Results of the 2011 World Beard and Moustache Championships in Norway

This is the kind of piece that could really benefit from a slideshow!

FYI the guy on the left was the overall winner, and crafted a reindeer out of his beard (that creepy rat-looking thing on the right side of his face). The guy on the right won the Full Beard Natural category, or as I like to call it, the Old Hasid category.

Full Beard Natural sounds like a sub-genre of gay mens' porn to me.

34 Barelies

Yeah, I wear things like this.

Related: American Apparel's website is really scary.

Junip

KCSN has been playing a lot of Junip lately, and I like it. I was never on the Jose Gonzales bandwagon, as I prefer the OG Heartbeats, and find a lot of his stuff to be sleepy (though I could say that about the Junip record too).

Apparently I am late to this party; Junip played in Hollywood last November. Cool! Ask me about my latest pop culture finds, like unknown film The Social Network and underground Swedish pop princess Robyn.

Cover It Live

I am a reader of online chats. I do not participate in them, but I enjoy getting the author's personal take on a subject, or some expert analysis. It is also fun to see what kind of questions come from the general (read: wackadoodle) population.

But the world of online chats has been invaded by an innocent-looking menace: Cover It Live software. I have no idea if this software/program offers a benefit to publications, but as a reader I really don't like looking at it. For example, this LAT chat on yoga and this NYer chat with David Brooks both use Cover It Live. This NYer chat doesn't. I think CIL makes the page harder to navigate, and is not nice to look at (and occasionally won't allow you to keep the chat window open after you navigate away from the page). Am I just a Luddite (yes)? Am I missing some great benefit?

Cat-themed cover band

My newest endeavor is forming a cover band that takes pop hits from the 80's, 90's, and beyond, and reworks the lyrics to include more cat-oriented language.

This bro at ICHC knows what I'm talking about:


For those among us with more contemporary taste, you may enjoy my rendition of Yacht's "Psychic City," which I will call "Psychic Kitty."



This band needs a name. Suggestions?

P.S. Best comment on the Yacht video: "FUCKING FREAKSHOW CUNTS GO AND DIE"

Breakfast of Champions

Missing a michelada. Other than that, no complaints.

And we linger on

Just Dance 2 track list revealed!!!

Thank you Laura.

Highlights:

2. Bangles – "Walk Like An Egyptian"

12. Elvis Presley – "Viva Las Vegas"

38. The Jackson 5 – "I Want You Back"

44. Wham! – "Wake Me Up Before You Go Go"

Worst track:

39. The Pussycat Dolls – "When I Grow Up"

Bang vs. Blast

I die.

Cooking Tony Danza

I may want to see this Joan Rivers documentary. That screenshot is from the trailer, where she shows where she keeps all of her jokes filed on index cards. I wish there were a joke about cooking Tony Danza.

Rotarder

I just posted over at Lucy's and that was the Google security person-confirmation word that I had to type. Wish I had a screenshot.

True Prep: The Making Of

Out on Sept. 7, 2010.

Restriction of Jello-shots, and other alcoholic items such as alcohol infused fruit

The City of Manhattan Beach is leaving no stone unturned in its quest to make 6 Man safer this year.

I understand wanting to increase revenue and decrease conspicuous alcohol consumption, but I think the No Costumes clause is over the line.

TRUE PREP

I die.

Someone should throw a Rites of Spring party to celebrate!

iPlahd

I have been reading a fair amount abotu the iPad because I want to be persuaded to like it.

Up to this point I believe that there are people who surely want it (Macfags and gadget early adopters) and peopel who surely don't (people who are irritated by Macfags and those who would rather spend money on food, drinks, clothes, etc.). I am waiting to see who is in the middle, and if anyone can be pulled from one group to another, and I haven't figured that out yet.

Here is a real fanboy piece with nice pics and an optimistic look at the creative future as guided by tablets (but I don't think this piece successfully argues that iPad is THE tablet for the job).

This is a piece about how the iPad will eradicate th eneed for any other kind of computer device.

Here is a more tech-oriented argument against the iPad, and moreover against Apple's DRM-heavy business model that encourages one to buy more, not create different.

I have a question about the way that the tablet is supposed to save print media: how? I thought the issue with print is that lots of advertising revenue has been lost, primarly in the classified pages, and papers, magazines, etc. cannot make up for that revenue with online ads. So how is the iPad supposed to help? By increasing the number of peopel who will subscribe? So that advertisers will pay a lot to get in front of their eyes? Or the subscription fees are supposed to make a difference?

Please, someone explain this part to me. Update on 4/9/10: Oh, iAd.

Pet peeves at work

My pet peeves outside of work are mostly people walking on the bike path and driving like blind elephants.

At work:

• Saying "my whole thing is" when you mean "the issue is"
• Ellipses instead of a period or other, more definitive punctuation. He gets points for quotation marks as well: See David’s comments below….just so I know, was the data you pulled ‘title specific’ or part of a ‘summary’ report/query?
• Eating a tuna sandwich on the other side of my cube wall every day for hours.

More to come I am sure.

Dear Swerve Studio, please go jump in a lake.

Guess what Swerve? If you want to encourage people to patronize your business, you could start by improving your customer service!

In the words of Lucy, "F* her. Namaste."

Related question: Who the f spells namaste with an f'ing accent aigu?

Date: Wed, 17 Feb 2010 14:04:19 -0800
Subject: Re: Groupon promotion
From: info@swervestudio.com
To: Erin

Dear Erin,

We are sorry that you are disappointed in the Groupon promotion at Swerve. However, we do uphold the
New customer only policy for the promotion. The new customer only stipulation was very clearly printed on both the deal page and on your coupon. It is Swerve’s policy to abide by the rules it has set for itself and working with a partner such as Groupon.

There are many reasons that we set a new customer only policy for this deal. One of them being, we actually do lose money on the promotion when you factor in all the costs for a class such as teacher’s pay, desk staff, etc and the fact this is such a deep discount, Swerve does lose money. However, like any business we invest in bringing in new clients through deals such as this in the hopes they will enjoy the classes and decided to buy a package. You expressed you have no intention to buy a package yourself. In giving current clients a discount such a this we are losing a great deal of money.

Groupon advertised our promotion exactly as we set it up to and it was clearly stated that it would be valid for new customers only. You are welcome to sell it to a friend who has not been here before, sell it on Craigslist, or give it as a gift. Unfortunately, all purchases of the package went directly to Groupon and we do not have any control over them or the income to put towards a single class or package. Groupon runs the promotion as is and we honor it as is.

We hope that you are able to give or sell this to someone and receive your money back that way. We also hope you do enjoy the classes at Swerve enough to continue taking them. Please let us know if you have any other questions or concerns as we would be happy to answer them.

Namasté,

Swerve

On 2/17/10 11:18 AM, "Erin" wrote:

>
> Hello,
>
> I am writing to express displeasure at your policy concerning the recent
> Groupon promotion. I purchased the Groupon, not realizing that it was for new
> customers only. When I tried to redeem the Groupon last night to take a
> circuit training class, I was told that it is not possible for me to use the
> Groupon because I have been to Swerve before.
>
> The refusal of my Groupon implies that to honor it would cause Swerve to lose
> money, which is not the case. I purchased the Groupon specifically because it
> was a discounted offer; I had no plans to buy a full-price package. I even
> offered to use it as a credit towards a full-price class, and was told that is
> not possible. I have friends who purchased the Groupon for the same reasons I
> did, and now we are extremely disappointed.
>
> I don’t understand why Swerve would refuse to honor my payment for classes. If
> Swerve is unhappy with the way Groupon advertised this promotion, that issue
> should be handled between Swerve and Groupon, rather than punishing paying
> customers like me.
>
> I was told that my only options are to sell the Groupon or give it away; is
> this true, and if so, why?
>
> Thank you for your time,
> Erin

Do I need to be debarked?

The ultimate in vocal volume control.

That way, people will be spared the screaming that results from being an enthusiastic participant in life.

Recital Meltdown

Guess which kid prompted my sister to say "this is something you would have done?"