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Binky the Doormat This blog has been around since mid-October 2003 , and has followed my random mind around such topics as Eddyland (both versions), the San Pedro Beach Bums, the day grocer, my thoughts on a French auto museum , taco organizations, Nez, the end of mp3.com, Wesley Willis, Network Car, the Cluetrain Manifesto and parodies, googlisms, Wckr Spgt, Madonna, Lake Havasu City, general stuff on supermarkets , traffic calming obstructions, solo efforts by music group members, "master and servant," Gerald Ford, Saddam Hussein, Bob Einstein , proportional representation, Billy Jack seeking to kick government butt, the seamy underside of Belgian dance music, and other stuff about the 2004 presidential campaign. Oh yeah...I also talked about the R.E.M. song "Binky the Doormat" a lot this month. Lyrics , origin of the title , its relation to spammers, its relation to Howard Dean, its relation to Ian Van Dahl, its relation to Roy Disney's ineffectiveness...

Online Bible Resource Might as well mention this online resource that allows you to pull up Bible verses from the NIV and other translations.

PG13/TV14 church? I am of the tradition that believes that children should be in the main church service from day 1. Not everyone is of this tradition. See the Location & Times page for Calvary Chapel Menifee: Our services are designed primarily for adults, so we ask that you take your children to the children's ministry. On special occasions, children 12 years and younger may be permitted in the main service, when accompanied by an adult. It makes you wonder - what are they talking about in church that they don't want the kids to hear? What happened to Luke 18:16 ?

President Match I took the President Match survey sponsored by the AOL Time Warner Mega-Empire. Basically, this survey asks you a number of questions on social issues, crime/education (why they were grouped together I don't know), security/international policy, benefit programs, economy/environment (again, an interesting grouping), and party/experience. Your answers to these questions are then compared to the stated political views of the candidates (as of today, Bush and the 7 major Democratic candidates), and your compatibility to the candidates is measured. My final results were as follows: Bush 100% Lieberman 71% Edwards 52% Clark 52% Kerry 49% Dean 45% Sharpton 34% Kucinich 29% Other than realizing that I am a "compassionate conservative," it's interesting to note how interchangeable the four leading Democratic candidates apparently are. It might have to do with my individual answers, but according to the percentages above, there's no great...

Page of the Minute Eddyland - An Error Has Occurred!

Super Bowl Super Bowl Super Bowl - There, I Said It A lot of people are referring to a "big game" on February 1, 2004 in Houston, Texas. For example, Texaco Aviation has posted a "Flight Crew Guide to The Big Game February 1, 2004": Come to Houston, Texas this coming February 1 as Houston’s Reliant Stadium will host the largest football game of the year. Houston has been preparing for this event and all indications are that everything will be ready for this great event. Similarly, Phoenix Arizona radio station KTAR sponsored a "Gridiron Challenge" in which you could "[w]in a trip to the Big Game February 1, 2004": 3. Prizes: a. Two (2) tickets to pro football's big game in Houston, Texas, Sunday, February 1, 2004. b. Two (2) roundtrip tickets from Phoenix to Houston on America West Airlines. c. Two (2) nights accomodations at a Houston area hotel Saturday, January 31, 2004, and Sunday, February 1, 2004. Total value of pri...

David Koenig website See http://www.mouseplanet.com/david/ for David Koenig's website. After receiving his degree in journalism from California State University, Fullerton (aka Cal State Disneyland), [Koenig] began years of research for his first book, Mouse Tales: A Behind-the-Ears Look at Disneyland (1994), which he followed with Mouse Under Glass: Secrets of Disney Animation & Theme Parks (1997, revised 2001) and More Mouse Tales: A Closer Peek Backstage at Disneyland (1999) (All titles published by Bonaventure Press). There's a December 2003 page about Roy Disney's Save Disney movement. While Koenig doesn't out and out call Roy a Binky the Doormat, it's apparent that Roy has an uphill battle. Frankly, I agree - there's no point in getting Eisner out until you figure out who's gonna take his place. So it's interesting to note that the vision page links to an article that compares Walt Disney to a current business leader...Stev...

And About The Name... Well, I figured out where the name "Ian Van Dahl" came from. According to ilikemusic.com , "Ian Van Dahl is a nickname that AnneMie has had for years (Ian's a girl and boys name in Belgium). So now you know." Just as well she wasn't nicknamed Binky the Doormat...

Castles Out of the Sky Some time after the release of "Binky the Doormat," a woman named Martine wrote and sang a song. Her story is here . Excerpts: ...Back then she didn't know about all the complications and disappointments her first song, written by her and with her vocals, "Castles in the Sky" would bring along with the success. The record company decided to put someone else on stage, for no apparent reason it seemed... Martine D. J. Theeuwen, better known as Marsha, was born on October 7th 1976, in Belgium. Marsha was the youngest of 2 daughters of music-loving parents'. Marsha had a penchant for music and performing from a very young age.... ...One of the conditions to get a true chance to sing a demo tape was making up the lyrics herself. This is when she created the vocal melody and the lyrics of her debut: "Castles in the sky". Besides the bad car accident that she got into on the way to the final recording session and the ...

Prince or Whatever He's Called Continuing... I'd have to say that my favorite Prince album is "Sign 'o' the Times." (Here's a site that offers audio previews of EVERY song on the album.) I haven't owned it in years (I got rid of all my cassettes some time ago), but it includes everything good and bad about Prince - the minimalistic brilliance, the unfinished jams, the tight lyric couplings, the messianic pretensions. The song "It" is kind of like the B52's "Rock Lobster" - it starts off EXTREMELY strong before petering out. The hits ("Sign 'O' The Times," "U Got The Look") deserved their accolades.

Much Ado About Nothing OK, so Howard Dean gave an enthusiastic speech to his supporters after his third-place finish in the Iowa caucuses. According to AP , this is what he said. This is what Howard Dean said. (Heh heh.) Not only are we going to New Hampshire ..., we're going to South Carolina and Oklahoma and Arizona and North Dakota and New Mexico, and we're going to California and Texas and New York, And we're going to South Dakota and Oregon and Washington and Michigan. And then we're going to Washington, D.C. To take back the White House. YEAHHHH!!!. OK, so he was trying to fire up a crowd, and the crowd ended up firing HIM up. So? Whoops, sorry, I didn't realize this was the end of the world. Again from AP : "I think it crystallized a lot of the concerns voters in Iowa had as well as voters in New Hampshire had about Dean's potential temperament as a president," added Andrew Smith, a political scientist and pollster at the Univers...

What is the Purpose for the Random Stuff in Spam? I received some "generic Viagra" spam in my e-mail box, and happened to notice the following text at the end of the spam: flu from neighbouring countries and regions And so here they are once again The new prime ministers credibility is on the line if he backs down on a promise A SUICIDE driver detonated a massive car bomb one win away from reaching the Super Bowl whose once faltering campaign for nomination has rebounded If this spammer is a budding lyricist, s/he has a long way to go before s/he can produce a "Binky the Doormat." I also can't understand the random letters that appear at the end of spam message titles. Am I correct in assuming that's a tracking mechanism?

Other 2004 Republican Presidential Candidates Excerpts from politics1.com : Business entrepreneur Blake Ashby, 39...is running for President because he believes President Bush has ignored the party's traditional commitment to fiscal responsibility by running up a $400 billion deficit....He also takes issue with the increasing role social conservatives have been playing in the GOP....He supports medical marijuana, opposes unfunded mandates "such as the current 'no child left behind' rhetoric", advocates federal tax reform, supports strengthening environmental protection laws, opposes deficit budgets, believes "our first and best line of national defense has always been democratic capitalism [and] free trade", and wants to return nearly all control over education to the state/local levels. Businessman and Army veteran Dick Bosa...vows that he will now focus his activism "on the root core problem of the deterioration of values by government, no...

Analyze This, That, and the Other Thing OK, now I've found an analysis of several phrases associated with the R.E.M. song "Binky the Doormat." This is the first time that I have heard a comparison between Citizen Kane and a Bobcat Goldthwait movie. For other songs, go to the main page of the R.E.M. Lyric Annotations FAQ .

A-Ha! (No, not the Nordic "Sun Always Shines on TV" band) A question of mine was answered at a GeoCities page : Binky the Doormat The title comes from the Bobcat Goldthwait movie 'Shakes The Clown,'" says Buck. "For some reason, Michael got really obsessed with that movie when we were making this record."

On the Lyrics to "Binky the Doormat" I don't know if Michael Stipe writes all of R.E.M.'s lyrics, but he makes David Byrne sound like a professor of logic. Take, for example, the chorus to "Binky the Doormat" (courtesy Craig Lawson's remrock.com site : Have you lost your place? I wore my doormat face. I hung my this or that. I laid my welcome mat. Put the verses in, and it still doesn't make any sense. This is a long-standing and continuing issue with R.E.M. lyrics; in 2001, TIME magazine described Reveal 's lyrics as follows: Stipe's lyrics remain characteristically erudite and elusive. On Imitation of Life he croons, "Charades, pop skill/ water hyacinth, named by a poet." On "Chorus and the Ring," he sings, "It's the poison that in measures brings illuminating vision/ It's the knowing with a wink that we expect in Southern women." His lyrics may appear random, but they can aim for Prou...

A new song in a new method to measure song length Those of you who are following my new method to measure song length will be pleased to know that I have added R.E.M.'s song "Binky the Doormat" to my list of songs to measure.

The Other Experiment I've been thinking (a dangerous thing) about what I wrote last night regarding the experiment, and I'm more convinced that the experiment will fail. Here are my hypothesized rules about how to make the experiment a success: Choose something in which people are interested. Obviously most of my examples from last night won't work. Even I wouldn't want to search for an association between Trista, Ryan, and Gerald Ford. Claim uncharted territory. This is where I think Seb's experiment will fail. Many many people are interested in a city in France and a hotel chain, but fewer people are interested in, say, Binky the Doormat. Repetition, redundant repetition. This is where I think Seb's experiment will fail. Those who want to get on "the list" will make the appropriate statements over and over again. (In the future, before Wesley Clark withdraws from the presidential race, you can check the January 2004 archive of this blog ...

Wow... I heard about this in the "Funny Stuff" section of Eddyland . See this color deficiency test .

Political Humor Enjoy. Martha Stewart Living...Behind Bars . Starr Wars .

The Experiment Seb's Blog is conducting an experiment. I'd love to quote from the blog, but if I quote from his blog in my blog, it will ruin the experiment. However, I can safely state that the experiment involves Google, a major city in France, a hotel chain, and a number of words that would be of interest to those who like a major city in France and a hotel chain. To find out what I'm blabbering about, go to Seb's Blog (see the links on the left of my blog), read the entry for January 14th, and wait. While you're waiting, search Google for "Seb's Blog Trista Ryan Gerald Ford." Personally, I think the experiment will fail. While Seb's Blog will appear somewhere in the list, the...uh... professionals will do everything in their power to ensure that they are first in the list. Here's a search that's a little less random. "Slim Whitman D A Pennebaker Saddam Hussein." OK, I'll quit with this one: "Eddykins Lenal...

Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) Representation in New Zealand Here's Elections New Zealand's explanation of how Parliament is elected . Here are some government views on the effects of proportional representation : The new electoral system is expected to make the single-party majority governments to which New Zealand has become accustomed much less likely in the future. A new era of minority and coalition governments is expected to present some significant challenges for the State sector, and especially for the Public Service. Some additional thoughts : The Parliaments elected in 1996 and 1999 have higher proportions of MPs who are women (29.2% and 30.8% respectively; 1993 21.2%), Mäori (13.3% in 1996 and 1999; 7.1% in 1993), Pacific Islanders (2.5% in 1996 and 1999; 1% in 1993) and Asian (0.8% in 1996 and 1999; none in 1993). It is notable that most of these improvements in representation have come about through party lists....Voter turnout in 1996 was 3% higher...

OK, let's go full circle... So, what's Krist Novoselic up to now? Politics. The fixour.us website "is committed to exploring Proportional Representation as a remedy to our current broken electoral system." Here's an excerpt detailing his philosophy: Under his "Super Districts" proposal, [the state of] Washington would be split into nine large districts rather than the 49 that currently exist, and each district would elect 11 legislators to the state house....In addition to the physical reorganization of the state's political boundaries into the nine super districts, under Novoselic's plan legislators would be elected by a proportional model, and minor parties would not be shut out by the Democrats and Republicans....For example, if Democrats got 45 percent of the vote in a district, Republicans 35 percent, and the Green Party and Libertarians each 10 percent, then the 11 seats would be filled by five Democrats, four Republicans, one Green ...

Czech, Mate! Check Papau's Lyrics Pages (site in Czech, lyrics in English). The site has lyrics for the following: Doors Eminem Chemical Brothers Limp Bizkit Linkin Park Manic Street Preachers Nirvana Offspring Pearl Jam Prodigy Red Hot Chilli Peppers R.E.M. Smashing Pumpkins U2 Underworld

Dreaming of Maria Callas, Whoever She Is Tonight I've been listening to R.E.M.'s New Adventures in Hi-Fi . For various thoughts on this album, read Ryan Schreiber's September 1996 review , Troy Carpenter's review , and John Sakamoto's Jam review .

Out of the Boxer Well, it's time for this year's campaign to replace "Barbara the Bouncer" Boxer in the U.S. Senate. This evening, John and Ken gave airtime to Howard Kaloogian because of his opposition to President Bush's guest worker program proposal . But for some, Kaloogian is a little too liberal. Danney Ball derides "Howard Kazoogian" as a "big fat lier" (sic). "He is now using the internet machine developed and paid for by recall [Gray Davis] funds to try and raise money for his election....Howard Kaloogian used the good name of our beloved President Ronald Reagan to raise money in a scam that was calculated to set up his race for the U.S. Senate." But you know, anyone who can write a song with the title "Western Swing For The King" can't be all bad....

Busy week... Interesting week. All-day department meeting, followed by several hours of prep for a two day meeting with another department. (Missed meeting my relatives, who were in town.) Meanwhile, there's a three day audit going on, and I had to complete a document and schedule a document review. If Howard Dean proposes retirement at age 43, I'll vote for him...

I Can Write Movie Promos I am going to write a promo for a movie. I have never seen the movie. All that I know about the movie are two things: 1. The movie was released in November or December of 2003. 2. The movie has been nominated for at least one Golden Globe award. You realize that several movies fall into this category. However, I can write a movie promo that applies to all of them. Just substitute the appropriate information and you're done. Critics agree: MOVIENAME is a must-see! Nominated for NUMBER Golden Glove awards, MOVIENAME is a cinematic masterpiece! DIRECTORNAME adds to his impressive repertoire! LEAD ACTOR dominates the screen! LEAD ACTRESS is a joy to watch! OK, somewhere in this commercial we have to insert some dialogue from the movie. This should be fairly easy to do, since one of the following lines of dialogue is bound to be in this movie. Just select one (or more) of the lines, and you're done. I never want to leave ...

Blogs to Investigate Little Green Footballs morons.org

Another Ontario Emperor Reference on the Web This site included a link to my Tripod site , with the comment "this one's a doozy." I'll choose to interpret that positively...

Commercial of the Day To my knowledge this has not aired in the United States, but it would be an ideal Super Bowl commercial. It aired in Britain as early as April 2003, if not earlier. Here's a link to the Honda Accord "Cog" Commercial (Flash6 required). And here's a link to an article about the 606 takes it took to shoot the commercial (no, it's not graphically generated; it happened for real).

All That Glitters is not Gold I was listening to an American Express commercial on the radio. For those who haven't heard these commercials, they get a small businessperson to ask a question, then get several people to respond to it. Meanwhile, the small businesspeople take every opportunity to promote their own business. For example, the commercial that I heard (see transcript) asked the following question: This is John Harris, co-owner of the Directorsite company, a DVD authoring and postproduction facility, located in Manhattan Beach. When, if ever, should I submit a client who hasn't paid me to a collection agency? After the first radio response (John, that's pretty straightforward. If they owe you a lot of money, you've got to go collection.) , the following response aired: This is Dave Osborne, owner of SuperDaveO.com in Anaheim Hills. If it's a one-time client, I would start thinking about it after 60 days. If it's someone that'...

Site of the Second quizilla.com .

Site of the Last Three Months Here's the Vons site at which they express their views on the grocery strike.

Site of the Many Moments Eddyland . A fun place to hang out, especially for a non sequitur- loving guy like myself. (Check out the threads of irrelevant replies in Silliness and Nonsense.)

Site of the Moment mindpixel.com . Massive AI projects fascinate me. Waiting for my membership confirmation.

Dress You Up I don't understand why people dress up to go to attractions. Whenever I go to Disneyland , I invariability see at least one or two little girls that are dressed up like princesses. (That has to get uncomfortable by the end of the day.) During my recent visit to Colonial Williamsburg , I noticed several people who were obviously tourists (not employees), but who were dressed in colonial attire. I guess the next time I go to Roy Rogers , I should ride a horse...