BillSaysThis

No indeed. Barbara Card Atkinson writes an elegant opinion piece for the Christian Science Monitor that in very few words brings the emotions of people like her, and to a lesser degree myself, directly to the surface. For all the disagreement I may have with our fearless leadership in DC, the one issue unlike Mrs. Atkinson I cannot put aside is why they are not doing more, or really anything I can see, to get more jobs right here in America, for Americans. Huge amounts of deficit spending, something that was anathema to Republicans ten short years ago, and very little benefit to the vast majority of us. The word ‘sad’ comes to mind.

Does not even begin to express my opinion of the actions of the Bush Administration this time around. Do not miss the implications of this story.

[via Steve]

The trailer for Return of the King is online; if you have a broadband connection, or considerable patience, go for the Hi-Res version. Although, according to Peter Jackson’s commentary on the 4 disc version of Fellowship of the Ring, the film will not include the final chapter in which Sam, Merry and Pippin return to the Shire. 79 days until the real thing hits the big screen!

So says Italy to the eastern US and Canada, sticking their collective tongue out for good measure.

Weblogs Compendium put together this list of RSS Readers. Clearly goes to show that when you put hype together with a fairly easy technical situation, you get people jumping in massively, seeking egoboo since there is little or no opportunity for actual cash money. Can’t complain since (a) I use a very nice free reader and (b) I know there are some people reading this blog through them. But still people, aren’t there other interesting problems you can solve with your software expertise?

[via jennet.radio]

L’Shana Tovah

Diane Lane, heartbreak, and the beauty of Tuscany combine for a decent, but not great, movie. Under the Tuscan Sun is inspired by the book of the same name and Lane does play a character with the name Frances Mayes (the author of the autobiographical travelogue), but there was no story in the book, so writer/director Audrey Wells just made a bunch of crap up.

Wells has specialized in chick flicks so far in her career (The Truth About Cats and Dogs, Guinevere, next year’s English language remake of Shall We Dance? starring Richard Gere and J.Lo) and Tuscan Sky certainly falls into the same…pit. Now, I’m not saying this simply because the main character is a woman but because the character has the heartache and bad breaks piled on, yet fights her way to emotional stability with only the help of a few wise friends. Plus lots of foreshadowing, can’t forget the foreshadowing.

Tuscany is beautiful, Lane/Mayes meets up with colorful, if blemished, characters. Everyone calls her Francesca, even the slightly loony older English actress (think a mid-50s English Kim Catrell-ish Sex and the City type) who befriends her. She has a heart-opening affair with a wonderful Italian man who conveniently (for the plot) lives hours away in the South (Positano, not far down the Amalfi Coast from where I vacationed back in 2001). She even gets everything she asks for in the end. Yeah, it’s a chick flick though not a bad one–just like Spitfire Grill a few years ago.

Note: Yes, this does not mean I’ve in any way changed my mind from last week’s rant, we saw this movie at the CineLux theater in Almaden.

Recommended for date nights

Here I sit with a steaming mug of green tea

Before me, the timer counting off a few minutes,

As the tea steeps and the flavor invades the

Boiling hot water.

A day has mostly passed, the late afternoon Sun

Passing its final rays on, the heat coming through

A high window and comforting my shoulders,

Relaxing the tension.

My mind simply wanders from thought to thought

With none sticking or catching on the main road,

Just another day with cool grey morning clouds

Leading to now.

Lift up your eyes, breathe in the aroma, now the

Tea is ready for drinking–feel the tangy bits of

Different flavors hitting your tongue–lift your mug,

Boiling hot water.

Efficient Shotgun Sequencing Provides Dog Genome reports that humans share more of their genetic heritage with dogs than mice. Bow wow, baby!

Also in the mammal family: “You’re a cute little bunny and you have to avoid the other bunnies from stomping on you and at the same time try to stomp as many opponents as possible.” Jump n Bump

For the true Star Trek: The Next Generation fans only comes this 48 disc, complete seven season box set containing all 176 TNG episodes made. So let’s see, 176/24 = 7.33 days watching 24 hours per day, no sleep. That would be a true test for the beyond the pale fans for sure. Fortunately for us Americans, we won’t be tempted (according to the information available so far) since the set will only be released, and coded for, European DVD machines.

Two new strips, six panels in all:

Bruce turned 54 years old today. Amazing that he’s still make new, evolving, relevant music compared to so many of the ‘older’ rockers who’re out there just pulling in the cash for Greatest Hits and Live repackagings and an umpteenth tour playing those same songs. Mr. Jagger, Mr. Townsend, Mr. Simmons, do you hear me?

I watched the appellate arguments made to the Ninth District Court today, which was just a coincidence since the TiVo Suggests algorithm for who knows what reason thought I’d want to see a soap opera called Passions but the local NBC affiliate preempted that with the live court proceedings. Quite interesting to watch Lawrence Tribe, a very famous lawyer, make the argument on behalf of the plaintiffs, while the State of California was represented by a no-name nudnick from the Attorney General’s staff.

Nothing I heard was surprising or shocking but this was my first viewing of such a proceeding. Or rather my first viewing of a real appellate proceeding as opposed to the fictional versions on such TV shows as Law & Order, which turned out to be a reasonable facsimile once I made allowance for the time constraints and such.

My opinion is that the whole recall is a farce foisted on the people of this state by a stupid, greedy, rich Republican moron (Darrell Issa). Anything, such as a challenge on constitutional grounds as this case is, that can make the likelihood that Gray Davis will remain governor or at least be replaced by another Democrat is a good thing. Whichever side loses will almost certainly appeal to the US Supreme Court, meaning whether or not the vote will take place on October 7 will remain up in the air until almost the day of the vote, especially if the Supremes actually hear the appeal.

Update, 9/23: Sadly, the judges wasted no time at all in overturning the decision to delay the recall vote. According to the NYT, “The speed of the full court’s ruling today, and the tone of the 13-page document, suggested that the 11 judges had not agonized over their decision.” I had hoped for a few days of amusing feverish speculation before what many commentators saw as this pre-ordained verdict. Will the ACLU go the final step and if they do will the Supremes take it on? My coffee buddy says no but one can hope.

Don’t piss on my leg and tell me it’s raining. That amusing line from The Outlaw Josey Wales is the fundamental requirement of getting and retaining my patronage. So, for instance, any company that sends me spam is off the list. Tiger Direct sold me TS1’s new PC back in February immediately added me to their Annoy Daily list and so that’s that for them. Companies that think I’d ever buy financial advice or products or any prescription or ‘natural’ substitutes for prescription drugs from spam mail, making inane or illegal promises in their email, are just morons.

Treating me with at least a modicum of respect is next and I don’t mean me only as an individual but also as part of the general mass of consumers. For years, for instance, I’ve avoided Exxon because of how they handled the whole Valdez incident–not that the company had a spill but the BS coverup the tried to pull afterwards–and now I’d put MCI in the same list. Smith Barney, which I use for brokerage, is tilting on the edge but then again I’m not sure any of their competitors are significantly better.

That also means treating me with respect as an individual consumer. Century Theaters is now off my list because of what happened yesterday. We were watching a Matchstick Men matinee in a mostly empty theater when the man of a couple sitting in the row in front of us jumped up and left the room after giving me an unhappy look. Next thing I know, a manager is in my face telling me that if I say another word he’ll throw me out. For whispering?!?!?! I sat stewing and watched the rest of the movie, then spoke with the same manager and his boss after. Their claim is that talking violates some unstated rule but other kinds of noise which can be much louder (laughing, screaming) do not. And, of course, the managers simply took the word of the other customer that I actually did speak, never asking me if that was true or not.

This is really a shame since the Century Theater over on Shoreline has been my favorite place to see movies for the last six years, not to mention the only good theater in a reasonable drive. I suppose I’ll mostly just wait even more often for films to show up on cable and make few exceptions that’ll justify the extra drive. Not going to miss Return of the King, that’s for sure, but on the bubble shows like Kill Bill and Matrix: Revolutions will have to get fantastic reviews and word of mouth to get my box office dollars.

One film I won’t be upset about not seeing, if it ever does come out, is The Passion, Mel Gibson’s self-financed Jesus fantasy. There are plenty of articles I could cite but the one by Frank Rich in today’s NY Times will do just fine. “Modern secular” Jew is as good a way to describe my religious beliefs as any though I remain blissfully unaware of any conspiracy that targets this once favorite movie star. Gibson clearly doesn’t want my money and I’m glad not to give it to him.

I’m not a huge music downloader, grabbed a few songs off newsgroups (never used any of the P2P networks) last year, but the deviant behavior of the major music companies behind the RIAA has certainly turned me off too. I haven’t bought the new Zevon CD and that’s one of the reasons; Warren, after all, has passed beyond the point of caring. I do wonder what will choice I’ll make when the next Springsteen is released, or even the Beatles’ Let It Be…Naked in a couple of months. There are some promising independent music companies but for better or worse I have yet to hear music from them that I enjoy enought to buy.

Insulting commercials are another huge turnoff. Such as the current FedEx TV ad which puts down people with MBAs for no good reason and not in a way I find amusing, since I do have an MBA I worked hard to earn. Comcast ads that simply lie about the difficulties one might have using satellite TV service are really irritating though for the time being I don’t have a good alternative to using them since SBC seems unable to get me working DSL.

Another company I’d rather not do business with, but have little alternative at this time, is KnightRidder and its San Jose Mercury News. Though I do wonder if the San Francisco Chronicle, the one possibility, would be any different on my hot button issue (though early evidence, such as this article, is not promising). That issue is the way the paper deals with illegal aliens, persistently labelling them undocumented immigrants, and how the editors and columnists refuse to respond to reader complaints about this farce.

Then there’s a popular restaurant here in Mountain View, Tony & Alba’s, which I haven’t really eaten at in years because of their poor attitude towards clean utensils and glasses, and their poor response to my complaints about such. Being on Atkins and that place being an Italian restaurant, pizzeria really, means I wouldn’t be eating there anyway. But still a good example of how not to take care of customers. A good contrast is PHPWebHosting, whom I’ve used to host this site since its inception and recommended to others, who respond very well to problem tickets almost every time and when they don’t, always have an apology and reasonable explanation.

Now some people, having put up with my rant all the way to this point, may ask “What about Microsoft?” Aren’t they a guilty enough collective of 55,000? Probably, I’d answer. However, despite the many arguments about Linux or Mac that you’d care to make, I can’t make that switch for practical reasons. And, bottom line, I don’t agree (enough) with those arguments to change even if I could.

Finally, nothing beats a good product or service at a good price.

Nicholas Cage and Sam Rockwell are con artists–Matchstick Men being a little-used alternative name for the profession–and all of a sudden Cage hooks up with the 14 year old daughter (Allison Lohman) he knew was a possibility but had never met. He struggles with his Dadness. He tries to get better with the help of a psychiatrist. Cage and Rockwell try to pull a big con on Bruce McGill but the ending has a twist or two. Or three.

Ridley Scott is much better known for directing bigger, more active movies like Black Hawk Down, Gladiator, and Alien. Though he did do fairly well with the lighter Thelma and Louis, got to give him that. But while there are some funny and some touching moments in Matchstick Men, almost all between Cage and Lohman, there was just too much confusion over whether this is about a father finding his daughter or a con man learning he no longer has the heart for the con.

Somewhat recommended

The actual asshats who provide the mailing services are greasy, slimy, sleazy and difficult to get at. But what about their clients< the people and companies actually selling the products on whose behalf the spam is sent? Why can't we go after them? Since they have to have a physical presence in order to accept payments (and potentially make shipments), the piles of moron shit must be accessible. Credit card companies can be pressured to rescind their accounts. How about it?

Sex Inspectors on the Way, Australian talk host breast feeds on live TV: Can only be read, not mocked.

Reason not to stay: Wack jobs who are taking over the country.

I am not the eggman, they are not the eggmen.

I am not the walrus, goo goo k’choo.

Gezundheit. I’m not even crying.

Robert Rodriguez puts aside his spy kiddies and gets back to his adult film series with the third film featuring his guitar playing, gun-toting El Mariachi, Once Upon a Time in Mexico. Antonio Banderas stars, along with Johnny Depp, Willem Dafoe and Selma Hayek and WhereIsHeNow Mickey Rourke in a nice cameo. Most of you will probably be more familiar with 1995’s Desparado, the second film, than with the low-budget indie original El Mariachi.

Writer/director Rodriguez–who also produced, edited and scored OUATIM–got a big budget to make this one and the money’s not hard to see on the screen, plenty of big explosions and wire work fight choreography for sure. The problem is that it’s all show and little substance. I kept thinking ‘This is a very slow moving cartoon’ as it played. There’s too much voiceover, too many flashbacks (including every single seen in which Hayek appears), and too little coherence.

Not recommended