1/28/00 - A shadowy figure known only as Gerhard Paladin has rewritten the Prequel trilogy. If only Phantom Menace had even approximated his treatment!
I discovered late yesterday that my earlier e-mail to other weblogs had been the subject of some consternation over at Metafilter, particularly for Prolific. Oh well. Thankfully, I can visit the Weblog Madness portal over at Larkfarm to stay informed and avoid any further netiquette faux-pas (Thanks, Mike). Also, I greatly appreciate the vote of confidence, Bad Hair Days - I promise to spam you next time ;). She also pointed out this nightmare in the Village Voice. Talk about your broad mandates. Will sanity ever prevail?
In other interweblog news, Kempa and Hit-Or-Miss have convinced me to pick up the next two Harry Potter books in hardback. After all, won't it be cool to have first edition hardcovers to give to the grandkids? I've dropped several unsubtle hints that the aforementioned tomes would not be an unwelcome gift from Elaine on Valentine's Day.
I spent much of the morning ranting on Slate about the national press groupthink, ably dissected by USA Today columnist Walter Shapiro in yesterday's Slate diary. I believe my employer encapsulated the problem in his inimitable way when he said in 1992, "You people [the press] are like a bunch of drunks. Y'all get drunk...and then you dry out for four years and then you go up to Columbia, or wherever y'all have your little seminars, and promise yourself that you are not going to do it again. You dry out. And then [someone] puts the first goddamn jigger of whiskey on the bar and you are killing each other to get at it." Now, if only he'd bring the same clarity to his support for Al Gore.
If you're not already annoyed by the wanna-be hipster pundits jawing over the Bauer-Keyes-Rage debate exchange, here's the story of the traveling mosh-pit right from the source. And, while we're on the subject of primal tribal behavior, contemplate this on the Tree of Woe: Harry Knowles announces that Conan the King might be in the works. Now, Destroyer is a truly awful film, but Barbarian is a forgotten Oliver Stone classic, with several eminently quotable quotables for any occasion. "A few months ago they were just another Snake Cult...."
Feeling antisocial? Want to see a site most politicians would be sure to use as a scapegoat for school violence? Check out Assassin (via Kempa.) I was sold the moment I heard that too fresh remix of New Order'sConfusion from the Blade soundtrack.
Georgia's getting no love from the press as a Superbowl venue. I haven't read this much Atlanta-bashing since the Olympics.
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1/27/00 - Sam Raimi's got Spiderman!
I was cringing when I heard your friendly neighborhood webslinger might end up a Chris Columbus movie starring Chris O'Donnell. Raimi (of Evil Dead fame) is a much better choice, and should be able to avoid creating a bomb of Schumacher-esque proportions. (Between Raimi on Spidey and Peter Jackson on the Lord of the Rings, it's looking like an ultra-gory zombie flick might be the best career move for a burgeoning director these days.) Now, howz'about Wes Bentley or Ed Norton as Peter Parker?
While I'm in geek movie mode, did any of y'all see the Episode 2 rumor over at Corona today? Apparently, those braids that have been hanging from Boba Fett's right shoulder all these years may not be wookie scalps at all, but rather trophies of slain Padawan Jedis (remember Ewan MacGregor's funky do?) Something to consider if you choose to build your own Boba Fett. Rumors such as this give me hope that the next Star Wars movie will indeed be a darker, more brooding piece, and not, as I originally feared, a vehicle to sell more Jar Jar Binks merchandise.
Not much to report around here at the moment. I've basically been dinking around the web waiting (a) to see some post-debate New Hampshire polling and/or (b) for the local music store to call and tell me they've finished (or, for that matter, started) re-stringing my guitar. I promise you, I'm not normally so afflicted with impatience, but all this knee-jerk Gore-jocking by the media has me strung out on a bender. Speaking of which, I had a Fargo moment trying to extricate Elaine's car from a massive snowdrift in front of our apartment this morning. Winter was more fun when I had no wheels.
People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones...or take showers, for that matter.
I sent e-mails yesterday to several other weblogs I fancied in and around the web, sorta the information superhighway equivalent of coming by your new neighbor's place with a batch of homemade cookies. While some folks were very friendly (Thanks, Kempa, for the Harry Potter info) and others offered some constructive advice (note the reduced picture frequency and the inclusion on Weblogs.com), others still took a ridiculously condescending attitude to my missive. As in subtext = "You really shouldn't do so-and-so - it's passe" or "Weblogs are really more about this and this and this than that and that and that" or "Don't bother me with your pathetic old-school site, newbie, I'm the 'Blogmeister!" Sheesh! It reminds me of that X-Files where Mulder and Scully go undercover in the "gated community" and discover there are more rules than you can shake a stick at. Remind me to keep one eye on the Scoop Index, pick up Weblogging for Dummies sometime in the near future, and not to pester the more sophisticated weblogs with amateur night queries.
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1/26/00 - That's no moon, it's a space station! Wait...ok, maybe it is a moon. And a second moon at that (login required). Hail Cruithne. In unhappier space news, I stumbled upon the NASA anti-drug propaganda site today. It contains gems like "Avoid Black Holes and drugs!" and "Pot turns people into potheads." Hmmm...maybe so, but most potheads I've met can still convert from standard to metric.
Well, it would be nice to see my home state of South Carolina in the news, if we didn't all look like a bunch of yokels because of the Confederate Flag fiasco. Let me vouch for the majority of us who think the Stars and Bars is an anachronistic embarrassment that should be taken down and buried 300 feet beneath the sod. The guys at NuSouth have come up with a pretty good compromise, but somehow I don't think it'll catch on with the Civil War re-enacting crowd.
Some fellow 'bloggers have suggested that I might rack up more hits if I cut down on the images. I've been spoiled by the cable modem: I'd almost forgotten how long it can take to load a page like this in the old school. Then again, if I go strictly text, why not just use Blogger? Hmmm...any advice out there?
Bird on a Wire notes that the Greeks are mystified by Sea Monkeys (no comment from my wife). While I'm stealing links, he's (through Lake Effect) also unearthed the Malkovich Mediator. Malkovich!
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1/25/00 - The Bradlands Weblog has discovered Emode, a collection of personality tests perfect for a snow day such as today. So far I've discovered that I'm a basset hound whose perfect celebrity match is Angela Bassett. Hmmm...now that I write it down that basset-bassett connection is a little scary.
I finished Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, and, I have to admit, I'm hooked. The only question is, should I rush out and get the next two books now or wait until they're out in paperback? (I'm pondering a similar question on the Baldur's Gate tip - should I pay 25 bones for the Sword Coast Expansion Pack or just wait for the release of BGII: Shadows of Amn?) Decisions, decisions. No Safe Place was also a good read, but, I must admit, it was a little depressing to read a fictional tale of a New Jersey Democratic Senator pulling an upset nomination win over the incumbent Vice-President when the idiot box keeps trying to tell me Bradley is toast. Still, I'm confident Dollar Bill will turn this puppy around in the Granite State.
An interesting tidbit from Sunday's New York Times: Bill Bradley, Al Gore, John McCain, and Steve Forbes are all southpaws. (So for that matter, are Bill Clinton, George Bush Sr., Ronald Reagan, and H. Ross Perot. Due to his injury, Bob Dole is also a lefty, but it's not really the same thing is it?) Go lefties! It almost makes up for the fact that I've now waited nine days for the music shop in town to restring my guitar lefty (they said it'd take 3-5).
The Knicks are in town tonight against the Wizards, I may go buy some $10 nosebleeders and check it out, although truth be told it might be better to watch it on TV, what with the blizzard and all. It will be fun to root against MJ again, just like old times. New York over Seattle 112-106 last night - Gary Payton got himself ejected in the first quarter. Doh! Newsflash - the Knicks-Wiz game has been postponed. Well, that settles that one.
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1/23/00 - Harry Knowles over at Ain't it Cool News has successfully completed one of the bigger movie scoops of late: pictures of the X-Men for Brian Singer's forthcoming summer blockbuster. Patrick Stewart as Professor Charles Xavier is pitch-perfect casting and Ian McKellen should pull off an appropriately complex Magneto. The rest are a toss-up, though. I'll reserve further judgement until after the Superbowl ads.
The Knickerbockers flubbed one against the Spurs yesterday. I was hoping we'd win this Finals rematch for purely psychological reasons, but to no avail.
My Gore-supporting office has become exceedingly smirky and smug about Vice-President's recent success and the future prospects of the Bradley campaign, down to chucklehead remarks from fellow assistants like "Bradley doesn't seem to have the heart for it." Well, in the words of Peter Shaffer's Antonio Salieri, "Laugh, laugh...In the end I will laugh at you." An Irishman never forgets a grudge.
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1/21/00 - The first snowfall of the season here in Washington DC/Alexandria. It was a perfect day for strolling around Old Town, enjoying Djarum cloves (a long-forgotten college vice) and the melancholy strands of Bjork ("All is Full of Love" - check out the video) and the Malkovich Soundtrack. I also made a wonderful find at the nearby St. Elmo's Cafe - Ham and Cheese-filled croissants. Mm, mm good.
Did y'all read the note Barbelith's landlord sent him? That is completely off the hook.
I signed up for Seti@Home this afternoon, and it is now quietly humming along in the background. I also spent all morning creating a likeness of Devil's Tower out of Ham and Cheese-Croissant filling, but I'm not sure if the two events are related.
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1/20/00 - Memepool has found two short films guaranteed for a laugh: Swing Blade (as in Swingers meets Sling Blade) and Tie-Tanic, a Star Wars-Titanic hybrid worth it for the drowning Ewoks alone.
I really haven't been keeping up with this log lately, but since nobody's out there reading it I guess it doesn't matter too much. Watching the media crown Gore and vilify Bradley has me seriously questioning my career path. I've been sleeping days and working nights with one burning question haunting me: Why am I devoting my youth, energy, and idealism to the Democratic Party when the party establishment -- my boss included -- fall so quickly behind a schlep like the Vice-President? Why am I considering journalism as a career when the journalistic establishment so quickly deems Bradley "aloof" and "condescending" because he doesn't facilitate their invasiveness? My very limited repository of idealism -- almost completely emptied by l'affaire Lewinsky -- is now basically dried up. This system sucks...I need to reevaluate my direction.
At least the Knicks are on a winning streak. Speaking of which, Michael Jordan bought a minority interest in the flailing Washington Wizards today. Some unsolicited advice? Lose Juwan. He's a poster child for the overpaid and undertalented. Hopefully, Mr. Jordan's coming to Washington will help his Airness become more politically active. The fact that he refused to help African-American mayor of Charlotte Harvey Gantt in his race against clearly anti-minority Senator Jesse Helms, on the presumption that "Republicans buy shoes too," completely cuts against his role model status. I understand he may not be a political animal, but the Gantt-Helms race was an easy call.
I bought a cheap acoustic guitar the other day (which is currently being re-strung for my terminal left-handedness - no upside-down Jimi Hendrix action here) and I'm looking forward to picking up a few chords and taking advantage of the Internet's massive tablature database. I can peck out Marley's "Redemption Song" and Floyd's "Wish You Were Here" at the moment, but I've got a ways to go before you'll see me on streetcorners.
On a final note, several people have been asking me if I had anything to do with James Carville's book Stickin': The Case for Loyalty, which arrived in stores last week and lays down an argument for loyalty as a cardinal virtue that has been neglected in recent times. The answer is no. Stickin' was a publisher-conceived idea that, due to it being President Clinton's final year in office, pre-empted my current book project with James, Five Smooth Stones: Ways to Slay the Right-Wing Goliath. They believed (rightly, I guess) that the book would sell better if Clinton were still in office. So as not to interfere with Five Stones, the publisher hired a writer to help JC with this one project. My book project is still coming along -- with a publishing target date of Summer 2000 -- although if James asks me to wax euphoric about Al Gore we may have to go our separate ways. At any rate, hope that clears up any questions.
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1/13/00 - Somebody has finally taken the time to illustrate point for point why Episode Six (Return of the Jedi) is a terrible film, particularly compared with its two predecessors. Nice going.
I've spent the past week suffering from both the flu and an unnatural addiction to Baldur's Gate. Fortunately, I completed the game last night after a 36-hour binge and can now go on with the rest of my life.
Elaine and I caught The Hurricane and Magnolia earlier in the week. The former was a great view capped by a high-powered performance by Denzel, although I think I'll always be more affected by Dylan's eight minute masterpiece of social protest on the subject. (Speaking of which, Don't Look Back is now on DVD.) As for Magnolia...well, I gotta tell you, I HATED this movie. I hated it more than any review I've read of it, including Mr. Cranky's. It was long, unwieldy, pretentious, and banal, and that doesn't even include the sing-along sequence. I was ambivalent about Boogie Nights but now I've made up my mind: I'm never seeing another Paul Thomas Anderson movie again.
Got some new books this evening (although I've yet to finish up Richard North Patterson's No Safe Place, recommended to me by Elaine's father.): Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (I've decided to see what all the fuss is about), Norman Mailer's The Executioner's Song, and Gates of Eden, a collection of stories by film auteur Ethan Coen. I'm looking forward to 'em.
An interesting tidbit from Sunday's New York Times: Bill Bradley, Al Gore, John McCain, and Steve Forbes are all southpaws. (So for that matter, are Bill Clinton, George Bush Sr., Ronald Reagan, and H. Ross Perot. Due to his injury, Bob Dole is also a lefty, but it's not really the same thing is it?) Go lefties! It almost makes up for the fact that I've now waited nine days for the music shop in town to restring my guitar lefty (they said it'd take 3-5).
The Knicks are in town tonight against the Wizards, I may go buy some $10 nosebleeders and check it out, although truth be told it might be better to watch it on TV, what with the blizzard and all. It will be fun to root against MJ again, just like old times. New York over Seattle 112-106 last night - Gary Payton got himself ejected in the first quarter. Doh! Newsflash - the Knicks-Wiz game has been postponed. Well, that settles that one.
1/23/00 - Harry Knowles over at Ain't it Cool News has successfully completed one of the bigger movie scoops of late: pictures of the X-Men for Brian Singer's forthcoming summer blockbuster. Patrick Stewart as Professor Charles Xavier is pitch-perfect casting and Ian McKellen should pull off an appropriately complex Magneto. The rest are a toss-up, though. I'll reserve further judgement until after the Superbowl ads.
The Knickerbockers flubbed one against the Spurs yesterday. I was hoping we'd win this Finals rematch for purely psychological reasons, but to no avail.
My Gore-supporting office has become exceedingly smirky and smug about Vice-President's recent success and the future prospects of the Bradley campaign, down to chucklehead remarks from fellow assistants like "Bradley doesn't seem to have the heart for it." Well, in the words of Peter Shaffer's Antonio Salieri, "Laugh, laugh...In the end I will laugh at you." An Irishman never forgets a grudge.
1/21/00 - The first snowfall of the season here in Washington DC/Alexandria. It was a perfect day for strolling around Old Town, enjoying Djarum cloves (a long-forgotten college vice) and the melancholy strands of Bjork ("All is Full of Love" - check out the video) and the Malkovich Soundtrack. I also made a wonderful find at the nearby St. Elmo's Cafe - Ham and Cheese-filled croissants. Mm, mm good.
Did y'all read the note Barbelith's landlord sent him? That is completely off the hook.
I signed up for Seti@Home this afternoon, and it is now quietly humming along in the background. I also spent all morning creating a likeness of Devil's Tower out of Ham and Cheese-Croissant filling, but I'm not sure if the two events are related.
At least the Knicks are on a winning streak. Speaking of which, Michael Jordan bought a minority interest in the flailing Washington Wizards today. Some unsolicited advice? Lose Juwan. He's a poster child for the overpaid and undertalented. Hopefully, Mr. Jordan's coming to Washington will help his Airness become more politically active. The fact that he refused to help African-American mayor of Charlotte Harvey Gantt in his race against clearly anti-minority Senator Jesse Helms, on the presumption that "Republicans buy shoes too," completely cuts against his role model status. I understand he may not be a political animal, but the Gantt-Helms race was an easy call.
I bought a cheap acoustic guitar the other day (which is currently being re-strung for my terminal left-handedness - no upside-down Jimi Hendrix action here) and I'm looking forward to picking up a few chords and taking advantage of the Internet's massive tablature database. I can peck out Marley's "Redemption Song" and Floyd's "Wish You Were Here" at the moment, but I've got a ways to go before you'll see me on streetcorners.
On a final note, several people have been asking me if I had anything to do with James Carville's book Stickin': The Case for Loyalty, which arrived in stores last week and lays down an argument for loyalty as a cardinal virtue that has been neglected in recent times. The answer is no. Stickin' was a publisher-conceived idea that, due to it being President Clinton's final year in office, pre-empted my current book project with James, Five Smooth Stones: Ways to Slay the Right-Wing Goliath. They believed (rightly, I guess) that the book would sell better if Clinton were still in office. So as not to interfere with Five Stones, the publisher hired a writer to help JC with this one project. My book project is still coming along -- with a publishing target date of Summer 2000 -- although if James asks me to wax euphoric about Al Gore we may have to go our separate ways. At any rate, hope that clears up any questions.
1/13/00 - Somebody has finally taken the time to illustrate point for point why Episode Six (Return of the Jedi) is a terrible film, particularly compared with its two predecessors. Nice going.
I've spent the past week suffering from both the flu and an unnatural addiction to Baldur's Gate. Fortunately, I completed the game last night after a 36-hour binge and can now go on with the rest of my life.
Elaine and I caught The Hurricane and Magnolia earlier in the week. The former was a great view capped by a high-powered performance by Denzel, although I think I'll always be more affected by Dylan's eight minute masterpiece of social protest on the subject. (Speaking of which, Don't Look Back is now on DVD.) As for Magnolia...well, I gotta tell you, I HATED this movie. I hated it more than any review I've read of it, including Mr. Cranky's. It was long, unwieldy, pretentious, and banal, and that doesn't even include the sing-along sequence. I was ambivalent about Boogie Nights but now I've made up my mind: I'm never seeing another Paul Thomas Anderson movie again.
Got some new books this evening (although I've yet to finish up Richard North Patterson's No Safe Place, recommended to me by Elaine's father.): Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (I've decided to see what all the fuss is about), Norman Mailer's The Executioner's Song, and Gates of Eden, a collection of stories by film auteur Ethan Coen. I'm looking forward to 'em.