light & (darkly)

Size does matter.

And in this case, smaller is definitely better.

So a couple of weeks ago, there was a crazy Dell sale and you could pick up one of the Mini 9 netbooks for $185.⁽¹⁾ I figured I needed something for Africa or traveling that I wouldn’t care about losing or breaking. The only real requirements were: 1) it had to be able to run OS X–because once you’re used to the glory of the Apple interface, you can’t go back, 2) it had to be able to sync my address book and calendar across both computers, 3) I should be able to edit image files on it if I have to, 4) it had to be small enough for me to justify not carrying my 5 pound MBP, and 5) it had to be really, really cheap.

Let me introduce my new toy… the Tech9.

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1. Retails at $250. [↩]

A New Semester. (And I Love Norwegians.)

When you get to where you wanna go
And you know the things you wanna know
You’re smiling.⁽¹⁾

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1. Robbie Williams mashed up in Norwegian Recycling – In This Velvet [↩]

Asian Male Seeks Female Rock Vocalist.

It’s not a secret that I have a thing for girls who can sing and play instruments.

Preferably both but hey — not that picky. I don’t mean just random girls or one of my talented friends, she has to be a rock star and at least semi-famous but she does not have to be at all physically attractive and I don’t have to know anything about her as a person. All I need to know is that she has a great voice and plays something and that’s plus 8 points. And 8 points is pretty high on my scale.⁽¹⁾ Continue reading…

1. And while we’re being honest here, she doesn’t have to be a “she”. I may have a man crush on Ben Gibbard, Colin Meloy, and possibly more. [↩]

Why The “Palin-Bush Doctrine” Frenzy Really Is A Big Deal.

I don’t embarrass easily but I was incredibly embarrassed for Governor Palin today after seeing her ABC interview in which she did not know what the Bush Doctrine was.

The thing is, I don’t think people fully realize how meaningful that is.

First, if McCain was elected, Palin would be (very likely) McCain’s next heart attack away from being president of the most powerful country in the world. She would be THE most powerful person in the world. That’s great that she has a big family and she drives her kids to school all by herself, but I don’t want a hockey mom in that position. I don’t want somebody who could be my next door neighbor to represent me to the entire world. I want the best America has to offer. But I digress… Continue reading…

Not Cool: Popped Collars and Wall Warts.

I was enjoying my iced coffee today at a trendy little New York coffee shop and witnessed two atrocities against all things decent by the same person. Laptop plugs that are in the “wall wart” form instead of the “power brick” form and popped collars.

I will address both serious issues today.

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Need a good laugh? Read politics.

[Note: Links to external sites now popup in a new window.]

I’ve been purposely avoiding writing about politics or highly controversial topics in this blog, but this year’s worth of political news has just been too much for me to avoid talking about.

I just cannot fathom what is going on in these peoples’ heads. Seriously. What are you thinking? Anyways… you won’t find an Obama joke in here — not because I am an Obama supporter but because it’s just so hard to find a good Obama joke these days.

Onto the jokes… Here we go:

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Panic loses exclamation point. Grows up?

Ok ok… I admit it… I listen to Panic at the Disco (previously known as “Panic! at the Disco”). It’s a guilty pleasure and I’m not proud of it, but I have to say that their new album is surprisingly good.

It’s been three years since their platinum album, A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out, and three years can feel like an eternity in this industry. It’s no wonder then that they start their album with a song that cheerfully exclaims:

Oh, how it’s been so long
We’re so sorry we’ve been gone
We were busy writing songs for… you!

You don’t have to worry
‘Cause we’re still the same
Band.

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Funniest thing about Love Guru? Reviews.

I haven’t heard much about Mike Myers’ new movie, The Love Guru so I decided to look up some reviews for it and couldn’t stop laughing after I had read the reviews.

First up, the trusty old Slate.com review:

There are good movies. There are bad movies. There are movies so bad they’re good. And once in a while there is a movie so bad that it takes you to a place beyond good and evil and abandons you there, shivering and alone.

Then there’s the mediocre review in Tucson Weekly which concisely describes the film in two words:

Incredibly unfunny.

However, (the always funny) A O Scott in his NYTimes review thinks calling it “unfunny” might be a little too kind:

To say that the movie is not funny is merely to affirm the obvious. The word “unfunny” surely applies to Mr. Myers’s obnoxious attempts to find mirth in physical and cultural differences but does not quite capture the strenuous unpleasantness of his performance. No, “The Love Guru” is downright antifunny, an experience that makes you wonder if you will ever laugh again.

However, I’m not going to lie. All this unanimously negative press has made me want to see it even more.

Shivering and alone,
Mathew

Contemplated for weeks. Decided it’s OK.

After weeks of listening to Sigur Ros’ new album, Med sud I eyrum vid spilum endalaust (which translates to “With a Buzz in Our Ears We Play Endlessly”), I’ve decided I’m ready to take a stance.

For the uninitiated, Sigur Ros is an Icelandic band known for lush, thick songs that could pass for compositional epics. (Also, more recently, they were named as being “Friends of the United Nations.”) It’s hard to descibe exactly what they sound like but if you could imagine a mix between Coldplay and Snow Patrol singing in a language you can’t possibly understand and in a smoother falsetto than anything Chris Martin could ever conjure up with a string quartet backing them up and then make them more dynamic than 99% of the bands you’ve been listening to (think of some kid playing with the volume button on your radio except more refined and planned) and drench all of that into a bucket of reverb, you would kind of get something close to Sigur Ros.

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All things (good and bad) end.

New York University.

Now that I’m closing in on the end of my first graduate level course at NYU, I can give a more accurate assessment.

As a bit of a disclaimer, let’s be clear that my baseline is SDSU — despite it’s reputation, a wonderful school but not exactly a high caliber educational institution by any measure.

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