WP chills with the NJGuido.com guy
WP chills with the NJGuido.com guy. “There are no subtleties in an environment like this.”
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Entries for July 2003
The Fourth of July
What Independence Day is all about:
- Watching a 145-pound Japanese man eat 44 1/2 hot dogs in 12 minutes in the Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest.
- Making an appointment with the chiropractor because The Cyclone is a seriously dangerous relic that needs to be razed before it kills someone (me!). It’s been three days and my neck still hurts from the whiplash I got from the first drop. Rollercoasters should seem unsafe but actually be safe.
- Going to the super-crowded beach at Coney Island to dip our tootsies in the water with half of New York City. As Steven observed in Prospect Park, the scene was the kind of multiculturalism you often find in NYC. Well, almost. Economic stratification is still alive and well in America’s melting pot…the racial demographic resembled the subway much more than Central Park West. Jonah summed it up well when he quipped, “it’s so crowded here, why don’t these people just go to the Hamptons or Nantucket?”
- Fireworks. The display in NYC was fantastic…we saw several types of fireworks we’d never seen before.
- Watching Zoolander.
- Visiting the Met. Except for a brief visit to see the da Vinci exhibit this spring, I had never been there. An excellent museum on many levels…we’ll definitely be going more often from now on.
NYC Trapeze School, learn trapeze in the
NYC Trapeze School, learn trapeze in the open air by the Hudson River.
A list of MetaFilter in-jokes
A list of MetaFilter in-jokes. In-jokes are one sign of a vibrant, closed community
The past of music
Wired News is running an article this morning on a revolutionary Internet radio station that uses collaborative filtering to tailor streams for individual users. That revolution has already happened…launch.com was there in 1999:
You can grab songs for your playlist from real-life radio station playlists, from other LaunchCAST DJs, or by rating the songs as they are played. As you rate songs or choose DJs & radio stations that you “trust”, the player learns from that and starts pushing you music that you are likely to enjoy.
Launch.com’s product is still available at Yahoo!
God adds another Buddy to His list
God adds another Buddy to His list. Are there any famous Buddys left?
Pierre Cardin’s trippy Riviera home available for private events, seminars,
Pierre Cardin’s trippy Riviera home available for private events, seminars,. Like a birthday party, peut etre? Happy 81st, Pierre!
These folks are collaboratively translating the Harry
These folks are collaboratively translating the Harry Potter books into German. and will, sadly, probably get sued for it at some point
Sister Ping, tiny-yet-brutal Godmother of the biggest
Sister Ping, tiny-yet-brutal Godmother of the biggest immigrant smuggling ring in Europe.
A new interpretation of Stonehenge, from a British gynecologist
A new interpretation of Stonehenge, from a British gynecologist. If you’re a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
Former tennis stars think game would be
Former tennis stars think game would be improved by switching to smaller rackets. I agree
le Trottoir Roulant Rapide, for getting around
le Trottoir Roulant Rapide, for getting around Paris when your Segway’s in the shop.
With 202 recipients, Maverick was the 813th most
With 202 recipients, Maverick was the 813th most popular boy’s name in 2002.. Trinity jumped from 555 to 74 after The Matrix came out
” For depriving us in many cases, of
” For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury”.
Summer of Glove weblog - visiting 30 ballparks
Summer of Glove weblog - visiting 30 ballparks during two months this summer.
Gay Balfour, inventor, man of God
Gay Balfour, inventor, man of God. “One night, my wife said, ‘Why don’t you ask the Lord to help us?’ The next week, I had this dream to catch prairie dogs with a huge vacuum.”
How does JW Vanderpool, The Prairie Dog
How does JW Vanderpool, The Prairie Dog King, harvest his pups?. the answer’s about 3min into the stream
BBC to Church: ‘Where are the … media-savvy performers?’
BBC to Church: ‘Where are the … media-savvy performers?’. Warning: Be more interesting than gardeners, or lose your airtime.
Arggh. Rem Koolhaas wins Praemium Imperiale, aka “architecture Nobel”
Arggh. Rem Koolhaas wins Praemium Imperiale, aka “architecture Nobel”. The Emperor must’ve fallen for the Wired guest issue
Two bits of site news
1. Greg Allen is helping me with the remaindered links (rss) for the next couple of weeks. Greg’s in the movie biz, but we won’t hold that against him.
2. I closed the uber-Matrix thread (with a whopping 931 comments), archived the whole thing (as a 1.22 MB HTML file), and opened up a new thread (linked from the archive) so that discussion may continue if the participants wish. Not the ideal solution because it will probably kill the discussion (although it looks like it may be on the verge of stopping anyway), but something that needed to be done.
“Download Mac to your desktop”
“Download Mac to your desktop”. BBC’s Desktop McEnroe delivers live Wimbledon updates (“for PC ONLY running Windows”)
1st Intl Moblogging Conf Sat. 5Jul in Tko
1st Intl Moblogging Conf Sat. 5Jul in Tko. day-of reg. still ok. pls send Joi Ito pix
Highway department store. Concrete factory apartment. Graveyard tunnel.
Highway department store. Concrete factory apartment. Graveyard tunnel.. that Tokyo architecture, it’s crazy
First two seasons of the excellent Homicide:
First two seasons of the excellent Homicide: Life on the Street on DVD.
BlogBarter is a “barter marketplace for the weblog community”
BlogBarter is a “barter marketplace for the weblog community”.
Is President Bush a flamboyant homosexual?
Is President Bush a flamboyant homosexual?. cuz America’s best Christian wants to know.
Diva chimp tries to spell U-T-O-P-I-A, spells T-I-T instead
Diva chimp tries to spell U-T-O-P-I-A, spells T-I-T instead. It’s actually spelled A-R-T.
The Economist Style Guide
The Economist Style Guide. Cassandra’s predictions were correct but not believed.
Lay-Z-Boy recliners designed by the stars of Friends
Lay-Z-Boy recliners designed by the stars of Friends. the Schwimmer one looks predictably ridiculous
Government warns of mass hacker attacks on Sunday
Government warns of mass hacker attacks on Sunday. Script kiddies trying to vandalize 6,000 sites in six hours
A weblog about the postal world
A weblog about the postal world. Who knew there was so much news about the mail?
Lo-fi movie making within video games
Players of The Sims are creating narratives and movies using Sims characters as actors and the software’s album feature as a recording media:
Players “go to a lot of trouble to get the Sims to do things they don’t want to do,” Wright says, explaining that players must keep their would-be actors fed, clean, rested and happy before they will even consider playing their parts. “So in that sense, it’s almost like they’re a director…. It’s almost like a real movie shoot.”
Asked about that, Service laughed and agreed. “I suspect real people would be easier to direct,” she said. “There is nothing like trying to get two Sims to kiss when they are both not in the mood. Actors would at least pretend.”
If you look at the highest-rated and most-viewed albums on The Sims Exchange, they’ll all of the movie/narrative variety. This account of a lawn gnome’s revenge is a favorite.
This reminds me of Jim Monroe’s My Trip to Liberty City, a home movie-esque account of a Canadian man’s visit to Liberty City in the game Grand Theft Auto.
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