Jake’s Neighborhood

Here are some links to my favorite blogs.

I CAN HAS CHEEZEBURGER
Also called LOLCats. I'm sure you've seen those cat pictures with poorly spelled captions on them. Well, once I was able to get over the bad spelling and grammar, I came to love a site all about those. It's a blog, so you can add it to your Google Reader and enjoy! I never miss them!
A recent favorite:

more animals

THE CONSUMERIST
Consumerist is a consumer affairs blog that deals with consumers' experiences and issues with companies and corporations. Some of the stories are generated by the editors, while others are reader-submitted tips and complaints. Stories initially reported on The Consumerist have been featured in national media such as CNN and The New York Times. Consumerist often posts phone numbers and contact information for CEOs and upper level corporate customer support, and provides information on how to execute an "Executive Email Carpet Bomb". I LOVE THIS ONE.

MIGHTY OPTICAL ILLUSIONS
I love optical illusions, and this is the perfect place to get my "fix".

THE KITCHEN @ APARTMENT THERAPY
They've got all kinds of cooking and baking recipes and tips. So useful.

BOOKSHELF
I'm just that nerdy. I read a blog that is all about bookshelves and only bookshelves. And they are good.

Well, those are the blogs I follow that I think others might be interested in. Any suggestions on blogs I should follow?

Some camera phone pictures I've taken around town.

Domicile Reality

A gaggle of geese I drove past the other day. :)

A Gaggle of Geese

A great license plate I saw.

FRODOFAN

Durham, NC (which is very close to the city that I live in, Chapel Hill) has a AAA baseball team that is kinda famous, the Durham Bulls. Last Tuesday, the 29th of July, I went to one of their games with my friends. It was actually the third game of theirs that I've been to, but I am lame and haven't posted about them. Anyway, there isn't much to talk about because I doubt you want a play-by-play.

The Bulls played the Buffalo Bisons, and lost 8-7. It was really sad because when the final Bulls player got out they had the tying runner on first base. It was a LONG game, it started at 7:05 pm and ended at 10:35. Three and a half hours of entertainment for only $8.00... pretty good deal.

We had great seats, behind home plate. A pic of the view, from my cellphone:

Durham Bulls View 07-29-08 20:39

Even thought some people think it's silly, I like to keep score. Even though I have my own homemade scorecard, this time I used the one that they supply in the program. It isn't as detailed as my own, so I didn't have to pay as much attention and could chat with my friends and stuff. Anyway, if you want to see it, here it is:

Scorecard 07-29-08

Mostly for my Mom, but everyone will enjoy them!

I love Indy. Check out the teaser trailer for the fourth installment.

If you could take any class you wanted for one semester, what would you study?

That's an easy one, I'd take a class on Irish Gaelic. I've always wanted to learn it (and a few other odd languages) and someday I will. I just haven't figured out how yet. A couple Pimsleur courses and some websites are all I've found so far.

Pimsleur Irish

What movies have you seen that were better than the book?
Submitted by Referencegirl.

In my opinion, when a movie is made based on a previously released book, about 90% of the time the book is better. But there are notable exceptions.

Better than the book:
All three Lord of the Rings movies.
The first two Harry Potter movies. (I've only read the first three.)

I've noticed that as long as I see the movie first, then it's much more likely that I will like both movie AND book about the same.

Both are fabulous:
Jurassic Park (#1, where they should have stopped)
The Bourne Identity (love the movie but the book made more sense)
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
The Chronicles of Narnia (though I read them first)

I'm not going to list where the book is better, because it would take too long. And there are still plenty of books to read and movies to see. I take recommendations! :)

I love comics. And I was sorely disappointed when FoxTrot went to Sundays only, it is one of my favorites, as is Get Fuzzy. The problem with those is I don't get or want the newspaper, and I don't want to go to the website every day to read the comic. Luckily you can receive the comics by email every day, but only one before you have to pay. So I miss out on Garfield and Dilbert. That's a bummer.

On the plus side, I've been enjoying some webcomics. I read several, and I think you, my readers, may like a couple of them.

First, and probably my most favorite, is Sheldon. I can't recommend this enough. Family friendly, hilarious, clever... everything you want in a great comic. Arthur the Duck is my favorite character, though Gramps is great too. It is best to start with the first comic and read from there, but that can take a while, since it is an every day comic and has been going since 2001, so there's 2200+ comics. Worth it though. You can receive this one in your email every day for free. It also has an RSS feed, if you know what to do with that.

Next is Boy on a Stick & Slither. I haven't been reading it very long, but it is great so far; like Sheldon it's family friendly, hilarious, and clever... so far. This doesn't have email, but it has an RSS feed.

Last is PIXEL. Yes, it is about pixels, little boxes that make-up your computer screen. It doesn't update very often, but it is amazingly clever. No email and no RSS makes me sad, but it's still worth reading.

Now reading these webcomics doesn't make me love the regular comics any less, but there are so few regular comics that are any good these days that I'm grateful for webcomics.