Does anyone have any idea what this thing is? It’s lit up at night and dark during the day. I am 99% sure it is in Lithuania, likely Vilnius. I’ve been watching it for almost 24 hours (no not straight) and can’t figure it out, but I find it enchanting.

Addendum: Mike found it. It’s an outdoor pottery display in Vilnius, Lithuania. Neat-o.

Overheard in Wright Square:

He didn’t have no reason to get on me like that. I can put in 8 hours at the office just as good as I could here in the Square…

Random scraps from this weekend…

How many angels can dance on the head of a pin? I bet Willard Wigan knows. Check out his minute and marvelous work. Thanks for the heads up on this, Mike.

Last night, I posted my first voiceover attempts/requests at RadioDaddy.com. I suppose this was inevitable. We have the equipment from America’s Debate Radio and there’s no reason to let it just sit around when we’re not live. Plus, I’ve received an inordinate number of compliments on my voice. Which, frankly, is a bit unsettling yet rather nice and certainly encouraging.

And today, the Bears are kicking some Lion ass. 24-0 at the start of the 2nd half. Life is good.

I’m not going to wax poetic on all things 9/11 related. I think by now, we’ve all had as much as we can stomach.

Instead, let’s reincarnate the Superfans with a 21st century twist. Some of you may have thought the Superfans was just an SNL parody. But for those of us born and raised in the monster’s midway, we know better. Being now 1000 miles away from Soldier Field we don’t have the fortune of having most Bears games broadcast down here (and I’m not paying for any of those lame football packages full of other crap just for my Bears).

We half-way solved this by finding a stream of the game online. Unfortunately, listening that way would strap us in the office. Not that much fun and certainly not condusive with dinner making, which needed to get done (Italian beef and crinkle cut fries, of course).

Being the tech savvy Superfan that he is, Mike devised a novel way to allow us to hear the games in the kitchen (or anywhere downstairs). He took the online stream he found and streamed it through the America’s Debate Radio mixer. He then streamed the game through our skype account (free calls in the US!) and then used skype to call our house number. We answered our house phone via its speaker phone feature. Mike took the speaker phone (now broadcasting the game) and set it in front of a mic which he then plugged into one of his amplifiers – and wala!* The slaughter of the Packers was broadcast to two very happy dinner-preparing Superfans.

If you don’t understand the unrelenting, retarded love we fans have for our Bears, you either somehow missed 1985 or are unable to find joy in repeating ‘Dick Butkus’ over and over again. And either way, I feel sorry for you. Ahhh, my Ditka…

*Mike – did I get this all right? I only made you explain it to me 26 times.

I’ve not been ignoring the Club, beachcombers. Over the last week, I’ve started a handful of posts that I simply can’t bring to fruition. When all creativity fails, we can always count on a meme to fill the space.

I ganked this from Monsieur Elisson. It’s about books. If I’ve done this one before, damn you and your good memory (and keep your mouth shut and play along anyway).

A book that changed my life:
Guess we’re starting with the light stuff, huh? Jeez.

Technically speaking, all books have changed my life. If I’ve read anything, I’m not exactly the same as when I started. Even if the piece is complete trash, I’ve fired enough synapses to make a permanent impression.

A book I’ve read more than once:
Tao Te Ching (various translations) and Huxley’s Brave New World. I don’t get that mix either.

A book I would take with me if I were stuck on a desert island:
Wouk’s Don’t Stop the Carnival. What better than a book about living on an island? (Plus, that book inspired the name of this Club so you know it’s gotta be good).

A book that made me laugh:
Again, Don’t Stop the Carnival. I’ve also held onto Mark Leyner’s Et tu Babe? and Jason Cohen’s/Michael Krugman’s Generation Ecch for years because they are too funny to let go (Ecch mostly for the Evan Dorkin comics).

A book that made me cry:
Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath. Those last pages, on the brink of starvation…just…damn. Pass the tissue. I’m tearing up now.

A book that I wish had been written:
I want to see a Monty Python-esque version of the lives and times of Wertz and Sean in a colonial setting. Or maybe time traveling. And hanging out with Ben Franklin. Something like that.

A book I wish had never been written:
The Koran.

I’m going to someone’s hell for that.

I’m currently reading:
People You Know by George Ade.

A book I’ve been meaning to read:
If I had enough time to list all the books I want to read, I’d use some of it to read them.

What turned me onto fiction?
Who knows? Something from way back in the very early days of reading. I was always a nerdy little book kid and I’ve not changed much since.

So beachcombers, pass it on. I know you all love to talk about books…except you Mike.