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Lighten Up, Geeks! Join the Funny Tech Stories Group

GeekSugar — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 14:00:39 -0700

My sister still calls her kids' Wii "The Wii Machine" and my mom once sent all her information to her "bank" - which was of course, a scam. As scary as that experience is for anyone, she was able to stop anything from happening. Of course I can laugh at it now because all I remember is my mom calling me to tell me she got "hacked! I got hacked!"

These are the kind of stories we need in the Funny Tech Stories Group! I know you've got some great gems to share, and it's not limited to your loved ones - ever done anything embarrassing, tech-wise? Maybe you thought Ubuntu was the name of an ethnic restaurant, or wasted hours of your time when you got your first iPod trying to figure out how to get the songs off the device and onto a computer (my brilliant brother-in-law even did this). So join the group and if you make me giggle, you'll see it on the geeksugar homepage!

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Our First Funny Family Tech Story

GeekSugar — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 00:42:01 -0800

I seem to be the only person in my family that knows anything about computers - or at least that's what the two to three phone calls a week from distant relatives might suggest. Grandma wants to know how to add paper to the printer, mom wants to know how to add an attachment and dad wants help with Photoshop. It never ends, and every story is funnier than the last. Because family tech stories are inherently funny, I've been challenging you guys to share your stories and Bonne has come through with a couple, deliciously funny situations.

Recently, Bonne's Dad called her saying that his computer wouldn't print. "I walked him through the whole - is it on? Does it have paper? Does it have ink? - type of deal until he brought it over," said Bonne. "I let it sit for about a month before I actually got to looking at it. It turns out that he brought the wrong ink cartridge and tried to jam it in until it 'fit.' Ink is ink, eh?" For more of Bonne's hilarious stories, which include some great ideas for helping non-techies take control of their own computers, just read more

Bonne's mom couldn't figure out the difference between left click and right click - until she put friendly left/right stickers on the mouse. Geeksugar tip: If you have a family member that can't get the right click thing down, consider making stickers like Bonne did for her mom.
Bonne's Grandpa is surprisingly good at the computer, but he uses a magnifying glass to actually read it. He didn't like any of the other programs to help him and prefered the manual method. Geeksugar tip: If your family member has bad eyesight, adjust their computer's layout accordingly.
Bonne's sister is in her twenties and should know the basic of computer uses, but once she was in the process of moving and ended up getting lost. She decided to stop on the side of the road, spend about 30 minutes attaching the PC/moniter/keyboard/mouse together and push the power button. Only to realize that the dang computer wouldn't turn on. She didn't realized that the computer needed to be plugged in to some type of power supply. Geeksugar tip: If your sister is anything like Bonne's tell her about geeksugar!

Does your mom think net surfing is a type of sport and your grandma thinks a computer virus is an actual bug? Let us know all your geekilarious family tech stories so we can share experiences and get a good laugh! Click on Funny Family Tech Stories to submit your own memorable family tech tale!

Please Unsubscribe Joyce From Your Internet!

GeekSugar — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 15:10:09 -0700

Oh, Joyce, aren't you too cute? She wants to be unsubscribed from "your" Internet because hers gets too full all the time.

She does have an email address, so I'm a little confused as to why she didn't just email this in, but then I'm actually not confused at all. It's crystal.

You know that this letter, posted on Neatorama, was totally written by someone's cute mom who's a little less than tech savvy. Is Joyce your mom? Or an awful lot like yours? Then please join our Funny Tech Stories group, and keep posting her letters!

The Office, "Shareholder Meeting": Best Lines of the Night

BuzzSugar — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 09:30:00 -0800

Looks like The Office is trying for a little economic relevance. While it sort of knocks you over the head this week - e.g. showing the Dow Jones sign - you can't blame the writers for making the story timely. Michael travels to New York for a shareholders meeting with Dwight, Andy, and Oscar in tow, but instead of being honored for his work at the branch, he steps into what's essentially a sounding board for grievances.

Lots of great quotes in this episode, so let's recap some of my favorites, shall we? (Don't worry, I've included Michael's big speech.)

"Recyclops will drown you in your over-watered lawns."-Dwight
Obviously the writers had to plug NBC's Green Week like the rest of the network, but The Office's is one of the most creative. I especially enjoyed Jim's side story about how Recyclops's fictional planet was attacked and he "vowed to destroy the planet he once loved." Oh, and his nemesis Polluticorn, which is actually a Power Rangers reference. They could've made the entire episode about Recyclops, and I would've been happy - if for nothing else, just to see Dwight rock that weird eye headband.

For more quips from the evening, including a deleted limo scene, read more.

Dwight: "Oh, I'm sorry were you raised in a household with no consequences?"
Woman in line: "It'll just be a second."
Dwight: "Oh, if onlys and justs were candies and nuts, then every day would be Erntedankfest."
Dwight lays into the woman in the microphone line when she wants to use the bathroom, but his special comeback phrase really made me laugh. I plan on reciting it myself at least once this week. (By the way, I googled "Erntedankfest" and it's Germany's Thanksgiving. Dwight taught me something!)

Pam: "Well, I can't really imagine you yelling at anyone."
Jim: "Oh, I yell, you've heard me yell."
Pam: "Oh, okay. I've heard you exclaim, like the time you said, Hey look, we parked over here."
Jim: "Well that was apple picking day. There's no need to yell that day. You know, I was just excited to find the car. Perfect end to a perfect day."
Aw, Jim. You try so hard to be tough. But you've got to admit that putting Ryan in the closet is genius. Not only does it teach the guy a lesson, but I'm considering it payback for all of those weird getups that Ryan's been wearing recently. (Remember the fedora?!)

"We're gonna come back with a plan for you, it's a 45-day plan, 45 days to get us back on track, 45 points. It's a 45-day, 45 point, one point per day, we get the 45 points. We are back in business. And you can take that to the bank. And limo lady, we are going completely carbon neutral! I love you New York!"-Michael
Best. Speech. Ever. God forbid anyone ever give Michael Scott a mic - serves them right. Oh, and speaking of limos, check out this funny deleted scene of the boys in their ride.

"I just want to say that I believe that there are options out there. A take-a-number option like they have in a deli. What about line varieties? Like an express line for quick comments of ten words or less that could move much more efficiently. What about ropes along the lines that you can hold on to?"-Dwight
I was always welcome a ridiculous Dwight rant, and this was one of his better ones.

Alright, so your turn! What'd you think of the episode? The whole situation has me questioning what's going to happen to Michael in next week's episode. The guy destroys the shareholders meeting, his CEO is annoyed, and then he runs off with the limo - are there going to be repercussions?

If you're a Dunder Mifflin fanatic, head on over to The Office! group in the BuzzSugar Community!

Photo and videos courtesy of NBC

Robert Pattinson Rises Early to Brighten Up the Day

PopSugar — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 07:30:25 -0800

Robert Pattinson showed off a few of his many funny faces earlier this morning for his appearance on The Today Show. We've already taken a peek at his interview with Matt Lauer, where Rob opened up a little bit about Kristen and the stories of his being hit by a taxi over the Summer. Robert is due to spend the rest of the day in NYC before a special screening this evening. Their big day is tomorrow, so hopefully Robert, Kristen, Taylor, and their castmates will soon be able to let loose a little after weeks of traveling the world to promote New Moon.

Lots more images of Rob inside and outside the studio, so read more.

View 30 Photos ›

Outrageous Family Tech Stories

GeekSugar — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 00:47:56 -0800

I try to be as patient as I can with my family concerning computer help and setting up gadgets - after all, my parents graduated from college when they didn't have to use computers. To be honest, neither one of them is terrible, and aside from a few networking issues, their office runs pretty smooth. Such was not the case for the first boss I had out of college. He would call me up in the middle of the day while traveling and literally ask me to log in to his e-mail because he "couldn't get it when he was away from his computer." Aye, gosh!

Rob, Kristen, and Taylor Are This Week's Entertainment

BuzzSugar — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 07:56:22 -0800

Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, and Taylor Lautner have been posing for photo ops all over town - check out Pop's favorite promo tour moments - and it wouldn't be complete without an interview with Entertainment Weekly. In the cute interview, the costars quip about everything from Rob's attachment to his signature hair to Kristen's confession that she'd like to quit smoking to Taylor's obsession with hitting the gym for New Moon. There're also tidbits about Rob and Kristen's off-screen relationship and how Robert handles fandom. They're clearly a tight-knight trio, so check out the highlights below. If you can't get enough Twilight, keep the convos going in the Twilight Saga community group, and be sure to check back next week for my own interview with Ashley Greene and Kellan Lutz!

Robert Pattinson on his hair in Eclipse: I swear to you I’ve never experienced anything like this. It's every single day. In Twilight, they wanted me to have extensions down to my hips.
Kristen Stewart: He's a liar. He doesn't remember. He's remembering how they made him feel, but they were just, like, down to here [pointing to her shoulders].
Pattinson: So I told them, "Look, that's just not going to happen." I said, "It looks like this already – I'll come to set like this." I sound so stupid, but in a lot of ways the hair is 75 percent of my performance, so in the second one I said, "Listen, I need to tone down the hair. Let's make it a little more real, a little bit more . . . Method.” [Laughs] And then in the third one, I'm doing fight scenes and there's a strand going down my forehead and they're like, "We need to do it again because no one will recognize you! No one will know who it is!" I'm like, really, is my face that generic?
Stewart: They want proof that you're doing your own stunts, man!
Pattinson: I have to look like the poster at all times. Just in case they want to use any clip for the trailer. Any clip at all! There were about five people in different departments who, because of my forelock, ended up in tears.

For tons of more quotes, just read more.

EW: How are you all coping with living in a fishbowl?
Pattinson: It really depends on the mood. When I met you last year [before Twilight came out], I was doing interviews very sporadically and I never got recognized. Now it's like anywhere I go there's immediate recognition. So there's more of a responsibility . . .
Stewart: I don't mind working every day. It's just, suddenly, I have this other role. And that's really disappointing. All I'd like to do is go outside with a book and figure out what to do with the day. And if I can't do that, then I'm just going to sit in my hotel room on my balcony and chain smoke. [Pauses] I'm going to stop smoking. I'm not such a good smoker, anyway. It's not in my bones. I'm gonna drop it.
Pattinson: The three of us have been working for two years [straight]. It does feel like your day has a shape just as soon as you wake up. I just forget what it's like when you're free.
EW: Taylor, you're the only one who almost lost a shot at the sequels. Do you have a different relationship with fame because you had to fight for your job?
Lautner: No, I kept my eye on the prize 100 percent of the time. I was motivated. I wasn't even thinking about anything else.
Stewart: Thank God you got the job. I wouldn't have wanted to deal with you if you didn’t. After all those months of working out!
Lautner: I just wanted to focus on what I could control, and I worked really hard.
EW: You mean in the gym? Because I see your abs everywhere these days.
Lautner: Yeah, the gym was a major part, but I really studied the books and the character, too. And it all turned out good.
EW: Kristen, it must be nice to watch the guys' appearances get obsessed over for a change.
Stewart: Seriously, it's a trip to sit back and look at the sexual objectification of these dudes. I've never been asked to do any of this stuff.
EW: You guys are lucky. You clearly all dig each other.
Lautner: The amount of time we have to spend with each other – if I didn't like these two, it would be exhausting.
EW: Rob, you made Remember Me this summer, between sequels. Was that the set in New York, where you were knocked into a cab by hordes of fans?
Pattinson: That was completely made up. I was walking across the street, and there was one cab going about one mile an hour and it nudged my leg. The story ended up being how I got hit by a cab because of a mob of screaming fans, [but] it was 4 o'clock in the morning and there was one person there – a paparazzi. . . . And then there was another time – apparently they said on the news that I had a drug overdose. The security guy saw it on TV, and I wasn't in my room, and he was like, "Uh-oh!" It's just so weird. I wake up and my room is too messy to order room service, and so I end up eating a pack of M&M’s for breakfast – and it takes me about five hours to find it. That's my first five hours of the day. [Laughing] And then you see the news and think, "Who cares if he had a drug overdose? It would probably make him more interesting!"
EW: Kristen and Rob, why do you think people are so obsessed with the state of your off-screen relationship?
Pattinson: Good question. That's a little thing I have to think about every day.
Stewart: Maybe it's just my personality, but I'm never going to answer it. I probably would've answered it if people hadn't made such a big deal about it. But I'm not going to give the fiending an answer. I know that people are really funny about "Well, you chose to be an actor, why don’t you just f---ing give your whole life away? Can I have your firstborn child?"
EW: You don’t think just saying, for example, "Listen, we dated for a few months, it was weird, we're better off as friends" would end the speculation?
Pattinson: No way.
Stewart: People are deeply judgmental and I'm not strong enough. I would love to be like, "I don't care what anybody thinks." But I'm a very private person. And think about every hypothetical answer: "Okay, we are. We aren't. I’m a lesbian." I've thought about this a lot. There's no answer that's not going to tip you one way or the other. I'm just trying to keep something. If people started asking me if I was dating Taylor, I'd be like, "F--- off." I would answer the exact same way."

What to Netflix: New DVD Tuesday

BuzzSugar — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 06:30:00 -0800

Tuesday means it's time to rev up your entertainment engine with new releases in music and new DVDs to add to your Netflix queue. I've checked out today's movie offerings and have some recommendations for the movies that are worth your rental time below.

This Summer's hit from Pixar is as tear-jerking as it is funny and light, and equally entertaining for kids and adults. Up is a story about an old man, voiced by Ed Asner, who attaches his home to balloons to escape his rapidly changing neighborhood.

I loved the emotional and original story, and wouldn't be surprised to see it nab a Best Picture nomination. The DVD has a ton of fun extras like cartoon shorts Partly Cloudy and Dug's Special Mission, and the expected making-of featurettes.

98%

See two more new releases when you read more.

The Ugly Truth

Katherine Heigl and Gerard Butler play opposite each other in this romantic comedy that hinges on the notion that women want love, while men only want sex. I couldn't find much romance, though; in its place are cliches and some truly cringe-worthy moments.

But if you're one of the many who loves Gerard Butler, you may enjoy his boorish behavior. DVD extras include deleted scenes, two alternate endings, director commentary, and a gag reel.

15%

Spread

Ashton Kutcher is just a gigolo in the indie Spread. OK, maybe he's not exactly a gigolo, but it's pretty close - his character Nikki hangs around wealthy women like Anne Heche, exchanging good lovin' for a place to stay. When he unintentionally falls for a mysterious girl, his sugar mama ways are challenged.

Kutcher's role is more dramatic than what he usually takes on, and the love scenes are supposedly pretty steamy. Included in the DVD's extras are a feature called "The World According to Nikki," commentary with Kutcher (who also produced the movie), and deleted scenes.

13%

The Men Who Stare at Goats: Glaringly Unfocused

BuzzSugar — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 05:30:00 -0800

I went into The Men Who Stare at Goats with high expectations. How could a film possibly disappoint when you have the acting trifecta of George Clooney, Ewan McGregor, and Jeff Bridges? But unfortunately, while the pros work hard to generate laughs - and they do deliver at times - the film on the whole is all over the place.

Goats is based on the non-fiction book by Jon Ronson. That's right - non-fiction. The film opens with the line, "More of this is true than you would believe," which is a nice reminder, because the plot is intentionally convoluted. At first, this far-fetched quality makes the story feel fun and quirky, but as time goes on, it gets mucked up in its own self-aware confusion and starts to feel stale. To see what I mean, read more.

McGregor stars as the movie's hero, Bob Wilton, a small-town journalist whose wife has just left him for his editor. So Bob decides to do what most men do when they're heartbroken - he goes to war. Or at least he tries to, but he only gets as far as a hotel pool bar in Kuwait. That's where he meets Lyn Cassady (George Clooney), a former "Jedi warrior" with the U.S. Army - or simply put: soldiers with superpowers. (Yes, note the coincidence: McGregor and Jedis.)

Lyn begins to tell Bob about the former founder of his unit, Bill Djanjo (Jeff Bridges), a vet who goes to find himself after Vietnam in the drug and orgy, peace and love '70s. Armed with a new, zen persona, Bill returns to the Army to share his more peaceful point of view and take charge of a new special force that uses mind control over traditional weapons. That's when Lyn comes in. As a new recruit, Lyn is exceptionally psychic, and he quickly gets a reputation for being able to find anyone, including terrorists, strictly using his mind.

So Bob and Lyn begin on a journey into Iraq. Where they're headed, Lyn's not exactly sure. He just assumes he'll find it, thanks to his extra sixth sense. As for the audience, we're sort of in the same boat - along for the ride without any real direction.

The movie tries to comment on the inhumanity (and stupidity) of war, but has a difficult time making its point alongside the slapstick elements. The actors are great with comedic timing and deliver one-liners to entertain the audience in many moments, but that was ultimately the only aspect that held my interest. (That and Jeff Bridges's sweet hippie braided hair.) What had the potential to be a funny, original story or a satire instead starts to feel boring. The characters wander aimlessly, the flashbacks float in and out, and without a clear focus, you stop caring. And that's not an easy feat where Clooney's usually concerned.

New Roles For Bradley Cooper, Isla Fisher, and JT!

BuzzSugar — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 10:30:42 -0800

Today is packed with casting news for some of my favorite stars:

Isla Fisher's name is floating around for a new comedy titled Desperados. The story follows a woman who sends a nasty email to the new guy she's seeing after he goes MIA. after they have sex. I'm already a fan of Fisher, plus they're describing it as The Hangover for women - so you know I'm on board!

Speaking of The Hangover, Bradley Cooper is picking up a new gig. He'll be replacing Shia LaBeouf for Dark Fields, a thriller following a writer who ingests a few pills to better his career. What he gets is success, women - and a group of shady characters in pursuit. Comparisons are being drawn to Fight Club with Brad Pitt, so Fields could be just what Cooper needs to complete his ascent into leading man status.
Lastly, Justin Timberlake is in talks to voice Boo Boo, alongside Dan Aykroyd and Anna Faris in the live-action/CGI version of the classic cartoon Yogi Bear. You know how I feel about the live-action/CGI combo, but you've got to admit that picturing Timberlake as a fuzzy bear in a bow tie is kinda funny. Hope he brings the pic-a-nic basket!

I think my favorite of these three may just be Isla Fisher's, but which project are you most excited for?