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Someone noticed the word “Dave” on one of Google’s satellite images, which Google now includes in their amazing “Google Maps” service. It was mentioned on Google Blogoscoped, an interesting blog of Google-related news.

Click the image above to show the real thing.

In the last few weeks there have not been very many good movies to choose from, at least not until Sin City opened (which I’m looking forward to seeing). So when Kathryn and I had a date night on Saturday, we chose to see The Upside of Anger. It kind of sneaked into theaters without a lot of fanfare – presumably for not being very marketable blockbuster escapist fare.

imdb | rt

It is a sort of suburban aristrocrat-angst white yuppie dark comedy but with a thoughtful screenplay that contains a lot of humor and interesting dramatic tensions. The performances by the actors are fantastic, especially Joan Allen’s performance. Despite the sort of contrived implausible ending, and the inevitable “character redemption” arcs, the movie was a mesmorizing blend of fine acting and a dramatic, poignant, and humorous story. It definitely satisfies my need for a feel-good family story, at least until I can utterly destroy any remaining warm-fuzzies by basking in the debauchery of a blood-soaked revenge movie such as Sin City.

“Extremism is so easy. You’ve got your position, and that’s it. It doesn’t take much thought. And when you go far enough to the right, you meet the same idiots coming around from the left.”

Admittedly, posting someone else’s thought in this blog did not take me much thought either.

I used to work in Fincastle, VA, so the following comic got my attention:

This one’s been around for a while – spammers are now using ASCII art in an attempt to get past our spam filters.

 wwb      aap                                                        ge kvb
gof       ihl kby                                                  hsisaswp    qfurtjk          etgbmosgc
 hg      eae                                                      meo oy cbh  jvk   xdv         tw
 ynx     hy   qnv    buqki      pmkw ln   tb swd   mysah           pu wa      n      qc         pvmqmjr
  kkr   cmb   sbd  dxx   lep  kegm ywwg   trd    kwc   sbr          yakr            gs         vkhcmlqyt
  xbw   cvh   ctd        hkq  wp     dp   oy           qxp            ffjbe      fxcb                  ev
   lkv xfb    kst  tnxptmwbi  jj     ut   gy     mkjqjqwkh            wd wmd   kqd                     th
    ud bf     udj pha     pj  hq     yn   er    hvk     hy        av  pa  ir  srn             teq      aa
    vcdpt     gvu  kw    bth  ueqj  ehb   wx     pa    ngv        ufr nv shk pja  vmuqty  jx   javyvugoj
     fyq      qno  wicdlk  yq   htyy yp   gq     hucsdg  fpt       mrdvtar   iphpfvlfcqs  duw    kwqnb
                                     qa                               cc
                              accq xukb
                                 hmj

With all of these tricks at their disposal, you’d think spammers would be able to find a more legitimate purpose in life. Alas, it shall not be.

Prodigy – Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned

Lately I’ve been on this mellow yuppie downtempo electronica kick that is my generation’s equivalent of easy listening. Stuff like Morcheeba, Zero 7, Thievery Corporation, etc. So I finally shocked some sense into me with the latest Prodigy offering. Yum!! Very brash and catchy. Only Prodigy can take riffs from Love Buzz (remember Nirvana’s Bleach?) and Michael’s Jackson’s Thriller and turn them into something new and interesting.

The Spinach House is coming to Roanoke!

On Feb 6th, Kathryn, Iris, and I were headed towards Snowshoe for our little weekend ski trip. Near Covington, we exited I-64 and stopped in a Subway to get some sandwiches. While waiting in the car with Iris, I spotted something out of the corner of my eye painted on the side of a nearby train car. Several double-takes later, I took this picture:

Yes, it says “Do not hump”. Yes, I still have an immature brain, causing me to laugh like a 12-year old upon seeing this. And, yes, there is a good reason for such an obscure warning: (link)