Movies (and other necessities)

Is society getting more vain, or just more lazy?

2011-04-26T11:36:00.003-05:00

You have got to be kidding me.
According to the NY Times, a researcher has posited that music lyrics prove people are more vain today than in years past. How did Nathan DeWall come to this conclusion? By listening to the Billboard 100 from each year? Reading songs and noting changes in the voice and tone of today's lyricists? Asking artists about the intent of their music, and how society has played a part?
Not even close.
According to the Times article, DeWall and associates completed "A computer analysis of three decades of hit songs" showing "the words 'I' and 'me' appear more frequently along with anger-related words, while there’s been a corresponding decline in 'we' and 'us' and the expression of positive emotions."
In other words, they Googled a bunch of songs and called it a day.
DeWall extrapolated that lyrics using "I" more often than "we" are narcissistic? This is not academic research. This is a dorm-room game. The only educational use I could imagine for this paper is a Highlights Magazine introduction to logic: "Say kids, how many fallacies can you find in this article?"
The idea that a sentence in the first person is about the speaker is so facile that it makes me wonder if DeWall has ever read anything outside of PsycNET (where his paper is on sale for $12). Why does DeWall assume that anyone singing the word "I" is talking about himself? In the 1975 song "Isis" (a "Me Decade" lyric Dewall's computer search conveniently avoids by beginning with songs from 1980), Bob Dylan sings about trekking to ice-covered pyramids and plundering graves. Is this proof that a segment of our society was made up of intrepid robbers? What percentage of the overall population is represented by this use of the "I" pronoun?
Of course, in the context of the song any listener knows the lyric is a story, a myth, a tall tale in the way Jimi Hendrix spoke of chopping down a mountain with his bare hands, or the Beastie Boys described the illict uses of a whiffle ball bat. By hypothesizing that the meaning of a word is the same in any context, DeWall proves that he is a researcher of the laziest order.
There are dozens of statistical points to be made as well:

the 1991 dawning of Soundscan, which tracks sales of music at purchase instead of the unreliable methods of marking sales that came before, neatly cleaves DeWall's data pool,
the shrinking sales of music means that a 2007 #1 sold far fewer copies than a #1 from the CD era.
a song's chart position does not always signify it's import to society - is "Ebony and Ivory" more indicative of American race relations than, say, Public Enemy's "Fight the Power" just because sold more copies?
the relatively small sample that is contained in a list of hit songs from 27 years would indicate a single song would stand for a large segment of the population. Does "My Heart Will Go On (Theme From Titanic)" really represent a lion's share of the population's self-worth in 1997? Would society be less vain (or whatever that song seems to represent to DeWall) if it had been on the charts for another week, displacing whatever came on after it?

DeWall owes an apology to his colleagues for tarnishing the image of psychology with this psudo-science. Might I suggest a few verses from the Beck songbook: "I'm a loser."

popmarket.com - Final

2011-03-17T13:21:00.000-05:00

I finally got my Jimi Hendrix box yesterday. It was shipped from Nashville and arrived in great shape. Just a few songs from disc one helped me fall in love with this set - the chance to hear Hendrix playing a yeoman role is so invigorating for an amateur musician.
Anyway, I'd say that, from my experience with popmarket.com:

Packages from Daily Deals items arrive about two weeks after ordering.
Make a screen-shot, or print, the screen detailing your order confirmation. Even though users establish an "account" to access the site, order information can not be accessed on the website via your account information alone (as you might with the "your orders" button on Amazon.com, for example).
Items are shipped in amazon-like cardboard wrappers that keep the items well through shipping. Items arrive in new and pristine condition.

I would order again from the site just because I love music in physical formats (both because the sound of CDs/vinyl is above mp3s, and the booklets that go with physical packages often add context to the music) but also because the prices can't be beat. I would not use the service if I needed something quickly (i.e. for a gift) but for my personal uses, I'll be trying popmarket.com again, I'm sure.

Popmarket.com - Trying again today

2011-03-16T09:49:00.001-05:00

UPS is saying that my package is out for delivery again today. This morning they started at 4 a.m. instead of the 6 a.m. start they got yesterday. Maybe my package won't get here two hours earlier? We'll see...

Popmarket.com woes continue

2011-03-15T19:16:00.000-05:00

Oh MAN! What else could go wrong? My Jimi Hendrix box was scheduled to be delivered today by ups. I've been tracking it all day, and about 6:30 p.m. the brown truck pulled up on the street outside my house... and the driver can't seem to find my package!
My daughter and I stood at the door waiting for the driver, and he loosened his hand tablet, and he went into the back of the truck, then he looked at his hand computer again, and finally he sat in the driver's seat and drove away!
I knew he wasn't coming back, but when I called UPS they said there was a chance what I'd seen was a coincidence. But here it is after 7pm and no delivery.
I guess I can't hold popmarket.com responsible (except for using such a crappy delivery service), but MAN what else could go wrong with this thing?
More tomorrow (hopefully, a conclusion).

Popmarket.com - aw sweet sweet SWEET!

2011-03-11T13:29:00.000-06:00

Just checked the popmarket.com website and my order is listed as shipped!!! Yay!

popmarket.com - anecdotal story

2011-03-09T15:39:00.001-06:00

I just talked to my dad, who ordered a Mahler set from popmarket.com on Feb. 23. He said his CDs arrived March 8, which would indicate an ideal popmarket.com shipment takes 13 days. If they ship my Jimi Hendrix set tomorrow, that would mean I would get it March 24.
On the good news front, the R.E.M. CD I ordered yesterday from Amazon arrived today. Although it arrived just 24 hours after I purchased it, it was only 42 percent off, not 50 percent off like the popmarket.com deal.

popmarket.com update 4

2011-03-08T15:24:00.002-06:00

Although I finally received a receipt for my purchase at popmarket.com, the link in the email sent me to a page stating, "You must first log in or sign up before accessing this page." I tried filling the fields with my popmarket.com login email and password, but the page kept returning the message "Invalid login or password."
So I wrote back to the popmarket.com folks through their website and received an answer that said:
I request you to try to create an account in Pop Market using a new email ID so that you can check out the status of your order online from the status link. Please enable the cookies and disable the firewall in your computer before creating the account.
I don't really understand why adding another email address into this mix will be effective. But the letter also gave me a link with which I could go to the website and see the status of my order. I feel like this is what I should have gotten originally (and ideally this link would appear with my account information on the popmarket.com website).
Anyway, getting to my order status was exciting, but the status itself was a let down. The item is listed as "Backordered. Sold Out"
Groan.
I'm not really sure when I'll get my discs, but it kind of appears that it won't be shipping today. Rats.

Popmarket.com update 3

2011-03-08T09:05:00.000-06:00

Popmarket emailed me back yesterday afternoon explaining that they had sent my confirmation receipt to the address associated with my PayPal account. I signed out of the email account we had been corresponding through and went to the other account. Sure enough, there was my confirmation. That kind of seems like a bug in the system to me, because I sign in to their site, and indeed my popmarket.com ID is that first email address.

popmarket.com update 2

2011-03-07T13:00:00.000-06:00

Just got this email response back from popmarket.com after I emailed them this morning:

Thank you for contacting MyPlay Direct.

I'm sorry that you did not receive the order confirmation email for the purchase. I have resent your confirmation email to the address on file.

TIP: Please check your Junk or Spam folders to ensure that our

email was not trapped or intercepted and routed their by mistake.

Thank you for choosing MyPlay Direct.

Unfortunately I didn't get any confirmation email, but I did receive another solicitation from popmarket.com in the meantime. I wrote once again to say I had not gotten the second confirmation, and asking how to double-check my email address is correct in their database. Maybe this will solve it?

Pop Market update

2011-03-07T08:50:00.002-06:00

Just an update - I went to the "Help" section at popmarket.com and confirmed that I was supposed to have received an email confirming my order. I emailed them through the form on their website to ask about it, but has anyone else had this happen to them or am I an anomaly?

I sent them an email (kind of hard to find the way to contact them - you have to go to help, then scroll to the bottom of the list of options) and I got the automatic message back that they would try and write me back in 24 hours.

The message I got when I placed the order Thursday afternoon (which, again, I'm lucky I "screen-shot") said wait one to two business days for shipment. Depending on when their business day begins and ends, I figure they've been on my order for one full day plus six hours.

My first order from popmarket.com

2011-03-04T15:29:00.001-06:00

Yesterday I ordered the four-month-old Jimi Hendrix box set "West Coast Seattle Boy" from popmarket.com yesterday. The deal was just too good: $35 for the 4CD/1DVD set, shipped. Even iTunes wants $40 for their version, so it's a good deal. I just hope it's a good set. More to come...

When it comes to PopMarket, I'm curious to see how good their fulfillment is, especially since I couldn't find any reviews of their service after a couple Google searches. The site is run by the MyPlay Direct arm of Sony Music, but they don't seem to want to make a big deal of it (there's only one link to the larger Sony site that I can see - all others stay within the PopMarket trade dress.

I felt lucky to get my order through. The website was evidently slammed when the Hendrix deal went live; I spent 30-45 minutes just clicking the "checkout" button and reaching a error message. Indeed, the deal was listed as a sellout within just a couple hours.

When I finally did get my order placed, the site returned a message thanking me for my purchase and giving me an order ID. The page also displayed a list of the items I'd ordered (in this case, just the one box set) under a heading "Items We Ship." Perhaps there are things they farm the shipping out on? Anyway, the status for the item was listed as "Received for Processing. In Stock, ships within 1-2 business days."

I'm glad I took a screen capture of this page, because it appears that is the only notice PopMarket gives you concerning your purchase until the order ships - I didn't receive an email or any other sort of confirmation from the site. MyPlay states that they send an email when the item has shipped, listing method of delivery and tracking information, but that information is nowhere to be found on the PopMarket site, at least after you've placed your order. I wish there was something other than radio silence after an order, just to reassure me that my money is in good hands.

I'll update later with information on both how the order processes and, more importantly, how the CDs sound.

Rhino suspended 12 days of Christmas sale?

2010-12-14T10:16:00.002-06:00

Does anyone know if Rhino Handmade has suspended it's 12 Days Of Christmas promotion?

Oh man, change it back!

2010-08-15T14:26:00.002-05:00

Just saw the new web design for metacritic.com. Awful! Please Please Please change it back. I'd leave the comment on their website, but I don't want to register my information with such a turd!

Coke Rewards update

2009-09-08T16:05:00.001-05:00

It looks like Coke (or its fulfillment company) can't figure out who the winners are for the My Coke Rewards Best Buy instant win game. I just received this email from ePrize Customer Fufillment:

Hello,

Thank you for contacting us.

Unfortunately, we cannot process your request at this time, as all winners for this promotion have not yet been determined.  Your request has been placed on hold.  Once all winners have been selected and confirmed for this promotion a copy of the winner list will be emailed to you.

Thank you for your patience,

Prize Fulfillment Services

Doesn't it sound like they are questioning who the winners are? 

Not to be ungrateful...

2009-09-03T11:28:00.000-05:00

Has anyone else seen how long it's taking to fulfill the My Coke Rewards Best Buy Instant Win $15 game cards? I'm wondering if this is normal or not?

AmaGone.com

2009-08-27T12:06:00.000-05:00

Wow! Amazon has now sold out of both the mono and the stereo versions of the Beatles reissues.

Frank dusts the table

2009-08-19T13:23:00.002-05:00

Here's your invitation/To make a reservation

2009-08-18T12:34:00.003-05:00

Countdown to Beatles CDs!

Who's Lefsetz kidding?

2009-08-06T14:58:00.003-05:00

Usually Bob Lefsetz's Lefsetz Letter is a fun read in the way that Rush Limbaugh is an entertainment program - just so long as you take everything with a grain of salt, you can admire Lefsetz's energy and passion about the music business.
But in his latest piece, he begs people to reply to his notion (though he's turned off the comments feature) that visuals are irrelevant to pop music. "Speaking of ears, isn’t that what music is made for? Ears, not eyes? Have we completely forgotten this?"
Funny thing is, he makes this claim in the context of a Mariah Carey CD.
Is there anyone out there who would argue that Mariah, at least of late in her career, has not used her image, and images of her body, to add to her sales? She's not Tool. She's not The Residents. She's not some anonymous camera-shy musician. She's a pop star in every sense of that term.
Maybe I'm just misunderstanding his thrust here, but can Lefsetz really be saying that he doesn't know what the cover of "50,000,000 Elvis Fans Can't Be Wrong" looks like, or that there is absolutely no value in the work of Klaus Voormann's Beatles covers, or the countless covers Hipgnosis made in the 70s added nothing to the listener's enjoyment or even understanding of the music inside?
The idea that music can only appeal to one of the human senses is preposterous.

Ticket to Ride?

2009-07-13T13:21:00.002-05:00

At $298 ($240 on amazon.com) is "The Beatles In Mono" too expensive?(survey)

If you pre-order an item from Amazon.com, do they charge you right away and hold on to your money until the item ships (or doesn't) or do they charge you only when the item is on it's way?

Angel Marathon

2009-07-12T18:57:00.004-05:00

Lord have mercy - Lili woke up this morning and just felt like picking up on "Angel" where we left off last time. ~~Seven~~ Nine hours later, we just finished season 2 and the first disc of season 3. Feels like a great use of a Sunday to me!

Fittingly ironic mistake @ Twin Peaks website

2009-07-11T12:28:00.000-05:00

I got the entire Twin Peaks series (on laserdisc!) this week, and when I went to the CBS.com site, I found this mistake:

Thought the line under the "Editor's Picks" headline was pretty funny. :)

Paul Simon CDs going OOP?

2009-06-22T13:29:00.004-05:00

I've been looking at a number of CD outlets online lately and noticed that most of Paul Simon's pre-"Graceland" CDs have been priced around $6-$7 (with the exception of "There Goes Rhymin' Simon" for some reason). This seems really low compared to the back catalog of some of his contemporaries (in fact, Columbia seems to have most Simon & Garfunkel CDs at $9-$11). In a couple other places "Graceland" and "Rhythm of the Saints" are listed as "unavailable."
Is this rare? Is his catalog changing hands? Is Warner just getting rid of the "extra tracks" Digipacks? Will they be going out of print? If anyone knows, please leave a response.

Ugh, are you kidding me?

2009-05-19T14:35:00.002-05:00

Fox has room for

and

and not Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles? Blech.

This looks RAD! (Rhymes with bad)

2009-05-13T10:08:00.003-05:00

Movie Trailers - Movies Blog

Lamas looks so bitchin'! Giant shark! Giant Squid thing? And Debbie Gibson! This movie will not come out fast enough!

A Capella Ben Folds

2009-04-29T15:26:00.000-05:00

My gosh this sounds great. I love the idea of a whole Ben Folds album of a Capella music:

New Dylan today

2009-04-28T14:23:00.002-05:00

I'm glad I pre-purchased the new Dylan LP/CD - it's already sold out at all the Best Buy stores here in town (I don't know if Vinyl Renaissance has it still - I don't think they have their inventory of new stuff visible online). I'm really curious how they package the CD so that it doesn't scratch up the records.

PS: Here's how they packaged it:

Eep

2009-04-28T09:12:00.001-05:00

Ray Charles Mystery

2009-04-24T14:50:00.000-05:00

Why is "Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music" consistently one of the highest rated albums, yet is entirely out of print? Does anyone know why?

Outstanding!

2009-04-20T16:33:00.001-05:00

Karen, Have you seen this?

2009-04-16T16:22:00.001-05:00

Record Store Day is coming!

2009-04-16T09:49:00.002-05:00

Here is a pretty good rundown of some of the special things being offered.

How do you store your records, movies, etc?

2009-04-08T13:59:00.004-05:00

Dear fellow collectors,
How do you store your records, DVDs, etc? Do you have shelves made just for the medium? Are there shelves that hold LPs that are commonly available? Do you use a computer to keep track of your collection? Do you keep them on the shelf in alphabetical order? If not, what other system do you use?

For Lili

2009-04-07T09:23:00.001-05:00

Lili-ism concerning the afterlife

2009-03-30T12:16:00.003-05:00

We were in the car this weekend when Karen heard a song that reminded her of her father, and it made her cry. Lili always tries to make us feel better, so she said, "Mommy, don't cry. I think there's a way that you can see DadDad again, because I believe in angels and zombies."
One way or the other, I suppose Lili was thinking, Karen would get to see Donn again.

Can't wait for the Gaffigan special

2009-03-25T12:17:00.001-05:00

Jokes.com

Jim Gaffigan - Exclusive - Watching TV

Signature Wheedon

2009-03-23T11:57:00.003-05:00

"The judge will throw the Kindle at you."
If Joss Wheedon wrote that at the bottom of a check, it would be accepted as a legal signature anywhere in the country. Glad to see Dollhouse is finally finding its feet.

Smoove

2009-03-18T11:04:00.001-05:00

Auto Tuning from Casey D on Vimeo.

Funniest Onion of 2009

2009-03-09T14:20:00.000-05:00

CNBC Spanking

2009-03-09T09:09:00.000-05:00

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

CNBC Gives Financial Advice

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things With Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Joke of the Day

Revolution

2009-02-24T08:21:00.001-06:00

Kindergarten presentation at Troost!

2009-02-23T12:28:00.001-06:00

Lili and her class join the other Kindergartners to deliver a musical message honoring Black History Month!

Lili works her marketing skills

2009-02-23T10:59:00.000-06:00

What could be funnier than this?

2009-02-12T16:27:00.000-06:00

The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Truth From the Gut

Colbert Report Full Episodes
Funny Political News

Christian Bale Parody
Joke of the Day

Glen Beck climbed into his genius cannon and lit the fuse!

"Incentivized?!?" Are you kidding, Nixon?

2009-01-28T14:33:00.003-06:00

I was listening to the news on the radio this morning and heard this excerpt from Gov. Jay Nixon's first State of the State speech:

The Quality Jobs Act has incentivized business owners to create thousands of high-paying jobs that offer health care. Good middle-class jobs. The Quality Jobs Act has worked. We must not only continue this program, we must expand it.

"Incentivized"?

How did that ugly pseudo-word get into the speech? There's no actual verb that could have described the act in question?
Motivated? Stimulated? Encouraged? None of those work?

Plus "incentivized" (or its equally ugly bastard brother "incent") implies that some sort of bonus or reward money caused businesses to create jobs, but the word is so weak that it leaves this idea of monetary reward hanging in the air like a whisper. Is that really what the Governor meant?

For my father-in-law, Donn

2008-12-31T16:17:00.002-06:00

Donn Roger Miller, 72, of Leawood, Kan., died Dec. 30, 2008 from complications following a stroke.
Donn was born October 21, 1936 in Wichita, Kan., to Fern and Wilkie Miller. He was born fifth of the couple's six children. He wed Lorene Sausser on Dec. 23, 1962 and the couple had one daughter, Karen Elizabeth.
He studied business at Wichita State University and Emporia State University, but dedicated his lifelong career to his passion for music. As a jazz musician, he formed the Donn Miller Trio, which played in Topeka and Kansas City in the 1960s and Denver in the 1970s. He also played solo piano, and lent his talents to many jazz groups and combos throughout his life.
At the same time, Donn developed his skills in piano tuning and repair, reaching the level of Registered Piano Technician (RPT) and Certified Tuning Examiner (CTE) within the Piano Technicians Guild. After working for Jenkins Music Company in Kansas City, he moved to Denver in 1967 and opened his own shop, The Piano Spotlight. In 1980, Donn became the tuner for the music college at the University of Colorado at Boulder, and later held a similar position for Denver Public Schools. In his 20-year service to DPS, he mentored other tuners and continued to tune for private clients.
Donn retired in 2004 and moved to Kansas City to be closer to his daughter and her family, where he was a loving "Daddad" to his granddaughter, Lili Caroline.
He was preceded in death by his parents; brothers Wilkie and Bill; and sisters Irma and Marilyn. Survivors include his wife, of Leawood; daughter, Karen Plummer, and her husband Jonathan Plummer, of Kansas City; granddaughter, Lili, 5; brother James David of Aiken, South Carolina; and many cousins, nieces, nephews, and in-laws. In accordance with his wishes, Donn will be cremated. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to the Piano Technicians Guild Foundation, the Country Club Congregational United Church of Christ, or a charity of your choice.

The Emperor ones always crack me up

2008-12-22T08:46:00.000-06:00

Funny story

2008-12-18T08:17:00.003-06:00

Last night when I was putting Lili to bed, there was something in the story we were reading about a mouse. She said, "You know, there was a rat in the library at school."
"Oh really," I said, "like in a cage?"
"No," she said, "I guess it was a stray."

24 was cool!

2008-11-24T09:56:00.003-06:00

Last night's 24 proved that the Jack Bauer character works outside of the CTU setting. Even though it would have been nice to have Chloe et al there, there was the same thrill to the show even with the new characters (and the boy who played Jack's charge from the school was wonderful). I never really thought that the end was in doubt (I mean, with a subtitle like "Redemption," it's kind of hard to imagine Jack would do the wrong thing), but the compressed 2-hour time really focused things and yet still stayed true to the "real-time" aspect of the longer series.
It was so nice to share the evening with Mandy and Lottie, and Lili had so much fun, as the pictures below prove:

Movies Movies Movies

2008-11-19T15:52:00.001-06:00

TCM is my new friend. In the last week or so I've seen "The Blue Gardinia," "Susperia," and "Foreign Correspondent" on TiVo. Can't wait until vacation when I can really indulge.

The hook is set HARD

2008-11-14T13:46:00.006-06:00

My friend Michael gave me the Fleet Foxes CD when he visited at the end of October (by the way, he reminds me in a non-sexual way of the Salt n' Pepa song "Whatta Man" because he's got a little gift for me every time I see him. For my birthday years ago he sent me a Glenn Gould CD via Amazon that I still treasure because I couldn't believe how out-of-the-blue generous it was). But that week was a performance week, and I hadn't had a chance to transfer it to my iPod, and I hadn't really had a chance to give it the listen that his absolute praise earned it.
But I was reading some music blog and found that it had been given record of the year by some new NME spinoff and went to listen to "White Winter Hymnal." This was actually one of the songs we'd played in the car on the way home from breakfast with Michael, but my head was still filled with thoughts of my friend, and I just remembered liking it and realizing Michael's description of the band as "Crosby, Stills & Nash for the 21st Century" was pretty darn accurate.
But listening again was like seeing a woman again and realizing she's so beautiful. The hook is set deeply here, friends. I'm not just on the Fleet Foxes bandwagon, I'm playing lead guitar (or, considering the lateness of my ardor, maybe I should say I'm joining the tribute band). Whatever. If you're coming lately to these guys, you gotta listen... and maybe listen again. You'll be glad you did.

Doctor Atomic

2008-11-10T14:26:00.006-06:00

We saw the Met HD telecast of John Adams "Doctor Atomic" on Saturday, and though I would love to see Gerald Finley, Sasha Cooke or (especially) Thomas Glenn in something else, I'm afraid the opera itself is just not that impressive. Because the show is constructed not of dialog but written excerpts from the Trinity participants' memoirs or diaries, there is no real drama in the libretto.
Instead, "Doctor Atomic" felt less like a classical opera than an unfunny revue, with songs that work like interlaced monologues. That's why a few scenes seem to soar, like the "Batter My Heart" aria that ends Act I, while most lay inertly, like the interminable bedroom sequence that precedes it. I just sat there pleading for one dramatic moment while Cooke and Finley sang at each other. Finally it took all my will power to keep from standing up and yelling, "Make out, fight... do something goddamn it!" at the screen.

What gives with conservative cartoonists?

2008-11-10T07:59:00.003-06:00

This morning I saw a Newsweek cartoon depicting Barack Obama as Usain Bolt, pulling up to celebrate victory as he broke the finish line labeled "2008"... and seemingly unaware that on the other side of the tape is a rickety, dangerous bridge labled "2009." That surprised me as much as a wire-provided cartoon which showed Obama taking a bow before a roaring crowd. He seems to be unaware of a man the wings weighed down with books labeled "Economy," "War," "Unemployment," etc.
I don't understand why these cartoonists seem to feel that Obama has no idea what he signed up for. He's not some rich buffoon looking for a hobby, someone who thinks running the country might be a lark. He has the full capability, just like so many of his fellow Americans, to comprehend that the United States has been led in the wrong direction.
I really don't understand this criticism. If you can you tell me where it comes from, please post a comment.

I Love Bob Newhart

2008-11-07T12:05:00.001-06:00

Sorry, Mr. Colbert...

2008-11-05T12:39:00.000-06:00

but Plummers did vote!

24 coming soon

2008-10-31T15:40:00.002-05:00

Treehouse of Horror

2008-10-30T15:23:00.000-05:00

I can't wait for the next Simpsons Treehouse of Horror Sunday. They say that this "Mad Men" parody is part of the episode.

Pretty good ad

2008-10-29T13:59:00.002-05:00

The best thing about this ad may be that it presents everything objectively (although of course all the quotes are chosen editorially, but they are all McCain's own words).

A little funny for your vote?

2008-10-23T15:59:00.001-05:00

See more Ron Howard videos at Funny or Die

on the road

2008-10-18T13:23:00.002-05:00

I'm typing this on Jeremy's iPhone. I know that's not a very uncommon thing, but I still find it so fun and amusing.

Obama has awesome writers!

2008-10-17T10:39:00.000-05:00

What else is McCain suspending?

2008-09-24T16:39:00.003-05:00

If McCain is so concerned that he cannot adequately address the needs of the country from 8-10 p.m. Friday, will he stop sleeping too? That's hours and hours each night that the man could be fixing our country UTTERLY WASTED!
Ugh, what happened to honor?

Blender mistakes?

2008-09-17T13:45:00.001-05:00

Did anyone else get the Oct. 2008 issue of Blender with missing type? There's big black circles everywhere which, I imagine, are supposed to contain type. I guess they got the layers mixed up?

Pwned!

2008-09-12T12:44:00.003-05:00

Yikes! Maybe that guy who updated her Wikipedia page before she was nominated should start briefing her before interviews.

McCain doomed by Veep Choice

2008-09-08T12:22:00.003-05:00

I can't believe that anyone who wasn't to the right of McCain would actually be swayed by his choice for VP. In fact, I think Sarah Palin makes him unelectable.
If one takes McCain at his word, and decides that his choice of Palin is one that fits in with his own ideology, then he is building a coalition that alienates, not encourages, the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pantsuit Democrats. George Carlin once described golf by saying that it wasn't so much the game itself but the "vacuous, striving, superficial, male-bonding joiners one has to associate with" that made it repulsive. I feel the same way about a possible McCain presidency. Even if he is some sort of hidden "maverick" (one who seemed long ago content to wait until he was president to turn from tut-tutting at his own party to actually doing something about its ills), his choice of Palin proves he will not only surround himself with the same bankrupt ideas that made last weekend's buyout of Freddy Mac and Fannie Mae a necessity, but that now he'll take council from James Dobson as well.
As reprehensible as this thought is to Democrats, it will eventually turn off the right wing of his own party. Soon those voters energized by Palin must realize this is just a political flip-flop. For if he will turn his back on his own stated ideals just to get the presidency, how can he be trusted to continue embracing his newborn right wing agenda once he's gotten the job?

I can see the headlines now...

2008-07-29T12:17:00.005-05:00

"Worker Productivity Soars; Economists baffled by unprecedented increase"

Farewell, Scrabulous.

The deal is over

2008-07-07T13:27:00.011-05:00

NOTE: It looks like this deal is over - I tried to get another boxed set today and Rhapsody only subtracted $9.99 from my order. Hope you got use from it before it ended.
Here's the original post:
I've discovered that you can trade My Coke Rewards points for any album on Rhapsody.com, including boxed sets that regullarly cost $180 on the site.
I was reading on one of my favorite websites, slickdeals.net, that Rhapsody was getting into the mp3-selling business by offering a free $10 credit for signing up for the service. Later, someone posted that they'd found a collection of The Doors studio albums, which goes for something like $60 on iTunes (the comparison to the actual boxed set isn't really fair because it also features a DVD of each album mixed for 5.1 sound). I'd already used my $10 credit up, but remembered that My Coke Rewards offered a free album for 225 points. I'd been saving up my points to get a gift card or something, so 225 was well within my grasp, and I took the deal.
As I was getting my Doors set, I realized that the credit listed in my Rhapsody account area was for one album, not any sort of monetary value. I wondered if it would work on bigger boxed sets that weren't sale-priced. I took a chance and traded in more points for another coupon, and tried applying it toward the Elvis Presley collection "From Nashville To Memphis: The Essential 60s Masters," a 5-CD boxed set that RCA put together about 15 years ago.
It worked! My 256K mp3 package started downloading and didn't finish until I had the whole collection, all 5.75 hours of it.
As I write this, I've just finished downloading the complete John Coltrane Quartet on Impulse set, which would regularly run $80 on the site. If you wanted to really stretch your points, the best deal I've found might be the 277-track, 18-CD Complete Bill Evans On Verve collection. Rhapsody usually offers it for $180, and Amazon asks $162.54. By my calculation, even if you don't really like Coke you can buy 23 12-packs for $92 at $4 each, or if you find a good sale, $57.50 for $2.50 each. That would mean that you could get the Evans download for roughly half off the regular price every day, or almost 70% off if you find a deal. Of course, if you're a jazz fan and not a pop fan, there's the question of what you're going to do with 276 cans of pop. I leave that to you.

Lili enjoys a parade

2008-07-03T19:28:00.000-05:00

Mad Scientist Makes for Monstrously Good Father's Day

2008-06-16T11:13:00.004-05:00

I got a book store gift card for Father's Day. There was no question what I would spend it on: two books from the "Franny K. Stein" series for me and Lili to read together. Franny is a little girl who loves experiments, just like Lili (she used to have trouble with the beginning of the word, so she would say, "Let's do 'spearmints' together!"). Many is the time that I've come across Lili mixing stuff from the kitchen together, just to see what it will taste like, or better yet what it will do!
We read the first book Lunch Walks Among Us last night in one sitting, and we both laughed and had fun. In fact, at the end of each chapter she'd beg for one more page. I'd try to close the book and Lili would wedge her hand between the pages like a traveling salesman pushing his foot into the door. It made me so happy - that was the best part of Father's Day!

Could it be my collection's complete?

2008-06-09T09:04:00.004-05:00

Amazon was selling one of my favorite movies of all time, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre for half price a couple weeks ago. I got it with that big The Maltese Falcon release from a couple of years ago, and realized this may be the last pieces of my DVD collection I need to fill! Everything else I can think of is kind of ephemeral or "nice to have." The website says I should get it on Friday. I'm so excited!
NOTE: I actually got it on 6/10!!! I can't wait to show it to Karen (and maybe Lili?).

The Amazing Lili!

2008-06-09T08:46:00.003-05:00

From the far east (of the house) comes the magic of The Amazing Lili! Sorry it's a little dark, but we were watching a David Blaine DVD and she was just inspired.

Time Warner Cable sued in LA for bad service

2008-06-06T10:27:00.004-05:00

The LA Times says that Time Warner Cable's service is so bad, it's illegal.
Our Time Warner cable service has been out since 6/4, and their customer service rep told us that they would send out a technician for repair... on 6/12! Don't you think that's a long time to wait for a service call? They acted like it wasn't. Karen called them today and they said that they would move our technician's appointment up to... 6/11. That didn't make me feel like the problem had been escalated in importance very much. Plus, we had to ask for a rebate for the service we've missed. They didn't offer, and in fact said they would not issue a rebate at the end of a missed day of service. Only after they've fixed the problem would they calculate how much service they had overcharged us for.
Update: Time Warner just called Karen and told her that they would move our technician call up to tomorrow. Why? I don't know, but I'm glad they did.

Our Happy Graduate!

2008-05-30T19:18:00.002-05:00

Here's a video of Lili's Pre-K graduation ceremony. Sorry I got a little jittery when her name was called... puffing up with pride I guess :)

Happy Holiday

2008-05-24T23:08:00.002-05:00

Lili is singing into a balloon to wish you a happy Memorial Day. OK, she's just amusing herself, but here's hoping your holiday is great all the same (I'm sure she'd tell you that too, if she could stop watching Pokemon movies long enough to complete a sentence).

Good Luck, Sen. Kennedy

2008-05-21T13:22:00.002-05:00

Senator Kennedy's championship of the minimum wage, civil rights and health care will be a legacy that lasts for decades. I so hope he is able to sustain a quality of life that makes him happy, and gives America a few more years of his leadership.

A great memory made

2008-05-07T13:14:00.003-05:00

Last night Lili and I watched Steamboat Bill, Jr., a Buster Keaton silent my dad introduced me to when I was little. When I told her that it was made before people knew how to make movies talk, she wondered how that could be. So I told her to show me what it would look like if she wanted to show "happy" without talking. She did a perfect smile. I told her to show me "lost" and she popped her eyes so wide, which I thought was really perceptive of her. We did a lot of other emotions and it was so fun to watch her work it out.
Then we watched the movie (it was supposed to be her 10 minutes before bed thing, but of course we watched the whole show) and she just laughed so genuinely and hard that it made me happy just to be with her.

Credits-watching pays off

2008-05-05T12:50:00.002-05:00

Karen and I saw Iron Man this weekend and were happy that we watched the credits (as we usually do) because there is a Shaft-sized ending before the projector goes dark.

Lili's Drive-In Description

2008-04-28T13:16:00.001-05:00

Last weekend we went to a drive-in movie, the first one Lili had ever been to. She described the screen as "a big poster on the sky, except it moves."

Why eBlog is not a good idea

2008-04-23T13:03:00.003-05:00

Check out this eBay auction. Is it a diary entry? Is it a sale? Sooo unfunny, plus those aren't laserdiscs. They're RCA Selectavision discs, which require a different player.

Rats Rats Rats!!!

2008-04-22T08:36:00.005-05:00

Check out this eBay auction that ended at $38. For that some lucky son of a bitch got:
• The Criterion laserdisc of "Robinson Crusoe On Mars," which isn't really a collectible anymore because of its DVD re-release, but still worth the money, and
• The autographed version of "The Day The Earth Stood Still," which includes not only the movie, but a CD of the score, a book about Robert Wise, and Robert Wise's frickin' autograph. This is the dude that edited "Citizen Kane," and won the Academy Award for "The Sound of Music" and "West Side Story."
There were only 2,500 autograph sets made, according to lddb.com, and I could have had one if I could have paid the auctioneer on payday, just four days late. But the dude never wrote me back after I asked for permission to hold my payment for 79 hours. That auction was worth a TON more than $36. Rats Rats Rats!!!
Plus to add insult to injury this putz is selling his copy of "The Day the Earth Stood Still" for a starting bid of $24, with $15 shipping. Of course, his is the first US release of the movie, the one that was discontinued after a remaster was released... a better LASERDISC version replaced it. When it was first produced, this dude's LD went for $39.98 retail, so the lucky bidder there will save a whole 98¢ off the original price. Gads, I may spend the whole day sighing.

Things that make me go rats

2008-04-17T08:23:00.002-05:00

The newspaper wasn't in the yard as I ran out to the bus this morning, and it just kind of ruined my morning. There are just some things that I can live through but just drive me crazy and ruin my morning. Like when I forget my watch - it just drives me crazy for some reason. I wonder if I could make a list of stuff that does that to me. I wonder if it would help alleviate the pain if I could understand what makes me so nuts about such small things.
Oh well, new Office tonight. That makes it all better.

Nice thing about Ebert

2008-04-14T11:54:00.000-05:00

Here's a nice little piece about Roger Ebert. More later.

She's listening... is that good?

2008-04-14T10:35:00.003-05:00

I was reading this article about Tina Fey where she said ''I should really strive to have better manners about those things. Pretty soon my kid's going to understand what I'm saying and be able to access it on the computer."
I kind of felt like that Sunday, not with the famous part but the "my kid's going to understand" part. I was playing video games with Lili (she's become an internet paper doll junkie) and she kept calling me "buddy" in a weird voice: "buuh-dee," sort of like Paulie Shore with a head injury. I asked her why she was calling me that, and she said, casually, that it was because I call her that all the time.
I became really aware of it, and I think I DO call her that all the time. Ugh, I mean it to be lovey, but it sounds so patronizing now! So, like Sondheim says, "Careful the things you say, children will listen."
And, for a little more guilt, I was remembering that last night I sat with her by her bed (our new strategy to help her get to sleep), and she was so sweet. She put her head on my lap like a pillow, she told me I was the best daddy ever (her new phrase, see also "You're the worst daddy ever!"), she sang a little bit. I felt like she was going to nod off, but she just kept sitting up and playing: putting her stuffed animals up against the side of the bed like a royal court, asking to get a magic wand from her dress up collection, asking me to wrap her animals in the blankets like dresses. After a while, I just left the room to get her to calm down... but I fell asleep and forgot to go back and check up on her. I hope that's not a bad thing, or that she didn't wonder why I would leave her like that (or am I spoiling her by sitting with her in the first place)?

Note to self

2008-04-07T15:57:00.000-05:00

I've only read this one poem by Richard Kenney, so I can't really say I'm recommending him. I guess this is more a note to myself to remember to look him up at the library.

Karen hates all Crashes

2008-03-27T16:06:00.002-05:00

I went to Netflix to put Cronenberg's "Crash" on my queue, and I realized that Karen hates EVERY movie ever named "Crash" on Netflix. According to imdb.com, there's one other non TV-movie calledCrash, this one staring Michael Biehn.
But as I look at the specifics, the laserdisc version is called "Breach of Trust," so proving my "Karen Hates Every Crash" theory may not necessitate her seeing it (which I can only imagine would be achieved by tying her to a chair in front of the TV a la "A Clockwork Orange").

An open letter to Peter Gelb

2008-03-24T12:59:00.002-05:00

It is said that during the first-ever Metropolitan Opera radio broadcast, Milton Cross was more than a host, he was a narrator. During the performance, Cross was instructed to describe the action on the stage, interjecting comments over the music like "there goes the witch flying by on her broomstick!"
The story goes that before the broadcast was even completed, the network was flooded with telegrams saying something to the effect of, "Tell that guy to shut up, no one can hear the opera!"
Apocryphal or not, the story illustrates that, when translating the live opera experience to another medium, the depiction should be more journalistic than interpretive. Though undoubtedly well-meaning, the director of the March 22 cinema broadcast of Tristan Und Isolde once again proved this true.
By breaking the screen into tiny boxes, the production took away the most powerful element of these HD broadcasts, the illusion that the theater view is there in New York, or at least that there exists an unbroken, unfettered connection between the performer and the audience.
Inserting herself into this connection sends the subtle, mistaken message that her medium, video, is equal to the opera. The direction thus calls attention to itself when it should be merely the clear-glass window that allows the audience to see this marvelous event.
At its worst, the "little boxes" insult the very thing it wants to magnify, telling the view that the opera's staging is somehow lacking, and that this extra pizzazz is a needed improvement.
The fact is that the split-screen effect fails even as a video presentation. I can't imagine any film director would choose to depict the most intimate moment between two lovers by putting them in two separate boxes divided by a thick gold pinstripe. Perhaps it was just an unfortunate by-product of the NCAA playoffs going on at the same time, but division of the screen left the viewer with the feeling of watching an opera at a sports bar.
I appreciate immensely the Met's desire to present excellence in every single aspect of it's presentation, even including the theatrical broadcast going outside the hall. But I trust that you will also understand that addressing a problem that does not exist brings about a fundamental opposite of that goal.
Sincerely,
Jonathan Plummer

Lili helping me at work

2008-03-12T12:59:00.002-05:00

Here's a picture of Lili and I at the studio at work. She knocked it out of the park (said her fan/manager).

Rock Chalk!

2008-03-04T19:22:00.002-06:00

I had a cool experience this weekend: I stood in the mouth of the tunnel at Allen Field House, then walked out onto the court, stood right in front of the Jayhawk, looked out into the crowd of 16,000 fans and... sang the national anthem. OK, not EXACTLY how it went in my dreams (in my dreams I'm on the cover of Sports Illustrated, finger-rolling a layup over two defenders, with a headline reading "KU's Big Little Old Man"), but my choir really did sing the national anthem and the alma mater at the KU - K-State game Saturday.

Lili-isms Redux

2008-02-27T12:21:00.002-06:00

Last night we were driving home and Lili said something sort of philosophical about helping people. Karen reached back between the seats and touched Lili, saying, "Honey, you have a good heart."
Lili very sincerely said, "Mama, that's my foot."
I LOVE that kid!!!

A little list of things I like...

2008-02-13T12:19:00.003-06:00

Northern Exposure I just found disc 2 of season 2 used yesterday... now if only I can find disc one at a discount!).
Lili-isms Yesterday Karen, Lili and I were going to the movies in a faraway part of town, and Lili kept piping up from the back seat how uninteresting the trek was. First she said, "I'm getting boreder and boreder." Later, she sighed, "This is the most boring I can get!"

Lili slays me... really!

2008-02-12T12:23:00.000-06:00

God help me I love that new Terminator show. The pilot was fantastic! Fox has a site where you can insert yourself into the climax of the show:

CLICK HERE TO GO TO SITE

Here's Lili, and she'll be back. No really, the clip seems like it will keep playing over and over unless you push the button on the bottom left of the window.

Unnecessary Censorship

2008-02-08T14:17:00.001-06:00

I don't usually like Jimmy Kimmel, but this is a brilliant idea for an ongoing bit:

Five videos series

2008-02-05T12:41:00.000-06:00

The Esquire Five Videos series is fast becoming one of my favorite reasons to look forward to the first of the month. The conceit is that five youtube vids are brought together every month under some heading like this month's Five Most Pwned Newscasters, which features newscasters doing stupid things. These are all pretty easily found on your own, but the writer's just-snarky-and-blue-enough set-ups make it so much funnier.

Help me help Lili

2008-02-04T15:19:00.001-06:00

Hi, dear reader! I was watching an old video of an even older movie last week: The Invisible Man with Claude Rains. Lili was really excited by all the lab work and chemistry-like stuff Rains and Henry Travers perform, because she loves to pour together different liquids to see what will happen (usually, the yield is a sorta gross mixture of something solid, yogurt and/or milk).
I've been trying to think of other movies or books with chemistry themes or scenes that would be interesting for a four-year-old (or appropriate for that matter, thereby ruling out say, CSI: Miami or Re-Animator), and have come up with precious few examples:

The Man In the White Suit
The Absent-Minded Professor
Back To the Future
Jurassic Park
Donovan's Brain
Monkey Business

Would anyone be kind enough to add to my list by clicking "reply" below? Can you think of portrayals of scientists that aren't "mad" or "absent-minded"? If you add a personal note about the book or movie, that would be even better!
Most gratefully, Plumnbagel

Lili takes a bow

2008-02-03T19:01:00.000-06:00

Lili was dancing yesterday and I made a little movie just as she took a bow.

Two more weeks of beard

2008-01-30T09:10:00.000-06:00

Lili knows how to party!

2008-01-30T09:06:00.000-06:00

Here are some pics from Lili's friend Hayden's birthday party:

To disagree is not to "disconnect"

2008-01-28T13:13:00.000-06:00

Ingrid Burnett, vice president of the Kansas City School Board, defines the term “ad homonym” with her comment in The Kansas City Star Saturday.
“It’s appalling how much of a disconnect there is between the public and the school district,” according to Burnett.
The issue, as Burnett well knows, is that members of the public disagree with her and her fellow board members' decision to oust Superintendent Amato. Trying to attack the patrons of the district instead of owning up to dissent around the board's hasty decision is a pathetic attempt to run from responsibility.
Burnett's service on the board is laudable, but her tenure will be associated with anger at the decision to force out an agent for urgent change just when the district needed it. That is not a "disconnect" between the patrons of the district and the board. That is a public trying to convince the board that it is moving in the wrong direction.

One of my favorite skits ever

2008-01-16T12:34:00.001-06:00

Eminently quotable. Seriously, if you don't watch this you are denying yourself the funniest thing you could experience today:

Paper Dolls

2008-01-14T15:17:00.000-06:00

Not too long ago Lili and I were playing with some paper dolls she has, and I said we should draw around them and make them some new clothes. We got the comics page from the Sunday paper and made cutouts, then fitted them around the dolls bodies. She just loved it so much, and said, "Daddy, we're genius!" Just wanted to write that moment down so I won't forget it, because it was really special to me.