The White House has updated its Flickr stream again:
My favorite is the shot of the entire Cabinet - it actually looks more like America than I would imagine most previous Cabinets to look - but what really impressed me were all the photos taken by Pete Souza in Pittsburgh. Just looking at the mutual respect between our President and other countries' heads of state... I mean, it's enough to make you believe we're an actual part of the wider world again. (I also found it cool that there's at least one woman, Samantha Appleton, among the official WH photographers.)
Silly Site o' the Day
Not that I have time to view them, but I've been beefing up my YouTube subscriptions, and have finally added DAScottJr, whom you may remember from this Silly Site post. Here's his take on the Hoff, which admittedly is pretty low-hanging fruit:
You know, I'd consider buying one of his Literal Pen-Elayne Penny Lane t-shirts, but for that kind of money I'd at least like to know his real name (other than Scott).
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Silly Site o' the Day
For those who just can't get enough of Things Auto-Tuned (and goodness knows I can't, as long as whatever's being Auto-Tuned isn't an actual singer), Robin informs me of this brilliant video from the always rather good Joel Veitch:
So is this a Friday Cat Blogging thing or an I Can Has Cheezburger thing? I am confused by all internet traditions...
Monday, September 28, 2009
Silly Site o' the Day
Robin seems quite taken with John Boswell's music and YouTube videos, and wanted me to pass on a couple auto-tuned gems to you if I agreed. Here's his Carl Sagan tribute, which I thought was quite beautiful:
And this eulogy for Billy Mays...
...was based on an actual ad that the late pitchman did:
The "I can has health insurance" website advertised doesn't appear to work, however. But I thought this amazing in and of itself; what does it say about this country when one is reduced to buying health insurance from Billy Mays?
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Silly Site o' the Day
Okay, look. I just don't watch a lot of TV. We still have half a dozen Ugly Betty episodes from last season sitting on the DVR. I'm getting better at some things, we try to clear the DVR of Daily Show and Colbert episodes every weekend and such, but there's just too much stuff out there, including comics and internet, to occupy my time. So the only new show to which I've become somewhat addicted this season is Community, starring Joel McHale (yes, The Soup is another addiction, despite the fact that I've never watched 99% of the shows on which McHale rags) and an actually-funny Chevy Chase. But as a rule, I don't get into hour-long soap-opery dramas. Especially period ones. So I've never worked up any interest in watching Mad Men. Of course, this doesn't mean Robin and I can't create our own Mad Man avatar (via Gerard):
Imagine my avatar as a 7-year-old kid and that's pretty much me in the '60s.
Oh no, my sidebar's scrolling further than my content again! Time to put in lots of cat photos from last night and this morning!
Don't worry, it's autumn now, so I'd imagine there will be lots of foliage photos to come over the next month or so.
Silly Site o' the Day
So we're off to see Mom today, and we're bringing the laptop with us? Why? Because Robin found this very funny YouTube courtesy of MCJohnsonFilms, and we're hoping to locate some wifi so she can watch it:
Of course, even if Twitteleh did exist, my Jewish mother wouldn't want it what with her dial-up and only using the computer for personal finance and email and Bookworm and iTunes anyway...
Friday, September 25, 2009
Silly Site o' the Day
You know, I'm not really that into alcohol. But sometimes, if you're feeling iron-deficient and you need a quick muscle relaxant, a pint of Guinness is just the thing. So Robin and I celebrated last night, on the date that Guinness turned 250 years old. Here's to at leaset 250 more; cheers!
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Silly Site o' the Day
I've been remiss in not wishing Peter David a happy belated birthday, so I wanted to choose a silly site today that I thought he'd like. This one seems right up his alley: via Skippy, it's Tommy Westfall's Mind, a LiveJournal community dedicated to TV show character crossovers, "premised on the idea that since a couple of characters from St. Elsewhere appeared on Homicide: Life on the Streets, the latter show, like the former, must exist entirely in tommy's mind." And so on and so forth.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Silly Site o' the Day
Yay, it's autumn at last! My favorite season! Now here's hoping my happiness will be complete and Robin will get work. In the meantime, I still have my lovely job with its fairly adequate health insurance, despite how enthusiastically Will Ferrell and friends want to shake up that status quo:
I saw this yesterday when glancing at Olbermann's show and just had to run it here.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Silly Site o' the Day
One reason I used to read only fantasy books written by women:
Clicken to embiggen. See, what David Malki's skillfully pointing out (among other things) is the preponderance of male protagonists and female sidekicks/love interests in these things. And that was just boring to me, because I wanted to read about female protagonists who existed and had dramatic agency completely separately from any men who happened to be in the story.
Monday, September 21, 2009
Silly Site o' the Day
Via Robin, here's something to help out those friends and relatives who have a bit of trouble with the concept of search engines. Here, let me Google that for you.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Silly Site o' the Day
So there's a big awards show tonight honoring the best of some old media. I'll probably watch it, although I'm not caught up on my blogs so I have no idea if anyone's live-blogging it. Meanwhile, some of us watch the new media more often, particulary when it features Sarah Haskins:
I will confess, though, that I'm totes struggling to keep up with half of the teenspeak she's using.
I don't think I've done a photo of Amy perched on Robin's shoulder yet, so here's one from this morning:
It's like he has a weird catlike growth on his shoulder. Meanwhile, the sunbeams were out in the living room this afternoon, so Datsa stayed there most of the time. Here he is after a trying day of lying around:
Whilst sending out Rosh Hashanah e-cards today I looked up the cats' ages, 'cause they're getting so old I'm having trouble remembering. Near as I can figure, Datsa will be 17 next month and Amy is 12½, so they're now by far the oldest cats I've ever owned, and they're still doing wonderfully!
Silly Site o' the Day
Ahoy, mateys, and happy Rosh Hashanah! You know, I can actually hear the words "Rosh Hashanah" spoken with a West Country accent, and I have no idea what that says about me. Did you know there have been Jewish pirates? It's true. Here are the Top Ten Halachic Questions for a Jewish Pirate. And, as usual, here's the official Talk Like A Pirate Day link. Avast!
Via Jim A, I was delighted to find out that Second City has not only a 50th anniversary website but that there will be a reunion of surviving SCTV cast members (apparently to include Harold Ramis) on December 11. You lucky rich ($175 per ticket) Chicagoans, you!
Another day, another Untergang parody. This one's about Obama speaking to schoolchildren:
Via Maru. "An enlightened population of critical thinkers to question us," indeed. But don't Hitler & co. in this movie look saner than most of the right-wing Republicans lately?
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Silly Site o' the Day
Via Jessa Crispin, a very addictive word game that, unfortunately, has an ad like Bunni did so I'm not going to embed it here, but I highly recommend Must Pop Words.
Sorry I didn't get this up sooner, but the rain really conked me out yesterday. I still feel like I'm drugged. Naturally, we're headed into the city (work-related) in this mess; ick. Anyway, as if that weren't enough, Datsa's been very needy lately, and on Thursday he decided to jump up on the printer and rub himself against anything he could:
It was funniest when he started attacking the printer, but I didn't get any photos of that.
Friday, September 11, 2009
Remembrance Day 2009
Because one should never forget how the world came together to try and heal, and how New Yorkers in particular showed so much compassion in so many ways:
And lest we forget, now that we finally have a new administration which would never allow this sort of thing to happen again: The people who did this are not in Afghanistan, nor in Iraq, both of which countries we still occupy. The people who may want to do this to the future could very well come from those countries, however, if we don't get the heck out. The people who did this to us are supposedly around Pakistan now. Most of the hijackers were Saudi. Bin Laden, still at large, is Saudi. Why are these countries still our friends?
Silly Site o' the Day
On this day I remember the originator of the Silly Site concept, my late best friend Leah Adezio, on what would have been her birthday. I can't recall whether she liked They Might Be Giants, but I believe she would have found this song cute and appropriate:
Thanks to my job's health insurance, I was able to get a visual field test (which I passed with flying colors), images taken of the backs of my eyes (ewww) and another pressure test at my ophthalmologist's office this afternoon. All this high-tech equipment confirmed that my eyes are still A-OK, a major concern for me as I have a bit of family history in that area. Unfortunately, the subway and bus I took both chose this afternoon to suffer delays, and I arrived at the doctor's office almost 45 minutes late, and with plenty of body aches to show for it. My eyes are almost back to normal, but my muscles are screaming. At least I was able to make dinner okay. Speaking of which, ever since I was a kid eating alphabet soup, I've always wanted to spell things out with food. And other stuff, too. Like We Make Words (via Robyn Lee at Serious Eats). Picturesque!
So even though it's been nine months and counting since Robin has had a pencilling or inking assignment (hey Marvel and DC, did I mention "fast and good and reliable"?), I'm still reading a lot of comics, having just about made it through the DCU portion of our comp boxes, and I admit I'm still a bit of a closet comics geek. So I heard about this professional Congressional idiot who screamed at the President yesterday, which nobody has ever done during a joint session address because most Congresscritters, like 'em or hate 'em, are adults and know that you respect the office even if you disagree, and besides which, you're no longer in kindergarten, y'know? Then I learn the guy's name is Joe Wilson, and I kid you not, the first thing I thought was, "well, that explains it, any Titans fan can tell you that Jericho's gone crazy from all the voices in his head, the residue of all those evil people he's jumped into over the years." Yeah, time was that Joey Wilson was my favorite character, and I keep hoping that somehow he'll be brought back to the kind, peace-loving, musical, somewhat randy hippie he used to be. But everyone has a limit, and I think this kerfuffle last night was one unprofessional outburst too many.
Wednesday, September 09, 2009
Silly Site o' the Day
Welcome to "number 9, number 9, number 9..." and the official release date of the remastered Beatles catalog (oh, and incidentally, a Beatles version of something called "Rock Band," whatever that is). And so far, the absolute best and funniest review I've read of these albums comes from the Onion AV Club's Chuck Klosterman (via Robin). It's like reading a parody of a Usenet-era know-nothing and, after all, today is as much about nostalgia as anything else.
Oh, and by the way, it's also the Day Without Cats, for those of you who are Aware Of All Internet Traditions:
Via Laura. The saddest thing is, I recognized almost all the references they make in the above video.
Tuesday, September 08, 2009
Silly Site o' the Day
Heigh-ho, heigh-ho, it's back to work I go, a half hour later now that our summer hours are over. But first, via my ex, let's Auto-Tune the News some more:
Great fun, as usual!
Monday, September 07, 2009
Blogiversary/Labor Day Blogaround
These days, I take my breaks where I can get 'em. I sense more of a schedule crush than ever, and I still don't feel like I'm accomplishing what I should be. I get too easily frustrated by things that are out of my control. I yearn for time, but I always seem to squander it. In other words, welcome to life. A life I've shared with you, after a fashion, for seven years on this blog.
When I started, I had more time for everything. My day job not only allowed me unrestricted access to most every website, but afforded me quite a bit of free time, particularly when my boss was elsewhere and the business itself appeared to be winding down. I was mostly miserable in that somewhat soul-sucking position, but I did appreciate the writing time, if only to vent about the daily toll. Politically, the country was mired in a presidency that divided the nation, pitting the aggressively nasty and their semi-ignorant sycophants against reality-based citizens fearful of encroaching fascism and economic meltdown.
How things have changed. My best friend from college, my best friend from adulthood, and my father are all gone now (but remain in my heart every day). I hit my 50th birthday with no fanfare, no party, little hope for what lay in my future. It was shortly followed by over six months of grueling job-hunting, which finally paid off. Now I'm in a job I positively adore, but which comes with increased responsibilities and sucks time instead of my soul. It's a trade-up, believe me, but I do miss the freedom to just ramble on. And while the country's current centrist-pragmatic leaders aren't the bastions of liberalism many of my fellow lefty bloggers talked themselves into believing they were, and we've yet to climb out of nationwide joblessness (in the Riggs Residence alone, it's been nine months since Robin's last comic book assignment ended, almost inconceivable considering how well and fast he draws), rays of hope break through the clouds here and there.
Robin and I are still playing "constant effing improv" - i.e., happily married, for almost 11 years now. Both our cats are still with us; Amy turns 12 next month, and Datsa's hanging in there as healthy as ever at 16½ (or is it 17½?). I'm relatively healthy as well, despite the a-fib scare of a few years back and my "borderline" diabetes. We still live in the top floor of a lovely house in a nice, quiet neighborhood. Both my brothers are now happily married as well, and I get to see my Mom every few weeks during the late spring, summer and early autumn. So many people I love are still with me. There are always new (and old) things to listen to, watch, and read. And while it's true that Megillat Vashti, my opus of sorts, remains unfinished, and ComicMix changed its mind about having weekly columnists, I still use my writing muscles, mostly in the service of my job. And that's okay for now. Somewhere, just beyond the reach of my current consciousness, is the key to reacquiring that drive, that genetic need to write essays and stories for myself and for a willing audience. And I know I will always have a platform by which to accomplish that. Welcome to Pen-Elayne's eighth year.
Now, on to the blogaround, in no particular order.
• Hey Mom, this one's for you:
If I've embedded it right, clicking on the above will take you to the original on Randall Munroe's blog.
• Melissa McEwan has received well-deserved praise for her "Terrible Bargain" post, which she reprinted and updated in the Guardian. I highly recommend forwarding this piece to the men you love, it's very good food for thought.
• Also from Liss in the Guardian, something I'd never thought about before: what's with the double standard in judging female legacy-holders differently than male ones? I didn't even realize I was doing this; would I have been so (inwardly) derisive of their lack of qualifications if Jenna Bush Hager or Liz Cheney or Caroline Kennedy were men? (And I like Kennedy, but I couldn't get over the fact that she'd never held public office, and I have to ask myself if I would have been as bothered if it were a male Kennedy with no previous elected experience.) And on her own blog, a debunking of the idea that sexism is a matter of opinion. While I get what she's saying, I'm still not sure I completely disagree. There's still that schoolkid inside me saying "How can you be sure what a hundreds-of-years-dead writer meant to say when there's no documented evidence?" On the other hand, Robin and I have been debating authorial intent vis a vis Beatles lyrics all weekend, so there you go. Lastly, Liss found an organization designed to help women escape magically-imposed situations that are in no way caused by other people who are not women.
• And while nobody can top Liss' great sarkiness regarding fat hatred, I also read a couple great posts on appearance-judging by two unlikely (at least to me) sources: Carrie Fisher severely and hilariously rips into people who expect her to still look like Princess Leia (my favorite line: "But here's this thing that I found myself wondering... what the fuck do YOU look like??!"); and Marie Javins wonders, if she's considered XL at a size 8, "what do the fat chicks do?" Tell me about it, Marie. It's like politics: those of us who are actual progressives rarely if ever see ourselves represented on major political media, which tends to run the gamut from far-right nutzoids to pragmatic centrist/liberals ever so slightly to the left of our President. Those of us who are over a size 20 rarely if ever see ourselves represented in any normal capacity in most major media, in stores, etc. (Thank goodness for catalog shopping! Even if said catalog doesn't feature any models who look like me, at least the clothes are cute, appropriate and affordable.)
• Via Terri at frogblog:
• Oh dear, just as we're all anticipating The Office's next season, Meredith up and quits her blog. I'm heartbroken. (I get the feeling Kate Flannery writes a lot of characters' blogs, but this one was just so wonderfully in-character funny that I'm really going to miss it.)
• Augie is dumbfounded that the post office doesn't charge more money for faster service. See, that's how things work when you have an institution that isn't run on the profit motive, but on the idea of performing a service for citizens. I don't think firefighters charge the public more for 4-alarm fires than 3-alarm ones, either. We aren't taxed more if police catch a serial killer than if they nab someone who "only" murdered one person. Honestly, when did this become such a difficult concept that people can't even understand why universal single-payer health care is the best, most cost-effective way our country can care for its citizens?
• And speaking of health care, Paul Krugman confirms what I've been saying all along, that most people in the media are more intent on "talking about talking" about health care (i.e., horse race reporting) than in discussing actual health care policy. Although things have become so outrageous that I don't know that I can blame people for talking incredulously about, for instance, how crazies are now shouting "Heil Hitler!" at Israeli Jews; as Jesse Taylor puts it, "We have now reached the point in the American dialogue where a Jew from a country full of Jews is a Nazi because his people have banded together to provide for their own health. But those same Jews are also the Jews of liberal fascism, because everyone who lives under a socialized health care system is also a victim of the system, even if they inflicted it on themselves. So, at the end of the day, Israelis are both the Nazis and the Jews of liberal fascism, brutalizing themselves under their terrible regime of paying for their own improved health."
• What Doc at First Draft said. Every time a government program does some good, it's like the people in charge of it try to kill it. As if to prove "Saint" Ronny's point that government is the problem. It's only a problem when it persists in seeing itself as the problem rather than the solution, despite mounds of evidence to the contrary!
• We really ought to know better by now, but Gary Sassaman confirms that the "shopper" who wanted an Apple computer but bought a PC instead in that Microsoft ad is, in actuality, a paid actress. It's like persisting in believing in the spontaneity in any given moment of a Jerry Lewis MDA telethon.
• I adore Stephen Fry, but I fear he's sorely mistaken that "Executives who once relied on secretaries to do their typing and their admin now have to do it all themselves. They even have to get their own coffee and pinch their own bottoms." Uncalled-for sexism aside, one of the reasons I became a secretary/admin/whatever the heck they call it now is because I knew there'd always be a need for people who can organize others' Rolodexes, workloads, appointments and so forth. And I'm damn good at it.
• I was a bit too young and not-into-music-yet for Woodstock, but Mike Gold remembers it well, as he was working for Abbie Hoffman at the time. And now I'm like one degree away from the late Mr. Hoffman; cool!
• Remember in last month's blogaround when I linked to Kath David's great post about being an adult? Here's another great post on the same subject by Amanda, who gives it an interesting feminist twist. Come to think of it, dudebros do seem to abound, but there's no female equivalent to a Peter Pan syndrome, is there? Because the Wendy syndrome is all about a kid taking on adult responsibilities, not the other way around.
Well, I didn't quite get through all my blog reading (I have a lot of Group Blogs yet to get through), but at least the blogaround's done. Now, to make dinner and watch the second game of today's Yankees doubleheader. Onward to year #8!
Silly Site o' the Day
Happy blogiversary to me! I started Pen-Elayne on Rosh Hashanah seven years ago, which translates in the English calendar into 7 September, 2002. Here's my first post. My basic blog design remains the same now as it was then; I liked Blogger well enough then, despite its glitches, and I'm still there. The content was always more important to me than the design, in any case (is that ironic coming from an artist's wife?). Lots more to come during my celebratory blogaround later today. In the meantime, thanks to my late best friend Leah, in June of 2003 I started doing Silly Site recommendations, which are often the only new daily content nowadays with my busy work life. Here's one that made me laugh out loud this morning, whilst trying to catch up on my blog-reading: via PZ Myers, it's the tragicomic story of what happens when Clippy Finally Messes With The Wrong Word Doc.
Sunday, September 06, 2009
Silly Site o' the Day
Hard at work getting through all my blog-reading before the big day tomorrow, Pen-Elayne's 7th blogiversary. Yes, I'm going to attempt a blogiversary/Labor Day blogaround. Speaking of labors, thanks to my ability to remotely log onto my company's servers, I've also made headway on the big job project which I thought was all FUBAR'ed on Friday (turns out I just set myself back a few hours). And I've hung up all my earrings and necklaces from the past few weeks, put away all the paid bills and other financial papers, paid the bills and gathered my medical stuff in one place ready for filing. Oh, and I'm up to the Superman books in my DC comp box reading, so I'm nearing the end of the DCU alphabet (the Vertigos and Wildstorm books each have their own fairly full boxes, which I've yet to delve into), just in time for - I can see you're way ahead of me here - the new comp box which arrived a few days ago and which we haven't even opened. All this with Datsa being incredibly needy and meowy all day. Which brings me to Eternal Earth-Bound Pets (via The Chinuk at Preemptive Karma), an organization promising to care for the left behind pets of Raptured ones, giving them a good home with caring atheists. Bloody brilliant.
Saturday, September 05, 2009
Silly Site o' the Day
Because, in this country where a great majority of people seem to be utterly divorced from reality, silly season never really goes away, it's the Republican Sex Scandal Flowchart:
Via Undeniable Liberal at WTF Is It Now?. I'd present a Democratic one, but they tend to do the ethical thing when caught with their pants down, and resign, even though by and large they don't preach morality to others.
Every now and then, they actually greet each other:
And Amy's found a new place in the computer room to perch, whilst Robin digitizes all our cassette tapes:
I won't be sorry to say goodbye to all those cassette holders!
Silly Site o' the Day
Because my coworker got such a big kick out of it:
Yes, Dark Cristal. Seth Green is a wonderfully sick puppy.
Thursday, September 03, 2009
Silly Site o' the Day
Oh now, this is cool. The Mannahatta Project (via Cory at BoingBoing) is an interactive website showing what parts of Manhattan were like 400 years ago. Looks like mostly trees. Update:More from Patrick about this date 400 years ago.
Wednesday, September 02, 2009
Silly Site o' the Day
Well, same-sex marriage is now officially legal in Vermont and, to celebrate, Vermont's own Ben & Jerry will marry each other be renaming their Chubby Hubby flavor and calling it Hubby Hubby throughout the month at all their Vermont stores. Here's the announcement and press release. I have no idea if any other flavors will be renamed Wifey Wifey.
Tuesday, September 01, 2009
Silly Site o' the Day
White rabbits! No real opinion on the Disney-buys-Marvel thing, I don't much care who owns the Big Two as long as someone from there calls my husband and offers him work. September has to be the month he finally gets another assignment! Here's hoping. Oh, speaking of rabbits, have a Bunni game. (I had it embedded but it keeps playing a stupid commercial every time one clicks on my blog, and that finally became too annoying.) Via Sheila Lennon. Oh, and as a reminder, Sunday marks Pen-Elayne's 7th blogiversary.
