Monday, April 26, 2010

Ask Away (Super NSFW)

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If you can find something online today that's funnier than this ...


... then you can hush my mouth and call me an African American. I'm not just saying that because of the role I played in its creation.

Today my wondrous wife launched her ... what could you call it? Web show? Advice column? Window into whimsy? Whatever -- Ask Supasista is completely NSFW and it's a freaking scream. I figured that if I was still laughing at things after hearing them over and over while she edited this (she refuses to wear headphones ... you'll see why), then that's hitting the mark.

Feel free to check it out and let her know what you think.

Playing (Music): "Set Me Free" by Lloyd feat. Mystikal

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Saturday, April 24, 2010

Snark: Where It All Started From

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Courtesy of the fine folks at GeekWeek ...

Whoa

Try to behave yourselves this weekend ... or not, you know, whatever ...

Playing (Music): "I Can't Wait" by Mary J. Blige

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Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Blog Fu: Wire Work

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Flyin' high on 4/20, even though I've never imbibed in my life. Intoxicated with freshness, fool! Let's go!

- I read this article at Computerworld which made me believe I needed to write a counterpoint. I'll give you a sneak preview, in case I forget and never get to writing it: what Mike Elgan is talking about is essentially a hip hop paradigm and aesthetic. The question is, "what do people need to create content?" The answer, of course, is "a chance." Sure, you can create content on an iPad. There's just considerably better ways, and to wit, I will (should I get this thing done) counterpoint using my Nokia N900 for content creation (some of the blogs you see here and on my main website, plus a decent number of poems and two or three chapters on my new novel were all written on that phone) and making ROI comparisons. I always laugh when people make top down comparisons, because no matter my white-collar job, I still have a very "from the bottom up" perspective on things, comfortable with and understanding the oft-forgotten viewpoints of the "flyover states."

- Speaking of Computerworld, one of their pieces was repurposed for The San Francisco Chronicle where they talked about how few rules there are to govern the security of cloud computing. That, of course, further reinforces my screed against the technology.

- When I was rocking shows, this was how I viewed myself ...

Yes, I miss Sully's sometimes ...
Image courtesy of Geekweek

- Yes, National Poetry Writing Month is kicking my behind quite effectively. However, I have yet to fall off and have a few pieces I could be proud of and/or improve. I like the discipline of it, and I like creative output -- NaPoWriMo may be the cause of most of the poetry I wrote in 2009. With my fiction focus, 2010 could be the same, and I know many, many people who don't write 30 pieces (good or bad) in a year. So, kicked butt or not, I am happy to proceed.

- I had a fantastic evening last Friday, as the family was joined for an Indian food dinner by Brig Feltus, her husband Andreas and their son Max. I kept checking in on the teenager, as I remember being the bored kid around the grown ups, so I hooked him up with the Wii and a MacBook Pro hooked up to the wi-fi. This is maybe the third or so guest appearance we've had at our dinner table, and it made me think that I really should start filming these dinners, as there's fascinating stuff happening there.

Also: Brig made me an apple pie the size of a biplane. I'm still eating it. Nothing wrong with that. My wife took pictures, maybe she'll post 'em one of these days.

- Could the United States Postal Service go out of business? I think the concept scares me a little, regardless of how much I love Fed Ex (pricey bastards that they are, we're both from Memphis).

- Speaking of scary ideas, here's an example of your tax dollars at work: the military is working on a real, honest to goodness, flying car that'd be the size of two Humvees end to end and would carry four operatives and all their gear. Yes, I'm deeply worried about a consumer grade version of this, as people dialing or putting on make up scares me badly enough in two dimensions. Oy.

- Did you know The Empire Strikes Back turns 30 this year? The platinum standard for sequels and inspiration for generations of geeky jokes, I still think of the scene where Vader entered with the snow troopers as one of the best examples of production design in film, ever. I celebrated by coding while watching it with my wife, baby sleeping nearby and absorbing all that goodness.

- Whatever your struggle in life, remember, it can always get worse. Be good to each other.

Tabu out.

Playing (Music): "How High?" by Method Man and Redman

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Saturday, April 17, 2010

The Denzel Washington Venn Diagram

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I think I'm going nuts for venn diagrams ...

I want something like this for Robin Williams

... and yes, I am a crazy person. Carry on. Image courtesy of Geekweek (and I may post another from there).

Playing (Music): "Hot Night" by Meshell Ndegeocello feat. Talib Kweli

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Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Remington derringer (comics smartphones)

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Like the new "random stuff" "blog fu" styled header? Anyway, here's two thoughts I'd like to blast into your brain piece quickly (and there's a theme, see, a Remington derringer can only hold two shots, whereas the "revolver" blog I did had six ... oh never mind) ...

- BANG! I've had a lot of negative things to say about the negatively slanted numbers of people in color (in general) and Black people (in specific) in comics. However, I do wanna give a tip of my fedora (apologies to Stephen Colbert) to this week's batch. Captain America Black Panther Flags Of Our Fathers #1 (although Cap did need top billing to sell the book, T'chaka is a lead), Great Ten #6 (people of Chinese descent) and New Avengers Luke Cage #1 (a brother on the streets of Philly). Three whole books with leads of color from the Big Two. I won't say times are a'changin' -- and whether these books suck or rock is still a question mark -- but that's good to see.

- BANG! I have to publicly thank the wonderful, wonderful work of the members at talk.maemo.org for their outstanding work on the Unofficial N900 iSync Plugin, which gave explicit instructions (well, sort of, I had to figure out that Bluetooth PAN is Bluetooth DUN, thanks to a quick Google search) that helped me completely migrate all of my calendar and contact data out of my old Palm Desktop software and into my N900, synched up via Address Book/iCal ... all without ever touching the cloud (which again proved to be a terrible idea, even for the Dalai Lama). I got an email back from one of the programmers, Dave Smith (and remember, these are open source guys doing it because they saw a need, not for pay, although they're good enough to get paid for it) after I thanked them in an email, but just had to say that an open source community working towards solutions really, really rocks. I love this freakin' phone! Now, if I could just get portrait mode working right ...

Auf wiedersen.

Playing (Music): "Dancing Queen" by ABBA ... really, I love that song!

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Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Revolver (blogging poetry comics music family work)

Six shots to your dome piece, home piece!

- BANG! I'm about half way done with a very lengthy review of my new phone, the powerful and praiseworthy Nokia N900. Also, look for thirty straight days of poetry (if I don't kill myself in the process) on my Soapbox. Shut up, just think of this as the previews for the movie ... or the warning shot ... your mileage may vary ...

- BANG! Speaking of poetry, I'm nervous and excited about the deluge to come. I have percolated the Bizarro poem idea in my brain for almost a year (and I may even have a Black Manta one ... why all DC? I need to dream up some Marvel ones, probably ... a seed of a T'chaka one is in my brain) and, honestly, I've been so fiction focused that it'll almost feel like a vacation from the politics and intrigues of my latest novel (which is *this* close to being 3/4 done -- writing it in quarters).

- BANG! Back to blogging, for the 2.5 people wondering where the second half of "The Reign of The Mediocre" is, I'm just waiting for Blackest Night to finish up ... oh, wait, that happens today! Excellent!

- BANG! Last weekend, I think I stopped so many people and asked them, "Have you heard Malcolm and Martin yet?" that my wife wondered if I'd been paid to do so. I am loving the mixtape (big .zip file) so much. The next time somebody complains to me about the state of hip hop, I'm sending them that link and telling them (as my wife loves to do) that they can "sat down and shaddup!" I may even get inspired to try to email them and interview them. Maybe.

- BANG! I enjoyed my time with all of my girls this weekend. We got to chill a lot and laugh, I taught Mooch some t'ai chi (and it's fun to see her try to work it into her every day life) and Myshell's jokes have been on fire lately. Since I never feel like I'm choosing sides, and since my techno-lust finally feels sated with a device that helps me do everything, it was super relaxing to just chill. On Sunday, we hung out with one of Myshell's friends B and B's husband, having a spirited discussion about politics and hip hop. Good times all around. Hm, this is personal, should it be on the other blog? Too late now ...

- BANG! I am supporting between three and three and a half websites at work now, branching into areas I barely understand. It worries me sometimes, given the balancing act, but it sure beats the alternative.

*Hannibal holsters his vocabulary and saunters off*

Playing (Music): "First Girl On The Moon" by the Bangz

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