Feb 28
BoingBoing points out a great site today, InsultMonger.com. There, you can find my favorite Yiddish curse (see title of this post), as well as dozens more. My dear old Dad would have loved to see this list. Of course, none of it would have been new to him, as he was fluent in these and probably many other Yiddish curses.
Tags: Jewish
Feb 24

I’m in New York City through Saturday morning, and took the opportunity after meetings today at Time Warner Center at Columbus Circle to (a) experience the heavy snowfall that began this afternoon and (b) check out Cristo’s ‘Gates’ project. My brain has a hard time with these - one side sees the Zen ’saffron’ color and feels like it makes sense - while the other side of the noggin’ sees a construction site. Anyway, the installation looks downright magical in the snow. Don’t know if these images do it justice or not, but take a look. And for a different set of ‘Gates’, visit the Sommerville Gates project.
Tags: Gallery, Photography
Feb 17
Digital marketing powerhouse Digitas/Modem Media announced today that my friend Cella Irvine would become their Chief Administrative Officer, reporting to their CEO. Cella is a long-time digital media vet, having led Microsoft’s Sidewalk operation in NYC for many years, up to it’s purchase by Ticketmaster/CitySearch. She went on to work for insurance giant Marsh, Inc. Anyway, she’s a brilliant and wonderful person, and should do well in her new role. BusinessWire news release on her new gig is here, and a Clickz.com news story is here.
Tags: Miscellaneous
Feb 17
It’s just amazing. That’s all I can tell you. At this point, with 41 days to go, the baby’s head can be felt clearly, pushing against Amy’s belly on the upper right side. That puts the feet down near her bladder. And since the little one seems to like practicing soccer goals, Amy isn’t enjoying all that activity. The baby is also getting sound sensitive. When I make noises near Amy’s belly, the baby moves around. And when Amy was playing her horn yesterday, the baby actually settled down and stopped moving. I told Amy that either the little one is entranced by the music, or petrified by the blast of sound. You be the judge.
Tags: sam
Feb 17

Microsoft said Thursday it will recall 14.1 million power cords for its Xbox video game console after a defect gave some users minor burns and scorched carpets.
Robbie Bach, chief Xbox officer for Microsoft, told Reuters the recall covered all Xboxes made for continental Europe before Jan. 13, 2004, and the rest of the world before Oct. 23, 2003.
Since I’ve been playing Grand Theft Auto:San Andreas on my PS2 almost exclusively lately, not a big deal. Here’s a link to the MSFT site with info on ordering the replacement cord. You’ll need your serial number and manufacture date off your Xbox to place the order.
Tags: Gaming
Feb 16

Seattle NBC Affiliate KING-5 visited Delicious Monster HQ (the Zoka coffee shop) recently. Mike Matas posted the 90-second Quicktime — it’s a nice promo for the boys from DM. Now if I can only find some time to scan all my stuff. Trouble is, my Wi-Fi gets weak in the back room of my house where all my books are. So I’m gonna have to methodically cart them to the office at the front. A small price to pay to fill my library though. My earlier posts on Delicious Monster here and here.
Tags: Mac, macintosh
Feb 16

The first trailer for the upcoming Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy film was posted on the front page of Amazon.com today. Do not stop, do not pass go, etc., just get yourself over to there and watch it NOW. Warning: The video takes a about 60 seconds to load — traffic issues? or just a slow Flash player?
Of extra note - I reported earlier that the release date for the movie was May 6, 2005 - but Amazon’s info has moved this up one week to April 29.
I’m prepared to be hugely underwhelmed by this movie, some twenty years in the making. But I’m cautiously optimistic seeing this trailer, the first showing action from the film (the earlier trailer was just a CG tease). The trailer suggests a bit more of an ‘Independence Day 2005′ feel, and is perhaps less humorous in tone than I expected. But that’s probably just marketing spin for this, an early Summer release. Amazon also has a selection of new screenshots from the film, and the new movie poster, pictured above.
Tags: Movies
Feb 15

Despite the calendar indicating it’s still the depths of winter, Sports Illustrated has it’s annual respite for all of us. The annual Swimsuit Issue launched today on SI.com. 2005 is the first year since 1997 that I haven’t worked on the production of the online version of the American icon, but it’s great to see the issue without getting sick of all the photos weeks in advance of the public release. The magazine blessed the release of close to double the number of photos in past years, although some are for magazine subscribers only. But there are tons of free video clips (it was pay-only in past years), and a smattering of VR photography by my friend Bruce Kaufman. And my friend Chris Gibbons created some very slick Flash features for the Rate-a-Photo section. Another new feature this year is a digital edition of the magazine available for download for $4.99. The application from company OliveSoftware uses their ‘ActivePaper’ technology, basically serving the assets to registered users via Flash. An interesting model, so to speak. Anyway, start clicking!
Tags: Photography, Sports
Feb 15

My hometown of Savannah, GA is in the news today, but not for a terribly positive reason. Savannah State University, one of the country’s historically African-American colleges, achieved the dubious honor of going 0-28 this season with a loss to Florida A&M 49-44 on Monday night. In 50 years, only one other Division 1-A team has lost every game. Head coach Edward Daniels’ explained to the Savannah Morning News that his former coach Al McGuire taught him to ‘keep a sense of humor…You can’t let things get you down so far that you’re a Grim Reaper-type guy.’ Well, maybe going 0-28 gives you reason to be just a little bit down…Read coverage at SI.com here, and at the Savannah Morning News site here.
Photograph by Richard Burkhart/Savannah Morning News
Tags: Sports
Feb 14

I stumbled on this while wandering through Restoration Hardware yesterday. The Firefly Visual Dictionary ($33.97 at Amazon) is chock full of infographics breaking down, for example, all the parts in a power transformer pole outside your home. Or the innards of a windmill. You name it, it’s in here. Close to 1,000 pages with over 6,000 illustrations, this is the kind of book I loved to read all the time as a kid. I’m going to have to pick this up sometime soon.
Tags: Books