Thursday, January 22, 2009

and Kory from Brooklyn writes in to say...

A month ago, I heard a rumor that President Obama would be considering ending daylight savings time because studies have proven that it doesnt increase productivity and it wastes energy.  Ending daylight savings time would "be in line with [his new] energy policy"

Today on the Brian Lehrer show, they asked 'what are the top 5 things Obama can do to help NY" so being the DLS-time hating, smart ass that i am, here's what I wrote on WNYC's write in poll

less than 5 minutes later, I heard:  "and kory from brooklyn says (of top 5 things obama can do for NY this year): # 1 .. end day light savings time .. # 2, end day light savings time, # 3 end day light savings time, # 4 end day light savings time # 5 increase funding for MTA"

and then discussing briefly with his in studio expert, said: "kory from brooklyn, why dont you call in & explain why ending daylight savings time would help NY"

(the answer of course is 5 fold:  1. DLS-time does not increase productivity or energy savings and so abolishing DLS-time would be in line with a streamlined energy policy.  2. Arizona and much of the world survives quite well without it. 3. being in a state that experiences actual, changing seasons, a standardized sunset time would decrease Seasonal Affected Disorder symptoms.  4. anything that helps NY, helps the nation as a whole.  5. Adopting a standardized clock would add weight to global non-seperatist feelings about our new administration, ie. that we are rejoining the rest of the world. (metric system still be damned, though))

sadly, as I was on the phone being interviewed by their pre-interviewer person, my buddy matt heard: "Kory from Brooklyn just called in ... but we're out of time. call tomorrow"

If I'm around tomorrow and listening, I'll call in.. If I get on, I'll paste a link to the podcast here...   [I listened in the next day but no such prompting for call ins]

 "I don't really care how time is reckoned so long as there is some agreement about it, but I object to being told that I am saving daylight when my reason tells me that I am doing nothing of the kind. I even object to the implication that I am wasting something valuable if I stay in bed after the sun has risen. As an admirer of moonlight I resent the bossy insistence of those who want to reduce my time for enjoying it. At the back of the Daylight Saving scheme I detect the bony, blue-fingered hand of Puritanism, eager to push people into bed earlier, and get them up earlier, to make them healthy, wealthy and wise in spite of themselves."
(Robertson Davies, The Diary of Samuel Marchbanks, 1947, XIX, Sunday.)

Thursday, January 08, 2009

Reasons you should elect me Zombie Overlord for the upcoming Zombiegedon

Greetings human-but-future-zombies,
I'd love to take a moment to share with you reasons why I should be your Zombie Overlord for our upcoming global zombie apocalypse.

I will love brains. Yes, any legitimate campaign to be zombie president should begin and end here but since we will all love brains, I will have to bring more to the table and so I will tell you this: I will love brains more than you do. How can you know that? Eat my brain and find out. You wont, will you? That's right you wont because as humans, it is against the law. Also, zombies dont eat other zombies so I guess you'll just have to go on faith for this one.

As your zombie president I will curb government excess, namely, there will be no government. This means no zombie air force one, no zombie vacations, no large zombie cabinets of overpaid advisers. Can my opponent promise this? Can my opponent promise anything? If he can, that means he is talking to you and he is not a zombie.

I'm tough on crime. There will be no crime, but still. Your fresh brain is yours to eat, not your neighbors, not the mob of likeminded zombies you travel with, Yours. My team is currently working on ways to enforce this. I call it: One Brain, One Zombie. In the future, I will most likely refer to it as "Braaaaaiiins" (assuming my lower jaw has remained intact).

In the first 100 days of my Zombiedency I will propose plans for finding and and then eating all the brains. Underground bunkers, fortified malls and chain linked compounds will be no match for our tireless dedication to eating all the brains. They will be so very tasty and there is no reason we should not have them.

I am strictly against sniper headshots, decapitations, being shotgunned in the face and / or other crowbar-like weapons thrust into and / or through our heads. It will be the only way to kill us so let's stop the violence before it starts, people. We all love a good, dramatic growl and moan but when Mr MovieHero has his sawed-off pointed right at your slack jaw, duck. Live (undead) to moan and drool another day.

Speaking of moaning, I know we cant add additional words to our vocabulary (of Uhhhhhh) but could we at least start pointing? It would great aid in helping others of us know where the humans ran off to.

With your help, we can make the future a feast of brains and glorious, bloody flesh as we turn humans, all the humans, into zombies. I'd like to lead you, future zombie. Towards .. a brain. Yes, that one. go get it.

Yours truly,
Gnarrrrrgllllarrrr ChompArrgh

Covering covers # 1 - Song to the Siren

In a new, ongoing series of utterly awesome things that come from the mind of me, I present the most bloggy thing I've done in quite a while: wholly biased reviews of every possible cover I can find of many songs that warrant such a collection. Reviews, anecdotes, wild tangents.. all of it for your amusement, my folly and the greater benefit of research scientists everywhere. Your welcome, internet.

I've always known that the first song I'd cover-catalog, so to speak, would be Song To The Sirens. Why? I'm not sure. It's so ballady and emo, you'd think I'd be too cool for school to label it one of my favorite songs ever. As a goth teenager with a self-stifled picture of musical history and genres, I mistakenly thought this song was created by This Mortal Coil (2nd version below).
Alas, no. Written in 1967 by Tim Buckley and his writing partner Larry Beckett, it was first released on Buckley's 1970 album Starsailor ..later released on Morning Glory: The Tim Buckley Anthology, the album featuring a performance of the song taken from the final episode of The Monkees TV show [March 25, 1968.] Wikipedia actually has a great page of background info on the song (thank you internet?) so check it out if ya like. Otherwise, on to the versions....

SeeqPod - Playable Search