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Thursday, December 20, 2001
OK, my top 10 albums for the year, in no particular order: Radiohead -- Amnesiac Bob Dylan -- Love And Theft Spoon -- Girls Can Tell Nick Cave -- No More Shall We Part Neil Finn -- One Nil Pernice Bros -- The World Won't End Cotton Mather -- The Big Picture Sam Philips -- Fan Dance Joe Henry -- Scar Glenn Tilbrook -- The Incomplete Glenn Tilbrook Bubbling under: The Silos -- Laser Beam Next Door Bjork -- Vespertine Jason Falkner -- Necessity: The 4-Track Years Spiritualized -- Let It Come Down Tindersticks -- Can Our Love... Gorillaz REM -- Reveal Ken Stringfellow -- Touched Ben Folds -- Rockin' The Suburbs Old '97s -- Satellite Rides Super Furry Animals -- Rings Around The World Does it count?: Wilco -- Yankee Hotel Foxtrot Jon Brion -- Meaningless Haven't heard fully yet, but had a great chance of being in the Top 10 if I had heard fully but I'll be anal and not want to include in next year's list so will fall into a kind of netherworld and likely not receive the credit from me they deserve and I'll feel guilty, and hah, it looks like there are as many good CDs this year that I didn't listen to than those I did: Pulp -- We Love Life Strokes -- Is This It Arnold -- Bahama Nick Lowe -- The Convincer Zero 7 -- Simple Things Sloan -- Pretty Together Leonard Cohen -- Ten New Songs Ben & Jason -- Ten Songs About You | The lyrics from a new Robyn Hitchcock song, "Unprotected Love" (as transcribed by a kind soul on the Fegmania mailing list): You were as hard as a diamond You could be used as a cutting tool Right at the forefront of industry Doing the cobra on everyone Wanting the whole of the universe Swallow yourself like infinity You are so hard You are so hard Nobody wants to be vulnerable Everyone wants to be miserable Just like a pig in the underpass Doing graffiti on everyone Carving yourself into diamonds Sharing a trough with the anti-Christ You are so hard You are so hard Give me unprotected love Like a baby in a football Like a fish inside a glove Give me unprotected love Um um um um um ... ma ma ma ma Um um um um um ... ma ma ma ma Give me unprotected love Like the chimney in the autumn Like a salmon high above Give me unprotected love Um um um um um ... ma ma ma ma Um um um um um ... ma ma ma ma You were as hard as a diamond | GOLDMAN SACHS October 9, 2001 - Recommended List Price: US$33.45 Target price: US$48 S&P 500: 1051 Enron Corp. (ENE) "Still the best of the best. With perceptions far below reality, we see major catalysts in third-quarter results and increased disclosure in coming months. We strongly reiterate our Recommended List rating and our conviction in high and sustained growth prospects, even though we have cut 2002 EPS to $2.15 and our price target to $48. We expect Enron shares to recover dramatically in the coming months We view the current period as an extremely rare opportunity to purchase the shares of a company that remains extremely well positioned to grow at a substantial rate and earn strong returns in the still-very-young and evolving energy convergence space. We strongly reiterate our Recommended List rating on Enron stock. We spoke recently with top management including the CEO, CFO, chief accounting officer, and the head of wholesale services. We challenged top management on the wide range of investor concerns that have weighed heavily on the shares and believe that the majority of market speculation is groundless, and that which has some truth to it, to be exaggerated. "Misconceptions abound and perceptions are far below reality, in our view. We believe that investors have virtually given up on Enron (down 60% year to date) and its prospects based on the long list of extremely negative stories about the company and its financial condition. The company's limited transparency on its sources of earnings, its cash flow, and financials in general has hurt investor perceptions as management has declined to be more specific in refuting outrageous claims that have assumed a life of their own. We believe Enron's fundamentals are still strong despite the weak economy We view Enron as one of the best companies in the economy, let alone among the companies in our energy convergence space. We are confident in the company's ability to grow earnings more than 20% annually for the next five years, despite its already large base." I wonder how many people put money into the stock based on that remarkably bullish recommendation. | In honor of the cross-country road trip we're about to undertake, It's A Waffle House Christmas, featuring the Waffle House Carolers. Not to be outdone, Cracker Barrel has whipped up the Double Chocolate Fudge Coca- Cola® Cake, just in time for Crimbo. | Hmm -- in August, Netflix signed up 5,000 new subscribers a month; since September it's been 15,000/mth. I'm sure it's partly due to people wanting to stay home more after 9.11, but I also bet it's related to the recession -- Netflix is often a better deal than going to the video store. (If you have a DVD player and don't know about Netflix, you should check it out-- highly recommended.) | Amen to this: At the World Economic Forum annual meeting in early 2000, then-President Bill Clinton gave a speech of clarity and common sense -- embracing globalization but warning that globalization had to occur with less secrecy and more inclusion of the have-nots. Many of the Americans at the meeting wondered in sadness where this president had been for eight years, and why he'd squandered what should have been a great presidency with lies, sleaze and -- worst of all -- the unwillingness to take real risks in service of larger goals. That memory has returned twice in the past few weeks, after reading transcripts of two powerful speeches by a man whose lost opportunities will surely haunt him for the rest of his days. Optimism in the face of deep problems shines through both speeches. But both make the absolutely crucial point that winning the war against Al Quaeda, while essential, is not enough. We in the developed world must bring our wealth to bear on the problems of those who languish or suffer in poverty and hopelessness elsewhere. Here are the transcripts: Clinton's address at Georgetown University on Nov. 7. An address entitled The Struggle for the Soul of the 21st Century, given for Britain's annual Dimbleby Lecture last week. | I'm looking forward to seeing Lord Of The Rings -- reviews have been good (notable Danielle's), and besides I'm always up for seeing a Peter Jackson film. In the meantime, Bekkah and maybe even a few others will be interested to hear Tolkien reading from LOTR. | If you're going to make cereal available to your employees on Thursdays by 9:30am each week, why would you buy three boxes of cereal but not buy milk or, for that matter, plastic cereal bowls? And only make the cereal available at 10:30, by which time some of your employees are gnawing on cubicle decor for sustenance, and others have already gone ahead and switched firmly into lunch mode and no longer have any interest in the cereal? Indeed, why would you force your employees to pour Frosted Mini Wheats into a small plastic cup, almost drive them to the indignity of topping it with the contents of multiple half-and-half containers before they serendipitously discover a small milk carton of dubious provenance cowering in the back of the fridge, at which time they pour that over the aforementioned Mini Wheats and in attempting to distribute the milk somewhat evenly across the surface area of said Wheats with a pathetic excuse for a spoon, almost cause the cereal to eject itself from the cup (no fault of the cup -- after all, it is not designed for this purpose) all over the floor and your employees' clothes? Perhaps because they know -- they *know* -- that Frosted Mini Wheats are actually quite delicious, even at 10:45am. | Wow! Someone put together an amazing map of Springfield. But where to get one's hair done? At The Perm Bank or at Turn Your Head And Coif? | Wednesday, December 19, 2001
Tuesday, December 18, 2001
From JOHO The Blog ...Professor Arthur B. Shostak at Drexel University, is completing a book that would really benefit from your input. It will discuss the impact of memorable scenes from movies on our lives. Thus far nearly 500 people in over 12 countries have participated. What scene from a movie (or several such scenes from different movies) do you regard as really consequential in your life? A scene(s) that you cite when you want to make an important point. A scene(s) that altered your view of things. Or taught you something you value deeply. Or scared you forever. Or that you treasure for its humane quality. Its deep-reaching humor. Or its unique perspective. Please share your scene(s) - in your own words, at ANY length (the longer the better). 1) Title of the film: 2) What year did you see the film? 3) How old were you? 4) What was/were the impact(s) of the scene? Why? 5) And, what are your thoughts/feelings now about it? Finally, Professor Shostak would appreciate some bio data: 1) Age 2) Gender 3) Race/Ethnicity 4) Religion 5) Last year of schooling completed (or highest degree earned) 6) Occupation 7) How would you characterize your movie- going?: VERY causal ? Casual? Serious (read and are guided by movie reviews)? 8) About how many movies do you see in a month? (on TV, home rentals, and movie theater combined) Please e-mail this form to rmm34@drexel.edu Hmm. Something from Crimes And Misdemeanors, perhaps? Or Secrets And Lies? There are scenes from Schindler's List that tend to stay with one. The ballet in The Red Shoes. The end of Dr Strangelove or Chinatown? Most of A Matter Of Life And Death? Hmmm. | Monday, December 17, 2001
Friday, December 14, 2001
I just have to say that P.S 85 Holiday Concert rocked some funky multicultural beats. It was a singing and dancing extravaganza, and I now have a slew of catchy and educational songs to get me through the day. And having imbibed the lessons those songs impart, those kids would not need to be told that throwing buckets of porcupine feces on your co-workers is just plain wrong. | There's some documents Dubya doesn't want Congress to see, and so he's invoking executive privilege. I think he's going to have to back down on this one. ``I believe congressional access to these documents would be contrary to the national interest,'' Bush wrote in a memo ordering Attorney General John Ashcroft to withhold the documents from a House investigative committee that subpoenaed them. Republicans and Democrats alike excoriated the decision, suggesting Bush was creating a ``monarchy'' or ``imperial'' presidency to keep Congress for overseeing the executive branch and guarding against corruption. The Republican House committee chairman who sought the documents raised the possibility of taking Bush to court for contempt of Congress. ``Everyone is in agreement you guys are making a big mistake,'' Rep. Dan Burton, R-Ind., told Justice lawyers at a hearing after the announcement. ``We might be able to go to the (House) floor and take this thing to court.'' Woah. Them's strong words for a Republican to say in public when a President from his own party has a 90% approval rating. | Thursday, December 13, 2001
Wednesday, December 12, 2001
Area Man Proud Of Liner Notes To Self-Burned Compilation CD. I'm so ashamed. This one hits a little too close to home. BTW, I am familiar with each of the obscure bands mentioned (except for Tuxedomoon). | "We hate it when our friends become successful/And when they're Northern/That makes it even worse" You know, this Morrissey album is really solid -- not as good as Vauxhall and I's quasi-Crowded House-isms, but good nonetheless. He really had a crack little band of musicians writing tunes for him back in the early '90s. . | More interesting stuff stolen from Signal vs. Noise: A farmer in Iowa who leases a quarter acre of cropland to the local utility as a site for a wind turbine can typically earn $2,000 a year in royalties from the electricity produced. In a good year, that same plot can produce $100 worth of corn. Wind turbines strung across the farm at appropriate intervals can provide a welcome boost to farm income, yielding a year-round cash flow. So says this press release.... I really am hopeful that capitalism's private sector -- incentivized by government carrots -- will become the most effective engine of environmental responsibility. | Today's workplace CDs: Morrissey -- Your Arsenal Teenage Fanclub -- Howdy! Radar Bros. -- The Singing Hatchet Warm Jets -- Future Signs Sparklehorse -- Good Morning Spider Sonny Rollins -- The Sound Of Sonny/Freedom Suite | Wow, Roxanne's new blog -- intriguingly titled Junior High Pants -- hits the ground running. Highly recommended, not least for the heaping portions of virtual sassafras. | Monday, December 10, 2001
Today's workplace CDs: Blur -- Modern Life Is Rubbish Television -- Marquee Moon Tom Waits -- Bone Machine Rachmaninoff/Bach/Prokofiev/Beethoven -- The Fantasy Classical League (a Chanukah present from J and B in which movements from three different piano concerti are mushed together to produce the Fantasy Concerto. Beethoven gets his own Fantasy Sonata, using performances by Barenboim, Gould and Pollini). Embrace -- If You've Never Been John Coltrane -- Coltrane/Lush Life | Friday, December 07, 2001
That John Ashcroft is a piece of work. I'm shaking my head at this point. Criticism of his clearly extraordinary actions = aiding terrorists? So not only are we supposed to accept an enormous erosion of our civil liberties, we're expected to do so without debate. Waving an al-Qaeda manual around is not a legitimate response either. No one's questioning that we need to do something; the issue is what we need to do. The fact that we are in danger does not mean that any and all actions dreamed up by John Ashcroft to counter that danger are the best, most effective actions we could take; he needs to be accountable, like any member of government. His harping on the chilling terror of al-Qaeda completely obfuscates the issue. I think the Bush administration has done a pretty good job of prosecuting the war in Afghanistan. They've done a dreadful job prosecuting it here. I'm particularly fed up with Bush and Ashcroft waving away legitimate questions about their unilateral revocations of civil rights with "We're at war, people. We must fight the evildoers. We need every possbile means at our disposal." That's just not good enough. If these are legitimate weapons in the war, why not provide justifications for them in and of themselves? Instead their responses boil down to "Trust me". The whole point of the US Constitution -- written by Americans who had just fought a war in part to guarantee their right to dissent -- was to place crucial civil rights beyond the grasp of government; that's why we've been so proud to call ourselves "a nation of laws, not men". At the moment, we are a nation of men, and unless we insist that the Bush administration remain accountable to the public and to our representatives in Congress, we've seriously damaged our system of government. More angles: Rafe points out that Ashcroft's refusal to let the FBI cross-check terror suspects against the DOJ's gun-purchaser database represents the height of hypocrisy. Ashcroft is deeply concerned about preserving gun-owners' privacy rights, but allowing attorneys and clients to converse without the prosecution eavesdropping? suspending habeas corpus? not a big deal. In fact, not even kosher to argue about. Guess we know where his priorities are. The bitter irony is that the NRA etc. always defend their stance on the 2nd Amendment on the grounds that civilians need to be armed in order to counter any oppressive government attempting to take away their liberties. (Nixon speechwriter) William Safire in the New York Times: Ashcroft's approach is backfiring. Support the ACLU. | Been quite busy at work lately (how dare they!), so apologies for the lack of bloggage. From Metafilter: Sir Ian McKellen recounts some amusing Sir Alec Guinness ancedotes. | Tuesday, December 04, 2001
The tracklisting for the soundtrack to The Royal Tenenbaums has finally been released....wow! Great great choices! An obscure Bob Dylan song (from Self-Portrait, if I remember correctly)! A reggae cover by The Clash! A beautiful Nick Drake song! A song from Charlie Brown Christmas! And to top it off, an Emmitt Rhodes song! Plus impeccable Ramones, VU, Elliott Smith, etc. Cannot wait, absolutely cannot wait. [thanks Sonnet] | Monday, December 03, 2001
When I was 13, I was in a Mass Media class that required students to conduct an interview with a celebrity and write a paper about it. My friend Jordan and I decided to interview George Harrison. We weren't overly optimistic, but thought "What the hell -- maybe he'll be intrigued by the chutzpah and grant us a 5 minute phone call." I tracked down George's address (Friar Park in Henley-on-Thames -- the house where he posed for the cover of All Things Must Pass) and duly sent off a letter explaining the task set for us and requesting a few minutes of his time. We may have even sent a list of potential questions to pique his interest. A couple of weeks later I received a polite reply from his secretary indicating that Mr. Harrison's schedule was such that an interview would not be possible at this time. Naturally, this note from someone-who-probably-knew-George immediately became one of my prized possesions, and took pride of place on my bedroom corkboard. It's probably somewhere in my parent's attic or in the recesses of a closet -- perhaps I'll have a look for it next time I'm back there. | Friday, November 30, 2001
The New York Times has a superb obituary of George, written by Allan Kozinn (who's written a couple of books on The Beatles). | An interview with George from the early '90s, that shows what an unpretentious, unsentimental chappie he was. | It would take days of writing to do justice to how I feel about George Harrison and his work. I don't have that much time, and I'm unwilling to attempt anything less than that, so rather than express my full appreciation, I'm just going to make a few discrete observations. Something, Here Comes The Sun, While My Guitar Gently Weeps -- sure. But what about I Want To Tell You? The Inner Light? Crackerbox Palace? Heading For The Light? If I Needed Somone? Let It Down? What about sodding Sail Away Raymond?? Whole genres were founded on his guitar playing. Roger McGuinn saw George playing a 12-string in A Hard Day's Night and thought "hmmm". The guitar on "And Your Bird Can Sing" -- that was George Harrison. (The guitar on "Taxman" -- that wasn't him.) George was putting together charity concerts before it was cool. He also brought The Life Of Brian and Withnail And I into the world. For that alone, Western culture owes him a great debt. George was a grumpy fucker. George always kept things in perspective. This is what made it hit home for me: Sonnet and I flipping channels at 8 this morning, and seeing a clip of George, in 1997, asked by VH1's John Fugelsang to play an impromptu song..."maybe a Beatle song?..." George gives him an amused look and says, "I'd rather do one of mine, if that's all right..." and then begins strumming and singing "All Things Must Pass".... It made me feel better, while watching CNN's coverage, to know that there were thousands of Beatles fanatics like me, all around the world who at that very moment were saying in unison "Why in the *hell* are they playing "Baby It's You" under that footage of George?" People whose love of and need for The Beatles' music is the closest they will ever come to religion. Beware Of Darkness (demo) -- George Harrison (3.1MB) | Thursday, November 29, 2001
After seeing the London Times's rendering of Bin Laden's hideout, two things spring to mind: 1) If The Times knows this much, I'm guessing American Special Forces have a preeettty good idea of how they're going to handle this. 2) Someone better get Sean Connery on the phone, stat, because I think this cave was in Diamonds Are Forever. Mishter Conairie can confirm, but I think the hideout has a retractable roof and a big helipad. Hope this info is of some help. | Wednesday, November 28, 2001
A rather interesting report on the recent World Toilet Summit that convened in Singapore. A treasure trove of toilet training, this pissoir pow-wow allowed participants to share interesting research on, among other things, a man who defecated on a tray for 12 months, South Korean bladder-tricking practices and, more soberly, the 40% of the world's population that do not have access to adequate sanitation. I have to agree with Dr. Pathak, who stated, "People think much more in the toilet than elsewhere and with more concentration. They should really be called peace and reflection rooms and designed accordingly." I hope next year they get around to analyzing the world's bog reading material -- an old copy of the Trouser Press Record Guide and The Onion's Our Dumb Century book have long served me well. | Tuesday, November 27, 2001
Keeping a Who's-Naughty List London police are planning to register children who exhibit criminal potential in an effort to prevent them from developing into full-fledged lawbreakers. Kids who tag buildings with graffiti, skip school, or even talk back to adults run the risk of being entered into a database program that will be used to monitor their behavior as they grow up, according to police sources. I'm always shocked by the UK's disregard for civil liberties. If this database had been around when I was 7, Headmaster Flashman's false accusations that I was leading a playground gang -- and my subsequent ill-advised flight from the premises when faced with the sheer terror of a summons to his office -- might have led to stigmatisation as a "problem child", educational discrimination, an unstoppable downward spiral into a life of petty crime and Dickensian squalor, and a permanent sullying of my name. I mean, more than there would have been otherwise. It's also a really stupid idea. Most of England's great personages -- not even counting me -- would have been in that database if it had been around during their childhoods. | Once again, props due to Rafe at rc3.org, not just for tirelessly pointing to the *most* interesting, fresh insights on Afghanistan and America post 9.11, but also for his willingness to discard his presumptions and biases when events warrant. Case in point: as a good historically-aware lefty, he (and I) felt that using the Northern Alliance as a proxy force was asking for trouble. Yet, as he lucidly demonstrates, it was unquestionably the right decision in this case. Hayakawa talks about the 4 ways one can react to a statement: 1. accept the speaker and accept the statement; 2. accept the speaker and reject the statement; 3. reject the speaker and accept the statement; 4. reject the speaker and reject the statement An ability to have responses 2 & 3 is a hallmark of an open-minded person and a sophisticated thinker. There's an analogue for ideologies -- some people need to have totalizing, pure ideologies/beliefs or none at all. When ideologies are challenged by messy realities, many opt to keep their beliefs simple and pure by bending the facts to fit. I think the more appropriate response is to revise one's opinions to incorporate the new insights. This does not usually require abandoning one's beliefs -- just adding nuance to them. Unfortunately wartime conditions are not conducive to this type of thinking, probably because propaganda comprises much of our diet these days, and good propaganda is not nuanced. Prosecuting the war can be A Good Thing yet eavesdropping on attorney/client meetings to this end is A Bad Thing. But as any advertising agency swine can tell you, that is too complex a message to be effective. Whew, what a ramble! Incidentally, I just went to my first .info site. If you haven't been to one yet, click on that last link to relieve your .infoginity. | Monday, November 26, 2001
All right, thanks to the Anagram Genius, I know that anagrams for my full name include: The trendier, relaxed, crack wife Excreted rather dwarflike, nice Extra lechered if wicked ranter [you're getting warmer...] X-rated, refined, heretical wreck [BINGO!] Wottalottafun that was. Now it's your turn. | Sunday, November 25, 2001
"It's tough out there/High water everywhere" -- Bob Dylan A lot of ruminatin' done in the last few days. It's not always easy to find the balance between enjoying what you have and struggling to ensure that you'll enjoy the future. Seems like if you're doing one, you're not doing the other...at least, seems so lately.[end Sam Elliott voiceover] Hope you had a good Thanksgiving.... Note: so far, the new issue of Harpers is a cracker! | Tuesday, November 20, 2001
Rocks-anne hooked Sonnet and me up with last minute Bob Dylan tickets last night (thanks to K-Rad for graciously passing on the tickets and allowing me to bail on seeing the mighty Spoon with him)! What great friends! How lucky are we??! Very! We saw Dylan a few years ago at Jones Beach, and it was magical. This time was just as good. He's positively ebullient on stage these days, singing with passion and energy, soloing beautifully (!)...I put it all down to his band. They're just astonishingly supple, tasteful, and attuned to his sensibility, and he clearly has a blast playing with them. Highlights: a devastating Sugar Baby, a lighter-than-air Summer Days and Summer Nights, a "I don't know why this feels so meaningful to everyone in Madison Square Garden including me, but is sure does" It Ain't Me Babe (during this song I mused on the possibility that it could be about jingoism as well as love -- well, maybe not), a heartbreaking "Just Like A Woman"... NB: The version of JLAW from the legendary 1966 Albert Hall show is probably in my Top 5 Vocal Performances...in fact it will be my next MP3 of the time increment when I can find a version. The bridge in particular is devastating. If you don't get Dylan after hearing that version, then you might as well give up. Anyway.... ...a brilliant Don't Think Twice It's All Right, an obviously charged Blowing In The Wind (in light of 9.11, the Taliban and John Ashcroft, it reveals itself to be a more complicated song than I thought. Or maybe it's the world that's more complicated than I thought. Either way, the audience cheered a little bit louder for the lines about people being free than for the lines about stopping the cannonballs flying)... Rocks-anne also scored us backstage passes!! Surprising Sonnet with them was one of the highlights of the night -- her expression was priceless. It took about 8 seconds to fully unfold. My hopes weren't high for meeting The Man -- I hear he's on the bus and pulling out of the lot before people stop cheering -- and frankly I was a little intimidated at the prospect, but I figured: 1) I had to give it a shot. Not doing so would insult the millions of Dylan fans everywhere who would kill for the chance 2) There would be famous people milling around, which is especially exciting to my LW 3) I was hungry, and there was probably food back there As it happened, once we got through -- we flashed the badges a la Wayne's World; cross another ambition off the To Do List -- we found ourselves in a little ante-hallway with Sheryl Crow, Luke Wilson (sans Gwynny) Jimmy Fallon, Joe Levy (the annoying Rolling Stone editor whose always making a fool of himself on VH1) and some fellow peons. Sheryl Crow is short. Luke Wilson looked really nice. Jimmy Fallon walks around like a hunchback but seems very personable and had a cute girlfriend. My wife was cuter though. I wanted to talk to Luke Wilson about The Royal Tenenbaums and our respective North Texas private school educations, but before I could figure out the angle, a bloke came out and asked Sheryl to come back. She grabbed Wilson and headed back there. They were the anointed. Not long after that, they cleared the hallway, so we all had to leave. No food. No drinks. No starry-eyed audience with Bawb. No Gwynny. Still, lots of fun, and a night to remember. | Pat Robertson was interviewed by Paula Zahn on CNN this morning, and I was gobsmacked when the segment ended without her asking him about his atrocious comments in the wake of 9.11! How could she just ignore it? How could it just not come up?? Instead they engaged in some jocular banter, he defended supervisors' involvements in work prayer groups by disparaging sensitivity training and "gurus teaching transcendental meditation", and then accused Bush of caving to the Dems on economic issues. "Am I supposed to be honest on these shows?" he wheezed, heaving with self-congratulatory laughter, before accusing Bush of being too liberal. I don't think you are supposed to be honest on these shows, Pat -- you get in a lot of trouble when you let the mask slip. Put me off my breakfast, it did. Oh, and Billy Graham's kid has been running off at the mouth too. What's wrong with these people? Where are the high-profile moderate Christian leaders? Why aren't they as prominent as the evangelical nutcases? | Monday, November 19, 2001
Bin Laden: Yes, I did it The most extensive excerpts yet from the videotape bin Laden supposedly had circulated among his followers. "The towers were supposed to be filled with supporters of the economical powers of the United States who are abusing the world. Yes, we kill their innocents and this is legal religiously and logically." Oh, and "it is the duty of every Muslim to fight. Killing Jews is top priority." Hmmm, all this is ringing a bell.... | Konrad was lucky enough to see the recent aurora borealis while driving through the midwest...for those of us who weren't so lucky, there are these beautiful pictures [via fark.com] | Hilarious interview with Jerry Falwell in the Washington Post. This man is such a buffoon, albeit a buffoon of notable scumbagitude. Some choice excerpts: Re: the infamous 9.11 blame comments [listen]: "In my listing of groups and persons who might have assisted in the secularization of America, I unforgivably left off the list a sleeping church, Jerry Falwell, etc. . . . It was a pure misstatement, unintentional, and I apologize for it uncategorically." [Here I wish to point out that there is no such word as "uncategorically"; "categorically" means "without any qualification whatsoever" so "uncategorically" implies "with all kinds of qualifications, evasions and caveats". That may not be the OED's definition, but whatever. -ed.] "A lot of it was weariness and really anger over what happened to the country. And I didn't complete what I was going to say. If I added the church as one of the offenders -- a sleeping church that is not praying enough -- it would have been acceptable." Er, actually, no, it wouldn't have been. "A gay minister named Mel White told the story of how Falwell hosted 200 gay activists for a weekend at Liberty University. "Mel White says Jerry Falwell is the only religious leader to invite us in," Falwell says, proudly. "Then he qualified that by saying, 'He didn't listen to us.' Well, I didn't invite them in to listen to them. I invited them in to talk to them." Heh. That tells you so much about the type of person he is, right there Beavis. "The Rev. Jerry Falwell says even Osama Bin Laden's soul could be saved if he converted to Christianity -- but he would still deserve to be killed." Naturally, Falwell is raising money off the backs of the the country's outrage at his statements, urging followers to send in an extra gift of $50 or $100 to fend off "Satan's darts"...money that could be going to firefighters, victims families, or any of the arts organizations and charities who've seen their funding fall off a cliff since 9.11. | Sunday, November 18, 2001
We've just wrapped up a highly enjoyable cast party -- shout outs to all my party people -- and I've had a few Makers & Coke, but I feel compelled to make one observation at this point in time:
| Friday, November 16, 2001
If you are concerned about the recent executive orders destroying attorney-client privilege and establishing ad hoc military tribunals with no judicial oversight, please click to send a fax to your Congressperson urging Congress to stand up to these flagrantly unconstitutional moves by asserting its authority as a check on executive power. Two clicks, 30 seconds is all it takes. And 30 years from now, when history views these orders as the disgrace that they are, you'll want to be able to tell your kids that you did something to oppose them. | Man, did anyone catch the painfully obvious product placement on Will And Grace last night? How awkward was the shoehorning of the word "XBox" into the scene? What narrative justification was there for setting that scene set in a game room? How lame was the "Oh, there's a game called the XBox" joke? How degrading was it for the actors to partake in such a poorly executed pitch? At least the Banana Republic one a few months ago was woven into the story reasonably well. That was because Banana Republic is believable as a feature of these characters' lives, but gaming on the hot new console is clearly something these characters would have absolutely no interest in. Yet the demographics of the W&G audience were just too compelling for Microsoft, so they tried to jam it in there, no matter how insultingly. | Thursday, November 15, 2001
Military May Try Terrorism Cases Sorry, I'm going to have to quote extensively from this one. President Bush declared an "extraordinary emergency" yesterday that empowers him to order military trials for suspected international terrorists and their collaborators, bypassing the American criminal justice system, its rules of evidence and its constitutional guarantees. The presidential directive, signed by Bush as commander in chief, applies to non-U.S. citizens arrested in the United States or abroad. The president himself will decide which defendants will be tried by military tribunals. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld will appoint each panel and set its rules and procedures, including the level of proof needed for a conviction. There will be no judicial review. Let me get this straight. Bush alone decides how these people get tried; Rumsfeld appoints the judges and determines what level of proof is required to convict; there is no recourse if the accused or their lawyers feel that the trial was unfair. How is this different than Taliban justice? If the Taliban had "tried" the foreign aid workers accused of promoting Christianity by these rules, we and the rest of the civilized world would be jumping up and down. Our justice system absolutely provides for the trial of any alleged terrorists found in this country, and the appropriate forum for terrorists captured outside the US is an international court -- especially since we have declared over and over again that this is an action undertaken by a coalition of nations. Either way, the trials need to be transparent and fair -- otherwise we cannot claim to be defenders of liberty. | Wednesday, November 14, 2001
This increment's MP3-Of-The-Time-Increment is a gorgeous version of Embraceable You from the album The Essential Jo Jones (which my lovely wife bought me for my birthday). I'm very familiar with Papa Jo and his dazzling work for Count Basie and others, but some of the other players on this track are new to me -- and their contributions were so enjoyable that I felt compelled to share the discovery. The first thing you'll notice is the gracefully mournful tone of trombonist Bennie Green as he weaves his slidey magic all over the first few minutes of the track. I was not familiar with Mr Green (unless Bennie Green is Urbie Green's nom de 'bone [and I can understand wanting to take a little breather from the name "Urbie"]), but I now know that he recorded for Prestige and Blue Note in the '50s and that a few of his records are available for download/burning via my soon-to-lapse EMusic subscription. Then comes a lovely airy solo from pianist Nat Pierce followed by a sleepy turn from trumpeter Emmett Berry and the smoky tenor stylings of Lucky Thompson. Lucky's one of those peeps that always grab my attention when they waft over the hi-fi, but that I never follow up on. Anyway, Bennie finishes it off with panache and the track is over, Papa Jo having subtly brushed his way through another one. Listening to it again, the performance is not really anything unusual -- just melody and atmosphere, performed by musicians with soul and class. There were hundreds of great jazz sessions like this in the '50s -- not revolutionary, not Important, but nonetheless bursting at the seams with musicality. Anyway, here it is, all 6.2MB of it. Hope you enjoy, and I'll see you next time.... [winks]. | Tuesday, November 13, 2001
Today I've been using Opera 6.0 as my browser. It's still in beta (and I have to admit, it has a few issues with Blogger), but pages load super fast compared to IE5 and it has addressed most of the customization issues that have stopped me from using it as my default browser before. Anyway, give it a whirl...it's only 3.6MB, and you can always uninstall it easily (unlike IE or AOLNetscape). | I bet a lot of people were glad to have their AOL chat rooms in the wake of September 11th, to discuss their feelings, converse with friends etc. I wonder how those people feel knowing that AOL is compiling and publishing their post-9.11 writings without their permission? | Monday, November 12, 2001
Just released: the official version of what happened at the Hollywood war summit. There was some discussion about Hollywood creating public service announcements and entertaining the troops, but both sides emphasized that there was no discussion of the White House dictating the story lines of movies or TV shows. "I will say it up front: There was no mention of content," said Valenti. "That was not the subject. Content was off the table." Attempting to set the historical record straight, Rove added that even during World War II, Washington did not issue Hollywood marching orders." Mr. Rove appears to be misinformed -- at least, according to this book. | If you are curious about the recent interview with Bin Laden conducted by Pakistani newspaper DAWN, you can read it right here. And: a scantily reported rebuttal to Bush's UN speech by Ayman Al-Zhawahiri, bin Laden's #2 and the supposed brains behind the operation. | Drunken rock star assaulted aircraft crew, court told Well done, Mr. Buck. This is a fantastic example of rock star debauchery, involving muffins, a tub of yogurt, and a world-famous guitarist mistaking "the hostess trolley for a CD player as he drunkenly tried to insert a disc into it and also overturned the trolley, sending a pile of crockery, honey, cereals and milk flying across the floor." He was charged with, among other things, "damaging British Airways crockery" (is that an actual criminal offense?) I cannot wait to watch this one unfold. | I truly hope that this morning's plane crash was an accident, and am grateful that no-one I know lives anywhere near Rockaway. It looks like hundreds of people may have been killed -- another tragedy, more grief. I was just reading the NY Times magazine on the train, including a great piece by Colson Whitehead, in which he says that you officially become a New Yorker when you pass by a personal landmark and say, "Oh, that used to be a SoAndSo and now it's a Duane Reade." When your New York no longer corresponds to the extensional world's New York. In a way, 9.11 conferred official New Yorker status upon everyone, no matter how long they'd been here, because our New Yorks feature the World Trade Center and the extensional New York does not. | Friday, November 09, 2001
Bust Magazine's Future in Question Damn. I was worried about this when I saw that Razorfish had become involved. They're King Midas In Reverse. So is my company, of course, but we didn't attempt to drag down all manner of hip semi-underground cultural projects with us. | U.S. Will Monitor Calls to Lawyers Wait, what???? This is one of the most outrageous things I've ever seen. The Justice Department has decided to listen in on the conversations of lawyers with clients in federal custody, including people who have been detained but not charged with any crime, whenever that is deemed necessary to prevent violence or terrorism. Attorney General John D. Ashcroft approved the eavesdropping rule on an emergency basis last week, without the usual waiting period for public comment. It went into effect immediately, permitting the government to monitor conversations and intercept mail between people in custody and their attorneys for up to a year at a time. | White House sees Hollywood role in war on terrorism. A good old-fashioned propaganda powwow. I envision all manner of backscratching and quid pro quo -- Hollywood helps the government maintain support for the war in exchange for White House support on entertainment industry interests on Capitol Hill. Why am I not surprised to learn that chief lobbyist Jack Valenti is "eager to help arrange" the meeting with Karl Rove. Call me cynical. I wonder who will be our generation's Preston Sturges? | Thursday, November 08, 2001
An amazing find from Metafilter: a children's school choir from the late '70s covering pop music in a really cool way. They cover McCartney's Venus And Mars/RockShow, some Beach Boys, Bowie's Space Oddity...not to mention, The Carpenters, Bay City Rollers, Herman's Hermits... I don't why this stuff is so much fun to listen to, but it is! Endorsed by Bowie, John Zorn and Richard Carpenter, but explicitly denounced by the American Orff-Schulwek Association ("It is very evident that the [Orff] instruments were not used as they would be used in the Orff-Schulwerk approach...."). Props to WFMU's Irwin Chusid for reissuing the record. A very interesting example of how recontextualization can bring out the value in something...once you're predisposed to think that something is cool, it's a lot easier to find the merit in it. | Wednesday, November 07, 2001
HoustonChronicle.com:"If we expect to win the war on terrorism, we have to call off the war on drugs. There are three reasons: ·We can't afford both. ·The drug war feeds terrorist networks and diverts law enforcement from focusing on immense new perils. ·The drug war was failing anyway. If we want to reduce drug dependency and the crime associated with it, then intensive treatment programs will be far more effective. | Tuesday, November 06, 2001
Monday, November 05, 2001
The major news for the day is that I escaped the axe and am still gainfully employed. Some friends were not so lucky. | Henry is a 4 year old with a blog (updated by his Dad)...and he's cool enough to like Mark Eitzel! [via the always-enjoyable Mighty Girl] | Friday, November 02, 2001
Tom Waits to release two album simultaneously on April 9th 2002- ALICE is filled with unforgettable haunting opiate songs played by piano, bass sax, Stroh violin, cello and vibes. Lyrically and musically, powerful and surreal, these are dark tunes from an adult fairytale. Song titles include, “We’re All Mad Here,” “There’s Only Alice,” “Table Top Joe” and “Poor Edward.” RED DRUM’s songs were inspired by the dark tale of Woyzeck--a poor soldier driven mad by medical experiments and an unfaithful wife. RED DRUM is Tin Pan Alley meets Weimar Republic. Eloquent, innovative and unique, there are tarantellas, lullabies and dissonant calliope waltzes. Dense, textured and rhythmic, some song titles include, “Coney Island Baby,” “All The World Is Green” and “God’s Away On Business.” Oh. Yeah. Actually I have the songs from Alice, from a bootleg that dates back to the mid '90s -- it was originally a musical performed in Berlin, I believe. There's Only Alice is particularly beautiful. With any luck, these are re-recorded versions. | Yes, This Is About Islam by Salman Rushdie. An Iraqi writer quotes an earlier Iraqi satirist: "The disease that is in us, is from us." A British Muslim writes, "Islam has become its own enemy." A Lebanese friend, returning from Beirut, tells me that in the aftermath of the attacks on Sept. 11, public criticism of Islamism has become much more outspoken. Many commentators have spoken of the need for a Reformation in the Muslim world. I'm reminded of the way noncommunist socialists used to distance themselves from the tyrannical socialism of the Soviets; nevertheless, the first stirrings of this counterproject are of great significance. If Islam is to be reconciled with modernity, these voices must be encouraged until they swell into a roar. Many of them speak of another Islam, their personal, private faith. The restoration of religion to the sphere of the personal, its depoliticization, is the nettle that all Muslim societies must grasp in order to become modern. | Thursday, November 01, 2001
Now woah woah woah. Bekkah got me an early birthday present by discovering an outrageously excellent site. Wait for it. Scary Squirrel World This site is chock full of excellent features -- a ridiculously overstuffed treasure trove of squirrel-related news, squirrel porn ("hot treetop action"), dozens of squirrel-related games (in honor of the Yanks' comeback last night, check out the baseball one)!!! I'm truly at a loss. However, I'm bemused by their insistence on using the phonetic "skwerl" -- everyone knows that it is actually pronounced "Skwi-rrel". Enunciating both syllables is of the utmost importance, surely? I mean, bloody hell, we're not savages, are we? | And lookee here. The west must kick its oil habit Renewable energy has additional advantages to providing strategic freedom of action in the Middle East. It creates jobs. It is decentralised and thus invulnerable to terrorist attack. Unlike nuclear energy, renewables do not bring the risk of catastrophic toxic releases. Many people could make money by selling back to the utility companies surplus energy produced by back-garden windmills and solar roofing tiles. Lastly, the shift to renewables will greatly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But there are three major obstacles which must be overcome before we can take oil off the list of key objectives for our military and foreign policy. These are the difficulty of changing official thinking, the vested interests of the oil companies and the need for a transition strategy. | An interesting speech by the ever-wise Bill Moyers. One interesting point he makes that I'd also been mulling lately is that the US's dependence on oil constrains our military options when it comes to fighting terrorism. We cannot be as tough as with the shameful Saudi government as our national security interests indicate we should be, purely because economically we cannot afford to antagonize them. Moving to cleaner burning fuels is no longer just environmentally beneficialat this point, it is imperative for national security reasons. The geo-political ramifications of a move away from fossil fuels will be enormous -- what happens to the countries of the Middle East when their primary source of leverage over the rest of the world disappears? | Wednesday, October 31, 2001
I just got some excellent spam purporting to be from a top Nigerian civil servant. Apparently the Nigerian government wants to launder $30 million dollars through my bank account -- in exchange I will get to keep 20%, plus receive 500,000 barrels of gasoline for below-market prices as a token of appreciation. I am not joking. This is what the email said. Should I do it? They haven't even asked for my bank account information. At least not yet.... | Recent events have shed some more light on The Carlyle Group, a shadowy defense industry holding company that is home to an unseemly array of ex-statesmen...and that you may remember reading about on this here blog back on March 5th. | BLAIR NAMED SPECTACLE WEARER OF THE YEAR Damn. I really thought this was my year. Anyway, I'll imagine he'll drop what he's doing and rush home to receive the award. | The Asia Times features an interesting column taking a geo-political look at Bin Laden's strategy, concluding that it is likely to backfire disastrously. Whether or not he forges a Pan-Islamic movement united against the West, bin Laden is near to triggering the establishment of an alliance far more fearsome than any conceivable alignment of Muslim countries. America, Russia, and China - a weight that indeed no other geopolitical combination whatsoever could withstand - may well and indeed should, on bin Laden's provocation, themselves join together in an alliance no less grand than the one he hopes to create. | Tuesday, October 30, 2001
Monday, October 29, 2001
Jeff, Roxanne and I recently went to a bar to watch the first night of the Series. Our interest waned for a number of reasons, including the Yankees' lackluster performance and the scatological serenade provided by an acoustic guitar-toting, indoor-shades-wearing, muscle-T sporting one-man-cover-band, a British boor with a penchant for slipping pathetic double-entendres into your favorite pub singalong numbers. But the main reason we weren't concentrating was because a discussion about the backstop ads that the networks superimpose behind the plate morphed into a back-and-forth about Clear Channel Communications, and their shady and/or worrying business practices. More interesting than the game. And than Fratboy Ray Bans Hotel-California-with-testicle-jokes bloke. Salon is a self-appointed Clear Channel watchdog, and their string of pieces on the company make for interesting reading. | Sunday, October 28, 2001
"America has its faults, but it is a free country, a democracy, it is our ally, and some of the reaction to Sept. 11 betrays a hatred of America that shames those that feel it," he said. "I think of a black man, born in poverty, who became chief of their armed forces and is now secretary of state, Colin Powell, and I wonder frankly whether such a thing could have happened here. "I think of a country where people who do well don't have questions asked about their accent, their class, their beginnings, but have admiration for what they have done and the success they've achieved." -- Tony Blair, in his recent speech to the Labour Party conference | Friday, October 26, 2001
Well, I mentioned earlier that I would probably have some reservations about the anti-terrorism act, and Wired's Declan McCullagh has validated my fears. These powers -- none of which are subject to sunset provisions -- look very dangerous to me -- Clearly some action was warranted. But these provisions go way too far, removing crucial checks and balances on law enforcement powers. Can we be both safe and free? I think we can. | Many foresee supernatural end to Earth Wow, how interesting. That many people think the world will end in our lifetime? I guess that explains why they're not sweating the whole global warming/environmental catastrophe thing. | Thursday, October 25, 2001
MC Hammer Hooks Up With Members Of The House Of Representatives For New Video. Ceçi n'est pas une Onion headline. | For all of you out there being irritated by an overeager suitor in whom you have no interest...just give 'em this phone number. [via memepool] | Wednesday, October 24, 2001
MenWhoLookLikeKennyRogers.com An invaluable resource for those of us who've had trouble keeping tabs on this sort of thing. [thanks Bekkah] | In the midst of exacerbated tensions in the seemingly insoluble Israeli/Palestinian conflict, it's amazing to read that the IRA is decommissioning its weapons (or at least some of them). It's hard to appreciate with all this other stuff going on, but this is a remarkable, *remarkable* achievement by all concerned. | Tuesday, October 23, 2001
Looks like Amazon is having a sale on Blue Note albums -- Rudy Van Gelder remasters for $9. Drool. | Briton rescued via Web SOS A British man who became stuck in his garden shed while surfing the Internet was rescued after his online plea for help was picked up by an American stranger. Pranksters bolted Stephen Riley, from Lancashire in northern England, into his shed while he was using his computer at about 4 a.m., the Daily Telegraph newspaper said on Saturday. No one heard his frantic cries for help so in desperation he sent a message to an Internet chatroom asking that anyone out there call the Lancashire Police. His plea was picked up by an Internet user 5,000 miles away in the United States who called police -- much to their surprise. | TV Preacher's Ministry Sends Out Fund-Raising Appeal Exploiting His Controversial Tirade Over Terrorist Attacks. If you haven't heard the audio of Falwell's original statement, the MP3 is still up. | New York Cleric's Departure From Mosque Leaves Mystery -- the NY Times picks up on the story blogged here a few days ago, and adds some interesting details.... | Monday, October 22, 2001
Okay, I'm sick of whinging and moaning, so it's time I slap up some new MP3s Of The Time Increment. Elliott Smith -- I Don't Think I'm Ever Gonna Figure It Out One of his trademark fiendishly-complex-acoustic-guitar-pickin' tunes. Packs more intelligence and melody into 2 minutes than most bands do on a whole album. Elastica -- In The City They broke up the other week, and their last album was only half-decent, but when they were on form, they were exhilarating. This tune's from back in the day, never appeared on an album, and does the business in under 90 seconds. Buzzy, catchy, insouciantly sexy post-punk guitar pop music. Young Fresh Fellows -- Barky's Spiritual Store What can be said. It makes you (note: not me) want to jump up and down pretending to play power chords, it has excellent falsetto backing vocals, propulsive drumming, and appropriately unimportant lyrics. They mail anywhere. Spoon -- Lines In The Suit (demo) "How come I feel so washed out/At such a tender age, now?". Lush acoustic demo of an angular song from Girls Can Tell. Nice massed harmonies. And the piece de resistance. Radiohead -- True Love Waits (live) Not the version from the forthcoming live record. Instead, a much earlier version which features a cool keyboard part that enhances the song greatly. This really is a spectacularly beautiful song. What do these tunes have in common? Not much, except for being good and possessive of a relatively small file size. | Did you know that both Paris and Berlin have openly gay mayors? Me either. ''Ich bin schwul und das ist gut so'' -- catchy, huh? If Yahoo doesn't update their English Premier League fantasy soccer scores in a more timely fashion, I'm going to have to have a word with somebody. None of us want that. The new Wilco record is kind of a downer. People who say the economy is going to rebound within the next year clearly consume vats of outrageously potent class-A drugs on a daily basis. That goes triple for people saying so about the tech sector. On a not entirely unrelated note -- an excerpt from a competitor's most recent quarterly earnings statement: "As a result of continued weakness in the market environment, revenues for the second fiscal quarter totaled $11.6 million compared to $102.0 million in the same period a year ago." | Friday, October 19, 2001
ACLU are terrorists like the Taliban. Nice one, Mr. Allan C. Holden. Why would the esteemed Kalamazoo Gazette deem these ramblings worthy of publication? Good thing we have the 1st Amendment, right Mr. Holden? | Some of you are aware of my affection for Rhino's '60s Soul box set, Beg, Scream & Shout-- "144 chunks of red-dirt, uptown, down-home, Northern, Deep-South, spit 'n' polish, grits 'n' sweat, deep, d-e-e-p SOUL", each artist allocated one song and one song only. And packaged like a box of 7"s, with baseball card profiles of each artist within. All kinds of obscure soul music, just as good as the established classics. Most people who've experienced this box set at my house have had to track down a copy for themselves, expense be damned. That's because it is, in fact, the Best Box Set Ever. Why am I telling you all of this? Because Rhino have just gone and released Can You Dig It? The '70s Soul Experience, a six-disc 136-song orgasm-in-a-box. Curses -- don't they know we're in a recession??? On the other hand, my birthday is coming up.... | Thursday, October 18, 2001
Imam of New York's Islamic Center: Jews behind everything. The voice of unreason! He's since buggered off to Egypt. I'd be skeptical as to the veracity of the article, but MEMRI has been praised for its work in mainstream publications, so I've no reason to question it. Metafilter is discussing the article here. And along similar lines: Half of Pakistanis believe Israel behind US terrorist attacks: Poll | Wednesday, October 17, 2001
Today has been a particularly unsettling day -- increased tensions over Kashmir, the assassination of an Israeli cabinet minister, pulmonary anthrax on Capitol Hill, heavy bombing in Afghanistan. And it's only 11:40 a.m. I have to give props to The Economist -- their ability to contextualize and analyze each of these events almost immediately is much appreciated by those of us whose coping strategy is "keep on top of all events at all times". | Tuesday, October 16, 2001
A co-worker just showed me the Paul Frank site, which has to be one of the most entertaining brand websites I've ever seen (plus an all-too-rare example of well-done Flash). | Geology may give bin Laden away / Experts study recent video with hope of identifying his location in Afghanistan I love it when obscure fields of specialty temporarily assume enormous importance, and we get to think "Wow, I am amazed and grateful that we have someone who knows these sorts of things." | Friday, October 12, 2001
An interesting essay by Edward Said in The Nation, in which he deconstructs the simplistic concept of "the West" vs. "Islam". His primary point is that these terms are laughably simplistic, and lead us astray when we employ them as if they denote anything that actually exists in the real world. They are abstractions that become freighted with all kinds of Connotations, and have therefore become detached from reality. Once again, the lessons of Hayakawa's book are enormously applicable. It's so easy -- and so dangerous -- to confuse the map with the territory. | The Smoking Gun has all kinds of great documents relating to the LA Zoo -- hilarious complaints from disappointed patrons, injuries sustained by unfortunate zookeepers, etc. Just goes to show that danger lurks everywhere. | The Times of India is reporting that the director of Pakistan's intelligence services had $100,000 wired to hijacker Mohammed Atta. Make of it what you will, but the prospect is highly disturbing. [via Rc3.org, a blog which has been a superb source of insight and news] | Thursday, October 11, 2001
Browsing During Wartime The Internet is opening a wider window into America's war against terrorism, giving people in the United States and other nations a view outside their homelands that wasn't readily available during previous global conflicts. Internet media and foreign affairs experts say more and more people are veering off the online paths of mainstream media to supplement their understanding of current events with alternate sources of information. Yes yes yes. This is a very good thing, in my opinion. It cannot hurt to read other perspectives, whether one ultimately agrees with them or not. It's a shame this whole terrorism/war/panic thing is happening, because it takes away from the time I have to think about all the incredibly interesting phenomena on display in the last month. Part of me wants to press pause or put down the book so I can digest all the implications. Unfortunately, the remote is broken. (Howzat for a cheesy metaphor?) | Wednesday, October 10, 2001
Incredible -- Bert from Sesame Street popping up on pro-Bin Laden posters in Bangladesh? Someone at a news agency messing with Photoshop? Or has Bert been appropriated as a pro-terrorism icon? Follow the investigative trail here and here. [via Metafilter] | Wednesday, October 03, 2001
Rushdie's been reading the blog too, but his piece in the Washington Post encompasses more than attacks on left-wing moral relativism. A sampling: The fundamentalist seeks to bring down a great deal more than buildings. Such people are against, to offer just a brief list, freedom of speech, a multi-party political system, universal adult suffrage, accountable government, Jews, homosexuals, women's rights, pluralism, secularism, short skirts, dancing, beardlessness, evolution theory, sex. These are tyrants, not Muslims. (Islam is tough on suicides, who are doomed to repeat their deaths through all eternity. However, there needs to be a thorough examination, by Muslims everywhere, of why it is that the faith they love breeds so many violent mutant strains. If the West needs to understand its Unabombers and McVeighs, Islam needs to face up to its bin Ladens.) The fundamentalist believes that we believe in nothing. In his world-view, he has his absolute certainties, while we are sunk in sybaritic indulgences. To prove him wrong, we must first know that he is wrong. We must agree on what matters: kissing in public places, bacon sandwiches, disagreement, cutting-edge fashion, literature, generosity, water, a more equitable distribution of the world's resources, movies, music, freedom of thought, beauty, love. These will be our weapons. Not by making war but by the unafraid way we choose to live shall we defeat them. [via rc3.org] | Tuesday, October 02, 2001
Robertson Suggests Religious Revival. Splutter, splutter. Pat Robertson has not yet seen my judgment on *him*. What a complete and utter BASTARD. | I know this is a re-post, but Things my girlfriend and I have argued about could be the best page on the Internet. Those of you who've read it before will be pleased to know that there have been all sorts of updates (and that it apparently gets updated almost every Monday).... | Looks like Hitchens has been reading Using Bees, although, typically, he does add a healthy dose of vitriol. On the other hand, he uses the word "immiserate", which is The Best Word. The Economist has also been checking out the ol' blog, and after cataloging in a fair way America's numerous failings with respect to foreign policy, it makes interesting counterpoints like "the Versailles treaty does not excuse Auschwitz" and Of all the great powers in history, it is probably the least territorial, the most idealistic. Muslims in particular should note that the armed interventions in Bosnia and Kosovo, both led by America, were attacks on Christian regimes in support of Muslim victims. In neither did the United States stand to make any material gain; in neither were its vital interests, conventionally defined, at stake. National pride is so much more satisfying when it's clear-eyed, don't you think? A refusal to brook any criticism of America just taints true patriotic feeling (which is why so many liberals traditionally have a hard time wavin' the flag). When the choice is between undiluted passion and nuanced appreciation, I'll take the latter every single time. It's a trade-off, but for me the choice is clear. Probably why I'll never be a demagogue (or a great leader of men). OK, I've done *no* work yet, so... | What I Have Read Since 1974 This gets a Super Nice One. What did anal retentive types do before the Internet? | Negotiators Back Scaled-Down Bill to Battle Terror. I haven't looked at all the details -- I'm sure there'll be many things that bother or worry me -- but I feel the need to point out that Rep. John Conyers of Michigan and Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont are doing important work right now. Their refusal to give into Ashcroft's bullying and scare tactics have helped protect our civil liberties, and I appreciate their principled actions of the last few weeks. Not to mention Bob Barr! Who woulda thunk that we'd see the headline "Barr Joins Civil Liberties Groups in Urging Cautious Approach to Anti-Terrorism Legislation"! Nice one, arch-conservative bloke! I'm sure I'll bitch later, but for now, I'm glad because I know it could have been a lot worse. And my ACLU renewal letter came in the mail yesterday.... | Monday, October 01, 2001
Finally saw Dancer In The Dark...quite an experience. Usually I have a hard time suspending disbelief when plots get too ludicrous, but in this case, it didn't even occur to me that the twists and turns might strain credulity. Why? Bjork. She was amazing. Uh. Mazing. That she did not win Best Actress last year will go down in the annals of history as a really crap thing. Of course, what you really want to know is, "Did you greet like a wee bairn whose bonnie sheep, traumatized by a blow from a tossed caber, hoofed it across the highlands in a sheepy daze, only to drown in a loch on the golf course at St. Andrews, breaking said wee bairn's heart forever and ever?" The answer is no. Actually, the answer is a bit. I was standing firm, proud, and dead stoic, until the bit at the end with Catherine Deneuve rushing in and telling Bjork something-that-I-won't-spoil-by-revealing. At that bit, I made an involuntary squawk and a few rivulets of salty water made it overboard. Anyway, if you're reading this, Bjork -- nice one. Your new album's good too. Nah, don't mention it. | Friday, September 28, 2001
A couple of hours ago, my building near Wall Street was evacuated -- someone had sent a package that didn't have a return address on it. Guess we better get used to this sort of thing. | Last Orders revives ailing British cinema Last Orders, based on Graham Swift's Booker Prize winning novel about a group of half-sozzled south London geezers who gather to scatter the ashes of an old mate off Margate pier, reduced critics to tears at its premiere yesterday. With a cast that reads like a who's who of British cinema from the 1960s onwards, Oscar nominations are already being suggested for Michael Caine, Bob Hoskins, Helen Mirren, Tom Courtenay and David Hemmings. I'm excited about this. Last Orders is one of the most beautiful books I've ever read. | Thursday, September 27, 2001
The New York Observer has an article about Debka.com, a Jerusalem-based news site that appears to have incredibly detailed intelligence on bin Laden, the anti-terrorism campaign being mounted by the US-led coalition, and Middle Eastern politics in general. I have no idea how reliable the information is -- neither does the NY Observer -- but it's all very intriguing, if frightening. | Wednesday, September 26, 2001
Photographica is back too! Apropos of the drinking thread blogged yesterday is this lovely shot of the ghost bartender. And apropos of nothing is this happy panda. | Well, The Onion is back, and I'm glad. There was some discussion as to whether their brand of humor even works in a post-WTC world, but I was exhilarated reading their headlines this week. To paraphrase Nelson Muntz, good satire is "funny 'cos it's true"; and the slightly uncomfortable truths of this week's issue help to put things into perspective. A sampling: Hugging Up 76,000% American Life Turns Into Bad Jerry Bruckheimer Movie Rest Of Country Temporarily Feels Deep Affection For New York Jerry Falwell: Is That Guy A Dick Or What? And the article God Angrily Clarifies "Don't Kill" Rule is almost moving! It's not for everyone, but it made me feel better. We have to recover our sense of humor, and this is a start. | Tuesday, September 25, 2001
The Big Lebowski drinking game -- who's up for it? Scroll up to the top for a pretty entertaining discussion of everyone's favorite drinks...lots of things I'm dying to try now. I've been so boring! Update: further down that thread, there's a link to iDrink, which lets you input the ingredients you have handy and then spits out all the drinks you can make.... Def! | My local fire station lost 12 of their 27 men on Sept 11, and now, over the protests of their remaining compatriots, the squad is being dissolved. Spending time at that fire station was one of the hardest and best things I've done in the last two weeks. The place is overrun with flowers and candles, there are journals in which locals can express their appreciation for the lost (they'll be given to the families), and when I made our donation to the Squad 1 families fund, there were quite a few people lining up behind me to give too. A fireman was out front, shaking hands with neighbors, remarkably gracious and stolid. Donations can be made out to the Squad 1 Benefit Fund and sent to : Squad 1 788 Union Street Brooklyn, NY 11215 | Monday, September 24, 2001
Friday, September 21, 2001
Subscribing as I do to all kinds of lefty publications (not to mention the Robyn Hitchcock mailing list -- oy!), I've read a lot of comments in the last week along the lines of the following: US foreign policy has been cruel and counterproductive over the last 40 years, and you can only bully people for so long before they hit back, in desperation, with whatever meager means are at their disposal, i.e terrorism. I don't buy this. I'm fully aware (and critical of) much of America's foreign policy misdeeds, but radical Islam's problem is fundamentally with Western secularism. There is no common ground to be forged with a viewpoint that uncompromising. I wrote a rambling disquisition on this very topic the other day which I never posted because it was too incoherent and I was trying to say too much. Those of you who've spoken to me personally in the past week have probably gotten an earful of it anyway. Christopher Hitchens -- always provocative (and coincidentally Martin Amis's best friend) -- has written his own piece for the Guardian entitled Let's not get too liberal, in which he makes the following point: "What [the terrorists] abominate about "the west", to put it in a phrase, is not what western liberals don't like and can't defend about their own system, but what they do like about it and must defend: its emancipated women, its scientific inquiry, its separation of religion from the state." This is a superb insight. The rest of the piece is almost as good. A little hyperbolic, as Hitchens tends to be, but well worth a looksee. | We're all trying to move on from last week in our own ways. I post this link as a public service -- I haven't laughed like this in ages. Catharsis. If I stop posting stupid random crap, then I'm letting the terrorists win. I'm only being a little bit facetious when I say that. | The Little Screensaver That Could "In the five months since its launch in April, the Intel-United Devices Cancer Research Project has identified 60,000 molecules that may inhibit cancer growth. The Intel-UD software, which is a screensaver like SETI@Home and Folding@Home, searches for molecules that bind with cancer cells to prevent them from replicating." I've had this screensaver running at work for about a year now, and recently downloaded it for home as well. Not only does it use your computer to do cancer research work while you're not at your desk (I leave my work computer on all night), it can even run unobtrusively when you are working. I can confirm that, if you have a half-decent computer, it will not impair your ability to work in the slightest. At home, we have an old laptop with too many MP3s on it, so for that machine, we set it to run only when the screensaver's on. Anyway, download it! You can choose which projects you want your computer to work on! You can even watch it working on each molecule! My wife glanced at our computer screen the other day, and pointed out that, even in the midst of overwhelming sadness, "cancer research goes on." It feels good to be helping that to happen. | It's a given at this point that neither bombing Afghanistan nor assasinating bin Laden can end jihadi terrorism -- al Qaeda is a network operating in many countries with a significant degree of decentralization. Which is why this article discussing the principles of networking and their inplications for anti-terrorism is so damn interesting. More interesting than I just made it sound, anyway. | Back in the day, when I was a young whelp engaging in high-school debate, one of the topics we argued was "Is There Such Thing As A Just War?". For a few months, then, I carried around a book by Michael Walzer...and today we are reunited. Walzer has written an op-ed in today's NY Times about what would constitute the boundaries of a just response. "But military action is what everybody wants to talk about — not the metaphor of war, but the real thing. So what can we do? There are two conditions that must be met before we can fight justly. We have to find legitimate targets — people actually engaged in organizing, supporting or carrying out terrorist activities. And we must be able to hit those targets without killing large numbers of innocent people." | Wednesday, September 19, 2001
Now that I am at work and have my blogging apparatus to support me, updates should be more frequent. Kevin Kelly, former editor of Wired, has spent a lot of time in Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, and has an interesting take. For what it's worth, there is so much interesting and thought-provoking stuff out there that I feel like I'm doing a disservice by not blogging all of it. What does make it to the blogspot is the tip of the proverbial. | Tuesday, September 18, 2001
The Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan is an amazing organization -- an anti-Taliban group whose members take covert photos and videos of Taliban cruelty and post them online. I can scarcely believe that this isn't a hoax, but apparently they've been covered by numerous news organizations and mentioned on Oprah. Be warned: there are some very disturbing images to be found on their site, but for the most part you'll only be confronted with them if you choose to be. RAWA's statement on the recent attacks is here. | I must say, one of the things that's made me feel better is walking around my Brooklyn neighborhood. I *love* this neighborhood. And New Yorkers have been fantastic -- I've been really proud to live here. From Casablanca: Major Strasser: Are you one of those people who cannot imagine the Germans in their beloved Paris? Rick Blaine: It's not particularly my beloved Paris. Heinz: Can you imagine us in London? Rick Blaine: When you get there, ask me. Captain Renault: Hmmh! Diplomatist! Major Strasser: How about New York? Rick Blaine: Well there are certain sections of New York, Major, that I wouldn't advise you to try to invade. | Check out the list of "unplayable" songs that radio conglomerate Clear Channel (owner of over 1000 US radio stations) sent to its affiliates. Lots of anti-war numbers on there. What could possibly be inappropriate about "Imagine"? I can definitely think of some they left out -- like Simon & Garfunkel's "The Only Living Boy in New York". Or The Ramones "Beat On The Brat". Then again, playing The Clash's "Rock The Casbah" would definitely be inflammatory at this point. "London Calling", on the other hand...or "Clampdown"...or "The Call Up".... | My favorite writer, Martin Amis, has written a wide-ranging piece for the Guardian about the events of the last week and where the world goes from here. His incredible gift for language, when brought to bear on what has happened to all of us, makes things hurt more. He also offers some gems of insight, producing the familiar brain jolt that takes place when one realizes that a few artfully chosen and arranged words have just enabled one to "get it". While the jolts make me feel better and more hopeful, in a reassuring pre-September 11th kind of way, my reaction is also more complicated now. Whereas before, a jolt cheered me by embodying the human ability to learn and communicate that learning, insights like Amis's now feel like a reminder of a time -- lo these seven days -- when it all seemed more academic than it does now. Guess I'm a little pessimistic at the moment. Right now, I'm hoping that the Afghan council of clerics proves me wrong. And if they fail to, I'm hoping President Bush does. Although neither of them is likely to help me keep my job. :-) :-( ;-) One comment of Amis's that particularly struck me: Weirdly, the world suddenly feels bipolar. All over again the west confronts an irrationalist, agonistic, theocratic/ ideocratic system which is essentially and unappeasably opposed to its existence. The old enemy was a superpower; the new enemy isn't even a state. In the end, the USSR was broken by its own contradictions and abnormalities, forced to realise, in Martin Malia's words, that "there is no such thing as socialism, and the Soviet Union built it". Then, too, socialism was a modernist, indeed a futurist, experiment, whereas militant fundamentalism is convulsed in a late-medieval phase of its evolution. We would have to sit through a renaissance and a reformation, and then await an enlightenment. And we're not going to do that. I'd like to apologize for how poorly written this entry has been, particularly the deeply unsatisfying trope of the "jolt". But I have the morning off, and I want to have breakfast with my wife before I head off to my "strongly-encouraged-group-counseling-session-with-coworkers". | Saturday, September 15, 2001
Update: hear the audio of Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson, on the 700 Club, blaming gays, lesbians, feminists, atheists, ACLU, People For the American Way etc. for the recent terrorism. | It has been pointed out that "Turn And Run", from Neil Finn's most recent album One Nil, is eerily apposite at the moment. It's a beautiful song, and you can download an MP3 of it here. That's Sheryl Crow on harmony vocals. Neil Finn: TURN AND RUN (Neil Finn, 2000) There's a light overhead, overhead In the sky overhead, overhead and i'm with you now, in body and music and mind and we're silent and still everything's so out of control tonight in a plane that's flying fast at a speed that makes me cry have you left me now to trouble that won't let me lie i'm awake all the time you know where i stand holding my plastic gun so turn and run you cold killers of innocence against us there's no defense your flash and your wickedness you can't break our love tie my hands behind my back put a gag on top of my mouth but i won't give you up till silverware's covered in dust and my shoes fall apart and the tumbleweed runs over my desert heart so turn and run you cold killers of innocence against us there's no defense your flash and your wickedness will surely bring you down again somehow we must stay afloat won't give into the undertow some things you will never know but you can't break our love (you can pull us down) but you can't break our love.... | Friday, September 14, 2001
My Internet service is back. I've missed having the Internet, because I was counting on a number of online communities and news outlets to help me begin absorbing all that has happened. Sometime soon I plan on posting my little story, one of hundreds of thousands whose starting point is 9am Tuesday. I want to do so as much for myself as for anyone else, to have a permanent record of what happened to me, what I did, what I felt, during that morning, hopefully unembroidered and undramatized. In the meantime, there is so much to talk about. First things first: at this point, everyone I'm close to in New York is OK. I'm enormously thankful for that. I'm adding a Red Cross button to my site...please donate. There are so many dimensions to this, so much to be angry about, so much to be fearful about, and so much to be proud of. I was not a huge fan of Rudy Giuliani, but he has done an incredible job holding the city together, being reassuring, informative and appropriately steely throughout everything. He also got his hands dirty, and I'm actually very proud that he has been representing us New Yorkers throughout this dreadful time. (As someone pointed out, he also did so without recourse to religious rhetoric, and frankly I was glad that he did so much good without having to enlist God on our side. Given the motives of the perpetrators, I'm loath to counter-invoke any higher forces at this point, thanks.) In marked contrast to the rest of the country, Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson are sowing divisiveness and evil by choosing to blame gays, liberals, atheists, and the usual bloody suspects for the fact that terrorists hijacked four planes and crashed three of them into huge buildings in Northeastern US cities, killing thousands of people. If there was any doubt whatsoever that these people are disgusting and singularly small-minded, unspiritual people, these abhorrent comments [listen] should remove it. I hope that this deeply unChristian reaction to the enormous suffering of hundreds of thousands of people effectively ends their careers -- and if their comments get lost in the general commotion, I for one can be counted on to remind people later on of exactly what they said. One of my immediate concerns is that civil liberties may be fucked for the time being. It's been encouraging to see some officials reminding us that if we curtail civil liberties in the name of security, then the terrorists have won. I of course support more stringent security standards, and am fully prepared to be inconvenienced by them, but I am not prepared to sign over my civil rights. I do not see the point in destroying freedom in order to save it. I'm not being flippant when I say that the country needs the new Bob Dylan album. Listening to it for the first time last night was a profoundly healing experience (and I'm not given to throwing around phrases like "healing experience" either, so take my word for it.) I think W should spend some of that $40 billion on buying everyone a copy of it, so we could all bathe in its humor, strength, warmth and quintessential Americanness. If you're even a casual fan, you must get it. Plus, the band is phenomenal and he sings like a rejuvenated bastard as well. Run out and pick it up. More later. Time to spend time with my wife. | |
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