This factoid from the Economist was rather unsettling.
Americans tend not to think of Belgians [especially their children] as pugnacious. Unless the has-been kickboxer from the title has caused an epidemic on the playground. I always figured that Jean-Claude was the exception, not the rule because when someone talks about Belgians, I usually think of Hercule Poirot. [Yes, I know he's a fictional character, it just doesn't bode well for Belgium on their "fame" in the world.]
Posted by: Steve Maggi
| @ October 17, 2008 11:42:17 AM CDT ( 0 comments ) |
After all these years, I finally got selected by Arbitron to share my listening habits. Our immediate on why we were picked was a lack of middle-aged DINKs to survey; I still chose EuroAmerican on the “race” category since other ethnic groups get to claim Africa and “Latin” parts of the world. Too bad I got asked 20+ years for such information. Radio is in horrendous shape nowadays. In Austin, the only time I’m listening is in the car because the tape deck is kaput [amongst many other parts lately]. Keeping track in the diary Arbitron gives you is pointless thanks to all the channel surfing I do. Commercial? Click, change the station. What? 101X is still trapped in the Nineties by playing the same five songs by Nirvana or Smashing Pumpkins? That’s sooooo Alternative. Click. Dudley needs to feed his ego boring me over his peeves on KLBJ [he’s really a Howard Stern wannabe, pretty sad]? Click. So on and so forth. Even NPR affiliates are such liars about their “lack” of advertising. They just call it underwriting and shill for Dell on KUT.
What’s even funnier are the plugs for high-definition radios. I’ve seen them at Fry’s gathering dust. If you’ve ever been to this retailer [think Wal-Mart meets Radio Shack], then you know it’s impossible to find an employee who knows how to make it tune in those additional stations. One would think the proponents of the next Betamax could’ve chosen a better store to demonstrate these radios.
My friend Mark said it best a while back. The radio business is pursuing the wrong aspect to save themselves through technology when their problem is content.
Hopefully my diary will make this point to Arbitron or you can blame me for rise of smoothjazz.com’s advertising rates.
Posted by: Steve Maggi
| @ October 16, 2008 7:53:19 PM CDT ( 0 comments ) |
Firstly, my friends Kelly & Ethan's anniversary gift to us arrived on Saturday. Since we gave them organic cotton t-shirts with the Alamo Drafthouse on them for their second anniversary [for cotton], they bought us a special deal on an olive tree in Italy for our fifth [for wood]. Somara made a great salmon dish for dinner with it. Mmm!
Next, my nephews in Georgetown gave me Super Monkeyball for the Wii. Everyone loves that franchise of games and on the Wii, it's super, super easy to learn yet very difficult to master.
Thanks to everyone.
Posted by: Steve Maggi
| @ October 6, 2008 10:55:14 PM CDT ( 0 comments ) |
Another Vegas memory came to an end this weekend which I only found out about yesterday while talking to my friend Nelson on our bitchin’ iPhones…c’mon, they’re almost like tricorders from Star Trek!
Yup, after 11 years, The Star Trek Experience at the Las Vegas Hilton closed. Seems that attendance had been declining and what did they expect? As fun as it was, the whole thing was rather pricey for just two “rides,” a trip to through a fair museum of props and a mandatory trip through the gift shop. Oh I enjoyed it though, especially when we all went the first time in 2003 during the big wedding weekend. What will really be missed are the actors dressed up as the various aliens. I think they did a great job of never breaking character whether it was the Ferengi merchant, the Borg drone or the Andorian emissary.
Many are blaming the poor shape of the overall franchise for this. Maybe. The last couple movies were pretty lame and oddly Enterprise only got better as its ratings continued to slide into oblivion; the show being on UPN only is what hurt, it appears to be more popular in reruns on SciFi now. I think the real problem was the venue. The Las Vegas Hilton is one of the nicer places off the Strip. It’s biggest strength is its location next to the big convention center where the annual Summer Star Trek convention is held [first half of August I think]. If Paramount [or whoever the license holder is] would’ve gone really all the way with the Hilton people into making a stronger, better looking Star Trek theme, the diehard-to-casual fans would love it. What I mean is this. Make Quark’s Bar resemble how it appeared on DS9 more which would include having that silent alien usually sitting at the bar. Have all the staff in the section dressed as Federation personnel. Maybe even, dare I say, gamble on trying to develop one or two of the games the characters liked to play. I saw a bit on the Travel Channel on how a slot-machine company spent a small fortune tying slots to the dice game Yahtzee. Sounds dumb unless you’ve been to the place and you’ve seen these machines tied to Wheel of Fortune, Star Wars, Austin Powers and Hollywood Squares.
Unlike my joking about a casino based upon the city of Moscow, I honestly believe a true, well-done SciFi-themed [licensed property or not] casino could succeed in Las Vegas. Oddly, it was Stardust’s original look but I guess people in the Fifties didn’t see it as subtle and/or retro.
Oh well, it wasn’t like we were going to there on this upcoming trip [in two weeks, put in your bets to me soon!] unless a cool celebrity from the franchise was doing autographs again. I’m just sad to see it go away along with the Aladdin being converted into a large scale…ugh, Planet Hollywood, run partially by Clear Channel nonetheless.
I’ll take this as an omen for making even better new memories there and increased pressure on Flavor-of-the-Month Abrams to make the first Star Trek movie in 13 years that won’t suck.
Posted by: Steve Maggi
| @ September 1, 2008 8:09:30 PM CDT ( 0 comments ) |
Still digging out on your e-mails, corporate e-mails [ahh, Sallie Mae and the joys of their Bangalore call center] and I will get to you all. I totally forgot what a heck of a month August would be regarding 1998 [return to Austin], 1988 [my first Summer in Milwaukee] and 1983 [a frantic Summer that never let up until school]. Normally, it's a slow month, even most of Europe is on reduced hours.
Of course that hasn't stopped me from tinkering with my new toy…I mean tool, aka the iPhone. I learned from my friend Jeremy how to create ringtones via Garage Band. I already loved the application, just have been neglecting over the last couple years because I haven't had the time to make a new "song." However, making a ringtone is easier than falling off a log, or should it be a balance beam due to the Olympics being on TV right now?
So here's the deal. If you have a particular song [or sound effect] which you think represents you, tell me. You can e-mail it to me at my last name at me dot com [spelling it out like this prevents robots from spamming me]. Braver people can post theirs in the Comments section to share with others. Otherwise, I will pick out something that comes to my mind or flawed memories. Oh, and if you have a favorite picture or symbol helps; trust me, the iPhone does do the "thing with the picture" like the commercials.
Currently Somara's is Wolfmother's "Woman." I may change it eventually, it was something I wanted to use for a while back but the beta software I tried in the past never worked.
Jose has "Dude" by Owsley for old time's sake.
Nelson has a Star Trek sound effect because he is the biggest fan of the series I know. Mind you, he has a life. He may resemble Robert Picardo but he isn't a Trekkie who'd go around in public wearing a Starfleet uniform or rubber ears.
I excitedly await your selections…and Helen, you're my next "victim" for a ringtone.
Posted by: Steve Maggi
| @ August 12, 2008 9:52:49 AM CDT ( 0 comments ) |
Juan's Porsche 928 is the coolest car in the Apple parking lot.
We did a quick drive tearing ass up and down Parmer Lane for 10 minutes. Juan apologized for the traffic. It didn't bother me, sitting in it was a victory. Now I understand what Consumer Reports and car buffs mean by "how" an automobile handles. When he turned a corner at a good clip, it felt similar to being in an airplane as it banks quickly, for a commercial flight.
Not a bad start to the turning 40 celebrations. I can now say I've been in a Porsche, a Prius and a Delorean. Next car goals, a Ferrari and the original Batmobile.
Posted by: Steve Maggi
| @ July 22, 2008 10:50:00 PM CDT ( 0 comments ) |
It probably was an old Vaudeville gag the actors knew, like slipping on a banana peel. I imagine it was a smash on film over the stage because people in the cheap seats couldn't see it very well in a theater while a movie's close-up view made all spots more equal.
Fatty Arbuckle as the first "victim" seems appropriate. He was Hollywood's first fat guy star and they still tend to be the pranksters or butts of jokes: Chris Farley, John Belushi, John Candy, Oliver Hardy and Dom DeLuise.
Pie-in-the-face moments aren't very common anymore except in children's shows. I remember it was a frequent punch line on the Bozo show but Johnny Carson and his players could use it to great effect. Timing is everything. Now that I think of it, activists still attack their foes with them such as this infamous "attack" on Bill Gates a decade ago I remember commenting on a decade ago.
Posted by: Steve Maggi
| @ July 17, 2008 11:15:58 AM CDT ( 0 comments ) |
This month's colors were a really rushed decision because I couldn't think of anything interesting that happened to me five, ten, 15, 20, 25 or 30 years ago. Well, nothing worth mentioning these days. So I fell back anything related to April Fool's day, the Joker which is found in most modern card decks. I found a web site dedicated to displaying various styles and designs of the Joker. The red and black colors with some white were pretty common. As for Batman's nemesis, he prefers green and purple which makes him appear more like a Mardi Gras regular. Red and black are better since these are also the colors of Baloo the Jester from the Michael Moorcock novels and Loki of Norse deity of mischief, not yellow and green as many see him in Marvel comics.
I think jokes of many kinds will be the theme for this month because one can never have too much humor in this rather trying times.
Posted by: Steve Maggi
| @ April 2, 2008 11:40:32 AM CDT ( 0 comments ) |
I think I did a pretty good job with PhotoShop on the SpongeBob Valentine for my banner. Decided to go with the easy motif since I was stumped on anything else eventful in my life for this month plus I dislike both teams in Super Bowl XLII; is there a way to have both lose since their fans are very obnoxious types in most personal interactions?
What's with the "busy" thing in the banner? I'm not terribly busy but I feel February is, as far as months go: There's Presidents' Day [or Lincoln's birthday in my old home state, IL], Valentine's Day, Black History Month, Groundhog Day, events related to the Texas Independence War, Mardi Gras & Ash Wednesday happen frequently here, the NHL trade deadline, the NBA All-Star Game and recently, the Super Bowl. Then throw in a string of birthdays: a handful of Somara's relatives and people associated with my college days; and it's the anniversary to when I moved to Austin [14 years!]. Phew! It makes me wonder why February only receives 28 days. Even that Leap Day isn't helping this year.
Just something stupid to ponder and stir up a discussion with. Again, a quick clarification to let everyone know, I'm not so busy that I can't reply or something my Seventh Grade teacher Mrs. Schultz used to say people were practically bragging on how "busy" they were in Christmas cards or casual conversations. She was giving this litany in 1980. Little did she know how much crazier it would become thanks to all the technical and cultural developments which followed.
Posted by: Steve Maggi
| @ February 2, 2008 2:21:07 PM CST ( 0 comments ) |
Entertainment Weekly or as I prefer to call it, Entertain Me Weakly post their list of the Best & Worst Bond Girls in preparation of the upcoming movie, which may have the worst title yet. Sure, Webster’s can defend the use of the word but it would only be appropriate if we were living in then Enlightenment because physicists have taken it over.
Anyway, I can agree on the absolute worst Bond girl yet Diana Rigg will always be the best, she probably lost points on being in the crummy George Lazenby outing.
Posted by: Steve Maggi
| @ January 30, 2008 6:45:22 PM CST ( 0 comments ) |
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