This weblog lovingly maintained by Laurel Krahn
laurel@windowseat.org
Minneapolis, MN
AIM: lakrahn
ICQ: 509473

Weblogging since November 1998
Media . Tech . Science Fiction . Art . Humor . Books . Music . Film . TV . Toys . Net . MN . Culture

a related weblog
Windowseat Annex

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Mr. T pities this fool

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5/20 - Richard Shindell @ Ginkgo
7/6-9 - Winnipeg Folk Festival
7/28-30 - DEFCON

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Saturday, April 1, 2000

Don't miss the April 1 edition of TeeVee.org.
posted at 10:21:42 AM Central Time

At long last, the website TimmyBigHands is online. Brought to you by Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy, Paul Chaplin, Bill Corbett, and Patrick Brantseg. You know 'em best as "a bunch of guys who used to work on Mystery Science Theater 3000."

Anyway, is a cool site. Check it out.
posted at 10:12:49 AM Central Time

Friday, March 31, 2000

I love the design of Ooine or maybe it's the colors. Whatever. It all goes together. Content's pretty spiff, too, otherwise what would be the point?
posted at 4:50:38 PM Central Time

This could be dangerous [via The Other Side].

Maybe what my workday needs is a web radio station that plays incidental music and sound effects from Star Trek . . .

Hmmmm.

(But when/if they played the fight theme, I'd feel the undeniable urge to get up and fight a coworker . . . )
posted at 4:44:24 PM Central Time

I like The Mr. Chekov Page [via Screenshot].

LaurelTrivia: I was once a member of Walter Koenig's fan club.
KoenigTrivia: Walter's son played the character "Boner" on Growing Pains (no, I didn't learn this from the page linked to above, I just know this stuff).
LaurelTrivia: Years ago I met Koenig, his wife, and his daughter. But not Boner, alas.
posted at 4:32:22 PM Central Time

Stephanie Zacharek of salon re High Fidelity:

Stephen Frears' adaptation of Hornby's 1995 novel is spiritually faithful, despite the fact that the setting has been moved from London to Chicago. Anyone who's ever been, or even just known, a record geek can tell you that love of vinyl knows no geographical boundaries. And besides that, "High Fidelity," like the book it's based on, is essentially a story about the overwhelming power of pop culture -- not just the way it can illuminate every element of our existence but also the way it can cloud our judgment. Pop music can be like a prism hanging in the window, a gorgeous little thing through which everything in life is filtered. But it can also be an excuse for never leaving the couch to actually live, and Frears, like Hornby, is acutely aware of that.

Does it go without saying that I need to see this movie? It should.
posted at 12:50:09 PM Central Time

I love my Ericsson cell phone with Aerial service, it's served me well for a couple of years.

But, alas, Aerial doesn't yet have a way you can receive text messages on the phone that are sent via email. And I really need that for work. So it looks like I may be switching to Airtouch (or maybe someone else) and getting a new phone while I'm at it. Want to merge my work cell phone and home cell phone. And I may yet drop my landline from US West now that I have a cable modem.

Why am I telling you this? In case anyone out there has recommendations for me. Especially if you're in the Mpls area. What plans do you like? Phones? Providers? Anyone I should steer clear of?

I do recommend Aerial to plenty of folks. Love 'em. Per second billing rocks. Not the perfect match for everyone, but then no plan/service provider is.
posted at 12:16:57 PM Central Time

If you're familiar with the domain registration process and are in the market for a cheap place to register a domain, joker.com is pretty nifty. Way cheap. But you've gotta know what you're doing or you may get a bit lost.

I just registered windowseat.net there, figured if I didn't grab that domain while I had the chance, I'd regret it later. For now, it's gonna point to the same stuff that windowseat.org points to. Well, once it's propogated (won't work yet).
posted at 12:08:47 PM Central Time

I updated my portal page recently. Added a search box for ebay, shuffled some things around, added some shopping links. Added some weblogs and updated the list a little bit. Also put some oldies back on the list. Was gonna organize the weblogs in some way and then decided it's far easier to find the ones I wanna read in alphabetical order. Actually, reverse alphabetical order. I've kept it that way because I know how grumpy I used to get when Windowseat was always at the bottom of people's lists. Silly, I know.
posted at 11:25:39 AM Central Time

Thursday, March 30, 2000

The winners of this year's Peabody Awards have been announced.

The Sopranos and The West Wing were both honored. Cool.
posted at 10:42:48 AM Central Time

Wednesday, March 29, 2000

I'm always on the lookout for cool t-shirts. I'm not sure these qualify as cool, but they amuse me . . .

Yes, you can order your very own Make 7 Up Yours T-shirt.
posted at 4:52:15 PM Central Time

Monday, March 27, 2000

Oops. Almost forgot to mention it here, but I started a TV discussion list that's kindof an offshoot of my TV Picks page. Well, only because the first folks I invited to join the list were the subscribers to the Picks mailing list.

Anyway, so far there are 16 subscribers and it's been pretty low traffic. Wanna chat re things TV with me and some cool people (including some other webloggers)? It's easy, join the list.
posted at 5:27:24 PM Central Time

For some unknown reason I've had "Amaryllis" stuck in my head today. I wasn't listening to The Flash Girls yesterday or today, yet there it is (it's by Emma Bull). I s'pose it's a fabulous spring song and that's why.
posted at 5:08:36 PM Central Time

It's not just you, Jason.

Once in a while I wish I'd started my little website under some kind of pseudonym, so that I wouldn't have to worry about ex-boyfriends, family members, ex-friends, coworkers, ex-schoolmates, etc. all seeing my thoughts and so forth. Or, well, certain things.

Then I remember how when I logged in under different aliases on BBSes back in the day, people would always recognize me anyway. My writing or typing style would give me away. Or the personal details that I couldn't help but blather about. I can't be dishonest online and even leaving out stuff sometimes is hard. If I tried really hard I could adopt another persona, I'm sure, but I doubt it'd be any fun.

I mainly quit keeping an online journal years ago because I didn't want to invade my friends privacy and eventually my entries were so darn generic: "I went somewhere with someone today to see something." Yikes. Well, that and the time some rude people took a journal entry or two, set them to music, and performed them publicly-- without my knowledge or permission. Okay, that didn't cause me to quit, I was leaning that way anyway. That was just an annoying experience (one in a series, collect the set).

I don't like tooting my own horn a lot in my weblog, even though that's kindof the nature of a personal website. I'm wary of sounding like a namedropper when I mention some people I know who others might know in some other context. I tend to shy away from mentioning friends, period, even though I often joke about quoting them in my weblog. I'll link to site occasionally or speak of getting together with friends in general, but I don't want to invade people's privacy. Mine included.
posted at 4:58:33 PM Central Time

Chuck went to school with Darin Morgan and whenever I visit his weblog, I get hungry. And I'm also usually reminded of good music I need to buy. Like the latest album by Luka Bloom.
posted at 4:42:12 PM Central Time

Ooooh! Cool! Stu Shiffman T-shirts (via More Like This).

(Guess which one I need the most? I know, too easy . . . )

Ow, this hurts me (but in a good way).

A new URL for Pith and Vinegar. Cool.

Unobserved utterances ceases publication (sigh).

I like the new design of The Oracle Speaks. But Beth-- where are the archives?

So I'm looking at some weblogs, too, during my whirlwind hour or so of catchup reading 'cuz I couldn't decide where to go grab lunch . . .

And I've been reading accounts of SXSW and kicking myself for not being there not just because I'd promised Harry I'd show up, but because it sounds like it was a helluvalot of fun. But alas, I was too broke and busy or some variation thereof.

So I gather at the weblog panel there were words said about folks needing to be wordier in their weblogs. Huh. I've been babbling here for ages. Well. Before weblogs. But my entries started getting less linky and newsy when I returned from a break. I can babble quickly, it takes much more time to be brief. Or to stick to links/news, etc. Strange, eh? And now I hear it's trendy in the weblog community or something, so I'll have to stop. Nah. ;-p (like I could)
posted at 3:14:14 PM Central Time

So I'm catching up on salon reading, too (this is what I'm doing instead of going to lunch today, I guess) and am just now reading that Details magazine is no more. Hmph. Not that it'd been very good for a while now, but I actually have been a subscriber for more than a little while. I think I signed up when I realized I was generally buying at least one or two issues a year because of cover stories on folks I liked, and it was a cheap subscription, so what the heck. There's been some good stuff in there over the years. Ach well.
posted at 3:06:19 PM Central Time

If you're planning on attending Minicon this year and want to get a hotel room, you should make your reservation as soon as possible. Hotel details here. Technically the deadline to get the discounted room rate is today, I think. I made my reservation today. Woohoo!

Also-- if you're a weblogger or a weblog-reader and you're going to be at Minicon, there's probably going to be a panel about weblogs. And if there is, I'll likely be on it (have said I would, even though I'm a little burnt out on the topic). Interested in being on it? Bug me. At any rate, if you're reading this and you'll be at Minicon, you better at least attend such a panel if it happens. Or else. Ahem.
posted at 2:53:27 PM Central Time

Yes, I am catching up on reading Jon Carroll columns that I've missed during the last couple of months 'cuz I've been way too busy. Much fun.

Yeah, I like his cat-related columns a lot. I like others, too, but I have cats and so . . . well. A small selection:
"Why Cats Stare, Like I Know"
"Let Sleeping Cats Do Whatever"
"The Redhead Suspects Foul Play"

Overheard just a half hour or so ago:

Rain. Sun. Now Snow! Make up your mind already!

Then someone else stumbles in from outside and remarks about snow. My officemate and I mutter aloud "Snow? They're making that stuff up."

This, only minutes after I'd remarked about how much green grass I noticed on the way to work today.

So I wander out to a door and look outside. Sure enough. Wind and snow. Spring in Minnesota. Unpredictable and ever interesting.

We really need to get a webcam set up that points out a window in here, most of the building is windowless and I'm mostly used to it by now, but sometimes it'd be nice to be prepared for what I'll be facing when I decide to head out to lunch or home . . .
posted at 2:26:00 PM Central Time

I've become an eBay addict, long after it was the cool thing to do. It started innocently with the sale of Homicide props and wardrobe, but the next thing you know I was putting all sorts of stuff in the search box and finding All Sorts Of Stuff. I've been a collector almost since birth, I was born into a family of collectors; it goes back at least a few generations. So this weekend I found myself watching the clock for when certain auctions were ending and checking eBay.

Friday night, after seeing a movie with some friends, we were at one friend's house and I asked if I could use his computer for a second (he has DSL) and check something. On eBay, of course. Sad sad sad.

Here's what Jon Carroll has to say re eBay. Well, he's done other eBay pieces, but this is the most recent one.

I like this:

Soon, I have a star next to my name, which is eBay's way of saying, "Hey, get a life!" The sellers are greeting me by name.

(I'm not quite there. Yet).
posted at 2:19:37 PM Central Time

So I saw Romeo Must Die on Friday and liked it. Yeah, sure, it drags in spots and I had the key plot points figured out really early on. More ambitious than some movies which are all about the cool fight scenes. I'd've liked a few more fight scenes, but then I'd always like a few more fight scenes.

See it if you're a Jet Li fan, of course. He rocks, as ever. Hope this gets him more work in American films (providing they're decent American films). It's not everyone's cuppa and it's not as good as I'd've liked, but the cool fights are worth seeing on the big screen if you're into that sorta thing.
posted at 2:12:58 PM Central Time

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This page created and maintained by Laurel Krahn who can be reached via email to laurel@windowseat.org.

Copyright ©2000 Laurel Krahn unless otherwise noted. May not be redistributed without permission.