Preference Personnelle
Hey everybody take a look at me/
I've got street credibility/
I may not have a job/
But I have a good time/
With the boys that I meet down on the line
Well all of them can suck our...
"Sexual organ in the lower abdominal area!"
"No man, it's dicks!"
What's the worse faux-rap song: Wham!'s 'Wham! Rap,' or Anthrax's 'I'm the Man'?
Hip-hop artists on MTV Unplugged. There was James Todd 'Toby' Smith (ladies love him, Canibus hates him), of course. His deodorant-heavy rendition of 'Mama Said Knock You Out' is an MTV staple. But De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest and MC Lyte were also on that episode. Why can't I buy it? There are 20 different Unplugged DVD's, for crying out loud, including 'Soul of R&B,' which sounds like a piece of crap. It's one song from each of eight artists (Mary J. Blige, De La Soul, Arrested Development, Boyz II Men, Joe Public, Chris Williams, Heavy D and Father MC), and thus about half an hour long. Oh, and that Arrested Development 'Unplugged' episode? You can buy the whole thing, on VHS and DVD. It's in the same cut-out bin where you'll find 'Zingalamaduni' and Speech's solo records.
On the vague theme of computers collecting information: WSJ about your TiVo thinking you're gay (quel horreur!), Michael Kinsley on Google News and automated editing. And those Yahoo/SBC DSL teevee ads. "How did it know I liked salsa music?" Horrible.
What song is versatile enough to be performed by Tom Waits, Backstreet sibling Aaron Carter, Jock Jammer Gary Glitter and Ted Root, who was one of my elementary school music teachers (he also had us sing 'Cats in the Cradle,' among other inexplicable choices)? It's 'The Clapping Song,' and it was a big hit in 1965 for Shirley 'The Name Game' Ellis. She wasn't afraid to tackle the tough subject matter.
UN weapons inspector is into
leather.
Washington Post is outraged. My favorite article so far on the topic is from
sf.indymedia.org. Headline:
'The American Media Sinks to a New Low'. Favorite headline:
uk.gay.com's
'S&M Expert Could Hold Whip Hand as Iraqi Weapons Inspector'. As is often the case these days, some of the most objective reporting comes from places like
Singapore,
India,
New Zealand and
Australia.
22:40:43 rachel: i hope from now on when getting interviewed for a job, they ask me about my s&m background.
My grandmother's bread recipe:2 cakes dry yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 cup warm water
Mix above; let stand 45 minutes.
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup shortening
2 cups lukewarm water
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup sugar
8 cups flour
Add above; mix and knead for ten minutes.
Let rise until doubled in bulk.
Put in bread pan (for bread) or muffin pan (for rolls).
Bake at 350--roughly a half-hour for rolls, an hour for bread.
A one-liner from the
Roto-Rooter man: "With all the hose I've got, I should be a pimp."
Rodney Dangerfield he isn't.
Over time, we learned that the single biggest contributing factor to newsstand sales was a reader?s ability to recognize the woman on the cover. But Hollywood being what it is, and Maxim?s reputation being what it is, you?re just not going to find 12 of those women every year, and you?ve still got a magazine to sell.
--Former Maxim editor speaks out--did I already link to this?
Museum of Hoaxes! Letter from Osama!(?) U.S. as new Roman empire? Ooh, vintage synths. Time magazine has a fairly-crappy speculative piece on The Sims Online. Microsoft engineers suggest that efforts to block file-swapping are pointless. Also, they're using the catchy neologism 'Darknet' to refer to these (Gnutella and Freenet, mostly, I'd presume) rogue networks. I almost hope it catches on. Radio Shack's not asking for names and addresses any more? I'll believe it when next I go to buy Ni-Mh batteries. Tidbit from that article: Radio Shack was collecting customer names and addresses at least as early as 1963.
I'd've loved to've taken this survey. But when they found out that I don't let people I've never heard of store things on my computer, they decided they didn't want me.
See? Crooks.
My pal Rachel is
ever-so-pissed.
Wow, an inflatable
Mr. Pibb head. Hideous. I so want it.
Hoax photo test. Best online quiz ever (via
MeFi)
Another unresolved Animal Crossing question: the coelocanth. Apparently, it's an ocean fish, and it only appears when it's raining. But does 'raining' mean raining, or does it mean precipitating? It's already snowing in New Yurt, so this is no idle query.
This
lunatic is, to the best of my knowledge, not related to me.
Bill O'Reilly just might be a big jerk. Another from 'The Atlantic,' which I used to kind of hate, being a big 'Harper's' lover, but now I'm pretty into:
Bobby Fischer, nut.
Ooh, this
Law & Order has that girl who was Little Pete's best friend.
Michelle Trachtenberg? Yeah, and she was in that Harriet the Spy movie too. Oops, wait, it's not her. It's
Hallee Hirsh. Trachtenberg was also in a L & O episode, though. Question: is there something kind of... questionable about the site all these links are from?
It looks like
Daypop might be no more. Great sign-off, though: In the future, there'll either be nothing here or something good. I apologize in advance. For now, there's nothing more from me.
From Slate, an article from Daniel 'Smoke and Mirrors' Forbes, debunking the assertion that the marijuana of today is much more powerful than it was when baby-boomers were experimenting with it..
As people who frequent library blogs likely already know, Mattel is considering a 'Librarian Barbie.' I posted this response to the
Kent State School of Library and Information Science's listserv. For this posting I hypered up the links a little (I don't put html in e-mail).
Tuesday, November 19, 2002, 3:56:03 PM, Sarah wrote:
s> www.barbie.com/Activities/Calendar/icanbe_skater.asp
s> Ok, some of you may think this is silly, but I really want a Librarian Barbie.
s> Matel is having a poll for which career Barbie should be a part of next, and a
s> librarian is one of them!
"Math class is hard!" I wonder if that's what's keeping her from
becoming an architect.
It could be that I'm just naturally contrary, but it's hard to see why
a librarian would want there to be a librarian Barbie doll.
Expecting Barbie to do anything positive for the profession, or
thinking that Mattel has the interests of librarians or
librarianship in mind, is laughable.
Mattel has a long and sordid history--forcing Barbie creator Ruth
Handler out of her business, blocking Barbie fan clubs from using the
name, suing artists who use the Barbie image--and other criticisms,
about Barbie's eating-disorder-inspiring proportions and seedy German
sex-doll origins, are already numbingly familiar.
Librarians and others committed to freedom of information may be
interested in a more modern criticism: Mattel's Web-censoring
software, CyberPatrol, blocks sites which are critical of Mattel.
I'd strongly recommend the documentary 'Barbie Nation,' which the KSU
library owns, the books 'Mondo Barbie,' edited by Lucinda Ebersole and
Richard Peabody and available via OhioLink, and 'Forever Barbie,'
by M.G. Lord, and the Simpsons episode 'Lisa vs. Malibu Stacy.'
A few links:
Barbie and trademark/copyright: http://www.trademarks.org/barbie/
The Distorted $arbie--cultural criticism: http://users.rcn.com/napier.interport/barbie/
Barbie's new body--Mother Jones, 1998: http://www.motherjones.com/hellraiser_central/features/jervis.html
Wired article on Mattel and copyright: http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,8037,00.html
Slashdot coverage of Mattel/CyberPatrol: http://slashdot.org/yro/00/03/20/0845236.shtml
Declan McCullagh CyberPatrol links: http://www.politechbot.com/cyberpatrol/
Barbie Nation Freedom Fighters: http://www.essentialmedia.com/bnff.html
Australian doll Feral Cheryl: http://www.feralcheryl.com.au/
Lisa vs. Malibu Stacy summaries: http://www.thesimpsons.com/episode_guide/0514.htm
http://www.snpp.com/episodes/1F12.html
Punk Rock Aerobics?
What? Here's a
Top 100 Albums of the '80s list, from someone much indier than I. Just the first 50 as of this writing, though. And it's about time: the
Napster auction.
Who was the first to say 'My work here is done.'? I'd like to find that out.
I linked to something similar recently, but
here are two panoramic photos of the Seattle waterfront, taken 95 years apart. I love that kind of thing, especially with the emphasis on compatibility. And yet another reprint from 'The Atlantic': Dana Gioia's essential '
Can Poetry Matter?' '
The Jet Set Society'? Here's an
interview with Al Gore, his first extended one since 2000. Ooh, and
ex-classics from the world of literature. And Stars Wars producer
Rick McCallum compared p2p movie swapping to terrorism. A brief glimpse into the world of Star Wars makers: "McCallum said the only downside to filming in Sydney had been some of the press coverage. After a journalist staked out writer-director George Lucas's Sydney home during the production of Clones, crew members staged a demonstration outside the journalist's home, "chanting 'this is what your daddy does, do you like it?' to his children", McCallum said." What an asshole. I wonder if those crew members were paid for their time.
The Sims Online has a deal with
McDonald's. People are
protesting it. Isn't that great? Product placement in games--hmm... One of Laura's coworkers visited the other day. We were playing
Super Monkey Ball, and she remarked, seemingly surprised, about the
Dole sponsorship. But we were playing
Tony Hawk 4 before that, and new
Tony Hawk versions continue to be some of the more product-placement heavy games ever created. Wait, that's not true. What about
Tooth Protectors and
Chase the Chuckwagon for Atari, that 7-Up '
Spot' game, or, for that matter, any crappy tie-in (e.g., the GC classic '
Universal Studios Theme Park Adventure,' which I've seen for ten bucks new)? Here are even more
promotional games, and this doesn't even scratch the surface of bad game tie-ins to movies (
Krull,
Hudson Hawk,
The Fifth Element--
and it goes on like this), music (
Britney's Dance Beat,
Spiceworld,
Revolution X,
Journey Escape) and so forth (
Mary Kate & Ashley: Sweet 16,
America's Army (though the Army's been using
video games for a long time),
Krusty's Super Fun House). The crossing-over goes in both directions, as anyone who lost two hours of their life to
Tomb Raider or
Super Mario Brothers movies can attest, but
almost every game seems to have
something to sell.
Animal Crossing question: The insect-catching faq claims it's always summer on the island. Is this indeed true, and, if so, what does this mean w/r/t catching seasonal fish there? Should you, the reader, know the answer to these questions, please let me know. And I'll do the same.
Pearl is a round or roundish thing made by an
oyster, and a
Janis Joplin album.
Perl is a
programming language.
PIRL is the
Planetary Image Research Laboratory.
Purl is a kind of
stitch, or a
persistent URL.
Purrl is a character in Animal Crossing.
Here is a page with soundfiles of
poets reading their work. And lots of 'em.
Smattering: gone. No Friday Five this week. Too bad.
From Mad magazine: a
parody of The Onion. This Village Voice
article is about Eminem and George W. From the NYT: '
A bulletproof mind,' about the pedagogy of the kill-bot factory, and Bill Safire's '
You are a suspect,' about the Homeland Security Act.
I just finished reading Julie Salamon's 'The Devil's Candy,' about the making of the 'Bonfire of the Vanities' movie. Great stuff. My favorite tidbits: Uma Thurman was going to do the Melanie Griffith part. Early in the book, an AFI intern named Doug Rushkoff is mentioned. Yes, it's that Doug Rushkoff. A back cover blurb: "Like watching a World Trade Center tower topple onto Wall Street." Oops.
And here's a Las Vegas Sun article about that Simpsons house giveaway from some years back. And a series about 'The Business of War.' And here's this convenient 2000 Presidential candidate selector. Nader's not my man after all--in fact, I should've voted for the Socialist. I wish I'd known--the whole thing might've turned out differently. A scholarly type asks: Can fame be measured quantitavely? His answer: yes. Apparently he's never heard of the 'Q rating,' or else this is really inessential research. And someone else asks: What's with all the spiral corporate logos? Many good links. Here's a brief history of Tetris. Reasons to get a region-free DVD player: Super Mario Brothers movie, only on DVD in Germany, and the British Futurama season sets. Incidentally, these Animal Crossing stuffed toys are adorable. And, I've linked to it before and I probably will again, 'Fauxhemian Rhapsody.' Vaguely related, the New Yorker Ad of the Week. Oh, and here's a list of PS2 games that are eligible for that Toys-Backward-R-Us 2-for-one coupon.
Linkety-link:
reality teevee capsules,
federal prisons, Shakespeare
vs. Britney, cliches from
'adult fiction', a
handbook of rhetorical devices, a pretty good
browser archive, and Backstreet Boy Nick Carter's sister's
mugshot.
This essay--
video games and autism. Cloying and saccharine, or kinda nice? Ooh, here's another animal crossing
nut. The
Drug Czar is perhaps a little extreme? Hard to believe. George Lakoff, at UC Berkeley, did this great
Conceptual Metaphor page. Ooh,
Archaelogical Collage. So cool. Here's yet another
bad piercing site. Embarrassing.
Many people are way, way more into Animal Crossing than I am. Here are
one or
two. Okay,
three.
These Energizer advertisements--oh, do they irritate me. As is so frequently the case in the world of advertising, the kid and his grandpa have fake Game Boys. But the worst part is the way that Grandpa finally beats the kid. Why, yes, that's how batteries, and Game Boys, work: as the batteries run down, the little man on the screen starts to lose a step. What kind of fools do they take us for?
"Windmills do not work that way! Goodnight."
Aaargh! I'm trying to watch the Futurama premiere, but where the hell's the picture? They'd better get this fixed by 8. The other damn channels all seem to be working. Update: Hey, there's the picture. 7:04.
Someone is just as irritated by the recent
Coors Light ad campaigns ('
Twins') as I am. But rather than just complain about it, they've opted to
go after the billboard.
Here's to sexism. My neighbor is listening to something that sounds very much like Bob Seger's 'Night Moves.'
Wow, Simpsons Burger King commercials. I had no idea.
"I realized excess wasn't right for me when I saw everyone else doing it. I thought, Is that what I look like? Do white folks turn on the teevee and see me and say to their children, 'Son, let me show you what an ignorant nigga is'? I know that ain't how I want to come off. And look at Bill Gates and Paul Allen--I live up here with them. You don't see them running around in Rolls Royces talking about, 'Whassup, nigga?' When you got true money, you don't have to talk about it. Some of these brothers riding around in Bentleys--I pay more in taxes than they earn. But who am I to knock them? I did the same thing."--
Sir Mix-a-Lot, in a 2000
Vibe interview
Ooh, Friday Five:
1. Did you vote in your last elections?
I didn't.
2. Do you know who your elected representatives are?
Of course.
3. Have you ever contacted an elected representative? If so, what was it about?
Sure. Most recently, it was about the Patriot Act.
4. Have you ever participated in a demonstration?
Sure. Gulf War, among others.
5. Have you ever volunteered in an election? What was the result?
I have. Just the usual results. I don't think my people ever won.
Here's the
original version of a review by
Pete Townsend of
Kurt Cobain's 'Journals' that was
published in England's '
The Observer.' The most interesting thing to me is the Observer's editing. The Townsend site uses words like 'expurgated' and 'excised,' which makes it seem like 'Waif Me' all over again, but Townsend's citation at the end of his posting makes things clearer. 'Expurgate' makes the edits sound like something akin to censorship, but Pete's own words hardly bear that out. He refers to the editor as his 'old friend,' for Chrissake. Townsend sure doesn't like Kurt Cobain, though.
Surely the people from the Observer knew that when they hired him.
Doomed musical next-
big-
thing:
mash-
up re-
mixes. I seem to recall a lot of coverage from the Napster heyday that emphasized this same thing, mixes of Eminem and Britney or Christina and AC/DC or so forth. There was an absolutely absurd amount of this stuff on Napster, the most popular by far seemingly 'My Name is.' Oh, and here are things about
sampling-related laws,
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees (the Righteous Brothers? AC/DC?) and (misleading title)
TiVo versus outhouses.
More
FBI/library news: Freelance columnist's anonymous sources now believe they were in error.
Several years ago my husband and I went to our friends' wedding. One of the male guests, who used to work with the groom, brought a call girl to the wedding. (She told other guests that this was her job.) The maid of honor opened the door to a small room in the reception hall where the gifts were stored and found the guest having sex with his "date", and the bride nearly stumbled over them when they were having sex in the bushes (again) outside the reception hall. The bride and groom placed disposable cameras on each table so that the guests could take photos of each other. When the bride and groom picked up the prints, they were shocked to find photos of the male guest's erect penis. Judging from the raucous laughter and gasps at his table, apparently he had unzipped at the table during the reception to prepare for his photo shoot. Yuck! Needless to say, he is an ex-friend.--from
etiquettehell.com
Another link bonanza: the
political oddsmaker thinks bob taft will win the gubernatorial election here in Ohio. NYPD uses
"hip-hop detectives." FBI bugs libraries. Rumsfeld
encourages terrorists. I ought to buy this PS2 game
Rez. So should my pal Rachel. I collect weird input peripherals. She collects
vibrating sex toys. Here's an anthropological essay about
Five-Percenters. And here's more about
voting systems. Because, as some people think,
your vote won't matter. And it won't, when
politicians are all dead or
in jail. Here is a beautiful gallery of
African body art. And, speaking of beauty,
inmates need love. And here are
William Butler Yeats' collected poems. And a Salon article about
Naqoyqatsi. More links to come, as I never feel like posting about my life anymore.
How is time moving so quickly? Another
Friday Five:
1. Were you raised in a particular religious faith?
I was.
2. Do you still practice that faith? Why or why not?
I don't. Mainly because it's so unbelievable.
3. What do you think happens after death?
Life goes on, for everyone else.
4. What is your favorite religious ritual (participating in or just observing)?
While I'd never deny the beauty of Sufi chanting or gothic cathedral architecture, the practice I'd most like to see religious people indulge in is celibacy.
5. Do you believe people are basically good?
I like the benefit of the doubt, good intentions, the willing suspension of disbelief. I guess it depends on the definition of 'good.' And the definition of 'are,' jerk.
