Wednesday, December 28, 2005
Politics: Top Ten Myths about Iraq
according to Professor Juan Cole.
The guy has been spot-on since before the war and continues to expound truth in the wilderness.
This the one that jumped out at me:
The guy has been spot-on since before the war and continues to expound truth in the wilderness.
This the one that jumped out at me:
7. The new Iraqi constitution is a victory for Western, liberal values in the Middle East.
The constitution made Islam the religion of state. It stipulates that the civil parliament may pass no legislation that contradicts the established laws of Islam. It looks forward to clerics serving on court benches. It allows individuals to opt out of secular, civil personal status laws (for marriage, divorce, alimony, inheritance) and to choose relgious canon law instead. Islamic law gives girls, e.g., only half the amount of inheritance received by their brothers. Instead of a federal government, the constitution establishes a loose supervisory role for Baghdad and devolves most powers, including claims on future oil finds, on provinces and provincial confederacies, such that it is difficult to see how the country will be able to hold together.
more bad news for Hollywood
we make crappy movies and nobody watches them...waaaah, waaaah, waaaaaah!
Here's a firsthand report from a fellow on one of the forums I frequent that has some undefined promotional job with Warner Brothers:
Here's a firsthand report from a fellow on one of the forums I frequent that has some undefined promotional job with Warner Brothers:
I spoke to Masters students at Pepperdine University specifially about this.
I mentioned that between the huge amount of cable, other activities, video games, bootlegging and the overpricing of tickets and also the unoriginal movies put out, there was and will continue to be a slump.
One thing though is that it will not be like the record business. It'll be a lack of box-office numbers. Funny thing that's weird, WB (my home) had it's best year ever and was the only studio to have three 200,000,000.00 dollar movies domestically in one year.
What's always going to happen too is that in spite of lowered box-office, home video that wasn't there 15 years ago makes up so much that we're actully make MUCH more money on movies than ever.
Tuesday, December 27, 2005
Stalin's half-ape supertroops
This is just pure awesomeness.
Genocidal madman?
Sure.
But the cat obviously had VISION.
"I want a new invincible human being, insensitive to pain, resistant and indifferent about the quality of food they eat," Stalin said, quoted by Moscow newspapers.
His cronies were not slow in supporting him. In 1926 the Politburo in Moscow passed the request to the Academy of Science with the order to build a "living war machine".
Genocidal madman?
Sure.
But the cat obviously had VISION.
25 Most Interesting Webcams of 2005
neato stuff.
I've seen most of these over the course of the year, but it's nice having them all at one url.
I've seen most of these over the course of the year, but it's nice having them all at one url.
Wired News: 2005 Foot-in-Mouth Awards
Goofy pronouncements from various tech luminaries.
I think my favorite is the the wiretapper in chief's review of his iPod...
I think my favorite is the the wiretapper in chief's review of his iPod...
Monday, December 26, 2005
Good article on why Hollywood is f'ed
In a losing race with the zeitgeist - Los Angeles Times
"There are still optimists who say the sky isn't falling, who insist that a few hits will turn things around, or gas prices will come down, or that the business being off 7% this year has more to do with the absence of a left-field sensation such as 'The Passion of the Christ' than a long-term decline in moviegoing.
To them, I say — go ye to Costco or Best Buy and watch the giant HDTVs zooming out the door, the TVs that used to cost $7500 that now go for $1995 and allow middle-class people to have a marvelous moviegoing experience right at home without $10.50 tickets, $4 popcorn, 20 minutes of annoying commercials and some guy in the next row yakking away on his cellphone."
I've been thinking about the current Hollywood losing streak in the context of the creative explosion of 70's cinema, ably chronicled in the excellent Easy Riders, Raging Bulls.
You could do a find/replace on a history of 70's cinema and not end up far off base...'the out of touch remnants of the Studio system' become 'the out of touch Corporate paymasters', etc. The DVD panic is redolent of previous 'television' and 'VCR' panics, but exacerbated by the corporate insistence on immediate, massive profits.
The studios with their ever-narrowing lag time between theatrical and DVD releases are digging their own graves. It reminds me of that parable where the scorpion stings the dog carrying it across the river to death. A corporation like Sony can no more defy its nature than the scorpion.
Personally, I don't really care. I watch one or two 'event' movies a year, the rest of the time you'll find me in our local art house, ingesting some subtitled opus from a minor national cinema still motivated by the creative act instead of the mercantile impulse to move units for Best Buy.
There will be another sea change akin to the creative explosion of the 70's, but who knows what form it will take. Digital distribution is looming for theaters (the last hang-up is who's paying for it, the studios or the theaters), it's just a matter of time before Netflix cuts out the middle man and starts streaming digital films directly to their customers (mailing dvds back and forth doesn't really make sense in a media climate where anyone with the slightest bit of computer know-how can download the same films for nothing).
There will be room for creativity in mainstream cinema again...the only real question is will the corporate studios catch the wave, or be drowned by it.
"There are still optimists who say the sky isn't falling, who insist that a few hits will turn things around, or gas prices will come down, or that the business being off 7% this year has more to do with the absence of a left-field sensation such as 'The Passion of the Christ' than a long-term decline in moviegoing.
To them, I say — go ye to Costco or Best Buy and watch the giant HDTVs zooming out the door, the TVs that used to cost $7500 that now go for $1995 and allow middle-class people to have a marvelous moviegoing experience right at home without $10.50 tickets, $4 popcorn, 20 minutes of annoying commercials and some guy in the next row yakking away on his cellphone."
I've been thinking about the current Hollywood losing streak in the context of the creative explosion of 70's cinema, ably chronicled in the excellent Easy Riders, Raging Bulls.
You could do a find/replace on a history of 70's cinema and not end up far off base...'the out of touch remnants of the Studio system' become 'the out of touch Corporate paymasters', etc. The DVD panic is redolent of previous 'television' and 'VCR' panics, but exacerbated by the corporate insistence on immediate, massive profits.
The studios with their ever-narrowing lag time between theatrical and DVD releases are digging their own graves. It reminds me of that parable where the scorpion stings the dog carrying it across the river to death. A corporation like Sony can no more defy its nature than the scorpion.
Personally, I don't really care. I watch one or two 'event' movies a year, the rest of the time you'll find me in our local art house, ingesting some subtitled opus from a minor national cinema still motivated by the creative act instead of the mercantile impulse to move units for Best Buy.
There will be another sea change akin to the creative explosion of the 70's, but who knows what form it will take. Digital distribution is looming for theaters (the last hang-up is who's paying for it, the studios or the theaters), it's just a matter of time before Netflix cuts out the middle man and starts streaming digital films directly to their customers (mailing dvds back and forth doesn't really make sense in a media climate where anyone with the slightest bit of computer know-how can download the same films for nothing).
There will be room for creativity in mainstream cinema again...the only real question is will the corporate studios catch the wave, or be drowned by it.
RIP John O'Connor
Character Actor Vincent Schiavelli Dies - Yahoo! News
Dude was in everything, but has a special place in my heart for his sterling performance in The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension, one of the best cult films of all time.
Dude was in everything, but has a special place in my heart for his sterling performance in The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension, one of the best cult films of all time.
Saturday, December 24, 2005
Emerald Bile reviews Stephen King
The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger to be precise.
money shot:
I <3 Emerald Bile....
money shot:
Normal introductions in books are tedious self-indulgent yawny-yawn, but Stephen King has reached new heights in the extremely long introduction to the expanded version of the "The dark tower: The Gun Slinger". It is called the "expanded version" because the first version of the book was so bad, he had to rewrite it and put more words in to make it longer. Fair enough, if only he had used the extra words to make the story more interesting rather than writing a fifty page rambling introduction which was like going on a tour of his arsehole, all dark and bleak and boring as fuck.
I <3 Emerald Bile....
More Christmas Cheer
customer:
uh, do you have any books by Lenin?
me:
The commie, or the musician?
customer:
uh......the commie.
see, because I couldn't tell if he was saying 'Lennon' or 'Lenin'.....oh, nevermind.
uh, do you have any books by Lenin?
me:
The commie, or the musician?
customer:
uh......the commie.
see, because I couldn't tell if he was saying 'Lennon' or 'Lenin'.....oh, nevermind.
Tasha Robinson is a tool
The Year In Film 2005 | The A.V. Club
Ok, maybe not a tool, but certainly a film critic who let the giddy 13 year old girl inside her get hold of the keyboard while writing this ludicrous ode to the anorexic collarbones and bloated lips of Kiera Knightly:
Oh for FUCK'S SAKE!
I'm as big a fan of this film as you're going to find outside my Jane Austen obsessed sister in law, but Knightly was just adequate.
"My god, she didn't piss herself on camera...HAND HER AN OSCAR!"
"Effortlessly flowing between pride, vivid young love, and self-righteous, wounded indignation"!?
Try "Effortlessly flowing between scrunching her eyebrows and pursing her collagen pillows, big movie star smiles, and making her collarbones heave while looking faintly constipated".
She was serviceable. She didn't embarrass herself.
That hardly makes her Maggie Fucking Smith.
Ok, maybe not a tool, but certainly a film critic who let the giddy 13 year old girl inside her get hold of the keyboard while writing this ludicrous ode to the anorexic collarbones and bloated lips of Kiera Knightly:
Performance Of The Year
Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice has been adapted numerous times, but Joe Wright's luminous version brings it to fresh new life, and key to that life is Keira Knightley as the emotional cornerstone of her impoverished and at-times-intolerable family. Effortlessly flowing between pride, vivid young love, and self-righteous, wounded indignation, Knightley brought moderation but deep intensity and conviction to a complicated role that would have been all too easy to oversell or overplay.
Oh for FUCK'S SAKE!
I'm as big a fan of this film as you're going to find outside my Jane Austen obsessed sister in law, but Knightly was just adequate.
"My god, she didn't piss herself on camera...HAND HER AN OSCAR!"
"Effortlessly flowing between pride, vivid young love, and self-righteous, wounded indignation"!?
Try "Effortlessly flowing between scrunching her eyebrows and pursing her collagen pillows, big movie star smiles, and making her collarbones heave while looking faintly constipated".
She was serviceable. She didn't embarrass herself.
That hardly makes her Maggie Fucking Smith.
More Year End Lists than you can shake a stick at!
Aieeee, the mother lode!
I can vouch for the authenticity of this one.
I mean, there are a lot of other OP books that are hot but this is a good list.
I'm thinking this list is compiled from 'books sold', not all searches...most of these titles are out there, they're just expensive. We sold a copy of the John Kerry one we picked up at a yard sale for $2 for several hundred dollars.
And the Koontz book didn't exist for many, many years....it was something referenced in many of his books like the Lovecraft used The Necronomicon or the less famous Robert W. Chambers used The King in Yellow.
Ever the opportunist, Koontz collected all of the excerpts from the purported dark tome and compiled them between a single cover. It's nice I don't have to argue with fans of his about whether or not the book exists, but it's lame because it's not what they're looking for, it's just a collection of bits and pieces they already own.
And a note on the Madonna Sex book: if you have it sealed in the bag, it's worth much more than an open copy. Intact copies are fairly scarce because the covers were machined aluminum and they used a shitty clamshell wire binding, kinda like a spiral bound notebook but worse. Even if you leaf through a copy carefully, it's liable to come apart.
Why anyone would make a $100 limited edition book with a ten cent binding like that is confusing. But it's good for used book dealers, because even though a million or so copies were printed (some 'limited edition') most of them were demolished by incautious readers. A decent copy minus the bag and CD goes for $50 or so, you can sell a whole copy that's been opened for $125 pretty quick.
I haven't seen a sealed copy in a few years, I'd estimate you could turn it over fast for $300, and maybe get as much as $500 if you were willing to wait a bit. I'll definitely do some reasearch next time I have to price a sealed one.
It pains me that I worked at Waldenbooks when this one came out, and we wrangled a huge number of copies and there was an orgy of employee discount buying. I didn't pick any up because I figured a million copy 'limited edition' was comical and I didn't know enough about the used market yet to cotton on to the shitty binding.
Oh well....live and learn!
I can vouch for the authenticity of this one.
I mean, there are a lot of other OP books that are hot but this is a good list.
I'm thinking this list is compiled from 'books sold', not all searches...most of these titles are out there, they're just expensive. We sold a copy of the John Kerry one we picked up at a yard sale for $2 for several hundred dollars.
And the Koontz book didn't exist for many, many years....it was something referenced in many of his books like the Lovecraft used The Necronomicon or the less famous Robert W. Chambers used The King in Yellow.
Ever the opportunist, Koontz collected all of the excerpts from the purported dark tome and compiled them between a single cover. It's nice I don't have to argue with fans of his about whether or not the book exists, but it's lame because it's not what they're looking for, it's just a collection of bits and pieces they already own.
And a note on the Madonna Sex book: if you have it sealed in the bag, it's worth much more than an open copy. Intact copies are fairly scarce because the covers were machined aluminum and they used a shitty clamshell wire binding, kinda like a spiral bound notebook but worse. Even if you leaf through a copy carefully, it's liable to come apart.
Why anyone would make a $100 limited edition book with a ten cent binding like that is confusing. But it's good for used book dealers, because even though a million or so copies were printed (some 'limited edition') most of them were demolished by incautious readers. A decent copy minus the bag and CD goes for $50 or so, you can sell a whole copy that's been opened for $125 pretty quick.
I haven't seen a sealed copy in a few years, I'd estimate you could turn it over fast for $300, and maybe get as much as $500 if you were willing to wait a bit. I'll definitely do some reasearch next time I have to price a sealed one.
It pains me that I worked at Waldenbooks when this one came out, and we wrangled a huge number of copies and there was an orgy of employee discount buying. I didn't pick any up because I figured a million copy 'limited edition' was comical and I didn't know enough about the used market yet to cotton on to the shitty binding.
Oh well....live and learn!
Holiday Traditions: A Christmas Carol
I've seen pretty much all of them except that one unfortunate TV movie with the Fonz as Scrooge (although I'd be shocked if he sucked any harder than Reginald Owen, who approached the part with a rubber bald-head wig and a toilet plunger up his ass).
The best by far is the 1951 Alastair Sim take. He's the best Scrooge by a country mile, the rest of the cast is impeccable, and it generates the proper level of existential dread and glorious redemption.
The other version we watch every year is the musical with Albert Finney. Great fun, featuring the best Ghost of Christmas Present of all. The 38 year old Finney does a fine job as both old and young Scrooge (Reginald Owen take note!)
The niece loves this one, mainly because it gives her a good excuse to dance like a crazy person.
The best by far is the 1951 Alastair Sim take. He's the best Scrooge by a country mile, the rest of the cast is impeccable, and it generates the proper level of existential dread and glorious redemption.
The other version we watch every year is the musical with Albert Finney. Great fun, featuring the best Ghost of Christmas Present of all. The 38 year old Finney does a fine job as both old and young Scrooge (Reginald Owen take note!)
The niece loves this one, mainly because it gives her a good excuse to dance like a crazy person.
Report from the Trenches of the WAR ON CHRISTMAS
As one of the Godless who are (as Fox News would have it) trying to drown Christmas in a bathtub much like their hero George drowned New Orleans, I thought I'd do some liveblogging on the retail face of Jesusday.
Customer story:
An elderly man comes in, leaning on his cane.
He wants $100 gift certificate for his son, and I've filled it out and am about to ring it up when he asks "is this a BOOK store?" in a disoriented tone.
"Yes sir, Phoenix Books"
"Oh...oh no! I want the record store!"
"Right on the other side of the wall, you missed it by one door."
"Oh dear!"
Believe it or not, that happens all the time. Probably once a week someone wanders up to me at the counter and asks for a CD, or wants to know where our cassette tapes are. And it's a wide demographic net...Gothic teens, punks, middle-aged Parrotheads, lawyers...no one is immune to the embarrassment of walking through a large room full of books and asking for tickets to the Yanni show.
(addenda for Anner: the Blogger spellchecker just suggested I replace 'Yanni' with 'Anna')
Customer story:
An elderly man comes in, leaning on his cane.
He wants $100 gift certificate for his son, and I've filled it out and am about to ring it up when he asks "is this a BOOK store?" in a disoriented tone.
"Yes sir, Phoenix Books"
"Oh...oh no! I want the record store!"
"Right on the other side of the wall, you missed it by one door."
"Oh dear!"
Believe it or not, that happens all the time. Probably once a week someone wanders up to me at the counter and asks for a CD, or wants to know where our cassette tapes are. And it's a wide demographic net...Gothic teens, punks, middle-aged Parrotheads, lawyers...no one is immune to the embarrassment of walking through a large room full of books and asking for tickets to the Yanni show.
(addenda for Anner: the Blogger spellchecker just suggested I replace 'Yanni' with 'Anna')
Thursday, December 22, 2005
Wednesday, December 21, 2005
Pitchfork: Top 50 Albums of 2005
Plus a lot of other stuff too.
Pitchfork is a trusty barometer of the 'indie' music scene, and they've tipped me off to many a fine album this year. I don't share their enthusiasm for Kanye (aside from his sublime dis of Chimperor George) or Cam'ron (unhip, un-urban white dude disclaimer: the last rap album I liked was Straight Outta Compton), but they have a bunch of good stuff there.
A quick Bax look at the ones I've heard, front to back:
Illinoise: I really liked it, the wife thought it was too precious and didn't dig Sufjan's voice. A good one, but beware the near-fanatic enthusiasm of female fans of a certain age...he's got some kind of messianic hold on them.
MIA: Interesting, but too avant garde for my aging ears. Kind of the alt-rap version of free jazz, and a bit too far out on the musical frontier for my taste.
I Am A Bird Now: I didn't 'get' it, and the androgynous whine of Antony grated on my ears.
LCD Soundsystem: A couple of amazing tracks, including one inspired by my friend James (Daft Punk is Playing At My House....James had a band Murphy was in before LCD play in his living room and heard from a NY record rep that was the genesis of the tune), some filler. Overall pretty good.
Wolf Parade: Awesomeness.
Sleater-Kinney: don't usually like them, but this was the rockingest album of the year. Possessed by the ghost of rock icons past, it avoided the chill of the tomb with inventive songwriting and a pure, genuine passion.
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah: the most fun, infectious album of the year. The album I'd recommend everyone get, whatever kind of music you prefer.
New Pornographers: I love Neko Case, and she sings a couple of amazing leads on this one, so it gets my seal of approval.
Spoon: About half really great songs, and half pretty good ones. A winner.
Pitchfork is a trusty barometer of the 'indie' music scene, and they've tipped me off to many a fine album this year. I don't share their enthusiasm for Kanye (aside from his sublime dis of Chimperor George) or Cam'ron (unhip, un-urban white dude disclaimer: the last rap album I liked was Straight Outta Compton), but they have a bunch of good stuff there.
A quick Bax look at the ones I've heard, front to back:
Illinoise: I really liked it, the wife thought it was too precious and didn't dig Sufjan's voice. A good one, but beware the near-fanatic enthusiasm of female fans of a certain age...he's got some kind of messianic hold on them.
MIA: Interesting, but too avant garde for my aging ears. Kind of the alt-rap version of free jazz, and a bit too far out on the musical frontier for my taste.
I Am A Bird Now: I didn't 'get' it, and the androgynous whine of Antony grated on my ears.
LCD Soundsystem: A couple of amazing tracks, including one inspired by my friend James (Daft Punk is Playing At My House....James had a band Murphy was in before LCD play in his living room and heard from a NY record rep that was the genesis of the tune), some filler. Overall pretty good.
Wolf Parade: Awesomeness.
Sleater-Kinney: don't usually like them, but this was the rockingest album of the year. Possessed by the ghost of rock icons past, it avoided the chill of the tomb with inventive songwriting and a pure, genuine passion.
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah: the most fun, infectious album of the year. The album I'd recommend everyone get, whatever kind of music you prefer.
New Pornographers: I love Neko Case, and she sings a couple of amazing leads on this one, so it gets my seal of approval.
Spoon: About half really great songs, and half pretty good ones. A winner.
regarding movies
chatting with bobo, who's cinematic tastes are rarely in accord with mine:
i want a cut of the merchandising rights for the tee shirt!
bobo: I only hate the crappy shit that you love
i want a cut of the merchandising rights for the tee shirt!
The Year In Film 2005 | The Onion
More top tens
Lots of them! And mostly better than Eberts. 'tis the time of year for top tens, and I'll endevor to make the Baxblog your one-stop top ten clearing house.
Lots of them! And mostly better than Eberts. 'tis the time of year for top tens, and I'll endevor to make the Baxblog your one-stop top ten clearing house.
Personal minutiae: story about the niece
So the wife visited the niece the other day and took her for a walk down to the cafe.
Along the way they ran into a woman walking down the street with a crazy multicolored parrot on her shoulder who stopped to talk (nearly everyone stops to talk to the niece, who has a habit of greeting passers by with a smile, a wave and an endearingly high-pitched "Hey-yo!")
She was naturally fascinated by the parrot, which the woman obligingly placed on her arm, much to the wife's surprise. The niece went wide-eyed, mute and frozen in amazement, staring at the bird like it had descended through a golden break in the clouds accompanied by trumpet-playing cherubs.
She recovered from her shock a block down the road, and issued this proclamation:
"It was a nice bird!
It didn't bite, or scratch!"
This was repeated a couple of times, punctuated by the wife's agreement.
After a final repetition, the niece added the kicker:
"It was a nice bird...it wasn't beastly!"
Which just about killed the Wife....and who can blame her?
Along the way they ran into a woman walking down the street with a crazy multicolored parrot on her shoulder who stopped to talk (nearly everyone stops to talk to the niece, who has a habit of greeting passers by with a smile, a wave and an endearingly high-pitched "Hey-yo!")
She was naturally fascinated by the parrot, which the woman obligingly placed on her arm, much to the wife's surprise. The niece went wide-eyed, mute and frozen in amazement, staring at the bird like it had descended through a golden break in the clouds accompanied by trumpet-playing cherubs.
She recovered from her shock a block down the road, and issued this proclamation:
"It was a nice bird!
It didn't bite, or scratch!"
This was repeated a couple of times, punctuated by the wife's agreement.
After a final repetition, the niece added the kicker:
"It was a nice bird...it wasn't beastly!"
Which just about killed the Wife....and who can blame her?
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
Ebert's Best 10 Movies of 2005 (xhtml)
Fr what they're worth.
I was always a Gene Schiskel man....back when they were still on PBS and I watched religiously, Ebert always disliked the films I loved for no good reason...or at least none he could articulate.
And any critic who so ingloriously squirts in his undies about Clint Eastwood's profoundly average directorial ouvre is desperately suspect (Unforgiven was good, I liked the boxing one except for the fights, I remember liking the cinematography of Pale Rider....but that's about it.)
Taking a quick look over his list, he seems to be afflicted with the same moviegoing disease as my friend Pelf...."if it's depressing, it must be good!"
And I have to take exception with his mention of the excellent new version of Pride & Prejudice....
Oh, PLEASE.
Keira doesn't shit the bed, but the extent of her acting prowess is flexing her collarbones and wrestling the pillows of collagen she uses for lips into a pout. It's a testament to the skills of real actors like Donald Sutherland, Brenda Blethyn and the rest of the primary roles that they don't upstage and crush her in every scene.
His listing of The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada is ironic, since its mention in Film Comment's Cannes coverage led with "The best Clint Eastwood film directed by Tommy Lee Jones".
Also, I'm sticking to my guns and refusing to see Brokeback Mountain because Ang Lee must pay for the three hours of my life I wasted on The Hulk. The wife will see it and report back, because she thinks the idea of Jake and Heath making out is "hot"....I'll post her impressions.
I was always a Gene Schiskel man....back when they were still on PBS and I watched religiously, Ebert always disliked the films I loved for no good reason...or at least none he could articulate.
And any critic who so ingloriously squirts in his undies about Clint Eastwood's profoundly average directorial ouvre is desperately suspect (Unforgiven was good, I liked the boxing one except for the fights, I remember liking the cinematography of Pale Rider....but that's about it.)
Taking a quick look over his list, he seems to be afflicted with the same moviegoing disease as my friend Pelf...."if it's depressing, it must be good!"
And I have to take exception with his mention of the excellent new version of Pride & Prejudice....
Keira Knightley is the first among equals in a gifted cast ....
Oh, PLEASE.
Keira doesn't shit the bed, but the extent of her acting prowess is flexing her collarbones and wrestling the pillows of collagen she uses for lips into a pout. It's a testament to the skills of real actors like Donald Sutherland, Brenda Blethyn and the rest of the primary roles that they don't upstage and crush her in every scene.
His listing of The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada is ironic, since its mention in Film Comment's Cannes coverage led with "The best Clint Eastwood film directed by Tommy Lee Jones".
Also, I'm sticking to my guns and refusing to see Brokeback Mountain because Ang Lee must pay for the three hours of my life I wasted on The Hulk. The wife will see it and report back, because she thinks the idea of Jake and Heath making out is "hot"....I'll post her impressions.
But of course, why didn't I think of that.
while looking around for xmas gifts, I came across this excellent justification for buying a hyper-inflated product protection plan on the Circuit City site:
So I won't own it any more unless I spend $50 on their extended warranty?
Unsettling.
Why do you need this?
Protect your investment and extend the thrill of ownership.
So I won't own it any more unless I spend $50 on their extended warranty?
Unsettling.
Monday, December 19, 2005
Sunday, December 18, 2005
Rodney Whitaker, Writer, Is Dead at 74; Best Known as Trevanian
Shibumi is the Citizen Kane of international superspy thrillers....if there's a better example of the genre out there, I've never read it. The two 'Sanction' books were also excellent.
RIP.
RIP.
Neato Christmas Game
GROW ORNAMENT ver.0 Flash Game
Easy as pie- click the things in whatever order you want, events then transpire while you watch. There's some optimal way to go about things, but I usually just click randomly and watch what happens.
Check out the other GROW games while you're there, there's a lot of creativity on display.
Easy as pie- click the things in whatever order you want, events then transpire while you watch. There's some optimal way to go about things, but I usually just click randomly and watch what happens.
Check out the other GROW games while you're there, there's a lot of creativity on display.
Personal Minutia: weather
Oh, I love bad weather.
Well, California bad anyway....temperature in the low 60's, enough rain to keep the streets wet. Basically an excuse to take the warm coat out of mothballs, dust off the shoulders and dig the forgotten change and ticket stubs out of the pockets.
A lot of my wardrobe is a product of magical thinking...wishing it was cold, pretending I don't live in a coastal desert, believing in the need for 3 scarves, 4 hats & 6 sweaters to survive our 'winter'. If a cloud passes in front of the sun I bundle up even though I know I'll end up wretched and sweaty.
But today's great.
I put on a sweater, wore a hat, walked to work in the rain. Even dug the umbrella out of the closet.
And I only got a little sweaty...
Well, California bad anyway....temperature in the low 60's, enough rain to keep the streets wet. Basically an excuse to take the warm coat out of mothballs, dust off the shoulders and dig the forgotten change and ticket stubs out of the pockets.
A lot of my wardrobe is a product of magical thinking...wishing it was cold, pretending I don't live in a coastal desert, believing in the need for 3 scarves, 4 hats & 6 sweaters to survive our 'winter'. If a cloud passes in front of the sun I bundle up even though I know I'll end up wretched and sweaty.
But today's great.
I put on a sweater, wore a hat, walked to work in the rain. Even dug the umbrella out of the closet.
And I only got a little sweaty...
Saturday, December 17, 2005
Just for Anner
Atrios ponders conservative reaction to Brokeback Mountain.
This is only the first in a series of "just for Anner" posts this weekend, so stay tuned.
Well, stay tuned if you're Anner.
And anyone else, if you share her interest in the uneventful minutia of my personal life....
This is only the first in a series of "just for Anner" posts this weekend, so stay tuned.
Well, stay tuned if you're Anner.
And anyone else, if you share her interest in the uneventful minutia of my personal life....
best boxing song ever?
Gotta be top 3, anyway, courtesy of the most excellent Internet Live Music Archive.
Here's the complete set from Warren Zevon...sound quality is fantastic for '76, it's gotta be soundboard. Hits all his early career peaks, including a great song with perhaps one of the finest titles in music history, Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner
Here's the complete set from Warren Zevon...sound quality is fantastic for '76, it's gotta be soundboard. Hits all his early career peaks, including a great song with perhaps one of the finest titles in music history, Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner
Thursday, December 15, 2005
Spirit of the Season
Profane rant against the 'War on Christmas' crowd.
NSFW, but well documented.
I enjoy Christmas, but I'd also like to give Bill O'Reilly an Exorcist-style anal exam with an inverted cross, so this is right down my alley.
NSFW, but well documented.
I enjoy Christmas, but I'd also like to give Bill O'Reilly an Exorcist-style anal exam with an inverted cross, so this is right down my alley.
Everything old is new again
BMW announces steam powered car.
Ok not quite, but still!
There's a subgenre of SF I've always enjoyed called 'steampunk', an alternate history where Victorian England proceeded along an analog path to the future. This is a fun nod to the past...
Ok not quite, but still!
There's a subgenre of SF I've always enjoyed called 'steampunk', an alternate history where Victorian England proceeded along an analog path to the future. This is a fun nod to the past...
Wednesday, December 14, 2005
Huge collection of timewasters
Rum and Monkey: Personality Tests and Web Toys
I ran the Grunty Caveman one and it entertained.
Hudson might be interested in this one....
I ran the Grunty Caveman one and it entertained.
Hudson might be interested in this one....
Home Defense Furniture
James McAdam [Porfolio]
Snazzy.
Alas, I always have so many books piled on my nightstand by the time I armed myself it would be too late.
Snazzy.
Alas, I always have so many books piled on my nightstand by the time I armed myself it would be too late.
LA Weekly: News: Tookie’s Mistaken Identity
Interesting article on the actual founder of the Crips.
A bit heavy on wide-eyed nostalgia ("he was like Robin Hood"), but interesting anyway for someone who only knows what the national news robots have been spouting.
A bit heavy on wide-eyed nostalgia ("he was like Robin Hood"), but interesting anyway for someone who only knows what the national news robots have been spouting.
Attention Bobo!
Oldest Known Maya Mural, Tomb Reveal Story of Ancient King
"There are kings, they have art, they have writing," Saturno said. "All these things we attribute to the Classic [Maya period] are all in existence in the Preclassic. Now if we want to talk about origins, we need to be going back further in time."
Tuesday, December 13, 2005
Stuipid Marvel Comics Character of the Day
Angar the Screamer!
I hated this dude, every time he popped up in a comic it pissed me off....although I'll admit, I always wanted him to fight a steel-cage death match with the Disco Dazzler!
(Raise your hands....who bought Dazzler #1 because it was a sure fire collectible?)
I hated this dude, every time he popped up in a comic it pissed me off....although I'll admit, I always wanted him to fight a steel-cage death match with the Disco Dazzler!
(Raise your hands....who bought Dazzler #1 because it was a sure fire collectible?)
The Year in Media Errors and Corrections
Some good ones here.
A new site to me...I like the idea of someone keeping tabs on fuck-ups and corrections, I think I'll add them to the bookmarks.
A new site to me...I like the idea of someone keeping tabs on fuck-ups and corrections, I think I'll add them to the bookmarks.
Monday, December 12, 2005
BBC NEWS | Politics | A House full of insults
I love UK slang, and you should too.
He also once described - with impunity - the former Tory MP Terry Dicks as "living proof that a pig's bladder on the end of a stick can be elected to Parliament".
Sunday, December 11, 2005
football
I'm not much of a fan...when it comes to sports with a high mortality rate that tend to invalid the majority of participants boxing is my poison of choice.
But childhood programming is hard to override, so I find myself tuning in whenever the Chargers are contenders late in the season (which has the extra benefit of insulating my fan's heart from the inevitable early-season doldrums).
My periodic fandom is helped by the team itself, which seems eternal- whatever the ownership or coaching regime, the Bolts can be counted on to combine a solid air attack with a pathetic defense. I can lost track of them for years at a time and it's like I never left. Getting caught up is never a problem because it's the same house with a new coat of paint.
I got hooked by attending games during the electrifying Air Coryell era, which was a time of yin/yang tension between the offense and defense: the former perennially leading the league and the latter trailing everyone except the inevitable sad sack franchise that simply didn't give a damn (usually Tampa Bay during their 'clown suit uniform' era).
Each game proceeded identically regardless of opponent- the offense scored at will, the defense played like they were paid according to yards allowed, and each season had the inevitability of Napoleon's Russian misadventure....great early promise freezing to death in an Eastern wasteland.
There's something comforting in the inevitability of their playoff collapses. I never have to worry about getting too invested, because even their Super Bowl appearances have an air of inevitability about them...they're like the scrappy Little League team from Pennsylvania that's just happy to be on the same field as the powerhouse from South America or Asia.
If your defense sucks the only way you win in the playoffs is by accident...
But childhood programming is hard to override, so I find myself tuning in whenever the Chargers are contenders late in the season (which has the extra benefit of insulating my fan's heart from the inevitable early-season doldrums).
My periodic fandom is helped by the team itself, which seems eternal- whatever the ownership or coaching regime, the Bolts can be counted on to combine a solid air attack with a pathetic defense. I can lost track of them for years at a time and it's like I never left. Getting caught up is never a problem because it's the same house with a new coat of paint.
I got hooked by attending games during the electrifying Air Coryell era, which was a time of yin/yang tension between the offense and defense: the former perennially leading the league and the latter trailing everyone except the inevitable sad sack franchise that simply didn't give a damn (usually Tampa Bay during their 'clown suit uniform' era).
Each game proceeded identically regardless of opponent- the offense scored at will, the defense played like they were paid according to yards allowed, and each season had the inevitability of Napoleon's Russian misadventure....great early promise freezing to death in an Eastern wasteland.
There's something comforting in the inevitability of their playoff collapses. I never have to worry about getting too invested, because even their Super Bowl appearances have an air of inevitability about them...they're like the scrappy Little League team from Pennsylvania that's just happy to be on the same field as the powerhouse from South America or Asia.
If your defense sucks the only way you win in the playoffs is by accident...
Richard Pryor, RIP
a fine memorial from Digby.
I'm not quite old enough to have appreciated Pryor's revolutionary qualities.
My Richard Pryor was Gene Wilder's touchy but adorable and essentially harmless sidekick in Silver Streak. I have dim memories of what made him great, but that's it- he was the guy the hip grownups had on LPs they wouldn't let me listen to, the guy the television execs were scared of (even as they longed to steal some of his credibility and popularity for themselves).
One of a kind, and so influential you take him for granted until you stop and think about it.
RIP.
I'm not quite old enough to have appreciated Pryor's revolutionary qualities.
My Richard Pryor was Gene Wilder's touchy but adorable and essentially harmless sidekick in Silver Streak. I have dim memories of what made him great, but that's it- he was the guy the hip grownups had on LPs they wouldn't let me listen to, the guy the television execs were scared of (even as they longed to steal some of his credibility and popularity for themselves).
One of a kind, and so influential you take him for granted until you stop and think about it.
RIP.
Saturday, December 10, 2005
Boring game? Hire a player
For anyone wondering why "Chinese gold farmer" is an online insult, here's your answer.
As a lifelong gamer myself, I find this kind of thing facsinating.
(Here follows a rambling, heavily annotated meditation on my online gaming career...ladies, feel free to skip ahead to the next post)
I've always been a process guy when it comes to games...I like the journey more than the destination, whatever it is. Even when I played fast-paced kill or be killed FPS games like Counterstrike or Urban Terror, chatting with other players was a major component of my enjoyment.
I was never able to enjoy fps games that didn't involve "dead time" when you could safely chat with the other ghosts (and since I came to the genre late and lacked the requisite fast-twitch coordination to compete on even terms with the legions of teens suckled on the merciless teat of console gaming, I had plenty of down time to hone my l337 typing skillz...)
I played the game mentioned in the article, WoW, for a few months. The game mechanics are more suited to my temperment, since the whole game is built around elaborate time sinks that provide ample opportunities to chat with friends and strangers.
But I was eventually driven away by the very feature that makes it so attractive to the gold famers- the end game.
The whole of WoW is just a huge time sink leading up to level 60, when it changes from a traditional MMORPG where you team up with other players to perform game tasks to a pure PVP game where the focus is on having the best equipment and weapons so you can defeat other players instead of computer-controlled enemies.
Most WoW enthusiasts are destination oriented...they play the game because they want the PvP cherry on top of the sundae. For people who only want the endgame the ability to skip all the 'tedious' stuff that comes before makes sense....and has apparently given rise to a strange niche economy.
As a lifelong gamer myself, I find this kind of thing facsinating.
(Here follows a rambling, heavily annotated meditation on my online gaming career...ladies, feel free to skip ahead to the next post)
I've always been a process guy when it comes to games...I like the journey more than the destination, whatever it is. Even when I played fast-paced kill or be killed FPS games like Counterstrike or Urban Terror, chatting with other players was a major component of my enjoyment.
I was never able to enjoy fps games that didn't involve "dead time" when you could safely chat with the other ghosts (and since I came to the genre late and lacked the requisite fast-twitch coordination to compete on even terms with the legions of teens suckled on the merciless teat of console gaming, I had plenty of down time to hone my l337 typing skillz...)
I played the game mentioned in the article, WoW, for a few months. The game mechanics are more suited to my temperment, since the whole game is built around elaborate time sinks that provide ample opportunities to chat with friends and strangers.
But I was eventually driven away by the very feature that makes it so attractive to the gold famers- the end game.
The whole of WoW is just a huge time sink leading up to level 60, when it changes from a traditional MMORPG where you team up with other players to perform game tasks to a pure PVP game where the focus is on having the best equipment and weapons so you can defeat other players instead of computer-controlled enemies.
Most WoW enthusiasts are destination oriented...they play the game because they want the PvP cherry on top of the sundae. For people who only want the endgame the ability to skip all the 'tedious' stuff that comes before makes sense....and has apparently given rise to a strange niche economy.
The Worst Breakfast Ever.
review of a Hungry Man 'all day breakfast'
Funny stuff!
I ran across this while trying to find a picture of the Round Table ULTI-MEAT (tm) pizza so I could taunt my pal the Zim with it.
Zim, for those unfamiliar with his proclivities, lives for the breakfast buffet at the Mirage Hotel in Vegas where he gives free reign to a lust for bacon best described as unholy.
Funny stuff!
I ran across this while trying to find a picture of the Round Table ULTI-MEAT (tm) pizza so I could taunt my pal the Zim with it.
Zim, for those unfamiliar with his proclivities, lives for the breakfast buffet at the Mirage Hotel in Vegas where he gives free reign to a lust for bacon best described as unholy.
Top 10 Strangest USB Drives
Check it.
I like the sushi!
I think it's neat when utilitarian stuff like this gets the fanciful treatment. It took computer case makers 25 years to figure out they could make something besides a beige box....USB drives are recent technology, but their cosmetic evolution is quite advanced.
I like the sushi!
I think it's neat when utilitarian stuff like this gets the fanciful treatment. It took computer case makers 25 years to figure out they could make something besides a beige box....USB drives are recent technology, but their cosmetic evolution is quite advanced.
Holiday Classics
SCARED OF SANTA GALLERY
the link is old, but I thought I'd share anyway for the edification of those who don't haunt the internets with the same glaze-eyed determination as, say, Bobo.
the link is old, but I thought I'd share anyway for the edification of those who don't haunt the internets with the same glaze-eyed determination as, say, Bobo.
Wednesday, December 7, 2005
Candy Retailer Book
circa 1949
More fodder for Anner...I despise advertising generally, yet enjoy old-timey promotional stuff like this.
More fodder for Anner...I despise advertising generally, yet enjoy old-timey promotional stuff like this.
Catapult Kits
Gifts for the young, the young at heart, and anyone on your list who's planning to storm a castle in the New Year.
I think this one is my favorite.
The wife accused me of being a geek the other night during our screening of Return of the King because I mentioned the orcs were using Trebuchets. =/
I think this one is my favorite.
The wife accused me of being a geek the other night during our screening of Return of the King because I mentioned the orcs were using Trebuchets. =/
Mel Gibson Cashes in on his anti-Semitism
What's the big deal?
Atrios doesn't see much of a problem.
I do, for a couple of reasons.
First, Holocaust denial of the "well, it was a war, a lot of people got killed- what's so special about the Jews" variety is more pernicious than the pure strain that says nothing happened.
It's the same hatred, only dressed in a suit so it doesn't alarm the dinner guests. It's a way to hate Jews while giving people who want to believe they're reasonable an out.
"Oh, Mel, you know...he's not really anti-Semitic, he just has some eccentric beliefs, ha ha ha!"
Oh, bullshit.
Ignoring a massive edifice of evidence so you can keep your racist daydream soap bubble intact is contemptible, whether you're a multimillionaire movie star or a gutter punk.
And in this case Mel is leveraging his own Holocaust denial to generate buzz for a miniseries on the Holocaust.
If it wasn't so sickening, you'd have to admire his chutzpah.
For an instructive look at the development and mentality of a Holocaust denier, I recommend Mr. Death from Errol Morris. As much as I love all his stuff, this one is objectively his best, most powerful film.
Atrios doesn't see much of a problem.
I do, for a couple of reasons.
First, Holocaust denial of the "well, it was a war, a lot of people got killed- what's so special about the Jews" variety is more pernicious than the pure strain that says nothing happened.
It's the same hatred, only dressed in a suit so it doesn't alarm the dinner guests. It's a way to hate Jews while giving people who want to believe they're reasonable an out.
"Oh, Mel, you know...he's not really anti-Semitic, he just has some eccentric beliefs, ha ha ha!"
Oh, bullshit.
Ignoring a massive edifice of evidence so you can keep your racist daydream soap bubble intact is contemptible, whether you're a multimillionaire movie star or a gutter punk.
And in this case Mel is leveraging his own Holocaust denial to generate buzz for a miniseries on the Holocaust.
If it wasn't so sickening, you'd have to admire his chutzpah.
For an instructive look at the development and mentality of a Holocaust denier, I recommend Mr. Death from Errol Morris. As much as I love all his stuff, this one is objectively his best, most powerful film.
Tuesday, December 6, 2005
Creationists beat professor in Kansas
via Orcinus.
The logical extention of the kind of hate speech spewed by right-wing talking heads.
I forsee a day when everyone who isn't a white fundie wingnut will have to abandone the deep midwest and it will need to be walled off in a reverse of the Escape from New York theme....
The logical extention of the kind of hate speech spewed by right-wing talking heads.
I forsee a day when everyone who isn't a white fundie wingnut will have to abandone the deep midwest and it will need to be walled off in a reverse of the Escape from New York theme....
NSFW band of the year
HAH!
Bobo watched the video and provided this running commentary:
Bobo watched the video and provided this running commentary:
good so far
dude that was genius!
NERD ROCK
they sound like that band that did pretty fly for a white guy
they go to a comic store in the vid
motorcycle vs car at 155 mph
Yow!:
No gore or anything, the sculpture created by the wreck was put on display as a caution to other drivers. Crazy stuff.
No gore or anything, the sculpture created by the wreck was put on display as a caution to other drivers. Crazy stuff.
gawt-damn power outages!
Feh.:
The one night I schedule a full slate of on-line shenanigans with my pals, the power goes out the minute I get home and stays off until 9:15.
Grrrr.
I blame Condoleeza Rice.
The one night I schedule a full slate of on-line shenanigans with my pals, the power goes out the minute I get home and stays off until 9:15.
Grrrr.
I blame Condoleeza Rice.
Monday, December 5, 2005
GEEK ALERT
giant plush dice!
I could totally play Runequest by mail with the lego rolling machine, my giant plush dice and my Cthulhu slippers...I'd be the hippest gamer in town!
I could totally play Runequest by mail with the lego rolling machine, my giant plush dice and my Cthulhu slippers...I'd be the hippest gamer in town!
advertising
Sony Draws Ire With PSP Graffiti
Sony corporately subsidising graffitti?
we're approaching some kind of advertising tipping point.
Sony corporately subsidising graffitti?
we're approaching some kind of advertising tipping point.
Sunday, December 4, 2005
one for Dango
HAH hah!:
"There was a scientific method to Daniel Zeiszler's madness when he tried to extract methamphetamine from his own urine, after smoking the illegal street drug last September in his South San Francisco hotel room."
"There was a scientific method to Daniel Zeiszler's madness when he tried to extract methamphetamine from his own urine, after smoking the illegal street drug last September in his South San Francisco hotel room."
Saturday, December 3, 2005
Film: Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire
short review:
Eh.
somewhat longer review:
Ehh.
The wife's review, repeated at intervals during the 3 hour run time:
"I have no idea what's going on."
I don't think Mike Newell was a good choice to helm this project. The best parts were the mundane bits (the winter ball, going to class, etc). He didn't seem to care about the magic, it had the workmanlike but uninspired feel of second unit work.
And I don't know if it was just the theater I saw it in, but a lot of the dialog was really hard to figure out. I'm a fan of Brit slang, so that wasn't it, and I can usually make sense of even the most hardened UK dialect given time (Mona Lisa, Trainspotting and Sexy Beast all fell to my adaptive ear). But a lot of the dialog in this one left me scratching my head.
Eh.
somewhat longer review:
Ehh.
The wife's review, repeated at intervals during the 3 hour run time:
"I have no idea what's going on."
I don't think Mike Newell was a good choice to helm this project. The best parts were the mundane bits (the winter ball, going to class, etc). He didn't seem to care about the magic, it had the workmanlike but uninspired feel of second unit work.
And I don't know if it was just the theater I saw it in, but a lot of the dialog was really hard to figure out. I'm a fan of Brit slang, so that wasn't it, and I can usually make sense of even the most hardened UK dialect given time (Mona Lisa, Trainspotting and Sexy Beast all fell to my adaptive ear). But a lot of the dialog in this one left me scratching my head.
PCWorld.com - The 100 Best Products of 2005
Firefox #1.
I like lists of crap like this, hope you do to.
And to the half of my loyal readers that still along in the slow lane and put their computers at risk by browsing with IE, get with the program!
Surfing the net with IE is like cavorting around a whorehouse sans condoms...
I like lists of crap like this, hope you do to.
And to the half of my loyal readers that still along in the slow lane and put their computers at risk by browsing with IE, get with the program!
Surfing the net with IE is like cavorting around a whorehouse sans condoms...
Thursday, December 1, 2005
Wednesday, November 30, 2005
Random Thoughts on Costco
Generally, I'm not a fan of unchecked large-scale capitalism.
It always ends up the same way- one Wal*Mart analog rolling downhill, growing exponentially like an avalanche, crushing everything in its market sector, leaving a smooth, white plain in its wake unbroken save for small bits of Wal*Mart broken off from the main body.
temperamentally, I'm more inclined to the European model which was still a lingering scent in the American air of my youth- many smaller businesses providing the same range of services at slightly higher prices and a loss of centralized convenience. I'm like a negative image of a typical Republican- where they despise the Government and ascribe all goodness to the corporate wing of the private sector, I despise big business and put my trust in the fallible but human hands of my fellow voters.
Given all that, it may come as a surprise that I'm a fan of Costco, the very definition of 'big box' retailer.
What!
How? Why?
Firstly, unlike others of their ilk they pay their employees well. They subvert the usual big box model where all profit siphons up to the corporate level and everyone else is paid slave wages.
Secondly, it is a store utterly without pretense.
You walk in and you're faced with an immense space piled high with palettes of....stuff. They're there to sell you shit, and their only weapon is price. No artfulness, no craft, no misdirection, just a vast field of crap swarming with humanity, like ants crawling over a mammoth picnic table.
It's capitalism stripped to its naked, throbbing core, but a strain of capitalism that doesn't begrudge its workers the basics of a sustainable living. It's refreshing, the kind of retail honesty I can appreciate.
It always ends up the same way- one Wal*Mart analog rolling downhill, growing exponentially like an avalanche, crushing everything in its market sector, leaving a smooth, white plain in its wake unbroken save for small bits of Wal*Mart broken off from the main body.
temperamentally, I'm more inclined to the European model which was still a lingering scent in the American air of my youth- many smaller businesses providing the same range of services at slightly higher prices and a loss of centralized convenience. I'm like a negative image of a typical Republican- where they despise the Government and ascribe all goodness to the corporate wing of the private sector, I despise big business and put my trust in the fallible but human hands of my fellow voters.
Given all that, it may come as a surprise that I'm a fan of Costco, the very definition of 'big box' retailer.
What!
How? Why?
Firstly, unlike others of their ilk they pay their employees well. They subvert the usual big box model where all profit siphons up to the corporate level and everyone else is paid slave wages.
Secondly, it is a store utterly without pretense.
You walk in and you're faced with an immense space piled high with palettes of....stuff. They're there to sell you shit, and their only weapon is price. No artfulness, no craft, no misdirection, just a vast field of crap swarming with humanity, like ants crawling over a mammoth picnic table.
It's capitalism stripped to its naked, throbbing core, but a strain of capitalism that doesn't begrudge its workers the basics of a sustainable living. It's refreshing, the kind of retail honesty I can appreciate.
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
Film: M
I LOVE THE INTERNET!!!!111111
pant
pant
pant
one of the greatest films ever made....free download.....aaaaaagk!
and a synchronistic HAH! for this line:
Given that Hitchcock wasn't really Hitchcock until 1934 or so, the appelation is even less welcome and accurate than usual.
The only film I've ever seen that can be accurately described as 'Hitchcockian' is Clouzot's incomperable Diabolique, which also answers Peter Bogdanovich's question to Hitchcock "what film do you wish you'd directed?"
It's turning out to be quite the movie day around here.
pant
pant
pant
one of the greatest films ever made....free download.....aaaaaagk!
and a synchronistic HAH! for this line:
Highly recommended for those in the mood for a Hitchcockian-style thriller...
Given that Hitchcock wasn't really Hitchcock until 1934 or so, the appelation is even less welcome and accurate than usual.
The only film I've ever seen that can be accurately described as 'Hitchcockian' is Clouzot's incomperable Diabolique, which also answers Peter Bogdanovich's question to Hitchcock "what film do you wish you'd directed?"
It's turning out to be quite the movie day around here.
my readers are l337, y'all
The comment thing had me poking around behind the Baxblog scenes and doublechecking my settings and whatnot today, and I was happy to discover via Blogcounter that among my discerning, savvy, attractive and well-groomed readership users of Firefox outnumber users of Explorer.
It does my heart proud....
It does my heart proud....
Film: FRENZY
We're delving toward the bottom of the Hitchcock barrel as represented by our our boxed set. Last night's viewing was his second to last picture, 1972's Frenzy.
I'm biased against it because I have a visceral aversion to the color and style pallete of the studios from about the mid 60's through the mid 70's. The waxed bonnets of hair, the muddy browns, the pea greens, the courduroy, it all reeks of a wretched era best forgotten.
But in this case, the old-fashioned virtues of Hitchcock's storytelling carry the day...I was able to enjoy the proceedings in spite of the hair, wardrobe, set design and some seemingly arbitrary casting. Hitchcock went back to his roots with this fairly straightforward suspense tale about a wrongly accused man and the serial sex murderer who framed him. A cut above run of the mill late career fare like Topaz, Marnie & Torn Curtain....it's not quite The Birds, but makes a game effort.
Something I've noticed about Hitchcock after watching a huge slab of his films in a compressed time frame- the simpler the story, the better the movie. When you think of Hitchcock you tend to think of these elaborate, labrynthine constructs, the kind of thing critics have in mind when hang that albatross of description "Hitchcockian" arond the neck of some new thriller.
But the complexity in his best movies is in the construction of the film, not the story. The more complex the plot, the more exposition it requires and the less room Hitchcock has to exercise his prodigious command of pure cinema...Topaz is the perfect example of this. Hitchcock spends so much time telling the convoluted international spy story that there's no room left for anything else, and you get a movie anyone could have made.
The only one left is the only one I remember seeing commercials on TV for, 1976's Family Plot, his last film and one that for YEARS I had confused with Murder by Death, the 1976 comedy starring a declining Truman Capote which, for some obscure reason, I saw in the theater.
To sum up, I've never seen Family Plot even though I thought I had.
I'll report on the results, for those who can't get enough Bax movie minutia.
I'm biased against it because I have a visceral aversion to the color and style pallete of the studios from about the mid 60's through the mid 70's. The waxed bonnets of hair, the muddy browns, the pea greens, the courduroy, it all reeks of a wretched era best forgotten.
But in this case, the old-fashioned virtues of Hitchcock's storytelling carry the day...I was able to enjoy the proceedings in spite of the hair, wardrobe, set design and some seemingly arbitrary casting. Hitchcock went back to his roots with this fairly straightforward suspense tale about a wrongly accused man and the serial sex murderer who framed him. A cut above run of the mill late career fare like Topaz, Marnie & Torn Curtain....it's not quite The Birds, but makes a game effort.
Something I've noticed about Hitchcock after watching a huge slab of his films in a compressed time frame- the simpler the story, the better the movie. When you think of Hitchcock you tend to think of these elaborate, labrynthine constructs, the kind of thing critics have in mind when hang that albatross of description "Hitchcockian" arond the neck of some new thriller.
But the complexity in his best movies is in the construction of the film, not the story. The more complex the plot, the more exposition it requires and the less room Hitchcock has to exercise his prodigious command of pure cinema...Topaz is the perfect example of this. Hitchcock spends so much time telling the convoluted international spy story that there's no room left for anything else, and you get a movie anyone could have made.
The only one left is the only one I remember seeing commercials on TV for, 1976's Family Plot, his last film and one that for YEARS I had confused with Murder by Death, the 1976 comedy starring a declining Truman Capote which, for some obscure reason, I saw in the theater.
To sum up, I've never seen Family Plot even though I thought I had.
I'll report on the results, for those who can't get enough Bax movie minutia.
In honor of the Mad Magazine of my youth...
Literary Awards We'd Like to See
Oh, wait.....this is real.
Well then!
My winners:
title goes to Gabrial Garcia Marquez via KO 1, with Memories of my Melancholy Whores .
And there is some really, really comical writing here, I reccomend a close reading of all the nominees...but nobody tops Updike.
Here's a beguiling sample to lure you willingly into his boudouis of purple proseody (fair warning, one naughty word):
Now that's some Pulitzer Prize prose!
Oh, wait.....this is real.
Well then!
My winners:
title goes to Gabrial Garcia Marquez via KO 1, with Memories of my Melancholy Whores .
And there is some really, really comical writing here, I reccomend a close reading of all the nominees...but nobody tops Updike.
Here's a beguiling sample to lure you willingly into his boudouis of purple proseody (fair warning, one naughty word):
Faye took him in hand. He slipped in. He became an adulterer. He went for the last inch. She grunted, at her own revelation. His was that her cunt did not feel like Phyllis's. Smoother, somehow simpler, its wetness less thick, less of a sauce, more of a glaze. It was soon over.
Now that's some Pulitzer Prize prose!
Comments fixed
File under it's a feature, not a bug.
Hidden away behind a small tab labled "beta features" I found a 'moderated comments' toggle set to 'yes'.
Note to Haloscan:
If you ever want me to upgrade my account this is NOT the way to go about it.
Hidden away behind a small tab labled "beta features" I found a 'moderated comments' toggle set to 'yes'.
Note to Haloscan:
If you ever want me to upgrade my account this is NOT the way to go about it.
Okay, WTF with the comments!
Grrrrrr.
Bobo relayed a message from Anner that my comments are being moderated.
The hell they are, said I.
So I go and check Haloscan, and sure enough there's a big backlog of comments (including one from my old pal Leon, who I haven't heard from in a dog's age) awaiting the benediction of my approval.
What is this bullshit? says I.
I never turned it on, and now I'm having trouble finding the toggle to turn it back off on the haloscan page. >:(
Anyone with some halo know-how, gimme a head's up.
I'd give them the finger and switch back to Blogger basic, but I've already erased everyone's comments once and I'd rather not do it again....
Bobo relayed a message from Anner that my comments are being moderated.
The hell they are, said I.
So I go and check Haloscan, and sure enough there's a big backlog of comments (including one from my old pal Leon, who I haven't heard from in a dog's age) awaiting the benediction of my approval.
What is this bullshit? says I.
I never turned it on, and now I'm having trouble finding the toggle to turn it back off on the haloscan page. >:(
Anyone with some halo know-how, gimme a head's up.
I'd give them the finger and switch back to Blogger basic, but I've already erased everyone's comments once and I'd rather not do it again....
Monday, November 28, 2005
Politics: Alito nomination
Obsidian Wings: Alito And CAP
the best summary of why Alito's affiliation with CAP is a serious matter when you want to be a Supreme Court justice.
the best summary of why Alito's affiliation with CAP is a serious matter when you want to be a Supreme Court justice.
More crazy game stuff
NES-centric Rock Opera
Some obsessives put together a rock opera based on the gameverse of a popular console title, Megaman.
Again, I bow before the power of teh internet, which brings such entertaining madness to my doorstep...nay, to my very living room.
Some obsessives put together a rock opera based on the gameverse of a popular console title, Megaman.
Again, I bow before the power of teh internet, which brings such entertaining madness to my doorstep...nay, to my very living room.
Film: the Libertine
Glamorizing the Progress of a Notorious Rake
Looks interesting...I like the period, I like Depp, and self-destruction is always interesting....plus, check out that dressing gown! Yowza!
Looks interesting...I like the period, I like Depp, and self-destruction is always interesting....plus, check out that dressing gown! Yowza!
gaming flashback: Quake II ported to Java
Now you can play it via the web.
You know you're getting old when the hot games of your young adulthood start appearing as free public domain offerings. It was weird enough when virtually every arcade and console game of my childhood appeared via emulators.
Games are strange.
You know you're getting old when the hot games of your young adulthood start appearing as free public domain offerings. It was weird enough when virtually every arcade and console game of my childhood appeared via emulators.
Games are strange.
Hollow people living hollow lives
Uber-houses.
There was a 60 Minutes piece on McMansions last night, and the sheer vapidity of their owners drove me into a frothing rage.
I've always had a gut feeling that the human race has much in common with cancer cells- each of them embraces out of control growth as its own reward, and each eventually kills their host absent outside controls.
There was a 60 Minutes piece on McMansions last night, and the sheer vapidity of their owners drove me into a frothing rage.
I've always had a gut feeling that the human race has much in common with cancer cells- each of them embraces out of control growth as its own reward, and each eventually kills their host absent outside controls.
Sunday, November 27, 2005
time lapse video
i'm a sucker for time lapse.
Here's a long, cool homebrew video of the locks at the Panama Canal.
snazzy.
Here's a long, cool homebrew video of the locks at the Panama Canal.
snazzy.
Whew
By surviving last night's Jane Austen birthday party for the sister in law I've completed the November gauntlet of social events in more or less one piece.
She wussed out and didn't make us play the aforementioned Pride & Prejudice board game, which was a sore disappointment. I'm planning on making her play when we have our belated Christmas celebration on New Year's Day.
Fun time last night, a ton of food as usual this holiday season.
Crumpets, homemade scones (two varieties, dried cherry and maple glazed), assorted jams and spreads, a fruit plate (probably not authentic, but the carb count was out of control and needed some reigning in), bangers, a cheese plate, and of course a wide variety of teas.
We also sampled a wide range of cinematic Prides, from the well known to the profoundly obscure (and strangely expensive) with several stops in between. Fun comparing scenes from the different productions. The new version can hold its head high- aside from the lame tacked-on American ending, that is.
But as with all grafted on 'focus group' endings, just walk out of the theater when you see the scar (in this case, take off after Donald Sutherland's final speech) and spare yourself.
The party was great fun, I think I'll have a theme birthday next year...boxing, perhaps? I could set up a little ring in the front yard and make the guests fight for my amusement, and then rob the actual winner with horrible judging....
She wussed out and didn't make us play the aforementioned Pride & Prejudice board game, which was a sore disappointment. I'm planning on making her play when we have our belated Christmas celebration on New Year's Day.
Fun time last night, a ton of food as usual this holiday season.
Crumpets, homemade scones (two varieties, dried cherry and maple glazed), assorted jams and spreads, a fruit plate (probably not authentic, but the carb count was out of control and needed some reigning in), bangers, a cheese plate, and of course a wide variety of teas.
We also sampled a wide range of cinematic Prides, from the well known to the profoundly obscure (and strangely expensive) with several stops in between. Fun comparing scenes from the different productions. The new version can hold its head high- aside from the lame tacked-on American ending, that is.
But as with all grafted on 'focus group' endings, just walk out of the theater when you see the scar (in this case, take off after Donald Sutherland's final speech) and spare yourself.
The party was great fun, I think I'll have a theme birthday next year...boxing, perhaps? I could set up a little ring in the front yard and make the guests fight for my amusement, and then rob the actual winner with horrible judging....
Saturday, November 26, 2005
Catty commentary on bad celebrity fashion
Just for Anner.
Well, on the very slim chance that she doesn't already have this one bookmarked.
(I'm obviously working the 'A for Effort' angle here....)
Well, on the very slim chance that she doesn't already have this one bookmarked.
(I'm obviously working the 'A for Effort' angle here....)
The effect of P2P file-sharing depends on popularity
some harvard dude takes a look at filesharing
Blatantly obvious to anyone with more than a passing interest in p2p technology, but it's always nice to have a big brain to attach numbers to your field observations.
If I can't find my copy of Highway to Hell by AC/DC I can grab it off pretty much any large scale filesharing network in a couple of minutes. If, on the other hand, I can't find my copy of Nashville by Bill Frisell, I'm SOL and it's time to find the flashlight start looking under the furniture.
A large % of my lack of sympathy for the major media players with the advent of p2p is that they are being hit hardest with acts who don't really have any artistic merit (going by my highly personal and [in keeping with today's posting theme] prejudiced rating system). I could care less if Britney loses 30% of her corporate value- whatever is left is still enough to enrich her and her record company far beyond any reasonable measure.
Blatantly obvious to anyone with more than a passing interest in p2p technology, but it's always nice to have a big brain to attach numbers to your field observations.
If I can't find my copy of Highway to Hell by AC/DC I can grab it off pretty much any large scale filesharing network in a couple of minutes. If, on the other hand, I can't find my copy of Nashville by Bill Frisell, I'm SOL and it's time to find the flashlight start looking under the furniture.
A large % of my lack of sympathy for the major media players with the advent of p2p is that they are being hit hardest with acts who don't really have any artistic merit (going by my highly personal and [in keeping with today's posting theme] prejudiced rating system). I could care less if Britney loses 30% of her corporate value- whatever is left is still enough to enrich her and her record company far beyond any reasonable measure.
The Sister in Law's Birthday Entertainment
This is what I'll be playing later this afternoon.
She's hosting a High Tea with all the trimmings (fresh scones, tea sandwiches, devon cream, lemon curd, tea cookies, the whole nine yards) where we will snack while screening "the good parts" of her many, many different versions of Pride and Prejudice, leading up to the unveiling of and interaction with the board game.
Should be an adventure, I'll issue a full report on the morrow.
She's hosting a High Tea with all the trimmings (fresh scones, tea sandwiches, devon cream, lemon curd, tea cookies, the whole nine yards) where we will snack while screening "the good parts" of her many, many different versions of Pride and Prejudice, leading up to the unveiling of and interaction with the board game.
Should be an adventure, I'll issue a full report on the morrow.
Nanksgiving Report
That's what the niece calls it, so that's what I call it.
There's been an explosion of children among the surrounding relatives in the last few years. With this flood of youngsters manning the ramparts of the family castle, the event itself has morphed from a semi-formal sit-down dinner with grownups being uncomfortable and poking each other across the table with their well-honed neuroses to a much more enjoyable, anarchic event best described as "day care pot-luck".
There are several generations of excellent cooks represented and the menu shuns the fare that heaped the groaning sideboards of my white trash youth (celery and cream cheese, quivering lumps of canned cranberry sauce, green bean casserole and candied yams, weirdly populated jello rings coaxed from bundt cake pans).
As a rule I'm prone to nostalgia of all types (as are all collectors, I think), but I'm no fool. I've repudiated my gastronomical past before a full subcommittee and am free to embrace the new.
The 'new' this year included a fantastic soup from the wife's cousin that involved pureed butternut squash, spinach and ginger- add a dollop of plain yogurt, squeeze in a lime wedge and enjoy. I don't think I disgraced myself too badly by licking the pan clean while the others were bedazzled by the mass of cousins dancing to David Bowie in the living room. The brother-in-law supplied a massive Dutch oven full of rattatoile, which was splendid alongside a looming mountain of garlic mashed potatoes. I passed on the pallid frozen turkey breast donated by the father in law (his recommendation: "it was on sale!") and went with the glazed ham for my meat course.
The deserts were spectacular, as usual...everyone on the wife's aunt's side of the family bakes like a dream. The wife provided a splendid apple cranberry pie with a cream cheese crust from one of my favorite cookbooks (it was delicious that night, but it was even better paired with a giant eggnog latte for breakfast the next morning).
The wife's cousin came strong with two offerings- a pear tart where the pears were poached in wine and (my favorite) a walnut/cranberry/pecan torte that was served with real whipped cream and a crazy pomegranate molasses sauce (I slobber to think of it).
All the kids were a fine diversion from family politics, none of them being old enough to have absorbed the stone-graven prejudices of their elders, or developed any of their own. They ran around and played and danced and knocked things over and cried and made space for the adults to enjoy the time without fanning out their grievances for display like a peacock's tail to see who's was the most grand.
There's been an explosion of children among the surrounding relatives in the last few years. With this flood of youngsters manning the ramparts of the family castle, the event itself has morphed from a semi-formal sit-down dinner with grownups being uncomfortable and poking each other across the table with their well-honed neuroses to a much more enjoyable, anarchic event best described as "day care pot-luck".
There are several generations of excellent cooks represented and the menu shuns the fare that heaped the groaning sideboards of my white trash youth (celery and cream cheese, quivering lumps of canned cranberry sauce, green bean casserole and candied yams, weirdly populated jello rings coaxed from bundt cake pans).
As a rule I'm prone to nostalgia of all types (as are all collectors, I think), but I'm no fool. I've repudiated my gastronomical past before a full subcommittee and am free to embrace the new.
The 'new' this year included a fantastic soup from the wife's cousin that involved pureed butternut squash, spinach and ginger- add a dollop of plain yogurt, squeeze in a lime wedge and enjoy. I don't think I disgraced myself too badly by licking the pan clean while the others were bedazzled by the mass of cousins dancing to David Bowie in the living room. The brother-in-law supplied a massive Dutch oven full of rattatoile, which was splendid alongside a looming mountain of garlic mashed potatoes. I passed on the pallid frozen turkey breast donated by the father in law (his recommendation: "it was on sale!") and went with the glazed ham for my meat course.
The deserts were spectacular, as usual...everyone on the wife's aunt's side of the family bakes like a dream. The wife provided a splendid apple cranberry pie with a cream cheese crust from one of my favorite cookbooks (it was delicious that night, but it was even better paired with a giant eggnog latte for breakfast the next morning).
The wife's cousin came strong with two offerings- a pear tart where the pears were poached in wine and (my favorite) a walnut/cranberry/pecan torte that was served with real whipped cream and a crazy pomegranate molasses sauce (I slobber to think of it).
All the kids were a fine diversion from family politics, none of them being old enough to have absorbed the stone-graven prejudices of their elders, or developed any of their own. They ran around and played and danced and knocked things over and cried and made space for the adults to enjoy the time without fanning out their grievances for display like a peacock's tail to see who's was the most grand.
Film: Pride and Prejudice
I checked out the latest adaptation of Jane Austen's flagship novel with a gaggle of romance-starved married ladies (and one bitter spinster) as part of my sister-in-law's extended birthday celebration.
I was sceptical, having little confidence in the underfed, hopelessly contemporary and possibly spavined Kieara Knightly to carry a period piece. Fortunately, many strong acting hands eased her burden and I was only jarred once or twice by unexpected flashes of her exoskeletal collarbones or extreme close ups of her collagen-inflated lips.
First and most importantly, the casting director nailed Mr. Darcy.
I'm a fan of Colin Firth in the Masterpiece Theater miniseries, but always thought he was too hunky by half. Not a problem with Matthew MacFadyen, who's less marquee profile fits the part of brooding outsider better. There's room for him to grow, and he does. Other standouts are the always welcome Brenda Blethyn as Mrs. Bennett and Donald Sutherland, weilding his befuddled majesty like a rapier in the role of Mr. Bennett.
The director also injects more creativity than you might expect into this old warhorse, giving the early parts a rustic feeling of joy. And the cinematography is to die for- I knew I was in good hands from the opening credits, which was a great relief. As the sun rose over the frosty landscape I settled happily into my seat, confident I was going to enjoy the show.
Bax gives it two thumbs up. Even those allergic to costume period pieces should find enjoyment in this one.
I was sceptical, having little confidence in the underfed, hopelessly contemporary and possibly spavined Kieara Knightly to carry a period piece. Fortunately, many strong acting hands eased her burden and I was only jarred once or twice by unexpected flashes of her exoskeletal collarbones or extreme close ups of her collagen-inflated lips.
First and most importantly, the casting director nailed Mr. Darcy.
I'm a fan of Colin Firth in the Masterpiece Theater miniseries, but always thought he was too hunky by half. Not a problem with Matthew MacFadyen, who's less marquee profile fits the part of brooding outsider better. There's room for him to grow, and he does. Other standouts are the always welcome Brenda Blethyn as Mrs. Bennett and Donald Sutherland, weilding his befuddled majesty like a rapier in the role of Mr. Bennett.
The director also injects more creativity than you might expect into this old warhorse, giving the early parts a rustic feeling of joy. And the cinematography is to die for- I knew I was in good hands from the opening credits, which was a great relief. As the sun rose over the frosty landscape I settled happily into my seat, confident I was going to enjoy the show.
Bax gives it two thumbs up. Even those allergic to costume period pieces should find enjoyment in this one.
Wednesday, November 23, 2005
Saturday, November 12, 2005
Why am I a Lazy Fucker?
The recent on-line slowdown has been prompted (as usual) by real-world events- the holiday season generates a dense cloud of social obligations and business, which score the flanks of my blog with grievous wounds and slow its grinding procession through the minutia of my life.
(a quick side note- hey dumbass yelling boring shit into your cellphone: SHUT THE FUCK UP!)
Production will be up this weekend, so stay tuned.
(side note #2: SWEET SWEET payback- the cell phone asshole just wanted to use the bathroom. HAH.)
(a quick side note- hey dumbass yelling boring shit into your cellphone: SHUT THE FUCK UP!)
Production will be up this weekend, so stay tuned.
(side note #2: SWEET SWEET payback- the cell phone asshole just wanted to use the bathroom. HAH.)
Wednesday, November 9, 2005
Blue Ball Machine
This is neat.
One of the many things on-line that exist only to amuse you for between 30 and 120 seconds.
One of the many things on-line that exist only to amuse you for between 30 and 120 seconds.
Monday, November 7, 2005
Undergrowth of the Internet
There is a flourishing online weed known as the 'name generator'.
Most of them suck- somebody with rudimentary Java programming skills writes a randomizer, plugs in a too-short list of faintly appropriate words, slap on a title like, say, Pimp Name Generator...then it makes the rounds of internet forums, generating acre feet of threads with the title "what's your pimp name?"
This profusion of half-assed content has one positive effect; when a good name generator comes along, it is thrown into stark relief against the spreading field of mediocrity.
Which brings us to this quite excellent Band Name Generator from our friends in the UK.
The depth is only a little better than usual, but some of the combinations are fantastic and it gives you the option of generating a general, techno, metal, bluegrass or rap band name.
Here's a couple of random examples, match them with the genre if you dare:
Fear of the Livid
The Scratchy Rambling
Ass on the Mob
Worship Ascii
Shooting of the Disbanded
and this is my favorite so far:
Nine-Inch Mutant
Good times.
Most of them suck- somebody with rudimentary Java programming skills writes a randomizer, plugs in a too-short list of faintly appropriate words, slap on a title like, say, Pimp Name Generator...then it makes the rounds of internet forums, generating acre feet of threads with the title "what's your pimp name?"
This profusion of half-assed content has one positive effect; when a good name generator comes along, it is thrown into stark relief against the spreading field of mediocrity.
Which brings us to this quite excellent Band Name Generator from our friends in the UK.
The depth is only a little better than usual, but some of the combinations are fantastic and it gives you the option of generating a general, techno, metal, bluegrass or rap band name.
Here's a couple of random examples, match them with the genre if you dare:
Fear of the Livid
The Scratchy Rambling
Ass on the Mob
Worship Ascii
Shooting of the Disbanded
and this is my favorite so far:
Nine-Inch Mutant
Good times.
Saturday, November 5, 2005
overheard on a cell phone
woman yelling into her phone outside the store:
"You need to tell Earl that you punched a parent and got fired. I'm dead serious. I'm dead serious. Tell him right now. I'm dead serious."
I think she was dead serious.
"You need to tell Earl that you punched a parent and got fired. I'm dead serious. I'm dead serious. Tell him right now. I'm dead serious."
I think she was dead serious.
Death by Caffeine
How much of that drink would it take to kill you?
A question that has troubled mankind for ages.....finally answered by the web.
As a random sample, it would take 426.56 bottles of Arizona Green Tea to do me in.
Although honestly, the chemical aftertaste of that crap would probably overcome me before the caffine was ever a problem.
A question that has troubled mankind for ages.....finally answered by the web.
As a random sample, it would take 426.56 bottles of Arizona Green Tea to do me in.
Although honestly, the chemical aftertaste of that crap would probably overcome me before the caffine was ever a problem.
Thursday, November 3, 2005
Good News from DT's Brother's Brother
A heartfelt Baxblog welcome to the latest Tatum on the block, Dexter Bennett!
He made his inagural ringwalk yesterday at 10:08 pm, no word so far on the music he chose.
Tale of the tape:
8 lbs, 7 ozs
20"
According to daddy he sports an "extra-ordinarily round head", and is resting comfortably at the hospital along with mom and big sister.
Congratulations all 'round!
He made his inagural ringwalk yesterday at 10:08 pm, no word so far on the music he chose.
Tale of the tape:
8 lbs, 7 ozs
20"
According to daddy he sports an "extra-ordinarily round head", and is resting comfortably at the hospital along with mom and big sister.
Congratulations all 'round!
Tuesday, November 1, 2005
Season of the Witch aftermath
Today's report.
We only got to watch two and a half films- we couldn't really start until the niece fell asleep, and everyone had to work in the morning so a late night wasn't in the cards.
Fortunately for our viewing pleasure the niece was burned out from a full day of costumed shenanigans. Mom had wisely rationed the candy, so she plummeted to earth and crashed hard around 7 and we were left to our own devices.
We started out with the first (and best) episode of Kwaidan to whet our palate's.
Then on to our main feature, the original Japanese Dark Water, which was great. A fantastically eerie horror movie that collected scares the old-fashioned way- it earned them.
Proof of its mesmerising attraction: it laid siege to the sister in law, who's endemic hatred of the horror genre is legend. It easily breached the flimsy paper walls of parenting book she sought refuge in, subverting its promises of non-violent communication with a substantially different vocabulary.
She ended the movie on the couch with a blanket over her head, peering out of her shadowed refuge with one nervous eye.
Sister-in-law's one-eyed review: "up there with The Shining" (her all-time favorite)
My review: It's no Shining, but it was a superior movie never mind the genre, and a really great horror film. It delivered the scares without cheap tricks, had good characters and an involving plot, and enough subtext and depth to keep it from feeling mechanical. The plot is pretty simple and easily divined, but the film had enough other things going on that "solving" it didn't really make a difference in enjoyment.
I'm kinda curious to see the bastardized American remake with Jennifer Connely and play "spot the changes"- it's always instructive to note the artificial story and character limitations Hollywood imposes on its product.
By the time we were emerged from Dark Water, the brother in law was well and truly drunk and futher subtitled movies were out of the question. We decided to go with a classic; The Thing, original 1951 flava.
A fine way to wind down the evening.
We only got to watch two and a half films- we couldn't really start until the niece fell asleep, and everyone had to work in the morning so a late night wasn't in the cards.
Fortunately for our viewing pleasure the niece was burned out from a full day of costumed shenanigans. Mom had wisely rationed the candy, so she plummeted to earth and crashed hard around 7 and we were left to our own devices.
We started out with the first (and best) episode of Kwaidan to whet our palate's.
Then on to our main feature, the original Japanese Dark Water, which was great. A fantastically eerie horror movie that collected scares the old-fashioned way- it earned them.
Proof of its mesmerising attraction: it laid siege to the sister in law, who's endemic hatred of the horror genre is legend. It easily breached the flimsy paper walls of parenting book she sought refuge in, subverting its promises of non-violent communication with a substantially different vocabulary.
She ended the movie on the couch with a blanket over her head, peering out of her shadowed refuge with one nervous eye.
Sister-in-law's one-eyed review: "up there with The Shining" (her all-time favorite)
My review: It's no Shining, but it was a superior movie never mind the genre, and a really great horror film. It delivered the scares without cheap tricks, had good characters and an involving plot, and enough subtext and depth to keep it from feeling mechanical. The plot is pretty simple and easily divined, but the film had enough other things going on that "solving" it didn't really make a difference in enjoyment.
I'm kinda curious to see the bastardized American remake with Jennifer Connely and play "spot the changes"- it's always instructive to note the artificial story and character limitations Hollywood imposes on its product.
By the time we were emerged from Dark Water, the brother in law was well and truly drunk and futher subtitled movies were out of the question. We decided to go with a classic; The Thing, original 1951 flava.
A fine way to wind down the evening.
Monday, October 31, 2005
Tonight's set list
no thanks to any of you ungrateful slobs:
Uzumaki
Ringu
Dark Water
Tellingly, two of the three have been re-made here (and it would have been three-for-three except The Grudge was already checked out.
Remember those halcyon days of not so long ago when they were stealing our movies?
Uzumaki
Ringu
Dark Water
Tellingly, two of the three have been re-made here (and it would have been three-for-three except The Grudge was already checked out.
Remember those halcyon days of not so long ago when they were stealing our movies?
31st
Happy Halloween, Biches!
And no thanks for your pan-pacific horror movie suggestions!
Movie night is happening this evening with zero ideas from my bullpen.
I'll remember this when the times comes to hand out political appointments for my government in exile.
Defend yourself against the coming robot rebellion
Handy tips from one who ought to know.
Of course, the startling news of the Robot Threat comes as no surprise to some people.
Although his tee-shirt makes me wonder exactly who's side he's on.
Of course, the startling news of the Robot Threat comes as no surprise to some people.
Although his tee-shirt makes me wonder exactly who's side he's on.
Sunday, October 30, 2005
Politics: How Evangelicals Support the Troops
Every Soldier's Battle Kit
What's in the kit?
Hmm....just off the top of my head, body and vehicle armor?
What's in the kit?
"I can't think of a better way to support my troops than to strive to keep their families intact while they are serveing (sic)" - a supporter
Hmm....just off the top of my head, body and vehicle armor?
Attention Evil Geniuses: Super Base for Sale
God bless the Brits.
Personal Note: Secret Underground Cities is in my top five book titles of all time. Not #1 (that honor belongs to the classic Paladin Press title Successful Armed Robbery by Harold Long), but up there with the big boys.
The subterranean complex that was built in the 1950s to house the Conservative prime minister Harold Macmillan’s cabinet and 4,000 civil servants in the event of a Soviet nuclear attack is being thrown open to commercial use. Just four maintenance men are left.
A visit there today involves walking into an opening in a hillside and taking a lift down to the bunker. The only sentry is a garden gnome outside one of the entrances. Inside, it is like stepping back 50 years.
Hundreds of swivel chairs delivered in 1959 are still unpacked. There are boxes of government-issue glass ashtrays, lavatory brushes and civil service tea sets.
“It was like a set from The Avengers,” said Nick McCamley, author of Secret Underground Cities, who lived locally and first discovered the existence of the site in the 1960s.
Personal Note: Secret Underground Cities is in my top five book titles of all time. Not #1 (that honor belongs to the classic Paladin Press title Successful Armed Robbery by Harold Long), but up there with the big boys.
more cool book cases
neato!
Would be cooler if it they went all the way to the ground and the base wasn't so obvious. Still, neato.
Would be cooler if it they went all the way to the ground and the base wasn't so obvious. Still, neato.
Saturday, October 29, 2005
Tom's Hardware: Building a $500 Gaming Computer
Check it
His tech info is often biased and misleading, but this guide is a nice snapshot of low-end but workable performance...which is where I live.
My usually chronic hardware envy has been in remission for the past few years, most likely because I stopped playing FPS games and have been getting my gaming fix from the much less hardware intensive MMORPG genre.
Not only is FPS gaming the domain of the young and their console-trained fast twitch hand eye coordination, my main goal in any game is to chat with my pals while engaging in a low frequency communal activity, not display my l337n355 by dominating the virtual foe (who's an undersocialized 13 year old nerd anyway, judging from my years of demographic research).
If they lived in town, I'd have a poker game or something.
Since they're spread out over several thousand miles of Pacific coastline like one skimpy pat of resturaunt butter over a loaf of french bread, online action is my best bet.
I've ridden my current machine about as far as I can milk it...you know you're in trouble when you download a demo, click on the installer and a pixilated Don Rickles pops out of the icon like a jack in the box, calling your CPU a hockey puck and spilling gin all over your desktop wallpaper.
It was fairly badass rig around the time of SoF II, but computers age faster than dogs. In consumer tech terms, I'm trying to watch HD programming on a B&W tv set.
And I've reached the black hole of upgrading....to improve things any more will take a new motherboard, which will need a new CPU and new RAM etc etc. I'm in "whole new computer" territory, which is problematic when your wife reacts to computer purchases like hippies to soap or vampires to garlic.
So the $500 PC starts looking more attractive...
His tech info is often biased and misleading, but this guide is a nice snapshot of low-end but workable performance...which is where I live.
My usually chronic hardware envy has been in remission for the past few years, most likely because I stopped playing FPS games and have been getting my gaming fix from the much less hardware intensive MMORPG genre.
Not only is FPS gaming the domain of the young and their console-trained fast twitch hand eye coordination, my main goal in any game is to chat with my pals while engaging in a low frequency communal activity, not display my l337n355 by dominating the virtual foe (who's an undersocialized 13 year old nerd anyway, judging from my years of demographic research).
If they lived in town, I'd have a poker game or something.
Since they're spread out over several thousand miles of Pacific coastline like one skimpy pat of resturaunt butter over a loaf of french bread, online action is my best bet.
I've ridden my current machine about as far as I can milk it...you know you're in trouble when you download a demo, click on the installer and a pixilated Don Rickles pops out of the icon like a jack in the box, calling your CPU a hockey puck and spilling gin all over your desktop wallpaper.
It was fairly badass rig around the time of SoF II, but computers age faster than dogs. In consumer tech terms, I'm trying to watch HD programming on a B&W tv set.
And I've reached the black hole of upgrading....to improve things any more will take a new motherboard, which will need a new CPU and new RAM etc etc. I'm in "whole new computer" territory, which is problematic when your wife reacts to computer purchases like hippies to soap or vampires to garlic.
So the $500 PC starts looking more attractive...
Halloween Viewing
I'm having a Pacific Rim Horror Movie party with my bro-in-law this year and thought I'd open up the floor to suggestions.
here's the tasting menu so far:
Kwaidan
Oni Baba
Ringu (bro-in-law never saw the original)
I'm thinking of bringing along the original Chinese Ghost Story and Mr. Vampire, but that would be pitching the bro-in-law into the deep end.
Suggest away, kids!
here's the tasting menu so far:
Kwaidan
Oni Baba
Ringu (bro-in-law never saw the original)
I'm thinking of bringing along the original Chinese Ghost Story and Mr. Vampire, but that would be pitching the bro-in-law into the deep end.
Suggest away, kids!
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
Indian Techie Flamewar
Classic stuff.
sample quote to whet your appetite:
Sexy stuff!
sample quote to whet your appetite:
Sentient has the money and muscle power to FUCK you in your back side so hard that your generations to come will be born defunct just the way you are mentally sick & defunct.
I am WARNING you if you send another email to any Sentient personnel I will do needful.
Sexy stuff!
Marathon
Good god, that game was like working a part-time job.
I rarely watch baseball on television. It's a magical game live, but watching it on the small screen is a lot like seeing Rembrandt's monumental canvas Night Watch reproduced on a postage stamp. It needs to be seen live and in context to have any meaning or impact.
I make exceptions for the playoffs, when the pressure of the situation helps overcome the flattened affect of the televised game. And I've even been known to take in an occasional regular season game with my friend James, who has the kind of relationship with baseball that would destaiblize most marriages.
Combine the heightened awareness of the World Series with the unexpected availability of James on a game night and my opitions were limited...the only real question was which liquor store to swing by on my way home.
And we were rewarded with the sort of spectacle only baseball can provide.
The premise of one of my favorite novels on any sport (The Iowa Baseball Confederacy by WP Kinsella, much better known as the author of Shoeless Joe from which the mawkish film Field of Dreams was extracted, like the confession of a man undergoing torture) is that baseball is entirely open-ended. There is no prespecified end to a game, given the right circumstances it can theoretically go on forever.
Which is what this game threatened.
There was drama, but it was drama drawn out to a point where it ceased being exhilarating and became a responsibility and even a burden. Extra innings in baseball are a thrill, but a thrill that usually last around 20 minutes before one team's depleted pitching staff coughs its last and surrenders the game.
The World Series is different, especially in what was for all intents and purposes an elimination game (down 2-0 with their best pitcher on the mound, the Astros well and truly had their backs against the wall). Both teams have solid, deep bullpens, and both teams used every qualified pitcher before the end, the Sox even tapping game two's starting pitcher to get the crucial final out.
We started getting delirious around the 12th inning, when it seemed neither team was ever going to win. The Sox kept trying to give the game away by spotting the Astros two or three baserunners every inning, but the Astros played the gracious host and refused to take advantage of the inexplicable generosity of their guests.
Meanwhile the Sox were going down meekly in order, not wanting to give offense.
James and I hate Roger Clemens with a passion, and hold a grudge against the entire state of Texas for birthing the current criminal cabal responsible for steering the ship of state onto the rocks in Washington, so we were pulling for the Sox (in spite of their catcher, a former Giant who James took every opportunity to excorciate).
The game went on so long we stopped careing who won, and were pulling for someone, ANYONE, to come through with a big hit. And as happens so often in these things, the telling blow was struck not by a mega-salaried superstar, but by a no-name late season pickup, a guy who came over from my own San Diego Padres, in fact.
The deflating, incredible double play moments before was forgotten as cobwebbed, dusty bench player ripped a laser beam out of the park. It went out on a line, not getting much higher than the outfield wall, but making up for this lack of parabolic majesty with amazing speed. The bases loaded walk issued later in the inning was like a beer chaser following a double shot of grain alcohol.
An excellent evening. I anticipate anticlimax tonight, but will tune in anyway. Hope springs eternal following an epic contest in any sport, baseball is no different.
I rarely watch baseball on television. It's a magical game live, but watching it on the small screen is a lot like seeing Rembrandt's monumental canvas Night Watch reproduced on a postage stamp. It needs to be seen live and in context to have any meaning or impact.
I make exceptions for the playoffs, when the pressure of the situation helps overcome the flattened affect of the televised game. And I've even been known to take in an occasional regular season game with my friend James, who has the kind of relationship with baseball that would destaiblize most marriages.
Combine the heightened awareness of the World Series with the unexpected availability of James on a game night and my opitions were limited...the only real question was which liquor store to swing by on my way home.
And we were rewarded with the sort of spectacle only baseball can provide.
The premise of one of my favorite novels on any sport (The Iowa Baseball Confederacy by WP Kinsella, much better known as the author of Shoeless Joe from which the mawkish film Field of Dreams was extracted, like the confession of a man undergoing torture) is that baseball is entirely open-ended. There is no prespecified end to a game, given the right circumstances it can theoretically go on forever.
Which is what this game threatened.
There was drama, but it was drama drawn out to a point where it ceased being exhilarating and became a responsibility and even a burden. Extra innings in baseball are a thrill, but a thrill that usually last around 20 minutes before one team's depleted pitching staff coughs its last and surrenders the game.
The World Series is different, especially in what was for all intents and purposes an elimination game (down 2-0 with their best pitcher on the mound, the Astros well and truly had their backs against the wall). Both teams have solid, deep bullpens, and both teams used every qualified pitcher before the end, the Sox even tapping game two's starting pitcher to get the crucial final out.
We started getting delirious around the 12th inning, when it seemed neither team was ever going to win. The Sox kept trying to give the game away by spotting the Astros two or three baserunners every inning, but the Astros played the gracious host and refused to take advantage of the inexplicable generosity of their guests.
Meanwhile the Sox were going down meekly in order, not wanting to give offense.
James and I hate Roger Clemens with a passion, and hold a grudge against the entire state of Texas for birthing the current criminal cabal responsible for steering the ship of state onto the rocks in Washington, so we were pulling for the Sox (in spite of their catcher, a former Giant who James took every opportunity to excorciate).
The game went on so long we stopped careing who won, and were pulling for someone, ANYONE, to come through with a big hit. And as happens so often in these things, the telling blow was struck not by a mega-salaried superstar, but by a no-name late season pickup, a guy who came over from my own San Diego Padres, in fact.
The deflating, incredible double play moments before was forgotten as cobwebbed, dusty bench player ripped a laser beam out of the park. It went out on a line, not getting much higher than the outfield wall, but making up for this lack of parabolic majesty with amazing speed. The bases loaded walk issued later in the inning was like a beer chaser following a double shot of grain alcohol.
An excellent evening. I anticipate anticlimax tonight, but will tune in anyway. Hope springs eternal following an epic contest in any sport, baseball is no different.
Tuesday, October 25, 2005
Oolsi | Be Free
Great site.
A collection of links, tips and resources supporting the site's founding principles, that everything should be free.
Some great stuff on the front page, my favorite being the Spring Shoes.
"They certainly look cool. But do they work?"
A collection of links, tips and resources supporting the site's founding principles, that everything should be free.
Some great stuff on the front page, my favorite being the Spring Shoes.
"They certainly look cool. But do they work?"
1,000lb Butter Sculpture Of Darth Vader And Yoda
In keeping with the recent Star Wars theme.
It seems to me a butter Darth Vader is the perfect compliment to the Goatse'ing of the Death Star posted earlier.
It seems to me a butter Darth Vader is the perfect compliment to the Goatse'ing of the Death Star posted earlier.
portraits of mass consumption
badass photos.
Click on the 'images' link for extended coverage of the dross of our consumer culture.
Click on the 'images' link for extended coverage of the dross of our consumer culture.
work: bad omens
It's never a good sign when someone asks you "do you buy rare books?" and responds to your affirmative answer by opening up his duffel bag and hauling out a Hefty cinch-sack.
=(
=(
Monday, October 24, 2005
Star Wars Goatse Redux
Bobo pointed out that my link went dead.
Fortunately for all the Goatse afficionados who follow my blog, I wisely backed it up on my hard drive. A quick visit to imageshack, and voila! It lives again!
And if you don't know what goatse is.......be thankful!
Fortunately for all the Goatse afficionados who follow my blog, I wisely backed it up on my hard drive. A quick visit to imageshack, and voila! It lives again!
And if you don't know what goatse is.......be thankful!
Miyazaki festival on TCM
Coming in January.
My Neighbor Totoro & Kiki's Delivery Service are fabulous fun for all ages. Princes Mononoke & Spirited Away are fantastic, but they've both got a few violent &/or scary-ass scenes that would make me think twice about showing them to the younger set.
Nausicaa & Castle in the Sky are probably good for all ages too, but both have slipped in my personal rankings- Nausicaa is perhaps the only movie in history I liked better as a dubbed, cropped children's cartoon than as a restored widescreen treat for grownups. The kiddie edition was sprightlier, had better dialog and pacing and seemed like more of a fun adventure with an ecological undertone than the current version, which feels more like a Sierra Club morality play with some fun parts tacked on as an afterthought.
Porco Rosso I still haven't seen, oddly enough. I think it's a strange one that got re-edited for release here. And Whisper of the Heart has such an inauspicious title I will wave my ignorance of it like a battle flag and cheer myself on.
But Miyazaki is the one guy everyone should check out, even the die-hards who think Anime is only for geeks. So check out TCM in January, I guarantee something in that lineup that will appeal to you.
My Neighbor Totoro & Kiki's Delivery Service are fabulous fun for all ages. Princes Mononoke & Spirited Away are fantastic, but they've both got a few violent &/or scary-ass scenes that would make me think twice about showing them to the younger set.
Nausicaa & Castle in the Sky are probably good for all ages too, but both have slipped in my personal rankings- Nausicaa is perhaps the only movie in history I liked better as a dubbed, cropped children's cartoon than as a restored widescreen treat for grownups. The kiddie edition was sprightlier, had better dialog and pacing and seemed like more of a fun adventure with an ecological undertone than the current version, which feels more like a Sierra Club morality play with some fun parts tacked on as an afterthought.
Porco Rosso I still haven't seen, oddly enough. I think it's a strange one that got re-edited for release here. And Whisper of the Heart has such an inauspicious title I will wave my ignorance of it like a battle flag and cheer myself on.
But Miyazaki is the one guy everyone should check out, even the die-hards who think Anime is only for geeks. So check out TCM in January, I guarantee something in that lineup that will appeal to you.
birthday apocalypse
I'm suffering from Birthday Fatigue.
Everyone I know had a birthday this month....tonight is the brother-in-law's.
The niece repsonded to the question "is tommorrow daddy's birthday?" in the negative...."no, it's my birthday."
The calender begs to differ (she shares a December birthday with her mother), but in practical terms she has a point- since the wife can't bear to visit without an armload of gifts it might as well be her birthday, or Christmas, or Kwanzaa, or whatever.
We're making pizza for the gathering. The wife is doing the dough, which she has a spiritual affinity for, I'm in charge of chopping and grating, suitably masculine kitchen pastimes fitting the mars/venus template within a worrisomely narrow tolerance.
Two pesto pizzas, one with goat cheese, olives and mushrooms, the other with gorgonzola and proscuitto. Two red sauce pizzas, one carmelized onion, roasted garlic and gorgonzola and the other a more traditional mozzarella, parmesan and salami.
Gifts for the neice are a red velvet dress and a copy of Madeline and the Bad Hat, while the brother in law will have to make do with a fetching new shirt and a special edition copy of Das Boot.
I can't drink beer any more, at least not to get drunk on. I come coldly awake at 7am regardless of how far into the morning the party went, and toss and turn fruitlessly until I surrender and rise to face the firing squad of morning. This may come into play this evening since my brother in law drinks nothing but.
I don't have this problem with real liquor. After Courtney's birthday this past week I drank tequila like water, danced my ass off until 4am and then slept like a baby far into the afternoon, purring like an immense tabby cat curled in a favorite chair.
The leisure to sleep off a magnificent and prolonged evening of debauchery is one of the underrated pleasures of life.
I work tommorrow and the chances of getting anything but beer tonight are slim, so Tuesday is a golden opportunity to bathe in the visual glory that is a hung over, insomniac Bax.
Everyone I know had a birthday this month....tonight is the brother-in-law's.
The niece repsonded to the question "is tommorrow daddy's birthday?" in the negative...."no, it's my birthday."
The calender begs to differ (she shares a December birthday with her mother), but in practical terms she has a point- since the wife can't bear to visit without an armload of gifts it might as well be her birthday, or Christmas, or Kwanzaa, or whatever.
We're making pizza for the gathering. The wife is doing the dough, which she has a spiritual affinity for, I'm in charge of chopping and grating, suitably masculine kitchen pastimes fitting the mars/venus template within a worrisomely narrow tolerance.
Two pesto pizzas, one with goat cheese, olives and mushrooms, the other with gorgonzola and proscuitto. Two red sauce pizzas, one carmelized onion, roasted garlic and gorgonzola and the other a more traditional mozzarella, parmesan and salami.
Gifts for the neice are a red velvet dress and a copy of Madeline and the Bad Hat, while the brother in law will have to make do with a fetching new shirt and a special edition copy of Das Boot.
I can't drink beer any more, at least not to get drunk on. I come coldly awake at 7am regardless of how far into the morning the party went, and toss and turn fruitlessly until I surrender and rise to face the firing squad of morning. This may come into play this evening since my brother in law drinks nothing but.
I don't have this problem with real liquor. After Courtney's birthday this past week I drank tequila like water, danced my ass off until 4am and then slept like a baby far into the afternoon, purring like an immense tabby cat curled in a favorite chair.
The leisure to sleep off a magnificent and prolonged evening of debauchery is one of the underrated pleasures of life.
I work tommorrow and the chances of getting anything but beer tonight are slim, so Tuesday is a golden opportunity to bathe in the visual glory that is a hung over, insomniac Bax.
Saturday, October 22, 2005
Hobo Hijinks
Girl: What the fuck are you doing?
Guy: It was the train.
Girl: No, it fucking wasn't.
Guy: I thought it would be fun.
Girl: You know what would be fun? Me kicking you in the balls.
Guy: That wouldn't be fun.
Hobo: That would be a shitload of fun! Can I play?
--A train
Courtesy of Overheard in New York "
Guy: It was the train.
Girl: No, it fucking wasn't.
Guy: I thought it would be fun.
Girl: You know what would be fun? Me kicking you in the balls.
Guy: That wouldn't be fun.
Hobo: That would be a shitload of fun! Can I play?
--A train
Courtesy of Overheard in New York "
This is what I think of when I think of Japan
Inflatable robot suit.
This is much more like it, after the depressing corporate whimsy of the Hello Kitty jetliner.
This is much more like it, after the depressing corporate whimsy of the Hello Kitty jetliner.
Hello Kitty airplanes
Eeeeep.
Maybe it's just because I'm a man, but I like the Japanese better when they're pioneering the cutting edge of robotics...
Maybe it's just because I'm a man, but I like the Japanese better when they're pioneering the cutting edge of robotics...
Wednesday, October 19, 2005
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
music: new Kate Bush!
w00t!
One of my youthful favorites (The Dreaming is in my top ten p4p albums of the 80's), this is her first release since The Red Shoes in 1993....gawt damn that makes me feel old!
I'll have to check this one out.
Watch this space for a full report.
One of my youthful favorites (The Dreaming is in my top ten p4p albums of the 80's), this is her first release since The Red Shoes in 1993....gawt damn that makes me feel old!
I'll have to check this one out.
Watch this space for a full report.
Raiding my friends for content, part IIX
The source of Bobo's lunch today.
He denied ordering the Poo Chicken, but I have my doubts.
We're Number Three!
local school makes good
Congrats to the (usually puking drunk) student body of Cal Poly for staying out of the bars long enough to take 3rd in the Solar Decathalon.
Now if they could just stop falling through shop windows downtown every weekend we'd be getting somewhere.
Congrats to the (usually puking drunk) student body of Cal Poly for staying out of the bars long enough to take 3rd in the Solar Decathalon.
Now if they could just stop falling through shop windows downtown every weekend we'd be getting somewhere.
Monday, October 17, 2005
Interesting email site
willselfdestruct.com
You can send people secure messages that will cease to exist after a user-defined number of views or time limit.
Good for communicating with internet weirdos you're not sure can be trusted with your fake dodgeit email account!
You can send people secure messages that will cease to exist after a user-defined number of views or time limit.
Good for communicating with internet weirdos you're not sure can be trusted with your fake dodgeit email account!
BROKENSHELVES
Snazzy design.
But not very practical, from the standpoint of a book professional.
The design would place undue strain on the books at the end of the shelf that are holding all the other books in place, leading to wear and warpage.
But as an art installation piece, it's neato. And I suppose you could use it as a "new arrivals" rack in home or office to store all those books you mean to get to but don't have time for right now.
But not very practical, from the standpoint of a book professional.
The design would place undue strain on the books at the end of the shelf that are holding all the other books in place, leading to wear and warpage.
But as an art installation piece, it's neato. And I suppose you could use it as a "new arrivals" rack in home or office to store all those books you mean to get to but don't have time for right now.
Made-up words in The Simpsons
cross-referenced list courtesy of Wikipedia.
geek that I am, I didn't realize internet forum favorite 'meh' was Simpsonian in origin.
"cheese-eating surrender monkeys" is my favorite.
geek that I am, I didn't realize internet forum favorite 'meh' was Simpsonian in origin.
"cheese-eating surrender monkeys" is my favorite.
Anyone for some Vietnam?
Body counts and disputed totals
So, how exactly do you bomb a couple of villages and know for a certainty that all the people you killed were "insurgents"?
I wonder how long before Rumsfeld starts channeling McNamara and talking about "hearts and minds".
Speaking of which, check out The Fog of War. The echoes of Vietnam have only gotten louder since its original release.
(the US military) said all the dead were militants, although eyewitnesses are quoted saying that many were civilians.
So, how exactly do you bomb a couple of villages and know for a certainty that all the people you killed were "insurgents"?
I wonder how long before Rumsfeld starts channeling McNamara and talking about "hearts and minds".
Speaking of which, check out The Fog of War. The echoes of Vietnam have only gotten louder since its original release.
Emerging Police State: Updates
Your printer is informing on you.
So is Wal*Mart.
and they're even patenting your genes.
So is Wal*Mart.
"They asked me, didn't I think that it was suspicious," she recalls. "I said no, it was a Bill of Rights project!"
and they're even patenting your genes.
"It might come as a surprise to many people that in the U.S. patent system human DNA is treated like other natural chemical products," said Fiona Murray, a business and science professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge
curiously strong
survival kit in candy package.
Another internet kook with too much free time transforms the sweat of his brow into my mild amusement.
I like the saw....
Another internet kook with too much free time transforms the sweat of his brow into my mild amusement.
I like the saw....
Sunday, October 16, 2005
Saturday, October 15, 2005
tunes tunes TUNES
Let's play a game.
It's like that one meme where people hit random on their ipods, but not as fey.
Since my computer is my ipod, how about I post the first four great songs I find on my hard drive and you download and listen to them.
Easy!
(I'm using filefactory for these, should be easier on your end)
Elliott Smith - Clementine
My second favorite song of his (number one is Independence Day) off the best ES bootleg there is, and one of the best boots I've found period. 98 is a good year, he'd nailed down his performances and his voice was still strong. Amazing song, amazing performance, amazing recording.
Andrew Bird - Fake Palindromes
My favorite tune off a fantastic, underexposed and appreciated album. I've always loved the song Dazzle by Souxsie & the Banshees, this has the same vibe with way better lyrics.
Wolf Parade - I'll Believe Anything
The kind of song that makes you feel young and like this one song is the most important thing in the world for four minutes and thirty six seconds. It starts off great and just keeps getting better...this song absolutely fucking KILLS.
TV on the Radio - Young Liars
About perfect.
No, strike that.....it is perfect.
Dig.
It's like that one meme where people hit random on their ipods, but not as fey.
Since my computer is my ipod, how about I post the first four great songs I find on my hard drive and you download and listen to them.
Easy!
(I'm using filefactory for these, should be easier on your end)
Elliott Smith - Clementine
My second favorite song of his (number one is Independence Day) off the best ES bootleg there is, and one of the best boots I've found period. 98 is a good year, he'd nailed down his performances and his voice was still strong. Amazing song, amazing performance, amazing recording.
Andrew Bird - Fake Palindromes
My favorite tune off a fantastic, underexposed and appreciated album. I've always loved the song Dazzle by Souxsie & the Banshees, this has the same vibe with way better lyrics.
my dewy-eyed disney bride, what has tried
swapping your blood with formaldehyde?
monsters?
whiskey-plied voices cried fratricide!
jesus don't you know that you could've died
(you should've died)
with the monsters that talk....monsters that walk the earth
Wolf Parade - I'll Believe Anything
The kind of song that makes you feel young and like this one song is the most important thing in the world for four minutes and thirty six seconds. It starts off great and just keeps getting better...this song absolutely fucking KILLS.
TV on the Radio - Young Liars
About perfect.
No, strike that.....it is perfect.
Dig.
Erotic Haiku
another real-world book.
some samples, chosen at random:
(all translated from the Japanese)
Basho these folk ain't.
some samples, chosen at random:
mouth open skyward
on her tongue raindrops
of my love
a cold room
-my nipples rise
to greet you
a tatooed butterfly
shivering
on her buttocks
(all translated from the Japanese)
Basho these folk ain't.
why 'My Name is Earl' stinks
Jason Lee is an appealing screen presence, in spite of being a baying Scientologist. He could roll out of bed and engage my sympathy as the type of scruffy n'er do well everyman he essays in this show.
But good acting and casting can't correct terrible writing.
The show is frustrating because it's ALMOST well written, but can't resist breaking the cardinal rules of comedy, explaining the joke. Every time it does something marginally fresh or creative, it has to pause (or in this case, cut to a flashback) and give a powerpoint presentation on the geneology & lineage of the joke. In treating its audience like lobotomized, mouth-breathing mall dwellers it creates a self fulfilling demographic prophecy....because no other audience would hang around for each after-joke lecture on why what you just heard was so funny.
Here's hoping it gets cancelled so Lee can recreate the role in movies unfettered by paranoiac script editors scared of losing the midwest by taking a turn too fast.
But good acting and casting can't correct terrible writing.
The show is frustrating because it's ALMOST well written, but can't resist breaking the cardinal rules of comedy, explaining the joke. Every time it does something marginally fresh or creative, it has to pause (or in this case, cut to a flashback) and give a powerpoint presentation on the geneology & lineage of the joke. In treating its audience like lobotomized, mouth-breathing mall dwellers it creates a self fulfilling demographic prophecy....because no other audience would hang around for each after-joke lecture on why what you just heard was so funny.
Here's hoping it gets cancelled so Lee can recreate the role in movies unfettered by paranoiac script editors scared of losing the midwest by taking a turn too fast.
Your Evolving Police State at Work
Wal*Mart spies for Bush.
Just incredible.
"They asked me, didn't I think that it was suspicious," she recalls. "I said no, it was a Bill of Rights project!"
Just incredible.
Sayings of the Vikings
More than 1000 years old!
(Translated from the original by Bjorn Jonasson)
Self-Dicipline
The glutton does not
guard himself
eats till he's ill.
Wiser men
only mock
a fool's fat belly.
(Translated from the original by Bjorn Jonasson)
Rare Luis Buñuel Posters
I'm a sucker for stuff like this.
This poster for 1974's Phantom of Liberty has come full circle, from reportage to nostalgia back to reportage.
This poster for 1974's Phantom of Liberty has come full circle, from reportage to nostalgia back to reportage.
Rain, potential
It's cloudy and (sorta) cold!
Whoohooo, chance of rain!
Let's get the numbers from our pals at SLO Weather dot com...oh wait, they don't tell me. =/
Following their link, we get
This is very exciting to me, since it was 100 freaking degrees here Thursday, and only marginally better yesterday. Has Fall finally come to the Middle Kingdom? We can only hope.
I have a personal interest in the weather being cool and damp today- the wife is selling her crocheted wares at some kind of hippie green earth treehugging event, and over the years I've found that the greatest predictor of financial windfall is the weather.
Our friend Devra made an excellent logo for Tinerwear International, which I'll try and remember to scan and post here. The brand has evolved over time- the first year she was only making hats, and the masthead read Tinerhats. The next year she added scarves to the mix, but stuck with Tinerhats in spite of the disconnect with the product line. This past year she's expanded into ponchos, and the evolution to Tinerwear was inevitable. It also provides room to grow, covering pretty much anything she gets a hankering to create, short of human life.
A financial report will follow tomorrow. Keep your fingers crossed for rain!
Whoohooo, chance of rain!
Let's get the numbers from our pals at SLO Weather dot com...oh wait, they don't tell me. =/
Following their link, we get
Mostly cloudy with a 30 percent chance of showers in the morning...Then partly cloudy and breezy in the afternoon. Highs in the upper 50s and 60s. Northwest winds increasing to 15 to 25 mph. Local gusts to 40 mph at The beaches.
This is very exciting to me, since it was 100 freaking degrees here Thursday, and only marginally better yesterday. Has Fall finally come to the Middle Kingdom? We can only hope.
I have a personal interest in the weather being cool and damp today- the wife is selling her crocheted wares at some kind of hippie green earth treehugging event, and over the years I've found that the greatest predictor of financial windfall is the weather.
Our friend Devra made an excellent logo for Tinerwear International, which I'll try and remember to scan and post here. The brand has evolved over time- the first year she was only making hats, and the masthead read Tinerhats. The next year she added scarves to the mix, but stuck with Tinerhats in spite of the disconnect with the product line. This past year she's expanded into ponchos, and the evolution to Tinerwear was inevitable. It also provides room to grow, covering pretty much anything she gets a hankering to create, short of human life.
A financial report will follow tomorrow. Keep your fingers crossed for rain!
Friday, October 14, 2005
Do Not Mess with the Librarian!
Sweet, sweet revenge.
A heartwarming tale, although it's sad the system is set up so only a professional can easily navigate the shoals of justice.
Nice to see one spammer take it in the shorts, regardless.
A heartwarming tale, although it's sad the system is set up so only a professional can easily navigate the shoals of justice.
Nice to see one spammer take it in the shorts, regardless.
Wednesday, October 12, 2005
Runaway Meme
Man, this Snakes on a Plane thing is going FAST, even for teh internet.
own the shirt!
remixed movie posters
own the shirt!
remixed movie posters
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