2011 March❮❮prevnext❯❯

-Forget if I posted this. I just wish I could sketch as well as Joe Larson. I liked the book, though I listed to it as an audiobook -- which is how I first experienced Douglas Adams, the second book "Restaurant at the End of the Universe". Sometimes I think that changes my perception of the whole ball of wax... on the other hand the very first HHGTTG format was radio, so maybe it all just works.

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I am kind of sad I don't have the kind of life that means I should really be at the GDC.

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http://www.slate.com/id/2286735/ - Major Hering; the hero of our nuclear age. So nuts ANYONE has this power, much less politicians.

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"Language was developed for one endeavor, and that is? [...]"
"To communicate."
"No! To woo women!"

--I am kind of enthralled by the kinetic hubris of Charlie Sheen, here used as the captions to a series of Old New Yorker Cartoons. Especially because I think he does make an interesting in-show character, from what little I've seen of "two and a half men".

See also livethesheendream, a Sheen quote generator, but it seems to be having some kind of technical difficulty. It was probably folly to think that a web server or any other form of automaton could handle that much Sheen!

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Gargageband for iPad, finally! Wonder if the video out will be smooth for streaming video on the new models...
--A little bit of geekery! I think the simplicity of the presentation belies all the pain in the butt factor must have gone into making it, tracking down all the old versions, etc.

Sometimes I get a little nostalgic for Windows 3.1 Program Manager. Also when programs minimized to icons instead of the task bar, so you could make little art pieces there...
--from Cracked.com's 19 Ads For Products That Apparently Exist In Movies. The "whatever you have in your pocket" line is good, NO TIME FOR MAKING CHANGE IN MOVIE LAND!

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http://thanksfortrumpetwinsock.com/
--from this Boingboing article. Oh, 20th Century Science. You shoulda just kept working on the rocket belts.

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There's a cyclops, right, with one eye? But like nothing with just one nipple...

All 3 movies in like 2 1/2 minutes! Impressive!

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Hush little baby, dont say a word
Papa's gonna buy you a jubjub bird
& if that jubjub's claws dont catch
Papa's gonna buy you a bandersnatch

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So, energon is Transformer currency, AND blood, AND food, and also their souls? I dunno man, I can't see that ending well.

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I was enjoying Ether Mermen's "Blow Gabriel Blow" a bit more before it sunk in that it's all that crazy "bring on the apocalypse!" type stuff.

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9-11 never forget
4:20 time to smoke
11:11 make a wish
7:11 make a slurpee
via

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Hungary Uses iPad To Draft New Constitution -- this must seem like sacrilege to so many Americans, who take their government as they take their religion, from static old tomes, "holy (and wholly) writ"

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"Are you in, genius? Are you in, capable? In, solent? In, describable? In, bearable?"

I really hate this damned machine
I wish that they would sell it.
It never does quite what I want
But only what I tell it.

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PROTIP: you can observe more pretty cloud formations if you're wearing sunglasses (I should skip pointing them out to Amber if she's not)

proof that an elephant and a flea have the same weight:

Let:

e = weight of elephant
f = weight of flea
d = difference between e and f

Therefore:
e = f + d Then we multiply both sides by (e-f):
e (e - f) = (f + d) (e - f) Combine the left, multiply the right: ee - ef = ef - ff + de - df Subtract de from both sides: ee - ef - de = ef - ff - df Factor out the e from the right and the f on the left: e (e - f - d) = f (e - f - d) And we can then cancel (e - f - d) from both sides:
e = f
The weight of an elephant equals the weight of a flea, QED!

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Math is the gateway drug to success.

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The immortal SpindleyQ said this link was probably right up my alley http://probablyinteractive.com/url-hunter -- he's right! Very similar to game buttons (though not restricted to one button) and the use of a+O=@ was clever!

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Apple walk-in repair is generally amazing, but apparently they have some issues if they have to ship it out for a part -- I handed them my Macbook last Wednesday, and just today it got to the repair center, despite the "Estimated Turn-Around Time: 5-7 days". Mysteries hold up wrt "Depot" whatever the hell that is. Grrr. --via

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Doctors say Sheen's (captivating) grandiosity might be a symptom of ("7 gram rocks") withdrawal; Rick James says (on Chappelle show reruns) "cocaine is a hell of a drug"
--how 1950 might cure traffic, accoring to 1925. via 22 words with a bigger version and more commentary.

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Maybe Charlie Sheen is just the Andy Kaufman of out time. Which says something about Sheen. And our time.

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The headline you won't be reading: "Millions saved in Japan by good engineering and government building codes". Buts it's the truth.

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With the earthquakes etc coworkers suggest that, given the Mayan 2012 thing, 2011 is the new "party like it's 1999".

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Looking at my iPhone txts to 90999: "Haiti" "YES" "flood" "yes" "REDCROSS" "YES". Hint: txt up, give $10.

Hi,

Thank you to everyone who wrote emails asking about us.

It took me 10 and 1/2 hours to do a 2 hour trip, but I finally got home.

Erin and Tomomi are fine.

Our town does not yet have water and gas stations are not open. Our building had minor structural damage, but nothing serious. Earthquakes and tremors are continuous. One nuclear power plant exploded about 75 miles from here and another near it will probably explode. The one that did released radioactive gas and water into the environment. The other will most likely be worse.

The tsumanis were worse than the Indian Ocean one. Japanese TV is showing video of them from the surevilance cameras. They also show bodies being stacked up after recovery. Death officially at this point are around 2000 but estimates indicate 10,000 or more.

I have more to write, especially about the experience returning home. But I am still tired and the small tremors make me feel a little seasick. Plus we are expecting power outages soon so I have things to do around here.

I will write throughout the day and the next few if time and electricity permit.

Thank you all for your emails and prayers.

Josh

Josh is a dear friend of mine and Aunt Susan's, and my host when I visited Japan a few years back. Ugh.
The binary data for the MS-Paint program treated as a sound file... the original link has people commenting on it, all over it.
--via

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So grateful for daylight savings time. It reminds me of how much life there can be after the workday. Every season I keep a rolling playlist of music I discover, and then I track down videos for most of them, to share them with you, and to keep around for my future self. Last Winter was a pretty good season for my music!

Recommendations from friends.

• Fidelity - Regina Spektor - such a lovely song, and a great artist, who Amber introduced me to.
• I Want To Hold Your Hand T.V.Carpio - from the "Across the Universe)" soundtrack, but I had forgotten about it until I heard it again from Amber's collection.
• Walk on the Wild Side - Lou Reed - this was on Miller's mix when we did 24 Hour Comics Day last October. Between this, Lola, and Tone Loc's Funky Cold Medina, there seems to be an 80s fascination with the genderbendering...
• Thinking 'Bout Somethin' - Hanson. Gerard LaFond, coworker and big name in the whole infogames thing, mentioned this Blues Brother tribute... despite the boy band roots of these guys, they're pretty great.
• Shut Up & Kiss Me - Orianthi. From Kjersten, I think.

Over the years I've grown to dig the Verve Remixed albus... I usually end up loving one or two songs from each.

• There Was a Time - James Brown
• California Soul - Marlena Shaw

Songs I found out about thanks to sports.

• Pump It - Black Eyed Peas. Maybe the NFL halftime show reminded me of their excellent use of "misirlou".
• The Power Is On - The Go! Team. An NFL commercial used this... I think I just dig that shouty girl voice thing.
• Hi de Ho - K7. They played this before the Celtics game I went to. Uses a lot of Cab Calloway's Minnie the Moocher- he shows up at the beginning of the video. Very hard to track down the song.

Songs from movie soundtracks...

• Go Speed Racer Go - Ali Dee and The Deekompressors. Such a vibrant kinetic movie... if you're a friend of mine ask me to watch it on my big projector screen.
• Creep - Scala & Kolacny Brothers. "The Social Network" used this, it's really kind of amazing.
• Mad Men Theme - DJ Swindeal. (Different video) I was looking for a simple version, this remix is ok.
• Baby Did a Bad Bad Thing - Chris Isaak. Rewatched "Eyes Wide Shut" with Amber.

Songs from Internet Videos...

• God's Gonna Cut You Down -- Kevin Lovatt. The video is what introduced me to the Johnny Cash version, but I could only find Kevin Lovatt's cover... his voice though is of the stronger, middle-aged Cash, not the weathered version heard in that video.
• Umbrella - The Baseballs. Such a terrific 60s rock cover of last decade's pop.
• I Just Had Sex -- The Lonely Island. Tacky, but funny. And the music is actually really slickly arranged, it sounds great.
• Gimme Pizza Slow - Olsen Twins. I think I already linked to the creepy weirdness that results from slowing down the 90s kiddie show song.

We went to Francesca's Espresso Bar one morning, and I heard these--

• Brand New Colony - The Postal Service
• Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy - The Andrews Sisters. Man, I love the musicality when one of the sisters imitates a wailing trumpet.

A bunch of songs I rememnber from either my youth or a few years back...

• Skate or Die - Rob Hubbard. One of the best bits of video game music ever, especially the C=64 version.
• Rollin' (Air Raid Vehicle) - Limp Bizkit. Kind of a catchy but idiotic song, but they used a cleaned up version of it on the old "NHL Hitz" game I'd play with my young cousins.
• Kiss Me Deadly - Lita Ford. The "went to a party last saturday night, didn't get laid, got in a fight, uh-huh, it ain't no big thing" line was in my head for a while-- didn't realize it was a woman singing. The video is actually really sexy in an 80s hairband kind of way.
• Mr. Roboto - Styx. It's weird how the rock-opera-musical story aspect of this song can shine through as you listen.
• You Were Meant For Me -- Jewel
• Bubbly - Colbie Caillat (cvs)
• Listen To Your Heart - DHT (new version)

Songs I don't really remember how I found out about...

• Go Go Gadget Flow -- Lupe Fiasco
• Dynamite -- Audio Bullys
• Les Petits Ballons -- France Gall
• Fortune Teller -- Benny Spellman
• Airplanes -- B.o.B./Hayley Williams - scandal
• If I Was Your Girlfriend - Prince
• Looking Down the Barrel of a Gun - Beastie Boys
• Last Leaf - Ok Go
• Face Melter - The Japanese Popstars. Love how this sounds like printer noise.

Finally, a bunch of mashups from Lenlow... I couldn't find videos for most of these but they're all great, especially "Do Your Thing to the Music" (I just love that "I don't need no tv, I don't need no news, all I need is a bumpin' beat to bump away these bl-bl-blues". I found this treasure trove looking for his mashup of Kanye and the muppets, "Kanye Mahna"... and it's amazing how much more I like these mashups than any of the originals of their own, a good mashup finds a real synergy.

• Kanye Mahna
• It's Time We Ramble On
• Bjorn Slippy
• Cyprestition
• Do Your Thing to the Music
• Hop Star
• Imagine Wild Music
• My Shiny Gun Mosey
• Soul Shot
• War Discographer

That's it! Lately I've gotten better at tracking where I hear music. A weirdly large amount of it is upstairs at the Copley Square CVS.

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Kind of weird that the iPhone playlist has the album name before the artist-if you don't listen to the whole album, likely it doesn't matter

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http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/video/xhkp04 - Tron "tween" vid, via miller. Weird to think that many of Tron's biggest fans are probably a bit faceblind; so Alan Bradly/Tron being the same guy is harder to "get"

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Amber says that if she twittered it would be something like "Surprised Kirk hasn't made any 'Erin Go Braless!' jokes this year. Yet."
--In looking for versions of the Mad Men theme on youtube yesterday, I found this gem... Nat King Cole's "Nature Boy" fits the "Mad Men" theme to a T.

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One way or another, if human evolution is to go on, we shall have to learn to enjoy life more thoroughly.

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Probably just my poor intuition of random chunking, but it's weird how iOS "shuffle" seems to have moods. Today is retro day, for instance.
--At the risk of ODing on Star Wars parody tomorrow I may well watch the whole set of Family Guy's take on the Original Trilogy...

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http://www.slate.com/id/2288248/ - moving story of Japanese Coastal City's tweets before and during the crisis.
Today I worked on a Newbies Guide to the upcoming Hub Crawl Puzzle/Photo Hunt... sadly Amber and I might miss it this year (it might be when we're in Europe) but still I enjoyed making a friendly introduction to it... I'll post a link as soon as the copy gets reviewed by the Hub Crawl's crack team of staff ninjas!

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These public employees won't see their names on Forbes Richest People anytime soon, but it is safe to say that in 2010 approximately 40 percent of Arlington's town and school employees earned salaries above the town's median nonfamily (individual) income of $54,517.

Not sure the author is clear on what "median" means...
thehose - source - built with processing

This one came out pretty well! For Klik of the Month Klub #45 albeit late, since they cancelled the Ladies Auxiliary on me... anyway, try to control the hose as it goes and puts out the raging fire in the building...

I know I shouldn't feel any sympathy for supervillains; that, if they had their way, I'd be toling in the methane mines of Titan, or be just another pile of bones beneath their throne of skulls. Although you and I can't empathize with the blackhearted motivations behind their schemes, can we admit that perhaps we have more in common with supervillains than we do with superheroes? [...] Consider the evidence: How often have you swooped in, saved the day, and been carried off on the shoulders of a cheering crowd? Now, how many times have the poorly constructed plans that you dreamed about for months collapsed into shambles?

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6 Insane Uses of Animals in Wartime (That Actually Worked) -- flaming camels and plummeting turkeys. Excellent.

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How long will Apple use simple numbering for the iPhone and iPad? Will 2018 feature the iPhone 12 and the iPad 9?

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The trick to Red Line happiness: play the rush hour odds- a packed train takes longer to load/unload, making the empty train just behind wait.

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Customers don't make decisions with their neocortex, an organ that is too easy to bullshit. They decide within deeper, comforting recesses, and they rationalize when the culture demands.

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My boss just announced prizes for A. solving the most bugs and B. IDing the most bugs. He didn't specify it doesn't count if you "inadvertently" MADE the bug in the first place... I think I might be on to something.

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"YOUR CIRCUS IS BACK" does not seem like such a winning slogan for the "Big Apple Circus" when in Boston, eh? World map highlighting the countries not officially using the metric system:

via

From Wikipedia:

Only three nations out of 203 have not officially adopted the International System of Units as their primary or sole system of measurement: Myanmar, Liberia, and the United States of America.

I know some countries have the odd English measurement here and there, like UK folks sometimes talk in miles (I think) but still... just to sound like some old time 1970s crank, I think our failure to go Metric is representative of a kind of anti-intellectual, go-it-alone, old-style-Industry thinking that is gonna be our downfall.

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Dear FedEx: how does "Direct Signature" morph to "relase authorized" aka "please leave in snow on porch and don't ring bell?" #fedexfail

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http://is.gd/ICHMZA - Microsoft Patent Antics. Patent #6,339,780 (2002) is ye olde loading animation... but OVER the window. GENIUS! Seriously, did "non-obvious" mean ANYTHING in 2002?

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Happiness is the consequence of personal effort...You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestations of your own blessings.

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Good games are productive. They're producing a higher quality of life.

After posting my note about "Macarthur Park" on Facebook, my buddy Jim Graves wrote

Richard Harris' song reminds me of the Vampire's Lament from Forgetting Sarah Marshall.

It's not bad! Softly cheesy in an 80s kind of way, but I dig the production!

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C'mon iPhone shuffle don't fail me now... ok, let's see it's... Richard Harris' "MacArthur Park" DAMN! Someone left the cake out in the rain, indeed.

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You know they won't let you buy a gun if you're crying?

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Can you smell what the Rock is cooking? [...] Was that you? [...] Well it certainly wasn't the Rock. [...] The Rock isn't cooking a fart casserole.

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I'm confused by Tablet haters who say they don't do anything a laptop doesn't -- I mean it's a giant touch screen! People besides me like to doodle, right? I think iPad should come with "Paint" app. (Then again, I use a stylus to doodle, and Jobs hates styluses.)

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Okay, never mind: what's wrong with scientists is that you DO see wonder and beauty in everything.

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http://www.pica-pic.com/ - best sims of LCD games ever. Wonder if the gameplay is recreated by hand or ripped? Such a great, constrained art form.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31O-fmTeBFg - kirkjerk is the new (rebecca) black

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I'm counting on all of you to make me famous. Or at least get more hits than https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlxdyFvtRrA , my one 58K hit vid.

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Whoa, I'm user 600,702 out of 100,000,00 at linkedin. Reminds me of how I'm 134,664 at slashdot- coulda been 5 digits if I was aware.

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Thanks to an old coworker, Eclipse's "Synchronize with Repository" will always be "Stink-ronize with Suppository" in my head.

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Java Geek Rant: it's useful that eclipse "reuses" its search results editor window, but it needs to let go if the file is edited... This guy was taking a photograph from the Boston Common, and I took his picture. Funky light!

So the rest of these shots are from my converted groupon helicopter ride with the East Coast Aero Club...Amber gave me a copter flying intro lesson last year, but I wussed out on the study needed and had a nice tour instead.

--Kjersten showed us this exquisitely inspirational video the other night

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Big thumbs up to 2 Porter area places: Darulkabab was really nice, and The Bicycle Exchange got me a great replacement for my stolen bike... via kimmok:

I need to try it out sometime!

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http://3eanuts.tumblr.com/ "Charles Schulz's Peanuts comics often conceal the existential despair of their world with a closing joke at the characters' expense. With the last panel omitted, despair pervades all." It makes me wonder how the missing panels could bring these back from the brink!

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It's a 'library' if you call it from main(). It's a 'framework' if main() calls you.
I hate frameworks.

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Sometimes I think "is IE8 all that bad"? Then: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/262161 - IE feels free to ignore the 32nd CSS file you try to load (and all thereafter.) '640K oughta be enough for anyone' anyone?

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Continuing the MS hate http://blog.expensify.com/2011/03/25/ceo-friday-why-we-dont-hire-net-programmers/ explicates a long held view of mine
--via my buddy Sawers -- reminds me both of my Young Astronauts in Love and that Yee + Lan story...

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Novelty oversized backpack warning commuters to See Something Say Something at Alewife Station.

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Treat all disasters as if they were trivialities but never treat a triviality as if it were a disaster.

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I miss Cylons.

(after watching Sucker Punch (with one scene having kinda generic shiny CGI robot ninjas)

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The truth is, we know so little about life, we don't really know what the good news is and what the bad news is.

--via xoBruce. I guess that's a good warning for any hobos who might be asleep on the tracks!

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Amber points out this is the last day I can make that joke "Old? No way! It's like I have the power of two 18 year olds stuck together!"

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invisible hand

Invisible AND Opaque?

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Had a thing, my neighborhood was really weird, you know, because my mother's a Puerto Rican a little bit. Huh, and my father's colored a lot.

--Great mashup... and man, could James Brown really dance like that?

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I might end up using it anyway, but man if "Turbo Tax 'Free' Edition" ain't a trap- "first hits free, but you're gonna wanna pay state, eh?"

2011 March❮❮prevnext❯❯