Sunday, August 19, 2012

My 100 favorite albums, 1996-2011

Last week Pitchfork ran a thing where they asked people to submit a list of their up to 100 top albums from 1996-2011, the years Pitchfork has existed. Here is my list:

http://peopleslist.pitchfork.com/list/d4b42eab/


Notes:

1. My top 10 are in order, the rest are alphabetical by artist.

2. The list editing period ended the other day, and since then I have not yet found one change that I would want to make if able, although I'm sure in the coming days and weeks I'll find many things I'd like to change.

3. Making the list, and listening to a lot of great music while doing so, was a lot of fun.

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Before there was Hypnotoad, there was...

My Lovely Horse!



I've been rewatching Father Ted for what I think is the 3rd time, and it's been long enough that I've forgotten about a lot of things, including just how great the My Lovely Horse music video is from Ted and Dougal's shared dream.

Anyway.

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

NYC mayor Bloomberg's #1 bad idea (and it has nothing to do with soda)

On the last few episodes of The Daily Show, Jon Stewart has freaked out several times over New York City mayor Bloomberg's proposed ban on sodas 16 ounces or larger.

Banning large sodas is obviously a stupid idea. When I first heard about it I thought maybe what Bloomberg actually wanted was to implement a tax on all sodas or items with HFCS in them, which would obviously make a lot more sense. By first proposing a ban on large sodas, then later suggesting a soda tax instead, the latter would look much better in comparison, as opposed to just proposing the soda tax in the first place.
 
Another thought I had in the back of my mind was that maybe Bloomberg was proposing the ban on large sodas, which is a pretty trivial thing, in order to distract attention from something else. But what?

Well now I know, since today Rolling Stone published online an article by Matt Taibbi about something else mayor Bloomberg wants to do:

Matt Taibbi: New York to Repeat Chicago’s Parking Meter Catastrophe

This is a hugely important thing, not only for New York City, but also many other cities which might be tempted by similar rotten deals over the coming years.

While I hadn't heard anything about this before today, it looks like this story was reported online by several outlets online on Monday.

Unless this plan gets some major attention on TV, like the proposed soda ban has received, it seems likely that this will be implemented without receiving much scrutiny.

Here's hoping that The Daily Show, as well as any other TV news shows, devote some serious attention to this plan. If it gets even a fraction of the amount of attention as the proposed soda ban has received, it might well be enough to stop this from happening in New York City or anywhere else.

Friday, May 4, 2012

Bucket List Item #146

If I'm ever on Wheel of Fortune,

and I make it to the bonus round,

and I know the solution to the puzzle,

after he says go,

I'm going to make my watch beep,

and then bring it to my ear and hold it there,

and then after a second I'll make an 'a-ha' expression,

and shout the solution,

and then after they reveal the answer,

I'll press and hold the side on my watch,

and bring it close to my mouth and loudly say the solution,

not as loudly as when I solved it, of course,

but loud enough to bring plenty of attention to it,

and then act as calm as a cucumber,

knowing that even if they take my prize away,

it was totally worth it.

Sunday, April 8, 2012

Warning: SUPER © now automatically installs crapware

I've used SUPER © video and audio converting software for years now.

It's a very full featured and easy to use program for extracting audio from videos, or converting from one video or audio format to another.

Every few months when you start the program a box pops up that a new version is available, with updated codecs and what not.

Previously, performing updates had been the most annoying thing about using the software, since eRightSoft literally has the worst, most user-unfriendly site in the history of the internet. The website is not unlike Super Mario Bros. level 7-4, which you have to navigate exactly correctly or you have to start over at the beginning.

This morning I used the software to extract the audio from an mp3 and got the update notice. After 5 minutes on the website I finally found the download link and shortly thereafter started the install process.

In the previous version of SUPER ©, v2012.build.50 (February 21st, 2012), during the install process there's a screen where it gives you the option of installing the "blekko Spam Free Search Bar," but you can simply opt-out by unticking the box and the crapware is not installed.

I guess too many were being careful and not installing that crap, because while installing the new version this morning, v2012.build.51 (April 7 2012), it installed multiple crapware programs without ever giving me the chance to opt-out. The crapware included:

IMinent - Firefox add-on and toolbar
iNTERNET Turbo - Software
2yourface - Firefox add-on

Nowhere in the installation process or the changelog is the inclusion of these unwanted programs mentioned.

After an hour with RevoUninstaller, scrubbing the registry with regedit, and restoring a backup from of my Firefox profile from Friday, I think I was able to remove every last trace of these crapware programs, as well as SUPER © itself.

Unfortunately, it looks like eRightSoft got the last laugh since after uninstalling everything I tried to reinstall the previous version of SUPER, from February 21st, which was not bundled with all this garbage. When I tried to open the program I received an error message that it was expired and it wouldn't start. So I guess now I have to find another audio and video converting program.

tl;dr Fuck you, eRightSoft!

Monday, March 12, 2012

Worst Company In America 2012

Today The Consumerist launched their annual Worst Company in America tournament.

Here are my brackets:



Follow all of the action at The Consumerist:
Worst Company In America 2012

Friday, March 9, 2012

My favorite songs of 2011

Honorable mention: The Lonely Island (feat. Michael Bolton) - Jack Sparrow

10. Acid House Kings - Would You Say Stop?

9. Leslie David Baker (feat. N.U.M.) - 2 Be Simple

8. Thao & Mirah (feat. tUnE-YarDs) - Eleven

7. jj (feat. Ne-Yo) - We Can't Stop

6. Shirley Manson & Serj Tankian - The Hunger

5. Apparat (feat. Soap&Skin) - Goodbye

4. The Luyas - Too Beautiful To Work

3. Air France - It Feels Good To Be Around You

2. Lana Del Rey - Video Games

1. The Chemical Brothers - Container Park

My favorite albums of 2011

Honorable Mention: The Lonely Island - Turtleneck & Chain




10. Florence + The Machine - Ceremonials




9. The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - Belong




8. Zola Jesus - Conatus




7. Kemopetrol - A Song & A Reason




6. Moby - Destroyed




5. Guano Apes - Bel Air




4. St. Vincent - Strange Mercy




3. Wye Oak - Civilian




2. Geike Arnaert - For The Beauty Of Confusion




1. The Chemical Brothers - Hanna