So the Oscars were tonight, and they pretty much came and went for me as they do every year. That is to say without much ado.
Not much ado, however, I did decide to take a little advantage of an excuse to glitz-up a bit in this gloomy economic lull, though admittedly I'm not the type who needs much of an excuse. A little sequin dress and a pretty flute of something glittery-golden to sip really can do wonders.
Especially, as I discovered this year, if that bubbly that you are sipping is spiked a bit and turned into what some cocktail genius over at Gourmet calls the Meryl Streep. This drink is absolutely a party in a glass-- not a dirty kegger-ish party but rather the kind of party you wish really existed, the platonic ideal of PARTY. Bright and a little sharp, with a spicy warmth, it goes dreamily down the hatch. So chop chop get yourself to the liquor store! Or maybe your friends are fancier than mine and you can just raid their stash, either way, I'd recommend drinking one of these immediately and often! The Oscars may be over, but I'm sure you can find a reason to party.
THE MERYL STREEP
1tsp Goldschlager
1tsp Benedictine
Cava, Prosecco, or your cheap bubbly of choice (I used Cook's, don't use the good stuff)
Combine Goldschlager and Benedictine in the bottom of a Champagne flute. Top with bubbly. Drink up, ideally with a good group of people.
The genius of Steve Jobs is that he has always sought to humanize computer/human interaction. Nothing could illustrate this better than the above video "1983 Macintosh Dating Game." The genius of Bill Gates is that he exploited the benefits of being open and communal with Microsoft Windows- he engineered the software to work on many different hardware manufacturers machines. Apple, in contrast, insisted on controlling both the hardware and software, so they could create a more designed and stable platform. This is largely why Microsoft has dominated the computer market for so long and why Apple got left in the dust.
Both companies strategies appeal to aspects of natural law- that is "law[s] whose content is set by nature and that therefore is valid everywhere." Both companies benefited from the scientific symbiosis- Apple sold the worlds first GUI (Graphical User Interface) computer and Microsoft, at the time only had DOS a text based operating system, copied Apple's idea and invented "Microsoft Windows" also a GUI based OS.
With Apple, Steve Jobs took to the task of making these strange things called computers more intuitive so that humans could more easily use them. This is a pretty obvious step to getting people to use computers.
In Microsoft's case they sought to make just the software affordable (and left the hardware components of computers to be built by other people). Apple insisted, and still does, in being the only source for the hardware that Apple software runs on. There are pro's and con's to both approaches- Microsoft is still cheaper and Apple is still more stable. Both companies are still closed source- neither allows for independent programmers to monkey around with the the base code that is their operating systems.
Enter Linux, an open source operating-system written by Linus Torvald in 1991. There are many different flavors of Linux and even more types of GUI's to install on top of Linux. How Linux drastically differs from both Apple and Microsoft is that their is no centralized company that owns, creates, or is wholly responsible for how it is produced. Linux is created by thousands of "Open Source" programmers around the world, some get paid, most don't. It functions more like an ant colony, or a city, or a human body. If Linux can get their act together and make it easy to install (both the operating system and applications) and easy to understand for the complete novice- it will be the computing platform du jour of new decade. Judging from the design and user interface of linux.org they are still pretty far from meeting this goal.
"Any fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius - and a lot of courage - to move in the opposite direction." ~Albert Einstein
The Cult of the Snuggie threatens to take over America! Or at
least, a substantial number — 4 million — of late-night couch spuds.
The Snuggie, an oversized fleece blanket with sleeves,
stars in a ubiquitous TV ad so cheesy it's practically art, and apparently
wildly entertaining. The ad shows people wearing Snuggies at a sporting event,
cheering and high-fiving each other while dressed … sort of like medieval
monks.
"Every once in a while, a product transcends
advertising to become part of pop culture," says Scott Boilen, president
and CEO of Allstar Products Group of Hawthorne, N.Y., which conceived and
markets the China-made Snuggie.
Indeed, Snuggies seem to be everywhere. See them on
Facebook — nearly 250 groups, pro and con; one fan club lists 5,999 members.
Watch them on YouTube — nearly 300 parody videos posted, including one titled
"The Cult of the Snuggie," with 146,000 views as of Tuesday.
Here's my new favorite as seen on tv gem: OBAMA CHIA PETS!
Want to become a published writer? Who doesn't! But how? With all those things like deadlines, books, and thoughts, who has time to actually jot something down. And while we're at it, if you and I ever play Scrabble, "jot" is not a word I'm allowing... I don't care if its in the Scrabble Dictionary either.
Okay, Tomfoolery aside, here's an easy way to get published:
1) Find your local alternative weekly newspaper online. Here in Portland, we have two: The Portland Mercury (www.portlandmercury.com) and The Willamette Weekly (www.wweek.com.)
2) Next, find their Personals Section. Newspapers like these often allow a way of correspondence between individuals in missed encounters. In the Portland Mercury, they're called ISAWU's. The mindset of these "advertisements" is to play on the hopes of would-be loves--kind of like a year-round Valentine's Day shame! For the recipient or hopeful, it increases readership. Increased readership is more exposure to ads. More ads, more money.
3) Guess what? You can place an ISAWU... for FREE.
4) Just like the library, when things are free, its time to abuse it. That's right, write a short story you've always been plotting. In the Portland Mercury, the limit is 40 words. In the space of 3 haikus, you can write a story! Or, better yet, post often and refine your celebrity! Be sure not to use your own name that might go on your online profile (they all require you to have one... use a fake name!)
Here's some fun one's I've done:
a) Homosexual ambiguity: Gay people are like seasoned mashed-potatoes for fat kids--the saucier and more beaten to a frothy pulp they are (by LIFE), the better. And who doesn't love gay people!? They have mystique!Danger! AMBIGUITY! A better vocabulary than you or I? Why wouldn't you want to add that to your life? That's right, you would. And if you are gay, so much the better--now you can advertise! "Karen's gay? Really, I never knew! Well, maybe I should ask her out...," says your future juice-box diver.
b) Gloating: I love a good gloat. Share your accomplishments via a third party. Example: "Tom @ Bullshit Cafe: That was the sweetest thing I've ever seen someone do. Helping that old lady across the street made me cry worse than Free Willy. You've restored my faith in humanity like a manatee." Then you can tell your friends how cool you are AND increase your tips!
c) Andy Warhol-ism: Create your own celebrity and myth. Kind of like b), but it doesn't actually have to be real. Or creative. Or even your own work.
d) Etc.
5) Wait a week. Usually the deadline is two days before the magazine publishes. Meaning that you are now real writer: You now have a deadline! And better yet, you while get something that PUBLISHED! That's right; future employers will dig on your subversive approach to fiction! Use it as a way to bring the serialized writing format to the people--be the tiniest O. Henry!
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