...it's not dark yet, but it's gettin' there...
Forget the Yahoo weather site, which is really just the Weather Channel's site, which sucks. The most comprehensive internet source for all your weather related needs is Weather Underground, which I have just bookmarked under my "references" tab. It has complete and searchable almanac information too, for you global warming junkies.
No, I'm not a total geek. But I am the daughter of a former Navy Aerographer's Mate.
On a slightly related note, I want you all to know my electrical usage has decreased compared to last year's kWh for two months in a row! And I haven't even been trying. Of course that might be because last year I tended to forget to turn off the air when leaving the house. Now, I have a Puerto Rican butler who will do that for me.
Here's something I hadn't seen before. It's a very cool zoom function at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's website. I linked to Poussin's The Abduction of the Sabine Women, because there's a lot going on in there. But you can find and zoom in on pretty much everything they have at the Met. It's my favorite museum.
Also, while we're on the subject of art, click on the extended entry if you're interested in a tour of the National Gallery's Jasper Johns exhibition. I thought it was interesting.
h/t on the Charlie Rose thing goes to Blu, who sent me a link to the Michael Crichton interview. Rose and Crichton discuss Jasper Johns, among other interesting things (when Rose shuts up long enough for Crichton to talk). Crichton thinks Johns is tops, along with Rauschenberg. I'm not as familiar with Johns as I am with Rauschenberg, whom I like a lot. I saw a retrospective of his work during my Scandinavian art museum overdose.
The Rauschenberg exhibition was at the ARoS museum in Århus. My aunt and uncle's farm was about a half hour away from Århus, so we spent a day seeing the sights there. Basically, there are only two things worth seeing in Århus. The ARoS museum is excellent, as is the living history park called Den Gamle By. ("By" is pronounced byoo.)
While I'm on this meandering digression about art, when I should be writing a paper, now is as good a time as any to post a video I've been meaning to share with you since last summer.
I love video art and check it out whenever I can. On our Scandinavian art overdose, Chris and I saw some really wierd video art at Louisiana and at ARoS. Some of it was indescribable. There was one room at ARoS that was set up like an apartment that you could walk inside. There was a couch, and a tv, and a little kitchenette, and a balcony with laundry hanging on a line. The entire room was wired and lit so that you could watch the whole day go by in about ten minutes. It was fascinating. The sun would rise and the coffee pot would start to work, for instance. Then the light changed as the day went on, birds sang and the laundry blew in the breeze, and stuff like that. Then as evening came, the tv turned on and dinner started cooking. As it got dark outside the lights came on. Overnight, the room lit up with little pinlights embedded in all the walls and floor, which was supposed to be like a dream. It was a really incredible installation, but unfortunately I didn't get any pictures.
I did take a video of one installation, called Unk, by American video artist Tony Ousler. You can see it below, but the video does not capture the full effect of the installation. It's basically a video projection of a man's face onto a 3 foot white egg submerged inside a giant plexiglass cube of water. His face contorts and you hear him groaning as he struggles to hold his breath. The entire thing is in the center of a dark room in the basement of the Kunstmuseum.
Even though the surface of the big egg was smooth, the projection made it look totally three dimensional. Watching the giant head try to hold its breath underwater made me slightly uncomfortable, like I couldn't breathe either. Really eerie and disturbing.
Two weekends ago I turned you on to a fabulous 75 minute YouTube on global warming. This weekend, I only need you to set aside 48 minutes.
This speech, by a guy named Evan Sayet, is pure brilliance. I don't know why I've never heard of him before. For years I've been looking for a "grand unified theory" of why liberals are so fucked up, and this dude came up with a real contender. He presents his thesis within the first couple of minutes, and when I heard it I was like, "whoa, that's amazing, I've never thought of it like that before."
h/t to Shelly and Rodger.
I can't think of a cooler way to start Sunday Morning than by listening to a little Blossom Dearie.
Enjoy your day!
Today's C.T.O.T.I.O.T.D. is sheer genius.
Apparently this thing's been around a while, but I never seen it before. Funnier than shit.
h/t Rodger
This thing is really cool. The Falling Sand Game. It's reminds me of Sim City, if you remember that old computer game.
h/t Beth
This is good for about three minutes out of your day. No more than that. Give it a try.
OMG this is the most ROTFL thing I've heard in fucking ever.
More versions here. The Doors one made me cry it was so funny.
This video is pretty good too.
Be my virtual valet. Please don't steal any change out of the dash.
Warning: don't click the link if you have anything important to do today.
h/t Merri Musings
Something tells me them boys on the Cole got a chip on their shoulder.
I freakin' love that Phalanx system. It sounds scarier than shit. Terrorists beware, heh heh!
Tony Joe White is a southern blues/rock singer who is pretty much known for only one song. It's a cool song, and the album it's taken from, Black and White fuckin' rocks and I highly recommend it should you see it somewhere--you won't be disappointed.
The fact the young Tony Joe White resembles a rather young Joe Don Baker doesn't influence me at all. Really. (I should mention that these days, TJW resembles Don Imus, while JDB resembles the Sta-Puft Marshmallow Man, just in case you were wondering.)
In this YouTube video, he and Johnny Cash perform Poke Salad Annie. You won't regret clicking on the PLAY button.
By contrast, I offer one of the Cr.T.O.T.I.O.T.D. (Crappiest Thing on the Internets of the Day) for your viewing--whatever. In this clip from Soul Train, Joe Tex has a bad experience on the dance floor. Enjoy the disco ball, funky dancing, bad lip-synching, and massive amounts of polyester...or don't.
I found a really mindless game that is strangely therapeutic for a Friday afternoon. It's called Short Bus Rampage. The game sets up like this:
Tired of being ridiculed by the other students, you and the rest of the Special Ed class have taken control of the bus and are out for revenge.I know a game like this might hit a little too close to home for some of my visitors. But the rest of you should give it a try. The sound effects are really funny.
I realize this is old, but today's Coolest Thing On The Internets Of The Day is Sean Gleeson's Autorantic Virtual Moonbat.
He's automated, he's progressive, and he fits on your sidebar.
Actually, this robot is a very accurate portrayal. There's a dude who stands outside the Van Nuys Courthouse and rants incoherently, but sounds exactly like this robot.
Sean designed a chat machine too. It must be channelling Robert MacLelland's spirit, or spit, or something.
Someone should create a computerized voice version. Air America could save a fortune by replacing their on-air personalities with robots. I wonder if anyone would notice. They'd probably just think it was Al Gore.
I star in another movie! This one has a sad ending, but shows my dramatic range.
Directed by Victor.
I can attest to the accuracy of the video below, because I have a bunch of history degrees. It's the shit they don't tell you in school.
(It reminds me a lot of this famous site, which is also really funny.)
Via Pursuit.
Victor sent me a link to the most horrible thing I've ever seen on the internets. This is way worse than the drunk dog fucking video, which at least was funny. No, this one is so horrible I almost want to cancel my internet service and never go online again. Cuz if that's what the internets have come to, if that's the kind of awfulness we are now able to witness at the click of a button -- I mean the kind of stuff that should have been burned, buried and forgotten, never to see the light of day ever again, where it will damage the eyes and ears and brains of millions of innocent unsuspecting people -- well then I think this whole internets thing has gone too far.
If you dare, click on this YouTube link. But I must warn you, It is shockingly baaad, and even Victor admitted that he was physically unable to watch the entire thing. I did, and I will forever be sorry.
Now this is a special one. Pandora.com is a site that recommends songs based on objective similarities to the songs you input.
[W]e set out to capture the essence of music at the most fundamental level. We ended up assembling literally hundreds of musical attributes or "genes" into a very large Music Genome. Taken together these genes capture the unique and magical musical identity of a song - everything from melody, harmony and rhythm, to instrumentation, orchestration, arrangement, lyrics, and of course the rich world of singing and vocal harmony. It's not about what a band looks like, or what genre they supposedly belong to, or about who buys their records - it's about what each individual song sounds like.It seems a much more scientific than other internet "radio" sites that play songs based on broader categories or the buying habits of similar users whose tastes usually aren't that similar to mine.
I thought I'd try to stump it by entering the name of my favorite new musical discovery, April Verch. But the program passed my test with flying colors. Give it a whirl.
h/t to Jody.
This is so geeky it's like super-duper geeky on steroids.
h/t Meryl Yourish.
Country musicians Big & Rich pay tribute to the sacrifices of our Vietnam heroes in the song and video, "8th of November." It's very touching and well done. See it at Tammy's blog.
Continuing on this jailhouse theme: some folks refuse to take getting arrested seriously.
[How much you wanna bet Casca starts hanging out at County after seeing number 4?]
Now this is a really catchy tune I bet you'll be humming all day tomorrow.
h/t to J.D.
lol: my boy James T. Kirk love dat leftover beef!
Via Victor.
This is so cute: The Kosher Village People.
[turn speakers on]
h/t Darleen.
Crazy ninja kid jumping over shit.
Via Kevin.
Also, "today's lesson: never mix alkali metals with water."
Right.
Via visitor HH.
For those who have not yet heard about Michelle Malkin's great new website, Hot Air, go check it out now.
And today's coolest most bizarre thing is from Doug TenNapel. Sick, but hilarious.
For F-16 fans, a cool video of low level flying through the fjords of Norway. Takes a while to load.
Hat tip to Shelly.
Vonski obtained some frightening video of a terrorist training camp.
The Easter Bunny kicks ass.
Thanks to Zendo Deb for finding that.
Need A Good Laugh?
Watch Soledad O'Brien go twelve rounds with Cynthia McKinney. The fight was a draw.
I totally love Soledad O'Brien now.
Update: Rep. McKinney's Patton moment.
The kitty and chicken friendship video. Too cute.
Via one of the Beths.
Anyone who tries this, let me know if it works.
A mean old bull.
Runner up: Shar Jackson covers Brittany's "Toxic." I love the ending; Shar gets the last word.
Wanna bet the second generation will kick back?
A really heartwarming video. And I'm kind of jaded on heartwarming stuff, but this one is pretty darn cool.
This game seems strangely familiar. I don't know.
Led there by Sarah.