Nate's 250th Cartoon!!

Speaking of major achievements, a big shout out to Nate's Cartoons! celebrating his 250th cartoon last Friday! He used to have a big banner up and everything, but he took it down because now he has 251 and I guess he thinks that's not as special (but it is!).

If it were me, I'd leave the banner up and just change the number each day. Then every day would be a celebration!

PS. Also congrats to "Toy Story 3" and "The King's Speech" (Colin Firth, too, of course!) for their awesome Oscar wins last night. I was rooting for both of you! Also congrats to "The Lost Thing" which was very pretty and sweet... or maybe that was just me being fooled by the lovely narrator's accent.

Zach Anner Gets His OWN TV Show!!!!!!!!!

I've been pulling for Zach Anner ever since he posted that awesome audition tape for Oprah's "Your OWN Show" and now he is getting his OWN show!

He's super funny and awesome and gives me hope that all of us can be amazing and happy despite having debilitating diseases (mine of which is clearly not nearly as debilitating as his is, obvs).

He honestly could not deserve this more and I cannot wait to watch "Rollin' Around the World with Zach Anner."

Bring it on!

The Best Way to Decorate Your Home

Step 1. Cover everything in white

Step 2. Buy two projectors

Step 3. Hire Mr. Beam

Step 4. Do this:

Living Room from Mr.Beam on Vimeo.

Step 5. Hang out in your awesome room which can be anything you want it to be!

Woo! New Transplant Drug Blood Test!

I'm not planning on switching over to Everolimus anytime soon, but good to know there's an accurate test for reading its drug levels in my blood if I ever decide to switch! Boo yah!

(PS- There's a paywall now so you can't read the whole article anymore, but what I've got is the basic gist of it)

Goaty Dance!

This reminds me of when I was a little kid on our ranch in South Texas. I was about the size of the baby goats we had, and when I would try to climb a tree, they would hop up into it, then hop back down to see why I hadn't gotten into it, then hop back up and wait for me. Needless to say, I was never able to climb as high as they could!

(Note: play without the music)

Good Enough to Eat

This Milky Way photo is truly incredible. You can find it on NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day in a way larger size.

Isn't it amazing that we can see the Milky Way while being right in the midst of it? So many stars! And I just love that you can see the hint of lights at the edges of the snow.

A beautiful and relaxing way to wind down the day, if you ask me.

Teen Feeds Millions of Dogs!

Ok, ok, rarely do I find anything beyond adorable pictures of puppies (mostly corgis!) at A Place to Love Dogs, but this article was too cute and "p'aawww" (get it!?!?) inspiring to pass up.

Apparently, some sweet kid named Mimi Ausland in Oregon started a website called FreeKibble, where you answer a trivia question and sponsors donate money to local animal shelters. Pretty awesome, huh?

Oh right, and she was ELEVEN when she started it! Can you believe it? When I was eleven, I went around school trying to get people to go to Care2.com, but I failed - miserably!

Glad to see someone doesn't go to an all-girl's school where environmental stewardship was looked at a taping-up-a-locker-worthy offense. (Yes, girls tape up lockers, too. They're very mean!)

Seriously, it was like being in an episode Everyone Hates Chris, in that Everyone Hated Endangered Tree Frogs (and, by extension, Me).

Pixar: Get on This

This is the saddest whale story I've read in forever! Pixar, you must honor this poor tone-deaf whale with a happy-sad movie that will make me cry and laugh and feel better for this poor sea creature because we've all learned a valuable lesson.

In theaters four years from now, please!

Kraak and Smaak: Flipbook music video!

Here's a cute flipbook music video by Kraak and Smaak. I'm not a huge fan of the song, "Squeeze Me" (though I love the sentiment!), but the video is lovely. Flipbooks - how fun!

Kraak & Smaak from WEAREWILL on Vimeo.

The Scariest Story at Hyperbole and a Half

Woah, Allie's story is super scary! Beware if you are scared of scary stories!

Of course, I totally understand what she means. When I was a kid, I would read the backs of horror movies at the video store near my house, have the worst nightmares when I got home, and then go back to the video store and do it all over again!

This is why I have had a moratorium on watching horror movies since I was ten. I can still remember some of those back covers there - spooky!

Amy Poehler's Parents are Super Nice!

Aww, this WSJ interview with Amy Poehler's parents is totes adorbs. I know it's already going around the blogosphere, but it's super worth a read if you've skipped it so far.

She's just like us! I love the part where they say that Amy and Tina talk about how lady comics come from happy families and are good girls growing up. Just like me!

Clearly, they were the smart girls at the party, too!

Sick People Run the World?

Is it sad that this USA Today article makes me feel like I'm not living up to my sick-person-who-survived potential? Clearly, I should have sold 1,000,007 scripts by now!

Can you have survival guilt when only you were the one who might have died?

Just saying!

Why Save PBS?

Here's a fun infographic from I Love Charts about how amazing and wonderful and helpful and vital PBS is, and why public funding for it should not be taken away!

Paints and Brushes

For all you 30 Rock fans, here's the song that Tina Fey sang in the background of the fake bar Liz Lemon hooked up with her one-night stand (Swedish prostitute that Martha Stewart recommended) at. Yes, it wasn't a Joni Mitchell song, it was Tina Fey singing a parody of a Joni Mitchell song and it is wonderful.

Enjoy!

PaintsAndBrushes by EricAndrew16

[Sound Cloud via ONTD]

Otter Chaos!

So, after watching this totes adorbs video, I think I'm supposed to not want to have an otter as a house pet. But is it terrible that it actually makes me want to have one even more?

They're just so darned cute! And my mom thinks they look like they're "swimming" in those sheets - see how they dive and stuff? So fun!!

Coal: Most Expensive Form of Energy Ever

Babam! If anyone still had any feeling that coal was still a viable form of energy (looking at you, GOP), this Harvard study should knock your socks off - coal is the MOST expensive form of energy around.

Stick that in your crab apple and chew it! (=new expression I just made up)

Seriously, though, this study just makes it all the more obvious that we need to switch to cleaner energy sources and fast. We will immediately boost our economy and save lives. What could be better than that?

The Placebo Effect: Fun Video!

Here's a fun facts video about the Placebo Effect. If only there was a placebo I could take for "having to go back to work after a week's vacation" depression. Oh right, I have brownies! Those will work just as well for me!

Enjoy!

PS. The narrator is Australian, so it's doubly enjoyable for the accent!

Way to Go, Buffalo!

Buffalo, NY just banned fracking! There will be no hydraulic fracturing (fracking) for natural gas anywhere near Buffalo, NY in the future! What great news.

If a not-so-liberal city like Buffalo can get behind banning fracking, then surely we all can! Am I right?

[News via Scientific American]

80s Movies Music Video Mash-Up!

I don't know if the new (well, shot a few years ago, but newly released) movie "Take Me Home Tonight" will be any or at all good, but I do love the song it's based on, and they did a super cute promotional video for the movie in which they renact scenes or moments from 50 80s movies.

It's super cute and fun, so take a look! What else are you doing - it's Friday!

[Video courtesy of Cinema Blend and /Film]

TV Smooches Mash-Up!

Happy Early Valentine's Day!!

Courtesy of TV Squad, here is their greatest TV smooches mash-up!

It's really cute and romantic. They even have the Best TV Kiss of All Time - Veronica and Logan's first kiss - in there! Of course, they cute that one off way too early, but I'm fine with it. They've got other really great ones, too: Pushing Daisies, Bones (Boothe and Bones under the mistletoe, so it doesn't totally count, but I still love it), Friends (Ross and Rachel, but I would have preferred a Chandler and Monica smooch, personally), Scrubs (before it got bad), Buffy (aka another excuse to put in a David Boreanaz lip lock - woo hoo!), and many, many more.

Let the smooches begin!

Awwww, doesn't that just make you want to snuggle?

Single-Payer Healthcare in Vermont? Sign Me Up!

Exciting things are happening on the Vermont healthcare front!

This is a sentence I did not imagine myself writing, but it's true! Vermont Governor Shumlin will introduce a bill (that the Vermont Congress supports) that would fully convert Vermont's health insurance to a single-payer, government-run plan by 2014. Hooray!

This is great news. There are a ton of details to work out (most importantly: who's going to pay for it, secondly: how will you get out of all of the federal insurance laws), but this is a great start.

Vermont, you've given us great ice cream and now possibly a successful healthcare system - you rock!

[Article via Kaiser Health News]

Now for the Rom-Coms!

I love romantic comedies, and I'm writing one right now, so this little ditty was solid inspiration for me - even if I really don't like some of the movies it features (Life as We Know It? Come on!).

Reagan: Really Not a Great President

I mean no disrespect to the man himself, and I hope he rests in peace, but he wasn't a great president. I know, it's easy to pretend he was, but he kind of sent us down a horrible path of destruction that we're only just now beginning to fully comprehend. Ick!

When we read about him in history class back in school, I remember thinking, "Who could be worse than this guy?" (clearly I wasn't too aware of W yet) Subverting and overthrowing regimes, trading arms for hostages, claiming he was for small government when he actually expanded it, getting us hooked on this "Cut taxes!" thing when he really raised them - to me, Nixon looked better. At least he had a reason for the bad things he did, what with the whole paranoid, egomaniacal depression thing going on. What was Reagan's excuse?

We probably would have been better off if Carter had gotten a second term. I know, everyone hates him, but he wasn't a bad president. He actually cared about addressing the real, substantive, long-term problems of the country instead of pumping everyone up with happy-time rhetoric while going behind their backs and creating the horrific financial situation this country's in now. Reagan's lucky he doesn't have to see what he created, but we do. So why do we have to honor him like he's a God for doing it?

If you, like me, would prefer to remember what Reagan actually did instead of what Republicans (and Democrats!) claim he did, check out this Politico article by Michael Kinsley.

If not, no worries, I'm about to post a cute video montage of rom coms, so you can watch that instead.

Everything is a Remix: Part Two

This blog post is a remix of a blog post I just read at Neatorama which posted this video: Everything is a Remix: Part Two: Movies.

Everything is a Remix Part 2 from Kirby Ferguson on Vimeo.

The video is great. I love it because it's essentially a film studies paper in short video form. I especially love it because it reminds me that I love movies much more than I love football, so I really should get over the Steelers' oh-so-close-how-could-they-not-call-that-pass-interference-and-how-could-they-allow-so-many-turnovers defeat earlier tonight. Ugh! But yes, movies are wonderful and I should get back to writing mine.

My only criticism is that I wish it was a bit longer and involved more analysis of why we borrow so heavily and why that's ok - not just that it exists. If I had presented this to one of my film professors, she most certainly would say - great examples, but what do they mean?

So, Kirby, what do they mean? I hope to hear the answer in Part Three, due in Spring of this year.

Calm Down, Everyone

Look at this pretty picture:

Everything is going to be ok. Just because the Steelers can't seem to stop the Packers when they get a turnover and can't even seem to run the ball with excellent field position and not get a fumble (GRR!!) everything IS going to be ok. Look at the picture. Breathe. Don't have a heart attack.

PS. Other good news to keep in mind - the GOP removed the idiotic "forcible rape" language from its still radical and horrible bill.

PPS. TOUCHDOWN!!!! TWO-POINT CONVERSION!!!!

[Picture of Switzerland via NASA, David Kaplan, GOP thing via Politico]

Don't Forget the Puppy Bowl!

Quickly: Animal Planet has highlights from this year's Puppy Bowl VII online here, which includes tons of fun with adorable puppies. It's certainly helped me get through that excruciating first half. Feel free to skip the kitty halftime show, though. Cats may be fun for internet video fodder, but dogs are much better TV stars.

Go Steelers!

Disney's 50 Animated Features

Just in case you need something to do during Halftime (this halftime show is pretty terrible) or during the game itself, check out this excellent write-up of all 50 Disney Animated movies.

It's great! I remembered a lot of old movies I had forgotten about, and remembered why I had forgotten a lot of movies that existed (eesh, Home on the Range!). That being said, there are a ton more great movies that Disney's made than bad ones, so it's worth looking into.

My least favorite part of this article? The fact that they praise Dumbo as being one of the best movies without mentioning (at all!) the super racist (literal!) Jim Crows. Come on, guys, the movie as a whole may be good, but it deserves some qualification there.

Alright, the game's back on - enjoy!

[Article via Empire]

Revolutionizing the Healthcare System

By focusing time, resources, and extensive care (and by that I mean person-to-person concern, not "care") on the most expensive, high-cost, high-risk patients, we can lower health care costs for everyone. At least that's the argument in this New Yorker article, and I'm inclined to agree.

It's a lengthy piece, but well worth the read. I've found this true of my own (quite expensive) care, as well. When doctors and nurses take care of me and appreciate me, I take care of myself even better. It's a working, upwards spiral when it's all good, but it is a dysfunctional, downward spiral when healthcare workers disconnect from their patients, as in the vast majority of our current system.

The article ends optimistically, and I'm hoping it's right.

What do you think?

[article via The New Yorker]