I just got back from the This American Life live simulcast in my local movie theatre. It was a really enjoyable show, and we finally got to see what Tory Malatia looks like! (The moving camera was somewhat disquieting, at first. There was major, major jib action going on...)

I really hope that the live show makes it onto the second season DVDs as an "extra". I hope the pre-show animation (a parody on the standard faire movie theatre pre-show trivia reels) makes it on the DVD as well.

Anyway, it was a great show. I hope more people get to see it. It was a unique experience, and a lot of fun.

"Pushing crap
On the stack.
Pop it back
Into registers, memory.
Hey-- I'm ready to code."

Been in my head for years, never committed it to bits 'til now.

I'm late to the party with this one, but I feel strangely compelled to post. (If nothing else, it may be because Erin McKean is cute... *smile*)

So, I was watching the video of Erin McKean speaking at Gooooogle, and at one point in her talk, she used the phrase "copyright trap". This intrigued me, so I went searching.

Now, I'm not new to the idea of fictitious entries in reference materials, but the thought of such a thing in a dictionary had never crossed my mind. I'd always thought of these in the context of maps, because slipping in a fake geographic feature always seemed plausible. Slipping a word into the dictionary, though? Hmm...

A quick run over to Goooooogle for the search terms erin.mckean copyright.trap turned up several great hits, including a post from languagehat.com that explained, in detail, what this was all about. Essentially, esquivalience is a made-up word that the editorial staff of the The New Oxford American Dictionary put in the first edition of the book, ostensibly to protect copyright.

This is all great fun to me, and I'm going to try to work the word esquivalience into my normal vocabulary. It's a great word, and I think it would be even more amusing if the word actually became a "real" word!

Another Gooooogle video jackpot: A farting Belgian pig cartoon!

I wish they'd sell these cars in the United States. I doubt my Geo Metro would do so well.

Random Google Video searches pay off again! I don't speak Spanish, but this episode of Smonka from 20051207 was bizzarely entertaining, to the point that I watched most of it.

I really enjoy the 8-bit-style intro and the fact that the set, presumably "el garaje de Ernesto", really does look like a garage. The host and contestants take their places behind what appear to be cast off major appliances, and undergo various humiliarions when they answer questions incorrectly. The very NES-esque theme is carried-on in the genlocked graphics used during the show, and in the show's web site.

I get some vibes from the old MTV gameshow Remote Control from this one, but I'd have to say that I'll take Kari Wuhrer and Colin Quinn over Ernesto and Onofre any day.

We carved pumpkins last week. They're holding up rather better than I expected them to, but then it's gotten to be like an icebox outside lately.

Steph opted for the "scary witch", and I did the "scary Commodore Computer logo". I'll have to get a better picture of mine. You can see it in the upper left, but that hardly does it justice. I hope to get nice night shots of them in their glowing pumpkiny goodness.

I'd never carved a pumpkin before, and I'd certainly never cleaned out the orange, oozing ick from inside them. I guess I wasn't a very fun child. We tried a couple pumpkin seed preparation ideas, but have pretty much determined that the seeds are inedible. Our loss, I guess.

I saw "Corpse Bride" with Eric last night. I can offer little in the way of critical commentary. It was a Tim Burton flick, and was accompanied by all the usual Tim Burton cronies-- Danny Elfman, Johnny Depp, and, as of late, Deep Roy.

There were a couple Beetle Juice-esque moments, and I had more than a passing Grim Fandango feeling, too.

It was fun, albeit a little tedious. Since "getting married" was such a central theme, I was slightly more than annoyed throughout some of the sillier parts. How anybody can see having to be involved in a wedding as fun is quite beyond me.