Happy Ulysses-Completion Day!

Ah, the day when children across the nation commemorate the anniversary of the completion of James Joyce’s Ulysses!

Okay, maybe not, but today does mark the time when — according to popular legend, anyway — Joyce wrote the last lines of his masterwork. In fact, Ezra Pound’s post-Christian calendar uses this date in 1921 as its origin point. I find the use of multiple calendars a fascinating exercise in increasing our awareness of the inherent arbitrariness of dating systems. Alas, I can never keep the dates straight, so my contemplation only goes so far.

Well, we made back to D.C., no thanks to monstrous security delays at Midway and the rampant ego trip of an ATA gate attendant, who made it her personal crusade not only to delay us as much as possible while boarding, but — for no apparent reason — to start refusing people to board with carry-on bags she deemed too large. Of course, the bags in question were officially small enough to be brought on — and in many cases belonged to passengers who had already had them on for the first leg of their trip — but no, she had decided to play bitch. Even the flight attendants on board were baffled: There was plenty of room in the overhead compartments. But none of them were allowed to go up the ramp to tell little miss gatekeeper. My carry-on made it past her critical eye, but Ginny’s did not. Which means that after the several-hour wait at Midway (we’d arrived seriously early, which allowed us to actually sit down for a late lunch at Harry Caray’s, but left us exhausted by boarding time), she still had to wait at baggage claim.

And, of course, the whole trip ended with mixed results. The good news is that it went really well. Alas, that’s the bad news as well: The clients were so happy with the results that now they want us to go on shoots in Nashville and Atlanta — next week. And unfortunately, I’ve used up my child-care credits (or, more specifically, Pam has) across the past two weeks. I can do Nashville on Tuesday and Wednesday, but not Atlanta on Thursday and Friday. Adam’s in the same boat, but he can’t do either leg. Which sticks Ginny with doing the whole trip, and I still need to find someone to help out in Atlanta.

As they say, be careful what you wish for.

It’s Always Something

Today’s shoot went well (though we’re alarmingly short of B-roll footage), and we had another wonderful dinner afterward. And even though we’ve got our wonderful (if borrowed) wireless mic system, we can’t use it — we’re interviewing people on a hospital floor. No cell phones, no wi-fi computers... and no wireless microphone transmitters, that’s for damn sure.

I also realized that this is the first (distant) shoot where we didn’t rent a car. Why would we, since we’re staying right across the street from the hospital (not to mention the exterior location for ER, though we’ve not yet been able to pick it out)? Well, a car would sure come in handy when it comes time to ship the equipment back, now, wouldn’t it? The nearest FedEx location is about a mile away — just far enough that we can’t lug the equipment there, but not so far that a cab ride isn’t oh-so-slightly insulting.

In any case, tomorrow will be our last day here, and then it’s back home. Right now, I just want to get some sleep.

And Here I Thought I Procrastinated

Only now is Pixar upgrading to OS X? And I here I thought — what with Steve Jobs being the CEO of both companies —they might have done so just a bit sooner. Hell, even my company got around to it a while ago. I hope Stevie at least got ’em an advance copy of Panther. Still, at least according to the story, they seem to have done a pretty good job of making it run smoothly.

In local news, we’ve got the equipment; frankly, I think it was here the whole time, but the kid running the desk didn’t know where to look for it. Once we got back from dinner, there was someone else manning the front desk — and, naturally, he found it right away. So it’s off to the shoot...

Windy City Update

Well, we made it to Chicago.

But, as yet, our equipment has not.

And the FedEx slip — with its all-important tracking number — is sitting on my desk at the office. And nobody’s answering the phone.

Just what I need right now...

Some In-Flight Reading Material

Well, Ginny and I are headed out to Chicago. I honestly don’t know if I’ll be able to post anything while I’m gone — historically, these shoots keep us pretty busy, but in this case, the visit isn’t dedicated to the video shoot. This time, there’s a larger context to the visit, and in a sense, we’re just “tagging along” to get a couple of interviews. I’ll know more once we get there.

Before I go, I would like to make mention of a few interesting columns in today’s Post. Give ’em a read, and just pretend that I had something original to say. First up is E.J. Dionne’s column, “Taking Satan Seriously,” which provides an interesting perspective both on the inherent impossibility of instilling religious tolerance among fundamentalists and on the Bush regime’s dilemma in dealing with General Boykin’s comments (there’s also an amusing — and enlightening — Letter to the Editor on the same topic). Next, Richard Cohen’s got a piece entitled, “Master of Fiction,” which does a wonderful job of exposing the biggest liar in the Duh-bya camp: Dick Cheney. Not that I learned anything I didn’t know before, but one thing’s for sure — after reading this column, I’m going to start using some of the more colorful appellations for tricky Dick, such as “Bush’s ventriloquist” and “Chicken Little.” And finally, Bruce P. Jackson of the Project on Transitional Democracies writes about the true origins and consequences of the Russian Secret Service’s arrest of Russian oilman Mikhail Khodorkovsky in “The Failure of Putin’s Russia,” covering not only the overt power play at the heart of the prosecution, but the inherent anti-Semitism that none of the major media (at least none I’ve seen) have seen fit to even mention (the Post’s editorial staff has its own editorial on the arrest’s likely import — also worth at least skimming). And yes, I’m fully aware that Jackson’s a right-wing nut job, and we would no doubt diverge radically on the best course of action, but the points he makes are still worth exposure.

So read, comment, and at the very least, I’ll be back on Halloween.

A Comforting Thought

It’s nice to see that despite my shameful showing at the hands of the Gematriculator, at least somebody appreciates my evil genius. Specifically, the Evil Genius Test at fuali.com, according to which I score a much more respectable 83 percent on the Evil Genius scale.

According to the official writeup: “I am pure evil. I lie awake at night devising schemes of world domination, and I will not rest until all living souls bend to my will.”

And to top it all off, the corresponding icon is a glorious depiction of the Brain. What more could I ask for? Happy day!

An Oh-So-Brief Respite

I’m back in town briefly before jetting off to Chicago for the next case-study video. The Orlando trip went really well — after staying at the Ritz-Carlton, I’m thinking of adding an addendum to my Fray Day story. Now, not only am I spoiled on air travel, but I’m feeling the same about hotel accommodations as well. At the very least, I have got to get me one of those Turkish-cotton robes...

No major news to comment on, or at least nothing I feel like mentioning. I was going to say something about the recent rocket attack on the al-Rashid Hotel in Baghdad, but given the casualties mounting up after the recent series of attacks, I don’t feel like making light of it anymore. I will say, however, that the comparative lack of outrage over the Bush regime’s edict barring media coverage of the returning coffins of slain soldiers is disgusting — let’s see, public opinion isn’t going so much in favor of the war, let’s make sure the people can’t see the consequences of what we’re doing. If ever there were evidence that the major media were in the administration’s back pocket, their conspicuous silence in this case — even the Post’s story was buried on page A23 — is it.

Still Not Flying First Class

That title’s yet another reference to my Fray Day story, in case you were wondering (if you’ve not heard it yet, it’s still available, at least for now). The reason I bring it up is that it’s time to fly once again, this time off to sunny Orlando, Florida. Adam and I are taking off to do some “live” video work for a meeting we’re holding down there. Basically, we’re just shooting an on-stage activity to be projected onto large screens, so the audience can see what’s going on; kind of a JumboTron for the health care set. It’s a bit counterintuitive, flying two people down just to operate a camera for a couple of hours (we’ll be heading back late tomorrow night), but compared with what the hotel was going to charge for a cameraman, it’s a bargain. Not to mention our meeting staff knows what they’ll be getting.

Well, mostly, anyway — the camera in question’s a Sony DXC-series camera, a higher-end DVCAM system we’ve never worked with before, but we were able to track down a user’s manual on the ’net. Okay, a service manual, but most of the user information’s in there, too. We figure that between the two of us, we’ll be able to figure it out...

After that, Ginny and I will be flying up to Chicago next week for the first in a series of shoots for our next case-study video. I honestly wanted to get out of this one, but Adam will be finishing up the edits on the poorly received CEO video (we did some preliminary reshoots yesterday, and I think... or at least hope... that we’re on the right track there). Of course, I did insist that we be back before Halloween — there’s no way I’m missing that.

So updates may be sporadic across the remainder of the month, but sit tight — I’ll be back.

P.S.: A little housekeeping note — I’ve put in a Search box courtesy of FreeFind, after finally giving up on Blogger ever implementing a search function. It’s not ideal (the results don’t show the search string in context, for one thing), but it’s something; try it out and let me know what you think.

The Beast Is Back

Okay, maybe not the original “Beast,” but at least a descendant thereof (and thanks to Tom Bridge for calling my attention to it).

For those of you who don’t know about the original Beast, it was a game put together to promote the movie A.I. — and though I’m not as down on the movie as most folks out there, the elaborate complexity of the game made the movie look like a slapdash movie-of-the-week. It all started with a couple of rather obscure clues. First was an unusual credit in the movie trailer, specifically a “Sentient Machine Therapist” named Jeanine Salla. And second, a series of apparently insignificant hash marks embedded in the lettering “Summer 2001” on the movie poster — hash marks which turned out to correspond to a telephone number. Calling the number gave you a rather cryptic message leading you to an equally cryptic website. Doing a Google search for “Jeanine Salla” led to information about the suspicious death of a man named Evan Chan, ostensibly the mystery underlying the game — although the truth ended up being far less straightforward. The game architecture comprised phone numbers, faxes, dozens of websites, newspaper ads, text messages, and actual live performances (I remember my mother-in-law getting a bit freaked out when she answered our home phone only to hear a digitally-altered voice warning me against investigating the murder). It involved puzzles requiring knowledge of web coding, cryptography, numerous foreign languages, and even origami. Further, it evolved based on the participation of the players, changing continually, week by week.

The beauty of the game was that it required group participation — no single person could possibly find all of the clues, let alone solve all of the puzzles. Several “virtual communities” arose to tackle the problem, which in turn seriously challenged the game creators — including science fiction author Sean Stewart and game pioneer Elan Lee — to stay just one step ahead of the players. And they did so beautifully (you can read Stewart’s introduction to the game here). The “collective detective” problem-solving model was seen by many as a completely new method of social interaction, an interaction impossible before the development of digital technology (the subject of a paper by UC Berkeley professor Jane McGonigal).

Alas, the game eventually had to end. They did go out with a bang (especially compared with the lukewarm reception of the movie itself), but they did go out. A static “picture” of the game was archived, but it can never recapture the sheer thrill of playing this dynamically changing adventure the first time. Unfortunately, a novel based on the game, The Death of Evan Chan, penned by Stewart, was shelved when licensing rights issues prohibited the book’s being released in conjunction with the movie’s DVD — which means there’s a completed (at least in draft form) manuscript just sitting out there unread; I keep searching to see if anyone’s managed to “leak” a copy out onto the ’net, but so far, no such luck. (I myself have gone so far as to create a set of MacOS X Icons based on artwork in the game — hey, I wanted my archive CD to look nice, okay?)

Subsequent efforts to create immersive games like this have so far failed, thanks in no small part to the necessity of remaining commercially viable. It’s one thing for a movie studio to spend millions on a game to promote a movie, but another thing entirely for a business to try to recoup its own development and maintenance costs.

Now, though, it looks like someone’s trying to use the original model once again — using a movie’s promotional budget to make it happen. This time around, the movie is The Matrix Revolutions, and the first site is Metacortex (http://www.metacortechs.com), the fictional company at which Thomas Anderson worked in the original Matrix. The movie’s subject matter would certainly seem to lend itself to a virtual game in much the same vein as A.I., but it remains to be seen whether they’re going to try to do it on the same scale.

And unfortunately, this time I’m going to have to bow out. As much as I’d love to venture back into that world, my schedule no longer permits it. (Okay, so maybe it’s just that I’ve found new ways to waste time, but if so, I’ve become overly attached to those new ways.) But for any of you out there who find this as fascinating as I do, play on — and keep me posted as to your progress.

Some starting points: The Metacortex site includes links (as mentioned by Tom Bridge in his original entry on the subject) to http://www.metadex.net, http://www.metadex.net/usr/emc2/bio/, http://www.theaquapolis.com/, http://www.underscorehosting.com/, and http://www.little-boxes.net/. And I’ve uncovered a Yahoo! Group and a virtual community, and a “collective detective” group investigating as well. Tally-ho!

Exercising Judgment

Kudos to Southern District Judge Robert P. Patterson for standing up to the ridiculous restrictions being placed on judges by both Congress and the Ashcroft Justice Department. Patterson is defying Congressionally mandated sentencing guidelines in a case where an individual, Steven Kim, fired several shots in the air as a protest against conditions in North Korea. Kim had entered into a plea-bargain agreement that would have required a sentence of from 30 to 37 months, but Patterson threw that out, sentencing him instead to just 27 months. Patterson characterized the decision as a rebuff to the controls the legislative (mandatory sentencing) and executive (reporting of “downward departure” instances) branches are trying to exert against the judicial. In effect, he said he’s not going to turn off his brain — or his conscience — no matter what Congress may dictate.

I don’t know how successful his little protest will be, but I am curious to see how this case ends up playing out.

Thorny Issues

Two news items worthy of comment. First is the decision of the Rumsfeld War Department to finally “investigate” comments made by General William Boykin. I find it amusing that Rummy’s trying to spin the thing by claiming that Boykin himself is the one who requested the investigation — which everyone knows is a crock of shit. They just didn’t want to do anything until the pressure got too big to ignore; the blowback over Bush’s chastizing of Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad for his anti-Semitic remarks took care of that. The underlying issue itself isn’t quite so black-and-white, though.

For the record: Boykin is a nut job who has no business being in charge of “investigating” anything. And yes, I am ridiculing his beliefs; not his Christianity (although that fundamentalist part is tempting), but his belief in the absolute supremacy of that faith. No apologies. But here’s the rub: He’s got an absolute right to express his beliefs, however wacky they may be. Should he be removed from his position? Hmm... that’s a little tougher. As a military officer — and a representative of the executive branch of the U.S. government — his rights to expression free of consequence are more limited, particularly since he made the speeches in question in uniform. In a sense, his big crime is saying what Bush and his goons all believe, but are smart enough to shut up about. (Bush, smart? Who’d have thought I’d ever say that?)

In the end, I really hope they don’t remove him from his position — if only because it’ll serve to show all the S.P. who keep supporting little George what he really represents. And in the meantime, I’ll keep countering Boykin and his ilk in what may be the most effective way out there: Nonstop ridicule.

The other hot-button issue today is the decision by crooked-as-a-three-dollar-bill Jeb Bush and the Florida legislature to override a court order removing a feeding tube from a woman in a thirteen-year vegetative state. This one I’m similarly conflicted about — I’d argue that the woman should be allowed to die, but the method does have barbaric death-by-starvation overtones. Then again, by outlawing any other method of humane euthanasia, what alternative is there? I do think the legislature overstepped its bounds legally, but the courts should be able to deal with that soon enough.

But my favorite line in this whole drama came from Florida House Speaker Johnnie Byrd, who clearly didn’t think before speaking: “Every life is precious... We’re talking about a human life; there’s no second chance. There’s no do-over if we make a mistake.” Um, hello, you’re a conservative Republican — in Florida, no less. You’re all too happy to ignore that argument when it’s a death-penalty debate, but suddenly now you’re concerned about making a mistake? I’ll be all too happy to throw that quote back in your face the next time it comes up, buddy. Thanks for the ammunition.

A Public Service Message

My readership is still limited enough that I’m able to occasionally track how people are arriving at Prometheus Unleashed, including checking out some of the most common search strings that lead people here. Searching for the word “Prometheus” is one biggie, for example. But another I keep seeing a lot is folks looking for Rob Dougan’s song “I’m Not Driving Anymore,” which I made mention of a while back. Naturally, the words “mp3” and “download” often feature prominently as well. So with that in mind, I’m going to make this public service announcement, directed to those trying to find that elusive track.

Hello, searcher! I understand you’re trying to track down a particular piece of music. Welcome! I hope you stick around for a while. If you’ve done your homework, you probably realize that a version of “I’m Not Driving Anymore” does appear on Rob Dougan’s album Furious Angels. But as you may have discovered, it’s not the instrumental version prominently featured in the Matrix Reloaded trailers. Nor does the track appear on that movie’s soundtrack album. The version you’re looking for was released, but as a single. And as we all know, CD singles are often hard to come by. So I’ve got a bit of advice: Go download the newly released iTunes for Windows (I figure most Mac folks already have it, and my readership has recently tipped over to favor the PC side), then check out the iTunes Music Store. Do a quick search for “Rob Dougan” and there you’ll have it.

Trust me, the 99¢ you’ll pay for the song is worth it in just the time you’d spend trying to find it as an mp3 file. Well, and it’s legal.

P.S.: If you’re interested in the whole Furious Angels album (which I do recommend), you may or may not want to get it at the iTunes Music Store. If you buy the physical album, there’s a second disc with instrumental versions of several tracks (there’s also a limited edition version with a 30-page photos/lyrics booklet); that second disc also includes the instrumental version of “I’m Not Driving Anymore.” However, given the search that brought you here in the first place, I’d suspect you’re not interested in the whole album — and if you’re just interested in the main (i.e., vocal) disc, it’s just $9.99 via iTunes (and individual songs — all available — are still just 99¢ each).

Back to the Drawing Board...

First the good news: The opening video segment we created for Monday’s firmwide meeting went over better than even I could have expected. The audience laughed at all the right spots (and even a few we hadn’t anticipated), and it set the tone for the remainder of the three-hour meeting exactly as we had hoped. We got positive feedback from several folks in the company, including a personal message from the CEO. My favorite response, though, was from someone who had both seen our proof-of-concept video and read the first draft of the shooting script. She said that before going into the meeting, she was not at all sold on the concept (we did the video as a satirical 1950s educational film). After seeing the finished product, however, her opinion was completely changed, and she thought it was fantastic. That’s the kind of praise that really makes you feel successful — winning over not someone who came in with no advance expectations, but someone who actually had negative expectations. We also had several video segments throughout the remainder of the presentation (including our special guest appearance by Bob Dole), but I think that opener was what really made the meeting the success that it was. My sincerest congratulations to Ginny Filer, who directed and edited that piece like a real pro.

Okay, now the bad news — although my client had the courtesy to wait a full day after the firmwide meeting so as to allow us to bask in the glory of that success for at least a little while. The “dramatized” case study video we did for the big hospital CEO meeting did not fare so well. Not so much the fault of the video, but the case overall is being radically rewritten — which means we have to completely reshoot the whole thing, not to mention recasting a couple of roles in which the actors (including yours truly) were too young-looking to pull off the roles (I know, I know, I should feel good about that, right?). And, naturally, the next meeting at which this will have to be shown is next Thursday. With Adam and I out of town for a meeting in Orlando tomorrow and Friday. Which means we start shooting this afternoon, and either finish up next Monday and Tuesday — right before leaving on a potential Chicago shoot Wednesday and Thursday of next week — or have Ginny shoot the whole thing by herself by the end of this week.

And here I was thinking I’d finally be able to catch up on some sleep...

Monday Morning Giggles

Looks like Microsoft is in serious sour grapes mode. Windows Digital Media manager Dave Fester’s claiming that the iTunes Music Store just won’t work for Windows users. You can read his comments here, and it’s great for a laugh; just what I needed to kick off an otherwise hectic Monday morning. The guy’s basically trying to shill for the totally inept Windows Media system, and making a slew of completely false statements about iTunes in order to do it. A difference of opinion’s one thing, but distorting the facts is another altogether.

You know they’re running scared when they start lying about you to try and stay afloat. Buh-bye!

Update: In just the first three days since iTunes for Windows launched, downloads have topped a million copies, and songs purchased have also passed the one million mark. By comparison, when the iTunes Music store first launched for Mac users, it took a week to hit that mark.

Better Late Than Never, I Suppose

Okay, so it’s been more than two weeks since the event in question, but I told you I’d get around to thanking the (remaining) Fray Day open-mic performers. Honestly, their performances were just as stellar as the featured ones. Lorelei Brown, aside from the mother/daughter dynamic, I also learned much about speeding. Julia Montgomery, I’ve got a whole new perspective on milk, but just let me state for the record that I am not an AV guy. Dan Lisle, Kansas (not to mention giant prairie dogs and Gregorian chants) has never seemed so compelling. And Dan Guy Fowlkes, I gained a new appreciation for the choices we all make as maturity looms.

After a wonderful set like this year’s, my only regret is having to wait another year until the next one.

Oh, and I spent the weekend trying to at least capture all of the audio from the event, but alas — what with having to edit together yet another video due tomorrow — I’ve not been able to get everything pieced together yet (dang, this takes a long time). Don’t feel too bad, though — I wasn’t able to do a whole lot of work on the three (count ’em, three) pieces I sort of promised to Geoff for the next Inkblots either. I was able to cut together the first half of the program — think of it as a two-disc set, though I don’t know if we’ll actually produce CDs — so as soon as I get them compressed, we’ll probably get them up. For those of you keeping score, that’ll be the stories by Geoffrey Long, SarahScott Brett, Lorelei Brown, Kori Lusignan, David Thomas, Julia Montgomery, Talon Beeson, and Tom Bridge, leaving David Seitzinger, Dan Lisle, myself, Dan Guy Fowlkes, and Michael Alex Wasylik for part two (I guess we “second-discers” were a little more long-winded). Keep an eye out at the event site for details. Or just keep reading here, since I’ll no doubt make mention of it. I have trouble keeping my mouth shut that way.

More Wholesome Discordian Goodness

See, we Discordians just love our holidays. Today marks one of the more obscure ones on the Erisian calendar, so no hard feelings if you didn’t have it marked down in advance. Today’s Eye Day for the Season of Bureaucracy. So everyone go out, grab yourself a map of the London Underground, and play a rousing game of Discordian Mornington Crescent (once described as “the board-game equivalent of Calvinball”), the traditional Eye Day celebration. If you need a bit more explanation as to the rules (or lack thereof), or just want to read some rather interesting game transcripts, you might try the 23 Apples of Eris site’s entry on the subject.

And feel free to substitute your own city of choice for London — I know around here, DC Metro maps are easier to come by.

I’m Getting All Too Used to Professional Disillusionment

Having to cut great scenes — “killing your babies,” as Julia Ames once called it — not for timing, or pacing, but because of audience sensitivity concerns is really grating. I understand that, particularly in the corporate world, it’s often completely necessary, but I feel like a Hollywood producer having to change the ending of a movie because of test audience reactions. You know, come to think of it, with the exception of the “Hollywood” part, that’s totally accurate. Don’t get me wrong, I think we were able to come up with some pretty damn good stuff (particularly given that our big “premiere” is this Monday) — and Ginny’s done an absolutely fantastic job of directing and editing this thing together beautifully. But it’s disappointing to know that a better scene is sitting on the (proverbial) cutting room floor.

Still, I suppose there’s still plenty in there to offend somebody. I’ll let everyone know how it goes after the show. And I’ll hang onto a copy of the “Director’s Cut.”

Mmmm... Love That Hot Apple Pie...

Steve Jobs has done it again. Yesterday, as predicted, Apple released iTunes for Windows. I particularly like the slogan plastered at the top of Apple’s site: “Hell froze over.” Well, e-music sellers, time’s up! Now you can no longer keep pushing your lame-ass digital music models with the knowledge that the iTunes Music Store is only for Mac users.

Prepare to be spanked.

So to all you Windows users out there (and for a site that’s so Mac-centric, my Wintel-based readership is growing — 49 percent at last check), go on and check out the details, then download a free copy. Believe me, you won’t regret it.

I Hate to Say I Told You So... Oh, Who Am I Kidding, I Love to Say That

Surprise, surprise. Hollywood is revolting against the decision to bar the sending of “screener” DVDs for Oscar-nominated films. For all the hype the right-wing commentators heap on Hollywood — saying they’re a bunch of know-nothings whose pontification on political issues is somehow more inappropriate that their own uninformed pontification — it’s nice to have my faith in the intelligence of the movie-making community reinforced.

On the other hand, I think we can be assured that MPAA chairman Jack Valenti (the architect of the ban) is gonna go down in history as a real Hollywood idiot.

What? That Can’t Be Right...

I’m only registering as 35 percent evil? I thought for sure I’d be doing better than that...

I don’t know what kind of algorithm they’re using to figure it out, but there’s got to be a way I can bump up those numbers. So if anybody has any ideas, please send ’em along, and in the meantime, I’ll keep checking those numbers.

P.S.: Thanks to Geoff for pointing out the Gematriculator site to me in the first place.

You Know, I Used to Just Get Upset About What the Post Was Reporting...

I can understand a difference of opinion, and the first example is just that. I’m disappointed, but whatever...

An editorial in today’s Post lambastes certain members of the Democratic party for daring to stand up to little George and his Republican cronies. Their stance is that by voting against Bush’s grotesquely irresponsible Iraq reconstruction package, they’re endangering our troops and not living up to our responsibilities to the Iraqi people.

Horseshit.

George Bush is the one not living up to his responsibilities to the American people. His obviously deliberate plan to willfully create a deficit so as to be able to claim helplessness when it comes time to cut social programs (Reaganomics, anyone?) is reprehensible. Anyone voting in favor of this package without explicitly tying it to repeal of Bush’s tax cuts — to say nothing of seeking greater international cooperation (which, granted, is a step closer with today’s passage of the U.S. proposal to the Security Council) — is kowtowing to that very plan. Kudos to John Edwards for coming out and saying that he will not vote in favor of the spending package.

Now on this second one, the Post’s apparently decided to abandon reason altogether. In their intelligence-free editorial “One Nation Under Justices,” they’re saying the Supreme Court should concentrate on figuring out a way to weasel out of the Pledge of Allegiance case rather than actually dealing with the issue at hand. I quote: “The easiest way out, and maybe the healthiest outcome for the country, would be to reverse the case on jurisdictional grounds, given the questions as to the plaintiff's standing.” And again: “The key to affirming the pledge and other such ritualized invocations without disrupting the larger relationship between church and state is for the court to focus on the nondevotional, patriotic context in which the words appear.” In other words, their goal should be to find a way to keep “under God” in there — regardless of the merit of the case — so we can just put this ugly issue behind us. They attempt to claim that the presence of passing references to God in other national documents and traditions shows that it’s all okay; they even go so far as to cite the national anthem, which is pretty shaky — yes, there’s a reference to God in the original poem, but since when has anybody sung anything beyond the first verse?

The thing that the purists don’t want to recognize is that yes, society changes. No, the “founding fathers” would not have interpreted the establishment clause the same way we must today; they most likely could not have conceived of anybody not acknowledging the supremacy of God — to the extent that atheism (or even agnistocism) existed, it was so alien a concept as to be beyond comprehension. But with the advent of reason, of scientific observation, our society does include these philosophies, not to mention any of a number of other, non-monotheistic belief systems, all of whom are explicitly excluded by the phrase “under God.” As the courts have decided that the establishment clause requires a so-called “separation of church and state,” this phrase cannot remain in the Pledge of Allegiance, particularly given the instructive nature of our school system. Frankly, I think the whole idea of a mandatory pledge of allegiance to a piece of cloth is stupid — I pledge allegiance to nothing save myself — but that’s another argument: Do we have the right, as a nation, to demand allegiance — which naturally implies agreement. Isn’t that why we have a First Amendment?

As to removing “God” from other aspects of government, I’m all for it. Frankly, “In God We Trust” is patently false; it necessarily implies that we, as a people, trust in God. All I need to do is provide one American who does not trust in God, and I have logically disproven the assertion. Nothing wrong with saying I trust in God — either believing it or saying it — but to make a blanket assertion that we all do is ridiculous.

On the good side, there’s a great column by Richard Cohen blasting the flagrant lies still being espoused by the Bush regime. Actually, it strikes close to home, being closely related to an essay I’m working on for the fall issue of Inkblots (though no promises — first I have to finish it). But in the meantime, give Cohen a read.

This Just In: Watching Fox News Will Actually Make You Stupid

This one I just found too funny not to mention. As Harold Meyerson points out in his column “Fact-Free News” in today’s Post, a new study — “Misperceptions, The Media and the Iraq War“ (PDF format) — has demonstrated that Fox News would appear to be doing a better job of misinforming people than informing them. Given three categorically false statements — one, the government has demonstrated a close relationship between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda; two, we have found the so-called “weapons of mass destruction”; and three, most people in other countries supported our invasion of Iraq — 80 percent of Fox viewers believed at least one of them, while a whopping 45 percent believed all three. That compared with CBS — 71 percent believed one (which, admittedly, is pretty bad), but only 15 percent believed all three — and PBS/NPR — 23 percent believed one, and only 7 percent the full set. And before anyone starts saying, “Well, people listen to the media outlets that mirror their own perceptions,” the researchers did take that into account, and even among like-minded ideologues, the Fox News viewers were substantially more ignorant of the facts.

Meyerson hits the nail on the head in figuring out the rationale: The Fox agenda has nothing to do with providing information; it’s all about making sure that Duh-bya gets reelected in 2004... I’m sorry, elected in 2004.

The Balanced Scales of Justice

First, an update, something that I consider a positive thing. Justice Antonin Scalia has recused himself from the Supreme Court’s hearing of the Pledge of Allegiance case. He provided no reason for doing so, but it likely stems from a comment he made denigrating the Ninth Circuit’s ruling, a no-no for a sitting judge. Michael Newdow, the plaintiff, had requested that Scalia do so, but it appears to have surprised just about everyone that Scalia actually did it. What this means for the case is that in the event of a 4-4 vote, the original ruling would stand: The “under God” phrase would be stricken (though whether that would apply to the nation as a whole is still undetermined). While I view this as a positive thing for the likely outcome of the case, I find it more significant that a justice is taking an ethical stand, despite its being counter to his own professed interests. I may not like the guy, but I can admire what he’s done.

Now for something on the other side of the scale. U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson — who admirably stood up to the Goliath that was Microsoft before little George decided to share a congratulatory cigar with Bill Gates — has ruled that reporters in four different news organizations will have to reveal their sources. No, this isn’t about the CIA-agent-disclosure leak, but the decision does have chilling consequences for that case as well. This case, rather, concerns leaks made to reporters about Dr. Wen Ho Lee, who was accused of siphoning nuclear secrets to the Chinese back in 1999. The decision, supposedly following existing judicial precedents, states that since Lee’s attorneys have been stonewalled in their interviews with government officials, the reporters remain the only option for obtaining information critical to Lee’s defamation lawsuit. We’ll have to wait and see how this decision is applied in the current case, but given that maintaining the confidentiality of sources is often critical to accurate reporting of government abuses, it’s frightening to think about where this could lead. Yes, this anonymous sourcing has seen rampant abuse of late, but there’s a damn good reason that this protection has to date remained sacrosanct.

Actually, I guess there’s another one in the positive column today: the Supreme Court’s decision not to review the Ninth Circuit’s decision forbidding the Feds from persecuting... I’m sorry, prosecuting doctors who dare to actually tell their patients about the potential benefits of medical marijuana. So now the government won’t be able to push its draconian drug policy by actually gagging people who dare to speak the truth. So in the end, I guess it’s a good day after all.

Wow, Busy News Day — and the Day’s Only Half Over

Well, whaddaya know. The Supremes are gonna review the Pledge of Allegiance case after all. I figure this is another one they just couldn’t avoid: The fundamentalists are screaming about the Ninth Circuit’s original ruling, which — unless the high court reviewed the case — would have stood, at least in the western states.

Of course, I can’t say I’m too optimistic about the outcome. Speaking strictly rationally, there’s no legal case to be made for the inclusion of “under God” in the Pledge. None whatsoever — the phrase was inserted back in 1954 expressly to promote religion in the face of “godless communism”; can’t claim “ceremonial deism” on this one. On the other hand, being the good, right-wing folks that they are, the justices won’t want to admit that fact. In all likelihood, I’d bet they’ll throw the case out on procedural grounds, most probably claiming that Newdow, the plaintiff in the case, doesn’t have standing to bring the case, since he’s not the “custodial parent” of the child at issue (although that appears to be indeterminate right now). Which may be true, but it’s dodging the issue. And even if the court should rule correctly, they’ll probably try to weasel their way into making the ruling “non-precedent-setting,” although I’d suspect that — as in the California recall case — somebody will call them on it soon enough.

To tell you the truth, I’ve often thought of bringing a similar suit, but reality has interceded — I have neither the time nor the money to pursue the case, not to mention the toll on my family. It wouldn’t be fair to my daughters to drag them through this. But still, should a miracle occur, and the court make a decision based on logic and the Constitution — rather than their right-wing superiors’ wishes — I will be breaking out the champagne.

Desperately Trying to Find a Receptive Audience

Apparently tired of actually having to answer the tough questions being asked by the major media outlets, Duh-bya has decided to hit the local broadcaster circuit. As reported in today’s Post, the “president” is going to regional broadcasters to push his agenda on Iraq. The regime’s thinking would appear to be that the local broadcasters — being a little more star-struck — are less likely to ask the hardball questions than the national media reporters. Now, frankly, I can’t blame them for bypassing the national media; anything to break up the big guys’ stranglehold on coverage is fine by me. But to be honest, the way the big media outlets have largely coddled him for the past year, I don’t know that he could ask for better treatment.

No, what alarms me is the revelation, about halfway through the article, that soldiers in Iraq have supposedly been authoring letters to their hometown papers, saying how well things are going. Unfortunately, it turns out that the letters in question are form letters, and one of the soldiers who was alleged to have sent it never even heard of the letter. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to put two and two together here: Somebody’s trying to use people’s empathy for the soldiers to push the Bush reconstruction agenda. Whether that’s someone in the administration or just a “concerned citizen” remains to be seen. But I can only hope that somebody will make an effort to find out.

Life Imitates Art

Well, comic-book art anyway. It appears that, according to a story in yesterday’s Post (which I’m still sourcing, even if they have abandoned all pretense of editorial objectivity), scientists have enabled a monkey to manipulate a robot arm with his thoughts. For the moment, the connection’s hard-wired, but they anticipate upgrading to a wireless connection before too long. The ramifications for this are positively astonishing. Robots could be controlled remotely — one can envision incorporating virtual reality gear to do in reality what is now done purely in simulation. Paraplegics may be able to walk again, by bypassing the spinal cord and sending electrical impulses directly to muscles — in fact, that was the jist of a story I wrote back in high school. But most significantly...

... Doctor Octopus need no longer be just a fictional creation.

You know, I wonder if this whole thing isn’t a marketing ploy cooked up by Sony Pictures.

So Much for the Voices of Reason

The Post still doesn’t get it. The editorial staff is still saying that the war in Iraq was “justified and necessary.” This right after pointing out that David Kay’s report showed no evidence of the so-called “weapons of mass destruction,” noting that the Bush regime distorted the nature of Saddam’s connection to al Qaeda, and reminding us that Duh-bya willfully misled the public about postwar reconstruction costs (both in terms of money and human losses).

That the Iraqi people have been “freed from fear” under the absolute rule of the U.S. occupying forces — as opposed to the absolute rule of Saddam Hussein — is completely beside the point. There are any number of world dictators about whom this argument could be made. The decision to invade Iraq, against the wishes of virtually the entire civilized world, was not made under the pretext of making conditions better for the Iraqi people. It was made because Iraq posed an imminent threat to the security of the United States. In other words, a lie.

Even before the invasion happened, I heard people espousing the long-term benefits of overthrowing Saddam Hussein, and the arguments — though I may have disagreed with them — were sound, logical, and rational. But faced with the realization that the majority of people also disagreed with the arguments, the regime decided to lie to the American people. Now that the lie’s been exposed, the party line is to shout out loud that things are better for the Iraqis. And, alas, the Post continues to toe that line. I shouldn’t be all that surprised, given that the Post also — as pointed out in this week’s Ombudsman column — chose to bury administration admissions that no connection existed between Saddam and 9/11 (as I noted at the time). But it’s truly sad to see the death of what I had seen as one of this nation’s last bastions of rationality.

More Birthday Wishes!

Happy birthday to Aleister Crowley (who would have been 128 years young today), as well as to budding Washington entrepreneur Collin Klamper (who is a tad younger). Though they do share a birthday, I don’t believe Collin is actually Aleister Crowley reincarnated.

Of course, I could be wrong.

You Know, Dick, There Comes a Time When You Have to Face Reality

The Post’s running a story this morning entitled “Cheney Gets Offensive Over Iraq.” Oops, my mistake, I guess it’s actually entitled “Cheney Goes on Offensive About Iraq,” but the net result’s the same. I know, part of the guy’s job is to cover his boss’s complete incompetence over the Iraq war (an incompetence gleefully exploited by Cheney and his cohorts when it suited them), but come on, Dick! Everybody knows you were lying now. Your (nominal) boss has managed to maintain at least a semblance of “plausible deniability” (although I can’t say it was all that plausible), but you... You came right out and spun the biggest whoppers we’d ever heard in this whole affair. Remember, I called you on it at the time.

And yet, tricky Dick is still spouting lies in his feeble attempts to cover this regime’s flagrantly unethical behavior. The actions leading up to the invasion all failed? Um, not according to Kay’s report, which stated that those sanctions effectively crippled Hussein’s ability to produce the now-infamous “weapons of mass destruction.” A number of Kay’s findings demonstrate material breaches of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1441? Um, actually, no, that’s not what the report says — a slew of those allegedly airtight violations remain wholly unconfirmed.

And, of course, the topper: “Historians will look back on our time and pay tribute to our 43rd president.” Not as long as I draw breath, they won’t. Dick.

The Washington Post Endorses Arnold for President!

Okay, maybe not quite. But today’s top editorial, “Let Immigrants Run,” does support the idea of a Constitutional amendment rescinding the “natural-born citizen” requirement for presidential eligibility. Okay, okay, their underlying argument — in this day and age, are we really worried about a foreign-born citizen selling out American interests to their native country’s? — does make sense, but the timing’s just too funny to take at face value.

I remember an article way back in the mid-’80s joking about Schwarzenegger’s popularity, suggesting — tongue planted firmly in cheek — that he’d follow in then-president Reagan’s footsteps; all we’d need to do is pass that pesky amendment, and he’d be in. At the time, of course, it was a joke (as was the similar reference in Arnold buddy Sylvester Stallone’s picture Demolition Man), but in light of his California recall victory, it’s becoming all too possible. Strange that at a time when Arnold’s “star power” is arguably at its nadir, he should still command enough authority to get himself elected without proposing a single thing to help California out of its budget morass.

Now, I’m not one to jump on the bandwagon of belittling Arnold’s intelligence; it’s all too easy a joke, and frankly, it’s getting old. Okay, so he’s no Rhodes scholar, but compared with... say... Duh-bya, he’s an absolute genius. I’ll readily concede that he’s not the most articulate fellow in the world, and has yet to really master the English language (despite having lived here for how many decades now?), but I can’t deny his success, in entertainment, real estate, what have you (and it’s not the “daddy handed it to me” kind of success either). But even so, the idea of Arnold in the oval office is just... a little too creepy to contemplate.

Then again, it’d be a hell of an improvement over the nut job in there now.

All Right, Folks, Here Goes Nothing

The whole editing thing’s still going to take quite a while, but I figured I could at least get some audio cut together and posted.

Namely, mine.

Hey, that’s the advantage to having the source tapes — I get priority. Now, this is just a low-quality MP3 file, but it’s my complete story, which I’ve entitled “Flight Ceiling.” Of course, that title’s liable to change, but it’s all I could think of on short notice. I know those of you who attended the event are probably anxiously waiting for the whole evening to become available, so this’ll probably be more of interest to those of you who didn’t make it, but we’ll see.

So download any enjoy (it’s about 3.1 meg total). Oh, and a word of warning: I’m probably not gonna keep it up here forever, so don’t put it off — listen now.

And don’t leave me hanging — tell me what you think, all right? I’ve got a really fragile ego here .

Sometimes It Is Okay to Be a Sucker

You know, I talk a good game, but when it comes right down to it, I’m a pretty nice guy. I know, I know, I need to keep working on that, but it’s an uphill battle. As an example, a couple of years ago, my car got hit by a woman changing lanes illegally. Nothing to get too upset about, we both pulled over, checked out the damage, exchanged contact information, she knew she was at fault. But here’s the kicker — she asked if we could settle it without going through insurance. Being a trusting soul (and figuring the damage wasn’t that bad), I said okay.

So I get the repairs done, and give her a call at her work number, the number she gave me. Where I promptly discover she doesn’t work there anymore. Bad sign. I manage to track her down at her home number (since I’d been smart enough to write down her home address from her driver’s license), and give her the repair cost. At which point she gives me a whole sob story about how she’s now out of work, and paying it will be difficult. I’m sympathetic, but firm. She asks for a couple of weeks, and I accede. Two weeks go by. Three weeks. Four. Nothing. I end up having to make harassing calls to her repeatedly before she finally coughs up a money order. The moral of the story is never agree to arrange things without going through the insurance companies. I vow that I’ll never be such a sucker again.

Fast-forward to a few months ago. I get rear-ended by a taxi driver. We get out, exchange information, inspect the damage — which looks a lot worse on his end; my CR-V looks like it just has some marks on the bumper. He’s a recent immigrant, renting the cab, and he asks... if we can settle it without going through insurance. And, sucker that I am, I say okay. After all, you can barely see anything wrong with my car.

Until later, when I notice that the exhaust system is making a lot more noise than it should. And my mechanic figures out that the muffler and exhaust pipes will all need to be replaced, to the tune of about $550. I get the repairs made, and contact Henry, the cab driver. Not having a lot of money, he asks what we can do, and I offer to allow a payment plan: $100 a month until it’s paid off. After all, I can afford the initial outlay, while he clearly can’t. He eagerly accepts, and we go our separate ways. I suppose I took some solace in the fact that I at least recognized that my chances of seeing my money back at all weren’t great; I put it at about 50-50. But the first payment comes in, right on time. And the second. And the third.

And then he gives me a call. His father’s passed away, and he’s going to have to go back to Africa to make funeral arrangements. Throws a monkey wrench into the plan, but what can I do? He says he’ll be gone for a couple of months, but mentally, I write off the remainder of the payment.

Last night I get a phone call. It’s Henry, saying he’s back in the country, and is eager to resume payment. Go figure.

So maybe I’m a sucker. But still it’s nice, every once in a while, to have your faith in the basic honesty of people restored. Just don’t expect me to start giving people the benefit of the doubt here. This ain’t real life, you know.

Well, It’s About Damn Time...

Believe it or not, I don’t have Internet access at home. Nothing at all. On one hand, having a T3 line at work, it’s nearly impossible to stomach the idea of paying for dial-up access; I’d go nuts. On the other hand, cable Internet access (DSL’s not available where I live) would effectively require that I also subscribe to cable television, which I have no desire to do — especially when I can get the same level of service from satellite at a fraction of the cost of digital cable. I always find it funny how the cable companies advertise their digital cable service alongside their regular cable prices, with only the fine print telling you they’re comparing apples and oranges.

I know, technically, I could just get the cable modem alone. But they’ll charge me an additional $10 per month. Add to that the fact that they’ve got a monopoly on the service — I pay their $55 per month, or I’m SOL.

Until now. The ever-lovin’ Ninth Circuit just ruled that cable companies must allow access to their lines by competing high-speed Internet services, just as is the case with other telecommunications services (e.g., telephones).

The counter-argument — promoted, surprise surprise, by FCC chairman Michael Powell — is that cable companies will have no incentive to upgrade their equipment to incorporate such advances as fiber-optic cabling. Hey, moron — they’ve got a monopoly! What possible incentive do they have now? If they’re investing in fiber-optic cabling now, it sure as hell ain’t because of their monopoly status. Sure, under a competitive system, any advances they make would help their competitors as much as it would help them. But if, in the long run, it’s beneficial to them, they’ll continue to do it. Will they figure out a way to charge back those competing services for such advances? Hell, yes.

The kicker is that, as FCC Chairman, Powell has the discretion to simply not enforce the requirement if, in his sole judgment, enforcement would cause more harm than good. Gee, I wonder what he’ll do? Sorry, Mikey, but any goodwill you may have had with me is gone now.

...and Then There Were Nine

A fond farewell to Senator Bob Graham, who yesterday decided to withdraw from the Democratic presidential race. As candidates go, I certainly had nothing against Graham, particularly given the fact that, of the four Senators in the race (Edwards, Graham, Lieberman, and Kerry), he was the only one who had voted against authorizing war against Iraq. But there does come a time when you have to look at your chances realistically, and I guess Graham decided that time was now.

Analysts are saying that this early withdrawal improves his chances of appearing as a vice presidential candidate, and frankly, that wouldn’t surprise me. Should Dean become the presidential candidate (I’m optimistic, but not confident enough to become complacent), I frankly think Graham’s got a better shot now than Wesley Clark, who — according to informed speculation, anyway — had been in talks to take Dean’s number-two slot. The benefit to signing Clark early on would have been clear: gaining the support of the growing “Draft Clark” movement. Now, however, with Clark as a declared candidate, the question becomes what can Clark bring to the ticket, compared with someone like Graham. He’s still got his supporters, but they’re fairly widespread, without the strong state-based support that Graham has. I’d suspect they’d end up supporting the eventually selected candidate, but wouldn’t be able to deliver any state in particular.

All idle speculation at this point. We’ll see what happens in due time.

Start the Insanity!

Okay, so this one’s not originally a Discordian holiday, but what the hell — we’ll take it. Today is Mad Hatter Day. At least here in the states; in England, it’s celebrated on June 10th (“10/6,” the inscription on the Hatter’s hat tag, signifying different dates on either side of the pond). Alas, I didn’t have time to prepare for this one the way I did for my infamous April Fool’s gag, so I don’t think anyone need worry too much. Still, as tradition dictates that the plans for Mad Hatter Day be announced on October 7th (it being much easier to maintain accuracy when describing events that have already occurred), I may be revising my announcement tomorrow.

Maybe this explains all that California nonsense...

Whine, Whine, Whine

According to an NPR news report this morning, recall supporters are whining about the 28-day time frame (which, according to a Post story, will be required in full) allowed under California law to certify an election and inaugurate a new governor. That doesn’t allow sufficient time — they claim — for the newly elected governor — they assume — to put together a state budget before January’s deadline. More significantly, they say it’s too long to remain under a Davis governorship, that it gives him enough time to do all sorts of things to mess up the state before he’s ousted.

Hello, you complete and utter morons. How is that different from any other election? Every regular election, be it presidential, gubernatorial, mayoral, what have you, has a lag time between the election and the inauguration of those elected. And in this case, even allowing for the certification time, it’ll be less of a lag than in a normal California election. What the hell are you bitching about?

And you want to solve the budget deadline problem? Start writing your budget now. Or push to have the inauguration after January, leaving it to Gray Davis to come up with it. But either way, quit your whining.

Makes me kind of glad that the Schwarzenegger recall petition is already in the works.

K Street Cop-Out

Just finished watching this week’s K Street, and I must say, I was a bit disappointed, for two reasons. First, the entire episode takes place two and a half months ago — which means that aside from some references to the California election (remember, Californians, vote Robert Anton Wilson on Tuesday), there was little to tie it to the events of the day. Which, frankly, is part of the unique allure of the series; I can’t help but feel a bit cheated this week.

And second, another fundamental element of this show is the ability to — at least a little bit — pretend it’s all real. Maybe it’s because I’m working in Washington, maybe because I’ve become a bit of a political junkie (well, since starting this weblog, anyway), but I was really getting into it. And suddenly I’m ripped out of my belief suspension when I see Robert Prosky and Elliot Gould. Great actors, both of them, but they’re too prominent, too identifiable as actors. It’s great that they were able to get them (Gould, of course, worked with Soderbergh on Ocean’s Eleven, and Prosky lives here in D.C.), but for this project, better to stick with more obscure talent (hey, Steven, I’m available).

Still, I’m loving the concept, the story, and Soderbergh’s cinematographic efforts (or should I say “Peter Andrews’,” Soderbergh’s nom de plume when serving as cinematographer); his use of color tinting was irritating at first (D.C. ain’t nearly that blue), but it’s gradually starting to become apparent what he’s trying to say with color (gradually, I said — I ain’t ready to give a talk on it just yet).

Recovery Time

Well, we got off to a shaky start there, but I think once we all realized that bickering wasn’t going to benefit any of us — and gave up on trying to track down the Common Grounds manager — we came to a compromise. The poetry folks would start a bit early, so they could finish before nine o’clock, and we’d just get started an hour late. The downside was that we lost about a half-hour of setup time, so we didn’t end up getting the speakers working. But we were able to hold the event, if slightly delayed, and we just kept going until they closed the place at midnight.

And I have to say that, at least from my perspective, the evening was an unqualified success. Oh, some of the stories ran a little long, but all were interesting. At some point we’ll have audio and video (CD, online audio and video downloads, maybe even a DVD) from the evening for distribution, but don’t hold your breath on it happening right away. Editing it together will be a tough job, since, as I mentioned, Final Cut Pro doesn’t handle three-camera recording (which we had last night).

I want to give a few shout-outs to last night’s speakers. I’ll cover just the “featured performers” (plus the one open mic orator whose info I’ve got); nothing against the other open mic performers, who gave us some of last night’s best stories, but I just don’t have the open mic list handy. I’ll catch them once I get the info from Geoff (I want to make sure I get it right). SarahScott Brett, rest assured that your stories will live on through all of us. David Thomas, I’ll never look at L.A. the same again. Kori Lusignan, I laughed like I haven’t in a long time — but what say I wait a few years before relating it to the kids, okay? Talon Beeson, I think we’d do well to expand the lobster’s travels... let’s talk. David Seitzinger, after your story, I think I’ll stick with air travel. Tom Bridge, you reminded me of the glorious feeling of being truly passionate about something. Michael Alex Wasylik, let’s hope we’ve all grown a little. And, of course, Geoffrey Long, thank for putting together such a fantastic evening, not to mention reminding us how much fun it is to dress up on occasion.

Of course, given that several of us popped over to the Silver Diner for a late dinner, Pam and I didn’t get home until around 2:30 a.m. So combine a pair of kids who woke up at their regular morning hour, plus three cats who decided to spend the entire night clamoring for attention in myriad ways (little Lily nibbles our four-year-old’s nose when she wants her to wake up — which last night was every hour or so), and my pace today’s a little... slow. I think I’ll see if I can go take a nap.

Addendum: I’ve added a photo of yours truly, courtesy of the aforementioned Mr. Seitzinger. I could have just stuck it in a brand new entry, but it seemed a little trivial to just post by itself.

The First Snafu...

Well, the evening wouldn’t be complete without at least one screwup, and this time we’re getting it out of the way early.

Common Grounds double-booked the room. So we’re in the middle of setting up, and suddenly realize that half the folks there are planning to attend a poetry reading. And frankly, the reading organizers were a little snippy about it. “We reserved the room.” “Well, so did we... what do you think, we just decided to set up all this video equipment without making arrangements to be able to actually use it?”

As Mr. Seitzinger said, “Two words: Cluster, fuck.”

Time to Head Into the Fray

Well, I’m off to Fray Day 7 DC. In addition to performing, I’ve arranged for a three-camera videotaping of the event (which Adam’ll be supervising); thankfully, I think Geoff’s going to handle editing duties — which means it might actually get done. I don’t know what we’ll end up with — most likely a highlights CD and some downloadable video — but we figure it’s worth recording just for us, if nothing else.

I hope to see as many of you there as possible. I think I’ve got the story pretty well down (after having listened to a recording I made for my iPod a dozen times), but it wouldn’t hurt to have a few friendly faces in the audience. Wish me luck! (And while you’re waiting, check out my suspiciously Republican-looking mug shot on the event promo site. Scary.)

Hey, I just noticed something — this is my fourth blog entry today: a new record. And seeing as how Common Grounds has wi-fi access, I may even get in a fifth. No promises, though; I’ll be a little busy.

What Say We Scrub the Old Way of Doing Things?

Okay, after two politically-oriented entries today, let me shift gears and cover technology and entertainment. According to an article at MacCentral, Touchstone Television and NBC have decided to go all Apple for the production of the television show Scrubs. Seems they had been using Apple hardware for the show’s first two seasons, but were using Avid editing software; this year, they’ve decided to go with Final Cut Pro. Not to mention using Logic for music production and iDVD for burning quick copies for the execs.

Don’t expect everyone to make the same leap just yet, though. Scrubs only uses a single camera for shooting (like a movie, or most television dramas), unlike the usual (Desi Arnaz-invented) sitcom model of the three-camera shoot, and Final Cut Pro doesn’t really support multiple camera viewing (yet). Once it does, though, look out. The big boys will be following in my footsteps for a change.

Credit Where Credit Is Due

You know, as little as I think of Schwarzenegger’s governing potential, I’ll give him credit for bucking the political tradition of deny, deny, deny. His apology caught even his own team off-guard. Now I certainly don’t condone his behavior, but actually saying you’re sorry is almost unheard of in the political arena. You sure as hell don’t see little George doing it with regard to this whole Iraq war, do you?

That said, I’m surprised the story in the Los Angeles Times is coming as such a shock. Hell, I remember during the production of Terminator 2, Arnold himself told a story of walking up to bent-over costar Linda Hamilton and grabbing her rear end — only to discover that it wasn’t Linda, but her twin sister Leslie Hamilton Gearren, who was on set to serve as Hamilton’s photographic double. They all had a big laugh, naturally, as if somehow it all would have been perfectly acceptable if it had been Hamilton. I wouldn’t be surprised to discover that Gearren was one of the four unnamed women in the Times story.

Now, on one hand I don’t want to minimize the issue, but on the other I don’t want to overreact; I do understand that things can be a little more relaxed on a movie set than in the average office workplace. Is Arnold a womanizer? Yeah, probably, but I’m willing to cut him a little slack in that regard, particularly since he’s at least willing to own up to it.

The Credibility Gap Becomes Official

“Hans Blix had five months to find weapons. He found nothing. We’ve had five weeks. Come back to me in five months. If we haven’t found any, we will have a credibility problem.” — Charles Krauthammer, American Enterprise Institute function entitled Iraq: What Lies Ahead, April 22, 2003

Congratulations. You’ve got a credibility problem. Your five months are up, and you’ve found nothing. And note that I’m not saying “we” have a credibility problem; we most assuredly are not on the same side on this. On top of all this, little George wants another $600 million — the detailed expenditure of which is, of course, classified, so as to avoid any scrutiny — to continue his little snipe hunt.

Okay, the quotation above (called to my attention in a Letter to the Editor in yesterday’s Post) would have been a little more effective if it had come from a regime official rather than just a conservative columnist, but I work with what I’ve got.

A Step Toward Justice? Or a Step Toward Tsarism?

The one thing I take away from all of this is that the justice department is staffed by a bunch of idiots, who’ll gladly cut off their noses to spite their faces. Okay, that’s an awkward construction; sue me.

Judge Leonie Brinkema has just ruled not only that Zacarias Moussaoui cannot face the death penalty, but that prosecutors will not be permitted to present any evidence that he was involved in the September 11 attacks. Oh, they can still try to say that he was part of a larger, vaguer al Qaeda “conspiracy,” but nothing directly associated with September 11 can be introduced. Nothing. No cockpit recordings, no video, nothing.

Brinkema’s decision, though not what either side was expecting, is of course completely consistent with the Constitutional guarantees granted to defendants. If anything, they give a hell of a lot of leeway to the prosecution — after all, she didn’t throw out the case altogether. But here we have the only surviving person (allegedly) connected to the September 11 attacks, and they’re basically going to let him go because they don’t want to allow him to present a defense! They’d rather lose entirely than allow him to present his side of the story, with witnesses, as guaranteed by law!

Of course, they’re rattling their sabers, saying they’ll move the entire case into a “military tribunal,” but I hate to see what precedent that would set. Actually, I know exactly what precedent that would set. It would mean we had officially become a police state, and the Constitution had been thrown out the window altogether.

I wonder, from a strictly legal standpoint, should the Bush regime decide to take that step, would they still be considered the legitimate government of the country? Or would George Bush be just another despotic warlord?

Kind of like that guy we just kicked out of power in Iraq, no?

More Technology Woes

All I want is to listen to my iPod over the car stereo. But alas, the Honda-installed stereo doesn’t have an auxiliary input jack. So no dice. I’ve got a little FM transmitter, but its performance is spotty at best, particularly since we’ve got stations already broadcasting on all the available frequencies. I could have a cassette deck installed — for $225 — which would allow me to use a cassette adapter, but that’s the only reason I’d be getting the deck installed; kind of a waste of money, don’t you think? Or I could pick up an adapter which would create an auxiliary input for my existing CD player, but at $80 — not to mention installation — that too seems a little steep, particularly when I could get a whole new stereo — with an auxiliary input jack — for not much more (and I don’t need anything fancy).

I’m also running into trouble with my cell phone. One, it’s way past time we combined Pam’s and my phones into a single account (“Make sure you leave your cell phone; I need to call my brother and I don’t have the free long-distance.” “Wait a minute, I thought I paid the cell phone bill, so what’s this one?“). And two, my existing phone is on its last legs; I have really got to replace it. I can’t even get into my office voice mail anymore, because the system won’t recognize the feeble squeaks my phone tries to pass off as touch tones. I even know which phone I want to get. But, of course, it only works on the new “GSM” network, while our old phones still use the soon-to-be-obsolete “TDMA” network. Doesn’t seem like much of problem, but there’s a wrinkle I hadn’t counted on: If we stick with the shared-account model (which I think we need to), and I upgrade my phone, I have to upgrade Pam’s as well. My choice was easy — AT&T Wireless only has three Bluetooth-compatible phones, one of which is a high-end phone/PDA combo (which, since I’ve got the Tungsten-T, I don’t need). Pam doesn’t care about Bluetooth (or any other bells and whistles, for that matter), and would be happy with just a decent phone that works well. Alas, there’s a whole slew of phones like that out there, and I haven’t been able to find any decent comparison evaluations. I’ll probably just end up picking whichever one looks (and works) closest to the one she’s got now; the fewer waves I make, the better.

Stemming the Rampant Dissemination of Information

Everybody’s screaming about the White House’s alleged leak of the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame in retaliation against her husband for his opposition to Bush’s “weapons of mass destruction” rhetoric before the war. The problem with most of the coverage I’m seeing is that it appears to be confusing what may be two completely separate incidents. Robert D. Novak, in today’s column, denies that the source for his column of July 14 was a White House leak at all. The thing is, even assuming he’s telling the truth (which I have no real reason to doubt), that doesn’t let the Bush cronies off the hook. Why assume it’s one or the other? No, Novak may not have used a White House leak as his source. But that’s not to say that the leak — or an attempted leak — didn’t happen as well. Now, before you accuse me of being overly conspiratorial, believe it or not, I actually don’t want to go around having every unsubstantiated rumor hunted down by some overzealous “special prosecutor.” But given the credibility with which everyone’s treating this one, I don’t see that we have much choice, even taking Novak’s denials into account. And I’m sorry, but “separation” from the guilty parties isn’t sufficient, for either the leaker or those who (may have) ordered it: Both must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. This gross attempt at intimidation — again, if the allegations have merit — would be very serious indeed.

Not that I’m all that surprised, coming from the Bush regime.

I’m actually more interested in the MPAA’s decision to forbid the sending out of “screeners” for Oscar-nominated films. They’ve cut a deal with the major studios (including their subsidiaries) that will, in effect, require that voters see the film in the theater. Okay, I’ll grant that theatrical presentation beats home viewing any day of the week. But come on. Who goes out to see every Oscar-worthy picture — or even a substantial portion of them — in the theater? Even industry folk have lives. And what about the films that have already completed their theatrical run, and aren’t yet out on video? I guess the MPAA’s attitude is, “Tough.”

What this does is dramatically hamper the chances of smaller pictures in the Oscar race; the Oscars will now be just another reward for commercial success (I know, a lot of folks said that after Titanic, but this time it’s actually institutionalized). The counter-argument is that true independents will still be able to send out VHS or DVD copies of their films, therefore, presumably, giving them an actual advantage over studio pictures, but again, I don’t think that’s realistic. One, true independents are going to have a tough time affording to send out those copies, and two, if they’ve signed a distribution deal with one of the studios — say, Miramax — they’ll be bound by the new rules. I can completely understand the MPAA’s concerns about piracy, but just as they went too far with CSS encryption, they’re going too far this time, when far less radical solutions are readily available — burning in identification codes, for example, so illicit copies can be traced to the source.

I guess “information” really is the new currency of power.

Remember Your Responsibilites as a Patriotic American Today

It’s National Swear at a Telemarketer Day! Since the American Teleservices Association has vowed to keep calling numbers on the FTC’s National Do Not Call Registry — not to mention making sure the FCC can’t take over enforcement duties — it’s up to you to do your solemn duty! When a telemarketer calls, remember to curse like a sailor! Don’t worry if the kids are in the room — their momentary discomfort will be far outweighed by the benefit to civilized society at large! Oh, there are a few other suggestions out there as to what to do, but I think we all know they’re not nearly as effective — or fun!

And remember: Your job’s not done until the telemarketer cries!

As deep in the back pocket of big media as FCC chairman Michael Powell may be, he actually came up with a decent workaround regarding enforcement: The FTC has the list, the FCC has the power to enforce it. But — get this — the FTC’s not allowed to provide the list to the FCC. Bureaucratic bullshit, of course. But Powell sent a letter (PDF format) to the Direct Marketing Association, which, unlike its sister organization, has stated an intention to treat the list as valid regardless of its enforceability. In it, he requested that the DMA (who are still a pile of scum, but a little less ripe than the ATA) provide the list to the FCC. That way, he gets around the bureaucratic obstacle the ATA’s thrown into the works. Creative thinking. Doesn’t make me think much better of him, but apparently, even weasels like him can make the right decision once in a while.