November 2003 Archives

In honor of Thanksgiving, we bring you this link toThe Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade -- 1984!Chock full of mid-80s craziness -- Menudo, Fraggle Rock, Joey Lawrence, Tim Conway with the Cabbage Patch Kids... it just goes on and on and on! Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! (Link from robotfilter,)

Slate does a little series in which they review TV commercials. The latest installment is about an ad for the Humvee (or have they officially changed their name to Hummer?) and it's as good an ending as any to the long sad tale about unapologetic SUV owners.

[With the strains of Mozart's requiem, coming from my radio, in the background]

Living in Boston means that the Kennedy Assasination is a big deal. It's just that, to me personally, the Kennedy Assasination means around as much as that of Garfield or McKinley, and less than that of Lincoln.

What I mean by this is that I'm sorry that they died, and murder is very bad, but it feels very abstract to me. Quite frankly, I think that we should spend a little bit less time rehashing the death of JFK, and a bit more discussing the tragic deaths of people who are our contemporaries, but perhaps a bit less glamorous. AIDS means a lot more to me than the grassy knoll.

So like me, you're probably wondering: with so few days left until the pre-Thanksgiving holiday gift season is over, what should I get for my frieinds and loved ones? Why not Ishbadiddle Swag? It makes the perfect holiday gift for the liberal, libertarian, conservative, or completely apolitical-but-likes-the-pop-culture blog reader out there! Or get stuff for your family and confuse the heck out of them! I've just added a bunch more stuff, so check it out today!

Note to posters: I haven't forgotten your t-shirt requests. Of course you might want a mug instead, or something, so let me know if you've changed your mind. OK, actually, I did forget. But now I remember, OK?

Apparently, having low self-esteem will shrink your brain.

The study, presented at a conference at the Royal Society in London, also found that the brains of these people were more likely to shrink compared with those who have a high sense of self esteem.

She found that the brains of those with low self-worth were up to a fifth smaller than those who felt good about themselves.

These people also performed worse in memory and learning tests.

Hmmm - I thought that size didn't matter when it came to brains. Wasn't skull volume one of the pillars of racist psuedo-science ?

Now how ’bout this: a country with a brutal president, nominally democratically elected (uh-huh, with 97.1% of the votes), that has a lot of oil. The USA severed relations with this country several years ago but now we’re back in bed with them. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Equatorial Guinea! Good thing they aren’t trying to hide weapons from us, because that would be bad, er, EVIL.

• US Department of State


• Amnesty International


• Christian Science Monitor article


• MSNBC


• FOX News (tangential, yes, but I wanted balance)

Amember the Political Compass? Now there’s the Political Survey! (Points off for supremely unimaginative naming.) There’s one nice adjustment to this one that may correct for ambiguity. It’s an adjustment worth concealing, so I’ll mention it in the comments — if you want to skew your results and forever be haunted by the question “What if I had taken the survey before reading the comments?”, that’s up to you.

Watch that neologism!

I like to keep up with the technolarmists and the technocalypsts, what can I say? So last week we had scientists who apparently don't read comic books.

Now, it's the end of the world as we know it.

I recently read (on our host's blog, Bleahh), this post about the fun to be had with tinyurl.com:

We recently read about a nice little diversion that is akin to the old Random Link link used by portals, but we can’t remember where we read about it. In any case, what one does is takes a link-shortening site’s link pattern and play around with it to see where one ends up. We find particular fun in using TinyURL’s pattern, since it seems to be just letters. Try your name! Try “meh” or “feh” or “ick” and see where you go! Whooaaahh! Hang on kids, it’s a thrillride, we guarantee!

The Happy Robot asked the first five, and Liz md H asked the next five, so herewith:

1. What makes you cringe?
I recently saw a poster for the CBS show Joan of Arcadia, in which a teenaged girl gets instructions from God. The poster asks, "What if you were chosen to make a difference?". Which reminded me that "Make A Difference" is one of my Cringeworthy Phrases. Look, I've been in the business of "making a difference" for my entire career, but I would never describe it as such, because it's entirely free of content. "Make a difference?" Idi Amin "made a difference."

That, and parents who are mean to their kids.

2. Glass: is it half full or half empty? and if it's half full, what is it half full of? if it's half empty, was it good? do you need me to top it off for you?
Right now, it's a sippy cup, half full of water, and half full of juice. Ben, do you want your apple juice?

These days, thanks to the pink pills of pacification, I just sort of float on the meniscus between full and empty.

3. Are you registered to vote?
Damn straight.

4. If you could be George Bush for an hour, what fun hijinks would you get George into?
I'd call a press conference and announce that I am the Messiah.

5. Is there anything more annoying than politicians running for office? if so, tell me.
[high horse] People who are annoyed by politicians but don't vote. [/high horse]

1. Are you a top or a bottom?
Switch. (Hi, Mom!)

2. Your most embarrassing moment in grade school was...
Oh, I would have to go with the time in 4th Grade when one of my teachers got chalk all over the shoulder of his jacket and was trying to blow it off. I said something to him about a "blow job," being clearly ignorant of the phrase's actual meaning. I spent the rest of the day mortified that I'd said something "dirty" in front of everyone without even knowing what it meant.

3. What was your silliest nickname?
I've got a lot of nicknames -- Ish, ME-L, (call me IshME-L), Kitch, Miguelito, Mikey (which used to annoy me but doesn't so much anymore). I'd have to say the silliest nickname I ever had was "Doc," which I had at Atari Computer Camp (geek alert!) for my supposed abilities to hypnotize my fellow campers. Really.

4. If you could have any animal in the world as a pet, which would you choose?
I've always thought that a Raptor on the Shoulder -- a redtailed hawk, maybe -- would be cool. Or maybe a Raven. (Think Odin, Morpheus, etc.) Then again, it would probably crap all over my coat.

5. Penguins. love or hate? why?
Love. First: funny word. (It's the "gua" sound -- like Guam.) Second: Adorable but countercultural (Linux, Opus, Sparky of Tom Tomorrow). Third: they fly in the water.

Guess it's time to go on the First Law of Thermodynamics Diet!

One of the things the Internet (especially Google) is good for is finding things you thought were lost. Specifically, figuring out what the name of that book is you read as a kid, but only have fuzzy details on. (I think there was something in last week's NYT on this.) A little Googling enabled me to find The Gammage Cup, but I can't seem to find anything on this book (even with Amazon's new search function). I read this book sometime between 1977 - 1984, got from a local library in upstate New York where we were for the summer. Here's the details I remember:

* Setting is medieval.

* A young man is lame. He has a vision. (A bridle is somehow involved). He must seek out his namesake to be healed.

* There's a quest to find his namesake. (A warrior, perhaps?)

* At one point, he is with a woman / witch at some standing stones (Stonehenge?). She "opens" them and they're really computers, although he doesn't understand what he's seeing.

Thanks for any help!

Now listed under "Friends' Sites" -- Ask Julia! Head on over and ask Jill all your questions about public schools.

Hidden in the Iraq (and Afghanistan) funding bill, and as of yet barely remarked on by our news media is a 2 Million Dollar bounty for Charles Taylor, the former President of Liberia.

What's cute about this is that they don't name Taylor by name, instead offering the "money for the capture of what it describes as an indictee of the Sierra Leone war crimes tribunal".

[sorry, posted in a hurry since it had been sitting in "draft" for 3 days]

I'm not sure which is weirder: The Comedy Central parody, "Straight Plan for the Gay Man," or the totally straight (uh . . . I mean, not-tongue-in-cheek) "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" episode that will switch preferences and be called "Straight Eye for the Queer Guy."

Maybe they all get topped by the "very special episode" of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy planned for Christmas (Yes, for real. Mentioned in the second article). Perhaps it will address the question, "What Would Jesus Wear (if the Fab Five helped him out!)"

While every day more soldiers are lost in our battle in Iraq -- and our heart goes out to their families -- it's good to know that our civilians are "supporting the troops" by "outing" their liberal views to the DoD and forcing them out of the military. Now that Sgt. Robert Ferriol, former Marine Corps Intelligence Analyst, has been booted from his job for his political views, he too can get his benefits cut by the Administration. Welcome to the desert of the unreal, Sgt. Ferriol. Happy Veteran's Day.

Saw this bumper sticker -- on a newish, expensive-looking SUV with Georgia plates: "Don't Let The Car Fool You. My Real Treasure Is In Heaven."

I think I shopped some of these classes. Found on The Virtual Stoa.

Currently housed at the (excellent blog) Ethel the Blog is a dictionary originally compiled by Atrios. I found several definitions to be most enlightening and amusing.

LOTR, the musical, is planned for Spring of 2005, the 50th anniversary of the completion of the books. At 8 million pounds sterling, this will be the most expensive musical to hit the London stage. Interestingly, the current composer is A R Rahman, of Bollywood and Bombay Dreams fame.

Because the proposed ban on kissing in public might backfire.

Human rights campaigner and a leading member of Russia's Democratic Union party, Valeriya Novodvorskaya said she would defy the ban if the new bill is introduced.

".... I will from now on spend my days kissing in public places - simply out of principle. The moment I see a nice person I know, I will immediately kiss them - even if I don't feel like it. I invite all other Moscovites to do the same"

[Note, the article includes no photographs of Ms. Novodvorskaya]

With the Church Sign Generator

Found on the robot filter.

So much for not making this a war of religion. American soldiers are, apparently, referring to Iraqis as "Hajis," the term for pilgrims on their way to Mecca. What's messed up about this is that it's the US Soldiers who are making this a religious thing. It seems to me that you could easily ascribe the resistance to nationalism, or, at least, anti-Americanism. Instead, we're treating it religiously and using religious terms to Iraqis, which is going to make things even worse. (It's not like the Iraqis don't notice the term "bad haji".) I'm glad we're providing people with that framework. Then Gen. Boykin can step in and say "I told you so."

(That Would Have Been More Effective Than The Non-Partisan Election Referendum Effort Which Only Convinced About 30% Of Voters)

1. "How 'Bout Them Yankees?" -- a campaign to convince New Yorkers that the Yankees actually won the World Series this year.

2. "If They Ban Smoking In Bed, No One Will Ever Have Sex Again, and the Earth Will Be Depopulated!" It Didn't Happen Then, and It Won't Happen Now.

3. Hug a Homeless Guy Today!

4. New Jersey and You -- Perfect Together

5. There Is No Spoon

6. Can't we all live in a safer New York? Please, stop committing crimes. At least until November 2004.

7. Use Your Turn Signals -- It's The Law

8. A campaign to convince us that partisan elections make it impossible for non-Democratic candidates to win -- candidates like Rudy Giuliani, George Pataki, and Mike Bloomberg.

Oh, wait -- they ran that one.

Debbie's choice of celebratory entertainment after her dissertation defense. Retro-a-go-go at Marion's Continental on Monday nights.

A bit the size of a molecule. Cool.

We saw The Hanging Man last night at BAM, and I would urge you to see it before it closes on the 9th. The Improbable Theatre's production -- the story of an architect who tries to hang himself in his unfinished cathedral, but can't die -- has the feel of a play a group would develop through improvisation after reading medieval legends, dreaming, dancing, and then re-reading Keith Johnstone's Impro (which from me is high praise indeed.) Plus, funny schtick!

-- read my review.

TMBG has always appealed to the inner child of the alternafan -- and now they're doing children's albums and concerts! We took Ben for his first ever mosh pit. All three of us had a great time. Ben especially liked the confetti.

Our Halloween Party film this year -- I'd heard that the Japanese original was scarier than the American remake which scared the bejeebus out of me. But while it was more understated, Ringu didn't raise the hairs on my neck the way the Ring did. Maybe it was because it was on the small screen -- or maybe because the remake was faithful enough to the original that there were few surprises.

OK, so last month it was the fighting ninja monkeybots. Now it's giant glowing DNA:

Stanford University researchers seeking better-looking DNA have created XDNA, extra-large DNA molecules that glow.

Debbie liked Lost in Translation, and for good reason. It captures that sense of being stranded in a foreign city, a foreign language. (If the Wachowskis invented Bullet Time, Sofia Coppola must get some credit for filming in Jet Lag Time.) It's understated, in the right ways. And it doesn't go the Emma Bovary route. It is refreshing to have the Harry Met Sally question answered in the positive, to show a meaningful friendship The Bill Murray character ("Bob") and Scarlett Johansson character ("Charlotte") strike up a friendship, but we never feel that they will (or should, or feel they might) become lovers.

But something bothered me as I watched LIT. Was it the depiction of the Japanese? Not really, but I'm sure someone at Yale is furiously writing an essay about the Other as we speak. Then I figured it out -- this movie is to friendship as pornography is to sex.

. Great schtick (and special effects!) Somehow I've missed seeing any of Buster Keaton's silents before, an error I am now correcting.

-- see my cynical review.

A while ago I got an email from a reporter at New York magazine, asking if I knew which of the 2,000+ blogs at NYC Bloggers was hip and all. I sent an email with some choice links, but never heard back. I'm not sure if it's the same reporter, but this one called NYC Bloggers "charming".

I scored 82.5 without thinking too hard. Gwan, try and top me.*

*Ex-Nadine editors will take a 10-point handicap for knowing waaaay too much about music in the first place.

That's right, she's Debra Everett-Lane, Ph.D.!!!

I'm unbelievably proud. Ben is too -- he called her "Doctor Mommy" this morning (with a little prompting).