October 27, 2011

If Smiths Songs Were About Washington State.... just another Twitter hashtag thing I did... whatever

October 26, 2011

ask jeevesI'm so sick of hearing about Siri. I don't care how magic it is or how accurate it is at voice recognition, I just don't want to hear people barking orders at their gizmos like some cheesy sci-fi movie's depiction of the future. There's this popular Tumblr called Shit That Siri Says (it's not a Tumblr if it doesn't have a Cuss Word in its title) that collects screenshots of Siri's oh-so-witty responses. Oh wow, it's 1999 again and iPhone-havers just discovered asking Jeeves if he's gay! Just wait'll they get a load of SmarterChild.

On an unrelated note, please check out this Tumblr I just created, Shit That Jeeves Says.

October 24, 2011

wtfI suppose I'm a little disappointed Google Buzz is getting the ax. Don't get me wrong, it had a ton of flaws, most of which Google+ takes care of, but I liked how it was sort of a non-social social network. I got a bunch of interesting links from interesting people without having to wade through, you know, a bunch of status messages about someone's dog or whatever. I added everyone I was following to Google Reader (since Buzz was used primarily to push out shared content from Reader), only to find out a few days later that Reader's social features are being outsourced to Google+. In addition, the Delicious redesign pretty much removed networks, which was another great place to get socially-curated links without the social aspect. So much for the non-social social network, I guess.

October 21, 2011
POLITICAL CARTOON

EXT. HEAVENLY GATES - DAY

GADHAFI is impatiently tapping his foot. ST. PETER is frantically searching through a book.

GADHAFI

Try looking under "Q"... or "K"... or "el-"... or "al-"...

October 18, 2011
worse? the nog, the stache, or the sweater?
worse? the nog, the stache, or the sweater?
by CosmoPolitician, on Flickr
Had my first egg nog of the season last night kitty dance

(OK technically it was an egg nog-flavored milkshake, but whatever)


October 17, 2011

marge thumbs up

COOL THINGS
  • SuperMutant Magic Academy is a great comic strip by Jillian Tamaki. It's about mutant teens who go to a supermutant magic academy. I know that sounds kinda lame but just trust me. It's probably best to start from the beginning so you can get a handle on the characters and stuff.

  • This guy Aaron Diaz redesigned the Justice League. Some of the ideas are a little iffy (Wonder Woman looking like a statue, Superman fighting corporate crime) but it's very well thought-out. I'd start reading these comics for sure. Someone please make him president of DC.

  • I've been hearing about Uhh Yeah Dude for about a year now but I finally gave it a listen last month and I've been listening to it non-stop ever since. It's a podcast by two dudes just talkin about weird news and stuff. Check it out if you like laughing

  • I checked out the Floyd Gottfredson Mickey Mouse collection from the library and it is delighful. There's this whole story arc featuring Horace Horsecollar and Clarabella Cow as major characters! Also Mickey dressed up as Minnie! #whoa #crazy


October 8, 2011

bart punch
DIE SIMPSONS DIE

I spent most of yesterday following the Simpsons contract dispute thing, and I wrote about it here. There was pretty much no chance it wouldn't be renewed for Season 24, but there was a slim sliver of hope that would be it, and this pale imitation of a good show would finally, mercifully end. But the surprise addition of Season 25 is an extra punch in the gut. On the plus side, I can continue doing my fansite for three more years, but it sorta feels like a late-night comic hoping Charlie Sheen gets elected president: it's cool to make jokes, but you also don't want to see America be destroyed.

October 7, 2011

steve jobsI have no strong feelings about Steve Jobs. He was just some guy, you know? I am typing this on a Mac, which I like a lot, but basically everything about the whole Apple cult thing, with Jobs as the charismatic god-man who comes out once or twice a year with his whole reality distortion field, weirds me the hell out of me. There's a ton of horror stories out there about what a tyrant he was, how he'd fire people in the hallway, how he'd repeatedly park in the handicapped spaces without a placard, etc. Also, the whole liver thing.

And yet... I admit I like this picture of him. And I also really like Anil Dash's description of him:

He's the anchor baby of an activist Arab muslim who came to the U.S. on a student visa and had a child out of wedlock. He's a non-Christian, arugula-eating, drug-using follower of unabashedly old-fashioned liberal teachings from the hippies and folk music stars of the 60s. [...]Every single person who'd attack Steve Jobs on any of these grounds is, demonstrably, worse at business than Jobs. They're unqualified to assert that liberal values are bad for business, when the demonstrable, factual, obvious evidence contradicts those assertions.

People are putting flowers and candles at Apple stores which seems just a wee bit excessive, bordering on crazy. OK, granted, he was an American icon and all. And OK, maybe it's not so weird that people like the products that they buy. I am reminded of what Drew Carey said to Jay Leno when Johnny Carson died: "You know, when you die, they're not going to do all this for you." What other CEO could engender this level of admiration?


I couldn't get to sleep the other night so I finally got around to watching Pirates of Silicon Valley on YouTube, and it was pretty entertaining. You should check it out, if you haven't. I didn't realize how humble the beginnings of Microsoft and Apple were. I sorta kinda wish I'd been alive for that era, just to see the world changing. Trip alert: John DiMaggio, the voice of Bender, plays Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. Crazy!

By the way: did you know there are about a million ways to misspell "Steve Jobs?" A few of my Twitter pals were retweeting a bunch of them and it was CRACKING ME UP. I posted some screencaps here, so check 'em out. My favorite is "steav jop."


Also, uh, apparently the fate of The Simpsons will be determined today. My Simpsons fansite's news blog will be all over that. More frequent updates and commentary can be found on its Twitter account. So keep your eye on those, I guess. And here I thought it would be a slow news week.