For the tea fans in the crowd
Elemental - Cup Of Brown Joy from Moog on Vimeo.
nocklebeast, on Friday, April 25, 2008 at 5:06 PM:
There's two kinds of people in this world, Earl Grey drinkers, and Lapsang Souchong drinkers.
oo! long!
David Adam Edelstein, on Saturday, April 26, 2008 at 8:52 AM:
Lapsang Souchong crew! WRECKANIZE!
Great and terrible
nocklebeast, on Sunday, April 20, 2008 at 7:10 PM:
I love pain!
That one flying kick about 33 seconds into it is awesome. Awesomely funny.
rfkj, on Monday, April 21, 2008 at 11:43 AM:
That looked like a pretty much dead-on Bruce Lee impression that Jackie Chan was doing about halfway through the first one.
And now we break for a public service announcement.
I just wanted to play tag. I never thought I'd be "it".
rfkj, on Thursday, April 17, 2008 at 7:04 AM:
The counter for "and the numbers are growing" was spine-chilling.
The Algorithm March
Make sure you watch through at least to the second half, after the pythagoras switch.
Uncle Vinny, on Thursday, April 10, 2008 at 10:21 PM:
Ninjas... will we ever tire of them?
rfkj, on Friday, April 11, 2008 at 8:46 AM:
I have a silly walk and I'd like to obtain a Government grant to help me develop it.... With Government backing I could make it very silly.
nocklebeast, on Friday, April 11, 2008 at 8:52 PM:
Ninjas! They're crazy!
Beatboxing flute. Whoda thunk.
Hey, if you've got it, flaut it.
Glass is cool
Watching this reminded me that during glaze formulation class when I was in college, the teacher mentioned that the ideal glaze would contract slightly faster than the clay as the whole pot cooled off, because that would make the pot stronger.
I could never wrap my head around the idea then, but watching this video made it completely clear. Thanks, youtubes!
Some love notes are more elaborate than others
Several weeks ago, Sarah Silverman had a surprising announcement on her boyfriend's show. Weeks later, he provided a response. The two videos below are the evidence. Your mileage may vary, as they say, but these had me weeping with laughter.
Not, uh, "family friendly".
maya, on Monday, February 25, 2008 at 8:02 PM:
i saw these earlier today. they just killed me. right up there with the "grape lady."
Fry and Laurie take the piss out of Uri Geller
That's this schmuck, by the way. Watch James Randi expose Geller... it's a hoot.
Kronos Quartet... with David Sanborn... playing a Willie Dixon song.
Only about three of you will dig this as much as I do.
Timothy, on Tuesday, December 18, 2007 at 10:19 PM:
... ummmm...
Which three?
Beth B., on Wednesday, December 19, 2007 at 1:32 PM:
I may not have the same appreciation as you of that particular piece of music, but I appreciated the TV show it came from - Night Music. I remember a band appearing once that played sea shells.
heather, on Wednesday, December 19, 2007 at 9:19 PM:
Am I one? I've always liked Kronos Quartet - have several of their CDs.
African fractals from TED
GeoGeek, on Monday, December 17, 2007 at 3:34 PM:
This is beautiful research, and a terrific presentation thereof. I love it when math becomes poetry.
Here's a fun trick.
rfkj, on Tuesday, October 23, 2007 at 1:56 PM:
I missed #4. As a professional nitpicker, that's distressing to me.
The behind-the-scenes was cool; not at all how I imagined it being pulled off.
Also not the trick I expected!
Uncle Vinny, on Tuesday, October 23, 2007 at 2:44 PM:
I've seen this before, watched it several times, and I just enjoy the hell out of it everytime I see it. Such a fun idea! There's too much to look at in life, and we have to take shortcuts to stay sane. It's fun to point out how many obvious things we're missing all the time.
GeoGeek, on Friday, October 26, 2007 at 3:50 PM:
So what's with the gorilla sitting to the side? Another trick to see who's paying attention?
Sarah, on Tuesday, October 30, 2007 at 1:41 PM:
Sshhh, GeoGeek. You're not supposed to talk about him.
RIP Lucky Dube
Bob Marley said
How long shall they kill our prophets
While we stand aside and look
But little did he know that
Eventually the enemy
Will stand aside and look
While we slash and kill
Our own brothers
—Lucky Dube
Goddammit. Songs aren't supposed to be prophecy.
nocklebeast, on Monday, November 5, 2007 at 8:30 PM:
A nice article in the Economist: http://www.economist.com/obituary/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10015816
All I know is, I'm weeping. From laughter? Maybe.
Sarah, on Monday, October 22, 2007 at 7:38 AM:
The CBC show "This Hour has 22 minutes" used to have a segment called "Talking to Americans". If you can find the clips on You-Tube, it's worth taking a look. Incidentally, would you be willing to sign a petition to help stop the seal hunt on Saskatchewan ice flows?
It's all about the hamiltons, baby
It's back on YouTube, which means you need to watch it again. Oh yes, you do.
Uncle Vinny, on Monday, September 24, 2007 at 5:58 PM:
Absence has made my heart grow fonder, fer shur.
rfkj, on Tuesday, September 25, 2007 at 9:32 AM:
The Aaron Burr joke holds up. Love it.
Nobody does satire like The Onion does
In The Know: Are America's Rich Falling Behind The Super-Rich?
Tim Harris, on Wednesday, September 12, 2007 at 3:04 PM:
Funny stuff.
Sarah, on Friday, September 14, 2007 at 6:54 AM:
Having been a housemaid for some of America's rich (they must have been particularly disadvantaged, since their summer homes weren't even at the Vineyard, they were in Canada), I can attest to at least three wealthy families who really were just plain lazy.
What happens when german students in Helena, Montana, discover bad German techno?
Something a whole lot like zis.
GeoGeek, on Monday, September 3, 2007 at 9:36 AM:
We fear zee milky pirates?!
Uncle Vinny, on Monday, September 3, 2007 at 3:08 PM:
Keep the monkeys away from my hands, and keep these morons away from me, period!
Miz B, on Wednesday, September 5, 2007 at 9:15 PM:
I'm not sure there are enough drugs in the world to make that make sense to me. But I like it...
Really lovely ad
Uncle Vinny, on Saturday, July 14, 2007 at 4:04 PM:
So perfect! Like harnessing the energy of a crazy toddler.... hehe :-D
Sunfriday, on Saturday, July 21, 2007 at 9:45 PM:
That's great! An entire, engaging story.
Hamada Shoji at work
One of my clay heroes, Hamada Shoji. Hypnotic and beautiful.
Uncle Vinny, on Tuesday, July 3, 2007 at 8:25 AM:
Oh cool, like in that movie "Ghost". Did you see that one?
Sunfriday, on Thursday, July 12, 2007 at 9:35 PM:
I'll slap Vinny for that, to save you the trouble.
David Adam Edelstein, on Thursday, July 12, 2007 at 10:16 PM:
Thank you.
Beautiful parody of iPhone hysteria
Uncle Vinny, on Monday, July 2, 2007 at 2:06 AM:
This works surprisingly well with the sound off.
One of the oddest and most inspired musical performances I've seen lately
Sunfriday, on Sunday, May 27, 2007 at 6:06 PM:
Whoa. It started our strange and amusing and just kept getting stranger and funnier. You have to wonder how they thought this all up.
Up there! In the sky! It's... wait, what?
Thank Vishnu for Bollywood.
(via the estimable Madfoot)
Photographer shout-out: John Lok
Despite my feelings about the Seattle Times' editorial quality, they're lucky enough to have several terrific photographers on their staff.
This morning, one of them knocked it out of the park with two very different photo essays. John Lok has a great series of photos about people living the Iraq war here in the US:
And in the "Gender: F" insert, he has a very different series of photos of women finding the perfect bridal gown:
It's always great to see photographers getting more interesting photos into a daily paper. In the first image, he's using a Holga "toy camera" with a crappy lens and light leaks to beautiful effect. In the second image, he's at the other end of technique, with a tricky-to-do-well combination of flash on the bride (to keep her sharp) plus a slow shutter speed and a bit of camera pan to add some motion to the background and a little glow to the bride.
Nice work, John.
For more on either technique: Michelle Bates has a new book out on toy camera photography which I've heard is very good. I'd be remiss if I didn't also include a link to the Strobist site here — if you want to learn more about the kind of technique John's using in the second photo, I can't think of a better place to start.
(Both photos copyright John Lok and the Seattle Times, of course)
No photo this morning ...
... we got back from Portland too late last night for me to deal with any of the photos I shot this weekend.
Instead, I'll point you to a website connected with a wonderful book that the Kid's cousin's parents gave us this weekend, called The Century Project.
Here's an excerpt of the project statement from the photographer:
Century is a chronological series of nude photographic portraits of women from the moment of birth through one hundred years of age.While the biological continuum is an important part of the project and provides a vital framework for other issues, this is much more than a mere developmental chronicle.
Many of the photographs, for example, are accompanied by personal statements written by the participants themselves. These are often highly personal and intensely moving. The combination of words and pictures has proven to be very powerful based on all public and media responses to exhibitions and publications to date.
The subjects portrayed are, quite simply, real-life people. They are not stars or models. They span all ages, body types, and have a rich variety of experiences to draw upon and to share. CENTURY is about real women in real bodies, not the caricatures in the worlds of media and advertising.
Terrific stuff. Go check it out. And I'll be back tomorrow.
The meteorologists are a little giddy at NOA'A
And who can blame them, what with the winter we've had so far?
Short term...for the first time in months...not much to talk about...phew thats nice. Skies are clear with the winds diminishing rather quickly...partially due to pressure gradients weakening and also to decoupling with the strong radiational cooling taking place. Already have a bunch of readings in the teens in the outlying areas and up in whatcom county. Would expect that we will end up with some single digit low temperatures in the outlying regions by morning...especially in areas with a significant snowpack. Those single digit readings will be the outliers rather than the rule however.With one significant exception...friday will be very much like today. The exception being that the winds will be much lighter which should make for more pleasant conditions. Especially if you are walking due to your car sliding on the ice into a ditch. Icy roads abound...so be careful out there. Forecasts looks pretty good at this point and have no plans to update this evening. Cerniglia
A taste of Nate
99.9% of the movies on Atom Films, despite their heavy funding and early excitement, are dreck (as I've said before).
Here's a short documentary that's actually terrific:
The illest MF in a cardigan sweater
Not, uh, family friendly.
Uncle Vinny, on Tuesday, December 5, 2006 at 6:44 PM:
What a weird place for a George Lucas cameo.
rfkj, on Tuesday, December 5, 2006 at 10:04 PM:
The word, apparently, is that this is much closer to Bob Saget's real personality than the "Full House"/"America's Funniest Home Videos" guy is.
Plus, who knew that he was so well-endowed?
Talk like a pirate, bubbeleh
Since it's Talk Like a Pirate Day and all, I wanted to make sure all you shipmates didn't miss this tidbit BoingBoing linked to a few days ago...
Ahoy, mateys ! Thar be Jewish pirates![ . . . ]
While some Jews, like Samuel Pallache, took up piracy in part to help make a better life for expelled Spanish Jews, Kritzler said others were motivated by revenge for the Inquisition.
One such pirate was Moses Cohen Henriques, who helped plan one of history's largest heists against Spain. In 1628, Henriques set sail with Dutch West India Co. Admiral Piet Hein, whose own hatred of Spain was fueled by four years spent as a galley slave aboard a Spanish ship. Henriques and Hein boarded Spanish ships off Cuba and seized shipments of New World gold and silver worth in today's dollars about the same as Disney's total box office for "Dead Man's Chest."
Henriques set up his own pirate island off the coast of Brazil afterward, and even though his role in the raid was disclosed during the Spanish Inquisition, he was never caught, Kritzler told The Journal.[ . . . ]
The great wave of videos begins
Uncle Vinny reminded me that these were beginning to show up, and when I looked for it, there it was: YouTube brings us one of the most visually original videos in MTV's history. I can't remember offhand exactly when this arrived, but for me it stood out in a sea of posterization and explosions, hair bands posturing next to burning trash barrels, and literalist concert videos.
Joss Whedon on equality
I'm not that big of a fan of his work -- I don't dislike it, it just doesn't move me that much -- but what Mr. Whedon has to say about strong women and equality is smart and funny and true.
Laura Z, on Monday, July 3, 2006 at 8:32 AM:
I loved many parts of this piece, but especially the part where Joss says "The question should not be 'why do you create so many strong female characters?', but 'why AREN'T others creating these characters?'". Until, as he says, what he is doing is considered not remarkable, we still have work to do.
Stevie. On Sesame Street. Playing "Superstition".
This has been going around for a few days, but if you haven't seen it, man, this is a good reminder of how !)(#@* brilliant Li'l Stevie was at his peak: playing "Superstition" on Sesame Street.
Go! Watch! Weep!
heather, on Tuesday, June 27, 2006 at 10:15 PM:
I love the kid in the orange sweatshirt at the top of the fire escape :-)
Damon, on Wednesday, June 28, 2006 at 7:10 AM:
That, is some righteous shit. Damn.
paul, on Tuesday, August 8, 2006 at 11:57 AM:
how 'bout this Q:
does steveland morris actually have an evil spirit in him and is it possible to know whether he does or not??
I used to listen to this stuff (along w/ S.R.V.'s rendition of the same tune)and then show up for church Sunday morning and believe I was a born again Christian!! What a waste of (my )perfectly good mind!!
No question it feels good, but is that all thereis in life???
The Northwestern Hawaiian Islands
In honor of President Bush and I finally agreeing about something -- namely, his creation of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands National Monument -- I thought I'd show off some of our beautiful aerial imagery of many of those islands, like this terrific image of Kure Atoll.
You can see many more in my Northwestern Hawaiian Islands collection on Windows Live Local.
Wikipedia also has an entry on the NWHI, if you want to get edjimicated.
nocklebeast, on Friday, June 23, 2006 at 2:59 PM:
start: Santa Cruz, California, United States
end: Gardner pinnacles
Windows Live Local cannot find a route for the locations you entered. Ensure that your start and end locations are correct, and try again
Best diet coke and mentos video ever
There have been a bunch of videos circulating in the last few months showing the reaction when you combine diet coke and mentos candies.
None of them, however, compare to what the mad scientists at Eepybird.com have done. Watch and wonder, my friends, for it is truly a beautiful world.
Yet another dorky web toy
| Your Linguistic Profile: |
| 65% General American English |
| 15% Yankee |
| 10% Dixie |
| 5% Upper Midwestern |
| 0% Midwestern |
rebelo, on Thursday, May 25, 2006 at 5:20 PM:
75% General American English
15% Upper Midwestern
5% Yankee
0% Dixie
0% Midwestern
Bethb, on Thursday, May 25, 2006 at 5:42 PM:
Your Linguistic Profile:
55% General American English
15% Upper Midwestern
10% Dixie
10% Yankee
5% Midwestern
if only i had known that kansas was the "upper midwest"...
ejuana, on Thursday, May 25, 2006 at 8:44 PM:
***Your Linguistic Profile:***
70% General American English
15% Upper Midwestern
5% Dixie
5% Yankee
0% Midwestern
Timothy, on Friday, May 26, 2006 at 6:09 AM:
***Your Linguistic Profile:***
65% General American English
15% Yankee
10% Upper Midwestern
5% Dixie
0% Midwestern
........interesting
Sarah, on Friday, May 26, 2006 at 7:38 AM:
I guess
55% General American English
20% Yankee
10% Dixie
5% Midwestern
5% Upper Midwestern
translates as "Canadian".
Although the question about the super-easy class didn't have any correct answers, since, of course, they are properly known as "bird courses".
GeoGeek, on Friday, May 26, 2006 at 12:09 PM:
55% General American English
25% Upper Midwestern
15% Yankee
0% Dixie
0% Midwestern
That's right--NO DIXIE
UncleVinny, on Friday, May 26, 2006 at 12:19 PM:
I'm all about "y'all", y'all.
***Your Linguistic Profile:***
65% General American English
20% Upper Midwestern
5% Dixie
5% Midwestern
0% Yankee
heather, on Friday, May 26, 2006 at 2:10 PM:
Hah! Pretty much the same as sis :-)
60% General American English
20% Yankee
10% Dixie
5% Upper Midwestern (= Canadian)
0% Midwestern
and I have to agree with her on the super-easy class question too.
I think they also need to add the following question, just for thoroughness:
What do you call a pizza with everything on it?
Andrew, on Friday, May 26, 2006 at 10:45 PM:
40% General American English
30% Yankee
20% Dixie
5% Upper Midwestern
0% Midwestern
Pretty interesting, considering I speak Australian!
Heather, I would call that sort of pizza a 'supreme'. What are the other options?
Timothy, on Saturday, May 27, 2006 at 9:34 AM:
That would be "All Dressed" or "Full Dressed"
See - I'm bi-lingual! (I speak Canadian - eh)
sheryl, on Monday, May 29, 2006 at 3:36 AM:
55% General American English
20% Yankee
10% Dixie
10% Upper Midwestern
0% Midwestern
Um, interesting results, considering I grew up in the MIDWEST. Also, there were no references to 'bubbler' (the Milwaukee word for 'drinking fountain') or 'kringle' (Danish pastry)...
nocklebeast, on Wednesday, May 31, 2006 at 4:37 PM:
***My Linguistic Profile:***
70% General American English
15% Yankee
10% Upper Midwestern
0% Dixie
0% Midwestern
Is that mostly normal? Why don't I add up to 100%?
Not exactly "Stomp"
Laura Z, on Thursday, March 30, 2006 at 6:03 PM:
That was great, but I kept expecting them to throw off their towels to reveal funny matching underwear (yes, I have watched too many Busby Berkeley choreographed musicals)...
Classic publicity photos
Jennifer Sharpe, of the wonderful (and soon to be reborn) Sharpeworld web site, is the proud posessor of The Kriegsmann Files, also known as a moldy pile of publicity photos.
But oh my, what publicity photos.
I can't decide which is my favorite: nbuda funkshun? sadok savir? No, I think I'm going to have to go with silverlight:
Timoth, on Saturday, March 11, 2006 at 7:08 PM:
..... uuummmm ........
thisone makes me a little uneasy - but I don't know why.
rfkj, on Saturday, March 11, 2006 at 9:22 PM:
I liked Amerasia and The New Zealand Trading Company. That collection is fascinating on so many levels, there's gotta be a book or two in it at least.
GeoGeek, on Sunday, March 12, 2006 at 10:43 AM:
It's all about the teazer, baby. (http://flickr.com/photos/sharpeworld/110371838/)
marcia glover, on Monday, March 13, 2006 at 12:40 PM:
Sliverlight... all three guys look/acting like they are going out with the her at the same time.
The red square game
A fun little game based on incredibily simple rules and relatively simple code: The Red Square Game.
My best time in 10 minutes of play? 12.281 seconds. What's yours?
heather, on Sunday, March 5, 2006 at 9:28 PM:
10.305 in about 5 minutes of play. Only did it once though. Out of the many times I played it, I hit 4.4 about 4 times, and much less than that many many more times ;-)
Of course, I am solo-mom today and exhausted after catching up on all the laundry, bottles, toy-pickups, high-chair cleanings, and other misc mommy duties since Baby Girl went to sleep.
Excuses, excuses, excuses ;-)
Uncle Vinny, on Sunday, March 5, 2006 at 11:14 PM:
Best I could do was 16.306 sec after maybe 5-10 minutes. I'd be curious to know if people are trying to learn a pattern that gets them a little further each time, or if it's seat-of-the-pants survival? My method is to head down for 1 sec, then up to the top LH corner for about 10 sec, then dodge the big fat square coming from the right, etc...
Timo, on Monday, March 6, 2006 at 12:16 AM:
11.859 - in Seaside OR, kinda drunk ...
heather, on Monday, March 6, 2006 at 6:31 AM:
I did't time it but I did move down to the bottom first and then up to the lower left and then into the center - there's definitely a pattern, if you can remember it, to use to prolong the game.
allen, on Monday, March 6, 2006 at 6:57 AM:
after about 2-3 mins... roughly my 7th or 8th time... i got a 17.667... tho I do have to admit I've been playing video games for a long time and still do.
rfkj, on Monday, March 6, 2006 at 8:02 AM:
21.521 the third time I tried it. The only technique I used was to watch where everything was going and make sure not the be in the way. I actually did very little moving, so it looks like there's a sweet spot of sorts. When it started to speed up, I lost immediately.
rfkj, on Monday, March 6, 2006 at 8:37 AM:
25.037 after another couple of tries. This game sort of reminds me of Jezzball, which used to ship with Windows way, way back in the day. I always loved that game.
Loopsi, on Tuesday, March 28, 2006 at 9:52 AM:
how do you time it??????????????????? WAHHHHH
jorgyboy, on Thursday, September 14, 2006 at 7:31 AM:
blue squares go same way each time got 24.7 after 10 mins
Mr. Crabs, on Sunday, January 14, 2007 at 7:31 PM:
I got 23 seconds on my third try, mostly staying on the left side. Just move slowly and DON'T PANIC. Panicking [sic] is soooo disastrous OMG LOL. Is this how we are supposed to use the internet?
Backdraft, on Monday, January 14, 2008 at 7:02 PM:
27.8 seconds after about 5 min of play
Nifty live Beck number
Now that's a rhythm section.
Haner gives good forecast discussion
From this morning's forecast discussion for Seattle at the NOAA site:
Short term...many of our point-to-point pressure gradients have started weakening since 06z...some quickly. However...the base of the negatively tilted trough remains southwest of the forecast area at this time. Was considering letting go of the high wind watch for at least the northwest olympic peninsula...but have decided to first let the upper trough axis and surface front move by first. Indeed...the wind at buoy 29 has actually been coming up for the past few hours...and the wind at hoquiam flipped back around to an easterly direction this hour...so believe the party`s not over yet. As for the foothills...the ksea-keat pres grad has weakened over the past few hours...and the wind at the snoqualmie river bridge on i-90 has trended down since 1 am...but it again concerns me that the front has not actually moved by yet. Often times...strongest winds come in the pre-frontal regime immediately in advance of the front.Once the negatively tilted front moves by later this morning...much colder air aloft will move in with 500 mb temps dropping down to near -35c. 700-500 mb lapse rates become quite steep...reaching the 8-8.5 c/km range. Will spread the mention of thunder onto the coast and as far inland as the southwest interior...though a stray strike during afternoon heating just about anywhere would not surprise me through this evening.
(reformatted for legibility... why they continue to show this in all caps on the site is a question I haven't really investigated)
ejuana, on Thursday, March 2, 2006 at 9:14 AM:
hey, that's poetry!
rfkj, on Thursday, March 2, 2006 at 10:23 AM:
I'd bet that the reason that it's in all caps is due to some kind of teletype legacy support. They're still out there.
One of the more peculiar relationships with a piece of kitchen equipment I've ever seen
It's Kelly Dobson's "Blendie". So great.
(Via Talking Crow)
ejuana, on Wednesday, March 1, 2006 at 9:25 PM:
The noises were too much for Uncle Tio Pepe. Too scarey!
More than meets the eye!
One for the boys in the crowd.
Sure, this is all fun and games, but we know where this leads... dancing and rebellion.
Timothy, on Sunday, February 12, 2006 at 11:28 PM:
Totally Freakin' COOL
I want one!
Christian, on Tuesday, February 14, 2006 at 10:24 AM:
OMG!
Unexpectedly Phildickian silliness
It's turning out to be Japan Week here at Noise to Signal. Who knew?
Vital information for Sushi eaters
Uncle Vinny, on Friday, February 10, 2006 at 12:37 AM:
I wish I was cool enough to know how much of that is made up....! Very fun to watch, whatever the truth.
If only they had the magic phrase
The boys at Penny Arcade seem to be having the same problem as me.
If only they had used the magic phrase.
rfkj, on Thursday, February 9, 2006 at 12:14 PM:
After the game, though, the magic phrase wouldn't really have worked. You've got to come up with something else..."Fuckin' refs" works or, if you want to avoid what Heinlein liked to call "the Anglo-Saxon gerund," you could try "Well, we'll get 'em next time."
Japan is an odd place, chapter 783
Now I know what killed Betty Friedan.
'Maid in Japan' cafes treat geeks like lordsTOKYO (Reuters) - "Welcome home, Master," says the maid as she bows deeply, hands clasped in front of a starched pinafore worn over a short pink dress.
This maid serves not some aristocrat but a string of pop-culture-mad customers at a "Maid Cafe" in Tokyo's Akihabara district, long known as a Mecca for electronics buffs but now also the centre of the capital's "nerd culture".
"When they address you as 'Master', the feeling you get is like a high," says Koji Abei, a 20-year-old student having coffee with a friend at the Royal Milk Cafe and Aromacare.
"I've never felt that way before."
Maid cafes dot Akihabara, which has become a second home for Tokyo's "otaku" -- roughly translated as "geeks". They're known for their devotion to comics and computer games and can easily be identified by their standard outfit of track suit, knapsack and spectacles.
In the cafes, girls dressed in frilly frocks inspired by comic-book heroines wait hand and foot on customers, mostly male, who might have once been obsessed with naughty schoolgirls and nurses.
At one cafe, maids get down on their knees to stir the cream and sugar into the customer's coffee.
At Royal Milk, diners can follow up a meal with a range of grooming services, including ear cleanings.
Maids at some of the more attentive shops even offer to spoon-feed customers at their table.
Maid cafes have mushroomed since they first emerged about four years ago, evolving from cafes where waiting staff emulated characters from a popular series of role-playing video games, often dressed in schoolgirl-inspired uniforms.
[ . . . ]
Savannah, on Tuesday, February 7, 2006 at 6:28 PM:
It is a sad, sad day when one is forced to reassess the Playboy Bunny phenomenon as being "actually not that bad, compared to *this.*"
Michelle, on Wednesday, February 8, 2006 at 2:36 AM:
Creep-o-rama!!!!!
Maffy, on Wednesday, February 8, 2006 at 7:40 AM:
Well, I think it would be very hot to have some naughty girl stir my tea...on her knees?...in a school girl uniform? Wow. We can't even get gay marriage recognized, and that seems pretty conventional to me. Japan was never high on my "must see" list of countries. Maybe I should reconsider...
Laura Z, on Wednesday, February 8, 2006 at 11:46 AM:
I cannot start commenting on this or I will start to implode!
rfkj, on Wednesday, February 8, 2006 at 1:16 PM:
Other than calling you "Master," this sounds pretty much like a Hooters. What's the real difference between having a pretty girl stir your tea on her knees and having a pretty girl pound the back of a ketchup bottle so that a) your fries get ketchup; and b) her boobs bounce up and down a lot? The purpose behind both is pretty obvious.
Not that I'm justifying this, you understand (and the food at Hooters sucks), but it doesn't seem to me to be *that* different from stuff we have here.
(Okay...the ear cleaning thing is just frickin' bizarre. "Uh, yeah, I'll have the tea-on-her-knees, the squid eyeball soup, the can of french fries, and...the earwax removal special with the clearcoat.")
Maffy, on Thursday, February 9, 2006 at 7:25 AM:
The ear cleaning thing does seem like a strange choice - unless you're a Ferengi.
Best. Shrub. Impression. Ever.
This guy nails everything that annoys me about Shrub's oratorial style. Particularly the smirk. Lord, how I hate the smirk.
Via Uncle Vinny.
Sarah, on Saturday, February 4, 2006 at 2:47 PM:
Right on the money.
But I'm confused. So, like, when you're not taking photos of creepy dudes' houses, you're surfing for stand up?
David Adam Edelstein, on Saturday, February 4, 2006 at 4:00 PM:
It's a good life, huh?
Valuable advice from Chris Rock
Too bad about the video quality, but still, nearly Swiftian in its precision.
Update: Talking Crow just forwarded me this closely related link.
Andrew, on Friday, February 3, 2006 at 11:25 AM:
Rock / Cho / 2008
Timothy, on Saturday, February 4, 2006 at 12:54 PM:
... Obey the law & Use Common Sense ....
That's some damn useful information!
There are no new ideas
Or at least that's how I feel after browsing through a few of the hundreds of comparisons of duplicate ad concepts at Coloribus.
Oprah brings the pain
I don't know how many of you have been following the recent furor surrounding James Frey's book "A Million Little Pieces", but even if you haven't, this is fun to watch.
The incredibly brief summary:
- James Frey publishes his memoir about his struggles with addiction, crime, and jail.
- Oprah chooses it for her book club as her first modern selection after her recent "classics" series.
- Lots of people read it, embrace it, change their lives based on it.
- The Smoking Gun publishes an expose that shows clearly that the book is almost entirely fabrication, and that Frey is a lying little frat rat.
- Oprah initially refuses to drop him, and supports him on Larry king.
- Then she takes the path of righteousness and Frey makes the mistake of going back on her show.
There are several more clips up on YouTube.
All of this of course does bring the question: Were people's lifechanging experiences any less true because the book they based them on was a complete lie? Discuss.
BlueNiner, on Saturday, January 28, 2006 at 1:45 PM:
I guess that depends on how you personally value a "lifechanging experience" and if you believe that their is some external universal "Truth" that exists outside the shared meanings that we have created in our society. I'll conceed that Frey most likely violated many peoples 'shared meanings' and going back on the show was not too bright, but then I'm left to wonder in the bigger picture of the world and what I would consider the important things we should focus on, so what? The guy lied. So did P.T. Barnum and the current President. For me personally the curiosity lies not in the specific action, but in what are people really upset about? That he lied and made some money at it or that he shattered the illusion that some external 'Truth' exists? Our personal truth appears to come from the meaning we make out of our experiences that shape our reality so my hypothesis is that the 'outrage' comes more from the second idea than the first. Of coure it could simple be that people feel that they can 'get' to this one where other liars were inaccessable or imune to thier outrage. Bread and circus's baybe and this is clearly part of the cirus.... If nothing else it's entertainment on all side...
Laura Z, on Sunday, January 29, 2006 at 6:33 PM:
While their life-changing experiences based on seeing another person's experience (via the book) are no less true, I can see how they may feel their trust has been violated. All kinds of things can extrapolate out of this (i.e. "WHAT at all can I trust in life, etc.?) and lots of therapy perhaps needed in the future to deal with the larger existential angst.
On another note, if the guy had just said something like "Based on a true story" OR "Fictional account based on true events" in the preface he could have covered his ass.
We're having a huge debate on this in my distance library class in regards to the question of "how much responsbility do publishers have in checking their facts?" On the one hand I can see the publishers should check the biggies (i.e. the person got the degrees they claimed, etc.), but I'm sure it would be expensive and time-consuming beyond belief to check a 300+ page manuscript for accuracy on every potential "fact". Newspapers obviously have to do this (or SHOULD be doing this - don't get me started on the NYTimes), but I'm not sure how we can require that to the same extent in novels.
Karl, on Monday, January 30, 2006 at 12:29 PM:
The cynical bastard inside begs to bash all the poor distraught folks involved, precisely for the reasons that cause them distress. “Don’t believe everything you read”, sound familiar? If a short book can change your life, you may wish to reevaluate your processes. If Oprah is your advice giver, blame her for giving lousy advice all the time. If you believe anyone in the media is ever giving you the full or the straight story, wake up and smell the advertising revenue.
On the other hand, if the book helped you at all to have a better outlook even for a week; if the controversy made you reexamine your skepticism or lack thereof; if anything positive came out of your experience at all, what have you really lost? A little trust with your television personality, a little faith in the media? Isn’t that a small price for the personal assistance you received? Life is rough, wear a metaphysical helmet.
Michelle, on Tuesday, January 31, 2006 at 12:53 AM:
I haven't been following this whole thing very closely, but there was one detail that caught my attention. He originally shopped his book around as a novel, but no publishers were interested so he started calling it a memoir and then everyone wanted it. Dumbass didn't bother to go back and edit accordingly.
Sarah, on Friday, February 3, 2006 at 7:50 AM:
I am commenting only because they just mentioned the whole fiasco on Sounds Like Canada and I don't want to edit corn genetics at the moment. But I was thinking: I don't recall people getting all upset when they realised that The Blair Witch Project wasn't actually pieced together from footage shot by dead college students? I know a couple of
nocklebeast, on Saturday, May 10, 2008 at 3:23 PM:
Maybe James Carville could help with Batman's campaign.