Ploafmaster General

Few publications can make me smile quite like The Onion, and their piece about the Patriots losing the Super Bowl could almost be confused for a serious piece :-)

Speaking of Mark Ronson, I discovered that his music is actually pretty cool. There's a healthy reliance on horns and Motown-esque rhythms, and I can't help but go nuts over this incredible cover with Phantom Planet
of Radiohead's The Bends-era "Just":

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eEcLntc2sk&rel=1&w=425&h=355]

Nima Nourizadeh is a director working largely in the UK, and seems to have made a few pretty cool music videos. Peep this awesome little example for the song "Over and Over" by Hot Chip:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHB9F8tvGVM&rel=1&w=425&h=355]

Then we have this one for Mark Ronson's song "Oh My God" with an animated Lilly Allen getting all Jessica Rabbit:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2lQcapSnXo&rel=1&w=425&h=355]

Finally, the video for Chromeo's "Bonafide Lovin'" is a tribute to Dire Straits' "Money Is For Nothin'" video:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xew85L1xyC8&rel=1&w=425&h=355]

In what sounds like the most ill-conceived automotive idea in a long time, Volkswagen is planning to sell a mini-van in the United States called the Routan. I used to think VW should sell a mini-van here, because a) mini-vans have done well in the US, and b) VW has a lot of pull with my generation, who I thought would go for a VW over a Dodge Caravan.

Except this van actually IS a Dodge Caravan. Well, at least it's built by Chrysler on the same platform as the caravan, according to Autoblog. And these days it seems like people are choosing "crossover" vehicles instead of minivans, so why add another model to a suffering market segment?

Maybe VW should focus on improving the reliability of its vehicles before adding what appears to be a doomed experiment to their lineup.

NPR had a fascinating piece on Morning Edition today; the benefits of a family sitting down to a meal were analyzed, and there were some interesting conclusions linking...surprise!...healthy family interaction to positive child development.

I'm not a strict traditionalist, but I feel like I have experienced a bit of this myself. When I'm fortunate enough to have kids of my own, I plan on having family dinner every night. The conversation will be varied because I'm nothing if not a windbag. The conversation will be interesting, because in addition to being a windbag, I'm an eccentric wacko :-)

My headphones finally are failing me.
The wire inside the plastic sheath is frayed
causing a mad'ning drop of all that's said
and sung. I chose the 'phones on rules, all three
of which are practical. Less than twenty
dollars but feeling still as if well-made,
and I'd prefer it if they only weighed
a few ounces, and good sound quality.

Can anyone suggest replacements good
enough to meet all my criteria?
I can't use ear buds because I still need
to hear the knocking of team mates who would
visit my cubicle. I just want a
decent set to wear around my head.

Dan Cederholm tweeted about this strange find: David Lee Roth's vocals from "Runnin' With The Devil" - and little else.

This sounds a little musically blasphemous, but the effect is rather similar (in my mind) to the version of "Because" from the highly engineered album of Beatles music, Love.

Super Tuesday is
a day which reminds me our
country is broken.

Since I took yesterday off I decided to watch my latest title from Netflix, Easter Promises. I have to say I was a little disappointed.

The acting was decent, the direction was at least good, but there was little special about this film. No stand-out scenes or shots. No memorable score. No startling revelations or plot twists. No substantive commentary on any aspect of this world. Over all this felt like a middling story that revolved around a dead girl who was tied to the Russian mob and a British midwife who was rather unfortunately caught up in the circumstances. I think this was the sort of film that I could watch passively on television, "edited to fit the time alloted," and not feel as if I'd missed anything.

3/5. Next I get to see if the final Pirates of the Caribbean film is as weird as everybody's been saying.

Beanstalk looks like a pretty cool web-based and user friendly interface for Subversion.

Anybody play with this yet? I'm gonna sign up for the free account and play around after work, but I think the Subversion bundle for TextMate does most of what I need.

I think this picture of Justin Tuck causing a fumble sums up the trouble my Giants gave Tom Brady on Sunday:

Capacity is
doubled now. I'm closer to
wanting an iPhone.

Phunniest Pharmaceutical Pharce I've seen in ages:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrVqD67zils&rel=1&border=1&w=425&h=373]
(via Joshua Blankship)

Against the odds, my New York Giants have defeated the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII!!!!!

Eli Manning deserved his MVP, with his only interception the result of a bobbled reception, and an otherwise strong game that made Tom Brady look like, well...Eli Manning :-)

In addition, the defense for the Big Blue Wrecking Crew played as hard as any defense could, stuffing run after run and putting so much pressure on Brady that he looked like he was about to blow. Now we go into the books as having shut down the almost perfect season of the Patriots, allowing the '72 Dolphins to breath easier. Eli gets to feel like a real quarter back, and Tom Coughlin proved his value as coach.

What a fantastic end to an unexpected playoff run, too! Excepting the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the Wild Card round, every team we defeated in the post season beat us during the regular season, so it's nice to payback for those earlier losses.

I suppose I'll be wearing my Giants jersey to work on Tuesday (I'm taking tomorrow off...too wiped out), if I don't get called out on it...

UPDATE: For anyone interested, here's the INCREDIBLE play where Eli broke the tackle and tossed it to David Tyree for the helmet catch.

Slate is carrying Ron Rosenbaum's...ahem - glowing - ode to the incandescent light bulb. I think he makes some fine points, but fights a losing battle.

Director Paul Thomas Anderson has done great things with There Will Be Blood. After my first viewing, I believe the film to be about runaway ambition at the cost of anything and anyone around you - but I could be wrong. At any rate, I plan to watch it again, and I can only hope that Daniel Day Lewis indeed receives the Oscar for Best Actor.

There were scenes in this film which tightened my innards, making me writhe with discomfort. There's one scene, particularly, where Lewis' character forces his son to drink a glass of of goat's milk mixed with a heavy dose of whiskey to calm the child down. It's a fixed shot held for what feels too long - not in the poor editing sense, but rather long enough to force the audience into sharing the discomfort.

5/5, and I certainly plan to add this to my collection when it releases on DVD.

P.S. The sound editing was excellent - every little scuff and scratch, match strike, and tool click was audible just the right way. No wonder that's another of the 8 Oscars for which it's nominated.

Please do yourself a favor and check out this trailer for Son of Rambow - a film that looks totally hilarious and gorgeously photographed:

http://cdn.channel.aol.com/aolexd_widgets/aolwidget_9.swf

I just received an email at work about the impending blockage of iTunes on company computers.

Let me start by acknowledging that yes, it's not my computer or my network, so I have no right to install software of my choice or what-not.

Well I'm still pissed, because it helps me get through my day. I use iTunes at work to listen to my iPod. This way I can control the music on my iPod through the computer, and sync up some podcasts as well. I also can't think of a reasonable cause for blocking the entire program. Is it because of ripping CDs or streaming media? Because we can still do those things with Windows Media Player. Is it because of buying music through the iTunes Store? Because I can still buy MP3s from Amazon on the internet. Is it because of some obscure security hole? Because I'm pretty sure our use of Windows and Internet Explorer alone is enough to make iTunes look like a fortress.

I think they only accomplishment here is the clear display of incompetence by some folks higher up the IT chain (and likely not even in my office building).

Mugs has provided one of the coolest videos I've ever seen...a world champion cowboy monkey!

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3-qx08ZJ6c&rel=1&w=425&h=355]

I think my internet heart is breaking...

If Yahoo! accepts Microsoft's unsolicited offer, that means several nice web properties would fall under control of the Evil Empire. Properties like Upcoming.org, and Flickr. Yeah, FLICKR. That upsets me no small amount.

Of course, Yahoo! rejected the last bid from Microsoft, but their financial outlooks wasn't so weak at the time. We'll see what happens. Resist! Resist!

This clock, designed by Sebastian Wrong (really his name!) is excellent not only for its style, but because it's a freakin' FLIP CLOCK! Sweet! There's a larger version that includes the day of the week, day of the month, and the month name, but something about the proportions of this one and the limit to 2 different type faces at once (more than that gets kinda noisy) strikes my as just right. It's pricey, so it's not in my future, but I guess that's just the price of art.

I watched the film adaptation of Glengarry Glen Ross last night - I won't go in depth here, but the short version is excellent acting, sometimes interesting film making, and a pace that unfortunately doesn't keep up with the play. 4/5.

"a recent breakup results in a montage of memories and scattered events."

That's what film maker Isiah Flores has to say about his short film "Holding Hands" on his Vimeo page. See for yourself - it's breathtaking.


(via Gentle Graffiti)

Despite his most thinly-veiled comments, we all know he's guilty.