Practicalmadness

So, let’s try something new — this is an overview of things that were on my radar screen today. I am going to try to do one of these every weekday, though we’ll see how well I hew to that.

• GWOD update: 240.6 lbs this morning (-59.4 from start on 8/8/07), about to enter ominous “Phase 2” involving a diet and a third weekly resistance session.

  Also: just went out to Danny’s for beers and OMG yes I did dancing, alone on a Tuesday night. Realizing such things can be fun if I can just quit worrying about a couple of things. Yes, all straight white men look like idiots when they dance (so may as well enjoy it), and no, it is not important that I Meet Someone, Take Someone Home, or etc. tonight (so may as well enjoy the view).

  Also: if the girl in the strapless dress with the hair and the eyes and the moves is a Practicalmadness reader: um, hey, baby, whassup?

• Guitar Hero came out for the DS this week; I picked it up today. Instead of a guitar controller, the game comes with a “guitar grip” you attach to the bottom of your DS, and a pick-shaped stylus you use to strum the touch screen. It sounds insane, but it works — GH: On Tour isn’t really a “play on the bus” sort of game, but it might be a “play in a waiting room” sort. I say: three out of four pick-shaped styli. Game Rankings gives the game a 75% fresh rating. Speaking of music games on Nintendo consoles: as previously noted, Rock Band is out for the Wii on Thursday.

• “The reality of the regime’s brutishness nearly hit me over the head as I was being expelled from the country.” Peter Maass on the U.S.-backed Obiang regime in Equatorial Guinea in Slate.

• Speaking of African dictatorships: the current exchange rate of U.S. dollars for Zimbabwean dollars is 35,000,000,000:1. That’s nearly doubled since Friday.

• Mayor Daley, having given up on Chicago being America’s London by getting Harrod’s to open a store here, now has his heart set on us starting up a Paris-inspired bike rental program. Unfortunately, the lawyers don’t share his romantic bike-sharing vision and are holding up the project.

• This blogger’s favorite Muppet — Cookie Monster — visited The Colbert Report on Thursday.

• Newsweek covers the book I’m reading right now, Sam Gosling’s Snoop: What Your Stuff Says About You: “‘It’s dangerous to look for the things that stick out,’ Gosling says. ‘You want to look for themes. The meaning of one thing modifies the meaning of another.’” (Buy the book at Amazon)