I'm Moving...my blog

That's it kids, I'm leaving my Blogspot.com address forever.

I've decided that Tumblr is a nicer and more functional alternative.

So change those RSS feeds and your Bookmarks to

TheWunderBlog.com

Boy, is that easy or what?!

Also, to view my tumblog please use Mozilla Firefox (downloadable free here)

if you don't have firefox than you'll have a slightly skewed view

here is what it looks like in Firefox (in all it's glory):

and here is the not-so glorified Internet Explorer version (that skews the page and cuts off some of the text on the right column):


I will be keeping my .blogspot address as an archive of all my old blog posts

See you at the Tumblr!

Snapshot

I'm using a program on my blog called SnapShots. If you graze your mouse over a highlighted word or phrase it will give you a preview of what it links to!

Fast Food: An Ode to Greatness and Greasiness

I rarely eat fast-food. I could count the number of times I have eaten fast food this year on 3 fingers. Regardless, I’m American and from one of the girthiest states in the union: New Mexico. Hell, the State is even the fifth biggest by geographical statistics let alone the people. Also, I’ve been to most of the states (at least 85%) in the nation and have consistently eaten fast food in all of them during my travels as a teenager. Therefore, I’ve eaten my unfair share of fast food in my lifetime and now feel confident that I can ultimately determine the 10 Best Fast Food Restaurants.

(Side Note: Are places like Starbucks that have pre-prepared sandwiches and ready-to-heat breakfast sandwich items (which must be microwaved before serving) really Fast Food? Well, damn you Starbucks, you’re screwing up the formula. Let’s just say that if you serve more beverages than food and don’t actually cook anything in the restaurant/establishment than NO, you’re not fast-food (that means all smoothie joints and Tim Hortons-like places).

10. CiCi’s Pizza

What could be better than a pizza buffet for 5 bucks? Apparently nine other places, but still this is pretty damn good. The pizza is good enough for 5 dollars, plus it has those fightin’ words “all-you-can-eat” attached to it. Here’s my Cici’s story for you: When I was 19 I was hungry. Myself, my friend Chris, and his then girlfriend decided to go to the pizza buffet kingdom. I paid, as did his girlfriend, but Chris wasn’t hungry so he didn’t. Mid-meal Chris decided he wanted a slice of pizza and took one of mine and ate it. Then the manager of Cici’s came over, told Chris not to leave because he had called the police because Chris had stole pizza! After a couple, “Are you serious?” comments the police arrived. I told the manager, “How is this different than me buying chicken nuggets and giving him one.” The Manager replied, “It’s not. That’s stealing.” The cops made Chris pay 5 dollars.

Fav Meal: the fact that you can ask them to make any kind of pizza you want and they’ll do it.

9. Blake’s Lotaburger

New Mexico has great food. Also, it has fantastic fast-food. Blake’s is a New Mexico staple with 76 locations in the state. That’s a lot of locations for a state that only has 1.5 million people. That’s one Blake’s Lotaburger for every 19,737 New Mexico residents. Blake’s is pretty standard fast food burger and fries fare, but they will put green chile on anything. Plus, it’s cheap and local.

Fav Meal: Lota Combo, LotaBurger with green chile, Curly Fries (as a substitute), diet coke

8. Rubio’s

When I think “Salsa Bar” I think sweaty Spanish guys in polyester shirts. Thankfully there is another Salsa Bar at Rubio’s. I typically hate condiments that don’t end in “arbeque sauce”, but damn I love Salsa. I love it so much I capitalize it in articles.

Fav Meal: every Salsa they have with a bean and cheese burrito

7. Wendy’s

Wendy’s reminds me of my childhood. My two best friends and I would ride our bikes to Wendy’s by our neighborhood, pay in small silver change, and eat until we got sick. Then we’d have a frosty. Also, I’m a huge fan of Wendy’s smug slogan: “That’s Right.”

Fav Meal: Jr. Bacon Cheeseburger, Chili

6. Panda Express

I’ve personally never seen an Asian person working at Panda Express. I’ve seen whites, blacks, Persians, Mexicans, and in-betweens, but no Asians. That doesn’t bother me though. At least the food is consistently the same delicious-everything-tastes-like-salt-and-canola-oil food. Also, it’s nice to leave a fast-food restaurant with an omen of good futures in hand.

Fav Meal: Steamed vegetables, orange chicken, 6 fortune cookies

5. Sonic Drive In

In high school people would park their trucks at Sonic and meet up. When I went on a trip with a former girlfriend we stopped at Sonic 6 times with her 8 siblings because there is a Sonic every 15 minutes in West Texas. 5 LA friends and I took a Tuesday night to drive to Anaheim because there isn’t a Sonic anywhere in LA County. Sonic creates good times.

Fav Meal: Five Burgers for Five Bucks on Tuesdays (no mayo, mustard, or ketchup), Strawberry Limeade with extra Strawberries

4. Taco Cabana

Taco C as we called it was the place to see people’s badly enhanced rice rocket Hondas while in high school. More importantly, it’s damn good and damner cheap. They have, hands down, the best fast food Huevos Rancheros this side of Montgomery and Wyoming Blvd.

Fav Meal: Huevos (Over Medium, Green, Flour Tortillas), Pepcid-AC (for afterwards)

3. In-N-Out

I’m a simple guy. I like simple things. In-N-Out Burger is so simple it has 3 basic menu items: Burger, Beverage (soda or shake), and Fries. Granted there are other crazy combinations like Protein style (no bun, lettuce instead), animal style (thousand island, cheese, and grilled chopped onions), Alex Ourieff style (hard toasted bun, extra crisp fries animal style, grilled onions), or whatever. I don’t even care that it’s all freshly made and crap. It’s the ultimate California road trip stop.

Fav Meal: Burger, Soda, Fries.

2. Rudy’s Barbeque

There need to be more places like Rudy’s. First of all they don’t use plates. You just get a parchment sheet with slabs of meat. Plus, you can get side dishes (baked beans, cole slaw) and you can only order bread by the loaf. Rudy’s BBQ sauce (the regular sauce and non spicy they-call-it “sissy” sauce) is top-notch. Once my dad paid my friends and I to tear up a concrete walkway in our backyard by buying us a huge Rudy’s lunch. Sledgehammers and Ribs, that’s heaven. Added bonus: They sell beer in 32 ouncers.

Fav Meal: pound of brisket, loaf of wheat bread, bbq sauce, Coors Light

1. Frontier Restaurant/Golden Pride

Anyone who knows me from home could’ve guessed that this would top my list. The Frontier is a block-long restaurant across from the University of New Mexico in Albuqueruqe. The menu is everything college kids need: Burgers and steaks, full breakfast menu, and everything New Mexican possible. The breakfast burritos are legendary (a friend coming to visit me here in LA brought two on the plane with him for me, but ate one because they smelled so good). It doesn’t hurt that it’s open 24 hours a day 362 days a year (minus New Year’s Day, Christmas Day, and Thanksgiving Day). I probably spent as much money in my lifetime at Frontier as I have on cars and college tuition.

Fav Meal: Breakfast Burrito (green, no eggs, extra hash browns, bacon), coffee, Chile Cheese Fries, Sweet Roll

it's not me i swear!

Okay "Jerry Wonder" I see what's going on. Creeping up on my name...

Also, what the hell is "Wyclef Jean in America"?!

Drawing 101: be Steven Wiltshire

My friend said to me, "Brits have no talent."

I disagree. Although, I had to do some research to prove it.

Let's start with this guy: Stephen Wiltshire

Wiltshire is a 33-year-old artist from London. His talent: completely recreated to-scale drawings of massive cityscapes and landmarks in austere detail. Alright, it's true that other artists can do that too. However, Wiltshire does the drawings completely from memory... also, he's autistic.

Visit his Website!
http://www.stephenwiltshire.co.uk/

Watch him draw Tokyo!
(actual drawing starts at 02:50)



Wiltshire draws Hong Kong
(1 minute video)

Indy's Back!

You Are The Weakest Link

I am no Digg.com, Current.com, or whatever other link site out there. These are just links to stuff I enjoy that have no connection to each other except that they all are proven to be awesome to some extent of greatness. Click the title to link to the site.

Will & Heidi: Another eHarmony Success Story

Some people say that Will Ferrell is the same crap in every movie. Well you’re wrong. He may be the same kind of awesome funny in every movie, but he was only a San Diego news anchor and a Championship figure skater once. Now he’s playing for the Flint Tropics! What’s even more impressive is somehow he got supermodel/Project “That outfit looks dowdy” Runway host Heidi Klum in a bikini and in Sports Illustrated 2008 Swimsuit issue.

Spielberg says, “China? Chi-NO!”

What a Jew! Steven Spielberg who has been China’s artistic director for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing dropped the Chinese and their big contracts. Why? China won’t stop trading with Sudan whose Darfur region’s government sponsored genocide continues.

Spore Score and 7 Years in the Making

I’ve been hearing about Spore for years. The guy who invented Sim City is developing this game in which you start as a single cell organism, evolve into a simple creature, and then learn about civilization, technology, and building. Soon you make it all the way to rocket scientist space explorer where you can visit other people’s worlds they have created via the massive multiplayer online part. You can steal their creatures and bring em back to your world or just space race around the galaxy meeting other Spore Nerds. The game isn’t out yet, but someone got a chance to play.

Beardedly Funny

Collegehumor.com is The Office for college kids. Although it could be argued that The Office is The Office for college kids. So collegehumor.com is more like The State (MTV’s 90’s sketch comedy show) for the iPod-era college kids. Anyway, this guy Streeter Seidell sure has some funny things to say (or in this case photoshop). also see: www.streeterseidell.com

Doomsday

America loves end of the world movies. I’ve sat through Soylent Green, 12 Monkeys, Independence Day, two Planet of the Apes, The Day After Tomorrow, Mars Attacks, Deep Impact, and Armageddon.

I’m not sure if I can sit through another one. Especially this one.

At least this time it’s the UK getting armageddoned up and not us. It’s a mix of Resident Evil (ass-kicking heroine, motorcycles, jumping over with knives and guns), I Am Legend (a virus infects the UK and is quarantined), Ultraviolet (futuristic action thriller set on stemming a virus) and Hook (that’s right, because the guy who played Smee in Hook, Bob Hoskins, is also in this). I’m just surprised the Milla Jovovich isn’t in this one also. Here’s the Trailer:

Doomsday Trailer

Another This Just Happened

ThisOnePerson (10:11:20 PM): a guy i was in the dorms with just got married, its really strange

ThisOnePerson (10:11:45 PM): he comes to school with his wife and they wear their backpacks and hold hands and do married people things

MeOhMy (10:11:56 PM): haha

MeOhMy (10:12:10 PM): i didn't know that wearing backpacks and holding hands is a "married person thing"

1 Person Games for the Car Driving

It was fine when my radio worked and my tape player didn’t. I was more than okay with just listening to KCRW (LA’s local NPR station). It was also fine when KROQ didn’t come in very clearly because, let’s be honest, KROQ plays 15 pretty mediocre songs. What I’m not okay with is that my tape player doesn’t work and now my radio antennae has broken off and I can’t even get KCRW half of the time. You may be thinking, “Stop bitching”. I don’t care! It’s hard not being able to hear the vitals of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, Fresh Air, and Mee-chelle Norris while on the 405. What’s a guy to do? I’ve reverted to making up one person games that I call, “1 Person Games for the Car Driving”. Here are some of them:

“Gumdrop Shazaam”

How to play: chew up some gum, get it real saliva-y, roll down your window, and throw it and try to stick it to another car. Extra points if you can hit a car over another car or if you can get it inside an open car window. Negative points if you hit another car with your car while trying to hit another car with your gum. Super extra points if you can toss it through the open window of the CR-V with the soccer mom and into the Taxi window and hit the cab driver who then gives dirty looks to the soccer mom.

“Code Breakin’ Billboard Game”

How to play: Ever see A Beautiful Mind? The movie is about the math genius, although schizophrenic, John Nash. Well he had this talent to find codes hidden in sets of large amounts of complex text or numbers. To play the game just stare at a billboard until you break the “Code” of the billboard. Then put the code in a manila envelope in the front of an abandoned house and wait for the FBI to pick it up.

“Guess What Song is on the Radio that I Can’t Hear”

How to Play: It’s pretty self explanatory. Plus, it’s almost impossible to lose. Unless you guess the same song twice in a row or unless you call your roommate and make him stand next to the radio at his house and THEN you try and guess what’s on the radio. Then it’s fun for the whole family!

luminarias

If I were to name the most beautiful day I remember it would be Christmas Eve when I was in 10^th grade. It snowed all day, but everyone still put up the luminarias. If you’re unfamiliar with luminarias they are paper bag lanterns. In Albuquerque on Christmas Eve, especially in the Old Town area where I grew up, everyone puts them up everywhere outside their homes. Thousands of people come to walk the streets of the neighborhood and Old Town plaza. People open their homes to anyone walking who is cold and offer cider and snacks. This Christmas Eve it snowed all day. I remember almost slipping off the roof while putting up the lanterns. My sister and I spent the latter part of the afternoon eating all the food at our neighbor’s house who threw the holiday parties with the best spread. They also gave me my first drink. I don't remember what it was, but it was awful tasting. Later that night, before all the people in cars, buses, and on foot came through my girlfriend came over. It continued to snow and people began showing up at our house. My dad made Chile Con Queso and I ate too much. There is a street in my neighborhood called Laguna. It’s long and has a line of trees in the median. It’s normally beautiful, but with the paper lanterns and snow it was particularly romantic, especially for a 15 year old.

Trying to describe this is totally impossible.

This just happened.

This Instant Message conversation just happened (screen names have been replaced):

FriendOMine(9:54:17 PM): i decided obama has a really nice voice

FriendOMine(9:54:31 PM): like i would enjoy if he would read me stories before i went to sleep

MeOhMy(9:55:00 PM): you're a creeper

when not in my "waking life"

I am a committed believer that dreams mean nothing. They don’t tell you anything about you, what you need or want from life or situations, and they don’t have any meaning to your life at all. To me dreams are just your subconscious running a better late night TV show for you to watch starring yourself. There are no reruns or informercials (unless you are Michael Bay’s dreams), but instead engaging stories featuring your biggest fan: you.

My dreams have always been vivid and complex. When I young 10-year-old I had a recurring dream that I was stuck in the Albuquerque airport with my mother running away from skeletons dressed as travelers. We finally met a friendly skeleton with a Hawaiian shirt on in the elevator who helped us to safety. What did this dream mean? That I am scared of skeletons? I was 10. So yeah, I was scared of skeletons chasing me.

Because of this I’ve decided to take my most recent dream and use the most recent dream analyzing technology (the internet) to figure out what it all means.

Here is the dream I had Friday night (warning: this dream contains the Los Angeles freeway):

Sitting at camp by myself I realized that I had made a mistake. My girlfriend and I had gotten in a fight. She wanted to go visit her family and I refused. Her family was racist, hated me, and didn’t hide it. I told her to go alone and because of my refusal we broke up. She was off to the airport and I realized that I should go to visit her family with her and in fact, I should marry her. I left camp and jumped on the freeway, literally. When I got to the freeway no one was driving cars, but running full speed on foot. Thousands of LA drivers running down the 405 at the same time; it was quite a sight to see. I started running through the pack weaving in and out of all the faceless commuters. My cell phone rang and it was her. I answered and she told me not to come visit her, that she hated me, her family hated me even more and I was wasting my time because she would never marry me. I fell to the ground and began to cry. Traffic stopped behind me and people were honking their non-existent horns madly.

I woke up at this point very upset. I walked to the bathroom cursing the whole way through. Not only until I was halfway through washing my hands did I realize it was just a dream.

If I were to tag keywords in my dream this is what I’d note: Marriage, running, rejection, racism, relationships

Here’s the interpretation:

Marriage: You are ready to join or commit yourself to a cause. Joy without a profit (petrix.com/dreams).To dream of a proposal of marriage, suggests that some situation will take a turn for the worse (dreammoods.com). Dreaming of a marriage, or a wedding, is the sign of a death in the family (sleeps.com). A marriage proposal can represent a culmination or milestone in a romantic relationship (thecuriousdreamer.com).

Rejection: To dream that you are being rejected, signifies a lack of self-worth and alienation of others(dreammoods.com).

Running: A running dream is basically a dream of escaping a certain situation, person, or thing (sleeps.com). Running is a traditional symbol of health and vitality in addition to being a means of fleeing potential danger (predictions.astrology.com/). The fast passage of time or quick progress in life or along your life path (thecuriousdreamer.com).

Racism: Feeling hated, alienated, discriminated against, etc. can represent a similar feeling in your real life, or a fear of feeling that way (thecuriousdreamer.com). To see racism in your dream indicates that you may be too judgmental and discriminatory in some situation of your waking life (dreammoods.com).

Relationships: To dream about a relationship with a stranger, represents the different sides of your personality (dreammoods.com).

I’m more lost on what my dream “means” now than ever.

I particularly hate the phrase “waking life”, e.g. “you may be feeling this in your waking life”. I am not leading a secret life while I’m asleep. My “sleeping life” is the same life as my “waking life”. I’m also not fond of the movie Waking Life.

Also, the gratuitous use of huge text means nothing either. Just like dreams.

I'll be in my Trailer

I remember my father telling me, “Terry, never miss the previews.” I have really taken those words to heart. My indestructible love for movie trailers came on a very specific moment. It was Super Bowl XXX: Cowboys vs. Steelers. During a commercial break my first movie trailer crush would arrive. It was this:

independance day original 1996 trailer!

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That’s right! Independence Day! Smith, Fox, Pullman, Connick Jr., Goldblum, Hirsch, Quaid, McDowell, other people! Fox paid a minuscule $1.3 million for the ad. What a steal. The movie did go on to make over $810 million proving to me that I am the ultimate connoisseur of movie trailers.

My specific reactions at that time were:

“Holy shit is that the French Prince?” Yeah, I thought Will Smith was the French Prince.

And

“New York Sucks anyway.”

Regardless, ID4 (I totally called it that) was the first movie trailer that really got me INTO movie trailers. This began my connoisseurship of trailers. Here are a few other epically historic trailers that we may have forgotten about (in categories):

First off is Horror: Saw (The original from 2004). This trailer is scarier. But what is even more frightening is that this trailer is in German dubbing. It’s extra creepy:

Action: Face/Off (1997)

Face Off -Movie Trailer Trailer (1997) - Click here for another funny movie.

Also see: Street Fighter (1994)

Comedy: The Ten (2007)

Drama: Memento (2000)

Crime: Training Day (2001)

Family/Animated: Toy Story (1995) The trailer says, “The first ever computer animated motion picture!”

For all your other movie needs go see this guy Rami

Bitchin' Ticket

I fulfilled my civic duty today by voting at the First Baptist Church in Santa Monica. The charmingly southern black woman who helped me told me, "Now you've got your Bitchin' Ticket!" I was confused, "What now?" "Your bitchin' ticket! You voted, you're allowed to bitch, and you've got the ticket to do it!"

February: Better Than January

Well look around people. It's a new month (February) and it's looking like it will be a far more eventful month than all of January was! January did have the beginning of a new semester (which sits in the caboose of the exciting train), some primaries and caucuses, and a couple days of snowboarding. A worthy candidate for Most Boring Month of 2008. However, February has already proven/will prove even more why it is going to be a far more interesting 29 days than the over-hyped 31 days that January was.

Here's what will or has made February awesome:

Feb. 3rd
Super Bowl XLII: NY Giants 17 - NE Patriots 14

If I had an awards show I'd Nominate the Super Bowl for:
Most Violent Brawl I've Been In During the Super Bowl That Resulted In Me Losing an Earring Mid-Fight
Best Game to Be The Only One Routing For the Patriots At the Party I Attended
Most Tame Commercials For That Much Dough
Best Thing LL Cool J Has Been In Since Ever (below)

Feb. 5th
SUPER TUESDAY!

I absolutely love Presidential Election season and tomorrow's 22 state wide primary/caucus vote-fest has Hillary, Barack, Mitt, and John slutting their way through CNN's 40-hours of straight primary coverage and across every major state giving their last "I'm drunk and you're the last one at the party and I'm desperate to dance" speeches. I still don't know who to vote for.

Remember when Alan Keyes was going to run? You can watch his rousing speech on immigration below where he says, "We are the urban area of the world." and "The key to deal with our immigration challenge is to enforce the law."

Feb. 14
Valentine's Day

Of all the Hallmark holiday's (Secretary's Day, Arbor Day, ...Christmas) Valentine's Day is the worst. I'm not against love, romance, or flowers. However, I am definitely against expectations, expensive flowers and chocolate, and sing-a-grams. I'm not against Valentine's Day because my love life isn't up to society's par, but rather annoyed with the conventions that come with it. The most importment part is that most of my friends feel the same way about this day as I do and we can turn a potentially stupid holiday into a big bar hopping party for ourselves.

Mardi Gras

There are 50 states and only about 10 of them deserve a party. Louisiana definitely deserves a party. Especially since the government threw New Orleans such a poor FEMA sponsored party/make the mess worse event after that jerk Katrina came around. New Orleans needs Mardi Gras 2008 for 3 reasons: 1) Boost the economy back in the bayou, 2) Girls Gone Wild commercials are getting progressively weirder (GGW Corpus Christi Scavenger Hunt!) and 3) Where else are you going to get to see Hulk Hogan dressed like this: