I Get Mail

One of the experiments of this new web page layout is a mailing address for Grubb Street (presented here and in the "About Me" section above). So far I have been resistant to the idea of comments sections and other feedback, since I'm comfortable with one-way communications (alternate views are cheerfully recognized and encouraged to get their own blog). Those who know me and have a definite opinion can always get to me on my personal email. But I'm willing to experiment, and as a result created the grubbstreet@comcast.net address as part of the new layout. To be honest, I didn't expect much - maybe a comment or two on the new template, but nothing major.

Imagine my surprise when the first email I received was from Pat Sullivan, candidate for Position 2 State Representative from 47th District, running against incumbant Jack Cairnes. I had mentioned Pat in my write-up on 2 May regarding the caucuses - I referred to him at the time as seeming "very, very young". And for those keeping score, I had an earlier entry about Jack Cairnes and his strangely themed mailing back on 23 March.

Anyway, Pat Sullivan contacted me and pointed out that he is not as quite as young as he appears - he is 41 (which still makes him a spring chicken compared to my venerable age of 46), and has three daughters (which more than makes up the difference in our ages and puts him ahead). He has been a senior legislative assistant in the State House and Senate for 15 years, and served on Covington City Council for 7 years (and was Mayor of Covington for five of those years). And right now he's a legislative assistant for King County Councilbeing Dow Constantine. Not a bad record for such a youthful-looking politician - he has a great deal of experience both locally and in Olympia.

But don't take my word for it - his website is here. Go take a look. Check out his record, his stands on issues, and, of course, youthful good looks. Do this particularly if you're in the Fighting 47th District, since this will be more important as we move towards November.

And for the rest of you lot, the least you can do is drop a line about the new format. Does this scan better on your machines, or worse? More or less readable? Does the picture make me look fat(ter)? The jury is still out for me, so I'll solicit opinions (Yes, regardless of the choice, I'll keep the email address on the page).

More later,

Day Off

So I had clocked in 40 hours already this week and swore that I would take Friday off for a long-deserved long weekend. Kate and I are supporters of the SAM (Seattle Art Museum) and they are about to launch their big summer show tomorrow - Van Gogh to Mondrian - Modern Art from the Kroller-Muller Museum and we got a member-advanced look.

Kate and I are spoiled with art museums, in part because of our proximity to the Art Institute of Chicago for many, many years. SAM is much smaller, tucked into the top three floors of a narrow endcap of a city block (its slender frame is more pronounced since they have leveled the buildings uphill of it for a new skyscraper). Yet despite its size, I am always exhausted after a museum walk in the SAM - the exhibits are well-thought-out and challenging, the presentation is solid, and it hosts a mix of cultural styles and historical periods as well as modern art and installations. (OK, they go overboard on their text descriptions - let me tell you about their "Monumental Dynamic Peaches" some time, but its a good museum).

Anyway, Kroller-Muller (yeah, there are umlats in the name which I am doing without) was the daughter of an industrialist that started collecting art, in particularly current art in the early 20th Cent. She felt that the new styles of art allowed presentation of the unseen - motions, emotion, and symbolism, and ranged from the impressionists forward to the postmodernists, with stops at pontilism, cubism, neoplasticism and several other -isms as well.

The press pushes this as the Van Gogh show, and that's the center and heart of it, though it has a lot more. I was struck most by Van Gogh's sketch-work, which was detailed and very, very different from his painting style. You can see the animation of his painted works in his linework, but I was amazed by the underpinning his pen-and-ink work provided for his paintings.

And painting themselves were rich and wonderful. Van Gogh is one of the artists that does not transfer well to the printed page. There is a topographic nature to his work, the thick layering of bright pigments to produce a solid coherency. His works feel like they are in motion, and they are full of life. Even his still lifes and landscapes, absent of human forms, have a lived-in look that makes them look populated.

(I mention this because the exhibit kicks off with a group of pointilists, whose dot-based form to create color and shape produces wonderful work (all presented here seemed to be influenced by Seurat and A Sunday on the Grand Jette), yet they all seemed unihabited - even those pieces with human figures have them turned-away or indifferent, and the pictures themselves empty as a result.

There is a section on architecture and furnishings which appealed to the engineer in me (though I noted many patrons, after getting their Van Gogh jones, moving to the exits) and the exhibit finishes with the shapes and colors of Mondrian and his brethren, where modern art unmoors entirely from representation and drifts off into the darkest wilderness, into lands where you need both a translator and native guide to follow. All in all, its a very good exhibition.

Also there for the next two weeks is Only Skin Deep, an exhibit on photgraphy and race. Taking up one-half of a floor, this is photographs, videos, and other media showing presentation how racial groups look at each other. This exhibit I found both intriguing and troubling, as it underscored for me how easy it is to cull out one group from the herd of humanity for persecution, and how easily the medium bends to accommodate. It left me disturbed, but I recommend it - If you're a local and you haven't done the SAM, this is a good time to do it.

After a late, late lunch (Ivar's), we hiked up the hill to the new Library. The Monkey King liked it but refered to it as "The IKEA Library". I was interested in seeing it, and Kate was tolerant but dubious. Oddly enough, afterwards Kate was excited by the building and I was less impressed.

In general shape, the building looks like the conning tower of Imperial Star Destroyer. Indeed, stepping off the elevator into the 5th floor "Mixing Room"/Catalog Hub, you step out onto a catwalk overlooking two floor below you. At that point I leaned on the railing and said "Fear will keep the local systems in line. Fear of this library installation". Kate giggled.

What won Kate over was the spiral, the fact that the floors of the stacks continued to coil upward, forming effectively one large multileveled room four stories high. I found the uneven floors unsettling, and brilliant colors (lime-yellow escalators, brilliant red stairways) off-putting. I probably will warm to it as I figure out how it works as a system (we both got library cards, since we're not officially part of Renton (which is not part of the Seattle Library system)). They are still figuring out some of the systems and how things really work (We had a long talk with an excited and exhausted librarian about some of the teething problems).

Then home for a nap (I told you the museum always is a big energy drain, and we topped it off with an uphill hike) and another episode of Firefly. And there was an interesting message to the site. But more about that next time.

The Bad Burrito

Well, this is irritating.

Things have been going very well for the past two days. Then I do lunch at this Mexican place at a friend's recommendation. Sometimes I do Mexican and there's no prob. Sometimes I do Mexican and live to regret it.

This is one of those latter times. The culprit was a "wet" seafood burrito, meaning it had a red sauce draped over it. Given the sauce and the fact that it was the "special" may have indicated that the seafood in question was insufficiently refrigged before being introducted to the fire.

Suffice to say that I'm not at all well at the moment, such that I missed my Tai Chi class tonight. I'm not really happy with that, but its better than trying to meditate while you are sweating heavily and belching up Bad Burrito.

In other news, Haetmunkey (yeah, I'll get the links back up) sends word that the Unitarians are now legit again in Texas:

Denison church's tax-exempt status granted

By Jay Root
Star-Telegram Austin Bureau

AUSTIN _ Reversing an earlier decision, state Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn announced Monday that a Unitarian church in Denison would get its tax-exempt status after all.

The decision came after the Star-Telegram reported on May 18 that the comptroller's office had ruled the Red River Unitarian Universalist Church was not a religious organization for tax purposes.

The status was denied, the state said, because the church "does not have one system of belief."

Stunned church officials said it was the first time in U.S. history that any state had denied tax exempt status to the Unitarians because of their religious philosophy. Father-and-son presidents John Adams and John Quincy Adams are among past adherents of the Unitarian church.

Jesse Ancira, the comptroller's general counsel, sent a letter Monday to Dan Althoff, board president of the Denison church, informing him of the change.

"Comptroller Strayhorn asked that I review the file on your congregation's application for tax exemption," Ancira wrote. "After reviewing the submitted application ... it is my opinion that the Red River Unitarian Universalist Church is an organization created for religious purposes and should be granted the requested tax exemption."

Althoff and other members of the church could not be reached for comment Monday afternoon.

Strayhorn spokesman Mark Sanders said Strayhorn directed her staff to review the decision after questions were raised about it.

"She asked her general counsel to look into the matter and he overruled earlier staff decisions," Sanders said.

"Strayhorn directed her staff to review the decision" after people starting pointing at her office and mocking it. I love how bureaucracy works. (Yeah, that's snarky. Blame the Burrito)

And finally in a less-snarky mode, I want to note that this template is by Todd Dominey. Credit where credit is due.

More later (Brraaaak) (Excuse me).

Work In Progress

As you can tell, I'm dinking around with the format. Blogspot did a major overhaul, and I felt its time to add a few more toys to the mix. Missing features should be restored in the near future.

More later,

Pipeline, Part 2

The media catches up to the journals - The Olympic Pipeline is currently shut down because of a fire Sunday Morning (which does not explain the Mystery Noise nor the late-night helicopter, but those may belong to a different set of disasters). There was a leak in a sampler line that ignited, starting a three-alarm fire. As of today, the perimeter is still draped with police tape and guys in orange jackets are walking around over where the line runs.

The result is an example of Grubb's Law of Economics - Whatever happens, its bad for YOU. As a result of the accident, gas prices will probably spike (and they were just starting to begin to level onto a less-steep climb). So things are going to be messier for the next couple days.

Interestingly, most of the folk I work with were unaware of the news (it got less attention than, say, a major politician falling off a bike) even though they're working about a quarter-mile north where the fire was. I don't think most of them realize that the big hub for the Olympic is nearby.

More later,

Firefly

A pleasant day, though not all that I anticipated. Salty's had good food and a horribly bungled front desk (the presence of a high chair at our table indicated they were not entirely on the ball). We ditched the library tour after I mentioned they were expecting 30K people (which, if it were true, meant they would outdraw the Mariners). Instead Wolf and Shelly (Monkey King and Mrs. Monkey King in the links), Kate and I spent the afternoon just jawing on a variety of subjects.

Now, its interesting, in that three of the four have livejournal/blogs, and Kate professes no interest in journals at all, claiming to have a real life. And you'd think with all the stuff we shoot back and forth over the net, we'd be pretty talked out. But the journal entries (the secret Japanese garden, Penn & Teller in Vegas, pipeline fires) seem to just provide touchstones for further conversation. Not to mention the fact that there is stuff that you'll say when you know the audience as opposed to what you're saying in a public blog.

Wolf and Shell loaned us the Firefly DVDs, and when the Lovely Bride and I got home, we watched the opener (which set everything up, but which the network in its wisdom decided to broadcast out of order). Strong performances, and a very nuanced universe. Now when I watched a few episodes broadcast-live, I was less than impressed (I was told by the deep geeks that I had caught "a bad episode" whenever I stated this). I think part of that was that I never tweaked to the fact that it was "Space Western" until I watched it (the network promotion was a bit lacking on this part). In any event, the official opener was very, very good, and I can see how it had every right to succeed and no surprise that it didn't, TV being what it is. Kate and I swore "The Couple's Video Code" - we would only watch the rest of them together.

And Kate notes that the Serenity's crew reminds her of her Star Wars campaign. This makes me more nervous than I thought it would.

More later,

Pipeline

So Kate and I are planning on joining ShellyinSeattle and the Monkey King for brunch at Salty's (Where the Monkey King has won Brunch for Life - yes, its one of those disgusting stories about good fortune of friends). And I was planning on going into the office briefly in the morning to get some files to work on this evening at home.

Then I hit the police blockade on Lind Avenue.

Lind Ave (where the company is located) was shut down by a squad car with its bubble-gum lights flashing. I jog one street to the north, and find another squad car - Renton Police. The officer there informs me that there has been a pipeline fire and that the road is shut down all the way to Grady, which translates into - no one is getting to my office, which is in the middle of the sealed-off area. There was no plume of smoke or other evidence of a big fire - just the cop cars and in the distance, fire engine lights.

Let me explain - about two complexes south of the WotC/Hasbro offices is the distribution hub for the Olympic Pipeline. Here's where the oil and other flammible materials come down from refineries in Annacortes to the north. Its company has been having trouble since the pipeline breach and explosion that killed several people a few years back, but its main effect on the local area has been the oversized double-length tanker trucks that are normally found on Lind. That and there is a fire station practically across the street from the distribution hub.

The news has been silent on this one - Northwest Cable News, the local 24/7, is dedicating all its resources to the opening of the Seattle Public Library downtown, and the nets have been horribly quiet as well. My question is - when did this fire start? Was it just this morning, or perhaps it was tied into the mystery noise from yesterday morning? Or about midnight last night, wheN I was kept awake laying in bed, listening to a single helicopter swoop and return, swoop and return, like a mosquito?

More later, if I get any information on this,

Python Attack

A little ditty by Eric Idle (mp3 file). Have headphones available or keep it away from small children or large overseers.

The FCC Song:

(I must be getting old - I didn't think of rhyming "Bush" with "Tush".)

More later,

Mystery Noise

Married readers of this blog with sympathize. Unmarried readers will be amused.

Its been a long week, and it looks like it will be another long week next week, and I was really looking forward to sleeping in this morning. Normally my schedule puts me up and out the door while my Lovely Bride is still slugabed, but this particular Saturday she had to go to teach a tax class and I looked forward to sleeping until . . . oh, 10 or so.

But at 8ish my Lovely Bride heard a noise. According to her, it was a booming noise, and it shook the house, while she was in the other room. Neither I nor Emily the Cat could vouch for this noise, since we were both sleeping (soundly, I might add) at the time.

So my Lovely Bride comes back into the bedroom. The conversation went like this:

Lovely Bride: Did you hear that?

Me:

Lovely Bride: That noise. It shook the house.

Me:

Lovely Bride: I think a branch fell on the roof.

Me: Murrggle Lurrgle?

My Lovely Bride made repeated use of the words "noise", "shook", and "roof" until the system back-ups in my brain flickered to life and I hauled my previously-inert mass out of the waterbed.

So, despite my plans and deep, almost-comatose sleep, I was up and dressed and, half-awake, up on the roof in the drizzling rain looking for this massive branch that had to have fallen on the house in a location that I couldn't see from the ground when I circled the building, checking the roof and the foundation. Nothing but moss on some of the shingles (have to take care of that). Even checked the backyard in case another one of the great old trees had toppled. Nada.

So I got up too early for a mystery noise, and of course, cannot get back to sleep. Because Emily the Cat is hogging the bed now.

Murggle Lurrgle,

Friday Five, RIP

So the Friday Five is no more. But the Internet never let's anything truly die (Remember the Sloganator? Its got its own Yahoo! Group now), so now with have The Flyday Fyve on the LJ. They seem to be a bit tougher than "decribe your refrigerator". Here's the first one for me:

Name your top five cartoon characters, tell us what show they're from and why you picked them:

1. Wile E. Coyote - For providing the basic plot arc for Lord Toede. (I know, now I'm going to here from the Acme Lawyers).

2. Jonny Quest - I want that kid's life, right down to the Redball Flyers!

3. Norville Rogers - Better known as Shaggy from "Scooby Doo". The Shaggy diet plan - eat all you want, then burn off the calories running from monsters. Hey, you noticed he was a Jedi in the Cartoon Network's Star Wars cartoons?

4. Homer Simpson - I really wanted to vote for Lisa, the redemptive one, but Homer is closer to my natural shape. Sorry, Lisa.

5. Harley Quinn - Originally put into the Batman Animated series to make the Joker look a bit more manly (they did the same thing with Aunt Harriet in the old Batman TV shows), she remains the hottest animated babe since Tex Avery and Jessica Rabbit. Cute, chipper, and totally insane. Of course I find her appealing.

More later,

Just call me Chaotic Good and Be Done with it

Here's a more refined political chart, which asks more questions and then posits you not only on the Right to Left axis, but on the Authoritarian to Libertarian Axis as well. Again, to no surprise I fall into both the Liberal and Libertarian departments, with a score of -4.18 and -4.91. That puts me near Gandhi and the Dali Lama and . . . Dennis Kucinich (two outa three ain't bad. Its a better quiz in that there were more than a few questions that I was neutral about, but "no opinion" was not an option.

The Democrat Presumptive Candidate came in almost at the balance point, while the Republican Candidate was almost off the chart to the Right. Only one thing to do - Move the center of the axis up and to the right! That makes EVERYONE else Liberal and Libertarian.

More later

Not Too Much of A Surprise

Another quiz - I'm just worn out - battling demons and yuan ti just takes it out of you.

(Deleted because the formatting was messing up my format - Suffice to say, it reports me as a Liberal, and very nice one, thank you)


More later,

Bits, Pieces . . .

And other updates.

Those of you who want to read a college comencement address (and who doesn't) will find it here. Oh, yeah, its the William and Mary address by Jon Stewart I mentioned earlier.

A new bit of LJ foolery also works here on blogspot, where you can find out your color based upon your user name. Mine is grubbstreet. Yeah, its blue. Gotta prob with that?

A while back I went down a list of excluding various recognized religions and peoples as far as marriage was concerned. Good fun, right? But no, leave it to TEXAS to take me seriously. A State Comptroler is trying to remove tax-exempt status from the Unitarian Universalists (I know, it sounds like a contradiction), because to be a religion, you have to, you know, believe in something. Actually, the statement is you have to have a creed, which oddly enough, means that Baptists are out as well, which outa will play REAL down there. But seriously, Kate and I were married in a Unitarian Universalist Church - I am a Wandering Presbyterian and Kate is Up-From-Catholic (You know - get your rosaries off my ovaries?). So suddenly I may be in the same ball of wax as many other people whose marriage is not recognized in all state of the unions. To which I say "Austin, here I come!"

[Kate has just informed me that we also have a marriage license in addition to a church's blessing. Darn that intermingling of Church and State!]

New Texas Motto - "Making those swells in Arkansas look all hoity-toity".

And finally, lemme check the Drudge Report - nope, nope, they're still fascinated by Kerry's Daughter's Breasts. He must be desperate for those hits nowadays. Maybe we could set up a warning system - "Today's forcast - Breasts, followed by more breasts, with Michael Moore breaking out towards dawn.

More later

Finally! A Shorter John Kerry ad!

You know that guy from the other commercials? I don't know that guy. Neither does my wife.

More later,

On The Road Again: Giving Me Gas

I feel a rant coming on. Yep, it's definitely a rant.

So as the average price of gas in the country crests 2 bucks a gallon (and its about two bits higher here in the Puget Sound area), more people have been asking me about my hybrid Honda Insight. In particular, its gas mileage.

For the record, it gets between 45 and 50 MPG driving around the city, better on long trips. Though I'm not really taking a lot of long trips at the moment. While it burns less gas (and powers down at stop lights, which is disconcerting to first-time riders), it still uses gas, so I'm still at the pumps - though not as often as my friends with the big SUVs. I'm not one to taunt them - They can still crush my car like a bug, though they'll spend half the tank getting into position to do it.

What has impressed me to date is the big shrug that this latest price surge has gotten - its like everyone has said - "Yeah, gas prices have been too low. Poor oil companies. We should be more like France or Germany. I don't mind spending a bit more. And its only going to get worse, yaknow." I mean, the orbital mind-control lasers must be burning out fuses at this point.

Of course, the current administration (Motto - "New Questions, Same Damn Answers") has both been buying up a lot of oil (at these inflated prices, so I guess they're HOPING it will get worse - otherwise they've been spending your cash on very expensive oil) and pushing the idea of increased drilling in Alaska again.

You folk do realize that if the abundance of Alaskan Oil had ANY effect on our gas prices, then we'd have the cheapest gas in the country in the Pacific NW, this close to Alaska? Instead we're about 25 cents higher than the average (and don't even ask about our neighbors to the south). Most of the Alaskan crude is heading to Japan and our new best-buddy China (which is good for the balance of trade but not for you filling up your tank). Actually, one of the locals out here has been tracking the fact that the number of refineries on the West Coast have decreased in the past two decades, despite increased drilling up north. And its refinery limitations that kicked off the first of this steady rise, as a lot of local plants reduced productivity for "regular maintenance" while two more refineries suffered messy explosions (Let's assume that those were ones that did NOT have "regular maintenance"), and there was a big pipeline spill north of SF a few weeks back. Let's say the system is pretty stressed at this point.

There is one group that should be happy with the current turn of events - those with "No Blood for Oil" bumper stickers. Good news, guys - We spilled the blood, and we stilldon't get the oil. Woo Hoo! That shows us! And if you think pipeline safety is sucky in this country, its worse in places where people are actively trying to blow it up.

Of course our foreign policy hasn't helped us much. We should be able to lean on our buds in Saudi Arabia for a hand (that sharp-talking smoothie we had in charge four years back managed it, and the current guy has family business deals with the Royal Family, so he should be even better), but the Sauds are a little busy with their own unrest and may not be able to help. In our own hemisphere, we have Venezuela, where we tried to kick out the current government. Oh yeah, they're going to help out. We'd better hope there is oil under Haiti, or we're going to have to start being nice to the Russians. What we may see is "Wal-Mart Roll-back" where the prices go up so they can then come down just a notch for a "special sale" in late October. Thanks guys.

But the good news is that gas will stay cheaper than milk per gallon. That's mainly because the Department of Agriculture has allowed the prices to float upwards to about 50 cents more than last year. Most of the increase will go to the middle men as opposed to local farmers, which sort of is fitting in our Through The Looking Glass kind of policy.

Me? I use the Hybrid for long trips (more than 15 miles) and don't tick off people with SUVs too much - they tend to get surley these days. And I await the day of the vehicle that Ed Begley Jr drives in The Simpsons - powered by my own smug sense of self-satisfaction.

More later,

Review: Jon Stewart, Naked

Naked Pictures of Famous People by Jon Stewart, Rob Wiesbach Books, 1998

This particular book (not the book in general, speaking of all books of this type, but this single physical volume) has already had a life before it came into my hands. My friend Brian found this in a used bookstore in New York City, pulled it from the shelf, and saw that it was autographed "To my best friend Jeff - Jon Stewart". Brian thought "I have a friend named Jeff", and so he bought it and sent it me. Brian's like that.

So I have a book autographed by Jon Stewart to me, declaring not only his friendship but his "BEST" friendship. Though we've never met. And maybe Jon Stewart will come across this modest weblog (you know, he's ego-searching his name - Find all "Jon Stewart" minus all references to "Green Lantern"). And maybe he'll feel irritated with his so-called "Best Friend" Jeff, and decides to drop him like a bad habit and that his NEW "Best Friend" Jeff is the holder of the book. That would be me. So I'm hanging onto it, just in case.*

OK, the book itself is a series of ficticious and outrageous humorous essays about famous people, written in the pre-Daily Show era when Stewart still had his talk show. Ficticious. Humorous. Outrageous. Hitler on the Larry King Show. Van Gogh on an AOL chat room, Lenny Bruce getting a sitcom on CBS. The waiter at the Last Supper. Part of the humor is the offbeat setups. Part of it is also in a paen (as opposed to "direct rip-off") of Woody Allen's brilliant essays in "Without Feathers", both with its Judaic references and entries from the Department of Funny New York Words ("Rent Control", "canasta", "nosh", "Schmucks"). And part of it is sort of the rude nonsequiter East Coast college comedy magazine humor ("Knock Knock" "Who's There?" "Joke's Over Now! Bite Me! Hahahahah!") I should note that Jon Stewart graduated from William & Mary, and recently delivered an excellent commencement address there ("About the world. Well, we broke it.")

Essay after essay of famous people doing horrible things or horrible people thrust into mundance positions is a bit wearing, such that writings that break the pattern are amusing in themselves (A former geek who goes back to his High School reunion seeking revenge, to discover that the majority of the people there are ALSO seeking revenge is paticularly amusing). But it also underscores an important point that has since become a part of The Daily Show humor - that the tools in the modern world we utilize for communications (Talk shows, the Internet, People magazines) are pretty damned crappy when describing the modern world that we are part of. The Modern Media is a box full of hammers, and we're holding a handful of screws. No wonder things are so badly screwed up, and we have so many ragged holes in the walls.

Anyway, if you happen to be in a used bookstore and comes across this book, and it turns out to be autographed "To my very best friend" and your name is listed, pick it up. Maybe Jon will call.

More later,

* I recognize another option here - that the autograph ITSELF is fraudulent, written by someone to give to the "Best Friend" Jeff, who might be a big Jon Stewart fan (but not so big that he didn't sell the book later, maybe to buy time on a MMORG or something). But I find that option to mere fantasy, whereas Jon Stewart will read me this and fly me out to The Daily Show. Or maybe just to have a nosh.

Hot Flashes

OK, its finally happened - Drudge Report went NWSF (That's Non-Work-SaFe for the acronymnally-challenged). I can no longer trust to fire it up at work without hearing the crackling sound of raised eyebrows behind me.

Strange enough was the parade of latest photos from Iraq that looked like Maplethorpe tripped out on corn squeezin's, but now he picks up Candidate Kerry's daughter at Cannes in a dress that screams "Wardrobe Malfunction". As the AP report (no, go look it up on your own) notes, there are certain fabrics that tend to become translucent under sudden, intense light. You know, like camera flashes. Now, what would possess anyone to MAKE A DRESS out of this material boggles me. OK. Hugh Hefner would. And Bob Gucionne. And maybe Larry Flynt, but only if there was an implicit promise of "going commando" attached.

And, I'll admit, the question "Does this dress suddenly go invisible at inopportune moments?" is not one of the FIRST questions that springs to mind when buying a gown.

But I digress. Reporting on this is a fair cop (pardon the horrible pun). Someone tangentially famous is caught with their anatomy hanging out, its fair to call them on it. Sort of like the Bush twins in the latest "Girls Gone Wild" video. That's not what bothers me.

What bothers me is that the same parts of the media that freaked out about Janet Jackson's Superbowl exposure seem to be the ones rushing this particular picture to the fore. You know, the right-of-center moralists. They need to show how evilevilevil the other side is. Even if it means they are pushing questionable images themselves. Sex! Licentiousness! Poor Fashion Sense! How can we trust these people? Honest, officer, I was just reading it for the articles!

Meanwhile, the liberal side of the blogosphere is concentrating on . . .

Middle-aged gay people getting married in Massachusetts.

Have we truly moved into the mirror world, the one where Colin Powell has the moustache and beard and yells at his handlers on camera? The conservative press is pushing purient imagery and the liberals are comfortable with their own sexuality? The Dems become the doughty stay-at-homes while the Reps have the nipple rings and video nasties? I mean, the conservatives have been wracking up a hypocritical record on defending marriage, and now seem to be set on inflicting their unbalanced morality on the rest of us.

In the meantime, I just hope Drudge goes back to showing pictures of politicians with silly expressions on their faces. And Michael Moore, in full-body shots. Just so I can tune in during work.

More later,

Lost Weekend

Crashed and burned this weekend. Don't know if it was exhaustion, or the H&R Block Gilligan's island-themed Party (it was just about as you would expect it). or trying to mow the lawn (unmown since the party two weeks previous, and overgrown to the point that wildebeast and gazelles were grazing out there) as the stormclouds rolled in, but I had a mild, sluggish cold and no desire whatsoever to continue on with anything or anyone. Kate spent the weekend gaming, reading her tax books, and watching Seabiscuit, and left me to my general lethargic grump.

So I read, finishing up a couple books. And I snacked. And I played a lot of Civ 3. A LOT of Civ 3. Its the comfort food of computer games. I have my standard plan - raise money, buy my tech advancements, invade only when I have to. Ended up with a diplomatic victory (I build the UN, am involved in a battle with lower-tech Greeks (not my fault, the Chinese dragged me in), and was elected King O' The World).

Yeah, I still have opinions, and stuff to write. I'll see if I can catch up. But I need a completely empty weekend every so often to recharge.

More later,

Breaking It Down

Serv. Size 1 Blog

Posts About Daily Life:    14%

Trips and Experiences       8%

Local Politics              8%

Friday Fives                7%

Reviews                     7%

National Politics           7%* 

Blog-Related                5%

What xxxx Are You? Quizzes  5%

Gaming-Related              4%

Link-Related                4%

Shorter: Entries            4%

Quotes                      3%

Writing-Related             3%

Food-Related                3%

Weather-Related             3%

On The Road Entries         3%

Creativity, Ravings, and Misc. Filler 12%



*National Politics NOT about the War 5%

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More later,

DVD

So it was a long day today at work, one of those first in the office in the morning, last out at night kinda days. The long hours have been a rarity so far, but appplied in this case primarily because I wanted to nail a rules set to the ground by tomorrow morning so that five other important tasks based on that rules set could go forward. The entire proceedings left me a little drained, so I sat down to surf and came across the reunion special for the old Dick Van Dyke show.

The show itself was all memory, threaded together with a ghost of a plot (Alan Brady pulls the surviving cast members together to write him a eulogy). You're aware that Rose Marie isn't moving around so good, and Mary Tyler Moore has tight wrinkles about the eyes. And the good lines were given to the minor players - Alan and Millie Helper. And there is a heaping helping of clips. But looking at it I was struck by how much this show influenced my own upbringing and my view of the world.

I mean, Rob Petrie has a job as a corporate creative, works with other creatives who both respect and like him, has a nice house, and a beautiful, supportive wife. A lot of how I deal with others comes out of watching the Dick Van Dyke show (mostly in syndication, now that memory kicks in, so I never really saw the cigarette comercials in the original). And the fact that I have a strong, mutually supportive relationship with Kate comes as no surprise to me, because that's what Rob and Laura had (Though I am much more likely than Kate to open a rubber raft in the living room).

And the show had no real "bad guys". Even Alan and Mel Cooley, the management foils, had their redemptive moments and their little victories. The plots were driven by basic weirdness of everyday life and things being a little out of kilter. I mentioned the show to Kate and she immediately mentioned the rock in the basement, the banjo-playing brother, and the Rosebud story. Forty years on, and this stuff still sticks in the mind.

Often I ask friends who are going through identity crisis "What TV Show are you in?" Its often a good shorthand for how they view the world. I know people who work in a very "M*A*S*H"-like environment. I've had my months and years as Bob Newhart, and there was a period when I bought into the idea that our game design department was the creative version of "The Right Stuff" (OK, that's a movie, but you get the point). Media does provide role models for our behavior, and an operating system for modern-day survival. One of the reasons that I am likely comfortable with what I'm doing is that it fits into a mode that I recognize. On my good days I can be Rob Petrie. On my bad days I can be Buddy Sorrel. On my worst days, which I want to be few and far between, I can be Alan Brady.

That's it. More later,