Category: quotes

Marrije Schaake, one of the intrepid six readers here at Where There’s Smoke, has pointed that Adam Curry is still very much a celebrity in her native Netherlands. I quote…

“To you, Adam C. may be a huge-hair has-been, but to us Dutch people he’s an internet powerhouse, and a Celebrity. He has a multi-media company here which according to some is a huge success and according to others near bankruptcy. Who knows? He has abominable taste, though, or his wife has. Check out www.lapaay.com, her hilarious make-up emporium. We love them both, in all their awfulness.”

I stand corrected.

And speaking of Psychic Friends…

Did anybody hear that Miss Cleo got busted?

Adam Curry, Mr. Huge Hair from the mid 80’s stable of of MTV Veejays, has a blog. Add that to Wil Wheaton-dot-netand Rupaul’s blogging efforts and, to my mind, we’ve seen a new incarnation for this ever-changing medium: As a snicker-free refuge for celebrity has-beens.

Psychic Friends Network, your days are numbered.

Hey, what washed up celeb would you like to see blogging?

The FCC has agreed to relax restrictions on the amount of ownership major media and cable companies can have in any one region. I fear this decision may spell disaster for alternative and community-based media outlets.

Barry and I took a three-hour walk on Saturday back from the Inner Sunset neighborhood all the way to Deboce Park, chatting about our own futures, work styles and relationships. Naturally, he had a hundred great ideas about what I should do with Central Booking now and when I’m ready to move on. This afternoon, I’m going to jot down some of the ideas. He painted a picture of a thrilling yet rediculously busy life for me in my 30’s. It always scares me at first but ultimately I think the best advisors are those who think bigger than you, who can imagine your projects much further into the future than you can. My fear is always that the project will overwhelm my life and I’ll be strapped in for the duration. I need to remind myself that, if I start something, no matter how big, it’s still yours. You in control. you hold the switch.

Saturday a large group of my friends (including Barry) went to see Super Diamond, San Francisco’s own Neil Diamond tribute band, at Bimbos 365, one of the city’s great nightclubs. Suzan and I were the only ones who had seen them before and everybody had a rockin’ good time. I get the feeling though that SD is a band you can only see once in a while, since the show is exactly the same from one date to the next. But even if you turn up your nose at Neil Diamond, I would highly, highly recommend it. The hokeyness alone is worth the price of admission.

It all got me thinking about tribute bands and their unique place in our own musical pastiches. They’ve got their own booking agencies, managment companies and webrings. They emulate everyone from pop megastars, to art rock wonks, to late 80’s metalheads. My favorite, although I’ve never seen them, is a San Francisco Jackon 5 tribute act composed entirely of white men. Their name? Wonderbread5.

So this weekend, whew! My friend Barry was in town whom I haven’t seen for nearly three years (four? lots of months? I’m not sure, a real long time). He’s a screenwriter in L.A., a career hatched back when we were in high school together in Ann Arbor. He would often bring me ideas which I would dice up and ask questions. He’s written like 14 screenplays since then and we’ve had this critic/creator sparing match for nearly a decade.

He’s been having a rough go of it lately and decided to drive up to San Francisco for the three day weekend. He had no particular plans and neither did I.

I just found out from my friend Dave that at 8:02 PM on Wednesday, (that’s Feb. 20th, this Wednesday) the time will read, if you’re British, 20:02, 20/02, 2002, one of only two times in history that the time and date will be in perfect symmetry.

What’s the significance? None whatsoever. I just love crap like this

I had my old friend Barry in from out of town this weekend. The laptop stayed dark. What will follow is a breathless roundup of thoughts of the last three days.

You’ve been warned.

I’m really curious about this Creative Commons project that Standford Law professor Lawrence Lessig has begun. The venture will offer customizable ways for artists, software developers, anyone with intellectual property in their pocket to decree how said property is to be used. Aimed at creating a middle ground between proprietary fiefdoms (ala Microsoft) and a free-for-all (Napster), creators will now be able to change the licensing of their song/movie/asparagus-shaped mouse icon with a few clicks of a mouse instead of thousands in fees to a lawyer. The Creative Commons site (not up yet) will also create a searchable database of what content is available for what purposes when, again without going to a lawyer or dealing with the Copyright Office.

Behold the power of the Internet (via the SXSW Blog).