Victor's Head A-splodes

On the one hand it's Earth Wind and Fire but on the other hand, it's Kenny G. Earth Wind and Fire: absolute good. Kenny G: absolute evil. How can I possibly like this track but on the other hand how can I possibly not? Existential crisis: how can I keep my groove on listening to the greatest soul band of all time when it's on a track by Kennyfreakin G?

I weep.

I guess one could argue that Kenny G today is no more of a sell-out than Ramsey Lewis was in the 1970s (or today), but I totally don't buy that argument (mostly the premise that Ramsey Lewis was a sell-out in the 1970s or even today and I really like that track "Sun Goddess").

Anyway. I probably just need some time. Stupid Kenny G. First Louis Armstrong and now this. Will you stop at nothing in your campaign to pollute the entire spectrum of jazz and soul?

Here Come the ABCs arrived today (it was released yesterday). It's pretty much essential. Full review to come in the next few days.

Somebody call House.

Interesting. I was perusing Kurt Elling's upcoming tour dates and discovered that he'd be in Ann Arbor on March 10th, performing the jazz-adaptation of Walt Whitman's "Leaves of Grass".

The Amazon editorial review for the album, which isn't out until the week after next, makes this sound pretty cool, especially for huge Kurt Elling fans such as me and Jackie. Don't know if we'll be able to get out to the show or not, however.

Chromeo's "Needy Girl" is one of the coolest videos I've seen in a while (one of the only videos I've seen in a while, too, but...). It's definitely one of the most gear-centric videos I've seen lately (gotta love the props given directly to the talk-box tube -- and indirectly to Roger Troutman, may he rest in peace) and the kaleidoscopic dancing mannequins are straight out of 1983 (as is the "Rock-It" scratching and the whole general vibe of course). Anyway, it's worth checking out. Fun stuff.

Jimmy Smith is remembered by DownBeat and Blue Note Records.

Do, if you have never checked out Smith's music, pick up at least his retrospective CD. His earlier stuff with Stanley Turrentine, of course, MADE the Hammond B3 organ a real instrument in Jazz (and later rock, popular music, R&B, etc.) but what's amazing is how he kept his chops all the way to the end of his life. Listen to his solo on "Stolen Moments" off of his 1996 CD "Angel Eyes" and you'll hear what I mean.

Jimmy Smith, RIP

Another giant passes.

I don't recall ever seeing my December, 2004, issue of crisis, but judging from the letters in this month's issue, this piece on NFP by H.W. Crocker, III stirred up quite the firepot of controversy. I personally thought it was very funny, and was amazed that crisis would publish anything so daring (aside from, of course, the link to my 'blog in the June, 2003, issue. Thanks Mark, your residuals are in the mail).

Darn it, BBC. You can't write an article like that one and then not post a link to the pictures. It's just bad journalism. Sheesh. Learn a thing or two from The Guardian.

Junie Morrison's new album is out!

Weirdest thing of all? There's a track on it called Robot Love.

Now all I need is the $20 to buy it.

Slate reflects on the superbowl ads (none of which I saw as I didn't watch The Big Game). The objection to this ad, though, which got it pulled, I don't get almost as much as I don't get the ad itself.

This is one smart kid.

RVi is losing Foreign language services in March.

Heads up from RC. To be honest, I had no idea such a thing existed, but now I'm sad. Their webpage did point me towards this world group from Flanders, Les Banquet Nomades, which sounds pretty good. Have to try and find someplace that has their album.

New "Here Come the ABCs" Videos

Check out this player for a bunch of full-length videos from the upcoming They Might Be Giants album/DVD, which will be released on February 15th. Very, very cool. ("Q U" is still my favorite so far).

UPDATE: Actually I think my new fave is "Can You Find It?" which is classic John Linnell at his best.

Slightly Greater Number of Things Considered

Sometimes NPR manages to convince me that they're actually changing their act and speaking more to the public's tastes and views. Consider this three-day hat-trick on "All Things Considered": two days ago there was the story about the cowbell in rock music which managed to reference the Christopher Walken SNL sketch and the Cowbell Project (though they did get some hate mail from that story) and yesterday they featured an analysis of the "ownership society" featuring David Boaz of the Cato Institute (and they actually let the guy speak!) and then tonight they featured an in-studio performance by the Soweto Gospel Choir who they actually let sing about Jesus on NPR.

But just when you think something's changing on "All Things Considered", "Morning Edition" reminds you that they're still Nationalist Party Radio with the usual story on how great "same-sex marriage" is and how anyone who opposes it is an ogre which ends with, you guessed it, the obligitory interview with the lesbian mom couple. Every story on same-sex marriage on NPR ends this way: kids playing in the background just before they introduce the lesbian moms. The kids playing in the background has become my signal to change the station.

I imagine ten years from now they'll be wrapping up the "man-boy marriage" or other pedophile-friendly stories in much the same fashion: by bringing up the sound of playing children and then the voiceover: "Raul and Thomas McKendrick are more than just father and son...."

Undeniably a work of genius

Baby Got Book

Link via POF.

It's interesting though, that when you first start watching this you think "are they serious (about being humorous)? This isn't just some sardonic parody of Christians?" and no, it's not a sardonic parody. It's both funny AND reverant. Consider the reaction to Matisyahu, below, by some on Fr. Bryce's 'blog, wondering if he can be for real. He is: both Hasidic Jew and Reggae/Hip-Hop Superstar. I take this to be yet another of the unique and great traits of Gen Y: both clever and savvy and technically gifted but also very sincere. If Gen X was but a casulty in the culture clash, the sad roadkill of the destructive policies the hedonist Boomers, it looks like our sacrifice wasn't in vain.

U.S. Chaldean Catholics' participation
in elections called 'anemic'

Fewer than 11,000 Iraqi-Americans -- Christian or Muslim -- took advantage of the opportunity to vote Jan. 28-30 at the out-of-country polling station set up in suburban Southgate to serve Michigan and neighboring states, said Joseph T. Kassab of Farmington Hills, also a Detroit suburb.

Kassab heads the organization formed to promote the interests of Chaldean Catholics in the new Iraq.

In an interview with The Michigan Catholic, newspaper of the Detroit Archdiocese, he also said his organization received information that in Iraq some 250,000 members of minority groups, including Christians, members of a Kurdish religious sect and other religious minorities, were prevented from voting.

Controversial WorldCom deal is dead

That's a shame. I don't know that this deal was "controversial" to any former WorldCom employee, unless it was in the sense that we'd have prefered, in addition to the $18 million dollars coming out of their pockets, to see the entire lot hung up by their dangling unmentionables.

You gotta know that who's feeling really bad right about now is the guy who gave the flu to the Pope. Not to make light of the situation in any way, but you have to wonder what was going through his mind: "This is a once in a lifetime opportunity! It's just a little sniffle, probably nothing serious."

Anyway, prayers are still going out for his speedy recovery.

Meredith posted this over at POF but it's just too cool not to share (must of the stuff over there is too cool not to share -- like this duality of dual-guitars -- but I don't want to outright bogart her links every time):

Matisyahu: The Hasidic Reggae Superstar

Direct from Brooklyn. I wonder if he and Fr. Stan Fortuna would ever considering collaborating on a project.

"Damn Good Times" Video

I have to admit, Nosferatu is not what came to my mind when I heard the song the first 100 times. And just a reminder, the TMBG "Here come the ABC's" CD and DVD will be out in only two weeks!

If you need further convincing of Tim Bete's wit, check out his Baby Pirate page. Very funny stuff. And now I really can't wait to read his book.

That awesome Polo Ad is a hoax. Does this make it any less awesome? Discuss.

No, I'm not dead. I have, though, been spending a lot of time (when I'm not working or shoveling snow) playing Ratchet and Clank: Up Your Arsenal on the PS2 (I got Grand Theft Auto burnout; it was becoming too much like work: drive here, attend a meeting, kill this person, drive over to another place, blow it up, etc.).

It's really cool because not only does it (R&C:UYA) allow you to blow up robots with lots of insane weapons and has a great sense of humor (the dialog is very funny and just today I witnessed the Courtney Gears -- think robotic Britney Spears, but not too hard -- music video... very funny) it also has this awesome online multiplayer mode (I got the wireless bridge, refurbished so it was cheaper, and set it up. With the right gear, it took less than five minutes to configure, filter the MAC address, etc.). Anyway, if you're ever playing Ratchet and Clank online and you get wasted by Dr. Jiggle then you must really suck because I'm not that good.

I also got in the mail today my review copy of Tim Bete's "In the Beginning... There Were No Diapers: LAughing and Learning in the First Years of Fatherhood". This will be a book I actually read as I read some excerpts that the publisher sent earlier and they were really funny and honest. And not corny funny or rip-off-Dave-Barry funny, but actually honest-to-gosh original humor funny.

A wise man, perhaps Hank Hill, once said of his own parental failures "all my books on parenting were written by comedians and I can't tell when they're being funny and when they're being serious". Well, from what little I've read Bete is both funny and serious, and that's the best combination.

Let the smackdown commence.

Seriously, you'd assume a Bishop would realize that the Church's teaching on contraception in particular or sexual ethics in toto is not something which is mutable -- so I would assume the A(hole)P just got the facts of the story wrong (quelle surprise).

Unless of course the Spanish Bishops were suggesting those infected with HIV and who want to spread it by engaging in immoral behavior wear the latex condoms over their nose and mouth for a period of not less than 20 or 30 minutes. That would be probably more effective at stopping the spread of HIV than wearing them on your ding-dong, and potentially no less morally serious an offense.

"The Pope himself asked us to set you free."

Pac Attack!

This is awful, AWFUL. And why is no one calling this a "hate crime". Mark Shea always said, no matter how brutal the offense, it's never a hate crime when it's against Catholics. He seems to have been correct.

On the other hand, for anyone with small children, the new TMBG DVD "Here Come The ABCs" will be a required purchase. I've seen a few video clips on the Disney Channel (they've been showing "QU" and "Go for G"). This one is going to be seriously cool. I don't know what the exclusive Amazon content will be... and I admit that I am curious... but for under $10 there is no way you could go wrong on this one.

This would be an excellent children's album had the lyricist for the project not made the awful, fatal, terrible mistake and decided that he would be the lead vocalist. This can seriously ruin even the best project -- taking a Grammy-nominated recording (which I guess this is) down to the level of "demo tape" in terms of listenability.

The lyrics are funny and clever and it's a really cool (albeit somewhat obvious) idea but Richard Perlmutter has to have the worst singing voice I've ever heard recorded on a CD that people are supposed to pay money for. Seriously. It's even worse than my own voice -- and I don't invoke that particular qualification lightly. He sounds like someone who is not a singer that I might have (accidentally) hit with my car, who is bleeding in the street, but is still trying to sing anyway: you just want to say "Stop it! Please just die peacefully!" but he keeps right on singing.

If you haven't yet, check out Big Idea's "VeggieTales: Sumo of the Opera", which was produced during the period where they moved from Chicago to Nashville under less than ideal circumstances (appropriately enough the three stories teach lessons in perseverance). It's definitely their most adventurous, daring, musically interesting, and funny episode yet. It's also their most "Catholic" episode (love that humorous and faithful -- rather, fanciful -- flannelgraph of St. Patrick's story -- apparently, and we learn this from the "making of" featurette, which is just one of about a dozen special features on the disc, Mike Nawrocki has been reading his Church history).

The DVD did not play very well in one of our DVD players (the first frames of each chapter were jittery, until I stopped and started it again -- as feature-packed as their DVDs are at this price point, ten dollars, with at least three different audio tracks, and so on, something like this was bound to happen sooner or later), so I emailed Big Idea tech support at 5:30pm on the Sunday before Christmas. I had a reply less than two hours later telling me they were working on the problem and since it may be a few weeks before they had a fixed version of the DVD ready to ship they could send me free of charge a VHS tape of the episode to watch. Since the DVD was working fine in our other DVD players, I declined, but none the less told them just how impressed I was by their fast response and willingness to put themselves out to make sure our family could enjoy the stories on the DVD in some form or another.

Anyway, I strongly recommend "Sumo of the Opera" for no other reason that you'll probably never laugh so hard at a parody of "Rocky" that's been blended with the "Mikado" and then acted out by vegetables. "Eye of the Tiger" meshes eerily well with Gilbert and Sullivan....

Unsurprisingly, this interview with Sister Helen Prejean on NPR only reinforces the sad observation that the concept "proportionality" exists nowhere in Sister Helen's world.

Notice how in the first sentence of the intro, Melissa Block explains that Prejean believes the death sentence to be morally wrong (which is debateable, though not given the straw man of a "pro-death penalty" argument Prejean erects later in the interview) and unconstitutional. Whuzzah-huh? I'd love to know her opinion on abortion, but I doubt she's given the subject much reflection, which only makes the title of her new book all the more offensive (morally offensive).

I do, however, find revealing (at least of her own personal motivations), her quaint, minstrel-show-inspired, Baez-esque impression of the (now late) southern (and retarded, by Prejean's description) African-American man (and convicted murderer) she counseled (three minutes and 10 seconds into the interview): "Sistuh Helen, I don't think I gonna eat dat, dat meal with dat Warden ... They gon' kill me!"

I don't know if it's JUSTICE that motivates Sister Helen as much as it is her own white-liberal sense of guilt which is, at its very heart, a form of racism. And it's only every so often, as we saw in the case with Joan Baez, that evidence of that underlying racism leaks out.

Schnappi das Kleine Krokodil

I bet this song would be even more fun on crocodile schnapps.

AltaVista's BabelFish translates the lyrics thusly:

"I am Schnappi the small crocodile come from Egypt, am located directly at the Nile first lay I in an egg then schni schna snatched myself I freely

(Refrain)
schni schna schnappi schnappi schnappi snatch schni schna schnappi schnappi schnappi snatch

I am Schnappi the small crocodile have sharp teeth and of it completely beautifully much I snatch myself which I snatch can snatch too because I so well can

I am Schnappi the small crocodile I snatch gladly that am my favourite play I creep to the mummy ran and show it as I to snatch can

I am Schnappi the small crocodile and of snatch war I not too much I bite the Papi briefly there in the leg and then then I sleep simply a."

(I guess in Germany you can get away with playing all that bad language in verse 2 on the radio).

Excellent synopsis of the Schnappi phenomenon over at POF. Unsurprisingly (and to which the various Schnappi remixes will attest), this is the most original piece of music Germany has produced in ... when did Wagner die again?

"He's smiling because he likes apples!"



(The previous picture featured a person frowning angrily because "he didn't like apples.")

Snow Fun!

For my money, Fred Armisen is the most talented player in the current SNL cast. I guess he's in "Anchorman", too, which makes me just want to see that movie all the more.

Poems by Louis Jenkins.

Create your own conspiracy theory!

Is Starbucks Black Apron just one of many masonic aprons -- perhaps George Washington's apron? Note the similarities between the round emblem at the top of Washington's apron and at the top of this apron.

Just a little food for thought.

Whee! I guess now you can download the "Robot Love" album from MSN in Windoze Media Player format (160kbps).



While I was there, checking out my page (click button above), I found the list of similar artists (similar to me, I presume). The samples from the collection of guitar- and Casio-driven pop songs by Nobukazu Takemura is particularly priceless.

Everybody welcome superfriend Britain back to the airwaves. Welcome back!

I can't wait until I unlock this (it'll be a while, though, as I'm still putting around Los Santos in my pimp suit and WWI-era German helmut). It'll be like Christmas all over again.

If anyone needs a brand new Belkin 802.11g Wireless Router and wants to help me out, cruise over to this eBay auction o' mine. I just had it out of the box overnight while I tried to make it work like a wLAN bridge with my Netgear wireless router (turns out is can only be a wLAN bridge with another Belkin router, but it works just fine as a primary wireless 802.11g 54m router, which is what it was really designed to do). I can't get the Netgear wireless bridge until I sell this thing, which means I can't take my PS2 online until I get rid of this (sad, I know). So if you are in the market for one of these, check it out. If you check the auction and it's over and didn't sell, drop me an email. It'll probably still be available and I'll probably be very willing to part with it.

As a working parent, you kind of get gypped when it comes to experiencing all the cute and wonderful and smart things your kids do. So here, for my own sake, I'm writing down a few of the things from this past week before I forget them:

On Friday he arranged the magnetic letters on his chalkboard in alphabetical order, and put the numbers in descending numerical order.

He started drawing glasses on his cartoon faces, this morning in Church.

He told me today that I should read the "silly book over there" and learn how to make the silly face (making face scrunched with tongue sticking out). I had no idea what he meant until he showed me the book.

He's memorized all the words to "Birdhouse in Your Soul", "Doctor Worm," "Don't Let's Start," "The Statute Got Me High," to name just a few of the TMBG songs he knows, and he has memorized the track order on Disc 1 of their collection, "Dial-A-Song".

His love for all things Pac-Man deepened.

He knows what letter many, many words start with. Even words you wouldn't think to ask about.

And that's only one small sampling of the things from this week I hope never to forget. Memory is cruel, though. I always seem to forget the things I want to remember until that worst possible moment when they're brought back for some awful ironic juxtaposition. Regardless, I love the little guy more than anything I can think of. Meanwhile, the search for the library's "If you give a Moose a Muffin" book continues. Only now we're looking for our other Nintendo Wavebird as well. He's got to have a stash someplace, but I'm not even sure he knows where it is.

Back from the Break

Okay, so I never really left. I spent the past week indoors, mostly, playing Playstation 2 and recovering from the holidays. You wouldn't think that just preparing for Christmas and spending time with the families would tire you out, but it does (and somewhat paradoxically, renews you at the same time). We got a new dishwasher unexpectedly, too. 'Xander's favorite toy from Christmas, apart from his new red wagon is one of those plug n' play Ms. Pac Man games. I though it was broken when it stopped working last Monday, but I just plugged it in with new batteries (which I tried on Monday) and now it works. Go figure.

"Katamari Damacy" for the PS2 is a thoroughly enjoyable game. It showed up on a lot of "best of" lists for 2004, and deservedly so. Check that out. My sister Maria got me "Taiko Drum Master", too, and 'Xander and I have been having a lot of fun with that as well.

I've also really been enjoying that murder simulator (which I didn't ask for, but my sister Monica got for me). In addition to being a murder simulator, it's also a paramedic simulator, a fire-fighter simulator, a bike-riding simulator, a dancing simulator, and many other kinds of simulator. It's really remarkable how much detail Rockstar Games put into making a parallel version of the state of California. My favorite, of course, is the nearly one dozen different radio stations you can choose from as you drive around: most playing music I was listening to in 1993 (when the game takes place). Seriously: every song featured on the "Master Sounds" station (mostly JBs and Maceo and the Macks) I bought on CD compilations in the early 1990s. And nothing takes me back to the days of riding in Karyl's 1989 Honda Civic like driving around the game universe listening to "Been Caught Stealing" by Jane's Addiction. Anyway, it's definitely not one for the kids and all of the things you do in the game that are so much fun (I thought I was having fun when I found the chainsaw, but THEN I found the flamethrower) sound thoroughly awful when you try to explain them to someone else (though I would be grateful if someone could tell me what the bouqet of flowers or the blind man's cane are for).

Anyway, that was my break. I didn't really do anything productive (except spend the whole week with my family, for which I'm very, very gateful), and I'm actually pretty okay with that.

Diary of a Faux Journalist

Has it really been 11 days since the last post? Well, okay, normal 'blogging will soon resume. I've been taking some time off from everything to get acquainted with a new PS2. New 'BlogTone this weekend, too!

Elf

Ever since I saw the first previews last September, I've wanted to see Elf. When I couldn't see it in the theatres, I realized that the DVD release was probably going to be held until the "Holiday Season" this year. It was definitely worth the wait and lived up to all my expectations. It's really funny. And even though I know that Santa Claus was just invented by Washington Irving to put down the rowdy Catholic wassail in this country (darned puritans!) it's still my favorite "Christmas movie" of all time. I want to see it again now!

Many New or Expectant Mothers Die Violent Deaths

Surprise, surprise, surprise. This couldn't have anything to do with a culture which has made it a woman's right to choose whether or not their unborn baby gets to die a violent death? But then, what about a man's right to choose? What if he doesn't want to have the baby... or a wife/girlfriend/committment? Why shouldn't he have the right to "abort" his family (or family to be -- a "fetal family", if you will) if thats what he chooses? Maybe in ten years when the Scott Peterson case makes it to the U.S. Supreme Court we'll be at a point in our society where a man's right to choose will just seem a natural consequence of Roe v. Wade and Peterson will be lauded as a hero in the fight for human rights. Men will march in rallies carrying signs with handguns or hunting knives with "no" signs over them (similar to those old clothes-hanger signs) to commemorate all the "unsafe, back-alley family abortions" (because if you draw a gun or a knife on someone, there's always a chance they'll be armed and shoot back -- and that really can endanger the life of the father) before family abortions became safe and legal. There will be debates in Congress (those politician most in favor of family abortion will see themselves proudly named on "Scott's List") to determine how much in aid we send overseas to promote the right of men to abort their families... and on this the U.S. will finally have made common ground with the radical Islamic states (and we'll be one step closer to world peace). Instead of condemning these men to death, shouldn't be praising them, holding dinners in their honor?

UPDATE: ScrappleFace beat me to it and was funny about it.

Well played, Scrappleface. You win this round....

New "Doctor Who" series official webpage.

There's a teaser trailer up there, but it's nothing to write home about just yet.

Just when you think NPR was getting all cool and populist (last night "All Things Considered from a Liberal Point of View" featured a story on Karaoke Revolution for the PS2) they run this piece which all but accuses the only American diplomats in Cuba of antagonizing poor old Castro and putting all of U.S. Business' interests (since when did NPR ever care about U.S. Business' interests) in Cuba in jeopardy -- by putting up some Christmas lights and the number "75" on a sign.

Praise God.

It's the most awful thing imaginable just about that the mother should die that way, but you can definitely tell she was up in Heaven interceding for the life of her baby. Notice how now that the poor kid has been found alive she's now a "baby" and not a "fetus" (at least as far as most news outlets are concerned. Queer dat. I wonder, though: since she was never "born" will she remain to some a fetus? Will she be going into job interviews twenty-two years from now and be expected to introduce herself as a 22-year-old fetus?

Even the "conservative" Fox News Network maintained she was a fetus all throughout the search. Bastards. If you ask me they're not much better than the folks who murdered her mother: they killed the mother with a kife, Fox News would kill the baby by denying her humanity -- at least until it becomes impossible (oh, the kid survived? Must be a baby) to do so.

Holiday Classic

Kathy Shaidle's "The Night Before Kwanzaa"

Man finally bites dog!

In my lifetime, even! Yay!

Run, Robot, Run!

Thanks, RC!

Nintendo Unthreatened by PSP: Satoru Iwata states Nintendo will not lose handheld war against Sony.

Iwata claims the reason behind such a successful launch lies with Nintendo's dedication to innovation. The NCL President has spoken in favor of this approach for some time now, stating that impressive graphics and conventionally powerful game consoles no longer satisfy consumers. Only game systems capable of providing new levels of interaction between the player and the software will succeed in coming years.

I happen to agree, and it's pretty ironic considering the GameCube's utter lack of oneline multiplayer capability Warp Pipe withstanding) versus Sony's free and open adoption of the concept. Of the two portable systems, however, I definitely think that Nintendo's is better poised to provide more fulfilling game experiences. I think regardless it'll be a big hit in Japan (unless Sony really pushes the movie angle of the PSP -- does anyone know if it has an S-video output? If it does, the DS may be sunk), but America, with it's tendency towards populist dissing of superior formats, as usual, is pretty much up for grabs.

We just caught Karroll's Christmas on A&E (yeah, I know, we never watch A&E but there was a preview for it on one of the real channels earlier in the evening). It's definitely the only adaptation of "A Christmas Carol" that I would ever consider watching again. Very funny and actually among the more Christmassy of the adaptations (featuring actual Christmas hymns -- and the actual first Christmas... kinda).

Of course it was just a treat to see Wallace Shawn, Verne "Mini Me" Troyer, Larry Miller (especialy him), and Alanna Ubach (who some may remember best as Josie, Beakman's lab assistant, and others may remember as Marsha Brady's lesbian admirer and still others still may know from all her voice work with Disney) all in the same cast. This will probably be on again (it's on every day this week, as it turns out) so definitely try and check it out. It's not great but like I said, it's probably on the better end of the spectrum of Christmas Carol adaptations (admittedly, that's saying a great deal. But we did enjoy it).

Fiona's Gourmet Coffee and Salad Dressing -- Winner of the "Most Unfortunate Logo Design" award.

I guess my dad mentioned something about this a few weeks ago, but it wasn't until I saw it on POF that I realized it really existed: Barney Shakur (caution: f-bombs and it will make you laugh until you cry). Even better that it was done six years ago, and appears to have been assembled on VHS -- iMovie be damned!

Read Katie's Doubleshot Thoughts (we'll assume for the moment that these are doubleshots of espresso and not Jäger). Another fine 'blog that I'll have to add when I go in and prune my linklist over on the right there.

Sounds good to me. I'll see if I can rein in my use of "Happy Holidays" this year.

Salt + Light TV Homepage

I'll have to entrez this site sometime when I'm a little less tipsy tired. It looks to be pretty decent, though. Hard to say since I can't find any video clips or anything. Oh wait, here they are. Oh, wow... they're all Canadian. I think that being a faithful Catholic and a Canadian in this day and age must be akin to being a member of the French Underground during the war (don't ask me which war, I don't know). Anyway, you should totally check out that website, I guess. Not much there, really, to keep you coming back, but the fact that the Royal Canadian Reichstag would allow a telelvision station on the air which professed to be faithful to Catholic doctrine is in itself pretty amazing. Oh well, we'll see what happens when any of them need some of that socialistically-funded medical care or surgery, eh?

Jeff Miller pointed me (well, not me PERSONALLY, it was on his 'blog) to that site, but of course has some funny things to say about it.

For my money, Frank Caliendo is the finest impressionist out there. There's some funny video from his Fox Sports gig on his website (his Robin Williams is uncanny) but my favorite is going to be his Andy Rooney bit on colorful phrases. I wish I could find that one online.

And I really thought those crazy kids would make it.

MSNBC - Deadly shipwreck now a major Alaska oil spill

It's two, two, TWO catasrophes in one! Soon to be also a major motion picture and a song by U2.

These are the moments...

Those SODAK Moments.

Most decidely and vehemently, as all we should be, not complacent after the election.

Dr. John proves again why he's the coolest.

This CD, on the other hand, made me want to shoot myself in the brain.

Kind of cute (in a crass "rape-my-childhood-memories-for-profit" kind of way).

Personally I think it's missing a scene where Don Cornelius throws Dan Rather (dressed as the Bumble Snowman) over a cliff and instead of bouncing he goes splat! and all this red clay comes out of his tummy and mouth.

In case you're wondering what makes the Rubberband Man commercial mentioned below different from the CBS spot is that the Office Max promo is a work of genius: it gently references the stop-motion genre without placing itself directly in the most recognizable example of that genre. It also takes a beloved character (the Rubberband Man) who exemplifies the heroic (not to mention he came out of nowhere, which just makes him awesome) and elevates him to mythic extremes. The CBS promo has... Charlie Sheen.

Nothing warmed the shackles of my heart more than the new Rankin and Bass inspired Rubberband Man commercial, from OfficeMax (see it here or possibly here. The remixed music is even pretty good (unlike the GAP commercials where they not only had someone re-record "Shining Star", but mercilessly chopped it up -- I HATE it when they do that!). But mostly it's the way they captured all of Eddie Steeples' moves in animagic. Anyway, it's my new favorite commercial.

Artist Unveils Monumental Ode to the Pixel for its 50th Birthday

I didn't have this in mind when I wrote a song about pretty much the same subject but I guess the two compliment each other.

And of course it's not the bicentennial birthday of the pixel, as the article says (over and over and over), it's the semicentennial birthday of the pixel. But I guess if you're painting blue squares on a canvas and calling it art you can't really be expected to know that.

SILENCE!?!

What's with all the 'bloggers bailing lately? Maybe 'blogging is the new fondue, now? Maybe 20 years from now our children will tease us about our weblogs and they'll turn up as a running joke on the Simpsons.

Meet Riffington. His nickname is "Riffy" which is totally an insult to the REAL Riffy, the roller-skate-wearing alligator who was the R.I.F. mascot when I was a kid. I emailed Riffington to ask whatever happened to Riffy the Alligator. We'll see if he replies.

Things I did not know:

Fr. Bryce has a doctorate. All these years and he never mentioned it.

Here's the quote I appreciate:

To that end, he’s taught philosophy at Sacred Heart High School. “I’m a firm believer in the need for philosophy,” he explains. “A lot of the young people have problems with God and faith, but the real underlying problem is with philosophy. They haven’t been taught how to reason and think.”

I don't wanna steal from POF again, but I gotta:

The Ten Least Successful Holiday Specials of All Time. All are funny and some are really funny.

Nintendo Sells 500,000 DS Handhelds in First Week

A word or two about the PSP: yes, it's an awesome-looking system BUT it'll cost $50 more than the DS, I'm guessing the games will be more than the $30 it costs for a DS game, and if the battery life comes close to matching even 25% of the DS' 8-hour battery life, I'll be very surprised (solid-state rules!).

Funniest Hitler Disco Video Ever!!!

Link via POF. Actual video produced by Johan Söderberg who seems to have a real knack for this stuff (though I'm not sure I get the whole Israeli prime minister thing but the Bush/Blair meets Richie/Ross song is classic). Brevity truly is the soul of wit.

Dog bites man.

Nintendo DS

Since Jackie has been feeling under the weather this past week, I gave her her birthday present a few weeks early: the new Nintendo DS and a copy of "The Urbz", the new console Sims game.

So far we've been very impressed with the DS, both in terms of overall functionality, presentation, and battery life. While "The Urbz" doesn't tax the capabilities of the system (I haven't really played it yet of course, but there's no 3D that I've been able to see, and so far touch-screen usage has been limited to option selection in the inventory menus -- though it's really cool to be able to use the inventory while your sim sleeps or reads or whatever they need to do) the graphics are much crisper than on the GBA SP (increased resolution will do that). The "Metroid: Prime" demo that came with the DS really does look incredible, though. It looks pretty much like the GameCube version would look like running on a screen of that size -- and the touch-screen controls for that game (basically it uses the touchscreen as a map/weapon select/analog control stick) are amazing.

Hopefully at some point (next year) we'll get Mario 64 DS which I guess is the best game out for it. Can't wait to try the wireless multiplayer and microphone capabilities at some point (I'd like to also pick up Sonic Team's "Feel The Magic" when that's in the bargain bin next year), as those are as yet untapped on our particular DS.

I would strongly recommend the DS for purchase as there's just so much that's cool about this system (even if the games aren't there just yet), if you can find one.

I spent most of my day off today playing Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time for GameCube. I'd picked up the game many months ago but had only made it a third of the way through when I put it on the shelf but I decided to pick it up again and I'm really glad I did. It's certainly one of the most fun games I've played in the past couple of years and for all the running and jumping it's not that frustrating at all. The story is also very cool (I especially liked the ending bit).

I hear the sequel which just came out isn't as good (and they ruined the prince character) so I'll probably be giving that one a pass....

Here's a sample animation I whipped up quickly which represents the germ of an idea I have for a new game. I have a couple of ideas of the way the game could be developed, but anyway, here's a cool animation which shows the approximate design direction: priest_maze_1.swf

Take a pill.
Form a band.
Lots of time now on your hands.
I don't care,
About movie,
At least not until Sept. thirty.

Cut the studio some slack.
For pushing the release date back.
Burn the ham
And boil the peas
While you wait for Sept. thirty.

There's no place that you will see
A movie called "Serenity".
At least before Sept. thirty...

So we watched the second episode of "House" on Fox tonight and usually I hate medical doctor shows (well, not HATE exactly), but since Hugh Luarie is one of the most underrated actors of all time (still will always remember both he and Stephen Fry best in the Jeeves and Wooster series) I figured it was worth a go.

And yeah, it's pretty funny for a medical doctor show. There are some good lines and while it's not High Art, Laurie manages to elevate the show to something it would otherwise not be (i.e. watchable). If you like seeing people get needles poked into their eyes and holes drilled into their skulls (along with complementary computer representations on a microscopic level) as a team of otherwise competent doctors misdiagnose that one in a million patient over and over and over again (to be fair, the break up the "A" patient plot with a number of "B", "C", and "D" patient plots which show that, yes, House, M.D., is, in fact, a very good diagnostician), then this is the show for you.

Taking a tip from the latest issue of Keyboard magazine, I checked out Jen's (just Jen, I guess) website: IAmJen.com. Apparently Jen does all of her own recording out of her apartment in NY, and so I picked up the EP (which including shipping sets me back $6). The audio samples sound pretty darned good, in my opinion. There'll be a capsule review of the EP when it arrives.

Cogitated.

Anyone who digs my music is a friend of mine.

The Incredibles

See this movie. See it now. And after you've seen it, see it again. This is the most amazing, awesomest movie I've ever seen. Better than Return of the King, better than The Passion. There's just too much to recommend.

Liberal Scientists believe man evolved by jogging.

Next year they'll publish their research which suggests that man can further evolve by driving hybrid vehicles built by Toyota, becoming vegetarian, putting solar cells on their roof, and voting for John Kerry.

If you ask me, with the November, 2004, issue, the New Oxford Review has gone from "cheeky" to "reeky". It's one thing to offer uncharitible critiques of major publications (even though they can't seem to bring themselves to distinguish in their attacks between the activities of Crisis magazine and Deal Hudson himself, who isn't even its publisher anymore) but when you go after individual 'bloggers (especially my friends) for what they write on their personal weblogs (especially when what they write there is consistent with Church teaching, you just don't like either what they have to say or they, themselves)... well, that goes beyond the merely petty into vindictiveness.

Best StrongBad email ever!

Government looking at military draft lists

The Selective Service System (SSS) and the U.S. Department of Education now are gearing up to compare their computer records, to make sure all men between the ages of 18 and 25 who are required to register for a military draft have done so.

The SSS and the education department will begin comparing their lists on Jan. 1, 2005, according to a memo authored by Jack Martin, acting Selective Service director.

Also in Louisiana, they're making boys register for the SSS when they get their drivers' license, the bastards.

Garfield

was pretty much as bad as I thought it would be. It was 'Xander's special, unsolicited request, though, so I was happy to pick it up. I wasn't prepared to laugh at it, though, like I did once or twice (mainly whenever the dog would start dancing, and then whenever I pictured Bill Murray in a sound booth recording some of his lines). Also the movie is pretty violent: remember that one Garfield comic strip where the star of a famous pet TV show is attacked by a pack of stray dogs from the pound and then those dogs put an electric, studded shock collar around his neck and then Garfield and Odie push buttons on a remote control to send thousands of volts of electricity through the collar (it had to be at least thousands, given the arcs coming off that collar and grounding out through a nearby iron railing) and then Jon and Liz walk in and Jon punches the poor guy (literally smoldering from the electrical current that had been running through his neck) full-on in the jaw so hard he knocks him out?

Neither do I.

The funniest part of the movie, though, was when Garfield did that thing they showed in all the trailers where he's in the bed of a pickup and the truck stops for a light and he flies forward and hits the glass, and then slides down the glass. 'Xander saw that part and then stared at us compeltely mortified -- since Garfield didn't appear immediately in the next scene it took all the convincing we could do to convince 'Xander that Garfield hadn't died.

FamilesAndWork.org: "National Study of the Changing Workforce" Reveals Significant Changes in Work and Family Lives of U.S. Employees

All you culture watchers out there might not be surprised by this, but I found this to be interesting:

Among the study's key findings:
...
Fathers in dual-earner couples today spend 42 minutes more doing household chores on workdays than fathers in 1977. Mothers have reduced their time by approximately the same amount. So the combined time that spouses in dual-earner couples with children spend on household chores has not changed over 25 years-what has changed is how family work is divided.

Employees with families report significantly higher levels of interference between their jobs and their family lives than employees 25 years ago (45% vs. 34% report this "some" or "a lot"). And men with families report higher levels of interference between their jobs and their family lives than women in the same situation.
...

Kind of cool that being a dad is now more important to more working men that it has been at any time over the last 25 years.

A cool idea to promote EA Games' "The Urbz". Sadly, we'll have to wait a few weeks yet for Evan Dorkin's entry.

Bubba Ho-Tep

Definitely not exactly what I thought it would be, not that it was any worse off for not being what I expected. I expected 90 minutes of Bruce Campbell as old Elvis and Ossie Davis as old JFK kicking mummy butt. What I got was about 15 minutes of Bruce Campbell as old Elvis and Ossie Davis as old JFK kicking mummy butt (which rocked), about 30 minutes of funny old Elvis and old JFK in a nursing home banter, and 45 minutes of Bruce Campbell as old Elvis (definitely one of his most memorable roles -- seriously, right up there with Ash) reflecting on life, being cast off, death, dying, and what it means to have a soul (as opposed to not); some of this reflection works and some of which doesn't. But it's Bruce Campbell as old Elvis, so the bad definitely offsets the good.

I would recommend it, but know what you're getting into. There is some classic Campbell physical comedy/action (as Elvis, even!), but there is far more talk (voiceover, actually -- which usually doesn't work, but, again, it's Bruce Campbell as old Elvis so it's good).

As someone who works in an operations center and very closely with Tech Support, I appreciated this bit from Conan O'Brien's show very much.

Link via POF.

A nice turn of phrase from Barbara Nicolosi.

The sheep are so unused to beauty at the liturgy, that they feel like they have to bang their hooves together in pathetic gratitude whenever they get some.

And there are some other, as the French say, "good words" in that post, as well.

Lay Group Mobilizes Against Kinsey Fraud

Kinsey himself was a homosexual, with a predilection for young boys; in his research, he included studies of sexual activity with children, in flagrant violations of the law.
Kinsey's research activities led him to form alliances with pedophiles and pornographers, to rely on evidence furnished through a Nazi doctor's experiments, and to pressure his assistants into performing in sexually explicit films.

Trained as a zoologist, Kinsey violated dozens of scientific standards in his work. Yet because of his alliances with powerful groups such as the Rockefeller Foundation and Planned Parenthood, he managed to obtain widespread recognition for work that never passed through the ordinary process of scientific review, and has been contradicted by the available data from truly scientific studies.

There are some samples of the new TMBG/Disney alaphet collaboration online and this is SO going to rock. It looks to be a mixture of computer animation, live action ("QU" has to be one of the funniest things I've ever seen) and even the Deeply Felt Puppet Company shows up. 'Xander's already singing along to the video clips (which is not surprising considering he's memorized all the songs and dances from Direct from Brooklyn (and is now well on the way to memorizing all the concert footage from Gigantic.

The bad news: we have to wait until February.

Okay, I know that yesterday was Halo Day and that apparently it's the best game ever made, but I don't have an Xbox (Santa? Are you listening?) so it's Metroid: Prime 2: "Echoes" that I'm looking forward to quite a bit. It looks pretty awesome with the whole Ikaruga-style light vs. dark gameplay. The original Metroid: Prime is I think one of the best games ever in terms of story-telling, music, and general ambience. This video leads me to believe that M:P:Echoes will completely surpass the original in all these areas. I'm a far cry from a Nintendo fanboy, and as a musician I think the Metroid theme (really all the musical themes which run through the games) are some of the most evocative tunes written for games or even movies.

Lefty Media: Top court brands Belgian far-right party racist

Belgium's far-right Vlaams Blok was branded racist in a supreme court ruling that will force one of Europe's most successful anti-immigrant parties to relaunch itself.

I'm sorry, but I just have to represent. It'll be interesting to see what the Blok does next. Given the history of Flanders in terms of dealing with foreign invaders, what comes next could be quite good. Seriously, if they go after the Dutch influence on Flanders next (i.e. widespread euthanasia, gay marriage, abortion, general cultural extermination, etc.) the place may actually be worth repatriating at some point. Schild en vriend, baby.

(Incidentally, Vlaams means "Flemish" and Vlams is my login-id at work).

Wesley J. Smith: How To Talk California Taxpayers Out Of $3 Billion.

The bitter irony here is that while Californians refuse to fund treatment centers that could make the difference between people living and dying today, they are pursuing treatments and cures that, if they come at all, are likely a decade or more away. What could explain such folly? Blame the awesome power of big money, big celebrities, and big hype.

I'm going to have to pick up Smith's new book: Consumer's Guide to A Brave New World. This article here touches on a bit about what my novel was about.

"Must... pad... story...."

Seriously, this probably sould've gotten maybe 50 or 75 words of copy. But I guess the reporter had a certain amount of white space to fill and figured that all of his unsuccessful leads (it's almost funny how much people didn't want to talk to this guy) as well as a few Google searches taken together were almost as good as news:

Mr. Veal's neighbors in Athens did not return repeated telephone calls, and people in an apartment complex where he once lived said they did not recognize his name.

...

Hotel security workers called the Port Authority police, Mr. Coleman added.

A man named Pedro, who identified himself as the head of hotel security but refused to give his last name, adamantly denied this account.

"All the calls come down to us," he said. "Nothing came from this hotel."

...

A paper credited to an Andrew Veal at the University of Georgia that focuses on behavior patterns in churches is posted on the Internet.

Ella Enchanted

We finally got around to renting "Ella Enchanted" last night, a movie we'd been meaning to rent but hadn't heard a lot about. If you like watching movies, RENT THIS MOVIE. It's probably the sweetest movie, the movie with the most heart, I've ever seen. It's funny, and very, very entertaining. It won't blow your mind with profundities, to be sure, and it won't change your life, but it will entertain you. And it's sweet. And it has a lot of heart (the final shot of Cary Elwes' character convinced me that this is the movie most lacking in malice -- talking about the production of the movie itself -- I've ever seen). Which isn't to say it's boring. This movie is easily one of the top-five entertaining movies I've ever seen (right up there with "Ghostbusters").

The scene upon entering the elf village alone is worth whatever you pay to rent or Netflix it.

Anyway, however funny this movie is, it wasn't half as funny as when 'Xander turned to us, midway through the movie (which was, to be fair, about 11pm) and said "It's dark outside and I need sleep."