Q: Is T.A.M.S.Y. back?!

A: Let's say yes.

Q: Are you there, Margaret? It's me, Blog

A: Sorry for my recent absence, and for any wailing or gnashing of teeth that might have resulted.

So yeah, I live in San Francisco now, where I took a job working for the Internets. My goal here is to change the very nature of how human beings perceive and interact with information architecture, hopefully by around January.

Going forward, T.A.M.S.Y. will probably be a little more about tech/Bay Area living than before and also probably a little more sporadic, but I promise always to make room for Dick Cheney jokes.

On to business, the business of surprise: Baltimore's Dan Deacon is some sort of performance artist/musician/balding hipster. His performance of the song "Ohio" on WSAV's local morning show in Savannah, Georgia is a delight for at least two of the senses.



Check out Scott C.'s LJ for the complete interview, which is also fairly entertaining.

Deacon will be playing San Francisco and L.A. next week, but it's sold out [sked]. Tix still available for his forthcoming shows in NYC, Ohio and various other places. Recommended, maybe!

Q: Didn't you used to be world-famous blog The Answer May Surprise You? Or did you change your name to Jack Daniels?

A: Scientists estimate that 71% of the world's blog posts are apologies for not having blogged lately. I refuse to become another statistic.

I REGRET NOTHING.

Yes, I've neglected my duties as my generation's surprisingerst answerer. No, I have not taken to the bottle.

My blogging time will probably still be limited over the next few weeks, while I complete my perpetually imminent move to California. So in lieu of whatever I usually do here, I'm just going to be posting circa three noteworthy links a day, every day. Except for on days where I post fewer than three links, or none, which will be most days.

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"Didn't you used to be Eddie Valiant? Or did you change your name to Jack Daniels?" is one of my favorite lines from one of my favorite movies. A couple weeks ago, I came across a draft of the screenplay. It's way different than the final film in a ton of ways, and it includes the deleted "pig-headed" scene that appears on the DVD, excerpted here:



Also, the original "Didn't you used to be..." line doesn't include the part about Jack Daniels. This sort of thing is very exciting, if you're as deeply into Who Framed Roger Rabbit? as I am. Which I'm guessing you're not, so let's move on.

Scientists estimate that 71% of the all-time greatest American films involve corruption and delusion in Los Angeles. (In their plots, I mean. If you include the real-life corruption and delusion, the number jumps to around infinity%.)

Q: Why hath I forsaken thee?

A: So a couple of weeks ago, that Bush-is-probably-not-a-rapist post got bumped up to the #1 spot on reddit unexpectedly (and sort of inexplicably). The sudden influx of readers was initially very exciting, but also forced me to learn the hard way that — despite my many previous claims to the contrary — GooglePages does have a bandwidth limit after all (albeit an undisclosed one).

Suddenly, all of the images and mp3s I host through my homepage died, leaving T.A.M.S.Y. even more hideous than usual. I could have fixed it with an hour or so of redistributing files to other hosts, but I'm lazy, and besides, had already met my meager analytics goals for the month. So I ended up taking a two-week nap (and focusing instead on my oft-delayed move to California, and my beloved Cavaliers and Indians, etc.), in a Metal Machine Music-esque attempt to alienate any new fans. Pretty sure I was successful there.

Anyway, I've now fixed the bandwidth issues, and unveiled my 4,000th redesign. So welcome to the new T.A.M.S.Y., now featuring 60% more Greekness.

Q: What's a Hokie?

A: "The origin of the word 'Hokie' has nothing to do with a turkey. It was coined by O.M. Stull (class of 1896), who used it in a spirit yell he wrote for a competition..."

I've somehow managed to avoid the topic of Virginia Tech this week, for a few reasons. For one, because as Charles Krauthammer writes, "What can be said about the Virginia Tech massacre? Very little. What should be said? Even less." (He goes on to say several hundred words after that, including several dozen I disagree with, but I'll get back to that in a later post).

I do try to keep things lightish here at The Answer May Surprise You, so — even though I was privately (embarrassedly) devouring every bit of psychological voyeurism in the slow unraveling of the shooter's psyche — I opted here to focus on breezy, more hilarious stories like, you know, Sanjaya or the disintegration of the U.S. justice system.

It just seemed like — with the news media doing such a fine job of botching the story themselves — maybe the nation could do without T.A.M.S.Y.'s Photoshopped input on this one.

(That said, there are still a few things stuck in my craw that I'd like to write about later on, maybe not so much for your sake as for mine...)

Anyway. Today is a day of mourning in Virginia — but Virginia Tech's alumni are also calling for solidarity, declaring it National Orange and Maroon Effect Day and encouraging everyone, alum or otherwise, to wear the school's colors. I don't own any orange or maroon clothing, so I went for the next best thing and dressed up my blog.

I've never even been to VT, but having seen and read so much coverage of the campus, its students and community this week, I can't help but love 'em a little. And what better way to show my respect and support than by redesigning a blog they don't read?

On the off chance you are a Hokie, past or present, T.A.M.S.Y. salutes you.

Q: Is our bloggers relocating?

photo via Thomas Hawk

Q: Would anyone care to create a Wikipedia entry for elbo.ws?

A: Seriously, dudes, go for it.

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Q: WHAT IS ELBO.WS?

A: Previously referred to in this space as an "mp3 search engine," elbo.ws turns out to be actually a sort of clearinghouse for music-related blogs.

Every time a elbo.ws-approved blogger posts, that post pops up on the elbo.ws front page; if the post includes mp3s, those links are harvested by elbo.ws robots and listed directly. Combine that with, say, the fine Firefox extension DownThemAll! and what you've got is music-hottness Magneto.

But what really makes the site so FANTASTIC is that its membership comprises THE GREATEST BLOGS IN THE GREAT HISTORY OF BLOGGING.

On a completely unrelated note, T.A.M.S.Y. was recently added to elbo.ws. The community also includes Stereogum, Idolator and 2042 glorious other music blogs.

How T.A.M.S.Y. elbowed its way into this exclusive club, we have no clue, but we're sure glad to be there. In an effort not to be thrown out, we're going to try to make sure to incorporate mp3 links into our ramblings as much as possible. (By the way, get ready for the song in my next post. It's going to BLOW YOUR MIND.)

Might I remind you you can always check out the latest Muzak available on T.A.M.S.Y. by bookmarking our mp3 page.

Q: Will you pardon my dust?

META-SURPRISE: Those of you who subscribe to via email or RSS may notice some old posts reappearing for no reason over the next few days, while I do some housecleaning.

Regular posting — with, like, actual content — to resume Monday. I'm embarking on the big road trip/move in T-minus four weeks, so I'd better blog it up while I still can.