Tanner Curl

Physics, auto-tuned

2011-09-25T16:19:00.001-05:00

What's not to love about this? The science, the auto-tuning, and of course, the Morgan Freeman.

Dancing squid diet

2011-07-31T17:22:00.002-05:00

If you've been trying to lose weight, I suggest the squid odori-don?

Literally "dancing squid rice bowl". A live squid with its head removed is served on top of a bowl of sushi rice, accompanied by sashimi prepared from the head (usually sliced ika (squid) and ika-kimo (squid liver)) as well as other seafood.

Seasoned soy sauce is first poured on top of the squid to make it "dance."

(via Kottke)

Shoes

2011-07-20T15:59:00.001-05:00

An oldie but a goodie...

Holding someone's hand

2011-06-07T17:52:00.002-05:00

Have some tissues handy? Good, 'cause you'll need them. A recent StoryCorps segment on NPR came from Max Voelz, who served in a Army bomb squad unit with his wife, Kim. They were both deployed to Iraq in 2003 where she was killed while disarming an explosive on a mission.

Here's part of Max's story, but you should click the link and listen to the full audio.

The nurses were telling me to talk to her because they assured me that they had seen people come out of comas before and that they remembered hearing things that people said.

I mean, what are you gonna tell your wife who's dying? That you love her and you don't want her to die. But I knew she was dead a long time before the doctors stopped working on her. You hold someone's hand, and then it feels different.

This story obliterates my heart. And I know it seems callous to look at it from a technical storytelling point-of-view, but...I'm going to anyway: what I like is that there is no agenda. There is no pre-determined "and therefore..." at the end. This is one specific story about two real people, and it could spawn so many different emotions and reactions and conversations.

Still, absolutely tragic.

Ash cloud/demonic lightning

2011-06-07T17:32:00.004-05:00

The Puyehue-Cordon-Caulle volcano range erupted on Saturday, resulting in a ginormous ash cloud, complete with demonic lightning.

That, or He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is back!!!!!

This terrifyingly spectacular photo comes from the AP's Francisco Negroni.

Too much light in our lives

2011-05-06T09:53:00.009-05:00

Werner Herzog has a new film coming out (cave paintings in 3D!), and GQ interviews him for this month's issue. I came across the interview care of a Tim Carmody guest-post on Kottke.org about Herzog's negative views of psychology and self-reflection, which are:

I think psychology and self-reflection is one of the major catastrophes of the twentieth century. A major, major mistake. And it's only one of the mistakes of the twentieth century, which makes me think that the twentieth century in its entirety was a mistake.

We have to have our dark corners and the unexplained. We will become uninhabitable in a way an apartment will become uninhabitable if you illuminate every single dark corner and under the table and wherever—you cannot live in a house like this anymore. And you cannot live with a person anymore—let's say in a marriage or a deep friendship—if everything is illuminated, explained, and put out on the table. There is something profoundly wrong. It's a mistake. It's a fundamentally wrong approach toward human beings.

My initial reaction was disgust and the belief that Herzog's just being a nut (as many people are wont to argue), but I keep thinking about the idea and can't shake the feeling that it might be partially true. I'm more moderate in my opinion than Herzog. That is to say that I think people seeing therapists to help them through depression and other emotional/life distresses is good. But maybe there are aspects about ourselves that we can't understand, and if we can't understand them, maybe we shouldn't even try. There are violent horrors that people are exposed to that send their bodies into shock--a biological response to carnage. Maybe there are emotions or existential confusions that most of us are fundamentally ill-equipped to process.

On a lighter note, if you have designs of working with Herzog someday, keep this in mind:

Another skill Herzog has advocated for filmmakers (and, I suspect, pretty much anyone else whom he considers truly worthy of respect) is the ability to milk a cow: "If an actor knows how to milk a cow, I always know it will not be difficult to be in business with him." Herzog has also previously claimed that when he walks into a room, he can tell who in there has previously had hand to udder. Or, at the very least, would.

I'm in like Flynn.

Prince William no wants the PRECIOUS!!!

2011-04-15T15:33:00.005-05:00

The NY Times looks at the brouhaha over Prince William's decision not to wear a wedding band.

For all the chatter about Prince William’s decision (palace officials reportedly said that he has never worn jewelry), double ring ceremonies are a relatively recent phenomenon. At the end of the Great Depression, only 15 percent of marriages were double ring ceremonies, said Katherine Jellison, a history professor at Ohio University and the author of “It’s Our Day: America’s Love Affair With the White Wedding, 1945-2005.” After World War II, she said, the number rose to 80 percent. This explosion was fueled, Dr. Jellison said, by postwar prosperity that allowed couples to afford three rings: an engagement ring, and two wedding bands.

Huh. Who knew? I guess it's one of those deals when a tradition is so culturally prevalent that you assume what's done now is what's always been done. I remember being surprised to learn that the prevalence of diamonds in engagement rings is a relatively recent development.

Aspects of Emily's and my wedding were definitely nontraditional (but damn if that all polka dance wasn't fun!), so I wholeheartedly believe everyone should make their weddings their own. That being said, I can't tell you how many times I pay conscious attention to my wedding band -- at least a couple times a week -- and am overwhelmed with such a sense of inner-peace and happiness. Just some food for thought, Will.

Pap smears, breast exams, and colonoscopies at Walgreens

2011-04-12T18:37:00.005-05:00

Stewart and Colbert always get chuckles out of me, but this Colbert clip had me tearing up, particularly around the 3:18 mark.

So. Effing. Funny.

The Colbert Report
Tags: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive

Good ole young adult post-apocalyptic dystopian fiction

2011-04-11T06:42:00.004-05:00

Suzanne Collins, author of the The Hunger Games trilogy, is featured in the most recent NY Times Magazine. If you haven't read the trilogy, you should. I never thought I would get into young adult post-apocalyptic dystopian fiction -- and occasionally the prose and storytelling clunk -- but overall, the series is amazing.

A succinct description of the trilogy from the Times article:

The books juxtapose the futuristic fantasy of a gleaming, high-tech capital and early-industrial life in the 12 half-starved districts it controls. In a ritual known as the Reaping, two adolescents from each of these oppressed districts are selected at random to participate in the Hunger Games, an annual televised match in which children battle one another and mutated beasts to the death, like Roman gladiators in a glitzy reality-TV contest. The trilogy’s heroine, Katniss, 16 years old when the series begins, has the tough-girl angst of an S.E. Hinton teenager and is too focused on survival to spend much time on familiar Y.A. preoccupations like cliques and crushes. On the very first page, she stares at the family’s pet cat, recalling, matter-of-factly, her aborted attempt to “drown him in a bucket.” By the last book, she is leading a revolution.

So long, Jon Stewart's Glenn Beck impersonation

2011-04-10T12:47:00.003-05:00

Jon Stewart says goodbye to Glenn Beck's soon-to-be-over television career. Wonderfulness ensues.

The Daily Show
Tags: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

Downsizing Detroit

2011-04-06T08:30:00.003-05:00

The NY Times looks at Detroit's plans to deal with extreme population loss (25% decline in the last decade alone) and decaying, nearly empty neighborhoods. It's a slightly less optimistic picture than the one presented in the Chrysler Super Bowl commercial with Eminem.

The ultimate plan for those neighborhoods — and the ultimate cost of consolidating them — is uncertain; some might become home to new industry, and some might be used to fill temporary needs, or for urban gardens and green space.

In more well-to-do neighborhoods, like Indian Village, where mansions fill the blocks and lawn-service crews were out in force last week, the idea of shrinking the city’s neighborhoods sounds appealing to many residents.

“When I go in some of the neighborhoods now, I have tears in my face, I just can’t believe what I see,” said Rukayya Ahsan-McTier, who was walking briskly for exercise in Indian Village, while clasping a golf club in one hand for protection from stray dogs or, as she said, any other trouble that might come her way.

Topeka-upon-Kansas

2011-03-30T09:17:00.007-05:00

Bill James is the godfather of sabermetrics, the broad term for using advanced metrics and statistics when analyzing a baseball player's ability. Slate has an excerpt from his new book, Solid Fool's Good. In the piece, Bill looks at how good our culture is at developing athletes and how crappy it is at developing writers.

The population of Topeka, Kan., today is roughly the same as the population of London in the time of Shakespeare, and the population of Kansas now is not that much lower than the population of England at that time. London at the time of Shakespeare had not only Shakespeare—whoever he was—but also Christopher Marlowe, Francis Bacon, Ben Jonson, and various other men of letters who are still read today. I doubt that Topeka today has quite the same collection of distinguished writers.

...The average city the size of Topeka produces a major league player every 10 or 15 years. If we did the same things for young writers, every city would produce a Shakespeare or a Dickens or at least a Graham Greene every 10 or 15 years. Instead, we tell the young writers that they should work on their craft for 20 or 25 years, get to be really, really good—among the best in the world—and then we'll give them a little bit of recognition.

Hands-in training for veterinarians

2011-03-28T09:30:00.002-05:00

Growing up on the cow farm, I always had quite a bit of respect for the veterinarians who would visit from time to time to help out with a sick or, more likely, birthing bovine. I even thought I might want to be a vet someday.

Today, I'm glad I didn't go down that route. Meet the rectal simulator:

Dubbed Breed’n Betsy, this metal-framed simulator with a latex back-end and internal organs allows students to perfect their pregnancy-testing, artificial-insemination, and embryo-transferring techniques before they touch a living cow. After you put on your lubricated glove, you just plunge your hand into the cow and feel around to learn the positions of latex uteri, ovaries, and cervixes. There are also upgrades: A water-filled acrylic tube simulates real-cow temperatures, and you can switch out the latex organs for real ones from your local slaughterhouse (oh goodie!). So after you’ve grown comfortable performing rectal exams on this Frankensteinian mishmash of organs, you can confidently do the same to a living, breathing bovine.

Cannibalism in the 21st Century

2011-03-19T12:49:00.005-05:00

Josh Kurp has an article in The Awl featuring Perro Loco, who believes that cannibalism is morally okay if all parties are consensual. In the 1990s, Loco founded the Cannibal Cafe, a website designed to connect those want to eat and those who to be eaten by other people. The site was shut down early last decade after some, um, bad public relations (see below).

This excerpt is pretty tame, but the full article has some very graphic parts. Like, very graphic. Srsly. Consider yourself warned.

But Loco's online celebrity would really spread in December 2002, when Armin Meiwes was arrested for eating a man named Bernd Jürgen Brandes.

This is what happened: A little over ten years ago, on March 9, 2001, 39-year-old Meiwes, a computer technician living in the German village of Wüstefeld, brought home, had sex with and killed 44-year-old Brandes, a Berlin man who lived about 250 miles away. Meiwes then ate 44 pounds of his flesh over a period of ten months. While that may sound like murder, there’s something else that should be mentioned: Brandes wanted it all to happen.

(via Kottke)

Maxim: monkeys are hilarious

2011-03-18T22:12:00.004-05:00

What happens when the two-year prohibition of vehicles in the Longleat Safari Park in England ends and a car is left unattended in the monkey area?

Hilarity, that's what.

My favorite part comes at the 1:18 mark. Oh, those monkeys.

Hold me, Robert Siegel, and never let me go

2011-03-15T15:01:00.008-05:00

I've been a public radio junkie/devotee/luvah since high school. Yeah, some of the programming is dry and pedantic and predictable, but overall, it's so much more thoughtful and interesting and refreshing when compared to cable and broadcast news organizations. I can't stand Ed Schultz, Glenn Beck, Keith Olbermann, Bill O'Reilly, et al. They're loud ideologues who reflect the worst in us. NPR covers the basics, but always manages to make stories more alive and dynamic.

And so, it's been a tough week watching my beloved NPR endure hit after hit after hit of embarrassment and criticism. Ronald Schiller trash-talking Republicans and tea party activists. Betsy Liley joking around with a Muslim group about hiding their donations from the IRS. And all this while Congressional Republicans and their media echo chamber have been beating the DEFUND THE LEFTY COMMIE SOCIALIST DIRTBAG NPR!!! drum.

NO!!! How could any of this be true? Something wasn't right. This wasn't the NPR I knew. Fight back, NPR! Tell me this is all a pack of lies! Tell me now before I lose faith, before Bill O'Reilly slashes Terry Gross's throat and tarnishes our love forever. Hold me, Robert Siegel, hold me tightly. Wipe away my tears and sing me Joni Mitchell songs until these troubles and the whole world melt away and it's just us. And maybe Michele Norris.

I was in a pretty embarrassing state. I wanted to believe that NPR was perfect and this video was just a hoax, but the evidence wasn't there to back it up. I wanted NPR to lash out at its critics, but that's not who they are. They don't react. They report.

Yesterday, finally, there was some hope. NPR aired a story that looked deeper into the recordings and determined how editing was used to skew the nature of the conversations:

In the review of the NPR tapes, O'Keefe's edited video triggered criticism right from his introduction. He ominously describes the phony Islamic group, saying that its website "said the organization sought to spread the acceptance of sharia across the world." (Shariah is Islamic law based on the Quran, although there are wide disparities in how different Muslim sects and cultures interpret what that entails.)

On the tape, Ron Schiller is then shown and heard creased with laughter, saying, "Really, that's what they said?"

In reality, as the longer tape shows, that laughter follows an innocuous exchange as Schiller and Liley greet the two supposed donors at their table.

"That to us was a signal that they were trying to condition the person watching the piece to feel as though there was assent to these ideas," said Scott Baker of The Blaze. "That was a big warning flag."

Wait. Who's this Scott Baker? He's probably some European socialist who blogs about how great death panels are. Nope. Baker edits The Blaze, a little website owned by some fellow named Glenn Beck. Ever heard of him?

So, instead of firing off a bunch of knee jerk reactions, NPR paused, investigated, involved multiple media perspectives, and reported on the story in a straightforward, objective way.

And that, my friends, is why I love NPR.

Worst Company in America

2011-03-14T22:39:00.003-05:00

The Consumerist has announced the 32 companies nominated for this year's Worst Company in America Tournament. The idea is that companies compete head-to-head in multiple rounds until the biggest stinker of them all is left standing at the end of the month.

Personally, I'm predicting Comcast will repeat its 2010 WCIA title, but I could easily see BP going the distance this year. Voting starts tomorrow.

Here are the brackets (click to make the pixels 'splode on the screen):

The longest winter of all time

2011-03-10T23:06:00.004-06:00

Not really. But it feels like it. According to Paul Douglas, the Twin Cities area is -- this very day! -- heading into its 119th consecutive day with 1 inch or more of snow cover. For those of you who like to know such things, the record is 136 days, set back in 1965. Ugh.

For more on this story, we now turn to The Onion:

Saying there are only a few days left to relish the steel-gray skies, dirt-caked melting snow, and still-freezing temperatures, citizens across the country are reportedly taking the time to savor every last moment of 2011's late-February, early-March days. "It's my favorite time of year," said 42-year-old Cleveland resident Meredith Polonsky, adding that she loves stepping outside and smelling the thawing dog shit nobody bothered to pick up during the winter, as well as going to the park, avoiding all the places where the ground is too wet, and going home early because the high winds make her eyes hurt. "Also, I love that the days are getting longer, but still aren't long enough to actually do anything. It's really magical."

Our couch potato brains

2011-03-08T17:18:00.003-06:00

In his new book, Moonwalking with Einstein, Joshua Foer looks at memory and its declining usage in our culture. The central thesis is that, as information becomes more readily available to us via external means, our brains are less practiced in the art of memory. Essentially, our brains used to be like Brad Pitt, but now they're more like Chris Farley.

The NY Times has a write-up:

Before writing was common, human beings had to use their own brains for information storage, and before books were indexed — making it possible to gain access to them in a nonlinear way — people labored under the “imperative to hold” books’ contents in their own mental hard drives simply to find particular bits of information. Poets in the oral tradition, like Homer, relied on repetition and rhythms and other patterns to recite their work from memory, and in the ancient world, exceptional memories were both exalted and widely known.

A man and his chalkboard

2011-03-07T08:00:00.002-06:00

The NY Times's David Carr looks at the rise and possible decline of Glenn Beck. Apparently, viewership is down. Nonetheless, he's still killing his competition, and even if Fox News moves on, I'm guessing Glenn will find a way to get his thoughts heard.

Part of Mr. Beck’s appeal is that he seems as if he is about to lose his marbles. But recently, he acts like he’s a little tired of the game. He can still draw a huge crowd, but he looks lonely in that studio all by himself.

“When I first came here,” he told his audience on Wednesday, “I had this pie-in-the-sky belief that if I told you the truth, if I verified all of my facts and double-checked, and we could make that compelling case with facts to back it up, the journalists in other places would get curious and they’d use their resources and they’d investigate and they’d prove it right and they’d show it too.” Then he shook his head and laughed bitterly.

Something the internets got right

2011-03-06T20:20:00.022-06:00

I came across ThisIsNotPorn.net via Aaron Gleeman. I like it. You will, too.

Leo and his teddy:

See also: Michael Jordan geeking out and shirtless Christopher Walken and camel tailing Winston Churchill.

Do you have a soul? Betty White knows.

2010-11-15T00:05:00.008-06:00

Because I'm a super cool badass, late one night this weekend I found myself tipsy on wine and flipping through channels until I stumbled on The Golden Girls. Most of my childhood memories involve cows or network television, so I have vague memories of watching the show on TV. In my head, I cataloged it with the morass of multicamera sitcoms on TV today (Exhibit A: Two and a Half Men). But I found myself enjoying the show. It was funny. And sincere.

The episode I watched was a series of vignettes -- one was a flashback of Betty White's character, Rose, in St. Olaf, Minnesota. (What?!?! That's not a town! It's a college! I know, I know. It's just TV. Everything's going to be okay.) In the scene, Rose celebrates her first birthday since her husband died. Parts of it are a little silly, but she's so genuine that it's compelling. I think that's why 2010 has been the Year of Betty White -- we're used to watching actors try so hard, but Betty's so earnest, it's refreshing.

And, I confess, I got a little choked up at the end of the scene. No, you know what? Eff that. If you don't get choked up watching the end of the scene, you probably don't have a soul.

So, without further ado, I give you the Betty White Do You Have A Soul? Test:

JK Rowling's plot spreadsheet

2010-10-19T14:14:00.006-05:00

If you like to write or like Harry Potter, I think you'll dig checking out JK Rowling's plot spreadsheet for part of Order of the Phoenix (click on the image to make it all biggy-biggy):

(via famulan)

No wedding is complete without a pirate abduction

2010-10-13T11:02:00.005-05:00

Having gotten nuptialized myself just a week and a half ago, perhaps I still have weddings on the brain, but this wedding notice from the NY Times is one of the most interesting I've ever come across.

Here's a taste of Allie and Chris's wedding:

She envisioned their wedding, which was held on Sept. 18 on Governors Island, as a public art project. On the ferry ride over to the event, she was accompanied by an array of guests in suits, dresses, shorts and pirate outfits.

More pirates and a cavalcade of bicycles in a palette of colors awaited her on shore, which she viewed from the back of a white pedicab.

...After everyone settled in, Bill Talen, a performance artist known as Reverend Billy who says he is the minister of something called the Church of Life After Shopping, performed the ceremony with the Statue of Liberty rising behind them.

...A bit of street theater then unfolded when some of the pirates — members of Time’s Up who were also getting an early start on International Talk Like a Pirate Day — pretended to abduct Ms. Compton until Mr. Ryan won her release in a battle with fake swords. Then there was a Critical Mass bike ride around the island.

I knew Emily and I were missing something! A pirate abduction!

Oh well, congrats to Allie and Chris for getting hitched and sticking it to the Man.

B is for Bouncing Boobies

2010-09-23T12:42:00.003-05:00

With our nation's children still reeling from the traumatic fraction-of-a-microsecond, kinda-sorta viewing of Janet Jackson's boob in 2004, a near disaster has been averted on Sesame Street. Everyone's favorite wholesome starlet Katy Perry -- who can, apparently, wear only bright-colored latex or bras that shoot whip cream from the nipples -- filmed a guest appearance for Sesame Street. The video was leaked, parents raised hell about Perry's cleavage, and now Sesame Street is pulling the clip from its scheduled airing later this fall.

I would like to point out that Elmo is completely naked in the entire thing.

Here's some moral corruption for you, courtesy of the Children's Television Workshop:

The Carrot Top Diet

2010-07-15T17:32:00.004-05:00

If you're like me, you love to eat. Particularly over-processed, sodium-filled, just-plain-bad-for-you food. It's delicious, and you want to just eat and eat and eat until you can't eat anymore. But you do anyway, because damnit, potato chips

Well, friends, I have the diet solution for you. It's easy, and you can do it from the comfort of the intertubes! Just go to Google Image Search (or the image search engine of your choice) and search "Carrot Top." When you see the results, you will lose any contents in your stomach that were consumed in the last two hours, and you'll likely lose any desire to eat for the next three hours.

That's five whole hours of zero calories!

And it's simple, just search.... Wait. What? You don't want to search for "Carrot Top?"

Well, prepare to lose your cookies. Just for you (because you're such a special client and the vice-president of our company is in town for only one day -- seriously, we never do this for anyone else), here's a preview of what you'll find:

From weirdo to badass in 3 minutes

2010-06-24T16:05:00.001-05:00

I sooooo want to be this guy.

Look, I dance around all the time, arms flailing, legs kicking, and nobody ever joins in! What gives?!?!

Mr. Greene goes to Washington

2010-06-15T09:42:00.004-05:00

Well, it's unlikely Alvin Greene will win in the general election, and he's not exactly an inspiring figure. Even if you aren't into politics, you should check out the bizarre goings-on in the South Carolina Democratic primary for US Senate.

In the race for United States Senate, political unknown Alvin M. Greene had walloped challenger Vic Rawl.

Around the state, Democratic activists were facing the smacking electoral truth that a non-campaigning, unemployed, black, country-living, coo-coo-for-Cocoa-Puffs nobody who’d been kicked out of the Army and was currently facing federal sex charges had just beaten — in the Democratic primary, and by 17 percentage points — a well-known former legislator, judge and current Charleston County councilman who’d raised a quarter of a million bucks for the race and for months been campaigning his ass off.

"Walloped" is right. Greene beat Rawl by 16 percentage points. There are several theories to explain the results, including GOP espionage, racial preference, and ballot tampering/malfunctions. Oh, democracy.

Casting your own biopic

2010-06-14T10:58:00.002-05:00

You know the little game where you idly consider who would play you in the movie about your life? I like that game. It's fun/somewhat insightful to hear how people would like to view themselves. My big problem has been that I've never had a good answer for who would play me. Nobody's ever seemed right. I generally settle on Judi Dench. The Dame and I might not look alike on the outside, but we're practically identical on the inside.

Finally, though, I've come across an audition reel from an actor who is a perfect fit.

Word Nerd: NY Times advanced vocab edition

2010-06-08T15:06:00.003-05:00

When you double-click a word in an article at NYTimes.com, a question mark pops up. Click the question mark and you get the word's definition. Handy, I know. Well, it seems the good folks at the Gray Lady keep track of what words are looked up the most and have released the top 50 most looked-up words for 2010 thus far.

Here are the top 10 (each linked to its definition):

1) inchoate
2) profligacy
3) sui generis
4) austerity
5) profligate
6) baldenfreude (not an actual word)
7) opprobrium
8) apostates
9) solipsistic
10) obduracy

Out of the 50, I know 9 of them. I don't know if I should be pleased or embarrassed by those results. My brain has never done well with vocabulary -- I've been caught misusing words enough that I try to look-up and write down definitions when I come across handy looking new ones. That being said, I know that I've written down alacrity, inchoate, peripatetic, comity, and others in my notebook, but for the life of me, I can't recall what the hell they mean.

It's one of those things where, on one hand, eh, I can always use a dictionary and...whatever...fuck you, NY Times!, but on the other hand, maybe I'm just rationalizing my insecurities...and... ...fuck you, NY Times!

My mom started a website about me!

2010-06-08T09:24:00.006-05:00

Not really. But that was my first thought when I came across YouAreNotSoSmart.com yesterday (via Kottke.org). While it's not another attempt by my mom to kill my self-esteem, it is a pretty cool blog that looks at various social misconceptions we all have about how we view ourselves and how we interact with the world. It's written by journalist David McRaney. Typically, he uses psychological research and evolution to dissect the myth and pinpoint its origins.

Here's a little sample:

The Misconception: You prefer the things we own over the things we don’t because we made rational choices when we bought them.

The Truth: You prefer the things you own because you rationalize your past choices to protect your sense of self.

... If you have to rationalize why you bought a luxury item, you will probably find ways to see how it fits in with your self-image.

Branding builds on this by giving you the option to create the person you think you are through choosing to align yourself with the mystique of certain products.

Apple advertising, for instance, doesn’t mention how good their computers are. Instead, they give you examples of the sort of people who purchase those computers. The idea is to encourage you to say, “Yeah, I’m not some stuffy, conservative nerd. I have taste and talent and took art classes in college.”

There's a lot more to that post, so you should read the whole thing.

If you're like me, a couple of the posts will prompt you to say, "Well, certainly other blockheads out there do this stuff, but not me! My New Yorker subscription is purely for the good writing. Not because it reinforces how I want to view myself and where I fit in the world! Poppycock!!!" But take a took a good long think about it. In a way, I find pulling back the biological curtains of our social quirks to be kind of comforting. Like, Hey, maybe I'm not a lame loser who has a myriad of weird social hang-ups and insecurities. Maybe I'm like most people, and that's okay, because we're hard-wired that way. Alright....

(Note: My mom doesn't actually try to kill my self-esteem. It's just a fun little myth I like to perpetuate. All told, my mom is a good mom.)

Hey, it's that guy Brian Cox played in Adaptation

2010-06-04T00:20:00.002-05:00

Like many amateur writers, I semi-frequently get sucked into the directionless realm of writing about writing. It's where someone says, Hey, here the five simple steps of becoming a successful writer! And I think, Gee whiz, maybe this will be how I find the magic key to the room of glorious flowing prose and natural dialogue that engages AND enlightens. Generally, though, these endeavors are pretty much a waste of time.

In reality, the best way to grow as a writer is to read good writing and then write. A lot. Maybe talk about that writing with a friend. And then re-write. And then write some more. And...repeat. (I know, a stunning lack of "check Facebook" and "play addicting flash games" steps in there.) The only real positive experiences I've had with writing about writing are Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott and Story by Robert McKee.

Yeah, that Robert McKee, who was a character in Adaptation. ("...and God help you if you use voice-over in your work, my friends. God help you. That's flaccid, sloppy writing. Any idiot can write a voice-over narration to explain the thoughts of a character.") I confess, I've only read parts of McKee's Story in Barnes & Noble. I've found him to be a good dose of don't-try-to-be-too-poetic-just-tell-a-story.

The other day, I stumbled on an hour-long interview with McKee on BigThink.com. He covers a wide variety of topics, but as always, he grasps why good story-telling is important.

Human beings... a great critic said once, Kenneth Burke said, “Stories are equipment for living.” Human beings need storytelling in order to make sense out of life, in order to live as well and civilized as a human being can. And so they will go to the storyteller for meaningful emotional experiences that they cannot get from life.

Here's the full video:

The frogs

2010-05-26T15:23:00.002-05:00

Today, in Greece (thank god), my nightmare came to life.

“There was a carpet of frogs,” Chief Thanoglou said. The scene of the incident was near the town of Langadas on the Egnatia Highway, which runs between the northern port city of Thessaloniki and the Turkish border. He speculated that the frogs were trekking for food at a nearby lake.

The police closed the highway after three drivers, apparently trying to avoid the frogs, skidded off the road.

The highway -- apparently, a major one -- was closed for two hours.

But seriously, I've had nightmares throughout my life where I am in a car that is attacked by a giant horde of frogs. It's terrifying. I hate those little green devils.

Toy Story 3: Inception

2010-05-14T15:01:00.002-05:00

If Christopher Nolan was handed the reins of the Toy Story franchise.

If you're interested, you can check out the actual trailers: Inception and Toy Story 3.

LOST posters

2010-05-04T14:37:00.004-05:00

Gideon Slife is creating a poster for every single LOST episode. He's almost halfway through season five and posts a new one each day.

House of the Rising Sun (S1, Ep6) was the first Sun-focused episode, when they discovered the skeletons in the cave.

Electron Boy Day

2010-05-03T22:28:00.004-05:00

I generally try to keep up my midwestern stoicism and avoid "the lighter side" stuff, but this story is too sweet to pass up. The Seattle Times reports on Erik Martin, a 13 year old with liver cancer. For one day, the Make-A-Wish Foundation transformed him into Electron Boy, a superhero.

Erik got into his red-and-blue superhero costume, and called on the powers of Moonshine Maid, who owns a DeLorean sports car. For good measure, more than 20 motorcycle officers from the Bellevue Police Department and King County and Snohomish sheriff's offices escorted Electron Boy to Seattle.

"They shut down 405 — they shut down I-90," marveled Moonshine Maid, aka Misty Peterson. "I thought it would just be me, in the car."

At Qwest Field, Electron Boy was directed by frantic fans to the Sounders locker room, where the entire team was shouting for help behind jammed doors. With a little help from Lightning Lad, the alter ego of local actor Rob Burgess, Erik opened the door with his lightning rod. The Sounders cheered.

Ya know, in a time of tea parties and Goldman Sachs and Glenn Beck, sometimes the lighter side is just plain nice.

(Tip of the ol' hat to Brandon P, who hates blogs.)

The 20-somethings running the free world

2010-04-30T12:46:00.005-05:00

In the NY Times Magazine, Ashley Parker looks at the lives of 20-something White House staffers. At a party thrown by a few staffers at their shared house in Dupont Circle:

Downstairs in the kitchen, a collection of young West Wing aides, former members of the advance staff on the campaign, newly minted press officers, White House softball regulars and the occasional journalist crowded in front of half a dozen bottles of cheap liquor, trying to get a drink. Obama’s chief speechwriter, Jon Favreau, a sloe-eyed 28-year-old, was politely letting a stream of people cut in front of him to refill their beer, only to step up to find a dwindling trickle of foam. The keg was kicked.

Back by the front door, Ziskend’s eyes widened. “Look who just walked in!” he said. “The counsel.” It was the principal deputy White House counsel, Daniel Meltzer, who is 58, in a pale green T-shirt and slacks. “Looks like you’re O.K. here,” he said to Lesser, surveying the sweaty scene.

“You have to do a keg stand,” Lesser said.

When I think of the White House and other hallowed government institutions, I conjure a feeling of almost religious reverence. A sacred ideal of people who hold such power and sway over our country and world -- certainly they must be old and wise and very serious. But ultimately, they're just...people. Like you and me. They are, for the most part, smart and capable, but they also occasionally trip walking up some stairs, fall in and out of love, and spill on themselves at lunch.

I think it's pretty shocking for people to learn the young ages of the majority of staff for campaigns and in government, and these young staff people are the ones doing a lot of the researching and writing that eventually becomes policy pushed by their older and more visible bosses. Not that their youthfulness makes them inherently bad at what they do, but I've wondered if campaign staff were a little older (perhaps a little mellower), might we have calmer political debates? Maybe. Maybe not.

Anywho, all of this reminds me: have you seen In the Loop? You haven't? You need to. Seriously, Netflix it right now. One of the best movies of 2009.

Casting the HBO financial crisis movie

2010-04-28T11:12:00.003-05:00

I want Wallace Shawn to play Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein.

Senator Levin: You knew these shitty deals would topple the economy, didn't you, Mr. Blankfein?

Blankfein: (pause) Inconceivable!

The stages of a photographer

2010-04-27T05:18:00.003-05:00

This could apply to pretty much any vocation in the creative realm.

(via Kottke)

Bipartisan hilarity

2010-04-26T16:32:00.012-05:00

The picture below has been on the front page of the Huffington Post all day. Regardless of where you sit on the political map, I think we can all agree that it is effing hilarious.

Dodd is all, "Oh, Richard, I love you so much! You give me the warm tingles!"

And Shelby is all, "Uh oh, I just poopied in my pantsies."

Musical Theatre Nerd Alert: Sondheim on Fresh Air

2010-04-23T12:20:00.006-05:00

Stephen Sondheim turned 80 years old this year, prompting a worldwide Sondheim-palooza. On Wednesday, he was interviewed by Terry Gross on NPR's Fresh Air. Here's an excerpt:

Sondheim: I'm not very influenced by jazz. First of all, the whole idea of jazz is improvisation and instrumentalists. And because I'm only a piano player and have never played in a band, I don't have a feeling for that. Also, I think by nature I'm too conservative. I'm just - I only improvise at the piano when I'm writing a song but I never improvise for anybody else or in front of anybody else or at a party or anything like that. And I dont think I would be good at it. I'm much too constrained.

It's partly my training. My first music teacher, which who was a professor at Williams College, was a very very kind of "Mary Poppins" kind of teacher with, you know, he laid down the rules. And that appealed to me a lot, the idea of rules of how you write music, that say what music consists of. That it's not just sitting and waiting for an inspiration but that you take a melodic idea that you have that might be an inspiration, but then you develop it and you work with it and work it out.

Suck on that, Andrew Lloyd Webber!

Oh, and do yourself a favor and watch this....

A former slave writes to his old owner

2010-04-23T05:00:00.002-05:00

In 1865, Jourdon Anderson wrote a letter to his former owner, Colonel P.H. Anderson. It seems the Colonel had requested Jourdon to return to Tennessee for gainful employment. Here's an excerpt:

As to my freedom, which you say I can have, there is nothing to be gained on that score, as I got my free papers in 1864 from the Provost- Marshal- General of the Department of Nashville. Mandy says she would be afraid to go back without some proof that you are sincerely disposed to treat us justly and kindly; and we have concluded to test your sincerity by asking you to send us our wages for the time we served you. This will make us forget and forgive old scores, and rely on your justice and friendship in the future. I served you faithfully for thirty-two years and Mandy twenty years. At twenty-five dollars a month for me, and two dollars a week for Mandy, our earnings would amount to eleven thousand six hundred and eighty dollars. Add to this the interest for the time our wages has been kept back and deduct what you paid for our clothing and three doctor’s visits to me, and pulling a tooth for Mandy, and the balance will show what we are in justice entitled to.

Wow.

If you're of the skeptical bent, I did attempt to find some verification of authenticity. And there was nothing definitive, except a scan of its publication in the New York Daily Tribune on August 22, 1865. Ultimately, though, I don't care if it's legit -- its power is in the matter-of-fact, bordering on sarcastic tone.

Really, you should read the whole letter.

(via @maxsparber)

Tony La Russa's need for control

2010-04-22T13:02:00.002-05:00

Sports Illustrated's Joe Posnanski on Tony La Russa's overmanaging in the 20-inning Cardinals-Mets game on Saturday.

I must admit: I do get a kick out of overmanaging. Sure, mostly it's like a kick to the sternum... but there's something utterly human about overmanaging that I can appreciate. A baseball manager has so little he can CONTROL on a baseball diamond. He can't design a play -- hit and runs and wheel plays don't satisfy. He can't make halftime adjustments. He can't substitute players in-and-out or change up his lines. You don't think about this much -- or I don't -- but perhaps the biggest thing is that a baseball manager can't even put his best player in position to make the big play. In basketball, you get LeBron to take the last-second shot. In football, you have Tom Brady throw to Wes Welker on fourth down. In baseball, sure, you can put in your closer. But you can't just send Albert Pujols up there with the winning run on third base. And even if you DO happen to be at Pujols place in the lineup, they will walk him.

It's just a whole different type of game, and I think overmanaging really is a natural reaction to the frustrations of the job. Tony La Russa has been managing baseball games for more than 30 years -- he has managed almost 5,000 games in his career. And even now, he HAS to use the most pinch-hitters, and he HAS to change around his lineup, and he HAS to use a lot of relievers, and he HAS to move runners, and he HAS to sacrifice. It's his nature. He has to attack the game before it attacks him. Why? I think it's because he knows the limitations of the job. And he can't help but rage against them.

Posnanski goes on to detail the key moves/missteps in each inning.

Over the last 30+ years, Tony La Russa has managed 4,780 major league games. And he is still intensely engaged in each game, each at-bat...there's something cool about that kind of passion.

Writers hating writers

2010-04-20T09:22:00.003-05:00

Michelle Kerns at Examiner.com has compiled a top-50 list of writers critiquing other writers. Much of the criticism being not constructive in nature. It feels weird to hear a favorite author so harshly rejecting another favorite. I turn into my 3rd grade teacher, Mrs. Boge. No put-downs!

Here a few highlights from Kerns's list (with Jane Austen receiving the most hate):

John Keats, according to Lord Byron (1820)
Here are Johnny Keats's piss a bed poetry...There is such a trash of Keats and the like upon my tables, that I am ashamed to look at them.

Oscar Wilde, according to Noel Coward (1946)
Am reading more of Oscar Wilde. What a tiresome, affected sod.

Jane Austen, according to Charlotte Bronte (1848)
Why do you like Miss Austen so very much? I am puzzled on that point. What induced you to say that you would rather have written 'Pride and Prejudice'...than any of the Waverly novels? I should hardly like to live with her ladies and gentlemen, in their elegant but confined houses.

Mark Twain, according to William Faulkner (1922)
A hack writer who would not have been considered fourth rate in Europe, who tricked out a few of the old proven sure fire literary skeletons with sufficient local color to intrigue the superficial and the lazy.

Jane Austen, according to Mark Twain (1898)
I haven't any right to criticize books, and I don't do it except when I hate them. I often want to criticize Jane Austen, but her books madden me so that I can't conceal my frenzy from the reader; and therefore I have to stop every time I begin. Every time I read 'Pride and Prejudice,' I want to dig her up and hit her over the skull with her own shin-bone.

Jane Austen, according to Ralph Waldo Emerson (1861)
I am at a loss to understand why people hold Miss Austen's novels at so high a rate, which seem to me vulgar in tone, sterile in artistic invention, imprisoned in their wretched conventions of English society, without genius, wit, or knowledge of the world.

Tom Wolfe's A Man in Full, according to Norman Mailer (1998)
The book has gas and runs out of gas, fills up again, goes dry. It is a 742-page work that reads as if it is fifteen hundred pages long....

At certain points, reading the work can even be said to resemble the act of making love to a three-hundred pound woman. Once she gets on top, it's over. Fall in love, or be asphyxiated. So you read and you grab and you even find delight in some of these mounds of material. Yet all the while you resist -- how you resist! -- letting three hundred pounds take you over.

Lord Byron's nickname for William Wordsworth? Turdsworth.

Kermit and Fozzie turn existential

2010-04-20T09:04:00.001-05:00

I fucking love the Muppets. Watch it all the way through. Seriously.

(via @sandentotten)

Help me out?

2010-04-20T08:49:00.004-05:00

I'm working on a story idea and want to hear some different ideas about how people define 'art.' As in, would you call a Danielle Steel book art? Mamma Mia the musical/movie? A Van Gogh painting? A Beyonce song? Do you judge creative products on an artistic spectrum? Do you like aspects of pop culture that aren't artistic? Is it important to make such judgements?

You can write a word, a line, or a 3-page report -- I'm eager to hear what you think. Anything would be much appreciated. (Also, feel free to e-mail/message.)

Spring cleaning on Mount Everest

2010-04-19T13:36:00.004-05:00

MPR reports on a Nepalese program to clean Mount Everest. 20 Sherpas will remove some of the dead bodies and garbage that have collected over the years.

The team said it plans to remove at least five bodies from a narrow trail between South Col and the summit, but has not identified them. In the past bodies have generally been removed only from lower elevations, because dangerous conditions have made removing bodies from the "death zone" nearly impossible.

The team also plans to remove some 6,600 pounds (3,000 kilograms) of garbage from the zone.

"We will carry empty sacks and fill them with empty oxygen bottles, food wrappings, old tents and ropes from the area," Namgyal said.

Lying to show truth

2010-04-19T08:55:00.004-05:00

On nola.com, David Simon explains the creative liberties taken in Treme.

Well, Pablo Picasso famously said that art is the lie that shows us the truth. Such might be the case of a celebrated artist claiming more for himself and his work than he ought, or perhaps, this Picasso fella was on to something.

By referencing what is real, or historical, a fictional narrative can speak in a powerful, full-throated way to the problems and issues of our time. And a wholly imagined tale, set amid the intricate and accurate details of a real place and time, can resonate with readers in profound ways. In short, drama is its own argument.

Does anyone know if Picasso originated the "art uses lies to show truth" line? I've seen forms of it elsewhere. Tom's opening monologue in The Glass Menagerie. V for Vendetta. Just curious....

Damn Yankees

2010-04-19T08:36:00.001-05:00

Joe Queenan's Yankee-hate extends into literature.

My refusal to read books about the Yankees or their fans also extends to books written by supporters of the team. Thus, when I learned that Salman Rushdie had adopted the Yankees, who beat my Phillies in the World Series last year, it eliminated any chance that I would ever read “The Satanic Verses,” no matter how good it is. This attitude is rooted partly in principle and partly in pathology: I, like most Americans, resent the Yankees’ success while secretly wishing that my cheapskate teams would imitate them and go out and purchase championship after championship. But I further ridicule the notion that Yankees fans experience the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat the way the rest of us do. Rooting for the Yankees, as a friend of mine said, is like rooting for the air. It’s about as daring as rooting for a pack of ravenous pit bulls in a showdown with a blind, one-legged bunny rabbit.

Census too mainstream for hipsters

2010-04-17T16:30:00.003-05:00

NPR reports on the lack of census participation in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, an area heavily populated by hipsters and Satmar Orthodox Jews.

Robert Smith (reporter): These few blocks around Wythe Avenue and 6th Street have about a 36 percent return rate. Nate Stark has an explanation.

Stark (hipster): I guess it's laziness and like, what's the point? When it comes down to it, nobody wants to fill out like another form that's just like getting sent to your house that really relatively has nothing to do with your life.

No worries. Stephen Colbert picked up on the story. (Relevant stuff at the 1:48 mark.)

The Colbert Report

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Hope for the cilantro-ickies

2010-04-16T16:29:00.006-05:00

I can only handle cilantro in small doses. I've heard of some people having a genetic disposition to the plant, but this NY Times piece clears things up a little bit.

The senses of smell and taste evolved to evoke strong emotions, he explained, because they were critical to finding food and mates and avoiding poisons and predators. When we taste a food, the brain searches its memory to find a pattern from past experience that the flavor belongs to. Then it uses that pattern to create a perception of flavor, including an evaluation of its desirability.

If the flavor doesn’t fit a familiar food experience, and instead fits into a pattern that involves chemical cleaning agents and dirt, or crawly insects, then the brain highlights the mismatch and the potential threat to our safety. We react strongly and throw the offending ingredient on the floor where it belongs.

But there is hope! Apparently, people (like me!) who get the cilantro-ickies can re-train their brains to have positive responses to it.

All-Jane Austen Baseball Team

2010-04-16T15:53:00.003-05:00

I like this.

C: Taylor Hill Teagarden
1B: Joshua S. Whitesell
2B: Brent Stuart Lillibridge
SS: Clifton Randolph Pennington
3B: James Gordon Beckham III
LF: Aaron R. Cunningham
CF: Jonathan Eugene Van Every
RF: Joshua David Willingham
DH: Thomas James Everidge

BENCH-C: Dustin Eli Whiteside
BENCH-IF: John Joseph Hannahan
BENCH-OF: James Micah Hoffpauir
BENCH-BAT: Robert Michael Aubrey

SP: Justin Brooks Verlander
SP: Chad Ryan Billingsley
SP: Robert Nicholas Blackburn
SP: Adam Parrish Wainwright
SP: Jeremy Allen Bonderman

RP: Jonathan Robert Papelbon
RP: Blake Edward Hawksworth
RP: Kyle William McClellan
RP: Joel Ryan Hanrahan
RP: Nathan Daniel Robertson
RP: Clayton C. Richard
RP: Hayden Andrew Penn

Manager: Ronald Clyde Gardenhire
Pitching Coach: Roger Alan McDowell
Hitting Coach: Donald Arthur Mattingly
Bullpen Coach: John Karl Wetteland
Bench Coach: Alan Stuart Trammell
First Base Coach: Daniel John Radison
Third Base Coach: Timothy Earl Flannery

Thanks, Brandon P.

Kids send the darndest hate mail

2010-04-14T11:21:00.003-05:00

Undergoing a major renovation between 1997 and 2000, the Natural History Museum's Hayden Planetarium decided that Pluto wasn't a planet. Controversy followed. And so did hate mail from kids.

The "Mr. Tyson" in the letter is Neil deGrasse Tyson, the Planetarium's director. He has a book out, The Pluto Files, about the hoopla surrounding the former planet.

(via Kottke)

Time-lapse of Target Field's big day

2010-04-13T13:40:00.002-05:00

MPR has a time-lapse video of yesterday's goings-on at Target Field.

I need to stop playing so much Minesweeper

2010-04-13T06:00:00.008-05:00

Yesterday, on MPR's Midmorning, Kerri Miller interviewed David Shenk, the author of The Genius in All of Us, wherein he argues that our talents and traits aren't as genetically predetermined as we thought. In fact, a lot of science is showing the opposite. Basically, it isn't that someone has a genetic disposition to be a great writer, athlete, musician, photographer, accountant, actor, doctor, etc. Rather, a person's environment and effort (disciplined practice) go a long way in determining their gifts and attributes.

And that goes for physical traits as well. Here's an excerpt from Shenk's book (via NPR):

One of the most striking early hints of the new understanding of development as a dynamic process emerged in 1957 when Stanford School of Medicine researcher William Walter Greulich measured the heights of Japanese children raised in California and compared them to the heights of Japanese children raised in Japan during the same time period. The California-raised kids, with significantly better nourishment and medical care, grew an astonishing five inches taller on average. Same gene pool, different environment — radically different stature.

I'm drawn to this idea, because, well, it's empowering. I have the power to control who I am and what I want to do! Of course, the flip side to the responsibility for success is the responsibility for failure. I can't just look around at the successes of other aspiring writers and brush it off with a "Well, they're just more naturally gifted than I am. Back to Minesweeper and Facebook!"

Here's the audio from the Midmorning interview:

And if you're interested, Shenk has a blog to promote the book.

TPT launches site/show about Minnesota arts

2010-04-12T21:53:00.007-05:00

Twin Cities Public Television has used Legacy Amendment funds to create MN Original, a show and companion website that "will take viewers behind the scenes to meet the elders and the emerging talents in all of the arts disciplines."

They have some videos up on the site (the broadcast show premieres on April 22). This one -- On Dying by Peter Nelson -- caught my eye. Young actors lip-sync audio from old people.

A world of old farts

2010-04-12T08:39:00.002-05:00

From Frank Pearce's New Scientist op-ed on aging. Yikes.

In 19 countries, from Singapore to Iceland, people have a life expectancy of about 80 years. Of all the people in human history who ever reached the age of 65, half are alive now.

Fresh Air's Baseball Show

2010-04-11T20:32:00.006-05:00

On Friday, Fresh Air aired two great baseball interviews. The first is with Hall of Famers Bob Gibson and Reggie Jackson, and the second is with journalist Bruce Weber, who trained and worked as an umpire (and, of course, wrote a book about it, titled As They See 'Em: A Fan's Travels in the Land of Umpires).

Gibson and Jackson were the focus of the book Sixty Feet, Six Inches, which looks at the battle between a pitcher (Gibson) and a hitter (Jackson). 60'6" is the distance between the pitcher's mound and home plate.

I came to baseball later in life, and one of the biggest steps I took from this-is-boring-as-shit to I-effing-love-this-game was learning about the subtle battle between a pitcher and a hitter.

Here's an excerpt from the Gibson/Jackson interviewer, where Dave Davies asks about pitching on the inside part of the plate. Gibson was known for aggressively pitching close to hitters to get them off the plate. It's, well, more complicated than that. But seriously, even if you're not a baseball fan, the interviews are great.

Davies: I want to talk about throwing inside and guys getting hit by pitches because you guys are both on opposite ends of this. And Bob Gibson, with your permission, I'm going to read a section from you, from the book that you've collaborated with Reggie here, where you're talking about -you're saying basically that you liked to pitch on the outside part of the plate, that is the part - pitch away from the batter, and you say that nobody's really going to square on a pitch and hit you when you pitch it outside. And then you write: unless he cheats.

What I mean is unless he leans in and dives at that outside corner. Obviously, I can't let him do that because that's where I'm trying to pitch. So if he tries it, I have to stand him up a little bit. Think of the hitter as dog with an electronic collar. You just administer a slight correction, as they call it, if he tries to get out of his yard. Throw the ball inside, and he can't wander into the wrong area. That's what you were doing when you pitched inside, right?

Gibson: Pretty much. Yeah. I was getting him to think about the ball inside. Now Reggie - Reggie likes to hit the ball out away from him. That's where I want to get him out. So what do I do to keep him from hitting that ball out away from him? I pitch him inside. And I don't just pitch him inside once, I come in there often. And so now, he's going to think about me pitching him inside.

If he's thinking about that ball inside, then I can get him out away. If he's thinking outside, and I throw outside, he's more capable of hitting the ball. But if I get inside and do it often enough, he's not going to go leaning out there because sometimes when I'm pitching inside, and he's thinking outside, you know, the ball comes inside, and I'll hit him.

TV isn't real, who knew?

2010-04-10T17:32:00.002-05:00

I probably shouldn't be so mesmerized by this before and after reel from Stargate Studios, but alas, me likes the shiny moving picture shows!

New baseball stat: Butt Shape

2010-04-09T16:48:00.002-05:00

Apparently, a ballplayer's butt shape can help predict his success. From Tom Verducci's Sports Illustrated article on Phillies' ace pitcher Roy Halladay:

There is an adage among scouts that the shape of a player's butt helps project what the prospect will become. Kids with flat butts generally don't fill out much. Kids with a curved butt will add strength to their frame—what the scouts call good weight. "Roy looked like he could easily carry another 15 to 20 pounds," says Mike Arbuckle, who ran the draft for the Phillies then and now is a senior adviser to the general manager in Kansas City. "That kind of frame with good arm speed, those are two rare elements."

(via Slate)

David Cross a debbie-downer about Arrested Development movie

2010-04-09T10:58:00.004-05:00

In an interview with TV.com, David Cross (aka Tobias Fünke) was asked...

Should I even ask you about the Arrested Development movie or should we just move on?
[Laughs] I hope this is a harbinger of things to come, because you're the first person who has ever asked me whether you should ask me the question as opposed to just saying "So what's up with the movie?" Hopefully this ushers in a new era of people understanding that there is not going to be a movie. I just don't see it happening. It's been years. Michael Cera is 32 years old now. I will be the first to say it ain't going to happen.

For what it's worth, Michael Cera is actually 21 years old. Even though I'd love to see more Bluth family shenanigans, I've always been worried about a movie not living up to the TV show.

Speaking of which...

A Robbery of Three Liberal Arts Graduates: The Police Report

2010-04-08T16:55:00.000-05:00

This McSweeney's piece by Eliot Nelson is over a month old, but I thought about it today. And, well, it's just really fucking funny. An excerpt:

Perp One then informed Mr. Wilson-Stern, Mr. Miller and Mr. Goldstein that if they followed instructions and kept their "bitch" mouths shut that it would be over soon and they could return to having sex with each other. Mr. Wilson-Stern informed Perp One that his assumption of their sexuality was indicative of America's entrenched heteronormative value system. Mr. Miller then informed Perp One that he was perpetrating society's patriarchal norms by using the word "bitch." Mr. Goldstein then asked Perp One to turn the television to The News Hour with Jim Leher.

Michael Steele, the muppet

2010-04-08T15:44:00.002-05:00

Michael Steele the person wouldn't come on the Daily Show, so Jon Stewart interviewed Michael Steele the muppet.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

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www.thedailyshow.com

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Fun with Graphics: Baseball Edition

2010-04-08T08:00:00.000-05:00

Craig Robinson loves baseball and infographics. We reap the rewards. For more baseball-y graphics like this, check out FlipFlopFlyBall.com.

(Click the graphic to make it BIG.)

Bestsellers of 2009

2010-04-07T16:04:00.005-05:00

If Dan Brown ever writes a book about the mystery of Sarah Palin, it'll be booksellin' gold!!! Publisher's Weekly lists the top-selling books of 2009.

Top ten in hardcover fiction:

1. The Lost Symbol: A Novel. Dan Brown. Doubleday (5,543,643).
2. The Associate: A Novel. John Grisham. Doubleday.
3. The Help. Kathryn Stockett. Putnam/Amy Einhorn (1,104,617).
4. I, Alex Cross. James Patterson. Little, Brown (1,040,976).
5. The Last Song. Nicholas Sparks. Grand Central (1,032,829).
6. Ford County. John Grisham. Doubleday.
7. Finger Lickin' Fifteen. Janet Evanovich. St. Martin's (977,178).
8. The Host: A Novel. Stephenie Meyer. Little, Brown (912,165).
9. Under the Dome. Stephen King. Scribner
10. Pirate Latitudes. Michael Crichton. Harper (855,638).

And hardcover nonfiction:

1. Going Rogue: An American Life. Sarah Palin. Harper (2,674,684).
2. Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man: What Men Really Think About Love, Relationships, Intimacy, and Commitment. Steve Harvey. Harper (1,735,219).
3. Arguing with Idiots: How to Stop Small Minds and Big Government. Glenn Beck. Threshold.
4. Liberty & Tyranny: A Conservative Manifesto. Mark R. Levin.
5. True Compass: A Memoir. Edward M. Kennedy. Grand Central (870,402).
6. Have a Little Faith: A True Story. Mitch Albom. Hyperion (855,843).
7. It's Your Time: Activate Your Faith, Achieve Your Dreams, and Increase in God's Favor. Joel Osteen. Free Press.
8. The Last Lecture. Randy Pausch with Jeffrey Zaslow. Hyperion (610,033).
9. Stones into Schools: Promoting Peace with Books Not Bombs. Greg Mortenson. Viking (515,566).
10. Superfreakonomics. Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner. William Morrow (487,977).

(via kottke)

Taiwanese boy lives out dream of American gays

2010-04-07T11:29:00.005-05:00

This was probably viral about 10 years ago, but alas, I'm slow on the uptake.

Us vs Them

2010-04-07T11:01:00.006-05:00

A couple days ago, I wrote about an Eric Black post that covered a new study declaring "narrative" the buzz word du jour of political journalism and, perhaps more accurately, punditry. Today, Black has a follow-up that looks at the idea of paradigm.

In the U.S. Cold War paradigm, it was a "fact" that the Soviets were bent on world domination, whereas the United States wanted only to allow every country in the world to democratically choose its own system. There were dozens of other "facts," almost universally believed in our society, that mostly translated into a pure-good-versus-pure-evil simplification. One of the main points of my Strib series and subsequent book, "Rethinking the Cold War," was that we were more blinded than informed by such half-truths.

It's not much of a leap from the scientific or Cold War paradigms to the way many Americans see contemporary politics, believing that whichever side they are on is honest, clean, perspicacious and offers the policies that will be best for their state, the nation and for future generations.

I recommend reading the whole piece. It explains the concept in greater depth and looks at some of the implications for today's politics.

Tarantino vs Coen Brothers

2010-04-07T00:01:00.002-05:00

(via @ebertchicago)

Children's Theatre Co wants to remove yellow egg from face

2010-04-06T17:20:00.009-05:00

A few weeks ago, the Children's Theatre Company caused a little controversy with their plans to cast Caucasian actors in Chinese roles in their upcoming production of Disney's Mulan Junior. On one hand, there is a high-demand for Asian-American actors in the Twin Cities theatre universe this spring. On the other hand, would any theatre company be willing to go black-face if they had trouble finding Black actors for a production?

Fortunately, CTC partnered with Mu Performing Arts on Monday night to host a panel discussion on the matter. Since that was opening day and I'm a good, baseball-loving American, I couldn't make it (kidding), but the panel's moderator Marianne Combs has some notes on the conversation posted on her MPR State of the Arts blog. Additionally, the good people at Twin Cities Theater Connection have full audio of the event. It's about two hours long and worth the listen if you've got the time. There were a number of productive ideas brought up, particularly better communication throughout the theatre community. (When is that not a good idea?)

When I was a senior in high school, I was in John Patrick's The Teahouse of the August Moon as Sakini, a Japanese translator employed by the U.S. Army during post-WWII reconstruction. In small town Charles City High School, we had very few Asian students. Our director brought in a Japanese-American member of the community to teach us pronunciation of the Japanese lines and other cultural details about dress and social norms. That being said, I still cringe when I come across a picture of myself in yellow-face and think about the stereotypical accent I used. Ugh. We should've stuck to Neil Simon....

Incidentally, a film version of The Teahouse of the August Moon was released in 1956. Who played Sakini? Marlon Brando. Apparently they couldn't find a Japanese-American actor in all of Hollywood.

Grilled cheese + Pam Beesly = Heart explosion

2010-04-06T13:59:00.005-05:00

From the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board -- a cog in the Wisconsin Dairy Producers wheel -- comes the Grilled Cheese Academy, a website dedicated to the fine art of gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches. The site features 30 sandwiches and allows users to share their own recipes. And sorry veggie-luvahs, it appears a number of these delicacies contain meat.

Oh, and I almost forgot the best part. Each of the 30 featured sandwiches has a narrated description. And who is doing the voiceover? Jenna Fischer (aka Pam Beesly-Halpert from The Office)!

I haven't shown the Grilled Cheese Academy to Emily yet, but when I do, I'm guessing her heart will explode from excitement. Incidentally, if you eat too many grilled cheese sandwiches, your heart will also explode...from clogged arteries.

Fish kill at Lake Shetek

2010-04-06T13:10:00.003-05:00

MPR's Mark Steil covers the fish kill at Lake Shetek in southwest Minnesota. I'm no expert on fish kills, so I don't know how this one compares to others...but it looks pretty damn bad.

Thousands of dead fish--mostly dead carp weighing up to 20 pounds--float in a bay on Lake Shetek, packed in by the wind. Even fin to fin, they cover an area that is easily the size of a football field. A crew of more than 30 volunteers is picking them up with pitchforks.

"It's not probably the most pleasant work; it's kind of smelly," volunteer organizer Mark Slettum said. "But I think we all believe that we're caretakers of the lake and we certainly want to give back to it by cleaning it up and kind of being the custodians of the lake."

The smell of rotting fish fills the air. One by one, volunteers toss the carcasses into trailers and the buckets of front end loaders. They land with a squishy plop.

Visit MPR for the full story, with audio and a disgusting-but-you-have-to-look slideshow.

A sassy gay friend for Shakespeare

2010-04-05T13:34:00.003-05:00

Second City has a series of YouTube videos out inserting a sassy gay friend for some of Shakespeare's leading ladies. They're hilarious.

Narrative trumps all in media

2010-04-05T12:05:00.005-05:00

MinnPost's Eric Black reports this morning on a recent study that says "narrative" is the new political buzz word.

The Global Language Monitor uses some kind of algorithm that tracks the usage of words and phrases in all forms of news media plus now social media to spot such trends. This is way over my head, and I don't vouch for their finding, but as soon as you hear their big "narrative" conclusion, you realize there's something to it and that we've been hearing "narrative" a lot.

The GLM offers several sample headlines and excerpts to make the point, like "The Obama White House has lost the narrative in the way that the Obama campaign never did” (New York Times, March 6)," “Ok. Has the narrative changed because of the health care success? (Washington Post, March 26) and “The only thing that changes is the narrative.” (CNN, March 23).

I totally understand this concept. People dig stories. It's much easier to listen to a story with characters and a perception of dramatic conflict. I'm always drawn to journalism that has a strong sense of storytelling over sterile fact-telling. That's why This American Life episodes about the economic crisis are more interesting to listen to than, say, PBS Newshour reports.

Storytelling is exciting and suspenseful. It feels more human. And ultimately, a story gives an audience a nice framework in which to place all these little things it's learning.

But what's the danger? Well, at some point, the importance of the story arc takes precedence over the facts.

Here's a hypothetical: Let's say that I'm a media organization in a constant state of flipping shit about building/maintaining an audience to draw ad revenue, and I know that a strong narrative is more likely to achieve the aforementioned flip-shit goal than having a stream of accurate-but-sterile facts. Of course, I'm going to go with the narrative. It keeps the audience engaged and revenue stream flowing.

Now, obviously, narrative and facts don't have to be mutually exclusive. And, in fact, I think This American Life is a prime example of using a story structure to dispense oft-unreported facts. That being said, think back to the 2008 election. In the Democratic primary, it was the constant horse race between Hillary and Obama. In reality, though, it was going to be almost impossible for Hillary to overtake Obama's delegate count. But that's not a good story. The good story is the older, tough-as-shit woman fighting for her political life against the fresh-faced newcomer. Remember the constant comparisons to the I'm a Mac/I'm a PC ads?

And that continued into the general election. McCain was the old crusty guy, who was erratic and unreliable in the face of economic chaos. Obama was the calm, steady hand from a new generation who offered a bright, clean start in dark times. How many voters do you think were looking at the details of policy put forth by both campaigns? In the recent health care reform circus, polling was against the reform package. Until, of course, it passed. Then more people were supportive. Why? People like to win. They like a good story, and they want to feel happy at the ending.

The Clean Plate Club is real!

2010-04-04T18:34:00.007-05:00

Turns out, the Clean Plate Club wasn't just some silly idea created by parents to manipulate their whimsical kids into eating veggies. The Big W explains:

The U.S. Food Administration was terminated after the First World War, but in 1947 the “Clean Plate” proposal came back and was encouraged by President Harry S. Truman, who aided in officially forming the “Clean Plates Club” in elementary schools across the country. This club was officially created after the Great Depression and World War II, when food was once again scarce. In 1947, the U.S. created the Marshall Plan, in which President Truman encouraged Americans to consume less poultry, to conserve food for starving Europeans. As a reaction to his plan, the “Clean Plate Clubs” were formed, and elementary school students were again taught to clean their plates.

I was raised to be a lifetime member of the Clean Plate Club. In the Curl household, we kids always had to finish our food, and rarely were there leftovers. To this day, I generally approach every meal as though it is my last, eating my food and the food of everyone within ten feet.

Let's just say, my lifetime CPC membership is rarely in danger.

How a rumor becomes news

2010-03-15T10:42:00.003-05:00

Derek Wallbank, MinnPost's DC reporter, has a detailed story up this morning about the birds and bees of political rumors. He tells how an Obama policy initiative on managing oceanic fishing became a rage-inciter on conservative media outlets.

Writer Robert Montgomery warned the ensuing federal policy "could prohibit U.S. citizens from fishing some of the nation's oceans, coastal areas, Great Lakes, and even inland waters."

The story spread from there, getting picked up by some of the biggest names in conservative media, including Limbaugh, Beck, Malkin and Drudge.

"How about a fishing ban?" Beck asked incredulously on his Fox News show last week. "A fishing ban that would put jobs at risk in the middle of an economic crisis, but beyond that, you and your son being told you can't go there to fish! What the hell is happening to us? How are people not seeing this? [Obama is] going to do it through executive powers, without consulting the public."

Edward R. Morrow would be so proud.

10 rules for writing

2010-02-25T21:50:00.005-06:00

I try to avoid too much "writers on writing" stuff, but this is pretty good. The Guardian recently asked a smattering of writers for their ten rules for writing. Here are some highlights:

Will Self
Regard yourself as a small corporation of one. Take yourself off on team-building exercises (long walks). Hold a Christmas party every year at which you stand in the corner of your writing room, shouting very loudly to yourself while drinking a bottle of white wine. Then masturbate under the desk. The following day you will feel a deep and cohering sense of embarrassment.

Sarah Waters
Treat writing as a job. Be disciplined. Lots of writers get a bit OCD-ish about this. Graham Greene famously wrote 500 words a day. Jean Plaidy managed 5,000 before lunch, then spent the afternoon answering fan mail. My minimum is 1,000 words a day – which is sometimes easy to achieve, and is sometimes, frankly, like shitting a brick, but I will make myself stay at my desk until I've got there, because I know that by doing that I am inching the book forward. Those 1,000 words might well be rubbish – they often are. But then, it is always easier to return to rubbish words at a later date and make them better.

Geoff Dyer
Do it every day. Make a habit of putting your observations into words and gradually this will become instinct. This is the most important rule of all and, naturally, I don't follow it.

Anne Enright
Only bad writers think that their work is really good.

Jonathan Franzen
Fiction that isn't an author's personal adventure into the frightening or the unknown isn't worth writing for anything but money.

Neil Gaiman
The main rule of writing is that if you do it with enough assurance and confidence, you're allowed to do whatever you like. (That may be a rule for life as well as for writing. But it's definitely true for writing.) So write your story as it needs to be written. Write it honestly, and tell it as best you can. I'm not sure that there are any other rules. Not ones that matter.

A. L. Kennedy
Read. As much as you can. As deeply and widely and nourishingly and irritatingly as you can. And the good things will make you remember them, so you won't need to take notes.

Phillip Pullman
My main rule is to say no to things like this, which tempt me away from my proper work.

If you read all the lists, you'll notice a number of common threads. I identified with the discipline issue the most. I'm always struggling to stop thinking about writing and actually, you know, doing it.

(via kottke)

Some salt for the new 2010 MN Gov poll

2010-01-13T12:12:00.005-06:00

Rasmussen released a poll today on the 2010 gubernatorial race in Minnesota, showing former Senators Norm Coleman and Mark Dayton in the lead for their respective parties' nominations. But as any Minnesota political junkie will tell you, the poll disregards the single most important factor in the race between now and the fall primary: party endorsement.

The endorsement processes for both parties are dominated by veteran party activists who dedicate a lot of their time and energy from the precinct caucuses through the state party conventions. While there are plenty of examples of statewide candidates who lost their party's endorsement but went on to win the nomination in a primary, it's not common.

Does the Rasmussen poll show us anything? Well, in the wider electorate, Coleman and Dayton have the highest name recognition. Given that both of them have run in several high profile statewide races over the last decade or so, this revelation is about as shocking as Mark McGuire admitting to steroid use. (Read: not at all.) The other candidates aren't nobodys by any means, but they simply haven't had as much constant statewide exposure.

The endorsement processes on both sides are complex, complete with multiple levels and intricate caucus rules to determine the make-up of the delegates at each party's state convention, which makes any kind of polling or prediction-making particularly difficult.

But that doesn't stop a bunch of us yahoos from trying, so here's my take on the current state of play:

DFL Party- Dayton, former House Minority Leader Matt Entenza, and Ramsey County Attorney Susan Gaertner (aka the non-abiders!) have all said they are going to the primary regardless of what happens in the endorsement. Unless I've missed it, all the other candidates pledge to drop out if they lose the endorsement at the state convention on April 24. Dayton and Entenza are both wealthy enough to self-finance full campaigns for the primary. I think Gaertner will have trouble gaining traction, unless she has some unexpected wind behind her back. Presuming none of these three win the endorsement (delegates tend to frown on non-abiders), the primary will also feature the DFL endorsee. Right now, conventional wisdom says that will likely be state House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher or Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak, but caucusing is an unpredictable process and sometimes lesser known candidates are able to connect with delegates and push through. We'll see.

Republican Party- Former state Auditor Pat Anderson has left the gubernatorial race to run for her old job. One of the reasons she cited for the shift was Coleman's shadow over the race. Will he get in or will he stay out? If he gets in, will he abide by the endorsement? I think most people predict that Coleman is not favored to win the endorsement, and that will come down to former House Minority Leader Marty Seifert or state Rep. Tom Emmer, frontrunner and underdog respectively. I think the big question mark is whether an endorsed Seifert or Emmer can defeat the bigger fundraising network and higher name recognition of Coleman in the primary. I do think Coleman will use this poll as a talking point if/when he does decide to announce his candidacy, positioning himself as a savior in high demand and not a career political opportunist (a frequent charge of his critics). Related: an earlier post on the challenges a Coleman candidacy could face.

Independence Party- Party Chair Jack Uldrich has said they are pushing their state endorsing convention closer to the summer to allow more candidates the time to jump into the race. Their process differs from the other two major parties and tends to draw a lot less attention until the candidate is endorsed. Leading the media chatter right now is Tom Horner, a public relations person who served as a senior aide to former Republican Senator Dave Durenberger. Horner hasn't officially decided to run, but he was the focus of Lori Sturdevant's most recent column for the Strib. Other IP candidates have filed, but it's hard to say where they stand. I've always thought a Jim Ramstad IP candidacy would be intriquing and shake up the dynamics of the general election, but the likelihood of it happening falls opposite of Mark McGuire's steroid use on the predictable/shocking spectrum.

Tea leaf reading aside, the parties will conduct a non-binding straw poll at precinct caucuses on Feb. 2, which should give a better indication of where each candidate stands. Until then, let the guessing game continue.

Will Coleman be the Charlie Crist of Minnesota?

2010-01-12T00:01:00.004-06:00

An MPR report about a St. Cloud Republican fundraiser this past Saturday has ginned up buzz about a possible gubernatorial run by former Sen. Norm Coleman. The buzz itself is nothing new -- it's been around since he conceded the Senate race this past summer. However, the story, filed by Tim Pugmire, does feature a not-so-harmonious interaction between Coleman and Doug Blaine, an activist who predicts a Coleman candidacy will deter newcomers to the Republican Party.

I'm curious if Blaine was referring specifically to tea party activists, and it has me wondering how that group could affect the gubernatorial race. If Coleman does run, I can't see his candidacy receiving a warm reception from the tea party movement, as many in that group probably view Coleman as a wish-washy, socialist-lite moderate.

For some perspective, let's look at the US Senate race in Florida (which was covered in Sunday's New York Times Magazine). Gov. Charlie Crist started his campaign for the vacant Senate seat last year as the establishment front-runner for the GOP nomination. Now, he's in a tight primary race with Marco Rubio, former speaker of the Florida House, whose rise in the polls has been fueled by the tea party movement. The group's activists view Crist as a moderate, who isn't principled enough in his conservatism. They were particularly angered when Crist embraced (literally, hugged) Pres. Barack Obama and openly welcomed Florida's share of the federal stimulus package (socialist pork in tea party vernacular).

I don't think it's too much of a stretch to predict that the tea party's reaction to Coleman in Minnesota could mirror the tea party's reaction to Crist in Florida. But does that, as Doug Blaine predicts, turn them away from the GOP, or does it prompt them to rally behind an alternative Republican? And, of course, who is that alternative?

Looking at what has energized Florida tea party activists behind Rubio, Rep. Tom Emmer seems the most likely to fit the bill. He has been a vocal proponent for limited government (low taxes, free market, etc.) and has maintained a high anti-establishment profile, challenging Rep. Marty Seifert (also a gubernatorial candidate) for House Minority leadership after the 2008 election. Emmer's House district 19B is mostly within Wright County, which gave Jesse Ventura over 50% of its vote in 1998 and launched a Ron Paul devotee into the leadership of the 6th District GOP executive committee last year.

Seifert himself, widely viewed as the GOP frontrunner, could also serve as the Coleman alternative for tea party activists, but when compared to Emmer, I think they'll view him as too establishment and not passionate enough toward their self-described revolution.

Of course, Coleman could decide that three statewide races are enough, but given how he has increased and managed his profile lately, that seems unlikely. He could also skip the endorsement and use his fundraising network and high name recognition to go straight to the primary. This move wouldn't completely negate a tea party activist revolt, but he could bet his odds are better with a broader GOP electorate of the primary versus the narrower group of activists in the endorsement battle. It's also the case that the tea party movement might not have enough numbers to make a meaningful impact, or they could be out-maneuvered by more experienced vets of the endorsement process.

A lot question marks and unknowns. And precinct caucuses are just three weeks away....

A lot of feel-good, not a lot of specifics at the Capitol

2010-01-09T13:29:00.016-06:00

As part of my training at KFAI, I shadowed political reporter Marty Owings yesterday at the Capitol as he covered the closed door meeting and press conferences of legislative leaders (including the DFL's Senate Majority Leader Larry Pogemiller, House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher and House Majority Leader Tony Sertich, as well as the GOP's Senate Minority Leader David Senjem and House Minority Leader Kurt Zellers) and Gov. Tim Pawlenty.

Apparently the state's political leaders are sticking to a New Year's resolution to play nice, particularly when compared to the more pointed rhetoric used at the end of the last session. All the attendees characterized the meeting as positive, but that feel-good rapport may prove tentative when the legislative session starts on Feb. 4 and the rubber meets the road.

DFL majority leadership still says it wants to work with their Republican minority counterparts and the governor on how filling the projected $1.2 billion shortfall for the current budget. There is also the ongoing legal action regarding the funds unallotted by Pawlenty last year. Not to mention a bonding bill for construction projects, systematic reforms to confront future budget shortfalls, and proposals to spur the economy and curb high unemployment. Oh, and there's re-election and a wide open race for governor this year as well.

Some observations/ruminations:

How will the remaining acrimony and legal debate from Pawlenty's 2009 unallotments affect the tone and direction of this year's budget battles? The courts are expediting the appeals process. An earlier decision on who has what power with the budget will undoubtedly give more certainty and direction to the negotiations.

Pawlenty would also probably like the Legislature to ratify and share ownership of his past unilateral budget actions, particularly the shift of $1.8 billion payments to K-12 schools. Doug Grow has an in-depth piece on the subject at MinnPost, but essentially, if the Legislature ratifies the shift, it guarantees payment to the schools at some point. With no legislative action, the payments may never happen, which would make Pawlenty's move less of a shift and more of a cut. Unsurprisingly, school administrators are hoping the Legislature ratifies the shift. This puts the DFL legislators in an interesting spot. They are perennial advocates of public education funding, but are they willing to give the governor political cover on one of their core issues?

The sequence of the budget negotiations will go something like this: 1) The governor's office proposes cuts to balance budget. 2) DFL leadership says some of those cuts are unacceptable and will ruin the state. In turn, they propose tax increases. 3) Pawlenty and Republicans reply: taxes will kill economic growth. No new taxes! 4) If anyone knows what happens next, please e-mail me.

Expect to see a repeat of the 2008 bonding bill battle, when the Legislature approved a bill and Pawlenty line-item vetoed a number of projects, memorably singling out a music library in Chatfield as a prime example of wasteful government spending. This is the North Star State version of the federal debate over earmarked funding. This year, DFLers will support $1 billion for projects that they say will create jobs and boost the economy, while Pawlenty will push for $750 million and champion fiscal restraint in tough economic times. Expect to hear the phrases "get this state back to work" and "live within our means" a lot.

The only new key player is Rep. Kurt Zellers, who took over as Republican House Minority Leader after Rep. Marty Seifert stepped down and launched his gubernatorial campaign. It's doubtful this change will have much impact on the direction of the budget negotiations, but we'll have to see.

The question everyone will be asking at the end of the session: who won? With a number of legislators running for governor (most notably Speaker Kelliher) and Pawlenty eyeing the White House in 2012, not to mention the entire Legislature up for re-election this fall, the political stakes are high. A lot of gubernatorial candidates will want to come out of this session looking like the Hero (that's right, capital 'H'). Conversely, though, the increased stakes might inspire more timidity than bold action. There will be particular pressure on Kelliher -- who currently holds conventional wisdom's title of frontrunner for the DFL endorsement -- to post a clear victory for her party, which feels it has been out-maneuvered too often by the governor's office. If she doesn't deliver, expect her opponents for the endorsement to offer some criticism of the loud and pointed variety.

And I'm sure Pawlenty wouldn't mind having a "I took charge and saved Minnesota's economy by decreasing the size of government and not raising taxes" talking point in a couple years.

Oh yeah, I hate to get all Chicken Little, but beyond the political stakes, if things really head south, Minnesota's government could just disintegrate into economic turmoil a la California. You know, no big deal or anything.

So, ultimately, no big news out of St. Paul, but a lot to think about before the real show starts next month.

Meet the GOP grassroots

2009-07-21T17:40:00.004-05:00

It's not uncommon for congressmen and congresswomen to have town hall meetings in their districts to discuss important issues with their constituents. The people who show up to these meetings tend to be disproportionately favorable to the official, so these events are less balanced civic summits and more ideological rallies making fun of "the other guys." And I level this as a bipartisan criticism.

Anywho, I bring this up because of footage from a town hall meeting hosted by Republican Congressman Mike Castle of Delaware. Rep. Castle is considered a fairly moderate dude, which pisses off the GOP base to no end.

And why not?!?! Members of Congress are focusing on issues like healthcare, energy, and the economy, and all the while an African -- named Barack Hussein Obama no less -- has been allowed to assume the Presidency!!!

Trust me, I know the Dems have their fair share of crazy, but seriously, step one in GOP recovery should probably start with adding a critical mass of sensibility to the party's base.

Remember some of the rants from the McCain-Palin rallies....

Jesse Ventura calls Sarah Palin a "quitter"

2009-07-17T08:55:00.006-05:00

You know, I disagree with him on a few (not all) issues, but I always love a good Jesse commentary. Here he is on CNN's Larry King Live, talking about the Sotomayor confirmation, Al Franken, Sarah Palin's resignation, among other things:

I really want to see more of Jesse on 24-hour cable news, particularly Fox News.

Government-funded genitals covered in fruit loops

2009-07-16T15:18:00.007-05:00

The St. Paul City Council held a hearing yesterday on if/how much the city should fund public art projects, which prompted MPR's question of the day: "When, if ever, is public art a good use of taxpayers' money?"

The two extremes of this debate are...

ALWAYS: Public art increases quality-of-life and preserves the soul of our community, and it figures those uncultured rednecks wouldn't understand or appreciate my performance art piece, titled: "The Bowels of Democracy and Fucking Humanity with the Blood-stained Fruit Loops of Capitalism." Whenever money gets tight, they always come after the artists. I'm a martyr!!!

NEVER: Government should only fund defense and public safety, not a performance artist pouring red paint and fruit loops on his genitals while pooping on the American flag. And while we're at it, let's get rid of snow removal -- I can shovel my own damn street, and so can those lazy welfare-loving minorities!

That being said (with a fair amount of tongue-in-cheek), I think there's some interesting room for discussion between these radical poles.

-Since government is supposed to be an objective body (no religion, blind justice, everyone is equal, etc.) and art is an inherently subjective in its expression and interpretation, are the two incompatible at even a basic level?

-When people see more beauty in their surroundings, won't they feel more pride and investment in their community, and isn't that a fundamental aspect/value/goal of America?

-Even if we can agree on the importance of public art, shouldn't we consider the current recession and budget limitations of government (particularly state and local) and prioritize public services over funding for the arts? Is it fair to say that art isn't a necessity?

DISCUSS!

The future of the mustachio

2009-07-10T15:27:00.002-05:00

I could be wrong, but I think the mustache is soon to make the transition from joke to fashionably hip. (Or maybe mustaches are already in again, but I'm from an Iowa farm and, therefore, about 3 years behind the times.)

Feminism, empowerment, and burkas

2009-07-03T11:26:00.013-05:00

The Daily Show tackles the current debate in France over banning the burka:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Burka Ban
thedailyshow.com
Daily Show
Full Episodes Political Humor Jason Jones in Iran

I'm not well-versed in the history of the feminist movement, but I've heard this debate play out a lot: does an empowered woman need to act a certain way, or is empowerment simply a woman's ability to choose her lifestyle, whatever it may be (corporate executive, stay-at-home mom, porn star, etc.)?

Earlier this year, Emily produced a radio piece for KFAI about feminism in American Muslim culture (read or listen to it!). She interviewed two professional women, one a community activist and the other an instructor in an arts outreach program in Minneapolis schools. While neither are forced to cover their heads with a hijab, they both choose to do so as a form of empowerment. The argument against this form of empowerment is that the oppression is systematic: a woman feels pressured into a certain lifestyle choice by ingrained societal degradation.

So what does empowerment really look like?

Gender bender

2009-07-01T11:01:00.004-05:00

Salon blogger Katharine Mieszkowski reports on a Swedish couple who won't tell anyone if their baby is a boy or a girl. Here's a snippet:

A Swedish couple believe so strongly that gender is a social construction that they do not reveal whether their 2.5-year-old is a boy or a girl.

Only those who have changed the toddler's diapers know if "Pop," which is not the child's real name, is male or female. "We want Pop to grow up more freely and avoid being forced into a specific gender mold from the outset," the tot's 24-year-old mother told the newspaper Svenska Dagbladet. "It's cruel to bring a child into the world with a blue or pink stamp on their forehead."

Pop's wardrobe includes both pants and dresses, and the child usually gets to decide what to wear. "Although Pop knows that there are physical differences between a boy and a girl, Pop's parents never use personal pronouns when referring to the child -- they just say Pop," according to the English-language Swedish site the Local.

An interesting concept, and I'll be curious to see what Pop is like in 10 or so years. (And I'm not being facetious -- I think there's a good chance Pop will be incredibly well-adjusted.)

Growing up on the Iowa farm, gender roles were pretty well-defined, although my parents definitely swapped certain aspects of the typical father-mother divide. My dad doesn't really follow sports or get into competitive stuff much, while my mom follows most professional sports, pushed me to be more athletic, and was the assistant coach of one of my little league teams.

To this day, I generally know what's going on in the sports world, but I'm not the fanatic or religious follower most guys seem to be. I have nothing against sports or the die-hard fans. Not being a typical sports dude is sometimes hard in social situations, where, for guys, sports act like a natural conversation starter. A social commons for men, if you will.

In this way, I feel like I've had to define my own sense of masculinity. I can drink a pink strawberry smoothie (because goddamnit, it just tastes fucking good) and make a fart joke at the same time (because goddamnit, flatulence is just fucking funny).

Right now, society expects gender behavior based on one's nether parts. If you've got a vagina, you should shave excess hair, like the color pink, and think farts are gross. If you've got a penis, you should like cars, never cry, and know Albert Pujols's batting average at all times. It's not wrong to be a boy or a girl. What's wrong is being locked in a mode of behavior because that's what society expects.

Squirrels and breasts and CNN

2009-07-01T09:26:00.005-05:00

Jeanne Moos has been a reporter with CNN for 27 years. In her time there, she has covered the United Nations, student protests in Beijing, and has interviewed Mikhail Gorbachev. For her reporting work, she's won some awards.

Yesterday, she filed a story headlined "Squirrel wedged in cleavage," and trust me, it's worth the watch:

My favorite part about the video is that it goes well beyond the, um, actual story about the squirrel in the woman's cleavage, tying in a cartoon dance and a perverted Iowa meteorologist.

Oh, journalism....

Kitty family

2009-06-17T14:54:00.001-05:00

I have looked into the future for Emily, Henry, and myself.

And it ain't pretty:

A new wiping sensation

2009-06-15T08:14:00.006-05:00

And from the Poopy Press this morning, the Comfort Wipe is the cleansing sensation that's wiping the nation!

Really, I don't see how this product improves anyone's bathroom experience. Apparently, though, one of the disadvantages of being a "big guy" is not being able to wipe properly. Screw losing weight and getting healthier -- here's a wand that let's you keep eating and pooping to your heart's content! Speaking of heart's content, the 50-something woman seems just a wee bit too excited for this wiping innovation.

In other poop news, I received this email this morning. Twitter really is the great networking tool of the 21st Century!

My name is Tanner, and I'm a chipaholic

2009-06-09T14:18:00.004-05:00

I love chips. I've been known, particularly in my middle school days, to eat a whole bag of potato chips in one sitting. And to this day, I have to limit my proximity to those salty delicious little crisps. And don't even mention moderation. To a chipaholic like me, there's no such thing as just one chip.

And so it is that I am downright giddy about a new marketing campaign from Kettle Foods, called Create-A-Chip. For $15, you get a box of plain chips and various flavorings and presto---wham-o---sham-bam, you get to create your own chip flavors. Submit your recipes to Kettle, and one of them might get mass-produced for legions of obese Americans!

I'm seriously tempted to order the package. I'm thinking a burrito-flavored chip is long overdue. Fairy tales can come true, it can happen to you....

Evil fetus detecting machine

2009-04-28T12:09:00.007-05:00

Surfing the intertubes, I came across two videos with opposing videos on abortion. Neither is particularly thoughtful or productive, but both are emotionally provocative and indicative of why the discussion on abortion in America doesn't really go anywhere except in circles.

From the folks at CatholicVote.org, a group dedicated to winning over undecideds to the pro-life camp:

And then a response from YouTube user artvandelay4heyhey:

I actually think Osama bin Laden had a step-father, but that's beside the point, which is...we need to invent an evil fetus detecting machine!

Confession

2009-04-27T15:23:00.003-05:00

I love Catholic humor. From the Tribeca Film Festival:

Create your own NPR name

2009-04-14T17:29:00.002-05:00

Lianablog shows us how to do it:

You take your middle initial and insert it somewhere into your first name. Then you add on the smallest foreign town you’ve ever visited.

That makes me Tannjer Rhossili.

(h/t: Brauer)

Polar bears attack

2009-04-11T19:32:00.001-05:00

To be fair, the woman had a bottle of coca-cola in her back pocket:

Eyebrow genetics

2009-04-11T14:11:00.003-05:00

I'm in Dunn Bros, and I just saw this guy with intensely thick eyebrows. That dude's thick eyebrows make him look weird, I thought.

Then this guy's little daughter, probably 4 or 5 years old, comes romping around. She's a cute little kid, but then I notice...she has her father's eyebrows. Thick and bushy -- each brow reaching out, longing to unite with the other.

Most unfortunate.

Tanner Curl School of Dance

2009-04-10T13:04:00.002-05:00

I taught this kid everything he knows about dance....

Of pets

2009-04-10T08:20:00.007-05:00

I don't remember how it came up, but the other night, Emily asked, "If someone offered you a $1 million to get rid of Henry, would you take it?"

I still don't know my answer.

There are a number of ways a million bucks would come in handy...paying off student loans or funding graduate studies come to mind. But I think of Henry like...a child. He's a little person with a personality and opinions (typically centered around his undying love for mouse tail-like objects) and feelings.

When I actually think about how I've come to look at Henry as a person, it makes me uncomfortable. It's not how I was raised. On the farm, pets were never allowed inside the house, and at some point, my parents confessed to drowning baby kittens and puppies before my siblings and I found out about them. On the Curl farm, animals didn't equal humans.

Henry is my first actual pet, and even though I know that he's incapable of such complex human emotions, I feel like he loves Emily and me. I feel like if he was given the choice between us and anyone else in the world, he'd pick us right away.

I suppose this anthropomorphizing isn't particularly dangerous, unless it turns into this:

And The Onion has something to say as well.

Billy Bob Thornton is F-ing nuts

2009-04-09T18:01:00.006-05:00

Not that we needed a lot more proof, but it turns out that Billy Bob Thornton is fucking nuts. And a dick:

Remember when Billy Bob was with Angelina Jolie, and they were so into each other that they carried around vials of each other's blood? Yeah. Fucking nuts.

If you want a reminder of their freaky love and an example of Billy Bob's singing abilities, check this out. (They disabled embedding capabilities on this video...I wonder why.)

Everyone Poops: the Movie

2009-04-09T10:36:00.004-05:00

If you're looking forward to Spike Jonze's Where the Wild Things Are, then you'll really want to see this:

Inside all of us is...poop.

Farts are bipartisan

2009-03-28T10:44:00.005-05:00

In these times of polarized politics, maybe Barack Obama needs to bring out the secret weapon that binds us all together: flatulence.

Where The Wild Things Are

2009-03-27T11:11:00.006-05:00

I love books about the creative, uninhibited nature of kids, so I'm pretty damn excited about this:

And in other news, I'm going to get my ass back in gear and blogging again. I already have a post in the works, which may or may not involve poop.