September 2006 Archives
Fri. Sept. 29 night Lafayette Grill performance! "Layali Lafayette" DVD release party is planned--details to come! Thalia will also dance this evening. http://ranya.net for more details
- Zombie rights march in Austin, counterprotested by pirates. "What do we want? Brains! When do we want them? Brains!" Boing Boing has more.
- Dog swallows RFID chip, starts car. "It is the first time that I have had to get a dog to help me to start a car." Via BB again.
- Robbers use fur handcuffs to tie up sex-shop workers No mention whether ball-gags were also used. This is why I advise you not to work in a gun shop. Via Obscure Store.
Seems that things are working again. Carry on.
It's one of the ironies of the digital life that it's easier to find stuff that's hosted on a computer 1000 miles away than it is to find the email that you wrote to you co-worker last Tuesday. Windows native Search function is a slow dog, and Outlook's is even slower (no dog, though.) I'd used Google's Desktop Search before but wasn't terribly happy. I don't remember why, exactly, but I ended up uninstalling it.
Our new CTO, a former Microserf, suggested Windows Desktop so I tried it out. And yes, it does exactly what I need it to do -- I plug in a keyword and up pops a list of emails, documents, etc. I find myself using it at least ten times a day. A great productivity tool.
I recently saw this link: Making your blog popular through content
Um, is there another way to make your blog popular other than through your content? See my comments there for more discussion.
3quarksdaily: The Poetry of Lists
Aranda, Arrernte, Bundjalung, Dharug, Gindavul, Galmahra, Githavul, Gunditjmara, Kukatja, Lardil, Malyangapa, Ngangiwumirri, Ngunawal, Noonucal, Nyulnyul, Pintupi, Pitjantjatjara, Thungutti, Walmajarri, Weerluval, Wiradjuri, Yankunyttjatjara, Yindjibarndi, Yorta Yorta, Yugambeh
A month ago I blogged about the Human Risk game to take place in Washington Square Park. I signed up for the game, and was looking forward to playing this Sunday. Since we players were supposed to dress up "as if they’re about to ride gloriously into battle" I got a costume together, and figured the boys would enjoy being my "knights." So we got together their helmets, swords, shields, etc. and headed off to Manhattan.
Unfortunately, the game was cancelled. Worse, they didn't bother to tell any of the players about it. (They put a notice on the main site, but not the page dedicated to the game which I checked; nor did they send me any email; nor did they send anyone to the appointed meeting place to tell the players.) Mike was a sad panda.
Fortunately, Circus Amok was doing their leftist clowning in another part of the park, so the boys were at least entertained, even if they had no idea why the nice bearded lady was talking about immigration reform while the tumblers tumbled. (Debbie: "Where's a circus when you need one? Right over there!")
We'll get another chance to wear our magnificent costooms and brandish plastic swords at the Fort Tryon Park Medieval Festival on October 8th. I doubt they'll cancel that!
Sleepovers at the Natural History Museum, oh my!
The American Museum of Natural History next month will begin allowing all-night sleepovers, allowing kids (ages 8 through 12,) to roam the halls with flashlights and roll out the their sleeping bags and close their eyes - if they can.
Josh Levin hates on Zach Braff:
Braff also uses pop songs as a cheat, an easy way to heighten the emotional impact of otherwise unremarkable moments. The music in Garden State is so load-bearing that the movie becomes ridiculous if you swap in different tunes—if you don't believe me, check this out. [Link]
Question - if the scenes don't work without the sound track, that might not be good, but is it bad? I mean, isn't that what the sound track is for - to set the mood?
According to legend, in Denmark during World War II, border guards would screen homecoming Danes by making them say aloud the name of the Danish dessert rødgrød med fløde—berry pudding with cream. (To approximate the sound of these words, say them while gargling and whistling.) Apparently, even the craftiest Danish-seeming German infiltrator could not pass this simple test. The Danish ear recognized its own. [Link]
I used to know a lot of Danes, now I know none. Next time I meet one, I'll have to ask them to say this phrase for me ...
Sally Yarmolinsky was the best boss I ever had.
Last week I went to a memorial service for her. She died of cancer last month.
Those of you who knew me back in the 90s will probably remember Sally, who was the Director of Development at Union Settlement Association, the community organization in East Harlem. I was her #2. It was my second job out of college. I escaped from the hell-hole that was Jobs for Youth (which was sadly mismanaged out of existence) and arrived to work for Sally at the beginning of the Settlement's centennial year. It was a crazy time, we were doing events every few weeks. But it was fun.
That's why Sally was the best boss I ever had. Because she made work fun. Not just laughing, joking around kind of fun either. But fun in the sense of working creatively together. We really did improvise, in the best sense of the word. She taught me that "development" wasn't just raising money for the work of the organization -- it was developing the organization. We created new programs. We made connections. A lot of things happened there because Sally had an idea, and got the money to do it, and got enough of the program people to actually agree to go along with it. After she left the Settlement, a few years after I did, she never seemed to find the job that would appreciate what she could do -- not just to raise money, but to lead.
Sally came to our wedding, and in the last few years I saw her every once in a while to talk about -- well, everything. She was the first person I went to for a recommendation. She encouraged me to go to graduate school and get the skills to become, someday, an Executive Director. She was a mentor and a friend.
The last time I saw Sally was about a year ago. I happened to be in her neighborhood with Zach, so I called her up, and we stopped by her house. She was bald. I hadn't known she was sick. But she was talking about the book she was writing about Alfred T. White, the Brooklyn reformer who had built her house. She talked about the opera group she was singing with, showed me the book she had made for her nephew, fed Zach cookies.
A few months later I got an invitation for an event she had put together on White, involving music, poetry, biology, housing, and history. Oh, and beer and oysters. A typical Sally event. I couldn't go, but I thought she must be recovering, and she emailed me later to say that the event was "the best yet!!!!!"
She was an exclamation mark kind of person.
There were a lot of people at her service, a lot of stories told, and songs sung, and laughter, and tears. Her family seemed to extend to all of New York City.
I think she would have liked it. I think she would have had fun.
The other day, Debbie and I were talking about the "Terror-Entertainment" complex -- the idea that the Media keeps us'n down by alternately frightening us with terror alerts, and numbing us with the Lethe-like pablum of gossiptainment, "reality" television, etc. As we were walking and talking, we stopped in front of Radio City Music Hall, and looked up to read the following on the marqee:
NOW ON SALE: WIDESPREAD PANIC
Talking about the band, of course, but the juxtaposition was just too perfect.
How to Destroy the Earth With a Coffee Can. And, of course, a picture of Angelina Jolie.
The political director for GOP Rep. John Kline has been filmed bellowing about "Jap" cars. The Minneapolis Star Tribune has just reported that the political director, former state Rep. Mike Osskopp, was filmed by Dem activists outside an event on Sunday with Dem John Murtha, who was in the state to campaign for Coleen Rowley, the Dem challenger to Kline. The tape -- which subsequently popped up on the Inside Minnesota Politics blog -- showed Osskopp giving people a hard time for arriving in foreign-made cars. "Another Jap car," Osskopp screamed. Osskopp -- whose sister in law, as it happens, is Japanese-American -- later apologized. [Link]
I'm sure that went over real well with his brother as well.
Georgia's voter ID law was struck down by a judge today, just as the House of representatives is set to to vote on legislation mandating voters in 2008 to present a valid photo identification that "could not have been obtained without proof of citizenship."
I think there are arguments to be made on both sides of the issue. However, I don't think that the proponents of voter ID laws are sincere in wanting to stop fraud. Here's why:
Perdue and other proponents of the law said it is needed to curtail fraud. They cited an Atlanta Journal-Constitution article that said 5,000 dead people were listed as having voted in the eight elections preceding 2000.But the fraud happened primarily in absentee balloting, Barnes said. Under the new law, absentee voters are not required to show identification. [Link]
That's right, most of the fraud was from absentee voters. This law will discourage voters who are likely to vote democratic (elderly and minority voters) but still allow voters who are likely to vote republican (absentee voters) through with little scrutiny even though they are more likely to be fraudulent. That also makes me pessimistic that any ID law that is passed will be enforced fairly, rather than imposing higher levels of scrutiny on documents that are not passports or drivers licenses.
All YouTube'd and ready to watch. I'm glad to see "Take on Me" at #4. Via eyebeam reBlog.
This Thursday the 21st, Good Magazine is having its launch party in New York. For $20, you get:
(1) 6 issues of GOOD
(2) Entry to party & complimentary drinks
(3) And all $20 goes to one of our 12 nonprofit partners
Guess who one of the nonprofit partners is? Damn straight, it's DonorsChoose! You've got to RSVP by 5 p.m. on Thursday. See you there!
Given how much we both loved Dogville, the sequel Manderlay comes as a real disappointment. The staged style used to such great emotional effect in the first movie comes across as only stilted here. It seems as if Grace has learned nothing about human nature from her experience in Dogville. I found that the ending was the only interesting thing about it. 2.5 stars.
Avast, maties! Today be Talk Like a Pirate Day! Now swab the decks or I'll run a cutlass through your scurvy skull.
Aye, thanks t' my wife for findin' this. Gar, Where can I find a bottle o'rum?
I would prefer not to.
Ennis sent this over: Presentation Zen: Learning from the art of comics
Both Debbie and the Discordians (hey, how's that for a band name?) will be happy to learn that they've officially named "dwarf planet" Eris after the Goddess of Discord. Lesbians everywhere, however, will be pissed because there's no longer a Planet Xena.
He of House of Leaves, of course. Cool! I can't wait to read this upside down.
Burlesque, country-western, Night Ranger, Cirque de Soleil, clowns, punk, trapeze -- I have not laughed so hard at a show in a long long time. See them next time they're in your town. The Wau Wau Sisters. (Warning: Splash/Flash page is noisy.)
Keith Olbermann's mad as hell and he's not going to take it any more.. Lets Bush have it with both barrels for leaving "this hole in the ground" as a symbol for all that has not been done. Via Big Ink, of course, who reads the news so I don't have to.
Now in Big Ink! Clap your hands, little neocon!; Major P.R., General Disaster; say it with me: po-lit-i-cal; murdering the poor with food; brown is the new guilty; firing up the old swiftboats; Jonah, flailing in the blackness of his own soul; Pretty Girls Make Graves full album download!; some Histories of Labor Day; eavesdropping liedropping; grabbing labor by the blue collar; economic less is more; Rotten Anniversary I: Katrina; the "doc" in "docudrama" means "doctored"; where Bushes meet Bears; Joey Nutmeg gets his cut; student debt to society; Olberman II: nailed it!; Walt's boys skip a $200 million payday; Couric must be on drugs; Disney Hitler cartoons (whee!); the schlockudrama scandal picks up steam; history rewrit; donkey v. mouse; NY Times, hack factory; journalist market still strong; 9/11 caused by gays and loose women (duh); the Nowrasteh Code (is pretty dumb); rats in the walls in Burbank; journalistic origami; something loose in the machinery?; Karl's revenge; Rotten Anniversary II: 9/11 (featuring a very important Bonus Olbermann!); But wait... there's French pop! and Appenzellers! and Rollergirls! and Psychobilly! Kapayapaan!
It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood.
Won't you be mine?
My attempts at avoiding anxiety-inducing news are pretty much shot the last few days. It's been all 9/11, all the time, the last week. A few days ago a reporter from Wired contacted me, with all kinds of questions about 9/11 and New York City blogs, and I started to write back but I just couldn't. There was just too much to say.
So I'm working from home today. Just easier than getting on the train. We've spent the last few days getting our various Preparedness Kits ready, making Emergency Plans, etc. It's better than doing nothing.
One of my favorite albums, that I listened to on cassette until I wore down the magnetic signals to nothing, is The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars. It opens with "Five Years," a song about the impending end of the world.
The world hasn't ended. (And hey, according to the 2012 doomsday theorists, we have 6 years and 103 days until the end of the world! Yahoo!)
The world hasn't ended.
The world goes on.
But memory stays.
Here are the lyrics:
Pushing through the market square, so many mothers sighing News had just come over, we had five years left to cry in News guy wept and told us, Earth was really dying Cried so much his face was wet, then I knew he was not lyingI heard telephones, opera house, favourite melodies
I saw boys, toys, electric irons and TVs
My brain hurt like a warehouse, it had no room to spare
I had to cram so many things to store everything in there
And all the fat-skinny people, and all the tall-short people
And all the nobody people, and all the somebody people
I never thought Id need so many peopleA girl my age went off her head, hit some tiny children
If the black hadn't have pulled her off, I think she would have killed them
A soldier with a broken arm, fixed his stare to the wheels of a Cadillac
A cop knelt and kissed the feet of a priest, and a queer threw up at the sight of thatI think I saw you in an ice-cream parlour, drinking milkshakes cold and long
Smiling and waving and looking so fine, don't think
You knew you were in this song
And it was cold and it rained so I felt like an actor
And I thought of ma and I wanted to get back there
Your face, your race, the way that you talk
I kiss you, you're beautiful, I want you to walkWe've got five years, stuck on my eyes
Five years, what a surprise
We've got five years, my brain hurts a lot
Five years, thats all we've got
We've got five years, what a surprise
Five years, stuck on my eyes
We've got five years, my brain hurts a lot
Five years, thats all we've got
We've got five years, stuck on my eyes
Five years, what a surprise
We've got five years, my brain hurts a lot
Five years, thats all we've got
We've got five years, what a surprise
We've got five years, stuck on my eyes
We've got five years, my brain hurts a lot
Five years, thats all weve got
Five years
Five years
Five years
Five years
Planet of the Arabs. A montage of Hollywood Arabs. They don't come off well.
Chris has a new blog! Chris has a new blog! Happy Birthday Chris!
Chris Rabb writes about researching his ancestors -- both white and black:
Afro-Netizen: Written in the Blood
"The more intently I sought to learn about my Black ancestors, the more I would have to research the white people who owned them."
List of films coming out on DVD tomorrow:
- United 93: Spec. Ed.
- "Lost": 2nd Season
- Jackass: The Movie: Unrated
- "Fraggle Rock": 2nd Season
- Ace Ventura: Pet Detective: Ace Pack
- "Supernatural": 1st Season
- "Flintstones": 6th Season
This Week In Big Ink! (Okay, Ten Days) The Times gets it momentarily; haters make me blow my top; Senator James Inhofe (R-Fantasyland); Suskind on W and alQ; a great Navy story for the outmanned idiot; YouTube as time machine; enabling racism; the mathematician returns; Plame ensnares Armitage; covering up the bodies of journalists in Iraq; blogging across no-man's-land; hurricanes sweep away the underclass; academic death cult tactics revealed; Zippers from beyond the grave; conservative compassion means choking the life out of the opposition; Greenwald points out the silver lining's cloud; it's 2002 and you're a git; Fox girds loins (probably with loofa); Must-See Political TV: Keith Olbermann Goes Murrow On Rumsfeld's Ass; remember pushback?; making sure the terrorists win. Buffaloes!
