Day: May 14, 2004

It seemed appropriate to post a follow-up to my most popular entry ever. For those of you who haven’t seen the final version yet, Brian sent me a link to the Official Yeti Sports webpage. It includes 3 new games aside from a “professional looking” version of the original penguin smacker. If you’re interested in more info on this silly game, Andrew from omnihosts.net has written a history of the game and also links to a site kind enough to archive all versions of the game. So smack away!

One of the most intriguing sites I’ve come across lately is Matthew Haughey’s photoblog, Ten Years of My Life. It is a very simple, yet briliant project of posting a single photo (along with a description) every day for 10 years. His photos touch upon everything from the beautiful to the absurd. Some of them may even hit you in a more personal way than you would imagine.

Matt also happens to be the founder of Metafilter, but don’t hold that against him 😉 .

Thanks to the threat of rain last time, the Hoboken Art and Music Festival will be this Sunday, rain or shine. The weather reports have been changing regularly, but my money is on a gorgeous day with maybe a quick shower or two. Fortunately, I just read the best news today. Since Donovan had to play on the 2nd inspite of the postponement (he flew in from Ireland afterall) they needed to find a new headliner. And of course there just happens to be a famous local musician who is always willing to play the festival. That’s right, Patti Smith (whom I’ve seen perform on the main stage twice before) will be on at 4:45 in front of City Hall this Sunday. So come out and enjoy one of the coolest festivals around, filled with arts, crafts, good food, and great music.

I will be promoting some upcoming performances from the locals on this site, but first I want to talk about a not-so-local. A few months back, Boulder, CO native Danya River performed at the ArtKore OpenMic. Since it happened to be Lisa’s last night hosting, I was not only present, but with cameras in tow. To put it simply, she was wonderful. There was a magical air about her as she performed beautiful, artistic folk melodies. Her voice is reminiscent of Sarah McLachlan, although she does not sound derivative. Needless to say I picked up a copy of her CD for both myself and Lisa.

Unfortunately, hailing from that great square state far to the right (ok, it’s more of a rectangle), I figured she probably wouldn’t be around again anytime soon, but a recent e-mail proved me wrong once again. Since I didn’t get to spread the word her first time around, let me point you to her tour page and urge you to check out one of her performances while she’s here. At the very least I will catch her feature at the OpenMic on the 25th, although I’d like to also make it to either her show tomorrow night in Nutley or on Monday at the Bitter End.

So there’s a lot of good things coming up, and I’ll try to keep you all informed. Hope to see some of you there!

WordPress has now hit release candidate status with their 1.2 version, and I will be upgrading my server shortly. The developers are very excited about this one, and so am I. Hopefully added features like subcategories and user commenting will help me organize this site far better than I have in the past.

Humorously this announcement comes just after one of the most popular blogging packages announced a major change in their licensing that will undoubtedly screw most of their users. I’ve got no problem paying for quality software (and this news will most likely prompt me to make another donation to WP), but the actions of Six Apart in this instance have been rather untrustworthy. From lying to their paying customers about free upgrades and converting promised features into another commercial product to stranding beta testers and severely limiting the free version that so many have become dependent on, it’s no wonder there are nearly 500 mostly negative reponse’s on Mena’s blog.

And as a side note to you elitist shits at /.: Your inane comments and pointless discussions filled with patting each other on the back and smugly acting as though your opinions matter or have any true relevance have done far more damage to the Internet than a million blogs about how some guy deals with his cat’s vomit ever could.

I haven’t watched Frasier regularly for years, but I always considered it one of the best shows to be on TV. They assembled a great cast of characters, and managed to combine elements of slapstick, witty banter, and even some drama. Their comedy reminded me of a modern day Marx Brothers troupe. I’ll never forget episodes with such setups as Frasier not knowing if he’s on a date or business dinner, Niles dressing up like Jesus, or nobody believing Frasier was seeing a model. The writers and actors had a fantastic sense of chemistry and timing, and it’s a shame to see a show like that leave us.

Lisa and I watched the final episode, and it’s safe to say that it kicked the final episode of Friends‘ ass. Seriously, it was one of the best finales ever. While both shows did wonderful jobs with the clips (they reminded me how long I had watched Frasier as well as how many good seasons Friends actually had). But the Friends episode seemed cold and calculated, as they tried to tie up loose ends that had been left loose way too long. I laughed a little bit, but for the most part it was like “Come one, get over yourselves and just move on!” Frasier instead focused on the unknown future that was coming for these characters. They managed to pull off another funny yet touching show in the tradition they had created.

I find it odd that I am writing this because, as I said, I haven’t really followed the show for years. It just goes to show how well done the finale was. It actually reminds me of, now don’t laugh, the finale for Deep Space Nine. I was impressed on that show that they managed to give endings for every character in a way that left their future wide open. It was an appropriate way to say “Even though we won’t get to see it, there is still more to come for these characters.” I doubt anything for years will come close to the perfectly setup closing for Frasier as he embarks on a new adventure, much like the rest of his companions. Afterall, a show like that is all about the possibilities, so it is apt that we know where he is headed but left to our imaginations as to the results when he arrives.