Sophie Ava

A photo of Sophie Ava K0rnblum born Jan. 15th.

WTFT !?

It's not what you say but how you say it.

Sleeveface or LP Portraits

These juxtaposition portraits with 12" Album Covers are great.
Flickr: sleeveface
Flickr: LP portraits
sleeveface.com

Glaucoma Hymn: Inspiring

As you may know, Glaucoma leads to blindness by damaging the optic nerve. Elevated fluid pressure in the eyes is a risk factor, but even people with normal pressure can lose vision to glaucoma. Often there are no symptoms at first, but a comprehensive eye exam can detect it.

Early treatment can help protect your eyes against vision loss. Treatments usually include prescription eyedrops and/or surgery.

Please click on the bottom right hand link on this website and listen to this AMAZING and STIRRING Glaucoma Hymn. It can save a person's sight. Maybe yours.

J.J. Abrams Video Interview

{ Recorded March 2007 in Monterey, California. Duration: 18:02 }

Why you should listen to him:
As the Emmy-winning creator of the smart, addictive TV dramas Lost, Alias and Felicity, J.J. Abrams' name looms large on the small screen. As the writer/director behind the blockbuster explode-a-thon Mission: Impossible III, Cloverfield and the next Star Trek movie, these days Abrams also rules the big screen—bringing his eye for telling detail and emotional connection to larger-than-life stories.

Abrams' enthusiasm—for the construction of Kleenex boxes, for the quiet moments between shark attacks in Jaws, for today's filmmaking technologies, and above all for the potent mystery of an unopened package—is incredibly infectious.

"As a boy, JJ Abrams was fascinated with magic. As a television writer, director, and producer, he has beguiled audiences with a masterful use of suspense, plot reversals, and special effects."
—Wired

We live on Monster Island

I was out to lunch so I missed all the hub bub. But Jenny told me that the Flatiron was attacked by a giant monster of Cloverfield proportions. Luckily this kitty was declawed. Or else it could have been CATastrophic.

Chess master Bobby Fischer dies at 64

I'm terrible at chess but I love the game. Bobby Fischer was this mad boy genius that I discovered through my brother and the library. Growing up, I learned to play chess from reading his book, Bobby Fischer teaches Chess. Reading this small mass market sized book with diagrams of chess moves that made so much sense, I felt like I understood the secrets of the universe.

By GUDJON HELGASON, Associated Press Writer

REYKJAVIK, Iceland - Bobby Fischer, the reclusive chess genius who became a Cold War hero by dethroning the Soviet world champion in 1972 and later renounced his American citizenship, has died. He was 64.

Fisher died in a Reykjavik hospital on Thursday of kidney failure after a long illness, his spokesman, Gardar Sverrisson, said Friday.

Born in Chicago and raised in Brooklyn, N.Y., Fischer faced criminal charges in the United States for playing a 1992 rematch against Boris Spassky in Yugoslavia in defiance of international sanctions. In 2005, he moved to Iceland, a chess-mad nation and site of his greatest triumph.

As a champion, he used his eccentricities to unsettle opponents, but Fischer's reputation as a genius of chess was soon eclipsed, in the eyes of many, by his idiosyncrasies.

"Chess is war on a board," he once said. "The object is to crush the other man's mind."

Garry Kasparov, the former world chess champion from Russia, said Fischer's ascent in the chess world in the 1960s and his promotion of chess worldwide was "a revolutionary breakthrough" for the game.

"The tragedy is that he left this world too early, and his extravagant life and scandalous statements did not contribute to the popularity of chess," Kasparov told The Associated Press.

Fischer lost his world title in 1975 after refusing to defend it against Anatoly Karpov. He dropped out of competitive chess and largely out of view, emerging occasionally to make erratic and often anti-Semitic comments, although his mother was Jewish.

Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, president of the World Chess Federation, called Fischer "a phenomenon and an epoch in chess history, and an intellectual giant I would rank next to Newton and Einstein."

Spassky, reached briefly at his home in France, said: "I am very sorry, but Bobby Fischer is dead. Goodbye."

An American chess champion at 14 and a grand master at 15, Fischer dethroned Spassky in 1972 in a series of games in Iceland's capital, Reykjavik, to become the first officially recognized world champion born in the United States.

The match, at the height of the Cold War, took on mythic dimensions as a clash between the world's two superpowers.

Fischer played — and won — an exhibition rematch against Spassky on the resort island of Sveti Stefan, but the game was in violation of U.S. sanctions imposed to punish then-President Slobodan Milosevic.

In July 2004, Fischer was arrested at Japan's Narita airport for traveling on a revoked U.S. passport and was threatened with extradition to the United States to face charges of violating sanctions.

He spent nine months in custody before the dispute was resolved when Iceland granted him citizenship and he moved there with his longtime companion, the Japanese chess player Miyoko Watai. She survives him.

In his final years, Fischer railed against the chess establishment, alleging that the outcomes of many top-level chess matches were decided in advance.

Instead, he championed his concept of random chess, in which pieces are shuffled at the beginning of each match in a bid to reinvigorate the game.

"I don't play the old chess," he told reporters when he arrived in Iceland in 2005. "But obviously if I did, I would be the best."

Born in Chicago in March 9, 1943, Robert James Fischer was a child prodigy, playing competitively from the age of 8.

At 13, he became the youngest player to win the United States Junior Championship. At 14, he won the United States Open Championship for the first of eight times.

At 15, he gained the title of international grand master, the youngest person to hold the title.

Tall, charismatic and with striking looks, he was a chess star — but already gaining a reputation for volatile behavior.

He turned up late for tournaments, walked out of matches, refused to play unless the lighting suited him and was intolerant of photographers and cartoonists. He was convinced of his own superiority and called the Soviets "Commie cheats."

His behavior often unsettled opponents — to Fischer's advantage.

This was seen most famously in the showdown with Spassky in Reykjavik between July and September 1972. Having agreed to play Spassky in Yugoslavia, Fischer raised one objection after another to the arrangements and they wound up playing in Iceland.

When play got under way, days late, Fischer lost the first game with an elementary blunder after discovering that television cameras he had reluctantly accepted were not unseen and unheard, but right behind the players' chairs.

He boycotted the second game and the referee awarded the point to Spassky, putting the Russian ahead 2-0.

But then Spassky agreed to Fischer's demand that the games be played in a back room away from cameras. Fischer went on to beat Spassky, 12.5 points to 8.5 points in 21 games.

Millions of Americans, gripped by the contest, rejoiced in the victory over their Cold War adversary.

In the recent book "White King and Red Queen," the British author Daniel Johnson said the match was "an abstract antagonism on an abstract battleground using abstract weapons ... yet their struggle embraced all human life."

"In Spassky's submission to his fate and Fischer's fierce exultant triumph, the Cold War's denouement was already foreshadowed."

The victory made Fischer the first U.S.-born world champion. Paul Morphy, an American, was regarded as the world's best player from 1858 to 1862, and William Steinetz, an Austrian immigrant to the United States, was an official champion from 1886 to 1894.

___

Associated Press Writer Jill Lawless in London contribued to this report.

Oh Magoo, you did it again!

Last night I read this on Shea's iChat status.

sophie ava kornblum born 9:51 am

Congratulations to "Pop Korn" Shea & Alison on your 2nd addition to the family!

Hasbro Blows!

I needs my Scrabulous!

Facebook Asked to Remove “Scrabulous”

By REUTERS
Published: January 16, 2008
Filed at 9:18 a.m. ET

LONDON (Reuters) - The makers of word game Scrabble have asked Facebook to remove its popular online version "Scrabulous," which they say infringes their copyright.

The U.S. and Canada rights to Scrabble are owned by Hasbro Inc, the world's second-largest toy and game company, while the biggest, Mattel Inc , has the rest of the world.

"Letters have been sent to Facebook in the United States regarding the Scrabulous application," said a Mattel spokeswoman in Britain.

"Mattel values its intellectual property and actively protects its brands and trademarks.

"As Mattel owns the rights to the Scrabble trademark outside the United States and Canada, we are currently reviewing our position regarding other countries."

A UK spokesman for Facebook was not immediately available for comment.

Facebook has recently overtaken similar sites including MySpace and Bebo to become Britain's most popular social networking site.

(Reporting by Andrew Hough; Editing by Stephen Addison)

The Bible According to Google Earth

The Glue Society is an artists' collective from Australia who have imagined Biblical events as they might have been captured by Google Earth.


Moses parting the Red Sea

Noah's Ark

Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden

and the crucifixion of Jesus.

The Human Tetris

Well done.


and POLE POSITION!

Stairway to Heaven - The Beatnix

This has got to be the weirdest cover of Stairway to Heaven ever!
Done in the style of the early Beatles by the Australian cover band The Beatnix.
So Bizarre.

FOB

On a cab ride uptown with Dave, I spied this with my little eye.
But what does FOB mean?
Front of Book?
Friend of Bob?

INDIANA JONES and the Bedpan of Doom!

Another blast from the past. Just released Indiana Jones movie poster painted by the great Drew Struzan! But check out the Mom Khakis' on Indy.
He still looks kinda cool and capable but still, this is making me feel old.

Led Zeppelin London Reunion Gig.

I don't care what you say. I got goosebumps.

iOrdered my iMac

After I woke up from an over stuffed and over drunk Thanksgiving dinner, I bought a fully loaded 24" aluminum iMac through the online Apple Store on Black Friday. I'm so excited. According to FEDEX tracking, it left Shenzhen, China / Hong Kong Saturday morning and arrived at Anchorage, Alaska last night. It should get to me by Wednesday morning. I also ordered an 8 GB silver iPod nano to match.

Thanksgiving Dinner at My Place

My beautiful, brined, juicy turkey


Half of my boisterous, hungry, pickled family

I Came, I Saw, I Chewed Bubble Gum.

One of my favorite movie quotes from the brilliant actor / pro wrestler, Rowdy Roddy Piper in John Carpenter's, THEY LIVE.

Mitch Hedberg was funny