Short little Quicktime of the humongous line in Ginza, Japan waiting for the nation's first Apple Store to open. Cripes.
« November 2003 | Main | January 2004 »
December 24, 2003
You are now 1,000,000 in line. Expected wait time: Who Knows?
Some Beatles Links
Don't ask me why, but I went on a Beatles bender the other day and found some great links.
The first is Alan W. Pollack's Notes On series, in which every Beatles song has been pulled apart and examined from the view of a music academic. Far from dry (well, okay, some of the stuff is pretty dry, and it helps to know music), Pollack's analysis makes some connections--mostly between the early songs and the later--that haven't been pointed out before.
For an even more in-depth analysis, Ian Hammond makes a pretty convincing argument that Revolution 9 is actually a coherent and structured piece and not just John Lennon assing about with magnetic tape. Even if you don't agree, Mr. Hammond has bloody good ears--he has uncovered several layers of sound and things to look out for (a carnival barker calling our "thirty!" not once but twice) and identified some of the sources of the classical music heard in the piece.
Then there's Joseph Brennan's page on Songs the Beatles Didn't Do including the songs they wrote for others and the ones that they never put out (such as the mythical "Carnival of Light").
Finally, because there's many different versions of each Beatles song (mono, stereo, remixes, etc.), Brennan has also maintained the excellent list of Beatles Recording Variations.
Apart from that, you could just listen to the music...
December 21, 2003
Kurds Captured Saddam, U.S. Grabbed the Publicity
Well, it was pretty close to the theory that two of his own men did it. But it does explain why Saddam "chose" such a small hidey hole.
Hussein Was Held by Kurds Before U.S. CaptureDec. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Saddam Hussein was captured by U.S. troops only after being held prisoner by Kurdish forces, who had had drugged and abandoned him, Agence France-Presse reported, citing a Sunday Express newspaper report.
The Kurdish Patriotic Front, which fought alongside U.S. forces during the Iraq war, held Hussien until it negotiated for more political advantage in the Middle East, AFP said, citing the paper, which quoted an unidentified Iraqi intelligence officer.
Hussein, who had been in hiding since April, was captured a week ago about 9 miles south of his hometown of Tikrit in northern Iraq, Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq, said at a press conference then.
December 15, 2003
Was Saddam Being Held For Ransom?
Oy! Already with the conspiracy theories! But it's not like we haven't seen this tactic in a hundred suspense thrillers: Kidnappers negotiate reward, the police/army/FBI bust in unawares and get the hostage and the kidnappers and keep the money.
Boy, if I was those two "unidentified men," I'd be pissed. Still, you should know we're America, dammit, and we don't play by the rules.
DEBKAfile - Indications Saddam Was Not in Hiding But a Captive
Indications Saddam Was Not in Hiding But a CaptiveDEBKAfile Special Report
December 14, 2003, 6:55 PM (GMT+02:00)
A number of questions are raised by the incredibly bedraggled, tired and crushed condition of this once savage, dapper and pampered ruler who was discovered in a hole in the ground on Saturday, December 13:
1. The length and state of his hair indicated he had not seen a barber or even had a shampoo for several weeks.
2. The wild state of his beard indicated he had not shaved for the same period
3. The hole dug in the floor of a cellar in a farm compound near Tikrit was primitive indeed – 6ft across and 8ft across with minimal sanitary arrangements - a far cry from his opulent palaces.
4. Saddam looked beaten and hungry.
5. Detained trying to escape were two unidentified men. Left with him were two AK-47 assault guns and a pistol, none of which were used.
6. The hole had only one opening. It was not only camouflaged with mud and bricks – it was blocked. He could not have climbed out without someone on the outside removing the covering.
7. And most important, $750,000 in 100-dollar notes were found with him (a pittance for his captors who expected a $25m reward)– but no communications equipment of any kind, whether cell phone or even a carrier pigeon for contacting the outside world.
According to DEBKAfile analysts, these seven anomalies point to one conclusion: Saddam Hussein was not in hiding; he was a prisoner.
December 14, 2003
Pinball Madness!
Apparently, they now have emulation programs for pinball machines, going all the way back to the 1950s. Unfortunately, it's only for Windows, but I'm sure somebody somewhere is figuring out a Mac port. I came of game-playing age at the beginning of the video game era, so pinball was endlessly fascinating to me. You just had to compare the graphics and hands-on feel of a machine to the early Pong and space games to figure out why I preferred pinball originally.
From Boing Boing, of course.
James Howard Kunstler's Eyesore of the Month
A terrific site linked off Kunstler's main page in which he rips new ones in the backside of ass-backwards American architecture. Because of bad web design, it's better you start at the most recent entry and work backwards. The man's loathing and disgust at suburbia and bad civic planning tickles me, and while reading it, I was sure he was in his 30s. Turns out he's in his late 50s, which is in a way cooler.
Eyesore of the Month by James Howard Kunstler
Kunstler's main page offers links to his books and blog.
By way of Boing Boing
Saddam Down in the Ditch
Holy December Surprise! They done captured Saddam! And he looks like Karl Marx! Expect the trial to show Saddam giving shout outs to all his former homeys, including Donald Rumsfeld and Bush Sr. "Long time no see! Thanks for the poison gas!"
There's already fiery discussion over at Daily Kos about the reports. Some points:
Will they send in an Iraqi Jack Ruby to take Saddam out?
Will the U.S. allow a transparent international trial?
Will they schedule it till after the election?
Will Saddam be taught what to say by Karl Rove?
Will the U.S. now have a viable exit strategy?
Will the attacks on the troops stop or will they continue?
Will Bush continue to be the worst, most destructive proto-fascist president ever?
Some of these questions are rhetorical, by the way...
December 10, 2003
We make the Gossip Columns
Hey folks, apparently somebody chatted to actor Bob Lesser, who starred in the commercial I shot with Jon Crow for the MoveOn.org "Bush in 30 Seconds" commercial before Thanksgiving. My friend Maury called me this morning to tell me I was in the News-Press. "I'm always in the News-Press," I told him, "I write for 'em!" No, he said, I was in "The Dish" section:
"EQUAL TIME: Robert Lesser, Ensemble Theatre Company star and journalist Annie Bardach's hubby, just completed a commercial for MoveOn.org, the Web site committed to unseating George W. Bush. Ted Mills (free-lance writer for the News-Press) directed the commercial, shot at the Pepper Tree Inn, in which Robert plays a dysfunctional CEO. The 30-second spot competes against hundreds of others -- the winner will air around Bush's January State of the Union address. ... "Apart from failing to mention the other director who is not a local boy, we're chuffed to see the publicity. More info on the commercial when we know.
Honey
Dir: Bille Woodruff
2003
Yesterday I chuckled over a recent (?) Boondocks cartoon where Riley is asked to write a "what I did for my summer vacation" essay for school. He turns in a page of paper completely covered by one phrase: "I KEPT IT REAL!"
"Honey" is all about keeping it real, but not as funny as Boondocks. In fact, the film treats its cliches with a straight face.
While it often feels like Jessica Alba is trying to channel Jennifer Beals from Flashdance, I couldn't believe I was seeing a third act twist straight out of a Little Rascals or Andy Hardy film from the 1930s: Lets raise money for the youth center by putting on a show! Mmm, smell the mothballs on that one.
I also felt that a lot of what we were seeing was warmed over sentiments from the last 20 Jennifer Lopez videos. Never has a pop star sung so often about "keeping it real" and being just "Jenny from the Block" and other self-aggrandizing platitudes as Lopez, so much that I suspect she either a) absolutely doesn't believe it and it's just her "image," or b) she has an incredible guilt complex about being so rich and famous.
That's the sense on display here. Honey barely has time to sell out and be mean to her friends--she skips out on a friend's birthday trip for a black tie party, but we're shown that she didn't know this going in--so we're never worried about her not "keeping it real."
Anyway, the previews show Alba all hoochied out with the midriff and lip gloss and this and the that, so is there a lot of that, really, for the furtive overcoat brigade? Nope, only at the beginning, then New York gets chilly and Honey wraps up.
Any other reason to see it? Well, Missy Elliot has a funny one-and-a-half scenes, but the preview shows 80 percent of that. The smallest of Honey's young charges is also cute as the dickens and we get to see him try to dance. Honey also has a pug, but we get no pug reaction shots. Surely we could have had some pug head-cocking, maybe when Mekhi Phifer is trying to get his groove on (Mekhi Phifer is an appealing actor though, more than Alba, who doesn't really invite us into her character). And the sleazebag video director guy who winds up getting bitch-slapped for wanting a "taste of honey" hurh hurh hurh, is called Michael Ellis, which I desperately want to be some scriptwriter's reference to the similarly named Monty Python skit.
So, you get some early midriff, some 1930's "save the schoolhouse" malarkey, a whole lotta product placement, a cute friend (Joy Bryant) who wears less than Alba, a righteous Mrs. Honey who wants her daughter to travel and broaden her horizons, but who also wears some frightful necklaces. But best of all, nearly everybody in this film, save Mr. Ellis, KEEPS IT REAL.
Addendum: There's a silly part in the film where Honey finds choreographic inspiration from watching basketball players and girls playing jumprope. With the intensest look that Alba can muster, Honey starts trying out her versions of dribbling and jumping for the upcoming dance. "Hey!" the film says, "This is how artists work!" I am now annoying the wife by studying her mundane movements (chin in hand and the other hand using the mouse) and coming up with my own hip-hop choreography.
Also: If you follow the link to www.jessica-alba.com, you wind up at the Dennis Kucinich campaign site. Ewwww.
December 09, 2003
The Last Samurai
Dir: Edward Zwick
2003
Well, me and "the missus" just came back from this film and boy are we disappointed (bordering on anger) on how they dropped the ball on this one.
Now, I have to discuss the ending of this film, so if you're still achin' to see it (because of that "Oscar®©™ Buzz" you heard about), then stop reading. Go click on a link, why dontcha.
Back to the issue at hand.
I understand that maybe there's a lot of people out that who are only just learning about this crazy island called "Japan" and that maybe some people have never seen a samurai film. I'll let it go, as I will all the long scenes of Algren (Tom Cruise) learning how to say "hashi" or "samui." It's wacky, it's cute, it's educational. I'll also let the audiencese have the orientalism that romanticizes the entire culture as this pure and noble people.
But the fact that the filmmakers blew the ending by having Algren live instead of die in the field of battle was, in a word, bullshit. Yep, bullshit. Bullshit, bullshit, bullshit. Unko. Kuso. (There's some Japanese to learn!).
America hates to have its heroes die, especially these days when the Prez avoids military funerals like pretzels, but even before that (the 80s was the sea change). But I could really sense in the theater that the filmmakers could have gotten away with it. The film wins you over to the samurai code of honor, just as Algren is won over, and it would have made sense to have him fall alongside his former enemy, now blood brother, Katsumoto (Ken Watanabe, who does the role justice while Tom Cruise still seems concerned about his hair). In fact, the scene is filmed like he does. The entire samurai clan has been mowed down by American machine guns--the way of the sword is over, as are the old ways, and around the corner is WWI, then WWII, then Hiroshima. And Algren had faced his past and his mortality and learned something about honor.
Not only that, but earlier in the film, the story begins to parallel contemporary events in Iraq. When asked if the Western-backed forces will defeat the renegades, the commander says, all hubris, "Of course, we have superior firepower." Add a few more lines about them being savages, and the script looks back to the genocide of the Native Americans, and forward to the invasion of Iraq and our other imperial adventures. Substitute rail lines for oil pipelines and you're nearly there.
Of course, this is nothing new; "Dances With Wolves" also towed this squishy liberal line.
But like that film, the Western character can never totally assimilate.
No, he has to survive, understand that he has learned a great life lesson, conquered his alcoholism, and now is ready for a full and happy life.
After the battle, he retuns for an audience with the young Meiji emperor (apparently, it's easy to bluff your way in to see the mortal deity) and returns the dead Katsumoto's sword. Algren's gone all samurai'n'stuff! Why he even offers to take his own life, just like Katsumoto offered earlier! And the young emperor, who hasn't found his own voice--that is, he hasn't been on the self-improvement course that Algren's been on--suddenly realises that the old ways weren't so bad after all! In fact, he casts out the American businessman (sorry, Halliburton!) and his Japanese representative (sorry, Chalabi!) and announces plans to distribute the wealth to the people (huh?)!
Then a further coda where we see Algren and horse companion returning to the village where Katsumoto had originally taken him when he was captured at the beginning of the film. "Some say he finally found his peace," says the narrator (who I take to be Timothy Spall, who is quite good in a Charles Laughton way).
Okay, now wait.
First of all, you kill off your best, most charismatic supporting character (Katsumoto), but not the lead, and don't have that as your closing scene (which would have devastated the crowd, but in a good way). Instead, you give the long closing speech to the teenage emperor, whose English is hesitant and bland, and who offers some crap-o platitudes about Western Influence. And maybe Honor.
Then you have Algren returning to the village--THE VILLAGE WHO JUST LOST THEIR ENTIRE MALE POPULATION TO A WESTERN MACHINE GUN! Do you think the women want to see this Western guy, even though he was on their side? They are going to either starve because there are no men to provide the hard labor, or some roving gang is going to either kill or capture them. Is Tom Cruise going to help?
But really, we're not supposed to care, because IT ALL WORKS OUT FOR THE AMERICAN. Tom's studied Zen, he's dry and at peace with himself. Isn't that enough? And now he can retire to the mountains and live out his days with the widow of the man he killed at the beginning of the film. Won't that be romantic?
So, kids, honor can only take you so far. First you have to feel good about yourself.
Bullshit, bullshit, bullshit.
December 05, 2003
Gabrielle de Montmollin's Nightmare Visions
I found these photos of Barbie dolls to be creepy, surreal, and very satisfying. I know nothing about this photographer, but I'd like to see more.
Photographs by Gabrielle de Montmollin
December 03, 2003
Now You're Flying the Friendly Skies
How cool is THIS? At last I have an airline named after me. I'm itchin' to get ahold of some gear and other trinkets emblazoned with the name.
December 02, 2003
What really happened in Samarra?
The propaganda wing says 54 fedayeen fighters died. The truth is more wiggly, and not intended to hide with warm, bloody feelings the fact that November was a month of death in Iraq.
Here's one post from the Soldiers for the Truth web site that supposedly comes from one of the soldiers on the ground. Instead of a "battle," this was a rolling convoy that just fired on any building where enemy fire might be coming from, sort of like those arcade games where your jet fighter is loaded down with every weapon and you just hit all the buttons at the same time. However did they figure out 54? Roll some dice?
This is a great attitude for a combat commander to have when fighting an armored force on force, but Colonel Rudesheim is not trained in Counter-Insurgency and my soldiers are taking the heat. We drive around in convoys, blast the hell out of the area, break down doors and search buildings; but the guerillas continue to attacks us. It does not take a George Patton to see we are using the wrong tactics against these people. We cannot realistically expect that Stability and Support Operations will defeat this insurgency.As one would expect from using our overwhelming firepower, much of Samarra is fairly well shot up. The tanks and brads rolled over parked cars and fired up buildings where we believed the enemy was. This must be expected considering the field of vision is limited in an armored vehicle and while the crews are protected, they also will use recon by fire to suppress the enemy. Not all the people in this town were hostile, but we did see many people firing from rooftops or alleys that looked like average civilians, not the Feddayeen reported in the press. I even saw Iraqi people throwing stones at us, I told my soldiers to hold their fire unless they could indentfy a real weapon, but I still can't understand why somebody would throw a stone at a tank, in the middle of a firefight.
Since we did not stick around to find out, I am very concerned in the coming days we will find we killed many civilians as well as Iraqi irregular fighters. I would feel great if all the people we killed were all enemy guerrillas, but I can't say that. We are probably turning many Iraqi against us and I am afraid instead of climbing out of the hole, we are digging ourselves in deeper.
Meanwhile, a report in the Scotsman says that locals say that there have only been three bodies seen in the Samarra morgue and maybe only a few people killed. So who the hell knows?
But didn't it make you feel good while you went Christmas shopping?