new for the ears and the toes

Been having a hard time with descriptions... trying to pick out words that describe well (but not tritely or predictably) this band I saw Wednesday at TC's for She Bang night... The Shondes The best I can come up with? I felt ridden hard and put away wet.

Sure, the music reviewers have compared them to Sleater-Kinney and Rasputina, and while they've got hints of those, (if Sleater-Kinney had richer instrumentation, if Rasputina didn't have the goth/vintage aesthetics) they're definitely themselves.

Bassist/frontwoman Solomon has a huuuge voice - a big hand that grabbed on and shoved into my head in about 3 seconds. Punchy, full... niiice.

Georgina (who speaks from the experience of having been to lots and lots and lots of shows) commented "she sounds great, but there's no way she can keep that up the entire set." ... which Solomon then went and did, and then some. Sure, it was a school night and not a long set, but .... damn.

I could say more here gushing on and on, but I'll just stop after saying that they're my latest most delicious new ear thing. Check 'em out... they have two songs on their myspace page. "Let's Go" is not exactly they best example - the live show and the CD are better represented by "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow".

Better yet, go see 'em live. In St. Paul, MN this Sunday, Dec. 2 and in Portland, OR Dec. 8 next weekend.

"everything?" "Everything." - redux (amended)

There a saying out in The Land - one I generally ascribe to: "Everything Is Better With Bacon - Including Bacon." I've espoused the merits and pleasure of bacon before, and I'll do it again...

For my birthday celebration recently, Ypsipearl got me (along with the Stone 11th Anniversary Ale) a Vosges gourmet chocolate bar. A BACON chocolate bar. I'd been holding off for just the right opportunity to crack it open and have some nibblin's, and that day was today. And no, I have no idea why I held off this long.

Well, the verdict is in: everything IS better with bacon. Including chocolate. Granted, some of the delightful pleasure has to do with the bonus inclusion of some smoke-flavored salt in the chocolate, but I'll give it an unrestrained thumbs-up in general.

As for the Stone 11th Anniversary Ale, it's big, roasty, a little sweet, and with a medium linger. Leans towards a Scotch Ale on the nose and tongue but not as sweet, tangy like a black beer, and a little heady. Good thing I don't need my car keys to get to my couch tonight.

... mmm, nummers.

Everything Better With Bacon Amendment (EBWBA) - talking with Daye at Punkin Fest, the notion of a bacon Immersion Garnish in a cocktail might not be the best idea. The bacon would probably get soggy and the salt would disappear. But if the bacon isn't IN the cocktail, maybe just a twist on the rim or something, then it would be OK... right?

driving while _____ing

Came across this tidbit, which had a couple thought nuggets associated...
- It's not the hands that are to blame when drivers crash/wreck/kill because they were on the phone. It's that they are distracted from the spatial reasoning required to pilot a vehicle because they are engaging the verbal centers of their brain. The distraction is because of the conflict in attention, not because their hands are occupied. And if you think it's easy to synthesize motor skills and language centers, try rubbing belly/patting head while simultaneously memorizing a few sentences of written text. You can do one or the other effectively, but both of them only poorly.
-The study is inherently flawed... they were studying the first driver stopped at a line of cars at an intersection. Only the first one. Stopped. At an intersection. If you want to see what people are doing while driving, it should be...(wait for it...) ... While They Are Driving. [sheesh] You know... like in the middle of the block. Of course people unwrap their burgers or dial their phones or sort their playlists when they get to a stop light. They aren't driving. They're stopped.
- A good point or two... that hands-free kits aren't the solution to anything (other than to boost flagging sales of hands-free kits). They free up your hands so you can drive, talk on the phone, masturbate AND eat at the same time.

Been away a while with the Cranksgiving, but now that's over. Back to the regular shenanigans. Check out xkcd:

gushing over _____ today

I'm not much of a photo/graphic manipulator/maker myself, but I do always like to keep my eye out for good tools.

Sometime you want photo tweaking, sometime you want vector graphics creation, sometimes you want a universal translator to turn those EPS files into JPGs. There's times when you want CAD-like functionality without the CAD overhead. Times when MS Paint just doesn't do the trick. Times when iPhoto sucks (almost all the time).

Ladies and Gentlemen, may I recommend... The GIMP.

I've known about it for a while, but haven't yet had to reason/opportunity to play with it. While the interface is a little unfamiliar and overall conceptual structure takes a little adjusting to, it's a fantastic piece of software. Especially when you consider that it's free. Yes, Free. No guilty complex about that copy of PhotoShop that you "borrowed" from the office or "are evaluating" way past the trial period. It's got tons of capabilities, and it's cross-platform and multi-lingual, so Mac/Windows/Linux zealots don't have anything to bitch about. The UI layout is consistent across OSes (unlike Mac apps on Win or Win apps on Mac).

I'm not going to lie to you... in order to do even medium-complexity stuff, you have to get used to the concepts of layers, paths, channels, and selection masks, which can be a little strange. But once you're beyond that, it's pretty sweet. Keyboard shortcuts, scripting features... etc. etc. I could go on, but you should give it a try yourself.

busy boy

Haven't been posting much lately - been spending that time working on getting Cranksgiving organized. I'll be sure to rant and blather more soon, mmmkay?

Cranksgiving Ann Arbor

Alrightey folks, it's ON.

Come one, come all to Cranksgiving... bring your bike, a bag, some cash, and a lock (helmet be a good idea too) and come on out.

Rain/shine/snow there'll be prizes in all sorts of categories and probably some sort of raffle - everyone has a chance at winnin's.

how sadly ironic

I help out with a local volunteer organization called Neighborhood Senior Services. The crux of the organization is to have volunteers to help seniors who live in their own homes with minor tasks (grocery shopping, help around the house, etc.) and in the case of those who are single, widowed, widowers, or otherwise living alone, provide some companionship in the form of coming by for an occassional visit. Basically, a Senior Citizen version of Big Brother/Big Sister.

So the irony here... I'm taking this very nice lady to the eye doctor for outpatient laser surgery (15 minute procedure... for surgery! wacky.) I wheel her into the opthamology office, take her up to the desk, and after talking with the receptionist, she's handed the check-in paperwork that has medical release blahblahblah at the bottom in fine print.

WTF? This lady who is obviously 80+ years old, with imperfect eyesight, who IS HERE FOR SURGERY TO IMPROVE HER VISION, is supposed to be able to read the fine print? Are you kidding me?

Among my many gripes with our health care system is the clickwrap (or contract of adhesion) that applies to the fine print. You agree to give up all claims of liability, and permit the health care megaplex to do whatever they want with your personal information, or else they won't touch you with a ten foot pole. Same goes for credit card companies, cell phone service providers, ISPs (you know, those "addendums" you get in the mail that change the terms and conditions of your service plan every month).

But seriously, folks... I can understand when people who are able to read the fine print choose not to be bothered by it, but giving fine print to a woman whose vision is poor and is seeking surgery to correct it? And expecting her to just sign it? She signed it, but obviously had no idea what it read.

Does this bother anyone else? It bugs me, that's for sure.