A Modest Construct

Microsoft continues to confound. They’ve officially rolled out their x86_64 lineup (XP and Server 2003 x64) with very little fanfare and with a tepid response from all but the most jubilant enthusiasts. Lack of driver support is still an issue, a year and a half after the first beta. They informed…

I feel a tickle in my throat. If I’m getting sick, I’m going to have to thrash something. That’d be just the thing for Allison’s prom in 7 days: congestion.

What the hell is this?

Bruce Wayne undergoes some sort of mystical ninja training like a bad Van Damme flick? The Batmobile is an ATV? This looks like nothing but a bunch of big names with cameos in a bad movie. Blah! Michael Keaton and Tim Burton must have shat themselves…

1. Maroon 5 • Songs About Jane • Tangled
2. Fiona Apple • Tidal • The Child Is Gone
3. Camel • Harbour of Tears • The Hour Candle (a song for my father)
4. Placebo • Sleeping With Ghosts • English Summer Rain
5. Dredg • Leitmotif • Movement I: @45°N. 180°W
6. Set Fire to Flames • Sings Reign Rebuilder • omaha…
7. Explosions in the Sky • The Earth is Not a…

A Walk in the Woods, by Bill Bryson. What is 52 Books in 52 Weeks?

Having read many of Bryson’s other books (Made in America, I’m a Stranger Here, Myself, A Short History of Nearly Everything, &c.), I thought it a shame that I still had not read the first Bryson…

I got all nostalgic the other day for all the things I remember from my childhood in the 80s and early 90s.

• eating cake frosting directly from the jar
• Count Duckula [W]
• light-up sneakers
• the word “sneakers”
• Muppet Babies [W]
• Transformers [W]
• G.I. Joe [W]
• movie/T.V. tie-in cereal
• Saturday morning cartoons
• Nintendo (the 8-bit kind) [W]
• pre-freak Michael Jackson
• MacGyver [W]
• staying home sick
• chewable…

Created in Darkness by Troubled Americans, ed. Dave Eggers. What is 52 Books in 52 Weeks?

Let me warn you now: McSweeney’s is a magazine for intellectuals. It’s humour section (from which the pieces in this book are pulled) is really no different. Eggers himself says, in the comically overblown (get it?)…

Why I Am Not a Christian, by Bertrand Russell. What is 52 Books in 52 Weeks?

Bertrand Russell is considered one of the foremost intellectuals of the early 20^th century. He spawned a whole generation of apologists to defend the faith agaisnt his arguments. To be fair, though, Russell is as much…

It was a long weekend. I don’t have the energy to write at length, so enjoy these random links.

• John Cleese explains why tape-based backup will make you insane.
• Treat your mother right or Mr. T will beat you up. While wearing hotpants.
• Find the cheapest price for gas before you fill up. Not funny,…