Icky....

Lay your eyeballs on this...

Daddy Has a Brand New Blog.

click on the pic.

Low California Video.

Howdy folks.

The latest Low video is up on the web! I uploaded it to PDD since the link on the Low sight was SLLOOWWW. Anyway it's a pretty straight interpretation of the song "California" and it seems like they spent some money having it made.


Low's California | 8.3mb | WMV

Radio On

For the first time in many months, I turned on a commercial radio station - to escape the pledge drives on public radio (I contribute 10 bucks a month), and let me tell you it was ugly on the other side! Banal commercials, George Michael's 'Father Figure' on 96Lite, Nickelback on the "Bear," horrible New Nashville Country...it made me shudder. Please, in the name of Tesla, Marconi, and all that is good, don't let Bob & Tom take over. If you have any spare change, despite its limitations, consider throwing a few bucks at public radio!

i35 ends here

It's Saturday and I'm only THINKING about Duluth during a visit to the twin cities. Why is it that a city girl would be shipped to Duluth at the onset of a frigid winter only to find herself hesitant to leave five months later?
Fear?
I moved to Duluth in September '04 completely against my will -- sans computer, snow pants, car, dog. I thought I'd be chomping at the megabit to get out of there at my first possible chance but something strange must be going on. I've been offered a job in a big city, closer to family, closer to dog (and snow pants but at least the dog isn't buried in a storage pod).
I'm down here now THINKING about it and, honestly, I don't FEEL like leaving Duluth. What about the drive down Central Entrance toward the medical corridor?? And what about that odd-looking, somehow-growing-on-me, freakish but gorgeous at night lift bridge? I can see it from my front porch if I lean way over the railing. And what about the horrible shopping at the Miller Hill Mall??
I haven't spent my rent money on a great pair of shoes in ages. Basically because the only great shops are 200 miles away.
Solvency borne of exile.
So why is it, exactly, that I'm hesitant to move from this economically depressed, under-educated, gorgeous, friendly, passe-tech town?
I'll keep you posted.

More Gnome Fun

Yeah, so I haven't been on here for some time. But I look around and I see gnomes. This is funny because I just snapped this picture of a shop on State Street here in Madison. This may be gnome overload. It's right next to my job too so I have to walk by it all the time. It kind of gives me the willies. It makes me think of this weird kind of scary British show that used to be on Nickelodeon way way back in the day. I don't remember what it was about, but there was always an image of a garden gnome. What the hell was that show?

Remember all of those great old Nick shows?
Pete and Pete
You Can't Do That on Television
Turkey TV
Nick Rocks
Clarissa Explains it All
Out of Control

Ahh, the memories.

I Hate You Too

Well actually I hate U2...

Whenever their newest hit, vertigo, comes on I can only think of one thing - the supremes.

Go ahead sing the following to it:

Set me free why doncha babe
Let me be why doncha babe
Cuz you don't really love me, you just keep me hangin' on
Now you don't really want me, you just keep me hangin' on

The Experiment...and stuff

It was around 3:30 a.m. when I sort of drained myself into bed this morning. Last night I (along with some friends) conducted an experiment. This experiment will, no doubt, break ground in the areas of customer service and human behavior. Without boring everyone with pages of data and complex analysis of variance calculations, allow me to summarize the findings of this experiment:

Every time I or one of my colleagues walked up to the bartender at the Capri and asked for a pitcher of beer, she poured one for us. Every time. It seemed not to matter which variable we altered or how, we always got beer. Ordered while wearing a sweatshirt, got beer. Without sweatshirt…beer. Ordered in a falsetto voice and it was “here’s your beer, that’ll be three dollars.” Even when almost simultaneously asking for a bowl of peanuts, the beer was still provided. This result was proven to be repeatable to a high degree.

Just as an observation…I’m startled by the early age at which humans learn to deceive. Not that this is his first foray into deception, by any means, but my son, age 3, tried to transfer blame this morning. About farting. Sitting at the table, eating waffles, I smelled something rank. “What’s that I smell,” I asked. “Did you fart?” He smiled and denied having farted. Thinking for a moment, he said “maybe the garbage can farted.” So maybe he’s gotta learn to blame more likely candidates (at least forget about inanimate objects), but still, the whole process is there. Amazing.

You know what I really, really hate? Alright, maybe I don’t hate it but it surely does bother me. When I go to tune into NPR (which I do often) and lo and behold, guess what's on? The Splendid Table with Lynn Rossetto Kasper. I’m sure I spelled her name wrong, and I’m a little alarmed by the fact that I’m too lazy to go to www.splendidtable.org and find out how to spell her name correctly but I’m not too lazy to bitch. That’s sad. Still, though…that show irritates me. How can someone have 17 different types of salt?! Damn! And worse yet is that I find myself horribly unable to stop listening to it. Shit! And I never even wanted to know what shmaltz is, honest!

So here I am…horrible tap beer headache, owner of a garbage can alleged to have farted, trying to double-check my painstakingly-gathered beer ordering data, listening (almost against my will) to a woman rave (with more passion that most people have about any subject) about cultured butter.

This IS a perfect Duluth day.

Hello Everyone

It is amazing what surfing the internet will do for your life! I was sitting here in the great "Live Free or Die" state of New Hampshire during one of those Saturday snow storms we were having and I was searching the internet for my home town of Duluth. I came upon a site by someone about my old school, Denfeld. The site brought me to a link that told of all of my schools alumni and low and behold that skid, Paul, was on it and a link to A Perfect Duluth Day. What a fun and refreshing site for me since I was used to just playing games on the internet like EQ and Star Wars Galaxies and Soldier of Fortune 2(I like killing people to release my anger). After playing with you guys sometimes on the site with my pro-Bush comments I decided to become a blogger on the site and here I am.

My wife of 6mths and myself went to Barrett's site today and watched his vlog. I started laughing. She questioned me why, and I then downloaded Justin Vlog again. She then understood. Thank you for making my marriage better this morning.......LoL

I am starting the process of making my own Vlog/Blog site so if any of you can take a look and give me some advise that would be great....... www.genesisdefenders.com (I need to change the addy but that's all)

fair warning

I know that in the past I have mentioned allofmp3.com as a good source for mp3 music. It is DRM free, cheap and legal.... or perhaps not.
Here is a news story talking about the recent opening investigation of possible criminal activties against allofmp3.

So, if you have a ballance with them I suggest clearing it out until this is settled.

For myself, I don't much mind paing itune prices for music/mp3s, but I hate, hate, hate DRMed music. And refuse to buy such crap.

Product 1, Process 0

All respect to Barrett's manifesto, but we here at Gonzo Headquarters like process as much as we like product. To wit:

destandardizelanguage.blogspot.com
streamofvulgarityblog.blogspot.com

The Product

   

So as Starfire mentioned, tomorrow would be the two-year anniversary of my blog, so I've pulled my archives, revamped everything, and renamed it The Product.

The new site will be part blog/part vlog/part springer spaniel, and there is no reason why I shouldn't just release the damn thing right now.

So here it is. Expect more video and some comics in the next few days. Let me know what you think of this decision of mine, and let me know if anything on the site is broken.

Thank you and may God have mercy on your souls.

On the subject of gnomes...

Since we're bringing up things of the gnomish persuasion, I thought I'd share a glimpse of Igor.

Igor lives on the windowsill in my kitchen, and scares away any nefarious pigeons that land outside who try to spook my cat. (The cat is easily spooked.) Some are amazed that Igor himself doesn't spook my cat, given his slightly creepy posture and penetrating black eyes. But I find that Igor reminds me of that guy on the Simpsons who says "yeeeeeeeeees?" And thus, I am not afraid of sweet Igor. He is to be trusted.

what I do with my day off

because I love you all and want to haunt you always

In a freak psychic-computing accident, I've gone through a transmogrification. Part of me now exsists entirely online. Ebaci is the result of arcane research and experinmentation with an old commodore pet, jungian alchemical manuscripts, and this odd thing I bought at an estate sale.

I know, I know, you're all worried about my saftey. Well, rest assured, I've never felt better...kind of like a newly empty cup or a chalkboard which has just been wiped clean.

so here's the result...you can now visit with my online simulacra.

BTW please read the works of Jean Baudrillard for a further understanding of simulacra.

you can even chat with me(it) 24/7 on AIM.

welcome to the future.

greetings from whiteplasticcoaster

This morning I had a dream. I won't go into great detail save to say that it involved, among other things, a three-legged toaster (weird, huh? I mean aren't most toasters bipeds?), a mall security guard stumbling aimlessly across the sands of the Park Point beach, and a grand feeling of dread.

That said, I apologize for posting, prior to this, a big ol' picture of a glass and a white plastic coaster. This was meant to be my picture in the "meet the bloggers" section. Oops.

Since a good friend of mine whose judgement of such things I respect told me to check out this blog, I did. Maybe someday I will be able to post something of value to someone here...a lofty goal for the likes of me.

Good day.

whiteplasticcoaster 

Meet Ragnar

So my boss gave me a miniature garden gnome today, complete with it's own little patch of grass.

I'm worried that he's trying to tell me something...... Or maybe trying to curse me... I hear gnomes are evil, but if you scare them, they turn into mushrooms.

Anyway, I named him Ragnar and tomorrow we're going surfing.

The Product!

In case you haven't noticed BarrettChase.com is undergoing some changes. He has pulled down his Blog and replaced it with his manifesto. More changes will start popping up as soon as tomorrow, stay tuned.

---

While surfing around tonight I found a new Blog called Fontleech. They post links to free fonts so I downloaded a couple and made some headers for Barrett's new project. Feel free to use em Barrett.

You May Be More Left-handed Than You Think

We all, of course, know in which hand we hold a pen, but how far does this bias extend throughout your body? Are you left-eared? Left eyed? Here is a simple test you can apply to yourself.

1. Imagine the centre of your back is itching. Which hand do you scratch it with?
*I used my left
2. Interlock your fingers. Which thumb is uppermost?
*Left.
3. Imagine you are applauding. Start clapping your hands. Which hand is uppermost?
*Left
4. Wink at an imaginary friend straight in front of you. Which eye does the winking?
*Left
5. Put your hands behind your back, one holding the other. Which hand is doing the holding?
*Right!
6. Someone in front of you is shouting but you cannot hear the words. Cup your ear to hear better. Which ear do you cup?
*Right again.
7. Count to three on your fingers, using the forefinger of the other hand. Which forefinger do you use?
*Dont understand the question but I do count on my left fingers.
8. Tilt your head over on to one shoulder. Which shoulder does it touch?
*Left
9. Fixate a small distant object with your eyes and point directly at it with your forefinger. Now close one eye. Now change eyes. Which eye was open when the fingertip remained in line with the small object? (When the other eye, the non-dominant one, is open and the dominant eye is closed, the finger will appear to move to one side of the object.)
*I played this game as a kid. It goes both ways. The "object" is almost directly between where each eye is lined up. I thought it was normal.
10. Fold your arms. Which forearm is uppermost?
*Right
If you have always considered yourself to be right or left-handed you will probably now have discovered that your body is less than total in its devotion to its favoured side. If you are right-handed the chances are that you were not able to be 'right' 10 times.

So six out of ten times I go for my left.
Taken for show from left-handersday.com

I want a funkier spin

A friend and I wandered into the revolving restaurant at the top of the Radisson the other day and we were, frankly, shocked. What a waste! What a travesty! Where's the oak bar and disco ball? Where are the hushed conversations in leather booths? Where are the tourist-sized telescopes and high-end scotch? Where's the frickin' jukebox?!

It was like walking into a more-bland-than-usual spinning Perkins. Highly, highly disappointed, y'all.

Hurumph...

Random Things

Ok some of these might be wrong, and I'm sorry if they are. I really didn't check the credibility of the sources too much. But anyways here:

• Human thighbones are stronger than concrete.
• Ketchup was sold in the 1830's as medicine (drink up!).
• If you place a tiny amount of liquor on a scorpion, it will instantly go mad and sting itself to death.
• On average, 100 people per year choke to death on ballpoint pens.
• More than 2,500 left-handed people are killed each year from using right-handed products.
• Modern astronomers don't divide the sky the same way ancient astronomers did. According to modern star maps, the sun cuts through a 13th constellation, Ophiuchus the Serpent Bearer, between Nov. 30th and Dec. 17th. Astrologically speaking, if you were born between those dates you're no longer a Sagittarian, you're an Ophiuchi!
• On average, a 4-year-old child asks 437 questions a day.
• Each human embryo has a tail about one sixth of its overall length. As the unborn child develops, his or her tail is absorbed into their bodies, except in very rare cases.
• Every citizen of Kentucky is required by law to take a bath once a year. (I once knew a kid in school who was afraid of water. His sister, who I also knew, had to hose him down and trick him I heard.)
• The average human produces 25,000 quarts of saliva in a lifetime, enough to fill two swimming pools.
• Anne Boleyn had six fingernails on one hand , but only five fingers on that hand. She had a small extra nail on the side of her finger that she kept hidden with long sleeves.
• On average, 12 newborns a day will be given to the wrong parents.
• It was widely believed in the Middle Ages that the heart was the center of human intelligence.
• Robots in Japan pay union dues.
• The fastest temperature change on record is a rise of 49 degrees Fahrenheit in two minutes, from -4 degrees F to 45 degrees F. It happened in Spearfish, South Dakota, U.S. (That would be sooo confusing.)
• Colgate faced a big obstacle marketing toothpaste in Spanish speaking countries. Colgate translates into the command "go hang yourself."
• The little bits of paper left over when holes are punched in data cards or tape are called Chad.
• The French equivalent of "Pumpkin" (our pet name) is calling them "Chou-Chou" which is little cabbage.
• J was the last letter to be added to the alphabet.
• The snapping turtle eats carrion and is used by police to find dead bodies in lakes, ponds and swamps.
• Snakes who have the genetic mutation of having been born with two heads have a hard time eating, because the two heads generally fight over which gets the food.

hunter thompson's suicide reminds me...

there's something i've wanted to say since a couple days after 5 april 1994:

kurt cobain was not "the voice of a generation."

Who else is qualified to carry the Pulp Fiction "Bad Mother Fucker" Wallet?

One of the minor plot points of the movie Pulp Fiction, is that the wallet carried by Jules Winnfield is adorned with three powerful words... Bad. Motha. Fucka.
When Jules first mentions this to the Tim Roth character, he seems to think it's a joke. When prompted, he finds the wallet, and seems a bit bemused by the fact that this man, THIS MAN, carries with him something that looks like an eighth grade summer camp project... Then he remembers the gun pointed at his balls.
So who else is qualified to carry the Bad Mother Fucker Wallet? Here's a list of 100.

This Blog is Fucking Boring

Between all the bad poems, (I was guilty of that too), Bush bashing, and OOOOOOH Google experiments, I have become really bored. There is so much out there to talk about that might actually be a little interesting.

How about this.



Or maybe this.


Or hell, even this.



Wake up people, this thing is supposed to be fun!

RIP Hunter S. Thompson :(

Hunter S. Thompson, the acerbic counterculture writer who popularized a new form of fictional journalism in books like “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas,” fatally shot himself Sunday night at his Aspen-area home, his son said. He was 67.

“Hunter prized his privacy and we ask that his friends and admirers respect that privacy as well as that of his family,” Juan Thompson said in a statement released to the Aspen Daily News.

Pitkin County Sheriff Bob Braudis, a personal friend of Thompson, confirmed the death to the News. Sheriff’s officials did not return calls to The Associated Press late Sunday.

Juan Thompson found his father’s body. Thompson’s wife, Anita, was not home at the time.

Read the article on MSNBC.

Ask the Fruitcake Lady

For the first time in my life I've chosen a personal hero. I was never that into sports growing up, movie stars, or specific musicians. Especially none that I thought were worthy of being in a special position to me. But this star of Jay Leno's "Ask the Fruitcake Lady" has risen to the rank of 'hero' in my book. I don't think I've had more respect for any one person before. Anyway, I digress, I just wanted to share.

Marie Rudisill is the Fruitcake Lady. She's a 93-year-old Floridian with a unique history. For starters, she's the aunt of famed American novelist Truman Capote. In fact, she lived with Truman during his childhood and helped raise him during his formative years in Alabama and New York City.

Marie was born and raised in Alabama. She married James Rudisill in 1939. She has a son and three grandchildren. She's also the owner of Chrissy, a pit bull terrier.

Marie Rudisill is the author of eight books including "Fruitcake, Memories of Truman Capote & Sook." It was her fruitcake book that led to her first appearance on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" in December of 2000. Marie taught Jay and Mel Gibson how to make a fruitcake. The segment is considered a "Tonight Show" classic and earned Marie the title of "The Fruitcake Lady." She has since returned to NBC in Burbank to cook cherry pie with Cuba Gooding Jr., stuff a turkey with Hugh Grant and make another fruitcake with Tom Cruise. When asked which of her cooking partners she'd most like to end up with on a deserted island, Marie replied, "None of them. I prefer Arnold Schwarzenegger because he's so clean-cut, has a good sense of humor and would be a lot of fun to have around."

In 2002, Marie began giving millions of Americans her own special advice in her "Ask the Fruitcake Lady" segments. Audience members, viewers and web surfers have the opportunity to ask the Fruitcake Lady questions. Her no-nonsense answers come straight from a place that is 93 years in the making.

Ask the Fruitcake Lady

A sample (verbatim):

"When my wife and I want to make love she lights candles to get in the mood. The only problem is she looks better in the dark. What should I do fruitcake lady?"

"You... You're a real bastard you know that? If I was your wife I'd.. I'd kick you.... I'd light one of those candles, and shove it up your ass."

... my hero.

GOOGLE EXPERIMENT

The other week I decided to do a little experiment with Google by trying to link the words 'Baby Jesus Buttplug' with a Right-wing Christian blogger - mainly for fun, also because she had irked me. I and my blogging mates simply linked the words 'Baby Jesus Buttplug' to the url of her blog. It took just under a week for her to get to Number 1 on the search, though now that some of us have removed all of the links she's dropped down to Number 2 (and Number 4 and Number 7, but who's counting?)...

I so amazed by the last Google experiment that I thought it might be fun and interesting to try linking the word twunt with the Whitehouse's website. Right now there are about 4,000 results for twunt... so this'll be a bit more difficult than the Baby Jesus Buttplug experiment as there were only just over 1,000 results for that when we started. But, hopefully, we can get more people to play along...

As we all know George W. Bush is a complete and utter twunt. In case you haven't heard the word twunt before, it's a combination of two words that are usually deemed offensive in polite company. I don't find the word twunt to be offensive at all. I think it's a rather cuddly word, in fact. I use the word twunt so often in reference to George W that my father has even started using it when talking about Republicans... I'm pleased to say my blog is Number 1 for this search...

Jasmine Strong (who is also taking part) says...
To take part and have maximum effect:

1. Use 'twunt' as the text inside the link anchor. This is to make sure the link gets counted.


2. Make sure you link to the front page of http://www.whitehouse.gov/, so that we target the same URL. This helps to increase the link density and improve the count.


3. Link from the same page that mentions twunt to lots of other pages. The more of them also mention twunt the better. Google's PageRank algorithm works by counting links; the more links 'in' to any page, the more 'valuable' its information must be, and the more highly ranked search hits connected to that page's information must be. To make the link labels stick, you need to be valuable, so you need other people to link to you. If you link to others, they'll link back. So do that.

If we succeed with this one, I'd like to move on to the words 'batshit crazy' which currently has over 23,000 results... Thanks in advance to all of you who decide to take part in this deeply childish experiment.

nacpod

Just a little reminder.. if you are interested tomorrow will be the first NACPOD meeting.

The original post about the event.

snap snap

i'm a bad little monster.

Luce Art Exhibit

Both in.dog.neato and myself will be having an art exhibit at Pizza Luce starting tonight through March 6th. The opening reception will be tonight from 6pm to 8pm.

in.dog.neato's are will be suspended mobiles from the ceiling(? hanging down anyway ;) while my photos will adorn the walls.

Everyone is invited to come to tonight's reception.

Sorry for such late notice.

-jadin

Dear Bush

You really are awesome. Thanks.

Chicken-Chick-Chick-Chick-Chicken.

I found another one of those video remix contests today and edited up something quick. The original Estonian commercial can be viewed here.

My entry can be viewed right here | 16mb Quicktime.

Why don't you take a stab at it.

Happy Valentines Day

Whatever happened to
That silly dream you had
I want to make it real
I'd love to rub your back
Like a plane crash
That never hits the ground
I'll fall in love with you
Nose over tail

Unidentified tracks found by Duluth campers

I don't think I'm betraying any confidences by spilling this cryptozoological scoop so here goes. Three people me and Allen work with were hiking about three miles into the woods around Grand Marais this weekend. They were making their way to a cabin out there and snoeshoeing a thin trail through waist deep snow around one or two AM. They wore headlamps, and even with snowshoes on they were sinking a foot and a half or so into the snow.

Apparently they came upon some large tracks, with a roughly four-or-five-foot stride, along a trail running perpindicular to theirs. It spooked them all pretty good on account of the great length of stride, which persisted as far up and down the trail as their lights were able to see. The tracks also left no kicked up snow like snowshoes leave, implying great height in whoever made the tracks. One of the people assured me that the tracks were bipedal and not moose tracks or anything. He was also the one who inspected it closest of the two I talked to (I have yet to take the report of the third person). He said that he could discern, in his close examination, that it was a large footprint.

This one person is really pretty certain that nothing identifiable made those tracks, and leans towards a bigfoot explanation. The other two guys are hedging their bets a little more, but not much. The one person I haven't spoke with yet is apparently making the case that it could have been some crazy snowshoer because they were roughly sized like swowshoe prints. Neither of the people I spoke with were very happy with that explanation. They're both being good skeptics though and saying the tracks are "unidentified." So there's a definite mixture of opinion among them although I want to talk to the third witness. What can be said with some certainty is the experience spooked them all, and the two I spoke with had clearly not come down from it yet.

So there you have it. The legend of the Minnesota Bigfoot lives on in reports like these. You be the judge.

(Cross-posted from the new Gonzo Science blog gonzoscience.blogspot.com.)

MANIMAL - US denies patent for part-human hybrid

Scientist aimed to prevent others' use


By Rick Weiss, Washington Post | February 13, 2005

WASHINGTON -- A New York scientist's seven-year effort to win a patent on a laboratory-conceived creature that is part human and part animal ended in failure Friday, closing a historic and somewhat ghoulish chapter in US intellectual property law.

original story here.

I say finally!! I was getting really depressed with the idea that we were the last stage of human development...I was hoping that all the babies born in duluth after the benzine spill would have webbed feet or a third eyeball or would be able to use psionic powers to enslave adults....needless to say, I was disappointed by the hohum outcome on that one. Now news like this...sounds like the scientist had "good" intentions.

The perfect day on another site

Please to note, mnartists.org (of which I am features and news editor) continues its coverage of Duluth with a couple few articles on the Free Republic and the Artists Relief Trust, with the Situationists thrown in (just how they like it). Many photos etc. Please continue to let me know what is going on in my home city by sending news and press releases and stuff to ann at [email protected]

Can't get enough of pantyhose guy?

Well, then read this. And maybe this. And, if you're really obsessed, this.

There. That ought to hold you for a while.

I would like to thank "Captain Avenger" for the tip. And you can thank me for wrecking the blog for today and knocking Barrett's important item down a notch.

Great Rewards

I'm sending out the call. I will personally reward anyone who can post the Telly Savalas "Duluth: Who Loves You Baby?" TV ad from the 1980s. To the best of my knowledge, it doesn't exist on the Web, and for all I know it may not exist anywhere anymore. But should it still be out there, I think that hosting that ad would be just about the greastest service this site could ever provide for the community.

What is the reward? Well, I'm not sure. A PDD T-shirt and a Slim Goodbuzz ladies' tank top. And a fancy coffee drink from Beaner's Central. Plus the honor of being King or Queen of Perfect Duluth Day for an unspecified span of time.

If anyone actually comes through with this, I can help post the video, should you have trouble.

Dare to dream.

not photo stuff

Hey guys and gals... just thought I'd let you know. This Sunday starts a new show at the Brewhouse. I am going to be DJing a jazz show twice a month (every other week actually) from 7p -10p Sundays.

So, if yer in the mood stop by.

incidentaly, if anyone out there is interested in co-hosting, serving as backup host, or perhaps just guest dj-ing drop me a line at... say it all together now... edgewood at gmail.com

More Photo Stuff

If anyone in PDD land is in the Twin Cities this month, I'm showing photos at the Sebastian Joe's located at 4321 Upton Ave. S. in the Linden Hills neighborhood of Minneapolis. This one's in the show which runs until the end of February.

photo club

so I'm sitting at home, trying to think of many creative ways I can get around writing my advanced comp paper that is due tomorrow (only a rough draft, so much easier to slack on) and I was looking at some pictures I took this weekend with my flashy new digital camera and thought I remembered reading something a while back about a photo club starting. Is it still going on? I have lots of settings I'm trying to figure out what they do... Anyways, here is a pic I took at the beach at Tettegouche this weekend. Thought it was pretty cool.

photo mania

So I took some closeup photos of a Christmas cactus in bloom this past weekend.

takin' photos all whacked on our scooby snacks

i was in st. paul a couple times in the last week and had the pleasure of consuming alcohol and abusing the photo booth at the turf club. on the left is paul lundgren and on the right are the delicious scott and pete. come to the cities with me on saturday and you, too, might have the pleasure of incriminating yourself. i think this photo is too big but i don't have any photo editing software and am too lazy to download some.

Beat that blackwoods.

Cool and cold snowflakes, up close and personal

check out these pictures of snowflakes...no two really are alike....unless they're all piled up in a snowbank by your driveway.......

http://www.its.caltech.edu/~atomic/snowcrystals/photos/photos.htm

2004 Super Bowl Halftime Show - Over 500,000 complaints to the FCC about Janet's "wardrobe malfunction"
2005 Super Bowl Halftime Show - 2 complaints to the FCC that Paul McCartney was "boring"

PDD T-shirt time!

You probably have your sticker but now you can have the PDD T-shirt! Yes it's true, a 100% cotton black T-shirt emblazoned with the famous PDD logo. I am making a very limited amount of these to start with unless there is great interest. So if you really have to have one leave a comment with the size you desire.

They will be available for the first time at the Blogumentary screening this Friday at the Playground.

By the way, PDD has upgraded our hosting to UNLIMITED BANDWIDTH! This only cost 2 dollars more a month and we also have tons more disc space. So post away! Videoblog, Podcast, Photoblog you name it we can host it. T-shirt sales will help support the 10 dollars a month we now pay so BUY ONE THIS FRIDAY.

out.

Low in the Star Trib

Found this, this morning while reading the papers, neat little article:

http://www.startribune.com/stories/919/5218858.html

Got Free Duluth Pics?

Any photos from Friday night's Free Republic of Duluth event have a good chance of making it into the Reader this week if you got 'em; they want to do a two-page spread in color. Any format will be well recieved, but emailed digital photos (jpegs or otherwise) to [email protected] would be best. Thank you to the community for being in effect. [Starfire: we would particularly love that one of Allen being thrown through the wall of boxes if you can swing it.]

Found Fun

I was walking around by the lakewalk today and found a photo in a snowbank. I think it may be the greatest photo ever taken.

Come play at the Playground.

At 4:45pm today they are cutting the ribbon on The Playground. For those of you that have not heard of it The Playground is the new Black Box Theatre for the Duluth Playhouse in the Technology Village. They will be hosting more "cutting edge" fare and starting next week is "The Laramie Project." Also starting next week is Friday, Etc. which is a late night cabaret of sorts. The first installment is a screening of Blogumentary. Yes, Chuck Olsen is heading up in his VW filled with DVD copies of his documentary on Blogs. All the details are here.

There is limited seating (like 100) so come a bit early for good seats. Oh and if you read this now come on down for some free wine and cheese.

Clancy Needs to Stop Lowering the Boom

The last few days I have been a powder-keg of stress waiting to blow up ("The idiot didn't change that document yet?!?", "Wasn't this supposed to be done three weeks ago?!?", "Overtime again?!?"). I was letting stressful situations get more stressful by responding with anger and making it worse.
See, I'm set up for a lethal double-combination of quick anger: fiery Irish blood and ADD (which provides me with the ability to say stupid things before my brain can stop me). I was about five seconds from freaking out at work and getting my ass fired when I decided I needed to leave and get a massage.
While Jan at Comfort Zone worked out the worse-than-usual knots in my back, I realized that I had to let everything go. I was taking too much on and it was harming my emotional and physical well-being. I had to stop thinking of other's actions as personal attacks, and even if they are, I need to blow them off and move on. The tension in my back released, and a zen-like state washed over me. All was right with the world. I needed to go back to work, let the stress roll off of me, get over old hurts, and work towards stopping new ones. The universe was telling me that all would be well.
I walked back to work with a new feeling of calm, until I heard the screeching tires and saw my reflection in the truck's grill one foot to the left of me. I laughed - the universe was telling me that all may be right with you, but we're still going to send you crazy shit to fuck with you. Ha. Ha. Ha.
So now, like Tomasz's "OctSober", I am going to attempt a month of not "getting my Irish up." Let's see if it works and I can make it until (fittingly) St. Patrick's day. Please don't poke me with a stick.

(Note 1: Jan at Comfort Zone is awesome - go see her!)
(Note 2: I had right-of-way, crossing with the Walk sign and the woman in the big truck was turning onto Superior Street. If you happened to be in Jitters at the time, you got a great view of the action.)
(Note 3: I always though that if I were about to be hit by a car, I would have time to react and jump out of the way like some action hero. I was wrong. I would be thrown to the ground like a crash test dummy.)
(Note 4: OK, I didn't actually laugh - I actually said "Jezuz Ker-rist!!!")
(Note 5: At no time have I ever liked Notre Dame and/or given a rats ass about football in general - I just figured the mascot was a fitting Irish stereotype)
(Note 6: More fiery Irish stereotypes that I used to sing about in school: "Clancy Lowered the Boom")
(Note 7: Now I can't get the song "Clancy Lowered the Boom" out of my head.)
(Note 8: Don't make fun of specific departments when people know where you work. Getting fired would definitely get my Irish up.)

So I gave a friend of mine in Europe a mix CD with a bunch of cool Midwestern bands on it, Replacements, Wilco, Garbage, etc., mixed with cheesy Henry Mancini and Carpenters-type stuff on it. She reciprocates by burning me a copy of an Andrea Bocelli CD. I think there's a duet with Celine Dion on it. Do I have the right to be as pissed off as I am?

What's worse is I'll probably wind up telling her I liked it next time I see her.

Hey did anyone see Easy Rider on AMC last night? That was cool.

How to Build an Igloo

I have always been fascinated with Igloos.

Recently I discovered a company through a Google ad that made the Eskimold. Well I ordered one and we had a hoot making this lopsided Igloo. I recommend it for a fun winter activity.

Of course I filmed the process and made a short movie.

How to Build an Igloo | Quicktime 8.7mb

He-he-he

'Knock-knock'
'Who's there?'
'Michael.'
'Michael who?'
'You're on the jury.'

(via zeno)