BillSaysThis

12 days ago, I wrote about my inability to get any love from the IRS. The agent I spoke with that day assured me a check would be cut in a week and mailed that same day (April 12). USPS is not that great but usually first class mail will be delivered to me from anywhere in the country within two business days. It’s been four but no check for Bill. Instead, I get a letter from the Dread Crew, dated and mailed April 15, explaining that my bank had refused the direct deposit and I should expect a check within three weeks.

I call up and sit on hold for nearly a half hour, thankfully I have a phone headset, and am finally connected to a live agent. Who insists that my bank must have refused the direct deposit because why would the IRS lie to me? Um, yeah, okay. He does say that the computer shows a check was cut and mailed to me for the refund on April 12 as promised. But it comes from a different processing center, so it could take up the THREE WEEKS to make its way to my mailbox.

If I don’t like his answers or explanations? The agent suggests I consult an attorney and file a lawsuit. Would I get my money any faster? No. Would I get any more money? No. I might get the truth, though, he says. So I should spend my own money (and yours too) getting my own government to tell me the truth? I think this guy must get driven insane answering these beyond his control questions but there has to be a better way. IAC, I still want my Benjamins!

Okay, maybe there are some people out there who like this slow and boring game. I don’t but okay. However, having favorite shows pushed off by local games definitely sucks when the national network is going ahead with new episodes. I have a Tivo so recording the delayed until midnight showings ought not to be such a problem. But, uh oh, I turn out to be fucked when the game runs six minutes long as happened last night with the Giants and then the moron station execs don’t cut short the following shows, like their stoopid local news, to account for this. I wonder if letters to the station really ever do any good:

Bad enough that you would show baseball instead of these shows and then show them late at night. But okay, I can set my recorder (a Tivo in my case) and watch the next day.

But you don’t even stick to the damn schedule you list and run the shows late. Oh well, I didn’t want to see the end of the shows anyway. Sure I can try and catch 24 later in the week on F/X but that doesn’t help my girlfriend, who can’t be here then to watch. And it doesn’t help with Richter because that show isn’t repeated.

Baseball sucks. I realize that’s my opinion and someone must watch the games or you wouldn’t bother. But if you’re going to delay these shows from the rescheduled time, the least you could do is honor the contract you have with viewers (most whom I’m sure are not going to stay up into the middle of the night) and make sure they can be recorded!

I suppose it’s too much to ask that you shorten something else, like say your news program, to make up for this so we don’t get screwed over next time.

The NY Times previews the Summer of the Spinoff, a look at the movies coming this summer and beyond, and asks if the corporate finance managers have taken control of Hollywood. The article points out that there will be no less than 16 movies released between now and the end of this summer that are part of a series, a spinoff from a cartoon or TV show, or a remake of an older hit. Not to mention the tie-ins from the movies to books, TV shows, and other entertainments.

Friday starts us off with The Scorpion King, a prequel to the Mummy movies, which stars the WWF’s The Rock and will be accompanied by a History Channel documentary. May gets us the next Star Wars movie, which will have several TV shows built around it, and already has a group of fanatics sleeping out on the sidewalk waiting to see the first showing (of course they have a web page, though I can’t find it just now) plus Spider-Man. In June that loony Crocodile Hunter moves to the big screen and Adam Sandler remakes the Frank Capra/Jimmy Stewart classic Mr. Deeds Goes to Washington, Austin Powers in Goldmember bows in July–yes, they made a deal with the Bond people and will show a trailer for December’s Die Another Day–along with Men in Black II, and Spy Kids 2 follows in early August.

For years some people have argued that all these sequels, prequels, remakes, and TV shows and cartoons come to big screen lay bare the inability of the Hollywood studios to bring real, meaningful creativity to us. Bull doodoo, okay? For starters, independent and foreign art house films have never been as strong as they are today. Century Theaters, one of the bigger and smarter movie theater chains at least in the Bay Area, has created a new brand (CineArts) of theaters to show these films. Not to mention upcoming studio films like Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood and Salton Sea, both strong dramas with big name casts and backing.

I think with a couple of exceptions (*cough, Scorpion King, Spy Kids, cough*) I’ll probably see most of the movies I listed above. Sure these are commercial films, no question about it! And some will probably fall through the cracks, what with more films than ever coming out. But I laughed my ass off through the first two Austin Power movies, loved most of Will Smith’s films (even Enemy of the State), same goes for Sandler, and think Spider-Man will be terrific based n the trailers. Don’t even go there for Star Wars and the big four coming in November and December: Harry Potter, James Bond, Star Trek: Nemesis, and Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. For the $9.00 and up per ticket I have to pay today, Hollywood will need to earn my business. They seem to keep on doing just that.

Usually when a price is not revealed, the amount is higher than one expects. Not so surprising with jewelry or other fancies but when the cost of joining the Y is teased and teased on the website, when plenty of other costs are posted, when all the types of memberships are posted, you have to wonder what is going on. I got a postcard in the mail today (yes a snail mail paper postcard) with the tagline “Added Up, No One Beats Our Value!” and thought, well maybe I ought to look into this. The I searched the website, read the FAQ, and all I could find was “Contact the El Camino YMCA’s director of member services for information about joining the Y today!” Yeah I’m lazy enough to need to join a Y, or some gym, but that just makes me jump up and run over.

A few months back I re-read Exodus by Leon Uris and I had bought at the same time his novel QB VII but I’ve been so slow with reading books lately that I just now got to it. Still it was worth the wait even though Uris is not the best story plotter in the world; Exodus sort of made it easy for him since he was just fictionalizing a true story. That’s true here as well but the real life tale doesn’t lend itself to a traditional plot line. This book came about after Uris was sued for libel by a Polish doctor who was named in Exodus as a Nazi collaborator in their hideous WWII concentration camp medical experiments and the author made the interesting choice of inventing two people much like himself and the plaintiff involved in a very similar libel battle.

QB VII is told in the third person and divided into four parts: a biography of the doctor, a biography of the writer, trial preparations, and the trial itself. The doctor’s biography begins when he turns up at an Allied airforce base in Italy a few months after WWII ended, while the writer’s bio covers his entire life. Both are treated sympathetically, more or less, even though it is impossible for the reader to not know what is coming. The trial itself, as with most of the preparations, takes place in Englad and Uris gives over quite a few pages to describing the Royal Courts in the City of London, their history, and people and he uses language that would have the uncritical reader amazed at their perfection and ability to rise above the human condition. The setting is England because the doctor, a Polish Nationalist, settled there with several thousand of his compratriots after the Communists seized power.

QB VII was also made into what I thought was a great television miniseries in the 1970s, with Ben Gazzara playing the writer and Anthony Hopkins (in his first major american role) playing the doctor, although I haven’t seen it repeated in some time. Amusingly for some reason (probably money and production simplicity), the miniseries moves the doctor’s long sojourn in obscurity, fearing for his life after Poland made an unsuccessful attempt to extradite him in the late ’40s for war crimes, from a tiny British outpost called Sarawak in southeast Asia to the desert sands of Kuwait.

Still, Uris does cover interesting, important ground. Even though people like the doctor did not set out to do horrible things, they must realize that to participate is to forfeit their own humanity. In the end the author perhaps pushes a little too far in the eagerness to prove that evil must be rooted out to forestall future repetition by implying the collaborators were not as unwilling as their words would have us believe. In these months when some of us believe that certain Arabs are out to finish what the Nazis started, this book might be seen as a chilling warning to the European apologists.

On this day in <deleted by order of the celebrant> my sister Joanne was born in Newark, NJ. Now she lives a happy life in Manhattan (New York, not Kansas, oh my god!) and is the publisher of Security Dealer Magazine. Joanne is wonderful, smart, funny, pretty, and single (does that make a good personals ad?), she’s tall, blonde, well-traveled, and doesn’t smoke. If you are the right man for her, you will be smart enough to figure out how to get in contact with her without asking me. She is the best sister a guy could ask for except back in high school and college she refused to fix me up with her hottie girlfriends but I forgive her for that now.

If you’re in the area, and by that I mean 90 minutes driving time or less, you really should visit the San Jose Museum of Art. I went today with a couple of friends and had a nice 90 minute visit. The major exhibit, occupying most of the ground floor, is a major retrospective of Nathan Oliveira which runs for another four weeks (May 12). The two other main exhibits are Is the Medium the Message? out of the museum’s permanent collection (ends April 28) and First Impressions: Paulson Press (ends June 2).

Oliveira is a Bay Area native and retired Stanford professor of art who has been an active artist since the 1950s; this exhibition of about 70 pieces covers essentially his entire career. Although there are a few sculptures, most of the pieces are paintings or prints and I saw a clear progression in his work. Early on Oliveira was considered part of the post-War California school along with Richard Diebenkorn because of their common use of gestural painting but I find Oliveira’s works much more appealing than Diebenkorn’s. To my taste, to the extent I’ve seen his work, Diebenkorn is too raw and rough in his painting. Not that Oliveira has all of a sudden found a place in my top ten artist list either, a lot of his pieces were to dull and earth-toned, but I did enjoy seeing the increasing refinement and sophisticiation in his efforts over time, particular the the paintings displayed which are part of his recent Stelae series. None of those images are online but here is one I liked:

In addition to the exhibits, another reason to visit is that the museum charges no admission fee. The building itself is very nice with tall ceilings and lots of light and is located right in downtown San Jose. There is plenty of parking and some good places to eat nearby and a little park across the street where we listened for a few minutes to a drum circle.

Sorting out the seeds – Going into the last day of regular season NHL play, Devils are finished but the Islanders have one more game to play, against the Flyers. If the Islanders win, they end up fifth in the Eastern Conference and play Toronto (100 points); if they lose or tie, they end up sixth and play Carolina (probably 92 points with a win tomorrow over Atlanta). Whichever team the Islanders don’t play, the Devils do. Carolina is the higher seed, even though they have fewer points than Toronto, because they won their division and Toronto came in behind the hugely surprising Conference champion Boston Bruins. Whichever team ends up playing Carolina in the first round has to be the favorite even though they give up home ice. So, the question is, will the Islanders show up for the game tomorrow and play for pride or leave it in the dressing room and play for the matchup?

Update, 4/14: The Islanders played for pride and beat the Flyers 3-1 this afternoon. They end up with their best record in years and will meet Toronto in the first round of the playoffs, leaving Carolina to the Devils.

Spent a chunk of time last night and this morning enhancing the metapie weblog. Main changes were to make the post author more clear by having it shown ahead of the post, making the site more readable by increasing the font size (-1 is not legible to these old eyes any more!), and adding links for the team members to their home sites. I also added in a connection to a new tool called BlogChat, which is in beta but appears to have the basic functionality working, on the page. No idea what plans M. Pie, the mysterious and anonymous trader who hosts metapie, has in mind for it but it works. To test BlogChat I had a long, pleasant conversation with another one of the beta testers, a self-proclaimed web weenie named Jessyca Wallace, and the results were as expected. Go read metapie and if you have something to say about investing think about joining!

Hugo Chavez attempted to seize power in Venezuela in a coup in 1992 but failed. Six years later he was able to convince the electorate to make him president by running on a populist platform. At first he was extremely successful and was able to have constitutional amendments and laws passed that increased his power and authority. Recently, though, the people of his country have seen Chavez for what he truly is: a dictator wannabe. The big industry is oil (this is the fourth biggest exporter in the world and number three supplier to America) and the million member oil workers union is out on strike after Chavez tried to put his own stooges in charge there. The unionists and supporters have taken to the streets of the capital, over 150,000 by some counts, demanding Chavez’s resignation. In response, the president sent armed thugs who killed at least a dozen protesters. Now Chavez appears to be out and the generals are in charge.

One of the core Blogger teammembers, Jason Shellen, became a father today. Drew came out of the shoot at 9 pounds 4 ounces with a little extra fluid in his lungs but expected to be fine shortly, mama Allie is exhausted after 27 hours elapsed between hospital entry and Drew’s debut. I’ve met Jason and he is a great guy who is totally kidding himself about getting sleep any time in the next few months. Mazel tov, Jason, and add my wishes that Drew have a long, healthy, happy life to what will surely be many more!

You all know that David Hasselhoff, besides making a huge pile off the lowest common denominator shows Baywatch and Knightrider, is a huge singing star in Europe and now you can see why. Actually, if you’re anything like me, this full-length music video will do no such thing. I have fond memories of the original version from back in the ’70s but this is just sad. Almost like random acts of video cut together as the Buff One spins and spins from desert to ocean to Arctic all the while singing as hard as his lungs will allow. View for laughs only.

Or you can wait a few months and regurgitate your meal after listening to Dolly Parton sing Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven.”

Recently we saw the entertainment giants begin the push for their hobbyhorse, the CBDTPA, to squeeze every drop out of the consumer. Now, as reported in Critics Charge Pension Bill Favors Highly Paid Workers, the House of Representatives is close to passing a bill that would remove requirements that corporate pension plans be balanced between higher and lower paid employees, a change for which businesses have lobbied for years. Plans which do not comply with this balance would need a waiver from the government. The article quotes James Delaplane, vice president for retirement policy at the American Benefits Council, which represents large employers, as saying “I’d certainly be surprised to see the Treasury Department start to bless plans that anyone believes are unfair.” Gee, I wonder if he said that with a straight face, don’t you? In a way, this is funny because these bills are kind of working against each other, since the latter will most likely reduce disposable income while the former seeks more of it. But with the Oil Industry takeover of the government expect more corporate appeasement, not less.

What a bummer! The Reds lost 4-2 after Owen misses chances and after keeping things in control until the 68th minute. Even then, with a goal in the 79th minute from Litmanen, the boys were on track to make it through to the semi-finals against Manchester United. But goalkeeper Jerzy Dudek slipped once too often and let Bayern Leverkusen’s Ferreira Lucio put one in the net with six minutes left. That made for a 4-3 aggregate score in the Germans’ favor. Now Liverpool needs to buckle down, take the maximum points in the remaining Premiership matches, and pray that Arsenal slips to take at least one major Cup home this year.

I watched The Drew Carey Show just now. The episode was about Kate dating someone who might have been the Devil (played by Murphy Brown’s Grant Shaud) and what should come on but an ad for the caring, sensitive new Maury Povich Show. So here’s the coincidence: the Devil claimed he invented the whole sensitive guy shtick. (But then the Devil learned that Kate is only a virgin when she’s drunk and he stormed off without the gang’s souls.)

[With apologies to the cartoonist]

(1)(a)

Customer service

Agents no help, no power

Anger burns my ass

(1)(b)

Endless yammering

Talk radio features fools

Who listens today?

(2)(a)

Teens rebel (again)

Hair, music, marijuana, X

All old is new now

(2)(b)

Middle age men shake

Life will not last forever

Begin to sleep less

(2)(c)

Old men take up arms

Hand them to angry youngsters

Young die, old die soon

Am I too old to enjoy National Lampoon’s Van Wilder? Apparently not, since I laughed my ass off this afternoon as we were watching partymeister Ryan Reynolds and goddess/journalist Tara Reid get their groove on after defeating the evil frat boy Daniel Cosgrove. Seriously, the latest film from National Lampoon could have been titled Animal House: The Next Generation and while it doesn’t quite reach the heights of that classic, it’s better than any Lampoon film since the original Vacation. The original had Belushi and no one comes near his brilliance, but we do get Tim Matheson (Otter in the original) playing the father of our hero and Reid blows Karen Allen and Mary Louise Weller out of the water. And we get the dog and the jokes and pranks he’s in. Although some people might think better of eating beforehand.

And by extension, Israel too. Steven admonishes us to read David Brooks’ Weekly Standard article Among the Bourgeoisophobes by asserting “this article is breath-taking in its perception.” The article does present at least part of the answer to the question I posed in the title of this post.

So, anyway, this simple American does as suggested and nearly has his brain burned by the light. Well, okay, it was good but perhaps not brainburningly brilliant. Brooks takes a historical look at the roots of the discontent between Europe and America and between (fanatical) Islam and America and finds them in the rise of a group of European intelligentsia soon after the birth of this nation. These people, such as Stendahl and Flaubert, saw themselves as the moral and intellectual superiors of the crass merchant class which was just then beginning to dominate politcal life and which they saw as the pure heart of America. The article is lengthy and has its flaws but I recommend taking the time to read it.

Charlie Stross, an Englishman, completely disagrees with Brooks’ argument. Stross’ main criticism centers on the way Brooks supports his claims by quoting old and dead people rather than more recent sources. Not unreasonable and he doesn’t just say the EU is any better; he calls their governments a “pack of chimps.” But Stross does err in asserting that America is a global empire on autopilot. Unquestionably America and Americans are the dominant global forces these days but we are hardly an empire and hardly monolithic, even in the moneyed classes who control what force the country does have. And I don’t believe we’re on autopilot either. For further elaboration, and if you care to add your opinion, try the Clueless discussion.

[Note: I actually read this as a four part serial in Analog, the book version will be out in June]

Robert J. Sawyer has written a terrific story in Hominids. Different experiments in quantum physics cause a connection to be formed between the Earths of two parallel universes: one quite similar to ours and one in which Neanderthals rather than Cro-Magnons persisted and developed into a technological society. One of the scientists from the Neanderthal’s Earth, Ponter Boddit, is conveyed into ours to begin the tale. One might expect an X-Files or Men in Black story to unfold but actually the authority figures somehow stay out and allow private individuals to direct the activity; this is the reason I said “one quite similar to ours” since this would not be possible even in our Canada (the story takes place there).

The differences in the societies–not only do we get to see Ponter’s view of us but the story alternates between our world and his–are well thought out but in many ways not too surprising. I think much of the author’s depiction is based (as well it should be in science fiction) on extrapolations of current day anthropological theory with a nice mix-in of quantum theory. Which is a better hypothesis, Copenhagen or Many Worlds? Sawyer proposes a reasonable compromise that incorporates elements of both in the guise of telling us Ponter’s worldview. The scenes set in our world are mainly a chance for him to talk about society and some of it’s ills and I am hardpressed to believe that the contrast drawn is intended to suggest a better way; all the action takes place in the other Earth as Ponter’s loved ones try to determine what happened to him and to retrieve him. The writing is excellent and, at least at this length, the flow and movement keeps one’s interest.

Sawyer has an excellent website with just about anything one might want to know about him and his writing but one piece of missing information is any explanation of the difference between this serialized version and what will be published in the June hardcover edition. I doubt that the serial amounts to even half the word count of the novel. Still, don’t want to fuss on this point since I did enjoy the read. Hominids is the first book of the Neanderthal Parallax trilogy so what I’ll probably do is wait until 2004, when all three books ought to be out in paperback, and buy the lot then to read in one sitting.

Ev has been promisingpromotinginforming us that a new. improved publishing engine for Blogger is coming. And us fanatics are waiting patiently (well sort of), especially for an update to the API that would include the title and a more robust server codebase. Perhaps the time of this engine is drawing near, but it isn’t here yet as evidenced by this screenshot from today’s (April 5) Evhead:

What’s wrong? Well, the date is not March 29. Also, the engine is supposed to process the weblog template and replace the Blogger variable $BlogItemSubject$ with the post’s actual title. Further, and this is not possible to see from the screenshot, the permalink (represented by the time stamp at the end of the entry) is not generated correctly either.

Ev, we are waiting with baited breath. You know that we tease because we love; a friendly, communal kind of love, don’t get the wrong idea, you funny guy.

Update five minutes later: Well Ev is fast, I’ll give him that! He either fixed the three bugs I listed really quickly or else went back to publishing via the old engine. Either way I was correct in grabbing a screenshot for this entry!