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Wednesday, May 29, 2002
You pronounce it with a derisive snort
I don't think I've mentioned my obsession with Amazon's Marketplace.
A few weeks ago, the bf and I (well, ok, fine, the bf. i just watched; he's much more organized than I am) started listing our used CDs and books on Amazon. And we've been making a pretty penny!
In fact, last night, the bf was going through a box from his mom, full of Various Embarassing Pre-Teen things of his, like Gilbert & Sullivan librettos (I don't judge: I'm pretty sure there's an Ayn Rand book from eighth grade sitting on the bookshelf in my room at my parents' house). He found an illustrated childrens' book version of that musical, Into the Woods. And guess what? It's a first edition. And so he put it up for sale. And it went for NINETY BUCKS.
Bastard.
Posted at 03:37 PM | Comments (0)
Your name and mine, inside a heart, on a wall.*
Ida Ida Ida. So horrifyingly uneven a band. Your last album (The Braille Night) was so... so nothing. So boring. But at your very best moments ("Tellings" maybe. Or "Thank You") and in some of your gorgeous covers (Richard & Linda Thompson's "I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight") you suddenly, for an instant, become One Of My Favorite Bands.
I booked you to play a Christmas show a few years ago... it was so stunningly perfect, Liz and Dan and Karla's voices in harmony. I'm not sure why I'm thinking of this now, maybe because all my winter gear is going away for the season, including that winter cap with the big IDA on the front of it.
Oh jesus, that sounds like some crappy emo diaryland post. I should stop now. But anyway, is there anyone out there with an mp3 of Ida's cover of Prince's "When U Were Mine"**? I'm pretty sure I have it on a 7", but I can't be arsed to dig through my records to find it. Plus, since we moved into our new pad, I can't get my turntable to ground itself correctly so I can't really make mp3s from my records anymore. Bah.
* yeah, I know, they didn't write that, the Left Banke did. But still!
** if you can't find it, do yourself a favor and download Cyndi Lauper's version instead. It's ace.
Posted at 12:14 AM | Comments (1)
Tuesday, May 28, 2002
Googlefancy
(Feb 16 2003 Note: Please see this page for updated/new popup searches.)
You know, I get a little cranky when PC users lord their fancy Google toolbars and stuff over us neglected Mac users.
A few months (years? criminy.) I jimmied together these different search scripts, based on the one Google provides for Mac users. Basically, they pop up a little window where you can type your query, then they take you right to the results page for that search, so you don't have to load some splash page just to enter your search.
I recommend making a wee "Searches" folder for your Favorites Bar in IE5 (or whatever Convenient Place your browser of choice allows for), and dropping these into it. Go on, take 'em. Trust me, you won't be able to live without them once you get adjusted. And just think of the bandwidth you're saving once those DSL download caps get put into place by all of our greedy ISPs!
First, the original GoogleSearch. Then the ones that I hacked together: AudioGalaxySearch, DictionarySearch, eBaySearch (note that the eBay search does Item Names as well as Descriptions in one fell swoop, which is my personal preference), EpicuriousSearch, IMDBSearch, VersionTrackerSearch (searches Classic, but you could edit that to make it search OS X if that's your fancy).
There are a few others that I'd really like to have (most notably one for Amazon) but can't write because they don't use the "URL-with-search-query-tacked-on-the-end" format for their searches. So, who can figure out how to make one for the good of the Mac community, eh?
Posted at 11:49 PM | Comments (0)
Fate worse than death
So. I've been working on a new template thing for about a million and a half years. I can't get it exactly the way I want it and for whatever reason I don't have the energy to just Get It Done. Working on that made me neglect my posting duties. And then once I hadn't posted for almost two weeks... well, I couldn't think of any bang-up reason or fascinating story to return with. So here I am, writing about nothing, because now all the emails and IM messages are rolling in... "Are you shutting down? Giving up? Should I take you off my links list?"
Ack!
Noooo.... please don't de-link me! A fate worse than death.
Now: here's some content. I have enticed two newbies into the world of the blog. Please meet the ever-so-lovely Laura and Greg. Greg actually has a proper (and ace) domain name: unsubversive.com, but I don't recommend using it as it spews pop-ups and ads. Shame on you for not just paying for it properly, G.
Posted at 10:58 PM | Comments (0)
not dead.
(not dead. just tired.)
Posted at 12:25 AM | Comments (0)
Thursday, May 16, 2002
Trauma trauma trauma in the kitchen
Trauma trauma trauma in the kitchen at 9:30. "Alice is playing with a bug, get a paper towel."
In the kitchen, Matty is standing by an overturned bowl; Alice is prancing around it, sniffing and poking with her paws. I grab a paper towel; Matty flips the bowl over.
Underneath, something is wriggling on its back. THAT IS NOT A BUG. THAT IS ONE OF THOSE THINGS FROM MIMIC.
Well OK, actually, it was a water bug. The biggest one I've ever seen, outside of like the Museum of Natural History. Close to THREE INCHES long. For those of you not from New York or another large city, "water bug" is the euphemism we use for REALLY FUCKING BIG COCKROACH.
I mean, I guess, technically, they aren't cockroaches, or there wouldn' t be a different name for them. But that's beside the point. We ended up tag teaming and smashing the thing with the phone book (sacrificing the Spanish back cover). I am beyond skeeved. We've done a good job of Not Having Bugs (despite the fact that we leave out three bowls of cat food every day) in all of our apartments. The bug man was just here doing his magical Preventive Maintenance or whatever 2 weeks ago. And yet... shudder
Posted at 10:22 AM | Comments (0)
Wednesday, May 15, 2002
More titanium glory
I already wrote this in a comment at prosaic, but...
It's so pretty.
The Xserve looks (once again for Apple) like something that fell here from the future. Or rather, from the Future That Should Have Been -- the way it looked in a Kubrick movie or something.
Someone someplace (metafilter?) said it would look great with a 23" Cinema Display folded down on top, like a PowerBook for Andre the Giant.
Which reminds me of my pal Stevie who likes to take 4 unwrapped Giant Kit Kats, hold them together in his hand and pretend to be a midget. I don't know why, either.
Posted at 10:12 AM | Comments (0)
Tuesday, May 14, 2002
Head full of cotton balls
I'm coasting out on the tail end of a flu-like-thing today; my head is full of cotton balls and I'm not getting any work done. So instead I'm wrapping up a redesign. I wish I could afford a site with CGI access; I'm thinking about switching my allegiances to 34sp on the advice of a pal but I can't quite bring myself to make the change. Babble babble.
Posted at 01:40 PM | Comments (0)
You got your good thing, and I've got mine
Alright, personality tests are so very LiveJournal but sometimes I'm a sucker.
You're mysterious, picky, and a bit aloof. Some people say you have a very cheery personality, but it's hard to say because you mask your emotions behind dark pretenses. You enjoy watching obscure movies and going to plays, but by the end of the day you're usually too wound-up by the ironies of your life to relax. |
Posted at 01:32 PM | Comments (0)
Tuesday, May 07, 2002
The more they stay the same
I found a mix tape at work today, belonging to my boss. It's from 1982; covered in the spindly handwriting of one boyfriend or another; loaded up with Nick Drake, Joy Division, Young Marble Giants, the dBs, Nico, Neil Young, Dusty Springfield. In other words, the same things I've got loaded onto my iPod in 2002. The more things change, the more they stay the same, eh?
Posted at 06:34 PM | Comments (0)
Tigermilking, Part Two
Some pics from the inaugural Tigermilking club night. Double whoot.
Uh, apologies to anyone who is in these pictures; I was very drunk when taking them and I haven't edited at all. Extra apologies to the stripey shirt boy in #2170. Sorry you look like a mean turtle; you were a stone cold fox in real life. Urp. Oh and I probably should have taken some pics of the hundred or so people sitting in the other two sections of the club but I'm lazy like that.
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Posted at 04:29 PM | Comments (0)
Sinister picnic, May 2002
Some pics from the Belle and Sebastian mailing list picnic. Whoot.
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Posted at 04:23 PM | Comments (0)
Tigermilking, Part One
Tigermilking was a fucking blast and a half. Keith eased us into the evening with a loungy groove (perfect for calming nervous hipster geeks while simultaneously not scaring away the Normal Customers) which soon gave way to J-pop and all sorts of obscure internationalia. Skippy hit with "Don't Falter" by Mint Royale, which was going to be the central motif of my DJ set (although by that time I had scrapped the idea of my DJing at all; I was nervous as fuck). It was a perfect P!O!P! moment; kids started to sway in their seats. Several people fell in love with "Home and Dry" by the Pet Shop Boys; I guess they're one of the electro bands you're allowed to like if you're a beard sporting indie wanker. Ben sent some bleach-blond girl into a frenzy when he played that Hefner song about masturbation; Mark didn't play "A Stroke of Genie-us" like he promised (I didn't notice until this morning); Phil played a wicked pop set. The place was pretty full; the crowd stayed until all hours. A fantastic success by all accounts. Now. When shall we do it again? (pictures and such forthcoming)
Posted at 10:20 AM | Comments (0)
Redesign. Not.
Do you ever get that weird feeling that a redesign is imminent? Like you can feel your fingers being drawn towards Photoshop, aching to dither some GIFs? Or am I just a freak?
Posted at 10:19 AM | Comments (0)
Wednesday, May 01, 2002
Grr. Argh.
Also, what was up with last night's preview for the next Buffy? "Everything you've heard is wrong..."
