» Fringe Blog – Writing on Film, Culture, and Things on the Fringe

The Smoking Room

jelewis8 — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 20:52:37 +0000

Fringe redesigned Washington DC journalist Greg Piper’s bi-coastal political blog to match the quirky name and feel of intimacy of the original site. Utilizing a backend Movable Type blog CMS, The Smoking Room offers comments, trackbacks, and of course, Greg’s snarky charm.

Fringecast 19

jelewis8 — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 22:39:21 +0000

Number nineteen comes at you like a bullet train, and this one packs more punch than a political pundit at a party poking puppies with a pickle. Indeed, it’s the week after the election, and so we discuss politics with Washington D.C. correspondent Greg Piper, who discusses non-voting, free speech and porn, and new methods for voting judges into seats (hint: it involves pennies in socks).
Presidential history is big on our minds, as our discussion of the coolness of Calvin Coolidge reaches truly epic depths, and then we compare the size and variation of the words “skoch” and “smidgen,” followed by wireless blood transfusions and breast implants.
Sounds juicy, right? It is. Check out the iTunes feed and make your Fringecast hosts happy by downloading the episode directly in mp3 format. The Fringecast XML feed is available through a feed reader. All shows are archived by date, and can be accessed on the right hand sidebar.
Music was provided for free by the Podshow Podsafe Music Network. We should be paying them, they’re that awesome.

Blog Down!

jelewis8 — Sat, 15 Apr 2006 17:18:57 +0000

Greg Piper may be back to blogging, but his return has been marred somewhat by the current inability to post anything, which explains his ten day disappearance. He is working on resolving the issue and will be back to posting regular updates on Jessica Alba-monkey pairings and his bitter take on the state of the Union (clue: the coffee sucks in Washington DC, which doesn’t bode well for the rest of the nation).

This All Leads To Something, Right?

jelewis8 — Mon, 09 Jan 2006 06:31:11 +0000

Piper’s trouble finding a church in DC isn’t the usual one you hear from serious evangelicals, with excuses ranging from “The pastor is a woman” to “The Sunday School is a joke” to “I can’t wake up that early!” No, Greg has trouble finding directions online, and lives in an area where church names are consistently similar sounding. To top it off, awkward social graces make him a prime candidate for meeting all the right girls at all the wrong times. Sad, but at least he’s gaining traction with his coffee research, something we talked about him writing an article on back in late October ’05. I hope he can write it soon, so he can start working for Slate.
I start my freelance fulltime temporary job tomorrow. It’s true. It’s a freelance position for 30 days working fulltime hours at (sadly) less than fulltime rates. Still, it’s a consistent work schedule, which I’ve lacked the last couple of months, and will provide a bit of extra income as I attempt to pass over from red to black (or vice versa). What’s great is that it’s for a company that has a lot of entertainment (read: Hollywood) clientele, including Lions Gate Films and potentially Sony Studios.
The nice thing is my days don’t start there until 10. With a little motivation, I will be getting up earlier and so shall still have time to post here as well as do a bit of writing on the side, in addition to my other regular work duties. Nights are going to be quite full though, as Bobby and I are going to a four nights a week editing schedule for 13 Months of Sunshine. Pack in Dollar Dinner/Canvas Group on Tuesday nights and Wednesday Fun Night, that leaves my Saturdays free for…I don’t know, sleep.
Woohoo for the new year, yeah?

I’ve Got a Twitch

jelewis8 — Wed, 28 Dec 2005 21:26:09 +0000

So I’ve had this angry eye twitching thing going on for about three weeks now, and my first instinct is a variation on the old Bible command regarding removal of the body’s optical equipment in the event said orb causes one to commit iniquity. In this case, I feel the distinct urge to pluck at the emergence of the twitch, which usually occurs after a violent sneeze or other momentary facial disarrangement. It apparently is caused by stress. Yes, my stressful life.
Piper thinks he’s one-upped me. I’m content to let this be my reply [It's not a contest guys. -- Ed. Oh yeah? You're next, chubbo!].
Speaking of replies, I am sorely behind on my email. Christmas is a lousy time for me, communicatively speaking. I find I call fewer people, write fewer people, and my email response rate drops from an already poor 66% down to about 30%. Partly it’s just the time. Who wants to spend time on the computer composing witty responses to people’s Merry Christmases when there’s peppermint bark upon which to chew? Family in person always beats family or friends far away, no matter how embarrassing they may be.
I believe I’ve figured out why my hit count seems so low. I don’t think it’s counting visits to archived pages, even though the counter should be on all of them. Unfortunately, I’m not sure how to fix the problem. My hosting web stats show a much larger visitor count than SiteMeter can account for, and though some of it is robots and spam monsters trolling the mists, there are some “for real” people stats there too, and I hate the fact that SiteMeter’s ripping me off.
I’ve got a review of Syriana coming up, but writing a plot summary of it will be as effective as asking OPEC to reduce howler monkey export prices. But first, what follows is my dutiful recounting of 2005 as the most blogworthy year in the history of blogworthy years (there have been two, thus far). Consider these last days if you can, and hope that 2006 doesn’t implode from the spring coil tension 2005 has built up. It’s been a doozy…

Blacksburg Life Is No Pipe Dream

jelewis8 — Thu, 28 Jul 2005 07:54:24 +0000

Leave it to Piper to totally shame me with his far more comprehensive accounting of last weekend’s doings and happenings, and with the added bonus of inline photographs too! He’s got a very different take on the weekend–in fact, the exact opposite of mine. Whilst I focused on the significance of my time with friends as a bookend to my stay here in beloved Blacksurg, his perspective is on learning to accept living on the East Coast and coming to an understanding of the kind of lifestyle that he needs to build for himself for the time that he has here. A very insightful response, I think, and definitely worth the read.

Phase Transitions

jelewis8 — Sun, 24 Jul 2005 17:20:41 +0000

I’m not dead, just fantastically busy with planning, packing, and partying–I believe they’re the three phases of a cross-country move–so updates will be lighter this week. However, I will be doing one from this weekend, which was a hoot and a half. Greg Piper drove from DC to spend Friday night and part of Saturday with me and my circle of friends, which was further blessed by an unexpected visit from an old friend from New York. All in all, a great time, and I will regale you with tales and images later on.
Thanks for bearing with me.

Ticked At TicketMaster

jelewis8 — Thu, 16 Jun 2005 05:43:59 +0000

Greg Piper, despite the free market facade, poses his TicketMaster gripes to his blog and muses on meeting some key Hill people to try and push some government regulation on the un-American corporation.

This is an evil, egomaniacal, renegade corporation that screws over earnest, low-wage concertgoers…there must be some room for enterprising populist Dems and GOPers to go after a corporation that has never been very popular.

No Rockefeller he, Greg will undoubtedly focus the next ray of ire on his immortal caffeinated archenemy, Starbucks. Or is it only about going after the companies that no one really likes?

Bits and Pieces

jelewis8 — Mon, 09 May 2005 19:19:19 +0000

Say, is John Kerry ever going to release those military records like he promised?
How good are you at English? Maybe not so good after taking this remedial quiz. I passed, by the way. Via Tim Blair
I’m sure as heck not going to post a “blogger code of ethics” on my site, least of all at the behest of this guy.
If Piper heads to Lebanon for the women, can I go to southern Califor…
It’s started in Austin. The way I figure it, if smoking in bars is banned in Texas–TEXAS!!–we’re all pretty much screwed.
Among other things, VodkaPundit is going to be a daddy. Congratulations, and don’t let the blue pencilnecks get to you.
House of Wax: “‘…the 2nd best Paris Hilton film I’ve seen this year. ‘”
Tales from the Darth Side: “Okay, I admit it. I cut off the kid’s hand. Everything went downhill after that.
Blast! Blast! Blast! I am such an idiot.”

What Disney Had Wrought

jelewis8 — Sat, 07 May 2005 17:54:58 +0000

Piper links to a Slate article in which Disney, Michael Moore, and the Weinsteins used the spectre of censorship and corporate veils to reap a tidy profit with a little film called Fahrenheit 9/11.