Metametametadata

I Pledge allegiance to the Sports Guy, and the Boston sports for which he stands.

I'm not supposed to be posting to this weblog.

Someone has started spamming my open comments, sending stuff like:

"That's interesting, did you try levitra? Here's the website ... "

So I went into emergency action. I installed wordpress on my hosting server and migrated the data (entries and comments -- minus spam) to the new wordpress database tables. You can check it out at weblog (dot) metametadata (dot) net. I need to fix the wrodpress presentation template and shut this blog down. By that I mean redirect all addresses and stop people from sending comments.

It's not like I care about the off topic comments as spam per se. I think they're funny. But, they're going to very quickly exhaust my server space. Some of the entries had hundreds of comments. So, until I get all this done, no more entries.

Except this one. I can't resist the Sports Guy. From his most recent article:

Of every development this season, the connection between Schilling and the Fenway fans has been the happiest. He's one of us. There's no other way to say it. If he wasn't a professional athlete, you can imagine him posting on message boards, calling radio stations and gulping down flat beer at games. For that reason, he resonates with the locals in a "Bird and Neely" kind of way.

(Quick story: When WEEI's Butch Stearns fanned the flames of a possible Pedro-Schilling feud last week -- just another Boston media guy trying to create something from nothing -- someone named "Curt from the Car" called in and gave him the Ralphie Treatment. It was Schilling. He had been driving around, stumbled across the show and felt obligated to defend himself. Many have called it the greatest WEEI moment since Pitino's "Larry Bird isn't walking through that door" tirade -- Schilling just savaging Stearns and his co-hosts, then hanging up on them like an angry girlfriend. Now this was a guy meant to play in Boston.)

Please, go read the rest of the article at http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/040929

Intern of the Week

So, The Sports Guy, my all time favorite sports announcer and personal hero, has somehow conned the ESPN guys into giving him his own page and intern on ESPN.com. I've earlier recorded his ascent to the pinnacle of the working world, so I hope you all know who I'm talking about. If not, go here and here. This is a guy who sits on his ass and watches tv for a living. He's a hero for us all.

And he's sharing the wealth. He's given his intern a freakin' column on his page. And the intern is totally copping the Sports Guy's "literary" style. If they weren't both local boys I'd have to pull some sort of crazed and jealous fan routine just for the sheer injustice of these two getting to put out the drivel I'd love to be paid to produce.

In any case, I thought I'd share some of the intern's favorite links this week.

1. I'm lifiting the whole entry from the intern's page for this one. I post it, because I know the Fu Crew will not let itself get punked like this. All the bus routes in San Francisco in one weekend. Please, the Crew's got your muni right here.

"SF Gate (9/7) -- A group of Bay Area kids decided to spend their Labor Day weekend riding San Francisco's buses ... all of them. If I didn't know of some Wake Forest kids that spent Spring Break picking up a bucket of sand at Myrtle Beach, driving it to the West Coast and dumping it out, this would be the stupidest, funniest quest I've ever heard of."

And the link to the article, http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/09/07/MNGGC8KQNQ1.DTL

2. A little something I found while perusing one of the "links". I'm sure the censors removed this from the intern's list, so in the interest of the public something or other. http://badgas.co.uk/lynndie/.

WARNING! Not Safe for Work (NFSW) No Offense Meant (NOM?)

Check out the rest of the links, especially the spinkstech.com link and the Boston Globe articles about the curse of the Bambino.

Grayson

I'm back, and with a doozy to get things rolling again. Whatever you do, download the trailer for this (try the mirror site).

Man, people can take fanfic too far, and too seriously. I often times find myself yelling at the Metafilter people to calm the f*** down, already. If only they'd start accepting new members. I mean, am I not made for that place? Especially, ask metafilter. I could spend my entire life just answering all those stupid questions and die a happy man knowing that I didn't get through to anyone.

The Metafilter entry

The Mirror Site (trailer's here)

Ask Metafilter

It hurts me to be this Pimptacular

Y'all gotta get your pimp on.

Check it out (via Golden Brown Chhavi Dazzle)

Your Most Excellent Keeper in Pimpitude:

Macktastic Robb Slick A.K.A. Sticky Fingers Dog Beautiful A.K.A. The Keeper A.K.A. Rob E. Dogg A.K.A. Mr. Wolfe

(Don't y'all just see Mssr. Violette as a "Pookie"?)

And don't forget to drop your Mack Handle on her pimpness, the freakalicious Chhavizzle Sizzle Sachdizzle.

Summoner Geeks

This week's episode has been filmed entirely on location in NYC.

Coming to ya straight out of the Upper West side. Welcome to the humble abode of the rare, reclusive Dressler.

In the spirit of ALD's enourmous nerdom I bring you some funny meta-geek. Video game characters playing Dungeons and Dragons.

With thanks to Chhavi for finding this clip.

It is just too funny not to record here and send again.

http://www.ifilm.com/ifilmdetail/220487

The Thinkin' Man's Rap (Nerd Hop)

Okay, Check it, two rap websites. One Old Skool, the other decidedly New.

First, The Foundation

The history of Rap's Old School as told by interviews one Jayquan conducted with the artists themselves.

Especially check the Kool Moe Dee interview.

I've currently got Kool Moe Dee, KRS-One and the Getto Boys on heavy rotation. Gotta go get me some of that Mellie Mel.

And, now for something competely different.

The World's First HCI Rap: "We Got It", courtesy the guys at OK/Cancel.

Warning: Smart people wrapping, with like words and stuff, like written down and everything.

The mp3's okay, the lyrics are better than they sound.
Gotta check the comments.
You just gotta.

Vegas baby, Vegas

Courtesy "The Boston Sports Guy," my favorite sportswriter of all time.

He's a Boston product, went to Holy Cross, worked for the Globe, started a website, got picked up by ESPN Page2, became a household name among the ESPN set (that's me), and then jumped over to become a writer for the Jimmy Kimmel Live show. He still occassionally submits these unbelievably amazing stories for Page2 (one day they'll put him in charge of ESPN6 and Sports and Entertainment Television will never be the same, it will actually be entertaining, and sportsy).

Anyway, I've been harassing The Kenj with these stories for the better part of a year now. So, enjoy your first installment.

Destructive things with no guilt.

I know you'll want to do more reading, so here's the Archive.

And just because the nerd in me can't resist, a Sports Guy Index. I assure you I did not create the index, though that's likely only due to a lack of free time.

Riding through the Death Zone

Courtesy the Underlib,

Ghost Town,

or how to get your speed on, without attracting the attention of the local authorities.

People keep talking

But are they drinking?

Just want to throw up this article from the Boston Globe about the renewly popular Martini. I got a kick out of the author's incredulous reaction to the "resurrection" of the sidecar. Who do you know has contributed (in an admittedly small way) to that revival?

Anyway, I prefer the Gibson (replace the olive with a cocktail onion).

Who wants to go to Noir with me?

The article (this link will likely break in a few days) http://www.boston.com/ae/food/articles/2004/03/25/so_many_martinis/

The Theory of the Derive

My studies of esoteric traditions and counter cultures has led me recently to the writings of the

SITUATIONIST INTERNATIONAL

good name, eh?

Anyway, I found in the Situationists a shared appreciation for the formation of a particular relationship with the city one lives in. That formation occurs through the undertaking of a "derive," or drifting. You should read the Theory to get a better sense of the concept, but for the most part one wanders without personal motive, allowing the city to lead you, while you listen to what the city and her denizens have to tell you about themselves. I don't follow the standard operation procedure Debord lays out. I like to take my derives on the weekends between 11pm and 3am. It actually drives The Kenj nuts. I'll walk all over the damn town for about four hours. She worries, the dear. It's part of how I have a good mental map of Boston, how I know where everything is and who goes where. I'm making a mental map, not of the physical territory, but of the mental territory of the other people who live in the city with me. It's easy to be walking and just start following college kids to a party of a club, or dog walkers down the boulevard, or Sox fans to the T.

Anyway I want to invite the Fu Crew and sundry to start making derives with me this summer. They're awesome. It just starting to Spring and I can already feel the wanderlust come over me. That sounds disgusting.

Here're the refs,

The Theory of the Derive explained by a founder of the Situationist International, Guy Debord.

I'm currently reading the Society of the Spectacle by Guy Debord. Here's a not so great translation, that's at least free. If you want, you can borrow my copy.

You can find an introduction and definition of Dada, Lettrism and Situationism here.

Here's a compendium of english translations of Situationist work.

Here's an article from the Economist, trying to explain the heyday of the Situationist to current day capitalists.

Casshern

I have no idea what this movie is, or what it's doing, but you have to go check out the trailer.

http://www.casshern.com/

Holy crap.

Do You Live the Dijalog Lifestyle?

By now it should come as no surprise to all 12 of you that regularly read these pages that I pay attention to what goes on at xml.com.

And now it seems xml.com is paying attention to what goes on at metametadata.net (with a little help)

Kendall Clark has begun a new column in which he seems to have drawn a perfect picture of me and wants to discuss it in depth.

I was even moved to comment on the column and steer folks back here to share in the metametameta craziness.

Reading the column I'm reminded of Yellow River's obsession with his ipod and the stacks and stacks of cds he's got all around his desk.

Making with the funny stuff

A couple of quick amusements that wandered across my desk via the email.

First, courtesy of Dragonfly, thank you very much.

     Check these out:

     http://www.kersbergen.com/temp/worstalbumcovers.html

Second, via The Underground Libraries.

     Very cute, non-allergenic, and very low maintenance...

     http://home.wanadoo.nl/annekebroenink/maukie2.swf

And now a message from your keeper.

     I'm still working on the personal part of this website, metametadata. I'd like to add some of you folks who comment and post weblogs to the contributor page. Please go there and look at the metadata on the right. You need to write your own funny description, such as "This date misrepresents the last time <Your Name Here> pleasured him/herself." Of course your descriptions will actually be funny, right?

Effective Information Food

So conversation with The Kenj has identified a need for The Keeper to shorten his posts.

Apparently, The Keeper has unreal expectations for his readers concerning their information gathering behavior in an electronic environment.

In other words, y'all skim.

So, The Keeper'll be brief, or here's a quickie for ya.

From the digest of the ASIST SIGIA listserv, on websites (not this one!) that are the most effective from an Information Architecture perspective:

BBC food

Apparently, the IA folks love the "usability" and "intuitiveness" of the "interaction."

And of course, as soon as someone recommended a British site for food and cooking recommendations, hilarity ensued.

Anyway, that's all The Keeper has to say about that. I bet The Kenj will even read this post and follow all the links.

More freaky shit

A couple of lists. Thanks to Chhavi and The Kenj.

• From Chhavi start the day with wonder ... hee hee C*

  --------------
  HISTORICAL COINCIDENCE
  --------From:--WLS-- Feb 10, 2004

  Some presidential history!

  Look what happens when a President gets elected in a year with a "0" at the end.

  Also notice it goes in increments of 20 years:

  1840:-- William Henry Harrison--- (died in office)
  1860:-- Abraham Lincoln------------ (assassinated)
  1880:-- James A. Garfield------------ (assassinated)
  1900:-- William McKinley----------- (assassinated)
  1920:-- Warren G. Harding--------- (died in office)
  1940:-- Franklin D. Roosevelt------ (dies in office)
  1960:-- John F. Kennedy------------ (assassinated)
  1980:-- Ronald Reagan-------------- (survived assassination attempt)
  2000:--George W. Bush------------ ????????????

  And to think that we had two guys fighting it out in the courts to be the one elected in 2000.

  You might also be interested in this. Have a history teacher explain this----- if they can:

  -- Abraham Lincoln was elected to Congress in 1846.
  -- John F. Kennedy was elected to Congress in 1946.

  -- Abraham Lincoln was elected President in 1860.
  -- John F. Kennedy was elected President in 1960.

  Both were particularly concerned with civil rights.
  -- Both wives lost their children while living in the White House.
  -- Both Presidents were shot on a Friday.
  -- Both Presidents were shot in the head.

  Now it gets really weird:

  -- Lincoln's secretary was named Kennedy.
  -- Kennedy's Secretary was named Lincoln.

  -- Both were assassinated by Southerners.
  -- Both were succeeded by Southerners named Johnson.

  -- Andrew Johnson, who succeeded Lincoln, was born in 1808.
  -- Lyndon Johnson, who succeeded Kennedy, was born in 1908.

  -- John Wilkes Booth, who assassinated Lincoln, was born in 1839.
  -- Lee Harvey Oswald, who assassinated Kennedy, was born in 1939.

  -- Both assassins were known by their three names.
  -- Both names are composed of fifteen letters.

  Now hang on to your seat:

  Lincoln was shot at the theater named 'Ford.'
  Kennedy was shot in a car called 'Lincoln' made by 'Ford.'

  Lincoln was shot in a theater and his assassin ran and hid in a warehouse.
  Kennedy was shot from a warehouse and his assassin ran and hid in a theater.

  Booth and Oswald were assassinated before their trials.

  And here's the kicker...

  A week before Lincoln was shot, he was in Monroe, Maryland
  A week before Kennedy was shot, he was with Marilyn Monroe.

  -- Creepy, huh?

• From Kenj
  The Washington Post's Style Invitational once again asked readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter, and supply a new definition. Here are this year's winners.

  1 - Bozone (n.): The substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future.

  2 - Foreploy: Any misrepresentation about yourself for the purpose of getting laid.

  3 - Cashtration (n.): The act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period.

  4 - Giraffiti: Vandalism spray-painted very, very high.

  5 - Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it.

  6 - Inoculatte: To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.

  7 - Hipatitis: Terminal coolness.

  8 - Osteopornosis: A degenerate disease. (This one got extra credit.)

  9 - Karmageddon: It's like, when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, right? And then, like, the Earth explodes and it's like, a serious bummer.

  10- Decafalon (n.): The grueling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you.

  11- Glibido: All talk and no action.

  12- Dopeler effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.

  13- Arachnoleptic fit (n.): The frantic dance performed just after you've accidentally walked through a spider web.

  14- Beelzebug (n.): Satan in the form of a mosquito that gets into your bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.

  15- Caterpallor (n.): The color you turn after finding half a grub in the fruit you're eating.

  16- And the pick of the literature: Ignoranus: A person who's both stupid and an a***ole.

Heheh

Random fun/cool shit

Alright, alright, alright, hey ladies, what's happenin'

Here comes the good stuff.

If you're not already, you should be checkin' out the Gothamist blog on a regular basis. Three recent posts.

• Dave Chappelle is way cool (from gothamist) Dave Chapelle is probably my favorite comedian. Unfortunately, living in the dorms means no cable! So I can't watch his show on comedy central. I'm just gonna have to get the dvd, <hint>maybe even for my upcoming birthday.</hint>
• Let's all hope the Chinatown buses don't go away (from Gothamist) Apparently they're no longer flying under the radar (and I mean that literally, less than 3.5 hours to New York!).
• DJ Danger Mouse: The Gray Album (from Gothamist) Especially check out the wired article. I'm checking this out today, I expect big, big things. This is the kind of cool shit that we should be able to look forward to from the current artistic scene and its wonderful new tools (heheh, tools). <rant>Instead we have major record labels subverting the copyright protection to try and control artistic output. A copyright owner should be paid whenever someone samples their work, but they should NOT be able to stop that sample. They shouldn't be able to say no. That's not what copyright is for. Copyright is supposed to encourage artists, both the originator and the sampler, to do their things because they know they will be able to make a living off of it. The only way you should be able to control the use of your music is by not making it public, never performing it. Do you see now what copyright is intended to do? To make it safe to make your music public? To make it so you don't have to jealously keep it under lock and key? Dumbasses want to be able to predict every big seller so that they can make sure they're gettin' their millions right from the start. This is why we get huge labels putting out schlock, cryin' over the cost to hype the damn thing, stiffin' the artists and tryin' to shove the digital music genie back in the bottle. Their own hype machine they can control. They know how to get 12-18 year olds to go buy a cd. They just haven't figured out how to take advantage of the file-swapping/remix-makin'/word-on-the-street hype machine yet. There's no reason they can't. I am unable to fathom their resistance to the new distribution/creation medium. It's not any different, its still all about what's cool and what's good. It's the same kids, just new toys. Get with the freakin' program here.</rant>

More freaky shit to come.

Ice Fisheth

Good brisk day yall,

Excited I am, but not as excited about myself schlepping 80lbs of kielbasa, fleece and batteries. It is because I looketh liketh a tard. Ray Todd. My dingle of a dangle sleeping bag nearly touches the sidewalk when I parade from place to place. The left hemisphere of my body is conjoined with a 40lb EMS duffel. My right hand grips several pounds of frozen potato hash. I expect kind folk to hand me some change. My co-workers let it be known that I share a semblance to a homeless person. "I am going Ice Fisheth," I say proudly. "With Joshy!"

Did I tell you the time when I was sitting on the ground in front of a music store waiting for a friend to get off work and someone gave me $2.00?

Stay tuned for the Mun-day report illusatrating the perilous adventures of Josh Dastardly and Pilgrim Pitstop.

Shaolin Softball

Greetings to my dear friends. There will be a time soon that we should commence our softball training, led by Coach Wolfe. Sifu has even said that he would comply to a summer beer league event perhaps just one or many. At any rate lettuce think about lettuce.

What do you think?

Thnikkaman!!!

I keep my buttons on scroll,

     And all the ladies in check,

There's a new STRONG BAD EMAIL!

At the end don't forget to check the computer screen for easter eggs!

Super Titties Yum!

Janet Jackson Breast Cupcakes? (via Rawbrick, via boing boing)

I highly recommend that (in addition to slavishly following metametadata) you syndicate/aggregate both of these extremely pertinent, very well done websites.

More shameless rip-offs, I mean good stuff from boing boing

• This one's for Pilgrim (via boing boing)
• Did you know my new fighting technique is unstoppable? (via boing boing)

I can't in good conscience link to any more, you're just going to have to go there and find the rest yourself.

Just one more for Pilgrim.

• I swear it was some horrible accident that led me to this site. (Thanks Fleshbot)

And just one more for the geeks (not me!),

• Are you madder than mad Al-hazred? Then you just might win the Necronomicontest. (via boing boing)

Okay, two more for the geeks.

• This one's for The Kenj. Aww, nerd love. (thank you boing boing)
• Do you have way too much time on your hands (then raise 'em)? Do you like to overanalyze popular culture? Then one day we just might find ourselves publishing something like this. (via boing boing)

You might want to check this out too.

Information Architecture

Okay, here's a quickie.

Working with metadata in libraries, I follow the field of endeavor recently cobbled together under the ill-defined title Information Architecture (see links on the extended entry page). One of the ways I stay 'plugged in' to the IA community is by keeping track of the email list for the ASIST SIG-IA (American Society of Information Science and Technology) (Special Interest Group-Information Architecture).

The folks who regularly post to that list never cease to amuse me.

Anyway, the reason for this post is to send you to this website, http://www.mcmaster.com/, presented to the list as an answer to the following two questions,

1. How many top-level categories on a web-site is best.
2. How many levels of links are best.

Defying conventional wisdom this site works!

Quoting the poster:

"as many as needed" is usually the answer. for example, my husband thinks
this site < http://www.mcmaster.com> is the best thing since sliced bread,
and points out how great the homepage is. Now that would rate as clutter to
most designers.. but not to the geeky happy free-wheeling scientist whose
dream of being able to buy one .05 millimeter ball bearing, or a sheet of 24
carat gold mesh can come true
here..

Metal Cam-and-Groove Hose Couplings!

Straps & Hangers!

Lubricants & Penetrants!

Drivers & Knockout Punches!

Rotary Motion Vibrators!

Standard and Slug-Buster Round Knockout Punches and Sets!

Duct Tape!

Information Architecture links:

http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/infotecture/

http://argus-acia.com/

http://www.aifia.org/

Note to self(Fu crew)

I(you) need to see Zatoichi by Takeshi Kitano. This is a remake of a classic martial arts movie about a blind samurai.

I've already put the original series of movies in my netflix account. As soon as the remake is available we'll have to schedule a screening.

And you all need to check Broog: Alien Film Critic. Thank you Broog for raising my martial arts movie awareness.

Two posts in twelve hours, now that's what I'm talking about.