1. Lifehacker
2. Diggnation
3. Web 2.0
4. Netcast
5. Blogosphere (yes, still)

It’s about seven months now since I first discovered the wealth of available NPR podcasts. In case you’re curious, here’s a list of the podcasts I’m currently subscribed to, roughly in order of adoration:

• This American Life
• David Pogue’s NYT Podcast
• NPR Technology
• NPR Driveway Moments
• Downloadable Content
• Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me
• News from Lake Woebegon
• NPR 7AM News Summary
• NPR Shuffle

That’s right - I’m still at a whole two podcasts that aren’t from NPR. And I will admit that I sometimes let the last few of these slide for a week or two at a time because this is a great deal of content to listen to when you consider that I also like, you know, music. But on the whole, it’s brought me nothing but delight and joy to be able to get my NPR fix from my iPod and I plan to continue doing so.

On the subway this morning: a sleepy college student with a stack of flashcards and an I Blogged Your Mom shirt. Made my morning.

So I’ve lived in New York for about eight years now, and in that time I’ve taken an astonishing number of cabs, more than I’d really care to admit. But Saturday night was the first time a cab driver actually tried to scam me. I was almost more surprised than I was angry. Almost. The F was fucked up again this weekend, as it often is, so when I headed homeward after Nicole’s birthday festivities I took the train to 59th St, thinking I’d just get a quick cab ride the rest of the way home. But Saturday was also Cinco de Mayo, so cabs were pretty scarce (and drunken idiots in sombreros were pretty plentiful). As it happened, there was another dude waiting for a cab at the same corner as me, and he was also heading to my tiny island, so we agreed we’d share a cab and split the fare.

So we managed to grab a cab and although the cabbie’s driving was insane we were feeling pretty self-congratulatory about our money-saving tactic, until we pulled up at my building and the driver tried to charge us double the metered amount. Because there were two people in the car. (You know, the car with the giant sign inside that says “THERE IS NO PER PASSENGER CHARGE.”) We thought he was kidding at first, but it turns out that no, he was just an incredible asshole. He seemed amazed that I declined to pay the double fare, and when I handed him exact change for the real fare and got out of the cab he started shouting at me about how he was calling the police. That’s something I would really have liked to see, but instead I just bid farewell to my fellow cab-rider and went inside, the crazy cabbie still screaming after me.

I actually think I’m mostly offended that he thought we seemed stupid enough to fall for something like that. I’m pretty sure that wouldn’t even have worked my first week in the city (what with the aforementioned giant sign). Do I really look that gullible? In any case, all he succeeded in doing was depriving himself of my normally quite generous tip.

I’ve seen a lot of this sort of thing in YouTube comments lately. And it makes me squeal in delight every time.

WHEN U R READING THIS DONT STOP OR SOMETHING BAD WILL HAPPEN MY NAME IS SUMMER I AM 15 YEARS OLD i have BLONDE HAIR , SCARS no NOSE OR EARS I AM DEAD IF U DONT COPY THIS JUS LIKE FROM THE RING COPY N POST THIS ON 5 MORE SITES OR I WILL APPEAR ONE CREEPY NIGHT WEN UR NOT ExPECTING IT BY YOUR BED WITH A NIFE AND KILL U THIS IS NO JOKE SUMMET ING GOOD WILL HAPPEN TO U IF YOU POST THIS ON 5 MORE FLASH BOXES

Yes, it’s real. I’m as scared as you are.

I bought a carrying case for my DS Lite so I’d feel more comfortable about tossing it in my purse with things like keys and porcupines and extremely small saws. You know, the usual. But it turns out my new case sucks. Here is why:

1. It looks gray in that Amazon photo, but it’s actually blue. I like gray. I don’t like blue.
2. Inside the case there’s a plastic sleeve with holes for the buttons and LCD, and also a hole where the stylus slides into DS itself. But you can’t actually get the goddamn stylus in or out of the DS through the fucking hole because of the way the case is constructed. So the stylus hole just sits there, completely useless and utterly vexing, while you wrangle the DS in and out of the sleeve just to get at the stylus, or give up and dump the stylus in the zippered pocket.
3. It’s mysteriously heavy for what it is. Why is it so goddamn heavy?

So I guess I’m looking for another DS Lite case. Or I’ll give up and stick it in a sock or something. Socks are extremely classy, I don’t know if you’re aware of that or not.

Chris and I finally watched The Brothers Grimm over the weekend, without having read any of the reviews or having seen more than a teaser. We had only the vaguest notion that Matt Damon was somehow involved, and no idea who wrote or directed it.

I’m sorry to say that the whole thing was disappointing, formulaic crap. Despite being thoroughly confused by the awkward pacing and bad accents, we were nonetheless able to predict the whole last half of the movie down to the final scene when we paused for drinks and skepticism about an hour in. The only surprising thing about the film was that it was directed by Terry Gilliam, whose work we usually adore.

I should probably note, though, that Chris and I are a tough crowd. Many of our friends have recommended movies that we’ve later watched and mocked mercilessly the whole way through. Maybe these are all perfectly decent productions, and we’re just jerks who don’t appreciate them.