Happy Friday, kids.
From the guy who did Sunday Bloody Sunday. Via Waxy.
# 2008 Aug 29
The origin of “Weclome to the Jungle”, excerpted from “Watch You Bleed: The Saga of Guns N’ Roses”, the new GNR biography by Stephen Davis:
Just then, traffic slowed into the constipation typical of I-95 as it crosses New York City. The boys jumped out. Cars honked at them as they inched along the sheer walls, looking for a way out. Drivers laughed at them, told them they were fucking insane. A trucker blasted his air horn and they jumped at the sound. The walls of the roadway were at least a hundred feet high, and all they could see were the tops of the buildings up at street level.
# 2008 Aug 27
New open source mixtape software - Opentape. As they say in karaoke, it’s in the style of Muxtape.
Installation is simple: Download the files, install them on your web server, and you’re good to go.
My favorite trick is that I can upload the files directly to my server (which also lets me bypass the max file size restriction) and Opentape detects and adds them to the playlist - no more of this uploading one song at a time nonsense (it’d also be nifty to script something that’d upload the last file listened to in iTunes, creating an online mirror of what I’ve been listening to offline).
My only major problem? Same as it was with Muxtape - 98% of my music is stored as AAC files, leaving me with a small subset available for uploading. If I was one of those guys who knew stuff, I’d probably be able to look at the libraries Opentape uses and hack something together, but I’m not, so I’ll stick to my usual trick of waiting for someone else to do it.
Here’s an end of the summer playlist just for you.
New open source mixtape software - Opentape. As they say in karaoke, it’s in the style of Muxtape.
Installation is simple: Download the files, install them on your web server, and you’re good to go.
My favorite trick is that I can upload the files directly to my server (which also lets me bypass the max file size restriction) and Opentape detects and adds them to the playlist - no more of this uploading one song at a time nonsense (it’d also be nifty to script something that’d upload the last file listened to in iTunes, creating an online mirror of what I’ve been listening to offline).
My only major problem? Same as it was with Muxtape - 98% of my music is stored as AAC files, leaving me with a small subset available for uploading. If I was one of those guys who knew stuff, I’d probably be able to look at the libraries Opentape uses and hack something together, but I’m not, so I’ll stick to my usual trick of waiting for someone else to do it.
Here’s an end of the summer playlist just for you.
# 2008 Aug 26
Top-ranked teams laid out as a star map.
Pretty.
# 2008 Aug 25
GQ interviews Aaron Sorkin nominally about the upcoming 10th anniversary edition Sports Night DVD, but also touches on politics, the writer’s strike, and Studio 60.
# 2008 Aug 21
I came across the phrase “pear-shaped” twice today in non-body-shape related usages, rather, it was used to describe situations gone bad (e.g. “I thought the date was going well, but when I saw her standing at the urinal next to me the whole thing went pear-shaped.”).
Wikipedia provides the explanation:
The third meaning is mostly limited to the United Kingdom and Australasia. It describes a situation that went awry, perhaps horribly wrong. A failed bank robbery, for example, could be said to have “gone pear-shaped”. Less well known in the US it generated some media interest when British politician Margaret Thatcher used the phrase in front of the world’s press at one of her first meetings with President Ronald Reagan, with many reporters being unsure of the meaning of the term.
No definitive origin is listed, possibilities include the shape resulting when a pilot fails to execute a perfect loop in an aircraft, worn metal bearings, and glass blowing.
Also, one’s voice can also be described as pear-shaped, if it’s particularly “rich and sonorous”.
I came across the phrase “pear-shaped” twice today in non-body-shape related usages, rather, it was used to describe situations gone bad (e.g. “I thought the date was going well, but when I saw her standing at the urinal next to me the whole thing went pear-shaped.”).
Wikipedia provides the explanation:
The third meaning is mostly limited to the United Kingdom and Australasia. It describes a situation that went awry, perhaps horribly wrong. A failed bank robbery, for example, could be said to have “gone pear-shaped”. Less well known in the US it generated some media interest when British politician Margaret Thatcher used the phrase in front of the world’s press at one of her first meetings with President Ronald Reagan, with many reporters being unsure of the meaning of the term.
No definitive origin is listed, possibilities include the shape resulting when a pilot fails to execute a perfect loop in an aircraft, worn metal bearings, and glass blowing.
Also, one’s voice can also be described as pear-shaped, if it’s particularly “rich and sonorous”.
# 2008 Aug 21
It’s the question that has gone unanswered since Jesus first debated it with Abraham: how much does drinking actually impair your driving skills? Now is the time to answer it, through the most accurate of measurements: Wii Mario Kart!
# 2008 Aug 20
People complain about Paterno not getting out of State College and doing enough recruiting, but really, it might be for the best.
BONUS: If you follow the Swindleverse*, there’s an enhanced version by LSUfreek.
Via Spencer Hall.
*Swindleverse: The mildly exaggerated caricatures of college football personalities springing from EDSBS.com, exemplified by posts like this and this. And I’d be remiss to not mention the JoePa Chronicles at Black Heart Gold Pants.
People complain about Paterno not getting out of State College and doing enough recruiting, but really, it might be for the best.
BONUS: If you follow the Swindleverse*, there’s an enhanced version by LSUfreek.
Via Spencer Hall.
*Swindleverse: The mildly exaggerated caricatures of college football personalities springing from EDSBS.com, exemplified by posts like this and this. And I’d be remiss to not mention the JoePa Chronicles at Black Heart Gold Pants.
# 2008 Aug 20
Photo by Flickr user oceanfrog.
I saw the Dave Matthews Band twice this summer, once in Philly and two weeks ago in Virginia Beach. LeRoi was absent from the latter show. He’d been injured in an ATV accident, suffering punctured lung and broken ribs. Tonight, he died from those injuries.
I’ve seen the Dave Matthews Band more times than any other (well, that doesn’t have a regular spot at a local bar playing covers), so this news hit pretty hard. Especially finding out while watching Larry King interview Bill Maher (without sound) on the treadmill. It’s hard to stand shocked in the middle of a run.
A few tracks featuring Roi from the DMB catalog:
Lie In Our Graves - Live at Red Rocks 8.15.95
Anyone Seen the Bridge - The Central Park Concert
Bartender - Live at Folsom Field (I’m a sucker for a flute).
Also, be sure to check out the rest of oceanfrog’s photos, they’re quite excellent.
Photo by Flickr user oceanfrog.
I saw the Dave Matthews Band twice this summer, once in Philly and two weeks ago in Virginia Beach. LeRoi was absent from the latter show. He’d been injured in an ATV accident, suffering punctured lung and broken ribs. Tonight, he died from those injuries.
I’ve seen the Dave Matthews Band more times than any other (well, that doesn’t have a regular spot at a local bar playing covers), so this news hit pretty hard. Especially finding out while watching Larry King interview Bill Maher (without sound) on the treadmill. It’s hard to stand shocked in the middle of a run.
A few tracks featuring Roi from the DMB catalog:
Lie In Our Graves - Live at Red Rocks 8.15.95
Anyone Seen the Bridge - The Central Park Concert
Bartender - Live at Folsom Field (I’m a sucker for a flute).
Also, be sure to check out the rest of oceanfrog’s photos, they’re quite excellent.
# 2008 Aug 19
At around the same time the man from Atlantis was making the splash heard ‘round the world, the creator of Veronica Mars was sitting down with his beloved, lamented series’ star, Kristen Bell, to discuss bringing the cult hit to the big screen.
Excellent news. The world has been a sadder place since Dick Casablancas left our TVs:
We’re a frat. Why rape the cow when you’re swimming in free milk?
Thankfully, it’s only 12 days until Chuck Bass.
# 2008 Aug 19
Orson Swindle on gym etiquette.
My addition: Brush your teeth. Especially if you’re a mouth breather. Heavy breather + what you had two hours ago for lunch = gag.
# 2008 Aug 18
John August on the uncanny valley of superhero political leanings:
I’d argue that the thematic success of comic book characters, and comic book storylines, comes from how closely they can approach the line separating Real from Too Real, without crossing it.
For example, this summer’s The Dark Knight is set in the most realistic Gotham City yet, but its characters still speak in broad philosophical proclamations.
Absolutely. Plus, it helps that In Batman We Trust - we let him get away with various moral incongruities (let’s tap every cellphone! it’s OK because I’m trying to catch an evildoer!) that we wouldn’t accept from more tangible figures of authority*.
*Just kidding!
# 2008 Aug 14
The alleged title of the new U2 album (indirectly corroborated by Universal’s recent registeration of nolineonthehorizon.com):
According to the Mirror, songs set for ‘No Line on the Horizon’ include ‘For Your Love,’ ‘Love is All We Have Left,’ ‘One Bird,’ ‘Moment of Surrender,’ ‘If I Could Live My Life Again,’ ‘The Cedars of Lebanon’ and the title track.
Isn’t it about time for a moratorium on songs with “love” in the title? During the recording of Zooropa, Flood (I think) curated a list of overused words to shy away from in the lyrics (“night”, “street”, etc.).
Like “love”. Or “life”. Or “moment”.
I mean, yay, new U2.
The alleged title of the new U2 album (indirectly corroborated by Universal’s recent registeration of nolineonthehorizon.com):
According to the Mirror, songs set for ‘No Line on the Horizon’ include ‘For Your Love,’ ‘Love is All We Have Left,’ ‘One Bird,’ ‘Moment of Surrender,’ ‘If I Could Live My Life Again,’ ‘The Cedars of Lebanon’ and the title track.
Isn’t it about time for a moratorium on songs with “love” in the title? During the recording of Zooropa, Flood (I think) curated a list of overused words to shy away from in the lyrics (“night”, “street”, etc.).
Like “love”. Or “life”. Or “moment”.
I mean, yay, new U2.
# 2008 Aug 14
David Beckham will star at the Olympics closing ceremony in Beijing as the handover to London 2012 gets under way.
The spectacular event on August 24 will also see Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page performing a duet with pop star Leona Lewis.
Don’t really care, just wanted to write that headline.
# 2008 Aug 14
Fireworks over the Olympics pyrotechnics erupted yesterday when it was learned that the elaborate display broadcast to the world as part of the opening ceremony was faked, done digitally in 3-D computer graphics.
The Beijing Times, which first reported the story, said members of the Beijing Olympic Committee defended the ruse because of the city’s hazy, smoggy skies, which made such an elaborate fireworks display at night too difficult to pull off successfully.
Stupid, but so what?
# 2008 Aug 11
Nobody dances anymore:
[Daniel J.] Levitin, the neuroscientist, draws a parallel between people’s dancing inhibitions and their discomfort with public singing. In the 1950s, he points out, “people would sit around and sing songs with a piano player. Now there’s been a professionalization of singing as well.” He suggests that is why we enjoy the first week of “American Idol” so much, because we can laugh at people who don’t abide the new social norm: You don’t perform in public unless you’re really good. Increasingly, he said, we’ve come to think that way about all social entertainment.
# 2008 Aug 05
A violent vigilante from his earliest appearances in May 1939, he subsequently softened with the introduction of a teenaged sidekick, battled against the Axis powers in the comics and in a pair of big-screen serials, became a jovial post-war father figure at the head of an extended family that included a Bat-Woman and a Bat-Hound, encountered primary-coloured robots and aliens at a time when flying saucers were de rigeur at the (B-)movies, and acted as a ninnyishly lantern-jawed straight man to a succession of bad puns and pratfalls in the television series of 1966-68. In the 1970s, under the stewardship of Dennis O’Neil and Neal Adams, the comics jettisoned the sidekicks and turned their protagonist into a suave, James Bondian globetrotter, while the 1980s and 90s saw the character diversify into a plethora of different versions - the mouthpiece for Frank Miller’s cranky, Reagan-era satire in The Dark Knight Returns, a dreamer lost in a maze of sign and symbol in Grant Morrison’s densely allusive Arkham Asylum and a diminutive yuppie continually overshadowed by the theatrics of his enemies in two successful films by Tim Burton, in which their director perfected his distinctive strain of fairy-tale gothic. Far more versatile than any of his pop-cultural peers - Superman, say, or Wonder Woman, or Captain America - the character is a barometer of his times, a reflection of what any given age expects of its heroes.
# 2008 Aug 05
Apple posted a “bug fix” update for the iPhone tonight. Normally I wait a day or two before installing updates, but I made an exception in this case, as my feelings about updating from 2.0 are best explained by this exchange from Buffy :
Anyanka: You trusting fool. How do you know the other world is any better than this?
Giles: Because it has to be.
# 2008 Aug 04
Roger Ebert might be gone from my TV, but he’s still pushing the words. His latest post discusses the failure of contemporary films to appreciate the difference between visual effects serving the plot, and effects for the sake of effects:
The thing about the film is, we logically know the effects are effects, but they have aspects of startling reality. We know that horses can’t gallop through the air, and carpets can’t fly. But, hey, that’s the real Sultan on a real horse, and that’s the real Sabu on a real carpet. Today it might be done with CGI. We would get quick cuts of the horse heaving and tossing its mane, and the Sultan clinging for dear life, and eagles circling, and the overhead shot to the ground below, and the movie would be so busy it would forget the real point of the shot: The horse is flying!
# 2008 Aug 04
These are all the posts on scotttroyan.com during August 2008. Recent posts are listed here.
All contents copyright 1995-2008 by Scott Troyan unless differently noted.