Jonathan's Journal

A Movie A Week - Week 4: Red Tails

2012-01-29T20:27:00.001-06:00

Theater: AMC Discover Mills 18
Snack: Hot dog and Coke

The critics have not been kind to this movie. It's currently sitting at 35% on Rotten Tomatoes. Maybe critics were looking for a weighty drama about the Tuskegee Airmen. This is not that movie, but it is by no means a bad movie. I found it to be a fun, if conventional, blockbuster-style film. The dogfights, particularly, were exciting. I thought the performances were generally pretty good, though whoever gave Cuba Gooding, Jr. that pipe as a prop probably regretted it. The man could not stop playing with the thing and it was a very distracting whenever he was on screen. Between actors and director, there were quite a few veterans of "The Wire" involved in this film, which is a good think as far as I'm concerned.

The story was fine, a good entertainment. However, the dialogue was a bit on the hammy side. To me, it also felt like this movie had a late-'80's/early-'90's vibe. I can't put my finger on why, and it is neither a good nor a bad thing as far as I'm concerned, I just found it interesting. I think the critics have been unfair to "Red Tails." It's not a great film, but it is an entertaining one.

A Movie A Week - Week 3: The Iron Lady

2012-01-22T21:29:00.001-06:00

Theater: AMC Discover Mills 18
Snack: Hot dog and Coke

I had hoped, when I decided to go and see "The Iron Lady," that I would be seeing the story of the rise to power of a significant 20th century political figure. Or maybe the story of a woman's rise in a traditionally male world. These were not really the stories this movie was interested in telling. Instead, a lot of time was spent chronicling the mental decline of Thatcher in her later years. Between that and scenes from her marriage, there didn't seem to be much time left to spend on her time in government. Unfortunately, I just didn't find the story that was told to be all that compelling. Honestly, it played like paint-by-numbers Oscar-bait. Margaret Thatcher was a controversial figure during her time in office who aroused both passionate opponents and equally passionate defenders. Here, though, it was as if the filmmaker was not sure how she felt about Thatcher as a political figure and so chose to just gloss over that part of her life.

The acting was uneven in places. Streep was fine, of course, but I found the performance of the actress playing young Margaret Thatcher to be a bit overwrought. Problematic performances combined with an overblown musical score make the whole production seem rather ham-handed. Surely there is much richer dramatic material to be found in the life and career of Margaret Thatcher, if only the filmmakers had tried harder to find it.

A Movie A Week - Week: 2: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

2012-01-15T23:01:00.003-06:00

Theater: Regal Mall of Georgia 20
Snack: None

I've never read the John le Carré novel or seen the mini-series starring Alec Guiness, so I walked into this movie cold. I think I may have benefited a bit from not knowing the details of the plot beforehand, I was learning things as the characters were and I was riveted. I would be interested to hear the reactions of those who were familiar with previous versions of the story. What I did know going in, was that it stars Gary Oldman (who is awesome) and that it's about Cold War spying (which is fascinating). This isn't action-movie, James Bond type spying, this is the talk-y, think-y, spying-as-chess-game type of spying. The story had my full attention for its entire running time. The performances were fantastic across the board. Particularly noteworthy were the were Oldman, of course, and Benedict Cumberbatch, who I mainly knew from the BBC's recent "Sherlock" series and who I almost didn't recognize thanks to the dramatically different look he sports in this film. I also have to offer special praise to the filmmakers for taking such a complicated story and managing to fit it into a little over two hours without making it hard to follow. I always felt like I knew how one scene connected to the next. To sum up, "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" is a fine film with some great performances; well worth seeing.

A Movie A Week - Week 1: The Adventures of TinTin

2012-01-08T12:53:00.000-06:00

I have decided that I want to make an effort to see more movies in the theater in 2012. I was inspired by the comments of one of the hosts of the iFanboy podcast who had set a similar goal for himself last year. I feel like I've been getting a bit lazy about going to the movies. Oh sure, I'll be going to see "The Dark Knight Rises," "The Avengers," and "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" in theaters, but every year there are great movies that pass me by because I can't get myself out to the theater to see them and I forget about them by the time they come to Netflix. So, I've set myself the challenge of seeing at least one movie a week in a theater in 2012 (because, really, the theater experience is a different, and I think better, experience than the home viewing experience). Without further ado, on to week one:

Movie: The Adventures of TinTin
Theater: AMC Discover Mills 18
Snacks: M&Ms and a Coke

I have no preexisting connection to the TinTin comics to drive me to see this movie. It was the creators involved that made this movie so enticing. The behind the scenes creative talent links this film to such greatness as The Lord of the Rings trilogy (Peter Jackson, producer), the Indiana Jones films (Steven Spielberg, director), Doctor Who (Steven Moffat, writer), and Shaun of the Dead (Edgar Wright, writer). With that kind of pedigree, how could I not want to see this movie. Fortunately, I feel like the movie lived up to the expectation of excellence this creative team inspired.

I do have a complaint, and that is with the animation style. I am not a fan. Specifically, I do not particularly like the strange merge of animation and live-action that has been scene previously in films like "The Polar Express" and the Jim Carrey-filled version of "A Christmas Carol" from a few years ago. There's just something vaguely creepy about the look of the characters. It's not all the time, but every so often it pops up and is really distracting, particularly when you see the realistic hands and cartoony face on a character. I think I would have preferred a more purely animated approach to this uncomfortable hybrid. That said, this all bothered me less and less as the movie went on and I got caught up in the story, which was a lot of fun. There is not a wasted frame of film and the story moves along at a brisk pace with some truly inventive action sequences. I found "The Adventures of TinTin" to be a great time at the movies and well worth the effort to see in a theater.

Declaring Myself

2011-11-01T23:15:00.000-05:00

I am back.

I am here with a specific intent.

I am here to declare my intention to participate in NaNoWriMo for 2011.

What is NaNoWriMo, you ask?

Well, mysterious voice in my head, it is National Novel Writing Month. The details are here.

Every year it rolls around and I toy with the idea of giving it a try, but always I find some excuse to not take part. This year I'm going to try. I may not complete a novel, but my writing needs a jump start and having a definite goal seems like a promising way to get that boost. So I'm dusting off an old story idea that I've never really gotten very far with and just writing. The polish and research can come later. The goal for now is to just write.

So, you may ask, how did the first day go? Well, I fell a little short of the 1,667 word daily goal I need to hit to reach 50,000 words by the end of the month. As of day one I am at 235 words. It's a start and it is 235 more words than I wrote yesterday. That is progress.

I'm Okay, You're Okay

2011-05-17T00:53:00.002-05:00

I've got hand it to Roger Ebert, he's got a real knack for posting things on his blog that make me want to post on mine. This time it's a post about the response to his "Thor" review. I'm always baffled by how mad some people get when someone doesn't like the movie or book or band or whatever that they love. It's natural to want to share the things you love with other people, I'm certainly guilty of pushing favorite movies or TV shows on friends. And in my younger, less rational days, I might have been just as militant about my passions, but as I've gotten older I've realized that everything doesn't have to be for everyone.

It so happens that I enjoyed "Thor". Roger Ebert didn't. That's cool. I know how I feel about the movie, I don't need it validated by someone else's opinion. That's not why I read Ebert's reviews and blog. I read it because I find how he writes and thinks about film to be interesting. That doesn't mean I have to agree with every word he writes.

Are Video Games Art?

2010-04-24T09:00:00.000-05:00

In a recent blog post, Roger Ebert declares that video games can never be art. Now, I like Ebert, and while I don't always agree with his opinions, I do find his thinking on film to be interesting. This would be one of the times where I have to disagree.

Not only can games be art, but I'd argue that there's been art in video games for quite some time. Go back to some of the classic arcade games like Pac-Man or Donkey Kong, both very simple games, but how can you deny the artistry of the design. What about a puzzle game like Tetris, it took a great deal of imagination to create something that addictive. Is archetecture an art? I would say so, and I would argue that game design, both of the video and board/card variety is similarly an art.

I suppose we start to get into the bigger question of 'What is art?' here. Ebert seems to favor a more restrictive definition derived from the Greeks and influenced, I think, by auteur theory. I've always kind of thought auteur theory was bullshit, but that's a longer discussion for another time. At the same time, I have to admit that my definition of art might come across as a bit of a cop out, it's something akin to the old saw about pornography "I can't define it, but I know it when I see." So, while I'm forced to admit that Ebert's perspective, which makes his claim completely understandable, is a more mature and thoughtful conception of art, I can't help but find it a bit too inflexible for my tastes.

So far, I've only been discussing the art found in the mechanics of games. Some games today have strong stories to go along with the game mechanics. Ebert suggests that games that tell stories are no longer really games. This seems like a semantic hand-wave to dismiss counter examples to his argument without actually evaluating them. I would use the examples of the Mass Effect games. Both games have very strong stories, to the extent that I found that they elicited an emotional response (admittedly, I'm a pretty easy mark for emotional manipulation), which to me would seem to be a mark of art. And yet, I don't think that you can argue that they are games. The decisions made by players affect how the story unfolds, and it is certainly possible to "lose" the game by dying (though you are allowed to go back to the last save point).

So, are games art? I'd say yes, but ultimately it is probably more a question of semantics than anything else and as such has no definitive answer.

Long time, no write . . .

2009-11-27T21:55:00.002-06:00

Wow, it's been May since I last updated this thing. I guess the bloom has kind of fallen off the rose for me on the whole blogging thing. Still, I feel like I should be doing something with this thing. I'm just not sure what.

I've got a couple of ideas, so hopefully I'll get something more interesting up in the next few days. This entry is really mostly about saying, "Watch this space."

Random Video: Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

2009-05-27T14:57:00.002-05:00

So, I'm really looking forward to the arrival of this movie next year, but it wasn't anything about the movie that caught my attention when I watched this video diary. I was shocked to see how young Edgar Wright looks. I was expecting this grizzled filmmaker. Maybe balding, maybe a little bit of a paunch on him. Turns out the guy, who according to IMDB is older than me, looks like he's still sixteen or seventeen. Weird.

500 Days of Summer

2009-05-13T23:18:00.006-05:00

I happened across this trailer for "(500) Days of Summer". I love that it's made up of still images spliced together to show movement (Okay, I suppose that's what all movies ultimately are, but you know what I mean). I also love the song in the trailer. Apparently it's titled "Sweet Disposition" and it's by a band named Temper Tramp. Hadn't heard of them before I saw the movie, but I'll be keeping an ear out for them now.

I did get a chance to see this movie last month at the Atlanta Film Festival and I loved it. It is easily my favorite movie of the year so far (sorry Star Trek, it was very close, though). I'll drop in the regular trailer, too, just in case you want to get more of an idea of what the film is about.

Frame & Sequence

2009-04-23T08:00:00.000-05:00

I've recently begun converting my old slides, taken for a college class called Frame & Sequence, into digital files. These were taken in the fall/winter of 1995 in New York City. I really liked the photo I've got posted above. The others are of varying quality (a few blurry ones to be sure). I've put the first of many sets up on my Flickr account. Feel free to take a look.

Haiku Book Review - Rocket Man by William Elliott Hazelgrove

2009-04-03T09:00:00.002-05:00

A well written book,
Tale of suburban ennui.
I quite liked this book.

Haiku of the Week: Time

2009-03-09T08:00:00.000-05:00

Daylight Savings Time.
A twice annual hassle;
Time to spring forward.

I Watched the Watchmen

2009-03-08T08:00:00.000-05:00

I've been eagerly awaiting the arrival of this film since seeing the trailer last summer. Well, it has arrived, and while I think the movie has its flaws, overall I enjoyed it very much.

My primary complaint is one that I've been anticipating since seeing that first trailer. What's with all the slow-motion? The use of slow-motion in various places throughout the movie was a stylistic choice that I found a little annoying. To be fair, it didn't bother me quite as much as I would have expected, but still, I could have done without it. I also felt that the pacing of the movie got a little bogged-down in the middle section. This is where I think the reviewers who have complained that the movie was too faithful to the book may have a point, because there are places where the pacing feels more like that of a 12-issue comic series than of a 2-hour (or whatever) movie.

Those complaints aside, however, I'm very pleased with how the movie turned out. The cast was spot on and the art direction and costumes were great. I have to give credit to director Zack Snyder (and whoever else may be responsible) for the biggest deviation from the original story. Without getting into spoiler territory, I think the change in the ending works quite well, and I think I may even prefer it to the original (maybe, I'm still working it over in my mind).

The movie certainly matches the source material for denseness (in a good way), so much so that it will probably only be after additional viewings that I'll be able to solidify my thoughts on it. As I said, I definitely enjoyed it, though I'm not sure I'd recommend it to anyone who hasn't already read the book. If you have read and enjoyed it, then the movie is probably worth a look.

Haiku of the Week: Clog

2009-03-02T08:00:00.000-06:00

The snot clogs my nose.
Sniffle, cough, cough, I am sick;
Head colds do so suck.

Haiku of the Week: Sleepless

2009-02-23T08:00:00.000-06:00

Brain will not turn off;
Sleep will not be forthcoming.
Put time to good use.

Customer Survey

2009-02-18T23:48:00.002-06:00

I was catching up on my "This American Life" podcast episodes, and came across this one from January 2nd. The final act of the show was about a salesman who, as part of an exercise from some training seminar, had his wife complete a brand marketing survey about him (I'd encourage you to listen to the show, my crappy description is not doing it justice).

I liked this idea. So I decided to post a customer satisfaction survey. Being lazy I just found a generic one on the web and replaced the product name with my name. I encourage any family, friends, and random Internet wackos who feel so inclined to fill it out.

Part One: Product Overview

1) What do you consider to be the best aspects of Jonathan?

2) What do you consider to be the worst aspects of Jonathan?

3) Please rate the following features of Jonathan, with 5 being the highest rating and 1 being the lowest:

Attractive Appearance
Helpful User Documentation
Great Customer Satisfaction
Customer Service Support Staff
Low Cost

Part Two: Product Usage

4) How many times a week do you use Jonathan?

Hundreds of times a week
More than 100 times a week
More than 10 times a week
More than once a week
Less than once a week

5) Did you own any previous models of Jonathan?

Part Three: Product Expectations

6) All of us here at Jonathan's Journal want to know if Jonathan has met your person-related expectations. Please choose from the following selections:

Jonathan has greatly exceeded my expectations
Jonathan has slightly exceeded my expectations
Jonathan has met my expectations
Jonathan has fallen short of meeting my expectations
Jonathan has completely failed to meet my expectations.
Other:

7) If Jonathan failed to meet your expectations, could you please tell us what the problems are?

8) I would recommend Jonathan to others.
Strongly Disagree
Disagree
Undecided
Agree
Strongly Agree

Haiku of the Week: Game

2009-02-16T08:00:00.000-06:00

Playing the long game;
It must be done with great care.
Will I have patience?

A geeky internet quiz after my own heart

2009-02-11T23:18:00.003-06:00

I found this post over at Newsarama. Someone created a quiz inspired by the story arc running through the Green Lantern books. Which Lantern Corps wants you? As a lifelong GL-nerd I was gratified to get Green Lantern Corps as my result, though I would have expected to be more of a Blue Lantern. For those not in the know, here are the different colors and what they're supposed to represent:

Green - Willpower
Blue - Hope
Yellow - Fear
Orange - Greed
Red - Anger
Indigo - Compassion
Violet - Love
Black - Death

Haiku of the Week: Late

2009-02-10T14:46:00.002-06:00

I am a day late,
But I have come now to post.
A deadline was missed.

Haiku of the Week: Sleep

2009-02-02T16:56:00.000-06:00

I am so sleepy;
My eyes will not stay open.
I need a long nap.

Words & Pictures No. 9: To Do

2009-01-29T17:07:00.003-06:00

Wow! I can't believe how much I've managed to accomplish today.

Everyday I make a To Do list with the things I need to work on. It's usually about as long as this one and I usually only get a third of the way through it at best. Stuff I don't get done gets rolled over to the next day. But today . . . I've been energized. Focused even. I am getting stuff done. I may actually manage to complete the list today!

Hm . . . What'll I do tomorrow?

Haiku of the Week: Simple

2009-01-26T21:17:00.002-06:00

Nothing is simple,
Excepting for me that is.
I wish that were true.

Words & Pictures No. 8: Inauguration

2009-01-22T22:11:00.003-06:00

Watched the inauguration and am unbelievably happy and hopeful about the new administration. President Obama is entering office with an unprecedentedly high approval ratings(well, I suppose Washington might have been more popular, but they didn't poll quite as obsessively back then). I hope he doesn't waste it. He's off to a good start by mandating the closure of Guantanamo. I'm waiting to see what's next.

Candy

2009-01-19T21:56:00.001-06:00

Two, three, not enough;
Four, five, six, I still want more.
Seven, I feel sick.

Words & Pictures No. 7: And You Thought You Had A Crappy Job

2009-01-15T21:24:00.003-06:00

I'm forced to wonder, how do you end up as the guy that sticks his upper body up an elephant's rear end? Is it something you have to go to school for? And what does that want ad look like?

Haiku of the Week: Mail

2009-01-12T16:01:00.001-06:00

A big heavy box,
Must go to the post office.
Pity the mailman.

Words & Pictures No. 6 - The Mating Habits of the Arctic Pygmy Snowman

2009-01-08T21:26:00.002-06:00

Like salmon swimming upstream to spawn, every January the Arctic Pygmy Snowman heads south. Furthur and further south the snowmen march stopping only once they have reached a climate warm enough to begin melting their frosty epidermis. It is here that the snowmen begin to reproduce. For many years it was a mystery how this reproduction took place, but scientists now theorize that the evaporating snowman epidermis rises into the upper atmosphere where it mingles with the evaporate of other snowmen. Wind currents blow the vapor northward where it eventually comes down as frozen precipitation. This snowy residue builds up and is eventually formed into a new snowman. From there, the cycle continues.

Look Who's Been Knighted

2009-01-07T09:50:00.003-06:00

How did I miss this news. Sir Terry Pratchett, how awesome is that (and if you don't know how awesome that is, then you clearly haven't read any of the Discworld books, so you should get right on that)?

Of course, the article isn't all good news. Apparently Sir Terry was recently diagnosed with a form of early-onset Alzheimer's (another bit of news that I appear to have missed).

So, to recap: Ridiculously happy about knighthood but very sad about the Alzheimer's.

Haiku of the Week: Patience

2009-01-05T15:54:00.001-06:00

Wait. I hate to wait;
What I want I want right now.
I have no patience.

Resolved

2009-01-04T20:39:00.002-06:00

So, the new year has begun. It is traditional, on the occasion of a new year, to make a list of New Year's Resolutions. I'm generally not one for this particular tradition, but, in the interest of creating content for this very blog, I suppose I can give it a go.

1. Find a new job. This is less a resolution than it is an imperative. Unemployment/underemployment ceased being fun a while back, so it's time to find a paying gig.

2. Finish something (writing-wise). I'm great with beginnings and okay with middles. It's the endings where I run into trouble. I can never seem to get to them. I'm going to try and be more disciplined this year and try to finish at least one of the many unfinished projects I've got lying around.

3. Learn to cook . . . something. I've become convinced that I would eat healthier if I knew how to cook actual food rather than reheat the frozen stuff that I eat way too much of. Couple that with my recent fascination with reality/cooking shows like Kitchen Nightmares and Top Chef and I think that maybe I'd like to be able to cook.

4. Renew my love of film. In recent years, while I've kept up with the big studio releases pretty well, I haven't ventured much out of that catagory. I need to reconnect with the independents, the foreign, and the classics.

There's a good list. It remains to be seen how well I'll do with it.

Words & Pictures No. 5 - A New Year

2009-01-01T21:23:00.004-06:00

The image of the baby New Year and the elderly Old Year is a weird one. Anthropomorphising a concept like time just seems a little strange, but if you think about it the metaphor does hold up (at least in my hemisphere.

So, a year has a 12 month life-cycle. That first month is its infancy, so you can't really expect much from it, and January is kind of like that. The first half of it is largely just a holiday hangover, after all. And it's a cold month, and cold feels a little static, un-energetic; nothing's happening. February is the toddler month and the month where baby New Year learns to show affection (i.e. Valentine's Day). March and April would be adolescence and the teenage years respectively. As rainy as April is reputed to be, that would tend to fit with the idea of the moody teenager. Then comes May and New Year enters adulthood. June and July, summer months, would be New Year at it's prime.Not-so New Year starts to feel it's age starting in August and in September it notices that it's hair (i.e. foliage) is starting to change color and/or fall out. October the year sees its end approaching and begins to contemplate mortality (with Halloween). As the year winds down in November it is time to reflect on its life with gratitude (Thanksgiving). Then comes December where the weather's colder and the days are getting sholder, and then finally the life of the year ends on December 31st.

Of course, when one year dies, a new one is born. So really, when you think about it, a better metaphor for the change of the years would be the life of a phoenix rather than a human life span.

Haiku of the Week: Search

2008-12-29T20:52:00.001-06:00

Looking high and low;
But hidden my goal remains.
When will my quest end.

Things to Come

2008-12-28T21:48:00.002-06:00

In this post, I made reference for an idea for a Wednesday feature that I didn't plan to start before the new year. Well, New Year's is almost upon us, so I'll share my big idea. I was inspired by the "A Movie A Day" column over on Ain't It Cool News. In the interest of expanding my own movie knowledge, I'd like to do something similar. However, I don't have a massive collection of unwatched DVD's like that feature's writer, so I have to come up with another way to find movies. I've decided to start by looking at the winners of the Best Picture Oscar chronologically starting with 1929's "The Broadway Melody". Now, this isn't going to simply be a series of reviews (though I'm sure my opinion of the film will figure in). I hope to be able to discuss technical and storytelling aspects of the film as well as, maybe, introducing a little historical perspective. To this end, I've established a couple of rules for myself: first, I will watch each movie at least twice (which may prove to be more of a chore with some films). This is to ensure that I don't miss anything important and hopefully to keep outside influences from coloring my feelings toward the film. Second, I will refrain from multi-tasking while watching the movie. I have a bad habit when watching movies at home, of trying to do other things while I watch. When I do this, I usually end up missing small chunks of the movie and that would be counter-productive to my purposes here.

So, that's my plan. I'll start as soon as I get the chance to view "The Broadway Melody". I welcome any input anybody's got.

Movie Review: Seven Pounds

2008-12-27T21:09:00.003-06:00

I wasn't sure what to expect going into "Seven Pounds", largely because of how vague the ad campaing had been, but I did know that it had a solid cast. So, I went to see it.

It turns out that this is the sort of film that it's difficult to write about. I didn't hate it. It was entertaining enough and I didn't find myself checking my watch in the middle. However, I wasn't really engaged emotionally by the film either. Part of the problem is with the structure of the film. It begins with a scene that, chronologically takes place toward the end of the movie and the rest of the story is told in flashback. Unfortunately, this is not a story suited to this sort of structure. Too much is given away in that first scene, the trajectory of the main character made a little too obvious. It becomes an obstacle to any emotional investment in the character.

The other thing that the film was missing was a powerful score. Nothing can push emotional buttons quite like music, so a particularly moving score may have been able to compensate for the weaknesses created by the structure. Sadly, the music that was in the movie wasn't quite up to the job.

As I said at the top, "Seven Pounds" isn't a bad move, but niether is it an especially good one.

Words & Pictures No. 4 - Happy Thursday!

2008-12-25T08:00:00.000-06:00

Happy Thursday, everyone!

As you sit around your Thursday tree and open your Thursday gifts, it's important to remember the reason for our celebration, the birth of Thor. Thor, god of thunder, son of Odin, and wielder of mighty Mjolnir, we honor you on this holiest of weekdays.

Oh, and apparently it's Christmas, too. Merry Christmas!

Haiku of the Week: Christmas

2008-12-22T14:22:00.002-06:00

Hey Merry Christmas.
Time for family and friends,
Both here and absent.

Words & Pictures No. 3 - The Move

2008-12-17T21:51:00.003-06:00

That's my apartment building. Or rather, my former apartment building. At this moment (I wrote this thing ahead of time, you see) I am either in the process of loading up my moving truck or on the road heading for Atlanta. Unless, of course, you're reading this a few days after the fact, in which case I am already firmly ensconced back in Atlanta. Oh, and for those of you in 2015 reading this via the Internet Wayback Machine, I'm now back at home, recovering nicely for the injuries I recieved from the attack of the radioactive man-eating hamsters.

It's been a nice apartment for me. Not too big, not too small. Centrally located, so there were plenty of places to walk. Even the neighbor who liked to occasionally practice his guitar at 3 AM didn't sour the experience. I enjoyed my time there, and hope the next tenant enjoys it as much. But my New Orleans experience is at an end and it is back to Georgia for me. So, I just wanted to take a moment to say goodbye to my happy little apartment.

Scheduling Note

2008-12-16T21:30:00.002-06:00

Since I postponed the return of my fiction writing project until the new year I've notice that the only two things I've got scheduled currently are on Monday and Tuesday, which is making the week feel a little top-heavy content-wise. Therefore, I've decided to move Words & Pictures to Thursday, to space things out a bit better.

Haiku of the Week: Books

2008-12-15T16:50:00.003-06:00

Piles and piles of books.
More of them unread than read,
Hard to get packed up.

Words & Pictures No. 2 - Comic Book Inflation

2008-12-09T17:52:00.003-06:00

This is the first comic book that I remember owning (there may have been others before it, but it's the first I remember). G.I. Joe #14 has a cover date of August 1983. In the 25 years since (and the idea that I've been reading these things for 25 years is kind of mind-blowing to me) comic prices, like the prices for most things have gone up. Notice the price in the corner of $0.60 for this issue. The final issue of Secret Invasion, which came out last week, had a cover price of $3.99. That's quite an increase and has been a topic of conversation on various comics-related sites this week. The majority of the books from the big two publishers are still $2.99, but the move to $3.99 is coming and most small-press books already cost more than that.

I'll save the commentary, others have more than covered that, I just found it interesting to note how this once cheap and disposable form of entertainment is no longer either one.

Haiku of the Week: Yuck

2008-12-08T15:33:00.002-06:00

Slimy and ugly;
What is it even made from?
I cannot eat this.

December Frappr Update

2008-12-06T20:35:00.002-06:00

I seem to get a couple more pins in my map whenever I put it up, so here it is again. I'm up to 53, though there are a lot of unknown locations.

Return of 200 Word Writing Project Delayed

2008-12-05T17:42:00.003-06:00

I know, I know, I said I'd try to start back up today, but I find that I need a little more time to think about where I want to go with the story. To that end, I'm going to wait to start back up until after the new year.

Words & Pictures No. 1 - What's it all about

2008-12-02T14:17:00.002-06:00

Today's picture is one of me. That's because today's entry is going to be me explaining my intentions with my new Tuesday feature. The idea goes back a few years ago with an idea I had for an ongoing writing project. I would take a picture a day and write something about that picture (I was inspired by reading an interview with Christopher Nolan talking about his then new movie, Momento). Maybe it would be a story or a poem or an essay or even a short quip, something. As with most of my overly ambitious projects, I abandoned it fairly quickly. Still, I like the idea, so I intend to try to revive it here. Every Tuesday I'll post a picture along with some bit of writing that it has inspired from me. Hopefully, as with the haiku project, once a week will prove an easier timetable to sustain than once a day.

Oh, and I imagine this is the last time you'll see me put a picture of myself up.

>Looks at picture and shudders<

Haiku of the Week: Beginning

2008-12-01T14:02:00.002-06:00

Begin with step one.
It is an obvious start;
Sometimes skipped in haste.

The Plan

2008-12-01T00:55:00.002-06:00

Between the holidays, business, laziness, and a lack of inspiration, I've been neglecting my blog of late. I'm back now, and I've decided to create more of a structure for this thing. Partly as an excersise to see if I can operate under a set structure and set of deadlines, and partly because structure can help to bring my ideas of what to write into focus. Here's the new weekly schedule I'm going to try (TBD means To Be Determined, which means that I've got no idea what I want to do on that day yet.):

Sunday - TBD (Though I'm thinking I might use it to talk about interesting things coming up in the week)

Monday - Haiku of the Week - My Haiku of the Day blog becomes more inaccurately named by the day, so I think I'll just fold it into the main blog and cut back to once a week, a schedule I'll probably be better able to maintain.

Tuesday - Words and Pictures - I'll explain more about this idea on Tuesday.

Wednesday - TBD (I acutally have an idea for this, but it's a bit more time consuming, so I probably won't start before the new year).

Thursday - TBD

Friday - My 200 Word writing project which I will hopefully be able to start back this Friday.

Saturday - TBD

This plan probably seems a little gradiose for a simple blog without a whole lot of traffic, but really I'm much more interested in using this as an intellectual and creative excersise than as an online diary. To that end, I do welcome feedback. If there's something you want to see more of, let me know. If there's something you want to see less of, let me know that, too.

Like Looking in a Mirror . . .

2008-11-17T21:15:00.001-06:00

The Facts Are These . . .

2008-11-14T23:19:00.003-06:00

Well, rumor has it that "Pushing Daisies" is gone after the thirteen episodes ABC ordered for this season (I'll forgo the obvious death jokes). That's too bad, it was a really great show, though, admittedly it was probably a bit to quirky to survive on network television. Still, I'll definitely miss it. The good news is that, apparently, creator Bryan Fuller plans to wrap up the story in a comic (so I'll get some closure). The other bright side, if his earlier statements are true, Fuller will return to "Heroes" now that Daisies is cancelled; maybe he can help right the ship over there (though I'd much rather have new "Pushing Daisies").

Oh well, yet another show to add to the "Brilliant, but cancelled" list.

Musical Self-Analysis

2008-11-13T01:22:00.002-06:00

I was looking at the Recently Played list onmy iPod and I started to wonder what the songs I listen to say about me. So, let's take a look at the ten songs (because ten is such a nice round number) I've most recently listened to:

1) Young Folks by Peter, Bjorn, and John
2) Very Loud by Shout Out Louds
3) Heartbeats by Jose Gonzalez
4) When Did Your Heart Go Missing by Rooney
5) Stolen by Dashboard Confessional
6) Boe by The BBC National Orchestra of Wales
7) Falling Slowly by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova
8) American Girl by Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers
9) Maybe Katie by Barenaked Ladies
10) Eyes by Rogue Wave

So, what information can I gleen from this list? Well, numbers one through three speak to a recent fascination with Sweedish indie bands that goes back to an episode of Studio 360 from a few month back. Very Loud was also featured in ads for "Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist," a movie that I missed when it was in theaters, but that I very much want to see.

I have an embarassing admission to go along with number four. I, of my own volition, watched "Nancy Drew". And I don't mean just had it on in the background, I actually sat there and watched the thing. For those that are unaware, I'm not, in fact, a twelve year-old girl, yet I still sat there paying attention to this entire movie. As a mitigating factor, I did watch it on TV (going to a theater for it would have just been wierd). The movie ends, the credits start to roll and this song starts playing. It's catchy and the lyrics are slightly inappropriate for a kids movie, and so I make it a point to track it down.

Number six on the list tells us that I'm a gigantic nerd. But then we all already knew that, didn't we? It's a bit of score from Doctor Who, played most notably at the end of the thrid season finale.

Number seven is, of course, the Oscar-winning song from the movie "Once". I've mentioned before how fond I am of this song, so all I'll add is that I highly recommend the movie to everyone. The fact that I still have the song in heavy rotation over a year later perhaps speaks to my obsessive nature.

I feel like I've been programmed to like number ten; it's appeared on so many TV shows that I've watched in the last couple of years. I guess that means I'm highly impressionable.

No He Didn't!

2008-11-05T16:30:00.003-06:00

Hah! Okay, they got me. I like this, it even has a nice history lesson embedded in it. Kudos, Marvel, kudos. Now if you can only pick up the pacing on Secret Invasion.

Colbert Wins!

2008-11-05T15:18:00.003-06:00

So, apparently over in the Marvel Universe, Stephen Colbert (who's ironic and abortive real-world campaign was for real in the Marvel Universe) won yesterday's election. I'm not sure how I feel about this. Sure, in the moment it's silly fun and I'm sure it'll earn Joe Quesada another appearance on The Colbert Report (making it a great marketing tool), but long term, is this really the best thing for Marvel creatively?

In 2000, DC Comics had Lex Luthor win that year's presidential election (I'd say that a President Luthor would be an improvement over a President Bush, but Luthor did allow Topeka, Kansas to be destroyed by alien invaders, so that's one up for Bush (Oh, and Bush didn't have to be forcibly removed from office by the Justice League, so there's two for him)). I thought it was a great idea story-wise, but that's one of the main differences. DC's fictional president was elected as part of the ongoing story of the DC Universe. Marvel's fictional president is largely a stunt. The other difference goes to the difference between the Marvel and DC Universes. Marvel has always prided itself on trying to tie its world to the real world as closely as possible for a super-hero universe, so the president in the Marvel Universe has always been the same as the one in the real world. Major events in the real world reverberate in the Marvel Universe. Admittedly, it's a silly premise when you think about it too hard (given that the "realistic" Marvel Universe is currently in the midst of an alien invasion story), but it's part of the flavor of environment in which the stories take place. I guess my question is this, do the writers at Marvel really want to live with this long term? Will they or will it be quickly forgotten.

Okay, I'm devoting too much thought to this thing. It's just silly fun, so I'll just sit back and enjoy it.

Good News/Bad News

2008-11-04T22:55:00.003-06:00

Good News: President-Elect Obama. I've been an eager supporter of Obama from early on, but I hadn't realized how emotionally invested I was in his candidacy until the networks started projecting him as the winner. I got a real lump in my throat; seriously, this is the most emotional I've ever felt about the results of any election. There's probably more to say about it, but it's so new, I haven't completely gotten my mind around the reality of it yet. But really, how great is this: President-Elect Obama.

Edit: Stephen Fry's response on Twitter sums it up pretty well, "Malagasy people grinning from ear to ear. The world so wants to love America and now they can again."

Bad News: William Jefferson. How does this guy keep getting re-elected (okay, he just won the Democratic nomination tonight, but in this district, the Democrat is going to win). The feds found $90,000 in cash in the guy's freezer and is under indictment for corruption. That old Edwin Edwards quote seems to apply to Jefferson, too: "The only way I can lose this election is if I'm caught in bed with either a dead girl or a live boy".

Why?

Why vote for this guy? Yes, I understand that he hasn't been convicted of anything yet, but shouldn't we ask our leaders to avoid even the appearance of impropriety? (And honestly, is there any legitimate reason to store $90,000 in cash in your freezer?)

Sigh.

Random Video featuring "Vote for Lando"

2008-11-03T19:36:00.000-06:00

See more funny videos at Funny or Die

Farewell, Doctor

2008-10-30T17:09:00.004-05:00

Sad news.

David Tennant has announced that he won't be back as the Doctor when Doctor Who returns in 2010 (though he will return for the four specials scheduled to run through next year). I'm sorry to hear it as Tennant has become my favorite incarnation of the Doctor, and I'll miss him terrible when he leaves. Still, I see his point, better to go out on a high note that wait for everyone to get sick of you. He's right about something else, one of the most fun times to be a Doctor Who fan is when you know a new Doctor is coming. Let the speculation on the eleventh Doctor begin. One recent rumor involved an actor named Patterson Joseph, that's him below:

I've only seen him in a couple of things, so I can't speak to how good he'd be in the role, but I like the idea that the producers might be willing to go with a non-white Doctor. I'm sure it would be controversial, but really, the Doctor changes age, height, weight, eye and hair color, and personality with each regeneration, is skin color really that big of a deal?

At any rate, I look forward to Tennant's final four adventures as the Doctor and look forward to seeing what comes next for him and for Doctor Who.

Random Video featuring "Obama and Palin Rallies of Fear"

2008-10-28T13:00:00.000-05:00

Jumped the Shark?

2008-10-27T15:54:00.005-05:00

It's been fashionable since season two to dump on Heroes (for that matter, some folks started their griping as soon as the first season finale aired), and, of course, with that comes the inevitable (and cliched) question, has Heroes jumped the shark? While I don't think it's that bad, I do feel like something's missing from the show. After a promising start this season, the show has gotten bogged down in too many characters and too many of those characters making strange or stupid decisions. Entertainment Weekly has an article this week titled "'Heroes': Five Ways to Fix a Series in Crisis" detailing what the writer thinks should be done to return Heroes to form. Some suggestions I agree with, some I don't. Taking them point by point:

1. "Retire Some Capes"
Agreed. The cast as is, is too big. C'mon, they killed off Nikki last season, that was a good start as it both thinned the main cast as helped show that there are life or death stakes here. Unfortunately, the writers decided to bring the actress back as a new character, so it's all ended up as a wash. For my money, Tracy and Nathan are the easy picks for dead-weight. I've always kind of liked Suresh, but I think, with this season's story, his story is at an end. I do disagree with the article's suggestion to eliminate Parkman. I see Jeff Jenson's (the article's writer) point, the shows writers really don't seem to know what to do with the guy, and so he would logically be a good candidate to be cut, but I just really like the character so I'm going to ignore logic here. The indispensible core, I think, remains Peter, HRG, Hiro and Ando, and, maybe, Claire, though with Claire I think we again have a character that the writers aren't sure what to do with. As for Sylar, I've got mixed feelings. He's a great villain, but if he's to remain a villain, then maybe it's time to draw his story to a close. On the other hand, they seem to be trying to redeem him this season, which, if they'll commit to going down that road could make for an interesting turn. I've got a soft spot for redemption stories, so I hope this is where they're going with him. If he flips again, things could start to get repetitive, as every season seems to end up boiling down to "we've got to stop Sylar."

2. "Make the Heroes Smarter"
Yeah, agreed. One of the big problems with this season has been characters making inexplicably stupid decisions. The article hits the highlights.

3. "Get Back to the Heroes' Roots"
This one, I hadn't really thought about on my own, but now that I do I think there is some truth to it. When the show started it was about ordinary people coping with extraordinary abilities. Now it's about extraordinary people coping with shadowy conspiracies. Maybe it's time to give the Heroes a clean victory, end all the big, scary organizations, and return to real life. The motivating question then becomes, what now? That could be an interesting story arc.

4. "Get a New Bag of Tricks"
Fair enough. Let's have a moritorium on bleak futures for a bit, eh? And as much as I love the art of Tim Sale, maybe the next time we need a precognitive character they can manifest their ability in some way other than painting.

5. "Find a Big Vision - and Set an End Date"
This point I disagree with. The argument is to create a long term plan for the show mapping out a path to a definite conclusion, citing "Lost" as an example of this. There's a segment of genre fandom that tends to push this idea as being universally the way to go. I don't think so. Certainly some shows are suited to this type of long-term planning; I don't watch "Lost", but I would offer "Battlestar Galactica" as an example of a show that fits this model, as it's a show with a single question embeded in the premise. Therefore, the overall thrust of the show needs to be about answering that question. That's not true of "Heroes". "Heroes", I think, would be better served following the "Buffy" model of plotting out arcs by the season rather than trying to clearly map the series as a whole. This is sort of what they've been doing, they just need to up their game a bit.

So, with a few minor quibles, I'm generally in agreement with the article. That said, I'm still with "Heroes", I haven't contemplated jumping ship yet. Let's just hope things start to get better.

Meanwhile, in California . . .

2008-10-26T23:29:00.002-05:00

If you haven't been following the fight over the anti-gay marriage Prop 8 out in California, the New York Times has an interesting article about it. What particularly interested me, were three quotes from Prop 8 supporters buried in the middle:

“This vote on whether we stop the gay-marriage juggernaut in California is Armageddon,” said Charles W. Colson, the founder of Prison Fellowship Ministries and an eminent evangelical voice, speaking to pastors in a video promoting Proposition 8. “We lose this, we are going to lose in a lot of other ways, including freedom of religion.”

Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, a conservative Christian lobby based in Washington, said in an interview, “It’s more important than the presidential election.”

“We’ve picked bad presidents before, and we’ve survived as a nation,” said Mr. Perkins, who has made two trips to California in the last six weeks. “But we will not survive if we lose the institution of marriage.”

It's as if they're saying, should Prop 8 fail, the ground will open up and swallow up the whole country. The lack of perspective is breathtaking.

I've always been a bit puzzled as to why some people get so worked up over the idea of gay marriage. So a same-sex couple some where wants to get married, what of it? How does it affect the marriage of anyone else? I guess my question for the opponents of gay marriage is, why do you care?

Maybe the problem is that marriage is really two institutions in one. On the one hand, it's a civil distinction tying two people together for the purposes of taxes, property, decision making, etc. On the other hand it's a religious union (even for some non-religious folks, sort of like Christmas). Maybe the answer is to just get the government out of the marriage business altogether. We can just call the civil institution something else (there's always civil union, I suppose), and leave marriage up to individual religions (which would, of course, essentially mean that gay marriage would be available everywhere. It would only be a social convention, so there would be no one who would have the power to object to a same-sex couple having a wedding). And, of course, civil unions would be open to anyone. There, problem solved.

Yeah, yeah, I know, the right will never give up this particular political football. I guy can dream, though, can't he?

Oops!

2008-10-25T19:03:00.002-05:00

So, I missed my self-imposed deadline for the next installment of my story. >Sigh< And I was doing such a good job of keeping up with it until then. Oh, well, I'll just call it a little break and plan to be back on schedule next Friday.

Digital Comics?

2008-10-24T09:00:00.001-05:00

Blog@Newsarama posted about the Bone graphic novel being downloadable for the iPhone. While the iPhone doesn't much interest me as a piece of tech, the idea of portable, digital comics does. The trouble with physical comics is that they take up space (though, to be fair, that's really the main problem with everything in the analog world, isn't it?), so I would be really excited about the possibility of a high-quality, portable reader for e-comics. The iPhone doesn't seem to be ideal for this, the screen seems a bit small for it, but it is a step along the road and that I'm happy about.

E-readers have been around for a while; the latest entry in the field (I think) being Amazon's Kindle, which I've been drooling over for the past year (Oh, to have $360 to spend on a gadget). Still, while it looks like it would be great for reading books (and other plain text documents), the current incarnation isn't suitable for comics: no color. Still, I'd be interested in seeing how well the screen could render black and white comics.

Meanwhile, digital comics are already here. Aside from the less than legal downloads floating around the net, Marvel Comics has fully embraced digitizing their comics, offering online access to a large part of their back-catalog, and a few online-only comics, for a subscription fee. DC has been more resistant to offering their mainstream titles on line, but they do run Zuda Comics which is home to a lot of interesting webcomics.

So, I'm hopeful. Hopeful that all of these separate endeavors prove successful and pave the way for my dream gadget.

Random Video featuring Ron Howard for Obama

2008-10-23T17:50:00.001-05:00

With thanks to Occasional Superheroine for posting it first:

See more Ron Howard videos at Funny or Die

Advertising Atheists

2008-10-22T20:12:00.004-05:00

I really wouldn't have thought that atheists would go in for proselytizing, but according to The Guardian, some atheists in London have taken out some bus adverts:

Though, as Neil Gaiman points out on his blog, this particular message really seems more agnostic than atheist.

October Frappr Update

2008-10-21T23:23:00.001-05:00

I've seen a little activity on the map since the last time I put it up, so I figured I'd throw it up again and see if I can get any more pins.

Not sure why I find a Google Earth map with a bunch of digital pins in it so fascinating, but I do.

Bravo, General

2008-10-20T01:19:00.000-05:00

Colin Powell appeared on Meet the Press yesterday to endorse Obama. I'm certainly happy about that, but I'm even happier with a statement he made during the interview:

And it is permitted to be said such things as, "Well, you know that Mr. Obama is a Muslim." Well, the correct answer is, he is not a Muslim, he's a Christian. He's always been a Christian. But the really right answer is, what if he is? Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer's no, that's not America. Is there something wrong with some seven-year-old Muslim-American kid believing that he or she could be president? Yet, I have heard senior members of my own party drop the suggestion, "He's a Muslim and he might be associated terrorists." This is not the way we should be doing it in America. I feel strongly about this particular point because of a picture I saw in a magazine. It was a photo essay about troops who are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. And one picture at the tail end of this photo essay was of a mother in Arlington Cemetery, and she had her head on the headstone of her son's grave. And as the picture focused in, you could see the writing on the headstone. And it gave his awards--Purple Heart, Bronze Star--showed that he died in Iraq, gave his date of birth, date of death. He was 20 years old. And then, at the very top of the headstone, it didn't have a Christian cross, it didn't have the Star of David, it had crescent and a star of the Islamic faith. And his name was Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan, and he was an American. He was born in New Jersey. He was 14 years old at the time of 9/11, and he waited until he can go serve his country, and he gave his life. Now, we have got to stop polarizing ourself in this way. And John McCain is as nondiscriminatory as anyone I know. But I'm troubled about the fact that, within the party, we have these kinds of expressions.

It's what's been missing in the responses from both campaigns to the assertions that Obama is Muslim: "So what if he is?"

TV Review: Crusoe

2008-10-19T09:00:00.000-05:00

Friday, NBC premiered its new show, Crusoe. Apparently it's a limited run, thirteen hour series. If the first two hours are any indication, the remaining eleven won't be worth the trouble.

Last week, I read a commentary on Ain't It Cool News about the current state of Heroes. The writer brought up the idea of the "idiot plot" (a plot that only works because the characters behave like idiots). Crusoe seems to have fully embraced the "idiot plot." My favorite example of this comes near the end of the episode. The combined forces of the pirates and Spanish sailors lay siege to Crusoe and Friday in their massive tree fort (I'll talk more about this place later). I didn't count how many of these guys there were exactly, but they had to outnumber Crusoe and Friday by at least five to one. So, what's there plan for dealing with our heroes? Constructing a trebuchet and lobbing lit barrels of gun powder at them.

What could possible go wrong with a plan like that? Well, you've probably already guessed what goes wrong.

Now, I might just chalk this flawed planning to the bad guys just being stupid, but these are the guys that were able to construct a working trebuchet out of available materials.

Speaking of construction, lets talk about that tree fort Crusoe lives in. It appears to be a pretty impressive feat of engineering. It begs the question, if he's had the time, material, and know-how to build this thing, so why doesn't he just build a freaking boat and get off the island.

There are so many things that don't work with this program that I could keep going on and on, but I've already expended far too much thought on this show. I'll just leave it at this: If you've been waiting for a faithful adaptation of the novel, you'll be waiting a while longer.

Candidates Bring the Funny

2008-10-18T14:09:00.003-05:00

Both the presidential candidates, according to tradition, spoke at the Al Smith Dinner last week, and both gave pretty funny speeches. Who was funnier? You be the judge:

I think McCain's speech was probably a little funnier. It's a fine line to walk for a politician, to keep the jokes sharp enough to be funny, but not so sharp as to seem mean-spirited. I think McCain was a little more confident in his ability to walk that line, and so was able to push his speech into slightly funnier territory than Obama who seemed to be playing it a little more cautiously. Still, you've got to know that Obama got some laughs from me when he declared that he was born on the planet Krypton and sent by his father Jor-El to save the earth. That's some serious geek-cred he earned with that one and the MAD magazine reference.

200 Words: "Timelapse" Part 11

2008-10-17T16:37:00.002-05:00

Part 8
Part 9
Part 10

Jim left the bar and followed Carla to the table.

"Glad you decided to come," she said as they walked. "Thing Two's in kind of a funk tonight, so I can use the reinforcements."

"Sure," replied Jim, still distracted by his train of thought.

As they reached the table, Carla asked, "Oh, how's that story of yours coming?"

"What st-," Jim caught himself. "I mean, it's coming along fine. I actually wanted to talk to you about it." Acknowledging the other Jim, he added, "Hey, man."

Other Jim nodded glumly.

Jim leaned over to Carla and whispered, "What's with him?"

"He wouldn't tell me."

Jim really didn't remember much about Other Jim. Not surprising as they'd never been close.

"So," he said to Other Jim, "having a rough time of it, huh?"

Other Jim shot him a look that suggested that this was the stupidest question ever.

"Yep, bad times," Jim continued weakly.

"So," said Carla, "you wanted to talk about that story you were working on."

"Oh, um, we can talk about it later," Jim replied. "I'd hate to bore our friend here with it."

"Nonsense, Thing Two loves time travel stories."

"Time travel?" Other Jim asked, suddenly interested.

Lives on Mars

2008-10-16T22:13:00.002-05:00

Two episodes of the American version of Life on Mars have now aired. I didn't have much to say about the first episode, largely because it was pretty faithful to the first episode of the British series. I did really like the shot that established that Sam was in the past: the camera pulls back to reveal the World Trade Center in the background. That's the advantage of having the show take place in NYC; the British show had a similar shot, but it didn't have that iconic building with all that emotional baggage to play with. The cast is pretty solid, though I'm not quite sold yet on Gretchen Mol as Annie, not that she's bad in the role, I just liked the British Annie so much more.

Tonight's episode was the American show's first opportunity to exert its own individual identity. The episode didn't blow me away, but it was good enough to keep me watching. It looked like they're picking up at least one plot point from the original, the flash of the woman in the red dress running through the woods. It'll be interesting to see if they go the same place with it. The hippy next door neighbor is a new addition, and maybe she'll end up being a great character, but right now I'm thinking she might get real tiresome really quickly. Another change, that I find more interesting, is that this Sam seems to have a stronger connection to the present than his British counterpart. We get a flashback (or flash forward, geez this is going to get confusing) this week where we get a little glimpse of Sam's relationship with Maya in 2008. Maya existed in the British version, but she wasn't much of a presence beyond the pilot (I think she might have been completely forgotten by the time they got to the final episode). My only major complaint so far is that the dialogue can be a bit clunky in places, mostly with the Gene Hunt character. I don't think the writers have quite got a handle on him yet.

Overall, I'd say the show is interesting, but with its share of flaws. This actually leaves me optimistic about the show because it invites a comparison to another British import, The Office. The first season of the American Office, while good, was still a little shaky while it found its voice. The show's gone on to be one of the best sitcoms on TV right now. So, I'm willing to be patient with Life on Mars in the hopes that it finds its way to excellence as well.

Thoughts On the Debate

2008-10-15T23:00:00.003-05:00

-So, this Joe the Plumber guy, as often as he was mentioned I assume he's in the running to be Secretary of Labor . . . or at least official White House plumber

-I thought Obama did a good job putting the Ayers thing to bed, very clear answer to the issue. I also thought McCain's statements about it were a bit ridiculous. It seemed like he was saying, "I don't think it's particularly important, but let's talk about it anyway." It would have been nice if Obama'd stuck up for ACORN, though.

-I wonder if Obama will be hurt by his laughing while McCain was making some charges against him. It could be seen as dismissive.

-I'm not sure if I believe that it was an accident that McCain called Obama "Senator Government" or not. If it wasn't, then kudos, 'cause it was a clever little dig. If it was an accident, McCain should look at it as a happy accident and use it again.

-Obama gave McCain a little too much credit, lauding him for his stance on torture. Sure, McCain started out very good on the issue, but lately he's caved far too much on it and Obama should have called him out on that.

-I think Obama won the perception contest. He came off as calm and confident. McCain seemed to be less so, grasping for any opening he could get. However, since this lines up neatly with what I wanted to see, my evaluation should likely be taken with a grain of salt.

-I don't think I heard McCain say Maverick once. My most sincere gratitude to the senator.

Doom!

2008-10-14T14:28:00.004-05:00

Not sure I'm onboard for the whole "Kill Reed Richards" platform, but he sure is a snappy dresser. Finally, a mad, tyrannical dictator we can believe in.

200 Words: "Timelapse" Part 10

2008-10-10T23:43:00.002-05:00

Part 8
Part 9

She seemed interested, it could be possible, but that possibility posed a bit of a moral dilemma.

Dating hadn't worked out for Jim and Jenna, but they had managed to remain friends over the years. Just a few weeks before his trip through time he had received an e-mail from her which included pictures of her newborn son. Jim realized that anything he did to alter the trajectory of her life could cause that child to not be born. That was a frightening prospect.

Still, if this was his new present, didn't he have a right to live whatever life he chose? Did he have to be locked in to the same path he'd already taken? Or was the future he knew now just one of many possibilities, no more or less valid than any other? Jim couldn't begin to imagine how to answer those questions.

Fortunately, he didn't have to, at least not at that moment. Carla had arrived, and spotting Jim had made her way over to him.

"You came after all," Carla said. "C'mon, Thing Two's getting us a table."

"One sec," Jim replied, then turning toward Jenna said, "Well, it's been nice chatting with you."

"Yep," she said. "See you around."

Hee-Hee

2008-10-09T09:00:00.001-05:00

You know, I'm not one who thinks that McCain meant anything by referring to Obama as "that one", but doesn't make this any less funny.

There's a site and merchandise and everything.

Spoilers, Ho!

2008-10-08T22:29:00.010-05:00

I'm going to be talking about Action Comics #870, which was released today. There will be spoilers, so if you haven't read the book yet and don't want to have the story spoiled, stop reading now. You have been warned.

I actually haven't read the latest Action Comics, but I did discover a major plot point when I read iFanboy's Pick of the Week for this week. Apparently, in the course of the story, Jonathan Kent dies saving Martha. Now, I'm sure the story itself is excellent; the writer, Geoff Johns has been doing great work on this title, as well as Justice Society of America, and Green Lantern, and the half-dozen other titles he writes every month. I'm just not convinced that killing off Pa Kent is a great idea. When John Byrne revamped Superman in the mid-80's with Man of Steel, the best change he made was to have the Kents still be alive (in the original continuity the Kents had died years before Clark became Superman). I'm not even sure I can put into words why I liked the Kents being around so much, it was just nice to see, that when things got rough, Clark could turn to his salt of the earth parents for counsel and comfort. It's heartwarming, and wholesome, and just so . . . Superman. Martha's still around, and for that I'm glad, but I'll miss Jonathan (and not just because he's got an awesome first name).

That being said, Jonathan Kent hasn't had a lot of luck in the various iterations of the Superman story.

Pre-Crisis: He and his wife went on a cruise vacation and contracted a fatal disease shortly before Clark goes off to college.

Superman the Motion Picture: Played by Glenn Ford, he dies of a heart attack. His death is, in part, the impetus for Clark leaving Smallville to seek out his destiny.

Smallville: Played by John Schneider, he again dies of a heart condition. This time because . . . well, I'm not real sure what the justification was this time. Because John Schneider had other things he wanted to do, maybe?

Current Continuity: And that brings us back to Action Comics #870. Here, at least, he apparently gets to die a hero, saving his wife from Braniac's attack.

R.I.P Jonathan Kent

Thoughts On The Debate

2008-10-07T22:41:00.003-05:00

-Hey! Belmont University! My mom used to work there (and I took a semester's worth of General Ed classes there, too).

-Why is it, that when Brokaw said they were using online questions, I couldn't help wondering if they'd be along the lines of: "WTF! The economy totally got pwned last week. IMHO you guys are teh suck. YMMV."?

-Tom Brokaw was certainly the most forceful moderator we've had so far.

-Obama's defense of his relationship to Fannie Mae was a little weak. I think McCain probably scored some points there.

-How is a spending freeze that doesn't include "defense, veterans affairs, or other vital programs" really a spending freeze? Doesn't that exemption cover just about everything?

-So, McCain can deal with the issues of health care and energy at the same time, but he couldn't both run a campaign and deal with the economic crisis?

-The best way to solve the climate change problem is nuclear power? Really?

-I think Brokaw wanted to smack both of them around a bit.

-League of Democracies? Is that like the Justice League?

-Despite my rather flippant attitude to the whole affair, I think this was actually a pretty good debate. Lot's of good information and the candidates actually answered the questions posed to them. That said, it wasn't likely to change my mind on the candidates. Unless Obama unveils his universal kitten drowning plan or McCain reveals that his economic bailout plan consists of giving me, individually, $700 billion dollars, my vote's pretty well settled.

Life On Mars

2008-10-05T14:55:00.003-05:00

I've discovered that BBC America is running a marathon of Life On Mars today, no doubt in the run-up to the premiere of the American version of the show on ABC later this week. What's interesting, is the BBC America is running it with occasional subtitles. Let's think about that for a minute. A show, shot in English with English subtitles. I understand that there are some parts of the UK where the accent is thick enough that it might be difficult for an American audience to understand, but there aren't any real problem accents on this show. Even more ridiculous, I think I notice one of the subtitles that didn't exactly match what was said.

As to the American version, I'm looking forward to seeing what they do with it. It's a show with a strange basic concept (a cop in the present gets hit by a car and falls into a coma, and wakes up in 1973), so I wonder if it'll be able to find an audience on American TV. Especially with such an obscure title (it's from a Bowie song). The other question is how long an American show allow the ambiguity of the situation (is he crazy, in a coma, or is it really happening). The BBC show had the advantage of only shooting, I think, 16 episodes. The American version is going to have to outpace that in one season, so it'll be interesting to see how they stretch out the story.

Random Video Featuring Formidable Opponent - Business Syphilis

2008-10-04T09:00:00.001-05:00

200 Words: "Timelapse" Part 9

2008-10-03T09:00:00.000-05:00

Part 8

"Crazy?" Jim smiled. "A little, but it works for you."

"Thanks, I think," Jenna said. "So, what'll you have, oh unnamed stranger?"

"Jim," he said, then quickly added, "That's my name, not my order. I'll just have whatever you've got on tap."

"So, Jim," Jenna said as she poured his beer, "you here alone? 'Cause they say that drinking alone is the first sign that you've got a problem."

Jim smiled. "No, I'm waiting on a friend."

"Waiting on a specific friend, or looking to meet someone?" She passed Jim his drink and took the bills he handed her.

"You're certainly a chatty bartender." Her curious nature was one of the things Jim had liked about Jenna, or would like in the future depending on your perspective.

"Bartending's a pretty boring job if you don't take an interest in the customers." She stepped away to serve two other customers.

"Glad you're back," Jim said when she returned. "I was afraid you'd lost interest in me."

"See," she replied, smiling, "now you're flirting."

"Oh, please," Jim laughed. "Don't pretend that you weren't." He couldn't help but wonder if things would end differently if they started dating now, two years early.

Thoughts On The Debate

2008-10-02T23:13:00.004-05:00

- How hard is it to pronounce nuclear correctly? It's noo-klee-er!

-Palin certainly is a rambler, isn't she?

-I'd like to declare a moratorium on the word "maverick."

-Palin did a pretty good job making Biden pay for primary statements.

-The office of the Vice President is unequivocally part of the Executive Branch. READ THE CONSTITUTION, DAMMIT!

-Sarah Palin did a good job sticking to her strengths and avoiding any serious mistakes, but she seemed a little too rehearsed to me. I didn't get a sense that she was thinking on her feet.

-Biden, while he lacked Palin's frenetic energy, seemed a bit more comfortable and came off, at least to me, as more sincere.

-Palin's dig about looking backwards was pretty good, though I liked Biden's response, "The past is prologue . . ."

-Biden needed to call Palin on not answering the questions.

-I don't think Biden or Palin hurt their respective tickets, but neither do I think they significantly helped them.

The Graysons

2008-10-01T23:02:00.004-05:00

According to an article posted yesterday on Variety's website, The CW is developing a show based around a pre-Robin Dick Grayson. Clearly the network is trying to find a replacement for the aging Smallville, but I'm not sure this is the right idea. A show about a family of circus acrobats is an interesting idea, and I'm sure a series could be built around it, but I question the value of using the Dick Grayson character, and all the baggage that comes with him, while not taking advantage of his ties to the Batman mythos. Also, from a geeky purist's perspective, the timeline bothers me a bit. As described in the article, I would guess that Dick (called DJ on the show, ugh) would be 14 at the youngest as the series begins. Most likely he'd be a little older, say 15 or 16. So, when is he supposed to become Robin? The standard timeline puts him as younger when his parents are killed and he's taken in by Bruce Wayne. The whole idea is that young Dick's plight resonates with Bruce Wayne, they both watched their parents die at a very young age. Let's say The Graysons starts with 14 year-old Dick. Let's also say that it runs for at least five years (long enough to get to that magic 100 episodes that means syndication gold), the series would end with a 19 year-old, not-Robin, Dick Grayson. Grown-up Robin is stupid, have we learned nothing from Chris O'Donnell in Batman Forever and Batman & Robin?

Ultimately, if the show makes it to air, I'll give it a shot. How could I not? Hopefully the creators will be able to allay my fears and produce a great show.

Figurative Language

2008-09-30T22:50:00.002-05:00

There's a sixth grader I tutor some evenings and tonight we were reading a book for his reading homework. The book was "Bridge to Terabithia," and there was a line I came across tonight that caught my eye:

Jess drew the way some people drank whiskey.

It's a nice line. I'm actually a little jealous of it to be honest. However, this is a book aimed at kids, so I question the appropriateness of it. Don't get me wrong, my questioning doesn't stem from the line refering to alcohol. Kids know what whiskey is, talking about it is no big deal. What I wonder, though, is how many kids can really decode this particular metaphor; hopefully there aren't too many of them that are whiskey drinkers.

Honestly, not being a whiskey drinker myself, I'm not sure I understand what it means. How can the way someone draws be like drinking whiskey? Any whiskey drinkers out there want to help me out?

The Blame Game

2008-09-29T16:26:00.004-05:00

There aren't many politicians coming away from this bailout bill thing looking good, and it's because so many of them have fallen into the trap of name-calling and finger-pointing. This morning, when it was thought that the bill would pass, McCain makes a speech claiming some of the credit for the success and knocking Obama for not being as involved in the process, then when it fails, his campaign issues a statement saying it's all Obama's and the Democrats' fault. Now, I don't think anyone can realistically lay the failure of the bill at the feet of McCain anymore than he would deserve the credit had it passed, but if you're going to try to claim some of the credit for success then you have to be equally willing to accept some of the blame for failure. Meanwhile, the Republican leadership made a statement claiming that the decisive votes were lost because Speaker Pelosi made a partisan speech on the floor of the House shortly before the vote. I suppose the intent was to lay the blame for the failure squarely at Pelosi's feet (and certainly the Democrats deserve their share), but if I were to take the statement as truth (which I don't), it certainly paints a picture of House Republicans that is petty and short-sighted. The implication is that these twelve Republicans were ready to vote for the bill, and therefore, one would assume, believed it was in the best interests of the country. But then Nancy Pelosi said something mean so they decided to vote against the bill. I'm not so cynical about politics to believe that our elected officials are that childish. The real failure was selling the bailout to the public in the first place. Of course you're going to have a hard time getting votes for the plan when the majority of the public falls into the catagories of "opposed" or "undecided". It doesn't help that left leaning organizations have been trying to use the financial situtation to hit the Republicans for their past policies. It may be fair comment to say that the Republican policies are responsible, but right not pointing fingers is getting in the way of solving the problem. Really, it seems like, other than a few "Chicken Little" pronouncements, that our leaders have been talking to each other too much and to their constituents too little.

It's days like today that are to blame for so many people being so turned off by politics. What a mess.

Random Video featuring Double SNL

2008-09-28T17:01:00.003-05:00

I'm almost ready to root for McCain to win in the hopes of getting four more years of Tina Fey's Sarah Palin impression.

Almost.

If Obama wins they're going to need to work on the Obama impersonation, it's not quite there yet.

A Word From Our Sponsors

2008-09-27T13:38:00.002-05:00

Well, not really. I don't actually have any sponsors. I wish I had sponsors. For that matter, I wish I had a large enough audience to justify a sponsor.

LOOK AT ME! LOOK AT ME! PAY ATTENTION TO ME!

Sigh.

At any rate, I do want to plug something. There's a site I've been using called BookMooch that I adore. Basically, the site facilitates the swapping of books between users. Here, I'll let the founder explain:

Cool, huh? So, why am I bringing it up here? Well, I've got a few credits burning a hole in my account, but despite the large selection of books already available, I'm having trouble finding books to mooch. The books I know I want to read are just too damn popular (and other users seem to be faster on the mooch than I am).

My hopes are two-fold. First, if I can get more people signing up and adding books, maybe I can catch one of the ones I've been looking for. Second, maybe some folks here will be good enough to recommend some books for me to look for over on BookMooch that I haven't thought of.

So, you've got your orders, now get to it.

200 Words: "Timelapse" Part 8

2008-09-26T22:58:00.002-05:00

Previously . . .

The sun went down on this strange day and Jim found himself wandering up Pearl Street. The bar was a little more upscale than the crowd inside. This was due, in large part, to the daytime clientele from the surrounding downtown business district. After work hours, most of the bar's business came from the University's overflow dorm (actually two floors of a neighboring hotel).

Jim scanned the establishment for Carla and the other Jim, but they didn't seem to be here yet. He did, however, spot a familiar face behind the bar.

"Jenna," he greeted the bartender as he took a stool at the bar. "I didn't know you worked here."

Jenna stared at him blankly. "Do I know you?"

"What do you mean? It's . . .," Jim trailed off as a realization hit him. She didn't know him, at least not yet. They weren't due to meet for another two years.

"I mean," Jenna replied, "I don't recognize you. Have we met?" She thought for a moment and added, "Was it Jeremy's party last week? 'Cause I was completely out of it that night."

"Uh, yeah. Party. That's it," said Jim, covering.

"Ah. Hope I didn't act too crazy," she said.

Random Video featuring Joe Versus the Volcano

2008-09-25T12:54:00.001-05:00

I like Joe Biden, but sheesh!

What's Wrong With Wonder Woman

2008-09-25T09:00:00.003-05:00

I noticed some chatter on the web recently asking why Wonder Woman is the only one of DC's so-called "Trinity" (Superman and Batman being the other two) not to have a movie adaptation. Sure, there have been rumblings from time to time, but it always seems to fall apart fairly early on in the process.

Why is that? She's as iconic as Superman or Batman; ask a few non-comics readers to name a female super-hero and the only one most would be able to come up with would be Wonder Woman. So, what's the problem? It can't be the ties to Greek mythology. Hollywood's been mining the ancient world for story ideas for decades. Is it because the main character of a Wonder Woman movie would be a woman? True, unless I'm forgetting something, I don't think there's been a successful superhero movie with a female lead, but there are certainly other types of movies with women as the heroes.

No, I think the real obstacle may be that the comics don't provide enough of a blueprint to build a movie from. Her origin, molded from clay and given life by the gods, while interesting, lacks the inherent drama of an exploding planet or murdered parents. Her mission is a bit vague. Honestly, I'm not exactly sure I could clearly state her reason for being. She needs something catchy like, "Truth, Justice, and the American Way." Further, Wonder Woman doesn't really have any iconic stories, like Batman's The Dark Knight Returns or The Killing Joke to draw from. Then there's her villains. Honestly, they kind of suck. There's not a Lex Luthor or a Joker in the bunch. Wonder Woman's movie prospects have suffered from decades of comics writers having no idea what to do with the character.

So, is Wonder Woman an unfilmable property? I don't think so. As with anything, with the right combination of talent it could be a big hit. She's just a bit harder to get a handle on the boys in capes.

McCain's Bailout

2008-09-24T23:50:00.002-05:00

I'm of two minds about Senator McCain's suggestion that Friday's debate be postponed. I'm not conflicted over whether it's a good idea or not. Oh no, I think it's a terrible idea. I just can't decide if it (along with his decision to suspend his campaign) in well-meaning but misguided or crassly manipulative.

I managed to catch Senator Obama's statement later in the day and found that he was expressing the same reaction I had had to McCain's decision. In a time of crisis it's all the more important for the presidential candidates to be out there making their cases to the people. I remember a week or two ago I heard one of the TV talking heads, I forget who, in a rare moment of insight make the point that this election is more important than the current economic problems. The next president is going to be the one who's in charge of leading the country out of not only the economic troubles, but all the problems we've got ahead of us. There's not much time left before election day, it would be foolish of both the candidates and the electorate to waste any of it. Further, as Obama pointed out, a president is going to have to be able to multi-task effectively in office. There's no reason that the candidates can't continue to campaign and do their part to help with the current situation. I could see changing the topic of Friday's debate to domestic issues (since those are the issues at the forefront of people's minds), but cancel it? Don't be silly.

I suppose the real question now is will the electorate be impressed by McCain's choice or will it come back to haunt him.

Chuck!

2008-09-24T09:00:00.001-05:00

Chuck's back!

Well, actually it doesn't make it back to television until next Monday, but the season premiere is up online now. As an aside, I think NBC has a pretty clever Internet strategy; premiering certain shows (particularly shows like Chuck or Life that had truncated first seasons due to the strike) early on the web to build buzz.

Back to Chuck, I'd forgotten how much I loved this show. Not surprising given that there hasn't been a new episode since January. The season premiere, Chuck vs. the First Date, was a great reminder of why I like this show. It brings the funny as always, while at the same time keeping the characters and their internal lives and external adventures compelling.

The episode picks up where we left off last season. The government is preparing to activate a new Intersect (apparently built from a first generation Mac. No, seriously, look at it.) and Casey, played by Adam Baldwin, has orders to eliminate the old Intersect (aka Chuck). There's a nice moment in the episode, after Casey has been reminded of his orders, where he chambers a round in his gun and mutters to himself, "I used to like that sound."

Meanwhile, Chuck is excited by the prospect of getting his life back. Yvonne Strahovski as Sarah, does a great job of showing the conflicting feelings of happiness, that Chuck can go back to a normal life, but also a little sadness for herself; she'll miss him.

Looking forward to the rest of the season. The only downside to watching this episode early is that I'll have to wait two weeks for the next new episode. Sigh.

Re: Heroes Season 3 Premiere

2008-09-23T13:33:00.003-05:00

Wow. And I thought the X-Men had bleak potential futures.

It seems like no matter what the characters do on Heroes, everything is destined to turn to shit at some point in the future. Season one there was a devastating explosion wiping out most of Manhattan followed by an immensely powerful psychopath becoming president (and so far that seems to be the best of the bunch). Season two we had a glimpse of a world devastated by some kind of super-virus (was it a virus, it's been so long and the season was so short, I've sort of forgotten). This season, in the first episode alone we get a peek at what I think are two different possibles. First we get Dark Peter's future, which seems to be shades of "Days of Future Past" (X-Men reference for my non-geek readers), then we get Hiro's visit to a future with some sort of massive disaster that looks to be wiping out Tokyo, if not the whole world. I'd ask why even bother trying anymore, but then I guess that's why the show's called Heroes.

Other thoughts: Yay, a speedster! And I hope we get to see more of her and Hiro interacting; they're powers are a great match-up. Yay, Kristen Bell's back! I didn't pay close enough attention to the credits to see if she's a regular or not, but hopefully she shows up in a good number of episodes. Yay, Malcolm McDowell's back! Hopefully we'll get to see a good bit of him this season as well, because he's all kinds of awesome. The season's off to a good start, and I'm looking forward to the rest of it.

On Friendship

2008-09-20T20:45:00.002-05:00

I'm not exactly sure why, but I got to wondering, "What do our friends say about us? Why do we befriend some people and not others? What does that choice mean?

I think maybe we connect with the people we do because we see something of ourselves reflected in them; something we are or something we want. It's why we tend to be more forgiving of our friends' failings than we would be of the failings of strangers.

That's my hypothesis anyway. As I apply it to myself it seems to fit. Even in the friends of mine that are most different from each other, I can identify that piece of me in them. Though, I may not be the best test case for a couple of reasons:

A) I'm a major league narcissist, so it's no great shock that I see myself reflected in others.

B) I'm a bit . . . picky about who I call friend, so my sample size might be a bit on the small side.

There would seem to be an interesting, additional implication to this idea of mine. Take any two friends, no matter how close, and they probably each have a trait that the other finds at least mildly annoying. It would stand to reason then, if my hypothesis holds any water, that within the two overlapping circles of friends, each person would have someone who'd annoy the hell out of the other.

Just a thought I had.

200 Words on Vacation

2008-09-19T09:00:00.000-05:00

My 200 Words project is taking the week off. Last week's installment was the end of the first part/chapter/act of the story, so it seems like a good time for a short break. I'll be back next week with the beginning of the next part/chapter/act.

Random Video featuring SNL

2008-09-15T20:03:00.002-05:00

Wow. Tina Fey nailed the Palin impression.

Frappr Update

2008-09-13T09:00:00.000-05:00

I've gotten a few pins in the map. Just throwing this up here to see if I can attract some more.

200 Words: "Timelapse" Part 7

2008-09-12T23:04:00.004-05:00

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6

It was early afternoon by the time Jim was ready to mail his completed letter. He dropped the letter in a mailbox across the street from the library and he waited.

Jim wasn't exactly sure what he was waiting for, but wait he did.

He waited. And waited. And waited. After two hours, Jim had nothing to show for his waiting aside from loose change tossed at him by passersby. Had the future been changed? Would at least some of the events he had listed be averted? Apparently he'd have to wait and find out along with everyone else. That realization left Jim with one question: What now?

He was still ten years in his own past with no clear purpose and no way to get back. That meant he was going to have to live this part of his life over again. This was not good news.

It's not that this was a bad time in his life, he'd just done it all before. Beyond that, there was the problem of memory. He remembered general things about this time of his life, but many of the details had been washed away by the intervening decade. He needed a guide.

Mr. Smith

2008-09-11T22:25:00.004-05:00

I caught a little bit of Mr. Smith Goes To Washington on TV last night. It should come as no surprise to anyone who knows me that I really identify with the worldview seen in Frank Capra's films, but what really gets me about this one is how it's still relevant to politics today.

I think Capra's movies sometimes get a reputation for being simplistic or naive. I think this reputation largely comes from people who's only contact with his films is ignoring It's A Wonderful Life every year at Christmas. It's not a world without darkness or corruption. Mr. Smith is a film all about corruption, but it's a realistic portrait of corruption. Sen. Smith's main opponent within the Senate is Senator Paine, who's in the pocket of the corrupt political boss. Paine is clearly corrupt, but you can see that he was once a good man, in fact I think he was probably once just like Smith. But then he realized he had to make compromises to get things done and it just snowballed from there. We all know what the path to hell is paved with. The idea that Capra is so good at capturing in his films is that a good man can make a difference.

One thing that I did notice as I was watching last night, that I've never noticed before, was that the film seemed to have something to say about race. The thing that stuck out is late in the film. The Boy Rangers (the Boy Scout stand-ins, because the real Boy Scouts organization thought the film was too subversive) are working together to get Smith's message out to the people. Right there, working along with the white boys is a young African American boy. Nothing is said about it, and other than race the kid is just like his compatriots, he's just doing his bit like everyone else. This may not seem like much, but let's put it in context. This movie was released in 1939, not a point in history particularly well known for racial tolerance in small town America. Would black and white kids be interacting so freely with each other? More to the point, for this young boy to be in the film, wouldn't Capra have specifically set out to cast an African American child? Wouldn't the default have been to have had another white boy? Maybe I'm making too much of this small detail, but it just stuck out to me for the first time last night.

Mr. Smith Goes To Washington should be required viewing for every American. It's a great showcase for our political system, both the good and the bad. And, of course, the fact that a number of the most oppressive governments of the last century have banned the film certainly argues in its favor as well.

That Will Teach Him To Be Folksy

2008-09-10T16:30:00.003-05:00

"You can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig."

How dare Senator Obama make such a mean and sexist comment about Governor Palin.

What? You don't see Palin's name in there anywhere? Why, it's clear as day! He uses the "lipstick," the same word she used as a punchline in her convention speech. She owns the word now. From now until November, anytime someone uses the word lipstick, they're clearly talking about Sarah Palin (and I think she gets a nickle for each use, too). At least, that's what the Republican Party seems to be suggesting.

Sigh. Whatever happened to the John McCain I was happy to vote for in the 2000 primaries? The one who seemed like a decent and reasonable guy. The one who wasn't afraid of speaking unpopular truths. One who fought against the corrupt politics that we've all gotten tired of. The one who's 2000 campaign was tanked due to a vile smear campaign. I guess he's taken an "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em" philosophy. He's been adjusting his positions in a crassly political way in the years since 2000 trying to get this year's nominations, still, when it became obvious that he would win the Republican nomination this year, I had hopes that we might have a higher level of discourse this year. Maybe, just maybe, the candidates would debate policy rather resort to this old-school childishness.

Silly me.

Synchronicity

2008-09-09T23:01:00.002-05:00

The universe is trying to tell me something.

Specifically, it's trying to tell me something about fainting goats. For those that aren't familiar with this breed of goat, here's a short video:

Three times in the past week I've happened across some reference to the goats on TV. First came last week's episode of Mythbusters (great show, by the way), where they put the breed's reputation to the test. Next, I happened on a ten year-old movie, "Addicted to Love," on cable while channel surfing. At one point while I had it on, one of the characters begins talking about fainting goats. Finally, tonight, I flipped past CNN and there was Anderson Cooper talking about . . . you guessed it, fainting goats.

This cannot be a coincidence. Clearly the cosmic forces are trying to tell me something about these goats. Now if I could only figure out what.

Would it kill the cosmic forces to be a bit clearer?

"Do you really want to go there, Senator?"

2008-09-09T19:41:00.003-05:00

The McCain campaign has released a new ad making misleading claims about Senator Obama's sex-ed record. Putting aside the misleading nature of the ad, is this even a topic McCain wants to get into? His running mate supports abstinence only sex-ed (is this McCain's position as well? Does he have a position) in defiance of all common sense and an example in her own family of the uselessness of such a curriculum.

Look, I've got nothing against abstinence as a concept, and certainly it should be included in a sex-ed curriculum, but the idea of it being the only inclusion is ridiculous. It's like trying to teach the alphabet by only discussing the vowels, it's woefully incomplete. If human history has taught us nothing else, it's taught us that people, especially hormonal teenagers, will have sex. Better to arm them with the knowledge of how to protect themselves from pregnancy and disease than leave them to fumble around in ignorance.

It's always baffled me that so many pro-life advocates are against effective sex-ed. If you can reduce unwanted pregnancies through education it won't matter whether it's legal or illegal.

Bah. It's really frustrating when peoples puritanical hang-ups get in the way of sound public policy.

It's. . . Science!

2008-09-08T17:40:00.003-05:00

I've been catching up with my podcast listening lately. Today I was listening to an episode of Studio 360 from a couple of months ago where they were talking about the Large Hadron Collider over in Switzerland (which, a quick check of the news-sites reveal, is being switched on sometime tomorrow). As a science dilettante I find this interesting for the sense of perspective it give. Look at how far humanity has come in not only our knowledge and understanding, but also in our technical ability over the past 100 years. Of course, the other reason it's interesting is for the apocalyptic doomsayers claiming that it will bring about the end of the world. I mean, really, who doesn't like a good apocalypse?

Besides, doesn't it just look cool?

As an aside, Studio 360 included an interesting, speculative short story in their piece:

Am I worried? Of course not. While I personally don't have the knowledge or experience to evaluate the probability of some extinction event arising out of this machine, I'm reassured by the fact that those who do have that knowledge and experience have determined that the risk is infinitesimally small. It does raise and interesting question (at least in my mind), though. How large does a risk have to be before it becomes a concern? If you play it too safe, you'll never learn anything new, but if you're too daring the consequences could be quite far reaching. Where's the balance?

Personally, I don't know, but it is an interesting question to think about.

Save Superman's Birthplace

2008-09-07T11:42:00.003-05:00

No, not Krypton, the house where Superman was first created needs to be saved. Here's a video about it:

It can be difficult to justify logically the historic preservation of places, but historic places have an emotional power, the ability to create a visceral connection between history and an individual. For that reason I tend to be a big fan of historic preservation, and the creation of Superman (and by extension an entire genre) seems pretty historic to me. Besides, if we can preserve the birthplaces of boring things (kidding) like Google and HP, surely we can preserve the birthplace of something cool like Superman (nerd-fight!).