Wolcott considers the rumblings of withdral from Iraq.
Not pretty....
Wednesday, November 30, 2005
Random Thoughts on Costco
Generally, I'm not a fan of unchecked large-scale capitalism.
It always ends up the same way- one Wal*Mart analog rolling downhill, growing exponentially like an avalanche, crushing everything in its market sector, leaving a smooth, white plain in its wake unbroken save for small bits of Wal*Mart broken off from the main body.
temperamentally, I'm more inclined to the European model which was still a lingering scent in the American air of my youth- many smaller businesses providing the same range of services at slightly higher prices and a loss of centralized convenience. I'm like a negative image of a typical Republican- where they despise the Government and ascribe all goodness to the corporate wing of the private sector, I despise big business and put my trust in the fallible but human hands of my fellow voters.
Given all that, it may come as a surprise that I'm a fan of Costco, the very definition of 'big box' retailer.
What!
How? Why?
Firstly, unlike others of their ilk they pay their employees well. They subvert the usual big box model where all profit siphons up to the corporate level and everyone else is paid slave wages.
Secondly, it is a store utterly without pretense.
You walk in and you're faced with an immense space piled high with palettes of....stuff. They're there to sell you shit, and their only weapon is price. No artfulness, no craft, no misdirection, just a vast field of crap swarming with humanity, like ants crawling over a mammoth picnic table.
It's capitalism stripped to its naked, throbbing core, but a strain of capitalism that doesn't begrudge its workers the basics of a sustainable living. It's refreshing, the kind of retail honesty I can appreciate.
It always ends up the same way- one Wal*Mart analog rolling downhill, growing exponentially like an avalanche, crushing everything in its market sector, leaving a smooth, white plain in its wake unbroken save for small bits of Wal*Mart broken off from the main body.
temperamentally, I'm more inclined to the European model which was still a lingering scent in the American air of my youth- many smaller businesses providing the same range of services at slightly higher prices and a loss of centralized convenience. I'm like a negative image of a typical Republican- where they despise the Government and ascribe all goodness to the corporate wing of the private sector, I despise big business and put my trust in the fallible but human hands of my fellow voters.
Given all that, it may come as a surprise that I'm a fan of Costco, the very definition of 'big box' retailer.
What!
How? Why?
Firstly, unlike others of their ilk they pay their employees well. They subvert the usual big box model where all profit siphons up to the corporate level and everyone else is paid slave wages.
Secondly, it is a store utterly without pretense.
You walk in and you're faced with an immense space piled high with palettes of....stuff. They're there to sell you shit, and their only weapon is price. No artfulness, no craft, no misdirection, just a vast field of crap swarming with humanity, like ants crawling over a mammoth picnic table.
It's capitalism stripped to its naked, throbbing core, but a strain of capitalism that doesn't begrudge its workers the basics of a sustainable living. It's refreshing, the kind of retail honesty I can appreciate.
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
Film: M
I LOVE THE INTERNET!!!!111111
pant
pant
pant
one of the greatest films ever made....free download.....aaaaaagk!
and a synchronistic HAH! for this line:
Given that Hitchcock wasn't really Hitchcock until 1934 or so, the appelation is even less welcome and accurate than usual.
The only film I've ever seen that can be accurately described as 'Hitchcockian' is Clouzot's incomperable Diabolique, which also answers Peter Bogdanovich's question to Hitchcock "what film do you wish you'd directed?"
It's turning out to be quite the movie day around here.
pant
pant
pant
one of the greatest films ever made....free download.....aaaaaagk!
and a synchronistic HAH! for this line:
Highly recommended for those in the mood for a Hitchcockian-style thriller...
Given that Hitchcock wasn't really Hitchcock until 1934 or so, the appelation is even less welcome and accurate than usual.
The only film I've ever seen that can be accurately described as 'Hitchcockian' is Clouzot's incomperable Diabolique, which also answers Peter Bogdanovich's question to Hitchcock "what film do you wish you'd directed?"
It's turning out to be quite the movie day around here.
my readers are l337, y'all
The comment thing had me poking around behind the Baxblog scenes and doublechecking my settings and whatnot today, and I was happy to discover via Blogcounter that among my discerning, savvy, attractive and well-groomed readership users of Firefox outnumber users of Explorer.
It does my heart proud....
It does my heart proud....
Film: FRENZY
We're delving toward the bottom of the Hitchcock barrel as represented by our our boxed set. Last night's viewing was his second to last picture, 1972's Frenzy.
I'm biased against it because I have a visceral aversion to the color and style pallete of the studios from about the mid 60's through the mid 70's. The waxed bonnets of hair, the muddy browns, the pea greens, the courduroy, it all reeks of a wretched era best forgotten.
But in this case, the old-fashioned virtues of Hitchcock's storytelling carry the day...I was able to enjoy the proceedings in spite of the hair, wardrobe, set design and some seemingly arbitrary casting. Hitchcock went back to his roots with this fairly straightforward suspense tale about a wrongly accused man and the serial sex murderer who framed him. A cut above run of the mill late career fare like Topaz, Marnie & Torn Curtain....it's not quite The Birds, but makes a game effort.
Something I've noticed about Hitchcock after watching a huge slab of his films in a compressed time frame- the simpler the story, the better the movie. When you think of Hitchcock you tend to think of these elaborate, labrynthine constructs, the kind of thing critics have in mind when hang that albatross of description "Hitchcockian" arond the neck of some new thriller.
But the complexity in his best movies is in the construction of the film, not the story. The more complex the plot, the more exposition it requires and the less room Hitchcock has to exercise his prodigious command of pure cinema...Topaz is the perfect example of this. Hitchcock spends so much time telling the convoluted international spy story that there's no room left for anything else, and you get a movie anyone could have made.
The only one left is the only one I remember seeing commercials on TV for, 1976's Family Plot, his last film and one that for YEARS I had confused with Murder by Death, the 1976 comedy starring a declining Truman Capote which, for some obscure reason, I saw in the theater.
To sum up, I've never seen Family Plot even though I thought I had.
I'll report on the results, for those who can't get enough Bax movie minutia.
I'm biased against it because I have a visceral aversion to the color and style pallete of the studios from about the mid 60's through the mid 70's. The waxed bonnets of hair, the muddy browns, the pea greens, the courduroy, it all reeks of a wretched era best forgotten.
But in this case, the old-fashioned virtues of Hitchcock's storytelling carry the day...I was able to enjoy the proceedings in spite of the hair, wardrobe, set design and some seemingly arbitrary casting. Hitchcock went back to his roots with this fairly straightforward suspense tale about a wrongly accused man and the serial sex murderer who framed him. A cut above run of the mill late career fare like Topaz, Marnie & Torn Curtain....it's not quite The Birds, but makes a game effort.
Something I've noticed about Hitchcock after watching a huge slab of his films in a compressed time frame- the simpler the story, the better the movie. When you think of Hitchcock you tend to think of these elaborate, labrynthine constructs, the kind of thing critics have in mind when hang that albatross of description "Hitchcockian" arond the neck of some new thriller.
But the complexity in his best movies is in the construction of the film, not the story. The more complex the plot, the more exposition it requires and the less room Hitchcock has to exercise his prodigious command of pure cinema...Topaz is the perfect example of this. Hitchcock spends so much time telling the convoluted international spy story that there's no room left for anything else, and you get a movie anyone could have made.
The only one left is the only one I remember seeing commercials on TV for, 1976's Family Plot, his last film and one that for YEARS I had confused with Murder by Death, the 1976 comedy starring a declining Truman Capote which, for some obscure reason, I saw in the theater.
To sum up, I've never seen Family Plot even though I thought I had.
I'll report on the results, for those who can't get enough Bax movie minutia.
In honor of the Mad Magazine of my youth...
Literary Awards We'd Like to See
Oh, wait.....this is real.
Well then!
My winners:
title goes to Gabrial Garcia Marquez via KO 1, with Memories of my Melancholy Whores .
And there is some really, really comical writing here, I reccomend a close reading of all the nominees...but nobody tops Updike.
Here's a beguiling sample to lure you willingly into his boudouis of purple proseody (fair warning, one naughty word):
Now that's some Pulitzer Prize prose!
Oh, wait.....this is real.
Well then!
My winners:
title goes to Gabrial Garcia Marquez via KO 1, with Memories of my Melancholy Whores .
And there is some really, really comical writing here, I reccomend a close reading of all the nominees...but nobody tops Updike.
Here's a beguiling sample to lure you willingly into his boudouis of purple proseody (fair warning, one naughty word):
Faye took him in hand. He slipped in. He became an adulterer. He went for the last inch. She grunted, at her own revelation. His was that her cunt did not feel like Phyllis's. Smoother, somehow simpler, its wetness less thick, less of a sauce, more of a glaze. It was soon over.
Now that's some Pulitzer Prize prose!
Comments fixed
File under it's a feature, not a bug.
Hidden away behind a small tab labled "beta features" I found a 'moderated comments' toggle set to 'yes'.
Note to Haloscan:
If you ever want me to upgrade my account this is NOT the way to go about it.
Hidden away behind a small tab labled "beta features" I found a 'moderated comments' toggle set to 'yes'.
Note to Haloscan:
If you ever want me to upgrade my account this is NOT the way to go about it.
Okay, WTF with the comments!
Grrrrrr.
Bobo relayed a message from Anner that my comments are being moderated.
The hell they are, said I.
So I go and check Haloscan, and sure enough there's a big backlog of comments (including one from my old pal Leon, who I haven't heard from in a dog's age) awaiting the benediction of my approval.
What is this bullshit? says I.
I never turned it on, and now I'm having trouble finding the toggle to turn it back off on the haloscan page. >:(
Anyone with some halo know-how, gimme a head's up.
I'd give them the finger and switch back to Blogger basic, but I've already erased everyone's comments once and I'd rather not do it again....
Bobo relayed a message from Anner that my comments are being moderated.
The hell they are, said I.
So I go and check Haloscan, and sure enough there's a big backlog of comments (including one from my old pal Leon, who I haven't heard from in a dog's age) awaiting the benediction of my approval.
What is this bullshit? says I.
I never turned it on, and now I'm having trouble finding the toggle to turn it back off on the haloscan page. >:(
Anyone with some halo know-how, gimme a head's up.
I'd give them the finger and switch back to Blogger basic, but I've already erased everyone's comments once and I'd rather not do it again....
Monday, November 28, 2005
Politics: Alito nomination
Obsidian Wings: Alito And CAP
the best summary of why Alito's affiliation with CAP is a serious matter when you want to be a Supreme Court justice.
the best summary of why Alito's affiliation with CAP is a serious matter when you want to be a Supreme Court justice.
More crazy game stuff
NES-centric Rock Opera
Some obsessives put together a rock opera based on the gameverse of a popular console title, Megaman.
Again, I bow before the power of teh internet, which brings such entertaining madness to my doorstep...nay, to my very living room.
Some obsessives put together a rock opera based on the gameverse of a popular console title, Megaman.
Again, I bow before the power of teh internet, which brings such entertaining madness to my doorstep...nay, to my very living room.
Film: the Libertine
Glamorizing the Progress of a Notorious Rake
Looks interesting...I like the period, I like Depp, and self-destruction is always interesting....plus, check out that dressing gown! Yowza!
Looks interesting...I like the period, I like Depp, and self-destruction is always interesting....plus, check out that dressing gown! Yowza!
gaming flashback: Quake II ported to Java
Now you can play it via the web.
You know you're getting old when the hot games of your young adulthood start appearing as free public domain offerings. It was weird enough when virtually every arcade and console game of my childhood appeared via emulators.
Games are strange.
You know you're getting old when the hot games of your young adulthood start appearing as free public domain offerings. It was weird enough when virtually every arcade and console game of my childhood appeared via emulators.
Games are strange.
Hollow people living hollow lives
Uber-houses.
There was a 60 Minutes piece on McMansions last night, and the sheer vapidity of their owners drove me into a frothing rage.
I've always had a gut feeling that the human race has much in common with cancer cells- each of them embraces out of control growth as its own reward, and each eventually kills their host absent outside controls.
There was a 60 Minutes piece on McMansions last night, and the sheer vapidity of their owners drove me into a frothing rage.
I've always had a gut feeling that the human race has much in common with cancer cells- each of them embraces out of control growth as its own reward, and each eventually kills their host absent outside controls.
Sunday, November 27, 2005
time lapse video
i'm a sucker for time lapse.
Here's a long, cool homebrew video of the locks at the Panama Canal.
snazzy.
Here's a long, cool homebrew video of the locks at the Panama Canal.
snazzy.
Whew
By surviving last night's Jane Austen birthday party for the sister in law I've completed the November gauntlet of social events in more or less one piece.
She wussed out and didn't make us play the aforementioned Pride & Prejudice board game, which was a sore disappointment. I'm planning on making her play when we have our belated Christmas celebration on New Year's Day.
Fun time last night, a ton of food as usual this holiday season.
Crumpets, homemade scones (two varieties, dried cherry and maple glazed), assorted jams and spreads, a fruit plate (probably not authentic, but the carb count was out of control and needed some reigning in), bangers, a cheese plate, and of course a wide variety of teas.
We also sampled a wide range of cinematic Prides, from the well known to the profoundly obscure (and strangely expensive) with several stops in between. Fun comparing scenes from the different productions. The new version can hold its head high- aside from the lame tacked-on American ending, that is.
But as with all grafted on 'focus group' endings, just walk out of the theater when you see the scar (in this case, take off after Donald Sutherland's final speech) and spare yourself.
The party was great fun, I think I'll have a theme birthday next year...boxing, perhaps? I could set up a little ring in the front yard and make the guests fight for my amusement, and then rob the actual winner with horrible judging....
She wussed out and didn't make us play the aforementioned Pride & Prejudice board game, which was a sore disappointment. I'm planning on making her play when we have our belated Christmas celebration on New Year's Day.
Fun time last night, a ton of food as usual this holiday season.
Crumpets, homemade scones (two varieties, dried cherry and maple glazed), assorted jams and spreads, a fruit plate (probably not authentic, but the carb count was out of control and needed some reigning in), bangers, a cheese plate, and of course a wide variety of teas.
We also sampled a wide range of cinematic Prides, from the well known to the profoundly obscure (and strangely expensive) with several stops in between. Fun comparing scenes from the different productions. The new version can hold its head high- aside from the lame tacked-on American ending, that is.
But as with all grafted on 'focus group' endings, just walk out of the theater when you see the scar (in this case, take off after Donald Sutherland's final speech) and spare yourself.
The party was great fun, I think I'll have a theme birthday next year...boxing, perhaps? I could set up a little ring in the front yard and make the guests fight for my amusement, and then rob the actual winner with horrible judging....
Saturday, November 26, 2005
Catty commentary on bad celebrity fashion
Just for Anner.
Well, on the very slim chance that she doesn't already have this one bookmarked.
(I'm obviously working the 'A for Effort' angle here....)
Well, on the very slim chance that she doesn't already have this one bookmarked.
(I'm obviously working the 'A for Effort' angle here....)
The effect of P2P file-sharing depends on popularity
some harvard dude takes a look at filesharing
Blatantly obvious to anyone with more than a passing interest in p2p technology, but it's always nice to have a big brain to attach numbers to your field observations.
If I can't find my copy of Highway to Hell by AC/DC I can grab it off pretty much any large scale filesharing network in a couple of minutes. If, on the other hand, I can't find my copy of Nashville by Bill Frisell, I'm SOL and it's time to find the flashlight start looking under the furniture.
A large % of my lack of sympathy for the major media players with the advent of p2p is that they are being hit hardest with acts who don't really have any artistic merit (going by my highly personal and [in keeping with today's posting theme] prejudiced rating system). I could care less if Britney loses 30% of her corporate value- whatever is left is still enough to enrich her and her record company far beyond any reasonable measure.
Blatantly obvious to anyone with more than a passing interest in p2p technology, but it's always nice to have a big brain to attach numbers to your field observations.
If I can't find my copy of Highway to Hell by AC/DC I can grab it off pretty much any large scale filesharing network in a couple of minutes. If, on the other hand, I can't find my copy of Nashville by Bill Frisell, I'm SOL and it's time to find the flashlight start looking under the furniture.
A large % of my lack of sympathy for the major media players with the advent of p2p is that they are being hit hardest with acts who don't really have any artistic merit (going by my highly personal and [in keeping with today's posting theme] prejudiced rating system). I could care less if Britney loses 30% of her corporate value- whatever is left is still enough to enrich her and her record company far beyond any reasonable measure.
The Sister in Law's Birthday Entertainment
This is what I'll be playing later this afternoon.
She's hosting a High Tea with all the trimmings (fresh scones, tea sandwiches, devon cream, lemon curd, tea cookies, the whole nine yards) where we will snack while screening "the good parts" of her many, many different versions of Pride and Prejudice, leading up to the unveiling of and interaction with the board game.
Should be an adventure, I'll issue a full report on the morrow.
She's hosting a High Tea with all the trimmings (fresh scones, tea sandwiches, devon cream, lemon curd, tea cookies, the whole nine yards) where we will snack while screening "the good parts" of her many, many different versions of Pride and Prejudice, leading up to the unveiling of and interaction with the board game.
Should be an adventure, I'll issue a full report on the morrow.
Nanksgiving Report
That's what the niece calls it, so that's what I call it.
There's been an explosion of children among the surrounding relatives in the last few years. With this flood of youngsters manning the ramparts of the family castle, the event itself has morphed from a semi-formal sit-down dinner with grownups being uncomfortable and poking each other across the table with their well-honed neuroses to a much more enjoyable, anarchic event best described as "day care pot-luck".
There are several generations of excellent cooks represented and the menu shuns the fare that heaped the groaning sideboards of my white trash youth (celery and cream cheese, quivering lumps of canned cranberry sauce, green bean casserole and candied yams, weirdly populated jello rings coaxed from bundt cake pans).
As a rule I'm prone to nostalgia of all types (as are all collectors, I think), but I'm no fool. I've repudiated my gastronomical past before a full subcommittee and am free to embrace the new.
The 'new' this year included a fantastic soup from the wife's cousin that involved pureed butternut squash, spinach and ginger- add a dollop of plain yogurt, squeeze in a lime wedge and enjoy. I don't think I disgraced myself too badly by licking the pan clean while the others were bedazzled by the mass of cousins dancing to David Bowie in the living room. The brother-in-law supplied a massive Dutch oven full of rattatoile, which was splendid alongside a looming mountain of garlic mashed potatoes. I passed on the pallid frozen turkey breast donated by the father in law (his recommendation: "it was on sale!") and went with the glazed ham for my meat course.
The deserts were spectacular, as usual...everyone on the wife's aunt's side of the family bakes like a dream. The wife provided a splendid apple cranberry pie with a cream cheese crust from one of my favorite cookbooks (it was delicious that night, but it was even better paired with a giant eggnog latte for breakfast the next morning).
The wife's cousin came strong with two offerings- a pear tart where the pears were poached in wine and (my favorite) a walnut/cranberry/pecan torte that was served with real whipped cream and a crazy pomegranate molasses sauce (I slobber to think of it).
All the kids were a fine diversion from family politics, none of them being old enough to have absorbed the stone-graven prejudices of their elders, or developed any of their own. They ran around and played and danced and knocked things over and cried and made space for the adults to enjoy the time without fanning out their grievances for display like a peacock's tail to see who's was the most grand.
There's been an explosion of children among the surrounding relatives in the last few years. With this flood of youngsters manning the ramparts of the family castle, the event itself has morphed from a semi-formal sit-down dinner with grownups being uncomfortable and poking each other across the table with their well-honed neuroses to a much more enjoyable, anarchic event best described as "day care pot-luck".
There are several generations of excellent cooks represented and the menu shuns the fare that heaped the groaning sideboards of my white trash youth (celery and cream cheese, quivering lumps of canned cranberry sauce, green bean casserole and candied yams, weirdly populated jello rings coaxed from bundt cake pans).
As a rule I'm prone to nostalgia of all types (as are all collectors, I think), but I'm no fool. I've repudiated my gastronomical past before a full subcommittee and am free to embrace the new.
The 'new' this year included a fantastic soup from the wife's cousin that involved pureed butternut squash, spinach and ginger- add a dollop of plain yogurt, squeeze in a lime wedge and enjoy. I don't think I disgraced myself too badly by licking the pan clean while the others were bedazzled by the mass of cousins dancing to David Bowie in the living room. The brother-in-law supplied a massive Dutch oven full of rattatoile, which was splendid alongside a looming mountain of garlic mashed potatoes. I passed on the pallid frozen turkey breast donated by the father in law (his recommendation: "it was on sale!") and went with the glazed ham for my meat course.
The deserts were spectacular, as usual...everyone on the wife's aunt's side of the family bakes like a dream. The wife provided a splendid apple cranberry pie with a cream cheese crust from one of my favorite cookbooks (it was delicious that night, but it was even better paired with a giant eggnog latte for breakfast the next morning).
The wife's cousin came strong with two offerings- a pear tart where the pears were poached in wine and (my favorite) a walnut/cranberry/pecan torte that was served with real whipped cream and a crazy pomegranate molasses sauce (I slobber to think of it).
All the kids were a fine diversion from family politics, none of them being old enough to have absorbed the stone-graven prejudices of their elders, or developed any of their own. They ran around and played and danced and knocked things over and cried and made space for the adults to enjoy the time without fanning out their grievances for display like a peacock's tail to see who's was the most grand.
Film: Pride and Prejudice
I checked out the latest adaptation of Jane Austen's flagship novel with a gaggle of romance-starved married ladies (and one bitter spinster) as part of my sister-in-law's extended birthday celebration.
I was sceptical, having little confidence in the underfed, hopelessly contemporary and possibly spavined Kieara Knightly to carry a period piece. Fortunately, many strong acting hands eased her burden and I was only jarred once or twice by unexpected flashes of her exoskeletal collarbones or extreme close ups of her collagen-inflated lips.
First and most importantly, the casting director nailed Mr. Darcy.
I'm a fan of Colin Firth in the Masterpiece Theater miniseries, but always thought he was too hunky by half. Not a problem with Matthew MacFadyen, who's less marquee profile fits the part of brooding outsider better. There's room for him to grow, and he does. Other standouts are the always welcome Brenda Blethyn as Mrs. Bennett and Donald Sutherland, weilding his befuddled majesty like a rapier in the role of Mr. Bennett.
The director also injects more creativity than you might expect into this old warhorse, giving the early parts a rustic feeling of joy. And the cinematography is to die for- I knew I was in good hands from the opening credits, which was a great relief. As the sun rose over the frosty landscape I settled happily into my seat, confident I was going to enjoy the show.
Bax gives it two thumbs up. Even those allergic to costume period pieces should find enjoyment in this one.
I was sceptical, having little confidence in the underfed, hopelessly contemporary and possibly spavined Kieara Knightly to carry a period piece. Fortunately, many strong acting hands eased her burden and I was only jarred once or twice by unexpected flashes of her exoskeletal collarbones or extreme close ups of her collagen-inflated lips.
First and most importantly, the casting director nailed Mr. Darcy.
I'm a fan of Colin Firth in the Masterpiece Theater miniseries, but always thought he was too hunky by half. Not a problem with Matthew MacFadyen, who's less marquee profile fits the part of brooding outsider better. There's room for him to grow, and he does. Other standouts are the always welcome Brenda Blethyn as Mrs. Bennett and Donald Sutherland, weilding his befuddled majesty like a rapier in the role of Mr. Bennett.
The director also injects more creativity than you might expect into this old warhorse, giving the early parts a rustic feeling of joy. And the cinematography is to die for- I knew I was in good hands from the opening credits, which was a great relief. As the sun rose over the frosty landscape I settled happily into my seat, confident I was going to enjoy the show.
Bax gives it two thumbs up. Even those allergic to costume period pieces should find enjoyment in this one.
Wednesday, November 23, 2005
Saturday, November 12, 2005
Why am I a Lazy Fucker?
The recent on-line slowdown has been prompted (as usual) by real-world events- the holiday season generates a dense cloud of social obligations and business, which score the flanks of my blog with grievous wounds and slow its grinding procession through the minutia of my life.
(a quick side note- hey dumbass yelling boring shit into your cellphone: SHUT THE FUCK UP!)
Production will be up this weekend, so stay tuned.
(side note #2: SWEET SWEET payback- the cell phone asshole just wanted to use the bathroom. HAH.)
(a quick side note- hey dumbass yelling boring shit into your cellphone: SHUT THE FUCK UP!)
Production will be up this weekend, so stay tuned.
(side note #2: SWEET SWEET payback- the cell phone asshole just wanted to use the bathroom. HAH.)
Wednesday, November 9, 2005
Blue Ball Machine
This is neat.
One of the many things on-line that exist only to amuse you for between 30 and 120 seconds.
One of the many things on-line that exist only to amuse you for between 30 and 120 seconds.
Monday, November 7, 2005
Undergrowth of the Internet
There is a flourishing online weed known as the 'name generator'.
Most of them suck- somebody with rudimentary Java programming skills writes a randomizer, plugs in a too-short list of faintly appropriate words, slap on a title like, say, Pimp Name Generator...then it makes the rounds of internet forums, generating acre feet of threads with the title "what's your pimp name?"
This profusion of half-assed content has one positive effect; when a good name generator comes along, it is thrown into stark relief against the spreading field of mediocrity.
Which brings us to this quite excellent Band Name Generator from our friends in the UK.
The depth is only a little better than usual, but some of the combinations are fantastic and it gives you the option of generating a general, techno, metal, bluegrass or rap band name.
Here's a couple of random examples, match them with the genre if you dare:
Fear of the Livid
The Scratchy Rambling
Ass on the Mob
Worship Ascii
Shooting of the Disbanded
and this is my favorite so far:
Nine-Inch Mutant
Good times.
Most of them suck- somebody with rudimentary Java programming skills writes a randomizer, plugs in a too-short list of faintly appropriate words, slap on a title like, say, Pimp Name Generator...then it makes the rounds of internet forums, generating acre feet of threads with the title "what's your pimp name?"
This profusion of half-assed content has one positive effect; when a good name generator comes along, it is thrown into stark relief against the spreading field of mediocrity.
Which brings us to this quite excellent Band Name Generator from our friends in the UK.
The depth is only a little better than usual, but some of the combinations are fantastic and it gives you the option of generating a general, techno, metal, bluegrass or rap band name.
Here's a couple of random examples, match them with the genre if you dare:
Fear of the Livid
The Scratchy Rambling
Ass on the Mob
Worship Ascii
Shooting of the Disbanded
and this is my favorite so far:
Nine-Inch Mutant
Good times.
Saturday, November 5, 2005
overheard on a cell phone
woman yelling into her phone outside the store:
"You need to tell Earl that you punched a parent and got fired. I'm dead serious. I'm dead serious. Tell him right now. I'm dead serious."
I think she was dead serious.
"You need to tell Earl that you punched a parent and got fired. I'm dead serious. I'm dead serious. Tell him right now. I'm dead serious."
I think she was dead serious.
Death by Caffeine
How much of that drink would it take to kill you?
A question that has troubled mankind for ages.....finally answered by the web.
As a random sample, it would take 426.56 bottles of Arizona Green Tea to do me in.
Although honestly, the chemical aftertaste of that crap would probably overcome me before the caffine was ever a problem.
A question that has troubled mankind for ages.....finally answered by the web.
As a random sample, it would take 426.56 bottles of Arizona Green Tea to do me in.
Although honestly, the chemical aftertaste of that crap would probably overcome me before the caffine was ever a problem.
Thursday, November 3, 2005
Good News from DT's Brother's Brother
A heartfelt Baxblog welcome to the latest Tatum on the block, Dexter Bennett!
He made his inagural ringwalk yesterday at 10:08 pm, no word so far on the music he chose.
Tale of the tape:
8 lbs, 7 ozs
20"
According to daddy he sports an "extra-ordinarily round head", and is resting comfortably at the hospital along with mom and big sister.
Congratulations all 'round!
He made his inagural ringwalk yesterday at 10:08 pm, no word so far on the music he chose.
Tale of the tape:
8 lbs, 7 ozs
20"
According to daddy he sports an "extra-ordinarily round head", and is resting comfortably at the hospital along with mom and big sister.
Congratulations all 'round!
Tuesday, November 1, 2005
Season of the Witch aftermath
Today's report.
We only got to watch two and a half films- we couldn't really start until the niece fell asleep, and everyone had to work in the morning so a late night wasn't in the cards.
Fortunately for our viewing pleasure the niece was burned out from a full day of costumed shenanigans. Mom had wisely rationed the candy, so she plummeted to earth and crashed hard around 7 and we were left to our own devices.
We started out with the first (and best) episode of Kwaidan to whet our palate's.
Then on to our main feature, the original Japanese Dark Water, which was great. A fantastically eerie horror movie that collected scares the old-fashioned way- it earned them.
Proof of its mesmerising attraction: it laid siege to the sister in law, who's endemic hatred of the horror genre is legend. It easily breached the flimsy paper walls of parenting book she sought refuge in, subverting its promises of non-violent communication with a substantially different vocabulary.
She ended the movie on the couch with a blanket over her head, peering out of her shadowed refuge with one nervous eye.
Sister-in-law's one-eyed review: "up there with The Shining" (her all-time favorite)
My review: It's no Shining, but it was a superior movie never mind the genre, and a really great horror film. It delivered the scares without cheap tricks, had good characters and an involving plot, and enough subtext and depth to keep it from feeling mechanical. The plot is pretty simple and easily divined, but the film had enough other things going on that "solving" it didn't really make a difference in enjoyment.
I'm kinda curious to see the bastardized American remake with Jennifer Connely and play "spot the changes"- it's always instructive to note the artificial story and character limitations Hollywood imposes on its product.
By the time we were emerged from Dark Water, the brother in law was well and truly drunk and futher subtitled movies were out of the question. We decided to go with a classic; The Thing, original 1951 flava.
A fine way to wind down the evening.
We only got to watch two and a half films- we couldn't really start until the niece fell asleep, and everyone had to work in the morning so a late night wasn't in the cards.
Fortunately for our viewing pleasure the niece was burned out from a full day of costumed shenanigans. Mom had wisely rationed the candy, so she plummeted to earth and crashed hard around 7 and we were left to our own devices.
We started out with the first (and best) episode of Kwaidan to whet our palate's.
Then on to our main feature, the original Japanese Dark Water, which was great. A fantastically eerie horror movie that collected scares the old-fashioned way- it earned them.
Proof of its mesmerising attraction: it laid siege to the sister in law, who's endemic hatred of the horror genre is legend. It easily breached the flimsy paper walls of parenting book she sought refuge in, subverting its promises of non-violent communication with a substantially different vocabulary.
She ended the movie on the couch with a blanket over her head, peering out of her shadowed refuge with one nervous eye.
Sister-in-law's one-eyed review: "up there with The Shining" (her all-time favorite)
My review: It's no Shining, but it was a superior movie never mind the genre, and a really great horror film. It delivered the scares without cheap tricks, had good characters and an involving plot, and enough subtext and depth to keep it from feeling mechanical. The plot is pretty simple and easily divined, but the film had enough other things going on that "solving" it didn't really make a difference in enjoyment.
I'm kinda curious to see the bastardized American remake with Jennifer Connely and play "spot the changes"- it's always instructive to note the artificial story and character limitations Hollywood imposes on its product.
By the time we were emerged from Dark Water, the brother in law was well and truly drunk and futher subtitled movies were out of the question. We decided to go with a classic; The Thing, original 1951 flava.
A fine way to wind down the evening.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)