I’ve been meaning to post about this for a while, but have been way too scatterbrained. At the end of the month I’ll be moving out of my apartment. Where am I going? Here and there. I’ve been moving all my stuff down to my parent’s place in CT, but I’m not thinking of myself as moving in there. I’m more thinking that I’ll be a bit of a wanderer, spending my time in Hartford and Boston as need be. I’m still hoping to find work up here in Boston, but I need something pretty solid. I’ve got two consulting gigs that are going to help me keep my sanity.

I was quite stressed when I was in the process of making the decision to move, but now that I’m in the process it isn’t that bad. The hardest thing was putting my records and turntables into storage at my parent’s place (Btw, Special Pete, you still have my headphones!). Right now big biggest issue is finding a way to move my desk down to my parent’s place. It’s the one thing that’s too big for my dad’s station wagon. Do any of my friends in Boston have a truck and are free either this weekend or next to help me move it? Let me know.

Now I just need to figure out how I’m going to set up the TiVo when I get down there.

This is just too disturbing for words.

Drive-Thru Molestation

Here’s the scenario:
You’re a middle-aged manager at a fast food restaurant in a large Western South Dakota city. You’re no stranger to fast food, having owned restaurants before and managed employees for much of your life. On your shift, a man claiming to be a police officer calls your restaurant. He tells you, hey, there’s a girl who works for you that stole a purse. I need you to conduct a body-cavity search.

Though your restaurant is one block from the police station, you listen to the caller’s instructions. Strip this 19 year-old girl naked? Ok, done. Ask her to bend over and inspect her back side? Ok, done. Have her sit on your lap, and also perform exercises in front of you? Ok, not a problem. Since this is a restaurant, after all, you decide to lock yourself in an office with this girl. [MeetMyAttorney.com]

The original news story is was in in the Rapid Story Journal, and has even more bizarre things. Here’s the one that jumped out at me.

It was an insidious hoax, perpetrated by someone who had duped other restaurant employees into similar actions in other states and locations in South Dakota.[RapidCityJournal.com]

So the phone call was a hoax, but it was one that tricked even other people than just this guy. Are there really that many people who are that stupid out there?

From a mailing list I’m on. Can you escape the Crimson Room? (requires flash)

I’m just about escaped, I think. I’m stuck on the last puzzle.

Posted primarily for me for future reference. The Globe ran an article about NMH closing their Northfield,MA campus.

Northfield closure has blood boiling

NORTHFIELD — When half of Northfield Mount Hermon closes next summer, reminders of tea dances, May Day plantings, and Trish Dolben could disappear too.

Dolben was a 1954 graduate of the former Northfield School for Girls. After she died in 1985, her husband, Don, donated $1 million to create a library in her honor. In a year and a half it will no longer be a part of the school.

“What damn fool would give money for a memorial to his wife that would be used for just 15 years?” Don Dolben said. The former trustee is angry with school leaders. “To cavalierly abandon a campus without stating a purpose seems to be a breach of fiduciary duty, if not a legal duty then a spiritual one.” [boston.com]

I know that I’m still annoyed about the whole thing. I feel like I need to road trip out there again soon when it is warm out and just spend some time strolling around taking pictures.

The Devil he has a plan.

So, what am I watching lately? Or, more precisely, what are the shows that make me leap for bittorrent when I see them announced?

Naruto, of course, which is now up to episode 70 and still going strong. And ROD the TV, for which I’m collecting the raw Japanese episodes as well as the fansubs. I watched episode 17 raw before watching the sub with my wife, and I continue to be pleased at the percentage I was able to follow.

I’ve been collecting Mujin Wakusei SURVIVE, but I’ve only seen the first episode; it seemed like pretty standard fare, nothing amazing but nothing terrible. Chrno Crusade has been quite serviceable; I’ve watched through episode 7 or so. Kaleido Star is still coming out, though I’ve fallen a little behind in watching it.

Some clear winners: Gunslinger Girl is nearly over, which is a shame. Mezzo DSA is a kick — its bouncy opening theme reflects the sense of fun that this show has. And I’m very amused by Gokusen; it has great characters and fun plots, and some of its character designs are less than attractive, which I actually find rather refreshing.

In older shows, I’m grabbing Yawara! as it’s coming out, and really enjoying it. The art isn’t as crisp as the manga, but the story is engaging.

On the flip side, I’ve been following Daphne in the Brilliant Blue, but I’m not sure how long I’ll continue; it seems to be this season’s Stratos 4, only with costume designs that are even more ridiculous and poorer animation. And Cosprayers has the typically cute m.o.e. character designs, but the show itself isn’t too substantial.

One of the best ebay auctions ever. I personally think some radio station should snatch it up. It would be a great promotional thing.

Oh my god. This explains everything! I think I have NADD!

[Link via Kasia]

Oh no! The world is coming to an end!

Barbie and Ken splitting after 43-year romance

After 43 years as one of the world’s prettiest pairs, the perfect plastic couple is breaking up. The couple’s “business manager,” Russell Arons, vice president of marketing at Mattel, said that Barbie and Ken “feel it’s time to spend some quality time — apart.”

“Like other celebrity couples, their Hollywood romance has come to an end,” said Arons, who quickly added that the duo “will remain friends.” [Boston.com]

I actually wish it was a messy breakup. Like Barbie finding him in bed with another man and going postal.

Today’s New York Times has an article about H.R. Pufnstuf that’s pretty cool.

The Evil Geniuses of Kiddie Schlock

Have you ever thought you liked a terrible song just because you remembered it, mistaking mere recollection for actual nostalgia? That’s the way it is for me and “H. R. Pufnstuf.” I thought I had fond memories of the show until I had a chance to see it again, to hear the shrieks of an angry Witchie-Poo (the actress Billie Hayes in a ketchup-red wig), to be assaulted by swirling Day-Glo colors and a Freudian plot featuring a talking flute. Turns out that when I was 7, I had really, really bad taste.

Then again, maybe that’s the glory of being 7 years old: there are no clichés, and the crassest riddles rock your world. The brighter the colors, the better the set design. This was the evil genius of Sid and Marty Krofft — the Canadian-born 70’s TV hucksters whose invariably short-lived Saturday morning series included “H. R. Pufnstuf,” “The Bugaloos,” “Electra Woman and Dyna Girl,” “Sigmund and the Sea Monsters,” “Land of the Lost” and the deeply strange “Lidsville.” They weren’t making shows that parents could watch with their kids. They were making shows that kids could watch alone, while severely addled by Cap’n Crunch. In another league entirely from the witty Muppetry of “Sesame Street” or the gentle pleasures of Mr. Rogers and “The Magic Garden,” the Kroffts dished up a swirl of psychedelia, vaudeville and cheesy production values that might be described as brown acid for the toddler soul. [New York Times]

While talking about these shows online someone pointed to the list of writers for Land of the Lost. It’s pretty impressive. Though it might help explain why I can still remember that one.