I don’t root for the downfall of too many industries, but record labels can’t die soon enough. Instead of embracing and capitalizing on web distribution, record labels pissed their leg and fought the web’s ability to move music. They were too busy fighting Napster to invent iTunes. They were too busy fighting iTunes to invent [...]
Matt Stooks.com
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Monthly Archives July 2008
The Chinese Olympics
Have you heard? The Olympics are in China. China will regret this. The focus of these games will be on how China treats its people, not on the tired storyline of records falling thanks to new technology. Journalists and spectators from around the world will experience a censored Internet. The Internet is essential to journalists. [...]
The war on the war on fast food
LA goes after fast food: The City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to place a moratorium on new fast food restaurants in an impoverished swath of the city with a proliferation of such eateries and above-average rates of obesity. The yearlong moratorium — which the mayor still must sign into law — is intended to give [...]
Let’s overmedicate!
CNN: A 700 percent increase in Heath Ledger disease. Deaths from medication mistakes at home, such as actor Heath Ledger’s accidental overdose, rose dramatically during the past two decades, an analysis of U.S. death certificates finds. The authors blame soaring home use of prescription painkillers and other potent drugs, which 25 years ago were given [...]
FW: Bullshit
I heard it on the Internet that Barack Obama blew off American soldiers in Afghanistan. A friend forwarded an email from a soldier who said Obama didn’t even look at soldiers during his visit last week. He didn’t thank them for their service. Then, I remembered a thing called “Google.” I searched for the author’s [...]
Trashy T-Shirt night at The K
Tuesday, I went to “Frank White Powder Blue T-Shirt Night” at Kauffman Stadium. I had wanted to go, and Geoff came through with free tickets. We entered the stadium and got our free extra large t-shirts. They had a stand where you could go exchange the shirt for a medium. I thought this was a [...]
Olathe, you screwed me again
Dear Olathe, You always manage to find new ways to make your city unbearable to drive. Your street system is easily the worst out of all the cities in the Kansas City metro. I wanted to treat myself to a showing of The Dark Knight on AMC 30′s IMAX screen. Google Maps puts the theater [...]
Breaking: People still racist
CNN: Paul Street, author of the forthcoming book, “Barack Obama and the Future of American Politics,” says Obama risks becoming an Oval Office version of talk-show host Oprah Winfrey. She and former Secretary of State Colin Powell are African-American figures whose popularity allows some white Americans to congratulate themselves for not being racist, he says. [...]
RIP: Ma
Estelle Getty, known to the world as “Ma” from The Golden Girls, is dead at 84. Rest in peace, Ma. We hardly knew ye. Which are the real Ma and Dorothy? (0:56 mp3)
The day I dumped Obama
Did you see Obama’s 3-pointer? Obama’s 3-point prowess has rendered him a useless candidate for me. His brilliant stroke heightens an already intense insecurity in my basketball skills. I guess it was only a matter of time until an Obama gaffe cost him my vote. He has lost the all important “Who would you like [...]
Economic prediction
A year from now, one of my readers will enter financial ruin due to the current economic situation. That puts your chances at 50 percent.
Hugh Downs: NAMBLA
Fareed Zakaria has a terribly named CNN show: “Fareed Zakaria GPS.” GPS supposedly stands for “Global Public Square,” but I can’t get past the standard meaning for “GPS.” At the very least, CNN should showcase Fareed’s penchant for maps, with a regular segment featuring lost drivers calling Fareed for directions, which he delivers turn-by-turn without [...]
Dear Insects of Summer
Dear Insects of Summer, Yes, my skin is beautiful, delicious and a pleasure to suck on. But there’s not enough to go around for everybody. Lay off my shit for awhile. I’ll get you something nice. Promise. Matt
And now, I fix gas prices
LA Times: With the Games due to start in less than three weeks, Beijing today cranked up anti-pollution measures by yanking cars off the roads, expanding mass transit and staggering work hours in a bid to meet its pledge of a “green” Olympics. Maybe we should just let China have every Olympics for now on. [...]
Fat guy in some skinny shorts
CNN: Sujit Bhattacharya knew he felt sluggish and had trouble putting on his socks and shoes. One day, when he tried on a pair of size 30 shorts, his wife pointed out that they fit only under his belly. We never learn his height, but his weight was 193 pounds. What kind of skinny waisted [...]
The menacing Al Gore
Al Gore tells Katie Couric he won’t be VP. Gore: I’ve imposed a personal term limit of two terms as VP. Couric: So absolutely nothing could get you to jump on board. Gore: I … Katie … Couric: This interview will come back to haunt you if you say it without … Gore: This interview [...]
You liberal!
I’ve been getting a decent amount of traffic from CNN.com on my post “Classified B.S.“ CNN shows blogs linking to their articles. I love the idea. Anyhow, I got into a comment-fest with a new reader. I thought I’d share one of my replies on the front page. Jake, Thanks for discussing this. It’s a [...]
Gank yourself in the face already
A friend sent me this line from his hotel. “They have amazing towels here. I ganked one of them.” I went on to explain that I’d never heard “ganked” before. He ridiculed me for a brutally late introduction to “gank.” From Google: Related phrases: gang/gank/gangbang Definitions of gank on the Web: Destroying another player’s [...]
Castratation sounds so much worse
The AP tries to clean up a quote. Jackson apologized last week after being caught saying on an open microphone that he wanted to castrate Obama for speaking down to blacks. The original quote, “I want to cut his nuts off” is far less offensive than the word “castrate” in this context. “I want to [...]
Satirical attack squads
The Obama campaign doesn’t like The New Yorker’s new cover. The cover, published Sunday, shows Obama in the Oval Office dressed in traditional Muslim attire. His wife, Michelle, wears an Afro hairstyle and has a machine gun slung over her back. An American flag can be seen burning in the fireplace, and a picture of [...]
