Important news!

My Rimshot iPhone program had an update today... AND NOW WE HAVE CRICKETS!!! It's like they read our minds!

Rimshot is now, without a doubt, the most useful app I have.

this should really be two posts

...as I have lots to share. first, a video (my very first upload to the youtubes!) from a brief foray into full-on nerddom yesterday evening:




I'm sure there are many options with better quality (and, uh, the first line of the song--I didn't start digging in my bag for my camera until he announced the surprise guest) in the "related videos" section, but hey! first youtube posting! I'm very excited.

updated to add: yes, that IS a nintendo DS someone is waving (in the air, like he just doesn't care) off to my left. it was that kind of convention.

second, say hello to my little friend:



her name is sabrina and I brought her home this afternoon and I already love her to pieces. I will do my best not to send you photos of every single cute thing she ever does, but no promises.

:-D

modeling gig update

They sent me copies of the pictures. They're all pretty much like this... but enjoy:



PS, I have given up on corresponding my post labels with reality

I guess it would be crass to title this "When I Fall"...

Wow, sucks to be a Barenaked Lady:

Ed Robertson involved in small-plane crash

(lookee! I'm blogging again! from my wireless internet! whee! now, if only my furniture would arrive, like they said it would... sigh...)

see? excel can be fun!

I would like spreadsheets way more if I got to make graphs like these:








more here...and I know how I'll be spending the evening. olympics? what olympics?

(also, is this meta? I don't know if it is, but I'll tag it as such anyway.)

dr. horrible, part 2?

...okay, not really. but it IS another video of NPH dancing and singing. love. him.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDaszN9ByxM

on a side note, what's with disabling the embedding? this appears to be the official youtube outlet for sesame street videos, so why make it difficult for the kiddies to share?

also, while I hesitate to overuse the "awesome" tag, I believe mr. harris deserves his very own tag, as he has of late personified awesomeness.

oh, and while I'm thinking of joss whedon (NPH --> dr. horrible --> joss whedon), I was recently introduced to the short-lived television series firefly and I recommend that all of you check it out. if you're turned off by the whole "futuristic western set in space" thing, the always funny alan tudyk (also known as the pirate from "dodgeball") and the very, very attractive nathan fillion make it more than worth watching.

my favorite iPhone app review yet

(The bottom one.)



I'm going to give this post the "pimps" tag ironically, and the "douchebaggery" and "people are dumb" tags for anyone who would use this application un-ironically.

Alex Kass gets married

Just in case anyone's interested in the wedding of a fellow Blue Blue member:

Picasa Album

I realize now that I managed not to take any pictures of myself with my lovely wedding date, one Ms. Danielle Tumminio (although I did get one of our place card), but rest assured she was really there...

PS, in related Kass news, in case anyone did not get the email, DJ Canoli's new album is now available on iTunes as well as at several other online music retailers...

awesome, even though I refuse to tag it thus

http://www.zombieharmony.com/

I also note that zombies are frequently to be seen on Halloween; that I send you this link free of charge; that many zombies appear to have scars; and that this sentence consists of metahumor.

Also, Dani is going to Ikea tomorrow and I might go with her.

meep meep!

...wait, is that the road runner? or maybe that's "beep beep!" hm. either way, some muppet-y goodness for you:

Peace for Country Music Lovers!

When I heard Jessica Simpson on the top 25 country music tunes last night, I nearly pulled over and barfed. Ew. I do not want her on my radio. And apparently neither does anyone else.

Let's just hope this new phase will come and go as quickly as her marriage.

we're not done with you yet, [dr.] horrible

Since I appear to be propping this blog up lately with my marginally informative bits of info, maybe you've waited to watch Joss Whedon's Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, like me? Because you have a bar exam to study for, or something? Well, wait no longer, because Act III (of III) is going up tomorrow, and it's ALL coming down Sunday (though it will be available for purchase from iTunes and your preferred DVD retailer). Seriously, it's SO awesome. If you liked the musical Buffy episode, or anything Neil Patrick Harris has ever done, or have sat through even one video-blog (vlog?) ever, this is for you.

And if I fail the bar because of it, it might just be worth it. (Though, really, eps are about 13 min apiece, so if I fail the bar because of it, that's pretty sad.)

edited to add: Part III is up NOW! go! GO!

oh no, Steve Page!

Say it ain't so!

BNL singer arrested for cocaine possession.

Guess this goes under... things that blow? *rimshot*

ha!

I've always loved Foxtrot, but today's comic is so damn awesome, I can't take it. I know all of the parodies but the last one...

wheeee coasters

Great article on Pennsylvania rollercoasters in the NYTimes today--watch the accompanying video, too. That Ravine Flyer II looks pretty fun...

holy craaaaaaaap

So, I just watched a rerun of Cold Case on TNT (these ever-present procedural cable reruns are my guilty pleasure this summer), and it revolved around some of the characters attending Rocky Horror back in '77, one gets killed, etc. At the end, kind of cutesy, they used the Rocky Horror font to introduce the cast. Lo and behold, who played "scruffy diner head chef" who unwittingly employed a serial killer?

Fuckin' DAVID BOWE.

He lives! That is all.

Congratulations to ^kat^, but more importantly...

... bacon salt is pretty tasty.

They have it in Stop & Shops in CT. It's about $4 for a little jar, which I guess is on par with other spices and such, more or less. It's all sea salt plus various other spices... so no calories or anything like that.

I just had a bowl of popcorn with it and it was pretty darn good. I would not say it is 100% baconlike -- although probably part of that is that you don't really expect things that aren't bacon to taste like bacon -- but I'd estimate it as being 75% like bacon and maybe 25% like the barbecue stuff they put on barbecue potato chips.

All in all, a very worthwhile experience... I'm going to try it on some eggs in the morning if I manage to get up early enough.

If you all don't get around to trying it yourselves, remind me and I'll take it with me on our amusement park trip... if there's any left by then.

BTW, speaking of the amusement park trip, I hear that there is a rollercoaster-like thing mounted on the outside of some hotel in Vegas? Have people heard of this? No time to look it up now (I have to present my thesis prospectus to my committee in the morning... so juuuust enough time for bacon salt posts, but not enough for Vegas building coaster research). I mainly mention this so I can use the "rollercoaster" tag with impunity. Also, I have just started watching the Sopranos finally, and it's pretty good. And although bacon salt is pretty awesome, I shan't be tagging it as much since "awesome" is already overused.

I also bought bananas tonight, and I have an enormous penis.

it's official...

...I have not one, not two, but three jobs lined up. :)

So, I'm still spending a year in Toledo starting in August. But instead of going right to New York, I'm heading to San Antonio, TX for a year to clerk on the federal appellate court (5th Circuit, for those of you keeping track). I just confirmed everything with the judge this morning, and it really takes a weight off of this week--otherwise I would have been in Detroit today, Louisville tomorrow, and San Diego on Thursday, with an interview in Jacksonville, FL waiting to be scheduled. I kept this re-application process to myself because I really wasn't sure how things would shake out, but I've been really fortunate, and I'm super excited--never having been to Texas before Sunday, let alone San Antonio, I had a nice Mexican meal on the RiverWalk, took a mini boat tour downtown, remembered the Alamo, and spent the evening doing BarBri flashcards (...yeah, my day didn't end with a bang).

Perhaps more important to you folks, there is a MASSIVE Six Flags in San Antonio, so maybe we can plan on that in summer '10 (or early fall '09)?

(And how have we not used a "rollercoasters" tag yet? geez!)

mmm...bacon...

this is mostly for ^k^, who recently proclaimed her love for bacon on facebook, but I figured we could all appreciate it:

http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2008/07/07/bacon_mania/

stay tuned -- this is just the beginning of salon's pork week! also, if you're not getting quite enough bacon-y goodness in your life, consider augmenting your pork-free meals with a dash of bacon salt. it's vegetarian, kosher and (I assume) yummy. who wants to try it on ice cream and report back (perhaps with youtube evidence)?

I may have...

...crapped out a little on the chocolate quiz, but I got a solid 11/14 on the Pixar Movie Quiz! Now I really want to see WALL-E...

crackel? special dark? mr. goodbar?

I've got those!

Seriously, though, it's a candy quiz, and it's pretty fun. I got 14/20, which I know at least one of you can beat. Considering my many hours of "practice" eating candy in the Lexis Lab, I thought I'd do better...

White things, hotness, and more

I just wanted to note that if Sarah Palin indeed gets named as McCain's running mate, I might have to vote for them. Because I wouldn't mind four years of that hotness.

In other news, I am going to go to White Castle tomorrow after I do my Kaplan modeling gig. I mention this mainly because, in the name of being equitable to all of our tags, I am now devoting my life to bringing up the ranks of the tags that have suffered discrimination at the hands of awesomeness, Harry Potter, and the like.

On that note, I would also like to mention that McCain is old enough that I consider him to be an honorary zombie. And that Palin is from Alaska, which makes her nearly a Canadian.

Booyah.

Only in Dubai...

Evidently we can now have the joy of all being perpetually seasick in our homes!

But hey, at least it's green energy, right?

just in case there's any confusion...

all the tips and tricks you need to deal with zombies are here:



I happened upon this when someone at work emailed around links to more videos by these guys, and believe it or not they're actually pretty informative about work-related (for me, anyway) concepts. any explanation of social media involving ice cream is fine by me.

also, on a totally and completely unrelated note, does anyone know how to add one of those cool tag clouds to our blog so's we can see how much we talk about, say, harry potter as opposed to things that blow? I'm just curious.

well...

here's a video recap of the Cardo cell phone stuff. I really would like to see that banana video, though. A cursory search of Youtube was fruitless. *rimshot*

In other news, everybody round up your felines and set your tivos!

I enjoy dessert...periodically.

I amuse myself. *snort*

more random dessert-related things? sure.

that can't be healthy.

um...yikes.



anyone (hi, matt!) want to verify this with a real-life experiment?


edited to add: this was a VIRAL MARKETING CAMPAIGN?? thanks, Cardo, for making it even more difficult to defend the marketing profession...we're not all evil, I promise!

OK

NOW I have seen everything:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LOLCat_Bible_Translation_Project

this is a waste of time, but hey -- chocolate!

What Your Taste in Chocolate Says About You

You are sweet, mellow, and easily satisfied. You don't like anything too intense and dramatic. Deep down, you're a kid at heart... and you're nostalgic for the past. You are down to earth and lovable. A true friend, you're very tolerant and understanding. In fact, your friends' biggest problem is that they don't like each other! You love being by yourself and thinking. Developing your own theories and ideas is fun. You feel lost when you're forced to be social. Being with other people can be lonely for you.

The Chocolate Oracle

this was pretty much a waste of time as my answers went something like: (1) all chocolate, please, but if I have to I guess I'll pick milk chocolate, (2) hazelnut is the only acceptable item on this list since "more chocolate" isn't an option, and (3) the shape that fits in my bel--I don't care! give me chocolate!

so in other words I'm not convinced that the results of this quiz accurately represent my personality. I *do*, however, really want some chocolate, like, now.

the most useful Internet survey ever

Apparently, I could take 21 5-year-olds in a fight:

21

OnePlusYou Quizzes and Widgets

no, wait...

I'm even awesomer than I thought a second ago.

getting better...

... the night's sleep definitely helped a bit.

If you need a new way to waste time...

... then by gum, here one is:

Torch Run



It's ridiculously stupid and equally ridiculously addictive. You just use the arrow keys to move the Olympic Torch around to grab the little ring icons while avoiding the red dots (protestors). My record thus far is 155, as denoted above... but I'm bound and determined to beat 210 (might have to wait until tomorrow after I have actually slept more than a few hours though), since that was the high score of the Slate editor who mentioned it in an article.

Speaking of which, if you're looking to waste yet more time, you could also read Slate's special issue on procrastination, and enjoy the delicious irony. Most of the articles are pretty decent.

crossposting from my other blog...

...every YouTube meme EVER--I recognize most of them, but there are some references I don't know--in the new Weezer video for "Pork and Beans":

I caught my reflection in a spoon while I was eating my cereal...

... and I remember thinking, "Wow, you're ridiculously good-looking. Maybe you could do that for a career."

I just got an email from Kaplan. They want me to come into Manhattan in June and get interviewed for promotional materials, and take some portraits for the Kaplan website. Apparently there will be professional makeup people there and everything. How fun is that?

I just hope I'll have time to perfect my Blue Steel. And that by the end, no one is reading my eugoogly.

Remember: Words can only hurt if you try to read them. Don't play their game.

huh.

"toxic" is actually a pretty decent song...when played on a ukulele.

check it.



and then check out more of her videos (including on-stage appearances with jonathan coulton and p&s **in seattle** [sadly not the show I attended, which was the following evening]) here.

im in ur applicant pool, pleedin for ur jobz

"Apparently, looking at Lolcats all day is an appealing job. Ben Huh, founder of the site and chief executive of Seattle-based Pet Holdings Inc., has received 250 applications since the job was posted on Monday under the headline "Kittehs Want Moar Workerhumans.""

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24281329/

best.

job.

ever.

if I were a drummer, I'd want to be this guy...

...with his little white tux and his shiny black hair.

love. it.

^kat^ has a ways to go...

Anyone got a few million bucks I can borrow?

a veritable ho-down

This is hilarious, and evocative of that link I remember giggling over in Koffee last November during the weekend of the Game.

you pet, you sip, you find inspiration

I love this article.

OK, I have to say this is pretty cool...

In other news, Digg is ruining my life. But I'm loving it.

oh, god...the pain...kill me now...

one would think that any cover of "the final countdown" would be inherently awesome enough to make up for any musical lapses, but...no.

*shudder*



before your brain explodes from the sheer badness of it all, here's some original-artist awesomeness in all of its big-hair glory:

brilliant mix tape idea (I think)...

... but I need your input to fill it out. The concept is: the most misguided attempt at a gettin'-it-on mix ever. As in, the songs are all about the topic of gettin' it on or persuading someone to get it on, but they are not actually the sort of songs that would ever put someone in the mood to get it on.

The only examples I have so far are Bloodhound Gang's "The Bad Touch" (aka "that Discovery Channel song") and Jimmy Buffet's "Why Don't We Get Drunk" ("...and screw"). But I'm sure there are more. A possible addition is Flight of the Conchords' "Business Time," but I am hesitant there because 1) it is more intentionally ironic, insofar as it is trying very hard to be an unsexy parody of sexy music, and 2) as such it actually sounds kind of sexy if you blur your ears a bit and don't listen to the lyrics. Whereas the first two don't have a trace of the sexy sound, even though the lyrics are quite pro-gettin' it on.

Other suggestions?

Um.

It's ok, my level 12 Orc will protect me.

fairly certain this wasn't what erica was trying to post...

...but it's damn funny (assuming you've seen the films involved)--and sponsored by NBC, so not likely to be going anywhere.

"OMG television is back," or "I continue to [heart] Tina Fey"

political endorsements aside, this is hilarious. we missed you, tina! go back and keep writing episodes of "30 rock" -- the world needs you!

(also, watch this ASAP -- it's only a matter of time before NBC pulls the video)

first post in february!

...and it's already the 21st. what's happening here, people?

I'll let you watch this while you ponder your next witty post :-)

random lolcats

OMG it's been awhile since we've indulged in some nonsensical lolcattery. enjoy!

Also:

This is awesome.

This should keep you busy...

http://www.freerice.com/

My top score: 48. Beat that, suckers.

it's amazing what they can do with an organ these days.

...what? too suggestive?

anyway, this kid plays a MEAN (electric) organ. I don't know the particulars of programming a full rock band worth of sound into an itty-bitty piano-type thing, but it's awesome. I especially like the feather boa.

coooooooool.

3 graphic designers + lots of free time + controlled explosions = awesomeness.

enjoy!

edited to add: okay, try this one. if it doesn't work, try the direct link or search for something along the lines of "omaha battle designers". I hope this works!

some truly awful songs make me twitch, but this is ridiculous

hey, brainman, want to weigh in?

woman cured of seizures caused by reggae

yeah, so this woman really likes sean paul (pre-wikipedia'ed for your convenience...you're welcome, dani :-P), but when she started having mad seizures whenever she listened to his songs, she started getting suspicious. I don't know if it's more ridiculous that she thought her seizures were caused by this one particular singer or that it actually turned out to be true.

I guess this just goes to show that one day, if you're not careful, the rhythm *is* eventually gonna get you. be careful, kids.

when does fan-generated content become copyright infringement?

(too lazy to come up with a witty headline)

I've been using the harry potter lexicon since 2002, and it's been invaluable in helping scope my research for my senior essay, review forgotten plot points, and prepare for the release of book seven. my guess is that this and other similar websites have turned many a casual HP fan into a super-fan, and the authors have put an untold number of hours into creating this resource for (I assume) no money. now they're looking to publish the fan-created guide in book form, and how does ms. rowling thank them for keeping fans happy and informed between book releases? with a lawsuit!

while I have little to add on the legal issues themselves (comments from the lawyers and almost-lawyers who follow the blog are welcome), I just wanted to make it known that my reaction to this lawsuit is a big fat BOO. as long as the fan-generated content makes it clear that it was neither created nor endorsed by the original author (and especially if it makes no sense without having read the original books), I see no problem.

thoughts?

Thinkgeek.com clearance sale

Time to stock up:

http://www.thinkgeek.com/clearance/price/asc/0/200?cpg=cj

Who got the link right THIS time, bitches? Yeah, that's right. It was me.

OK, so...

... I did not realize, till I heard Nickel Creek's version of "The Fox" just now, that Da Vinci's Notebook's song "The Gates" was a parody of that. Once again, things make so much more sense now.

[Dani: Huh?]

With a nod to Tobias Funke...

click this link that matt forgot to put in properly("thanks, kat!" "oh, you're welcome.")

I'm still at work and can't watch the video with the sound up [begin rant](why can't CNN.com provide a text version of every video story? It's faster to read than to watch the video anyway)[end rant], but I got the gist of it. Now, if only there were some avenue of support for this man... I dunno, some kind of... group...

yeah, yeah...

... the Yale Record may be chock full o' douchebags, but at least they are douchebags that are sanctioned by the Establishment... I don't think any administrator will be allowing Rumpus to co-host any Master's Teas anytime soon.

At any rate, I did in fact go to said JoCo seminar and I did quite enjoy it, even though I felt a little pervy being (I assume) the only grad student there and not really having any idea who any of the young'uns around me were. No giant revelations or anything, but it was pretty cool to have a semi-private (audience of maybe 30-40) concert. I did have to step out and miss a few minutes because a certain someone -- we'll just call her Tanielle Dumminio -- called me on the phone approximately 5 times in quick succession and I wanted to make sure no one was dying or anything, but the rest of it was quite nice.

In other Rump-related news, I just received this link from one Jared LeBoff on the newly-invented Rump Alums' email list:

http://www.bestweekever.tv/2007/12/13/greatest-headline-in-ny-post-history/

hey matt...

...you need to give your Rumpus people a stern talking-to. How is it that the freaking Yale RECORD got this honor?

how not to outsmart airport security

I'm going to assume that this guy had already knocked back a few if he seriously thought this was the best way to transport his vodka home:

New airport rules prohibit passengers from carrying larger quantities of liquid onto planes, and he was told at a security check he would have to either throw out the bottle of vodka or pay a fee to have his carry-on bag checked as cargo.

Instead, he chugged the bottle down -- and was quickly unable to stand or otherwise function, police said.

*exasperated sigh*

In reference to previous posts...

... the latest from xkcd:

*claps hands ecstatically*

Video for Lacrosse's "You Can't Say No Forever":



YAY. It makes me happy.

EXTREME eating

Matt, maybe you want to try these next?

(Be sure to click on the caption under the photo for full effect.)

Attention all UHF Fans

I just wanted you all to know that I have crossed an item off my life's to-do list: I have just consumed my first Twinkie Wiener Sandwich (and, actually, my second as well), replete with hot dog, Twinkie, and spray cheese.

Review: OK. Not great, but not terrible. The tastes don't really mesh, so they're just kind of rolling around in your mouth together. And the Twinkie taste kind of dominates... I used more spray cheese in the second one to try to counteract this, but the Twinkie was still by far the most powerful taste. Really interesting texture though. Overall, I have no regrets, although I'll probably be eating the rest of the ingredients separately, since I think in this case I'd prefer each of the parts to the combination of all three.

Just thought you all should know... and for Dani... you know, it's just too much to explain. Chalk it up to one of those wacky pop culture references the others of us all know for no particularly good reason, and my propensity to abuse my digestive system.

PS, I tried to get an image of a Twinkie Wiener Sandwich to accompany this post, but Google Image Search failed me... sigh.

Kat and Matt do IKEA

Just some oak, some pine, some Norsemen, two Yale alums with a little extra time on their hands, a round bed, and a touch of Photoshop, and we have... Vitruvian Kat.

videos, take two

okay, since some of us were good little students and waited too long to watch the videos referenced in the previous post (procrastinating to procrastinate...that's a new one :-P), here's a quickie update with links that are available at this writing:

ok go

super mario

numa numa (which honestly isn't that exciting -- I originally included this to contribute to the buildup to weird al, but feel free to watch it anyway. just don't say I didn't warn you about the song getting stuck in your head.)

weird al

aaaaaaand -- because I'm feeling generous -- a bonus clip! what if ken burns' next PBS documentary explored a more recent conflict in our nation's history? I wonder...

more lego awesomeness

okay, people who should be in bed right now = me, but I stupidly went to youtube (just for one video! I swear!) and now I have several to share with you. join me in procrastinating, won't you?

I'll start you off with more OK Go:


super mario bros! ah, childhood.


the numa numa song (with a pop culture reference for dani). I apologize in advance for getting this stuck in your collective heads...it'll go away in a couple of weeks, really it will:


aaaaaand -- the piece de resistance -- some weird al goodness. note the itty-bitty segway.

Halloween party pictures...

... if'n anyone is interested.

Halloween 2007

David Chase pulls a JK Rowling

Apparently it's all the rage these days for people to wait a few months and then give people extra dirt on what happens to their characters after the story is supposedly over:

http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/TV/10/23/tv.sopranos.davidchase.ap/index.html

A little bit of randomness for you

I'll just copy the description as it was sent to me: "This music video tells the story of an albino man training for a prestigious hot dog eating contest (complete with Rocky-style montage). It is set to the music of Molotov, a Mexican rap-metal band who are apparently covering 'Rock Me, Amadeus.'"



This was sent to me in response to my invite to a Buffalo-chicken-wing-eating contest that a friend and I are having later today. I will let you know if I am the victor or not.

I need your help

this is very, very important, more so than the presentation I have yet to finish for a HUGE meeting tomorrow:

which way is the dancer turning?

I don't want to ruin the trick by saying too much before you click over, but first: I definitely see it the right-brain way (yaaaaaaay lefties), but for the life of me I can't see how the left-brain way could possibly be right. do any of you bori--I mean, logical right-handers see it the left-brain way? can you (and now I'm pointing at *you*, neuroscientist) explain why this happens and why it's so hard to see it both ways?

More Bad News for Brit...

Ouch.

more misdirection, but this time it's all inside my head

I knew it was too good to be true, but just for a microsecond, I saw this article's headline and thought I would not be the lone defender of the Rembrandts anymore. Sigh.

Very bad news for Britney

And we thought things just couldn't get any worse....we were wrong!

Care to revise your opinion of Brit's still hot, Matt?

*crickets*

what? still nothing? well maybe you just need to watch this AWESOME VIDEO!

last published Sept 1??!

what's going on, people? entertain me!

Anyway, this should spice things up...

mmm...brains...

we've all seen this, correct? well, the brain-eating fun doesn't end there! we've got plastic zombies (O.M.G. this is amazing):



secondlife zombies (note how only a female avatar could fill in for michael jackson):


and your chance to join in what can only be called a zombie revolution. I've heard talk of a chapter forming in seattle, and I encourage you all to monitor the aforementioned link for news of a group forming near you...or at least learn the dance.

want more zombies? of course you do. here's bollywood thriller (again, O.M.G.)...and, uh, the original, juuuuust in case someone needs context.

hopeful rembrandt vindication

BTW, before I jump in -- Erica, did you mean Toad the Wet Sprocket for the one-hit wonder award, or the belongs-in-the-pile-of-shame-inducing-albums award? I certainly HOPE it's not the latter... and if you meant the former, they totally had at least two songs ("Walk on the Ocean" and "All I Want"... and I seem to remember "Good Intentions" getting a fair bit of airplay, although Wikipedia claims it didn't chart very well...).

Anyway, here are some Rembrandt trackses for your enjoyment. Blah blah blah fair use, blah blah blah I'll take them down if anyone complains... but seriously, the guys can probably use the publicity. I'm also assuming there will not suddenly be a rash of piracy of a 2001 album that no one's ever heard of.

Links to some favorites:

Track 01: Lost Together
Track 02: St Paul
Track 10: Big Plans

If they are interested, the truly clever amongst us may be able to discern from these links where the rest of the album might be found (coughhintcough), but I shall say no more.

The only other thing I'll say about this band is I think they do the two-man John/Paul type harmony thing quite well... how come nobody does that anymore?

An example of my non-hipsterity

All right, I'll just come right out and say it: I like the Rembrandts. (hops deftly onto soapbox)

What's that, you say? The guys who did the Friends song? The one they played 800 times an hour on every radio station in America during the summer of 1995? What the hell is wrong with you???

Well, I'm here (or herre, as Nelly and my sausage fingers would say) (Nelly and the Sausage Fingers would be a great band name) to tell you that the Rembrandts are about way more than "I'll Be There For You" (which, as I just learned from a little all-knowing oracle I like to call Wikipedia, was originally offered to They Might Be Giants, of all people). In fact, they didn't even really want to put it on their album coming out that year, but there was so much pressure from fans and the label that they eventually had to tack it on as a bonus track.

Anyway, this now comes up because I recently re-discovered them... after my 14-year-old self bought the album with the Friends song on it solely for said song and discovered that I actually liked the other songs on it OK, I went back and bought their first two albums and liked them OK too. Unfortunately, then they split up for a bit and one of the guys released a TERRIBLE album as "Danny Wilde + The Rembrandts" which ruined the franchise for me forever... at least, so I thought at the time. But I just learned the other day (also via Wikipedia) that they in fact reunited and released another studio album in 2001 called Lost Together. I was dubious, but a sense of nostalgia and a few amazon.com reviews swearing up and down that this album was a true return to form, much better than that "Danny Wilde + The Rembrandts" crap, were enough to convince me. I ordered a copy, and you know what?

... It ain't half bad. No Pet Sounds or Sgt. Pepper, perhaps, but it's pretty good. The first two tracks are very catchy, as is another located somewhere in the middle. The production throughout is excellent... very crisp, so all the parts stand out from each other *just* enough to create a nice, nuanced polyphony. But not overproduced, no no... there's still a bit of rawness there. And there's not a droner in the bunch... even the non-standout tracks are perfectly acceptable examples of 2-man singer/songwriter type acoustic rock.

At any rate, I know these guys are going to be another Chumbawamba (not just one-hit wonders! not just one-hit wonders!) for me, but I wanted to take a second to recognize these guys for writing some decent songs in their time, even if they were overshadowed by one enormous (and admittedly, insanely catchy the first 12,000 times) hit. Next time, I will not be so quick as to drop a band from my radar the first time they stumble.

And if a hipster thinks he's too cool to ever like the Rembrandts, you know what? His loss.

(hops off soapbox, nearly stumbles over point-undermining pile of albums including selections from Matchbox 20, Hootie and the Blowfish, Avril Lavigne, and the Spice Girls, but manages to catch balance by grabbing onto a nearby copy of a hipster-envy-inspiring Corn Mo CD and sticks the landing)

1337

man, what a great shirt. so nerdy!

edited to add: hipster olympics!!

Scars, etc.

Tonight, Dani and I were discussing the fact that the last word of the series was not "scar" as originally foretold. For anyone interested, here's the scoop:

http://allday.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/07/28/295678.aspx

Also, in searching for that answer, I also came across a fanpage where people were invited to write their own endings to the series, with the only provision being that the last word was "scar" (this was before news to the contrary came out). Naturally most of them were terribly written, but I loved the following:

...and then Harry fulfilled his new dream, of becoming a driver for NASCAR.

Posted by Steven Evangelista from new york, ny on June 22, 2007 12:30 AM

Oh, Steven Evangelista from new york, ny. You are quite the wit.

PS, most of the people on that forum seem to have had the same idea I did... that if the last word WERE scar, then it would be somehow indicating that the scar disappeared when Harry ceased to be a Horcrux (although my way... with someone asking "Harry... where's your scar?" or somesuch... was way more subtle than most of them).

And regarding my recent foray into Potterhood... I still maintain my position that they are good-not-great as literature (as I have mentioned before, it reminds me of the situation in Stranger than Fiction wherein Karen Eiffel is poised to write a GREAT work of literature but doesn't have the stones, and in the end it is just OK). And I still think that Lord of the Rings is far better epic, and Chronicles of Narnia is far better allegory. But now that I have invested the time to read them all (which I have to admit was worth it, if only to be part of the pop-culture phenom that was the last-book frenzy), I may as well put my long-dormant obsessive-analysis English major skills to work.

Anyone want to read Finnegans Wake next and we can analyze THAT?

STOP THE PRESSES

I hate to interrupt all this Harry Potter stuff (which I will respond to in a moment, and which makes me happy to talk about, yay) to announce that Owen Wilson tried to kill himself!!! NOOOO HANSEL--there's so much more to live for! Like being really really ridiculously good looking!

The Boy speculates that drug use might be behind it. I feel bad for the guy--so much success but still so unhappy? Yikes.

welcome to the (hot pink!) social

w00t!

sure, they're giving them out like candy here, but hey -- it's a 30GB mp3 player that I got for FREE just for being part of this new-MBA-in-a-marketing-position program at work. I'll probably switch back and forth between zune and my 2GB nano until one comes out the clear winner, but at this point the FM tuner, ginormous memory and video capabilities (zune 3, nano 0) are starting to outweigh the bulkiness factor (zune -- slightly bigger than ipod video -- 3, nano 1). I'll keep you posted...

comments on HP continued

This was going to continue being a comment to the earlier post, but it got so long I figured I'd turn it into a new thread. Here goes...

Sorry to steal Kat's thunder... I guess it wasn't so much that Harry-as-Horcrux was patently obvious... but if you went on the Intarwebs and read the speculation after HBP, the idea had spread like wildfire by the time I got around to reading the book. So I still give you credit for coming up with the idea on your own before reading other people's conjectures.

I would have liked to see either 1) Neville kill Voldemort, 2) Neville kill Bellatrix (as k mentioned), OR (as I have mentioned to Dani) 3) Prof. McGonagall kill Bellatrix. The latter being because I think she is the female second-in-command foil to Dumbledore as Bellatrix is to Voldemort, and though the scene with Mrs. Weasley is nice enough, I think in terms of literary structure it would be better poetic justice if either McG or Neville did her in.

I did think the action was great starting around page 500 with the beginning of the Battle of Hogwarts, and that had better look awesome in the movie or I'm demanding my money back. I was less enthralled with the 300 pages of camping scenes. Those will be sharply reduced in my remix edition of the books. (Somewhere in here there is a joke about parallels between the Harry Potter books and the Ernest movies... Prisoner of Azkaban = Ernest Goes to Jail, this one = Ernest Goes to Camp... I'm sure there are more.)

I'm OK with Tonks and Lupin dying, but I don't think it was really necessary either way. As Dani noted, it would probably be too big a blow to the Weasley clan if both Arthur and Fred (I think it was Fred who died and George who lost an ear, right?) died. So if Arthur died, I think we'd have to get back Fred... and literarily I kind of like the idea of having the twins get split up (I can't really express why) and Teddy (who even in the phonetic similarity of his name, I think is pretty intentionally supposed to mirror Harry) orphaned. One nice thing about the latter is that it provides nice parallels/resolutions to the fact that Harry was orphaned in the first place, and that his own godfather was killed, simultaneously by virtue of having him become the godfather to the orphaned Teddy.

Re: Dani's question as to Snape: I agree with Cassie Clare that IF the only two choices are really 1) Snape was always good or 2) Snape was always bad, then you have to have it be #1. No question. However, again I would have preferred something with a little more surprise/subtlety, such as 1) Snape was always bad, but redeems himself at the last second (a la Darth Vader in Return of the Jedi) or 2) Snape was always good, but nearly ruins it all in a moment of temptation. (Example imagined scene: He temporarily gets ahold of the Resurrection Stone somehow, perhaps through Voldemort, and is given the opportunity to bring Lily back [just like the character in the legend] if he kills Harry or acts as accessory to such. He turns the stone over and sees her, and nearly gives in, but seeing her causes him to remember her sacrifice and allows him to overcome temptation at the last second. THEN Voldemort kills him.) Or some sort of trickery such as when Snape killed Dumbledore, they really had their roles reversed via Polyjuice Potion or some crap like that, although maybe that would be hokey unless you could figure out a really great way of pulling it off.

BTW, enjoyed Cassie's review... I particularly agreed with her that the quest for the Horcruxes and Hallows should have been folded into the narrative much earlier, even if it wasn't revealed until book 6 or so what the full story was behind these objects. And it would have been much better structurally... as they are now, books 1 through all but the end of 4 are basically like, "Hey, kids! It's another wacky year at Magic Camp!" and the real myth/epic is all crammed into (mostly the last 100 pages of each of) books 5-7.

And in answer to Cassie's question about why it was that Lily's sacrifice was the only one to protect from the A-K curse, when certainly other people had died for their loved ones before... I always assumed it was something like the light side of the Horcrux creation (i.e. a kind of magic that can only be invoked when you voluntarily sacrifice your life), in the same vein as the deeper, older magic of which the White Witch was unaware in Lion/Witch/Wardrobe, that which allowed Aslan to return to life. Is this in keeping with others' thoughts? But it would have been nice if there had been something in HP7 that explicitly revealed that she used this magic or knew about it.

Finally, for those who didn't get it the first time, I'll recopy my complaints and revisions of the finishing-off of Voldemort for your consideration:

"I had forgotten this, but Wikipedia has thoughtfully reminded me that Harry didn't really kill Voldemort... the A-K curse rebounded on him b/c the Elder Wand was loyal to Harry. Now, even if we are accepting the fact that Harry came back from the dead [which I still think is a cop-out, though I think it would sit better with me if it were presented in a dreamier, fuzzier, more out-of-body-experience-was-that-even-real? sort of way that cut out some of those pages of dialogue], this does not satisfy me.

"Anyway, this is what I propose. Harry comes in, more or less as written, except that he has managed to grab the ring with the Resurrection Stone back as he comes out of the forest, thereby tying up that plot hole (as anyone familiar with the Lord of the Rings or Wagner's Ring Cycle knows, a powerful ring, if lost but not destroyed, will always be found again). Voldemort still has the Elder Wand at this point. So Harry gets it somehow... let's say Voldemort points the wand at him and tries the A-K curse, but instead of the way it's written in the book (hits Harry's spell, bounces back, and kills him), the spell just fizzles. He refuses to believe Harry was right (in the needlessly long number of pages of dialogue between him and Harry that have just transpired), and tries again. Again, the curse refuses to fly out of the wand. Harry (with Draco's wand) then casts an Expelliarmus (so we still get this, which happened in the book, and I think is a nice touch as we mentioned). The Elder Wand flies out of V's hand and goes directly to Harry, smashing the wand he won from Draco in the process (I think this is kind of nice as it has symmetry -- Harry became the master of the wand by disarming Draco but did not actually get the Elder Wand, and now as it returns to him it destroys the wand he actually got from Malfoy) (also nice as if you assume Malfoy to be an evil foil to Harry, it parallels the damage to Harry's own wand earlier in the book).

"At any rate, however it plays out, Harry is now carrying all three of the Hallows -- thus he is presumably truly the master of death now if you buy the legend and/or if you assume he deserves this from sacrificing his life previously (I think this is also a nice touch -- that SOMEONE gets all three Hallows at some point). Voldemort, now desperate, either gets another wand from somewhere or uses his own original wand (I forget if he still has it at this point) and tries one more time (a third time, which I think is a nice magical number) with the A-K curse. Now the curse rebounds (I like the idea that the Elder Wand acts half on its own and Harry casts an unknown protective charm without actually speaking, but this point is negotiable), and Voldemort is knocked down, disarmed, and weakened, but not killed. Thus, to some extent it mirrors their first encounter -- but this time V is defenseless and Harry is at the height of his power. Harry expresses regret that it has to be this way, but knows that neither can live while the other survives, etc. He raises the Elder Wand and says "Avada-" (I think this would be the only time Harry uses the killing curse, right?) -- but before he finishes, the wand again acts on its own and completes the curse for him. I sort of like this b/c it adds some ambiguity to Harry's character -- i.e., he is willing to use the A-K curse (which is nice with all the symbolism of part of him being in Voldemort and vice versa) -- and he is more active in killing Voldemort than is written, but in some sense he is not fully responsible, as he never actually completes the curse, thus symbolizing how fate has to some extent forced his hand in this regard.

"Subsequently, Harry uses the Elder Wand to destroy the Resurrection Stone (I think this is allowed according to the rest of the myth in the book), and as already written, he also uses it to fix his own wand, then re-buries the Elder Wand with Dumbledore and keeps only the Invisibility Cloak. Thus (wow, I only just realized this parallel and have officially just blown myself away), just as at the end of the very first book where he got the Sorceror's/Philosopher's Stone from the mirror (i.e., he got the stone because he needed it but had no desire to use it), he proves himself to be the worthy master of all three Deathly Hallows solely by virtue of his willingness to give up the title.

"Much tidier, I think..."

Can't Stop the Rock?

In reference to the title of ^kat^'s last post, I give you:

http://jonesrock.ytmnd.com/

voldemort can't stop the rock

Though I made note of it at That Other Blog, I figured I'd let y'all know that I have vanquished HP7, and lo, it was good.

And I want to talk about it. Pretty please? Erica? Matt? Dani, did you finish it yet? hooray for wizards!

"boo google" and other computer-related things

more fun, unbloggable-from-work things:

microsoft tries its hand at package design (the unconfirmed rumor is that this video was actually created by MS employees)


a parody of an awfully cool but downright impractical new MS product (the real commercial's here)


also, I'm not purposely ignoring your comments to my previous post (or dani's phone call -- hi, dani!) -- the "boo google" part refers to the fact that Google Reader, which I use to compile the blogs I follow, doesn't display comments, so I've been missing out on entire comment conversations. (what? read the actual post? bah!) and dani, one of these days I'll call you back, but I've realized that I will never be available for a social phone call during your weekday waking hours, unless you want me to call at 10pm EDT, which is about when I return from work. there must be a way around this...

the internet is for craziness

...wait, have *any* of you seen "avenue q"? 'cause otherwise the subject line's not going to make any sense. see it today! now! *whip cracking*

anywho, I've been running across interesting articles at work, but since blogging about non-work things at work (and using the competition's blogging service, even) would probably be ill-advised, I've been collecting them to post from home. prepare to be...well, maybe not wowed, but at least mildly amused:

AT&T bills suck for all phones, but I prefer to blame this craziness on the awesomely awesome but way too expensive iPhone, and

thanks to an ingenious hacker, wikipedians (and, by extension, the rest of us) can now tell when you edit your own entry (and add poop jokes to others). whoopsies.

A quick shout-out...

... to my Canadian homeys for making some high-quality music. As probably none of you know, I'm going to a wedding in Toronto this weekend, and in honor of the trip, those riding in my car are going to be listening to an all-Canadian playlist on the way there and back.

For all those interested, all the Canadian music I either own or have stolen juuuust barely fits on my 2GB iPod Nano (after I threw out most of the live stuff, since that tended to duplicate studio material, but before tossing a few podcasts I hadn't listened to yet). So I put it all on there, both the artists we love (BNL, Moxy Fruvous, the New Pornographers, etc.) as well as some that most of us probably don't care for much but I still had lying around (Nickelback, Avril Lavigne) and a little stuff that I didn't really know anything about but was still there (Rush).

All that is over 24 hours' worth of music, but I took some time (probably more than I should have) to cull out the good stuff and put it into a "Best of Canadia" playlist... ~100 songs out of ~500 all told. I'll let you know how it's received.

Interesting fact: Corey Hart, a Canadian of "Sunglasses at Night" fame, was offered the role of Marty McFly in Back to the Future but turned it down.

Also, if you're ever bored, feel free to mosey over to Wikipedia's list of Canadian bands and the accompanying list of Canadian (individual) musicians, and find out which of your own favo(u)rite artists are actually secretly from our frigid neighbo(u)r to the no(u)rth. Or just read the band names... there are some doozies in there. Perchance I shall go through again and list some of my favo(u)rites when I get some more time.

Hmm, that wasn't such a quick shout-out after all. Oh well... off to bed with me.

PS to Dani: I have finished two Harry Potter movies and have the other two here at home waiting to watch as I work out... so hopefully I will indeed be prepared if you are planning to see #5 sometime soon.

Enormous P*nis

I'd just like to note that somehow, in all these years of listening to Da Vinci's Notebook, I only just recently noticed that one of the little throwaway lines at the end is Bernie singing, "My meat is murder." Which I think is awesome.

Also, I like the fact that, as Wikipedia notes, the fans of Paul and Storm are called Paul and Storm Troopers.

Dani, to save you the effort of saying it, I'll go ahead and say: ... huh? So here's something for you (and you, and you, and you), once you've finished HPVII: More on what happens after the final book.

this one goes out to my pedantic friend Matt

keep it up, and you could be president...

more iPhone fun, via the Boy

The question everyone's dying to ask... Does it blend?

uh oh...

sorry, Dani, but there will be a little more ickiness in the world come December:

Tim Burton and [Icky] Helena Bonham Carter Expecting Second Child

Just a quickie...

... to prove that I still exist. So much to blog, but so many other things that are theoretically a higher priority...

sooner or later, you're gonna use some math

YAY! It's online, at LAST:



I seriously, seriously love this song. I just wish it were longer. Larry Cedar is my hero.

Bonus cut:

if it's the space needle, it must be...

seattle! quickie update: I'm here, my apartment is great but not yet photo-ready, work starts tomorrow (eep), etc. etc. for a longer update, go here.

I miss you guys!

har!

I know many of us are regular readers of the Onion, but just in case you missed it...

Activision Reports Sluggish Sales for Sousaphone Hero

harry potter and the cheap chinese knock-off

didn't get enough harry potter in book 7? well, a whole bunch of chinese authors are doing their bestest to earn money publishing their own (totally unlicensed) installments...

no spoilers, I promise