This ASCII “music video” of The Offspring’s “Come Out And Play” may be crudely drawn, but you have to admit it’s pretty creative.
McSweeney’s presents: Internet Tendency: Vocabulary Words We Learned by Playing Dungeons & Dragons. I will admit that I played D&D back in the ‘80s while in elementary school, although I wasn’t too serious about it (I was too busy playing on my Commodore 64 :-). However, I do remember encountering a lot of the words in this list for the first time as I played. It’s kind of cool to think back and realize that…
With the one-year anniversary of the horrible tragedy of 9/11/01 coming up, there is obviously going to be a barrage of media coverage, mostly with the intent of putting the events into perspective and ensuring that the lives of the people lost are never forgotten. I figured that rather than link to one of those myriad stories, which aren’t necessarily bad, just too glaringly omnipresent, I’d link to something different. Salon.com’s “Forbidden thoughts about 9/11,” is an article that records people’s unspoken thoughts on the event. With the prevalence of knee-jerk sentimentalism and PC lip service, it’s interesting to see what some people really thought but didn’t necessarily ever say out loud. Some of the things are definitely inappropriate, but some are brutally honest in a way that most media outlets will not have the guts to air.
The New Times L.A. article “Enough, Already” also explores the tragedy in a different way, vilifying those who are unjustly profiting and highlighting other global tragedies that have happened since 9/11.
An interesting articles by the New York Times called “The Height Of Ambition” explores the historical background of the World Trade Center Towers themselves.
Did you know that there is such a thing as “competitive Cup Stacking?” I sure didn’t, but not only is there such thing, but there is also a video teaching you how to get better at it. Take a look at this page that loads a QuickTime video clip; the little girl is stacking those cups at actual speed!
The TV set celebrated its 75th anniversary last Saturday, September 7th. Let’s take a moment to thank the genius of Philo T. Farnsworth…
I know I rant about the dumbing-down of America every now and then, but I truly feel that subjecting your child to hours and hours of rote spelling memorization for upcoming spelling bees is a little too much. I believe that expanding a child’s vocabulary by reading to and with them is extremely important, but when they’re learning nothing but words like “aition, campanile, kittel, [and] giaour” then I debate the usefulness of the endeavour. And when you convince them to continue by calling it “playing” and invoking guilt-inducing mantras like “Remember the family” it borders on unconscionable, in my opinion.
It’s Friday! Time for a fun Flash game: Golden Arrow.
It’s all but official: Napster is gone. Of course, it’s been gone in spirit for some time now, but the recent blocking of the sale of Napster to Bertelsmann pretty much ends any chance of resurrection. As most people know, only a couple of years ago, Napster revolutionized the way that music was experienced, discovered, and shared. Although this technology can be (and was) abused, that cannot be totally avoided no matter what the situation might be. I personally downloaded my share of music files, but I can honestly say that I was introduced to many artists I would have never have heard of otherwise and did in fact by more CDs as a result. I’m not convinced that Napster could ever return in a form that appealed as widely as the original did, but I really hope that the industry will eventually get smart enough to embrace technology rather than hinder it.
Read this great excerpt of “The Simpsons Generation” that explores the cultural significance of The Simpsons in the ‘90s. The author is obviously a great fan of the TV show and manages to not only recall favorite plotlines but demonstrate how they affected the cultural and social fabric of the day. Finally, someone really gets The Simpsons! I’m tempted to go out and buy the magazine (Shift) and read the entire article, because the excerpt stops short of expanding this train of thought into how things like Nirvana, the dotcom industry and other events and phenomena of the decade relate.
