A modern spiritual by Gail and Dale?

Not sure what's more off-putting: hearing this song in two-part harmony or hearing Lawrence Welk call it a "modern spiritual".

High Fidelity

Caught part of the movie "High Fidelity" with John Cusack yesterday afternoon. For some reason, while I was watching the move I was curious as to  how it compared to the book - so I went out and bought it.

I've never read any Nick Hornby before, but I was so taken by his style, his conversation and his ability to nail the neuroses of the human male that I'm already over half way through the book.

Something of note: Hornby also wrote the book "Fever Pitch", which was turned into a movie starring Jimmy Fallon and Drew Barrymore. Interesting to note, the team in the film was not the team Hornby originally wrote about in his book. For American audiences the setting was transferred to Boston during the Red Sox run at their first World Series win in 80+ years. Hornby's book follows a superfan of the Arsenal football club, a team in the English Premier League.

Microsoft! or Yahoogle

So, the Enquirer that is the interweb is abuzz about the prospect of Microsoft purchasing Yahoo! Personally, I see it as a lame attempt by Microsoft to, in very simple terms, gain ground on Google in the search and advertising market. Put aside all the fluff about how the acquisition would advance the goals of openness, innovation and the protection of privacy on the Internet (paraphrased from Microsoft's response to Google's questioning the proposal); Microsoft is losing the war when it comes to the multi-billion dollar search advertising game, and they know it.

What's even more interesting is how Google views the potential partnership/purchase. To wit (click the link above to see the full posting from Google): "Could the acquisition of Yahoo! allow Microsoft -- despite its legacy of serious legal and regulatory offenses -- to extend unfair practices from browsers and operating systems to the Internet?"  Pretty harsh words, and not unexpected, especially since Microsoft cried "Foul!" when Google bought Double-Click. However, is Google really living it's "do no evil" mantra true? See this story that broke in the Wall Street Journal today: "Google could potentially offer money, or guaranteed revenue in return for a Yahoo advertising outsourcing pact" said folks familiar with the discussions.

So, Google spreads some decent FUD regarding Microsoft's acquisition bid from one end of the Googleplex, but extends the proverbial olive branch to Yahoo! from the other end - it's all good, folks, we're just trying to help our brethren out; loan them some cash with a reasonable interest rate (we don't expect to gain anything on this deal) to keep them on their feet, keep them viable, protect their brand, and further our own desire to protect the world from the beasts in Redmond. Do no evil, hell - Google does nothing but.