Archive for January, 2009

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Don’t Be Such A Leafpeeping Masshole

[ 5 Comments ]Posted on January 20, 2009 by admin in Lifestyle & Culture

Tuesday, January 20th, 2009

Said the Kaybecker Floatin’ On A Logan Eatin’ An Italian


So Republicans Drink Coke And
Democrats Drink Sodapop?

I ran across yet another survey of the great Pop vs. Soda debate yesterday, which got me curious about regional dialects. I’m usually most intrigued by differences in language that are truly cross-cultural (one of my favorite books EVER remains Forbidden American English which, aside from being a serious ESL guide, is hilarious at parties) but America’s a big place and has plenty of its own peculiarities. I’ve moved around a fair amount, but my speech has probably been shaped more by wanting to appear media-savvy (or maybe reasonably educated without being stuffy) than anything else. I say sofa (not couch or davenport) sneaker (not tennis shoe or gym shoe), faucet (not spigot), skillet (not frying pan or spider), gutter (not eaves trough or spouting), seesaw (not teeter-totter or dandle) firefly (not lightning bug), and pail and bucket seem interchangeable to me. I take a peculiar pride in the fact that in spite of living in the Midwest most of my life, you can tell the difference between when I say “pen” or “pin”. The best condensed list of these differences that I could find was this Regional Vocabularies of American English page on Answers.com, especially the Regionalisms section, which is where I snagged all the words in the headline. Have any quirky regionalisms to share?

Monday De-Motivators: The Final Edition

[ Comments Off ]Posted on January 19, 2009 by admin in Editorial & Opinion

Monday, January 19th, 2009

You’ll have to find a way to be late for work on your own from now on…

It occurred to me after the feedback on last week’s Monday De-Motivators that not only was I not succeeding at making anybody late for work on Monday (most visitors are clicking on this stuff after 9pm), but I was getting ahead of the visitors that actually enjoy the games linked to. So this may be the last Monday De-Motivator for a while; as much as I take pride in creating a few Stack The Cats addicts (you know who you are), finding this stuff is exhausting, especially (as I’ve stressed repeatedly) if you don’t like computer games in the first place. It’s kind of like being in AA and having to taste bourbon for a living. For example: Sling Wars, though quite simple, quickly gave me a mild brain-ache. I got all the basic principles right away, but didn’t really feel like spending the time necessary to get a feel for the weapon. I also struggled with the idea that even though I chose to be a Native American, my only choices were to fight in Africa and Europe. Looking at the top scores was quite worrying, by the way. I’m pretty sure “El Turco” – who scored 2,147,483,647 -  is someone I probably don’t want to have lunch with. Domino Pressure is a little more my speed. Zero learning curve, immediate results. Though I’m still not clear on how or why a domino would smash a tomato. And GlobalPlayer actually looks kind of interesting, but it gave me a mild panic attack on the first go. My first job as a teenager was in warehousing, and it brought back some of the trauma of that. Now that I’ve steadied my breathing and had a cup of coffee, I might give it another try. And last up: I didn’t know there was a Stoneage Sam One, so I think Stoneage Sam Two: The Ice Age lacked a little of the intended “You loved it so much, we’ve done a sequel” feeling. It was however, quite an insight into a game designer’s mind to have to use a child and a piece of vine as a simple tool to advance the score.

Sometimes Things Just Work Out

[ Comments Off ]Posted on January 18, 2009 by admin in Editorial & Opinion

Sunday, January 18th, 2009

This collection of clips is one of the many reasons I remain a Pronoiac:

This collection of clips is one of the many reasons I remain a Pronoiac:

N.A.S.A. – The Spirit Of Apollo

[ 1 Comment ]Posted on January 18, 2009 by admin in Music

Sunday, January 18th, 2009

Unless you’re paralyzed from the funk bone down, N.A.S.A. is going to take you to planet shake-your-booty. The video at left is for the song Money (featuring David Byrne, Chuck D, Ras Congo, Seu Jorge, & Z-Trip), from N.A.S.A.’s upcoming debut release Spirit of Apollo which hits the shelves February 17, 2009. N.A.S.A. stands for [...]

Unless you’re paralyzed from the funk bone down, N.A.S.A. is going to take you to planet shake-your-booty. The video at left is for the song Money (featuring David Byrne, Chuck D, Ras Congo, Seu Jorge, & Z-Trip), from N.A.S.A.’s upcoming debut release Spirit of Apollo which hits the shelves February 17, 2009. N.A.S.A. stands for North America/South America, and is a production project by Squeak E. Clean (Sam Spiegel, director Spike Jonze brother) and DJ Zegon (DJ/skateboarder Ze Gonzales) which has been several years in the making, and features apearances by a lengthy list of their friends, associates, and inspirations, including Tom Waits, M.I.A., Santogold, Lykke Li, and many more (see track list below). The tracks I’ve heard make me want to move to Brazil and take a job in a nightclub, and I have to admit I hate myself for liking their remix of Girl From Ipanema (4.8MB, mp3). This has been one of my favorite songs since I was about six years old, and NO WAY was I going to like some DJ rehashing of it. Alas, I was won over on the second listen. Remember this is club music, not audiophile jazz. Check out more previews on N.A.S.A.’s MySpace page or on the Mexico City blog LeTouch . Read the rest of this entry »

How Did Durex Build Their Customer Base?

[ Comments Off ]Posted on January 17, 2009 by admin in Popular Media

Saturday, January 17th, 2009

They Condomed Into It?

They um, condomed into it? You may have already seen the cute Durex Condom Get It On ad featured here, but like any popular video or film production, it’s always fun to watch the extras and out-takes. Here are the “behind the condom” clips, part one, part two, and part three. Valentine’s Day is traditionally a time to ramp up condom promotion (last year we had National Condom Week, with, for example, the NYC government getting into it with considerable enthusiasm), so with VD just around the corner, we thought we’d share some classics with you. You’ve probably seen the award-winning I want those sweeties clip. A good reason to remember to use one. This Dutch ad highlights the fact that you don’t even need to speak the same language to say “put a sock on it”. Durex seems to produce the most clever ads, like the one that shows a possible bad side effect of chocolate flavored condoms, or the surprisingly broad demographic for fruit-flavored ones. Durex sells sex toys too, so they also have some tips regarding cucumber sandwiches and letting grandma answer the phone. And lastly , this Trust Condoms ad from Africa shows you how not to get left out in the rain.

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