This is kinda fun.
make-a-movie with a message generator
"Choose your sample, create your subtitles, send to your friends ..."
( thanks to the May 15, 2006 RocketBoom for this... )
Monday, May 15, 2006
'You Are the Generation That Bought More Shoes and You Get What You Deserve'
Yay NPR's Song of the Day
It's a nice song. Listen to it at the above link.
Also check out the Johnny Boy web site, where you can also stream a few of their (few) songs.
Anti-Consumerism in an Accessible Package
As great as albums are, there's something special about a single, especially if it's a band's only output. When there are only one or two songs to choose from, it creates a bit of mystery and excitement: A single teases more material to come, and it changes a song's context entirely.
The London duo Johnny Boy returns to this great tradition with "You Are the Generation That Bought More Shoes and You Get What You Deserve," a single that's as catchy as its title is long. With a sound rooted in '60s girl-group anthems, it's an underground pop masterpiece: Sly and timeless, it works on multiple levels.
Incorporating a wall of sound worthy of Phil Spector -- complete with intense strings and crashing cymbals -- Johnny Boy converts its wordy and unmistakable message into a chorus that's never as unwieldy as it should be. The title is rumored to refer to TV's Sex and the City, but that just adds to the mystery. Luckily, the B-side is terrific, too.
It's a nice song. Listen to it at the above link.
Also check out the Johnny Boy web site, where you can also stream a few of their (few) songs.
Technorati Tags: johnny boy, you are the generation, generation that bought more shoes, music, npr, song of the day
Have AirTunes? Try AirFoil for Windows and OS X
I learned about AirFoil today.
For a long time I have wanted an "AirPort Express Base Station with AirTunes" just so I have the ability to easily beam my audio all around the apartment. However, I was upset that it would only transmit stuff out of iTunes. I often use my AM/FM tuner or RealPlayer or other applications that I also would like to broadcast into the kitchen or the living room.
Now, I could have used an FM transmitter, but over an entire apartment the signal-to-noise ratio can get very low, so I didn't bother.
Well, today I learned about AirFoil, which has a version available for both OS X and Windows. It's shareware. To buy a full version, it will cost you $25.
It does EXACTLY what I want. It will broadcast ANY application's audio to your base station.
So now I may have to buy an AirPort Express. That's sorta depressing because I think these little things are over-priced and behind-the-times. They clearly aren't ready for 802.11n. However, they're compact, and I'll probably only use it for the audio... It would be nice if there was a model that didn't act as a wireless router/repeater. Maybe it would be cheaper...
(oh, and Rogue Amoeba has some other neat products too. Most of them are audio related)
For a long time I have wanted an "AirPort Express Base Station with AirTunes" just so I have the ability to easily beam my audio all around the apartment. However, I was upset that it would only transmit stuff out of iTunes. I often use my AM/FM tuner or RealPlayer or other applications that I also would like to broadcast into the kitchen or the living room.
Now, I could have used an FM transmitter, but over an entire apartment the signal-to-noise ratio can get very low, so I didn't bother.
Well, today I learned about AirFoil, which has a version available for both OS X and Windows. It's shareware. To buy a full version, it will cost you $25.
It does EXACTLY what I want. It will broadcast ANY application's audio to your base station.
So now I may have to buy an AirPort Express. That's sorta depressing because I think these little things are over-priced and behind-the-times. They clearly aren't ready for 802.11n. However, they're compact, and I'll probably only use it for the audio... It would be nice if there was a model that didn't act as a wireless router/repeater. Maybe it would be cheaper...
(oh, and Rogue Amoeba has some other neat products too. Most of them are audio related)
Saturday, May 13, 2006
Al-a$$-ka
Update: The U.S. Senate Sergeant at Arms (or maybe just someone using a computer inside the senate building?) has already viewed this page... Not more than fifteen minutes after it was posted... That's so weird.
I had CNN Saturday on in the background a few minutes ago and happened to catch a story on Alaska.
Alaska gets a cut of all oil that flows through its Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS). So far this year it has brought in something like $4 billion to the state. In fact, at present day oil prices, it's so much money that Alaska is running a $1.4 billion surplus!
So what do they do with that extra money? They put it into a special fund that currently has $35 billion in it. This fund sits in an interest-bearing account somewhere. That interest is then divided among all of Alaska's residents. Last year, the interest provided each of Alaska resident $855.
On top of that, if you divide the amount of federal money going into Alaska for public services among all of the people in Alaska, it turns out that the per capita amount is something like $12,500. That's more than ANY OTHER STATE. In fact, I think it's MUCH more than ANY other state.
Ted Stevens is an evil man. He was the chairman of the senate appropriations committee until 2005. Think that has anything to do with how Alaska is doing today?
How We Talked Back Then
This week's This American Life show (Episode 312), so far, is terrific.
TAL: How We Talked Back Then
You can stream it for free, or you can download it for not-so-free.
This episode revisits some old episodes from back before the Internet was really popular.
The first segment actually has people read old letters that they either wrote or received or just found. These letters include job applications, love letters, break-up letters... And they're all really funny. It's GREAT to hear people read letters, most of which were written in the 80's.
The second segment replays people's reaction to their newest Internet experiences back when the Internet was a strange and mysterious thing. The first story is from a woman who meets a man from Microsoft on-line after viewing his website. She's amazed she can read someone else's private website... They talk personally for a few days... They then meet! She likes him. Eventually he takes her back to Microsoft late at night... He promises her a copy of Office 97... and one thing leads to another. Then after that, he tells her he's not interested in a relationship until he makes his first million.
It's GREAT. If I had the time, I would transcribe some of it. It would be great just to read the script! However, hearing it... hearing it is precious.
TAL: How We Talked Back Then
You can stream it for free, or you can download it for not-so-free.
This episode revisits some old episodes from back before the Internet was really popular.
The first segment actually has people read old letters that they either wrote or received or just found. These letters include job applications, love letters, break-up letters... And they're all really funny. It's GREAT to hear people read letters, most of which were written in the 80's.
The second segment replays people's reaction to their newest Internet experiences back when the Internet was a strange and mysterious thing. The first story is from a woman who meets a man from Microsoft on-line after viewing his website. She's amazed she can read someone else's private website... They talk personally for a few days... They then meet! She likes him. Eventually he takes her back to Microsoft late at night... He promises her a copy of Office 97... and one thing leads to another. Then after that, he tells her he's not interested in a relationship until he makes his first million.
It's GREAT. If I had the time, I would transcribe some of it. It would be great just to read the script! However, hearing it... hearing it is precious.
Technorati Tags: this american life, tal, how we talked back then, internet, internet history, letters, web, funny, humor, hilarious, npr
Friday, May 12, 2006
You put beer in my margarita...
Add 1/3 bottle of Miller Lite to margarita mix for "a little bit of bubble action?" Really? Seriously?
Will that work?
Will that work?
Meta-blogging!!
Recently, the wise Tim posted this post on the wonderful Hawk Wings blog, which features interesting news and views about e-mail (specifically Apple's Mail.app). He admitted that this post had nothing to do with the point of the site, but he felt it was worth posting. I don't mind this. My real qualms come from one of the comments, as seen in a second... His post went a little like this.
That's fine. But then some idiot posts this comment:
I'm SURE he was just trying to be cute, but after a while... It just gets OLD! This commenter seems to have real acceptance problems. He'd have to, wouldn't he?
Okay. I'll calm down. Taking a page from Jenn's book, here are the bunnies... (which she learned about from me, I'll have you know!!)
Santa Claus, hobbits and the space pen
This post doesn’t really have anything to do with what this site is about.
Sometime during your childhood you realise that Santa Claus and hobbits aren’t really real. A bit later, maybe in your twenties, you work out that Marx asked the right questions, but might not have hit upon the right answers.
Advancing age brings further bitter-sweet advances in maturity. I had just such a moment today.
Merlin Mann ruthlessly strips away a myth that has sustained me for many years. I have always believed that the Fisher Space Pen is the archetypal example of American extravagance and waste, the icon of a culture gone mad with abundance.
I was wrong.
That's fine. But then some idiot posts this comment:
Marx was wrong? Perhaps the cycle is to read Marx (Karl, not Groucho, though I rank them equally in the scheme of world history), then believe Marx, then listen to the right-wing criticism of Marx, then abandon Marx, then grow up larer to re-consider Marx, then settle in to an understanding that Marx was right–just how to apply his principles is the crux of the problem with socialism. “The devil is in the details” as they say, and dumping Marx into a country such as Russia which seems to have had an eternal history of exploitation and abuse of ordinary citizens did not fare well.
I’d move from the USA to Norway, a socialist/Marxist state, except I just don’t want to freeze my butt off. Norway is sometimes ranked using tangible and not-so-measurable factors as the “best” country on the planet. In terms of the overall economic wealth, personal health, and happiness of the citizens.
So, maybe Marx was right after all, but few schools in the US offer meaningful discussions about what constitutes a free, happy, and healthy society. For all the hoopla about the US, our government throws away such a vast quantity of money on war that (the money spent on the war in Iraq alone could wipe out world-wide starvation, according to the UN) our own standard of living continues to degrade. One could cogently argue that capitialism and the American experiment failed. We live by the myth of the entrepreneur. “Each of us could be a Bill Gates worth 250 billion, if we only got the right break tomorrow.”
So, just as we might do well to re-assess the role of the Space Pen, tossing out Marxism as you did in an off-the-cuff remark perhaps is worthy of deeper discussion in some other forum.
I'm SURE he was just trying to be cute, but after a while... It just gets OLD! This commenter seems to have real acceptance problems. He'd have to, wouldn't he?
Okay. I'll calm down. Taking a page from Jenn's book, here are the bunnies... (which she learned about from me, I'll have you know!!)
Just a little non-trivia, mmm hmm.... yea yeahh...
Delivered to me today, as usual, by Page-A-Day:
It's not trivia when you need to diagram the sentence to figure out what the hell they're asking...
Q: Which six U.S. state capitals are located on rivers named for other states?
A: Austin, Texas, on the Colorado River; Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and St. Paul, Minnesota, on the Mississippi River; Trenton, New Jersey, on the Delaware River; and Bismarck, North Dakota, and Pierre, South Dakota, on the Missouri River.
It's not trivia when you need to diagram the sentence to figure out what the hell they're asking...
No Vlog Left Behind...
A few posts ago I made this comment...
Well, strangely enough, the Friday, May 12 RocketBoom seems to be related to this question. It's not quite an answer, but it's something.
( Why do I find it funny that Rocketboom uses an attractive blond female (Amanda Congdon [1][2][3][4], Northwestern grad and 1981 baby) to do their vlogs? I mean, it's nothing against her. It's not like she's not qualified for the job; she is. In fact, she may not even think of herself that way. After all, there's nothing she can do about it. However, I have a feeling it may (perhaps subconsciously) have gone into the vote as to who would be the "frontman" for RocketBoom. )
Well, strangely enough, the Friday, May 12 RocketBoom seems to be related to this question. It's not quite an answer, but it's something.
This summer's defining band: Sound Team?
NPR's Song of the Day: Let the Summer of Sound Team Begin
I'm not sure if I agree there...
However, the song grew on me as I listened to it. Stream the song from NPR to see what you think.
Every summer has that album: one that defines the season while hearkening back to the mysteries and epiphanies of summers past. This year's incarnation may well be the work of a band called Sound Team.
I'm not sure if I agree there...
However, the song grew on me as I listened to it. Stream the song from NPR to see what you think.
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