.

1) Because I felt like being extremely literal. Many of my posts were embedded youtube videos and thus were not clickable links.

2) Because I've had nine views (yes, only nine) in the history of this blog, so I don't think anyone will really mind.

When Parents Text

This is my new favorite site. It's a simple concept: a website that posts various texts people have received from their parents, but it's very entertaining. It's consistently-hilarious, even making me laugh out loud on more than one occasion. I often quote my favorites from this site to my sisters via Facebook wall posts.

http://whenparentstext.com/