after a drought I'm flooded with books to read.
Bobo, you'll be happy to hear a copy of The Historian showed up. Now that Anne Rice has swapped Lestat for Jesus the crown of Queen of the Vampire Potboilers is up for grabs- I'll see if this gal can sieze it.
And to my amazement a copy of Feast for Crows showed up, allowing me to join bobo and dango in following the further adventures of the dwarf Tyrion's prodigious manhood.
I discovered when I started reading it last night that I didn't remember a damn thing that happened in the last book, so I'll have to shelve it until I re-read book 3 (this always happens to me with these series of steroid-inflated books that crest 800 pages per volume...)
Sheesh.
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
Monday, January 30, 2006
Music: NEW NEKO CASE
release pending...
pardon me while I wheeze and pant unbecomingly with poorly restrained anticipation.
James opened for Neko and Calexico when they played here and proposed the following to his lovely wife: if the opportunity presented itself he had carte blanche to make out with her.
"Sure," Courtney replied. "Who could blame you?"
blurb from her label
(nice to see she's moving up in the world- Anti has done a great job with Tom Wait's last couple of albums)
she has the most awe inspiring voice outside the opera house, way better live than on record (although her recorded output is nothing to sneeze at). I recommend all of y'all pick this one up asap.
pardon me while I wheeze and pant unbecomingly with poorly restrained anticipation.
James opened for Neko and Calexico when they played here and proposed the following to his lovely wife: if the opportunity presented itself he had carte blanche to make out with her.
"Sure," Courtney replied. "Who could blame you?"
blurb from her label
(nice to see she's moving up in the world- Anti has done a great job with Tom Wait's last couple of albums)
she has the most awe inspiring voice outside the opera house, way better live than on record (although her recorded output is nothing to sneeze at). I recommend all of y'all pick this one up asap.
Books: true story
A sorta wacky woman was in earlier today and bought a couple of books (the Alcoholics Anonymous Big Book and How to Survive the Loss of a Love and two gift certificates (one for the police officer who recently arrested her daughter for being drunk and disorderly, the other one for the public defender who took her case).
I got a bit of speil on how bad alcohol can be ("I mean, some people drink and it's fine, but not my daughter!") and her efforts to wise up said daughter and then she was away. She was one of those people who's a little on the edge but not actually crazy, and seemed pretty distraught about her daughter which wasn't helping her mental state any.
So just now she comes back in, looks around the store, spots a guy browsing the art history section and bee-lines for him.
I got a bit of speil on how bad alcohol can be ("I mean, some people drink and it's fine, but not my daughter!") and her efforts to wise up said daughter and then she was away. She was one of those people who's a little on the edge but not actually crazy, and seemed pretty distraught about her daughter which wasn't helping her mental state any.
So just now she comes back in, looks around the store, spots a guy browsing the art history section and bee-lines for him.
woman: excuse me, are you buying books?
guy in art history: well, I'm looking...I'll probably buy a few.
woman: because I have this gift certificate I bought, but the policeman that arrested my daughter said he couldn't accept it, can I give it to you?
guy in art history section: (bemused) Sure!
woman: thank you so much! (runs out of store)
guy in art history section: (to me) Geez, I should come in here more often!
Saturday, January 28, 2006
Bill Gates Newspeak
This is either hilarious or depressing (depending on your view of the social glass at the halfway point as 'full' or 'empty'). In the aftermath of MSN censoring a blogger at the behest of the Chinese government and Google following suit, Uncle Bill gums some Orwellian Newspeak at the World Economic Forum
What is boils down to of course is both internet giants seeing the same thing everyone else does when they turn the other cheek to China's wretched track record on human rights- billions of customers in an untapped market.
Which leads them to make oddly circular proclimations like "censorship is good because it allows free exchange of ideas" in an effort to defend the indefensible.
Gates and the Google cats seem to be using the same kool-aid supplier as the White House.
Reporters Without Borders has called China the "world champion" of internet censorship. The press freedom organisation has claimed that China's so-called "Great Firewall", a sophisticated filter used to block sites, is largely powered by technology bought from American hardware companies.
However, Mr Gates argued today that freedom of information is available in China, despite sites discussing issues such as Tiananmen Square and Taiwan being blocked.
What is boils down to of course is both internet giants seeing the same thing everyone else does when they turn the other cheek to China's wretched track record on human rights- billions of customers in an untapped market.
Which leads them to make oddly circular proclimations like "censorship is good because it allows free exchange of ideas" in an effort to defend the indefensible.
Gates and the Google cats seem to be using the same kool-aid supplier as the White House.
giant octopus attacks sub
not as sexy (or giant) as Giant Squid, but still...
I'm all for huge cephalopods with road rage.
My one complaint: it's BS to talk about the cool footage of the attack and not link it!
What the hell.
I'm all for huge cephalopods with road rage.
My one complaint: it's BS to talk about the cool footage of the attack and not link it!
What the hell.
Film: The New World
I'm in a quandry.
It's the greatest film I've seen in many years, but I can't really recommend it because if anyone I respected didn't like it I'd have to reconsider my friendship...and I'm only halfway kidding.
the wife's review (which happily excuses her from relational reconsideration)
"I think that was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen."
I think this is the safest road to take-
Creelea, you must see this on the big screen, it will change your life.
Bobo, you wouldn't last through the opening credits with your ADD, skip it.
Everyone else, if you thought Malik's The Thin Red Line was brilliant then you must see this film. If not, you can still watch it but I don't want to hear your whining about how it was "boring" or "meandering".
It's the greatest film I've seen in many years, but I can't really recommend it because if anyone I respected didn't like it I'd have to reconsider my friendship...and I'm only halfway kidding.
the wife's review (which happily excuses her from relational reconsideration)
"I think that was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen."
I think this is the safest road to take-
Creelea, you must see this on the big screen, it will change your life.
Bobo, you wouldn't last through the opening credits with your ADD, skip it.
Everyone else, if you thought Malik's The Thin Red Line was brilliant then you must see this film. If not, you can still watch it but I don't want to hear your whining about how it was "boring" or "meandering".
Thursday, January 26, 2006
what's everyone reading?
I can keep up with the habits of my local 'real' friends, but my internet constituancy can be harder to track. Hopefully you'll sound off in the comments...I'll go first.
the wife's nightstand reading:
The Owl was a Baker's Daughter by Marion Woodman
Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens (I can claim this one too, since I'm reading most of it to her out loud)
The Perricone Promise by Nicholas Perricone
Trapped in the Mirror by Elan Golomb
One Hundred Demons by Lynda Barry
my nightstand reading, with comments:
Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison
great cookbook and just as inclusive as the title indicates- vegetarian cooking minus the lectures and hautuer.
Cinderella Man by Michael DeLisa
Teetering on the brink of hagiography, still worth reading for its invocation of an era when boxing was a major player in society.
The Burnt Orange Heresy by Charles Willeford
Noir fiction for growed-ups. Pretty much everything Willeford wrote is the equal of the best of Jim Thompson but he gets none of the ink from the hipster literati. Punks.
Leni Riefenstahl a memoir
about as self-serving as you'd imagine, but her propagandizing for the Nazi was just one facet of a complicated, fascinating life that wouldn't have lasted nearly so long if she'd been indicted for war crimes as she probably should have.
the wife's nightstand reading:
The Owl was a Baker's Daughter by Marion Woodman
Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens (I can claim this one too, since I'm reading most of it to her out loud)
The Perricone Promise by Nicholas Perricone
Trapped in the Mirror by Elan Golomb
One Hundred Demons by Lynda Barry
my nightstand reading, with comments:
Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison
great cookbook and just as inclusive as the title indicates- vegetarian cooking minus the lectures and hautuer.
Cinderella Man by Michael DeLisa
Teetering on the brink of hagiography, still worth reading for its invocation of an era when boxing was a major player in society.
The Burnt Orange Heresy by Charles Willeford
Noir fiction for growed-ups. Pretty much everything Willeford wrote is the equal of the best of Jim Thompson but he gets none of the ink from the hipster literati. Punks.
Leni Riefenstahl a memoir
about as self-serving as you'd imagine, but her propagandizing for the Nazi was just one facet of a complicated, fascinating life that wouldn't have lasted nearly so long if she'd been indicted for war crimes as she probably should have.
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
Film: Oliver Twist
(expanded from comments)
It's fair to say I've been heavily into Dickens for the past year or so, having read multiple novels and devoured every extant cinematic and televised treatment of his works.
Even so, I passed on this one in the theaters. As a boxing afficionado I'm grown adept at seperating private foibles and public performances (any fan of a sport that imports its competitors wholesale from the most disadvantaged backgrounds available can't afford too many moral scruples about their behavior), but I draw the line at child rape (see footnote link).
But the wife rented, and so I watched.
It was something of a mixed bag...in spite of the oftentimes overheated melodrama of the original text, this retelling strikes a distant, analytic tone that is emphasized by the cinematographer's use of a cool palette in most scenes. The acting overall is servicable, but only Ben Kingsley as Fagin and the dog Bullseye turn in anything more than workmanlike performances. Bill Sikes in particular is a defanged shadow of the dreadful figure he strikes in the book (and in both David Lean's film version and the musical, where Oliver Reed gave him a dark hedonistic buzz).
But there are positives, the script being one. The dialoge is lifted word-for-word from the novel where appropriate, with all its period jargon attached. And while the actors in the main parts are a bit lackluster overall, those in the minor roles shine. It's also hard to fault the production design, which strikes a fine balance between underclass dirt and squalor and upper crust spit and polish.
Overall, a good watch. The David Lean original is still the one to own, but this was a fun diversion with a definite appeal to the lover of Dickens.
Searchable novel on-line
Critical response
Polanski the convicted pedophile rapist (and who would think I'd like something called "the conservative voice"?!? but in this case they're on the money)
It's fair to say I've been heavily into Dickens for the past year or so, having read multiple novels and devoured every extant cinematic and televised treatment of his works.
Even so, I passed on this one in the theaters. As a boxing afficionado I'm grown adept at seperating private foibles and public performances (any fan of a sport that imports its competitors wholesale from the most disadvantaged backgrounds available can't afford too many moral scruples about their behavior), but I draw the line at child rape (see footnote link).
But the wife rented, and so I watched.
It was something of a mixed bag...in spite of the oftentimes overheated melodrama of the original text, this retelling strikes a distant, analytic tone that is emphasized by the cinematographer's use of a cool palette in most scenes. The acting overall is servicable, but only Ben Kingsley as Fagin and the dog Bullseye turn in anything more than workmanlike performances. Bill Sikes in particular is a defanged shadow of the dreadful figure he strikes in the book (and in both David Lean's film version and the musical, where Oliver Reed gave him a dark hedonistic buzz).
But there are positives, the script being one. The dialoge is lifted word-for-word from the novel where appropriate, with all its period jargon attached. And while the actors in the main parts are a bit lackluster overall, those in the minor roles shine. It's also hard to fault the production design, which strikes a fine balance between underclass dirt and squalor and upper crust spit and polish.
Overall, a good watch. The David Lean original is still the one to own, but this was a fun diversion with a definite appeal to the lover of Dickens.
Searchable novel on-line
Critical response
Polanski the convicted pedophile rapist (and who would think I'd like something called "the conservative voice"?!? but in this case they're on the money)
welcome James & Courtney to the Baxblog family
They survived their visit to the 'barn dance' in Kentucky, so it's likely they can absorb the literary punishment I dish out here on the daily.
Also, it will expand my appeal to the 'salt of the earth' Midwestern demographic so prized by advertisers.
But I admit a little fuzzy on what constitutes the 'Midwest'...anything east of Bakersfield is suspect to this lifetime coast dweller.
I know DT's Brother lives there.
DT's Brother's Brother is borderline....Pittsburgh leans 'east', am I right? Or is 'rust belt' a whole 'nother classification?
And I think I deserve half credit for Bobo and Anner, since they dwelt in New Jersey for several years. Sure, it's technically east coast, but it's such a hole....New York sucked all the life out of it, like a giant tumor.
Anyway, geographic maundering aside, welcome to J & C.
Milk Bowling Green for the degree and the get the hell back to civilization!
Also, it will expand my appeal to the 'salt of the earth' Midwestern demographic so prized by advertisers.
But I admit a little fuzzy on what constitutes the 'Midwest'...anything east of Bakersfield is suspect to this lifetime coast dweller.
I know DT's Brother lives there.
DT's Brother's Brother is borderline....Pittsburgh leans 'east', am I right? Or is 'rust belt' a whole 'nother classification?
And I think I deserve half credit for Bobo and Anner, since they dwelt in New Jersey for several years. Sure, it's technically east coast, but it's such a hole....New York sucked all the life out of it, like a giant tumor.
Anyway, geographic maundering aside, welcome to J & C.
Milk Bowling Green for the degree and the get the hell back to civilization!
Dango too effective, meth makers go south of the border
Potent Mexican Meth Floods In as States Curb Domestic Variety
You're gonna be out of a job if this keeps up Dangs!
You're gonna be out of a job if this keeps up Dangs!
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
for my cell-phone using homies
Opera browser for yer phone
hey Bobo, here's a chance to get ahead of the curve instead of waiting for me to trailblaze for ya!
hey Bobo, here's a chance to get ahead of the curve instead of waiting for me to trailblaze for ya!
funniest forum thread of the young year.
Sweet fancy Moses!
This was posted on my boxing forum by a dumbshit who types in the third person and tries real hard to sound smart...which just goes to show that even a blind pig finds a nut now and then.
In any case, I'm glad I don't have power over who lives and dies there or he'd be long gone and I would have missed this perfect, glittering jewel of a thread.
A taste of what you're in for:
the thread is from a mixed martial arts site (a population more rife with sublimated homosexual longing and overflowing testosterone is hard to imagine) and this is the picture that started it all.
I'm pretty sure it's an elaborate put-on by the original poster, but it generates such hilarious replies who cares.
Enjoy!
This was posted on my boxing forum by a dumbshit who types in the third person and tries real hard to sound smart...which just goes to show that even a blind pig finds a nut now and then.
In any case, I'm glad I don't have power over who lives and dies there or he'd be long gone and I would have missed this perfect, glittering jewel of a thread.
A taste of what you're in for:
the thread is from a mixed martial arts site (a population more rife with sublimated homosexual longing and overflowing testosterone is hard to imagine) and this is the picture that started it all.
I'm pretty sure it's an elaborate put-on by the original poster, but it generates such hilarious replies who cares.
Enjoy!
what they do in Minnesota
Art Cars! The Minnesota ArtCar Parade
It's actually kinda fascinating...check out the slideshow for the 2005 show, it has an endearing, friendly aura even if it's a little light on art cars. It looks like fun, or as fun as any event held on a frozen lake in the freezing rain can be.
It's actually kinda fascinating...check out the slideshow for the 2005 show, it has an endearing, friendly aura even if it's a little light on art cars. It looks like fun, or as fun as any event held on a frozen lake in the freezing rain can be.
Monday, January 23, 2006
bullet pictures
I love time lapse photography and high speed photography almost equally.
this one is especially fetching....
this one is especially fetching....
Commodore heaven
As with many old school geek chic pastimes(the rubik's cube for example,)I *knew* people who were rabid C64 enthusiasts but did not myself partake of their dark fruit.
The guys who were into them were really into them, and as with anything that had a rabid, irrational following (Commodore was the Apple of its day, a torch that was picked up by Amiga and finally passed on to Apple once their market share shrunk to the level of 'protest vote' in the face of the Microsoft blitz) there is an all inclusive web site dedicated to spotlighting its primary selling point....a massive library of games.
Check it out..there's even an Evil Dead game!
The guys who were into them were really into them, and as with anything that had a rabid, irrational following (Commodore was the Apple of its day, a torch that was picked up by Amiga and finally passed on to Apple once their market share shrunk to the level of 'protest vote' in the face of the Microsoft blitz) there is an all inclusive web site dedicated to spotlighting its primary selling point....a massive library of games.
Check it out..there's even an Evil Dead game!
DRM free mp3 audiobook downloads
an idea so crazy it just might work- public domain works with no bullshit DRM nonsense, no weird format, no strings attached.
www.unabridgedbooks.com | Your One Stop Book Shop :
I know some of y'all are audiobook addicts, and while you won't get your fill of Tyrion's twisted dwarf-cock from these tomes, they offer some free samples to take the edge off your unsavory hunger.
www.unabridgedbooks.com | Your One Stop Book Shop :
I know some of y'all are audiobook addicts, and while you won't get your fill of Tyrion's twisted dwarf-cock from these tomes, they offer some free samples to take the edge off your unsavory hunger.
The BEAST 50 Most Loathsome People in America, 2005
excellent and funny.
a sample:
and IMHO the single funniest, most incisive line in the whole shebang, apropos Rush Limbaugh's audience:
genius.
a sample:
44. George Lucas
Charges: It needs to be said: George Lucas is an awful writer and a shitty, shitty director. His second Star Wars trilogy absolutely sucked from beginning to end, and was in fact the least brave creative endeavor he could possibly have chosen, a guaranteed grand slam. Lucas has grown so accustomed to massive commercial success that he has no idea he’s putting out the worst work of his career, and no one dares to tell him. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter, because an army of sexless, sedentary thirty-something dweebs with an unhealthy fixation on Princess Leia will insist that his schlock is brilliant as if their lives depend on it, and an absurdly disproportionate media blitz always brings the kids in. But everything that was great about the first trilogy—reasonably decent acting, an engaging storyline and cool model-based special effects—is gone, replaced by detestably unsympathetic characters reciting torturously bad dialogue in a manner so wooden that coaching from Keanu Reeves would have helped, and CGI effects that, while painstakingly crafted down to the nanopixel, somehow looked less real than plastic spaceships and Muppets.
Exhibit A: Already revising the new trilogy for DVD releases.
Sentence: Cast into the gaping maw of Tatooine’s all-powerful Sarlacc and digested alive for a thousand years, along with a talkative Jar Jar Binks.
and IMHO the single funniest, most incisive line in the whole shebang, apropos Rush Limbaugh's audience:
If political discussion were sex, the Limbaugh audience would be a horde of virgins beating off to deranged rape fantasies.
genius.
multicolored awesomeness from India
Tunak Tunak Tan by Daler Mehndi.
why can't our pop music be this freakish and great?
if you dig it, I highly recommend this fantastic compilation of Indian film music:
Dance Raja Dance. More fun than a barrel of drunk sorority chicks!
why can't our pop music be this freakish and great?
if you dig it, I highly recommend this fantastic compilation of Indian film music:
Dance Raja Dance. More fun than a barrel of drunk sorority chicks!
Sunday, January 22, 2006
morales vs pac man fight
Great bout last night epitomizing the dark facination I have for boxing.
It looked like Erik Morales was in control and was going to coast to another win in this rematch, then Pac Man turned it up to 11 and earned the stoppage after administering a sustained beating in the 6th-10th rounds.
here's a link to a poor-quality stream of the final round, for any of my readers who enjoy the Sweet Science.
I think HBO missed a trick by not having a live feed from Manila to record the local's reaction to Pac's win...the man is a living god there, and I'm sure the whole country went batshit crazy when he got his revenge on Morales.
It looked like Erik Morales was in control and was going to coast to another win in this rematch, then Pac Man turned it up to 11 and earned the stoppage after administering a sustained beating in the 6th-10th rounds.
here's a link to a poor-quality stream of the final round, for any of my readers who enjoy the Sweet Science.
I think HBO missed a trick by not having a live feed from Manila to record the local's reaction to Pac's win...the man is a living god there, and I'm sure the whole country went batshit crazy when he got his revenge on Morales.
Saturday, January 21, 2006
hah, already got a good comment
So this guy who looks like an aspiring Sears underwear model, only wearing giant bug-eyed sunglasses like those ones that were the height of fashion in 1971, saunters up to the counter.
Mommy, am I postmodern yet?
me:
can I help you?
guy: (mumbling under his breath)
uh...yeah, I mean I'm looking for some information. (long pause) you know, some information...nothing too serious. (long pause) about the barbies.
me:
Yeah, the owner did that painting- he's usually around Thursdays and Fridays if you want to talk it over with him.
guy:
yeah, well.....the painting uses the same pallet I do. (long pause) in my work.
me:
that's cool.
guy:
(stands there silently, staring into the middle distance.)
me:
(starts typing blog entry describing the encounter)
Mommy, am I postmodern yet?
art on display
so lately the boss has been into painting.
he's always collected art, in the magpie way common to used book dealers. You find all kinds of weird things when you're out in the world buying books, fellow travelers in the retail underworld. The store is stocked with chairs, tables, lamps, shelves, broadsides, photographs and art picked up cheap at estate sales, garage sales, flea markets and assorted other outlets of the underground economy.
(digression: a while back he got into online trading with an eye toward retirement, but his venture into online gambling sites never quite panned out. What will probably end up financing his golden years will be the portfolio of Mark Beck paintings he bought years back because he loved them (also, because the artist needed to eat and pay rent). There's a lesson in there somewhere....)
But he's been displaying his own art lately, enjoying the commentary and interaction with the buying public.
I'm less enthusiastic about engaging the proletariat about the meaning of works like If You Go To LA You Will Become Rich, or laughing politely when someone makes a crack about the fake Rothkos he painted as an exercise.
But there's a new piece in the window that's generating a better class of comment- "better" in this case meaning 'entertaining for the stooge behind the counter'.
it's a giant abstract canvas with a bunch of Barbie dolls glued to it (a trove gleaned from thrift stores). The title is something like sun damaged thrift store Barbies redeemed by art...I think I'm missing a bit, but that's the gist of it.
Anyway, a sampling of the entertaining comments it has sparked thus far:
three young girls come in, one really shy one approaches the counter tentatively and asks "why are there babies in the windows?"
Middle aged man comes in asking about the Barbies in the windows. He interprets them as a slam at the local female college student population (a position he agrees with), but says he doesn't like it because it's an example of "the bougeouis art that's ruining this country".
Several drunk co-eds pass the front of the store, of the sort the previous respondent seemed to link with the painting. They pause and contemplate the work for a short while, and one of them opines "poor Barbie....you can't do that to Barbie!"
I'll try and remember to bring in the camera next week so you can share in the Barbie. And watch this space for further entertaining comments as they trickle in.
he's always collected art, in the magpie way common to used book dealers. You find all kinds of weird things when you're out in the world buying books, fellow travelers in the retail underworld. The store is stocked with chairs, tables, lamps, shelves, broadsides, photographs and art picked up cheap at estate sales, garage sales, flea markets and assorted other outlets of the underground economy.
(digression: a while back he got into online trading with an eye toward retirement, but his venture into online gambling sites never quite panned out. What will probably end up financing his golden years will be the portfolio of Mark Beck paintings he bought years back because he loved them (also, because the artist needed to eat and pay rent). There's a lesson in there somewhere....)
But he's been displaying his own art lately, enjoying the commentary and interaction with the buying public.
I'm less enthusiastic about engaging the proletariat about the meaning of works like If You Go To LA You Will Become Rich, or laughing politely when someone makes a crack about the fake Rothkos he painted as an exercise.
But there's a new piece in the window that's generating a better class of comment- "better" in this case meaning 'entertaining for the stooge behind the counter'.
it's a giant abstract canvas with a bunch of Barbie dolls glued to it (a trove gleaned from thrift stores). The title is something like sun damaged thrift store Barbies redeemed by art...I think I'm missing a bit, but that's the gist of it.
Anyway, a sampling of the entertaining comments it has sparked thus far:
three young girls come in, one really shy one approaches the counter tentatively and asks "why are there babies in the windows?"
Middle aged man comes in asking about the Barbies in the windows. He interprets them as a slam at the local female college student population (a position he agrees with), but says he doesn't like it because it's an example of "the bougeouis art that's ruining this country".
Several drunk co-eds pass the front of the store, of the sort the previous respondent seemed to link with the painting. They pause and contemplate the work for a short while, and one of them opines "poor Barbie....you can't do that to Barbie!"
I'll try and remember to bring in the camera next week so you can share in the Barbie. And watch this space for further entertaining comments as they trickle in.
Thursday, January 19, 2006
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
Search Engines as Leeches on the Web
very interesting article.
including some suggestions for sites to fight back against the tyranny of Google.
including some suggestions for sites to fight back against the tyranny of Google.
Bobo Beware!
Wingers are bribing students at the public university across town to get the goods on 'radical' instructors.
Time to invest in some classroom James Bond antisurveillance equipment!
Time to invest in some classroom James Bond antisurveillance equipment!
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
Boong-Ga! Boong-Ga!
video game concept stolen from an insomniac proctologist's waking dream.
Japanese, of course....they probably have these in the family room in lieu of the traditional pool table and dartboard.
Japanese, of course....they probably have these in the family room in lieu of the traditional pool table and dartboard.
Monday, January 16, 2006
alien life forms
Our pals finally made it to Ohio, where school beckoned.
The wife relayed their first social engagement to me: attending a 'barn dance' in someplace called Rabbit Patch, Kentucky, population 20.
The mayor is a dog, and it's pronounced something like "Rabidatch".
I think it will either be an eye opening cultural experience, or we'll never hear from them again.
Any bets on which?
The wife relayed their first social engagement to me: attending a 'barn dance' in someplace called Rabbit Patch, Kentucky, population 20.
The mayor is a dog, and it's pronounced something like "Rabidatch".
I think it will either be an eye opening cultural experience, or we'll never hear from them again.
Any bets on which?
GEEK ALERT
is this impressive, or just kind of sad?
In the interest of full disclosure, I've never solved a Rubik's Cube, although I had friends who did.
In the interest of full disclosure, I've never solved a Rubik's Cube, although I had friends who did.
Sunday, January 15, 2006
cell phone chatter
lady on the sidewalk outside:
We're at an old, old bookstore. It has really old books. I mean, really really old books. Yah. Yah. Old.
weather and whatnot
Zim reports the 25th straight day of rain in his hometown of Seattle (he'll be happy to hear someone else has it worse!).
Meanwhile, the local rain streak has ended at two. Today is bright and clear, but at least it's cold. Well, California cold. It's probably in the upper 50's...oh wait, a quick visit to our friends at sloweather.com tells me it's actually 53 degrees.
We still haven't gotten our new bed...let this be a warning to anyone pondering a mattress purchase from Gottschalks.
I've been cleaning out all the extraneous books in the house this new year, a serious undertaking triggered by the impending arrival of this alleged bed. Selling used books is a little like panning for gold, but mixed in with the dirt and the gold are all sorts of other precious, semi-precious and base metals.
95% of the job is pretty obvious if you know what you're doing, but after years of sorting and sifting and hoarding you end up with plenty of oddball stuff that might be great or might be worthless, or is neat but not necessarily salable, or is very salable but has some kind of condition problem, etc etc etc.
Pre-internet, this wasn't a problem. You'd just take your best guess at a price, put it out in the store and either sell it to someone in the business who knew what it was and had a market for it, or notice it was still on the shelf two years later and toss it.
The internet has changed the used book business as much as anything. Now most of the time you can find the market for the weird, obscure or regional. Books you'd have priced $12.50 and hoped a dealer would buy you can sell for $50 or $60 to the people they'd have sold it to.
Of course, it's also drastically deflated the price of a bunch of stuff that was once perceived as uncommon but turned up in droves online....but you take the good with the bad.
I have metric tons of books that fall between the cracks, the book equivalent of the stuff you find in the couch cushions, or grandma's attic. And like all the used book people I know, at heart I'm a collector and hoarder so letting it go is a trial. The wife has been helping by carting off all the stuff I've sorted out so I don't have to deal with the mechanics of selling it, and the inevitable pangs of covetous regret.
Hopefully the bed will arrive soon and the wife will be distracted from her bibliophile bloodletting...
Meanwhile, the local rain streak has ended at two. Today is bright and clear, but at least it's cold. Well, California cold. It's probably in the upper 50's...oh wait, a quick visit to our friends at sloweather.com tells me it's actually 53 degrees.
We still haven't gotten our new bed...let this be a warning to anyone pondering a mattress purchase from Gottschalks.
I've been cleaning out all the extraneous books in the house this new year, a serious undertaking triggered by the impending arrival of this alleged bed. Selling used books is a little like panning for gold, but mixed in with the dirt and the gold are all sorts of other precious, semi-precious and base metals.
95% of the job is pretty obvious if you know what you're doing, but after years of sorting and sifting and hoarding you end up with plenty of oddball stuff that might be great or might be worthless, or is neat but not necessarily salable, or is very salable but has some kind of condition problem, etc etc etc.
Pre-internet, this wasn't a problem. You'd just take your best guess at a price, put it out in the store and either sell it to someone in the business who knew what it was and had a market for it, or notice it was still on the shelf two years later and toss it.
The internet has changed the used book business as much as anything. Now most of the time you can find the market for the weird, obscure or regional. Books you'd have priced $12.50 and hoped a dealer would buy you can sell for $50 or $60 to the people they'd have sold it to.
Of course, it's also drastically deflated the price of a bunch of stuff that was once perceived as uncommon but turned up in droves online....but you take the good with the bad.
I have metric tons of books that fall between the cracks, the book equivalent of the stuff you find in the couch cushions, or grandma's attic. And like all the used book people I know, at heart I'm a collector and hoarder so letting it go is a trial. The wife has been helping by carting off all the stuff I've sorted out so I don't have to deal with the mechanics of selling it, and the inevitable pangs of covetous regret.
Hopefully the bed will arrive soon and the wife will be distracted from her bibliophile bloodletting...
Saturday, January 14, 2006
documentarian David Sutherland
An excellent profile.
I just finished watching his six-hour opus Country Boys on PBS (available on-line), a fascinating and openhearted look into a culture about as alien to me as tribal life in the Sahara desert.
Great stuff if you don't suffer from ADD.
To my chagrin, I haven't seen his previous work The Farmer's Wife, which my bro-in-law raves about, but I'll certainly be seeking it out now.
I just finished watching his six-hour opus Country Boys on PBS (available on-line), a fascinating and openhearted look into a culture about as alien to me as tribal life in the Sahara desert.
Great stuff if you don't suffer from ADD.
To my chagrin, I haven't seen his previous work The Farmer's Wife, which my bro-in-law raves about, but I'll certainly be seeking it out now.
meme invasion
A guy draws a picture of Batgirl on LJ.
others take the ball and run with it.
I like these sorts of spontaneous outbreaks of group behavior.
others take the ball and run with it.
I like these sorts of spontaneous outbreaks of group behavior.
Friday, January 13, 2006
how many words is a song worth
it's funny because it's true.
and also very well done....
oh crap, this one is even better than the version with the viking kittens....
check it.
Ahhh...I need to breathe!
/edit
ok, I hadn't seen the original in a while so I looked it up.
I'd forgotten how hard the puppy rocks the guitar solo.
Gawt Damn!
and also very well done....
oh crap, this one is even better than the version with the viking kittens....
check it.
Ahhh...I need to breathe!
/edit
ok, I hadn't seen the original in a while so I looked it up.
I'd forgotten how hard the puppy rocks the guitar solo.
Gawt Damn!
Thursday, January 12, 2006
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
Dum Book of the Day
the What Would Jesus Eat Cookbook.
Apparently, Jesus was partial to Tarragon Chicken Salad Pitas, Banana Poppy Seed Muffins, Western Beef Casserole and Asian Cole Slaw.
Who knew?
Apparently, Jesus was partial to Tarragon Chicken Salad Pitas, Banana Poppy Seed Muffins, Western Beef Casserole and Asian Cole Slaw.
Who knew?
Tuesday, January 10, 2006
More Goatse
This bit of sheer awesomeness was forwarded to me by that connoisseur of the Goat, Dreaderick Tatum aka DT's Brother's Brother.
Totally safe for work, but funny only if you've been previously exposed.
Totally safe for work, but funny only if you've been previously exposed.
diamonds are the sux!
Ten reasons why you should never accept a diamond ring
All stuff I knew going in, but it's instructive to see it compressed into a list in black and white.
All stuff I knew going in, but it's instructive to see it compressed into a list in black and white.
Monday, January 9, 2006
Freak Parade
There's something in the air today.
First, a semi-dwarf who looked like someone had shattered his head and then sewed it back together with a dull needle and twine shoplifted a Patricia Cornwell book.
I didn't have the heart to call him on it....would you?
Now there's an old man in a Greek fisherman's cap without a nose in the photo section checking out the nekkid lady books. The nose is obviously not something he can help, but he's drifting into HP Lovecraft territory with the array of unspeakable, horrifying and eldritch slurping sounds issuing from the hole in his mug.
OH THE HUMANITY.
First, a semi-dwarf who looked like someone had shattered his head and then sewed it back together with a dull needle and twine shoplifted a Patricia Cornwell book.
I didn't have the heart to call him on it....would you?
Now there's an old man in a Greek fisherman's cap without a nose in the photo section checking out the nekkid lady books. The nose is obviously not something he can help, but he's drifting into HP Lovecraft territory with the array of unspeakable, horrifying and eldritch slurping sounds issuing from the hole in his mug.
OH THE HUMANITY.
Sunday, January 8, 2006
Unidentified Photographic Objects
UFO gallery
An archive of the self-proclaimed "best ufo pictures ever taken".
Who am I to argue? Pretty cool stuff even if you think the whole Whitley Streiber abduction mythology is more about supressed childhood sexual abuse than little grey men with anal probes.
An archive of the self-proclaimed "best ufo pictures ever taken".
Who am I to argue? Pretty cool stuff even if you think the whole Whitley Streiber abduction mythology is more about supressed childhood sexual abuse than little grey men with anal probes.
Saturday, January 7, 2006
The Kubrick FAQ - Keyword Index
Watching The Shining sent me on a web search for the music used in the soundtrack, which led me here.
A ton of interesting stuff on one of my favorite filmmakers.
A ton of interesting stuff on one of my favorite filmmakers.
alternative therapies
You know how people are always telling you not to stick q-tips in your ear?
here's an alternative....
here's an alternative....
old comp mag scans
Atari ST mag from the 80's.
This one's for the Zim, who made his computing bones on an Atari 1040 ST back in the day.
This one's for the Zim, who made his computing bones on an Atari 1040 ST back in the day.
Wednesday, January 4, 2006
West Virginia mine explosion, my time there
Personal view from a reporter on the scene.
Interesting stuff.
/edit
also came across this scathing indictment of the mining company and gutted federal protections during today's surfing. Fair warning, it's liable to raise your blood pressure.
Interesting stuff.
/edit
also came across this scathing indictment of the mining company and gutted federal protections during today's surfing. Fair warning, it's liable to raise your blood pressure.
Sick
Low posting frequency lately has been due to the holidays and illness, in that order.
The holidays are finished, alas I'm still sick. Improving though; hacking up green mucus is an improvement over the brown stuff from yesterday.
I celebrated a fine late Christmas on New Year's Day with my bro and sis in law and the niece- they were out of town on the 25th so we rescheduled our traditional 'day of rest' together (just us, no other family, I make a weird breakfast, we open gifts and watch movies and relax all day).
This year's breakfast was buckwheat crepes filled with potatos and bacon and topped with yogurt. Mimosas were had, and later in the day we kicked off our screening of Martin Chuzzlewit with several excellent bottles of red and a cheese plate of Cowgirl Creamery delicacies- we ate a wheel of Red Hawk (second one down) and one I don't see listed, Ponce De Leon that was firmer, nuttier and totally amazing.
This is the cheese on the intenrary of our interrupted birthday trip to SF in October. The sweet nectar of its taste helped erase the bitter memory of our night at the Soledad Best Western, hoping the mechanic fixed the car before the meth addicts in the lobby stormed the room, thirsting for our pineal glands in a Hunter S. Thompson approved mania.
So, it was a winner. Yah, drinking and carousing when you have a cold isn't the best idea in the world, but I was serving a higher cause. A day spent dredging fiberous brown spiderwebs from my lungs was a fair enough trade for watching the neice spin her crazy dances to whichever obscure jazz record the bro in law was playing at the moment.
More catchup later, I need a new box of kleenex...
The holidays are finished, alas I'm still sick. Improving though; hacking up green mucus is an improvement over the brown stuff from yesterday.
I celebrated a fine late Christmas on New Year's Day with my bro and sis in law and the niece- they were out of town on the 25th so we rescheduled our traditional 'day of rest' together (just us, no other family, I make a weird breakfast, we open gifts and watch movies and relax all day).
This year's breakfast was buckwheat crepes filled with potatos and bacon and topped with yogurt. Mimosas were had, and later in the day we kicked off our screening of Martin Chuzzlewit with several excellent bottles of red and a cheese plate of Cowgirl Creamery delicacies- we ate a wheel of Red Hawk (second one down) and one I don't see listed, Ponce De Leon that was firmer, nuttier and totally amazing.
This is the cheese on the intenrary of our interrupted birthday trip to SF in October. The sweet nectar of its taste helped erase the bitter memory of our night at the Soledad Best Western, hoping the mechanic fixed the car before the meth addicts in the lobby stormed the room, thirsting for our pineal glands in a Hunter S. Thompson approved mania.
So, it was a winner. Yah, drinking and carousing when you have a cold isn't the best idea in the world, but I was serving a higher cause. A day spent dredging fiberous brown spiderwebs from my lungs was a fair enough trade for watching the neice spin her crazy dances to whichever obscure jazz record the bro in law was playing at the moment.
More catchup later, I need a new box of kleenex...
Tuesday, January 3, 2006
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