Archive for November, 2008
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[ 5 Comments ]Posted on November 8, 2008 by admin in Editorial & Opinion
Saturday, November 8th, 2008Though for all intensive purposes I’m not gamefully employed, I remain internally grateful
Some people use language like a bowl in a china shop. Although my spear of influence is small, this is something I’d like to nip in the butt. So girdle your loins, because without further adieu, and no holes barred, I’m sharing my two sense worth, a treasure cove of eggcorns. Although many of the “eggcorns” on the list seem like mere malapropisms, see this wicked pedia entry for more on why they’re not. I sometimes fall, pray (ha) to spending more time talking about language than actually using it purposefully. I routinely have to defend the word “Dissociated”, for instance; for some reason, college-educated people consistently think that there’s no such word, and chastise me for corrupting “dis-associated”. I’m also on a mission to clarify what Americans mean when they say “empathy” vs. “sympathy“. The more educated you are, the more likely you are to get it backwards! Although I spend a little too much time on this, at least I don’t sit around reading dictionaries. But I’m glad that fellow did, because that piece led me to this piece: 50 of Your Favourite Words, which led me to an un-freaking-believable word. Tmesis. Now I just need to find a word that describes phrases like post-traumatic cheesesteak syndrome.
Can I Have My Spider Back?
[ Comments Off ]Posted on November 7, 2008 by admin in Editorial & Opinion
Friday, November 7th, 2008I do not have any money so am sending you this drawing I did of a spider instead
I haven’t found something this funny since the Bob & Tom radio show pranked a telemarketer by making him think he had called a murder scene. 27bslash6.com had an hilarious e-mail thread posted yesterday (if the site’s down here’s a screen grab or a text copy) that begins with “Dear David: Our records indicate that your account is overdue by the amount of $233.95. If you have already made this payment please contact us within the next 7 days to confirm payment has been applied to your account and is no longer outstanding”. To which David replies: “Dear Jane, I do not have any money so am sending you this drawing I did of a spider instead. I value the drawing at $233.95 so trust that this settles the matter. Regards, David”. It only gets funnier as it progresses.
IsThisReallyHappening.gov
[ Comments Off ]Posted on November 7, 2008 by admin in Politics
Friday, November 7th, 2008Check out the new administrations site Change.Gov
Although I’m as full of hope as many are that our president-elect will bring positive change to America and the world, I’m keeping an eye on his follow-through, especially after the major disappointment he already delivered to me regarding the FISA bill. I’m glad to say he keeps surprising me. Check out the new government site Change.gov. In some ways it feels like I just got elected president. I said back in 2001 that I thought it would be great if we started a national service corps, since the country seemed to be so excited to put young people in uniform. Why not put them in uniforms and put them to work at home? Well, here we have America Serves, which includes plans for a Classroom Corps, a Health Corps, a Clean Energy Corps, and a Veterans Corps. And since so few shared their hope with Dissociated Press when asked, maybe you’d like to share your story, and vision directly with the incoming administration. Let’s give a big fist-bump to the next generation…
Casiotone for the Painfully Alone – White Corolla
[ 2 Comments ]Posted on November 6, 2008 by admin in Music
Thursday, November 6th, 2008Back in my day, we only had flip books and one channel of MTV…
It’s weird for me to hear so many bands that do music that sounds exactly like awful music I did in the 80′s. Music that I think even we knew was awful back then, while we were doing it (sometimes I think we did all the drugs we did just so we could stand to listen it). Anyway, it’s even weirder when I find myself kind of liking the stuff. In the case of the White Corolla video at left by Casiotone for the Painfully Alone , I’m sure the video helps. The animation was apparently provided by Julia Pott of London (web site, blog). Drowned In Sound has an interview with Owen Ashworth (who essentially is Casiotone for the Painfully Alone) which highlights why I’d never be able to get a job with the British pop press: whereas I would describe the music as “that plinky Casio stuff our manager wouldn’t let us include in the set list and IRS Records laughed at us for sending them“, DIS’s interviewer James Gracey describes it as “…simple yet incredibly addictive: a barrage of reverberated beats, shuddering with a raw, almost dirty intensity; melodic yet often lifting, blown-out chords wrapped around Ashworth’s baritone, guttural observations that form articulate, Raymond Carver-esque character studies…” I guess it’s not hyperbole if you’re British…
We’re Making The Change – Now What’s Your Hope?
[ 4 Comments ]Posted on November 5, 2008 by admin in Politics
Wednesday, November 5th, 2008I woke up with a hangover this morning. No, I didn’t get drunk last night, at least not on alcohol. I was drunk with the power of more than 130 million voters to change the world. That old Pointer Sisters song keeps running through my head: “We can do it if we want to, I [...]
I woke up with a hangover this morning. No, I didn’t get drunk last night, at least not on alcohol. I was drunk with the power of more than 130 million voters to change the world. That old Pointer Sisters song keeps running through my head: “We can do it if we want to, I know we can make it, I know darn well we can work it out”. So now what are we gonna do? I hope we restore America’s sense of self-respect. I hope we repair our reputation abroad. I hope we let the Iraqi people have their country back. I hope we focus on alternatives to petroleum for energy. I hope we get our middle class back and put people to work. I hope a black person feels a little more a part of the country they live in than they did on November 3. What do you hope for?