I did a fair amount of weblog cruising during the past few hours, partly in regards to a little project of mine, but mainly because I had the time and inclination. And nothing better to do. There's few things more enjoyable than digging through the important but ultimately meaningless minutiae of other people's lives.

(I assume the young ones won't get what I meant with that last remark. Check the photos with that story - sure it wasn't the puppets the kids didn't get?)

Thankfully it's a lazy Saturday night with only the Eagles/Falcons to bug me in the background. So, time for a nap. Or perhaps I'll write for a while. Or just surf for porn. Whatever feels right.

 
The expected "it takes one to know one" news article.

 
Ving Rhames is slotted to bring Kojak back to the small screen. This is good to see, because ever since Star Trek: Next Generation went off the air, there's been a shortage of good bald roll models on television.

 
Go read Saletan's The "Clonaid" Story. Has a nice O. Henryesque twist at the end. Heh.

 
I am now officially sick of snow for the remainder of the decade. For the past five days, it snowed - a lot - on four of them. And here's the official weather forecast through the next week:

Today: Cold. Mostly cloudy. A chance [certainty] of light snow early in the morning.
Tonight: Partly cloudy. A chance of snow showers.
Saturday: Mostly cloudy. A chance of flurries in the afternoon.
Saturday Night: Mostly cloudy with a chance of flurries early in the evening...then mostly clear. [Gee, thanks!]
Sunday: Mostly sunny...then [Bastards!] mostly cloudy with a chance of flurries in the afternoon.
Sunday Night: Mostly cloudy with a chance of flurries.
Monday: Mostly cloudy. A chance of snow showers in the afternoon.
Tuesday: Mostly cloudy. A chance of snow.
Wednesday: A chance of snow in the morning and a chance of snow after midnight.
Thursday: Cloudy. A chance of snow.

I'm thinking of changing the name of this blog to A Chance of Snow. At least for the duration, which looks to be mid-June. So, anyone have a spare snow blower they can lend me?

 
Oh. My. God. Drew really is draining the lizard.

 
Anti-SUV ads are here. This and all the hubbub going on around it is the kind of comedy I aspire to.

 
Just whacking an old literary albatross of mine...

"A look at several indicators from the last six years offers some basis for pessimism about the book's long-term prospects. While the publishing industry, broadly speaking, seems comparatively healthy, several numbers provide darker omens. During the period between 1996 and 2001, for instance, [American] consumer spending on books rose 16%, but unit sales dropped 6%. In other words, while readers laid out more money for books, they actually bought fewer of them..."

I can see why they're concerned. The PW article also mentions that during the five-year period ending 2001, number of households buying at least one book per year fell from 60% to 56.5%. Also during that time, Americans in the marketeers' beloved 25-39yo age bracket went from 26.5% of all book buyers to 20.8%. Easy to see how many might take this as a sign the average book buyer is getting older, and less likely to read. Also apparent why many publishing houses have started scrambling for ideas to reverse the losses in unit sales.

Yet there is a solution, oh fretful book publishers! I have a "surprising and innovative" marketing program to relieve you of your fears. No, it doesn't include the gamble of tie-ins with movies or video games. Nor will it require Dolly Parton, prisoners, or a ride on the coat tails of beer and cereal consumption. It will, however, automatically stem the tide of decreasing book sales. It will raise the percentage of purchases in the consumer groups you're interested in attracting. It won't take much to implement. And I'm giving the idea to you for free, so no development overhead:

Cut your fucking prices on the damn things.

My program is rather elegant in it's simplicity, isn't it.

 
'Till now nobody has created a record for typing with one finger. Other people use both hands for typing I can do the same with only one finger.""

Ok, but which finger would that be?

 
"Through the observation of scars, it is possible to know the darkest and deepest hideaways of the human soul."

It also makes for stomach-churning art.

 
Thanks to stumbling across the current machinations at World Wide Rant, I chose to slip myself into one of the more visual Internet memes by creating the guff family album, from where I'll be displaying my occasional photographic inclination (i.e. updating my method of boring people). It's commonly known as a fotolog. In other words, I've set up my own flog. Hrm.

It's now a permanent more link on the left, or at least as permanent as these things get. Expect no beauty - I don't.

 
Well, I (obviously) took Tuesday off because I accomplished no blogging whatsoever. Why? No reason. Also, I (finally) saw Two Towers at a late showing last night. My impressions? It was...good. Real good. I liked it.*

* I never claimed you'd get great movie reviews here.

 
The year so far:

 
"Do not work for the food that goes bad; instead work for the food that lasts for eternal life, because dude, that is the serious munchies!"

Suggestion for new Christian slogan: Take a toke for Jesus.

 
In an email message (sadly not a fan note; just personal stuff), I was asked "why guff?" Sort of a good question. And here's the answer:

I like the word.

I'm well aware of the definition behind it. Both the Cambridge International and Webster's Collegiate dictionaries define it as "nonsense." American Heritage does as well (along with a food-sourced "baloney" for good measure), though it adds a secondary definition I lean to for my interests here:

Insolent talk; back talk.

You may imagine I do a lot of that. And I do. So that's sort of why.

However, I take kindly to some of the synonymic connections guff generates. Specifically: bullshit, horseshit, dogshit, and the G-Rated crap. When it comes to shit, I'm all-purpose. Hopefully, so is guff.

 
I was going to post something cute about the mock Canada Switch campaign, but as I spent two hours shoveling snow earlier this morning, I'm way too tired for cute. So screw it - make your own gelastic comment. Or just go check it out.

Meanwhile, I'm taking a nap.

 
I noted earlier that John Scalzi was posting his SF novel, Old Man's War - which he sort of did through December.

Now it turns out he's actually sold it to Tor. This is a rather inspiring turn of events to aspiring writers and hacks everywhere. So let me be among the first to say to John:

You bastard!

I mean that, sincerely.