December 2009
24 posts
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Jay Leno Losing His Audience to DVR Machines →
November 2009
14 posts
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Peter and the Wolf →
Recommended companion to Fantastic Mr. Fox: Suzie Templeton’s 2008 Academy Award-nominated, stop motion-animated Peter and the Wolf short. If you have Netflix, you can stream it.
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The Year We Had Two Thanksgivings →
I refer to this from time-to-time when people complain about Christmas starting earlier each year. In fact, it’s been going on for at least 80 years. Just as SNL has never been as funny as it used to be, Christmas shopping season has always started earlier than it used to.
From the FDR library, [The Year We Had Two Thanksgivings][1].
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Christmas Playlist 2009
I’ve been very carefully building a Christmas playlist for the past few years. I only add one song a year, and I only listen to the songs on the list between Thanksgiving and the Epiphany. There are now nine songs on the list.
“The Fairytale of New York” by The Pogues
“Hallelujah” by Jeff Buckley
“Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” by Judy Garland
...
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After Six →
[Put This On links to a fashion-based 30 Rock joke.][1] The setup and payoff of this gag make up one of my favorite understated jokes on the show. It highlights the mayhem of Liz’s life and the nature of Jack’s character perfectly.
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Real Simpsons House →
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"Exclusive" iTunes Extras →
Ars Technica has a piece about iTunes Extras, a new scheme where you get bonus materials with movie downloads like you get with DVDs. A few thoughts:
A big pet peeve about DVDs for me is having to bother with
animated menus. I really just want to put the disc in, hit
play, and, you know, watch the movie. I haven’t bought a
movie from iTunes, but I wonder if the extras add this
annoying...
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Anil Dash Collects Some Doomsaying About the Web →
My take: someone smart needs to put together something that’s not the new Facebook or the new Twitter, but that connects all these things. The future of the Web is taking back the Web from the need for a site to entrench itself.
Facebook is convenient because everyone’s on it, but why can’t I have a site1 or a program that puts all my friends’ stuff together even if...
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Lorenzo von Matterhorn →
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Verizon: How Much Do You Charge Now? →
David Pogue, on how Verizon’s phones make it easy to accidentally connect to the internet so they can charge you $1.99, and how their representatives are trained to prevent you from blocking this.
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“For the longest time I have capitalized my non-human race names such as Eldrien,...”
– M.C. Williams
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Minding One's Qs
William & Mary recently elected Jessee Vasold, a transgender student, homecoming queen. The Flat Hat reports that “Jessee Vasold ‘11 made history at the College of William and Mary Wednesday when ze [sic] was announced as the school’s first transgender homecoming queen, representing the Class of 2011.”
As a student at William & Mary, my fraternity, Psi Upsilon,...
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“Rock Band has been released on the iPhone, and even though its a lot of fun, I...”
– Joe Bowers
Watch the video. I love how the sounds of the robot operating are like an accompaniment to the song.