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no see it wasn't "Board of Peace", it was "BORED of Peace". Our mistake..
Good opening credits video.

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Christian Jihad ahoy.

One rule of thumb in watching movies: the bad guys are the ones working to bring on the end of the world. This applies in real life as well.

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And honestly, "Israel" is distinctive but not inflammatory in normal American social space. It's not like walking around named "Armageddon Netanyahu McCrusade." It's just a biblical surname that happens to share a name with a country.

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Incompetence and suck-up-itism rules this land

Is Patel a DEI hire? And by DEI I mean "Donald's Ego-rubbing Intern"

Kash Patel's latest firings ousted agents with expertise in Iran

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During the 2024 campaign, Trump said repeatedly that he would end the war in Ukraine. Shortly after the election, a newspaper reporter asked Nikolai Patrushev, who is close to Putin, if Trump's election would mean "positive changes from Russia's point of view." Patrushev answered: "To achieve success in the elections, Donald Trump relied on certain forces to which he has corresponding obligations. And as a responsible person, he will be obliged to fulfill them."

Today, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told a reporter: "The new administration is rapidly changing all foreign policy configurations. This largely aligns with our vision."

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You would imagine that [books] are speaking as if they had intelligence, but if you question them, wishing to learn something about what they say, they always say only one and the same thing. And every written discourse is thus; once it is written, it rolls about everywhere, reaching alike those who understand and those whom it in no way concerns, and it does not know to whom it should speak and to whom not.

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good advice from wittyidiot New music playlist. Pretty meh month? Or maybe I'm just judging more harshly. Tried to keep my ears open when I was in Mexico...

4 star:
* Black Skinhead (Jacques Slade, THURZ & El Prez)
Went to see Ari Shaffir live, he had a lot of praise for this song. This remix has even bigger brass.
* Só Quer Vrau (Mc Mm & DJ RD)
Heard this at the resort, weird how it's based on "Bella Ciao"

3 star:
* Kozmic Blues (Janis Joplin)
* Firestarter (The Prodigy)
* Posh Spice (Iggy Azalea)
* Live Forever (feat. Kotomi & Ryan Elder) [from "Rick and Morty: Season 7"] (Rick and Morty)
* Cannonball (The Breeders)
* Elvis Is Everywhere (Mojo Nixon)
(I think I mostly looked for this because of the reference in "Punk Rock Girl"
* Running Up That Hill (MEG MYERS)
* Axel F (Crazy Frog)
* Eleanor Rigby (Zoot)
* Mystery of Love (Sufjan Stevens)
Played at Anna + Kellie's wedding...
* Pepas (Farruko)

At 2:02 today, it will be the third minute of the third hour of the third afternoon of the third month of the the third year of the third decade of the third millennium.

Like, yesterday was Thursday, but today is DEFINITELY a Thirds-day.

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Almost everyone [94%] has intrusive thoughts, but people respond to them in different ways. The key difference between people who do not struggle with their intrusive thoughts and those who do, is not that the former do not have them (although they may experience them less frequently and intensely), but that they are able to dismiss unwanted and upsetting thoughts as meaningless. Those who struggle with intrusive thoughts tend to attach great significance to the thought, and worry that they really do believe or feel those things, or really would commit those acts.

FWIW I have AT LEAST my fair share of intrusive thoughts, but they are readily dismissed.

For me religion said, there's Objective Truth. And later the multiplicity of religions told me people are just guessing at it. But that means I'm deeply anti-authoritarian; ANY truth is only valid relative to it seeming like a probable good match for the Objective Truth, and that includes whatever random crap my brain comes up with.

The French call some of that "l'appel du vide", the call to the void, the unbidden urge to hurl yourself off a high place (which my grandfather had literally, but nothing ever came of it.) Less literally, it's a good framing for a lot of thoughts of weirdly dark possibilities. I went to a lot of antique-y and artisan stores with my dad as a kid, and I remember saying something like "wouldn't it be cool to spin and push and smash it all down?" and he was like "uh... no."

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I have a different interpretation of what a realist should conclude about the Russian invasion of Ukraine and its antecedents. I start from a different premise: Russia is *not* a great power. It is *obviously* a declining power, objectively so. Its only claims to global power status are its petroleum reserves, its nuclear arsenal, and our collective memories of the Cold War. Take those away, and Russia is no more a great power than Turkey was in 1935.
[...]
Objectively, no one wants to invade or destroy Russia, there are not and have never been plans for a NATO conquest of Russia. Russia had a good deal: they got to sell their petroleum and defend their territorial integrity with their aging nuclear arsenal. Invading Ukraine was a stupid strategic error made by a declining power that does not understand The Tragedy of Great Power Politics

(Ironically "The Tragedy of Great Power Politics" is a book by John Mearsheimer)

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Oh and...


Get it?

via b3ta

	Laid Back Kirk Joseph's Backyard Groove	Nice laid back NOLA groove Ordered Kirk Joseph's CD, loved his work from the Dirty Dozen Brass Band
★ ★ ★ ★	Ruff Ryders' Anthem DMX	DMX is so visceral. Referenced in this meme.
★ ★ ★ ★	I Give Good Parent (feat. Rachel Bloom) Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Cast	Very witty bit if hip hop from her show. (Think I was looking up "You Can Touch My Boobies")
	I Can't Get Started Kirk Joseph's Backyard Groove	Dr. John joins in.
	Baby I Can't Please You Sam Phillips	A long time ago I read the line "I know you say love when you mean control" and it really stuck with me... not sure if it came from this song or not.
	Blackout Kirk Joseph's Backyard Groove	I sense a bit of Maynard Ferguson in this one too.
★ ★ ★ ★	Love You Madly Cake	Haven't heard much Cake in a while! Intro to "Forgetting Sarah Marshall"
★ ★ ★ ★	Flava In Ya Ear (GTA Remix) - Franklin, Lamar, Michael, Trevor, Niko & Roman Claude Gnome	Really clever combination of clips from the GTA games to become a kind of parody/homage of a classic hip hop track - amazed at how well it works.
★ ★ ★ ★	Most Hyped JIG 2 at Pep Rally Newnan High School Drumline	Great drumline cadence! I'm always looking out for these, I really miss the ones they had in my high school marching band.
	It's Time To Get Laid Micucci/Macy	Little promotional ditty for an indie movie.
	tetris OST cover MayTree	Decent acappella cover of the classic Russian song.
	Friday (Remix) [feat. 3OH!3, Big Freedia & Dorian Electra] Rebecca Black	Electronic Remix of the old youtube meme-worthy song. Dang I love Big Freedia
	Hard Drive Cassandra Jenkins	Kind of a spoken word piece, reminiscent of the song "Rock Me Now"... Looked up the artist when I thought about her brilliant cover of "Wild World"
	A Bale Ndikuwuzeni Gasper Nali	via Gasper Nali and His Homemade Bass Guitar
★ ★ ★ ★	You Move Ya Lose Extra Crispy Brass Band	Nice, tight cover of a HONK! classic.
★ ★ ★ ★	I Know the End Phoebe Bridgers	Modern melancholy pop Saw it on SNL.
★ ★ ★ ★	Nicotine Jane Birkin	French song, nice groove! from that Netflix Fran Lebowitz thing.
	Loco ft. Bad Bunny SNL	The video for this SNL skit is really well done...

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I've always loved "found percussion" but this person takes it to whole new levels...

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What is grief, if not love persevering?

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No is a future tense, No-no-no-no is a present tense, and Noooooo is a past tense for dog owners.

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I know I mentioned this a few weeks ago, but: Can I just heartily recommend the Poetry Unbound podcast - twice weekly, poet Pádraig Ó Tuama reads a poem, discusses it, then reads it again. So often I find emotion welling up - I'm not sure if I'm more prone to that as part of re-evaluating the relationship with my inner self, or if the podcast is just that good... but it's like 2x10 minutes or so a week that is so well spent...

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A little dark humor, Twitter imagines the CDC responding to pop music...

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First election in a while where I'm keeping my selection to myself. Yes it's one of the two. No I'm not saying which one. Yes your candidate is great and I hope they win.

Voting is weirding me out. It's so weird how one vote just doesn't make a difference, it's just a necessary component of a sociographic trend. It's almost like quantum physics. Alone, a single vote has a value so small it's impossible to meter, so the value of votes is an emergent properties that rises up from groups. I just finished Dorothy Tennov's Love and Limerence: The Experience of Being in Love...

Limerence is a term the author invented for overwhelming romantic feeling that many people seem prone to - but many aren't. The nearest synonym might be "infatuation", but Tennov is trying to describe something less adolescent and more beautiful than that - the lovely neologism "limerence" certainly has echoes of "luminous" or "liminal".

Trying to think of cultural referents for "limerence", I recalled this quote from the ending of the movie "True Romance":

Amid the chaos of that day, when all I could hear was the thunder of gunshots, and all I could smell was the violence in the air, I look back and am amazed that my thoughts were so clear and true, that three words went through my mind endlessly, repeating themselves like a broken record: you’re so cool, you’re so cool, you’re so cool

That gets to the spirit of it about as well as anything in Hollywood. (Though when I think about "A Fish Called Wanda" - the way John Cleese's character and his wife undress for the night in a companionish way before heading to their separate single beds, vs how he lights up for Jamie Lee Curtis' Wanda - that's a great case study as well.)

I have a theory that sometimes "limerence" is idolized in our society because people want the relationships they deeply invest in to be beyond the reach of market forces. To quote the grand balladeer Weird Al:

You're sort of everything I've ever wanted
You're not perfect, but I love you anyhow
You're the woman that I've always dreamed off
Well, not really, but you're good enough for now

No one wants to be subjected to that! Even if the state of limerence is famously fickle, people look for that beautiful madness as inexplicable, nostalgic bedrock to set their relationship on - maybe even for a future family - even if they are aware that the initial rush may die down.

As some who generally is, as the book puts it, "nonlimerent" (or at least since college) I got to wondering about the neurochemistry of it all - the descriptions of the state reminded me of the euphoria of certain drugs... I wonder if people inclined to that kind of feeling more prone to drug or alcohol abuse, or are they especially susceptible to hypnosis - i.e. are they vulnerable to go other places where conventional rationality (and rational convention) is put aide?

But those questions may be self-serving FOMO sour grapes from a nonlimerent! (I sometimes feel stunted as an emotional person that I have an internal gardener that will examine seedlings of emotion that spring up and quick weed out ones that don't make sense...) Especially when the book builds on Stendhal's metaphor of "Crystalization":

In the salt mines, nearing the end of the winter season, the miners will throw a leafless wintry bough into one of the abandoned workings. Two or three months later, through the effects of the waters saturated with salt which soak the bough and then let it dry as they recede, the miners find it covered with a shining deposit of crystals. The tiniest twigs no bigger than a tom-tit’s claw are encrusted with an infinity of little crystals scintillating and dazzling. The original little bough is no longer recognizable; it has become a child’s plaything very pretty to see. When the sun is shining and the air is perfectly dry the miners of Hallein seize the opportunity of offering these diamond-studded boughs to travellers preparing to go down to the mine.

Who wouldn't want to be connected to that kind of beauty, even if it's all in the eye of the beholder? Or short-lived? As Joe Haldeman put it in "The Forever War":

But love, he said, love was a fragile blossom; love was a delicate crystal; love was an unstable reaction with a half-life of about eight months.

And so I think back to relationships where I've been a bit more limerent - the foreign exchange student in high school, where it feels like a kind of limerence was mutual, to the on-again/off-again in college that was much more one-sided. I don't get sparks like that too often. Mortifyingly, sometimes the strongest echo of those times comes with a little frisson of excitement I get with certain technological devices - to cite an old Dilbert:

Clearly, unless one has embraced a Shinto / animistic outlook (or accepted Tom Robbins' "Still Life with Woodpecker"s view of our bias against inanimate objects as being a bit uncalled for) this delight in mere "things" is a bit untoward - but what can I say? Some gadgets embody supreme elegance! - and they empower me without making demands on me, and without me having to risk rejection...

Heh, in a too-long ramble already brimming over with quotes, what's one more? Here's Carrie Fisher journaling while mooning over Harrison Ford:

I've got to stop getting obsessed with human beings and fall in love with a chair. Chairs have everything human beings have to offer, and less, which is obviously what I need. Less emotional feedback, less warmth, less approval, less patience and less response. The less the merrier. Chairs it is. I must furnish my heart with feelings for furniture.

An affection for gadgets and furnishings aside, what are the implications for romance among the nonlimerent? Again, I turn to the movies, specifically "Birdman":

"You know, just because I didn't like that ridiculous comedy you did with Goldie Hawn did not mean I did not love you. That's what you always do. You confuse love for admiration."

Oh, man. THAT is just what I do, in spades. In every significant romance with which my past and present has been graced, I can dig and find that admirable quality: "the most" - she was the most beautiful, this one the most exotic, that one the most academically accomplished, or the cutest, or the smartest, or the funniest, or the kindest or... certainly not "the most _____" in the whole world, but in MY world.

And with some of those categories... if I'm forthright (and I strive to be nothing if not unflinching and truthful about myself) there's an ego aspect with it, or at least a need for validation. Sometimes I don't want to be around that admirable quality merely for its own sake, or as an inspiration for my self-improvement, but so that the world can see me near it - and for my own insecurity - I am affirmed that I'm worthy of wooing the bearer of a quality so fine, in the eyes of the world, and of myself.

So, back to the book. It definitely has the 60s/70s feel of its era - kind of like the book "Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex" - people being frank and reflective about their experiences during an era of transition, where men and women were reconsidering their relationship with the world and with each other. And I guess in the end, its conclusion is... you're either limerent or you're not, or at least, mostly not. And there's not a lot you can do it about it, but it's important to be sympathetic to the people that are.

I'm grateful to this book for letting me come to terms with the fool I was when I was limerent and the more sedate guy I am now.

Babies are the only thing that comes out of a human that strangers wanna hold

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Marking Trump's 100th Day at a Trump Golf Club as President. "Can you believe that, with all of the problems and difficulties facing the U.S., President Obama spent the day playing golf". Our reality tv show prez is so far beyond satire it's crazy. A great page of Super Antics by Kerry Callen. Dig the old-time art style...

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Fascinating infographics, 'What Do You Think Is the Most Important Problem Facing This Country Today? over the years... OMG gf Melissa is researching how to do home made gummy products. Just look at this picture i want to join pinterest just to have some place extra to put it

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If in a hurry skip to 2:35.

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Just for my own reference, I made a list of all the Global Game Jam games I've collaborated on and posted it at http://kirk.is/features/ - I put it in descending order of how much I liked the end result, and a weird pattern emerged: Every subsequent odd year I've made my most favorite game, and every subsequent even year I've made my least favorite, and the pattern holds true since 2009!
Which bolds well for 2017, I guess. (Sorry to my teammates this year... I liked our process a lot, but the genre just isn't my cuppa...)

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I really like "So" at the start of sentences. It has a kind of narrative or poetic gravitas to it. Hadn't thought of this skit for a long time... wish the laugh track wasn't so hamfisted, though...

'God is dead, God is dead'...Perdition! When God dies, you'll know it.

(I think this is a fictional reference, the epigraph for "Petra" by Greg Bear, a cool short story I first saw in the "Mirrorshades: The Cyberpunk Anthology")

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http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2014/02/what-we-mean-when-we-say-hello/283860/ - interesting study in how we try to connect to new people. I'm thinking of trying to adopt its suggestion of "So what's your story?" I've been using "So what do you do, for fun or profit?" as a way of trying to find out what people are about without presuming they define themselves through work, but without judging them if that's how they DO define themselves, or find most compelling to talk about. (Also I like how the article starts with the Somerville/Cambridge habit of taking it to the square or subway stop level.)

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http://gizmodo.com/how-solar-time-compares-to-standard-time-around-the-wor-1535080399 A study in time zones. Confirms my suspicion that I moved from a late sunset area (Cleveland) to early (Boston). Cleveland has it better in my mind, no doubt: trudging to school in the dark in winter was a small price to pay for those long summer nights.

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Sometimes the wrong train will get you to the right station.

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Art isn't everything. It's just about everything.

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Cynicism helps combat how terrifyingly beautiful everything is.

because there's never two of anything.

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Louis C.K. quotes. Didn't realize he's from Boston.

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http://www.aeonmagazine.com/world-views/ross-andersen-human-extinction/ - great piece about the civilization-warping impacts of real AI, and some other big think topics as well. Sometimes I think goofy-sounding 50s scifi was smarter than I realized.

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Wanna feel old? Ralph Macchio is now 51 years old, The same age that Pat Morita was in the first 'Karate Kid'

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Blender of Love Another 3 months gone, another time to round up music I've added to my collection... all these I've ranked "3 stars" or greater, with the 4 and 5 ones highlighted in red.

Unfortunately, the very best song I added to my collection this quarter, the only 5-star song and maybe one of my top 5 ever, I can't post here... it's not really released! It's called "As It Comes" by "The Exploding Voids", it was played over the credits of the same German artist's (Daniel Vogelmann) horror short "Wilt" (Welk, originally) and he was kind enough to send me an MP3. I will absolutely write more about it once it's out...

Christmas Hip Hop - one year for Christmas I got the kind of great cassette (it was the 80s) Christmas Rap (I blogged the Cover Art before.) So many of the tracks really stuck with me:

• Christmas In Hollis Run-D.M.C. Such a classic.
• Let The Jingle Bells Rock Sweet Tee. I always loved the slow mechanic loop in the background, and Sweet Tee's syncopated delivery.
• Dana Dane Is Coming To Town Dana Dane
• Christmas In The City King Sun
• Chillin' With Santa Derek B

When I ripped my whole CD collection, somehow I missed the "Blues Brother" soundtrack, which was HUGELY influential on anyone in a high school jazz band in the 80s and early 90s... some of the songs seem a bit too polished now, but they're still pretty awesome.

• Peter Gunn Theme
• Shake A Tail Feather (oo, Movie clip with Ray Charles!)
• The Old Landmark (ditto but with James Brown)
• Theme From Rawhide (triple ditto)
• Minnie The Moocher
• Sweet Home Chicago (quadruple ditto)
• Jailhouse Rock (over the credits...)

Progressive, Alt-Rock, Softer... I dunno. I fail musical genres.

• Concrete Wall Zee Avi. My friend Erica had us go see her live, based in large part on the terrificness of this song.
• How You Remind Me Nickelback. I'm not afraid to like music I think sounds good. In this case, I was reminded of this song by a Motown tribute made to placate protesters against Nickelback.
• Unwritten Natasha Bedingfield. More music I'm not afraid to like. This is a great sounding song with a nice upbeat message.
• Solsbury Hill Peter Gabriel. Another unabashedly optimisitc sounding piece... I love the role it has in making this recut trailer for The Shining into a feel-good dramedy.
• Off To The Races Lana Del Rey. Amber's big on this gal right now, and I dig some of her songs.
• Nantes Beirut. Accordians and Euphoniums, what more do you want in a piece?
• The Humbling River Puscifer. This song is the incongruous backdrop for the trailer for the video game Transfomers: Fall of Cybertron.
• The Guitar Guy Clark. Daniel Vogelmann mentioned some of his American cowboy influences, including Guy Clark, so I checked it out. A bit like a softer and more haunting "Devil Went Down to Georgia"
• Glycerine (Acoustic) Bush. 90s Calling! This was on one of Amber's playlists.

Electronica, Party, Hip-hop...

• Party Rock Anthem Lmfao. Somehow I totally missed Lmfao 'til one of the summer interns at work came back for a visit and mentioned these guys at played at Tufts' Spring Fling.
• Sexy And I Know It Lmfao. Then when xkcd made a cartoon riff on this song, I downloaded it too.
• Super Bass Nicki Minaj. Weirdly an obscene Eminem to this artist made me wonder if any of her songs were any fun.
• T.H.E (The Hardest Ever) will.i.am. This is a super fun video.
• Smell Yo Dick Riskay. Amber hates this song but I like the note of sadness it carries.
• hooked on a hollaback blue swede vs gwen stefani. I ripped a cover of this mashup from this video of.... well, it's a naked woman hula hooping.
• Christmas Tree Lady GaGa. Lightly racy lyrics, I think this one came up on Pandora's Modern Holiday channel.
• Wu-Tang Clan Aint Nuthing Ta F' Wit Wu-Tang Clan. Weirdly this song has a cameo as a lullabye in that "A Very Harold and Kumar 3D Christmas". Which I somehow managed to see in 2D. Thanks, Somerville Cinema.
• electric pow wow drum A Tribe Called Red. Cordelia, member of the Seneca tribe, LJ'd about this (I think)

A few random songs with retro appeal:

• You Got Me Hummin' Sam & Dave. From some Pandora "Hold on, I'm Coming" (Sam+Dave) station I made. Like I've said, I'd like to think I'd know these guys even if they weren't what was on the Blues Bros' car 8-track, but I'm not sure.
• Cherry Cherry Neil Diamond. We saw Diamond honored at the Kennedy Center Honors. Plus, Saving Silverman.

Two cool 70s instrumentals (rare that instrumentals make it into my playlists) by Ananda Shankar...

• Streets Of Calcutta. This song is the background for this fantastic fake Nutrigrain "I Feel Great" Ad.
• Dancing Drums

Finally, weird and novelty songs.

• Pound On My Muffin Shira. Todd was showing this video at his New Year's Party. It's... really bad.
• Seven Nation Army (Remix) The Glitch Mob/The White Stripes. Powerful remix, saw it on this fan video for Pats/Broncos: Round 2.
• Nascar Prayer Songify This. So fun and catchy. I wonder if this is ridiculous, or just what religion should be.
• Oh Yeah Yello. Weirdly, guys in QA were singing this even before the recent Ferris Bueller tribute superbowl ad.
• Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This) Marilyn Manson. Kind of goofy cover, saw it in the Wrath of the Titans trailer.

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Just remember: it's not true unless it makes you laugh. That is the one and sole and infallible test of all ideas that will ever be presented to you.

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I always look for a place to pay for a (DRM-free) MP3, but when that fails beemp3.com is pretty good (Hot Chocolate, Shonen Knife)
--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...
beetimetrials - source - built with processing
This is probably the best single player game I made this weekend, even though it's just "Rotatin' Rocket Race" with a differnt control scheme and some of the graphics from "beebash" -- still, I like the little dial controller, and it's pretty easy to try and beat your time.

I wonder if it's possible to beat ten seconds? The best I can do is 11-12.



Made for THE 371-IN-1 KLIK & PLAY PIRATE KART II: KLIK HARDER.

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South Station was all iPod Touch, then plus some Palm, now all Palm- go lil' guy! Weird to see hand sized devices shown bigger than a person...

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http://www.thebigmoney.com/slideshow/faces-behind-famous-hands - heh, hand models. Megan Fox has REALLY ugly thumbs, never would have guessed but a few seconds of Googling shows it.

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http://metrics.admob.com/2009/06/ipod-touch-users-younger-than-iphone-users/ - A. those are the worst pie charts I've seen - someone really needs to read their Tufte. B. 46% of iPod Touch users are 13-17, but only 6% for iPhones. My guess is the Touch is a "first computer" - interesting if the iPad furthers that.

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Don't usually bother with Google's frontpage unless I need "Language Tools"- I guess they're trying to split the difference of the traditional "just a logo and a search box" with their new features by making everything else on the page slowly fade in.

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So for a while I've been using "softly, softly" to help me spot notepad++'s poorly-defined icon on the taskbar. Googled and realized the full phrase is "softly softly catchee monkey" which is probably not the most enlighted thing. Ah well. So, famously, Pepsi adopted a new logo. (Actually, with variations: a more slender gap for diet, a larger gap for max.) Here is some of their new campaign at South Station, always the place for giant faux-agitprop monumental banners:


And here is the previous logo, still visible here and there:


I liked that the old logo seemed like a shoutout to Daoist balance of Ying/Yang, albeit with a large border between. So the new logo can be taken as a weird kind of shaking up of the universe, if one were so inclined to free mix Asian religion and pop culture via Jungian synchronicity.

Followup! China might not get the new logo, which totally reinforces the Yin/Yang theory. PLUS! When did Pepsi announce the new logo? October. When did the Dow/Jones cross 10K and then continue tanking? I rest my case.

Huh... so, I guess there was a (unverified) redesign document that put the new logo in such grandiose terms (though it might just be a hoax) that MightyGodKing.com had some fun with it...showing how Pepsi will save the Earth:


and How Pac-Man Reacts to Different Pepsi Logos:



(The core images were actually from that document; I had assumed they were original.)

But after all that, I think I'd like to let Lawrence Yang have the final word:

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if you don't ask the right questions / every answer seems wrong.

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http://slacktivist.typepad.com/slacktivist/2009/03/h-e-double-hockey-sticks.html - some thoughtful observations about hell as it appears in the Bible, and how weird it is to become such the focus of so many Evangelicals.

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Last Tuesday I interviewed for a job I am really hoping to land. They said it was prescreened to me and one other applicant who was talking with them today. If my nemesis' schedule mirrors mine, in 40 minutes they'll get underway. My time there went well but I have no idea if I'm up against a rockstar or a shlub! Ugh!

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Yesterday I tried one of those handheld scanners at Stop and Shop. So not worth it, even if you try to minimize human contact while shopping. Plus it caused me to inadvertently shoplift.

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http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123604419092515347.html - WSJ argues that 2 months of Obama has made things worse... the assumption that this would be a typical downturn save for Obama's anti-capitalist plans. That's a huge stretch of course, but when could we switch blame from Bush to Obama?

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http://paulgraham.com/convergence.html : tv + computers = ...tv. I know about hulu, but do people sit and watch full shows on PC screens?

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Housesitting in Rockport. Theory: change of venue = massive, less-distraction productivity. Practice: endless Youtube surfing. When I am king of the world, I will make this law:

Every movie with a prolonged scene on an elevator - especially ones where the characters are awkwardly standing and waiting - must have the elevator playing an instrumental version "Girl from Ipanema". Plus, every movie made after 1970 or so that does NOT have music playing, this song will be added to the sound track of all existing prints. (Individual directors of existing films may apply for an exemption, but have to write an essay explaining why they want one.)

"Lost in Translation", I'm looking at you.

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Movie Secret of the Moment

I love you. Don't forget to always tell the truth.

Watched that movie again with cmg the other night; it really is lovely. I wonder how Bill Murray-esque I might be in my interactions with new and unfamiliar parts of Japan...

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Video of the Moment

--How People Count Cash. Supposedly. (Take it with a big grain of salt.)

So some dickwad hit my car as it was parked at Evil B's last night, severely denting things around the driver-side front wheelwell. I left their place a bit after midnight to find that the door wouldn't quite open... at first I thought it might be frozen shut, but no.

So to whomever did this, without leaving any kind of contact information: screw you. I wish you a long and prosperous life in the long run, but in the short run I hope you get an odd crick in the neck as a direct result of this incident, a short-term but troubling rash that the doctor can't diagnose, because GUILT and TERRIBLE KARMA aren't easily diagnosable, and a mysterious string of flat tires.

(At some point in the evening we had heard a car having trouble getting a grip on some ice, though at this point I almost wonder if it could have been one of the sanding/salting trucks or something.)

It was almost like the universe was trying to make it up to me, though, when it slipped me a 10 from the sidewalk this morning. Sorry universe, too little too late. Or at least too little, in this world of insurance deductibles.

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Sport of the Moment

--So my high school buddy Jeff is (I think) one of the founders of trampleball, a backyard sport of sorts, involving three guys on a trampoline jumping for a football thrown in their midst. more videos on Youtube.

Finally, two visually complementary pieces... the centerpiece of Dupont Circle...
And another attraction, Krispy Kreme. (Wheere they only barely do ice coffee.) I took this picture because for some droll reason I found the name embedded on the lid "Insulair" amusing... a vague insulin reference in a place known for its incredible amounts of sugar... er, guess you had to be there. Maybe I was working too hard.



Quote of the Moment

If they can make penicillin out of moldy bread, they can sure make something out of you.

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Photo of the Moment

--at a loss for things to say today, thought I'd show you this twisted picture. These are some of the same guys involved in happyface bowling a few months ago.

So Goodbye / Super Tuesday / Who can place the blame on you / For Kerry it's just a brand new day / Edwards I'm gonna miss you

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Quote of the Moment

"It's almost like Sept. 11 is a software glitch where you go: 'Yeah, you know, that never happened! Ah, nah, forget it.' Some of the thoughts are just so unspeakable and so scary that you don't want to spend your life worried about all this stuff."

I've seen glitches like that.

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Illegal Art of the Moment

--"Disneyland Memorial Orgy" by Wally Wood. You can see a larger version here. Interesting subversive use of some well known characters.

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Advice of the Moment

"Thanks t'him an' some other people I hadn't counted on, I got moved in time. But that ain't all I wanna tell ya. There's a lesson in this. Nuts to the so-called friends a' yers who grin in yer face but ain't there when you need 'em. People like that are a dime a dozen. Friendliness is not one of the first things I look for in a friend. The most important things are honesty an' reliability. Gimme a sour-faced buddy who returns phone calls, shows up when he's supposed to, and pays his debts when they're due. This is a tough world, folks. We all need help t' get by so help yer friends an' make sure they help you or know th' reason why."

I really think he's right on about friendship. I mean, I think being interesting and sharing activities is important as well, but reliability is right up there. Excellent book, by the way...the best $16 I've spent in a while. Amazon has it cheaper, but I think it's better karma to buy it from a local comic place if possible.

Pekar reminds me a bit of my best friend from high school Mike Witczak. I don't know if it's the jewish eastern european thing, the east side of Cleveland, or what, but they have some similar qualities: intelligent, interested in music, a cynical outlook, some frustrations in life plan. I dunno.

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Link of the Moment
The Accidental Video Game Porn Archive for the inner middle schooler in all of us. I think "Ring King" is the one that started it. It reminds me of this one animated GIF I put together, Dig Dug Does Do based on someone's comment on the usenet group rec.games.video.classic. You know, moods are really arbitrary. I have no idea why sometimes I feel confident and happy and othertimes feel anxious and concerned; or rather, usually I can pinpoint something or other causing that mood, but it's such a tiny corner of the overall picture of my life that it's not logical that it should swing my entire mood. I think that people's reasons for distrusting stuff like Prozac aren't entirely well founded; we assume that we're emotionally rational beings, with our mood the most reasonable mood based on a level-headed analysis of the current circumstances. (On the other hand, I don't think people should take messing with their brain chemistry lightly either.)

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Music of the Moment
This has been kind of making the rounds...Johnny Cash covered the Nine Inch Nail's piece hurt, and you can see the video online. Moving stuff...a little heavy handed at some points, but good. Slate has an article with some analysis, talking about how the video uses kitsch as a metaphor for end-of-life regrets.

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Editorial of the Moment
Slashdot posted a link to a long but highly readable and informative Overview of the Near Future of the Tech Industry. Everything is presented in terms of the "small business manager", but I think there's a lot here for my fellow techies. Some parts stretch credulity, like about Microsoft using .NET databses replace traditional filesystems, and the slashdot crowd rips into stuff like that, but still.

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Geekery of the Moment
Meet the biggest stud at MIT, who wired up an old-school telephone handset as the (not-so) "handsfree" plug in for his cellphone. The Dungeons and Dragons die in the photo was a nice touch. Link of the Moment
Ranjit pointed out SauerkrautRecipes.com as an example of "things you didn't think need their own domain name". Or their own Message Board or Club ("What other sauerkraut club would you join?") either, for that matter. The Health Info page is kind of funny...it's not actual nutrional information, just a solicitation for comments about the health benefits of sauerkraut. Ranjit considered chiming in with "My eyebrows were upside-down until I ate sauerkraut!", a concept that has been stuck in my head ever since he mentioned it...how would you tell if your eyebrows were upside-down anyway? Is there a chance that mine are and I just haven't realized it?

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More Business Cards of the Moment
Sarah of the UK accent and great hair decided to get in on the act of making a business card for me. It looks a bit 70s to me, like the computer exhibits at Disney's Epcot... Finally, I found this design I made for myself (but never really used) about 5 years ago. Funny how much I emphasized my websites, I guess back then it was a little rarer to have your own domain: Man, Winter has gone on way too long. I find my self getting charged up at the site of skin-- almost any bit of bare upper arm or torso. At first I thought it was some kind of odd, visual "polymorphously perverse" thing but then I realized it was just missing seeing skin. I'll be glad when I start seeing women in tank tops again, that really marks the return of warm weather for me.

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Movie Quote of the Moment

Death smiles at us all. All a man can do is smile back.

Saw that movie last night. Pretty good! I had some trouble believing some of the plot twists, but cinematically it was doing some really interesting things. But I really really like that quote. It catches so much of how I'm trying to cope with mortality. It has some kind of weird old world charm, invoking some kind of cordiality along with a general cheerfulness. I'd almost like it as my epitath.

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Link of the Moment
OJR's Spike Report has some really well written story/link combos. At the moment, interesting coverage of the whole "did Shakespeare smoke marijuana" question-- was it the "noted weed" from Sonnet 76? ❮❮prevnext❯❯