Vocabulary builder: materiel
January 28, 2006materiel: n. The equipment, apparatus, and supplies of a military force or other organization.
Used chiefly by people wishing to enjoy the thrill of correcting those who would suggest they meant to type “material”. “Actually, materiel is a word.”
I remember when
January 25, 2006The fetusmobile drove by the pizza place at lunch today. It made me feel all nostalgic, conjuring up fond memories of hearing the familiar jingle on a cold winter’s morn. I’d leap out of my seat and run to the window to see the distinctive truck slowly making its way down the street with treats for all the boys and girls. If I had been especially good my mom would give me a fiver and I’d run out the front door shouting “fetus man! fetus man!” Those were the days.
I hadn’t really paid attention to the fetusmobile industry but I gather that the whole thing has become politicized in recent years. Evidently The Center for Bio-Ethical Reform has a near monopoly on fetusmobiles, pressuring the little guy to the point where it’s no longer an economically viable small business. Really a shame.
Still, I wonder if you can hire them for parties. I bet the drivers have some pretty wild stories, like maybe that one time he drag raced a stem cell freezer truck.
IT comes to town
January 24, 2006I’m not having very good luck with traditional modes of transportation lately. My car is in the shop after some serious issues that may end up costing quite a pretty penny. I caught a pant leg in my bike gears last night and bent a thingie out of place so I took it into the shop too. There’s nothing wrong with my feet and the moment, but walking is so passé. Fortunately on my way to the bike shop I saw a new store (that I hadn’t seen before, anyway):
Yes, that’s right, the revolutionary people-mover of the future has come to Oregon, no longer a playtoy of the idle rich and public universities flush with taxpayer money. These aren’t your grandma’s human transporters, either, son, no sir. They have off-road models too. Meet the Segway XT:
Maybe a little pricey at around $5000 but anything that gets both the Steve Jobs and Jeff Bezos seals of approval has to be good for picking up chicks. Also from their website I seem to have my own private “direct line” to the company so I have no choice but to conclude that it is my destiny.
This American Life, one of the most kicking rad radio programs out there, is coming to television. According to the most recent newsletter and the website:
>Last week Showtime made it official: we’re
going to produce a series for them, a television version of This
American Life. We shot a pilot last year, and the full series will
begin broadcasting in the fall or winter of 2006. We’ll continue
making the radio show while we do the TV show. Again: the radio show
will stay on the air.
>What we can say about the series: It doesn’t look a TV newsmagazine.
It’s shot to look like a movie. Widescreen. Beautiful lighting. And
the stories feel just like the stories on the radio show. When we
started the pilot, we weren’t sure that’d be possible. Now we’re
convinced it is. We’ll give more details — and hopefully some
previews — in the coming months.
Fantastic news. Without TAL my life wouldn’t be enriched with knowledge about the Hitler boat, the importance of summer camp, and the way of life for families whose parents are on the run from the feds for growing marijuana.
Breast of the web
January 23, 2006Two breast-related stories caught my eye today. Firstly, apparently the things being given out on stage weren’t the only Golden Globes getting a lot of attention last Monday:
>Live from the red carpet at the 63rd annual Golden Globes, E! correspondent Isaac Mizrahi groped Scarlett Johansson’s breast, looked down Teri Hatcher’s dress, asked Eva Longoria about her pubic hair and otherwise caught celebrities off-guard.
>…
>Fascinated by Johansson’s skintight red Valentino dress, Mizrahi squeezed her breast — twice. “What’s going on!” she demanded.
>Johansson was too busy working on a new film to comment, said her publicist, Marcel Pariseau, and representatives of the other actresses did not returned phone or e-mail messages seeking comment by late Friday.
Oh Isaac, you so crazy.
Also, unrated films don’t always mean more boobage, I found in the article The Naked Truth at Slate:
When extra nudity does pop up on DVD, it’s not the kind of stuff that was too erotic for the big screen. Rather than introduce new boobs, unrated DVDs typically further the audience’s understanding of boobs with which they’re already acquainted. The added material is a stray frame here or there that doesn’t add much carnal knowledge—these were boobs that were cut for time or dullness.
This post brought to you by the letter boobs.
Just did my first apprenticeship and got to play quite a lot of music, read some stuff, and browse through the collection. I’ve never heard of the vast majority of it but I’ll have to borrow some. First screw-up: I let a song with a naughty word on the air. They mark the CDs and stuff, I was just dumb and didn’t notice it. It’s just not something I think about. Please don’t call the FCC.
The cool thing is that they let you play MP3s if you burn ‘em to a music CD. I thought they might have some audio snob/legal standards but it’s all good. The bad thing is that the schedule is pretty much full except for 6-8 a.m. most days and I don’t know if I really want to get up that early although it is a lot of fun.
Next week I’m going to do the second hour so that will be exciting! Monday 6-8 will be a rockin’ good time.
Oh and the song I played with the naughty words was NWA - Fuck tha Police. Oops!
Woot’s product descriptions are always great, but using a memo from Osama Bin Laden for the JVC Compact Mini DV Camcorder takes the cake:
I know you guys do some good work under trying conditions – it’s not easy to find the right EQ levels when you’re recording in a cave. But we’ve got to get more professional, Allah willing. For one thing, why are we even putzing around with audio? We haven’t released a new video in over a year, ever since Jawad dropped the camcorder (I hope old butterfingers is enjoying his 72 virgins now). That old analog cam just wasn’t suited to the Internet age anyway. I understand the budgetary constraints, but still: what does a jihadi have to do to get a lightweight, handheld digital video camera around here?
Sadly the deftly-woven blurbs seem to be wasted on most of the Woot audience, judging by the inanity of the comments. Genius is seldom recognized in its own time and all that I suppose.
Kiss those radiation burns away
January 22, 2006
Atomic Platters: Cold War Music from the Golden Age of Homeland Security
This stuff is hilarious. Classic rock and roll about the bomb, nuclear winter, beating the Commies, and all your other favorite Cold War themes. Today we have to choose between our music and our presidential administration but back then things were a lot easier.
There’s a streaming radio station if you’re not ready to drop the big bucks quite yet.
Being in Creed was like serving in Vietnam
January 21, 2006
In case you don’t obsessively follow all the twists and turns in Scott Stapp’s career, this article at Rolling Stone lays it all out:
[Stapp] also says he could foresee a Creed reunion someday. Tremonti says fans shouldn’t hold their breath. “I haven’t listened to a Creed song in years,” he confesses. “I can’t stand it. I wouldn’t want to play those songs again. It was a complete nightmare. When people from that era get together, it’s like a convention of people who went through Nam.”
Also: that twitching Flash header is really annoying.
You knew that but anyway it’s nice to hear from the supply side of the equation. Here’s a blog post from back in November that I just read, written by Damian Kulash of the band OK Go:
Our name came up in high-level meetings; we are the type of band, they decided, that is most damaged by piracy. Because we are a little left of center and we appeal to smart college kids with high-bandwidth connections, it’s assumed that we are exactly they kind of band that gets traded instead of bought. This may be true, but we are also the sort of band that hasn’t, as yet, been profitable enough for our label that they’ll pour tons of cash into the promotion of our releases. They aren’t going to shell out the big bucks to get us on MTV and KROQ, so those smart college kids are our only window onto the world. They are our best chance of continued success, and we desperately need them to be listening to us, talking about us, coming to our shows, and yes, even trading us.