The inspired brainchild of the songwriters Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx, this canny toy chest of a musical takes its stylistic cues from "Sesame Street," from its cheery urban set to its singing puppets of assorted colors and dispositions. And in doing so it becomes the first mainstream musical since "Rent" to coo with such seductive directness to theatergoers on the fair side of 40 in their own language, in which irony is less a mind-set than a loosely worn style. Directed by Jason Moore, with a book by Jeff Whitty, the show applies the coaxing, learning-is-fun attitude of children's educational television to the R-rated situations of postcollegiate life in the big city. Featuring a pitch-perfect ensemble of live performers and oversize hand puppets, "Avenue Q" is to "Sesame Street" what Mel Brooks's "Producers" is to vintage Broadway musicals: a connoisseur's tribute to what it only seems to send up.

Avenue Q

[Not Work Safe]

Wait for the song to load. It's ~ 800 KB. If you have an ad-blocker enabled, you may need to disable it to hear the song.

Brent Allison just posted this URL to se2600. The song is from Avenue Q, the 2004 Tony award winner for best broadway musical.

I mentioned this particular song during dinner at ToorCon last weekend.

You can buy the entire soundtrack on iTunes at

http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?playlistId=2899519

This song in particular is at

http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?playlistId=2899519&selectedItemId=2899478

The entire album is also available to Rhapsody subscribers. Join Rhapsody today at

http://www.real.com/rhapsody/

Update: Mike found a Flash animation of the song.

Funniest Song from 'Avenue Q'

Just axing.

Changing Places

Of the 1.5 million jobs lost last year in "mass layoffs", less than 1 percent were attributed to overseas relocation. Technological innovation is responsible for a far greater number of lost jobs than outsourcing.

Where Did All the Jobs Go? Nowhere

"Two or three years out, subscriptions will overtake à la carte because it is a much more interesting proposition."

Told you so.

Why Buy If You Can Rent?

Americans seem to have forgotten what an ill-advised war can do to the United States. More than three decades after it was published, David Halberstam's "The Best and the Brightest" should still be required reading.

Powell, Then and Now

103 Prince Street
New York, NY 10012
(212) 226-3126

You are Here.

Apple Store - SoHo

Curb Receives 8 Emmy® Nominations! Curb Your Enthusiasm has been nominated for eight Emmy® nominations, including Outstanding Comedy Series (its third consecutive nomination in this category.) Larry David was nominated for Outstanding Lead Actor In A Comedy Series (his second consecutive nomination).

Curb Your Enthusiasm on HBO is funny inappropriate in ways that Seinfeld on TV never could have hoped for.

(On a related note, MemeStreams appears on the first page of Google results for a search of "funny inappropriate".)

Curb Your Enthusiasm

Dundee Satellite Receiving Station, Dundee University, UK, maintains an up-to-date archive of images from NOAA, SeaStar, Terra and Aqua polar orbiting satellites. Images from geostationary satellites covering the whole earth are also available.

Dundee Satellite Receiving Station

The MODIS Land Rapid Response system has been developed to provide rapid access to MODIS data globally, with initial emphasis on 250m color composite imagery and active fire data. The experience gained during the Montana fires of 2000, when the MODIS team was asked to provide active fire information to the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), has led to the improvement and automation of several of the steps involved in MODIS rapid data provision.

MODIS Rapid Response System