by Chris Barrus
Electrelane at the Troubadour last night. Great show – anyone out there who’s going to any of the Arcade Fire shows should make a point to get there early. Better yet, just see them on their own. No Shouts, No Calls is on my 2007 short list of albums.
More photos on Flickr.
Twitter has been buzzworthy for several months now, and I’m shocked, SHOCKED that someone hasn’t yet set up a Twitterbot that posts blocks of spam. For that matter, why haven’t we seen any kind of Twitter/Jaiku/etc. bot? It seems like a trivial off-the-shelf prank for the taking…
Set up a suitably trendy profile (“Hi, I’m lonelygirl16. I’m a undergraduate architecture student in Aachen who loves old watches and the art of Jim Flora. Be my Twitter Follower”), load up the mad-libs generator with enough nouns, verbs, places, and phrases to keep the Army Of The Easily Entertained going and let ‘er rip. Run the bot for a couple months then reveal yourself with a hearty backslapping “PSYCH!” as you enjoy your moment of fame in the “Wired/Tired/Expired” column.
What gives Darknet denizens? I’m disappointed in you guys.
[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=u6lkxmn-dsQ[/youtube]
Fave Match Game episode out of many: Reilly frustrates Gene Rayburn so much that Rayburn sits down and make Reilly host the show.
[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=eCM-58J_3Ig[/youtube]
A couple of worthy stories over on Airminded. The first comes from a DOE atomic bomb test in 1957 to see what would happen if a Navy airship was used to deliver a nuclear depth charge.
In short, the bomb wins:
The second story concerns the latter days of Hammer Films in the early 1970s and an unmade film with the working title Zeppelin vs Pterodactyls.
The story was along the lines of THE LAND THAT TIME FORGOT, with a German Zeppelin being blown off-course during a bombing raid on London and winding up at a “lost continent”-type place.
The Land That Time Forgot is still essential viewing here whenever I run across it, but Zeppelin vs. Pterodactyls would have obsoleted it instantly. Hammer only got as far as commissioning up a poster to attract investors, but holy cow what a poster!
Microgramma font is instant Stendhal syndrome for me.
La Blogotheque’s Take Away Shows has been kinda up and down lately (Arcade Fire in the elevator was just too obvious), but this week’s episode with Damon And Naomi covering the Everly Brothers’ “I Wonder If” amidst a 3am Paris apartment wreckage of empty bottles is an out-of-the-park stunner.
Following on from the previous post about hobby World War III, I have to admit that WarGames is one of the few things I consider to be capital-GS Geek Scripture. I can’t think of anything more custom designed (computer hacking, nuclear war, Ally Sheedy, cranky scientist hermit, pranking the government, victory via brains instead of strength) to laser beam into my 18 year old reptile brain. Certainly meant much more to me in 1983 than the end of Star Wars.
Anyway, I’ve always wanted to play Global Thermonuclear War and twenty-four years later, I finally can. Thanks for the port Ambrosia Software. It’s the first game that’s held my attention since the days of Diablo II and can be relatively quick enough to play during a lunch break from work.
Here’s a screenshot (it’s the Big Board!) for Jonson, as South America is about to get pounded by the Imperialist Yanqui Pig-Dogs.
I used to joke that the SRL/Make Magazine crowd would rule the Earth after World War III, but after seeing this radio controlled missile transport and launcher in action I’m not going to joke about them anymore.
Obviously they need to hook up with this guy who built a radio controlled B-52.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbITzCI2AU0[/youtube]
The only thing missing is a radio controlled Slim Pickens whooping it up. Of course, if a scale WWIII isn’t your cup of tea you can try your hand at recreating Dr. Strangelove using common household objects.
Google rolled out it’s custom “my maps” feature awhile back and I took a crack at drawing out my 2005 cross-country road trip:
Next map up will be the 1994 “Loop The USA” road trip.
Obvious observation of the day: A technical book cannot be considered to be broken in unless you have spilled coffee on at least five different pages.
Following up on my coyote sighting a couple days ago: Fred notes a picture he took of a coyote near Beverly & Formosa. The Larchmont Chronicle has more information and notes:
City officials believe the animals may be migrating through an aquaduct under Pan Pacific Park from Runyon Canyon, said Shondell.
…
Coyotes have also been spotted on Las Palmas, June St. and Alta Vista Blvd.
This last sentence blows my mind:
Coyote bites in L.A. on humans number 67 in 30 years, largely resulting from feeding them.
Bloody hell people. It’s 2007! Do we STILL have to tell people to not feed wild animals?
A couple weeks ago, I had to go to downtown LA during the midday. Big deal, right? What’s notable about it is just how routine and uneventful it was. Used to be that you had to stifle anxiety, hassle with transportation, and adopt a get-the-hell-in-and-get-the-hell-out mentality. This time was absolutely pleasant and with the added bonus of stumbling across a terrific restaurant (thanks Pete’s Cafe & Bar).
Not to get all Gladwell at you here, but that downtown critical mass seems to have finally happened.