10/27 to 11/03

november 3, 1:09 am
A few months ago, I started listening to Howard Stern every morning, mostly to figure out what the hell the attraction was. And, for some reason I still can't intelligently articulate, Stern's sexist schtick was always funny, smart and insightful. Now we all know he's separating from the wife he seemed so faithful to. Was it all an act? Frank Ahrens from the W.Post dissects these "Split Decisions on Howard Stern."

I would love to be known as a survivor (and a millionaire). That's why today I printed up the application for CBS' upcoming "you're marooned on an island with a bunch of strangers" program. The producers have extended the deadline for submissions until Dec. 10. I've given up, though. It says you must be in "excellent physical and mental health." Ah, well. Maybe Real World New Orleans is for me.

You play music on RealJukebox and RealNetworks collects all kinds of information on you. That's so uncool! So they stopped. But these issues of digital privacy are good to be familiar with if you're a regular Web player.

"American Movie" is a documentary about a documentary-in-the-making (and it has a cool website). It's also "a hilarious, heartfelt look at grass-roots filmmaking." This article is from Sunday's NYTimes. But it's worth your time to read because this film will soon generate a lot of talk in your neighborhood. I promise.

Listen to the new R.E.M. song. (thanks Whit!) On that musical note, music365.com knows what they're talking about.

Are you kidding? Gentlehints.com. It might be easier to let Dr. Weil help with that body odor problem.
november 2, 2:15 am
If you are a film lover, and I should hope you are, become a fan of Roger Ebert's Great Movies column. Twice a month, the Chicago Sun-Times critic (also known as the fat half of Siskel & Ebert fame) reviews a classic film as if he was watching it for the first time. Read his introduction first, because he eloquently explains his goal: "One of the gifts one movie lover can give another is the title of a wonderful film they have not yet discovered." Some of Ebert's so-called classic movies may be hard to get through (I have fallen asleep several times during a screening of some oh-so arty foreign film on the list), but the pay-off is dropping a line about Hiroshi Teshigahara's use of sand imagery in "Woman of the Dunes" at your next pretentious party. Check out: "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial," "La Dolce Vita" and "A Hard Day's Night" - which should be in theaters soon with an updated soundtrack. Cheeky!
november 1, 1:42 am
Yes, I need to archive this crap I write. Yes, I'll do it one day. Hopefully soon.

Everyone loves online photo galleries, right? You can channel so much energy into click-click-clicking your mouse as pretty pictures shuffle past your glazed eyeballs. The NYTimes.com just launched a new gallery featuring the work of Annie Leibovitz. There are some exceptional photos here from her new exhibit "Women." I especially like the Jerry Hall portrait. Definitely more than worth a click-through. (Thanks to Heather Moore for pointing it out . . . she works there, you know.)

Sites that require lots of time: atomfilms.com and ifilm.com. Both give you a more-than-necessary collection of short films to download and watch. On a similar waste-time-at-work note, have I talked about spinthebottle.com yet? It's a site run by the Pop-Up Video people. If that's not enough to entice you into this world of sarcastic put-downs, what if I say you can a.) watch new pop-up videos b.) scan a schedule of upcoming "pops," including a search-by-artist feature c.) giggle at the Pop of the Day (a concise & blasphemous take on the latest news).

Golly gee it's NOVEMBER. Where are your children?
october 29, 11:35 am
I have nothing, NOTHING to report. So sue me. *mmmmmwha!*
october 28, 2:39 am
My head aches and my heart breaks that I cannot bring you much more than:

The Mojave Desert phone booth has been stolen! I just found out about this particular communications phenomenon a few weeks ago: 15 miles off the one lone interstate through the circus sands stands a PHONE BOOTH. Its mysterious affairs are recorded on this site. I read up about it and started calling (760) 733-9969. It was always busy! But once, oh yes ONCE I got through. Now it is no longer. Thanks to the Yuppie Slayer for bringing this sad sad news to my dark dark world.

Snortals? Coming soon. Wired.com wrote about this "Web product that makes scents" a week ago. And this prompted USA TODAY's Kevin Maney to sniff around a bit: "Do you get the scents the Internet is going to the dogs?"

Found fun fact: Almost half of all Net users will have a personal Web site by the spring, according to an NPD Online Research survey.

Does your doggy like Frisbees? Join the club. (p.s. this is my dad's favorite site)
october 27, 2:04 am
Has everyone tried google.com yet? You want to know why you should? Well! The company's response is good enough: "Google is designed to impose order on information chaos." And that's certainly what this whole World Wide Web thing has become. But as a search engine, I think google makes a very worthwhile contribution. Here's a sample of what I discovered today:
�My name brings up two (really boring) papers I co-wrote for a Texts and Contexts class
�Ryan Cormier is quoted in an article with the headline "University of Delaware now calls Mommy when you get drunk"
�Catherine Hopkinson is immortalized for her contribution to a certain interactive story for a major online newspaper
�Bill Werde likes to post on the Acid Jazz newsgroup
�Kimberly Fenn was Sports Campus Rider of the Week
�Whitney Matheson wrote zillions of columns for The Daily Beacon. Sample "Fun-shaped foods provide peace, tranquility," be reassured that "even cheerful people get the blues sometimes," discover why books are better than the movies

I enjoyed this U.S. News article about why it pays to quit and other interesting tidbits for the young adult trapped in the inevitable "what the hell am I doing" conundrum

Lord! Ronsangels.com. Certainly worth discussing. Here's the Post's take on it.

I suppose we must all conjure up some kind of Halloween costume. Sandy Duraes, manager of a theater-arts store, had some advice: "You can never go wrong with Elvis; a classic vampire is always in as is any character from "The Wizard of Oz." If you're planning on boogeying the night away, you'll have more fun in a '50s outfit than in full Elizabethan regalia." Thanks Sandy! Or maybe I'll just peruse this guide to modern Wicca, and read the latest edition of The Witches' Voice to tap into some inner, scary resource.

Today is Roberto Benigni's 47th birthday. Write him a message in Italian. Perch� non?
Hosted by www.Geocities.ws

1