"Oops."
Wednesday, November 09, 2005
I thought Republicans were supposed to be the party of fiscal responsibility
President Bush has borrowed MORE money from foreign sources than the previous 42 Presidents combined!!
I hope all of you who voted for this damaged little man are happy now: thanks to you, your children and your grandchildren - and probably THEIR grandchildren - will be in hoc to overseas governments and banks until the new moon turns to gold.
See, it's times like this that the evil little "id" part of me thinks that the grown-ups in America should denounce as subhuman all the "elites": the hard-line Democrats and Republicans, everyone who's gotten us into this mess. Then there should be a signal given like in that movie Hotel Rwanda: "Squash the cockroaches! Cut the tall trees!" Upon which we kill every single one of them to a man (and when necessary to a woman). There's no rehabilitation possible for them. Exterminate them all. Let the streets flow red with the blood of politicians and sycophants.
You tell me if that idea doesn't at least have some merit.
Once again, I am a teacher
Well, THIS is ironic, considering that a day and a half ago I wrote about being a student again. Earlier today I accepted a teaching position. I'll be doing that in addition to the freelance work I've been doing for the past year or so. I taught computers and Internet skills to middle-school students at a private school about three years ago and really enjoyed it. I'm really looking forward to getting back into the classroom as an instructor.
Tuesday, November 08, 2005
Just finished watching National Treasure
The latest to come in from Netflix. I really liked this movie. Enough that I may have to spring for the DVD to add to my personal collection. For a history buff like me, National Treasure is like hardcore porno. Benjamin Franklin Gates (Nicholas Cage) has spent his entire life pursuing the family obsession: a treasure stash beyond imagination, hidden away by George Washington and the other Founding Fathers. It's an insane romp to just about every major location of colonial America, with everything from the Freemasons to a treasure map hidden on the back of the Declaration of Independence thrown into the mix. It also stars Sean Bean and Harvey Keitel. Definitely worth checking out if you haven't already.
EDIT: I should make note of something that I happened to notice about National Treasure. There is not one word of profanity to be found anywhere in this film. Nor were there any situations showing or even hinting at lewdness. Other than Star Wars Episode III this is about the most wholesome blockbuster movie that I can think of that's come out recently. If you want some solid entertainment that's suitable for the entire family, without having to worry about what the kiddies see or hear, you can't go wrong with National Treasure.
Would rather it be the energy sword or fuel-rod cannon
New Scientist has a story about a new weapon the U.S. military has developed: a "non-lethal" laser based device called PHASR. I think it looks too much like many of the Covenant weapons in the Halo games, particularly the carbine from Halo 2:
Monday, November 07, 2005
Once again, I am a student
Tonight marked the first time I've been a student in a classroom in over six years. I started taking a class on creative writing that I'm hoping will help me tap into my creative impulse more. See, people have told me for years that I'm a good writer, and I like to think that I am... at non-fiction stuff. It's fiction that I've never been able to really master. Whatever you want to call it: writer's block, thoughts scattered all over the place, even a bit of fear... I've gotten it. I really want to be able to cross genres with my writing: nonfiction, fiction, screenwriting, heck maybe even a little poetry or songwriting.
So, for really the first time in my life, I'm examining what it really means to cultivate my creativity, and in the very first class tonight I learned a lot of things that are probably going to help me. One thing I'm gonna try sometime - even though this is gonna absolutely drive me crazy news junkie that I am - is spend a week in media deprivation: no television, books, or Internet. Will report on how that goes if/when I undertake that.
I'm quite impressed with the instructor we've got: on her website there's a picture of her wielding a rapier. She's only the second teacher I've had in my life who apparently possesses a personal arsenal of swords :-)
Weird medicine: "Bio-printing"
I'm still trying to figure out how this works exactly. Here, read it for yourself and see if it makes sense to you. Sounds hella cool though.
Pat Buchanan: How empires end
Pat Buchanan - who I've always thought of as one of America's most fascinating thinkers - has published a fascinating essay at Human Events Online. In "Paris Burning: How Empires End", he makes an analogy of what is happening right now in France and the gradual fall of the Roman Empire to barbarian tribes. A somewhat unnerving read, but well worth it.
Why no more Star Wars movies is a good thing...
The Ultimate Star Trek Collection: a 212 DVD monstrosity, collecting EVERYTHING done with Star Trek in either television or film (except for the Star Trek animated series which hasn't hit DVD yet). Yours for only $2,499.99 (with Amazon.com savings from the list price of $3908.99).Neil Armstrong on last night's 60 Minutes
In case you missed it, Neil Armstrong gave a very rare interview with Ed Bradley on last night's edition of 60 Minutes. It came soon after the release of a new biographical book out about Armstrong. It was a pretty good interview, covering his life from growing up in Ohio to getting his pilot's license at age 16, to flying in Korea and then into a career at NASA, where at age 38 he was named mission commander for Apollo 11. It's been fairly well known for years that Armstrong has shyed away from much publicity: I've heard that he's VERY reluctant to give out autographs. And now I think I know why: he came across in the interview as being a very humble guy, who didn't want his one step on the lunar surface to overshadow the fact that he was just one of about 400,000 people who worked for eight years to make that happen. Armstrong is 75 now, looking really good and toward the end of the segment it had how he gets his flying kicks now: soaring in gliders. One of the highlights of the segment was a reunion between Armstrong and former CBS anchor Walter Cronkite, who if nothing else will always be remembered for his commentary during the early years of NASA's space exploration. Anyway, it was a pretty good story and well worth catching if/when 60 Minutes ever broadcasts it again.
Sunday, November 06, 2005
FINALLY, a LIGHTSABER of my VERY OWN!!
Last year I gave Chad and Melody - the two leads in Forcery - real lightsaber effects. But I never did that for myself, even though I've had a Jedi costume for two years now. So this past week I put on the costume and did some antics in front of the video camera. I "premiered" this tonight to my two little cousins who are visiting from Florida, and they thought it was pretty funny. So here it is, Chris "Jedi" Knight cuttin' loose with his lightsaber...
8.3 MB Quicktime Video
They don't do television like this anymore
Yesterday Lisa was flicking across stations on the TV and came across the Hallmark Channel, which all day yesterday up 'til 11 PM was showing the entire miniseries The Thorn Birds. I'd heard about it but until now have never seen it before. Well, it came as big a surprise to me as it probably will anyone else that I started watching it with her and found myself thoroughly captivated by this series. Guess it's because I'm a big fan of the multi-generational genre (hence my love of the Star Wars saga). The Thorn Birds covers about 60 years history of a family in Australia. The story centers on this lady who falls in love with a priest, who obviously is forbidden from returning her love. The priest is played by Richard Chamberlain, who back in the day was in just about every miniseries being made.
It's a powerful, moving story. And it made me think about how it is that for the most part, there is no more television of this caliber being made anymore. I'm talking about the mini-series, which actually should have been called "mega-series" because most of them racked up running times of 8 to 10 hours... or more. I think The Winds of War was 12 hours, and its sequel War and Remembrance something like 24 hours. Two decades ago this kind of television was considered a high art form. Now, the most recent one that really springs to mind is Lonesome Dove, and that was all the way back in 1989.
I have to wonder if today's television programmers would have the patience to allow for something so sweeping and grandiose. Could something like Shogun, or The Winds of War, or The Blue and the Gray or even Lonesome Dove be broadcast nowadays? Unless it's on a specialty channel like Hallmark, or perhaps HBO, I don't think so. Today's television is like most everything else: it caters to fleeting attention spans. Modern entertainment allows for the convenience of not having to be patient, and that's a real shame because for those who do have the patience, these way-long movies provide a great deal of entertainment and enlightenment. Today it's get-it-shown then get-it-done: fercryingoutloud CBS not long ago took Helter Skelter (which thirty years later is still THE most shocking true-life crime story ever done for television) and boiled it down into a two-hour remake that was... well, mediocre to put it mildly. What would they do with The Thorn Birds, or The Winds of War: probably show about two minutes of the Germans bombing Pearl Harbor out of two-hours running time tops.
Anyway, I enjoyed The Thorn Birds, or what I was able to see of it (prior engagements made us miss quite a bit of it). Enough that I'll probably find a DVD of it sometime soon and watch the entire thing at my leisure. Wonder if I could fill out the bookshelf with any more good movies like that...
Blog keeps the dream of Carolina Circle alive
One of the best stories (and they're all great) in Neil Gaiman's epic The Sandman comic series is the one taking place in ancient Baghdad, the most glorious city in the world. The city's ruler knows that such beauty will not last forever. He makes a deal with Morpheus, the series' protagonist: he will give Morpheus the city of Baghdad, if Morpheus will forever preserve the city in dreams. Thus, the Baghdad that once was will always exist despite whatever ruin might (and would) come to it.
That story came to mind when I found a blog this morning, run by a young man who's also dedicated to keeping alive a place that once was and now is not. About three months ago I posted a lil' essay about the Carolina Circle Mall here in Greensboro. At the time demolition was well underway but you could still see where most of the stores used to be. We drove past the site yesterday and there's now nothing but an empty lot with just a little debris left, and piles of material that are going to be used to build the new Wal-Mart Supercenter there. It was a great mall in its heyday though. Well, a 15-year old blogger named Billy has set up Carolina Circle City, an online chronicle of Carolina Circle Mall's life and times. It's a pretty neat place to check out if you're someone (like me) who has fond memories of the place, or if you're just interested in things like urban design and architecture. Billy has plenty of pictures of the site both pre-destruction and afterward, and he documents a lot of the stories associated with the place.
Nice work Billy: thanks to you, there will always be a Carolina Circle Mall, if only in our dreams...
Paris riots a harbinger of what might happen here
What's happening in France right now has its roots in something that's already taking place here in America: a MASSIVE, uncontrolled influx of immigrants from outside the country, who are put on the government dole but for all intents and purposes are told they do not have to assimilate to the culture.
Doesn't that sound like our own situation with wild out-of-control illegal immigration that sees millions of people streaming across the border each year?
Listen to the rhetoric coming out of groups like La Raza: they sound pretty much like what's coming out of the Muslim rioters in and around Paris right now. They just haven't had the right spark to light their fuse yet is all. But it's coming, someday.
And when it does you can thank people like your President George W. Bush and members of both parties in Congress and insane "multicultural" proponents and too many of corporate America's leadership for not only letting this happen, but eagerly promoting it. Take a good look at Paris right now, folks: we're being led down that same road too.
Saturday, November 05, 2005
Lisa's review of Children of Eden
Last night we caught Greensboro Day School's production of Children of Eden. If you've missed it so far you can still see it tonight at 7:30 and tomorrow afternoon at 2. Anyway, I was going to write a review of it but Lisa wanted to do the honors, since she now has a blog all her very own now. Read her review of Children of Eden here. 'Twas a REALLY good show by the way :-)
"Remember, remember, the Fifth of November..."
Today our Brittish brethren (props to whoever recognizes the origin of that misspelling) are celebrating the 400th anniversary of Guy Fawkes' "Gunpowder Plot". It was on this day in 1605 that Fawkes and some other conspirators were caught trying to blow up Parliament - killing the king and everybody else - by placing dozens of kegs of gunpowder beneath the building. If they'd gotten away with it they would have perpetrated one of the most legendary acts of terrorism ever. But they didn't, so Fawkes is now burned in effigy and fireworks go off all over the English countryside every year on this day. Happy Guy Fawkes Day all y'all on the other side of the pond. Now, if we could only have the release of the Wachowski Brothers' V for Vendetta to coincide with today's celebrations, that would have been perfect. But it's been pushed back to March! Ahh well...
