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Sunday, June 23, 2002
Salivating.
A review of the Royal Tenenbaums DVD set is up at dvdfile. Excuse me while I go die.
Posted at 11:33 PM | Comments (5)
Saturday, June 22, 2002
Hello, we're back, and we're taking calls
So what can you good people tell me about the band Frou Frou?
Their website doesn't work; I got a promo of their album and I think it's quite nice, but I can't find a lick of info about them and I dunno when the disc is actually coming out.
I'm also a bit concerned as the album is very polished; without any pedigree information, I'm worred I'm listening to the new D*do rather than the new Dot Allison, if you know what I mean.
I've dumped some tracks into a directory; take a listen for yourselves and tell me what you think. It's very radio-friendly in a Beth Orton kind of way. It pushes some of my buttons.
(Note: after some research, I see that Guy from Frou Frou was responsible for Madonna's "Music" so I guess they're heading straight into the charts with a bullet. And my friend Arturo said he thinks they sound like N*talie Imbr*glia. Shit. Maybe I'm drunk.)
Posted at 11:02 PM | Comments (4)
Friday, June 21, 2002
I think it's gone a bit rabid
Holy crap.
I have no discernable need for a book on blogging. But how, in the name of all that is holy and good, am I to be expected to pass up THIS??
Posted at 01:26 PM | Comments (4)
Thursday, June 20, 2002
My Big Brother, Apple
As a regular and fairly active Apple customer, I get bunches of email from their various lists.
The other day, I got one announcing the opening of an Apple store out in the Short Hills mall.
I usually keep my email program (Eudora) set not to automatically download images. Without the images, the Apple email was basically unreadable and didn't make any sense -- lots of the text was actually rendered as GIFs.
When I tapped the "Blah" button to View Source on the email, I noticed that all the graphics in the email had ALT tags set to " ".
Yeah, one little blank space.
It made me a little cranky, so I wrote an email to Steve Jobs.
That's a little trick I learned a while back through some friends of mine; write to Steve Jobs and chances are your email will actually Get Read By Somebody Vaguely Important.
Anyway, my email basically said something about accessibility & proper use of ALT tags blahblahblah screenreaders blahblahblah people who read email on portable devices blahblahblah.
I signed it, sent it, and didn't think about it again.
Then this afternoon at work, I got a phone call.
From someone at Apple.
Saying they appreciated my suggestion and they would be improving all their emails to use proper ALT tags as well as offering a plain-text option for all of their subscriber lists, and that they hoped I hadn't been put out. The guy specifically mentioned that email access for handheld users was especially important to them. Which piqued my interest, you can be sure.
Anyway, after I got off the phone, I was chuckling and my boss asked me what was up. When I told her, she asked me where Apple had gotten my phone number.
My eyes grew wide.
I checked my outbox.
No phone number in the email. No phone number on this website. Hell, I don't even think I used my *last name* on the email.
And yet they called me! At work!
Ack. Now I'm creeped out, Sandra Bullock style. Eek.
Posted at 07:04 PM | Comments (4)
Friday, June 14, 2002
Uranus is 18 miles wide and 217 miles long.
We got our asses kicked at the pub quiz last night. Bah.
I'm only posting this because I can't drag myself into the shower until I finish a cup of tea. And I can't finish this cup of tea until it cools down. So type type type.
Oh, and a quick note about the asterisks in S*x down there. I haven't turned into some weird prude overnight. When I imported my weblog into Movable Type, I went through it and shoved asterisks into words that I was getting Annoying Google Referrals from. Mention The S*ms one time; mention ANY celebrity's name; spend an entire year getting hits on the alarming combinations.
It's fun for a little while but I got so tired of seeing "Kylie b*cking br*nco" in my referrals that something had to be done. People, it's on KYLIE.COM, it's NOT THAT HARD TO FIND! Bah.
OK off to the shower and to do my small set of errands during work while my beleagured boy gears up for the soap opera-style drama that awaits us at his grandfather's wedding tomorrow.
Posted at 11:11 AM | Comments (2)
Thursday, June 13, 2002
Terrifying gams
After my eyedebacle, I wandered into a bookstore or three.
Which was foolish because I was almost blind from droppage.
But I did manage to buy two books I've been meaning to get. And I noticed a S*x and the City knockoff book, with cover photo taken in my Place o' Business. Whoot.
Posted at 12:11 PM | Comments (2)
20/20
I went to my opthamologist today (the Upper East Side is like an entirely different planet). He told me I need an extremely weak prescription and that my vision is just about 20/20.
I asked him if he had noticed that I was 20 minutes late for my appointment.
He said, "well, no, not really, but continue."
I continued by explaining that I was late because I had spent 20 minutes WANDERING UP AND DOWN SEVENTIETH STREET, UNABLE TO READ ANY STREET SIGNS OR THE NUMBERS ON BUILDINGS.
He countered with "well, you DO need a prescription!"
I just muttered something under my breath and wandered out into the hallway, eyes stinging from dilation drops.
Posted at 12:08 PM | Comments (4)
There's a hole/within my soul
Genius little Japanese shockwave movie, courtesy of G.
Matty said, quite rightfully, that it's not unlike a music video version of an Orisinal game.
Posted at 12:22 AM | Comments (1)
Wednesday, June 12, 2002
"Don't Take Your Camera To Work" Day
In an effort to trim down the number of unnecessary gadgets on my person (I'm like a walking billboard: Apple (PowerBook and iPod, 24/7), Nokia, Handspring, Leica, Marlboro) I decided not to take my camera to work with me today.
Fast forward to 3pm this afternoon. The restaurant attached to my club is basically empty. Except one table. Which is taken up by Natalie P*rtman. Bah.
I consoled myself by repeating a mantra over and over.
"She looked like a hippie at the MTV Movie Awards. Looked like a hippie. Looked like a hippie."
I thought I got through it all pretty well. Of course, then the day went from bad to worse. La P*rtman left, it started to pour, 78 ten-year-olds arrived for a birthday party, and all my friends backed out of film-watching plans for the evening.
Bah. And double bah.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go listen to Elvis & Burt's divine "God Give Me Strength" and tell my boyfriend that the only person with access to the boltcutters that will let us put our air-conditioner in the window is on vacation for 11 more days.
Posted at 07:06 PM | Comments (0)
Reason #874...
...that I have not upgraded to OS X: Use of the term "haxies"...has there ever been a WORSE term for a computer program?? It makes me violently ill. Next.
Posted at 12:34 AM | Comments (2)
Monday, June 10, 2002
Introducing the Vermicious Kids
Look, I have a posse! Introducing:
Laura Llew
Caitlin Pigtails
The Boy G
Christiaan
Mark, international stud
Marie
and Mandee
That makes 2 refugees from pit*s, 1 from di*ryl*nd, 2 from bl*gsp*t, and 2 from homegrown weblogging systems. They're some of my bestest pals from IRC and with my luck they will have their templates sorted out more quickly than I ever will.
And since Mark thinks I need to talk about tight butts more or something, I'll just let you all know that 1. I saw Mike Albo's weiner last night, and 2. yes, The Boy G looks exactly like James Franco, and he's the finest piece of barely-legal tail in London. Click away, boys and girls.
Posted at 09:56 AM | Comments (0)
iPods around the world
Every so often I take a look at the iPods Around the World Gallery at iPodLounge.com... My favorites are the ones where people use the mirorred back of the iPod to create neat shots like this, this or this.
I'd like to try taking a few shots like that but 1. I feel like a big twat hauling out All My Gadgets on the street and 2. It's a bitch and a half keeping that thing free of fingerprints.
Posted at 12:17 AM | Comments (1)
Sunday, June 09, 2002
Ladies and gentlemen...
...tonight we're off to see the fantastic Mr. Murray Hill in his new show at my place-of-employment. We're going with out upstairs neighbor Chris, a thirty-something guy from California who told us he was "glad there was some family" in the building when he moved in. He has wanted to go out with us for weeks and weeks and we keep putting him off... I'm figuring if we hang out at a show I booked, I'll have the home field advantage. Hopefully I can dazzle him by kissing some faux-celebrities hello... then we won't have to worry about any conversation getting in the way.
Wish me luck!
Posted at 06:51 PM | Comments (0)
diddle my skittle
Counted cross-stitched kits of your favorite artists' record sleeves. Including Peaches, Belle & Sebastian, Chicks on Speed and the Strokes. Coming soon are Craig David, Kylie and Fischerspooner. I am DYING over these things. Miss Llew, I don't know WHERE you found this, but I worship you and your informants. I'm sending this thing in to Popbitch with your name on it, dearie.
Posted at 12:44 AM | Comments (1)
Friday, June 07, 2002
Head. Hurts. Not. So. Good. At. This.
Oh. Yeah. So. Movable Type. It sure has, uh, a lot of templates! I haven't done any of 'em yet, I've been too busy setting up A NEW PROJECT which will be annouce-a-lated on Monday. But it will all be good and happy and templated soon. Promise. In the meantime, I guess you can hit Comment there and leave a comment in some strange, unmatching, MT-default-looking comment-y type box. Just to prove to me that "you" exist.
