BillSaysThis

Some months ago, pseudo-President Bush nominated Priscilla Owens to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Fortunately for you, me, and the rest of America, the Senate Judiciary committee today defeated her nomination by voting along strict party lines not to send her name on to the full Senate for consideration. Ms. Owens is currently a Texas Supreme Court Justice, put there by Bush when he pretended to be governor, and a ridiculously (perhaps to the point of subconcious self-hatred) conservative person. Phew!

I made my first visit to a periodontist today for a consultation after a recent series of visits to the dentist. A new dentist, here in Mountain View, very good, with good office support staff (if you want a referral just ask), who did a serious deep cleaning and other work. She got me to floss for the first time in my life by showing me x-rays of my mouth and after six weeks I can see real improvement in most of my gum so I’m converted.

Two things made this visit no very funny. First, there was a family with the appointment ahead of mine and the father was going over and over about the treatment plan and then about the payment plan. I can understand that people want to know what’s going on in their (spouse’s) mouth and pay the least amount possible but not when you’re costing me upwards of half an hour. Second, after looking at my mouth and poking me with a sharp probe, the good doctor says I need some hard work on my lower gum. Then I can only eat soft and not too hot food for two weeks. I can put it off for a few months, to get a good start on the diet, but then it’s novocaine and the knife.

Ex-WorldCom Execs Plead Not Guilty: Former Chief Financial Officer Scott Sullivan and former director of general accounting Buford Yates are going to have to come up with one hell of a good story. Maybe this, given Worldcom’s location: “Ya see, judge, we was just holding on to the money for safekeeping, we didn’t want it to get lost in the Mississippi.”

the first post on today’s entry (g, we need the per item permalinks!):

grab my coffee, first email i see: “let’s talk dirty stools.” colon-cleansing via spam email. wish i could send a post back: “let’s not, and say we did.” yuck-o.

spam sucks!

Vladimir Smicer takes Riise’s midfield spot and Heskey gets El Hadhi Diouf’s striker place in the starting 11 today but Abel Xavier kept his defensive spot. This was an aggressive game right from the start and Liverpool had the edge but were unable to net the ball in the first half despite many chances (a 10-2 lead in shots). Just prior to the half, Stephen Gerrard went down hard; at first his hurt looked like a dislocated shoulder but turned out to be just a mild ankle pain and he did not leave the game.

Hamann finally got the first score of the match in the 54th minute with a nice dispossession, a few dribbles and then a left leg blast. Newcastle manager Bobby Robson took a risk and used all three substitutions in the 63rd minute; his team was surely on the short end of the referee’s whistle this day, taking many more fouls than LFC. This paid off when Michael Owen put a penalty in the right side of the net after much frustration on his part for missing so many good opportunities. Heskey also had a poor showing after missing a couple of kicks but especially two close range headers that went out of bounds instead of in the net. Diouf took Smicer’s spot but was not able to get any offense going.

Late on, Gary Speed took a nice centering feed from Bellamy and put it in for a Newcastle tally. Gerrard went off for Cheyrou at four minutes later and I expect England coach Eriksson was relieved. But Liverpool got anxious about their narrowed lead and started playing very poorly, which paid off for the visitors who got an equalizer in the 89th minute from veteran Alan Shearer.

What a huge disappointment! The Reds had a 2-0 lead as late as the 80th minute and ended with a second consecutive draw when the three points were their’s for the taking. They would have had the top spot in the league table on goal difference over Tottenham but instead remain tied with Arsenal for second. I hope Houllier takes the long break to work with his defenders, especially Xavier, on remaining aware at game’s end; perhaps we can even look for the first defensive lineup change of the season.

Four LFC players were named to the England team (of 20 players) which will face Portugal on Saturday in a friendly, a warm-up for the Euro 2004 qualifying round: Danny Murphy, Stephen Gerrard, Emile Heskey, and Michael Owen. Given Heskey’s in and out status in the first three Premiership matches, this is somewhat surprising but national team coach Sven Goran Eriksson was somewhat limited in his choice of strikers due to various injuries. I’m looking forward to today’s match against Newcastle in a couple of hours and then the rest of the Reds are off for nine days as this weekend is devoted to international play.

“That’s… a good question. They should have stopped to finish the job and get this chip.” She poked at the box. Her hand shook. “I can’t worry about that now. I need to tell you what you need to know.”

Jamie looked at her. “I’m a computer programmer, I don’t know shit about your business. How can I help?”

“Don’t worry, you only need to be involved for two hours, to get this to a contact in the South Bay. You just need to drive your car and meet someone.” He looked at her skeptically but she must have mistook his silence for agreement because she went on. “This chip is, well, it’s something special, don’t worry just what. I work for a division of the CIA and that guy on the phone was my boss back in DC. I need to get this back to him but I’m out of the game now.”

“What about the men your boss said would be here in 15 minutes? Can’t one of them do this?”

“He’s sending medical help. The people that are coming aren’t Agency, just a medical techs on contract. We don’t have anyone working in this region right now.” A car drove past and Jamie turned his head away, as if he could hide, but the car didn’t even slow down. Just another geek looking for his morning java. Just like Jamie thought he was when he left the house an hour before.

“Who would shoot a CIA agent in plain site like this Lara? Do you have any ideas?”

“Don’t be naive. There are people willing to do anything for a few dollars and plenty of people willing to pay them to do it. If I had any thoughts that I’d be shot after stopping for coffee, I’d never have stopped, much less walked out with some guy I never met before. Listen, there isn’t much time left–are you gonna help me? What should I tell my boss?”

Jamie looked at her face, at the box in her hand, at the blood still seeping from her side. He looked away, back at the coffee shop. He thought about how different this was from the clowns he worked with, had worked with for so many years, so different from punching at the keys on his computer. He looked back at her and nodded.

“Good. The meeting is at noon at Villa St. Roasting Company in Mountain View, right off Castro. The person to meet will be sitting there by himself with a Thai coffee and a Toshiba laptop, with a web browser open to the New York Times. The only thing I know about him is he isn’t white.”

I’ve really enjoyed the time off from work, especially the last 10 months with the Sweet One, but now the good times are starting to show a little to much around the midsection. So as of this morning I’m back on the Atkins Diet. This controversial though proven diet helped me lose 39 pounds a couple of years ago and I expect to do even better this time. I don’t expect to say too much about specifics here too often but I am looking forward to fitting into the shirts and pants right now sitting unwearable in my closet.

Of Karl’s hinting, that is. I will be checking out this website tomorrow: the Hero’s Journey.

Thanks buddy! But you haven’t told us how much you enjoyed the Phoenix Trap show yet! Of course, neither has Mark. Maybe the show was so good they’re both still spinning?

One could consider S1m0ne as an attempt by writer/director Andrew Niccol to comment on the over-importance of actors in movies today, the amazing advances in technology, and the gullibility of the general public (or sheep, as one of my friends calls us). Indeed, that’s just what I would consider this to be. Plus an extremely funny film and another in an long line of excellent performances by Al Pacino.

I’d also give props to Evan Rachel Wood as Pacino’s daughter and Pruitt Taylor Vince as a tabloid publisher who gets emotionally involved in the target of his story. Though not credited for her efforts in the film, model Rachel Roberts plays the title character quite well, though Niccol obviously used technology to change her appearance and voice to a certain degree. Honestly I’d say that Roberts looks better than the digitally enhanced s1m0ne.

The important thing for me, though, is that this is a really funny movie. Lots of density, as I like to call it, where every frame is used to add a laugh if it isn’t need to advance the story. For example, Pacino sets up a meeting for the co-stars of s1m0ne’s second movie, gets them all seated around a table (his office is beautifully decorated with antiques, by the way), and then tells them that the star will only speak with them by phone. He gets them started introducing themselves, runs off, and just barely gets into place when she needs to speak. Niccols also draws his characters very broadly, playing well on stereotypes and audience expectations–the studio executive, the police detective, the sleazy journalists, the unthinking adulation of audiences.

This makes for an interesting sequence of films for Niccols with which to open his career. The first movie he wrote was The Truman Show, then he wrote and directed Gattaca (recently named number two in Wired’s SF Top 20), and then this one. All three explore questions of identity in a technological world. (Note that although Gattaca was released first, it was written second due to the time needed to put the Truman Show deals in place. Niccols wanted to direct the Jim Carrey picture but couldn’t convince the studio and had to hand it to Peter Weir.)

Definitely recommended

Lara looked up from the phone’s screen to his face. And saw confusion, fear, and distrust. “We’re the good guys,” she said softly. Looking back at the phone she told her contact “We’ll call right back.” Then coughed, roughly, as her hand closed the phone.

“I’m sorry. Just cause you spilled some coffee on me shouldn’t get you shot at.” Jamie stared at her, unable to blink or move in any other way, and didn’t answer. In the midst of the morass inside his mind the comment “No, no it shouldn’t” surfaced for a moment. Followed by a hailstorm of “I was shot at! Why was I shot at? Who was shooting? I was shot at!!! Lara is so hot. Are the gunmen coming back? Why was I shot at?” and the like, though none could penetrate his paralysis. He noticed that blood was still leaking out of her stomach.

“You must be wondering what just happened. I work for…the government, the American government. Those men want something I have in my purse.” She had to stop talking and gasp for breath. She reached into her bag and pulled out a small metal box. “Open it” she asked.

He popped it open to see, what else?, a computer chip. Looking at it closely, turning it, nothing special to quick visual inspection. Maybe two inches on a side, quarter of an inch thick, unmarked black plastic, a few dozen pinouts. But the simple activity jarred him loose.

“Are you okay?” he asked. He realized he was still holding a napkin and reached over to press it against the wound. She gave him a weak smile. “Why didn’t those guys get out of the car and come after us?”

John Judis, in the New Republic, writes about another aspect of the Bush Administration’s corporate welfare programs: broadband duopolies and the man behind them, FCC chairman Michael (I’m Colin’s son) Powell. Judis begins by showing Powell’s hypocrisy. The chairman says that widespread consumer adoption of broadband Internet access is key to the revivial of our telecom industry, and competition is the key to such adoption, but he’s pushing the FCC to make rules that eliminate competition to the Baby Bells and cable companies. Wow, that makes so much sense!

What, you might be wondering, does Bill do with all his free time beside hunt for a job and love the Sweet One? Every weekday morning I go for a hot beverage (has been coffee up until now but will be green tea starting next week) with Evan, who is also a longterm victim of the economic craplaise, lives down the block, and worked with me at Sun. Evan is also a massive techhead, skilled and knowledgeable about many things, not the least of which is software design and development, and he decided to bring his digital camera along yesterday. Among other shots he took a few of me featuring the new cap I bought at the Springsteen concert and I combined them into a montage for your viewing pleasure:

That’s what Juan Figueroa, president and general counsel of the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund in New York City, would have you believe in his recent OpEd essay. He argues that because Latinos are underrepresented in the judiciary, the cases involving their interests are often decided against them. “A judge’s race or ethnicity is as critical as her legal experience.” Latinos make up 12.5% of the US population but only 3.8% of the judiciary and this is, Figueroa claims, clearly unfair.

Or is it? He also mentions that the number of Hispanic Americans increased by well over 50% in just the 10 years between census surveys. So it’s also possible that there aren’t enough experienced, qualified Latinos to take that many more judgeships yet. And this argument is very typical of one aspect of what (you knew this was coming, right?) Steven Denbeste has been writing about lately as Transnational Progressivism. In this case, that each group, and especially groups that have been victimized, deserve representation in proportion to their numbers. So if Latinos represent 12.5% of the population, they should have 12.5% of the bench seats. Possibly a few extra to make up for the terrible ways in which they’ve been discriminated against in the past. Further, I would question just how much of a coherent group these people consider themselves to be; I’ve read often enough that plenty of the different national groups that make up the Hispanic world have little desire to be merged into this broader coalition.

Let’s step back a minute, though, and consider that huge jump in population. Where did those (approximately) 11 million new Hispanic Americans come from in just one decade? True, this group does tend to have slightly higher than average birth rates but the vast majority must have been through immigration. So these new people were so well treated in the places they used to live that they voluntarily came here to be treated worse. Somehow I don’t think that’s quite the reason. And Figueroa also mentions the magic words: “undocumented immigrants.” Does he think that just because some people (in this case, but not exclusively, Latinos) were able to evade border controls and physically enter America that they are now entitled to all the rights and privileges of residency and even citizenship? Please.

[Note: I’m going to send a copy of this to Mr. Figueroa, since his email is at the bottom of the column, and see if he wishes to respond.]

A cool match that I was looking forward to, as the Reds went on the road to meet the Rovers. Blackburn features one of my favorite players, American national team goalkeeper Brad Friedel, who did so much in propelling the US side in the World Cup, as well as England naitonal team star Andy Cole. The starting LFC lineup was a bit of a surprise: Abel Xavier was still in his right defender spot but John Arne Riise was back at left midfield even after the superb results from teaming Emile Heskey with El Hadji Diouf last Saturday.

The situation was looking dark for Liverpool through the first 29 minutes: Xavier was obviously seen by the Rovers as the weak link he is and in the 16th minute he was beaten by Cole with a strong cross to the top of the box where David Dunn was waiting and put the shot through a screened Jerzy Dudek. So much for the season’s clean sheet. Xavier also blew two very good offensive chances. Also looking bad was Diouf, who could not seem to settle the ball properly or pass it accurately, wasting most of the offensive time for LFC.

Then the clouds cleared: in the 30th, Cole drew the game’s first yellow for a foul on Dieter Hamann (who’s playing superbly, by the way). Starting near midfield from the free kick after Cole’s booking, Murphy took a pass at about 30 yards out and just ever so lightly touched it off his back heel off to the right wing to Xavier. The blonde Portuguese national just put one solid boot on the ball to send it screaming into the middle where Murphy blasted it from his right foot into the back of the net for his second goal of the year.

The remainder of the half played out with much sound but little consequence except for continued poor play from Diouf, whose bad passing continued right to the end when he blew a breakaway chance with Owen seconds before the whistle. Blackburn was certainly the aggressor through this time, though, as intermission came with the score still 1-1.

Not that I’m the great soccer expert, mind you, but I was surprised to see the Reds begin the second half with the same 11 players. I wonder how much rope Mr. Houllier is going to allow Xavier. In the 64th minute, Houllier does finally make a move, and it’s a surprising one at that–he removes both Diouf and Owen for Valdimir Smicer and Heskey. I guess Xavier will be staying in as the last sub will surely be saved against injury for at least 20 minutes. The changes do indicate that Houiller and assistant coach Phil Thompson are staying aggressive and looking for three points from this match!

John Arne Riise made the payoff in the 77th, scoring on a soft looping header that went over Friedel’s head, for his second of the season. The ball came to Riise on a long cross, all the way across the box, though I couldn’t see who sent the pass. The goal was the result of sustained offensive pressure as this was the first time in the second half that the Reds were able to keep the ball in the Rovers’ end for a stretch of several minutes. The lead didn’t hold up long as Blackburn substitute Corrado Grabbi put a header past Dudek, whose few fingers weren’t enough, only a minute and a half after entering the game as an extra attacker in place of their central defender.

Some more sloppy passing from Liverpool gave the Rovers another extended stay in front of the box through the 86th but an offside ended that. Shockingly, goalscorer Grabbi and then frustrated teammate Dwight Yorke both protested way too much and were both rewarded with yellows. This set off Blackburn manager Graeme Souness, who was himself next dismissed by the referee! Over an offsides!

Houllier followed with his final substitution, still looking for the win, by removing Riise and sending on Senegalese national Saif Diao to see his first Premiership action. Both teams are not playing up to level, though, as passes and clearances are going well off target and back to the opposition. A minute and a half into stoppage time and Danny Murphy takes a yellow card just to the side of the box but Grabbi ends that threat by putting the direct kick over the top of the net. Dudek puts the goal kick into Blackburn’s end and the final whistle sounds.

Very disheartening result as Liverpool should have taken the win and had to settle for one point after the late equalizer though they do keep their spot of the top of the table– a win would have put them there alone but seven points ties them with Arsenal and Tottenham (Manchester United and Fullham could pull even at the weekend with a victory). My hope remains that we will see Xavier sitting on the bench as the next match (Monday against Newcastle United) and, goal or not, another start for Heskey over Riise.

Tomorrow will bring European news for the team: the Champions League draw will be held and the Anfield bunch will find out the road that will lead them out of the first round. Unfortunately, based on a complicated formula, they did not rank in the top eight seeds and will therefore have at least one very tough opponent in the group. The other English teams to qualify for CL play are Arsenal, Manchester United, and Newcastle United; Arsenal and LFC qualified by virtue of finishing one-two last season while Man U and Newcastle just won home and away sets for their berths.

My friend Pam was also at Compaq Center last night and had this to say:

Not only did Springsteen walk a perfectly balanced line of old and new, cry of tough times and heartfelt hopes, frustrations and furious flaming love, but the energy level demonstrated by someone who has done this as long as he has was amazing. Patti Scialfa is the luckiest chick in the whole entire *world.* He also refrained from the maudlin overuse of red, white and blue on the hats and t-shirts, as opposed to the Born in the USA tour, which I sort of appreciated. It was brave to do 41 Shots on this tour; again, a strikingly balanced posture. The asymmetric harmonies on Empty Sky were haunting — the gritty, searing blend of Bruce and Patti’s voices was inspiring of memories built to last. What was really neat was seeing the teenagers mouth all the words to all the songs in the setlist, alongside their parents. It’s that kind of reach that must hold the most appeal for the band.

Let’s start by getting the negatives out of the way. He didn’t play Growin’ Up or any other songs from his first two records nor did he play Atlantic City, which he had played a couple of nights ago. The new arrangement of Thunder Road was really disappointing; he slowed the tempo down, which drained all the energy from the song, and basically took out the little riffs (like the one after “I got this guitar and I learned how to make it sing!”) that gave it an edginess. The show was nearly an hour shorter than in previous years, which probably explains why there was so little material from some records (only Ramrod from The River, nothing from Nebraska, Tunnel of Love, Human Touch/Lucky Town, Ghost of Tom Joad, Tracks). Except for introducing the band, Bruce didn’t talk to the audience at all during the show, no cute or funny little stories at all. One problem is more to do with Compaq Center than Bruce: the bass sound was really muddy and seemed to be right at the resonance level, so Gary Tallent’s playing was sort of overwhelmed. Finally, most of the crowd sat down for the whole show, until the encores, although they did clap and sing along pretty good, though this is not counting those in the Floor section who had no seats to sit in.

Summing the last paragraph up: When you’ve held someone up as an idol for 27 years, and you’re seeing him in concert for the first time in 17, he has a hard time living up to the expectations.

We had a great time though! Bruce and the band rocked the joint! After they’d been playing for awhile, I asked the Sweet One what time it was and she said nearly 10:30. Which meant the show had been going for two hours and it seemed like maybe 20 minutes to me. A cool guy, another Bruce fan from way back, was sitting next to me and made the show better by getting into it as much as me. He sang along with me and pump his arms in the air too. We had really good seats, in the upper section but straight across the arena (section 209, row 9). At the end of the main set the band walked offstage and we expected maybe a ten minute break but they must have just towelled off, had a quick sip of water, and walked right back on in less than a minute. And the band played over two hours of great music!

Details:

• The Rising – Good choice to open the show and set the tone (since so much of the song selection came from the new record).
  

• Lonesome Day – I really like this song and it shows how Soozi Tyrell’s violin playing fits into the overall sound.
  

• Prove It All Night – First song that everyone seemd to know and a huge cheer went up with the opening notes.
  

• The Fuse – I like this more than some others, apparently, but the live version is even better than what he recorded.
  

• Darkness on the Edge of Town – Interesting update of Bruce’s guitar part here, making it fit in more organically with the sound of the new record, though it took me a few extra seconds to identify the song.
  

• Empty Sky – Done as a vocal duet with Patti, mainly just Bruce on acoustic, and tastier than the recorded version. Springsteen did ask the crowd to quiet down before this one though some doofii in the audience used the quiet to scream out silliness.
  

• You’re Missing – Full band acoustic.
  

• Waitin’ on a Sunny Day – All four guitarists kept their acoustics strapped on for this tune but they made it swing! A really fun R&B tune. Lots of audience participation, among the best for the new songs.
  

• The Promised Land – The electrics came back out as the rocking continued, yowsa!
  

• Worlds Apart – Good but one of The Rising tracks that I would have easily traded for an older number.
  

• Badlands – Last song of the night from Darkness, we were pumping fists in the air on the downbeat and shouting, and Clarence really had the sax jamming on his riffs.
  

• Bobby Jean – Although this song was written by Bruce as a loving farewell to Little Steven, they did nothing special with it and Steven just kind of hung back without really playing much at all. Fun and enjoyable, even so, a good party tune.
  

• Mary’s Place – The crowd got up for this song, with Bruce asking if everyone was ready for a house party. Lots of singing along on the “Let it rain” and “Turn it up” refrains.
  

• Countin’ on a Miracle – Not much of a song on the album or in concert, kind of generic Bruce.
  

• American Skin (41 Shots) – I was a little surprised to have this song in the set, would have preferred, say, Thundercrack or Where the Bands Are from Tracks. Plus, I was expecting to hear Thunder Road at this point and took a minute to get over the disappointment as I didn’t realize it would show up later on.
  

• Into the Fire – Nils stood out with his acoustic slide guitar part.
  

• Dancing in the Dark – This was one new arrangement that really worked! Forget the original pop tune and crank up the guitar parts!
  

• Ramrod – Rockabilly time!
  

• Born to Run – The big blaster, Clarence got a huge ovation for his solo.
  

• Thunder Road – as above, I was disappointed with the slower tempo and the changed guitar parts.

The show finished with My City in Ruins, Born in the U.S.A., and Land of Hope and Dreams but we had to leave as Ruins was beginning.

Need I say it? Highly recommended

Bruce was great, the band was magnificent, the Sweet One and I had a terrific time and now we need to sleep. More tomorrow.

The show is finally here! Want some idea of what he’ll be playing? Check out Backstreets Magazine’s Setlists page. I am finding it difficult to concentrate on anything else. Entirely possible that there will be no entries on the site today except more excitedness about this event until I get home again. Though I may write something. That what’s great about a personal site, I can write or not write as I choose, and no one will dock my pay if I don’t. I am rambling now, goodbye.

Update, 7:00: We’re just about to leave for the show, the band takes the stage in about an hour and my insides are in an uproar, excitement, anticipation, it’s BBBRRRUUUCCCEEE!!!