Thursday, March 31, 2005

Wonder of Wonders!

That boon to flat-chested gals (and a few rather odd guys), the Wonderbra, is celebrating its 10th anniversary! Knockers up, folks! Raise your cups in a toast to this miraculous undergarment.

Then ponder the fact that the Wonderbra is a product of the good folk at Sara Lee Intimate Apparel. Yes, Sara Lee, the same company that brings us heavenly desserts and pastries, wieners that plump when you cook 'em, men's underpants, and a dizzying array of other staples in our lives.

I guess it's true: Everybody doesn't like something, but nobody doesn't like Sara Lee.

History of the Brassiere

Bette Midler long ago put to rest myths about the colorful history of the "over-the-shoulder boulder holder", revealing in her fanciful song "Otto Titsling" the struggle between the titular (sorry) hero and the French scoundrel Phillipe de Brassiere.

In reality, however, the first practical and widely used bra was developed by Mary Phelps Jacob, a New York socialite frustrated by the uncomfortable and often humiliating foundation garmets of her day.

There were others who came before Ms. Jacob, however, and the true history of the bra is as colorful as Ms. Midler's lusty, busty tune.

Wednesday, March 23, 2005

I have extremely silly friends…

All your base are belong to Flickr memes:

• That black man is stealing that chair!
• Molly on the phone
• Flickr is having a massage

Congratulations, by the way, to Stewie, Caterina and all the Flickr folk on their recent nuptials.

Tuesday, March 22, 2005

Is this a doughnut I see before me?

D'oh! I don't know whether to be frightened, disappointed, excited or scared. I love The Simpsons. I love Shakespeare. I'm not sure what to think about the prospect of MacHomer, a one-man version of the Scottish play performed entirely using voices from The Simpsons.

I suppose I'll have to reconcile my feelings one way or another. Rick Miller's show plays at the Blanche on May 13.

Here's a NPR interview with Miller about the show from 2003.

Sunday, March 13, 2005

A dude’ll do

Cheeky cutie Matt Kingston e-mailed a terse "Thinking of you..." along with a link to this New York Times story about the habitués of a bar "on the corner of Avenue A and 12th Street [...] named for the red neon rooster in the window."

I'm not sure how to take that, but it's always nice to be thought of.

Batteries draining, batteries charging…

Greetings from the heart of Texas. The weather is gorgeous and the geeks are too! Just a brief note to report that, yes, I am alive and having a simply marvelous time. Break Bread With Brad was a smash, and attendance topped 90 for the first time ever.

The people just kept coming—including random literary sensations— and the beer flowed freely and the food was yummy and I gave away the usual assortment of eclectic crap door prizes. (More pictures here and here.)

There's too, too much going on. I'm overstimulated. I'm underslept. At the same time my creative batteries are getting juiced up, my literal batteries are rebelling; both my digital camera and my laptap refuse to hold a charge for more than a few minutes at a time. It's long past time to replace the camera anyway, and I've put off buying a new iBook energy module for a long while too.

And that's the news from Austin, where the food is plentiful, cheap and delicious; the Shiner flows as easily as the conversation in the convention center hallways; and the men—o, the men!—are smart, funny and gorgeous! Further bulletins as events warrant, breaking news around the clock at SXSW Baby!.

Thursday, March 10, 2005

Whatcha Gonna Do with a Cowboy?

I never had much use for "young country," that spate of behatted pretty boys who showed up in the 80s with one cookie-cutter hit after another. It could be fun to dance to occasionally, but there was no heart to it. Country music, to me, was always George Jones and Tammy Wynette, Hank and Hank Jr., and Chris LeDoux.

Chris LeDoux died yesterday at age 56 of complications from liver cancer.

He was the real deal, a cowboy and rodeo star who took up songwriting and singing professionally after he retired from the bronc busting world. His music could be sad or soulful, and he could sure as hell cut loose on a number that made you want to two-step 'til dawn. (When I dated a couple of cowpoke-wannabes a decade and change ago, I did just that too many times to count.)

He was a class act all the way (and pretty easy on the eyes, too—woof!) and I'm thrilled I got to see him perform a couple of times. I'm headed to Austin, Texas for the weekend. That's where Chris LeDoux grew up, and they consider him a hometown hero. I'll be lifting a Shiner or two for one of the last real cowboy singers, for sure.

Tuesday, March 8, 2005

Turing, Turing, Turing…

Five Questions to Verify if an Entity is a Robot

If ever you find yourself wondering if an interactive entity is something other than human, and most likely a robot, in your day to day life, here are some trick questions that will help shake out the truth...

Sunday, March 6, 2005

Pull for the puppy…

Dog lovers are remarkably able to focus positive energy in the universe, of this I am sure. So, please, have some good thoughts today for Beta and her worried daddy.

Update: So far, so good...

Further: Beta may get to come home tonight. Yay!

Denouement: I love a happy ending!

SXSW 2005 Pre-flight

It's just a little over 100 hours until I hit Austin for my annual trip south of the boredom for South by Southwest Interactive and all the attendant hoopla and folderol. Even at this remove, I'm already energized by the anticipation, so much so that a couple of my long-dormant web projects began percolating this weekend and will probably be ready to pour out sometime after the conference and the end of the season at work.

If you haven't made plans to go, there's still time to be a part of the SXSW experience. Check out all the juicy info at SXSW Baby!, and maybe you can hitch up with a kindred soul on the Ride/Room Share board.

If you will be there and have a hankering to meet up, here's a few of the places you're likely to find me:

• Break Bread with Brad SXSW Eve, of course, on Friday evening. All BradFans are invited, natch, although the favor of a RSVP is requested. Meet and greet with some of the smartest, most beautiful and urbane geeks on the planet.
• KICK!, the informal Saturday morning konference kick-off in Palm Park. I will not oversleep myself this year!
• Web Standards Billiards Party, Saturday evening, followed by the Opening Party at the rightly legendary frog design.
• AMODA Digital Showcase, a promising lounge/art party/live music thingy.
• The Earls, also known as the SXSW Web Awards, at the Hilton, followed by the after-party, followed by the after-after-party, then...well, you get the idea.
• I'll be taking two minutes of your time at 20x2—a grand experience, even when I'm not part of the fun—to answer the question "What's the word?" (I will not get too drunk and flirty with a cute local at another party and miss it this year.)
• Bruce's party, wherever and whatever it winds up being this year.

There's more, of course. There's always more. Hell, there's an entire four days of conference panels and plenary sessions I haven't even mentioned. Come Friday, for the sixth year, I'm off to see my friends, longtime or yet unmet, to quaff my weight in Shiner, and to soak up the energizing enthusiasm exuded by the so many giant, delicious brains in one place.

I. Can't. Wait.

Saturday, March 5, 2005

Mister Horse

In this week's The New Yorker, Paul Rudnick outlines Further Proof That Lincoln Was Gay. Among his discoveries:

The first draft of the Gettysburg Address began, “Four score and seven years ago-ish . . .

When Lincoln was a boy, he would walk twenty miles through the snow every morning to buy magazines.

Lincoln was raised in a log cabin with a dirt floor, which he vacuumed.

Lincoln liked to say, “All men are created equal, except at the beach.”

Wednesday, March 2, 2005

Oneletter

A Flickr tag for all your ransom note needs.

It’s Tara-riffic!

The Gone With the Wind Online Exhibit, part of the David O' Selznick Collection at the University of Texas-Austin. (Current Exhibitions | Visitor Information)

Tuesday, March 1, 2005

Ford & Arthur & Wallace & Gromit

It's laughable how rarely I make it to a theater to see a film these days; DVDs and TiVo are my primary means of seeing movies. But there are two flicks set for release in the next few months that you can bet I'll be on line for opening day.

Check out this new meta-trailer for The Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Galaxy (due in late April), and the spiffy new site for Wallace & Gromit (coming in October).

No Bic-flickin’-way

Somehow, I suspect the powerful convenience store lobby is behind this.

Airline passengers will have to ditch their lighters or lose them to airport security screeners when a new ban on lighters takes effect in April.

The ban reflects Congress' fear that lighters could be used to ignite bombs on planes or otherwise damage or destroy them. The Transportation Security Administration until now had banned all types of lighters, except for butane, which were limited to two per passenger.

TSA's new ruling extends the ban to all butane lighters, effective April 14.