The Inside of My Mind

This is why I call the site "The Inside of My Mind"

Okay, I should probably explain this. Every once in a while, I would post entries at a little site called Great Thinkers (which no longer exists). Then, for whatever reason, I started a journal site. After realizing that my life is far too boring to talk about on a daily basis, I scrapped it. However, I saved the entries for future reference. These are some of the more interesting (well...to me, at least) entries. If I'm in the typing mood, I'll add more in the future.

04/16/01 - The unknown intricacies of 'Whose Line is it Anyway?'
08/11/01 - Weird dream #1
08/12/01 - My favorite sport, improv
08/13/01 - My favorite food, improv
09/03/01 - The Price is Right...or is it?
09/10/01 - The Infamous Greg Proops Evil Twin Theory
09/23/01 - Don't ask me why I post entries about my weird dreams, but...
10/23/01 - Logic train I
10/28/01 - Logic train II
06/06/02 - George W is pre-empting Whose Line?, at least they're reruns
09/11/02 - The entry nobody wants to read

04/16/01 - The unknown intricacies of 'Whose Line is it Anyway?'
There are three...no wait, four....no, five...well, a lot of categories...to divide people in reference to the show. There are....
1) The obsessed fans such as I, known as 'Whosers' (personally, I don't like the term, but that's a completely different matter to talk about).
2) The people who like the show but don't mind missing it.
3) The people who like it but don't watch it enough (the ones who call the contestants 'the tall guy' 'the bald guy' and 'the black guy.'
4) The people who watch it but think it's scripted
5) The people who like it but would rather watch "Friends" or "Smackdown" or whatever.
6) The people who don't like it at all. (which actually may be the smallest group)
7) The people who haven't heard of it.
So, the show itself seems to be aimed towards groups 3-7. These are what I refer to as the "low-brow" or 'slow' groups. The show tends to these groups by using the dumbed-down games like props, hats, and sound effects. These are the groups that won't laugh a great pun by Colin in hoedown, but will roll over laughing at the line "man it's cold!" in props. This group is also easily impressed by Wayne's songs, which is why he's on every show. Why do I think this? Well, I can easily compare. When going through posts at the Whose Line fan discussion groups, it seems everyone hates Sound Effects (with the audience). But when I make my mom (and sister, if he happens to be in the room) watch the show, they LOVE Sound Effects. Why? Because the concept of the game is easy to understand, and the jokes don't require the least bit of though. Hahaha, they quacked and they were supposed to make elephant sounds. Same goes with props, and helping hands (one of the most dumb-downed games; its whole premise is physical humor). Now, as for group 1, well, we're special. We...well, I don't really want to say 'we' because I don't agree with half of this...but some fans think differently. They're constantly complaining about 'too many singing games' (games like Greatest Hits and Song Styles, by the way, happen to be the highlights of the show for me. I've made audio CD's, I must love them.) and 'not enough Greg.' They try to, in a nice way, imply that they don't like Wayne anymore. It's funny because they know if they say it directly, it might make them sound racist or something (well, I'm really just speculating). I myself love all of the WL contestants...though, um, Kathy Greenwood isn't funny, I still like her because, um.....well, never mind.

08/11/2001 - Weird dream #1
Last night (or was it this morning?) I had an interesting dream involving one of my favorite situational comedies...THE DREW CAREY SHOW. Now, I quickly forget dreams, so I have to type this quickly... Lewis, Oswald, and I are in Drew's living room looking for something. Apparently, we're looking for Drew's diary. Then something happens (I told you I forget dreams easily) and Drew enters. He shouts his "aah!" scream and says something to the effect of "Aw, man, I was hoping my house had real burglars, not you guys." Then Lewis finds the diary. Mimi enters somehow for some reason and forces Lewis to hand it over. I say something to Drew like "want me to rip out the pages that make fun of her?" and he responds "No, those are the parts I want her to read." Then I wake up. Okay, so it wasn't funny, but keep in mind that I was improvising it in my subconscious mind. It seemed real (like all dreams, of course) and wasn't freaky weird or anything. Maybe I should go back to eating pizza right before going to bed. Then I'll have the weird dreams.

08/12/01 - My favorite sport, improv
Well, it is when you think about it. A group of people competing. Their goal...to be the funniest. Sometimes it requires teamwork, sometimes it's an all-out battle to the finish. The games can involve one player or several. Sure, there are no definite winners in improv, but doesn't it work the same way in...um...well, I can't name an official sport that doesn't have a scoring system, but that's beside the point. I'm sure improv is a sport, because you can see it performed weekly on broadcast television, and virtually everyday if you have cable. People watch it on television and think "hey, I can do that" when, in reality, they can't. Some people are so impressed by the players' abilities that they think it's rehearsed. You can see it on tv for free, but most fans would cough up the money just to see it done live. The players know the basic rules of the game but really don't know what's going to happen on a given day. The fans have favorite players and teams, and the fans dislike certain players and teams. Interest of the sport has caused fans to take up the sport and practice themselves. So, in summary, uhhh...improv is like a sport.

08/13/01 - My favorite food, improv
Don't you love analogies? I do too.
Well, improv is like food, in some respects. Compare Whose Line to live improv to Las Vegas All-Stars Improv. Whose Line is like fast food. Cheap, easy, quick, and doesn't require much time. And artificial (because of the editting and censoring...it's still really improvised). Live improv can be put into two categories: amateur and professional. Watching live amateur improv is like eating a home-cooked meal. Decent, nothing special, and you might prefer fast food. Participating in amateur improv is like cooking a home meal yourself. If you enjoy cooking/improv, you would much rather do it yourself. And it's more interactive. Watching professional improv is like going to a fancy restaurant. Expensive, but worth the money if you can appreciate it. And All-Stars Improv is like, well, a really expensive restaurant. But it's still worth the money. So, if anyone tells you that Whose Line is just like any other improv, tell them that all food isn't the same. They'll be so confused that they'll leave you alone and you can watch your favorite television program in peace.

09/03/01 - The Price is Right...or is it?
I like to think of TPIR as the game show that defeats it own purpose. Supposedly, contestants win by knowing about suggested retail prices of brand name products. However, if you notice, it seems as if almost everybody on the show, from the fratty teens to the....well, the old people, no one knows that they're doing! Granted, I would suck terribly if I tried, but at least I know better than to try. I honestly think that the (how should I say this) price-savvy-impaired are picked purposely. The producers (or whoever picks contestants) probably think it's more entertaining to watch. That didn't make as much sense as it was supposed to but I'm just going to continue typing.
Another aspect of the show is the audience participation. I'm pretty sure TPIR is the only show that does this. No other game show lets the audience help the contestants. I wonder why.
Is the audience automatically smarter than the contestant because they're in the audience? That must be the way it works, because the contestant will almost never resist the temptation to look in that direction. What's the point of having a contestant again? Oh, yeah. To claim the prize. Even though the audience member who supposedly helped them win will inevitably bug them to share the dough/car/juice maker. I have no proof but I can bet that's what happens. One more gripe about this program: the games are very uneven. The premise of one game is to simply choose "change the prices (of two items) or keep them how they are," thereby giving an easy 50/50 chance. Other games are based luck (Plinko, for one) and there's even a game that requires putting skill. What's up with that?

That's my rant and I'm sticking to it.

09/10/01 - The Infamous Greg Proops Evil Twin Theory
I wrote this a while back and wanted to bring it back for the sake of...well, I wanted to post it in an entry. I made it up as I went along and didn't really revise it. So it will probably be hard to follow (a fair warning). Enjoy! Or pretend that you're enjoying it! psst...don't tell anyone! Well, okay, you can if you want to. My theory is that Greg has a twin alien counterpart. I'm surprised that no one else has mentioned it, but in certain episodes of Whose Line/pictures/etc Greg's head looks, in want of a better word, bigger, than others. This is because the thinner faced version if actually from an alternate dimension! It all started when Greg was doing stand-up in little unknown towns in San Fransisco. This was happening both in our dimension, and the alternate dimension, which I'll from hereon be referring to as A and B, respectively. However, when Greg A started getting small roles in sitcoms, Greg B's life started going down the drain. And here's where is gets complicated...strap your mind in, cause it's gonna take a little ride... The planet which we know as Mars is actually an alternate Earth, which collapsed due to a paradox which lead to the destruction of all life. The paradox resulted from a mistake in time travel, possibly one traveling back in time to prevent the existence of time travel (refer to the 'Back to the Future' trilogy). So, this explains why Earth as we know it, Earth A, does not have time travel technology, because dimension B prevented it from doing so, but that's another story. So back to Greg. Greg B is able to travel to Earth A with his mind (that's another story, even longer. Don't get me started on that one. It's not important) where he, while invisible, (yes, another story...don't want to explain that either) copies Greg A's mind so he can be as talented as him, maybe even more so. Greg B decides to take over the world for some reason. (who _doesn't_ want to take over the world?) But he has to start one country at a time. He can't start with America, because of course then Greg A would spot him and his secret would be revealed. I can't explain this, but he decides to take over England. He probably wanted to start with the easy ones. So, he realizes that the best way to attract attention is, of course, by becoming a celebrity. He auditions for Whose Line and makes it. He's a big hit, and is on the show for many years. And during this time, Greg A never finds out, because it's happening in England, and Greg A actually has a fear of flying, which he acquired from his long-lost brother Ryan Stiles. Greg knows the only way to take over Whose Line is to become to host, so in the process he ridicules and insults Clive, in hopes that Clive will commit suicide. This never happens of course. So Greg tries to take over the producer role. While Dan Patterson is sleeping, Greg B tries to infiltrate his mind, but accidentally cuts off the process before it's finished. Greg B is unsuccessful and Dan is from hereon scarred with a terrible lack of judgement and logic. More on this later. Greg B continues to ridicule and insult Clive, but now it's just because he enjoys it so much. So, it's now the year 1997 Greg B wants to take over England by fame in other ways, but he's too busy doing Whose Line. The only way to get Whose Line out of his schedule, of course, is to destroy it. Make people stop watching it. This is where Debi Durst comes in. I think you know what I mean. This plans to work, because Whose Line is no longer filmed in England by Greg B is almost successful in his plan, until Whose Line is brought to American television. Now it gets interesting... It's also where I switch tense for some reason. Because Greg B is forced to do the American version, because it's in his contract. Greg B is soon discovered by Greg A! Greg B manages to do every American version episode by putting Greg A in hypersleep. This works until Brad discovers the unconscious Greg A in Greg's closet; what Brad was doing in Greg's closet I may never figure out. So Brad and Greg team up to attempt to conquer the imposter Greg. One keeps an eye on evil Greg while the other does their respective episode of Whose Line. (this explains why Brad and Greg are never on the US version at the same time) This finally gives Greg A the chance to do improv, such as episodes 216, 229, 342, 232, and 210. But, Greg B is still trying to get people to stop watching Whose Line. This is where Kathy Greenwood comes in. You know what happens here. So Greg B tries to bring down the show with Kathy Greenwood, but Greg and Brad, determined to foil Greg B's plan, manage to get Jeff Davis and Robin Williams on the show, and Brad does as many commercials as he can to promote the show. Wayne has to be on every episode and must do at least one singing game, because, well, Dan has bad logic and reason, remember? Then there's a subplot involving Wayne's singing, which I should mention. You may notice that in every single episode of the US version, Wayne sings at least one song. This is because Greg B has a grudge against Wayne for making jokes against the alien race. (this was during a game of Film TV and Theatre Styles in the first season that never aired) So Brad and Greg A recruited Chip so that Wayne would sing more often on the show, because they know it gets on evil Greg's nerves. Brad and good Greg have been trying their best to get Mike on the show, but of course Dan by this point has faulty logic and reasoning, so he literally flips off Mike and never lets him on WLiiA? again. This is what I have figured out so far. stay tuned for further updates THIS THEORY MAY OR MAY NOT BE TRUE I AM NOT GREG PROOPS, NOR AM I AFFILIATED WITH HIM IN ANY WAY THIS IS A NON-PROFIT THEORY INTENDED FOR HUMOR IN OTHER WORDS, DON'T SUE ME PLEASE p.s. If any Greg fans spot evil Greg, wrap your arms around him as tightly as possible, cutting off his circulation. Ah, what's the point; you'd probably do that if you met him anyway.

09/23/01 - Don't ask me why I post entries about my weird dreams, but...
First, the weird dream I had the night before last. Ryan Stiles made an appearance. I can never remember my dreams, I immediately took notes about this one, too. Apparently, Ryan was helping me build a hot wheels track in the hall of my house. Let's see a dream psychologist interpret THAT one! And something else happened. I gave him a small gift, he unwrapped it. It was a small pebble. He then said, in a fake-happy sort of way, (those who know his Lewis character know what I'm talking about) "You bought me a rock!" That's all I can recall. Don't ask me what it means. Tell me, if you know.

Also, last night I was in a weird stand-up comic mood. I had this strange urge to make fun of my school. I was trying to go to sleep, but in my head, I was making up jokes for some reason. I wrote it down, because, again, I wouldn't remember it.

--I bet you didn't know this, but I am psychic. Yeah. It's true. In the future, I will by luck find the woman of my dreams. We will fall madly in love. Then, we'll have to break up when I find out that I'm allergic to her seeing-eye dog.
--It's not that I can't get girls. I have a really good pick-up line that I use. "You're get sleepy...very sleepy..."
--Speaking of dates, it's senior year, and prom is practically right around the corner. I've been trying to find a date, but I lost her under my bed.
--By the way, I don't know f you realize this, but prom is a cult. Really! You know, there's a large group of people who have to meet in one place, but they don't know exactly why. They just know that they'll enjoy themselves. What will they do there? Listen to music and make strange movements called 'dancing.' I can almost hear the Twilight Zone theme.
--Another thing about high school is the security guards. Not so much to prevent weapons and crime, but to make sure people are in class at all times. I agree with that. Students should be in class at all times. Because, of course, we all need out sleep.
--But the security guards "be tripping." I'm not sure if I said that in the right context, but I don't care, because I'm white. That's how we white guys be. Anyways, what was I talking about? Oh, yeah, security guards. Security guards come in different ranks. There are the police officers, who get to eat donuts, the mall security guards, who have to mooch pretzels or whatever from the vendors, and the lowest form, the high school security guards. The most food that they get is what they can sponge off of the students. That's how you avoid getting in trouble when you walk the halls when you're not supposed to - carry a snack item of some sort.
"Hey, you have a hall pass?"
"Yes, I do. And luckily for you, it's a double-glazed! This hall pass looks good, don'ut?"

Thank you, my name's Kevin Magpoc, you've been a wonderful audience!

10/23/01 - Logic train I
Have you ever logged onto an instant messenger program (especially AIM) just to get a message from a stranger asking, "a/s/l?" Where is the logic behind that? They just want to talk to random people? I hope they don't do that in public. "Hi! How old are you, what sex are you, and where are you from? Hey, why are you ignoring me? Why are you running away from me? Well, that was rude!"

10/28/01 - Logic train II
Did you know that there are Yahoo! specifically made for people who hate Yahoo! Yes, people sign up for Yahoo!, and hate it so much that they make a Yahoo! club to protest it. Another ride on the logic train? Dingalingalingalingaling. What a world we live in.

06/06/02 - George W is pre-empting Whose Line?, at least they're reruns
Hmm. Do you think that the FBI knew about the "Can you hear me now?" guy from the Verizon commercials, but never warned us about him?
By the way, this is a topical entry that probably won't make sense a few months from now. At least I date these!

09/11/02 - The entry nobody wants to read
Today (the day I'm writing this, which is probably not the day you're reading it) is September 11th. It's been year since...well, I don't even have to tell you. In fact, no one should have to tell anyone. Assuming you're American, over the age of 5, and not living a plastic bubble of some sort, you know what I'm talking about. In fact, living in a plastic bubble really shouldn't be a good reason to not know what I'm talking about. We all remember. Because of this, we don't need to be reminded. It's simple logic. So...why are we being reminded? Television, radio, newspapers, and the internet are all reminding us. Well, no need, because we still remember. It'd be appropriate to remind us 10 years from now, I suppose, but it's a bit early.
First of all, before you read on, I should clear up the fact that I do care about what happened. It affected many people, including the nation in general. But you knew that. I'm not sure why I told you, then. I'm not sure why anyone would describe it the same way everytime. When someone says on the news that it was a national tragedy that we'll never forget...well, that doesn't qualify as news. I don't expect anyone to jump up and say, "Oh my God! I never really thought about it, but you're right! It was a national tragedy! I would have never noticed it had you not informed me! You are wise and perceptive beyond your years, Confucious."
But seriously...though what I say seems harsh and heartless, please don't misinterpret me. These are just...a few of the things about it that I don't understand. In fact, there are a lot of things that I don't understand. Why cleaning off dust is called dusting, lemonade with alcohol in it, the comic strip "Sylvia," among several others. But, because it's topical, I'm talking about this.
Whether you like it, and whether you believe it, the phrase "September 11th" has fallen into the "hype" category. Though it's up there with things that deserve to be mentioned excessively (above Elvis Presley and somewhere near the Titanic), it's still hyped. That is, in my opinion, not all things hyped are undeserving of said hype. Sometimes, though, the hype is so overly perdurable (that's the dictionary.com word of the day) that one could get sick of hearing about it. It may be a clich� and it may seem apathetic; but people die; there's nothing you can do to bring them back. Mourning is healthy, but as long as mourning ends at some point to let the afternoon and evening start. That was stupid, but you may have been able to find a point in what I just said...
Also, because of the incident, people are more "patriotic." All this really means is that people carry and wear more American flags. Because of this, people are proud of their country. We still hate paying taxes, but we love the country. American pride is something I don't understand, along with school pride. Part of my High School's alma mater included the line "...the best school!" Well, I couldn't honestly say that my high school was the best school, because I've never even attended any other high school. How would I know? Is it automatically the best school because I attend it? Not only does that lack foresight, but it sounds egotistical as well. If someone says that the school they attend is the best school, they're saying the same thing, because they probably haven't attended every other high school either. So what they're really saying is that, because they attend, it must be the best...as if excellence follows wherever they go. I almost feel the same way about the country. I can say that I love the freedom we have, along with the diversity, opportunites, and food available. So, I do love America. But could I really say it's the best country, even if I've never been past the borders? I mean, I could name nations that are far worse, but there are some nations that I barely know about, and couldn't compare to the one I live in. So, I guess what I'm trying to say is...America is probably the best nation in the world.
Another thing I don't understand is the fact that, because the attack on the building was important, the people involved in the incident seem to automatically be more important because of it. Fire fighters have been saving lives for several decades, but not until they help rescue people from one of the tallest and most well-known buildings are they respected heroes? Today an e-mail was forwarded to me that requested a "National Firefighters Day." Well, it was long deserved even past a year ago, don't you think? I would think there already is one. After all, there are trivial "national x days," like "Popcorn Day," "Wiggle Your Fingers Day," and one of my favorites, "National Cartoonists' Day" (May 5th). If these trivial days exist, I would hope that there's a day for Firefighters. Not only firefighters, but I also hope that there are days for police officers, doctors, ambulance drivers, um...scientists...you get the idea.
But not only do the fire fighters seem more important because of the incident, but the deaths are seen as more important as well. People were so wrapped up in the event itself, that they contributed donations to the families who were affected by it. I'm not sure if those people realize this, but there already is a program that gives money to families who lose their loved ones. It's called life insurance. The 9/11 families should have this, as well. What I'm saying is, the whole nation won't donate money to a family who loses a loved one, in, say, an automobile crash. Why? Because it seems small and insignificant. In the people in the World Trade Center get hand-outs from across the country, what about the people who were in a car accident?
The day one year ago has been described as the day that changed America forever. I haven't noticed much difference. Let's see...people have been mentioning the event a lot...I've seen more American flags that I've ever seen in a single fourth of July...apart from the changes that are directly linked to the event...not much. Airport security has been strictened, though I think that it should have been as strict as possible since the day the first airport was ever built. One shouldn't wait until something happens until one changes something to keep it from happening again. I can't think of any very drastic changes apart from that, though. We still have crime, poverty, diseases, pollution, hatred, Carrot Top. When one of those things disappear, then we can say with certainty that America has changed forever.
But one thing's thing sure, the hype won't last for long. It'll probably be five years from now that people won't mention the event on a daily basis. I mean, nowadays, people don't talk about Pearl Harbor and Titanic every day...and even if someone does mention one of them, they're usually talking about the movie.

That's all I have to say for now. I could've just kept it inside of me, but I my brain would've imploded from the pressure. As cool as that would be to watch, I decided not to let it happen.