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Friday, February 20, 2004
Thursday, February 19, 2004
[Digital Cameras]
I don't think that this applies to most people, or even anyone else, but I have noticed an interesting trend in my family's use our digital camera. Basically my sisters run around all day taking pictures of the cat doing silly things that the cat does every day. My Mom takes the occasional picture on the even less occasional family vacation and my Dad doesn't touch the camera unless it is to hide it from my sisters. Now sure these are all fine things to take pictures of, but where do all of these pictures go? They certainly don't stay on the camera, we need to delete them on the camera to take more pictures of the cat. So instead they are dumped in random places all over the computer. But where do they go after they are dumped on the computer, if not lost? They go to the recycle bin of course! I mean, where else would they logically go? Print them out and put them in photo albums and cherish them in old age? Nawwww, that would be the smart thing to do. All of this results in a cataclysmic system failure and a huge gap in my family's photographed life. I am bad at ending posts, but do I win?
[Posted by steve at 9:45 PM]
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[Links & Crap]
* This dude seems to have picked up Eric's trick from Jr. High of sneaking a peek for winning bottle caps (originally discovered in Coca-Cola's Barcelona Gold CD giveaway in 1992). The funny thing about that is I knew about 10 people who collected all five? four? of the CDs because of this trick.
* If you're interested in Microsoft AND profanity, you'll probably enjoy this.
* Whee! Yahoo wants Google's assterik.
* Break out the beats! Drummerworld.com features drum solo video & audio clips for all (or both) of my brothers who happen to be drummers.
* And if you read the article from a few days ago regarding the stuff growing in your shower, you'll want to check these cute little cuddly stuffed microbes!
[Posted by adam.b at 1:18 AM]
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[GreyTuesday.org launched]
RIAA protest site downhillbattle.org launched greytuesday.org tonight. This is the central site for a civil disobedience campaign planned for next Tuesday against the record company involving DJ Danger Mouse's "Grey Album" (which is awesome). mathcaddy.com will be participating in this protest, which involves turning the whole website grey and posting all tracks from the album for download on the website.
See post from February 14 for more details and links regarding the album.
Man... permalinks would be really nice about now. I keep referring to other posts. I sure need to build that into the website. Well, I guess I better just announce it and then I'll be forced to make it happen.
ANNOUNCEMENT: mathcaddy.com will feature permalinks before 11:59 p.m. Monday night.
[Posted by adam.b at 12:38 AM]
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on [GreyTuesday.org launched] permalink
[Arguably the BEST Movie Ever]
I just saw an amazing movie. I am going to convince as many people to see it as I can. It is not showing in very many theaters and will only be showing at locations where communities can get 500 people to sign up to come see it. It's an independent movie, but this is no "Blair Witch Project". We're talking high-quality stuff. In fact, there are even some disappointed that the movie didn't get an oscar nomination. It was really that good. It was so powerfully moving that I turned to the people sitting next to me at several points and expressed the sheer joy I felt in watching the film.
It had action. It had drama. It had suspense. It had romance. It had comedy. Oh yes. It had all of those and more. Plus, it had Mormons.
Nope, I'm not kidding in the slightest because the movie that I saw was, in fact, THE BOOK OF MORMON MOVIE. And that is actually how it is titled: all in caps.
And I'm really not kidding about anything I said. It is actually quite well done for the small budget (apparently about $1-2 million).
And it is also drop-dead hilarious. The acting is actually pretty good. There are a few kind of silly parts, but it's not too bad at all.
But the script and the costuming and the way everything plays out is just so bizarre that I couldn't help but laugh hysterically throughout the movie.
If there had been other people in the theater, they would have assuredly been Mormons. And not wanting to insult them, I probably would not have laughed if they were there, but they weren't. So I laughed. Out loud. A lot. Actually, a ton. I laughed like crazy. I highly recommend it.
It really isn't like other movies that are enjoyable for being "bad. You can tell how hard the team that made this movie tried and it's just sometimes they tried a little too hard or didn't have quite enough cash or talent to pull off their ideas.
The movie isn't badly made, it just has some unintentionally hysterical moments. And watching with the sole purpose of anticipating those moments makes it even more fun.
I really am going to get it on DVD. I really will show it to several people (either at home or at a late - and empty - showing).
You can read an article on it here.
note: If you are Mormon and you take offense at my comments, please understand that you would not take offense if you had also seen the movie. It's really that much fun.
[Posted by adam.b at 12:23 AM]
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Wednesday, February 18, 2004
[The RIAA Strikes Back; Grey Tuesday tonight]
Most of you have read that the RIAA sued another 531 file sharers.
But... in looking on the RIAA's website, I found an interesting little tidbit. Another factor commonly overlooked in assessing CD prices is to assume that all CDs are equally profitable. In fact, the vast majority are never profitable. After production, recording, promotion and distribution costs, most never sell enough to recover these costs, let alone make a profit. In the end, less than 10% are profitable, and in effect, it's these recordings that finance all the rest. (Find this quote here.) So... doesn't this completely back up my argument from Feb. 12?
What they're saying is that their business model is crap.
Now before you take this thought anywhere, I'm fully aware that this is not a surprising or startling fact. Book publishers operate by a similar principle and I am more than glad that they do. But e-books have yet to make the dent in book reading habits that MP3s have made in music listening habits, but trust me, when we have a way to do for books what was done for MP3s (which is much more difficult, of course) - watch out. The book publishers will be in the same sinking boat that the RIAA is in now.
But the RIAA's business model is crap. Why? Because if they were wise, they would see that MP3s open the opportunity of INCREASED profits. No middleman. Less production costs. Less distribution costs.
If they really have a problem with piracy, then offer a way for people to have what they want in the format that they want it in. No, iTunes is not good enough. I can't find more than a tenth of the songs that I woud want on there because this is just a way to look like the RIAA is offering an alternative to piracy.
They're not. They're faking it. All of their efforts as a united group of corporations are poured into stalling their own death rather than offering new and creative alternatives. Anytime a business results in suing its best customers, they are going to die a horrible and painful death. And they deserve it. (Yes, their best customers.) And forget what they say. Album sales are at an all-time high.
But the issue isn't about sales anyway, as Max Liebman points out (5th down, comments section on plasticbag.org).I think the thing that terrifies the music industry most is not that album sales as a whole will decline--which, it seems, they aren't--it's that they no longer have any control over WHICH album sales are increasing. The music industry's problem with profitability is that rather than embracing the format when they had the chance, the RIAA attempted to squelch it, and in doing so, they already missed their boat and sealed their own doom.
And this is the reason that playlists on radio have shrunk so much. They are seeing less and less profitability not because of piracy, but because not dying is their main goal in life.
That's not much of a goal.
Time to die!
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In other news: Grey Tuesday site will be launched by downhillbattle.org tonight at greytuesday.org. See a later post for details.
[Posted by adam.b at 9:24 PM]
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on [The RIAA Strikes Back; Grey Tuesday tonight] permalink
[Wow. "Hide the jewels!"]
I just read the weirdest article. This guy swallowed around $650 worth of coins and jewelry.
“When he was invited and came in some homes, he liked to steal coins and eat them,” Francois (his doctor) said.
I especially like the arrows pointing at the large mass of coins in his abdomen. Do you really think we could miss it? Sheeeeesh.
[Posted by adam.b at 8:22 PM]
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Tuesday, February 17, 2004
[Poertry!]
I have a laser printer.
It prints things all the time.
If I didn't have that printer,
I'd have to write out everything
And people would tell me,
“You really have the crappiest
handwriting I’ve ever seen.”
And then they’d ask me,
"Why didn't you just print this out?"
I have a CD Player
It plays CD's just fine.
The funny thing about it is
It really isn't mine.
I borrowed it from my brother.
He said that was okay.
He said "Hey, you can't keep it."
But I did anyway.
I have a Far Side calendar.
It says "ninety-eight."
Now I get everything mixed up;
I don't even know the date!
My trusty Far Side calendar;
I bought it at the mall.
I thought there was a discount,
but there wasn't one at all.
That good old Far Side calendar,
I took to the cashier.
He said, "You want to BUY this?
This isn't the right year!"
I thought the man was stupid.
"What could this guy know?"
But I guess I'm not the bright one,
that only goes to show.
I have a bed to sleep in.
It also isn't mine.
I stole it from a flower shop
Where flowers get arranged by mimes.
The funny thing about the mimes
arranging flowers there
Is when they ring you up to pay,
you can only pay with air.
(but not the counterfeit kind.)
Sorry that I suck at this.
It really could be better,
but the problem that I have right now
is that I can't find the letter "v"
I think I lost it between the bracket
and the widgety little ~ thing.
I have two thousand staplers.
They call me every night.
I tell them that I love them
and they tell me I'm weird.
Good night.
[Posted by adam.b at 10:24 PM]
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[50th Anniversary of Easter]
It's that time of year again, the time that comes right after Valentines Day. As soon as Valentines Day is over stores are allowed to rip down their loathed valentine goodies and put up their Peeps selection. This year is also the 50th anniversary of the delectable marshmallow Peep. In honor of this amazing 50 years the Peeps company decided to release special Valentines Day peeps. I suddenly lost an interest in writing this post. I am sorry. Peeps site.
[Posted by steve at 9:07 PM]
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on [50th Anniversary of Easter] permalink
[Do NOT "shake it, shake it, shake it like a polaroid pitch-ah"]
See here.
[Posted by adam.b at 7:54 PM]
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on [Do NOT "shake it, shake it, shake it like a polaroid pitch-ah"] permalink
[Meet the Prez]
Man, I miss the daily show. Maybe I'll actually start watching it again. Then I wouldn't have to miss it. (That link is actually a clip from the daily show that is actually funny. Actually.)
[Posted by adam.b at 7:12 AM]
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Monday, February 16, 2004
[Death to the Heathens! (Recording Industry)]
Haven't you always just wanted to just yell 'Death to the heathens!" as loud as you possibly can? Well I haven't. Anyways, I read a super duper cool idea for Apple's new iGarage Band. I know that it isnt really called iGarage Band, but I think that it makes the program cooler by putting your own name in the title. I also know that 'I' is not my name, but I also want to eat some honey nut cheerios right now. Well I think that you have had enough of my nonsense so here is the article.
[Posted by steve at 10:58 PM]
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[Links R Us!]
Woo! Skateboarding bulldog! Right here, folks.
Just when you thought Mary Poppins was right, we hear this.
"Friends: The Most Overrated Comedy Ever." It's been confirmed... finally.
[Posted by adam.b at 10:45 PM]
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on [Links R Us!] permalink
[A Trendy Guy Am I?]
My wife (Kristi) says I'm a really trendy guy. She doesn't mean this to say I'm really "hip" or "with it." She means that I follow little personal trends. And she's right. I wish I could think of the correct phrase to describe this personality quirk now that I've actually come to agree with her.
For example, right now I'm way into web design. In two months, who knows?
Or... take every time I've set out to "Konquer Linux!" I mess around with several distros for a few weeks, start tweaking stuff, rememember a little bit of whatever it was I had forgotten, and then move on to something else.
Or... I can get completely into playing my guitar and learning new songs. I will literally play until I can't play because it hurts.
Or... I will get a new album or a specific song and play it until I love it and then continue to listen to it until I cannot stand it.
Or... every year whenever Madden NFL comes out for the PS2, all I can think about when I come home is trying to turn my peice of crap Bears into "Champion Calibur Champions!" And I'll stick with that for a few weeks, maybe a month.
Or... I can get thrilled to death about playing MLB Showdown (baseball card strategy game) to the point where I keep stats and play with several different people... and then one day, it's just not as fun.
Or... for weeks on end, I am obsessed with reading new books. Or reading old books. Or writing. Or organizing everything in my room, my office, and my life. Or waking up very early and staying up very late. Or going to bed early and getting up late. Or drinking coffee forty times a week. Or eating at Bruchi's. Or whatever.
Maybe I should just label myself something neat and sound authoritative about it. Then I can just be confident about this oddity in me.
I think I'll call it MADD. ("Macro" ADD) But MADD isn't that badd. It's more just odd. And it drives my wife crazy, which may be its most useful attribute.
...Kidding! (Ow!)
[Posted by adam.b at 9:34 PM]
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Sunday, February 15, 2004
[This one goes out to you, John]
I'm not too sure how current anyone here keeps up with the comments, but I have a very special announcement to make to a very special someone. This person has gone above and beyond the call of their duty to read out posts and has not only followed a link that Adam posted, but has also commented on it! Now to me, that just shows absolutely phenomenal effort put forth by both the poster and the reader of the postageness. Keep it up guys, and come back soon John.
[Posted by steve at 10:56 PM]
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on [This one goes out to you, John] permalink
[Your shower is going to kill you.]
I'm not even joking. It's all right here.
[Posted by adam.b at 9:17 PM]
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on [Your shower is going to kill you.] permalink
[WHAT in the WORLD is this??]
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