Category: Personal

Because we all know Bruce has my website in his RSS aggregator, right? Anyway, happy 53rd birthday to The Boss, may he celebrate many more in good health with his family.

Mona Caron has created an awesome Critical Mass 2002 Poster, go check it out if you’re a fan of ’60s Psychedlic Posters. [via Whump]

One conservative commentator, Frederica Mathewes-Green writing a guest commentary in The National Review [link via garret], states that having babies young is a good thing and the way things were until the last few decades. As I began reading this essay I thought Mathewes-Green (doesn’t even her name have an old-time feel to it?) was going to come down on the American educational system. After all, she points out that a high school education used to be sufficient for the average job and college was intended for specialized, professional careers.

However, instead she spins off into a magical world where family and members of one’s church form a support system. Strong enough, she claims, so that with prudent planning a couple can marry right after high school, both can attend college while working at night, and perhaps even start having babies before earning their diploma. The essay does get into the rising numbers of out of wedlock births (supplemented by abortions) and this, she says, is caused by trying to force randy young folks to wait for that little gold band before getting biz-zay. In particular Mathewes-Green cites Baltimore, her hometown, as having the highest percentage of out of wedlock births in the nation.

Baltimore, though, is probably as good a city as any to hold up as a model (in the negative sense) of a place where so many of the residents believe they have no hope of ever improving their circumstances. I know it was just a TV series but I still think the portrayal of it in the recent HBO series The Wire was fairly close to the reality as felt by these people. Other than drugs and violent crime there’s little money for these people and fewer jobs. No positive role models for boys other than distant professional athletes and misogynistic rap stars. So they should deprive themselves of the little pleasure to be had from sex?

For some reason this awards show is not being telecast live to the West Coast so we’ll probably know the winners before the show, which basically sucks. Anyway here are the choices from me and The Sweet One.

Award	Vivian	Bill	Critic	Winner
Comedy	Sex and the City	Friends	Friends	Friends
Actor	LeBlanc	LeBlanc	LeBlanc	Romano
Actress	Messing	Aniston	Aniston	Aniston
Drama	24	24	Six Feet Under	West Wing
Actor	Sutherland	Sutherland	Sutherland	Chicklis
Actress	Garner	Garner	Garner	Janney

Update: Clearly not a good set of predictions at all but in our defense we don’t watch Everybody Loves Raymond or West Wing.

140 years ago today, President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation and the NY Times was there to cover it. A major change in politics, acknowledging that all men are created equal.

“[A]ll persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free; and the executive government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom.”

Blue Rhino, which is definitely an odd name for a company in the propane gas tank business, sells (via OSH) the tanks I use for my wonderful Weber grill. When one tank is empty, I simply take it back to the store, pay a few dollars, and get a new, full one to take home. Unfortunately, allegedly for safety reasons per one source and for profitability reasons according to another, Blue Rhino stopped making the tanks with quick release connectors and that’s the type I had. In order to continue using my grill I needed to change the hose.

This necessitated a call to Weber. They, no surprise, wanted money for this part: $19.95 plus shipping. I, who felt this change was something Weber ought to have dealt with directly, said no way and made a fuss. Fortunately for my blood pressure, Weber had told their customer service reps to offer the part at no charge to customers who made a fuss. So the other day a hose showed up.

But I will be the first to tell you that I’m not your go-to guy on anything mechanical. My big accomplishment to date has been assembling a very complex office desk, back in 1987. Generally my big skill is changing lightbulbs. So I called in the old pro to do the job but because of my shameful lack of tools, he was only able to remove the old hose. The Sweet One and I headed back to OSH for an open face wrench to match the hose’s nut (7/16″) and a full gas tank and on return home, and cushion yourself for the shock, I was able to install the new piece! I know you all want proof so here you go:

I just watched the USC-Kansas State game on TBS and god was the coverage awful. And not in a good way. Intrusive graphics, minimal replays, bad and unfunny commentators, coming back late to the action. You name it, they did it wrong. Wow!

The official site is here but for some reason I can’t really get the page to come up. YMMV.

Anyhow, this film is an attempt to bring another high profile Asian filmmaker to a more global audience and, of course, to create another action franchise but I don’t know if the grosses will be there to warrant a second film. This was not well-reviewed, to say the least, and couldn’t even surpass the aging (but leggy) Greek Wedding on opening night.

So here we have rogue DIA agent Lucy Liu taking on her boss (Gregg Henry), who apparently stole FBI Agent Antonio Banderas’ wife Talisa Soto (and child), over a deadly nanotech weapon that Henry stole. The FBI gets wind of it and Assistant Director Miguel Sandoval goes out into the field to bring Banderas back to the job; he’s been mourning Soto for seven years but hasn’t lost any of his skills or forgotten anything. The bait? The wife is still alive and after the assignment he will give up the information.

Henry and Soto are now married, with child, but Liu, all on her own, takes down a protective detail transporting the boy and sticks him in a cage in a cave. Henry has used the boy to transport the weapon across the border–in his blood–but for some reason the movie appears to take place in Vancouver. Not just shot in Vancouver, with the Canadian city standing in for, say, Chicago as it often does but the actors tell us it is Vancouver. The producers seemed to realize this little problem (why would a top American government official live in Canada?) and threw a fig on it by having Sandoval say something early on about a transnational task force but this is just one of numerous absurdities.

I mentioned a high profile Asian filmmaker and I didn’t mean just the Chinese Liu but that the director is Kaos (actually a Thai man whose full name is a mouthful: Wych Kaosayananda). The cast is very global: Soto, Sandoval, and Banderas are Latino, Henry’s top man is Scotsman Ray Park (yes, Darth Maul from Star Wars: Episode I and Toad from X-Men), and Banderas’ partner is the Chinese-Canadian actor Terry Chen. But I think the main takeaway I had from the direction was that Kaos is in love with fire or, more precisely, with flame, at least judging by the loving way he films the flames from the many, many explosions.

Liu, who is hardly some FOB Chinese star unable to speak English, has almost no lines; her body counter is higher by far than her word count. Banderas is the same stereotypical world-weary near alcoholic he so often plays. The script was written by Alan B. McElroy and a look at his oevre shows he, like so many in Hollywood, shows up for a payday but doesn’t always feel the need to put his heart into his work.

Recommended for major action or Lucy Liu fans only, but barely

Seriously. The first production factory is up and about to start rolling, with 4-5 different models:

Zero-emission driving may be more than hot air

[This email came through on one of the job lists I get today and seems worthy of a more permanent posting.]

A trusted member of the KIT List brought his recent job interview experience my attention in the hope of warning other KIT members who may be exposed to the same (or similar scams). Thankfully, that particular job didn’t come from the KIT list!

In this tough economy, there are predators out there who are hoping to take advantage of people who are desperate for jobs.

BEWARE of any company asking you to pay a fee up front to be qualified as a potential job candidate, or if you need to pay for your own training.

Also, there are some companies that are basically pyramid schemes that are setting up shop (check to see how long the company has been in their offices!), and instead of interviewing the prospective job candidates, they are “pitching” them with their sales scheme. In some cases, you need to bring in a number of customers (meaning, your own friends and family) for loan refinancing and other financial services, and you will get a percentage of the deal. These are pontentially very dangerous since they can set up what looks to be a legitimate company, relieve everyone of their money (and retirement), and close up and disappear into the night.

While there are mostly legitimate companies out there, please be very cautious of anyone asking for investment money of your own, or of those you know.

Just please be sure to scrutinize potential employers, and if you have a gut feeling that something is not right, trust your instincts and check everything out thoroughly. In the cases that you feel there are serious abuses, please save others from getting trapped by reporting those companies to the appropriate authorities.

Jamie considered his current reality as the strange man pulled out a phone and walked away for a moment; whatever was being said wasn’t audible over the sounds of traffic whizzing by ten feet away from where he sat. So far he was late for work, met a pretty girl by, he thought, spilling coffee on her, been shot at and the pretty woman was hit, bleeding plenty on the parking lot next to him. He’d taken a very special chip from her, the apparent reason for the shooting, and promised to deliver it to some unknown man 25 miles away with only a fancy phone for help. Finally, bare minutes after leaving her, he got pulled over on the side of the highway by a cop who wasn’t a cop. This was no reality he’d ever imagined. He wondered if he ought to pull out the fancy phone while his, what, captor? was away.

But that choice was taken away as the man was back, unnoticed in his fog. He looked up to see the other staring straight in his face with sunglasses off.

“You don’t know the first thing about what happened back in that parking lot, do you?”

Jamie tried to think of something snarky to say but the words stuck in his throat. All of a sudden he could feel his heart beating faster and anxiety running through the nerves in his arms. He just moved his head, more of a twitch really, side to side and no more.

“I could shoot you right here and leave your bloody body on the asphalt where no one would bother to stop and look for hours. And that would be real blood, not that ketchup in a plastic blister that–what did she tell you her name was?”

“Lara,” Jamie said softly. She wasn’t shot? He hugged himself for warmth.

“Lara? Well, that doesn’t matter, you’ll never see her again anyway. If you live through this job she’ll be dead. Her bosses don’t tolerate mistakes on this level.”

“What..what’s your name?” He surprised himself with the question. That earned him a crooked half-smile. The man put his hand up to his mouth, as if he were trying to feel the smile, as if it was something unusual.

“You can call me, hmm, call me RL.”

“Earl?”

“No, two letters, R and L. Doesn’t matter, it’s nothing to do with my real name which wouldn’t help you.”

“You don’t work for the CIA, do you?” For reasons unknown his heart was getting back to it’s normal rhythm.

“No and neither does Lara. We both work for…competing private interests.”

“Are you going to take the chip away from me?”

“No. Wouldn’t do me any good. You understand that the driveby before was a put on, a little set play for your benefit?”

“That explains why no one came to see if Lara was still breathing and the job was done. On the other hand, RL, why are we having this conversation?”

This is a simple, very low carb vegetable side dish, prepared in a wok, that I made a couple of days ago. This quantity feeds four or five and goes well with steak or BBQ chicken. Feel free to vary the level of garlic but remember the old saying: “You can never eat enough garlic.”

Ingredients

• 4 bunches of bok choy
  

• 5-6 cloves of garlic
  

• 1 lb of button mushrooms (feel free to substitute more exotic varieties)
  

• 1 tbsp sesame oil
  

• 2-3 tbsp soy sauce
  

• 1 tsp ground oregano or basil (or both)
  

• olive oil
  

• fresh ground pepper (to taste)

Preparation

• Cut off the bottom of each bunch of the bok choy, separate the stalks, cut the leafy green tops off the stems; wash and dry thoroughly
  

• Smash and chop the garlic
  

• Cut mushrooms into thin slices

Cooking

• Heat skillet over medium flame, then add oil
  

• Add bok choy stems and stir, thoroughly coating with oil, about 60 seconds
  

• Add garlic, stir in and soften
  

• Add soy sauce and grind in pepper, stir another minute or so
  

• Add mushrooms, herbs, and keep stirring, until mushrooms appear light brown and very soft
  

• Add bok choy leaves and stir thoroughly to coat but only for 45-60 seconds until leave barely begin to wilt and remove from heat

This is a pretty basic garlic veggie recipe and you can substitute other green veggies such as spinach, broccoli, green beans, or Chinese broccoli for variety.

Enjoy!

Parisian Asphalt Initiative or, more directly, Pave France Now! Plenty of good reasons onsite.

I submitted the CNN article Nude video games? They’re coming this fall. this morning, so we’ll see. Keep your fingers crossed. Of course this isn’t the same as having an article on this website submitted but could be cool anyway.

Update: The answer is no, poor Billy got his entry put in the circular bin. Those dastardly /. editors!

Jamie opened his cell as he merged onto 101 from 380. He could see a 747 thundering to a stop on an SFO runway on the other side of the highway.

“Hey. I’m gonna be late getting there this morning, something came up,” he told his manager. “Won’t make the staff meeting.” He listened as the voice on the other end spouted meaningless unhappy words. “Can’t be helped. Have to help a friend down in Mountain View. With any luck I’ll be there by 1:00.” After some more babble he clicked off. At least he was late enough to have missed the morning traffic mess. He drove on, listening to some classic Springsteen.

Until he saw little red and blue flashers in his rearview mirror. From the front of a California Highway Patrol motorcycle. What was the reason for being pulled over? Not speeding, missing registration sticker, or a broken taillight. He pulled over and waited for the cop to explain. Could the day be getting any weirder? He put his window down.

“Get out of the car slowly, walk around to the shoulder, and sit down.” Jamie felt something he’d never, in 35 years of living, felt before, a gun at his neck and the words registered, barely coming through the fog of fear. He had his wallet in his right hand, ready to get out his license, so he popped the lock and opened the door with his left. Slowly pushing the door open, he slid his legs onto the ground. At least that was still were it was supposed to be. He noticed the cop had backed off, giving him room to get around the car, with the gun down at waist-level. Once he sat down away from traffic and took a dep breath, the cop walked over and leaned against the car, looming over him. Smiling, though not in a very happy way.

“I’m not a Highway Patrol Officer. We don’t have time to waste if you’re going to live to make it to your office by 1:00, so calm down and listen to me.” The not-cop put the gun back in it’s holster.

“Live? What the fuck do you mean by if?” Jamie couldn’t help but blurt out the words. “And how do you I just told my boss I’d be in at 1:00?” The energy in his voice started trailing off as a certain realization set in. The guy knew what he’d said on the phone not 15 minutes before.

“Pal, you do not know what you got yourself mixed up with in that coffeeshop. Do you think the coffee spill was an accident? Or your fault? Or that you weren’t picked for this? Hell no.

“You got picked by a pretty slick group and if you hadn’t stopped at the coffeeshop they would have found some other place to bring you in. They’ve been pickin’ over your life pretty good for weeks now. Lara was trailing you since yesterday, waiting for an opportunity. I was following her.” His captor spat out some bad taste from his mouth.

Jamie was getting a sinking feeling in his stomach and something else was rising in his throat. He leaned away from the car, hands on his stomach, and retched. The non-cop surprised him by handing over a handkerchief to wipe off his face.

“This is the real world, not some TV show, and why would anyone want to use me for any fucking thing?” The voice was rough but his vehemence came through.

“Maybe it’s not your reality, but it’s my reality. And now you’re in it, pal, make no mistake about that.”

A modern variation on Catcher in the Rye, Tadpole sets an upper west side Manhattan 15 year old boy on a Thanksgiving school break he’ll never forget. Mature beyond his years, capable of discussing Voltaire in the original French and so worldweary he has no difficulty being served in a bar, Oscar Grubman (Aaron Stanford, who’ll follow this up by playing Pyro in X-Men 2) has taken the train home from his Connecticut prep school to tell his stepmother Eve (the always alluring Sigourney Weaver) that his father (John Ritter) doesn’t treat her well enough and he is in love with her. Hijinks, of course, ensue though this is not major studio teen romantic comedy.

No, in Tadpole, director/co-writer Gary Winick has created the latest intelligent independent comedy, a worthy follower to My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Stanford and Weaver are excellent, Ritter is a weak link, Bebe Neuwirth is luscious and lascivious as stepmom’s best friend and even Robert Iler (Tony’s son on the Sopranos) is quite good as the Grubber’s best friend.

Note that although there is no nudity or blood splatter (well, no violence at all) and essentially no cursing, Tadpole deserves at least the PG-13 rating for it’s sophisticated subject matter.

Another Dollar Movie Night excursion that more than paid off!

Definitely recommended

In the opening match of the new Champions League season, LFC went to Valencia and lost 2-0. No Owens on offense, per expectations, and (for a second match) no Xavier on defense. But no win either, though Gerard Houllier said it was no surprise and this is the toughest test the Reds will face in the opening round. And Dieter Hamann, so important in Premiership play, took two yellows and turned them into a red card. Still, a draw would have been nice. And Stephen Gerrard says “We can still qualify.” Next stop on the CL road is a match next Wednesday at home against FC Basel, sans Hamann.

You woke up this morning

Got yourself a gun,

Mama always said you’d be

The Chosen One.

That is the question posed by Steve Denbeste over at USS Clueless, commenting on the concept that the (widening) gap in income between rich and poor about which many liberal activists are currently complaining. If your basic driving principle is freedom, as his is, then this gap is not a problem but rather the expected outcome of competition; the other side is not really seeking equality in the sense that all are treated alike but wants equality of results and is willing to take away any aspects of freedom until that point is reached.

In theory, I agree with Steve. In practice, though, we see all too many occassions where the results are compromised by people willing to infringe on others’ equality of opportunity by violating the law. Not just Enron, WorldCom, Tyco, or Martha Stewart, those are too easy targets, but what about Microsoft’s pattern of behavior over the past 15 years? His article is spurred by a corrpondent’s comments on the concentration of wealth in too few hands, so I picked Microsoft because three of the 10 richest Americans (according to the recent Forbes listing) have fortunes due to that company (Gates continues at the top, with Paul Allen and Steve Ballmer fitting in after Buffet–BillG’s best friend–and the Walton clan). What about the lifetime of largess granted to corporate chieftains after retirement? GE’s Jack Welch is the easy example just because of the information that came out this last week but if you look at any number of annual filings, especially in years in which a top exec retires, you’ll see much the same thing.

So, in our less than perfect world, my answer to the question is that it’s a flawed question. Neither answer allowed comes close to the reality we face.

Candide says this is the best of all possible worlds but of course Voltaire used that speech as an opportunity to propose that the idea is far from truth. And Steven, you know that, your Engineerist philosophy prompts you to take in the ever-present shades of grey.

I’d been looking for this film for months, since I started spending so much time with the Sweet One, because it’s one of my all time favorites and she’d never seen it. Fortunately BBC America cablecast it earlier in the week and Tivo stored it until we had some time. I consider it one of a trio of smaller, character-driven movies that came out in the early 1980s along with Chariots of Fire (also produced by Sir David Puttnam) and Barry Levinson’s Diner.

Dealmaker Peter Riegert is sent by corporate head/crazy old man Burt Lancaster to negotiate the purchase of a small coastal village in very northwest Scotland so that their company can build a new terminal and refinery. Picking up a native, though not local, lackey when he arrives in Scotland, he needs to work out the deal with the wily, randy hotelier/accountant/barkeep Denis Lawson. The locals decide to keep Riegert on the hook to get the most money but this is mainly a way for writer/director Bill Forsyth to keep us in the quaint little village (two fisherman argue over whether dollar has one or two l’s in it) and introduce us to people who really aren’t terribly well acquainted with the second half of the 20th century. Plus the amazing natural beauty of the barely touched by human hands territory and, I would guess, they filmed in late Spring or mid-Fall.

Peter Riegert never really lived up to his promise as an actor but he did make three really good movies: Animal House (his film debut), this one, and 1988’s Crossing Delancy, where he was amazing as Amy Irving’s reluctant, old-style matchmaker-arranged suitor. In Local Hero he really delivers as we fall in love with Furness through his eyes and feel his heart melt. At the open he is pissed about having to go on the road (“I’m more of a Telex man, really. I could wrap this up in an afternoon from the office.”) but at he end he is sad and reluctant to leave. Lawson is his key counterpart, a classic city versus country faceoff, befriending Riegert yet keeping him at enough distance to try for every last bit of money. The one mistake, though it does give Forsyth a way to his ending, is bringing Lancaster to Scotland to finish the deal when a last minnute obstacle appears to derail the entire deal.

I would write more about why this is such a favorite of mine but I’m having difficulty putting the reasons into words well: Riegert and Lawson’s performances, the beauty of the locale and Jenny Seagrove, Mark Knopfler’s enchanting music, Forsyth’s script. Just see it.

Absolutely recommended