adrian is rad

You may have noticed that this site was down earlier today. That’s because the registration on adrianbischoff.com expired and I’d forgotten to renew it. OOPS!

All taken care of now, though.

But seriously, did you miss me?

I generally avoid writing about religion or politics, though I have a half-written post from months ago on exactly this topic. What brought it up this time is Barak Obama’s keynote speach at the “Call to Renewal” conference. It’s the sort of topic that could alienate people on both sides, but the speach is well-written and I think it walks the line pretty well. I admire someone that’s willing to put his thoughts out there like that, though. I’d recommend reading it all the way through.

(Incidentally, Call to Renewal is run by Jim Wallis, who wrote this book, which looks like it might be interesting.)

Now to go back to being apathetic about politics.

I like Neutral Milk Hotel a lot, but this might be a little rediculous.

There was a post on an Elephant 6 message board, apparently from Jeff Mangum, in which he talks about having new songs and thinking about recording them.

You Ain’t No Picasso picked it up, followed by Brooklyn Vegan, followed by Pitchfork and the previously reputable Billboard. No one actually knows if it’s even him, but everyone’s aflutter!

[Update: and Billboard retracts]

My friend Andy emailed me today:

You probably already knew this, but Ken Jennings blogs? And he’s a good writer!@

I know that you’re obsessively weird about him, but I thought I’d let
you know, in the off-chance you didn’t.

[links added by me]

Thanks, I didn’t know, Andy! Agreed on the good writing part. I like the post about the giant foam version of his head that he got. Good stuff.

I ran across this amusing spanish-language world cup coke commercial. Basically, it’s a bunch of adversaries whose boundaries are broken down when their common team scores a goal. My favorite part is when the hippie and the soap hug.

Walter pointed me to Matthew’s Celebrity Pixies Tribute. It’s a bunch of Pixies recorded in the style of, and with imitated production values of, various famous singers and bands.

It’s pretty interesting stuff and it’s a very impressive effort by whoever this Matthew guy is.

My favorite is:

Monkey Gone to Heaven as prefrormed by Frank Sinatra

also:

Levitate Me as preformed by the Beach Boys

me – old glasses – beard + new glasses + stubble + 1940 Pirates Road Hat =

[Update: for reference, this is the previously bearded, new glasses me:

]

Along with my new computer, I also got a new Ipod, the 60GB video version. The old one was on its last legs battery wise and was lacking in capacity big-time.

I got a case along with it: the Contour Design Showcase. It’s pretty fantastic. Comolded rubber and a clear plastic, probably acryllic keep it looking pretty slick and it’s not too big. It also looks like it’ll absorb a shock too.

[yup, Contour has better pics than I do]

[The new ipod’s name is The Proud Tenant of Brand New Manitoba]

My new bedside companion:

Specs: 2.0GHz Macbook 13″ with 2GB RAM, 120 GB hard drive, DVD-r/CD-r.

I saw Syriana the other night.

It’s a complex, multi-threaded plot about oil and the Middle East. You can read more at the wikipedia article linked above.

It’s got an ensemble cast and some great performances, including, of course, George Clooney as a CIA agent. It’s interesting.

But before we get to far, I’m just going to put this out there: complex doesn’t necessarily mean good. There are complex, multi-threaded movies that are good, amazing even, like Magnolia. But let’s not get confused with what makes a movie good. Engaging and compelling movies are good or great movies.

That said, this movie is good. It’s entertaining but I never found it fully engaging.

The other day I was surprised to find out that no only has Rick Sebak put some of his programs on DVD, but that Netflix carries some of them. Rick has made documentaries for many years. Originally they were all for WQED, one of Pittsburgh’s PBS affiliates (now it’s only PBS affiliate) and they were about Pittsburgh. A program about downtown Pittsburgh; another about the churches and places of worship in Pittsburgh (just about always shown on Christmas and Easter), another about the renowned Kennywood; a couple about things that used to be around and one specifically about things that are still there. I watched all of them, taped most of them off of TV during one of their pledge drives. When I first moved to the city they were a way to get into the culture pretty quickly. Later I just loved watching them. I remember when I first heard that he was going to do national programs and I was happy. Now I pop on the TV occasionally to see “Sandwhiches that you will Love” or the one about roadside attractions. They’re infectious. I want to go to the places that Rick shows and talk to the people he talks to.

I haven’t seen some of the newer programs, both the national ones and the Pittsburgh ones. I put Things We’ve Made into my queue and watched it on Friday.

This movie is probably mostly of interest to Pittsburghers or ex-Pittsburghs, but there is quite a lot of manufacturing processes shown, so geeky mechanical engineers or the like might also like it. One of the coolest parts is when they’re showing the Glenshaw Glass Company plant in which they made millions (billions) of beer bottles and how the machines cut up the molten glass into measured blobs and then pushed it into molds and out popped a bottle.

There’s still steel made in the Pittsburgh area—they visited the Clairton US Steel plant. I’d love to go there and take photographs. There’s this one shot in the movie where they’re in a semi-open area and there are these two giant cauldrons of molten steel being poured out and in the background there are the machine operators and a sign saying “House of Pain.” My goodness that could be an amazing photograph.

There were also quirky little things in there, like when they’re talking about All-Clad which is made in Canonsburg, really close to where I grew up and they’re talking about taking some of the new products to this restaurant and this chef to test. Well, that place, the Classroom in McMurray, is where I took my first girlfriend before the Homecoming dance and where my family at dinner on New Year’s Eve, 1999. I realize it’s just a local Pittsburgh movie, but given that it’s a movie out on DVD and that I got from Netflix it has enough separation that it seems weird to see this place on the screen.

6:58am: roll out of bed. crickeys, it’s early. some days I really think I’m crazy.

7:00am: game starts

7:01am: I don’t understand just about anything these announcers are saying. Oh they just said “Estados Unidos.” That’s “United States.”

7:02am: The TV/Cable signal is choppy. I hope this doesn’t continue. A header gets the ball in the air right in front of the Ghana goal but nothing happens.

7:05am: One of the Ghana guys just got a yellow card for a tackle-from-behind of Reyna.

7:07am: Lewis on the Estados Unidos team just got a yellow card for what appears to be an unintentional handball. Man, I wish I understood what they’re saying.

7:09am: Oh man, they’re giving this Ghana guy a free kick after he totally took a dive. The replay is of him running flat into a US player and then falling over. Kasey Keller’s looks like a champ in goal. Luckily the ball goes wide and he doesn’t need to be a champ.

7:11am: Ghana drives toward the goal but get called for an offsides. I think I finally understand the offsides rule in football.

7:14am: During a free kick stoppage they show the crowd and there’s a guy wearing a fez and playing a lute.

7:16am: Lewis is bleeding. I’m not sure what from because it sure looked like he was faking whatever grievous penalty just happened to him.

7:17am: USA corner kick! header!…right to the goalie.

7:19am: Onyewu just got a yellow card for some friendly pushing.(Both players were pushing, but the Ghanan took the dive first).

7:20am: USA guy has a nice header to block a Ghanan goal. Now there’s a corner kick. Ghana fouls; USA free kick.

7:22am: some sloppy play on the US side results in a breakaway and a Ghana goal. crap. Now the announcer’s going “gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooool!”

7:24am: It appears that Reyna got hurt on that last play. He’s getting carried off the field.

7:25am: USA corner kick….goalie makes a nice stop.

7:26am: The Ghana goalie’s writhing around on the ground. I guess on that stop he dove into a US player.

7:28am: They switched over to the Italia v Republica Checha game to show that Italian goal. They’re up, which is what we need.

7:29am: Ghanan breakaway. No goal, but we seriously need to pick it up here.

7:30am: I seriously don’t understand how these goalies can kick the ball this far. The Ghana goalie just kicked it almost to the other 18 yard line.

7:33am: This Ghana player just put his forearm into an American player’s neck. Yellow card.

7:35am: The USA just set up Landon Donovan pretty nicely but he put it high and wide.

7:36am: A tackle-from-behind results in a free kick fo the USA just outside of the 18 yard box. I wish Kingson wasn’t so good. Another good stop.

7:37am: Donovan on a corner kick…nothing.

7:39am: USA driving down the side. He centers it! to no one!

7:42am: Free kick on a dumb dumb foul. The US player barely touched him! Luckily it goes wide.

7:43am: BEAUTIFUL! Beasly centers it and GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL. Demsey! I love this guy right now.

7:47am: Two guys jockeying for position and the Ghana guy takes a dive. Penalty kick for Ghana. Come on Kasey…Goal. I seriously think these announces are judged by their ability to hold out “gooooool” for the longest.

7:50am: Alright, that’s half. I’m going to shower and grab some cereal.

8:06am: Showered, lunch made and cereal and milk poured. I’m ready for the second half. The players are just coming onto the field now.

8:14am: Alright, done with my cereal. Dangerous kick by a Ghanan, so we’re looking at a free kick from just outside of the 18 yard box. No Americans got to the ball when it was in front of the goal. It’ll be a corner kick.

8:16am: Corner kick…come on, guys.

8:19am: Italy’s still winning 1-0. 12 minutes into the second half, so there’s plenty of time, left, but I’m not feeling good about this. Oh! good stop by the Ghana goalie.

8:23am: These guys are pretty good at this.

8:24am: I’m glad there’s instant reply. It makes it easy to tell who’s totally taking a dive and who’s not. One of the Ghana players just took the funniest dive. He just jumped up, bumped into a US player in the air and then fell down, holding his foot.

8:25am: I have to go! someone tell me what happens. It’ll be a pretty exciting game if the US can pull it off.

[post-blogged]
8:36am: I found the game on the radio in my car. At least I think it was that game. It was in Spanish. It was on 1170AM.

yeah, so they lost. that’s sad. there’s always 2010, America!