For this blog's handful of loyal readers, I apologize for my nearly month-long absence from the blogosphere. Regularly blogging is a big commitment and I just haven't found the time lately. With the onset of summer though, I hope to regain some regularity.
Now let's catch up on the past month, shall we?
How Much Do You Make?
A friend recently released his latest creation, a site devoted to collecting salary information and sorting it by job title, employer, industry and location. This is incredibly useful data, so do him a favor and add to his sample. I told him that if I linked to him, he would get lots of traffic, so don't make me a liar.
Go Cubs Go!
The 2008 baseball season has been berry, berry good to the Chicago Cubs thus far. The best record in baseball? Sure, why not. It's only fitting that the Cubs should seem nearly unstoppable on their road to the World Series. I honestly believe it's meant to be this year. I don't want to jinx them, but I can't remember the last time that the Cubbies were clicking so well. There was always something not to like about them, but it's hard to pinpoint any major problems this year. Also, I recently had the sweetest Cubs seats of my life--about 20 rows behind home plate. The Cubs won (Of course! Losing games at Wrigley is SO 2007...)and the experience of being that close to the action was as incredible as I had always imagined it would be. You can see some of the photos here.
In Other News
I'm still waiting for my Economic Stimulus check.
Indiana Jones was a little disappointing. As someone said when I was exiting the theater, "We waited 20 years and that was the best script they could come up with?"
I still can't get enough of the Bill O'Reilly Flips Out Remix.
The Back to the Future set is gone forever and Doc Brown's clock tower was damaged, too. Now Marty's stuck in the 50s forever. Who's the butt-head who started that fire?
Who Are You?
It's my 75th post, so please permit me a bit more navel-gazing than usual. My Google Analytics account only tells me so much. Leave a comment and tell me one thing: Do you know me? I'm curious if this blog is being subscribed to or read by anyone outside of my immediate circle of friends and acquaintances. Just wondering...
Well, hopefully it won't be another month before I post, but who can say for sure? I'll close with a cool video that I received via my subscription to Very Short List, a service that sends you one e-mail per weekday with a link to a cool Web site, book, movie or video. It's definitely worth signing up for.
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Watch Things Worth Viewing
Sometimes this blog is about things worth watching.
And you know what's worth watching? Lots of things on Hulu! (You are using Hulu, right? I told you about it a long time ago!)
Whether you need to catch up on last week's episode of The Office or you want to watch the first two seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer for free, Hulu is the place to go. All you need is plenty of free time and a blazingly fast Internet connection.
Best of all, the site just added a new crop of recent-yet-classic SNL skits, including several Celebrity Jeopardy sketches, the Mom Jeans commercial, Chris Farley's befuddled American tourist on a Japanese game show and this gem of physical comedy (see below) from a night when John Malkovich hosted.
This skit falls into the "insanely-stupid-yet-somehow-hilarious" category, and I had never seen it until a few years ago, when my brothers and I rented The Best of Jon Lovitz. Thus inspired, we spent the next few days attempting to "mock" each other. Just watch the skit and you'll get the idea.
You Mock Me, 1989
And you know what's worth watching? Lots of things on Hulu! (You are using Hulu, right? I told you about it a long time ago!)
Whether you need to catch up on last week's episode of The Office or you want to watch the first two seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer for free, Hulu is the place to go. All you need is plenty of free time and a blazingly fast Internet connection.
Best of all, the site just added a new crop of recent-yet-classic SNL skits, including several Celebrity Jeopardy sketches, the Mom Jeans commercial, Chris Farley's befuddled American tourist on a Japanese game show and this gem of physical comedy (see below) from a night when John Malkovich hosted.
This skit falls into the "insanely-stupid-yet-somehow-hilarious" category, and I had never seen it until a few years ago, when my brothers and I rented The Best of Jon Lovitz. Thus inspired, we spent the next few days attempting to "mock" each other. Just watch the skit and you'll get the idea.
You Mock Me, 1989
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Where were you 10 years ago?
On this day 10 years ago, Cubs fans had a reason to cheer when young pitching phenom Kerry Wood did the seemingly impossible. By mystifying the high-powered Houston Astros for 20 strikeouts, he tied the Major League single-game strikeout record, earning a special place in the hearts of all Cubs fans as well as an annual page in Cubs trivia desk calendars.
This happened a decade ago? It sure doesn't feel like it, as I vividly remember that rainy day in May. It was such a quick game that I actually didn't see a single strike, but I remember driving home from high school and listening to the postgame show in disbelief. The Cubs continued to stun their fans that season when they went on to win the Wild Card and reached the playoffs for the first time in nine years.
This kind of stuff simply didn't happen to the Cubs back then. My favorite line in today's Tribune story about Wood's anniversary is the attendance figure from that fateful game. 15,758? That's less than half of a typical Wrigley crowd these days, and it's a telling reality that more "recent" Cubs fans probably can't wrap their minds around.
I remember attending games throughout the 1990s when the upper deck was an empty sea of green seats and unclaimed foul balls. Ten years later I find myself sitting shoulder-to-shoulder in those very seats because they are the only tickets I can afford in the only section that didn't immediately sell out.
Yes, the fortunes and popularity of the Cubs have changed significantly, but I take a certain pride in the fact that I was tuned into the team 10 years ago when it wasn't nearly so trendy. It's days like today that lifelong Cubs fans can bask in the longevity of their love affair with the Lovable Losers.
Ten years later, an older, wiser and surgically repaired Kerry Wood took the mound in the ninth inning for the Cubs tonight in his new role as a closer. Against all odds and every arm injury imaginable, Wood has largely silenced the critics and returned as a positive force in the Cubs lineup.
Perhaps Wood's up-and-down-and-up career can serve as a metaphor for the Cubs as a whole. Who doesn't love happy endings?
This happened a decade ago? It sure doesn't feel like it, as I vividly remember that rainy day in May. It was such a quick game that I actually didn't see a single strike, but I remember driving home from high school and listening to the postgame show in disbelief. The Cubs continued to stun their fans that season when they went on to win the Wild Card and reached the playoffs for the first time in nine years.
This kind of stuff simply didn't happen to the Cubs back then. My favorite line in today's Tribune story about Wood's anniversary is the attendance figure from that fateful game. 15,758? That's less than half of a typical Wrigley crowd these days, and it's a telling reality that more "recent" Cubs fans probably can't wrap their minds around.
I remember attending games throughout the 1990s when the upper deck was an empty sea of green seats and unclaimed foul balls. Ten years later I find myself sitting shoulder-to-shoulder in those very seats because they are the only tickets I can afford in the only section that didn't immediately sell out.
Yes, the fortunes and popularity of the Cubs have changed significantly, but I take a certain pride in the fact that I was tuned into the team 10 years ago when it wasn't nearly so trendy. It's days like today that lifelong Cubs fans can bask in the longevity of their love affair with the Lovable Losers.
Ten years later, an older, wiser and surgically repaired Kerry Wood took the mound in the ninth inning for the Cubs tonight in his new role as a closer. Against all odds and every arm injury imaginable, Wood has largely silenced the critics and returned as a positive force in the Cubs lineup.
Perhaps Wood's up-and-down-and-up career can serve as a metaphor for the Cubs as a whole. Who doesn't love happy endings?
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Darth Vader: From Super Villain to Comedic Powerhouse
This past weekend, I watched the original Star Wars movie for the first time in quite a while and came to a startling realization: Darth Vader has been completely neutered by pop culture.
Once a menacing and dangerous super villain who probably had fearful kids hiding their faces in 1970s movie theaters, the respiration-challenged cyborg has since become a perpetual punchline for the sardonic humorists who currently inhabit the main stage of American comedy. Not that I'm complaining or anything.
Darth's downfall is so all-encompassing that even a simple Google search yields a joke on the fifth result: Follow Darth Vader on Twitter! You would think there are enough Star Wars nerds out there with enough Internet savvy to have legitimate sites about Darth Vader's mythology and lineage show up in the top results on Google. Apparently not...
While I still love watching the original Star Wars trilogy, I must admit that the viewing experience has been somewhat altered by the new persona being grafted on to the trilogy's main villain through the power of video editing and a wicked sense of humor. It's just not easy to forget an interpretation like this:
At least Chad doesn't have to deal with this kind of humiliation.
Once a menacing and dangerous super villain who probably had fearful kids hiding their faces in 1970s movie theaters, the respiration-challenged cyborg has since become a perpetual punchline for the sardonic humorists who currently inhabit the main stage of American comedy. Not that I'm complaining or anything.
Darth's downfall is so all-encompassing that even a simple Google search yields a joke on the fifth result: Follow Darth Vader on Twitter! You would think there are enough Star Wars nerds out there with enough Internet savvy to have legitimate sites about Darth Vader's mythology and lineage show up in the top results on Google. Apparently not...
While I still love watching the original Star Wars trilogy, I must admit that the viewing experience has been somewhat altered by the new persona being grafted on to the trilogy's main villain through the power of video editing and a wicked sense of humor. It's just not easy to forget an interpretation like this:
At least Chad doesn't have to deal with this kind of humiliation.
Saturday, April 26, 2008
i cant read ur txt speak
Some horrific yet predictable survey results were released this week stating that teens are allowing emoticons, text message abbreviations and other informal style errors slip into their school writing assignments. Apparently kids don't even run Spell Check nowadays.
While some argue that this is a happy occurrence that gives teachers a unique opportunity to explain the difference between formal and informal writing styles, I disagree. I think it's appalling that students would punctuate a sentence with an emoticon (much less text message abbreviations!) in a writing assignment that will be turned in for a grade.
I'll tell you why: Because the ease of communication brought about by texting, the Internet and other technology has made people sloppy. In fact, quick and dirty writing is strongly encouraged. In the world of IMs and text messaging, copy editors and Grammar Nazis need to check their sensibilities at the door. Everything is streamlined and instantaneous. As long as you can express the basic meaning of what you're trying to communicate, everybody's happy.
WAKE UP, PEOPLE! Don't you know that the ability to spell and correctly use commas is what separates us from the apes?!
Unfortunately, the teens who are currently defiling their high school writing assignments with smileys and abbreviations will soon be LOLing their way to colleges and law schools and careers. Will standards continue to slip? Will online and text message colloquialisms creep into the Chicago Manual of Style status quo? I certainly hope not.
But u cant say 4 sure, can u? ;-P
Ugh.
While some argue that this is a happy occurrence that gives teachers a unique opportunity to explain the difference between formal and informal writing styles, I disagree. I think it's appalling that students would punctuate a sentence with an emoticon (much less text message abbreviations!) in a writing assignment that will be turned in for a grade.
Thus the Civil War was over. :-) The Union totally pwned the Confederacy. ROFLMAOIf you were a teen writing the sentence above, wouldn't some kind of alarm go off in your head? As my high school chemistry teacher once said to me, "I don't understand what you don't understand about this." Why would anyone think it was ever OK to use informal styles in formal writing?
I'll tell you why: Because the ease of communication brought about by texting, the Internet and other technology has made people sloppy. In fact, quick and dirty writing is strongly encouraged. In the world of IMs and text messaging, copy editors and Grammar Nazis need to check their sensibilities at the door. Everything is streamlined and instantaneous. As long as you can express the basic meaning of what you're trying to communicate, everybody's happy.
WAKE UP, PEOPLE! Don't you know that the ability to spell and correctly use commas is what separates us from the apes?!
Unfortunately, the teens who are currently defiling their high school writing assignments with smileys and abbreviations will soon be LOLing their way to colleges and law schools and careers. Will standards continue to slip? Will online and text message colloquialisms creep into the Chicago Manual of Style status quo? I certainly hope not.
But u cant say 4 sure, can u? ;-P
Ugh.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)