= Such Stupid Things =

I can forgive maintstream video game manufacturers in advance for letting this idea slip by, but I'd like to see an indie-rock version of Karaoke Revolution someday. I bet the game could reach a whole new subset of young America if duet mode featured the New Pornographers rather than Sonny and Cher. Not that I have anything against Sonny, I just think it'd make a nice expansion.

And semi-related, KR's "sing and dance" mode (incorporating the Dance Dance Revolution pad) is about as difficult as any video game could possibly be.

Posted by Jeff at 11:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Thankfully, I've managed to hide my updated mailing addresses from Cornell's alumni office these past few years. It's not that I wish to sever all ties to my dear Alma Matar, I'd just rather junk mail continue heading to my "permanent address" back in Virginia. So while I occassionaly feel pangs of guilt for allowing the postal avalanche to continue in my father's mailbox, I'm in no hurry to do anything about it.

When he's bored enough, Pops will forward the more important-looking letters to my Berkeley address, but from time to time he'll open the letters and write me a few editoral notes...

Posted by Jeff at 09:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I've sported some questionable facial hair in my past, so I almost feel bad bringing this up, but there's something about Apolo Anton Ohno's soul patch thing that inspires in me a deep, seething hatred. I want to just tear it off his ridiculous face.

Does that make me a bad person?

Posted by Jeff at 10:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Twice now I've seen figure skaters doing their pre-skate stretches with ipod earbuds sticking out of their warm-up suits. What album could prepare these young Olympians for competition? What hones their minds and bodies for high-stress performance on a global stage?

Could it be the same psyche-up album that prepared me for so many midterms in college, Linkin Park's Hybrid Theory?

I'll just assume that it is.

Posted by Jeff at 10:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

My summer visions of going to Italy with the Grays have been postponed until next year (most likely). Thus, my upcoming year is without any kind of travel plan that doesn't involving someone else's wedding. So as Catherine has done on several occasions, I'd like to invite anyone with whom I'm even moderately friendly to come visit this spring and/or summer. Vicarious tourism is better than none at all.

Plus, I need a good excuse to ride cable cars.

Posted by Jeff at 04:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

While watching the finals of mens snowboard cross on the tv tonight, and I was pretty much pulling for any country except America. It's not that I hate freedom or anything, I just hate to see a single country dominate an entire family of events the way we do. The man of the hour was this kid Seth Wescott. He eeked out a win in the end, but the commentators literally had nothing to say about any other racers -- Radoslav Zidek lead for much of the final race, but NBC's sportscasters said his name but once. It was all, "this could be the turn where Wescott makes his move. He likes to break late... such a brilliant boarder, that Wescott." They were really at a loss during the semifinal where Wescott was beaten handily by some Frenchman.

So I ask you, commentator guys: couldn't we at least pretend that snowboarding exists in other countries?

P.S. And by the way... snowboard cross? wtf? Can I make snowball fighting an olympic event?

Posted by Jeff at 10:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I read this article in Nature News and was again reminded of a brilliant, billion-dollar idea I had a few years back:

The more times we have walked a route, the longer we judge it to be, a UK researcher has confirmed. His studies could help explain why daily commutes can grow to seem interminably long.

My idea, you see, would be an over-the-counter drug designed to make time "feel" faster. It would block whatever chemical makes things seemingly take forever while bored or high, and stimulate whatever chemical makes enjoyable moments seem to go by so quickly. I'd sell it in airports, the DMV and other such waiting-oriented places and make a fortune. All I need is a catchy name and some groundbreaking advances in neurobiology.

I'll keep you updated.

Posted by Jeff at 02:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I'm sitting here watching the USA women's hockey team square off against the Swiss Misses, and Team USA just scored this sweet shorthanded goal to go up two to nothing. During power plays they put the letters "PP" and a countdown clock in the little USA Network scoreboard thing at the top of the screen, but when a team goes two players down it switches to "2M".

Shouldn't it be "2W"?

Posted by Jeff at 10:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

If you know me you're aware that I'm a colossal sucker for the Olympics. It's a shame that the final episodes of Arrested Development will keep me from watching most of the Opening Ceremonies, but I'm very curious to see if anyone broaches the issue of global climate change and the very real threat it poses to winter sports and the resort towns built around them.

Thankfully, however, ice hockey and curling aren't reliant on Father Winter. And if figure skating had some equivalent to rhythmic gymnastics, that'd be safe too.

Posted by Jeff at 08:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

There was some argument at the Bear's Lair this weekend over which disease "the clap" actually was. The dispute lead to a google search, which lead to this advertisement:

Having the comedic depth of a ten year old, I found this funny.

Posted by Jeff at 01:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

It was an excruciating ordeal, but we know have wireless internet set up in our apartment. And God willing, in six to eight weeks I'll be getting some sweet rebate checks in the mail from D-Link.

Anyhow, I wanted to highlight the sad state of wifi here in our little corner of North Berkeley. Doesn't anyone put any thought into their network names? Look at this boring list of entries from our neighbors:

Not that our offering is heart-stoppingly clever, but at least it's moderately original. Naturally I was pushing for some reference to the Joss Whedon multiverse, but we eventually settled on something we both enjoy:

Posted by Jeff at 10:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

At lunch today I overheard one third grader telling another, "dark, dark, dark chocolate is actually super good for you because it lowers blood pressure and stops cancer."

Is this one of those only-in-Berkeley kind of things, or is the rest of the country headed in this direction as well?

Posted by Jeff at 12:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Last night I gave into my inner superstar and purchased Karaoke Revolution for the GameCube. We logged a good three hours of mic time last night, and while my musically-inclined girlfriend was scoring platinum right out of the box, I struggled a tad. Just a tad.

There was net improvement as the night went on, but not much. Volume seems to be the only vocal variable over which I have control. So I was hoping my musically-inclined friends could give me some guidance. Is there is a good way to learn how to... you know... hit notes?

Posted by Jeff at 10:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Last night's speech was predictably accepted around the Berkeley campus, so I'll spare you the knee-jerk reaction from Joe Scientist. I will, however, comment on the sad state of effigists in America today. Just read this post in the SFist about last night's protest-o-rama in Union Square.

A 30-foot effigy of our President was "toppled", after the speech was given a mass-ignoring by the gathered crowd. First of all, an effigy without fire is like a day without sunshine. Second of all, it seems like the green, conservation-guided, zero-carbon-footprinty thing to do would be *not* assemble a jumbo television in a public place for the sole purpose of not watching it. There must be a more productive way for these people to be spending their time. Strangely enough the sparsely-attended rallies in fiercely-Democratic cities are having a little effect.

UPDATE: And while I'm at it, isn't it a little immature to angrily protest a speech in which you don't know what the speaker's going to talk about? Clearly the chances of this were small, but how red would the World Can't Wait's cheeks be if George had sheepishly admitted to effing up the country? What do you do with an effigy if all of a sudden you agree with the guy?

Posted by Jeff at 03:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)