Peepsqueak

Testing 1.2.3.

2007-03-07T22:23:00.000-08:00

This is a test. This is only a test. Anda 1...Anda 2...Anda 3...

No Fact Zone Part II

2006-05-08T11:25:00.000-07:00

Well once again I'm stuck with dead YouTube links. It seems C-SPAN objected to The White House Correspondents' Association Dinner being uploaded without their permission and demanded it be removed. Of course if you want your own copy you can buy the DVD of the event from C-SPAN for $24.95. (via Boing Boing) Just a hunch but I bet Stephen Colbert's speech and the resulting free publicity will drive sales of the DVD higher than in years past. Yet content right holders continue to see the free publicity generated by viral video and the like as piracy. Oh well.

For the time being it can still be accessed from Google Video. This is a copy of the entire evening so some fast forwarding is needed to get to Colbert. The advantage to this however is the comedic routine between the President and look-alike Stephen Bridges is also included. It starts at approximately the 39 minute mark and they are surprisingly good. Unfortunately it is not available with an embeddable player so to view just click here.

"I Must Be In The Front Row!"

2006-05-02T15:26:00.000-07:00

Although this game is a week ago I wanted to mention it quickly and post a few of the pictures. Our seats were phenomenal; probably the best I've ever sat in. We were along the third base line in the first row along the wall. Wrigley, being the second oldest stadium in the league is set up in the old style: the bullpens are on the field along the foul lines. As a result the Cubs' pitchers warmed up in front of us. When you see a Major Leaguer pitching just feet from you, it really becomes apparent how hard they throw and how difficult making contact had to be. It was a beautiful night, the Cubs came back from a 3-0 deficit in the bottom of the eighth to beat the Marlins, and we had some of the best seats in the house. The only drawback was I had a cold and it was kicking my butt. Luckily K. was kind enough to snap the photos for me.

The Cubs bullpen.

Ryan Dempster would come in later and get the save.

Warming up Roberto Novoa.

Carlos Zambrano on the mound (and before his batting woes caused him to break his bat over his knee. The kid is wound kinda tight.)

Side note: The bleachers are obviously up and opened to generally good reviews. I didn't get a chance to really look at them or take any pictures (again I had a rockin' cold and just wanted to go home after the game) but I will try to shoot some pics of the completed construction.

Speaking Of...

2006-05-01T16:40:00.000-07:00

This piece is for the sole benefit of K. It is perhaps her favorite TV clip of last year and definitely in my Top Ten. First a montage from E!'s"The Soup":

And then just short and sweet:

Stop The Madness

2006-05-01T15:56:00.000-07:00

Where do I start with this little gem? "Stop The Madness" was released in the mid 80's as part of the War on Drugs and is the only music video sponsored by the White House. Rarely seen at the time it is filled with cameos from 80's celebs: Whitney Houston, New Addition, the Governator, Lyle Alzado, Kim Fields, Kareem, David Hasselhoff, Casey Kasem, "Simon and Simon's" Gerald McRaney and Jameson Parker (was the show that popular?) and many, many, more. Written by Tim "Venus Flytrap" Reid this a time capsule of 80's culture. For the complete story by Ethan Persoff, the man who is reponsible for unearthing this cultural nugget, click here.

No Fact Zone

2006-05-01T15:14:00.000-07:00

I know this video is flying around the Internet but I have to post it. Stephen Colbert of The Colbert Report spoke at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner. His commentary is satirical, biting, edgy, and hilarious. And it doesn't look like W. is enjoying it that much.

Part 1:

Part 2:

The appearance wraps up with a video of Colbert being chased by Helen Thomas. I didn't think this was a particularly strong piece but it can be accessed here.

"Can You...?" "No. May One..."

2006-05-01T13:29:00.000-07:00

April 2006 has come and gone and not a new post to be had at Peepsqueak. I admit I feel a little guilty for not updating sooner but hopefully I can redeem myself now. April is over and May Day is upon us. Once a holiday for the workers in the Soviet Union and an important date in the US for those who enjoy an eight hour work day, it is being commemorated here in Chicago with a massive march and demonstration for immigrant rights. An apropos way to spend May 1st in the city that gave rise to the Haymarket Riot.

Poetry Slam

2006-03-22T21:29:00.000-08:00

I've spent the last few days scrubbing the green food dye off of my fingers and recouping from the kind of week-long St. Paddy's celebration that can only be had in Chicago. A lot of work followed by a little bit o'playin'. "No one cares, Peeps," I can hear you say. "I'm here to be entertained . Dance, clown, dance!" Very well. Hopefully the following two poems will amuse and entertain. Both can be found on WFMU's Beware of the Blog. First, a love poem by Erik Ott:

Next, a hilarious rant titled Cake by Todd Colby.

If you found that inspiring, here is a little project. WFMU has played "Cake" on one of their shows for the last ten years and they are looking for as many recorded covers sent in as possible. The covers will be played next week. Full details are on the site as well as the text of the MP3. The piece is already written--the creativity will come in the reading. Link.

LOL @ QVC ASAP

2006-03-15T02:15:00.000-08:00

St. Paddy's is keeping those of us in the bar industry busy this week so here are a few videos to amuse while I'm slinging the green beer. Two are legit and one is a bit from Jimmy Kimmel.

Dude You're Getting A Dell!

"And that has never happened."

"Yew Aw Rot?"

Autistic B-Baller Lights It Up

2006-03-03T12:35:00.000-08:00

What started out as a quick link to some great video turned into an in-depth rant about content rights, the Big Three networks, hints of conspiracy, and somehow the Zapruder film. Do yourself a favor, click here,enjoy the video, and disregard the rest.

Continuing on? Don't say you weren't warned...

I originally posted this story a couple of days ago. It is a heart warming story
that I thought would be a nice counterpoint to my usual cynicism and moodiness. I know I smiled when I saw it and thought it would be cool to share.

I went to YouTube, embedded the player in this site, and felt as if I had done my good deed for the day. Checking back later to make sure it posted correctly, I saw a still from the story in the player but the clip would not play when started. Shades of "Lazy Sunday." Sure enough, when I checked on the YouTube site the video had been taken down. A CBS news clip had been taken down because God forbid anyone view their "content" without their permission. (Does anyone watch national news anymore? Particularly on CBS?) The next day I saw the clip two or three times on ESPN. CBS, being one of the few TV outlets ABC/Disney does not control, could sell the rights to ESPN. Then I read this in the comment section of a Boing Boing story about P2P sharing of TV shows and it cleared up a lot of the mystery.

Reader comment: James Roe of videosift.com says,

In that piece you linked from the LATimes about TV piracy there was a brief blurb about the autistic basket ball player. That has been one of our most popular clips over at videosift.com (social video site.) Link Prior to that article I had not realized that YouTube had been issued a take down notice.

On realizing that I checked, and sure enough the video was defunct. So a quick search later and I found an almost identical clip from CNN using what must have been home footage that was also included in the CBS clip. This brings three questions to mind.

1. Why would CBS choose to give up free advertising and instead pass the buck to CNN?

2. If they filed a take down notice for a clip that includes home video do they actually own the rights to the home video now? If CNN is using the clip then my guess would be no, which makes their whole request for a take down more suspicious. I suppose they were just issuing a take down for their announcer's speech, which as a whole was much less interesting than the students phenomenal 6 3 pointers in the last 4 minutes of the game.

3. The CBS clip is still available over at Google video, however they have disabled the ability to post it to another site. This locks end users into the crufty Google video interface.

I guess this is not so much of a question as it is pointing out that this seems more like a shameless attack on YouTube than an actual concern from CBS. CBS does sell video clips through Google, although i doubt the market for a 2 minute news blurb is high anywhere other than sports conventions, but this one is available gratis.

I guess my answers would be:

1. I don't know how effective the "free" advertising would be although they say any publicity is good publicity. But it does show there is a market for licensing the piece as ESPN and now CNN have proved.

2. Media outlets buy home video all the time. Zapruder may not have made much money but I guarantee the person who captured the Rodney King beating did.

3. It is not much of a question but it is an interesting observation. Although I didn't go looking because I was sick of the whole thing by then, there were rumors the "Lazy Sunday" clip was still available on Google Videos after NBC made Youtube remove it. Why is Google Video immune?

Anyway if you have made it this far the least I can do is put another Link at the bottom of the page to view the video. Crazy how this feel-good video can be surrounded by cynical big business, huh?

Failed Posts

2006-02-27T13:35:00.000-08:00

So I had the bright idea of posting from my cell phone over the course of one day as a sort of photo diary. Blogger lets you post directly by emailing the photo to a specific URL. So far so good. This process worked on the first try about 75% of the time. The real trouble came the next day when I tried to consolidate the posts. Each picture was a stand alone post and I wanted to make them all one set. I should have left well enough alone. Some how I managed to erase the first half of the project. I have no idea what I did but boy I was not happy. It was kind of time consuming and I risked annoying those I was with by constantly tapping at my phone.

To make matters worse I had erased the original images from the phone itself so I could not just repost them. My wireless account still has copies of the photos online since I uploaded them but the format seems to be proprietary and won't talk to Blogger. I am still trying to figure out a work around but to be honest part of the motivation to try this was the lure of documenting and posting spontaneously. A current running record of the day's activities as they happened. Spending hours after the fact to try and recover the posts seems beside the point.

I might try it again at some point but Saturday was a very full day and losing the pictures is disappointing. I guess next time I should not erase until I know everything was successfully posted. And probably not edit until I am fully awake and completely sober.

A Picture Share!

2006-02-26T01:02:00.000-08:00

Oh, jesus.

A Picture Share!

2006-02-26T00:14:00.000-08:00

K's mojito @ national 27. Ay carumba!

A Picture Share!

2006-02-25T23:47:00.000-08:00

Beam & coke. Tasty, tasty, tasty.

A Picture Share!

2006-02-25T23:28:00.000-08:00

43rd floor looking south to the city. Engagement parties can be surprisingly fun.

A Picture Share!

2006-02-25T17:34:00.000-08:00

Loco lupe

Mmmm, Tasty Copyright...

2006-02-19T17:19:00.000-08:00

NBC has asked YouTube to take the "Lazy Sunday" video off its site. The links below are dead and there is a lot of internet chatter about the decision. The pro camp says that it is material under copyright and NBC has the right to distribute it any way they see fit. It is still being offered at the NBC site for viewing, although Mac users won't be able to view it because of an incompatible media player. Ironically it can be purchased for $1.99 from Apple's iTunes. The con camp points out that it was previously offered as a free download from iTunes until its explosion in popularity. An explosion driven, they say, by its viral distribution on YouTube. The conspiracy/marketing experts say that it is a brilliant move to get people talking again about a video whose life cycle had run its course while simultaneously driving traffic to NBC's site and capitalizing on individual sales through iTunes.

Who knows which view is correct? They say any publicity is good publicity but NBC seems to have generated quite a bit of ill will among people who enjoyed the video in the first place. There is even an undercurrent of betrayal in some of the posts. The principle creators were writers and performers from The Lonely Island. They are brothers-in-arms in our internet media community, the posters seem to cry, how could they? Very simple: big business. When NBC signs your checks, NBC gets to make the calls. And NBC is in the business of making money. Is it manipulative to wrap a product in Creative Commons-like accessibility only to later be slapped with the cold reality of corporate copyright? You bet. But that is what marketing is all about: creating a need for a product the consumer didn't know he/she had.

Now that I've done what these viral marketers want and rambled on and on about their product, here is another bit of copyright protected goodness on YouTube as a reward for making it this far. The Daily Show did some excellent work on Dick Cheney's poor marksmanship and so far it is still available.

Vice Prez shoots old guy: funny. Old guy has heart attack: not funny. Old guy recovers: funny again.

Lucha Libre

2006-02-03T11:35:00.000-08:00

A few days ago I used Blogger's mobile blogging service, or "moblog," for the first time to get the Stones' concert photo off of my phone. I use Sprint as my wireless provider and they do a pretty good job of locking up access to photos taken on their phones. I can send photos to other Sprint customers on the right wireless plan, email shitty little thumbnails, or pay Sprint for prints. The quality of the images from the camera phone hasn't been worth this added expense.

I used to think camera phones were stupid. The images were poor and seeing people constantly whip out their phones for photo ops was ridiculous at best. Of course this was before I had one. I have had my current phone for about a year and I bought it despite the camera feature. But I soon found that having a charged ready-to-go camera in my pocket was too strong a temptation to ignore. Documenting the day's occurrences, like the above surprise appearance of a Rey Mysterio wanna-be, was a lot of fun. And there is something Jetson-esque about sending photos from your phone to friends and family, like a really slow, one frame at a time, videophone. And of course there is always the possibility for a blackmail opportunity...

So I think I am going to play with the moblog feature a little more. Doing a photoblog of one day's activities could be interesting (at least to me and I am the only one that I know for sure reads the 'Squeak.) Or it could drive home that I live a boring, meaningless existence... Nah. With surprise cameos by Mexican wrestling impersonators how bad could it be? Oh God I am worse off than I thought.

Chuck Norris + youtube = Crazy Delicious

2006-02-01T22:50:00.000-08:00

"Lazy Sunday" was such a hit on the 'net in general and at Peepsqueak in particular that I felt no need to post for over a month. If there is merchandise involved then it has to be good, right?
From the Boing Boing home page:

Crazy Delicious T-shirts from Spreadshirt

By Mark Frauenfelder

Mark Frauenfelder: Picture 5-16In conjunction with our partners at Spreadshirt (a cool T-shirt, sticker, and accessory company that lets you customize your stuff before ordering), the Boing Boing store is selling "Mr. Pibb + Red Vines = Crazy Delicious" T-shirts Link

Ah, but the goodness only started there. An instant fan after "Lazy Sunday" I awaited another masterpiece. "Young Chuck Norris" was the follow up and, I'll be honest, the first time I saw it -- ehh not so much. It got steadily funnier, however, with repeated viewings.

Death Hold grip...Chuck Norris...mustached lip...Chuck Norris...tender kiss...Chuck Norris...

Comedy gold baby. But something bothered me about the piece. Somehow, under the 'squeak radar, two opposing forces had collided: an unholy obsession with Chuck Norris and the worst video ever made.

The internet is filled with Chuck Norris spoofs but I think this is a rare example of mainstream media starting the trend:

And documenting when Walker Texas Ranger jumped the shark (if that even applies):

The second piece of the puzzle is the worst song and video ever made (and yes I have taken Whitesnake into account. At least they had Tawny Kitaen.)

The star of this video,Dennis Madalone,is a stunt coordinator and Trekkie.
The American flag used as a hanky is a great place to start to look for similarities between the two videos. Following the ancestry of "Young Chuck Norris" I understand what they were trying to do. But although it is funny, it pales in comparison to another video Chris Parnells is in for Supafloss.

That is what SNL wanted to be. Go ahead. Play it again. 'Cause these guys are funny...

The Rolling Stones

2006-01-31T11:53:00.000-08:00

Stones from the cheap(er) seats.

A $100 ticket and we were one row from being out of the United Center. Oh well, even a greatest hits show is a good time with these guys. A Stones review appeared in the Chicago Sun-Times that wondered at the nostalgia act they have seemed to have become and I understand the point of view -- more obscure material and smaller venues might put more pep in the step of these old war horses -- but at least the songs from A Bigger Bang were kept to a minimum.
If my drunken jottings can be believed, this was the song list:

Rolling Stones
01/23/06
Untied Center

Jumpin' Jack Flash
Let's Spend The Night Together
It's Only Rock and Roll (But I Like It)
Oh No, Not You Again*
As Tears Go By (Acoustic)
Rain Fall Down *
On Down The Line
Tumbling Dice
Gimme Shelter
This Place Is Empty (Keith)*
Happy (Keith)
Miss You
Start Me Up
Get Off Of My Cloud
Honky Tonk Women
Sympathy For The Devil
Paint It, Black
Brown Sugar

Encore:
You Can't Always Get What You Want
(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction

* Off of Bigger Bang

"Lazy Sunday"

2005-12-19T14:13:00.000-08:00

So it has been a while since I have updated the ol' blog but that does not mean I have been lollygagging around. No sir. Unfortunately the holidays and the resulting upswing in business have kept me from my appointed rounds here at Peepsqueak. I do want to share this video I saw on Saturday Night Live this weekend though. SNL hired the three comics -- Andy Samberg, Jorma Taccone, and Akiva Schaffer -- who previously founded a web comedy troupe called The Lonely Island. They are responsible for this video short and are obviously breathing new life into the show. Funniest thing I have seen on SNL in a long, long, time.

Snowmen

2005-12-13T16:33:00.000-08:00

For whatever reason snowmen/women/people have been making the rounds lately. Whether this is a PC way of referencing the "holidays" without offending anyone with anything overtly religious, I don't know. But some of this stuff is pretty darn funny.

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I had forgotten how good this strip was.

And finally to lower the bar even further:

Linkapalooza

2005-11-29T14:14:00.000-08:00

Just a few hilarious links I am shamelessly stealing from a compilation by The BigHominid. I swear I wouldn't do it if they weren't so good...

Two excellent beer commercials, one high brow,
the other low,

a couple of rock-it scientists who forgot their keys to the lab,

and the funniest baby shower present ever.

Wrigley Reconstruction (or What The Cubs Are Up To While The City Celebrates The Sox)

2005-11-18T13:52:00.000-08:00

Ah the Cubbies. As the South Side rejoices and new White Sox fans are being minted at an alarming rate, what are the Cubs doing? Addressing the problems in pitching, lead-off hitting, and the fundamentals of defense that plagued them last year? Issuing an apology to their loyal legions for how difficult life in the city will now be with the world champion Sox on the other side of town?

Nah. While the city looks to the South Side the Cubs have decided to maximize their revenue by tearing out the bleachers from this shrine to baseball and increase seating incrementally. The following photographs are current as of 11/07/05.

Waveland. Left field. Facing east.

Center field bleachers and the hand operated scoreboard are untouched for now...

A good shot to show everything from the curb to the backside of the left field wall is being removed.

Backside of the left field wall. Presumably the bricks and ivy on the other side will not be touched. Who will be playing left field for the Cubs' 2006 season is still up in the air. For that matter, center and right field are also unassigned.

More bleacher destruction. The same procedure is being repeated on the right field side.

While they have the work crews there it would be nice if they repaired the crumbling upper deck that overhangs the 100 level. Makeshift netting is the only security spectators on this level have enjoyed from falling concrete for the last two years. Of course structural improvements of this nature do not increase revenue for the organization.

The renovations are not limited to the bleachers however. Yum-Yum Donuts is shuttered and awaiting demolition.

This structure and the adjacent V.I.P. parking lot will be razed to make room for offices, shops for Cubs' merchandise, and an additional revenue stream -- a parking garage.

The Tribune Co. has tried over the last few years to expand Wrigley -- this is the fourth and final version of those plans-- and it is only due to objections from neighborhood associations that unsightly metal pillars will not be blocking the sidewalks around the park. With this project finally pushed through and the added revenue from additional seating in the bleachers and along the left and right foul lines ( a project that demanded the removal of the original walls and some encroachment onto the field), the introduction of advertising inside the park, a tiered pricing system for tickets tied to the desirability of the match-ups, and their own quasi-legal ticket brokerage, the Cubs should have no problem fielding a World Series caliber team. Right?

Pop Quiz

2005-11-18T12:49:00.000-08:00

Here it is -- a way to test your Americaness:

You Passed the US Citizenship Test

Congratulations - you got 10 out of 10 correct!

Could You Pass the US Citizenship Test?

It only took me three tries to ace it! Failure, of course, will result in deportation so answer carefully.

Quick Note

2005-11-11T12:21:00.000-08:00

I am currently working on getting some photos posted on the site I took the other day of the Wrigley Field de/contruction. Blogger has given me a few problems (and Resident Evil 4 made about five hours disappear last night) but I will get them posted in the next couple of days. I know it is always darkest before the dawn but seeing the bleachers gutted from this landmark is disturbing. Sensitive readers, children, pregnant women, and those suffering from heart conditions might want to skip it.

Sophomore Effort

2005-11-08T13:07:00.000-08:00

I have figured out the links section of this page and submitted some of my favorite sites for perusal. As far as the blog roll goes these are the only blogs I read with any regularity. The Big Hominid's Hairy Chasms is a wonderful mix of the divine and profane. Written by an expat living in Korea, the Big Hominid will go into detail about an esoteric religious argument and follow it up with a post about the intestinal distress he had while teaching English that afternoon. The blog contains a grab bag of topics, but through it all a sense of what it must be like being an American living in Asia comes through.

What Not To Do In Australia (recently relocated from Asia) follows the adventures of Rory as he drinks his way through the Eastern hemisphere. Snappy, humorous writing and plenty of pictures to document the debauchery make this blog an entertaining read. His post production has slowed since his move back Down Under. If an excuse for the diminished output is needed however, "changing continents" works quite well.

I just stumbled upon The Outer Life recently and have thoroughly enjoyed it. The writer puts out a couple of posts a week and if you like good writing I highly suggest it. His cranky old geezer persona, perfectly captured by the photo on his home page, is worth aspiring to.

The links are all tech or semi-tech related. This Week in Tech is a link to an informative weekly podcast. Digg is a time sink for me with links to topics all over the internet. Boing Boing's excellent list of links and news needs no introduction.

Opening Salvo

2005-11-04T13:47:00.000-08:00

Today I awoke with a purpose. Instead of lingering in that grey mental twilight between dreaming and consciousness whilst continually hitting snooze as is my habit, I snapped awake this morn with my mind focused into diamond like clarity. I think it was an unfortunate by-product of Bud Light and Jose Cuervo. (The diamond -like clarity I mean. Who needs that on a morning off from work? I would much rather spend the day snoring and pillow drooling than be filled with a sense of mission. But there you have it.) A blog. What this world lacked was one more blog. "This oversight must be corrected," I thought as I threw myself without regard to life or limb into the abyss known as the blogosphere. A private journal? A newsletter for friends and family? A list of interesting links? Perhaps a forum to pompously expound my opinions on topics I know little if anything about? The possibilities are intriguing. Because I do not really know what the heck I am doing I will let the form and content evolve. But it is the fruition of a bad joke I made in September while visiting my brother Jon and his wife Angie out in California. During the course of the weekend at various times and after various pictures were taken I would threaten them with "this is going on the blog!" This can no longer be viewed as an idle threat. Cue evil laughter.