Archives: January 01, 2006

Lush life in a few years

Thursday, 26 January 2006 12:42 AM

Click the image for the strip.

(Please visit Rhymes With Orange, every day.)

Do you hear what I hear?

Wednesday, 25 January 2006 02:59 PM

So much hipper than a mix tape: Click to listen to my iTunes signature. (NB: It's large -- 5.8MB.)

An iTunes signature is a smear of bits of tracks from one's iTunes library. You make it with this application.

[The iTunes Signature Maker] selects a small number of your "favorite" tracks based on some simple selection criteria, such as the number of times you have played them or the rating you have assigned them. Then it analyzes the audio content of these files, combining a small bit of each of them to create the signature.

Notably, the Signature Maker skips tracks purchased from the iTunes store, so it can't create a true sample of my library. But for what it can do, it's neat.

I'm not super enthused with the way this signature of mine starts. (Sheryl Crow? So embarrassing.) But I like the end very much. There are 50 songs represented in all. How many can you identify?

(Link thanks to Jeff/Syntax of Things.)

The very best Steelers song EVER

Tuesday, 24 January 2006 01:31 PM

Hines Ward will always be first in my heart, but I sometimes stray and cast adoring eyes on the speedy, hard-hitting, and mad-sexy Troy Polamalu. So I'm terribly, terribly pleased to find that this year's best new Steelers song focuses on the NFL's best strong safety: Please enjoy "Puhlahmahlu."

With a creative work of this importance, it's essential to give proper credit. The band is Mr. Devious (playing at the Bloomfield Bridge Tavern this Saturday at 9PM -- be there or be square). The song was played for me first by my dear brother Anthony, who heard it god-knows-where but probably on some sports radio show; but I located the mp3 via Sully (whom I shall treat to a drink at the next Pittsburgh BlogFest).

Brief culture lesson for the under-30 crowd: "The Polamalu Song" is a parody of a song performed memorably by the Muppets, "Mahna Mahna," which is itself a parody of "Mais Non, Mais Non," a French song from the 1960s, which is an adaptation from a song from a Swedish "documentary" from even farther back. Details on the original song and variations can be found here, and a video clip from The Muppet Show can be found here.

Incidentally, if you can find and share an online or offline version of "Mais Non, Mais Non," I'll be forever indebted to you.

BlogFest 5 party recap

Tuesday, 24 January 2006 12:35 PM

Thanks again to everyone who attended BlogFest 5 last week. It was a swell time. More people attended than ever before, and from what I could tell everyone had a rolicking good time.

I had made terrific signs for our fifth get-together, all in black and gold with a racy, forward-angled look, but in the rush of gathering nametags and pens and whatnot I forgot to bring them. No matter: We grabbed a sheet of paper and created an impromptu sign/sign-in sheet. Click the pic to see. Unfortunately, once again not everyone seems to have had the chance to sign in; I think the sheet languished at one end of the room and latecomers and the folks in the de facto Knitting Area missed it. My apologies to those who didn't sign in.

Plus we had an out-of-town celebrity guest and birthday cake and the presentation of a Terrible Towel to someone who will be rooting for the Seahawks in the Super Bowl. That innocuous-seeming towel has by now infiltrated the Seattle area and will be sending out subtle but critical Steeler fan vibrations, disrupting the game planning of Mike Holmgren and keeping Matt Hasselbeck and Shawn Alexander up late for the next two weeks. Thus, Pittsburgh Bloggers will be ever so slightly responsible for the Steelers Super Bowl win. But will we take credit for this? Damn right we will. We're just doing our part, but everyone wants to be in on a Super Bowl win.

Also at the BlogFest there were two little wee babies, adorably glowing and kindly not crying. It gives me a tender, fizzy feeling to see babies at a bar, as though I were in Europe and far from the prohibitionist strictures of modern American parenting. (I realize that the main room in Finnegan's Wake is basically a restaurant. It's got a pool table -- I'm calling it a bar.)

How can we top this excitement at BlogFest 6? It's hard to imagine, yet surely we're up to the challenge. For one thing, we might have it on a weekend night -- log your thoughts on that on Mike's blog.

First and goal to go

Friday, 20 January 2006 05:33 PM

I have full confidence in the Steelers winning at Mile High Stadium this weekend.

Or rather, I did until I read the championship picks from Bill Simmons, The Sports Guy on ESPN.com. He's taking the Steelers over the Broncos (scroll past the mailbag for the predictions). I dislike The Sports Guy, mostly because he's a childish and extremely irritating Boston sports fan.

But more importantly, he went 1-3 in his picks last week. With that kind of record, I want him picking against my team. But instead, he says his gut tells him that "Pittsburgh seems like a team of destiny."

Fortunately the rest of the football gambling world does not agree: The current betting line has the Broncos as the favorites by 3. The Steelers seem to play best in the playoffs when they're the underdogs. As long as Vegas is betting against them, I have a good vibe.

And if Joe Theisman picks Denver, the Steelers can start booking hotels in Detroit for Super Bowl weekend.

In other Steelers news: Ben Rothlisberger is auctioning off one of the cleats he wore in his first Monday Night Football appearance as a starter -- the game against San Diego on October 10. That happens to be the game in which he injured his knee. He's auctioning the right cleat, complete with grass stains and a Big Ben autograph. It could be yours! Bidding is currently at $735 and climbing....

UPDATE: I may have to take back my comment about Joe Theisman. He is still the very, very worst pro football commentator, and generally a dip. But he has picked the Steelers for both of the last two games -- one of only two ESPN analysts to pick them for week two of the playoffs. Keep an eye out for his picks for this weekend's games.

My blog wants to party all the time

Wednesday, 18 January 2006 09:16 AM

Tonight is BlogFest 5. (You may call it Blogylon 5, if you prefer.) (At Finnegan's Wake, 5pm until 9:30 or so, details here.)

Announcements of our featured guest Robert Scoble seem to have created extra interest in the local blogging community: I've received excited RSVPs from folks who haven't attended before. Which is always nice.

Also interestingly, I haven't received RSVPs from many of the usual suspects attendees. I'm not sure if this is a sign of the times or fallout from my not posting the signup sheets from BlogFest 4. I have them right here on my desk, and if I have time today I'll post them and link them to the blogs of the attendees.

Incidentally, I've extended a personal invitation to the Post-Gazette's book editor Bob Hoover -- he pondered in a column this past Sunday whether he should join the blogging masses, and he seemed clearly on the fence about the whole thing. If he came to our little gathering, we could all share with him the wonders of the New Media Age. I encourage you to drop him an email as well, or give him a quick and friendly call. (His contact info is at the end of his Sunday opinion piece.)

See you tonight!

(No, it's not too late to RSVP -- do drop us a line at blogfest at closkey dot com if you think you can make it.)

Drink of the week: Cointreau-A-Go-Go

Sunday, 08 January 2006 10:11 PM

Yes, the weekend is nearly over, but after the Steelers playoff win I wanted new beverage with which to celebrate. Here's a close cousin of the Side Car, with slightly different proportions to the ingredients and a dash of Angostura bitters. (The variation listed is particularly Side Car-like.)

It's nicely sweet, a little tangy, and with a kick that will make you feel like dancing. Cha cha cha!

Cointreau-A-Go-Go

1 oz Cointreau
3/4 oz Cognac
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
dash Angostura bitters

Fill a cocktail shaker with ice and add all the ingredients. Shake vigorously to blend.

Strain the mixture into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a thin lemon slice on the side of the glass.

Variation: Replace the lemon juice with lime juice and prepare the glass with a sugar rim.

Recipe from Atomic Cocktails.

Slap-happy

Wednesday, 04 January 2006 09:45 AM

I like New Year's resolutions. I like the feeling of resolving to be better in some way. "From now on, I will [insert resolution here] and thus be a better person." Resolving to do something feels like a strong and positive step toward good; and it's much easier than actually being good.

In fact, I like resolutions so much I make them all year round: I don't want to wait until January 1 to feel I'm making progress.

But still, when each new year arrives I make a few extra resolutions. When everyone's making new commitments there's resolve in the air.

But not everyone values New Year's resolutions. Inner Bitch recently pointed out a random resolution generator. It combines the progressive feeling of resolutions with the optimistic randomness of fortune cookie messages. Here's what it suggested for me:

In the year 2006 I resolve to: Slap stupid people in the head. Get your resolution here

As it happens, some years back I did have a habit of slapping people on the head. They were not stupid people though -- they were friends who had somehow made me annoyed. I never meant to hurt anyone; my slaps were like those of the stereotypical mom knocking her son upside the head for making a snide remark at the dinner table. Or rather, I thought they were. Apparently I hit people hard and there were complaints.

I managed to switch to punching shoulders instead, thinking it was a buddy-buddy move that would be perceived better. But then one day I hit my roommate Sharon hard enough to bruise. This was shortly before a swanky party; the bruise blossomed into a purple and green splotch, which Sharon's sleeveless dress seemed almost to display. I resolved then to stop hitting friends altogether.

Maybe I went too far though. My random resolution seems to be saying it's OK to hit non-friends, if they're stupid. It's beyond OK: It's required.

I like it. It's a much more interesting to-do than losing weight, don't you think?

Pittsburgh BlogFest 5

Wednesday, 04 January 2006 08:30 AM

It's time again for local bloggers to leave the cozy confines of their offices and homes and venture to Pittsburgh's North Side, to drink, eat, talk, and complain about the limitations of Blogger.

WHAT: Pittsburgh Blogfest 5

WHEN: Wednesday, January 18th, 2005, 5:30 PM to 9:30 PM and beyond

WHERE: Finnegan's Wake (near PNC Park, 20 General Robinson St., North Shore, 412-325-2601), in the Quiet Man Room

WHO: Bloggers, blog readers, and special guest Robert Scoble

AND: Pittsburgh Bloggers, Creating Text(iles), Grabass, Inner Bitch, and My Brilliant Mistakes.

If you are planning to attend, please RSVP to blogfest (AT) closkey [DOT] com!

As always, this is a purely social event; it will be utterly without agenda, structure, or redeeming value. Please join us!

I'm gold lamé and diamonds

Tuesday, 03 January 2006 09:38 PM

When you were little, did your mom listen to Janis Ian? Mine did, as did her friends. One even played the songs on piano. Pretty melodies, striking images, choruses built for singing along. Growing up with them, I thought they captured the life of a modern woman. Very 70s.

I was thinking about those songs recently, feeling nostalgic, and so I bought Between the Lines on iTunes. I have been enjoying it immensely, despite feeling at the same time sort of sappy and melodramatic for enjoying it. The songs and the performances are so very sincere -- it's a pre-irony album, before everybody put on their wry half-smiles and armored themselves in self-deprecation.

Sample lyric (from "From Me to You"):

You're more than beginning, you're learning to fly
Feels like you're falling, but it passes in time
And I hate to see a friend go down in flames without a song
So I'm waiting by the doorway, but I will not linger long

I seems to me that "Between the Lines" is the album Alanis Morrisette intended to make, but instead she ended up with "Jagged Little Pill." Janis swears less and says more.

Copyright © 2004 – 2007 Cynthia Closkey