Drink recipes from Every Day with Rachel Ray.

We'll let you know tomorrow how the Banana Hot Buttered Rum and Snappy Chai Eggnog turn out. While you're out shopping, though, remember: not only does Admiral Nelson outrank Captain Morgan, he's also about 30% cheaper which makes him the one you want to sail with. Unless you've got something against cheap imitations.

The Great Space Coater was probably the coolest kids show ever made by human beings (with the one possible exception being "The Letter People"). This show was so phat: the puppets were awesome (how can you get any cooler than a stained-glass robot elephant named Edison?), the human characters were really laid back and didn't get in everyone's face all the time like they do on Sesame Street (and they had this mini personal video player they used to show clips on that was 30 years ahead of its time -- check it out at the end of this clip here). Sadly, only a handful of clips from this show exist on YouTube today.

And of course, there is the one character everyone remembers, Gary Gnu. Fortunately, there's fairly decent fan site out there with more clips. That show was just too cool.

CNET.com: In Memoriam James Kim

I hadn't realized until today that the James Kim who had died in the Oregon wilderness saving his wife and two daughters was the same James Kim whom I'd been watching and reading on CNET for the past two or three years. I'd really come to appreciate his enthusiastic style in the little video bits he did for the CNET website (be sure to check out the video tribute they have linked from that article), and now learned that he was a really decent man to boot. He will be missed. There is no better way for a man to die than protecting his family. May we all live and die just as well.

The best commercial ever:



Hot Link totally owned that Wizrobe.

Meet your new Sith Lord!

Darth Elmo makes his appearance. Senior Calabaza Blanca looks on in shock and horror.

Darth Elmo encounters resistance early on in the neighbor's front yard.

His conquest of Sesame Street complete, Darth Elmo sojourns into other children's programming, here claiming victory over the defeated emissary of The House of Blue.

Marmaduke Explained

I laughed until I cried, reading that site.

I guess I can't dis NPR anymore...

After many years, I guess the NPR dissing has to stop, now that they've played one of my songs on one of their nationally syndicated talk shows). While doing some research online (okay, I was googling myself -- but I was trying to find one weird page in particular, not ego fishing), I came across a broken link to the Studio360.org website. In a segment interviewing Robot author Daniel Wilson about the iRobot Roomba, they used "Robot Love" (from the Robot Love CD) as background music.

It's only a few seconds (mostly the bit of me singing about giving the Robots your love, and then the Robot receiving the most welcome sandwich), but if you're interested it was on the March 24, 2006, show (how come no one tells me these things), about 10 minutes in. I wouldn't recommend installing Audible just to hear it if you don't have it already, though. It was a pain to work with but still, at least for me, worth it.

I'm not the only one who doesn't get Mary Worth. That excellent post links to this hilarious collection of videos acting out a month's worth of "Mary Worth" comics.

XOC is amazing.

One-man, acoustic renditions of classic arcade themes. While I'm partial to his rendering of Mr. Do's castle, probably more impressive from an execution standpoint is his recording of every lick of music in Super Mario World.

Don't forget to rock out to the 720/Moon Patrol medley. Probably THE rockingest videogame cover ever. The Beach Boys version of Zelda II though crosses the line into new territories of demented brilliance. Check it out too.

G4's PS3 vs. Wii.

Wrong on so many levels, but probably accurate.

This is beyond belief.

Only it's completely believable, sadly.

Our bishops and archbishops, who apparently can't be bothered to speak out publically when it might mean saving someone's life (abortion, embryonic stem-cell research, the Plan B abortifacient) come out in droves when it comes to publicly speaking out against equality.

Here is the text added within the last 24 hours to our Official Archdiocese Homepage:

The Michigan Catholic Conference is among the religious organizations coming together to defend affirmative action programs that provide opportunities for women and minorities to secure better jobs and education. Cardinal Maida is among the co-chairs of One United Michigan, the citizens group seeking to defeat Proposal 2 that would amend the State Constitution to eliminate affirmative action programs. Locally, the archdiocese is supporting the efforts of the Interfaith Leaders Council and the National Conference for Community and Justice.

Spouting rhetoric (if you can call it that) Archdiocesean tool, Msgr. Halfpenny, equates "justice" not with "equality" (I guess, somewhat paradoxically given the favor they've found with the hierarchy in this Diocese, all those Haugen jingles were wrong) but with racial and sex-based discrimination (yes, "affirmative action" programs unjustly discriminate. I have very personal experience which bears that out. More on that later).

This isn't the first time the Illustrious Hierarchy in this Diocese has knowingly misled its flock. I guess, though, that when it comes to impressing your secular liberal friends there is no low to which you won't stoop. Note to the Cardinal: the people you're trying to impress aren't even the sort of people who can be bothered to visit your Cultural Center in D.C. (you know, the one you're busy closing Parishes at home to bankroll).

The Monsignor is right when he says "This is not a political issue; this is a spiritual issue," only I don't think he realizes that he's on the wrong side of the issue. Deliberately misleading your flock by misrepresenting the truth of the matter, especially for those in such authority (the only group in our Archdiocese, I might add, with the authority to send thousands of copies of a four-page pamphlet to each Parish urging them to vote No, is... guess who? the Archdiocese!) is a sure-fire way to earn yourself some Eternal Consequences.

Only there's been no evidence on the part of anyone at the Archdiocese, ever, to indicate that they care one whit about the consequences to their own or anyone else's soul. Perhaps, then, there is one consequence they do care about: their 501(c)(3)tax-exempt status. If having the Cardinal serve on the board of a Political Action Committee (excuse me: "concerned citizen's group") like the One United Michigan (for me but not for thee), speaking out forcefully (as forcefully as he's spoken about anything, I guess), and using Archdiocese resources to urge Catholics to vote one specific way on a hot-button political issue isn't enough to violate the prohibitions against political speech for 501(c)(3) organizations, I don't know what is.

As the IRS puts it:

To be tax-exempt as an organization described in § 501(c)(3) of the Code, an organization must be organized and operated exclusively for one or more of the purposes set forth in § 501(c)(3) and none of the earnings of the organization may inure to any private shareholder or individual. In addition, it may not attempt to influence legislation as a substantial part of its activities and it may not participate at all in campaign activity for or against political candidates.

One may argue that the Archdiocese is attempting to do nothing more than to "educate the public" (which is allowed). I fail to see how this is the case, though, when their spokestool states that this is a "spiritual issue" implying that if you vote Yes for equality, you're going to Hell.

Someone really ought to complain to the IRS (the IRS Tax Exempt and Government Entities Customer Account Services division at (877) 829-5500) and let them know what's going down here in Detroit.

I'd do it but I'm too busy opressing the poor and marginialized of our society by working for a living I've made by my own merits.

Weird Al has a new CD out this month!

Listen to a single on his myspace page. (The video by Bill Plympton (scroll down) kinda elevates it to greatness).

RIP, Steve Irwin.

The return of the Wednesday YouTube Dance Off

This week: Detroit Jitting (more info) vs. Bavarian Schuhplattler.

I can't say who won this one. It's just too close to call. (Thanks to Jayson for the links!).

More proof that YouTube rocks my world.




See also: Victor Borge's "Phonetic Punctuation" (on the Electric Company!).

You can find everything on Wikipedia: List of X-Play Characters.

The Short, Happy Life of Infocom.

Blue ball machine.

(Hint: pick our one ball at the top and follow it all the way down).

Watching "Cars" I learn:
Radiator Springs is us.
Pixar makes me cry.

PoF Haiku-Cinema

Loads of fun!

Song number 50!

...was just posted to the podcast (and it's a brand spanking new one!). I'll probably take a break for a week or so and then post less frequently for the rest of the summer. But it bears mentioning that we are now half of the way through our one-hundred song journey.

And people say my music is weird...

Banana Man by Tally Hall.

And from the name, it almost sounded like they're from Ann Arbor. And in fact they are. And in fact they're playing Top of the Park on Thursday. I'll have to see if I can sneak down there.

Does anyone need a Air-Conditioner Noise Emulator?

NOT "The Office".

Satan has been Paralyzed.



Courtesy of The Puppetvision Blog.

Long rumored treatment for new "Star Trek" direction revealed (along with the news that J. J. Abrams is working on a similar treatment for a new motiong picture (franchise?)). I don't know... the whole idea of redoing the universe with a young Kirk, Spock, and McCoy seems more than a little lame to me.

Jamiroquai is certainly one of the most consistent bands in history (the Virtual Insanity video is one of my favorites -- after the Rockit video, of course). I just now ran across this video from 2005 which pays nice homage to the La Linea cartoons which can only themselves be an homage of everyone's favorite Cockett Johnson work.

Not everyone likes those new Mac ads.

For the last three days I've been listening to Michael Leviton's CD exclusively. It's not something that's going to grab you buy the ears and explode inside your head (nor stylistically would it make any sense for it to be), rather it has the distinction of being one of the most endearing recordings I've heard in a very long time -- the songs tap you on the shoulder and once they have a bit of your attention they start to work on you until, despite the fact that they're not really songs you'd normally sing along to, you find yourself singing them just the same. It's an unusual quality rarely found in music today and it has the added benefit of being genuinely sincere and free from postmodern trappings.

And if you email the guy, you get a reply right back. Cannot beat that.

Leviton performs a song not on the CD, "Boring Island".

The most awesome use for the Internet in a long time:

LongAwkwardPose.com.

Not sure what a podlounge is, but I'm on it.

Happy Father's Day

Okay, let's talk loot: a cool electric chainsaw ("Groovy!"), an awesome collection of all the Spy vs. Spy cartoons (I didn't know this but Antonio Prohias was from Cuba but left when editorial cartoons he did of Castro led to public rallies calling for his execution), the Michael Leviton CD (probably the awesomest CD for summertime), and a pair of Crocs (Professional) which have to just about be the most perfect pair of shoes ever invented (though probably not great in snow, seeing as how they've got holes in them). Oh, and a Nintendo DS Lite (the brightness! It burns! The sunglasses do nothing!).

All in all, it is a fitting tribute. We are well pleased.

If Robert Palmer were a 17-year-old kid (and not, you know, dead).

20-minute documentary about the world's most famous drum break. It starts to get interesting about four minutes in (trust me), but remains hilarious throughout because of the narrators pronunciation of "Ah-men".

When I sometimes think I'm a really big geek...

...there's always someone to remind me I'm not. How does using bots in Quake III to make "music" sound? Hear for yourself.

RIP Billy Preston.

Sometimes you have to ask yourself "just what are they doing down there at the South Pole"? I guess we're closer to proving string theory than we might have thought.

I guess no one's job is irreplaceable by a computer nowadays.

And (off-topic) what's with NyQuil's new formula? Pseudafed-free?!? What's the point of sleeping through the night if I can't breathe through my nose? Bastards.

Oh, and somehow I missed it: this past May 3rd was my five-year 'Bloggiversary!

That episode of "House" was the weirdest thing ever.

SOUL PATROL!

Charles Martinet: the voice of Mario, to be sure, but I wasn't aware how much other work he's done.

Everything you wanted to know and more (much more) about "Paul's Boutique".

I guess if you're a Super Smash Bros. fan you already know the big secret, but if you're familiar with the games and haven't heard, there's a new version coming out next year for the Wii.

Watch the trailer. Make sure you stick around after what you think is the ending for one of the biggest chuckles in gaming history.

The Time For Bed Truck.

Because Summer is just around the corner: MP3s of Ice Cream Truck music.

Another Great Idea

So it's always a little creepy when you find out someone who blogs has died and you go to their 'blog and their last post is about what movie they saw last or something having to do with economics and then there are tons of comments from people saying how sad they are or how sudden this is or how much the 'blogger was loved.

So my idea is for a simple bot which would track your blog for new posts and if their hadn't been any posts in a while (you could set the period: if you blog every day, you may want to set the period to a few days. If you're less dedicated, perhaps a week or two) and if the bot (in this case acting like a dead man's switch) detects no posts in that period, it'll post to your blog a "final blog post" that you've written before hand. You know, the usual "Well, dear friends, if you are reading this is means that I'm dead or have gone on hiatus." and so on.

I think this would give your readers a sense of closure and could really catch on.

Chacarron.

Can this be for real? I guess if it's inspired its own YTMND it has to be real.

That's still really weird, though.

NowStartABeard.com

Cool idea and well done. Link via POF.

What's funny is when this site (a German software company making music software) wants to link to this guy in their "artists" section and accidentally links to this guy instead.

So you've made your brainwashing video and now all you need is a soundtrack...

Sloppy Seconds

Darn cool idea. I'll probably submit some of my own.

Who will win in a world of... LASER CATS!

I do kind of agree that Andy Samberg is saving SNL. I have to give props to Fred Armisen and Will Forte (when he's allowed to do his own thing, that is), though. The other two featured player guys, Jason Sudeikis and Bill Hader are pretty good, too.

Vote!

Okay, so like I finished my song for the Pieces of Flair 2006 Robot Song Off and here it is.

I think this track would fall into the realm of self-parody if I hadn't spent so much time on it. If this tune were on the WB it would get a TV-14 DSV rating, so protect your kids from it.

Anyway, I could go into all the production elements of this song (vocals written and sung while I had a sinus infection, which might explain a lot, everything thrown at this track, production-wise, including a Nintendo DS playing Electroplankton, though only for a brief vocal effect) but that might legitimize it too much.

Aural Times: We sing the news so you don't have to.

Great idea. I may blatantly steal it.

Credits to RAC.

More proof that the Koreans make the coolest stuff.

TVIX Multimedia Jukeboxes

Cowon iAudio A2 PMP

Now if I were only working in Korea and not in The United Outsourcers of America, I could probably afford one of those gadgets.

Another CD for me to check out.

I guess this is CNET's idea of an April Fool's joke. I just think it's a sweet car.

Offbeat music from TMBG's opener this tour: Michael Leviton.

Summer truly is the worst.

Hey, Victor! I want to see a video of a Japanese Schoolgirl doing the Robot!

Sure thing!

Say, that looks video looks like it was a part of a more developed music video...

Right you are!

The same band teaches us the important lesson: the only thing weirder than singing Japanese food is a singing Japanese finger.

Going on my wish list: On the Edge: the Spectacular Rise and Fall of Commodore

I AM VINDICATED!!!

The Toronto Star: Ford's Crown jewel is a bulletproof boat

Someone finally gets it!!! And they're Canadian. Weeeeird.

Did Michael Jackson write the music for Sonic 3?

Conspiracy theories abound.

Somehow this whole social phenomenon had eluded me until Kevin emailed me this story about "Snakes on a Plane". Funny that they went back and reshot scenes, adding a line from a parody/fan trailer.

I was finally lucky enough to be able to pick up Electroplankton for the Nintendo DS, and I've been having a lot of fun with it. It's definitely the most soothing experience I've had with an interactive game/music toy/thingie.

Just because I can, I'm going to be using it in some limited capacity at least on my new song.

The original Music Animation Machine.

The sincerest form of flattery?

Another genius project: Repercussion.

Make your own dancing robots. Just found this guy's site but he's a genius.

Distressingly Spot-on

Which Star Trek Character Are You?

Scotty. You are a miracle workers in the eyes of other people and you are always able to perform them too, but your repair times just get longer and longer as you grow older.
Take this quiz!


Quizilla | Join | Make A Quiz | More Quizzes | Grab Code

Apparently only 1% of the people to take the quiz got Scotty. I feel special.

Boing Boing: Earth-children's robot resistance marches on.

Too cute!

Link via RAC.

I think David Shore should at least acknowledge where he got the idea for all of those computer-animated sequences where they go inside the patients heart and show the valves rupturing or whatever and every once in a while show Dr. House having a Jimmy Neturon-style brain blast.

Sequin Socks is my musical twin.

Only gooder. It's like putting your ear up to a mirror, but instead of reflecting light back at you it's reflecting music... only music doesn't come out of your ears, generally (unless you're a conch shell), so that simile isn't very apt. It's eerie to ponder, but I think this is what my music would sound like if I was a girl (but, again, only more good). Seriously, check it out. Now.

She's entered the 2006 Pieces of Flair Robot-Song-Off, too, so it appears that the competition will be every bit as stiff as one of Grandma's vodka tonics.

And, as a result of all this, Mr. Miro has a 'blog. Check out his illustrations.

I suppose I had this coming.

POF's Robot-Song-Off!

How big could this get? Well, zefrank has picked it up.

Already it's raising awareness for Rodney Brooks' program at MIT - and Rodney Brooks' awareness of the contest (POF has received correspondence from Mr. Brooks, himself!).

Needless to say, I'll need to bring my A-game.

If it's Monday, it means another tune posted to the podcast. It could also be a Friday, too, to have a new tune be posted, but it's not. Darn it.

Mr. Miro, songsmith extraordinaire, calls me out in the comboxes of this post at POF.

There must be some weird planetary alignment thing going on. Last night, completely by chance, I bumped into Dr. Apostrophe (nee Tugboat). Turns out we dig each other's music.

I dig Mr. Miro's music, too -- a great deal, in fact -- don't get me wrong; I just think there's more to Robots than having them eventually conquer us all someday.

Will there be, in full spirit of professional bonhomie, a 2006 Robot-Song-Off? Only time can tell.

Much interactive word fun.

Just in case you've missed it, there's a new tune up on the ol' podcast: a tune so weird, it required its own backstory.

Just an FYI, too: you don't need to subscribe to the podcast with any sort of fancy podcatcher like iTunes or Juice (though both are very good) to hear the tunes. Just head over to the The Cacophonous World of Professor Whimsey and you can download each tune individually.

Despair.com has added hilarious video podcasts to its repertoire of things so funny they're depressing (the "Addressing Employee Complaints" episode hits way too close to home).

You can't get all of the past episodes through iTunes, it looks like, but some are up on YouTube.

Because nothing says "Why should you let a baby ruin your summer fun?" like a Planned Parenthood Beachball or Teenwire Sports Safe.

Oddly enough, this was found on their Teens page, the name of the HTML file for which, if you look in your browser's location bar, is "sexuality.html". I guess the two are synonymous. Happy New Year, 2005!, indeed.

Aziz Ansari in Sh_ttiest Mixtape Boombox Blast.

Massively Multiplayer Pong. It sounds like a gimmick, but give it a minute and you'll notice all sorts of behaviors emerge: players trying to sabotage their team (or just assert their own individuality or their will?) by seeing how far in the wrong direction they can move their team's paddle, the effect of the popular vote as to where the ball will impact next on the rest of the players (even when it's not the right location), and so on. Interesting idea. Blue rules.

Link via POF.

My favorite new word is "retcon". Honestly, I learn something new every day around here.

New Music Monday!

As if the post below weren't enough to assault your ears, I've posted a new tune (as in brand new!) to the Podcast. Click on the Podcast or iTunes links at left to give 'er a listen.

Take The Lord's Goodness

The first time I heard "Sing Of the Lord's Goodness" in Church, I was gobsmacked. I searched the copyright notice at the bottom of the page to see if Dave Brubeck's name was there somewhere. It wasn't. Over time, my sense of outrage at Ernie Sands' act of blatant plagiarism grew and grew until finally something had to be done; something to educate the world at the grave injustice against an icon of American music, who for six decades has done his best to enrich our culture with his own brand of jazz composition and piano stylings, and who deserves a lot better than to have his work ripped off by the toilet-paper factory that is OCP Publications.

Yes, something had to be done to educate people to Sands' crime. And I only had 10 minutes and a slightly overexaggerated sense of righteous indignation to do it. And thus, "Take The Lord's Goodness" (.mp3) was born (and actually reading it now, this build up is a bit more than the clip actually merits, but oh well.

The story of the THX "Deep Note": the official version and the unofficial version.

Barb Nicolosi makes the case for going to see "Over the Hedge" on May 19.

Sounds good to me. Let's go!

Curious George has got to be just about the sweetest movie made in the last 30 years. You may fault it's thin story but if you ask me, it could have done with even less story and more monkey antics (though there were antics a-plenty, most of which pointed back to scenes from H.A. Rey's -- who himself got a nod -- books). Anyway, no matter who you are, it will warm the cockles of your heart and keep you entertained for an hour and twenty-two minutes. The most telling thing of all is that this winsome 2D-animated film was preceded by previews for a good half-dozen computer-animated films coming out over the next nine months from just about every motion picture studio I'd ever heard of. NONE of which looked remotely appealing.

And, yes, I've given Battlestar Gallactica a fair chance. Try as I might, though, I can't get past the humorless, predictable stories, terrible dialogue (any time you have a supposedly repected military officer saying "It's time to think outside the box, people," you've lost me), and sophomoric camera work. Plus, everything about the humans in that show just makes me want the Cylons to exterminate them all the more quicker (say, there's an idea: how about a Dalek/Cylon alliance? Ronald D. Moore, are you listening?). Maybe that's the point of the show, though.

I promised myself that the next time I registered a domain name solely because I thought it sounded cool, I'd put something, anything, up there, no matter how stupid.

Now that I've gone and done it, though, I'm still left with that horrible empty feeling.

Stay tuned this coming week: I had reason this weekend to dig up my old 4-track tape recorder and dig out some of the songs I did in college. We'll be featuring two of them on the podcast this week: songs no one has heard since 1996, not even me (well, until this weekend).

So be sure to stick around for the first in a series of Buried Folderol Weeks on The Cacophonous World of Professor Whimsey.

I expanded the Robot Love ringtone (see two posts down), so we'll see how that sounds. If you want to hear the wav file version, scratchy down-sampled and all, click here.

As for Verizon, I don't know how to load ringtones onto those phones, but apparently my music will be available via their download service at some point.

What is a Plog™?

RAC alerts me to a potential copyright infringement by Amazon of one of my intellectual properties.

From the Amazon description: "Every person's Plog is different (hence the name)...." What? Does that make any sense? "Plog" stands for an individual person's Amazon homepage? That's quite a stretch. Wheras "Plog" as a "Puppet webLOG" is obviously the only thing "Plog" could mean and Amazon has ripped me off.

As soon as I find someplace online that has generic cease and desist letters, they will hear from me. Actually, this one looks good but instead of asking for $150,000, maybe I'll ask for an XBox or Coldplay CD.

Okay.. let's see what their help-desk in India has to say about this:

Dear Amazon.com,

It has come to my attention that you have made an unauthorized use of my copyrighted work entitled “Plogging: The Future, Pt. I” (the "Work") in the preparation of a work derived therefrom. I have reserved all rights in the Work, first published in January, 2003. Your work entitled “What is a Plog? http://www.amazon.com/gp/plog/about.html/ref=cm_plog_learn/103-2400552-3399007?%5Fencoding=UTF8&newWin=1) is essentially derivative of the Work and clearly used the Work as its basis: the description of the origin of the term “Plog” on your webpage is utterly fanciful and inadequate and does not reasonably provide enough reason to dissuade one from making the connection to my original Work.

As you neither asked for nor received permission to use the Work as the basis for “What is a Plog?” nor to make or distribute copies, including electronic copies, of same, I believe you have willfully infringed my rights under 17 U.S.C. Section 101 et seq. and could be liable for statutory damages as high as an Xbox 360 or a Coldplay CD as set forth in Section 504(c)(2) therein.

I demand that you immediately cease the use and distribution of all infringing works derived from the Work, and all copies, including electronic copies, of same, that you deliver to me, if applicable, all unused, undistributed copies of same, or destroy such copies immediately and that you desist from this or any other infringement of my rights in the future. If I have not received an affirmative response from you by Ash Wednesday, 2006, indicating that you have fully complied with these requirements, I shall take further action against you.

Very truly yours,

Victor Lams
www.victorlams.com

Download your very own "Robot Love" Ringtone

In honor of something, I've made a short ringtone of "Robot Love" and if you have a Sprint phone, you can download it to your phone (most likely) in three easy steps.

1. Right click on this link: Robot_Love.qcp and save the file to your desktop.

2. Go to the Rumkin.com file uploader page and follow the instructions, in the File Name field, browse to and select the Robot_Love.qcp file on your desktop.

3. Finish the rest of the page and wait for the ringtone to be delivered to your phone. It's that easy. Oh, and delete the qcp file off your desktop as you probably don't need it anymore.

Anyway, standard text-messaging fees apply, yadda yadda, whee.

Tomorrow is Love Your Robot Day.

While some may question the origins of this holiday, I (along with only a handful of other people in the universe) know the origin of this special day and why it was first celebrated in 2001.

So don't just stand there, send an e-card!.

According to mp3.com, my music is like Mother Mallard's Portable Masterpiece Co. and Bruce Haack's. I'll have to check both of them out sometime.

If you like Richard Dean Anderson as much as we do, and somehow managed to watch three quarters of the Super Bowl and still miss his commercial, then, this is for you.

The Escapist Magazine.

Worst Katamari Damacy player ever.

Seriously. I've never seen anyone play keep-away with the Prince's katamari before.

Brilliant.

"Brokeback to the Future"

link via POF.

Oh, in case you didn't know, my CD is available on iTunes (I hear it will also be available from Verizon Mobile's Vcast service, too, but I have to take their word on that).

One of my songs even appears on the "iMix": "Having Sex with a ROBOT".

I know I've arrived.

John Beasley is a good musician. I'm going to have to pick up some of his CDs when I get the chance.

Another new old favorite has been posted to the The Cacophonous World of Professor Whimsey podcast. Don't forget, there'll be another new tune posted Monday.

Wanna do a good deed? Vote for my podcast on PodCastAlley (click the "Vote Now" link on that page).

Honestly, I have no idea why you'd want to do this, but if you're looking for a way to kill 30 seconds, there you go.

Oh, and subscribe to the show now (use the links at the right). There'll be a BRAND NEW tune coming out tonight. I'm fairly sure it's like nothing else you've ever heard.

UPDATE: And the tune, "AisFor" is posted on the podcast (see buttons at right). Cry havoc and let slip... a new tune of... mine.

If you haven't seen it yet, rent without delay "Millions". In a word, fantastic.

My new podcast, The Cacophonous World of Professor Whimsey is now available by direct link at iTunes, so look for the little iTunes button at the right.

And go rent "Sky High" while you're at it. It's a far, far better movie than you'd think (and probably the only movie with Bruce Campbell in it where you can also hear They Might Be Giants cover Devo).

Wednesday-Evening Google-Video Dance-Off

This week it's Lego Break Dance vs. G.I. Joe Dance.

Winner: G.I. Joe Reggae (not strictly speaking a dance, but it beats both of them put together. Those G.I. Joe PSA videos crack me up -- click the "More Videos" tab).

Now go check out the latest edition ("2A") of the They Might Be Giants podcast.

The Cacophonous World of Professor Whimsey

I just started setting up my new podcast about 20 minutes ago, but the idea is that twice a week I'll post a tune I made and if you're subscribed, you'll download it and at the end of a year you'll have 104 new tunes.

You can subscribe by clicking this button (I'll add the iTunes link once I enroll my podcast there):



Or if you want to download the songs manually, just visit the The Cacophonous World of Professor Whimsey 'blog page.

Holophonic Recording

Listen to this with headphones. It gets really freaky, especially around the one minute mark. If I had another microphone, I might play around with this a bit.

I've uploaded a few of my videos to Google videos. Now you can watch a few of my videos on Google videos.

Huzzah!

So I've been poking around the new Google Video store (pros: you can download Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episodes from it. Cons: only the first 15 episodes so far and you can't do anything with them except watch them in Google's own player on your PC and the quality doesn't look that great) and while this video looks interesting, I'm not sure I'd buy it on the strength of it's 30-second-preview, arguably the most pointless 30-second preview ever.

Wednesday-Morning Google-Video Dance-Off

This week it's Carolina Shag vs. Soul Train.

Winner: Soul Train.

I guess I've been living in a bubble because I'm very saddened to learn just now of Lou Rawls' death. He was one of my favorite singers and will be missed. Fortunately he left a wealth of music behind and I'm sure will continue to be discovered by future generations of listeners.

"The Asteroid Gaspra (Old 951)" (2:00, 128kbps .mp3 format, 1.9MB).

"The Asteroid Gaspra" is a prime example of the more than 80,000 known unique melodies and variations thereof within the "Asteroid Songs" genre of Martian folk music -- a genre of music which itself was made extremely popular thanks to frequent airplay on a number of radio variety programs such as "A Volcanic Ash Plane Home Companion".

While the Asteroid Gaspra (aka Asteroid 951) has never actually collided with the planet Mars, it has come close enough on several occasions to earn itself a cherished place in Martian folklore.

(Lyric is embedded in the comments tag of the .mp3, so get yourself MediaMonkey or something similar that can read comment tags if you want the lyric). Written for the KVRAudio.com January, 2006, "Martian Folk" contest.

Test your almost-four-year-old EQ (Emotional Intelligence Quotient)

When your almost-four-year-old's Leap pad plus microphone asks him to record his own voice saying the Chinese word for "Good bye", zai jian, does your almost-four-year-old say (into the microphone):

a) "Zai jian"
b) "Good Bye"
c) "Momma, you're poopy!" and then giggle hysterically.

Now I know I'm in the wrong line of work...

Get Perpendicular!

True Confession Time

Back in the early 1990s, I was a legendary teen pop singer, not unlike Hilary Duff, who was 5 at the time. Under the stage name "Victosys" ("I'm the disease, and the rhythm is the cure!") I played all the big venues, including the Pontiac Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan, where this particular video (in the revolutionary-at-the-time Windows Media format) was taken. My vocals were a little muffled because I'd just overblown the mic's circuits on "Uptown Girl" and the pre-programmed transition into the next song was so quick the roadies couldn't throw me a new one in time.

"Victosys rocks the Pontiac Silverdome"

In case you couldn't tell, I really love Karaoke Revolution Party with the whole "put your own head on the singer" feature. It's one of the most compelling and creepy reasons to own a PS2.

It's a two-peat!

Happy New Year!

And nothing says "Brave New 2006" like a quartet of dancing robots.