archive 2008 January

DSC-T1: You will be missed

Posted on Saturday 26 January 2008

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On December 30th we lost a great friend and companion, the Sony DSC-T1. Upon taking it’s 22,093rd picture the battered 5.0 megapixel camera closed its Carl Zeiss Verio-Tessar lens for the last time. It marked the end of the device’s storied history of capturing alcohol abuse, womanizing, and all out dic tailgate activity for the past 4 years.

The Japanese-born camera was found dead the following morning, New Years Eve, just moments before it was to take stage for what would undoubtedly be a typical night of debauchery requiring the snapping of 100+ images of beer chugging, face pinching, and fingers playing the role of penises.

The Sony DSC-T1 was known for grueling, intense roles that became its trademark after such showings as “Crabfest 2005″ and “Hank Blalock Incident.” Upon its first inception there were many skeptics of its durability and quality. One tall gentlemen commented that the camera was “overpriced but still sexy” and stated it was probably only purchased due to strong marketing endorsements by Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler. After breaking several of his own cameras in the lifespan of the DSC-T1 that critic is probably more impressed today, especially as we reflect back on its body of work.

It was a shocking end to a career built on such predictability. The DSC-T1 avoided the safe path in favor of a role that forced it to test it limits. The electronic outpour of emotion in the wake of the T1’s demise has been great as well. Some close to the DSC-T1 speculate it had an impact on another loss- that being the shocking end to the Dell 700m in mid-January. In its final hours, the camera, without a front housing plate, missing most screws and with identifying marks rubbed clean from its brushed metal, probably went out as anyone would have expected… taking one final, low quality, poor lighting and blurry shot in the hands of its inebriated owner.

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The entire landscape of digital cameras, by all manufacturers, was changed with the release of the DSC-T1 and though some cameras played follow-the-leader while others found ways to improve upon its design and image quality, no one can question the soul and endurance that the DSC-T1 showed this world. You will be missed friend.

Donations for new camera can be sent to The DSC-T1 Memorial Fund.
As a tribute I attempted to select the best 20 images that the DSC-T1 ever captured but ended up with 500 instead… The Best Of DSC-T1

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Update 1/27: I pieced together three cameras to make a “new” DSC-X1. As an organ donor the T1 will continue to take pictures in this Frankencamera (the flash and battery holder from the original DSC-T1 live on)




Yahoo! Fantasy Death Pool

Posted on Saturday 19 January 2008
death_list_art.jpg It was recommended by Swain that we all participate in a Death Pool/Death List for 2008. Apparently in New Orleans this morbid game is common place and local television networks spend much of the new year discussing their lists of hopeful deaths on the evening news — perhaps in an attempt to divert the reality that a category five will be wiping out the city in a FEMA-packed sequel set for release some time in August. For those of us who are gentiles or live outside the path of Hurricane Cloverfield the point of a Death Pool is relatively easy - a group of players pick out celebrities who they think will die within the year and who ever picks the most correct at the conclusion of the year is declared the winner.
The details of the rules are much the same as Monopoly, no one actually knows the real rules so its just the rules of the house - so in our house these are the Death Pool Rules:

1) The pool will run from 1/21/08 until 1/1/09. Deaths occurring on the last day will count.
2)
You pick 50 people that you think will die in the above time frame. These people must be celebrities and/or other wise well known. Generally if they have a Wikipedia entry with a picture they are “famous” for purposes of this game.
3) You will submit your picks by this thursday over email.
4) All players will have the opportunity to strike an ineligible name for failing to be famous or not fitting one of the following restrictions:
a) It does not count if you actually kill the person.
b) We are taking the liberal, pro choice approach to fetuses. I.E., you cannot pick jamie spears’ unborn seed b/c it is not a person. (See Roe v. Wade).
c) The person can not be on death row
d) No personal acquaintances (personal knowledge would make things unfair)POINT SYSTEM: Age at death is 0-29 is worth 3 points; Age at death is 0-59 is worth 2 points, Age at death is 60+ is worth 1 point


UPDATE:
Here are the draft results for the 2008 Death Pool

Swain’s List
Amy Winehouse
B.B. King
Barbara Bush
Betty Ford
Billy Graham
Bo Diddley
Bo Jackson
Bob Barker
Bobby “the brain” Heenan
Britney Spears
Charlie Watts
Charlton Heston
Claude Levi-Strauss
Dick Cheney
Dick Clark
Don Vito
Estelle Getty
Fats Domino
Fidel Castro
George Bush Sr.
Iggy Pop
JD Salinger
Jeffrey Skilling
Jesse Helms
Jodie Sweetin
John Paul Stevens
Keith Richards
Kirk Douglas
Lawrence Taylor
Leif Garrett
Liz Taylor
Mean Joe Green
Michael J Fox
Mick Mars
Muhammad Ali
Osama Bin Laden
Pete Dohrety
Queen Elizabeth II
Refrigerator Perry
Rev. Al Sharpton
Ric Flair
Robert Guillaume
Rowdy Roddy Piper
Scott Weiland
Stan Musial
Ted Stevens
Tommy Lasorda
Tony Siragusa
Wilford Brimley
Zsa Zsa Gabor
Butt’s List
Alan Greenspan
Ariel Sharon
Betty Ford
Bob Barker
Bob Dole
Bob Dylan
Britney Spears
Casey Kasem
Charlton Heston
Chuck Berry
Courtney Love
David Bowie
Dick Clark
Ed McMahon
Elizabeth Taylor
Fidel Castro
Gene Wilder
George H W Bush
Henry Kissinger
J. D. Salinger
Jerry Lewis
Jesse Helms
Jimmy Carter
John Wooden
Keith Richards
Kirk Douglas
Lindsay Lohan
Margaret Thatcher
Mark Mangino
Martin Landau
Mel Brooks
Michael Jackson
Micky Rooney
Muhammad Ali
Nancy Reagan
Nelson Mandela
OJ Simpson
Osama Bin Laden
Paris Hilton
Pervez Musharraf
Ralphie May
Rowdy Roddy Piper
Rupert Murdoch
Sandra Day O’Connor
Sparky Anderson
Stephen Hawking
Walter Cronkite
Wilford Brimley
Yogi Berra
Zsa Zsa Gabor
JP’s List
Abdul, Paula
Acuna , Jason
Ali, Muhammad
Antonioni, Michelangelo
Bin Laden, Osoma
Butz, Earl
Carter, Jimmy
Castro, Fidel
Cronkite, Walter
Douglas, Kirk
Dukes, Elijah
Ebert, Roger
Farrakhan, Louis
Feller, Bob
Fox, Micheal J
Gabor, Zja Zja
Graham Jr, Billy
Griffith, Andy
Heston, Charlton
Hilton, Paris
Hilton, Perez
Iacocca, Lee
Jackson, Curtis
Jones, PacMan
Kennedy, George
King, BB
Lansbury, Angela
Lasorda, Tommy
Lee, Stan
Levi-Strauss, Claude
Lewis, Jerry
Linkletter, Art
Mandall, Howie
Manson, Chalres
Modell, Art
Nash, John
Olsen, Kate
Otto, Jim
Regan, Nancy
Richards, Keith
Richie, Nicole
Sharon, Ariel
Sizemore, Tom
Spears, Britney
Taylor, Elizabeth
Throat, Deep (Mark Felt)
Verhoven, Paul
Weiland, Scott
Wilder, Gene
Yastrzemski, Carl
Jenness‘ List
Abe Vigoda
Andy Rooney
Angela Lansbury
Annette Funicello
Art Linkletter
Barbara Billingsley
Bea Arthur
Betty White
Billy Graham
Bob Feller
Carol Channing
Dear Abby
Della Reese
Don Pardo
Doris Day
Ed Asner
Eddy Arnold
Estelle Getty
Fidel Castro
Fyvush Finkel
George Carlin
Hugh Downs
Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lewis
Jesse Helms
Jimmie Dean
John Forsythe
John Wooden
Jonathon Winters
Karl Malden
Kirk Douglas
Larry Hagman
Lena Horne
Martin Landau
Maureen O’Hara
Mickey Rooney
Mike Wallace
Nancy Reagan
Nelson Mandela
Phyllis Diller
Ralph Kiner
Ray Bradbury
Ray Price
Ricardo Montalban
Roger Moore
Soupy Sales
Stan Lee
Stan Musial
Walter Cronkite
Zsa Zsa Gabor




6 Ways I Could Be More Productive

Posted on Tuesday 8 January 2008

There are certain things in my life, if different then they are now, which would allow me to get massive amounts of work done, and if they were different I would probably be a multi-billionaire by now. Although I do not wish that any of the things in my life be different, I am just noting the few things which cause me to procrastinate, lose sight, or simply put my efforts somewhere other than the pursuit of scholarly or financial success. I have itemized (in order) what changes would effect me the most…

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#6 If I Didn’t Like Video Games

Sure this one isn’t a total killer of time but if I add up all the effort, dedication, and passion I put in to beating piece of shit games like Bubsy, Ridge Racer, and Dragon Warrior I’d definitely have enough time stored up to read every New York Times best seller over the past two decades. If you include games that are actually good (but somehow take even more time) such as the Zelda series, Final Fantasy, Metal Gear, ect… you are probably leaving me with enough time to write my own best seller.

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#5 If My Bladder Was 8 Times Bigger

I have to pee right now. More importantly, when I drink I turn in to a Japanese-game-show-of-piss. If I open the floodgates during a drinking binge I not only have to go often but won’t allow anything to stop me from taking care of business right then and there. In many regards I don’t slow people down in life since I am willing to pee while walking down a sidewalk, in to a Gatorade Frost bottle, or out a moving car, but the mental distraction that accompanies my need to pee is immense. I see the world like the Terminator robot: constantly scanning for places to relieve myself and knowing no other mission in life except to piss… and kill.

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#4 If I Was Gay

Okay granted I don’t think being gay saves much more time than being straight – and in many ways such as grooming, clothing selection, and Bravo’s primetime lineup you would spend substantially more time, effort, and money than your typical straight male. Where the real time would be saved is the whole “cut to the chase let’s fuck” aspect about dating. If gay men are just as horny and impulsive as straight men I’m assuming that you simply have to go some street corner that gay people stand around at and just offer a thumbs up to the first clean-looking guy that walks up, it’s that simple.

 

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#3 If I Didn’t Like Sports

Sports generally make up a good deal of what watch on television and behind vacation, are often the basis for travel to a distant location. Between college football, baseball, pro football, (the more important) golf tournaments, March Madness, the Mitchell Report, that week in 2003 we all pretended to like NBA, attending hockey games to shout profanity, GUTS, some of the Olympic events like curling, heavyweight boxing matches, athletic-themed porno and trick shot bowling I think I have spent enough of my heart caring and screaming about the outcome of an arbitrary sporting event to make a Care-Bear Stare wave capable of wiping out the eastern seaboard. If we include Fantasy Sports (analogized as the proverbial Cousin’s Call) I think the passion exhausted could make every man, woman and Asshole Jon in the world weep.

booze2.jpg#2 If I Didn’t Drink

This feeds from all aspects of my life. If I am watching a football game, its more fun if I’m drunk, If I decide to go on vacation – drunk, If I want to go have a nice meal – drunk, If I am tossing thumbs up on the street corner – drunk, If I stay home to do “nothing” – drunk. Though the amount of time actually consuming alcohol is small, its residual effect at totally fucking my ability to get shit done lasts long, sometimes as long as an entire weekend even if there has been no alcohol in my system for a while. Financially, I am sure that I spend the most amount of expendable (which is in the negatives) income on booze and though it was speculated I could fill a pool with all the booze I have drank in my life I think the more important figure would be how many pools I could build with the money I have drank away in my life. *It should be noted that there are certain practices that dic tailgate has developed to improve the efficiency of alcohol consumption including road sodas, Club 190, 9:00am Tequila, and camelbak’ing.

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#1 If I Was Born Without A Penis

Almost all effort in life goes back to the God-given desire to please women. Why do we do every single thing in life? Either to please women and get laid, or to avoid the realization that we should be pleasing women and getting laid. Being born “sexless” would give a person the freedom to simply work their ass off without any distractions- just look at how hard robots work on a car assembly line. Or take Ken, that fucker rode around in red convertibles with hot sluts and their slutty sisters and still had time to get a year-round tan. Most self-made millionaires deliberately leave out of their books on how to get rich the most important thing of all “Give up on getting laid (at least until you are rich).” Of course it would be unknown if, sans cock, any man would do any amount of work whatsoever as without any kind of reward for one’s efforts, why try in the first place?

Other Runner-Ups: If AIM Never Existed, Life Before Scrabulous, If Ex-Girlfriends Exploded After Breakups, If I Was Never Extended Credit, If Chipotle Could Be Shot Directly Up My Ass.




No Fair... they have two guys on their team.