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I’m supposed to be working on my take home final for my Strategic Marketing class right now. Of course, I have allowed myself to be distracted from that task, but I think this one is worth my attention.

My mother-in-law forwarded an e-mail to me about a Ukrainian sand painter named Kseniya Simonova. Simonova won the 2009 Ukraine’s Got Talent with her unique interpretation of the Great Patriotic War (as the Russian portion of WWII is known there). She painted scenes with sand on a light table, accompanied by various pieces of music (including Apocalyptica’s Nothing Else Matters).

Have a look at this video, followed by the body of the e-mail I received (after the jump):

Browsing through my RSS feeds, I came across today’s quizzes from mental_floss. The first quiz was Name the Weasleys in 2 Minutes, and I didn’t even bother to try it once I read that there were seven Weasley children. I only knew of four right away, and Chris had to remind me about a fifth one that I had already seen in the movies. The second quiz for today was Name the 30 Dow Jones Index Companies in 10 Minutes. After I took that quiz, I saw a few more quizzes. Here is a roundup of the quizzes and my results (in numbers, not the answers):

• Name the 30 Dow Jones Index Companies in 10 Minutes – 14 our of 30
• Name the Muppet Babies in 5 Minutes – 10 out of 10
• Name the Monopoly Properties in 5 Minutes – 18 out of 28
• Name That Beatles Album – 1 out of 11 (Chris got 8 out of 11 – it’s a tough one)
• A ‘Saved by the Bell’ Quiz – 6 out of 15

So, those are the quizzes I took today. Why don’t you give them a go and post your results below. If you find any other good quizzes, post those, too.

It’s so cold outside! Here’s a reminder of warmer weather and horrible lyrics (Facebook registration required):

This was originally posted (registration and friending may be required) on Facebook. So many comments were made there that I thought it appropriate to post it here on my blog, too. Of course, feel free to continue commenting here or there.

SUPPOSEDLY if you’ve seen over 85 movies, you have no life. Mark the ones you’ve seen. There are 219 movies on this list. Copy this list, go to your own facebook account, paste this as a note. Then, put x’s next to the movies you’ve seen, add them up, change the header adding your number, and click publish at the side.

(continue reading…)

It has taken me more than two years, but I have finally taken the leap and purchased an HDTV. Sunday, I was trying to catch up on my RSS feeds (124 and counting in Google Reader) when I came across a post on SlickDeals.net that featured a Sony Bravia 46-inch HDTV and 5.1 DVD home theater combo for $1,500. The Bravia Z-series 46-inch TV retails for almost $1,800 on SonyStyle.com. When you toss on the home theater system, this was a steal.

Here are the specs on this TV that are important to me:

• 1080p
• 4 HDMI inputs
• VGA input
• 120 Hz refresh
• 24 fps cinema mode

I was hoping to have everything delivered today, but Circuit City is booked with home deliveries until Sunday. Sometime tomorrow night I should receive a call to give me a 2-hour window when they will deliver everything, but I’ll be adding at least an hour to either side of that window just in case.

As soon as it’s all setup, I’ll post pics.

There has been a bunch of celebrity news that I have heard this weekend. Here’s a quick wrap up of what I have heard:

• Morgan Freeman is alive, but getting a divorce from his wife of 24 years.
• John Edwards admits to having an affair while his wife is sick with cancer.
• Clay Aiken is the father of a newborn baby boy.
• Bernie Mac died from complications with pneumonia.
• Isaac Hayes died after collapsing at home.

In other news, Russia and Georgia entered into war with each other at the start of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing. At least the two countries’ Olympic shooters are friendly.

In Chris’s absence tonight, I was planning on catching up on some more network television. That didn’t happen, because I discovered Gene Simmons Family Jewels on A&E (no joke). I know the show has been on for a while (this is the third season, in fact), but this is the first time I bothered to watch it. I was able to catch the three latest episodes, and I really enjoyed them.