Category: Personal

When people are still small children, they of course look up to their parents (and to a lesser degree other adults) as fonts of wisdom who know everything and are never wrong. Then they become teenagers and the exact opposite is true. Still, I’ve come to accept after 40+ years, that my Dad does know an awful lot about many subjects and he sent in this answer to my question about sources of real country names:

“The names for some of the countries are left over from ancient times. The name Helvetica comes from the Latin for the tribers that lived in those mountains (Helvetii), Romaniya is an attempt by that country to connect with its Roman provincial history. Croatia is an attempt by others to pronounce Hrvatska, which is what they call themselves. Others are similar to these examples.”

Thanks, Dad!

Anil points to an interesting map of Europe made by Geoff Cohen that labels the countries with the name used by its citizens. Switzerland, for instance, is Helvetica, Ireland is Eire, and Hungary is Magyarorszag. The same kind of thing is true with many other nations as well so the question I have, and to be honest this is something I wondered about previously, is why do we use these other made up names? Eire to Ireland is fairly simple I suppose, and Magyarorszag to Hungary comes from the Austro-Hungarian Empire (probably somehow related to an early ruling family name, this is the reason behind the derivation of the English name for China, which is called Zhong Guo internally) but how does one get from Helvetica to Switzerland? Cohen says that these names are leftovers from the British Colonial era but no one feels strongly enough to change things. Cool map though.

My first round of auctions finished up yesterday and I have to say that I’m satisfied with the results. 12 out of 18 items sold for a total of $222 less fees but plus shipping; hopefully I pegged the shipping charges at the right level to include the fees, whch I’m told is extremely standard. Of the six items that didn’t sell, I got email about one from someone who said she was concerned about my zero rating but that if I relisted (after exchanging emails) she would bid–I did and she already has.

Dealing with all the end of auction/payment-related emails and prepping the items for shipment has been a tizzy. Yes, tizzy is the proper word. Already, most of the people who won have paid me through PayPal though one winner is from Canada and will mail me an International Money Order, so I’ve got everything paid for packed and ready for the Post Office.

I had second copies of three of the DVDs that sold, so I posted those as new auctions last night and while I was at Wal*Mart this morning I picked up some new cheap ones plus some colorful sleeveless basketball tops that were on clearance for $3 each and those will go up later today. As will some very cool dolls that Vivian has donated to the cause. Cher, Britney, Elvis, two of the three 2nd gen Charlie’s Angels and more.

Buy! Buy! Buy!

Every week during football season, plus a couple before and after to start things off and wrap them up, the Mercury News publishes a column by Norman Chad. Said column is considered humorous by the editors of numerous newspapers which also print this man’s output. But Norman Chad was barely funny four years ago and then his three jokes expired.

As an alternative, Wayne Frazer, a small town journalist and bigtime SportsFilter contributor, is going to publish his version of a funny football picks column every week on SpoFi and if you want to actually laugh, I suggest you spend your five minutes on his work and skip Chad. I give you one sample: in discussing the 49ers-Bears game on Sunday, Wayne comes up with the single best nickname ever given to a sports team, calling them “Your New Home For Crying On The Sidelines.”

I can create anxiety out of thin air

Don’t look at the little pebbles scattered

Across the patio in between the shed and

The house, just look into my eyes.

Speak out loud the emotion, the action

You see lurking, sitting within and tell me

How the pebbles make the day different

From yesterday and yesterday’s pebbles.

Where does the brown of the shed end?

Follow the color up the side and over the

Beam to where wood seamlessly merges

To the gravel and tar roofline.

Then you can see the pebbles scattered

On the roof as well; no matter how many

Fall to the ground from wind or after storms

There are still more pebbles on the roof.

So you can see as well then where my racing

Heartbeat and pounding just from the

Sight of these small grey pebbles,

Always getting under my feet.

The NY Times has an interesting ‘state of the debate’ article today, wrapping up the current thinking in the search for a Theory of Everything via String Theory. No mention of the branes though–where are the branes?!?!?! [via the g man]

There were about 200 new emails in my mail client when I checked first thing this morning, so that’s good. Although 120 were spam, which was less good. I have never and will never buy anything or visit any website which brings itself to my attention through spam, so these people are wasting their own time and resources keeping me in the loop. Oh well, another one came in as I was writing this. Still, my point is that you can send email again to my normal address.

Layout I need to end up at:		What I have now:

Ideas?

The use of silence is a very effective dramatic tool. Silence also makes a writer’s life much easier, allowing (forcing) the audience to bring imagination to a scene where the writer has not, or cannot, find words to convey meaning. Actors may embellish with an arched eyebrow, an upturned hand softly lowered, yet the writer hasn’t put a word to page.

You can stand over me, arms crossed, hair styled neat

Express your idea of how a man acts and chooses

Say that you’re sorry some decision has been taken

That will be life-changing for me and not in a good way.

I’ve met you before, over and over, heard your dismissals

Seen you act like an Alpha bull clearing a

Weakling challenger from the heard and thinking the female

Titters were approbation for your aggression.

Dreary, I get so dreary listening over and over to

Words that claim such authority by their delivery yet

Lack the depth and determination which would

Confer your position with true leadership.

Black clouds sit overhead while people gather

Around and listen to the wisdom flowing from

Your corner office while I sit out in the hallway waiting

For the punishment you’ve planned for me.

You guys are right, you know what must be–

Able to walk and talk through the grey haired

Interest that used to be open to us all but

Now has been thrown out. Like me.

There is strength and power in the world, even

These days where perception has smothered

Reality with artifice, so you can unfold your arms,

Lower your voice and sit down with the heard.

Got an odd email to one of my Hotmail accounts just now. The sender (The Adobe Store, store@adobe.com) claimed “We received your request for password assistance.” But, first, I don’t have an account at the Adobe Store and second, obviously it follows that I didn’t look to change my password there. Instead of clicking on any of the email’s links, I typed in the one which I was informed would let me modify my account but when I hit Enter, I got this response:

“We’re sorry! Service is unavailable because of technical difficulties. We are working to correct the problem and appreciate your patience.”

I know, you’re thinking the same as me. Someone’s hijacked a DNS server and taken over some part of Adobe’s online store, then sent spam to lots of people in hopes that some would be naive or stupid enough to click through and fill in whatever form is provided to ‘confirm’ the account changes. Or more precisely, provide these criminals with personal data that will then be used to deprive said naive or stupid individuals of cash.

But not me, and I hope not you. What I do hope is that these criminals are caught and prosecuted, and suffer serious injury during a lengthy stretch in prison.

Stephen Frears has directed quite a few terrific movies (High Fidelity, one of my ATFs, The Grifters, The Van, and more) but one of his abiding interests has been the immigrant culture in London and he pursues that interest again in Dirty Pretty Things, a story about three people who come to London from very different homelands but face much the same pressures.

Audrey Tautou, who made a huge impact in Amelie, features here as a Turkish immigrant waiting for her status to be determined by the authorities; in the meantime, she’s not permitted to work or take in a tenant to share the cost of an apartment but to have the money for food and rent she of course must do both. Chiwetel Ejiofor plays a Nigerian in the country illegally, a trained surgeon running away from political trouble at home, unable to sleep and working two jobs, subletting the couch from Tautou’s Senay. They both work for Senor Juan, the third immigrant, at a hotel where unpleasant things take place.

Frears and writer Steve Knight create a mileau where essentially no ethnically English people exist even though the whole film takes place in London and every person struggles to find and keep their place. I’ve little doubt that they’ve reflected a true picture of life in these neighborhoods but perhaps the dramatic exaggeration is the overwhelming pace of the drudgery and pressure. The acting, the often claustrophobic settings, the bland and dark imagery all combine to give Dirty Pretty Things a strikingly creeping effect, quite suited to the material.

Recommended

First goal of the season from open play for the ‘Pool, 39th minute, Owen pulled the keeper off his line and pushed the ball softly passed him, off the far post and into the back of the net. Cured three+ games of frustration for the Reds and ensured they would not set a club mark with a third consecutive goalless draw. This reporter heard many screams of joy from the offices at BillSaysThis.com after this sweet work!

Danny Murphy was a surprise entry on the substitutes list, losing his place in midfield again to El Hadji Diouf, while Milan Baros got a start up front probably due to Emile Heskey’s still being injured, as Igor biscan made another start in central defense for Stephan Henchoz. I was very disappointed to see Jamie Carragher starting at left back in place of John Arne Riise. Steve Simonson started in goal for home team Everton because of injury to regular man Richard Wright.

Diouf had a lot of touches in the half, some very slick footwork but was too greedy and made very poor finishes. Kewell wasted several opportunities as well by blasting too many balls over top of the goal. Most of the referee’s decisions, to be fair, went Liverpool’s way even if they shouldn’t have and Everton players picked up two yellows.

Everton started the second half with one subs, bringing on the Danish international Thomas Graveson and quickly got a very dangerous free kick from 31 yards but Jerzy Dudek made a smart save. After handling the pressure, Harry Kewell picked up a yellow for a very hard charge into Italian international Alessandro Pistone, forcing the game to pause for almost two minutes.

Baros did some fine footwork around Yobo on defense to get into the box where he laid it off onto the foot of Michael Owen, and Owen did not hesitate in slamming the ball past Simonson for his second of the match in the 53rd minute. Number 10 almost made the hat trick in the 61st but Simonson pushed the ball over the top with a couple of fingertips.

Linderoth off, Duncan Ferguson on in the 71st for Everton; the Reds made their first substitutions Baros and smicer off, Heskey and Murphy on in the 73rd. After a stretch of rough play by both sides, Owen got the ball deep in Everton territory and Simonson came all the way to the edge of the 18 yard box to try and stop him, but Owen juked, the keeper fell down, Owen put the ball on goal where a defender headed it directly to Harry Kewell, and Kewell finally got his shot down and into the netting for a 3-0 lead at the 80th minute.

Wayne Rooney, Everton’s teen star striker, had a strong match though he couldn’t quite make a score but did show his immaturity with a nasty foul on Dudek early in the second half as well as picking up a yellow for arguing with the referee just after Kewell’s goal. Riise came on for Diouf very late, after the Senegalese international really made a difference after early roughness.

Spot analysis: Amazing relief to get the season’s first win but I have to say that luck was certainly on our side today; Eighth consecutive Merseyside derby victory for LFC! Steven Gerrard was MIA as field general most of the afternoon and I’m wondering if Houllier should give Diouf a chance in that role, putting Riise back into his wide midfield role where he did so well last season and leaving Baros as the starter alongside Mr. Owen up front.

Image of the night at the VMAs

Elsewhere:

Can someone explain this Rachel Hunter comparison? The dreadful Kelly Ripa as well. Gillian Anderson must have been on vacation. Um, Tawny must have been sleeping. Then again, there are dreadful photos of me laying about as well.

Oh the shock and horror of it! Smoking Gun, those guys who seem to find all the most embarassing pieces of paper you never want to see the light of day, did it again, finding a 1977 interview Mr. Universe did with Oui Magazine (you know, it used to compete with Penthouse and Hustler). In the interview, Schwarzenegger was less than discrete, copping to playing in orgies with groupies and consuming mass quanities of mind-altering substances. In radio interviews yesterday, he tried to brush it off by saying he didn’t live his life to be a politician.

So Bill Clinton, Gary Hart et al should be forgiven their private life sins? If I remember correctly, it wasn’t their fellow Democrats hounding them over sexual matters. No, you remember, it was the Repblicans who tried to push Bill Clinton out of office for having sex with an intern. Should be interesting to see how long Ah-nuld’s fellow Cali Rs talk their way past this and other embarassments that are sure to follow; I’m particularly curious to see if they start growing Pinnocccio-like noses.

Back in 1969, people where groovy. I mean, they were cool cats and chicks and didn’t let conventional moralities stand in the way of a good time. No sire, not them people back then. So how is it that a movie studio picked four of the least groovy people I’ve ever seen to make a movie called Where It’s At? A couple of clues: the movie was backed by the prototypical ’60s conglomerate ITT (Harold Geneen’s less than synergystic attempt to prove that management is management) and was written and directed by someone whose best work was 15 or more years in the past, Garson Kanin.

David Janssen stars as the fictitious owner/operator of Ceaser’s Palace in Las Vegas, Robert Drivas is his semi-estranged, just-graduated from Princeton son, Rosemary Forsyth is Janssen’s new wife, and Brenda Vaccaro made her movie debut as Janssen’s under-appreciated secretary. Forsyth, at least, comes within a smidgen of groovy but the other three miss by a mile. Don Rickles even makes a cameo playing a dealer who tries to sneak a scam past the sky in the eye; Janssen busts him down to dishwasher, literally, to repay his debt.

Drivas should have had an easy time of it but Kanin seems to have been unable to buy a clue about the younger generation. Janssen’s acting can best be described as early screaming; almost every line he utters right until his comeuppance is delivered with a gruff, barking tone, even when his character is trying to make nice with the wife or son. Vaccaro is sweet but her part just makes no sense at all–for most of the movie her Miss Hirsch is just a typical harried executive assistant until, out of the blue, she appears in nightclothes in Drivas’ suite and asks him for a night of passion before she leaves Las Vegas.

Kanin, who wrote and directed Where It’s At, was retired for most of the ’60s and I’m thinking he should have stayed that way even if he was only in his late 50s when making this. His reputation was built on some terrific films–Tracey and Hepburn in Adam’s Rib and Pat and Mike, the Jayne Mansfield trash classic The Girl Can’t Help It, and a few films with Judy Holliday. This clunker seems like an attempt to update that vibe for the Swinging ’60s but turns out as just another father-son melodrama with plot points winked at instead of built solid.

Not recommended

Well, actually, I’ve listed my first 18 items for auction on eBay. Perhaps the big new text on the top of left hand navigation box is a good enough clue for most of you but I’m not at all about the subtlety, not even close. Tell them what you’re going to tell them, tell them, then remind them what you just told them, that’s my motto. For today. Sell, baby, sell.

Forget about being safe or happy, just struggle to get through the weapons, the lies and the people who will kill you for not agreeing with their version of the invisible little man in the sky.

Iran Admits Foreign Help on Nuclear Facility – hint: the help came from our primary in the war in Afghanistan, the same folks who thought it would be cool to help the North Koreans too.

2004 Deficit to Reach $480 Billion, Report Forecasts – so cutting taxes will cure our economic ills? Or, will the changes actually pass on a huge debt burden to the next generation, already wondering where the money will be found for their turn at Social Security and Medicare?

A monument to intolerance – Iraq, Alabama, wherever you go, there they are. God may or may not be everywhere but people who are willing to tell you exactly how the Almighty wants humans to live life certainly are.

Meanwhile, did my folks feel the 3.8 quake that hit their neck of the woods today?