A few years back, I bought a Brita water cooler. It's like one of those coolers you would get from Sparkletts, but instead of having to have bottled water delivered, you just fill up a jug with tap water, and the cooler filters it and keeps it cool. Very handy, and more environmentally friendly than bottled water. Unfortunately, last night it sprung a leak, right after I had filled it up, spilling three gallons of water onto the kitchen floor. Quite a mess. Since I had just filled it, and there was still water in the cooler's reservoir, I just figured I put the bottle back on wrong somehow, so I put some more water in the bottle, and watched it for awhile, but soon I discovered there definitely had a leak in the machine itself. I don't know where the receipt is, but I got it about two years ago, and I think there's about a 50/50 chance the warranty has expired (and without the receipt, I'm hosed either way). No big deal, I thought, since the thing wasn't that expensive ($80 or so, if memory serves), but now I find the product appears to have been discontinued. Maybe they leak too much. But I can't find a suitable replacement for this unit. There are coolers that just take tap water, which I could live with, but without the filtering, why not just drink from the tap? Which I guess is what I'll end up doing, but if anyone knows where I can find a discontinued Brita water cooler, let me know.

The Atari 2600 is 30 years old this month. Makes me want to break out one of my classic-gaming anthologies and fire up some old-school Atari, and wonder how I ever found those games fun.

And speaking of Atari anthologies, when are we going to see E.T. in one of those collections? That I would pay for. They could do a super-deluxe version, sort of like the Showgirls DVD. Can video games be so-bad-they're-good?

LOLsecretz combines PostSecret with LOLcatz in a way which seems inevitable, in retrospect. Fun times.

Marcel Marceau, dead at 84.

The Onion has shocking news about the new Wes Anderson film. Actually surprisingly, Kumar Pallana isn't in the film, though I don't think he was in The Life Aquatic, either.

New report documents the danger of rising carbon dioxide levels in our oceans. We have a new exhibit on global warming at the aquarium, which I thought was quite well done, and while most of the stuff wasn't news to me, the discussion of the effects of the rising acidicy of the ocean due to increasing carbon dioxide levels was, and was rather disturbing.

I started volunteering with my local library this week. My plan had been to start this summer, but because I took my sweet time in applying, and because the background check and health screening took longer than I anticipated, I'm starting only a week before school starts. But that's okay, I intended to keep volunteering during the school year; I find the more things I have going, the more I end up getting done, and I'm more likely to do well in school when I'm kept busy elsewhere as well. Next week, they're going to start my training as an internet docent, but for now, I've just been shelving books. Nice to see that the kids are still checking out the Encyclopedia Brown books. Overall, I find the experience rewarding, though I'm a bit worn out by the end of the shift, from all the bending over to the low shelfs.

This Sunday was the 15th Annual Sea Chantey Festival on board the Star of India here in San Diego. Always one of the highlights of the year for me, and for the most part this year was no exception. Oceans Apart was sort of the headliner, the big non-local act, and were rather good. But some of the local acts are my favorites, particularly Ken Graydon and Gilman Carver. Graydon was good, which was a relief, as he seemed to be a bit off last year, and Carver was excellent as always, and I was very happy to see he had a CD for purchase this year, finally. It's just a transfer of the cassette, so the sound quality is what you would expect, but it's nice to have the album in a format I can hear on my iPod.

In case you're wondering whether or not you want to make the 16th Annual Sea Chantey Festival a part of your life, here's a couple poor-quality videos of Gilman Carver, to give you a general idea of just what this event is all about:

And I have some photos up at flickr.

I feel like I should say more about the festival, but I'm very tired, and so I'm going to say that saying something is better than saying nothing, and just leave it at that. Fun times.

I failed to report the death recently of major-league pitcher Bill Henry, which was good, since he turned out to be a fraud. Actually, I only heard about him due to the hoax, and its eerie resemblance to a recent plot from Gil Thorp. Now, the New York Times continues the fraudulent-behavior-belied-by-obituary's-dissemination theme with a discussion of an unscrupulous, or senile, photographer. So remember, friends, if you're living a lie, make your final wishes very clear: No Obituary. Stress your humility, or make up a story about a murder rap in Idaho. More interesting than a padded resume.

SCO Group files for bankruptcy. It only took about two weeks longer than I thought it would.

My picture made it up on the Comic Curmudgeon today, showing off my new shirt and mug. Same pictures here, but now with the validation only the authority offered by someone else's blog can provide.

The fabulous merchandise I purchased from the Comics Curmudgeon arrived on Thursday. It occurred to me that I didn't have any pictures of Sable, and what better occasion than the arrival of my Cassandra Cat mug to rectify the situation?

Tanner was barking, so Sable wouldn't stick around for long, so these photos were the best I could get. In answer to your questions, yes, my front yard is scattered with Club Anti-Theft devices and bags of charcoal, and no, despite appearances here, I do not weigh 600 pounds.

I signed up to volunteer at the library a while back, and the end result was I spend this morning with a man cupping my genitalia. Apparently, all county library volunteers have to go through the same physical exam required of county employees, so today I had to get a TB test and a physical exam. Pretty routine stuff, though, not having drank much water this morning, and having used the facilities before I left home, I had one hell of a time filling the cup, and it looked like the nurse had to improvise to have enough urine to complete the drug test. I also learned I'm color-blind. Not a huge surprise, I'd suspected as much, but I'd also tended to think the color-blindness test in my high school biology textbook was just full of crap. But being put through a series of the tests, and not seeing a damn thing in about a third of them, I'll have to accept the diagnosis. Guess I'll not be becoming a pilot after all, what with the color-blindness. And the crippling fear of heights. And fear of airplanes. And the fact that I'm a bit of a dullard.

Anyway, hopefully this means I can start volunteering at the library soon. I'd hoped to spend my summer helping out there, but took my time in applying (ill, then decided to wait until after Comic-Con), and didn't realize the background check/physical process takes so long. But now, once I go back Monday for the results of the TB test, hopefully they'll put me to work soon.

Madeleine L'Engle, dead at 88. All I can remember about A Wrinkle in Time is that I liked it very much, and that I associate it very strongly, every time I think about it, with eating strips of sharp cheddar and monterey jack cheese while I read the book at my grandmother's kitchen table.

Luciano Pavarotti, dead at 71.

So, today was the big day for us iPod fanboys, as Apple announced their new iPod lines. I refrained from joining in the rumor-mongering, but what I was hoping for was an iPod with at least 120GB of storage, and iPhone-like touch-screen capabilities. And Apple came out with both features, but unfortunately not in the same iPod. For $349, you can buy an "iPod Classic" with 160GB capacity. I figure that's more room than I'll be needing anytime soon, but that's what I thought when I bought the 80GB iPod, and that one's nearly full. In addition to the extra capacity, the iPod Classic features a revised operating system (based on OS X, no doubt), but that doesn't interest me much; I've never found Cover Flow all that exciting, and it is especially irrelevant to how I listen to music on the go.

What I was excited about was getting the non-phone capabilities of the iPhone, and that is now possible. The iPod Touch looks absolutely amazing, but at 16GB of storage in the largest model, it's useless to me. Reading the various live-blogging coverage of the press event, I realized, when the iPod Touch followed iPod Classic, it was going to have less capacity; reports that the iPod Touch would use flash memory instead of a hard drive must be correct, and no way Apple can economically provide 160GB of storage in flash format. So I was starting to think if I could get by with 40 or 60 GB of storage; my music collection, without podcasts and video, is only 57 GB, and to be honest, I only listen to a relatively small portion of that on my iPod, sticking to a few familiar playlists. But I just can't see 16GB working for me at all. Which is a shame, because other than that, the iPod Touch is exactly what I was hoping for (though a radio tuner would have been nice).

I was all prepared to declare my current iPod a useless hunk of junk, and run out to my local merchant and demand two of each model of the new iPods. But now I'm not so sure. I understand where Apple's coming from; they decided to stick to flash memory for the iPod Touch, and large-capacity iPods with flash aren't currently cost-effective, so they're throwing a bone to those of use who demand storage space, and releasing the 160GB iPod Classic, to hold us over until next September, when surely they will have an iPod Touch of that capacity or more to release. And I would certainly not mind having the 160GB iPod. But I don't think I can justify the expense, while my current iPod functions. So here's hoping something terrible happens to my iPod real soon.

Used book store owner burns books in "protest." He apparently had some excess books to dispose of, and couldn't come up with a means of disposal that satisfied him. He received lots of advice on how to dispense the books, he said, but none that didn't involve expense, or that "would have us provide our inventory to organizations that compete directly with used bookstores." In other words, some fools wanted him to donate the books to those dens of iniquity, libraries. How dare a library try to reuse books for the public good; not like this noble man, Tom Wayne, who reuses the intellectual property of others for his personal financial gain. I have nothing against used book stores, but still; what a jackass.

The Johnny Cash Show is coming to DVD this month. Looks promising. I went to JohnnyCash.com looking for more info, and that's where I discovered they have a Johnny Cash podcast, to which of course I immediately subscribed and begin downloading the back episodes (about 12, total). Haven't heard it yet, but it will be awesome, no doubt. I can't figure out how to link to it directly on their website, but you can subscribe through iTunes. I'm trying to cut down on my podcast subscriptions, since I never seem to listen to them, but this is one I'll definitely make time for (and shake my head ruefully when I consider how many This American Life episodes I have to get caught up on)

I warned you, Pearls Before Swine. No good could come from antagonizing the "classic" comics. But while I waited for Mary Worth to bring the pain, I was blindsided by the arrival of the Pro-Circus extremists.

NBC soon to be out of iTunes. Seems like a poor move on their part, as purchasing TV shows is pretty much an impulse decision, and putting any roadblocks up should cut revenues severely. I know I've bought several TV shows iTunes; mostly episodes of The Office I missed before I got a DVR (or when my crappy cable-company DVR malfunctioned), as well as a few very-special-episodes of The Daily Show or The Colbert Report. But if I can't get it for $2 from iTunes, I'll probably give up (I can get it for the same price on my Xbox 360, but that requires buying points in an oddly-priced bundle, and I can't load them on my iPod, so that probably won't happen). I have noted a fair amount of current TV shows are now available for streaming on Netflix, but I don't think the current season is available, so it doesn't help with playing catch-up. So NBC will now be out $2 when I miss a show I like, and if its a show where continuity is a big issue, I'll probably stop watching the show (missing an episode of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip finally gave me an excuse to bail on that train-wreck). So way to go, NBC, good luck getting people to pay $5 for something they can get for free.

Did you ever see that show on VH-1, that showed clips from YouTube, along with helpful commentary to help you understand why it was funny? ("He got hit in the nuts, that's funny!") Apparently, Viacom never paid anything or got any permision to use those clips, but will threaten you with the Hammer of the Gods if you put a clip of the stolen footage on YouTube. So, when a big corporation does it, it's fair use; when you do it, it's piracy.

As devoted readers of this blog have no doubt picked up on by now, the vast majority of posts in this forum are simply padding, because if every single post I made was about the damned sexiness of that cat in that children's comic strip, they'd lock me up, so I need to talk about non-psychotic things every once in awhile. But of course it's all just a matter of biding time until I can mention Cassandra Cat here again. So imagine the hysterics I found myself in when I visited The Comics Curmudgeon today and learned that they have...are you ready for this?...Cassandra Cat merchandise for sale! Which wouldn't be too surprising, as the site offers a wide array of merchandise, but none of the other merchandise features actual licensed artwork, due to copyright law (apparently, selling something that doesn't belong to you is somehow considered stealing). But apparently, Slylock Fox creator Bob Weber, Jr., has actually designed the logo himself!

Of course, my first reaction, on seeing this, was, "Damn, there is no way I could pull off wearing this in public." So, naturally, I decided to order the thong. But on further reflection, I think the coffee mug is a good bet, well-suited to my spiraling caffeine addiction. I think it says a lot about me, that as much as I enjoyed Aldomania, or Molly the Bear, I never bought any merch, but within moments of learning of the existence of Cassandra Cat merchandise, I've whipped out my credit card and am ready to order! I do think I'll pick up an Aldomania shirt, though, for old times sake (the one-year anniversary of Aldo's death is fast approaching).

Richard Jewell, dead at 44.

So, I was at Del Taco for lunch on Saturday. The Del Taco by my house has one of those crane games, where you can win a stuffed animal. Lately, I'd noticed the prizes were a bit odd. The standard stuffed animals filled the case, but at the top, the most easily accessible prize for some time was a Dwight David Eisenhower plush doll. Because kids just love Ike. Eventually, someone apparently won that doll. I didn't see that, but on Saturday, as I walked up to the glass door, I saw a kid of about nine or ten playing with a doll of about 18 inches of height, wearing a conservative suit and spotting a beard. The doll was dancing wildly, much to the boy's delight. Turns out, he was the proud winner of a Ulysses S. Grant plush doll. I'd always wondered how people felt, after no doubt dumping dollar bill after dollar bill into the machine, when they win a peculiarly designed plush doll of a relatively dull former president (a General Grant doll I could see, but this was a President Grant doll). Now I know; the reaction is bemused excitement. And it turns out President Grant's secret passion was playing in the ball pits at second-teir fast food restaurants.

So last summer (or thereabouts; I'm saying it was last summer for our purposes here), I read and enjoyed very much The Trouble With Tom, which follows the travels of Thomas Paine's body over the century or so following his demise. So I felt it only fitting, this summer, that I should read Stealing Lincoln's Body by Thomas J. Craughwell, which gives a similar treatment to the remains of the Great Emancipator. In particular, as the title suggests, the book recounts a little-known plot to steal the remains of Lincoln, and hold them for ransom, demanding $200,000 and the release of a convicted counterfeiter. Unforunately, this book is not nearly as engaging as Paul Collin's treatment of Paine, mostly because the story of the conspiracy to steal Lincoln is pretty simple and dull. The crooks were fairly inept, their capture relatively routine, and the story most notable for the paranoia it led to in keeping the bodies (Abraham and Mary Todd) safe from further attempts (Lincoln's corpse was moved repeatedly, his casket opened twice for identification purposes, before ultimately being entombed in concrete). The book uses this basic story as a framework for various digressions, some interesting (Lincoln's funeral, Mary Todd's battle with the Lincoln Monument association, the creation of a secret society to conceal the remains of Lincoln), but most not too terribly gripping. Overall, it's a quick read, well-written, if a bit too strident in telling the life story of every bit player in the scandal, and is worth a look for those interested in Lincoln, or the abduction of corpses for ransom.

It's also worth a look for people like me, who intend to make reading about the corpses of famous Americans an annual tradition. So here's hoping someone writes a book along those lines for next summer, or else I'll have to attempt to defile the corpse of Millard Fillmore (I intend to say that Mallard Fillmore gave me the idea) to give the nation's quirky historians fodder for a new book. Or maybe read a book about who's buried in Grant's tomb. Grant's tomb...hey, that's a nice segue into my visit to Del Taco yesterday. Stay tuned for Del Taco/Ulysses S. Grant confluence madness, coming soon!

As an addendum to my previous post, I should share with you that I placed third in a blackjack tournament this evening at ClubUBT, winning another $75, thus doubling my winnings. So, I've been a member for about a month and almost paid for a full year's membership. Not too shabby.

Which probably raises a question amongst some of my readership: If you're doing so well, does that mean the average member of ClubUBT is a complete moron? Possibly. But I should note, the bulk of my winnings come from poker, at which I have about a decade of experience playing in casinos, so it's not too surprising that I've done well there, and doesn't necessarily reflect on the skill of the ClubUBT players as a whole. On the blackjack side, where I have very little tournament experience, I've done less well (as I'm not skilled at BJ tournaments, I will withhold judgement on the ability of the site's typical blackjack players) But as for what my personal opinion of the site's poker players is, based on what I've seen, I'd say that the players of ClubUBT are decent, but somewhat inexperienced. And don't seem to take into consideration the one-sided payouts of the tournaments, which are generally winner-take-all or something rather similar (I'm sidestepping the issue of points, which you can win in tournaments and allow you to enter other tournaments; in short, I'll just say that I believe some players play conservatively to guarantee themselves of at least winning some points, which seems to me a huge mistake). Furthermore, I don't see too much creative playing, and creative play implemented in exactly the wrong time. And I see a lot of players bust out of the tournament, despite having substantial chips, with low pocket pairs they probably should've folded pre-flop, but kept even after the flop hit with the paint. In the interest of keeping my personal observations my personal advantage at the tables, I won't talk about other specific plays that make me think the players are somewhat mediocre, but I think the way a community of players play low pocket pairs says a lot for their amount of experience.

So on the poker side, I say the players are not bad, but somewhat below the typical caliber seen in card rooms playing for substantial real money. That said, don't expect to see the sort of players you see playing in free games at places like Yahoo! With prizes on the line, people play accordingly. But if you're a solid player looking for entertainment with a possibility of winning money, this is a good spot to look.

Now, my strategy is to be more selective in tournament selection, look for the bigger prize money like the blackjack tournament I just won, and tournaments with merchandise prizes I want (the Blu-Ray DVD player is being given away Tuesday). Now if you'll excuse me, I have a poker tournament to play.

The New York Times has an article on the trade dispute between Antigua and the United States over online gambling. It's remarkable how the United States turned victory into defeat in this case; all they had to do to be in compliance with the W.T.O. order was outlaw domestic online gambling, which means placing horseracing bets online (to the best of my knowledge, this is the only online gambling legal in the U.S., though there could be some state lottery with an online component I'm unfamiliar with). Instead, the Bush administration and congress decided to act like children, pass further restrictions on online gambling while specifically excluding the horseracing industry from such legislation, choosing to ignore the W.T.O. (which, when China does it, is considered by the U.S. as an affront to Western Civilization). As Mark Mendel, Antigua's man in Geneva, notes, "This isn’t a case of forcing gambling on a population that has decided they don’t like it. This is the world’s biggest consumer and exporter of gambling services trying to prohibit a small country from developing its economy by offering these same services. And we find that deeply hypocritical.”

This seems like as good a time as any to discuss a new service the U.S.' draconian online gambling laws has forced me to resort to, Club UBT. Club UBT is a legal service which offers poker and blackjack tournaments. They are legal because the tournaments themselves are free, once you pay a membership fee, which starts at about $20/month (if you prepay quarterly or annually, you save a bit). They have a fair amount of tournaments throughout the day for small stakes ($10 winner-takes-all tourneys are commonplace), a few a day with larger payouts ($100-$200 total paid to the top four places), and about one a day with a "fabulous" prize (jewelry, electronics, etc.). They also have occasional satellites to win entry into larger tournaments, for instance, a $10,000 prize pool tournament in poker, or on the blackjack side you can win entry into a major, televised blackjack tournament at Barona casino (airfare is included, which does me no good, living thirty minutes from Barona--but I have won entry into the tournament to win entry into that tournament).

I've been a member about a month and a half, and at the conclusion of my two-week free trial membership, I purchased a quarterly membership for around $50. I do recommend Club UBT for those jonesing for an online gambling fix, and who aren't willing to play the game of pre-paid debit cards and cloak-and-daggar maneuvers to cash out from grey-market online casinos. But I recommend the service with some reservation. The prizes are fairly meager, though they seem to be adding more cash tournaments (though mostly in the $10-$20 prize pool range). And the merchandise prizes are mostly things I would never purchase for myself, and are of course appraised at full retail price. So, should you win a tournament and receive a $5,000 watch, your $5,000 win will be reported to the IRS, while you'll be lucky to sell it for half that (though if you're the type who wears $5,000 watches, it does look like a nice watch). And on the low end, the prizes look like things that would turn up in Big Lots and other stores at vastly reduced prices (I've seen the iHome iPod stereo for less than half what they claim it's worth). In fact, on their list of current prizes, only the Blu-Ray DVD player really interests me. But that's okay, as I've found enough cash tournaments to keep me entertained. And so far, I've won a total of $75, which was paid to me via check quite swiftly. Of course, for the amount of time I've put in playing tournaments, a profit of less than $25 is rather pathetic, but the point of this site, at least as things stand now, isn't to get rich, but to have fun playing poker and blackjack, and possibly turn a small profit or win a few trinkets. And hopefully, as they gain more subscribers, they will be able to offer more prizes.

One other thing I should note, as it was instrumental in my decision to become a paid member, is that a subscription to Club UBT includes a subscription to All-In magazine (I would not pay for this publication, but for free, it's a decent perk) and, more importantly, a membership with Las Vegas Advisor. I've had a membership with them off and on for several years; I didn't renew recently because I haven't made it to Vegas much. But including the membership (a $50/year value) with Club UBT makes it a great deal. The Advisor's newsletter is worth a read, and last I checked, the message boards were one of the few Vegas internet forums not overrun by trolls. But the main perk of a Las Vegas Advisor membership is their coupon book. For me, the value is moderate; I mostly just use the matchplay coupons, as most of my food in Vegas is comped anyway, and I generally travel solo. But in addition to gambling coupons (matchplays, free slot play, etc), there are great dining, lodging, and entertainment deals here. 50% off up to $50 on pretty much anything at the Palms, lots of great 2-for-1 buffets and shows, some nice room deals. The point is, the inclusion of the Las Vegas Advisor basically knocks about a quarter off the cost of Club UBT, if you assume you'd have joined LVA on your own for $50.

But even on its own, Club UBT is a decent deal. The most you can lose is your membership fee, you potentially can win a tidy profit (everything I win in the next two months or so is pure profit for me), the software, while not as good as the top tier online casinos, is perfectly acceptable, and it certainly satisfies my craving for gambling between trips to the Indian casinos. If you're a gambler, I'd recommend at least giving the two-week free trial a go (as I didn't cancel, I can't speak to the ease of cancellation, or lack thereof). And if you see Flealick raising, I'd get out of the way.

UPDATE: Since I was tooting my horn about my big $75 in winnings since I joined the site, I should mention that, less than 12 hours after writing this post, I had doubled my winnings to date up to $150, with a $75 third place in a blackjack tournament. So if it sounds like I'm bitching above about the prizes being meager, I'll concede that they do have some tournaments with decent prizes, given the membership fee.

On this day in 1960, Belka and Strelka (meaning "Whitey" and "Little Arrow," respectively), along with 40 mice, 2 rats, and numerous plants, became the first living organisms to leave the planet Earth and subsequently return safely from space.

In my last post, I mentioned sex in the back of a crowded theater, which reminded me of Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film For Theaters, which I finally got around to watching this week, and which features an opening number reminding us that indecent exposure is a class two felony. So I thought I would take this opportunity to say that the Aqua Teen movie was a huge mess, boring for the most part, but probably worth watching just for the musical number which bookends the film. But that's on YouTube, so maybe you could just skip the film (actually, there are funny moments throughout, but overall, it was pretty disappointing). Anyways, here's that opening:

I'd meant to mention the tragic passing of the famed publication Weekly World News, which I'd been known to impulse-buy on occasion, but never got around to it. But seeing as the late, great publication got a nod in the current, great Reynard Noir, I'll note the sad news now. I was at the grocery store this week, and the tabloids had some sort of Nicole Richie miscarriage drama on the cover (no sooner has the pregnancy is confirmed, than they turn to spreading rumors as to the end of the pregnancy), and I thought about how much I missed Bat Boy or the face of Satan appearing in emerging smoke somewhere.

Oh, and the strip that inspired today's Reynard Noir is notable in that it features a sexy human being. Sort of undermines the idea that the strip is a recruitment tool for furry fetishists, but looking at sexy reporter's vacant eyes, it's clear that all she offers is a life of soul-sucking conformity, picking out your china patterns at the Crate and Barrel, or whatever it is that squares do; it's Cassandra Cat who offers the thrills in life, whether it's the intrigue of an international jewel-heist conspiracy, some quick carnal pleasure in the back row of a crowded movie theater, or the simple pleasure of coming home from a long trip to be surprised by a nude woman in one's bath (which, of course, is just another example of the wonderful fantasy world that is the daily comic strip--in real life, coming home to a wet kitty in the bath, while hilarious, isn't particularly sexy). Cassandra's not even above donning a frumpy wig, going down to the mall, and goofing on the squares. I think the choice between fuzzy criminal mastermind and bipedal dimwit reporter is clear.

Today's quiz question: If I were to share today's post with a qualified psychologist, would it be grounds to have me involuntarily committed? Answer: If not, it should be.

UPDATE: Here's the Comic Curmudgeon's take on today's Slylock Fox. I share it for completeness' sake, and to share his implicit observation that Slylock Fox (god, it's hard not to type that as "Shylock Fox," which, incidentally, is also a strip I would love to read), in a nod to its young readership, must conceal "sexy" behind the euphemism "french."

Pearls Before Swine takes on the all-powerful soap opera comic industry. I hope Stephan Pastis knows what all-powerful juggernaut he's just angered; surely we all remember what Mary Worth did to Aldo Kelrast last year, and he liked Mary Worth.

I've been remiss in discussing my summer reading on this blog, but I just finished a rather unusual book that definitely warrants a mention: The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death. I encountered a fleeting reference to the studies in an interview recently, and immediately sought out this book, from 2004, which documents these macabre dollhouses and Frances Glessner Lee, who created them.

Basically, the Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death are a series of dioramas, meticulously created dollhouses which capture the initial state of repose of various people, whom have dropped dead under mysterious circumstances. All are based on reality to some degree, with most being a composite of several police investigations. Lee created these studies as an educational tool, to train first responders on how to observe, preserve and evaluate a crime scene; the goal of the studies is not necessarily to solve the crime, but to determine what evidence at the scene is pertinent, and what further tests should be performed by the medical examiner. Lee was an early proponent of what was then called legal medicine, and advocated for the creation of medical examiners offices (at the time, many coroners, appointed by patronage, had no medical training).

The book opens with an interesting essay about Lee and the studies, and about the gender and class politics under which Lee lived. But the bulk of the book is dedicated to depicting the studies, through descriptions, line drawing, and lots of pictures. Rather than being strictly representational, the photos take a more expressionistic approach, capturing the tension between the innocence of the form and the violence of the content, and the hope depicted externally in many of the studies through windows and paintings depicting more idyllic environs, a hope the victim, dead in their often squalid homes, failed to reach. And while there are disturbing photos of dolls having reached their grisly ends, most of the photos focus on the incidental details of their homes, the banal belongings that define a time and place, and ultimately, a life. Corrine May Botz, the author and photographer responsible for this volume, quotes Paul Auster regarding the objects of a dead man: "They are there and yet not there: tangible ghosts, condemned to survive in a world they no longer belong to. What is one to think, for example, of a closetful of clothes waiting silently to be worn again by a man who will not be coming back to open the door?" The preserved remnants of a life snuffed out are often more unsettling than the (admittedly creepy) dead dolls.

The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death would appeal to those whose interests run towards the macabre or the morbid, but it is not limited in its appeal to that audience. While the studies are not strictly speaking mysteries to be wrapped up neatly (though there is a general solution to the studies, since they are still used as a training tool, the solution to all but a handful of the studies is not provided--in general, the solutions are not too terribly hard to fathom, though the kitchen vignette really confounds me), fans of detective fiction and true crime should appreciate this book. And the story of Frances Glessner Lee, a woman whose ambitions were suppressed by the expectations for her gender and the heavy burden her wealthy family imposed upon her, offers interesting insights into the options available to upper-class women in the early twentieth century.

The book's Amazon page has some photos, and you can also see some photos and learn more from articles from American Medical News and 2wice (the former, written well before the publication of the book, has original photos, and more importantly, solutions not offered in the book).

A New York Times guest op-ed piece makes a stunning observation: Anyone notice this new coffee company called Starbucks? Apparently, if you want cream and sugar in your coffee, you put it in yourself. And they actually expect you to wait in line. I do believe I have the vapers just thinking about it! Slate has nominated Andy Rooney Stanley Fish as the author of the worst Op-Ed ever written, noting the disturbing undercurrent to his cluelessness:

One wants to feel sympathy for professor Fish in his distress. But although most of the unintentional humor in professor Fish's column comes from his comic cluelessness about things he thinks are "new" in the culture, this note of entitlement gives it a kind of nasty edge.

He concedes toward the close of his column: "[N]one of us has chosen to take over the jobs of those we pay to serve us."

Is it just me, or is there something grating in that phrase: "those we pay to serve us"? So distasteful, the life of the servant class, compared with the life of the mind.

Sonos, Sirius make deal to stream satellite radio throughout your home. I'm not a satellite radio subscriber, but I've looked at Sonos before. Nice service, but a bit expensive. Reasonably priced if you have a need for the service, a larger house with several people listening to different music, but for my personal need, it's not worth the price. But this caught my attention enough to read the article, and see that the "service" costs subscribers an extra $2.99 a month. Gee, I'm paying you $12.95 to listen to your music, and now, for only $3 more, I get the option of listening to select stations, in my home? Wow! What a crazy idea!

I remember when satellite radio came out, I thought it was going to be so revolutionary. Then the iPod revolution made it pretty much irrelevant. Yet they seem to think they can follow a cell phone business model, charging extra for random services that should be free. If I were a subscriber and was told I could pay extra for this "service," it seems like the sort of thing that would lead me to cancel my service in a pique. Boo, Sirius.

Now that I've written this, I actually went to the Sirius page, and realized the $3 fee isn't specifically for Sonos support, but for internet streaming in general; Sirius charges subscribers to listen online, through Sonos or through their own computer. Which seems even worse, in my opinion. Of course, that means their existing subscribers don't seem to mind, but considering Sirius is basically arguing that, without their proposed merger with XM, they cannot continue as a going concern, maybe they should wonder if incidental fees like this are scaring people away from the concept of satellite radio.

Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert may testify in YouTube lawsuit. The article says the exact purpose is unclear, but there are two obvious reasons they may be called. Most obviously, they both appeared on YouTube in spades, until their corporate overlords had them removed. But also, both of their respective programs rely heavily on "fair use" to ridicule the newsmakers and the news media. Though since I think Google's defense relies more on safe harbor provisions of the DMCA, rather than fair use, I'd guess they want the comedians to testify about how YouTube exposure benefited them both.

Or perhaps they'll be asked to testify about how, now that they're clips are available from Comedy Central's Motherload site, rather than YouTube, trying to watch them online is an infuriating process that causes their fans to die a little inside every day. For God's sake, content providers, learn from the music industry and make a deal with YouTube now.

In case you think the debate over net neutrality is purely theoretical, you should know that British ISPs are demanding payouts from the BBC, lest they throttle their new video service.

UPDATE: Also, much as been made by net neutrality advocates of Pearl Jam's censorship at the hands of AT&T. It turns out, they're not the only ones.

Court rules Novell owns Unix copyright, effectively putting an end to SCO Group's legal threats to Linux and Linux users. I don't use Linux personally, but am glad this ridiculous case is finally over (though SCO Group, showing the strong grip on reality they've always possessed, claim things are just peachy). If SCO Group hasn't filed for bankruptcy by the end of the month, I'd be surprised.

The cases against three New Orleans doctors charged with murder have been closed, after the grand jury refused to indict. I thank the grand jury for standing up against this ridiculous prosecution, and hope the civil suits facing the doctors are similarly dropped. As I've said before, if their was a crime here, it was abandoning the patients for weeks without food or water, not administering a drug, and as far as I can tell, the people charged were the caregivers, not those in charge of administering the evacuation. I'm glad the doctors no longer need to fear the criminal case.

Merv Griffin, dead at 82. If I were an editorial cartoonist for a medium-sized midwestern paper, I would be taking to my drafting table, and coming up with some conversation between St. Peter and Mr. Griffin, in which his heirs lose their inheritance when Griffin fails to respond to St. Peter in the form of a question. But sadly, I lack the quick wit to come up with the snappy dialogue such a cartoon hinges upon.

I apologize for the delay in updating the Wii/Jenga Confluence News of the Week (WJCNotW) feature, but I'd been waiting until I had more to report (one article does not a round-up make). But for now, this is all I got:

Physics nerfed for Jenga.

Consider that one more giant flashing red warning light over the Wii-Jenga enterprise. Of course, it could be that the physics aren't so nerfed as the blocks are hella heavy. Like steel girders. Maybe in the fantasy land of the Wii, the limits of our puny human muscles are no longer relevant, and Jegna Tower can rise high and strong, unfettered by our twitchy human nervous system. Truly Wii Jenga will be the 21st century Tower of Babel, a true testament to the majesty of mankind. Silly Nimrod, you can't reach heaven without a wiimote!

But all that said, I should make my standard disclaimer: I withhold judgement until I hold the shiny disc in my grubby little hands.

A profile of Porter Wagoner and his recent career revival, on the occasion of his opening gig for the White Stripes recently at Madison Square Garden.

Universal to sell DRM-free music. According to this article, Universal's "test" of DRM-free music downloads begins August 21st, and Amazon will be among the vendors selling the files; I guess this means the Amazon music store launches this month.

The one merchant excluded from this new DRM-free product is iTunes. Which seems silly to me. People will go to Amazon or the Universal website if they're looking to buy music by a major artist (advertising will let people know that 50 Cent, for instance, is available DRM-free at Universal's website), but for back-catalog stuff, I don't see people flocking to a new online merchant to buy songs. If something pops into my head, and I want to buy some music, I first check eMusic, then I check iTunes; if I knew the artist recorded on Universal, I would check the Universal site, but who knows on what label an artist records? Thanks to eMusic, I'm more aware of indie labels, but except for a few huge acts, I don't know one major label from another. If people don't find it DRM-free on iTunes (or at all; if I was Apple, I'd consider pulling Universal's catalog, to make them rethink their stance), they'll download it illegally (or, if they're like me, hit up their local library).

To be fair, though, I should thank Universal for keeping the price at 99 cents. Which is actually an odd decision; iTunes Plus has given the labels the variable pricing they've been begging for, sort of, and now the largest label is throwing the gesture right back in Apple's face.

Hal Fishman, dead at 75.

Lee Hazlewood, dead at 78. eMusic has his last album, well worth a listen, and also has an interview with Hazlewood (I don't think you need a subscription to read the intereview).

I uploaded the new album to Imeem, but it's not streamable, so please settle for some older stuff (I included some songs from the new album at the end, in case they're streamable in the future):

I recently learned of a service called eztradein.com, which will purchase items like computers and iPods. I initially found out about it from a Circuit City e-mail, offering store credit, but in checking out the site, I saw they also offer cash payments through Paypal (and by getting some price quotes, it appears they pay the same whether you receive store credit or cash). I have an old iPod Photo that's been gathering dust for some time, so I got an estimate, and saw that they would pay me $113.60 for my iPod and some accessories. I printed out a pre-paid mailing label and sent in the unit.

They received my unit on Friday morning, and today I got my revised estimate. Instead of $113.60, I'm getting $76.20. They say the earbuds are not in resellable condition, which is probably true, but that would be the case of virtually every set of headphones they receive (if memory serves, including the earbuds added about $6 to the total estimate). But most of the drop comes from dropping the condition from my stated condition of "fair" to "poor," because "unit shows significant signs of use." Yeah, it does, that's why I said "fair." It has some scratches, so I listed it as "fair," defined on the site as "minor scratches but working," which seems a accurate description of what I sent them. So now I'm annoyed, because while a $113 payment made it worth my while not to sell the iPod on eBay, I'm sure I could have done significantly better than $76.20 on my own. Of course, I've had my new iPod about nine months now, and I never bothered selling the old one, so I probably shouldn't complain too much. But I don't think I'll sell anything else to eztradein.com, and I certainly wouldn't recommend them. I'm especially leery after getting a price quote on my Gamecube, and getting an estimate higher than what the units currently go for on eBay. I think overpromising and underdelivering may be their modus operandi.

One other thing troubles me. They say I will be paid in 7 calendar days, and that "if a discrepancy in verified values is found within the next 7 days, another copy of this email will be sent to you with updated values." I have a suspicion they are selling the iPod on eBay now, and if they don't turn a profit, they'll create a profit by cutting my payment. But maybe I'm just being paranoid; time will tell.

I meant to post this some time ago, but with Comic-Con, it got lost in the shuffle. I apologize for the delay.

I attended the grand unveiling of "The Effulgence of the North," the new panorama on display at the Velaslavasay Panorama in Los Angeles back on July 21st. I had been eagerly awaiting the evening, as well as the chance to flee up to Los Angeles for a day and unwind. The experience was not what I thought it would be, but I had a fine time nonetheless.

After some other stops in L.A., I arrived at the Panorama right as the event was starting. As seen in the picture above, the Velaslavasay Panorama is in a converted movie theater. The back half of the auditorium is where the stage for the panorama was built, which leaves the front half of the auditorium available for presentations, with a bit under a hundred seats, I'd reckon (I'm bad at reckoning, I should note). The theater isn't much to see on the inside, with bare, unadorned walls, and a very small lobby, containing a shrine to their previous location (that red dot atop the theater is the cherry that topped their previous location). But it's nice that the space is being put to use, for an art form even more archaic than the silent films for which the Union Theatre was built. I got one of the last seats, and their was a substantial standing room crowd, in addition to what was outside (I didn't have time to see the garden before the show started). That was probably my main surprise of the evening: There were a hell of a lot of people in attendance. When I did go out to the garden, I could barely move, and quickly gave up on the Bavarian food and went back inside. The crowd cut into my enjoyment slightly, but I am happy that the grand unveiling event was such a huge success for the institution, and hope it bodes well for their future.

The entertainment for the evening was overseen by Alpenhorn virtuoso Loren Marsteller. If I learned nothing else from the evening, he taught me that the curve of the alpenhorn is natural, with the alpenhorn crafter finding a tree naturally curved from the pressure of snowbanks on mountainsides. He played briefly, before making way for Tony Hartenstein, Yodeler and accordionist, who performed at the New York World's Fair of 1939. He was quite a hoot, and the crowd really enjoyed his performance. (The pictures I took of him didn't turn out so hot, but you can see a picture of Herr Hartenstein here).

The centerpiece of the evening's schedule was a lecture by Prof. Erkki Huhtamo. This was quite interesting, but probably went on a bit too long. The first half of the presentation was a more scholarly lecture about Albert Smith and the moving panorama Albert Smith's Daring Ascent of Mont Blanc, which was quite interesting, and pretty funny. While Albert Smith regaled crowds in 1850 with his climbing exploits, his drinking exploits during the climb seemed more interesting to this crowd (he invented a game, while climbing Mont Blanc, in which he and his fellow climbers would throw some of the copious bottles of alcohol in their provisions over the side of the mountain to see which would reach the bottom first; Smith had to be dragged up on the final ascent in a drunken stupor). Huhtamo followed the lecture with a magic lantern presentation, intended, I presume to lessen the disappointment that the actual moving panorama of Smith's exploits is no longer extant.

While I enjoyed Huhtamo's presentation, I was relieved when it was over, as I was eager to go outside and see the gardens and get a pretzel or something to eat. That's when I realized just how crowded the place was; I decided to go see the panorama, since that's why I was there, and then give the outdoors portion another chance.

I waited in line fifteen minutes or so to see the panorama (they were letting in about ten people at a time, to keep things manageable), and then I ascended the spiral staircase which led up to the viewing platform, surrounded completely by "The Effulgence of the North." In reading about the history of panoramas, I fell back on the familiar notion of the sublime in understanding their appeal, and expected the painting to evince a humbling force on the viewer, due to its awe-inspiring scope. So I was a bit disappointed and underwhelmed when I first emerged atop the staircase. The panorama is recessed a few feet from the viewing platform, and from that, combined with my height, it felt that, if anything, I was dominating the panorama. But as I continued to look at the panorama, I came to realize that it was my expectations, and not the painting, that were flawed. Rather than being imposing and awe-inspiring, I found the panorama quite peaceful. My attention tended to wander away from the towering icebergs, and instead to the vast ocean. There was a minimalist charm to the whole thing; my least favorite portion of the panorama was the busiest, where the depiction of the aurora borealis really failed to make an impression. There was a 3-D element to the display, with iceberg sculptures and painted ocean giving a depth to the display; a necessary touch to accent the immersive experience, even if it reminded me a bit of Sea World's penguin encounter. A soundtrack adds the cracking of ice, and changes in lighting simulate the passing of time, and encourage the viewer to focus on different aspects of the panorama (though I enjoyed lingering on the darkened spaces).

Overall, I was very impressed with the craftsmanship, and found the panorama a rewarding, tranquil experience. I ended up lingering in the viewing area for a good fifteen or twenty minutes; had I not felt guilty, knowing the long line to get in, I would have stayed longer. Finding that the crowd outside had not abated, I left immediately after, and sadly did not get my photo taken as an old-timey mountaineer (society's loss, I reckon). If you find yourself in the area, it's well worth a visit. I don't know that I would make a special trip just to see the panorama, but in the past, the Velaslavasay Panorama has hosted some very interesting events in keeping with the Victorian appeal of the artwork, and with the official opening of their new location, they are now even more suited to host no-doubt enertaining spectacles.

I somehow missed this one: Michelangelo Antonioni, deat at 94.

I would so totally buy Sousaphone Player.

From The Onion archives: Suicide letter full of Simpsons references.

Ingmar Bergman, dead at 89.

Tom Snyder, dead at 71.

Viva Pinata coming to the Nintendo DS. Quite interesting, seeing as Rare, developer of Viva Pinata, is owned by Microsoft. Though as Microsoft is not yet in the handheld videogame market, partnering with Nintendo isn't too strange.

Viva Pinata was heavily influential in my decision to purchase an Xbox 360, as a game which proved there was more to the console than first-person shooters. I must admit, I haven't been playing Viva Pinata much, mostly because it's a very difficult game. I think I need to start my garden over, with more careful planning, and fencing to keep pinatas from fighting (good fences make good pinatas). But it is a very cute game, perhaps too difficult for the kids that make up the target demographic, but then little kids probably don't care if they get every variety of pinata, and will enjoy watching them fight. And who doesn't enjoy watching two Whirlms doin' it?

Spiderman meets Planned Parenthood. "Spider-Man's getting ready to give kids the real truth about birth control and chew bubble gum. And he's all out of bubble gum."

Hello Kitty, Goodbye Dignity. "Attracting the attention of the camera young priest in oneself you are not wrong the shank," indeed!

Well, my sister ruined Comic-Con, so I won't go into as much detail as I originally intended (angries up the blood), but I should just note a few of the highlights:

The Simpsons panel was just the best thing ev...oh, wait, I wasn't there. Thanks a hell of a lot, asshole houseguests! Oh there I go, getting myself in a snit. Back to happier news.

Futurama is back! Of course, I knew this, and knew they were coming to Comedy Central, but it was nice to get the details. Four direct-to-DVD movies, the first one, Bender's Big Score, to be released in November 2007. The movies will be sliced up into 16 TV episodes, to air on Comedy Central in 2008, along with the old episodes. The writers are all writers from the TV days, so that's a good sign, and all the voice actors returned (and all were at Comic-Con, including Katey Segal in her first Comic-Con appearance). The animation, in widescreen and HD, is supposed to be even better than the previous incarnation, while the budget constraints of basic cable means the show will no longer use a live orchestra for the sountrack, relying instead on synthesizers. The trailer was amusing, with lots of digs at their corporate overlords, railing against Twentieth Century Box for cancelling Planet Express' primetime delivery schedule. In a similar vein, a good portion of the panel consisted of the voice talent of Futurama reading a comic book that was distributed at Comic-Con, which followed the travails of the Planet Express team as they moved from Twentieth Century Box to the time loop that is the Carton Network (John Dimaggio's impression of Peter Griffith was freakin' sweet!), to their revival thanks to the unwashed nerds of Package-Con in Space Diego. This was followed by a Q&A session, which didn't reveal too many more facts, but led to a freewheeling discussion of the various voices on the show and their origins. I had to brave quite a crowd to get into this panel, but it was one of the most interesting panels I attended this year. But that may be because certain forces conspired to keep me from attending certain panels...jackasses...oops, there I go again.

The Boondocks panel was a lot of fun. The Boondocks is one of those shows I don't think I like, that I think is very much hit or miss, but then when I start talking about episodes I liked, I begin to realize there were some really genious episodes. And now that they have some experience, the new season should be even better. I don't want to spoil too much, I'll just say the panel opened with the trailer for a film parody, I would hate to ruin by discussing here. But the new season looks good, and the Q&A was hilarious; much like Bruce Campbell, the panelists were quite adept at slicing through the Comic-Con question bullshit and creating something hilarious. I'm eagerly awaiting the new season.

There were other bright spots at Comic-Con, but as I'm still steaming about this year's convention being spoiled for me by inconsiderate twits, I think I'll stop here. Maybe I'll put up some pictures later, but I don't think I photographed anything too earth-shattering. I just wish I hadn't pre-registered for next year already, because if my sister comes down next year, I'm going to Vegas.

Well, it's Wednesday night, preview night of Comic-Con 2007 has concluded, and I'm already exhausted. I think it's going to be a long week. The crowd tonight felt more like a Friday. I think the sold-out Saturday is going to be a harrowing experience. I gotta admit, going over the schedule, I'm not as excited as I've been in past years. But I said that last year, and once the Con was here, I perked up considerably.

So tonight, I took the trolley down to the convention center, arriving right around 6:00, and moments after I got in line, they opened the doors. The line was quite long, but as usual the Comic-Con crew was quite efficient, and within ten minutes I had my badge and was heading downstairs to the main exhibit hall. My plan for Wednesday was to hit the video game booths, hoping I'd have more of an opportunity to get some hands-on time with the demos. And this strategy worked out pretty well. I got to play Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo: HD Remix, an upcoming Loony Toons Xbox game (I would have much rather had a go at the DS version, which sounds awesome, but didn't see it around), Dewey's Adventure, Godzilla: Unleashed, and Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure.

Puzzle Fighter is a workmanlike remake of the original puzzle battle game, and I anxiously await its arrival on the Xbox Live Arcade (I was told it may be released next Wednesday). The AI opponent was ridiculously easy in early levels, but the difficulty can be adjusted. I do intend to represent at the Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo: HD Remix tournament Capcom is sponsoring.

The Loony Toons game for the Xbox 360 stunk. Looked okay, but I was bored within 30 seconds.

I was somewhat unimpressed with Godzilla: Unleashed for the Wii. But maybe I just didn't understand the controls, particularly the motion controls. The graphics looked acceptably good, though not spectacular. Overall, I think it would be a great bargain game, but at the $50 list price, I'll probably pass, and just wait for King of the Monsters to come out on the Virtual Console. Or take a look at the Xbox 360 version (the motion controls for the Wii felt tacked on).

I had no trouble getting time with both Zack and Wiki and Dewey's Adventure, most likely due to their appearance as kiddie games. Dewey's Adventure, I was surprised to find, was pretty fun, once I figured out the controls. What I played of it was a bit on the simple side, but made great use of the Wii's motion-sensing. I was planning on skipping that one, but now I think I'll give it a shot. I couldn't really form an opinion on Zack and Wiki, as the controls didn't seem to work; I couldn't even use the remote as a pointer reliably. I'm guessing the sensor bar wasn't working properly. The graphics really looked quite primitive, but the adventure game genre seems so well-suited for the Wii, and seeing as some of the game's fans are quite vocal, I certainly wouldn't dismiss it from my brief time with a flawed demo.

Beyond video games, I covered much of the floor, just getting the lay of the land. I did stop at the Peanuts booth, to purchase this year's Con-exclusive T-shirts. I got both designs (Pig-Pen and Cowboy Charlie Brown) in an XL, and when I got home and tried them on, they were comically snug on my belly and man-boobs. My mother laughed hysterically at the sight, to an extent that irked me. I'm suspicious that they accidentally sold me a women's shirt; I may stop by the booth tomorrow to look into the situation. Or maybe I'll just lose some weight (it would be good motivation; I really loved the cowboy design). Elsewhere, I bought a book dedicated to Ralph Wiggum, one of those impulse buys you see by the cash register at the bookstore; I bought it to give as a gift next week, so I'll have to read it quick.

Anyway, that's my report from preview night at Comic-Con. I will bring you breaking news from the Con as time permits, but as I'll be busy, tired, and have limited access to a computer (my brother-in-law will be sleeping on the floor in the computer room), there's a good chance I will maintain radio silence at least until Sunday. If you're at the Con, you can find me at the Gumby panel. The rest of the convention, I'll be wandering the halls, asking people how long until the Gumby panel starts. (I kid Gumby because I love, but in all seriousness, what I'm most excited about by this year's convention is the chance to get a sneak-peek at the new Futurama movie, Bender's Big Score)

Barry Bonds home-run scandal somehow becomes feel-good sports story of summer.

Illegal immigrant forgiven by wife and God, puts matter behind him.

Netflix's website seems to have just come back up, after being down since last night. Also, they've cut the prices of several plans by $1, which is nice, I suppose.

I've never played Pokemon in my life, but I did enjoy reading Penny Arcade's account of the recent Gamestop Pokemon tournament, and the response from a young tournament participant.

Tammy Faye Messner, dead at 65.

As a tribute to most people, "Oops! There Comes a Smile" would be infuriatingly upbeat and glib, but since it seems to represent Tammy Faye's baseline attitude, through good times and bad, it seems a fine way of remembering her. And I'll be firing up my Eyes of Tammy Faye DVD tonight; I hope Tammy Faye was as grateful for that film as she should have been (I suspect she was; she's always been open about how thankful she was for the support of the gay community), as it really transformed how people thought of her. As did, of course, her appearance on The Surreal Life 2 (back before the Surreal Life franchise became unwatchable).

MSNBC has an even-handed commentary on Tammy Faye's faith and materialism.

I see I wrote about her book-signing appearance in San Diego here.

Tammy Faye Messner was on Larry King Live Thursday:

Obviously, she doesn't look good, but apparently she had gained five pounds since her last appearance on Larry King. She's obviously running down, but she's tenacious with a capital T. Very sad, though there was some comic relief (around 3:08 from the end, here), when Tammy Faye was asked who she wanted to meet in heaven, she said Billy Graham; Larry King had to remind her he's not dead.

Here's a picture of me with Tammy Faye, in happier times.

As a rule, I don't shop at WalMart. There's probably a political reason for this; not so much concern for the Ma and Pa merchant, as for the most part I shop at chains or the internet, nor necessarily for the way they treat their workers, as I shop at Target, which arguably has a worse record on providing health care. Mainly, I boycott Wal-Mart because of the glee with which they work their evil, and their willingness to rub it in your face. They take out ads comparing anti-Wal-Mart forces with the Nazis. They funnel their charitable giving to advance their right-wing agenda, and, of course, devote an obscenely wasteful amount of time and money to defeating unionizing efforts, which I am convinced is a self-defeating strategy (compare this to CostCo's policy of discouraging unionizing by just treating their employees as human beings). But to be honest, the main reason I don't shop at WalMart isn't so much politics, but the fact that I just can't stand to be there. I used to shop there with some regularity, when it first showed up in my neck of the woods, mainly because several were open 24 hours, and I worked late and had chronic insomnia. At night, they were fine (I'm not sure that any local WalMarts are still open 24 hours). But today, when I go to a WalMart, or even drive by a WalMart to get somewhere else, I find it an incredibly unpleasant experience. Finding what I want is difficult, maneuvering the parking lot usually sends me into a blind rage, the staff is not helpful, and (here's where my left-coast elitism shines through) I always encounter the most disturbing people amongst my fellow shoppers.

In other words, I hate shopping at WalMart, which makes staying away on some principle very easy. But I do believe in giving credit where credit is due, so I wish to tell you that I had a pleasant experience today at a WalMart, taking care of what is, for me, a rather unpleasant matter: getting my oil changed. I never know where to take my car, and wherever you go, you end up sitting through a sales pitch for all sorts of services and additives. They know I don't know much about cars, yet I do know just enough to know that much of what I'm told at those places is bullshit. Occasionally, I've found a place that's okay, but the turnover at those places is so high, the service received changes with every visit. I was going to my dealership, which actually had reasonable prices for oil changes, but apparently, they decided the business wasn't worth their time, and jacked up their price. I remembered Mom spoke well, after having problems with other stores, of the WalMart oil change experience, so I decided to go ahead into the belly of the beast.

For $25, I got an oil change and tire rotation, no fuss, no muss. It took an hour, and they don't have a waiting room, so I just wandered the WalMart, and the CostCo across the street, for an hour, and then picked up my car and was on my way. They keep the experience as low-key as possible; they informed me one tire had a bent rim, but didn't even ask if I wanted to replace it while I was there. And as all they handle are lube jobs and tires, they really don't have much to sell. As long as they keep the experience as hassle-free as it is now, I'll gladly give WalMart my oil change business. Even if it does mean wandering the store, and overhearing a mother tell her five-year-old daughter (with a disturbing glee) why her grandfather is going to hell.

Updates to some recent posts:

I went ahead and converted some Lord Buckley clips to MP3, to update my Lord Buckley playlist on Imeem, attached to this post. The conversion process didn't seem to harm the sound quality noticably. I just couldn't sleep at night knowing Marc Antony's funeral oration wasn't included in my Lord Buckley playlist. So what happens when I upload the files? Most stream fine, but "Marc Antony's Funeral Oration" is only available as a 30 second sample. Can't find any logic as to which files are or are not streamable, with parts of an album streaming fine while other selections from the same album don't stream at all. Fortunately, "Willie the Shake" has the same speech, though it's not my preferred version. I do enjoy his discussion with the interviewer afterwards; I intend to work the phrase "every fox has got his box" into my conversation as much as possible.

I just posted an installment of my patent-pending WJCNotW feature, so it's probably too early for another one, especially one that lacks Wii convergence. But I do feel the need to share this with you all: Omegathon, video game uber-challenge associated with the geekfest Penny Arcade Expo, will be kicking off not with the pre-announced Pac-Man, but with Jenga. Like, the physical blocks on a table. I just have to wonder how many spoiled online gamers will petulantly knock the table over in disgust at some point.

Cereal mascots guaranteed not to appeal to children. I would totally buy Klaus Kinski's Froot Loops.

British pagans not amused by giant Homer.

Another hands-on with Wii Fit.

If you had asked me who would give Andy Dick the beating he so richly deserves, I don't think I would have said Jon Lovitz. Good for him, though.

Welcome to the latest installment of Wii/Jenga Confluence News of the Week (WJCNotW):

Ars Technica asks: Is Jenga on the Wii as bad an idea as it sounds?

Excuse me? Did you say bad idea? I think you meant to say frickin' awesome idea! Jenga FTW! The bird mentioned in the article, however? Sounds pretty weak. And I agree with Ars that price will make or break this game. $20 is a bit too optimistic though. My prognostication skills tell me $30 will be the release price. But given their financial situation, they might go as low as $20, just to generate cash quickly, like a crack addict.

Oh, and Steven Spielberg? If you mention Jenga again in conjunction with your lame-ass new Wii game, I will seriously bitch-slap you. I think a first-person shooter based on On the Lot would have a better chance of success.

I added a few playlists to various posts, via Imeem. I had heard of the service, and seen it on other blogs, but after taking a peek at it, I didn't feel the need to sign up. But when I mentioned Sara Bareilles recently, I had the thought to post a playlist of her stuff and other artists mentioned in that post. And I found plenty of her music available for streaming from Imeem. In fact, she apparently has some sort of promotional deal with Imeem.

For those not familiar, Imeem is a service which offers the ability to post custom music playlists to your website. It actually offers other services as well; they're trying to be a combination of MySpace and some sort of media storage service. But the playlist feature looks to be their most useful feature. Though apparently it was more useful in the past, when you could pretty much upload whatever you want, and let people listen to it on your website. Then lawyers got involved, and now, you can only hear a 30 second sample, unless Imeem has the rights to stream the song (they have a deal giving them access to the Warner Brothers catalog). If you upload a song you own, you can stream it yourself regardless of whether Imeem has rights to the song, but other visitors listening to your playlist will only hear a sample.

Despite the limitations as to which songs can be streamed, Imeem seems like a good service, and offers a lot of freedom to use songs for which they have obtained the rights. You can stream entire albums if they have access. It is actually very similar to the streaming service offered by LaLa, but without requiring the installation of software. The service has a lot of potential, and I was eager to put it into action.

The first playlist I made, added to this post, turned out okay. Like I said, Sara Bareilles has some deal with Imeem, so she has lots of streaming music available. Of the other two artists mentioned, Rodrigo y Gabriela had the most music available, but not their entire album. The Greencards, on the other hand, only had one song available, and it wasn't from the album in question. So that was disappointing, but gave me a chance to try uploading music. So I uploaded the entire album, and added it to the playlist. Unfortunately, Imeem apparently doesn't have rights to the album, as none of the songs stream, save for a 30 second sample.

My next step was to make a Porter Wagoner playlist. I had checked out the site in the past, when I wrote about Porter Wagoner, in the hopes of including a playlist, but only found one song, "The Carroll County Accident," and that only available as a sample. But now that I'd signed up for the site, I decided to upload some Wagoner myself and make a playlist. So I uploaded an old song or two, and the entire new album, and added a playlist to the Porter Wagoner post. Unfortunatley, as I suspected, were you to listen to this playlist, you would only be teased with sample clips. So that's unfortunate.

Making a Pink Martini playlist for this post worked out better, mostly. Most of their music is available on the site, listenable in full. So I made a playlist, with an emphasis on the new album, and enjoyed listening to it at work on Sunday. But while having it play as background music, I gradually noticed something was off. "Tea for Two" was playing, but Jimmy Scott never came in on vocals. It was apparently playing the full song, but it was only the first verse, looped repeatedly. Which was odd. I notice one or two other songs were the same way. Turns out someone uploaded the songs in that format, for some reason, but I was able to find all the songs in complete form elsewhere on the site, save "Tea for Two," which I uploaded myself. But now, my copy of "Tea for Two" only plays as a 30 second sample for other users. Which seems odd. They can play other Pink Martini songs, and they can play a defective version of "Tea for Two," but they can't play the "Tea for Two" I uploaded. My suspicion is that it takes time for Imeem to verify that they are able to play a particular song, so that all songs only play as 30 second samples at first (though subsequent experience would refute that idea). So I harbor a hope that, at some time in the future, "Tea for Two" will play in full on my Pink Martini playlist.

Wondering if all music uploaded is automatically limited to 30 second clips, at first, I decided Lord Buckley would be a good test (I somewhat doubt that Lord Buckley is in their filtering database). Only one work by Lord Buckley was already available on the service, but it was a big one, "The Naz." I went ahead and uploaded some of my Lord Buckley collection, and, sure enough, what I uploaded was immediately available for listening in full. Unfortunately, I encountered another limitation of the service: They only deal with MP3 files. The bulk of my collection is in AAC format (like many people, when I first started ripping my CD collection, I had no idea that iTunes was by default copying them in a non-MP3 format; once I found out, I soon realized AAC sounds better for the file size, and kept the default in place). So to upload my non-MP3 Lord Buckley material, I would have to convert it to MP3 format, resulting in decreased sound quality. Now, the sound quality on these files isn't great to begin with, but I'm not sure if the diminishment of quality wouldn't matter much, or if it would magnify the flaws. Truth be told, I'm too lazy to find out. So the lack of AAC support was disappointing, but I was able to add a decent Lord Buckley playlist to this post.

So, to summarize, I made four playlists, found on the following posts: various iTunes "Next Big Thing" artists I enjoyed, Porter Wagoner, Pink Martini, and Lord Buckley. My experience using Imeem to make those playlists shows that the service isn't flawless: As I mentioned above, a lot of music isn't available, and Imeem doesn't support the AAC format. Also the search function is clumsily implemented, and it would be nicer to be able to add music direct to a playlist from the search results screen, rather then having to navigate to each song's individual page. But, from my first experience with the service, I'm sure I'll be back. After all, they have a deal with Warner Brothers, which controls most of Randy Newman's music. I'd upload my Newman collection...too bad it's in AAC.

A look at nature singer Charles Kellogg, a man with an alleged 12 1/2 octave range, battler of flames with sound, and performer on the most annoying record ever created. An actual New York Times headline, inspired by Kellogg: "TUNING FORK SCREECH PUTS OUT 24-INCH FLAME; FUTURE FIREMEN TO STAY HOME, SAYS SCIENTIST."

Sara Bareilles a success story for variable pricing on iTunes. Coolfer observes one omission from the article: Her track "Love Song" was a free single of the week. I think I missed that one, though possibly I downloaded it and just never listened to it (I checked, it's on my iPod, so I guess, like most of the free stuff I download from iTunes, I just didn't bother to hear it). One other thing I would add to the coverage of iTunes "Next Big Thing" price cut: Variable prices for albums on iTunes is nothing new. The WSJ article certainly implies that the "standard $9.99" price for albums is nearly inviolable, yet as I kvetched about previously, iTunes has no problem jacking up the price of random albums (even those readily available on CD at or below the $9.99 price point), and they have been discounting albums featured through the "single of the week" program for some time. When labels talk variable pricing, they're talking singles, not albums. You know, the product they'd rather you didn't buy. If the labels are serious about protecting album sales, and moving people away from the singles purchasing model, they would use the price freedom iTunes apparently offers on album price more aggressively. I certainly understand the impulse to charge $12.99 or $14.99 for a hot new CD, but if you choose to do so, please stop complaining when people choose to buy the one hit single, instead. Because pricing that new hit at $1.99 won't make people buy the album instead of the single, it will make them download the song illegally. Now, at this stage in the game, I don't know how much album pricing versus singles pricing matters, as I think many of those whom have fallen into the habit of buying singles will continue to do so, regardless of album price. But I have a crazy hunch, if the record industry really does want to alter the singles/albums purchasing ratio, that the best way to do so would be to lower album pricing, not raise singles pricing. I don't even think the more consumer-friendly lower variable pricing on back catalog singles would matter much; once I'm looking at the album to buy the song, I'm probably going to buy it, whether its 99 cents or 49 cents; but if I were to see the album containing the single I'm looking at is $5.99 or so, I just might take a chance on the whole album.

Anyway, I'm sure the music industry really cares what I think about variable pricing; I just wanted to mention it, as an excuse to mention that the Greencards' new album is available as part of the "Next Big Thing" promotion, at $5.99. Almost as good a deal as eMusic (though you're stuck with DRM at iTunes). Rodrigo y Gabriela's eponymous debut is also available, at $6.99 (I've seen the album on sale at Best Buy pretty consistently at $7.99, and now it, too, is available at eMusic). Hard to go wrong with either of these, wherever you buy them.

UPDATE: I've added a playlist of the artists mentioned in this post via iMeem. First time I've written about artists available for streaming through their service. Lots of Sara Bareilles, less Rodrigo y Gabriela, and nothing from the Greencards' latest album, so I through in their only song available from iMeem, "Time." I'll look into the whole uploading thing later, and see if I can update the list with more of their stuff.

Don't miss the great snatch. Boy, that preacher man really loves him the snatch. I have to imagine there was some heathen working the soundboard at the recording studio, wondering if he should explain to the man that when most people hear "I happen to prefer the snatch," they're not thinking about the rapture.

In addition to samples from the album, and the whole thing (which I didn't bother to download), the blog features a remix by the Evolution Control Committee (of "Rocked by Rape" fame).

While you're at Dinosaur Gardens, check out these mp3s by The Poets.

The Avalanches' "Frontier Psychiatrist:"

I saw this for the first time not that long ago, but as much as I loved it, didn't bother to post it here (guess I figured I was late to the party). But I will rectify the situation now, while also sharing the Wayne and Shuster comedy sketch that was liberally sampled in the song.

So, I reported that rumors of a discontinued $499 PS3 were swiftly debunked. Now, I have no idea what the hell's going on. Other than the fact that Sony's head is still up their ass.

A hands-on with the Simpsons video game. If I'm not too excited about the movie, I am anxiously awaiting the game. Looks like a first-rate effort.