January 2010
50 posts
4 tags
DC-ing You!
Man, I’m gonna tell you right now I didn’t learn shit yesterday. Oh, that’s not true, I learned that apropos of nothing and totally without trying to, I’ve managed to begin a gallery of photos depicting me drinking 40s on long-distance buses. Other than that, it was-
Wait, when did they change what nickels look like?
-diggy
3 tags
Be Seeing You!
”’Tis what it seems/
the thing imprinted through the seam of my jeans”
-Clipse
Today I learned that I’m not a number, I’m a free man!
-diggy
3 tags
3 tags
3 tags
Cheating, Pt. 1
Off to DC for the weakened…sorry, right “for the weekend”; not 100% sure between writing a site Bible and drinking until I forget how to use my fingers that I’m gonna get a chance to post. So instead, let’s do a rapidfire succession of things I’ve learned recently that weren’t full-post worthy, but still Awesome. We’ll call it Diggy’s Creating...
3 tags
The fields divided one by one
I guess this was bound to happen: today I learned this. But that doesn’t really count.
This morning, I checked my mail and found a “Save the Date” for a college friend’s wedding in Spartanburg, South Carolina. This is exciting, because it means I can take the Crescent. I love trains. The idea of eating up all those miles of track, speeding on a special highway to a...
4 tags
The Empire State
My, that those British are a grim lot. So today I learned about this fantastic series of propaganda posters the UK printed up in WWII. The notion was to promote wellness and mental health while being bombed to pieces during the Blitz. The first read “Your Courage, Your Cheerfulness, Your Resolution Will Bring Us Victory”, white letters on a plain red backdrop with the symbol of the...
3 tags
The Game
Tonight I learned that, despite my every intention and best efforts, I might just be stuck giving a shit about politics. Pretty much everyone I know who does this for a living — the doorknockers and the flacks, the people who have been doing it forever and will do it forever — they all feel like they were born with some time bomb in their DNA that compelled/sentenced them to a life...
3 tags
Never Meet Your Heroes
Today I learned that British heartthrob, drama-riddled junkie and all around human enigma Pete Doherty has cleaned up his act (wait for it)…thanks to Scientology.
This is why you should’ve just OD’d, Pete. This is why you should’ve just OD’d.
-diggy
3 tags
3 tags
Black Gold
Whoa. Cool.
Today I learned about the Threepenny Opera, a jazz-inspired German opera from 1928, which itself is based on the old British Beggar’s Opera. It’s super popular, and has been performed in various languages and locales for 80+ years. Hidden throughout the play is a lot of lampooning of the upper class and aristocracy, some incredibly dark comedy and the coolest fucking...
3 tags
3 tags
Re: Otis Redding
Yeah, that’s a nice song, but “That’s How Strong My Love Is” sounds like a smoke-filled bar at the end of the night when you were pretty sure she’d taken off with that gaggle of unremarkable young people an hour ago, but holy shit she’s still here.
Anyway, to get this back on topic, tonight I learned that if you’re making habanero fritters, a little beer...
2 tags
Andy is nuts. The best Otis Redding song is...
3 tags
3 tags
Daleks in Brooklyn
Today I watched the last episode of “The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien”, and the last episode of “Dollhouse.” I can find a theme in a haystack, and if there’s one common element abounding about these days from both people I know and in the industry at large, it’s the lack of opportunity. People are that afraid to try new things? Why? When the status quo...
3 tags
Adaptation
Today I learned that there is a plant called the coyote tobacco (Nicotiana attenuata) that grows out west and flowers at night. The hawkmoth, which is apparently a thing that exists, pollinates it, but leaves behind eggs, from whence come caterpillars that like to eat the plant. Problem, yes?
Well, apparently:
N. attenuata strikes back in a novel way, according to scientists at the Max Planck...
3 tags
No Hook
You may get to the point in the day or life where you stack it up: the left is dead, Democracy is dead, love is dead and nobody cares. And I’ll drink to that, aye, shit’s horrendous sometimes, but-
Kanye and Hov kill it for life. Let’s pretend I learned it today. Let’s pretend when we learn anything at all. Let’s pretend that if we stick it out, grab our guts and...
3 tags
Off-ramp
I literally cannot remember a time in my life when I didn’t think I was going to spend the rest of it in politics. It always used to go like this: I’d graduate from college, take the first train to Washington, be the youngest person ever to do a series of Hill jobs, ???, run for President, serve two terms, retire at age 55.
Okay, I was kind of a prick. But even when things got...
3 tags
How the Borg Saved Christmas
Wow. I had forgotten how insane and exciting and bitterly disappointing elections can be. And thinking of the long-term political impact of the Special Senate Race up in Massachusetts can be downright frightening. It’s colored my day to think that a mismanaged campaign could lead to the end of Health Care reform and what kind of impact that might have on the Presidential election in 2012....
3 tags
Live from the boiler room
Today I learned that a little bit of campaigning can undo a whole lot of post-campaign recuperation. I probably shouldn’t say too much about how it’s gone up here until it’s all over, but I’m amazed how quickly I’ve lost all the (physically, emotionally, mentally) healthy habits that I’ve acquired since escaping Minnesota. This must be what addiction is like.
...
2 tags
I, Coward
I wanted to write about amorphous sexual identity and how it’s popped in and out of my life over the years, but I flaked out thinking that this half-a-blog might actually receive a bump due to a healthy endorsement, so I went for something a little more mundane.
Thai food and good friends and too much whiskey. It’s a little tough to learn anything in that environment.
Ooo, I learned about this...
3 tags
More like Captain Emo
I can remember with a preternatural clarity the order of the first dozen or so video games I owned as a child. It was Mario Bros and Duck Hunt first, of course. Then Mega Man 2, which is a story I’m quite fond of telling. Then Ikari Warriors, Adventure Island, and on Christmas Eve of 1990, Little Nemo: The Dreamaster.
It was an odd game. You were this little kid in pajamas running around...
3 tags
Nadir Ultima
Today I read this article and learned everything that is inside of it. It’s brilliant, it’s about critical analysis of the first Die Hard movie in terms of how it explores the notions of non-linear architecture. I highly recommend reading it.
I’m gonna be honest, there’s some days (I call them Saturdays) when learning things becomes incredibly difficult when all you want...
3 tags
Six Degrees
Hey, you know the Doomsday Clock? Oh, sure you do. Well today (or yesterday actually) I found out that Atomic Scientists (seriously) moved it back by one whole minute. We now sit at 6 minutes to mutually assured destruction!
Use that extra minute today to say goodbye to someone.
-diego
3 tags
Yellow's All Like "...man, fuck you guys"
Today I learned about the Red Oni and the Blue Oni, which are basically the even more Japanese version of the Yin and the Yang as they pertain to people’s personalities. Ya see, it’s like you got these two oni’s (demons or spirits) in you: the red, passionate, emotional, violent one; and the blue, thoughtful, logical, spiritual, disconnected one. Each has their good and bad...
4 tags
Annie, Get Your Resume
I had to do all sorts of research on something called the Wild West Shows, which were like big fake elaborate versions of what life was like during frontier times, 19th century America and all that bit. They were enormous productions which drew massive amounts of money during the early 20th century before hopping over to Europe and being even more popular. They had all the classics: Annie Oakley,...
3 tags
The Last Sunday
Today I learned that the guy who used to yell “Sunday! Sunday! Sunday!” in TV commercials died.
On a Sunday.
-andy
3 tags
This exists
Read this quote.
“There are some virtual sex games out there, but none that actually have adventure and a storyline to them,” said Maximus Baptist VIII of bonetown.com.
That is something I learned today.
-andy
3 tags
Grown-ups
Today I learned that a girl I went to high school with (she was a year behind me) is the field director for the campaign I’ve parachuted into. I walked into the office for the first time and within five seconds literally bumped into her. It is a small world, and always has been, and many of the people who have been in it with me are now grown-ups. Really, almost all of them.
Later, I...
3 tags
Baby Time!
Today I learned the etymology of one of my favorite girl’s names, Xochitl. It is an Aztec (Nahuatl) word meaning ‘flower’. I also learned that there’s a Japanese-Mexican women’s wrestler named Xochitl Hamada, who I would instantly marry were she not already married to someone named (looking it up)….Pentagon Black.
Erroneously I told someone that I thought this...
3 tags
The Big Red Hammer
Today I learned that everything pretty and beautiful dies.
Nah, I’m just kidding, I already knew that. Today I learned about the restorative powers of a Bloody Mary. I’ve been living under a rock, apparently.
Also, while reading that wiki article I learned that “Variations in Alcohol” tickles me goddamn pink. Excuse de jour!
-diego
3 tags
CryTunes
Today I learned, first thing in the morning mind you, that iTunes is an unsympathetic psychic program determined to further nudge your hands closer to the neck of a bottle.
I hit play on my list of 4500 songs, always on random and the following, in ORDER occurred:
-“Do You Know What I Love the Most” by Saves the Day
-“A Fond Farewell” by Elliott Smith
-“Everyone I...
3 tags
2 tags
C-C-C-Combo Breaker
Giz had an an article today in which Jerry Seinfeld essentially lays out why I think we’re working on this blaggy blog. Today I learned that I really like this bit of advice from Jerry Seinfeld.
-diego
1 tag
They Actually Call it "Mad-Town"
Which is appropriate, because that shit makes me pretty MadTown.
So a couple things I’ve picked up on. I don’t know how or why it always works out this way, but I somehow only end up taking trips to the midwest during the coldest time of year. It started snowing as soon as I got here and dumped about 5 sloppy inches (nickname in highschool) of snow non-stop over the next 18 hours....
3 tags
What I Never Learned About Time Travel
I couldn’t get an opportunity to post anything yesterday (a bit too busy having…fun?) so let’s hop in the ol’ TARDIS and pretend today is Wednesday, January 6th and that I’m good with deadlines…
FWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH
Wow…the ancient past. I must seem like a God to your primitive minds (I had to spell-check that one because I misspelled...
3 tags
Heat!
I’ve learned a lot about radiators in the last day or two. Mostly because mine are in need of repair. I have steam valve radiators. I need new air vents. I like saying things like that. It makes me feel manly.
-andy
3 tags
GCBI Friend
GCBI Friend
Today I learned (from Diego) the definition of a GCBI Friend:
Generally Concerned, Barring Inconvenience.
Diego says: “Somewhere between a friend and an acquaintance.”
-andy
3 tags
Inexorable Divine Retribution
While sludging through the internet, coming to the conclusion that I should be reading Kafka (do I even need to read Kafka though? Really? Like I don’t need to read Eco to get the point of his books, there’s a wiki article on it already. Can’t I just glean the major facts and try to come up with the symbolism on my own? Is that cheating? Is this the kind of bourgeoisie education...
3 tags
http://www.att.net/s/editorial.dll?eetype=Article&e... →
Today I learned a whole BUNCH of things I didn’t know before:
Grumpy people think more clearly because negative moods trigger more attentive, careful thinking.
The calmest place on Earth is on top of an icy plateau in Antarctica known as Ridge A, several hundred miles from the South Pole. It is so still that stars do not twinkle in the sky because there is no turbulence in the atmosphere...
3 tags
Really depressing →
Today I learned from my mom that one in 50 Americans has no income besides food stamps.
How’s that “ownership society” thing working out for you?
-andy
3 tags
I Am Confused By This
Today I learned that cattle graze facing magnetic north and no one can figure out why. No, really.
I love the end of that bit where they challenge neuroscientists to figure it out. This will be my excuse for not finish a task in the future, “fuck it, I challenge the neuroscientists to do this.”
-diego
3 tags
IMPORTANT GARLIC BULLETIN
I just learned that “elephant garlic” is not, in fact, garlic. It is a member of the leek family.
-andy
3 tags
Today in Racist Football Lore...!
Today I learned that the Oakland Raiders were originally the Oakland Señors. Ole!
And while I can’t say that I’m learning this for the first time, it was reiterated to me how spine-crushingly boring Boston can be. A toast to toasting to kill time and braincells.
-diego
3 tags
3 tags
3 tags
Using Every Part of the Buffalo
I’m a notoriously judgemental guy, so it should come as no shock that I tend to determine very quickly the amount of utility I can get out of people I’m meeting for the first time. It’s always a pleasant surprise then to find out that people are capable of more than I may have given them initial credit for: the girl you thought of only sexually turns out to be a brilliant...
3 tags
The Demise of the Left-Handed Quarterback
I always thought that would be an awesome name for an indie band. Left-handed quarterbacks make me uncomfortable; football plays are supposed to look and flow a certain way, and changing the orientation of the quarterback affects everything from how the play is blocked (the quarterback’s “blind side” needs extra protection, which means that, usually, the left tackle is the most...
2 tags
