MORE SENSELESS ACTS OF BLOGGERY

Here’s hoping you get what you want, either materially or spiritually or whatever it is you need.

Which in my case would be this.



[Via Sloth Unleashed]

Unmasked,

This is dF

In my head, anyway.



Absolutely brilliant.

In hot pursuit,

This is dF

I was informed last week by Mr Jason Franks that Jim Marshall passed away.

Jim Marshall being the guy who invented the Marshall guitar amplifier.

So I just had to blog about that, didn’t I?

There are many guitar amps, of course, but even before Spinal Tap did the “this one goes to eleven” joke, Marshall amps were known for being by far the loudest, which made them perfect for 70s rock dinosaurs and 80s hair metal and, well, anyone who needs the kind of guitar sound that (to use a musical term) kicks ass and takes names.

And it’s always interested me that Marshall amps have become as iconic in the rock’n’rolls pop-culture scheme of things as the Fender Stratocaster, the Gibson Les Paul and double-kick-bass drum kits. Possibly just because they're stackable. Few things are quite as impressive as a band backed by a wall of amplifiers, both sonically and visually.

I think Harry Shearer sums it up pretty well: Marshall amps turned rock concerts from an auditory experience to a physical experience. Indeed.

Meanwhile, if you want an idea of just how iconic Marshall is, look no further than this: a mini-fridge dolled up to look like a Marshall amp.




Holds 4.4 cubic-feet of Budweiser. Yrs for $300.

I do so want one. Only without the Budweiser.

FULL DISCLOSURE: I owned a Marshall amp once. Got it second-hand in a pawn shop for my band Skinless Julia. It was so loud that the sound guys at the two clubs we played said there was no point in miking it because it was louder than their PA system.

Fuck yeah Marshall.

FUN FACT: Blue Oyster Cult once did a song called “The Marshall Plan”, which had nothing to do with America’s post-WW2 Europe rebuilding policy, but was in fact about a guy whose girlfriend runs off with his favorite rock band, inspiring him to start his own rock band to win her back.

See what they did there?

Play it loud,

This is dF

Especially if you watch certain US cable TV news channels.



Stay classy,

This is dF

Life of the party,

This is dF

True story:

One night I was walking from the Disco Bay ferry pier to my flat, which involves walking through a waterfront park area on the south side of the bay.

Then I saw this.



Which was, of course, not supposed to be there.

The rational side of my brain said, “Some kid put their doll up in the tree.”

The side of my brain that’s seen too many Karen Black films said, “Suburban voodoo ritual!”

Because there’s something about seeing a doll pinned to a tree in the middle of the night, isn’t there?

The next day, it was still there. And, you’ll notice, looked a lot less creepy.



And the moral of the story?

HEY YOU KIDS, PUT YR DAMN TOYS AWAY LIKE YR S’POSEDTA!

Welcome to the dollhouse,

This is dF

I get emails.

Sometimes they contain wonderful toys for sale.



Pick-up artist,

This is dF

That pretty much sums up my trip to Taipei earlier this week.

Here are the toys.

 

And here are the taxis.

 

The back-seat screen on the right is a new thing – about a thousand taxis have been outfitted with these touch-screens that are linked to a wireless network called Wimax (similar to Wi-Fi, but it can cover a whole city instead of yr favorite coffee shop – if you have Clearwire service in yr area, it’s the same thing) and the onboard GPS unit. So you can watch music videos while tracking yr location. Which is handy.

The laptop rig was even more interesting since it was basically an ad hoc set-up – the driver bought a laptop with Wimax built into it and mounted it in the passenger seat. He was running GoogleMaps and a local live TV channel at the time.

It sounds dangerous, I know. But we never even came close to so much as a fender bender, so who am I to be critical of the future?

Anyway, that was pretty much Taipei for me – I spent almost all of it working or sitting through PowerPoints ... which is how I learned that one local Wimax operator tried out wearable Wimax webcams for police who can stream live POV video during crowded events.

The quality was decent. Which is why I think dashboard Web TV is the least of our problems.

And now it’s time to hit the road yet again – first to Singapore, then straight to Shenzhen in mainland China. This will take about a week. Broadcasts may be limited, but will likely be ongoing.

Keep the meter running,

This is dF

Submitted for yr approval.



[Via Mostly Forbidden Zone]

Yes or no,

This is dF

Some people are hard to shop for. That’s when you turn to that old standby: a gorilla wearing a beret.



[Glommed from puffdoggydaddy ]

You can’t miss with a gift like that.

Yes, I KNOW the kids wanted a Littlest Pet Shop doodad. But honestly, a pet shop without a gorilla wearing a beret might as well be a zoo with a roof.

Or something.

Whatever. Trust me. Gorilla with beret. You want this.

You can leave yr hat on,

This is dF