MustReadBloggers.com

Has it really been over 7 months?

2009-10-23T05:03:00.004-04:00

By $Zero

Wow.

That's a long time between blogs.

I've been very busy working on a few other projects.

Got stuck in that Limbaugh DittoWatch thinger for quite awhile, what a waste of time he was, and is. Yikes.

Anyway, onward to better things.

...

So, I've got a bunch of pre-fab link-creating stuff that I created last year for this blog-writing template (for digg, etc.) but it's been so long that I've completely forgotten what to do with them or how they work. Therefore, once I post this, some of the links may not be functional. So, I'm just gonna go ahead and publish it and see what happens. I'll edit from there. That's how I roll.

Will be back for more bloggings later this weekend, or early next week.

Aren't you thrilled?

I know _I_ am.

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Startling Findings

2009-03-05T02:00:00.003-05:00

By $Zero

After months of painstakingly careful research, we have concluded beyond a shadow of a doubt that there are no must-read bloggers.

Just kidding...

Kinda.

...

Anyway, tune in again when we return to this particular tangent.

Right now we're quite busy making fun of Rush Limbaugh, waiting for him to finally and completely snap:

www.DittoWatch.com

We, the royal we.

We the people.

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PSA -- Tell Republicans that Americans Won't Take NO for an Answer

2009-02-27T11:56:00.007-05:00

By $Zero

digg video

No. No. No.

It's always no when the money is for progress.

While President Obama acted,
Republicans in Congress said NO.
Tell Republicans that Americans
won't take NO for an answer.

www.AmericansUnitedForChange.org

www.ShareYourHopes.org

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Monty Python Sells Out -- Offers Free Content on YouTube!

2009-02-22T07:35:00.005-05:00

By $Zero

Spam Spam Spam Spam
Spam Spam Spam Spam
Spam Spam Spam Spam

"For 3 years you YouTubers have been ripping us off, taking tens of thousands of our videos and putting them on YouTube. Now the tables are turned. It's time for us to take matters into our own hands."

...

British humor, anyone?

Here's the Semi-Totally-Official Monty Python YouTube Rip-Off Channel.

digg story

Enjoy.

And you don't even have to donate to PBS out of guilt... unless you want to, of course.

Ahhh... the internets.

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Rules and Incentives -- The War on Wisdom

2009-02-16T23:33:00.005-05:00

By $Zero

[Video Source]

"The real crisis?
We stopped being wise."
-- Barry Schwartz

"We must ask, not just is it
profitable, but is it right."
-- Barack Obama

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ICanHasCheezBurger.com

2009-02-15T19:46:00.008-05:00

By $Zero

Source: ICanHasCheezBurger.com (digg it first, peeps!)

What's really great (for those who haven't come across it yet) is that they have a widget thinger on their site where you can recaption the photograph.

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Obamify Pics of Your Ex!

2009-02-15T10:36:00.015-05:00

By $Zero

"Whether you're trying to exorcise the
memories of your ex or just happy to
have a president you love, ScanCafe
has a Valentine's treat for you.

Basically, you send in photos of you
and your ex (boyfriend, generally),
and they insert Obama in his place.

No, really."

It's free, too.

Anyway, you can bet your late mortgage payment that there'll never be anyone replacing their boyfriend's head with Rush Limbaugh's, no matter how much Rush hopes otherwise.

Source: walletpop.com/blog (digg it first, peeps!)

At first glance, it's a pretty cool middle-of-the-road blog with several contributors.

More review to come as the days tweak on.

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FriendFeed.com

2009-02-13T22:45:00.014-05:00

By $Zero

It's a pretty neat way to combine all of your internet stuff into one handy feed to share with all of your e-friends (and easily comment on same).

Brought to you by a few dudes who made some really cool stuff at Google.

I just started fooling around with it, and so far so good.

I think it's still in development to some extent, since there's no advertising banners yet.

Some of the features take a little bit of learning -- they're not as intuitively presented as they could be (like how to permalink to a particular content, which you'd think would be obviously simple), but once you get the hang of it, you quickly see the benefits of FriendFeed.

http://friendfeed.com/about/tools

For instance, one option allows you to connect in "real-time" so that you get your feed items fed to you like IM pings.

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Bill Maher New Season New Rules

2009-02-13T11:31:00.013-05:00

As he announces the premiere of his newest season on HBO (Friday, February 20th), we can always count on Bill Maher to find amusement in the most screwed up world in the history of mankind.

"I can't believe it's been 3 or 4 massive government bail-outs since last I saw you..."

Video on Huffpo

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words

2009-02-09T17:53:00.003-05:00

By $Zero

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Rush Limbaugh Hopes Obama Fails?

2009-02-05T19:43:00.023-05:00

By $Zero

Like Mr. Limbaugh, make your hopes known with a nice website banner! Various size and color options coming soon.

Only $14.99 each -- Democracy Discount: Buy 7, Get 3 Free!

Making Fun of Blowhards...
American Capitalism at its Finest!

www.RushFails.com

To help the campaign, please add your own hopes
regarding Rush and Obama to your blogs, facebook, and
myspace pages by copy-and-pasting the code below:

<a href="http://IHopeRushFails.com"></a><br />

www.WeHopeRushFails.com

NOTE: If you're reading this in a news feeder, the html codes may not show up, so you'll either have to click on over to MRB to get them or visit the RushFails.com page itself.

And yes, we do seriously hope that Rush fails in many ways.

For instance:

We hope that he fails to fulfill his hopes that Obama (and America) fails.
And that he fails to convince his listeners to unjustifiably hold people in contempt.
We hope that he fails to encourage unbridled, utterly excessive, way-over-the-top greed and irresponsibility.
We hope that he fails to tell any more highly deceptive untruths.
We hope that he fails to so easily brainwash the Dittoheads anymore.
We hope that Rush fails to meet his objective to keep America pointlessly and angrily divided.

But mostly, since Rush Limbaugh is one of the most negative influences on planet earth, we just hope he fails in general. And we think this I Hope Rush Fails campaign of ours is appropriately funny. Especially since there's not one single thing that Rush Limbaugh can criticise about it. He'll just have to keep his big fat mouth shut for once. And shut tight, too. As will all of his brainwashed Dittoheads. Beautiful, huh?

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Because there's only so much time in a minute.

2009-01-27T01:04:00.002-05:00

By $Zero

YouTube link

...

AttnDeficit.com

Because there's only so much time in a minute.

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Signal of Change

2009-01-21T03:39:00.005-05:00

By $Zero

YouTube link

YouTube link

YouTube link

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iamonevote.com

2009-01-20T06:15:00.004-05:00

By $Zero

[Video]

iamonevote.com

ImproveSomething.com

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Neil Young -- Forking it over again

2009-01-14T05:17:00.028-05:00

By $Zero

(must-read video lyrics here)

What can you say about Neil Young?

He's an artist extraordinaire who creates everything from simple soulful melodic masterpieces (gently expressing loving honesty and yearnings beyond the abilities of most mere mortals, especially armed with such meager musical and lyrical tools)...

to plowing massive rock 'n roll landscapes (by plugging those meager tools into beautifully distorted amplifiers)...

to seemingly effortlessly constructing sublime social satire that gets right to the point while making ten other points at the same time (occasionally delightfully contradicting the main point) artfully sounding the alarm about the doings of the ridiculously misguided among us (including our silly selves) -- but especially gratifying is the way Neil exposes those weasels who are so particularly adept at cheating that, without such surgical mockery, they'd likely get away scott-free...

to converting huge steel Lincoln Continentals into electric hybrids (that get over 65 miles per gallon, and climbing).

lincvolt.com

Green Car Czar Stuff.

...

He's both fun and serious.

It's a good combo.

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Do Schools Kill Creativity?

2009-01-06T02:14:00.006-05:00

By $Zero

youtube/TED

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She just wants a Cheeseburger

2009-01-01T02:10:00.019-05:00

By $Zero

Some time after making that video, apparently thrilled while visiting a different restaurant (Harris Grill in Shady Side), she took a photo of their menu:

tastyblogsnack.com

She's pretty talented and funny. *

Check out her Christmas Song parody:

Do You Sync What I Sync?

* And sexy.

One almost suspects that she's a professional pretending to be an amateur.

Whatever the case may be, she definitely represents the future of marketing.

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The Freeway Blogger

2008-12-31T20:46:00.060-05:00

By $Zero

An end of the year blog at MRB would not be complete without reviewing someone else's blog, so now you know why I included the word probably in today's previous article:

This is probably my last post of 2008

But it's not just an "end of the year" sentiment that I'd like to post about tonight. Hopefully it's also the end of an era.

Which is why it is with bittersweet appreciation that I review (and thank the blogger gods for):

The Freeway Blogger

Firstly, please don't mistakenly think that all of the photos he's posted on his blog are his own doings, because they do not fairly represent the beauty and simplicity of his own freeway blogging work (which is usually far more elegant and understated than some of the ones people send in, yet despite being a bit more well-mannered and tempered they're still enormously powerful, communication-wise).

This is an excerpt from his initial welcome message (click to biggify the picture):

Although I could rhapsodize forever about why more people need to do this, the chief advantages are these:
The numbers are staggering.

Depending on where and how you place it,
a sign that cost you a nickel to make can be
seen by over 250,000 people per day.

Personally, I believe that this dude has produced one of the most useful and entertaining blogs of the entire Bush/Cheney dictatorship.

It's one of those things where, after the fact, you often wonder to yourself:

"How on earth did I first find THIS gem?"

Well, the truth is, I have no idea how I stumbled across this wonderful blog but I do remember posting about it a few years ago.

For some reason, I keep thinking that I discovered it sometime around Thanksgiving of 2005, appropriately enough. If I'm not mistaken, it was some sort of happy accident. I may have been scanning the blogspot archive for people who shared my taste in music because, besides ending the war, the only other interests he has in his profile is one word: Eno.

Anyway, Scarlett (sp), as he so appropriately calls himself, is one of the funniest, most intuitive writers/artists/persistent good guys that I've ever had the pleasure to regularly read.

And he's an American's American.

While everyone else in the nation was fearfully staying silent (including all of the mainstream media), blindly swallowing whatever pure bullshit Bushco was feeding them at the time, Scarlet(t) was on the road, every day, putting up signs of intelligent protest on the heavily traveled thruways of California and elsewhere. And inspiring a few others to do the same. Though not nearly enough, all things considered. A mere handful, unfortunately.

And while you may think that he was breaking some laws or at the very least cluttering up the highway with childish graffiti, what he was actually doing was perfectly legal, highly honorable, and greatly needed (not to mention a whole lotta fun).

Born out of what must have been an aggravating sense of frustration with all of the lies he saw being unopposed and unexamined by the fourth estate, Scarle(t)t was posting his non-commercial free speech on public property in the spirit of dissent that had previously been a long tradition of the American Way, enthusiastically engaged in by people such as Thomas Jefferson, etc..

There's much more to write about this wonderful blog of his, but I just wanted to start the article Still in Progress before 2008 ended. So I'll pause here for a bit and go celebrate the coming new year with the rest of the world.

Here are just some of the aspects I'll be covering as I tweak this thing along:

The Freeway Blogger's Huffpo video
(including how I may have, in some small way,
helped it become a winning reality as the
top-voted Huffpo video for July 2006).

Several of my own Huffpo videos
(inspired partly by Scarlet's blogging).

Some of my favorite excerpts from the FWB blog.

Some of the best FWB Photos.

Scarlett's lyrical no-nonsense approach to communication.

Why it's important to keep Free Speech alive.

My own procrastinated Freeway Blogging adventure
(with only one photo to show for all my efforts).

And many more musings on America and these United States (and life as we know it on planet earth this side of the Milky Way).

...

Here's a couple of the videos I made back in the days when, except for the Freeway Blogger, democracy and Free Speech seemed to have almost disappeared completely:

myspace.com/freewayblogger

freewayblogger.com

How to Take Back Your Country

How to make a sign in 5 minutes

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This is probably my last post for 2008

2008-12-31T16:28:00.004-05:00

By $Zero

But since it's an article that's Still in Progress (just like all the rest of these MRB posts), it probably won't be in it's final form until 2042 or thereabouts.

Oh well, at least you got to read it while it was still just a simple silly thought instead of a complex set of elaborately silly thoughts.

Happy New Year!

...

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The Awesome Nature of Nature

2008-12-27T12:05:00.023-05:00

By $Zero

I've always loved the awesome nature of nature.

The wind. The rain. The ocean. The stars.

Endless trees. Grass. Hills. Mountains.

Rushing rivers.

Majestic clouds.

Dirt.

Sand.

All the beautiful sounds, and sights, and scents, and sensations, night and day.

Thunderstorms.

Distant flowers in the breeze.

Petals in hand.

The wood of a forest.

Swirling Autumn leaves.

A steaming hot bowl of soup.

Cold wet rocks.

Abundant snow.

Astonishing icicles.

Spring's wonderful aromatic thaw.

New twigs.

The non-stop traveling twilight birdsong orchestra.

Summer's glorious warmth.

...

And I've always wondered why I love all these things.

...

And I think I've finally figured it out.

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If We Had a Million Readers...

2008-12-18T21:28:00.003-05:00

By $Zero

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Amazing Storm-Chasing Photography

2008-12-18T05:00:00.020-05:00

By $Zero

Like the sky?

Like clouds?

Like adventure?

Like wide-open spaces?

Did you like that tornado movie with what's her name and that other guy? *

If you answered yes to any of the above, then you just gotta see the utterly mind-boggling photography that Ryan McGinnis is posting in his beautiful photographic journal entitled:

The Big Storm Picture

These are shots that he's taken over the years as a weather-loving enthusiast.

"We'd driven through rain and hail for a
good half hour to finally get ahead of it,
but the sunlight was failing and
we only had a sliver of time left
to take pictures and shoot video."

Dedicated.

Some of the images are so astounding that they almost look fake.

Mother nature is quite the artist.

And so is Ryan.

Here's his other collection, which includes wildlife, city-life, and many other assorted wonders.

...

* what's her name and that other guy

what's her name

that other guy

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Bush: a shoe-in for Worst President Ever

2008-12-15T10:05:00.042-05:00

By $Zero

This Just In:

Shoe Message Revealed

Obligatory Questions:

Asked by Jon Friedman

"But let me talk about
the guy throwing the shoe...

It's one way to gain attention.

Uhhh, it's like going to a political
rally and having people yell at you.

[...]

I don't know what the guy's cause is...

But one thing is for certain, he caused
you to ask me a question about it."

Yes, as he puts his tiny-brained foot in his big-egoed mouth yet again, and again, it is clear that Bush certainly is a shoe-in for the Worst American President Ever. Characterizing people who throw shoes at other people as some sort of democratic free-speech thinger, just to appear to be a tough guy. Yikes. What a wimp.

INTRODUCING:

The Official
Lame Duck Ducking
Fun Pun Posting Place!

(trying saying THAT three times fast)

So, anyway, put your very best foot forward; kick the tires on the worst used-car in the history of American Motors; and contribute your most "clever" Lame Duck Ducking Fun Puns in the comments below.

Or don't.

But seriously, one can't imagine that reporters will be required to go barefoot at Obama's press conferences, ya know?

He just doesn't engender that kind of sentiment.

He keeps it cool.

Anyway...

Looking forward to 2009.

And while reporters may well be required to wear Flip Flops to briefings in the coming years, it'll only be because they're way more comfortable.

And humane.

...

(The Flip Flops, not the reporters.)

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Keeping it Cool

2008-12-13T14:15:00.020-05:00

By $Zero

Found in an earlier post over at The Black Snob which naturally leads to another source of embeddable goodies:

hulu.com/saturday-night-live

SNL really captured the Obama coolness factor.

Well, almost.

The singing was pretty goofy.

Still, this mostly accurate Obama portrayal reminds you to be hopeful for the future of America and American politics.

At least for a couple more months, anyway.

And you have to admit that SNL did a far better job of expressing the coolness and hope of the incoming president than the merchandising folks below:

"Due to the unprecedented demand, there is a strict limit of two victory plates per caller!"

Heh.

How utterly shameless some of these business people are, huh?

...

NOTE: In all seriousness, there really are only a very limited amount of the Version 1.0 ImproveSomething.com T-shirts available.

After that, they become instant collector's items and only subsequent versions will be made for sale to the general public.

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Kudos to Bush!

2008-12-13T11:08:00.009-05:00

By $Zero

Hey MRB readers, if you didn't know already, you can now watch full episodes of The Daily Show online at your convenience.

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Drove my Chevy to the Levee but the Levy was Dry

2008-12-12T21:28:00.011-05:00

By $Zero

The Bail-out Blues

Drove my Chevy
to the Levee
but the Levy
was Dry

and Good Ole Boys
were drinking
whiskey and rye

singing
this will be the day that I fly
this will be the day that I fly

helter skelter in the summer swelter

etc.

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MRB myspace

2008-12-12T11:08:00.012-05:00

By $Zero

Music, Film, Video, Writing, Art, Comedy (politics), and more!

Evolving as we go.

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The Onion

2008-12-12T03:46:00.000-05:00

By $Zero

Satire while you wait.

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236.com

2008-12-09T10:11:00.006-05:00

By $Zero

Get the latest news satire and funny videos at 236.com.

Rumor has it that MSNBC talking head news host Chris Matthews has got his eye on the Senate seat in Pennsylvania.

This video was mixed together by the always helpful peeps over at 23/6 Media, and as a resume it certainly suggests that a Senator Matthews may well end up being one of the greatest orators in all of American history.

If elected, one anticipates the ratings of CSPAN to go thru the roof.

...

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MustBuyGifts (a shopper's review)

2008-12-08T22:47:00.039-05:00

By $Zero

While we've been scouring the web for MustReadBloggers, we've also come across quite a few great MustBuyGifts for this holiday season.

Well, one, anyway.

So, after a bit more research, I'll begin to blog about it.

Stay tuned.

It's an utterly amazing pen.

...

Meanwhile, a question. Have _you_ stumbled upon any exceptional gift ideas in your travels lately?

It seems like there always used to be _lots_ of cool stuff out there, but not so much anymore (except for the one thing I mentioned earlier -- it's a truly fascinating product).

When I was younger, it always seemed like there would be five or ten MustBuyGifts competing for the holiday shopper's attention and wallet. Not so much anymore.

I mean, can you name even one big-deal consumer product these days?

Anyway, if you HAVE spotted a really neat new item this year, be sure to let us know in the comments and perhaps we'll add it to this wonderfully evolving review.

(Or my shopping list!)

So... now maybe you're finally getting the joke regarding the double meaning of the title of this blog entry, huh?

For full effect, repeat it out-loud while doing your best William Shatner imitation. *

"Must... Buy... Gifts..."

* I did so, and it was so absolutely hilarious to moi that I decided to hurry over to our internet hosting company to register the MustBuyGifts domain (all the while imagining Shatner doing the double entendre advertising campaign).

But the domain was already taken.

Oddly enough, it's not being used AT ALL. **

Yikes.

What a waste of a great marketing tool.

** It's not even parked as an ad for itself.

Anyway, I _was_ able to register MustBuyTees.com, FWIW.

Is Kevin Pollak a master impressionist, or what?

And if you think his Kirk was good, you just _gotta'_ hear his Christopher Walken.

Whoa.

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All about About.com (and Chocolate, and Sex)

2008-12-05T06:59:00.069-05:00

By $Zero

NOTE: This is still a review in progress, so check back later for more.

Latest Rewrite/Updates: Dec. 8th, 2008 -- 11:00 AM ET

Yikes.

Where to begin?

Anyway, if this is your first visit to About.com, before venturing off to check it out, tell your secretary to hold all your calls.

And cancel your appointments for the rest of the day.

(or two)

Grab a cup of coffee, a pitcher of beer, a bottle of scotch, or whatever else you prefer to enhance your web-surfing with.

Turn off your cell phone.

Find a nice comfy chair (or cot).

Put your feet up.

Lay back.

Position your keyboard, mouse, and monitor for maximum comfort.

Take a deep breath and...

Let the keyword-fest begin!

And yes, there are many MustReadBloggers on the site.*

You'll find them eventually.

Enjoy.

...

Report back in a couple days and leave some comments about your About.com explorations.

...

* Depending on your interests (and tastes), there's anywhere between 1 and 750 MustReadBloggers on the site.

...

NOTE: As you poke around inside the About.com universe, take note of what happens to the "www" subdomain name. They've organized their site to make it very convenient for you to scan the search result lists for relevant main categories, hence better targeting your inquiry (and/or expanding how you think about it).

For instance, let's say you do a search on the keyword "chocolate".

Like any other search engine, you'll get a list of the usual article headlines you'd expect:

Normally, (with Google or Yahoo for instance) you'll see website listing results showing the "www" subdomain links like so:

www.about.com

However, the great thing about About.com is that they've created a highly categorized subdomain grouping of proprietary information (both original and/or compiled), therefore you're able to easily visually scan the main categories for the article results in single-word form, left-aligned (and yet found by searching on "chocolate"):

Neato, huh?

Note that the first group above listing five results all point to the same pages as the second group, respectively.

Who would have thought that a category dedicated to horse racing would have anything to do with Chocolate Pecan Pie?

Kentuckians, I suppose.

By organizing their greatly varied content into numerous subdomains, they've made it possible to make wonderfully creative uses of their prefix category names in their search engine result listings.

So, because you can so quickly scan such a wide-range of single words associated with "chocolate", you're exposing yourself to a far more _richer_ variety of chocolate possibilities!

(pun intended)

And just in case the way I described the advantages of that feature made your eyes gloss over with puzzlement, allow me to try again:

In a search result list for "chocolate", if you only visually scanned the headlines, the title "Chocolate Brownie Recipes" wouldn't reflect the main category "Southern Food" in any way at all.

If you still don't get it, try it yourself. Scan various keyword search result lists and skim the subdomain names first. Then the headlines.

By actually doing it, you'll get a way better idea of how great it is to review the subdomain categories.

"Tell me and I forget,
teach me and I remember,
involve me and I learn."
-- Some Cool American Dude

In case you're still dozed off, here's a keyword to try for which you'll see (a bit more clearly) the value of scanning the subdomain categories list before wasting your time reading and clicking on the much lengthier subject titles:

Sex

Speaking of Paris, if you're wondering who I quoted above? He used to make big land deals, dabble in democracy, write books (and whatnot), and fly kites.

...

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Latest Update: Dec. 8th, 2008

David Byrne as Blogger

2008-12-03T06:46:00.054-05:00

By $Zero

"There are more songs on the 2nd disk,
so I wonder if any of those will
get reviewed or blogged about."

NOTE: This is a review in progress, so check back later for more.

Latest Update: Jan. 6th, 2009

In addition to critiquing his wonderfully scattered blog, I'll be posting some concert photos from the current tour -- which I took last Friday.

Meanwhile, enjoy the new album (which is available in full below) with its paradoxically annoying yet inspirational title:

Is that a great set of words, or what?

And leave it to Byrne and Eno to make their music available in full (for FREE) in a format you can embed and play on your website or blog. And to do so profitably, besides. One assumes, anyway.[*]

Now I just have to find and hook up a nice set of speakers to my computer.

NOTE: If you're reading this via a feed, the music may not show up. You'll have to click on over to our page to press the play button.

David's blog:

http://journal.davidbyrne.com

See also:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Byrne

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talking_Heads

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Eno

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everything_That_Happens_Will_Happen_Today

[*] Well, ok.

Maybe it DOES take just a little bit more effort (beyond creating and releasing a great selection of music and lyrics, for free, on the web) to make a reasonable living.

But the model _is_ improving.

Of course, at $40 to $60 a ticket, and completely selling out pretty decent-sized venues, it's probably a bit more than a modest income that he's raking in.

Artists are definitely among my favorite types of entrepreneurs.

Because what they create is generally highly resource-efficient (therefore mostly pollution-free), enlightening, violence-free, inspirational, energizing, soothing, and beautiful.

...

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A Dick's Review of dickipedia.org

2008-12-02T12:15:00.068-05:00

By $Zero

NOTE: This is still a review in progress, so check back later for more.

Latest Updates: Dec. 8th, 2008

Anyway, dickipedia.org is not really a blog, per se, but it's close enough.

They post regular, timely, often news-related entries about various politicians and celebrities AND you can leave comments.

It's a spoof of the astoundingly popular wikipedia, but focuses exclusively on the wide-ranging dickiness of modern people (and culture in general).

Aside from the the profoundly amusing theme of dickipedia, and the brilliantly colorful intuitive writing... the thing that I REALLY love about it is clicking on one of the numerous names listed on the dickipedia home page, thus pulling up the person's entry AND photo.

What an eye for dicks they have!

Nearly without exception, they choose the most appropriate photos to convey the pure dickiness of the person cited.

And almost without fail, whether I like the individual or not, when the picture pops up, it elicits an actual audible LOL from moi.

Just a few examples:

I haven't even read the entries yet and I'm already getting the gist, ya know?

Here's just a sampling of the opening paragraphs for each of the people above:

"John Sidney McCain III (born August 29, 1936) is the senior United States Senator from Arizona, the defeated Republican Party nominee in the 2008 presidential election, an angry old man, and a dick."

"Elisabeth Hasselbeck (née Filarski; born May 28, 1977) is a former reality show contestant—not even the winner, mind you, or even the runner-up—who somehow became co-host of one of the most popular daytime talk shows of all time, and a dick."

"Simon Phillip Cowell (born 7 October 1959) is a British record executive, television producer, 'author,' celebrity talent judge, and a dick."

"Alan Stuart 'Al' Franken (Born May 21, 1951) is a comedian turned author turned commentator turned prospective politician. Somewhere in there he also turned into a dick, though it is difficult to pinpoint precisely when, probably sometime during the so-called 'Al Franken Decade.'"

And the articles dig deeper (and get funnier) as you go.

Whenever I see a new dickipedia picture posted in the huffpo sidebar, I always get a really big kick out of it. Because I know just what to expect based on the news of the day.

Yet the writers at dickipedia.org usually exceed my expectations.

...

Even the dickipedia.org FAQ is worth the read.

...

Anyway, how about you?

What do you think about dickipedia?

Or are youtoo much of a dick to leave a comment and share your dicky thoughts?

...

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Latest Update: Dec. 8th, 2008

How to Make Things Better with a Tee Shirt

2008-12-02T10:50:00.026-05:00

How do you Make Things Better with a Tee Shirt?

Buy it.

Wear it.

...

[RINSE, REPEAT]

...

How do you Make Things Better with a Tee Shirt?

Put it on.

Go for a nice walk.

...

[RINSE, REPEAT]

...

How do you Make Things Better with a Tee Shirt?

Use your Power of Suggestion.

...

[RINSE, REPEAT]

...

How do you Make Things Better with a Tee Shirt?

Support and Participate in the Improvement Movement.

Make Things Better (instead of worse).

...

[RINSE, REPEAT]

...

This has been a
Public Service Announcement
from MustReadBloggers.com

Creating a new publishing paradigm
with each new and improved blog.

...

[RINSE, REPEAT]

...

ProjectImprove.com

...

[RINSE, REPEAT]

...

If Orson Welles Were Blogging Today...

2008-12-01T01:32:00.045-05:00

By $Zero

What do you think he would have to say?

Again, I say...

If Orson Welles were blogging today...

What do you think he would have to say?

More wine, please?

...

Rosebud Blogging...

If he were writing on the net, would Orson Welles automatically qualify as a MustReadBlogger?

You have one vote, so what do you say?

How about Charles Foster Kane?

Or for that matter, what about William Randolph Hearst?

Would he be cranking out the blogs?

Day in. Day out.

"I think it would be fun to run a newspaper!"

...

Rosebud.

S P O I L E R - A L E R T !

In the end, the sled gets thrown into the furnace with all the other endless crates of endless blogging.

...

Anyway, whoever put that video up on the YouTube spelled Citizen Kane wrong.

And their outrageous claim is wrong, too.

Because the most famous single word in cinematic history is definitely NOT Rosebud.

Not even close.

...

Do you see how we're leaving you hanging here?

That's called dramatic effect.

...

Not really.

It's more like screwing with your head.

Meanwhile, unless you're a speed reader, you're probably searching your teased brain for some sort of satisfying answer to this challenging proposition about what the most famous single word in movie history could possibly be.

When, frankly, my dear, nobody really gives a damn.

And why should they?

Never mind that it's totally pointless to consider such a notion in the first place, that fact is that superlative statements like "[whatever] is the most famous single word in movie history!" are the epitome of stupidity.

...

Jaws?

Godfather?

Contender?

...

OK.

Maybe it _is_ Rosebud.

Still.

The point is, maybe it's not.

...

S P O I L E R - A L E R T !

Rosebud.

In the end, the sled gets thrown into the furnace
with all the other endless crates of endless blogging.

Rosebud.

...

Anyway, we hope that you'll subscribe to (and follow) this Must Read Blog of ours while the rosebuds are still in bloom.

Because we intend to bring you the best bloggers on the web.

Read our ever-evolving welcome message in the November archive for more details.

But first, leave your thoughts in the comments below.

If Orson Welles were blogging today...

What do you think he would have to say?

For that matter, what do YOU have to say?

The Evolution of a Must Read Blog

2008-11-30T06:02:00.020-05:00

By $Zero

(click to biggify)

Note also the evolution in the price of the magazines.

Anyway...

The Logo -- Version 1.1

Creating a logo is difficult but fun.

The fun part is difficult.

...

Version 2.0 coming soon to a Must Read Blog near you.

And speaking of evolving logos:

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Latest Update: Dec. 14th, 2008 2:15 PM ET

Pretension is Easy. Worthwhile is Hard.

2008-11-29T15:58:00.007-05:00

By Staff

Pretension is Easy. Worthwhile is Hard.

More on this subject later.

Much later.

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POLL -- Your Favorite Bloggers (and why)

2008-11-29T13:28:00.023-05:00

By $Zero

Who are some of your favorite bloggers and what is it about their blogs that keep you coming back for more?

There are literally (no pun intended) zillions of bloggers out there in blogland.

In fact, the last credible count I saw put it at 2.5 gazillion.

Yet, personally, I currently read about ten blogs, and I only subscribe to a few of those in my RSS feeder.

So why is it that I've chosen those few blogs?

Familiarity, for one (with quality ranking up there VERY high as well).

But mostly, for moi at least, it's a lack of time issue way more than a lack of interest in reading other quality bloggers. Over the years I've come across quite a few great blogs but I just never got around to subscribing to any of them. And if I had, by now my blog reader service would probably be completely overloaded -- scrolling new blog entries off the page every three to five seconds.

So MustReadBloggers.com was created to REALLY overload things.

Won't that be fun?

But seriously, I think we will be providing a great and useful service in weeding out the chaff from the other chaff.

Heh.

Anyway, I envision that at some point during their very busy days, people from all over the world will be thinking to themselves:

"I REALLY need to see what's going on today at MustReadBloggers.com"

And they'll click on over. Every 20 minutes or so.

We will become a parody of ourselves before we even begin.

Which is nice.

...

So, who are YOUR favorite bloggers?

And what is it about them that keeps you going back for more?

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Humble suggestion.

2008-11-28T20:57:00.005-05:00

By Paula Light

Everyone should start by checking out Light Motifs, which by amazing coinkydink happens to be mah blog.

I'm serious.

I don't just babble about any old thing (contrary to how it may appear at first glance). I try to entertain mah peeps with a variety of subjects and mix up how I approach things. I'm careful with the inside jokes, and I always try to make new readers feel welcome to comment. When I began Light Motifs, I decided to avoid the blogwars I'd previously encouraged on my old blog because even though they give you a big comment and visitor boost for a while, the fighting turns off new readers. Blogs need new readers or they die. You can't count only on existing readers because they can disappear ... and then what?

One thing I don't do that you're "supposed to do" is acknowledge every comment. I'm too busy (no, really) and many times there's really nothing to say in return. People don't seem to mind it at all, so I would strike it off the advice list for established bloggers. (It's not a bad idea for new bloggers.)

I also keep posts short, though not necessarily sweet. :)

Welcome to MustReadBloggers.com

2008-11-28T17:00:00.006-05:00

By $Zero

The best bloggers of the blogosphere are out there!

Somewhere.

And we intend to find them!

And recruit them.

Or interview them.

Or be them.

Or, at the very least, as a last resort, if they refuse to play ball, review them.

Make fun of them.

Even the crappy ones.

So as to challenge them to either improve their blogging or just give it up.

See how entertaining we are already?

Check back often.

It'll get even better.

Promise.

Bye, now.

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