Long Weekend Gone
Posted on June 1, 2004 at 10:29 am | No Comments
In case you forgot, or didn’t care quite enough to notice, tickets for the U.S. debut of the Lord of the Rings Exhibition at Boston’s Museum of Science went on sale this morning to the general public. It opens on August 1st and runs through October 24th.
Oh, G.Dubya, how I’ll miss your verbal blundering when you’re gone. Another instant classic: “I’m honored to shake the hand of a brave Iraqi citizen who had his hand cut off by Saddam Hussein.” – G.W., to visiting Iraqis, May 27th, 2004
The filmed adaptation of Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is well under way, and the creators are maintaining a blog to keep fans updated. Very cool of ’em. Also cool: Warwick “Willow” Davis is playing Marvin the Paranoid Android.
As you’ve probably noticed, I’ve totally slacked off on my mp3 of the week action. At some point it’ll return, but the guys at Largehearted Boy, Chrome Waves, and Kingblind have more rare/live/random mp3 links than you’ll ever need. Speaking of LHB, I owe him muchly for pointing me to Sharing the Groove, an incredible downloadable music resource.
If you missed the 3-episode “Starcrossed” series finale of the oh-so-fine Justice League cartoon this past weekend, you can check it out on DVD next month. Really well done, if you’re into the superhero thing.
While the J.L. cartoon as we know it is finished, it returns in the fall as Justice League Unlimited, with a rotating cast of D.C. comics heroes (including one episode written by Warren Ellis, and hopefully many more by Dwayne McDuffie). A short teaser for J.L.U. was shown at the end of Starcrossed, and is now online. Appears we’ll be treated to stories featuring Supergirl, Captain Atom, Green Arrow, Red Tornado, and many more. Looking forward to it.
I’ve mentioned my total obsession with the teaser trailer for Garden State before… a couple minutes of film that does more for me than the entirety of a few movies I’ve seen this year. Well, a new, slightly expanded trailer is out. This one’s got some dialogue, and the music’s been changed from the stellar Frou Frou track of the first one to the also-great Postal Service’s “Such Great Heights”. Could my anticipation for this movie get any higher? I think not.
Getting through the workday has been a little bit tougher since access to SpinAmp disappeared. What’s SpinAmp, you ask? It’s a plug-in for WinAmp that hooks into the streams for Radio@Netscape (formerly Spinner, thus the name), and allows you to listen to dozens of damn-well-programmed music channels. I’m always jumping back and forth from the ‘New Indie’ channel, over to the ‘New Wave’, ‘Melancholia’, ’90s Indie’, or ’80s Alternative’ channels.
The plug-in is so much better than Radio@Netscape’s own player, since you can see what’s coming up next, what’s playing now on other stations, and all songs start from the beginning when you switch channels. I’ve been using it for years, but a couple weeks ago Netscape finally blocked external access to the streams (even though SpinAmp doesn’t even strip out banner the advertisements). The creator of SpinAmp is shooting for a workaround, and my fingers are crossed.
I went to the Essex Junction A&W so many times growing up (until it turned into a freakin’ Jiffy Lube), but never knew it actually stood for Amburgers and Wootbeer. Well, it sounds better than Allen & Wright, anyway.
Trouble sleeping? Invite Tim Russert over to recite the speech he gave at the Boston College graduation…
Poor Mr. Russert. Maybe he can blame the previous night’s partying.
Trouble staying awake? Check out this excellent car commercial. Turn the volume up, and look really closely to check out the cool moves of the driver… it’s worth it. Attention to detail is everything.
Duct and Cover
Posted on May 26, 2004 at 9:59 am | No Comments
Y’know, I was thinking it had been a tad too long since a good old fashioned, Bush-style terror warning. I was hankering for a nice dose of vague, orange-flavored, non-specific fear. So I wake up this morning and whaddya know… order up! Sure, there’s no when, where, or how, but hey… details, schmetails. Better that we’re all afraid, everywhere, all the time, right? Now where the hell did I put that roll of duct tape?
Here’s a little unprinted Harvey Pekar strip (rejected by E.W. for some strange reason) about the one & only Billy Bragg, drawn by R. Crumb. Pekar and Bragg fans alike should get a kick out of it. Fans of both, like yours truly, will find it pretty cool to know that they’re longtime friends.
Boston area Lord of the Rings fans, get ready: Tickets for August’s LOTR Exhibition at the Museum of Science go on sale this Tuesday, June 1st, at 9AM. Either visit the museum, or click over to their online store to get ’em.
How often have you clicked a news link, only to find that an annoying ‘free registration’ (aka ‘spam email collection’) is required. Too many times, I’m sure. Well, a handy site exists to help avoid this. Check out Bug Me Not for usernames and passwords for places like the N.Y. Times and the Washington Post. If you’re feeling generous, you can also add existing logins to the place for others to use.
Excellent. BBC Radio 2 has made last week’s tribute to Nick Drake (Lost Boy: In Search of Nick Drake) available on it’s website. I’ll be listening from home later on. Good thing I only have to hear Mr. Pitt do narration, and not be subjected to any flowing golden locks or a faux-trojan bum. Since Troy, I have trouble taking the guy seriously, but hopefully he’ll relate the story of Mr. Drake with the respect and solemnity it deserves.
Speaking of Troy, since my hate for it knows no bounds, this 15 Minute Script had me chuckling in no time.
Another excellent Red Sox blog has sprung up, this one called Surviving Grady. Worth a look for Sox fans. And check out this spring training photo they’ve got of Curt Schilling, kids. Amusing not just for his vintage Astros shirt, but for the hat on his head…. EverQuest! Scythehands in the house, baby.