http://www.marseillefigs.org/ A recommendation by BoingBoing’s Cory Doctorow, I wanted to like the Marseille Figs. The opening chords of the first song I selected told me my faith was justified. Then the vocals kicked in… My thumb-up remains for what is clearly a great musical act. But the squally, shaky, pretentiously-bad voice undoes all the strong […]
Tag Archives: disappointments
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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080118/ap_on_bi_ge/amtrak_labor_6 Amtrak reached a deal with nine labor unions, averting a possible strike at the end of this month, the passenger railroad announced Friday. I’ve travelled pretty extensively on Amtrak in the last year. Trust me when I tell you that, had there been a strike, you wouldn’t have noticed a decline in service.
Nathan Sawaya, the LEGO artist 2 | haha.nu – the lifestyle blogzine
http://haha.nu/amazing/nathan-sawaya-the-lego-artist-2 When I was a kid, my older cousins (both artists) would come over and raid my Lego bin, making complex and astonishing models and creations while I sat, discontent with my poorly-constructed hollow and roofless houses. Frustration led me to develop a shallow loathing for anyone with Lego talents. So while these Lego sculptures […]
A User’s Manual to Seat 21C – NYTimes.com
http://jetlagged.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/03/a-users-manual-to-seat-21c?em&ex=1199854800&en=090fbc057fe2471a&ei=5087%0A Cute NY Times piece that makes me feel even more smug about my recent transatlantic cruises. Flying is for chumps.
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http://www.pcinsurance.ca/ROCEN/ I’ve only been back in North America for a week, but I’m already noticing a disturbing trend of outsourced call centres. An attempt to get an insurance quote from a previously trusted company resulted in an Indian agent doing a useless prequalifying check (consisting of “what is your name?” and nothing more) before transferring […]
The Wee Free Men – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wee_Free_Men I read some summaries of the Terry Pratchett novel, The Wee Free Men and thought it sounded hilarious. Unfortunately, my second attempt at reading Pratchett proved just as painful as the first (The Wyrd Sisters), so I’m abandoning it after only a handful of pages. I’m not sure what it is about his style […]
Apple Takes a Step Back With iMovie 08 – NYTimes.com
http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/08/17/apple-takes-a-step-back-with-imovie-08?em&ex=1187668800&en=2911b934cb25d75c&ei=5087%0A Two underwhelming reviews in two weeks from two Apple stalwarts on two new Apple products. This is a real bodyblow to my old alma mater. Especially since the bitterest of the reviews concerns what was once our killer app, iMovie. It seems the company’s focus on the iPhone has really sapped strength from other […]
Copyright Renewal Database: Welcome
http://collections.stanford.edu/copyrightrenewals/bin/page?forward=home A thumbs-up for this service, which eliminates the is-it-or-isn’t-it question on copyright. A big thumbs-down, though, for copyright itself. I checked four books – all more than 70 years old – and every one of them has had the copyright renewed. My longing to see Don Marquis’ delightful Archy and Mehitabel series on Project […]
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http://www.citibank.com/canada/cards/english/overview_enr.htm I’m looking for a credit card with a decent foreign currency conversion rate to use while in Europe. Unfortunately, the card with the best rate is unable to spell “world” – can they be trusted to do simple math? **BUMPITY-BUMP** Herald rebukes me: “I think you’re far too quick to dismiss the benefits of […]
Play Mah-jongg, the classic chinese tile game!
http://www.webworksllc.com/games/Mahjong.cfm Mah-Jong? Lies! This is not the ancient and entertaining Mah-Jong, but instead the children’s card game Concentration with the challenge of unseen cards completely erased.