Quickies - The "Hmmmm... wine" Edition

Dr. Vino's guide to Chicago wine shops. Useful.

Good Jeff Tweedy show from last week at the IMU.

Am I the only one who doesn't really get the new Apple Hi-Fi? This doesn't really do anything that the Bose or Logitech speaker/dock doesn't.

Filed in: quickies wine music apple

Happy Monday

Absolutely, positively freaking disgusting. Enjoy.

Filed in: sick

Friday High Fives (2/24/06)

This week's five items, ideas, and individuals that I am thankful for, appreciate, or admire.

Kurt Vonnegut
Came out of retirement to put out one last book lambasting GDub recently which, while I am absolutely not a fan of the President, came across a little too bitter but still a long time favorite. I've seen him speak a couple of times and have been more than impressed. At 82 he's lived a big life and I wish that his last book wasn't so spiteful but I guess the man earned the right.

GMail Talk
The ultimate work productivity killer could become even more deadly when they add group chat.

The Democracy Player
A media player that provides the simplest way to automagically download your favorite TV shows. You can set it up to never miss another show and not have to jump through a bunch of hoops to do it.

Cubs Tickets
The online ticketing is a frustrating PITA for a number of reasons but I managed to get a pair of decent seats for the Sunday night game opening weekend vs. the hated Redbirds, 6 tickets on my birthday a couple rows off the right field bullpen and some bleacher seats for Saturday May 13th vs. the Padres. Let's hope we're not out of it by then.

Fox and Obel
The gourmet food shop for gourmands. Little pricey but always has great items and fresh goodies that you can't find elsewhere and looking to expand into my neighborhood. Invaluable resource for gourmet cooking.

Filed in: fridayhighfives

Quickies - The "GOOAAAAAAAAAAL!" Edition

Sweet collection of clips from some of Theiry Henry's best goals.

New trailer for A Scanner Darkly. Definitely looking forward to seeing it this summer.

Tyler Cowen has an interesting response to an idea proposed by ex-NBA star Rick Barry to have a "per-victory" contracts. Barry's thinking is that you'll see a league that has much more competitive games when every game has dollars riding on it for the players but I tend to agree with Cowen's assessment why there isn't incentives like this already in place instead of the current incentive clauses like individual and team performance. There is nothing legally or contractually preventing the "per-victory" type of clause but I do agree with Cowen that there isn't much incentive for the league to institute this or demand for it by the causal fan.

Filed in: quickies video soccer movies sports

Friday High Fives (02/17/06)

This week's five items, ideas, and individuals that I am thankful for, appreciate, or admire.

McDonalds New Coffee Cups
They changed their coffee beans a while ago without much fanfare or nary a press release outside the beverage fanatic circles but now that appears to be changing because they've updated their coffee cups with new graphics to promote it and went with an upgrade in the traditional styrofoam cups used. The newer cup appears to be a harder type of styrofoam that is much nicer than the previous type. The newer cups also seem to have better insulating properties and hold their form a little bit better. While not my personal favorite McD's coffee is very drinkable the new cups are definitely the best in the fast food coffee market.

Mojitos
I just got a pitcher back from a friend that I used last summer for mojitos and it brought back fond memories. They are my favorite summer time drink and always seem to get me in trouble. In a weird coincidence there was a nice tip posted this week showing a interesting way to cut up your limes for juicing at Too Many Chefs. Can't wait to make the ceremonial first pitcher for the summer of 2006.

Photobooth by Death Cab for Cutie

My favorite Death Cab song and, while it is an oldie, I've been fortunate to see it performed live a few times. Tickets to the sold out show that is being co-headlined with Franz Ferdinand at the Aragon in April have been secured (plus some extras so e-mail me about them if you are interested) and I am really looking forward to it. To get a sneak-peak at what we're in for check out this excellent recording of the February 12th show available at the Internet Archive.

The del.icio.us Playtagger Feature
You might have noticed that mp3 links that I've posted before have a little play button to the left of the link. If you click on that button the mp3 will play automatically on your computer without the need to launch a media player or any additional software. That feature is a result of some clever "web magic" that the guys over at Del.icio.us, the social bookmark kings and recent Yahoo! acquistion, put together. I've included some code behind the scenes so that all links that appear in this weblog are "playtagger-ified" but there is a neat greasemonkey script for Firefox (here) that will automagically turn any mp3 link on any webpage into a playtagger link. Check it out. Highly recommended.

Sin City Special Edition
The new gold standard for what a special edition should be. The entire movie was produced with the DVD special features in mind. The director Robert Rodriguez really loves the format and it definitely shows. It is a must-have DVD.


Filed in: fridayhighfives

A Blueprint for Success!

Leave it the guys at the Phat Phree to architect a blueprint to live by. A modern day success guide for men where if you follow these seven rules you too can walk along the path of enlightenment in the "Booze Zone".

1. Consuming big, greasy sustenance for breakfast and dinner is a no-brainer and a well-adopted approach. Where I blaze a new path is suggesting that you preferably have sex for lunch. But unless you have a rub-and-tug nearby or a really dirty co-worker and/or classmate, this could be tough to achieve. Therefore, really exuberant late-night humping, replete with filthy dirty talking, is the suggested substitute.

2. Shots are prohibited. This is non-negotiable. If someone buys you one, dump it on the floor while they watch in horror. And stick to one type of drink, and one drink only. Whether it be beer, vodka sodas, or Bacardi Silver if you're gay. Whatever. Consistency is the key.

3. No more than six hours sleep. Anything more than that and your body gets lazy and falls into a state of inertia and self-awareness. This is when the "skymptoms" set in and you get panic attacks.

4. Always have something going on. Never let your mind and/or body stop to think about what you're doing to it. This reverts back to the planning your next night out while you're still in your towel that morning. Perpetual social motion. Swear by it.

5. Come Monday and Tuesday, take your pain. I'm a realist and accept that the Booze Zone can't be sustained forever. Therefore, it's best to pay the piper on the two most depressing days of the week.

6. Never look at your ATM receipt. When withdrawing money, I suggest you glance at it, then crumple it up and smirk cocky-like to those around you as if you're the richest man on earth.

7. Quit any and all religion.

Amen.

All I want to know is who out of my friends broke ranks and started blabbing?

Filed in: funny booze

A No Brainer

Here is a no brainer free of charge for every major touring act this summer. Record every single one of your concerts and make them available on iTunes for about $5/show fairly soon after you played it.

I know it can be done because the hobbist tapers who make audience recordings can turn their tapes around in a day or two. I also know that Clear Channel wants to own every recording and maybe you'll have to cut them in a little bit or do a little legal wrangling but if you did this you could satisfy the demand for high quality recordings of your live shows by die hard fans as well as the causal fan who just wants a little memento from a special night they had with you/your band.

You are leaving money on the table for every show you play and you don't make available online. The infrastructure is already in place and the costs are almost neglible. There is no excuse.

Filed in: music ideas business duh

Shoxploitation

Nike released some sweet urban assault sneaker/boots in what they call the Shoxploitation line but I just stumbled across them now a year or so later. Why? The marketing campaign is pretty interesting. Make sure to check out the four animated vignettes featuring Rasheed Wallace as Clutch, Brian Urlacher as Joe Freeze, Clinton Portis as Rush, and Gary Sheffield as Sledge that are fun and creative. Nike always seems to have innovative marketing but alot of this stuff never gets mass media attention and consequently little mindshare which seems odd. Why spend any money on something that you are going to bury or is it because the product isn't mass produced?

(via CoolHunting)

Filed in: brands nike marketing ad shoes athletes

Quickies - The "I just threw up in my mouth" Edition

Titleist is getting sued by Callaway over patent issues surrounding the Pro V1. The Sofa King's bullet of choice last year was the HX Tour 56 but I'll always have a soft spot for the 2004 Pro V1.

OH MY GOD THIS IS DISGUSTING!!! I've never been this drunk in my entire life.

Maria Sharapova is hot (duh!) and she also is in this year's SI swimsuit issue.

Filed in: quickies video funny golf

Friday High Fives (02/10/06)

This week's five items, ideas, and individuals that I am thankful for, appreciate, or admire.

Well I had a full post and Firefox crashed so. Here is a quick jot of the Friday High Fives and I'll revise and linkify it later.

Malcolm Gladwell
Love his writing, especially his New Yorker pieces. I am willing to overlook the fact that he is Canadian.

Ricola
Got me through a tough week with a sore throat and a bit of a cold.

The Chopping Block
Em-dina's last Christmas present to me gets cashed this week. The Pasta Workshop is going to be the shit.

William Jefferson Clinton
President Clinton gave a good talk at Davos last month and in light of the complete diasaster that the Bush 43 administration has been and the news today that Scooter is fingering his superiors for authorizing the information leak on the Plame affair it makes me long for the old days. The days when the White House lacked all that "honor and dignity" that GW promised o restore to the presidency.

Good Tutorials
Had to work on some stuff this week that I didn't have experience with and found some great info on the web that was extremely well written. Very rare and almost unheard of these days to have good docs and tutorials.

Filed in: fridayhighfives

Quickies - The "I gotta a Boehner in my apartment" Edition

Exactly the type of guy the GOP house members need right now to lead them through the ethical problems they're having.

Nice primer on Jane Jacobs and why she is relevant.

Some pretty interesting insights from the latest World Economic Forum held last month. (Pod|Web)casts on the sessions are available here.

Interesting association made between producing a televison show for a live audience and doing product development at AIGA.

The first time I heard this song (streamed) I thought it was a parody. Strangely enough it wasn't. Even stranger than that? I kinda like it.

Songbird, an open source iTunes-killer, was released today. The cool thing about this music app, built by the guys who wrote Winamp, Firefox, Yahoo's media player, is that it allows you to hook up to multiple music services instead of locking you into just one. (download mirror)

Filed in: quickies

Rant/Rave Super Bowl XL Edition

Rants

• Pretty d-bag move by Joe Montana who wanted $100k to make an appearance during the NFL's tribute to the past 39 Super Bowl MVPs and didn't show when the NFL said no.
• Jerramy Stevens' four drops.
• Terrible execution by both teams. The Seahawks crapped the bed in the red zone where they dominated all year long and had two missed field goals by Josh Brown. The Steelers having to use gadget plays for production and having Ike Taylor abused by Hasselbeck all game.
  
• Not running Shaun Alexander more early in the game.
  
• Blaming the officiating for losing the game.
  
• The officiating itself.
• The audio mix for the game.
  
• The Rolling Stones.
  
• The media for manufacturing the Jerramy Stevens vs. Joey Porter fiasco for a story line.
  

Raves

• The Bud Light commercials Secret Fridge and Hidden Beer.
• Em-dina's chicken wings
• Tim for graciously hosting the Super Bowl party.
• The cable gods for not taking away the HD signal that has become mysteriously intermittant at Tim's place.

Filed in: sports nfl rantrave

Super Meh.

Poorly played game that got a little better in the second half but was as expected. Boring. Even the commercials this year were a big disappointment.

Fitting way to cap what turned out to be a crappy weekend.

Pitchers and catchers in 8 days.

Filed in: sports nfl football disappointing

You can count on it.

My birthday is coming up in a couple months and you can bet your ass that I want some of these.
I just have to decide whether I want the King of the South

... or the Ice Tray


Of course I'd have to figure out a way to pull this look off but details, details.

Filed in: balling awesome culture grills bling

Quickies - The "F.T.B.S.I.T.T.T.D" Edition

Some rumors about the PS3 which are pretty interesting. Belive it when I see it though.

Fun brain type test. I am an ENFP which explains a lot.

Stephanine Tanner a meth fiend? Who would've thunk it? (via Daily Links)

Pretty sweet design magazine produced by Stanford's d-school called Ambidextrous.

Nice cover of DCFC's Soul Meets Body. I actually like this much better than the original and I kinda liked the original.

Extensive list of torrent sites.

Is there a Super Bowl Shuffle ringtone?

Filed in: quickies music torrents

Friday High Fives (02/03/06)

This week's five items, ideas, and individuals that I am thankful for, appreciate, or admire.

Super Bowl
As legit a holiday as you can get in America (right behind Christmas and Thanksgiving and probably in front of Easter). Even after almost two weeks of hype, personal interest stories, hearing about how disrespected each team is, listening/reading to reporters bitch about covering the event, and endless speculation about key matchups nothing can curb my enthuasm for the big game.

Pandora
As of yesterday the Music Genome Project has launched version 2.1 of their streaming music service (mentioned before here). The concept is great and as of recently you can use it for free if you can put up with 1 banner ad (or none via AdBlock). The service is simple and easy to use and the new features they added are pretty neat. The basic concept is that you add the names of your favorite bands or songs that you like and based on the musical dna of those groups and songs they'll play similar songs. It is a great way to get exposure to new artists and music that you'll probably like. You can share your stations with others and publish your recently played and favorites via RSS feeds. You can listen to one of the stations I've created here.

Special K Bars
Em-dina made these for me for Christmas and then brought some to my family's New Year's party which resulted in me getting badgered for the recipe by almost everyone in my family. They are easy to make and can be lethal just like the rock beeyotch! These tasty treats are going to be a staple of Super Bowl party sponsored by the Public Offering.


Flippy Cup
Admittedly I am not an all-star but love the game. What I love more is the fact that every tournament I've ever been in there has been a couple common themes: girls absolutely love this game, the very best flippy cup players I've ever seen are almost exclusively good looking and sorority girls, and these tournaments always end up in a drunken mess. Yes, I am looking forward to the charity tournament tonight that I am going to be participating in.

Football Shaped Salami
The fact that you can buy salami in 1 and 2 pound football-shaped sizes pleases me to no end. I can't really explain why but it does.

Filed in: fridayhighfives

T.O. - Seriously. Just go away.

I am (still) sick and tired of hearing about T.O. and although I can't buy the "black-on-black crime" argument from Donovan McNabb, I can sympathize with him. Out of all the things McNabb can and should be pissed about this off season, do you think answering questions regarding what happened with T.O. for the rest of his life will piss him off the most?

Because Owens threw him under the bus and created a gigantic circus around the Eagles this past season you unfortunately can't tell the story of McNabb's career without mentioning this. We've been treated to this "great career but..." story a thousand times. What is the first thing you think about Dan Marino? Good chance it probably is "Best quarterback never to have won a Super Bowl." Bill Clinton? You get the picture. But I think that McNabb's situation is a little different and the difference makes this instance even more unfortunate. McNabb will forever be lumped into this group due to someone being petulant because they couldn't renegotiate their long-term contract a year after they signed it and not for anything McNabb did or didn't do.

The only possible justice to come out of all this mess is that Owens has officially cemented his reputation and legacy as a pathetic and shallow clubhouse cancer who will never be able to get anywhere near the kind of money or contract he was trying to renegotiate with the Eagles for the rest of his career.

Filed in: sports nfl football disappointing pathetic