Everyone Needs Goggles

November 15, 2011

#babiesarepartofeveryone

#safescienceisfunscience

Linkage:

Neil deGrasse Tyson explains autotune

(He’s also a great twitter follow)

How Did You Get So Tall?

from Hello, Giggles
by Anna Goldfarb

I’m 6’1″, which is tall for a girl. In case I wasn’t aware of that fact, I have an endless supply of strangers who are happy to remind me about it on a daily basis by asking me the same inane questions repeatedly. Here they are, in order from mildly grating to downright bizarre.

How tall are you?
Although the question itself may seem innocuous, this one comes down to tone. For the most part, people don’t ask how tall I am with a friendly smile, like how the cute guy at Trader Joe’s asks me if I found everything I needed while I was shopping. No, people ask me how tall I am with an attitude, like, “How tall are you?” What do they think I’m gonna say? “I’m 27 feet and 35 inches, Ma’am.” Are they that bad at estimating? I’m 6’1″. It’s not that crazy.

I have this experience with my smell-blindness.

#canyoutasteanything?

Retromania

November 14, 2011

Tetris Attack

At one point, I was so good at this game, I was playing on the highest level for 45 minutes.  I only stopped because I had to go to soccer practice.

#totallybraggingbuttotallytrue
#seethegameinaction

All those seemingly wasted hours of my childhood were preparing me to read "Ready Player One" by Ernest Cline.

(from entertainment weekly review)

Ready Player One is set in 2044, in an impoverished, dystopian America. The only escape is a vast virtual-reality simulation game deeply saturated with geek obsessions from the 1970s and '80s: Star Wars, Atari, Dungeons & Dragons, and John Hughes, to name a few. (The book names a lot more. Like, all of them.) The virtual world was created by James Halliday, one of the real world's richest men, who recently died. His fortune and digital kingdom will be awarded to whoever can complete a series of hidden quests assembled from a hodgepodge of his favorite childhood movies, games, TV shows, and songs.

#ilovedystopianfutures

#thesereferencesareinmywheelhouse

Both of these entries reminded me of a book I had heard about but never read called "Retromania" by Simon Reynolds.

From amazon:

Simon Reynolds, one of the finest music writers of his generation, argues that we have indeed reached a tipping point, and that although earlier eras had their own obsessions with antiquity—the Renaissance with its admiration for Roman and Greek classicism, the Gothic movement’s invocations of medievalism—never has there been a society so obsessed with the cultural artifacts of its own immediate past.Retromania is the first book to examine the retro industry and ask the question: Is this retromania a death knell for any originality and distinctiveness of our own?

Linkage:

Technology Hump

from SNL

Confessions of a Tweeter

If my digital presence ever becomes a problem, I pray I'll have the strength to pull the plug.

Red Dead Redemption

November 13, 2011

Red Dead Redemption

The Game of the Year Edition finally came packed with Undead Nightmare:

#yippiekiyaymotherf---er

Linkage:

Game Night with Rich Sommers on AOTS

Segment about table top games.  Things like Settlers of Catan or Apples to Apples.  Where else are you going to hear a Mad Man talk about these things?

High Speed Bubble Photography from Heinz Maier

via Roger Ebert

Wow.

Sweet Berry Wine!

November 12, 2011

TBTL Sweet Berry Wine Tasting at Neptune Coffee

Thanks Jen and friends for helping select the official holiday wine

#itsthe2009cabernetsauvignon

#SWEETBERRYWINE

#tookmyownphotobutthisonewasbetter

#grabbeditfrombookface

#hopethatscoolguys

We had official wine tasting mats, folks brought cupcakes and lots of people didn't drink the Merlot.

#thankssideways

#moreformebutitsnotweirdcauseiknowthesepeople

I should state again, TBTL is NOT a cult.  It's just a radio program but it's also super meta and self referential.  For example, people were toasting and saying "Hammer Time!" because a listener tried to convince all of Europe that, in America, that is how we say "cheers".

Linkage:

Nickelback improved:

Jimmy Fallon - The Doors Singing Reading Rainbow

There is always something great on Jimmy Fallon.

Zoo Party (YAY! BIrthday!)

November 11, 2011

Happy Birthday, Holly!

(Birthday Girl's Blog here)

#superfunparty

#itshouldbeyourbirthdayeveryday

#thanksbarbfortakingthisphoto

Linkage:

Neil deGrasse Tyson's Symphony of Science

Other Symphony of Science Videos

Amnesiac

November 10, 2011

This whole process feels like it happened so long ago.

It will be over soon.

#ortheretakeprocesswillbeginsoon

Linkage:

Ben Folds Discusses “The Luckiest” from AV Club “One Track Mind”

Ben Folds discusses and performs "The Luckiest"
This song was written for the film "Loser" but the scene and song were cut before production wrapped.  

Drinkify

Suggests an appropriate drink to enjoy specific to a particular artist.

For Ben Folds, Drinkify recommends:

"The Ben Folds"
2 oz. Whiskey
2 oz. Egg
6 oz. Stolichnaya Vodka

Fantasy Football + Imaginary Radio

November 9, 2011

I am in the same fantasy football league as the host of this podcast.  

He said my team was getting killed on the program.

  

You should know:

"Just A Minute, Ron" is code for a bathroom emergency.  

And fantasy football is ridiculous.  

Someone once said hearing about fantasy football was like sharing pictures from your vacation.  

I don't want to hear every detail, I just want to know if you had a good time.  

So sharing an email conversation about fantasy football is like reading your itinerary as performance art.  

Sorry.

Linkage:

Bill Clinton on The Daily Show

"In this unedited, extended interview, Bill Clinton discusses his book, which provides an overview of America's economic problems and a plan for reviving the economy."

Childish Gambino - “Camp” NPR First Listen

Stream the whole album this week!

"Childish Gambino got his unusual stage name from an online "Wu-Tang Clan name generator" — he says it just felt right. The performer's real name is Donald McKinley Glover, best known for his role as Troy Barnes on the NBC comedy series Community. As a rapper, he's already made three albums and a pair of mixtapes, all of them available online for free. Camp, out Nov. 15, is his first commercial release. Fans got their first taste of it with the September single "Bonfire," which weaves together references to Drake, the cartoon show Invader Zim, Casey Anthony and the grisly horror film The Human Centipede."

We Should All Love The New York Times

November 8, 2011

Page One: Inside The New York Times

New media (twitter, bookface, blogs) can be great, but we need real journalists in the world to collect and report the stories new media distributes.

Roger Ebert's Review

Entertainment Weekly Review

Linkage:

What Happens When You Flush A Toilet In The World’s Tallest Building

Your deuce could sit in a truck for 24 hours.  

Yeah, it's weird.

Silent Guardian

November 7, 2011

When begin to put my shoes on, Hobbes just sits by the door, like he won't let me leave.  

I can't tell if this is sweet or creepy.

#worstbouncerimaginable

Linkage:

Publishers Weekly: 10 Best Graphic Novels of the Year

Crime Scene from SNL

Storage...Again

November 6, 2011

Empty.

Full.

Pizza, beer, and thank you's followed.

#astheyshould

#butseriouslyinvestinakindleandipodandjointhe21stcentury

Linkage:

First Thing's First and Ten Don’t Hate the Player, Hate the Game (AND the Player)

While sipping your Manhattan at a bar/club/restaurant (all of the above!), has a strange(r) man ever approached you to debate any of the following?

• ESP and its possibility or impossibility
• How he met a bear while hiking
• The time he was in the hospital and how it changed the way food tastes or the way birds sound clearer to him now
• The time he hacked into a bank but chickened out and put the money into a charity
• The time he accompanied his friend to visit a girl and his buddy was almost beaten to death when the girl he visited had a boyfriend who came out and there was a twenty-minute car chase through lights and he was looking for the cops but lost the crazed boyfriend before he found any

If so, you are a victim of The Game! If you are of legal dating age in America, I’m sure you’ve heard guys around you whisper about ‘The Game’, which is essentially the male equivalent of ‘The Rules’… Tricks and schemes to capture the attention of (sleep with) attractive girls. 

Louis CK online only show

He has easily given me $5 worth of laughs.

Bacon Mountain

November 5, 2011

(Picture from yelp.  Sorry the lighting was weird for me.)

Red Mill Burgers has a mountain of bacon.

What more do you need to know?

#oprahlikesitsoitmustbegood

Molly Moon's has Georgetown Porter ice cream.

#waffleconesareoffthechain

They serve breakfast at the Queen Anne Location?

Bottleworks selections.  

I'm excited to try the Samuel Smith's Yorkshire Stingo.

#iboughttheabominablealejustbecauseofthesnowman

Linkage:

The Old Fashioned: A History and Guide to this Classic Cocktail

The old-fashioned is at once "the manliest cocktail order" and "something your grandmother drank," and between those poles we discover countless simple delights, evolutionary wonders, and captivating abominations. Because of its core simplicity and its elasticity—because it is primordial booze—ideas about the old-fashioned exist in a realm where gastronomical notions shade into ideological tenets. It is a platform for a bar to make a statement, a surface on whichevery bartender leaves a thumbprint, and a solution that many a picky drinker dips his litmus paper in. You are a free man. Drink your drink as you please. But know that your interpretation of the recipe says something serious about your philosophy of fun.

Ask Bryan Greene Anything

He's smart and he's answering anything thrown his way.

Pep Assemblies Matter

November 4, 2011

Pep Assemblies are one chance for everyone to have a shared cultural experience.  They connect everyone at school to a singular event.

#eventhoughitsloudandtheseatshurtmybutt

Sometimes activities work, sometimes they don't.  But kids get to be kids.  Before you judge, you try to entertain 1,000+ teenagers for an hour.

#thiskidwasunharmed

Linkage:

History of Rap 3

These look easy, but the Roots have to learn a ton of different music and string it all together.  

Gobble-off Brainstorming

November 3, 2011

"OJ Simpson Turkey" did not make the list.  But it has led my homeroom to discuss the most notorious cases of the last 20 years.

#therearenobadideasinbrainstormingwaityesthereare

I hope we pick "Angry Birds" or "Hunger Games" over "Snooki".

#proudthekidscameupwithoompaloompa

Chipotle keeps for a few days.  Any time you go, just get a couple of bowls.  You'll eat well for days.

#thattipisfreeyourewelcome

Linkage:

Top 5 Things That Have To Be Identified As Art
Roger Ebert strongly opposes the idea of video games as art. But that cassette tape? Clearly belongs in a museum.

Why Catering Is The Best First New York Job You Can Have

Catering seems like a cool job.  But it won't actually be like "Party Down".  I like the idea that nobody at the catering company thinks of it as a career.

Sounders Win (but still lose)

November 2, 2011

Sounders 2 - Salt Lake 0

(Sounders fall 3-2 in aggregate)



Not a downpour, but I lamented the lack of my waterproof pants.

#weatherwasfinejustsurprising

Sounders played hard the whole game and created enough chances to win, we just didn't convert.

#soccerplayoffsarestupidanyway

Linkage:

Single Girls Guide #23 Men Are Happier Than Women

A woman wrote this:

"I’ll tell you what I notice. Often, when you ask a guy how he’s doing he’ll say something like, “Ya know, I can’t complain.”And when I hear that and he’s looking at me to nod and agree, I’m like, “No, I don’t know. There’s a ton of s**t to complain about.” For starters, even though no one wants to admit it to me, I’m clearly five pounds overweight. Then there’s the obvious, which is that I’m not with child. And don’t get me started on my neighbor who keeps leaving me notes saying that I’m the only person in my building who doesn’t decorate her door for holidays."

24 Hours at Fukushima
On the other hand, close study of the disaster's first 24 hours, before the cascade of failures carried reactor 1 beyond any hope of salvation, reveals clear inflection points where minor differences would have prevented events from spiraling out of control. Some of these are astonishingly simple: If the emergency generators had been installed on upper floors rather than in basements, for example, the disaster would have stopped before it began. And if workers had been able to vent gases in reactor 1 sooner, the rest of the plant's destruction might well have been averted.

Fall Colors In The Dark

November 1, 2011

These are the colors of fall when you get to work before dawn and you have no windows.

#theleaveswerereallyallthiscolorbutthestreetlighthelpedtoo

I have also thought about some frivolous, impulsive, semi-major purchases

1) Seatle Redhawks Season Tickets

I will miss the NBA.  Something needs to fill that hole.

2) Snoqualmie Season Tickets

But I'd need to have a snowboard...

3) Snowboard Connection

Is this a good store?  Google thought so.

4) Northwest University Tickets

Except I can't figure out how to buy them.

Linkage:

Generation Catalano
The population caught between Generation X and The Millenials. I thought they were Generation Y.

Retromotion: 8-bit sticky note tribute

Costume Choices

October 31, 2011

Best Kid Costume:

Jeff Andonuts from Earthbound

#proudthatakidknowsthisgame

After being mecilessly ridiculed by everyone I know for my lack of costume, I settled on this. 

I should make it clear, I am NOT a Death Eater.

#orderofthephoenixdisguisedasadeatheater

#yourewelcomeharry

Linkage:

Teenage Mutant Ninja Watermelons
For any time of year.

Cowabunga!