12.31.2005 | links for 2005-12-31
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Heh. Maybe not the best ever, but still pretty good.
12.31.2005 | Another One Down
>> First (ridiculous) things first: Mario Kart DS rules. (Yes, I bought the Nintendo DS.) You all need to leave me your friend codes in the comments if you've got it too, because I just got the wireless connection working last night. You can also just e-mail me your code if you're a bit more private-like. Now onto the heavy stuff.
I'm doing laundry and cleaning the apartment and suchlike, so I must say, I'm not in a particularly reflective mood right now. It might be a while before I get around to posting some year-end best-of lists, for example. And I'm sorry there's been no other content to keep you entertained; I've been posting some great stuff to del.icio.us but for some reason the daily blog posting thing hasn't run since the 27th. But I do want to say a few words before the clock ticks over to midnight.
I don't know what to think about 2005. If I'm being purely objective, it has to rank as one of the better years of my life, if only for the job, which remains amazing. But as I lived it, it felt like one of the absolute worst. My year-end post for 2004 claimed that year as the worst of my life, and I said at the time that I would be quite surprised if 2005 found a way to suck harder. Well, it did. On a global level, the theoretical disaster of Bush's re-election gave way to the actual disaster of New Orleans and the subsequent clusterfuck, and on a personal level, the 2004 breakup that I thought was one of the most painful things to ever happen to me was, quite frankly, annihilated in the misery sweepstakes by the 2005 version. On the plus side, though, there's that job, and my new neighborhood, and the fact that I'm in better physical shape than I ever have been (though I'm not where I want to be yet by any stretch of the imagination; I'm determined to be just shy of underwear-model status by 2007), though I definitely have to do something about my hairline. (Ahem, a bit superficial but whatever.)
So 2005 was a deeply mixed bag. If I could change a lot of things about it, God knows I would, but it's certainly been the most important year of my life so far, in terms of foundational events, memorable firsts, life-lessons, and things that it illuminated for me. I hope your 2005 felt better than mine did; here's to hoping 2006 comes out in the net "plus" column, because the math on this one isn't quite working out. I truly do wish you all a happy New Year; now go out and get wasted, will you?
I'm doing laundry and cleaning the apartment and suchlike, so I must say, I'm not in a particularly reflective mood right now. It might be a while before I get around to posting some year-end best-of lists, for example. And I'm sorry there's been no other content to keep you entertained; I've been posting some great stuff to del.icio.us but for some reason the daily blog posting thing hasn't run since the 27th. But I do want to say a few words before the clock ticks over to midnight.
I don't know what to think about 2005. If I'm being purely objective, it has to rank as one of the better years of my life, if only for the job, which remains amazing. But as I lived it, it felt like one of the absolute worst. My year-end post for 2004 claimed that year as the worst of my life, and I said at the time that I would be quite surprised if 2005 found a way to suck harder. Well, it did. On a global level, the theoretical disaster of Bush's re-election gave way to the actual disaster of New Orleans and the subsequent clusterfuck, and on a personal level, the 2004 breakup that I thought was one of the most painful things to ever happen to me was, quite frankly, annihilated in the misery sweepstakes by the 2005 version. On the plus side, though, there's that job, and my new neighborhood, and the fact that I'm in better physical shape than I ever have been (though I'm not where I want to be yet by any stretch of the imagination; I'm determined to be just shy of underwear-model status by 2007), though I definitely have to do something about my hairline. (Ahem, a bit superficial but whatever.)
So 2005 was a deeply mixed bag. If I could change a lot of things about it, God knows I would, but it's certainly been the most important year of my life so far, in terms of foundational events, memorable firsts, life-lessons, and things that it illuminated for me. I hope your 2005 felt better than mine did; here's to hoping 2006 comes out in the net "plus" column, because the math on this one isn't quite working out. I truly do wish you all a happy New Year; now go out and get wasted, will you?
12.27.2005 | links for 2005-12-27
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Ah, the Roboraptor. I did not get one for Christmas, as he is slightly too large for my apartment (and kinda pricey), but I still covet him very much. This article also has some fantastic bits about the toy industry in general...
12.26.2005 | Away From The Numbers
>> Words cannot express the immense rush of satisfaction I just derived from finally getting a one-star Sudoku puzzle finished correctly. (Yes, I'm a bit of a 'tard.)
So hello everybody, happy holidays. My mini-Christmas break (I go back to NYC tomorrow afternoon) at my parents' place in Florida is going quite well; I've eaten a lot of Checkers and I have a new digital camera to play with, so you can expect slightly more frequent posts to Flickr from here on out -- it'd be nice if I could get something up every day for the next couple of months, but I'm not gonna swear by that. Whatever you're up to, wherever you are, I hope you're having a good time (and weather as nice as we're having).
Also, I think I'm gonna go buy a Nintendo DS today, solely for the purpose of having more Mario Kart to play. (This is, of course, conditional on my looking into my checking account balance, which I have not done in a few days.) Arguments for or against in the comments, please...
So hello everybody, happy holidays. My mini-Christmas break (I go back to NYC tomorrow afternoon) at my parents' place in Florida is going quite well; I've eaten a lot of Checkers and I have a new digital camera to play with, so you can expect slightly more frequent posts to Flickr from here on out -- it'd be nice if I could get something up every day for the next couple of months, but I'm not gonna swear by that. Whatever you're up to, wherever you are, I hope you're having a good time (and weather as nice as we're having).
Also, I think I'm gonna go buy a Nintendo DS today, solely for the purpose of having more Mario Kart to play. (This is, of course, conditional on my looking into my checking account balance, which I have not done in a few days.) Arguments for or against in the comments, please...
12.23.2005 | links for 2005-12-23
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I don't know what's up with that title, but this is a map showing where ethnic groups are clustered in New York City. Deeply interesting. My new neighborhood is extraordinarily white, which is actually kind of a surprise to me...
12.22.2005 | links for 2005-12-22
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An interesting rundown of what the pagan Yule tree actually meant -- it's the yearly birthplace of a god. You learn something new every day...
12.21.2005 | links for 2005-12-21
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Stalin wanted his scientists to create unstoppable half-man, half-ape hybrids. BITCHIN'.
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It looks more and more like Firefox is becoming my standard browser. I love Safari, but the Firefox extensions are killer... anyway, time to train myself to use these.
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Would love to go to Gibraltar someday. And Spain in general, actually.
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Propaganda air-dropped by the CIA over Grenada. PHENOMENAL.
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The best typos and screw-ups of the year in journalism. It's so hard to pick a favorite...
12.19.2005 | There May Be Service Changes
>> Without del.icio.us I am crippled. Which is surprising, since less than two weeks ago I'd barely even poked at the service, and now it's already becoming an indispensable part of my online routine. Damn.
Anyway, speaking of being crippled, who's looking forward to the transit strike? Huh, huh? That's gonna be great! Being a rabid pinko commie leftist (OK, I am not three of those things, although my mother -- a lifelong Democrat herself, mind you -- referred to me as "practically a Socialist" behind my back last month), I sympathize more with the union here than with the MTA, especially since the idea of the half-price fare was fucking retarded. I mean, come on. So the surplus wasn't enough money to avoid a 2007 fare hike; I'll freely believe that. But it would've *killed* you to kick it into the pension fund of the workers who have a contract renegotiation coming up? Seriously? That's like putting in a giant-size hot tub right before your kids start applying to college. Retarded. However, I do think it's patently absurd for the union to be insisting on a retirement age of fifty. They work very hard, I'm sure, but fifty is just comically low. Raising the age to sixty-two (the MTA's idea) is also pointlessly agressive; I wish they could just agree that the current age of fifty-five is not all that awful. And I will admit I'm also not terribly sympathetic to the cries of "selling out the future workers" when the union is asked to contribute two percent of their paychecks to pensions; I have a much heftier chunk than that sliced out of my pay every week for my various benefits, and I'm not even making what the average MTA employee does. (Of course, I might be pig-ignorant about this, and they may already be seeing cuts from their paychecks for other benefits, but I feel like I'd read somewhere that this would be the first.)
Anyway. I think we're all looking forward to the opportunity to tone our calves and glutes, right folks? W00t!
Anyway, speaking of being crippled, who's looking forward to the transit strike? Huh, huh? That's gonna be great! Being a rabid pinko commie leftist (OK, I am not three of those things, although my mother -- a lifelong Democrat herself, mind you -- referred to me as "practically a Socialist" behind my back last month), I sympathize more with the union here than with the MTA, especially since the idea of the half-price fare was fucking retarded. I mean, come on. So the surplus wasn't enough money to avoid a 2007 fare hike; I'll freely believe that. But it would've *killed* you to kick it into the pension fund of the workers who have a contract renegotiation coming up? Seriously? That's like putting in a giant-size hot tub right before your kids start applying to college. Retarded. However, I do think it's patently absurd for the union to be insisting on a retirement age of fifty. They work very hard, I'm sure, but fifty is just comically low. Raising the age to sixty-two (the MTA's idea) is also pointlessly agressive; I wish they could just agree that the current age of fifty-five is not all that awful. And I will admit I'm also not terribly sympathetic to the cries of "selling out the future workers" when the union is asked to contribute two percent of their paychecks to pensions; I have a much heftier chunk than that sliced out of my pay every week for my various benefits, and I'm not even making what the average MTA employee does. (Of course, I might be pig-ignorant about this, and they may already be seeing cuts from their paychecks for other benefits, but I feel like I'd read somewhere that this would be the first.)
Anyway. I think we're all looking forward to the opportunity to tone our calves and glutes, right folks? W00t!
12.18.2005 | links for 2005-12-18
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The internet was made for conspiracy theories like this...
12.16.2005 | links for 2005-12-17
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Must remember to put Opera on my phone tonight when I get home...
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More on that great-white-shaped submarine built for Fabien Cousteau that was ever so popular a few months back
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And I will be setting this up immediately after installing Opera. Mmm.
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The whole warm-blooded / cold-blooded thing may not be as settled as you think; in fact, they may have evolved to be warm-blooded on several different genetic lines at different times...
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Species of squid found which hauls its eggs around in a sack for months. Craziness. There's three especially good photos accompanying this article...
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Pulls events from iCal without your having to open the program. I really ought to use iCal (or some kind of calendar software) more often...
12.15.2005 | links for 2005-12-16
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Annie Liebowitz's photos documenting the construction of the New York Times building on 40th & 8th. Should be pretty when it's done, actually.
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Very, very interesting stuff -- crucial global news stories that got very little play in 2005
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We have so many cookies in our house right now, it's absurd...
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Brilliant question, brilliant thread.
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Too intense for me at the moment, but maybe someday in the future.
12.14.2005 |
>> Oh please God, oh please God: both ABC and Showtime are reportedly very seriously interested in picking up Arrested Development
12.13.2005 | Precious And Fragile Things
>> Hopefully the stunning lack of content around here will change soon -- I've just attempted to set up that little gizmo whereby del.icio.us will dump my daily bookmarking into one big post for you each night. We'll see if it works, or if I even like that format. Keep your eyes peeled; my apologies if something ends up looking ugly or broken. (UPDATE: Yeah, that didn't happen. I don't know why, as I seem to have all the settings correct. I really, really wish there was some kind of official documentation for that feature... does anybody who has it set up already want to give me some pointers?)
In other news, I had a dream last night in which a friend (who I think I invented in my head for the purposes of the dream) took me to her parents' expensive house in Florida, and the entire third floor, including the staircase, was made of glass (in some places, carpeted or wood-panelled glass) and the weight of my feet on it was causing everything to break. She kept saying "Don't worry about it" in that authentically unperturbed "it doesn't matter, we'll just buy a new one" way, not in the "polite host says this when she doesn't mean it" way, but I don't think she really understood that the floor cracking below me meant I was about to fall three floors to my death.
It was weird. Just try psychoanalyzing that shit.
Also, the Depeche Mode concert was really, really good, though not ideal. I had a dream setlist drawn up that I intended to post, but looking back on it it doesn't flow very well. All I'll say is that I wish they were playing "Photographic" on this tour. For some reason, I feel like that would fit quite well as the final song of the night... that said, the setlist was very good indeed, as was the performance, so I can't really complain. (I expected a bit more spectacle, though, and was kind of disappointed on that front.)
In other news, I had a dream last night in which a friend (who I think I invented in my head for the purposes of the dream) took me to her parents' expensive house in Florida, and the entire third floor, including the staircase, was made of glass (in some places, carpeted or wood-panelled glass) and the weight of my feet on it was causing everything to break. She kept saying "Don't worry about it" in that authentically unperturbed "it doesn't matter, we'll just buy a new one" way, not in the "polite host says this when she doesn't mean it" way, but I don't think she really understood that the floor cracking below me meant I was about to fall three floors to my death.
It was weird. Just try psychoanalyzing that shit.
Also, the Depeche Mode concert was really, really good, though not ideal. I had a dream setlist drawn up that I intended to post, but looking back on it it doesn't flow very well. All I'll say is that I wish they were playing "Photographic" on this tour. For some reason, I feel like that would fit quite well as the final song of the night... that said, the setlist was very good indeed, as was the performance, so I can't really complain. (I expected a bit more spectacle, though, and was kind of disappointed on that front.)
12.05.2005 |
>> The X-Men 3 teaser trailer is up, and I'd be lying if I said it didn't have me a little bit less apprehensive about Brett Ratner. The sheer scale of it alone looks remarkable... even if Beast does look hella cheesy. (He'll probably sound great, though.)
12.02.2005 | Majestic Sound
>> I know, I know, I shouldn't be talking about any concert other than the U2 one (I'm sorry I still haven't finished that entry yet; it requires powers of concentration that I simply haven't had time for), but I went and saw Annie last night at the MercyCorps benefit at Webster Hall, and I feel that bears remarking upon. Overall it was quite enjoyable, though it was a very brief set. I do think the two-person band (one on live drums and guitar, one on synths), while surprisingly flexible, wasn't quite showy enough to suit the songs (although the synth guy did have several admirable dance moves and bits of theatre in his repertoire -- the drummer just had white-boy dreadlocks, which I loathe) -- a third, charismatic musician on stage really would've made the whole thing hang together. The live arrangements were satisfying and muscular, though there was a bit too much squeally-feedback-and-effects guitar work, and not enough straight-up rhythm guitar, in my humble opinion. It also bears noting that the old cliche about New York audiences not dancing is SO GODDAMN TRUE. There were barely even heads twitching! Granted, she was opening for The Secret Machines (who we didn't bother sticking around to see), who are pretty much the opposite of fun, so it really wasn't her crowd. But there were a fair number of people in the venue, so some of them must've ostensibly intended to see her... eh, I dunno. It was lame. The crowd needed fewer hipsters and more outrageous club fags, I'd say. Though you'll never catch me saying something similar again.
Anyway, the set was:
Next up on the concert calendar: Goldfrapp on Monday, and Depeche Mode on Wednesday. W00t! (Oh, and does anybody know if there's an opening act for the Goldfrapp show? I haven't been able to find anything online.)
Anyway, the set was:
- "Always Too Late"
- "Chewing Gum"
- "The Greatest Hit"
- "The Wedding"
- "Come Together"
- "Heartbeat"
- New song (Sounded like the title was either "Trust" or "Trashed," her accent kind of made it difficult to tell. [UPDATE: Josh thinks she said "Crush," which sounds reasonable, so let's go with that.] She claimed it was the first song she'd ever written, and that this was the first time it had ever been played live; it sounded like early Depeche Mode with simple punk guitar laid over it, and the chorus line "She don't know where to begin" repeated a few times. She claims it will be released in February -- whether that's as a single, or on a new album, I don't know... anybody have any details?)
Next up on the concert calendar: Goldfrapp on Monday, and Depeche Mode on Wednesday. W00t! (Oh, and does anybody know if there's an opening act for the Goldfrapp show? I haven't been able to find anything online.)
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