Accept no substitutes

Category: Amusements (Page 14 of 31)

Things that are amusing

Ode to a Big Mac (Supersize that?)

E. V. reports seeing a sign announcing a “Poetry Event” on the McDonald’s in Raleigh. Could that event be related to this (from the North Carolina Writer’s Network News Letter):

Signed Books Needed for Ronald McDonald House Fundraiser

The Writers’ Network is calling on members to contribute signed copies of their books for a fundraising auction Friday, February 3, at the Washington Duke Inn to benefit the Ronald McDonald House of Durham. Please send signed books to: Ms. Lisa Lambert, Special Events Director, Ronald McDonald House of Durham, 506 Alexander Ave., Durham, NC 27705. Include your name, address, value of the book, and a memo stating the auction item is from the N.C. Writers’ Network. A receipt will be forwarded for your records. To request an invitation to the wine tasting and auction, e-mail specialevents@ronaldhousedurham.org.

Or is it, as Tanya Olsen suggests, the work of Langston Fuze?

Ain’t Gonna Bump No More No Big Fat Woman on air

Lorrinda’s note reminds me that WUNC’s State of Things aired Michael Parker reading “Hidden Meanings: Treatment of Time, Supreme Irony, and Life Experiences in the Song ‘Ain’t Gonna Bump No More No Big Fat Woman’” on Thursday. Here’s how it was listed:

Dec. 29, 2005
Term Paper: Greensboro writer Michael Parker reads “Hidden Meanings, Treatment of Time, Supreme Irony, and Life Experiences in the Song, ‘Ain’t Gonna Bump No More No Big Fat Woman,'” published in “New Stories from the South” (Algonquin/2005). The short story takes the form of an increasingly personal college term paper. (30:00)

I managed to miss the show, but it should be in the Archives and/or by podcast soon. The most recent show archived today is 12/22/2005.

New Year’s Eve Eve with Alan and Sylvia

Alan Garr and Sylvia Garrard write:

Alan Garr will be performing at Open Eye Cafe on Friday, December 30 at 8pm. Open Eye Cafe is located in the heart of Carrboro, NC at 101 South Greensboro Street just across from that smelly yellow eyesore, Wendy’s Restaurant; and I use the term restaurant loosely…Anyway, appearing with Alan will be Sylvia Garrard and Ryan Groulx, so come on out and celebrate New Year’s Eve EVE with us

War on Christmas (Interplanetary edition)

Santa v. Martians
A major event in the war on Christmas was documented in one of my delightful gifts — Santa Claus Conquers the Martians novelization and DVD of the 1964 film which features not only Pia Zadora as a child actress but much of the same scramble footage as seen in Dr. Strangelove (which was released the same year).
Also in the movie, the original version of the traditional Christmas carol “Hooray for Santy Claus.”
Also available at archive.org.

Passing for BBQ, Passing for Beef

In this part of Deep East Texas, BBQ is used as a word for almost anything but pulled pork: chopped beef, sliced beef, beef brisket, turkey done the same ways and the mysterious Hot Links which are mild sausages. No amount of ketchup based brown sause will turn any of this into pulled pork. Not even the deceptively simple Eastern vinegar and pepper sauce could change it for the best. I can say I have had Hot Links and would just as soon have andouville
On our way down, we stopped at one of the Sonny’s chain (from Gainesville, FL) where the pork was sliced or pulled and you could have all you could eat (including beef and chicken) for under $7. There the disappointment was that only brown ketchup based sauce was on the table. As we left, I did see packets of South Carolina style mustard based sauce but that was too late.
In Mississippi, we stopped in a Chili’s where I had a buffalo burger which was passing for lean beef. The meat was good a flavorful, but the associated pepper flavored condoments were decidedly weak and mild (perhaps seasonal?).
There is no substitute for NC pulled pork be it Eastern or Lexington.

Christmas night sing along at WCOM 8:30 p.m.

Melva Flager Okum writes

I’m gathering at crowd at the WCOM (corner of Weaver St. and N Greensboro St.) studio on Christmas night at 8:30 p.m. (3:30 Hawaiian time) to sing the Hawaiian Christmas song, Melekaikimaka. The below URL will get you to the music and also below you can see the words. I encourage people to bring bells, flutes, guitars, yukuleles and whistles with them. Gina (recently returned from Hawaii) and Susan (also recently returned from Hawaii where she, Richard, and Gina walked or ran the Honolulu marathon) and I have been practicing singing the song on our morning walks – not that we are any good, but we have been practicing. And you can sing it or play it, too. We will be live on the air for the whole world to hear – for better or for worse. Feel free to tell others about it – whom you think might enjoy such a moment. Live – you’re on WCOM radio.

p.s. I’ve called my friend Angela Sy in Honolulu and she can join us by phone for the sing along. No matter what we’re on the air so don’t miss this fun moment. You can tell family and friends to listen along and sing along by going to our webstreaming option at www.communityradio.coop and in the upper right hand corner, click on the webstreaming button. She is working on gathering some friends to join her in Honolulu so this is a Carrboro to Honolulu sing along, made possible by WCOM radio.

Click on this link to get the words and hear the music!

Also, lyrics…

Mele Kalikimaka is the thing to say on a bright Hawiian Christmas Day
That’s the island greeting that we send to you from the land where palm trees sway
Here we know that Christmas will be green and bright
The sun to shine by day and all the stars at night
Mele Kalikimaka is Hawaii’s way to say Merry Christmas to you

A Hui Ho! (Till we meet again!)

Elvis and Nixon – the unpublished pictures.

Who’s on drugs in these pictures? Best seen as a fast slide show. (Thanks Jason for restoring these).

UPDATE: David Menconi, expert on all popular culture, points me to “Elvis Meets Nixon” of which IMDB says:

A “mockumentary” about Elvis’s real-life trip to the White House to become a federal marshal under the DEA, but meets the President instead. Along the way, the film exposes Elvis’s humor, drug problem, and even him pulling a gun out at a doughnut shop.

UPDATE: The National Archives have a great exhibit online now including photos of Elvis’ letter etc.

DJ Bobby D? Dylan on XM

The Washington Post (and about everywhere else) reports that Bob Dylan has signed on to do a show on satellite radio, XM.

The XM site says:

Bob Dylan on XM
Coming in March 2006 to Deep Tracks – XM 40

While Bob Dylan defines the poetry and imagination of our era, his radio program will humbly explore the music that moves him and engage the people who need to be heard. Without any boundaries or playlists, Bob’s show will cross genres and offer a peek into the musical soul of one of the most important songwriters and artists of the 20th Century. More show details coming soon.

XM is already airing fellow Traveling Wilbury Tom Petty weekly.

After spending hours in the car with the abridged version of Chronicles as read by Sean Penn (Thanks for the loan, Sri), I can only imagine Dylan as sounding like Penn on the CDs. And after hearing how Dylan completely rearranges almost every song of his own, I’m wondering what will end up being played and what versions. Of course this is the delight of Dylan — and in some cases the pain. He’s an eclectic and enigmatic presenter.

Will this push me over to paying for radio tho? Will it be the deciding factor for you?

Singing in Pittsboro on Friday Night

Sylvia writes to let us know that there’ll be music at the Pittsboro General Store this Friday featuring Alan Garr and Sylvia herself:

Alan Garr (Garrard) is playing original music with back up singers Sylvia Freeman Garrard and Deb Stewart Friday night December 16 at 8:30 at the Pittsboro General Store in beautiful downtown Pittsboro! A friend and member of Leastways, Ryan Groulx, will also play along and perform some of his original songs. Sylvia and Deb will sing a few standards as well. Come and join in the fun and support us at the same time. I’m told the food is great at this place. We’ll look forward to seeing you there.

How to get there: 39 W Street, Pittsboro is next to the downtown traffic circle, just across from the Pittsboro courthouse. Phone: (919) 542-2432 if you need further help in finding us. I’m told the orange cones have been removed from 15-501 so it’s easier to get to Pittsboro than it used to be!

More on Library Futures (and wikipedians)

Mike Conway posts a comment in response to the musing about the Future of Collections in Academic Libraries below asking about Wikipedians (as a term and as a people) and a bit about library futures. I decided to reply as a brief article and as a comment so’s it doesn’t get lost.

First Wikipedian is not that new a term. Wikipedians have been self-identifying by that name for a while now. See also “You now you are a Wikipedian if …”

We have a professional information caste; we call them “librarians” and less often “encyclopedians” The last were/are the heroes of the Foundation Trilogy as compilers of the Encyclopedia Galactica. Or you might prefer the parody turned real HitchHiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”.

For the moment, I’m thinking and talking about academic libraries and their future collections. A little bit of boundary helps me out. I do think that data preservation and access (see post above) problems and solutions contain the big issues for the next 20 years.

Public libraries are in an interesting state. They are busier than ever before. People are demanding growth and more access. Being able to access information on the Internet seems to have increased public library use. Book clubs, internet access, reference, and collections of multimedia (books on tape, children’s, etc) are large growth areas at the moment.

An aside, today I have two board meetings — one of the Academic Board of the Library for the UNC Academic Libraries; one for the Chapel Hill Public Library Board of Trustees.

UPDATE: Nassib has been thinking about Federated Databases in Science over at his blog.

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