What about privacy?

Well, face it, the time has come and gone for this archaic concept anyway. The recent Court of Appeals ruling holding email free from traditional protections, where technology ran ahead of the law, is but one more foot stomping your personal preference into the mud. Get used to it.

California’s legislators are trying to do some good for their constituents, running against the tidal wave of corporate lobbying. For an example look at last year’s SB-1, which became effective yesterday after a judge refused a request from banks and other financial companies to block it; the law requires financial companies to obtain customers’ permission before selling or sharing their personal information. Bankers are very unhappy, not surprising since selling this data reportedly gives them $400 million a year in revenue, and will appeal even though they stood up and supported the bill when the final compromise (the original restrictions were much tougher) was announced.

I picked up my new glasses late this afternoon. They are very stylish, or so I’m told, from Dolce and Gabbana, but for the first time I needed progressive lenses. The doctor wasn’t kidding when he told me I would have an adjustment period! Damn but these are annoying and the improved vision better be worth it in the end.

I was a middle-aged bridesmaid!

Yes, this shocking if paraphrased cliche headline is true! The reason for the radio silence here since Wednesday was a trip back East for my sister’s wedding Saturday night. Although not formally encumbered with the title, I did stand up on her side, next to her lovely and gracious 17 year old stepdaughter Danielle. As Viv pointed out, that makes me a bridemaid though I fear I will never get to be the bride.

Which is okay. My sister waited a little longer for this night than I thought she ought to have but she was magnificent. Beautiful, a lovely gown, happy, generous, having fun and in control. I have a couple of photos snapped with the digital to post, probably tomorrow, and you’ll see for yourself.

The gala was held at the The Mark in Manhattan, a very elegant hotel which is part of the global Mandarin Oriental group, with 120 family members and friends turning out in very fancy duds. I myself wore a stylish black tuxedo with silver vest and tie (at the bride’s request) and my wife was stunning in a little black dress, strappy black shoes and her hair put up. My folks both looked terrific and were so happy for Joanne, Larry is an amazing guy and his family has quickly made her one of them.

The band, featured the last few years on Regis and Kelly’s annual wedding giveaway show, was superb–I was surprised this singer was working weddings on Saturday nights. Even better, they did not play Celebrate or Shout, though perhaps they are now considered dated and outre, it’s been awhile since I was at a fancy wedding. The food was yum, the cake was wonderful, this is a place you should consider if you affair is going to be in Manhattan.

My sister was a bit more enthusiastic than the rest of the bridal party about taking some outdoor photos before the even. The hotel is on 77th between Madison and Fifth, so we walked over to Fifth Avenue for some shots by Central Park but ended up walking past 81st to take them on the steps of the Metropolitan Museum–a very odd parade of tuxedoes, dresses and her in her wedding gown–but the photos were taken. The photographer seemed capable, will be interesting to see his final product.

One bit that I was a little concerned about up front was seeing my ex-wife Cindy and her friends, who are still close with my sister, for the first time in 14 years or so. But that all turned out pleasantly, she chatted with me for a minute, even said some very nice things to my Mom and then caught the bouquet.

Other parts of the trip were great too. We did get to the Springsteen exhibit at the Newark Museum, which was a bunch of fun. And met SportsFilter’s goddam in the bargain, always good to meet online friends in person. Plus a morning after brunch at Jane’s Restaurant down in Greenwich Village, awesome food and apparently the current hotspot; I can certainly recommend the Lobster Benny and Cosmopolitan Mimosa!

The livin’ is easy

One of the great things about this time of year is that soccerfootball is the only real sport going on. Euro2004, MLS, US World Cup 2006 qualifying. I think if this were the only televised sport I’d be just as happy.

Minor prediction: The Czechs will play hard enough tomorrow to drop Germany out of the tournament. If the Germans lose, even a draw by the other two squads in Group D will be enough to push Holland (not Latvia, I think) through and a German draw combined with a win by either team in the other game gives the same result. I think this is nearly destined, to make a trio of huge nations crashing out of the first round: Germany, Italy, and Spain. Can’t really put Croatia up with them, especially since that would imply England was not going to go through if form held.

Foyle’s War

Last night I caught an episode of this charming BBC police procedural from 1994 as shown on PBS’ Masterpiece Theater. Missed the first two but there’s still one more next week, though this is on KQED’s bonus/HD channels not sure if it will be on the regular channel 9; not that Channel9! Michael Kitchen stars as a police inspector for a small village in Southern England in the months before WWII got truly serious.

And what it made me wonder is why does England, mainly BBC from what I can tell, do such good TV so consistently? Less important but also interesting, how come their actors, especially so many of the leads, are older and less physically attractive. Kitchen is not ugly but he had to be in his 50s when this was filmed. I would also point to Ken Stott, star of The Vice currently showing on BBC America’s Mystery Monday, is about as attractive as Dennis Franz. And Helen Mirren, from Prime Suspect, not saying she’s ugly but she is showing the signs of age.

Entertaining

For such a dedicated movie viewer as TS1, she had never seen Bridget Jones’s Diary so we watched it before the US match at Grenada. Still cute. On the other hand, Festival in Cannes was simply not at all entertaining and I hit the Delete button about 15 minutes in, nothing like what I expected from a Henry Jaglom film.

The eponymous Led Zeppelin DVD is five hours and twenty minutes of musical excellence, real thunder and lightning, all recorded during the band’s actual lifespan. As opposed to some of the crud put out after failed solo career reconstructions or the death of original members by some bands, if you know who I mean.

Visually one might be forgiven for wondering if the various cameramen forgot that the band had four members since 96% of the shots featured Jimmy Page or Robert Plant or both. During the acoustic set recorded in 1975 at Earl’s Court, I kept waiting in vain for a shot of John Paul Jones who was doing some enjoyable finger picking but all we saw was a constant flickering between Page, Page’s hands and Plant’s face. Watching Page is quite interesting, he is blasting power cords and blues runs with a nonchalance that makes me speculate that in his head he’s thinking, “Yeah Clapton may be God but bugger him.”

Some of the material, most of the first disk, was filmed quite early days while some, a batch at the end of the second disk, was pretty much the last show the band did before Bonham’s death. Comparing the two comes via versions of Whole Lotta Love from each set. Both blow the audience away but the second shows a sonic maturity reminding us that death has robbed rock of far too much.

Daddy, how did you spend your Summer?

Contrast: Scoble vs. JRobb. Somehow I’m thinking we (and by we I mean relatively well off Americans and Western Europeans) might be much better in the long run by putting immediate and harsh focus on what’s really happening in the Middle East. I don’t mean make sure we get out and vote, though that’s an important task, but figure out how as individuals we can do something meaningful to avoid the JRobb scenario. Hint: emailing, calling or writing a politician is unlikely to be sufficient either.

Must. Think. Harder!

Last night’s movie: Office Space

I saw this cult fave in the cinema during the original release in 1999 but missed the ending, the last six or eight minutes, when the projector burned the last reel. Of course the manager offered to let us come back another day but I wasn’t going to sit through the whole thing again just for that.

Five years have passed, though, so when Office Space showed up on the program guide I decided it was time to finally watch the whole thing, especially since in the intervening time the movie’s become the kind of geek in-joke that gets quote every other day. Maybe it was the way Comedy Central bleeped all the slightly naughty words (even though they don’t bleep on South Park!), some editing to fit the time slot or being broken up for commercial interludes, but I just didn’t come away with the same appreciation for it.

Sure there are some funny bits but jokes have never been a problem for writer/director Mike Judge–after all, just creating Beavis and Butt-head was more than enough to make him a cultural hero–but bottom line is that he picked too easy a target and doesn’t put it enough together to make for a truly insightful comedy. My thought is to make an analogy to pushing on a string.

cannot decide

An Unknown Friend

Weekday mornings we drive to the train

Cold winters or what passes for them

in Mountain View and Summer my

Sweet answers the daily bell.

Buddy is our unknown friend, we

Pass him walking every time, even

in the rain, a smiley, craggy face

Wavy gray hair, blue windbreaker, arms swinging.

I call out “Hi Buddy” as we see him and

Sweet smiles or at least laughs since

in more than 18 months we have

Never actually met our good friend.

Seeing him walk across the Dana Street

Overpass or on Evelyn depending

on the time is reassuring, a constant and

Friendly reminder that age is not infirmity.

What a way to wake up

My alarm is set to go off at 5:50 weekdays so TS1 and I can go the gym before work. This morning, though, I woke up screaming in pain about 15 minutes before the alarm could annoy us from a terribly powerful muscle spasm on the back of my left calf.

I mean terrible in the worst way, I felt like the muscle was trying to pull itself right out of my leg. Worse, nothing I did could relieve the pain, not stretching or relaxing, light massage, lifting the leg up, putting it down. Lasted for about a minute.

Very sorry for the screaming to wake up Sweetie but what could I do? I can’t remember the last time I felt such pain. I have had a few of these spasms before though none of them were so strong. Even now, over two hours, a shower and 20 minutes with a heating pad later, the muscle is still tender and pulsing.

Somehow the alarm clock doesn’t seem so bad by comparison.

Another former NetD firm gets taken

Collaxa, co-founded by NetDynamics co-founder Doron Sherman, is being acquired by Oracle according to the Register. Neither company is commenting but the article says the announcement will come the week after next at JavaOne. This is very cool because Collaxa’s product is very meaty but as far as I’ve heard they were having typical innovative tiny company difficulty breaking through in the marketplace; as part of Oracle that barrier is instantly hurdled. Good on ya!