R.I.P. Bea Arthur (1922-2009) with occasional punk rock

Bea Arthur has left this mortal coil. She will live on in reruns of Golden Girls, and Maude via memory more than actual airtime.



here's an earlier rendition of this same tune by another late icon...





Here's an old clip where Bea shows off her comic stylings...



Here's an excerpt from the notorious Star Wars Holiday Special featuring Bea as a cantankerous bartender on Tatooine



I think that we need to all keep even closer watch on Abe Vigoda now. Here's a site that can help.

Eric Lewis at 5pm today at DNA Lounge

See my post on Laughing Squid for all the details

The incredible performer Eric Lewis (@eleww) is playing live tonight at a free show at DNA Lounge. DNA has been battling the state ABC board, so this is a benefit as well.

I saw Eric play earlier this week and shot video and images that are now on Flickr. He's a really special performer (read my lsquid post for lots more detail).

Here's one more video that I discovered on Nerdblog.com of an impromptu show that he did after his famous set at TED earlier this year....


Eric Lewis at TED 2009 from Michael Herf on Vimeo.

The Colbert Report's Big (Gay) Gathering Storm

In case you haven't seen this, it is frickin hilarious.

Two Videos That Showcase Change That We Can Believe In

Two great political clips from today, one on TV and the other in Congressional testimony. Lawrence O'Donnell forcefully rebuts judge-a-book-by-its-cover defense policy from an ex-Bush admin'er and Hilary takes apart photo-opp-with-Chavez-gate like only an adult from the winning political party can. Both via Talking Points Memo TV. Enjoy.

watching the bac'n guys at barcamp austin

Watching the Bacn.com guys at BarCampAustin

These guys created a business letting people Buy Bacon online and bacon realted stuff. Some very cool insights. And great tips for prefab'd services that make it much easier to run a web/mail-based business.

Here's a short list:
Crazyegg.com for landing page analysis, Endicia.com for a great way to deal with postage (interface to the USPS' scary API, has an awesome Mac client--seems like Opentaps does a similar thing), Uservoice for onsite feedback.

Business model: Selling t-shirts for a high profit and lots & lots of the world's best bacon for a lesser profit per item. And being smart as hell about every aspect of marketing & operations, totally leveraging new technology like the above.

Brilliant and fun presentation. Built the biz in 3 weeks. Paid tshirt models in PBR & Pizza. Presentation soon in SF.



Beeler's Uncured Garlic Pepper Bacon from Bac'n.com on Vimeo.


That was great, now back to SXSW proper.

Scam School at SXSWi

Watching the Scam School guy at SXSW

I refuse to look up and remember his name, cuz it's a click away for you to learn it yourself. But it's a show on Revision3 about scams & tricks, esp. around how to get free drinks.

Very entertaining, a domestic Derren Brown who walks amongst us. Gave some background. Lots of it is about Fixed Action Patterns. Interesting stuff.

He recommends the book How to Read a Person Like a Book.

more later

I'm at SXSW (and maybe you are or not?)

I'm hanging at SXSW for the week. And here I have this monthlong gap on posts at my eponymous blog. So I thought I'd get a quickie up here, in case someone surfs over here trying to figure out what my deal is.


To find out what I am doing RIGHT NOW check me on Twitter. Images are on Flickr. Read recent blogposts on my little slice of LaughingSquid. Including today's post about how NOT to attend SXSW.

More later soon yup. -em