Helvetica the typeface was created in 1957 from sheer awesome.  In fact, it contained so much awesome that it was used on subway signs, in corporate logos, on television, in the Mac and iPod GUIs, and even on the goddamn Space Shuttle!  In 2007, to celebrate the font's 50th anniversary, Helvetica the documentary was released to attempt to explain its awesomeness.  The film opened to overwhelmingly positive reviews, and spawned a related exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art entitled "50 Years of Helvetica" that showed how one minimalist typeface was able to permeate life on this earth.  Whew.  That's a lot of responsibility for one little font.

Labels: gdhu, internet, media, personal, site

Everyone who knows me knows I am super excited about the new Twins ballpark.  So much so, in fact, that I track pretty much anything I can regarding it: the webcam, construction galleries, etc. I even track down news articles from the Star Tribune. Which is why I read an article concerning the vendor selected for the new concessions. My favorite part? (emphasis mine):

Labels: internet, local, twins

This is the first entry to ES.com that I'm posting with the iPod touch so bear with me if I make any mistakes...

Yesterday being April Fools Day, the internet was all atwitter with random-ass pranks. Some of them were lame: MacUser, one of my favorite Apple blogs, chimed in with a dizzying array of occasionally-funny news stories. But the prank I found most amusing came from Woot. On top of it being 2-for-Tuesday, they had a woot-off! Only, everytime an item sold it was replaced by an identical item. Pure hilarity.

The real April fool was on us though because this snow is goddamn ridiculous. On top of that, the wet snow pack is gonna make it almost impossible to reach 55 this weekend like it was supposed to before the snow fell. DAMN IT. Oh well, welcome to Minnesota, guys.

[photo credit: houseofglass' Flickr]

now playing on iPod: Josh Kelley "Small Town Boy"

Labels: internet, local, mac, weather

... or at least that's what the calendar says.

I swear, sometimes spring in Minnesota feels like karmic retribution for the awesome summer and autumn we usually get. Or maybe I've just been spoiled by the past few springs. Every day, when I log on to weather.com, I'm greeted by the same dismal forecast: clouds and a high of 40° with a chance of snow showers. Then, I click on the ten day forecast and see the high bounce between like 35 and 41 for the rest of the week. When does this shit stop? Alls I want is a chance to not have to wear my pea coat everywhere, and maybe break out the flip flops. Doesn't seem like too much to ask.

In site-related news, I am trying to tweak things in the design to allow my recently-created Twitter account to have a place on the page. You know, right below the "about me" box. And another thing: you may have noticed a Google AdSense box on my page. That's not a mistake; I'm seeing if there is money to be made here. I'm also going to be putting in direct links to the iTunes Music Store where I log my currently playing song. So, if you approve of the website and would like to help me out a bit, think about clicking through here before buying stuff from the iTMS.

Thanks, dudes.

Your pal,
Ehren

now playing on iPod: Matt Nathanson "Angel"

Labels: internet, personal, site, weather

ever since the venerable Blogwise bit the dust, I've been without a blogrolling service. today, to hopefully increase my blog's visibility, I registered at Technorati. also, nowe that I have the new design in place I can update with some frequency again, and I'll kick it off with a grip of concert reviews starting with Thursday's show at the Fineline featuring Mandy Moore and Ben Lee.

as always, comments and suggestions are more than welcome.

now playing on iPod: John Mayer 'Wheel'

Labels: internet, local, media, personal, site, web2.0

this seriously makes me sad. the stuff at the top is supposed to be important and largely influence the stuff at the bottom. and people wonder why I get discouraged

now playing on iTunes: John Mayer 'Victoria'

Labels: internet, personal, web2.0

OH MY GOD EHREN POSTED TO HIS WEBSITE

no I haven't forgotten this site, though it seems like it. I've just been busy with you know, life. it's been blowing up lately and for the first time in quite awhile I feel like I'm in just this awesome place where everything seems to be coming together, and I'm trying to not do a lot to disrupt that flow. except... Blogger sortof did that for me by making me sign in to extra shits to access my content. but hey, that is the way the mop flops. I'm gonna try to start posting on a weekly basis from here on out, because while my old pre-laziness pace wasn't exactly frenetic, it was enough to make this whole website thing feel like a chore, and I really really don't want that to happen again. so stay close, keep on clickin' and I'll do the best damn job I can to entertain everyone out there.

Happy New Year, guys.

sincerely, Ehren A. Stemme

now playing on iTunes: John Mayer 'Covered in Rain'

Labels: internet, personal, site

Minneapolis mother jailed for leaving son, 5, in hot car (Star Tribune)

so this woman wants to go out and celebrate her birthday with her friends, but can't find a babysitter. of course the logical thing to do is leave your preschool age child in a car with a glass of water for hours on end on one of the hottest days in recent memory while you go get sloshed in a hick dive. this also means that she'd drive home, and my money's against her being responsible with her drinking so she won't be impaired by alcohol on the way home. BRILLIANT

this is the maturation of society? Christ.

now playing on iTunes/iPod: silence

Labels: internet, local, media, personal

Tax data package feared stolen was actually just at post office (Star Tribune)

the same day Bush gets his stem cell veto, this happens. and they wonder why people are always so skeptical of the compentency of the public sector

in other news, the Twins are winning again! yesterday I got to go see the pitchers' duel lopsided victory between future rookie of the year Francisco Liriano and something named Scott Kazmir. somehow, Rondell White managed two hits, and then tonight he knocks out two dingers in the 7-2 W. I'm taking Austin tomorrow to see Santana pitch, and it should be another easy win. pictures to come, I'm sure.

now playing on iTunes/iPod: silence

Labels: internet, local, twins

wow, it's been a while.. sorry. well, I've been pretty busy but at the same time not a lot has happened. the big plans I had for last weekend never really came to fruition so I pretty much just sat around. um, I also finally went to a Twins game today. it's really interesting that they can have an awesome outing one night, then the next day when I actually decide to attend a game, they get their asses handed to them on a big silver platter carried by one CC Sabathia. thanks a lot, you fucks.

I've also been spending a lot of time helping the Followers gear up for the '06 tour, which I am super excited about. there's also a decent amount of trepidation there, but then that's kinda par for the course when you're dealing with a horde of mostly unruly teenagers. I feel bad for poor Rob, who's probably gonna have a full head of gray hair by the end of the tour, and he may just spontaneously combust from the stress level. either way, I'm gonna be entertained.

THE BALL PARK IS FIINALLY BEING BUILT I'm gonna just start doing all my shopping and eating in Hennepin County. because that will, unless my years of construction wisdom fail me, heighten the construction pace to almost human levels to enable the first game to be played next Thursday rather than 2010. I mean, my god, I'll be like 206 30 by then. I CAN'T WAIT.

I saw this article at Yahoo! today. that's good research right there. oh and also? what's the deal with Yahoo! rolling out this new front page, and not building in compatibility with Safari? I mean, it's only the most used Mac browser out there. and the lack of video content compatibility also angers me. I mean, one would think you'd wanna build in support for the OS choice of affluent gay creative professionals.

I'm done, totally tired. plus I think I have another vomit inducing headache coming on. later!

now playing on iTunes: Jim Gaffigan Beyond the Pale

Labels: internet, local, mac, personal, site, twins

as I usually do nightly before turning in, I checked out the Star Tribune tonight to see what's going on. and from all indications, the Twins stadium plan is go. over the past couple weeks, the ballpark saga has quickly developed, starting with a re-confirmation of the 2005 Hennepin County commissioners' vote and leading up to this week's two public hearings organized by the House Taxes Committee. Phil Krinkie, the unfortunately-named crank from Lino Lakes and opponent to any civic improvement spending in any form (ie: LRT and other mass transit), has opposed the Twins park from the beginning and just so happens to be the captain of the HTC ship, and thusly tried to stack the deck against the current bill by booking the pro-bill hearing in a small Capitol room during business hours and the anti-bill hearing in a huge middle-school gym deep in the suburbs on a weeknight. well, it didn't work out so well for him; the Capitol session was overwhelmingly positive and the Oak Grove hearing, split down the middle, ended in an affirmative vote to let the bill ride sans referendum. good news for the Twins, good news for the fans, and good news for non-fans who actually came around to supporting the idea. now, all that needs to be done is get the House floor and the state senators on board, which shouldn't be an issue according to majority leader Dean Johnson.

oh, and in other news, the new Mandy Moore movie is supposed to be fantastic. I think someone is due to see this with me. *coughelenacough*

now playing on iTunes: Marvin Gaye 'What's Goin' On'

Labels: internet, twins

so, the other day I sold my old iPod photo 40GB to finance the purchase of a spankin' new 60GB iPod with video (aptly named mandyPod with video). and yes, I know I crapped all over the idea of the videopod as recently as a few months ago. so I sold out... what of it? anyhoo, due to this upgrade in gadgetry, I started looking into videos to add to my music collection. and after downloading Podner and HandBrake I have a few movies, music videos, and Simpsons and South Park eipisodes on the pod. however, there is one thing missing: the video version of the Pat McGee Band's 'Must Have Been Love.'

if somehow someone could please convert this video into .mp4 format, or direct me to where I can find one, I'd be forever indebted to them.

now playing on iPod: Super Troopers

Labels: internet, ipod, mac, personal

jamcor247 (11:17:04 am): dude, look at this uncut card sheet. you have one, two.... eight Kyle Lohses.
underdawg_32 (11:17:12 am): awesome! one for every run he'll allow today
* not an actual AIM conversation, but formatted to look like one

sorry I jinxed you, pal.

now playing on iTunes: Kevin Bowe 'Sweeter World'

Labels: aim, internet, personal, twins

*graphic as in, I show you pictures and comment on them, not that I show you nasty shit ad wait for a reaction

so, now that I'm finished with my painting project, here are a couple of things that have been in the back of my head this week:

1) Halliburton went to my website for some reason. here's the proof:


now what does this mean, exactly? I'm not exactly sure. but if the government or its contracted cronies in the private sector are sniffing around, that gives me some cause for worry. but then, if they're using IE6 on Windows, maybe I shouldn't worry quite so much.

2) Matt McConaughey movies are now so generic that they don't even bother using unique posters. cookie-cutter rocoms now apparently equal cookie-cutter posters. check out the callout posters for 'How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days' (2003) and 'Failure to Launch' (2005) and tell me there aren't crazy similarities. just for added measure though, here they are, side by side:

so sad :( but hey, at least the 'Failure' poster team fixed all the random baseline problems in the '10 Days' poster.

3) stop redesigning your site, ESPN seriously. up there with Page3, 'Cold Pizza' and Stephen A. Smith, the biennial redesign of ESPN.com has got to be one of the worst ideas Disney has come up with. example: I loved the design they took on just after 2001, and grew very attached to it. here is a screenshot showing that wonderful design (Twins picture intentional):

see? simple yet bold, and effective, with minimal use of Flash graphics. FLAWLESS. but of course, like the late-90s SportsCenter, that means it wasn't destined to last. cue the pug-fugly, Flash-overloaded designs of 2004 and 2006, respectively:

big ups on them for using the Helvetica typeface in the latest incarnation. but guys, please don't capitalize 'the' anymore. it makes my penis sad.

that's it for now. actual insight to come to the site over the weekend

now playing on iTunes: DMB '#41'

Labels: internet, media, personal, site

now that I found out how to install it on my miniMac, I'm one step closer to realizing my dream of having an Apple-based media server. now all I need is a Bluetooth keyboard/mouse to control it, and about nine 250GB external harddrives to dump my movies on.

now playing on iTunes: PMB 'You and I'

Labels: internet

so about two weeks ago, it snowed for the first time here this winter. ecstatic because I wouldn't have to suffer through another brown Christmas, I posted a lyric snippet by the fictional Billy Mack from one of my favorite movies, 'Love Actually'. (I realize now that I butchered them, but I don't really care enough to correct them.) apparently one of the spiders at Google found it last week, and like a bad YTMND fad Google referrals relating to the post kept popping up: (I blurred out the actual IP's because I'm nice like that.)


that's just a sampling. over the past week or so, about forty people arrived at my site via searches for 'Christmas is All Around'. they weren't all U.S. visitors either; I got referrals from Italy and uh, the Phillipines. so apparently the movie is there too and uh, I learned something today.

...

well, I thought it was amusing, dammit!

now playing on iTunes: Guster 'Homecoming King'

Labels: christmas, internet, media, personal, site

in the mornings, I have a set routine. the last thing I usually do everyday before leaving the house is sign onto Yahoo! to check my mails. well, this morning there was a little surprise waiting for me:



I was a bit surprised. I mean, I know I'm popular and all, but shit... 4000 emails? I'm not Strong Bad over here. so I open up my inbox, and discover that some creative e-thug has sent out tons of spam emails advertising a 'Canaddian' (sic) pharmacy using addresses such as r2xqmy@ES.com, and since I have my email set to catch mail sent to invalid addresses, I received hundreds upon hundreds of bounce messages from people rejecting 'my' spam. so I cleared out my inbox and spam folder, and shortly before 11a went to work.

fast forward to like, 20 minutes ago: I get home and check my mails. I am then greeted with another surprise:



this in the space of six hours, folks. so I clean out my inboxes, again, then go ahead with changing my settings to make another address my catchall address. the point? not sure. I just really hate spam.

now playing on iTunes: Coldplay 'Scientist'

Labels: internet, personal, tech, twins

anyone who knows me well knows I'm horrible at dealing with things that relate to death. especially when it comes to cemeteries and funeral homes. one thing that frightens me to no end is the exhumation of buried coffins and the remains in them. I honestly had no idea of this concept until about ten years ago, when I read a book about my church's history and found out that one of the previous buildings had a small graveyard next to it, and when encroaching downtown development threatened the church, they de-interred the existing caskets and moved them to Oakland Cemetery. the idea of this completely scared and disgusted me; the image of vaults being moved on flatbed trucks through the city stayed in my head for a long time. then, me being me, I just like forgot all about it.

fast forward to today: I click over to the Star Tribune website for the day's news and I find out that there's an investigation on in central Minnesota regarding a fifty-year-old death case. not only that, but they include a photo on the front page. not a file photo of the victim in question, but of a burial vault being lifted out of the ground:


good lord, Strib! warn a brotha'. if this isn't a totally morbid picture to look at, I don't know what is.

now playing on iTunes/iPod: silence

Labels: internet, local, media, personal

I discovered today that my website is now blocked by my employer's surf control filter. I believe that for non-specified sites, the filter is bandwidth-triggered, so thanks everyone at work for driving up my traffic so much that I can't see my own site.

also, today I got the dubious honor of hearing the new single fron Maroon5 Train. oh man, what happened to this group? I realize that these guys are no Beatles, or even Pat McGee Band, but fuck they sure got mediocre fast. that 'Calling All Angels' song was old almost upon release and this new one called 'Riding on a Butterfly' or something equally retarded sounds like something that Jack Johnson or Jason Mraz wrote in a drunken stupor then discarded. it kinda makes one nostalgic for 2000, when this group's presence was still somewhat fresh and not at all bothersome.

Cities Sampler time in two days, bitches.

now playing on iPod: The Fray 'Cable Car'

Labels: internet, personal

yes, I really was this bored. it actually got up to over $100m before I got really sick of adding lines.

I know, it's sad.

now playing on iPod: Ben Folds 'One Angry Dwarf'

Labels: internet

so back in June I bought Pat McGee Band's Revel from the iTunes Music Store. then today, with iTunes 6, they roll out a new recommendations page, but I think there are still some algorithms to be worked out:



um, thanks but no thanks. but at least they got it right with my purchase of the 'Must Have Been Love' single:



now playing on iTunes/iPod:

Labels: internet

it's totally true. that question comes from the OKCupid Christmas Freak test.

I got 192, by the way.

now playing on iTunes: Pat McGee Band "Anybody"

Labels: internet, personal

thanks for the laughs, OKCupid guys.

now playing on iPod: Josh Kelley 'Lydia'

Labels: internet

by which I mean my website. so keep that in mind. it'll probably happen next week, so if I go down for a certain period, that's why.

now playing on iTunes: DMB '#41'

Labels: internet

...when instead of a moving image, it's a complete Flash file with a mini-video extolling the virtues of a special formula that helps you clean your colon.

ICK

now playing on iTunes: Eels 'Lucky Day in Hell'

Labels: internet

'Today on Maury: paternity tests revealed! Or teenage boot camp. Which one did we do yesterday?'

who even finds this stuff worth watching? personally, I don't understand the draw that this program has on Joe or Jane Q. Public. believe me when I say this: the last worthwhile thing Maury did was hooking up with Connie Chung... the blissful union of two trashy journalists.

hey Maury, Springer wants his show back.

now playing on iTunes/iPod: silence

Labels: internet

linky. from Yahoo!:

A federal judge in Miami on Tuesday ordered the former football great to pony up $25,000 in damages to DirecTV after allegedly pirating satellite TV signals.

The satellite-TV provider sued Simpson in March 2004, accusing him of piracy after government agents raided his Miami mansion in 2001 and turned up "bootloaders," illicit devices used to unscramble DirecTV's satellite signals.

good job, feds! moral of the story: kill whoever you like, but if you mess with DirecTV you're totally fucked.

now playing on iTunes/iPod: silence

Labels: internet

how websites will just randomly refuse to load on my Firefox. it's not like they're obscure websites, like mine, but big ones like Yahoo! or Google.

for some reason though, NHDN always loads perfectly. go figure

now playing on iTunes: Edwin McCain 'Alive'

Labels: internet

linky. from the article:

Minnesota leads the nation in the proportion of teenagers who spend time alone after school. University of Minnesota President Robert Bruininks, who created the commission, said the report provides a different goal for the state. The report suggests that by 2010, 80 percent of Minnesota youth ages 5 to 18 should be involved in some kind of quality after-school activity.

That could include anything from Boy Scouts, church groups, baseball teams and clubs to music and arts programs. Now, Bruininks said, about half of Minnesota children are not participating in any structured after-school or summer programs. Research shows those kids are more likely to be involved in risky behavior, including drug use, excessive smoking, sexual activity and neglect of school work.

Heaven forbid that kids actually have unstructured time on their hands. of course, I can also see the other side of this issue. after all, we don't want the suburbs turning out any more copies of this kid:



RICHFIELD REPRESENT

now playing on iTunes: Guster 'Careful'

Labels: internet

is a search engine.

I am able to track users that come to my site, and Google searches that lead to my website for some reason or another. the most humorous statistic collected has proven to be the search string that gets my site to show up in Google searches. so, in the spirit of humor, I'm gonna share some with you today! Prepare to be slightly amused.

for Linkland
batgirl twins
his cheeseburger mp3
Andy Bugay

for 'Britney in Hawaii'
jubblies pics

for the old GOTW!™
victoria's secret exaggeration lengthening mascara review
olson middle school sk8 club in mn
swimmer's itch tubtubs hot
marshall balla gay porn
wet teen sluts

for AIMadness
aol brb lol song
broke up and 11111

for my unfinished population rant
pimped out ford tempo

for my review of John Mayer's 'Heavier Things'
bittersweet lyrics from the dave matthews band

for the Joe Smiley biography
ceiling fan accident

for various blogposts
gatorade bad
dunp blog (? help me out on this. kthx)
dawson's creek purity test
john mayer lj color bars
why is myspace stupid
interpol jay leno
mexicanfood girls
dr phil xanga
simpsons i like zoos
1980s mullet significance

Keep those wacky searches coming, guys.

now playing on iTunes/iPod: Ben Folds Five 'Sports and Wine'

Labels: internet

from healthday.com:

FRIDAY, May 20 (HealthDay News) -- Popular teens may be more well-adjusted than those less popular, but they may also be more likely to use drugs and to engage in deviant behavior such as vandalism and shoplifting.

Yet another groundbreaking story from the pages of the medical journal "DUH".

Labels: internet

God bless you and your eclectic taste, Amazon!



now playing on iTunes: Mayer 'Love Soon'

Labels: internet

26 hours without web access shouldn't cause someone physical pain.

two notes from me to my viewing audience of four people:

1. Pat McGee rocked my socks on Saturday. no show sould be that fun, because my expectations are so high for the next one.
2. big big website thing, coming later this week. I PROMISE.
   

later.

Now playing on iTunes/iPod: silence

Labels: internet

Pure as Driven Snow You are 99% pure

My test tracked 1 variable How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 98% on purity

Link: The 100 Point Sexual Purity Test written by ocicat on Ok Cupid

I'm interested to see how the rest of you fuckers did.

Now playing on iTunes: Agents of Good Roots 'Smilin' Up the Frown'

Labels: internet, web2.0

is the most mediocre mix I've ever seen.

I still have 6 PepsiTunes credits to burn.

Now playing on iTunes: Mayer 'Wonderland'

Labels: internet

This "spam" thing is getting out of control. Pop-ups too. For example, yesterday I was dutifully emptying my mostly-useless Hotmail inbox when I saw an email with a normal name and the subject line of "hi". So being the smart guy I am, I opened it and I found the most absurd line ever in a spam email. Here it is, exactly as it appeared:

CONGRATULATION

You have won FREE Dinner for two, from a lucky draw we conducted sometime back.

guh? Quite possibly the worst spam email ever. Though it did make me laugh quite a bit. Thusly, I am saving it, and have already made it my screenname in the Windows Messenger. "...tell us where to send your dinnercard." How about I tell you to eat my ass?

Now playing on the iPod: Ben Folds "Eddie Walker"

Labels: internet

I made myself into a South Park character. Here he is.

Hot, no? Later.

Now playing on the iPod: Mayer "Kid A"

Labels: internet

Ben Folds is accompanying the clicks from my keyboard, but that doesn't help the fact that THERE'S STILL SNOW ON THE GROUND. It got up past 50 desgrees on Sunday. That made me happy because I foolishly thought spring was almost here. Instead, it rained/snowed yesterday, with a sharp decline in temp, and it was about the same today. Cold, dark and dreary. Perfect. Anyhoo, TWC says mid-50's highs will return next week, and I hope the sun comes back too.

On other fronts, John Kerry apparently crushed John Edwards (horrible first names but I'll touch on that another time) in the Super Tuesday caucases that virtually no one goes to. To contrast this predictable outcome, here's a picture of Dennis Kuchinich and Al Sharpton looking baffled:

I don't know why, I just thought it was funny.

I also found out today through third-party fan info that apparently John Mayer is an arrogant bitch when it comes to impromptu meetings with his fans. This made me sad. Mayer is a guy I love listening to and occasionally watching bad shows like Leno and Today in order to catch him live. So I'm secretly holding out hope that this simply isn't true. But knowing the internet and its widespread reputation for airtight factual accuracy, I'm not too optomistic. John or any fans are wlcome to let me know what's up.

well.. that's pretty much what's going through my head. Later.

Labels: internet, personal, weather

Well.. this is my first attempt at the "blog" in its true sense. So um, bear with me..

Well today after I got home from school I was pretty bored. So I did what I normally do: I fired up iTunes and cruised the internet a little bit (okay.. a lot.). Anyhoo, I made a startling discovery: there are a lot of personal throwaway websites out there that are just absolutely stunning visually. And that makes me sad inside because THEY'RE BETTER THAN MINE!! That wouldn't upset me by itself, since I have the programming skills of a comatose lab rat, but the fact that most of them are done by like, 13-16 year old kids absolutely frosts my calvanator. So that made me sad. But oh well, at least I still have iTunes.

Labels: internet, personal