Think Lynsen

There's a zombie on your lawn.

2009-07-14T07:10:00.000-04:00

Thanks to Emily for this! Highly amusing and shockingly catchy! (Even 18-month-olds agree!)

To make your Monday a little better, we present...the best Laughing Babies on the Internet.

2009-07-13T06:57:00.000-04:00

snicker

2009-07-12T11:09:00.001-04:00

Seeking balance

2009-07-11T13:12:00.004-04:00

I suppose it's inevitable upon returning from a nice week's vacation, but I find myself thinking more and more about life balance these days.

Too often I find myself sharing the couch with Josh while I'm totally absorbed in Facebook, Twitter, or other online distractions. Then I complain about not getting enough quality time with him. It didn't take long to realize something was out of whack. No offense to my online friends, but it makes very little sense to be chatting with others when my best friend in the world is RIGHT NEXT TO ME.

So I'm being more conscious about my screen time at home each night. We're going to be testing out a routine where we come home, work out, make and eat dinner while watching whatever we've got on Netflix, but once we're done eating, the TV and computer are turned off and we, you know, interact as humans for awhile.

It'll be interesting to see how well this works. If anyone out there has any tips for how to balance screen time and non-screen time at home, please share them in the comments.

CONvergence highlight: Dr. Horrible Sing-Along

2009-07-10T07:26:00.001-04:00

The only thing better than watching Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog is watching it in a room full of fans and singing along with all the songs while wielding a tiny Bad Horse finger puppet.

It was my first time seeing the movie projected on a big screen (well, a screen bigger than my television, anyway), and we managed to sit right up front, which was awesome. The experience was full of communal, Rocky-Horror-esque joyness. And speaking of Rocky Horror, the sing-along was immediately followed by the "Rocky Horrible Picture Show," where you could buy a small bag of props for $5 each and hold them up, throw them, etc. at specific points in the movie. They even had lacy, gently-wafting curtains in there. Glee!

CONvergence highlight: Killer B's Spectacular Improv Movie Show

2009-07-09T07:37:00.000-04:00

Riffing on bad movies extemporaniously is tough work, but the riffers at Killer B's make it look easy. It could be something in the beer they're drinking during the show...

For the uninitiated, Killer B's is basically an MST3K-like performance, only it consists of clips of bad movies with the sound removed. There's a live theramin performance to accompany the movies, and the riffmasters fill in the dialogue and mock the proceedings. A big shout out goes to Melissa, who not only assembled the footage for the riffing, but also live-tweeted the best riffs throughout. If you have patience, you can dig through her feed to find them, but they probably won't make much sense out of context.

Still, mad props to all who were involved. The group I was hanging with were laughing so hard we could hardly catch our breath. It was definitely one of the highlights of CON.

CONvergence highlight: Masters of the Universe gets its due

2009-07-08T22:29:00.004-04:00

The first night of CONvergence there was a midnight show of the movie Masters of the Universe, based on the popular He-Man cartoon/toy franchise from the '80s. Tim Uren and Joseph Scrimshaw were the riffmasters of the evening, and got us through the horror that was the bad acting, poorly-conceived plot and bad costuming with a steady stream of well-rehearsed and well-timed jokes. (My favorite: when Frank Langella's name came up in the opening credits, they said, "I'm saying that when Skeletor does it, it's not a crime!") The whole crowd was laughing throughout, and the experience culminated with a hysterical five-minute rant by Joseph that truly must be heard to be believed.

I beg the great CON masters...please create a downloadable MP3 (a la Rifftrax.com) of their performance so people can download it, sync it up with Masters of the Universe on DVD, and continue to enjoy. Heck, I'd even pay for the privilege. It was so well done, and though I know their performance wasn't recorded at CON, I'm sure they could reproduce it in a better audio environment.

And one more thing that made the showing awesome - an appearance by an incredibly well-costumed She-Ra. I wish I had gotten a photo - the costume was spot-on!

Shiny objects

2009-07-07T11:28:00.001-04:00

L1020672.jpg
Originally uploaded by Marcus Metropolis

"It is a truth universally acknowledged that a geek in possession of shiny objects is in want of more shiny objects."

Insert Quarter for Smackdown

2009-07-07T11:23:00.001-04:00

Insert Quarter for Smackdown
Originally uploaded by Katriniac

The Smackdown panel was truly inspired this year, and this was my favorite matchup. I'm hoping we'll see the full panel posted to YouTube soon.

Running into Muppets in the stairwell

2009-07-07T11:18:00.001-04:00

Convergence 2009 - Muppets
Originally uploaded by lostieborden

I passed these two on the stairway at one point while wearing my pirate wench costume. I said, "Oh, I love the Yip Yips!" to which they responded, in character as the puppets:

Yip Yip 1: "Cosplay."
Yip Yip 2: "Cosplay."
Yip Yip 1: "Run."

Pics from the MST3K panel

2009-07-06T12:25:00.002-04:00

Oogie Boogie

2009-07-06T12:25:00.001-04:00

Marx sisters

2009-07-06T12:24:00.000-04:00

Another Cloud

2009-07-06T12:23:00.000-04:00

Harley Quinn

2009-07-06T12:22:00.000-04:00

Cami from Street Fighter

2009-07-06T12:21:00.000-04:00

Dr. Horrible FTW!

2009-07-06T12:18:00.000-04:00

Dr. Horrible won the election! Huzzah!

One of the weirdest photos ever

2009-07-06T12:16:00.000-04:00

Manos...no, wait...

2009-07-06T12:15:00.001-04:00

I guess this would be Pies: The Feet of Fate?

The Doctors are in!

2009-07-06T12:13:00.004-04:00

Election HQ: Dr. Horrible v. Dr. Evil v. Dr. Strangelove!

May the Schwartz be with you!

2009-07-06T12:07:00.002-04:00

Jar Jar + Juri Juice

2009-07-06T12:05:00.000-04:00

In the Mos Icee Cantina!

"I knew we shouldn't have brought the henchmen. We're going to be the only ones there with henchmen!"

2009-07-06T12:04:00.001-04:00

The Dispassionate X-Men

2009-07-06T12:02:00.003-04:00

Creepy dude from Silent Hill

2009-07-06T12:02:00.001-04:00