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Feb. 5th, 2008 @ 08:44 pm War: Even Jet Li thinks it’s going to be terrible
So, a very long time ago I read an article in which Jet Li says his next film will be terrible. And he was right. Okay, so to be fair, I love Jet Li. But I wouldn’t consider this a “Jet Li” movie. Li explains, “it’s too Western.” And damn those Westerners! I mean this movie had it all- unnecessary violence, nudity, profanity, montage set to terrible rock music. And yes, all those things really can be unnecessary. Jason Statham as an FBI agent? Like, he’s supposed to be an American? Does the FBI really hire British guys to the Asian Special Task Force? The plot made no sense. There were Asians everywhere- and even I couldn’t keep track of who was who and what was going on!
Statham goes after Rogue (Li) who killed his partner and his family three years ago. Good thing Statham is badass! He may be pretty decent for a white guy action hero. But against Jet Li? Really? I think not. Rogue is working for the Yakuza but betrays them to destroy the Triad. Only to maybe betray the Triad. Why is there so much English dialogue in this film? Does Jet Li not know Japanese? Did the director decide there was going to only be one Asian language in the film and speaking both Japanese and Chinese (wouldn’t that make sense among the Japanese and Chinese characters? I mean I’m sure they do want to practice their English some of the time.) would just confuse the poor ears of Americans who don’t want to see another action movie with Jet Li that involves too many subtitles?
The only fun I had in this movie was figuring out who’s the good guy and who’s the bad guy. And believe me there’s an unbelievable twist at the end you’ll never see coming. Right.

Verdict: Keep it on the Netflix queue if you really like Jet Li and you have 100 minutes to spare.
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Feb. 5th, 2008 @ 08:44 pm The Bourne Supremacy: Wait, you mean there’s really a moral story at the end? C’mon! Lame.
I would’ve picked a cooler name at the end for Jason Bourne. Hell, I would’ve just kept the name the same, I mean how awesome sounding is that? Matt Damon is still hot as ever (although I still think of “Matt Damon! Matt Damon!” from Team America) and it’s an action movie anyway so he really doesn’t have to act anyway (hello, remember the Matrix? Keanu Reeves ring a bell?). Besides with all the shaky-cam going on (probably not as bad as Cloverfield from what I read in the reviews) you can barely tell if Damon is acting or not. Or in the frame, whatever.
Sooo, finally we wrap up the trilogy (man, I was fine with it being done at the end of the first one, but fine, more shaky-cam and Matt Damon!) and find out who Jason Bourne really is (don’t care, don’t care) and what the hell happened to him. I’m guessing it’s got something to do with the government that’s tried so hard to kill him and his poor girlfriend (seriously, she’s still in this movie?) and possibly something to do with brainwashing. :O! Whoops, I mean, I’m sure he just was bourne, I mean, born that way in the first place. There’s some more mean white men and some helpful white chicks. The assassins are still very foreign looking. Maybe Matt Damon is the only white guy on the roster? Eventually though it’s all wrapped up very nicely (mostly because I don’t care about Julia Stiles) and there’s even a little message about our own government and world politics and all that fun stuff out there at the end.
I really did enjoy these films at the end because they were good action movies. I do kind of regret not being able to watch them in the theatre, but at least if I had to puke, I could do it in the comfort of my own bathroom. The car chase scenes throughout the thrillogy where pretty good and the action scenes made sense without seeming to be overly forced (yes, apparently British reporters really are that stupid). I like seeing Matt Damon as an action star I hope I’ll be getting some more action from him (tee hee!) in the future.
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Feb. 5th, 2008 @ 08:43 pm Eastern Promises: Promises of all Viggo, all the time
Wow, was Viggo Mortenson always that hot? Or was that whole LOTR thing just kinda gay? 4 minute Turkish bath house naked knife fight. Sweet. Tats and abs. Hell yeah. So, Eastern Promises kind of seems like “A History of Violence” again, except for instead of Maria Bello being the chick I care absolutely nothing about, it’s Naomi Watts. Viggo Mortenson, David Cronenberg, something about a mob? Right, right, kay, I’ve been through this already.
Viggo is Nikolai, a Russian mobster in London. Really, that’s pretty much all you need to know. Naomi Watts is in there as an idiot midwife (is it because she’s blonde? J/K, good thing I don’t know that many blondes) who really is just an idiot through the whole movie. Maybe except at the end. Anyway, she tries to find the family of a young woman who gives labor to a baby girl and then ups and dies, so the little baby can be sent back to Russia instead of living in London. And she wants to send her back? See, I told you so. There’s also some more mob people and it’s all very interesting I’m sure.
Really there isn’t a whole lot of plot going on, enough to keep you interested and keep the characters ticking (really you see the whole thing coming the entire time). Of course, that’s the whole point. Who is Nikolai? Why should I be so interested in his character? What’s going on with him? Seriously, Viggo is 50? Damn, I hope I look that good when I’m 50. Uh, oh yeah, it’s all character driven and whatnot. I actually really enjoyed the film and felt it was interesting even if it was a little slow. Plus, hello, hot! Well, except maybe for the Russian accent. Whatever, that’s what the mute button is for. Rent it.
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Feb. 5th, 2008 @ 08:43 pm Sweeney Todd: Johnny Depp is hot no matter what, damnit!
I love Johnny Depp. Oh, you don’t? That’s okay, I’m sure there’s something totally wrong with you. I’d like to point out to everyone that “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” is a musical. I’m not completely convinced you could tell that from the commercials, and I apologize to the one member of our viewing party who went and was not aware it is indeed, a musical. But what a musical it is! Johnny Depp! Singing and dancing! Johnny Depp killing people? And what in the world is Helena Bonham Carter doing with those people… oh my god, it’s people! Wait, is that Snape? And Wormtail? And Borat?!?! But hey, there’s Johnny Depp again- and he’s singing! And he doesn’t sound half bad!
Johnny Depp is Sweeney Todd who is really Benjamin Barker. Too bad Mr. Barker’s wife was just too hot for her own good and got all lusted after by old Judge Turpin. So Benjamin Barker gets exiled and loses his wife and daughter. Boo hoo, it’s England, you’re Johnny Depp, you can have whoever you want, believe me. Uh, in any case, Anthony pines after Johanna who is the ward of Judge Turpin who wants Johanna if he’s not going to have her mother (Mrs. Barker? Does she really have a name?), which is really just creepy but I guess that’s the point. So, Sna… ah, Turpin warns Anthony not to mess with him, or he’ll set ol’ Wormtail, I mean, Beadle Bamford on his ass. Anthony convinces Sweeney Todd to help him save Johanna without realizing Sweeney Todd would become his father-in-law and I get the feeling if he knew he might not have asked in the first place. Oh yeah, and there’s Mrs. Lovett who has the worst meat pies in London because meat is just oh-so-expensive. And she’s in love with Sweeney Todd. And Toby will protect Mrs. Lovett from that mean old mister Todd. And of course there’s a crazy old lady in the musical for a reason. Basically I spend the majority of the film wondering when Sweeney Todd is going to finally have his revenge. That and appreciating not going to a barber. Ever!!! But there’s singing and dancing and it’s fabulous.
Just so everyone knows, there’s really a reason it’s rated R, but still- fabulous! I really can’t see anyone but Tim Burton doing this movie right and he really did it right. Go see it if it’s still in the theatres (I was pretty pissed at the couple next to me who were making out- during Sweeney Todd, c’mon what’s wrong with you!), otherwise make a note to rent it when it comes out on DVD.
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Feb. 5th, 2008 @ 08:37 pm Movies!
Okay, I used to watch a lot of movies, but I swear it used to be cheaper. Plus I didn't have cable then. Anyway, I got tired of getting ripped off by Hollywood Video (seriously, between the theatre and rental place, who can afford to see tons of movies anymore?) so I finally bit the bullet and got Netflix. I decided to do the one at a time plan because c'mon, I'm only going to watch one at a time, plus I don't want my entire life to become watching movies. Which to be honest, probably not the worst thing ever. In any case, I'm going to be sharing my opinion (whether you like it or not bitch!) so I'm giving a friendly SPOILER ALERT!!!! That will be the only warning I give. So I hope you read this first. It's just easier for me to not care if the whole experience is ruined for you or not. No, I just have a habit of doing it and this way I won't feel bad if I do! Feel free to leave comments on whether you agree or not. P.S. I already know I use too many exclamation points. Not gonna change. P.P.S chances are you've already seen it.
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Dec. 23rd, 2007 @ 05:30 pm Happy Holidays!
Merry Christmas!
Happy late Hanukkah!
Happy Kwanzaa! (Seriously, does anyone know anyone who celebrates Kwanzaa?)
Happy family time for everyone!
Happy New Year!
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Dec. 2nd, 2007 @ 05:33 pm Weekend fun!
Oh my gosh, I had a super fun weekend! Except for the driving around in the snow part, it was pretty good! I bought a bunch of stuff on sale at Macy's, yay for Christmas shopping deals! Too bad I wasn't actually doing any Christmas shopping, oh well.
Anyway, yesterday I went to Joel C's holiday party which was a lot of fun. A little awkward because either people assumed we were "together" or weirded out by Joel bringing one of his friend's girlfriend to the party. I was a little sad I didn't win any prizes, but was glad there was casino night instead of a dance. Still, I definitely need to get a job there, I have to get out of Rochester!
Greg got some tickets through his dad somehow so I went to my first Vikings game ever today! It was a lot of fun because there were some really good plays and the Vikings did great. Go Adrian Peterson! I wish the Vikings always played like that. I had absolutely no idea how loud it was going to be though! Crazy! Even though the Vikings suck, people still pay 100's of dollars to buy tickets to see them play which I don't completely understand. I guess football is just that popular.
I'm glad to be home, driving for the first time in real "winter" driving was a bit stressful. I'm not sure which was worse, yesterday when it was actually snowing, or today when it was just dark and there was ice all over the place! I'm really jealous I don't have a skyway connecting my apartment to work (I should just stop visiting Joel :P), or that there isn't a bus that comes through my neighborhood two hours before it does.
Back to work tomorrow- I just hope they don't play "Working for the Weekend" in the morning like they always do!
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Nov. 4th, 2007 @ 04:28 pm Update on my thyroid
I've done a bit of research on my own about my thyroid, but unfortunately haven't found anything really helpful. I think the problem is that a lot of it is geared towards specific thyroid diseases- hypo or hyper-thyroidism which I don't have. Joel's mom told me to eat a lot of sea salt and sea vegetables. She also practices biofeedback (which I sort of read about and am generally skeptical towards) and suggested that as a way of finding out what the root problem of this is. My cousin just told me to try a fast because the thyroid is linked to a lot of stuff nutritionally. He wasn't specific to what kind of fast (I remember when he went on a weeklong blue-green algae fast) but said it cleanses the body of toxins and helps balance metabolism which I'm also sort of skeptical about. However, it has made me wonder if I should talk to a nutritionist about supplements I could be taking or foods I should consume more of or avoid. I've also heard stress can influence the thyroid, unfortunately I feel like just having this whole thyroid thing causes it more in the first place. In any case, I'll find out the results of the next FNA/biopsy hopefully within the next month and go from there. I'd like to exhaust my options before I get surgery without necessarily having to.
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Nov. 4th, 2007 @ 04:23 pm Last week, this weekend, traveling, etc
Wow, what a busy week this has been. I'm sure pretty much everyone knows about the tragic loss of Katherine by now. I met Katherine in middle school in youth choir and really enjoyed the friendship I had with her. The funeral really made me realize how much I missed when we were in college. Even though we went to Olaf, I hardly ever saw or talked to her. A good reminder to me to really take advantage of all the friendships I've been lucky to have. I saw quite a few people I used to hang out with in high school and it reminded me of a great time when things were a lot less complicated (and sorry if I'm being totally cliche right there). I can tell I've changed in the past few years, and for the most part I'm happy with it, but like all things, not completely. Working at Mayo is great because I'm able to pay off loans and I have a fantastic apartment and nice new car, but on the other hand I wish I was able to be in the cities more often so I wouldn't be restricted to seeing people on the weekends. I generally prefer being able to stay down here and relax on the weekend and not have to spend time traveling, but then I just don't get to see people. Oh well, I should go into the doctor soon and get all this thyroid business taken care of. I just know I'll be so upset if I "have to" get my thyroid taken out and it turns out to be benign. I think I'm really apprehensive about not having a well paying job or being able to pay bills and medical insurance and all of that, but I shouldn't let that stop me from getting the hell out of Rochester. I was talking to my cousin Jon, and he is working like, 5 jobs, and yeah he has bills and bills, but he makes it work and he's pretty alright. I really enjoyed seeing my cousin Jon this weekend, because he is a crazy guy who lives life the way he wants to and really doesn't have regrets about what he hasn't been able to do. Currently he's making a business plan so he can build a coffee shop in the Caribbean. It's going to be all local and he's going to really embrace the way of life down there and everything. He doesn't like living in the US, so he's found a way that he can live somewhere else.
In any case, I'm really sick of driving. My ex-coworker Amy used to live in LaCrosse and commute everyday to Rochester (it's a 75 min drive one way) and I always thought she was crazy. I definitely know I couldn't do it- Weds I drove up to Edina for the funeral and then back to Roch, Thurs I drove up to Mpls to stay at Greg's overnight, Fri we left from Mpls to Grand Marais, today we drove from Grand Marais back here to Roch, I'm working tomorrow and then heading up the Mpls to go to a Wild game and then I'm headed back to Roch on Tues. My poor car, at least I'm not afraid it's going to break down at any moment which is what happened with my old one!
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Aug. 27th, 2007 @ 06:46 pm Apparently I'm one of those new-age natural healing hippie freaks
Current Mood: tired
Okay, so I'm not really a hippie (although I do recycle) but I am apparently appalled at the "conventional" medicine approach.
I had an ultrasound last Weds where they found a node on my thyroid (which I think they were pretty sure was there anyway). For some reason (which I was slightly mad at myself for) I didn't just go ahead with the biopsy on Weds but decided it would be a much better idea to go back in to get an ultrasound guided fine needle aspiration (FNA) and in the process wait 2 hours to get it done because the doctors are ungodly slow. The process was actually pretty painless (although my neck was pretty sore for a couple of days where they poked me) and since I work in Cytopathology, I was sure I'd get good service (since I told my probably most-competent coworker to take care of it personally). It only took an hour (or less, we're good, ^_^) to get the results which to my dismay were "Suspicious." It basically means they can't tell what it is. There is approximately a 50-50 chance it's a neoplasm or it's just follicular cells and there's a very very low chance it's malignant.
I got a consult with an endocrinologist on Friday who I saw very promptly. He palpated my neck, (he also checked my lungs and my reflexes for apparently no reason) and told me to sit down and basically said, after almost no inquiry into my case at all, so, you should have surgery and just cut the sucker out. Thyroidectomies are very common (my mom, Greg's mom, my NP) all have had them and they're fine. They do have to take a synthroid every day, but I guess they don't have cancer. I decided to refuse to have surgery and will go back in a few months to get another FNA done (and hopefully I'll get tissue cores taken this time too so they can do special stains on them to further help the diagnosis).
My NP was pretty surprised at how vehemently opposed I was to having surgery (as a couple of my coworkers were I think). I think she accused me of being in denial of having cancer (er, or the possibility of having cancer) but agreed that I should only have surgery if I really wanted it.
My reasoning is this: Mostly I was surprised to hear that the doctors felt no need to actually find out whether I actually do have cancer or not to remove my thyroid. Which I kind of need. Sort of. Not really, I guess, but on the other hand, if it turns out I don't have cancer (which they can tell by examining the mass once they've removed it) I'm out a thyroid for no good reason, and I'm never getting it back (plus I'll have gone through the hassle not to mention monetary losses associated with surgery). The node is very small and since there's a chance it's not even cancer and since there's a very very low chance it's malignant, the endo felt okay about letting me wait. Last year when I went back in to my NP, the node had disappeared and she assumed it was just a lymph node.
I am also really grateful that I do work in Cytology since I deal with these cases every day (well I don't really "do" anything important with them, but still, at least I can talk to people who know something about the diagnosis process). If I hadn't felt like there were other tests or option besides surgery open to me, I would have just been like, okay, and gone along with the surgery (which I really don't want, if you can't tell).
I'll be honest, I don't "feel" like I have cancer (I'm completely asymptomatic plus I'm in excellent health, not to mention young), so I'm not really that stressed out about it. On the other hand, it would have been nice to learn if it was positive or negative one way or the other. Instead I'm just left stressing about it (well, sort of) and will just wait another few months (which means maintaining my lovely employment at "the" Mayo Clinic) to hopefully find out if anything has changed.
If it comes back as suspicious again, I'll (probably) just have the surgery and that'll be that and at least I'll know. My NP did point out I can always get a second opinion, but I'm hoping things will have changed in a few months (one way or another!) so I won't have to bother.
In the meantime I'm still doing well (like I said, I feel fine) I just hope I can eventually get this resolved!
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Aug. 22nd, 2007 @ 04:05 pm Was it something in the country water?!?!
Current Mood: anxious
Hmmm, when I was younger my mom got her thyroid taken out because they told her she had cancer but she really didn't. Every year for the past three years, my primary care physician (well, NP) has told me that I have a lump on the side of my neck. Last year I got my TSH levels checked and they were fine. I got them checked today and they were fine. This year however, I also got an ultrasound done (which was actually kind of cool except for being in the waiting room and hoping no one thought I was actually pregnant or anything). Apparently I've got a nodule on my thyroid (which is pretty common I think) unfortunately they can't tell if it's benign or not. I think within the next couple of days I'll have an FNA/biopsy done, but my NP was out today so hopefully I can talk to her tomorrow or Friday. I'm pretty sure it'll turn out to be benign since my blood-work was okay, but still, what a pain. I guess I'm just assuming I'm as healthy as I feel (and as my NP mostly tells me) and that everything will turn out okay.
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Jul. 31st, 2007 @ 04:39 pm Wall Street Journal
For all you Wall Street Journal subscribers/readers, Greg and Nate have an article on the front page! I'd link to it online but the site makes you pay for subscription :(
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Jul. 25th, 2007 @ 04:05 pm Media coverage of Billiam/Greg/Nate
Greg and Nate are enjoying 15 mins of fame from their Billiam YouTube vid.
They were on last night's Kare 11 10 o'clock news:
http://www.kare11.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=260466
WCCO 4 10 o'clock news:
http://wcco.com/local/local_story_206090236.html (PS I wish Greg was getting job offers from around the country!)
They were also in the Mpls StarTrib today:
http://www.startribune.com/587/story/1322068.html

They are supposedly supposed to be interviewed by AP and CityPages and will be on Whadya Know on Wisc Public Radio this weekend!
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Jul. 23rd, 2007 @ 08:57 pm CNN Debate
Congrats to Greg and Nate! They made it onto the Democratic YouTube Debate!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0BPnnvI47Q
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May. 6th, 2007 @ 07:24 pm Update!
Hello everyone out in LJ-land. I've been pretty boring lately (hey, don't expect too much out of me!) but I do occasionally update my other journal. Please add sillypandacub to your friends! I've been doing a lot of running lately and it would be great to share.
http://sillypandacub.livejournal.com/
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Apr. 26th, 2007 @ 05:46 pm More studies and such
Hee hee, I'm a U of MN student now, lol. I'm taking Biochem online (in addition to random classes at RCTC), we'll see how that goes ^_^.
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Apr. 24th, 2007 @ 07:37 pm GRE
Shockingly, for some reason I can't think of, I never took the GRE before graduating college, or since then, even though I really have no reason not to (except for the whole lack of going to grad school thing). In any case, I think I'm finally going to suck it up and take it, my question to you all (who were all super-smart and took it much, much, earlier) is: were there any books and websites that made preparing for the GRE easier? I know for sure I'm not going to take one of those $1000 prep-courses, but I'm willing to cough up 50 bucks for a couple of books and I want to buy good ones and not the ones that were apparently of absolutely no use at all.
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Feb. 19th, 2007 @ 04:35 pm Man, it almost makes we want to play FFVII again....
Did I post the link to the first results video? Anyway, the first one said "To be continued" and apparently this is the continuation although I couldn't really tell. I will say though that it's worth watching simply because Greg gets (Spoiler alert!!!!!) a tomato in the ear and it's freaking hilarious and I laughed for like 5 minutes. Although maybe it's not really that funny, it's just funny because Greg got super glitched!!!!!! Also when Greg does a mule kick, he apparently kicked Nate in the junk so he finds that part super funny (although you can't tell at all).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBB9KpU2x1E
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Feb. 19th, 2007 @ 04:19 pm Congrats Amanda and Josher!
This weekend Josh (Greg's ex-roommate, senior year) and Amanda got married! It was a lot of fun, but a lot of wedding stuff- get up to the cities on Friday, take a nap, go to rehearsal dinner, get back from rehearsal dinner and go to bed, sleep in, wake up and get ready for the wedding, go to wedding ridiculously early since Greg has to be in wedding pictures, go to wedding ceremony and then the reception, get back from the reception and go to bed, and then sleep in. Oh and then go to church because Greg lives at home (super awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! x_x) and then pretty much leave.
Anyway, the reception was actually a lot of fun since it was at the zoo!!!! No monkeys or anything (which is always too bad) but we did get to see the dolphins and seriously, who doesn't like dolphins. It was in the "Discovery Bay" area and for those who haven't been there in years because the last time you were there was in like, grade school or something, it was a kind of fun interactive-y marine animal type area. It had a wall so we could see the dolphin(s?), there was a shark tank and a real live petting area. It had leopard sharks and a few stingrays in it, and there were washing stations for washing your hands afterwards. I think when we were trying to pet them they were not very active so they weren't swimming around and you couldn't effectively pet them since the tank was still almost 2-3 feet deep. In any case, it was still cool and much better than sitting in some random room downing drinks (although we did that anyway still), small talking with people you don't like and will never see again and I hate that, well mostly because I'm bad at it. In general it made the time between the start of the reception and dinner (which was ridiculously long in my opinion) go by very quickly.
It was funny at the rehearsal dinner though when everyone was talking to the groomsmen or whoever saying, oh well, c'mon you have to have some secrets, and we're like, yep but they're a bit too bastly for you. Like, remember that time freshman year when Amanda had to go to the ER because Josh made her burst a blood vessel or something, or that other time when she had sex with one of the groomsmen? That was awesome!!!!! Silly old people.
Oh and lastly, I was surprised by the lack of Oles at the wedding. I sat with Phyl (Bi, ahem, I mean Ba'hai Phyl) and besides the groomsmen (none of the bridesmaids were Oles) no one else was an Ole (well I guess there were some old people) but no one else that I knew. Lame, but I suppose it could have been worse. In any case, yay Josh and Amanda, you couldn't have done better (well maybe, but I guess the point is they didn't want to?).
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Feb. 9th, 2007 @ 08:51 pm Poor Nate....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHOuQQXsX10

Hee hee! Greg's video did super awesome! Er, or at least super-awesome-er than Nate's did.
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