But at least it has a nice atmosphere, aided by a small pedestrian park and these flower fountains...
tagged: flowers, fountain, Left Bank, JoCo, strip mall
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Random photo XII: Flower fountain
I'm liking the new strip mall at 115th (or whatever) and Nall. It has more of a small town, almost a left bank feel to it. Don't get me wrong, it's still all evil and corporate just like everything else in JoCo.
But at least it has a nice atmosphere, aided by a small pedestrian park and these flower fountains...
tagged: flowers, fountain, Left Bank, JoCo, strip mall
But at least it has a nice atmosphere, aided by a small pedestrian park and these flower fountains...
tagged: flowers, fountain, Left Bank, JoCo, strip mall
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Carefully taught
I overheard an unpleasant conversation recently that made me think of these lyrics from South Pacific.
Interesting that Rogers and Hammerstein wrote this in 1949, and here we are nearly 60 years later and some people still haven't learned. Or maybe they've learned too well.
tagged: race, prejudice, South Pacific, Rogers and Hammerstein
You've got to be taught
To hate and fear,
You've got to be taught
From year to year,
It's got to be drummed
In your dear little ear
You've got to be carefully taught.
You've got to be taught to be afraid
Of people whose eyes are oddly made,
And people whose skin is a diff'rent shade,
You've got to be carefully taught.
You've got to be taught before it's too late,
Before you are six or seven or eight,
To hate all the people your relatives hate,
You've got to be carefully taught
Interesting that Rogers and Hammerstein wrote this in 1949, and here we are nearly 60 years later and some people still haven't learned. Or maybe they've learned too well.
tagged: race, prejudice, South Pacific, Rogers and Hammerstein
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
YouTube Tuesday: Dimitri the stud
This has been around for a while, but that doesn't change the fact that it's pure comic genius.
This is actual audio from an actual phone call (the video is a lip-synced version). Here's a little more background ganked from the YouTube entry:
tagged: movie, YouTube, video, Dimitri, stud, phone call, voice mail
This is actual audio from an actual phone call (the video is a lip-synced version). Here's a little more background ganked from the YouTube entry:
A woman and her friend were out one night in the SF Marina district, hanging outside one of the bars trying to find a cab. One of the girl's, Olga, ends up meeting this guy Dimitri and they talk for at the most for 2 minutes. She hands him her business card and says call me.And here's the "very elegant" Part II:
This was the actual voicemail that Dimitri left Olga, accompanied by Eric (brotha E) Anderson's interpretive reenactment. Billed by many as, The Douchiest Phone Message In History.
tagged: movie, YouTube, video, Dimitri, stud, phone call, voice mail
Friday, July 18, 2008
Mac, Firefox... little help here
Okay you smart, computery types, I need a little technical help.
Here's the set-up... I have a middle-aged iMac G5 running MacOS X Leopard (fully updated). I have an Apple Mighty Mouse (with the track nipple). And I recently updated to the latest version of Firefox.
Except now, my mouse functionality is somewhat fucked up. I can still move around the screen. The scrolling track nipple works correctly. No problems clicking (right, left, side buttons, etc.) But there's one highly annoying problem that's really starting to piss me off.
I used to be able to left-click, hold and drag to select a group of text on the browser screen, or left-click, hold and drag the scrolling bubble (you know, the one in the right-hand border of the window?) to scroll the web page.
But now, whenever I try to left-click, hold and drag anything, it just moves the entire browser window around on my screen.
I've looked through my Firefox preferences and mouse preferences to try to determine if I have somehow inadvertently screwed up a setting somewhere, but I can't find anything that looks like it would control this behavior.
So, WTF?! Has anyone else run into this? Is this a flaw in Firefox, or (more likely) pilot error on my part.
And if it is my fault, how in the heck to I fix it. Because, like I said, it's annoying the hell out of me.
tagged: Apple, iMac, Mighty Mouse, Firefox, bug, Leopard, MacOS, problem
Here's the set-up... I have a middle-aged iMac G5 running MacOS X Leopard (fully updated). I have an Apple Mighty Mouse (with the track nipple). And I recently updated to the latest version of Firefox.
Except now, my mouse functionality is somewhat fucked up. I can still move around the screen. The scrolling track nipple works correctly. No problems clicking (right, left, side buttons, etc.) But there's one highly annoying problem that's really starting to piss me off.I used to be able to left-click, hold and drag to select a group of text on the browser screen, or left-click, hold and drag the scrolling bubble (you know, the one in the right-hand border of the window?) to scroll the web page.
But now, whenever I try to left-click, hold and drag anything, it just moves the entire browser window around on my screen.
I've looked through my Firefox preferences and mouse preferences to try to determine if I have somehow inadvertently screwed up a setting somewhere, but I can't find anything that looks like it would control this behavior.
So, WTF?! Has anyone else run into this? Is this a flaw in Firefox, or (more likely) pilot error on my part.
And if it is my fault, how in the heck to I fix it. Because, like I said, it's annoying the hell out of me.
tagged: Apple, iMac, Mighty Mouse, Firefox, bug, Leopard, MacOS, problem
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Awkward Pie: Hookers and blow
A few weeks ago someone sent me a meme, one of the questions of which was "how often do you embarrass yourself" (my answer? Continually).
Anyway, it got me thinking about all the most embarrassing and awkward moments, which I thought might make a nice regular feature here. Please feel free to share your deepest embarrassments in the comments so that I'll know I'm not alone in being a complete jackass all of the time.
Anyway, here's one of the episodes that came to mind:
A few months ago, I was at a casual business dinner with some of my colleagues at some fancy restaurant on the Plaza. There were about 15 of us at a long table. I was sitting near one end with two East-coasters and a West-coaster.
The evening started off on a light note. We all know each other and have worked with each other for quite some time, though we don't often meet in person so there were some conversational niceties to be taken care of.
We order drinks and appetizers and commence the conversation. After a few glasses of wine and food, we got to joking around, and conversational topics turned from industry news and the weather to more personal issues.
At some point, the discussion turned to our various personal foibles.
Specifically, the young woman (the other three of us were d00ds), confessed that she has an addiction to lip balm -- Carmex actually, the kind in a tube, not a jar. It's bad enough, she said, that if she doesn't have some with her when she leaves her house in the morning she will compulsively go miles out of her way to buy a new tube.
Then one of the other guys admitted his pathological dependence on hand lotion. Seems he feels compelled to smear the stuff on his hands twice a day to avoid the not-so-moist feeling.
I myself admitted that I dare not come within the event horizon of a package of strawberry Twizzlers, as doing so would mean the certain destruction of the entire package of said Twizzlers by me in my digestive system.
Anyway, we're all having a great time cracking wise on each others' personal flaws, becoming more raucous as the night wears on and we drink more glasses of wine. Yes, it was all good until I decided to kick it up a notch and quipped...
"Actually, I really don't have any vices... Well, I mean other than my addictions to porn and heroin."
Except when I said the words "my addictions to porn and heroin," for some reason, a split second before the words left my mouth, the entire table, the entire room, went dead silent.
Dead. Silent.
It was as if someone had said "My broker is E.F. Hutton. And E.F. Hutton says..."
Everyone in our party immediately looks toward my end of the table. I can see by the looks on their faces that they're trying to piece together the parts of the conversation that they missed. Only, it seemed like they were taking a really long time to do it.
So, ignoring the sage advice that when you've dug yourself into a hole, you should stop digging, I tried to recover with another unwise crack...
"But I'm feeling much better now."
There was a smattering of nervous, forced laughter, followed by low murmuring as the conversational engine began to rev back up. After a few moments, the awkwardness had passed as people resumed their dinner conversations.
Eventually the evening came to an end and we all got up to leave for home. As I walked out the door, a colleague who had been sitting at the other end of the table was leaving in front of me.
"It was good seeing you again," he said. "You guys doing anything exciting this weekend?"
"No," I replied. "Just the usual."
"Ah yes," he said. "Hookers and blow."
tagged: Awkward, business, porn, heroin, addiction, blow, hookers, embarrassing
Anyway, it got me thinking about all the most embarrassing and awkward moments, which I thought might make a nice regular feature here. Please feel free to share your deepest embarrassments in the comments so that I'll know I'm not alone in being a complete jackass all of the time.
Anyway, here's one of the episodes that came to mind:
A few months ago, I was at a casual business dinner with some of my colleagues at some fancy restaurant on the Plaza. There were about 15 of us at a long table. I was sitting near one end with two East-coasters and a West-coaster.
The evening started off on a light note. We all know each other and have worked with each other for quite some time, though we don't often meet in person so there were some conversational niceties to be taken care of.
We order drinks and appetizers and commence the conversation. After a few glasses of wine and food, we got to joking around, and conversational topics turned from industry news and the weather to more personal issues.
At some point, the discussion turned to our various personal foibles.
Specifically, the young woman (the other three of us were d00ds), confessed that she has an addiction to lip balm -- Carmex actually, the kind in a tube, not a jar. It's bad enough, she said, that if she doesn't have some with her when she leaves her house in the morning she will compulsively go miles out of her way to buy a new tube.Then one of the other guys admitted his pathological dependence on hand lotion. Seems he feels compelled to smear the stuff on his hands twice a day to avoid the not-so-moist feeling.
I myself admitted that I dare not come within the event horizon of a package of strawberry Twizzlers, as doing so would mean the certain destruction of the entire package of said Twizzlers by me in my digestive system.
Anyway, we're all having a great time cracking wise on each others' personal flaws, becoming more raucous as the night wears on and we drink more glasses of wine. Yes, it was all good until I decided to kick it up a notch and quipped...
"Actually, I really don't have any vices... Well, I mean other than my addictions to porn and heroin."Except when I said the words "my addictions to porn and heroin," for some reason, a split second before the words left my mouth, the entire table, the entire room, went dead silent.
Dead. Silent.
It was as if someone had said "My broker is E.F. Hutton. And E.F. Hutton says..."
Everyone in our party immediately looks toward my end of the table. I can see by the looks on their faces that they're trying to piece together the parts of the conversation that they missed. Only, it seemed like they were taking a really long time to do it.
So, ignoring the sage advice that when you've dug yourself into a hole, you should stop digging, I tried to recover with another unwise crack...
"But I'm feeling much better now."
There was a smattering of nervous, forced laughter, followed by low murmuring as the conversational engine began to rev back up. After a few moments, the awkwardness had passed as people resumed their dinner conversations.
Eventually the evening came to an end and we all got up to leave for home. As I walked out the door, a colleague who had been sitting at the other end of the table was leaving in front of me.
"It was good seeing you again," he said. "You guys doing anything exciting this weekend?"
"No," I replied. "Just the usual."
"Ah yes," he said. "Hookers and blow."
tagged: Awkward, business, porn, heroin, addiction, blow, hookers, embarrassing
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
YouTube Tuesday: Bastille
Monday, July 14, 2008
GENERATION KILL
It's been a long time since HBO has had a decent series.
The subscription network was hitting home runs regularly with the likes of The Sopranos, Band of Brothers, Deadwood, Entourage and (for some people, I guess) Sex in the City.
But ever since the series so-called finally of The Sopranos, their offerings have been pretty boring and forgettable. The network's recent series, Tell Me You Love Me and In Treatment, seem to be an exploration into how boring other peoples' psychoses can be (although, Tell Me You Love Me earns a pass for the full-frontal nudity).
But I was really pleased with the initial episode of Generation Kill, the seven-part miniseries that follows an elite squad of Marines through the first 40 days of the Iraq war. It is based on the book of the same name by Evan Wright, an embedded journalist writing for Rolling Stone during the invasion.
The production did a great job of keeping showing the tedium of pre-invasion dessert life in Kuwait -- how soldiers dealt with heat, boredom, training equipment shortages and questionable leadership -- as they prepared to be the tip of the spear into Iraq.
The anti-military bias, if there is one, is only very subtle, and -- at least in the initial episode -- the narrative seems to be more concerned with presenting the day-to-day lives of the men on the front line, than with overt political statements about the war itself.
The violence in the first episode was pretty tame as well, especially when compared to The Sopranos and Band of Brothers. Of course the war is just starting, so I expect this to get a little more intense.
Overall, I'm looking forward to seeing the remaining episodes, and I'm keeping the DVR set.
tagged: HBO, Generation Kill, Sopranos, Band of Brothers, Tell Me You Love Me, In Treatment, Iraq, Marines
The subscription network was hitting home runs regularly with the likes of The Sopranos, Band of Brothers, Deadwood, Entourage and (for some people, I guess) Sex in the City.
But ever since the series so-called finally of The Sopranos, their offerings have been pretty boring and forgettable. The network's recent series, Tell Me You Love Me and In Treatment, seem to be an exploration into how boring other peoples' psychoses can be (although, Tell Me You Love Me earns a pass for the full-frontal nudity).
But I was really pleased with the initial episode of Generation Kill, the seven-part miniseries that follows an elite squad of Marines through the first 40 days of the Iraq war. It is based on the book of the same name by Evan Wright, an embedded journalist writing for Rolling Stone during the invasion.
The production did a great job of keeping showing the tedium of pre-invasion dessert life in Kuwait -- how soldiers dealt with heat, boredom, training equipment shortages and questionable leadership -- as they prepared to be the tip of the spear into Iraq.The anti-military bias, if there is one, is only very subtle, and -- at least in the initial episode -- the narrative seems to be more concerned with presenting the day-to-day lives of the men on the front line, than with overt political statements about the war itself.
The violence in the first episode was pretty tame as well, especially when compared to The Sopranos and Band of Brothers. Of course the war is just starting, so I expect this to get a little more intense.
Overall, I'm looking forward to seeing the remaining episodes, and I'm keeping the DVR set.
tagged: HBO, Generation Kill, Sopranos, Band of Brothers, Tell Me You Love Me, In Treatment, Iraq, Marines
Friday, July 11, 2008
Friday Blogthing: Something to believe in
Much like 80's glam rock band Poison, Barack Obama has won the adoration of masses of people by using tired, trite, over-sentimentalized platitudes.
Now thanks to the power or the interwebz, we can translate the politicians words into webby truthiness.
Hat tip to Blandwagon.
tagged: Poison, Something to Believe In, glam, Barack Obama, Friday, politics
Now thanks to the power or the interwebz, we can translate the politicians words into webby truthiness.
Hat tip to Blandwagon.
tagged: Poison, Something to Believe In, glam, Barack Obama, Friday, politics
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