Just look at the image below, and tell me you don’t want one of these. I want one, BAD.
The Greatest Computer Monitor Ever
Monthly Archives: July 2004
I’ve Got a Gig With The Molestics Tonight
For those of you in Vancouver, come check out my old band The Molestics at The Railway Club tonight. I don’t play much anymore – in fact, I haven’t played since the last time the guys were in town about a year ago, but it’s fun to dust off the bass every once in awhile.
For anyone actually considering coming, you should know that the Molestics play a style of music that can best be described as “in-your-face 20′s and 30′s jazz”. There’s a lot of styles of music that we cover – everything from swing and calypso to a cover of “The Wizard” by Black Sabbath. (seriously – I shit you not!) Considering we consist of drums, acoustic bass, guitar, tenor saxophone and trumpet, this makes for an interesting exercise.
I suppose the best way to describe the Molestics is as a “drinking band”. The crowd drinks, we drink, people dance, and everyone has fun. Come on out.
[UPDATED]
WHOA! I just found a Molestics website on the intarweb. Crazy!! They even have a music samples page, which has quite a bit worth listening to. I’m on the most recent recordings, “Fun”, and “Whitehorse Blues”.
Click the image below for reviews and comments about The Molestics.
I’m a Gamer Advisory Council Member
I just became a member of Sony’s “Gamer Advisory Council”. Due to all the scary text in their End User License Agreement, I can’t show a PlayStation logo on this post, so instead I’ll show the entire contents of the EULA, which is interesting in that it’s written in plain English for the most part, with apparently some sense of humour. Cool:
Free Stuff!
Two software packages that I highly recommend have been recently bought out by Google and Microsoft, respectively.
The first is Picasa which was bought by Google. My friend Chris introduced it to me, and I thank him for that. Picasa claims it is “the best home for your digital photographs”, and they’re right. Picasa sports a slick, intuitive interface that even Mac fans couldn’t knock, and allows you to easily do all the main things you would want to do with your photos. You can’t do serious photo editing, but for that you’d use Photoshop anyway, right? You can now get Picasa right off of Google’s main page, and I’m sure that in the future you can find it easily just by searching Google for “Picasa”.
The second is a utility called LookOut, which is a search tool for Outlook that Microsoft purchased. This is one of those acquisitions that is so obvious that you almost worry that it won’t happen. I’m glad it has. LookOut has some amazing indexing and search functionality built in – it’s sort of like having Google for your email (and it can index files on your hard drive as well). You can get LookOut here. Whoops! It looks like Microsoft isn’t going to be actively distributing LookOut, so they’ve removed the download link. Good thing you can still get it here. (That’s what I love about the web – you can always find something if you look hard enough!)
My personal take on this is that both Microsoft and Google are trying to play in each other’s back yards. Microsoft buys the tool that people are calling “Google for Outlook”, and with Microsoft Research recently showing off their image management solution (which looks very cool), Google goes and purchases the best available software package in that vein. I say, “Fight, Fight!!!”, particularly if it means more free cool stuff! 
Another Amazing Kid
Check out the video of another really young kid, this one singing and dancing. I’m guessing he’s about five years old. I have no idea about the background on this one – Christie linked to it first.
BTW, congrats to the producers of this for including a bunch of gratuitous babe shots. ‘Cause a singing and dancing five year-old dynamo just isn’t interesting enough to look at, I guess.
Does This Ever Look Good
Writing is Hard
What is it about writing that makes it so different from regular conversation? I’m not the most personable person, and I’ve never held an audience rapt with my speaking, but I think I can hold my own in a conversation – at least some of my friends would probably say that I never shut up. I have lots of stories of my former life as a professional jazz acoustic bassist in and around Vancouver (and elsewhere) that might not bore people to tears. Stories of various trips to Africa. Stories about deciding to learn to play ice hockey as an adult. Stories about racing small cars as a child. Stories about geek triumphs. Stories about my one year-old son, and my wonderful wife, and my family and extended family. But when I sit down with the intent to write something, nothing comes out.
Why is that?
I Need A New Name
What I really mean is that this site needs a new name – J.P.C. is ÜBER-BORING. So, I need your help. What should this place be called?
Image credit to this site.
Writing Down Every Single Thought You Have
What would happen if you made it your mission to write down every single thought you had? Ask Lion Kimbro, a video game tester who did exactly that for three months. I don’t know why, but I find the idea of this fascinating. Maybe it’s because in some ways I see it linked to the productivity principles of David Allen, or maybe ’cause it’s just an incredibly geeky thing to do.
The Forgotten Technology
This retired carpenter believes he has solved the problem of how stonehenge and the great pyramids were built. His site is engaging and his style is entertaining – even though it all leads to a hard sell for video of his experiments. Still well worth a look.
