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January 29, 2010
Quarters4Relief raising money for Haiti bit by bit
In the time since an earthquake devastated Haiti, you’ve likely heard many people say something along the lines of “Give whatever you can. Even the smallest amount helps.” One bar in Austin is proof that even small giving can add up.
Since January 22, the recently opened Kung Fu Saloon, with the help of its patrons, has been doing its part with Quarters4Relief . The bar located on Rio Grande Street just off West Sixth Street has been using their 19 vintage arcade games to raise funds for the Haitian relief effort.
Every quarter inserted into their arcades (think Ms. Pacman, Galaga, Space Invaders and more) since last week will be donated to the Red Cross. This weekend is the final weekend to test your hand-eye-coordination, sip a cold one and give money to the relief effort, one quarter at a time.
“This is the least we can do to help those that have been affected by this unimaginable tragedy in Haiti,” said Kung Fu Saloon’s co-owner, Nick Adams.
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January 25, 2010
Wilco offers free live downloads, ask for donations to Haiti
One of my favorite bands is lending its voice to the relied efforts in Haiti. While some bands have played telethons or auctioned off tickets to shows, Wilco has decided to post on their site two live shows for free download. All they ask in exchange is that you donate at least $15 to either OXFAM or Doctors Without Borders. Sounds reasonable enough to me. The shows in question are from July 13, 2009 Keyspan Park - Brooklyn) and November 4, 2009 (HMV Forum - London).
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January 5, 2010
Maybe iPhones are the problem and not AT&T
After years of having reception problems with T-Mobile, I switched to AT&T about 18 months ago and was relatively happy with the change. I was experiencing fewer dropped calls and better reception. That is until I bought my first iPhone 3Gs about six months ago. The drops were returning, even from the comfort of my own home. Considering I had had serious problems with T-Mobile, I wasn’t quite ready to burn AT&T at the stake. But I kept hearing stories from fellow iPhone users that AT&T was the worst. Then the blitz of Verizon ads started flooding the airwaves, with their colorful maps showing the superiority of their network. And the anti-AT&T grumbling grew louder.
But near the end of last year, I read this story on The New York Times Web site. As it turns out, independent groups have studies that prove that AT&T actually has superior service, and maybe it is the beloved iPhone that is the problem.
Below is a bit of the post, with the takeaway being, “AT&T and Apple could both gain by swapping talent. Apple, send your marketing wizards to lend your partner a hand. It sorely needs help. AT&T, send some engineers to redesign the iPhone to make better use of the country’s fastest wireless network.”
Roger Entner, senior vice president for telecommunications research at Nielsen, said the iPhone’s “air interface,” the electronics in the phone that connect it to the cell towers, had shortcomings that “affect both voice and data.” He said that in the eyes of the consumer, “the iPhone has the nimbus of infallibility, ergo, it’s AT&T’s fault.” AT&T does not publicly defend itself because it will not criticize Apple under any circumstances, he said. AT&T and Apple both declined to comment on Mr. Entner’s assessments.Neither AT&T nor Verizon was willing to reveal its internal data on performance. But Global Wireless Solutions, one of the third-party services that run network tests for the major carriers, shared some of its current findings. The service dispatches drivers across the country with phones and laptops equipped with data cards. They have covered more than three million miles of roads this year, while running almost two million wireless data sessions and placing more than three million voice calls, said Paul Carter, the president.
The results place AT&T’s data network not just on top, but well ahead of everyone else. “AT&T’s data throughput is 40 to 50 percent higher than the competition, including Verizon,” Mr. Carter said. AT&T is a client and Verizon is not, he added.
More evidence that AT&T’s data network is head-and-shoulders above Verizon’s comes from Root Wireless, a start-up in Bellevue, Wash., that is developing software for consumers to install on their smartphones to do continuous network tests. This generates empirical data for consumers who “today are buried under opinions and advertising slogans,” said Paul Griff, the chief executive. Root Wireless has no business relationship with any carrier.
This year, Root Wireless ran 4.7 million tests on smartphones for each of the four major carriers, spread across seven metropolitan areas: Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles/Orange County, New York, Seattle/Tacoma, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Washington. In every market, AT&T had faster average download speeds and had signal strength of 75 percent or better more frequently than did Verizon. (A Verizon spokesman declined to comment about these test results or those of Global Wireless Solutions.)
I asked Ron Dicklin, chief technology officer at Root Wireless, how these results, showing AT&T as the clear leader, could be reconciled with the negative appraisal of Consumer Reports’ respondents. He explained that his company’s tests of AT&T’s data network were done with handsets other than the iPhone, which does not allow non-Apple programs like his to run in the background.
Read the full post here.
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October 19, 2009
The robots prepare their takeover of sports journalism
Imagine that you could push a button, and magically create a story about a baseball game. That’s what the Stats Monkey system does. Given information commonly available online about many games — the box score and the play-by-play — the system automatically generates the text of a story about that game that captures the overall dynamic of the game and highlights the key plays and key players. The story includes an appropriate headline and a photo of the most important player in the game… “The system is based on two underlying technologies. First, it uses baseball statistical models to figure out what the news is in the story: By analyzing changes in Win Probability and Game Scores, the system can pick out the key plays and players from any baseball game. Second, the system includes a library of narrative arcs that describe the main dynamics of baseball games (as well as many other competitions): Was it a come-from-behind win? Back-and-forth the whole way? Did one team jump out in front at the beginning and then sit on its lead? The system uses a decision tree to select the appropriate narrative arc. This then determines the main components of the game story and enables the system to put them together in a cohesive and compelling manner. The stories can be generated from the point of view of either team.”
The disturbing thing is that the “story” that the computer comes up with is fairly decent. I mean, ol’ Stats Monkey could use some help with segues and such, but it’s not horrible.
To demonstrate it powers, the programmers used a recent game from the Angels and Red Sox ALDS. Here is what it spit out:
BOSTON — Things looked bleak for the Angels when they trailed by two runs in the ninth inning, but Los Angeles recovered thanks to a key single from Vladimir Guerrero to pull out a 7-6 victory over the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park on Sunday.Guerrero drove in two Angels runners. He went 2-4 at the plate.
“When it comes down to honoring Nick Adenhart, and what happened in April in Anaheim, yes, it probably was the biggest hit (of my career),” Guerrero said. “Because I’m dedicating that to a former teammate, a guy that passed away.”
Guerrero has been good at the plate all season, especially in day games. During day games Guerrero has a .794 OPS. He has hit five home runs and driven in 13 runners in 26 games in day games.
After Chone Figgins walked, Bobby Abreu doubled and Torii Hunter was intentionally walked, the Angels were leading by one when Guerrero came to the plate against Jonathan Papelbon with two outs and the bases loaded in the ninth inning. He singled scoring Abreu from second and Figgins from third, which gave Angels the lead for good.
The Angels clinched the AL Division Series 3-0.
Angels starter Scott Kazmir struggled, allowing five runs in six innings, but the bullpen allowed only one runs and the offense banged out 11 hits to pick up the slack and secure the victory for the Angels.
J.D. Drew drove in two Red Sox runners. He went 1-4 at the plate.
Drew homered in the fourth inning scoring Mike Lowell.
“That felt like a big swing at the time,” said Drew. “I stayed inside the ball and put a good swing on it. I was definitely going to be ready to battle again tomorrow, but it didn’t work out.”
Drew has been excellent at the plate all season, especially in day games. During day games Drew has a .914 OPS. He has hit five home runs and driven in 17 runners in 36 games in day games.
Papelbon blew the game for Boston with a blown save. Papelbon allowed three runs on four hits in one inning.
Reliever Darren Oliver got the win for Los Angeles. He allowed no runs over one-third of an inning. The Los Angeles lefty struck out none, walked none and surrendered no hits.
Los Angeles closer Brian Fuentes got the final three outs to record the save.
Juan Rivera and Kendry Morales helped lead the Angels. They combined for three hits, three RBIs and one run scored.
Four relief pitchers finished off the game for Los Angeles. Jason Bulger faced four batters in relief out of the bullpen, while Kevin Jepsen managed to record two outs to aid the victory.
I wonder if the robots are as menacing around a buffet table as sports reporters. I kid, I kid. Just channeling my inner Rick Reilly.
Good thing computers can’t conjure sarcasm or I may really be in trouble. Ok.
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September 16, 2009
Facebook is for looking at pictures of chicks; MySpace is for hillbillies
That headline doesn’t quite summarize the findings of a recent study of social networking by Harvard Business School professor Mikolaj Jan Piskorski, but it does capture a part of his findings. Minus the pejoratives, of course.
Sean Silverthorne has an article, “Understanding Users of Social Networks,” on the Harvard Business School Web site that examines Piskorski’s findings, which indicate that men generally use social networking site Facebook to look at pictures of women, who receive two-thirds of all page views. Additionally, all Facebookers utilize the photo app. to create a visual narrative of their lives.
One of the more curious cases is Twitter, which has more female users than men, although “researchers still saw differences between how men and women are followed, perhaps pointing to a fundamental representation of the role of men and women in society,” according to the findings.
Back to the purpose of the study, it seems corporations are prolific in their use of social media, but their ability to come up with an actual social strategy to attract consumers and build off that base is another story entirely.
Some of the highlights from the article:
- With these general ideas of why people use these sites, Piskorski examined weblogs of social networking sites (not LinkedIn) to see what people did when they were online. “I just wondered why people spend so much time on these sites; what do they do?”
The biggest discovery: pictures. “People just love to look at pictures,” says Piskorski. “That’s the killer app of all online social networks. Seventy percent of all actions are related to viewing pictures or viewing other people’s profiles.” Why the popularity of photos? Piskorski hypothesizes that people who post pictures of themselves can show they are having fun and are popular without having to boast. Another draw of photos (and of SN sites in general) is that they enable a form of voyeurism. In real life there is a strong norm against prying into other people’s lives. But online enables “a very delicate way for me to pry into your life without really prying,” the researcher says. “Harvard undergrads do it all the time. They know all about each other before they meet face to face. ‘Oh, you’re that guy that did that internship in D.C. last summer.’ ” Piskorski has also found deep gender differences in the use of sites. The biggest usage categories are men looking at women they don’t know, followed by men looking at women they do know. Women look at other women they know. Overall, women receive two-thirds of all page views.
- Looking at who uses Twitter, which restricts users to 140-character messages, Piskorski and student-researcher Bill Heil (HBS MBA ‘09) found that 90 percent of Twitter posts were created by only 10 percent of users. This was not surprising, he says, because the technology uses words without photos to communicate. “Only the people who are willing to put themselves out there publicly in words to people who they may not know will use Twitter. Some people will find this incredibly appealing, others will find this too scary.” But the remarkable finding was the gender dynamics. According to the research, there are more women on Twitter than men, women tweet about the same rate as men, but men’s tweets are followed by both sexes much more than expected by chance. “That was stunning because on all these other social networks you see the opposite,” Piskorski says.
- So why doesn’t MySpace get the attention it deserves? The fascinating answer, acquired by studying a dataset of 100,000 MySpace users, is that they largely populate smaller cities and communities in the south and central parts of the country. Piskorski rattles off some MySpace hotspots: “Alabama, Arkansas, West Virginia, Oklahoma, Kentucky, Florida.”
- Corporate marketers by and large struggle with how to use social networking sites to reach potential customers, says Piskorski, who advises companies on this subject. The problem is that execs think of online social networks as social media and treat it as another channel to get people to click through to a site. It doesn’t work that way. For one thing, findings show that people don’t click through on advertising on social networks. “A good analogy is to imagine sitting at a table with friends when a stranger pulls up a chair, sits down, and tries to sell you something while you are talking to your friends. You will not get far with a strategy like this.”
Thanks to Clay Crenshaw for the link, whose Facebook page I read even though he’s not an anonymous good looking girl with a ton of pics on his page.
Images from Photos.com.
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September 15, 2009
Seeing the country, one airport at a time
Round Rock resident Brendan Ross, a soon-to-be air traffic controller, is either terribly bored or a glutton for punishment.
They say that air traffic controllers have one of the most stressful jobs in the world. So what do people wired to be able to handle that kind of work do for enjoyment? Apparently endure the mind-numbing, stomach-ruining pain of living on airplanes and in airports for 30 straight days.
Ross, profiled in this piece by the American-Statesman’s Claire Osborn, wanted to take advantage of JetBlue’s offer for an unlimited one-month pass on the airline, but he didn’t have the cash. He posted an ad on Craigslist asking if anyone wanted to buy him the $599 ticket. Fortunately/unfortunately for him, Wired magazine took notice and stepped in to foot the bill.
However, there was one massive catch. Ross, who had offered in his post to sleep in airports, would be confined to said airports when not on the Jet Blue planes. Wired has made the offer in exchange for Ross’s commitment to keep a blog for Wired.com.
I have always found airports to be fertile ground for people watching and storytelling, one that would provide compelling exposition for a novel or screenplay. So many people coming and going — excited, anxious, comforted or scared to arrive to something new or familiar. Or possibly just zombie-walking dead-eyed through their business routine, hardly taking notice of their environments. Aggravation, anticipation, dealing with children or slow-moving spouses. It is a petri dish of human emotions, and the demographics, while confined to those who can afford to travel, are rather heterogeneous.
I was almost ready to get on board with the idea, actually, pardon the pun …
Until I read this line from the story: “the purpose of writing a blog for the magazine is to focus on aviation.”
Wow. The guy has to endure a straight month in airplanes and airports and has to focus solely on aviation? No David Foster Wallace-like literary journalism focusing on the sociological and psychological aspect of the environment? No pithy Tweet-sized entries on the food vendors? Just aviation? Count me out.
From Osborn’s story:
He began his journeys last week by flying from Austin to Long Beach, Calif., to Oakland, where he spent the night in a chair in the baggage claim area. “I know this is kind of crazy, but it always makes for good stories later,” said Ross in a phone interview last week . “The idea is to act as if you were just a regular traveler and you were stranded for 30 days.” Ross said he only needs about six hours of sleep a night, and he plans to stay clean by bathing from sinks in airport restrooms and taking the occasional shower in airports that have them. “I’ve got industrial strength deodorant because I don’t want to make anybody uncomfortable.” Ross has also packed detergent so that he can wash his clothes in airport sinks.
Well, at least the dude has a sense of adventure. Or a taste for airborne illness, overpriced cardboard pizza, screaming babies and blood clots.
Read the full story here.
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August 4, 2009
Fend off swine flu with booze
As the Russian national soccer team and its fans prepare to head to Wales for a World Cup qualifier next month, the head of the country’s supporter association (VOB), advised fans to booze up in order to fight the dreaded H1N1 swine flu, according to Reuters.
“We urge our fans to drink a lot of Welsh whisky as a form of disinfection,” VOB head Alexander Shprygin told Reuters.
“That should cure all symptoms of the disease.”
And it should do wonders for the Welsh pubs and the acetaminophen industry. Of course, acetaminophen is for wimps. Everyone knows the best way to combat a whisky hangover is more whisky.
From Reuters:
Russia’s Health Ministry has issued a public warning against traveling to Britain because of the spread of the H1N1 virus but Shprygin said he expected at least several hundred fans would go to Wales for the September 9 qualifier in Cardiff.“Health officials say this virus is very dangerous but being a fan myself I can tell you that for a real fan nothing is more important than the well-being of the team,” said Shprygin, who also sits on the executive board of the Russian FA.
“Russian fans don’t fear anything or anybody so this virus will not stand in our way of supporting our team.”
The Russian FA also said health issues should not prevent fans from traveling.
“We don’t want our team to be without any support for such an important match so we urge our fans to go to Wales despite the health warning,” a spokesman said.
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July 10, 2009
Saturday is Free Day at Barton Springs pool
It’s 1,000 degrees outside. Did you know that? 1,000 degrees.
It’s so hot that I have not visited one swimming pool this young summer that actually felt completely refreshing and cool.
That’s why I’ve never been more thankful for Barton Springs. And everyone can be thankful that this Saturday, the Springs is free for all.
The 68-degree spring-fed pool will be open from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturday. It will still cost $3 to park in Zilker, so walk, bike or find a spot in the Robert E. Lee Drive lot for a completely free experience.
The heat this summer has driven what seems like abnormally large crowds to the Springs, as I have seen some of the longest lines in recent memory over the past few weeks. One friend told me he waited 45 minutes a couple of weeks ago, but he may have just been suffering from heat stroke.
I can’t imagine how big the crowd will be Saturday, but with no waiting around for change, the line should move quickly.
Photo by Alberto Martinez AMERICAN-STATESMAN
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May 20, 2009
Robbie Knievel to jump over Congress Avenue
As part of the 15th Annual Republic of Texas Biker Rally, motorcycle daredevil Robbie Knievel will kick off his farewell tour with a jump over 180 feet of Budweiser trucks on Congress Avenue in front of the Texas Capitol.
Knievel’s jump, his first since last New Year’s Eve in Las Vegas, will utilize a 1,000-foot ramp, according to Denise Garcia at the ROT.
The son of the legendary Evel Knievel will perform his airborne spectacle at 11 p.m. on Friday, June 12.
Image from the ROT site
Photos of Evel and Robbie Knievel from the Associated Press.
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May 18, 2009
Austin Facial Hair Club: The men behind the beards
Following their participation in local beard and mustache competitions sponsored by Misprint Magazine, the shaggy quartet decided to organize in an effort to represent Austin at the World Beard and Moustache Championships in Anchorage on May 23.
Backed by sponsorship of The Mohawk (huge fans of beards and manliness) on Red River Street, the AFHC will make the trek accompanied by Mohawk owner James Moody and photographer Dave Mead, who will chronicle this shaggy man story to its conclusion.
The group, which is lobbying for financial support via the Internet, arrives in Alaska on Tuesday, May 19 and will take in the sights, indulge in some shenanigans, including a beard parade through downtown Anchorage, and prepare to battle for bearded glory.
I tracked these legends down via email to get their thoughts on facial hair.
The M.O.: What do you love about facial hair?
Bryan Nelson: The freedom and individuality it gives me. And the ability for friends and loved ones to pick me out in a crowd.
Allen Demling: The way it touches me so softly, and never leaves, even when I am rough with it.
Why are people so scared to be real men?
Nelson: People are scared of not conforming. TV/Media Society dictates that men should not have beards, but that they should look like women. Even More so! Women are concerned with exfoliation, but they are not so concerned that they shave millimeters of skin off of their face every day. To me, the whole thing is absurd. In the beginning of this country men had unique and rad beards/facial hair. We haven’t had (expletive) since the industrial era. WTF? I give you quotes from Wikipedia:
- “There are two kinds of people in this world that go around beardless — boys and women — and I am neither one.” -Greek saying
- “A woman with a beard looks like a man. A man without a beard looks like a woman.” - Afghan saying
- “A kiss without a moustache is like soup without salt”
Demling: “We’re a generation of men raised by women.” -Tyler Durden
What is the preferred drink of men with beards?
Nelson: For me: whiskey/bourbon, followed by beer. Repeat.
Demling: I prefer Lone Star with a shot of Jameson poured by Housheng.
Nelson: Billy Gibbons followed by Santa Claus. I am a bicycle commuter, and on average of 3 times a day someone yells at me, “Hey!, ZZ Top.” Only once has someone yelled “Santa Claus” at me.
Demling: Gimli? I don’t know, I’m not very cultured.
The Beard Mount Rushmore … ZZ Top gets two spots or one?
Nelson: Three.
Demling: All of them.
Follow up question: Frank Beard, traitor to beards or honorary Beard Brother?
Nelson: Frank Beard has a moustache, which includes him in the Club. As a band, ZZ Top has put beards on the map more than anyone else.
Demling: Frank Beard has the important role of telling Billy and Dusty when they have BBQ sauce in their beards. Honorary Beard Brother.
If beards had a theme song what would it be?
Nelson: “Tush” by ZZ Top, “Working Man” by Rush, or any something by Mike Watt/The Minutemen.
Demling: “Total Eclipse of the Heart” by Bonnie Tyler.
Worse beard: Joey from “My Two Dads” or Judge Lance Ito?
Demling: I’m going to say Judge Ito. Joey’s beard was a metaphor for the fact that he was Paul Reiser’s beard. That show was very deep and full of double entendres, and thus deserves a higher level of respect.
What would it take to get you to shave your beard?
Nelson: I have shaved my beard maybe 12 times in my life… mostly at random. I would have to say timing and/or cash incentive.
Demling: Lawyers, guns and money.
What advice do you have for the poor fellows who just can’t grow a beard? Or those that suffer from “patchiness?”
Nelson: I think that all beards are valid. That is my platform. Every man should grow his beard for a year at least once in this life.. Then, and only then, can he assess its worth in this world.
What is the most embarrassing thing that could get caught in your beard or moustache?
Nelson: Nothing that gets caught in a beard or moustache is embarrassing, only inevitable. If you cast a net into the sea, what you bring back is your reward. If you cast no net into the sea, you reap no such reward.
Demling: A titmouse.
In the original “Star Trek,” the evil Spock from a parallel universe was identical except … he had a beard. Message?
Nelson: Beards are out of the ordinary. They scare the masses. Wearing a beard reflects that you are an individual, and that is a threat to a conformist society.
Demling: Logically, that shows that our universe sucks.
Nelson: Don’t shave. The “rules” are that any maintenance/trimming to improve eating or kissing is acceptable. I find that I need to do no trimming to experience either kissing or eating. Just takes practice.
Demling: Get a warranty, you never know what could happen.
Do the Grizzly Adamses look down on groomed beardsmen as poseurs?
Nelson: No. Every beard is valid. A bearded man should not look down upon another mans beard.
Demling: It is hard for me to look down on anything, my beard always gets in the way.
Do beards help out with picking up women?
Nelson: When you find a woman who loves your beard, for all of its gloriousness and pheromonal qualities, you will find a woman that you can share the rest of your life with.
Demling: Yes, beards can be very strong, and given the proper apparatus can pick up many things, such as bowling balls, children, books, and even women. I point you to thingsmybeardcanlift.com.
Left to right, Austin Facial Hair club members Cory Plump, Bryan Nelson and Allen Demling. Photo by Dave Mead.Permalink | Comments (4) | Post your comment Categories: Misc.
April 20, 2009
Playboy: UT is No. 2 party school
2. Sex: Not sure how they figured this out.
3. Campus life: I imagine this has to do with parties
4. Sports: Self explanatory
5. Brains: This must have something to do with dumb ol’ classes and such
Playboy explains UT’s ranking thusly:
“Everything is actually bigger in Texas: Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium, parties, cup sizes, etc. Before metal bands threw up the “rock-on” hand gesture, Texas students were signaling their undying love for the Longhorns. The same gesture could now symbolize “Number two on the Playboy Party Schools List!” The city of Austin has become a mecca for forward-thinking people, as well as a hot music scene, thanks to the South by Southwest festival. The students also like to party, whether on Sixth Street of at an off-campus apartment. Sam, a physics major, has a hazy memory of one bacchanal at West Campus: ‘Twenty kegs and 13 jugs of trash- can punch … what was a bikini party morphed into women dancing half naked. Didn’t end till four in the morning.’ Austin, we raise a Texas toast to you. Steers and cheers.”I am sure the administration and parents of orange-blooded students are simply thrilled. The University of Miami topped Playboy’s list, with the rest of the honor roll as follows: San Diego State University, University of Florida, University of Arizona, University of Wisconsin-Madison, University of Georgia, Louisiana State University, University of Iowa and West Virginia University. (For the complete list, click here. Of course, it goes to a Playboy.com link, so paranoid workers and the prudish, beware.) From perusing the top 10, it is obvious that warm weather schools in the south and west fare best, with a few cold weather schools thrown in, as their students likely spend 75 percent of the school year snowed-in playing drinking games. The list reminds me of ESPN.com’s Bill Simmons’ rationale for how high school students should select their colleges. [Taken from Simmons’ Dec. 28, 2008 reader Mailbag]
And while we’re here, with the college application season wrapping up, allow me to make my annual case for everyone to apply to warm-weather schools. Don’t spend four years in cold weather. There’s no reason. Go south, go west, but go.And if they have a good sports team, even better. I know people who attended the following schools: Pepperdine, the University of California at Santa Barbara, USC, UCLA, Rollins, North Carolina, Arizona, Arizona State and the University of Texas. Here’s how many of them regretted their choices: Zero. Meanwhile, the majority of my friends attended cold-weather schools … and only a handful of them would travel down that same road again. Again, why spend four years of your life in cold weather when you don’t have to do it? And why pick a college with crummy sports when you don’t have to do it? Beyond everything else, remember this above all: It doesn’t matter where you went to college as much as what you did when you got there. I have successful friends who went to every type of school; I even have successful friends who never graduated from college. So don’t stress out about it, expand your horizons, don’t be afraid to take a chance and please know that I’m telling you this only because I wish somebody had told me. One last thing: Don’t go to Princeton. I’m still waiting to meet my first Princeton grad that I might like. I am like 0-for-79. Princeton grads carry themselves like bad guys in a sports movie. Remember the scene in “Pretty In Pink” when James Spader ordered his two henchmen to beat up Andrew McCarthy because he didn’t approve of McCarthy’s poor girlfriend? There’s no question that Spader’s character went on to Princeton, just like there’s no doubt Johnny Lawrence went to Duke.(For the record, the May edition of Playboy, with covergirl Lisa Rinna, also features an interview with author Chuck Palahniuk, for all of you who love the soft-core mag for its writing.) Photos: Playboy’s Rock the Rabbit party with Jane’s Addiciton | Famous famous from Playboy Photo by Larry Kolvoord AMERICAN-STATESMAN
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April 15, 2009
A wolf in hipster's clothing
The New York Observer has an amazing/ridiculous story today about a young woman from Salt Lake City who used her feminine wiles, hipster appearance and a barrage of lies, while relying on the kindness, naivete and desperation of friends/strangers, to steal cash from people and gain social currency. It’s like “The Talented Mr. Ripley” meets a 2 a.m. bad decision at Beauty Bar.
Kari Ferrell dropped out of high school in Utah and subsequently went on to rip off boyfriends in Salt Lake City and New York City to the tune of thousands of dollars, as she created an alternate persona built on lies about her failing health, cool jobs and alleged stalkers. The jig was finally up when a co-worker at Vice, a company that apparently hired Ferrell without the tedium of a background check, decided to Google his new Lolita-esque hipster co-worker. His discovery of her outstanding warrants in Utah pulled the first thread that would unravel Ferrell’s felonious world of free drinks, cars and fake check accounts.
After finishing the story, the lede of which reads like it was pulled directly from The Onion, I am amazed not only at Ferrell’s unconscionable guile but also the lack of investigation done by the (mostly) men she duped.
[From The New York Observer]
It’s likely that when Kari Ferrell walked into the Vice magazine offices in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, last month to interview for an administrative assistant job, they thought they’d hit the jackpot. Ms. Ferrell—petite, 22 years old, of Korean heritage—had a huge tattoo of a dragon across her chest and a cute pixie haircut. She was talkative, funny, charming, adorable. She had a tattoo on her back that read “I Love Beards.” She told them she’d been working for the New York office of the concert promotion company GoldenVoice, which puts on huge rock festivals like Coachella near Palm Springs, Calif., and that she’d moved to New York from Utah just a few months earlier. They hired her on the spot.
A few days later, one of Ms. Ferrell’s new colleagues came by her desk. “I said, ‘Excuse me, miss, is [her boss] downstairs?’” the 29-year-old told The Observer. “She thought that was very polite that I said, ‘Excuse me, miss,’ and after that she started talking to me, instant-messaging me. She asked if I was from the South. I told her no. It escalated from there.”
Within the space of a half-hour, Ms. Ferrell was peppering him with questions about his sexual histor— how many women he’d slept with and so on. “She was coming on to me, and I was super into it for the first part of it,” he said. “I realized I could have fun after work—but then I was like, ‘Let me check this girl out.’” He Googled her. Up popped a photo of his flirtatious new co-worker on the Salt Lake City Police Department’s Most Wanted list, wanted on five different warrants, including passing $60,000 in bad checks, forgery and retail theft.
Read the full story here. A note: there is some colorful language used in the Observer story.
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April 9, 2009
Jason Whitlock and David Simon on the newspaper industry
For those of you interested in the troubling state of affairs in the newspaper industry — how we got here, what can be done to right the ship, etc. — you may want to tune into the Jim Rome Show this afternoon at 12:06 p.m. on Austin’s 1300 AM The Zone (or online). Wonderful Kansas City Star sports columnist Jason Whitlock is subbing for Rome, and will apparently use the second two hours of the show to give his take on the newspaper/media business. He teased it with the fact that he intends to pull no punches.
And for fans of “The Wire,” you will be especially interested because Whitlock will have the brilliant David Simon, creator of HBO’s beloved cop/news drama, on as a guest to give his opinions. Simon wrote a fantastic article in the Jan. 28 edition of The Washington Post entitled “Does the News Matter to Anyone Anymore”, in which he sounded the alarm by bringing attention to the fact that newspapers losing reporters and resources is leading to a precipitous decline in public affairs and police reporting that leaves citizens vulnerable to an unquestioned bureaucracy and government.
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March 17, 2009
Drink a pint, fight cancer and watch men get shaved, tonight at Mother Eagan's
Cancer sucks. My family has had a Hatfield and McCoy type feud going with cancer for years and I’m sure you or someone you love has been pushed around too. Several members of my family have been able to fight back and survive with medical advancements and proactive treatment, no doubt aided by previous donations.In the US, more children die of childhood cancer than any other disease. Please make a donation on my behalf to support childhood cancer research. Your donation will save lives.
As you can see, after 3 years I am at full plumage. Now you have a chance to do the right thing and make me go from grizzly to gorgeous, from the cave to the catwalk, etc.
Now is your chance to help a very worthy cause and rid the streets of one less creep. Oh and forward this link to anyone you know that hates cancer and/or beards.
If you want to contribute to The Grizz’s efforts, you can click here. And, if you want to be a part of what promises to be a pretty funny and extremely worth cause, head down to Mother Egan’s tonight at 7 p.m. for the en masse shavings.
Below is a video made by one of the listener’s to The Grizz’s MMA radio show. (For the record, I would definitely be down for participating in this event next year, but I have a feeling the shaving of my two-week growth of beard and almost-balled head would fetch about $20 on the open market.)
Mother Eagan’s Irish Pub
715 W. Sixth St.
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March 3, 2009
Twitter is obnoxious and so can u
“OMG, I am soooo miserable before my morning coffee.”
“This line at the grocery store is like whatevs … “
Ah, it seems like it was just yesterday that we were at SXSW 2007, marveling at the absurdity and inanity of Twitter over free cocktails at some party sponsored by some obnoxious company that is now probably broke.
Flash-forward to present day, and the Twitterverse is alive and “well,” and seems to be trafficked by everyone from your mom to news anchors to congressmen bored (and feeling snarky) during President Obama’s address to the nation last week.
Apparently, Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) sent the following Tweet during the speech: “Aggie basketball game is about to start on espn2 for those of you that [sic] aren’t going to bother watching pelosi smirk for the next hour.”
Oh, snap! Hey, I’m a smartass and have a smartphone. Maybe I can be a congressman. Or my 12 year-old cousin (which I don’t have). For a more detailed look at the obnoxious world of “social media,” we now turn to Jon Stewart.
Jon Stewart: “Why has Twitter suddenly become such a big deal among legislators and the media elite?”
Samantha Bee: “Because it’s awesome. Twitter offers real-time access to some of our most important leaders and newspeople’s [sic] least important thoughts … 140 characters at a time.I It’s no wonder young people love it … according to reports about young people by middle-aged people.”
Watch the entire hilarious segment for yourself.
For the record, I have a Twitter account through the Statesman but only use it during festivals and such, cause I get paid to, ya heard! And, yes, I am a hypocrite, because I do update my Facebook status almost daily (but not quite).
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March 2, 2009
Objets de garage
2200 S. Lamar Blvd (Behind Strut) [map]
512.351.5934
Hours
Monday: Closed
Tuesday - Saturday: 11:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.
Sunday: Noon to 5 p.m.
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February 23, 2009
Birth of the Cool and Blenko
From Blenko’s site:
Blenko Glass Company announced today that it is shutting down production and is discussing with its counsel whether it should consider filing for bankruptcy. The Blenko Visitor’s Center will continue to remain open. The Milton based manufacturer of hand made glass was sued by Big Two Mile, its former gas supplier, four years ago because of a disagreement about the payments due for gas used at the factory. A court found in favor of Big Two Mile and entered a judgment against Blenko for more than $500,000 in September of 2005. Several proposals for settlement of the case were made by Blenko; none of the proposals was accepted.
Over the past three years members of the Blenko Family were in contact with members of the Maier Family who are the owners of Big Two Mile. Blenko was led to understand that Big Two Mile would not take steps to shut down Blenko. Relying on those assurances Walter Blenko of Pittsburgh PA and Don Blenko of Wellesley MA invested more than 2 million dollars in Blenko in an effort to return the company to profitability. In recent months the company’s losses had been reduced and Blenko management was looking forward to seeing a positive cash flow in the company’s operations.
On January 15, 2009, Big Two Mile took steps to seize “all amounts, deposits, and moneys” in the Blenko Glass bank accounts including its payroll and withholding accounts. Blenko first learned of Big Two Mile’s action on January 23, when Blenko’s bank reported that the bank accounts had been emptied.
Blenko had issued a check on that day to pay for gas that it used in its glass making furnaces. When Blenko learned its funds had been seized it was able to recover the check which was already in the mail. Because of nonpayment Blenko’s gas supplier has refused to supply gas for the glass making process after January 31, 2009. Blenko has therefore shut down its furnaces and some of them will be destroyed due to the loss of heat.
Blenko employs approximately 50 employees. Walter Blenko, President of Blenko Glass, said “I want to thank and pay tribute to the many loyal employees of Blenko Glass who worked diligently and faithfully against bad economic conditions to keep the company operating and producing world renowned Blenko Glass up until the last day.”
So, my points are as follows:
1) If you love the modern architecture, design, music and style of California from the 50s that have so influenced our modern aesthetic, especially here in Austin, go to the Blanton to see the exhibit, which will be there until March 17.
2) While you’re there, you may want to consider buying some Blenko Glass, as there may not be any produced for quite some time, if ever again, and you can’t currently purchase it from Blenko’s online store.
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February 19, 2009
You oughta be in (moving) pictures: Be a part of Austin360.com TV commercial
Good ways to get on television:
- Sit around a sandwich shop all day in hopes that an SUV will drive through the storefront window, leading to you being interviewed on local news.
- Stand in line at the post office on April 15, while TV news interviews all the procrastinating tax filers. (Also works for: traveling during the holidays, shopping on Black Friday, et al)
- Walk up and down Sixth Street during SXSW and try and insinuate yourself into one of John Norris’s live shots on MTV.
- This event is for 21 and older only.
- Everyone will be required to sign a release upon entry.
- Only the first 50 people will be allowed in, so arrive early!
But if that all sounds like a lot of work, and kinda humiliating, we’ve got the perfect alternative. Bonus, it totally doesn’t suck like those other ideas.
Austin360 is shooting a commercial Wednesday, Feb. 25, and we want you to be a part of the action. The first 50 people 21 and older who show up at the Beauty Bar will be treated to a live performance from video game synth-poppers Built By Snow.
And, if you’re one of those sticks in the mud who can’t get loose on the dance floor without a little bit of liquid encouragement (like me), we’ve got you covered. Everyone who participates will get a free drink ticket to get your party started. Space is limited, so make sure you are one of the first 50 people to ensure that your sweet little mug eventually gets beamed across Central Texas.
You + Built By Snow = Austin360 TV Commercial
Wednesday, Feb. 25 at 5:30 p.m.
Beauty Bar
617 E. Seventh St.
Please note:
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February 12, 2009
Joaquin Phoenix: Andy Kaufman or River Phoenix?
Joaquin Phoenix is either a genius self-promoter, slowly ginning up interest in his forthcoming rap career, or someone needs to tell the dude to check himself. (Or maybe he just hates Hollywood, so he is going to enter the low-profile music business.)
As mentioned awhile back, the star of “Walk the Line” is planning to leave acting and commit fully to his career as a hip-hop artist. Just as soon as he gets done “promoting” what is ostensibly his final film, “Two Lovers.”
Phoenix was on with David Letterman last night, and looked to be a mixture of nonplussed, angry, spiteful and mildly bemused. And possibly a bit drugged. I understand that the dog-and-pony show of going on TV to answer questions may be a bit exhausting and somewhat trite, but that’s the business you’re in, Joaquin, so either bite the bullet and figure out a more charming way to take the pi**, or go find another line of work.
Of course, Letterman could have been slightly more accommodating (although he did profusely compliment Phoenix’s acting talents), but, after all, he does have an entertainment show to put on the air, and he could probably use a little more help from his guest. At one point, the crowd laughs at Phoenix’s mention of his rap career, which prompts the actor-cum-musician to query Letterman, “What you gas ‘em up on?” That’s rich. Phoenix is like the qualude to Tracy Morgan’s Hennessy.
Below are the “highlights” from the CBS site. Zach Galifianakis would be proud.
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February 6, 2009
Val Kilmer for governor? Sounds dangerous. Dangerously awesome.
If you weren’t one of the lucky few to see the underappreciated “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang,” you may have wondered what happened to Val Kilmer.
Well, not quite sure how I missed this LA Times story yesterday, but apparently Kilmer is considering a run for governor of New Mexico. The ‘Batman Forever’ and ‘Top Secret’ star is a California native but has lived in the “Land of Enchantment” for the past 20 years. I guess if Clint Eastwood, Ronald Reagan, Sonny Bono, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Al Franken, Fred Thompson, et al can do it …
“I’m just looking for ways to be contributive,” Kilmer told The Associated Press on Thursday. “And if that ends up being where I can make a substantial contribution, then I’ll run.”
If he is serious, he better stop paying his taxes soon. Or however that goes.
I think the whole thing will be totally worth it, if during a debate he pops some chewing gum and stares down Lt. Gov. Diane Denish (who is running) and says: “You’re everyone’s problem. That’s because every time you go up in the air you’re unsafe. I don’t like you because you’re dangerous.”
And then, when she wins and asks him to be his second-in-command, they argue over who can be the other’s wingman.
Let’s be perfectly clear, however: I would totally vote for the guy. No offense, Lt. Gov. Denish. I’m sure you’re a lovely person.
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Volunteer to protect the environment
Wanna do more than just recycle your bottles and cans in your effort to protect our environment? Head over to Patagonia in downtown Austin Saturday (316 Congress Ave.), where three local environmental groups, in conjunction with the outdoor store, will be hosting a mass community volunteer day. According to information I received, “activities will include include beautifying Wilkerson park, helping raise awareness for a clean energy bill, helping to plant sustainable organic gardens for Austin’s underprivileged residents and more.”
The participating groups include Green Corn Project, Environment Texas and the Colorado River Foundation.
More details from the release:
Environment Texas is organizing a petition drive that calls on Congress to re-power America with 100% clean, renewable electricity and to cut oil use in half. Volunteers are asked to meet at Environment Texas offices at 11 am on Saturday, Feb. 7 and are advised to wear comfortable shoes. More info at www.environmenttexas.org.The Colorado River Foundation is also looking for volunteers from 9-noon on Saturday, Feb. 7, to help it beautify Wilkerson Park. Meet at the foundation center, take a short tour, then move on to help tame native plants, tidy up xeriscape flowerbeds, and polish water features. http://www.coloradoriver.org.
The Green Corn Project needs your help preparing spring garden beds and repairing fences. GCP serves people with limited access to nutritious, affordable food by partnering with them to build their own gardens at homes, schools, and community centers.
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February 4, 2009
AP says Shepard Fairey has some explaining/paying to do
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January 26, 2009
Photos: 2009 Presidential Inauguration
I recently returned from a trip to Washington, D.C. for the Presidential Inauguration. Having lived in D.C. for many years, I can say that the city responded amazingly well to the massive crowds. Below are a few pictures, and you can click here for the full gallery.
(Photos by Matthew Odam, Paige Odam Barnett and Allen Y Chen)
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December 1, 2008
The beginning of the end of journalism? (Part eleventy hundred)
Chances are, if you have a computer (or a phone), you’ve probably made a customer service call that directed you to a call center in India. No shock there. The world is flat, just ask Thomas Friedman. But the whole outsourcing thing has really gone to a new level.
Maureen Dowd’s column in the New York Times yesterday featured a man by the name of James Macpherson who runs Pasadena Now, an online news outlet “in” Pasadena, Calif.
With his profit margins apparently struggling, Macpherson decided to save some money by outsourcing his content and reporting to an outpost on the other side of the world.
So, he thought, “Where can I get people who can write the word for less?” In a move that sounded so preposterous it became a Stephen Colbert skit, he put an ad on Craigslist for Indian reporters and got a flood of responses.He fired his seven Pasadena staffers — including five reporters — who were making $600 to $800 a week, and now he and his wife direct six employees all over India on how to write news and features, using telephones, e-mail, press releases, Web harvesting and live video streaming from a cellphone at City Hall.
“I pay per piece, just the way it was in the garment business,” he says. “A thousand words pays $7.50.”
Reporting on events in California from India … what could go wrong, right?
Um …
I checked in with one of his workers in Mysore City in southern India, 40-year-old G. Sreejayanthi, who puts together Pasadena events listings. She said she had a full-time job in India and didn’t think of herself as a journalist. “I try to do my best, which need not necessarily be correct always,” she wrote back. “Regarding Rose Bowl, my first thought was it was related to some food event but then found that is related to Sports field.”
Read the whole column here, and get that resume ready. If local news can be outsourced, what can’t be? Maybe I should start Mumbaist. Fortunately, they’ll never be able to outsource fry cook positions, so there is some light to be found.
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November 10, 2008
The Onion launches new site
Following in the footsteps of the giant Gothamist network (among others), which has seen amazing success, most significantly for us Austinites with the Web site Austinist, of which I used to be an editor, The Onion and its A.V. Club have entered the city-specific entertainment site network with Decider.com.
The new site offers a host of information in the to-be-expected categories of any entertainment site (events, music, movies, food, etc.) along with offering standard comment sections and the ability for its readers to get in on the snarky action by submitting reviews of their own.
As with other sites, Decider.com also features “most popular” and “most discussed” categories, so you can make sure you’re hep to what all the kids are talking about. Also of note is the unique Debaser feature, in which an artist gets a chance to promote his work in exchange for telling a humiliating story about himself.
The site is already live in Madison, Wis.; Milwaukee and Chicago, cities that have been longtime distributors of The Onion, so it appears the nod to Austin is somewhat significant.
From yesterday’s press release: “It features great writing that doesn’t talk down to its readers and it’s both discerning and comprehensive.”
Not sure if that is meant as a zinger to other sites or not. Certainly this town is big enough for multiple sites that offer similar content. If not, should we expect a Red River Street smackdown during SXSW? If anything, it should lead to some interesting one-upsmanship with regard to parties and events. And that’s something from which we can all benefit.
According to A.V. Club managing editor Josh Modell, “We’ve developed a curatorial, approachable voice in The A.V. Club that people have come to both enjoy and respect. Decider brings that voice to the local level.”
The Austin version of Decider is edited by Sean O’Neal, who has been the city editor of the Austin A.V. edition since the free weekly began circulation here last year.
“We’ve long had trouble cramming everything that Austin has to offer into a weekly print edition, which barely covers all the stuff that helps the city maintain its smug cultural superiority over the rest of this godforsaken state: the once-in-a-lifetime screenings at the Alamo Drafthouse, the amazing art happenings, and, of course, the plethora of great shows happening every night on every street corner. But now whenever Bob Schneider blows his nose, everybody will know,” O’Neal said.
Additional cities to be added to the Decider brand include Los Angeles, New York, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Denver and the Twin Cities.
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August 6, 2008
SlyDial introduces a new way to be a coward (or shy)
Oh, the Internets, is there anything you can’t do? A co-worker recently passed along to me a site that must be a tentative teenager’s wildest dream, or a timid person of any age, for that matter. You ever wish you could call that girl/boy whom you met the previous night (or three nights previously, or whatever the “rule” is) but didn’t really have the nerve or desire to talk to the person? Maybe you just wanted to leave them a message asking them to call you or telling them how awesome you thought they were. Enter SlyDial.com. The internet site allows you to bypass the chance that the person you’re calling may actually answer the phone, instead directing you straight to their voicemail. To use the service, you simply dial 267-SLYDIAL from any landline or mobile phone, and when prompted, enter the U.S. mobile phone number of the person you want to “slydial.” From there you are immediately connected to the person’s voicemail. And the service is absolutely free. Timidness solved, gamesmanship advanced.
Of course, you could also use the service for calling back a client or a parent to whom you don’t want to talk, but I think we all know who will get the most mileage out of this service. Gentlemen, start your cell phones.
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July 3, 2008
Fruit as Viagra?
Fourth of July parties may get a lot more exciting this year. According to researchers, Watermelons, a staple among picnickers and barbecue enthusiasts during the summer, contain an ingredient called citrulline, that may have similar effects to the erectile dysfunction drug Viagra.
Apparently “citrulline reacts with the body’s enzymes when consumed in large quantities and is changed into arginine,” which relaxes the body’s blood vessels, much the way Viagara does, according to scientists in Texas, says this AP story.
From the article:
Found in the flesh and rind of watermelons, citrulline reacts with the body’s enzymes when consumed in large quantities and is changed into arginine, an amino acid that benefits the heart and the circulatory and immune systems. “Arginine boosts nitric oxide, which relaxes blood vessels, the same basic effect that Viagra has, to treat erectile dysfunction and maybe even prevent it,” said Bhimu Patil, a researcher and director of Texas A&M’s Fruit and Vegetable Improvement Center. “Watermelon may not be as organ-specific as Viagra, but it’s a great way to relax blood vessels without any drug side effects.”
But don’t expect to eat a slice of Watermelon and then sit back and wait for the proverbial fireworks. According to USDA researcher Penelope Perkins-Veazie, one would have to eat about six cups of the fruit to get enough citrulline to get the body’s arginine level to get the desired effect. That’s a lot of watermelon. And, as its name implies, watermelon has a very high water content, so even if you slugged down a whole watermelon, you may find yourself in the bathroom more often than the bedroom.
According to the article, “citrulline is found in all colors of watermelon and is highest in the yellow-fleshed types.” So, if you’re bored on this Fourth of July weekend, head over to the grocery and watch a bunch of 50-somethings fight to the death over yellow-fleshed watermelons.
Of course, beyond the elusive enhancement, the study reveals there may actually be some health benefits associated with relationship between citrulline and arginine, such a reduction of blood pressure and an agent to fight diabetes.
Yea, yea, yea.
Viva watermelon!
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June 30, 2008
Birds Barbershop wants to give you gas
The dog days of summer are upon us, and skyrocketing gas prices are doing nothing to help cool people off. At close to $4 a gallon, the gas crunch makes it hard to do simple things (run errands) or make luxury expenditures (road trips), and while some of us can stay at home and be happy, others can not escape their reliance on petrol.
As evidenced by Joe Gross’ story earlier this month, touring musicians are some of the people being hit hardest by gas prices, and they’re not the only ones. We fans of live music have to find a way to fuel our trips to their shows, as well.
With that in mind, the rock ‘n’ roll lovers at Austin’s Birds Barbershop are doing their part to help ease the burden on your pocketbook, giving away $50 worth of free gas each week through the summer to one lucky person. According to Birds, “Whether it’s to go see a show or take your band on the road, Birds Barbershop is giving away $50 in gas each week to one lucky customer who signs up on our mailing list either in-store or online at birdsbarbershop.com.
The promotion starts this Friday, the Fourth of July, and runs through the end of the summer. Rock!
Birds Barbershop
6800 Burnet Rd. [map]
512.454.1200
2110 S. Lamar Blvd. [map]
512.442.8800
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June 28, 2008
Spend a weekend in Wimberley
(The following appears in the Sunday edition of the Statesman on June 29.)
For those who miss the Austin of their cherished memories, when condos didn’t sprawl, traffic was less hectic and time seemed to pass more slowly, head out to the Village of Wimberley, at the edge of the Texas Hill Country.
The village, a home to “cedar choppers” and artists alike, has wrestled with growth over the past two decades — in addition to the old Burger Barn, there is now the three star Cedar Grove Steakhouse at the edge of town and the bountiful Ray’s Butcher Shop — but managed to maintain its rustic identity.
One of the stalwarts of old Wimberley is the Rio Bonito Resort, a 34-acre-campsite that sits at the intersection of the clear running waters of the Blanco River and the gently rolling Cypress Creek. The bucolic resort, which has been family-owned for more than 75 years, offers families and groups the opportunity to “reconnect with family” in a setting that feels “like you’re going camping,” says owner Cindy Meeks, whose grandfather, Joe Peterson, purchased the property in 1932.
The 14 cabins feature air conditioning and kitchenettes, but don’t expect modern conveniences (or distractions) such as televisions in the quaint and clean cabins that sit along the river. Although there is a recreation center and swimming pool, most of the resort’s visitors opt for more natural forms of diversion. In a nonstop world of hustle and bustle, Rio Bonito prides itself on offering visitors a chance to transport to a simpler time where entertainment meant catching fireflies, telling stories by campfire and floating peacefully down the river.
Rio Bonito’s location in the heart of the village offers ample opportunity to enjoy the village’s unique pleasures, such as Market Days (held the first Saturday of each month), the Corral Theatre and the historic Blue Hole. Acquired by the Village of Wimberley in 2005, thus ensuring its preservation, the Blue Hole has long been considered by visitors one of the ideal swimming holes in Central Texas, with gigantic cypress trees and rope swings providing great jumping-off points for those looking to be refreshed by the crystal waters of Cypress Creek on hot summer days.
Time might not have completely forgotten Wimberley, but it sure seems to have given the town a reprieve. Because though the village might change and grow incrementally, at its heart it is still the peaceful, natural retreat that has been calling visitors from around the state for decades.
In the words of Meeks, “We like to hold on to the past … we keep it real simple.”
Rio Bonito Resort offers cabins for up to 8 people for $160 a night and smaller cabins for four people at $90 a night. The resort closes from the end of December until March. To get to Wimberley and the Rio Bonito Resort, take U.S. 290 west to RM 12. Turn left onto RM 12 and head 11 miles south to Wimberley.
Rio Bonito Resort
13401 Ranch Road 12
512.847.2232
Wimberley-related links:
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June 26, 2008
Wife (and house) for sale
Shamelessness (or a lack of any dignity), a crumbling housing market, the desire to be loved and the Internet can be a wicked combination.
At least that’s my read on the case of single Florida mom Deven Traboscia, who has put her house and her love for sale on eBay and Craigslist. In one fell swoop, you can buy a gauche Palm Beach Gardens home and the marriage vows of a Hulk Hogan’s wife starter-kit. And, I hate to be a snob (not really), but “Deven”? Seriously? I think your parents may have misspelled your obviously-soap-opera-inspired name. Only in Florida.
To steal a phrase from W. Somerset Maugham, “Florida is a sunny place for shady people.”
Ms. Traboscia, a real estate agent, offers up the following delicious piece of enticement in her post:
“If you want to live the never ending dream and experience the real love, life and the romance you have always felt was a fairytale then this is the vibrant outstanding woman of your dreams! To sweep this European Loving Lady off her feet send in your application right now.”
Ah, the never-ending dream, indeed.
Traboscia says that her 2,000-square-foot house features updated tile and Berber carpet. Berber carpet?! Now that changes everything.
I am sure her kids won’t have much trouble living this one down at school.
Check out the video from ABC Action News in Florida below. Oh, and Deven, you may want to mix in some SPF 45 with that Rawlings glove-tanning oil you apparently use each day. (In related news, the Bennigan’s on Barton Springs Road has closed. For serious. Looks like Deven will be skipping SXSW next year.)
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June 24, 2008
And you thought Austinites liked weed ...
Well, a pro-marijuana group in Denver thinks it has the key to all of our air rage problems. At least that’s the rationale that the Denver-based organization Safer Alternative for Enjoyable Recreation (SAFER) plans to use today when they ask the local government to allow pot smoking in the Denver airport’s smoking lounges. I didn’t even realize there were smoking lounges anymore. As far as I can remember, the last time I saw one was years ago in the international terminal at JFK.
A few years ago, Denver residents voted to keep possession of less than an ounce of marijuana from being a crime. According to Fox News in Denver, it was the first law of its kind passed in a U.S. city.
Having no legal knowledge of the situation, I can only assume SAFER’s pleas will fall on deaf ears. But, as a medical professional friend of mine near Denver said, “Well, at least the lounges would smell a lot better,” if it were passed. I can only imagine that would be one of the very few positive outcomes resulting from said measure. Although it would be entertaining to see 500 people miss their flights each day. I’m sure the gate agents would love the resulting fiasco.
That pounding and clicking sound you hear is UT students trying to book winter break travel to Colorado’s ski resorts. Heady!
Associated Press photo (not taken at Denver airport)
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April 29, 2008
An issue of serious impotence
For years it has been assumed by some that certain countries, generally those which residents speak romance languages, have a different understanding of ‘quality of life.’ There’s an old saying that people in Italy work to live, whereas those in the United State live to work. If one was to extend that analogy to Chile, well, I will let you sort out that phrasing on your own, as the mayor of the small Chilean town of Lo Prado plans to hand out free Viagra to men 60 and older, according to Las Ultimas Noticias daily.
“This has to do with quality of life and it’s done responsibly. It’s not just like handing out candy at the corner,” mayor Gonzalo Navarrete said.
“We’ll give out four, 50 milligram pills, in other words, for four sexual relationships per month.”
It will be interesting to see if the rate of heart attacks increases in Lo Prado in the coming months. That loud gust of air you just heard is from men in the United States rushing to their phones to make inquiries about time-shares in Chile.
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April 7, 2008
Has Google gone too far?
As you may know, recently Google Inc. started its “street view” tool within its Google Maps for Austin. It is a function that has been in use in other cities since last year. You type in an address and in addition to the “traditional” options of satellite, traffic map, terrain and hybrid options, you can now look at a “street view” of the address you type in. Apparently the Google vans drove across the Austin area last fall and took pictures of seemingly everywhere in the city. It is very cool, but a bit Big Brotherish. On the Chicago street map that went into use last year, I actually found my sister and her family on a casual stroll.
Apparently Google’s cool new feature has left one family feeling that their right to privacy has been infringed upon. As the Google van was driving around taking pictures for its new feature, they entered private property, a family’s driveway. From The Smoking Gun:
Faced with a lawsuit by a Pittsburgh couple who claims that their privacy was invaded by Google’s “Street View” mapping technology, the search giant has removed images of the family’s home from its servers. Several photos of the Oakridge Lane home of Aaron and Christine Boring have been yanked from Google Maps and replaced with a black image. But while photos of the Boring property have been scrubbed, a more intrusive series of photos of a neighboring home remain on Google (and can be found here). The home of Janet and George McKee is the only property on Goldenbrook Lane, a narrow, gravel path off Oakleaf Lane, a two-way street. The McKee residence is at the end of Goldenbrook Lane, which the family was able to name at the time their home was built in 1993. As the “Street View” images show, a Google vehicle — outfitted with a roof-mounted camera taking 360-degree images — drove down the gravel path and onto the paved driveway leading to the McKee home. The Google car continued past the steps leading to the McKees’ front door and came to a stop outside the house’s three-car garage (and next to the family’s trampoline and portable basketball rim). Taking photos all the time, the Google vehicle was squarely on private property, a fact that presumably should have been apparent when the gravel path became paved. Janet McKee, who was unaware of the “Street View” images until contacted by the Smoking Gun, said that it was “a little bit creepy to think of someone filming our home without me knowing about it.” She said that the property line began with the paved driveway. A photo of the McKee property can be found on Allegheny County’s Office of Property Assessments Web site, but that image was snapped from a distance — not from the family’s backyard, as was Google’s preference.
Read the full Smoking Gun piece here.
Has Google gone too far?
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April 4, 2008
What the hail?
And now for something completely different. Around 8 a.m. I was awakened by the sound of objects pelting my house. I figured it was just a dream, or some damned kids trying to disturb my beauty rest with a full-on pellet assault. There was no way it could be hail. Not in April. Not considering the fact that when I went to bed at 2 a.m. it was 65 degrees outside. Naturally I did not get out of bed, but after searching Flickr this morning, I realized that it was, in fact, a hailstorm that deposited chunks of ice ranging from marble size to golf ball size.
These photos from Flickr user Sans_Sanity shows some of the early morning evidence.
Just got off the phone with a friend who also lives in Central Austin and he said his car received serious hail damage. Guess I should go take a look at mine. TGIF. OK.
I also found these photos on Flickr from today tagged “hail” and mentioning Austin or Texas.
This one is from Flick user Crabasa and is tagged “moblog.” Weird.
This one from Flickr user Bruce Sterlin:
This sweet photo from Beeez on Flickr. He’s right, it did sound like rocks pelting the house.
Thank you Flickr users for keeping me from thinking I had lost my mind.
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March 24, 2008
If it's on the Internet, it has to be true
About a year ago I was making a move and went on the search for boxes. Someone told me to look on Craigslist because people often put up posts advertising free boxes. After doing a quick search, I found several listings for boxes and a few that simply suggested people come by someone’s house and pick up the boxes from the side of the house or garage. I am not sure where I ended up getting my boxes, but I didn’t head over to the addresses I saw on Craigslist that offered free boxes for those who stop by. Maybe it is growing up with a lawyer for a dad and an altruist mother, but I have always been a little hesitant about doing anything that seemed in the least bit fishy or illegal. Or maybe I am just a neurotic, paranoid mess. Or both.
Anyhoo … I figured that the post was probably real, but I did not want to be dodging bullets or dogs if I had in fact been misled. That’s the trouble with the Internet; you just never know what you’re reading is real or a hoax, and that extends from ‘news’ covergage in blogs to personal ads of all stripes. Which brings us to the story of Oregon man Robert Salisbury, who apparently was out of town working on business when someone posted a hoax of an ad in his name declaring that he had been suddenly forced to leave his home, leaving all of his belongings, including a horse, up for grabs to first-comers.
The problem was that Salisbury had not put the post up on the free Web site. Out of town on business, the unsuspecting Salisbury got a call from a woman who said she was at his place to pick up his horse. I can only imagine Salisbury’s fear, outrage and indignation. He rushed home to see what the hell was going on only to pass some guys driving off with his work ladders. When he told the men that the ladders were his property. they showed him the Craigslist print-out and said they were in the right. You know, because it was on the Internet and all.
Read the full story, as reported by The Associated Press and posted on KGW.com’s Web site here.
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February 18, 2008
Alamo Drafthouse to simulcast debate
However, you can still watch the debate at one of many candidate-related events or head over to the Alamo Drafthouse South to watch the simulcast with a couple hundred cheering and jeering friends (and frenemies).
“Lately, the gloves have been coming off between the neck-and-neck democratic hopefuls, and we expect this debate on the eve of the Texas primary to be a democratic bare-knuckle brawl,” Alamo owner Tim League said.
For a little added drama, the Drafthouse will be dividing the audience in half, with Clinton supporters on one side and Obama supporters on the other. And, since it is the Alamo, there will be beer, so expect a lively (and potentially slurry) debate of policy.
According to the Alamo: “We’ve held parties for the Superbowl, the NCAA championship, the Final Four and the World Cup. Believe it or not, the most spirited crowds and energized fans are those of the sport d’jour: presidential politics. This is one show you do not want to miss!”
The show is free, but seats can reserved in advance by pre-purchasing a $10 food and drink voucher here. You can indicate your candidate preference when choosing the voucher: Undecided, Clinton or Obama.
Democratic Presidential Debate
Thursday, Feburary 21
Alamo Drafthouse South
7 PM
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February 7, 2008
A debate over the self-discovery novel 'Eat, Pray, Love'
Today I came across the compelling Slate Audio Club discussion of the best-selling memoir by Elizabeth Gilbert titled ‘Eat, Pray, Love.’ Ostensibly, the book tells the story of the author’s devastating divorce and her search to reconcile her faith and belief in self with her soul-crushing life experience through indulging in the physical and metaphysical senses described in the title. I was given the book by my mother as a Christmas gift and was expecting it to be typical Oprah-centric self-help blather from Gilbert, along the lines of myriad books of pappy self-discovery nonsense that fills so many bookstores’ shelves. What I found was an author with an original, at times self-effacing voice, who nevertheless falls prey to the trappings of books that suffer from formulaic, self-indulgent structure and storytelling.
The conversation here is described thusly on Slate:
‘Dilettante’ columnist Stephen Metcalf, NYU professor Roiphe, and Slate culture editor Julia Turner argued about the book’s artistic merits, its structure, and whether it’s possible to even imagine a man enjoying the book. Is Gilbert merely a “high-level hack”? Are negative responses to the book evidence of the tendency to dismiss women who write memoirs as “self-indulgent”?
I found myself generally siding with Turner, although Metcalf’s arguments resonated with some of my feelings about the novel, although his cynicism and sarcasm eerily reminded me of my voice when deriding “Juno.”
Whether you have read the book or not (and apparently the Audio Club writers here believe only a handful of men have read it), I think you may find the literary debate engaging and telling. So, next time you have an hour to listen to a debate between three obviously thoughtful and intelligent folks, have a listen.
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February 4, 2008
Lance Armstrong loses his cool (Band of Horses does not)
After watching the Super Bowl at an incredible party (thank you, John and Mandy), I was fortunate enough to grab a ticket (thank you, Sarah) and a ride (thank you, Blake and Peter) to the sold-out Band of Horses show at La Zona Rosa. I was not planning to write up the show, but after a strong performance, and an even more interesting post-show experience, I felt compelled.
I, like many of my friends, have been underwhelmed by the poor and inconsistent sound at La Zona Rosa, but last night’s show may have been one of the best shows I have seen there in terms of the sound design. On the heels of their 2006 debut, ‘Everything All the Time,’ received top 10 mentions across the country, Band of Horses released their second album last year, ‘Cease to Begin,’ a strong showing but one that lacks the emotional force and hooks of the debut. The band, however, leaned heavily on ‘Everything All the Time’ early Sunday night, opening with three songs from the first album, before playing some new tunes and covering J.J. Cale’s ‘Thirteen Days.’ The overwhelmingly enthusiastic response to the set’s opening tunes prompted Horses frontman Ben Bridwell to proclaim that the Austin audience was the best of their tour.
Although many of the band members have come to play with Bridwell in just the past year, the band had a chemistry and tightness that belied their nascent formation. Beyond being astounded that I could hear each of the (at times) four guitars, as well as the keyboard player — who looked like Bridwell plucked him from the Charlie Daniels Band — I was most impressed with Bridwell’s vocal range. Going into the show I was curious as to whether his delicate yet powerful melodies would translate out of the studio to the stage. The answer quite simply was the realization that the singer from South Carolina has one of the best voices in the business.
OK, now back to the headline. (Talk about burying the lede. And now, excuse me, as I go minor-celebrity-reporter on you for a second.) After the show, people were gathered at the adjacent Backstage Bar, drinking beers, talking about the show, and catching glimpses of and brief words with the band. Seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong, who had been at the concert with a couple of buddies, took leave of the bar around 1 a.m. and apparently forgot that it is illegal to take drinks from the club out to the streets. Backstage door man Sean Higgins, obviously not concerned with the celebrity of the person who was breaking the law, quickly ran over to Armstrong and his pal and rather forcefully made it clear that the guys could not walk off with drinks. Armstrong at first seemed surprised and briefly cordial, but that soon gave way to fierce indignation. Having taken the drinks from Armstrong and friend, Higgins returned to his post at the door. But, possibly due to being called out in front of a few dozen people, Armstrong, apparently having taken exception to the manner in which Higgins was performing his job, would not go quietly into that good night.
He returned to the door, full of sound and fury. Higgins, who has worked at the Backstage Bar for four-and-a-half years, made it quite clear that he had no interest in Armstrong’s celebrity or defense of his actions. Armstrong, not willing to drop the issue, flailingly tried to retake whatever sense of pride he apparently felt was taken from him, by berating Higgins while his friends stood at his side. With a finger that came inches from Higgins’ face, Armstrong, according to Higgins, let loose a series of threats that concluded with the time-worn threat of “You’ll never work at this bar again.” Higgins, who apparently didn’t get the memo that nobody puts Lance in the corner, scoffed at the irate Armstrong, who then left to a series of under-breath cat calls and one patron labeling Armstrong as overrated (the cleanest of the insults softly launched his way.) Bizarre end to an excellent night. I’m sure Higgins is on Career Builder as I type. (Not really.)
UPDATE - Lance Armstrong responds
I recently got off the phone with a friendly and apologetic Armstrong, who called to discuss the events of last night. Armstrong says that he was mostly shocked by the way in which Higgins originally approached him, but was contrite in admitting that he was in the wrong for the way in which he overreacted.
“Listen, I was totally out of line,” Armstrong said.
Although Armstrong says he was in the wrong, he felt that the door man in question could have handled the situation better, as well. “You know, give us a warning. He walked over and nearly tackled us as if he had warned us four or five times. He was so aggressive without any warning. Believe me, man, if somebody says, ‘You can not take these beers out of here,’ I’ll just throw them away or go back inside. I’ve got no problem with that. I wasn’t looking for any special rules or treatment.”
Armstrong confessed that despite feeling he wasn’t given any warning before being confronted, he should have responded differently. “I don’t need to do that (respond the way he did), though. Two wrongs don’t make a right.”
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January 7, 2008
Texas Medal of Arts
Follow the links for nomination criteria and forms.
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November 8, 2007
Newsflash: Larry King is still oblivious
You may remember that five months ago, I posted video of Larry King confusing the members of The Beatles during an interview with Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney, two of the biggest names in the history of pop music. Well, Larry’s up to his old tricks, this time confusing probably the biggest name in popular television culture, Jerry Seinfeld, with a Geico caveman or something. Seinfeld was on “Larry King: When dinosaurs ruled the airwaves” “Larry King Live,” and during the interview, King asked Seinfeld whether he stopped doing “Seinfeld” by choice or if the show was canceled. Seinfeld responded with the classic, “Do you know who I am?”
Speaking of being canceled, CNN producers, if you’re looking for on-air talent, I know one (or 1,000) people who might be able to fill King’s substantial house slippers. Enjoy.
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September 19, 2007
In search of Austin's hottest bachelor and bachelorette
To wit, we’re having a contest to find Austin’s Hottest Bachelor and Bachelorette. We’re looking for folks who’ve got the smarts, drive and sparkling personality that makes them stand out from the rest of the pack. Oh yea, and people who are easy on the eyes. Real easy on the eyes.
If you think you’ve got the goods to be considered Austin’s Hottest Bachelor or Bachelorette, send your name, a couple of sentences telling us about yourself and a headshot to austin360contests@statesman.com. Feeling a little shy or self-deprecating? You can also nominate friends; however, you must have their permission before submitting.
The gallery of nominees will go live for voting in early October, and winners will be announced Oct. 30.
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May 29, 2007
Pink benefit tonight at Café Mundi
Now Pink has decided to take the love on the road, as the project is moving to Portland, Ore. In an effort to raise money for the project, Pink is having a bike-in movie and live auction tonight at Café Mundi. They will screen a 10-minute documentary about Pink, along with ‘Pee Wee Herman’s Big Adventure’ and ‘Pretty in Pink.’ Additionally, there will be a wonderful auction of items from local artists and businesses, including Eastside Pedal Pushers, Cru Wine Bar, Factory People and many more.
Pink Bike-In Movie and Live Auction
Tuesday, May 29
7:30 p.m.
Café Mundi (map)
$5 donation suggested
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May 4, 2007
My blog takes bring all the girls to the yard
Friend and former Ist colleague Eve Batey passed along the link to this hilarious “article” from the Onion today. It takes a swipe at the sad, self-involvement and disingenuous lack of greater-and-not-too-attainable goals of bloggers.
[from the Onion]
Now, if my friends happen to read my blog, great. If they e-mail others about it, fantastic. If people I don’t even know check it out— and according to my hit counter, as many as 62 a day have—so much the better. And if, say, Harper’s, Rolling Stone, or any other publication ever wanted to publish some of my blog entries for money, I guess that’s their prerogative.Look, if I wanted to be a “professional” print writer, I could easily do it. Last week I posted a very insightful piece on why Saturday Night Live is emerging from the bleak shadows of the past several years and may be on the cusp of experiencing a renaissance. Nearly three of the seven people who commented on the posting said they could envision the piece being published in the New York Times’ Arts & Leisure section. Hey, I didn’t say it, they did. And to be honest, by the looks of the section, they could use some new blood over there. Just saying.
I’m not some pathetic, lonely soul who sits in front of his computer refreshing his e-mail in hopes that somebody from HarperCollins, Three Rivers Press, or Random House will offer me a book deal. In fact, to prove how little I’m expecting from the blog career-wise, I’m taking the next few weeks off to focus on my spec script for Two And A Half Men — which I’m doing strictly for the practice, you understand. I could care less if it lands me an agent and a three-movie deal with Paramount.
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May 3, 2007
Stephen Wiltshire: the Human Camera
After my piece on Siena Ristorante yesterday, I found myself in an Italian state of mind, reminiscing about the days I lived in Rome working as a tour guide of the Forum and Colosseum. That walk down memory lane led me to think of this amazing outtake from a documentary about Stephen Wiltshire entitled “Beautiful Minds: A Voyage into the Brain.” The autistic British artist is known as the Human Camera. He has shown a remarkable ability to remember complex scenes and later draw them from memory. In this clip, you can see Wiltshire take a 45-minute helicopter flight over the Eternal City and then draw it to amazing detail from memory. Watch and be amazed. It may make you think for a second or two about the power of the human mind and how little we access it to its fullest potential. To see copies of Wiltshire’s work or purchase one of his prints, visit his Web site.
(Thanks to AYC for the link.)
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April 26, 2007
"Smells Like Teen Spirit"
Paige Maguire, music editor over at Austinist, passed along the link to this picture. The kid below is reportedly the baby from the Nirvana’s “Nevermind” album cover. Time keeps on slippin’, slippin’…
As Paige asked, “Feeling old yet?”
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March 29, 2007
MC Rove = Total beating
There are no words. If you can pull a Lane Frost and go a full “8 Seconds” with this video, I’ll buy you a small gelato.
I will now go pluck out my eyeballs.
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March 23, 2007
Yellow Bike Project opens a new location
In honor of their grand opening, they will be celebrating this Saturday from noon to 4 p.m. The first two hours of the event will focus on youth and bike safety and feature a special moment for area youth as the YBP, in collaboration with the Austin Cycling Foundation, match local kids with donated bikes, as well as locks, helmets and light sets. Following that, volunteers will host an “open shop” at their new site, allowing anyone in the community to come by and use tools, get mechanical advice, dig through the bins of used parts or just check out the new shop and get more information on the Project and its current endeavors.
Started 10 years ago as an idea to paint bikes yellow and leave them unchained around town for public use, the YBP has grown to focus on education, community involvement and cycling as transportation.
For shop schedules and more information the Yellow Bike Project site.
