On hiatus

As if you haven't noticed, Walking with Norman is on indefinite hiatus.

Don Caballero

I am so out of it. These guys are new to me, and I didn't know what I was missing. Wow. Sounds like Billy Cobham from the Spectrum days crossed with Yes, Frank Zappa, and a little Steve Reich. Too bad they are no more!

Danika

My friend Josh wrote this movie, his first, which just came out on DVD. Please buy it so he can make some money (oh, yeah, it's also really good)!

Management tip of the day

Constantly ask questions (both of your staff and around the company), even if you think you already know everything there is to know. Not only will you discover you don't know everything, you start to build a culture of information sharing, which means problems get surfaced quickly.

Wikipedia

Here's the power of a Web-based encyclopedia built on the Wiki model. Mike Huckabee is on Meet the Press this morning and I am watching his Wikepedia entry being updated by the community practically in real time!

The Largest Hood in the World

Today in New York City (where it is about 5 degrees), I saw a guy who's coat had the largest hood in the world. It was so over the top that I tried to take a picture with my cell phone but unfortunately he was moving too fast. So why am I blogging about it if I don't have a picture? I don't know, but it was so unbelievable that I couldn't just ignore it. Here's a picture, though, that captures some of the effect. You can guess which object in the picture is playing the role of the hood.

Two podcasts worth downloading

Will Wright (creator of The Sims) on game design.

This episode of This American Life, especially the section on the Minutemen.

Blogging again

Sorry about the incredibly long absence. Don't have a good explanation. Maybe because I started a new day job! I am Senior Vice President and Publisher of LearningExpress, an online and book publisher of test prep, career guidance, vocational training, and writing improvement products. Small but growing very fast. Will give more details as I get settled in here.

In the meantime, I heard from my friend David that he won the 2007 Caldecott for his amazing book Flotsam. Awesome!

Repeating myself

I would rather watch rarities on You Tube than watch TV. I came across this vintage clip of John Renbourn, one of my favorite guitarists. It made my day.

Shudder to Think

Listened to Pony Express Record by Shudder to Think today. Wow. I'm convinced this 1994 album will be looked back upon in 20 years as being WAY ahead of it's time. There's no band quite like them -- Combine Muse with Dillinger Escape Plan, or for old people like me maybe cross King Crimson with Queen with Minor Threat.

Just doing my part

Martin Luther King
Martin Luther King
Martin Luther King
Martin Luther King
Martin Luther King
Martin Luther King
Martin Luther King
Martin Luther King
Martin Luther King

For an explanation, go here.

Rocco!

I've been enjoying Rocco DeLuca and the Burden's first album for the last couple of months. Last night I finally had the chance to see them live, opening up for Robert Randolph at Roseland. Wow. Didn't get any video, but here they are on Letterman last week which will give you a good sense of their live show.



Btw, Randolph himself was incredible, but that's for another post!

You Tube

I know, I've said it before but I will say it again. If you don't believe You Tube reflects a fundamental shift in how audiences consume media, then you aren't spending enough time on the site. It's 7:30 on a weekday and we just finished dinner and we could watch some TV to decompress from the day, or we could watch Glenn Gould playing the Goldberg Variations!

The Blood of Heroes

I love B Sci-Fi films. One of my favorites is The Blood of Heroes, in which Rutger Hauer, Joan Chen, and Vincent D'Oforio are athletes in a bizarre, fetishistic sport in which the rules aren't totally clear but which somehow involves Mad Max post-apocalypse gear, a fresh dog skull, and a stake on which said dog skull must be placed. I'm posting about it now because when I watched it the other day for the billionth time and pressed the info button on the remote, I noticed the cable review gave it half a star. Half a star! Ridiculous!

Mmmmmmm

Steak!

Best business idea ever

I actually saw this yesterday, and if my cell phone had any charge left and I if wasn't running late I would have snapped a picture. A pushcart on a midtown Manhattan street that wasn't selling hot dogs but rather cell phone charges at $5 per 10 minute blocks. They were running a mini-generator and had a bunch of different charger adaptors to choose from. Genius!

I've always wondered why the hot dogs in Chicago are so great

Here's why, courtesy of the food writer Michael Ruhlman.

How Recording Works

Alex wanted to know some of the technical ins and outs behind how a recording is made, in particular how LPs work. I explained as best I could, but later tried to find some good internet resources that would go into the subject a bit deeper. Much to my surprise, I couldn't find one basic comprehensive resource. If you are interested here's a basic primer on analog recording, and one on digital recording, as well as an article detailing some of the advantages of analog recording.

Birthday present

Today is my birthday. Received a good present: a link to music critic Hank Shteamer's great music blog which now will be added to my favorites.

Let's Go Mets!

Sorry, I thought it was April 2007 already.

This is not a joke

This post recounts a major culinary event last week in New York where 10 great chefs of Spain gave a joint seminar on their groundbreaking cooking techniques in front of 1,000 attendees. Some of the food these guys served up was truly wacked out. My favorite is Dirt essence foam over an oyster “Treasure Island” from Catalonian chef Joan Roca. For this dish Roca utilizes something called a Vacuum Distiller machine used to extracts dirt essence from Catalonian soil, presumably to give food a distinct earthy flavor (no pun intended).

The Seventh Seal

This post only makes sense if I start by confessing that I'm the only person in the world never to have seen The Godfather. Well, that's not exactly true: I probably have seen the whole thing, but only if you string together 20 years of watching disconnected sections of it on TV. I am starting here because it is such a clear and obvious example of my cultural illiteracy. I could have started by admitting I've never read Crime and Punishment or Paradise Lost, nor listened to the B Minor Mass or Die Walkure, nor walked the streets of Venice or Athens, nor seen the Mona Lisa (which is pathetic because I've been to the Louvre). Anyway, as part of a series of ongoing mid-life crisis-related acts, I am making a list of all the classic books I've never read, movies or artworks I've never seen, cities I've never visited, and so on. Not because I actually intend on reading, seeing, or visiting them, but because making lists is fun. That said, I did finally watch Bergman's The Seventh Seal, and it was so enjoyable that I'm seriously considering taking my list and making a concerted effort to start knocking off items. And no, smartass, it wasn't just enjoyable because I was able to find the scenes that were parodied in Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey (a highly underrated film, but that's for another post). It was enjoyable because it was genuinely a powerful film, especially if like me you spend a lot of your time grappling with the meaning of existence.

Blog post of the day

Night After Night is one of my favorite music blogs. This post pretty much mirrors my own music philosophy.

What I do all day

A friend asked me what I did all day at my job. Here's what I came up with:

1. Project manage the project managers (50%)

2. Manage risks by thinking of all the things that could go wrong and finding ways to avoid them (49%).

3. Develop new products and marketing strategies, source deals, review contracts, meet with customers, and other real work. (1%)

OK, I'm exaggerating. But not by much.

I love dumplings...

...when they are made well. Poorly made dumplings suck. I agree with the author of this article that the way we accept, sheep-like, the thick, pasty dumplings heaped on a plate at our local chinese restaurants is just as bad as confusing grated parmesan in a can with the real thing. Forget war and politics, this is an issue that really should generate a popular uprising.