witless worm

monday mirth: ode to the indie film [staticnullvoid]

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 10:23:14 -0700

lyrics friday: the dan band as beyonce [staticnullvoid]

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 08:15:58 -0700

[youtube]

commentary: the dan band does a move-by-move recreation of Beyonce's video for "Single Ladies".

w@nker wednesday: cantina theme on chapman stick [staticnullvoid]

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 11:06:31 -0700

[youtube]

"Musician Guillaume Estace plays a rendition of the famous "Cantina Theme" from Star Wars IV on a Chapman Stick, a guitar-like instrument designed solely for finger-tapping. It's really cool the way it lets him play the bass and melody simultaneously - I want one!" [via boingboing]

Top Ten Reasons Sarah Palin is Stepping Down as Governor of AK [professionalc]

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 08:19:34 -0700

Happy Fourth!

1. She felt that she was earning too much credibility.

2. Her 14 year old really IS knocked up, and now she has to raise another kid with “family values.”

3. She decided to take pity on the AK old boys network and let them win this one.

4. She was dying to use that sports analogy in the 2008 election, but McCain wouldn’t let her use it.

5. She finally picked up a newspaper and realized that right wing loonies are the only ones that like her.

6. Vanity Fair offered her a job as an Op Ed columnist.

7. Todd decided he wanted to try his hand at US Senator.

8. Her schedule was too packed with celebrities to pick fights with and she didn’t want to distract from what’s really important.

9. She needs new clothes weekly, and there are no Macy’s or Nordstrom’s outlets in AK.

10. She got tired of all of the weak ethics complaints against her, and decided she couldn’t be really crooked until she made it to Washington.

My brother got hitched! [spamanda77]

Sun, 28 Jun 2009 07:11:11 -0700

Well it's official -- Charlie and Jenn got married. I'm so happy for the both of them.

It was supposed to be rainy and hot. I was pretty worried about the kids if the weather got TOO crappy. It rained in the morning but it had cleared up and gotten pretty muggy by early afternoon. The wedding itself was inside a really nice old church down in Coon Valley, but the reception was outside at Goose Island.
It was REALLY humid when we left the church and drove to the reception. Shortly after we got to the reception there was a quick cloudburst, and then the storm front came through, the temperature cooled off, and it got just BEAUTIFUL.
Here's the happy bride and groom:

Lots of little kids for Emerson to play with, including his cousin Cameron (only six weeks older than him) and there's even a water pump right next to the shelter. The boys got soaking wet, Emerson licked mud off his arm (ew ew ew ew), and Cameron's shorts got so water logged that they fell off.

I mostly wore Elliott, he even fell asleep in the sling. He was totally happy and I breastfed him during the ceremony, in church, which made me giggle. He was such a good baby and everyone thought he looked fat and cheerful. You can see the awesome storm clouds in the background of this photo:

The reception was at Goose Island, on the Mississippi River. Ariel took the boys down to the water to go fishing, and I got some great photos of Emerson. This is my favorite:

Shorly after that he managed to fall in, my cousin Lexie grabbed him first and then Jai was right there to pick him up. It was in a spot where it gets deep quickly, so his feet were still touching but when he fell, his arms were too short to get his head above water. I yelled. I almost had a heart attack watching him try to get his head out. When I related it to my mom, she said, "This is only the beginning, Amanda."

My poor parents did WAAAY too much work for being the parents of the groom. Looks like my brother has married into a totally unhelpful family. :( His bride is awesome but I was definitely NOT impressed by lack of help. My poor mama was hauling picnic tables in her nice dress, while the bride's family played kickball and drank the beer that MY parents paid for, picked up, and hauled to the reception. And at one point one of the bride's aunts said, "Oh, I almost feel guilty that you're doing all this work...." and then laughed. Ugh. Luckily my mom told her off. :) If Mama hadn't, I would have.

All in all though it was an awesome day, weather was beautiful, and I'm so happy for my brother.

Does this mean that in three weeks Weird Al Yankovich is going to die of a snack attack? [worm4]

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 09:43:17 -0700

Nothing else to add on the subject. Just wanted to get that one-liner on record before anyone else.

Thoughts about the Wolves performance in the NBA Draft about which no one will care [worm4]

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 06:56:38 -0700

So coming into the draft, with the Wolves having picks 5, 6, 18 and 28 (and 45 and 47), and having just gottent wo centers from Washington (Etan Thomas and Darius Songalia), I figure that the plan was to stock up on guards, which was good as this was a guard-heavy draft. Best case scenario I figured was Memphis taking the power forward they need (Hill), OKC taking a center (Thabeet) and Sac taking Tyreke Evans for some reason (which they did). That would get the Wolves Rubio and James Harden, the best point guard and two guard in the draft.

So it played out that Harden was gone, but they got Rubio at 5. No problem, Stephen Curry was available at 6 - he's small but he can score in bunches and will get plenty of open shots playing with Rubio and Jefferson. Then the Wolves can add depth with Ty Lawson or Eric Maynor at 18, and a guy like Wayne Ellington at 28. Then use the 2nd round picks on guys who can play in Europe next year. That would give the Wolves their two centers, three power forwards, two small forwards, two shooting guards, two point guards, and dead weight in Cardinal, Madsen, Oleshinski and Telfair.

Then the team took Johnny Flynn at 6 and screwed everything up. When they took Lawson, I figured, ok they're trading Flynn. But then they just traded Lawson instead. Then, after taking Ellington at 28 (which made perfect sense) they took Nick Calethes, another point guard in the 2nd round (he's already committed to playing in Europe next year, but would be a servicable back-up after that), but they traded him too!

Can Rubio and Flynn play together? Offensively, no - who brings up the ball? Who sets up the offense? Neither is a great scorer, so who takes the shot when Jefferson kicks it out after the double comes? Defensively - no. Flynn is too small to guard most point guards - no way he's guarding a two guard. And if one is the starter and one the back-up, why spend a top 6 pick on a back-up? Why not just keep Lawson as the back-up?

So now the Wolves will have potentially 3 first round picks next year and still have a glaring need at shooting guard (which could have been filled by Stephen Curry) unless Ellington surprises a lot of people, and possibly center, if Songalia proves to be a stiff (but what happened to the center they drafted last year?). But they're building for the future, so that's ok.

But building for the future means gathering young talent now and letting them lose for a year or two while they figure things out (like what OKC is doing and what Portland did a few years ago). It doesn't mean putting off filling holes until next year. What if there are no dynamic shooting guards in next year's draft? What if the Wolves actually win enough games to drop out of the top 10 and have to give their pick to the Clippers? Do they think they're making a run at signing Dwyane Wade?

Kahn blew it. Now there's talk about Rubio staying in Europe. Is that why they took Flynn? If that's the case, they should have traded 5 to the Warriors at 7 or Knicks at 8, let one of those teams take Rubio, and you could still get Curry and Flynn and something else.

So bitter. So angry. Seriously, this team is terrible.

monday[-ish] mirth: auto-tune news (auto-tuning has good to far!) [staticnullvoid]

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 10:00:45 -0700

[youtube] [fav: auto-tune news #4] [more videos]

Fear the turtle [jqbahamas]

Sun, 21 Jun 2009 18:11:49 -0700

Last weekend I hauled Chopper out to the Appalachian Trail for another 8.2 mile out and back around Washington Monument State Park. This squatty stone tower was the first monument completed to honor our first president.

This weekend I decided to stay closer to home because the weather has been flaky and the summer solstice is unofficially "hike naked day" on the AT. Through hikers are smelly but ok, naked through hikers... nobody wants to see that.

So I went to Gunpowder Falls and hiked a 5.4 mile loop we did years ago with Abby Holley in tow. Here's a sample of the scenery.

Saw a few people out trout fishing but not a whole lot of wildlife except this little guy crossing the trail.

Rebecca is doing well out in Montana. She saw a moose walk through her camp yesterday and is looking forward to heading to Yellowstone in the next few days. I miss her lots and can't wait for her to come home.

Fire McHale! [worm4]

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 08:14:37 -0700

I know he wasn't technically fired, but would the title "Decline opportunity to offer new contract to McHale!" make anyone want to read on?

Ok, so here's what I'd do next if my dreams came true and I was in charge of the Wolves:

First, hire Bill Laimbeer as head coach just to stick it to McHale. Play footage of those two pounding on each other on the jumbotron before every home game.

Second, the draft is next week, so there are plenty of possibilities. Here are a few:

(Side note: anyone else notice that last year the Wolves had three picks, needed a point guard, shooting guard and center, drafted a point guard (Chalmers), shooting guard (Mayo) and center (Pekovic), and their three needs this year are point guard, shooting guard and center? Remind me why McHale was let go?)

- Trade picks #6 and 18, Kevin Love and Randy Foye to Memphis for Rudy Gay and pick #2 (draft Ricky Rubio). Wolves get a point guard and shooting guard they need, clear some playing time for Craig Smith, and still have pick #28 and Mike Miller's expiring contract to use to get a big man. Memphis gets the power forward and back-up guard they need and still have #6 for an upgrade at point guard or center.

- Trade Smith, Brian Cardinal and #18 to Clippers for Chris Kamen and the #1 the Wolves owe the Clippers next year. Then trade Miller and a future conditional pick to the Bulls for Kirk Heinrich. Then use #6 on a shooting guard (Demar DeRozan, Tyreke Evans or James Harden) and #28 on best available point guard (Nick Calethes?). Clippers and Bulls get to shed payroll. The Wolves get younger and more experienced at the same time! And it's not like the Wolves needed cap space next year anyway - no major free agent is coming to Minnesota.

- Make no trades and draft shooting guard #6 (DeRozan, Harden, Evans), center #18 (BJ Mullens is the only center worth anything after Thabeet) unless Jrue Holliday falls this far, and point guard #28 (Calethes, the French guy, or Collison/Lawson/Mills). Then try to sign the foreign center you drafted last year. Then let Miller, Madsen and Cardinal walk at the end of the year and pretend to be a player in free agency even though we'll probably just end up overpaying Foye.

So where's the draft party gonna be?

w@nker wednesday: rubik art? [staticnullvoid]

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 11:39:27 -0700

[video ] by [extermitent]

monday[-ish] mirth: craigslist [staticnullvoid]

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 09:56:43 -0700

[youtube]

commentary: i'm always surprised when a new weird all song comes out and comes across my radar. brings me back to being 12 or so. not sure my 12-year-old-self should know about craigslist.

lyrics friday: blitzen trapper [staticnullvoid]

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 09:29:28 -0700

[youtube]

Sarah Palin Needs to Shut the &$^# Up. [professionalc]

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 09:20:58 -0700

Even if Letterman was talking about Willow (which he wasn’t), he offered an apology and offered to have the Palins on his show where he would- apologize publicly!

Watch the video clips of the parade, the ball game, etc of the Palins in NYC. Willow looks exactly like Bristol, especially with those big sunglasses on, so if she’s not identified specifically it’s reasonable to assume that it was the third adult public figure in the family that accompanied mom and dad to draw attention to teen pregnancy or whatever cause where she wants people to do what she didn’t. Letterman saw the news footage, thought it was Bristol, and wrote his jokes.

Letterman never said “rape.” Todd Palin said “rape.” Now they’ve latched on to it as though the words came right out of Dave’s mouth, and have since tried to characterized Letterman as a slavering, pedophilic old man who wants to rape little girls. Palin said that she would keep Willow away from Letterman as though that was the case, and when Matt Lauer asked her to explain it, she said “you can take that however you want.” She knows what she meant by it, and then had the nerve to talk about a double standard in media coverage with regard to her family.

Bristol is an adult. Bristol has made herself a public figure. This is what Letterman was jumping off of, and even he admitted that the jokes were in poor taste.

Maybe they just use that term “rape” so easily because that’s the culture they live in. Maybe that’s because Alaska has the highest rate of rape per capita in the nation and the government hasn’t done much to protect its female residents. Maybe it’s because then Mayor Palin of Wasilla claimed not to know that her city was charging rape victims for their forensic kits.

This is how she keeps her high profile? With page 6 nonsense that has nothing to do with the party platform? She had an opportunity to humble Letterman on his own show and garner attention for her own cause. As long as this ignorant, spiteful woman is out front of the GOP, they’re going to be nothing but a punchline.

p.s. Palin does look like a slutty flight attendant. Flight attendants in general look pretty classy. Big up to Lufthansa!

wanker[-ish wednesday]: stop motion post-it notes [staticnullvoid]

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 08:15:20 -0700

[youtube]

monday mirth: awkward family photos [staticnullvoid]

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 13:17:27 -0700

[awkwardfamilyphotos.com]

Parenting 101 [worm4]

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 10:59:00 -0700

First rule to being an effective parent - don't pull your kids out of public school after an innocent girl-on-girl kiss.

Second rule to being an effective parent - don't let your kids buy samurai swords.

http://www.texasmonthly.com/2009-06-01/feature2.php

Everything else just takes care of itself.

Long lonely June [jqbahamas]

Sun, 07 Jun 2009 19:00:46 -0700

Rebecca made it safely to Montana for field camp. Since she is incommunicado, I'm responsible for keeping everyone in the loop via the internets.

It was great seeing the family while we were in WI last weekend for my Grandma's memorial service. Here's a pic of me with my niece (Kayla) and nephew (Evan). They are tempestuous delights.

We met the MN crew on Monday night. It was good catching up but too short. We need to make it back more often. Here's a pic of Rebecca with one of Loomis's crazy cats.

This weekend I took Chopper out to the Appalachian Trail for an 8 mile out and back day hike. It was a good day for it and we were both pretty wiped out by the time we made it back to the car. Here's a pic from the overlook where we turned around.

It has been tough with Rebecca gone. I miss her dearly. She's been having lots of adventures and trials already and it hasn't even been a week yet. I'm sure she'll have lots to report when she gets home.

To see more pics (I thought we took more than this) check out http://s148.photobucket.com/albums/s7/jqbahamas/2009_wi/

lyrics friday: beatboxing flute super mario brothers theme [staticnullvoid]

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 14:10:51 -0700

[youtube]

w@nker wednesday: sorry i'm late [staticnullvoid]

Wed, 03 Jun 2009 10:27:08 -0700

[youtube]

"Sorry I'm Late is a fantastic stop-motion short film by Tomas Mankovsky. It was shot from above using a still camera." [via boingboing]

awesome mix tape podcast 1.7

webmaster@witlessworm.com (worm 2) — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 04:00:00 -0800

awesome mix tape podcast 1.7 : the groovy goolies web challenge mix. a worm 2 mix

awesome mix tape podcast 1.6

webmaster@witlessworm.com (worm 2) — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 04:00:00 -0800

awesome mix tape podcast 1.6 : the v-day mix. a worm 2 mix, a dedication to worm 9

featured: conversation with smoot

Thu, 12 Feb 2009 04:00:00 -0800

in which brett favre announces his retirement... again.

featured: 2009 dead pool

Sun, 04 Jan 2009 04:00:00 -0800

the 2009 witlessworm.com celebrity dead pool

awesome mix tape podcast 1.5

webmaster@witlessworm.com (worm 2) — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 04:00:00 -0800

awesome mix tape podcast 1.5 : the b-sides xmas mix. a worm 2 mix