More Cowbell!

Because, you know, sometimes you just need an electric cowbell that model other cowbells.

HISTORY OF ROBOTS IN THE VICTORIAN ERA

Very cool site. Thanks to Jayson for sending this along!

Tonight's episode of The Dead Zone ("Double Vision" which I guess this is episode three of season four, but the seasons are all like only eight episodes and run from June through August each year) was very "pro-life" I guess for lack of a better term. If I were Michael Schiavo and watching it I hope my blood would run cold: (SPOILER ALERT) they had a kid in a persistant vegitative state (brain dead, no hope for recovery) and the opinion of two psychics and a very pissed-off dad were able to change the mind of the mom who wanted to pull the plug.

Anyway, it more than made up for the crap-fest freak-show that was last week's episode.

I almost forgot: one of the coolest things about seeing Batman Begins in the theater (aside from the prominent placement of a 1992 Taurus in the feature) was the trailer for "Serenity". I'd already seen it online, of course, but on the big screen it looked WICKED RAD. Seeing all those characters really huge and the two space fleets... well, we'll probably see that one in the theaters.

But we also liked the preview for Disney's "Sky High". Bruce Campbell as a superhero coach. Yeah!

We did something crazy last night and saw a movie in the theatre. We agree with Stephen Greydanus' assessment of Batman Begins just about word for word: a truly awesome movie in just about all respects, but you feel a little cheated by later the fight scenes (especially considering that, presumably, this movie had a much larger budget than, say, your average episode of "Angel" which still managed to show you more of the action).

Is it wrong of me to think that his role as Lieutenant Gordon might be one of Gary Oldman's best roles to date? I think the Victor who pretended to understand "Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead" would be shocked to hear me say that. He was just really good and inobviously cast in that role.

Anyway, it's a great movie; not just a great comic-book hero movie, but a great movie.

Some former co-workers of mine tuned me in to Kingdom Of Loathing. It's a fun, free, simple game that won't eat up all your time.

Just playing around with some of my new toys and whipped this up. It's an unofficial (noodling) Victor track so if you don't like it, that's fine. It's just me playing around.

Victor Lams: "Unofficial .mp3" 192kbps

I don't care what anyone says, Space Channel 5 is a great game on any system, in any age.

I always have a lot of fun with this one and it always cheers me up.

Some days it pays to just stay in bed get up early.

Argh!

Amazon has pulled the release date (which they were reporting was going to be June, 21) for Stevie Wonder's new album. Target is less-optimistic (but perhaps more realistic), saying the album will be released January 1, 2010.

Of course this is to be expected ("Journey Through the Secret Life of Plants" anyone?), so I'm not that upset by it. In the meantime check out the video for the awesome "So What the Fuss?" at StevieWonder.net. It looks like it was filmed inside the "Songs in the Key of Life" album cover and -- thankfully -- it sounds like Stevie has rediscovered the real-live drum kit. And the Busta Rhymes-narrated version is good, too.

Happy Father's Day to all us dads in here!

Gaurdian Unlimited: Preschool of rock

"On some levels, kids are the toughest audience of all," confirms John Linnell of They Might Be Giants a few days later. The US alt.rock duo started recording music for pre-school children years ago: their first kids' album, No!, came out in the US in 2002. "Children do not observe any of the formal rituals of any adult audiences. They do not feel embarrassed by a complete lack of applause at the end of songs. They do not feel a need to face towards the stage. They are perfectly happy to talk throughout the quiet sections of songs and completely drown out the music. This is all just ordinary. We try to avoid doing kids' shows now, because it's kind of nerve-racking and demoralising."

Nothing much new to report this weekend (though I hope to finish up a new Catechism Rock! song this evening, after we get back from Grandma and Granda's pool). Why the dearth of creativity? It's too damn muggy in here.

"It's a good thing these aren't spraying liquid nitrogen, or you'd be frozen!" (8-year-old boy overheard when were at the sprinkler park (or "sprayscape") on Friday).

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou may be the most awesome movie I've seen this year. I was prepared for a meaningful exegesis on accidie, thanks to the Crisis review by Terry Teachout but what I wasn't prepared for was such a throughly entertaining film -- and Bill Murray's funniest and best role (that honor had previously fallen on Lost in Translation). Anyway, this is a great movie. I must admit to not being that great a fan of Wes Anderson's other films, but this one really did something for me. And the soundtrack was amazing.

So this one gets 100 stars.

We may never get the Olympics, but this trailer for True Crime 2 makes a compelling case for why Detroit could be the setting of the ultra-violent video game (gotta love those crime statistics).

If that looks like Detroit to you, why don't you guess the city?

I can't say that these these hilarious faux-faux-commercials made me want to run out and buy a Mini, but they did make me want to buy a G-Whiz G-Force Indicator and Hey Horn (which, oddly enough, I think you really can buy).

TiddlyWiki is one of the cooler toys I've seen in a while. Who knew a single HTML page could be so powerful?

Greg Popcak has a new homepage!

Barb Nicolosi meets the NY Times. Too funny.

Strindberg plus helium equals Strindberg and Helium.

Very funny. That Strindberg dude is everywhere, though!

Here's a verse I remember aproximately from when my dad would recite it in my childhood years. You name the author and I'll be your best friend for a day:

"My feeling is of great ambivalence
While driving an animal ambulance,
Filled with malevolent elephants."

For all you Harry Hamlin fans out there, there's L.A. Catholic (okay, that was a bit of a reach).

Anyway, anyone who can invoke my song about the flying house of Loreto as a wish to have Angels move the Raj Mahal (or Taj Mahoney -- I never got that straight) out of L.A. deserves a special mention on my 'blog.

Remember my 'blog? Good times....

The Parade of Unfortunate Star Wars Costumes

The funniest thing this week.

Yeah, I stole this from POF but because Meredith is a lawyer now she's probably okay with that.

I stole this, too. It's probably the scariest thing with puppets I've ever seen. Truly evil. The old guy on the side had better be a quadriplegic or else he's pulling a serious David Fury from that "Smile Time" episode of Angel.

Speaking of shows involving David Fury, I was sad to see Arnst go (up) on the finale of Lost but they did him right (for a minor character) in the flashbacks.