woolie t.

Dueling Analogs linked out to a comic that I had never read before: Cyanide and Happiness. It’s fantastic. And best of all is that there’s no continuing storyline or set of regular characters. This is good news because now I don’t feel compelled to spend the next few hours reading through the entire archive to make sure I’m all caught-up.

The humor is mostly adult. Basically you gotta like dirty jokes. Also notice that there’s a Random button available, which is what I’ve been hitting the past few minutes. I’ll display a few of my favorites (so far) on the underside.

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It’s like this smorgasbord of cool stuff all packaged together in one neat little news-worthy package. Yes, the world does revolve around me.

I love The Wire (two season four episodes still to go). One of its most interesting characters is Omar Little, the scourge of Baltimore city drug dealers.

I also really enjoyed Cormac Mccarthy’s book The Road. The complete scrubbing of all quotation marks took getting used to at first. But once you get into the rhythm of the writing, their removal adds a strange sense of intimacy with the characters.

    He looked at his father and then tilted the can and drank. He sat there thinking about it. It’s really good, he said.

    Yes. It is.

    You have some, Papa.

    I want you to drink it.

    You have some.

    He took the can and sipped it and handed it back. You drink it, he said. Let’s just sit here.

The Road has been transformed into a movie, and Omar (Michael K. Williams) is in it as (ironically enough) “The Thief”.

thanks BigScreenLittleScreen

Know how I’ve wasted my time lately? MySQL Game.

It’s the type of thing where the barrier to entry (Firefox, Google account, SQL knowledge) is just small enough for me that I’ll jump in a give it a try. It’s also the type of thing that I tend to overly obsess over.

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As with all things, tastes will vary. So when I strongly profess my adoration of this show, please keep in mind that my humor is very tolerant. Now, if you don’t mind foul language and topics that include racism (episode 1) and abortion (episode 2), then have I got a show for you.

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Coding Horror, a blog that I’ve started reading regularly, has some fantastic advice on how to improve your skills (regardless of the domain): Quantity Always Trumps Quality.

When it comes to software, the same rule applies. If you aren’t building, you aren’t learning. Rather than agonizing over whether you’re building the right thing, just build it. And if that one doesn’t work, keep building until you get one that does.

This is advice that I sincerely need to start following. I tend to have the debilitating problem of starting to work on an idea but never completing it because of constant tweaks and muddles and experiments and refinements ad nauseam. With an approach like that, your results are always incomplete. And when you feel like you can never complete something, you tend to move on to something else (i.e. quit).

When I used to create and record music, it was the same thing. The difference, however, was that there was always something to show for the effort, even if I wasn’t totally satisfied. No matter my perceived flaws, there was still a piece of recorded music I could share with others. But when the code isn’t finished, or the design still “in-flux”, it’s pretty difficult to call it a day and let the beast loose on the world.

I hereby resolve to…oh who am I kidding.

You are the only thing in any room you’re ever in

Guy Garvey is a fantastic lyricist. The above is from Elbow’s most recent release, The Seldom Seen Kid. The song is Starlings, and its the first on the CD.

If I had to pick one for you to listen to, though, it would be One Day Like This. Listen to it and tell me it doesn’t force your senses to perk up.

‘Cause holy cow I love your eyes. And only now I see the light. Lying with you half awake. Stumbling over what to say. Well anyway, it’s looking like a beautiful day. So throw those curtains wide. One day like this a year would see me right.

Ever since I header it on All Songs Considered, “White Winter Hymnal” by Fleet Foxes has been on a pretty solid brain loop.
You need to listen to it. Here are two direct links to mp3 downloads:

one at at SubPop (content)

and one at Stereogum (content)

Update: I’ve since purchased the CD, and it’s awesome. Highly recommend. Twice now its served as the “house music” playing in the background of an early summer evening dinner chez moi and the family.

One thing Christmas brought this year was an iPod (nano), and as a consequence I have spent a little time in iTunes, specifically looking for stuff my seven year old daughter could enjoy. Free stuff. Low-and-behold (is it hyphenated like that?), They Might Be Giants have a podcast promoting their upcoming children’s CD, Here Come The 123s. I’ve watched the first six and they’re pretty awesome. Here’s the iTunes subscription link. I’m pretty sure my favorite song so far is Nonagon (from 1/18). Honorable mention goes to “Letter Shapes” from 1/11.

I was 14 and a freshman in high school when Wayne’s World came out. I’m willing to bet that its most lasting influence on a generation of early teenagers was its introduction of the music of Queen. Not to be immodest, but I had a killer Bohemian Rhapsody(#1 below) mimic I could belt out at a moment’s notice.

It wasn’t too long before I owned a couple of their CDs (A Night at the Opera and Innuendo). I really don’t remember how long that love lasted, but eventually (as all things new and musical) the listenings dwindled to “few and far between”. However, through a confluence of recent events, they are back on my playlist. I’ve really got to find my other two Queen CDs,

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A few weeks ago there was a commode disaster in which one of the seat hinges broke. Seeing as guests were arriving forthwith, a replacement was necessary. Soon enough I was at Home Depot looking at one of these. A Bemis manufactured, “Easy Close” toilet seat. Having the “Easy Close” system meant a premium of something like $5 over the nearest competitor. I went with it and, I have to say, made one of the most rewarding purchases I’ve ever made. Imagine a toilet seat that doesn’t slam. Picture yourself coming in late at night, with children sound asleep, and having to delicately support the bottom-side of the seat to prevent a disastrous crash. No more dreaming, it’s real.

Seriously, this thing is great. Just give the seat a nudge and away it goes.

I can see you’re skeptical. How about a demo?

It really is a cheap luxury that’s worth the extra fiver.