So hard to handle, selfish and mean

General

Sad love songs and Christmas just seem to go together well, don’t they?

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCov0TYXBp8&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999]

I wonder why that is.

For our retail brothers and sisters

General

What’s open today in Portland? Strip clubs? Movie theaters? Starbucks?

This song is a Merry Christmas for them.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3ogxQsMxO8&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999]

For the ones who never seem to go away

General

Is it just me, or can everyone remember someone to whom they could be singing this song today?

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCr30OVMjHA&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999]

…maybe it’s just me.

Happy Christmas to you. Since I’ve nothing much to do while I wait for my dinner to cook (pork chile verde, Spanish rice and black beans, corn bread), I’ll be posting videos all day of some non-traditional holiday songs.

30 Hour Day starts tonight

General

Hey, there’s this live-streaming telethon that’s been put together by a bunch of bright lights from Portland’s tech scene. It starts tonight, 19 December 2009, at 4 PM Pacific Time, and runs until 10 PM Saturday night (which is where the “30 hour day” title comes from). Cami and Rick are the co-hosts, the tech side is handled by Dr. Normal, Cami’s husband and co-conspirator on the Strange Love Live podcast, and there’s going to be lots of local talent and entertainment throughout the broadcast.

They’re doing it to raise money for Toys For Tots, the Oregon Food Bank, and Free Geek, because they’re awesome like that.

It feels like a monumental first to me; the first open-sourced, Creative Commons, charity fundraiser. It may not be the official first; I haven’t poked around to see if anyone else has done this kind of thing before. But it’s still a shining example of how folks, working together with all the amazing enabling technology we have available to us, can make a huge difference if we just get involved.

All the iPhones and netbooks and Twittering in the world are just tools; what makes them make a difference in our lives is people. Like you or me. Not Senators or Presidents or CEOs. Just folks with a crazy dream and the spirit of “Hey, let’s put on a show!”

Which is why I stopped just reading about all the prep, and decided to give a little myself. I’m the “assistant stage manager” for the graveyard shift tonight, from midnight to 8 AM. I hope I’m just a behind-the-scenes kind of guy; I’m not photogenic like Cami or Rick. I imagine the shift will be quiet; Cami and Rick will be tired, I’m sure, but not punchy.

There’ll still be plenty to do, though, and of course, tech doesn’t always work the way we want it to, so who knows if it will all be running smoothly. That’s what makes it fun.

Plus, there’s going to be a pie-eating contest at 4 AM with Whiffies pies! Who doesn’t love pies?

Tune in by clicking here to check it out. And feel free to donate if you can.

Like a sermon only true

General

We are made of starstuff.

We are the way for the cosmos to know itself.

No need for invisible sky man at all…

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMRGYkfzgs0&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0]

(via Brent Gurewitz)

Those wily robots

General

“As president, I believe that robotics can inspire young people to pursue science and engineering. And I also want to keep an eye on those robots in case they try anything.”

“Pirate Radio” (2009)

Movies

I loved and laughed nearly every scene in “Pirate Radio” (released as “The Boat That Rocked” in the UK).

I adore the plot line of a rag-tag group of rock and roll rebels challenging the stifled, stiff-uppper-lip British officials.

I want a copy (legal or not) of every song on the soundtrack. The soundtrack contains 36 of the over 60 songs from the actual movie. That’s a good start.

And the movie left me wanting more. Mainly, how did Quentin (Bill Nighy) come to own and operate the boat/radio station? He seemed an unlikely entrepreneur. Was he the station manager, the captain, the owner, or some combination of all three?

But in the end, it was just a cute little comedy that plays very well on my internal anti-authoritarianism.

Still, I can’t imagine it being 3 hours long, as Wikipedia claims. Glad they edited it down for US release. But I’d probably watch every deleted scene if I buy the DVD.