Natala la la la ... ... ...

Wednesday, February 23, 2005

i heart itunes 

it really bothers me how much i love itunes. i don't think it is healthy, but it provides such joy. *sigh*

i've just spent the last few hours perusing the apple itunes essentials collection. damn them. they've done a great job of pulling good music together AND exposing me to new music i probably wouldn't have come across otherwise. The new itunes essentials mix is really three mixes under one concept-theme (i.e. 90's indie rock). The three mix sets are categorized as (note: text is from apple unless in parens):

The Basics:
The biggest, best, and most important songs. (these are the songs you probably already know and love.)

Next Steps:
When you're ready to move beyond the hits.

Deep Cuts:
Criminally ignored. Unjustly under-appreciated. Until now.

And they deliver on their promise. Deep cuts, in the few "essential" sets that i looked at, truly held gems. Ex. "you never knew" by Hieroglyphics under "alternative hip hop"...and "the truth" by handsome boy modelling school (also under "alt hip hop").

so why does it bother me? because, at the end of the day, i can't take my music with me. I love the discovery part of itunes, and i love my ipod and my shuffle, but, at the end of the day i'm stuck on the apple platform (which i do enthusiastically use) ...but that unfortunately means my freedom is limited and that means the liberterian inside of me starts to get nervous. Yes, i understand that I bought the music under a very, VERY limited license. but still! $1 a song! i should be able to play this music on more devices. through more players and it just irks me that a product i truly enjoy essentially traps me. and i'm further trapped because i love the commercials. i love the packaging. i go "ooooh" "ahhhh" and i smile....and really i'd rather believe that there's something unique about me and that apple has the best technology and that's why i picked them and that i'm not just easily convinced by white and black boxes that contain sleek toys. but then, i look at my toys, and my friend's toys and realize...i'm just an apple-eating sheep. *sigh*

Tuesday, February 22, 2005

blush 

blog + crush = blush.

my new term for blogs i love and then sorta relate my love of the blog to the individual who writes the blog. also known as fanaticism. or stalking...or old-fashioned blog crushes...

Monday, February 21, 2005

congratulations shannon & bryan 

my step-sister-in-law** and her husband just had their first baby. awwww.




Holland Abigail Rhoads
February 20, 2005 @ 7:05PM PT
7lbs and 11oz

** shannon is my step-sister (amy)'s husband (bryant)'s sister. Yeah, it is extended family...

Wednesday, February 16, 2005

blogging is sooooo mainstream 

i've been blogging for two years. not so long really, but given tonight's daily show, i'm pretty sure that blogging has reached that tipping point and is, well, mainstream.

here's a link to the video.

Monday, February 14, 2005

happy valentines day... 

ahhh, love. sweet love. i'm posting some of my favorite pictures to share the wuv.

Timber brume

Photo Credit: Coba (via by Flickr)

Orion, night

Photo Credit: big empty (via flickr)

maldon sea salt

Photo Credit: micon (via flickr)

Another picture i really like can be found here:
http://www.kottke.org/photos/paris0603/index_17.html
A leaf in the canal (paris), by Jason Kottke (via Kottke.org)

Oh, and here's one by me...my mum snuck these into one of my boxes when my movers came to california to take all my stuff. i found them when i opened up one of my boxes -- 3 months later (because my stuff went into storage). it was really sweet. they were a gift to my parents for their wedding. My mum was pretty cute -- she said "they just need to be polished"...but i like the patina.

Thursday, February 10, 2005

trendolicious 

i'm home sick today -- which i'm putting out there only because i may be insane...but i've come up with a new word:

trendolicious
tren-do-li-cious (trĕn' dū lĭsh'əs)
something super cool and trendy - indicating it will be "trendolicious" for a short period of time.

This came to me when i got an e-mail (llama what?) from daily candy and after reading went to this website. The stuff on this site is soooo trendolicious.

thanks to maya for IM-testing my new word.

ok, back to bed.

Update: I think i have an idea why I may be feeling sickish lately (outside of the fact that everyone has been getting nasty colds lately): i think my new glasses aren't quite right. Vision is so important and my eyes are constantly refocusing and unfocusing which makes me feel like i live on a boat. good thing i had already booked an appt with my eye doc tomorrow.

good line 

Ok, i just heard a comedian say something funny:

I'm from San Francisco (the comedian says)...and we know how to do one thing really well protest. We protest everything...we're the most progressive city in the world -- except in one area: Progress.

Hahaha.

On another fun note (via Apophenia):
only in san francisco
The Board of Education is expected to approve the school district's calendar for the 2005-06 academic year tonight -- but not before a spirited debate among parents over when classes should begin.

There have long been arguments among parents over whether school should start before or after Labor Day, with the former winning out the past several years.

This year, however, brings a new wrinkle -- the 20th anniversary of the Burning Man art festival in the wastelands of Nevada is scheduled for Aug. 29- Sept. 5. In an only-in-San Francisco argument, several parents are demanding that school start Sept. 6 so their children can attend the event.

-- San Francisco Chronicle

Tuesday, February 08, 2005

life is random 

Source: http://www.drunkenfist.com/graf/minx.shtm

I got my ipod shuffle today. Unwrapping it I felt like I was opening a surprise gift. Which makes no sense -- since I ordered it two weeks ago and could see what was inside the box through the plastic window...but as usual, opening up a new apple product brings with it a certain sense of joy. So it was with "minx" (that's the name I gave my shuffle). It is sooooo light. The packaging is all green and friendly looking - but it kinda bugged me that the inside envelope says "Don't steal music" in 5 languages. I don't steal music, but I don't want to be told not to steal music and I always think positive messages (i.e. Support artists, buy licensed music) are better. The product itself is nifty, if a bit cheap looking. But who cares? I didn't buy this product to be an ipod. I bought it to be a replacement for my ipod in situations where I'd prefer not to bring my ipod because I wouldn't want it to get hurt. Like when I go to the gym or out running. Which I do, like everyday...hahahahahah.

Anyways, I plugged minx in and voila! I got a gift from apple -- 13 free songs in the form of the new iTunes music sampler. The songs were:
Blow It Out --- Features
All At Sea --- Jamie Cullum
Sunshine to the Rain --- Miri Ben-Ari
Lonely --- Akon
Golden Touch --- Razorlight
Every Time You Go Away --- Brian McKnight
Bigtime --- The Soundtrack of Our Lives
Laura --- Scissor Sisters
She Said --- Brie Larson
Jus Anotha Shorty --- O'Ryan
Sleeping With the Lights On --- Teitur
Reach Out, I'll Be There --- Michael McDonald
TKO --- Le Tigre

Three of my favorite songs (All at Sea, Laura and Sleeping with the Lights On) were on the sampler -- the Teitur (Sleeping with the Lights On) song was one I discovered last summer via iTunes. In general, I found the mix to be full of new, eclectic, fun music.

SAVE HUBBLE...
On another note -- I was listening to NPR this morning and they had a story about how the hubble telescope is being "killed." Basically, Hubble is falling apart in space and we have a few of options: (1) repair it by sending out a robot to fix it or (2) move to operating on two gyros instead of three or (3) let hubble fall into disrepair and out of service. Everyone wanted to "save hubble" (bumper stickers available here). I think it is interesting that hubble has taken on a life-like form in our culture -- everyone was referring to "saving the life" of Hubble or how "bush had killed" hubble by not funding repair "missions." Does a telescope have a life? I don't know -- it just seems like we have over-humanized this piece of machinery.

ask?  

My morning begins with getting out of bed, brushing my teeth, surfing the net and checking e-mail. My home page is set to bloglines and it is my primary vehicle for net surfing. And so today, when i woke up and logged on, I saw the confirmation of the rumoured news -- Bloglines has been acquired by AskJeeves. My immediate reaction was this: hmmm, now this is interesting. When I think about where and how I use the internet, Bloglines and Del.icio.us and Flickr (outside of search and email) are at the core.

Jeeves' acquisition is interesting because:
- they will keep it branded as bloglines
- they plan to leave it alone
- they realize it's a good thing
- they intend to data mine the hell out of it. yup. They've got a lot of data on me -- they know what I read, they know what I link to (via my blog and via my del.icio.us links that I also subscribe to) and they know which sites I subscribe to but don't always read...They know if I read something and then blog about it... hmmm....

UPDATE: my original image was of the box on the bloglines homepage that announced the acquisition. then i went to the Ask Jeeves blog and saw the logo above, and had to have it. I always say I HEART something. Because well, that's what i say on IM. Yep. (i insert a graphic though...). Oh, and btw, that image? It's hosted by flickr. yep.

Update #2: I decided to pull my predicitions.

Sunday, February 06, 2005

dvr + superbowl 

the superbowl is today and i totally forgot about it. i'm really not a football fan, and so this day means only one thing to me: cool commercials. Typically I'll slog through the game just for the half-time show and the ads. but not this year! today i'm going out for a manicure / pedicure and then couch shopping with mike. While i'm out enjoying the day my dvr will record the game...and then when i get home and find out who won (i'm guessing the patriots...) by just flipping on the tv -- i'll be able to watch the game my way: speeding through the game to watch just the good commercials and the half-time non-peep-show (if it is worth watching).

excellent.

other notes:
- arizona beat stanford at McKale last night (72-90) ending the streak (stanford had beaten AZ at home the last 4 times).
- my ipod shuffle has apparently shipped and should arrive on tuesday.

Tuesday, February 01, 2005

let the games begin 

My uncle always says: "If you are not living on the edge, you are taking up too much space." I think there is a lesson in there for Microsoft...

However, today MSN announced that they have taken their websearch product out of beta. For a v1 product it's pretty good -- indicative of a lot of hard work and innovation.

This is a good thing for users...my bet is that things are about to get really interesting...and that users will be the greatest beneficiary. Unlike other MS products, the consumer is the ultimate choice-maker (for free!) and they aren't going to be swayed by snappy marketing alone...they want, as MSN says (and Ask Jeeves): answers.

in need of sleep 

but unable to sleep.... so i've been catching up on my blog reading and chatting with faraway friends all night.

On another note...This picture from APOD is really beautiful:

NGC 6946: The Fireworks Galaxy
Credit & Copyright: T. Rector (U. Alaska Anchorage), Gemini Obs., AURA