Archive November 10 - 30 2002
Saturday, November 30
Well, the weathermen in our region have managed to get the details wrong on both snowstorms so far. Like a porn film gone horribly awry, the white stuff came harder, faster, and in greater quantity than forecasted. And today is supposed to be in the mid-40s. Anyone for a slushball fight?
More Life-Imitates-Pulp: Scientists now theorize that before all the stars in the universe ignited, there was a long cosmic winter, a galactic dark age full of exotic matter and violent upheavals. If that's not Lovecraftian enough, how about the recent strange Food of the Gods behavior of bees and giant jellyfish?
Somebody has finally answered my prayers and posted a simple step-by- step photographic guide to creating male cleavage. No more wasted nights.
Wednesday, November 27
I'll probably skip making entries over the next few days. The extended Thanksgiving weekend is traditionally the most frantic period in broadcasting as all the holiday shopping ads start running. I've worked every turkey day for the last decade so I occasionally get a tad depressed this time of year. As I don't get to see my family I'll celebrate with a pot of turkey chili and a bottle of wine. We're expecting our seminal winter precipitation here in the northeast this weekend, which means everyone driving will be mysteriously transformed into a complete imbecile. Be careful out there.
There has been some buzz going around about the website Show Me Your Wound. I can unconditionally say that I will probably be sending them photos soon. I have matching scars on the back of each hand, a 25 year old wad of sub-dermal pencil lead lodged in my shoulder, and the remnants of a few minor injuries. I'll show them to anyone at the drop of a hat.
Tuesday, November 26
Microsoft is releasing more details on its planned Surrogate Brain. Nothing mind-blowing, mostly a dolled-up organizer. Still, could be cool.
Steven Soderbergh apparently doesn't think Solaris is a science fiction story. Wow. I'm certain Stanislaw Lem is relieved to hear that his tale of a shapeshifting telepathic planet-sized lifeform, the torturous limitations of the human psyche, and how man mentally adapts to environments and entities completely outside the realm of experience is in reality "a love story with all these issues sort of wrapped around it."
Monday, November 25
British Pathe has established a very cool online archive where you can stream and download old movie newsreels. You can also order certain stories on tape. I love old newsreels, especially the enthusiastic voice over narration. News just isn't fun anymore.
The mighty King Crimson are holding a captioning contest for their current EP Happy With What You Have To Be Happy With. Also, Crim alum Greg Lake has a spiffy new website.
Rolling Stone, the grandfather of all shitty music magazines, has posted a thoroughly nauseating feature called Women Who Rock! full of some really bad performers (although they did list Joni Mitchell). I think I can safely say that Cher has never "rocked" at any point in her career. Here's a top-of-my-head list of extremely talented female bands, singers, and musicians who have managed to keep music interesting and, surprise surprise, didn't make Rolling Stone's cut:
And so on and so on...
Sunday, November 24
I am battling a tenacious cold, so I'm a little cranky. Had planned on going to the Super Mega Fest in Boston and hanging out with friends Lee and Dave as a reward for finishing my holiday shopping, but chose to rest up instead. I did, however, begin archiving older entries on this page, so the weekend's not wasted.
Friday, November 22
They are killing each other in Nigeria over comments made made about the Miss World pageant. What was I saying the other day about a "cognitive divide?" Governments that allow this magnitude of stupidity to occur in their nations should be dismantled by force. Sorry guys, you had a go at it, but we have to draw the line at killing someone over a big ticket cheesecake show.
Thursday, November 21
In similar news several articles have popped up concerning the upcoming attempt at creating "designer life." This comes at almost the exact time that Microsoft announces plans to build a "surrogate brain." (insert techie joke here). These two tropes of science fiction have always struck me as not only inevitable, but overdue. I expect a day when a certain percentage of folks live in super-bodies with intelligence and memory capabilities off the scale. Just look at this story about the new World's Fastest Computer (scroll down). Of course, this all should have happened decades ago. Now that it's fast approaching, some idiots are warning against a cultural "Cognitive Divide" (free registration required)
Wednesday, November 20
Figures.com reports that the country of Greece has banned the popular Living Dead Dolls from being sold. Apparently Greek children, after being introduced to ouzo and sweet wine at the age of 8, can't possibly handle the cross-breeding of the abhorant concept of "cute" with cartoonish horror. I can only imagine the Greek culture-police's reaction to the Toxic Teddies, especially the one who's "into leather" and the one that's just slit its wrists.
Sean Nelson has penned a funny piece for the local Seattle paper The Stranger covering some basic rules of grammar. It made me wince with guilt more than once. Grammar is my weak point, moreso than spelling. Copious errors of both are noticable on this site more often than I care too admit. This page tends to suffer the most damage as the text function of the Homestead template doesn't have a spelling and grammar checker. When possible I write in Microsoft Word and then transfer the text to here. I know, I know, I should use a more advanced page builder.
My main problem is that I think faster than I type, and try drafting terse and effective sentences instead of well-executed ones. I am fortunate to have an english teacher for a girlfriend, one who is always willing to take her relentless red pencil to my words with relish and, if I'm not mistaken, an evil grin on her face.
Tuesday, November 19
ho ho ho He He He HA HA HA: John Lennon's stashbox is being auctioned off.
Sunday, November 17
Wired.com once again displays its irrelevence in the marketplace of ideas with a story on the shocking fact that certain photos of politicians in less-than-competent situations may be fakes. This brilliant piece of deductive reasoning comes only two months after Snopes broke the same story. The piece attempts to make the point that parodies affect the way people view politicians (as opposed to the politicians being parodies themselves) and lays full blame on the Photoshoppers who create these images. I guess expecting critical thinking skills on the part of the populace is just too outrageous a concept. In the meantime tens of thousands of pairs of jaundiced eyes fall upon sites like Truthorfiction.com, Hoaxbusters, and Purportal (with its wonderful Links section) to confirm and validate their cynicism. You should too.
Friday, November 15
May you live in interesting times:
Damn, another great Star Trek writer has died. Hilary Bader worked on ST:tNG and was a driving force behind the best episodes of Batman Beyond. Our chances of ever getting a good Trek series again are dwindling.
In the meantime, word has come down that Lucasfilm intends to produce a Clone Wars animated series. Hopefully Mr. Lucas watched Justice League: The Savage Time and picked up some pointers on how to make an epic story with multiple sub-plots work in the short form without confusing the living fuck out of the viewer. Feh! Who am I kidding?
It has also been announced that there will be a, dare I speak it, a Godzilla Vs. Gamera film! AAAAAAAHRGH! Dopamine floods my forebrain!
Wednesday, November 13
I intend to risk garnering the contempt of all my friends and aquaintances by having all my holiday shopping done by this weekend. It will involve much coffee and a steely resolve. After that I will tap my spent, fevered mind for this year's Holiday card.
And speaking of stupid, how shallow, soulless, and conceited is this guy?
Futurism has a face: Natasha Vita More has been getting a lot of mainstream press lately. I just saw her on a TLC evolution special this week.
Monday, November 11
Sunday, November 10
Went to see the California Guitar Trio at the Hooker Dunham Theater in Brattleboro. The show was great, but I experienced a mild sense of displacement watching it. Although CGT plays a lot of classical music, they have always fallen into the "prog rock" category. When I've seen the band in the past it has always been in the company of a large "prog" crowd, such as this past spring when they shared a bill at The Middle East with The Flower Kings. Their show in Brattleboro, however, was a distinctly "art-snob" event: lots of handsome women and non-threatening men in cable-knit sweaters and organic fibers, bearing a generalized prevailant attitude that they are somehow the annointed ones for supporting the arts. Prog fans (including myself) tend to be an arrogant lot, but this was a different flavor altogether.
Compare and contrast that with this image from the CGT roadcam page featuring the ungainly form of yours truly (in shorts, no less) cheering from the bar at New Haven's late, lamented Tune Inn.
I'm going to the Frank Black show tonight to cleanse my pallete.
