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The computer Mark calls "lil' butterscotch"

I am working outside of my apartment today because I’ve been watching MSNBC too often, for election news and for breaking updates on overturned school buses. Why have there been so many overturned school buses lately? Are there really more than usual? Or did MSNBC decide to add it

I am working outside of my apartment today because I’ve been watching MSNBC too often, for election news and for breaking updates on overturned school buses. Why have there been so many overturned school buses lately? Are there really more than usual? Or did MSNBC decide to add it to the list of stories that qualify as breaking, next to the usual school evacuations, bad car accidents, and gunman chases that usual break into the national news?

EEE PC

This is the computer that lets me leave the house easily. I also have a Macbook that I love, but the EEE PC makes it really easy to keep a laptop with you all the time, which, admittedly, is also a problem in itself. The computer is about 10 inches across and lighter than the Macbook Air. It fits in my handbag.

It runs on Linux and has a large, devoted community around it. I secretly read a ton of tech/GTD/lifehack sites that talked about this computer, but the first place I saw it was Vogue’s (November?) issue. It is the only thing I’ve purchased after reading about it in Vogue, though I almost bought a Marc Jacobs apple charm. I took the EEE with me to Oslo, and it worked perfectly in every airport along the way. I interrupted a Bios update on my last night in Norway. This made the EEE freeze up before the log in screen, making my last night pretty stressful– I thought I had bricked it. But after I reloaded the Bios and returned it to the factory install, it worked perfectly.

So: I use Linux terminal commands and subscribe to Vogue. I think that’s a rare combination.

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Ready For The Floor

…is nearly perfect, right now. My friend Feng-Feng celebrated her birthday this weekend and asked me to DJ for a bit at the restaurant. I turned a simple task into something very complicated, but I learned to use Ableton to beat match, stretch warp points, and make loops too. I

Ready For The Floor

…is nearly perfect, right now. My friend Feng-Feng celebrated her birthday this weekend and asked me to DJ for a bit at the restaurant. I turned a simple task into something very complicated, but I learned to use Ableton to beat match, stretch warp points, and make loops too. I used Hot Chip’s “Ready For The Floor” for this, and, though I played it dozens of times this week, i find myself still listening today.

What makes this song so appealing, even though Hot Chip have lots of better, if not as immediately pop-catchy songs? I think it might be the softness of singer Alexis Taylor’s voice. All of “Ready For The Floor” is soft vowels, soft vocals, and soft palate consonants, non plosives.

It might have also helped that I slowed the song to 120 BPM (my favorite BPM number) on Saturday. The remix is painfully slow and torchy, but the original at 120 is. Perfect.

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200 Motels

Right now I’m watching 200 Motels. I rented this movie my freshman year of high school, and I’ve rented it four or five times since then. I’m not a Frank Zappa fan, but I had a friend who was, and who recommended it to me. I remember

200 Motels

Right now I’m watching 200 Motels. I rented this movie my freshman year of high school, and I’ve rented it four or five times since then. I’m not a Frank Zappa fan, but I had a friend who was, and who recommended it to me. I remember thinking it was so bizarre and cool (like I thought a lot of ‘cult’ films, or at least films in the ‘cult’ section of Hollywood video, were). Seeing it again over ten years later, it’s actually no less weird, but a lot less cool.

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Diluting my person brand

I interviewed Michael Ian Black a few weeks ago for Paper Thin Walls. A few weeks later, my friend Phil sent me a link to Black’s blog. He had written a post about our conversation, during which I had taught him to post images on his website: To thank

Diluting my person brand

I interviewed Michael Ian Black a few weeks ago for Paper Thin Walls. A few weeks later, my friend Phil sent me a link to Black’s blog. He had written a post about our conversation, during which I had taught him to post images on his website:

To thank her, I wanted to put her picture up, but when I Googled “Jessica Suarez,” I got over four thousand hits. I would not have thought so many people with the surname “Suarez” would have thought to name their daughter “Jessica.” I wouldn’t have thought that at all. With so many Jessica Suarez’s to choose from, I had to narrow my favorites down to three. It’s possible – nay, likely – that none of these are MY Jessica Suarez. If not, I apologize. But not really.

He’s exaggerating, I think. I’m the highest Google result for my name, and because I decided years ago that silly forum/website/commenter names were just that, most of my accounts are under my real name and appear high in my search results. But he’s also right in that I’ve kept photos of myself off my Flickr and Myspace. This is partially because of Pitchfork, where people who were mad at my reviews tended to Google me, find my personal sites, and then make fun of the way I look. Once, I made fun of We Are Scientists on this site, and a response called me a tree monkey (I’m Filipino). When I worked for Forkcast I remember comments on Gorilla Vs. Bear that said I had slept with Ryan to get my job. I’m still surprised that the audience I write for (or, that I think I write for), skews liberal and educated, yet are so free and easy with racist and sexist comments. “That’s the internet,” etc., etc.

I am bringing this up now because I just bought another digital camera to replace my stolen one, updated my WordPress account, and renewed Flickr.

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How many times has Bruce Willis saved the world?

Estimated: 7 Disputed: Unbreakable — Implied will save world. Fifth Element — May save world. 12 Monkeys — May have saved world, if ontological paradox does not exist Undisputed: All Die Hards. Armageddon: Ex. “The United States government just asked us to save the world. Anyone wanna say no?”

How many times has Bruce Willis saved the world?

Estimated: 7

Disputed:
Unbreakable — Implied will save world.
Fifth Element — May save world.
12 Monkeys — May have saved world, if ontological paradox does not exist

Undisputed:
All Die Hards.
Armageddon: Ex. “The United States government just asked us to save the world. Anyone wanna say no?”

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Midnight movies

In a few hours I’ll be leaving the apartment to get in line to see Spiderman. I got the tickets a few weeks ago. This will make Spiderman III the latest in a long line of movies I’ve insisted on seeing at midnight on opening day. Other films

Midnight movies

In a few hours I’ll be leaving the apartment to get in line to see Spiderman. I got the tickets a few weeks ago. This will make Spiderman III the latest in a long line of movies I’ve insisted on seeing at midnight on opening day. Other films include:

Spiderman II
Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
The Matrix: Reloaded
The Matrix: Revolutions
Star Wars episode II: Attack of the Clones
Stars Wars episode III: The Revenge of the Sith
(Multiple Harry Potter films that I cannot remember)

I’m not sure why I like going to midnight shows. I never read Spiderman comic books, never read Tokion or played D&D. I didn’t even see the original Star Wars trilogy until after I saw the new movies. I was never into Meat Beat Manifesto or Nine Inch Nails, so I don’t have an excuse for the Matrix. But I am a fan of people who are fans of these movies. And you don’t get to see people dressed up as movie characters when you show up on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. Just the midnight showing.

Before I left Tucson and my brief Arizona Daily Star-related column got co-opted by other staffers, I wrote about waiting in line for 5+ hours to see Star Wars III, a pretty terrible movie. Together with waiting in line, seeing Star Wars took up 8 hours of that day. The last three hours weren’t great. But for the first five hours I stood in line watching couples dressed up as Jedi, and talking to kids who came at 5 a.m. with Star Wars Stratego and sleeping bags. This stuff is always better than the movie.

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Wolf Eyes wants to hear from its fans

SayNow is a website that lets you leave messages for celebrities, and it lets you listen to them. I spend a few minutes a week listening to what girls want to say to R. Kelly or Tyrese (this sort of thing interests me). Today there was a new band ready

Wolf Eyes wants to hear from its fans

SayNow is a website that lets you leave messages for celebrities, and it lets you listen to them. I spend a few minutes a week listening to what girls want to say to R. Kelly or Tyrese (this sort of thing interests me). Today there was a new band ready to listen to and leave voice messages for its fans:

Wolf Eyes

So I called to leave them the same message I heard for R. Kelly: “It’s okay baby, keep on doing the damn thing.”

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SXSW III

Austin has a little river that runs through the city. There are tunnels and pathways over and beside the water. One of the things I regret about Austin is that I never took the time to walk down the river, which looked damn peaceful while I was running back and

SXSW III

Austin has a little river that runs through the city. There are tunnels and pathways over and beside the water. One of the things I regret about Austin is that I never took the time to walk down the river, which looked damn peaceful while I was running back and forth. Next year I’m traveling to shows by way of the river; specifically by way of giant sea turtle by way of river.

Austin

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SXSW II

Forty or so bands were playing at that second, yet I chose to see Donnie Davies. Get the Flash Player to see this player.

SXSW II

Forty or so bands were playing at that second, yet I chose to see Donnie Davies.

Get the Flash Player to see this player.

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links for 20 January 2007

‘Winter vomiting disease’ hits city | www.azstarnet.com ® “The messy illness known as “winter vomiting disease” has struck Tucson, joining a growing list of cities across the country now battling outbreaks.” I miss Tucson.

  • “The messy illness known as “winter vomiting disease” has struck Tucson, joining a growing list of cities across the country now battling outbreaks.” I miss Tucson.