Archive for March, 2007

I could spend an hour watching all these

Link to a YouTube guy that does rendition after rendition of famous movies in five seconds.

Some of them are spit-out-your-pop-and-soak-a-keyboard-funny.

2007
03/08
CATEGORY
Videos
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Gossip

I was thinking about the nature of gossip a little tonight as I lathered my head up in the shower (of which very few hairs actually get cleaned, since they are all falling out anyway). Gossip, by nature, takes the form of a couple different types of communication… 1, is to bad mouth the subject behind their back out of dislike, or jealousy, or fear… or 2, talk about someone you actually care about but are afraid to talk to directly.

Gossip, really, is either misdirected advice or a sneaky smear campaign. Either way it is just a personal opinion. And like assholes, every one has to have an opinion. (Otherwise they would eventually fill up to the eyeballs and promptly explode.)

But advice, even good advice, is relatively easy to part out. Heck I don’t know shit about cars, but I can fool people into thinking that I do, and thereby have them listen to my cockamamie advice just because I can say words like Mass Air, O2 sensor, Dyno and cylinder compression. Just because a monkey can signal “I love to poop” to the Jane Goodall’s of the world, doesn’t mean they actually love poop.

Just saying.

But the real bravery, humility, and wisdom of a person should not be measured by the advice they impart, but by the advice that they are able to take. And by take, I mean convert into action. Whether by rejecting the advice and working against it, or accepting it and modifying the path forward, either way, the advice allows the individual to gain some kernel of knowledge from the act of hearing that ever present word vomit. I hear advice from others every so often, and my first thought is to tell them to shove off and go sniff some glue, but I think my maturity is starting to catch up with me since I often feel compelled to thank them for their opinion, take it at a measure…. and then throw it into the outbox. (You know the square one sitting on the floor, with the old banana peel in it.)

And most gossip and advice is about as worthwhile as the banana peel. Except I can’t wipe my butt with advice.(Unless it came in an email, and I am able to print it on soft paper.)

2007
03/07
CATEGORY
Stuff
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Stupid Tax

I was talking to a cohort at work today about the processes we go through to listen to music. He had received a XM radio as a gift a year ago, and was compelled to use it and pay the subscription. (Ah the obligation of a gift… now that is a gift that keeps on giving. Or taking in this case.) Now that the subscription is almost up, he was thinking about switching over to a MP3 capable unit at the minimum or abandon it altogether for an iPod.

I have been an iPod user for years, so of course I had plenty to offer on the subject.

I pointed out that there is myriad of free music online, drm-free, and not illegal at all. In fact, many artists release their music drm free, and free, as-in-beer, to you the listener. And, while you can manage your own playlists on an iPod, you can also do it commercial free.

Sure XM/Sirius may have music, variety, and clear sound – but they still have commercials.

So what are you paying to listen to commercials?

A Stupid Tax.

My point was that even if you can’t afford every CD you want to listen to, or you don’t want to buy crippled music from iTunes or Microsoft or Sony, there is soooooo much music to find on the net, if you are just willing to look for it. Even big artists release for free… a great example is Barenaked Ladies. Heck there is even a whole Canadian Artists guild (which BNL is a part of) that releases DRM free music.

And if you are in a pinch, Pandora has to be the best way to discover artists. For those of you that have not stumbled upon it, I suggest you trip your way there, for it is awesomeness wrapped up in a nice interface.

2007
03/05
CATEGORY
Stuff
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