« July 16, 2006 - July 22, 2006 | Main | July 30, 2006 - August 5, 2006 »
Dave Johnson gave a talk this morning at a local XML interest group. His slides (PDF) are the single best introduction and overview I’ve ever seen about feeds and syndication and RSS and Atom and all that stuff.
Originally from ongoing reBlogged
"YouTube does need to be pushed on this, as these terms are ridiculous ... But if you are not doing the submission, then I wouldn't worry about it. E.g., if I get your show from you under a CC BY-NC license, I don't have the right to transfer to YouTube anything except BY-NC rights. They can't take anything more than they're given. If they want more, they would need to get it from you. But if you submit to YouTube, then you do have the authority to grant these terms, and so you would be granting them. So bottom line: Don't you submit, and don't worry if your (many) fans do."Originally from tecznotes links by reBlogged on Jul 29, 2006, 12:41PM
Very good, a new green Threadless tee with a mario joke on it. I'm getting one, I'm partial to green teeshirts.
(via Negatendo's Livejournal)Magritte on Wikipedia, in case you wanted to see the original.
Originally from Wonderland by reBlogged on Jul 27, 2006, 10:30AM
Fifteen years ago, the Brooklyn Italians Football Club installed a sprinkler system which irrigated two grassy fields for their youth soccer teams in Dreier-Offerman Park, near Bath Beach. Five years ago the system broke down, and the fields became dry and dusty, so the parents of the youth teams — which include 300 young soccer players — raised about $14,000 to install a new irrigation system. The only problem? They forgot to get official approval from the Parks Department...
Originally from Brooklyn Record by reBlogged on Jul 27, 2006, 10:47AM
Last month, the buzz in the design/architecture blogosphere was echoing the opening of the new "Freitag Individual Recycled Freeway Shop", a 26 meter high concept store in Zurich. The store is built with 17 rusty, recycled freight containers. On the top is a telescope to do some truckspotting and a panorama plate (designed by Yves Netzhammer) which illustrates what is on view.
So far the reactions of passersby in Zurich have ranged from irritation to curiosity: "Does it really last?" "I want to go up there!" "No, I am acrophobic!"
I couldn't find enough information online to satisfy my curiosity so i asked a few questions about the container structure to Daniel Freitag who created the recycled bags empire together with his brother Markus (photo).
Who and how did you get this idea of using containers?
Freitag bags are made of used truck tarps, bicycle innertubes and car seatbeltss. Hamburg is one of the biggest logistic Mecca of Europe - the perfect location for a FREITAG flagship shop. Inspired by the trucks and the harbour, we placed a 40" Container (artificial) into our shop-location. For the shop concept in Zurich we took it one (or even two) steps further: an entire building assembled from 17 used freight containers.
The idea of the tower is inspred by the history of Freitag. Freitag was born in the student-flat of my brother Markus. He used to live next to the same freeway where the Freitag shop is located. The view out of his kitchen-window onto 24h Truck-traffic inspired us to produce bags from used tarps.
See drawing below, left.
Isn't it dangerous to move inside the containers? How do you go from one level to the other? How do you bring light inside the containers?There is a staircase to climb to the shop levels and to the tower. The construction respects the Swiss norms, it's therefore very safe! There are four big windows and a glass-entry, so it is not dark at all. The building is isolated by Foamglas (made from recycled glass) to ensure that temperatures are comfortable both in the Winter and in the Summer.
Is it a permanent installation? Do you plan to install similar constructions elsewhere in the world?The shop is planed to stay for 5 up to 10 years - it was a great challenge, but also great fun to realise this project. It is to early to say if we will open similar shops elsewhere in the world. But I would not say "no"...
Thanks Daniel!
A few other names should be mentionned: Spillmann.echsle architekten eth, Zurich and the realisation team from Raumbau, Zurich.
Images courtesy of Daniel Freitag. Plenty more in Freitag's photo sets.
Originally from we make money not art by reBlogged on Jul 27, 2006, 9:57AM
Frank Bruni explains that medium-rare pork is nothing to get worked up about these days. "If the pigs are raised properly, there’s no reason to be afraid."
Originally from megnut.com blog by reBlogged on Jul 27, 2006, 11:47AM
Those of us in user support had a pet peeve: there was no single place that held all of Google's help information at your fingertips. So we decided to build one -- and now you can visit Google Help to find tips, tricks, and troubleshooting solutions for just about every Google product and service. We don't want you to have to work hard to find anything, so we also added an A-Z guide in case you do know exactly what you're looking for.
From the Support page you can also visit the Help Center of your choice to discover answers to frequently asked questions and link to our interactive help groups to discuss various features with other Google users. So remember to keep google.com/support handy, and enjoy.Originally from Official Google Blog by reBlogged on Jul 27, 2006, 11:54AM
Text mining is a computer technique to extract useful information from unstructured text. And it's a difficult task. But now, using a relatively new method named topic modeling, computer scientists from University of California, Irvine (UCI), have analyzed 330,000 stories published by the New York Times between 2000 and 2002 in just a few hours. They were able to automatically isolate topics such as the Tour de France, prices of apartments in Brooklyn or dinosaur bones. This technique could soon be used not only by homeland security experts or librarians, but also by physicians, lawyers, real estate people, and even by yourself. Read more...Originally from Roland Piquepaille's Technology Trends reBlogged on Jul 27, 2006, 12:41PM
Ask the [New Yorker’s] Librarians. Fascinating stuff. [garden]
aska, librarians, newyorkerOriginally from librarian.net by reBlogged on Jul 27, 2006, 12:48PM
Molly Wood (hooray for!) over at CNet took some tips from Yahoo! Hacks, and made a four minute video pointing out some Yahoo! Search tips: Video: Yahoo hacks.Originally from onfocus.com reBlogged on Jul 27, 2006, 2:05PM
It's longtime favorite Mac company Omni Group on CocoaRadio! Tune in to loads from Omni's first employee, Greg Titus, developer on Omni Outliner, Graffle, and for the last year, his pet project: Omni Plan. From the looks of the icon, we're in for a treat - releasing tonight!
Omni, a stalwart among Mac dev shops, dates back to 1993 now has about 25 employees in Seattle. In the last month, we've started seeing fruits of their decision a year ago to broaden their product line with Omni Dazzle.
In the interview, Ethan of the infamous, Kinkless GTD, is mentioned several times but I regretfully and embarrassingly didn't recall his name. So as penance, I'm double plugging KGTD here: it's great, life changing, must have! Get KGTD and OmniOutliner Pro (no, I only wish that was an affiliate link.)
Click below for Greg Titus on CocoaRadio and point your browsers to Omni Plan on Wed., 26 July.
Also mentioned during our interview when talking about the Omni Plan icon was Todos (not "todo" as I mis-stated) from Digg Update developer and fellow Texan, Dustin Bachrach. Simple and fun nothing more. Dustin is now on the hook to participate in the next Austin or Dallas CocoaDevHouse.
Direct download: mp3Â or subscribe already via iTunes
Technorati Tags: apple, cocoa, cocoaradio, gregtitus, gtd, kinklessgtd, NeXT, obj-c, omniplan, todos, WWDC
Originally from CocoaRadio by reBlogged on Jul 26, 2006, 7:01PM
John Siracusa recently wrote about Apple’s almost universally condemned strategy of distributing recorded conference materials after the show is over. He asks “Why does Apple jealously guard the content presented at WWDC?”
It’s a good question, and it probably has to do with compelling future attendance at conferences. After all, Apple is probably thinking, if you can get the milk for free, why … uhm, go to the cow? By “jealously guarding” the content that makes up the “intellectual reward” for conference attendees, they’re making it clear that the best way to stay on top of Mac OS X technical issues is by attending the conference.
This rationale makes sense on paper, but there are major problems with it.
Being In The Room
The first mistake is in assuming that reproduced content will approximate the value of “being in the room.” I’ve watched a fair number of the WWDC 2005 videos through the (painful) streaming ADC Select interface. Aside from the benefits of being able to pause, rewind, and skip the boring parts, let me tell you, it’s no conference. I am roughly able to absorb all the data that my peers who attended did, but they benefitted from a much richer experience.
Watching the WWDC sessions from home is like watching the New York New Years Eve party on television. You are a passive recipient of the information, but you don’t get to participate. You know when the new year arrives at very close to the same moment as all the thousands of people in the crowd, but you don’t get the satisfaction of washing the champagne stains out the next morning.
Even though the information (the passing of the year) from this great event is free and widely spread, the event is hugely successful. Why do those thousands of people travel to downtown NYC to participate in an event they could watch at home? It’s about being in the room.
The value of being in the room at WWDC is about 10 bajillion times greater than being in the room at new years. At WWDC, you can ask questions. If the line was too long and you missed your chance, you can recognize the speaker in the halls and track her down for clarification. At WWDC, you can participate in hands-on sessions, working through the new technology as you learn about it. At WWDC you can visit the labs and work in an environment where smart people are hovering about, waiting to answer your questions. Unless you’ve found a particularly well-stocked IRC room, these benefits are not available to you at home.
Being Outside The Room
The other major motivation for attending WWDC has nothing to do with the conference itself, but with the milieu surrounding it. There is quite simply no other time of year that such a concentration of like-minded Mac software developers exists in any one point on the globe. The closest thing you’ll find to this amazing congregation of Mac nerds, is the sizable number of them that reside permanently during working hours in Cupertino, California. The rest of us are lucky if we’ve found a half-dozen similarly inspired people within a 50 mile radius of where we live or work.
Apple takes this benefit to the ultimate level by opening its own doors for one evening during the conference, inviting attendees to relax, have a beer, and mingle with conference attendees and Apple employees on the Apple campus. This degree of access is totally incomparable to anything a developer can hope for via the web, email lists, chat rooms, or forums. The Apple campus on one summer Thursday becomes an absolutely sizzling hotbed of Mac nerdiness for 3 hours every year.
And Apple’s party is only the tip of the iceberg. Events like the Buzz Andersen’s annual party are gaining momentum with each passing year. The number of extra-cirricular activities is so great that groups of developers with niche interests find it difficult to find a spare lunch or evening in which to meet. In summary? WWDC produces a week of nearly non-stop hot developer-on-developer action. You can’t buy that at home (ahem - nor, with that particularly risque choice of words, would you want to!).
To top it all off, WWDC has for the past several years been held in San Francisco, one of the most attractive tourist destinations in the world. The conference is epic, the scenery is epic, the attendees are epic. Attendance is an almost irresistible proposition for companies and developers alike. Apple has nothing to fear from making the information free.
Ask For What You Want
The value of WWDC is about 5% information and 95% being in the room and being with your peers. If New Years were celebrated like WWDC, only a few thousand people would be running around on January 1 knowing whether it had truly come to pass. I agree with John Siracusa - it’s time to free the WWDC content. We want high quality, downloadable archive versions of all WWDC sessions. These should be available to any ADC member at any level of membership under the terms of their NDA.
If you also agree, let’s stop talking about it and start telling about it. Telling Apple, that is. Use the ADC contact form to let Apple know how you feel. You want this information freed! This is not just for whiny non-attendees, either. Those of you who attend every year have also bemoaned the loss of DVD archives of the sessions, for instance. Take this opportunity to make yourself heard. We’re all in this together!
I encourage you to write whatever you feel in your feedback to Apple, but this is what I am writing and it might spark some motivation in you to “make the call”:
Dear ADC:Regarding the video and slide content of WWDC sessions, I am writing to encourage the adoption of a more liberal policy for publicizing this information starting in 2006 and moving forward.
In the past, content has been available only by DVD distribution for conference attendees, or streaming video for ADC members of a certain paying level. This information is begging to be free, as it will improve the developer community and ultimately benefit Apple through the production of higher quality software for our (and your) customers. Developers are placed in an uncomfortable position of having access to the information that their peers do not. For most of us, this is in conflict with the sharing spirit of software development.
For more of my opinions on why sharing this information liberally would not be detrimental to the business side of WWDC, please see my article on the subject at the following URL:
http://www.red-sweater.com/blog/166/wwdc-for-all
Thank you for considering my opinion in the development of an improved strategy,
Daniel Jalkut
Originally from Red Sweater Blog by reBlogged on Jul 27, 2006, 1:55PM
Wu-oh. Floyd Landis had "an unusual level of testosterone/epitestosterone ratio" in his blood after stage 17 of the Tour de France. If his backup sample also tests positive, the title could be taken from him. You may remember stage 17 as the scene of Landis' remarkable comeback. Cyclingnews.com says that "some athletes have naturally high levels, and can prove this through a series of tests"...is it possible that Landis was just super amped up from the effort that day? (Comment on this)Originally from kottke.org remaindered links by reBlogged on Jul 27, 2006, 2:38PM
Very simple Japanese game show: fail to correctly repeat a tongue twister and you get hit in the balls. Bonus video: a monkey playing with a dog.
Update: The video in question is not a game show, it's of some sort of comedy team; here's a bunch more of their stuff. (thx, evan and gavin)Originally from kottke.org remaindered links by reBlogged on Jul 27, 2006, 3:41PM
Looking around Flickr, I found some really great Internet Cafe pictures like the one above for “Gogle”. Or if you really hate the “Easy Everything” cafes this guy is right there with you. Or there’s always the “retro” version. Or if you are hungry you can try this one. Hmm, but I think someone’s going to get sued here. And either this one is really cheap, or everyone is sharing a modem connection. Even before the Internet, there was electricity. Or maybe you are too cheap for a real sign. And you might want to watch out for the new Google offices. Be sure to go here if you want to shower after viewing your net porn. And if you are in the Army, you can forget about even getting in. Cowboys, on the other hand, have it made. And don’t worry about getting there on time, this place will let you in at all hours.
Originally from coin-operated by reBlogged on Jul 27, 2006, 4:26PM
I’m the Wicked Witch of the West over on the todo.txt mailing list, smacking down feature request after feature request with “No” and “No” and “quite frankly, no.”
Today I said:
Software can only do so much. Ultimately you want a human at the wheel.
I should have worded it differently. Software can do everything. But you don’t want it to. Software should only do so much.
Being a yes-girl, it’s hard for me to say no to people’s earnest ideas, shared in the spirit of helping others. But Torvalds’ and other great open source developers’ genius was in their ability to pinpoint the good ideas and weed out the bad.
In short, good developers are good editors.
Originally from Spun by reBlogged on Jul 27, 2006, 5:25PM
A good hard ride with Mike, my training buddy and psychical therapist, snapped me out of my funk over Landis and an impending descent into a Marlon-Brando-in-a-muumuu, beer-drinking fat phase. Like the SI.com reporter Landis spoke to today (also see ongoing coverage from CyclingNews), I want to believe, but I don’t believe anything about professional cycling anymore. From the lab results that get leaked, questionable tests, Jan, Basso, and all of Operation Puerto, there’s nothing that’d surprise me, even if Lance was “el dope.”
What I do believe in is the bike. I remembered that on (and later off!) Mike’s wheel, cresting a hard climb, and a fast descent. Heroes fall, some come back, and the tour will be on again next year. We started Bike Hugger for the passionate cyclist, the culture, and mostly just for the bike and that’s what we’ll continue to focus on. I’ll also have a few beers this fall, just not enough to get fat.
Originally from Bike Hugger by reBlogged
Last night I spoke a The NY Video 2.0 Group:
Originally from Dembot by reBlogged on Jul 27, 2006, 7:59PM
Dear Lazyweb,
How do I turn off the bit in a quicktime file that tells Quicktime Pro to gray out the "Save As" menu? (Yes, I already have a Quicktime Pro license; that's not what I'm asking.)
Now that I have dumped a bunch of downloaded videos into iTunes, I've discovered that I can't edit the names of the tracks on some files: things like 'Title' are stored in properties in the Quicktime file, and iTunes won't overwrite the file, so the title just reverts back.
I could just re-encode them with ffmpegX, but that's lossy, so I'd rather avoid it.
Originally from jwz by reBlogged on Jul 28, 2006, 3:25AM
Blogging is often associated with citizen journalism and new media sources for news and analysis of topics like technology and politics. However, according to Anil Dash of SixApart, many people who blog are doing it more to have personal conversations with friends, family, and people who share their interests. He argues that the ability for people to share personal information with others, who are interested in that topic, is the real power of blogs and that personal content holds as much, if not more, value than the so-called A-list.
Originally from IT Conversations reBlogged on Jul 28, 2006, 1:00AM
Here's a great story about black baseball players playing professional baseball 60 years before Jackie Robinson. "Some of the pitchers wouldn’t let Fleet Walker call pitches for them. They would throw whatever they wanted, even purposely trying to cross up Walker. What’s interesting is that those players later admitted that Walker caught all the pitches anyway." Baseball historian Jim Overmyer, on the first black man to play professional baseball.Originally from Rebecca's Pocket reBlogged on Jul 28, 2006, 8:30AM
World of Psychology has a short but interesting article on the increasing trend for people to order unprescribed psychiatric medication as a form of self-treatment or simply to get their kicks.
The trend is being fuelled by 'no prescription' web sites that will deliver drugs to anywhere in the world and online instructions of dubious origin.
Link to article 'Self-medicating Online'.Originally from Mind Hacks by reBlogged on Jul 28, 2006, 12:24PM
Say goodbye to BQE traffic — starting August 4th, New York Water Taxi will offer a much breezier transportation option to Shea Stadium. The taxi will pick up Mets fans at the Brooklyn Army Terminal in Sunset Park for a one-hour and 35-minute ride that includes views of the Statue of Liberty and the Brooklyn Bridge, a cash bar serving wine, beer and soda, and stops at the South Street Seaport and E. 34th St. before arriving at Shea. Round-trip fare is $18 for adults, $12 for children under 12, and free for kids under 2.
N.Y. Water Taxi Launches Mets Express to Shea [NY Daily News]
New York Water Taxi [Homepage]
Originally from Brooklyn Record by reBlogged on Jul 28, 2006, 1:34PM
James from the Alternative Energy Blog recently wrote an article claiming that ethanol (or, more accurately, E85) is actually a distraction from important technologies like plug-in hybrids and EVs, which actually show promise in reducing CO2 emissions and reducing reliance on oil. He says: "E85 fuel is not the solution. It is not even a part of the solution, it is a part of the problem." He goes on to explain why ethanol will only lead to a continuation of our dependence on oil. The article was inspired by an email exchange with the Engineer Poet. :: Alternative Energy Blog via Auto Blog Green
Originally from Treehugger
reBlogged by Matthew Haughey on Jul 28, 2006, 5:03PMOriginally from mathowie reBlog feed reBlogged on Jul 28, 2006, 2:36PM
[Read this article] [Comment on this article]
Cute homemade piranha plant lamp from Super Mario Bros - would be neat to have timed LEDs on a string that looked like fireballs too... [via] - Link.Originally from MAKE: Blog by
reBlogged by Matthew Haughey on Jul 28, 2006, 7:05PMOriginally from mathowie reBlog feed by reBlogged on Jul 28, 2006, 3:17PM
Here’s a neat trick - this is a satellite photo of the great lakes, the largest fresh water lakes in the world etc, etc.
Now if you click to the great lakes and them zoom in step-by-step you’ll arrive here:
which are the tiny-great lakes! Cool, huh?
Thanks: Tristan
Originally from Google Sightseeing by reBlogged on Jul 17, 2006, 4:56PM
Lots of the DigitalGlobe satellite photos around the world have small lens flares like this one in Reykjavik which appear to be simply the sun reflecting off a shiny surface - no big deal there.
But reader Andrew Grannis brought our attention to this example of one such flare in Cincinnati, which is much larger than any other examples we’ve seen. If this is the result of a reflective object on the ground then it would have to be the size of a field. Any suggestions?
Thanks: Andrew Grannis
Categories: Weirdness and Ohio
Originally from Google Sightseeing by reBlogged on Jul 28, 2006, 6:39AM
Check out this cool (and very chirpy looking) globe/man thing on a roof in Tokyo. He appears to be wearing a busboy’s hat… or is it… a manhole cover?
There’s some characters on the roof too, but unfortunately Japanese is all Greek to me, so it’s over to you guys to shed some light on this odd little dude!
Thanks: For nothing.
Originally from Google Sightseeing by reBlogged on Jul 18, 2006, 4:47PM
"I note that Wired Magazine's list of things to do to "Make Your Blog Popular" doesn't include anything about writing good and compelling content, but it does have things like "optimize for search engines" and "post, post, post!". This advice supposedly comed from Dave Sifry, the CEO of Technorati, who's a friend of mine. I can't believe this is Dave's unedited advice."Originally from tecznotes links by reBlogged on Jul 28, 2006, 3:04PM
A couple weeks ago, I visited Davis, California to check out its world-class bicycle planning, which held up as being truly remarkable. But trying to better incorporate bikes into a city's transportation system is not just about implementing clever or innovative ideas, it's also about overcoming decades of poor planning and bureaucratic inertia. A great exploration of exactly how difficult a task that is can be found in Dave Neiwert's piece, Breaking the Vicious Cycle, which details the reasons why Seattle, despite being a hotbed of green thinking, still stinks as a place to ride:
[T]he Seattle area's oft-touted bicycling system is actually a happenstance, an often broken network that doesn't function particularly well, especially when it comes to providing a complete infrastructure that could encourage people to take up bike commuting.
A 2005 study by the Cascade Bicycle Club, titled "Left by the Side of the Road," found that even though the Puget Sound region boasts a 1,521-mile bicycle network, "many needed improvements are necessary to turn this . . . into a true, working system." It found that 27 percent of the existing network "fails to meet the basic needs of bicyclists. This means that bicyclists attempting to navigate the region face severe safety hazards and sometimes insurmountable accessibility challenges—and there are no practical alternative routes."
Some of this has to do with an entrenched transportation bureaucracy that is often skeptical about the costs and benefits of accommodating bicycles, and that translates into reluctance on the part of policy-makers to make the kinds of changes that might make the network [function well].
(Posted by Alex Steffen in QuickChanges at 11:16 AM)
Originally from WorldChanging: Tools, Models and Ideas for Building a Bright Green Future by reBlogged on Jul 28, 2006, 3:16PM
Richard Donner is re-editing Superman II for a November 2006 DVD release. "Unlike many 'special edition' and 'director's cut' movies released over the years, Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut will essentially be a completely new film." (thx, dj)Originally from kottke.org remaindered links by reBlogged on Jul 28, 2006, 7:19PM
Look people. I get it. I'm a great disappointment to you all. We had a few giggles, shared some digital sushi and Diet Coke, we made New Line an extra fifty million dollars and had a good time doing it. I bared my malignant soul and made you believe I understood, and then I fucked off for three months.
It's annoying. But that's what you get for hitching your blog star to the fat lazy fuck that is the Infinite Monkey. John August said I would burn out and if we know anything in this crazy world it's that John August is NEVER wrong. Of course, John has an assistant that brings him breakfast and a house that is immaculate and his life is organized and witty and light-filled like a Richard Curtis movie. Meanwhile, my desk is covered in loose pennies, baby toys, bottles of antiseptic canine itch spray and a number of snot-filled hankerchiefs from when my son had a cold two weeks ago.
Jesus Christ what do you expect? Even my child is embarrassed to be kin to me, recently changing his name to "Ernesto" and mine to "Franny the Dog."
But I have not forgotten you people. I read your comments. I appreciate your input and for the most part cannot find fault with your opinions. I resolutely delete my incredibly voluminous spam, wondering if it is simply a pox upon my house brought upon by my various blogging sins. Megabytes of binary lamb's blood marked on my door calling to the Angel of Death to wipe out any record of me while I meekly beg mercy to Blogger Help because my files won't republish. I betrayed you by abandoning Hollywood anecdotes and writing about my illness; most of you take Hollywood more seriously than cancer and why shouldn't you? Cancer can only kill you but a funny blog entry can make Dr. Pepper shoot from your nose. And fuck knows we could all use a laugh these days. The world's exploding in a fireball--a planetary IED buried by a wrathful God and triggered by mankind's jackbooted footstep.
And believe it or not I've had things to do. I owe Mr. Fox Broadcasting Company one very large Terminator script and was determined to get it done before our very own nuclear apocalypse made the one in the script feel "dated."
(Note to self: Find/Replace: Skynet/Bush Administration).
But I'm back. Not in a statistically significant way, and maybe never again, but today. And what could bring me out of retirement? Well nothing short of this.
Seriously. Because there's something you don't know about me (very little, but this is some of it): I love America's Top Model. Love it. I love Tyra, I love Jay. I love the other Jay. I love Nigel Barker and think he kicks the shit out of world-renowned fashion photographer Gilles Bensimon. God knows I love Janice and don't think I didn't watch her spinoff show where she started her own modeling agency.
The only problem I've ever had with Top Model is that there's never been any top models on the show. Not a one. While they've always had the staples of any good reality series--drunks, rubes, lesbians, catfights, drag queens, makeovers, confessional cameras and at least one crazy bitch from Brooklyn, the only accurate part of the title "America's Next Top Model" has been "America."
So finally last year on Season 5 there's this girl Nicole and every time she did a photo shoot she whined like Chris Webber but at the end of the day her pictures were great and my wife and I would turn to each other after the episode with this knowing sort of look and say: "Well, that Nicole. She's a fragile little flower. But goddamn that pansy can MODEL." Of course I thought there was no way she could win--Tyra's all about the positivity and Nicole sort of projected this Shleprock loser vibe when she wasn't in front of the camera. But I remember keeping her in my prayers at night and hoping for a little justice in the world.
At some point I decided I wanted to go to that season's finale party so I could root that sad little Nicole on in person. Now the only premiere I've wanted to go to in five years is War of the Worlds and we all know how that went. Most industry events give me the heebie jeebies, and if you ever go to one of these parties I'm easy to find. All you need is the address to my house.
As usual, I waited until 24 hours before the event to decide I wanted to go. My wife asked a friend of ours who was on a UPN show and while she was going she couldn't get us in because it was a "tough ticket." I called TV Agent, who obviously has nothing better to do than bug UPN and try to get me and the wife into a party which is, also according to him, "a tough ticket."
Think on that a minute.
But damn I wanted to go to the America's Next Top Model Finale Party. First of all, and maybe this seems obvious, there were going to be Top Models there. But don't get them confused with "top models"--the ones you see in magazines--you can see that kind pretty much ANYWHERE IN LOS ANGELES.
No. These are Top Models. And Top Models are first and foremost REALITY TELEVISION STARS. And that means two things: a) I know them all intimately from my time spent with them every week and b) they're all fucking crazy.
I don't think I need to explain to you the special kind of insane that comes when you combine nicotine, a desperate need for television acceptance, and less calories per day than those spoiled bitches get on Survivor.
And here's more reasons I wanted to go: a) there was a pretty good chance I wouldn't know a single fucking person there and b) they were showing the finale on a big screen.
So basically it'd be like watching my favorite show at home but eating other people's food. And I don't think I need to write any more about free food.
I still don't know how but TV Agent begs and wheedles and gets me two "tough tickets". I'm jumping up and down at home chanting "Top Model! Top Model!" but the wife finds that a little scary and I stop. Later that day I put on a clean shirt and my one pair of black pants and drag the wife out the door an hour before the event begins.
By the way, I had never even considered wearing sweatpants to the America's Next Top Model finale party. At the time I had too much respect for Tyra to do that. Tyra was like Oprah if Oprah was Tyra.
As usual, because the wife and I (okay, I) are absolute dorks, we arrived before the doors opened. Waiting in line I get a call from Variety wanting to interview me about my part in the Snakes On a Plane phenomenon (I hear there's a phenomenon). The interview goes well but eventually includes this exchange:
VARIETY: It's sort of loud where you are...
ME: I'm waiting in line.
VARIETY: What are you going to see?
ME: Tyra.
VARIETY: Hm?
ME: I'm waiting to be let in to the finale party for America's Next Top Model.
VARIETY: Huh. Well, we'll just keep that between us.
Whatever, dude. Just because at the time I'd been too sick with the flu to work or play with my child but I was standing outside the Avalon in shortsleeves waiting to watch wannabe models be fierce on the runway doesn't mean you have to assume I'm in some sort of horrible shame spiral. Because I wasn't. And I'm not. Really.
While in line I begin thinking of poor little model Nicole as the screenwriter in the Hollywood that is America's Next Top Model--talented, original, a lone voice of excellence in a world where every one else is too short, too old, or can only make that one face where they don't look you in the eye but want you to look at THEM. She was also immature, self-absorbed, self-loathing and completely unaware how her bitching looked to the people who pay her bills. Like I said, screenwriter. I loved her.
So we finally get in to the party and we're within the first TEN people there and the wife and I cannot be happier. There's free liquor and table service and fried chicken and make your own guacamole and taquitos and pasta and corn bread and lemon squares and brownies and holy shit there's a make your own sundae bar where honest to goodness TOP MODELS are actually EATING! They've got Season 5 sequestered from us but all of the rest of them are out there and goddamn those girls are tall and even a few of them look like MODELS except they'll actually talk to you because remember they're not really models they're REALITY TELEVISION STARS. So if you sidled up to one of them with your camera phone you wouldn't actually have to wait 'til they turned the other way to sneak a picture of the two of you standing together as if friends. Not that I would do that.
And then we all settle in and watch the finale on a big screen - hundreds of UPN employees, transvestites, gay guys, industry bitches coming to see if they're hotter than the Top Models, and me.
We get to the end and holy shit my poor little Nicole charges past Nic and Bree and wins! There is justice in the Top Model world. Talent will win out in the end, and perhaps there is hope for the rest of us little shlubs who simply want to take our little box of beans and sell them for a fair price at the market.
Tyra came out and spoke and goddamn she brought a tear to my eye and I thought I truly loved and was inspired by her AS A PERSON and maybe this was what it felt like to be on the Freedom March or to hear Kennedy speak or maybe it was the lemon square dipped in the brownie sundae and I should just let my wife carefully walk me out of the building before a restraining order was issued.
But that was then. Not anymore. This is now.
And now, well, now she's FUCKING WITH MY FELLOW MONKEYS. She's sitting in her trailer, hair weave more expensive than a week's worth of a writer's salary, footloose and fancy free with her SAG HEALTH CARE and SAG RESIDUALS. She's a suit. That suit may be Balenciaga, but she's a suit nonetheless. My ex-hero Tyra, she of the patent leather bootstraps that she is so fond of reminding us that she pulled herself up by... My ex-hero Tyra, the champion of justice and hard work and keeping your original breasts and smiling with your eyes...Remember on her talk show when she dressed herself up in the fatsuit so she could feel what it would be like to be discriminated against for her looks? I guess that was more fun than dressing up in a WRITERSUIT and feeling what it's like to work sixty hours a week for The C/W's flagship reality show WRITING and not get a proper wage, writing credit, residuals, health care, or the OPPORTUNITY to have your contract negotiated by the Writers Guild of America while your supermodel boss says nothing and hides behind Executive Producer Ken Mok and his legalese doublespeak horseshit.
You have done something miraculous, Tyra, what with your silence and indifference towards those who work for you. Something my wife hasn't done in seven years. You've made me change my mind.
I used to love you, Tyra. I thought you were someone I could follow. But now I know better. You may think there's nothing sexier than watching a dozen underweight and oversexed models work it out on the catwalk, but I will tell you that there's nothing hotter than watching a dozen overweight and undersexed writers work it out on the picket line.
Be fierce, Tyra. Do the right thing.
I'll be watching.Originally from I find your lack of faith disturbing by reBlogged on Jul 28, 2006, 6:58PM
I haven't tested it yet, but array processing in Oracle is fast. Finally this long awaited feature is added to DBD::Oracle. Many thanks to John Scoles. http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.dbi.dev/4606Originally from use Perl by reBlogged on Jul 29, 2006, 10:14AM
Yet another recent article about baseball cards. Counting mine, that's the fifth one this week.Originally from kottke.org remaindered links by reBlogged on Jul 29, 2006, 11:02AM
It's been quite a while since I've posted on Mena's Corner. Funnily enough, it's not that I haven't had time to blog, it's because I've been doing a whole lot of personal blogging over on Vox and been totally heads-down in product development. There's been a whole lot of blogging going on on the various Six Apart blogs so I figured no one would miss me that much.
I did want to write and check in and say that more of my blogging can be found here and here. If you're unfamiliar with Vox, I wrote a post about it in early June.
Anyway, I'll be at Blogher today, along with a bunch of other women from Six Apart. Last count there was about 8-10 of us going. I'll be speaking at 5:15 on the closing keynote panel. If you're there, definitely stop by and say hello. I'll also have a ton of Vox invites that I'm giving out, so if you want one, just ask.
Originally from Mena’s Corner by reBlogged on Jul 29, 2006, 11:18AM
That would be ‘be Scoble’, I assume. Scoble really needs his own FAQ entry, doesn’t he? Suggested wording:
Yes, you have seen a wordpress.com blog which used a custom theme. That was Scoble’
