crystallyn.com

June 07, 2006

recap

Joe, the amazing human being that he is, remembered that I wanted this:

It's tiny, cute and perfect.

Dinner at Spire was AMAZING. The five course tasting menu was delish.

Next weekend--part of the late celebration--is the Chocolate Bar at Cafe Fleuri at the Langham. The menu alone is enough to make you gain ten pounds. Mmmm I can't wait!

Posted by crystallyn at 07:51 AM | TrackBack

May 11, 2006

I don't get it

Why are they praying for Clay? Are they hoping he isn't gay?

I saw those Enquirer photos. I also have watched gay friends trolling the Net to pickup guys (and no, I really really don't understand why that is), exactly like Clay is in that picture. I don't doubt it for one second.

Shocking...it's like those people who don't think Manilow is gay. I went to see Manilow last year with a girlfriend and thousands of old ladies were swooning over him. Amazing. I wish I could impart my extra-sensitive gay-dar to all those completely-homophobic-but-in-love-with-gay-men women out there...

At least Manilow is smarter than Clay is when it comes to coming across as being ambiguously gay.

Posted by crystallyn at 07:37 PM | TrackBack

May 09, 2006

the future of radio

is Pandora or something similiar. I am SO fascinated with this creation...an offshoot of the Music Genome Project, which catalogs music by particular characteristics, creating a method to better map and match like music. As you tell Pandora what you like and don't like, it learns to associate different characteristics and eventually, voila! And with just very minor tweaking, you have a cool radio station that has completely tailored itself to something you would like, even if you have never heard the music before.

WOW. That's amazing. A station that will play only what you like? Even if you haven't heard the music before? Very seriously powerful. And even more amazing...I am discovering music I would NEVER have ever discovered. Discovering music that I like...and would be very willing (and will very probably be doing) to buy because I'm hearing a way cool band I would never have known I would like except that Pandora has tailored itself to what I like! Nearly ten years ago, I did marketing for a company that was touting intelligent agent technology that personalized web apps much like how Pandora does with its stations. Its amazing to me that only now are companies starting to understand what real personalization is--and its still in fits and starts. Pandora is the closest I've seen to accomplishing what I think of as personalization and wow is it amazing.

You can create a variety of radio stations (recommended because mixing songs from wide genres doesn't give you good results). I have a popular alternative rock station, a more poppy 80ish sort of station, a chill out station, an electronica station and a loungey, jazzy, french pop sort of station. You can check out my latest favorites on the left.

This type of radio will bode well for bands who may never otherwise be able to reach out to the people who would truly enjoy their music. Even more interesting, it makes finding the music ABOUT the music--you are searching for characteristics of music that you would like and so therefore advertising is taken out of the equation. Artists without huge monetary resources for major marketing campaigns are suddenly on the same playing field as Madonna or U2. It's really amazing.

I honestly think that this sort of technology and categorization could drastically change how we listen to and discover music. Very very exciting. I can't wait to see how this evolves.

Posted by crystallyn at 07:16 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

April 03, 2006

HEY YOU GUYS!

I WANT I WANT I WANT

Posted by crystallyn at 08:30 PM | TrackBack

March 22, 2006

arrested for drinking--in a bar?

In a very bizarre story, the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission and police in Irving, TX, raided about 36 bars over the weekend, arresting drunk people.

Note that I mentioned that they were in a bar. Are you as confused as I am?

TABC agents and Irving police swept through 36 Irving bars and arrested about 30 people on charges of public intoxication. Agency representatives say the move came as a proactive measure to curtail drunken driving.

At one location, for example, agents and police arrested patrons of a hotel bar. Some of the suspects said they were registered at the hotel and had no intention of driving. Arresting authorities said the patrons were a danger to themselves and others.

"Going to a bar is not an opportunity to go get drunk," TABC Capt. David Alexander said. "It's to have a good time but not to get drunk."

Another reason for me to avoid Texas...

http://www.nbc5i.com/news/8169246/detail.html

Posted by crystallyn at 08:56 PM | TrackBack

February 27, 2006

i am human and i need to be loved...just like everybody else does...

Everyone who knows Morrissey knows that he's not very good taking criticism. In fact, when Joe and I saw him last fall (best concert EVAH!), he was talking about a car accident he had been in the week before and some fan heckled him a little bit about it and he was very hurt and wouldn't finish the story. I think he even cut a song out of the lineup because of one stupid idiot guy.

Well now the tables have turned and he's been called out for HIS criticism. The US government apparently has dear Morrissey on a watchlist for dissent against the UK and US (my god, don't they have better things to do?).

According to MTV UK news:

Morrissey was questioned by the FBI and British intelligence after speaking out against Bush and Blair, the singer has revealed.

Mozza, a famous critic of the war in Iraq, has previously branded the US President a “terrorist”. He said: “The FBI and the Special Branch have investigated me and I’ve been interviewed and taped and so forth. They were trying to determine if I was a threat to the government, and similarly in England. But it didn’t take them very long to realise that I’m not.

“I don’t belong to any political groups,” he continued, “I don’t really say anything unless I’m asked directly and I don’t even demonstrate in public. I always assume that so-called authoritarian figures just assume that pop/rock music is slightly insane and an untouchable platform for the working classes to stand up and say something noticeable.

“My view is that neither England or America are democratic societies. You can’t really speak your mind and if you do you’re investigated.”

I'm pretty sure that I'm on some stupid watchlist because I've ranted on my blog, because I've signed petitions, and because although, ironically, I'm exercising the absolute most American right we have--free speech-- and as a result, I'm probably considered unpatriotic. I can't figure out why it's patriotic to want to give up our privacy, our freedom of speech and billions and billions of my taxpaying dollars to people who spend it very poorly...

Posted by crystallyn at 07:51 AM | TrackBack

February 10, 2006

bits of random-ness

I realize that I haven't blogged lately. I've been busy. Or lazy. Maybe a bit of both. But I'm always interested...

Some of the random things that have caught my interest:

* Zillow, a very cool way to research real-estate
* EQ2 and all of the enjoyable time-suck that it is
* How long it will be before they indict Cheney
* CB2 has a new catalog! But when are they going to open up a store in Boston?
* When you wash clothes and oil gets all over them, it means that your seal around the agitator is cracked and that basically a new washer is on your agenda. And new clothes. Argh.
* I hope to soon have the courage to join this club.
* Apparently up in Canada they aren't just fond of poutine (BLECH), but also eating pig's tails.
* Hanging out in the wonderfully clever Kingdom of Loathing

Posted by crystallyn at 07:01 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

February 02, 2006

child star gone wrong...but hopefully not for good

Years ago when I worked at Disneyland, I met Jodie Sweetin, who, at the time, was playing Stephanie on Full House. I was working the VIP entry to the Fantasmic show and had the chance to have a lengthy discussion with her while waiting for the previous show to empty out before I sat her. She was probably 12 at the time (oh god now I'm dating myself) and was clearly very bright. She told me how John Stamos was so close to all the kids on Full House and always took them to Disneyland. We talked about all the rides she'd been on that day and some about the show. I just had such a great sense of how much of a family they all were. She talked so adoringly about everyone she worked with. I don't know why, but she was the one celebrity that I really remember most from when I worked there (I sat Billy Idol, Molly Ringwald, The Osmonds, the kid that played Bud Bundy, Tim Robbins, Robin Williams, and a host of other people). She just made a great impression on me.

And today, the headline: "Full House" Star Admits Meth Problem

Wow. I guess it's not surprising, given that when you are thrust into an acting career at such a young age. The article mentions that she's been clean for a year though, and hoping to get back into acting. I hope she swings it and is able to make some sort of comeback a'la Drew Barrymore (who is one of my all time favorites). Everyone deserves a second chance--I hope she makes the best of it.

Posted by crystallyn at 08:14 PM | TrackBack

January 31, 2006

Interesting Turn-Based Web MMORPG

If you are interested in Darkthrone, click this link, and I'll get a citizen and 250 gold!

If you register, it's even better...I'll snag 10,000 gold and 10 citizens.

Read the poorly spelled strategy guide first--will definitely help if you are interested in playing.

Posted by crystallyn at 07:27 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

January 08, 2006

vengeful mouse

The most talked about story on Technorati today is a BBC News article about a mouse that some 81 year-old guy threw in a pile of burning leaves.

The mouse decided to take its revenge and it ran back to the guy's house and set it aflame.

Serves that guy right! WOOHOOO Mouse!

I can't wait to tell Rosie, Joe's mom. She collects mice. Draws them on everything. She'll definitely get a kick out of this.

Posted by crystallyn at 03:37 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

October 14, 2005

take me seriously!

My latest endeavor is a blog about things a bit different than that I would normally post here. I realized that while this blog is fun and a great place for me to interact, rant, share and connect on a casual level with friends and interested people, it's not the best forum for my professional ideas. As a marketer, my #1 product is really myself and as a result, I needed a place to be able to better showcase my talents and my thought leadership.

Sooo that said, help me spread the word about Creator of Circumstance!!

Posted by crystallyn at 09:12 PM | TrackBack

October 11, 2005

Crystal King!

And so, I have found more pictures of the Japanese band who shares my glorious moniker.

Oh my, are they hot or what? Apparently they were a big 70s/early 80s Japanese "folk" band. Whatever THAT means...

Posted by crystallyn at 07:08 PM | TrackBack

September 15, 2005

She's In Parties

Joe was paying attention when he saw that the Bauhaus are coming to town! Yes, yes, the reunited full band! Wooohooooo! Dead Can Dance AND the Bauhaus all in the same year! We scored presale tickets!

That picture is circa 1981 or something, I think. Totally cracks me up. But I'm so excited! This will mark the 4th time I've seen Peter Murphy on stage. He's so mesmerizing, melodic and just plain amazing. Bauhuas is much darker music than Peter Murphy, who has dozens of really wonderful lovesongs to his credit. I imagine will have quite the goth crowd there, but also a bunch of 30+ geezers as well. More mainstream listeners may be familiar with Love & Rockets which is pretty much Bauhaus sans Peter.

It's the year of reunion tours for me. Duran Duran, Dead Can Dance and now Bauhaus! And if we don't go away for our anniversary (five years!) we may go see one of the bands I used to promote when I was doing radio way back when, The Posies. I've seen them six gazillion times and was so so sad when I heard they broke up back in 97. I've followed Jon and Ken's solo careers but wow--seeing them again would be awesome! They are just so great together. Every Kind of Light is a must have album!

Posted by crystallyn at 07:57 PM | TrackBack

September 14, 2005

Velvet Yoda Elvis?

Oh I really want me one of these!!
via Boing Boing

Posted by crystallyn at 08:58 PM | TrackBack

August 22, 2005

"the price of gas...

keeps on rising
nothing comes for free..." ~Bloc Party

The song is terribly apropos these days. It's like a strange sort of sickness; driving around and comparing the prices at the various stations around town. When we see one that is only $2.81 we say woohooo it's better than the one that we saw that is $2.89, or $2.99...we haven't seen over $3.00 for premium yet but I'll bet we see it this week.

Stupid us bought a turbo earlier this year. Sigh. If only we had known!

We went to a wedding this weekend and one of the wedding party is in the Air Force. We were bitching about the price of gas and he said, "I can't talk bad about my boss, so I won't say anything." Well we'll say plenty about Mr. 5 Weeks of Vacation (319 days of his presidency) on his behalf. Argh.

So I've been far more concerned about conserving gas and have been really looking into what I need to do to help save a few dollars here and there.

Here are some gas-saving tips from the experts at the National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence:

• Monitor tires. Under inflated tires or poorly aligned wheels waste fuel by forcing the engine to work harder (let the tires cool down before checking air pressure). Out-of-line wheels, as evidenced by uneven tread wear, should be aligned by a professional.

• Remove excess weight. Remove unnecessary items from the vehicle. Store only essentials in the trunk. Less weight means better mileage.

• Consolidate trips and errands. Some trips may be unnecessary. Also, try to travel when traffic is light so you avoid the stop-and-go conditions that hinder fuel efficiency.

• Avoid excessive idling. Shut off the engine while waiting for friends or family.

• Observe speed limits. Speeding decreases the miles-per-gallon average of your vehicle.

• Drive gently. Sudden accelerations guzzle gas. Try to anticipate traffic patterns ahead and adjust your speed gradually.

• Keep your engine tuned up. A well maintained engine operates at peak efficiency, maximizing gas mileage. Follow service schedules listed in the owners manual. Replace filters and fluids as recommended. Have engine performance problems such as rough idling and poor acceleration corrected at a repair facility.

Additional tips from Fine Living:

* Reduce air conditioning.Running the air conditioning burns up fuel, so do your best to limit your use of it. Roll down your windows for some fresh air, or use your air conditioner's economy setting.

* Try a light colored car. When renting a vehicle in the summer months, opt for a light colored exterior and interior and cloth seats, as this will keep you feeling cooler and allow you to use the air conditioning less frequently.

And even more from About.com:

* Purchase only gas that is the correct octane as specified by your car's manufacturer.

* Fill up in the morning--cooler gasoline is more compact, so you'll get more drops of the precious fluid for your dollars.

* Obey posted speed limits; fuel economy decreases substantially at speeds above 55 miles per hour.

* Set your cruise control to maintain a constant speed, which can also improve fuel economy.

* If your car has overdrive, use it. It reduces fuel consumption during highway driving.

* Try to avoid extreme acceleration.

* Don't tailgate. It leads to unnecessary braking and acceleration.

* Don't let your car sit and idle. Start it only when everything is packed in the truck, the kids are strapped in, and you're ready to go.

* Because running a car's air conditioner may increase gas consumption in some cases, opt for open windows, particularly at speeds under 40 miles per hour. Check your owner's manual for specific information about your own vehicle's fuel efficiency when operating the AC.

* Be sure to park in the shade.

* Try not to make single-purpose trips. Bring your beach gear along so that you can go straight there after a morning of sightseeing.

And from the American International Auto Dealers:

* It's all about the oil. Proper oil maintenance and viscosity will help your car to operate at maximum efficiency. Heavy oil will cause the engine to work harder. Use the lightest grade oil for hot climates. Check the chart in the owner's manual to find out what grade is best suited to your vehicle.

* Let your engine coolant be cool, but not too cool. Improperly mixed engine coolant can cause your engine to run too hot or too cool and can hamper fuel economy. The right temperature makes the car run more efficiently, so make sure your engine has fresh coolant.

* Replace the dirty air filter. An air filter works hard on freeways and roads and collects dust, dirt and debris. A new and functioning air filter will provide better gas mileage.

* Fire up the spark plugs. A tune-up is a misnomer in this day in age. Computer-driven coil packs replaced the points, condensor and distributor in most vehicles a long time ago. However, spark plugs must fire properly for the engine to run smoothly. Replace the spark plugs on time, according to your owner's manual.

* Don't ride around on big, big tires (besides you look like an redneck idiot). For those who bought bigger tires and fancy wheels for SUV's and mini-vans, it's more than likely that fuel economy has significantly decreased. If you still have the original tires, switch them back. Consult the vehicle owner's manual for the correct pressure.

* Tires. Tires. Tires. Maintaining your vehicle's tires is crucial to fuel economy. Every other fill-up, walk around the vehicle and check tires for uneven or excessive tread wear as well as proper inflation. Refer to the vehicle's doorjamb, fuel filler flap, or glove box for original equipment specifications or the manufacturer of the replacement tire for proper tire pressure inflation, he added. Check your owner's manual for your specific vehicle's service recommendations.

* Service engine light. If the engine light is on, one or more systems in the vehicle aren't working properly and can hamper fuel economy. Take the car into a reputable repair facility to be evaluated. Get a written estimate, if work is to be diagnosed.

* Keep it not so cool. Use your air conditioner sparingly.

* Don't stomp on the accelerator. How hard you depress the throttle will greatly affect fuel economy. Accelerate less aggressively, brake gently and stop speeding. Instead of driving defensively, go on the offense and adopt a more fuel-efficient driving style. If you're not already driving defensively, now's the time to adopt a more laid-back and fuel-efficient driving style.

~~
Sad though that it is going to take an energy crisis for us to start doing all of these things...

Posted by crystallyn at 07:43 AM | Comments (2)

July 07, 2005

little things today

like standing in the shower (before I knew Joe had turned the TV on) and thinking that something big/lifechanging/tragic is happening. Toweling off and just realizing that the TV is on...and knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that there is "breaking news" even though I have no clue what it might be about. And then the sick freaked out shock that I was right. I didn't know how to tell anyone. It sounds too weird.

Standing in the elevator today after I was leaving a PR meeting. A man in the elevator with me had a television camera. I realized that he had just come from the British Consulate, who was in the same building. When I left the parking garage...another news crew was set up on the lawn.

Finding out that our friend Phil was safe, but not sure how on earth he was going to get home from work downtown without any buses or subways running. His girlfriend expressed her relief to me today--it sounded like how running through a sheet of water on a hot day must feel. I don't know how to explain--the waves of fear rolling away from her as she explained he was okay.

Wondering why some stupid kids movie (with Paul Giamatti making a monkey of himself) was on channel five instead of Reign of Fire (not that it was a particularly stellar flick but I rather liked it). I mean, why is a futuristic apocalpytic movie about dragons toasting up the earth a big deal? Then I saw that it was set in London.

Thinking about how it is when 37 people die (and 700 wounded) in a big, modern city that it sends waves of shock through the world but we don't really seem to bat an eye at the 25,000 civilians dead in the Iraq War, the 3.4 million people that died of AIDS in Africa in 2004 or even last month when 36 people died and hundreds were wounded in Ethiopia during protests of the country's allegedly rigged elections...I could just go on and on about other losses of life in tragic ways in places out of the way. The well-developed countries are outraged when something tragic happens to them but we are sort of immune, blind, unwilling to see...when it comes to human life in places that aren't on the same "level" as those same developed countries. Note that I am NOT minimalizing what happened in London--only that the media perspective skews things so wildly. Those other tragedies seem so minimal in comparison even though the loss of human life is in many cases far far greater. Why is one life worth more than any other? I find myself very saddened by it all.

Posted by crystallyn at 11:15 PM | Comments (2)

June 06, 2005

Now Doesn't That Make You Feel Much Better?

Yes, this does...

Posted by crystallyn at 06:29 AM

May 01, 2005

useful things

In Harvard Square, there is a great little store called the Museum of Useful Things (MUT) (which is nearly as cool as its sister store, Black Ink). In the store you can find all sorts of great things that are, yes, highly useful. Kitchen gadgets, cool cleaning tools, little things to organize your office, etc. Last time I was there I picked up this great little thing that keeps your kitchen sponge in one place.

So in the spirit of the MUT, here are some things that I consider highly useful...

everyday gadgets

The Drop Stop is awesome for keeping wine from dripping.

This bracelet fastener has saved me OODLES of time.

Joe gave me this wicked little Cross Ion pen for Christmas. I keep it on a keychain with my memory stick. Very handy in a pinch and it writes beautifully.

Super Cool/Handy Websites

43 Things ~ Map your goals out with this great community tool.

And another 43, this time Folders. Tips, tricks and "lifehacks." And the wiki (I recently added my coffee hacks--cleaning your coffeepot and novacaine)

And the excellent Lifehacker.

Also can't quite say enough about del.icio.us. You'll notice I streamlined my left nav and cleaned it up a bit. Now you can just click on my list of links to see what I'm checking up on here and there. Let me know if you are a del.icio.us user--I'm always curious to see what my friends are up to. Funny how links can say a lot about a person.

And Angela, you asked about Flickr...yes, its great! It's easy to use, great display capabilities and I like the community aspect--seeing when friends have new pictures and the like.

I'm also excited about the possibilities of Trumba...

I much prefer gMail these days. I have a ton of extra invites if anyone wants one. It is infinitely better than Yahoo, Hotmail, etc.

The Mentat Wiki which is right up my alley as a recent MA grad in Critical & Creative Thinking. Tools, articles and information galore.

Software

Well, I have to give a strong plug (and yes, yes, I'm probably biased here) for AvantGo. Simply put, the best mobile web content provider around. They just keep improving. Now available for BlackBerry too so if you have a mobile PDA or a smartphone you don't really have an excuse. It's the best way to keep up with news and information when you are on the go. Even better, it's free!

Firefox ~ If you are still using Internet Explorer as your web browser, all I have to say to you is STOP! If you don't have tabbed browsing, you are missing out on the best way to quickly and easily use the Internet to your best advantage.

Open Office ~ The best free productivity suite you can find. If you can't/don't want to shell out $400 to Microsoft for its Office Standard Edition, check out Open Office. I use it for my writing--I like the organization of multiple chapters better than the way Word does it. It IS compatible with Microsoft, however, so if you create a spreadsheet in Open Office and send it to a friend who has Word they won't have a problem opening it. All in all a great, cool software suite and the best part is that it's free.

Picasa ~ Google's free picture album/sharing/editing tool. Best free software for quick fixes and the way it organizes all photos on your hard-drive is awesome.

The A-9 Toolbar ~ Amazon's search tool which is based on Google. You can easily search Google, Amazon or A9. The way it displays your searches is especially helpful, with thumbnails of images and other related searches that you can set up. Quickly search for your results on Creative Commons, NASA, Flickr, Feedster and a host of other great sites. One great thing about the toolbar is that you can easily track bookmarks between computers if you have a toolbar on each machine and are logged in. I keep a lot of my private bookmarks (bank, journals, etc) here--that I wouldn't want on del.icio.us.

iPodder --software to quickly subscribe and download Podcasts into your iTunes. Check out PodcastAlley to find podcasts galore. My current favorite? >Grape Radio.

Posted by crystallyn at 04:05 PM | Comments (1)

April 12, 2005

okay so I really love

Magical Trevor

and his new trick...

(warning--they loop...)

Posted by crystallyn at 06:29 PM

March 29, 2005

geek obsessions

So maybe I'm slow to the podcast bandwagon, but now I have a definite reason to pay attention. Besides poetry readings by Mark Strand, Forrest Gander, Robert Creeley, Mark Doty and more, now I can fuel my other obsession...

Battlestar Galactica.

I am so hooked on this show and now I can check out really cool podcasts about the episodes, characters, writers, motivations, etc. Executive producer Ronald D. Moore gives great commentary...really gives a whole new dimension to it all.

I am SO sad that the season finale is this Friday. I don't WANT to wait until next season for my fix! Seriously, absolutely great sci-fi. I'll warn you though...it's tough to figure out what is going on if you miss an episode. I missed the mini-series
and it took me awhile to figure some of it all out. Season 1 should be out on DVD soon though, I bet. Worth buying and catching up!

Posted by crystallyn at 08:38 PM | Comments (4)

geek obsessions

So maybe I'm slow to the podcast bandwagon, but now I have a definite reason to pay attention. Besides poetry readings by Mark Strand, Forrest Gander, Robert Creeley, Mark Doty and more, now I can fuel my other obsession...

Battlestar Galactica.

I am so hooked on this show and now I can check out really cool podcasts about the episodes, characters, writers, motivations, etc. Executive producer Ronald D. Moore gives great commentary...really gives a whole new dimension to it all.

I am SO sad that the season finale is this Friday. I don't WANT to wait until next season for my fix! Seriously, absolutely great sci-fi. I'll warn you though...it's tough to figure out what is going on if you miss an episode. I missed the mini-series
and it took me awhile to figure some of it all out. Season 1 should be out on DVD soon though, I bet. Worth buying and catching up!

Posted by crystallyn at 08:38 PM | Comments (4)

March 27, 2005

give me dignity

If there is anything that the Teri Schiavo case has shown us...it's that we need to be very clear in our wishes as to how we would want medical treatment to be given or not given to us in the case of being mentally or physically unable to do so ourselves.

Get your living will in order. They're very popular these days as a result of the endless media circus!

As for me, let me state clearly, if I became vegetative, massively disfigured or unable to function on my own over the long haul--put me out of my misery. Please. There is no way on earth I would ever want to be sustained unnaturally and indefinitely. I figure that if I could only live hooked up to some crazy machine then God probably wouldn't want me living anyway--it's man playing God then, not the natural forces of the world that brought me into them.

I look at it this way--if it were me in a vegetative state for 15 years--my soul would be going bonkers trying to get out and to move on to bigger and better things (heaven, reincarnation, whatever may be in store!). It would be the most awful thing ever to be trapped, watching my family go through terrible sadness and pain; wondering when I would ever just get back up and move forward; wondering why natural forces hadn't just taken the course they were supposed to.

The thing that saddens me most about the whole Schiavo case is that the poor woman is now, in the last days of her life, the center of the world's attention...in a way that I'm sure she would never ever have wanted. It's sick and disgusting and we should all be ashamed of ourselves. We're all waiting with baited breath to find out if she finally passed on. I'm sure I'm not the only one who checks the news first thing in the AM with the primary goal of finding out--did she make it one more day? Or finally, did the end of this horrible media nightmare arrive? I just want her to be at peace.

And reading about people who want to kill to help her--I just don't understand. I don't understand how the religious right seems to decide to throw the teachings of Christ right out the window when it suits them. I mean really, an eye for an eye was SO Old Testament. Christ taught us to turn the other cheek, to forgive, to love our neighbors, and to live by example. He was a pacifist--the most pure and true of them all. So much so that he, with all the power within him, didn't lift a finger against his oppressors, dying on the cross at the hands of people who in the end, he FORGAVE. Isn't that the whole point of Easter? Sometimes it seems so strange to me, how I, bordering on agnostic that I am, know so much more about the Bible than the people who profess to it being their favorite book.

It really really saddens me. The older I get, the more crazy the world seems to be.

Posted by crystallyn at 09:58 AM | Comments (3)

March 09, 2005

out of all the pain

we've suffered, Joe pointed out that it could have been a lot worse.

We could have been attacked by wild monkeys!

Posted by crystallyn at 07:28 AM | Comments (2)

January 28, 2005

that's a pile of...

A huge mountain of cow manure is seen smoldering at a feedlot near Milford, Neb., Tuesday, Jan. 18, 2005. The estimated 2,000-ton pile of burning cow manure spontaneously combusted about two months ago and continues to smolder despite attempts to douse it. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik)

Posted by crystallyn at 05:44 PM | TrackBack

January 19, 2005

Woohoo! Google is Cracking Down on Spam Commenters!

Finally! Google is no longer going to credit links from comment spam...which will hopefully stop comment spam in its tracks. You can bet I'll be implementing this baby soon:

Movable Type 'nofollow' plugin
01.18.2005

Today we are pleased to announce our full support for the rel="nofollow" attribute to hyperlinks introduced to address the main cause of weblog spam: the payoff of higher placement in search engine results.

This initiative, with announced support from Google, Yahoo, MSN (and surely more to come), will direct search engines to ignore links with this attribute set for the purposes of spidering or increasing search engine relevance or ranking.

For current users of Movable Type, this support is implemented as a simple plugin (zip [4K], tar/gzip [3K]-- tested on MT 3.x and MT 2.661). For most users enabling "nofollow" support involves placing a single file in your plugins directory. All links submitted by external users in comments and TrackBacks will then be modifed to add the rel="nofollow" attribute.

If you're interested in specific details of its operation and the effect it has on Movable Type template tags, see our overview entitled "Introduction to nofollow" on the Professional Network weblog. For an overview of our support across all Six Apart platforms, please see Ben's "Support for nofollow" post on Six Log.

And this great link that points out that Yahoo and other search engines will also stop recognizing comment spam: Google Takes On Comment Spammers

Posted by crystallyn at 06:40 AM | TrackBack

December 11, 2004

I AM SO HAPPY!

DURAN DURAN

April 1, 2005 at the Agganis Arena BU!

GOT MY TICKETS!

Posted by crystallyn at 11:57 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

December 02, 2004

the songs du jour

from my absolute favorite Internet radio station, daygloradio.com
that made me smile and tap my foot today are:

Orchestral Manouevres In The Dark - La Femme Accident
Dukes of the Stratosphere - Vanishing Girl
The Cult - Rain
Joey Ramone - I Wanna Be Sedated (accustic)
Pete Shelley - Homosapien
Book of Love - I Touch Roses
Tones on Tail - Go!
Michael Penn - This and That
Tears for Fears - Change
Split Enz - Six Months In A Leaky Boat
Depeche Mode - Blasphemous Rumors
Thompson Twins - You Take Me Up
Creatures - Fury Eyes
Oingo Boingo - Little Girls
Smiths - There Is A Light That Never Goes Out
PIL - This Is Not A Love Song
Sparks - Music You Can Dance To
Jimmy Somerville - Don't Leave Me This Way
Thomas Dolby - Airhead
Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart
Howard Jones - Things Can Only Get Better
Icicleworks -Whisper to a Scream
Bananarama - Shy Boy
Kim Wilde - Kids In America
David Bowie - Ashes to Ashes

and lots more...

What I love most about DayGlo Radio is that it's EXACTLY the type of 80s music that I really love...but they don't play the same songs over and over. They will often play more obscure tracks from artists rather than their one hit song. I love love love love love this station. I wish I could get it in my car!!!

Posted by crystallyn at 10:08 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

October 28, 2004

i KNEW it would only be four games

I think that Massachusetts should declare a holiday on Friday!!

We're watching the aftermath now...the insane, stupid imbeciles downtown who are tearing up the place, sigh.

I'm going to go pass out now...

Posted by crystallyn at 12:09 AM | TrackBack

October 21, 2004

'Nuff Said

Posted by crystallyn at 07:43 AM | TrackBack

October 13, 2004

so i picked up

the new Duran Duran album, Astronaut. Have barely listened to it, but I swear, they could put out complete and utter crap and I would adore it. Old habits die hard. I just can't wait till they tour. The only time I was able to check them out was when it was just Nick and Simon and non-original members, so I'm DYING for a new tour. Not sure if they will go that route though, Roger was out of the picture for so long from what they said was a nervous breakdown, so he's been out of the music scene for awhile. I have my fingers crossed though!

While I was picking that up though, I grabbed up the new William Shatner album, Has Been, which is quite good, amd even more so if you have a penchant for Shatner, who I have worshipped since I was a small kid watching Star Trek with my father. Or watching Twilight Zone, Night Gallery or Outer Limit re-runs. But what to my wondering eyes should I see? Jon Auer playing guitar! Jon is formerly of The Posies, who I used to promote when I did radio and record work way back in the day. If my scanner wasn't broken I'd scan in the drunken me shot in a poet shirt with "23" scrawled on my shoulder by Ken Stringfellow. Or my pictures of one of several interviews I did with them , but well, my scanner doesn't work so you are outta luck. We were all much younger then! I'm anxiously awaiting Jon's album, Songs From the Year of Our Demise. But Jon playing on the Shatner album was a very sweet surprise! Most people will probably notice Joe Jackson or Ben Folds on the album, but I was just pleased as punch about the fact that Jon Auer was backing up Shatner. That and the fact that Shatner covered Pulp's Common People.

Okay, well I'm getting sucked into my guilty secret, America's Top Model. Nothing more entertaining than a bunch of catty women, right? Well, I suppose unless you ARE one of the catty women, that is.

Posted by crystallyn at 08:33 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

October 08, 2004

okay okay

I haven't posted in awhile because I've been crazy busy!!! But I have had lots to say...so here goes:

1. Went to Barry Manilow last week. I was one of the youngest ones there. My friend ticked off the old people in front of us because she was screaming like a madman. He played ALL of the old hits. But the thing that cracked me up the most was that he played three MEDLEYS. I didn't know that anyone did medleys anymore!

2. Seeing Mt. St. Helens going nutso brings back memories of being in the 3rd grade, standing out on the lawn in back of our house in Nine Mile Falls, WA on May 18, 1980, the day before my mom's birthday. At about 3PM I was staring at the sun. The sky was a thick gray color. The sun was blue. Then the ash started falling and we ran inside and watched out the windows for hours as an inch or more of the strange gray powder fell like snow. My father was trapped in Montana unable to get back to us. School was canceled for two weeks. We had to wear surgical masks for nearly a month. I remember when my father did make it home, we rinsed the stuff down the driveway and he got up on the roof to rinse it off. That summer we took jars of it down to my cousin Rhett in Twin Falls so he could sell bags of it to his friends for a $1. It didn't rain ash that far south.

2. MORRISSEY ROCKED on Tuesday night!! We had killer seats (until 3/4 of the way through the show when the widest guy with the fattest head decided to stand in front of us) and he was just amazing. I was SO thrilled when he played "Rubber Ring" which is my favorite Smiths song. Out of the gazillion songs off his 20 something albums (between the Smiths and his solo career), he played the ONE song that I was dying to hear. I was so so happy! And to see him do "How Soon Is Now" was wondrous...like when I heard David Byrne do "Burning Down the House." I felt blessed to be able to see it played. Silly, but true. I am a massive Morrissey addict now...

3. We went to P-Town this last weekend. Turned out it was Pet Appreciation Weekend and Leather Weekend. So we saw lots of poochies on leashes and leathermen with leashes. Never a dull moment in that town! We stayed in the most adorable little inn, The Snug Cottage. Very high recommend.

There is more rambling I could do, I'm sure, but I will save that for later this weekend...

Posted by crystallyn at 07:00 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

September 20, 2004

Speaking of concerts,

Barry Manilow is right around the corner!

Even better, the day after, Joe and I are heading to P-Town for our 4th anniversary celebration...we go to the Cape every fall and celebrate. We're staying at a very cozy little B&B that looks great! I'll be able to tell all the queens at breakfast about Barry! We also have dinner reservations at one of our all time favorite restaurants, Chester.

Mmmmm can't wait!

Posted by crystallyn at 06:54 AM | TrackBack

September 02, 2004

I love this happy ending!

So I came home and Joe had me listen to the new Tears for Fears song off the album Everybody Loves a Happy Ending. I can't wait till it comes out next week! It's been WAY too long.

Another wonderful bit of music came my way this week--the new Bjork album, Medulla. It's a very different album for her, even more lyrically beautiful than her previous ones. She has the Icelandic Choir backing her up on many of her songs. It's really growing on me and I think it ranks up there with her Selmasongs album from the movie Dancer in the Dark, which, if you haven't rented it yet, head to Netflix NOW.

And silly me, I didn't know that They Might Be Giants have two websites! I always knew about tmbg.com but not about the other. Their new album The Spine

is amazing! Just as wacky as all the others, but deliciously different. I can't wait until we go see them on the 18th!

And WOOOHOOOOOO Ken Stringfellow has a new album out! How did I miss that? I used to know him, way back in the Posies days.

I have a picture of me talking with him and Jon Auer, but well, it's not scanned and I looked SO darn geeky. Turns out that he's opening for REM on October 29 but I bet there is no way in hell to get tickets. I'd kill to see him...REM would just be a bonus. Looks like Jon Auer has an album coming out in 2005 which also makes me infinitely happy!

Duran Duran is FINALLY almost ready to release their new reunion album, Astronaut. WOOOOHOOO John is back!

It's pretty scary to think that I've worshipped them for 24 years now. Ouch, I'm old.

Posted by crystallyn at 07:59 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

July 20, 2004

you are jealous

I can tell. I have advanced seating for Barry Manilow on October 1.

It's okay. You can weep.

I even got them for free.

Wait...you are laughing at me. You are!! But you also have the Copa Cabana running through your head too.

At the Copa! Copa Cabana!

You would chuckle even more if you knew I named my childhood little black cat, Mandy...

Posted by crystallyn at 10:00 PM | Comments (7) | TrackBack

June 11, 2004

processed food gets the thumbs down

Finally, big processed food companies are feeling the pinch, as described in this article from SignOnSanDiego.

Companies like Kraft are struggling to meet new competitive standards...and consumers' desire to eat healthier.

Cheese is a great example.

From the article: "Lately, Kraft's cheese business has been pressured by an onslaught of high-end products. Last year, U.S. sales of natural Asiago cheese, primarily distributed by a handful of importers and private-label brands, jumped 43 percent to $7.4 million, according to Information Resources Inc. Sales of Kraft aerosol cheese, which includes Cheez Whiz, fell 9.6 percent. Kraft's natural cheese sales grew 5.3 percent, while sales of its processed cheese fell 2 percent. "

At the one of the busiest Whole Foods stores in their chain, River Street in Cambridge, MA, the entire cheese counter overturns its stock in ONE WEEK. It's a massive, gourmet cheese counter!! I love love love all the wonderful cheeses they have.

And it's amazing...according to the article, Kraft wanted to buy an organic dairy so they could use the milk in their processed products. Clearly they just don't get it, do they?

I for one am glad for the health awareness craze...I see so many obese children now and it makes me heartsick. And it's companies like Kraft who push cheap, fake food on the market that lower income families can afford. Eating healthy IS more difficult, and that's the sad part of it all. Sure, I might be able to get cheap fruit at Star Market, but it's covered in pesticides and handled poorly. I'd rather shop at Whole Foods and pay more and know that I'm getting a better product. But some people can't afford that.

Argh. The older I get the more anti-establishment, anti-corporation I am becoming. Move me to Vermont already!

Posted by crystallyn at 06:39 PM | TrackBack

May 22, 2004

i highly recommend

Morrissey's new album, You Are the Quarry.

The thing I really love about Morrissey is that he sings such baleful, mournful, self-deprecating (bones and skin) angst-ridden songs in the happiest, most upbeat sort of ways. This is an absolutely amazing album. The only unfortunate thing is that it makes me realize I've been a Morrissey fan for 21 years now. Ouch.

Jem's debut album, Finally Woken.

Maybe I'm really slow--I guess you may have heard of her because her music was featured on the closing episode of the OC, but me, but well, I don't listen to the radio or watch TV much. I discovered Jem because I was suckered in by some marketing (go figure). While in Best Buy picking up the new Morrissey album, I overheard their "radio" station playing this killer song called "They." In a bit of synchronicity, I had just been reading about how most people believe things that "they" tell them. "They" being an anonymous body of people who instill beliefs such as, "you're too fat" or "you'll never amount to anything" or "if you wear that outfit 'they' will think you are dorky," and etc. The book I was reading was saying that if you actually break it down and try to determine who "they" are it probably is only a very small handful of people...maybe 2-3 people. It was an interesting exercise in helping you understand that a lot of our self belief is self-imposed. The song that Jem was singing, "They," seemed to be speaking directly to that. So of course I had to buy it.

And I'm very pleased I did. She just has a really wonderful sound, great lyrics and the song "They" is probably my new favorite.

"And it's ironic too
Coz what we tend to do
Is act on what they say
And then it is that way..."

Posted by crystallyn at 07:31 PM | TrackBack

April 07, 2004

very very fine

Kraft just bought out longtime local juicemaker, Veryfine. The company has been owned by the same family for over 100 years. Normally a buyout of this sort would be heart-wrenching. I've been in so many buy-outs, mergers and even bankruptcies, and been one of those employees who walks away with barely anything.

Not the employees of Veryfine. Sam Rowse, president of Veryfine, is splitting $15M between the 400 employees. A story like this is heart-warming during this time of political chaos (I'm trying to swear off the nightly news these days!) and national job insecurity. It gives me such hope. I want to write that man a letter and tell him how amazing it is to see a corporate executive who wants to reward the people who helped make the company great, who helped create a Veryfine product and who cares more about the people than the money.

There are some very generous people in this world. I find that more and more I am trying to aspire to be giving in places where I can. Many years ago, when I had just graduated and was jobless, I had a cat that was dying--a blood clot had paralyzed her back legs. I was at the vet, crying because I couldn't afford to do anything to keep her alive and truthfully, couldn't even afford to put her to sleep. Two women in the waiting room witnessed my sad sorry state. One of them came over to me and put her arm around me, handing me a $50 check. I couldn't believe it. She just said, "I know how it is." I think about that woman a lot. That one tiny moment has left its mark (mushy me is even crying just thinking about it). Karma. I really believe that when you act in love, you receive in love. I hope that the universe is rewarding that woman. I still wish that I could.

Just like Sam Rowse and all his very very fine employees. Kudos to you Mr. Rowse. The world needs more people like you.

Posted by crystallyn at 06:18 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

February 08, 2004

sooo Joe asks me

"How much sex do you think that guy gets?" as I'm checking out his cool car...

And tonight while we are dining in style at the Craigie Street Bistro (the sommelier brought us a bag of corks when he found out I was collecting them! But I wasn't partial to the bone marrow...ewww...texture..wrong...), Joe tells me about how he first was watching Charles Thompson IV. Joe had the chance to meet his mom when the Pixies were playing the Rat ages ago in Boston. Joe and his friend Steve, who sorta dated Kim Deal for awhile talked to Frank/Charles' mom, who sat on some milk cartons on the sidelines and watched her son rock out.

Oh, I wish I would be able to be fortunate enough to watch one of the upcoming shows that they are doing, mom or no mom!

And Joe also told me about a site he came across....See Me Rot. Oh my. There is just something rather wrong about this...

And Clay Aiken on Saturday Night Live. Singing about if he was invisible, he could watch...oh honey just hurry and come out of the closet!! I feel sorry for all those poor deluded 14 year olds who think that they might have a chance if Clay looked their way...

Tina Fey, btw, is my heroine.

Posted by crystallyn at 12:14 AM | Comments (6) | TrackBack

January 11, 2004

going out to buy some crystals

deodorant crystals, I think. Does anyone know if they work?

Maybe I'm reactionist about this, but well, the statistics ain't so great and I don't want to become one.

This article about the link between parabens found in deodorant and breast cancer is enough for me.

We saturate our bodies with chemicals...in our food, in our cosmetics, in everything. It's bound to show up somewhere...

Posted by crystallyn at 07:25 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack

January 03, 2004

where oh where can my little gnome be?

In the Boston Herald and the Boston Globe yesterday there were ads for

Where Is My Gnome?

Apparently some hapless guy named Bill has lost his gnome--or someone has taken it. Or have they?

The news clip gave me a huge chuckle at its must-be-a-joke style but the big give away was the fact that the domain name for whereismygnome.com was purchased on November 25...but oddly, his site says the gnome wasn't stolen until December 9. Not very smart thinking on the prankster's part...

So what IS the site really about? A huge, expensive gag? Taking out ads in papers like the Herald and the Globe isn't cheap. Bill's site, owned by a guy named Bruce, is based out of Raleigh, NC, which makes me think that perhaps other ads have been taken out in other cities as well. To what end?

When you call the phone number, you get Bill, in the nerdy voice, asking people to leave a message about the gnome and at the same time, telling his mom to hang up. The mailbox, of course, is full.

I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

If you want a great gnome movie subplot, check out Amelie, ...which is one of my favorite.

For Christmas, we bought gnomes for Joe's parents and his brother and his wife. We picked them up from Joe's friend, Bill (not the same Bill above), who owns a VERY charming little garden/flower shop in Beverly called

BoxGarden Billy, which is located at 641 Hale Street, Prides Crossing, MA if you are out and about. Bill is selling some of the Kimmelgnomes, which are some of the coolest gnomes I've seen...all reproductions of antiques.

We picked up WhatKnot for Rosie, Joe's mom.

And Cladmadder for Joe's brother and his family.

Apparently you are supposed to keep the gnomes outdoors...keeping them inside is very bad luck.

Perhaps Bill's missing gnome is among these 180 that have piled up at a French police station...

Posted by crystallyn at 03:19 PM | Comments (26) | TrackBack

December 09, 2003

romeo || bumble

We're eating dinner tonight (the wrong pizza from Bertucci's) and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is on TV and Joe suddenly says,

"Romeo is like the Bumble!"

That's because poor Romeo spent the day under anaesthesia having SIX teeth yanked.

And the Bumble had his teeth yanked. It made him less dangerous. Except that kitty wasn't very dangerous before he had his teeth pulled. And he's definitely not now. He's super groggy and he is really unstable when he walks. He won't close his mouth all the way, understandably.

He really needed to go in. The pictures don't really show how bad they are. His large fang there was nearly hanging out of his mouth...3/4 of the tooth was terribly infected. You can sort of see how the third tooth in has a hole in it. A lot of them were like that. He still needs to have 3 more pulled but they just couldn't overwhelm him like that. Poor little kitty.

There was a woman there who said her cat had to have a lot of his teeth pulled and that he was like a whole new cat afterward and that mostly she didn't even have an idea how miserable he was until she saw the new pain-free personality emerge.

Oh, and like the Bumble, Romeo LOVES pig dinners. Can't wait till he feels better to enjoy one.

Posted by crystallyn at 08:48 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack

October 30, 2003

ready for halloween?

I am! Have my curly black devil horns ready to go!

Speaking of the devil, look! It's a child that's succumbed to evil! And look, it's his evil dog too!

Such an adorable picture, snagged from Yahoo Pictures. Here's the caption: "Jackie" the dog and Nikaela Straus take a page from the "Harry Potter" books at the 13th annual Dog Halloween Parade in Tompkins Square Park in New York City(AFP/Getty Images/File/Mario Tama)

I couldn't resist posting this odd one too.

Got gnomes? A French police station has been stuck with a room of homeless garden gnomes, victims of a wave of gnome abductions, after a fresh bid to trace their owners failed. Policemen pose with more than 180 abducted garden gnomes in this file photo. REUTERS/Francois Lo Presti

Have a great Halloween weekend everyone!!

Posted by crystallyn at 11:23 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

October 29, 2003

for all those idiots

that think the Harry Potter books promote satanism...well, maybe you are right. Check this out.

The true plot of all of her books...make sure you read on to the "secret" plot...

Don't get me started.

Remind me not to ever be an unemployed, poor mom trying to find a way to make enough money to feed her daughter and find a place to live that had HEAT in it. It is, according to some, a direct trip to hell.

Posted by crystallyn at 09:03 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

wow

the fires in CA are so scary. I remember when there were bad fires about 15 years ago, in both CA and where I was in college in Spokane, WA. We had a "firestorm" with incredible winds (knocked down 18 trees on campus) and took out nearly 100 homes in a nearby subdivision. But this is really crazy...the fires going on there at the moment. Look at this satellite picture of the fires...all that smoke...

Satellite Picture

Posted by crystallyn at 09:20 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

October 26, 2003

a very disturbing trend

in the US in particular is the way that we are feeding our children. An article on Yahoo News describes how children between the ages of four and 24 months are eating alarming amounts of french fries and soda pop.

"French fries are the most popular vegetable eaten by children 19 to 24 months old," researcher Dr. Kathleen Reidy said at an American Dietetic Association conference. "Twenty to 25 percent of these kids did not eat a single healthy vegetable on the day of the survey, and 25 to 30 percent did not eat a single fruit."

The article goes on to talk about how infants as young as seven months are being fed soda pop in their bottles.

It just makes my jaw drop. And when I see fat kids, I mean fat LITTLE kids under the age of five, I can't understand it. I sort of look at it as akin to a form of abuse--these are kids who don't buy their own food, they don't make decisions about their health, they don't have a sense of what is good or bad for them--their parents are the only ones who can control this. And they don't, subjecting their kids to a childhood of verbal and potentially physical harm by other kids who taunt and tease them; significant impact to their child's self-esteem and how they view their own bodies and subsequently relationships; and worst of all, they put their children in the hands of potential health complications, including higher rates of cancer, diabetes, heart problems, etc. I can't understand how any parent who really loves their child would ever put them in harm's way like this. Amazing.

My parents being here this last week was fairly eye-opening to me. It was very disturbing to me that when we went to restaraunts, my father and I would invariably end up ordering the same thing (or wanting to...I often would switch my order after I realized it). I have always known I was cut from the same mold, but that was eerie. The main bad habit was dessert after every meal. Joe could never understand my affinity for dessert--why I view it as sort of a right rather than something for a special occasion. I think he gets it now. It was pretty obvious where I got that bad habit. It's interesting to me, how much my parents have influenced my eating. I never really ate seafood or fish until I came to live in New England. My parents don't eat any sort of seafood or fish unless it's shrimp...or tuna. The other thing is, they don't want to TRY anything. My father was adamant that he hated calamari. After we talked more about it, we discovered that it wasn't fried calamari, which of course is very different. It took my in-laws prodding him to try it and he liked it, as I knew he would. Other things they wouldn't try at all. It was funny, being in the reverse position, the child trying to get the parent to eat something!

But for all the bad habits I acquired, I was still a skinny child up until high school. We didn't sit in front of the TV playing video games all day (we had some Atari time in the evening, usually with dad, but not all day, and we never were allowed to have a TV in our bedroom). We played outside, we were active, and they at least tried to get us to eat vegetables. Aside from not being the weight I want to be at, I have always been pretty healthy--good blood pressure, strong heart, decent cholesterol (olive oil and garlic are diet mainstays now). One really awesome thing about my parents being here is that my awareness of food and activity and health is sticking with me...I even managed to lose a pound while they were here, despite not eating as well as I should and skipping a week at the gym.

Every time I see one of those fat kids, I feel a mixture of pity, sadness, disgust and fear, but mostly anger. Anger at those parents who are putting the lives of their own kids in jeopardy.

Posted by crystallyn at 09:58 AM | TrackBack

October 12, 2003

two things

while watching SNL tonight, starring Justin Timberlake, Joe says : "There's no way that guy would have won American Idol."

I'd never really heard him before...I don't get it. He's not very good looking (sort of dorky actually) and Bob Dylan sings better than he does. Hell, Tiny Tim is probably on par. No wonder Brittney dumped him.

He was much better doing skits than that creepy thing called singing.

On an equally freaky note, my mom sent me this thing...

This is going to drive you crazy!

While sitting at your desk, lift your right foot off the floor and make clockwise circles.

Now, while doing this, draw the number "6" in the air with your right hand.

Your foot will change direction and there's nothing you can do about it!

Weird, huh?

Posted by crystallyn at 12:30 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBack

October 07, 2003

3 degrees from Kevin Bacon

1. I went to college with Trevor St. John. He dated my roommate Anne during our freshman year.

2. Trevor was in Dogtown with Mary Stuart Masterson.

3. Mary Stuart Masterston was in Digging to China with Kevin Bacon.

Posted by crystallyn at 12:15 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack

August 28, 2003

hey joey

Driving to work and listening to Fountains of Wayne's Interstate Managers is a great way to start the day. Their lyrics are honest, easy to relate to and the tunes are catchy. I altered the song "Hey Julie" on my way to work this morning...

Hey Joey

Working all day for a mean little woman
With a Prada bag and a rub-on tan
She's got me running 'round the office like a dog around a track
But when I get home,
You're always there to rub my back

Hey Joey,
Look what they're doing to me
Trying to trip me up
Trying to wear me down
Joey, I swear, it's so hard to bear it
And I'd never make it through without you around

Hours on the phone making pointless calls
I got a desk full of papers that means nothing at all
Sometimes I catch myself staring into space
Counting down the hours 'til I get to see your face

Hey Joey,
Look what they're doing to me
Trying to trip me up
Trying to wear me down
Joey, I swear, it's so hard to bear it
And I'd never make it through with out you around
No, I'd never make it through with out you around

How did it come to be
That you and I must be
Far away from each other every day?
Why must I spend my time
Filling up my mind
With facts and figures that never add up anyway?
They never add up anyway

Working all day for a mean little gal
With a bad nose job and an abusive mouth
She's got me running 'round the office
Like a gerbil on a wheel
She can tell me what to do
But she can't tell me what to feel

Hey Joey,
Look what they're doing to me
Trying to trip me up
Trying to wear me down
Joey, I swear, it's so hard to bear it
And I'd never make it through with out you around
No, I'd never make it through without you around
No, I'd never make it through with out you around

Posted by crystallyn at 08:38 AM | TrackBack

August 27, 2003

and really...

I'm good enough, smart enough and doggone it, people like me.

Joe says that's what I need. Stuart. Well, actually, I took a quiz on what my motivator is and it came out that it's my inner drive. And that affirmations are what I really need to help me achieve goals. And well, so of course, what a better man to give me affirmations than Stuart?

I mean really...with such witticisms as this?

"Whining is anger through a small opening."
"It's better to change your shoes than to carpet the world."

Oddly enough, my company was looking to hire Al Franken as a keynote speaker for our annual user conference. Doh! He was booked. Sigh. Now THAT would have been very cool...

Posted by crystallyn at 08:42 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

August 21, 2003

one of the reasons

why Keanu is actually a great actor in the Matrix...is because he barely talks.

Ooo I can't wait.

Posted by crystallyn at 08:47 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack

August 05, 2003

OMG

Umm...I just don't have the words to describe my reaction to this...

http://in.news.yahoo.com/030624/43/25eim.html

Posted by crystallyn at 07:57 PM | Comments (7) | TrackBack

July 20, 2003

zombies, zombies, zombies!

Joe has some odd addiction for zombies and zombie movies. Within a month of meeting, he made me watch the original Night of the Living Dead, because I had made it to 30 years old without seeing it. Now we have a little joke when we're in various places and see someone strange looking walking around. Joe will invariably point out that they must be a zombie.

We're waiting to go see 28 Days until after next Friday, because we read in the Boston Globe that they will be showing the alternative, darker ending after the credits in new showings. Apparently they had wanted to release two versions--each with a different ending, but it goes against motion picture bylaws to do so.

Well, now you too can take a class in zombie-ism! The catch is that you need to be a UCSC student...you'd never find that class over in Boston. We have too many cemeteries here (there are two within half mile of my house--one of them the famous Mt. Auburn Cemetery). If zombie-ism is real, we're toast!

On an unrelated note, I had been reading Kasey's (our zombie professor extraordinare) site for awhile and through him, discovered Well Nourished Moon. I'd been reading Stephanie's site for awhile when I received an email from her--turns out she had linked through to me from Kasey's site and realized we were alumni! A few weeks later, I receive another email, from another alumni, Heather, who found my site through Stephanie's site--and the irony there is that I had actually written about Heather only a few days prior. We haven't talked in ten years and yet, here I had just written about her, and her note that she had read my post shows up in my email box. Talk about amazement and shock!

Synchronicity is a strange and funny thing. And for as large as this world is, it's really not very big at all.

Posted by crystallyn at 09:50 AM | Comments (7) | TrackBack

July 19, 2003

several disturbing things

** Cheney Energy Task Force Documents Feature Map of Iraqui Oilfields, courtesy of SixDifferentWays

** Creationist (ignoramus) Science Fair, courtesy of Ancarett

** Joe making me listen to Slade's Cum on Feel the Noize.

** The fact that Slade is still around and touring...

** The fact that I actually remember and like the song Run Run Away (see chameleon lying there in the sun...)

** A man finding a mouse head in his Wendy's chili. Mmm yum. Courtesy of Exploding Cigar.

Posted by crystallyn at 09:39 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBack

July 15, 2003

malkovich, malkovich, malkovich!

Sunday mornings are usually spent on the balcony, eating breakfast. Over coffee, Joe mentions that the Globe reported that John Malkovich was moving to Boston. I didn't think much of it until yesterday when Joe called and asked me to guess who he saw standing in front of the Crate & Barrel in Harvard Square. I didn't know.

"Someone famous," he said.

"Umm...Natalie," I replied, since Ms. Portman attends Harvard and we often see her around town. Besides, I have Star Wars on the brain these days.

"Nope."

"Ummm Seamus?" I was thinking of Mr. Heaney, who often is seen at Harvard as well.

I thought about mentioning Yo-Yo , who also lives in Cambridge, but I figured at this point I was on the wrong track.

"Malkovich. He was just standing there, waiting for someone."

"Did you talk to him?"

"Umm no. What do you say to him without coming across like an idiot?"

He's right. I tried to figure out what I would have said if I had seen him. Would I have walked up to him and said, "Oh my god, I loved you in Shadow of the Vampire (which I did)?" No. "Umm, excuse me, Mr. Malkovich, can you give me directions to Mass Ave?" Har! "So, John, what color towels would you really buy if you were to walk into that Crate & Barrel?" Or perhaps: "You are such a handsome, sexy devil..."

I realized that no, there is nothing witty or wise to be said, nothing that you could do but walk by and marvel that you just saw Mr. Malkovich, one of the finest actors (IMHO) of our time.

Posted by crystallyn at 06:20 AM | Comments (6) | TrackBack

July 14, 2003

jellyfish elvis and sunshine idiots

Saturday found Joe and I down on Pier 4 waiting for the Elvis Costello show. We went down about 3 hours early and parked across the street then meandered down to the Barking Crab for dinner. On the walk toward the Crab, we found a spot in the bay with hundreds of jellyfish. We stood and watched for a while, listening to Elvis warming up back at the Fleet Pavilion. The day was bright, the air was perfect, the jellyfish were wonderful and mysterious and other than the fact that I wore the wrong shoes, the entire world seemed to be in the right place.

Elvis was great, as to be expected. He didn't address the audience much--hardly at all, in fact--but he more than made up for it with the rousing show that he and the Imposters (2/3 of the original Attractions) put on. He played a lot of the more obscure songs, which Joe knew and I didn't, but he did play the most amazing lounge-like version of Watching the Detectives, which I felt was the best song of the night, and not just because I knew it so well. He only played a few popular tunes, (Watching the Detectives, Clubland, What's so Funny about Peace, Love & Understanding, Pump It Up, Every Day I Write the Book), which left me really wishing that he had played She, Alison, Accidents Will Happen and my personal favorite, Veronica. But as Joe pointed out, he's played all those songs so many damn times and he has SO MUCH music that it's perfectly understandable if he is playing his other tunes. I mean, we're talking about a man that will put 25-30 songs on a CD. I guess he's brought a song wheel to some of his past shows and spun the wheel to see what will come up--now that is pretty cool, I think. He does have a powerful voice. He never wavered, he was strong until the very end. Two thumbs up, Elvis!

Sunday we decided late in the day to head to Singing Beach to add to my splotchy tan (a result of uneven suntan lotion, sigh). On the way there, some idiot in a really nice Acura, came flying by us, weaving in and out of traffic and then riding quite literally on the bumper of anyone that was in front of him. We watched him do this in the fast lane and Joe was saying that he was, essentially, an accident waiting to happen.

And it did.

He must have tapped the minivan in front of him, because next thing we knew, there was smoke and screeching and cars swerving everywhere. We were far enough back to be able to slow down and react. Three cars pulled off to the side, and it looked like no one was hurt--the cars weren't even banged up, strangely enough. After we moved past this little fiasco, we quickly realized that the guy wouldn't have made it very far anyway. It was wall-to-wall traffic all the way up the North Shore.

But Singing Beach was beautiful and the water was slightly warmer than Crane's Beach on the Fourth. We ended up down in the gay section, I think...lots of fancy men in tight swimsuits oiling each other up and eyeing each other. I mean, don't get me wrong, some of my dearest and closest friends are gay, but watching gay men in prowling mode is not really my idea of communing with nature.

I think the worst was the old man in a flesh colored sagging speedo with big huge silver nipple rings wandering the beach. His appearance just seemed to scream child molester for some reason. And that makes me wonder about the parents who let their 4 year old girls run around topless at the beach. I realize it's all very innocent and when I was young I'm sure I did the same, but the world is very different now and letting your youngster run around naked in public basically opens them up to the view of some really sick-minded people.

Okay, /rant off, and back to getting stuff done, of which there is a lot...

Posted by crystallyn at 10:37 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack

July 09, 2003

9 million people

out of work in the US for over a year now...

I hope to god they think twice when they vote next year.

Oh, and this site...absolutely says it all. Thanks James.

Posted by crystallyn at 06:34 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

July 08, 2003

elvis is everywhere!

Joe called me at work this morning with a delightful surprise...we're going to see Elvis! The show is at the Fleet Boston Pavilion on the wharf, where I saw Duran Duran a few years back (yes yes, I was a Duranie...can't WAIT for their 25 anniversary reunion tour!).

Both of us are longtime Elvis fans, but especially Joe. Funny enough, for being the music lovers that we are, this is the first actual concert (i.e. not in a bar) that we've gone to together.

Elvis, was, rightfully so, inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame earlier this year. Oooo I can't wait to see him perform. I know he has a new album coming out in September, called North, so this tour must be in advance of that. Still, I'm really hoping to hear Everyday I Write the Book, Accidents Will Happen, Veronica, Watching the Detectives...he's got 100s of songs though...how difficult it must be to figure out what to perform.

As for other things...got my computer back and I'm sunburnt but had a fabulously lazy weekend...

Posted by crystallyn at 05:49 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack

July 01, 2003

concrete jungle

They have discovered over 836 species of animals living in New York's Central Park. Including moss piglets...

Posted by crystallyn at 05:07 PM | TrackBack

June 30, 2003

the ties that bind

my one-year-old computer died this weekend. Well, not really died, but basically the video card gave out and after going to Best Buy, Microcenter, CompUSA and PCs For Everyone AND calling Dell themselves, I discover a couple of things:

1. My computer doesn't upgrade to 64mb card, which means that I wasn't going to be able to play my copy of Star Wars Galaxies that Joe had picked up for me--I've been waiting for the game to come out for over two years now.

2. No one in town carries 32MB video cards that would fit in my Dell computer--Dell makes their cases very narrow, which means that the card is a proprietory card that you have to buy from Dell.

3. Dell has no stock on video cards that fit my computer.

4. I'm never going to buy a Dell again. And unless you never want to be able to upgrade, I recommend you don't buy one either.

5. I need to buy a zip drive and BACKUP, BACKUP, BACKUP my stuff.

And so we traipsed back over to PCs For Everyone, gave them my hard drive from the Dell (I will be heartbroken if all my work is lost...it's been a few months since I backed up, sigh) and they are building me a new PC... Pentium 4, 40mb (on top of the 40mb I am transferring in) 512 RAM, 128mb Nvidia video, 52x CDRW and fully capable of running any game or program I decide for at least the next year--and then it will still be able to upgrade.

The bad news is that I don't get it back till the 7th. I feel lost!! Joe is being very gracious about sharing his computer, however.

So a couple of things this weekend--I read the new Harry Potter in about two days...I read too damn fast and then I'm left sort of sitting there, wishing that I could keep reading. I envy people who take 2 weeks to read a book that size...there is a savoring that I am not as privy to. I mean, I savor every word that I read, but then I'm left wanting more and more and more. Anyway, the book is great.

J.K. Rowling has the killer formula for creating these books. Much like Beverly Hills 90210, Harry goes through high school, then it will be college...so there are at least 4-5 more books right there. After that he starts to lose some of the appeal for youngsters, so it makes sense that he does one or two things--one, he marries and has a child that begins the next phase of the books and/or two, he takes over for Dumbledore (we know that he doesn't live all the way through the series anyway) and takes on a protege of some sort.

I love the readability of the books though--they are fun, dramatic, lively and engaging and the appeal to both adults and children alike is the most amazing part. That's difficult to do. I also love how they wrap you up in the story--even now, several days later, I find that I'm still thinking of the books, wondering what will happen next, if that's the way it really is with Sirius, what role will Gwarp play, will Ron and Hermione get together? Ginny and Harry (come on...all foreshadowing points to this)? Very amazing when books linger with you for weeks and weeks and even years afterward.

And Star Wars Galaxies. Wow. Just plain wow. The graphics are incredible. The game premise is equally amazing, with options for many different types of gamers--casual gamers, hardcore gamers. Those who prefer to play solo and those who like to game with groups. If you are into crafting and building weapons and battlestations or clothing and food, then you are all set. If you are interested in the cut em, shoot em up stuff, it's all there too. If you are into questing...there are numerous seek and destroy or delivery missions. It's extremely complex, and if you aren't willing to put a little patience into figuring out the controls, I don't recommend it, but I have a feeling that this will end up being as addictive as Everquest, if not more so. There are bugs, since this is the opening release, but those will get worked out and in another six months with a full player economy in place, it will be a really interesting--and addictive--game.

Posted by crystallyn at 06:40 AM | Comments (6) | TrackBack

June 09, 2003

she speaks!

I admit to being torn...I dislike the woman intensely, but if anything happened to that silly magazine and the site (hell, I even like the show), I will be sad--definitely my guilty secret. But she is speaking out about being charged...oh woe is her.

If she wasn't known to be such an evil bitch offscreen, perhaps she wouldn't be in the situation she is now. People love to watch the mighty fall, especially the self-important ones.

Posted by crystallyn at 06:55 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

June 08, 2003

not so charming

First off, thanks for all the birthday well-wishes!!!

Today, we went to Joe's brother's to celebrate another birthday, nephew Clement's 3rd birthday. He's growing so fast, talking up a storm. We bought him a dumptruck, a construction hat and a water yo-yo. The yo-yo, the $1.25 toy, was the favorite one, of course.

They had just returned from a three week trip to Italy with Joe's parents...touring Venice, Rome, Milan, Pompeii, Florence and Monte Sant'Angelo, the birthplace of Joe's grandmother. That's a pretty interesting thing, actually, because what it means is that Joe's mom, Rosie, is able to apply for dual citizenship, which means that her kids (and their spouses!) are also able to receive that same citizenship. It is surprising...because including Clement, that's three generations down! It's exciting--it means that if Joe and I ever decide we want to retire to Tuscany, we can! ;-)

I guess we should visit first, however, right?

It turns out my sister-in-law, Boo, is quite the magnet for celebrities in Italy. American ones. She was in a bathroom in Rome on the last night there (about two weeks ago) and ran into Brian Krause, who plays Leo on Charmed. The bathrooms there all have unisex foyers and sinks and the toilets are separated inside, but that means you may be washing your hands with the men after you leave the toilet. She was doing that, and in the process, they discovered they were both from America. She asked if he was having a nice time in Rome and he pathetically began to talk about how his show, Charmed (he mentioned it, she didn't ask) was just renewed and how the people in Venice were all shouting his name in the streets. Boo had no clue what the show was, or who he was, and said it was really uncomfortable...him bragging about it to her in a Roman bathroom.

A few days prior, they were in Milan and Boo was lamenting the living statues, and how she was feeling annoyed with the crazy ways that people try to make money from the tourists. Suddenly, they saw this big transclucent ball coming their way. She started to groan, thinking about yet another crazy method to snag the dollars from the tourists, when she realized that inside the ball was Peter Gabriel!

Apparently it's called the Zorb. They took pictures of it, but the pictures here are from the Peter Gabriel site.

Rosie got me stationery from Italy and they picked up a great book on the Sistine Chapel for Joe. I wish I could go visit. I think I'm going to dig out my learning Italian CDs from the old car, and start learning again...

Ciao!

Posted by crystallyn at 08:24 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

May 27, 2003

anthony hopkins, bad dreams and gollum as a rapstar

This weekend, Joe and I watched Red Dragon, the pre-quel to Silence of the Lambs, starring Anthony Hopkins, Ed Norton, Ralph Fiennes and Harvey Keitel. Wasn't too bad a movie...it's just a shame that it had to follow the massive bomb, Hannibal, which was arguably one of the worst movies I've ever seen. I'll never be able to look at Ray Liota and not think about eating his brain for lunch.

Oddly enough, we watched that on Saturday night and last night I had a dream that I was with a group trying to hunt down Anthony Hopkins in a big old hotel (it was more of a mansion than a hotel), and one of my co-workers found him in a room upstairs. She ran out hysterically, saying that he was up on the ceiling and that he was going to kill her. She wouldn't stop, even though I had the distinct feeling that he wouldn't have killed her if she could have just calmed down a bit. Very strange.

That dream was on the heels of another dream in which I was moving into a very tiny, dark apartment with twisty passageways into each room (the main entrance was off of a dorm hallway and it was so small I called it a rabbit hole...you had to crawl into it). The movers were supposed to come at 1:30AM and so we got up at 1:20, turned on the lights and the porchlights, but the movers never came! The next day I had to try and remember which movers we used...I couldn't remember and they had all our furniture.

Sunday we picked up the boxed DVD set for The Fellowship of the Ring and watched the long version for the first time. It was so much better, including extra scenes which I felt were very crucial to the movie (the gifts from Galadriel, for example). Thanks to a tip from James, I know that I should wait till the long version of Two Towers comes out in November, rather than buying it in August.

Somehow, in the course of some conversation I had this weekend (Joe is a huge Built to Spill fan and he was surprised to find out they were from Boise--I assured him, that, like me, some good things do come from there), I had a long memory of someone that I used to know and always wondered what happened to. Every so often I look for him online and it turns out he's finally got a web presence (and a two year old son!! congrats!). Ned was one of the more talented people I used to know and it looks like probably still is.

It was sort of timely that in perusing his site I discovered this little tidbit--

Gollum going a bit nutty with one of his orc buddies.

This is great for a serious laugh. I should post this to the geek Everquest boards I used to go to, but I think I'll let Sean/Corwin or Shanna/Ciado do it for me.

Posted by crystallyn at 06:24 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack

May 20, 2003

if ruben wins i'll be

pissed. Joe got me watching American Idol...he's been very sucked into it. Ruben is good, but he isn't better than the others. The John Lennon "Imagine" cover that he did was just NOT good...sorry, but that's the truth of it. Come on, let the gay guy win...he's much much better.

The amazing thing is that there are thousands of clueless teenage girls who idolize him...my gaydar is like a siren when I see that guy. I mean, come on...his favorite male singer is Peter Cetera???

Posted by crystallyn at 03:20 PM