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

This past Saturday's Powerball jackpot was estimated at just a shade over $180 million. Upon hearing this, I excitedly licked my chops and promptly forgot about buying a ticket. Then, en route to church Sunday morning, I saw the giant billboard that denoted the new, paltry $10 million prize. I was fully expecting the monies, like in previous Powerball payouts, to go to one of this country's many "hick" states which would then be spent on meth, store-bought moonshine and a new NASCAR racing team, but the Star Tribune and several television stations started reporting Sunday night that the buyer was actually from here! Wow, imagine the excitement.

Again I forgot about it, until today when the winners came forward. And after reading the story and seeing them on the news, I must say that I think they are the most deserving couple so far. An excerpt:

"I guess there was divine intervention," Paul Rosenau said. "This happened for a reason."

[...]

As for what they'll do with the money, Sue Rosenau has ideas of a trip to Hawaii while Paul Rosenau spoke of philanthropic plans, including giving money for research toward the disorder that took their granddaughter's life.

Good on you, guys.

In a loosely related story, Strib sports columnist Patrick Reusse took Minnesota sports fans to task for treating former Wild majority owner Bob Naegle like a deity while vilifying Twins owner (and 2008 Forbes Magazine Richest Man in Pro Sports) Carl Pohlad. Now I'm not a fan of either; Pohlad has pulled his share of dick moves on the Twins fan base (see 2001 contraction attempt) but he seems to be at least trying to make sonething happen now while also keeping the team in the black. My favorite part of the article though is in the comments, where illiterate and belligerent hockey fans try to defend their patron saint and then get collectively ripped to shreds by a guy called 'cartwa':

You can rip the Twins, Vikings, T-wolves, and gophers but you cant rip the Wild. It isnt fair. It is much like ripping on the kids on the short bus. Wild fans can barely read and logic is something they just dont understand. Expecting them to grasp reality would be way too much to ask. Keep in mind that these are the same fans that think mullets are cool and that wearing an oversized jersey with jeans and tennis shoes is styish. Wild fans think nothing of having their winter sport championship in June. Wild fans dont find anything odd about having teams in hockey hotbeads like Atlanta, Nashville, Phoenix, Charlotte or Florida (twice). Wild fans actually wait in line to purchase $85.00 game tickets and then never complain when their team musters only a handful of shots. Wild fans are so loyal that the mere attempt to open their eyes generates 80 plus comments that are so creative, you question our public school system. My favorite is the post that simply says "Reusse, you are an idiot." Please Mr Reusse, please dont rip the Wild.

Thanks for the humorous yet astute characterization of Wild fans, my friend.

now playing on iPod: Josh Kelley "Travelin'"

[Photo courtesy roadsidenut and Flickr]

Labels: local, media, twins

I love the Christmas season, but not the hours associated with it. Thankfully, the worst is over; I put in fourteen hours on Black Friday and about ten on Saturday. I've done this for ten years now, so it is mostly routine, but one thing that never fails to amaze me every year is the volume of people who are willing to sit in the cold for hours on end just to save a few extra bucks on that television or other item they had their eyes on all year.

Now I'm no anti-consumerist; hell, I definitely own more than my fair share of shit, especially in electronics and DVDs. I even like to save money, so I look for deals whenever I can. But really, even 8 am on the day after Thanksgiving is a little early for me to think about buying Christmas gifts for people, let alone anything for myself. We opened at 5, and even then we weren't the first; Kohl's was open at 4 and Eden Prairie Center opened at fucking one o'clock in the morning. Outrageous. If there is any silver lining in this madness, these are the things that come to mind first: the extended hours I am required to work will 1) allow me extra funds for Christmas gifts and 2) allow me to watch Law and Order: SVU without the interruption of going home and cueing up the TiVo to the proper spot. Until then though, my free time will be in short supply (sorry, Alyssa) and I may be cranky during those times (sorry, everyone else).

Despite all this though, I still love Christmas. Preemptive happy holidays, everyone.

now playing on iPod: Chad Hollister "Spirit's Waters"

Labels: christmas, gdhu, GOTW, media, personal, work

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

Labels: media, twins, web2.0

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

so yesterday, the Quest reopened. you know what that means: the PMB show booked for the 25th at the Ascot is finally a sure thing. I was worried for a while there, because the Entry, Fineline, and 3 Degrees were all booked for that night, so there would be no place to move the show to if it did get shut out. so big sigh of relief there.

also finally saw 'Waiting...' tonight. pretty humorous. but why, in every comedy now, does there have to be some poor schmuck that reminds me of me? this fact was overshadowed by Ryan Reynolds, who is fast becoming one of my favorite actors. outside of Mandy Moore of course!

I turn 26 in like, a week and a half. and the countdown begins...

now playing on iTunes: Guster 'Homecoming King'

Labels: local, media, personal

*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

hi everyone! man, I gotta stay on top of this updating thing.

so this past weekend I got to hang out with Pat and Elena. 'twas teh goodtimes, as always. watched some flicks, ate too much, and drank. a lot. we decided it'd be a fantastic idea to head over to the Hard Rock Cafe' again, but the wait was slightly longer for this go around. by which I mean, we waited for like an hour to get in as opposed to sitting down right away like last time. oh well... the food there is good and the drinks there are extremely tasty, and the atmosphere is lively if not crazy loud. the only down point is I don't remember too much of Saturday night, when apparently Elena confiscated my phone and my amaretto. :-/ oh, also I woke up Sunday feeling like I had been hit by a truck. most likely the drunkest I've been in a while.

the weekend was a much needed release though from the past couple of weeks. things have been pretty stressful at work and with my random personal drama, and lately I feel like I disappoint almost everyone I come in contact with. hopefully I'll get over that soon though. I do need to finally finish up my room project though, because we're having some form of shindig here at the house for Emman that my personal sensei Leo Bickelhaupt is supposed to attend. I haven't seen that fucker for many years, and I look forward to catching up with him. I also somehow got roped into having a Super Bowl party. I wasn't planning on having one this year, instead looking forward to just kicking back and watching Jerome Bettis have that last brief moment in the sun, but enough people have asked about it to make it happen.

PAT McGEE is headed back to town!! February 25th, to be exact, only five days after yours truly's birthday. I'm so looking forward to checking out the set, since the last time out he toured in support of hanson and we only got a 40 minute set in which 'Beautiful Ways' and 'Fine' were omitted. boo! but since he's the headliner in this go-round, we're sure to get a full 90+ set. CAN'T WAIT. I also hate waiting for packages from Amazon which is why I'm happy to be in the Amazon Prime trial program. their end works beautifully: for a flat yearly rate, you get free two-day UPS on every fucking thing you order from them. so far, Amazon has fulfilled on that. the bad link in this chain just happens to UPS. I have yet to get one of my Prime orders in two days due to their random snafus like claiming my house didn't exist and shipping a book from Portland Oregon to Kentucky before it got to my house. oh well. I still get the low low Amazon price on media plus I get to dodge the ol' sales tax. life is good!

I think that's about it for now. a couple of short thoughts before I hit 'publish' though: 1) I love Front Row. 2) One Tree Hill is crazy addictive. 3) I can't wait for the baseball season.

OUT.

now playing on iTunes: Five for Fighting 'America Town'

Labels: local, media, personal

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

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 feel it in my toes
Christmas is all around me, and so the story goes
I feel it in the wind, everywhere I go
so if you really love Christmas come on and let it snow

IT'S SNOWING. I'm so glad.

now playing on iTunes: John Mayer 'Break Away'

Labels: christmas, media, site

Now playing on iTunes: Seal "Don't Cry"

This song serves as a good reminder for the folks in this news story:
Kournikova Sued by Parents Over Home

I love it when people are so unabashedly irrational you can only shake their heads at them. Oh, and another thing.. why is this news? Ehren's crystal ball prediction: KARE-11 will lead with this at 10:00 and the Pioneer Press will slap 'er on page A1, right under the story of women persevering from whatever they persevere from these days. However, here's an ACTUAL news item: Worker loses job after photographing soldiers' coffins Peep THAT article out, my husky, internet-traveling friends. And in case you're just too lazy to you know, read it, here's the gist: A woman (yeah, they seem to be cropping up everywhere) snaps a photo of several flag-draped coffins on a US military cargo plane while at her job, and with nothing but good intentions in her heart, develops it and fires it off to the Seattle Times which gives it a prominent place on their Sunday front page along with a news item about the Iraq conflict and a feature about her and her job. She then gets the ol' pink slip by the government for providing sensitive information to civilians. And as always, there are two distinct sides to this story. In defense of tami Silico, her act was one of kindness and compassion. She simply wanted to show the families of deceased soldiers that they were well taken care of. Then of course, there's that other side, the one that insists that the photo jeopardizes the most remote chance of the Iraq mission being successful, and thusly putting anti-war spin on it. News flash: At least two thirds of this country is anti-war. End of rant.

Labels: media

Now playing on iTunes: Howie Day "Perfect Time of Day"

Once again, a while since I last posted. Fun.

So what the hell was I doing last week?? Inventory and school, foolios. Lots of time invested in those. Not much time for sleepy. The kicker: no sleep on Saturday night. Actually, I got about an hour, but the fact that we lost an hour kinda negates that. Oh well. I did get my homework done so that's golden.

I just caught one of possibly only 33 Twins games I will get to see this year. Things that looked good: Joesph P. Mauer, the new FieldTurf, Joe Nathan. Things that didn't: Radke (no surprise there), Jacque Jones, Guzman/Rivas, the Failure Sports One onscreen presence. I could do better. Actually, I DID do better [example]. Eat my ass, Failure! It looked SO horrible. There are no possible words to explain how much like ass Failure's graphics looked. Actually on second thought, maybe they were designed by Austin. It totally intruded on my experience of the game, almost as much as Radke serving up gopher balls right and left. What a bitch!

I picked up some new DVD's today. Good thing too, because I'm down to like 4 in my current collection that I haven't watched yet. (Identity, Sum of All Fears, Radio, Pi). But I picked up Donnie Darko, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, and um, A Walk To Remember. don't ask me why.

That's all I got for tonight. So long, kids.

Labels: ipod, media, personal, twins

Now playing on iTunes: Five for Fighting "100 Years"

Well I did it. I created the greatest thing known to man-- the official ES.com iPod travel kit. I used Lunchbox® as the base for the kit, while using bubble wrap, the original packing foam and the box for my spare 1394/USB2 cable to house the iPod, cables, AC unit, dock, car charger and FM modulator. It works out pretty damned slick I have to say.

Depending on how you look at it, either Echostar or Viacom caved, and CBS and Comedy Central are back on my dish. Now i won't have to choose between Chapelle's Show and my PVR. *whew* Now I just have to wait and see where Victory is going to land.

While I was reading the AP story from the Strib website I noticed another headline: "Somalis stranded by bus strike." uh.. and? So what? I don't want to sound crass or racist but why is this even remotely relevant? But the Strib being the Strib, they have to put the uber-liberal spin ov every damn thing they print, be it a (valid) continuous hate of quasi-President Bush or those oh-so-neglected Somalis. Well you know what? The bus stranded my friend Brandon. But he's not in the paper. You know why? Because he's black, not from Somalia. Thus, the strib has no reason to write about his plight. This being said, there are tons of people who are at a loss because of the strike: university students, people that can't legally drive, high schoolers for extracurriculars, etc., not just poor people and Somalis. So let's quit making it a class/race issue, and bond together and find a solution, instead of bitching about the problem.

Well that's it from me. Night everyone.. E

Labels: ipod, media, personal

my head hurts and it's uber-late, so this will be a short one.

I finally got Lunchbox® yesterday. If you're wondering exactly what the hell that is, you need to visit my website. Anyhoo, outside of that and dicking around on Photoshop I pretty much pissed away the day, just like spring break was meant for. I also started to implement Lunchbox®'s intended use: the ultimate travel kit for my iPod. Uh, it hasn't gotten very far yet. It seems to have all the space I need but I need to figure out how to fill in the extraneous space. I'll post a picture of it when I find my digicam.

Also, while bemoaning the fact that DISH yanked WCCO and countless Viacom channels off my television, I watched some of the Warroad-Orono hockey game and also saw that UPN was screening a POS called "The Mullets". Now I was intrigued beause "Mullets" was pulled off the air last fall before I could even watch the show to mock it. In contrast, "Luis" lasted longer this fall, and that was just a 30-minute Mexicans-vs.-Puerto-Ricans slur-fest. I watched about 7 seconds of this putrid show today and I hope that it's pulled back off soon.

Now playing on iTunes: The Thorns "I Can't Remember"

Labels: ipod, media, personal

Now playing on iTunes: John Mayer "New Deep"

Well I succombed to media pressure and yesterday I went to see The Passion of the Christ with my parents and some friends from church. Wow, what an intense movie. The suffering of Jesus during his final days on earth were portrayed so well on a human level, much more so than the countless Holy Week/Easter sermons, or the Bible, or even those cute little Sunday school stories ever could. i was touched more deeply by this film than by anything else in recent memory, and the special part is that I was able to share in this moment with a packed theater, moved to a reverent silence, and that's where the success of "Passion" ultimately lies, in that people are albe to see whet he went through for us.

On a much weightier issue (wink wink) I decided over the weekend that a switch to Mac is in my future. I was looking at the gleaming new G5's on Saturday and after playing with it for a good hour my decision was made. So there goes another $1500 ... thanks a lot, iPod.

Just thought you'd like to know. :) Later.

Labels: ipod, mac, media, personal