A few months ago I said I’d blog about the highlights I had gleaned from my friends’ blogs. Well, here they finally are: Twitter is the latest social software craze from the valley, whose appeal I barely understand. Anyway, if you want to know what the buzz is about, Thomas Han, an avid user, has …
Category Archives: Art and music
More Internet video fun
For you Billy Joel fans, Here Comes Another Bubble. Earlier this year, Conan O’Brien was in San Francisco for a week. Watch his visit to Intel (part 1, part 2) and you’ll be impressed with what he gets away with. And I bet Sam Wo Restaurant in Chinatown is getting a bump in business after …
Jonathan Coulton
My colleague Jeff clued me in to a singer-songwriter, Jonathan Coulton. His gentle voice and smooth delivery belie lyrics that are often twisted and bizarre. Good stuff. He has a good introduction to his music on his web site. I recommend “Code Monkey,” especially if you’re in the software industry. His music video, “Flickr,” shows the …
Avenue Q
Last Wednesday, I joined Jon and friends to go see Avenue Q at the Orpheum Theater in San Francisco. In case you haven’t heard of it, think Sesame Street meets South Park. A case of humans and Muppet-style puppets work through their 20- and 30-something angst, and sing about love, purpose, and Internet porn. (These …
A Month of Movies
From July 4 to August 4, I watched four movies in the theater, which is probably more than the previous two years. Transformers. Better than I expected — the action and graphics were quite good (of course), and the acting wasn’t bad (maybe because my expectations were low). It’s done amazingly well at the box …
Songs on my mind over the past month
I actually don’t mind having these songs stuck in my head, which is a good thing. Last month it was “Rhiannon” (video 1, video 2) and “Gypsy” (video 1, video 2) by Fleetwood Mac. Triggered by listening to The Dance CD over and over again during my trip to Rochester. Afterwards came “Sister Golden Hair” …
Cheap books
Recently I scored great deals on a few books. At Moe’s Books in Berkeley I bought: Symbols by Sandra Forty. $9.98 $6.00 Good Luck Life: The Essential Guide to Chinese American Celebrations and Culture by Rosemary Gong. $14.95 $4.00 The Chinese in America: A Narrative History by Iris Chang. $29.95 $6.00 And then at Compass Books (owned by …
A random collection of videos
It’s amazing how much time you can sink watching videos online: Robot Chicken is a satirical stop-motion animation show on Cartoon Network. For example, take a look at how the Emperor reacts when he finds out the Death Star was destroyed. (Thanks to Brian.) Line Rider is a Flash-based game where a little guy goes …
’80s overdose
Maybe it’s because I’ve watched Time-Life’s Classic Soft Rock Collection infomercial one too many times, but when I was leaving for work today, Christopher Cross‘s “Ride Like the Wind” popped into my head, complete with backing vocals by Michael McDonald (“what a fool believes…“). So I got curious and did a Google search on “ride …
Are you white and nerdy?
Weird Al’s lyrics for “White and Nerdy” touches upon so many geeky characteristics, it’s uncanny. So I’ve created the White and Nerdy quiz so that you can see how you measure up. [ ] Went to MIT [ ] Played Dungeons and Dragons [ ] Likes Escher [ ] Drinks tea [ ] Does not …