The corniest of holidays

Well, I'll be leaving tomorrow morning for my Christmas holiday break, so I leave you with a somewhat creepy no-flash picture of the Christmas lights outside my house. I hope everyone has a great holiday, and I look forward to 2007, who's motto should be "It Can't Possibly Get Any Worse." (didn't 2006 have a similar motto?)

Here's to staring down the latter part of the Crap Decade and saying "you can't get me down, I have blurry photos of decorative lights!"

HACK COUGH COUGH

So it appears I caught TB. Spent last weekend in a Russian prison. At least I got a cool tattoo of an eagle eating a bear out of the harrowing ordeal!

No, actually, that's not true at all. The only thing that is true is that I've had a bad cough for the past week plus. I had a little adventure going to the doctor's office yesterday, what with juggling my schedule at work just so I could go, being asked to reschedule the appointment, and having to wait 45 minutes anyways. The verdict: I have a sinus infection. So now I'm on an antibiotic for the next ten days, and all I can taste is cough drops.

Can you drink on amoxicillin? Our holiday party is tonight after work.

LO-COST MEAT

Well, it's done - my secret mission to the West Coast has been completed. Yeah, I'm still a little wary of blabbing about the details online. Most of you probably know what's up, but if you dying to find out, drop me a line and I'll explain.

Bottom line: WE NEED MORE MEAT FOR THE STREET

It is your old pal

What do I have in common with Grover?

We are both lovable, furry and OLD.

Well, happy 30th birthday to me.

Yakkin' about music

I know I've talked about my musical explorations a few times in this forum. My musical musings are usually met with stunning indifference - as opposed to when I post an amusing picture of myself (you guys seem to like that). Be that as it may, I'd still like to take some time to run down some of my favorite music produced this year. This has been a pretty good year. No fewer than 16 new full-length albums came to my attention (that's quite a bit for me in terms of new music). Here are my favorites and my comments for 2006 - the first annual Romie Awards, if you will. I may post about movies I liked from this year in the near future, but that remains to be seen (mostly because I haven't thought about it as much). Here we go:

Best thing to happen to music in a while:

eMusic. It's economical (at $10 a month for 30 downloads) and has a great selection. If you aren't on eMusic, I highly recommend signing up. If you've never downloaded before, this is an easy way to get into it. If you've been downloading music, well, get legal, suckers! For $10 a month and a little patience, you'll get most of what you want, which makes eMusic a better buy than cable TV. If you do sign up, let me know, because I can get free downloads for referring you! Downside: you may end up with more music than you want. Which leads me to...

Most disappointing album of 2006:

The Raconteurs, "Broken Boy Soldiers." I only listened to this once, I think. Meh.

Best surprise I found while poking around on eMusic:

Billy Childish and Dan Melchior, "Devil in the Flesh." Awesome lo-fi garage blues set originally released in one of my favorite years, 1998.

Best CD I bought for five bucks:

The Dreamland Faces, "Dreamland Faces" EP. An accordian and musical saw duo, the Dreamland Faces play 1920s style tunes with flair and more than a little menace. They recently relocated to Wisconsin from Rochester, so they aren't really local any more, but they do return to perform here often. I bought this at their performance in August at the Dryden Theater, where they provided spot-on accompaniment to two of Lon Chaney's silent films.

Best album by an old guy:

Ramblin' Jack Elliott, "I Stand Alone." I think this is an appropriate category for a year in which I face my own aging head-on. Yes, yes, I know, Bob Dylan released "Modern Times" this year. And it's very good, don't get me wrong. But Ramblin' Jack influenced Bob back when Bob was a young rambler, and "I Stand Alone" is worth it, even though Jack's voice is going.

Best rediscovery of a classic rock band:

Creedence Clearwater Revival. I downloaded "Green River" and "Bayou Country" from the aforementioned eMusic. Another plus for downloading - getting reacquainted with the catalog of the greatest rock band of the late 60s/early 70s.

Best new album I've yet to hear:

Joanna Newsom, "Ys." I've been told it's very, very good. We shall see.

Best excuse to spend too much money on music:

Tom Waits, "Orphans." Just have a look at the track listing. I wasn't going to buy this, because I thought it would just recapitulate stuff he's already done, but it appears I'm wrong. And that's gotten me excited. Incidentally, did I mention that my birthday is this coming Sunday?

And now, here they are,

My Five Favorites from 2006 (in alpha order):

Belle and Sebastian, "The Life Pursuit"
Neko Case, "Fox Confessor Brings the Flood"
The Decemberists, "The Crane Wife"
Sonic Youth, "Rather Ripped"
Bruce Springsteen, "We Shall Overcome: The Pete Seeger Sessions"

Of cranes and spies

Wow, kids - I am really impressed with the latest album by the Decemberists, "The Crane Wife." I bought it only a few weeks ago, and I only now listened to it for the second time. Though I think I need to listen to it more to get a better sense of the overall story (because I think there is at least a loose story connecting the songs on the album), I can honestly say that "O Valencia," "Yankee Bayonet" and "Sons and Daughters" are great, shimmering folk-rock songs - all three are near-classics. If you've never heard this band, give it a listen. I know all those indier-than-thou kids out there insist that the Decemberists have lost a step since "their early stuff," but it's mere snobbery. They've only improved over time, and they've especially improved since the great but not necessarily classic "Picaresque."

Now if only they would play live somewhere near Rochester.

Incidentally, I found this photo online - what the Decemberists would look like as Lego mini-figures. Check out the source site for more (my personal favorite Lego rockers - the White Stripes. Sonic Youth as Lego figures is just confusing - which one is Thurston, and which one is Lee? And who's the fifth Youth? They've been a four-piece for a while, right?).

In other news - last night I once again got to see a free movie in advance of its opening. This time, it was "Casino Royale." I'm not a die-hard Bond fan, but I was looking forward to this movie. And it's good, it really is. It's just too darn long. I was shifting in my seat during what I thought were two or three climactic scenes, only to be presented with a new twist. However, some judicious pruning would have helped earlier in the film, not at the end. Have no idea what I'm talking about? You'll probably just have to go see it.

D > B

Happy November, from gray and wet Rochester.

So, we finally get some funny comedies playing in the multiplexes. Last Saturday I attempted to see "Borat" on its opening night. I think every college student in town showed up to see it. The line extended out to the sidewalk. Also, it opened at only two theaters in town. So, now that "Borat" has expanded to a few other theaters, I went to see it yesterday. And yes, it's funny. The stereotypes Borat is playing to are Eastern European stereotypes, rather than Central Asian ones, but other than riding horses across the steppes, what other Central Asian stereotypes do people know? It was as wild as people say. However, I can't call it the funniest movie of the year.

Reason being: I saw a sneak preview of "Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny" back on Thursday night. This is your funniest movie of the year, people. It's so over the top, so un-self-conscious (Borat, meanwhile, is all self-conscious, all affectation) - I loved it. I've been a fan of The D for a while now, though. Explosivo!

But wait! I'm back again, just to say that "Little Miss Sunshine" was pretty darn hilarious too, and that came out this year. Darn superlatives, so subjective. I guess "Little Miss Sunshine" is a little different class of picture.

A Halloween revelation

Vanilla flavored Tootsie Rolls are actually quite good.

Have a happy "Revert Back To Your Childhood" Day!

DART(mout)H VADER

So, where have I been? Well, let me tell you! First off, on the 20th I presented at a conference at my old place of work (the BU Science Library, fresh off some major remodeling and redecorating) and caught up with some old friends in the Southern Tier (thanks peeps). When the presentation gets put up on the web, maybe I'll link it, and you can all bask in it's reflected glory (or say to yourselves "so this is what he does at his so-called job!"). Then, last weekend, I traveled up to Dartmouth College, braving crazy New England drivers and Moose Crossing signs to attend a conference up there. The featured speaker was Roy Tennant, who is always inspiring and interesting to us semi-geeky info dweebs. I'm glad to be home after all that driving, but I sure needed the break. At least I got to break up the trip to Dartmouth with a stop over at my parents' house.

So what does any of this have to do with the picture posted here? Well, nothing really - I'm just so damn proud of it. The library is buying a memorial brick (part of a campus fundraiser), and Mr. T is saying my preferred inscription. No, it was not the inscription ultimately chosen - details, details.

The best of the bad

Everybody grab your crotch and spit on the floor in honor of the closing of CBGB. Nice to know they held out this long, into the era of million dollar artist's "lofts" in downtown Manhattan.

Stylin'

Check the hair:




Looking good, President Musharraf!

This is so dorky it's rather cute

Yes, I know, there's been naught but silence around here lately. Work has been very busy, what do you want? Just watch the silly video. Yes, "Weird" Al plus Lego Star Wars figures - needs no further explanation. Kind of makes me sad that I sold most of my Star Wars Lego collection on eBay (ok, not really).

Giddy!

Cartooning scholar and maestro Scott McCloud is coming to RIT! He'll be giving a lecture next Monday (9/18), and signing his new book. OK, yeah, I'm a little too excited about this. But I'm more excited by the prospect of Scott coming back for an event in my library in early October! This will rank up there with meeting Bill Plympton last year. Oh, and Don Hertzfeldt came to Rochester too, but I didn't actually get to meet him.

ALT-COMICS GEEKSTRAVAGANZA!

Incongruous

Happy September. Last night some work friends and I journeyed to the New York State Fairgrounds in Syracuse to see a concert - yeah, you guessed it, Toby Keith! No, actually it was the Flaming Lips. I guess that the State Fair isn't such an incongruous location for a Flaming Lips concert as it seems. What better place than a carnival to watch the man in the white suit shoot confetti and streamers at you while dancers dressed as space chicks or in Santa Claus outfits boogie on the sides of the stage? I had a great time at the show - I defy any of you not to enjoy yourself at a Flaming Lips show.

On the down side, we were supposed to see Sonic Youth as well, but we arrived too late to catch their set. Turns out they didn't perform before the Flaming Lips, but went on before the third act, Ween. None of us really got Ween, but there were some hard-core Ween fans there (mostly drunk). Damn. Now I have to see Sonic Youth some other time. There was a fourth band too (the opening act), but none of us knew who they were, so no biggie.

The reason we arrived late - yesterday afternoon was Open House at the RIT Library. This is always a fun but exhausting event, and this year was no exception. So basically my day yesterday involved making buttons (or badges, as they're called in Britain), eating candy and hot dogs, and cheering and singing along to weird trippy music performed by a band that loves everyone. This is probably the first time since pre-school that I can describe a day in this manner.

UPDATE: Case some cool photos provided by one of my concert compatriots! (alliteration provided as a special bonus)

And then there were eight

So it's now official - Pluto is no longer designated as a planet. I was secretly hoping for the astronomy community to add lots more little stuff as planets, in the slim hopes that Galactus and Unicron would make the cut.

Also, did they not consider the effect this would have on the good folks at the Ithaca ScienCenter and the Carl Sagan Planet Walk? I think the City of Ithaca might be forced to remove a few blocks from their grid.

I've had it with this m%$@!$f$%&^#* meme on the m$#@%$f%*$&@! internet!

So, today is the big day, the "Snakes on a Plane" day. The day that the hype stops being hype and the dollars start coming into the studio, thanks to all those jokesters out there who talked this movie up for almost a year. With an essentially free ad campaign, how can they not make money?

As for me, I'm still unsure of whether I'll even see "Snakes on a Plane" this weekend. Maybe it's age or something, but a not-insignificant part of me is a little saddened by all this wink wink it's actually a good bad movie nonsense. Maybe it's because I used to feel that being in on the joke made me, I don't know, special. Now everyone is in on the joke, even cable news. Leave it to cable news to ruin just about anything. Bah. Snakes. Planes. Inside jokes that everyone is in on. Who needs 'em?

Christmas card from a hooker in Minneapolis

On Sunday I saw not one but TWO Tom Waits concerts in succession. Can you say "once in a lifetime?" I knew you could!

Sunday afternoon I headed out with a co-worker and Tom Waits obsessive to the wilds of Ohio. We hit the first show at the Akron Civic Theatre in, uh, beautiful downtown Akron (sadly, I was unable to spot any statuary honoring local sons Devo). The performance was great, despite an unexplained 40 minute delay in getting started. The theater is a truly beautiful performance space.

And that alone would have been great. But, as this was the last stop on his brief summer tour, he decided to play one more gig at the House of Blues in Cleveland. We had to wait in line for over an hour just to pick up our tickets (all will-call even though all the tickets sold out ahead of time). The show didn't actually start until about 1:30am, but the wait was worth it. The venue was only about half the capacity of the Akron theater, with people packed in a lot more densely. I could see the faces of the performers on stage. It was incredible. The Akron show was great and would have been enjoyed by any Tom Waits fan, but the House of Blues show was one that any live music buff would have appreciated, fan or not.

Edit: view set lists from the Akron and Cleveland performances, compiled by those wily bloggers! The "Ramblin' Man" performed in Cleveland is not the Allman Brothers tune, but rather the old Hank Williams tune.

Happy little diversions

OK, it's time to get back to writing about fun things. Like the interesting junk you can find to amuse yourself on USA Today's Pop Candy blog. For instance, test your BS detecting ability with Blufr. This is a lot of fun, but if you play for a while you start to get repeated questions. If you get bored with Blufr, then sing along with what's sure to become a classic (though probably blashpemous) American standard - "Jon Stewart Is God."

I am no good at anything anymore

Long time readers may remember that last summer I had a little nautical trouble when I went fishing off the coast of Cape Cod. Well, for some crazy reason (probably to show boats and water who's boss), I ventured out on Lake Ontario with some co-workers on a 34 foot sailboat this past Saturday afternoon. And the results were worse - seasickness in a more, shall we say, tangible form. Notice how there are no photos in this post? That's because I couldn't get up to get my camera.

You win yet again, open water.

The finest in foreign films

I'm really digging the Dryden Theatre's summer popcorn movie series. Last night they showed a double feature of Godzilla movies. As I'm a tremendous fan of trash culture, you know I was there.

First up was the original (subtitled) Gojira from 1954. Surprisingly, it's a serious movie. Any laughs during this one were unintentional, and had more to do with wooden acting (noticable even in Japanese) and corny effects. It's a pretty dark movie, thematically and visually. Filmed in grimy black-and-white, it's all nuclear paranoia and dying civilians, and even a contains a line of dialogue about surviving Nagasaki only to be confronted by Godzilla's rampage.

The second half of the double feature was the day-glo, campy Kaijuto no Kessen: Gojira no Musuko, known to us as "Son of Godzilla," from 1967, also screened in subtitled form. Lots of battles between Godzilla and son and giant insects. Gotta love it. Godzilla movies are ultimately all about fun, though both movies had underlying themes about the consequences of experimenting with and altering nature too much.

Cinematic nonsense

What to do when it's too hot and your body is acclimated to a northern clime? Why, go to the movies, of course! And that's just what I did over the past weekend. Having long since gotten over my pirate phase, here's what I saw:

Wordplay - yeah, I know, a dorky movie about dorks. But hey, I like crossword puzzles. And though I could probably out-crossword any of you, I would be obliterated by the (get this) competitive crossword puzzlers profiled in the movie. People who can complete a standard weekday puzzle in two minutes. If I'm wide awake and it's an easy puzzle, I can do it in 4 1/2 to 5 minutes. Anyways. I very much enjoyed this movie, but it is about one of my favorite leisure activities. Golfers probably love movies about golf, which, like the sport itself, would put me to sleep in the air-conditioned comfort of a theater.

Superman Returns - another comic book movie. But this one was much more character-driven, and, dare I say it, more dramatic than most others. I'm pretty glad that Hollywood waited until now to make this movie. If they had cranked out a Superman flick ten years ago like they had initially planned it would have sucked. I have one minor quibble - they cast an embryo to play Lois Lane. Still, a good summer movie with some drama (and most of it was played fairly straight).

And finally, a retro screening at the Eastman House's Dryden theater of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (KHAAAAAN!!!). This was preceded by the original series episode "Space Seed," which introduced us to Khan as played by a younger, even more virile (if that's possible - and it is) Ricardo Montalban. Some trivia was thrown out to introduce this film - apparently the director had to reshoot many of Shatner's scenes to get them to where he was, uh, shall we say, more subtle. However, the director also told Montalban to "never show your top." Yeah. I'd love to see a rough cut of that one.

Shaking off the rust

Last weekend I ended up visiting another city at a confluence - Pittsburgh. Fellow librarian and UIUC alum Neil and I went to a couple of games at glorious PNC Park. It really is a nice stadium, and easy to get to as well. And for a last place team, they had good, enthusiastic crowds at both games. I was talking to some co-workers earlier this week about my trip, and we all agreed that Rochester should try to be more like Pittsburgh. There is life after death in the Rust Belt after all. Of a sort. We also visited the Andy Warhol Museum. Funny how what was edgy and outre 30 or 40 years ago is a tourist attraction for everyday squares now.

Disaster at the Great Confluence

My heart goes out to all my people in the Binghamton area who are coping with this week's major floods. Above is a stunning aerial photo of downtown - you can find it and many more photos at the Press and Sun Bulletin's web site. Other photos show the Washington Street pedestrian bridge submerged up to its deck. Hang in there, and hopefully you will all be able to move on and clean up with relative ease.

Adventures in utility work

Picture yourself in this situation - you look out your back window to see the electrical transformer on the utility pole in your backyard is smoking, and dripping some kind of stuff, which is also smoking. Well, that's exactly what I was faced with last night. I called our local utility (RG&E) to report it, but one of my neighbors apparently had other ideas, because the next thing I saw was red lights flashing on a fire truck. The fire department cordoned off the area and told me that RG&E would be along, but that I shouldn't go near the thing. They eventually arrived (it was after 10pm at this point). After scoping things out they told me that they would be replacing the transformer in a little while, but to do this they would have to shut off electricity for "a couple-a hours." This they did. It didn't help that yesterday was a bloody hot day. So I lay in bed, covered in a thin layer of sweat, while a big utility truck idled under my bedroom window. The power was out for almost three hours, so I guess it wasn't the end of the world.

And yes, it was pretty cool to see the smoke.

In other news, I have gone to two different ATMs in the past three days that have been out of cash. What the hell, M&T Bank?

The Blogosphere is decadent and depraved

It sure is interesting to put your own name into Technorati... or at least it's enlightening (sorta). For one thing, this little endeavor does not come up at all. In fact, the only post that refers to me is from Mike Rayhawk's LiveJournal, from about a year and a half ago. Why he thought of me way back then, I may never know.

For the record, my real reaction to Hunter Thompson's death was nothing like that. I thought it was a copout - he was afraid of old age or something. There may or may not have been porn involved, I don't keep track of such things.

OK, this has been wholly egotistical. Curse you, summer session, and your scarcity of work!

Libraries totally rock out!

Today's "Able and Baker" by Jim Burgess.

The combination of reading, drinking and rocking out is the best there ever was.

The Hive Mind is stupid and boring

I just read an interesting article that addresses many of the concerns with things like Wikipedia, MySpace, and other "social networking" technologies. These technologies are great insofar as you can get some interesting things out of them, but they are not, in my opinion, the answer to everything. More interactivity never hurt, but as the author points out, it's the connections between people that matter, not the interactivity and "connectedness" and "meta" in and of itself. Maybe these technologies are trumpeted because anything these days that brings more freedom to an increasingly locked-down online world is seen as crucially important. I know, I know, it's long and nerdy, but I highly recommend reading it. As they say, none of us is as dumb as all of us.

Dangerous music

Well, today is the last day of my 6 day Memorial Day weekend extravaganza. The whole family (pretty much all of them, at least) came out to visit, I got a lot of stuff done around the house with the help of my parents, and I have had ample time to relax and sweat these last few (hot) days.

Not long ago, I set up a MySpace profile for the good ol' jug band. I took the initiative, but Mike delivered the goods, putting up a couple of the songs we recorded in the dank basement of Risley way back when, along with some amusing photos that will no doubt prevent us from ever running for public office. Enjoy the JugSpace page! Hopefully more recordings will be uncovered and posted in the future. Time these damn kids learned what for about music (and stayed off my lawn!).

Holy crap, where has the time gone

Nearly two weeks without a post! Jeez. Sorry. It's not that things haven't been happening lately, it's just that nothing of great consequence has happened. Let's see, now.

A Cornell alum friend clued me in to a place where you can vote for the college that Alex Doonesbury will attend. Looks like her (or Trudeau's) choice is down to MIT, RPI and Cornell. And Cornell is way behind, so get clicking, true believers!

I hosted a fun party on Friday night. That's the thing - I rarely host parties, but they always turn out good. Need to stop being a hermit/shut-in. Also, I'm preparing for an onslaught of family visitors this coming Memorial Day weekend. I'll end up with a six day weekend! Friday and Saturday I have the obligatory projects lined up (otherwise known as "dad, can you help me with _____?"), then Sunday and Monday it'll be visitors galore, leaving me to sleep it all off on Tuesday and Wednesday of next week.

Also, I got the most hilarious pissy email response when I wrote to complain to some woman who brushed me off. I probably should have kept my mouth shut, but then I would have missed the fun!

In other news, I promise not to be such an angry jerk anymore, because this is becoming more like a LiveJournal with each word I type.

Cornell, home of nerds

It's good enough for Alex Doonesbury, apparently. The fact that she was considering RIT was major news on campus. Is it a selling point for your campus when a fictional comic strip character might want to attend? Only time will tell.

Dorks rejoice

In case you haven't heard yet, the original Star Wars films are being released on DVD. For a limited time only! Crazy. I'm not sure what to do, honestly. Buy these individually at somewhere in the $25-30 range, or spend $50 at Target for the Special Edition Original Trilogy DVD set? Maybe I can wait until they are on sale as previously viewed DVDs at Blockbuster and buy all three for $25. This is what I did with the Lord of the Rings movies (I know, I lose mega geek points for only owning the theatrical versions, geez).

In other news, why aren't any of you leaving me comments anymore? Has corn become the next internet fad come and gone?

Celebrating a year of corn!

To borrow heavily from the Car Talk guys: well, it's finally happened, you've wasted another year of your life reading this blog. Seriously, last April 29 I started this bad boy up and posted my first corny thoughts. So, I thought I'd mark the occasion with some words of wisdom from Mr. Freeman (please don't report me to the copyright cops):


You keep readin' 'em, I'll keep writin' 'em! Here's to another year of Thoughts About Corn.

A solemn anniversary

Today marks the 20th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster. Not to be too serious, but I encourage everyone to take some time today to think about how badly the situation was handled by the former Soviet regime at the time, and how many innocent people suffered because of it. Pretty much par for the course for the Soviets. Theirs was a society where individuals mattered not at all, and Chernobyl stands as horrifying further proof of their failed experiment of a country.

More funny papers to read

OK, it's been a while since I've come through with (or annoyed you with) a comic reading recommendation. So I'll just point you to Beaver and Steve and let you have fun with it. I think I'm going to order the Beaver and Steve book, just so I can mess around with currency conversion.

What did you say again?

Remember that little speech bubble generator I posted a while ago? Now you can add a speech bubble to a photo using Say What? I dusted off and "improved" this old gem - just for you!

Feelin' manly

Last week there was a sparkplug on my kitchen counter.

Today I sawed off some tree limbs.

GRUNT.

Imaging study

Two posts for today to make up for slackness, I guess.

Check out this research survey being conducted here at RIT. It's actually kind of neat. Anyone is welcome to take it, so I thought I'd post it here.

New York - soon to be home of the Cyclops Kitten?

Yeesh - read this.

I don't like the sounds of the museum's purported mission, but barnyard oddities and an internet meme celebrity? Come on! That's too much to resist.

Yes, I know, I apologize for not posting anything for a long time. Everything has kind of happened at once lately. Grumble.

Back from conventioneering

OK, I have returned to my workaday world after participating in Computers in Libraries last week (so I wasn't really testifying before Congress - they're all too busy trying to get re-elected to listen to the likes of me anyways). There were lots of good sessions on neat new technologies. Plus all the boring ones were confined to one day, so I could skip out and go wander around the monuments and such. That World War II monument - they just kind of want us to feel like we went and saved the world, don't they?

Anyhow, probably the most thought-provoking talk was on the "new" web (or Web 2.0, if you want to use the parlance of hype) and how it ties in with libraries. Because libraries still matter, darn it! And we will matter even more in the brave new web world if we listen to people like the guy who wrote this paper. Plus his job title is "technology evangelist" - how can you not like that? I filled out my conference evaluation right before Paul Miller's talk, and under the area where it asked "what kind of topics would you like to see at future conferences," I basically described his presentation.

Also, the conference was held at the Washington Hilton, famous for something morbid. I had my own little "Assassination Vacation" moment.

Change of scenery

Hey kids - I've been summoned to Our Nation's Capital, so this will be all for a while. My inside-the-Beltway source tells me I'm about a week too early to see the cherry blossoms. Drat. Well, off I go to scold some politicians.

Funny on so many levels

I was walking to the bathroom in the library a little while ago, and I found a button on the ground. You know, a button, like you pin on to a shirt or backpack - the Brits call them badges, but we don't need no stinkin' badges! Ahem, now then. The button says "Vagina - does that make you uncomfortable?"

Cheerful vulgarity, fight against stigma, or advertisement for gynecological services?

Sports desk: the insanity of the third month

Yes, it is college basketball season. This is pretty much the only time of year that I pay attention to college sports. Overall I think they are a drain on university resources, but hey, who's counting? And no team has been more exciting to watch in the last week than Syracuse. They keep finding ways to win under tough circumstances. Good on them! It didn't look like they would even make it to the NCAA tournament, but surely they'll be selected now.

The dull fog

I hit my head last night. I was putting something down on the passenger seat of my car, and as I stood up straight and turned around, I nailed my head at the right temple on the corner of the open car door. It hurt a little at the time, but today I feel really pretty bad. It's still somewhat sore in that area, there's this weird pressure in my right ear, and I just feel kind of out of it. Blargh. On the other hand, I skipped down to the bathroom a while ago and felt like I was bouncing on a cloud!

Staving off boredom

So, guess who got stuck with reference desk duties on the last day of the winter quarter? Go on, guess! Yes, that's right, me. It's very quiet here today, even for a library.

But honestly, I haven't been up to much lately. I think I have a pretty good story for the comic I'm writing for the class I'm taking (remember that? Scroll down a bit, or check the January archives). OK, let me qualify that. By "good," I mean "workable for a 16 page story so I can have something to show by the end of class." Anyways, here it is. The main character is a young man who is just starting college. Alone in his new dorm room, he gets a visit from an unexpected ally - his old imaginary friend from childhood (I did decide to go with a woodchuck here). Then, after the imaginary friend gives him a pep talk, he meets a couple of his new neighbors and finds them to be friendly. I guess that's about as well as anyone could explain it. We'll see how it turns out (probably silly, but hopefully not embarassing).

And, just so this post won't be a total waste of your time, an alert reader (the mysterious Jorge) sent me what is being billed as a rough cut of the now infamous-before-it-even-exists "Snakes on a Plane." I learned two things watching this video: 1. Snakes, when cornered in airline environments, will attack your eyes, and 2. Making this video took dedication. Dedication that few, if any, of us have. (note: this one requires Flash Player v.8. Took me a while to figure that out, so I thought I'd save you the trouble)

U.S. Blues

It's not that the U.S. men's hockey team was really favored to win anything. It's that they played like a bunch of little bitches - there, I said it, it can't be unsaid.

Man, Congress is about to have a collective aneurysm. Cool!

Did you ever notice how some words that end in the letter p sound really weird? Like cup and soup and burp. Weird sounding words. But then other words that end with the letter p sound perfectly normal, like rip and step.


So, uh, yeah.

Happy Presidents Day - if you are not a President, then this day is not for you

In honor of our second most ridiculous national holiday (after Columbus Day), here is a little humorous exercise to entertain. It makes me thankful to remember that we do, indeed, live in a country where we can poke fun of the guy in charge to our heart's content and not risk getting some part of the anatomy excised.

Yeah, yeah, I know - it's from one of those political blogs that chokes up the internet with semi-informed opinions passed off as the most important things ever written. But I do occasionally find some of their stuff amusing and fun to read - and I also respect anyone who can laugh at President's Day, a holiday that was apparently cooked up by auto dealers.

We are in the End Times

It's been afwul quiet around here lately, hasn't it? And no, it's not because my Super Bowl pick fell through. Don't worry, despite going to Las Vegas last fall, I didn't gamble away one of my limbs or anything.

It's just that I think we are living in chaotic, nasty times. Nobody likes anybody anymore. The world is being flushed down the cosmic toilet, but keeps backing up the drain, like some nasty remnant of a heavy meal. Looking for some solace, I consulted Yahoo!'s "What's Interesting?" search suggestion. Hey, I like interesting things, right? I could use a break from the latest news about shootings, beatings, bombings and lying, right? And what did the wisdom of the search engine reveal to be their most interesting search? Yeah, you guessed it - celebrity baby names! Consider yourself lucky to live in such enlightened times.

Oh, why am I contributing to the curmudgeonry? Here, treat yourself to some pictures of puppies and kittens. Everyone likes puppies and kittens. EVERYONE MUST LIKE PUPPIES AND KITTENS.

Is it still OK to be a slacker?

So Kevin Smith is hard at work on "Clerks II". I have fond memories of the first time I saw "Clerks" - it was playing at Cornell Cinema, I had no pressing deadlines to meet one weekday evening (for once), but everyone else did, so I went alone. I nearly fell out of my chair laughing. What's all this, then, about a sequel? I'm not going to complain, but I'm not going to get overly excited either. I'm somewhat hopeful that this will be another shot at the big time for Kevin Smith. Hit or miss, he's always been sincere and committed. I'm reminded of something Beck once said in an interview about his song "Loser," about how people of our generation are not really slackers, but that they insist on defining success on their own terms. Plus we know how to laugh at ourselves about our crappy jobs (not that I have any real reason to complain about mine, unlike my British colleagues). Here's to hearing another barrage of dick and fart jokes in "Clerks II."

From our Warshington office

This just in - the new House majority leader has a name that looks like "Boner."

Heh heh - boner.

Quit hogging the ground!

Man, Groundhog Day. How useless. I guess the kids love it, or something. But look at him, just sitting there. MENACINGLY.

I wonder if a groundhog would make a good comics character? I'm working on developing a story for a 16 page comic as part of the class I mentioned last time (you do remember that, right? It's just down the page if you don't.). I have a nascent, half-formed idea right now, kind of like the daffodil shoots that are surreptitiously poking their heads out of the ground in front of my garage two months too early (darn 50 degree "winter" weather!). I'm thinking about the theme of college life, with the main character being an innocent who just started college. The twist is that he still has an imaginary friend/spirit guide - of some sort. I'm not too clear on this part yet. If I were to pitch it to Nickelodeon or the Cartoon Network, I would pitch it as "Calvin and Hobbes meets Animal House." And then they would send me home with no cookie.

This whole creative process thing is a malicious little groundhog, I tell you.

Can you even learn this stuff in a class?

Well, my childhood interests have caught up with me yet again. I've signed up to take a night course called Basics of Sequential Storytelling (otherwise known as drawrin' comics), starting tonight. It's being offered through a community arts center here in town. I also haven't taken an art class since I was in 9th grade. This will really be interesting. Perhaps I can share some of my work here on this forum. Then you will really stop reading it.

EXCELSIOR!

And now for something from the sports desk

Let's title this post "Your Corn-Fed Guide to the NFL Playoffs, or How to still care after your team goes 5-11 and the coach quits in disgust."

I admit it. I like it when historically crappy teams somehow manage to pull their way over the top and win it all. We've seen this frequently in recent years, especially in baseball, with historic losing streaks coming to an end. But even in football we've had celebrations in oft-forgotten places recently - St. Louis, Tampa Bay, and though they were the big boys for a while, New England. This explains why I had been pulling for the Colts this playoff season. I also admit to always being a Peyton Manning fan. But the poor golden boy still can't get to the promised land. So....

Who's left to cheer for? Seeing as I used to live in Illinois, I could have pulled for the Bears, but they yet agains squandered one of their few great regular season runs with a pitiful playoff performance (man, this stuff just writes itself!). I also used to live in North Carolina, so perhaps the Panthers can be my new dream team. However, I lived in NC during the season when the Panthers were unquestionably the worst team in the league, managing to win only one game. So in my eyes, they'll always be kittens (born to be a sports writer, I tell you!).

No, the team that ought to get it's due this year - the Seattle Seahawks. Think about it! Seattle has had little to celebrate in terms of sports victories (one NBA championship back in the late '70s is about it). The Seahawks were for years the very definition of mediocrity - never cringingly bad, never stunningly good. So here's to hoping that the sodden citizens of Seattle can watch their boys with the sea-toned uniforms hoist the trophy this year.

Cartoons have arrived

Three classic Chuck Jones cartoons have recently been added to Roger Ebert's list of great films. I have nothing but fond memories of all three of these cartoons - uh, I mean films - even though they were produced back when my parents were just children. They're finally getting their "propers" for being enjoyable classics and exemplars of the genre. One thing Ebert does not point out (though I'm sure he agrees with me on this) is how much fun it is to watch these three cartoons over and over again through the years. They never get old, and never fail to make you laugh.

More from the music room

Yet another live music feast was had yesterday evening. Some co-workers and I went to see Loudon Wainwright III, and a good time was had by all (BY ALL!). Even the drunk guy in the blazer shouting out requests - no, ESPECIALLY by the drunk guy in the blazer shouting out requests. Loudon handled this tomfoolery just fine. He also riffed on an audience member's cell phone ringing for about a minute. He's got my vote for most unflappable performer of our times. And hey, Albany people - he's going to be at the infamous Egg in May! I recommend it, if you like well-written acoustic songs with a sardonic edge.

The venue was all right, I guess - it was a dinner theater of sorts, and we were crammed in the back. Dinner came right as Loudon took the stage, so I was busily chowing down on pasta and trying to watch at the same time.

Also, that is twice now that I've linked to the Egg web site. What is wrong with me? It should have been called the Football to begin with, I tell ya.

Man.... robots

Seems that some people just hate on robots all day long. Wossamatta for them?

No, I am NOT high.

Happy New Year, though.