the smedley log - suburban scrawl

The Saturday trio

First, find your spammer name. Mine is Chronography I. Revolt. (via The Long Cut)

Second, except for that decade or so from mid-elementary through high school, I’ve always found Sesame Street supremely cool. Here’s some vintage video to remind me of it. (via Sarcasmo’s Corner)

And finally, Stephen Colbert will be at the White House Correspondents Association Dinner this evening (via Philly). C-Span is carrying the event, but I’ll be in Manhattan while that’s happening, so keep your fingers crossed that I can set the video timer correctly.

And now I’ll be off to that sliver of old Indian land overrun by skyscrapers. I should be back in a day or so with pictures of the Guggenheim or something…

Migrations and mispellings

Albert should be congratulated on the evolution his blog has just undergone (from Typepad to Wordpress).

Speaking of which, there’s also this fascinating post to consider.

Friday Random Ten
(forever and eternally yours)

1. Resplendent – Vigilantes of Love (Audible Sigh)
“I can make you promises if you don’t expect too much;
And I will run the distance if you’ll please excuse my crutch.”

2. The Question – Familiar 48 (Wonderful Nothing)
“When the clouds come and the rain falls,
when there’s nothing here to hold on,
will I be there is the question…”

3. A Message – Coldplay (X & Y)
“My song is love, love to the loveless shore;
and it goes on—you don’t have to be alone.”

4. Beautiful Delilah – Stray Cats (Live and in Studio)
“Local Casanova, who would not be outdone,
let her steal his heart away and break it just for fun.”

5. Kensinton – Karl Martino (mp3 download)
“Your hopes and your dreams
Don’t mean that much in Ken-sin-ton…” [Read more →]

Philly Future: Featured Blog nominations

Every two weeks, it happens (almost) like clockwork. Nominations for Featured Blog are being solicited once again at Philly Future.

If you’ve got a favored blog that meets the criteria, please jump right in with your nominations – now through Friday afternoon at three. Just click here and comment with your nomination.

Converting the shoulder dwellers

Every day on my way to work I come up to a three-way intersection where I have to turn right. As you approach this intersection from the north, there are three lanes from which to choose: left, center and right.

I choose the right lane. Why? Because it’s reserved exclusively for those intent on turning right, and I have to turn right to reach my destination without taking a substantially more scenic route.

There are signs indicating that the lane is for right turns only. The fact that the lane no longer exists on the other side of the intersection is kind of a giveaway also. But for some mystical reason, a good half of the people who make that right turn feel the need to occupy the shoulder instead of the right lane specifically marked for making that right turn. I’ve come to think that there must be a cult where people learn to drive this way. [Read more →]

Anchors

Where do you get love-
-down below or from somewhere above?
-Matthew Sweet

What gives you value? What make you feel like your life is worthwhile?

I ask because I think it’s somewhat connected to the curiosities I’ve been entertaining (in posts like this and this). Namely, I wonder about people who figure their entire sense of self-worth based on the opinions of other people. I have a hard time imagining a situation in which this method of calculation is very reliable. [Read more →]

Giving away the internets

Congress Is Giving Away the Internet, and You Won’t Like Who Gets It

Don’t look now, but the House Commerce Committee next Wednesday is likely to vote to turn control of the Internet over to AT&T, Verizon, Comcast, Time Warner and what’s left of the telecommunications industry. It will be one of those stories the MSM writes about as “little noticed” because they haven’t covered it. (source)

I won’t like who gets it? The word “won’t” suggests future tense, which may be accurate, but I already don’t like it.

via Throwing Things

Friday Random Ten
(love and darkness and my sidearm)

Second week without the Romans; other than that, it’s the same old thing:
1. Troubled Times – Fountains of Wayne (Utopia Parkway)
“When you think you found something worth holding onto,
were reaching for attention, hoping she would notice you…”

2. Nightingale Song – Toad the Wet Sprocket (Fear)
“And little ever changes, if anything at all;
just remind ourselves how small we are…”

3. Desire – U2 (Rattle and Hum)
“Oh sister, I can’t let you go-
-like a preacher stealing hearts at a traveling show…”

4. Don’t Panic – Coldplay (Parachutes)
“Bones, sinking like stones, all that we fall for;
homes, places we’ve grown, all of us are done for.”

5. When You Come – Crowded House (Recurring Dream…)
“When you come like an iceberg float in darkness,
smashing my hull send me to the bottom of the sea…” [Read more →]

If a tree falls in the forest without the MSM there to report it, does it make a sound?

Or more to the point, if your name is legally changed but the mainstream media fails to report it, is it still your name? Shelley Powers doesn’t quite ask that question, but it’s what I came away with after perusing the Wikipedia discussion concerning danah boyd. [Read more →]

Who do you trust?

Omni, who still, sadly, does not have commenting on her blog, wrote a nice entry on trust last week (and I’m just now getting around to telling you about it).

After reading her thoughts on the subject, I’ve crystallized my thoughts on trust to a point. I don’t think I ever trusted people very easily, but I do tend to give them the benefit of the doubt. Which means I enter into a lot of situations knowing full well I may be let down by someone, but I do so anyway.

And in that there may also be an element of trust, whether it’s in other people or in a belief system that spurs such risky behavior—that’s another question.

It’s a little bit funny…

but as I was driving down the road about an hour ago, I saw a driver toss an empty plastic Tropicana orange juice bottle out the window of his truck. What struck me as odd was that he was driving one of those collection trucks for curbside recycling.

April Philly blogger meetup

It’s the day of the Philly blogger meetup once more. Our fearless leader will be back to his normal perch at the head of the table (well, figuratively), and all will right with the world. I won’t be there this month, but I’m trusting Scott to keep things civil, which could be a challenge if any of those anti-tax libertarians show up at the Ten Stone…

Details are here.

(Good) Friday Random Ten
(subsistin’ on that same old bread)

1. Gas Hed Goes West – Live (Secret Samadhi)
“He’s a bonified man, a star amongst his clan,
and the only one that let me ride…”

2. Amnesia – Toad the Wet Sprocket (Coil)
“The final solution’s back in style—we are the ones letting it ride.
I never dreamed we were so blind—amnesia in comfort, so unkind.”

3. Top Falls Down – Tonic (Sugar)
“When you’re sleeping under water
breathing has no purpose”

4. Endgame – R.E.M. (Lost in Time)
“Fa la la la la la la la, la la la…” (or something like that?)

5. Rebecca Go Home – Lost Dogs (Gift Horse)
“Rebecca, go home,
though you may be scared.
Just close your eyes and let go…”

6. Everything is Good for You – Crowded House (Recurring Dream)
“…but if you come undone
it might just set you free.”

7. New Slang – The Shins (Garden State soundtrack)
“Turn me back into the pet that I was when we met.
I was happier then, with no mind-set.”

8. One – U2 (Achtung Baby)
“Love is a temple, Love the higher law;
You ask me to enter, but then you make me crawl…”

9. I Will Never Be Normal (after this) – Bill Mallonee (Dear Life)
“…it could’ve been your eyes, but I suspect it was your kiss.
No, I will never be normal after this.”

10. Parachutes – Coldplay (Parachutes)
“Here I am and I’ll take my time.
Here I am and I’ll wait in line, always, always…”

Notes:
Favorite: Eenie, meenie, minie… 8
Least favorite: 3 (and so rare that a Tonic tune would be my least favored on a list)
Artists seen live: 1, 2, 3, 5, 8 & 9
Reminds me to mention (again) the Darfur issue: 2
Source of the title quote?

Who else is spinning? (I may be slow updating this…)
Ben, Brian, Ellen, Luna, Marisa, Mark, Matthew, Philadelphia Story, Sherri

Featured blog nominations

Are you a Philly area resident or devotee to the Philadelphia blogosphere? If so, it’s that time once again to nominate area blogs for featured blog status at Philly Future—which should be even more fun with the newly-enabled anonymous commenting…

Half a woman

“They called him Great Scott because he was great.
They called her Great Susan ‘cause she was his date.
She climbed in a box; he cut her in two,
and when he was through, she was just half a woman…”

I was chuckling as I listened to the above song lyrics yesterday. And then, as is so often my custom, I began analyzing the words and applying them to other ideas.

I remembered a girl I dated when I was 19. She was short. Like five feet even—not the statuesque type at all. She wasn’t especially striking in any obvious way. Which isn’t to say she didn’t have her qualities. She most certainly did, but I recall more than a few times when buddies of mine would catch a glimpse of her and wonder out loud why I thought so highly of her. Some of those same guys would change their tune after about two minutes around her.

[Read more →]

A smile that’ll melt your heart

…or at least one that melts ice cream.

In honor of Steve’s Sunday reprieve from internet exile, here’s one of a small batch of photos I just uploaded to Flickr. Not necessarily new pictures, but images that, for one reason or another, haven’t made the online collection until now. There, that should give you your cute fix for the day.

(If not, Rowhouse Logic still does pandas, kittens or whatever else those rascals are posting these days…)

Things that stick

I’m always forgetting how much I like Paste magazine, right up until I pick up the latest copy and listen to that wonderfully free CD/DVD sampler (the current issue has one of each—woohoo!).

Of course, there’s also the venerable online option of listening to Paste Radio, not to mention the extensive bank of complimentary (and legal) MP3’s.

Default

She sets the boundaries I shouldn’t dare cross.
Hope that was found just before it was lost.
Our lack of planning-
-these misunderstandings
were destined to happen one day.

She was the angel I couldn’t have held-
-passed for a stranger ‘til after I fell.
Leave things to chance, and
the things you most fancy
are destined to leave you one day.

…

It might be better than halftime at the Linc

Well, probably a larger live audience at least – maybe I’ll do this when I propose (a statement I’m bound to regret if the wrong people read this).

Via Albert

Seconds

“It takes a second to say goodbye,
say goodbye, oh, oh, oh…”
-U2

I was on my way to work yesterday, and I made a stop on the way. My pit stop was on a four-lane business highway, and the entrance I was using required me to make a left hand turn from the neutral lane between the two sets of lanes going in opposite directions.

As I approached the entrance, my turn signal engaged, I saw that there was adequate distance between me and oncoming traffic and a pickup truck waiting to exit the shopping center. I started to make my turn. As I did, the truck waiting to exit started to move forward. [Read more →]