James Dobson, author

This past weekend we went by a number of local garage/yard sales. We saw lots of parenting books by Dr. James Dobson and I recalled that not only is he a dog abuser but also advocates showering with your children. I didn't buy any of his books, mostly because he has so many of his intelligent theories online. With his help I'll be able to keep my children from becoming gay; if not, there is still hope for their salvation.

Scathing

Feministe on Newsweek's semi-retraction of their BS. I'm sure this won't stop people from continuing to spread that lie about women over 30 being more likely to be killed by a terrorist than get married.

Not the kind of Dink I want to put in Co-inky-dink

A friend is raising money for her participation in a half marathon with the funds going to help fight 'leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin lymphoma and myeloma from taking more lives.' Shortly after she told me about it I learned that a good friend (who I've known since high school) has serious lymphoma and may be getting a few weeks of chemotherapy this summer. Please donate, or at least spread the word about the fund raiser.

Free music videos

Music videos are often better if they don't include images of the artists performing the songs. Evidence:
- Dayvan Cowboy by Boards of Canada
- Giant Steps by John Coltrane

Then again, sometimes it can be quite entertaining:
- Dani California by Red Hot Chili Peppers

Bad Jocks

I actually learned about this site from Yahoo!s Buzz section. They're a popular destination for those who are searching for pictures of hazing collegiate athletics, such as the recent Northwestern Women's Soccer Team initiation. They get lots of points for including links to each school's official hazing policy.

NICE

I've been reading some reports about a Borat movie and today I found pictures of that sexy man at Cannes. He's doing Eastern Europe proud.

Arty Fufkin!

I don't usually see the need to comment when I add links to my del.icio.us bookmarks but I love the name of this mash-up maker, Arty Fufkin. You remember that name, I'm sure, as the character Paul Shaffer plays in This is Spinal Tap who, when his promotional efforts don't pan out, begs the group to discipline him: "Wouldja kick this ass for a man? Please, kick my ass!"

Goat report, 5/25/06

Holy goats, Batman! Goat-mania takes over church!

Backwards masking

I really liked Jeff Milner's Backwards Masking site, which plays a lot of the famous songs that have that one-infamous phenomenon. Until I saw and heard this, I had to be satisfied with my brother's impersonations of what it sounds like (I think he heard it at a friend's). I admit some of them sound pretty plausible, although it may just be wishful thinking on my part (such as in the case of Kiss Kiss Kiss).

Trailer: The Devil Wears Prada

I've heard from a reliable source that the book is a good read and now I'm interested in the movie. What I really like about this trailer is how it totally eschews the 'give you the entire plot as well as telegraph any twists' technique of most trailers. It's pure setup, a breath of fresh air!

oy

Today a teacher was looking for some supplies:

"Do you have any of those... those little yellow squares? You know,
the paper ones that are small and you can write on and attach to
things?"

"A Post-It Note?"

"Is that what they're called?"

Free video, Spirit of Truth

I may be wrong, but I'm pretty sure I ran into this guy on one of those weekend nights during high school when we'd cruise Hollywood for a few hours. Dig the camerawork.

Goat Report, 5/18/06

All aboard the goat-cart!

Baby names, pt. 1

Today the Social Security Administration posted their list of the most frequent baby names of 2005 (based on applications, obviously). With a little goat in the oven, of course it was of interest to us. Ms. Goat is repeatedly annoyed at the growing popularity of 'Madison' and points out that it was a joke that the female lead in Splash chose that name. That bit of comedy seems to be lost in time now.

Today I spent a while entertaining myself while looking thru the Top 1000 boys names, here are some of my thoughts:

- Logan at #26: was that a first name before Wolverine became known to mainstream America?

- Aiden/Aidan is almost in the top 10 if not for those 2 different spellings. I've never met anyone with that name and it sounds weird to me, like it's an alien planet. Or an Arabian gulf

- Lots of the names look like last names: Caden, Carson, Riley, Jaxon (#229)

- Coming in at #408 is 'Micheal', chosen by 675 poorly educated parents. But, no, maybe they like that spelling, like the 335 parents who chose the spelling 'Kamron'

- ugh, #498 is Rohan

- 438 Mothers are happy to have their sons named Kobe

- 318 parents hope that Sincere lives up to his name

- 304 have only watched X-Men, not read the comic. Hopefully little Xzavier will not make the same mistake (look it up yourself)

- 179 boys were named 'Baby'?????

I'll look at girls' names later...

Update: Part 2

TERRORISTS LEAVE!

I can't say I'm fond of the idea of Gen. Michael Hayden as head of the CIA, I do like the fact that he bear such a strong resemblance to the incredible Kurtwood Smith. Perhaps that could be used to the CIA's advantage; would you break the law if the head of the CIA looked a lot like Clarence Boddicker? And Kurtwood actually played a general in the classic Under Siege 2: Dark Territory. Hopefully he'll be cast as Gen. Hayden in a movie one day; I'd buy that for a dollar!

Free video: Mr. Bungle

Don't be like Mr. Bungle. I think I've seen this before, maybe on Pee Wee's Playhouse ages ago... apparently it was the inspiration for the naming of one of my favorite bands. Oh, for the days when schoolchildren didn't want to be annoying, slovenly brats (and could be entertained by a puppet show)....

Porn is The Decider!

Porn industry may decide next format war... I long for the day when the pornography industry's influence on the growth on home video and the WebNet.

email is fun!

By far the most interesting habit that children have when they're in
the computer lab is when students sitting near each other, even
adjacent to each other, will email back and forth (via a free
web-based account). This even happens when the room is filled with
noisy chatter. And no, they aren't engaged in quiet discussion about
a private, personal matter; most of the messages to the friend next to
them are of the "HI THERE. DIZ IS BOORING" nature.

Happy No Pants Day!

Off with yer pants!

Goat report, Cinco de Mayo

You can't keep some goats out of school.

Ugly former star update

Impressed with Eddie Van Halen and Gary Busey's great looks, Poison guitarist CC DeVille has jumped into the competition. Who's next???

Trailer: Little Man

On one hand, the trailer for Little Man makes one want to call for the extermination of all those named 'Wayans'. On the other, it's a groundbreaking move into fake-midget comedy. No doubt Robin Williams and Mike Myers will take advantage of such digital wizardry. If only Jonathan Winters had been born later, he would have been great as a small baby (not the adult-sized one he played on Mork & Mindy).

Musical theft!

As one with a thorough background in the process of music-making, I'm not one to get too upset when I hear a melody/riff/chord progression/etc from a song I know show up in a song I'm hearing for the first time. Nobody truly owns these sets of sequenced frequency relations, after all, and borrowing is a great way to make new music (and not just with mashups). But I'm really bothered that Jewel has totally lifted the melody & chords of the themesong to 3-2-1 Contact for the chorus of a song on her new album, as astutely noticed by jefito.

Gas prices

Again, I have to wonder why gas was so expensive in NJ back in September. I expected a relation more like what we have now, with NJ prices staying lower than CA prices (which is really easy to see on this map). I'm not really upset about the prices, as I know it's probably the only thing that'll get the US off the addiction and SUVs off the streets.

Joke time!

This recent joke from Jumbo Joke is better in the form that I heard it, when the counselor takes them to a jazz club across the street from his office.

Another familiar joke comes at the end of the recent Onion article Scholars Discover 23 Blank Pages That May As Well Be Lost Samuel Beckett Play: 'There are already plans to stage the play during the intermission of an upcoming production of Waiting For Godot.' I went to an electronic music concert a few years ago where the program notes said that for the intermission, the music played would be 'Variations on a theme by John Cage, instruments and players to be determined' (a reference to Cage's 4'33").

The Net by The Wood

Good article in the Wall Street Journal today about how the internet has been depicted in mainstream movies, accompanied by some nice clips. I'm most pleased to see The Net included in the list, which is easily one of the worst films of all time.