13-Year-Old and His Ghostwriter Try Out Walkman

This story about a 13-year-old kid trying out an old Sony Walkman is making the rounds.

It's a funny and smart piece, and I do buy that all these thoughts could have been had by a bright 13-year-old, even if I think some hack journalist or editor may have punched up the prose a bit in places.  E.g., Only a small percentage of middle schoolers might come up with this sentence: "Furthermore, there were a number of buttons protruding from the top and sides of this device to provide functions such as "rewinding" and "fast-forwarding" (remember those?), which added even more bulk."  Especially the "remember those" part. 

Favorite bit: Where he tries hitting rewind and stopping it randomly to create a kind of shuffle play.  This is the way we always use new-to-us tech, right?  We try to make it do what our "old' tech does...

Blood-Curdling Tales of Bureaucratic Run-Around: Italian Airport Edition

Teaser for Michael J. Totten's Blog Post, "The Worst Airline Company in the World"

"After spending several weeks each in Iraq and Lebanon at the end of 2008, I bought a plane ticket to the U.S. from Beirut on December 22 and figured I had plenty of time to get home for Christmas. I had no idea, though, that I had purchased my ticket from the worst airline company in the world – Italy’s national carrier Alitalia – and that a two-hour layover in Rome would turn into an ordeal that lasted longer than a week."

Could raise your blood pressure just reading this.  You've been warned.

Napkin Art

Christoph Niemann explains his relationship to coffee using coffee and napkins.

Movie Review Moments

A. O. Scott's Terminator: Salvation review contains the awesome made up word of the day:

"A detailed recap of the franchise’s empretzeled chronology will not be possible here."

And Scott's Night at the Museum: Battle of Ben Stiller review gives a nice shout out to Amy Adams, who is funnier than you.

"Ms. Adams, impersonating Earhart as a flame-haired screwball-comedy heroine, is entirely delightful, though whether the pioneering pilot would ever have developed a crush on Ben Stiller is a matter for
scholars to ponder."

That is all.

Sea Worm

Super Creepy Sea Worm

That is all.

Prawo Jazdy

AFP: Ireland cracks case of worst Polish driver

Great Live Music: La Blogotheque

LA BLOGOTHEQUE

If you liked the Black Cab Sessions, you'll like this, too.