Preference Personnelle
Sunday, March 31
there's this ford commercial, where some henry ford descendant talks about how his grandfather, or great-grandfather or whatever, used to go on these male bonding adventures with thomas edison and 'whoever was president at the time.' it kinda shocks me that ford is even running this ad. to me, it sounds like he's saying, 'yeah, this is who used to run the country.'
Thursday, March 28
01:47:34 kookbox: you'll probably outlive me.
01:49:19 plastik***: at the rate i'm going, i'll be dead and on the obituary section of the beacon journal before you can say CHEETO.
01:49:53 kookbox: is it the obituaries that you have to be newsworthy and the death notices that you have to pay, or the other way around?
01:50:18 plastik***: i THINK other way around
01:55:17 kookbox: either way, it's an awful situation, i think.
01:55:26 plastik***: dying? ditto.
01:56:05 kookbox: true.
01:49:19 plastik***: at the rate i'm going, i'll be dead and on the obituary section of the beacon journal before you can say CHEETO.
01:49:53 kookbox: is it the obituaries that you have to be newsworthy and the death notices that you have to pay, or the other way around?
01:50:18 plastik***: i THINK other way around
01:55:17 kookbox: either way, it's an awful situation, i think.
01:55:26 plastik***: dying? ditto.
01:56:05 kookbox: true.
Tuesday, March 26
aside from mr. pibb (i switched away from dr. pepper entirely--i've got to do right by the memory of satchmo), the things i have been buying the largest quantities of at the grocery store lately are taquitos, soft pretzels and big jugs of water. and, goddammit, these three items require travel to three different grocery stores.
Monday, March 25
in the last six or eight hours, at least 3 inches of snow has fallen. i really don't have a prayer of making it up my hilly street.
shaun and adrianne and i went to stan hywet today. it reminded me that i have to look some more into, like, charles goodyear, and how thoroughly the seiberling family screwed him over. the seiberlings are by no means all bad, though. they donated land for the metroparks arboretum.
"charles goodyear died $200,000 in debt. frank a. seiberling, a thirty-eight-year-old struggling entrepreneur in akron, ohio, founded a rubber company in 1898 and named it after goodyear. no money ever changed hands for the use of the name; no patent royalties were ever paid to the goodyear family. a statue of charles goodyear stands majestically in the lobby of the... world of rubber museum in akron. (from richard zacks' 'an underground education')
"charles goodyear died $200,000 in debt. frank a. seiberling, a thirty-eight-year-old struggling entrepreneur in akron, ohio, founded a rubber company in 1898 and named it after goodyear. no money ever changed hands for the use of the name; no patent royalties were ever paid to the goodyear family. a statue of charles goodyear stands majestically in the lobby of the... world of rubber museum in akron. (from richard zacks' 'an underground education')
Saturday, March 23
is the vietnam flashback pretty much a convention of, like, the '80s action teevee show? here's one in the opening moments of simon & simon, and i remember tons from the a-team. though, come to think of it, that kind of thing probably had a lot to do with the success of these programs. what do vietnam vets watch on teevee these days?
Friday, March 22
even alabamans know how ludicrous the e.t. re-editing is. my fave quote on the subject:
Why not have him dress up as a University of Wisconsin activist/bomber from the 1960s? Then he could be a hippie and a terrorist!
Why not have him dress up as a University of Wisconsin activist/bomber from the 1960s? Then he could be a hippie and a terrorist!
Thursday, March 21
it's a page devoted to math in the simpsons.
wow, my man klosterman's in the new york times magazine. entertaining article, too. guns'n'roses tribute band.
Wednesday, March 20
"there is nothing more important to a magician than keeping secrets--probably because so many of them are gay."--peggy hill
i have digital cable. and i assume they're collecting information about what i'm watching. so i just leave the box on all the time, tuned to comedy central, vh1 classic, the music choice 'sounds of the season' channel, which inexplicably spins mostly downtempo, etc. but lately i'm thinking about the possibility that leaving the box on is cutting into the bandwidth on my cable modem. hmm.
hmm. i wonder what the html tag is that controls the colors of scrollbars. though i'm pretty sure it's ie-specific.
furthurnet is worth it just for the chatroom.
the ksu basketball team is doing, like, absurdly well this year. they're in the ncaa sweet 16, and they play pitt on thursday. i only learned all this, like, today, from a guest lecturer in one of my classes. and i only report it because i doubt that anyone reading this is much of a sports fan.
Tuesday, March 19
"I once preached peaceful coexistence with Windows. You may laugh at my expense. I deserve it."--former Be CEO Jean-Louis Gassee (not to be confused with Jean-Paul Gasse, who appears in the utterly-bizarre Dreamcast game Seaman.)
Monday, March 18
"there are fifteen people that have cats. that's lower than i'd expect, because all librarians have cats."
Sunday, March 17
Friday, March 15
"After KISS played a concert in Flint, Michigan, in 1975, Peter and I were in a limousine together, and he was trying to sing something he called 'Beck,' about a girl named Becky. I suggested that he change the name to Beth, both because it was a little easier to sing and because it would eliminate any possibility of misunderstanding that it was about Jeff Beck" (italics mine)--Gene Simmons, in 'Kiss and Make-Up.'
Thursday, March 14
kookbox: it seems like everything's falling apart around me. when did this start happening, and when will it stop?
Wednesday, March 13
To me, democracy means placing trust in the little guy, giving the fruits of nationhood to those who built the nation. Democracy means anyone can grow up to be president, and anyone who doesn't grow up can be vice president.
Democracy is people of all races, colors, and creeds united by a single dream: to get rich and move to the suburbs away from people of all races, colors, and creeds. Democracy is having time set aside to worship--18 years if you're Jim Bakker.
Democracy is buying a big house you can't afford with money you don't have to impress people you wish were dead. And, unlike communism, democracy does not mean having just one ineffective political party; it means having two ineffective political parties.
Democracy means freedom of sexual choice between any two consenting adults; Utopia means freedom of choice between three or more consenting adults. But I digress. Democracy is welcoming people from other lands, and giving them something to hold onto--usually a mop or a leaf blower. It means that with proper timing and scrupulous bookkeeping, anyone can die owing the government a huge amount of money.
Democracy means a thriving heartland with rolling fields of Alfalfa, Buckwheat, Spanky, and Wheezer. Democracy means our elected officials bow to the will of the people, but more often they bow to the big butts of campaign contributors.
Yes, democracy means fighting every day for what you deserve, and fighting even harder to keep other weaker people from getting what they deserve. Democracy means never having the Secret Police show up at your door. Of course, it also means never having the cable guy show up at your door. It's a tradeoff. Democracy means free television, not good television, but free.
Democracy is being able to pick up the phone and, within a minute, be talking to anyone in the country, and, within two minutes, be interrupted by call waiting.
Democracy means no taxation without representation, and god knows, we've just about had the hell represented out of us. It means the freedom to bear arms so you can blow the "o" out of any rural stop sign you want.
And finally, democracy is the eagle on the back of a dollar bill, with 13 arrows in one claw, 13 leaves on a branch, 13 tail feathers, and 13 stars over its head--this signifies that when the white man came to this country, it was bad luck for the Indians, bad luck for the trees, bad luck for the wildlife, and lights out for the American eagle.
I thank you.
--Johnny Carson, 1991
Democracy is people of all races, colors, and creeds united by a single dream: to get rich and move to the suburbs away from people of all races, colors, and creeds. Democracy is having time set aside to worship--18 years if you're Jim Bakker.
Democracy is buying a big house you can't afford with money you don't have to impress people you wish were dead. And, unlike communism, democracy does not mean having just one ineffective political party; it means having two ineffective political parties.
Democracy means freedom of sexual choice between any two consenting adults; Utopia means freedom of choice between three or more consenting adults. But I digress. Democracy is welcoming people from other lands, and giving them something to hold onto--usually a mop or a leaf blower. It means that with proper timing and scrupulous bookkeeping, anyone can die owing the government a huge amount of money.
Democracy means a thriving heartland with rolling fields of Alfalfa, Buckwheat, Spanky, and Wheezer. Democracy means our elected officials bow to the will of the people, but more often they bow to the big butts of campaign contributors.
Yes, democracy means fighting every day for what you deserve, and fighting even harder to keep other weaker people from getting what they deserve. Democracy means never having the Secret Police show up at your door. Of course, it also means never having the cable guy show up at your door. It's a tradeoff. Democracy means free television, not good television, but free.
Democracy is being able to pick up the phone and, within a minute, be talking to anyone in the country, and, within two minutes, be interrupted by call waiting.
Democracy means no taxation without representation, and god knows, we've just about had the hell represented out of us. It means the freedom to bear arms so you can blow the "o" out of any rural stop sign you want.
And finally, democracy is the eagle on the back of a dollar bill, with 13 arrows in one claw, 13 leaves on a branch, 13 tail feathers, and 13 stars over its head--this signifies that when the white man came to this country, it was bad luck for the Indians, bad luck for the trees, bad luck for the wildlife, and lights out for the American eagle.
I thank you.
--Johnny Carson, 1991
so much google stuff lately. googlewhacks, googlebombs, blogrolling, and the church of scientology (two links because the 'scientology' one is to operation clambake).
Tuesday, March 12
here's a guide to teen lingo for youth ministers. ashley rocks my world.
weird googlewhack update: 'sestina kook,' which used to return just one result, now returns two. the new one is an italian pdf file about the gaza strip, six day war, etc. ashley and i were figuring it out.
i love fondue. ditto fondue pots. maybe even more so.
i love fondue. ditto fondue pots. maybe even more so.
Monday, March 11
Sunday, March 10
Saturday, March 9
who is this jackass?
Friday, March 8
"is tonya harding boxing because she's broke? more at 11."--local news promo. and, like, of course she's boxing because she's broke.
years ago, my pals and i would amuse ourselves for hours, thinking of, for want of better words, near-monopolies. companies that have dominated a market for years, but never quite managed to squeeze out the competition. kodak. bic. that one brand of nag champa incense.
Thursday, March 7
oh dear. this recent dr. pepper commercial didn't just have the black eyed peas, it also had heavy references to louis armstrong and ella fitzgerald. what would pat metheny think? i might switch to mr. pibb for good.
Wednesday, March 6
that chuck klosterman book, fargo rock city, suggests that boys buy not just more music than girls, but even more aimed-at-girls music. i think the example he uses is kathleen hanna. anyway, i'm very very skeptical.
never in my life have i seen so many white dreads in one teevee audience as i have in this 'beat the geeks' episode.
"Not long ago, Kenny G put out a recording where he overdubbed himself on top of a thirty-year-old Louis Armstrong record, on the track "What a Wonderful World." With this single move, Kenny G became one of the few people on earth I can say that I really can't use at all--as a man, for his incredible arrogance to even consider such a thing; and as a musician, for presuming to share the stage with the single most important figure in our music.
This type of musical necrophilia--the technique of overdubbing on the preexisting tracks of already dead performers--was weird when Natalie Cole did it with her dad on "Unforgettable" a few years ago, but it was her dad. When Tony Bennett did it with Billie Holiday it was bizarre, but we are talking about two of the greatest singers of the twentieth century, who were on roughly the same level of artistic accomplishment. When Larry Coryell presumed to overdub himself on top of a Wes Montgomery track, I lost a lot of the respect that I had for him--and I have to seriously question the fact that I did have respect for someone who could turn out to have such unbelievably bad taste and be that disrespectful to one of my personal heroes.
Normally, I feel that musicians all have a hard enough time, regardless of their level, just trying to play well, and that they don't really benefit from public criticism, particularly from their fellow players.
But this is different. When Kenny G decided that it was appropriate for him to defile the music of the man who is probably the greatest jazz musician who ever lived by spewing his lame-ass, jive, pseudo-bluesy, out-of-tune, noodling, wimped-out, fucked-up playing all over one of the great Louis's tracks (even one of his lesser ones), he did something that I would not have imagined to be possible. He, in one move, through his unbelievably pretentious and callous decision to embark on this most cynical of musical paths, shit all over the graves of all the musicians past and present who have risked their lives by going out there on the road for years and years developing their own music inspired by the standards of grace that Louis Armstrong brought to every single note he played over an amazing lifetime as a musician. By disrespecting Lous, his legacy, and, by default, everyone who has every tried to do something positive with improvised music and what it can be, Kenny G reached a new low point in modern culture. We let this slide at our own peril."
--Pat Metheny
This type of musical necrophilia--the technique of overdubbing on the preexisting tracks of already dead performers--was weird when Natalie Cole did it with her dad on "Unforgettable" a few years ago, but it was her dad. When Tony Bennett did it with Billie Holiday it was bizarre, but we are talking about two of the greatest singers of the twentieth century, who were on roughly the same level of artistic accomplishment. When Larry Coryell presumed to overdub himself on top of a Wes Montgomery track, I lost a lot of the respect that I had for him--and I have to seriously question the fact that I did have respect for someone who could turn out to have such unbelievably bad taste and be that disrespectful to one of my personal heroes.
Normally, I feel that musicians all have a hard enough time, regardless of their level, just trying to play well, and that they don't really benefit from public criticism, particularly from their fellow players.
But this is different. When Kenny G decided that it was appropriate for him to defile the music of the man who is probably the greatest jazz musician who ever lived by spewing his lame-ass, jive, pseudo-bluesy, out-of-tune, noodling, wimped-out, fucked-up playing all over one of the great Louis's tracks (even one of his lesser ones), he did something that I would not have imagined to be possible. He, in one move, through his unbelievably pretentious and callous decision to embark on this most cynical of musical paths, shit all over the graves of all the musicians past and present who have risked their lives by going out there on the road for years and years developing their own music inspired by the standards of grace that Louis Armstrong brought to every single note he played over an amazing lifetime as a musician. By disrespecting Lous, his legacy, and, by default, everyone who has every tried to do something positive with improvised music and what it can be, Kenny G reached a new low point in modern culture. We let this slide at our own peril."
--Pat Metheny
Tuesday, March 5
i just read this question about early '60s segregation from one of my 'public library' classmates: was that common then?
Monday, March 4
Sunday, March 3
Saturday, March 2
wow, jason just asked me if i listened to metallica, ac/dc, black sabbath, rob zombie, white zombie, "any heavy metal or hard rock." nope. so he also likes metallica, in addition to the wu-tang-related stuff. he seemed shocked to find, as people always are, that i don't like led zeppelin.
Friday, March 1
