The new beta 4 of Firefox 3, released today, is so fast that it loads web pages before you click on them!
You just think the page that you want, and it takes you there. Sometimes it will take you to pages you didn’t even know you need. “Hemorrhoid cream store? Why in the world–OUCH. Thanks, Firefox!” If you are running Firefox 2 and dont have many plug-ins (many of which haven’t been updated for Firefox 3 yet), it’s a good upgrade.
It’s a dream site for me.
Update: Not that you should need another reason to visit the Internet’s best Obama Catz site, but the site’s creators happen to be very cool people who put up a photo and a comment I sent them.
What’s the best way to share the interesting things you find on the Internet?
I’m looking for a cool stuff aggregater, something that would be integrated with Firefox, allow me to add bookmarks with one click (like del.icio.us), allow me to write a description when I want to (kind of like del.icio.us), offers a recently bookmark feature that I can add to my blog page (like del.icio.us?)…
Okay, I’m going to give del.icio.us another try and see if it has what I need. I remember trying it and not being keen on the interface, so if you have another option, let me know.
Update: Yeah, del.icio.us isn’t what I need. I think I found the perfect web app: Yoono. Just installed it, but it’s very promising so far.
Edit: I should have used Google before writing that title. Other candidates that have appeared at Google.
I linked to a video of Barack Obama answering questions from Google employees in the last post that I have heard of but never watched. I finally watched it, both 25 min. parts.
In the campaign, we hear stump speeches, pundits, and occasionally an informative debate, the best of which might allow each candidate to speak for a few minutes at a time. There is a lot of attention paid to each candidate, but sometimes little information.
Unless you live in Iowa or New Hampshire, you probably aren’t going to have the chance to go to a town hall meeting and hear a candidate talk in-depth for an hour or two on policy and philosophy. The video of Obama’s Q&A session from a few months ago was interesting for that reason, because it gave him a forum to elaborate on some of his policy interests, governing philosophy, and most important to me, his decision making process. It took place in a laid-back environment away from the mass media and before the primaries, and the talk was as unguarded as one could expect from a politician.
There is no one moment that blew me away, but he said a lot of things that seemed rational and well-reasoned. The cumulative effect made me feel more comfortable about him being elected President.
If you want a good sample, forward to 18:30 in this video and watch the rest (6 minutes).
I was already leaning towards him, so there is some bias there. The clip (and whole video) is worth watching though, and it has the type of information that I think will be difficult to get from any candidate at this point in the campaign.
If you have 10 min. of a video of another candidate to suggest, post it in the comments. I will watch it, whoever it is.
I could easily find 100 good candidates for Song of the Year, but Album of the Year is much different. I tend to listen to singles or will just download 2-3 songs from an artist rather than the whole album, so I don’t have many candidates to choose from.
My favorite album, which I’m surprised isn’t even on most people’s Top 10 lists, is All Hour Cymbals by Yeasayer. “2080″ is crazy good and the rest of the album is repeat-worthy as well. I’ve listened to the entire album a few dozen times and am still enjoying it.
The rest of my list will be unsurprising to people who likes indie pop \ rock. I was hesitant to make a “Best of the Year” list at all because there’s not much here that’s interesting if you keep up with this type of music.
All Hour Cymbals / Yeasayer
The Flying Club Cup / Beirut
Andorra / Caribou
Night Falls Over Kortedala / Jens Lekman
Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga / Spoon
Ghettoblaster / Socalled
Mice Parade / Mice Parade
From the “Wish I Heard About in 2006″ club:
Night Ripper / Girl Talk
The Dusty Foot Philosopher / K’Naan
Other stuff: I like a lot of songs on Arcade Fire’s “Neon Bible”, but I haven’t listened to the entire album enough to stand by it. I just downloaded “In Rainbows” by Radiohead and am enjoying it so far, which is something because I’m not a big Radiohead fan (sacrilege!)
I also finally listened to M.I.A.’s “Kala”, an alum that seems to appear on every Top 10 list out there. It’s good, especially “Jimmy” and “Paper Planes”, but at the same time I don’t quite get why so many people are in love with it.
Okay, your turn. Jim, Meghan, other fans of music: what are your Best Albums of 2007?
Stuff I’ve read, watched, or listened to that’s good enough to recommend.
Yeasayer / “2080″ (music): Yeasayer is a difficult band to describe, which is a good thing. I can’t imagine anyone agreeing with this, but “2080″ reminds me of music that would play in a movie about an optimistic, post-apocalyptic future.
The whole album has an aura of oddly familiar strangeness. It’s like the music skipped a few stages of evolution, so it’s difficult to see where it came from, but it’s still recognizable enough to enjoy.
How about this: (World Music)^2 ? I give up. Great band, regardless.
The Real All-Americans (book): I’m not a huge sports fan, but I found Sally Jenkins’ book on how Native Americans were integral to the development of collegiate football fascinating. I’m surprised I never heard of Carlisle Indian Industrial School, an experiment in assimilating Native Americans by a well-meaning but perhaps misguided army officer, or knew that it was the source for a lot of what we now consider basic parts of football, like the forward pass,
reverses, and training dummies.
The book also brought light to some names I only heard in passing, like Jim Thorpe and Pop Warner. It’s worth checking out from the library or buying for anyone with an interest in sports history.
If you could only listen to three podcasts, which ones would they be? Post your answer in a comment.
My favorite podcast is This American Life. A very close and less well-known second is WYNC’s Radio Lab. The show picks a broad subject like morality and digs up interesting scientific studies or stories about the topic. One of the hosts is Robert Krulwich, who seems to make an amazing use of whatever medium he is in.
I don’t have a clear third, which is part of the reason why I’m asking this question. The rest of the podcasts I listen to are entertaining but on a lower tier. If I had to pick one though, it would be Wait, Wait…Don’t Tell Me, NPR’s comedy news program.
My desire to move out of my Mom’s house is debatable by the fact that I signed up for Netflix’s free two-week trial and arranged all my speakers so the sound waves would form a nexus directly over my bed, on which a bank of pillows has been thoughtfully placed.
It’s been a while since I’ve rented a lot of movies, so I need some recommendations. First, here are mine:
Movie theater: Little Miss Sunshine. It’s hilarious, heartfelt and lives up to the glowing reviews.
Rentals: Full Metal Alchemist. It’s a Japanese anime series (English dubbed) about two young brothers on a request to restore their bodies into their original, human form. I watched 13 1/2-hour episodes so far and it keeps getting better. The series’ creators wholly adapted the language of film, and it shows up in all facets of the story telling, from the camera angles used to the evocative music.
Dodgeball: Ben Stiller: Evil Dodgeball guy. Vince Vaughn: Good Dodgeball Guy. That’s pretty much the whole movie. The movie has a lot of funny, silly moments that somehow makes its formulatic elements more comforting than annoying. If this movie were a food, it would be pizza.
Battlestar Galatica: If you like TV science fiction, this is your best bet. Hot pilots, gripping drama, and robots. What more could a sci-fi fan ask for?
Jim Gaffigan: Beyond the Pale. I’ve watched the shortened Comedy Central version of his stand-up three times. Besides the fact that his jokes are hilarious, I admire him for choosing to be funny without using crutches like cursing or taking cheap shots at ethnic groups.
Okay, so what do you recommend? Post a comment with your picks.
Farscape has made me remember my inner nerd. I love science fiction, and considering so it’s odd that I’ve written so little about topics related to it in the two-plus years I have been blog writing. Isn’t that the point of having a blog, to share the minuate of your selective interests with a bunch of people, most of whom could care less?
What is Farscape? Why should I watch it? Oh, my friend, your questions will be answered.
The short:
Farscape, a sci-fi show that ran for 4 years, is the best sci-fi show in terms of character development ever made. No exaggeration. It has some flaws, but if you ever wanted to see a show where the characters and their relationships evolve in almost every episode, this is the show to watch. Some of the episodes also display a wicked sense of humor.
To get a sense if you will like the series or not, I suggest renting “Farscape: Season 1: Episodes 19 & 20: Nerve / The Hidden Memory” from an online DVD service such as NetFlix. And let me know if you do. Heck, if there’s interest, I’ll make it into a contest.
The long:
There are two types of TV shows: plot-driven and character-driven. In plot-driven shows, the characters and their relationships with each other are static, for the most part. The character in season 1 is essentially the same character in season 2 as he is in season 3, and so on. A plot-driven show can have extremely well-drawn out characters, but that alone doesn’t make it a character-driven show. For example, the character’s in Seinfeld were excellent, but no one tuned in to see if George would finally have an epiphany about his selfishness.
Character-driven shows are the opposite. In a good character-driven show, the characters gradually evolve from episode to episode. And because the character’s development carries on from episode to episode, many of the plotlines carry over too.
Most television shows, especially sitcoms, are plot-driven. Season 1 Picard is essentially the same as Season 7 Picard, which is amazing considering that in real life, seven years of kicking ass and making Junior High kids titter every time you call for your second in command would change most people.
Deep Space Nine started off a plot-driven show and shifted towards being character driven in later seasons. When people argue whether ST:TNG or DS9 is the better show, they are essentially expressing their preference for plot-driven shows or character-driven shows. No format is inherently better. It’s just a matter of preference.
That’s why I suspect people who enjoy DS9, or character-driven dramas in general, would like Farscape because it has a relentless focus on character development. If I gave you an episode from the beginning, middle, and end of the first season without telling you when they took place, you could place them in order solely based on how the cast acts towards each other.
I think that’s pretty cool. While this type of character development is a staple of any good drama, it is the first time I’ve seen it play a central role in a science fiction series. Central may even be too weak of a word–its really the defining characteristic of Farscape.
Well, that’s my pitch. If you have a chance, watch two or three episodes and see if it catches your interest. It’s been off the air for a few years; so your best bets are an online DVD service or downloading them from a file sharing service like EDonkey.
I love the Weekly World News. I buy it several times a year and have never been disappointed. This week’s story about Hillary Clinton’s continuing relationship with alien hunk P’Lod sucked me in. The WWN is funny, and intentionally so, although I’m not sure all of its readers get the comedy of this week’s horoscope for Sagittarius: “Avoid root vegetables.”
Even the classifieds are funny. Under Money Making Opps.: “HOW TO get one million people to send you $2.00. Learn my easy method! Plus receive proof this method works. Rush $2.00 to…”
A young Iraqi recently started a blog called Badghad Burning. Whatever your ideology, it’s worth reading. What she says is much more illuminating about the Iraqis perception of the fallout after the war than the scattered one-sentence quotes from Iraqis that have made their way in newspaper stories or the nightly news.
I just watched Solaris (revised version). It’s an atypical science fiction movie about choice, loss, and a deep desire I suspect we all have and are able to suppress solely for the fact that it can’t be fulfilled (in the real world).
Warning: Movie contains no aliens, no laser guns, and occasional periods with no dialogue.
“The Shy Retirer” by Arab Strap (CD info)
A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn. This is the most revealing history book I have ever read. Okay, I’ve only read two history books, but this one is definitely the shiz-nit. I’m only a third of the way through it and already it has helped me understand the other forces behind the creation and growth of this country. For example, it may be obvious that people with power and wealth will do what they can to keep their power and wealth (and gain more), but this is the first history book I read that uses this principle to explain part of the motivation for America being formed, rather than idolizing the founders of the country as being solely motivated by a passionate belief in freedom and liberty.
I’ll post a few quotes from the book in the next several days. I highly recommend buying a copy, but if you read it and didn’t like it, I’m interested in knowing why.
I just finished reading Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card. It’s an amazing science fiction book. If you’re not a big time fool, you should check it out.
Occasionally I come across an awesome song that just begs to be shared.
“Please, please share me,” says the song. “I’m really catchy, I compress really well, and I’ll be your bestest friend.”
“Okay, song” I say. “But if I hear anyone complaining about distortion or lameness…”
“Oh, don’t worry! I’ll be melodic, funkadelic, and earn you mucho respect. Please please please please please…”
“Okay, okay. Hold on to your electrons. I’m sending you over.”
This song is Ja Sei Namorar by Tribalistas (click on the band to buy the CD). I’ve listened to a few of their others songs and they’re almost as good, although not as infectious.
Thanks to Andrew for encouraging me to post today. His middle name is ‘Lindemann’. Does anyone know what that means? I think he made it up. Andrew has a funny interview with Method Man and Red Man about their movie “How High” that you should check out.
