Cafe Bucky

Hey, snappy title. I can keep using that.

So I saw The Day After Tomorrow. One word review: Hokey.

Ok, it is fun to see LA get hit by a twister. I grew up there in the 60’s and 70’s. Here’s a little tidbit about the Capitol Records building: It’s supposed to be symbolic of a stack of vinyl records. (yeah, before iPods, and cds, and cassettes, and even 8-track, we used to have these things called “turntables”, because they, well, turned … and some of them would let you stack about 5 records up on a spindle (oh c’mon, I’m not going to explain what a spindle is (yes you are! (no, I won’t))) .. so the records would drop down, one by one, causing the tonearm to progressively get more out of alignment).

Anywayyyy … I’m ready to see a great movie, for a change. Any suggestions? Shrek 2 plodded along. Troy was embarassing (Orlando Bloom playing a coward?) for its dialog. Coffee & Cigarettes was uneven, but interesting. Mean Girls was a hoot (Jambo!)

Lease in hand. Off to California, as I have no East Coast place to live until the 15th. Very relieved to have found something near 80th and Amsterdam. Although it’s driven my wife and I absolutely crazy, it looks like it was a good call to hang in there and find a good combo of apartment, neighborhood, and a very sane and down to earth landlord. The fun starts on the 15th or so, when we start from scratch (let’s see, I have some bedding, an air mattress, cookware, and… hmmm. that’s about it). It’ll be like camping at first!

I recently posted that I had the keys to my first New York apartment.

Lo and behold, it was the sort of situation where clearcut aggravation was in store if I had taken it. It was an obvious punt. No money lost, just time. Sometimes you know better than to force something to work.

So it’s sort of like the scene in Kill Bill, Vol 1, where The Bride has just dealt with Gogo. In this case, we hear the din of 88 rental ads:

Black Mamba: Is that what I think it is?
O-Ren Ishii: You didn’t think it was going to be that easy to rent an apartment in New York City, did you?
Black Mamba: You know, for a second there, yeah, I kinda did
O-Ren: Silly Rabbit …

So now the apartment search intensifies! Surrounded by the ads that promise so much, the Crazy 88’s of real estate. Swarms of claims: “5 floors upstairs with groceries! easy! You will be fit!” “but this IS a large 400 sq foot studio!” “to do laundry in your own building is without honor! You must carry!” “4 months rent up front is NOT unreasonable!” “Yes, that is a moat in front of the building, the rats cannot swim that far!”

I’ve had a rash of comment spam. It’s like trying to kill cockroaches. I keep switching comments off for one posting, and up pops some spam in another. I have left comments on for my posts up till now, but my default will be to shut them off until I figure out which MT plugin or upgrade to use.

Why would they bother with my site anyway? If there’s the A-list bloggers, then B-list, and so on, then I am down there around ‘X’ or ‘Y’, right?

Just out of curiousity, I will leave comments on for this post…

(and yes, ironic that this problem hit so hard on the same day that I had made a posting related to “free speech”. Free Speech is fine. Advertising on my site without my fucking permission is not.)

“You have the right to free speech, as long as, you’re not dumb enough to actually try it” - The Clash

Seen On Lisa Rein’s Radar (this entry not for the kids) - Eric Idle presents … The FCC Song

Catchy Ditty. Won’t ever hit the top 40 though :-)

In the early to mid-80’s my friends and I were residents of the “Science Computing Center”. This generally meant lots of hanging out, coding, playing frisbee, drinking massive amounts of coffee (or beer) and nearly getting arrested late one night with my friend Trygve for playing our electric guitars very loudly in an acoustically perfect underground garage at school (not for our noise, but because our electrical use was “stealing a utility”)

Some of the backdrop at that time was the music (Clash, Stones, Pink Floyd, Suicidal Tendencies) In 1985, we latched onto Camper Van Beethoven immediately.
Trying to describe the band is like trying to describe all
of the diverse influences in college. It, and they, were all
over the place. CVB was “alternative” before there was such
a term. They were punk, middle eastern, country, bongos and
violins. I once saw them open for the Dead Kennedys (at the Novato
Theatre, of all places).

But I only have vinyl of CVB, and that’s back in California, unplayed
for a good 15 years. I had partially forgotten about my fave band
from Santa Cruz.

So it was wonderful to discover Cigarettes & Carrot Juice - The Santa Cruz Years [BOX SET]. The 1st three albums are here + 2 more CDs of live and rare bits. It’s a nostalgia trip
for me, and I’m loving every note!

“I’ve got an electric guitar and half a bottle of warm beer / I’ve got some funny ideas about what sounds good …”

Oh this is awesome.

As noted in this Wired news article. a pair of German web designers have recreated Mac System 7 as a flash app.

Yeah, a flash app. A really detailed demo of how things used to be.

If you don’t remember the good old days of the Mac, go check it out.

If you do remember, go take a click down memory lane.

One hopes that Mr. Jobs will check it out and say “oh wow, Insanely Great!”, instead of “close down those bastards!”.

… or, the worlds smallest roof rack carrier …

Spotted in the UWS:

“This Honda Element is great. But we need just a skootch more space.”