A screen grab from CNN:
Will spend entire weekend in his room listening to New Found Glory and weepily texting his girlfriend.
It’s a shame the General isn’t in some sort of position to make changes to the way the military operates, it must really tear him up inside to feel so helpless.
A screenshot of something I ran across in Google Reader, while adding my Two Gay Uncle-in-laws’ youtube cooking show to my feed.
Dammit, Google – you’ve done it again!
Jessica was asking me about the deco posters I occasionally use as desktop wallpapers, and if they were obtained at the recently mentioned Vintage Venus. While I love the stuff at VV, the posters she’s got in mind are actually the work of talented fellow, Steve Thomas.
My favourite work is definitely his series of planetary travel posters:
Full size images, as well as more great travel posters are available at Steve Thomas’ site.
A quick selection of posters from a place named Vintage Venus.
The site also offers to sell any of their beautiful finds as a print, which seems like a grand way to decorate a home.
Has anyone had much luck with Recipe Puppy, the ingredient based recipe-search? I imagine it would be fantastic for getting a meal together on short notice – a problem I’ve noticed recurring in Facebook status messages.
Bogart apparently used to say that the Academy Awards were rigged, that to make judging fair every actor and actress should have to play Hamlet.
Which isn’t to say that I use it as some sort of competitive rating system, but I’ve had a long love affair with the song “St. James Infirmary Blues”, largely because of the difference in style each musician brings to the classic.
From the wikipedia:
“St. James Infirmary Blues” is based on an 18th century traditional English folk song called “The Unfortunate Rake” (also known as “The Unfortunate Lad” or “The Young Man Cut Down in His Prime”). There are numerous versions of the song throughout the English-speaking world.
The first I was familiar with was actually the Cab Calloway version:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBk3jwNSteo]
It wasn’t long after that though that I stumbled into the most famous version, Louis Armstrong’s, with that long low note in the opening:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvr7nkd_IJM]
Eric Burdon and the Animals bring a White-guy-blues melodrama angle, but in my opinion the backup vocals take a lot of the fun out of it:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sED6htTHBmo]
Joe Cocker does a nice job of giving it that ’70s blues twist:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luy1cmbQjBw]
Jack White of The White Stripes belts out my favourite modern rendition:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArS_et9gX-0]
In the end though, it’s tough to beat the simplicity and lyrical embellishment of Danny Barker’s version:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hek2KQcD8_M]
I caught Sarah Silverman on Letterman last night. I’m thinking this is about the greatest height her career can reach, and I’ll be glad when she slides away into obscurity.
The first time I saw the awkward-making she calls comedy I thought it was interesting – as a single bit. The truth is though, you can’t create a memorable multi-decade career with such one note material, ask Carrot Top or Gallagher or Yakoff Smirnoff.
I do think it’s worth mentioning though, because her character represents something of a demarcation point.
In the same way that Andrew Dice Clay’s (brief) fame was made on the backlash to the ’80s image of strong women in positions of corporate and political power, combined with the general ’90s societal movement towards Political Correctness, Silverman’s career is made on the dying gasps of the notion that women are either saints or sluts, with no shades of gray.
Certainly important ground to unhallow, but her point is lost when the humour is out of it – and currently it’s like she’s held on to a single Sacha Baron Cohen caricature a half decade past its due date.
Her comedy is almost a necessary venting function for societal noxious gas, but I’ll be glad when we’re done belching and can move on.
I’m stealing this link from my brother’s twitter stream (@c0dyskinner) – thirty beautiful info-graphics from Designer Daily.
One item, The Genealogy of Pop/Rock Music, I’m seriously considering ordering for the lovely Jessica May – it’s the kind of thing your eyes can swim in for days.
Dear Pop Music,
The 1980s sucked the first time around too.
Stop it,
My Ears
P.S. Aqua isn’t a proper colour for clothing.
I find “Year’s Funniest Commercials” shows pretty disturbing.
If broadcast TV wasn’t doomed we might have ended up accepting commercial creation as some sort of art form – I rather suspect we’ll still end up with some jerk at the MoMA presenting an exhibit of ancient commercials. (If it hasn’t already happened.)
I envision a huddled group of middle-aged future people, beer\wine in hand, maybe wearing a t-shirt with the Geico gecko on it, watching their 3rd generation low-res recordings of the “The King” B.K. commercials and reminiscing about their childhood.