Inside every sane person, there’s a madman struggling to get out.
Category Archives: General Musings
Platefinger
Lovely moroccan silver & copper plate with fake finger.
Passages from Finnegans Wake – Mary Ellen Bute (1965)
Mary Ellen Bute was an experimental filmmaker. This appears to be the last film she directed. It was screened at Cannes.
Perception
When you’re a policeman, everything you see is a crime.
Red hair…
“Red hair is caused by sugar and lust. Highly evolved beings do not indulge in sugar and lust.” – Still Life With Woodpecker
(Although I’ve spent most of my life indulging in sugar and lust, and not a red hair to show for it.)
Confession
I am in love with the Universe and I don’t care who knows it!
Random and Mostly Inoffensive Thoughts…
I enjoy laying around and reading.
I’m not a heavy or regular smoker, but I wish it was possible to occasionally having a smoke while laying around and reading, without making your house smell like smoke.
My eyesight isn’t what it used to be, but I’ve still got my hair and teeth. No cancer that I’m aware of, so far, and my junk still functions as intended with no chemical additives. So I guess I’m aging fairly well, and don’t have much to complain about. I suppose if I could change anything cosmetically, I’d opt for slightly smaller balls. They just seem unnecessarily large. I don’t know how we walk around with these things.
(I hope you weren’t expecting a photo. I’m an oversharer by nature, but that’s crossing a line on a blog.)
Murder Ballad of the Week, 5/11/15: Wild Bill Jones
This one’s so good I’m going to post two versions. Dock Boggs’ version, because he’s Dock Boggs, and the Ralph Stanley (and Ralph Stanley II) version, because I just love Ralph’s unique voice, especially in this song.
This song is first person, in the voice of the murderer. He murders twenty-one year old Wild Bill Jones for getting too close to his woman, then ends up in prison for it.
Nasty traffic day
Inconvenienced twice already today by overturned vehicles. First in the morning in a residential neighborhood, then again after leaving work, along Fairfax County Parkway. Now in standstill traffic on I-95 South, wondering whether there is yet another flipper ahead.
Amy Schumer 12 Angry Men
I enjoy Amy Schumer. I think she’s funny, and I think the 12 Angry Men episode is spot on. I think it exemplifies almost everything we hate about the entertainment industry. You know, it’s why video killed the radio star, right? Because all of a sudden you had to be one of the beautiful people to be a star. Beautiful according to a board meeting comprised of rich white men.
But hey, there’s something else I hate about the entertainment industry.
I hate the fact that they had to release this wonderful video just one step shy of a paywall. To view the video, you have to sign in to YOUR cable provider. I did so, because I really wanted to see the video. I was then assaulted with shitty, stuttering commercials. Once the video started, it was interrupted with a series of FIVE ads, some of which performed atrociously (stuttering… pausing… buffering…), after which the video resumed for a while, only to be interrupted by yet another series of five ads.
Seriously, what the FUCK is wrong with Comedy Central? They seem to be the only content provider that just can’t get it right. Before this, what I was used to on Comedy Central was pre-video advertisements that worked flawlessly, only to fizzle and die when the actual content started. Thanks, guys. Exactly what I wanted, to view an ad and then have my browser freeze before seeing what I came here to see. How come Youtube can get it right? Even porn sites do a better job than you.
At least this time, I could view the content. But jesus, does it all have to be so heavy-handed? What kind of Ebenezer Scrooge is running the advertising department over there, anyway? I’m going to break it down for you. You make things UNWATCHABLE. You do this often enough, and the savvy consumer will start to recognize a pattern. I did. What the pattern did to me was this: When I see a link to something I am interested in seeing, I pay attention to who’s serving it. If it’s comedy central, fuck it, it’s almost not worth it. Maybe I’ll look around to see if it has reached any other media outlets yet. I have better things to do than suffer content delivery that is often non-functional, frequently interrupted, and blatantly commercialized. Get yourself a modern user experience expert in there. It makes a difference, and you are losing eyeballs. Watching a great comedy video shouldn’t make the viewer angry at the provider. The provider is supposed to take a back seat once the content is underway.
I apologize that this post was less about Amy Schumer’s brilliant take on the entertainment industry’s ridiculous beauty standards in the form of a 12 Angry Men parody, and more about content providers’ relentless pursuit of the almighty dollar, AT THE EXPENSE OF THE CONTENT THEY PRETEND TO PROVIDE.
Seriously, Amy, GREAT JOB on that video. Great cast, great dialog, great message. You are hot enough. Sorry Comedy Central fucked you over.
Oh, and I’ll let you in on another little secret. INTERNET VIDEO ADVERTISING DOESN’T WORK. They’ve got you fooled into thinking it does, but it doesn’t. Nobody buys that shit because they saw a video advertising clip.