I sold a small stack of very interesting books to magician, actor & comedian Ricky Jay yesterday.
Being halfway between SF and LA sightings of famous folk around town are not uncommon, but this was odd because he's been coming here for years and I just spotted him.
I mistook him for a book dealer, which is understandable given his eclectic taste in reading material.
99.9% of the books I sell are, to me, totally generic and forgettable.
Not judging them by literary merit- as a work of art you can't fault something like The Sound and the Fury. But it's a book I see a million times year...which is the case for nearly all of the titles I buy and stock.
I notice people who buy books that spark my jaded palate, but anyong buying several books of that sort get cataloged by my subconscious as book dealers.
But this time was different. I thought "oh, it's the dealer who asks if his dog can come in", but then I did a double take. And the credit card confirmed my suspicions.
It's like watching a movie you haven't seen in a long time and spotting a familiar face you don't remember being there.
Last night Devra was over and we screened Bullets Over Broadway and spotted Edie Falco (she has a small bit as a maid in the theater). Suddenly you notice something.
So Mr. Jay joins the short list of luminaries I've sold books to, along with Michael Stipe, Diane Lane, Bill Frisell, David Linley, Peter Case, the lead singer for Men at Work & the sax player for the Charles Mingus Big Band (either musicians buy a lot of used books, or I'm just better equipped to recognize them...).
And he vaults to the head of the line as having by far the most interesting taste in reading.
I've previously linked his excellent New Yorker profile, but here it is again. Deal!
/edit
oh, I forgot TC Boyle..but he's more of a family friend than a famous person.
Included for the sake of completeness.
2.06.2007
Aqua Terrorist Hunger Force update
Two million dollar settlement reached.
Dirt cheap, given the promotional triumph of their LED screens getting them round-the-clock coverage on every news outlet in the country for most of the week.
Dirt cheap, given the promotional triumph of their LED screens getting them round-the-clock coverage on every news outlet in the country for most of the week.
2.05.2007
official Baxblog condolances to our resident Bears fans
I transferred my allegiance to Da Bears after Mary Shittenheimer coached my Chargers out of the playoffs, and I stoically endured Rex Grossman's Kafka-esque impersonation of an NFL quarterback along with my spiritual brethren in the Windy City.
The silver lining for Prince fans was the diminutive lunatic delivering the greatest halftime show in the history of the event.
Cold comfort, I know.
Perhaps the knowledge that my Chargers still suffer the Curse of Shittenheimer will improve your disposition.
We will doubtless march through the regular season like Sherman through Georgia, then vanish into the countryside like Saddam's Republican Guard once the playoffs begin.
-------
note to DT:
I wrote Winky City in the first draft. =(
The silver lining for Prince fans was the diminutive lunatic delivering the greatest halftime show in the history of the event.
Cold comfort, I know.
Perhaps the knowledge that my Chargers still suffer the Curse of Shittenheimer will improve your disposition.
We will doubtless march through the regular season like Sherman through Georgia, then vanish into the countryside like Saddam's Republican Guard once the playoffs begin.
-------
note to DT:
I wrote Winky City in the first draft. =(
nephew talk
Quoth my 6 year old nephew Alec during our babysit-a-thon the other evening:
(best if imagined in his voice which is high & sweet, like a small bird)
he also had a fine time showing me all of the "scary things" in his room, including a ghost hanging from a hook, a drawer full of skulls & skull-related items (pens, rings, etc), some ghoul masks and a remote controlled brain "with a monsterous mouth, and fangs".
Good stuff.
(best if imagined in his voice which is high & sweet, like a small bird)
I feel better now, but I was I was I was very sick. The other the other morning I drank a sippy cup of water, and I felt like I was going to going to going to throw up. So I got up and went to the toilet, and then I threw up this nauseating green fluid. It was quite disgusting!
he also had a fine time showing me all of the "scary things" in his room, including a ghost hanging from a hook, a drawer full of skulls & skull-related items (pens, rings, etc), some ghoul masks and a remote controlled brain "with a monsterous mouth, and fangs".
Good stuff.
2.04.2007
reading list
While babysitting for Erin's cousin last night I idly filipped through a copy of Odysseus in America by Johnathan Shay. By the time the wife and kids finished watching Toy Story I was 100 pages in and obvlivious to the world around me.
It's about dealing with PTSD in the context of the Vietnam veterans the author works with through the VA and how it complicates the lives of returning combat troops. But the topic is timeless and he ties the difficult homecoming of combat troops from various eras of conflict to the long delayed homecoming of Odysseus in The Odyssey.
The guy knows his topic inside out, he knows the Odyssey inside out, and he writes like a dream.
Recommended to all, and I'll be picking up a copy of his previous book (Achilles in Vietnam) ASAP.
It's about dealing with PTSD in the context of the Vietnam veterans the author works with through the VA and how it complicates the lives of returning combat troops. But the topic is timeless and he ties the difficult homecoming of combat troops from various eras of conflict to the long delayed homecoming of Odysseus in The Odyssey.
The guy knows his topic inside out, he knows the Odyssey inside out, and he writes like a dream.
Recommended to all, and I'll be picking up a copy of his previous book (Achilles in Vietnam) ASAP.
more customer chatter
coming in fast and thick this morning.
An older woman on the phone, when asked if her requested title is a biography:
"well, it's an autobiography...an autobiography, but he didn't write it himself."
An older woman on the phone, when asked if her requested title is a biography:
"well, it's an autobiography...an autobiography, but he didn't write it himself."
customer chatter
alterni-gal in a faux-cheetah lined hoodie to her tattooed beaux:
"oooooooo, it's cold in here and it smells like old people!"
"oooooooo, it's cold in here and it smells like old people!"
2.03.2007
lookout! a terrorist!
this is teh funniest bomb scare of all time...well, unless you live in Boston and your commute got jacked up because the geniuses in charge of public safety can't tell a cartoon character from a jihadist.
Made even funnier by the same ad campaign having been run in other cities including NYC with no mass public panic. The stiff-necked refusal of the people in charge of overreacting to admit they screwed up is impressive in its own right.
And I love the press conference with the nerds responsible. The only cats in the whole process who treat the situation with all the gravity and seriousness it deserves.
1.31.2007
book buying tip # 429
Think twice before purchasing any tome cursed with an ominous subtitle along the lines of toward a ______ rhetoric of _______.
Nothing good can come of it, dear readers.
Nothing good can come of it, dear readers.
Ivan, inspiration to us all
Motivated by his stylish BLOG MAKEOVER (and also by the ceaseless march of the calendar year), I have updated the banner to match the tenor of our times.
Never let it be said that the Baxblog isn't topical!
Never let it be said that the Baxblog isn't topical!
attn IVAN
Game Writing: Narrative Skills for Videogames, a review.
Not that you need a lot of narrative skills to whip your mewling herd of underlings into making better ground textures faster, but it never hurts to have that extra arrow in your quiver!
Also, everyone head over and check out Ivan's sexy new look.
He's a braver man than I, fiddling with the new blogger graphic stuff.
Not that you need a lot of narrative skills to whip your mewling herd of underlings into making better ground textures faster, but it never hurts to have that extra arrow in your quiver!
Also, everyone head over and check out Ivan's sexy new look.
He's a braver man than I, fiddling with the new blogger graphic stuff.
1.30.2007
Update on Litvinenko assassination
clicky clicky
I've been an avid follower of this story since it broke.
Murder by exotic radiation administered via teapot?
Count me in!
I've been an avid follower of this story since it broke.
Murder by exotic radiation administered via teapot?
Count me in!
1.29.2007
vintage smut
Just bought a box of classic old smut novels, the disreputable ones that are almost embarassed to list a publisher.
some of my favorite titles:
Secrets of the ULTRA SEXUAL
The Strange Ranger
Twelve Inches Around the World
Up Yours, Buddy
some of my favorite titles:
Secrets of the ULTRA SEXUAL
The Strange Ranger
Twelve Inches Around the World
Up Yours, Buddy
1.24.2007
GRATZ to DT's Brother's Brother
for being named one of Keith Olbermann's Newsmakers of the Week.
Good to see my readers striving to comport themselves public-wise in a way that reflects well on my klassy, high-toned BLOG.
Good to see my readers striving to comport themselves public-wise in a way that reflects well on my klassy, high-toned BLOG.
1.22.2007
Culinary Solutions #234
Problem:
The roasting pan is too crowded with chicken to generate sufficient potato largesse.
Solution:
Similar to the not enough room in the turkey for all the stuffing cure: throw a bunch of potatoes in another pan with some oil, salt and pepper and cook them simultaneously.
When the chicken is done and resting comfortably on the cutting board add them to the roasting pan and finish in bird grease, shaking the pan every so often to brown on all sides.
DEEEE-LICIOUS.
The roasting pan is too crowded with chicken to generate sufficient potato largesse.
Solution:
Similar to the not enough room in the turkey for all the stuffing cure: throw a bunch of potatoes in another pan with some oil, salt and pepper and cook them simultaneously.
When the chicken is done and resting comfortably on the cutting board add them to the roasting pan and finish in bird grease, shaking the pan every so often to brown on all sides.
DEEEE-LICIOUS.
1.21.2007
testing "the jinx"
on someone else's team, of course.
Bears just went up 31-14 about halfway through the 4th, and I'm declaring this game OVER.
In the words of Chick Hearn, it's in the refrigerator- the butters getting hard, the jello is jiggling.
Now....let's see if my eager proclamation makes any difference in the final outcome.
Oh, and also I just want to note that I've been telling people all week that Drew Brees SUCKS in cold weather.
Bears just went up 31-14 about halfway through the 4th, and I'm declaring this game OVER.
In the words of Chick Hearn, it's in the refrigerator- the butters getting hard, the jello is jiggling.
Now....let's see if my eager proclamation makes any difference in the final outcome.
Oh, and also I just want to note that I've been telling people all week that Drew Brees SUCKS in cold weather.
1.20.2007
worst book title of the young year
To Catch A Mouse Make A Noise Like A Cheese by Lewis Kornfeld.
The cover copy touts this as a volume of "intimate, witty advice from Radio Shack's master marketer".
Gawd.
The cover copy touts this as a volume of "intimate, witty advice from Radio Shack's master marketer".
Gawd.
1.16.2007
Inhuman Orville
Hey Devra, we were right!
Computer animated Redenbacher pitches popcorn.
We saw this ad last night during the golden globes, and there was something so wrong with it we paused in our dining to consider what it was.
I suppose you could call that a triumph for the advertiser, but when pitching a food product I'm not sure "eeww, gross...what the hell is wrong with that guy?" is your preferred audience reaction.
It was kinda like watching someone talk in Half Life 2.
In the context of a computer game your reaction is probably "hey, that looks pretty good!" but the same thing in the real world is unsettling and alienating.
Like the architecture of the sunken city of R'lyeh, there is something subtly and undefinably wrong with it.
Computer animated Redenbacher pitches popcorn.
We saw this ad last night during the golden globes, and there was something so wrong with it we paused in our dining to consider what it was.
I suppose you could call that a triumph for the advertiser, but when pitching a food product I'm not sure "eeww, gross...what the hell is wrong with that guy?" is your preferred audience reaction.
It was kinda like watching someone talk in Half Life 2.
In the context of a computer game your reaction is probably "hey, that looks pretty good!" but the same thing in the real world is unsettling and alienating.
Like the architecture of the sunken city of R'lyeh, there is something subtly and undefinably wrong with it.
1.15.2007
Running From Camera
The rules are simple: I put the self-timer on 2 seconds, push the button and try to get as far from the camera as I can.
Sports Talk
Congratulations to DT's Brother and DT's Brother's Brother on the success of their Bears. I feel it is my responsiblity to note that Seattle recruited their secondary from the Portapotty line in the parking lot before the game, lest the brothers DT wax too enthusiastic in the light of their victory.
On a more personal note, I hereby renounce the heretic Chargers and their perverse imp of a coach, Mary Shittenheimer. I will no longer root for my team in the playoffs until the suits exorcise said imp, with or without the help of Max Von Sydow.
(side note: my god, look at that disgusting 70's blanket! It looks just like the blankets at both my grandparent's houses. *shudder*)
On a more personal note, I hereby renounce the heretic Chargers and their perverse imp of a coach, Mary Shittenheimer. I will no longer root for my team in the playoffs until the suits exorcise said imp, with or without the help of Max Von Sydow.
(side note: my god, look at that disgusting 70's blanket! It looks just like the blankets at both my grandparent's houses. *shudder*)
1.09.2007
EMI Europe abandons DRM
via boingboing.
Crippleware makes sense from a very narrowminded corporate perspective, but in the long run it just creates more 'pirates'.
I mean, which option sounds more appealing to you:
Spend 15+ bucks on a CD that won't let you rip it or make copies
or
Downloading the CD for free in an easily tranportable digital format
I've downloaded a ton of stuff I own just because it's faster and simpler than wrangling it off the disc.
Nice that one of the corporates is waking up to the fact that reducing customer flexibility isn't a smart business model.
Crippleware makes sense from a very narrowminded corporate perspective, but in the long run it just creates more 'pirates'.
I mean, which option sounds more appealing to you:
Spend 15+ bucks on a CD that won't let you rip it or make copies
or
Downloading the CD for free in an easily tranportable digital format
I've downloaded a ton of stuff I own just because it's faster and simpler than wrangling it off the disc.
Nice that one of the corporates is waking up to the fact that reducing customer flexibility isn't a smart business model.
1.08.2007
The Wife Explains
Why she doesn't read fantasy or SF:
"It's all like, 'he met with the Gremlin and they spoke in the language of Ur'...I don't need that shit!"
"It's all like, 'he met with the Gremlin and they spoke in the language of Ur'...I don't need that shit!"
1.06.2007
ATTN IVAN
Angel Dolfyn has a challenger!
file under Wicca/Magick/Personal Empowerment.
best part may be the author bio:
Look upon my works, ye mortals, and despair.
/edit
super awesome BONUS LINK.
Trademarking iCoven...that's what I call brass balls!
final edit:
Weak!
the latest edition has a lame new cover.
booooo!
file under Wicca/Magick/Personal Empowerment.
best part may be the author bio:
(the author) has been interested in the magickal arts since childhood. She's a Wiccan Priestess, director of the International Wiccan/Pagan Press Alliance- and the mother of four young witches.
Look upon my works, ye mortals, and despair.
/edit
super awesome BONUS LINK.
Are you a solitary practitioner who wants to experience the support of others who are on the same path? Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be part of a Coven, but had no luck finding one where you live?
Why not join an iCoven™ right here online with your friends?
Trademarking iCoven...that's what I call brass balls!
final edit:
Weak!
the latest edition has a lame new cover.
booooo!
1.03.2007
January means LISTS
list of the year's ten best lists (how meta is that!)
Best Week Ever's 10 best list
10 Gayest Moments of 2006
Alternet's ten best top tens
Letterman's Ten Signs you're not one of the most fascinating people of 2006
Pitchfork's top 50 albums of 2006
and
top 100 tracks of 2006
Metacritic's best reviewed films of 2006
and
games
and
books
Top Ten Rules for a Top Ten List
ESPN's fights of the year
(an excellent list that nails all the high points)
Five Hackers who left a mark on 2006
Best Week Ever's 10 best list
10 Gayest Moments of 2006
Alternet's ten best top tens
Letterman's Ten Signs you're not one of the most fascinating people of 2006
Pitchfork's top 50 albums of 2006
and
top 100 tracks of 2006
Metacritic's best reviewed films of 2006
and
games
and
books
Top Ten Rules for a Top Ten List
ESPN's fights of the year
(an excellent list that nails all the high points)
Five Hackers who left a mark on 2006
12.30.2006
Photolosophy
I was running through the xmas pics I posted down below, and I keep coming back to this one, with the Fiend watching (& mirrorring) mom's reaction to her gift.
Kids are always watching, always learning.
They respond to what you are, not what you say.
Kids are always watching, always learning.
They respond to what you are, not what you say.
cars + windows
I can't be the only one who sees disaster looming here.
I admit to being outside the telecommunications mainstream (this is my cell phone, fer chrissakes) but...isn't that functionalty already covered by plenty of other gadgets (iPods, etc). And even my ultra-ghetto cell phone has a hands-free solution right there on its homepage.
So who the fuck thinks MORE distractions in the car is a direction we need to go?
Why, Bill Gates and Bill Ford!
Save me, Joe Louis....
The new technology -- dubbed "Sync" -- will finally bring together two industries that have long been expected to cross paths, allowing consumers to use their vehicles as computers in key ways, such as hands-free cell phone calls or downloading music or receiving e-mail.
I admit to being outside the telecommunications mainstream (this is my cell phone, fer chrissakes) but...isn't that functionalty already covered by plenty of other gadgets (iPods, etc). And even my ultra-ghetto cell phone has a hands-free solution right there on its homepage.
So who the fuck thinks MORE distractions in the car is a direction we need to go?
Why, Bill Gates and Bill Ford!
Ford and Gates said that having high-definition screens in vehicles, speech recognition, cameras, digital calendars and navigation equipment with directions and road conditions will set car companies apart from their competitors in the future.
"There are going to be those who have it and those who don't. And even those who get it later are going to be a generation behind," Ford said.
Ford praised the way the industries were working together, saying engineers were bringing new ideas forward "faster than we can assimilate" them.
Save me, Joe Louis....
Happy New Year's
Everyone have a good New Year's Eve and make it home safe.
The wife has tricked me into attending not one but two parties.
Hopefully she is even now preparing to cater to my voluminous morning-after needs,training at a snowy mountaintop dojo under the watchful eye of a sensei with a wispy white beard that brushes the floor and a liberal hand with his walking stick/quarterstaff.
Following my hoarsely whispered commands to the letter while I lie prostrate in the semi-darkness*, soothing my self-inflicted mental wounds with the coloful visual balm of Bowl Games is no task for the unprepared, undertrained or faint of heart.
*think Fat Brando in his caftan from the Apocalypse Now outtakes.
The wife has tricked me into attending not one but two parties.
Hopefully she is even now preparing to cater to my voluminous morning-after needs,training at a snowy mountaintop dojo under the watchful eye of a sensei with a wispy white beard that brushes the floor and a liberal hand with his walking stick/quarterstaff.
Following my hoarsely whispered commands to the letter while I lie prostrate in the semi-darkness*, soothing my self-inflicted mental wounds with the coloful visual balm of Bowl Games is no task for the unprepared, undertrained or faint of heart.
*think Fat Brando in his caftan from the Apocalypse Now outtakes.
12.27.2006
Rhretorical Question
Q: How do you follow up a family therapy session to strategize wrangling your unmedicated bi-polar mother-in-law?
A: Make a bunch of BLT's and watch Shaolin Soccer with your niece, the world's awesomest child.
A: Make a bunch of BLT's and watch Shaolin Soccer with your niece, the world's awesomest child.
12.26.2006
Holiday Report
Giant Christmas Photo Storm.
Courtesy of Bobo, a living testament to the efficacy of Trickle Down Economics.
Courtesy of Bobo, a living testament to the efficacy of Trickle Down Economics.
12.23.2006
Merry Holidays!
to all the teeming multitudes of my vast audience yearning to read free.
posting will probably remain light-to-nonexistent until after New Years, but here are some hawt linkz to tide y'all over.
GIANT SQUID!
ELF ATTACK!
MOST DANGEROUS ROADS IN THE WORLD!
ESSENTIAL FREEWARE!
posting will probably remain light-to-nonexistent until after New Years, but here are some hawt linkz to tide y'all over.
GIANT SQUID!
ELF ATTACK!
MOST DANGEROUS ROADS IN THE WORLD!
ESSENTIAL FREEWARE!
12.19.2006
touching base
real conversations with real crazy people, thanks to the miracle of working retail at Christmas!
guy stomps in with an unravelling sleeping bag under one arm.
Goes next door, digs through a pile of books under my watchful eye.
Leaps to his feet suddenly, screeching "EVERYONE SHUT THE FUCK UP!" into the ether of the completely empty store.
Thankfully, he had enough awareness to stomp back out the door before I had to escort him.
Then there was the nut at the theater who thought he was Jesus Christ, and proclaimed that he had been "saved by Tiger Woods!", or that he was Tiger Woods, it wasn't entirely clear (query to the staff: "Am I white? Am I black? I can't tell!")
He wore out his welcome by screaming "YOU ARE GOING TO HELL!" at a bystanding old woman who reacted to his declaration "I am Jesus Christ" with "Well, I don't care!"
And I had a round gal in a bicycle helmet in yesterday who browsed the art books for a while, then came up and asked me "do you have any books that tell what it means when a man shows you a pair of socks in your house?", which took me a while to process.
"What, you mean like Emily Post or something?" I eventually responded.
"No, I just want to know what it means when a man is in your house and shows you a pair of socks. Because there was a man who came over to my house, and then he pulled a pair of socks out of his pocket and showed them to me, and then put them back in his pocket."
"Huh. Ya know, I don't think we have any books like that. You might want to try the reference desk at the library."
And, dear reader, I felt not one pang of guilt for passing the buck.
guy stomps in with an unravelling sleeping bag under one arm.
Goes next door, digs through a pile of books under my watchful eye.
Leaps to his feet suddenly, screeching "EVERYONE SHUT THE FUCK UP!" into the ether of the completely empty store.
Thankfully, he had enough awareness to stomp back out the door before I had to escort him.
Then there was the nut at the theater who thought he was Jesus Christ, and proclaimed that he had been "saved by Tiger Woods!", or that he was Tiger Woods, it wasn't entirely clear (query to the staff: "Am I white? Am I black? I can't tell!")
He wore out his welcome by screaming "YOU ARE GOING TO HELL!" at a bystanding old woman who reacted to his declaration "I am Jesus Christ" with "Well, I don't care!"
And I had a round gal in a bicycle helmet in yesterday who browsed the art books for a while, then came up and asked me "do you have any books that tell what it means when a man shows you a pair of socks in your house?", which took me a while to process.
"What, you mean like Emily Post or something?" I eventually responded.
"No, I just want to know what it means when a man is in your house and shows you a pair of socks. Because there was a man who came over to my house, and then he pulled a pair of socks out of his pocket and showed them to me, and then put them back in his pocket."
"Huh. Ya know, I don't think we have any books like that. You might want to try the reference desk at the library."
And, dear reader, I felt not one pang of guilt for passing the buck.
12.13.2006
Holiday (semi) Hiatus
As you've noticed posts have been few and far between lately.
Holidays are busy, dammit!
So here's some content to tide you over, an apology for laziness and a warning that the laziness will likely continue into the new year, all in one.
A devil food is turning our kids into homosexuals!
(that is the original headline of the linked article- apparently they decided to change it after 24 hours of non-stop mockery by the internet hive mind...too bad, really. They were on to something with the original...like when they changed the title of Avenging Disco Godfather to plain jane'Avenging Godfather'. Wear it like a crown, damn you!)
world's greatest USB drive.
Courtesy of the Japanese, the greatest people on earth.
Peter Boyle, RIP
Holidays are busy, dammit!
So here's some content to tide you over, an apology for laziness and a warning that the laziness will likely continue into the new year, all in one.
A devil food is turning our kids into homosexuals!
(that is the original headline of the linked article- apparently they decided to change it after 24 hours of non-stop mockery by the internet hive mind...too bad, really. They were on to something with the original...like when they changed the title of Avenging Disco Godfather to plain jane'Avenging Godfather'. Wear it like a crown, damn you!)
world's greatest USB drive.
Courtesy of the Japanese, the greatest people on earth.
Peter Boyle, RIP
12.06.2006
12.05.2006
Holiday Post
I think I put this up last xmas.....but they've added new pics!
all the justification I need for recycling a post.
clicky clicky
all the justification I need for recycling a post.
clicky clicky
12.04.2006
the New Year approaches
and with it the inevitable flood of Best Album of 2006 lists.
I'll throw my hat into the ring after the xmas rush.
In the meantime, I'll comment on those lists.
Any list including those talentless poseurs The Killers is worthless.
Q, whatever it is, should go drink toilet water to atone for this sin.
I like the new Tom Waits super-collection, but c'mon, it's basically loose ends swept together from his musical attic. Fascinating and with some classics cuts, yes. Best of the year? Nawp.
I can't stand Joanna Newsome's Yoko Ono-esque vocal stylings, I don't care how avante her garde is. I'm too old to listen to music by people who can't sing...unless they're Lemmy from Motorhead.
I can see why people like Arctic Monkeys, but I seem to have lost my taste for their style of straight-ahead pop/rock.
Serena Maneesh and Neko Case are both locks for my best of the year list, along with TV on the Radio (although I'm not as keen on the new on as their previous two releases).
I'll throw my hat into the ring after the xmas rush.
In the meantime, I'll comment on those lists.
Any list including those talentless poseurs The Killers is worthless.
Q, whatever it is, should go drink toilet water to atone for this sin.
I like the new Tom Waits super-collection, but c'mon, it's basically loose ends swept together from his musical attic. Fascinating and with some classics cuts, yes. Best of the year? Nawp.
I can't stand Joanna Newsome's Yoko Ono-esque vocal stylings, I don't care how avante her garde is. I'm too old to listen to music by people who can't sing...unless they're Lemmy from Motorhead.
I can see why people like Arctic Monkeys, but I seem to have lost my taste for their style of straight-ahead pop/rock.
Serena Maneesh and Neko Case are both locks for my best of the year list, along with TV on the Radio (although I'm not as keen on the new on as their previous two releases).
12.03.2006
Marilyn Manson, feh
and a shocking Behind the Music follow up on the Muppet Show Band:
(yah I'm behind the curve, I just discovered Robot Chicken...so sue me.)
overheard
From one of our local mentally ill street people:
"I've kinda made a commitment to myself to stop watching R-rated movies. Too much sex, too much violence. I'll wait out here."
"I've kinda made a commitment to myself to stop watching R-rated movies. Too much sex, too much violence. I'll wait out here."
12.02.2006
Highbrow Literature
Bad Sex Writing Award
Higlighting the worst sex scenes in novels of otherwise high literary value.
I'm of the opinion that novelists are best served by a demure 'fade to black' once the action shifts from the metaphorical to the biological.
Unless, of course, your goal is spectacular unintended comedy.
Higlighting the worst sex scenes in novels of otherwise high literary value.
I'm of the opinion that novelists are best served by a demure 'fade to black' once the action shifts from the metaphorical to the biological.
Unless, of course, your goal is spectacular unintended comedy.
war photographer
A decidedly non-traditional one.
The photos are great, but the interview is equally interesting.
The photos are great, but the interview is equally interesting.
BLDGBLOG: How does working outside of photojournalism, and even outside the art world, affect the actual practicality of getting into these places – photographing war zones and ruins and so on? You weren’t an embedded photographer in Iraq?
Norfolk: No, no. I was just kind of winging it.
You know, the camera I use is made of wood – it's a 4x5 field camera, made of mahogany and brass – and it looks like an antique. Part of what I do is I make sure I don't look very serious – it's best to look like a harmless dickhead, really, so no one bothers you. You look like a nutter. And, to be honest, I play that up: I've got the bald head, and the Hawaiian shirt, and, to look at the image on the back of the camera, you have to put a blanket over your head and go in there with a magnifying glass, and it’s always on a tripod.
So I have two choices: I can either do these images from a speeding car, or I can stand there with a blanket over my head, and look like such a prick that somebody's going to find me through their rifle scope and think: Oh! What's that? Let's go down and have a look... I can’t believe that photographers go into war zones dressed like soldiers! Soldiers are the people they shoot at. If I could wear a clown suit I would do it – if I could wear the big shoes and everything. I would wear the whole fucking thing.
I think there's a lot to be said for that, actually, because I can either scrape in there on my belly, wearing camo, and sneak around; or I can stand right there in front, wearing a shirt that says, you know, Don't shoot me. I’m a dick.
12.01.2006
11.29.2006
Ghey!
Russia agrees to shut down allofmp3.com.
This is just more whack-a-mole.
Because the business model will work anywhere that doesn't give a shit about copywrite.
I give it a couple of months before an allofmp3 analog is up and running somewhere in Asia.
This is just more whack-a-mole.
Because the business model will work anywhere that doesn't give a shit about copywrite.
I give it a couple of months before an allofmp3 analog is up and running somewhere in Asia.
11.28.2006
I <3 Teh Internets
There's this movie Ivan and I are excited about, Pathfinder, which Ivan linked a while back. Vikings in prehistoric America...what's not to love right?
Well, while poking around IMDB for a release date I found an overly sensitive type in the comments who was upset about percieved Viking stereotyping:
Which gave us a laff.
But of course, this being the internet, any post of such dubious merit sows the seeds of its own humiliation, which came in the form of this reply:
Pardon me while I wipe away a tear to better appreciate the beauty of teh internet.
Well, while poking around IMDB for a release date I found an overly sensitive type in the comments who was upset about percieved Viking stereotyping:
well my ancestors were Vikings and i was a little affended by the trailer, not terribly much, but i dont think that they should have portrayed them as ten foot monsters that have no feelings and are bearly human. i mean they were real people too, but i will admit that in thier pagine years they were quite brutal. anyway i'm just rambling, but i do wish that they would put the vikings in better light like in the 13th warrior
Which gave us a laff.
But of course, this being the internet, any post of such dubious merit sows the seeds of its own humiliation, which came in the form of this reply:
well my ancestors were Vikings and i was a little affended by the trailer, not terribly much, but i dont think that they should have portrayed them as ten foot monsters that have no feelings and are bearly human."
Ah. You're Swedish.
Those of us that are descended from Norweigens and Danes actually ARE ten feet tall and more animal than man.
Sorry about your luck, Olaf.
Pardon me while I wipe away a tear to better appreciate the beauty of teh internet.
11.27.2006
iPod Treats
All hail the iPod Lounge 2007 Buyer's Guide.
They separate the wheat from the chaff so I don't have to.
They separate the wheat from the chaff so I don't have to.
11.25.2006
another cover blurb
It's nice to be informed that Four Walls by Vangelis Hatziyannidis is "probably the most atmospheric Greek novel of this year".
Stuff like this sticks in my head.
A lifetime's accumulation of these basically meaningless tidbits can create an illusion of depth, when it's really just knowing very little about a tremendously broad range of subjects.
Inevitably I'll find myself in a conversation where knowing that Four Walls is a Greek novel of some repute will dazzle my companion. It happens all the time.
/edit
as if on cue, in the very next stack of books The Economist informs me that Elif Shafak is "well set to challange Mr Pamuk as Turkey's formost contemporary novelist" on the strength of his novel The Gaze.
Stuff like this sticks in my head.
A lifetime's accumulation of these basically meaningless tidbits can create an illusion of depth, when it's really just knowing very little about a tremendously broad range of subjects.
Inevitably I'll find myself in a conversation where knowing that Four Walls is a Greek novel of some repute will dazzle my companion. It happens all the time.
/edit
as if on cue, in the very next stack of books The Economist informs me that Elif Shafak is "well set to challange Mr Pamuk as Turkey's formost contemporary novelist" on the strength of his novel The Gaze.
serendipity
Did a quality scan of Thirsty? Los Angeles: the lowdown on where the real people drink!
The first page I opened to was a review of Mister T's Bowl & Gutter Cafe, where I spent a fine evening with Bobo & Pelf.
A+!
Also, it gives the URL for Mr T's website, which I could not find with Google after our visit whetted my thirst for knowledge.
Extra credit!
The first page I opened to was a review of Mister T's Bowl & Gutter Cafe, where I spent a fine evening with Bobo & Pelf.
A+!
Also, it gives the URL for Mr T's website, which I could not find with Google after our visit whetted my thirst for knowledge.
Extra credit!
more books
I'm pricing a big pile of stuff today, so you'll be getting a lot of observational book posts. Deal.
Promotional cover blurb for the mystery Moonblind:
Even if I had an appetite for these gimmicky 'pet' mysteries, that treacle would put me off the genre until the end of time.
Promotional cover blurb for the mystery Moonblind:
Moonblind opens a reader's eyes- to relationships, to the complicated inner life of a woman in transition, to the role of four-legged creatures in our lives.
Even if I had an appetite for these gimmicky 'pet' mysteries, that treacle would put me off the genre until the end of time.
You learn something new every day
Ralf Konig, for instance, is "Europe's most popular gay cartoonist", according to cover banner of his book Roy & Al, which features an illustration of a fat gray dog sniffing a small white dog's ass.
They obviously set the bar pretty darn high on the other side of the pond...
They obviously set the bar pretty darn high on the other side of the pond...
Found
written on the title page of the Cliffs Notes on Shakespeare's MacBeth in a rounded, girlish script redolent of bubble gum and cherry lip gloss:
Ah, youth....
It's raining outside
cold, wet
inflicting sarrow
thoughts, laghter
puddles. Want, it will
dry soon, yet
too soon
too soon to stop
feeling. feeling
everything
Ah, youth....
the problem with egg nog lattes
you go back to work and find the coffee from the joint next door seriously underwhelming.
It looks like you get the last laugh after all, dear readers.
It looks like you get the last laugh after all, dear readers.
11.23.2006
11.22.2006
disorienting
Eschaton is one of my favorite political blogs and it was more than a little disorienting to check it today and run across not one but two youtube posts featuring cats that lived in town and worked at the record store next door.
The wife loves M Ward's wife, so I will reserve my snark lest it get back to her via the Palm underground telephone.
But Adam from Norfolk is a zero with the edges removed, as the saying goes.
You'd better keep that hat on, ya balding poseur. I like how he's carefully arranged his bangs to make it seem like he's got a thick, luxurious mane...
Oh hey, I see Tony in the Norfolk video, it looks like he's playing keyboards.
So that makes THREE former downtown types on Eschaton today...damn!
True story:
when Tony worked at the theater he was so goddamn skinny that me n' the wife were going to write a children's book called Ten Pounds for Tony. The plot revolved around a group of children who went around trying to collect pounds for Tony so he wouldn't blow away in an impending windstorm.
true story 2:
M Ward asked our pal James, who we visited in Bowling Green, Ohio a bit ago, to be his Australian tour manager one summer a while back, but James had to decline as he was getting married to our other pal Courtney.
Small town drama at its best!
The wife loves M Ward's wife, so I will reserve my snark lest it get back to her via the Palm underground telephone.
But Adam from Norfolk is a zero with the edges removed, as the saying goes.
You'd better keep that hat on, ya balding poseur. I like how he's carefully arranged his bangs to make it seem like he's got a thick, luxurious mane...
Oh hey, I see Tony in the Norfolk video, it looks like he's playing keyboards.
So that makes THREE former downtown types on Eschaton today...damn!
True story:
when Tony worked at the theater he was so goddamn skinny that me n' the wife were going to write a children's book called Ten Pounds for Tony. The plot revolved around a group of children who went around trying to collect pounds for Tony so he wouldn't blow away in an impending windstorm.
true story 2:
M Ward asked our pal James, who we visited in Bowling Green, Ohio a bit ago, to be his Australian tour manager one summer a while back, but James had to decline as he was getting married to our other pal Courtney.
Small town drama at its best!
Thanksgiving Round Up
We're boycotting the usual uncomfortable family shenanigans this year and having a low-key get together with the bro n' sis-in-law and our wonderful niece, watching the parade and having brunch.
On the menu:
smoked meats from our local purveyor of carnivorous delicacies.
apple pancakes (courtesy of moi)
cranberry pecan bread (courtesy of the wife)
espresso drinks (courtesy of the bro in law)
and either homemade egg nog or mulled cider, I'm not sure which yet.
What are y'all doing?
random holiday related links:
drawings of turkeys by Penn State undergrads for an exam.
Cranberries are good for you!
we took it, now it's ours!
On the comic tip
the obligatory Wiki link
Turkey pardons Turkey
On the menu:
smoked meats from our local purveyor of carnivorous delicacies.
apple pancakes (courtesy of moi)
cranberry pecan bread (courtesy of the wife)
espresso drinks (courtesy of the bro in law)
and either homemade egg nog or mulled cider, I'm not sure which yet.
What are y'all doing?
random holiday related links:
drawings of turkeys by Penn State undergrads for an exam.
Cranberries are good for you!
we took it, now it's ours!
On the comic tip
the obligatory Wiki link
Turkey pardons Turkey
11.21.2006
TEH FUNNY CATS
Hey Adrian, his reminded me of that time Tasha got stuck in the bag and took off like a drag racer.
X2!!
X2!!
wtf is happening to my town
We've got to be the smallest city in America with it's own Maserati dealership.
And on my walk to work I pass by a dog bakery, which is next door to a surf shop & skate shop for grade school age kids.
I think this is what happens when every conceivable commercial hole is plugged by corporate dildos....individuals have to find a bizarre niche to fill if they want to run their own shop.
And on my walk to work I pass by a dog bakery, which is next door to a surf shop & skate shop for grade school age kids.
I think this is what happens when every conceivable commercial hole is plugged by corporate dildos....individuals have to find a bizarre niche to fill if they want to run their own shop.
11.20.2006
11.19.2006
11.17.2006
11.12.2006
APE APOCALYPSE
It's not monkey sex, but it does expose an alarming PRIMATE AGENDA.
Will the apes and the robots end up battling over a post-apocalyptic earth where humans are little more than garden pests?
It would be irresponsible not to speculate!
Will the apes and the robots end up battling over a post-apocalyptic earth where humans are little more than garden pests?
It would be irresponsible not to speculate!
OMG CATS
In keeping with the theme of my last post, and to keep Anner from sewing herself a pair of hand-felted combat boots for to kick my non-updating ass down the road with.
Some you've doubtless seen before, but I think the cumulative effect is heee-sterical.
clicky clicky
Some you've doubtless seen before, but I think the cumulative effect is heee-sterical.
clicky clicky
11.09.2006
11.04.2006
More Monkey Sex (attn IVAN)
The usual Baxblog monkey sex disclaimer applies.
clicky clicky
Less gross than the infamous SPUNK clip, but darn funny!
clicky clicky
Less gross than the infamous SPUNK clip, but darn funny!
11.01.2006
Random Haiku Generator
clicky clicky
some samples:
some samples:
Yo, Dalai Lama!
What's up with those silky robes?
Buddhist seduction.
A butterfly sits
burning holes in all your clothes
and I will just laugh.
10.31.2006
Strange....
The Japanese are usually way ahead of the curve.
But it looks like they're just now catching on to Halloween.
What took them so long...it seems like a natural.
But it looks like they're just now catching on to Halloween.
What took them so long...it seems like a natural.
10.30.2006
work dialogue
two guys who were arguing conspiracy theories in the history loft come down, each with a stack of books.
While I rang up the sales they shared this exchange.
guy #1
say, what do you do for a living?
guy #2 (disparagingly)
ah, I kiss ass.
guy #3(admiringly)
So! You're a man of action!
While I rang up the sales they shared this exchange.
guy #1
say, what do you do for a living?
guy #2 (disparagingly)
ah, I kiss ass.
guy #3(admiringly)
So! You're a man of action!
10.28.2006
Extra anus kills four-legged chicken
Aw Forzie, we hardly knew ye.
As a headline, it's tough to beat...but I'm almost equally fond of the 'related stories' links at the bottom:
Smouldering badger disrupts rail services (24 October 2006)
Norwegian museum champions gay animals (13 October 2006)
Witchdoctor orders Serb to have sex with hedgehog (15 September 2006)
LotR remix
Spiritual kin to the 6 word stories, only graphic in nature.
If you spend a lot of time on various internet forums you've doubtless seen it already.
Here it is for the rest of y'all:
If you spend a lot of time on various internet forums you've doubtless seen it already.
Here it is for the rest of y'all:
10.25.2006
music: 120 Days
Picked it up on a recommendation from my man Malik and was not disappointed (Malik never disappoints, which is why he is sometimes called THE GRANDMASTER).
I take my electronica the same way I take my rap...cautiously, in small doses, and preferably well aged an Oak cask. But these cats use the tools of late 80's/early 90's synth-dance-pop-rock in the services of a higher cinematic overlord, crafting long, flowing tracks that dive and soar on synthesized wings, augmented with outrageously distorted guitars and impassioned vocals.
Playing the 'sources' game, my first listen generated names like Kraftwerk, New Order, Shriekback & a soupcon of smokey Bauhaus flavor. But they're no carbon copy, they're putting all those old styles out on the street to earn money for their own agenda.
I see they're from Norway...man, Scandinavia has been putting out some great music lately.
Eyeing the review on Pitchfork, I find myself in total agreement:
3/4ths of the disc is brilliant. There are a two tracks where invention fails and things get a bit too monochromatic and repetitive, but they're still listenable.
This one is officially 'recommended'.
I take my electronica the same way I take my rap...cautiously, in small doses, and preferably well aged an Oak cask. But these cats use the tools of late 80's/early 90's synth-dance-pop-rock in the services of a higher cinematic overlord, crafting long, flowing tracks that dive and soar on synthesized wings, augmented with outrageously distorted guitars and impassioned vocals.
Playing the 'sources' game, my first listen generated names like Kraftwerk, New Order, Shriekback & a soupcon of smokey Bauhaus flavor. But they're no carbon copy, they're putting all those old styles out on the street to earn money for their own agenda.
I see they're from Norway...man, Scandinavia has been putting out some great music lately.
Eyeing the review on Pitchfork, I find myself in total agreement:
Norway's 120 Days are proponents of the house-of-cards style of songwriting-- from ephemeral elements, they build towering edifices that seem a breath away from toppling. But those structures never topple, thanks to the band's deft hands and measured pace, not to mention the loaded deck from which they're drawing: New Order synths doppler over Kraftwerk's motorik throb. Primal Scream's propulsive electro-rock tangles with Neu!'s gridded tableaux and Ådne Meisfjord's Bonoesque voice. If it sounds overstated, it is-- these guys go big on everything, from the long transitions to the incandescent crescendos. But whether they're hunkered down in a patient whirr or exploding in a fountain of sparks, 120 Days exude audacity, and their U.S. debut's ambition is ratified by its realization.
3/4ths of the disc is brilliant. There are a two tracks where invention fails and things get a bit too monochromatic and repetitive, but they're still listenable.
This one is officially 'recommended'.
six word stories
from various SF luminaires
My vote for pick of the litter:
a close second, calling to the gamer in me:
My vote for pick of the litter:
Machine. Unexpectedly, I’d invented a time
- Alan Moore
a close second, calling to the gamer in me:
God to Earth: “Cry more, noobs!”
- Marc Laidlaw
Dango is falling down on the job
tweaker busted with nuclear technology
Ruh row...
Authorities in northern New Mexico have stumbled onto what appears to be classified information from Los Alamos National Laboratory while arresting a man suspected of domestic violence and dealing methamphetamine from his mobile home.
Ruh row...
10.23.2006
How they pronounce it
Lot of people looking for Nabokov today.
According to Creelea, the Baxblog's erstwhile Russian correspondant, the correct pronunciation is nahBOWkawv.
Today's assortment of manglings:
NA-ba-kawv (which, to be fair, is how I used to pronounce it)
NOBOW-koff
NAB-KOV
"that dude who wrote LOLITA"
Still, they all get the point across.
According to Creelea, the Baxblog's erstwhile Russian correspondant, the correct pronunciation is nahBOWkawv.
Today's assortment of manglings:
NA-ba-kawv (which, to be fair, is how I used to pronounce it)
NOBOW-koff
NAB-KOV
"that dude who wrote LOLITA"
Still, they all get the point across.
10.22.2006
movie: Marie Antoinette
There's a hoary old MacBeth quote, "a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."
If I take in the hem, add some taffeta frills to the sleeves & a bow of gorgeous lemon colored silk, we end up with "a tale told by a woman, full of gorgeous cinematography and carefully posed tableus, signifying not much".
It really was one of the lovliest films I've ever seen- it put me in mind of Christoper Doyle's work with Wong Kar Wai. But the surface beauty of the finished object couldn't overcome the void at its heart.
A charitable interpretation is that Sofia's reach exeeded her grasp- that she tried to achieve some era-spanning synthesis, to find accord between now and the court of Louis Auguste and came up short. This is how I view it, because the film occasionally soars in the moments where the director stops worrying about the Big Message and cuts loose with a great Souxsie & the Banshees or Adam & the Ants tune over an almost dizzyingly lush montage of court life.
I think she should have gone further in that direction, jettisoned the linear, dialoge driven story altogether and turned Marie's story into a surrealistic blur of decadence and music.
Instead, we get those sorts of perfect, glittering jewels of scenes strung onto the necklace of the film along with cranberries, popcorn and the occasional rabbit turd.
/edit
a line from Elliot Smith's Can't Make A Sound resonates here.
If I take in the hem, add some taffeta frills to the sleeves & a bow of gorgeous lemon colored silk, we end up with "a tale told by a woman, full of gorgeous cinematography and carefully posed tableus, signifying not much".
It really was one of the lovliest films I've ever seen- it put me in mind of Christoper Doyle's work with Wong Kar Wai. But the surface beauty of the finished object couldn't overcome the void at its heart.
A charitable interpretation is that Sofia's reach exeeded her grasp- that she tried to achieve some era-spanning synthesis, to find accord between now and the court of Louis Auguste and came up short. This is how I view it, because the film occasionally soars in the moments where the director stops worrying about the Big Message and cuts loose with a great Souxsie & the Banshees or Adam & the Ants tune over an almost dizzyingly lush montage of court life.
I think she should have gone further in that direction, jettisoned the linear, dialoge driven story altogether and turned Marie's story into a surrealistic blur of decadence and music.
Instead, we get those sorts of perfect, glittering jewels of scenes strung onto the necklace of the film along with cranberries, popcorn and the occasional rabbit turd.
/edit
a line from Elliot Smith's Can't Make A Sound resonates here.
the slow motion moves me
the monologue means nothing to me
10.21.2006
note in a book
just found this typewritten paragraph taped inside the front cover of a copy of Pynchon's Crying of Lot 49:
I guess that's one way to approach it...
this is a good novel for directors of plays to read and re-read because the action is essentialy non-verbal and because play directors must look beneath the honest surfaces of events to see what really went on. As you read this, try to block it's action in your mind and characterize the characters, merely as a strange kind of paper chase.
I guess that's one way to approach it...
movie day
Catching Marie Antoinette after work with the wife & the sis in law.
I'm approaching it with a certain trepidation.
I adored the low-key charms & shoegaze soundtrack of Lost in Translation, and it had one of the great endings ever, but I'm not certain how well Sophia Coppola's demonstrated gifts translate to the French court.
The marriage of French royalty & 80's pop for the trailer was killer, so I'm giving it a chance.
Full report to follow.
I'm approaching it with a certain trepidation.
I adored the low-key charms & shoegaze soundtrack of Lost in Translation, and it had one of the great endings ever, but I'm not certain how well Sophia Coppola's demonstrated gifts translate to the French court.
The marriage of French royalty & 80's pop for the trailer was killer, so I'm giving it a chance.
Full report to follow.
10.17.2006
anniversary aftermath
Had a fine, low key evening with the wife.
We're planning a little jaunt to a beach resort next week.
For the day of I whipped up a tomato salad with fresh mozzerella, basil drizzled with port, balsamic vinegar & really good olive oil, a cheese board, some proscuitto & salami and a crusty baguette. All very enjoyable. Dessert was grapes & dark chocolate.
It was all washed down by this excellent vintage. This is my favorite zin under $15, deep and plummy, with notes of blackberry (according to the wife, who did time in wineries while attending Sonoma State back in the day).
My out of state readers are probably SOL on this one, unless you're lucky enough to have a Trader Joe's within driving distance.
I was amazed during our east coast swing a few years back to see cheap local wines given pride of place in New York and Boston, selling for 2 or 3 times what I'm used to paying.
We're planning a little jaunt to a beach resort next week.
For the day of I whipped up a tomato salad with fresh mozzerella, basil drizzled with port, balsamic vinegar & really good olive oil, a cheese board, some proscuitto & salami and a crusty baguette. All very enjoyable. Dessert was grapes & dark chocolate.
It was all washed down by this excellent vintage. This is my favorite zin under $15, deep and plummy, with notes of blackberry (according to the wife, who did time in wineries while attending Sonoma State back in the day).
My out of state readers are probably SOL on this one, unless you're lucky enough to have a Trader Joe's within driving distance.
I was amazed during our east coast swing a few years back to see cheap local wines given pride of place in New York and Boston, selling for 2 or 3 times what I'm used to paying.
Web Rage!
careful with that axe (handle) eugene.
This is either an argument for the exercise of greater civility and understanding in the online environment, or against living in a tiny little country like Britain.
Ruh row!
Mama always said this blog would kill me.
This is either an argument for the exercise of greater civility and understanding in the online environment, or against living in a tiny little country like Britain.
Gibbons, a man with a violent past, traced Mr Jones to his home using personal details about himself that he had put online.
Ruh row!
Mama always said this blog would kill me.
10.16.2006
Happy Anniversary to MEEE
Today is the seven year mark on the horizonless ribbon of wedded bliss I've been travelling with the wife.
CELEBRATE OUR UNION, YOU UNFEELING BASTICHES!
CELEBRATE OUR UNION, YOU UNFEELING BASTICHES!
Great White webcam
the Monterey Bay Aquarium is making their second run at keeping a great white alive in captivity, and here's live webcam coverage.
They actually had one for a few months a while back, but it eventually started eating the rest of the exhibit and they (successfully) returned it to the wild.
The outer bay tank they're keeping it in is one of the COOLEST THINGS I'VE EVER SEEN. It's immense, and there's stadium seating so you can just sit and zone out on it. The wife had to drag me away, I'd have grown moss if left to my own devices.
They actually had one for a few months a while back, but it eventually started eating the rest of the exhibit and they (successfully) returned it to the wild.
The outer bay tank they're keeping it in is one of the COOLEST THINGS I'VE EVER SEEN. It's immense, and there's stadium seating so you can just sit and zone out on it. The wife had to drag me away, I'd have grown moss if left to my own devices.
10.15.2006
Birthdays
Got together with Bobo e Anner last night for a double-dip birthday dinner (bobo & the wife both being Libras). We gorged on Indian food and I taunted the three pill-poppers at the table by enjoying a delicious Indian beer (I echo this reviewers perspicacious comment, "I have been drinking beers for ages and Golden Eagle beer is one of the most exotic beer I ever drinked. i definetly recommend trying.").
I got Bobo a bitchin' three-volume version of the Codex Borgia (if you're my friend, you'd better love books...because that's what you're getting. Well, unless I make you a CD...but bobo shuns such musty old tech).
Erin has been burning with jealousy since my 40th birthday yielded an iPod. The fire was extinguished last night, with the arrival of this beauty:
I would have bet cash money the wife wasn't capable of squealing in girlish delight...showing the same kind of oddsmaking brilliance that led me to pick Zab Judah over Floyd Mayweather Jr.
"It's so SMALL!" she exclaimed in tones of wonder and awe, as if beholding a dainty saint's knucklebone nested on velvet in some Italian ossuary.
A testament to why Apple rules the word of digital audio:
my technophobe wife, who eyes anything more complex than a toaster with the sort of contempt most reserve for child molesters and who views the television remote as a personal and ongoing Battle of Verdun, figured it out by herself in less than five minutes.
Well, I loaded the music for her...but she deciphered the control system on her own.
That, ladies and gentlemen, is the definition of 'intuitive'.
I got Bobo a bitchin' three-volume version of the Codex Borgia (if you're my friend, you'd better love books...because that's what you're getting. Well, unless I make you a CD...but bobo shuns such musty old tech).
Erin has been burning with jealousy since my 40th birthday yielded an iPod. The fire was extinguished last night, with the arrival of this beauty:
I would have bet cash money the wife wasn't capable of squealing in girlish delight...showing the same kind of oddsmaking brilliance that led me to pick Zab Judah over Floyd Mayweather Jr.
"It's so SMALL!" she exclaimed in tones of wonder and awe, as if beholding a dainty saint's knucklebone nested on velvet in some Italian ossuary.
A testament to why Apple rules the word of digital audio:
my technophobe wife, who eyes anything more complex than a toaster with the sort of contempt most reserve for child molesters and who views the television remote as a personal and ongoing Battle of Verdun, figured it out by herself in less than five minutes.
Well, I loaded the music for her...but she deciphered the control system on her own.
That, ladies and gentlemen, is the definition of 'intuitive'.
10.14.2006
nothing says STREET CRED like a quiz on CNN
CNN is hip to the indie scene!
And if you look around, you'll find the official CNN quiz, "How Indie Are You?" (no direct link, sorry- lame javascript).
The questions are about what you'd expect- wtf does Arrested Development have to do with 'indie'?
Does suspecting a financial link somewhere in the corporate food chain make me cynical?
And if you look around, you'll find the official CNN quiz, "How Indie Are You?" (no direct link, sorry- lame javascript).
The questions are about what you'd expect- wtf does Arrested Development have to do with 'indie'?
Does suspecting a financial link somewhere in the corporate food chain make me cynical?
Recent and Recommended
Movies:
The wife caught these guys last night, doing their thing with Jekyll & Hyde. She had equally high praise for the live musical accompaniment and for John Barrymore's turn as the good Doctor (and his not-so-good antithesis).
They give the same treatment to some other silent classics- hopefully the success of this visit will inspire a return engagement with another movie from their repertoire.
TV:
We just got done plowing through the first two seasons of Lost, which were good fun in a 1930's movie serial kind of way. It's seems strange that a show built on the tried-and-true cliffhanger melodrama format is perceived as something fresh and new. Although given the stale lifelessness of most network offerings energy goes a long way, and Lost commits to its storylines in a way that would seem shocking if not for HBO's original dramas.
But is is a show with more appeal to a geek than a squarejohn citizen.
The moment that first captured my attention was an inexplicable polar bear attack...which is the same moment that caused the wife to throw up her hands in and cry out "what the hell is this?".
Music:
Grizzly Bear, Yellow House
Low key but alive & deep.
Califone
especially their last two,Heron King Blues & Roots & Crowns
If Tom Waits had drifted into spare, haunted Americana instead of Kurt Weil's 1920's Berlin speakeasy he'd sound like these guys. Well, not really...but their subterranean mythology seems to share a distant spiritual wellspring with Waits circa Rain Dogs/Swordfishtrombone.
I haven't been reading much lately, just throwaway genre trash I wouldn't impose on you. Maybe next time.
The wife caught these guys last night, doing their thing with Jekyll & Hyde. She had equally high praise for the live musical accompaniment and for John Barrymore's turn as the good Doctor (and his not-so-good antithesis).
They give the same treatment to some other silent classics- hopefully the success of this visit will inspire a return engagement with another movie from their repertoire.
TV:
We just got done plowing through the first two seasons of Lost, which were good fun in a 1930's movie serial kind of way. It's seems strange that a show built on the tried-and-true cliffhanger melodrama format is perceived as something fresh and new. Although given the stale lifelessness of most network offerings energy goes a long way, and Lost commits to its storylines in a way that would seem shocking if not for HBO's original dramas.
But is is a show with more appeal to a geek than a squarejohn citizen.
The moment that first captured my attention was an inexplicable polar bear attack...which is the same moment that caused the wife to throw up her hands in and cry out "what the hell is this?".
Music:
Grizzly Bear, Yellow House
Low key but alive & deep.
Califone
especially their last two,Heron King Blues & Roots & Crowns
If Tom Waits had drifted into spare, haunted Americana instead of Kurt Weil's 1920's Berlin speakeasy he'd sound like these guys. Well, not really...but their subterranean mythology seems to share a distant spiritual wellspring with Waits circa Rain Dogs/Swordfishtrombone.
I haven't been reading much lately, just throwaway genre trash I wouldn't impose on you. Maybe next time.
Wonders of the Internets
Behold the Internet...a place where every housebound obsessive is given a soapbox, a megaphone and firm instructions to do their worst.
La Belle France, where guns are too sophisticated for the vulgarity of BANG BANG BANG.
We were wandering through Paris during our European sojourn a few years back and stumbled across a store that sold nothing but Tintin comics and paraphernalia. Simultaneously impressive and creepy.
Being a geek, I bought a tee-shirt...
La Belle France, where guns are too sophisticated for the vulgarity of BANG BANG BANG.
We were wandering through Paris during our European sojourn a few years back and stumbled across a store that sold nothing but Tintin comics and paraphernalia. Simultaneously impressive and creepy.
Being a geek, I bought a tee-shirt...
10.11.2006
books: buy of the week
My favorite book to come over the counter this week:
Thistle Eaters Guide by R.E. Scammell.
Indeed!
Thistle Eaters Guide by R.E. Scammell.
This anthology of recipes has been compiled to introduce you to this much-neglected and centuries-old delicacy.
Indeed!
Work: Arrested Development
A red-faced gentleman stumbled drunkenly into the store this morning with a story to tell.
After a somewhat incoherent preamble involving an unspecified criminal act requiring him to turn himself in at the courthouse by noon (the courthouse being a block up the street), he got to the point:
He'd spent all his money on bong hits, so could I help a brotha out with a free book.
Because he'd spent all his money on bong hits.
And he had to go to jail for ten days.
I politely declined.
After a somewhat incoherent preamble involving an unspecified criminal act requiring him to turn himself in at the courthouse by noon (the courthouse being a block up the street), he got to the point:
He'd spent all his money on bong hits, so could I help a brotha out with a free book.
Because he'd spent all his money on bong hits.
And he had to go to jail for ten days.
I politely declined.
10.10.2006
10.09.2006
Music: Bill Frisell & co.
Great show- not up to the transcendental brilliance of the Cuesta show a while back, which removed me from my body, squired me around the metaverse and brought me back home safely, but well worthwhile.
In a bit of marketing mis-direction Bill was listed as the headliner when they were actually delivering a Jack DeJohnette group, featuring Bill Frisell.
Not being an egomaniacal attention whore, Bill happily took a secondary role, blending in seamlessly with the ensemble. Which was fine, but not necessarily what I would have preferred.
This show was operating on more of an intellectual level- it had things to say and points to make, and instead of being enraptured and caught up in the tide I was thinking...which was the point of the exercise, but again not my preference.
There were a couple of highly dissonant, experimental pieces that swiftly cleared the auditorium of everyone with gray hair. I'm not a fan of what I call "goose jazz" (lots of unstructured honking, so named after early life exposure to John Coltrane's more experimental works), but in the context of the show it worked well.
A crazy mechanical piece called Entranced Androids (that sounded like an automobile assembly line reprogrammed to play music) segued into an absolutely beautiful song by an African guitarist that could not have sounded more lush & human. A collision of found sounds and noise called Cartoon Explosion led into a Miles Davis ballad done as a piano trio.
A fine evening, if a bit more mentally challenging than anticipated, and lacking some of the emotional fulfillment of his last visit to town.
But Frisell is a musical chameleon, and you do have to pay attention to who he's playing with as much as what he's playing. His career encapsulates extremes from the roaring assault of his work with Kenny Baron & Kermit Driscoll to the delicate Americana of Nashville to the menacing, gothic blues of Gone, Just Like a Train...and all stops in between.
Delivering something unexpected is one of the reasons I love him so much.
In a bit of marketing mis-direction Bill was listed as the headliner when they were actually delivering a Jack DeJohnette group, featuring Bill Frisell.
Not being an egomaniacal attention whore, Bill happily took a secondary role, blending in seamlessly with the ensemble. Which was fine, but not necessarily what I would have preferred.
This show was operating on more of an intellectual level- it had things to say and points to make, and instead of being enraptured and caught up in the tide I was thinking...which was the point of the exercise, but again not my preference.
There were a couple of highly dissonant, experimental pieces that swiftly cleared the auditorium of everyone with gray hair. I'm not a fan of what I call "goose jazz" (lots of unstructured honking, so named after early life exposure to John Coltrane's more experimental works), but in the context of the show it worked well.
A crazy mechanical piece called Entranced Androids (that sounded like an automobile assembly line reprogrammed to play music) segued into an absolutely beautiful song by an African guitarist that could not have sounded more lush & human. A collision of found sounds and noise called Cartoon Explosion led into a Miles Davis ballad done as a piano trio.
A fine evening, if a bit more mentally challenging than anticipated, and lacking some of the emotional fulfillment of his last visit to town.
But Frisell is a musical chameleon, and you do have to pay attention to who he's playing with as much as what he's playing. His career encapsulates extremes from the roaring assault of his work with Kenny Baron & Kermit Driscoll to the delicate Americana of Nashville to the menacing, gothic blues of Gone, Just Like a Train...and all stops in between.
Delivering something unexpected is one of the reasons I love him so much.
10.08.2006
boxing: Yeti KO punch
if you don't want to see a 7 foot tall neanderthal wind up and throw a punch from way downtown, don't click.
As a boxing fan...I'm not sure whether this is embarassing or fascinating.
WTF
As a boxing fan...I'm not sure whether this is embarassing or fascinating.
WTF
another seasonal treat
time lapse rotting pumpkin
I've always been a sucker for time-lapse stuff, I blame it on all those Disney nature films from my youth where they showed flowers blooming and dying.
The only kind of trick photography I love better are those underwater shots of people jumping into the water....the Olympic diving competition is like porn for me.
I've always been a sucker for time-lapse stuff, I blame it on all those Disney nature films from my youth where they showed flowers blooming and dying.
The only kind of trick photography I love better are those underwater shots of people jumping into the water....the Olympic diving competition is like porn for me.
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