Thursday, November 29, 2007

Age-Old Question Answered

If chased by a mob of sword-wielding Samurai, would a champion race walker actually run or walk?

Japanese television runs an experiment. A frightfully cruel experiment.




via Boing Boing

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Meeting My Son at The Quad Before the Kegger

So Charlie is awfully fond of Christmas lights. All things Christmas, really, but especially the lights. He requested and was granted a string of lights for his room. But now the room looks like a college dorm room all of a sudden, a resemblance lost on him. And I'm all, "Where's your Bob Marley poster and cinder block bookcase?"
I'm all, "Where's your Sociology textbook and Boone's Farm wine bottle candle holder?"
I'm all, "Where's the girl from down the hall hanging out in your room while your roommate gives you dirty looks?"
I'm all, "Where's your Van Gogh poster and Domino's boxes?"
I'm all, "Where's the corkboard bulletin board thing your mom got you that you never use?"
I'm all, "Where's your laundry?"
Oh, there's your laundry.

Monday, November 26, 2007

Kevin Dubrow

He was the lead singer for Quiet Riot. He was found dead in his Las Vegas home yesterday. No cause of death has been revealed. He as 52.

I remember when I was in college and Andy Gibb died. Some of us were getting ready for spring break and loading up trucks to do a college play in Portland and Seattle. We were all making jokes about Andy Gibb because we were 18-22 year-old smart asses and the guy's music was no longer popular. We just ripped into him. His death was a joke. And finally, Dan Donohue just said, "For God's sake, the man just died. He had a family and friends. Maybe we should lay off." And we did.

There was a lot to laugh at with Quiet Riot. The pants, the hair, the bombast. But they were just guys doing a job, selling records, and having fun.

I had occasion to talk to Kevin Dubrow a couple of times in the past year. The first time was for a story on my kids and heavy metal. I had contacted him through a small record label he was working with and I was surprised when he e-mailed me back himself to set up the interview. In the story that listeners heard, he talked about Jimi Hendrix. But that was only the part we used on the air. He had a lot more to say about all kinds of subjects and we talked a long time. He was a normal guy, proud of his career but slyly self-deprecating, knowledgeable about music, polite, and completely coherent and sane. He was the reverse of the guy in the Quiet Riot videos. I talked to him again a few weeks ago for a story on rock concert encores. My angle for that story was that the encore was no longer useful and should be discontinued. But Dubrow wouldn't go on the record in support of that because he thought his fans would get the idea that he didn't appreciate their enthusiasm.

So maybe you'll be somewhere in the next couple of days and someone will make fun of Kevin Dubrow. But maybe you should lay off.

Saturday, November 24, 2007

Recent Questions Posed by the Moe Children, Ranked in Ascending Order of Difficulty

1. Why does Jerry (from Tom & Jerry) eat cheese?
2. Cats and mice don't really hit each other with sledgehammers and blow each other up with dynamite so why do they do that on the cartoons?
3. Which is older, Tom & Jerry or Looney Tunes?
4. Which is older, space or time?
5. What did Santa give Shakespeare?

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Now Here Comes WRITING and Apologies

Posting has been somewhat light lately. Sorry. Although, you know, hell, what are you going to do, demand your no money back?

I've been booked up with our Weekend America Vega$ show, for which I had two stories. One and two. And I've been working on another project that is so strange that I won't really ever bother explaining it to humans. But that wraps up this week.

Meanwhile, here's an article on Wizznutzz, the best website designed by earth people. Alls you need to know is this:
1. They follow the Washington Wizards, an NBA franchise.
2. The Wizards have a talented player named Gilbert Arenas, who sometimes blogs.
3. Gilbert Arenas is insane.
4. So are the authors at Wizznutzz.

You don't need to be a fan of sports to enjoy the article. You just have to be willing to become untethered to reality for a while and laugh a bunch.

Monday, November 19, 2007

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Oh, Things Went Down

Make no mistake about that. When my son has a birthday party, things go down. Stuff occurs. There are EVENTS.

Oh yes.

Pokemon theme. Cake meticulously decorated to look like a Pokeball, although with no combat-prone monsters inside.

Nine guest boys. One birthday boy.

A scavenger hunt requiring Dad to climb on the roof to catch stomp rockets and a baking soda-vinegar volcano constructed by Mom. Also, Dad being hit by several whipped cream "pies" hucked by every boy in attendance, thus earning Dad certain enshrinement in the Dad Hall of Fame.

There was a balloon kicking dance party to the music of both Nirvana and whatever shameless goons were trucked in to do official Pokemon "music".

There were sugar highs of mythic proportions. There was noise. There was chaos. There were no tears or fights.

Things went down.

Damn right my boy is seven years old.

Wednesday, November 07, 2007

Obamapublicans

Interesting article in Time about Obama's support among disillusioned GOP members. Sure, it's a slice of life piece and it's a bit perilous to extrapolate out national trends from it (though that's never stopped Time or Newsweek before, of course) but you'd sure be hard pressed to find a Democrats for Giuliani or Republicans for Hillary Clinton group anywhere.

There are a ton of conservatives and Republicans out there who feel the current state of the GOP is not the kind of party they accepted the Evite to. And if Obama can capture a significant chunk of those people and rally enough Democrats at the same time, he'll be doing well. Interestingly, Hillary's latest poll numbers do seem to have slipped, although if you're investing any prognostication in 11/07 poll numbers, well, you're kind of an idiot.

Okay. Sorry. I'll get back to the precocious kid statements and coffee shop frustrations soon.

Sunday, November 04, 2007

The Way Others See It - Special Shadowy Photo Edition

This from the flickr page of someone named "niiiiiiiiiiiki". Not sure I got the write number of "i"s but you get the idea.
you can learn a lot more from listening than you can from talking. find someone with whom you dont agree with in the slightest and ask them to explain themselves at length. then take a seat, shut your mouth, and dont argue back. its physically impossible to listen with your mouth open.

by john moe
radio hose and author of conservatize me

::this is the authors opinon, not necessarily that of starbucks or niiiiiikis::
Yes, I am a radio hose now. But some day I hope to be a radio spigot.

Thursday, November 01, 2007

Sustainability

I was in Moline, Illinois a few weeks back and found this outside the La Quinta Inn. The truck/RV took up six parking spots and a bit of a seventh. The Smart Car squeezed into the portion of the seventh that remained. Also, crucially: isn't the point of an RV that you DON'T have to stay in a motel?