Uncertain Principles

Some questions that I would love to have answered, should anybody have good answers:

Who is the guy in the Coke commercial? There's this Coke spot getting a lot of play during the NCAA's, featuring a middle-aged guy carrying a bag of groceries, who backs down and dunks over a young punk. He looks like he ought to be recognizable as a former basketball star, but I can't figure out who he is, and Kate couldn't turn it up on Google.

Why does iTunes's ripping feature suck so much? Something like one track in every eight that I ripped when I was transferring my CD collection onto iTunes has glitches in it, and one in ten has skips and jumps that are serious enough to be annoying to listen to. This includes some of my favorite tracks. I am deeply annoyed by this.

Is there a better CD-ripping utility I should be using? It's got to run under Windows, and not be Windows Media Player.

What's with the exposed-struts-and-cables school or airport achritecture? Isn't the process of modern air travel dehumanizing enough without making every airport look like the inside of a warehouse?

What is the policy on shoes at airport security checks? Seriously, I'd love to know. I suspect that the answer is "There is no policy," because it's about fifty-fifty whether they ask me to take my sneakers off or not. I wish they'd make up their minds. (Actually, I wish they'd make up their minds in the direction of "You don't have to take your sneakers off, ever," but if I can't get sensible, I'll settle for consistent.)

OK, the last two are mostly rhetorical, but I'd really like answers to the first three.

Posted at 8:37 PM | link | follow-ups | 19 comments

For those who care, there's been a lot of activity over on my booklog recently. Three new posts today, including Hugo Nomication thoughts, and new books by Charlie Stross and Scott Westerfeld.

If that sounds interesting to you, go check it out. If not, don't.

Posted at 8:30 PM | link | follow-ups | no comments

We're back from vacation, but not exactly well-rested. It's not that the cruise wasn't relaxing, but the travel days on either end were pretty draining. Especially the part where we spent three hours in the emergency room the night before we left for the cruise, thanks to what was determined to be a muscle problem in my shoulder. I blame Mike Kozlowski, though I can't figure out how he did it.

Anyway, I fired up Opera to see what's been going on in blogdom, but on seeing the five hundred or so posts that had piled up in my various feeds, I said "Screw this" and hit "Mark All Read." I don't have the energy to catch up on a week's worth of bloggery, and it's probably not that important, anyway.

Instead, here are the titles for the songs I posted before we left:

• 1) "If you see a box of pine, with a name that looks like mine, say I drowned in a barrel of wine." "When I Get to the Border," Richard and Linda Thompson (Which was playing when I started this post... Synchonicity!).
• 2) "I can saw a woman in two, but you won't want to look in the box when I'm through.""For My Next Trick I'll Need a Volunteer," Warren Zevon.
• 3) "I've been sowing seeds from Mexico to Tennessee, and I'm reaping now an awful lot of woe." "W.I.F.E.", Old 97's. How this didn't become a huge country hit, I'll never know.
• 4) "I can still croon, and make the girls swoon. Ain't that the way life's supposed to be?" "Radiation Vibe," Fountains of Wayne.
• 5) "My new address is sitting by the ocean, I can't be reached by phone." "Sunblock," Emmet Swimming. Again, it should've been a huge hit, but sank without a trace. It also provided the post title last week.
• 6) "They say 'I'm all right, I just can't get home tonight.'" "She Don't Want Nobody Near," Counting Crows.
• 7) "I saw you just the other day, my how you have grown." "Brown Eyed Girl," Van Morrison.
• 8) "I'm never out of bed before noon, waking up too late seems too soon." "Last Man on the Moon," SR-71. Not a real well-known band...
• 9) "I'm goin' out to get me some sun, I'm gonna collect it, baby." "Solar Sex Panel," Little Village (John Hiatt, Ry Cooder, and some other guys).
• 10) "Some folks love is hard and strong, That's the kind of love that lingers on." "Got to Get You Off My Mind," Solomon Burke. Figures prominently in High Fidelity (the book, not the movie). Way better than JAck Black singing Marvin Gaye.
• 11) "My sister's ex-husband can't get no lovin'." "Yer So Bad," Tom Petty.
• 12) "Out on tour with the Smashing Pumpkins, nature kids, but they ain't got no function." "Range Life," Pavement.
• 13) "And Ray Charles was shot down, but he got up to do his best." "These Dreams of You," Van Morrison. There are no bad songs on Moondance.
• 14) "It's six in the mornin', you gave me no warnin', I had to be on my way." "Ol' 55," Tom Waits. A song that should never be sung by Don Henley.
• 15) "When I think back on all the crap I learned in high school, It's a wonder I can think at all." "Kodachrome," Paul Simon.
• 16) "I learned to play some lead guitar, I was underage in this smoky bar." "Late in the Evening," Paul Simon. I'm not sure why iTunes gave me two Paul Simon songs in a row, but there you go.
• 17) "A big Jamaican took every last dime with a scam, it was worth it just to learn some sleight of hand." "Float On," Modest Mouse.

And that's that. I didn't get to use what turned out to be the goofy lyric of the week ("I married my cousin down in Arkansas, married two more when I got to Utah"), but I doubt very much that anyone will get it, so we'll save it for another post...

Posted at 5:51 PM | link | follow-ups | 1 comment