Andy Fame
Yeah, YOU weren't quoted in the Los Angeles Times!

Flashback to 2002, when I was quoted in the LA Times in an article on... SpongeBob SquarePants. The actual article is subscriber only on the LA Times site, but if you go here and scroll to the next to the last article at the bottom, my quote is one of the highlighted parts of the article.

It's alright, it's alright, it's alright, yeah
Mood:  cheeky
Now Playing: 'Lonesome Day' by Springsteen
Angelfire doesn't offer nearly enough mood options.

The banner at the top of the page was submitted by "Anonymous" via a comment thread further down this page. I still think they should anonymously e-mail me so at least I know who they are, so I can think of them as being that much cooler.

Alright, let's halfway launch this new interactive thing. It's not up to it's full power (or full look yet), but here we go... the Andy Online BB! That's right, your very own message board. It's there for you to talk with me and talk with each other. Give me feedback. Let me know how great the latest Book entry was, or how much it sucks because I didn't do it again. Participate in the latest Five by Five. Recommend an album (or a cereal) for me to review. Invite your friends! Let's make this a success!

This Book Will Change Andy's Life has been updated with Day Ninety-Three (Humility Day), Benrik's third Flashmob, and details on my quest to get Books-A-Million to be Book-compliant.

It's a double update in the Five by Five, as I do the Friday Five (sorta) and I give you a rundown of my favorite t-shirts.

Naturally because there's that new banner, the Banner Bonanza (on second thought, I don't like that name anymore) has been updated. You are always welcome to submit a banner! There's plenty of ideas listed on the banner page (well, the second page of it). I'd love some more Norah, and I'd probably fall over dead if someone brought me a good lookin' Michelle Branch banner. And hey, I'm all about Dr. Zoidberg on Futurama these days.

There are four or five new shots in Photos That Didn't Make The Cut #2. Nothing exciting, really. Just as an FYI, there will be no new original Andy pictures for the next week, as I've loaned my camera to the family for use on their vacation. They better bring me something back this time, darn it. :)

And now, the news and links that I haven't brought you in forever. Hence the long entry.

The voice actors for "The Simpsons" are on strike, which could end season sixteen early. They're asking for about $360,000 per episode (or about $8 million for a season), as they currently bring in $125,000 each an episode.

I think the yawning boy behind Bush is great. Bush, and the kid's supposed support of Bush... not so much.

The solution was there all along... police can solve crmes with bananas.

Here's the link I've mentioned to a few people that gives you the names of people in your town (neighbors, at that) and who they've given campaign donations to in your town. It's also an easy way to find out celebrity addresses, if you're a stalker.

X-Entertainment takes a look at the classic action figure that was Krang's body! I had this (and possibly still do in a box somewhere). It was one of the best figures ever.

Here's a nice little article on Tracks magazine, probably my favorite of the new music magazines. It makes me feel really old though, as it talks about the artists in it appealing to "boomers." Strange how I like most of these artists and I'm an ancient 23 (no hair jokes).

Lollapalooza is hitting the road again with a two-day format this year. I do like two of the artists announced (Flaming Lips, String Cheese Incident) thus far.

Friday's Pearls Before Swine is great, if nothing else just because it found a way to get the "mother" comment in newspapers.

Update of sorts
Alright, so I'm behind on my updates. I should've never said big things were coming. :)

The big "interactive" thing is coming. Soon. Next week, when things slow down.

With the exception of the new flashmob that's sitting in my e-mail, This Book Will Change Andy's Life is updated. Check out that bicep! Peel potatoes!

Well...
Now Playing: 'She Wants To Move' - N.E.R.D.
And by tonight/tomorrow, I meant sometime hopefully this week. Some other slightly more important (but good) things have come up, and I have chosen to not sit at my computer and neglect actual human interaction. Sorry. :) It'll all be up at some point this week.

I'm as frisky as a squid on Tuesday
Do you need something to entertain yourself bright and early on Tuesday morning (or the "bright and early" equilavent of whenever you're going to be online)? Come right back here to AO!

Late Monday night, a few things ready to go up will be updated. I'll give you a taste of what the 2004 Andy musical tastes include in a big way. I'll do some more "This Book Will Change Andy's Life" and "Five by Five" stuff. I might even do more. I hope you're ready!

Tomorrow's update is also a big step in something I've tried hard for since the big January 1st relaunch of AO, but haven't had much success with... viewer interaction. Back in 1997, I christened Andy Online as "The People's Website." It was a take on a local hip-hop station calling itself "The People's Station," though people are more likely to tell you I was ripping off The Rock ("The People's Champion"). Either way works for me. I didn't call it that for nothing back then, and it's still not unofficially the People's Website for nothing now. I don't do this website for my own entertainment. It does help pass the time, but I do it because there seems to be a few people (an average of 34 different people a day, according to site stats for the last week) who want to read the zany things that I post. The blog format definitely helps. I didn't update AO much at all in the last few years because I didn't want to bother with HTML much (or, in the last year, because I was distracted by something far better than a computer). Now I can just type and voila, there it is. That's why I have all of these features. I want feedback on "Book" entries. I especially have "Five by Five" here to be an interactive feature. I give my answers, you give yours. Total answers for "Five by Five" entries since it's inception... two.

The first part of this is a plea to you to give me some feedback. There's 30-40 of you here a day. Post a comment and let me know what you think. Drop me an e-mail (andy1278 at yahoo.com) and let me know. IM me (AIM: andybear1278, MSN: andy1278@hotmail.com). Comments can be posted anonymously, if so desired. I'd love to hear what people think of the various things that I do here, and which ones I should do more of and which ones need to be dropped.

Part two of this is to ask you to pass along the good word about AO to a friend. Multiple friends, if you desire. You come here for a reason. Maybe you know me personally. Maybe you're one of my online buddies. Maybe you've just found me online somehow, whether it's through Benrik stuff, searching, or you were looking for andyonline.com, which is a porn site that popped up after one of AO's original popularity waves to capitalize on the hot name back when I was getting 200 hits a day(for the record, andyonline.com has no Andys involved, and you're better off for that). If you keep coming back, you're probably doing it for a reason. Why not share the site with a friend? They'll either do one of two things... a) think it's incredibly lame and, in the process, think I'm incredibly lame, which is a common thing in life for me, or b) think it's kinda funny and come back. This site is not a secret. Spread the word. Post it on your site. Post it in your journal. Write down the address and post it on a bulletin board somewhere, and that goes for both online bulletin boards and real ones. Get it tattooed on your forehead. Just e-mail it to someone or tell them to check it out during an IM session. Just let me know what you did, so I can give you the proper publicity back.

Part three is saying that tomorrow, I'll be introducing another way for mass interactivity here, both with me and with each other. Despite getting the couple of hundred unique hits a day back two years ago, this feature never worked before. Nobody tried. I'm giving it another shot. You've been warned.

Quickie update, 'cause I've got other stuff to do.

I started redoing the About Andy page. There will be more thumbnails as I get pictures to actually work.

There's two new entries for This Book Will Change Andy's Life and a MIGHTY new entry in the Five by Five.

Coming sometime Saturday after I get off work and probably nap:

* I'm going to regrade the first CD review with the grading scale I originally planned. It's hard to rate stuff on a 0-100 scale, as seen there.

* New Book stuff.

* New Five by Five.

* Probably a new entry in the random music blog.

More!

In the meantime... I FOUND IT! I present to you, in MP3 form, The Mountie's theme song! Yes!

It takes twenty-two steps...
Now Playing: I'm in between CDs, actually
Again, an update of MASSIVE size. New for you...

* Andy's CD Reviews - I review my first CD, "Joe Muggs Coffeehouse CD, Vol. 1." This is in anticipation of reviewing (and listening to) the Vol. 2, which I'm actually excited about because it has decent people on it.

* This Book Will Change Andy's Life features a lack of balloons and a lack of apples.

* Photos That Didn't Make The Cut, Vol. 2 includes a cat, booty, and two others.

* Five by Five is handsome! It's brave! And it's strong!

Scarlett Johannson, best known for being in "Lost in Translation" and looking good at the Oscars, will voice a character for the upcoming SpongeBob movie. Alec Baldwin will too, but that's considerably less exciting.

In response to "The Passion", Monty Python's "Life of Brian" is going to be rereleased.

School systems nationwide are stepping up efforts to get young teachers to not quit, citing lack of pay as one of the reasons. Not to be Mr. Wizard here, but there IS a way to fix that problem.

Wow. Just wow. They'll make a musical out of anything.

The new Rolling Stone presents the fifty greatest artists of all time and a salute to the team of baseball and music.

Sarah Michelle Gellar won't appear in the finale episode of "Angel." Ah well.

Six weeks straight for Norah!

Just breathe
Mood:  not sure
Updates all over the place!

* This Book Will Change Andy's Life - Four new, slightly unexciting entries.

* Eight Bucks Worth of Crap - Due to much demand (or Vicky reminding me), there's a new piece of crap up! I'm going to try to add one every time I update.

* Photos That Didn't Make The Cut, Album Two - Four new photos, three involving a cat.

* Music Stuff - I posted lyrics to a song. How exciting.

* Five by Five - Two new entries, one in response to the other.

Meet Katrina, who can talk to geese. Geese seem to be a focal point here at the AO.

A pastor died while watching "The Passion" with his church. Probably wasn't expecting that twist to the story.

The campaign is on to save "Angel."

A ninja held up a gas station in Norway recently. Rumor has it that it was one of Shredder's foot soldiers.

Those wacky Christians are trying to get books banned in some Georgia schools, including Of Mice and Men, the only book read in school that I actually enjoyed as I was reading it in school.

Jem has finally made it, no doubt due to being on the fabulous Joe Muggs Coffeehouse volume two and not because of being on the great ATO label, of which I seem to like every freakin' artist.

Today's Engrish quite frankly overwhelms me. As if finding out who the true Uncle Sam is isn't enough, then there's... well... you know... that alien...

The Onion's 9/11 edition could've won a Pulitzer, if the "academy" wasn't so scared.

Lend me some sugah
Mood:  hug me
Now Playing: 'Hey Ya!'
Check out a brand new edition of Five by Five, fresh for this very morning. There's also one I posted last night but didn't get around to actually promoting. Feel free to comment on any and all Five by Five entries with your particular answers and/or general comments. I'm striving to make that the majorly interactive portion of the show.

I haven't gotten the newest TBWCAL entries done yet. Sorry.

Circa May 16, 2001, it's old school AO! I'm amazed at how much works on that menu bar at the top, and how it takes you to the actual old-school stuff from that day (livejournal entry, for example).

Be ready... later in the week, I'm going to do a major music rant and a movie review or two. Right now though, I'm off to bed.