This is my list…

My pal Godfrey/Jeff has come up with this briliant Stephen Colbert “on notice” board generator. If you do one be sure to put your link in the comments Jeff reads this blog, or leave it on his.

I just wanted to put a shout out for a GREAT show airing this summer that I bet most people are missing, if they have heard of it at all.

It’s Always Sunny In Phildelphia. On FX network.
I love it. Make me laugh long time.

I caught on late. This is it’s second season (start three or four weeks ago) I only started watching with the premiere ep this year after FX started really plugging it. It looked funny, really really funny. My god is it.

If I didn’t know that the show was written/created by most of the male members of the cast I would think it was a remake of a british series. It’s that dark, twisted and funny. And it’s the most original thing I’ve seen on TV in a few years. I don’t know what higher praise I could give it.

It’s kinda like Sienfeld in that it’s about a group of really unliakeable unpleasant freinds constantly getting into schemes, but it doesn’t have the playful heart that Sienfield did. It’s twisted, and more importantly it’s just freaking funny.

This show has filled the gap my my funny bone left by Arrested’s sad departure. Mr Man and I laugh our butts off each week now. We Tivo it and save it for a bad TV night.

The title music and the name of the show are inanely sappy, don’t let that shake you, it’s called dark irony. It just empasizes how fracked up the rest of it is. I’m not even going to explain the plots of any of them, because it will sound weak, but they aren’t. This is tv with hate, sarcasam, and spite in it’s heart.

It airs Thursdays at 10, and they air a ep from season one at 10:30, catch them both. They don’t really seem to have a “arc” to have to ease into - so you can just jump right in.

Other shows i love that you are probably not watching:
Everybody Hates Chris (in reruns) - a semi-autobigraphical family comedy about Chris Rock growing up. This show should have made it to a real network. It’s practically hidden a hidden gem being over on WB/UPN.

It’s funny. Real funny. The Dad steals the show though and some of the shows sayings have leaked into our house. (”That’s like [blank] cents of milk on the floor!) If you are a child of the 80’s you’ll love it. Unlike Phildelphia, has a great healthy heart. We never miss it, even in reruns. Put it on your Tivo now, it’s really a great show. I would even own the DVD of this one, and I don’t say that much. It’s fun to watch over and over.

Psych on US is a blast, comes on after Monk (which is another no-miss of mine). I look forward to this each week now. Sure it’s not deep but it is funny.

There you go, some good things to watch during the summer. You can thank me later. I think all these are in iTunes now so you can all catch up if you want.

I’ll give you dog owners a tip. The furbags might like ice cubes, but if you want to treat them to something fun and differnt time to time, try a case of those cheapo Fla-Vor-Ice popsickles in Sugar Free. I get a case of like 100 of them at Costco or Target for $6. They last all year. My dogs just love them. Anytime the freezer opens and my hand gets near the icepops Maggie gets all excited. She digs them. Even one of the catslikes a little frozen fruity nugget from time to time.

One other thing I do with my dogs with treats is offer them a choice. Even if it’s just two, but sometimes as many as four or five flavors. Mine have grown to be quite opinionated and I get a better bearing on what they actually like and what they really don’t but take anyway. Maggie is the real thinker, she will sniff back and forth very carefully before deciding which one she wants. Like I wouldn’t think the black charcoal biscuits would taste all that good, but she’ll go for them over a beef basted biscuit anyday. The other two largely will too. So thats why I keep buying them.

Guess I’m in a dog posting mode. Hey i’m not posting about my cats right?

So the DOPA act passed. Banning ’social networking’ sites such as the fearsome pedo-laden Myspace on school and public library computers.

Adults would have have to ask librians nicely, or maybe adult accounts will be able to get out of the prospective firewalls, but somehow I don’t think it will work that way. Call me cyncial.

This bill bans any site that:

(i) is offered by a commercial entity;
(ii) permits registered users to create an on-line profile that includes detailed personal information;
(iii) permits registered users to create an on-line journal and share such a journal with other users;
(iv) elicits highly-personalized information from users; and
(v) enables communication among users.’.

The problem is they don’t name specific sites and the sites affected in this age of the web are far wider ranging than I think any of them have the capacity to understand.

First, we already have COPPA remember? No, I guess they don’t. They thought that would solve everything!

Now I’m not saying, as I was arguing with Grillboy in AIM, that internet access is a civil right. It’s not. Food should be a right. How ever I do belive access is access. Either offer it or don’t. It’s useful or it’s not. In this day and age the internet is not for the upper middle class, if anything it’s a equalizer. You need it to find jobs, plan yourlife, find out what is going on in your town, the weather, news etc. It’s a tool.

To me it’s equal to cutting of minors from reading newspapers (which the Newspapers Publishers Association were encourgang via a series of commericals a couple of years ago, despite there being personal ads, shocking pictures or graphic news in them)

Being banned as I understand it are any sites where you can “build a profile” of personal information or can freely convervse with others on the site.

So, common web forums are out. (Even ones that could be useful like history, local, educational, or genelogical in basis.) So’s Flickr, Amazon, Ebay, AIM/MSN/Yahoo, YouTube, ilounge, Metafilter, Blogger, MoveableType, LiveJournal, Fark, DailyKos. As well as any site/blog with a ‘remember me’ button? personal info is stored ina cookie. How far are they willing to take it?

Would those job sites where you you are usually required, if not encouraged to make a profile complete with resume be banned too? (Hey people who don’t have a computer have to look for work online.)

I guess halfassed flailing Chicken Lttles are what I’m used to any more, after all “the internet is a series of tubes”.

On the band Steely Dan’s website they have a letter: Hey Luke Wilson which is a rather funny little jibe at Owen Wilson’s being in a movie whose plot, they claim, was ripped off one of thier hits “Cousin Dupree”.

Owen Wilson Answers:

“I have never heard the song `Cousin Dupree’ and I don’t even know who this gentleman, Mr. Steely Dan, is. I hope this helps to clear things up and I can get back to concentrating on my new movie, `HEY 19.‘”

At least thier are being civil and having a sense of humor about it which is remarkably refreshing. I certainly don’t think anyone is getting sued. Funny stuff.

Anyone else getting email spam that have titles that kinda halfway relate to your life or things you are involved in at the time? The headlines are randomized, I know that, but as of late I’ve been getting the oogaboogas. At least once a day I get one. Just wierding me out I guess.

A lot of coverage on this one, but I found this German article that explains what went wrong really well.

Cultural and general ignorance, as well a good deal of american cockiness, I think ties it up well. What is just par for the course for Walmart over here, doesn’t fly over there.

One trip to IKEA will tell you that bedding sizes are different… my IKEA duvet filler swims in my american duvet cover with INCHES to spare all around. And see Walmart only look at prices, they don’t look at differneces. They desperatly want to tackle Target, but they don’t know WHY people choose Target over them. They don’t get why Target shoppers are such huge Target fans. Or IKEA fans.. or…

Maybe They’ll learn something from this, but it sounds liek they are just cutting thier losses and bailing. All in all I bet the Germans are happy for one less crass Americanization. Reason #2807 I want to move there forever and ever.

McDonald’s on the other hand seems to get China.

You win today. And probably rightly so. Well played. I have made a point over these four years to never blog about work, jobs or clients - and in some ways I still haven’t. You weren’t my client; you were the bane of my existence.

Sure linking you was speedy route of the downfall, and I’ll even admit that one part (in the post that no longer exists) was over the line. The “sucking the blood from newborn kittens” part? I’ll stick to that. Your product/service sure sucked the very life essence out of me. Bad design tends to do that, it confuses and tires the user. I give you the DMV as an example, that something so simple as renewing license plates requires a nap afterwards is preposterous.

But if you had read around that one statement that I probably shouldn’t have said, (in the ex-post) you would have seen some honest critism of your product/service that with very little effort you could implement to make your product a joy to use and not the mindnumbing journey to hell that it is.

After all, what do I know? I’ve only got 10 years of web design experience, designed the UI for a few web applications for places like Cisco Systems, and got an international high-faluting gold IDSA Design award for a Operators Manual, of all things. I have NO idea about clarifying, beautifying and simplifying the user experience. Nope. Not me. I’m just another dumb user.

Catching some shade B/W: Originally uploaded by verybigjen.

I took a lot of pics on the way home today, the linked pic goes to the set of today’s snaps.

What’s he telling you to do?

Okay… reality check folks.

Everyone is going apeshit over Bush giving a shoulder rub to German Chancellor Merkel. Now I hate the man in a way that if there is a god/devil/heaven/hell I’m doomed right now, but come on. It’s NOT sexual harassment!!! He didn’t lean over and make a comment about her boobs, touch her hair, squeeze her ass. He was just saying “hey how ya doin’”.

That said, however, it WAS a inopportune display of personal affection (and affection doesn’t have to be “sexual” folks) and it does faintly reek of condescension as it’s not much difference than what I’ve seen in some meetings with the boss doing a rallying shoulder squeeze to a junior. Not that it’s a aggressive act just a “come on guys, I’ll help keep you all in line” thing. (We know President Chimpy is a bravdo laden moron.)

It’s also just a stupidity casual thing to do in front of a bunch of reporters with cameras. Closed doors, hell I don’t care if they all come in sequined disco shorts, with cameras they better goddamn have a button up shirt on.

I’m more offended that Bush looked to be chewing his own cud all splay legged like his balls were the size of cantaloupes while talking to Tony Blair during the “live mic” incident.

Not that Blair was leaning subserviently over, and Bush looked to lazy to stand. Not that he said “shit” on a live mic. (Hell I was just impressed he was on topic and had a moderate grasp of the issue and wasn’t saying something off color or ignorant.) Hell we all knew Bush curses and flips the bird we have that on photo, audio and video. Don’t even act likes it’s a surprise. Hell we get looked down by the western europe because we don’t curse ENOUGH. They see us as being puritanical and ignorant, cursing is a viable part of language. (All our best curse words come from the middle ages, btw) Get over it. He said Shit. Oooh.

And while I’m on world leaders getting shit, leave Putin alone for giving the little kid a belly raspberry. He’s European, they are more kissy than we are. I thought it was a charming bit of humanity from a leader of a former communist powerhouse. It was far more natural and endearing than any baby Bush, or any US politician, has ever held.

There I said it. Now I can bash him again. Stupid Iidiotic MORON chimpman veto’d stim cells! I want him to get cancer, then get told he could have helped himself one more time.

Esther started it: Originally uploaded by verybigjen.

She did it first. She picked out ones that actually looked good on her, I took a different route.

You can do it next

XXXXX Originally uploaded by verybigjen.

I Love Emma Lou
Jan 27
2003
Hope
she loves
me
too

I got this in change on July 15 2006. I wonder if he told her. I wonder if she loved him back.

Uh, yeah, he did. :::groan:::

This cinches it. OMFG Bush is the stupidest a-hole ever.

This is from a year ago or so. Never shared it, thought ‘why not’. I started a Vimeo account a few weeks ago and put this up as a test, and well I’ll put the link here too.

My cat Zelda destroys a paper bag on Vimeo

The OK Go Dances With You(Tube) Contest

First, I’m working in a labratory complex at P&G, an honest to god lab, well actually a hundred labs. Each one works on various aspects of P&G products. I’m doing some building beautification graphics etc… for teh remodeling taht they are doing. Since P&G doesn’t really have a graphics department (they have marketing and they hire out dozens of design firms in town), and I’m working in a office in lab that works on Tide’s cleaniness. Other than that I really have no idea as I never took a science class and the only part of a word I unerstood all day was “oxy”. It’s just very surreal for me, I haven’t seen so many test tubes and junk since I was getting some bloodwork done.

Second it’s HUGE, long and mazelike, and on the top of a big hill. A hill that the main parking lot is at the bottom of. A VERY TALL set of stairs connects the two and could quite possibly give me a heart attack since I’ve been working out of the house for 5 years and am roughly the size of an elephant (not really kidding there.) If I don’t have a coronary explosion every morning I’ll certainly lose a bunch of weight. If.

I can go to Pennsic though, which I wasn’t sure about being able to make it. After this gig I’ll certainly be in better shape for it - again if I don’t have a coronary.

The New Science of Siblings

The guy who has been all over the net with his idea to take one red paperclip and trading it , over and over for new things to eventually trade for a house - has gotten a house!

The turning point was trading a huge motorized KISS snowdome for a paid movie role (airfare included) which was traded for the house in Canada.

The recipient of the snowdome, who traded the movie role, was Corbin Bernsen (who is producing said film).

Now, any snowdome collectors out there like me (i would link to my domeorama.com site but I’ve been stuck on updating it for over a year) know that Corbin is a HUGE collector.

Jody Gnant has the scoop (not permalinked, scroll down to “You Oughtta Be In Pictures” on the whole thing as she was in the office at the time of the trade.

For any dome collectors you can see the wall of showcases that is i’m sure only a small part of Corbin’s six thousand dome collection (that’s not quite enough cases).

If you send Corbin a snowdome, address in the post above, you can be made a member of the Kiss Snowdome Army. I have a few extras kicking around here, uh a few dozen extras. I am so sending at least one.

And speaking of Corbin Bernsen, he’s supporting player in the new series Psych on USA (you can still catch the pilot ep this week thanks their tendancy to air stuff a bazillion times) It’s a hoot. Watch it. I loved it. Like Monk without all the psychosis.

Funniest Who’s Line ever

Richard Simmons does a guest appearance, and well, I laughed so hard I’m hoarse now.