There are many great mysteries of life.
One of them is: "Was that beetle in the washing machine before I put my clothes in it, or was it in my clothes to begin with?"
Another one is: "Was there more than one, and if so, will I find it/them when I remove my clothes from the dryer?"
There is much meditation on these questions happening in Tibet, I am sure.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Classic stuff
YouTube now has sponsored streaming of classic TV shows (and some rather recent).
For example, The Jack Benny Program, which features Mel Blanc as one of the regular cast.
For example, The Jack Benny Program, which features Mel Blanc as one of the regular cast.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Behold, my player piano!
I got my player piano sorta working again.
Here it is playing the newest roll in my collection, with some old friends who came out to listen after more than a dozen years of hiding in boxes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPWKuAklpew
Here it is playing the newest roll in my collection, with some old friends who came out to listen after more than a dozen years of hiding in boxes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPWKuAklpew
Saturday, March 28, 2009
License plate ponderings
I was thinking it might be fun to have a personalized license plate. In Nevada, a motorcycle plate carries a maximum of six characters.
Predictably, "KEEPER" is not available ("KIIPAA" is...).
Humorously, "CALIF" is available.
So what else is available, of toon or ragtime interest? Here are some:
YAKKO (WAKKO and DOT are not)
WARNER
DR SNS
ZORT (POIT and NARF are not, but, for a car, "HA NARF" is, as is "NARFOLA" and "NARFADA")
EGAD (I have said "egad" since long before Animaniacs!)
BRAIN
AYPWIP ("Are You Pondering What I'm Pondering?")
RAGGER
RAGTME (for a car, RAGTIME is not available)
RAG IT
RAGPNO
FRKAZD
DARN (don't DARN the luck! it's available!)
PU (my first online nickname; it's what I put on videogame high scores)
NO CAR (I like that!)
Although a straight number can't be used, "8T8" is available to make my lucky number of eighty-eight.
In case you're wondering, both "SKIPPY" and "SLAPPY" are not available. Neither is "SPEW"!
For a car, "CAVEGUY" is available. How sublime.
For a car, "BALONEY" is available! Yum yum doodle dum!
For a car, "RENHOEK" is available, you eediot!
Predictably, "KEEPER" is not available ("KIIPAA" is...).
Humorously, "CALIF" is available.
So what else is available, of toon or ragtime interest? Here are some:
YAKKO (WAKKO and DOT are not)
WARNER
DR SNS
ZORT (POIT and NARF are not, but, for a car, "HA NARF" is, as is "NARFOLA" and "NARFADA")
EGAD (I have said "egad" since long before Animaniacs!)
BRAIN
AYPWIP ("Are You Pondering What I'm Pondering?")
RAGGER
RAGTME (for a car, RAGTIME is not available)
RAG IT
RAGPNO
FRKAZD
DARN (don't DARN the luck! it's available!)
PU (my first online nickname; it's what I put on videogame high scores)
NO CAR (I like that!)
Although a straight number can't be used, "8T8" is available to make my lucky number of eighty-eight.
In case you're wondering, both "SKIPPY" and "SLAPPY" are not available. Neither is "SPEW"!
For a car, "CAVEGUY" is available. How sublime.
For a car, "BALONEY" is available! Yum yum doodle dum!
For a car, "RENHOEK" is available, you eediot!
Monday, March 23, 2009
PC up and running in Reno
But brrrr it's cold. I think they forgot to put insulation under the floor in my room, 'cause the floor here is much much colder than any other part of the house.
I rode my motorcycle in a snowstorm for the first time, yesterday. Whee!
I'll put together a video of clips I shot during the move and my first day here. (I didn't start recording until we hit snow on the Sierras, though.) I should be able to slap 'em together and post it tonight, so you'll see it on the right side of this blog in the "Recently Uploaded Videos" bar.
More details about my first day are on my LiveJournal.
I rode my motorcycle in a snowstorm for the first time, yesterday. Whee!
I'll put together a video of clips I shot during the move and my first day here. (I didn't start recording until we hit snow on the Sierras, though.) I should be able to slap 'em together and post it tonight, so you'll see it on the right side of this blog in the "Recently Uploaded Videos" bar.
More details about my first day are on my LiveJournal.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Keeperdad!
Before I move to Nevada this weekend, I made sure to pay a visit to my
72-year-old father. It is from him that I got my sense of humor.
He agreed to be interviewed on camera, to tell some of his old stories. People have told him that he should have written a book about his life experiences (alas, spinal meningitis as a child erased his language skills and he never regained full literacy). This is the next best thing.
The first video just talks about growing up during World War II. It isn't as interesting as some of the later videos, but it's the start, so ... there it is.
Future part topics:
72-year-old father. It is from him that I got my sense of humor.
He agreed to be interviewed on camera, to tell some of his old stories. People have told him that he should have written a book about his life experiences (alas, spinal meningitis as a child erased his language skills and he never regained full literacy). This is the next best thing.
The first video just talks about growing up during World War II. It isn't as interesting as some of the later videos, but it's the start, so ... there it is.
Future part topics:
- Playing stickball as a kid; getting Babe Ruth's autograph; learning how to hit from Roger Maris; ditching school to see games; how he was nearly drafted by the Yankees; Casey Stengel
- Making deliveries for Alfred Hitchcock
- Meeting Sophie Tucker
- Pranks he inspired, and pranks he did as a kid; beating the odds set by doctors
- More pranks as a kid; being a cross-country trucker; trucker story
- His big accident, and the woman who saved his life; surviving downhill with no brakes in a tanker carrying 8600 gallons of fuel; more trucking stories
- Making deliveries for "the family"
- Cars; driving in every state but Hawaii
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Karaoke time!
You know you want to...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjKPDTNba2g
I had made the music in late 2007 for some anime cosplayers who wanted to do a Yakko's World parody and asked me if I could make the Yakko's World music without Yakko's voice.
Now to see who adds their own voice tracks!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjKPDTNba2g
I had made the music in late 2007 for some anime cosplayers who wanted to do a Yakko's World parody and asked me if I could make the Yakko's World music without Yakko's voice.
Now to see who adds their own voice tracks!
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Ragtime on the Silver Screen?
If these filmmakers have their wish.
http://www.theentertainersmovie.com
It's an in-production feature-length documentary about the annual Old-Time Piano Playing Competition held every Memorial Day weekend in Peoria, Ill., and about the struggles to get new blood interested in ragtime.
Some folks I know are seen performing in it.
http://www.theentertainersmovie.com
It's an in-production feature-length documentary about the annual Old-Time Piano Playing Competition held every Memorial Day weekend in Peoria, Ill., and about the struggles to get new blood interested in ragtime.
Some folks I know are seen performing in it.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Baby, You Don't Belong
There are zillions of movie trailers posted all over the internet. The movie studios don't seem to have a problem with this, so it was that I posted the Japanese trailer to Disney's Lilo & Stitch online when it had disappeared from Disney's Japanese site.
It makes for interesting academic study of the vastly different approach to the movie used by the Japanese ("One lonely girl; one lonely alien" who form a friendship) compared to the U.S. approach ("There's one in every family" wild untamed monster), and an example of the different way that trailers are made in general, e.g., characters doing their own voiceover bits, and use of an "image song" cross-promotion.
But now that trailer has been taken down because of a copyright claim by Warner Music Group. Yes, a Disney trailer, taken down by Warner.
This is because of the "image song". Disney commissioned WMG to produce an "image song" for Lilo & Stitch. An excerpt of it -- Baby, You Belong by Faith Hill -- is included in the trailer. Indeed, the trailer was the song's world premiere. This is how the business of "image songs" works. They're inspired by the movies, then included in trailers with the information written on the screen of the artist and album name, and also are promoted on web sites along with the movie. And it goes both ways; e.g., the music video for this song includes clips from the movie.
So it seems that WMG doesn't know that the excerpt of the song is in the trailer because they put it there. It plays for all of five seconds (enough to hear "Baby, you belong / Baby, you belong") toward the end of the trailer before it fades into the background and Japanese voiceovers go on top of the rest of the chorus.
Although there are hundreds of movie-trailer sites online, I can't seem to find any information on how or if they got permission to display the movie trailers. It might just be a case of "turning a blind eye", which means I can't go back to YouTube and point out that Disney allows the trailer to be posted. I could theoretically protest the claim by pointing out that WMG licensed the song to be put into this trailer, but as I don't own the trailer, I'm not sure that would help much.
So I might have to let the trailer die (which would be unfortunate for the academic comparison reasons stated above), or I can replace the audio on it with random music YouTube allows, and put up a big Annotation on the video explaining that WMG was so stupid that they don't know about their own marketing. I could still potentially put up Annotations that present the dialog in the trailer (I'd have to work on transcribing some of the Japanese; I can understand parts of it already), even without the audio... and quietly offer the original audio to those who ask.
It's really a shame that something like this gets taken down, yet people get away with posting full episodes of TV shows that are out on DVD, and even full extras from DVDs. I really hate seeing that stuff online, because it's perfectly available for sale. Excerpts, fair enough, but not the whole shebang. I keep getting asked if the Animaniacs "deleted scenes" that I have posted are on the DVDs. Duh, no. If they were, I wouldn't have posted them!
It makes for interesting academic study of the vastly different approach to the movie used by the Japanese ("One lonely girl; one lonely alien" who form a friendship) compared to the U.S. approach ("There's one in every family" wild untamed monster), and an example of the different way that trailers are made in general, e.g., characters doing their own voiceover bits, and use of an "image song" cross-promotion.
But now that trailer has been taken down because of a copyright claim by Warner Music Group. Yes, a Disney trailer, taken down by Warner.
This is because of the "image song". Disney commissioned WMG to produce an "image song" for Lilo & Stitch. An excerpt of it -- Baby, You Belong by Faith Hill -- is included in the trailer. Indeed, the trailer was the song's world premiere. This is how the business of "image songs" works. They're inspired by the movies, then included in trailers with the information written on the screen of the artist and album name, and also are promoted on web sites along with the movie. And it goes both ways; e.g., the music video for this song includes clips from the movie.
So it seems that WMG doesn't know that the excerpt of the song is in the trailer because they put it there. It plays for all of five seconds (enough to hear "Baby, you belong / Baby, you belong") toward the end of the trailer before it fades into the background and Japanese voiceovers go on top of the rest of the chorus.
Although there are hundreds of movie-trailer sites online, I can't seem to find any information on how or if they got permission to display the movie trailers. It might just be a case of "turning a blind eye", which means I can't go back to YouTube and point out that Disney allows the trailer to be posted. I could theoretically protest the claim by pointing out that WMG licensed the song to be put into this trailer, but as I don't own the trailer, I'm not sure that would help much.
So I might have to let the trailer die (which would be unfortunate for the academic comparison reasons stated above), or I can replace the audio on it with random music YouTube allows, and put up a big Annotation on the video explaining that WMG was so stupid that they don't know about their own marketing. I could still potentially put up Annotations that present the dialog in the trailer (I'd have to work on transcribing some of the Japanese; I can understand parts of it already), even without the audio... and quietly offer the original audio to those who ask.
It's really a shame that something like this gets taken down, yet people get away with posting full episodes of TV shows that are out on DVD, and even full extras from DVDs. I really hate seeing that stuff online, because it's perfectly available for sale. Excerpts, fair enough, but not the whole shebang. I keep getting asked if the Animaniacs "deleted scenes" that I have posted are on the DVDs. Duh, no. If they were, I wouldn't have posted them!
Thursday, January 22, 2009
A New Low
Our company sells products through our web site, but we also accept purchase orders on 30-day credit terms from companies if the order value is over $1000. Anything lower than that must be pre-paid by using our web site or sending a check or bank wire, because we just don't have the manpower to go chasing after our money constantly when people don't pay up after 30 days.
Yet occasionally, companies do fax us POs for under the $1000 minimum.
Today, a company sent a fax with a purchase order expecting 30-day credit terms on a purchase of two small ribbon cables totaling $3.80.
Sorry -- you expect us to print two extra copies of the invoice and mail them to you, wait for your check, then spend even more postage to mail that $3.80 check to our bank? I don't jolly well think so.
We didn't even call them to tell them to place the order on our web site; the amount of time it would take to pick up the phone and call them is worth more payroll than that!
And now... the saga of "Duh, Hey, Louie!" Better known as DHL.
As you may not know, DHL, just a couple years after buying out Airborne Express to get into the U.S. domestic shipping market, has now left the U.S. domestic shipping market with an announcement that they "are still committed to our U.S. customers" -- just for international shipping.
One of our vendors in Austria shipped some inventory recently to our location in California. When it didn't turn up for a while, we checked with DHL. "Oh whoops. Your package was mistakenly shipped to Philadelphia. We'll get that sorted right away."
Next day, it did not turn up. We checked with DHL again. The package was now in New York City. "Oh whoops again. We'll definitely fix it this time. It'll go on the next plane, we promise!"
And so it did -- only, the next plane was not going to California; it was going to the Kingdom of Bahrain.
In the immortal words of Steven Pudner, "How could they get that wrong??"
Yet occasionally, companies do fax us POs for under the $1000 minimum.
Today, a company sent a fax with a purchase order expecting 30-day credit terms on a purchase of two small ribbon cables totaling $3.80.
Sorry -- you expect us to print two extra copies of the invoice and mail them to you, wait for your check, then spend even more postage to mail that $3.80 check to our bank? I don't jolly well think so.
We didn't even call them to tell them to place the order on our web site; the amount of time it would take to pick up the phone and call them is worth more payroll than that!
And now... the saga of "Duh, Hey, Louie!" Better known as DHL.
As you may not know, DHL, just a couple years after buying out Airborne Express to get into the U.S. domestic shipping market, has now left the U.S. domestic shipping market with an announcement that they "are still committed to our U.S. customers" -- just for international shipping.
One of our vendors in Austria shipped some inventory recently to our location in California. When it didn't turn up for a while, we checked with DHL. "Oh whoops. Your package was mistakenly shipped to Philadelphia. We'll get that sorted right away."
Next day, it did not turn up. We checked with DHL again. The package was now in New York City. "Oh whoops again. We'll definitely fix it this time. It'll go on the next plane, we promise!"
And so it did -- only, the next plane was not going to California; it was going to the Kingdom of Bahrain.
In the immortal words of Steven Pudner, "How could they get that wrong??"
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