http://hifiparasol.com Top-quality wordsmithing, focusing on lifestyle, travel & technology. Sun, 20 Dec 2009 03:53:32 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Possibly the best thing about our nation's current festival of pecuniary insolvency -- other than getting to watch elected officials sweat through their suit jackets as they try to explain why we may soon need to offer corporate naming rights to national parks and, eventually, individual constitutional amendments -- is ... http://hifiparasol.com/coupons/ I guess you could say I'm pretty much in love. My significant other and I text each other frequent reminders of our affection, leave love notes in strategic spots around the apartment, and employ amusing pet names such as "Stinky" and "Stinky Pudd'n." What we have yet failed to do, ... http://hifiparasol.com/locks-of-love-in-los-feliz/ True confession: I find Twitter to be kind of a pain in th' butt sometimes. Particularly when it comes to getting news from specific sources that update with relative infrequency -- like food trucks. See, all the best food trucks advertise their schedules via Twitter, but for those of us ... http://hifiparasol.com/a-handy-solution-to-the-food-truck-twitter-dilemma/ I'm going to go ahead and assume that you wear clothes. Not that you're wearing clothes now, of course; you are, after all, reading this on the Internet, and if you're anything like me you like to read political news, watch cat-intensive videos, and compare appliance prices while wearing as ... http://hifiparasol.com/canto-4-menswear/ I suspect "supermarket public-address system music" is probably one of those problems that only I think is a problem, like comma underuse and my girlfriend's tendency to wipe her mouth after I kiss her. But no, seriously: It's a big deal. It's ruining America. It's turning us into sodden, fish-mouthed ... http://hifiparasol.com/love-among-the-triscuits/ I've always liked the word "earworm," and not just because it makes me think of Walter Koenig writhing in pain at Ricardo Montalban's feet. No, I like "earworm" because it's one of those words that relatively few people have heard, but which describes something that everyone knows about: A song ... http://hifiparasol.com/pavel-chekov-never-had-it-so-good/ Let's play Pretend for a moment. Close your eyes and imagine that you are a professor of one of the most academically respected and culturally popular sciences: Paleontology. More specifically, dinosaur paleontology. You spend your days hypothesizing the dietary preferences of tyrannosaurs, the hunting tactics of family dromaeosauridae, the many potential ... http://hifiparasol.com/in-defense-of-ross-2/ Hi, I'm Kevin Ott, the proprietor of Hi Fi Parasol, a central clearinghouse for all of my work as a writer, filmmaker and educator. If you're looking to bring a dynamic and broadly experienced writer onto your staff, or hire one who'll provide winning results, don't hesitate to contact me. I ... http://hifiparasol.com/hello-world/