check out Superman, Seinfeld and Lauer over at the NBC site.
Click here for video
Tuesday, March 30, 2004
Check it out. My Jimmy Olsen like photographic skills landed my work in Wired.com.
Actually, I took these while working on a video for the School. And I only took the two of the guy in the wheelchair (who is freaking hilarious, i might add).
So go check out Wired and see what research we're up to at my employing university. And I'm glad they showed Panch. Panch kicks ass, even if he does introduce me as my boss from time to time.
Actually, I took these while working on a video for the School. And I only took the two of the guy in the wheelchair (who is freaking hilarious, i might add).
So go check out Wired and see what research we're up to at my employing university. And I'm glad they showed Panch. Panch kicks ass, even if he does introduce me as my boss from time to time.
I never buy new albums. By that, I mean, I rarely buy albums from new bands with which I have heard very little, but, based upon the strength of their single, I will try the whole album.
Twice in the past three weeks I have done this. And twice, I have been f**ked.
After reading Maxwell's post on the Yeah Yeah Yeah's (which in no way really endorsed the Yeah Yeah Yeahs), and after having had heard the single a few times, and after having noticed the album was $8.99 at Target last time I was there, I decided to pick up the record.
Not good. While it does do what I kept telling Jamie (this sounds like something I would have listend to in high school!), it does not necessarily do it in a good way. I was actually reminded of the "They Eat Their Own" debacle of 1989/ 1990. I purchased it on the strength of the song "Like a Drug", which was catchy. The rest of the album... not so much. And I am sure I had paid at least $8.99 for that album as well. At any rate, just download that single you keep hearing from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. it's still a good tune. It just happens to not sound too much like anything else on the record.
(And let me stop here and now and ask how many folks returned the Smash Mouth album in 1996? I know you did, because I was the one at the record store who had to explain to you that we are not responsible for your musical choices, so if you bought it and didn't like it, that's your problem. Yes, i know the entire rest of the album in pretty much stupid LA-metal, but I hoped you knew that before dropping $16.99.)
I can't really tell you what to do if you had high hopes for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Really, most of the record sounds like the kind of stuff you used to occasionally hear coming out of clubs on 6th street that you would wisely pass on by.
The other album I bought because Amazon.com kept telling me to. "Buy the Strokes, fool!" Amazon.com challenged. "Okay," I answered, "That single is okay. But I'm buying it at Best Buy and cutting you out of the deal!" "Bastard!" Amazon replied.
The Strokes is really pretty boring. I listend to it once at home, once on my way into work, and then lost it under the seat of my car where it will remain collecting dust and car lint until I clean my car again.
THis happens about once every year, and it puts me off buying any new music for a while. The worst part is, I normally wouldn't have picked up either record, assuming their approval by major retailers was enough of a warning sign. But sometimes you ignore that little voice in your head and say "hey, this could be fun!" And then you get f**ked. So, you know, listen to the voices in your head, I guess.
I can say I've enjoyed both of The Walkmen's records. They might be worth checking out. I notice on their website they seem to be opening for The Strokes in a few US cities. Interesting choice since my feeling was that both the Strokes and The Walkmen had a similar vibe, only The Walkmen do it so much better.
Fuck it. I'm going to go buy some Engelbert Humperdink and Chuck Mangione.
Twice in the past three weeks I have done this. And twice, I have been f**ked.
After reading Maxwell's post on the Yeah Yeah Yeah's (which in no way really endorsed the Yeah Yeah Yeahs), and after having had heard the single a few times, and after having noticed the album was $8.99 at Target last time I was there, I decided to pick up the record.
Not good. While it does do what I kept telling Jamie (this sounds like something I would have listend to in high school!), it does not necessarily do it in a good way. I was actually reminded of the "They Eat Their Own" debacle of 1989/ 1990. I purchased it on the strength of the song "Like a Drug", which was catchy. The rest of the album... not so much. And I am sure I had paid at least $8.99 for that album as well. At any rate, just download that single you keep hearing from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. it's still a good tune. It just happens to not sound too much like anything else on the record.
(And let me stop here and now and ask how many folks returned the Smash Mouth album in 1996? I know you did, because I was the one at the record store who had to explain to you that we are not responsible for your musical choices, so if you bought it and didn't like it, that's your problem. Yes, i know the entire rest of the album in pretty much stupid LA-metal, but I hoped you knew that before dropping $16.99.)
I can't really tell you what to do if you had high hopes for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Really, most of the record sounds like the kind of stuff you used to occasionally hear coming out of clubs on 6th street that you would wisely pass on by.
The other album I bought because Amazon.com kept telling me to. "Buy the Strokes, fool!" Amazon.com challenged. "Okay," I answered, "That single is okay. But I'm buying it at Best Buy and cutting you out of the deal!" "Bastard!" Amazon replied.
The Strokes is really pretty boring. I listend to it once at home, once on my way into work, and then lost it under the seat of my car where it will remain collecting dust and car lint until I clean my car again.
THis happens about once every year, and it puts me off buying any new music for a while. The worst part is, I normally wouldn't have picked up either record, assuming their approval by major retailers was enough of a warning sign. But sometimes you ignore that little voice in your head and say "hey, this could be fun!" And then you get f**ked. So, you know, listen to the voices in your head, I guess.
I can say I've enjoyed both of The Walkmen's records. They might be worth checking out. I notice on their website they seem to be opening for The Strokes in a few US cities. Interesting choice since my feeling was that both the Strokes and The Walkmen had a similar vibe, only The Walkmen do it so much better.
Fuck it. I'm going to go buy some Engelbert Humperdink and Chuck Mangione.
Monday, March 29, 2004
Sadly, I have denied myself Jim's TIVO clarion call and so I will miss Superman v. Lauer tomorrow morning.
From Newsarama.com
The day after the shorts went live at www.americanexpress.com/jerry , the Jerry Seinfeld/Superman friendship is slated to get a boost thanks to NBC’s Today show.
According to the show’s website, excerpts from the two Internet shorts are due to be shown, while NBC is currently airing promos for tomorrow’s show featuring Superman himself as an on-air guest.
Reportedly, the Superman/Seinfeld segment will be shown in the 8:00 – 8:30 am half hour slot.
If anyone sees this, let me know how Superman does as a guest.
From Newsarama.com
The day after the shorts went live at www.americanexpress.com/jerry , the Jerry Seinfeld/Superman friendship is slated to get a boost thanks to NBC’s Today show.
According to the show’s website, excerpts from the two Internet shorts are due to be shown, while NBC is currently airing promos for tomorrow’s show featuring Superman himself as an on-air guest.
Reportedly, the Superman/Seinfeld segment will be shown in the 8:00 – 8:30 am half hour slot.
If anyone sees this, let me know how Superman does as a guest.
All new web-isodes of Jerry Seinfeld and Superman! Sure, it's an American Express ad, but it's still pretty good.
Click to view. And get Flash if you don't have it. Flash the media tool, not the super-fast super hero.
Click to view. And get Flash if you don't have it. Flash the media tool, not the super-fast super hero.
I am in no way snickering at this story or these people. The story just has such a shadow of Andrea Yates, also a Texas mother/ murderer, it's very odd.
Jamie asked me yesterday "is it just me, or is the whole fo'shizzle thing already going away?"
I suggested that, perhaps, we were late on this one to begin with, and like with most trends, since we are no longer 19-24, we will be the last to hear about it. Most likely, we agreed, we had caught the fo'shizzle on it's way out.
I seem to remember the Fo'Shizzle a few years ago, but it's a vague memory, and I can't really tie it to anything. That, and the folks in our respective offices are unlikely to employ the shizzle in casual conversation, so the shizzle has not received a lot of reinforcement.
Like any fad, it's going to have a life cycle. You do not hear people dropping "jive turkey" or "turkey" anymore (a phrase my parents outlawed in my house when I was young, which I found confusing). I still pepper my own speech with the phraseology of my upbringing. "Dude" and "man" still punctuate about half my sentences. "Totally", "rad", "schweeet!", "whoa" and a few choice others pop up. But around the office, my speech pattern is significantly different than what it was when I began here. Upon my arrival, I was used to the casual atmosphere prevelant at UT. The F-Bomb is certainly not welcome. Unless I really, really need to make a point.
In other news, Jamie's birthday went more or less as planned. I felt bad that Wagner had so little to do here, but there is so little to do here. Or, at least, we're in such a rut, we don't really seek out a lot of what there is to do, and are therefore ignorant of what Phoenix has to offer.
All in all, it was nice, and it was good to see Wagner. She went Vegan some time back, and that made some of our dining choices more challenging than others, but all in all, not too difficult to deal with.
I bought two pictures at the Tempe art fair this weekend. Both pics were camp/retro stuff by this California artist. Anyway, I saw the guy's stuff on Friday when I was out and about looking for Churros at the art fair, and I picked up a print of a painting he had done of Siegel-era Superman. I thought Jamie would love the stuff, and so I was insistent on bringing her back on Saturday.
Jamie is a tough one to figure out. THe only two pictures she's ever gotten excited over were 1) a print of an orange squid, and 2) a map of Middle-Earth. I'm not really clear on what, exactly, Jamie is looking for, but it wasn't what De la Nuez had to offer. She kind of nodded and said "that's nice." And then started looking around for almonds.
We aren't always going to jive, but we've been together for 8.5 years, and I still have trouble figuring out what makes her tick. Then again, it could have something to do with Jamie's seeming desire to undecorate, or, rather, to keep more of a spartan look to things. I've often written that off to laziness, but the reality is, Jamie prefers an ascetic sort of thing, and I prefer more of a jumble of stuff on my walls, floors, ceiling, etc... She's patient, she is.
I suggested that, perhaps, we were late on this one to begin with, and like with most trends, since we are no longer 19-24, we will be the last to hear about it. Most likely, we agreed, we had caught the fo'shizzle on it's way out.
I seem to remember the Fo'Shizzle a few years ago, but it's a vague memory, and I can't really tie it to anything. That, and the folks in our respective offices are unlikely to employ the shizzle in casual conversation, so the shizzle has not received a lot of reinforcement.
Like any fad, it's going to have a life cycle. You do not hear people dropping "jive turkey" or "turkey" anymore (a phrase my parents outlawed in my house when I was young, which I found confusing). I still pepper my own speech with the phraseology of my upbringing. "Dude" and "man" still punctuate about half my sentences. "Totally", "rad", "schweeet!", "whoa" and a few choice others pop up. But around the office, my speech pattern is significantly different than what it was when I began here. Upon my arrival, I was used to the casual atmosphere prevelant at UT. The F-Bomb is certainly not welcome. Unless I really, really need to make a point.
In other news, Jamie's birthday went more or less as planned. I felt bad that Wagner had so little to do here, but there is so little to do here. Or, at least, we're in such a rut, we don't really seek out a lot of what there is to do, and are therefore ignorant of what Phoenix has to offer.
All in all, it was nice, and it was good to see Wagner. She went Vegan some time back, and that made some of our dining choices more challenging than others, but all in all, not too difficult to deal with.
I bought two pictures at the Tempe art fair this weekend. Both pics were camp/retro stuff by this California artist. Anyway, I saw the guy's stuff on Friday when I was out and about looking for Churros at the art fair, and I picked up a print of a painting he had done of Siegel-era Superman. I thought Jamie would love the stuff, and so I was insistent on bringing her back on Saturday.
Jamie is a tough one to figure out. THe only two pictures she's ever gotten excited over were 1) a print of an orange squid, and 2) a map of Middle-Earth. I'm not really clear on what, exactly, Jamie is looking for, but it wasn't what De la Nuez had to offer. She kind of nodded and said "that's nice." And then started looking around for almonds.
We aren't always going to jive, but we've been together for 8.5 years, and I still have trouble figuring out what makes her tick. Then again, it could have something to do with Jamie's seeming desire to undecorate, or, rather, to keep more of a spartan look to things. I've often written that off to laziness, but the reality is, Jamie prefers an ascetic sort of thing, and I prefer more of a jumble of stuff on my walls, floors, ceiling, etc... She's patient, she is.
Friday, March 26, 2004
And just as an addition, the three laws of robotics are not the nice little taglines given in the trailer.
Asimov wrote:
The three laws of Robotics:
1) A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm
2) A robot must obey orders given to it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3) A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
Asimov wrote:
The three laws of Robotics:
1) A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm
2) A robot must obey orders given to it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3) A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
I just saw part of a trailer for "I, Robot", the new Will Smith movie for this summer.
As a middle-schooler, I read a few Asimov books, and I re-read "I, Robot" at least once. It's actually a collection of short stories, more or less, following the evolution of robots in human society. It's incredibly dry science fiction with virtually nothing in the way of action. It's almost all people and robots standing around talking.
So I was kind of wondering what the new movie was about when they cast Will Smith, because if the book has a main character, it's really a woman who is an expert in Robo-Psychology (which is a complicated thing, and I would read the book if I were you...) But I saw a few seconds from the trailer and it is not exactly what I remember.
While the movie does look exciting, and I seem to vaguely remember a scene somewhat like the robot interrogation sequence, it's not I, Robot. I think. it's been a decade or so since I read the book. At best, it looks as if they took a very short story and expanded it into the world's biggest class action law suit. I know they were trying to avoid remaking Bicentennial Man, and that should be applauded. If nothing else, the new movie inspires me to re-read I, Robot AND to see the movie for comparison (because robots will always get me into the theaters. I saw Lost in Space twice, even though I hated it the first time).
You can view the trailer for I, Robot here.
You can buy the book here.
I wonder if the producers read Caves of Steel, because that would actually make a cool movie.
There was actually a great story (and maybe it was in I, Robot) about a robot telling his robopsychologist about a dream he had in which he was wearing sungod robes and telling somebody "let my people go!"
As a middle-schooler, I read a few Asimov books, and I re-read "I, Robot" at least once. It's actually a collection of short stories, more or less, following the evolution of robots in human society. It's incredibly dry science fiction with virtually nothing in the way of action. It's almost all people and robots standing around talking.
So I was kind of wondering what the new movie was about when they cast Will Smith, because if the book has a main character, it's really a woman who is an expert in Robo-Psychology (which is a complicated thing, and I would read the book if I were you...) But I saw a few seconds from the trailer and it is not exactly what I remember.
While the movie does look exciting, and I seem to vaguely remember a scene somewhat like the robot interrogation sequence, it's not I, Robot. I think. it's been a decade or so since I read the book. At best, it looks as if they took a very short story and expanded it into the world's biggest class action law suit. I know they were trying to avoid remaking Bicentennial Man, and that should be applauded. If nothing else, the new movie inspires me to re-read I, Robot AND to see the movie for comparison (because robots will always get me into the theaters. I saw Lost in Space twice, even though I hated it the first time).
You can view the trailer for I, Robot here.
You can buy the book here.
I wonder if the producers read Caves of Steel, because that would actually make a cool movie.
There was actually a great story (and maybe it was in I, Robot) about a robot telling his robopsychologist about a dream he had in which he was wearing sungod robes and telling somebody "let my people go!"
It's probably hip not to like Dilbert because he reached such levels of popularity a few years ago, but I like Dilbert, even if I am not an avid follower.
I also like Dedman, and I DO read Dedman everyday.
But I am not the one who sent Jim the very expensive Dilbert print from New York. I considered saying it was me so Jim would feel I am spontaneous and generous, but, Leaguers, that's not very truthful.
Jim and I put on our detective caps and tried to figure out who sent him the gift. I rattled off a list of names who i thought it might be, and Jim was surprised I knew any of his friends. Apparently he was unaware that I follow his exploits everyday.
It is very mysterious. Does Jim have a secret admirer?
I also like Dedman, and I DO read Dedman everyday.
But I am not the one who sent Jim the very expensive Dilbert print from New York. I considered saying it was me so Jim would feel I am spontaneous and generous, but, Leaguers, that's not very truthful.
Jim and I put on our detective caps and tried to figure out who sent him the gift. I rattled off a list of names who i thought it might be, and Jim was surprised I knew any of his friends. Apparently he was unaware that I follow his exploits everyday.
It is very mysterious. Does Jim have a secret admirer?
Thursday, March 25, 2004
Meanwhile, at the Phoenix airport....
Who knew so much excitement happened mere miles from the office...
Who knew so much excitement happened mere miles from the office...
Today is Jamie's 29th birthday. Today Jamie has flung around Sol 29 times and is gathering momentum to try the ride once more.
We both slept in a little bit today, we opened presents and that was it. Doesn't seem like very fair compensation for doing the whole damn thing 29 times.
Her buddy Heather is going to arrive from Austin via aeroplane tomorrow. Should be fun. We saw Heather at Christmas, but folks very infrequently visit Mr. House due to its inconvenient location. (actually, a mad shout out to Jill H-W for her recent foray into the desert).
So I hope Jamie has a good birthday. It's hard to give good birthdays, but you have to try. I would hate for Jamie to think back next year while passing "Go!" and think, "What DID I do last year...?" But I am certain that will be the case.
We both slept in a little bit today, we opened presents and that was it. Doesn't seem like very fair compensation for doing the whole damn thing 29 times.
Her buddy Heather is going to arrive from Austin via aeroplane tomorrow. Should be fun. We saw Heather at Christmas, but folks very infrequently visit Mr. House due to its inconvenient location. (actually, a mad shout out to Jill H-W for her recent foray into the desert).
So I hope Jamie has a good birthday. It's hard to give good birthdays, but you have to try. I would hate for Jamie to think back next year while passing "Go!" and think, "What DID I do last year...?" But I am certain that will be the case.
I have added yet another person to the blogroll. Welcome http://northstream.blogspot.com/ to the blogroll. I am losing track, but I believe the author is another pal of Jim's. This one, in particular, I think may be nothing more than a figment of Jim's imagination as I first encountered him as a character in Jim's screenplay.
These things happen. My cat sprang from a bad dream I had after eating a box of Girl Scout cookies before bedtime. (They were Samoas, and it was worth it).
These things happen. My cat sprang from a bad dream I had after eating a box of Girl Scout cookies before bedtime. (They were Samoas, and it was worth it).
Wednesday, March 24, 2004
Sorry for the lack of posting today. I was involved with a presentation all day.
Now I am tired. I kind of want to lay down. It's been a while since I had to be around an all day presentation like this, and as exhausting as they are to sit thru, they are even less fun to set up and try to keep everyone happy.
Now I am tired. I kind of want to lay down. It's been a while since I had to be around an all day presentation like this, and as exhausting as they are to sit thru, they are even less fun to set up and try to keep everyone happy.
Tuesday, March 23, 2004
I also absolutely cannot take credit for this link. I'm swiping it off Molly's page.
Just in time for Passover, it's Bag o' Plagues! (you know... for kids!)
Just in time for Passover, it's Bag o' Plagues! (you know... for kids!)
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