Sneeze, Dracula, Sneeze!

April 30, 2009

A few weeks ago, I subscribed to Schott's Vocab, self-described as "A Miscellany Of Modern Words & Phrases," because I like miscellanies and words and phrases. However, I haven't been reading as much as I had planned, because it turns out that a lot of the phrases highlighted don't sound all that interesting. But one of the latest posts mentioned a phrase that I had to know more about: Dracula sneeze.

You could just go read the post right, but I'm going to make an already short post shorter: a Dracula sneeze is sneezing into the crook of one's elbow, to avoid spreading swine flu. And for some reason, I love the phrase.

Thus concludes my first post about swine flu. Someone got the song reference in this post's title, right? The (attempted) wit of the title was at least half the reason I wrote this post.

posted by joem | 2 comments

Sorry Mike Noble...

...but you're not my favorite radio personality any more.


I didn't know about KFJC until the (awesome) WFMU/KFJC April Fool's prank in 2008 where they switched websites and radio streams. But ever since then, it's become my 2nd or 3rd favorite station, with WFMU as #1 and KFJC or Dublab constantly trading 2nd and 3rd places. By far, my favorite show on KFJC is Firebunker with Cy Thoth (Thursdays 2pm - 6pm). He plays a lot of metal. Particularly a lot of what is called "stoner metal." I love it. I really wish there were a whole channel of this. (If there is, you MUST tell me right now!) But as awesome as the music is, it is eclipsed by the DJ himself. He sounds like a pirate! He truly is the most PERFECT metal DJ personality ever.

Before I discovered that show, one Mr. Mike Noble (a.k.a. DJ Bike Wobble, websites here and here) was my favorite radio personality. His shows on WBAR and WHFR have all been quite awesome, and his mic breaks are incredibly energetic. And fun. He, too, is a DJ whose music I LOVE and whose mic breaks I love even more. But, alas, he doesn't sound like a pirate who loves stoner metal.

NOTE:
You may have noticed me specifying "radio personality" or "DJ personality" above instead of just "radio DJ." That is because, although I do love both of the aforementioned shows, neither is my favorite. That honor lies with Put the Needle On the Record with Billy Jam (Fridays 3pm - 6pm on WFMU). Billy Jam focuses mostly on hip-hop. And he tends to like to play around... be it with strange effects-laden mic breaks/interviews, weird mixes/remixes, or whatever else he feels like doing. So, because I love his show the most, I credit Billy Jam with being my favorite radio DJ.

posted by joem | 1 comments

On Microsoft Office 2010

April 28, 2009

Normally, titles followed by 2010 are awesome. It's a fact. Like: Grilled Ham Sandwich 2010, or Mini Golf 2010. But when the non-2010 part of the title is "Microsoft Office," things are a little different.


Seeing the preview screenshot of said program on Lifehacker just now, I puked a little in my mouth.

I'm beginning to wonder: are there any well-designed Microsoft programs at all, besides Notepad? Hell, are there any well-designed Windows programs at all? I guess it's been so long since I've seriously used Windows that I can't even remember.

posted by joem | 4 comments

April 22, 2009

Ah, bugger that. The video on my previous post disappeared already. Now, I expect them to disappear sometime -- maybe when they get to the 2nd or 3rd page here -- but not while it's still the first post! Da-amn, internet.

So, to avoid such embarrassment, I bring you this:

See? All better now.

posted by joem | 2 comments

Help me with a plot analysis

April 19, 2009

...of a frozen moment. Watch this:



Philips :: Carousel campaign (Adam Berg + Stink Digital) from Designloops on Vimeo.

And then tell me if you think the cop at the end is supposed to be an escaped clown? Or is that removed clown costume near the end from the guy who's on the ground in the same room with the costume?

The plot sketchiness aside, I'm thoroughly impressed by this video. Such a story-filled frozen moment! I would love to see a full length movie that is just one big frozen moment... even if they didn't have such a tight, cohesive plot as this. Maybe they could do it like Slacker, and just have it jump from person to person. Directors- get on it! I command thee!

(And yes, I am fully aware that I'm helping spread a profit-driven commercial. I feel bad about it, I really do, but the apparently-escaped clown thing is really bothering me.)

posted by joem | 0 comments

Today, I Set Adrift on Memory Bliss














(I forgot, but I'm pretty sure it's:)

I also made a cake-in-a-mug.


Note: If you want to run any of these, you'll need some form of DOSBox, so it might be best to just watch them on youtube.

posted by joem | 0 comments

I'm so embarrassed

April 16, 2009

How is it that I had never heard Safari by The Breeders until today, when the (awesome) video was featured on Save Vs. Death??




This single song destroyed my productivity today.

I listened to it over and over, not focusing on anything else, just the song. And I searched down as much related awesomeness as I could find. My whole day was spend on Youtube and Mediafire. (AND my many crushes on early-90s Boston-area female musicians were all totally renewed... Kim Deal, Juliana Hatfield, Tanya Donelly, Kristin Hersh....)

Somehow, while I was rocking out to all that 90s alt-rock, I started looking for representations of computer user interfaces in the movies. And that kept me busy for the part of my day that wasn't spend listening and re-listening to The Breeders. The standout finds on my quest:

So, although I managed to put off finding employment for yet another day, I regret nothing. (Just look at that War Games pic!)

posted by joem | 1 comments

Section 6 on Joe's Best Friend Application:

April 13, 2009

6.1 What is a pajama jammy jam?

6.2 What is your proficiency at the following dance?


6.3 What is Martin Lawrence's best film?
(a) House Party
(b) House Party 2
(c) Bad Boys
(d) Bad Boys II
(e) Black Knight
(f) National Security

posted by joem | 0 comments

re: Photographs (and their web interfaces)

April 12, 2009

[I'm trying something new here. I'm going to respond to someone's blog post assuming they read my blog. This is what blogs do, anyway, isn't it? I think maybe by doing this I'm becoming a better blogger! Yeah, that's it.]


My friend Lin Swimmer from Uncle Ofay's Good-Times Story Corner just posted about photographs, specifically photojournalism that appears on the web. He criticizes:
My only complaint is that we are still in a transitional period where not everyone is utilizing Flash gallery presentation to optimize slideshows for the web.
I couldn't agree more. Have you checked out The Boston Globe's Big Picture? In addition to the beautiful photography, the site (refreshingly) does not use flash for its galleries. It just sticks a lot of big photos on the page. While your NYT example is probably one of the better flash galleries I've seen, I'll take Big Picture's simple no-flash approach over it any day. I hate having to figure out a new interface all the time. (Not to mention the fact that most flash interfaces ignore the "Back" button in web browsers, the occasional loading issues, or the many other arguments against Flash. Hell, the phrase "hate flash" gets 14 million hits.)

The New York Times has several awesome people making great use of the internet. From Khoi Vinh's elegant (and standard-setting) grid-based layout of the entire site, to those in charge of the charts (interactive or not), to, well, just about anyone working on the website in general... they get it. I personally love On The Street with Bill Cunningham, where a sweet old guy narrates photos of style trends.

Back to the photo gallery interface issue, I do like how Burn lets you expand the images to nearly the full screen, but that's about all I like about the interface. (The photos, though! Oh wow. You should have told me about this the instant you discovered it, my friend.)

But my favorite galleries? Those that easily let me download all the images quickly, so that I can use my own choice of software (either OSX's built-in Quick Look or Marc Wandschneider's JustLooking) to view the images.

posted by joem | 1 comments

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