Wednesday, November 17, 2010

"4chan vs. Tumblr" and Hatsune Miku

Web Wednesday? It’s only still Wednesday in certain time zones (including Chicago) so I’m still in the clear. ;)

“4chan vs. Tumblr” is in quotes in the title for a reason. Sunday’s battle between 4chan (the “bane of humanity” according to a friend of mine) and Tumblr (the site of “hipsters” and “all girls,” the internet’s words, not mine) was more hilarious than it was an actual war. Both sites were up and down all day after 5pm EST and, honestly, I was on Twitter watching the chaos from the comfort of my couch. Oh, and Gawker may have hyped the shit out of it and I was promised fucking DDoS attacks. What gives, 4chan? If you’re gonna start throwing Molotov cocktails into someone’s window, make sure you set their entire place of residence on fire. Tumblr should have been done for a few hours, not a few seconds!

But that’s just me. I’m obviously very Team 4chan this war if you hadn’t noticed.

Now, meet Hatsune Miku. Trust me, it’s extremely rare that I’ll reference Ryan Seacrest’s blog in my Web Wednesday posts, but I actually found this to be amazingly awesome. The following video is of Hatsune Miku, she’s performing in front of a sold out crowd, and she’s not even real. SHE’S NOT EVEN REAL. I’m so moving to Japan if I ever get the chance to.




[Twitter: @LeetAmerico]

OTM: Week of November 14, 2010 – Let's go change the world… WITH A STORY!

What I find hilarious about my blog, and it might just be me that finds this funny, is that I started getting a fuckload of traffic after I stopped writing last month. I’ve had a steady stream of traffic coming in over the last seven days but nothing new for people to read. Well that changes today, for the most part.

I can’t write long winded rants about how much Monday’s episode of Gossip Girl sucked or else sites like Gawker.tv would be out of business. But I’ll be here, filling this blog with nonsense like the short story that I’ve supposed to have been posting up since October. Guess what happens when you run on Mico Time?

Haha, but in all seriousness now, I’d decided against posting “1441” a few weeks back. (I think that’s pretty obvious considering I haven’t posted anything from it recently.) I felt like it got off to a bad start. I mean, even though I have the ending written already, starting from the beginning of a story like this one is bound to have a few bumps in the road. I think I’ve managed to even out the bumps, pave over some potholes, and added a couple of speed humps to prevent it from speeding out of control.

And guess what! Two chapters for you next week for being so awesomely patient with me! (I smiled as I typed that. It made me feel like Oprah.)

I’m starting off slow this week. I gotta get the train rolling extra, EXTRA slow. I’ve figured out a perfect schedule to work on my blog, so here’s what’s getting posted this week, come Hell or Baby Jesus.

•    Web Wednesday // “4chan vs. Tumblr” and Hatsune Miku
•    Free Friday // One of the Worst Weekends of My Life, Part I of I


[Twitter: @LeetAmerico]

Monday, October 11, 2010

On the Menu: Week of October 10, 2010 – I started writing this on October 4th

Today is October 4th, 2010. It is for me, not you. You’ll be read this on October 10th.  I’m only here to add a plus to Media Monday. Today was interesting as I was on Facebook, Mashable, Gawker TV, and watching my younger nephew for a majority of the day. I hope you enjoyed the first chapter of “1441” (I laughed as I typed that seeing as I haven’t posted it yet as of 10/04, let alone finished writing it).

Writing five days ahead is hilarious, I’m sorry. It’s also scary seeing as I don’t know what will happen in the world between then (October 10th) and now (October 4th). I’ll make a few predictions of what will happen between now (October 4th) and then (October 10th).

•    Paris Hilton runs for mayor of Chicago
•    Lindsay Lohan stays in rehab for more than a week
•    I’ll get retweeted by Ray William Johnson again.

I DO have a plausible list of predictions, and it’s the menu for the week! It is as follows:

•    On the Menu: October 10, 2010 – I started writing this on October 4th
•    Media Monday // 2010: The Rise and Fall of Great TV [++]
•    Transit Tuesday // A True CTA “Ay” Story [++]
•    Web Wednesday // TMoIB, Part III
•    Wednesday Writing // “1441” #02
•    Throwback Thursday // Grand Theft Auto IV [++]
•    Free Friday // One of the Worst Weekends of My Life, Part I of I [+++]


10/11/10 Addition: For some stupid reason, I didn’t post this up on yesterday so all those references to October 10th and 5 days are just one digit off. It’s Monday now, but enjoy!

10/11/10 Addition 2: There’s a nifty tweet button on the right column at the very top. Do us all a favor and use it. You know you want to. ;)

[Twitter: @LeetAmerico; Formspring: LeetAmerico]

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

"1441" #01

I do quite a bit of talking before these kinds of things now, don’t I? Unfortunately for you (unless you like my pre-body ranting), you get me introducing you every week to “1441’s” “chapters!”

This week you’ll be meeting someone new, and he is the narrator. I’m honestly not good at introducing introductions, so enjoy:

...

My Room // Today, 5:26am

Holy fucking hell, I keep forgetting to turn off my alarm clock. Three weeks of it waking me up at 5:26am for a job I don’t even have anymore is bound to drive me insane. That’s not just a random time I pulled out of my ass and my clock isn’t just messing with me by choosing an obscure time on its own.

I’m fascinated by numbers and I could live just trying to figure out patterns, but I’m especially fascinated by the number 13. For some reason, the number is closely associated with bad luck, but for me it has been the one number I can count on. 5:26 is simply five plus two plus six, which equals 13. It’s been called my favorite number by my friends, though I wouldn’t personally call it that myself.

5:26am gave me the amount of time I needed to get ready for work, browse the internet, eat breakfast with my mom, and pick up some coffee if I chose to before I arrived at work or school with a few minutes to spare. Seeing as it’s summer, my alarm clock’s sole purpose was to wake me up for work.

But I really don’t want to think about that job anymore. It just angers me. I’m trying to be zen again, so this is the last of it that you’ll be hearing from me.

Because I could always sit in my room alone after I came home from school, I essentially had a life of solitude. I’d just do my homework, watch TV, play videogames, surf the internet, and read some books; really anything that would keep me from making any actual face-to-face contact with people.

I mean, yeah, I’d go outside and play soccer with the other boys on the block when I was younger and friends would come over to my house just as often as I would go over to theirs, but I’ve found some kind of strange comfort in having my own place in the world where I could be alone when I wanted to be.

And honestly, this has been a nice week, a nice month, and a nice life at certain moments.

Going back to that last thought, that seemed like the end of a suicide note. I’m not suicidal at all, not even depressed really. I’m just a quiet, reserved observer.

But truthfully, leading up to high school, even I begin to think of myself as a shut in. I’m just not that much of a people person. It wasn’t until a few years ago that I came out of the shell that was my room that I met some of the most important people of my life. I was exposed to a word of new things including books, music, and movies.

I’d like to think of myself as a reliable person, always going out of my way to help anyone that needed help, especially my friends and family. Eventually I began to take notice to the fact that people were taking advantage of my instinctive need to help.

Once people caught word that I was leaving Chicago to go to school elsewhere, they started being nice and wanted to help me out with everything. And it wasn’t the sick kind where you’re checking in on someone to make sure they didn’t vomit facedown into their pillow while they’re sleeping, but the kind of nice that usually results in knowing someone has a couple of months left on Earth.

Honestly, I got fed up with it. All I did was send off that Intent to Enroll Form, not find out that my kidneys had shut down and needed a transplant. I don’t get it, really. I never turned heads, no one paid much attention to me, and that’s the way I expected it to always be. I let all the attention get to me and I just exploded. Just as easy as it was to walk around the corner to mail that form, I pissed off a lot of friends.

Nothing in my life is as expected and never can be anticipated. Leaving somewhere else is my chance to take control of my own life. I’m going to have to go downstairs and cook one last breakfast for my mom before I leave to the east coast tomorrow morning. One last day to actually fix the bonds I’ve broken with amazing people.

Besides, I don’t like loose ends or cliffhangers.

...

Ooh, isn’t he mysterious? He apparently has quite the history that keeps chasing him. “1441” #2 will be up next week, October 13th!

[Twitter: @LeetAmerico; Formspring: LeetAmerico]

TMoIB, Part II: Loveline, Comcast: America’s Worst Company, Obama in NBA Shorts

I’m doing it again. I swear I’ll cut back on playing Halo: Reach as it’s affecting my blogging. I have an idea! I should write about Reach just to get it out of my system. That sounds like a good idea. That is almost asking for a “future blogging ideas” tag, but I’m [currently] too lazy to even tag this post at all.

Time be wastin’ on Web Wednesday so let’s start this shit! Two Months of Internet Business, Part II!

...

Loveline and the After Disaster: I can’t even describe Loveline because words can’t do this radio show justice. Listeners from the United States and some parts of Canada call in to Dr. Drew, Psycho Mike, and the guest(s) of the night with their problems and questions about their sex lives, receiving advice and tips from the show’s hosts and guests. For the After Disaster, Dr. Drew and Psycho Mike sit out the weekly after show which is essentially Loveline with more stories and some occasional swears but also highly recommend, btw.

Check out the Loveline live stream (or the alternate stream if the main one doesn’t work) from Sunday nights to Thursday nights at roughly 12:50am ET/9:50pm PT for the preshow discussions with the main show starting 10 minutes later on the hour for two hours, with the Loveline After Disaster post show going on for an hour afterwards on Thursday nights at 3:05am ET/12:05am PT.

Comcast and the Golden Poo: Though I would argue that AT&T is the worst company out there, apparently people think Comcast is even worse than AT&T. Too bad, considering AT&T likes to give non-golden poo to its customers.

Obama …in shorts? President Obamarama and Joe Biden are going to be playable characters latest NBA Jam along with their competition in the 2008 Presidential Election, Sarah Palin and John McCain, buuuuuut NBA Jam also includes a few others that will help settle almost 20 years of political rivalries… through basketball.

...

I wonder how long I can go calling this “Two Months of Internet Business” because it’ll become three months once we hit November. Gotta sleep on that.

Coming up next is the first “1441” chapter. After reading this and that, you can contact me @LeetAmerico or drop a question for me in the Formspring box to the right.