a : frustrated : artist

2006-06-02T09:16:00.000-04:00

WOW, AN UPDATE!11!1!!!1!1

What kind of Artist am I?

You scored as Vincent Van Gogh. You are a tortured artist in the stereotypical sense. However, your genius is what will get you through the tough times and your success is assured after your demise.

Vincent Van Gogh

70%

R. Crumb

55%

Cecily Brown

50%

Willem DeKooning

45%

Piet Mondrian

45%

Bob Ross

35%

William Blake

35%

Artemisia Gentilleschi

20%

What artist are you?
created with QuizFarm.com

2006-04-18T13:53:00.000-04:00

Well, DUH!

While not explicitly mentioned in the study, similar conclusions can probably be drawn for emo kids. Does this mean that black lipstick is a bigger lifestyle risk factor than tobacco, alcohol or cholesterol...?

2006-04-16T11:39:00.000-04:00

Gus is three months old today! I wrote the other day that he was three months, but this is his actual birthday. Gauging the age of babies is an inexact science: you can go by weeks, in which case he was three months old last Monday, or you can go by months, in which case he is three months today. I suppose it's easier to go by months from here on out.

2006-04-14T11:03:00.000-04:00

I used to write a lot about academic freedom on college campuses. I don't have the time to keep up with it anymore, but I saw this on Instapundit and I feel like I have to comment here, if only briefly. How sick is that Ohio State is investigating a librarian for sexual harrassment for the crime of recommending books that don't happen to be from a left-wing perspective? This is extremely troubling.

2006-04-13T11:33:00.000-04:00

Gus is three months old now, and he is starting to run me ragged in a different way. Newborns run you ragged with just basic needs. A three-month old is starting to be very engaged with the world, and his basic needs include being entertained for most of his waking time. He can't sit up yet and he's just learning to grasp, hold and manipulate objects, so he can't very well play on his own too much. He's got a nice play bar on his bouncy seat and a playmat with lots of hanging things to interact with, but he gets tired of these pretty quick and he doesn't like to play on them more than about twice a day. He enjoys being read to just to listen to my voice, which is cool because I've been getting to books I've been putting off reading, but again, he gets bored with that after a while. He's also starting to fight sleep during the day, which means he doesn't nap well and is very crabby by late afternoon. Ah, the joys of motherhood to an obviously bright child.

Last year I blogged extensively about "American Idol" and I wish I'd been thinking to do that again this year, because I have definitely been keeping up with it, and it's a fun season.

I'm thrilled becauuse I have a Mac once more. Alex and I switched computers around and I took over his 3-year-old eMac while he took my 3-year-old Dell. I love Macs and want to do some video editing (which the Mac makes a lot easier), and Alex is addicted to World of Warcraft and wanted a computer that will run that with ease. All is well with the universe again.

I am actively painting again - somehow, I don't know how I'm doing it, but as in the past, when I get the fire in my belly to make art, I find a way. Basically, I paint while Gus is napping, and in that brief time frame between when he goes down for the night and when Alex gets home from work. I'm posting documentation of works in progress on my new Gallery site here.

That's all for now. Oh, here's a photo of Gus from just two days ago:

2006-04-04T15:02:00.000-04:00

I have set up a new website to indulge my passion for art, photography and family history, as well as to show off our son. Go check it out.

Augustin is growin' like a weed. He can hold his head up pretty well, and he is beginning to purposefully grab and hold things. He's still a ways from rolling over though. The pediatrician said he may be a slower with some of that gross motor skills stuff because he is so big (97th percentile for weight and 90th percentile for height.)

2006-03-31T11:35:00.000-05:00

Wow, it's been a long time since we've posted, so let's start things back up with a bang:

Lest anybody believes that Islamic fundamentalism is not a serious problem in the world today, probably the most serious one since Communism, read this and this. It's not just the people who are actually strapping bombs to themselves or crashing airliners into office buildings - this gives hardline Muslims everywhere arbitrary power over the rest of us, to intimidate us into following their religious laws whether or not we share their beliefs. If radical Islam is being given this much power in the world today, we're all in a lot of trouble. If anybody runs across any Muslim voices coming out against Islamic terrorism and intimidation, PLEASE PLEASE post links in the comments. In the meantime, don't spend any money at Borders, Waldenbooks or any other vendors owned by Borders Group, and for the love of all gods, don't obey Islamic religious rules just to be polite and avoid trouble if you're not Muslim and not in the Middle east or in a mosque! Do you abstain from all beef products in a restaurant just because there might be Hindus in the room?

Smiley Boy!

2006-03-07T09:27:00.000-05:00

We've been getting smiles for about two weeks now, but this is the first time I was able to get him to do it for the camera. I couldn't get a big wide grin, so this will have to do!

I Can Smile, Just Not Right Now

2006-03-01T10:39:00.000-05:00

Augustin totally has his daddy's nose. I called that when I saw the 3D ultrasound way back in October!

2006-02-28T13:38:00.000-05:00

Back with a bit of fluffy silliness ...

Arianrhod is the Celtic goddess of the full moon

(or the 'silver wheel'), of reincarnation,

and of the Wheel of the Year. You are

mysterious and serene, yet you can be

stubborn and even cruel.

What Celtic Goddess are You? (With pictures)
brought to you by Quizilla

All I can say is ...

2006-02-18T16:42:00.000-05:00

Thank gods the boy looks more like his daddy!

2006-02-05T22:03:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the scarcity.

I've got plenty to say about things that are going on in the world, especially having to do with the whole European / Muslim cartoon controversy, but little time to organize my thoughts in such a way that they'd make interesting blog reading. Since for the moment this blog is mainly being used as a way to keep up with family and friends, I will forgo the current events commentary.

I'm nearly 100% healed from my c-section. It doesn't hurt anymore. I can sleep on my stomach again. Woo-hoo.

I'm back to my pre-pregnancy weight, and I'm sitting here now in some old size 12 pants. Double woo-hoo.

Augustin is the Incredible Milk Monster. He's only three weeks old and he's gobbling down four ounces of breastmilk or formula every three hours round the clock. He gets weighed on Tuesday and if he isn't well past his birthweight I will be stunned. I'll guess he's over nine pounds by now because he's already starting to fill out his 0-3 clothes. Now if he'd just slack off the eating at night just a teeny bit so that Mommy and Daddy can get a little more sleep!

Augustin has not met his paternal grandfather yet, but we hope that will happen in the next week.

Alex landed a contract job, so he'll be joining the ranks of the employed once more starting a week from tomorrow. I am delighted that there will be income, but a little scared of having to take care of Augustin by myself. I don't know why ... he's really a pretty easy baby.

Could I be any cuter?

2006-02-03T17:52:00.000-05:00

A few more images are in the photo album.

2006-01-28T13:57:00.000-05:00

One or two folks have requested more photos of The Boy. I'll be posting stuff from time to time on my Photobucket account, so anyone interested can check there from time to time.

2006-01-24T11:25:00.000-05:00

Well, the Conservatives won a minority victory in the Canadian election. Hooray for Canada - now they can come back to play at the big boys' table again.

It's also damned amusing watching the Canadian moonbats go nuts over this. :D

2006-01-21T16:53:00.000-05:00

2006-01-21T09:26:00.000-05:00

Gus is Born!

Sorry for the silence, but we only just got out of the hospital late Thursday afternoon and this is really the first time things haven't been just crazy since Sunday. But never mind that - our son, Augustin Owen, was born at 5:58pm on January 16, and you can see him at this "online nursery" site. Enter the access code 092 - 37485 (you can leave the other fields blank) and click on "Show me the baby". On the next page, the "Guest View" field should automatically be filled by that same code; if not, enter it in the "Guest View" field. Then just click the "View" button for Guest View.

I'm sure Dorothy will be posting lots more pictures in the future, but between recovering from a Caesarean section and feeding Gus every 3 hours day or night, she's pretty exhausted right now...

2006-01-15T13:53:00.000-05:00

Go John Shadegg.

2006-01-14T21:32:00.000-05:00

Owsley Stanley has a website, and it's quite interesting. He's a pretty good sculptor, and he writes well.

2006-01-12T22:57:00.000-05:00

I'm still here. :D It's looking more and more like I will have to be induced.

After more than a decade, I have managed to get some old Cradle tracks in digital format. Anyone interested can listen/download "Mysticism" here. I may post links to others as I can - but I have to watch my bandwidth where I'm hosting.

2006-01-09T16:54:00.000-05:00

This adorable but horribly-named baby girl is our new overlord. Our overlord of barbarian, Viking, Led Zeppelinesque cuteness.

2006-01-09T09:43:00.000-05:00

Still here. I was miserable over the weekend, but right at this moment I feel fine. Still, the only thing I can think about is having the damn baby and getting it over with. I see the doctor early this afternoon, so I'm hoping pretty desperately for some good news, one way or another. The best news would be "You're dilated to 5! Go right upstairs and have this baby now!"

Alex has another job interview tomorrow, hooray. I'm starting to get a bit nervous about what we're going to do for income in a month and a half.

2006-01-07T17:19:00.000-05:00

Yes, I'm still sitting here waiting for Gus to decide to arrive. I'm starting to get intermittantly painful cramps and contractions though, so I'm crossing my fingers that it's not going to be too much longer. We're supposed to go to Alex's dad's house for dinner, but all I want to do is curl up in a ball on my bed. It's like strong menstrual cramps. I think I will send Alex off to dinner by himself.

We did manage to finish a couple of last-minute things in the nursery today. We put up a crib tent so that we can put Gus down to sleep without worrying about Xiaofeng jumping in with him to snuggle. And we finally put up a nice quilted wall hanging that Alex's grandmother made for him when he was a baby. It's a finished room now.

2006-01-05T10:43:00.000-05:00

When Deadheads Attack innocent children by giving them hideously stupid names.

2006-01-01T10:23:00.000-05:00

New Year's Day: OK, baby boy, you can come out now. No need to keep hiding. (Oh, I know. I should really quit whining. It isn't past my due date yet. When I go past Friday [shudder] THEN I can begin whining in earnest.)

The New Year was its usual uneventful self. We opened a bottle of Moet & Chandon White Star, and I had maybe a little less than half a flute, sipped slowly over the course of about an hour and a half. Alex drank the rest of the bottle and sat up very late playing Warcraft with the free 10-day pass given to him by his stepbrother Matthew as a Christmas gift. We watched the Times Square ball drop and at the stroke of midnight we went out into the front yard and listened to the fireworks going off around us (couldn't see anything, unfortunately.) I can't wait to see what kind of a headache Alex has when he finally gets up. Champagne hangovers are the worst. Although, White Star is nice stuff, not cheapie crap, so maybe he'll get off easy.

There are lots of chores I could do right now, and I feel physically better than I did yesterday so now would be a good time. But I just don't feel like it. It's a holiday, dammit. Tomorrow life cranks back up and Alex's job search will go into high gear. But today ... I think I'll relax.

2005-12-31T21:16:00.000-05:00

New Year's Eve: I'm restless. Alex made cheese fondue, and we're attempting to watch a 3rd-season episode of "Mystery Science Theatre 3000" (Fugitive Alien), but I can't sit still for long.

Ealier today Dad, Alex and I went out to BrandsMart and bought a ton of consumer electronics goodies. Dad bought a flat-screen TV for Mom and a DVD recorder for himself, and a really nice DV camcorder for the family with the understanding that Alex and I will make the most immediate use of it to record Gus' first year(s). He splurged for a really nice one - a Canon Elura 90 which is on the higher end of home-movie camcorders. I spent most of the afternoon charging the batteries and getting acquainted with the operation of the camera. I'm quite excited to have this as I have wanted a DV camera of my own for many years now. Years ago when I was still in art school, I had a blast making videos and editing them in the most primitive way, right on the VCR. Nowadays DV connections and software make editing easier. Can't wait to get the chance to fool around with that.

Despite the camcorder fun I've been quite uncomfortable all day, with cramps and irregular painful contractions plaguing me off and on. I'm really dying to go into labor; the discomfort of late pregnancy is starting to get to me although not every day is as annoying as this one has been.

2005-12-29T20:38:00.000-05:00

From high art to low trash: Kevin Federline and his loser fans on MySpace.

2005-12-29T18:58:00.000-05:00

Whoa, I had not realized how long I had gone without even thinking about updating this blog! Life has been extremely hectic, and the days are running together into a blur. The baby has not arrived yet.

There isn't much in the hecticness that is interesting to blog about, I'm afraid. Let's see ... on Christmas Eve Alex's dad treated us all (various visiting family members, that is) to a trip to the Georgia Aquarium, which only just opened on Thanksgiving. And today, Alex and I went to the newly-opened High Museum to see the Andrew Wyeth exhibition.

So, maybe I'll write a bit about Wyeth, since I haven't written about art of any kind in a long time.

Andrew Wyeth has long been one of my favorite artists - since I can remember, in fact. I always got a sort of mystical vibe from his work, and this has only increased as I got older. His landscapes and other depictions of the natural world have an animistic quality which I find irresistable, and I love how his interiors tell stories beyond simple still life. Predictably, he was the contemporary artist most derided and scorned by my professors in art school, I assume because they nearly all went through their education during the times when abstract expressionism and later, conceptual art reigned supreme, and for them, the worst insult was to be considered a technician. Wyeth is certainly a technician on the level of the old Flemish masters, but his work also has the spiritual and emotional depth of those masters.

So this exhibition at the High is large and includes nearly all of his most important work, with the exception of Christina's World. Weather Side was there, as well as Faraway. One of the most moving paintings for me was a very recent tempera called The Carry.

I enjoyed this exhibition so much I may try and see it again, and maybe drag my mom and dad along, and Gus in a sling if he proves to be a halfway agreeable baby for outings. :)

2005-12-20T14:44:00.000-05:00

FILE UNDER: Quick Primers On Stuff

A quick primer on why, in this day and age, labor unions are a very very bad thing. (via Instapundit) As an added bonus, it also serves as an answer to the question, "Alex, why wouldn't you want to live in New York City even if you had the money to get a great apartment in Upper Manhattan or Greenwich Village or wherever people say is so great in New York City?"

2005-12-19T18:12:00.000-05:00

Weird Barbie research findings:

Barbie, beware. The iconic plastic doll is often mutilated at the hands of young girls, according to research published Monday by British academics. "The girls we spoke to see Barbie torture as a legitimate play activity, and see the torture as a 'cool' activity," said Agnes Nairn, one of the University of Bath researchers. "The types of mutilation are varied and creative, and range from removing the hair to decapitation, burning, breaking and even microwaving."

Researchers from the university's marketing and psychology departments questioned 100 children about their attitudes to a range of products as part of a study on branding. They found Barbie provoked the strongest reaction, with youngsters reporting "rejection, hatred and violence," Nairn said.

The researchers go on to suggest that for many girls, mutilating Barbie is a kind of rite of passage where they symbolially 'kill' something seen as babyish. Well, I don't know.

I was one of those rare beasts: an anti-Barbie little girl. Perhaps it was because I had two older brothers I wanted to impress, but then, I've known other girls with older brothers who liked Barbie. But Barbie - and dolls in general - just never did that much for me. My friend across the street, Mary Ansley, had Barbies and we did mutilate them. It wasn't out of hatefulness, though. (At least on my end - I have no idea what Mary Ansley was thinking.) I have a vague memory of thinking that Barbie was a heck of a lot more interesting with pen scribbles all over her body (kind f like tattoos, I guess) and with most of her hair ripped out and gum stuck in what was left of it. OTOH, I do remember thinking that girls who played with Barbie were silly, so maybe there was some of that disdain directed at the doll itself. Whatever - here's a real live Barbie mutilator here.

2005-12-17T20:40:00.000-05:00

I'm at home alone tonight. Alex went off to the farm to supervise our grove's Yule vigil and ritual, but I'm staying here. I'm not supposed to travel more than an hour from the hosptial, a rule I was prepared to break if nothing seemed to be happening. but I've been getting irregular contractions since last week and today they're more regular, although spaced widely apart (about 20 minutes.) I guess I'm in prodomal labor. The article at the link says this can last for several days, but other sources including women on my pregnancy board say it can go on for a week or even two. So while I'm not concerned, I'm keeping an eye on things. It's not a big deal because I'm term now (37 weeks), but I'd prefer to keep him in the oven until 38 weeks just to be on the safe side. OTOH, I'd be thrilled if he came before the new year.

2005-12-14T13:17:00.000-05:00

A fascinating collection of color photographs from the 30's and 40's at the Library of Congress website: Bound for Glory: America in Color, 1939-1943.

2005-12-12T21:57:00.000-05:00

I find this guy to be terribly amusing. Terribly.

2005-12-10T20:08:00.000-05:00

Scared of Santa.

2005-12-09T12:37:00.000-05:00

36 weeks today.

I was told by the doctor yesterday to take it very easy due to the small amount of spotting I've been having and the contractions I had the other night. We're still not entirely done with our move, and my parents (Gods bless 'em) are at this moment down in Atlanta with Alex trying to get the last of our stuff out of the old Virginia Highlands apartment. I feel very bad about it - like a lazy slug. I can do little stuff, like putting dishes away - just nothing too strenuous and I'm not supposed to stay on my feet for long stretches.

In other baby news, an ultrasound yesterday suggested Gus might not be as big as they'd said earlier [insert eye-rolling smiley here]. That deflates my hopes of delivering him before the first of the year.

2005-12-09T08:05:00.000-05:00

YAY! This year's BarneyCam is up. Although it very nearly becomes BeazleyCam with the show-stealing presence of the very adorable young brindle female Scotty! This year's BC doesn't have the great comedy of last year's (what, no Karl Rove?) but there's lots of cute doggie time. These are truly two of the neatest Scotties ever. India the cat also makes an appearance!

2005-12-05T00:08:00.000-05:00

We've moved. We're in that linbo state where we've gotten everything we need to be comfy in the new place, but there's still a lot of junk in the old place. Meanwhile, I'm getting contractions (irregularly) and I shouldn't be doing anything slightly stressful. Life's getting interesting!

Here's something unbelievably politically incorrect to get yer holiday season going: It's Jihad Farley Towne! Courtesy of Denis Leary. Thank you, Denis.

2005-11-29T19:51:00.000-05:00

Misery. Or something close to it. Everything hurts. It feels like the baby may have dropped because every time I stand up my pelvic area really, really hurts. If I stay standing a few minutes, it goes away, but until then, OUCH!

We're packing things in boxes, getting ready for our move, and it's a mess in here. Today the property manager guy called and wanted to set up a time to come take pictures so he can start advertising the apartment. Hello, can we get our stuff out please? I told him he was welcome to come but that it looks like crap in here with stuff strewn everywhere and piles of boxes. Yeah, photos of a disaster area will really make people want to come live in a place. Plus, technically this place is ours until the end of January. The dude irritated me to no end.

But anyway, we're doing the bulk of the moving between tomorrow and Saturday. Since I can't be lifting heavy stuff poor Alex will bear the brunt of carrying things. I'll be in charge of unpacking stuff, I guess. The OB gave me strict instructions to not do very much, which I thought would be difficult, although since every inch of my body hurts and I'm moving like a 90-year-old maybe it won't be so tough. I guess as long as the essentials are unpacked, that's OK. But then the baby will be here and who has time to both unpack AND take care of a newborn? Oh, well ...

2005-11-27T01:06:00.000-05:00

What if Mama Sheehan held a book signing and no one came? (Link via LGF.)

2005-11-26T16:02:00.000-05:00

How sad is it that Alex and I kind of identify with the subject of this item in The Onion: All Of Pregnant Woman's Favorite Names Used Up On Cats?

2005-11-26T14:31:00.000-05:00

Rumors abound that Michael Jackson is converting to Islam and moving to Bahrain. Mikey already had the obligatory anti-Semitism down pat, so I suppose this is the logical next step.

I especially love this bit from the first article:

Jackson ... expressed his hope to be rid of various legal troubles and enjoy the kind of freedom he says he does not have in America.

I presume that means he wants a religion and culture that gives him the OK to molest little boys as he wishes.

2005-11-26T13:46:00.000-05:00

Dr. Helen has some interesting thoughts about vegetarians and pacifism. I myself have pretty stong opinions about the motivations of most people who self-identify as "pacifists," mainly, that they're anything but. Nine times out of ten, a discussion with a "pacifist" about their beliefs will reveal a ton of pent-up hostility and aggression, and will show that the "pacifist" is actually a nihilist. As Dr. Helen says,

My husband once said that he did not worry about violence from peace activists but frankly, I would rather hang out with a crowd of hard core gun addicts. I find them more capable of understanding and controlling their own aggression. People who preach peace in the face of appalling violence deny their aggression and target it at others who are not deserving of it or who are trying to protect them. I cannot justify that.

2005-11-26T04:46:00.000-05:00

We saw Walk the Line last night. I'm still trying to decide what I think of it. I mean, it's a very good movie, but it's a bit strange. I'm disappointed that it focuses almost 100% on Johnny Cash the fuckup and on his relationship with June Carter, rather than Johnny Cash the artist, which he most definitely was. In the process, he comes off as weak. This is no fault of the fine job by Joaquin Phoenix of portraying Johnny - it's simply what the film focuses on, apparently the wish of Johnny and June themselves, who approved the script. I guess my ultimate gripe is that it's never made plain as to why good girl June Carter would waste her time on a screwup like the person portrayed as Johnny. We're supposed to take for granted the reasons why, and by and large we do. I just wish the film had gone a little deeper, that's all. Still, I enjoyed it, and I'd reccomend it to anyone, really. It's very nearly to the standard of Coal Miner's Daughter, still the best musical bio-pic ever made.

2005-11-26T04:44:00.000-05:00

It's a cornucopia of real live bad baby names! Also, an archive of unfortunate surnames which have now largely fallen into disuse.

2005-11-24T10:33:00.000-05:00

Well, whattaya know: I have a toe disorder! In fact, everyone in my family pretty much has this. And I even have the problem with callus formation that the article refers to. Just damn!

2005-11-24T10:24:00.000-05:00

The fundies are out in force on Free Republic this Thanksgiving morning - way to start my day off right with a good laugh! There are threads with titles like "Is Homosexuality Genetic or an Evil Force that Plays Mind Games with People?" and "Investigating the 'death metal' murders". Happy Thanksgiving, all!

2005-11-21T08:36:00.000-05:00

Alex and I found a house, so we're going to do a last-minute move before the baby comes, which should be interesting. It also means we'll have some internet downtime at some point around the first or second week of December while we move and get everything all set up.

We're excited about the house, although we're sad to leave this great intown neighborhood. But the new place will have tons more room for the three of us and all of mommy and daddy's hobbies as well. And even a yard. And we'll be close to family.

Poor Alex will have to do the majority of the work because since I'll be five weeks away from delivering, I'm going to be pretty much limited to putting things in boxes and taking them back out of boxes, but not lifting those boxes and certainly not lifting furniture.

I had an ultrasound last week and at 32 weeks Gus was measuring over a week and a half ahead - estimated weight was 5 pounds 10 ounces. A big, healthy boy. Other than that, I'm doing fine, I guess.

2005-11-20T21:05:00.000-05:00

One of the coolest guitarists ever, Link Wray, is dead at the age of 76.

More fun with the scanner

2005-11-16T16:10:00.000-05:00

... since I can't be arsed to write anything of substance.

In the photo below, taken somewhere around autumn 1968 or winter 1969, I am the toddler on the right. The woman in the middle is my mother, the boy on the left is my brother John, and the boy in the rear is my brother Gene.

In the following photo, taken summer 1970 at Fernandina Beach (Amelia Island), Florida, I'm the little sunburned kid in the right foreground. The adults are (clockwise from top) Uncle Neely, Aunt Kathy (both quite young, in their 20's), Grand-daddy Young, and my mother.

Cats and Dogs Laying Down Together!!

2005-11-16T10:07:00.000-05:00

2005-11-11T18:32:00.000-05:00

Alex and I are in North Carolina. Alex is without a job as of the middle of the week, so we figured we'd take a few days off and away from everyone and everything, including the little furries. We left the poodle with my parents.

I've developed a pain in my right side which has been getting steadily worse and is starting to drive me crazy. At first, about three weeks ago, I only got it if I laid on my right side. No problem - I quit laying on my right side, seeing as how we pregnant women are supposed to lay on our left sides anyway. Then, last week, the pain started happening when I was laying down in any position. It has made sleeping difficult, to say the least. I can generally sleep 2-3 hours before it gets bad enough to wake me up. Then I must get up and walk around a bit to rid myself of it before going back to bed and repeating the cycle.

Now, the pain is getting to where it's constant. It hurts, sometimes quite a lot, most of the time.

Pain on the right side is a symptom of HELLP syndrome, but I don't think that's what this is because it's more toward the back than in the front where my liver is.

Oh, well. Just thought I'd check in to gripe a bit. I'm so focused on being pregnant, and being in pain that I'm barely paying attention to current events. I sort of am, but I can't be bothered to think deeply enough about them to write about them on the blog. Perhaps if I find a way to get rid of this pain I will feel a bit more free.

2005-11-07T15:39:00.000-05:00

NOTE TO ALEX: I want two bottles of Jesus Juice. One to drink, and one to keep around as a conversation piece.

2005-11-07T07:20:00.000-05:00

FILE UNDER: Look At This Jerk

I saw this cartoon this morning and wondered what it was talking about. I consulted Google, and it turns out that some jerk is trying to ruin all storytelling art forms by making plot elements copyrightable. As far as I'm concerned, this should be the final nail in the coffin of "intellectual property" as a real-world concept. Treating "intellectual property" as property has been an unworkable proposition from the start, as "intellectual property" is basically just information and, by definition, is missing a key characteristics that is integral to the definition of "property" in pretty much every school of economic thought. It is not scarce - if you use someone's idea or watch a movie, the owner does not cease to have it. Information spreads spontaneously, no matter how tightly it is controlled. The problem of how people whose trade is information should ensure their ability to make a living is a difficult one, but I am convinced that the "intellectual property" doctrine is about as bad a solution as the human race could possibly have come up with. Far from protecting the struggling artist and inventor, it has saddled us with such abominations as digital rights management schemes that break the products they supposedly protect, government-condoned vigilantism by content-distributing companies, and distortion of copyright and other laws to suit those who can afford to do the lobbying. As it stands, the pendulum has swung too far in the direction of regulation - as it stands, copyrights and patents are tools more for abuse than for protection.

Here is the putative plot-patenter's website. I skimmed his "Legal Analysis" page and it's an impressive piece of sophistry: most of it is given over to listing what cases to cite in order to come out on top if your spurious patent is challenged, but toward the end he introduces the argument that, by patenting existing plotlines, he's really trying to save Hollywood from itself, claiming that "Hollywood has been failing. Hackneyed plots are commonplace in modern movies and creativity has been replaced by expensive “special effects.”". He also makes the even more fascinating claim that "Storylines are not expressions of anything. A storyline is not conducive, in and of itself, to copyright protection." I'll have to run that one by my novelist friends.

2005-11-05T07:56:00.000-05:00

Go stuff yourself, Kofi. So you and your pet third-world tinpot dictators want more control of the Internet? Here's a novel idea: build your own.

2005-11-04T10:21:00.000-05:00

Today's "Religion of Peace" Moment

Just so that we don't forget what sort of people we're dealing with. (link via Samizdata, down in the ocmments somewhere)

2005-11-02T16:52:00.000-05:00

Bloggers often post about the funny search terms that lead people to their blogs. Ours here at the : frustrated : artist haven't been all that amusing as of late, but I did get a good one this afternoon via Google:

"how to win an argument with yoru [sic] wife over smoking pot"

When have I or Alex ever addressed anything like this? It's a mystery to me. But I sincerely hope the Canadian who typed these words into Google's search found his answers. Perhaps "You cannot win an argument with yoru wife over anything"?

2005-11-02T10:19:00.000-05:00

PLEASE GOD, MAKE IT SO!

Via LGF: apparently, some in the moonbat left want Mother Sheehan to run for office - to challenge Hillary Clinton for Senator in New York in '06, or perhaps even for President in '08. Would that make the '08 Presidential primaries entertaining or what? Run, Cindy, run!

2005-11-01T13:33:00.000-05:00

FILE UNDER: Fundies Want You To Die

I am livid - this is the sickest M-F thing I have seen in some time. Social conservatives, including some doctors, would rather have more people get cancer than do anything that might make premarital sex less dangerous. Anyone who's seen Serenity will, of course, see an obvious (if kind of inverted) parallel. This goes beyond confusing means and goals in my opinion; if anything is, this is just plain evil. Yet another reason why I root for neither side in our current political paradigm.

(via Instapundit)

2005-10-31T12:15:00.000-05:00

It didn't take long, so here we go:

From the Decision '08 Blog: Top 10 Kos Kidz Reactions to the Alito Nomination! It's all here, including the obligatory Karl Rove Konspiracy Theories (see #'s 7 and 5.) Finally, someone the hard left is frightened of. In other words, someone I can get behind!

2005-10-31T11:03:00.000-05:00

Checking in ...

I'm much happier with W's new SCOTUS pick, the guy known jokingly as "Scalito." Any guy with that nickname is going to make me happy.

We had a lovely Samhain celebration Saturday night.

I'm now at 30 weeks in my pregnancy.

I have little else to say at the moment.

Our Boy at 30 Weeks

2005-10-26T15:12:00.000-04:00

The swoop across his face is an artifact of the umbilical cord. The tech was able to get most of it out, but not all.

2005-10-25T12:37:00.000-04:00

OK, so it wasn't a bomb. It was a toy and a cookie.

Darn it. I really liked my photo of the pesky Methodists. Just kidding. What a relief!

2005-10-24T19:00:00.000-04:00

Just 'cause I'm bored, physically uncomfortable and just a tad irritable, I thought I'd take this quiz that I found courtesy of Kelley:

You're Brigitte Bardot!

What Classic Pin-Up Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Oh yes, absolutely, over the years, many people have mistaken me for Brigitte Bardot. It's happened so often I've thought about changing my name to Brigitte, even though I hate that name! < /sarc >

Seriously though, I guess coming up with Brigitte reflects the fact that I am a bit more laid-back and earthy, especially in comparison to the other pin-ups on the list here, like Betty Page. I am even less Betty Page than I am Brigitte!

2005-10-21T22:34:00.000-04:00

Inquisitor is a very cool new search engine. Via the Modulator.

2005-10-21T12:20:00.000-04:00

Wow. We're now a Slithering Reptile in the TLB Blog Ecosystem. It's taken over a year to scrape and crawl our way back up Darwin's Ladder. Before the big crash of nicanfhilidh.net and my subsequent three-month blogging hiatus followed by a change of blog address, we were actually much higher up the pole, and had a larger readership, more linkage and a lot more commenters. I actually do not mind the slower pace of these latter days, but it's still difficult not to keep an eye on our little spot within the Ecosystem. We stayed in the Flippery Fish category for quite a while there.

2005-10-21T10:18:00.000-04:00

FILE UNDER: Weird Fixations On Trivial Matters

Yet another reason Glenn Reynolds rules: he, unlike a depressing majority of people on the Internet and elsewhere, spells "barbecue" correctly. "Barbeque" is wrong and incorrect and aesthetically abominable. I would rather that people just spell it "Bar-B-Q" if they're that determined to have a "Q" in there; at least that makes some sort of sense. The letter "Q" and the spoken name for the letter itself, "kew" / "cue", have NOTHING to do with each other in terms of how words are spelled. If you go by commonly-accepted rules of how letters work in English phonetics, "barbeque" is "bar' - beh - KWEE", and should be pronounced as such, at least until the offender is shamed into correcting their spelling. (Note that if you search for "barbeque" on Dictionary.com, you only get one result, it's from an obscure search engine that doesn't self-identify as a "dictionary" per se, it references the correct spelling repeatedly, and it's too embarrassed to even hazard a pronunciation.) This has been a pet peeve of mine for a long time, probably since even before I moved to the South and started having to deal with the word on a daily basis. I'm tempted to start spelling it "barbakew" just to spite everybody.

2005-10-21T09:22:00.000-04:00

I've turned commenting back on, now with word verification in hopes of cutting down on spam. Y'all have fun.

2005-10-20T23:55:00.000-04:00

Sympathy and healing vibey-ness to my sister-in-law Caroline, who is a senior at Florida State and who broke her ankle this morning. Ow, ow, ow, I know it hurts and I am so sorry! Please take care of yourself, dear!

2005-10-20T23:51:00.000-04:00

Michael Stipe celebrates his twentieth year of wearing Wellingtons. The girls of Go Fug Yourself don't know quite what to do with his outfit, but we who lived in Athens, Georgia in the 80's know exactly what's going on here.

2005-10-18T16:44:00.000-04:00

The Things People Worry About

On my pregnancy board there is a woman who plans to name her baby daughter Paige, which is a lovely name. But she's got one issue. When Paige is used in the possessive case, the result is something that sounds like "pages", as opposed to just a simple "s" sound, like with my name "Dorothy's" or, for instance, Kate = "Kate's". It never occurred to me to make such a distinction, but now that she's done it, I noticed that not only does the "es" sound occur with our son's nickname:

Gus' or Gus's = "gusses"

but it also occurs with Alex's name:

Alex's = "alexes"

So there you go: the things people worry about.

2005-10-18T13:45:00.000-04:00

Sorry for the relative silence. There's nothing much going on here, and there's nothing in the news that is moving me to comment, either.

Alex and I are preoccupied with mundane stuff ... like, where will we be living next spring? Here, in a nice neighborhood but an inconvenient distance from our families for the purposes of help with child care; or in a less-than-nice neighborhood that is more convenient to our families? That's actually kind of a dilemma, so maybe it's not so mundane. I will need to go back to work in some shape or form sometime next year, but we don't want Gus in a commercial daycare. In fact, I personally would rather gouge my eyes out with a fork than stick my child in daycare. So, we've got plenty of things to consider.

2005-10-13T12:31:00.000-04:00

Happy Ramadan, everyone.

2005-10-13T11:12:00.000-04:00

Those Wacky Minnesotans

Alex and I were on a cruise on Lake Minnetonka just last July, and it was nothing like this:

The excursion Thursday on two yachts owned by Al & Alma's Supper Club and Charter Cruises in Mound was organized by first-year Vikings safety Fred Smoot and possibly two other players, according to Stephen Doyle, the company's attorney.

[ ... ]

At least 90 people were on the two yachts. The boats were ordered to return to shore just 40 minutes into what had been planned as a 3½-hour cruise after supervisors learned of the alleged behavior.

The crew members, including one who was 18, were "petrified" for their safety, Doyle said.

"The behavior was terrible," he said. "Vikings were absolutely participating. This was not a passive event for them. It was outrageous."

[ ... ]

Doyle said behavior on the cruise included oral sex, masturbation and playing with sex toys.

2005-10-13T11:02:00.000-04:00

Things To Do at Wal-Mart

1. Get 24 boxes of condoms and randomly put them in peoples' carts when they aren't looking.

2. Set all the alarm clocks in Housewares to go off at 5-minute intervals.

3. Make a trail of tomato juice on the floor leading to the rest rooms.

4. Walk up to an employee and tell him/her in an official tone, 'Code 3' in housewares and see what happens.

5. Go the Service Desk and ask to put a bag of M&M's on lay away.

6. Move a 'CAUTION - WET FLOOR' sign to a carpeted area.

7. Set up a tent in the camping department and tell other shoppers you'll invite them in if they'll bring in pillows from the bedding department.

8. When a clerk asks if they can help you, begin to cry and ask 'Why can't you people just leave me alone?'

9. Look right into the security camera; use it as a mirror, & and pick your nose.

10. While handling guns in the hunting department, ask the clerk if he knows where the anti- depressants are.

11. Dart around the store suspiciously loudly humming the Mission Impossible theme.

12. In the auto department, practice your Madonna look using different size funnels.

13. Hide in a clothing rack; when people browse through, say PICK ME!

14. When an announcement comes over the loudspeaker, assume the fetal position and scream "NO! NO! It's those voices again!!!!

And; last, but not least!

15. Go into a fitting room and shut the door and wait a while; and then yell, very loudly, "There is no toilet paper in here!"

2005-10-11T12:30:00.000-04:00

File Under: Look At This Moron!

I have seen this sentiment expressed countless different ways by lefties, but this commenter on a Volokh Conspiracy post sums up the moonbat mindset in a handy, concise form that fits in your wallet or purse:

If one objectively, intelligently and dispassionately exasmines most issues, one of course and eventually comes -- no matter where one starts -- to what is characterized as a "liberal" position.

Isn't that comforting? You know that the left must be right, no matter how wacky they sound, because the left-wing position is the logical conclusion of any reasoned consideration of an issue. Therefore, expecting lefties to wait around for things like elections and data-based argumentation is a gratuitous waste of time that could and should be obviated by simply accepting the rightness of the left on faith! At least rignt-wingers have the courtesy to respect your intelligence by claiming that an invisible, unanswerable supernatural being is the source of their rightness - I find threats of divine retribution for heterodoxy easier to swallow than bald claims that the wackiest-sounding people are actually the smartest, just because.

Oh, and this same commenter nicely demonstrates another liberal tic further downthread: when questioned, the liberal, when flat-footed, will often appeal to his interlocutor's sense of humor as a last resort - as if, while lefties do get a warm glow of self-righteousness from their opinions, they're embarrassed nonetheless to actually be identified with them in public. Making an extreme statement, then trying to back out of it by claiming that you were kidding, or exaggerating for effect, is the human equivalent of submissive urination.

2005-10-10T20:01:00.000-04:00

I never liked the Smurfs anyway.

2005-10-10T08:50:00.000-04:00

I've disabled comments for now. Unfortunately this blog was discovered by spammers. After a bit I will turn them back on again.

2005-10-10T08:09:00.000-04:00

Over the past few days, since my post whining about how unready we are for this baby, we managed to make some small steps in the right direction. First, my mom took me to Gymboree and Target and bought us about $150 worth of baby clothes and other stuff like receiving blankets, which in addition to the small collection we already had means we're nearly prepared in the clothes department. (Unless the baby is supertiny in which case we won't be prepared because most of the stuff we got is sized 0-3.) And on Saturday Alex and I went to Ikea and got an inexpensive changing table and a few wooden storage cubes to keep the clothes and other things in. So now, aside from a diaper pail and some assorted accessory items, our changing area is set up and ready to go.

2005-10-10T00:08:00.000-04:00

Alex and I went shooting again today ... or should I say yesterday? Sunday. We didn't do too much - I shot about 40 rounds while Alex did closer to 60. I was having trouble remembering how to place my left hand on the gun and as a consequence I was tending to shoot low. I was aiming for the target's chest area, but mostly peppered its crotch with bullet holes instead. At least I was hitting the paper at all, although a few of my bullets missed wide enough to be embarrassing. Alex did great - it seems he has a natural talent for shooting. He was generally able to hit wherever he pointed the gun.

2005-10-06T15:00:00.000-04:00

Color me surprised in some ways, but not in others ... Former FBI head Louis Freeh is coming out with a book that dumps all over Bill Clinton. Some anecdotes from an upcoming "60 Minutes" appearance, via Drudge:

In the book, “My FBI,” he writes, “The problem was with Bill Clinton -- the scandals and the rumored scandals, the incubating ones and the dying ones never ended. Whatever moral compass the president was consulting was leading him in the wrong direction. His closets were full of skeletons just waiting to burst out.”

The director sought to distance himself from Clinton because of Whitewater, refusing a White House pass that would have enabled him to enter the building without signing in. This irked Clinton. “I wanted all my visits to be official,” says Freeh. “When I sent the pass back with a note, I had no idea it would antagonize the president,” he tells Wallace.

Returning the pass was only the start of the rift. Later, relations got so bad that President Clinton reportedly began referring to Freeh as “that F…ing Freeh.” Says Freeh, “I don’t know how they referred to me and I really didn’t care,” he says. “My role and my obligation was to conduct criminal investigations. He, unfortunately for the country and unfortunately for him, happened to be the subject of that investigation,” Freeh says.

In another revelation, Freeh says the former president let down the American people and the families of victims of the Khobar Towers terror attack in Saudi Arabia. After promising to bring to justice those responsible for the bombing that killed 19 and injured hundreds, Freeh says Clinton refused to personally ask Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah to allow the FBI to question bombing suspects the kingdom had in custody – the only way the bureau could secure the interviews, according to Freeh. Freeh writes in the book, “Bill Clinton raised the subject only to tell the crown prince that he understood the Saudis’ reluctance to cooperate and then he hit Abdullah up for a contribution to the Clinton Presidential Library.” Says Freeh, “That’s a fact that I am reporting.”

2005-10-06T07:29:00.000-04:00

The baby will be arriving in three months, more or less. (We're hoping for less, and less enough for him to qualify as a tax break for 2005, but if he doesn't, oh well.) Yesterday I was realizing we have almost nothing for him, and have done almost nothing to get ready for him. My aunt is having a shower for us, but it won't be until the second week of December, and with having to deal with the holidays that will leave us precious little time to shop to make up for what we don't get as gifts. And I must say I'm not digging the prospect of shopping for baby items in the middle of Christmas rush while I'm nine months pregnant. No, I'm not digging that idea at all. But apparently that is going to be my fate because I can't demand that the shower be held earlier, like before Thanksgiving. Family and friends will have to understand that every scrap of spare change will be going towards getting ready for this baby and that there won't be much Christmas from us this year.

Our house-hunting fell through, and we won't have a room to put the kid in once he's here. We have the spare room, which is filled with Alex's computer, musical equipment (which he has a lot of) and zillions of books. We will probably be able to clear a corner for baby stuff but I'm not sure how much work we want to do because we will be moving when the baby is about 3 months old. Even with this knowledge, a couple of people have asked repeatedly how the baby's room is coming along. Hello! We don't have a room, and even if we did, we're not wealthy enough to decorate it up into a swanky nursery! We cannot afford nice matching furniture, a glider, curtains and dust ruffles and bumpers. Gus will most likely be sleeping in a Pack 'n Play the first few months of his life, and his clothes will be stored in plastic bins from Target. He'll be a tiny infant - by the time he's old enough to know the difference, we will have all the necessary stuff including his own room.

The one thing I do have a small collection of is clothes. Fortunately, baby clothes can be had pretty cheap as long as you stick to places like Target, Wal-Mart and Old Navy instead of shopping at Gymboree or Baby Gap. Although speaking of Gymboree, my mother bought a pile of clothes from there for us, and she's taking me back this morning to pick out some more, so the boy will have a few more expensive items along with his discount specials. Again, he's not going to know the difference for a long time yet, but for me, Gymboree clothes are some of the most esthetically pleasing ("cutest") so I am looking forward to this.

2005-10-05T13:37:00.000-04:00

LOL on this post about the Miers appointment:

Conservatives wanted a first-rate legal and ideological gladiator to go do battle with liberals in the Senate. Instead, Bush gave them the Church Lady.

I was one of those who was hoping for an intellectual Constitutionalist heavyweight along the lines of Antonin Scalia. But I'm starting to see the political genius of the Miers appointment: in order for the Democrats to oppose this woman in any meaningful way, they may have to go after her religious faith. And doing that could very well make them look terrible in the eyes of the American public.

However, I'm hoping against hope that Miers doesn't turn out to be a Christian judicial activist. While a right-wing extremist would definitely help to restore the balance against the two left-wing extremists on the court, Breyer and Ginsburg, I don't think that's what the country needs. What the country needs is sanity, not more division.

2005-10-04T07:44:00.000-04:00

It's been a long time since I've noted anything from the loony left in academia, but this one is a doozy: “Marriage is a smoke screen to deflect public attention of governmental obligations such as providing jobs and fair wages.”

2005-10-03T21:14:00.000-04:00

I got a Hotsling for the baby. I wanted to see how it felt to wear it, and to practice folding and putting something in it, so I grabbed Blodeuwedd. She weighs about 8 - 10 pounds, in the newborn baby range. Popped her in there and she took to it immediately. If I want to see how my back and shoulders feel after carrying a 10-pound living creature around in the sling, Blodeuwedd is my model. She loves it in there. If I want to practice on something squirmy I suppose I can grab one of the cats.

I have many reasons for wanting to wear the baby. The main one is, current research suggests strongly that young babies who are carried a lot are happier and cry less. I'm more than happy to try anything that will give Alex and I a happy, less fussy baby. If it works, great! Another one is, supposedly if you get used to wearing the baby in a secure carrier, you can get housework and stuff done without having to wait until the baby is asleep. Another one is, if you're breastfeeding, it can be easier to do this out in public because the sling provides a good bit of privacy. And yet another one is, I really don't want to have to fool with one of those bulky, expensive travel system thingies when the baby is still too young to sit up (and therefore cannot ride in a smaller, more manageable stroller.)

Alex's mom thinks it's silly to even consider wearing the baby in a carrier because it will hurt my back, and of course she may be right. Or Gus may be one of those few babies who doesn't care to be held for long periods of time. But I won't deter easily. If the Hotsling hurts my back, there are many other different styles of slings and carriers to try. I'm already looking at a mei tai carrier for when he's a little older.

2005-10-03T19:16:00.000-04:00

There are lots of interesting news items, compiled from mostly local sources, on the Civilian Gun Self-Defense Blog.

2005-10-03T18:19:00.000-04:00

I got to see Serenity today. Alex took a day off from work so we could take the Jetta in for service, and we went to an early matinee. (Matinees now cost SEVEN BUCKS? This, people, is why I really don't like to go to the movies very often. Very few movies are worth the astronomical prices we have to pay to see them in the theatres. It's easy and cheaper to wait for the video/DVD release.)

So, anyway, I really liked it a lot. I pretty much think Alex hit the nail on the head with his review of last week; this is not only a great sci-fi movie but also an excellent film in the general sense. There is enough of that head-shaking suspension of disbelief going on to remind you that this is indeed sci-fi, but the story is so good, and the lead characters so well realized, that it doesn't matter. The characters are real people, not kitschy/saintly cardboard cutouts like in the Star Trek series or comic-book caricatures like in Star Wars. And best of all, the overall theme is anti-utopian anti-authoritarian and highly pro-individual - pointedly so. An excellent counterpoint to the usual mindless leftwing ignorance generally spouted by Hollywood.

2005-10-02T01:31:00.000-04:00

Oh yeah. People commit suicide by blowing themselves up at football games all the time. And the police have to clear the area after finding more explosives and then detonate those explosives, all the time. Happens every day here in Georgia.

Move along, nothing to see here.

2005-10-01T20:47:00.000-04:00

North Korean nationals and some of their sympathizers have discovered Team America: World Police. Surprise: they don't like it.

I'm so Ronery / So ronery / So ronery and sadry arone / There's no one / Just me onry / Sitting on my rittle throne / I work very hard to be number one guy / but, stiwr there's no one to right up my rife / Seems rike no one takes me serirousry / And so, I'm ronery / A rittle ronery / Poor rittle me

-Kim Jong Il

2005-09-29T11:31:00.000-04:00

Serenity Is A Damn Good Movie

I attended the special blogger preview of Serenity on Tuesday. There were surprisingly few attendees - either there aren't that many bloggers in Atlanta, or they don't read Instapundit, or they just don't care about summer blockbusters based on semi-obscure sci-fi TV shows. The other sneak preview taking place in the same theater, which was sponsored by a local radio station, was packed though.

Here, again, is the official synopsis:

Joss Whedon, the Oscar® - and Emmy - nominated writer/director responsible for the worldwide television phenomena of BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, ANGEL and FIREFLY, now applies his trademark compassion and wit to a small band of galactic outcasts 500 years in the future in his feature film directorial debut, Serenity. The film centers around Captain Malcolm Reynolds, a hardened veteran (on the losing side) of a galactic civil war, who now ekes out a living pulling off small crimes and transport-for-hire aboard his ship, Serenity. He leads a small, eclectic crew who are the closest thing he has left to family –squabbling, insubordinate and undyingly loyal.

Serenity stays very true to the look and feel of the Firefly TV series. The main characters are obviously the same people as they were on the series, and the locations and visual effects keep the same style, albeit with a bigger budget allowing for larger sets, more elaborate outer-space scenes, etc. (This made me realize that, in retrospect, you can tell that Firefly's budget, while good-sized, wasn't huge, but unlike a lot of sci-fi shows, they did a great job of not giving the viewer a reason to notice.)

Even without taking the underlying edifice of Firefly into consideration, Serenity stands on its own as a great adventure movie; I think my wife, my sister or anybody else who can appreciate action/adventure movies could walk into this movie and enjoy it. Even if you don't already know Mal, Jayne, Kaylee, etc. from the TV series, you can tell that the crew are a bunch of likeable, believable characters who generate a lot of energy and humor simply by talking to each other in a brutally honest fashion. When he's doing a mostly-serious show like Firefly/Serenity, Joss Whedon's dialogue is the equal of any I've ever heard.

The movie's universe is created such that one would have to be a moron not to be able to come up for exciting things to have happen in it (though the question of whether it's a galaxy or a single solar system that humanity has colonized remains without a definitive answer.) Good use is made of the political and factional tensions, and the central secret/plot point of the movie is excellent and especially satisfying for Firefly fans, as it clears up one of the minor mysteries of the series.

No complaints about the acting, directing or cinematography. I'm not as much of a student of matters specifically pertaining to filmed/staged drama, but everything fit together, as fas as I could see. There were no boring parts or parts that interrupted suspension of disbelief, there were no grating Jar Jars or scenery-chewing Anakins. Well, there's one slightly unbelievable minor character whose mannerisms are maybe a bit forced and who seems to exist only to make the climax possible, but it doesn't derail the movie or really even make it wobble, simply because everything else is so solid. Creating believable characters and eliciting believable execution appears to be another Joss Whedon strength. I especially like how none of the characters are gratuitous novelties - they're all on Serenity for a reason, and they also always have a nice range of divergent reactions to the situations they encounter without seeming like tokens. Likewise, the plot sucked me right in (even despite the problems noted below), the variations in pace and intensity were well-played and I was literally on the edge of my seat with my eyes bugged out and mouth open for the last quarter or so of the movie (not counting the denouement).

It's ironic, then, that the complaints I do have about the movie concern characters and believability. The main antagonist - whatsisname, the black guy with the katana, did he even have a name? - made a great villain and a great foil to Mal (Serenity's captain and the foremost protagonist), and a great focal point for the movie's undertone of anti-authoritarian social commentary to boot - but then, at the end, he drops it all in a fashion that I can't quite believe. Yeah, the moral and motivational algebra add up in the abstract, but all human behavior has an irrational component that inevitably creates a disconnect between a character's consciously embraced principles/priorities and his actions, and I just don't entirely believe, even though the climactic event would definitely have rocked the villain's world, that he would undergo an instant 180 like that.

Likewise, I was somehow disappointed by the explanation of why the Alliance was trying so hard to get River back in their possession. (River is the female lead, a young woman who acts kind of like Shakespeare's Ophelia if she had survived and also happened to be a martial-arts prodigy.) Again, I agree that the reason was a big deal, but it didn't really have much to do with River herself - indeed, it could have happened to anybody. If there was another reason they wanted River - alive, no less, which really doesn't make sense in the context of Serenity - I'm keen to have it explained to me.

Still, Serenity gets a B+ at the very least on an absolute movie scale (and it's hard for me to judge since I'm so head-over-heels for the TV show right now) and it's off the charts for sci-fi action movies. In the latter category, one comes to expect nonsensical characters, wooden acting and flimsy plots that really just exist to participate in the visual-effects sequences. That the only things I have to complain about are a couple of stretches of plausibility - and I always have those with sci-fi, from Star Trek to classic novels - convince me in my own mind that this is, yup, a damn good movie. More than one audience member was reduced to tears. In fact, it might become one of my all-time favorite movies, though I won't know that until I've seen it multiple times, and I do intend to post again later and comment on how it holds up on repeated viewings.

2005-09-26T07:00:00.000-04:00

Baron Bodissey discovers anarcho-primitivism and is not too impressed with what he sees. (Link via LGF.)

I first ran across these guys myself a couple of years back when I was looking for info on the Unabomber, who is one one of their big heroes. I am a wimp so I didn't care to wrap my head around the main thrust of their dream: for billions of people to die en masse so that human culture will essentially revert to the Stone Age. I suspect that some who may embrace ideas like this in theory will tend to avoid this central necessity, as well. But Baron Bodissey confronts it, unflinchingly.

2005-09-25T09:20:00.000-04:00

Hurricane stuff: the media, predictably, has been focusing on Galveston and Houston, where Hurricane Rita barely touched, and ignoring what appears to be very bad devastation in Lake Charles, Louisiana, where it did hit.

2005-09-24T17:08:00.000-04:00

I Get To See Serenity Before Most Of The Rest Of You

Alex here - I've been horribly busy and constantly exhausted lately, but this is big. The promoters for the forthcoming movie Serenity have decided to do something extremely cool - they're inviting bloggers to advance screenings in a few dozen cities and having them write advance reviews. I found out about it here and wasted no time in emailing them and asking for a spot in the Atlanta screening, and I just found out that I'm in! So, next Tuesday evening, I get to go see an extremely cool-looking movie based on a TV show I'm enjoying more than anything else I've seen on the SciFi channel since MST3K - for free and three days before the general public, no less.

Here's the synopsis of the movie:

Joss Whedon, the Oscar® - and Emmy - nominated writer/director responsible for the worldwide television phenomena of BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, ANGEL and FIREFLY, now applies his trademark compassion and wit to a small band of galactic outcasts 500 years in the future in his feature film directorial debut, Serenity. The film centers around Captain Malcolm Reynolds, a hardened veteran (on the losing side) of a galactic civil war, who now ekes out a living pulling off small crimes and transport-for-hire aboard his ship, Serenity. He leads a small, eclectic crew who are the closest thing he has left to family –squabbling, insubordinate and undyingly loyal.

From what I've seen of the TV show, I have very high expectations for this movie. The TV series, called "Firefly", lasted only one extremely underpromoted season on Fox, but much like such other underappreciated shows as "Family Guy" and (in other people's opinion, not mine) "Futurama", it has taken off big in DVD format.

I am about to pay "Firefly" the biggest compliment that I can pay a sci-fi show: it has yet to make me roll my eyes once. Every other sci-fi television show I've ever seen, no matter how nifty the world or advanced the visual effects, has not stood up as drama in my opinion. The characters are usually one-dimensional with telegraphed motives and patterns of behavior, and the plots wrap either wrap up neatly with everyone "learning a lesson" or set up future events so obviously you can see them coming a mile away. The dialogue in most science fiction shows, is clunky and the plots are merely setups for action sequences. None of the above applies to "Firefly" - all of the humor is intentional and the world and visuals draw you into the plot rather than distracting you from the plot and hoping you don't notice it. Having never seen "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" or "Angel", I don't feel qualified to comment on Joss Whedon's overall style, but "Firefly" seems to be doing what little scifi or fantasy does - it uses its fantastical elements to build better stories rather than ducking the responsiblity for creating a worthwhile story in the first place. Maybe I'm just not well-read enough to know where Whedon is copping the great material from for "Firefly" ~_^, but I'm enjoying the hell out of watching it and am eagerly looking forward to Serenity.

Here's one of the movie posters, with the title character streaking across the foreground:

2005-09-24T10:28:00.000-04:00

Here's a steaming pile of infuriating Marxist bullshit from where else? Some Eurotrash op-ed drone at the British Broadcasting Corporation. We complain about the "liberal media" here but even the likes of Aaron Brown at CNN haven't sunk as low as this idiocy. As commenter knoxgirl says on Ann Althouse's entry for this, "Some people just don't want to give up on the theory of capitalism as the root of all evil. It's a sophisticated point of view (if you're still in college)."

I especially love this passage:

Charity is part of the warp and weft of American life and it is telling that Hurricane Katrina has encouraged an outpouring of giving on a scale never seen before.

Americans are cross with the government and disappointed with the response from Washington, but they have not sat on their hands and waited for the government to sort itself out. Much the opposite.

Americans have given with unbridled enthusiasm and generosity.

Is that not something governments do?

Americans do not think so and never will.

This is unquestionably a source of strength and spine in troubled times, but boy does it put a dampener on revolution.

Charity ameliorates it, softens blows, pours oil on troubled waters. It does not lead to social change.

That's right, Eurodick. Leave it to nanny-stater, class-warfare-promoting idiots like this guy to put a negative spin on charity, that most precious, beautiful, and RARE side of human nature. We are a nation of giving, caring individuals, not of monolithic, robotic, money-gobbling-and-regurgitating bureaucracy. I'm sure it grieves this smug, superior Eton boy that a nation of individuals achieves far more, and quicker, than any of his pet authoritarian dictatorships.

2005-09-24T09:37:00.000-04:00

Last night, Alex and I took our class on handling and operating our pistol. The class was very reasonably priced and was sponsored by those < sarcasm>sick, twisted gun freaks< / sarcasm> at the National Rifle Association. As part of the class we were given ~~a load of disgusting pro-gun propaganda material~~ some excellent books and pamphlets describing safe pistol handling down to the most esoteric detail, which I have yet to read fully (but intend to, soon.) Since the class focuses on one type of pistol, Alex and I were the only participants, which was great because it was basically a private lesson on how to use our specific firearm.

Our instructor was a personable ex-military, ex-law enforcement gun-enthusiast type who obviously loves what he does. But he did not gloss over the dangers of irresponsible gun handling.

I was nervous about the shooting portion, which is understandable I guess because I had never fired a gun before, not even a BB gun. I had a difficult time loading the magazine the first time, because a) the magazine was new and the spring mechanism was stiff and b) it does require a bit of finger coordination. I was quivering as I took up shooting position. But surprise surprise, my first shot hit the center section of the target, not bullseye but very close, and this did wonders for my confidence. I shot about five rounds, and I'd guess close to ¾ of my shots hit the target, with the rest not so far off the target as to be embarrassing. None of them missed the paper altogether, to my knowledge.

Alex did even better, predictably, with nearly all of his shots hitting the target.

All in all, it was an enjoyable and enlightening experience and I feel much better equipped to handle my gun and to continue practicing shooting.

Some family members have said they consider the shooting a waste of money. But we have land in the country where we can shoot for free if we don't want to pay for shooting at a range, and even range shooting is pretty reasonably priced, generally like $10 an hour. The same family has no problem with us taking up golf, which is outrageously expensive with a round of golf starting at $30 and going up into the hundreds of dollars depending on the course you're playing. Nothing against golf (which I like, BTW) but I don't really get the objection!

2005-09-24T09:26:00.000-04:00

I just took this test, and the results surprised me a bit. I usually come out as straight Libertarian when I take these things, but this one has me as a Centrist, albeit a Centrist who is right on the line between Capitalist and Libertarian. I suppose that's widely correct; I do reject some of the more anti-government aspects of libertarianism and would prefer to see the Republican party return to its classical roots rather than splitting into two factions (the fundies and the true Republicans.) Here's my chart, with a link to the test itself if anyone is interested in taking it:

You are a
Social Moderate
(55% permissive)

and an...
Economic Conservative
(68% permissive)

You are best described as a:

Centrist

Link: The Politics Test on OkCupid Free Online Dating

2005-09-23T15:15:00.000-04:00

I don't know how many artists would agree with me on this one, but I don't think the government has any business in funding arts. (The federal government, that is. I believe state and local governments should be able to fund whatever their residents deem appropriate, including art.) And Antonin Scalia sums up the main reason why: "The only way to eliminate any government choice on what art is worthwhile, what art isn't worthwhile, is to get the government totally out of the business of funding." Full story here.

2005-09-22T22:43:00.000-04:00

Here's a fascinating, and sometimes heartbreaking website dealing with animal rescue in the city of New Orleans. Excellent original photography.

2005-09-22T11:31:00.000-04:00

I hadn't realized how quiet we at a : frustrated : artist have been lately. My apologies for that. We are actually very preoccupied with searching for a house. It looks like we could be moving before the baby is born, which would be a good thing because I really wasn't looking forward to a house search and a move with a two-to-three-month-old.

The most likely candidate area-wise for our move is northern Cobb County, possibly Kennesaw. Housing to suit our needs is less expensive up there, and it's near my parents and my brother's family as well as being near where Alex's mother works. It'd be a pretty easy work commute for Alex.

We've found a house that we like a lot. It's small, but it has everything we need: a room for us, a room for the baby, and space for me to have a small art studio and for Alex to have a small music studio. It's also got a medium-sized fenced backyard that backs up to a creek. The owners, who happen to be old school friends of my brother's, have put in new carpet and repainted in nice neutral colors, so we wouldn't have to worry about tearing out a bunch of tacky, busy wallpaper and carpet and doing a bunch of remodeling to get it fit to live in.

The neighborhood isn't what you'd call glamorous, but it's solidly middle-class and there are lots of children, which I'm happy about. One small downside is that there are no neighborhood covenants, which means that one house will be attractive and well-kept while the next will have junk and trash in the yard. There's also some eccentric stuff like people putting their patios and grills in the front yard instead of the back when they have huge backyards with decks. All that doesn't bother me too much as long as the neighborhood is safe, which it seems to be with all the kids outside playing, people walking their dogs and jogging, etc.

So, send 'good luck' vibes to us that this one works out or that if it doesn't, we find something as good or better in a timely manner!

2005-09-18T11:17:00.000-04:00

Count this American as pro-semicolonic. However, I am not a "real" writer. I suspect that my position on these matters is totally irrelevent.

2005-09-15T12:25:00.000-04:00

For Your Information

Baby Augustin is kicking ... and kicking ... and kicking. I have only just started to feel him regularly and unmistakably after weeks of the occasional twitch or poke. But now it's like he's Jackie Chan all the time. When does the kid sleep? What's it going to feel like in 10 - 12 weeks when he's getting close to term size? Youch.