Birthday Greetings
Happy birthday to Emma of Late Night Thoughts, as well as to my Uncle Phil (reminder to self: pick up the damn phone when you get home and call him!).
Tuesday, October 07, 2003
Somewhere in the Neighborhood of Right
Via Maru Soze, a nice McPaper write-up of The Daily Show's live "Re-Decision 2003" program tonight. I'll probably do what I did last night, flip back and forth between Jon Stewart and the baseball game... Also via Maru, some guy named Alan Davis with a butt statue. No, not that Alan Davis.
Via Maru Soze, a nice McPaper write-up of The Daily Show's live "Re-Decision 2003" program tonight. I'll probably do what I did last night, flip back and forth between Jon Stewart and the baseball game... Also via Maru, some guy named Alan Davis with a butt statue. No, not that Alan Davis.
Moore Moore Moore, How Do You Like It
Via Anne Zook, the Guardian printed excerpts from Michael Moore's new book Dude, Where's My Country? Saturday and yesterday. Hope everyone caught the very fun interview that Jon Stewart had with him on last night's Daily Show; undoubtedly it'll either be up on their website or on Lisa Rein's radar soon. Moore told a great anecdote about his days as a Board of Education member when he was a mere prat of 18, and the powers-that-were tried to recall him and failed.
Via Anne Zook, the Guardian printed excerpts from Michael Moore's new book Dude, Where's My Country? Saturday and yesterday. Hope everyone caught the very fun interview that Jon Stewart had with him on last night's Daily Show; undoubtedly it'll either be up on their website or on Lisa Rein's radar soon. Moore told a great anecdote about his days as a Board of Education member when he was a mere prat of 18, and the powers-that-were tried to recall him and failed.
Conned Bloggers
Remember back on August 7 where I talked about Dave Winer's mass e-mail inviting bloggers to a convention at Harvard in October for a "mere $500?" And it turned out he sent some people free passes anyway, claiming that they'd won some sort of contest to get in for nothing? Yuh-huh. Well, anyway, Winer's BloggerCon was held this past weekend, and there are some interesting comments about it from Oliver Willis, Lis Riba, Betsy Devine and Elaine Frankonis. From reading Oliver and Lis, my initial impression of Winer and his project doesn't seem to have changed much. Lots of mostly white, mostly male bloggers (loved Lis' comment about the restrooms, as the same thing used to happen at most comic conventions!) with a heaping dose of myopia talking about how they're the vanguard that's going to change the world. Glad I didn't bother going, not that I could afford the "mere $500" anyway (and Winer never sent me a freebie so I guess my initial response to him was enough to lose the "contest"). It's like this, folks - blogging is a tool, like anything else. It's got great potential, it can be used to make friends, to organize events, to initiate activism, to tell stories, to otherwise communicate - but let's get real, until the digital divide closes a bit we're such a tiny, insulated community compared to Real Life that it's going to be a long time before what we do amounts to a hill of beans in the "outside world." Meantime, I'll take my "blogger conventions" locally and, were it my choice, in the form of informal get-togethers at bars or restaurants, not friggin' Harvard Law School classroom sessions.
Remember back on August 7 where I talked about Dave Winer's mass e-mail inviting bloggers to a convention at Harvard in October for a "mere $500?" And it turned out he sent some people free passes anyway, claiming that they'd won some sort of contest to get in for nothing? Yuh-huh. Well, anyway, Winer's BloggerCon was held this past weekend, and there are some interesting comments about it from Oliver Willis, Lis Riba, Betsy Devine and Elaine Frankonis. From reading Oliver and Lis, my initial impression of Winer and his project doesn't seem to have changed much. Lots of mostly white, mostly male bloggers (loved Lis' comment about the restrooms, as the same thing used to happen at most comic conventions!) with a heaping dose of myopia talking about how they're the vanguard that's going to change the world. Glad I didn't bother going, not that I could afford the "mere $500" anyway (and Winer never sent me a freebie so I guess my initial response to him was enough to lose the "contest"). It's like this, folks - blogging is a tool, like anything else. It's got great potential, it can be used to make friends, to organize events, to initiate activism, to tell stories, to otherwise communicate - but let's get real, until the digital divide closes a bit we're such a tiny, insulated community compared to Real Life that it's going to be a long time before what we do amounts to a hill of beans in the "outside world." Meantime, I'll take my "blogger conventions" locally and, were it my choice, in the form of informal get-togethers at bars or restaurants, not friggin' Harvard Law School classroom sessions.
Monday, October 06, 2003
An Easy Fast
Only about five hours until sundown, and I'm not feeling any hunger pangs yet. This helped a lot. Also thinking about all the wonderful, erudite writers out there in blogtopia (y,sctp) buoys me during times when I feel my fellow Jews have let me down. I'm sorry, I remember what a horrific thing it was to have Israel attacked on Yom Kippur in '73; how is it any less horrific for the Jewish state to have been the aggressor on the same solemn occasion thirty years later? (Okay, technically it was Erev Yom Kippur, followed by complaints that the UN session condemning the attack despite the stupid US veto was called on Yom Kippur - yes, a new definition of chutzpah, particularly paired with comparing "Syria's calling the meeting to Osama bin Laden demanding a Security Council meeting after the Sept. 11 attacks"!) To me it just spits in the face of everything Yom Kippur is supposed to be about. How can we possibly expect the Almighty to believe we're atoning for our sins at the same time as we're continuing to commit some of the most heinous sins of all?
Yom Kippur is affecting me on a personal as well as a political level today. I keep trying to get perspective on things, and it keeps slipping away. "At least I have a roof over my head, and nobody's trying to drive us away from this lovely large conveniently-located apartment... even though the upstairs neighbors have gotten worse and I'm sick of climbing the damn hill and the rent keeps going up." "At least I have a job... even though I may soon have to take two busses and a train to get there if I haven't found anything else and I haven't had a raise in two years and I'm regularly berated and otherwise put upon." And so it goes. I keep committing the sin of dwelling on stuff about which I can't do anything more than I'm already doing. (Speaking of commissions and omissions, please read Lis Riba's list of blogging al chets).
So I like that reading other people's blogs gives me that missing perspective sometimes, as well as informing and entertaining me. Just today, for instance, I got the following from my blogroll:
Via Oliver Willis, this latest take on the "bash SNL" bandwagon that gets jumped on every few years or so. I dunno, SNL has taken lumps ever since it's been around, and it still keeps on chugging. And honestly, last year the worst ever? Have these people never seen the Charles Rocket years? But I will concede her main point that The Daily Show beats the worldwide pants off most other comedy and late-night talk shows.
Via Augie DeBlieck, it's Trek Wars: Kirk vs. Picard! This one made me giggle. From the same folks who created the brilliant Gulf War 2 and Ashcroft Online and, um, these.
Via Laura Gjovaag, Dave Barry's reaction to the anti-telemarketer ball that he got rolling.
And I'm not even halfway through the roll yet (today I'm going bottom to top). When I finish reading I hope to be back with a list of the things I love most about each blogger on my roll (well, maybe not all of them but I hope to get through at least a dozen or so).
Only about five hours until sundown, and I'm not feeling any hunger pangs yet. This helped a lot. Also thinking about all the wonderful, erudite writers out there in blogtopia (y,sctp) buoys me during times when I feel my fellow Jews have let me down. I'm sorry, I remember what a horrific thing it was to have Israel attacked on Yom Kippur in '73; how is it any less horrific for the Jewish state to have been the aggressor on the same solemn occasion thirty years later? (Okay, technically it was Erev Yom Kippur, followed by complaints that the UN session condemning the attack despite the stupid US veto was called on Yom Kippur - yes, a new definition of chutzpah, particularly paired with comparing "Syria's calling the meeting to Osama bin Laden demanding a Security Council meeting after the Sept. 11 attacks"!) To me it just spits in the face of everything Yom Kippur is supposed to be about. How can we possibly expect the Almighty to believe we're atoning for our sins at the same time as we're continuing to commit some of the most heinous sins of all?
Yom Kippur is affecting me on a personal as well as a political level today. I keep trying to get perspective on things, and it keeps slipping away. "At least I have a roof over my head, and nobody's trying to drive us away from this lovely large conveniently-located apartment... even though the upstairs neighbors have gotten worse and I'm sick of climbing the damn hill and the rent keeps going up." "At least I have a job... even though I may soon have to take two busses and a train to get there if I haven't found anything else and I haven't had a raise in two years and I'm regularly berated and otherwise put upon." And so it goes. I keep committing the sin of dwelling on stuff about which I can't do anything more than I'm already doing. (Speaking of commissions and omissions, please read Lis Riba's list of blogging al chets).
So I like that reading other people's blogs gives me that missing perspective sometimes, as well as informing and entertaining me. Just today, for instance, I got the following from my blogroll:
And I'm not even halfway through the roll yet (today I'm going bottom to top). When I finish reading I hope to be back with a list of the things I love most about each blogger on my roll (well, maybe not all of them but I hope to get through at least a dozen or so).
Sunday, October 05, 2003
The New Truth
Via my husband: Screenwriter Steve Young talks with John Fasano about all the rewrites he had to do on Saving Jessica Lynch; Fasano begs us not to shoot the messenger.
Via my husband: Screenwriter Steve Young talks with John Fasano about all the rewrites he had to do on Saving Jessica Lynch; Fasano begs us not to shoot the messenger.
Saturday, October 04, 2003
Anyone Have a Sunday Times Registration?
I'd be very curious to read the excerpts of Robin Cook's book discussed here and here and here. And that's just the UK - Singapore and Australia have noticed as well. Will it make it to this side of the pond tomorrow and be among the topics of discussion on the Sunday morning pundit shows? Update: Yay, Arkenor comes through! More than enough to put him on my blogroll. :)
I'd be very curious to read the excerpts of Robin Cook's book discussed here and here and here. And that's just the UK - Singapore and Australia have noticed as well. Will it make it to this side of the pond tomorrow and be among the topics of discussion on the Sunday morning pundit shows? Update: Yay, Arkenor comes through! More than enough to put him on my blogroll. :)
Is This Why Some People Are Scared of Clowns?
From the Beeb: "Happy images trigger sad reactions in the brains of people with severe depression, researchers have found." This actually makes a lot of sense to me.
From the Beeb: "Happy images trigger sad reactions in the brains of people with severe depression, researchers have found." This actually makes a lot of sense to me.
Don't Try This At Home
Are we, as a nation, becoming this punk'd? Or is this the slippery slope down which we inevitably slide when we start enjoying and extolling violence and grossness and other matters of poor taste as entertainment? First Roy gets mauled. Then a band plans to feature a live assisted suicide during its concert (got that item via Jeralyn Merritt; hey, way to "die with dignity"!). Now an illusionist is going to play Russian roulette on TV. Welcome to the circus, I guess. Update: Web Attack Postpones Suicide Rock Show. Update 2: "My concern is that the city cat won't make it in the country...He's going to have no jazz, no hip-hop. He's going to miss the Harlem Renaissance."
Are we, as a nation, becoming this punk'd? Or is this the slippery slope down which we inevitably slide when we start enjoying and extolling violence and grossness and other matters of poor taste as entertainment? First Roy gets mauled. Then a band plans to feature a live assisted suicide during its concert (got that item via Jeralyn Merritt; hey, way to "die with dignity"!). Now an illusionist is going to play Russian roulette on TV. Welcome to the circus, I guess. Update: Web Attack Postpones Suicide Rock Show. Update 2: "My concern is that the city cat won't make it in the country...He's going to have no jazz, no hip-hop. He's going to miss the Harlem Renaissance."
Under the Weather
Not really up for blogging today, but I wanted to thank Avedon Carol for mentioning my job hunt, as well as a friend at DC Comics for inviting me to pick her brain regarding openings at Time Warner, which seems to be in hiring mode; my brain's too fuzzy today to do either the HTML encoding on my resume or to call her, but at least the turkey breast is in the oven. Come on baby, mama needs her tryptophan...
Not really up for blogging today, but I wanted to thank Avedon Carol for mentioning my job hunt, as well as a friend at DC Comics for inviting me to pick her brain regarding openings at Time Warner, which seems to be in hiring mode; my brain's too fuzzy today to do either the HTML encoding on my resume or to call her, but at least the turkey breast is in the oven. Come on baby, mama needs her tryptophan...
Friday, October 03, 2003
Friday Cat Blogging
I refer you to this entry from Wednesday, with the update that apparently Cat Town is to be confused with Abbie the Cat Has a Posse, as the former site's episodes say they're sponsored by the latter site. And I'm hoping to actually put up pictures of Datsa and Amy when I get home and look through all my kitty-pic files.
Update: Okay, here we go. Datsa is the big black one on the left and Amy is the small brindled one on the right.
With any luck Laura won't have to go in and adjust my margins again. :)
I refer you to this entry from Wednesday, with the update that apparently Cat Town is to be confused with Abbie the Cat Has a Posse, as the former site's episodes say they're sponsored by the latter site. And I'm hoping to actually put up pictures of Datsa and Amy when I get home and look through all my kitty-pic files.
Update: Okay, here we go. Datsa is the big black one on the left and Amy is the small brindled one on the right.
With any luck Laura won't have to go in and adjust my margins again. :)
De Lamentations of Der Vimmen
Jeanne D'Orleans has some really great and thoughtful pieces up about the real harm a person like Ahnuld could do if he got his hands on political power, in addition to all that Hollywood power he's already abused. And was I the only one who talked back to the TV when Schwarzenegger supporter Rob Lowe guested on The Daily Show? "Yeah," I shouted, "I'll bet you don't have a problem with his sexual escapades considering your own..." Next up, no doubt, the Hitler and Kennedy connection...
Jeanne D'Orleans has some really great and thoughtful pieces up about the real harm a person like Ahnuld could do if he got his hands on political power, in addition to all that Hollywood power he's already abused. And was I the only one who talked back to the TV when Schwarzenegger supporter Rob Lowe guested on The Daily Show? "Yeah," I shouted, "I'll bet you don't have a problem with his sexual escapades considering your own..." Next up, no doubt, the Hitler and Kennedy connection...
Krugman Guts the Traitors
You know him, you love him, you can't live without him. Via Google's news site, Paul Krugman weighs in on the Plame Blame Game with Slime and Defend. Heh, he even slips a first-person pronoun into it. :)
And Emma at Late Night Thoughts , who will be turning 47 this coming Tuesday, nails something that I didn't even realize has been bothering me about the whole scandal until I read her piece. Update: And Lilith Devlin has some great points as well.
You know him, you love him, you can't live without him. Via Google's news site, Paul Krugman weighs in on the Plame Blame Game with Slime and Defend. Heh, he even slips a first-person pronoun into it. :)
And Emma at Late Night Thoughts , who will be turning 47 this coming Tuesday, nails something that I didn't even realize has been bothering me about the whole scandal until I read her piece. Update: And Lilith Devlin has some great points as well.
Thursday, October 02, 2003
Hire Me, Please!
It's official. My boss and I had The Talk today. Within the next few months the company where I'm currently employed is moving to a location outside of NYC that would take me, from my current apartment, either a car (which I don't own) or two buses and a train to get to. I've told him I'm looking, and he asked me to promise to give him a month's notice. My resume should appear on our website, and be clickable from the sidebar, within the next day or so; I just need to do some tweaking to it. In the meantime, if you have a job offer and want to see my resume, please e-mail me. I must say, it's a relief to be able to do a job search out in the open!
It's official. My boss and I had The Talk today. Within the next few months the company where I'm currently employed is moving to a location outside of NYC that would take me, from my current apartment, either a car (which I don't own) or two buses and a train to get to. I've told him I'm looking, and he asked me to promise to give him a month's notice. My resume should appear on our website, and be clickable from the sidebar, within the next day or so; I just need to do some tweaking to it. In the meantime, if you have a job offer and want to see my resume, please e-mail me. I must say, it's a relief to be able to do a job search out in the open!
When Analogies Run Wild...
Via Julia H, the Ted Barlow post and comments made me laugh very hard. Thanks Julia and Ted!
Via Julia H, the Ted Barlow post and comments made me laugh very hard. Thanks Julia and Ted!
The House at Clue Corner
No nibbles yet from any of the places where I've e-mailed my resume (reminder to readers: please contact me if you know someone in NYC who's looking to hire a damn good executive secretary), but the spam has started right on schedule. I must be really naive, because the one I got today suckered me in. I went to their website only to find out that, sure, I can "activate" my resume by putting it on their site, for the low low price of $97 for six whole months! Hey geniuses, could you kindly buy a clue and figure out that someone who's looking for work probably isn't going to have 97 bucks to waste in the first place, much less to throw at a company they've never heard of, headquartered in Utah (the nexus of all NYC job searches!), which can't guarantee they'll find you a job any more than the thousands of employment agencies right here in The City? I gotta wonder how many people fall for this crap.
No nibbles yet from any of the places where I've e-mailed my resume (reminder to readers: please contact me if you know someone in NYC who's looking to hire a damn good executive secretary), but the spam has started right on schedule. I must be really naive, because the one I got today suckered me in. I went to their website only to find out that, sure, I can "activate" my resume by putting it on their site, for the low low price of $97 for six whole months! Hey geniuses, could you kindly buy a clue and figure out that someone who's looking for work probably isn't going to have 97 bucks to waste in the first place, much less to throw at a company they've never heard of, headquartered in Utah (the nexus of all NYC job searches!), which can't guarantee they'll find you a job any more than the thousands of employment agencies right here in The City? I gotta wonder how many people fall for this crap.
Wednesday, October 01, 2003
Won't You Take Me To, Kitty-TOWN?
Via Andrew Northrup, newly added to the blogroll (under "Da Guys"), it's Cat Town! Not to be confused with My Cat Hates You, Abbie the Cat Has a Posse (thanks Ms. D!), Calpundit's Friday Cat Blogging, Julia's descent, or Ms. D's new puppy.
Via Andrew Northrup, newly added to the blogroll (under "Da Guys"), it's Cat Town! Not to be confused with My Cat Hates You, Abbie the Cat Has a Posse (thanks Ms. D!), Calpundit's Friday Cat Blogging, Julia's descent, or Ms. D's new puppy.
Cheeky!
Via Susie Madrak , looks like Bush will be travelling to the UK under a full moon or two. Here's Tim Ireland with all the details. Their button's pretty funny so I've put it on my sidebar.
Via Susie Madrak , looks like Bush will be travelling to the UK under a full moon or two. Here's Tim Ireland with all the details. Their button's pretty funny so I've put it on my sidebar.
Cover Blown
I'm weeping. Yes, I suspect I'm one too; I have always been something of a victim of linguistic accommodation (except when I lived in Bensonhurst, because I deliberately worked at not sounding like I had a double-digit IQ). Only I fake it so badly I don't even fool myself. (Via Mark Morford, whom you all should read regularly as he's bloody brilliant.) Update: Via Jonathan Edelstein, here's one making the rounds - the Splendidiser (click "Splendidiser" at the bottom of the page), which takes a website or text paragraph of your choice and spiffs it up so it sounds veddy veddy.
I'm weeping. Yes, I suspect I'm one too; I have always been something of a victim of linguistic accommodation (except when I lived in Bensonhurst, because I deliberately worked at not sounding like I had a double-digit IQ). Only I fake it so badly I don't even fool myself. (Via Mark Morford, whom you all should read regularly as he's bloody brilliant.) Update: Via Jonathan Edelstein, here's one making the rounds - the Splendidiser (click "Splendidiser" at the bottom of the page), which takes a website or text paragraph of your choice and spiffs it up so it sounds veddy veddy.
And While We're At It...
Well, August Pollak and Mark Morford (links at sidebar) have both mentioned it, so who am I to go against the tide? Laser Monks. You wanna make somethin' of it?
Well, August Pollak and Mark Morford (links at sidebar) have both mentioned it, so who am I to go against the tide? Laser Monks. You wanna make somethin' of it?
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