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August 31, 2004
Party Pages
I dunno.. Maybe I was having a good morning and some part of me thought I didn't deserve it. My inner badass searching for ways to sabotage my day -- harsh my buzz, if you will. For some reason, I decided to swing over to the Republican National Committee homepage (GOP.com).
I expected most of what I saw, but maybe not all at once. The front page is an unending torrent of attacks, insults, and arguments tailored for the lowest common denominator (read: The American People). Much like this year's Republican Presidential campaign (and those of the past), this page is the political equivalent of spreading rumors about someone's sister on the playground. Dirty, misleading, slanderous assaults heaped upon one another like they were going out of fashion. Unfortunately they aren't. There are four pictures of Kerry on the front page, each toting an aggressively demeaning tagline. There is one photo of George Bush found towards the bottom of the page, followed by a weak single paragraph touting Bush's approval of "a single, unified Department of Homeland Security" -- an issue still rife with debate even within the Republican Party.
Is it really that difficult to find positive things to say about the incumbent?
Well, before I let my righteous indignation get the best of me (like I have any control over that), I thought I'd hit the Democratic National Committee's (democrats.org), just to be sure they weren't playing the same game. They're not.
The DNC page is stacked with positive messages and photos of the increasingly charismatic Democratic Duo. Most of these messages involve some brand of community outreach, message to the people, chances to help the campaign ona grassroots level, or links to their own Blog. No shots of Bush, and only one at him in the form of a link at the bottom of the sidebar offering up state by state and point by point evidence of poor judgment on the part of the President. No slogan. No barb. It says "Bush's Record Exposed" and has a pulldown from which you can choose your own state.
In a race where the choices have supposedly been Bush or Not-Bush, the Not-Bush side has decided that their candidate is so strong that they need not rely on the politics of hate and the policy of spin to make their point. This President's mistakes have been easier to pinpoint than any in my lifetime, and still the DNC page chooses to take a positive approach, even in light of the shitstorm brewing at GOP.com.
I encourage you to visit both pages. Click into them. The trends set on the front page continue throughout. Set aside a few minutes to take in the Kerry-oke cartoon at GOP.com, where Kerry is depicted in cartoon form as a lounge lizard, cigarette in hand, and where some devilishly un-clever lyrics have been penned for a ditty called "The Flips We've Flopped", presumably to the tune of "The Way We Were." Then try to find the equivalent on the DNC page. It's not there. It's not needed. It's not acceptable.
August 30, 2004
Grand Old Par-tay!
Aaaaww, shit! It starts tonight! The banginest, bumpinest party up in this 'hood! The Grand Ol' Party Party!
Click here for soundtrack.
Spinning (get it?) tonight are some of the GOP's biggest hitters: NY Mayor Michael Bloomberg, former NY Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Senator John McCain (AZ). Funny, that. Almost every single Bushman to hit the podium tonight (and every other night) is dramatically less conservative than W himself. In fact, they're so darn moderate... That they're typically very highly regarded by Democrats! Whoah!
There are a couple of terms that get tossed around quite a bit during election years and I'd like to take just a moment to examine them: mainstream and majority.
The definitions are easy. Mainstream describes the prevailing thoughts, attitudes or values in the country at any given point. The thoughts attitudes, and values, most likely, of the majority. The mainstream can only be mainstream because it's perpetrated by the majority, right? Maybe.
I'm not so sure. I'm starting to wonder if the mainstream isn't defined more by the majority's perception than by the majority's ideas and opinions. We've all borne witness to the fact that perceptions change much more slowly than ideas. If only there were some sort of real world analogy I could use to further illustrate my point...
Oh! How about that time in 2000 when the majority of the voters in the country cast their vote for Al Gore, but he still lost! No one ever contended the point that he had won the popular vote. George Bush, the GOP, the RNC, the Electoral College, it was no secret that Al Gore had more supporters and therefore represented THE MAJORITY. I won't say that he wasn't awarded the Presidency based on public perception, but the point is still valid. George Bush was thought to represent the "mainstream, traditional views of the American people." The mainstream and the majority were in disagreement.
I believe they continue to be. I believe that forward thought and social responsibility are starting to penetrate the "heartland" and that there are more democrats in the fly-over states than ever before. It's obvious that they aren't voting, but I think they're there. Why else would the RNC be parading their most liberal and moderate members in front of us? Why else would those moderate republicans be among the most popular politicians in the country? Who's more popular than John McCain and Rudy Giuliani? Colin Powell? Possibly the most powerful moderate in the country. The GOP knows their audience is changing, and it knows they're moving left. Why, outside of the few names mentioned above, doesn't the party reflect this left-moving trend?
I don't know. Blind love of the President is all that comes to mind. With the House, Senate, Supreme Court, and Executive Branch all under Republican control, I think the party is just so tickled pink with itself that an objective view is nearly impossible, and certainly not politically rewarding.
So watch the Republicans party tonight. Watch them spin and shout and sing and dance. Watch the whole show and listen to every word. It's important, if for no other reason than that this is an opportunity to be spoken to by the few moderate proponents of classical Lincoln-party views that should have made the GOP truly grand.
August 26, 2004
10 out of 10 Nobel economists agree
"John Kerry won the endorsement of 10 Nobel Prize-winning economists Wednesday as he attacked President Bush for policies that he said have led to the creation of only low-paying jobs."Well, duh.
It may be important to note that Kerry has also won the public endorsement of Martin Sheen, who may not be a Nobel Prize winning economist, but plays one on TV... one who also happens to be President.
Wouldn't things just be simpler if Martin Sheen ran?
August 25, 2004
To see and to be seen
I haven't written anything in a while. One reason is that Blogger broke my shit again. Another reason is that I haven't really been sure what to say after it's fixed. Some shit's gone on over the last few weeks that just seemed to slow everything down. I might have expected that it would help to "put everything into perspective," like it probably would for a character on the WB, but it just put me under water. I almost expected to look around and see people's hair drifting about their heads and bubbles streaming from their noses -- and I'm not sure it's getting any better.
Micki's just come back from Virginia, where she was dealing with the situation head on. I can't even imagine what she sees when she looks around.
I can imagine what some people see, though. Some people see their family rushing to their sides, or panicking and arguing, or simply racing past the easy chair in a flurry of smears and blurs. They see feeding tubes and bedpans and dressings. It's easy to imagine that they might see a little poorer in that split second when they forget themselves and try to speak, and their eyes narrow in a moment of pain. Or maybe its not so easy to forget yourself when all you want is not to be seen. What Doug sees is the end and in the few short weeks he has to get used to the idea, I know he'll be glad that among the blurs and bedpans he was able to see Micki -- soberly and somberly picking up the pieces, and putting them away.
The rarer seen, the less in mind, The less in mind, the lesser pain.
August 23, 2004
Don't call it a comeback
Ok. So, Receptacle has been restored to it's once and future glory. I was able to find a cahced version of the page on Google that was only a month old and reconstruct my template from that. Amazing the number of minute but significate changes I've made to this layout in the last year. It was really nice to get it back looking the way it should.
So... As soon a I have something intelligent to say, I'll be back.
August 19, 2004
Shit
Some of you may notice that my blog looks a bit different now. Know why? Because Blogger ate my template. Again. And I had to replace it with a backup from September of 2003 because I just replaced my hard drive and my more recent backups got lost in the shuffle.
Blogger's done this to me three times now. This is the first time in a year or so. The first time since the Google purchase. The first time since the most recent series of drastic improvements and added features. I assumed that whatever was causing this problem had been resolved. Today when I visited my blog, I saw nothing but the banner across the top and an ampersand where the next table row should have started.
I sent an email to Blogger Support, whatever that is. We'll see if they decide to go out of their way to try to recover my template. Somehow it doesn't seem likely.
August 18, 2004
Everybody Hold the Button!
This is brilliant.
It's also a great representation of other links you're likely to find at ReallyDumbStuff.com
August 15, 2004
iSock
Yeah, the iPod's great. It's won just about everyone over, even so-called PC enthusiasts. But perhaps the most compelling reason to get an iPod over any other MP3 player, is the cool accessories.
The iPod's unique styling has allowed for a plethora of handsome and smartly designed gadgets, add-ons, and cases. I think this one here might be enough to get me on the bandwagon:
Apple iPod 4G superCase Protect Screen Case Cover WHITE
August 13, 2004
Weekly Bunny-Related Incident
Hot cross bunny's clubhouse blaze
I know many of you were touched by last week's Bunny Scandal regarding Lucky The Rabbit. I appreciate all the letters and flowers and I know Lucky does as well.
There is a new bunny-related incident to report. Onlookers were aghast when "[a] burning rabbit scampered into a cricket club shed and caused ?60,000-worth of damage in the ensuing blaze."
"I imagine it perished and went to bunny heaven" -- Philip Flowers, Wiltshire Fire Brigade
The Things That You Need To Have
Michael Moore has posted at his site footage of CIA Chief nominee Porter Goos describing his own unsuitability for a role with the CIA. The interview is less than 6 months old and was done in preparation for Moore's film, Farenheit 911, but did not make it into the final cut.
To be fair, this clip is taken very much out of context. Goss was not asked if he would consider the role of the CIA's chief exectutive, he was asked about his experience as a CIA case officer in the 60's. Goss was stating that the skills needed to be a case officer have changed; that Arabic and computer skills are at the forefront of what is needed to work on the ground in the CIA. He was being both modest and praising when he spoke of the skills that our current case workers have that he does not. They are not necesarily skills that one would need to sit in the top office. There are, I would imagine, an entirely separate cast of skills that would be helpful in that role.
This whole thing has me very conflicted. I adore Michael Moore. His biased portrayals and skewed rhetoric has always been so inline with my own views and still fairly mild in comparison to the GOP spin machine, that it's never really bothered me. For some reason, this one did.
On the other hand, I'm not excited at the possible appointment of a partisan politician to head our national intelligence agency. It seems inappropriate in a very basic and obvious way. This is not an office often held by a politician. It's not an office that should be held by a politician. Goss left intelligence work behind him in the 70's.
Either way, here's the transcript:
INTERVIEWER: [Y]ou come from intelligence. This is what you did, this is what you know.REP. GOSS: Uh, that was, uh, 35 years ago.
INTERVIEWER: Okay.
REP. GOSS: It is true I was in CIA from approximately the late 50's to approximately the early 70's. And it's true I was a case officer, clandestine services office and yes I do understand the core mission of the business. I couldn't get a job with CIA today. I am not qualified. I don't have the language skills. I, you know, my language skills were romance languages and stuff. We're looking for Arabists today. I don't have the cultural background probably. And I certainly don't have the technical skills, uh, as my children remind me every day, "Dad you got to get better on your computer." Uh, so, the things that you need to have, I don't have.
-- Rep. Porter Goss, March 3, 2004, Washington, DC
And here's the clip:
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=128
"Pointing to his CIA experience, Bush said, 'He knows the CIA inside and out' and 'He's the right man to lead this important agency at this critical moment in our nation's history.'"
August 12, 2004
Satirical like a fox
More where that came from.
- thanks, Jim
CA Supreme Court voids all gay marriages
I don't even know what to say.
The justices decided with a 5-2 vote that San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom exceeded his authority when he allowed the nearly 4,000 marriages peformed between Feb. 12 and March 11.
This verdict has no bearing on the constitutionality of gay marriage. It states instead that allowing gay marriage is an example of local officals side-stepping state legislature.
Brandon's Arms
"Brandon Maxfield, a paralyzed teenager, is trying to buy the assets of the bankrupt gun manufacturer that made the gun that accidentally turned him into a quadriplegic. Maxfield wants to melt the remaining gun parts into a statue to honor victims of gun crimes." -npr.org
"When he was seven years old, Brandon Maxfield was accidentally shot in the face, becoming permanently paralyzed below the neck.The pistol that discharged was deliberately designed so that its safety had to be removed while being unloaded, making the trigger active and accidents more likely.
A unanimous jury found Bryco Arms, the manufacturer of the pistol, responsible for its defective design and for Brandon's injuries and medical expenses. Rather than redesign the pistols and fairly compensate Brandon, Bryco Arms and the pistol's designer Bruce Jennings declared bankruptcy, and are now attempting to reorganize under a new name to continue making the same defective ?Saturday Night Specials,? placing more innocent children at risk."
-brandonsarms.org
Donate here:
BradonsArms.org
August 11, 2004
Catholicism For Dummies
My last two posts caused me to spend more time than I typically find appropriate thinking about the moral and intellectual wasteland that is modern Catholicism. "How stupid can these people really be?" I kept wondering. It made me curious. I typed a few words into Google and sure enough, it exists:
So go ahead! If you want to learn more about becoming a member of the most pervasively ridiculous religion in the western world, check out Catholicism for Dummies, dummy!
Jesus Tap-Dancing Christ!
Image taken from a truly amazing resource called repentamerica.com.Holy shit, I hate you people.
Mind your maternal vocation
Yeah, you heard me. Back to the kitchen, lady.
"The statement of doctrine on gender issues is the first serious attempt by the Vatican to come to grips with a world of working women. But it is just as clearly intended to prevent any erosion of the church's resolute opposition to gay mar riage, the incorporation of women into the priesthood, and trends in gender studies which the Pope has damned as 'misleading conceptions of sexuality'."
Jesus Christ, I love Catholicism!
Outfoxed
Get Yours Now
"It's unfair, it's slanted and it's a hit job. And I haven't even seen it yet." -Eric Shawn, FOX News Reporter
I ordered my copy. Did you order yours?
Outfoxed is available on VHS or DVD for $9.95 + $3.50 shipping and handling. Help them out. It's money they may need when Fox finally sues them for breach of Fair Use.
k
1 9 7 5 - 2 0 0 4Thanks, Brad.
August 10, 2004
Lucky, the Inaccurately Named Rabbit
"From there, it didn't take long for the House Rabbit Society in Richmond to hear about an incident Executive Director Erin Williams called an 'atrocity.'"Read all about it.
How Not To Be An Idiot
or, Benefitting from the Wisdom of the Wise
Salmon Rushdie spoke at New York's Cooper Union on the subjects of terrorism and leadership. He illustrated the fine line that seperates the two. He brought with him not only his own words, but the words of several colleagues and contemporaries, whish he thought should be heard. He read letters and essays and at times, were we to listen carefully, we might have noticed him quting someone who was quoting someone who was quoting someone.
There is an old idea, that the only true progress that can be made, must be made in the shadow of error. Learning from one's mistakes may not be as easy as it sounds, but what more important thing could hang in the balance than the fate of the world? Am I being dramatic?
At one point, Salmon Rushdie read from a transcript of a conversation between Norman Mailer and his son. It ended this way:
"[W]isdom is ready to reach us from the most unexpected quarters. Here, I quote from a man who became wise a little too late in life:'Naturally, the common people don?t want war, but after all, it is the leaders of a country who determine the policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. This is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in every country.'
That was Hermann Goering speaking at the Nuremberg trials after World War II. It is one thing to be forewarned. Will we ever be forearmed?"
Complete Transcript
Video of Mr. Rushdie
August 09, 2004
The new DIGs
Under the shadow of the Mouse
All right, I promised this one a while back and I guess it's time to fess up. Let's all gather togather and learn just a bit about working for Disney.
All right, first off, I don't work for Disney. I work for Walt Disney Internet Group, which is part of WDPRO, which is essentially it's own company. ACtually, I don't even work for them, I work for a recruitment firm who's placed me in the DIG office long-term. Because of these two layers of abstraction, I'm somewhat sheilded from the weirdness that is Disney employment. I didn't have to go to the two day Disney University orientation, or tour the parks or studios, or pledge confidence under pain of death. I didn't get the coveted Silver Pass and I don't learn the secret handshake. What I do get is a hell of a lot more money than McElroy was willing to pay me, in exchange for much shorter days and better organized projects.
Too bad I'm not actually working on any of these projects quite yet. It's been three weeks and we have yet to do any work. Lots of web surfing. A little blogging. One day we got to compare wireframes to comps and take notes on inconsistancies. Of course all the comps and most of the wireframes were not current, so this was apparently nothing more than busy work. Another day, we got to reposition a div. That was it for the day.
Honestly, I was really happy to have the time to take it slow when we first started. DIG uses their own scripting language called Tea, running on their own server software, called Barista. Barista is basically a Java shell that parses and runs the presentational Tea templates that it will some day be my job to write. Anyways, these are obviously not technologies I was already familiar with, so having a little bit of time to take it in was welcome, but this is getting silly.
Another bit of a downside is that I don't particularly care for Tea. It's very, very limited -- apparently to keep the layers of content seperate from presentation, seperate from functionality. Makes sense, but it's a bit more segmented than I was prepared for. It also serves to keep the programming roles very seperate. I'm not even considered a Developer, but a Technical Producer. Why? Because Tea can't legally create it's own functions. There is, of course, a way around this, but using it is a good way to get to be known as "that guy." Legitimate functions have to be written by an Engineer and implemented in the version of the Barista .jar that runs your page.
As a Technical Producer, my job is to fetch information from the CMS and display it on a page using technology that doesn't interest me and that I'll never use again.
I left McElroy, and a chance to continue developing in C#.NET, for this. Am I glad I did it?
Hell yes. I'm meeting people, getting freelance gigs, getting home at a reasonable time, getting paid for each hour I work, and making about 46% more than I was before.
Yes, I'm glad I did it, even if there are down sides. You'll be glad I did it, too... after I catch up with my bills and invite you over to check out my new block-out-the-sun-sized tv. Some day.
August 06, 2004
Tom Arnold Schwarzenegger
In the course of one's life, it is likely that there will be several brushes with the famous and with the infamous. If you happen to live in Southern California, this is typically true in the course of a day. Today, though, was different. Today I had my strangest celebrity sighting yet.
I wanted a tall Java Chip FrappuccinoTM, and so I made my way to the Starbucks across the street from my office in the ugliest part of North Hollywood. I didn't notice the guy in the black suit and shades standing outside the door until I nearly bumped into the same guy standing just inside the door. OK, it might not have been the same guy, but after noticing guy #2, I noticed guys #3-5 and promptly got freaked out. They were standing solemnly at each corner of the room (Starbucks has a lot of corners), hands casually clasped in front.
I could barely squeeze into the tight gap where the line to order snaked between chairs and tables and gawking idiots. It was a slow process, but it finally dawned on me that there must be someone or something pretty impressive in the room. Wondering how casual was too casual, I turned my head to glance artlessly about the room, only to find that I was standing uncomfortably close to a table hosting Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Tom Arnold and a few other non-famous-and-therefore-unimpressive people.
Let's take a moment to appreciate the absurdity. Of all the people I could stumble into, this has to be the funniest pair imaginable. I actually like Schwarzenegger. I supported him in his campaign and appreciate the liberal views he's brought to the forefront of his party, and the exhilaration he's brought to state politics. But let's face it, there's no funnier person to be able to tell my Boston friends I saw at a Starbucks, mere months after relocating to the imposed lunacy of Los Angeles. If anyone comes close, it's Tom Arnold. The two of them as a pair are a perfect portrait of the popular cliche of "Wacky Hollywood."
The Java Chip FrappuccinoTM was really good, too.
August 05, 2004
Free Gmail accounts!
For the rest of you, please give what you can. We only have until the end of the month to raise $2,000!
Donate here.
In "leave us a note" section, type: "Gmail" and give us your current email address where we can send it.
August 03, 2004
AIDS Donations
We haven't had much luck with the APLA's budget-minded donations site, so I decided to make my own. Or rather I decided to get a PayPal account and begin taking donations right here at Receptacle.
If you haven't yet donated to the cause, please do consider it. It should be even easier now.
August 01, 2004
Garden State
The Shins: The Movie
After nine years in doused in lithium in a "controlled environment," Andrew Largeman is coming home. This after a cryptic telephone message informs him of his mother's passing. At his father's call, he returns home. Against his father's will, he leaves the meds behind.
Garden State is a highly personal telling of a somewhat non-traditional coming-of-age story. Dripping with absurdist imagery and surreal situations, Garden State can occasionally err on the self-conscious side. That being said, maybe more American films should be so conscious of what they are doing. Many of those absurd concepts are very effective in setting the scene for what is meant to be a truly unusual period in the protagonist's life.
The film finds it's feet when the character's are the focus. Zach Braff, Peter Sargaard and even Natalie Portman are all excellent in their quirky roles. Zach Braff's familiar befuddled expression is even more at home here than on Scrubs. He's immediately endearing.
The sound track plays an important role in the film. The Shins make several appearances and even becoming a topic of conversation between characters. There is an obvious effort to connect with an audience "in the know." There is also Simon and Garfunkel track, as if to dare reviewers already foaming at the mouth to make obvious comparisons to The Graduate. Hipster/folky acts including Iron and Wine, Coli Hay and Nick Drake also grace the audio channel. The playlist reads like a mix tape I might have received on tour in 2001.
So... I loved Garden State. I loved Zach Braff. I loved the story. I loved the scene in the pool. Some will say this is the obvious, if charming work of a first time director. I thought it's naivete was not only very deliberate, but it's greatest strength. Don't miss this one.