Paris Hilton for President video -- The best and the brightest

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Jolson Topples Over!

Just heard that Jason Calacanis decided to quit blogging. Just gonna do an email list. And he's only going to have up to 750 people on the list.

Kind of a shame, maybe. Seems like blogging is starting to go the way of BBSing. The people who know about it, do it. The things get more and more elaborate. Then folks start thinking they should be able to make money off it. Then the audience moves off to something else, and the big, elaborate constructions crumble into dust.

Dunno about going back to an email list newsletter, but that does make a certain amount of sense. I prefer email. I still figure one ought to be able to interact with messages offline.

I wonder, is blogging over?

Re: Differences in Age

It was 31 Jul 2008, when D.J. commented:

> On Sat, 26 Jul 2008 02:02:51 GMT, Bean Counter
> <colinpkcampbellNOSOUP@onemorethanFmail.com> wrote:
> ]L'Academie Francaise might claim they don't speak French, but rather
> ]Joual.
>
> Well, one of my relatives married a Canadian. And as far as much
> of Franch is concerned, French isn't spoken anywhere in Canada.
>
> My brother-in-law said their attitude is that French-Canadians
> speak a 'country yokel' version of French. An American who speaks
> American high school French gets more respect in France.

Actually, what most American HS students learn is Parisian French. They
sound like French snobs. As compared to Quebecois snobs.

Me, I'd rather sound like a Minnesotan snob. More accurate, more precise.
Most annoying movie I've seen in a few years was "Far North," which had
characters that didn't sound anything whatsoever like Minnesotans.
Sounded like Canadians. Sounded like American actors trying to do bad
Canadian accents since they had no clue what Minnesotans sound like.

Potentially the most annoying movie to me would be a movie version of Gore
Vidall's book, "Duluth." Which has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do
with Duluth, where I grew up.

But if you're Gore Vidal, truth is beside the point. Money is the point.
If it sounds artsy-fartsy enough, you get money. If not, you don't.
Truth is irrelevant.

And you know how I get about truth.

--

Grizzly's Growls Podcast: <http://grizzly.libsyn.com>
Stories from the Hiber-Nation:
<http://grizzly.libsyn.com/index.php?post_category=story>
Blog: <http://grizzlysgrowls.blogspot.com>

Dis-ease

Seems like this whole non-podfade podfade thing is, kinda, like having a
cold.

You aren't really so very much different. But you don't have the ability
to do that one thing. It isn't critical, I can't imagine podcasting (or
karaoke, for that matter) being of critical in any conceivable context.
It doesn't feel to me as if I'm absolutely not going to ever, ever podcast
again. It's just that right now, I'm not able to.

I don't seem to have the ability to say anything "right." Whatever I say
to any other particular person seems to be profoundly negative, and not
funny by any measure. But that just seems what I say these days. That
doesn't seem like it can never change, but it does seem to be the way I am
right now and for some undefined time into the future.

I have on occasion been fairly proud of podcasting, and of my various
podcasts, minimally impressive as they have been. I sometimes think one
of the three (now) books I could read for the "Hiber-Nation" show could be
very good, too. But right now, I can't seem to get to that place where I
can record these shows.

It's very like trying to sing when I have a cold. With all the strong,
soulful or spiritual feelings I might have, if my throat is all tore up,
then it's all tore up, and I'll sound like crap, and it might even hurt to
sing. How ever much I want to sing, I can't sing. Cause it'd hurt, and
it wouldn't sound good.

I could try to record a show. I have tried -- recorded maybe a third of a
show. Had to stop. It hurt.

Or something like that.

I haven't podfaded in the sense that I want to stop Being a Podcaster.
But I can't do a show right now. And it does feel like I'm "falling
behind." But then again, This Is My Show, and the episodes happen when
those episodes happen. Hundreds of years from now, when my Worshippers
research the Apocryphya of Grizzlyism, they might find the bits and pieces
of shows I've recorded, and the Grizzologists will argue over the True
Meaning of the parts of files they recover from odd corners of failed
harddrives. Or even paper.

And in a very real sense, they'll mean nothing anyway. And neither will
the rest of it.

But you know how worshippers get. Don't you?

Oh, wait, it's still the 21st Century. No worshippers. Nevermind.

--

Grizzly's Growls Podcast: <http://grizzly.libsyn.com>
Stories from the Hiber-Nation:
<http://grizzly.libsyn.com/index.php?post_category=story>
Blog: <http://grizzlysgrowls.blogspot.com>

A Little More Talk, and a Lot Less Action

Just started recording Episode 67. And just stopped.

I was struggling for something to say, and I just didn't want to do it. I
don't know if there's one specific thing I could point to. Might be lack
of confidence. Might be lack of motivation -- can't say anything has
gotten particularly better because of podcasting. Some things have gotten
worse.

I was taught to just walk away from fights.

Got into an argument with one of the staff at the Androy. Nobody of any
importance, but I didn't feel like fighting. So I walked away, and
stopped singing Karaoke at the Androy, as I'd done for a rather long
while.

Got into an argument with the folks over at LLTTV, where I'd been guesting
on occasional episodes of their podcast. Dropped the group completely,
and stopped following them on Twitter and so on.

Got into an argument in the Podcasters group on Yahoo, whichsame group was
what got me motivated to actually started recording podcasts. Quit that
group, too.

And with the various arguments I've ended up in over a couple different
aspects of the shows... it just isn't worth it. I don't want to argue
anymore.

I did try recording tonight, as I said. I have a pretty fair stack of the
stuff I usually talk about on the show, books I've read, some pretty good
IDSL tunes, some work stuff. But I got to part 2, and I really didn't
want to continue.

I thought for a while I'd finally have a stretch of time off to work on
stuff. This morning they called from work, and I was going to be laid off
for lack of work through the end of the month. It takes me time to get
motivated to actually do anything, and I figured, with almost three weeks
off, I ought to be able to get a lot done. Since it was a layoff for lack
of work, I was perfectly fine for filing for unemployment and just taking
the break.

So of course, this afternoon, they called back again, and said I now have
to work at least the next two weeks, full-time. The way this place works,
I'll probably be have dribs & drabs of work till the snow flies. Nice way
to spend the summer.

All else being equal, I just might not start podcasting again. Lot of
that going around, apparently.

--

Grizzly's Growls Podcast: <http://grizzly.libsyn.com>
Stories from the Hiber-Nation:
<http://grizzly.libsyn.com/index.php?post_category=story>
Blog: <http://grizzlysgrowls.blogspot.com>

Tick, tick, tick...

Just heard, Bernie Mac just died, of complications from pneumonia. He was 50.

Funny. Loud. Sometimes obnoxious. But you never didn't know he was there, and he always struck me as someone who could be trusted to do the right thing.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/Movies/08/09/obit.bernie.mac.ap/index.html

BTW, It'll be my birthday in a couple weeks.

I'll be 50.

I feel old.

Wonders never cease

Had a young fellow who mentioned his local band, AlterStasis. Since I am a shameless promoter of my own little show, I mentioned that I do play the music of local artists on my own "Grizzly's Growls" podcast.

So, since he was nice enough to ask, and since I've devoted a chunk of my own activities to promoting local artists, I figured I would. Can't say they Don't suck, can say I've met one of their bandmates and didn't get robbed, mugged, or beat up. Depending on what sort of "show" you're looking for, that may be an endorsement or a whatchamacallit.

Anyway, if I can find their music on their website somewhere, in a form I can play on my show, sure, I'll play me some. At worst, saves me some time coming up with Actual Content of my own.

Sad to say, I'm artistically mostly a punker. Sad to say, because they wouldn't like my show, I wouldn't like their music. But if we could get past the fistfights and spitting and other ill-feeling, we'd probably be headed in the same directions.

Go figure, huh?

A LATER THOUGHT: I've met one guy, who SAID he was part of what he SAID was a band, that he SAID was called "AlterStasis." None of the above might even exist.

Skeptical older fella I am, I really oughta take a moment for that aspect of my task in God's Universe. Gotta be done, that whole Skeptic stuff.

Brilliant. Just Brilliant. Just hadda steal this from TR Kelley