Enthusiastically Ambiverted Hopepunk
Stuff I find around the web that interests or amuses me.
While I’m sure that a benefit run to support the Seattle Animal Shelter is a very good cause, when we’re living in an era with some rather well-known odd kinks, maybe naming it the “Furry 5K” wasn’t the best choice in the world…
At least I wasn’t the only one to have that thought!
iTunes: “Mister Superstar” by Marilyn Manson from the album Antichrist Superstar (1996, 5:04).
This could be an entertaining way to spend some time this weekend — the annual U-District Street Fair.
For 35 years the University District StreetFair has been the kick-off event for the festival season in the Seattle region. Attracting more than 50,000 people and nearly 400 booths to the District, the StreetFair is an energetic and exciting celebration of arts and crafts, community, music, and food. You’ll find a whirl of color, craft, creativity and downright craziness! Join the thousands of people who attend. There will be two entertainment stages, and unique local and regional arts & crafts and an array of international food. The StreetFair is a free event, located in the heart of the University District on University Way NE, and is produced by the Greater University Chamber of Commerce.
Sounds like a good opportunity to grab the camera and go wander off people watching for a few hours.
(via LJ Seattle)
iTunes: “Atomic Dog” by Wreck, The from the album Black Box (1991, 4:03).
There’s a very cool article about WWII-era Seattle in the P-I today, when about thirty women were “drafted” into becoming cab drivers when many of the city’s men went off to fight for their country. One of those many little tidbits of history that tend to fascinate me.
ONCE THIS CITY seemed to burst with soldiers and sailors waving goodbyes or homecoming hellos amid the ache of a very different war. Some came back in coffins. Some landed, singed and bandaged, in the rear seat of Nadine McKee’s Yellow Cab No. 21.
With stateside men in short supply, 23-year-old Nadine “Mick” McKee (now Henry) was the youngest of about 30 Seattle women happy to be “drafted” just after Pearl Harbor as Seattle’s first female taxi drivers, liberated and unleashed behind the wheel.
The assumption that they would want to lend a hand for the sake of Uncle Sam was unquestioned. But the new feeling of freedom blowing in their hair through an open cab window was a wind of change that didn’t come easy. For nearly four years between 1942 and the end of World War II in 1945, McKee traced and retraced Seattle’s streets nine hours and 300 miles a day in a 1941 Plymouth four-door. Carrying GIs and civilians, she broke the gender barrier but never dared break the speed limit much less the rigid rules of co-ed conduct.
iTunes: “Battle of Evermore, The” by Led Zeppelin from the album IV (1971, 5:51).
Italian design.
Environmentally sound gas/electric hybrid.
408 horsepower.
0-62mph in 4.03 seconds, top speed of 155mph.
Carbon-fibre chassis.
Racing suspension.
31.7 miles per gallon.
And it’s only a show prototype, not likely to be built.
Such a shame.
(via Fark)
iTunes: “Callas Went Away” by Enigma from the album MCMXC A.D. (1990, 4:27).
There’s a certain irony in a publication misusing an apostrophe in an employment ad looking for an editor.
Variety.com, the premier online entertainment resource is seeking an Editor for it’s online publication.
(via Anil)
iTunes: “Limiter” by Machines of Loving Grace from the album Concentration (1993, 4:43).
Worth a few minutes of cheap amusement: Romeo and Juliet presented as ‘L33T-speak’. Somewhat painful, but funny.
(via Ryan)
iTunes: “Rock on Top” by Ugly Duckling from the album Journey to Anywhere (2002, 3:48).
Interesting: Amazon just launched A9, a Google-based search engine, choosing to break the news via John Batelle’s blog.
A9, Amazon’s much discussed skunk works search project goes live today, so I can finally write about it. I saw it last month (caveat: unbeknownst to me until recently, Amazon targeted me as their conduit to break this news – I think they wanted it to move from the blogosphere out, as opposed the WSJ in) and had to keep the damn thing to myself, it was hard, and here’s why: On first blush it’s a very, very good service, and an intriguing move by Amazon. It raises a clear question: How will Google – and more broadly, the entire search-driven world – react?
(via Boing Boing and Jason Kottke)
iTunes: “Ill Flower” by Future Sound of London, The from the album Lifeforms (1994, 3:24).
Entirely random and surprisingly addicting: LiveJournal Images, a page which displays the last 40 images posted to LiveJournal weblogs. So many pictures get posted so quickly that you can get an entirely new set every few seconds. Lots of kittens, anonymous people, celebrities, random wierdness, and the occasional NSFW image (be warned, just in case).
I just found this, for instance…
(via MeFi)
iTunes: “Personal Reality” by Guidance from the album Essential Chillout (2000, 6:53).
Given how incredibly silly all the controversy was, I think it’s great that Janet is spoofing her “wardrobe malfunction” — and doing it in character as Condi Rice, no less!
It was inevitable: Janet Jackson spoofing her infamous wardrobe malfunction by flashing a heavily pixillated breast on “Saturday Night Live.” The one surprise was the context. Jackson portrayed national security adviser Condoleezza Rice opening her blouse at the Sept. 11 commission hearings, in an opening skit on the comedy show.
The skit showed Vice President Dick Cheney, played by Darrell Hammond, suggesting Rice should “flash a boob” to distract the public from her testimony.
“Just one headlight, real quick,” he said. “It does two things. You win over the liberals, plus, it’s a distraction for the press. I guarantee that’s going to be the headline, not the bin Laden thing.”
Jackson, as Rice, huffily refuses.
“I am not a prude, sir, but this hearing is not the forum for that kind of lewd conduct,” she said. “There are other forums, like pay television or national sporting championships. That would be fine, but I am the national security adviser.”
Cheney reluctantly agreed. “It was Ashcroft’s idea,” he said.
iTunes: “Among Myselves” by Future Sound of London, The from the album Lifeforms (1994, 5:52).