02-28-04 (01:46)
updated movies list.
been having lots of ups and downs lately.
har har.
har har
2.
2-27-04 (01:10)
my first reaction to this
story was "jesus fucking christ." my second reaction was "god damn."
updated movies list.
here's a great review for errol morris' "thin blue line" i especially like
that last line...
"The Thin Blue Line has good motives. It attempts to retell the tragic
death of a police officer and the intricate web that was spun around the
suspects. It tries to make a statement about the downfall of the American
Justice System. Those are the ingredients for a great film, right? Wrong.
The style in which Errol Morris presents the material lingers in tedium.
Why did he feel it was necessary to juxtapose almost every word with a
picture? Someone will say the word "pistol". All of a sudden an image of
a pistol appears on the screen. A woman is described as dropping her milk
shake. Suddenly, Morris flashes upon the screen the image of a milk shake
being dropped. Did he think his viewers were not aware of what those objects
looked like? Here is how this movie could have been good: take all the
interview footage and turn it into a screenplay. You can only depend on
spontaneity for so long. I would have enjoyed this a lot more if it had
been a segment on a TV journalism show."
some people should just not watch movies.
fantastic...
"Coal, for decades the reviled stepchild of the U.S. energy family, is
about to become the prodigal son. Stoked by easy availability, the
rising costs of other fuels, and a growing desire to reduce dependence
on foreign oil and gas, coal is roaring back: Plans are in the works
to build some 94 new coal-fired power plants in 36 states. Because
most plants are still in the private planning phase, not yet open for public
comment, the impending coal rush has thus far come in under the radar of
most environmental groups and state officials. The burning of coal
produces more airborne mercury and greenhouse gases than any other single
source, and those levels could increase dramatically when the new plants
come online. Says Dan Becker, director of the Sierra Club's energy
program, "I think most Americans would be shocked that utilities are dragging
the 19th century into the 21st century.""
looked for some jobs tonight. there are a couple good leads that i might
follow up on tomorrow. looking for jobs puts me in a bad mood.
my movies review list is already over 100K. that's half the size of last
years reviews and bigger than any year prior to 2003. in other words, i'm
reviewing a lot of movies (76 so far this year) and doing so at great length.
the kings had a huge win tonight over the lakers. the facts: the lakers
had won five straight and 8 of their last 10. they have four future hall
of famers plus arguably the best coach of all-time. karl malone was injured,
but other than that they were healthy and playing at home. the kings, on
the other hand, were without bobby jackson (sixth man of the year), chris
webber (our mvp) and brad miller (an all-star). i figured we'd lose by
about ten. but we pulled out the win on the road and i was very pleased.
i was listening to the game on the radio while i was at work. with about
three and a half minutes left in the game i was done closing, but it was
a close game so i thought that if i really booked i could make it home
in time to hear the last few seconds on the radio (it wasn't televised
for some reason). by the time i got home and turned on the radio there
was just over a minute left in the game and i got to hear bibby hit a key
three pointer. bibby and peja really turned it on tonight. wish i could
have seen the game.
sherman's march is coming to dvd on march 23rd.
2-26-04 (00:43)
trainspotting, enter the dragon, and saving private ryan are both going
to have special edition dvds later this year...may/june.
it rained like crazy last night and then again tonight. actually it hailed
pretty hard tonight. that was cool.
"The legendary Edith Head was nominated for at least one Academy Award
for costume design every year from 1948, when the category was created,
until 1967, when her streak was broken."
never even heard of her.
today was pretty good.
read one of my MAD spy vs. spy books last night. there was a time when
the only reading i did was MAD books and comic books (for some reason i
was really into richie rich). the greatest thing about spy vs. spy is how
one spy will always make the other spy kill himself in his attempts to
kill the other. they go through the most elaborate plans to set up a situation
in which one spy's desire to kill the other, backfires. in one strip we
see black planes that are parachuting down munitions to the black spy.
the black spy then uses these missiles and whatnot to try and kill the
white spy. the white spy sees this happening so he concocts a plan. he
builds a special missile and paints it, and his plane, black. then he flies
over the black spy and parachutes the missile down to the black spy. the
black spy, thinking it's a normal missile, fires it towards the white spy's
base. but in midair the black missile separates and a smaller, white missile
is released which then turns around, in midcourse, and flies back to kill
the black spy. when i was younger i thought it was hilarious because it
was unexpected and death is always funny when it's drawn. but now i see
it for more than that. the books i have were written in the sixties and
are clear commentaries on cold war conditions. our spying and desire to
destroy the other side will ultimately be our own undoing. as a side note
- there doesn't seem to be any preference to which spy dies most frequently.
they both act foolishly and die with equal frequency.
2-25-04 (02:33)
regarding nader's bid for the presidency...i still think that the two party
system in america is a sham. i think the argument that nader stole the
presidency from gore is ridiculous. i think that alternative parties need
to be encouraged in this country, even in the face of four more years of
bush - and i hate bush as much as just about anyone else. i think it's
sad that our political climate is such that even left wingers feel the
need to bash nader for his decision to keep fighting the good fight. it
shows you how truly scared the nation is. once again the powers that be
have framed the issue in such a way that Right is on the defensive. that
is, only in a truly fucked up world would the debate be structured in such
a way as to put naderites on the defensive about his decision to vote.
only in this political climate does the decision of one consumer activist
to run for public office become something to rally against. am i the only
one who sees how twisted that is? they're winning because they're framing
the way we talk about fundamental issues such as this, and that's the most
scary thing that i can think of.
regarding gay "marriage"... i don't care what they call it, i think that
people should be allowed to bond with each other and have equal rights
under the law. is it a state issue? a federal issue? i don't know. so far
it seems to have been a state issue since i guess the states issue marriage
licenses, but if it becomes a civil rights issue then that would make it
federal, right? on the other hand there is precedent for the limitation
of such things. we don't generally think that brothers and sisters should
be allowed to get married and no one seems to be all that upset about it.
to some people the thought of gay marriage is the same as the marriage
of two siblings (or marriage between multiple partners) - it's unnatural
and morally reprehensible. this is also seen in the anti-sodomy laws that
some states have. they feel it's simply an extension of the states' right
to limit other deviant sexual acts such as incest, polygamy and bestiality.
my point to all this is this - there does seem to be adequate legal precedent
for the government to limit certain marriages and sexual acts. this is,
unfortunately, especially true in particular states where there is an actual
mandate to limit said activities/bonds. that's a common theme of mine -
the tyranny of democracy - most people think i'm insane when i use that
term, but i think there's an element of truth to it (though i do recognize
its necessity). but back to the subject at hand... president bush's
plan to amend the constitution to limit the meaning of marriage seems
pretty absurd. just mulling over the amendments in my head i can't remember
any amendments (other than prohibition, which was later repealed) that
limit the freedom of people. most of them are about granting suffrage to
blacks, women, people 18 and older or giving the people the rights against
government tyranny - like all that boring stuff in the bill of rights about
freedom of speech, the right to bear arms, the right to a jury, etc.. bush
is fucking evil. at any rate, since there is precedent to limit marriage
in certain instances, i think it'll probably stay a state issue and will
come to votes on a state by state basis. i don't think that bush's planned
amendment will pass by the needed margin. and having it work on a state
by state basis is about as much as one can realistically expect, in which
case the only limitation will be when couples move or something like that
because in those situations the other states won't be forced to recognize
their marriage. but as soon as california allows gay marriage i guarantee
you there's going to be some crackpot brother/sister couple that demand
their constitutional right to get married.
also, what benefits do people get from marriage? tax breaks, they can't
be forced to testify against each other, and a slew of benefits that come
when they have kids - like the right to custody of the child if the other
parent dies... things like that. what, historically, is the reasoning behind
granting benefits to any two people who want to marry? in its origin i
suppose it was religious and a matter of wanting to help those people who
are advancing the race. if procreation was the major reasoning behind giving
certain benefits to married people then i propose not an expanding of marriage,
but a contraction of it...actually an elimination of it. if its major purpose
is to provide benefits to those who procreate then i think we should get
rid of it altogether. we have too many people as it is. in conjunction
with this we'd have to change a few other laws...for example any rules
that say only blood relatives and spouses can do certain things should
be changed, adoption/parenting rights laws would have to be changed, stuff
like that. i guess the question becomes this: why should any people entering
into a bond be allowed certain special rights? and then, what should the
limits be? what number/sex/species of animal should be allowed to enter
into this bond? once you start deconstructing it, the whole thing seems
utterly absurd. to draw the line where we have, for as long as we have,
is completely arbitrary.
my problem is i don't believe in God or Truth.
i wish "who wants to marry a millionaire" was still on fox. maybe next
season.
on to less heavy issues...
updated movies list.
i'd like to see a (short) movie that takes the philosophy behind hip-hop
or the mix-tape and applies it to film. manipulation of found images in
a creative way. if done by the right person i think it could be pretty
cool.
johnny got some new speakers. that was quick.
discovered today that scott simmons, my old film teacher, lives one door
away from me. that's pretty awesome. now if i could only find a way to
break the ice and start borrowing some of his dvds and getting free lessons.
seriously though, i'd really like to talk with that guy because he knows
far too much about film to keep it to his paying students.
i'd like to view the movie "idiots"
again in the context of pushing boundaries. from what i remember the movie
was only so-so in its execution, but left itself open to some interesting
readings. perhaps it would have been better if they pretended to be a group
of monkeys instead of mentally retarded people. then it would have been
pushing the boundaries of human/animal much in the same way that drag queens
push the boundaries of male/female. i'd like to see more people acting
like monkeys for this purpose. i think it's a very valid point that needs
to be made - we are, after all, 98.5% identical to chimps. just as there
are many people who don't fit into "female" or "male" categories, i've
met an equal number of people who don't quite fit into the "human" or "chimpanzee"
categories. to categorize things in such rigid ways, i think, is a bit
fascist and dogmatic. unfortunately, almost by definition, these people
are largely unaware of, and unable to defend, their place in society. because
they lack the intellectual capacity for this sort of thought they cannot
organize in a meaningful way (as gay, bi, and transgender people have).
as a result they have yet to establish any sort of social or political
groups capable of reforming the public's view, or treatment of, their kind.
i may have just found my calling.
i forget who it was, but someone once said that people like you and i are
closer to apes than we are to great philosophers like plato or nietzsche.
i might agree.
2-24-04 (02:37)
"Universal will release Law & Order: The Second Year on May 4th."
updated movies list.
2-23-04 (02:17)
updated movies list.
last night we watched two movies in the theater. on the way back from sacramento
the car broke down. the streak of bad luck continues. who knows what's
wrong or how much it's going to cost. we'll find out tomorrow.
got a rare autechre ep in the mail the other day. there are only three
eps/singles left.
my academy predictions: picture/director - lotr/jackson. actress - theron.
actor - murray. s. actress - zellwegger. s. actor - robbins.
supporting actor is a tough one. robbins didn't have as good a performance,
but sometimes the academy likes to give awards to people who have gotten
the shaft in the past. i think del toro did a better job in 21 grams than
robbins in mystic river, but robbins hasn't been nominated before (as an
actor) and probably should have.
looking over past nominees and winners can be depressing. forrest gump?
jeesh. only three films have won all the major categories - director, picture,
actor, actress and screenplay. it happened one night, one flew over the
cuckoo's nest, and silence of the lambs.
how about this set...1967 best actor:
Bonnie and Clyde Warren Beatty
Cool Hand Luke Paul Newman
Graduate, The Dustin Hoffman
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? Spencer Tracy
In the Heat of the Night Rod Steiger (won)
if you know of a tougher category in any year then let
me know. i know that 1939 was a tough year for picture, but i think
that 67 for actor has the edge.
all i can listen to lately is ambient music. good thing i have plenty of
it.
updated movies i own list.
02-21-04 (02:10)
great
"Mel Gibson's father Hutton has launched a blistering attack on the Jewish
religion - just days before his son's controversial film The Passion Of
The Christ is released in America. Catholic extremist Hutton, 85, claims
the Holocaust never happened and accuses Jews of conspiring to take over
the world. According to British tabloid The Daily Express, Hutton ranted
to an American radio station, "They are after one world religion and one
world government." Mad Max star Mel has faced uproar from the Jewish community
amidst claims his film - about the last few hours of Jesus Christ's life
- is anti-Semitic. Christian Mel has always denied the film is racist towards
Jewish people and says he hold great respect towards the religion."
that movie has gotten an amazing amount of press.
my sister turned 17 today. crazy.
here's an excerpt from my journal 03-11-2000:
"At eleven o'clock tonight I randomly picked names from the student directory
and called people up. It was really fun, but it further proves the level
of sadness my situation has gotten to. I would say something to the effect
of "Hey this is Chris did you want to go out for a quick bite to eat?"...then
they'd either ask who i was or just pretend to know me and say they're
tired or something. then i'd say "remember Chris from English class, etc."...then
they'd be completely perplexed and say i have no idea who you are or something
to that effect. then i'd say "this is give name here right?" they'd
say yes, then i'd say "hmmm, didn't you tell me to call you in english
class yesterday?"...or something to that effect. they might say something
like i don't take english or you must have the wrong number or something
to that effect. then i'd say "hmmm, that's really bizarre. you must think
i'm really weird or something. i'm really sorry, i guess i have the wrong
number" then they'd either be silent or, if they are cool, say oh no -
don't worry about it ha ha ha. then i'd say "well did you want to go out
and get something to eat anyway?" then they'd either be really silent and
i'd say "ha ha, just kidding don't worry about it, sorry bye." or they'd
laugh and say no i'm fine. then i'd say "ha ha, okay, sorry about that
again." the best one was the first one, but i didn't ask her out because
i hadn't gotten it down yet.
the most interesting one was the last one which went something like this:
me "raquel?"
her "yes"
me "hey, it's chris. i was wondering if you wanted to grab a quick
bite to eat."
her silence "uhm, who is this?"
me "it's chris. you know, from english class"
her long pause "uh"
me "trying to piece it together? chris. english class. you told me
to call you tonight. i'm sorry if this is too late."
her pause "uhm, hmmm."
me "i'm sorry. you're raquel, right?"
her "yea that's me. i'm sorry, i'm just trying to get oriented here.
i'm raquel, but i don't think i know you"
me "really?"
her "describe me"
me holy shit, what do i do now "uhm you're 5'7" with dark hair..."
pause
her "anything else?"
me "i'm not really good at description"
her "what length is my hair?"
me "medium length, about to the shoulders"
her "oh, that's not me" duh "i have really long hair"
me "hmmm, this is 555-1515, right?"
her "yes, and i'm raquel. which really isn't a..."
me "yea it's not a common name, that's really weird"
her laugh "no it's not common at all, that's strange. well good
luck finding her"
me "yea thanks. hey you wouldn't want to go out anyway would you?"
her short pause and uncomfortable chuckle
me "i'm just kidding, don't worry about it. well, sorry."
her "yea, well i hope you find her"
me "yea, thanks."
her "well, give me a call if you find her or something to tell me how
it works out."
me laugh "okay, thanks, and sorry again. bye."
her "bye""
i think i was a more funny person back then. at least on my webpage i was.
here's another one from 07-30-2000:
"parties are definitely not for me. the party we were supposed to go to
was canceled so we went to some stupid one in davis which featured a keg,
lots of stupid guys, and few decent girls. vern walked home. i drove kim
(jon's sister) and jon to jack in the crack. while we were there we saw
two girls who couldn't get inside because only the drive thru is open after
1am. i told them they could get in the car and order something with us.
then we drove them home. meanwhile we all talked about the weather or something.
after we dropped them off jon and i decided that we should turn around
and knock on their door in order to acquire their phone numbers. we are
dorks. so we went back to the apartment where we dropped them off and rang
the doorbell three times. no answer. then we went to another apartment
they said they were going to rent starting in september. jon rang the doorbell,
again no answer. we saw a jack in the box bag in front of the door so we
knew we were close. then kim saw them walking up ahead. we drove up to
them and asked for their numbers. they didn't really seem too taken aback
by it even though we had dropped them off 5 minutes ago and were now almost
aimlessly wandering through arlington apartments trying to find them. it
was borderline stalking, but it worked. they don't have phones yet since
they're just moving into these apartments so they gave us the apartment
numbers were they would be staying and asked for our numbers.
all in all it was an interesting ride, but i highly doubt anything will
come of it. this is what i call the game. the game is retarded. i don't
think i'll ever meet a person like me at a party. being different is sometimes
a liability. such is life."
updated movies list.
time to sleep.
my webpage provider upgraded their terms so now i get more webspace. i've
decided to take advantage by creating yearly archive pages. the archive
pull down menu at the top of the page should now include those. e.g. 2002.
it's 5:45 right now. i spent a few hours cutting and pasting old updates
onto the yearly pages. i'm not tired. i woke up too late this morning and
it screwed me up. dammit.
one thing i noticed as a result of doing this, though, is that i was most
prolific in 2000. 2001, 2002, 2003, 1999, and 1998 complete the order from
most updates to fewest. i've been pretty good about updating my webpage
so far this year. also, my movie reviews have gotten much longer in the
last six months so that sort of evens things out in terms of total writing
output.
forgot to mention that jorgay dropped by tower yesterday. he's in town
to play some music off his cd. he came in to drop off some more of his
cds because he expects some people to come by to buy the album.
2-20-04 (02:01)
the first season of quantum leap is coming to dvd in june. some people
say i look like scott bakula...i always took that as an affront, but that's
just me. quantum leap was a decent show though.
updated movies list.
i'm pretty tired.
tomorrow i plan on selling off some cds that i don't listen to anymore.
kings lost tonight. that was expected since it was a road game without
webber or miller and they were playing minnesota who has been playing very
well this year. kg should be mvp this year.
going to look for another job tomorrow. i fucking hate doing that.
i think luke was right about imdb versus allmovie.com there are some things
i like more about allmovie.com, but imdb seems to have more information
more readily available. one thing i like more about allmovie.com is that
if you look up an actor or director you can see which movies have been
released on dvd because there is a disc icon next to those with a dvd release.
they also tend to give good information on the dvd releases. imdb separates
a person's roles in a film so it's easier, for example, to group all the
films that kurosawa wrote, edited or directed. but enough on that.
i'm glad it's my weekend. time to sleep.
2-19-04 (01:42)
today i asked myself who might comprise the pantheon of documentary film
directors. i came up with the following: flaherty, the maysles brothers,
wiseman, and morris. to me those would be the fords and kurosawas of the
genre. those aren't my favorite documentary film directors, but
i feel they have done the most for the genre. one could make an argument
for a ken burns or michael moore, but burns doesn't make feature documentaries
and moore only has a few films under his belt...so far. it's academic.
kurosawa's 'stray dog' is coming to dvd this summer...thanks to criterion,
of course.
updated movies list.
2-18-04 (01:36)
there are no typos in my transcription of the following quote...
"i understand this is a unconventional war. it's a different kind of war.
it's not the kind of war that we're used to in america. the greatest generation
was used to storming beachheads. baby boomers such as myself was used to
getting caught in a quagmire of vietnam, where politics made decisions
more than - more than the military sometimes. generation x was able to
watch technology right in front of their tv screens, you know, burrow into
- into concrete bunkers in iraq and blow them up. this is a different kind
of war that requires a different type of approach and a different type
of mentality." george w. bush, october 11, 2001.
the last month hasn't been very good.
my super bowl team lost, there's been trouble on the home front, chris
webber was suspended for eight games, brad miller sprained his ankle (despite
that the kings did win today), i'm really broke, and i didn't get the job
for the city of davis.
updated movies list.
it's going to rain all week.
i must say it again...i think it was an egregious error on the part of
the AFI to list travis bickle (deniro in taxi driver) as a villain, rather
than a hero. maybe there are two types of people in the world - those wo
view travis bickle as a villain and those who view him as a hero. i guess
i'm in the sick minority on this one.
2-13-4 (01:46)
public's
trust in bush is at an all-time low. i still think he'll win in november,
and here's why...our exit from iraq is still planned for june, but all
that really matters for bush is that we get out before the election. also,
he's probably going to spend as much as 200 million on his election campaign
which will surely iron out any bumps along the way. i think i've finally
gotten a grasp of political forecasting - go with the money and never "misunderestimate"
the stupidity of the people.
updated movies list.
i use a lot of "but"s in my writing. especially when i review a movie.
the positive spin on that might be to say that i look at both sides of
an issue, but, then again, maybe i'm wrong about that.
going to visit johnny, vern and luke tomorrow.
02-12-04 (02:09)
updated movies list.
still no word. every morning i wake up dreading the mail as if i were expecting
a letter from the draft board.
i fucking hate george lucas. even speilberg released both versions of e.t.
when the dvd came out. the alien quadrilogy included both directors' cuts
and theatrical versions of each film. lucas' attempt at revisionist history
shows what kind of respect he has for the fans, truth, and cinema. fuck
him.
the new black heart procession album is pretty good.
"It is said that we live in a free society because we have a certain number
of constitutionally guaranteed rights. But these are not as important as
they seem. The degree of personal freedom that exists in a society is determined
more by the economic and technological structure of the society than by
its laws or its form of government. Most of the Indian nations of New England
were monarchies, and many of the cities of the Italian Renaissance were
controlled by dictators. But in reading about these societies one gets
the impression that they allowed far more personal freedom than our society
does. In part this was because they lacked efficient mechanisms for enforcing
the ruler's will: There were no modern, well-organized police forces, no
rapid long-distance communications, no surveillance cameras, no dossiers
of information about the lives of average citizens. Hence it was relatively
easy to evade control." - ted
2-11-04 (00:35)
today was a strange day.
just before i left for work i got a call. i was hoping it was from the
city regarding my job, but it wasn't. it was james - my boss before joe.
he told me that the city had called him asking about me. we chatted for
a couple minutes and he said that he might come into tower to see the store
and whatnot. later in the day he stopped by and it was good to see him
since he's a pretty cool guy.
so the day started out well, but didn't finish as well. there were an unusual
number of stupid and/or annoying customers who wanted tickets to the "disney
on ice" show that is coming to arco arena this week. their kids ran around
the store causing all sorts of annoyances and just being a general nuisance.
also, since yesterday's bankruptcy announcement there has been a sort of
surreal feeling at the store. i'm sure it's just my own perception, rather
than a real change in anything, but things just feel weird.
"The most requested films for the DVD format will finally become a reality
this September as Lucasfilm Ltd. and Twentieth Century Fox present the
eagerly-awaited Star Wars Trilogy for the ultimate home entertainment format.
The four-disc collection will be released on September 21 in the U.S. and
Canada, with international release dates following closely." unfortunately
they will be released in the 1997 "special edition" versions. that's pretty
fucked up.
setting the record
straight.
i think i may have made doc mad because he hasn't replied to my last email.
i told him god was dead. that may have ruffled his feathers.
fog of war comes out on friday.
this weekend i plan on visiting vern in berkeley or some place.
life hasn't been too exciting lately. every day i wake up and check the
mail in the hope that i haven't gotten a rejection letter from the city.
most nights i watch a movie after work. eating has become a chore.
i can't believe how much the media has focused on the super bowl halftime
show bullshit. i also can't believe that johnny thought the game was boring.
february hasn't been a very good month.
there was a good article on justin frankel in last month's rolling stone
magazine. he's the creator of winamp and a bunch of other nifty software.
i remember reading about him trashing a geo metro just for the hell of
it back in the day when they weren't owned by aol.
2-10-04 (01:39)
updated movies list.
tower records officially filed for bankruptcy today. they say it's just
a restructuring thing and that everything will be okay.
i've been reading the bush dylexicon lately. it's not as good a read as
the last few books i've read.
2-9-04 (01:41)
updated movies list.
2-7-04 (00:43)
updated movies list.
two of my five favorite five films of all-time begin with a plane landing
in los angeles.
didn't get a call from anyone at the city of davis. at this point it looks
pretty grim. this hasn't been a very good week.
2-6-4 (00:20)
listening to some sonny sharrock right now. that guy was great. how about
this for a song title: "portrait of linda in three colors, all black."
not watching a movie tonight. i think i'll watch some south park episodes
that i downloaded a while back.
the new moby album is truly awful. actually it's not a moby album since
he put it out under his "voodoo child" pseudonym.
this
seems to be similar to what's happening to dean....especially after the
incident right after the NH primary where he supposedly shed a tear. i
never saw it, but i heard letterman making fun of it.
"Soft drinks made in India by PepsiCo Inc. and Coca-Cola Co. contain levels
of toxic pesticides -- including lindane, DDT, malathion, and chlorpyrifos
-- high enough to cause cancer or immune-system failure over time.
Such was the conclusion of an Indian parliamentary report released yesterday,
confirming similar findings by the Delhi-based Center for Science and Environment
released last summer. Tests showed that Pepsi's fizzy drinks contained
36 times the pesticide levels allowed under European Union standards, Coke's
30. Although the companies denied that their drinks are unsafe, the
report is widely expected to hurt the $1.6 billion Indian market for soda
and lead to more stringent public-safety regulations in the world's most
populous democracy. Says CSE head Sunita Narain, "Their report is
historic and reads almost like a manifesto for environmental action in
the country.""
"Both The Force.net and Rebel Scum have today posted a rumor that Lucasfilm
and 20th Century Fox will be making their official Star Wars DVD announcement
next week, likely on Tuesday. Their information again confirms that the
films will be released in a 4-disc set, like the Indiana Jones DVDs, and
that the street date is set for 9/21/04."
sherman's march is coming to dvd march 23rd.
i got an email at work today from our manager that said something like
"i don't know what the story is, but there are rumors going around. just
remember that cameras aren't allowed in the store and direct all questions
to me." i guess he was referring to this.
the sac bee historically isn't very kind to tower, but they do provide
me with more information about my employment than my employers, so i'm
thankful for that.
here's the latest one...type in "unelectable" in a google search and then
click on "i'm feeling lucky."
2-5-4 (01:40)
"Voters generally turned out in large numbers in the states holding Democratic
primaries or caucuses Tuesday, with only Missouri and Oklahoma officials
reporting lower than expected turnout. In Arizona, there was unprecedented
turnout for the state's primary as more than 225,000 voters -- or roughly
one-quarter of the state's registered Democrats -- cast ballots, far exceeding
previous records. In New Mexico, officials estimated the total number of
ballots cast in the state's Democratic caucus at about 100,000. North Dakota
saw its caucuses attract almost five times as many Democratic voters as
a similar presidential preference caucus in March 2000. Democratic National
Committee Terry McAuliffe said the numbers show there's excitement among
Democrats about the chances of beating President Bush in the general election.
Several Republicans take issue with that assessment, arguing that primary
results don't correlate to turnout in a general election. In South Carolina,
for example, Democratic officials said the 300,000 votes cast Tuesday was
high considering they came in a heavily Republican state. But Matthew Dowd,
chief strategist for Bush-Cheney 2004, said more than 560,000 Republican
voters turned out in 2000 when President Bush was running against Arizona
Sen. John McCain."
i think that is mostly good good news. but this
is not.
i think i heard that dean is still second in total delegates, even though
he didn't get second in any of the races yesterday. but, at this point,
i think it's pretty clear that kerry is going to be the guy. even if dean
has a strong showing in the industrial states and the western states (and
he should do better than he has in those states), he still probably won't
be able to catch up to kerry.
updated movies list.
"Starting this fall, seafood sold in the U.S. will be labeled with information
about where it was caught, the country where it was processed, and whether
it was wild or farmed, thanks to a provision in a spending bill recently
passed by Congress. Seafood will be the first food group subject
to "country of origin" labeling, something the beef and pork industries
have avoided through heavy lobbying. The provision was welcomed by enviro
and consumer groups, who point to recent news that farmed salmon contains
high levels of pesticides as one of many reasons consumers need more complete
information. It was also welcomed by Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska),
chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee and muscular advocate for
Alaska's wild salmon fishers. The rest of the seafood industry was
pretty ticked off, claiming that the labeling requirements would produce
a logistical nightmare. Consumer groups say it's only a matter of
time before beef and pork are labeled as well."
this is next story is really troubling. i think they recently outlawed
bikes in shanghai, and i know that cars are becoming more and more popular
in china in general. the last thing the world needs is another america
(in terms of consumption).
"Last year, China became the world's second-largest importer of oil (take
a wild guess who's No. 1), struggling to keep up with the energy demands
of an economy expanding at a rate of 9.9 percent annually. Having
recently concluded, like other oil-thirsty countries, that the volatile
Middle East might not be a stable, long-term source of black gold, China
has begun jostling with other global energy consumers -- notably the U.S.,
Japan, and Europe -- to find oil in more out-of-the-way locations.
Recent months have seen Chinese President Hu Jintao visit the African nations
of Gabon and Algeria, not exactly high-profile diplomatic allies, but lucrative
sources for oil contracts. China's ballooning energy demands are
helping to fuel an oil boom in West Africa."
2-4-4 (02:27)
updated movies list.
i wish there were more errol morris and frederick wiseman films on dvd.
"After being unavailable for nearly three years, Criterion's DVD of Stanley
Donen's classic spy thriller Charade is coming back in print this spring.
The Charade re-release will feature an all-new 16x9-enhanced high-definition
digital transfer, in addition to all the supplements featured on the original
release. Look for Charade in April of this year."
where did the tradition of a dead man's hand in poker being aces over eights
start? there are lots of references in westerns to it, but i don't know
how it all started.
my obsession with movies is becoming almost insane. every movie i watch
opens up a new list of movies that i want to check out or buy. one would
think that every movie i watch would be one less for me to watch later,
but what ends up happening is that every movie i watch makes me add another
couple movies to my netflix queue or my dvd wish list. right now i have
311 movies and that's a lot. but i could double that within a week if i
had the money. i've already seen 48 movies this year, but if i had the
time and resources i probably would have seen twice that number by now.
i suppose there are worse obsessions to have.
in the last week i've seen two dvds with quotes from peter travers (of
rolling stone magazine), both read "there's magic in it!" if i had access
to lexis-nexis i'd do a search for peter travers and "there's magic in
it!" i wonder how many times he's used that one. rolling stone magazine
is just plain bad.
my interview with a real canadian.
time to sleep.
2-3-4 (02:04)
updated movies list.
on my list i've decided to start keeping track
i'm still mad about the super bowl.
"Shawshank Redemption: Special Edition is planned for September DVD release
by Warner Bros. to celebrate the film's 10th anniversary."
2-2-4 (02:58)
updated movies list.
need some sleep.
by the end of the week i should know about the job.
by the end of tuesday we will probably have a clearer picture of who will
lose to george bush in november. i don't understand a political culture
that, nine months before the actual election, has already lost interest
in voting their conscience. so many people have already flopped over to
kerry, even if he wasn't their first choice, because he appears to be more
"electable."
i was very sad to see the panthers lose today. we should and could have
won, but we didn't and i don't want to dwell on all the things we did wrong
or could have done differently. stevonne smith got a touchdown and that
was exciting. the panthers are better than people gave them credit for
and they proved that today. i knew they'd do well. the only surprise for
me was that it turned out to be a high scoring game.
2-1-4 (01:36)
"A recent flurry of announcements from the Bush administration about proposed
funding increases for environmental projects -- including salmon restoration
and brush clearing in the Northwest, Everglades protection in Florida,
and cleanup of the Great Lakes -- has some enviros suspicious. Not
that they aren't glad to have a bit more money going to good causes.
But they point out that the funding increases have several things in common:
they are for programs the administration pushed to cut as recently as last
year; they represent a fraction of the money requested by the affected
parties; they were announced with fanfare in an election year; and, most
significantly, they funnel money to crucial electoral battleground states.
"God help you if you're waiting for EPA to clean up a toxic waste site
outside of a swing state," said Phil Clapp, president of the National Environmental
Trust. The White House rejected the contention that its announcements
were politically motivated."
updated movies list.
44 movies in one month.