Matthew

McSweeneys

In case you're wondering why "McSweeneys" is among the sites in my "other sites you might just dig" section, enjoy this list by Chris Song. You may also be interested in Wholphin, the new quarterly DVD magazine from McSweeneys.

The photo? I took it last year on our trip to San Francisco. It's a mural by Chris Ware above the 826 Valencia building. The folks behind McSweeneys started this tutoring center for kids. Read more about it here.

Comfort of Strangers

Beth Orton's latest is one of the best records of the year (so far). I've listened to her a bit over the years but this tops all I've heard from her. Ordinarily, I'd send you over to iTunes to pick it up for $9.99, but for some reason they're selling it for $12.99. Amazon's not much better, although they are offering a version with a bonus disc. I haven't heard it, but it may be worth it to check that out too.

If you like Comfort of Strangers, you might also like her cover of "Ooh Child" from "The Other Side of Daybreak"

Matthew & Daddy

Live on the Radio

I'm sure many of you have done this. I'll be listening to a song on the radio, then I'll turn the station and the same artist will be playing on another station. Well, I just assume the artist died and I go on thinking they died until the song's over and the DJ doesn't say anything about it. Let's face it, DJs can't pass up an opportunity to go on and on about someone who's just died.

THIS kind of proves the theory. Someone actually recorded a scan of the dial on the day John Lennon was murdered. (thanks to Boing Boing and WFMU)

Some great Chickamauga photos

I check out Lifehacker pretty regularly. I've added their RSS feed to my Google sidebar. I noticed today, this post, which suggests checking Flickr for photos tagged with the name of your hometown. Searching "Chickamauga" yielded some great results.

I was really impressed with photos by Chattanooga resident Matt Dunmore, including the Crawfish Springs tower and Gordon Lee Mansion. I emailed him and asked if I could let y'all know about his photoblog featuring his work. He's very talented. I suggest you check it out: http://matt.dunmores.com/photoblog/

30Boxes

In my house, I'm always wanting to try out new technology and Erin is the true test of whether that technology is successful. If it works the way it's supposed to and it's simple to use, she'll use it. If it doesn't work, she won't waste her time. I, on the other hand, will spend 14 hours trying to install a new component in the computer saying the whole time, "I just don't understand. This should work!".

SO, the point is, Erin's using 30 Boxes, the new online calendar that I've been testing recently. When I told her I was gonna post this she said "I use it because you use it and it's easy".

They're updating constantly and it has what's supposed to be a great sharing function. So if you're interested in trying this out, you'll find my "30BUDDY" button on the sidebar.

Gervais on The Simpsons

I reported in an earlier post that I thought the Simpsons episode written by and starring Ricky Gervais, would be March 19th. That is INcorrect, as I now understand it. The episode, called "Homer Simpson, This Is Your Wife" will air Sunday, March 26th in the US. So set those TiVos. It should be pretty funny. (via SimpsonsChannel.com)

In other Gervais news, check out the latest Entertainment Weekly. In their music section, Ricky's painted up like David Bowie on the cover of Aladdin Sane. Unfortunately, I couldn't find the pic on the ew.com site.

The 150th post! A Year in Blog.

So, I'm a bit late in recognizing this on the blog, but at least we're in the right month. I started the blog a year ago this month, on March 1st, 2005, actually. Boy, a lot can happen in a year. I wasn't sure it would last or that I'd have anything to write about, but I counted up the posts and danged if this isn't the 150th. Thanks to everyone who's bookmarked this thing, all who listened to the podcast, and who cared enough to let me know what you think of all this. It's a lot of fun and I have no plans to stop blogging.

Walk The Line

Okay, so I saw very few of the Oscar-nominated films this year before the awards were handed out. Capote was one of the few I did see and I thought Philip Seymour Hoffman's performance was incredible. I had him picked, like everyone, and I thought he certainly deserved to win. UNTIL, I saw Walk The Line last night and realized that Joaquin was robbed. What a great performance. Witherspoon was good and for all I know, deserved to win. I didn't see any of the other performances. Great film. Great performance. If you haven't seen it, rent it. It's certainly worth your time. But then, you probably knew that.

The Simpsons

Big thanks to Scott for sending me this link. I'm stunned at how great this is and I'm pretty sure it will be all over the net and the news by Monday if it's not already. The word is that this was shot in England as an ad for The Simpsons there. Dunno. If you hear anything about the origins of this video, please leave a comment.

In other Simpsons-related news, I hear the episode written by and starring Ricky Gervais will air March 19th.