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| Rob Williams’ Musings - Good News? |
| 06.30.05 (8:21 pm) [edit] |
http://emptybeach.typepad.com/rwilliamsdotorg/
So last week i got an email from my agent who had finished my story collection.
if you're just tuning in, or if you forgot, I sent my short story collection to my agent the first week of June. This is an agent i've had for a few years. She signed me when I was still in grad school and has been very patient with me while I worked on my collection, often e-mailing me to ask how it was going, to offer encouragement, little reminders that she was eager to read more when i was ready. She also read stories periodically as I finished them, and offered advice, feedback.
She even sent a few stories out to some of the bigwigs: New Yorker, Harpers. We did receive an amazingly encouraging letter from the New Yorker, saying that the submitted story wasn't right for them at the time, but asking for more.
She's been great, waiting waiting waiting while I wrote. She was one of the first to suggest that I strengthen the ties and connections between the stories-- to make them more interconnected; increase the crossover of characters and plots.
Finally, at the end of May I realized I should just send what I have and see what she has to say. Plus, Ted said he wouldn't marry me until I sent my manuscript to my agent. So, with the fear of being an old maid with a cat for the rest of my life I sent it off to the agent.
This is an excerpt of her email sent to me last week after she finished reading the collection:
I love the writing but the collection as a whole seems like it wants to be a novel (maybe a young adult coming of age novel??). I say this because most of the main characters in the various stories seem like the same character.
Soooo. Shit. She found me out. All this time I've been posing as a short story writer when I'm really a novelist. Sigh.
You know, I've heard this comment before--that many of the stories either sound like the same boy (his voice) or that the voice is similar enough in each story that it stands out. But for some reason I've been denying that it could be the same character.
Why denying? I dunno. Maybe I've been afraid of writing a novel. It just seemed like too big a task. Too big of a commitment. I was comfortable writing my little stories. But the other thing is-- I also have trouble wrapping up stories. My endings are sometimes awkward, or ambiguous, or unresolved... like the chapters in a novel... perhaps?
Also, I think that i've been worried that if I write just about one character--a 15 year-old boy in southern California--that folks will think it's really me I'm writing about. Or that this is a memoir in disguise (a la Running With Scissors). Which it isn't. I mean, yes, there are parts of this character that are parts of me, but as a whole it's not the story of my life. I'm not really ready to tell that story. That's why I wanted this to be about a bunch of different boys; each one with a different life, a different quirk, different family. Or so I thought. But apparently no matter how many brothers and sisters I added or subtracted, no matter that I changed the names of the boys, no matter that one was a movie buff, one was a soccer player, one was a theatre geek, one was a veterinarian wannabe... they all have the same voice.
The email also said the collection...
... made me think [of] THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG AT MIDNIGHT…
(Which, I think she meant to say The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime)
And then,
the thumbnail sketch for the novel looked promising indeed...
(which made me feel better)
So I made an appointment to meet with the agent and then spent a week tossing and turning at night, obsessing over the agent’s email during the day, reading it over and over, looking at my collection, wondering if I could do it-- turn the collection into a novel. and wondering --should I do it? How difficult will this be? Will this sell better? Will editors/publishers find it more appealing? Is this really what I should have been doing all along? Have I been kidding myself (and thus wasting a ton of writing time)? Why did I ignore all of the signs and advice from friends, readers, the agent, about the strong similarities in the voices?
Needless to say, I was a bit cranky and nervous the whole week.
To be continued...
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| San Diego's hottest brunch spot? Cafe 222. |
| 06.28.05 (8:16 pm) [edit] |
Becks & Posh
Here is a picture of the line of people waiting to eat brunch af San Diego's hottest brunch spot, Cafe 222, as well as my order of pancakes.
Reservations are not possible and the wait for a table is well over an hour. We investigated to see if the hype surrounding this popular Cafe is to be believed.
Cafe 222, opened in 1991 by Terryl Garve has won several gold medallion awards for Best breakfast.
We are finally seated inside, although we would have preferred a sunny sidewalk table. The decor displays some cute quirky touches that bring a smile to my face.
I ask for a bowl of fruit. Sorry, they tell me, we don't have any left. This strikes me as slightly peculiar since I am seated opposite a glass cabinet packed with fresh oranges, melons and bananas.
The cup of Earl Grey tea I ordered arrives. It's served with a bag in a glass mug. Nothing so refined as a teapot can be found here. Once it has cooled down enough for me to taste it, I am perplexed yet again. It doesn't display the slightest hint of bergamot. Thinking that maybe they made a mistake and gave me the wrong tea, I ask for a replacement. This time my server brings me the box to show me. The tea is awful. Hmmm. I wonder how come, if Cafe 222 allegedly serves the best breakfast in San Diego, they can't even source an Earl Grey tea that tastes like Earl Grey should?
Normally an Eggs benedict kind of girl, on this occasion I am foolishly tempted by the sweet sound of the orange pecan pancakes instead. A stack of three arrive at the table. They are just ok. For me, one would have been enough, particularly as the overpowering flavour is cinnamon, a fact not cited on the menu and a spice I don't particularly care for. Although I can see they have use flecks of rind in the batter, I can't actually taste any orange flavour, unless that little quarter slice of fruit on the edge of the plate is supposed to be it. You would think that the best breakfast place in town might include real maple syrup as a matter of fact. But no. You have to pay extra if you want the real stuff.
Fred asks for some sparkling water but they don't have that either so he goes without a drink. His order of scrambled eggs with toast and griddle potatoes is perfectly competent. The potatoes are good and crispy. But after a 90 minute wait he had expected an experience that was perhaps a little more memorable.
Cafe 222's Pumpkin Waffles were featured in Gourmet magazine, a fact that appears to have intensified its popularity. Me? I am just not buying it. It is nothing more than an adequate little breakfast place that doesn't quite live up to its grand reputation.
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| The Architecture of Arthur Erickson |
| 06.28.05 (7:50 pm) [edit] |
Lezah
Arthur Erickson recently submitted a proposal to the City of Vancouver for the design of what looks to be an absolutely exquisite building. If approved, it will be the second tallest building in the city, and boasts a unique three-sided twist. The structure will be built on a series of parabolas, each which rotates slightly, creating the appearance of movement.
Erickson himself was originally inspired to become an architect by the work of Frank Lloyd Wright, and was then discouraged from going into the field by leading modernist architect at the time, Richard Neutra. Fortunately, he ignored Neutra's advice.
Erickson has been described as Canada's most imaginative and articulate architect, and is currently one of Canada's best known architects. His work can be seen and has been recognized internationally.
However, maybe more important than the recognition for his international work are the changes he has brought to the face of Vancouver. An integral corridor in Vancouver's downtown core is the two-block Robson Square Courthouse Complex, which involved the melding of the pre-existing Art Gallery ( the former courthouse) with the new Courthouse Complex. With what could easily have become a jarring clash of styles, Erickson managed to fuse the complex into a pleasing community space: gardens and waterfalls camouflage the law courts and offices close to the road, and then the structure rises to an airy glass courthouse. A pedestal pathway leads the public underneath Robson Street to the ice arena, which is, unfortunately, no longer in operation.
Rob Melnychuk Photography Inc.
There are many other notable Erickson buildings in and around Vancouver proper. Erickson has stated that "the building isn't as important as the relationship between the building and the site", and this is certainly true in the case of both Simon Fraser University and UBC's Museum of Anthropology. Simon Fraser University was a competition that Erickson's firm won - it's what first 'put them on the map', so to speak, gaining them international recognition and making the front cover of many architectural magazines at the time. Set on top of Burnaby Mountain, SFU echoes the plateaus and multi-levels found in the surrounding landscape. Likewise, UBC's Museum of Anthropology both literally and figuratively reflects the waterfront near which it sits.
Other well known buildings by Erickson include the Canadian Chancery in Washington, DC, McGill University in Montreal, the San Diego Convention Centre, and The Museum of Glass in Washington.
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| Les Paul |
| 06.28.05 (7:49 pm) [edit] |
Lezah
Jazz guitarist Les Paul is legendary for a number of reasons: a well-respected musician and inventor, Les Paul recently turned 90 and still plays weekly sold out gigs at the Iridium Jazz Club with his trio.
On June 19/05 Paul was honoured at Carnegie Hall. PBS has spent the last year creating a documentary about Paul, and he has two new CDs coming out soon, his first release since 1978. One is a re-issue of his 'Best of' recordings that were done with his former wife Mary Ford, while the second is an all-star recording featuring friends such as Eric Clapton, Peter Frampton, and Joss Stone.
image from /guitar-masters.com
In addition to being a five-time Grammy winner and being in three different halls of fame (the Rock and Roll HoF, the National Inventors HoF, and the Songwriters HoF), Paul is also a household name for inventing the Les Paul solid-body electric guitar, as well as many other musical innovations.
Life has not been without its challenges for Paul. He is a survivor of both quintuple bypass surgery, and a near fatal 1948 car accident where doctors had to set his right arm into a permanent guitar-playing position. Paul also now suffers from degenerative arthritis in his hands, and is forced to wear two hearing aids since he has lost most of his hearing.
But nothing stops him from playing! He says, "That car accident forced me to learn how to play a better way. Only a fool would try to do something impossible. But if I can reach for a star, I'll go for it."
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| Life and death: facing the misery |
| 06.27.05 (9:47 pm) [edit] |
Jeffrey Newman
What would you reply to a 20 year-old who said this to you?
It's frustrating not knowing why I have no faith in this world while most other people do. My personal belief is that they are deluded into ignoring the plain truth: this planet is in a mess and there is so much more misery than joy. The only way a person can live day by day contentedly is by "overlooking" the pain around them.
The 20 year-old was Lara Gilbert and two years later she committed suicide.
http://www.abcbookworld.com/?state=view_author&au thor_id=6961" title="http://www.abcbookworld.com/?state=view_author&au thor_id=6961" target="_blank"http://www.abcbookworld.com/?...
In one way or another we all face, or avoid facing, the agonies and sadness of life on this planet, what Siddhartha called "suffering". It was his resolution of this fundamental challenge, through what he called The Middle Way, that forms the core of Buddhist experience and practice.
If I am to meaningfully respond to a Lara Gilbert it would be because I have meaningfully faced the question inside myself.
. . . that what the heart has understood
can verify in the body's peace.
http://swanktrendz.blogspot.com/" title="http://swanktrendz.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"http://swanktrendz.blogspot.c...
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| Sharing and the global market |
| 06.27.05 (9:46 pm) [edit] |
Jeffrey Newman
http://jnblog.typepad.com/provocations/" title="http://jnblog.typepad.com/provocations/" target="_blank"http://jnblog.typepad.com/pro...
It has been said that there is nothing more selfish than a share (the stock market variety). In the midst of our share-driven global economy, there is a yearning for real sharing. In our neighbourhood of about 700 homes, we have a greenbelt which belongs to all - a Canadian equivalent of the village green. It gives us all an enhanced environment and, at relatively low cost, works because we are willing to share. Effective sharing is attractive and makes a lot of sense from an economic and ecological point of view. Unfortunately, the more we share, the less money the sellers make, so don't expect any encouragement on that front. As Naomi Klein said recently:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naomi_Klein" title="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naomi_Klein" target="_blank"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
Sharing is under siege. It is the sworn enemy of the global market - which is why so much of international trade law is designed to criminalize sharing.
So, at the risk of offending the global market, I urge you to consider more sharing. There are simple and grand ways. Almost all add in some way to our immediate and larger welfare and usually save a little of our planet's dwindling resources. Here are a few very ordinary (still legal) examples that might spark for you:
1. Use/support/encourage Open Source software
2. Join the Freecycle network
3. Car-pool
4. Share a newspaper subscription with a neighbour
5. Joint ownership of a lawnmower with neighbour(s)
6. Community gardens
Feel free to send me more ways to share.
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| Mosquitoes - Deterrents and Repellants |
| 06.27.05 (9:44 pm) [edit] |
Jeffrey Newman
http://jnblog.typepad.com/provocations/" title="http://jnblog.typepad.com/provocations/" target="_blank"http://jnblog.typepad.com/pro...
For those of us in certain parts of the northern hemisphere and for many in the southern, it's mosquito season. I thought you might find this item on my Inside British Columbia site useful:
http://www.jnweb.com/british-columbia/" title="http://www.jnweb.com/british-columbia/" target="_blank"http://www.jnweb.com/british-...
Word has it that this (2005) is the worst summer in a long time for mosquitoes. I guess I should say it's a very good year for mosquitoes and a bad year for humans and other warm-blooded mammals. It's also a good year for swallows and other flying insectivores, including dragonflies. "Dragonfly naiads consume mosquito larvae in the breeding waters, and adult dragonflies eat adult mosquitoes." (Wikipedia). Which brings me to the helpful part of this post.
http://www.jnweb.com/british-columbia/inse cts.html#mosquitoes" title="http://www.jnweb.com/british-columbia/inse cts.html#mosquitoes" target="_blank"http://www.jnweb.com/british-...
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| And So There Are Three Swing Justices |
| 06.27.05 (8:31 pm) [edit] |
Submited by The Political Heretic
For more writings by The Political Heretic, go to Global News at http://www.swanktrendz.com
Image courtesty of www.cardozo.yu.edu
Yesterday, the Supreme Court released its opinions concerning two controversial Ten Commandment displays - one in the Texas court yard near the capitol, and one in a Kentucky court room. The Court last heard a challenge to the Ten Commandment display in 1980, when it was struck down as an unconstitutional display in public schools, but yesterday's two rulings should come of no surprise considering the court's legal jurisprudence on religious holiday displays. Some in which the Court upheld government sponsored displays that included some religious references as a part of a more general secular message, whilst striking down those displays that exclusively dwelt on religious messages.
I am nevertheless surprised by the vote, considering that Clinton-appointee Stephen Breyer, and not Sondra Day O'Connor, provided the key swing vote in both cases. Justice O'Connor voted to strike down both displays as unconstitutional, aligning herself with the majority in the Kentucky case and the minority in the Texas case, but Mr. Breyer voted to uphold one display and strike down the other as unconstitutional.
The press considers Justices Anthony Kennedy and Sandra Day O'Connor as the key swing justices in the court. We all know of Justice O'Connor’s and Kennedy's independent streaks. O'Connor has written narrow middle-of-the-road opinions that are not designed to shift our understanding of constitutional principles. She voted to uphold one religious holiday display and strike down the other. She cast the deciding vote overturning Alabama's "moment of silence" law but left the door open for other "moment of silence" laws enacted in other states. She upheld one affirmative action program but struck down the other. She voted to strike a Texas sodomy law down as unconstitutional, but on a narrower equal protection grounds, she voted to reaffirm abortion rights whilst upholding most restrictions against them. As well, she voted to grant American war combatants some legal rights to representation, while not granting them full trial court rights.
For his part, Justice Kennedy has written broad opinions reflecting changes in legal jurisprudence. He cast the decisive vote overturning Bowers v. Hardwick to overturn the Texas sodomy statute. He broadened the meaning ot "coercion" to forbid school-sponsored prayer ceremonies at high school graduations, and then joined in Justice Steven's ruling applying same principle at high school sports events. He reversed a ruling he joined earlier and voted to strike down (as unconstitutional) the execution of convicted criminals who are mentally challenged, or minors. He wrote the "Mystery of Human Life passage" which Justice Scalis ridicules for having, in his view, no place in constitutional jurisprudence. Even when Kennedy joined in Justice O'Connor's narrow compromise ruling on American war combatants, he undermined the decision with his own concurring opinion in Rasul, opting to set an unofficial time limit on the president's war detention policies.
But yesterday's ‘Ten Commandments’ ruling proves there is a third regular swing justice in the court - Justice Breyer. The Clinton-appointee surprised almost everybody when he joined Justice O'Connor in a narrow concurrence, upholding Louisiana's state education funding program (even though it included funding for computers and other non-sectarian equipment at parochial schools), voted to give porn less Free Speech protections than other types of speech. Also, on at least two occasions, he joined in O'Connor's American war combatant policy, and just recently voted to uphold a ‘Ten Commandments’ display on narrow grounds.
Justice Breyer is proving to be the O'Connor of the left. He generally votes with his ideological partners, but every now and then aligns with those on the other side - along narrower grounds.
Just goes to show that presidents cannot plan for everything when they appoint court judges.
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| Good Friday, followed by slow weekend |
| 06.27.05 (8:08 pm) [edit] |
Submitted by Andrew Hoshkiw
For more of Andrew's articles, go to Odds& Ends or Musings at http://www.swanktrendz.com
Friday night I attended the St. John Baptiste Day mini-festival in Whitehorse. It went really well. Met five more bands and interviewed them all.
Only one was from beyond Whitehorse, a Montreal group called Dobacaracol. Two very cute girls singing and playing drums, backed by a couple of guitars.
It was a good night. Met up with lots of people I've met since being here. And since it was also a Solstice party, it went on quite late.
Saturday and Sunday though have been quite quiet. All I've done is stay at home, eat, write, sleep and walk around a bit.
This place I call home is very unusual for the Yukon. There are hardly any mosquitos, and I find I can even sit outside and write, without being pestered by them. Everywhere else has been bad; Watson Lake, Haines Junction, Dawson City, Atlin. But not here.
They say the site of the next festival, Faro, is especially bad for mosquitos. That one is on this coming weekend. The plan is to leave town right after work on Thursday (Friday's a holiday) and get there before dark. Faro is about 400 km away.
I wrote most of the article for that fest today. All I have to go on is a schedule of the bands, so I wrote what I could about them. Tomorrow I'll call the organizers and get a few more details, then hand the story in on Tuesday.
The two main acts are Canadian bands from the 70s, neither of which had I heard of before this: The Stampeders and Sweeney Todd.
I must say though, if it hasn't already been said, I'm really loving it this time in Whitehorse. If only I had a car and had been more sociable the first time I was here, I might never have left.
There's just so much for me in the way of opportunities here. I never could've had it this good in Rupert - even if I had been writing more there, the editors had dibs on all the good stories.
Speaking of which, I've counted and I've written 10 stories so far this month. With two more coming this week, and a total of 14 published photos, my freelancing has added up to $810 for June. That has me feeling pretty good.
You know, as a designer, I'll always earn more than if I were a reporter. Maybe by being both like this will for now be the best option.
I should really think about it. If the offer from Ryerson does come, maybe I should consider not going, but rather staying, working and earning real experience. Then, rather than spend that ton of money on schooling, save it and, when the time is right, go travelling on a grand adventure around the world...
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| "At four o'clock the normal world seems very, very far away" |
| 06.27.05 (8:05 pm) [edit] |
Submitted by: Andrew Hoshkiw
Wise words from a band called Pulp. Go listen to the song. It's a good description, on a grander scale, of what the night in Dawson was like.
So today I went on a mini-shopping spree. Groceries, rechargeable batteries, a battery charger and a set a funky wine glasses. Oh, and also a candy jar and a bag of candy, to put on my desk at work.
Not for me, mind you, but because I'm evil. Just something to draw more people over to my desk when I'm working. All the women at work will complain saying it'll make them fat, but they'll still all come over.
I never did get into what the weekend trip was like.
Drove down to Skagway on the Alaskan coast after work on Friday. I drove fast, wanting to get there before dark (ha ha!) and only stopped once... not to look at the sights or take photos, but to stick my head under a mountain waterfalls.
It was very hot and dry last week. I hate it when it's dry here, which is most of the time. It makes me thirsty constantly.
Skagway though was hot and humid and beautiful.
But that and the drive were the only pleasant aspects of Skagway. This time it seemed like a flimsy, fake tourist town.
Of course, the first time I went there I was in the company of a beautiful Swiss lass named Beatrice. Maybe that helped put things in a different light back then.
I even went to the pub where we got drunk on Alaskan beer and had a few pints, but it just wasn't the same. This time I was just lonely.
Driving out of town Saturday morning (after purchasing a bottle of Wild Turkey), I turned down a dirt road and followed the coast for about 20 km to the ghost town of Dyea.
It was like driving on the Sea to Sky Highway, with towering mountains on one side, and a ragged coastline on the other.
Dyea was nice. There wasn't much left, but if felt real.
Image from www.questconnect.org
I took lots of pictures, hiked and explored a little, and then drove to Atlin.
This time I drove slow and made lots of stops. It's amazing how I can take seven hours to drive 250 km, and yet the drive to Dawson was 550 km in four and a half hours.
In Atlin I didn't linger. I drove around and looked at the sights, and out of curiosity checked the liquor store to see if they stocked Wild Turkey, but then drove south along the lake to the warm springs.
There I turned onto a tiny dirt road, and after putting my car through hell, found myself at the backwoods cabin of Stephen Badhwar.
Cabin probably isn't the best word. Estate would be better. It's a large plot on a hill with a majestic view overlooking the lake.
Stephen is sort of a hippy, but not really. An interesting character who likes to recite poetry and, for the last several years, has been running the local music festival.
Image taken by Stephen Badhwar
He has several cabins, a large greenhouse (which I watched him expand while I was there). There's no electricity or phone and the water comes from the springs. He has a sauna, an outdoors kitchen and an organic farming business.
It's like a youth hostel too, as there are international travellers who come and work on the farm in exchange for food and a place to sleep (in a big teepee)
I spent a good night there and on Sunday drove back to Whitehorse.
This weekend I have no plans beyond staying at home and recovering my strength. Perhaps I'll work a bit on articles for upcoming festivals: Faro is next weekend and Atlin the week after.
Oh and there's a French Solstice/Saint-John Baptiste Day celebration in the park tonight. That could be interesting...
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| Comics 5/22/2005 |
| 06.27.05 (7:22 pm) [edit] |
Submitted by Kenn
For more of Kenn's articles, go to Print materials at http://www.swanktrendz.com
Yes, it's back. The weekly list. Here's everything I picked up this week.
Hellboy - The Island #1
Powerpuff Girls #63
Astro City - The Dark Age #1
Black Panther #5
Shojo Beat Vol 1 #1
Powers Vol 2 #11
Girls #2
Queen & Country - Declassified #1
Molly & Poo
Wanted Hardcover Collection
Reviews to follow.
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| Becks & Posh’s Featured Blogger |
| 06.26.05 (1:25 am) [edit] |
Submitted by Becks & Posh
This week's featured Bay Area Blogger, Rae, is a 'swegan'. Apparently, a Swegan is mostly a vegan who sometimes loses control of all-vegetable principles when it comes to dessert, oh, and pizza. Unlike the majority of food bloggers who have one blog for everything they write, Rae has made what might be a smart move by creating two separate blogs. Bunny Foot is the mostly vegan blog which specializes in home cooking. I love the look of Rae's most recent recipe for Agedashi Tofu pictured here and am in two minds to try it soon. I used to be a vegan myself, in the late 80s, and I've had a soft spot for tofu ever since.
Rae's other blog is simply titled SF City Eats and is all about dining out. Rae's restaurant reviews span beyond the confines of the City bringing us information about places in the South Bay too. And if you are a vegan, have more vegetarian tendencies, or are entertaining guests who don't eat meat, Rae's new blog specializing in animal-free fodder should be high on your list of websites to check out for Bay Area information.
http://bunnyfoot.blogspot.com/" title="http://bunnyfoot.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"http://bunnyfoot.blogspot.com...
http://www.sfcityeats.blogspot.com/" title="http://www.sfcityeats.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"http://www.sfcityeats.blogspo...
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| Rock Star Go Home: Christine Albrecht |
| 06.26.05 (1:03 am) [edit] |
Submitted by Christine Albrecht
I am going to admit some ol’ favourite singers/albums of mine. I know some of you will groan, but for me, these singers gave me what I needed, at the time I needed it, and I am forever indebted to them. So, in no particular order...
1. Marc Bolan of T-Rex (The Slider)
2. Neil Young (After the Goldrush)
3 David Bowie... everything
4 Lou Reed - (Berlin)
5. Iggy Pop - (Soldier)
6 The Clash - (London Calling)
7. Siousxie & the Banshees (A Kiss in the Dreamhouse)
8. Bauhaus (Press the Eject...)
9. Concrete Blonde (Johnette is the Janis Joplin of our time - brilliant)
10. Kurt Cobain - (Nevermind)
11 Fine Young Cannibals (everything, especially Roland Gift)
21. Sinead O’Connor (The Lion & the Cobra)
12. Placebo (everything)
and (drum roll please ..)
13. Michael K Hutchence (absolutely everything!)
Michael had been much maligned during his career, but I never understood why. I loved his voice, his charisma, his moves, his energy and I even had an ongoing agreement with my loved one that if Michael knocked on my door, my loved one had to leave for the day as I would be ‘busy’. When Michael died, I was devastated. Others didn’t understand my grief; INXS was just a pop group and besides, what a sordid way to go.
Well, I still play his music and wonder... what road was he heading down? Who cannot listen to ‘By My Side’ and not question his inner turmoil? I miss him and consider him irreplaceable.
Then low and behold, reality TV pounced on INXS. Yes, the band probably would like to keep playing, but without Michael... well, who are they?
Anyway, back to the TV show. Starting July 11th, a new show entitled “Rock Star Go Home” will air. The premise behind the show is to ”replace” Michael Hutchence as INXS’ lead singer. I am appalled at the thought, yet I will admit that I will be watching every episode (and probably crying, thinking what the Hell would Michael think?) Hopefully he’s laughing at the lot of us... just so long as he’s laughing...
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| Street Angel - Volume One - Jim Rugg and Brian Maruca |
| 06.25.05 (10:24 pm) [edit] |
Submitted by Kenn
Reasons to buy Street Angel - Volume One:
Nice art by Rugg. Very reminiscent of David Lapham's Stray Bullet's. Rugg's art is a little looser on the backgrounds and a bit crisper on the characters, but definitely in the same vein.
Witty and entertaining, if somewhat bizarre, writing by Rugg and Maruca.
Bizarre writing by Rugg and Maruca.
Jesse Sanchez - the Street Angel. A homeless orphan, she uses her Kung Fu and phat skateboarding skills to protect Wilksborough from ninjas, drugs, nepotism and pre-algebra.
Cosmick - the Irish astronaut
Time travel.
Doctor Pangea - master of the Dark arts of Geology
A special guest appearance by Jesus Christ.
Reasons not to buy Street Angel - Volume One
You are an uptight religious fanatic with no room for humor in your life.
image courtesty of comicbookresources
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| Mike's Musings - C'mon, God'll never find us in here... |
| 06.25.05 (10:03 pm) [edit] |
Submitted by Mike
For of Mike's Musings, go to Musings at http://www.swanktrendz.com
I detest the menial things in life.
Chores and maintenance. things like laundry, clipping fingernails, feeding Bone Jovi, cooking delicious turkey dinners, etc. etc. etc.
The 'everyday' tasks bother me.
Especially getting showers.
It's boring.
In an effort to alleviate the drudgery I've started listening to music while I shower, courtesy of my ghettoblaster (that I've had since I was seven), which is strategically placed on the back of Le Toilet right next to the shower.
For the first week and a half I listened to Def Leppard's 'Hysteria' album (which I also got when I was seven). I immediately found showering more enjoyable, but quickly tired of the sickeningly overpolished vocal harmonies. So for the next week I relied on the twitchy pop genius of Elvis Costello (via 'Armed Forces').
It worked like gangbusters.
(Better than Suicidal Tendencies, which only lasted a day or two)
I look forward to showering now, and I think I'm actually getting cleaner because of my need to scrub rhythmically with the music.
So i decided to make a special 'Shower Mix.'
(While making it I realized I haven't made a mixtape for myself since high school. I've made dozens and dozens of tapes for other people, but none for me personally. So believe me when I say that this little bugger is a Rock and Roll Grizzly Bear of a tape.)
Scrub wit me.
side A:
-Van Halen - eruption
-Van Halen - ain't talkin' bout love
-Stephen Malkmus - pencil rot
-The Hives - abra cadaver
-Public Enemy - war at 33 1/3
-Holiday Snaps - diamond ring
-Tenacious D - explosive
-RHCP - if you want me to stay
-Butthole Surfers - LA
-Sonic Youth - hot wire my heart
-Iron Maiden - the solo from 'Powerslave'
-Miles Davis - excerpts from 'On The Corner'
side B:
-Beck - sexx laws (Malibu remix)
-Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - brenda
-MF Doom - kookies
-North of America - central port of equal times
-DFA 1979 - turn it out
-DFA 1979 - romantic rights
-Sleater-Kinney - entertain
-Sleater-Kinney - rollercoaster
-Burdocks - pop cult
image courtesy of designedtoat.com
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| Yoga that's Hot - Literally and Figuratively |
| 06.25.05 (9:33 pm) [edit] |
One of the most popular forms of yoga these days is Hot Yoga (also known as Bikram Yoga). Hot Yoga is so named because practitioners work on a series of 26 poses (asanas) and two breathing exercises (pranayamas) while in a room where the temperature is anywhere from 100 to 105 degrees F.
Hot Yoga is said to provide all the benefits of regular yoga, and the addition of heat intensifies one's results by increasing flexibility, stretching and strengthening while concurrently reducing the rate of injury; accelerating results and calorie burn; increasing cardio-vascular activity; and detoxifying the body and increasing oxygenation.
Photo courtesy of bikram brighton photo
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| Smilla's Sense of Snow |
| 06.25.05 (9:32 pm) [edit] |
"I'm not perfect. I think more highly of snow and ice than love. It's easier for me to be interested in mathematics than to have affection for my fellow human beings. But I am anchored to something in life that is constant. You can call it a sense of orientation; you can call it woman's intuition; you can call it whatever you like. I'm standing on a foundation and have no farther to fall. It could be that I haven't managed to organize my life very well. But I always have a grip - with at least one finger at a time - on Absolute Space.
That's why there's a limit to how far the world can twist out of joint, and to how badly things can go before I find out. I know now, without a shadow of a doubt, that something is wrong."
Where else but from the land of Hamlet could we find words conveying such a prevailing sense of tragedy?
About four years ago, I read Peter Hoeg's international bestseller 'Smilla's Sense of Snow'; recently I picked it up and started re-reading it, and am finding it as fresh the second time around as I did the first.
This elegant novel is set in both Denmark and Greenland, and is equal parts psychological study, murder mystery and serious fiction. The protagonist is an incredibly strong female character, the grittily tough scientist Smilla Jasperson who is herself the product of a union between a Danish doctor and a native Greenlander. Smilla's mother disappeared while out hunting when Smilla was only six, and young Smilla was then sent to Denmark to live with her rich, cold doctor father, who immediately packed her off to boarding school.
This background information turns out to be quite significant, since at the introduction of the novel we find Smilla as an adult, returning to her apartment building one day only to find the police there investigating a young boy's death. The boy, Isaiah, was her neighbour and a native Greenlander. He was six, around the same age as Smilla when she arrived from Greenland. Like Smilla, Isaiah was also neglected by a parent - in his case, his alcoholic widowed mother. Smilla had, in spite of her claims that she hated children, taken this young boy in and cared for him much of the time. Her reaction to his death appears to be, initially, little more than clinical. But the more she thinks about it, the bigger everything becomes - herself included.
Smilla is a Greenlander. Smilla is a woman. Smilla is a scientist. These three aspects of her character are brought together for the first time by Isaiah's death. Previously, she had compartmentalized all aspects of her life - but now she is a whole. Smilla realizes that Isaiah's death is no accident - contrary to what the authorities believe.
This book is highly symbolic. Isaiah's footprints in the snow lead Smilla on a journey that unites her Greenlander side (which represents the natural world) with her Danish side (which represents the worlds of math, science and reason/logic) in a fight against the Danes (who represent bureaucracy) over the value of Isaiah's life (who in turn represents indigenous people everywhere who become marginalized by contact with invading societies). Smilla's journey across the water to Greenland represents her return to her mother, her people, and the culture she has lost. While in Greenland, the book takes another shift into high intrigue and ends in a James Bondian rush.
I loved this book, especially particular aspects like the juxtaposition of the scientific high-level technical information versus the innate wisdom and knowledge of the Greenlanders regarding snow. The insight into the peculiar relationship that exists between Greenlanders and the Danes was also very eye-opening. Finally, I loved how Hoeg painted the city in a cold, bleak, dark light, while Greenland was bathed in a crystal-like pure light.
This book was translated from Danish, was released in the UK as ''Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow', was named book of the year (1993) by Time, People and Entertainment Weekly, and was also turned into a major motion picture starring Gabriel Byrne and Julia Ormond. So, whatever version you can get your hands on - I recommend it.
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| Proportion and Scale in Decorating |
| 06.25.05 (9:30 pm) [edit] |
Have you ever walked into someone's house, looked at the furniture and thought to yourself, something's just not right here - but you can't put your finger on what is so displeasing to the eye.
If you have had that experience, chances are you were looking at someone who had a problem with scale and proportion - often one of the most difficult of all design challenges. Here are some quick and easy rules to apply next time you are out shopping for furniture or other home decor items:
coffee tables - the rule of thumb with coffee tables it that they should be 1/2 to 2/3 the span of the sofa - no more, no less.
end tables - the height of end tables should be about 2 inches below the arm of the chair or sofa
wall art (paintings, etc.): art work should be the same height as the sofa, and 1/2 to 2/3 the length
chandelie r - the width (diameter) of any chandelier should be about 2 feet narrower than the length of the table over which it is suspended.
Photo courtesy of http://www.pacimports.com/ros...
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| Gay Pride Post |
| 06.23.05 (9:41 pm) [edit] |
Submitted by Rob Williams
Since it's gay pride this weekend (in NYC), as well as official Gay Pride Month I thought I would devote this blog to all things Gay and literary.
Ted recently brought home (remember he lives with me now!!) the fabulous (a very gay term) book: When I Knew edited by Robert Trachtenberg
This terrific coffee table book is filled with anecdotes (and the greatest photos and graphics ever) about when various gay and lesbian folks 'knew' that they were gay.
Among the contributors: Kevin Williamson (of Scream/Dawson's Creek fame), Judy Gold, Dan Butler (of Frasier), Tammy Lynn Michaels (Mrs. Melissa Etheridge), blogger Andy Towle, Chad Allen (of 'Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman'), Jim Provenzano, Marc Shaiman, BD Wong (Law and Order: SVU-- and 'Broadway'), etc.
Here's a sample:
1969--My father was watching the evening news. the announcer said that Judy Garland had died. I fainted. i was nine. --- Andrew Freedman
And this:
As a kid, I became obsessed with the man on the Doan's Pills box. His back was so sexy. When my mom's supply ran out and she threw the box away, I went to the drug store and stole another. I stuffed it down my pants, where it's been ever since. ---Jon Kinnally (writer/exec. producer Will & Grace)
And:
I went to Choate Prep School. All the boys in my hall got Sports Illustrated. I seemed to be the only one with a subscription to Women's Wear Daily. --- Michael Shulman
Check it out, what better than a great book to curl up with after a day out at the parade or dancing at the pier? aAd here's a few more:
Queer Stories for Boys
True Stories from the Gay Men's Storytelling Workshop
The Haunted Hillbilly-- Derek McCormack
You Can Say You Knew Me When-- K.M. Soehnlein
Cities of Weather: Stories-- Matthew Fox (yet another reason to love Canada-- and he's reading in NYC Monday at McNally Robinson bookstore 50 Prince Street).
One of These Things is Not Like the Other-- D. Travers Scott
The Beautifully Worthless-- Ali Liebegott
Breakfast With Tiffany: An Uncle's Memoir by Edwin John Wintle
Ok. so I guess I could give my own anecdote about 'when i knew' but I've done enough of that in my blogs already (and will continue to do so). Instead i'm going to give an anecdote about 'you know you're about to be married to your boyfriend when':
After realizing you are both off from work on Friday you think to yourself, in all seriousness and genuine enthusiasm: oh, great, I can make us chicken salad sandwiches for lunch!
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| Private Property Rights Lost in Court Today |
| 06.23.05 (9:16 pm) [edit] |
Submitted by The Political Heretic
For more entries by The Political Heretic, go to Global Issues at http://www.swanktrendz.com
"... the Court today significantly expands the meaning of public use. It holds that the sovereign may take private property currently put to ordinary private use, and give it over for new, ordinary private use, so long as the new use is predicted to generate some secondary benefit for the public–such as increased tax revenue, more jobs, maybe even aesthetic pleasure. But nearly any lawful use of real private property can be said to generate some incidental benefit to the public. Thus, if predicted (or even guaranteed) positive side-effects are enough to render transfer from one private party to another constitutional, then the words “for public use” do not realistically exclude any takings, and thus do not exert any constraint on the eminent domain power. ...
Today nearly all real property is susceptible to condemnation on the Court’s theory. In the prescient words of a dissenter from the infamous decision in Poletown, “[n]ow that we have authorized local legislative bodies to decide that a different commercial or industrial use of property will produce greater public benefits than its present use, no homeowner’s, merchant’s or manufacturer’s property, however productive or valuable to its owner, is immune from condemnation for the benefit of other private interests that will put it to a ‘higher’ use.” 410 Mich., at 644—645, 304 N. W. 2d, at 464 (opinion of Fitzgerald, J.). This is why economic development takings “seriously jeopardize[e] the security of all private property ownership.” Id., at 645, 304 N. W. 2d, at 465 (Ryan, J., dissenting).
Any property may now be taken for the benefit of another private party, but the fallout from this decision will not be random. The beneficiaries are likely to be those citizens with disproportionate influence and power in the political process, including large corporations and development firms. As for the victims, the government now has license to transfer property from those with fewer resources to those with more. The Founders cannot have intended this perverse result. “[T]hat alone is a just government,” wrote James Madison, “which impartially secures to every man, whatever is his own.” For the National Gazette, Property, (Mar. 29, 1792), reprinted in 14 Papers of James Madison 266 (R. Rutland et al. eds. 1983)." Justice Sandra Day O'Connor in Kelo v. New London
I really don't have anything to add. This was a disappointing verdict that only helps wealthy political contributors who want to make some money. As Justice O'Connor said in her dissenting opinion, any big corporation can make the claim that it will bring jobs into a given community, thereby negating any distinction in principle and practice between takings for "public" and "private" use. Get ready for political donations.
So what do we do now? Call your assemblymen and senators now and let them know that we want stronger legislation protecting our property, particularly when the taking involves the very places we live in. The Court said there is not Fifth Amendment right for higher protection, but that doesn't mean a state cannot by law grant that kind of protection.
http://www.law.cornell.edu/donors/solicit.php?http_referer=/supct/h tml/04-108.ZS.html" title="http://www.law.cornell.edu/donors/solicit.php?http_referer=/supct/h tml/04-108.ZS.html" target="_blank"http://www.law.cornell.edu/do...
http://www.politicalheretic.blogspot.com/" title="http://www.politicalheretic.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"http://www.politicalheretic.b...
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| Of Birthdays and TIME |
| 06.23.05 (9:02 pm) [edit] |
Submitted by Sashi
Just a couple of things, since I know no one's gonna be reading this because they'll be at the bash...
I read somewhere (for some reason, I've lost the link - if you know of the site in question, let me know) that probability-wise, when in a group of 23 people, the odds that at least 2 people will share the same birthday (just date and month, not year) is very good (over 50%).
Since there'd be quite a number of people at Charlie's Place tonight, I wonder if anybody out there reading this and going there will indulge me in performing this little experiment. You know, just ask around and see if any two birthdays match up. Thanks...
The other thing is that TIME magazine have published their 50 Coolest Websites list. Check it out and see if you agree. They even have a section on Blogs too...
http://www.time.com/time/2005/websites/" title="http://www.time.com/time/2005/websites/" target="_blank"http://www.time.com/time/2005...
http://www.sashiweb.com/" title="http://www.sashiweb.com/" target="_blank"http://www.sashiweb.com/
Picture courtesty of Time.com
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| Solstice Followup |
| 06.23.05 (8:49 pm) [edit] |
Submitted by Andrew Hoshkiw
The solstice has come and gone. It was everything I expected it to be: a wild and crazy party, involving hundreds of people, on the summit of a mountain, lasting all night long.
Night of course is a relative term. It never got all that dark. There were clouds along the horizon and the sun disappeared just after midnight and then popped back up above the clouds about four hours later.
But wait, I'm getting ahead of myself. I should start the story from the beginning, earlier in the day.
All through the day I kept checking the weather reports. While Whitehorse remained cold and rainy and dark, Dawson City was clear and sunny and hot. I considered not doing it, but with weather like this I had to go.
I drove out of Whitehorse at about 5:30 p.m. and drove uneventfully north for about an hour and a half. At Carmacks, 200 km into the drive, I stopped to pick up a hitchhiker.
He said his name was Neil, but that everyone called him Ben. I'd say he was about 20. A French-Canadian youth, headed up to Dawson to work for the summer.
He was a nice kid. He said he liked my driving and that he thought he was in a Formula One race, but I'm not too sure, as he seemed to be holding on rather tightly through some of the faster sections.
Later on, during the party, I remember overhearing him talking to someone else about how, for the "loose gravel" sections of the road, where there were big warning signs telling drivers to be cautious and reduce their speed, I would heed the signs and drop from 160 to 130. Mind you, the limit was never higher than 90.
I guess I was in a bit of a hurry to get to Dawson. I didn't want to miss the sunset. In fact, I arrived about an hour and a half before midnight.
We drove around town and I pointed out the sights. Then we stopped at private liquor store so he could buy beer before heading up the mountain.
About a quarter of the way up I encountered four people walking who looked a bit lost. I never thought I could pile four people, all carrying large quantities of alcohol, into the back of a Golf, but somehow I did. One of them had to lay across the others in order for us to get them all in.
We got there just before midnight, just in time to get pictures of two parasailers as they jumped off the cliffs.
There was so much alcohol. I brought a dozen beers and a bottle of wine. Though the wine never got opened, the beers are all gone and in fact when I awoke in the morning there were empties for six other kinds of beer mixed in with mine in the trunk of my car.
I think I traded beers so I could drink different things. Everyone wanted my Sleemans'.
And then there was the hard liquor. Over the course of the night I had swigs from at least a dozen different bottles. Whiskeys, rums, some Baileys', a little vodka and God knows what else.
Jesus, at one point during the night I remember having a sip of some godawful whiskey. When I asked the guy why he bought it, he said it was the cheapest thing they had. So I said something like, "Mother of God, you may as well be drinking gasoline. I have some diesel you can have," and that's when someone else in the crowd said, "Whoa, no no no no, you don't wanna be drinking diesel. That stuff tastes nasty."
There were drugs. I didn't do drugs, of course, because drugs are illegal and bad, but there were some people I saw doing pot, hash, mushrooms or even all of the above.
And of course there were lots of beautiful women, and though I don't want to go so far as to say I got lucky again, the night was not at all an unlucky experience for me.
What can I say? It was a beautiful night. My third big party in a month. I keep saying it over and over, and I must be getting repetitiously boring as hell, but I have to keep saying it: this is turning out to be one fantastic summer.
I don't believe in luck though. I've made my own luck, and for once in my life, I've gotten it right.
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| The Progression of Home Decorating Shows: By Christine Albrecht |
| 06.22.05 (9:50 pm) [edit] |
Submitted by Christine Albrecht
First there was ‘Trading Places’, ‘While you were Out’ and Debbie Travis’ ‘Facelift’. Reality TV then progressed to ’‘Designed to Sell' and ‘Buy this House’. But now reality renovation shows have moved on to a more ambitious angle: ‘The Million dollar project’, and Australia’s ‘The Block’. I am totally addicted to ‘The Block’ (on the Home & Garden channel). The premise is that four couples take a run down (and I do mean run down) four-plex in the Bondi area (very desirable as it is on the beach) and completely re-gut and renovate it. The couples each receive a unit and must totally renovate their individual apartment ($40,000 budget) with the hopes of selling their new space for the highest market price. They are now down to selecting realtors and putting their units on the market. I find the characters creative, entertaining, and thoroughly likable. Tomorrow night (June 23 @ 7:00 PMT) determines the end result. Tune in - it should be very entertaining.
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| Bread from the Avoca Cafe Cook Book |
| 06.21.05 (8:00 pm) [edit] |
Submitted by Becks & Posh
Not too long ago, I wrote about my most recent visit to Avoca, my favourite retail/cafe experience in Ireland. My sister, Beccy, usually does her Christmas shopping there which is behaviour I wholeheartedly encourage. After a conversation we had recently had on the phone I think she, her husband Jools and my nephews and niece, Dillon, Ben and Mollie were inspired to send me the Avoca Café Cookbook as a birthday present. Thank you guys and gals!
The recipe that most grabbed my attention was the White Yeast Bread. It just looked so delicious and light and crumbly and crusty. My mouth watering because of the vision in front of me, I felt utterly compelled to make a couple of loaves as soon as I had a few hours to spare. Years and years had passed since I last made bread by hand. The result, unfortunately, attested to my lack of experience. I have to practice a little more, methinks, before I entertain any ideas of opening Boulangerie de Breach.
I was already at the kneading stage (with a little assistance from the Kitchen Aid) when I realized what I kneeded most was a loaf tin. Luckily my recipe informed me I could make a plaited loaf instead. So I did that, as well as forming the other half into a crusty Bloomer. On the outside, my bread looked good. It was not lacking any salt, and the crust was superb. (How can a crust that requires the glaze to be made from a mixture of egg yolk and cream possibly fail?) The only thing wrong with my bread was its density. I dreamt of light and fluffy but what I created was almost as dense as a brick.
Dearest bread makers amongst my readers, if you have any tips on how to make my next loaf of bread have more feather-like qualities, please do let me know. And if you are going to scold me for having used a packet of dry yeast 8 months past the sell-by-date, instead of the recommended fresh yeast, then so be it...
http://becksposhnosh.blogspot.com/" title="http://becksposhnosh.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"http://becksposhnosh.blogspot...
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| Carwash 2005 |
| 06.21.05 (7:48 pm) [edit] |
I'm tellin' ya, there's nothing quite like watching a man vomit into his own hands and angrily hurl it into rush hour traffic.
It's summertime in Halifax again.
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| Mike's Musings - The Super Happy Pee Explosion |
| 06.21.05 (7:46 pm) [edit] |
Thank you, little girl, for taking the time to pee on the floor in the lobby of my workplace.
Just a few hours earlier I was thinking, man! what a beautiful day. I’d love to mop up a small golden puddle of fresh urine.
Oops, watch your sandals ma'am... that's urine.
And your mother, who knew full well what you were doing, when I looked up at her and she smiled at me, that just made my day. Really.
I'm glad you have a parent who allows you the freedom to spray piss wherever and whenever you feel like it.
I didn't have those opportunitites as a child; my parents would keep me in one of those little 'harnesses with the leash' deals when we went to public places.
But you, you're one happy little girl.
It's always superhappy-fun-pee-time for you!
Your mommy was even nice enough to laugh at me on her way out.
Hahaha. bye now. Haha.
I need a f**king raise in salary.
And a Swiffer.
And maybe an assistant.
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| Fashion and Reality (TV, That Is) |
| 06.21.05 (7:24 pm) [edit] |
There have long been fashion-related shows on TV - 'Fashion Files', with host Tim Blanks, is one very good long-running show that springs to mind. However, it was the introduction of 'America's Next Top Model' a few seasons ago that burst the whole fashion/reality TV- thing wide open. Tyra Bank's dream child spawned shows about swim suit model competitions, male model competitions, and fashion designer competitions.
In fact, this Monday night was the two hour finale of 'Project Runway', a show where each week, a group of designers are presented with different design challenges. Last week the judges picked the finalists: 29 year old vintage store owner Jay and experienced LA-based designer Kara Saun were a given, and then for the third finalist the judges made the surprising decision to keep the unpopular Wendy Pepper rather than the flamboyant Austin. Separately, the three then created their own collections for a runway show held during New York Fashion Week.
In the end, Jay ended up being the winner with his haute couture collection. With lots of emphasis on textures and with a variety of colour palettes used, Jay bested Kara Saun's aviator/technology collection which was very heavy on the fur and leather and leaned too heavily toward a Gucci-inspired look. As well, two of Kara Saun's dresses made walking very difficult for the models, a clear case of form before function. Unfortunately, Wendy Pepper's beautifully tailored collection was seen as little more than bass couture and was never considered to be in the running by the judges. Personally, I preferred a number of her pieces (especially the red dress) over anything Kara Saun presented.
Another show I've been following recently is Supermodels, a Canadian-based show chronicling the Canadian segment of the Supermodel competitions sponsored by Ford Models of New York. The Ford Supermodel Competition is long established and has produced models/actresses/celebrit ies like Monikka Schnarre.
Last week's episode saw five girls cut from the remaining ten. This next week, five advance toward their final goal: a contract with Ford Models and a contract with an internationally known cosmetics giant. On at 6 am Sundays on channel 11(locally). Why am I up at that time? Don't ask...
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| Soul Asylum Bassist Dies |
| 06.21.05 (7:23 pm) [edit] |
Soul Asylum's bassist and founder Karl Mueller died Friday, June 17, of throat cancer. He was 41. Formed in 1984, Soul Asylum is best known for their hits 'Runaway Train' and 'Somebody to Shove'.
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| Reality TV |
| 06.21.05 (7:21 pm) [edit] |
There's been a lot of talk over the last year or so about the future of Reality TV. Pundits have been predicting the demise of reality TV in the near future as there is little-to-no rerun value in these shows - essentially, they're a one-shot deal Just last week, however, I heard a producer of a new local reality TV show stating that reality TV will be around for a long, long time. Of course, he's got a vested interest in this and consequently it's to his benefit for this prediction to be true. However, he had some valid points.
He stated that:
- reality TV shows are much cheaper to make than sitcoms, as they don't require any fees for either writers or actors
- production on the shows is a lot more 'bare bones', thereby keeping costs down
- companies are often willing to sponsor prizes in exchange for advertising/ product placement.
This particular fellow is producing a show based on home heating efficiency, of all things. But the more I heard, the more interested I became. Basically, four families are chosen, and each family is given $50,000 to improve the heat efficiency of their house: new roof, insulation, windows and doors, furnace, what have you. The efficiency of each house is measured before and after renovations are done, and the family whose house shows the most improvement wins, among other things, a Smart Car.
So, just over $200,000, give or take, for a whole season of shows. Not bad, when you think of it. Now, if only I could figure out where I sign up for this one...
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| Winnipeg gardeners sneak flowers onto public streets: By Jeffrey Newman |
| 06.20.05 (9:12 pm) [edit] |
http://jnblog.typepad.com/provocations/" title="http://jnblog.typepad.com/provocations/" target="_blank"http://jnblog.typepad.com/pro...
I wanted to draw attention to this little story of citizen activism:
Guerrilla gardeners are launching an attack on Winnipeg's downtown, filling empty city planters with blooms to try to cut down on urban ugliness. Jennifer Bishop is one of a handful of women who fan out to pull weeds from the abandoned planters and replace them with bedding plants from their own gardens.
More: CBC News.
http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/ 2005/06/17/guerrilla-gard eners050617.html" title="http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/ 2005/06/17/guerrilla-gard eners050617.html" target="_blank"http://www.cbc.ca/story/canad...
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| Southern solstice stargazing in Sydney |
| 06.20.05 (9:09 pm) [edit] |
Jeffrey Newman
http://jnblog.typepad.com/provocations/" title="http://jnblog.typepad.com/provocations/" target="_blank"http://jnblog.typepad.com/pro...
A pretty cool way to celebrate the winter solstice:
Lights out for Sydney this weekend
Fri, 17 June 2005
The Australian city of Sydney is switching off many lights in its harbour area this weekend to let people have a better view of the stars.
Astronomers are applauding the plan to douse floodlights on Sydney's famous Harbour Bridge as well as lights in some downtown office buildings. The request came from the Sydney Observatory.
Read on:
http://www.cbc.ca/story/world/national/2 005/06/17/sydney-lights05 0617.html" title="http://www.cbc.ca/story/world/national/2 005/06/17/sydney-lights05 0617.html" target="_blank"http://www.cbc.ca/story/world...
A pretty cool way to celebrate the winter solstice.
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| Bloggers in The Star |
| 06.19.05 (9:46 pm) [edit] |
Submitted by Sashi
The Star's Star Two section has an article on four of our more popular bloggers today.
http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2005/6/20/featu res/11243748&sec=features " title="http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2005/6/20/featu res/11243748&sec=features " target="_blank"http://thestar.com.my/lifesty...
In Malaysia, there are at least 10,000 bloggers, according to Aizuddin Danian, 29, co-founder of Project Petaling Street (www.petalingstreet.org) or PPS as it is fondly known, a “blogtal” (blog-portal) that allows Malaysian bloggers to post updates on their latest posts, and also serves as a directory.
StarTwo takes a look at four popular Malaysian bloggers to catch a glimpse of the real person behind the blog, and to see how blogging has changed their lives.
The four bloggers are Peter Tan, Minishorts, Kenny Sia and Suanie (whose pretty face is gracing the cover of Star Two).
Things I did not know about these bloggers that I do now:
* I did not know Peter Tan was a former Hong Kong Cantonese serial addict. Glad you're now a blog addict instead, Peter.. ;)
* I did not know Minishort's real name. And her age. And that her eyes are so damn sexy...
* I did not know Kenny has yet to update his 'About Kenny' page
* I did not know Suanie's full name. And that she's 24. And that she's a *gasp* management student! (Ok, that's just me trying to inject a bit of drama...)
Congratulations, guys and gals!
Majulah Blog Untuk Negara!
p.s. Do we even have a Malay word for blog? And I don't mean journal...
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| Simply Amazing |
| 06.18.05 (7:56 pm) [edit] |
I came across this site, then also noticed that berlinbear had written about it as well. It's very upsetting to think that most of the images we are bombarded with have been doctored in some way.
Christine
http://homepage.mac.com/gapodaca/digital/digi tal.html" title="http://homepage.mac.com/gapodaca/digital/digi tal.html" target="_blank"http://homepage.mac.com/gapod...
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| Mother Inc - Fashion’s New Music |
| 06.18.05 (7:32 pm) [edit] |
Submitted by Christine
Providing the background music of recent fashion shows (ie: Imitation of Christ) is New York’s darlings of the moment, Mother Inc.
Yvonne Force Villareal and Sandra Hamburg make up the act whose first big song “Megacolon” was about constipation. They began in the mid 1980s, but it has been of late that the fashion crowd has taken up their electro-pop cause.
They combine clever lyrics with a steady electronic beat and poke fun at all the needy celebrities, who in turn seem to embrace them with open arms. Silvia Venturini Fendi decided to sponsor the band as an art project and allowed the duo access to Fendi’s ready-to-wear collection.
The band has no plans of stopping their social-commentary ditties, and are in the midst of a six city tour. To purchase their cd from Amazon.com go to:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000 9Q1YTQ/qid=1119155216/sr= 2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/102- 2442442-0784937" title="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000 9Q1YTQ/qid=1119155216/sr= 2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/102- 2442442-0784937" target="_blank"http://www.amazon.com/exec/ob...
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| The Art of Michael Dunn |
| 06.18.05 (12:35 pm) [edit] |
I came across an interesting art website and decided to contact the owner, Michael Dunn, to find out more.
First of all, the website is called enchantedcreek.com. The moniker is appropriate as his studio has a creek entitled Enchanted Creek running through his property. His studio is also located on top of a few large boulders that overlook one of the creek’s small waterfalls.
Michael has lived there for over twenty years, working the land, building the studio, and creating his art.
He is the only artist to be profiled on his website, and he feels that overall, business is great. The last few years have been slow, probably due to the economical and political scene, but Dunn is confident things will pick up.
Michael feels that online art can only get better. Artists can sell their art directly to the clients at half the price the galleries would charge, and a larger audience can be reached. Another perk is that he can interact one to one with a client, thus creating a more customized piece.
Dunn’s site provides a variety of mediums to choose from: sculpture. jewellery. 2-D, photography, etc. The pieces profiled on his site are his personal favourites. Then he determines which items people are generally interested in, and showcases these pieces accordingly.
All in all, a good idea! There are many talented artists out there and I feel that online art shows make a lot of sense (in appealing to a larger clientele). The only downfall would be the client’s personal sensation of seeing a wonderful piece firsthand; observing it from every angle and determining the amount of detail involved. There’s always that little thrill that accompanies seeing outstanding art. However, this way of presenting art allows more people to own art, thus, being able to enjoy it at their leisure.
To see Michael’s work - go to:
http://www.enchantedcreek.com/" title="http://www.enchantedcreek.com/" target="_blank"http://www.enchantedcreek.com...
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| The Nothing Book - Rob's Musings |
| 06.17.05 (8:42 pm) [edit] |
Does anyone remember 'The Nothing Book'? This was a blank book, a journal, that was sold in the late 1970s and early 80s. It was hard cover, and had a book jacket with a blank cover that just said, simply "The Nothing Book: Wanna Make Something of it?" It turns out they still sell them on Amazon.com!!
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0517 516489/qid" title="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0517 516489/qid" target="_blank"http://www.amazon.com/exec/ob...%3D1118979405/sr%3D2-1/re f%3Dpd%5Fbbs%5Fb%5F2%5F1/ 102-9305226-9400159
It was incredibly cheesy, but I think it might have been the first journal I ever owned. I can't remember if I bought it myself or if my mother might have bought it for me. The inside flap had a few quotes that used the word ‘nothing’ in them, like "I’ve got plenty of nothing" or "Nothing comes of nothing" or something like that.
I used to take this book with me everywhere. I would write little notes, ideas, character sketches (remember dear readers, this was when I was, like, 11 years old!). One day I decided I would write a novel in it.
We used to get these magazines in grade school, like Dynamite and Highlights only they were more news-oriented (but news for kids). One issue told a story of this island off the coast of Nova Scotia called 'Sable Island.' I remember the article said that Sable Island is famous for its wild horses and that also Sable Island was surrounded by treacherous reefs where hundreds of ships had crashed while trying to come to the island.
So I began to write a novel about a young girl living on the island who discovers a wild horse and tries to tame it. In addition, her father works on a ship that comes and goes from the island, and naturally he is killed in a shipwreck. This was my second novel, actually, the first was called 'It Aint Easy Being a Sunflower Seed' and I wrote it when I was seven or eight. It detailed a day in the life of a sunflower seed named Sylvester (how he gets picked one day to be roasted and placed into a bag of sunflowers--something he's dreamed about all his life--until he realizes it means he's going to be eaten, so he escapes and starts a new life--but that's another blog).
Anyway. I titled my second book "The Magic of Sable Island"-- can you tell I had just finished reading "Island of the Blue Dolphins"? and I took the book with me to 6th grade camp-- Camp Cuyamaca, just outside San Diego.
Now,I was quite a sensitive kid growing up, as you can well imagine. I was not much of a sportsman let alone a mountain man (though my family did camp a lot). For the first few days at Camp Cuyamaca I was quite miserable. The other boys were having a blast wrestling each other, exploring caves, sharpening their buck-knives, building fires, but I wanted to pick daisies and braid beads into my hair (which was unusually long and feathered at this particular time in my life-- it was the late 70s/early 80s after all) and instead of building a campfire I wanted to sing songs around one and hold a tambourine. This was also about the time that some of my buddies were beginning to discover girls, and being away from home seemed to fuel their hormones, so everyone kept talking about 'the end of the week dance.' I wanted to crawl into my sleeping bag and zip it shut.
And then one day someone saw me, sitting up on my bunk bed, writing in my journal.
Some kid with greasy hair and a dumb squint asked me what I was doing. I told him I was writing a novel. Pretty soon the entire cabin was surrounding me, asking to look at my book. Kids who had previously laughed at me, for screaming during dodgeball or making tea out of manzanita bark or for fashioning a brooch out of a geode, now they wanted to be my friend, they wanted to know what my book was about, they wanted to be IN the book. I became a minor celebrity at the camp from that day on (well, me and the guy who snuck into the girls' cabin and stole 10 pairs of underwear). I even took down my fellow cabin mates' names-- wrote them in the inside flap of my book, and told them I would contact them when the book came out. (If you look closely you can see the names... Doug Wilson wrote, "your friend," and someone named Lamont wrote, "have a nice year").
This is one of the earliest memories I have of feeling aware and maybe more important-- proud-- that I was "creative." And that it was not something to hide or be afraid of, but something that would make me unique and interesting. I mean, I knew I was different; you don't memorize all the lines, songs, and choreography of 'The Harvey Girls' by age 10 and expect to be treated as if you were normal.
It is a memory I hold dear to this day.
As you can see, I still have 'The Nothing Book,' though the paper cover is gone and now it's just a brown hardback book with worn edges. The novel, "The Magic of Sable Island" is not there; all that's left are the torn remains of its 25 pages (it was more of a novella, I guess). iIm not sure why I got rid of it. Maybe I somehow knew that it wasn't the story I needed to write. That there would be other, better, greater stories to come.
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| This is the Last F**king Time... By Mike |
| 06.17.05 (8:13 pm) [edit] |
.. that I rename my fish.
I do it far too often and I have to buck up and just finalize it before he goes and dies of starvation.
He's approximately one year old and it's time to settle on something.
If he actually had a mind and a memory, and if I actually talked to him, he'd probably have a complex by now.
Some of his previous monikers were:
-Neil Young
-Doctor Spock
-Rasputin
-F Dot
-Cats Pee Pee
-The Juggernaut
-Delicious Thanksgiving Turkey
But no more of that nonsense.
I've come to a decision.
His final and official name is Bone Jovi.
Say hello everyone.
But don't you touch him, or I swear...
For more of Mike’s Musings go to http://www.swanktrendz.com
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| G8 debt relief conditions amount to extortion |
| 06.17.05 (8:11 pm) [edit] |
Submitted by Jeffrey Newman
This new G8 debt relief sounds like a really good news story. However, I've been hearing a few reservations and "wait-and-see's". Here's some small print that might begin to explain the caution:
To qualify for debt relief, developing countries must "tackle corruption, boost private-sector development" and eliminate "impediments to private investment, both domestic and foreign".
- Read on
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/columnist/story/0" title="http://politics.guardian.co.uk/columnist/story/0" target="_blank"http://politics.guardian.co.u...,9321,1505931,00.html
For more of Jeffrey Newman’s Articles go to http://www.swanktrendz.com
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| Heroin prescription 'cuts costs' |
| 06.17.05 (8:10 pm) [edit] |
Submitted by Jeffrey Newman
There are strong reasons to support the practice of prescribing heroin to drug misusers, researchers claim. A University of Amsterdam team says the treatment is cost-effective, even though it is expensive. The British Medical Journal study found the cost to health services was offset by savings linked to crime reduction.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4607233.stm" title="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4607233.stm" target="_blank"http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/he...
For more of Jeffrey Newman’s Articles go to http://www.swanktrendz.com
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| 99 Rooms is Interactive Art |
| 06.17.05 (8:08 pm) [edit] |
Submitted by Jeffrey Newman
A web site that breaks out of the North American mould to invite you into a world of discovery and atmosphere. A high-speed connection is necessary and I recommend you give yourself a little time to explore 99 Rooms.
http://www.99rooms.com/" title="http://www.99rooms.com/" target="_blank"http://www.99rooms.com/
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| Robson Arms |
| 06.17.05 (7:13 pm) [edit] |
There is a new 13 episode show premiering on CTV tonight (Friday, June 17). Called Robson Arms, this 1/2 drama/comedy is set in a 'once grand low rise' apartment building situated in Vancouver's eclectic West End. Altogether, there are 22 tenants in the building; each episode delves into the lives of particular individuals in building, with the Snider-like (remember the '70s 'One Day at a Time') apartment manager Yuri being the thread that connects everything together.
With a strong cast, including Mark McKinney (Kids in the Hall), Megan Follows (Anne of Green Gables), William B. Davis (The X-Files), and Margot Kidder (Superman) to name but a few, the show is also introduced each week by 'The Troubadours' who fill us in on that week's characters with musical rendition akin to that at the beginning of certain other TV shows from the early '70s (think Gilligan's Island or The Brady Bunch).
With strong writing and an excellent cast, this one promises to be a good one!
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| Interview with Sam Breach from San Fransico |
| 06.16.05 (9:31 pm) [edit] |
Sam Breach is from Becks & Posh online food critique
Originally posted by Emily
Summer time and easy living wouldn't be complete without baseball and good eats. We've incorporated a crew of new SFist contributors to guide you through the good life in coming months.
Foodies! As we've been interviewing the new crop of SFist foodies we've noticed a foodie trend: they don't like burritos. We can't cite a systemic cause for foodie disdain of an SF staple, but we think Sam Breach's disdain might be attributed to her love of Marmite. That's right Marmite, the tasty yeasty distillation of meatiliciousness that is beloved by no one. Except those who carry a British passport.
Jokes about English food aside, Sam Breach has demonstrated that her love of Marmite has not totally addled her taste buds. As she leads the charge of eating through the city "A to Zed" (that's Z for those who aren't Anglophiles), Sam has proven that there may in fact be more to life than a good burrito. But not much.
Name
Sam Breach
Introduce yourself in one sentence
A little piece of England displaced to California.
Age and Occupation
Hmm. By the time you read this, a momentous Birthday will have just snuck by. That would be my last birthday ever to begin with the figure 3. But I am not even going to start worrying about how old I am until I stop getting carded. I have the glamorous-sounding job of creating visual FX for major Hollywood Motion Pictures, but in reality I sit behind a computer and push buttons. (that's a very creative pushing of buttons, of course)
Home Town
Bristol, England, incidentally the birthplace of other cool things like Portishead , Massive Attack, Aardman, Cary Grant, imdb and Concorde.
How long have you lived in the Bay Area and Where?
How long do I have for this question? Total length of time in the USA four-and-a-half years divided like so: Starting in Terra Linda - because I had no choice (put up in provided corporate housing on arrival in the US), quickly moving to North Beach because, I hated Marin living and, hey, I was only one step up from a tourist. Next abode was closer to Polk because I liked the neighbourhood feel. Then, a move to the Mission was a disaster that only lasted 6 weeks before the hurried renting of a friend's perfect SoMa loft saved us from homelessness. 12 months later our SoMa bliss-bubble burst, when our landlord was made a whopping offer that he couldn't refuse on the apartment . So, again, we had to move on. Our current resting place is Dog Patch. I think I like it, plus it is within stumbling distance of The Ramp. Don't Drink and Drive.
BEST story EVER on SFist
Jim Leff pouncing on Ced's post about The Chowhound Guide to the Bay Area. I thought Ced held is own against the Big Dog with grace, style and cool-headedness.
BEST Picture on SFist
That one of Pamela Anderson, her charms covered by a dog? Maybe Pammie's hound is Jim Leff in disguise?
I wanted to be an SFist contributor because (besides the obvious fame and glory that would be mine):
Because jackson asked me so nicely, plus it was an interesting challenge for me to try and write upbeat restaurants reviews, in a prescribed style, without being my usual, negative self.
You should read my SFist posts because
Sometimes they can be quite delicious. On second thoughts, you probably actually shouldn't read them if you are hungry.
Favorite website
Google takes me just about every where I want to go plus they own my personal favourite and free time-wasting software: blogger.com as well as Picasa.
Favorite dot com or local business
Again, Google for bringing me Blogger The Fatted Calf for a totally delicious, great local business.
What I'm currently Reading
Mistress Bradstreet, about America's first poet. It makes a change from a recipe book, but I am not sure if I am ready for something without any pictures of food just yet.
Best Deal in San Francisco
Darbar's Seekh Kebab at $2
Favorite mode of transportation
Luxor Cab . Don't drink and Drive.
Best Band or Musician to come out of the Bay Area
My friend Tori is crazy good at karaoke. I am pretty sure she was born in SF.
Favorite local hangout
Belden Lane. Outside dining all year round. Drink. Friends. Laughter. Atmosphere.
SF has the BEST:
collection of wonderful Food and WIne Bloggers in the whole, wide world. I am bummed I couldn't fit all of my favourites into this sentence. Visit Becks & Posh for a blog roll that includes all the others.
You've never lived in SF until:
You face up to the fact there is nowhere to hide. You can't go anywhere, in this village without bumping into someone you know.
Favorite Bay area politician of past or present:
It is not cuturally easy for me to undestand American politics. I am learning, slowly, very slowly, but the nuances often go over my head. It took me a while before I had enough guts to even admit I didn't have the foggiest what GOP stood for. Despite initial resistance from me towards him, I have to accept, Gavin appears to have some convictions. On the surface, at least. I sincerely hope they are more than skin deep. I think he's alright.
You can tell someone is a local here IF:
They call Luxor instead of Yellow.
SF would be soooo much better if only:
The cool English restaurant I have a vision for in my head actually existed, with me as its creative manager.
Best Burrito:
I don't like Burritos. They are too big for even me to put in my mouth. (And I can fit my whole fist in my gob, so that's saying something).
Best Restaurant:
Who knows? I simply can not declare a 'best' restaurant although I have a few personal favourites for different reasons. Ti Couz for a Crepe Complete, Oola for their sinful Ribs or Tabla in Larkspur for soups and salad. There are many more reasons I love many more other restaurants in the area although I simply can not bestow upon any of them the title of overall 'best'.
Best movie scene filmed in or about SF:
Just about anything Harold & Maude.
Favorite artist to come out of the bay area:
I bought a painting from this cute little art gallery on Folsom and 23rd. I am not sure if it is still there. It is a funky little place that has great live music on weekends and tango classes, too, I think. The painting, which was hanging for sale in their restroom, is called Vertical Chicken and is by an artist called Todd. I really love it.
Favorite author to come out of the bay area:
Please stop asking me these difficult cultural questions. I don't know.
Place you always tell visitors to check out:
Despite the dissenters, The Ferry Building and Farmer's Market. Sure, it's pricey, but most of my own guests are here with thick wedge of Sterling-flavoured lolly and to them everything is cheap, even a steak at Boulevard.
Favorite Bridge in the area:
The one that crosses the 280 on 18th. Whenever I'm on it, it means I am almost home and I can't wait to get there.
You have two hours and $15 bucks to kill in SF, what are you going to do?
Eat. Drink. Pretend to read. But really watch people.
I have found/sold/bought the following on craigslist:
I have bought a dining table , 5 grey, ex-military (?) chairs, and a scuffed up old stool which I love. I think that's it.
I want all the SFists out there to know:
English food isn't all bad.
Tell us a San Francisco Story:
I have an embarrassing story about being stuck in my pants. It happened when I was on vacation here in the late 90's, before I ever knew I'd actually be living here one day. You can read it here.
Question you'd ask if you were doing this interview:
Why do you prefer Luxor to Yellow?
Luxor are polite, friendly and mostly reliable, Yellow are rude, bad mannered and tardier than tardy.
http://www.sfist.com/archives/2005/06/15/i nterview_sam_breach.php" title="http://www.sfist.com/archives/2005/06/15/i nterview_sam_breach.php" target="_blank"http://www.sfist.com/archives...
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| Blogging Stats |
| 06.16.05 (8:15 pm) [edit] |
I believe it was Benjamin Disraeli who said there are three kinds of lies - lies, damned lies, and statistics. Back when I was in university, I enrolled in a stats class and the prof said, on the first day, never trust anyone who quotes statistics because statistics can be so easily manipulated to suit the person/group quoting the stats. Needless to say, I dropped the course - who needs to learn about something like that!
But, that being said, here are some interesting stats I heard this morning (for what it's worth!): 8 million adults in America now have blogs, and that number is expected to increase to 10 million by next year. 26 million currently read blogs, a 58% increase since 2004.
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| Hollywood: The Dream Factory |
| 06.16.05 (8:14 pm) [edit] |
"A unique trait of modern life is the manipulation of people through mass communication." (Hortense Powdermaker)
We picked up a book in a used book store a little while ago. Inside the front cover the bookseller had written '$10 - RARE - my only copy in 12 3/4 years'. The book was anthropologist Hortense Powdermaker's classic 1950 book 'Hollywood: The Dream Factory', which is from a study she did of Hollywood in 1948 and 1949.
Following publication of the book, aspects of it were much maligned and Powdermaker admitted that certain of her own prejudices were introduced into the book. However, this book is historically and culturally important in a number of ways: it was, at that time, the first anthropological study ever done of the Hollywood movie machine; it was written by a woman (and a well educated, well respected one at that), not a common thing back then; and, it has stood the test of time - the book is still used in university film and media studies classes today, simply because much of what was observed and reported by Powdermaker remains true, in spite of what critics at the time claimed.
In the introduction, Powdermaker states that her "hypothesis was that the social system in which they (movies) are made significantly influences their content and meaning." She said that her
'questions were concerned with what aspects of the system of production and which individuals most influenced movies. The answers were found in a study of the locus of power and its exercise, in the taboos which circumscribe all production, in the values as represented in goals, in historical and economic factors, and in the introduction of new technology and new ideas with resulting conflicts between new and old.'
Powdermaker was already an established and experienced anthropologist by the time she undertook this study, having spent time studying cultures in both Mississippi and on an island in the South Pacific. She discusses her choice of Hollywood and contrasts the Hollywood movie industry to that existing in other major cities in the Western world. She states that
'Obviously, no anthropologist could study Hollywood as an isolated phenomenon. It is part of the United States. But Hollywood is no mirror like reflection of our society, which is characterized by a large number of conflicting patterns of behavior and values. Hollywood has emphasized some, to the exclusion of others. It is the particular elaboration and underplay which is important for this study.'
Where Powdermaker ran into problems was in how the 'front office' was portrayed. She states in the introduction that, "The level of frustration was high, and frustrated people love to talk." She conceded later that some of the information she gained from these sources was probably exaggerated. Likewise, the chapter on taboos has not stood the test of time, as the following are no longer considered 'taboo' in our more permissive new millennial society: the portrayal of sex (especially outside of marriage) or childbirth; a realistic portrayal of pregnancy; vulgarity (burping, swearing, interjections); and the mention of toilets, homosexuality, adultery, or bigamy.
However, many other points Powdermaker makes are still extremely valid today. For instance, consider these quotes:
"Movies meet, wisely or unwisely, man's need for escape from his anxieties; they help assuage his loneliness, they give him vicarious experiences beyond his own activities; they portray solutions to problems; they provide models for human relationships, a set of values and new folk heroes."
"Hollywoo d is engaged in the mass production of prefabricated daydreams."
"It is part of man's nature to try and find answers to his problems and, in Hollywood as in any society, the answers are conditioned by the culture."
"The really important people in the development and growth of the movies, as a popular art form and as a profitable industry, are the small group of artists who continue to struggle to function as such, and the occasional executive who appreciates their goals because they are partly or wholly his own."
"But more important than other changes is the loss of homogeneity in the movie audience. ... Hollywood has been slow to catch on to this new audience, which asks for something more than movement and excitement."
"In Hollywood the concept of a business civilization has been carried to an extreme. Property is far more important than man and human values have to struggle hard to exist at all. But, while the heroes in Hollywood are those with the most money, in the movies we find the opposite extreme."
"The way in which Hollywood has mechanized creativity and taken away most of its human characteristics again exaggerates the prevailing culture pattern, which gives little prestige to creativity not technological."
"Hollywoo d represents totalitarianism."
And finally, she finishes the book with these thoughts:
"Hollywood has the elaborated totalitarian elements we have described: the concept of people as property and as objects to be manipulated, highly concentrated and personalized power for power's sake, an amorality, and an atmosphere of breaks, continuous anxiety and crises."
The book's final sentence is as follows:
"The real difficult question to answer is, Can Hollywood change its ways of thinking and its values, so that the democratic concept of man becomes more important than a totalitarian one?"
I would have to say no; no because little about the Hollywood movie machine has changed in the last fifty years, obviously. The system of stars being contracted to studios is gone (that's a positive). The culture of societal taboos has changed - we've just exchanged old taboos for new ones. But really, little else has changed.
I will leave you with this final quote (keep in mind it was written 55 years ago, and other than the names of the wars, is absolutely true for today):
"The present generation has known two world wars and is worried about the possibility of a third, even more devastating. We won the last war and are probably the strongest nation, and yet we are insecure in our relations with former enemies and allies. Our country is prosperous and we have demonstrated an enormous capacity for production, but we are worried about a possible recession and unemployment. We live in a fast changing world but have lost faith in our belief that change is always for the better, and that progress is inevitable. We are not so sure of the happy ending."
Amen!
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| Hit Me Baby One More Time |
| 06.16.05 (8:12 pm) [edit] |
The season finale of the summer's unexpected hit reality TV show ’Hit Me Baby One More Time'airs tonight on NBC.
Based on a successful British show and hosted by Vernon Kay (who is very, very tall!), 'Hit Me Baby One More Time' had only two episodes prior to wrapping up in tonight's final episode. Week one saw one-hit-wonders, has-been and old classic rock hit singers/bands: A Flock of Seagulls, Arrested Development, Cece Peniston, Loverboy and Tiffany (who was a winner of the UK show).
In week two, they had my personal faves The Knack along with Haddaway, Tommy Tutone, Vanilla Ice and The Motels.
Tonight's performance features Cameo, Howard Jones, Irene Cara, Sophie B. Hawkins, and Wang Chung.
For what it's worth, a couple of things occur to me when looking at those lists:
1. many of these artists were from the '80s (which I consider a good thing)
2. week two offered the best acts (again, a good thing)
3. week three, the season finale, offers the weakest acts (not a good thing).
I'm guessing NBC didn't expect this show to be such a hit, or else they would have pulled together a few more episodes. This week I already saw week one in re-runs.
But, ultimately, it's all for a good cause. The winner of each episode gets $20,000 donated to the charity of his/her choice.
Again, the final episode is Thursday, June 12, on NBC 9/8 pm.
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| Top Ten Trends for Online Communities |
| 06.16.05 (6:50 pm) [edit] |
An article by Jim Cashelon, submitted by Christine
While surfing the web, I came across this interesting article by Jim Cashelon about trends for online communities. I have slightly edited the lengthy article so follow the link below to view the full report.
http://www.onlinecommunityreport.com/features/10" title="http://www.onlinecommunityreport.com/features/10" target="_blank"http://www.onlinecommunityrep...
There are a few online communities that will fare well because they are catering to online niches.
Ten important trends to watch:
1) Search Communities ie: Classmates.com CEO Michael Schutzler reported a current revenue rate of $30 million annually. Dating community Match.com also measures annual revenue in the tens of millions of dollars. Jobs community site Monster.com measures annual revenue in the hundreds of millions of dollars. What do these communities have in common? All three are search sites: users visit not simply to chat, but to find something (classmate, soul mate, workmate). Users are willing to pay for search.
2) Trading Communities ie: eBay ($600 million in revenue, $18 billion market cap). In addition to successful auction sites, there are numerous new services and information based trading communities such as exp.com and keen.com that show promising revenue growth.
3) Education Communities: Online education is booming. Consumers understand the concept of e-learning, and are clearly willing to pay.
4) Scheduled Events Communities: Corporations increasingly are holding gatherings online: conferences, annual meetings, analyst calls, and working meetings. Online events firm Webex boasts revenue of over $50 million.
5) Subscriber-based Communities: While most online communities have struggled mightily with generating subscriber income, a few very large sites are showing some encouraging signs. ezboard is probably the largest freestanding online community site (10m unique users / 500m monthly page views). Its subscriber fees are in the six figures per month and growing. Salon.com and others are speaking publicly of early success, but we'll need to watch to identify the strongest initiatives.
6) Community Consulting Firms ie: Participate.com announced revenue of $8m.
7) E-mail-based Communities: People spend more time on their email than surfing the web. However, few community sites have yet exploited the power of e-mail. The clear exception is Yahoo Groups with its tens of millions of users and billions of e-mail messages each month
8) Advocacy Communities: Many online communities aren’t looking to become rich. They have other goals in mind like advocacy, education, politics. Advocacy communities are growing quickly in sophistication, thanks in part to new, powerful tools designed specifically for their needs.
9) Customer Relationship Management Communities: Corporations spend billions of dollars annually on Customer Relationship Management (CRM) programs. Sophisticated online efforts are increasingly involving message boards, Q&A areas, and other community applications. Prospero and others have reoriented strongly in this direction. Despite the promise, however, there has yet to be overwhelming evidence that corporations are willing to spend significantly for online community services within this niche .
10) M&A Activities: M&A activities involving online communities have nearly come to a standstill. That said, communities continue to grow larger, more effective, and better managed. As M&A activities across the Internet landscape normalize, the community sector will show somewhat of a renaissance.
Jim can be reached at cashel@OnlineCommunityRep ort.com .
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| Country Joe and the Killen trial in Neshoba |
| 06.15.05 (6:59 pm) [edit] |
Amidst much media attention, the trial has just begun of Edgar Ray Killen, for the 1964 murder of three young civil rights workers in Mississippi. You won't need my help to find reports on this event. Perhaps a song written at the time, Epitaph for Three http://www.countryjoe.com/epi... by Country Joe McDonald captures the essence of the story and the spirit of the time.
For a current and really local perspective, see by this report by The Neshoba Democrat. http://www.neshobademocrat.co...
You may need to be patient, as their connection seems to be getting overloaded. They probably weren't geared for heavy traffic. In case you can't get through, here's a stage-setting sample:
The calm was amid the most extraordinary security measures ever undertaken for a trial in Neshoba County: a metal detector in the east hallway, street closures around the courthouse, designated protest areas, one lane of Beacon and Main streets barricaded around the courthouse, and dozens and dozens of law enforcement officers inside and out. Clerks at the Neshoba County Tax Assessor’s Office said though business was slower than normal Monday many residents came in to conduct their business. Very little business was conducted on Tuesday, however.
Image from www.johnnyleeclary.com/ killenprice.gif (submitted by Swanktrendz)
Submitted by Jeffrey Newman
http://jnblog.typepad.com/provocations/" title="http://jnblog.typepad.com/provocations/" target="_blank"http://jnblog.typepad.com/pro...
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| Student with Migraine Problems Sues for Getting an "F" |
| 06.15.05 (6:28 pm) [edit] |
I don't know about the merits of her argument but I’ve never heard of a lawsuit in which you sue your professor for giving you an "F" after flunking a test while having a migraine headache. Wow. I'll have to read up on the case, found http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com... (PDF file as usual).
The law student suffers from "intractable migraine syndrome" for which she takes medication. She had a severe migraine at the time she was taking the test and asked for an extended period of time to finish it. She was denied, complained to her teacher, and exhausted her appeals with no success. After publicly criticizing appeals procedures, she was offered a second chance to re-take the examination and was told she could take it in June, but was e-mailed in May 17, 2003 that she would have to take the test on May 21 (three days later) or forfeit her chance to re-take the test. She refused, and reminded them of their promise to let her take it in June and the rest is history. She sued, claiming they were trying to punish her for exercising her free speech rights and discriminating against her because she has a disability.
The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the district court which dismissed the case. The summary is found on pages 3-5 and the opinion basically takes up the rest). I'll read it when I have more time.
In the meantime, enjoy.
The Political Heretic
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| Why do I still put faith in the "buy local" philosophy? |
| 06.15.05 (6:19 pm) [edit] |
16 days ago I ordered an iPod.
If I had ordered it direct from Apple, I would've had to pay about $15 for shipping, but would've have it within three days.
But no, I ordered it through a local retailer. No shipping charge, and they said it'd take about a week.
I guess with the long days the weeks are a lot longer here as well. That's the only way I can think of explaining it.
People wonder why the big stores are taking over and the little businesses are going out of business? Anyhow, I'm fed up with this garbage. If it's not here by the end of the day, I'm cancelling the order and doing what I should have done in the first place.
Submitted by Andrew Hoshkiw
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| Manchester Badge Contest |
| 06.15.05 (6:11 pm) [edit] |
Submitted by Sashi
MGFC: Malcolm Glazer Football Club
Saw this funny little contest on The Guardian recently. The paper invited people to send in their ideas for a new badge for the "under-new-management" Manchester United.
http://football.guardian.co.uk/gallery/0" title="http://football.guardian.co.uk/gallery/0" target="_blank"http://football.guardian.co.u...,8555,1491847,00.html
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| A couple of things.... |
| 06.15.05 (6:09 pm) [edit] |
Submitted by Sashi
First.
Why in hell is the online edition of The Star In-Tech section soooo slow to update? The print edition is out today (Thursday, 16th June), but on the website the latest news is still a day old lah (as at 9.00 am)....
http://star-techcentral.com/technews/" title="http://star-techcentral.com/technews/" target="_blank"http://star-techcentral.com/t...
Second.
The Light & Easy Ultimate Ear Test. The cash prize now stands at a whopping RM 2900! When you consider the fact that the contest is held every weekday (Mon - Fri) from 8 am to 8.30 am, and that the prize money is incremented by RM 50 at the end of each day if the prize is not won, then you should get an understanding of the length of time that has gone by without anyone having gotten the right answer. But then again, most of the time I keep hearing people giving the same answers like hammer hitting nail on wood, etc.
RM 2900. I could do a lot with that, ya know....
http://www.lightradio.com.my/04/" title="http://www.lightradio.com.my/04/" target="_blank"http://www.lightradio.com.my/...
Third. (ok, so it's not exactly a 'couple' of things anymore...)
Rio Ferdinand is still undecided about signing a new contract with Glazer's-the-Man United. Now I hear Cristiano Ronaldo's agent is angling for an improved contract too. The agent even dropped some hints about other big name clubs being interested in the Portuguese star. Is this a sign of things to come? Will the younger stars of the Red Devils, worried about the future stability and success of their club, begin considering a move to another team? No one wants to end up stuck in a Leeds United kind of situation, and maybe players might be forgiven for looking at other possibilities in case the Old Trafford dream caves in on them.
Fin.
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| My Legendary Girlfriend - Book Review |
| 06.14.05 (4:11 pm) [edit] |
'My Legendary Girlfriend' was London-based Mike Gayle's first novel; he quickly followed up his debut l with the highly acclaimed 'Mr. Commitment', 'Turning Thirty' and 'Dinner for Two'.
'My Legendary Girlfriend' could easily get slotted into the 'chicklit' category; it could be seen merely as a Bridget Jones-type book written from a male perspective. And perhaps that's all it is. I haven't read 'Mr. Commitment', but everything I've heard is that it is far superior to 'My Legendary Girlfriend'. And yet, in spite of that somewhat negative introduction, I just want to say that I really liked 'My Legendary Girlfriend' - so much so that I've just finished re-reading it after lending it out numerous times to friends. And the fact that I picked my particular hardcover copy up in a bargain bin for $2? That just makes it even better in my eyes! A witty and charming book that I don't have to re-mortgage my house to buy - I'm all for it!
Whereas 'Turning Thirty' is about (obviously) turning thirty, 'My Legendary Girlfriend' parachutes us into the life of a young man reaching another of life's milestones: our protagonist, Will, is turning 26 and he realizes that for the first time in his life, he will be closer to 30 than he is to 20. His birthday is also an anniversary, of sorts: Will's birthday coincides with the third anniversary of the day his 'legendary' girlfriend, Aggi, unceremoniously and unexpectedly dumped him following a three year relationship.
Will looks at his friends' lives - people who are making a successful transition into adulthood, with careers, relationships, and dreams achieved, and contrasts that with his own life: after much time spent on the dole, he has finally finished teacher training and landed a position in London at a comprehensive school, where after only two weeks on the job the students have already pegged him as a 'twat'. He's had to move into a "glorified studio flat, minus the glory, on the second floor of a decrepit Edwardian house in crappy Archway". He spends his birthday weekend alone in the flat, scrounging cigarettes, burning his lunch and then ignoring the fire alarm (and consequently upsetting his neighbours), shoplifting from a convenience store, mooning over the long-departed Aggi, lying to friends and family over the phone about his social life, and developing a relationship over the phone with the flat's former tenant, a young woman he has never met.
"My Legendary Girlfriend' is very funny in that self-deprecating British way. Gayle's observations on living and loving ring true regardless of what age you are, but are especially poignant for those stepping into adulthood. He juxtaposes characters' reactions to the same event, clearly illustrating how something can be insignificant to one character, while at the same time be a life altering event that shapes the entire existence of someone else.
Gayle is currently being hailed as one of the foremost contemporary black British authors. I think his writing transcends that, and I believe he is currently one of the top British writers. Period.
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| Back from the Junction: by Andrew Hoshkiw |
| 06.13.05 (8:51 pm) [edit] |
My second festival weekend was amazing.
I think I'll have to spread out the experience over several entries, each being a glimpse into some aspect of what happened.
For the first one, I'll talk about the partying.
I was really doubtful going into the weekend that I'd have anywhere near as much fun as I did in Watson Lake. My impression was this weekend was going to be aimed more at an older crowd, and people with families, than the rowdy, crazy youth that dominated Watson Lake
As far as I knew, none of the bands qualified as punk or hard rock. And in fact, with half the experience being a bluegrass festival, I half expected to be falling asleep in my seat.
And, in this regard, Friday was pretty mellow for both festivals. In fact I went to sleep early, around midnight.
Saturday was looking pretty much the same, until about five in the afternoon, when I encountered at the main Alsek stage, a band calling themselves The Whiskeydicks.
I'd say the best description for this band would be Celtic rock with punk and gypsy overtones. Loud, crazy and at times completely out of control.
In an environment where other bands were getting a lukewarm reaction from the audience, with some clapping and the occasional lone dancer, these guys (five boys and one girl) by the end of their set had a hundred people dancing in front of the stage and everyone else up out of their seats
If the crowd had been a little bit deeper, I swear there would have been moshing and crowd surfing.
It was completely amazing. Two fiddles, two guitars, an upright bass and a set of drums. They played all original tunes with an energy I haven't seen on stage since Gob. And even though that was only three weeks ago, with these festivals I've seen a lot of music since then.
After their performance, I mentioned to one of them, a very cute fiddle player named Zoe, that I'd like to interview them at some point. She seemed all right with the idea but not terribly enthused.
So I went away, did some other things. Went back to camp, had some food, had a nap, then went and checked out more of the bluegrass fest.
Got back to the Alsek fest about 11:00 p.m.
As soon as I got there, I encountered one of the band members at the gate. It's as if he was there on duty waiting for me.
He quickly gathered up the band, and then together we went to the hospitality tent to do an interview.
By this point in time they were already well on their way to intoxication, and because there was an imbalance between them and me, they started the interview by filling me with liquor.
We talked for about an hour. I really won't get into it here. Some of it was quite interesting though. This time I had the foresight to remember my minidisc and record the conversation.
It was definitely a great talk. Some of it might even be printable, and if I can extract enough information, I should be able to write an article just on them as this up-and-coming band who will (I have no doubt) be big within a few years.
That is, if they can devote a little less energy to drinking, and a little more to promotion and getting a CD out.
Anyhow, after the interview the group of us split up and I went to watch the bands that were playing. More than once throughout the evening I encountered various Whiskeydicks, who would give me more booze.
They've been together since September, and they said this was the first major interview they've done. I get the impression they really think I'm going to write great things about them, and I am, for sure, but I don't know how far my words will go.
It'll be a big feature article with lots of pictures, and everyone here will read it, or at least see it, but I doubt that'll go very far in their social scene of Vancouver.
Anyhow, at the end of the show, when everyone was leaving, I decided to go for a walk. There were a lot of people who arrived late and couldn't get into the campgrounds, and so they camped in a field next to the festival site. After the show, this is where a party of about a hundred people developed.
As I was walking around, I encountered them again, and again they gave me more alcohol.
And then, they decided to play some more music, and out came a guitar and a fiddle. It was wonderful. It's amazing how they can play.
It went on for hours, and when I finally dragged myself away, exhausted, about half past five in the morning, they were still playing.
whisky dicks contact: Ryan213@hotmail.com
submitted by Andrew Hoshkiw
http://www.hoshq.com/" title="http://www.hoshq.com/" target="_blank"http://www.hoshq.com/
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| Becks & Posh Restaurant Critique - Rice in San Diego |
| 06.13.05 (8:45 pm) [edit] |
Rice 421 West B Street, San Diego, CA 92101, (619) 231-8220
Recently we escaped the cold San Francisco summer for a couple of nights at the San Diego's W Hotel. We love this Hotel Chain for their cool style, but mainly for the beds. I don't think I have had a better sleep, ever, than I have had in a W Hotel bed.
We arrived at about 1pm on a Saturday. We hadn't eaten all day and needed something quick. A too-late lunch would have spoiled our already-reserved evening meal so, although we wouldn't usually make a habit of dining at a W restaurant, in the interests of speed we dived into Rice for a snack.
The stylish but sparse restaurant was completely empty so it wasn't too difficult to make the decision to sit outside with the small handful of other lunchtime customers.
I chose a $14 St. Agur Szechuan Pepper Chicken Salad from the lunch menu. The salad was unexceptional. The Szechuan dressing was barely perceptible. They weren't very generous with the blue cheese either. Plenty of chicken though, albeit a little on the dry side.
Fred just fancied some quite simple, $12 organic eggs . Chive frites, smoked bacon, chicken apple sausage or spanish ham. Your kind of toast 12 from the breakfast menu. He wasn't in the mood so he skipped the meat options and ended up with a plateful of yellow food. But as it was just what he wanted, he was happy.
One thing you can usually rely on a W hotel to get right is the drinks. 2 weeks later, Fred is still talking about how good that lunchtime Mojito was. The champagne by the glass was served at exactly the right temperature with a cute little red raspberry bobbing in the bubbles. The San Diego W has a couple of other interesting bars on site, including a unique beach bar that I will post about another day.
Look at these funky little salt and pepper shakers.
There is no denying that the W, and indeed Rice, is full of cute looking things (including the wait staff). But I can't help but get the feeling that the emphasis at Rice is more on style than on substance. The quality of the food didn't really live up to the surrounds in which it was served. You can have the cutest shakers in the world but if they haven't got any salt and pepper in them, I don't quite see the point.
This review was a First Impression
(posted in ‘Food’ and ‘San Diego’ and ‘Restaurant’ and ‘First+Impressions’)
Submitted by swanktrendz with permission from Becks & Posh
http://becksposhnosh.blogspot.com/" title="http://becksposhnosh.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"http://becksposhnosh.blogspot...
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| Mike’s Musings: I'm Charles Darwin, bitch. (A brief yet helpful study in Bus Survivalism) |
| 06.13.05 (7:10 pm) [edit] |
Mass transit has always seemed very strange to me. Basically you're crammed into a very small space with a completely random array of strangers with absolutely nothing in common except for the fact that you're going somewhere. I think this is why people always act distracted on buses; being surrounded by strangers makes them a tad uncomfortable. Also, even if you are feeling friendly, there's not much reason to be chatting up your neighbour since either you or he/she will be getting off the bus in a relatively short amount of time. And since there's no one to talk to, I have to rely on my imagination for bus entertainment. Nine times out of ten I think about the exact same thing: if something terrible were to happen and the bus was somehow stranded from the rest of the world - all of its passengers thrust into a survival type situation - what kind of mini-society would this particular busload yield?
I know this is the premise of literally millions of terrible movies, books, television programs, etc. and maybe that's why I always think about it. From the moment I get on I'm scanning the crowd, trying to decide who my allies would be. Who would panic? Who would try to take control and lead the group to safety? That pouty brunette two seats ahead with the glasses and the Argyle sweater (let's call her Cecile), she looks pretty smart. I bet she knows first-aid, and probably how build a rabbit snare. It's good to get a feel for your busmates early on, just in case. But you wouldn't really know how anyone would behave in an emergency situation until it actually happened. And I'm confident that in the end, I would be the one to bring whoever's left alive, at the end of our ordeal, to safety.
I wouldn't stand up and try to take the lead at first. That would be stupid because you don't know what kind of people you're dealing with right away. That loud middle-aged fucker with the two cellphones, let him stick his neck out. I'm sure he'd be at least halfway competent.
"C'mon everyone, don't panic. Follow me into this snow cave, it the only shelter we've got."
And that would be fine for the time being. I'd just follow along, giving the other passengers the impression that I'm compassionate, helpful and suprisingly level-headed. Don't want to rock the boat too early.
My goal over the first few days in the snow cave would be to gain the trust of the passengers that I feel would be the most helpful in planning my rise to becoming the New Leader. Stay upbeat and positive and they'll gravitate towards you. they'll notice your innate leadership skills and also your skills with a Bo staff.
"Hey Cecile, who's your favorite stranded passenger?"
"I'm not sure Josephine, I really like Mike. He's so helpful and positive all the time; he just fills me with so much hope. And he's so deliciously scruffy."
Now is the time to strike. Human nature dictates that someone, for whatever reason, will question the current leader's capacity to govern over us. Let this happen. Don't get in the way of ugly politics. You know who your friends are. Start quietly spreading the seeds of dissent amongst them.
"I'm just not sure I'm comfortable with Hector being the leader. He's been so erratic and angry lately. I don't know if we can trust him."
Stay in close contact with those who agree with you. A few clandestine meetings wouldn't hurt.
"I’m thinking of leaving the group. Hector's gone mad. There's not enough food in this snow cave for all of us. We have to make a break for it. Walter, you're strong and good at carrying stuff, will you join us? and Cecile, we can't make it without you. You're the only one who knows how to make crude medicines. We need you with us Cecile."
Then, under the cover of night, I'd lead my little group out of the cave and back to civilization, leaving Hector and his minions to quarrel and starve in their icy tomb. My week-and-a-half of scheming and manipulation will have worked perfectly and these people will see me as a Hero. A Savior. A Mighty Lover. And our story would be told a million times all over the world, a transmission of unrelenting hope.
Sometimes on the bus I just listen to my discman.
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| Democratic White House Thoughts |
| 06.13.05 (6:52 pm) [edit] |
Submitted by The Political Heretic
Media pundits consider Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York the presumed Democratic frontrunner should she win her reelection and enter the Democratic race for the White House. The former First Lady may prove to be a tough, resilient campaigner but she would be a polarizing candidate known for offending those whose sensibilities are more in tune with those in the Bible Belt and middle America.
Unfairly in some cases and fairly in others, Hillary Clinton will inherit problems associated with her husband's White House behavior, from campaign finance irregularities, the pardon of Mark Rich, and the president's decision to lie under oath concerning his sexual indiscretions. Democratic operatives seeking to repair damage inflicted upon them by his first term excesses, and Dean's latest verbal gaffes would do well to look at other potential Democratic candidates before settling on a one-term senator who may be using her term as a foothold to win herself back into the White House.
Hillary Clinton no doubt has moved to the center in the senate. She won herself a seat on the Armed Services Committee, supported our war in Afghanistan and voted to authorize the use of force in Iraq. Not too long ago, Hillary Clinton said abortions should be rare and supported those who say men and women should be encouraged to abstain from premarital sex while re-affirming her pro-abortion choice and sexual education views.
But the very centrists who may provide the necessary votes to win an election may not trust her and opt for others who over the long haul have proven their centrist credentials. Senator Evan Bah of Indiana, for one, has won re-election in a conservative state and, like Hillary Clinton, voted with the president on Afghanistan and Iraq. He has strong credentials with the small and big business communities while maintaining a fairly strong pro-environmental record and he has voted with the party on most social issues but has kept himself out of the spotlight on these social issues and has voted for a ban on partial birth abortion.
Republicans will remind centrist voters of Hillary Clinton's botched health care plan that failed to garner the necessary votes in the then Democratic controlled senate and her vote against a partial birth abortion ban notwithstanding her declared support for one that provides for exceptions should the life or "health" of the mother be threatened.
The junior senator from New York will have to run for re-election in a fairly liberal and Democratic state two years before she can really position herself to the center, making the recent speculation concerning her White House ambitions seem premature. Senator Bayh will merely need to reaffirm his centrist credentials and will not have to defend his seat until 2010, two years after the presidential elections.
Virginia Governor Mark Warner is also looking at a White House run and has started to run and like Senator Bayh, he won his election in a state that leans Republican in presidential elections. He has largely avoided votes on hot-button social issues though he cannot win run for a second term (one-term limit in Virginia). Mr. Warner will have the executive experience Evan Bayh and Hillary Clinton lack but his foreign policy credentials have yet to be established.
Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico may enter the race as well but he lacks the charisma and Hillary Clinton's celebrity status. Pennsylvania's Governor Ed Rendell has a 2006 re-election campaign to win but he might consider a run for the office if he wins and Hillary Clinton declines to run for the White House.
And then there's Senator Joseph Biden of Delaware. The Political Heretic believes he will not run for the White House unless he is willing to give up his senate seat which will be up for a vote at the same time but should he be tired of the senate and ambitious he would be a worthy candidate.
This blogger considers him a leading Democratic spokesperson on foreign policy given his position as Ranking Minority Leader on the Foreign Relations Senate Committee, his consistent and forceful support of military and peace-keeping operations pushed by President George W. Bush and his predecessor, and his willingness to speak out on these matters on the talk shows. He voted to authorize military force in Bosnia, the breakaway Serbian province of Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Iraq and unlike Senator and former presidential candidate John Kerry, he has not wavered from his support. The Democratic senator from Delaware has criticized our president on the implementation and on the president's policy on war combatants but he re-affirmed his support for the war and opposes any efforts to withdraw our troops from Iraq.
Senator Biden sides with the liberals within his party on the social issues more often than not. He supports abortion rights, most gay rights legislation, environmental regulations, affirmative action like the others mentioned above which will serve him well in the primary but he did vote for the ban on partial birth abortion but of those who are thinking of a White House run he alone has the gravitas needed to successfully challenge the Republicans' dominance on national security.
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| Kalahari Bushmen Plea for Help in Securing their Botswana homeland |
| 06.13.05 (6:34 pm) [edit] |
By Jeffrey Newman
Learn more about Jeffrey Newman at
http://www.jnweb.com/" title="http://www.jnweb.com/" target="_blank"http://www.jnweb.com/
http://jnblog.typepad.com/provocations/" title="http://jnblog.typepad.com/provocations/" target="_blank"http://jnblog.typepad.com/pro...
Another story that seems to have been neglected by the mainstream media. I haven't been able to verify this but it seems authentic. Coming from southern Africa, I am well aware of how the Bushmen (link 1) have been persecuted and neglected. They once roamed much of southern Africa. Now they are left to pleading for their one remaining refuge - in the Kalahari Desert of Botswana.
LETTER FROM ROY SESANA TO PRESIDENT BUSH
Posted By FPK Botswana - fpkbotswana@fastmail.fm
9 June 2005
Dear President Bush,
My name is Roy Sesana and I am leader of the Bushmen of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve in Botswana. Right now our people are crying because the Botswana government has taken us from our land where we have lived for thousands of years and now we are dying from AIDS and hunger and despair.
Your State Department has written a very true report on our situation here. That report says we were forcibly resettled and that our people now have many problems with alcohol and poverty and that we can't hunt for our food. Instead we have to survive on what the government gives us. Perhaps since you have written such a good report you can use it to heal our hearts.
Our President, Festus Mogae, is coming to visit you next week on Monday in Washington DC. Please can you tell our President that he should let us go home.
Also we have a big problem with the constitution in our country. I know in America you have a constitution and it is very important to you. In our constitution there is a section that protects Bushmen rights. Now the government is removing that section. They say that it is because they don't like the word "Bushman" but actually it is so that we will not ever be allowed to go home. We have a court case now in Botswana and we are relying on the constitution for our court case. Now the Government is removing our protection before the court case is even decided. We know this is not a coincidence.
I am sending you a copy of our press release about the constitution. I hope you will tell President Mogae that we are dying. We need to go home so we can live near our ancestors and they can heal us.
Thank you very much.
Roy Sesana Leader, First People of the Kalahari
See also: Bushmen to be Denied (link 2)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bushmen" title="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bushmen" target="_blank"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
Homelandhttp://www.minesandcommunitie...
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| Teenagers From Mars - Rick Spears and Rob G |
| 06.13.05 (6:27 pm) [edit] |
Submitted by Kenn
If you want to know what a teenager is thinking about, read Teenagers From Mars. If you are a teenager, read Teenagers From Mars. You will recognize your friends or maybe even yourself.
Mars is not a planet. It's a smallish rural town that is just big enough to have a thinly disguised Walmart and a comic book store. The main characters are dissatisfied with their environment, oppressive, and their lives, oppressed.
Now I don't mean to say that all teenagers are out there grave robbing and joining the CBLA (Comic Book Liberation Army), but they are definitely pissed off about most of what they see and hear. They probably won't stage a raid on City Hall and hog tie the mayor and invite horrible indignities on his person, but they might just be thinking about it.
There have been a lot of comic books out lately about teenage dissatisfaction. Most of them have been of the goth/fantasy persuasion. Teenagers From Mars is fiction to be sure, over the top and melodramatic is places, but it feels true. And the locations and situations could exist in your town. At least it feels like how I remember being a teenager. I didn't have tattoos and piercings, but I would if I were a teenager now.
Rick and Rob have nailed it here. Give them their dues. Go out and buy a copy of Teenagers From Mars and read it. Now.
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| Another Embarrassing Admission by Kenn |
| 06.13.05 (6:25 pm) [edit] |
While I was writing that last entry on Revenge of the Sith I was listening to Hilary Duff on iTunes. I ripped her CD Metamorphosis for my iPod so my daughter could listen to it in the car. I flipped though my tunes before I started writing and decided to listen to Hilary. There are some cute pop tunes on the disc. It's fun.
Now that I am completely humiliated I will go away.
Comics review catch up tomorrow.
I think I'll listen to the soundtrack from Freaky Friday while I'm doing that. Yeah, that works.
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| Revenge of the Sith |
| 06.13.05 (6:22 pm) [edit] |
Submitted by Kenn - for more of Kenn's articles, go to http://www.swanktrendz.com
Oh, this is so hard. Here goes.
IreallylikedRevengeoftheS ith. There. I said it. No? All right. Crap.
I...really...liked...Revenge...of...the...Sith! There. Happy?
See, I'm an old man. I saw Star Wars in Jr. high school when it first came out. No! I will not call it 'A New Hope' so piss off. It's Star Wars. The Empire Strikes Back is my favorite of the Star Wars flicks. Star Wars comes next and now number 3 is Revenge of the Sith. Return of the Jedi used to hold that spot. That it held on to number 3 after Phantom Menace and Send on the Clones came out doesn't so much speak to any greatness on Jedi's part, but rather more to how awful Menace and Clones were. Now Sith is here and it's moved way up the list. It might even, gasp, be in the running to hit number 2. I need to see it again before I decide. This requires seriously deep geek research and thought. It hurts me to think that the original Star Wars could be displaced, but man I really liked Sith.
Now for the truly terrible part.
Revenge of the Sith would not have worked nearly as well or had half the impact if dear old George hadn't put us through the horrors that were Menace and Clones. That tearing sound was my Star Wars fanboy geek membership card being torn up and thrown in my face. But it's true. Without that obnoxious kid in Episode One and that whiney, petulant teenager in Episode Two, Revenge of the Sith just wouldn't have touched (yes I said touched) me that way it did.
If just a few moments had played out differently, the tragedy of Anikin Skywalker becoming Darth Vader needn't have happened. If Obi-Wan hadn't said 'my very young Padiwan' that last time. If Mace Windu weren't such and officious prick. No I mean it. Windu pissed me off too. He was a dick. I would have killed him myself. But I digress. Just so many little things adding up to a tragic end. And behind it all, Palpatine. A little nudge here, a wink there and the Jedi Council were reduced to blind bats. It was a tragedy in the classic sense and that requires some setup.
So I give George his props. I still think Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones are lesser movies, but the payoff in Revenge of the Sith makes them bearable. A little more so anyway.
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| Horse of the Year? |
| 06.13.05 (5:18 pm) [edit] |
On Saturday, Afleet Alex became only the 18th horse to win both the Preakness and Belmont Stakes. He passed 8 horses in the final turn and finished with the fastest quarter mile in the race's history since 1969 (Art and Letters). The 4 3/4 length win in the 137th running of the Belmont brought Afleet Alex's lifetime earnings up to $2,765,800 - not bad for a three year old!
In addition, on Saturday more than $1 million was collected in over 1000 locations around the country (including 30 racetracks) for cancer research through the foundation Alex's Lemonade Stands; a portion of Afleet Alex's winnings goes toward this charity. The lemonade stands were started by Alex Scott of Pennsylvania, who died last year at eight years of age.
Moments after the win, Afleet Alex's jockey, 26 year old Jeremy Rose, publicly stated that he was responsible for Afleet Alex's loss in the Kentucky Derby, where the horse finished third to Giacomo by a length. Rose, who had never set foot on a racetrack prior to 1999, has been absolved of any blame by the horse's trainer, Tim Ritchey.
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| The Go! Team |
| 06.13.05 (5:17 pm) [edit] |
After a very successful couple of days at South by Southwest this spring, The Go! Team have been touring non-stop. Throughout May they were all over Europe; later this month they will be in Glasgow (June 16-17) and then England (June 18-22). They finish their time in England with an appearance at the Glastonbury Festival (June 25), where they'll be appearing on the John Peel stage.
From there they're off on a world tour:
July 3 - Denmark
July 5 - Norway
July 13 - Toronto
July 15-16 Chicago
July 18 - Seattle
July 20 - San Francisco
July 21 - Los Angeles
July 26 - Sydney
July 27 - Brisbane
July 28-29 - Melbourne
July 31 - Japan
More dates to follow!
Photograph by Panaphonic
http://www.panaphonic.blogspot.com/" title="http://www.panaphonic.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"http://www.panaphonic.blogspo...
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| Ready to Wear Line for Fall and Winter 2005/06 |
| 06.12.05 (9:48 pm) [edit] |
Even though I am a few months late, I decided to look at the designers’ lines for Fall/Winter of 2005/06. The Ready to Wear line usually differs from Haut Couture, however it still allows us a glimpse into the colours, fabrics and silhouettes that will be deemed ‘the look’. (Haut Couture week for Autumn/Winter 2005/06 begins July 6-9th)
Here is a brief sampling of designers and their looks for Fall/Winter.
Chanel - keeping with their clean, classic lines, there is plenty of winter white and black, as well as grey and camel. Layering of textured fabrics and pattern variations, silk bows (placed anywhere, knees no exception) ruffles, and slim silhouette pants.
Versace - following Chanel’s black and winter white palette, some jewel tones thrown in as well. Very slick and polished as opposed to shocking. Knee high classic slim boots with stunning chiffon dresses and flip skirts. Beautiful lines that hug the body.
Burberry - lots of midi swing coats (love them), longer hemlines and a leaning towards the 20’s flapper style. Empire waisted dresses and skinny scarves were also back. Flat caps and ballerina hair bands also made an appearance.
Prada - Jackie O meets 20’s flapper styles, ballerina headbands. Colour palette was mostly black with winter whites and a few rich jewel tones. Minimalism is back, and the silhouette is lean and tailored as opposed to some of the depressing black lines of a few years back.
Ghost - midi length, flowing skirts, low necklines, low slung sashes, beautiful boots and leaner silhouettes. Very ethereal looking (no pun intended) Colours ranged from earth tones to some jewel tones. Very creative.
Fendi - Fur hats, ethnic jewellery, two piece form-fitting suits with short cropped jackets - emphasis on luxury material.
Anna Sui - Plenty of metallic fabrics, bright folkloric prints, silky bow embellished blouses, empire waistlines, tweeds and bright leather boots - all wrapped up in ethnic styling. A fast, colourful explosion of fashion.
BCBG - Skinny silhouette pants - abstract/folksy designed blouses, chiffon dresses. Gold metallic evident in threads and accessories. Suede wedge-heeled, knee high boots making a return.
Herrera - Old fashioned glamour - very sleek. Two piece suits with emphasis on the body’s curves, as well as some furs. Otherwise, typical Herrera chic.
Diane Von Furstenberg - showcases her classic wrap as well as some other interesting lines. She also showed some military styled shirts, pants and skirts. Brocade bordered outfits and flowing chiffon dresses were on the same bill. Flat fronted, slim trousers.
submitted by Christine
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| Retrospect of The Designers’ Line for Summer 2005 |
| 06.11.05 (10:53 pm) [edit] |
For more swanktrendz style articles, go to http://www.swanktrendz.com
As I was reviewing the Spring Line that was to harken this summer’s look, I found most of the designs to be uninspiring or reminiscent of decades best left alone. The designs I was drawn to were the more free forming, airy lines as well as the classics. The ones that left me cold were the ruffles, multitiered outfits and dirndl skirts (or anything knife pleated).
Here are the designers that I felt actually contributed some worthy looks for summer.
Rifat Ozbek created a slim silhouette with his elegant slender skirts and Nehru stand collar jackets embroidered with traditional Indian silver embroidery. Loved the gold and taupe infused designs
Carolina Herrera Again, my favourite designer - white, orange blues, simple elegance. Loved her paneled skirts
Michael Kors Gave us skinniest white jeans and used bright hues of blue, sulphur yellow green, turquoise, and opted to show plenty of gold accessories Like the simplicity, yet the adornment of embellishments made it anything but simple. The mixing of pattern with stripes (in same colour palette) worked. Understated swank.
Lagerfeld Hot pants and swing skirts, both bright and muted colours, as well as our summer whites.
Ralph Lauren Hollywood style twenties and thirties inspiration a’la Lana Turner or Jean Harlow with white, white, white. Not for those of us who go out and actually eat.
Alber Elbaz designer for Lanvin. Stark and simple, some grecian flare, otherwise, no major fashion faux pas here.
Here are the designers that I felt utilized other decades, and thus reinvented the bad wheel all over again.
London’s Jasper Conran’s seventies’ cowl necks and large plaid obsession left me cold. The crisp white tailored shirts were nice.
Roland Mouret showcased the shrunken crop jackets over soft, shimmery fabrics that added a sloppy, disheveled look, but not in a “it’s supposed to look like that” way.
Betty Jackson She also did the large check on her designs which are so 70s. She also had ruffled, open, housecoats that brought back memories of my Mother making breakfast. She did pay tribute to the 60s and 70s with her airy, attractive blouses.
Julian MacDonald Lots of white, lots of ruffles, multitiered skirts, frills, and pearl embroidery. Flamenco anyone? And sometimes those high 80s waist lines should be left alone.
Roberto Cavalli Gawd awful rolled up jeans with tight tops and ankle boots; multitiered mini skirts (the bane of my existence along with capris). He even brought the earth colours to crocheted evening dresses (reminiscent of the 70s)
Anna Sui The stuff I wore way back, when my mother forbade me to leave the house dressed like that! Short shorts with a sheer embroidered peasant blouse. I still like the look, though the youthful body has long left me. Didn’t like the mish mash of ethnic/navajo designs meets Annie get your gun.
Zac Posen White, beige, taupe simple lines - disliked the pleated skirts - they don’t even suit the size 0 models.
Narciso Rodriguez He also showed wispy peach toned v necked empire waisted dresses just above the knee. Peep toe pink heeled sandals low cut shoes. Very clean, linear, but no ‘wow’ factor;. Even with heels - bermuda shorts do not have a ‘presence’.
Luella Bartley Rolled up shorts ... hmmm? Otherwise, simple safe lines that can be seen at any Sears outlet.
Proenza Schouler The New York team Jack McCullough and Lazaro Herandez showed Pea style short coats covering brocade skirts. Metallic fabric was big and I find the gold lamé is too reminiscent of the 80s’
Balenciaga Lots of deep blues (in contrast with all the white flitting around). The designs were full and voluminous on the bottom and narrow and fitted on the top, hemlines were studded with faux jewels. All in all, uninspiring.
Alexander McQueen School boy outfits with shrunken pants and ankle socks meets baby doll dresses. Not sure of the direction here, aside from an obsession with youth. Each outfit looked as though it came from a bad character in a fairy tale.
John Galliano at Dior Galliano used black denim and crochet to create decorated, commercially translatable pieces It ended up looking like homemade, rough edged, patchworked denim a’la 60s.
Jean Paul Gaultier Dark and heavy designs alternated between bright and streamlined design. A schizophrenic showing to be sure. Jean Paul Gaultier favoured the gypsy dirndl skirt look with off-shoulder tops and tailored jackets with ruffles. Ugh.
Submitted by christine
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| Swank’s Three Play Faves Garner 8 Tonys |
| 06.11.05 (5:38 pm) [edit] |
Swank has written articles on three different Broadway plays and surprise... (not!) all three plays discussed were winners of a (or more) Tony(s) on June 5/05.
The Categories awarded were:
Best Play
Doubt
Author: John Patrick Shanley
Producers: Carole Shorenstein Hays, MTC Productions, Inc., Lynne Meadow, Barry Grove, Roger Berlind, Scott Rudin
Best Revival of a Play
Glengarry Glen Ross
Producers: Jeffrey Richards, Jerry Frankel, Jam Theatricals, Boyett Ostar Productions, Ronald Frankel, Philip Lacerte, Stephanie P. McClelland/CJM Productions, Barry Weisbord, Zendog Productions, Herbert Goldsmith Productions, Roundabout Theatre Company, Todd Haimes, Ellen Richard, Julia C. Levy
Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play
Cherry Jones, Doubt
Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play
Liev Schreiber, Glengarry Glen Ross
Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play
Adriane Lenox, Doubt
Best Scenic Design of a Play
Scott Pask, The Pillowman
Best Lighting Design of a Play
Brian MacDevitt, The Pillowman
Best Direction of a Play
Doug Hughes, Doubt
The Tony Awards are presented by Tony Award Productions, a joint venture of the League of American Theatres and Producers and the American Theatre Wing. For a complete (and unbiased) listing of the winners go to:
http://www.tonyawards.com/en_US/" title="http://www.tonyawards.com/en_US/" target="_blank"http://www.tonyawards.com/en_...
Submitted by: Christine
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| PC World's List of 2005's Best Products: |
| 06.11.05 (4:51 pm) [edit] |
Submitted by Jeffrey Newman
PC World has released its list of the 100 Best Products of 2005. Here are the top 10:
1. Mozilla Firefox Web Browser
2. Google Gmail Web Mail
3. Apple Mac OS X Version 10.4 (Tiger) Operating System
4. Belkin Wireless Pre-N Router and Notebook Network Card Wireless Networking
5. Dell Ultrasharp 2405FPW 24-Inch Wide-Screen LCD
6. Alienware Aurora 5500 Performance PC
7. Seagate USB 2.0 Pocket Drive Portable Hard Drive
8. Skype VoIP Service
9. Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT Digital SLR Camera
10. PalmOne Treo 650 PDA Phone
http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/article/0" title="http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/article/0" target="_blank"http://www.pcworld.com/review...,aid,120763,pg,12,00.asp
http://jnblog.typepad.com/provocations/" title="http://jnblog.typepad.com/provocations/" target="_blank"http://jnblog.typepad.com/pro...
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| Mike's Musings - Endless Conquest!! |
| 06.11.05 (12:44 pm) [edit] |
Since I'm bored, and brain has not functioning been well lately, I've decided to compile a list of my Favorite Villains of all time.
Note: Darth Vader will not be on this list because, after seeing Episode III, I've realized Darth Vader is not really a villain at all. he's actually a misunderstood whiner who got chopped up by his best friend.
onto the list:
• the Nihilists from 'The Big Lebowski' - combine greed, red jumpsuits, threats of castration, a feisty marmot and a girlfriends' toe and I’d say those are some serious villains. also: German.
• that guy from 'Pray For Death' - i forget his name, but this mother is ruthless. He wanted that diamond necklace so bad he beat up the Black Ninja's wife. and her five year old son! And he snuck into the hospital to finish her off! Pray for death indeed.
• the gargantuan egg-laying Queen Alien from 'Aliens' - biggest, scariest puppet ever. This thing is a Jabberwocky from Hell.
• Bill from 'Kill Bill' - this one was easy.
• the Teenage Vixens from 'Revenge of the Teenage Vixens From Outer-Space' - all they wanted was some teenage lovin' from the students of Mayfield High, but because of conniving Stephanie's jealousy over a Vixen's fling with Mr. Moreli, they had to go on a rampage instead. And by rampage I mean morphing into cats and turning drunken students into papier-mache vegetables.
• Luther from 'The Warriors' - the only villain I know with absolutely no motive or reason for severely fucking things up for everyone.
he just likes doing things like that.
• Heaven and Earth from 'Fearless Hyena 2' - they are two hyper-powered ninja gods who terrorize Jackie Chan and his village for some reason. Mostly they just looked cool.
• the Flying Monkeys from 'The Wizard of Oz' - this is evil in it's purest form. and why I always keep my windows locked at night.
• Orc # 286 from 'Return of the King' - you know, the ugly one with the teeth and the sword. He was pretty evil.
• the evil History Teacher from 'Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure' - he was going to flunk Bill and Ted if they didn't pass their final project, thus putting the future of Wyld Stallyns in jeopardy.
Sumitted by Mike
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| Sin City the Movie |
| 06.10.05 (9:26 pm) [edit] |
Here's the quick version.
I saw it. I liked it, but I was a bit stunned. It is the comic on the big screen.
That being said, it will probably tank at the box office. Nothing has very been done like this movie before. Only the Weinsteins would have the balls to let Robert Rodriguez make this movie. Rodriguez has either redefined the noir crime drama on film and is going to be hailed as one of the GREAT filmmakers of our age, or he has made a movie that only the faithful will go see and he's going down in flames. There is no in-between on this film. It's out the there. We'll know in a few weeks.
submitted by Kenn
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| Countdown to Infinite Crisis (or what does DC have against Keith Giffen?) |
| 06.10.05 (9:24 pm) [edit] |
This book was a good read. Okay, I said it. I couldn't resist the price and page count. Good writers. Solid artists. 80 pages for a buck. And it turned out to be a good read. The Blue Beetle got his props. Of course he's dead now so I don't know how much it all counts for. I'm not going to read anymore of this crossover, unless someone at DC wants to send all the books to me for free. No, I take that back. I wouldn't want to read it even then.
No, the real point of all of this is to ask why DC suddenly has a mad on for Keith Giffen and all the great work he's done with second string characters. Sue Dibny, raped then murdered. Booster Gold, broke and unemployed, then blown up and almost dead. Maxell Lord, gone round the bend and is a bad guy again. The Blue Beetle, dead. Seems like someone's got it in for Keith and the gang. Or maybe this is a twisted form of homage. Either way I'm not interested in going along for the whole ride.
For someone who doesn't remember the crew's great run on Justice League International and how it revitalized a dead, and I mean dead and in the grave, franchise, this is probably going to be a great crossover series. For those of us who do remember, it's just kind of sick and makes my stomach fell queasy.
Bring on The Defenders. I'm ready.
submitted by Kenn
http://www.a2zcomics.blogspot.com/" title="http://www.a2zcomics.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"http://www.a2zcomics.blogspot...
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| Concert Go'ers and Style |
| 06.10.05 (8:06 pm) [edit] |
After a busy weekend, I finally settled down and went through my digital camera to pull some jpegs. In amongst my pixs, I found some basic dos and don’ts for concert wear. I will be the first to concur that attending a concert in your own chosen, unique attire is a must. Some concertgoers arrive in outfits intended to make a statement. Others opt for the comfort mode, and some for the generic ‘let’s blend in’ uniform. However, there are others who choose the “what the hell?” category of dress.
The swank dos of concert dress code would involve: unique, funky, fun. First glance is a quick snapshot of what you’re about at that given moment. Feel like dressing down? - throw on a hip jean jacket with ...... you fill in the blank. Just make sure clothing fits to give that put together feel without the effort. Avoid anything that detracts from you.
The swank don’ts of concert dress code would involve: sleazy, ill fitting, socks with cute embroidery, mini skirts with too many folds, poofs, or anything else that just makes people take a second glance, but not in a good way. Get out there and declare your uniqueness, just don’t do it in an ill fitting potato sack with silk ribbons.
Christine
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| The Inside |
| 06.10.05 (7:57 pm) [edit] |
I read somewhere that a lot of marriages break-up following high school reunions. So, don't tell my beloved this, but I have fallen in love - love, love, love, love, love - with this guy who I graduated with. His name is Tim Minear, and he's soooo -
Wait, you've heard of him? That's so cool!
Actually, I'm assuming that the Tim Minear whom I went to school with is the same Tim Minear I am now in love with. How many can there be out there, anyway?
The reason that I am in love, is that this Tim Minear just came out with a new show on Fox (Wednesday nights at 9) called 'The Inside'. This is the same Tim Minear of 'Firefly', 'Angel', 'The Wonderfalls' and 'The X Files' fame. As a matter of fact, the first episode of 'The Inside' was not only written by Tim, but also produced and directed by him! Now, ain't that somethin'! And furthermore, he was brought in to re-work the premise of the original episode of 'The Inside' prior to airing a few months ago, and has turned it from a '21 Jump Street'/FBI-agent-goes-un dercover-in-high-school-t ype of show into something a lot darker that more resembles 'Silence of the Lambs'.
This show is a crime/drama which revolves around the recent hire of a 22 year old FBI agent to the Los Angeles Violent Crimes Unit. The group at the VCU is tracking a serial killer and loses a member in a suspicious death. Director Virgil 'Web' Webster (Peter Coyote) has headhunted recent Academy grad Rebecca Locke (Rachel Nichols), a gifted and driven hero who comes complete with a dark past. Locke's traumatic early life, however, gives her an unusual insight - and this is exactly what Web needs her for. In fact, Web has no qualms about exploiting any of his team members - and therein lies one of the show's major conflicts.
Also starring yet another Baldwin brother (Adam - and hey, just how many of those guys are there?), this show has a stellar cast, compelling writing (Jan Espenson of 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer has apparently penned a few episodes), dark humour, intrigue and suspense. Fox has ordered 13 episodes - enough to help keep me going through TV's summer doldrums.
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| JEM Gallery |
| 06.10.05 (7:55 pm) [edit] |
I read recently that gallery openings are now the new nightclubs: you get the typical crowds and music, with the added bonuses being that the openings are usually free and often offer food. Who could ask for more?
On Friday, June 10 (7-10 pm) the grand opening of the JEM (just east of main) gallery is taking place with a showing of Andrew Milne's 'through a glass darkly', a performance and mixed media show. The performance itself is at 8 pm. They are also holding an artist talk on Saturday, June 18 at 2 pm. The exhibit runs until Sunday, July 3. The gallery is at 225 East Broadway, Vancouver, or look them up at http://www.jemgallery.com.
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| Clash of the (Post-Modern Rock) Titans |
| 06.10.05 (7:20 pm) [edit] |
It's happening.
McRorie is opening for Beck.
They're going on tour
on the West coast of America.
Also set to open are Le Tigre, The Decemberists and various other painfully un-McRorie acts.
I can see it now, McRorie storming the stage to join Beck for an extended jam of 'Get Real Paid' or 'Beercan'.
This is the stuff of legends, people.
Today I start my ‘Selling Rocks to Buy Tickets’ campaign.
Tomorrow I hit the road.
See you in the fall.
Submitted by Mike
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| How Not to Jump Off a Bridge |
| 06.09.05 (10:31 pm) [edit] |
For more of Terry's Musings go to http://www.swanktrendz.com
The fictional character I'd most like to be is Batman. Swinging free high above the city night, swooping down to pound the shit out of some stupid criminals, and then relaxing back at the manse with some vintage champagne: that's the life for me.
In my dreams, perhaps. I remember one night walking home drunk over the Granville Street Bridge. This is a monster of a bridge: it leaves downtown at a height of about 9 storeys above the street, and grows higher as you approach its centre. On the downtown end, there are condo towers adjacent with patios 2 metres from the bridge sidewalk. Hard to imagine why anyone would pay big bucks to have 10 lanes of traffic driving by their living room windows, but I guess it takes all kinds.
The other end of the bridge divides into a snarl of off-ramps that spiral off down into the streets below. Walking along one of these ramps on that particular night I noticed that the roof of some building was within reasonably easy jumping distance. "Hmm. About six feet over, and only about 5 feet down, should be do-able..." (this was before Canada converted to metric measurement).
Suddenly my feet were itchy. I'd never jumped off a bridge before. "Well, why the hell not?" Climbed up onto the rail and leapt. And made a perfect 3-point landing on that roof, avoiding the puddle of rain water. Now what? Can't go back: the bridge sidewalk I'd just jumped from loomed in silhouette far overhead, unreachable from here now.
Have to go down, then. That building was about 40 feet high, and had a fire escape ladder from the roof. That ladder ended about 20 feet from the ground, but someone had tied a rope to the bottom rung that hung down another 12 feet or so. God apparently still watches out for fools and drunks.
"Can't say fairer than that," I thought, that being a phrase I'd just learned. But the rope was rotten, and broke halfway down, and I landed hard in some bramble bushes: WHOMP! I was feeling no pain ("Gee, I fell down. Guess I'd better get up..."), so I just stumbled off up 4th Avenue in the light misty rain.
Moral of the story: if you want to jump off bridges, take your own rope. Batman knows this already, but that's why he is Batman and I'm still just me.
Submitted by Terry
(inspired by Mike's story Sneakin' in the Hospital, link below)
http://sneakinout.blogspot.com/" title="http://sneakinout.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"http://sneakinout.blogspot.co...
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| Thoughts About the Militias and Our Faulty Analysis |
| 06.09.05 (8:40 pm) [edit] |
For more of The Political Heretic's articles and musings: go to http://swanktrendz.com
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and Prime Minister Ibraham al-Jaafari said they will not abolish the country's sectarian militias. The announcement was made during a morning news conference that included the two-above mentioned Iraqi leaders and a member a Shi'ite party tied to one of the two militias (the Shi'ite Badr Organization and the Kurdish Persh Merga) that stand to benefit) from this announcement.
Sunni leaders are understandably outraged, for they know that the Badr Organization and the Persh Merga may be used against the very people they claim to represent. Shi'ite and Kurdish radicals who want vengeance and justice may use these militias to remove Sunnis from their homes on lands once inhabited by Kurds or Shi'ites - or to seek revenge on Sunnis for the atrocities committed by their more radical and brutal members.
The neoconservatives and their more liberal allies suffered a tremendous setback, for their dream of a multi-ethnic and democratic Iraq is now further from sight. They hoped they could replace Saddam Hussein without compromising Iraq's political viability and territorial integrity, but they were wrong. Former Baathist loyalists and militant Islamist extremists continue to attack American and Iraqi soldiers daily. Sunni turnout in Iraq's first democratic elections was low and ethnic affiliation in large part determined election results. Kurds, Sunnis, Shi'ites and other ethnic minorities continue to battle over Kirkuk and the revenue from the surrounding oil fields. American officials said the militias should disband but Iraq's central government, divided between the two victorious ethnic groups with competing visions for Iraq's future, refused to do so.
The Sunni response will be swift. Some who were leaning on the fence and who once might have supported the new government may decide to join with the terrorists. Others, encouraged by Baghdad's refusal to disarm and disband the Shi'ite and Kurdish militias, may decide to form one of their own, and still others who might have participated in elections in the future may grow further discouraged and rule it out.
Pro-war realists like myself (many realists like former National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft opposed the war) must also view this as a setback. We supported our president and his war because we believed Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction which, if sold or freely given to terrorists, could have been used against us and consequently, we as a whole never bought into the notion that our enemies were detained. The World Trade Center bombings proved that jihadist terrorists who eventually obtain these weapons will not be deterred from their mayhem and destruction by concepts like mutually assured destruction or containment.
We never bought into the neoconservative-liberal agenda and strongly questioned those of that persuasion when they said Mr. Hussein could be easily replaced by a pro-Western democrat. While respecting the United Nations as an important and vital negotiating tool, we never supported the internationalists' over-emphasis on its approval and we never bought into the peacenik agenda endorsed by the Catholic Church and those who view us as militaristic, imperialistic aggressors.
Some of our number, like former Secretary of State and National Security Advisor Dr. Henry Kissinger, said we may eventually have to let the Kurds form their own state, but some of us fell into the same trap our intellectual opponents within the neoconservative and liberal movements made. George F. Will said we might have to settle for an authoritarian in order to preserve Iraq's territorial integrity and this blogger supported a precarious arrangement of checks and balances among the various religious and ethnic groups.
The neoconservatives realists, like myself, criticize (what we thought) that our government could exploit and manipulate the political and cultural forces that were unleashed after Saddam Hussein's removal in a manner like the puppeteer who controls his mannequin with string. Some things are just beyond our control.
I wouldn't say it was wrong to support this war. The best offense can be the best defense and our analysis was based upon the information provided to us. I do not regret my support for the war nor do I regret my continued support for pre-emptive warfare in general. But this news from Iraq reminds those of us who supported it of its limitations in shaping an occupied country's destiny. The armed forces could topple unfriendly governments, suppress insurrections, and restore order in a country but cannot, and will not, be effective in nation-building operations when the institutions which the people set up and respond to lead them in another direction.
The Political Heretic
http://politicalheretic.blogspot.com" title="http://politicalheretic.blogspot.com" target="_blank"http://politicalheretic.blogs...
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| Donald Rumsfeld's Remarks on China - The Political Heretic |
| 06.09.05 (7:23 pm) [edit] |
Note the following excerpt taken the Donald Rumsfeld's meeting before the International Institute for Strategic Studies last Saturday:
"China’s emergence is an important new reality in this era.
Indeed, the world would welcome a China committed to peaceful solutions and whose industrious and well-educated people contribute to international peace and mutual prosperity.
A candid discussion of China, however, cannot neglect to mention areas of concern to the region.
The U.S. Congress requires that the U.S. Department of Defense report annually on China’s perceived military strategy and its military modernization. The Department’s 2005 report is scheduled to be released soon.
Among other things, the report concludes that China’s defense expenditures are much higher than Chinese officials have published. It is estimated that China’s is the third largest military budget in the world, and clearly the largest in Asia.
China appears to be expanding its missile forces, allowing them to reach targets in many areas of the world, not just the Pacific region, while also expanding its missile capabilities within this region. China also is improving its ability to project power, and developing advanced systems of military technology.
Since no nation threatens China, one must wonder:
· Why this growing investment?
· Why these continuing large and expanding arms purchases?
· Why these continuing robust deployments?
Though China’s economic growth has kept pace with its military spending, it is to be noted that a growth in political freedom has not yet followed suit. With a system that encouraged enterprise and free expression, China would appear more a welcome partner and provide even greater economic opportunities for the Chinese people.
China has important decisions to make about its goals and its future. Ultimately, China likely will need to embrace some form of a more open and representative government if it is to fully achieve the political and economic benefits to which its people aspire."
Mr. Rumsfeld's vaguely referred to China's suspected aggressive military posture in his remarks but upon further questioning after his speech, he squarely questioned China's commitment to a peaceful resolution of the Taiwan question:
"I just look at the significant rollout of ballistic missiles opposite Taiwan and I have to ask the question: If everyone agrees the question of Taiwan is going to be settled in a peaceful way, why this increase in ballistic missiles opposite Taiwan?"
China will not invade and occupy its renegade island province by force, for its administration knows that any effort to do so will be followed by political and economic recriminations pushed by the United States, Europe, and China's neighbors. Taiwan is independent in all but name and the Chinese will not risk its political and economic partnerships it has developed with its surrounding neighbors over something it has tolerated without warfare for the past 40-plus years.
We should be concerned about China's military buildup but Mr. Rumsfeld's comments were better left unsaid. The secretary of defense, more known for his bluntness than any tactfulness, risked their much needed support for the on-and-off negotiations concerning North Korea and its nuclear weapons in order to warn the Chinese against doing something they most likely would not have done in the first place. Very smart.
The Political Heretic
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| The Political Heretic:Benedict and |
| 06.09.05 (7:20 pm) [edit] |
I haven't been impressed with Catholic theology lately and do my best not to pay attention to it since it really makes no sense whatsoever. However, I do believe the Pope's comments regarding "pseudo freedoms" merits a comment.
The new pope, not surprisingly, reaffirmed views he in part helped put down in writing when he was the Church''s enforcer. Benedict XVI said homosexual marriages are "expressions of anarchic freedom" and he referred to them, at another point, as "pseudo freedoms" that banalize the human body and "man itself."
"Freedom," at least as defined in my 1992 "Webster's College Dictionary" is:
1. "the state of being free or at liberty rather than in confinement or under physical restraint.
2. "exemption from external control."
3. "the power to determine action without restraint."
4. "political or national independence."
5. "personal liberty: slaves who have bought their freedom."
6. "exemption: immunity: freedom from fear."
7. "the absence of or release from ties or obligations.
8. "ease or facility of movement or action."
9. "frankness of manner or speech."
10. "a liberty kane.
11. "civil liberty, as opposed to subjection to an arbitrary or despotic government."
12. "the right to enjoy all the privileges or special rights of citizenship, membership, etc. in a community or the like."
13. "the right to frequent, enjoy, or use at will."
"Liberty" is defined as follows:
1. "freedom from arbitrary or despotic government or control."
2. "freedom from external or foreign rule; independence."
3. "freedom from control, interference, obligation, restriction, XTC: power or right of acting according to choice."
4. freedom from captivity, confinement, or physical restraint.
5a. "permission granted to a sailor to go ashore, usu. for less than 24 hours.
5b. the time spent ashore.
6. freedom or right to frequent or use a place: visitors were given the liberty of the city."
7. "unwarranted or impertinent freedom of action or speech, or a form or instance of it: to take liberties."
8. "a female figure personifying freedom from despotism.
"Pseudo" means:
1. "false or spurious; sham; pretended."
2. "a false or pretentious person, esp. a pseudo intellectual.
So what is a "pseudo freedom?" How can you have a fake ability to do something?
The Political Heretic
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| Mike's Musings The Unmistakable Taste of Irrepressible Logic |
| 06.09.05 (7:18 pm) [edit] |
It's taken me years.
This 'balance' business just might work.
"It's not always a race to the finish line."
Yes it is.
It's always a race to the fucking finish line.
You've just got to realize that you don't have to come in first place to win a prize.
There's a time and place to run headfirst in and screaming.
Look up, man.
Survey.
React.
Take names.
Power roll.
Keep mental collapse and physical collapse on separate shoulders and don't worry if they get a little sunburned.
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| The Biographer's Tale |
| 06.09.05 (7:15 pm) [edit] |
About three years ago I came across a free copy of A. S. Byatt's Booker Prize winning novel 'Possession', and, since the price was right, I snapped it up immediately. Then I set about trying to read it. This was the first real 'literary' thing I had tried to read since burning out on literature in university. As it turns out, Byatt (whom I had never read before) is notorious for her formidably dense prose and intellectually exhausting subject matter - but hey, I've never been famous for making things easy on myself! So, to make a long story short, 'Possession' ended up taking me three weeks to read (and I ended up skipping most of the poetry!) - but I still loved the book. The movie, on the other hand, did not live up to expectations.
However, what the book did was make me want to read more from Ms. Byatt, so when I came across a copy of 'The Biographer's Tale' on sale, I didn't hesitate to snap it up. 'The Biographer's Tale' is a much shorter book than 'Possession', but that didn't make it any easier to read. In fact, in many ways I found the narrative even more complex and convoluted than that of 'Possession'.
'The Biographer's Tale' opens with the protagonist, Phineas G. Nanson, a university grad student, deciding that he does not want to continue as a literary theorist. In response, a professor steers him toward biography - something "full of facts". Phineas takes it one step further and decides to become the biographer of a noted biographer. This proves to be easier said than done, however, as the information he seeks is none too plentiful. And Phineas comes to question, too, the whole idea of truth and fact, as it becomes apparent that there is an element of fiction, opinion, manipulation of facts and conjecture woven into the hard truth of which one expects a biography to consist.
'The Biographer's Tale', like many of Byatt's novels, is a reference-laden, cross-disciplinary work that covers a wide range of topics and is full of exotic details. She intermixes real historical figures with fictional characters, and real events with expository fiction. Thematically, Byatt looks at the idea of truth (and the different interpretations and layers of same), postmodernism, and the study of literature within the university setting, including the different castes various forms of writing are assigned.
The characters are idiosyncratic and whimsical, and Byatt takes us on an journey through a variety of genres, lightly touching on mystery, romance and adventure. The idea that a 'whole life' is difficult to find is not only the overt subject matter of the book, but also the somewhat unacknowledged problem the characters face in their own lives.
Exceedingly erudite, with significant and frequent digressions, this book is, by Byatt's own description, is a "'loose baggy monster'" which has been written in a form that "can take account of almost anything"; it is a novel with "large numbers of people and centres of consciousness". So, not a book for a lazy, rainy, nothing-better-to-do sort of weekend - this one will demand a lot of you as a reader. You've been warned.
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| Vancouver Garden Show |
| 06.09.05 (7:14 pm) [edit] |
The Vancouver Garden Show was, in its previous incarnations, known as the Van Dusen Flower & Garden Show. This year it has been taken over by a new management group and sports a new name, but many things remain the same, including the location. The show still takes place in the late spring at Van Dusen Gardens in Vancouver (on Oak Street), and this year the show runs from June 9-12, 10 am to 6 pm daily.
Go to www.vancouvergardenshow.com for more details.
And once you've gone to see the garden show, do you find yourself inspired by beautiful gardens? Stupid question, I guess - who doesn't?
Well, if you want to do some landscaping at home, before you go hunting for plants, think about these aspects of landscape architecture and design to help you in the initial planning stages:
1. line: line is the most important and useful element of any type of design, whether it be clothing, architecture, or gardening. To plan lines in a garden, many people use a rope or hose to outline the walkways and garden plots before any sod is turned.
2. light: consider how much light the garden gets - this will affect which plants you can grow, and how much watering they might need. Consider what colours will work best in various locations, as light and colour interact. Don't forget about artificial light - there are some lovely lighting options out there for dark or shaded areas, night time, and spotlighting or highlighting.
3. texture: basically, you have three options - coarse, medium and fine. Try and use them in such a way that combining and contrasting makes the most of both the tactile and the visual garden experience.
4. form: form can provide definition and stability, and can be achieved with plants (round shrubs, tall trees, square hedges), fences, or architectural details.
5. scale: scale, or proportion, is the relationship of the size of different elements in the garden.
6. pattern: pattern can be achieved through a repetition of shapes.
7. balance: based on a real or imagined axis, balance can be symmetrical (formal) or asymmetrical (informal).
8. unity: unity, or harmony, is the seamless meshing together of the elements in the garden. Having a good structure, not mixing too many styles, and maintaining a simplicity all help to achieve unity.
9. contrast: contrast adds a pleasing tension and can be achieved by using plants and objects together that are different in texture, proportion, scale or colour.
10. colour: colour helps create a mood and reflects the seasons.
11. variety: variety provides interest. Add accents and use focal points.
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| Icons |
| 06.09.05 (7:13 pm) [edit] |
I recently came across a series of design books that are absolutely luscious. Edited by Angelika Taschen and published by Taschen Press, both of the books I was looking at have extremely little in the way of text but the most gorgeous pictures of interiors, exteriors and details that I've ever seen. Taschen goes to different cities and manages to capture the style inherent to each place, as dictated by its history, its light, its location, and a variety of other factors.
In 'Sydney Style', with pictures by Giorgio Possenti and Vega MG, Sydney (Australia) is described as a place where 'the people don't just live by the sea, but with the sea, too." Minimalist houses looking out over endless skies and ocean vistas are described as having "effective counterpoints: spacious rooms and exquisite furniture, clear form and few colours, fine materials".
In "Berlin Style', with photos by Eric Laignel, Berlin is described as a place that is "no amour fou, no love at first sight." Berlin is an older, more weathered city where "nothing really matches, but everything somehow makes a whole..."
I'd love to see the rest of the series, too - I'll have to try and hunt them down.
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| Fluevog Shoes |
| 06.09.05 (7:11 pm) [edit] |
I have always maintained that the right shoes can make an outfit, and the wrong shoes can ruin the perfect outfit. Consequently, I am always on the lookout for great shoes, and one source of these is John Fluevog Shoes.
A word to the wise, first: John Fluevog Shoes are not for the faint of heart - if you have even a drop of conservative blood in your veins, if you lost your (or never had) a spirit of whimsy and adventure, if you're frigid, if you're a mossback (don't you just love that word?), if you're old, if you're scared of style, if you only wear 'comfortable' shoes - well, you may as well just stop reading right now!
Back in the late '80s I would not dare to be seen without my Fluevog winklepickers. Those shoes (in a variety of colours and styles) were an integral part of my 'uniform', and I had more comments and compliments on those shoes than I have had on anything else that has graced my wardrobe since.
John Fluevog started out in Vancouver with his partner Peter Fox way back in 1970 with a store called Fox & Fluevog. In 1980, the two parted company and Fox lit out for the bright lights of New York, where he still designs shoes; his website states that his shoes can currently be seen in eight Broadway productions.
Fluevog stayed in Vancouver, and aside from moving across to the other side of Granville Street (to 837), things have pretty much stayed the same for him here. His is the place to go if one wants avant garde footwear. However, although the Fluevog concept originated in Vancouver and the corporate headquarters remain here, the company's outlets have spread around the world. New York, Toronto, San Francisco, Chicago, Seattle, Boston, Los Angeles, and Melbourne all boast Fluevog stores, and if you don't live near any of those centres, you can buy 'em on-line.
So, if you're an original, creative person with an original sense of style who likes sexy, funky shoes, then look up Fluevog - you're sure to find something you like.
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| Ugly dresses |
| 06.09.05 (7:10 pm) [edit] |
Have you ever had one of those 'friends' who spread rumours about you in elementary school, or who stole your boyfriend in high school, or who got you fired from your first job (or heaven forbid, all of the above)? Have you been stewing over this for years, wondering what on earth you can do to get back at this person, what you can do to completely humiliate them, publicly and without reserve?
Well, maybe you're getting married soon. Come here, a little closer, and let me whisper in your ear, because I've got a plan for you...
On the Manolo the Shoeblogger site, I found a recommendation for a site called uglydress.com. This one is truly not to miss. It's out there, just waiting for all the world to see.
So what you've got to do is this:
1. plan to include your 'friend' in your wedding party
2. choose the most horrible dress and shoes known to mankind for her to wear
3. take many pictures at the wedding
4. send pictures of your 'friend' into uglydress.com
5. tell everyone you know to look up the website.
There! Feel better now? Well, at least you have a plan of action. Time to get some closure here. You'd better get going - gotta start looking up dress patterns!
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| Manolo the Shoeblogger |
| 06.09.05 (7:08 pm) [edit] |
I was looking up information about shoes when I happened to stumble across the funniest site I've read in a long time. It is called 'Manolo the Shoeblogger' and he (Manolo) writes primarily about shoes, although he does include designer commentary and a bit of wedding fashions, too, and has also recently added men's fashions to his repertoire. Manolo writes in a charmingly ESL-style which I'm sure is fake but it certainly adds to the whole experience.
The best part of Manolo the Shoeblogger site is a section entitled 'The Gallery of Horrors'. Here he showcases the worst of the worst footwear, complete with gut-splittingly funny commentary. For example:
The Uggs: "The only people who should be wearing this boot are the pre-teen girls who love the Hello Kitty." In this part, he includes a most-hilarious tale of Shannon Doherty.
The Birkenstock: "... perhaps the ugliest, most unstylish shoe ever manufactured. This shoe, it looks like it was put together by the blind medieval monks, for wear by the peasants of the mud."
The Dansko (a men's sport clog): "Perhaps, like the Manolo, you are wondering what is the sport that the mens play while wearing the clog?... As far as the Manolo knows, there is no sport that is best played with the clog on the foot, and so it is most likely that this description, it was given in the hopes that the potato of the couch as he clomped the aisles of the Wal-Mart, or sank into his Boy of Laziness for the protracted TV viewing, would feel good about himself."
But really, I can't do it justice here: you've got to read it yourself.
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| Driving the 2005 Mustang |
| 06.09.05 (7:07 pm) [edit] |
I wrote earlier about my obsession with Mustangs (see Swanktrendz archives) - particularly vintage Mustangs (1969-70).
Well, for my brother's birthday, his friend rented him a 2005 Mustang convertible for the weekend. I guess if you can't have the real thing, at least you can play pretend for a short time...
Anyway, my brother kindly allowed me to drive his 'baby'. It was a peculiar sensation, since I am very familiar with the 'real thing', having owned and driven a '69 for years. Although I enjoyed the 'new car' experience, and liked the horsepower (the car I drove was a V8, and I got it up to 140 before chickening out and backing off the accelerator [note to self: never buy a former rental car]), and appreciated the pains Ford had taken to replicate the original's dashboard and other features, overall, I was kind of let down by the new Mustang.
Don't get me wrong: I think they're great to look at. I especially like the view from the rear, where they have gone so far as to replicate the gas tank cover from the '69. Another interesting feature is the headlights: on the original, the '69 had four headlights while the '70 had only two. On the 2005, the number of headlights is used to designate engine size (2 headlights for the V6, 4 for the V8). Just a bit of insider information for you there.
Anyway, I currently drive an SUV (Dodge Durango) that has the most comfortable seats ever. I've also driven other cars with great seats (my '69 Mustang and my Thunderbird). When the Durango was in the shop two weeks ago, I had to drive a Hyundai Accent courtesy car. That vehicle wins hands-down for the worst seats ever - sitting in that car was was like sitting on a slab of concrete. Although Ford has gone to pains to make the seat backs of the Mustang a bit more high-end with lumbar support and all that junk, both my beloved and I commented on the discomfort factor with these Mustang seats.
Likewise, the seats sat so low in the car I felt like a little old lady, straining to sit high enough to peer over the steering wheel. I'm an average sized woman - 5'6" - and my beloved, who is 6'2", also felt like a midget in a bathtub while driving this car.
The third thing I did not like about the car was the feel of the turning indicators and other levers and knobs. I don't know how else to say this - they just felt cheap.
Finally, it was a rental car and as such, is subject to an unusual amount of abuse (see third paragraph, above) - however, in this brand new car, the convertible roof attachment was already broken. Just imagine what'll happen once this baby gets some age on it.
So, overall, a bit of a disappointment. I'd rate this one a 6.5/10.
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| Newton's Third Law and the Airline Industry |
| 06.09.05 (7:05 pm) [edit] |
I've recently been thinking a bit about the airline industry (I'll fill you in later) and its connection to Newton's Third Law - now, was that 'what goes up, must come down'? No! Newton's Third Law is that whole ' every action creates an equal and opposite reaction' blah blah blah thing.
Anyway, (here comes the explanation) I was thinking about the airline industry because my brother is employed in it - he coordinates jobs for a company that repairs and maintains planes for airlines large and small (I won't mention any names...). Now, after 9/11 there was a big curtailing of airplane travel which impacted the airline industry on a number of levels - there were many layoffs where my brother works and a lot of airlines actually ended up going out of business or into receivership as they had been hanging on by a shoestring prior to 9/11 already.
Cut-rate companies then popped up (should I be talking about saving money and airplane maintenance in the same blurb? is that wise?) - so many that they have already started putting each other out of business. Bring your own food, pay for your own drinks, we'll tell you a joke instead of showing a movie - you know what I'm talking about...
But... on the horizon comes the latest: luxury airline travel. Now this is not new: private Lear jets have been around forever (well, for a while, anyway). But it seems that more and more people are wanting something beyond what the regular airlines are prepared to offer these days.
Take, for instance, the lady who came into the used airplane lot down at the airport (yes, they do have such a thing). She seemed just like your conventional housewife, driving a minivan - but purchased, for cash, a full-sized jet to ferry her kids back and forth to school (they live in Vancouver and attend school in Toronto). Or the company that is catering to wealthy businessmen. My brother's company is busy outfitting jets for them that are decked out inside like hotel suites, with beds and computers and the whole nine yards.
So, from the bargain-basement, discount and cut-rate airlines popularized over the last five years, the eyes of the market have now rotated 180 degrees to the opposite end of the spectrum and flying hotels will soon be premiering at an airport near you...
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| Cars, Bumper Stickers and Things That Go Bump in the Night |
| 06.09.05 (7:03 pm) [edit] |
My Dad has long been a foe of bumper stickers or any other post-market addition or alteration that one might attach, affix, or otherwise fasten to a car. When I was in university I bought what was supposed to be an economical car (Volkswagen Rabbit - ranks right up there in the list of 'worst cars I ever owned') to commute with, which came complete with a very nice, tiny little 'Yukon Territories' sticker in the rear window - very unique, very low-key, very small, very tasteful. I liked it (in retrospect, it ended up being the ONLY thing I liked about hat car). Well, within about 20 minutes of me bringing the car home, my Dad went outside and then shortly thereafter came back in the house, all proud of himself - he had scraped every last remnant of that poor little sticker off the rear window. I wasn't too happy, but hey, don't sweat the small stuff, as they say...
A fellow I worked for while in university was a little 'connected' (if you know what I mean) - he drove a big ole Caddie, and on the back he had a bumper sticker which read:
"Of all the dirty, rotten, low-down ideas - I like yours the best!"
That one always made me laugh - it was so 'him'.
However, since the Yukon Territories power struggle, I have never had occasion to have a bumper sticker - but now that I'm out on my own, and buying vehicles with my own money (not that I wasn't before, but somehow my Dad always considered any car of mine to be his property) - well, I figure I can do what I want, and boy have I gone wild! Girls gone wild! I'm sure you've seen me in the videos! Spring break, Florida, whoopin' it up - you know what I mean! And that's me, in the background, driving a vehicle with a 'BBC Radio Orkney' bumper sticker! Wild and crazy! A rebel!
But seriously... I think perhaps I have at least a little of my Dad's non-stock car prejudices in me, in spite of my attempts to be oh-so liberal. Every time I see one of those cars with the fake bullets holes in it, it just - I don't know - flabbergasts me. It boggles the mind. I cannot wrap my brain around it. Why on earth would someone want another person to think that they had been used for target practice? What gives!?!
I'm sure you know what I mean - I'm sure you have them where you live, too. They're extremely popular here - but again, I can't fathom why. The first time I saw one, I thought - 'WOW! Someone shot at that car!!'
Let me tell you, if you haven't seen these things, or just haven't noticed them - they are SO realistic. I've been known to stand in parking lots and peer at them myopically, just to ascertain that they are, indeed, stickers and not the real thing.
And maybe I can understand some gangsta wannabe trying to look tough - but usually, these things are on cars driven by mid-aged people, cars complete with child's car-seats in the back. Is it a mid-life crisis thing? Please - explain.
Even more mind boggling is a person I know who would have been called a 'peacenik' way back when, who has a 'Peace' bumper sticker (complete with dove) on her vehicle - and also has these fake bullet holes. HUH??? I think I'm getting a mixed message here - or perhaps it's intended to be ironic, and I'm just missing the point (but I don't think so...).
And things that go bump in the night? Sorry, that story will have to what for another time...
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| Kaiser Chiefs with Guests Ok Go,the Caesars June 5/05 Commodore Ballroom, Vancouver |
| 06.07.05 (9:31 pm) [edit] |
Ok Go was the first band to hit the stage and they were brilliant so they deserved an article of their own.
The second band to hit the stage was the Caesars. I’ve read that this Swedish group (singer Caesar Vidal, guitarist Joakim Ahlund, bassist David Lindqvist and drummer Nino Keller) demonstrate that some of the “best” classic rock is coming from Sweden. Hmm... ‘Jerk it out’ is their claim to fame after having ipod tag the song for their commercials. However, the Caesars’ live set was uninspired and out of tune - and I don’t mean the instruments. One or two songs off-key is understandable, but an entire set? Their set seemed to be a case of contrasts - Wild showmanship, meaningless video montages and poor, out of place vocals. Overall, a 5/10.
Kaiser Chiefs When this UK Leeds (2003 formed) took to the stage, I had the impossible task of taking pictures whilst being bounced in the air by the Commodore’s spring floor. The band was infectious and catchy; Wilson had good camaraderie with the audience and he sounded in top form.
The Kaiser Chiefs are Ricky Wilson (lead vocals), Andrew 'Whitey' White
(guitar), Simon Rix (bass), Nick 'Peanut' Baines (keyboards), and Nick
Hodgson (drums and vocals).and their band is named after a soccer team from South Africa.
Many reviewers have dismissed Kaiser Chiefs as a Blur sound-alike. Perhaps on their cd, but live they were more reminiscent of Futureheads, The Monks, The Jam, Early Joe Jackson, touch of the Clash, and even bits of the Rezillos. Maybe I’m just too old, and identify more with the merge of punk with ska/new wave. However the band may be like-minded as they cited their influences as being Kinks, Beta Band, Supergrass and XTC.
The audience loved the Kaiser Chiefs and it was next to impossible to get near the front due to the testosterone laden pogoing. I was content to pogo in one spot and get swept up in the heady, fist pumping music. Ricky Wilson's voice during “I Predict A Riot” was energetic and obviously an anthem for the audience; "Everyday I Love You Less And Less" is nothing short of fantastic. After Wilson leapt into the audience (in true old-school style) the evening was over. With exception to the Caesars, the evening flew by.
If personality helps push a talented band to the top, then both Kaiser Chiefs and Ok Go are heading places. Caesars who? Overall mark for Kaiser Chiefs 9/10
Submitted by Christine
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| Highlights |
| 06.07.05 (7:21 pm) [edit] |
Remember this magazine?
I used to read it at the orthodontist. I wanted so badly to get something published in Highlights. I used to sit there, with my teeth in braces, wearing head gear, neck gear and rubber bands (yes, all at the same time-- I needed a lot of work), toughskin pants and rust-colored velour shirt and dream of my name in print - a story or a profile in highlights magazine. something inspirational, like how I saved a cat from a burning building or taught myself sign language so I could befriend the deaf boy in my class.
Rob Williams
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| Lambda Literary Awards |
| 06.07.05 (7:18 pm) [edit] |
Last Thursday, I'm happy to say, I also was the winner (along with all of the other wonderful folk in the anthologies) of TWO Lammies! that's the Lambda Literary Awards. We won for:
Best Fiction Anthology: Fresh Men, New Voices in Gay Fiction (Carroll & Graf)
and Best Non-Fiction Anthology: I Do/I Don't: Queers on Marriage (Suspect Thoughts Press)
Yay! I'm like the Teresa Wright of the Lammies this year (oh wait! she didn't win both but was nominated for two oscars in 1943-- best actress and best supporting actress which she won for Mrs. Miniver).
Friday day I went to BEA (book expo) and got a bunch of free books (even though Ted and I just purged books to make room in our apartment... sigh). and... and... saw John Waters signing books and... and... 50s movie idol Tab Hunter signing posters! (more on him in a few).
So then, of course, there were numerous book parties for Ted and myself to go to. notably the BIG one at writer David McConnell's marvelous apartment. All the greats and near greats were there (including gay porn star and writer Aiden Shaw--- woof woof). I also met: lovely K.M. Soehnlein (aka Karl-- author of the new book with the great title: You Can Say You Knew Me When, and his adorable boyfriend Kevin. Also in attendance: Christopher Bram, Patrick Ryan, David Ebershoff, Manuel Munoz, Aaron Hamburger, Vestal McIntyre, cutie Aaron Krach, Derek McCormack, Michael Carroll, Brian Leung, Jon Barrett, Keith McDermott and Eric, sweet Tom Dolby, etc. etc.
Was such a fun time. even if I didn't get to talk to the porn star.
Saturday was yet another party (though Ted opted out of this one--he was too tired from BEA meetings). it was the Publishing Triangle 16th Anniversary. where I stood next to... Tab Hunter! Again! He's promoting his book. He looks great, by the way.-- funny, as much as I’m such a star gazer... I didn't really feel the need to go up and talk to him. Ah well.
But why was Joyce DeWitt (yes, of Three's Company fame) there? I mean, yeah, she looks great and God love her but is she part of the Tab Hunter posse? strange.
Aaron hamburger and I left the party fairly early and picked up some lovely parting gift bags (given to the first 140 guests). mine included... more books! (Aaron Krach's Half-Life, Allison Smith's Name All the Animals, and Stacey D'erasmo's A Seahorse Year). if I get any more books we're going to have to get rid of one of the cats!
(This is not book related but) after the party I went by myself to see "Kung Fu Hustle"-- holy cow! what a great fun movie. Go see it. I was breathless.
Then Ted finally got up from his nap and we hung out at Florent with Vestal, K.M. Soehnlein and his adorably fun boyfriend, Kevin. (Note: K.M. is reading tonight--Monday, June 6, 6:30 PM.
McNally/Robinson Booksellers 52 Prince St. from his book)
Sunday Ted and I went Grocery shopping-- a fitting end to such a whirlwind week and weekend.
By Rob Williams
http://www.lambdalit.org/Lammy/finalists.html" title="http://www.lambdalit.org/Lammy/finalists.html" target="_blank"http://www.lambdalit.org/Lamm...
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| Tattoo You |
| 06.07.05 (6:29 pm) [edit] |
$45,000 for a forehead tattoo? $7,000 for a tattoo on a celebrity's cleavage? These spaces are currently being auctioned off on eBay for people who are looking for 'new' advertising space. That's right, individuals are auctioning off their bodies - or rather, parts of their bodies - for advertisers to tattoo. What is this world coming to? 
It turns out that people are now auctioning off their skin to whichever advertiser will pay the highest price. Time to get a job, I say...
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| Punk Fashions |
| 06.07.05 (6:18 pm) [edit] |
After what seems like decades of grunge and electronica, punk music is hot again, and that means that punk fashions are back in, too. Bondage pants are reappearing on high school students, the wild hair that put punk on the front page 30 years ago is a common sight once again, and old school punks are digging their old gear out of mothballs: at a recent Gallery opening I attended the other night a Vivienne Westwood shirt was on offer. It had been bought on the King's Road back in 1977, and had been lovingly stored since then.
Mojo magazine recently published a Punk Special Limited Edition (March 2005), and on page 48-49, they list 'ten crucial punk garments'. They are:
- anarchy shirt: Vivienne Westwood originals from her Seditionaries shop on King's Road
- brothel creeprs: these Teddy Boy faves were available at 430 King's Road, and further fueled the rockers vs. ted fighting
- mohair jumper: deliberately ripped mohair for a mere thirty pounds back in 1976 - a week's wages!
- PVC trousers: cheap to produce, these pants were hot sellers
- Levi's: but, they've got to be straight-leg!
- manifesto shirt: t-shirts proclaiming a message, loud and clear.
- leather jacket: the never-out-of-fashion motorcycle jacket - a true classic.
- bondage trousers: plaid, with fetish-inspired elements like multiple zippers. Too cool.
- muslin top: distressed, emblazoned with slogans, and crudely stitched.
- shades: even at night!
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| Gachet's 'Punk Assemblage Show' |
| 06.07.05 (6:13 pm) [edit] |
Gallery Gachet's 'Punk Assemblage Show' opened Friday, June 3rd. Boasting 'Rare Early Vancouver Punk Photos! Punk Paintings! Punk Sculptures!', I guess I was expecting something a bit less current. Many of the works on display were actually very recent - from 2005 - which is not to say that they were bad, just not what I had been expecting.
This show is being curated by Zaneta St. Dennis and Todd Carpenter. There are a variety of artists involved in the show, including people like I, Braineater and Maddog. There was a wide range of mediums available for viewing, and the opening was quite well attended; at times it was difficult to negotiate your way around the room.
My favourite piece was one that was not for sale: displayed prominently in the middle of the room, an old and much personalized motorcycle jacket hung like Christ on the cross which had been created by Rob Jolivette.
This gallery makes a unique contribution to the community by providing exhibition space to artists with mental health issues.
The show runs from June 3 to 27 at the Gallery Gachet, 88 East Cordova. Look them up at www.gachet.org.
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| Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains |
| 06.07.05 (6:01 pm) [edit] |
I was lucky enough to recently see one version of the legendary film 'Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains' which was part of the Terminal City Festival last week. The film was made by Paramount Pictures in Vancouver in 1980, then was almost immediately shelved and subsequently got lost. Rumours abounded. The mythology surrounding it grew. Neither the writer nor (most of) the actors in the film ever saw a print. It has only recently resurfaced, popping up on late night TV, in art film houses and at film festivals. Mojo recently featured the story of the film in their Punk Special Edition (March 2005) and a documentary has been made on the film.
So, why all the hubbub? Well, this film is significant for a number of reasons. Aside from the Vancouver connection, which of course is (somewhat) important to people like me and understandably less-so for people elsewhere in the world, L&G,tFS is noteworthy in that it is the story of three young girls who form a band and 'make it big'. Prior to this film, the animated Josie and the Pussycats was probably the only thing young girls could identify with in this subject area. This film has been (at least in part) a big influence on the Riot Grrls scene. As well, the other band who is touring with The Stains in the film (called The Looters) is comprised primarily of members of The Sex Pistols and The Clash. In addition, the film is not totally corny (as many film and TV shows of the time) regarding the whole 'punk' thing: Carolyn Coon, author of '1998' (a compilation of pieces she wrote on British punk that had previously been published in Melody Maker) and some-time manager of The Clash, was hired as a consultant to keep things fairly authentic.
Anyway, the plot is not too bad. Written by Nancy Dowd (who also wrote the screenplay for Slapshot), the story revolves around two parentless teens who finagle their way into being the opening act for the opening act of a headlining band's nationwide tour. When the headliners can't finish the tour, The Looters take their place and The Stains get some unexpected exposure courtesy of a pro-feminist reporter. The Stains lead singer, played by Diane Lane, encourages her audience to not 'put out'. But when The Looters' lead singer, played by Ray Winstone, tells the fans a little story, Johnny Rotten's words, "Do you ever get the feeling you've been cheated?" ring true. The fans rebel, and therein lies the mystery: apparently there are a few versions of this movie floating around out there, and so the ending I saw might be different from the one you saw. If you see the film, you'll have to tell me what happens... I'm curious if the ending is any different from the one I saw.
But regardless of the ending, the message is clear: don't sell yourself short. Do what you believe in.
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| Nardwuar's Video Vault |
| 06.07.05 (5:58 pm) [edit] |
The recent Terminal City Festival finished up with a series of music videos, a documentary, stories and other memorabilia from the early punk era in Vancouver. Nardwuar, the Rainman of Vancouver rock, was his usual irrepressible self, full of tales, tidbits and tests (you had to pay attention - he would periodically quiz the audience).
A mini-documentary on the film 'Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains' was shown, which was by Sam Green and the late Sarah Jacobson (who recently died of ovarian cancer at age 32). Entitled 'Stains: Behind the Movie', the film gave us a behind the scenes look at the movie and the major players' 20/20 hindsight views of the movie. What struck me the most was that a) everyone involved in the production was so just excited about its release, yet b) ultimately, the film being shelved resulted in most of the people who were actually in the film never even getting to see it.
Following that was a series of videos; all footage was of Vancouver punk acts dating from late late '70s through to the mid '80s. Bands like DOA, Pointed Sticks, and the Subhumans were featured.
Next came Frank from the Independent Music Video tour (he takes this show all over the continent, apparently). Videos from current Vancouver indie acts such as Black Rice, Canned Hamm, Hot Hot Heat, Nasty On, Miaw and Nomeansno were featured.
The audience was comprised of both fans and individuals who have been involved in the scene over the years. There were musicians, photographers, writers, and even people who had been at the filming of 'Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains' (some had been extras in the film) twenty five years ago. But in the end, what was clear was that this scene is still as original, as strong and as vibrant now as it was back in its genesis.
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| The Subhumans Reforming |
| 06.07.05 (5:52 pm) [edit] |
At the recent Terminal City Festival, Nardwuar announced that The Subhumans are re-forming with three of the original four members in the line-up. They will be playing a show July 1st in Vancouver.
The band is probably as infamous for their political views and subsequent legal entanglements as they are for their music. The Subhumans as a band became gained further notoriety when member Jerry Hannah was caught with enviro-guerilla group Direct Action (aka The Squamish Five) following a number of bombings in British Columbia and the bombing of the Litton Plant in Toronto, where six people were injured.
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| Ok Go - Opening Act for the Caesars and the Kaiser Chiefs |
| 06.06.05 (10:39 pm) [edit] |
Ok Go has come a long way since their beginnings in 1998 (Chicago) Now based in L.A., they have evolved into a tight, well oiled, heavier-edged pop machine. The bandmates (Damian Kulash - singer) Tim Nordwind (Bassist) Dan Konopka (drummer) and new guitarist/keyboardist (didn’t catch his name - sorry) sport an Austin Powers dress code that is both kitschy and flashy.
When performing their high energy set, you feel vibes of Elvis Costello meets EMF, and Weezer meets the Thrills. The band cites Inspiral Carpets and the Charlatans as past influences. It's the kind of music that does what good rock 'n' roll is supposed to do - it appeals to a diverse age group
Their third album Oh No was produced in Sweden with Tore Johnannson (of Cardigans and Franz Ferdinand) and the band falls into David’s aptly-put “angular” genre. The album is due out in August 2005 and they played several excellent songs from the future release: ‘Do What you Want’, ‘Invincible” and a remix of The Cure’s ‘Love Cats’ - a far better version than The Cure’s.
It's a tricky thing being on the road in support of a new album that doesn't come out for 3 months -- especially when your show depends on building the crowd's energy. However, they are smart and well versed as musicians. The choruses and the riffs echo traditional pop but there's something discordant about their guitar lines and harmonies, something that strikes off-kilter rather than where you expected it to land.
Thank goodness for Ok Go
This number brought the house down, and had the audience buzzing, long after into the second group’s (the Caesars) performance. The Ok Gos are the ones to watch for! 9/10
christine
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| Kasabian, Mad Action, Commodore Ballroom, Vancouver, BC - June 3, 2005. Sold out show: by Lezah |
| 06.04.05 (7:31 pm) [edit] |
Last night's show at the Commodore started a bit late, but maybe that was just my been-out-late-for-the-las t-three-nights-and-I'm-so -tired brain talking. I was anticipating three bands (I'm sure it said three bands in the paper when I checked show times!) so that probably influenced how I was feeling, too. As it tuned out, there was just one band, Mad Action (formerly known as Ty Cobb), opening for Leicestershire's Kasabian.
The crowd was probably a 60:40 (or maybe even 65:35) male: female ratio, and many of the guys appeared to be big rugby fans - you know the type. One interesting young man was dressed in a kilt, and in talking to him we learned he was authentic - Scottish through and through. And have you ever wondered what a Scotsman wears under his kilt? Turns out - they wear nothing!
But enough, already. Back to the music. The opening act was Philadelphia's 'Mad Action', who have established a fairly good following in the UK but apparently have not yet had the same success here on home ground. They are a fairly straight-forward rock and roll band; tight, polished, professional. The bassist, Jay Mehlen, had had to get bailed out of jail in order to make the show, and sadly, that was probably the most exciting thing we heard from these guys all night. Solid music, but beyond that...
And then there was Kasabian. These guys are stars - or at least, they act like it. Lead singer Tom Meighan prances and swaggers, his loose-limbed gyrations reminiscent of long dead rock gods a la Michael Hutchence. He makes the most of his slimly sexy boyish physique, leaning back and exposing his taut belly at times, and then throwing in hip-hop posturing at other times.
Musically, this band fuses '90s electronica with '80s guitar sounds - think Simple Minds meet the Beta Band. Spiritualized, Happy Mondays and the Stone Roses also come to mind.
One peculiar thing during their set started after the third song: Meighan yells out, "Thank you, Vancouv-aaah!" and the lights went down. Short concert, what? (You've got to imagine that last bit being said with a British accent). But then, the lights came back up, the next song started - and then the same thing happened again. And then again with the next song. Peculiar. And then he started yelling out the odd, "Motherf***ers!" at the crowd, but it seemed to be said in a more - I don't know, loving manner? If that makes sense. Which it doesn't to me. But hey, what else is new?
LSF was the highlight of the night for me, and their edgy sound made for a head-bobbing good time. Overall, a good night. And with that, I say to you: Good night!
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| Male Fantasy: Movie Review by Lezah |
| 06.04.05 (7:29 pm) [edit] |
Wednesday night we went to the Terminal City Festival at Pacific Cinematheque (Vancouver) where they were showcasing Vancouver-based movies. That night's show was 'Male Fantasy', and in some ways I was living many film and music-buff's fantasies - not only were the director/writer, Blaine Thurier (also of the band New Pornographers) and actors Robert Dayton (of the band Canned Hamm) and Shane Nelken ('musician to the stars': Blue Lodge Quartet, Tennessee Twin, A. C. Newman, The Buzzards, Vancouver Nights, The Come-ons, Sparrow) available afterward for Q & A, but we also ended up going out for drinks with them after the show.
Talk of the movie, music, acting, and a variety of other topics somehow led, at one point, to talk of smoking - or rather, quitting smoking. It turns out that both Thurier and Nelken were surprised to discover that each had quit smoking about six years ago, and both did it by going 'cold turkey'. Thurier talked of taking the phrase, "it's hard to quit smoking" and turning it around, so his new mantra became, "it's fun and easy to quit smoking". Perhaps he was being facetious, but maybe not - years later, he writes a character for a film who uses a similar mantra in an attempt to change his own life.
In 'Male Fantasy', Andrew (Robert Dayton) is a recently divorced guy, rapidly approaching middle age; he is unhappy with where he is in life, but one day has a revelation. In the opening shot of the film, we see him repeating his new mantra over and over: "I am a god. I create this reality." Of course, typical of many middle-aged, divorced males, Andrew's perfect reality revolves around picking up and having sex with as many women as he can. (Oh, sorry, do I sound a bit cynical there?) Anyway, in a classic man-vs-himself conflict, Andrew is completely (and pathetically) unable to make this goal a reality - he lacks any social skills and has little to offer women.
We see him desperately approaching women on the street - any women - and offering to take them out - “Are you doing anything right now? Can I buy you a coffee? Would you like to come to my place?” But these women are obviously much smarter than this: Andrew is told in no uncertain terms to get lost (but not exactly in those words!).
When his friend Jay gives him some advice about picking up women (go for the 'sick, hobbled gazelle separated from the pack'), Andrew achieves a measure of success, and then Jay ups the stakes: he offers Andrew the opportunity to participate in a pornographic piece he is filming, which he prefers to think of as 'art' - a 'verite' piece. Whatever.
I cannot help but compare this film to 'Sideways'. Since filming for 'Male Fantasy' wrapped in spring of 2004, neither filmed influenced the other, but the parallels in subject matter and characters are obvious - some might even say eerie.
However, whereas I did not like 'Sideways', I really enjoyed 'Male Fantasy': it was both sad and funny, and while Male Fantasy's protagonist Andrew, like the protagonist Miles in 'Sideways', was a pathetic, annoying and somewhat delusional individual at the outset, Andrew was someone I grew to sympathize with and even root for as the film progressed - unlike Miles (from 'Sideways') whom I disliked just as intensely at the end of the film as I had at the beginning.
Typical of many independent films shot on a tight budget, 'Male Fantasy' is a bit grainy, a bit dark, a bit out of focus at times. But this just adds to the mood, and typifies the reality of Andrew's world.
According to Thurier, the film does not have a distributor - it opened at South-by-Southwest (2004) and has since made the rounds of most of the film festivals. So, unless you're lucky, your chances of seeing this one in a theatre near you at any time soon are slim-to-none: but trust me when I say, this film is a future cult classic. Years from now, it'll be popping up in art houses and late at night on the small screen. Mark my words!
http://www.cinematheque.bc.ca/may_june_05/terminal_c ity_film_festival.html#fantasy" title="http://www.cinematheque.bc.ca/may_june_05/terminal_c ity_film_festival.html#fantasy" target="_blank"http://www.cinematheque.bc.ca...
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| A Brain Deferred - Rob's Musings |
| 06.04.05 (2:15 am) [edit] |
Yes, it's that time again. You knew it was coming.
It's the end of my semester of teaching and i've just finished the mountain
of grading (final exams, final papers). I thought I would share, as I have in the past, a couple of winning entries in the 'I didn't learn a thing this semester' contest that inevitably several of my students qualify for.
Ok. Actually most were pretty good, except for the usual misspelled words and horrid grammar, but then there were things like this:
Q: Who is the author of the poem, Harlem: A Dream Deferred which is found at the beginning of Lorraine Hansbury's play "A Raisin In the Sun"?
A: Samuel J. Hughes
(My response: uh, yeah. didn't he also play Shaft in the remake? And wasn't he Frozone in The Incredibles; and he's also a dead Harlem Renaissance poet? No way! I knew he was versatile, but really...)
And here's another answer (from another brilliant student) to the same question
A: Whitney
(No last name? Uh, Whitney? As in Houston? Omigod, you mean not only is she the classic singer of "The Greatest Love of All," "I Wanna Dance With Somebody," and "I Will Always Love You" but she's also a dead Harlem Renaissance poet? and I thought Bobby Brown was down with the rhymes! or are you trying to say Whitman, as in Walt? either way... YOU'RE WRONG!)
"To teach is to learn twice." - Joseph Joubert
*by the way, the answer to the question, in case you don't know, is Langston Hughes.
Submitted by Rob Williams
For more of Rob's Musings - Go to the Musings category at http:www.swanktrendz.com
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| Karla Homolka Release has definite restrictions |
| 06.04.05 (1:56 am) [edit] |
ST. CATHARINES, Ont. (CP) - The triumphant architects of a plan to restrict Karla Homolka's freedom celebrated a victory for her victims Friday while critics of the effort to rein in Canada's most notorious female inmate denounced it as a miscarriage of justice.
Ontario Attorney General Michael Bryant, whose ministry agreed in 1993 to the deal that gave Homolka just 12 years in prison for her role in the deaths of schoolgirls Kristen French, Leslie Mahaffy and her sister Tammy, hailed the decision by Quebec Judge Jean Beaulieu.
"Today, Canada's justice system acted - not reacted, acted - to prevent harm upon Homolka's release and to protect the public upon Homolka's release," said a visibly pleased Bryant, who spearheaded the effort.
Bryant said his thoughts would be with the French and Mahaffy families.
"This has been a brutal period for them; to have to relive this yet again has been particularly difficult," he said.
"I will certainly do all I can to protect Ontarians and to work with attorneys across the country to protect Canadians upon her release."
Tim Danson, the lawyer for the families, said from Montreal that his clients were relieved with the outcome of the hearing.
"The Frenches expressed enormous relief, and they're very pleased with the decision," as well as grateful for all the public support they've received, Danson said.
"They're also relieved that Karla Homolka did not get away with what they perceived to be just another attempt to manipulate the system."
The families see Homolka as the "master manipulator," he added, and the whole suggestion that she doesn't represent a threat to public safety as "a continuation of a con."
Homolka will face a range of restrictions for a year once she's released from jail in the weeks to come, including that she stay in touch with police, avoid consorting with children under 16 and stay away from ex-husband Paul Bernardo.
"That hasn't happened for about 12 years so I can't imagine that's about to start now," Bernardo's lawyer, Tony Bryant, laughed sardonically in an interview.
Bryant, whose client was convicted in 1995 of two counts of first-degree murder, sentenced to life in prison and declared a dangerous offender, said he's not convinced Homolka poses a threat to society.
"From what we know of her in the past, and the fact that we've had 12 years go by, I would expect there's been some significant maturing on her part," he said.
"It may not show to the layman on the street from the photos and the artist's sketches from the courtroom, but I just don't get the sense that there's any real threat."
If Homolka had a mind to commit a crime, the restrictions she earned Friday likely wouldn't be much of a disincentive, he added.
"What's it going to do? So she's got to go to the police station or show up somewhere. How does that stop anybody from doing anything?"
She must also stay away from her victims, report to police once a month after her release, advise them of her address and let them know who she's living with.
Parents watching their children enjoy carousel rides in the park down the street from where Bernardo and Homolka committed their crimes were delighted by the news.
"I think, as a parent, any restrictions make me feel somewhat more safe, if there is such a thing," said Nikki Jenkins, 38.
"I think she destroyed the innocence of a small community that always thought they were safer than the big city."
Residents agreed their quiet lakeside community changed for the worse after the disappearance of Kristen French.
"Everybody was worried about letting their children walk home from school," said Catherine MacDonald, 37, who lived down the street from the church where French was abducted.
"Everybody changed. To this day I'll say to my daughter, 'it happens here.' "
Although Homolka would have to give four days notice before visiting her ailing father, those in her hometown say she's not welcome under any circumstances.
"People around here don't want to see her at all," said Leah Cochrane, 31, whose brother was a close friend of French's.
"I'd be surprised if Homolka didn't get attacked on the street if she walked anywhere in St. Catharines."
The murders are still an open wound for the community where few, if any, have forgotten or forgiven.
"They named her right when they said they were dealing with the devil," said Cynthia Jesty, 43.
"She's rancid. She's horrible."
The attorney general said the recognizance order against Homolka will ensure not only the safety of the public, but also of Homolka herself.
"Our responsibility in pursuing a recognizance order is to ensure that the justice system does something to ensure that in fact we don't have mob rule," Michael Bryant said.
"We have been able to obtain a set of conditions to ensure that we can monitor and we can ensure that we can protect the public and that we can prevent any harm from taking place after she's released."
Friday's ruling came after an extraordinary two-day hearing that saw Homolka step into the public eye for the first time since 1995, when she testified at Bernardo's first-degree murder trial in the deaths of French and Mahaffy.
That testimony came after Homolka secured a deal that saw her agree to plead guilty to two counts of manslaughter and serve 12 years in prison in exchange for her testimony against Bernardo, a man she depicted as a violent and controlling psychopath.
Homolka secured her deal before Crown officials were made aware of videotapes made by the couple that depicted the vicious rapes and torture of both French and Mahaffy - evidence that depicted Homolka as Bernardo's willing accomplice.
But it was Crown officials who made the mistake of offering Homolka the deal in the first place, when they already had enough evidence to ensure she'd be convicted, said Stephen Williams, the author of two best-selling books on the case.
Williams said the section of the Criminal Code used to place restrictions on Homolka, Section 810, didn't exist in 1993 when she made her so-called "deal with the devil" with Crown officials.
"I think this outcome is outrageous, and I think it's absurd," Williams said. "I expected with this ruling, because I don't think we're dealing with profound legal minds at this level of the court system."
Christine's Note - Karla remains where she should - in spite of legal plea bargains/immunity for Karla's testimony, the new evidence presented after her "deal" clearly indicate that she was an active participant in the muders and remains a danger to society. murders.
Thanks to CKNW - link below
http://WWW.CKNW.COM/news/news.cfm?dir=national&file=n06 03123A&n=1" title="http://WWW.CKNW.COM/news/news.cfm?dir=national&file=n06 03123A&n=1" target="_blank"http://WWW.CKNW.COM/news/news...
submitted by Christine
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| Censorship |
| 06.02.05 (10:40 pm) [edit] |
For more articles like this go to Books Reviews at http://www.swanktrendz.com
"How would you like if your son and daughter had to read this?" Miss Hunsicker asked.
Then she began to recite from "The Buffalo Tree," a novel set in a juvenile detention center and narrated by a tough, 12-year-old boy incarcerated there. What she read was a scene set in a communal shower, where another adolescent boy is sexually aroused.
"I am in the 11th grade," Miss Hunsicker said. "I had to read this junk."
Less than an hour later, by a unanimous vote of the board (two of its nine members were absent) "The Buffalo Tree" was banned, officially excised from the Muhlenberg High School curriculum. By 8:30 the next morning all classroom copies of the book had been collected and stored in a vault in the principal's office." - from The New York Times
Okay, I don't know if teachers should have forced this book onto the reading list, but the overreaction is just too much. The school board could have removed the book from the reading list without banning it from the school library when they first considered this student’s (and parent's) request.
Submitted by The Political Heretic
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| Sexual Orientation and Fruit Flies |
| 06.02.05 (10:38 pm) [edit] |
For more articles like this go to Odds & Ends at http://www.swanktrendz.com
Here's an interesting article concerning the sexual orientation of fruit flies and the scientists' perhaps successful attempts to manipulate sexual orientation through gene manipulation. Gay rights activists will of course point to it in order to prove what (to many of us) is obvious - that sexual orientation is not a choice. But conservatives (after first denying any comparison between humans and fruit fries in this matter) will probably look to the future and ask if gene manipulation could be used to wipe the gay orientation out of human existence in the future.
Don't expect any changes in opinions based upon this study
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/03/science/03 cell.html?hp&ex=1117857600&en= e3e9903a5da949cb&ei=5094& partner=homepage" title="http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/03/science/03 cell.html?hp&ex=1117857600&en= e3e9903a5da949cb&ei=5094& partner=homepage" target="_blank"http://www.nytimes.com/2005/0...
Submitted by The Political Heretic
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| Science Geeks Alert - open house |
| 06.02.05 (5:25 pm) [edit] |
The physics department of the University of British Columbia is holding an open house this Saturday (June 4, 2005). I definitely want to see the TRIUMF cyclotron particle accelerator in action. And if I can get out of bed early enough, the Klinck supercomputer centre sounds like fun, too.
You can also see incoming images from the MOST and Hubble telescopes, a real live nanotech lab, attend lectures on string theory, etc.
Have fun!
A suitably stark web page can be found here (and note that the URL is case-sensitive - always a good indication of a UNIX server):
Link: http://www.physics.ubc.ca/Ope...
submitted by Terry
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| Stem Cell Debate Will Move to States |
| 06.01.05 (10:05 pm) [edit] |
President George W. Bush has threatened to veto a bill that would loosen funding restrictions on embryonic stem cell research. But the real battle will take place within the fifty states. The conservative-leaning midwestern and southern states will probably oppose stem cell research funding, and we possibly will see state legislatures pass bills barring that research (or at least the funding for that research). However, we are seeing other states move in the other direction as they compete for the scientists involved in this research.
In last year's state elections, California voters passed an initiative that committed the state to a $3 billion bond (and another $3 billion to pay off the interest) for stem cell research, and the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine was established to oversee research funding and establish research guidelines. Connecticut joined California in this race for research this week when the state House of Representatives passed a bill allocating $100 million for stem cell research over the next ten years. The state Senate already passed the bill and Connecticut Governor M. Jodi Redell said she will sign the bill once it reaches her desk.
Massachusetts has not yet passed a bill to fund stem cell research yet so, technically, the state has not yet taken a stand on stem cell research, but it nevertheless took an important preliminary step when its legislative branch overrode Governor Mitt Romney's veto and shifted decisions regarding stem cell regulations from the local district attorneys to the state's health officials.
Meanwhile, in New Jersey, Acting Governor Richard J. Codey is proposing a $380 million project. The state would spend $150 million to build a research center in New Brunswick, but will let the voting public decide (through a referendum conducted in November) if it wants to spend the rest of the money.
Each initiative or bill must be decided on its own merits and its own moral considerations. New Jersey allows for stem cell research, but one columnist is concerned because his state's law could be interpreted in such a way as to allow the cloning of, and/or destruction of, fetuses for stem cell research. (I have in my last post on stem cell research suggested that we should respect a fetus' life rights since it is a sentient being, but this is a blastocyst and not sentient and therefore is deserving of much less consideration). Mr. Paul Mulshine says he spoke with a legislator who voted for the bill, stating his fellow legislators would pass a law prohibiting that practice. But as of yet nothing has been done.
Fetal research would presumably be forbidden in Connecticut because the law specifically prohibits researchers from growing embryos past fourteen days or implanting them.
In one sense, Mr. Mulshine is correct. Those suffering from disease will fight for any medical treatment or research that would help them, and given that cloning research is now within reach, they will question why we should prohibit stem cell extraction from human fetuses when that technology exists, and wait for the less certain embryonic stem cell extraction. South Korean scientists have announced that they have successfully cloned an embryo and the British continue their experiments now that they have successfully cloned Dolly the sheep.
The slippery slope argument does not apply here for there is a reasonable, principled, moral distinction between the killing of organism that is sentient and one that is not. Those of us who support this research will have to make that case and draw the line if and when the advocates push for research involving futher-developed embryos or fetuses.
Submitted by The Political Heretic
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| T-Shirt Freak |
| 06.01.05 (9:28 pm) [edit] |
For more fun articles like this, go to http://www.swanktrendz.com
I'm a t-shirt freak.
I love t-shirts. If I could wear only t-shirts everyday for the rest of my life, I would. Not just any t-shirts (though there is something about a chlorox-smelling white fruit of the loom t-shirt that sets my heart aflutter). I really love cool, unique, outrageous, funny, strange, vintage, and sometimes dirty t-shirts.
I have a vintage Osmond Brothers 4th of July Concert t-shirt.
I also have a t-shirt that says "Go Bears!" from Berkley that I like to wear when Ted and I go to Bear bars.
I have a vintage Debbie Gibson t-shirt
I have a t-shirt with a picture of a cowboy on it (it's a reprint of a pulp novel from the 50s) and it says "The gay bandit of the border"
I have a motley crue t-shirt
I have a t-shirt with an artist's rendering of Yanni on it
I have a t-shirt with a gold horse on it and over the horse is a splash of graffiti
Anyway, the reason I'm saying all of this is because in a recent online search I've come across the COOLEST t-shirt SITE!! has anyone heard of them before?
Threadless.com?
It's a site where they have new, unique, funky t-shirts for very cheap and only a handful of each are made. Even better-- you can submit your own designs and vote on designs by other people.
"Threadless is an ongoing tee shirt design competition. Designs are put into the running to be scored for 7 days. After those 7 days high scoring designs are chosen to be printed and sold from our shop section!"
There's a recent design winner that you can buy (Darth Vadar). And they're having a $10 sale right now!
They also have a year-long t-shirt club where they send you one t-shirt of your choice a month.
Sounds like heaven.
check them out.
http://www.threadless.com/" title="http://www.threadless.com/" target="_blank"http://www.threadless.com/
Posted by Rob Williams
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| Basnd Alert - Architecture in Helsinki |
| 06.01.05 (7:31 pm) [edit] |
I have this friend from the photocopy room, a very hip young guy who recommended the band 'Architecture in Helsinki' to me. So I finally looked them up, and waddaya know - they just were here in Vancouver Tuesday night at the Media Club, and I was at home sick with the flu! What terribly bad timing!
Anyway, 'Architecture in Helsinki' is currently on tour in North America now until the end of June in support of their latest album, ' In Case We Die' (on Bar-None). Dr. Dog and Head of Femur open for them.
And who are Architecture in Helsinki? Well, here's a list of interesting factoids:
1. they are from Australia (based in Melbourne)
2. they are an eight person ensemble, although for this latest album (their second), over 40 musicians contributed to the recording
3. they started out in high school as a teen funk/grunge band, added folk influences, and when frontman Cameron Bird spent time in the Pacific Northwest they further added a pop atmospheric sound, which has since morphed into their current 'Fickle Revolution' sound characterized by short, sharp, and catchy pop songs that borrow freely from other eras, employing a mix of styles and sounds
4. they list as their influences Os Mutantes, the Free Design (relatives of my husband, by the way!), '80s music, Marianne Faithful, and Brokeback, to name but a few
5. their live shows are energy extravaganzas, complete with instrument switching and mic-swapping (Bird has led audience members in workout sessions while riding an exercise bike on stage in previous shows); most of their songs are original, although they do the odd cover, too (Randy Newman and Roxy Music)
6. comparisons to bands like Fiery Furnace and The Arcade Fire are not uncommon.
Pitchforkmedia.com gave their album 'In Case We Die' a rating of 8.8 and described the band as complex and ambitious. Other adjectives that have been used to describe them are: experimental, spontaneous, shimmery, comic, arche, baroque, and dynamic. Their whimsy and the twists in their songs are frequently commented on, as is their referencing of other musical styles, sounds, and incarnations of pop music.
Their website describes the band as a "perfect line-up, an amalgamation of well-schooled and self taught, loose and tight, happy and sad, city kids and country folk. A group of people with influences and tastes spanning the last 183 years of pop music, coupled with the isolation of Australia."
So, definitely worth a listen, and if you can catch them live, do.
Lezah
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