Serenidade para todos.

BEZZI

Reassessing my paranoia over the weekend.  hmmm.... I am living with a lot of unnecessary fear.  What's the point.  You know if I didn't watch TV, if I blocked a certain relatives e-mails of doom prophesizing the entry into the 4th dimension and our less dense selves... ya know what... go join a commune ya FREAK, stop hypnotising me with your salesmen bullshit.  I'm trying to explain away my need to hord food and have a stockpile of cash and gold.  Maybe I should watch tv.  It could be worse.  I guess I could be living in Iceland.

I'm thinking I'm posting myself way too much all over this internet.  This is about my third blog and I like the idea of having a blog, but then I freak out because now I'll be out there for all the world to see.

Things I look forward to today.  Watching the market.  I enjoy the ride and freaking people out at work.  I am also wondering about Bloomberg and his pursuit of his third term.  I'm looking forward to Jim Kramer yelling at people on the Today show.  I'm watching Darlene Rodriguez and David Ushery on Channel 4 news and I'm convinced someone in charge told them to "spin" the financial news "UP" as opposed to waa waa waa...we're all going to the poorhouse, cause then I turned to CNN and they were reporting a "dire" situation. 

Debate tonight.  Get out yer popcorn.

Long Lake this weekend.  Celebrating the beginning of the 40th extravaganza which really happens at the end of the month, but might as well start early.  Levon Helm next weekend... then I host a party in Manhattan for my LA girlie girlie bestest buddy ever... and her lovah... (new roommate)  Wayyy too much information.

So Today show is on now.  Headline... "Running Scared"  Whooooo whoo... Just keep a tank full of gas and gold in yer pocket...

Henry Waxman's NOSE freaks me out.  It's PIGMAN all over again and that FULD a-hole... holy crap he should be handing out his money at the breadline... what a fuck

...Until now. For the first time in a long time, Kramer is forced to face reality. See the video.

In letzter zeit geschehen komische dinge, voralldingem in meinen Träumen. Zwei Tage hintereinander habe ich sogesehen die gleiche Story nur in verschiedenen Arten geträumt. Nicht zu vergessen, habe ich diesmal sogar Gesichter erkennen können. Ich habe die befürchtung, dass sich die Erbenisse meine eigen- Therapie zeigen lassen.

Denn ich lerne mich selbst zu verstehen. Ich habe mir oft etwas eingeredet oder einreden lassen. Die, die meine alten Blogs gelesen haben müssten mitbekommen haben, dass ich einfach anders als die meisten Mädchen bin ( so sehe ich mich jedenfalls ).

Wieso? Möglicherweise mag mein Äusserliches erscheinen etwas eingebildetes von mir geben, aber so bin ich nicht.

Eingebildet sein und sich Wohl fühlen sind dinge, die sich beißen. Pro und Contra, ich versuche mich eher Wohl zu fühlen, und nicht die Aufmerksamkeit zu erzielen.

Mich freut es eher im einzelfall angesprochen zu werden, auch wenn es nur eine " Entschuldigung, könnten sie mir helfen" frage oder nur ein kleines lächeln ist.

Aber der Punkt ist.

Weshalb ich meine Zeit viel am Computer verbracht habe war einfach, dass ich vieles auf einmal tun könnte. Klar gibt es momente/einzelfälle wo ich nur zuhöre oder zugucke, aber Fakt ist, dass ich immer etwas tun muss, ich brauche immer Abwechselung, mehr Informationen, mehr Themen usw. Manchmal komme ich selbst dabei etwas durcheinander. Manchmal wirkt es sich sogar ziemlich negativ aus, aber das werde ich in Zukunft in den griff kriegen.

keep your eyes peeled

Jim Cramer, a popular financial program TV host in the US, had a bit of a breakdown on camera last year (August 2007)Because he made his reputation by histrionics and grandstanding, it didn't hurt him among his audience.

Cramer claimed to be concerned for the fate of millions of Americans who were saddled with predatory real estate loans in recent years.

Maybe he actually cares about the thousands of home owners who will be hurt by this insanity. Maybe.

But clearly, the folks that Cramer demonstrated real concern for in this tirade were his friends who work for hedge funds and investment banks: "People are losing their jobs!" he cried.

Pardon me if I don't shed a tear for the crooks who've collected seven figure bonuses each year for turning our financial system into a casino.

Here's what I have to say to the bankers who are crying now:

"You put it all on red and it came up black. Tough shit. Stop sniveling from the back of your limousines and houses in the hedge funds, KramerHamptons and get a life.

Why should the people who actually work for a living and add real value to the economy reduce their already-reduced standard of living further to bail you out?"

It's enlightening to go back and see what various analysts had to

say when the sub prime mess first started unraveling. 

Here's a clip from more than a full year ago.

It features a popular TV stock picker flipping out on live TV as he describes the mayhem going on behind the scenes on Wall Street.

http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/132.html

His solution - because he's from the investment banking world - was a bailout for his friends at the big banks. 

And that's what this is all about.

As Jim Rogers pointed out in yesterday's video, the US financial system has already been trashed. That horse is out of the barn.

There's no "fixing" it.  Either nature will be allowed to take its course (painful as that may be)

Or

The US Treasury will dump trillions of dollars into the economy to ease the transition for Wall Street billionaires at taxpayer expense - and at the expense of the long term prospects of the US economy. 

Anyway, here's a former investment banker and current stock market cheerleader wailing and gnashing his teeth on behalf of his Wall Street buddies a year ago when it became clear that the jig was up:

http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/132.html

- Brasscheck

Kramer: Yeah, yeah, then all of a sudden, this guy pulls out a gun. Well, I knew any delay is gonna cost her her pinky toe, so I got out of the seat and I started walking towards him. He says, "Where do you think you're going, Cracker Jack?" I said, "Well, I got a little prize for ya, buddy" - I knocked him out cold!
George: How could you do that?!
Kramer: Then everybody is screamin,' because the driver, he's passed out from all the commotion...the bus is out of control! So, I grab him by the collar, I take him out of the seat, I get behind the wheel and now I'm drivin' the bus.
George: You're Batman.

Kramer: Yeah. Yeah, I am Batman. Then the mugger, he comes to, and he starts chokin' me! So I'm fightin' him off with one hand and I kept drivin' the bus with the other, y'know? Then I managed to open up the door, and I kicked him out the door with my foot, you know, at the next stop.
Jerry: You kept makin' all the stops?
Kramer: Well, people kept ringin' the bell!

Ben Kramer

Website: Vanilla Swingers
MySpace: Vanilla Swingers
Link diretto per scaricare l'album: Vanilla Swingers - S/T

This is all I can post given that I was without power for a bit, phone service until today, Dish service until tomorrow and all the while cleaning up Ike's destruction at my (far from coastal) East Texas home.
(This one was uprooted by the storm but others broke in the winds...)

Un brevetto del 1979 consente ad Apple di chiudera la causa con Burst.com, che accusava l'azienda di Steve Jobs di aver violato i propri brevetti
di Piersandro Guerrera

La credenza popolare punta naturalmente verso Apple, nella realtà l'azienda californiana ha solo acquistato e rimarchiato un prodotto già pronto, ma la guerra dei brevetti, come sempre, ha portato in tribunale anche il colosso dalla mela morsicata per la paternità del primo lettore musicale portatile non dotato di nastri o cd.

Il vero creatore dell'iPod, o per meglio dire del "lettore portatile", è in realtà Kane Kramer, un  inventore inglese che nel 1979 brevettò un dispositivo di nome |X| che consentiva di scaricare da apposite stazioni di distribuzione la musica e condividerla anche attraverso un telefono.

Kramer ha testimoniato, su invito di Apple stessa, nella causa contro Burst.com che voleva un risarcimento di 60 milioni di dollari per aver infranto alcuni brevetti riguardanti la parternità del lettore multimediale portatile. La svolta avvenne nel 2005 quando Kramer ammise su un giornale di essere il reale inventore dell'iPod e di tutta la famiglia di prodotti derivati, solo che il suo brevetto del 1979 era scaduto per mancanza dei fondi necessari a rinnovarlo.

Apple convinse quindi Kramer a testimoniare portando i suoi disegni originali e raccontando questa triste storia. Concluso il suo lavoro, invece di essere ringraziato con un cospicuo rimborso, a Kramer sono state accreditate esclusivamente le spese di viaggio e albergo insieme a un piccolo extra per la  testimonianza.

L'iPod, si è quindi scoperto, è un prodotto "vecchio" di quasi  30 anni...

Fonte

Non so perchè, ma questa storia mi fa venire in mente Microsoft... :D

I had the good fortune of getting tickets to Jerry Seinfeld's comedy tour at the Baltimore Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall on Saturday. My friends had pre-ordered the tickets earlier but couldn't go and I became the beneficiary of some high-demand tickets. So if you are ever lucky to see Seinfeld doing stand-up, get there early. Especially if you are driving there. Also, if you are like most people, you are already paying close to insanity ($60, at least for us students), and you'll have to climb several floors to get to the terrace or upper tier levels. Get there like 20 min early. It'll be worth it. They definitely start on time. When my friend and I got to our seats a couple of minutes late, the opening act had already begun.

VIEWS ON SEINFELD THE SHOW

Now I must admit, I am one of the biggest Seinfeld fans ever, but it took me a long time to appreciate Jerry's character. I always thought Kramer and George overshadowed the show sometimes. Remember the couple of seasons where the crowd would cheer when Kramer made an entrance? I also wasn't a big fan of Jerry's stand-up skits in each episode. I thought they were corny and cute, but not downright funny. But as I have gotten older, I have definitely become more appreciative of his humor. Kramer gave us free-spirited slapstick comedy while George gave us bitter self-belittling humor. As a kid growing up, these two characters were most beloved because of the simplicity in understanding the humor. However, the observational humor that Jerry's character portrayed was more subtle and sometimes only appreciated when you've been through more of life's experiences. For example, the sexual innuendo. The fact that Jerry portrays himself as the most successful in the group (both financially and dating hot girls) while being very supportive of loser guy friends, is much more appreciated when the whole show is analyzed for its themes. Jerry was the character that brought order to chaos. However, I still wasn't a big fan of his stand-up skits. Until now...

Jerry is as good as it gets!

TOM PAPA OPENS FOR SEINFELD

This is one funny guy! For some reason, I can't really remember any of his jokes. I do remember laughing a lot. His jokes were very natural and reactive. He was so funny, that I think he made Jerry's initial few minutes less funny! I can't believe I never heard of him, but I guess that's good, because it's another comedian I can follow now!

JERRY! JERRY! JERRY!

Ok, not that Jerry. This one is much much better. He got one of the biggest ovations I've ever seen for a live performance. It was pretty obvious that the crowd was going to laugh at anything, no matter if his jokes were funny or not. They were just happy to see Seinfeld live, and they were also going to feel good about themselves for spending over $60. I always thought you tend to laugh easier at live comedy events anyways.

Jerry did start off slow though. His first few minutes of jokes elicited laughter more for the honor of seeing Seinfeld rather than actual humor. But, wow, he then went on a roll for the next hour and twenty minutes or so. It kept getting better and better. What's great about Jerry's jokes is that they're not crude or do not use expletives to elicit laughter. They are just funny. Observational humor is great because you can relate to it, so with a little exaggeration, you'll start rolling in your seats. Some of my all-time favorite comedians have used observational comedy as their trademark. Guys such as Bill Cosby, George Carlin, Seinfeld and Larry David popularized this style. The younger generation of comedians I like have also been observational in style, such as Kevin James, Mitch Hedberg (RIP) and Russel Peters.

According to Wikipedia, observational comedy entails such examples as:

• The differences between men and women
• The differences between different generations
• The differences between races
• The differences between religions
• Government red tape
• Airport security, airline food, etc
• Humans' relationships with animals
• Cliched aspects of childhood/adolescence
• The leaders of nations

The ones in red are the ones Jerry touched on.

Warning: Spoilers below!

To see them, highlight paragraphs below with mouse.

He jokes a lot about his new married life, which includes differences between men and women (why do women ask so many hypothetical questions?), and children. He also takes ribs at old people, (muscular old men have arms that look like chicken cutlets wrapped in saran wrap!), and their similarities with children. He definitely updates his repertoire. He has a long bit about technology that includes jokes about iPhones, coffee, prescription commercials. He, of course, includes random observational humor like "great and suck are actually tiny differences", and evil and suicidal random thoughts in your head.

Ok, I can't help but list some of his jokes:

• Did you know that Florida has an all drug-prescription TV channel?
  
• My mom is so old she has a cataract windshield. It's like a foot thick and makes everyone inside look like college football mascots!
• Cremation is like you want to hide a crime. Hide the evidence everywhere.
  
• Your house is a garbage processing center. Everything we own is simply at some point in the process of becoming garbage. However, things in the garage might be there for awhile. See, the word garage comes from garbage!
  
• Fathers on Sunday mornings are like day-old helium balloons, wandering aimlessly, half-alive and people knocking into them!
• Golf was invented so guys can get away from the family. That's why they have such horrible outfits so no one will want to be seen with them. GOLF stands for "Get Out, Leave Family"
  
• Humans are on an evolutionary path to becoming chairs. Our butts are the first sign (butts as cushions)
• Where do you buy those doctor's notepads that only have checkboxes of Itching, Swelling, and Redness?
• Women and their hypothetical questions... "If I was paralyzed, would you still love me?"

That is a very small small sample of his jokes. I promise, no more spoilers! Go see him!!

Warning: Spoilers above!

Jerry is a cutesy family-oriented kind of comedian. When he displays emotion, such as yelling, it sound so absurd and pseudo-fake, you just have to laugh.  The fact that he doesn't use expletives, props, and vulgarity (no toilet, sexual, or racist jokes) makes it that much more difficult to prepare for. It also makes it much riskier that people won't laugh if they don't get your observations. I definitely appreciate that.

What was neat is that he also throws in some local jokes and ad-lib jokes in there. He is comfortable enough with his repertoire and stage presence that he can do as he pleases. For example, he makes fun of the Inner Harbor, and leads to a bit about Michael Phelps and the Olympics.

Jerry ended his 80-minute with a short Q&A. It was the perfect ending. Someone asked him what are his favorite Seinfeld episodes, and he listed about four of them, including the Marble Rye and the Invitations. I was surprised he didn't mention any of the classic episodes like the Contest, the Chinese Restaurant, the Fix Up, the Outing, and the Soup Nazi. Another person asked if he could bring the show back or at least have a reunion. He said, to everyone's happiness, that he's definitely open for a reunion show, but it won't happen until the careers of all four are in the toilet! Hehe...What's cool about Jerry is that he embraces Seinfeld. He doesn't mind that he will forever be known for that show. Of course, it helps that the show is about him and makes him out to be the best character, but... I also saw Jason Alexander live when he was doing his campus tour. I must say, Alexander seemed bitter about being forever linked to George Costanza. He didn't really want to talk about the show or his favorite episodes. It's kind of sad because we loved that character, but now he seems bitter to be linked to such a loser character. It also doesn't help that all his roles since then have not erased that stereotype (Mauricio in Shallow Hal? He's more of a loser than George!) He also came unprepared and kept the whole session as a Q&A. If you can't ask him questions about Seinfeld, what else was there to ask him?? Students started stabbing for questions, like politics and what not. It was pretty sad.

Of course, someone had to ask him which presidential candidate he was going to vote for. He definitely prepared for this question because he replied that comedians think they are better than everyone, so they think even presidents are below them.

In conclusion, if you get a chance, go see Jerry Seinfeld live. We are very fortunate that even after making hundreds of millions of dollars, and having a family, he still loves to do and does do stand-up comedy. Comedians like him and Jay Leno are unique because as much as the fame has changed them they still do the things they love. It's sad that Leno is leaving the Tonight Show (I find Conan O'Brien horrible! Such forced jokes... Same with David Letterman. Stop laughing at your own jokes.)

After the show, my friend and I waited in the lobby along with about 20 others, hoping to catch a glimpse of Jerry when he left the theater. However, he never did show up (probably left through a side entrance) and then they kicked us out. Hahaha... Oh well.

Anyway, watching the movie now, its really tough to imagine Jason Alexander - who plays the slimy lawyer associate of Richard Gere in the movie - as any character other than George Costanza (of Seinfeld, for  those who have been sleeping under rocks for the last two decades). Every time he made an appearance, I would unconsciously expect him to do/say something very George-like - humorous, amoral, and insecure.

But there is at least another small Seinfeld connection with Pretty Woman: in the initial scenes when Julia Roberts is starting to go out and then backtracks as she hears the landlord - the landlord, although seen very briefly, is the same actor who is cast as Kramer in the Seinfeld episodes where George and Seinfeld are making a pilot for NBC.

Also seen in a brief scene - Hank Azaria as a LA police detective.

-----------------------------------

[1]: I think it was during the extended summer break after our 10th, and my mom had initially refused to let me watch the film due to the "A" rating - finally had her convinced somehow; another friend never even managed a permission, and bunked some tuition class to watch it with us, while I covered for him. Good old, innocent days :)  !.

]]> http://mrobvious.wordpress.com/?p=284 Sun, 07 Sep 2008 04:14:25 +0000 Hmmm http://mrobvious.it.wordpress.com/2008/09/07/its-the-operating-system-about-nothing/ Now I get it.  I was like Jerry Seinfeld?  and Bill Gates?  and Churros? and shoes?

Usoft learns about PR...  Ahh...

Now if they add Kramer... then I'd laugh.

.

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Local music man Travis McElroy of Thick Syrup records has some big news:  In October, Thick Syrup will release "Halloween Songs" by David and Jad Fair.  Right on!  Sounds like a great follow-up to the band's Monster Songs for Children that came out in 1998 on the Kill Rock Stars label.

From Travis: 

"I'm very proud to put something out by the guys who helped shaped what i listen to today.

Jad Fair is a founding member of Half Japanese. He has recorded with Yo La Tengo, Daniel Johnston, Kramer, Monster Party, Jason Willett, Lumberob, Richard Hell, Strobe Talbot, The Tinklers, Naofumi Ishimaru, Mosquito, The Pastels, Teenage Fanclub, Phonocomb, DQE, John Zorn, God Is My Co-Pilot, The Tall Dwarfs, Thurston Moore, Eye, Moe Tucker, Eugene Chadbourne, Fred Frith, Mara Flynn, Kevin Blechdom, Terry Adams, The Work Dogs, Tom Ardolino, The Shapir O'Rama, R. Stevie Moore, Bill Wells, Tom Recchion, Isobel Campbell, Norman Blake, Steve Fisk, and David Fair.

Kurt Cobain had Half Japanese open for Nirvana on the group's 1993 tour.  The band's history and influence are chronicled in the 1993 documentary Half Japanese: The Band That Would Be King."

Congrats to Thick Syrup--this is a pretty damn good get!!

--Glen

we're in the final, somewhat desperate days of the housemate search. and we have a top contender. we will keep you posted. if we get even more desperate, we may have to resort to poetry, a la shannon of saskatoon.

You may have seen on the news lately the wise and all-knowing talking heads are coming down pretty hard on Barack Obama because he dared to put on a suit without an American flag pin on his lapel. 

It must have been a slow news day, for this thing blew up and he was finally forced to defend himself by saying that his actions display his patriotism far more than simply wearing a pin.

I found the whole thing pretty funny because it reminded me of the Seinfeld episode where Kramer took part in an Aids walk, but refused to wear the ribbon.  He ultimately got ganged up on by the other walkers and beaten up because he refused to wear the ribbon, even though he was actively taking part in the walk.  He finished the walk, by the way, though he had to drag himself across the finish line.

After 911, I think wearing the American flag pin proved to solidify one's own resolve in their patriotism; it served to reassure people in distressing times; and it simply made people feel better on the inside.  Somehow, however, as the years went by we started judging each other on if we wore a pin.  And, as is the unfortunate trend, we have now exploited the pin to a degree where if a high level politician is seen without it, it becomes the main topic of the day across the news.  The original purpose of the pin has been objectified and bent to serve ulterior motives, and I find that despicable.  In my mind, that pin serves as a metaphor for far greater issues taking place within our nation.

I'm not a particularly political person.  I don't vote straight Republican or Democrat.  I try to go with whoever seems most intelligent on the issues that I feel are important.  And one issue that is important to me is the fact so many of us, myself included, talk a big game but rarely take any true form of action.  We dream; we wish; we say what we're going to do; we brag about accomplishments yet to be executed; yet, when it comes time to actually tally the score, few of us find that we have lived up to our own talk.  And then, when people actually hold us accountable for failing to live up to our boasts, we take offense.

I worry that we've become a nation of talkers, not doers.  What's the point of wearing a flag if your actions don't display patriotism in the least?  What's the point of saying how awesome you are if you've never actually done anything?  We're becoming a culture that praises people who have no discernable accomplishments, and then we mock those that do.  This is troubling.

This is beginning to sound judgmental and harsh, and it's certainly not meant to.  I actually wanted this little essay to be motivating.  I wanted to encourage you to chase your dreams, to go out and make something special happen!  I wanted to get you psyched up not just to wear the pin, but also to actually do something that validates the pin!

So, what are you waiting for?  Get out there and take action!

Season Four of The Hills debuted last night and in some ways I feel like it has been going on forever. I feel that I have invested part of my formidable mid-twenties identifying with a group of girls that I will probably never meet. I sort of like that. I sort of like this voyeurism that has been engrained in me. Just give me three more episodes and my life will be surrounded by nothing but dreams of sugarplums and Heidi Montag dancing in my head.

But there’s always this argument of people who think they are better than me, and the rest of the millions of people, that tune in faithfully every Monday for a half hour to dissect this weeks actions. I feel persecuted in this way. Like it so much better to tune in to Lost and dissect the lives of these castaways and their polar bears and their unknown monsters. I never got into Lost because well I see it as Gilligan’s Island 2.0.

 I would rather have this nostalgic feeling of watching a city I grew up in transform into a city I didn’t know existed. The creator of The Hills has turned Hollywood into an island. They have made it seem to the outside world that this place is bigger than it actually is. Ad they made it seem beautiful. They’ve made it fake.

And we all know that. But it seems crazy that people are appalled that this show is fake. Maybe because their confusing reality television with reality. Reality television is a show that is staged unscripted, but it goes further than that. It is a show about nothing. In a whole season nothing really happens. The only thing is that more characters are introduced. The Hills is just on big case of nepotism. I just hope Justin Bobby has a brother.

But I am here to make a declaration. I think the Hills go where Seinfeld couldn’t. I here constantly that Seinfeld is a show about nothing. This isn’t true. Seinfeld was a show about something. It was a show about the human character that is in all of us. The asshole that tortures us and the friends that stick around. Where is with The Hills is a show about Lauren Conrad and her boring friends and boring lives and how money and beauty and an MTV contract can give you success. It is what the kids on The Real World were dying for.

We watch nothing because it is interested. This is what Jerry and George were pitching, but they just didn’t know yet. Maybe when Larry David first realized that the shows premise half the cast of The Hills hadn’t been born yet. See Elaine, George, Jerry, and Kramer had too much substance. In each of their seasons they had character arcs. The Hills have been milking the same conflict for over 20 episodes. And I watch.

And I think it just might have to do with the fact Spencer Pratt has made himself scarier and more evil than any monster on an unknown island.