Friedman was is and always will be a lips...

...on ass kind of a guy. ass in question belonging collectively to bush admin. (h/t crooksandliars)

Shana Tova!

We had our first Rosh Hashanah in New Zealand temple tonight and during the service my four year old son kept asking me "when is the rabbit coming out?" or "where is the rabbit?" sometimes whispered, sometimes in a fairly loud voice.

suffice it to say that the rabbit never appeared...but the service was nice. and the apples and honey were sweet.

I'm Back...

Been out of commission for a while now--mainly due to my phd/conference preparation.

But I'm back. And I took a parenting class the other day. It was enlightening to be sure. Taught by a Kiwi named Diane Levy, author of Of Course I Love You...NOW GO TO YOUR ROOM!

I've been a fan of Wendy Mogel's Blessing of a Skinned Knee, but always felt that book, while a good foundational resource (with a decidedly Jewish-focus), never got specific enough for my tastes. Okay...I'm happy to nurture my children's uniqueness (rather than criticize it) and it's good advice to make parents the authority figures in a family (to be respected)...but what do I do when my kid hits someone with a baseball bat or calls me "stupid" or whistles while I plead for him/her to tidy his/her room, etc.... Levy's book picks up where Skinned Knee leaves off. It's very specific and offers very useful, practical advice (she also happens to be Jewish, though Judaism does not factor such a prominent role in her writings).

That said, Levy's parenting class has been tremendously helpful. Her main point is that we need to support our children's feelings while setting clear even sharp boundaries. Some of what she says seems old-fashioned and yet powerful in its simplicity. For instance, how many of us, when our significant other does something that makes us cringe (like turning off the TV just as a show was about to end, sending children into panic mode) says "why did you do that?" or "thanks a lot" or "for the love of god, turn the tv back on" or "how stupid are you?" And yet, Levy argues that in such a case the right thing to do and the most powerful thing to do is to walk over to the offending spouse, stand by his/her side and sternly say to your children: "Do as your mother/father said". Since taking the class i've tried this a few times and damn if it isn't powerful...almost exhilarating.

Yet probably the single most important thing Levy has taught me is the importance of patience of calm in all that you do with children. Screaming, shouting, yelling at your children is strictly forbidden (and by the way, doesn't work). I've always been against yelling at children but occasionally it happens...well frankly occasionally is too often.

But enough about real life...soon I'll be reporting on my Second Life experiences--maybe i'll even post some images of my recently updated avatar, archmunster Toll. Stay tuned....

Sure they can blame it on Tivo, the Internet, etc...

but the real reason people are running away from Lost in droves is because it sucks. In today's show, I watched in complete bafflement as Freckles recalls the time a woman befriended her and helped her go talk to her mom "because something good has to happen to one of us"? Huh? The storyline was so completely perposterous and just plain silly that I had a hard time imagining some producer reading the script for the show and saying "yep. this thing's done. let's shoot it." but clearly that's what was decided--because they did shoot it. (which is funny because while it was on i kept wishing someone would shoot me).

by the way, is it just me or did the multicultural Lost become as white as white can be this season? why do they keep killing and/or getting rid of those who aren't white. The only non-whites left are Iraqi dude (who gets very little screen time) and the Japanese couple (who get very little screen time). Sad.

last thing, every time I see the fat guy I wish someone would jab a fork in my eye. He is quite possibly the most annoying character on any show I have ever seen. Ever.

NZ Webby Notables

As the iab reported, there were several NZers who got some good recognition from the Webbys. Jessica Lee Rose of LonelyGirl15 fame, picked up the best actress nod and two NZ agencies were nominated for their online work: Shift and Saatchi & Saatchi. Good on ya!

The Sky is Falling

So says Andrew Keen in his new book, The Cult of the Amateur: How Today's Internet is Killing Our Culture and Assaulting Our Economy.

Peter Griffin over at Web Walk has some insightful commentary on the book and for the most part I agree with him. Keen is right to question the value of some of the new Internet-enabled applications that are floating around in the cyber-ether. On the other hand, as Griffin points out, Keen's song and dance is way too loud--he wants us to believe the whole dang i-world is for crap. Well of course it isn't--in fact, i'd argue that what's happening online right now is among the most exciting things to happen since well the invention of the telegraph.

Don't Do The Lights

my son's new favourite song is Joe Jackson's Steppin Out. And when the chorus comes up and jackson sings "into the night, into the light" my son sings "don't do the lights, don't do the lights"... needless to say, it's darn cute.

Homeward Bound

saw my first movie in about two months--too bogged down in proposal hell to do anything entertaining.

anyway, Little Miss Sunshine was the flick and I have to say it was cracking me up. I laughed out loud many times. now it wasn't perfect but it was damn funny. arkin was great, carell was good, even kinnear was pretty good. and so was the little girl. and the script wasn't half bad either. the one knock against it is that they come close to repeating one of the worst tv characters in television history.

the weird part for me is that the whole movie they're trying to get to Redondo Beach of all places! So I kinda got to go back home with them in that damn vw van of theirs. surreal.

It's funny cause it's true...

bush: old vs new

I was Batman...

my son was Superman and my little girl was Super Girl today. We ran around the yard with towels around our necks, flying.

Psst...Whatever you do, don't say Gun Control...

i'm beginning to sense a pattern from huffington post. i guess running for office and trying to get ad dollars is pretty much the same thing.

i understand all of the rightwing nut jobs coming up with every possible excuse for what happened at VT, other than the legal automatic weaponary that made such wholesale carnage possible.

but why is huffpo essentially doing the same thing--according to them, anything but gun control could have prevented such carnage.

i guess the answer has to do with ad dollars--no, not that the companies that advertise on huffpo are necessarily against gun control (who knows...who cares), but that huffpo believes its traffic would decrease if they came out against guns. decreased traffic equals decreased ad revenue. if i'm right, that's a pretty lame reason to not state what has become obvious: semi/automatic weapons should be banned. duh.

All The Books Say That...

Whenever my wife or me want to silence the other one on some child raising debate, we simply use the phrase, "All the books say that...."

For example, when I gave my daughter a carrot, my wife definitely did not want me to do that again (even though she seemed fine munching away on it) and so she said, "All the books say that you shouldn't give carrots to one year olds." Now I don't know, maybe a lot of books really do say that--but ALL the books. We only really have one book that we look at (the Pediatricians Guide to blah blah blah) so I'm not even sure how she could have read ALL the books.

But I do the same thing--but the difference is that I haven't read any books...ever. so when i say "All the books say that..." what I really mean is "I never read anything but take my word for it..."

So anyway, here's my top five "All the books say that..." comments. These are all things I have either said or would have liked to have said...

5. All the books say that lots and lots of tv is good for your kids
4. All the books say that it's okay to go to a bar while your kids are in bed
3. All the books say that if your kids won't stop screaming at each other during a long roadtrip, you should go ahead and set them on the curb and continue with your long roadtrip.
2. All the books say that you should heavily sedate your children before taking them on a cross-country airplane flight.
1. All the books say that sending your three year-old to get you a six pack and the latest issue of Playboy can be a great rainy day activity.

Yellow Pages to give free online presence to Kiwi Businesses

and a very smart move from Yellow Pages...it helps them stay relevant and ultimately means more ad revenue which is a much better business model than b2b...details forthcoming

Google buys DoubleClick--holy macaroli

what more can Google do? with this 3+ billion dollar purchase it'll have a firm lock on both search and display advertising. what's next?

And you still think Lost doesn't SUCK?!?

...did you see the episode where the Fat Man and British Dude drive a van down a hill?!? I'm talking about an entire hour long episode! One entire hour of my life is now gone...gone forever...and i spent it watching a fat man and a british dude argue about, agree to and finally drive a fucking van down a fucking hill.

and what about the very next episode? did you see that one? half of the episode was devoted to Freckles, Iraqi dude and Bald Man wrestle with a one eyed Russian. as dopey as that sounds, you won't believe what the other half was devoted to...you simply won't believe it. i think they actually stole the plot line for it from an episode of Gilligan's Island. Get this--long haired dude plays ping pong against Fat Man and if long haired dude wins they have to give him back all of his stuff that they took from him but if he loses, ohmygod you won't believe what happens if he loses...if he loses he can't call anyone by a nickname for a week! a whole week--no nicknames! it's like that awesome episode of the Brady Bunch where Greg has to cart Peter around with him everywhere he goes (even on a date!) because Peter beat Greg in a game of badminton. Did you hear me?! I said: Peter beat Greg in a game of badminton! And Peter's like THREE YEARS YOUNGER than Greg!! So you're not gonna believe who wins the ping pong game--no, not the virile, athletic long haired dude. NO! The Fat Man wins and I'm pretty sure he beats him 11 zip: the mercy rule took effect! the mercy rule! and the fat man is fat! yet he still beat the long-haired dude! DID YOU FUCKING HEAR ME? I said the fat man, who is very fucking fat, beat the long-haired dude, who is very fucking thin and healthy, 11 to nothing in a game of ping pong!!! Are you fucking listening to me?! You godamn fucking asshole!!!

Some Adsense Tips

Coda Moya over at Internet Marketing has some good tips for those participating in Google's Adsense program. Check em out here.

A few good reads...

David MacGregor, Massey designer and lecturer, gives a good review of the book Mavericks at Work: Why the Most Original Minds in Business Win. I read it myself and agree with MacGregor that what really is good about the book is that it gets you thinkin

just another sign that new zealand is no different from the USA...

...their cats pur when you pet them.

there's this cat from next door named Lucky who is one of the sweetest cats you'll ever meet. clearly grew up amongst children because it's as patient as can be. me and my one year old daughter were outside petting it. i was gently stroking its fur and the cat had clearly reached that cat-like zen "space" that only cats can achieve. out of nowhere my daughter steps on good ol' Lucky (turning its name into a cruel irony) and the cat literally did a full on Jerry Lewis style, eyes crossed, "Hey Lady" take. wish i had a camera rolling, it'd probably have a million hits on youtube by now.

The coming convergence....

Not so fast...

With the soon to be released digital tv in nz, the Microsoft convergence of digital tv, Vista-run PC and XBOX LIVE is on the horizon--in theory it'll mean the ability to stream tv to an xbox--tv plus internet plus gaming--the holy grail.

Unfortunately, as Scott Bartley aptly points out, it ain't gonna be as easy as it sounds. There's still lots of hurdles to get through....

Cheap thrills for Republicans

...there are people who still want to be your friends.

(This was too good not to post. h/t croosandliars)