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Things you need to know:
  • Some posts, or the links they contain, are NSFW. This is your only warning.
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Saturday, October 30, 2004

Chabon Falls For Snow
Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Michael Chabon will write Snow and the Seven, a martial-arts retelling of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, for Walt Disney Pictures, Variety reported. Yuen Wo Ping, the choreographer of groundbreaking action films The Matrix and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, will direct the live-action movie.
Wouldn't you?

Actually, pining for my old dog.Posted by Hello

One item I came across during my last visit home was my old Iomega Pocket Zip drive and a couple of disks. I downloaded and reinstalled the software and got it running in pretty short order (I'm starting to really like this XP thing). Anyway, I pop in the disk I have, and found pictures that I thought I had lost, a bunch of which were of my ex-girlfriend's dog which we practically raised together. She (the dog) was the smartest, cutest mini-dachshund you'll ever see. It's no exaggeration to say I miss the dog more than I miss the ex.

Thanks to some help from FATHER FRO, I about doubled the value of my computer in the space of an hour with some choice programs including the one I used to conceal his identity, a great archive extraction program, and something to take audio tracks from concert DVDs that I have/will have. Posted by Hello

And, before you ask, no, he didn't "hear my confession," give me any "blessings," or request me to do anything behind the altar involving Communion wine or anything else in exchange.

Friday, October 29, 2004

Situation Report from Oz
by James Warner

When will we ever learn?
It's amazing what a vintage coat and a borrowed wig can do, eh?


Daaamn right Posted by Hello

Hope you enjoyed my first experiment with Hello from Picasa.

Thursday, October 28, 2004

File under: counseling/mental health
(i.e. the old career)


Cornell West: The Legacy of Derrida

The Tavis Smiley Show, October 20, 2004 · Commentator Cornel West reviews the work of the late French philosopher and father of deconstructionism, Jacques Derrida.
In honor of it's cancellation...


Which Talk Soup host are you?
I got my new toy during the visit with my parents, which went exceedingly well. This was their way of "burying the hatchet," so to speak.

Pictures will be forthcoming, i.e. I'll get around to it sometime in between my sampling of all the WiFi hotspots in A-Town.

Tuesday, October 26, 2004

A couple of days ago, E and I have been joking about her recent Mira Nair kick. I have to say, her films seem more personal than many other filmmaker's. Anyway, my joke was that for all the beauty and depth of her films, she still takes an international backseat to John Woo, a male director who peddles in beautifully choreographed near-pornographic violence who pretty much beats the same theme to death with the same bunch of symbols he pulls out of his worn-out bag of tricks. In his films, you're guaranteed to see at least one, but usually two or three, of the following (except I can't speak for Windtalkers -- I've been throroughly discouraged from seeing it by too many people)
  • A face-to-face standoff involving weapons.
  • People using two weapons, double-fisted.
  • At least one "bad-@$$" in a black suit, black tie and a white shirt.
  • In any of his films with firearms (i.e. 99.9% of them), you will always see: an automatic pistol, a revolver, a shotgun, and a sub-machine gun.
  • More bullets than the entire run of TV's The A-Team.
  • A flock of randomly-placed doves, usually before the final, bloody climax of the movie.
  • A shot of a church, with a close-up of a Crucifix and/or the Virgin Mary.
Remember, it's a joke. Please don't hurt me! That being said, though, I'm definitely coming back to A-Town from my parents' with my copies of Hard Boiled, The Killer, and A Better Tomorrow.

Going back to topic, every time I walk through either of the video stores in A-Town, I always happen upon the movie Vampire Effect (originally, Twins Effect), which if you know nothing about it, would look like one of those hokey kung-fu zombie type movies. It boasts "a special appearance by Jackie Chan" which, in kung-fu movie terms usually means "a fight sequence with Jackie Chan that has nothing whatsoever to do with the main plot and characters of the story." Plus, seeing that the fight choreography was done by Donnie Yen didn't help, either. I always thought the fight scenes from Highlander: Endgame were too inconsistent and Blade 2 was just silly.

Anyway, out I chanced upon Donnie Yen's website today (that is, I typed out http://www.donnieyen.com and hit "enter"), and saw that he not only won an award in China for his work on Twins Effect, but its sequel is about to premiere. In this sequel, Cory Yuen choreographs a fight between Donnie Yen and Jackie Chan. Did I mention this sequel also stars Tony Leung Kar-Fai? I have to see this movie, now.

Not only that -- Donnie's website and Kung Fu Cinema say Donnie's doing a new film:
Tsui Hark taps Donnie Yen for 'Seven Swordsmen'

Donnie Yen is set to replace leading man Song Seung-heon in Tsui Hark's Seven Swordsmen Leave Mt. Heaven after the Korean actor quit as a result of being tied up with other projects. Donnie, who is currently in the United States to promote Miramax's release of Hero, was recently in Hong Kong shooting Sha Po Lang as action director and leading man with co-stars Simon Yam, Sammo Hung and Wu Jing.

Seven Swordsmen is the first of six installments in Seven Swords of Mt. Tien, an epic wuxia pien scripted, produced and directed by Tsui Hark. As if that weren't enough, Tsui is also overseeing a 74-episode dramatic television series with the same name to be run parallel with the feature films. The TV series is budgeted at US$10 million while the first film is estimated at US$12 million.

In Seven Swordsmen, Donnie will be joined by Kill Bill star Gordon Liu Chia-hui who will reportedly play a major villain. Other main cast members include Canto-pop and Hong Kong film star Leon Lai (The Heroic Duo), Hong Kong actress Charlie Yeung Choi-nei (New Police Story) Mainland Chinese actresses Zhang Jing-ru and Wang Li-kun, and Mainland actors Sun Honglei (The Road Home) and Lu Yi.
Tsui Hark, Sammo HUng, and Gordon Liu. I'd see this film if it had only these three in it. Anyway, maybe now E and I won't have to fight between Mira Nair and John Woo movies for a little while.

Monday, October 25, 2004

I contend it's easier to spot Kerry's "flip-flopping" because it's not spread out over four years like someone else's. Here are some examples, all in one place (thanks to Chicken Soup for the Vegan Soul).
Well, it's not really all that bad of a Monday, but it's a great song. Anyway...

ITEM ONE
I've been slowly taking E on a video journey through the Blackadder series. All that's left is the second half of the first season and the whole of Blackadder Goes Fourth.

I used to have my favorite Blackadder quote in my email signatures in college.
I, on the other hand, am a fully-rounded human being, with a degree from the University of Life, a diploma from the School of Hard Knocks, and three gold stars from the Kindergarten of Getting the Shit Kicked Out of Me.
ITEM TWO
I've got two days off in a row at the Diamond Mines this week. E and I are looking to pop up to see my parents for a night. I think it'll be good to get E acclimated before spending a fair amount of time there during Thanksgiving.

ITEM THREE
There is NO... Item Three.

ITEM FOUR
Just like a McSweeney's piece (since it's written by a frequent contributer)...

Excerpts From My Unsuccessful Audition for VH-1's I Love The 80s
By John Moe

While you're there, you might as well check out this link, too.

ITEM FIVE
If these rumors about the next Superman movie are true, I'd be interested.
More indie publication:
Pindeldyboz
That is, Pin' dl dë bôz.

Friday, October 22, 2004

Six more signs until the Apocalypse, that is.
Hooters coming to communist China

Chain known for wings and waitresses with next to no clothing set to open in Shanghai.
October 22, 2004: 3:13 PM EDT

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - In the clearest signal to date that China has made the leap from emerging economy to a global powerhouse, Hooters will open its first location in the communist country next week, a spokesman for the company confirmed Friday.
What's next? Unrestricted blogspot.com access?
[File under: martial arts]

Montage of Pencak Silat Mande Muda techniques

Note to self: Even though the techniques displayed represent the epitomy of why E doesn't appreciate South East Asian martial arts, check out the second sequence. Even though operator is on the ground, his foot sweep resembles path a crescent kick would travel. Enough reason to keep working on crescent kicks? Maybe. Maybe not.

Thursday, October 21, 2004

I didn't rig it, I swear...

blackadder
Lord Blackadder


What smashing Blackadder character are you?
brought to you by Quizilla
I wanna hear another rendition of Lucy.
Shatner Sings. Again.

Original Star Trek star William Shatner, who was ridiculed for his 1968 spoken-word album, will release a new 11-song CD of music this month, the Associated Press reported. Timed for Halloween, Shatner told the wire service that the release is no trick. "It's a treat for me," Shatner, 73, said by telephone from Los Angeles, where he was taping an episode of Boston Legal, his latest TV show. "I hope nobody turns a trick on it."
To think he's all of 3 years younger than my freakin' Dad.
It's not everyday you come too close to a martial arts grandmaster. Every martial arts practitioner in A-Town knows that A-Town is Bando turf and that the North American grandmaster for the art lives here. Every time he passes through the Diamond Mines, I feel compelled to keep my distance, lest I inadvertently do something that would cause a kukrhi to slip over my throat region. Or, even that cane he always carries around wtih him.

I've gotten into a bad habit working with boxes. After I empty them, I turn them over to break them down. If they're glued down, I practice a downward Cimande strike (Trying to finesse the technique, not work on strength. I mean, it's only cardboard.) and if they're taped shut, I hold a knife in an icepick grip, stab and "gut" the box, then Cimande it down.

I did the latter and turned around to find myself being observed (at least that's how it seemed) by said Bando grandmaster a second before he turned and walked off. I thought for sure I was going to get my @$$ kicked for showing off, or at least get laughed at derisively.

Now, it's probably nothing and I'm just being paranoid. He probably didn't even really notice me at all. But still, if you see the posts completely stop, I'll bet the explanation probably involves a kukrhi.

Monday, October 18, 2004

Christmas is going to be about three weeks early this year -- on the weekend of December 4th and 5th.
Monkey Disaster

The weblog of John Moe, author of, among other things, many McSweeney's pieces.

And, while I'm on the subject, I think I'm going to quit adding blogs of total strangers to the sidebar. Those can go to "self-restraint" now. I may delete them from the sidebar altogether, who knows?
E feels I was ripped off when I bought Created in Darkness, as very soon I could theoretically have the resorces to download all of McSweeney's and therefore have about 95% of the publication for free. But hey, I like the printed word - most times. Anyway, I came across this gem which is also, lo and behold, online...
Unused Audio Commentary by Howard Zinn and Noam Chomsky, Recorded Summer 2002, for the Fellowship of the Ring (Platinum Series Extended Edition) DVD, Part One

Unused Audio Commentary by Howard Zinn and Noam Chomsky, Recorded Summer 2002, for the Fellowship of the Ring (Platinum Series Extended Edition) DVD, Part Two

Both by Jeff Alexander and Tom Bissell
Because, reading IS fundamental.

Sunday, October 17, 2004

Hoo ha. Oh, it wasn't a bad road trip yesterday up to C-Town to see a Tibetan rinpoche speak. Overall. Remember that scene in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones when Jango Fett is chasing Obi-Wan Kenobi in the asteroid belt and Obi Wan exclaims, "Blast, this is why I HATE flying!"?

Well, I know how he feels, especially when it comes to road trips. It really wasn't that bad a trip, except for a side trip that E and I probably shouldn't have taken. You can blame me, though -- it was really my idea. Once again, boned for trying to be nice. No good deed really does go unpunished, does it? Sheesh.

And, that's all I'm gonna say about it.
Yeah, sign me up because I got to see not one, but two speakers on intellectual and spiritual topics this past week. In the first, as part of a lecture series at the University, I saw NPR's Juan Williams discussing his works on Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall and his impact on race relations 50 years after the Brown decision. Aside from Williams's message -- an exhortation to people to seize their moment in history -- it made me appreciate just what it is a biographer does.

Until I met Ms. M.F.A.-in-Film E, I labored under the common misconception that a (film) documentarian is basically an impartial observer of some subject. Really, like any other artist, a documentarian has a (let's use the term loosely) "truth," or an idea, to be conveyed. I've since come to realize that you could apply that definition to a biographer, and that's what impressed me most about that talk.

Yesterday, I saw part of a session conducted by a genuine Tibetan rinpoche (and his translator). The lesson was on the Heart Sutra, a translation and commentary on the text. It was quite fascinating to me watching the obvious degree of thought and scholarship that went into the examination of the text in a way that's quite similar to the way Bibilical text is deconstructed.
Over the weekend, I was in Columbus with E -- see below. Or rater, above, since I'll be posting about that next. Anyway, to counter the deepening depression of getting halfway through the stories of The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2004, I broke down and bought Created in Darkness by Troubled Americans: The Best of McSweeney's Humor Category. Most of it is from the McSweeney's website, which should theoretically tick me off. But, I'm not. I'm glad I got it.

I'd love to go and take my usual liberties with copyright/fair use laws, but instead, I'll just direct you to various funny stuff where I can. For instance, we've all played the Name Game, right? Here are some more versions.
The Name Game
By Stephany Aulenback and Sean Carman
"Beckie Benton." How does that grab ya?
I can almost taste it.

Thursday, October 14, 2004


Pre-Hyptnotized Peter


What Office Space character are you?
brought to you by Quizilla
ITEM ONE
Among the mp3s I realized are pretty much lost for good and/or would take me too much time and effort to find again:
  • A live recorded version of Resurrection Blues by Cassandra Wilson that she posted on her website a long time ago. It was a one-time thing, and it's long since gone.
  • The following Wesley Willis tunes: I Whupped Batman's Ass, I Whupped Superman's Ass, and Birdman Kicked My Ass. How many blog entries did I use to analyze these contradictions?
  • The Cantonese version of the theme song to Once Upon a Time in China.
I came across this realization trying to compile the last straggling bits of data I culled from my deceased computer and burn them all onto a single CD-RW. Note how I did not include all my mp3s from A&E's Chicago - Live by Request. I'm getting that puppy on DVD eventually.

Ah, what I'd give for a laptop with a CD burner. Although, that may be coming soon. I'll believe it when I'm posting the entry about it from said item.

ITEM TWO
I'm feeling a little better now, although my energy level is still quite low. E, on the other hand, seems to be on a roller coaster ride of symptoms. Now that I think about it, I remember a semester during my last grad school attempt where I was sick for 95% of it. It wasn't pretty, but I still got the As.

What sucks is that I've got things to do, and I don't know how much I'm going to get done. One thing is for certain, however. Come hell or high water, I'm going to the Juan Williams lecture tonight. He's a fine author and a great journalist, and I'd like to hear what he has to say. But as a radio personality... shoot, he makes Terry Gross seem like Sam Kinison.

ITEM THREE
Note to self: get some dit da jow.

ITEM FOUR
My weekend plans to challenge, to see whose kung fu is superior, hear Bardor Tulku Rinpoche speak might be put on the kibosh, especially if E and I aren't feeling any better. It's all we can do to get around A-Town, nevermind trudging up to Columbus.
That is to say, one of the authors of Cooking to Hook Up. AM has that whole bon vivant thing going with her life -- the kind of life I would like if I had more cash -- and she likes Fran Lebowitz, too. So, I'm guessing the book's bound to be good.

It's basically a cookbook with an agenda, just like the title suggests. There's a quiz on the book's website, one for girls (to see which of the profiles they might fit into) and one for the guys (to see which of the profiles a prospective date would fit into) that'll help you focus best on how to use the information presented in the book.

For kicks and giggles, I took it. It didn't tell me much about E that I didn't already know :).


Monday, October 11, 2004

(or, "Drug-Fueled Ramblings")

This weekend, E and I are going to up to Columbus to see friends and check out this lecture from a genuine Tibetan Buddhist monk. In the middle of it, I plan to run up the aisle leading up the the stage doing backflips and such and pit my Wudan kung fu against his Shaolin fist to see which is superior!

Speaking of disrupting lectures, I plan to go see NPR's Juan Williams who's speaking (for free) on Thursday night. If there's a Q&A session, I'm going to ask him what he was thinking destroying my favorite show (Talk of the Nation) while he was on it, and what exactly the previous host had that enabled him to control the guests that Juan doesn't.

I gotta head to the diamond mines.
...and he'll come back.
Christopher Reeve, Actor in `Superman' Movies, Dies (Update3)

Oct. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Christopher Reeve, known for his role as ``Superman'' in movies and later as an advocate for spinal cord research after a horse-riding accident left him paralyzed nine years ago, died yesterday of heart failure. He was 52.
I hear about this today, not too long after being reminded of Kevin Smith's involvement in the deBACKle that was Superman Lives, as described on the DVD An Evening With Kevin Smith. A sad start to a potentially crappy day.

Friday, October 08, 2004

[Ed. note - I redid this here post as I've found, once again, that just because something looks right on MSIE doesn't mean it looks right on Mozilla or IE for Mac.]

I was wandering around uptown today because, dammit, it's too nice to be inside -- even though I'm sick as a dog right now. It didn't hit me until yesterday.

In any case, I had one of those "You Must Enter Here" moments as I walked past one of the bookstores. The first two things I saw upon entering were:

The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2004
edited by Dave Eggers

This is the third collection in this series. I have the first two from years past so there was a precedent for purchasing this one. I liked the first two, the first one a bit more than the second. I had already planned to buy the third one, knowing but temporarily forgetting, that they have traditionally been released in October. Plus, this year's introduction was written by Viggo Mortensen. Yes, that Viggo Mortensen. I had no idea he was a recognized writer, as well. Now, that's a bad @$$ -- an actor with a vocabulary.

I leaned over to pick up the book when I saw, laying next to it,

Created in Darkness by Troubled Americans: The Best of McSweeney's, Humor Category
edited by Eggers, et al.

The first time I picked up this book was when E and I were in Ithaca, and I remembered laughing out loud several times. You know what a McSweeney's whore I am to begin with. Now, I could have 200+ pages of it without needing internet access.

Sure, I could've had both but I was just bragging yesterday how much money I've been able to scrape together and shove into my savings account. It seemed wrong to blow the amount of this week's savings on a single frivolous purchase, so I compromised. I bought the former and placed the latter on my Amazon wish list -- hint, hint!
Well, the person who sent me Mike Nelson's Movie Megacheese wrote me back and had this to say...
So did you receive your "megacheese" book? If you don't have it w/in a week, let me know so I can tear amazon.com a new @$$hole!

[Name Deleted]

PS, Don't worry, I'm not a creepy stalker. And the answer to your question is:
a) what's it to you, you're getting free stuff!
b) this is not some random thing.

Enjoy your book!
I sent this person an email from the email account I associate with this blog. The address is this blog's title. Therefore, he or she may have a valid point with this follow-up email...
Your email address sounds like an ad for "cum starved sluts" or something.
Tasty.

Thursday, October 07, 2004

How's this for screwed up?

DisorderRating
Paranoid:Moderate
Schizoid:Low
Schizotypal:High
Antisocial:High
Borderline:Moderate
Histrionic:High
Narcissistic:High
Avoidant:High
Dependent:High
Obsessive-Compulsive:Moderate

-- Personality Disorder Test - Take It! --
Now, where's that uzi?
This probably won't surprise people, least of all E. In fact, it made her feel slightly nauseous. But my first ever DVD purchase was an episode of PBS's Soundstage featuring, you guessed it, Chicago! They had it at the Wally World, of all places. Now, I don't feel so bad about my laptop finally dying -- yes, it's truly dead, Jim -- and losing all the mp3s from their Live By Request show. That's available on DVD as well, and it's on my Amazon list -- hint, hint!

Anyway, I wasn't impressed on my first viewing of it. But I suspected it was due to the fact that I was listening on a mono TV and that being recorded in Dolby 5.1 made it worse. There were points when things like background vocals would drown out the lead guitar, for example. So, I took it to a school computer, which are now all equipped with DVD players and stereo sound. It looked and sounded much, much better. And, this morning, I experimented with using the option of playing it back with Dolby 2.0 -- it also sounded better.

Now, how to lift the soundtrack -- um, for my own personal use you music industry leeches. I paid for it, and now I want it in the format I want it in!

Tuesday, October 05, 2004

It was pretty much inexcuseable behavior. Nevermind the many social, psychological, ethical and religious creeds I violated. It was a response that was entirely inappropriate for the situation.

I was slowing down at a traffic light when I noticed some young people trying to pull out of a driveway adjacent to the light. I had a Good Samaritan Moment and layed back to give the people room. I was slightly disappointed when I saw that these people blocked me in order to allow others, presumably as part of a caravan, out into the street. Hey, I could live with that, right? Then, the light turned green.

I went from zero to furious in two seconds flat.

I didn't realize that the windows were all down, but didn't care once I did. I let loose a torrent of blasphemous obscenity that would have been fire and brimstone if I had that sort of divine power. I saw and heard the people now two cars in front of me (where there were none before) turn and utter something but I couldn't hear it above my own screaming. It could have been apologies, or raucous laughter at my expense -- I'll never know. I'm sure I looked and sounded like the sort of person who was about to pull out an uzi and start spraying like my Dad's old lawn sprinkler. The one that would spray back and forth at 45 degree angles.

*Brrap Brrap Brrap Brrap Brrap... Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrap*

Looking back, I reveled in it. I reveled in it because I was in the right. The people in front of me were rude and inconsiderate for abusing my kindness. I was the only car on the street at that moment. They knew what they were about to do and could have waved me through if they wanted to stay together. They almost couldn't get that second car out. The car in front was trying to back up to give them room. I stayed where the f**k I was -- for a moment. Then, I pulled back. The little b@$tards probably didn't get the "Yes, for the second time I've allowed you to inconvenience me" message. A third car was thinking about getting out, but I shut that sh!+ down and pulled right in front of them.

But I re digress.

The real victim in this story was E, who had the misfortune to sit in the car next to me. Not only was she exposed to the negative energy I was generating, she had to experience my rebuff of her attempts to point out, in a logical manner, that my reaction was completely disproportionate given the actual 2 to 3 minute length of my inconvenience.

She left the car and slammed the door when my retort was "It's the principle!"

But the issue wasn't the principle. The issue was my feeling of "righteous anger." It's a side-effect of my upbringing and life experience. Of all the times I was, in fact, wrong and received more-than-stern consequences. Where people took advantage of the fact that I was wrong, not to teach me a lesson, but simply because they could. They had the mental and/or physical wherewithal to do so.

I didn't always have the mental and physical wherewithal I do now. I was always the kid who would walk into a burn (Yeah, I've got Prince Albert in a can. So?) I had no ability to retaliate in any form. But, I've grown up and I'll tell you, there's something that feels good about knowing that you now have the power to decide that you choose just how much crap you're willing to take. Almost makes you feel like God knowing you can decide to forgive someone or try to take your pound of flesh, with no more consideration than which side of the bed you happened to get up from that morning. No consideration of the mistakes I once made. No consideration of the fact that maybe there was a need for them to make a slight imposition on my time. Just the focus on my abused kindness, my lost time, and my righteous anger.

I need to accept that part of me that says "Screw 'em." I need to accept the part that only regrets one thing about the incident, namely that it upset E. And, then I need to bury them because thoughts like those and things like compassion and mercy can't exist side by side. I was in the right to have A reaction. I was wrong to overreact. I could leave it at that, but there's something more. The response of the type of person that I really want to be would be to set aside my right to be right and allow the 1.5 seconds of inconvenience. I might've felt better about making the lives of at least three carloads of people easier than I felt (and, it felt good at the moment) about spewing bile.
His version of The Punisher was definitive. Now, he gets screwed over again:
Woo Takes On He-Man

John Woo (Paycheck) is set to produce and direct He-Man, a new live-action film based on Mattel's Masters of the Universe toys and the animated series they inspired, Variety reported. Adam Rifkin (Small Soldiers) will adapt the screenplay.

The Fox 2000 film will be the second featuring the character of He-Man. Dolph Lundgren starred as the half-human, half-Eternian warrior in the 1987 film Masters of the Universe, which also featured Frank Langella as He-Man's evil nemesis, Skeletor. The cast has not yet been announced for the upcoming film.
That's just not right.
...of that shower, that is. From the San Francisco Chronicle:
'Psycho' star was in film 50 years

Ruthe Stein, Chronicle Senior Movie Writer

Janet Leigh, whose face-contorting scream in "Psycho" became as famous as the Munch painting but who was known in real life for her great smile, a manifestation of her indomitable spirit, died Sunday at her Beverly Hills home. She was 77.
Imagine not taking a shower -- only baths -- for 40 years because of all that mess.
Someone sent me a copy of Mike Nelson's Movie Megacheese off of my Amazon wish list. There was an email on the order that I didn't recognize. I emailed that person just now from one of my "more or less anonymous" accounts. Anyway, I'll get to reading it today. Thank you, whoever you are.

Monday, October 04, 2004

A friend I work with at the diamond mines taped last week's Presidential Debate and burned it onto a CD-R as one big .avi file. Consequently, the soundtrack is a little off. It's almost like a bad kung fu movie. I had to turn the video off and just listen. What do I need to look at either of their mugs for, anyway?

I almost didn't bother with it at all after reading this commentary from the Tavis Smiley Show:
Connie Rice: Top 10 Secrets They Don't Want You to Know About the Debates

The Tavis Smiley Show, September 29, 2004 · After weeks of political wrangling, Sen. John Kerry and President Bush will square off for the first of three key presidential debates. Both camps have agreed to an elaborate, 32-page contract that spells out everything from the size of the dressing rooms to permitted camera angles.
Of particular interest...
(7.) The secretly negotiated debate contract bars Kerry and Bush from any and all other debates for the entire campaign.

"Under what I call the Debate Suppression and Monopolization Clause of the contract, it is illegal for the candidates to debate each other anywhere else during the campaign," Rice says. "We need a new criminal law for reckless endangerment of democracy."
I made it all the way through the thing, but my mind tended to close itself down (probably for the sake of mental self-preservation). I'll need to give it another once over, but my impressions so far about each candidate's points...
  • Yes, there in fact is a coalition in Iraq. But, who cares when we're 90% of it and that we're
    suffering 90% of the cost?
  • There's no way Bush can look the American people in the eye and say, "I did everything I could, first, before going to war.
  • Dubya -- if you want to convince who have more brain cells than you about Kerry's flip-flopping, you're going to have to do more than repeat the phrase "He changes his position."
  • Sorry, Johnny -- Dubya harping on your flip-flopping resonates with people for a reason. You've got to come up with something better than "No, I don't."