YouTube Tuesday: TrueBlood

With all the excitement, no wait, that's not the right word, let's try this... With all of the tedium caused by the Barrack McCain and John Obama campaigns, my Supermodel Wife and I opted to watch different and more entertaining blood suckers on Sunday.

We watched the premier of the new HBO series TrueBlood. From Alan Ball, the creator of Six Feet Under, the series is set in a world where a synthetic blood equivalent allows vampires to "come out of the coffin" and demand equal rights with mortals.

While it wasn't a thrill a minute, it was an order of magnitude more interesting than watching the vampires on the political stage suck the soul out of America.



tagged: HBO, True Blood, television, video, YouTube, pop culture

I need your advice on something

So I'm in the market for a new mobile phone.

It's been a long time since I've had a gadget upgrade of any kind, so I'm looking around for a device with a few more bells and whistles. I need want to get one of those "smart" devices where you can get your email, your calendar and to-do items, surf the web, stalk Scarlett Johansson using the built-in GPS functions, etc.

You know, your basic starter mobile device.

Anyway, I've been shopping around for a few weeks and it looks like I have a decision to make. There are essentially three smart phone software systems to choose from:

1) BlackBerry: One of the originals. This technology is famous for the effective "push" email technology that allows quick and easy access to your work and, more importantly, personal email.

2) Palm: One of the other originals. Known for its PDA software. I think this has a "fetch" email reader rather than a "push" email reader like the BlackBerry, but I could be all wrong about that.

3) Windows Mobile: I don't really know anything about this other than it comes from Microsoft and nobody ever has any problems with Microsoft products.

Actually, I don't really have any real experience with any of the products, other than I used a Palm PDA device years ago before they were connected to phones (I had a Handspring Vizor). Not sure how much the software has changed since then.

That's what I need you guys for. Have you used any of these? Do you recommend it? Any pros? Cons? Easily accessible pornographic material? I just need to know the important stuff here.

tagged: technology, help, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, Palm, mobile, device

Friday Blogthing: with a fine Chianti

But maybe a Pinot Grigio would pair well with the pesto.

You Are Spaghetti with Pesto

Compared to most people, you have complex tastes. You're a bit of a walking contradiction. You like a little bit of everything, even if the things you like don't go together. You aren't picky at all. You can find something to like about almost anything. You don't judge on appearances alone. You like to experience something before you judge it.

What Pasta Dish Are You?

tagged: Friday, blogthing, pesto, pasta,, Chianti, Spaghetti, quiz, blog, meme

Joe's thoughts

I love this point by Joe Poz in his post today:

Why is it that whenever any politician gives a good speech, the announcers say they “hit it out of the park.” Now, I want to say something to Wolf Blitzer and the rest speaking only as a sportswriter: You know how hard it is to actually hit a ball out of a park? It’s REALLY hard, OK? I mean, it happens at Fenway and Wrigley but that’s because of those park’s dimensions. If you want to say, “He hit that one out of Fenway” … OK, fine.

But hitting it out of the park suggests a titanic bomb out of Yankee Stadium. And, it should be noted that no Major Leaguer EVER hit it out of that park. None. Not Mantle. Not Ruth. Not DiMaggio. Not Reggie. None of them. Now, it is said that almost 70 years ago Josh Gibson hit it out of Yankee Stadium (though it should be noted that it is also said that Josh Gibson once hit a fly ball that didn’t land until the next day).

And this is my point. Barack Obama, Sarah Palin, Hillary Clinton, MIke Huckabee (I’m not exactly a Hucka-disciple, but I have to say I think he gives a terrific speech), these people might have hit HOME RUNS. But for “out of the park,” you need a Josh Gibson blast that is so incredible it may be true and may be myth. I say no American politician has hit it out of the park, since, I don’t know, maybe Abe Lincoln in Gettysburg a long time ago.

I guess if TV "journalists" had any creativity, they wouldn't be TV "journalists."

tagged: politics, sports, media

Biden my time

OMG Peopls! Can you believe the temerity of those REPUBLICANS!

Holy CRAPS! Trying to pull the steel wool over the eyes of the American voting public by putting a WOMAN on the presidential ticket.

Who the HELL do they think they are! Who do they think they're fooling.

I'm telling you, this is the best thing that can happen for us DEMOCRATS, as if we need any help. I mean our OBAMA express is rolling. Change is inevitable. CHANGE we can believe in!

My good friend and POLITICAL Siamese twin Xavier Onassis naield it today:

Think about this people. Who would you rather have a heartbeat away from the presidency? Sarah Palin? Or Joe Biden? I can't believe there is any question about this.

Are you kidding me? There IS no question. We can't have a WOMAN in the vp seat. We need to stock the cupboard with dudes, the older, richer and whiter, the better.

You can at least count on them not to get PREGNANT while in office.

I mean, as a rabid liberal I'm all for being progressive... up to a point. But when it comes to Hillary or Palin, well, let's be reasonable here. If we can't rely on them to keep their kids from getting pregnant, how the hell can we count on them to do whatever it is the vice president is supposed to do?

I think we all know how much of a disaster a post-menopausal chick would be in a high office. Hell, look how Nancy Pelosi has run the House into the ground. Worst Congress EVAR! Thank you Mrs. Pelosi!

These REPUBLICANS are so dense. Don't they get that we ALREADY rejected a woman being on the Ballot when we chose Obama Christ Superstar as our Candidate?

Unbelievable! And now they think we're actually going to even give this Palin chick a chance. PUHLEEEEZZE!!!!

Rich, old, white Joe Biden is the kind of change this country can believe in.

NATCH!

tagged: politics, Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, Hillary Clinton, Sarah Palin, Vice President, election

Random Photo XIV: mellow

Our five-year-old was incredibly bored during the Labor Day barbecue contest we were helping out with the other day. So to give her something to do, and get her out of the way for a while, I gave her our digital camera, showed her how to use it and sent her off to get some pictures.

Looking at the results later, I found it interesting to see the world through the eyes of a five-year-old again. You're at waist level to everyone. I'd forgotten how big everything looks when you three feet tall.

Three or four pictures even stood out a particularly good compositions and interesting perspectives on ordinary objects. This abstraction is one of my favorites. The crop and composition are all hers.

tagged: photo, Labor Day, barbecue, yellow

Separated at birth

Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin ...


... and fictional NBS writer Liz Lemon:



tagged: Sara Palin, Liz Lemon, Tina Fey, Separated at Birth, election, pop culture

Seat neighbor lotto

After a half hour delay in the terminal while US Airways replaced the duct tape on engine #2 of the San Francisco-bound A320 out of Phoenix, I was sitting in my window seat waiting for the other passengers to board.

A middle-aged woman was seated in the aisle seat in my row, with the middle seat still unoccupied. As I was enjoying a "carry-on cocktail" that I was able to sneak down the jetway, a voice came over the cabin intercom telling my fellow travelers and I that “we have a full flight today, so please place small carry-on items under the seat in front of you.”

Oy! Full flight, and me with the window seat. The only thing that could be worse is if I had the middle seat.

As passengers kept filing on, filling up the overhead bins and moving to seats in the rear of the plane, I began playing the seat neighbor lottery game with myself. You know how this goes, you take a look at each person that comes through the four “first class” rows, quickly sizing them up and mentally calculating how pleasant it would (or wouldn’t) be to have them sitting uncomfortably close to you for the next two hours.

The criteria are obvious. The smaller the better. You don’t want a huge person illegally crossing the armrest boarder and invading the sovereign territory of your seat. Don't get me wrong. God knows I'm no delicate flower myself. I'm reasonable, but COME ON PEOPLE!

Younger is better, too. I don’t need a hacking geriatric sitting next to me, devouring my soul with excruciatingly tedious stories about the olden days, coughing up a lung and generally harshing my mellow.

If you’re a dude, you’re hoping for a passenger of the female persuasion, because who wants to sit next to a guy smelling of cheap cologne. In fact, I suspect that if you’re a chick, you’re hoping to avoid sitting next to dudes as well. Let’s face it people, women are just a lot more pleasant to be around that guys.

Of course, it doesn’t hurt if they’re easy on the eyes. It may sound shallow (because it is), but nobody wants to sit next to Quasimodo through two time zones. Although, taking all factors into account, I’d rather sit next to a small ugly chick than a big, good-looking guy.

Anyway, knowing my luck, I was expecting a John Candy look-alike to win the lottery for the seat next to me. Each time a petite fox (do people still use that word?) came through, I would watch her continue to the back of the cabin or take a seat a few rows forward. Then a large ogre would saunter through with two gigantic carry-ons and I just knew he was coming for my row.

Then the line of passengers started to slow down. The saccharine sweet voice of the gate agent announced over the intercom “Passenger boarding is complete. Flight attendants, please secure the cabin for takeoff.”

“What’s this?” I thought to myself.

I began to feel a sense of what passes for excitement in the livestock shipping world of business travel. Could it be that I have a chance at winning the biggest prize in the seat-neighbor lottery? No, I dare not even hope that it might be the case. I dare not put my faith in fate only to have my hopes dashed at the last second.

But as the minutes passed, and fewer and fewer passengers were left to take their seats, I started to hope against all odds.

Finally, only one person remained. He was a smallish, athletic looking middle-aged man wearing casual khakis and a knit shirt. He stopped a few rows in front of me to jam his oversized carry on bag into not enough room in the overhead bin. Forcing the door of bin shut, he looked down into the cabin.

He walked closer, closer. I knew at that point he would sit next to me. It’s a full flight, after all. There’s one passenger left and hence, only one seat.

But NO! He kept walking! Turns out his seat was in the very back next to the twin lavatories (worst seats on the plane, my friends).

And now there was no doubt about it, I would spend the next two hours with room to stretch out my legs into the center seat. I would have plenty of elbow room, a place to put my magazines, room to pull out my laptop and get some work done.

I had won the jackpot in the seat neighbor lottery.


tagged: travel, US Airways, Phoenix, William Shatner, Airplane

Paddle game as metaphor

If you guys haven't been watching Mad Men on AMC, then I can only conclude that you a) don't have a TV, b) have a TV but don't know how to use it, c) are one of the slobbering idiots responsible for convincing the TV networks that America needs more Deal or No Dancing with America's Top Survivor Idol shows.

Seriously.

I caught a three or four episodes of the first season when they aired, but could never figure out the schedule enough to make it "appointment" TV. Luckily, during a recent staycation, my Supermodel Wife and I discovered the entire first season on Time Warner Cable's ON Demand service.

Season one was fantastic. We watched all of the episodes before jumping in to season two.

Because the first season was so good, I half expected a drop-off for the second season. Let me just say that I continue to be surprised and impressed. I appreciate how producer and writer Matthew Weiner takes risks with all of the characters. In one episode, the audience is led to feel sympathy for a one character and revile another. Then, later, the roles become reversed.

And there are so many subtle jokes woven into the production -- jokes that the characters themselves aren't aware of but that are more of a wink or a nudge from the directors to the audience.

One example from this week's episode is when one Pete Campbell, a junior account exec at the ad firm, is giving a semen sample at the fertility clinic. He enters the private room with a sample cup, reviews some of the "literature" available to help get him in the mood, then...

The scene cuts to one of the firm's partners hitting a paddle game ball in his office. An obvious metaphor for what the junior exec is doing at the moment. Priceless.

This attention to subtlety and detail (the 1960s universe is meticulously recreated from the characters' wardrobe to the ubiquitous cigarette smoke, chauvinism and minibars) make this series stand apart from 90 percent of the fare currently being broadcast.

This series is a great piece of work, which means that it will probably be canceled after this season. So start watching it while you can. It's just too good to last.



tagged: Mad Men, AMC, television, advertising, Don Draper, Pete Campbell, pop culture

The more things "change"

I think it's mostly the religious Obamists who were surprised at the selection of Joe Biden as Barack's VP.

Most reasonable people knew the whole "change" line was just a load of political BS.

It doesn't take any kind of special insight, just an acknowledgment of one of humanity's oldest truisms. Maybe this chart can help clarify.

tagged: Barack, Obama, Joe Biden, vice president, change, politics, election