Seriously??

wOOt? Word of the year? Give me "quixotic" any day. But at least it made me think of Tag Team.

I'm Waiting for The Day

Are you waiting for the day when I blog again? Then you are in luck.

A couple of TV ads grabbed my attention in the past day or two, one I like OK and the other really bugs me. The OK one is the Burger King campaign where they take away the Whopper for a day and film customer's reactions hidden camera style. People get pretty worked up! About a burger. I like that BK does interesting, kinda edgy campaigns like the weird plastic King and the Subvervient Chicken. But as a former BK employee, I feel bad for the folks working in the restaurants that had to take the abuse. Maybe they were actors. It also got me thinking about a library version, like take away the Internet for a day. Or make people pay to check out books. Or have their questions answered. Might be a good awareness tool. Or just a train wreck.

The one that really bugs me is the US Celluar ad with the young woman who has just gone off to college and is all happy that the employee at the cell phone store is nice enough to help her Dad with the bills. I didn't catch it the first couple of times, but the implication is that Dad is functionally illiterate. And daughter's solution is to rely on a semi-off-brand cell phone store employee to read his mail to him! There are adult literacy classes @ your library(r) you could point Dad to. Or some other positive community-based individual improvement resource. Anything other than just letting Dad stay illiterate and taking his bills to a cell phone store! While he is sending her off to college. Geez. Bring back Joan Cusak, I beg of you.

This week's consumable is Glenmorangie Ten Year. I'm not a big Scotch (or whiskey in general) drinker, but I had a glass when I was hanging out with my friend John the other night at my current favorite bar in the universe, the Duke of Perth. It was the perfect mix of smooth and warm and tasty. If you're looking for a non-beer compliment to an evening of excellent, wide ranging conversation, you could certainly do a lot worse.

Speaking of perfect compliments to a time or mood, a couple of weeks ago I was in a semi-bad mood so I broke down an ordered a 180 gram vinyl copy of Pet Sounds by the Beach Boys. As far as I know it's not available on vinyl domestically, and is always quite pricey when I see it in stores. But I didn't pay toooo much on ebay for it. And I'm glad I did because it was waiting for me last Friday at the end of another semi-bad day, or a day I wasn't 100% satisfied with. I can't quite put my finger on why (or maybe I'm just not going to tell you, gentle reader) but listening to that music was exactly the right thing at the right time. And made everything alright. It really is one of the best collections of songs ever. Great lyrics, amazing orchestration. Sunny and moody at the same time. But also smooth and tasty, like a good Scotch with a good friend in the best bar in Chicago.

Surly Bender Phonebooth

No, I didn't forget your weekly consumables post. Just didn't want to include it in the Twitter Is Like... post.

This week I went on a Surly Bender. Literally and figuratively. There's a ton of new stuff on the menu at my local Belgian beer watering hole. One of which is called Surly Bender. Or the brewery is Surly, from Minnesota, and the beer is Bender. It is a brown ale/ porter/ APA hybrid with a tons of malty flavor. And is yummy. Very, very drinkable and has a low ABV even. Nice. And if you drink it when you're still somewhat sick and in a terrible mood you can text your friends that you are on a surly bender and convince them come hang out with you.

Fortunately for my week of being sick, I received a nice order of records from Goner. Including the new album my ATL acquaintances The Carbonas. It is the best thing they've recorded yet, and that includes some pretty monster 7 inches. Great songs, nice recording by Dave, short, sweet, and excellent. I'd heard all of the songs many times at their live shows when I lived in Atlanta, but I'm psyched to have "Phonebooth" an "Didn't Tell You A Lie" on the vinyl. Very nice melodic punk to play too loud when you come home from a surly bender.

Twitter Is Like...

On Thursday, December 4 a little meme broke out on Twitter where people posted "Twitter is like..." thoughts. Here are as many of them as I could find. Names have been removed to protect the innocent. Sorry for the delay in posting, I've been sick with The Plague. Or whatever most cases of the plague actually were. I can't remember if that was a real conversation or an episode of House. But I have the real convo option narrowed to two parties. Anyway...

Twitter is like drunk sex w/ a friend: not nearly as intimate as you expected it to be, but still sexy & satisfying.

Twitter is likie drinks with @dwfree - makes you feel all nice and warm inside. {Awwww!}

Twitter is like sucking out my braaains...

Twitter is like an inside joke: no one gets why you do it unless they do it.

Twitter is like compressed infobursts, effin ay!

Twitter is like.... so. y'know. ... What was I doing?

Twitter is like sex without a condom. Sure it's fun, but you will probably regret it later.

Twitter is like crack for procrastinators.

Twitter is like cheating on your blog.

Twitter is like John Blyberg - You don't like it until you try it.

Twitter is like your drunk uncle at Christmas, sometimes you want the madness to stop, but you still wanna see where it's going.

Twitter is also like Paris Hilton: slutty and unfortunate.

Twitter is like a crack addiction without all the mugging, prostitution, and running from the cops.

Twitter is like a celestial bulletin board.

Twitter is like whippits.

Twitter is like ADD without the Ritalin.

Twitter is like drunk sex with @Joshuaneff.

Twitter is like being stuck in a massive kaleidoscope- ooh something shiny!

Twitter is like being in a room with your "friends", saying something really loud, and hoping that someone hears you.

twitter is, today at least, like my own personal weather forecaster!

Twitter is like having 10 IM windows open at once.

OMG! Twitter is like, totally bitchin', ya know?

Twitter is like english101 gone bad

Twitter is, like, another reason I, like, totally, looove innovation

Twitter is like a party in my phone!

Twitter is, like, totally awesome. (ok really i'm done. lunch over)

Twitter is quotidian packet hops.

Twitter is like being griefed in Second Life, but with fewer flying penises

(Twitter is instant gratification.)

France unveils anti-piracy plan (BBS News)

I missed this last week, but the French government has stepped into the music "piracy" fracas by creating an agency to monitor file sharing.

Net firms will monitor what their customers are doing and pass on information about persistent pirates to the new independent body. Those identified will get a warning and then be threatened with either being cut off or suspended if they do not stop illegal file-sharing. French President Nicolas Sarkozy said the deal was a "decisive moment for the future of a civilised internet".

Um, OK, French president. Whatever you say. Sure, it's just France, but any government stepping into the "piracy" monitoring business is disturbing. On a few levels.

There was an interesting new piece on France and the RIAA on this week's Sound Opinions on Chicago Public Radio today.