Via Flea.
Are all Mac products as simple to use as the iPod and its related software? Because if so…tell me why we went the way of the PC again?
Now that I’ve ripped it I’ve owned Meat Loaf’s “Bat Out of Hell” in 4 different formats.
Same with Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon.”
Same with Springsteen’s “Born to Run.”
Ditto Supertramp’s “Breakfast in America.”
And The Moody Blues’ “Days of Future Past”
In Three Formats:
“Joe Jackson Live” and “The Best of Elvis Costello and The Attractions”
I’ve done the math. To complete my U2 Collection it’s still cheaper to download the whole thing off iTunes with the rebate from the iPod than it is to just try to fill in the holes album by album. But damn…not by much. I don’t even remember buying “Pop” and I can’t tell you if I ever listened to it.
Rattle and Hum still does…and well I might add.
The Cars still put a smile on my face when I hear the opening to “Good Times Roll” and the transition between “Bye Bye Love” and “Moving in Stereo” should never ever be messed with. I’ve taken radio stations off my presets for playing one without the other and I’ll do it again. There’s no excuse for that.
I really miss The Gin Blossoms.
I’m not watching Leno until after the whole Michael Jackson thing is over. Some say it’s made him funny again, I just find it to be a bad case of piling on…which he’s done before and I guess people seem to like it.
American Idol was kind of cool last night…both the rock guys made it through which gives me some hope for the thing at large but don’t we know at this point that it’s down to being between Anthony Fedorov and Mario Vazquez? You know it’s a guy’s year. And these two seem to have the whole thing down. I’d love to be wrong, but my prediction is these two in the last episode.
I own AC/DC’s “The Razor’s Edge?” WT…oh, “Thunderstruck.”
Lost was better last night than last week, but it’s still not where it was. God I hope they don’t start to suck so soon.
Am I the only one who’s going to miss NYPD Blue?
This will make my friend at the DAZ happy.
DAZ is Chicago-ese for Dead Animal Zoo. “Da kidz are goin’ on a field trip.” “Da DAZ?” “No, da Submarine one.”
Thank you for putting up with my boredom. I’m not sure how much longer I can take this. I may need to try walking further today.
the crap that I didn’t publish this morning…you’d thank me.
There were comments on this that involved leather and binding and signs of the apocolypse but, in the end, I couldn’t form a punchline that didn’t make me a little nauseous.
Then there was a good half hour rant about this crap that just went on and on and on and then I stopped to take a swig of coffee and realized the irony I was setting myself up for.
So…-shaking my fingers like Jack Black-…you owe me…
Day of Surgery: Percocet baby…damn that hurts.
Day after Surgery: Switch to Tylenol 3 w/ codeine. Doesn’t hurt as much.
Superbowl Sunday: Down to Motrin and that’s only because of a bit of swelling.
When you have surgery on your legs, sleep with your legs elevated above your heart as much as possible and you’ll be amazed. Also…try to retrain your cats not to boof your legs to show they love you cuz…yeeeeowww they manage to find just the spot.
This is going too smoothly…that worries me.
It seemed like, back in the ’70s, at least a few souls in any neighborhood tavern knew a few verses for this favorite ditty. Now, it seems to be a total novelty. In fact, I rarely hear bar patrons singing at all anymore, unless it’s (gasp!) karaoke. So, I call for a revival! Ladies and gentleman, I give you…
The Song of the Temperance Union
We’re coming, we’re coming, our brave little band
On the right side of temp’rance we do take our stand.
We don’t use tobacco, because we do think
That the people who use it are likely to drinkAway, away, with rum, by gum,
Rum by gum, rum by gum
Away, away, with rum, by gum,
The song of the Temperance Union.We never eat fruitcake because it has rum,
And one little slice puts a man on the bum.
Oh, can you imagine the pitiful plight
Of a man eating fruitcake until he gets tight?A man who eats fruitcake lives a terrible life.
He’s mean to his children and beats on his wife.
A man who eats fruitcake dies a terrible death,
With the odor of raisins and rum on his breath!We never eat cookies because they have yeast,
And one little bite turns a man to a beast.
Oh, can you imagine the utter disgrace
Of a man in the gutter with crumbs on his face?We never drink water — they put it in gin,
And one little sip and a man starts to grin.
Oh, can you imagine a sorrier sight
Than a man drinking water and singing all night?
There are more verses on the site. And I’m sure there are many more. If you know any others, feel free to post them.
Because as she was adjusting my crutches and showing me how to use them for post-surgery tomorrow, she said something like this:
You want to make sure you have about a 30 degree bend in your elbow so your triceps take all the weight and my…you do have some triceps don’t you?
Why yes…yes I do.
She’s a wonderful human being…a fine young American…and she knows how to make an anxious older guy feel damn good. That’s natural talent dammit and it deserves respect.
Manic Viking is a new guy on the block. The title alone recommends it but he writes about movies, and drinking, and video games, and drinking, and webtoons. Check it out before it becomes a recovery blog because dude, if you’re drinking Jaeger and Bawls as a cannonball…Robert Downey Jr. is giving you the look.
Via Fritz.
When I see the new head of Homeland Security, I shouldn’t immediately hear “Let’s do the Time Warp agaiiiiiiiin.” in my head.
The station that my clock radio is set to has a sense of humor. For the past three days the same song has played at exactly 0h-my-god-it’s-early…every morning. I should have figured it out on Monday…it’s not an oldies station and yet, “I Got You Babe” was the song. It was literally a sleeper joke. I hit the snooze bar or the off button and rolled over and out…watch the CAT…head downstairs for coffee and to feed the felines their moist…and God almighty they’re getting fat…cats need diets too. It wasn’t really until this morning that I even noticed it was three days in a row…and then it still didn’t fully hit me until I was driving through the fog this morning and the morning crew of the station mentioned Punxsutawney Phil .
If you can’t get to the site…it’s six more weeks of winter…but if you listen to the one in New York…it’s only a month and a half.
Every time I saw Dan Senor on the news it just drove me nuts…he reminded me of someone…and then today it hit me. The G-Man from the game Half Life.
A bit of mental masturbation here, akin to the now imponderable question, “where in the hell is Springfield?”
We can tell by the clues given on King of the Hill, that it’s in the Texas hill country – north of San Antonio, but west of Dallas. And it’s (egad!) within commuting distance of Houston.
As well, as we see little of governance or university activity, we can be reasonably sure it’s not in the vicinity of Waco or Austin.
So, I repeat: where in the Texas is Arlen?
I received my last of two W-2’s last week, so I started working on my taxes. During that process I felt the need to find my pay stubs from my former employer. Somewhere in this house, I have put that green folder where it wouldn’t get lost. Riiiight. I finally gave up on inside the house and moved to the garage where there are still partially unpacked boxes. Got to the bottom of the first box, and found a PFE study guide. In other boxes I found orders, profiles, LES’s, old plane tickets, travel vouchers, and leave forms. Then came the topper. I found a 341 from Basic. 10 years that thing has followed me around.
And four days later I still haven’t found those pay stubs….
One of the things I really like about Glenn Reynolds is that, besides that he must read about 500 blogs a day, at about 5000 wpm, he has a vast recollection of delightful tidbits from various archives. So a hat tip to him for this little piece of hilarity from Larry Niven, Man of Steel – Woman of Kleenex:
Be not deceived by appearances. Superman is no relative to homo sapiens.
What arouses Kal-El’s mating urge? Did kryptonian women carry some subtle mating cue at appropriate times of the year? Whatever it is, Lois Lane probably didn’t have it. We may speculate that she smells wrong, less like a kryptonian woman than like a terrestrial monkey. A mating between Superman and Lois Lane would feel like sodomy-and would be, of course, by church and common law.
The pic is from last year but I’d never seen it before so have at it. Winner(s) Monday.
Hint…I loathe Elmo. Kermit’s the man!
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in the comments section are solely those of the commenters…and some of them are going to hell…no matter how funny they are.
Other Caption Contests:
Wizbang is about the elections.
Conservative Life is also at the elections.
Rodney over at Outside the Beltway has some guy that looks vaguely familiar to pick on.
Villainous Company has got an awesome shot of Condi.
Argghhh! has got one to ponder.
“For example, an experiment that would raise concerns, he said, is genetically engineering mice to produce human sperm and eggs, then doing in vitro fertilization to produce a child whose parents are a pair of mice.”
Attention Scientific Community: If the idea sounds like it came from a mad scientist as played by Marlon Brando in Gramma’s Housedress…perhaps it’s not the best idea.
Narf! He kills me…
Almost forgot about the Caption Contest. Thanks for playing everyone.
1. “The question isn’t who is going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me?” -Comment by Hodink
2. “Damn! I wish that de-fibrillator would kick in!” -Comment by Chaz
3. “And now, young Skywalker… you will die. ” -Comment by kethepoo
Honorable Mention: “Sharp is the curse that cuts like a knife… damned is your soul and doomed is your life.” -Comment by Steve Skubinna
I was going to wait until Sunday but, “immediate gratification takes too long.” (-Carrie Fisher-)
Winners Monday.
OTHER CAPTION CONTESTS:
Wizbang.
Conservative Life.
Outside The Beltway.
Any other caption contests let me know, I’d like to start keeping track of as many as possible. Just drop me an email with the title CAPTION CONTEST.
…from Michele. She got over 400 hits on this before I saw it, what’s the point of playing in a crowded playground?
Your favorite movie in seven words. Don’t tell, let us guess.
Here’s one of mine:
Two brothers meet two strangers, clean up town.
Some recent news stories have mentioned that the current President Bush and former President Clinton have actually become friends, shocking both sides of the spectrum. It doesn’t suprise me. I voted for both of them. The things that those two men were able to convey to me was that they honestly had this nation’s best interests at heart.
I’m just sayin’, they’ve got a lot more in common than a lot of folks give either credit for.
AFP/File/Indranil Mukherjee
The Contest was interesting this week.
The winner comes from datarat.
Said the Sec of State
To the gathered Mullah’s
“Do you hear what I hear?”
(do you hear what I hear?)
A bomb
A MOAB
Falling from on Iran
And your NUKE plant’s buried in sand…
Honorable mention to Blondie for noticing something a bit yucky:
EEEHHH????? what was that ??? I could’nt hear you….I’m sorry your gonna have to speak up….”oh I forgot my crest whitening tooth paste”!
I just want to say: I will accept money from anyone that wants to ante-up. And I am available for speaking engagements.
Of course, none of that is a guarantee of what I might write, or speak. 🙂
Update: Alen Penenberg writes in Wired on the conflicts for big-media journalists who also blog:
For all the press that bloggers have received for revolutionizing journalism by bringing Gutenberg’s printing press to the digital masses, when push comes to shove, journalists who operate personal weblogs face an inherent conflict of interest. In the end, it’s the blogs that usually get short shrift.
And according to some, that’s the way it ought to be. As Jason Calacanis, founder of Weblogs and publisher of the defunct Silicon Alley Reporter, put it in an e-mail: “Blogger + reporter = big problem. I wouldn’t do that, and I’m sure it will end in tears. I know as an editor of a magazine or newspaper I wouldn’t want my paid editors putting scoops out on their blog when those scoops could be driving and growing the print product.”
But it’s not just about who gets the scoops. A more serious question is how can bloggers, whose success depends largely on sharing unvarnished opinions, also work as so-called objective journalists?
There are no easy answers, and many media outlets find it easiest to avoid perceptions of bias by simply issuing blanket restrictions on what their reporters can say and do outside of work. In the past, for example, CNN pressured correspondent Kevin Sites to shut down his blog from Iraq. Time put the kibosh on freelancer Joshua Kucera’s personal blog, and the Hartford Courant strong-armed one of its columnists, Denis Horgan, to stop him from blogging. (With the exception of Kucera, they have all returned to the blogosphere.)
Wall Street Journal staffers agree to follow a code of conduct that restricts certain activities to ensure “the independence and integrity” of its publications, services and products. I imagine the Journal is particularly sensitive after an e-mail from Farnaz Fassihi, one of its reporters based in Baghdad, made the rounds last year, portraying life in Iraq as much more dire than her published work suggested.
The New York Times (.pdf) requires its staffers to avoid even the appearance of a conflict of interest, and requires that no newsroom or editorial employee “do anything that damages the Times‘s reputation for strict neutrality.”
Of course, we all know the objectivity of big media is highly suspect. That would imply that such codes of conduct are a sham.
Update 2: Frank J. comments on the myths and facts of blogging:
MYTH: People only blog for the money and the babes.
FACT: People also blog for power, out of sense of arrogance, and because they like the clickity-clack sound of the keyboard.
I will also accept payment in babes, if you happen to have some extras lying about.
Attention members of meteorogical departments and other weather people: 5 is not a high.
Attention Car Makers: If you don’t want me running my engine in idle for more than 5 minutes as the manual says, get your heaters to work better.
Attention Parents: Parking/pausing on the wrong side of the steep narrow street in base housing one block away from the elementary school, 7 minutes before the bell, to have a conversation with your friend is considered not only rude, but downright stupid when the roads are icey and covered with a dusting of snow.
Attention all Base Housing Residents: The inflatable Santas? Yeah, it’s time to lose them.
Attention Parents Part II: It’s kind of cool when you see cops in an empty parking lot, parked with their cruisers facing in opposite directions so that they can have a conversation through the driver’s side window. However, doing that in the school parking lot, 5 minutes before the bell…there’s absolutely no coolness to that…even with a high of 5.
| T | Trustworthy |
| I | Industrious |
| M | Magical |
| M | Mystical |
| E | Enlightened |
| R | Refined |
From Go-Quiz.com
Via Michele…who’s quitting smoking…again…which is always a good time. But then again I understand the need to take someone’s heart out and hand it to them…perfectly rational under the circumstances.
I’m sorry, the Director of Homeland Security just shouldn’t look like he can do the Time Warp really well…no matter how good his resume looks.
Guilty Pleasures: The Meme via Michele via Rox.
CD I have in my car that I roll up the windows to listen to
Can’t think of one that I wouldn’t blast with the windows down.
Book I read flat so no one could see the title
The Summer Tree Trilogy
Crappiest song ever sung at karaoke
Jimmy Buffet – A Pirate Looks at 40
Great Song…my singing…phew!
Bad movie I watch repeatedly
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension
Article of clothing I love though I know it’s wrong
I still have about three pairs of those very loose and very loud beach pants from the early 1990s.
What I order at the bar when no one is listening
A Foundation and Empire. (They tell me kids today would call it a suicide…mix all the mixers together.)
Fast food item I adore
Burger King’s Angus Steak Burger with all the crap on it. I turn into Homer Simpson….mmmmmm Angus Burgerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. I don’t know if it’s the ranch dressing or what but I mean it’s just GOOD.
A TV show that is a good example of the downfall of civilization that I love anyway
I watch nothing but quality educational programming…okay fine…Fear Factor, especially when the couples are on.
Y’all need to fess up now.
AFP/File/Indranil Mukherjee
Winners Thursday Night
This week’s Caption Contest brought out some new players…welcome one and all and thanks for joining in.
Winner:
“Open any Arks of the Covenant lately?” by Stryker, who’s most current post is bitch-slapping Oliver Stone.
Honorable Mentions:
“That’s Obama, with a ‘B’. Osama’s the other guy…And I was elected, not ‘captured’, so you can stop grinning now.” by James Agenbroad.
The “WTF was that all about?” Award goes to phein for:
“You think prison’s funny now, but you’ll be smirking out the other side of your face after you spend a weekend with your new black boyfriends once Fitzgerald gets through with your ass!”
I’ll admit ignorance…anyone? Bueller? Ferris? Bueller?
Wow…this in my 100th post. How’d that happen?