Friday, April 30, 2004
Poem In Your Pocket
Drew wrote me a note and asked me to comment on Poem in your Pocket day. When I brought up the fact that it was Poem in your Pocket day to my boss he just grunted. I think he is in DIRE need of a poetry infusion! I think the whole thing is actually a great idea. I've always been a big fan of there being poems on mass transit (although sometimes the poems are of dubious quality) so I think that I would like it if someone just came up to me and said "Here is my contribution to Poem In Your Pocket day.".
My favorite poems are haikus. A few years ago we all wrote Lusty Lady haikus and one of the women collected them in a little book. I can't really remember any of them right now, so how anticlimactic.
I wrote a haiku two years ago about Lisa Lopes that I hope you enjoy:
You've left us Left Eye
There are no scrubs in heaven
Fucking Honduras
This was the winner of a haiku contest a few years ago:
no no no no no
yes yes yes yes yes yes yes
yes wins by two points
I think that's pretty clever.
Becky wants to know what I think about Aaron McGruder creator of Boondocks:
I actually had a conversation about this with Karl, Aaron Gorseth and Sterling last night and we were all pretty much in agreement that Boondocks has been on a steep decline for a while now. He really lost his way when he stopped the whole narrative structure and turned it into a left wing Mallard Fillmore. The fact that he literally phones in the strip to the person that draws it grates on me.
B.C. is a wealth of ????. Check out this and here is the strip in question.
The site where the strip is links to some more news about it.
Here is an interview with Johnny Hart who mentions that he sees the strip as his ministry.
Drew wrote me a note and asked me to comment on Poem in your Pocket day. When I brought up the fact that it was Poem in your Pocket day to my boss he just grunted. I think he is in DIRE need of a poetry infusion! I think the whole thing is actually a great idea. I've always been a big fan of there being poems on mass transit (although sometimes the poems are of dubious quality) so I think that I would like it if someone just came up to me and said "Here is my contribution to Poem In Your Pocket day.".
My favorite poems are haikus. A few years ago we all wrote Lusty Lady haikus and one of the women collected them in a little book. I can't really remember any of them right now, so how anticlimactic.
I wrote a haiku two years ago about Lisa Lopes that I hope you enjoy:
You've left us Left Eye
There are no scrubs in heaven
Fucking Honduras
This was the winner of a haiku contest a few years ago:
no no no no no
yes yes yes yes yes yes yes
yes wins by two points
I think that's pretty clever.
Becky wants to know what I think about Aaron McGruder creator of Boondocks:
I actually had a conversation about this with Karl, Aaron Gorseth and Sterling last night and we were all pretty much in agreement that Boondocks has been on a steep decline for a while now. He really lost his way when he stopped the whole narrative structure and turned it into a left wing Mallard Fillmore. The fact that he literally phones in the strip to the person that draws it grates on me.
B.C. is a wealth of ????. Check out this and here is the strip in question.
The site where the strip is links to some more news about it.
Here is an interview with Johnny Hart who mentions that he sees the strip as his ministry.
Thursday, April 29, 2004
Godsend Institute :: Using Life to Create Life
Thanks to Michele for the link.
Pretty amazing advertising here for the movie "Godsend". The detail they put into this is pretty mind boggling. I especially like some of the statistics they throw around like:
Did you know that since the birth of Dolly the sheep, cloning technology has become over 450 times more efficient and stable? That's equivalent to the technological leap from the abacus to the supercomputer, in only about 1/400th of the timeframe!
Thanks to Michele for the link.
Pretty amazing advertising here for the movie "Godsend". The detail they put into this is pretty mind boggling. I especially like some of the statistics they throw around like:
Did you know that since the birth of Dolly the sheep, cloning technology has become over 450 times more efficient and stable? That's equivalent to the technological leap from the abacus to the supercomputer, in only about 1/400th of the timeframe!
The Steadman (as Jim calls him) was on the subway the other day coming to work when a vagrantly gentleman kept bumping into him and mumbling for a few stops until finally he got off. It turns out that he had managed to put his hand in Ed's front pocket (Ed didn't have a wallet just all of his stuff in a front pocket) and take forty dollars and a credit card. The card was expired ("Serves him right!" said Ed) so it wasn't really that bad of a robbery beyond the violated feeling. The story, of course, brought everyone together to share their own tales of theft and the city. I didn't have anything to add but as you might imagine everyone else had more than enough to make up for my lack.
Wednesday, April 28, 2004
Kathy wants more office tales. Well, it has been pretty tame around here as of late. There is nothing new to say. The same old annoyances and peccadilloes are here in abundance but there hasn't really been anything new.
Tuesday, April 27, 2004
Alex asks: Why is Beetle Bailey such an intriguing comic strip?
Well, it's probably not to most people. To me it's interesting because Mort Walker has started tweaking his normal "Humor in Uniform" strategy. He's started giving Otto the dog more strip time as well as just putting forth all sorts of weird ideas. Sarge's ability to beat Beetle up with his mind in the strip yesterday is one of these things. Mort has also introduced more meta elements that you don't often see where the characters address the reader ala Doonesbury or some other more sophisticated strip. Do I think Beetle Bailey is genius? No. I do think it's more interesting than other strips that keep doing the same same same like Hagar the Horrible which is due for some overhaul. I mean, even Cathy changed and she is getting married to Irving now. It's minor but at least it's something.
NEXT?
Well, it's probably not to most people. To me it's interesting because Mort Walker has started tweaking his normal "Humor in Uniform" strategy. He's started giving Otto the dog more strip time as well as just putting forth all sorts of weird ideas. Sarge's ability to beat Beetle up with his mind in the strip yesterday is one of these things. Mort has also introduced more meta elements that you don't often see where the characters address the reader ala Doonesbury or some other more sophisticated strip. Do I think Beetle Bailey is genius? No. I do think it's more interesting than other strips that keep doing the same same same like Hagar the Horrible which is due for some overhaul. I mean, even Cathy changed and she is getting married to Irving now. It's minor but at least it's something.
NEXT?
Hi. Although I'm still very interested in Beetle Bailey and the fact that in yesterday's cartoon it was demonstrated that Sarge has telekinesis I can imagine that you aren't as enthralled. Also, I could include more office stuff in the blog like how Steady Eddie got pickpocketed today on the subway but I'm bored with that. So, I'm taking requests from YOU! What subjects do you want me to weigh in on?
Wednesday, April 21, 2004
Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Doonesbury's BD loses leg in fighting
I've been asleep at the wheel here folks. I should have been up on this. This makes two comic strips where characters are losing legs in Iraq. The character in Get Fuzzy is not a main one but B.D. is pretty major in the Doonesbury universe. I have to give Garry Trudeau credit; I really didn't see this one coming.
I've been asleep at the wheel here folks. I should have been up on this. This makes two comic strips where characters are losing legs in Iraq. The character in Get Fuzzy is not a main one but B.D. is pretty major in the Doonesbury universe. I have to give Garry Trudeau credit; I really didn't see this one coming.
Tuesday, April 20, 2004
I played Bridge for the first time this sunday. It was alot of fun and the person that taught me was patient and very through. I'm excited to have a new thing to keep me entertained. According to the person who organized the bridge night, bridge is experiencing a renaissance among hipster folk sort of like knitting is. I have seen alot of women I know knitting lately but I've not heard of any bridge playing. It sure is a rush to be on the cutting edge, no?
For some reason I avoided playing cards for many years so my recent forays into poker and bridge are really a new direction for me. I've never played Hearts, Spades, Eucher, Pinochle, or anything else really. I played Rummy some but that is about it.
Here is a good story of a Bridge related murder.
The lighter side of Bridge
For some reason I avoided playing cards for many years so my recent forays into poker and bridge are really a new direction for me. I've never played Hearts, Spades, Eucher, Pinochle, or anything else really. I played Rummy some but that is about it.
Here is a good story of a Bridge related murder.
The lighter side of Bridge
Friday, April 16, 2004
Wednesday, April 14, 2004
100 things about the head
Above is The Head's contribution to the webring of people who write lists of 100 things about themselves. I suppose if you don't know The Head it won't be quite as funny but it made me want to hang out with her very soon.
This begs the obvious joke of "I've survived on that for 10 years!"
God, the Mariners are sucking up a storm so far this year. They have two home runs for the whole year and Bret Boone hit both of them. This is sad people. Sad. The Mariner Moose is crying.
Speaking of baseball mascots I remember as a kid watching a ton of Braves games on TBS during the 80's when the Braves mascot was Chief Knockahoma who supposedly lived in a teepee in centerfield. and before every game he would come out and do a little dance around the pitcher's mound with his tomahawk. Let that sink in.
I saw The Chicken once at a Nashvile Sounds game and he was pretty entertaining. I must give the umpire's credit for being good sports although I guess that umpires can be hams too. Triple A teams have great names. I love The Nashville Sounds and my favorite is the Sacramento Rivercats. Rivercat is just down and dirty like a an old stray that will give you rabies.
I just found this list of some major league baseball mascots:
Junction Jack -- Houston Astros A jackrabbit I guess. This is a whole mascot family with Junction Julie and Cousin Jesse. Talk about taking it to the next level.
Pirate Parrot –- Pittsburgh Pirates The Parrot is one of my favorite mascots and the picture here of him dressed patriotically is pretty tip-top.
Lou Seal -- San Francisco Giants I don't have much to say about Lou Seal. I went to a Giants game a few years ago but I didn't see it.
Gapper -- Cincinnati Reds Okay, this website takes you to the Raymond Entertainment Group which has pictures of all the mascots that they've helped brand. This site is awesome! This is a common Jerry Seinfeldian thing to say about mascots, but just what is a gapper? Is it like hitting a gapper to left center field or what? This site also bears out the fact that minor league teams have better names "Mud Hens", "Isotopes", and my new favorite "The Jackhammers". The Raymond Group's own mascot is described thusly. Spanky the Nine-Foot Monkey?
The Bird -- Baltimore Orioles
The Bird isn't so exciting on his own but he did lead me to this site that lists some horrible mascot accidents.
Stomper -- Oakland A's Stomper is another in the long line of "Why did they pick that?" mascots. I know picking an "Athletic" isn't so easy, but an elephant? Apparently Stomper is an African elephant and not an Indian elephant according to his diary.
Homer -- Atlanta Braves
Chief Knockahoma is out and Homer is in. This site of all mascot photos is not to be missed especially the commentary: Youppi, Montreal Expos, July 1999.
Youppi proved himself to be male by lavishing a little more attention on my friend Ellyn than she wanted.
Ok, I need to work now.
Above is The Head's contribution to the webring of people who write lists of 100 things about themselves. I suppose if you don't know The Head it won't be quite as funny but it made me want to hang out with her very soon.
This begs the obvious joke of "I've survived on that for 10 years!"
God, the Mariners are sucking up a storm so far this year. They have two home runs for the whole year and Bret Boone hit both of them. This is sad people. Sad. The Mariner Moose is crying.
Speaking of baseball mascots I remember as a kid watching a ton of Braves games on TBS during the 80's when the Braves mascot was Chief Knockahoma who supposedly lived in a teepee in centerfield. and before every game he would come out and do a little dance around the pitcher's mound with his tomahawk. Let that sink in.
I saw The Chicken once at a Nashvile Sounds game and he was pretty entertaining. I must give the umpire's credit for being good sports although I guess that umpires can be hams too. Triple A teams have great names. I love The Nashville Sounds and my favorite is the Sacramento Rivercats. Rivercat is just down and dirty like a an old stray that will give you rabies.
I just found this list of some major league baseball mascots:
Junction Jack -- Houston Astros A jackrabbit I guess. This is a whole mascot family with Junction Julie and Cousin Jesse. Talk about taking it to the next level.
Pirate Parrot –- Pittsburgh Pirates The Parrot is one of my favorite mascots and the picture here of him dressed patriotically is pretty tip-top.
Lou Seal -- San Francisco Giants I don't have much to say about Lou Seal. I went to a Giants game a few years ago but I didn't see it.
Gapper -- Cincinnati Reds Okay, this website takes you to the Raymond Entertainment Group which has pictures of all the mascots that they've helped brand. This site is awesome! This is a common Jerry Seinfeldian thing to say about mascots, but just what is a gapper? Is it like hitting a gapper to left center field or what? This site also bears out the fact that minor league teams have better names "Mud Hens", "Isotopes", and my new favorite "The Jackhammers". The Raymond Group's own mascot is described thusly. Spanky the Nine-Foot Monkey?
The Bird -- Baltimore Orioles
The Bird isn't so exciting on his own but he did lead me to this site that lists some horrible mascot accidents.
Stomper -- Oakland A's Stomper is another in the long line of "Why did they pick that?" mascots. I know picking an "Athletic" isn't so easy, but an elephant? Apparently Stomper is an African elephant and not an Indian elephant according to his diary.
Homer -- Atlanta Braves
Chief Knockahoma is out and Homer is in. This site of all mascot photos is not to be missed especially the commentary: Youppi, Montreal Expos, July 1999.
Youppi proved himself to be male by lavishing a little more attention on my friend Ellyn than she wanted.
Ok, I need to work now.
Tuesday, April 13, 2004
And in the slacking off in some areas was a good idea dept:
Regarding the selective draft from the Seattle PI:
The agency already has a special system to register and draft health care personnel ages 20 to 44 in more than 60 specialties if necessary in a crisis. According to Flahavan, the agency will expand this system to be able to rapidly register and draft computer specialists and linguists, should the need ever arise. But he stressed that the agency has received no request from the Pentagon to do so.
Regarding the selective draft from the Seattle PI:
The agency already has a special system to register and draft health care personnel ages 20 to 44 in more than 60 specialties if necessary in a crisis. According to Flahavan, the agency will expand this system to be able to rapidly register and draft computer specialists and linguists, should the need ever arise. But he stressed that the agency has received no request from the Pentagon to do so.
"Hello, is Arthur Becker in?"
"Hello, Nagy Moustafa please."
It's another rip roaring day here at CEOcast. Nothing much new to report as there hasn't been anything really horrible happening lately.
Weird Al's Parents are dead.
Rheingold has an interesting new ad campaign. Too bad it tastes awful. It sort of has a rotten apple juice/budweiser mix that is distasteful to say the least.
Can we all just agree that being kinapped and then threatened with being burned alive is pretty much a shitty situation?
"Hello, Nagy Moustafa please."
It's another rip roaring day here at CEOcast. Nothing much new to report as there hasn't been anything really horrible happening lately.
Weird Al's Parents are dead.
Rheingold has an interesting new ad campaign. Too bad it tastes awful. It sort of has a rotten apple juice/budweiser mix that is distasteful to say the least.
Can we all just agree that being kinapped and then threatened with being burned alive is pretty much a shitty situation?
Friday, April 09, 2004
Although listening to my coworkers is like taking a vacation at the Sorbonne I must leave work. Happy Easter. I'm off for a beer and a Yankees game at the bar down the street.
Thursday, April 08, 2004
A few thoughts today:
Ladies, buy some pepper spray already and carry it with you.
Today in Beelte Bailey the first panel has Sarge looking at a sunrise through a donut and saying "I love looking at the sunrise through the hole in a donut!". Hmm. The next panel has Otto saying "I prefer looking at Lassie through a pretzel!" What in the hell is this? Does this make any sense to anyone?
Ladies, buy some pepper spray already and carry it with you.
Today in Beelte Bailey the first panel has Sarge looking at a sunrise through a donut and saying "I love looking at the sunrise through the hole in a donut!". Hmm. The next panel has Otto saying "I prefer looking at Lassie through a pretzel!" What in the hell is this? Does this make any sense to anyone?
Tuesday, April 06, 2004
From Gawker:
I know you've all paid careful attention to the 18 episodes of Dave Eggers' serialized novel on Salon. If anyone wanted to hide a map of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction or pictures of Tom Cruise having sex with children in Malaysian sweatshops, inside Eggers' book would be the place to do it.
Choire Sicha made the New York Press' 50 Most Loathsome New Yorkers but when was the last time anyone gave a shit about what the New York Press said about anything?
I know you've all paid careful attention to the 18 episodes of Dave Eggers' serialized novel on Salon. If anyone wanted to hide a map of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction or pictures of Tom Cruise having sex with children in Malaysian sweatshops, inside Eggers' book would be the place to do it.
Choire Sicha made the New York Press' 50 Most Loathsome New Yorkers but when was the last time anyone gave a shit about what the New York Press said about anything?
I just wanted to let you know that I blogged the below conversations in real time.
I bought a Playstation 2 last tuesday and let me tell you it was the best purchase I've made in awhile. I bought a game to play on it, The Getaway, that had been raved about to me by a game store clerk a few years ago and it was a huge disappointment. It was dull and after the second day of the PS2 I did wonder if I'd flushed my 75 dollars down the toilet. So I went to another nerd store (thanks Warren) and looked for a new game. The clerk at this place let me know that back story in Final Fantasy X made her cry so I decided to purchase that. That is quite an endorsement for a video game and while it hasn't yet moved me to tears it has caused me to play for 9 hours straight. Now that is the experience I'm looking for!
I bought a Playstation 2 last tuesday and let me tell you it was the best purchase I've made in awhile. I bought a game to play on it, The Getaway, that had been raved about to me by a game store clerk a few years ago and it was a huge disappointment. It was dull and after the second day of the PS2 I did wonder if I'd flushed my 75 dollars down the toilet. So I went to another nerd store (thanks Warren) and looked for a new game. The clerk at this place let me know that back story in Final Fantasy X made her cry so I decided to purchase that. That is quite an endorsement for a video game and while it hasn't yet moved me to tears it has caused me to play for 9 hours straight. Now that is the experience I'm looking for!
Monday, April 05, 2004
Jim: You know what commercial scares me? The McDonald's commercial where they say "Chicken McNuggets: Now with white meat!". I mean, what was in there before right? Beaks?
Josh: Um, dark meat seems the obvious answer.
Jim: Yeah, but "Now with white meat."! I mean, wow!
Josh: Um, dark meat seems the obvious answer.
Jim: Yeah, but "Now with white meat."! I mean, wow!
Boss #2: Hey Carol.
Carol: Yes, Ken.
Boss #2: Have you ever had a pap smear? Did it hurt?
Carol: Um, I don't feel like talking about it. That's very personal.
Boss #2: Ok.
Walks over to his phone. Dials phone.
Boss #2: Elizabeth, does a pap smear hurt?
Boss #1: Ken! What the hell is wrong with you?
Boss #2: What?!
Carol: That is a personal question!
Boss #2: Everyone's so sensitive!
Carol: Yes, Ken.
Boss #2: Have you ever had a pap smear? Did it hurt?
Carol: Um, I don't feel like talking about it. That's very personal.
Boss #2: Ok.
Walks over to his phone. Dials phone.
Boss #2: Elizabeth, does a pap smear hurt?
Boss #1: Ken! What the hell is wrong with you?
Boss #2: What?!
Carol: That is a personal question!
Boss #2: Everyone's so sensitive!
Thursday, April 01, 2004
While I was waiting for Kathy to show up to eat Mexican food last night I went across the street to have a beer at the Greenpoint Tavern. The GPT, as it is affectionately known, has the most vigilant holiday decorators of any place I've ever been. I have never seen anything like it. As soon as it's Nov 1 BAM the Thanksgiving decorations are up. Likewise with every holiday throughout the year. Dec. 26 and it's full time New Years Eve at the GPT. And I don't mean that there is some little dinky Christmas trees and a few paper snowflakes, I'm talking about stuff hanging from the ceiling and decorations draped all over the walls and little almost dioramas in the front windows. The bartenders at the GPT mean decoration business. Anyway, there I was drinking my mug of beer when I overheard the bartender speaking to a patron telling him that the guy at the end of the bar was the drummer for the Fleshtones and was going to Greece tomorrow to play some shows. Since my brother had made me some tapes with Hexbreaker! on it when I was in high school I decided to go up and say hello and that I was a fan. Boy, this guy was drunk. Kathy said she thought he was handsome in a rangy way and I guess he was. He sort of reminded me of my grandfather a little bit which was maybe why the severe inebriation was a little off putting. He was friendly no doubt about that though. He was very grateful that I had come up and said I was a fan since I guess this just doesn't happen that much anymore. I also had no idea that the Fleshtones had never broken up and that the longest break that they had ever taken was two months. All in all, not a bad conversation but I was certainly ready to go when Kathy showed up.
Kathy, Shira, and I went to trivia again last night. I had never met Shira before but I already have a friend named "Shara" so I kept hoping that there would be some sort of sitcom-like hijinks with name confusion but no dice. Kathy pretty much sums the whole experience up and was a terror in the audio round. I will take a moment here to pat myself on the back for knowing that JT's "Cry Me A River" was about Britney Spears and also guessing right about a poll tax question. Yay me.
