Update: Apparently the project has spawned some local Pac-Man Copycats.

The Pac-Man Project.

While I appreciate their respect for history and the more dada-esque elements of the project, I have to believe that 10 or 15 years from now, some guy is going to be sitting around bemoaning the fact that he spent his college years making an Inky costume and crashing Chem lectures.

Leave it to Joss Whedon to come up with the best sci-fi/action-adventure movie of all time... and then have nobody notice.

Merry Christmas, Everybody!

NORAD Tracks Santa, 2005

The Santa Cam and satellite imagery has been much improved this year.

GuitarJeff of Outland posts his latest tune on the kvraudio.com message boards: A NON P.C. Disco Christmas.

It's sad, but you really almost have to say "good riddance" to Tricky Dick Santorum. When he fails next November, he'll have only himself to blame: first for endorsing Specter and again for this.

Just don't tell Bill Shill that.

This observation has probably been made before, but isn't the Honorable John E. Jones, III doing exactly what people accuse the Church of doing to Galileo: banning folks from teaching science which those doing the banning consider to be inappropriately laced with metaphysics disagreeable to their worldview in an educational forum which is operated by the banners?

It's okay though, this is different: it's not the Church doing the banning this time, it's the Federal Government. Actually, I see that my analogie breaks down with the simple fact that, particularly at the time, the Church was considered an authority in both metaphysics and science wheras a Federal judge, so far as I know, is an authority in neither.

Very cool NPR interview with Tim Kehoe, the inventor of bubbles of color.

Zubbles is probably the most significant toy innovation of the last 50 years.

Follow this link to find an unforgettable rendition of "Oh, Holy Night!"

Make sure you stick around for the entire second chorus. It's a suitable payoff for what you have to endure before it. I almost have to believe, though, now that I've made it to the end of the tune this was done as a parody. If it wasn't, it's both wonderful and unpardonable.

I guess it's a matter of faith.

UPDATE (12/18): And now, the answers. Also, for the record, Katie does not listen to the Hoobastank-Eyed Peas.

Oh, and I've been tagged by Katie!

I don't know any of her music because it's all stuff that the kids are listening to these days like the Hoobastank-Eyed Peas and stuff, so rather than embarass myself, I'll just post the first fifteen first lines my mp3 player gives me (30 seems excessive to me) and that's only of the tunes that have words and that I know. If you can guess them and/or who recorded them, that's fine (only one track per artist appears below, I removed duplicate artist's entries which is the only thing that saved all of you from the first line of "I Have Been in You"); some are surprisingly easy some are not. Anyway, I'll post the "answers" in the comments section in a week.

Out of 6,277 mp3s, here's what came up first:

1. "Lonely nights, I cry myself to sleep; tell me what am I gonna do, 'cause it's always been you to dry my tears?"
   The Captain and Tennille, "Lonely Night (Angel Face)"


2. "Cigarette holder which wigs me, over her shoulder, she digs me..."
   James Darren, "Satin Doll"


3. "Cafe con pan, cafe con pan, cafe con pan, cafe con pan, cafe con pan, cafe con pan, cafe con pan, cafe con pan, cafe con pan, cafe con pan!"
   They Might Be Giants, "Mr. Xcitement"


4. "Baby please, please don't take your love from me, I am yours forever more until eternity."
   Donna Summer, "Heaven Knows"


5. "I don’t have to sell my soul, he’s already in me. I don’t need to sell my soul, he’s already in me."
   Stone Roses, "I Wanna Be Adored"


6. "I just want to feel safe in my own skin, I just want to be happy again."
   Dido, "Honestly OK"


7. "Give me, your dirty love, like you might you surrender to some dragon in your dreams."
   Frank Zappa, "Dirty Love"


8. "I would be so willing, to give you all I got, you're a special lady, forget me not."
   Earth Wind & Fire, "And Love Goes On"


9. "Bad! The girl is bad! Bad! Bad! Bad! The lady is bad! Bad! She's bad!"
   Funkadelic, "Undisco Kidd"


10. "I'd wash the sand off the shore, give you the world if it was mine, blow you right to my door, Mmm! Feels fine."
    Sade, "Paradise"


11. "Try to forget torment, lying behind a smile, tears for sentiment, now I've done my time."
    Swing Out Sister, "Surrender"


12. "I am a poet. I am very fond of bananas. I am bananas. I am very fond of a poet."
    Kurt Elling, "The Uncertainty of a Poet" (after Wendy Cope)


13. "Tongue tied or short of breath don't even try. Try a little harder. Something's wrong I'm not naive you must be strong. Ooh."
    Kajagoogoo, "Too Shy"


14. "There’s spring in the air. They’re sweeping the streets. Wind is a breeze. The sun becomes her he agrees."
    Metric, "Love is a Place"


15. "You are so unpredictable, when I am not. You are so irresistible, that I can't stop. You say my name, and I start walking on heaven."
    Stevie Wonder, "Galaxy Paradise"

More New Music!

Last month I somehow won the KVRAudio music contest and my prize was Garritan's Jazz and Big Band virtual instrument collection.

This thing is awesome.. it's got drum sounds, a piano, basses, and, of course, what I've been wanting my whole life, realistic, playable horns. So anyway, I did this tune in about an hour or so tonight, just to try it out. Enjoy.

"Sins of Omission" (mp3 format)

Ghost Monkey Cop

Cop shows and cartoons about animals who solve crimes and are in bands were big in the 1960s. Also big were shows about ghosts and witches. D-list animation studio Banarama/Hibernia thought they'd do the industry one better and create a hip show for kids about a dead monkey who plays the marimba and solves crimes. They even got Charles Mingus' brother Billy Mingus to write and perform the theme song (with out of work lounge act Robbie "The Throat" Vertulli on vocals).

The creepy plot premise proved too much for even the rather permissive sensibilities of the baby boomers in the test audience and, perhaps also due to the suspcious and untimely drug-related death of lead animator "Trippin'" Joe Bostowiz, no further episodes were produced after the pilot (of which no known copies are believed to exist).

Only a single recording of the theme song lived on. And here it is:

"Ghost Monkey Cop! (Who Also Plays the Marimba)"

They Might Be Giants has a new podcast!

Rare and new tunes. Stuff not even I'd heard before, some of it very, very funny (John Linnell's rendition of "It Was a Very Good Year"), brilliant (his "North American Turtle Songs"), and novel (the "Lounge" version of "Particle Man").

Check it out.

For those of you who happen to have access to Michigan State's public television station, tonight they are airing a program on one of my grandfather's more famous statues.

The Sparty wikipedia page is also a pretty cool entry on the statue. Anyway, we'll be watching the program because my mom and aunt might be on it!

You scored as Indiana Jones. Indiana Jones is an archaeologist/adventurer with an unquenchable love for danger and excitement. He travels the globe in search of historical relics. He loves travel, excitement, and a good archaeological discovery. He hates Nazis and snakes, perhaps to the same degree. He always brings along his trusty whip and fedora. He's tough, cool, and dedicated. He relies on both brains and brawn to get him out of trouble and into it. Indiana Jones 79% William Wallace 75% Batman, the Dark Knight 75% Neo, the "One" 71% Captain Jack Sparrow 67% Lara Croft 63% Maximus 63% The Amazing Spider-Man 54% The Terminator 50% James Bond, Agent 007 50% El Zorro 42% Which Action Hero Would You Be? v. 2.0 created with QuizFarm.com

Hats off to Katie for directing us towards the test.

I winned?! Wha' happened?!