Saturday, March 14, 2009
Monday, March 02, 2009
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Friday, January 30, 2009
Springsteen on Wal Mart: It was a mistake
Partial quote:
"But Mr. Springsteen said the decision was made too hastily. “We were in the middle of doing a lot of things, it kind of came down and, really, we didn’t vet it the way we usually do,” he said. “We just dropped the ball on it.” Instead of offering the exclusive collection to Wal-Mart, “given its labor history, it was something that if we’d thought about it a little longer, we’d have done something different.” He added, “It was a mistake. Our batting average is usually very good, but we missed that one. Fans will call you on that stuff, as it should be.” "
My cynical side says, yeah, sure, it's still for sale, and given that it usually takes 2 years of editing before an album comes out, disingenuous, or worse, calculated... but my Obama side says, oh look, he's human, could have been worse, could have been a McCain supporter.
"But Mr. Springsteen said the decision was made too hastily. “We were in the middle of doing a lot of things, it kind of came down and, really, we didn’t vet it the way we usually do,” he said. “We just dropped the ball on it.” Instead of offering the exclusive collection to Wal-Mart, “given its labor history, it was something that if we’d thought about it a little longer, we’d have done something different.” He added, “It was a mistake. Our batting average is usually very good, but we missed that one. Fans will call you on that stuff, as it should be.” "
My cynical side says, yeah, sure, it's still for sale, and given that it usually takes 2 years of editing before an album comes out, disingenuous, or worse, calculated... but my Obama side says, oh look, he's human, could have been worse, could have been a McCain supporter.
Monday, January 26, 2009
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Friday, January 23, 2009
Monday, January 12, 2009
Chihuly at Desert Botanical Gardens
This is a must-see exhibit. The opulent glass is the perfect counter-point to the desert. I don't even want to ruin it with inadequate descriptions. Here are some photos.
Tuesday, January 06, 2009
Thursday, January 01, 2009
Favorite Flicks of 2008
The Fall
Cloverfield
The Dark Knight
Milk
Be Kind, Rewind
The Edge of Heaven
Dark Matter
Persepolis
Son of Rambow
Slumdog Millionaire
Can't say enough about The Fall...
Also too ...
I've Loved You So Long, Rachel Getting Married, Encounters at the End of the World, The Reader, Burn After Reading.
Haven't seen Benjamin Button, the Wrestler, or Synecdoche yet...
Cloverfield
The Dark Knight
Milk
Be Kind, Rewind
The Edge of Heaven
Dark Matter
Persepolis
Son of Rambow
Slumdog Millionaire
Can't say enough about The Fall...
Also too ...
I've Loved You So Long, Rachel Getting Married, Encounters at the End of the World, The Reader, Burn After Reading.
Haven't seen Benjamin Button, the Wrestler, or Synecdoche yet...
Favorite Quotes of 2008
Quotes may be from other years, but I just heard them this year. So don't quote me!
"It was the best of times... it was the end of times."
David Haan (brother)
"Incompetence is the default setting for the universe."
Tim Ferriss (4-Hour Workweek)
"Adversity doesn't build character; it reveals it."
Unknown
"We believe that the best of America is not all in Washington, D.C. ... We believe that the best of America is in these small towns that we get to visit, and in these wonderful little pockets of what I call the real America, being here with all of you hard working very patriotic, um, very, um, pro-America areas of this great nation."
Sarah Palin
"You know that old Beach Boy song, Bomb Iran. Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran."
John McCain
"Who is Barack Obama? Contrary to the rumors you have heard, I was not born in a manger. I was actually born on Krypton and sent here by my father Jor-El to save the Planet Earth. Many of you know that I got my name, Barack, from my father. What you may not know is Barack is actually Swahili for "That One." And I got my middle name from somebody who obviously didn't think I'd ever run for president. If I had to name my greatest strength, I guess it would be my humility. Greatest weakness, it's possible that I'm a little too awesome."
Barack Obama
“I feel your scorn and I accept it.”
Jon Stewart
"There's a more important reason to keep NASA's programs going strong ... to achieve that greatest of discoveries, the thing we as human beings need most: space oil."
Stephen Colbert
“I don't need drugs to make my life tragic.”
Eddie Vedder
"It was the best of times... it was the end of times."
David Haan (brother)
"Incompetence is the default setting for the universe."
Tim Ferriss (4-Hour Workweek)
"Adversity doesn't build character; it reveals it."
Unknown
"We believe that the best of America is not all in Washington, D.C. ... We believe that the best of America is in these small towns that we get to visit, and in these wonderful little pockets of what I call the real America, being here with all of you hard working very patriotic, um, very, um, pro-America areas of this great nation."
Sarah Palin
"You know that old Beach Boy song, Bomb Iran. Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran."
John McCain
"Who is Barack Obama? Contrary to the rumors you have heard, I was not born in a manger. I was actually born on Krypton and sent here by my father Jor-El to save the Planet Earth. Many of you know that I got my name, Barack, from my father. What you may not know is Barack is actually Swahili for "That One." And I got my middle name from somebody who obviously didn't think I'd ever run for president. If I had to name my greatest strength, I guess it would be my humility. Greatest weakness, it's possible that I'm a little too awesome."
Barack Obama
“I feel your scorn and I accept it.”
Jon Stewart
"There's a more important reason to keep NASA's programs going strong ... to achieve that greatest of discoveries, the thing we as human beings need most: space oil."
Stephen Colbert
“I don't need drugs to make my life tragic.”
Eddie Vedder
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Couldn't have said it better
So I will just re-post what IvyTodd posted on Daily Kos.
Springsteen + Wal-Mart= Oh No!
by IvyTodd
Sat Dec 27, 2008 at 08:50:46 PM PST
Bruce Springsteen released his Born to Run album six weeks after I was born, but there is hardly a musical artist I love, respect and seen more in concert. Its a coin flip between him and my hometown boys, Pearl Jam for my favorite artist. I even talked my wife into having Thunder Road as our first dance song at our wedding reception.
IvyTodd's diary :: ::
Part of what makes Springsteen what he is, besides being perhaps the greatest songwriter of his generation (performer too? though I know I missed his prime by far), is he has never fallen far from his blue collar roots. Its evidenced in his songs (most of the Born to Run and Born In The USA albums...you know the lyrics "And boy these jobs ain't comin back") as he writes often about the working man. The acoustic Ghost of Tom Joad album is filled with songs about the working class. Joad was inspired by the book "Journey to Nowhere, the Saga of the New Underclass." What song other than "Youngstown" better symbolizes than what's happening in the Rust Belt:
Seven hundred tons of metal a day
Now sir you tell me the world's changed
Once I made you rich enough
Rich enough to forget my name
Lately Springsteen hasn't been at all shy about pushing his political agenda after he publicly stumped for John Kerry in 2004 and often for Barack Obama this year. Springsteen discussed the importance of "truth, transparency and integrity in government, the right of every American to have a job, a living wage, to be educated in a decent school, and a life filled with the dignity of work, the promise and the sanctity of home...But today those freedoms have been damaged and curtailed by eight years of a thoughtless, reckless and morally-adrift administration."
So imagine my shock, my horror, my dismay, my utter disbelief when I read that Springsteen's new greatest hits CD would be available only at...Wal-Mart?
It had to be a typo. But no there it is on backstreets.com and other blogs.
I won't dare link to the Wal-Mart page, but trust me its there. You can pre-order it now.
Why Bruce why? A career singing about and standing up for the working man, and now you give Wal-Mart a monopoly? Please tell me it isn't so. Everybody with any heart and any gray matter between their ears knows that Wal-Mart is all that is unholy. Wal-Mart is the reason so many people have lost their family wage jobs. Wal-Mart is the reason so many Youngstowns are spread across America.
My hope was that some record executive cut a deal and Springsteen found out about this when we did. That like the backwardness that the record business is, the artist has no say in his own music. I hope, I hope.
But maybe the first stanza of Badlands says it best...
Lights out tonight trouble in the heartland
Got a head-on collision smashin' in my guts man
I'm caught in a crossfire that I don't understand
But there's one thing I know for sure girl I don't give a damn
For the same old played out scenes baby I don't give a damn
For just the in-betweens honey I want the heart I want the soul
I want control right now you better listen to me baby
Talk about a dream, try to make it real
You wake up in the night with a fear so real
You spend your life waiting for a moment that just don't come
Well don't waste your time waiting
Springsteen + Wal-Mart= Oh No!
by IvyTodd
Sat Dec 27, 2008 at 08:50:46 PM PST
Bruce Springsteen released his Born to Run album six weeks after I was born, but there is hardly a musical artist I love, respect and seen more in concert. Its a coin flip between him and my hometown boys, Pearl Jam for my favorite artist. I even talked my wife into having Thunder Road as our first dance song at our wedding reception.
IvyTodd's diary :: ::
Part of what makes Springsteen what he is, besides being perhaps the greatest songwriter of his generation (performer too? though I know I missed his prime by far), is he has never fallen far from his blue collar roots. Its evidenced in his songs (most of the Born to Run and Born In The USA albums...you know the lyrics "And boy these jobs ain't comin back") as he writes often about the working man. The acoustic Ghost of Tom Joad album is filled with songs about the working class. Joad was inspired by the book "Journey to Nowhere, the Saga of the New Underclass." What song other than "Youngstown" better symbolizes than what's happening in the Rust Belt:
Seven hundred tons of metal a day
Now sir you tell me the world's changed
Once I made you rich enough
Rich enough to forget my name
Lately Springsteen hasn't been at all shy about pushing his political agenda after he publicly stumped for John Kerry in 2004 and often for Barack Obama this year. Springsteen discussed the importance of "truth, transparency and integrity in government, the right of every American to have a job, a living wage, to be educated in a decent school, and a life filled with the dignity of work, the promise and the sanctity of home...But today those freedoms have been damaged and curtailed by eight years of a thoughtless, reckless and morally-adrift administration."
So imagine my shock, my horror, my dismay, my utter disbelief when I read that Springsteen's new greatest hits CD would be available only at...Wal-Mart?
It had to be a typo. But no there it is on backstreets.com and other blogs.
I won't dare link to the Wal-Mart page, but trust me its there. You can pre-order it now.
Why Bruce why? A career singing about and standing up for the working man, and now you give Wal-Mart a monopoly? Please tell me it isn't so. Everybody with any heart and any gray matter between their ears knows that Wal-Mart is all that is unholy. Wal-Mart is the reason so many people have lost their family wage jobs. Wal-Mart is the reason so many Youngstowns are spread across America.
My hope was that some record executive cut a deal and Springsteen found out about this when we did. That like the backwardness that the record business is, the artist has no say in his own music. I hope, I hope.
But maybe the first stanza of Badlands says it best...
Lights out tonight trouble in the heartland
Got a head-on collision smashin' in my guts man
I'm caught in a crossfire that I don't understand
But there's one thing I know for sure girl I don't give a damn
For the same old played out scenes baby I don't give a damn
For just the in-betweens honey I want the heart I want the soul
I want control right now you better listen to me baby
Talk about a dream, try to make it real
You wake up in the night with a fear so real
You spend your life waiting for a moment that just don't come
Well don't waste your time waiting
Friday, December 26, 2008
Augmented reality, indeed
Using a combination of google sketchup, which is free, and an augmented reality plugin (free trial version), and your webcam, you can placc 3d models in the real world. You can even move them around. check out this video.
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Fear, a popular 4-letter word
Fear is a weird topic for Christmas, but it's been on my mind a lot. In the past two weeks, I made two decisions based on fear, conscious of what I was doing, and taking the easy road anyway. This is not typical for me - I usually just feel the fear and go ahead and do the thing anyway.
So I'm wondering, what is it about fear that makes us live our life in safe little cages? Why do we bypass opportunities, or flat out not do the right thing b/c it may lead to something bad? I've had more failures in my life than most, which I attribute to trying more things than most, a statistical thing; my chance-taking has rarely had horrible repercussions, just mostly annoying or almost horrible ones, like the time I went parasailing on an almost deserted beach in Zihuatenejo and was almost choked on the line while airborne.
I went parasailing again, a few times, in fact. But lately, if I have a horrible or almost horrible experience after taking a risk, I tend not to try anything again for awhile. Obviously, this tosses good experiences out with the bad.
One of my long-time friends is taking a huge chance to improve her life - she is risking way more than I ever have, and she is being brave about it and remains philosophical even when pretty down in the dumps. Compared to what she is facing, I feel ashamed about my fear-based decisions this month. And I went to see Yes man the other day, which is just a light-hearted Jim Carey flick, but its message is sound - you have to be open to things to have things happen, bad or good. It's easy to shut down, to say no, to say, uh oh, and to stay in your routine and your safety zone. But will that make us look back with satisfaction on our lives? I think not.
So I am going to set one of the decisions right, and consider the other one before it is too late.
Merry Christmas to the brave and the not-so brave. Remember to have compassion for those that operate from fear; their old age may be filled with regrets.
So I'm wondering, what is it about fear that makes us live our life in safe little cages? Why do we bypass opportunities, or flat out not do the right thing b/c it may lead to something bad? I've had more failures in my life than most, which I attribute to trying more things than most, a statistical thing; my chance-taking has rarely had horrible repercussions, just mostly annoying or almost horrible ones, like the time I went parasailing on an almost deserted beach in Zihuatenejo and was almost choked on the line while airborne.
I went parasailing again, a few times, in fact. But lately, if I have a horrible or almost horrible experience after taking a risk, I tend not to try anything again for awhile. Obviously, this tosses good experiences out with the bad.
One of my long-time friends is taking a huge chance to improve her life - she is risking way more than I ever have, and she is being brave about it and remains philosophical even when pretty down in the dumps. Compared to what she is facing, I feel ashamed about my fear-based decisions this month. And I went to see Yes man the other day, which is just a light-hearted Jim Carey flick, but its message is sound - you have to be open to things to have things happen, bad or good. It's easy to shut down, to say no, to say, uh oh, and to stay in your routine and your safety zone. But will that make us look back with satisfaction on our lives? I think not.
So I am going to set one of the decisions right, and consider the other one before it is too late.
Merry Christmas to the brave and the not-so brave. Remember to have compassion for those that operate from fear; their old age may be filled with regrets.
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Love the Questions
Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart
And try to love the questions themselves like locked rooms
and like books that are written in a very foreign tongue.
Do not seek the answers, which cannot be given you
because you would not be able to live them.
And the point is, to live everything.
Live the questions now.
Perhaps you will then graduallly, without noticing it,
live along some distant day into the answer.
Rainer Maria Rilke
And try to love the questions themselves like locked rooms
and like books that are written in a very foreign tongue.
Do not seek the answers, which cannot be given you
because you would not be able to live them.
And the point is, to live everything.
Live the questions now.
Perhaps you will then graduallly, without noticing it,
live along some distant day into the answer.
Rainer Maria Rilke
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Monday, December 15, 2008
At Twit's End
Cara Scissoria makes fabulous cards - holiday and otherwise. Check out the site by clicking on the title link.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
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