Bike odometer: 2567
Aches & pains: n/a
Current reading: Mastering Regular Expressions by Jeffrey E.F. Friedl, The Day After Tomorrow by Robert A. Heinlein, George’s Secret Key to the Universe by Lucy and Stephen Hawking
Recent listening: Neil Young, Glenn Miller, John Prine, Doc Watson, The Mars Volta, Daniel Johnston
Recent viewing: The Devil and Daniel Johnston, Cocaine Cowboys, Shut Up and Sing, The Hurt Locker, Some Kind of Monster, Witchboard, The Office, The Simpsons
Recent playing: Words with Friends
Recently accomplished: Office cleaning, haircut, cleaned ice maker, Scout accounting, purchased and installed new battery for van, hauled old computer stuff to Vancouver, worked a week in Foster City, can recycling. If you’re tired of trying to keep your cool when hosting, you’ll want to pick up one of this ice maker.
Imperative To Do: Taxes, clean gutters, clean roof, fix bathroom door (again), cardboard recycling
Another New Music Video from OK Go
Another brilliant one-shot video from OK Go. For some reason, YouTube is allowing the embedding option for this, the second version for “This Too Shall Pass.”
New Music Video from OK Go
Here is an amazing video from “YouTube” stars, OK Go. Watch carefully and wonder to yourself how many takes this took:
If you don’t have flash on your device, you can view the video on YouTube with this link. Why didn’t I just embed the YouTube video? Damian Kulash, Jr., one of the guys in the band, wrote a very interesting article on a fan forum a few days ago that did an excellent job of explaining the intricacies of the music industry’s DRM machine. Today Kulash followed up with a tremendous New York Times Guest Op-Ed.
Vital Statistics
Bike odometer: 2567
Aches & pains: n/a
Current reading: ‘Salem’s Lot by Stephen King
Recent listening: Coverville
Recent viewing: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Some Kind of Monster, Brokeback Mountain, Creature Comforts, Super Bowl XLIV, The Colbert Report
Recent playing: geoDefense, Link4 Online, Hand of Greed
Recently accomplished: Finished antenna attic setup, mounted hooks in office, purchased new handheld vacuum
Imperative To Do: Clean gutters, clean office, clean roof, fix bathroom door (again), Scout accounting, haircut, clean ice maker, cardboard recycling
Mel Gibson: Still An Asshole
First, he claims to not know what the interviewer is asking and then he says he’s “done all the necessary mea culpas.” At least he admits he is still the same person: an anti-semitic and mean-spirited bully who doesn’t understand why people dislike him.
I think celebrities sometimes reach a tipping point where they will forever be boxed in by their past actions. Welcome to the club, Mel. Tom Cruise and Gary Busey are glad you’re here.
Vital Statistics
Bike odometer: 2567
Aches & pains: the usual suspects
Current reading: ‘Salem’s Lot by Stephen King
Recent listening: Muse, Tom Waits, XTC, Massive Attack, Portishead, DJ Shadow, The Chemical Brothers, Tones on Tail
Recent viewing: Timeline, Shaft (remake), Medium, Flash Forward, Heroes, Dollhouse, Buffy, Better Off Ted, The 13th Warrior, Memento, The Illustrated Man, World’s Greatest Dad
Recent playing: geoDefense, Link4 Online
Recently accomplished: Ordered birth certificate, Scout bookkeeping, passport application, voted
Imperative To Do: Clean gutters, hook up antenna in the attic, clean office, clean roof, fix bathroom door (again)
Olbermann Apologizes
Last week Jon Stewart had some fun at the expense of Keith Olbermann but with a serious point. Olbermann addressed it at the end of his show last night:
Keith’s response was rather graceless and his joke about Jon was a bit mean-spirited. However, he did admit he was wrong and apologized.
Reverse Baader-Meinhof Syndrome
Part One
Some time ago I renewed my subscription to Netflix in order to utilize their streaming video service which is offered “free” to all their subscribers. The service is nice but the selection of movies available to Watch Instantly (their term for internet streaming) is a very small subset of the movies that they have on DVD. Because I’m interested to know of any additions to this subset, I subscribe to their RSS feed for New choices to watch instantly. With that subscription I receive notification in my web browser whenever a movie is made available for Instant viewing. This morning there were approximately 20 new movies available which I quickly scrolled through, clicking open a new tab for each that interested me. One of these was Yojimbo by the legendary Japanese director, Akira Kurosawa, who also directed the seminal Seven Samarai. After reading the description, I clicked the “Add to Instant Queue” button to save it for later viewing. Whenever you add a movie to your queue on Netflix they suggest 10 more related movies that they think you might like. This time, they showed me these (click to enlarge the image):
My eyes were immediately drawn to one of the movies on the bottom and in the middle, The Beider Meinhof Complex. The name was somewhat familiar so I read the description but it didn’t interest me so I closed the window.
Lucky Louie
Tina and I just finished watching the first and only season of Lucky Louie the other day. Lucky Louie was a sitcom that ran on HBO a few years ago starring comedian, Louis CK. The show sort of harkens back to the classic sitcom of the 70s but with adult content. The adult content is not necessarily nudity (although there is some of that but never female nudity) and isn’t just about sex. It’s a thoughtful and funny look at situations that adults, and especially parents, sometimes find themselves in. The clip below is a great example of a show-opening scene:
Vital Statistics
Bike odometer: 2567
Aches & pains: sore sinuses
Current reading: Timeline by Michael Crichton, Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom by Corey Doctorow
Recent listening: Fairground Attraction, Essential Rarities by The Doors, Love and Rockets, Live at the Olympia by R.E.M.
Recent viewing: Jericho (Season One), Beef, Overnight, Capturing the Freedmans, Orgazmo, Everest: Beyond the Limit (Season Two), Die Hard, NFL Wildcard Playoffs
Recent playing: geoDefense, Link4 Online
Recently accomplished: Christmas tree recycling, grocery shopping, replaced furnace filters
Imperative To Do: Clean gutters, hook up antenna in the attic, get passport, clean office, clean roof, fix bathroom door (again)