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While reading about the UGA Pharmacy school scandal today, I couldn’t help but notice the URL of the Red and Black’s story:

http://media.www.redandblack.com/media/storage/paper8…

media.www.redandblack.com, huh? Because the Red and Black is independent, I really can’t say, “Only UGA would come up with a URL that dumb,” so instead I’ll settle for: Only an Athens website would come up with a URL that dumb. (It appears that only some of their articles are on media.www.redandblack.com; others are just on www.redandblack.com.)

Yes, I graduated from Georgia Tech, and yes, I am a nerd to rag on them for something like this.

I saw last night that Ryan Adams and the Cardinals (whose website is a mess, but who play so well, don’t you agree?) are coming to Atlanta’s Fabulous Fox Theater, which is freakin’ awesome. I’ve been regretting not going to see him at the Tabernacle for several months; now I can fill that void (and help Ticketmaster out, too — “convenience charge” is now $9.25 per ticket).

He’s also independently peddling is new album, Easy Tiger as a DRM-free 256Kbps MP3 download, which is very cool. You can preview the album there; a few favorite tracks of mine are “Two”, “Halloweenhead” (?) and “Oh My God, Whatever, Etc.”

It’s usually easier to write these entries (the ones pimping my favorite artists, such as The Flaming Lips), because usually they’re doing something rather wild and interesting. Ryan Adams, to me, is just really damn good. It’s just rock with a bit of [good] country. But played by talented musicians.

Note: This is not Bryan Adams (if that wasn’t cringe-worthy, this is sure to be), who is playing Chastain Park with Rod Stewart and 82,063 ants raised on Chardonnay and aged gouda.

I just heard the awful, awful news: Herbert Kornfeld, contributing writer for The Onion and Accounts Receivable Supervisor at Midstate Office Supply has died (back in May — whoops). He was a victim of white-on-white violence:

Herbert F. Kornfeld, 34, was an alleged accounting gang leader considered by law enforcement to be a key player in a series of ongoing office worker turf wars. He was found dead Monday morning in the third-floor copy room of Midstate Office Supply, his employer of 12 years.

I usually avoid stealing people’s images, but in Herbert’s case I will make an exception, unless The Onion sends me a C&D. My friends and I were avid followers of Kornfeld’s writings back at Georgia Tech, though in recent years I admit I found time to read his work less and less. We appreciated you [most of] while you were with us, Herbert. Especially your picture, which has been immortalized in t-shirt form.

Dear Twilight Zone,

I want you to know (and you probably already know this) that you can be very difficult to get along with. But between the sad times, which are generally expansive, there are good times. No, great times. When I’m on your good side it’s like being on top of the world. You light up and make all manner of sounds and my heart races with excitement, hoping it will never end. We paid for your rehab and had you made beautiful again. A model member of society. So why is it that you have come to hate me so much?

I still remember when I first saw you. You were covered in dirt, and some disgruntled individual had bashed in your coin door. You were not beautiful then, but the man who, er, sold you to us was very skilled in beautification of pinball machines, and I knew that you would soon shine as brightly as you did back in 1993 when you were born in Chicago. We were very excited about adopting you, and I remember the day you arrived very fondly. We had waited more than a month for you, and you were finally here.

But then it came time to sell our house, and one by one we sent your brothers and sisters away to live with friends and family for a while. We elected to keep you with us through this difficult time. You must have grown lonely as our only one, and I suppose that my affections are no substitute for the deep camaraderie of siblings.

Is this why, day after day, you punish me? Do you deprive me of LITZ in hopes that I might bring back the others? Because, quite frankly, it makes me furious with you, furious to the point of plotting to expel you from this household. Why, just this past evening I was so enraged that after I left you I began a letter to find another place for you to live, and bring in a kinder, more loving machine to stay with us for a while. Thankfully for you, Jessica stopped me.

On some unfortunate morning when she has gone to work and I engage you before I myself leave, I hope that you do not incite me again, for she will not be here to stop me. And I will have you out of here before dinnertime, Mister.

Sincerely yours,

ASP (Grand Champion, 1-4th places, Buy-In 1-4th places)

Update, 7/10/07: As of 6pm last night, RAY now occupies the Grand Champion position with 1.1 Billion. We can now safely assume that every single aspect of the game is working.

The Furminator (video) has been making the rounds lately (and here I am perpetuating its fame). The crackpots behind this startlingly polished monstrosity have essentially put a Terminator 2 pinball machine up at eye level, repositioned the insert lamps (which show the status of the game to the player; normally they would be embedded in the playfield) so that they can be seen, and added cameras and video so that you can SEE THE AREAS YOU WOULD BE ABLE TO SEE IF YOU WERE PLAYING IT AS ORIGINALLY DESIGNED.

I don’t think this project would frustrate me nearly as much if they had designed their own playfield/game specifically to be played from that perspective. Indeed, that would have been a lot more work. A lot more. But a game that’s 20 inches wide and 42 inches deep is not made better by restricting the player’s view of it to one point right behind the flippers. I’m sure it’s intense. But is it anything more than a novelty?

Part of the fun of pinball for me (and a number of other players) is getting your body into the game. The Furminator does not promote this kind of interactivity. Also, as far as I can tell they’ve removed any sort of sound dampening (i.e., the glass), and it’s hard to imagine that the helmet does anything to protect your ears from that. If you haven’t played a pinball game without the glass on, I can assure you that it’s loud. Louder than you think.

I applaud them for this: they have taken their idea and run with it, and they seem to have done a very nice job of executing it. I also haven’t played it, so it’s entirely possible that this thing is a blast and I will want one for my home to play daily. Somehow I doubt it, though.