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Words cannot describe how much I love this t-shirt! It’s got it all: groovey design sensibility, socialist realism (sorta), a bad pun, and a cat! On khaki, please.
The site actually has a bunch of good shirts. Like this one (not a great design, but ya gotta love the sentiment), or this one (ha!). My second favorite may be the Last Supper.
So, like, if you were wondering what to get me for Christmas, or even Halloween…. I’m just sayin’.
Gary Kamiya, in a Salon.com piece called “The Republican Shipwreck” (emphasis mine):
…[N]eoconservative pundit William Kristol warned that an "Obama-Biden administration -- working with a Democratic Congress -- would mean a more debilitating nanny state at home and a weaker nation facing our enemies abroad." It takes a deep obliviousness to reality for an ardent Bush supporter to be sounding the alarm about the "nanny state" at the same time that his beloved president and party are solicitously spoon-feeding their wailing Wall Street brat out of a $700 billion jar of Gerber's. As for Kristol's claim that Obama would be "weaker" in facing our enemies abroad, if the great "strength" shown by Bush is the alternative, "weakness" looks good. Bush's "strength" led him to wage an unnecessary and disastrous war that has empowered Islamist terrorists and made America much less safe. That's why al-Qaida supports McCain: A continuation of Bush's policies is its best recruiting tool.
Here’s another online questionnaire, from my friend Stephanie. From the rare times I’ve checked my stats, it appears that my posts in the “personal” category are the most popular, so I might as well post this stuff when it seems fun. Believe it or not, I only post maybe one in three or four of the questionnaires I receive. Didn’t Frank Zappa say something like “Real life is just like high school, but with more money?”
Are you happy with your life at the moment?
I feel like maybe I’m making progress. Slowly.
What is something you disliked about your day?
The fact I didn’t get much work done. However, I was up till 3 am three nights in a row and played three gigs in the last two days. Plus engineering a studio session yesterday, and the gig last night came up on two hours notice. And most of last week was rehearsing and cramming for the gigs. I’ve played with four bands in the last week, and that gets a little wearing at times. So, anyway, today I didn’t get much work done.
What's the last thing you drank?
Water.
Who was the last person to tell you they love you?
Shenon. She’s a dear friend.
What are you listening to?
“The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Any More” by the Walker Brothers. In my head—I heard it at the grocery store. An old favorite.
Did you go outside for more than 30 minutes today?
For once, yes. Had to move the plants inside from the deck because it’s going to freeze tonight.
What's the last thing you said out loud?
Probably “bye.” I was talking to Richard S, working out a gig conflict between Issues and Rockhill.
How's your hair looking?
Straighter than usual, with this dry air. I like it better that way.
Anyone you would like to get things straight with?
Things are a little weird with my ex-wife right now. I’m not sure I need to get things straight so much as let time pass.
Do you think that the drinking age should be lowered to 18?
I heard a story on this on NPR about a month ago (here is the link), and think it might be a good idea. No other industrialized democracy has such a high drinking age, and it might help with the problems of college binge drinking since the administrations could finally admit it goes on. Besides, I don’t know how much a lower drinking age would change things. I know I started drinking when I was 16 or 17.
Last sporting event you watched on TV?
Hmm, I saw that swimming guy at the Olympics win his 8th gold medal. I was on break at a bar gig.
Last thing that touched your lips?
A slice of honey mesquite turkey.
Are you sleepy?
Nope.
What TV show should never stop getting produced?
The Daily Show! And if I could go back in the past, Firefly. And going way back, My So-Called Life.
Happier on your own or with someone?
It really, really has to be the right someone. So most of my life it hasn’t been anyone. But given that, I prefer to be with someone.
Who's the last text you received from?
Probably Christy, or maybe Michelle from Hidden Pictures. It’s been a while.
Is cheating ever okay?
No.
Can you whistle?
Oh yeah. Much better than singing.
Waiting on anything?
Checks from my clients! …I first typed “chicks”—talk about a Freudian slip!
What shoes did you wear today?
Dorky slippers, then running shoes.
Name all the people you've seen today:
People I could name? None. I went to the grocery store, and that’s it. Emailed a bunch of people, some phone calls, but no face-to-face.
Do you have someone who you can be your complete self around?
I think I’m a little bit different around everyone, because we share different things. But mostly I’m the same. It’s really a matter of shading.
Who was the last person to call you?
Gary P from Rockhill. In response to my call from Richard’s call about the potential gig conflict.
What's irritating you right now?
The thought that things could be a lot better for me if I would do something. Problem is, I don’t know what that something is. Most likely it’s a bunch of little somethings.
Is this year the best year of your life?
God, I hope not! It’s been a financial disaster and I got divorced.
Do you have any strange phobias?
I agree with Stephanie, all phobias are strange. But no, I don’t think so.
Where is your cell phone?
In my pocket.
Do you feel comfortable with answering personal questions?
Depends on the situation and who’s asking, doesn’t it? But questions like this, I’m quite comfortable.
Have you ever passed out?
Hmm, don’t think so.
Would you rather your partner have gorgeous eyes or a gorgeous smile?
Probably a smile. Because that is something you do, not something you were born with. I gotta say, if you’re in love with somebody you’re probably going to think eyes and smile are both pretty gorgeous in any case!
Do you have a best friend?
Not so much at the moment. I have several very close friends, though, and that helps a lot.
Are your eyes the same color of your mom's or dad's?
They both had brown eyes, and so do I.
Have you ever hated someone, but ended up being friends with them?
Can’t remember the last time I hated someone. There are irritating people, and misguided people, but I don’t hate them. I’ve hated the Bush Administration, but the chances of being friends with any of them seem slim.
Ever found more than a dollar in a random place?
Yeah, though not recently. When I was in college, I found about $20 on the sidewalk one night. It was in front of the psychology building, and I looked around, convinced I was a subject in a psych experiment!
How many of the opposite sex do you really trust?
Gender doesn’t really have much to do with it. Some people are more trustworthy than others.
Princess Sparkle Pony’s Photo Blog has been a daily must see for months, and her hooves have been pounding out hilarious entries and images at a furious rate. But user Major Mel Funkshun’s comment yesterday totally did it for me:
Princess, The last three locations you have shown Sarah [Palin] are a high school gym, a pro bass shop and an airplane hanger. My crappy hair band did that same tour in '79.
Jon Swift’s latest post is even funnier than usual: a roundup of right-wing bloggers’ conspiracy theories about Barack Obama. My mind was boggled to discover that Obama
It goes on and on—my favorite is that “Obama had cocaine-fueled gay sex in the back of a limousine with a not-very-attractive disabled man with a criminal background,” but read it for yourself. Swift’s Stephen-Colbert-does-blogging commentary is priceless. As usual.
You have to wonder what’s going to happen to these people if Obama gets elected. Are we going to wake up November 5th to the pop-pop-pop sound of tiny heads exploding around the country?
Offered without comment.
With only two weeks till the election, I’ve been needing to post this: Howard Iceberg & the Titanics recently recorded a political song at my home studio, and Howard encourages everyone to download this song and pass it along.
Throw ‘Em Out 5.7 MB download
I know Howard’s voice, like scotch whiskey and reggae music, may be an acquired taste. But trust me, it has charms and subtleties a more polished vocal might miss.
It’s a pretty quick-and-dirty recording, as everything but the harmony vocals were done live in my office/studio. The harmonies were laid down as soon as we decided which take to use, then mixed a couple days later.
Personnel: Howard Iceberg, vocals & dulcimer guitar; Gary Paredes, electric guitar & vocals; Doug Osburn, bass & vocals; Chuck Boyd, snare drum & vocals. But who cares about that? Download it, and if you like it, send it to your friends. I understand it’s also on the Pitch site, though it’s the same audio file. I’ll see if I can find a link to that.
While everybody raved about Tina Fey’s SNL interpretation of Sarah Palin—and rightly so—I was equally impressed by Amy Poehler’s Hillary Clinton. Last night, in the presence of the real Palin, Poehler surpassed herself with a hilarious rap during the Weekend Update. “Hilarious” is an understatement: I’ve seen this video clip twice, and both times I laughed so hard tears were running down my cheeks.
I’ll say this—Sarah Palin is a good sport, and a natural on TV even outside of her native speechmaking habitat. (And wasn’t Alec Baldwin embarrassing in the opening spot? She made him look even more awkward than the lame writing already did). So let’s make her a game show hostess, and not vice-president, okay?
I got this from Macfixit.com, an invaluable resource for Mac users, especially those of us who have to be our own IT departments. The original article is no longer available for non-subscribers, but it’s too good a tip to let pass.
I find the star ratings in iTunes pretty helpful. With 8776 songs currently in my library, it’s easy to forget there’s a particular song I liked or disliked. Not to mention it’s nice to tell iTunes to only play songs rated 4 stars or higher, on one of those stressful days when you could use a lift.
The problem is, 5 stars aren’t enough. For me, a rating of 1 or 2 stars is a negative rating, so that leaves only three levels of the songs I do like. I think an average song should be 2.5 stars, not 3. Three should be for songs you’ve heard once and think maybe you’d really like them if you heard them again, as opposed to the songs where you think, oh, that’s an average song.
It turns out that you can enable iTunes to show half-star ratings. This is a Mac-only tip, because you have to go to the Terminal program (the Mac’s Unix command-line interface) to enable it. I imagine there is something similar in Windows, but I don’t really know.
Anyway, it’s simple. Quit iTunes. Open up Terminal (it’s in the Utilities folder in Applications. Or shift-command-U in a Finder window will take you directly there). Type the following:
defaults write com.apple.iTunes allow-half-stars -bool TRUE
Relaunch iTunes, and there you go. Macfixit notes that contextual menus or the application menus still will not let you rate half-stars, as these are hard-coded in the application as full-star increments only. You have to click in the star ratings in the iTunes window. Whatever—it was news to me that you could even do star ratings via menus.
Contrary to what you might be led to believe by reading here, I occasionally do things during the day besides fill out MySpace surveys. I recently finished a small e-commerce site: Kinisue’s Tropical Boutique offers unique—in fact, mostly one of a kind—hand-made jewelry from the Hawaiian islands. Really nice stuff. A number of boutiques have begun carrying her merchandise, so if you live in one of those cities you can see it live as well as online.
Another client is back online after a hiatus. Abby Dix is a commercial director and DP (director of photography) respected for her skills with dialogue, kids, and what’s known in the trade as real people. All I know is I like her work, and it was fun to build a site to showcase it. My favorite spot is still Father Guido Sarducci for Wickes Furniture.
I’ve got real posts to write, but this survey that Christy filled out is pretty fun. Is there a psychological term for people who compulsively post MySpace surveys?
Do you wear a ring on your finger?
No
Where are you right now?
In my office/studio
What are you doing?
Procrastinating before diving back into an Eric Meyer CSS book
Do you miss anyone right now?
Several people
Do you like the song 'I Kissed A Girl' by Katy Perry?
No
Are you mad at anyone?
A little bit at someone I wanted to go out with but who kept blowing me off. She’s just not in a good place right now, but I can’t help being a little mad about it.
What' s the last kind of soup you ate?
Progresso Chicken Pot Pie. Yum!
Do you currently have a sunburn?
You could say I have a studio tan.
Could you eat nothing but grilled cheese for a week straight?
That sounds so greasy it makes me a little nauseous.
Who's your favorite country singer?
Country covers a lot of ground. Let’s say Roseanne Cash.
Have your parents told you that you couldn't hang out with a certain person?
Even when I lived with my parents, back in the Pleistocene, they never interfered with who I hung out with.
Would you rather shave your head or dye your hair bright orange?
Call me orange. But that wouldn’t look good on me at all. Then again, I guess orange isn’t supposed to.
Could you last an hour without talking?
Oh please. I live and work by myself. If it wasn’t for the cats, I would go days without speaking.
What's the longest you've been hospitalized?
Five days, about three and a half years ago. I’ve written about it before.
What are you listening to right now?
Thanks to the country music question, “Never Be You” by Roseanne Cash is going through my head right now. I heard the song a few days ago, had forgotten what a classic track it is.
Have you ever thought about getting your nose pierced?
Not really. I would look like I was trying to be hip, and that’s a bad plan at my age. I do like the look on the women I know who have done it. That’s an interesting thought—why is it I only know women with pierced noses, no guys? Is it a female thing?
Who was the last person who called you?
Lana, who has a DVD project for me.
Have any interesting conversations lately?
I talked on the phone to Stephanie for an hour last night. That was fun!
What always makes you feel better when you’re upset?
If I’m a little weirded out, petting one of the cats. If it’s more, sometimes drinking water helps for some reason. If I’m really upset, taking a walk. If I’m really really upset (maybe once a decade), throwing things—hopefully outside, and nothing breakable.
Who was the last person to leave you a voice mail?
A guy who does electrical work for one of my clients. He was having trouble getting their computer network to work. (I am not a network guy, btw, and what little I know is only about Mac networks. Nothing about Windows, so don’t call me!)
Is your day going good so far?
Feeling a little guilty about not starting to work yet. But, hey, I’m a freelancer! If I decide to start slow, that’s my prerogative.
Do you find it in your heart to forgive?
I’m slow to anger, slow to forgive. But I get there eventually.
Can you trust most people?
That depends very much on the situation. I think most people are basically good. But put most people in a situation where they have a lot to gain and little to lose, and it can be a different story.
Has anyone hurt or betrayed you recently?
My ex-wife. She didn’t mean to, but I wound up getting hurt financially, at a time when I could little afford it.
Do you enjoy life?
Mostly, yeah. Especially compared to the alternative!
How did you and your number 2 become friends?
I had to look to see who my #2 is, especially since I’m not very rigorous about the order of my MySpace friends. Since the first six “friends” are bands, the second person is Christy. Which is appropriate, since I’m responding to her survey. She plays drums for a band called Venus Envy, and we met when I recorded their demo. She’s one of my favorite people.
Have you ever kissed someone whose name started with a B?
Hmm, there’s kissing and there’s kissing. But yeah, if I go back far enough there is a B for both kinds.
What do you do on the weekends?
They aren’t that different from the weekdays except that I have more gigs. I play drums, work on web or graphics projects, do studio work, play around on the web, maybe write a blog post, try to clean the house, whatever.
Whose bed did you sleep in last night?
Mine
Have you held hands with anybody in the past week?
Not in the last week.
Do you like to cuddle?
Yes
What are your plans for this weekend?
Going to see Venus Envy play Friday, going to a wine-tasting party Saturday (never been but it sounds fun), Sunday recording basic tracks for a demo by a bar band called 816. Oh yeah, Saturday day I need to get set up for Sunday, like miking drums and running headphone sends and so forth.
What color shirt are you wearing?
dark green
Ever go camping?
When I was growing up, my family went camping all the time, and I was also a Boy Scout, believe it or not. But since then, not so much.
Are you someone's best friend?
Interesting question. The guy I’ve been closest to for over 35 years has kind of drifted in a different direction. I have several very dear friends, but I doubt I am the “best” friend of any of them. So in the high school BFF sense, no. But it’s fine.
Biggest annoyance in your life right now?
Lack of funds. The usual.
Have you spoken to your mother today?
Since I’m not psychic, no. She passed away almost three years ago.
When was the last time you talked to one of your siblings?
My sister and family came through town on Sunday and we went to lunch. They live in Tanzania most of the time, so it was good to see them.
Where were you an hour ago?
Cleaning up kitty poop.
Do you have any tattoos/piercings?
Nope
Have you ever slept in the same bed with someone you liked?
I try to only sleep with people I do like!
Burger King or Wendy's?
Since my ex worked on the Burger King account at an ad agency, I know way too much about them. Wendy’s, definitely.
Latest you stayed up in the past week?
I was up till 3 am a couple nights.
The Sarah Palin Debate Flow Chart is hilarious. And exactly right, I think. If you want to read Aden Nak’s post which accompanies the flow chart, it’s here. And worth reading.
FWIW, I don’t actually think Sarah Palin is stupid. If she were in your circle of friends, you’d probably think she’s pretty bright. In the circle of potential Presidents, well, that should be a higher bar, shouldn’t it? But I think we don’t actually know—she is so overwhelmed by being instantly catapulted to the national stage and her handlers’ attempts to control every utterance, she comes across as vapid and insincere. For instance, Katy Couric’s question about what newspapers she reads? I’d be willing to bet Palin knew damn well that she reads the NY Times and the Washington Post (or whatever), but was paralyzed by the idea that mentioning them might be taken as some kind of endorsement of The Liberal Media.
I do think there is lots of evidence that she is arrogant and incurious, as for example in the office redecoration Aden Nak mentions and her apparent disinterest, until recently, in anything outside the issues of Alaska politics. Her debate response apparently endorsing the Dick Cheney theory of the Vice Presidency should be enough to send anyone who believes in the Constitution into cardiac arrest. And there is plenty of reason to think that many of her religious views would be considered anathema by a large swath of Americans, and therefore need to be swept under the rug until after the election.
More to the point, though: she’s not ready. Politics aside (and God knows, I loathe her politics), the fact that she does come off as a deer—excuse me, a moose—in the headlights means we cannot trust our country’s destiny to her. Or the person of questionable judgment (and health) who decided she should be his running mate.
But stupid? Probably not. I just had to air that one quibble with Aden Nak’s post.
And now, finally, in the interest of intellectual honesty, I can’t resist undercutting my whole argument with the Forrest Gump quote that so elegantly summarizes the entire Bush presidency: “Stupid is as stupid does.”
If you’ve been around music and sound equipment, you know the Shure SM58 mic. It and its sibling, the SM57, are probably the most widely used microphones in the world. With street prices in the $100–120 range and a reputation for toughness and durability, it’s no wonder they’re so popular. It turns out their reputation is well deserved:
Video after the jump
From Create Digital Music.com. I laughed and laughed. Where do you sign up to get a job doing diabolical things to musical equipment?
This just in: In the 2008 Pitch Music Awards released today, Howard Iceberg won as Best Songwriter!
I’ve been extolling Howard’s songwriting forever, to anyone who would listen, and it is really great that he is getting some recognition now. Maybe the most amazing thing is that he has not released an album in years, and even the ones he has “released” have been mostly given away free to friends.
To some extent, that is going to change now. As part of the Apocalypse Meow benefit for Abigail Henderson of The Gaslights, Howard is going to release a 13-song CD by November 8. Mastering is almost finished, and artwork is in progress.
Full disclosure here: I have worked with Howard for nearly 20 years. I have engineered most of the songs he has recorded (with apologies that I haven’t been better at my job, but at least it has been a learning process). I play drums in his live band, Howard Iceberg and the Titanics, and we do two to three recording sessions a week at my home studio.
We’ve been fortunate to work with some really great musicians, and lately several bands have covered Howard’s songs, including The Wilders, Pendergast, and Hidden Pictures. But the core group for the last four years has included Chad Rex (a fine songwriter in his own right), Gary Paredes and Doug Osburn (who also play in Rockhill), and Mike Ireland and Dan Mesh (of Mike Ireland and Holler, the first and maybe only foray into country music by Subpop Records). In addition, there has been a really long list of other musicians, playing everything from guitars and drums to dumbek and musical saw. The Titanic is a large ship.
I don’t want this to sound like the fricking Academy Awards, but it is so cool to see Howard (and by extension, a group of people whose company I really enjoy) get some recognition. Thank you, Pitch!
I’m not the kind of blogger who tells you you have to read something—well, not very often, anyway. But you really should read or listen to this interview of Pulitzer Prize-winning author David Cay Johnston by Glenn Greenwald, on the subject of the massive government bailout which will almost certainly pass the Senate tonight.
[T]here's a new study out by two economists with the International Monetary Fund. IMF policy. They published a study, in which they study 42 banking crises around the world over the last 37 years. And they concluded essentially this: bail-outs don't usually work; they often make things worse; and they are fundamentally a transfer of wealth from everybody to bankers and their customers. So, Congress should be saying, is there something else we can do in the short run to sort of patch this over and keep going forward? They're not asking that question. They're not even discussing that question….
…Who is the leading company inventing and promoting these toxic products, and getting people into them? Goldman Sachs, and it was at the time that Henry Paulson was running Goldman Sachs that this was going on. So, even if you assume his heart is pure and all he is doing here is what he thinks is the best thing to do for the republic, you have to look at where he came from.
Now, they allowed a Goldman competitor to fail, Lehman, the only firm that they said they would nothing for. Then, they decided to rescue AIG, the insurance company, on the too big to fail theory -- who owes Goldman $20B, half its net worth? AIG. And who is the only non-government person in the room, according to The New York Times, when they made that decision? The current chairman of Goldman.
There’s lots more, particularly about how the press once again has failed to ask any meaningful questions, and Johnston has some interesting thoughts about that as well.
This isn’t some wild-eyed conspiracy theory; it’s just the way the government works these days, from the runup to the Iraq war to the PATRIOT Act to the FISA legislation. They play on fear, say we’re in the greatest danger ever, and request vast new powers. If Congress makes even a peep of resistance, the administration concedes maybe 10% of what it asked for and then everyone pats themselves on the back as to how good we all are.
I’ve been undecided on this bailout thing, feeling (like most people) I don’t know enough about economics to know what the alternatives might be. But isn’t that the job of the press? Instead, their “probing questions” are at best trying to bring out details of the only plan we’ve been allowed to hear about. But in the last few days I’ve been reading people who suggest a bailout isn’t the only game in town, and this interview lays it out better than anything else I have seen. If you don’t like dealing with Salon’s ad wall, or don’t like Glenn Greenwald or whatever, Johnston’s forum post on the bailout is here on poynter.org, and it is well worth reading in addition to the interview. Before we mortgage our lives, and those of our children and grandchildren, we ought to at least have a little perspective as to what is going on.
If it’s not already too late.