I was running through the xmas pics I posted down below, and I keep coming back to this one, with the Fiend watching (& mirrorring) mom's reaction to her gift.
Kids are always watching, always learning.
They respond to what you are, not what you say.
Saturday, December 30, 2006
cars + windows
I can't be the only one who sees disaster looming here.
I admit to being outside the telecommunications mainstream (this is my cell phone, fer chrissakes) but...isn't that functionalty already covered by plenty of other gadgets (iPods, etc). And even my ultra-ghetto cell phone has a hands-free solution right there on its homepage.
So who the fuck thinks MORE distractions in the car is a direction we need to go?
Why, Bill Gates and Bill Ford!
Save me, Joe Louis....
The new technology -- dubbed "Sync" -- will finally bring together two industries that have long been expected to cross paths, allowing consumers to use their vehicles as computers in key ways, such as hands-free cell phone calls or downloading music or receiving e-mail.
I admit to being outside the telecommunications mainstream (this is my cell phone, fer chrissakes) but...isn't that functionalty already covered by plenty of other gadgets (iPods, etc). And even my ultra-ghetto cell phone has a hands-free solution right there on its homepage.
So who the fuck thinks MORE distractions in the car is a direction we need to go?
Why, Bill Gates and Bill Ford!
Ford and Gates said that having high-definition screens in vehicles, speech recognition, cameras, digital calendars and navigation equipment with directions and road conditions will set car companies apart from their competitors in the future.
"There are going to be those who have it and those who don't. And even those who get it later are going to be a generation behind," Ford said.
Ford praised the way the industries were working together, saying engineers were bringing new ideas forward "faster than we can assimilate" them.
Save me, Joe Louis....
Happy New Year's
Everyone have a good New Year's Eve and make it home safe.
The wife has tricked me into attending not one but two parties.
Hopefully she is even now preparing to cater to my voluminous morning-after needs,training at a snowy mountaintop dojo under the watchful eye of a sensei with a wispy white beard that brushes the floor and a liberal hand with his walking stick/quarterstaff.
Following my hoarsely whispered commands to the letter while I lie prostrate in the semi-darkness*, soothing my self-inflicted mental wounds with the coloful visual balm of Bowl Games is no task for the unprepared, undertrained or faint of heart.
*think Fat Brando in his caftan from the Apocalypse Now outtakes.
The wife has tricked me into attending not one but two parties.
Hopefully she is even now preparing to cater to my voluminous morning-after needs,training at a snowy mountaintop dojo under the watchful eye of a sensei with a wispy white beard that brushes the floor and a liberal hand with his walking stick/quarterstaff.
Following my hoarsely whispered commands to the letter while I lie prostrate in the semi-darkness*, soothing my self-inflicted mental wounds with the coloful visual balm of Bowl Games is no task for the unprepared, undertrained or faint of heart.
*think Fat Brando in his caftan from the Apocalypse Now outtakes.
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
Rhretorical Question
Q: How do you follow up a family therapy session to strategize wrangling your unmedicated bi-polar mother-in-law?
A: Make a bunch of BLT's and watch Shaolin Soccer with your niece, the world's awesomest child.
A: Make a bunch of BLT's and watch Shaolin Soccer with your niece, the world's awesomest child.
Tuesday, December 26, 2006
Holiday Report
Giant Christmas Photo Storm.
Courtesy of Bobo, a living testament to the efficacy of Trickle Down Economics.
Courtesy of Bobo, a living testament to the efficacy of Trickle Down Economics.
Saturday, December 23, 2006
Merry Holidays!
to all the teeming multitudes of my vast audience yearning to read free.
posting will probably remain light-to-nonexistent until after New Years, but here are some hawt linkz to tide y'all over.
GIANT SQUID!
ELF ATTACK!
MOST DANGEROUS ROADS IN THE WORLD!
ESSENTIAL FREEWARE!
posting will probably remain light-to-nonexistent until after New Years, but here are some hawt linkz to tide y'all over.
GIANT SQUID!
ELF ATTACK!
MOST DANGEROUS ROADS IN THE WORLD!
ESSENTIAL FREEWARE!
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
touching base
real conversations with real crazy people, thanks to the miracle of working retail at Christmas!
guy stomps in with an unravelling sleeping bag under one arm.
Goes next door, digs through a pile of books under my watchful eye.
Leaps to his feet suddenly, screeching "EVERYONE SHUT THE FUCK UP!" into the ether of the completely empty store.
Thankfully, he had enough awareness to stomp back out the door before I had to escort him.
Then there was the nut at the theater who thought he was Jesus Christ, and proclaimed that he had been "saved by Tiger Woods!", or that he was Tiger Woods, it wasn't entirely clear (query to the staff: "Am I white? Am I black? I can't tell!")
He wore out his welcome by screaming "YOU ARE GOING TO HELL!" at a bystanding old woman who reacted to his declaration "I am Jesus Christ" with "Well, I don't care!"
And I had a round gal in a bicycle helmet in yesterday who browsed the art books for a while, then came up and asked me "do you have any books that tell what it means when a man shows you a pair of socks in your house?", which took me a while to process.
"What, you mean like Emily Post or something?" I eventually responded.
"No, I just want to know what it means when a man is in your house and shows you a pair of socks. Because there was a man who came over to my house, and then he pulled a pair of socks out of his pocket and showed them to me, and then put them back in his pocket."
"Huh. Ya know, I don't think we have any books like that. You might want to try the reference desk at the library."
And, dear reader, I felt not one pang of guilt for passing the buck.
guy stomps in with an unravelling sleeping bag under one arm.
Goes next door, digs through a pile of books under my watchful eye.
Leaps to his feet suddenly, screeching "EVERYONE SHUT THE FUCK UP!" into the ether of the completely empty store.
Thankfully, he had enough awareness to stomp back out the door before I had to escort him.
Then there was the nut at the theater who thought he was Jesus Christ, and proclaimed that he had been "saved by Tiger Woods!", or that he was Tiger Woods, it wasn't entirely clear (query to the staff: "Am I white? Am I black? I can't tell!")
He wore out his welcome by screaming "YOU ARE GOING TO HELL!" at a bystanding old woman who reacted to his declaration "I am Jesus Christ" with "Well, I don't care!"
And I had a round gal in a bicycle helmet in yesterday who browsed the art books for a while, then came up and asked me "do you have any books that tell what it means when a man shows you a pair of socks in your house?", which took me a while to process.
"What, you mean like Emily Post or something?" I eventually responded.
"No, I just want to know what it means when a man is in your house and shows you a pair of socks. Because there was a man who came over to my house, and then he pulled a pair of socks out of his pocket and showed them to me, and then put them back in his pocket."
"Huh. Ya know, I don't think we have any books like that. You might want to try the reference desk at the library."
And, dear reader, I felt not one pang of guilt for passing the buck.
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Holiday (semi) Hiatus
As you've noticed posts have been few and far between lately.
Holidays are busy, dammit!
So here's some content to tide you over, an apology for laziness and a warning that the laziness will likely continue into the new year, all in one.
A devil food is turning our kids into homosexuals!
(that is the original headline of the linked article- apparently they decided to change it after 24 hours of non-stop mockery by the internet hive mind...too bad, really. They were on to something with the original...like when they changed the title of Avenging Disco Godfather to plain jane'Avenging Godfather'. Wear it like a crown, damn you!)
world's greatest USB drive.
Courtesy of the Japanese, the greatest people on earth.
Peter Boyle, RIP
Holidays are busy, dammit!
So here's some content to tide you over, an apology for laziness and a warning that the laziness will likely continue into the new year, all in one.
A devil food is turning our kids into homosexuals!
(that is the original headline of the linked article- apparently they decided to change it after 24 hours of non-stop mockery by the internet hive mind...too bad, really. They were on to something with the original...like when they changed the title of Avenging Disco Godfather to plain jane'Avenging Godfather'. Wear it like a crown, damn you!)
world's greatest USB drive.
Courtesy of the Japanese, the greatest people on earth.
Peter Boyle, RIP
Wednesday, December 6, 2006
Tuesday, December 5, 2006
Holiday Post
I think I put this up last xmas.....but they've added new pics!
all the justification I need for recycling a post.
clicky clicky
all the justification I need for recycling a post.
clicky clicky
Monday, December 4, 2006
the New Year approaches
and with it the inevitable flood of Best Album of 2006 lists.
I'll throw my hat into the ring after the xmas rush.
In the meantime, I'll comment on those lists.
Any list including those talentless poseurs The Killers is worthless.
Q, whatever it is, should go drink toilet water to atone for this sin.
I like the new Tom Waits super-collection, but c'mon, it's basically loose ends swept together from his musical attic. Fascinating and with some classics cuts, yes. Best of the year? Nawp.
I can't stand Joanna Newsome's Yoko Ono-esque vocal stylings, I don't care how avante her garde is. I'm too old to listen to music by people who can't sing...unless they're Lemmy from Motorhead.
I can see why people like Arctic Monkeys, but I seem to have lost my taste for their style of straight-ahead pop/rock.
Serena Maneesh and Neko Case are both locks for my best of the year list, along with TV on the Radio (although I'm not as keen on the new on as their previous two releases).
I'll throw my hat into the ring after the xmas rush.
In the meantime, I'll comment on those lists.
Any list including those talentless poseurs The Killers is worthless.
Q, whatever it is, should go drink toilet water to atone for this sin.
I like the new Tom Waits super-collection, but c'mon, it's basically loose ends swept together from his musical attic. Fascinating and with some classics cuts, yes. Best of the year? Nawp.
I can't stand Joanna Newsome's Yoko Ono-esque vocal stylings, I don't care how avante her garde is. I'm too old to listen to music by people who can't sing...unless they're Lemmy from Motorhead.
I can see why people like Arctic Monkeys, but I seem to have lost my taste for their style of straight-ahead pop/rock.
Serena Maneesh and Neko Case are both locks for my best of the year list, along with TV on the Radio (although I'm not as keen on the new on as their previous two releases).
Sunday, December 3, 2006
Marilyn Manson, feh
and a shocking Behind the Music follow up on the Muppet Show Band:
(yah I'm behind the curve, I just discovered Robot Chicken...so sue me.)
overheard
From one of our local mentally ill street people:
"I've kinda made a commitment to myself to stop watching R-rated movies. Too much sex, too much violence. I'll wait out here."
"I've kinda made a commitment to myself to stop watching R-rated movies. Too much sex, too much violence. I'll wait out here."
Saturday, December 2, 2006
Highbrow Literature
Bad Sex Writing Award
Higlighting the worst sex scenes in novels of otherwise high literary value.
I'm of the opinion that novelists are best served by a demure 'fade to black' once the action shifts from the metaphorical to the biological.
Unless, of course, your goal is spectacular unintended comedy.
Higlighting the worst sex scenes in novels of otherwise high literary value.
I'm of the opinion that novelists are best served by a demure 'fade to black' once the action shifts from the metaphorical to the biological.
Unless, of course, your goal is spectacular unintended comedy.
war photographer
A decidedly non-traditional one.
The photos are great, but the interview is equally interesting.
The photos are great, but the interview is equally interesting.
BLDGBLOG: How does working outside of photojournalism, and even outside the art world, affect the actual practicality of getting into these places – photographing war zones and ruins and so on? You weren’t an embedded photographer in Iraq?
Norfolk: No, no. I was just kind of winging it.
You know, the camera I use is made of wood – it's a 4x5 field camera, made of mahogany and brass – and it looks like an antique. Part of what I do is I make sure I don't look very serious – it's best to look like a harmless dickhead, really, so no one bothers you. You look like a nutter. And, to be honest, I play that up: I've got the bald head, and the Hawaiian shirt, and, to look at the image on the back of the camera, you have to put a blanket over your head and go in there with a magnifying glass, and it’s always on a tripod.
So I have two choices: I can either do these images from a speeding car, or I can stand there with a blanket over my head, and look like such a prick that somebody's going to find me through their rifle scope and think: Oh! What's that? Let's go down and have a look... I can’t believe that photographers go into war zones dressed like soldiers! Soldiers are the people they shoot at. If I could wear a clown suit I would do it – if I could wear the big shoes and everything. I would wear the whole fucking thing.
I think there's a lot to be said for that, actually, because I can either scrape in there on my belly, wearing camo, and sneak around; or I can stand right there in front, wearing a shirt that says, you know, Don't shoot me. I’m a dick.
Friday, December 1, 2006
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Ghey!
Russia agrees to shut down allofmp3.com.
This is just more whack-a-mole.
Because the business model will work anywhere that doesn't give a shit about copywrite.
I give it a couple of months before an allofmp3 analog is up and running somewhere in Asia.
This is just more whack-a-mole.
Because the business model will work anywhere that doesn't give a shit about copywrite.
I give it a couple of months before an allofmp3 analog is up and running somewhere in Asia.
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
I <3 Teh Internets
There's this movie Ivan and I are excited about, Pathfinder, which Ivan linked a while back. Vikings in prehistoric America...what's not to love right?
Well, while poking around IMDB for a release date I found an overly sensitive type in the comments who was upset about percieved Viking stereotyping:
Which gave us a laff.
But of course, this being the internet, any post of such dubious merit sows the seeds of its own humiliation, which came in the form of this reply:
Pardon me while I wipe away a tear to better appreciate the beauty of teh internet.
Well, while poking around IMDB for a release date I found an overly sensitive type in the comments who was upset about percieved Viking stereotyping:
well my ancestors were Vikings and i was a little affended by the trailer, not terribly much, but i dont think that they should have portrayed them as ten foot monsters that have no feelings and are bearly human. i mean they were real people too, but i will admit that in thier pagine years they were quite brutal. anyway i'm just rambling, but i do wish that they would put the vikings in better light like in the 13th warrior
Which gave us a laff.
But of course, this being the internet, any post of such dubious merit sows the seeds of its own humiliation, which came in the form of this reply:
well my ancestors were Vikings and i was a little affended by the trailer, not terribly much, but i dont think that they should have portrayed them as ten foot monsters that have no feelings and are bearly human."
Ah. You're Swedish.
Those of us that are descended from Norweigens and Danes actually ARE ten feet tall and more animal than man.
Sorry about your luck, Olaf.
Pardon me while I wipe away a tear to better appreciate the beauty of teh internet.
Monday, November 27, 2006
iPod Treats
All hail the iPod Lounge 2007 Buyer's Guide.
They separate the wheat from the chaff so I don't have to.
They separate the wheat from the chaff so I don't have to.
Saturday, November 25, 2006
another cover blurb
It's nice to be informed that Four Walls by Vangelis Hatziyannidis is "probably the most atmospheric Greek novel of this year".
Stuff like this sticks in my head.
A lifetime's accumulation of these basically meaningless tidbits can create an illusion of depth, when it's really just knowing very little about a tremendously broad range of subjects.
Inevitably I'll find myself in a conversation where knowing that Four Walls is a Greek novel of some repute will dazzle my companion. It happens all the time.
/edit
as if on cue, in the very next stack of books The Economist informs me that Elif Shafak is "well set to challange Mr Pamuk as Turkey's formost contemporary novelist" on the strength of his novel The Gaze.
Stuff like this sticks in my head.
A lifetime's accumulation of these basically meaningless tidbits can create an illusion of depth, when it's really just knowing very little about a tremendously broad range of subjects.
Inevitably I'll find myself in a conversation where knowing that Four Walls is a Greek novel of some repute will dazzle my companion. It happens all the time.
/edit
as if on cue, in the very next stack of books The Economist informs me that Elif Shafak is "well set to challange Mr Pamuk as Turkey's formost contemporary novelist" on the strength of his novel The Gaze.
serendipity
Did a quality scan of Thirsty? Los Angeles: the lowdown on where the real people drink!
The first page I opened to was a review of Mister T's Bowl & Gutter Cafe, where I spent a fine evening with Bobo & Pelf.
A+!
Also, it gives the URL for Mr T's website, which I could not find with Google after our visit whetted my thirst for knowledge.
Extra credit!
The first page I opened to was a review of Mister T's Bowl & Gutter Cafe, where I spent a fine evening with Bobo & Pelf.
A+!
Also, it gives the URL for Mr T's website, which I could not find with Google after our visit whetted my thirst for knowledge.
Extra credit!
more books
I'm pricing a big pile of stuff today, so you'll be getting a lot of observational book posts. Deal.
Promotional cover blurb for the mystery Moonblind:
Even if I had an appetite for these gimmicky 'pet' mysteries, that treacle would put me off the genre until the end of time.
Promotional cover blurb for the mystery Moonblind:
Moonblind opens a reader's eyes- to relationships, to the complicated inner life of a woman in transition, to the role of four-legged creatures in our lives.
Even if I had an appetite for these gimmicky 'pet' mysteries, that treacle would put me off the genre until the end of time.
You learn something new every day
Ralf Konig, for instance, is "Europe's most popular gay cartoonist", according to cover banner of his book Roy & Al, which features an illustration of a fat gray dog sniffing a small white dog's ass.
They obviously set the bar pretty darn high on the other side of the pond...
They obviously set the bar pretty darn high on the other side of the pond...
Found
written on the title page of the Cliffs Notes on Shakespeare's MacBeth in a rounded, girlish script redolent of bubble gum and cherry lip gloss:
Ah, youth....
It's raining outside
cold, wet
inflicting sarrow
thoughts, laghter
puddles. Want, it will
dry soon, yet
too soon
too soon to stop
feeling. feeling
everything
Ah, youth....
the problem with egg nog lattes
you go back to work and find the coffee from the joint next door seriously underwhelming.
It looks like you get the last laugh after all, dear readers.
It looks like you get the last laugh after all, dear readers.
Thursday, November 23, 2006
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
disorienting
Eschaton is one of my favorite political blogs and it was more than a little disorienting to check it today and run across not one but two youtube posts featuring cats that lived in town and worked at the record store next door.
The wife loves M Ward's wife, so I will reserve my snark lest it get back to her via the Palm underground telephone.
But Adam from Norfolk is a zero with the edges removed, as the saying goes.
You'd better keep that hat on, ya balding poseur. I like how he's carefully arranged his bangs to make it seem like he's got a thick, luxurious mane...
Oh hey, I see Tony in the Norfolk video, it looks like he's playing keyboards.
So that makes THREE former downtown types on Eschaton today...damn!
True story:
when Tony worked at the theater he was so goddamn skinny that me n' the wife were going to write a children's book called Ten Pounds for Tony. The plot revolved around a group of children who went around trying to collect pounds for Tony so he wouldn't blow away in an impending windstorm.
true story 2:
M Ward asked our pal James, who we visited in Bowling Green, Ohio a bit ago, to be his Australian tour manager one summer a while back, but James had to decline as he was getting married to our other pal Courtney.
Small town drama at its best!
The wife loves M Ward's wife, so I will reserve my snark lest it get back to her via the Palm underground telephone.
But Adam from Norfolk is a zero with the edges removed, as the saying goes.
You'd better keep that hat on, ya balding poseur. I like how he's carefully arranged his bangs to make it seem like he's got a thick, luxurious mane...
Oh hey, I see Tony in the Norfolk video, it looks like he's playing keyboards.
So that makes THREE former downtown types on Eschaton today...damn!
True story:
when Tony worked at the theater he was so goddamn skinny that me n' the wife were going to write a children's book called Ten Pounds for Tony. The plot revolved around a group of children who went around trying to collect pounds for Tony so he wouldn't blow away in an impending windstorm.
true story 2:
M Ward asked our pal James, who we visited in Bowling Green, Ohio a bit ago, to be his Australian tour manager one summer a while back, but James had to decline as he was getting married to our other pal Courtney.
Small town drama at its best!
Thanksgiving Round Up
We're boycotting the usual uncomfortable family shenanigans this year and having a low-key get together with the bro n' sis-in-law and our wonderful niece, watching the parade and having brunch.
On the menu:
smoked meats from our local purveyor of carnivorous delicacies.
apple pancakes (courtesy of moi)
cranberry pecan bread (courtesy of the wife)
espresso drinks (courtesy of the bro in law)
and either homemade egg nog or mulled cider, I'm not sure which yet.
What are y'all doing?
random holiday related links:
drawings of turkeys by Penn State undergrads for an exam.
Cranberries are good for you!
we took it, now it's ours!
On the comic tip
the obligatory Wiki link
Turkey pardons Turkey
On the menu:
smoked meats from our local purveyor of carnivorous delicacies.
apple pancakes (courtesy of moi)
cranberry pecan bread (courtesy of the wife)
espresso drinks (courtesy of the bro in law)
and either homemade egg nog or mulled cider, I'm not sure which yet.
What are y'all doing?
random holiday related links:
drawings of turkeys by Penn State undergrads for an exam.
Cranberries are good for you!
we took it, now it's ours!
On the comic tip
the obligatory Wiki link
Turkey pardons Turkey
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
TEH FUNNY CATS
Hey Adrian, his reminded me of that time Tasha got stuck in the bag and took off like a drag racer.
X2!!
X2!!
wtf is happening to my town
We've got to be the smallest city in America with it's own Maserati dealership.
And on my walk to work I pass by a dog bakery, which is next door to a surf shop & skate shop for grade school age kids.
I think this is what happens when every conceivable commercial hole is plugged by corporate dildos....individuals have to find a bizarre niche to fill if they want to run their own shop.
And on my walk to work I pass by a dog bakery, which is next door to a surf shop & skate shop for grade school age kids.
I think this is what happens when every conceivable commercial hole is plugged by corporate dildos....individuals have to find a bizarre niche to fill if they want to run their own shop.
Monday, November 20, 2006
Sunday, November 19, 2006
Friday, November 17, 2006
Sunday, November 12, 2006
APE APOCALYPSE
It's not monkey sex, but it does expose an alarming PRIMATE AGENDA.
Will the apes and the robots end up battling over a post-apocalyptic earth where humans are little more than garden pests?
It would be irresponsible not to speculate!
Will the apes and the robots end up battling over a post-apocalyptic earth where humans are little more than garden pests?
It would be irresponsible not to speculate!
OMG CATS
In keeping with the theme of my last post, and to keep Anner from sewing herself a pair of hand-felted combat boots for to kick my non-updating ass down the road with.
Some you've doubtless seen before, but I think the cumulative effect is heee-sterical.
clicky clicky
Some you've doubtless seen before, but I think the cumulative effect is heee-sterical.
clicky clicky
Thursday, November 9, 2006
Saturday, November 4, 2006
More Monkey Sex (attn IVAN)
The usual Baxblog monkey sex disclaimer applies.
clicky clicky
Less gross than the infamous SPUNK clip, but darn funny!
clicky clicky
Less gross than the infamous SPUNK clip, but darn funny!
Wednesday, November 1, 2006
Random Haiku Generator
clicky clicky
some samples:
some samples:
Yo, Dalai Lama!
What's up with those silky robes?
Buddhist seduction.
A butterfly sits
burning holes in all your clothes
and I will just laugh.
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Strange....
The Japanese are usually way ahead of the curve.
But it looks like they're just now catching on to Halloween.
What took them so long...it seems like a natural.
But it looks like they're just now catching on to Halloween.
What took them so long...it seems like a natural.
Monday, October 30, 2006
work dialogue
two guys who were arguing conspiracy theories in the history loft come down, each with a stack of books.
While I rang up the sales they shared this exchange.
guy #1
say, what do you do for a living?
guy #2 (disparagingly)
ah, I kiss ass.
guy #3(admiringly)
So! You're a man of action!
While I rang up the sales they shared this exchange.
guy #1
say, what do you do for a living?
guy #2 (disparagingly)
ah, I kiss ass.
guy #3(admiringly)
So! You're a man of action!
Saturday, October 28, 2006
Extra anus kills four-legged chicken
Aw Forzie, we hardly knew ye.
As a headline, it's tough to beat...but I'm almost equally fond of the 'related stories' links at the bottom:
Smouldering badger disrupts rail services (24 October 2006)
Norwegian museum champions gay animals (13 October 2006)
Witchdoctor orders Serb to have sex with hedgehog (15 September 2006)
LotR remix
Spiritual kin to the 6 word stories, only graphic in nature.
If you spend a lot of time on various internet forums you've doubtless seen it already.
Here it is for the rest of y'all:
If you spend a lot of time on various internet forums you've doubtless seen it already.
Here it is for the rest of y'all:
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
music: 120 Days
Picked it up on a recommendation from my man Malik and was not disappointed (Malik never disappoints, which is why he is sometimes called THE GRANDMASTER).
I take my electronica the same way I take my rap...cautiously, in small doses, and preferably well aged an Oak cask. But these cats use the tools of late 80's/early 90's synth-dance-pop-rock in the services of a higher cinematic overlord, crafting long, flowing tracks that dive and soar on synthesized wings, augmented with outrageously distorted guitars and impassioned vocals.
Playing the 'sources' game, my first listen generated names like Kraftwerk, New Order, Shriekback & a soupcon of smokey Bauhaus flavor. But they're no carbon copy, they're putting all those old styles out on the street to earn money for their own agenda.
I see they're from Norway...man, Scandinavia has been putting out some great music lately.
Eyeing the review on Pitchfork, I find myself in total agreement:
3/4ths of the disc is brilliant. There are a two tracks where invention fails and things get a bit too monochromatic and repetitive, but they're still listenable.
This one is officially 'recommended'.
I take my electronica the same way I take my rap...cautiously, in small doses, and preferably well aged an Oak cask. But these cats use the tools of late 80's/early 90's synth-dance-pop-rock in the services of a higher cinematic overlord, crafting long, flowing tracks that dive and soar on synthesized wings, augmented with outrageously distorted guitars and impassioned vocals.
Playing the 'sources' game, my first listen generated names like Kraftwerk, New Order, Shriekback & a soupcon of smokey Bauhaus flavor. But they're no carbon copy, they're putting all those old styles out on the street to earn money for their own agenda.
I see they're from Norway...man, Scandinavia has been putting out some great music lately.
Eyeing the review on Pitchfork, I find myself in total agreement:
Norway's 120 Days are proponents of the house-of-cards style of songwriting-- from ephemeral elements, they build towering edifices that seem a breath away from toppling. But those structures never topple, thanks to the band's deft hands and measured pace, not to mention the loaded deck from which they're drawing: New Order synths doppler over Kraftwerk's motorik throb. Primal Scream's propulsive electro-rock tangles with Neu!'s gridded tableaux and Ådne Meisfjord's Bonoesque voice. If it sounds overstated, it is-- these guys go big on everything, from the long transitions to the incandescent crescendos. But whether they're hunkered down in a patient whirr or exploding in a fountain of sparks, 120 Days exude audacity, and their U.S. debut's ambition is ratified by its realization.
3/4ths of the disc is brilliant. There are a two tracks where invention fails and things get a bit too monochromatic and repetitive, but they're still listenable.
This one is officially 'recommended'.
six word stories
from various SF luminaires
My vote for pick of the litter:
a close second, calling to the gamer in me:
My vote for pick of the litter:
Machine. Unexpectedly, I’d invented a time
- Alan Moore
a close second, calling to the gamer in me:
God to Earth: “Cry more, noobs!”
- Marc Laidlaw
Dango is falling down on the job
tweaker busted with nuclear technology
Ruh row...
Authorities in northern New Mexico have stumbled onto what appears to be classified information from Los Alamos National Laboratory while arresting a man suspected of domestic violence and dealing methamphetamine from his mobile home.
Ruh row...
Monday, October 23, 2006
How they pronounce it
Lot of people looking for Nabokov today.
According to Creelea, the Baxblog's erstwhile Russian correspondant, the correct pronunciation is nahBOWkawv.
Today's assortment of manglings:
NA-ba-kawv (which, to be fair, is how I used to pronounce it)
NOBOW-koff
NAB-KOV
"that dude who wrote LOLITA"
Still, they all get the point across.
According to Creelea, the Baxblog's erstwhile Russian correspondant, the correct pronunciation is nahBOWkawv.
Today's assortment of manglings:
NA-ba-kawv (which, to be fair, is how I used to pronounce it)
NOBOW-koff
NAB-KOV
"that dude who wrote LOLITA"
Still, they all get the point across.
Sunday, October 22, 2006
movie: Marie Antoinette
There's a hoary old MacBeth quote, "a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."
If I take in the hem, add some taffeta frills to the sleeves & a bow of gorgeous lemon colored silk, we end up with "a tale told by a woman, full of gorgeous cinematography and carefully posed tableus, signifying not much".
It really was one of the lovliest films I've ever seen- it put me in mind of Christoper Doyle's work with Wong Kar Wai. But the surface beauty of the finished object couldn't overcome the void at its heart.
A charitable interpretation is that Sofia's reach exeeded her grasp- that she tried to achieve some era-spanning synthesis, to find accord between now and the court of Louis Auguste and came up short. This is how I view it, because the film occasionally soars in the moments where the director stops worrying about the Big Message and cuts loose with a great Souxsie & the Banshees or Adam & the Ants tune over an almost dizzyingly lush montage of court life.
I think she should have gone further in that direction, jettisoned the linear, dialoge driven story altogether and turned Marie's story into a surrealistic blur of decadence and music.
Instead, we get those sorts of perfect, glittering jewels of scenes strung onto the necklace of the film along with cranberries, popcorn and the occasional rabbit turd.
/edit
a line from Elliot Smith's Can't Make A Sound resonates here.
If I take in the hem, add some taffeta frills to the sleeves & a bow of gorgeous lemon colored silk, we end up with "a tale told by a woman, full of gorgeous cinematography and carefully posed tableus, signifying not much".
It really was one of the lovliest films I've ever seen- it put me in mind of Christoper Doyle's work with Wong Kar Wai. But the surface beauty of the finished object couldn't overcome the void at its heart.
A charitable interpretation is that Sofia's reach exeeded her grasp- that she tried to achieve some era-spanning synthesis, to find accord between now and the court of Louis Auguste and came up short. This is how I view it, because the film occasionally soars in the moments where the director stops worrying about the Big Message and cuts loose with a great Souxsie & the Banshees or Adam & the Ants tune over an almost dizzyingly lush montage of court life.
I think she should have gone further in that direction, jettisoned the linear, dialoge driven story altogether and turned Marie's story into a surrealistic blur of decadence and music.
Instead, we get those sorts of perfect, glittering jewels of scenes strung onto the necklace of the film along with cranberries, popcorn and the occasional rabbit turd.
/edit
a line from Elliot Smith's Can't Make A Sound resonates here.
the slow motion moves me
the monologue means nothing to me
Saturday, October 21, 2006
note in a book
just found this typewritten paragraph taped inside the front cover of a copy of Pynchon's Crying of Lot 49:
I guess that's one way to approach it...
this is a good novel for directors of plays to read and re-read because the action is essentialy non-verbal and because play directors must look beneath the honest surfaces of events to see what really went on. As you read this, try to block it's action in your mind and characterize the characters, merely as a strange kind of paper chase.
I guess that's one way to approach it...
movie day
Catching Marie Antoinette after work with the wife & the sis in law.
I'm approaching it with a certain trepidation.
I adored the low-key charms & shoegaze soundtrack of Lost in Translation, and it had one of the great endings ever, but I'm not certain how well Sophia Coppola's demonstrated gifts translate to the French court.
The marriage of French royalty & 80's pop for the trailer was killer, so I'm giving it a chance.
Full report to follow.
I'm approaching it with a certain trepidation.
I adored the low-key charms & shoegaze soundtrack of Lost in Translation, and it had one of the great endings ever, but I'm not certain how well Sophia Coppola's demonstrated gifts translate to the French court.
The marriage of French royalty & 80's pop for the trailer was killer, so I'm giving it a chance.
Full report to follow.
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
anniversary aftermath
Had a fine, low key evening with the wife.
We're planning a little jaunt to a beach resort next week.
For the day of I whipped up a tomato salad with fresh mozzerella, basil drizzled with port, balsamic vinegar & really good olive oil, a cheese board, some proscuitto & salami and a crusty baguette. All very enjoyable. Dessert was grapes & dark chocolate.
It was all washed down by this excellent vintage. This is my favorite zin under $15, deep and plummy, with notes of blackberry (according to the wife, who did time in wineries while attending Sonoma State back in the day).
My out of state readers are probably SOL on this one, unless you're lucky enough to have a Trader Joe's within driving distance.
I was amazed during our east coast swing a few years back to see cheap local wines given pride of place in New York and Boston, selling for 2 or 3 times what I'm used to paying.
We're planning a little jaunt to a beach resort next week.
For the day of I whipped up a tomato salad with fresh mozzerella, basil drizzled with port, balsamic vinegar & really good olive oil, a cheese board, some proscuitto & salami and a crusty baguette. All very enjoyable. Dessert was grapes & dark chocolate.
It was all washed down by this excellent vintage. This is my favorite zin under $15, deep and plummy, with notes of blackberry (according to the wife, who did time in wineries while attending Sonoma State back in the day).
My out of state readers are probably SOL on this one, unless you're lucky enough to have a Trader Joe's within driving distance.
I was amazed during our east coast swing a few years back to see cheap local wines given pride of place in New York and Boston, selling for 2 or 3 times what I'm used to paying.
Web Rage!
careful with that axe (handle) eugene.
This is either an argument for the exercise of greater civility and understanding in the online environment, or against living in a tiny little country like Britain.
Ruh row!
Mama always said this blog would kill me.
This is either an argument for the exercise of greater civility and understanding in the online environment, or against living in a tiny little country like Britain.
Gibbons, a man with a violent past, traced Mr Jones to his home using personal details about himself that he had put online.
Ruh row!
Mama always said this blog would kill me.
Monday, October 16, 2006
Happy Anniversary to MEEE
Today is the seven year mark on the horizonless ribbon of wedded bliss I've been travelling with the wife.
CELEBRATE OUR UNION, YOU UNFEELING BASTICHES!
CELEBRATE OUR UNION, YOU UNFEELING BASTICHES!
Great White webcam
the Monterey Bay Aquarium is making their second run at keeping a great white alive in captivity, and here's live webcam coverage.
They actually had one for a few months a while back, but it eventually started eating the rest of the exhibit and they (successfully) returned it to the wild.
The outer bay tank they're keeping it in is one of the COOLEST THINGS I'VE EVER SEEN. It's immense, and there's stadium seating so you can just sit and zone out on it. The wife had to drag me away, I'd have grown moss if left to my own devices.
They actually had one for a few months a while back, but it eventually started eating the rest of the exhibit and they (successfully) returned it to the wild.
The outer bay tank they're keeping it in is one of the COOLEST THINGS I'VE EVER SEEN. It's immense, and there's stadium seating so you can just sit and zone out on it. The wife had to drag me away, I'd have grown moss if left to my own devices.
Sunday, October 15, 2006
Birthdays
Got together with Bobo e Anner last night for a double-dip birthday dinner (bobo & the wife both being Libras). We gorged on Indian food and I taunted the three pill-poppers at the table by enjoying a delicious Indian beer (I echo this reviewers perspicacious comment, "I have been drinking beers for ages and Golden Eagle beer is one of the most exotic beer I ever drinked. i definetly recommend trying.").
I got Bobo a bitchin' three-volume version of the Codex Borgia (if you're my friend, you'd better love books...because that's what you're getting. Well, unless I make you a CD...but bobo shuns such musty old tech).
Erin has been burning with jealousy since my 40th birthday yielded an iPod. The fire was extinguished last night, with the arrival of this beauty:
I would have bet cash money the wife wasn't capable of squealing in girlish delight...showing the same kind of oddsmaking brilliance that led me to pick Zab Judah over Floyd Mayweather Jr.
"It's so SMALL!" she exclaimed in tones of wonder and awe, as if beholding a dainty saint's knucklebone nested on velvet in some Italian ossuary.
A testament to why Apple rules the word of digital audio:
my technophobe wife, who eyes anything more complex than a toaster with the sort of contempt most reserve for child molesters and who views the television remote as a personal and ongoing Battle of Verdun, figured it out by herself in less than five minutes.
Well, I loaded the music for her...but she deciphered the control system on her own.
That, ladies and gentlemen, is the definition of 'intuitive'.
I got Bobo a bitchin' three-volume version of the Codex Borgia (if you're my friend, you'd better love books...because that's what you're getting. Well, unless I make you a CD...but bobo shuns such musty old tech).
Erin has been burning with jealousy since my 40th birthday yielded an iPod. The fire was extinguished last night, with the arrival of this beauty:
I would have bet cash money the wife wasn't capable of squealing in girlish delight...showing the same kind of oddsmaking brilliance that led me to pick Zab Judah over Floyd Mayweather Jr.
"It's so SMALL!" she exclaimed in tones of wonder and awe, as if beholding a dainty saint's knucklebone nested on velvet in some Italian ossuary.
A testament to why Apple rules the word of digital audio:
my technophobe wife, who eyes anything more complex than a toaster with the sort of contempt most reserve for child molesters and who views the television remote as a personal and ongoing Battle of Verdun, figured it out by herself in less than five minutes.
Well, I loaded the music for her...but she deciphered the control system on her own.
That, ladies and gentlemen, is the definition of 'intuitive'.
Saturday, October 14, 2006
nothing says STREET CRED like a quiz on CNN
CNN is hip to the indie scene!
And if you look around, you'll find the official CNN quiz, "How Indie Are You?" (no direct link, sorry- lame javascript).
The questions are about what you'd expect- wtf does Arrested Development have to do with 'indie'?
Does suspecting a financial link somewhere in the corporate food chain make me cynical?
And if you look around, you'll find the official CNN quiz, "How Indie Are You?" (no direct link, sorry- lame javascript).
The questions are about what you'd expect- wtf does Arrested Development have to do with 'indie'?
Does suspecting a financial link somewhere in the corporate food chain make me cynical?
Recent and Recommended
Movies:
The wife caught these guys last night, doing their thing with Jekyll & Hyde. She had equally high praise for the live musical accompaniment and for John Barrymore's turn as the good Doctor (and his not-so-good antithesis).
They give the same treatment to some other silent classics- hopefully the success of this visit will inspire a return engagement with another movie from their repertoire.
TV:
We just got done plowing through the first two seasons of Lost, which were good fun in a 1930's movie serial kind of way. It's seems strange that a show built on the tried-and-true cliffhanger melodrama format is perceived as something fresh and new. Although given the stale lifelessness of most network offerings energy goes a long way, and Lost commits to its storylines in a way that would seem shocking if not for HBO's original dramas.
But is is a show with more appeal to a geek than a squarejohn citizen.
The moment that first captured my attention was an inexplicable polar bear attack...which is the same moment that caused the wife to throw up her hands in and cry out "what the hell is this?".
Music:
Grizzly Bear, Yellow House
Low key but alive & deep.
Califone
especially their last two,Heron King Blues & Roots & Crowns
If Tom Waits had drifted into spare, haunted Americana instead of Kurt Weil's 1920's Berlin speakeasy he'd sound like these guys. Well, not really...but their subterranean mythology seems to share a distant spiritual wellspring with Waits circa Rain Dogs/Swordfishtrombone.
I haven't been reading much lately, just throwaway genre trash I wouldn't impose on you. Maybe next time.
The wife caught these guys last night, doing their thing with Jekyll & Hyde. She had equally high praise for the live musical accompaniment and for John Barrymore's turn as the good Doctor (and his not-so-good antithesis).
They give the same treatment to some other silent classics- hopefully the success of this visit will inspire a return engagement with another movie from their repertoire.
TV:
We just got done plowing through the first two seasons of Lost, which were good fun in a 1930's movie serial kind of way. It's seems strange that a show built on the tried-and-true cliffhanger melodrama format is perceived as something fresh and new. Although given the stale lifelessness of most network offerings energy goes a long way, and Lost commits to its storylines in a way that would seem shocking if not for HBO's original dramas.
But is is a show with more appeal to a geek than a squarejohn citizen.
The moment that first captured my attention was an inexplicable polar bear attack...which is the same moment that caused the wife to throw up her hands in and cry out "what the hell is this?".
Music:
Grizzly Bear, Yellow House
Low key but alive & deep.
Califone
especially their last two,Heron King Blues & Roots & Crowns
If Tom Waits had drifted into spare, haunted Americana instead of Kurt Weil's 1920's Berlin speakeasy he'd sound like these guys. Well, not really...but their subterranean mythology seems to share a distant spiritual wellspring with Waits circa Rain Dogs/Swordfishtrombone.
I haven't been reading much lately, just throwaway genre trash I wouldn't impose on you. Maybe next time.
Wonders of the Internets
Behold the Internet...a place where every housebound obsessive is given a soapbox, a megaphone and firm instructions to do their worst.
La Belle France, where guns are too sophisticated for the vulgarity of BANG BANG BANG.
We were wandering through Paris during our European sojourn a few years back and stumbled across a store that sold nothing but Tintin comics and paraphernalia. Simultaneously impressive and creepy.
Being a geek, I bought a tee-shirt...
La Belle France, where guns are too sophisticated for the vulgarity of BANG BANG BANG.
We were wandering through Paris during our European sojourn a few years back and stumbled across a store that sold nothing but Tintin comics and paraphernalia. Simultaneously impressive and creepy.
Being a geek, I bought a tee-shirt...
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
books: buy of the week
My favorite book to come over the counter this week:
Thistle Eaters Guide by R.E. Scammell.
Indeed!
Thistle Eaters Guide by R.E. Scammell.
This anthology of recipes has been compiled to introduce you to this much-neglected and centuries-old delicacy.
Indeed!
Work: Arrested Development
A red-faced gentleman stumbled drunkenly into the store this morning with a story to tell.
After a somewhat incoherent preamble involving an unspecified criminal act requiring him to turn himself in at the courthouse by noon (the courthouse being a block up the street), he got to the point:
He'd spent all his money on bong hits, so could I help a brotha out with a free book.
Because he'd spent all his money on bong hits.
And he had to go to jail for ten days.
I politely declined.
After a somewhat incoherent preamble involving an unspecified criminal act requiring him to turn himself in at the courthouse by noon (the courthouse being a block up the street), he got to the point:
He'd spent all his money on bong hits, so could I help a brotha out with a free book.
Because he'd spent all his money on bong hits.
And he had to go to jail for ten days.
I politely declined.
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Monday, October 9, 2006
Music: Bill Frisell & co.
Great show- not up to the transcendental brilliance of the Cuesta show a while back, which removed me from my body, squired me around the metaverse and brought me back home safely, but well worthwhile.
In a bit of marketing mis-direction Bill was listed as the headliner when they were actually delivering a Jack DeJohnette group, featuring Bill Frisell.
Not being an egomaniacal attention whore, Bill happily took a secondary role, blending in seamlessly with the ensemble. Which was fine, but not necessarily what I would have preferred.
This show was operating on more of an intellectual level- it had things to say and points to make, and instead of being enraptured and caught up in the tide I was thinking...which was the point of the exercise, but again not my preference.
There were a couple of highly dissonant, experimental pieces that swiftly cleared the auditorium of everyone with gray hair. I'm not a fan of what I call "goose jazz" (lots of unstructured honking, so named after early life exposure to John Coltrane's more experimental works), but in the context of the show it worked well.
A crazy mechanical piece called Entranced Androids (that sounded like an automobile assembly line reprogrammed to play music) segued into an absolutely beautiful song by an African guitarist that could not have sounded more lush & human. A collision of found sounds and noise called Cartoon Explosion led into a Miles Davis ballad done as a piano trio.
A fine evening, if a bit more mentally challenging than anticipated, and lacking some of the emotional fulfillment of his last visit to town.
But Frisell is a musical chameleon, and you do have to pay attention to who he's playing with as much as what he's playing. His career encapsulates extremes from the roaring assault of his work with Kenny Baron & Kermit Driscoll to the delicate Americana of Nashville to the menacing, gothic blues of Gone, Just Like a Train...and all stops in between.
Delivering something unexpected is one of the reasons I love him so much.
In a bit of marketing mis-direction Bill was listed as the headliner when they were actually delivering a Jack DeJohnette group, featuring Bill Frisell.
Not being an egomaniacal attention whore, Bill happily took a secondary role, blending in seamlessly with the ensemble. Which was fine, but not necessarily what I would have preferred.
This show was operating on more of an intellectual level- it had things to say and points to make, and instead of being enraptured and caught up in the tide I was thinking...which was the point of the exercise, but again not my preference.
There were a couple of highly dissonant, experimental pieces that swiftly cleared the auditorium of everyone with gray hair. I'm not a fan of what I call "goose jazz" (lots of unstructured honking, so named after early life exposure to John Coltrane's more experimental works), but in the context of the show it worked well.
A crazy mechanical piece called Entranced Androids (that sounded like an automobile assembly line reprogrammed to play music) segued into an absolutely beautiful song by an African guitarist that could not have sounded more lush & human. A collision of found sounds and noise called Cartoon Explosion led into a Miles Davis ballad done as a piano trio.
A fine evening, if a bit more mentally challenging than anticipated, and lacking some of the emotional fulfillment of his last visit to town.
But Frisell is a musical chameleon, and you do have to pay attention to who he's playing with as much as what he's playing. His career encapsulates extremes from the roaring assault of his work with Kenny Baron & Kermit Driscoll to the delicate Americana of Nashville to the menacing, gothic blues of Gone, Just Like a Train...and all stops in between.
Delivering something unexpected is one of the reasons I love him so much.
Sunday, October 8, 2006
boxing: Yeti KO punch
if you don't want to see a 7 foot tall neanderthal wind up and throw a punch from way downtown, don't click.
As a boxing fan...I'm not sure whether this is embarassing or fascinating.
WTF
As a boxing fan...I'm not sure whether this is embarassing or fascinating.
WTF
another seasonal treat
time lapse rotting pumpkin
I've always been a sucker for time-lapse stuff, I blame it on all those Disney nature films from my youth where they showed flowers blooming and dying.
The only kind of trick photography I love better are those underwater shots of people jumping into the water....the Olympic diving competition is like porn for me.
I've always been a sucker for time-lapse stuff, I blame it on all those Disney nature films from my youth where they showed flowers blooming and dying.
The only kind of trick photography I love better are those underwater shots of people jumping into the water....the Olympic diving competition is like porn for me.
geek alert
Make Love Not Warcraft
I think this is only funny in an in-jokey gamer kind of way....but if you've got enough gaming under your belt to 'get' it it's one of the funniest things ever.
Think of it as a geek litmus test....
I think this is only funny in an in-jokey gamer kind of way....but if you've got enough gaming under your belt to 'get' it it's one of the funniest things ever.
Think of it as a geek litmus test....
Saturday, October 7, 2006
Wednesday, October 4, 2006
Book Purses
clicky clicky
I've sold all those books at one time or another.
And lemme tell ya, $110 is RIDICULOUS.
The books came from a yard sale or the Goodwill for a few cents, the rest of the purse probably cost ten bucks and once you got the prototype dialed in the manufacturing process would be easy. A pal of mine made similar purses for her boutique and charged $40. But retail is about perception of value as much as actual value, so god bless them for squeezing every last drop of juice out of their product.
I like the concept, but being a book person I can't get excited about the chosen covers. Even if you're limiting yourself to books you can get basically for free, there are much better options, graphically speaking.
I say spend a little more getting a really cool book, then charge $200.
I've sold all those books at one time or another.
And lemme tell ya, $110 is RIDICULOUS.
The books came from a yard sale or the Goodwill for a few cents, the rest of the purse probably cost ten bucks and once you got the prototype dialed in the manufacturing process would be easy. A pal of mine made similar purses for her boutique and charged $40. But retail is about perception of value as much as actual value, so god bless them for squeezing every last drop of juice out of their product.
I like the concept, but being a book person I can't get excited about the chosen covers. Even if you're limiting yourself to books you can get basically for free, there are much better options, graphically speaking.
I say spend a little more getting a really cool book, then charge $200.
Top Ten Wallets for Geeks
good times, good times.
This one seems to be whispering Ivan's name low, in a gutteral German accent:
This one seems to be whispering Ivan's name low, in a gutteral German accent:
Tuesday, October 3, 2006
On the Road via Google
Here's a cool Google map of the protagonists journey in the beat classic On the Road.
(courtesy Litourati)
Pretty neat, even though I've never read the book.
Any opinions on it out there in cyberland?
(courtesy Litourati)
Pretty neat, even though I've never read the book.
Any opinions on it out there in cyberland?
Monday, October 2, 2006
Books: whiny complaint
Roy Jensen is a fantastic remainder company- they consistently stock the best art, photography and architecture remainders, elite titles you won't find slumming at the sale racks at Borders or Barnes & Noble with all the crummy 'made remainders' and genre fiction overruns.
but they do two things that drive me crazy.
They don't mark the box with the invoice.
Extremely annoying when you're receiving a big order.
They don't alphabetize the invoice.
Which makes checking in the books a big pain in the ass.
Are they still using a Univac at Roy Jensen HQ?
Bonus Book Trivia Footnote
In the book business a remainder is an unsold copy of a commercial title that has been sold off by the publisher at a steep discount. In short, a 'real' book that failed in the marketplace and has been given up on by the publisher.
In the used book business there is no stigma attached to a remaindered title- some of them sell fantastically well. We bought several cases of this title as a remainder with a suggested retail of $14.95, sold enough of them in-store at $19.95 to cover the cost and sat on the rest for a while. When the book ended up being as good as we thought it was, we sold the rest on the net for $30.00.
a 'made remainder' is a book published specifically for the 'sale table' market. There was never an original edition, the book was just put together & printed cheaply so it can make the publisher a good profit selling at $4.98 or $7.98 or whatever. I don't buy them over the counter and we don't buy them from remainder companies. Our house term for most of them is "a non-book book", meaning it looks like a book if you flip through it and give it a cursory inspection, but there's not really anything holding it together. There's no meat on its bones....of course, because in book publishing as in cooking meat is expensive.
Made remainders are fluff tarted up to resemble something better, which is why we steer clear of them.
but they do two things that drive me crazy.
They don't mark the box with the invoice.
Extremely annoying when you're receiving a big order.
They don't alphabetize the invoice.
Which makes checking in the books a big pain in the ass.
Are they still using a Univac at Roy Jensen HQ?
Bonus Book Trivia Footnote
In the book business a remainder is an unsold copy of a commercial title that has been sold off by the publisher at a steep discount. In short, a 'real' book that failed in the marketplace and has been given up on by the publisher.
In the used book business there is no stigma attached to a remaindered title- some of them sell fantastically well. We bought several cases of this title as a remainder with a suggested retail of $14.95, sold enough of them in-store at $19.95 to cover the cost and sat on the rest for a while. When the book ended up being as good as we thought it was, we sold the rest on the net for $30.00.
a 'made remainder' is a book published specifically for the 'sale table' market. There was never an original edition, the book was just put together & printed cheaply so it can make the publisher a good profit selling at $4.98 or $7.98 or whatever. I don't buy them over the counter and we don't buy them from remainder companies. Our house term for most of them is "a non-book book", meaning it looks like a book if you flip through it and give it a cursory inspection, but there's not really anything holding it together. There's no meat on its bones....of course, because in book publishing as in cooking meat is expensive.
Made remainders are fluff tarted up to resemble something better, which is why we steer clear of them.
Sunday, October 1, 2006
books: the worst 'about the author' bio I've seen in a long, long time
from The Secret Symbols of the Dollar Bill:
Oh, dear.
DAVID OVASON teaches astrology, and has studied the life and teachings of Nostradamus for more than 40 years.
Oh, dear.
Saturday, September 30, 2006
Podtropolis
A fine torrent site for those who are too lazy to convert their existing video files to iPod format.
Wheeeee!
Wheeeee!
Customers: huge earrings
A very nice Mexican lady with limited english needed to use the phone.
After she finally hammered her needs through my thick accent-impaired skull, I dialed a number for her and handed the phone over.
She was wearing immense Liberace-style costume jewlery earrings that were so frikkin' huge she had to take one off to use the phone.
You see something new every day at this place...
After she finally hammered her needs through my thick accent-impaired skull, I dialed a number for her and handed the phone over.
She was wearing immense Liberace-style costume jewlery earrings that were so frikkin' huge she had to take one off to use the phone.
You see something new every day at this place...
Friday, September 29, 2006
music: Bill Frisell
Playing here next wednesday.
His last show was totally mind-blowing.
This one should be equally fantastic in a whole different way- he's running with Jack De Johnette (probably my favorite jazz drummer aside from Bobby Previte...not that the man who played with Miles on Bitch's Brew needs my accolades)and Jerome Harris.
Should be crazy.
Frisell is the most obviously joyous musician I've ever seen- he's practually exploding with happiness onstage, and I spent a good part of his last show laughing with delight.
A full report will follow...
His last show was totally mind-blowing.
This one should be equally fantastic in a whole different way- he's running with Jack De Johnette (probably my favorite jazz drummer aside from Bobby Previte...not that the man who played with Miles on Bitch's Brew needs my accolades)and Jerome Harris.
Should be crazy.
Frisell is the most obviously joyous musician I've ever seen- he's practually exploding with happiness onstage, and I spent a good part of his last show laughing with delight.
A full report will follow...
Thursday, September 28, 2006
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
Geek Test
Clicky Clicky
It's been around for a while, but is still a good time.
I clock in at 40.8284 : Major Geek.
I crashed and burned on all the chess and calculator stuff. =(
It's been around for a while, but is still a good time.
I clock in at 40.8284 : Major Geek.
I crashed and burned on all the chess and calculator stuff. =(
Little Superstar
Bobo has been obsessed with this clip Ivan posted.
I am here to provide him with MORE FUEL for his unseemly, slightly creepy fascination with Little Superstar.
Little Superstar Kicks Ass
I am here to provide him with MORE FUEL for his unseemly, slightly creepy fascination with Little Superstar.
Little Superstar Kicks Ass
Monday, September 25, 2006
What Mann film next?
Sound off, dear readers.
I've already seen Manhunter & Collateral.
Ali & The Keep both suck, so they're not in the running.
Devritsko votes for Last of the Mohicans (which features the finest black powder battle scene ever filmed).
What do y'all say?
I'm leaning toward Thief, myself...it's been a while.
Here's how they're ranked on Rottentomatoes:
Thief, with a healthy 100%.
My teenage self agrees, but who knows how it would stand the test of time.
The Keep, at 14%
14% more than it deserves, frankly.
Manhunter, at 92%
A bit generous, given the clownish ending.
Last of the Mohicans, at 97%
No arguments from Devritsko, I wager.
Heat, 90%.
A little low, but not bad considering it doesn't even make a pretense of courting the female demographic. Also, the ending didn't live up to the rest of the film. Not Manhunter bad, but an anticlimax given the high level the rest of the film operated at.
The Insider, 96%.
I forget, was this before Pacino started screaming instead of acting?
Ali, 67%. Don't make movies about charismatic superstars who are still alive. Kthx.
Miami Vice, 47%. This is an odd one, not because I expected it to be any good, but because the panel of film critics at Film Comment really, really liked it.
Of course, they also really, really liked the shambolically unwatchable Cabin Fever, best described as a derivative, pretentious grad student Evil Dead, minus the evil and with a lead actor unfit to wash Bruce Campbell's jock.
Proof positive that they don't issue common sense & good taste along with the Professional Film Critic Secret Decoder Ring.
I've already seen Manhunter & Collateral.
Ali & The Keep both suck, so they're not in the running.
Devritsko votes for Last of the Mohicans (which features the finest black powder battle scene ever filmed).
What do y'all say?
I'm leaning toward Thief, myself...it's been a while.
Here's how they're ranked on Rottentomatoes:
Thief, with a healthy 100%.
My teenage self agrees, but who knows how it would stand the test of time.
The Keep, at 14%
14% more than it deserves, frankly.
Manhunter, at 92%
A bit generous, given the clownish ending.
Last of the Mohicans, at 97%
No arguments from Devritsko, I wager.
Heat, 90%.
A little low, but not bad considering it doesn't even make a pretense of courting the female demographic. Also, the ending didn't live up to the rest of the film. Not Manhunter bad, but an anticlimax given the high level the rest of the film operated at.
The Insider, 96%.
I forget, was this before Pacino started screaming instead of acting?
Ali, 67%. Don't make movies about charismatic superstars who are still alive. Kthx.
Miami Vice, 47%. This is an odd one, not because I expected it to be any good, but because the panel of film critics at Film Comment really, really liked it.
Of course, they also really, really liked the shambolically unwatchable Cabin Fever, best described as a derivative, pretentious grad student Evil Dead, minus the evil and with a lead actor unfit to wash Bruce Campbell's jock.
Proof positive that they don't issue common sense & good taste along with the Professional Film Critic Secret Decoder Ring.
Top 10 Bittorrent Sites Rated
clicky clicky.
I'm familiar with most of the list and find myself using Mininova, Isohunt and Pirate Bay most often.
I'ma check out BT Junkie though.
I'm familiar with most of the list and find myself using Mininova, Isohunt and Pirate Bay most often.
I'ma check out BT Junkie though.
Saturday, September 23, 2006
movies: Mann Mania continues
Checked out Manhunter, which I hadn't seen since its original theatrical release.
I remember liking it, I remembered Brian Cox being spectacular at Hannibal Leckter, and I remembered the ending being a ludicrous clusterfuck that inspired belly laughs...all memories which withstood the test of time.
A couple of things:
One, there's this thing that happens where you watch a movie years later and say "oh, THAT actor was in it!", because you didn't know who they were the first time you saw it. I got that with Joan Allen & Dennis Farina in this one.
Two, there are a lot of movies from the 80's and early 90's with these awful, cheesy synthesizer soundtracks. It sounded fine at the time, but now it's just ridiculous and it takes a stellar film to overcome the Curse of the Casio Keyboard.
The only people who consistently pulled off synthesized movie soundtracks that don't sound like they belong in a bad porno flick were Vangelis & Tangerine Dream. Mann was lucky enough to land the Dream for his first feature, Thief, but here he's working with some shmucks called 'Red 7' who sound like a thrift store version of T Dream.
On the plus side, several key scenes use real songs by real musicians...I was startled to hear a few Shriekback tunes in the mix, whose Oil & Gold is a classic of atmospheric synth rock.
I think I'll scare up a copy of Thief next, which mightily impressed me in my youth.
It was in heavy rotation during slumber parties at the Pelf's, back in those halcyon days when video stores made you buy memberships and our cinematic holy grail was the banned splatter revenge opus I Spit On Your Grave.
Ah, youth...
I remember liking it, I remembered Brian Cox being spectacular at Hannibal Leckter, and I remembered the ending being a ludicrous clusterfuck that inspired belly laughs...all memories which withstood the test of time.
A couple of things:
One, there's this thing that happens where you watch a movie years later and say "oh, THAT actor was in it!", because you didn't know who they were the first time you saw it. I got that with Joan Allen & Dennis Farina in this one.
Two, there are a lot of movies from the 80's and early 90's with these awful, cheesy synthesizer soundtracks. It sounded fine at the time, but now it's just ridiculous and it takes a stellar film to overcome the Curse of the Casio Keyboard.
The only people who consistently pulled off synthesized movie soundtracks that don't sound like they belong in a bad porno flick were Vangelis & Tangerine Dream. Mann was lucky enough to land the Dream for his first feature, Thief, but here he's working with some shmucks called 'Red 7' who sound like a thrift store version of T Dream.
On the plus side, several key scenes use real songs by real musicians...I was startled to hear a few Shriekback tunes in the mix, whose Oil & Gold is a classic of atmospheric synth rock.
I think I'll scare up a copy of Thief next, which mightily impressed me in my youth.
It was in heavy rotation during slumber parties at the Pelf's, back in those halcyon days when video stores made you buy memberships and our cinematic holy grail was the banned splatter revenge opus I Spit On Your Grave.
Ah, youth...
Movies
Collateral:
Half a great film. Everything up to the scene in the jazz club is fresh, involving, perfectly executed and captures the 'flavor' of LA's physical and philosophical existence like nothing else I've seen.
Then, unfortunately, the wheels come off and it turns into a disorganized stew of running, car chases, shooting and contrived plot developments.
Still, worth a rental. Just turn it off after the jazz club.
Ring 2 (Americanized flava):
Listless garbage. Badly cast, poorly written & lifelessly directed....which surprised me, since the director did the Japanese Ringu, its sequel and also the original Dark Water, which is IMHO one of the best suspense/horror movies of the last ten years.
I loved the first one directed by Gore Verbinski, I thought it was actually superior to the Japanese original...but this one stunk the joint out.
Red Eye:
Excellent no-nonsense thriller by Wes Craven, who is notoriously hit-or-miss. This time he was on his game, and after the putridity of Ring 2 Red Eye was a marvel of compact, efficient storytelling, energetic direction and quality acting.
Cillian Murphy's turn as the Scarecrow was the best thing about Batman Begins, and he does nothing to hurt his stature in this flick.
I've also been making my way through the first season of Lost, which has been pretty good for a high profile network show. I can't help thinking how much better it would be on HBO, but it does OK for itself given the limits of broadcast TV.
The writing is all over the place- it seems like writers are assigned to characters or something, because some of them are consistently interesting and well written, and some of them have backstories straight from some JC screenwriting class that overdosed on Syd Field.
I like the fat guy, the bald survivalist nut played by The Stepfather, the middle aged black gal and the Korean couple best. Sawyer's character is played out and the gal bank robber needs to A: dry her fucking hair once in a while (no really, check it out- it's wet 99% of the time) and B: take some acting lessons- her solution to every dramatic plot point is to squinch up her eyes and affect a look halfway between needing to take a really big shit and trying not to burst into tears because she woke up too late for the hotel's free Continental breakfast.
Hudson described the proper frame of mind to approach it with:
"pretend it's the 1930's and your watching a Buster Crabbe serial at the theater."
Spot on.
If you cut it some slack, it's a fun way to pass the time.
Half a great film. Everything up to the scene in the jazz club is fresh, involving, perfectly executed and captures the 'flavor' of LA's physical and philosophical existence like nothing else I've seen.
Then, unfortunately, the wheels come off and it turns into a disorganized stew of running, car chases, shooting and contrived plot developments.
Still, worth a rental. Just turn it off after the jazz club.
Ring 2 (Americanized flava):
Listless garbage. Badly cast, poorly written & lifelessly directed....which surprised me, since the director did the Japanese Ringu, its sequel and also the original Dark Water, which is IMHO one of the best suspense/horror movies of the last ten years.
I loved the first one directed by Gore Verbinski, I thought it was actually superior to the Japanese original...but this one stunk the joint out.
Red Eye:
Excellent no-nonsense thriller by Wes Craven, who is notoriously hit-or-miss. This time he was on his game, and after the putridity of Ring 2 Red Eye was a marvel of compact, efficient storytelling, energetic direction and quality acting.
Cillian Murphy's turn as the Scarecrow was the best thing about Batman Begins, and he does nothing to hurt his stature in this flick.
I've also been making my way through the first season of Lost, which has been pretty good for a high profile network show. I can't help thinking how much better it would be on HBO, but it does OK for itself given the limits of broadcast TV.
The writing is all over the place- it seems like writers are assigned to characters or something, because some of them are consistently interesting and well written, and some of them have backstories straight from some JC screenwriting class that overdosed on Syd Field.
I like the fat guy, the bald survivalist nut played by The Stepfather, the middle aged black gal and the Korean couple best. Sawyer's character is played out and the gal bank robber needs to A: dry her fucking hair once in a while (no really, check it out- it's wet 99% of the time) and B: take some acting lessons- her solution to every dramatic plot point is to squinch up her eyes and affect a look halfway between needing to take a really big shit and trying not to burst into tears because she woke up too late for the hotel's free Continental breakfast.
Hudson described the proper frame of mind to approach it with:
"pretend it's the 1930's and your watching a Buster Crabbe serial at the theater."
Spot on.
If you cut it some slack, it's a fun way to pass the time.
Thursday, September 21, 2006
why I love the internet, pt. 392
So a while back I run across one of those things you inevitably run across online when venturing beyond the well-scrubbed and brightly lit acreages of the corporate shopping zones- a video of a monkey getting it on then absentmindedly eating eating its own spunk.
(And I ain't kidding, so don't click unless you mean it.)
It's the kind of thing that's gross but kinda funny because it's gross, and it's an internet-specific experience- you're not going to see it on TV, you're not going to accidentally run across it a the video store.
So, however you feel about its content the video is a fairly generic online experience.
What makes it brilliant are the user comments from Metafilter prior to its deletion:
A group of strangers come together to elevate a fairly pedestrian video clip of a monkey eating its own spunk into art.
This, my friends, is the transformative power of the internet.
(And I ain't kidding, so don't click unless you mean it.)
It's the kind of thing that's gross but kinda funny because it's gross, and it's an internet-specific experience- you're not going to see it on TV, you're not going to accidentally run across it a the video store.
So, however you feel about its content the video is a fairly generic online experience.
What makes it brilliant are the user comments from Metafilter prior to its deletion:
Dude, did you seriously just post a 15 second clip of a monkey banging another monkey and then eating his own spooge?
posted by Justinian
Dude, did you seriously just watch it, knowing what it would be?
posted by 2or3whiskeysodas
someday everyone will have videophones and this will be my answering machine message.
posted by snofoam
August 19, 2006 1:42 PM EST ... the precise date and time when western civilization jumped the shark
posted by pyramid termite
I get it! It's a metaphor for the human condition!
posted by onkelchrispy
I can't stop myself from clicking on this link. I have a feeling that a strong wave of regret will soon wash over me.
posted by smackwich
Can --> should. What's not to understand?
Now if you'll excuse me, I just realized I have a moral imperative to go skull-fuck a hobo.
posted by gramschmidt
this is the defining post of my generation.
posted by Stynxno
A group of strangers come together to elevate a fairly pedestrian video clip of a monkey eating its own spunk into art.
This, my friends, is the transformative power of the internet.
Happy Birthday Devritsko!
I may be a bit off...but I've known Bobo for 25 years and couldn't tell you his birthday if you held a pistol to my head....so feel special.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
More Portable Stuff
portableapps.com
a host of stand-alone programs that can run themselves from a USB drive.
This is tempting me to pick up one of those little keychain USB thingies...
a host of stand-alone programs that can run themselves from a USB drive.
This is tempting me to pick up one of those little keychain USB thingies...
portable anonymous web surfing
In keeping with our sporadic commitment to online privacy the Baxblog is happy to relay a release announcement for Torpark.
Stick it to The Man, dear readers!
Hacktivismo, an international group of computer security experts and human rights workers, just released Torpark, an anonymous, fully portable Web browser based on Mozilla Firefox. Torpark comes pre-configured, requires no installation, can run off a USB memory stick, and leaves no tracks behind in the browser or computer.
Stick it to The Man, dear readers!
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Sunday, September 17, 2006
Saturday, September 16, 2006
5 strangest iPod cases
according to techEblog.
Mostly goofy fun, but I'm seriously considering this baby.
Such a macho case would make me default winner of any intercenine iPod battles with my pals.
Mostly goofy fun, but I'm seriously considering this baby.
Such a macho case would make me default winner of any intercenine iPod battles with my pals.
Southland Sojourn: day two part one
We started off with our traditional breakfast at Pat & Lorraine's, familiar to Tarantino fans as the scene of the famous opening monologue from Reservoir Dogs.
Most of the food and drink is fairly typical diner fare, but they have spectacular Machaca, served with scrambled eggs & 'home fries'.
(an aside: home fries are a shameful surrender by restaurant management to prep cooks who are too lazy to grate potatoes for real hash browns. But in this case, the machaca more than makes up for the corner-cutting.)
Any visit to LA involves a lot of driving around, and this was our day to rack up the miles. We sped hither and yon in Bobo's trusty Jetta, framing LA's vast cultural sprawl with a car windshield. Following last month's midwest swing it was strange to see a city that was vibrant, alive and fully populated...even the squalid bits had more meat on their bones than the midwest equivalent, adding their own flavor to the stock of the city.
Although even by west coast standards LA is almost tumourously alive, pulsing and squelching like Tetsuo's renegade flesh at the end of Akira. One minute you're think you're in Korea or Vietnam, drive three blocks and you're in some wretched American slum, drive a few more blocks and you're surrounded by exotic Italian sports car dealerships. It's more than a little disorienting.
Bobo is an excellent tour guide, capable of delivering a thumbnail history of whatever neighborhood you find yourself in. Our trip to his favorite Highland Park taco truck the previous night included a gratis lecture on the history of its resident Avenues street gang and several colorful anecdotes invovling shootouts at burger stands and gas stations.
We ran some errands and then went in search of lunch, which Bobo decided would be at a posh bakery cafe called Doughboys. Finding it was a chore, as Bobo couldn't remember what street it was on and his call for directions got us sent on a wild goose chase (what kind of waiter doesn't know the street their restaurant is on?) Bobo finally abandoned modern technological solutions and let the Force guide us. Tacking against the headwind of my ridicule, he got us to our destination only slightly behind schedule.
The food was worth the wait, although I had better service at a Wendy's in Kentucky. Our well-meaning, very energetic and heavily tattooed server kept hopelessly misreading our intentions- his response to our plea for a basic espresso drink was some kind of vanilla milkshake.
Bobo (nonplussed):
Uh...no. Do you have an iced latte?
Server (with the enthusiasm of a very small dog):
Sure! Should I make that a double?!?
Bobo (deadpan):
No thanks.
Our order of dual French Dips also triggered a merchandising land mine- "Would you like those white trash style, with bacon and grilled onions?!?"
Bobo blinked rapidly in horror, but recovered his equilibrium in time to mask my involuntary choking with a polite refusal.
Quick question for social historians:
When was bacon elected America's culinary panacea?
Once we fended off our server's aggressive upsaleing (irritating for the patron, mana for the owner) we enjoyed excellent iced lattes and OUTSTANDING French Dips, the best I've ever had. And you need to understand I spent a good portion of my youth in the company of the Pelf, sampling every French Dip we could find.
This one was ideal in every respect. They bake their own bread, so a perfect baguette is perhaps to be expected. But the meat was thinly sliced, pink and succulent, and the Jus was copious and carried the deep color and flavor of stock, not the thin, bitter taste of bouillon. Plus, there was more than enough of it. Even the horseradish sauce was spot on- not to hot, but not washed out and bland.
The food redeemed the experience, which is fine with me. I'll take spectacular food in a so-so setting over so-so food in a spectacular setting every time.
(to be continued)
Most of the food and drink is fairly typical diner fare, but they have spectacular Machaca, served with scrambled eggs & 'home fries'.
(an aside: home fries are a shameful surrender by restaurant management to prep cooks who are too lazy to grate potatoes for real hash browns. But in this case, the machaca more than makes up for the corner-cutting.)
Any visit to LA involves a lot of driving around, and this was our day to rack up the miles. We sped hither and yon in Bobo's trusty Jetta, framing LA's vast cultural sprawl with a car windshield. Following last month's midwest swing it was strange to see a city that was vibrant, alive and fully populated...even the squalid bits had more meat on their bones than the midwest equivalent, adding their own flavor to the stock of the city.
Although even by west coast standards LA is almost tumourously alive, pulsing and squelching like Tetsuo's renegade flesh at the end of Akira. One minute you're think you're in Korea or Vietnam, drive three blocks and you're in some wretched American slum, drive a few more blocks and you're surrounded by exotic Italian sports car dealerships. It's more than a little disorienting.
Bobo is an excellent tour guide, capable of delivering a thumbnail history of whatever neighborhood you find yourself in. Our trip to his favorite Highland Park taco truck the previous night included a gratis lecture on the history of its resident Avenues street gang and several colorful anecdotes invovling shootouts at burger stands and gas stations.
We ran some errands and then went in search of lunch, which Bobo decided would be at a posh bakery cafe called Doughboys. Finding it was a chore, as Bobo couldn't remember what street it was on and his call for directions got us sent on a wild goose chase (what kind of waiter doesn't know the street their restaurant is on?) Bobo finally abandoned modern technological solutions and let the Force guide us. Tacking against the headwind of my ridicule, he got us to our destination only slightly behind schedule.
The food was worth the wait, although I had better service at a Wendy's in Kentucky. Our well-meaning, very energetic and heavily tattooed server kept hopelessly misreading our intentions- his response to our plea for a basic espresso drink was some kind of vanilla milkshake.
Bobo (nonplussed):
Uh...no. Do you have an iced latte?
Server (with the enthusiasm of a very small dog):
Sure! Should I make that a double?!?
Bobo (deadpan):
No thanks.
Our order of dual French Dips also triggered a merchandising land mine- "Would you like those white trash style, with bacon and grilled onions?!?"
Bobo blinked rapidly in horror, but recovered his equilibrium in time to mask my involuntary choking with a polite refusal.
Quick question for social historians:
When was bacon elected America's culinary panacea?
Once we fended off our server's aggressive upsaleing (irritating for the patron, mana for the owner) we enjoyed excellent iced lattes and OUTSTANDING French Dips, the best I've ever had. And you need to understand I spent a good portion of my youth in the company of the Pelf, sampling every French Dip we could find.
This one was ideal in every respect. They bake their own bread, so a perfect baguette is perhaps to be expected. But the meat was thinly sliced, pink and succulent, and the Jus was copious and carried the deep color and flavor of stock, not the thin, bitter taste of bouillon. Plus, there was more than enough of it. Even the horseradish sauce was spot on- not to hot, but not washed out and bland.
The food redeemed the experience, which is fine with me. I'll take spectacular food in a so-so setting over so-so food in a spectacular setting every time.
(to be continued)
Thursday, September 14, 2006
Burning Man: A Responsible Opposing Viewpoint
clicky clicky.
Burning Man is not for non-conformists. You must wear a Burning Man outfit or risk constant abuse. I did not wear any silly costumes at Burning Man, or dress in drag, or hang my ass in the breeze, nor did my friends. Surviving the heat was plenty: we had no spare energy for playing dress up. For this breech in burner protocol, weirdoes in furry suits chided us that “jeans are not a costume.” These “furries” dress in full fur suits, like comic characters in the Ice Capades or that big rat at Chucky Cheese, and like to do drugs and have sex in their suits while in character. If there is anything worse than a pervert, it’s a self-righteous druggie pervert, dressed as a chipmunk, offering unsolicited fashion tips. If you want catty advice on how to dress from a crowd of Rocky Horror Picture Show rejects, Burning Man is for you.
Monday, September 11, 2006
good for Wiki
Contrary to the craven corporate cowardice of big-time internet outfits like Google, Microsoft and Yahoo, Wikipedia told China to piss up a rope when asked to censor it's entries to comply with China's authoritarian demands.
A bit of positive news in the sea of negativity.
Wales said censorship was ' antithetical to the philosophy of Wikipedia. We occupy a position in the culture that I wish Google would take up, which is that we stand for the freedom for information, and for us to compromise I think would send very much the wrong signal: that there's no one left on the planet who's willing to say "You know what? We're not going to give up."'
A bit of positive news in the sea of negativity.
Southland Sojourn: day one
I zipped down to Boboland for a few days last week- Anner was in Paris and Bobo had a spare few hours for hanging out.
Took the train because I hate driving long distances and like trains. I rode a lot of trains in my youth and I can't say I'm happy with the changes wrought by cell phones- every other seat had some Chatty Cathy spouting the usual monologue ("yeah...I'm on a train. Where are you?"). But as technology taketh away it also giveth- I was able to dam the tide of cellular triviality by plugging in to my iPod, replacing banal minutiae with quality modern music.
Bobo picked me up at Union Station, a gorgeous, old-timey terminal and we went in search of late night provender.
Bobo's first several choices were all closed so we tried Del Taco, which had the dual advantages of a drive-through window and no outposts in my hometown. Alas, hungry as I was I couldn't get past all of their combo meals being served with French fries.
WTF man. Who in the hell wants fries with their asada taco?
This crisis led Bobo to a startling realization:
"I've been thinking like a white man!"
Minutes later we pulled up to his favorite taco truck, where the dilapidated menu offered head, tongue and buche* as well as the more traditional beef, pork and chicken.
I went for a pair of Al Pastor tacos (heavily spiced shredded pork) and an asada burrito, all of which were excellent. While some purists argue that serving burritos is a black mark, I disagree. They're not traditional, but so long as they're not the gigantic rice-stuffed monstrosities you expect to find at chain margarita joints I think they have a place.
We cruised back over the hill to Casa Bobo, greeted the hounds, relaxed for a bit and then turned in for the night.
(to be continued)
*subsequent investigation led to the discovery that Buche is pig skin.
Took the train because I hate driving long distances and like trains. I rode a lot of trains in my youth and I can't say I'm happy with the changes wrought by cell phones- every other seat had some Chatty Cathy spouting the usual monologue ("yeah...I'm on a train. Where are you?"). But as technology taketh away it also giveth- I was able to dam the tide of cellular triviality by plugging in to my iPod, replacing banal minutiae with quality modern music.
Bobo picked me up at Union Station, a gorgeous, old-timey terminal and we went in search of late night provender.
Bobo's first several choices were all closed so we tried Del Taco, which had the dual advantages of a drive-through window and no outposts in my hometown. Alas, hungry as I was I couldn't get past all of their combo meals being served with French fries.
WTF man. Who in the hell wants fries with their asada taco?
This crisis led Bobo to a startling realization:
"I've been thinking like a white man!"
Minutes later we pulled up to his favorite taco truck, where the dilapidated menu offered head, tongue and buche* as well as the more traditional beef, pork and chicken.
I went for a pair of Al Pastor tacos (heavily spiced shredded pork) and an asada burrito, all of which were excellent. While some purists argue that serving burritos is a black mark, I disagree. They're not traditional, but so long as they're not the gigantic rice-stuffed monstrosities you expect to find at chain margarita joints I think they have a place.
We cruised back over the hill to Casa Bobo, greeted the hounds, relaxed for a bit and then turned in for the night.
(to be continued)
*subsequent investigation led to the discovery that Buche is pig skin.
Saturday, September 9, 2006
Amazon's pointless new service.
Oh shiny shiny!
Amazon is offering downloadable movies.
Of course, they're overpriced (14-17 dollars- more expensive than Best Buy) and they are crippled with idiotic restrictions.
I realize it's a hard reality for corporations to come to grips with, but at this point in the digital revolution consumers are used to doing whatever they want with their media. Proprietary formats and usage restrictions don't fly with a customer base that could if it so desired order a movie from netflix or pick one up from their local video store and make a copy that plays on anything and that they can do whatever they want with.
Contrast that with paying full retail for a gimped version with severe restrictions on use.
If they want people to pay full boat, they need to give them full use.
If they're not going to give them full use, they need to DRASTICALLY reduce the price to reflect the limited nature of their offering.
/edit
I dislike Barenaked Ladies in their entirity, but one of the members makes excellent points on the corporate mania for crippled content:
Amazon is offering downloadable movies.
Of course, they're overpriced (14-17 dollars- more expensive than Best Buy) and they are crippled with idiotic restrictions.
I realize it's a hard reality for corporations to come to grips with, but at this point in the digital revolution consumers are used to doing whatever they want with their media. Proprietary formats and usage restrictions don't fly with a customer base that could if it so desired order a movie from netflix or pick one up from their local video store and make a copy that plays on anything and that they can do whatever they want with.
Contrast that with paying full retail for a gimped version with severe restrictions on use.
If they want people to pay full boat, they need to give them full use.
If they're not going to give them full use, they need to DRASTICALLY reduce the price to reflect the limited nature of their offering.
/edit
I dislike Barenaked Ladies in their entirity, but one of the members makes excellent points on the corporate mania for crippled content:
Basically, they're saying you can have all this music for free, but you can only keep it on your computer and one other device. That kind of maniacal need for control is what will be the death of major labels. If they continue to stop people from listening to music in the way they want it, people will continue to make other choices. I think that labels need to stop the restrictive and manipulative use of DRM, and, frankly, we should legalize P2P, and have it properly licensed from the ISP level (sure, the ISPs will complain, but, let them complain).
Wednesday, September 6, 2006
DIY gourds!
A follow-up of sorts to my gourd art post a while ago.
vegiforms.
Turn your fast-growing veg into art!
vegiforms.
Turn your fast-growing veg into art!
Tuesday, September 5, 2006
Saturday, September 2, 2006
Old timey cocktails
A random drink recipe from a facimile edition of the Savoy Cocktail Book:
POOP DECK COCKTAIL
1/2 Blackberry Brandy
1/4 Port Wine
1/4 Brandy
shake well and strain into cocktail glass
Shudder.
It doesn't specify, but I assume all measurements are in jiggers.
And here are "A Few Hints For the Young Mixer":
Here's the recipe for a Tom Collins, circa 1930:
Interesting- I'll have to check it out, although I'm generally no fan of soda water.
The version you'll get in most contemporary bars is gin, sweet & sour mix and tonic water. The version I've always made is gin, Collins mix (which you can still get at most grocery stores) and tonic.
POOP DECK COCKTAIL
1/2 Blackberry Brandy
1/4 Port Wine
1/4 Brandy
shake well and strain into cocktail glass
Shudder.
It doesn't specify, but I assume all measurements are in jiggers.
And here are "A Few Hints For the Young Mixer":
1: Ice is nearly always an absolute essential for any cocktail.
2: Never use the same ice twice.
3: Remember that ingridients mix better in a shaker rather larger than is necessary to contain them.
4: Shake the shaker as hard as you can: don't just rock it: you are trying to wake it up, not send it to sleep!
5: Drink your cocktail as soon as possible. Harry Craddock was once asked what was the best way to drink a cocktail: "Quickly" replied that great man, "while it's still laughing at you!"
Here's the recipe for a Tom Collins, circa 1930:
Juice of 1/2 Lemon
1/2 Tablespoonful Powdered Sugar
1 Glass Dry Gin
Shake well and strain into a large bar glass. Fill up the glass with plain soda water and imbibe while it is lively.
Interesting- I'll have to check it out, although I'm generally no fan of soda water.
The version you'll get in most contemporary bars is gin, sweet & sour mix and tonic water. The version I've always made is gin, Collins mix (which you can still get at most grocery stores) and tonic.
Thursday, August 31, 2006
attn Ivan e Bobo
your chance to own a piece of poo history!
Don't say I never did anything for you.
/edit
I guess the Scientologists ganked the Ebay listing, but here's what you needed to see.
Don't say I never did anything for you.
/edit
I guess the Scientologists ganked the Ebay listing, but here's what you needed to see.
music: live thursday
some of my favorite songs of recent vintage, live
TV on the Radio: Young Liars (showbox seattle)
quality is so-so, but what a performance.
Wolf Parade: I'll Believe in Anything (showbox seattle)
Arcade Fire: Wake Up (french TV)
clap your hands say yeah: By The Skin of My Yellow Country Teeth
serena-maneesh: Drain Cosmetics
I can't find anything live (maybe cause they're Norwegian), but here's a 'music video'
Spoon: The Beast and Dragon Adored (austin city limits)
TV on the Radio: Young Liars (showbox seattle)
quality is so-so, but what a performance.
Wolf Parade: I'll Believe in Anything (showbox seattle)
Arcade Fire: Wake Up (french TV)
clap your hands say yeah: By The Skin of My Yellow Country Teeth
serena-maneesh: Drain Cosmetics
I can't find anything live (maybe cause they're Norwegian), but here's a 'music video'
Spoon: The Beast and Dragon Adored (austin city limits)
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
why the internet rules
one of my boxing pals had a bad experience with a mover- he arrived at his new home to find the truck with all his belongings was lagging a week behind. His interactions with the company being unsatisfactory, he took his case to the internet...where the van line was found guilty by the readers of his blog.
HAH.
Further details of his trials and tribulations can be found here.
And he recommends this interesting site on avoiding moving scams. I learned a few things!
HAH.
Further details of his trials and tribulations can be found here.
And he recommends this interesting site on avoiding moving scams. I learned a few things!
taco trucks
Along the lines of that one site where the dude wants to rate every taco stand in LA, this one shines a light on the Taco Trucks of the East Bay.
Monday, August 28, 2006
movies : Pirates & Sunshine
After weeks of subtle and not-so-subtle conniving, the wife lured me into the theater to check out the Pirates of the Caribbean sequel.
I'm usually down on sequels because they usually suck ass.
The only reason they exist is to make money off a built-in audience who crave more of whatever magic the original delivered, said delivery in a sequel being severely compromised by corporate terror of changing anything in a formula that works.
Any big budget film is a triumph of cash over creativity and in a sequel situation the table is rigged even more ridiculously in favor of the of the house.
Taking all that into account, I had a good time with Pirates II.
In fact, on first pass I liked it better than its predecessor. The oceanic undead crew of Davy Jones routed the snore-inducing zombie pirates of the first flick, and with so much screen time in each dedicated to the opposition this was a major improvement.
A good summer watch, even if I waited until the tail end of the season to catch it.
On to a real movie, Little Miss Sunshine.
We caught this one during our midwest swing, at the gorgeous Michigan Theater in Ann Arbor (the only town we visited with any signs of cultural life obvious to a touristy sort).
Great flick, I recommend it to everyone.
It's an interesting hybrid.
The underlying structure could not be more mainstream Hollywood- family undergoes journey of discovery (the 'journey' being made explicit via that hoary cinema cliche, the road trip), obstacles are overcome, lessons are learned and everything is neatly wrapped up in the appropriately heartwarming finale.
But that hackneyed Syd Field structure is populated by living, breathing (and excellently acted & written) characters, and utterly free from the creative straightjacket imposed by the corporate studio system currently suffocating mainstream American cinema.
It's a mainstream Hollywood family drama re-imagined by people with talent, which supports my long-held belief that nothing's wrong with Hollywood that locking up the suits and letting genuinely creative people operate free of focus groups and corporate meddling wouldn't fix.
I'm usually down on sequels because they usually suck ass.
The only reason they exist is to make money off a built-in audience who crave more of whatever magic the original delivered, said delivery in a sequel being severely compromised by corporate terror of changing anything in a formula that works.
Any big budget film is a triumph of cash over creativity and in a sequel situation the table is rigged even more ridiculously in favor of the of the house.
Taking all that into account, I had a good time with Pirates II.
In fact, on first pass I liked it better than its predecessor. The oceanic undead crew of Davy Jones routed the snore-inducing zombie pirates of the first flick, and with so much screen time in each dedicated to the opposition this was a major improvement.
A good summer watch, even if I waited until the tail end of the season to catch it.
On to a real movie, Little Miss Sunshine.
We caught this one during our midwest swing, at the gorgeous Michigan Theater in Ann Arbor (the only town we visited with any signs of cultural life obvious to a touristy sort).
Great flick, I recommend it to everyone.
It's an interesting hybrid.
The underlying structure could not be more mainstream Hollywood- family undergoes journey of discovery (the 'journey' being made explicit via that hoary cinema cliche, the road trip), obstacles are overcome, lessons are learned and everything is neatly wrapped up in the appropriately heartwarming finale.
But that hackneyed Syd Field structure is populated by living, breathing (and excellently acted & written) characters, and utterly free from the creative straightjacket imposed by the corporate studio system currently suffocating mainstream American cinema.
It's a mainstream Hollywood family drama re-imagined by people with talent, which supports my long-held belief that nothing's wrong with Hollywood that locking up the suits and letting genuinely creative people operate free of focus groups and corporate meddling wouldn't fix.
Windows DRM cracked
Another blow struck for consumer freedom.
.wma file quality sucks ass and I'd never willingly use it, but I'm glad Microsoft's gimped 'security' measures have taken a fatal blow.
I also hate their name for it- PlaysForSure.
Pimping your crippleware as some kind of customer service is Orwellian.
.wma file quality sucks ass and I'd never willingly use it, but I'm glad Microsoft's gimped 'security' measures have taken a fatal blow.
I also hate their name for it- PlaysForSure.
Pimping your crippleware as some kind of customer service is Orwellian.
Saturday, August 26, 2006
Russian prison shanks
The pictures are interesting, but it's the captions I love.
"This is top-designed. There is a saying simplicity means geniousity."
and
"The one thing scares me about all of the devices depicted is that they probably were used to cut and kill real flesh. That’s crazy."
are my two favorites.
"This is top-designed. There is a saying simplicity means geniousity."
and
"The one thing scares me about all of the devices depicted is that they probably were used to cut and kill real flesh. That’s crazy."
are my two favorites.
wallpaper for high-res monitors
The only down side to running my monitor at extrememly high resolution is a lack of decent wallpapers.
voila!
Nothing mind-blowing there, but it's the best selection of really high res images I've come across.
voila!
Nothing mind-blowing there, but it's the best selection of really high res images I've come across.
One for Ivan & Bobo
Puke Planet.
Claiming to be "The Internet's only site devoted to Puke and Vomit. Guaranteed."
It's exactly what it says, so don't post militant comments about how I ruined your lunch!
sites of related interest:
air sickness bag virtual museum
E! Online's top ten puke scenes (pretty good list!)
and for the pet lovers, Katpuke.com
Claiming to be "The Internet's only site devoted to Puke and Vomit. Guaranteed."
It's exactly what it says, so don't post militant comments about how I ruined your lunch!
sites of related interest:
air sickness bag virtual museum
E! Online's top ten puke scenes (pretty good list!)
and for the pet lovers, Katpuke.com
update the first
It's mildly amusing that the Blogger spellchecker doesn't recognize the words blog, blogger & blogging.
Day of Updates
So, for those of you wondering just how lazy I am...an answer.
In the wake of Google "improving" the blogger interface they locked out the browser I use at work, an ancient version of Firefox from when it was still called Firebird. It still works with everything except blogger, and given it has roughly a century of accumulated bookmarks that I can't export you'll understand I am loathe to discard it.
Happily Blogger has started working with newer version of Firefox, like the one I'm using now.
And this brings us back to how lazy I am...switching from my preferred browser to this one to post updates fills me with existential ennui and triggers a desire to light up aGauloise, hit open mic night at the local cafe and shoulder aside the reeking horde of street poets, avant-jazz combos & budding stand up comedians to deliver my dire message of apocalyptic woe to a bemused crowd of hipsters typing on their Macbooks.
This, dear reader, is why you have been so sorely neglected the past while.
Thus, the Day of Updates.
Let loose the doves and balloons, sound the trumpets and prepare for the blogging rapture of angelic updates fluttering onto your monitors in an unending stream!
Well, at least for the next couple of hours...
In the wake of Google "improving" the blogger interface they locked out the browser I use at work, an ancient version of Firefox from when it was still called Firebird. It still works with everything except blogger, and given it has roughly a century of accumulated bookmarks that I can't export you'll understand I am loathe to discard it.
Happily Blogger has started working with newer version of Firefox, like the one I'm using now.
And this brings us back to how lazy I am...switching from my preferred browser to this one to post updates fills me with existential ennui and triggers a desire to light up aGauloise, hit open mic night at the local cafe and shoulder aside the reeking horde of street poets, avant-jazz combos & budding stand up comedians to deliver my dire message of apocalyptic woe to a bemused crowd of hipsters typing on their Macbooks.
This, dear reader, is why you have been so sorely neglected the past while.
Thus, the Day of Updates.
Let loose the doves and balloons, sound the trumpets and prepare for the blogging rapture of angelic updates fluttering onto your monitors in an unending stream!
Well, at least for the next couple of hours...
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Vikings, Ho!
hot native american vs viking ak-shown courtesy of Ivanusk, who says
"It's been a long dry spell for viking movies."
"It's been a long dry spell for viking movies."
Sunday, August 20, 2006
name generators
silly superhero names
samples:
Reptile Bureaucrat
Yawn Beast
Giant Democrat
Professor Whiner
Underwear Psychic
heavy metal song name generator (one of my all time favorites)
samples:
Glazed Lusty Tumor
Hysteric Norse
Golgothan Vagina of Hurt
Cemetary of the Smoldering Torso
the Unitarian Jihad Name Generator, for a more focused demographic.
for Ivan, a Viking quiz and name generator
and in a postmodern vein, the Name Generator Generator.
samples:
Reptile Bureaucrat
Yawn Beast
Giant Democrat
Professor Whiner
Underwear Psychic
heavy metal song name generator (one of my all time favorites)
samples:
Glazed Lusty Tumor
Hysteric Norse
Golgothan Vagina of Hurt
Cemetary of the Smoldering Torso
the Unitarian Jihad Name Generator, for a more focused demographic.
for Ivan, a Viking quiz and name generator
and in a postmodern vein, the Name Generator Generator.
neat online word processor
One more step toward Google world domination.
I use openoffice for serious processing and a little freeware text editor for jotting stuff down, but I can see the utility of having your shizz online.
If you travel around a lot or whatever, could be handy.
I use openoffice for serious processing and a little freeware text editor for jotting stuff down, but I can see the utility of having your shizz online.
If you travel around a lot or whatever, could be handy.
Saturday, August 19, 2006
Friday, August 18, 2006
fuck blogger...also, a recipe
it's just refusing to work with Firefox at all now, I'm posting this via (gag) explorer. >:
anyway, a quick recipe for turkey burgers. Made it for lunch and they're excellent.
1lb turkey burger
ample salt & pepper
1 tsp sage
several shakes of onion powder
4-5 shakes of Worsteshire sauce
break up burger in a large bowl, add spices and combine.
divide burger into 4 equal portions.
Make a loose ball, form into a patty, press down in the center (this keeps it from lumping up in the middle).
using a grill pan, preheat on high then reduce to medium-high after adding patties.
cook 5 minutes, flip and cook 3-5 minutes more, depending on desired done-ness.
Savory, juicy and delicious.
anyway, a quick recipe for turkey burgers. Made it for lunch and they're excellent.
1lb turkey burger
ample salt & pepper
1 tsp sage
several shakes of onion powder
4-5 shakes of Worsteshire sauce
break up burger in a large bowl, add spices and combine.
divide burger into 4 equal portions.
Make a loose ball, form into a patty, press down in the center (this keeps it from lumping up in the middle).
using a grill pan, preheat on high then reduce to medium-high after adding patties.
cook 5 minutes, flip and cook 3-5 minutes more, depending on desired done-ness.
Savory, juicy and delicious.
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Blogger blues
It seems Google bought Blogger a while ago and they just started "improving" it while I was on vacation.
Their idea of improving customer satisfaction seems to be completely fucking up the login system and making posts vanish into the ether....yipee!
Anyway, I uploaded a truckload of vacation pix to flickr last night, so use the link on the sidebar to check them out.
Future updates will depend on how soon google gets their hash sorted....
Their idea of improving customer satisfaction seems to be completely fucking up the login system and making posts vanish into the ether....yipee!
Anyway, I uploaded a truckload of vacation pix to flickr last night, so use the link on the sidebar to check them out.
Future updates will depend on how soon google gets their hash sorted....
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
Home again, home again jiggity jig....gooooood Evening, JF!
I survived the midwest (and the south).
Back at work today after a walkabout through the central and lower parts of the country.
We visited our pals James & Courtney in scenic Bowling Green, Ohio and were swept up in several long-planned road trips they had schedules, including a lengthy sojourn to Nashville with pit-stops in Cincinnati & Louisville.
On the way home we stopped at Historic Diamond Caverns (as I sit here at home I still have some Diamond Cave mud in the crevices of my shoes, which is strange) and the National Corvette Museum.
We opted against Kentucky Down Under, warned off by some primitive survival instinct (Australia + Kentucky Cave = UNCLEAN).
The same warning bell sounded again as we passed a resturant promising "California Style Mexican Food"...I wanted to stop, just to see if it measured up to the "Mexican" food we had in Egmond Aan Zee, but was overruled.
I've got a serious case of blog backlog, so expect frequent expulsions of content as I digest more of our sojourn.
And expect a gigantic flickr update tonight once I unpack the camera.
Back at work today after a walkabout through the central and lower parts of the country.
We visited our pals James & Courtney in scenic Bowling Green, Ohio and were swept up in several long-planned road trips they had schedules, including a lengthy sojourn to Nashville with pit-stops in Cincinnati & Louisville.
On the way home we stopped at Historic Diamond Caverns (as I sit here at home I still have some Diamond Cave mud in the crevices of my shoes, which is strange) and the National Corvette Museum.
We opted against Kentucky Down Under, warned off by some primitive survival instinct (Australia + Kentucky Cave = UNCLEAN).
The same warning bell sounded again as we passed a resturant promising "California Style Mexican Food"...I wanted to stop, just to see if it measured up to the "Mexican" food we had in Egmond Aan Zee, but was overruled.
I've got a serious case of blog backlog, so expect frequent expulsions of content as I digest more of our sojourn.
And expect a gigantic flickr update tonight once I unpack the camera.
Sunday, August 6, 2006
neato flash games
Noticed a bunch of cool games on this blog, so I'll just link the blog instead of all the individual games.
clicky clicky
clicky clicky
stuff people say
Gal yesterday:
"Where are your true stories?"
Little girl up in the loft today:
"Mom! I see you down there mom! You're so small down there! Why are you so small down there!"
Courtney, describing Ohio to the wife:
"It's like a giant Fresno"
Way to get us psyched up for our visit!
"Where are your true stories?"
Little girl up in the loft today:
"Mom! I see you down there mom! You're so small down there! Why are you so small down there!"
Courtney, describing Ohio to the wife:
"It's like a giant Fresno"
Way to get us psyched up for our visit!
Saturday, August 5, 2006
what superhero are you?
these kinds of quizzes are usually ghey, but this one was pretty keen.
Your results:
You are Hulk
Click here to take the Superhero Personality Test
Your results:
You are Hulk
| You are a wanderer with amazing strength.  |
Click here to take the Superhero Personality Test
useful site
Old Version is a site that archives previous releases of popular software.
Very hand when that nifty freeware utility you can't live without suddenly starts charging, or a favorite releases a crap-tastic new version that makes you want to smash your monitor with a bat.
Very hand when that nifty freeware utility you can't live without suddenly starts charging, or a favorite releases a crap-tastic new version that makes you want to smash your monitor with a bat.
Friday, August 4, 2006
game: faux-Risk
An abstract version of the classic boardgame, courtesy of those crazy Japanese.
Strangely compelling!
Strangely compelling!
Thursday, August 3, 2006
Wednesday, August 2, 2006
Contrast podcast
I generally get my new music cues from Hype Machine, Pitchfork, one of the music blogs I check or even the clued-in cats at the record shop next door.
The arrival of my iPod has opened up the avenue of the podcast.
Walking to work is the perfect time to audit new tunes, and slapping a podcast or two on the machine is the work of seconds.
My favorite one lately is the Contrast podcast, a group effort with themed contributions from a bunch of music bloggers from around the world.
I never like everything, but I always hear something great that's new to me.
The arrival of my iPod has opened up the avenue of the podcast.
Walking to work is the perfect time to audit new tunes, and slapping a podcast or two on the machine is the work of seconds.
My favorite one lately is the Contrast podcast, a group effort with themed contributions from a bunch of music bloggers from around the world.
I never like everything, but I always hear something great that's new to me.
Monday, July 31, 2006
movie: Munich
My recent rampage continues with Munich, screened during a visit to the Fiend's stomping grounds.
First comment- it was too GODDAMN long.
I can usually peg exactly how much fat a film needed to trim from the runtime, but measurement was addled by the bro in law's habit of pausing the film to rant, rewinding the film to see cool parts again and making us watch the first 15 minutes of War of the Worlds about halfway through.
The movie felt like it was 4 1/2 hours long, but IMDB claims it's under three.
2.5 would have been spot on, so it needed to lose 25 or 20 minutes.
It was pretty good, especially for one of Speilberg's 'serious, important' Oscar-bait movies. It had some great scenes and set pieces, the acting was uniformly excellent, the casting was spot on and Eric Bana earned forgiveness for the abomination that was The Hulk.
But Spielberg can't resist peppering a film with flashy "look at me, folks...ain't I clever!" directorial flourishes. That kind of gimmicky stuff is great in a movie with rampaging dinosaurs, dashing & heroic archaeologists or plucky children helping out their alien pal...it doesn't come off so well in war films, movies about the Holocaust or cinematic explorations of Israeli/Palestinian dilemma.
Bloated runtime and irritating bits of directorial business aside, it was a good watch. It was, of course, as much a story of post-9/11 America as it was a story of the Olympic massacre or Israeli/Palestinian relationships. The screenplay by Tony Kushner (Angels in America) handled the multiple levels of meaning with a deft touch.
I can see why it wasn't widely popular since the philosophical vision of the film takes something of a "pox on both their houses" approach.
The rationale for Israel's existence is forcefully made, but the end just as forcefully drives home the creator's viewpoint that the policies of the Israeli government have turned their back on what should be the guiding principals of it's population.
And it doesn't take a bloodhound to sniff out the parallels with our current situation here in the good ol' USA.
There is the seed of a great film here...but one with a different director, and made outside the Hollywood system.
Still, worth a watch. Flawed but interesting.
First comment- it was too GODDAMN long.
I can usually peg exactly how much fat a film needed to trim from the runtime, but measurement was addled by the bro in law's habit of pausing the film to rant, rewinding the film to see cool parts again and making us watch the first 15 minutes of War of the Worlds about halfway through.
The movie felt like it was 4 1/2 hours long, but IMDB claims it's under three.
2.5 would have been spot on, so it needed to lose 25 or 20 minutes.
It was pretty good, especially for one of Speilberg's 'serious, important' Oscar-bait movies. It had some great scenes and set pieces, the acting was uniformly excellent, the casting was spot on and Eric Bana earned forgiveness for the abomination that was The Hulk.
But Spielberg can't resist peppering a film with flashy "look at me, folks...ain't I clever!" directorial flourishes. That kind of gimmicky stuff is great in a movie with rampaging dinosaurs, dashing & heroic archaeologists or plucky children helping out their alien pal...it doesn't come off so well in war films, movies about the Holocaust or cinematic explorations of Israeli/Palestinian dilemma.
Bloated runtime and irritating bits of directorial business aside, it was a good watch. It was, of course, as much a story of post-9/11 America as it was a story of the Olympic massacre or Israeli/Palestinian relationships. The screenplay by Tony Kushner (Angels in America) handled the multiple levels of meaning with a deft touch.
I can see why it wasn't widely popular since the philosophical vision of the film takes something of a "pox on both their houses" approach.
The rationale for Israel's existence is forcefully made, but the end just as forcefully drives home the creator's viewpoint that the policies of the Israeli government have turned their back on what should be the guiding principals of it's population.
And it doesn't take a bloodhound to sniff out the parallels with our current situation here in the good ol' USA.
There is the seed of a great film here...but one with a different director, and made outside the Hollywood system.
Still, worth a watch. Flawed but interesting.
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