http://www.tranzformer.de/blog delirious in the alleys of destiny Mon, 16 Aug 2010 22:18:50 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en What always made David Hasselhoff an easy comic, if potentially tragic, target was his seeming obliviousness to his own ridiculousness. He seemed completely unaware that his bombastic baritone wouldn't make a song like "Do the Limbo Dance" anything but pure, painful hilarity. (And I beg you to view this amazon.com ... http://www.tranzformer.de/blog/?p=1669 Sorry for the overblown titles. I've just been listening to way too much prog & metal and reading way too much economic theory, lately, to not let that happen. Anyway, I'll knock it off; promise. I'd like to say I hate chillwave but there's not really enough there to hate. It'd ... http://www.tranzformer.de/blog/?p=1663 With all the hullabaloo about Google finally releasing their Street View for Germany (after three years of privacy rule back-and-forth), I started looking around at other comparable online maps. Lo and behold, I found Microsoft's aerial views superior to Google's. Thanks to the shifted angle shots from Bing, you can ... http://www.tranzformer.de/blog/?p=1660 What's with the corrupt 11-year-olds this week? First, a breathtakingly foul-mouthed and poorly-raised little emo girl gets an entire internet community to converge on her life, prompting an unfortunately hilarious video outburst from her moustachioed dad (simultaneously coining the internet memes "cyberpolice", "back-traced" and "You dun goofed up"). Now, an 11-year-old ... http://www.tranzformer.de/blog/?p=1653 Congrats to Spain for winning the World Cup and congrats to me for making it through one of the most boring, low-scoring-est and foul-heavy games of the whole tournament. Such an anti-climax, somehow. At least in 2006, we got a masterful, career-closing kung-fu headbutt of justice. As much as I ... http://www.tranzformer.de/blog/?p=1646 If José González is any kind of football fan, even with Sweden not even qualifying for this year's World Cup (in the admittedly über-competetive European division), he's got the luxury of rooting for formidable Argentina, homeland of his parents. I mention this only because culturally Swedish/ethnically-other people I find fascinating. ... http://www.tranzformer.de/blog/?p=1643 Unless you're living under an U.S.-sized rock, you know that the Greatest Show on Earth, the Football World Cup starts ("kicks off") today in South Africa. And even the Americans are supposed to have their best team ever this year---though we'll see how that pans out in the Brit v. ... http://www.tranzformer.de/blog/?p=1634 Once upon a time there was a guy named William F. Buckley. He was sharp, opinionated, well-spoken and avowedly conservative. But he was a delightful sparring partner and obviously considered his positions---even if you disagreed with every last one of them (though he was for legalizing marijuana -- can you ... http://www.tranzformer.de/blog/?p=1629 The Beatles did it. Johnny Cash did it. But Marvin Gaye? Singing in German? Seriously? Seriously. Decades ago it was common practice for record labels to have their top artists record foreign language versions of their hits. A new record from Hip-O Select, Motown Around the World, collects French, German and ... http://www.tranzformer.de/blog/?p=1623 In March, Viggo Mortensen spoke at the occasion of Dennis Hopper getting his star on Hollywood Boulevard. In honor of Hopper's fearlessness and honesty, he dedicated this poem by William Stafford, a fellow Kansan, whom he called "perhaps the finest and most honest poet that state has produced." I thought ... http://www.tranzformer.de/blog/?p=1625 Chalk it up to small victories, but I just learned that I passed the exam for Microeconomics I at Humboldt University. This wouldn't have been such a big deal if I hadn't been so concerned about not passing it, but I was concerned about not passing it. Quite a lot, ... http://www.tranzformer.de/blog/?p=1621 There won't be much happening here for the duration of March, as I'll be focused on studying for some exams. Meanwhile, please feed the fish. http://www.tranzformer.de/blog/?p=1618 Seems to have the U.S. at the top, the first time in 80 years. Of course, it won't count psychologically if Canada beats the U.S. in hockey tonight. And look at Germany up there. View the vancouver2010.com medals' table http://www.tranzformer.de/blog/?p=1612 Very Basement Tapes Dylan, this recording, not least the lyrics. I love it. Zookeeper - Snow in Berlin There's a cold German in a bar in Berlin With the blueprints of an architect still searching through His pockets for a dream-maker or a chance-taker Or the will he should have written by now But he's been ... http://www.tranzformer.de/blog/?p=1608 Some things are better unimproved, un-messed-with. Case in point: zombies. I prefer the old style, slow, lurching, shuffling kind. Sure, the new running zombies are scarier because they can catch up with you---whereas you can just walk away from a slow one---but, as Brent McKnight rightfully says, the slower ones ... http://www.tranzformer.de/blog/?p=1604