Jason B. posted an article on Simple Tricks and Nonsense - Nov 27, 2009, 1:04 pm
I should be taking advantage of my day off to write something meaningful, like a short story or a screenplay outline, or notes for a novel I'd like to write, or even just a recap of my DC trip or ...
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Jason B. posted an article on Simple Tricks and Nonsense - Nov 26, 2009, 8:18 pm
...but this is pretty much how things look around the Bennion Compound right now: see more Lolcats and funny pictures So I guess you'd call that a successful Mass Consumption Day, right? Hope yo...
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Jason B. posted an article on Simple Tricks and Nonsense - Nov 25, 2009, 10:28 pm
I had just turned eight when Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind was released in the fall of 1977, and I remember being completely freaked out by the commercials for the film. Od...
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Jason B. posted an article on Simple Tricks and Nonsense - Nov 21, 2009, 10:00 am
Traveler's tales are still forthcoming, but first, I'd like to provide a little educational service for my recent traveling partner, Cranky Robert, whose knowledge of all things pop-cultural i...
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Jason B. posted an article on Simple Tricks and Nonsense - Nov 20, 2009, 1:17 am
Hey, there, me droogies. Sorry, I don't know where that came from. Well, yes, I do, but I don't know why I'm making a Clockwork Orange reference at this particular time, other than it se...
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Jason B. posted an article on Simple Tricks and Nonsense - Nov 11, 2009, 12:13 am
My longtime Loyal Readers will probably recognize the significance of Indy's Clipper ship up there. It means I'm headed off on another adventure. Once again, my friend Cranky Robert has invite...
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Jason B. posted an article on Simple Tricks and Nonsense - Nov 10, 2009, 3:36 pm
This will be short because I'm trying to finish a bunch of mundane chores and miscellaneous loose ends so I can leave tomorrow on a last-minute adventure with a clear conscience, but I couldn'...
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Jason B. posted an article on Simple Tricks and Nonsense - Nov 9, 2009, 11:26 pm
By some strange confluence of historical currents, there seems to be a number of noteworthy anniversaries happening within days of each other this week. The most significant, of course, is the fall of...
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Jason B. posted an article on Simple Tricks and Nonsense - Nov 5, 2009, 9:37 pm
I haven't followed country music very much (read: not at all) since the early '90s, so I'm only dimly aware of who Taylor Swift is, and I probably wouldn't even know her name if she ha...
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Jason B. posted an article on Simple Tricks and Nonsense - Nov 5, 2009, 1:32 pm
Here's something I was planning to throw into one of those Halloween entries I mentioned earlier, since it's based on a publicity still from the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and I figur...
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Jason B. posted an article on Simple Tricks and Nonsense - Nov 5, 2009, 1:24 pm
I was planning to do a whole string of Halloween-themed entries last week, followed by some long-overdue business (such as a tribute for the late Patrick Swayze, whose premature death moved me to a su...
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Jason B. posted an article on Simple Tricks and Nonsense - Oct 29, 2009, 12:41 pm
So, that Castle/Firefly meta-joke I was looking forward to? Every bit as brilliant and funny as I hoped, from the rapid-cut "gearing up" and familiar Malcolm Reynolds action-hero pose to Castle's ...
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Jason B. posted an article on Simple Tricks and Nonsense - Oct 28, 2009, 12:40 pm
It was a beautiful launch this morning for the Ares 1-X rocket, a unmanned prototype for the next-generation Constellation spacecraft that are intended to replace NASA's aging space shuttle: It l...
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Jason B. posted an article on Simple Tricks and Nonsense - Oct 27, 2009, 1:26 am
Dear PYT: While I don't claim to be any kind of great sage, I have acquired a certain amount of wisdom in my four decades of life on this planet, and, in particular, in this valley. So believe me...
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Jason B. posted an article on Simple Tricks and Nonsense - Oct 24, 2009, 3:35 pm
The TV series Castle is about the only thing running these days that demands "must-see" status for me. It's admittedly a trifle, but truthfully that's why I like it so much. I'm really dam...
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Jason B. posted an article on Simple Tricks and Nonsense - Oct 24, 2009, 1:33 pm
After I finally got out of work last night, I was standing on the TRAX platform at the Gallivan Plaza stop, the heart of what little activity there is on downtown Main Street following the end of the ...
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Jason B. posted an article on Simple Tricks and Nonsense - Oct 23, 2009, 8:12 pm
In yet another sign that I worry too damn much, I started thinking yesterday afternoon that people might not get what I was trying to say in my "Cool Quiet, and Time to Think" entry, and hurt feelings...
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Jason B. posted an article on Simple Tricks and Nonsense - Oct 22, 2009, 12:56 pm
Despite the best efforts of a couple of well-meaning and enthusiastic friends, I still do not get the appeal of anime, i.e., Japanese animated films. I also don't get -- aside from a handful of ti...
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Jason B. posted an article on Simple Tricks and Nonsense - Oct 21, 2009, 1:26 am
There was an episode of the original Star Trek in which the Enterprise encounters another starship whose entire crew has been killed by an alien disease that sucked all the water from their bodies and...
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Jason B. posted an article on Simple Tricks and Nonsense - Oct 17, 2009, 12:13 pm
Saturday morning, thank God, after a week that seemed like it would never end while simultaneously feeling like there just wasn't enough time for everything I needed to do. No doubt this sensation...
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Jason B. posted an article on Simple Tricks and Nonsense - Oct 15, 2009, 12:37 pm
With any luck, I'll get around to writing an actual blog entry later today, but for now, let me share something that amused me this morning, from the always reliable Lileks: It’s MEA weekend, w...
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Jason B. posted an article on Simple Tricks and Nonsense - Oct 8, 2009, 2:32 pm
Loyal Readers of this blog know that I think the musician Rick Springfield is one of the coolest guys in show business. Somewhat less well-known (since I've never actually mentioned it) is the fa...
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Jason B. posted an article on Simple Tricks and Nonsense - Oct 6, 2009, 5:36 pm
In one of those weird moments of Internet synchronicity, I spotted the following video over on Boing Boing just as I was finishing up the previous entry. Actually, it's just audio without any more...
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Jason B. posted an article on Simple Tricks and Nonsense - Oct 6, 2009, 4:22 pm
I first encountered Bloom County, the renowned daily newspaper cartoon strip by Berke Breathed, in middle school. It caught my eye one day because -- can you guess? -- Breathed was doing a Star Wars p...
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Jason B. posted an article on Simple Tricks and Nonsense - Oct 2, 2009, 7:23 pm
Wil Wheaton posted up an item this morning that he called "the coolest picture you'll see all day," and indeed it was so: a vintage black-and-white photo of Leonard Nimoy in full Spock get-up, lou...
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Jason B. posted an article on Simple Tricks and Nonsense - Sep 30, 2009, 7:31 pm
First, a brief public service announcement: This edition of "The Bloody Red Pen" concerns itself with clinical terminology as applied to the female nether regions. If you're the sort who gets indi...
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Jason B. posted an article on Simple Tricks and Nonsense - Sep 29, 2009, 8:44 pm
Well, I'm still at the office at 6:44 PM, looking at another late night following a really hectic day. Yay me. Long-time readers know how much it irritates me on those occasions when my job preclu...
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Jason B. posted an article on Simple Tricks and Nonsense - Sep 26, 2009, 12:48 am
Here's a strange thought: today would've been Christopher Reeve's 57th birthday. And in only a few days, on October 10, it will be five years since his death. Time flies, eh? I don't ...
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Jason B. posted an article on Simple Tricks and Nonsense - Sep 25, 2009, 7:36 pm
Like a lot of other young people, I went through a phase in my late teens and early twenties when I idolized the legendary actor James Dean. It's tough to explain the Dean mystique to someone who ...
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Jason B. posted an article on Simple Tricks and Nonsense - Sep 24, 2009, 3:31 pm
Every region of the country has its own dialect, a collection of pronunciations, vocabulary, and so forth that are unique to that place, and Utah is no exception. But usually that dialect is confined ...
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Jason B. posted an article on Simple Tricks and Nonsense - Sep 18, 2009, 1:36 am
I started thinking a couple weeks ago about what, if anything, I wanted to write here on the blog regarding my 40th birthday (which was Tuesday, in case anyone is compiling a dossier). I've tried ...
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Jason B. posted an article on Simple Tricks and Nonsense - Sep 14, 2009, 1:38 pm
Reading the Sunday funnies yesterday brought me to an important moment of self-realization. No, really. You see, yesterday's edition of "Get Fuzzy" turned on a disparaging reference to the TV ...
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Jason B. posted an article on Simple Tricks and Nonsense - Sep 14, 2009, 1:22 am
The Girlfriend and I passed a pleasant afternoon today watching DVDs, one of which was a little film called Fanboys. If you've never heard of it, don't feel bad; I'm not sure it got a wide...
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Jason B. posted an article on Simple Tricks and Nonsense - Sep 13, 2009, 1:10 am
As she did last year, the lovely Mrs. Jack sent text-message updates on my buddy's Lotoja progress throughout the day. If anyone reading this is interested, he crossed the finish line in Jackson H...
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