Sufjan Stevens
08.02.05 (12:57 pm) [edit]Great band I just started listening to. KCRW has a stream of his latest performance in their studio at: Sufjan Stevens on KCRW
Or visit Sufjan Stevens's Website at: Sufjan Stevens Official Site.
Tee Shirts that will make you laugh out loud
07.29.05 (12:25 pm) [edit]Check out this new tee shirt company, Shirts and Ladders. Their shirts are hilarious and there are more and more coming out every week.
Frozen Yogurt and Luxury Cars
05.14.04 (12:29 pm) [edit]Yes, I have another rant of sorts. Since those readers of my blog have, over time, come to expect nothing less, I don't expect there to be any backlash. So, here goes:
Why on God's gracious green earth do people need to taste ice cream and frozen yogurt before they buy it? Does TCBY's chocolate yogurt taste different today? Is it like wine tasting? Hmmm...yes. This is a nice late March, early April. Not to much glocose powder and with a very dairy finish.
Do you ask for a little slice of pizza at Pizza Hut or a quarter of a cheeseburger at McD's before you buy? No. Why ice cream?
And luxury cars. Cars and ice cream are the two main things that you get to "take for a spin" before you buy them. Cars, I understand (and I won't even get into the fact that you can haggle about car prices but not about TV prices or stereo prices), but ice cream?
Give me a break. Stop holding up the goddamn line, take a wild and crazy guess at what a chocolate/peanut butter swirl is going to taste like, and order your friggin' ice cream.
For the love of Pete!
Blog Bingo and Bush's Buffoonery
05.13.04 (12:08 pm) [edit]I'm trying to keep my chance at blog bingo intact (see my calendar to know what I mean.)
I was really hoping something would occur to me today to blog about but, alas, nothing has.
I heard some encouraging news on NPR today. One pollster suggested that it's Kerry's election to win or lose based on Bush's popularity polls at this point. He cited recent non-two-termers Ford, Carter, and Bush Sr. who had similar popularity at this point in the election cycle.
Please, oh please, let's not buck history.
(spider)Men in Scoring Position
05.06.04 (10:58 am) [edit]Advertisements for Spiderman 2 are going to appear on the bases during all Major League Baseball games on an upcoming weekend.
Pardon me, but WTF? To top it all off, Spiderman 2 is likely to be as gut-wrenchingly wretched as the first Spiderman movie which makes Major League Baseball look like it's got as much taste as day-old rice cakes.
I mean, Tobey Maguire as an action hero? Let's not get ahead of ourselves...
Macarena, Aieeeeee!
05.06.04 (10:24 am) [edit]Yesterday on the radio I actually heard the song "Macarena". I almost steered my car into a freeway piling, but thanks to my strong will to live and my equally strong desire not to die on the freeway, I took the lazy, banking right turn for home instead.
It took me until hours later to realize that they were playing this song in celebration of Cinco de Mayo. It didn't even occur to me that the song was Latin. Of course, the fact that it's sung in Spanish should be a major tipoff, but my respect for Latin culture runs too deep for this connection to be made based on something so obvious. I guess, deep down, I thought it was Spanish-sounding gibberish, and not the genuine article.
Even though the song is in Spanish, why play it to celebrate Cinco de Mayo? Do you play "Right Said Fred" when you wish to celebrate baldness? I think not.
And since everyone is interested, let me also point out that the Macarena is now officially between George W. Bush and Barbara Walters on my list of "things I can't fucking stand". And FYI, the Macarena's addition to this list has officially bumped Derek Jeter to fourth.
What kind of writing pays the best?
04.29.04 (9:09 pm) [edit]According to Elmore Leonard: Ransom Notes.
I have to give "mad props", as the kids say, or "a shout out" to Elmore. He writes great stories that almost always adapt well to film.
Has anyone read one of his books before it made it to the silver screen? I have not. I'm still trying to get through ATLAS SHRUGGED. I have to put it down every 2 pages so I can haunt the neighborhood looking for an investment banker to strangle.
test blogs? Rocky, you should be offended
04.21.04 (10:24 am) [edit]I've always noticed people doing this and now I'm going to comment on it. Why do people post test blogs that have a subject of test and the actual blog says something like "this is a test".
What do you think? That it's not going to work and you need to make sure it works before you say something of any value whatsoever? (And we're talking about blogs here, folks, so the qualifications for "something of value" are already staggeringly low).
Rocky, you should be offended that people think tblog isn't going to work, so they need to test it!
Why not wait until you're first real entry and then note whether it worked or not?
That is all. Rocky, my apologies on behalf of all the test bloggers out there.
New radio DJ -- why?
04.21.04 (10:17 am) [edit]My favorite radio station in LA Arrow 93.1 just changed their morning DJ from Uncle Joe Benson to this jackass Jonathan Brandmeier (a.k.a. Johnny B).
First off, Uncle Joe used to play mostly music and when he did talk, he said things that were interesting: facts about bands, news about concerts, etc. Johnny B should be on the Ryan Seacrest show -- he talks about nothing, uses sound effects, and pulls this half-assed Seinfeld thing where everything anyone says has to be met with a, "What is up with that?"
I'm so depressed. Now I have to listen to CDs on the way to work.
Michael Crichton on speculation
04.17.04 (10:07 am) [edit]Great speech given by Michael Crichton.
Read it...
Speaking of Uncle Rummy...
04.14.04 (10:55 am) [edit]I wrote this as a comment but wanted to get more widespread reaction:
Is it just me, or can you all picture Don Rumsfeld shirtless, squatting in the corner, hair wild, a Rambo knife in his teeth, having just made an incision in his right forearm, smearing bloody warpaint under his eyes, ready to exact immeasurable pain with some little-known style of martial arts?
Yeah...it's probably just me.
Nathan Alcohol is your friend?
04.14.04 (9:31 am) [edit]Serious headline from some spam I received this morning. Here's the text of the email:
[i]Uncle Rummie's Hangover Helper is all-natural dietary supplement providing protection from the "morning after" symptoms experienced after prolonged or excessive alcohol consumption.
If taken as directed, Uncle Rummie's Hangover Helper completely eleminates unpleasant side effects such as headache, nausea and dehydration.[/i]
If you're on the market for a morning-after hangover pill, who gives a good God damn if it's all-natural and herbal.
Great quote about imagination and creativity
04.05.04 (8:40 pm) [edit][i]"Skill without imagination is craftsmanship and gives us many useful objects, such as wickerwork picnic baskets. Imagination without skill gives us modern art." [/i] – Tom Stoppard
Baseball season begins... adios free time
04.05.04 (8:06 pm) [edit]To show my propensity for human weakness, today I did two things that I swore I would not do this year:
A) I registered for a fantasy baseball league
B) I watched a baseball game, the outcome of which, didn't matter to me in the least
There goes my free time until October...
dang
03.31.04 (6:35 pm) [edit]Full article is here.
[i]The evolution of basketball took another gigantic leap forward yesterday when Candace Parker won the Slam Dunk Championship at the McDonald's High School All-American Game. The Men's Slam Dunk Championship. The 6-foot-4 Parker is the two-time winner of the Naismith National Player of the Year and perhaps the most hyped female high school baller of all time.[/i]
My ring tone says I'm geeky-cool
03.30.04 (10:49 am) [edit]I wish people would stop trying to show their personality through their cellphone ring tones and would actually [u]get [/u]a personality.
At work for example, people seem preoccupied with decorating their cell phones, changing their ring tones, and downloading cell phone wallpaper. That and taking pictures with their cell phone cameras.
Cell phones? Is there anything they can't do?
I fully expect to hear on the news in the near future that a cell phone won Jeopardy, or solved a crime, or won an Oscar. Hell if Julia Roberts won an Oscar, a properly souped up cell phone shouldn't have much trouble...
Hellboy meets Cliff Claven?
03.29.04 (12:17 pm) [edit]Anyone else think that Hellboy looks like Ted Danson?
"That guy" abounding in Santa Monica
03.28.04 (11:43 pm) [edit]"That guy" held his little lap dog up to a drinking fountain and let it lick the spout while it was taking a drink. Jesus, "that guy". What were you thinking? Your cute little doggie eats poop and drinks out of the toilet.
Arnold, you cheeky bastard...
03.27.04 (7:48 pm) [edit]From the LA Times. Full story is here.
[i]SANTA ROSA, Calif. — On a recent afternoon, the phone rang in the home of Andy and Rachel Berliner, the husband and wife owners of Amy's Kitchen Inc., an organic food company here.
"Berliner, huh?" came the famous voice on the other end of the line. Then, in German: "Ich bin ein Berliner!"[/i]
I should introduce him to my friends, Mr. and Mrs. Beefcake S. Assclown. That would be a quote I'd like to hear come from Arnold's lips.
Eternal gloom of the content-free mind
03.26.04 (11:28 am) [edit]Entire article is here.
[i]US President George W Bush has sparked a political row by making a joke about the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
At a black-tie dinner for journalists, Mr Bush narrated a slide show poking fun at himself and other members of his administration.
One pictured Mr Bush looking under a piece of furniture in the Oval Office, at which the president remarked: "Those weapons of mass destruction have got to be here somewhere." [/i]
Good gravy.
Now, "that chick is smokin'" means only one thing
03.26.04 (9:49 am) [edit]Santa Monica took a bold step, banning smoking at the beach. All I have to say is, hells yeah.
The last thing I need is some pasty tourist in their bike shorts smoking a cigarette and listening to the Scorpions on their boom box while sipping Coors light out of a big gulp cup to ruin my day at the beach.
Now hiring: Spanish speakers who need viagra
03.25.04 (12:45 pm) [edit]A few months ago (actually, 9 months ago, I'm ashamed to say) I returned to an old employer for a part time job. I justified this swallowing-of-the-pride by telling myself that the part-time-ness allowed me to pursue my screenwriting... which it does. However, I do currently work for a company that I quit three years ago... that's not the best position to be in. But I digress.
My email account remained open for that entire time which means that when I got back, I was on every spam list in the universe. I've tried to manage it, and what I have left is a bunch of spam in Spanish.
Anyone care to help? Here are some of the words and my gringo translations:
para remover : for to remove
sujeto : subject
viagra : viagra
xanax : xanax
Perhaps I just reply with the word REMOVER in the sujeto?
