Yule time soundtrack

My favorite thing about Christmas is that it’s perfectly (un)acceptable to crank The Vandals record “Oi to The World” all day at work.

When you want to mix it up a little, the No Doubt cover of “Oi to The World” will also suffice for a quick interlude.

Sad Cog

This makes me extra sad in light of the fact that Ozh just tore this down as “Do Not Want” in his history of the WordPress admin interface.

I didn’t mind that administration design at all, finding it much more usable than the one that existed before it. I’m told that nowadays that means I have no sense of taste, no refinement, no aesthetic discernment. Psht, whatever. Medium-gray on white background is the new high-bandwidth, full-page Flash layout.

Ping!

Reports of my demise have been greatly exaggerated. While it is true that I’ve all but disappeared, I have at least been working in the background. I’ve been working on upgrading all of the hosted wordpress sites I maintain (and the one I don’t) to WordPress 2.7, and I’ve begun searching for a new theme to adopt for my own site. Orange and green is a little too spring time for December, so for the time being I’m playing with Srini’s plainscape theme. I enjoy the simplicity, but I think I may add a little more contrast and seasonal style to it.

Of note recently is that I have finally taken a week to myself and caught up on some of the more pleasant but time-consuming things this year that I’ve missed out on, like:

  • Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog

    Easily the most musical fun I’ve had in 40 minutes this year, even with the now cliched Joss Whedon ending, which previous to this I had no idea has actually come to be known as “being Joss’ed”.

  • No Country for Old Men

    Unusual for an American film, in that it doesn’t go out of its way to pander to the audience. No happy ending, no moral victories, and no neat, tidy, spoon-fed ending.

  • Slumdog Millionaire

    Despite the hype around this movie (and my hatred of all things hyped), this was a fun, enjoyable, warm two hours of entertainment. Award-winning? Probably, for all the wrong reasons. But absolutely something I’d watch again.

  • Mega-Man 9

    A game so hard it caused me to throw the $40 controller for the system across the room like a frustrated 10 year old, a habit I haven’t had since I was a frustrated 10 year old.

Christopher Moore…

is a palette cleanser; I can grind through one of his novels in about 5 hours, it’s light on the mind, and doesn’t require much deep thought. It occasionally elicits a comfortable chuckle and doesn’t leave any sort of controversial aftertaste.

His work is the literary equivalent of a light flan or sorbet served between courses: it’s not the point of any meal it’s a part of but it’s not an uncomfortable course you have to wade through either.

Nostalgia sammich

Circa 2003