Just the thing for a Friday: Captain Sensible doing his version of “Happy Talk” (i.e., the best version ever!) on Top of the Pops. If you ask me, the parrot steals it. Bonus: Captain Sensible cereal commercial! … and the good Captain getting interviewed by a puppet. I just wish there were a […]
Entries from May 18th, 2007
Music: Captain Sensible — “If You Don’t Talk Happy, and You Never Have a Dream …”
May 18th, 2007 · Comments Off on Music: Captain Sensible — “If You Don’t Talk Happy, and You Never Have a Dream …” · Comedy, Culture, Music, New Wave, TV, Video
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NYC Ferrets Against Giuliani
May 17th, 2007 · 3 Comments · Activism, Culture, LGBT, Nature, News, Pets, Politics, Video
Some ferrets talk smack about Rudy G: There was a time when I used to buy the line that ferrets don’t make good pets, before I’d ever gotten to know any. But in recent years my sister has had a couple of ferrets and they’ve been wonderful companion animals — friendly, happy, gentle, and […]
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Photo: “6 Faggots in Gravy”!
May 16th, 2007 · 2 Comments · Blogs, Culture, Food, Fringe, LGBT, Neo-Futurists, News, Photos, Theater, Travel
Andy Towle has been posting about controversy in the UK over signs advertising the traditional dish called “faggots” as a menu item (or an item not on the menu, as the case may be). Which made me remember this shot I took when I was staying in Edinburgh in 2000, while performing with The Neo-Futurists […]
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Fool MSNBC Twice, Shame on You
May 15th, 2007 · 5 Comments · Blogs, Culture, Internet, Journalism, Media, News, Politics, TV, Video
Funny stuff. Josh Marshall from Talking Points Memo roasts MSNBC for mistaking a parody White House site for the real thing in their Falwell coverage. The second time around, the anchorpersonage has a wee bit of trouble understanding the nature of her earlier mistake. MSNBC needs to hire some kids to explain the Web […]
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Roundup: Carrot Whittling Edition
May 15th, 2007 · 4 Comments · Blogs, Culture, Education, Energy, Film, Food, LGBT, Music, New Wave, News, Politics, Science, Science Fiction, Tech
White light, green heat: LEDS aren’t just for clock radios any more. In fact, LED lightbulbs may turn out to be the bulb of the future instead of compact fluorescents. Thanks to a breakthrough in the 90s, modern LEDs can emit white light instead of just red or green. They last up to five times […]
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Forty-Onederful: Alt Q Review
May 14th, 2007 · 5 Comments · Chicago, Culture, Fringe, LGBT, Media, Music, Performance
Speaking of Jorjet, as I was a couple of posts ago, I spent the evening of my forty-first birthday sharing a table with her at this year’s Alt Q festival at the Old Town School of Folk Music (after having a nice coconut and basil dinner with Lisa Buscani at Thai Classic). Alt Q was […]
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Music: The B-52’s, “Give Me Back My Man”
May 13th, 2007 · 1 Comment · Culture, Music, New Wave, Video
Rare video for “Give Me Back My Man” — not sure why, but I never saw this one on MTV back in the day. Well, never mind, it’s great fun to watch it now. This is still my all-time favorite B-52’s song, and the video really lets you see Cindy work her magic on it. […]
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Happy Fontiversary Helvetica, All About Arial, and Cooper Black: Behind the Typeface
May 13th, 2007 · Comments Off on Happy Fontiversary Helvetica, All About Arial, and Cooper Black: Behind the Typeface · Culture, Design, Film, Internet, News, Software, Tech, Typography, Video
Via an email from my friend Jorjet, I see that Helvetica is celebrating its 50th birthday this year. Helvetica comes from Switzerland, which is fitting considering its essentially neutral personality. We should all be so functional and wildly popular as Helvetica at our half-century mark. Of course, Helvetica has its detractors as well: “When people […]
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Roundup: The Bitch Is Back Edition
May 11th, 2007 · Comments Off on Roundup: The Bitch Is Back Edition · Apple, Comedy, Comics, Culture, Doctor Who, Health, Healthcare Crisis, Human Rights, LGBT, Media, Music, New Wave, News, Peace, Pet Food, Politics, Science Fiction, Tech, Torture, TV
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Music: New Releases from Jeff Buckley, Nick Drake, and Elliott Smith
May 10th, 2007 · 2 Comments · Culture, Film, Music, News
Posthumous releases are on the way from Jeff Buckley, Nick Drake, and Elliott Smith. (Wes Anderson, fire up your iPod.) The Jeff Buckley compilation is called So Real: Songs of Jeff Buckley and will include a cover of “I Know It’s Over” by The Smiths, as well as a mix of studio cuts, live tracks, […]
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The Colbert Report on Intolerance Toward Intolerance
May 10th, 2007 · 1 Comment · Comedy, Culture, Hate Crimes, Politics, TV, Video
Stephen Colbert explains why we all need to be more sensitive to the feelings of bigots. (After all, if you prick a homophobic prick, does he not bleed?)
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Converting the Local Sealife to Slurry
May 10th, 2007 · 3 Comments · Chicago, Energy, Nature, Science
Aaron administers a much-deserved rhetorical thrashing to Mr. Burns’ real-life analog at a certain local power company, who thinks lethally scalding the local fish (and other aquatic life) by expelling 100-degree water into the Chicago and Lower Des Plaines rivers is the most efficient way to cool the companies’ coal-fired power plants. This process, called […]
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Roundup: Kansas Twister Edition
May 9th, 2007 · 2 Comments · Comedy, Culture, Doctor Who, Education, Food, Health, HIV/AIDS, Journalism, LGBT, Media, Music, New Wave, News, Politics, Science Fiction, TV, Video
Kansas governor says it’s been harder to deal with the recent tornado disaster because the war in Iraq has put such a drain on the state’s National Guard. Both personnel and equipment that should have been available to the state are currently tied up in Iraq. “Here in Kansas, about 50 percent of our trucks […]
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