...more recent posts
now available in mocha
bye george.
2 Copyright Cases Decided in Favor of Entertainment Industry
am i blue?
The Village Voice's Michael Musto is probably my favorite gossip columnist. He's got more drag-queen news than I've got use for, and he may not get the Imelda Marcos scoops that Cindy Adams does, but he manages to straddle the divide between mainstream and demimonde in a rare manner. And there's a real person somewhere under there; today he has a right-on rumination on 9/11 and after.
PBS does Sun Records tonight.
News of Corporate America, Where The Few Enjoy Lavish Lifestyles in Exchange for Low Pay for Employees and Bad Products and Services for the Public, Installment 38999:
Excite@home has petitioned the Bankruptcy Court to void its Internet service contracts, effective Nov. 30, with Comcast, AT&T, and other providers of cable internet service to a total of 4 million customers (including yours truly). I just got a very lame email from Comcast giving me their backup plan "in the unlikely event" my email, webspace, and Internet service are suddenly rendered inaccessible: (1) Back up my website to CD or hard drive. (2) Set up a "temporary" ISP account with NetZero via phone modem.
That's rich! Five months ago Excite@home's supercilious technicians were trying to get me to disconnect my NetZero phone connection so I could "get better service with my cable."
Some of you may remember Hellen, Edgar Oliver's sister and my girl friend back in the 80's in the EV. Hellen Carson Oliver's middle namesake was a 2nd cousin C. McCullers. The magazine version has a photoportrait of CM. HCO's physical resemblance is strong.
I'm starting to get my very own Disturbing Search Requests! Samples from my log: "thumbnails of people living in slum environments"; "musical play about a Morrocan (sic) guerrilla group." Google indexed every post from 2001 on the same page (my URL/date/2001), so there's a huge pool for random word combos.
Liberty State Park News
Liberty State Park is a vast amount of open land, reclaimed from old industrial and railroad land, facing the Statue of Liberty in New Jersey. Walking through the (barely-used) facility most days is quite eerie (and beautiful): the lower Manhattan skyline appears to be sitting all by itself in an empty field.
Unfortunately, developers have been salivating to carve up the land since the park's inception. They apply constant pressure to put in water parks, golf courses, amphitheatres, and other money-making ventures--so far with no results, thanks to vigilant friends of the park.
Recently, though, I've noticed three separate encroachments on the park's open space. After the 9/11 tragedy, a triage area was set up in the old railroad station, but the anticipated flood of emergency cases never materialized--it's now something called the "WTC Family Assistance Center." This occupies a small amount of space, but for some reason a huge adjacent section of the park (including a pedestrian bridge along the Hudson) was made inaccessible through barricades and permanently stationed cops. Park benches, walkways, and waterfront have all been cordoned off. Not to be unpatriotic, but I can't see any purpose for the land-grab, other than "because we can."
Another big chunk of grassy land was torn up next to the Marina for a permanent parking lot; during working hours it's used as a bus transfer and pickup point, but the rest of the time it just sits there. This huge expanse of asphalt was "prettified" with little stunted pine trees held up with stakes, and hundreds of feet of plastic white picket fence.
Finally, within the last week, "Mount Liberty" suddenly appeared in the landscaped area across from the bus lot. This twenty-foot-high, hundred-foot-long mound of dirt--fill material for some as yet unspecified project--was just plopped on top of the grass (the same spot where I saw the pheasants a few months back). It's covered with straw and some kind of turquoise powder, and fenced in with crappy-looking sheets of plastic. In order for dumptrucks to access it from the cobblestone road, white gravel was poured willy-nilly on the grass.
I hate to say it, but giving the public a park and then taking it away whenever it's convenient is just low-class; New Jersey ought to be capable of better.
pink cadillac
Pravda he said she said
the tide is high
Weasels at the Helm
From "Today's Papers" on Slate:
Rumsfeld said that the U.S. plans to "incentivize a large number of people to begin crawling through those tunnels and caves." The plan is being broadcast over Afghanistan and dropped in leaflets:
"Attention people of Afghanistan! Up to $25 million reward is being offered for information leading to the location or capture of Osama bin Laden or Aiman al-Zawahiri."
Catty Kitt
Quote of the day (from Page Six) has second-string Catwoman Eartha Kitt, who almost ruined her career in the 60s by publicly opposing the Vietnam War, opining:"This war against the terrorists in Afghanistan is nothing like Vietnam. I support this war unequivocally. We were attacked on our soil. We have to bomb these people until we teach them not to hate us."
On the road to NOLA
I'm packing up the computer and Yoyo the geriatric cat to drive to New Orleans. I'd like to fry up a turkey while I'm there.
more ...
just (randomly) heard our friend phoebe doing the voiceover in a visa ad for the winter olympics. its about snowboarding in the wasatch valley with a remake of Surfin USA as the soundtrack. nice work if you can get it.
ARGENTINA IS MY 50TH COUNTRY/TERRITORY
having a soiree saturday night december 1.
352 east 8th street
apt. #2
on the corner of avenue c
212-674-2052
9 pm...
be there or be square.
Off to Argentina, love you all!!!
putin visits bush at his ranch in texas. says hes looking forward to riding horseback with bush around the ranch. unfortunately, bush does not ride. but he can drive.
Doomed Plane's Number Lottery Winner
british pm tony blair has sent not so super secret agent harry potter to afghanistan to wreak havoc at the box office. having worked his magic in kabul theatres, he has moved on to bewitch taliban audiences in jalalabad and kandahar with his cuteness and pluck if not his magic. potter said the covert operation has come as a welcome relief from promoting his movie and merchandising tie-ins.
grateful for the assistance while mindful of the need to spend another 20 billion before the war ends to satisy the defense contractors, bush has issued guarded praise for the movie and potters secret intervention. he has publicly put on a good face and offered potter an open invitation to play t-ball at the whitehouse once all the evil has been wrung from bin laden. however, dratfink has unearthed secret NSA and CIA communiques outlining strategies for countering, kidnapping, cloning or killing potter if he becomes a risk to americas global hegemony.
stock for the gillette company soared on the exchange today at the prospect of an almost clean shaven afghanistan. their new ad campaign plastered on hastily assembled billboards amidst the rubble of kabul extols the virutes of 'gillette: the new face of freedom'. but dont confuse that with lancomes 'le nouveau visage de la liberté' campaign for women. the french beauty multinational have set up make-up booths in mazir e sharif to instruct the afghani women in the art and ritual of face painting. no more blaming the taliban for being dateless on a friday night, ladies!
birds cleared of all wrongdoing in airbus crash. incarcerated rebel flock leaders released from detention. bald eagles breathe easier. audobon society sues over defamation of character for birds everywhere.
america needs this kind of commitment to its olympic sports.
is this picture really necessary?
The Northern Alliance takes Kabul; the Taliban and Al-Qaeda are pinned down in the mountains and effectively neutralized; democracy is restored; Bush was right, the left was wrong; forget the Saudis, forget Palestine; let's put 9/11 behind us and get back to Britney.
"Study of Disputed Florida Ballots Finds Justices Did Not Cast the Deciding Vote" say the Bush lackies at the NYT. The headline could just as easily have read "Overvotes Put Bush Election in Doubt," but the status quo must be maintained at all costs.
Hollywood helps out with the war effort
Sure, I guess watching birds in Central Park can teach you a thing or two, and make for a fine afternoon, but to the geek birder the need for a wind tunnel is pretty clear.
Ken Kesey died today. He was 66.
Peter, I can see your house from here
Let's Roll
does anyone have the address of sarah's opening? i forgot the invite and need to be there by 6...
thanks.
There's been controversy about high tech security devices at 26 Federal Plaza which go unused, or, like the $30,000.00 x-ray machine, get used as coffee holders. My favorite device is decidedly low-tech. It's a convex mirror with wheels on the back, attached to a pole with a flashlight on it, and used to check the underside of vehicles. The only thing lower-tech is the sniffing dog, but we have yet to build a device with that level of sensitivity to odors. Maybe we should use owls for night vision.
The Invisible Library is a collection of books that only appear in other books. Within the library's catalog you will find imaginary books, pseudobiblia, artifictions, fabled tomes, libris phantastica, and all manner of books unwritten, unread, unpublished, and unfound.
Islamic Hip-Hop vs Islamaphobia
(from 1997)
This isn't rocket science: better not leave that wacky string in the car (I thought it was called 'silly string' - is that an east coast thing?) (via robotwisdom)
Too Close to Call Jeffrey Toobin
Bill, maybe it's none of my business, but I really think you should get this straightened out right away. She seems like a nice girl (if a little on the obsessive side.)
GO DIAMONDBACKS!!!!
I read somewhere that the '60s antiwar song "Fortunate Son" had been corrupted to sell jeans and jingoism. Any links on that?
i found this when i clicked on a mysterious looking banner ad on a pakistani news site.
is it true that Dr Wilson didnt do a 11/1 "Day of the Dead" post??
it aint me
get your war on
revolutionary assoc. of the women of afghanistan photo archive. warning - graphic and disturbing.
The San Jose Mercury (aka Murky News) printed three letters to the editor which questioned the Bush administration's bombing of Afghanistan. Wierd. Is this a sign that it's safe to be rational in America?
I'm hitting the road to see the Butthole Surfers tonight. Blue moon, Holloween, the Butthole Surfers, Knitting Factory LA -- seems like some kind of harmonic convergence.
Steve, if you want to reach me, my cell is the best choice. 408 892 0826
For the first time in 46 years, Halloween ghosts and goblins can trick-or-treat by the light of a full moon. They won't get another chance until 2020, astronomers said.
Wednesday's full moon will look like an orange jack-o-lantern rising from the east at dusk, said Jack Horkheimer, executive director of the Miami Space Transit Planetarium.
(from LKB)