This isn't just day care, this is luxury day care specified by upper level management's whims to the level that makes it unattainable by the people who don't make the gigantic salaries over there. It's unaffordable because they designed it to be unaffordable.

It's the Whole Foods of kid care when most people would be happy with better than McDonald's.
posted to MetaFilter by Gucky at 10:30 AM on July 5, 2008

Google just figured out that it was sitting on a goldmine of liability for agreeing to look after the little brats of confirmed snobs all day.

Did you even read to the second page of the article? It's the opposite. They are building a snobby daycare for the kids of everybody there and expecting the rank and file to pay snob prices.
posted to MetaFilter by Gucky at 10:31 AM on July 5, 2008

In addition to winning the War on Drugs, drugs are now salting the earth to curse future generations.

And this is so much better than cops needing to outfit breathalyzer guns to detect THC as well how?
posted to MetaFilter by Gucky at 1:36 PM on July 1, 2008

Infringement usually hinges on confusion. The fact that Devo just put out a (terrible) kids' CD through Disney records targeting the same demographic as Happy Meals doesn't help.

Or the fact that my eight-year-old daughter opened up her Happy Meal, said, "Look! A Devo toy!" without prompting and then gave it to my husband all excited about getting a "Devo toy" for him based only on her exposure to a few Devo videos and "Dare to be Stupid"... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Gucky at 11:25 AM on June 27, 2008

I kept waiting for the punchline.
Then a gentleman took e and got naked.

And then I thought perhaps people who laugh at this haven't actually been surrounded by this at 3am in a warehouse/1 am in a danceclub before. Or maybe they have too much.

Sometimes parody is tamer than reality.
So, really, where's the punchline?
posted to MetaFilter by Gucky at 2:52 PM on June 19, 2008

For couples, it's a little bit of a pain. For households with kids, it's a huge bummer that this is going away.

The profiles were actually the reason we signed back up with NetFlix, as the last time, we were sick of waiting for our movie while the kid rewatched "The Saddle Club" pilot for the 8th time.

There's also the possibility that, since the profile queues worked badly with the "Play it Now" feature and that's where they... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Gucky at 7:32 AM on June 19, 2008

Well, I'm looking for something to contradict that bias, I guess is what should be obvious. Someone to say "I had a problem, and the HOA was right on top of it and things worked great".

I, oh wait, no. When I bought my first house (in a neighborhood full of bright pink, lime green and orange houses from the '50s) I was contacted by the HOA to give them dues. And then contacted by the city government to day, "No, don't give them dues.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Gucky at 9:13 PM on June 18, 2008

AB has been distributing InBev's big brews for a while now (Bass, Beck's, Stella Artois) and with the dollar tanking, why give a percentage when you could just buy out the distributor.
posted to MetaFilter by Gucky at 7:01 PM on June 12, 2008

I'm just excited that someone besides me is using the term "portmanteau" today.
posted to MetaFilter by Gucky at 10:48 AM on June 12, 2008

Anyone who's gone to a Robin Williams "trying out new material" set in SF knows that Robin Wiliams "riffing" is carefully crafted. Sit through his unhoned stuff sometime. Painful unfunny. And I say this as someone who survived BICENTENNIAL MAN.

I do wonder if people hadn't ripped off Woody Allen as much, would he have stayed funny?
posted to MetaFilter by Gucky at 9:21 PM on June 10, 2008

I'm struck by the similarity to A Softer World.
posted to MetaFilter by Gucky at 3:10 PM on June 10, 2008

But deep down, I think we all kind of know that there's a history behind our burgers that we would probably not be able to accept if we were actually there to see it.

A coworker of mine went out to a pig farm this weekend to be more "in touch" with her food. She brought back bacon. (insert joke about people with MBAs here, but seriously, ewww.)
posted to MetaFilter by Gucky at 3:16 PM on June 10, 2008

That's what the animatronics at Rainforest Cafe need. Less roaring, more Usher.

I think this calls for a Meetup at a Showbiz Pizza.
posted to MetaFilter by Gucky at 8:17 PM on June 7, 2008

As I work in the writing department of a fairly well-known agency, the cover letters we get are often... awe inspiring.

My favorite: "I eat stress for breakfast and pull from the toilet poetry of the gods." No, we went with the other writer who's side interests include fire dancing.

I have "Curse of Monkey Island" on my resume under "technical skills." I appreciate when people show their personal interests a bit.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Gucky at 12:09 PM on June 2, 2008

My hometown sends the message that red states don't exist, that Thinkgeek clothing is business casual, that pot stank is a perfectly acceptable cologne and that this is the center of the friggin' universe.

In other words, San Francisco is Never never land for the high school geek table.
posted to MetaFilter by Gucky at 9:19 AM on June 2, 2008

That's the most depressing thing I saw on the internet this month. But strangely, made me feel better about not getting a magic money "Santa Claus will defeat inflation/recession" check.
posted to MetaFilter by Gucky at 6:43 PM on May 31, 2008

Make.it.stop.Make.it.all.go.away.
posted to MetaFilter by Gucky at 12:46 PM on May 30, 2008

If I had known they were "gems" I wouldn't have wanted any of the Guitar Hero games. Gems? I've already got GemFighter, thank you very much.

Ick and double ick.
posted to MetaFilter by Gucky at 12:22 PM on May 29, 2008

the spectacularly awful Revolution X

Stupid easy, but I was desperately in love with that game. I think I still have the PC version around here somewhere.

Who doesn't love "liberating" women in bikinis chained up to lava lights by shooting CDs at them?

The social nature of Rock Band (and Singstar and Karaoke Revolution) make buying tracks for it more compelling. If it's just me playing, I'm... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Gucky at 7:03 AM on May 30, 2008

It's hard to have good words for what an amazing storyteller he was when his words were so amazing in their own right. Two of my favorites from "The Past Didn't Go Anywhere":

Folk music is boring. "Black fall, the die doe, blow ye winds
high ho," hell, that's boring, but I am a folksinger. This is a folk music
organization. You are ostensibly the folk, nest pas? That means we own this
song together, right?... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Gucky at 6:46 PM on May 24, 2008

I couldn't get my contacts this weekend, so I had to wear my old, crappy glasses. I had far too many people stop me and tell me, "Cool glasses." I've never been happier to have made the Velma-to-fat-Daphne transition a few years ago.

So this article's main point is that nerds are cool because nerds are sincere? Perhaps I'm playing D&D with the wrong, bizarrely sarcastic crowd.

Oh wait, nerds are in, but geeks are still losers? Thank goodness.
posted to MetaFilter by Gucky at 2:19 PM on May 21, 2008

OK, so the same kind of dildos who mocked me for daring to own a personal computer in the mid-80s are now celebrating the trappings of nerdiness?

I knew that the minute I found myself in line at Best Buy behind the jerkwad who beat me up for being all into computers - and he was buying a WWE wrestling game for his PC.

Dude, computers were the band that was cool when only a few people were into them but totally sold out. When... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Gucky at 4:16 PM on May 21, 2008

All you need is Timbaland, this data and the manual and you're all set to be a superstar.
posted to MetaFilter by Gucky at 10:45 AM on May 15, 2008

There is no other place that I knew with certainty I could get a Justin Timberlake doll to build a SOUTHLAND TALES action figure set. Or cans of OK Cola to be a Dan Clowes completist. Or an ancient pocket watch made in my father-in-law's home town. Or hysterically janky Juicy Couture knock-offs from Taiwan.

It's the world's coolest, most obscure junk sale, not Fry's Electronics. The value is in the long tail, not the big ticket.

And yes, their... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Gucky at 8:31 AM on May 9, 2008

I want to see all this violence and prostitution everyone talks about. Unfortunately my copy just locks up – after I've been suckered into bowling politely with a nice girl.

Stupid, buggy rockstar games.
posted to MetaFilter by Gucky at 7:58 PM on May 3, 2008

You work at Keller Williams posting about a book from Keller Williams.

Also, any Realtor who isn't a total weasel who be honest that whether it makes sense to rent or buy depends on the buyer, the specific market, the rent control situation that person is in, how handy they are, etc., etc.

I hope Keller Williams is happy you're besmirching their brand.
posted to MetaFilter by Gucky at 4:54 PM on April 21, 2008

So, wait, I'm voting for white wine and we're eating Hilary Clinton?
posted to MetaFilter by Gucky at 10:18 AM on April 18, 2008

I sincerely and unironically love my Trix Rabbit baby tee.

But I also own Captain Crunch and Charlie Tuna animation cels, Frankenberry and Count Chocula Rubriks and have lectured on the use of characters to depict brand, so it hasn't nothing to do with my street cred.
posted to MetaFilter by Gucky at 12:27 PM on April 17, 2008

I've had this in my iTunes library for a while. I always know it's going to be an interesting day when random play kicks it on. Do all your shopping - at Walmart!
posted to MetaFilter by Gucky at 6:37 AM on April 17, 2008

I'm looking forward to going back to E Pluribus Unum - From many, one - which is still a beautiful saying to capture the jumble/melting pot/diversity that America has - from the "In God We Trust" which was a 1950s way of saying, "We're not commies, swear it!" as our motto and on our currency. It's fine to trust in God, but when it's stamped on my money it has a little bit of "Accept This On Blind Faith" to it.

Conservative constitutionalists... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Gucky at 2:15 PM on April 15, 2008

Well timed FPP.

I've had Prime since it was offered and have been an Amazon loyalist since '98. After reading this, I checked and found I was set to autorenew on 4/19 and stopped it. I've found in quite a few ways that my loyalty to them gets me nothing in return and even the suggestion of this is like, "Well, yes, ok, that's a good final straw."

Considering that their site is unusable for finding what I want and, whether or not... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Gucky at 9:54 AM on April 15, 2008

I'm reminded of the Mad Magazine parody of "Scream 2" in which a character says, "But wait, they're just spewing mindless pop culture asides." to which another responds with something like, "well, they couldn't pull off funny, clever or relevant so they had to settle for referential."

Every generation recycles and sanitizes, taking the idealized bits of pop detritus and the cultural high points and leaving most of it in the dust. Look at... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Gucky at 9:28 AM on April 15, 2008

My daughter's already signed up for two weeks of summer camp. This will get her jazzed more than playing ROCK BAND one more time.
posted to MetaFilter by Gucky at 6:20 PM on April 12, 2008

When we went to Japan (with my 7-year-old daughter), we experienced rush hour at the busiest stops a few times and it's just like that.

As crazy as it looks, I find it a lot more civilized than the most crowded BART train in SF. People don't shove. They don't stand ground. They're no territory or aggression. And people seemed very body odor free. They just press against each other in the most docile way possible. My kid was freaked, but it wasn't that bad. It was nothing... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Gucky at 12:50 PM on April 11, 2008

Wow. The Choo Choo Restaurant is still there in Des Plaines, Illinois. Nothing's cooler than burger delivered by train.

Although burger delivered by pneumatic tube at the Safe House in Milwaukee is pretty cool, too.
posted to MetaFilter by Gucky at 11:05 AM on April 9, 2008

I don't mean to be pedantic, but Gore's on the board of Apple. It has to be Keynote, right?

Don't start giving PowerPoint any positive press. Unless you're trying to make the brand a generic.

Does Gore actually want to be involved at the White House level? There's something very Jimmy Carter about how much good he's done and how frank he's been able to be since he got away from DC.
posted to MetaFilter by Gucky at 4:37 PM on April 8, 2008

I remember being fascinated with the made-for-tv movie HELTER SKELTER as a kid, watching it over and over again. My folks would tell me stories about when they first moved to LA with long hippy hair and quickly went to 70s punk to avoid the Manson hysteria and my dad drove me past houses, pointing out where murders took place.

I think its the David Koresh/Jim Jones charismatic nutbag thing that makes Manson crop up as a fascination every few years. We all want to believe... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Gucky at 10:22 PM on April 4, 2008

I'm sure all the stories I've heard of Riney over portfolios and cocktails aren't the kinds of things that belong in an obit, but it sure seemed like he lived up to the reputation that advertising is still trying to live down to this day.

He was the West Coast's Leo Burnett with a hearty helping of "Aw Shucks" that could make anything folksy, although I can't remember a single thing the agency's done since they put "Publicis" on the door.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Gucky at 9:49 PM on March 25, 2008

Make fun of him all you like, you're still in the business of manufacturing desire.

You say that as if it's something people in advertising are afraid to admit. When I taught advertising, the first thing I taught was propaganda techniques. Joseph Goebbels was inspired by the PR man for Lucky Strikes.

I could make cogs all day. Or lattes. Manufacturing consent and desire at least comes with a lot more perks – and a pool table... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Gucky at 10:24 PM on March 25, 2008

The photo galleries of the John Hughes stars have proved one thing to me. I was right in junior high - Cameron Fry *is* hotter than Ferris Bueller.
posted to MetaFilter by Gucky at 11:22 PM on March 24, 2008

Wow. So the last link might possibly be relevant on Projects. Have you even read the blue before?

Countdown to deletion in 5.. 4..
posted to MetaFilter by Gucky at 2:00 PM on March 21, 2008

Perhaps I'm dense, but doesn't most of the political oomph in Fairey's work come from the fact that you recognize where it came from - particularly in that Iraq poster?

I always thought of him as graphic designer as artist, not an illustrator. Art Chantry didn't draw the drill catalogs that he restructured to make punk posters and album covers, either.

Is it just the term "art" that annoys that guy? I'm having a hard time seeing what... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Gucky at 3:10 PM on March 18, 2008

I'm so glad that I love my Shepard Fairey print mostly because it was a set piece on Veronica Mars, as well as the reference to THEY LIVE.
If I were a serious collector this wish-the-Art-World-with-a-capital-letter-was-relevant-to-anyone-outside-of-the-Art-World neurotic wankery might upset me.

However I suspect that the giant dollar bill on it might not have been hand drawn line by line by Fairey himself.
posted to MetaFilter by Gucky at 10:40 AM on March 21, 2008

On the out-of-context Mario: I got the opportunity to work with the voice actor who's been Mario forever. There's nothing weirder than having a conference call with a very kind, funny gentleman who just adds a, "It's a me!"

The 12-year-old me overcame my adult professionalism and I giggled.
posted to MetaFilter by Gucky at 5:20 PM on March 18, 2008

Attacking George Bush with political cartoons in 2008? That is not a bold move. Aside from that, do we really need the for dummies explanation at the top of each cartoon?

Actually, Mad has been lambasting for a long time, and pretty consistently and directly too. Thus all the material in this book. Heck, it was on shelves months ago.

The ongoing Ashcroft jokes, ripping on Condi Rice, heck, even "Saddam Says" was... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Gucky at 5:24 PM on February 5, 2008

Hey, Scarlett Johansson didn't warn me about an extra bubble on MY ballot when she left that rambly message on my answering machine about how she and Barack Obama braid each other's hair or whatever.

Good thing I had the "complete the arrows" ballot instead. Oh wait, was there a hidden arrow I was supposed to complete? I double checked all my arrows, but still.

Great, yet another thing to fret about. Thanks folks.
posted to MetaFilter by Gucky at 9:09 AM on February 5, 2008

Damn. You guys freaked me out. I read quickly, missed the "LA County" part and was determined I had thrown my vote away. (I would have voted Gravel if I wanted to do that.)
posted to MetaFilter by Gucky at 3:29 PM on February 5, 2008

My size 11 shoes have never felt more... futuristic.
posted to MetaFilter by Gucky at 9:40 AM on January 31, 2008

Gah. I hadn't realized DR. PARNASSUS has *just* started shooting with Heath Ledger.

It's getting to the point that he should pay a voodoo priestess to lift the curse already. I'm still upset that his version of GOOD OMENS never got off the ground. Reading "Dreams" is one of those things that gets my hopes stratospherically high only to have them constantly dashed.

Was I the only one who watched LOST IN LA MANCHA and thought, god, this... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Gucky at 8:56 AM on January 24, 2008

I've known US foster children who've had have horrible experiences, but all the permanently placed early adoptees I've known seem fairly normal/happy/content in general.

Maybe we need a system like an H1 Visa - you can't bring anyone from overseas unless you prove there's not a suitable domestic candidate? If it's so charitable to adopt, well, charity starts at home.

Or am I missing something about foreign adoption. Besides not having the drug... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Gucky at 3:55 PM on December 11, 2007