Monday, January 31, 2005
Google Video
Just checked out Google Video, which returns results based on the closed captioning info of TV shows, along with a few freeze frames of the episode. Quite cool. Especially for those of us behind America in TV series - I get to see, for instance, what happened on the latest Law & Order.
Just checked out Google Video, which returns results based on the closed captioning info of TV shows, along with a few freeze frames of the episode. Quite cool. Especially for those of us behind America in TV series - I get to see, for instance, what happened on the latest Law & Order.
Fidget, go surfing
Dr James Levine finds that fidgety people are skinnier than those who prefer to be sedentary - apparently you burn about 350 more calories a day if you're the kind of person who prefers to move about rather than sit still. More importantly, beyond genetic dispositions, the research seems to indicate that if you redesign your life so that you have to walk and move about a bit there'll be great health benefits. I personally like working on my desk, which is arranged in such a way that you have to stand up (or sit on a bar stool) to use it - given I haven't exercised in forever, I'll take the little chances I get.
Dr Levine sounds like a fun guy to work with - here's his thoughts on the special underwear he designed to monitor movements from the study:
Dr James Levine finds that fidgety people are skinnier than those who prefer to be sedentary - apparently you burn about 350 more calories a day if you're the kind of person who prefers to move about rather than sit still. More importantly, beyond genetic dispositions, the research seems to indicate that if you redesign your life so that you have to walk and move about a bit there'll be great health benefits. I personally like working on my desk, which is arranged in such a way that you have to stand up (or sit on a bar stool) to use it - given I haven't exercised in forever, I'll take the little chances I get.
Dr Levine sounds like a fun guy to work with - here's his thoughts on the special underwear he designed to monitor movements from the study:
"We had to be very creative," he said. "And you have to test them for comfort. I would put them on top of my suit. Mayo has a very strict dress code. Nothing gave me more pleasure than to wander around with this bizarre underwear over my suit. No one could do anything. It was an N.I.H.-funded study."
Oscar nominations
My quick take on the Oscar nominees: seems like this is the Year of the Biopic, what with The Aviator Ray, and Vera Drake all receiving big noms, and Hotel Rwanda and Kinsey getting acting nods. Seems like the Great Man theory of history is on its way to a revival. Wish Richard Linklater had gotten a directing nod though, Before Sunset was quite an achievement.
My quick take on the Oscar nominees: seems like this is the Year of the Biopic, what with The Aviator Ray, and Vera Drake all receiving big noms, and Hotel Rwanda and Kinsey getting acting nods. Seems like the Great Man theory of history is on its way to a revival. Wish Richard Linklater had gotten a directing nod though, Before Sunset was quite an achievement.
Nitpicking
It's sad, I know, but I get a cheesy pleasure from seeing a grammatical/stylistic mistake in William Safire's language column. This week, writing on the words associated with being vegetarian/vegan, Safire writes:
It's sad, I know, but I get a cheesy pleasure from seeing a grammatical/stylistic mistake in William Safire's language column. This week, writing on the words associated with being vegetarian/vegan, Safire writes:
... the diet was being called vegetarian, a word popularized by the formation of the vegetarian Society at Ramsgate, England, in 1847. After its planting, that word grew (from the Latin vegetare, ''to grow'') for a century.Presumably the section in the parentheses/brackets (funny how American and British English have different names for almost every punctuation mark) should come after "that word", not after "grew". And I know he was using language associated with plants, but I still think "that word grew for a century" is a strange sort of phrasing.
Chasing cool and failing
There's nowt so queer as advertising folk who try to use "hot" catchphrases without really knowing what they mean - or at least without thinking of the implications... such as McDonald's using "I'd hit it" in their new American ad campaign. Lovin' it is one thing, actually hitting it might me taking it a step too far.
Maybe they were inspired by the lyrics of the Detroit Grand Pu-Bahs' "Sandwiches" ("You can be the bun / And I can be the burger, girl / I know you wanna do it / We can make sandwiches").
There's nowt so queer as advertising folk who try to use "hot" catchphrases without really knowing what they mean - or at least without thinking of the implications... such as McDonald's using "I'd hit it" in their new American ad campaign. Lovin' it is one thing, actually hitting it might me taking it a step too far.
Maybe they were inspired by the lyrics of the Detroit Grand Pu-Bahs' "Sandwiches" ("You can be the bun / And I can be the burger, girl / I know you wanna do it / We can make sandwiches").
Writer's block
My published writing career grows, thanks to Blogcritics... this time a Paul Weller review snuck into Alabama.com.
My published writing career grows, thanks to Blogcritics... this time a Paul Weller review snuck into Alabama.com.
Sunday, January 30, 2005
Bloggies
The nominations for the 2005 Bloggies are out! One of the blogs I contributed in very small part to, the South-East Asia Earthquake and Tsunami Blog is nominated for a host of categories, and it's worth a vote not just out of sympathy but for showing the potential for blogs as centres for information from disparate sources. Two Singaporean blogs, the ubiquitous Xiaxue and life in mono are also in the running, under "Best Asian Blog", while some of my other favourites - PlasticBag.org, the London Underground Tube Blog, the Soxaholix, largehearted boy, and Teaching the Indie Kids to Dance Again, all made the cut in various categories. As a naff radio DJ might say, "lots of good stuff to see, check it out".
The nominations for the 2005 Bloggies are out! One of the blogs I contributed in very small part to, the South-East Asia Earthquake and Tsunami Blog is nominated for a host of categories, and it's worth a vote not just out of sympathy but for showing the potential for blogs as centres for information from disparate sources. Two Singaporean blogs, the ubiquitous Xiaxue and life in mono are also in the running, under "Best Asian Blog", while some of my other favourites - PlasticBag.org, the London Underground Tube Blog, the Soxaholix, largehearted boy, and Teaching the Indie Kids to Dance Again, all made the cut in various categories. As a naff radio DJ might say, "lots of good stuff to see, check it out".
Saturday, January 29, 2005
I love terriers, apparently
Just signed Coconut up for a Dogster account. Here's his profile. And Rerun the family dog also has a Dogster profile. Leave them bones, yeah?
Just signed Coconut up for a Dogster account. Here's his profile. And Rerun the family dog also has a Dogster profile. Leave them bones, yeah?
Using the Internet language corpus: are acronyms words?
The Economist this week has a nice article on how the Internet is starting to be accepted by linguists as a corpus for analysis of language usage. The advantages of the vast amount of data on the Net outweigh the disadvantages of its biases. (The biases: since it's a published medium, it's more formal than speech, but that's a disadvantage many corpuses (corpi?) face; more problematic, Internet language usage may be deliberately skewed towards words used to attract people to gambling and pornography sites.)
As I recall, my old friend Bert was already roughly doing so by comparing the number of Google results for the so-called "proper" usage. Of course, there are technical issues with using the Internet - for one, although the article doesn't say this, no search engine is perfect, so the choice of engines could make a difference in terms of how the word-distribution is skewed.
But the concluding paragraph was perhaps the most intriguing:
Clearly the mind doesn't immediately break up acronyms into their 'component' words. If not, people wouldn't say "ATM machine" (276,000 hits on Google) or "PIN number" (728,000 hits on Google). The high number of incidences of usage of these phrases show that those phrases are almost instinctive, which means at some level people's minds treat "ATM" and "PIN" as separate words that are adjectives rather than nouns. Interesting. Not an original question, I must admit, but I wasn't expecting that high number of hits.
The Economist this week has a nice article on how the Internet is starting to be accepted by linguists as a corpus for analysis of language usage. The advantages of the vast amount of data on the Net outweigh the disadvantages of its biases. (The biases: since it's a published medium, it's more formal than speech, but that's a disadvantage many corpuses (corpi?) face; more problematic, Internet language usage may be deliberately skewed towards words used to attract people to gambling and pornography sites.)
As I recall, my old friend Bert was already roughly doing so by comparing the number of Google results for the so-called "proper" usage. Of course, there are technical issues with using the Internet - for one, although the article doesn't say this, no search engine is perfect, so the choice of engines could make a difference in terms of how the word-distribution is skewed.
But the concluding paragraph was perhaps the most intriguing:
The easy availability of the web also serves another purpose: to democratise the way linguists work. Allowing anyone to conduct his own impromptu linguistic research, some linguists hope, will do more to popularise their notion of studying the intricacy and charm of language as it really exists, not as killjoy prescriptivists think it should be.
So, in that amateur-linguist spirit, I decided to use this rough corpus to look at the old question of whether acronyms are words. The numbers seem to suggest that yes, in the linguistic sense, people do treat them as words and not just as stand-ins for words. And that's not just the ones that've become part of the standard vocabulary like "laser" or "scuba", but also ones like "ATM" and "PIN".
Clearly the mind doesn't immediately break up acronyms into their 'component' words. If not, people wouldn't say "ATM machine" (276,000 hits on Google) or "PIN number" (728,000 hits on Google). The high number of incidences of usage of these phrases show that those phrases are almost instinctive, which means at some level people's minds treat "ATM" and "PIN" as separate words that are adjectives rather than nouns. Interesting. Not an original question, I must admit, but I wasn't expecting that high number of hits.
The Last Executioner
The Village Voice has a personal history of the last executioner of New York state back in the day when New York still had the death penalty. Interesting how all the executioners ended up either quitting, speaking out against the penalty ("I hope that the day is not far distant when legal slaying, whether by electrocution, hanging, lethal gas, or any other method is outlawed throughout the United States", said one back in 1939), and/or committing suicide. What a grim, grim job.
The Village Voice has a personal history of the last executioner of New York state back in the day when New York still had the death penalty. Interesting how all the executioners ended up either quitting, speaking out against the penalty ("I hope that the day is not far distant when legal slaying, whether by electrocution, hanging, lethal gas, or any other method is outlawed throughout the United States", said one back in 1939), and/or committing suicide. What a grim, grim job.
Friday, January 28, 2005
What becomes of you my love?
Ever seen a blind man cross the road,Just finished watching "the Office" Christmas specials while (I guess oddly enough) working late into the night. Brilliant. Just a brilliant, brilliant comedy. So many great moments: Brent finally stands up to Finchy, and of course, that shining moment of pure joy when Dawn comes back.
Trying to make the other side.
Ever seen a young girl growing old,
Trying to make herself a bride.
And what becomes of you my love,
When they have finally stripped you of,
The handbags and the gladrags,
That your Grandad had to sweat so you could buy.
- Mike d'Abo, "Handbags and Gladrags"
Thursday, January 27, 2005
Humour down under
This 42 Below vodka ad conflates a hodgepodge of Kiwi and Aussie stereotypes. Great fun, mates. (Via present simple, who also has great examples of Japanese English on her blog.)
This 42 Below vodka ad conflates a hodgepodge of Kiwi and Aussie stereotypes. Great fun, mates. (Via present simple, who also has great examples of Japanese English on her blog.)
Wednesday, January 26, 2005
Artists ranked
Artfacts' artist rankings for 2004 (based on exhibitions, with higher ranking for bigger/more prestigious exhibitions) sees Picasso keep his #1 spot. Very gratifying to see Gerhard Richter and Bruce Nauman in the top 5. Also great to see some big rises from Brancusi and Donald Judd. Okay, ranking artists is kind of silly (and Yoko Ono pops in at #67), but at least it does seem to indicate that more people are getting to see the works of some of my favourite artists, like Brancusi...
Artfacts' artist rankings for 2004 (based on exhibitions, with higher ranking for bigger/more prestigious exhibitions) sees Picasso keep his #1 spot. Very gratifying to see Gerhard Richter and Bruce Nauman in the top 5. Also great to see some big rises from Brancusi and Donald Judd. Okay, ranking artists is kind of silly (and Yoko Ono pops in at #67), but at least it does seem to indicate that more people are getting to see the works of some of my favourite artists, like Brancusi...
And the horse he Rodin on
Two art blogs caught my eye recently. Okay, quasi-art blogs: Graffiti Paparazzi, which captures photos of funny graffiti (my favourite must be the semi-Marxist rants, philosophical counter-arguments, and literary references over in the loo of Cafe Algiers in Harvard Square - this guy's equally in love with the grafs), and Stand By Your Statue, which involves a guy and his friends reenacting the pose of various statues around the world - the Thinker, the Statue of Liberty, and more more minor pieces... Amazingly, he's been doing it for six years. Part of the great tradition of British eccentricity/humour? Lucky man, though, seems to have travelled far and wide.
Two art blogs caught my eye recently. Okay, quasi-art blogs: Graffiti Paparazzi, which captures photos of funny graffiti (my favourite must be the semi-Marxist rants, philosophical counter-arguments, and literary references over in the loo of Cafe Algiers in Harvard Square - this guy's equally in love with the grafs), and Stand By Your Statue, which involves a guy and his friends reenacting the pose of various statues around the world - the Thinker, the Statue of Liberty, and more more minor pieces... Amazingly, he's been doing it for six years. Part of the great tradition of British eccentricity/humour? Lucky man, though, seems to have travelled far and wide.
Tuesday, January 25, 2005
When vanity and technology collide
Trust the Japanese to come up with a device that creates the double-eyelid look. Or one that gives you a longer nose.
Trust the Japanese to come up with a device that creates the double-eyelid look. Or one that gives you a longer nose.
The mutt's nuts
What people come up with... I learnt about Neuticles. (Too late, my dog's already neutered.) I thought it was one of those standard urban myths, but a quick search through the US Patent Office's database proved that the patent's real.
What people come up with... I learnt about Neuticles. (Too late, my dog's already neutered.) I thought it was one of those standard urban myths, but a quick search through the US Patent Office's database proved that the patent's real.
Friendster
An article in the New York Times on Friendster and its failure as a business contains this little titbit:
An article in the New York Times on Friendster and its failure as a business contains this little titbit:
Orkut began as a plaything for Silicon Valley's digerati but, oddly enough, has morphed into a site where the primary language is Portuguese. Nearly two in three registered Orkut users hail from Brazil; Americans account for only one in 11 registered users. Similarly, Friendster is wildly popular among 18 to 21 years olds living in Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines, who account for a huge portion of Friendster's most active users.I guess even the virtual nature of the Internet can't stop friendships from being primarily local. Of course, if you're one of those who believe in communal bonding via pain (a la school hazing traditions), you can always get together to play Shocking Roulette.
Monday, January 24, 2005
Kinsey review published
Apparently the review of Kinsey that I wrote for my own reviews site and for Blogcritics made its way to Advance.net, so it's been syndicated in such places as Cleveland.com. I guess I can add that to my portfolio.
Apparently the review of Kinsey that I wrote for my own reviews site and for Blogcritics made its way to Advance.net, so it's been syndicated in such places as Cleveland.com. I guess I can add that to my portfolio.
More dastardly Spongebob revelations!
Full disclosure: I'm a Spongebob fan, and I should mention that I'm very tolerant of the fact that sea sponges are really hermaphrodites. So Squarepants' enemies may wish to stay clear.
Random fact: Spongebob Squarepants is called Spongebob Schwammkopf in Germany. That translates to Spongebob Spongehead, which seems a lot less funny than Squarepants.
Full disclosure: I'm a Spongebob fan, and I should mention that I'm very tolerant of the fact that sea sponges are really hermaphrodites. So Squarepants' enemies may wish to stay clear.
Random fact: Spongebob Squarepants is called Spongebob Schwammkopf in Germany. That translates to Spongebob Spongehead, which seems a lot less funny than Squarepants.
I Love the 90s
There's a good collection of the best quotes from VH-1's "I Love the 90s" over at The Art of Getting By. Some of my favourites:
And since I'm crediting other blogs, I should say that apparently, I'm contributing to Lance Mannion's sense of being in a Fellini-esque world. Thanks for the shout-out - I'll bring a peacock to frolic in the snow.
"House of Pain had Jump Around and Kris Kross had their jump song. I think it was nostalgia for 1984 when Van Halen had their song Jump and The Pointer Sisters had Jump (For Your Love). So, I think they were thinking, let's have some more jump songs!" (Weird Al Yankovic)Actually, the whole "I Love the 80s/90s" series is interesting from my point of view because it's fun to compare what phenomena were shared between the US and Singapore (like slap bracelets - found that out over dinner in the dining hall one day) and what was culturally specific.
"What? Is he auditioning to be the new dial tone?" (Hal Sparks on Kenny G's 45 minute solo holding note)
And since I'm crediting other blogs, I should say that apparently, I'm contributing to Lance Mannion's sense of being in a Fellini-esque world. Thanks for the shout-out - I'll bring a peacock to frolic in the snow.
More urban legends
Much pleasure is derived by the arrival of two e-mails in my inbox: the Smoking Gun one, detailing all sorts of strange legal goings-on, and the Snopes one, which helps confirm or debunk rumours and urban legends going around the Internet. For example, there is definitely a bug in Mappoint that creates a route between two towns in Norway that goes through 7 (!) countries. But while the Bill Gates photos are real, the idea that he was posing for Teen Beat is not (to be fair, the original blog entry sounds like the "Teen Beat" bit was just being snarky).
Much pleasure is derived by the arrival of two e-mails in my inbox: the Smoking Gun one, detailing all sorts of strange legal goings-on, and the Snopes one, which helps confirm or debunk rumours and urban legends going around the Internet. For example, there is definitely a bug in Mappoint that creates a route between two towns in Norway that goes through 7 (!) countries. But while the Bill Gates photos are real, the idea that he was posing for Teen Beat is not (to be fair, the original blog entry sounds like the "Teen Beat" bit was just being snarky).
Sunday, January 23, 2005
Coconut pictures
Two new pics of Coconut, world's cutest dog, in his sweater for those cold Midwestern winters. He looks miffed about the sweater, non?
Tech note - the album was created using Picasa 2. I really like Picasa, and I think its features are pretty sweet for a free program, but I just wish it could do one thing: let me select a few pictures in a folder, and then right-click to export those pictures as a webpage. Right now it takes a few more steps. Unless I'm missing something.
Two new pics of Coconut, world's cutest dog, in his sweater for those cold Midwestern winters. He looks miffed about the sweater, non?
Tech note - the album was created using Picasa 2. I really like Picasa, and I think its features are pretty sweet for a free program, but I just wish it could do one thing: let me select a few pictures in a folder, and then right-click to export those pictures as a webpage. Right now it takes a few more steps. Unless I'm missing something.
Freaky moment #1 today
Reading the New York Times Magazine's disturbing cover story on a pedophile, when suddenly on my MP3 player came Alanis Morrisette's "Hands Clean", about a music executive who uses his position to be a sexual predator.
Reading the New York Times Magazine's disturbing cover story on a pedophile, when suddenly on my MP3 player came Alanis Morrisette's "Hands Clean", about a music executive who uses his position to be a sexual predator.
More news bits
Quite funny: George W. Bush was caught without cash at church when the offering plate was passed around, and had to get help from his dad. I always forget to put cash in my wallet, actually, so I sympathise. (Via Esoterically.net.)
Extremely sad: Italy's real-life Romeo and Juliet, this one set in Padua instead of fair Verona.
Just plain strange: New Zealand gang steals dead member's body from his own funeral.
Elv1s 4ever: Elvis has the 1000th UK number 1 single with "One Night". Quite a remarkable feat for a performer who's been dead forever. Although it's probably more due to a decline in the singles format.
Spiralling downwards: Paris Hilton caught on tape shoplifting. Apparently, being a Hilton means you don't have to check out. The idea of catching P-Hilt on video has jumped the shark.
Quite funny: George W. Bush was caught without cash at church when the offering plate was passed around, and had to get help from his dad. I always forget to put cash in my wallet, actually, so I sympathise. (Via Esoterically.net.)
Extremely sad: Italy's real-life Romeo and Juliet, this one set in Padua instead of fair Verona.
Just plain strange: New Zealand gang steals dead member's body from his own funeral.
Elv1s 4ever: Elvis has the 1000th UK number 1 single with "One Night". Quite a remarkable feat for a performer who's been dead forever. Although it's probably more due to a decline in the singles format.
Spiralling downwards: Paris Hilton caught on tape shoplifting. Apparently, being a Hilton means you don't have to check out. The idea of catching P-Hilt on video has jumped the shark.
Best concerts of my life
I was thinking about the great concerts I've had the luck to go to in my life - as far as I can remember, these were the best five:
1) Pearl Jam, 1995, Vitalogy tour, Singapore Indoor Stadium.
Amazing show, clearly outstanding. Mudhoney opened - woohoo! Although clearly there were people who really just wanted PJ to come on and seemed unenthused about Mudhoney. Here's the setlist (wow, mining facts of my personal history from the Internet):
Before "Blood", Pearl Jam did a funny parody of Richard Marx's "Right Here Waiting" - again the wonder of the Internet is that such things are preserved forever, including the crude lyrics of the parody. Oh, and here's BigO's pre-show interview with Vedder.
2) The Rolling Stones, Forty Licks tour, Singapore Indoor Stadium, March 2003. At the time, the most expensive tickets for a concert ever in Singapore at S$500, although I think the Eagles came this year and tied/broke that record. At that time I was a poor conscripted soldier and couldn't afford to go, but at the last minute I got a couple of near-front-row seats from friends of friends who had comps. First Stones concert in Singapore since the 1960s, before Singapore's independence. Just after this concert they cancelled the Stones concerts in Beijing and Hong Kong due to SARS.
Clearly the Stones are masters of putting on a show: huge video wall (featuring a woman riding the Stones' tongue logo, natch), giant inflatable women, and of course their own inimitable selves. Mick was in form, so much energy, Keef was great, and Ron Wood had this camera attached to the end of his guitar that was really fun to look at. Now when I think of "Honky Tonk Woman" and "Gimme Shelter", I think of the versions I heard at this concert rather than the album versions. It's just a shot away...
3) Metallica, Black Album tour, Singapore Indoor Stadium, April 1993. When that "Enter Sandman" riff first played it was electric. And given that I always thought of myself as more of an "alternative" kid rather than someone into metal, I was kind of surprised by how many of the words to Metallica songs I knew. A hardcore concert.
4) The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Irving Plaza New York, May 2003. The only one in my list here that's set in a small venue, unfortunately: bands tend not to come to Singapore unless they can sell out a big venue. Karen O has charisma and stage presence to burn. She spat water all over the front row. They loved it.
5) Paul Simon, Graceland tour, Singapore Indoor Stadium. My parents used to love to bring me along to concerts when I was younger - with them I saw the Simon & Garfunkel reunion tour in '93 and the Elton John tour the day after Freddie Mercury died (he sang "The Show Must Go On" in tribute), and this one. I was only about 10 years old, but it was the first concert I can remember going to, and I remember singing along to "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard", "You Can Call Me Al", and "The Boxer". Ah, the songs of my youth. And Simon puts on a great show.
The first concert I ever saw without my parents was Hammer on his 2 Legit 2 Quit tour - my friend Jigx won tickets in a radio contest. Funny in retrospect. Strange that I can't remember seeing that many memorable concerts in America, I did go to see a lot of stuff.
I was thinking about the great concerts I've had the luck to go to in my life - as far as I can remember, these were the best five:
1) Pearl Jam, 1995, Vitalogy tour, Singapore Indoor Stadium.
Amazing show, clearly outstanding. Mudhoney opened - woohoo! Although clearly there were people who really just wanted PJ to come on and seemed unenthused about Mudhoney. Here's the setlist (wow, mining facts of my personal history from the Internet):
Set: Release, Go, Last Exit, Spin the Black Circle, Tremor Christ, Corduroy, Not for You, Lukin, Even Flow, Dissident, Animal, Deep, Jeremy, Rearviewmirror, Immortality, Alive, jam/BloodThey kept announcing that the show wouldn't continue if the crowd continued moshing. We did it anyway. My lasting memory was that people took turns to go on stage to shake Eddie Vedder's hand. That, and I and my friend Eugene jumped so hard on one of the chairs of the stadium that it broke. Brilliant.
Encore 1: Daughter/(ABitW-II)/(W.M.A.)/(Little Wing teaser), Why Go, Porch
Encore 2: Sonic Reducer (source)
Before "Blood", Pearl Jam did a funny parody of Richard Marx's "Right Here Waiting" - again the wonder of the Internet is that such things are preserved forever, including the crude lyrics of the parody. Oh, and here's BigO's pre-show interview with Vedder.
2) The Rolling Stones, Forty Licks tour, Singapore Indoor Stadium, March 2003. At the time, the most expensive tickets for a concert ever in Singapore at S$500, although I think the Eagles came this year and tied/broke that record. At that time I was a poor conscripted soldier and couldn't afford to go, but at the last minute I got a couple of near-front-row seats from friends of friends who had comps. First Stones concert in Singapore since the 1960s, before Singapore's independence. Just after this concert they cancelled the Stones concerts in Beijing and Hong Kong due to SARS.
Clearly the Stones are masters of putting on a show: huge video wall (featuring a woman riding the Stones' tongue logo, natch), giant inflatable women, and of course their own inimitable selves. Mick was in form, so much energy, Keef was great, and Ron Wood had this camera attached to the end of his guitar that was really fun to look at. Now when I think of "Honky Tonk Woman" and "Gimme Shelter", I think of the versions I heard at this concert rather than the album versions. It's just a shot away...
3) Metallica, Black Album tour, Singapore Indoor Stadium, April 1993. When that "Enter Sandman" riff first played it was electric. And given that I always thought of myself as more of an "alternative" kid rather than someone into metal, I was kind of surprised by how many of the words to Metallica songs I knew. A hardcore concert.
4) The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Irving Plaza New York, May 2003. The only one in my list here that's set in a small venue, unfortunately: bands tend not to come to Singapore unless they can sell out a big venue. Karen O has charisma and stage presence to burn. She spat water all over the front row. They loved it.
5) Paul Simon, Graceland tour, Singapore Indoor Stadium. My parents used to love to bring me along to concerts when I was younger - with them I saw the Simon & Garfunkel reunion tour in '93 and the Elton John tour the day after Freddie Mercury died (he sang "The Show Must Go On" in tribute), and this one. I was only about 10 years old, but it was the first concert I can remember going to, and I remember singing along to "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard", "You Can Call Me Al", and "The Boxer". Ah, the songs of my youth. And Simon puts on a great show.
The first concert I ever saw without my parents was Hammer on his 2 Legit 2 Quit tour - my friend Jigx won tickets in a radio contest. Funny in retrospect. Strange that I can't remember seeing that many memorable concerts in America, I did go to see a lot of stuff.
Why (network) television sucks
Just joined Blogclicker, which is a blog-exchange ring: in exchange for looking at other people's blogs, they send traffic to your blog. It's kind of like Blogger's own "Next Blog" button, except that since the blogs actually took the trouble to sign up for Blogclicker, you get a lot more interesting blogs, rather than the one-post "oh, I just started this" entries or personal for-friends-only blogs that the Blogger button brings you. (Edit: I also joined Blog Explosion. If you want to join just click either link - gets me some referrer credit.)
Anyway, the point of that was to say, I discovered another fun blog, Why Television Sucks, written by a TV writer. There's a great entry on it on how TV network execs suck the life out of TV screenplays by seizing on one (often irrelevant) detail. This is just an excerpt, go see the original:
Just joined Blogclicker, which is a blog-exchange ring: in exchange for looking at other people's blogs, they send traffic to your blog. It's kind of like Blogger's own "Next Blog" button, except that since the blogs actually took the trouble to sign up for Blogclicker, you get a lot more interesting blogs, rather than the one-post "oh, I just started this" entries or personal for-friends-only blogs that the Blogger button brings you. (Edit: I also joined Blog Explosion. If you want to join just click either link - gets me some referrer credit.)
Anyway, the point of that was to say, I discovered another fun blog, Why Television Sucks, written by a TV writer. There's a great entry on it on how TV network execs suck the life out of TV screenplays by seizing on one (often irrelevant) detail. This is just an excerpt, go see the original:
I pitched a pilot one year about my family... The twist was, that because of my amazing Mother's sense of humor, and my Father's amazing sense of FUN, those years were some of the happiest of my life... In the pitch, which was 17 pages long and lasted an hour, as I described the characters, based on my family, there was one sentence (out of HUNDREDS) and it was: My mother was the kind of mom who was young and sexy. She was the only mother I knew who had a RED LEATHER MINI DRESS. I sold the pilot, and wrote it. And from that day forward, the network was upset and disappointed: "Where's the red leather mini dress? How do we show she's SEXY?" They wanted me to put in stuff where my mother would like, go to a bar and men would hit on her, or that wherever she went, men flirted with her. I had written this story about a FAMILY of GRINNING IDIOTS who laugh their way through poverty and Fox COULD NOT UNDERSTAND HOW I WAS GOING TO MAKE THE MOM SEXY.Three words: Lowest. Common. Denominator.
Saturday, January 22, 2005
Call the fashion police
If the world's ugliest dress doesn't appeal to you, you can try this top by Alexandre Herchcovitch. I understand designers at fashion shows have to try to stand out and can't just do a little black dress, but isn't there a limit to the silliness? What is in the water at the Sao Paulo fashion show?
And clearly the combination witch/cowboy hat doesn't go with the top. Though Lord knows what would.
(Via Manolo's Shoe Blog, which also had this funny take on Hong Kong Fashion Week.)
If the world's ugliest dress doesn't appeal to you, you can try this top by Alexandre Herchcovitch. I understand designers at fashion shows have to try to stand out and can't just do a little black dress, but isn't there a limit to the silliness? What is in the water at the Sao Paulo fashion show?
And clearly the combination witch/cowboy hat doesn't go with the top. Though Lord knows what would.
(Via Manolo's Shoe Blog, which also had this funny take on Hong Kong Fashion Week.)
Internet Timewasters
Apparently, there's a pro wrestler called the Sandman whose schtick involves carrying a weapon known as the Singapore Cane. For some reason that makes me laugh.
Other random fun bits: via BoingBoing, how tall are you compared to famous people? I hadn't realised Barry Manilow was a six-footer... Also via BoingBoing, the world's ugliest dress. Seriously. It looks like the designer ran out of ideas and sewed a bunch of cloth napkins together... And we could use a weatherman like this over here - would sure liven up the constant "showers over several areas in the late morning and early afternoon, temperatures ranging from 24 to 32 degrees Celsius" forecast.
Apparently, there's a pro wrestler called the Sandman whose schtick involves carrying a weapon known as the Singapore Cane. For some reason that makes me laugh.
Other random fun bits: via BoingBoing, how tall are you compared to famous people? I hadn't realised Barry Manilow was a six-footer... Also via BoingBoing, the world's ugliest dress. Seriously. It looks like the designer ran out of ideas and sewed a bunch of cloth napkins together... And we could use a weatherman like this over here - would sure liven up the constant "showers over several areas in the late morning and early afternoon, temperatures ranging from 24 to 32 degrees Celsius" forecast.
Another Slapdash production
Just got back from DJing at a dragon boat race benefitting tsunami relief. (Event flyer) Was a bit surprised, they said they had a CD player so I just assumed it would just involve supplying a bit of background music, but it turned out they'd rented a whole sound system package including proper DJ CD players; if I'd known I'd have prepared a more house-oriented set. Oh well. Nothing fancy today (here's the set list), but it was good fun in the sun for a good cause. Good to get these fingers back on the decks - haven't DJed in forever.
Just got back from DJing at a dragon boat race benefitting tsunami relief. (Event flyer) Was a bit surprised, they said they had a CD player so I just assumed it would just involve supplying a bit of background music, but it turned out they'd rented a whole sound system package including proper DJ CD players; if I'd known I'd have prepared a more house-oriented set. Oh well. Nothing fancy today (here's the set list), but it was good fun in the sun for a good cause. Good to get these fingers back on the decks - haven't DJed in forever.
Friday, January 21, 2005
Heroin is so passe
Apparently Kate Moss is dating Pete Doherty of the Libertines. So the icon of 'heroin chic' is dating the heroin addict? Must be the skinniest celebrity couple around.
Apparently Kate Moss is dating Pete Doherty of the Libertines. So the icon of 'heroin chic' is dating the heroin addict? Must be the skinniest celebrity couple around.
Animated discussions
Some bits on animation, cartoons, and comics:
Some bits on animation, cartoons, and comics:
- More on the Polar Express and why the motion capture sapped the life out of the live-action (relates to the "uncanny valley" concept)
- Some conservative groups are challenging Spongebob Squarepants, saying that he was featured in a 'pro-homosexual video' that promoted a "tolerance pledge" that included tolerance of sexual identities. Only trouble is, as the New York Times notes, "the video has appeared on television networks, and nothing in it or its accompanying materials refers to sexual identity. The pledge, borrowed from the Southern Poverty Law Center, is not mentioned on the video and is available only on the group's Web site" (cue standard animation "wawk-wawk-wawk" embarrassment-sound)
- The Fantastic Four movie trailer is out! I like the Fantastic Four - always wanted to be Mr Fantastic - but the trailer really does nothing for me. And the tagline is incredibly cheesy: "1 will be bad 4 will be fantastic" - I hate it when people use numbers 2 stand in 4 words. You're excused, though, if you're Prince.
- If you're lazy, Josh reads the comics for you.
Thursday, January 20, 2005
Law & Order
I'm intrigued by these reports of the final appearance of Elisabeth Rohm (aka ADA Southerlyn) leaving Law & Order - in her last scene, Rohm/Southerlyn just goes "is it because I'm a lesbian?" And that's it. Bizarre. I know L&O usually stays out of its characters' private lives and just drops in random nuggets - even in all the seasons what do we really know about ADA McCoy's daughter? - but as a conclusion it's really out of left field. A lesbian ex machina, so to speak.
Dagnabit, no L&O here in Singapore (only Special Victims Unit, its weak horny cousin). So now I'll only learn what happened after from the Inane1.
Edit: Tara on When Tara Met Blog notes that she met a producer or director on L&O who said that Rohm "couldn't act and was hard to get along with, which is why she [was] being written off the show". Interesting.
1Inane: pronounced In - nuh - ne'. e.g. "How do you log on to the Inane?" Cheap joke cribbed from some guy's standup routine.
I'm intrigued by these reports of the final appearance of Elisabeth Rohm (aka ADA Southerlyn) leaving Law & Order - in her last scene, Rohm/Southerlyn just goes "is it because I'm a lesbian?" And that's it. Bizarre. I know L&O usually stays out of its characters' private lives and just drops in random nuggets - even in all the seasons what do we really know about ADA McCoy's daughter? - but as a conclusion it's really out of left field. A lesbian ex machina, so to speak.
Dagnabit, no L&O here in Singapore (only Special Victims Unit, its weak horny cousin). So now I'll only learn what happened after from the Inane1.
Edit: Tara on When Tara Met Blog notes that she met a producer or director on L&O who said that Rohm "couldn't act and was hard to get along with, which is why she [was] being written off the show". Interesting.
1Inane: pronounced In - nuh - ne'. e.g. "How do you log on to the Inane?" Cheap joke cribbed from some guy's standup routine.
Name that object
Another thing with multiple names, in the vein of sub/submarine/hoagie/grinder: the winter knit hat (aka beanie, ski hat, toboggan, toboggan hat, toque...)
Another thing with multiple names, in the vein of sub/submarine/hoagie/grinder: the winter knit hat (aka beanie, ski hat, toboggan, toboggan hat, toque...)
Don't follow me
This new rel="nofollow" link tag introduced by Google to prevent comment spam is a great idea - and not just for preventing comment spam. As Robert Scoble notes, as a blogger I now have a way to link to things without increasing their Google rank - useful when I want to cite something egregious, pathetic, or otherwise despicable. Amazing how Google got all the major blogging firms to cooperate, not just its own Blogger but also Six Apart, WordPress, MSN Spaces, and the lot. Now will the other search engines (MSN, Yahoo! etc) respect "nofollow"?
Edit: yup, according to the MSN Search and Yahoo! Search blogs, they will. I didn't know all search teams had blogs.
Edit again: what's to prevent people using "nofollow" to avoid 'leaking' out Google PageRank?
This new rel="nofollow" link tag introduced by Google to prevent comment spam is a great idea - and not just for preventing comment spam. As Robert Scoble notes, as a blogger I now have a way to link to things without increasing their Google rank - useful when I want to cite something egregious, pathetic, or otherwise despicable. Amazing how Google got all the major blogging firms to cooperate, not just its own Blogger but also Six Apart, WordPress, MSN Spaces, and the lot. Now will the other search engines (MSN, Yahoo! etc) respect "nofollow"?
Edit: yup, according to the MSN Search and Yahoo! Search blogs, they will. I didn't know all search teams had blogs.
Edit again: what's to prevent people using "nofollow" to avoid 'leaking' out Google PageRank?
Wednesday, January 19, 2005
Such Great Heights
An elegy to the vanishing local post office in the UK, and the story of Singapore Post's attempts to move into financial services. Clearly the postal services are dealing with the need to reinvent.
An elegy to the vanishing local post office in the UK, and the story of Singapore Post's attempts to move into financial services. Clearly the postal services are dealing with the need to reinvent.