Jon Demand XIII

Everyone remember my birthday party is Friday night at 8:10.

v.d. 2010

Oh crap is it Valentine's Day again already?

On Friday I attended Nick and Blair's wedding reception. Quite lovely. Quite! I made the mistake of chatting with friends for the first 45 minutes before finding the chicken sandwiches I heard were scrumptious. Catering took away the sandwiches by the time I got there. I was able to make the cake. It was very very good -- as was the candy bar. They had jelly bellies. I was really depending on those chicken sandwiches though. I hadn't had dinner.

All this weekend I've been packing in the candy. More than Halloween weekend. I love Valentine's candy, but it's made me weak and dizzy. I can't get enough of the sweetness, but the goodness that comes from the chicken sandwich would have been nice.

It's easy to want the sugar -- and it's easy to get. The nutrition is harder in both respects.

It's weird that Valentine's Day is back and I'm noticing all the sugar involved in the holiday. Is the sugar for all us people who don't have our chicken sandwich? Silly us. We should know that we don't deserve all that sugar -- and we ought to realize that we need to get there early for the chicken. Also, the chicken needs to be tended to. It's not just there for our wants -- only sugar does that (okay, the metaphor isn't making any sense anymore, I know).

Anyway, kudos to Nick and Blair for finding the chicken sandwich -- and so early in the weekend too!

Here is a video that better expresses everything I understand about love. It's a book trailer (yes, they make BOOK trailers now!) for some book called When the Bough Breaks (I think). It gets ESPECIALLY interesting at about 2:12.



Hmmm. That bad guy probably shouldn't have worn a hat with his name on it that day.

the big list!

Here is the list of 100 things I hope to do before I die. Perhaps by publishing it publicly I'll get help in achieving these things.

I don't wanna call it a bucket list. I started making this list a while before the movie came out. Plus, who's to say I can't get completely through this list and then make another list of 100 items before I die?

There are some obvious things that aren't on the list. For example: get married to the right person, spend quality time with my children, don't go to prison, etc. This list isn't the obvious. It's the extra-curricular -- yet still quite important to me.

I started making this list a few years ago, so SINCE I've started it, there have been a couple of things I've been able to check off. Checked off Items are identified by the strikethrough. For certain objectives, where applicable, I've tried to provide an explanation and/or proof of completion in the form of link, video, audio or picture.

Every few months I'll re-post to show how we're doing.

I also reserve the right to take off dumb things from the list and replace them with cooler things.

1. I will successfully Double Dutch


2. I will participate in a table top role-playing game.
3. I will publish a novel.

4. I will publish a comic book.

5. I will visit the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.

6. I will visit the Ginza of Tokyo.

7. I will appear on Jeopardy!

8. I will visit the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul.

9. I will record a pop song.

10. I will build a couch to my specifications.

11. I will eat four raw eggs when I wake up.

12. I will sell a painting of my own.

13. I will participate in the production of a feature-length movie.
EDIT: I will become an entry on IMDb.

14. I will meet the members of ABBA go on a date with Sheri Dew.

15. I will meet the members of Depeche Mode.

16. I will thwart a supervillain's plans.

17. I will see The White Stripes perform live.

18. I will visit Ancient Mycinae and gaze upon the face of Agamemnon.

19. I will read Ulysses by James Joyce.

20. I will name a sandwich.


21. I will win a game show (maybe not necessarily Jeopardy! but a game show nonetheless).

22. I will develop a video game

23. I will visit Sweden and meet a lovely native.

24. I will write a New York Times crossword puzzle.

25. I will eat everything on the Mimi's Cafe menu.

26. I will do 30 pull-ups in a row.

27. I will stay awake for 50 hours.

28. I will attend a bar-mitzvah.

29. I will juggle four objects.

30. I will longboard one mile.

31. I will solve a Friday New York Times crossword puzzle.

32. I will travel the length of historic Route 66.

33. I will participate in the Star Trek Experience at the Las Vegas Hilton.


34. I will watch every one of the AFI top 100 movies.

35. I will get to the hidden screen on the Commodore 64 game Space Taxi.
I haven't actually watched the following video yet, but it might show the mystery screen. Don't tell me what the mystery screen is... yet.


36. I will go through an average day completely without sight.

37. I will throw something into lava.

38. I will ride a unicycle.

39. I will get those weird things off my foot.

40. I will clean out my Yahoo email.

41. I will beat Mark Browning at tennis.

42. I will Karate Kid crane kick a guy (or girl).

43. I will make a movie with an exploding car/building where a character is walking toward the camera in slow motion.

44. I will read the first 500 issues of Uncanny X-men.

45. I will Heely the length of the Broadway Theatre parking lot.

46. I will attend a taping of Saturday Night Live.

47. I will convince someone that I'm a time traveler -- preferably after actually traveling through time.

48. I will hotwire a car or motorcycle and drive off.

49. I will attend a Star Trek convention.

50. I will complete the Ninja Warrior obstacle course.


51. I will eradicate the phrase "that was two hours I'll never get back" from society.

52. I will fly a plane (helicopter probably counts).

53. I will prove that it's possible to truthfully say "I am an extremely humble person."

54. I will lie on a bed of nails.

55. I will perfect the moonwalk.

56. I will run onto a football field after (or during) a game.

57. I will deep-fry a turkey.

58. I will defeat someone in a quick-draw gun duel.

59. I will play keytar in a band performance.

60. I will recover a small animal and care for it in a shoebox until it is well and can be released into the wild again.

61. I will use a defibrillator on someone.

62. I will lob a live grenade.

63. I will have a conversation in Klingon.

64. I will go scuba diving.

65. I will get slapped for being cheekily inappropriate.

66. I will play through all the Forgotten Realms Gold Box video games.

67. I will hang from the skids of a helicopter.

68. I will score a musical piece using a theramin.

69. I will figure out how to tie a bow tie.

70. I will discover a significant astronomical object.

71. I will dunk a ball on a regulation hoop (can be a tennis ball).

72. I will DJ an event using turntables.

73. I will transcribe the entire Book of Mormon.

74. I will find out what's underneath Cobra Commander's mask.

75. I will finish reading an entire book while inside the Barnes and Noble.

76. I will eat with chopsticks better than with a fork.

77. I will cut a baseball in half with a samurai sword.

78. I will barge in and stop a wedding.

79. I will tie bedsheets together and climb out a window.

80. I will eat so much sushi I throw up.

81. I will write a believable television show script.

82. I will LARP.

83. I will see someone's pants get sucked into the top of an escalator.

84. I will win some kind of public election.

85. I will meet a celebrity I don't like and tell them what I think of their work.

86. I will find a four-leaf clover.

87. I will talk on one of those prison phones where you see the other guy through the glass.

88. I will don a Darth Vader costume.

89. I will become an entry on Wikipedia.

90. A girl will sing "Midnight" by Yaz to me.

91. I will perform my stand-up routine.

92. I will achieve weightlessness.

93. I will figure out the Rubik's Cube pattern.

94. I will become mostly vegetarian (I'll still eat fish -- Jesus liked fish).

95. I will grow a mohawk.

96. Someone from all 50 states will view my blog.
C'mon Alaska and Delaware! C'MON!!!

97. I will sport a mullett.

98. I will be able to put all of my worldly possessions into my '98 Toyota Corolla.

99. I will karaoke "Father Figure" by George Michael.

100. I will give my daughters middle names.

groundhog day post #3

Wait a second! I've seen A Serious Man! I must've gotten it mixed up with A Single Man. Cool. Well, that's one more movie I don't need to see.

Groundhog Day Post #2

Okay, I finally remembered the third thing! Today the video game Star Trek Online is released. I can understand why I didn't remember since I have sort of a spit-personality when it comes to my online self. I guess that shows how screwed up I am. Most people have split personalities in real life. Anyway, I probably sub-consciously figured that such information would be more useful on the Star Trek blog and podcast.

Anyway, I probably won't get the game. At least for now. I've never played any of those role-playing games with all the other people online (read: World of Warcraft). I hear they're fun, but it's one more monthly fee I certainly can and need to live without. Perhaps later.

Anyway, the Oscars were announced.

It pretty much went how I thought. Morgan Freeman was foolish to think Invictus was one of the ten best movies of the year. Would've been nice if Star Trek made the list for best picture. Maybe they could've bumped The Blind Side, An Education, A Serious Man or even that other sci-fi movie District 9. Oh well though. Actually, I also was hoping to see (500) Days of Summer on the list too. Dang. Maybe it was only eligible for last year because it wasn't nominated for anything else.

Of course the movies of former married couple of Kathryn Bigelow and James Cameron (The Hurt Locker and Avatar) were each nominated for nine. Oooooh! I hope there are lots of snarky comments in whosever acceptance speech.

Anyway, now begins my push to see all the major Oscar movies before the ceremony. Still need to see The Blind Side, A Serious Man, Crazy Heart, The Last Station and foremost Up in the Air. Has anybody heard of the movie The Secret of Kells? It's nominated in the animated category. Hmm. I bet it's avant-garde and unique.

Punxutawny Phil said more winter. Okay, let's watch this. I don't think he'll be right. In fact, I think the rodent is just messing with us.

Lost hasn't happened yet.

the best groundhog day ever!

So this year the Oscar nominations are happening on Groundhog Day.

The big deal this year is that there are ten movies nominated for best picture instead of just five. It could cause problems. People may vote for more of their personal favorites instead of what they find obvious and the splintering could cause a mediocre title to get the prize. Also, people complain about how long the ceremony goes -- honoring twice as many movies for the most important award surely won't make things go quicklyer.

Still though, the previews of the best picture nominees are one of my favorite things about the ceremony. If it's longer because of more clips, I won't be disappointed at all. Also it will be exciting to see some of my favorite movies get nominated. If there weren't ten, I doubt both Inglourious Basterds and Up would get that sort of credit, but I think there's a good chance it'll happen for both.

The other big thing is that Kathryn Bigelow is a shoe-in for a nomination for best director. Most people who bet on these sorts of things say she's the hands-down favorite for winning the whole thing. If that's the case, hopefully James Cameron, her ex-husband, will be nominated too so that she can shove the Oscar right in his face. Actually, I guess it would be an even bigger burn if he wasn't even nominated, but surely he will be.

Okay, so we also got Lost premiering its final season on Groundhog Day.

The last season was probably my least favorite, even though its really bizarre time travel ruckus was quite popular with people less geeky than I. Good for them.

I simply don't know what to say about it now though. The hydrogen bomb blew up last season, right? I guess conceivably they could end the story and in a gigantic "screw you" to the audience they could just introduce new characters and tell a completely different story for their contractually guaranteed final season.

This I'll promise you: we will not be satisfied with the final episode of Lost. If the last 14 episodes is just Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse sitting in a chair explaining in detail all the questions, there still wouldn't be enough time to make sense of everything and wrap it all up. We'll see what happens in the premier though.

I swear there's something else that needs to be mentioned -- besides Punxutawney Phil. Speaking of Phil though, I never take notice of what the groundhog sees. Has anybody noticed if Punxutawney Phil has been averaging above .500 on his predictions? I'd like to know.

Anyway, Joe tells me February 2nd is also Super Bowl Media Day. That's true, but I don't think it's what I'm thinking of (go Indianapolis btw). I think it's more of a real-life kind of thing. If you think of it, tell me.