Category: Personal

Vampires and werewolves in a fight to the death, is that original or what? Not very, and neither is Underworld. Released last year, the basic idea is that vampires and lycans are each descended from one son of a European nobleman whose blood mutated when he survived the plague but passed it on differently to his children. Hundreds of years later, in our present, the vampire clan has nearly wiped out their wolvish cousins though the reason for the emnity is never really stated. Notice the parallel to the mythic story that Muslims and Jews are descended from Cain and Abel?

In director Len Wiseman’s conception, the creatures are all very stylish and very human in their emotions. One vampire is driven by ambition, another by hate, another by love; the only lycan we’re truly shown simply wants to save his people from extinction. And while the action and pace do finally heat up and drive to a conclusion, we’re left with all sizzle and no steak nonetheless.

not recommended except to see Kate Beckinsale (now Mrs. Wiseman) in tight leather

A quick look at the top three in the EPL; Liverpool another day.

Only saw the second half of today’s Arsenal-Norwich City match, when the Gunners were already up 3-0, but man this team is just cooking. Then again what do you expect from a team that hasn’t lost since the tail end of the season before last? Reyes adds beautifully to the front third play with Henry, Pires, Ljungberg and Bergkamp and teenager Fabregas is running the team brilliantly in the absence of All World Patrick Viera, enough to make people ask if the team was mistaken not to take the nearly $50 million Real Madrid offered.

Chelsea hasn’t lost yet either (both teams have taken all 12 points from the first four matches) but isn’t scoring near as much as Arsenal either, winning more on terrific defense. Newcomers Paulo Ferreira and Ricardo Carvahlo were teammates at Champions League winners FC Porto under new coach Jose Mourinho and are melding immediately with Wayne Bridge and John Terry. The Blues’ midfield and front are taking a little longer to settle in–will Kezman or Gudjohnsen be Drogba’s main strike partner, and of Duff, Robben and Cole who will end up the primary left winger? As an aside, one wonders why the team didn’t try to move Damien Duff for a big transfer fee, because this amount of depth can be harmful as personalities clash.

Manchester United have barely kept themselves together with only four points from three matches; a win against Everton Monday will be important if only for their psyche. Possibly the team will have to set their focus on winning the Champions League this year, tough as that will be, because there’s no way they’ll crack the top two spots in the EPL. Maybe another FA Cup..

Today’s draw with Blackburn was typical of Red Devils play in the early going: lots of possession and dominance of the field but if not for a goal in the last 60 seconds this would have been a second loss. And the goal came from Alan Smith, he’s been their best player to date but will have a very tough time getting on the field once Ruud Van Nistlerooy gets healthy if, as seems likely, Sir Alex gets his druthers and Everton send Wayne (Mr. Potato Head) Rooney becomes the latest purchase. Finally, 18 year old American Jonathon Spector was servicable in his Premiership debut but the team clearly misses suspended Rio Ferdinand and injured Wes Brown at the back.

All in all, great start to the season.

Kudos to Scoble and the rest of the team for Channel 9, especially the videos. I realize I’m a little late to the game here but MSFT is really making an interesting attempt to break the fourth wall between this, the staff blogs and generally making more information available sooner. Sure, to some degree they’re reacting to open source and other challenges and they’ve rarely (if ever) been first with any of these tools, but I see them pretty far ahead of the competition at this point.

“The Starlost is considered by many to be the worst sci-fi television show ever.” This is the opening line of a seller’s eBay ad for a pack of the 10 episodes of the series which were turned into five movies. Great salesmenship, eh? I was thinking of the show after reading about the poll by a British newspaper of top scientists that has Blade Runner as best SF movie of all time. I thought Starlost was cheesy, cheaply made, but lots of fun; then again, I haven’t seen any of the episodes in more than 20 years. SciFi Channel, rescue me!

Anyway, the Big Guy and I decided to put in a lowball bid and see if we get the DVDs.

Man bites dog or, more bluntly, government once again caves to industry rather than protect citizens.

[A letter to the editor at the Mercury News in response to this absurd column]

Once again Joe Rodriguez writes a column asking us to put aside the rule of law. Rodriguez cites the benefits of having illegals here, doing work legal residents won’t and therefore boosting our economy. So I guess he would also be okay if we had a Robin Hood-style crew here in the Valley who specifically stole things out of rich people’s safes that were just sitting there, doing nothing to help the economy, and turning over the proceeds to a good cause. Because the column (yet again) tells us that laws can be broken if the criminal has a good reason.

Joe, if you want to get more people here legally, then work within the system to change the law. Don’t rationalize illegal activity or ask others to cover their eyes while it happens. Perhaps the proposals from both major parties aren’t getting the attention you’d like but that doesn’t mean the ideas aren’t there.

(A little something that occured to me with the RNC coming so soon, to the tune of The Beatles’ With a Little Help from My Friends)

A little help from my friends

What would you think if I invaded Iraq,

Would you stand up and walk out on me?

Lend me your guns and I’ll tell you a lie,

And I’ll try not to make you feel sick.

I get by with a little help from my friends,

I can lie with a little help from my friends,

Going to try a little war with my friends.

What do I do when allies go astray?

(Doesn’t worry me to be alone)

How do I feel by the end of the day?

(I’m not sad because I’m on my own)

No I get by with a little help from my friends.

Do you need anybody?

I don’t need no one to go.

Could it be anybody?

I want somebody to fight.

Would you believe in a lie at first sight?

Yes I’m certain that it happens all the time.

What do you see when you turn out the light?

I can’t tell you, but I know that it’s mine.

Oh I get by with a little help from my friends,

Do you need anybody?

I just need somebody to invade,

Could it be anybody?

I want someone to invade.

I get by with a little help from my friends,

Yes I get by with a little war with my friends,

With a little help from my friends.

Bill O’Reilly is pathetic, which I’m sure you know, but Jim Gilliam provides a clip from today’s show that demonstrates this so clearly its worth saying again. Bill, buddy, old pal, are you so afraid of terrorists that you would give up your right to protest? What if the tables were turned, the Democrats were running the show and you wanted to make some noise? That’d be different because, well, you’re just always in the right, right?

Showing that blogging continues to penetrate into important intellectual spaces Richard Posner, one of the nation’s foremost legal minds, is guest-blogging at Larry Lessig’s space. Hopefully a dry run for his own effort. Since the posts do have some preferable sequencing, click the main link and then scroll down to read beginning with the post titled The Changing of the Guard first and move upwards; this is an instance where blogging’s reverse chronological posting scheme is less than perfect.

D.Film allows anyone to make (very) simple funny digital films (pardon my bias).

Garret linked an interesting article regarding CFS today, makes me wonder if this is what’s causing my condition. Particularly catching my eye was the connection to sore throat, muscle weakness, post-external malaise, sleep and cognitive disturbances and that it’s commonly (mis-)diagnosed as depression. Not really sure what myalgias are but a little googling turns up diffuse muscle pain but that doesn’t seem like anything bothering me.

Seth, in a comment to Garret’s post, suggests a related illness: fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS), a widespread musculoskeletal pain and fatigue disorder for which the cause is still unknown. Seems a little further from what I’m experiencing but both seem more applicable than the nothing my doctor has got so far.

Still, note the post title I added. As the Big Guy said yesterday, as one gets older one tends to jump to the worst possibility right at the start.

Really, really wish the doctors wouldn’t take so long to get some answer on what’s making me so tired. TS1 and I went to the gym this morning and I had a nice coffee walk with the Big Guy but that drained almost all my energy and I spent the rest of the day wishing I could fall asleep. Annoying or what?

For example, I could barely keep my eyes open watching the US women take on and beat the German side in the Olympics quarterfinals. Knowing when the winning goal would occur (thanks for the tape delay, NBC), I forced myself to keep watching and feel asleep less than a minute later only to be woken up five minutes later(!!!) by a phone call. Almost fell asleep again 25 minutes ago but remembered I have some ribs parboiling on the stovetop. Not what, for sure.

Okay, why would I see this? Sure the original wasn’t terrible but a sequel can’t be as good. It wasn’t, but TS1 wanted to see it as part of her birthday celebration and who am I to say no?

Princess Diaries 2: The Royal Engagement brings us back to the story of Princess Mia of Genovia (Anne Hathaway, looking lovlier than ever). Five years have passed since she learned her true heritage and she’s finished high school and college; the time has come for her to move home and take up responsibility. First in line for the Genovian crown, by law, becomes the country’s ruler right after his or her 21st birthday.

Women, though, must be married and this gives director Garry Marshall his hook: John Rhys-Davies, who was so much better as Gimli son of Gloin, wants to put his barely-eligible nephew (Chris Pine) on the throne instead and so reminds everyone that the law also requires female rulers to be married first. The Parliament has given her 30 days to fix things.

Overall Marshall and writer Shonda Rhimes (low: Britney Spears’ Crossroads, high: Halle Berry’s Introducing Dorothy Dandridge) could have done much better but opted for a few extra easy laughs instead of working the material harder. For instance, the slumber party scene was cute and all but completely irrelevant to the plot and the time would have been much better spent deepening the connection between Mia and her arranged intended (Dead Like Me‘s wasted Callum Blue) or having Pine see more of his uncle’s underhandedness.

recommended for girls age 8-13

Her eyes showed a light of extraordinary spark

Revisioned events of tumultuous times

Passionate men moving below her level

Their colors tumbling together but not merging

Not willing to visit a possibility of common

Cause nor mediated interest nor simple love

But in her eyes the flagrant flambouyant messages

Had little to say and even less to impress

No she would not take up the flag or join

Her vision was far away engrossed in love.

Another step towards the internet operating system, and not even from Google.

I love this: I’m watching the Earthquakes match live on the web thanks to Yahoo! Sports. There is no local show but the game is being televised back to Dallas (I’m guessing, given the bias of the ads and commentary) so someone made the deal to put the feed up. From the schedule on the broadcast page, several games a week are available this way so if you don’t have FoxSportsWorld to get the games regularly on cable, check this out. The choice is between a fairly small but sharp picture or fullscreen and blurry.

Doesn’t hurt that the Quakes are winning 2-0 as I write this, at the half.

However, if the news on the team staying in San Jose doesn’t change by Sep. 17 I wonder how much attention I’ll be giving to MLS after this season. FSW shows plenty of high quality EPL, French, Dutch, German, Brazilian and Argentinean football, more than enough to sate my demand if MLS leaves the Bay Area.

Final: The Quakes put another ball in the netting, Landon putting it right onto Ching and it was over with half an hour left (stats). Excellent overall performance, with Onstad needing to make only one real save all night. We jump ahead of Dallas and out of the basement, next weekend Colorado comes to town and if all goes right we’ll be in third place and setting up a run to the playoffs.

Is she going to be as complete as Data?

• Laugh
• Smile
• Scratch my head
• Cringe (anti)
• Terribly sad

[hat tip to jennet.radio]

Since I complained to the doctor recently about being surprisingly tired, fatigued, even though I’ve lost plenty of weight and been exercising regularly, he ordered some blood tests. They came back negative. Next was the unsupervised sleep study which I did last night.

Not a fun thing and, not too surprising, not conducive to a good night’s sleep! Given the difference between how I (and other people) normally sleep and how one is forced to sleep during this test, I do wonder how the results can be valid. Hell, the doctor had to give me an Ambien (sleeping pill) so I could even fall asleep at all.

The test basically involves attaching half a dozen sensors to various parts of your body: a tube with prongs that go inside the nostrils, one on either leg, one on the end of a finger, one around a wrist and two on the torso. All of these are at the end of a wire, with the other end of all of them coming together in a thick box which captures the data all night.

The recommendation, and reality, is that while wearing this mishegas one must sleep on his back, which I can normally never do. But I was encouraged to try and not take the pill, so I laid there for an hour listening to TS1 enjoy her sleep until I finally gave up and took it. Finally went to schluffy land and for all of five and a half hours. Great. Especially considering I hadn’t slept well the night before, I expected the pill to get me a good seven hours or so but that was too much to ask for.

Now I get to wait two weeks for the results to be processed and sent to my doctor. I mean, we all know how slowly electrons travel in computers, right? Maybe tonight I’ll finally get some rest.

What a tough game we had today opening the group round of World Cup qualification against the Reggae Boyz at The Office (Jamaica’s nickname for its national stadium), and this with the home side missing two key players due to injury. But chalk another one up for the (for now at least) Earthquake stars as Brian Ching scored the tying goal in the 89th minute off a slick little pass from Landon Donovan. I have to say, until that last gasp effort I was expecting a loss!

We had a very weak effort in midfield all game, sloppy passing that was no trouble at all for Jamaica to break up. This is no Grenada, let me tell you, with most of their starters playing in MLS or England–Damiani Ralph is third leading MLS goal scorer–and they are big and strong. USA is more fast and pacey, with very young, thinner players like Donovan and DaMarcus Beasley. Fortunately our backline was pretty tough and kept Kasey Keller from doing much work; their one score came in the 51st off a corner kick when one of the US players was out of position (not covering the far post) and left an opening too wide for Keller alone to handle.

The American team next faces El Salvador on Saturday, Sep. 4, at home and what I’d really love to see–do you hear me Bruce Arena?–is Donovan starting in midfield and Ching starting up top. Leave Chris Armas on the bench and position #21 just behind the two strikers, free to roam, in a 4-3-1-2 formation. We have more than enough defense for this and will get much more offense.

For Now

Why did I say “for now” about the Earthquakes? Rumors about Mexican power Club America buying the team and moving it to Houston or San Antonio are hotting up and say the announcement could come as early as tomorrow or Friday. Great timing as Soccer Silicon Valley is putting on a Save the Quakes rally Friday (noon, downtown San Jose, free hotdogs and lemonade, lots of Quakes past and present, be there!) and Saturday is a special old timers’ match celebrating the 30th anniversary of the original NASL Earthquakes. With all the rich men here in the Valley, isn’t there one who wants to step up and buy the team which won two of the last three MLS crowns?