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Disney Princess Culture Part 3: Transcending the Culture
I forgot what the term was called, but you know how it goes: you learn a new concept and suddenly see examples everywhere. (Or look into buying a new car only to discover that “everyone” is driving it) Once I jumped into the rabbit hole of Disney Princess Culture and our daughters, it seemed to…
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I Fight Dragon’s Project Atma Interview
My first ever Kickstarter! I just backed Project Atma – @IFightDragons Creates An Epic New Album on @Kickstarter http://t.co/Bo5XglkChl — Eric (@djotaku) May 5, 2013 Back on 4 May I backed a Kickstarter project for the first time ever – I Fight Dragon’s Project Atma. Anyone who’s been following my last.fm posts knows that I really…
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Review: At Home: A Short History of Private Life
At Home: A Short History of Private Life by Bill Bryson My rating: 4 of 5 stars Although I enjoyed Bill Bryson’s other book A Short History of Nearly Everything, I actually didn’t know that when I picked this book up. I had heard the other book as an audio book so I didn’t remember…
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Disney Princess Culture Part 2: So this is what they hate about you, Disney
When I wrote my second fatherhood post, the one about Disney Princesses, I speculated that perhaps the problem most people had with the Disney Princesses was not the movies, but how the company marketed to kids. Since Scarlett is only one, my only exposure to the princesses has been through my own childhood and adulthood…
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Is This Really Endemic? Restaurant No-Shows
On 30 April of this year I came across an article on Eater about how restaurants can deal with No-Shows. I didn’t even know this was a big enough thing that restaurants have multiple strategies to deal with it. Every time I’ve made a reservation to a restaurant, I’ve gone. I set reservations because I…
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Giving them a taste of their own medicine
It is a fact of life that things will be bootlegged. (commonly called pirated, but this is one area where I strongly agree with rms. Piracy is a horrible thing where people get kidnapped on the ocean and die. I have in-law relatives who have died from pirates. So I don’t find it cute to…
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Disney Princess Culture Part 1
I titled this Part 1 because I am sure I’ll have to revisit this topic in the future. Scarlett is only 1 and she barely cares for television, much less Disney animated films. However, if you don’t think about the future, it has a way of surprising you and finding you unprepared. Of course,…
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Review: Fall Out Boy’s Save Rock and Roll
The new Fall Out Boy album, Save rock and Roll, came out a few weeks ago after five long years. Having listened to it about a half dozen times now, I figured I had a good enough handle on it for a review. For context, I enjoyed the last three albums. I enjoyed Folie à…
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April 2013 Video Games Report
In addition to the game I played this month, I’ve decided from now on to include a running total of the top games to see if/how they change with time. For example, when I wasn’t paying attention, Saints Row: The Third made the Top 7. (Which, raptr, is a weird number. Usually these things are…
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Music Discovery and Acquisition
In light of the semi-recent news that most kids nowadays use Youtube to discover music and that leading to Youtube views being counted for music charts, I thought I’d talk about how I discover and/or acquire new music. For the record, the wife also uses Youtube to find new songs. It’s one of the first…
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Cities XL Followup: I’ve Become Addicted
I am really, really enjoying building up my city. There are new zoning densities that open up as you get more and more populous. For a while I was using a strategy similar to what’s going on in my in-law’s neighborhood – raze the single family homes to build apartments. Then later raze those to…
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March Video Game Report
Saints Row: The Third (3 hrs) – I finished Saint’s Row: The Third in March. Overall, my enjoyment suffered a bit from a lack of play, but it was necessary due to planning for Scarlett’s birthday and starting a new semester of my graduate work. In the final mission you’re given a choice of pursuing…
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Last.fm 2013 Q1 Listening Habits
For this quarter I’ve gone back and forth between picking albums to listen to and having dynamic playlists determine what I listen to. For most of March I was listening to a bunch of free South by Southwest samplers with some pretty GREAT music. Not a lot of repeat among the artists there so none…
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January & February 2013 Video Game Report
Saint’s Row: The Third (15 hrs) – I played a lot of fun missions, including Deckers.die, but in order to get there I had to get Dan’s help on this helicopter escort mission. It was fun having him join in. I might need him in March as I finish up the game. Quantum Conundrum…
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2012 Video Games Report and Game of the Year
First of all, a quick reminder that my Game of the Year doesn’t necessarily have to come out in 2012. Because I don’t have the time to dedicate to video games, the price premium of buying it new rarely makes sense to me. So my Game of the Year will be my favorite game that…