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hiss  ·  2183 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: "The Clock Is Ticking": Inside the Worse U.S. Maritime Disaster in Decades

Thanks for sharing, excited to read this. I'm endlessly (morbidly) fascinated by tragedies at sea. For anyone who hasn't read it but is jonzing for more, William Langewiesche's story of the Airbus crash over the Atlantic, published in the same corner of the web (same favicon and everything!) is a great shot-chaser combo.

hiss  ·  2183 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Would you rent a watch?

No. I have a $100 (analog) watch that has attracted more interest and compliments than I'd ever anticipated (not that I anticipated anything, because it's just a fucking watch). I've owned two of this exact same watch -- the leather band is of below-average quality, and it broke, so I bought another one. The band on this one is wearing to the point where I'll likely end up buying a third. It's become a signifier in some way. I can't imagine ever wearing another watch, or paying more than the $100 every 2.5 years it's cost to maintain this one. What a racket.

hiss  ·  2268 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Pubski: January 10, 2018

Hey hubski, been a while! To be honest I had completely forgotten this site existed until BLOB_CASTLE texted me today. Flood of memories. This place strikes such an excellent balance between other social sites--it's the best of Twitter (broad set of interests/content), Reddit (depth of discussion/comments), and Facebook (cordiality & familiarity) all in one.

About me, since then: happily (& newly) married, have a fun job in tourism marketing, working on some cool extracurricular projects, and doing a lot of woodshedding both solo and with a band.

hiss  ·  3674 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Foundry fire in my town

Thanks! Yeah, my first thought was "Greek Lightning," but apparently it's got an even crispier history than I'd heard: according to the local historical society, the foundry company that put up a business on that spot way back in 1926 had their original building burn down that same year. May just be a hazard of the industry, but agree that it seems suspicious and insuring the place will be difficult.

hiss  ·  3850 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: The coolest video advertising a sound design library you'll ever see.

matters to me, i fux with ableton. i've been posting videos of loops set to maxgifs to my instagram account lately, which is a decent way of avoiding, y'know, actually finishing anything.

http://instagram.com/p/dTSq-cDnUK/

http://instagram.com/p/duomfhDnaY/

http://instagram.com/p/dVrRfmDnQd/

you ever check out driven machine drums?

http://www.drivenmachinedrums.com/

local dude (at least he was as of a few years ago - he and i had a few red-eyed chats at dawn) puts this together, has saved me a lot of dough chasing gear over the years.

hiss  ·  3856 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Mixed CD exchange: 2 [signup]

in in in in in

hiss  ·  3858 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Hubski Book Club 2666 pt 1 discussion thread

I've been away from the reading and the thread but I encourage people to stick with it while simultaneously knowing it's going to be a bummer. If we have enough in favor of speeding up the reading let's try and do that. We'll either all burn out or we won't, but we likely will.

hiss  ·  3858 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Hubski Book Club 2666 pt 1 discussion thread

Really well put on both points. Pelletier and Espinoza are Rosencranz and Guildenstern. They're also, as others have pointed out, mere archetypes. Their "character" as such doesn't matter. I'm a little sore that was so sorely missed, but I have the benefit of hindsight working in my favor as I've read the book once before, closer to its initial publication. Just know that P+E as depictions of specific, individual character-people don't matter as much as P+E as depictions of how, more generally, people are and/or can be. That's why it's so damn funny.

hiss  ·  3866 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Would anybody care for a game of chess?

Nice idea. I'd join.

hiss  ·  3870 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Isolated vocals from various songs

there's a little comic dialogue balloon in the lower right-most part of the component - click that and comments poof disappear.

hiss  ·  3872 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Seeking book recommendations: "city-based, 20-something fiction"

I wasn't actually involved in the #hubskibookclub in its prior incarnation. We've reset with 2666, which might be an intimidating read but the discussion should be helpful and engaging, if early returns are to be counted. I don't think anything would be out of bounds for the book club, and anyone's welcome to submit suggestions.

hiss  ·  3872 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Seeking book recommendations: "city-based, 20-something fiction"

You're welcome.

His books more or less predicted exactly that mentality you describe, or at least hook you in based on same. His characters are (beautiful) train wrecks, even (or especially) Patrick Bateman from American Psycho. As a result, Ellis has become sort of a go-to voice on celebrity / tabloid / Hollywood culture.

Glamorama is the penultimate book on that tip, but I've yet to read it. Perhaps a lighter suggestion for the #hubskibookclub?

hiss  ·  3874 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Seeking book recommendations: "city-based, 20-something fiction"

Bret Easton Ellis' bread and butter is hip, rich twenty-somethings with too much free time. He wrote Less Than Zero and Rules Of Attraction, as well as American Psycho. Right up your alley if you felt at all cynical while reading The Devil Wears Prada.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bret_Easton_Ellis

hiss  ·  3877 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Authors' favorite first lines of books

Still Life With Woodpecker by Tom Robbins (master of opening lines):

    In the last quarter of the twentieth century, at a time when Western civilization was declining too rapidly for comfort and yet too slowly to be very exciting, much of the world sat on the edge of an increasingly expensive theater seat, waiting--with various combinations of dread, hope, and ennui--for something momentous to occur.

Also, I found this site in my hunt for the exact verbiage to that opening:

http://novelopenings.blogspot.com/

hiss  ·  3877 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Mindy Kaling, of THE OFFICE, tells other girls why they need a Man, not a boy

The unfortunately named "The Mindy Project" was actually pretty good. I'm a dude, so this is weird/biased, but I think she's got a pretty great perspective on relationships and femininity/womanhood/whatever you want to call it.

hiss  ·  3877 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Inside Greece's growing anarchist groups

    consumer goods have been expropriated

Without looking it up, does "expropriated" mean stolen and given away, like in a Robin Hood situation? If so, that's an excellent euphemism (no judgment). Should work it in to a word game...

hiss  ·  3877 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Joan Cornella's pop art comics stun, creep, annoy, comfort

phew thanks

hiss  ·  3877 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Joan Cornella's pop art comics stun, creep, annoy, comfort

By the way I don't really know what "pop art" means so, you know, sorry.

hiss  ·  3878 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Strongbad's Website

Haha, my, y'know, "pals" pals totally appreciated it, I guess I should have clarified that my "class pals" weren't hip to it at the time.

hiss  ·  3878 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Strongbad's Website

That Pistols for Pandas shirt is pretty amazing, not solely for its design but also its apparent durability. Thanks for linking to it, might have to check out a "4 Gregs" tee and see how long that lasts me.

To answer your question - no notification (that I was aware of) which was probably for the best, as it was a tremendous surprise to find that my email had been picked. There weren't any other fans of the series in the class so I had to explain to my pals just how big of a deal it was to me, at the time (and still is).

hiss  ·  3878 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Microbeads in facial scrubs may affect Great Lakes fish, study finds

I do! Actually the second- (or third-) husband of my mom's second-cousin. Met him at a recent barbecue in Paw Paw held in my grandmother's honor, where he (the seafaring relation) and I grilled steaks and salmon.

hiss  ·  3878 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: As promised: The first Hubski Word Game!

Vessel: http://hubski.com/pub?id=95706 - bonus: http://hubski.com/pub?id=95730 so as to avoid any argument from thenewgreen re: my initial usage in a comment reply to my own thread.

Exfoliate: http://hubski.com/pub?id=95704

Excoriate: http://hubski.com/pub?id=95693

Missive: http://hubski.com/pub?id=95700

Obviate: http://hubski.com/pub?id=95707 (I'm most proud of this one)

hiss  ·  3878 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: You Can't Afford Your Broker, at Any Price - Bloomberg

The examples of doctors / lawyers cited in the excerpt obviates the distinction between the services being offered by those professions and their (existing) ethical implications. I'm not aware of any (again, existing) ethical code by which financial advisers, brokers, hell even insurance salespeople are sworn to before they're able to launch their careers. Seems to me putting some ethical construct around what we do with our money and the relationship with whom we trust to manage our money might be in order, especially in light of the grave misdeeds visited upon the global economy over the past decade.

hiss  ·  3878 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Microbeads in facial scrubs may affect Great Lakes fish, study finds

By the way, does anyone have any recommendations for a good Illinois-based charter vessel to take out on Lake Michigan? I've got a relation in Western Michigan with a couple of boats but I'm not sure my IL licenses apply if we launch from his nearest shore.

hiss  ·  3878 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Vulfpeck — Wait For The Moment [feat. Antwaun Stanley]

Tallied! :)

hiss  ·  3878 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Vulfpeck — Wait For The Moment [feat. Antwaun Stanley]

His voice sounds phenomenal. Unquestionably so. The lyrics in this song wouldn't be so starkly obnoxious (to me) had I not just read Bob Lefsetz's latest missive in which he ties the lyrics of a Jackson Browne album to a recently published novel (I forget the title, something about Nathaniel P.). I've never been all that great about paying attention to lyrics but only within the past year have I challenged myself to listen better, to listen totally, and so it's a little hard to ignore because for me listening to lyrics is a bit like learning a new language and he's speaking gibberish.

The rhythm section makes me deeply uncomfortable because of their body language / playing styles / whatever you want to call that. Bass face is hilarious. I've played bass for over a decade, in a variety of moods and settings and styles, and even at my fonkiest never felt compelled to do whatever it is that guy's doing (sitting down, no less). Personal preference, etc. I get it. I'm not an accomplished drummer by any means but it would seem that the drummer might get more out of his kit by not hunching over it as if he's about to pass a particularly painful bowel movement. There's just a certain something in the whole mise en scene of these guys getting all "groovy" that gives me the shivers*.

* in the same sense I'm sure my dropping the words mise en scene probably makes a certain subset of hubski readers want to put their fists through their monitors.

hiss  ·  3878 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Bluegrass/roots artist announces tribute to My Bloody Valentine

I recognize the constructs of the venue, so don't excoriate me for this pithy reply but:wow, gross.

hiss  ·  3878 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: You Can Do Anything: Must Every Kids' Movie Reinforce the Cult of Self-Esteem?

In folklore, John Henry was a man out-done by a machine. He won a race to drive steel against a steam-powered hammer, but the competition ended him, and he died victorious with his hammer in his hands.

Disney's narrative would be all about the machine.

hiss  ·  3878 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Vulfpeck — Wait For The Moment [feat. Antwaun Stanley]

The rhythm section makes me very uncomfortable and the lyrics are terrible. I'd probably like it more if I didn't have to watch them play, because otherwise the sound and composition are pretty decent.

hiss  ·  3879 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: The Mixed Tape/CD exchange -how is it coming?

If anyone wants to get in on this and didn't make the first cut I'd be happy to trade. I should probably just send one to @ansionnachrua cause I still owe him a letter.