sales ranking

Is this possible? Is there some bug in Amazon's sales ranking? Or is a Nancy Drew video game seriously outselling everything on the market?

We're talking Grand Theft Auto, World of Warcraft, the Sony PSP, Half Life 2... they're all getting destroyed by a video game about an old detective series for children that I wasn't even aware was still being written.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/new-for-you/top-sellers/-/videogames/all/ref=pd_dp_ts_vg_1/104-9928980-7007947

The only thing I can think of is that someone like Oprah or Scholastic is whoring it.

You'd think it would be a Harry Potter game though. Ain't no Nancy Drew movie franchise.

an open letter to Google

Here's a feature that I want, and it can't be that hard.

Right now I can use google maps to chart how to get from my work to my house.

I can also find Blockbusters (for example) in my area.

I want the ability to find the closest Blockbuster to my route home.

In other words, I want to go to store X. Which store X would involve me going the least far out of my way on my commute home?

thank you, Rixey

I read a lot of Livejournals, from old friends and random people I've found around the net. Most of them are insanely boring "Today was hot. I am bored. Comfort me because I am sad." bullshit. A few of them make me smile with either thought provoking statements or good mindless link propogation. A very small handful make me laugh out loud, and Rixey is one of those.

Today's review of the Mach 3 Turbo razor had me giggling at work.

"First off, I was impressed with the design. The black/gray and green colors, with the alien styling made it look like a new xbox peripheral. However, this also filled me with a bit of dread. We, as Americans, must never let the Japanese become aware of the Mach 3 Boogaloo razor. I'm afraid of what they'll develop. I don't want to live in a world where there's some console game that comes with a force-feedback razor controller, and you have to shave your privates in rhythm to a J-pop cover of Who Let the Dogs Out or a wide-eyed cartoon squid on the tv gets killed and put into a sushi roll and eaten by a green-haired schoolgirl with cat ears."

The whole thing is great. Find it here:

http://www.livejournal.com/users/inmostlight/359742.html

wonka

Adrienne and I went to a sneak preview of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. It was a lot better than I was expecting, because I wasn't expecting much. It was flat out gorgeous, and it was really funny.

I just wish that the original wasn't burned so deeply into my brain. Bit of a spoiler alert here. Things that bugged me about the movie:

1) The great songs from the original were missing. Like Wonka's wonderful song from when they entered the room of candy. Or "I've got a golden ticket". Lots of them were great.

2) You couldn't understand a lot of the Oompa Loompa lyrics. The musical numbers were hilarious and looked great, but the lyrics were mumbled.

3) They took out all the drama. There was no Slugworth trying to tempt the kids. There was no question of if Charlie would inherit the factory. It just flowed with no suspense.

4) Wonka wasn't creepy. Dammit, he's supposed to be creepy. He was funny, and childlike, and reminded me of a mix of Michael Jackson and Andy Warhol. He had a few sarcastic quips, but he also had silly physical gags, and seemed confused, instead of deviously in control. And that was all in the directing, Johnny Depp could have been a MEAN Wonka.

But hey, kids are going to love it, if they've never seen the original. It really is a fantastic film. But the original has spoiled me forever.

london bombing

You're all going to wake up to this story of the bombings in London, and I'm sure the details will be much more clear by then, because I'm passing out now.

I just wanted to note that I've had CNN on since around the time that it happened, and this coverage is embarrasing. You can actually HEAR the disappointment in the journalists' voices upon reporting that there are only two confirmed deaths so far. Fucking vultures. They're going absolutely crazy over it, and it's bad, but not nearly as bad as they wish it was.

They interviewed one guy who talked about being rescued from the Tube, and they harped several times that it took a "full 20 minutes" before the Underground staff rescued everyone in the train. So what appears to be six coordinated bombs in different tubes went off, and they rescued people within 20 minutes, and you're looking down your nose and talking about the confusion and lack of coordination? You've got to be kidding me. It looks, from where I'm sitting, that they're responding really well to what has to be a hugely terrifying and confusing event.

It just kills me to watch these jackals trying to drum an already awful story into something worse. They want death, and confusion, and incompetence, and fingers to point. Report the goddamn facts.

Edit: Man, the BBC is not prepared for this. The BBC website is totally hammered. I've not been able to get the page to load for about 20 minutes.

HEAD GOO

I just typed this to one of my buddies, but I figured I might as well just share with the WHOLE WIDE WORLD. Cause, you know. Screw it.

[01:11] Tobin00: i think i may have just been punked by whoever makes my hair bleach
[01:11] Tobin00: there's this "toner" you're supposed to put in after a month or so to make your hair white again
[01:11] Tobin00: and it's fucking JET BLACK
[01:11] Tobin00: and since i'm an idiot, i just figured what the hell, and put it on my head anyway
[01:12] Tobin00: so now my head is totally covered in a tingly black goo
[01:12] Tobin00: there's no freakin way this is going to make my hair whiter. somewhere, someone is laughing at me. my hair is going to be totally black and retarded.

Update for the curious:

It did nothing. At all. I hate those people so much.