Saturday, February 28, 2009

similarity lurks under styles of mustache



Stolen from facebook.

1. Favorite TMBG song?
I Should Be Allowed to Think, When It Rains It Snows, Now That I Have Everything, Memo to Human Resources, and all the other ones.

2. Favorite TMBG album?
Lincoln. Good stuff.

3. Favorite TMBG album art?
Can I say User's Guide? Otherwise, Factory Showroom.

4. Favorite John?
Linnell. That cheesesteak/cake story. Hot.

5. Favorite Dan/Marty?
Marty. His rabbit drumming faces are my favorite.

6. Favorite past backing band member?
Graham Maby. He's kind of adorable, and his name is excellent.

7. Favorite TMBG lyric?
"I wasn't always so fortunate, but I knew what I had to do to be well-to-do, and it had to do with the things I had to do."

8. Favorite TMBG live show?
I don't knooow. OH. THE WFMU SHOW. FRANK O'TOOLE. "I HAVE TO TIE MY SHOE"

9. Favorite State Song?
The Songs of the 50 States, also South Carolina.

10. Favorite Mono Puff song?
Unsupervised, I Hit My Head. Or Poison Flowers.

11. Have you attended any live TMBG shows? If so, which?
NO :< The week before I found out who TMBG was, I could have gone to a kids show for free. But I thought they were like the Wiggles. D:

12. Have you ever met anybody in the band? If so, how and when?
NO

13. Do you like their musical style on "The Else"?
I like all their styles. Miles and miles of styles.

14. What are your thoughts on them doing children's music?
Good good good. I know a lot of people see Their adult and children's music as two different, distinct-ish things, but pshh. It's all the same to me. I likes it.

15. If they show up on TV, do you go out of your way to watch it?
OF COURSE.

16. What is your favorite TMBG quirk (Spin the Dial, Phone Calls From The Dead)?
Spin the Dial. I love how creepy Flansburgh makes everything.

17. Have you ever been to a location where TMBG filmed a music video?
No. But that would be very, very ftw.

18. Do you have any of the TMBG DVDs?
Direct from Brooklyn, Gigantic, Venue Songs, Here Come the ABCs, Here Come the 123s, that Blues Clues DVD in which they do Clap Your Hands. Are there any more?

19. Favorite TMBG music video?
I don't know I don't know I don't know. Rabid Child. No. Um. Puppet Head. For the Linnell Hair.

20. Have you received a setlist from TMBG?
I HAVE NOT BEEN TO A SHOW.

21. Did Oppenheimer open for any of the shows you've attended?
STOP IT.

22. How about .357 Lover?
NO.

23. Just Corn Mo himself?
NO. HE IS CREEPY ANYWAY.

24. Sex Mob?
No.

25. Any openers I haven't mentioned?
No. But I really like Michael Leviton.

26. Did you see Coraline purely for the fact that TMBG wrote a song for it?
I have not seen Coraline. When I do see it, it will be because of TMBG and Mr. Hodgman. And because it looks excellent.

27. Are you a user on This Might Be A Wiki?
Yessir.

28. Have you even heard of it?
I loves it.

29. Which do you prefer; State Songs or Mono Puff?
State Sooooongs! Dustbuster playing! Man!

30. Did you ever call Dial-A-Song, even when it was down?
Yes. Many, many times. I only got through once ever, and it was We Live In A Dump, and I recorded the audio on our video camera, and I was ecstatic. But then my sister recorded over it with her lip syncing to Build Me Up Buttercup. I hate her.

31. Least favorite TMBG song?
P.S.O.K. :S

32. Least favorite TMBG album?
No! Maybe. I don't know. It's hard to not like an entire group of things.

33. Least favorite album art?
No! It's creepy.

34. Favorite Fingertip song?
I've Found a New Friend Underneath My Pillow (what does it MEAN?) or I Walk Along Darkened Corridors, for its live show majesty.

35. Your thoughts on Space Suit, the last song on Apollo 18?
I LOVE IT. Sometimes I get into weird moods and play it over and over. Reminds me up the Hitchhiker's Guide theme, the tv show version, kind of.

36. Favorite Venue Song?
Atlanta, Leeds, and Santa Cruz. I haven't given one answer for any of these. Bahah.

37. Favorite song that was on No!, Here Come The ABCs, or Here Come The 123s?
Sleepwalkers.

38. Do you want the Live Show Downloads to come back?
Well YES.

39. Have you been to any of the states that were mentioned in State Songs?
Pennsylvania. And Ohio, if that counts, but I do not think that it does.

40. Are you going to buy Here Comes Science and their next adult album?
Hecks yeah.

Friday, February 20, 2009

John Green fails to imagine unicorns complexly.

A meme! Courtesy of Famous Alan.

1. List one book you think everyone should read this year. (if you mention my book for brownie points, please list a second book as well)
Well. YouTube: An Insider's Guide to Climbing the Charts, obviously. And also Paper Towns. And The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing. That book is beautiful. Yes, that was three. Deal with it.

2. What is your favorite thing about your hometown?
I've never thought about this. There's not much to do in Elyria itself. But I guess just my neighborhood, the environment in which I grew up (awkward grammatical phrasing ftl). It's been awesome to be able to grow up next to my pastor and his family. So many fun times with Joseph and Jonathan, picking and eating honeysuckles in the backyard, riding our bikes to the library and Twist-n-Shake. Building up huge snow ramps and sledding and snowboarding off the roof of their garage. Arming ourselves with badminton and racquetball rackets and chasing and destroying lightning bugs. Ahhh childhood.

3. Incorrectly complete these Fall Out Boy lyrics: "This ain't a scene, it's a(n) _____________" (be creative)
This ain't a scene, it's a bloodthirsty army of sentient vampiric underfancies. What.

4. What would you title your autobiography and how many pages would it be?
CLICHE CLICHE IDIOM: The Valerie Barr Story
Pages: OVER 9000

5. What was the best Christmas gift you've received? (ages 15 and under, adult Christmas gifts don't count)
BK RatchTech shoes. Instead of laces, they had things similar to cable ties, like on rollerblades. I loved them so much, until I tried to take them off. So freaking hard. So frustrating. I was always the last kid to line up at the end of recess :(

6. What's one new thing you learned this week? (they say you learn something new every day, so you should have a few things to choose from)
I learned that cashiers look at you funny if you come up to the checkout with an armful of Peeps paraphernalia.


7. Open Skype/G-Chat/AIM and type "how's my favorite friend who I haven't chatted with today?" to someone you haven't chatted with at all today. This item isn't a question, just a polite demand to let someone know you were thinking of them.

[12:23:27 AM] Valerie says: how's my favorite friend who I haven't chatted with today? :D
[12:23:45 AM] Sara says: How ironic.
[12:23:50 AM] Sara says: Paige just send me the same message.
[12:23:50 AM] Sara says: lols.

THE MEME VIRUS IS SPREADING.

8. Tell me one really proud moment from your life. (be specific)
I don't know...I'd say when I gave my valedictorian speech at graduation, but I was terrified out of my mind and not really dwelling on anything other than the paralyzing fear of having to go up there and talk in front of all those freaking people. I loathe public speaking.

So I will say the time I won Around-the-World in math in first grade. Sarah Z: PWNED.

9. Tell me one really embarrassing moment from your life. (be specific)
Whenever my parents bring up the fact that once, when I was two, I was playing in the sandbox, and I took off my pants, and ran out to the front yard, and my neighbor across the street yelled "Valerie, put some pants on!" They do this quite frequently. Bah.

10. Have you owned something for way too long... something you know you should get rid of or replace, but can't? If so, what and why?
I have stacks and stacks of old issues of Wired that kind of get in the way, but I'd NEVER throw them out or give them away.

11. Fill in the blank:
Other than this one, Alan's is the last blog I commented on.

12. Do you have any scars? Tell me about one of them.
I don't think the mark is even noticeable anymore, but when I was four, I was riding my bike down a boardwalk-type thing, going really fast, and I ran into a dog. Got a huge cut on my chin. SHUT IT.

13. I say "this is not tom", you say:
A. Who the eff is Tom?
B. Thank god, Tom sucks!
C. Oh, I love staring at page source code all day and solving riddles!! <3
D. And this is not me, not clicking the back button and not not reading the rest of this stupid meme.


C! THE ANSWER IS ALWAYS C!

14. What do you get complimented on the most? (your looks, your creativity, your impressive collection of black santa figurines)
My ability to locate information quickly. Lame.

15. Paste a link here to your favorite picture online:

This is not about Tom.

thisisnottom.com is pretty fantastically amazing. I think there are two kinds of people, just, in general. Ones who are totally enthralled by something like this, and ones who have no interest and see it as a waste of time. I do not understand this second group of people. I don't think I can be friends with them. I mean, come on. How does this not interest you?

It's been really fun trying to figure pages out on my own, and, after the yelling of obscenities and the punching of inanimate objects (not really) collaborating with lovely people. I think I was in both groups that finished first each time. First Adam and I worked together on the final page of the first set. And Alli and I, and then also Lysh worked on the second clues, eventually combining collective epic brainpowerz with Alan and Melissa. It was glorious.

also:
nottom twitter
nottom facebook
nottom digg

Promoting thisisnottom.com makes for a better thisisnottom.com, you know.

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Technology is the greatest.



Lookit that! It's my room! [press p to toggle viewing mode]

photosynth.net

Saturday, February 14, 2009

but he also kinda likes the look of that new old navy fleece

So I was thinking about dreaming the other day, and the effect it has on my attitude towards and view of people. I often find myself holding grudges or being more terse with people who've wronged me in my dreams.

I had a dream once in which I was talking to someone, squatting down to the side of where they were sitting, and they raised up their elbow and jammed it back into my face. The next day at school, I was mad at them, hated them. I still am angry at them for doing that to me, even though I'm fully aware it never actually happened. But still. What a JERK.

Sooo my opinions of people are heavily influenced and molded by my subconscious self. Which in turn is probably rooted in how I really feel. It's like a never ending cycle. Meta. Pretty cool. Totally screwed up.

everything said


happy valentine's day

Sunday, February 8, 2009

O hai Flansburgh and Linnell



They Might Be Giants won a Grammy today. That was wonderful. Very wonderful.

Stephen Colbert did not win a Grammy today. That was not wonderful. GOOOOOORE! *shakes fist*

...that was the entirety of my day.

Also, I changed the layout and template of this. I HATE IT.

Also, I downloaded some Neutral Milk Hotel music that I couldn't find anywhere else.

Also, I went to church.