It’s rare that I get plucked from life to play computer games. Mainly because I don’t trust myself to reel myself back into life once I get ensconced in hours of mind-escaping sort of things. In college, I remember epic football seasons on the Playstation. Ones that began the first week of school, and ended around Christmas. We were legends of digerati, but only in our own minds. Like the genius songstress, Miranda Lambert, once said, “People die famous in a small town.” And indeed, I left my gametime legacy in college as “real life” stared me the face.
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Albums Of My Youth: Bob Marley Exodus 1977
There are reggae albums that I love more than Bob Marley’s Exodus. A few by Toots and the Maytals, a Jimmy Cliff soundtrack, one by Peter Tosh, and several by Steel Pulse. But there is no other reggae album that meant more to me in my youth than the easily accessible Exodus album.
Hailed as the record that found Bob Marley at the crossroads of his career, it is an album that’s both quietly political, but determined to be mellow. Whereas Marley’s catalog prior spun yarn that evoked the political rebels tenacity, his 1977 release was favoring the more commercial, the more accessible, the more pop savy genius of Bob. And I loved every downbeat second of it.
Recorded after an assassination attempt on his life, Bob Marley found a ways with coping in utter disaster — and this would become the lifeblood for his musical tendencies.
Goodbye Brizzly
I’ll be honest. I had somehow missed the announcement that Brizzly.com, the social network helper, was being pawned over to AOL, or at least most of the Brizzly team was doing so. It was a pretty good run for the rarely used, but quietly entertaining social network apparatus. The simple twitter/facebook stream, the sidebarred trends, direct messages, mentions, news, and search were just so fun. At the end of this month, Brizzly is gone forever. They’ve asked users to download their pictures if they want them, and they’ve also offered a bit of a “thank you” to those that used the service.
I know this stands in stark contrast to the last post I wrote, wherein I said that “kill Brizzly” wasn’t on our “to do” list heading into our new roles at AOL. That statement still holds true, though. We didn’t plan to get rid of the service we spent the prior year or so building, but we knew there was a possibility…We truly, gratefully appreciate all of the people who checked out Brizzly, and especially those of you who’ve grown attached to it and evangelized on our behalf. We built Brizzly for you, and we built the new and better AIM for you, too.
What Brizzly did right is what so many social networking tools did wrong, but learned to do right. Take Brizzly’s “Picnics” aspect as an example. It was basically a quick chat post forum with those that were on your contact list. Post images from webcams, links from your favorite sites, etc. What Brizzly called a picnic, Google+ calls a hangout. Indeed it seems that the precursor for the “Hangouts” approach, one of the largest selling points for the Google network, began on the lonely pages of Brizzly.
In-line image and link viewing, facebook/twitter mashed up on one timeline, and a navigation that looks eerily similar to the “new” twitter are all things that Brizzly was able to do first, or at least do first the best.
I’ll miss Brizzly even though I didn’t use it much. Perhaps that’s why it never made quite the statement that other social network tools have done. A nice tool, but one that I didn’t use often. And really that is too bad because now that it’s gone, or at least going, I kind of miss it.
Goodbye Brizzly (and your Q-T logo).
The Stan & Jan We All Knew
When I say two names, “Stan” and “Jan”, what instantly comes to your mind? You may draw a blank. You may assume I’m speaking of someone with which we have a mutual acquaintance. You may think long and hard and come up with nothing but a curious, “Who is that?”. But deep down you probably know Stan and Jan better than you think.
Stan and Jan Berenstain, the couple that crafted beautifully simple lessons in the form of lovable children’s books are the co-creators behind the Berenstain Bears book series which began in 1962 with The Big Honey Hunt and has continued nearly 50 years strong. The staple of our childhood memories were short, sweet, honest and beautiful story pieces that were familial as much as they were familiar. Mama, Papa, Sister, Brother, and eventually little Honey were characters with which we empathized. Papa and his great tendency to over-react, Mama and her keen awareness for solving any problem, and Sister and Brother who got themselves into quite a bit of mischief. These were characters that we loved, cherished, and still to this day admire.
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The One About The Baby & Amy Adams Movies
Well it’s official. The Livingston family will be increasing the fold by one this Fall. No, we didn’t buy a puppy or a furry feline. We indeed are preparing to have a brand new baby in our house. As I write the words “we are preparing” of course I mean solely my wife who daily cares for our yet-to-be-born child in the comfort of a warm and cozy spot inside her tummy, as my daughter says. These are exciting times. My now 4 and a half year old daughter, has earnestly and intently been praying for a new brother or sister. For this, we are very proud of her commitment to do so. Upon hearing the news she immediately had a million questions rolling around in her Pre K brain that just couldn’t be verbalized. Over the last couple of days they’ve become actual sentences and phrases because she’s had time to let the news sink in. So have her parents.
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What The Super Bowl Half-Time Show Should Be
It’s Super Week, which means it’s time to pose dreamy solutions for Tom Brady’s hair situation, and make comparisons of Eli Manning to Charlie Brown. The Super Bowl is upon us, there’s no escaping its glitzy grasp. You head to the grocery stores and there you’ll find pre-made dips shaped like pigskin, pyramids of twelve packs, and potato chips with every imaginable flavoring you can dream up (Jalepeno-Bacon-Cream Cheese?). It also marks one of the highest points on the entertainment calendar for the young year of 2012. Because deep down, the Super Bowl is less about the spectacle of sport, pitting man against man in a hard hitting whirlwind, and more about what happens between the plays. Commercials inch to the 7 digits for 10 seconds and GoDaddy sickens you to your core with overly sensualized spots. And although it’s an event that is both over hyped and over produced, it’s something that I just can’t take my eyes off of.
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What Grounded Pan Am?
It’s hard to imagine a world where air travel was a mesmerizing, enjoyable experience. As a 31 year old guy, my fondest memories of airlines were probably my earliest thoughts as well. Free peanuts, Sports Illustrated magazines wrapped in a plastic sheet cover, soft pillows, dark blue blankets, and the fizzle of high altitude soda. 30 some years doesn’t give you the full timeline of air travel around the world, but it’s easy to point out the less-than-glamorous life that is flying coach in our world during that span.
Indeed there was a time when such endeavors were tolerable, even enjoyable respits as you glided from point A to point B and back again. The 50′s and 60′s were full of a wonderous new age age of aero travel that was a glorious pursuit of the senses. Fancy drinks, on-board-smoking, dressed to the nines crew of stewardess, a friendly captain, and spacious lounging. But somwhere along the way, we’d forgotten about this glorious age. Then comes the ABC period drama, Pan Am, which was intended to remind us of days gone by. Continue reading →
Bumble The Abominable Snow Monster “Stuff”
The treasured classic “Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer” is a yearly staple in my house. It’s equal parts nostalgic and classic storytelling wrapped in an old school stop motion wrapper. From Hermey the elf dentist to Sam the snowman, there is a lot to love about this mid-60′s holiday special.
In my mind, the scene stealer of the entire program has always been Bumble the abominable snow monster. As a child he frightened the Charles Dickens out of me. Then again, his story of being a mis-understood, tooth-aching good guy has always been his redeeming quality. Thus the fear of his form is also coupled with a great Christmas character who in the end is a pretty decent snow monster who finds new life as a tree decorator. Continue reading →
Christmas Twang From She & Him
Very few actresses are as hot right now as Zooey Deschanel. Her dorikness has struck a chord with folks far and wide including this humble tv watcher. Yet, Mrs. D has a pretty potent and respected side project that’s as equally as hot. One half of She & Him, Zooey is the soft-toned songrestress that bellows breathy melodys while accompanied by the rest of the one half in the guitar playing M. Ward. Separately, these two are superb at their individual crafts. So, when they get nudged together into the band She & Him, it’s always exciting to see what transpires. Continue reading →
