Category: Personal

Some very shizzat this time out, courtesy of the bad mama jammas over at MeFi:

– the original entry, ‘coz the comments be g!

– the slammin’ rap is whassup!

As pretty_generic says, “One bling to rule them all.”

For the past two nights, Ted Koppel has been interviewing Doonesbury cartoonist Gary Trudeau on his post-Nightline show UpClose. Trudeau is notoriously publicity-shy and this was his first major media interview in over 30 years, so it was interesting just to see what this man, who I’ve been reading daily for so many years, might have to say about how and why he works. And the show’s format (you can get the video from the ABC News website, at least today), low key, simple, few graphic cutaways, and just a one to one interview between Koppel and the guest, really lends itself to true conversation and not just the soundbites that so many other shows produce. One answer in particular from the cartoonist really stuck with me:

Trudeau drew President Clinton as a waffle in the strip. After that, he expected never to be invited to the White House. A few months later, though, his wife (Jane Pauley) was invited for a state dinner and he went as the spouse. The dinner was for the King of Morocco (who’s since died). Trudeau told Koppel, “We’re going through the reception line; Clinton shakes my hand, turns to the king and says ‘Your Majesty, this is Gary Trudeau. He writes a comic strip. He makes fun of me for a living.’ And the king looked at him, like, ‘What? Why is this man not in a cell attached to a car battery? Why is he here having dinner with us?’ I’ve never been quite so proud to be an American.”

Yeah. I agree.

The Center Cannot Hold is the second book of the American Empire trilogy, following up Blood and Iron as Harry Turtledove explores a world where one crucial event in our history, lost orders to General Robert E. Lee, never happened and so the South went on to win the War of Succession. The Center Cannot Hold covers the mid 1920s until early 1933, mostly a time of peace but also when the world is ravaged by something similar to the Great Depression.

[Note: minor spoilers ahead]

In How Few Remain, Turtledove opened this alternative history 20 years later and told the story of the second war between the states, which the South also wins. Next came the Great War trilogy, when the US (the North) teamed up with Germany to defeat an alliance of the Confederacy, France, and England; Japan was somewhat involved, opposed to the US, but was too far away and only a minor player. These three books (American Front, Walk in Hell, and Breakthroughs), turned the tables and left the US on top. And left some of it’s characters aching for revenge and change.

Turtledove developed and continues a stylistic architecture in this series (also used in his Worldwar/Colonization series) that rotates the narrative through a cycle of characters. Many characters, each of whom gets a few pages in turn to develop their personal story as well as present developments from the world at large; most of these folks have been in place since American Front, though a few come to an end and others are introduced as the author needs to adjust his viewport. This architecture is very different than most anything I’ve read by other authors. One comparison who comes to mind is Peter Hamilton and his Night’s Dawn Trilogy, though everything else about these two series is quite different from aesthetics to timing to plot. Not everyone has cared for this method, though, prefering tales where focus is kept more closely through one or two key characters.

The character in the forefront of this book is Jake Featherston, the leader of the CSA’s Freedom Party, a man bitter from his treatment at the hands of the South’s elite during the Great War and at the treatment of the South afterwards. He is determined to pay back all who have done him wrong and to make his nation strong again. And he leads the Freedom Party back from a great debacle into more and more power. Featherston also provokes much comment and activity by the other main characters, most of whom cannot stand this proto-Hitler (except for the characters who belong to his party). One weakness, I feel, is that few scenes show this man interacting with people one would expect to see someone at his level dealing with, such as high level businessmen and foreign leaders.

One great strength that Turtledove displays here is an ability to give realistic portrayals of the concerns and emotions of so many different types of people. The cast of main characters includes a high society woman, rich and powerful, a single mother (her husband was killed in the Great War) in Boston, black men in both the USA and CSA, two quite different Freedom Party members, Canadians of various stripes plus a Yank who lives there and is married to one (the US conquered Canada in the war and split Quebec off into a separate, allied republic), a Jewish female politican and a woman, a former American spy, who runs a coffeeshop in DC. The range of all these players is pretty amazing.

The final book in this trilogy, The Victorious Opposition, will be released in July. Presumably the focus will be on Jake Featherston, his nasty plans to remake the Confederacy, and the rise of the Confederacy and it’s allies. You will not be at all surprised, then, to hear that this week publisher Del Rey announced that Turtledove will follow up this American Empire trilogy with another three book series that covers the WWII analog. Since this third trilogy will likely be published (the original hardcovers, that is) beginning no earlier than 2005 or 2006 and make for a total of 10 books, one wonders if that will be the end of Turtledove’s enthusiasm and the series. Not to mention that the Communists, at least as of 1933, are unable to take over Russia or any other nation–China plays no role at all in these stories–so the Cold War we experienced would not have a direct comparison.

Recommended

no one wants to be sick, especially not at this time of year, with so much to do before the X day. so bill sends his get well soon wishes to mr. dangerousmeta, in that distinctive dm style. g, if you’re really “blowing materials out of my head that would do good service on your average horror/sci fi ‘b’ film,” please don’t post any photos.

We come back from the gym, eat breakfast, and when I check the web, Liverpool FC have broken out of their funk, at least enough to take an away win at Charlton in the EPL. That’s first. After blowing out of the Champions League, then losing the top spot in the Premiership, then losing to injury depleted Man United, Houllier needs to make the team win. I read that Owen and Baros have scored and at least one of the following go net as well: Murphy, Hamann, Riise.

Through the late morning and early afternoon we watch Virginia Tech shake off their late season funk, realize they have a chance to make the year mean something, and put together a slim but real victory of the Miami Hurricanes. Four weeks ago this would have barely been an upset, with Miami at a low point and VT riding high, but the teams have each gone the other way since.

Then at 3:00 we dig in for Georgia-Arkansas in the SEC Championship. This would be annother long shot, but I know that the good ol’ boys at Arkansas can beat the (third ranked) good ol’ boys from Georgia. Even though it’s essentially a Georgia home game only an hour drive from their campus.

This combination of unlikely results would be incredibly sweet and put USC into the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl against Ohio State for the national championship. And only possible because somehow the Trojans slipped ahead of idle Iowa in the BCS rankings.

Very unfortunate indeed. The following two sentences were the entirety of the text, other than navigation, posted on the Careers page of a company which I’d like, one day, to employ me. So I won’t be naming any names.

“If you are looking for an opportunity to work on the technology of tomorrow, then join us.

[Company Name] currently has no positions available.”

Kind of a sentence-length oxymoron, isn’t it. The side effect of a page template and lack of attention to detail: who ever thought a company with millions of dollars in sales per quarter.

This seems to be the year for dark movies, even for children. So James Bond should be no exception and is not as he comes to the screen a twentieth time in 007 – Die Another Day. Kudos to director Lee Tamahori and producer Barbara Broccoli for their strength and willingness to reinvent what many have called limp and even irrelevant.

For this is a different James Bond, a new style for the new century, though clearly care has been taken to keep his character, and the overall movie, in league with the past. Change is apparent right from the opening frames: Bond has what looks at first to be a typical pre-credit action sequence, his mission to take out a rogue North Korean colonel who’s trading arms to African armies for banned diamonds. But while James does destroy the man’s base and inventory, he himself is taken prisoner. Then as the title credits play, instead of simply showing us silhouettes of beautiful yet dangerous women–as all past movies have–the screen is intercut with shots of Bond’s torture and interrogation. When the credits end and the film truly begins, 14 months have passed and Pierce Brosnan could pass for Tom Hanks halfway through Castaway.

Bond is released yet cut adrift from MI6; even M wonders to him why he hasn’t done the honorable thing. “I threw the cyanide capsule away years ago,” he replies. Brosnan is, perhaps, not quite too long in the tooth for this role at 49 but he’s getting there. Supposedly the next one will be his last and I will be glad that he does not try and stretch as far as Roger Moore, who made A View to a Kill at 58. Sean Connery was wiser and only 53 when he made Never Say Never Again.

Must mention the second among equals performance of Halle Berry as Jinx. Quite good, quite delectible, and stunning in one of the movie’s homages to the past when we first see her walking out of the Caribbean surf in a bikini (Ursula Andress as Honey Rider in Dr. No, the first Bond film). For most of the film she is pursuing her own mission, separate from 007, though their paths intersect; she’s also the first woman Bond beds after his long stint in North Korea. The media has been full of talk that Jinx, and Berry, are too good to waste and that they’ll make her the star of the first spinoff from the franchise. Some of us remember, though, that much the same talk was around five years ago when Michelle Yeoh partnered up with Brosnan and that came to naught.

The villains are much in the style of the past as well, yet new in ways. The action man Zao, played by Rick Yune, is smoother and smarter than, say, Odd Job, and has better weapons as well. The gorgeous Rosamund Pike, who looks quite familiar though this is her first major role, follows the path of Sophie Marceau and Famke Janssen as bad girls who can’t keep their hands off the main man yet can’t kill him either.

Toby Stephen and Will Yun Lee play the master villain in a nasty twist which isn’t nearly obvious for quite some time. In any case, they come up with a diabolical plan using a huge mirror in space, controlled by a cool remote control worn as a gauntlet. Their planning, reach, and wealth put them in the same fine company as Ernst Blofeld and Emilio Largo but are far more willing to get their own hands dirty and get physical.

Lee Tamahori (who also directed an episode of The Sopranos) blows out the doors here. Writer team Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, who also wrote The World Is Not Enough, came up with snappy dialog and a spiraling, ever tightening plot. Earlier this year, after seeing xXx, I thought that perhaps Vin Diesel and his character could become the combination that finally knocks 007 off its perch. But if the producers are smart enough, and hire this trio for Bond 21, that won’t be true any time soon. This is probably the best in the series since the end of the Cold War.

Highly recommended

Yesterday was the one year anniversary of George’s death from cancer and a few of his good friends got together to put on a tribute to him and his music last night at the Royal Albert Hall in London. I’m sure it was an amazing experience. McCartney, Starr, Clapton, Petty, Billy Preston, Jeff Lynne, and George’s son Dhanni played Harrison’s songs after Ravi Shankar and his daughter Anoushka opened with a performance by a 50 member orchestra including a special piece composed by Shankar especially for the evening. Most of the living members of Monty Python, whose films were financed by Harrison, came on to sing the classics Sit on My Face & The Lumberjack Song. Fortunately the show was recorded and a DVD, with proceeds going to his Material World Foundation, will be released.

Plenty of fans attended the show and posted their thoughts to the web already, for more details on the show itself. The official website has a short but well made video online with some bits from the rehearsals and comments from the musicians. I would love to have been there but there’s a continent, an ocean, and too long a stretch of unemployment that got in my way.

There was also a flower vigil on Hollywood Blvd. yesterday comemorating Harrison.

Forgot to include this last night. I made the Atkins Crustless Cheesecake. Very tasty but I ate too much of it. I paid the price at this morning’s weigh-in, believe me. The very simple recipe is: mix 12 ounces of softened cream cheese, a teaspoon of vanilla, and three packets of sweetener (Splenda) with a cup of heavy cream beaten to have soft peaks, refrigerate for a half hour. The result has 20 grams of carbohydrates and I ate half. Plus I used my finger to clean the mixing bowl, because waste is a terrible thing. Just terrible. And very white. And yummy!

One thing that I have tried to be mindful of for many years is just how fortunate I am. I have a good family and we all love each other very much. I have never wanted for food or material things, or a place to live; in fact, I’ve done quite well for all three of those. Not better than everyone but surely better than a very high percentage of all the human beings who’ve ever lived. I’ve known, and know, the happiness that the love of a good woman can bring. The simple pleasure of waking up in the morning next to someone who smiles back at you. I am thankful, today and all days.

Vivian has the recipe and her own sweet Thanksgiving memory and thanks.

We went to a packed noon showing of the second film in the sequence, so my guess that most people would be home with family, playing or eating, that early in the day was a bust. Still, getting there 20 minutes ahead we had good seats and no hassle with tickets. I enjoyed the movie and so did Vivian. Fairly faithful to the book but some minor differences to account for the fact that the script was perhaps 160 pages and the novel more than four times as long.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets was fun and the three main child actors have really nice performances, particularly Daniel Radcliffe as Harry, though I didn’t think as much of Tom Felton as Draco Malfoy or Jason Isaacs as Malfoy senior. The latter were too stilted, wooden, though some fault could be in their scripted lines. Alan Rickman is once again dark and brooding, his Snape a good example (for children) of an adult who doesn’t much care for kids but isn’t evil.

Chamber of Secrets is Chris Columbus’ second and apparently final turn as director in the series and possibly this is just as well. Though he’s had some success with child and child-like performers in the past (Home Alone, Mrs. Doubtfire, even the first HP film), I didn’t care as much for his touches here as well as a small over dependence on special effects. Scriptwriter Steve Kloves, who is staying with the series at least through the four known films, does better aside from Draco’s predictable lines. In the special effects department, kudos for Dobby and Aragog, less so for the flying car and Moaning Myrtle.

There are plenty of better reviews out there, so I’ll stop here.

Clearly a must-see

Ah, another minor Tivo pickup that was too tempting to just delete. Though I probably should have, there are other movies on the disc worth watching. Still, a movie about a rock band coming together from the mid-’90s can’t be too bad. And it was recorded off IFC, not the Family Channel, so it gets a few points for indie cred.

The actors are alright, though no names that would be recognized from other films or television. Maybe Kevin Corrigan, who plays the stoner lead guitarist Wynn (who fishes when under stress), and has been a regular on Grounded for Life. Doug MacMillan, who plays the zenmaster road manager Linus, is the lead singer in a band called The Connells in real life. Anyway, our story mainly revolves around Tony Ridge (moderately well-played by Lee Holmes) and Charlie Flagg (Matthew Hennessey, no other credits I could find).

Tony is a reclusive guitarist and songwriter who’s never let anyone hear his music until he gets fired and runs into drummer Charlie. Even as they add Wynn and a bass player, rehearsing in Charlie’s mom’s garage, Tony insists on playing in a closet so the others cannot actually see him. But everyone thinks his indie pop-rock tunes are great and they play a couple of gigs–with Tony faced away from the audience. Hooking up with Linus, the Circus Monkeys get a nasty old van and head out on the road. Leaving North Carolina, the group swings through the South and attract the attention of a stereotypical rip off the artist record company. Finally, before a last gig in Mississippi, the object of Tony’s affection and all his songs meets up with the band. Ann, of course, falls for Charlie and this leads to a fight and eventually a quick trip to a small town jail. When the boys get back home to play a showcase gig for the record company, integrity is kept intact and we fade out to the Monkeys playing anyway.

Written and directed by John Schultz (who also directed this year’s Lil Romeo showpiece Like Mike), Bandwagon never really creates enough tension to sustain 95 minutes of screen time. There are some interesting ideas, like a running conflict between the bass player and a hick pot dealer, but too many cliches (the record company execs, the zenmaster) and too much filler. Not enough done to create visual excitement, either, and the music is only good. This was Schultz’s first film, so no big deal, but he allegedly is directing a new Ripley film (though no Matt Damon) and that one will get much less slack from me.

Not recommended and, you know, I didn’t intend to write nearly this much on such a small movie.

Or rather that part of it I peruse. Sometimes.

Ev announces the winner of the Blogger website redesign contest, Kevin Conboy. The winning design, though, is kept secret and he doesn’t even provide a link to Conboy. Google didn’t turn up much, except perhaps he is the Kevin Conboy who just joined Creation Chamber as Design Director.

Jason unveils the redesign of Shellen.com, which is nice and makes me jealous because as much as he might badmouth his own design skills, they are still better than mine.

Still in the Pyra world, Steve, who loves any programming language he finds for at least 15 minutes, seriously needs a redesign but at least updated his blogroll. Jason doesn’t believe in blogrolls, apparently, since he’s never really had one on his site.

garret thinks a bum tooth and a big holiday make a good enough excuse to avoid the daily linkage! the nerve!

Adam is getting over his serious headcold with a marathon Metroid Prime session.

Wes is intermittently offline–I got a 404 just now. This has been happening for days now. Then again, he is always doing something odd, like moving or playing with his DNS.

Whump is just being geeky!

PhilR is gnawing. Given that tomorrow is what it is, seems like good practice to me. Though we are having Cornish Game Hens here.

Karl, in a more serious holiday vein, asks that we contemplate the true meaning behind the “What Wold Jesus Drive?” campaign. He’s certainly right to say that those who dismiss it by citing the recent priestly misadventures is a copout. And happy Big 3rd to him and his Sweet One!

Jason L. left the pediatric ward behind, for a few precious moments at least, to conjure up a cool search term highlighting function integrated into his Movable Type installation.

Pam, with a little help from your’s truly and my small bag of PHP tricks, posted a large gallery of classic high school marching band photos. Her marching band, that is, from back in the day.

John Lim responds to a reader’s questions on PHP in a very practical, pragmatic way. Just like PHP itself.

DaveW is, well, just being Dave. I would point out that I am still not in his blogroll.

Steven posted a clueful entry on Islam. Not everyone got the point.

The Sweet One had a tough commute this morning. But soon her commutes will be much shorter and she will have much more time to devote to me. Which is the point of everything anyway.

I am hungry now.

As we all get ready for the second installment of the trilogy to be released next month, I thought I’d start dropping in some linkage to wet your appetites:

To start with, a new trailer. Hint: no matter what your net conneciton speed, get the fullscreen high bandwidth version and wait out the time to download.

Second, an interesting Popular Science article on the software behind the digital effects used to bring the Battle of Helm’s Deep, a key confrontation in the film, to life.

As The Sweet One wrote in her blog, we watched the new and longer special edition of Fellowship of the Ring this past Saturday to get in the mood. While I wouldn’t recommend purchasing this DVD set, we had a Blockbuster gift card sitting on the dresser for half a year, just begging to be used to rent it. We’re waiting for the deluxe, 20 disk set that’s sure to be released in 2005, after The Return of the King is all done at the theaters.

One can never tell what may happen with technological discoveries and developments that threaten entrenched economic interests. Even more so when the interests are as politically powerful as the energy companies currently stand. Add in a stark ideological wall demonstrated by the way the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission dealt with the State of California during the energy crisis of 2000-2001. Any proposition that goes against these companies faces a hard, hard path.

No reason, then, to be surprised by last Friday’s announcement by the Environmental Protection Agency that the New Source Review program was being cancelled. New Source Review ensures that power generation plants do not use a very large loophole in the original (1972) Clean Air Act to increase the pollution produced by expanding these plants instead of building new ones. The power companies have been trying to get rid of it for years and now that the Republicans are safely ensconced in power, the companies got their wish. Paul Krugman provides an excellent analysis of these shenanigans in today’s Times.

However, a recent scientific discovery at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory may make this advantage, and the corresponding ecological damage, short-lived. A group of Materials Science researchers have found that indium nitride has slightly different electrical properties than previously thought and as a result likely makes possible extremely efficient, low cost solar power cells. That is, economically viable use of solar power on a very large scale. The very thought gives me shivers–consider the economic and environmental implications here, which are simply staggering!

A friend, though, raises the point that I mentioned in the opening of this entry. How will the very powerful, very rich, very entrenched companies clearly threatened by such a massive dislocation respond? Will they be able to use their money and connections to stiffle this change?

Another life memory, which came to mind this morning for some odd, unknown, neuron-firing down an old path reason. Just the phrase “Who loves ya, baby?” and the word lollipop. Which can only connect to ’70s TV icon Telly Savalas–Kojak.

I met him once at the Meadowlands Race Track when I was in high school. My parents used to have a thing for the trotters (that’s the kind of horse race where the jockey sits in a little cart behind the horse, also known as harness racing) and would go fairly often. Every few months they would take my sister and me on a Saturday night and we always sat in the nice restaurant part. My mom noticed Savalas sitting a few rows in front of us. He was there with another older bald man, not his brother, and two extremely hot young blondes. Of course my mom made us go over for an autograph.

My sister, although only 14 or so at the time, was a very attractive, tall blonde and easily looked more like 17 or 18 so Savalas gave most of his attention to her. Didn’t bother me because his female companions were more or less falling out of their dresses and I was 17, no way I was looking anywhere else. He signed our programs and we left him and his dates to each other’s pleasure.

Odd Hollywood connections: Savalas is the father of Nicolette Sheridan and godfather to Jennifer Aniston.

How did the Raiders lose four straight games earlier this season? I just saw Gannon put Al’s Boys up 35-14 on a beautiful spiral down the middle to Jerry Rice, his thrid TD pass of the game (the other two were to breakout youngster Jerry Porter), while both of the main running backs also have running TDs. Can the Raiders keep it up next Sunday against hot rookie QB Chad Pennington and the Jets?

Will we hear calls this week from the Midwest yammering for Marc Bulger to get the starting QB job back? After all, Kurt Warner lost for the fifth time in five starts this year and he blew a chance to tie the game at the end by losing a fumble in the red zone on the Rams’ last offensive play of the day. Coahc Mike Martz said he called a very safe pass play, that should leave them easily set up for a field goal on an incomplete, but LaVar Arrington gave Steve Spurrier a huge pre-Thanksgiving present.

Is Marty Mornhinweg setting himself up to be fired? Sure, he’s a QB guru and is doing a pretty decent job with rookie Joey Harrington, but decisions like the one he made today, to kick off after winning the coin toss to start overtime, could easily prove to the voluble Matt Millen that he needs more seasoning as an offensive coordinator.

In the college scene, how about a shoutout to Pete Carroll and the bruising team at USC? After absolutely demolishing crosstown rivals (F)UCLA yesterday 52-7, the Trojans moved up to #6 in both the AP and Coaches polls. Washington State, the only team ahead of them in the Rose Bowl race, lost their big local rivalry game yesterday and now UCLA can (shudder) do us a huge favor–give us the Pac-10 title–by beating WSU in two weeks. Even without a UCLA win, we can almost guarantee a top-level bowl appearance by knocking off the Whimpering Irish at home. Major kudos to QB Carson Palmer–he’s passed for 2,251 yards and 23 TDs with five INTs in USC’s last seven games and has thrown at least two TD passes in eight straight games.

Being able to express one’s self with words is very important to me. The Sweet One is very shy so the first few months we were together she didn’t really let me see this ability in her conversations. As time passed she warmed up, relaxed (hell, she even passed the road test for her driver’s license!), let me know her true heart, and started writing a blog. I don’t think she was very comfortable writing at first. Now, though, she is really doing a nice job. I love my Sweet One!

Everyone knows about the ludicrous version of Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds recorded by William “Capt. Kirk” Shatner back in the late ’60s. Bad enough that my beloved Trek was tarnished by Shatner’s vocalization. But this morning I heard something even worse. Something that shook me to the core. I’m almost scared to write about it in case I might hear it again in my mind.

Spock Sings. Yes, Leonard Nimoy, who was never content to play second fiddle even though that was to be his lot in life, also recorded an album in those late, lamented psychedelic days. This being the web, there are even parts available for current day viewing displeasure, such as this QuickTime movie of his song about Bilbo Baggins. On KFOX-FM this morning, Greg Kihn played a bit of the Baggins song, some of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Earth (think of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star with the lyrics reversed), and far too much of Nimoy’s take on Proud Mary. I swear I will never be able to listen to the Creedence or Turner versions of that song again without cringing!

Amazon even offers an imported CD featuring “the best” of Shatner and Nimoy together: Spaced Out: The Best of Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner. For the masochists out there.

Is this another sign that Humanity has just gone too far and should retreat to the caves and trees?