Doing some remodeling so things will look, and possibly act, broken for a day or so. I’ll get things fixed up pretty quickly but yeah, don’t fret.
Mar 172012
Feb 072012
Just a quick one here.
A few minutes ago, I posted a question over on Google+. Basically, I’ve been reading about how some folks have made Google+ their blog, and I wondered if that might be a good idea for me. I could see upsides and downsides, but I couldn’t really make a clear distinction between “should I or shouldn’t I?”.
So I just asked the question. (Not only on Google+ but also Twitter and FriendFeed.)
The response I got back was a solid “meh.” People could see why folks move their blogging to Google+, but they didn’t think it was a particularly great idea. In the end, my blog stays here. Yet it’s questions like that which make an online community so valuable. I seriously had no idea whether or not taking Bibrarian over to Google was a good and useful thing. I could see why it might be, I could see why it might not. I’m only some guy with a bit of a writing habit and I’m not the smartest person around, so I’ll go ask a few people who are smarter than I am.
Indeed, I’ll go ask a couple hundred of them and see what they say.
Thanks, y’all. Now I have some idea where to focus my attention!
Jan 282012
So I’ve been pondering my next phone upgrade, which is coming fairly soon. Android or iPhone?
Then today, while running and listening to music, my Android phone spontaneously rebooted, much like it’s been doing whenever I listen to music in the last few months. Later, while standing at the pizza shack waiting for my food, I handed it to my daughter so she could play with an app — and it hard-locked, forcing me to pull the battery.
Then, just after that, I tried to call my wife, and it took, oh, about 45 seconds to actually make the call after I hit the big green call button. In that time, I figured my command hadn’t gone through so I tried calling again to no avail.
Well, since I technically called twice, about half way through the conversation, my second attempt fired off and turned my call into a conference call with someone I already had on the phone.
Well, that made the decision pretty damned easy.
Jan 162012
Here’s why I don’t read the comments on big ass, public websites where people post videos. Doesn’t matter if it’s YouTube, Vimeo, Blip, or whatever. The comments section of video websites are only one step (barely) above the comments you find on the website for your local newspaper.
Now then, I want you to watch this. Not only is this musician talented, but she’s beautiful and rocks the damn tech like no one’s business. As a guy who does a bit of computer music, fiddling with sequencers and loops and stuff, I have an idea how challenging her task is here. Not only that, she’s the only one working the tech, the instruments, and the voice.
“Feel Good Inc” – Gorillaz Live Looped Cover
Unfortunately, I’m not sure who she is. But whoever she is, she needs to start selling music fucking now.
Anyway, so what’s one of the comments on the site? Well, I quote:
“I have seen this before and it’s really good. One suggestion. Clothing..looks like my grandmothers. She would look as good as he sounds with something more current. No makeup needed.”
Who in the fuck are you? Unless you’re the wardrobe design director for Lady Gaga or Cher, shut your goddamn mouth you know-nothing fuckwit. You’re not an expert on music and you’re not an expert on clothing and you’re certainly not an expert on how to tie a wardrobe to a performer and how those things interrelate with a given song. You are a schmuck commenting on a video site just as I am a schmuck with a blog commenting on your bullshit.
For the record, I know of another woman who does something very similar and wears a similar style of “grandmothers” clothing. Her name is Imogen Heap, and she too is awesome. The wardrobe doesn’t matter. Both of these ladies could do their thing wearing a burlap sack and it’d be just as amazing.
Last night I was preparing my laptop for a talk that I’d be giving to our awesome Friends of the Library group. Among other things, I wanted to change my background to something slightly literary in nature so I started thinking; “Who are my favourite literary characters right now?”. I mean, I’ve got hundreds of favourite characters from books, but who are my current fan obsessions? It came down to two people: Lisbeth Salander aka The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and George Smiley from Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. Given that you can see his wallpaper over on the left, you can guess who won. As I looked at that wallpaper and talked online with a friend, I started thinking about Guy Smiley, the Sesame Street Muppet who usually showed up as the quintessential game show host. From George Smiley to Guy Smiley we came up with a parody idea called Tinker, Tailor, Muppet, Spy. I looked at George’s wallpaper and I knew, I absolutely knew, I had to do something similar using Guy Smiley.
