Archive: Posts from May, 2004
May 31st, 2004, No Comments »
In my early adolescence, I made a number of mix tapes from my father’s extensive record collection. One much-played tape included the Beatle’s ‘Come Together’. When I recorded the song, though, the record skipped once on ‘he got walrus gumboot’. It actually sounded like ‘he got walrus-guy, walrus gumboot’. Now, whenever I hear the song, I expect this little effect in the third verse.
I mention this because I just watched an extraordinary Flash animation of this song. It’s exceptionally expressive, and captures so much of the song and the band. It’s both reverential and irreverent, if that’s possible, and accurate down to the suits the Fab Four are wearing on the cover of Abbey Road. I rarely watch Flash animations to the end, but I actually watched this one twice.
I don’t know much about animation, but when I see works of art like this I feel like it’s on the cusp of overtaking live-action cinema in terms of artfulness and relevance.
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May 31st, 2004, No Comments »
For the non-geeks present, a 404 page is the page displayed when you click a hyperlink but the linked resource (the page, image or whatever) is unavailable. 404 refers to the status code in the HTTP spec. Here is a much finer definition, Strong Bad style. CNN did a piece on 404 pages a couple of years ago as well.
I was mildly amused, then, to see Greenpeace’s 404 page, which features a dodo bird in the top left corner, and a number of possible explanations for the missing page. The first one reads ‘the page may be extinct, like many whales, chimpanzees, and gorillas in the wild could be without your help.’ Never miss an opportunity to lobby your target market, I guess.
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May 31st, 2004, 2 Comments »
With the election now in full swing, I’ve increasingly observed how woefully uninteresting the party leaders are. They seem universally to lack chutzpah. Where’s the panache of Trudeau pirouetting behind the Queen? Kim Campbell starkers behind her legal robes? I’d even settle for Steven Harper occasionally throttling a protestor like Chretien used to do. The current crop of leaders seem to be running for the role of national supervisor or custodian. They’re practical, efficient and really, really boring.
Their achievements aside, the leaders we remember and honour all have flair. More people will remember Chretien’s final year in office for his comments about trying marijuana once he retires than his stance on Iraq.
I did see Jack Layton making snow angels with Rick Mercer, so that’s a start. That was before the election was called, though (it was Ed Broadbent, thanks Mike). The candidates may have more flamboyance than I give them credit for. They and their spin-doctors realize that slow, steady and boring wins the race. Perception is everything, the media are everywhere, so leaders have to tread very lightly. I expect that I’ll have to wait until a leader gets into power before I see his true colours. Given the current crop of candidates, though, I don’t hold out much hope.
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May 31st, 2004, 5 Comments »
Cross-posted to ye olde Election Blog at Blogs Canada.
As you know, every election, our country becomes covered in clapboard and plastic signs advertising the candidates. As the campaign proceeds, four or five signs can sprout on a single street corner, competing for the ‘eye-share’ of passing commuters.
Oddly, signage seems to be a cornerstone of campaign marketing.
Read more…
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May 31st, 2004, No Comments »
Via Engadget, we get some instructive audio files from Hitachi Corp:
My hard drive is experiencing some strange noises but I am unsure if the drive is failing. How can I determine if the noises are due to a failing hard drive?
There are various noises that may indicate a failing hard drive. If you are experiencing any of the noises, please contact the technical support center at: 888-426-5214.
I’ve heard one of these before: Bad Head #2 (WAV file) (insert cheap oral sex joke here). The sound was followed by my hard drive coughing up some blood, asking for some whiskey and bleeding out.
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May 30th, 2004, 2 Comments »
Counting both our digital and film cameras, we took over 700 photos in South Africa. Don’t worry, I’m ruthless in culling photos (I hate looking at other people’s vacation photos as it is), so we’ve reduced that to the best 60 or so. I’ve uploaded them, grouped based on location, here.
My Aunt Lynn doesn’t like looking at vacation photos either. Instead, she insists on only seeing the best three pictures. In that spirit, I think these are three of the best:
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May 30th, 2004, No Comments »
There’s an interesting discussion thread on Slashdot about how geeks laden with expensive devices avoid being robbed. This topic comes a little late for South Africa, where I was carrying around a digital camera, iPod and 12″ PowerBook everywhere I went. It was all in an innocent-looking backpack, though, and I was careful where I took out the laptop. Still, it gives you pause to consider that you’re hauling around CAN $3000 worth of stuff in a crime-ridden country.
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May 30th, 2004, 1 Comment »
From Canadian Headhunter, we get this most excellent wanted word: mondegreen. It means:
A series of words that result from the mishearing or misinterpretation of a statement or song lyric. For example, I led the pigeons to the flag for I pledge allegiance to the flag.
Excellent. Another needful gap in my vocabulary closed. Another 145,000 words and I’ll know them all. The first personal mondegreen that comes to mind is for Sarah McLachlan’s Building a Mystery. I heard ‘you strech your ass to wear’ when the actual line, of course, is ‘you strut your rasta wear’. Who knew? If you consult KissThisGuy.com, you see that others agreed with me. Am I Right is another similar resource.
Mondegreens–a cautionary tale in musical pronounciation. Rock mumblers of the world, take note.
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