My Birthday

So, the day before my birthday (the 24th), Sam invited me over to her house and she held a little party for me. It was so much fun, and I'm so glad she loves me enough to throw me a party.

From left to right: Sam, Val, Mariana, Isaac, Dan.

The cake Sam and I made, with Val taking the chocolate icing with her into the livingroom and then being the barmaid and serving the cake to everyone.

This is Dan after Sam, Val, and I dressed him up in some of Sam's clothes (they're guys clothes technically) and gelling his hair with some old L'Oreal (sp?) hair gel. This was the best picture we got of him. Yay lighting!

...we like to tickle and have fun. Yes, we are still kids at heart, THANK YOU. Sorry, the lighting sucks the majority of the time.

I love my friends. ^.^

Legos!

Anyone who knows me (well) knows that I LOVE legos. Recently, my friend had to write a report on the history of legos, and that reminded me of this one article I read about this guy who got paid to make lifesize sculptures of things with legos. AMAZING! So, I've decided to make a top ten of my favorite lego artwork.

Number 10: "Your LEGO PC"
Would be cooler if it was functional; but hey, legos ARE awesome.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,1853580,00.asp

Number 9: Red Dragon
Who doesn't like lifesize dragons?
http://www.lifebrings.com/article_images/Legoland/D20061120_193220.JPG

Number 8: Giraffe
This is located somewhere in Berlin.
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_Fqi-Xgba00s/SEt92SSkcDI/AAAAAAAABrQ/dACfV_AF6BI/DSCN1869.JPG

Number 7: Death Star diorama
I'm sorry, but you can't NOT like this, even though it isn't life size. It's pure epicness.
http://www.geekologie.com/2008/06/lego_star_wars_diorama_is_legi.php

Number 6: Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Hagrid
Harry Potter fan here. This had to be on the list.
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_0NCmIAnRLVA/Rw2IgIe345I/AAAAAAAAA5I/0caQvpcNWUA/Picture+253.jpg
http://static.travelmuse.com/docs/artwork/columns/travel-news/issue-8/news-deals-legoland-boy-with-harry-potter-full.jpg <- Better picture


Number 5: Lego Millenium Falcon Stop Motion
Again, this is not life size, but it's a pretty sweet annimation. Kudos to technomonkeymedia!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEc8v1OWeE4

Number 4: Talking Darth Vader
Not only is he life size, but he talks! Only $50,000.
http://www.toygoround.com/pages/Selection_Pages/LIFE_SIZE_LEGO_DARTH_VADER.htm

Number 3: Minas Tirith
I wanted to put this first, I really did. T.T Displayed at Brickfest 2005 at the annual conference for the AFOL (Adult Fans of Lego). Who knew that existed?
http://www.wired.com/news/images/full/001_f.18712.jpg

Number 2: The Empire State Building
Complete with King Kong!
http://image22.webshots.com/22/4/64/15/239246415EttYlo_fs.jpg

And finally...

Number 1: The Dragon
According to the link, this dragon is the biggest lego model in the entire world. Plus the fact that it looks so awesome, this deserves the number one spot on my list. Kudos!
http://blogs.mysanantonio.com/weblogs/geekspeak/archives/biggest-lego-model-in-the-world-the-dragon-010907.jpg



In other news, Geekologie is my new favorite site. And this cross between a beanbag and a pillow has made it onto my wishlist (black). Long live bastard children! http://www.sumolounge.com/omni.php

Straight No Chaser

Some of you may have heard of the Acapella group, Straight No Chaser. Recently, they signed with Warner Music Group. On their youtube page, it says,

You may have read recently about Warner Music Group removing all of their artist's videos
from Youtube. This affected us as well, so many of our videos are no longer available here.
Please visit www.myspace.com/sncmusic to watch The 12 Days of Christmas and send to your
friends!

Now, I am looking for my favorite song from them, "The Lion Sleeps Tonight," which was posted on December 18th, 2007. There are a few fan videos from the shows they've done, but it's not the same as the original video (which WMG insisted they remove) mostly because Steve Morgan doesn't go as high, and the quality of the videos stink. I was very upset to learn that all their old videos were removed. In my opinion, shouldn't all of their old videos stay, because they were posted BEFORE they signed with WMG? I can understand not letting them keep videos up AFTER they signed...

So I figured, "Ok, fine. Let them have their way. I have a dollar and fourteen cents left in my iTunes account, they'll have the song there for me to buy." So, I opened my iTunes and searched for "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" by Straight No Chaser. Guess what? IT WASN'T THERE. So now, not only can I not hear the original on youtube, but I can't even buy it on iTunes. On one of their videos made especially for YouTube, "The 12 Days of Christmas (2008 version)" (I believe it's called), it says in the sidebar to go to myspace to hear the original 12 Days of Christmas.

Now, my friends who know me, also know that I HATE myspace and facebook and all of those internet communication sites. Although, I was so desperate to hear the song that I actually went to myspace and looked up Straight No Chaser's page. Guess what? IT'S NOT THEIR EITHER.

So now, I'm left with nothing of the song. THANKS A LOT WMG. I mean, if they're going to make them get rid of the videos, at least make the song BUYABLE. -.-

I think that Straight No Chaser should fight WMG for the rights to have their original preformaces publicized the way they want. WMG should NOT have control over the music recorded BEFORE they were signed.

What can someone do to get this song the way it was originally sung by Straight No Chaser?

Please leave a comment if you agree!