Archive | October, 2005

Word.

20 Oct

I think I may have coined two words during dinner tonight.

monoblogamist (mon-o-blog-a-mist) n. A person who regularly only reads one blog, either by choice, or due to time constraints or lack of interest, or because the blog he or she has found is so entertaining that no other site can compete. David likes reading “Martin’s Musings” and has decided not to read any other blogs out of loyalty to Martin. — also: monoblogamy, the practice of only reading one blog

polyblogamist (pol-ee-blog-a-mist) n. A person with the habit of reading multiple blogs regularly. Heather is a blog fan who reads “Martin’s Musings,” “Planet Gordon” and “Universal Hub” daily. — also: polyblogamy, the practice of reading multiple blogs

Use these today and help spread the word(s).

When You’re Weary …

18 Oct

I received the following press release today:

<< Executive producer Sharon Osbourne has announced the Tuesday, October 18 release of a star-studded recording of Eric Clapton’s “Tears in Heaven” exclusively on iTunes to benefit the victims of Hurricane Katrina and survivors of December’s devastating tsunami in Southeast Asia. The special song — originally recorded following the tsunami, but unreleased until now — features vocals from Elton John, Mary J. Blige, Rod Stewart, Josh Groban, Gwen Stefani, Ozzy Osbourne, Andrea Bocelli, Steven Tyler, Phil Collins, Katie Melua, Robert Downey, Jr., Pink, Gavin Rossdale, Kelly Osbourne and Scott Weiland, with music performed by Velvet Revolver.

iTunes will forward the song’s entire $.99 download fee to “Save the Children,” which will help fund the long-term rebuilding of the lives of children affected by the natural disasters. Donations made in the U.S. will go directly to the Hurricane Katrina victims, while monies received outside the U.S. will be assigned to the tsunami relief fund. >>

Now, I’m all for charity and the contributions of musicians and singers following tragic events, but, um, couldn’t Sharon Osbourne have picked a better song? Something hopeful, and not depressing or inappropriate given the context? Were all the good songs taken? What about “Bridge Over Troubled Water“?

Somebody at the Globe Likes Me …

18 Oct

Now I know I’m not writing Pulitzer Prize-level stuff here, but for the second time in three days, my blog has been quoted in the Boston Globe.

Today I’m in the “Sidekick” section writing about two movies I saw this weekend, Elizabethtown, which I hated, and Capote, which I loved. Check me out!

(Since “Sidekick” isn’t online, I scanned the quote; click on the image to see it bigger. And here’s a link to the first quote from Sunday’s paper.)

Salt of the Earth

18 Oct

Thanks to my sister and her fiancee for one of the best laughs I’ve had in a long time.

On Epicurious, the online recipe site, you’ll find recipes for most every dish — including “Salted Water for Boiling.” (Yes, I guess some people need a recipe for that.) But that’s not the laugh, see.

The site allows for comments from readers, and this particular recipe, which went up in November 2001, has so far accumulated 637. That’s six hundred and thirty seven reviews about boiled saltwater. Here’s one posted just a couple days ago by “kinwart,” a reader from from Southern California:

I hated this recipe. I didn’t have any water so I used juice and I don’t like salt so I substituted with baking powder. It was nasty. Don’t waste your time.

When you have the time and want a laugh, click here to read the other 636. (It’ll help if you’re in a particularly silly mood.) You’ll thank me later.

Oh No, Yoko

17 Oct


That’s it, folks. You’re looking at the best magazine cover of the last 40 years — at least according to the American Society of Magazine Editors.

You may recall that back on September 29, I posted something about ASME’s competition to select the best magazine covers of the last 40 years. Well, the winners have been chosen, and John and Yoko top the list.

If they say so.

Coming in second was the shot of Demi Moore looking large and lovely on the August 1991 cover of Vanity Fair, followed by an April 1968 photo from Esquire of boxer Muhammad Ali with arrows in his body (a cover that Radar magazine recently parodied with Tom Cruise standing in for Ali). The Saul Steinberg drawing of New York’s West Side dwarfing the rest of the country, published in The New Yorker on March 29, 1976, came in fourth. Esquire‘s May 1969 image of Andy Warhol drowning in a can of tomato soup took the fifth spot.

For the complete list of 40, click here. Of course, the famous National Geographic cover that we all know is on the list (#10 — I’d have ranked it higher), as is the cover of the first issue of JFK Jr.’s George with Cindy Crawford made up like George Washington (#22). There are three 9/11-related covers, and a five-way tie (!!) for #37 that includes Time‘s infamous “Yep, I’m Gay” cover with Ellen Degeneres and Fast Company‘s “Brand Called You” cover.

It’s a pretty interesting — though just a bit odd — group. I mean, I’d never pick the John and Yoko cover as the best cover, though it is a great one. But then again, they didn’t ask me, did they? And considering the examples I cited in my previous post, it’s probably better that they didn’t. 🙂

So This Is Morning World …

17 Oct


It’s official: I’m not a morning person. Had to get up early (i.e.: at 6 am) to take care of some car repairs and even when I got out of the bathroom post-shower and washing up it was still dark out. I’m the kind of guy who will hit snooze every 9 minutes for an hour just because he doesn’t like the song playing on the radio, or because it just didn’t feel right and I needed 9 more minutes, so I just can’t get behind all those people who wake up early by choice. Sure, no one likes staying in the office too late (myself included), and I’d wake up early for work if I had to, but if given the choice of being here at 8 am or staying until 7 pm, I’ll take the later option. Waking up early is just no fun. And no, I’m not a coffee drinker. So right now I’m chugging from a can of Coke (diet, because we were all out of regular. Argh).

Happy Monday y’all.

Tru Story

17 Oct

What a difference a day makes.

Saw a much better movie Sunday night: Capote.

It’s the story of Truman Capote during the time he was writing In Cold Blood. Capote is played by the always-reliable Philip Seymour Hoffman, one of my favorite actors, and Hoffman gives an awesome performance.

Capote’s a fey, completely self-involved man, who gets a bit too close to the story he’s writing about, yet retains his single-minded focus on writing the book that will change literature forever — something he knows (and doesn’t hesitate to say) even before he’s written a chapter.

Anyway, without going into too much detail, I’ll just say Hoffman’s great and I really liked this movie. It’s as good as Elizabethtown was bad.

I give it an A.

What’s the Lesser of Two Evils?

16 Oct

Over the summer, when I was working until 9, 10 or 11pm, I’d come home each night to a blinking notification that I had voice mail. And I’d be excited, of course, because after a pretty solitary and lonely evening, the possibility of some love from a friend or family member was just what I needed.

But it never failed: the messages would always be from telemarketers informing me that I’d been preapproved for a credit card, or the entry that I or a family member or friend had submitted had been chosen and I’d won a trip, or that I could consolidate my mortgage payments (note: I rent, not own), or that a satellite TV provider would be in my area … You all know what these calls sound like. And my caller ID would be filled with “Unknown Caller” or “Ocean Glass” or “Iowa” or “Michigan” or other random IDs.

And I found that there really was not much more depressing than coming home from work so late again to find all these messages and have none of them be from people you actually know. Talk about adding insult to injury.

So a couple of months ago, I finally signed up for the National Do Not Call Registry. The thing works like a charm; no more telemarketing calls, no more random IDs on the caller ID. (Alright, maybe an occasional one or two.) In fact, almost no calls at all.

But you know what? I’m not sure this is so much better. I keep asking myself what’s worse: coming home after a long day to messages, even if they are from telemarketers, or coming home to nothing. And no, this is not a plea for people I know to call me. It’s just something of a discussion topic, I suppose, even if it’s a discussion I’m having with myself. Personally, in hindsight, I think I may have liked the calls. Maybe it was their frequency that got annoying. (Ehhhh, maybe not.) I mean, after all, it’s nice to be called by people. Who doesn’t like attention? I don’t know.

So what do you think? Is it worse to have no messages waiting or to have multiple messages from telemarketers?

As Seen In …

16 Oct

If you’ve read the “City Weekly” section of today’s Boston Globe, maybe you’ve seen the Blog Log written by Adam Gaffin, who runs Universal Hub. And maybe you’ve seen his reference to my blog and the posting I did on my commute into work on September 30. It’s a nice plug. Thanks, Adam.

It’s a Fiasco

16 Oct

What a bummer when one of your favorite filmmakers makes a bad movie.

And yet, that’s exactly what Cameron Crowe has done with Elizabethtown. It’s miscast, poorly acted, overly long, and just not good.

If you’ve seen it, say it with me: the film is a fiasco.

Perhaps the only good thing about it is the soundtrack, which includes Elton John’s “My Father’s Gun” and one of my recent favorite songs, I Nine’s “Same in Any Language.”

But even despite that, I give the film a D. That’s D for disappointment.

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