Fun, Madness

Eurovision 2006

Ashley

Okay, so if you don’t know what Eurovision is or have never seen the contest, you probably don’t understand the trainwreck that it is. It something like the Miss American Pagent combined with American Idol. Each European country has their own competition to choose the best song to go the Eurovision. This song has to be written specifically for Eurovision. So no, Ireland can’t just send the latest U2 song – it would make this contest so less funny. Once at Eurovision, the country puts on a performance of the song.

So I just found out who the winner for 2006 is – Finland.  (For my European friends – Yes it was in May; I live under a rock that is called the U.S.)

If you’re thinking they submitted some cute Lapland folksong that talks about reindeer frolicking in the snow, you couldn’t be more wrong! OMG – the group that performed it is called Lordi – and they look like a combination of something out of Lord of the Rings and Xenu (The Scientology overlord that was in that John Travolta movie). And to top it all off, they’re singing a deathmetal song about angels and heaven. I kid you not.

You can enjoy all the fun/horror with the online Eurovision song clips. The rest of the entries sounded either like bad American country music or dance/pop music. I don’t know which is worse.

Stuff

Silicon Valley’s Having a Baby Boom

Ashley

It may be that I have baby head, but I can’t help but notice that every other woman here is pregnant. At work, we’re welcoming at least one baby a day! (Seriously, someone talked with HR and crunched the numbers – it’s one baby a day.) Walk around downtown Mountain View during dinner, and you’ll see woman sporting either pregnant bellies or newborns. And Google added a weekly $100  waiters-on-wheels benefit for their pregnant employees – guess they feel they should feed them when they’re working at midnight and the kitchen’s not open??
So what’s brought on this baby boom?

  • More people that can afford to raise children? It’s not just Google-aires that are getting preggers.
  • More women in the valley? Google’s campaign to get more women couldn’t have worked that quickly.
  • The geeks are growing up and (gasp!) they’re getting to the edge of childbearing years?

I’m expecting to see Playdate networking events soon.

* Brendon has informed me that we won’t be adding to the boom ourselves anytime soon.

Tech

Canada Could Make iPods Illegal to Use While Driving – Is it already in Cali?

Ashley

There is a call in Canada to make iPods and cellphones against the law for some drivers.

It could be argued that it’s already illegal to operate one while driving in California. Section 27602 of the California Vehicle Code says that a person can’t drive while operating a video screen that produces entertainment. The Video iPod would certainly be prohibited, but what about your regular old iPod. It could be argued that this section of the code applies to all iPods.

read more | digg story

Jersey Dictionary

Losing My Native Tongue

Ashley

I recently realized that I’m losing my first language – and I spoke if for nearly 22 years. I have even lost my accent on most words, although some would say I never had an accent. If I talk long enough and you listen to me closely, you’ll hear one or two words missing their end “r.” The only one that I know I drop constantly is in “reservoir,” and I probably will always say it like that. Just like my Irish grandmother always said “tunder” for thunder and “tree” for three. (Sidenote: I once heard my mother tongue accent in a native Irish speaker.)

No longer do I the think in it. It just wasn’t acceptable to let anyone hear me talk in it, so what was the point of even thinking in it. When they heard it, they would think I was uneducated and definetely not from around here. Inevitably people didn’t understand what I just said, and I was tired of hearing the jokes that inevitably followed – especially whenever anyone caught a slight hint of my accent. People just aren’t accepting of foreigners. Sadly, I’m slowly forgetting all the colorful, almost poetic ways of describing things.

I haven’t seen a good dictionary for my native language, so I think I’ll start one here. The first Jersey-English dictionary. Jerseyisms. New Jersey that is – people from New Jersey never say “new”. It’s just Jersey.

Jersey-English Dictionary

josh v.
to tease, joke. Usually delivered as an insult, which is then presented as a loving joke. “Oh I’m just joshin’ ya.” Beware the josh – it could really be an insult.

rad-e-ator n.
dialect: northern New Jersey
The thing that heats your house.

sht-reet n.
street

ax v.
ask

Non-Jersey Words

Joisey n.
Beware any “locals” who use this word. They are not native Jerseyites. Only non-jerseyites say Joisey.

More to come…

Tech

Valleywag Hearts Kevin Burton

Ashley

For a few weeks there I was beginning to think that Nick Douglas developed a crush on Kevin. Nick is the writer of the latest online tabloid blog (tablog), Valleywag. There was a picture of Kevin on there every other day. I like Kevin, but that’s just a bit too much Kevin!

Valleywag is like In Touch magazine for geeks. It’s not as bad as the National Enquirer, but it’s not as believable as People – it pushes the line of credible “journalism.” I doubt Nick Douglas is calling anyone to confirm a rumour or get the real story. But so far it doesn’t seem like anyone’s reputation has been tarnished, too much that is.

But my question is – how will this site change the social scene of the Valley. Are we going to see the paranoia of Hollywood migrate north? Granted the uber geeks will still be the reclusive geniuses. But will the whiz kids be so paranoid they won’t even talk to each other about what they ate for dinner out of fear that their latest project will be broadcasted to the masses before it’s ready? They’re already annoying coy if you ask them you’re typical conversation opener, “So whatchya been up to lately?

What happens to the collaborative environment when two entrepreneurs can’t even have a nice little conversation about the latest AJAX app without it being broadcasted to the world as truth they’re going to buy it? Hopefully it won’t get to that point, but maybe it already has.

Fun

Favorite Music of the Week

Ashley

Patrick Brealey and the Knives

I can’t really place who they sound like, but it’s a bit pop-rock. Something about it reminds me of The Wannadies, but not as sugary. If you need a mood lift listen to Escaper. Patrick used to be part of The Salteens, but broke out on his own a couple years back.

Okay, I know Patrick and am a bit biased, but they have sweetest soothing happy sound. And he couldn’t be any nicer. And he takes some darn nice photos too.

Check out Patrick Brealey and the Knives. And if you happen to take a trip to Vancouver, go see them live.

MC Lars

Hot Topic Is Not Punk Rock by MC Lars (a.k.a. Lars Horris, a.k.a. Andrew Nielsen) is my favorite new song this week. The self-proclaimed “post-punk laptop rapper” is a recent English grad from Stanford who incorporates literary references into his songs. Is this the first geek rapper? (I can’t help but giggle when I see that this boy from Berkeley is living in Brooklyn. What is it with kids these days movin’ to Brooklyn?)

Those in the know, probably have heard of him already. But if you’re like me, not so into music like you were when you were 16, then you probably haven’t heard of him. His debut album, The Graduate, was released today on iTunes in the U.S. only.

It’s a mix of Beastie Boys, Beck, Weird Al, and Rage Against the Machine. You have to hear it to get what I’m trying to explain.

It looks like this guy is self-promoting his way to the top. He has is own label, Horris Records, the attention of the video channels, and is getting airplay (that’s how I heard him). Of course it probably helps if you have a good producer like Mike Sapone (Taking Back Sunday). But I’ll try not to feel “had” when we all learn that he is actually highly manufactured and backed by one of the big labels – yes, I’m a cynic.

Looking at his MySpace page, he’s doing the obligatory European tour. (The Commodore 2 in Brighton brings back memories.) I’m sure there are a few people that are betting he’ll go from “I’m big in Europe” to “I’m big.”