File this under “News of the Obvious,” but it’s still interesting to read an insider’s tale of what goes on behind the scenes in conservative talk radio and how the blowhards get their bluster.
Space… the final frontier
It’s true, I’ve always preferred Star Trek to Star Wars. But most of the Star Trek movies have… well… kinda sucked. Wrath of Khan is badass and First Contact is the Picardian equivalent. But other than those two… I could probably take or leave the rest.
That said, I am now officially stoked for the new J.J. Abrams version. It looks wicked awesome. You can see trailers on the official site and, if you’re impatient to see the new trailer (coming to the site tomorrow but screened this weekend in theaters preceding the new Bond film), someone surreptitiously recorded it and it’s now posted on YouTube (found on BuzzFeed).
Benjamin Netanyahu “borrows” Obama’s website design
File under “Nothing New Under the Sun.” Barack Obama‘s website was a key factor in his electoral success, and the campaign of Israeli Prime Minister candidate (again) Benjamin Netanyahu is hoping to capitalize on that with a very close knockoff version of its own. Read more at the New York Times.
QWOP
This the most utterly stupid thing I have seen in a long time, and so of course I am borderline obsessed with it.
Basically what you have here is a Flash game where you’re supposed to be running the 100m dash, but the physics and controls are terrible. I’m guessing the game was an experiment that failed, but it failed so comically that it became a strange kind of success.
Speaking of success, I have managed to develop a technique with the game that is somewhat successful, enough so that I was able to achieve a record distance of 13.8 meters. (The fact that the score is kept in distance, not time, is your first clue that something is amiss here.)
Think you can beat it? Give it a try.
My secret is that I gave up on trying to run for real. Basically I keep one leg out in front and just inch the trailing leg up far enough to gain ground without tipping over backwards. Start by holding down W and O simultaneously until you’ve moved as far forward as one stride will take you, then tap Q and P simultaneously a bit to move the back leg forward, but not so much that you teeter backwards. Then repeat holding W and O, tapping Q and P, etc. It’s still not easy, but forward movement is possible, and with it comes a strange, pathetic sense of accomplishment. I still haven’t gotten enough momentum going to hear more than the first couple of notes of what I assume is “Chariots of Fire,” though.
A Room 34 Christmas — Updated
This is my official submission for the RPM Holiday Challenge. Same idea, completely different recording. I didn’t quite like the direction my first version of “Greensleeves” was taking, so I started over from scratch, mixing up the rhythms a little (changing it from 6/8 to 9/8) and going for more of a straightforward jazz waltz vibe.
This recording features me on tenor sax, keyboards (electric piano and Mellotron), 5-string electric bass and drum programming.
Apologies to Miles Davis. You’ll know it when you hear it. And if not, so what?
[audio:http://blog.room34.com/wp-content/uploads/underdog/room34_greensleeves.mp3]Download the MP3
(Right-click and choose the appropriate menu option to save the file.)