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Disco Duck

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgPgavmY99U&feature=related

Does what it says on the tin

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My boss told me about this today - apparently I should have heard of it before - and I couldn't stop laughing.

DISCO DUCK!

Donna Summer : 1948-2012. RIP

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KePwKX94NM4

Not her most famous song, but my favourite.

[pdf] Should I respond online on the EPA's behalf?

http://www.epa.gov/irmpoli8/policies/respond.pdf

a handy-dandy flowchart that's kinda common sense but also kinda interesting

Her hat is the BOMB.

http://mlkshk.com/p/FSKY

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The coolest animated GIF I've seen in awhile.

What are some really interesting bands?

I was just thinking about how I'd like to know about some interesting bands.

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By interesting, I don't just mean interesting music. "Good music," on some level, is a necessary but not sufficient requirement of being interesting. The further requirements of being interesting would be --
-- an interesting history
-- interesting personalities of the band members
-- lots of documentation about this stuff
-- influences that are worthy of exploring
-- a history that is idiosyncratic in the sense of not being a typical product of the music industry machine
-- at least some of the members are genuinely intense, brooding, poetic, loner-types who have succeeded in spite of this
-- a painful history of ups and downs that are documented
-- at least one intellectually interesting book has been written about them
-- they are at least arguably a real band that is driven by their members' passions for better or worse
-- knowing about their history, their dramas and personal mythology would make their music even more fascinating.

I got to thinking about this recently when I read a reference to the Smashing Pumpkins, and for some reason I find them interesting. (I'm not even sure how many of the above criteria they satisfy.) But I was reflecting on how I find them somehow inherently interesting. It would be hard to deny that the Rolling Stones and Beatles are interesting. Bob Dylan would be kind of a classic example of an interesting musician, as would maybe Jeff Buckley and Elliott Smith. I'm looking for under-recognized bands many people haven't heard of that are interesting.

Jackson Browne - A Thousand Kisses Deep.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_mV4tdw2wY&feature=related

I found the song online at my public library's free music site.

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I was a huge fan of Jackson Browne, to the point where I could not listen to him anymore at all.

But I have been checking some of his CD's out of the library and enjoying them. This is from a Cohen tribute in Spain, with Javier Mas, from Cohen's current band.

(Also got tickets to see Cohen in Portland, again.)

Photo Friday Advance:

Textures, suggested by ethylene, warbaby, and mygothlaundry

Kitten Cam!

http://new.livestream.com/FosterKittenCam/MirandasKittens

Humpday 3-point update

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1. Postcards written and posted today. So far I've had two back.

2. I saw a man in Waitrose today who was the spitting image of Dwight Schrute.

3. Queen's Diamond Jubilee Street Party Planning Committee meeting this evening.

Ditch the Van Bike Tour

http://indiemusicfilter.com/ben-sollees-ditch-the-van-tour

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I was going to watch the videos and see if it was worth posting to metafilter (if it hasn't been already) but my computer is like cold molasses and I've read enough to know it's worth sharing so y'all get it instead! Have fun!

See also.

Ok. Off to reinstall the OS.

Tribble Tribble Tribble Tribble yea yea

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNfYz6Yw0W8

Silly but it made me laugh

Guilty confessions- or not

Come inside and spill your guts

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I just overheard my co-workers trying to figure out something in Excel I know how to do, and I didn't jump in to help them because I know if I do, I will soon become the "Excel Expert" in this corner of cubeland that everybody leans on instead of figuring out stuff themselves and I just don't want to be that person. I'm not even an expert, I just know how to google (my last boss thought I was a *genius* with computers and I didn't try to dissuade her- she was ultra-nice and assisting her was part of my job). If they ever ask me anything about it in the future, I'll just play dumb and say, oh, I dunno, I googled it and found some website that showed me how to do it....

Stealth disco

http://gawker.com/5910416/teachers-at-massachusetts-high-school-pull-spectacular-stealth-disco-prank-on-unsuspecting-students

The Pic du Midi Observatory sits at more than 9000 feet altitude.

http://annettewoodford.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/aiguille_du_midi_122.jpg

It looks like something from a James Bond movie. You can stay overnight and ski down.