Tag: video

Posted on

I Will Stand On My Head

Friends,

I won’t actually stand on my head, but the late Cal Worthington, who passed yesterday at the ripe old age of 92 while watching football, certainly would have in his prime. He had dealerships up and down the west coast, and a jingle turned earworm that infected our little minds almost as much as Indio’s “Hub of the Valley” and 30-second descriptions of the travails of the Wacky Wicker Workers. His on-air enthusiasm will be missed, but I suspect that we’ve moved on from his brand of aw shucks hucksterism.

Now the most effective marketing is nuanced. The best campaigns, they will explain in webinars and marketing executive mixers, is more subtle and appeals to the buying public’s deepest wants and desires.

The difference between the honesty of Cal Worthington’s pitch and today’s deep mental massage marketers is that the new guys will gladly stand on your head to make a better deal.

Your pal,

– bob

Posted on

Happy Hallowe’en!

Friends,

Here’s John De Lancie performing The Raven. I would suggest that you keep the lights turned all the way up if you’re a big scaredy cat like myself.

– bob

P.S. Better than James Earl Jones in The Simpsons? Comments are welcome.

Posted on

Silky, Smooth and Sporty

Friends,

Once again, the internet provides. Here’s a dealer video from 1973 extolling the genius of the Jeep Commando. Is it brilliant? Yes! Are there many drivetrain combinations? Of course! Stylish? Rugged? Amazing ground clearance? You bet!

You could be led to think that you’re a dope for not buying one. What a pity.

Sorry.

– bob

Posted on

Unexpected Evidence of Slack

 

 

Friends,

This video from USA’s late, much lamented, mostly experimental show Night Flight. I spent a lot of time in the 80s watching that show on a dodgy black and white teevee over a cobbled together cable connection, and it informed a lot of things you see here. Back to the show, though, can you imagine the network that now airs endless House reruns ending a block with a little something from the Church of the Subgenius?

You’d be forgiven if you find that notion highly unlikely. Stupid PINKS.

– bob

Posted on

Talking Me Down Out Of Being Down

Friends,

This economic bailout thing is bumming me out. Chrysler should file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection, but will most likely just fail instead. Who’ll make parts for my Jeeps? (these guys. chrysler gave up on both of them a long time ago. – ed) GM should file for Chapter 11, but will keep their management and fail in a few months instead (haven’t they failed already? they’re insolvent , after all… – ed).

I can use a little relief. Naturally, I turned to You Look Nice Today. The latest episode features John Hodgman and Jonathan Coulton and makes with the funny. I think we all need that, don’t you?

They even name-checked Digital Underground and The Humpty Dance in this episode, so here’s some, um, background.


Oh, I heard this “hateful little song” on the newly completely merged SiriusXM satellite machine today and laughed until I cried.


No, I’m not sending a message. It’s just dark. Is that so wrong?

The next song makes me smile too. It’s on the newish Decemberists EP. I’ll leave it to you to tell the kids who Valerie Plame is.


Good luck with that…

Sigh,

– bob

Posted on

One and One and One Is Three

Pals,

Through a circuitous route, I decided that I needed to do something about the utter lack of Beatles in my music collection. (the spell check in mac os x flags “beatles” as misspelled. will apple issue a correction when sir paul finally agrees to add the catalog to itunes? get on this right away. this story is hot, hot, hot. -ed I’ll contact my sources right away.) After importing the six albums I thought would cover a good bit, I find that iTunes is messing with the song order. So here’s a simple bleg for you—is there a way to keep the order intact both on the computer and on an iPod? It’s a little frustrating.

Oh, in other news here at the Lodge, there are job prospects that may end up allowing me to stay in town. I know you love to hear about the harrowing commute, but I could frankly do without it. Naturally, since I’ve sent off my fairly eclectic resume fifteen minutes ago, I will now begin my obsessive fit. I haven’t heard back from them! Not yet! Not even now! Cripes, what could take so long? (it’s nighttime. – ed But the thing is so brilliant, shouldn’t it have woken them? easy there, stressball.)

More fun bits tomorrow. In the meanwhile, here’s something that I should’ve posted days ago. A very cute girl I know pretty well said she was bringing an Easter gift for my niece, but who knew it’d be this?

Some sort of lovely picture...

“It’s no ordinary rabbit…”

– bob

Posted on

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day!

Sure, Senator Obama’s Irish. Everybody knows that…

Indisputable proof!
But what about Hillary? British. Sorry.

John McCain? Irish.

So we’re going to have an all-Irish general election? This is dangerous. They’ll be taking orders straight from Dublin!

– bob

EDITOR’S NOTE: We’re terribly, terribly sorry for this post. We’d especially like to apologize to people who are still voting for Ron Paul. -ed

UPDATE: A touching rendition of Danny Boy by the Swedish Chef, Animal, and Beaker. Did I mention that it’s touching?

Thanks BoingBoing!

Posted on

Try To Find The Worrisome Bits Hidden Here

Mes Amis,

French President Nicolas Sarkozy is on holiday in Egypt with his new girlfriend, former supermodel Marienne Neverheardofher after a very public (and very quick) divorce. While he’s been away from the Continent, this sort of thing has been going on…

Our allies in the War On Orange Juice™. (you didn’t mention this, but rudy’s polling well in florida. coincidence? -ed Not really.)

– bob

Posted on

Notes From Rural America

Friends,

Normally I would’ve asked for some help understanding this. I have to say though, that I get it now. It’s not too different from my own situation, actually. Here’s the deal…

My vivacious writing partner and her husband got the hell out of the bustle and nonsense of Southern California and moved to East Texas. Why? The “git while the gittin’s good” excuse was employed. Plummeting housing prices, new high density and low income housing projects in their quaint little park-like neighborhood, gas prices higher than elsewhere in the nation, and a lack of jobs for an independent electrical contractor sealed the deal. Time to go.

What recommended East Texas I don’t really know for sure. They scored a huge plot of land with a nice house for cheap. The neighbors sound friendly and there are other benefits…

Sid and Nancy!
When she told me that their new house came with cattle, I was dubious. They’re city kids. What would they know? What they know is that Texas gives them an agricultural exemption on their property taxes if they keep critters, so meet Sid and Nancy. They’re both cows, but apparently my naming suggestion had enough appeal to stick. Jah knows Sid was a likable enough fellow…


So, what, the cows are shooting up? No wonder folks in Middle America hate the blue states.

– bob

Posted on

YooHooToob! Passive-Aggressive Moment

While I was stumbling around for a certain suitably heinous music video that we should never speak of again, I tripped over this…

It’s a 1959 Volkswagen ad that essentially smacks about the head and shoulders all of the dead domestic manufacturers. They pursued perfection (or something relentless in that vein) while DeSoto, Nash, Packard (hello, larry), Studebaker and Hudson over-promised, under-delivered, then withered away. Nice grave dancing. Classy.

– bob

Posted on

Observed: Gordon Lightfoot Edition

Friends,

I’ve been walking around to each workstation at the Great Big Charity to undo some automatically-installed Windows Update desktop search bloatware (thanks Redmond!) over the last couple days. This is a good thing though, since I get a better idea of people’s computer problems, work problems, and even personal problems. I won’t bore you with that stuff since it’s typical of any workplace. What I will bore you with is the desktop wallpaper on one machine. A glory photo of, you guessed it, The Edmund Fitzgerald. Prior to November 1975, one would presume.

Why that picture? “I’ve always loved those big freighters,” she said. “You know that’s the Edmund Fitzgerald, right?” “Yeah, what about it?”

Oh, this…

Geez, people.

– bob

Posted on

An Evaluation Copy

Friends,

I heard that the Wi-Fi-ified version of the iTunes music store was online and that one could get at it with an iPhone. Maybe even an iPod Touch with its own internet connection. What the heck? Why not try it out with the Screaming Trees’ album Uncle Anesthesia…

Yeah, the video is crappy, but this is how I remember their show in San Luis Obispo back in the 80s. Pixelated and nearly black and white. Why do you ask?

By the way, the stage at the little bar where they played strained under the weight of the Connor brothers. Creaking and groaning every time they even hinted at one of the their guitar hero moves. They’re bigger fellas, you know.

The download to the iPod worked without a hitch on my network, and once I synced, the desktop went out and retrieved the full copies of all the songs. Pretty slick, especially for traveling. You’ll love it.

– bob