Archives for the month of: March, 2007

Cookie Monster roundup

Friday, 30 March, 2007, //

Cookie Monster was always my favorite Sesame Street character (and possibly my favorite children's character of all time, though I might have to give that one some more thought before I commit to it). Cookie is 100% pure id, and about as entertaining and endearing as could be imagined.

Last night I went on a Cookie Monster clip rampage on YouTube. In case you need a little Cookie to brighten up your day, here's what I found (embedded video doesn't work in RSS though, so head on over to the actual post):

Cookie Monster in the Library

This one contains everything I loved as a child: a library and Cookie Monster.

Cookie Monster Using a Commodore 64 (I think?)

And this one has everything I love as a supposed adult: Cookie Monster and computers! "I bet computer cookies taste a lot like oatmeal!"

Cookie Monster's Secret Passion: Pillows

Cookie Monster loves all life's little pleasures. Not just cookies, but also big soft fluffy cuddly pillows!

Yes, there's even more Cookie after the jump.

Read the rest of this entry »

Categories culture, education, fun

crisis averted: finally watched The Matrix

Thursday, 29 March, 2007, //

The Matrix image from mavitm.com forum

I did expect an outpouring of concern from my many loyal readers after admitting that I'd dreamt about Second Life last month despite having never even used it, but boy was I surprised when the main source of worry was the tangentially related fact that I'd never seen The Matrix. Apparently this state of affairs was highly disturbing to my friends and colleagues and necessitated immediate remedy.

Well, I finally watched it a few weeks ago, courtesy of my recently renewed netflix membership. And it was pretty good, although I felt like I'd already seen it, thanks to the collective unconscious wikipedia.

But the plot line really reinforces the point I was making about the Second Life hype anyway: Irrational, experientially driven, life-loving humans will never abandon their physical bodies in favor of a virtual world willingly—we'd have to be forced to do so by the evil machines that want to use our bodies as batteries. Clearly!

As they say, "the imperfect is our paradise."

And, no, I don't plan to see the sequels.

Categories culture, technology

Q: what did we call remix culture in the 80s?

Wednesday, 28 March, 2007, //

cover of plunderphonics EP

A: Plunderphonics (click the "p" for an explanation or stroll on over to wikipedia).

Or at least that's what John Oswald called it. From his essay by the same name:

All popular music (and all folk music, by definition), essentially, if not legally, exists in a public domain. Listening to pop music isn't a matter of choice. Asked for or not, we're bombarded by it. In its most insidious state, filtered to an incessant bass-line, it seeps through apartment walls and out of the heads of walk people. Although people in general are making more noise than ever before, fewer people are making more of the total noise; specifically, in music, those with megawatt PA's, triple platinum sales, and heavy rotation. Difficult to ignore, pointlessly redundant to imitate, how does one not become a passive recipient?

For an idea of how Oswald himself avoided passive recipiency, here's a video (made by a fan, not by Oswald) set to his rearrangement of "Hello, I Love You":

At any rate, plunderphonics is the best word I've heard all week.

See also: More interesting Christian Marclay video via kottke.

Categories art, culture, language

nourishment for snackers

Monday, 26 March, 2007, //

photo of meze from Istanbul Guide dot net

photo of meze from IstanbulGuide.net

I'm a certified grazer—I like to try a little bit of everything (well, everything vegetarian) and a lot of desert, but I'm usually hard-pressed to choke down an entire entrée. Until this weekend I thought that my only options for satisfying my preferred mode of eating were tapas, dim sum, Ethiopian food, or pissing off wait staff by refusing to order a main course at other types of restaurants.

But I've got a new addition to my mental list of snacker-friendly cuisine: meze!

According to wikipedia, small dishes called meze are common in a variety of Mediterranean countries, including Bulgaria, Turkey, Greece, and Serbia, but I found out about it during my pre-dining research on a Turkish spot on the UES called Beyoglu. According to its 2002 NYT review, Beyoglu's original owner insisted that it was a meyhane rather than a "Turkish restaurant." Apparently in Turkey meyhane are bars that serve meze dishes along with alcohol. Beyoglu is now under different ownership according to a more recent New York mag review, but its menu is still (delightfully!) appetizer-heavy.

photo of raki from wikipedia

Meyhane traditionally served wine, according to wikipedia, but now more commonly feature raki, the Turkish "national drink," which I got to try for the first time at Beyoglu. Raki is an anise-flavored liquor (you recognize anise, which tastes like really strong licorice, from your Oscar Wilde-inspired research on absinthe) that arrives as a clear liquid with a dish full of ice on the side. When you drop in the ice cubes (which seems to be the right thing to do under the circumstances), they melt almost immediately and your raki turns milky white.

Raki has an extremely strong flavor, but it was perfect for sipping with meze. Although Beyoglu got panned a bit by NYC nosh (and I agree that the octopus was chewy), the hummus and puffy bread were amazingly good and any place that encourages ordering multiple appetizers and no main courses gets an almost immediate gold star (and a spot in the sidebar) in my book.

Categories culture, nyc

google promises to anonymize search data

Tuesday, 20 March, 2007, //

Somehow with all the π day excitement I managed to miss this important announcement: Google has promised to strip your IP address and cookie information from search logs after 18-24 months (unless you're using their terrifying search history feature), making the increasingly ominous database of intentions grow pretty darn anonymous (and less frightening) as it ages.

Like everyone else, of course, I'd much rather have this information anonymized from the get-go. Do google employees really need to know exactly how many times a day I google myself? But certainly this is a step in the correct direction and should help avoid reiteration of the AOL embarrassment.

Categories internet, technology

π day roundup

Wednesday, 14 March, 2007, //

pi day dot org logo

I have to say, I don't remember anyone talking about π day last year (or any year before that for that matter), but this year it's been all the buzz, thanks in part (I'm guessing) to piday.org. Some folks at my office even ordered a pizza π at 1:59 pm, which is "π minute" according to the π day wikipedia article.

Coincidentally enough, I watched the movie π for the first time ever just this past weekend. And my über-secretive pun-making co-worker has an o(π)nion on the matter too.

Categories fun

need help deciding if something sucks?

Wednesday, 7 March, 2007, //

sucks/rocks logo

A coworker just pointed out the hilarity that is sucks/rocks, which takes a literal interpretation of search engine results to the next level by using the Yahoo! Search API to tally the number of results for any term you enter as phrased positively or negatively with the following terms:

negative: X sucks, X is lame, X is crap, I hate X.

positive: X rocks, X is sweet, X is awesome, I love X.

Naturally, inquiring minds will want to know what sucks/rocks thinks of a handful of major search engines (including, ok, a few non-search engines that do some search-engine-type work):

Categories fun, internet