39 posts tagged “random”

I don't know if this is old news, if everyone in the world has already seen it or not, but I think this is pretty darn cool:

(Hella better video quality, which I recommend, here.)

Very, very awesome.  And kind of a small (big, huge) world, isn't it?

This is going to take me forever to type, but it's too good for me to ignore.  In the latest issue of Esquire Magazine, there's an article about Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana.  I have not yet read all of this article, but before I do, I have to give you the paragraph in which the author, Chuck Klosterman, who's pretty great, describes Hannah Montana for the uninitiated.  Here it is:

If you already know Hannah Montana, skip to the next paragraph.  If you don't, here are the pertinent details: She is the most famous teenager in America, which makes her the third or fourth most powerful person in the universe.  Hannah Montana is a highly rated TV show on the Disney network that focuses on a (nonfictional, I guess) pop star named "Hannah Montana," who secretly lives an unassuming life as California citizen "Miley Stewart."  Both roles are played by Miley Cyrus, a likable, enthusiastic vessel who is a) actually named Destiny Hope Cyrus and b) the daughter of country goofosaurus Billy Ray Cyrus, who also portrays her dad on the program.  Besides appearing on TV, Miley Cyrus records and tours as Hannah Montana and succeeds with Madonna-like tenacity.  During concerts in 2007, she would be momentarily replaced onstage with a body double who lip-synched her songs while Cyrus changed clothes.  The body double was a cloned replicant of Cyrus, built with DNA from the singer's saliva and rapidly aged through the unsanctioned, experimental process of hypermaturilization.  She has also toured with the Cheetah Girls.

(After the word "hypermaturilization," there's a little number 1, referring to a footnote that reads, "Author speculation.")

Aaaaaaand, okay, now I've read the whole article, and it's not really all about Hannah Montana, but rather the Hannah Montana phenomenon and how it has become what it is and its relationship to young people and the Internet.  So yeah, the above paragraph was the high point of the article for me.  Because it cracked me up.  It's excellent.  The description of Billy Ray as a goofosaurus is a nice start, and the whole cloned replicant thing is great.  But adding the Cheetah Girls sentence at the end, that was genius.  Well played, Mr. Klosterman.  Nice.

Also, Miley's actual name is so delightfully stupid, I ... can't say anything to mock it.  It does all the work on its own.  It's perfect.  I couldn't have made that one up.  So, so good.

The end.

Judy Greer in a Mac ad = awesome.

Andrew has a little Judy Greer crush.

That should be my little Vox tagline up above, ha.

Special thanks to The Foundations.

It may not be a commonly known fact, but...

It's not a really good idea to spend a lot of time looking at old World War I photos just before you go to bed.  Looking at destroyed cities and muddy trenches and leveled forests and devastation as far as the eye can see, yeah, it's sobering.

I don't believe there has ever been a nastier war.  Ever.  From the perspective of a soldier, anyway.  It was right on that line between the old ways of fighting and the mechanization of armies, and wow.  Talk about brutal.  Somewhere between the Civil War kind of battle and the WWII kind of battle.  Just hellish stuff.  I can't even imagine what people went through there.  We hear a lot about WWII, and we see movies about it and other wars, but I feel like WWI is often forgotten, especially in the United States.  It shouldn't be.  I can't imagine anything worse.

Yes, reading Hemingway recently has made me think a lot about this, but I think I've been interested in the subject since I read All Quiet on the Western Front in school.  And the movie A Very Long Engagement, I think, is a unique look at that war, too.  In a totally different way.  That's one of my favorite movies, easy.  It's not hard to see why guys would self-mutilate in order to get out of the trenches.

Anyway, A Farewell to Arms is a lovely book.  I'm so, so glad I picked up a copy.  Brilliant.

Ever have a headache that makes it feel like your brain is expanding inside your skull to the point that you're pretty sure it may eventually force open a small fissure in the top of your head to allow the pressure to release in a geyser of brain matter?

Well, I do.

In other news, I've had Shania Twain's "Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under?" in my head all day.  Which is odd since I haven't heard that song in years.  I wonder if this is related to the headache.  Hmmmm.  Ha.

I came here earlier to post this and ended up instead writing a political essay, ha, but...

This is a pretty amazing deal.

If I had a laptop, or even if I just needed a webcam, or even if I just thought that particular webcam had better video quality than mine (which I don't think it does, but it's reasonably close), I would totally buy that.  SO cheap.  And a Logitech, so a good name,too.  I've had very good luck with Buy.com.

I sound like one of those blogs that posts product 'recommendations' for a little money.  This is not that.  Promise. :)

But if you do go for that deal or something like it, dude, copy EVERYTHING before you send the rebate stuff out.  Listen to me on this.  I've been burned, big time, by rebates.

You know, I really, really hope Brett Tomko (BRETT! TOMKO!) can grab the 4th starter spot for KC this year, and be effective enough to stick there.  I know he's had his ups and downs, but I like the guy.  I like what I read in interviews right now.  I think the Royals will be a pretty low-pressure situation for him, relatively speaking, and I do like what he did after going to the Padres last season.  He was pretty abysmal with the Dodgers, but not bad at all with San Diego.  So, we'll see, but I'm hoping for the best.  The Royals need starting pitching depth, and Tomko could use a good year.  My fingers are crossed.

And on a completely unrelated note, books that aren't literature are just about impossible to sell on eBay, aren't they?  I mean, if you have the right book, it'll sell, but otherwise, wow.  There's a very specific market for books out there.

I think I need to spend some time with Mr. Adobe Illustrator today.  Hmmm!

Several things that are in my head and need to get out...

- The cookie scene and the guitar scene in Stranger Than Fiction are without a doubt two of my very favorite scenes ever committed to film.  I like those two scenes as much as anything I've ever seen on TV or in a theatre.  I suspect this says something about me, but I'm not sure what.

- I think it's retarded that the spell checker here and every other spell checker in the world thinks "theatre" is misspelled.  Get a clue, spell checkers.  I can damn well spell it that way if I like.  This hasn't been in my head.  Not until the last thirty seconds, anyway.

- On a not very but kinda related note, I would like an electric guitar.  Something cheap, but pretty.  Perhaps an Epiphone Les Paul.  There are some pretty nice kits with an amp and everything for under $300.  Yeah, I love the Les Paul style.  And I would like to actually learn how to play.  And that brings me to...

- I'm inching closer to doing something about my camera situation.  I wanna go back to Nikon.  I just do.  I can't stop thinking about it and looking at lenses.  But part of me thinks maybe I'm at the point where I oughta just get lenses that are fun instead of lenses that are expensive and technically perfect.  Maybe it's time to scale back the camera equipment a bit.  And buy a guitar with the savings.  Ha.

- I'm never going to make money taking photos.

- I have no idea whatsoever what role I'm supposed to be playing in the world as a whole.   And that bothers me.

- I suspect I ought to work in a bakery of some sort.  Food is one of the few things that actually doesn't repulse me as a career option.

- It's seriously hot in this room right now.  Excuse me while I go turn the heater down.

- Okay, that should help.

- It's 32 degrees right now outside, and my window is wiiiide open.  It's still way hot in here.  My room is the warmest place in the world in the winter.

- This HP Gwen Stefani ad is staring at me all the time right now, and it's here again, just to the right of this word.  I'm gonna click on it.  Ah, I see.  You can manipulate the Gwen Stefani Harajuku doll thing with your mouse.  Or go to HP and do more.  Well, gosh, let's go.   And ... okay, that was mighty girly.

- I'm tired.

- I'm tired all the time.

- I need to go to bed.  I can tell this because I've begun playing with virtual paper dolls.  Always a sign that bed is necessary.

- I'm in the mood for a sad song.  I'm not sad, but sometimes a sad song is nice.  Or at least a quiet one.

- My basketball team is the best in the country this season.  Just wait.

- I miss new TV.  A lot.  Pushing Daisies in particular.  The Office, sure, but not as much as you'd think.  I kinda don't give it much thought right now.  Can't wait for Lost.  Might just skip American Idol altogether this season.  Since it jumped the shark a while ago.  Ha.  No, that's not why I'd skip it.  I would skip it because I kinda hate it, and I don't like myself when I watch it.

- I want to see There Will Be Blood.

- Dear Barry Sonnenfeld, the holiday gift guide you wrote for the December issue of Esquire was nice and all, but let's assume not everyone has a billion dollars.  Seriously, a Lamborghini?

- I'm still listening to Alison Sudol (see previous post).  Her voice makes me happy.  It will be the very last thing I hear tonight.

- Now I'm going to bed.  Good night, you princes of Maine, you kings of New England.

- And that one's proof that I watch too many movies.

When did I become so absolutely intent on buying only high-end mice for my computers?  I think there was a time when I could have just gone to Best Buy or Target and picked up whatever they had and just been content, but no more.  I have a Logitech G7 wireless laser gaming mouse for my PC, which I love.  Two rechargable battery cells that I can swap out when one gets low (as shown by the three-stage battery indicator light!), three-speed pointer tracking at the push of a well-placed button, and lots of buttons, all fully customizable.  Plus a very comfortable design.  It's the nicest, smoothest mouse.  But it just doesn't do what it should on the Mac.  The tracking speed is just weird, the pointer leaps on its own from one side of my (large) screen to the other, and yeah, it's frustrating.  I got a new wireless keyboard-mouse combo for Christmas, and while I love the new keyboard, that mouse just blows.  It's too basic for me now (I tell you, I am a mouse snob extraordinaire), and it doesn't work that great.  The scroll wheel is a joke.  Doesn't function at all half the time.  But even if it did function well, I don't know.  I want laser!  I want bells!  I want whistles!  So yeah, I'm in the market for a mouse that'll rock my Mac.  My G7 doesn't actually even have any available Mac drivers, so that prolly explains the issues I've had.  Kudos to Apple that the thing works as well as it does.  So yeah, I need a Mac mouse.  I was enamored with the bluetooth wireless laser Mighty Mouse, made BY Apple, but now I've cooled on that.  The scroll ball thing seems cool, but everyone says it gets dirty too easily and can't be cleaned without tearing the mouse apart.  Plus, it apparently has trouble distinguishing between left and right clicks.  Hmmm.  So yeah, now I want ... here it comes ... wait for it ... the Logitech MX Revolution wireless laser mouse.  WOO!  Yeah, I'll be ordering that eventually.  List price, $100.  Eeek.  But looks like I can get an open box or something through eBay for half that, which I'm not above doing.  But it seems to fulfill all my needlessly high requirements. "Experience bulletproof wireless freedom with robust 2.4 GHz Digital Cordless"!  Hell yes.  And two-speed scrolling!  An extra wheel on the side!  A four-stage battery life indicator!  Nice.  Plus, great reviews from Mac users.  So the Mac can have the Revolution, and the PC can have the G7.  Everyone's happy.

Logitech is awesome, by the way.  Have I mentioned that?  I've never once been disappointed with their products.  Mouse, webcam, game controller, all good.

"Ironically," he thought as he mocked the clothing in the catalog, "I'd look better in pretty much anything here than what I'm wearing now."  He turned the page and rolled his eyes at the yellow pants.

"Snooty goose" is a new phrase I just thought of that I'd really like to see catch on.

The old-monied gentleman looked with disdain at the lowly dot-com billionaire on the corner.  "Well, aren't you the snooty goose," his mistress said before tossing the doorman a nickel and taking her seat in the Maserati.