Sour Duck

And under the boughs unbowed

2007-11-07T17:30:00.000-08:00

Detail from The Crane Wife by Carson Ellis

The Decemberists have created a wonderfully lyrical album with The Crane Wife. There are many great moments, both musically and dramatically; here are a few of my favorite sections.

Colin Meloy writes the lyrics, and he has an ear for words and phrases. Once he writes a killer stanza, he's not above repeating it to stretching point, as on "Sons and Daughters":

"When we arrive, sons and daughters
We'll make our homes on the water
We'll build our walls of aluminum
We'll fill our mouths with cinnamon"

Extended through repetition until your heart nearly breaks for joy.

My favorite dramatic moment occurs on "The Perfect Crime #2", not only for the startling image, but for the pause in a song that's been chugging away like a locamotive:

"It was like a ticker-tape parade
When the plastique on the safe was blown away
And we all gazed eye to eye
As we mouthed our silent goodbyes"

Some of the songs seem so authentically rooted in history, you wonder if band members spent time in a library, as The Band did for "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down". "Yankee Bayonet" doesn't sound written, it sounds unearthed.

"You'll Not Feel the Drowning" reminds me of Richard and Linda Thompson's horrific "The End of the Rainbow" (I Want To See the Bright Lights Tonight) in both tone and intent. Although the former is sung to (presumably) the landlord's daughter, and the latter is sung to the narrator's son, both act as disquieting lullabies showing contempt for their targets.

Literary, tragic, upbeat, redemptive: The Crane Wife is one wave you want to be swallowed by.

Rosebud

2007-10-31T18:05:00.000-07:00

I'm reading "The Making of Citizen Kane" by Robert L. Carringer and enjoying it immensely. Basically his thesis is that Kane was a collaborative effort, despite the shift in film circles towards focusing on the director as sole auteur.

To quote Carringer directly:

"James Naremore's The Magic World of Orson Welles, the first certifiably academic book on its subject, made what had become a familiar claim: 'Citizen Kane is the product of an individual artist (and a company of his associates) working at a particular movie studio at a particular historical moment.' In contract, this study [Carringer's] attempts to show that the collaborative process provides the best framework for understanding the remarkable achievement this film represents." (Preface, ix)

The book proceeds to demystify the film with chapters on scripting, art direction, cinematography, and post-production.

One thing I've learned is just how much pre-production work is created and subsequently discarded, as issues regarding the scope and budget of the film are thrashed out. This scrapping of work, which at first glance appears to be so wasteful, invariably results in a more tightly written, and compelling, narrative.

The whole process is a combination of hard work and luck, and there's always a collaborative feel.

Roger Ebert commentary

Roger Ebert's DVD commentary is well worth a listen. One of the points he raises is that there's as much special effects in Citizen Kane as in Star Wars.

Ebert mentions something I'd noticed on watching the movie again: the opening sequence is strikingly similar to Rebecca (1940), which was based on the 1938 novel by Daphne du Maurier. The memorable opening of that film takes the viewer through the grounds of Manderley, whilst du Maurier's opening text provides a narrative frame. For Kane (1941), a series of matte prints were used to show the gates and grounds of the fictional Xanadu. It's a good use of special effects to create an atmosphere, aiding the storytelling rather than distracting from it.

The opening to Kane could have been influenced by Rebecca, and this illustrates a sort of magpie dynamic going on here with Kane. Carringer notes that the use of the glass snowball when Kane dies may have been inspired by another RKO picture, Kitty Foyle (1940) (Scripting, pg. 19).

As my Art History professor used to say, "Art grows from art."

Another gem on the commentary: at one point, Ebert quotes someone else's assessment that, "Citizen Kane is a shallow masterpiece." I think that's a fair statement, and something that I've always felt but never been able to say out loud.

There's also a sort of textual/aural special effect, perhaps the most stunning special effect of all: the use of one word to provide continuity and interest in the story:

Rosebud.

Foux Da Fa Fa

2007-08-07T16:04:00.000-07:00

Just for fun: a brief clip from Flight of the Conchords that sends up instructional language films and '60s innocence. It's in the same vein as the opening credits to Austin Powers.

There are some lovely details, including the 'foux' deteriorated quality of film, which has hair floating on the reel; sunny location shoots; and retro costumes.

There's also some sly poking fun at Americans -- check out the look Bret shoots Jemaine at the beginning.

Sensational: "Octopus's Garden" on Beatles LOVE

2007-07-20T17:35:00.000-07:00

The Beatles' song, "Octopus's Garden", is everybody's favorite. Here I look at the remastered version on Love (2006), a CD put together by George Martin and his son.

The backstory of the song is fascinating.

Firstly, there was a pleasantly organic stimulus for the conception of "Octopus's Garden":

"The idea for the song came about when Starr was on a boating trip with his family in Sardinia in 1968. He was offered an octopus lunch, but turned it down. Then the boat's captain told Starr about how octopuses travel along the sea bed picking up stones and shiny objects with which to build gardens.[1] Starr said that hearing about octopuses spending their days collecting shiny objects at the bottom of the sea was one of the happiest things he had ever heard. Starr then decided to write this song."

But there's slightly more to the story. During recording of The White Album, The Beatles were experiencing a tumultuous time as a band, with arguments in the recording studio. Ringo became increasingly frustrated with the bickering, and felt his creative input was marginalized. He walked out and spent a couple of weeks with Peter Sellers on his yacht.

I wonder if the escapist vision of an underwater utopia held immense appeal at that time of crisis? The simplicity of the self-contained world must've been like an antidote to the conflict within the group.

Quite a gem of a song to come out a conflict. My favorite aspects of the remastered "Octopus's Garden":

the tension of the slow beginning - you're just waiting for the song to kick off
the trebley sound, which highlights the vocals
about mid-way through the song, Lennon (at least, it sounds like Lennon) saying, "beautiful -- sensational" - lends a touch of that Beatles humor

The embedded video above uses the Love remastering against a montage of photos and snippets of film of Ringo Starr. This is surprisingly effective.

You can also hear a portion of the song at the Love website, with noticeably superior sound quality.

There's a flat, almost atonal quality with Ringo's voice that's appealing. The appeal of an atonal delivery is, of course, counter-intuitive, and is more startlingly apparent on Sgt. Pepper's "With a little help from my friends", the lyrics of which pointedly comment on this.

One last bit of trivia: Ringo blew into a glass of water using a straw in order to create the bubbling effect.

Sensational.

CD Art: "Everything will never be ok"

2007-07-16T09:03:00.001-07:00

A few comments about the photography on Fiction Plane's Everything will never be ok.

The front cover is the most crucial and enduring image, for each album or CD. Here, the innocence of a young boy is mocked by the text [Image 1]. The harsh sentiment of the line of text makes the child's innocence and weakness even more keenly felt; the boy's hair and delicate features seem even more vulnerable. The landscape (what is visible) is clinical and barren, with no adults around: there's only a white emptiness with a subtle gradation of blue-grey surrounding the shoulders of the boy. The headset is ominous and benevolent guardian, its oversized ear cups clamped onto the boy's head. A slight smile on the boy's lips assure us he's okay - or at least, he thinks so, for the album title, Everything will never be ok, twists the usual reassurance adults dole out to children.

The cover's vicious observation, humor and nostalgia shares the same sensibility as the music inside.

The bitter observation, nostalgia, and humor in this cover image shares the same sensibility with the music inside.

[Image 2, back cover] What we expect to see: youthful band members.

The back shows a group portrait of the band, and feels fairly standard, if slightly confrontational.

Opening the CD case and removing the disc gives a momentary shock:

[Image 3, inside back cover] The flipside; self-parody or respectful nod?

It's the same grouping, but time has sped up forty years or so [Image 3]. And while it's still confrontational, different problems are raised. If you laughed at first, why? Does it take away from their role as rock band once they've aged? What about the clothes -- it reminds us that the cool factor of fashion fades eventually. The photo spins out into all sorts of uncomfortable realizations.

The inside liner notes feature a series of portraits of old age, some with dignity, and some without [Image 5, below].

Fiction Plane's prominent placement of older people reminded me of Fairport Convention's Unhalfbricking (1969), the cover of which showed band member Sandy Denny's parents, Neil and Edna Denny, outside the family home in Wimbledon, South London (citation: Wikipedia).

[Image 4] Cover to Fairport Convention's Unhalfbricking.

The Guardian Observer points out the the eccentricity and nationalism on display:

"The final stroke of inspiration was the sleeve, shot at the suburban home of Denny's parents, who stand awkwardly in the fore ground while the group themselves are half hidden behind a trellis fence. The image is pretty much perfect, rendering a mundane English idea unsettling, as if the age-old strangeness that underlies our national patchwork might be about to burst forth. From here on in that's exactly what happened." (Guardian Observer, June 20, 2004)

These three images -- the front, back, and inside back -- create a sort of tableau of three major life stages. If Unhalfbricking's cover has assured immortality to Sandy Denny's parents, Fiction Plane's art anticipates and attempts to control the artists' mortality.

I think there's also an uncomfortableness with ambiguity, found in the textual assertion that "everything will (never) be okay" [Images 1, 6]. Temporal foreknowledge must be certain, and there can't be any allowance for factors not in the subject's control. The concern with time is also evident in the liner note props, e.g., the giant clock and wilting flowers.

[Image 5] One of the liner images.

[Image 6] Prescription bottle and pills.

Image credits for Fiction Plane CD: Photography by Perou, design by Chris Turner @ Dark Matter.

Bottom/Peep Show/Spinal Tap Mashup: Flight of the Conchords

2007-07-15T10:12:00.000-07:00

There's a new comedy called "Flight of the Conchords", but I can't help seeing old shows in it.

While randomly blog hopping, I found a link to "Flight of the Conchords", a comedy about a band trying to make it big. "I has a flavor" alright, and it's New Zealand.

The New Zealand angle is the most original aspect about the show. It takes the classic two-men-and-a-flat formula (e.g., Steptoe and Son) and adds guitars and a New Zealand accent. That's not to say this mashup isn't original and funny, but it does seem to cite other comedies alot.

For instance, the general filth, junkiness and cramped living conditions of their apartment -- the kitchen of which can be seen in the clip below -- reminds me of "Bottom".

My favorite character is the band's manager, Murray (Rhys Darby), who looks vaguely like David Brent of "The Office" but acts more like Mark Corrigan from "Peep Show".

His scenes are the funniest, leading to some distinctly Spinal Tappish moments. See the opening scene in Episode 4: Yoko, where the band meet the Manager outside a grotty photocopier shop to discuss the "band rotundas" tour. ("I've had this organized for ages! I was going to tell you the difference between, y'know, gazeebos and band shells.") I particularly like his line at the end of the scene: "I won't say goodbye, I don't feel like it."

There's also some excellent supporting performances with Kristen Schaal as the band's "fanbase", and Sutton Foster as Coco.

There's more than a little Jeremy in the Conchords' Jemaine, both physically and in the character.

I haven't seen an episode with Dave yet, but I wonder if he's Super Hans to the Conchords' Jeremy.

Is all comedy doomed to be self-referential?

Oh crystal ball, save us all

2007-07-14T10:45:00.000-07:00

An annual "what, no comments?" post, and a confession of self-indulgence at the end, with a reference to the musical group, Keane.

The comments seem to have dried up here. I was particularly disappointed in the lack of comments on the last post. I've read elsewhere people saying if the blog author doesn't respond to their comments, they stop leaving them. Is this what's happened? Have I finally driven off my five commenters (possibly five readers) by not responding to their remarks?

I'm usually quite comfortable not responding to comments and only do so if I know the person or have developed a relationship with them. Even then I might not respond. What is there to say? I wrote something, you commented. Very good. A further response doesn't seem necessary.

However, I also understand this style can't be very welcoming to newcomers, who might assign unintended malice to my non-response.

And when the comments dry up completely it's a bit disturbing. But only a bit.

It's the usual blogger insecurity. Time to listen to Keane's Under the Iron Sea, I think. In the end you have to learn not to rely on immediate feedback and go ahead and write what you will.

On a seperate note, I had a brownie with coffee this morning and it was fantastic.

"The more I look the more I think I'm starting to disappear."

It's cocktail time -- iPhone style

2007-07-10T18:29:00.000-07:00

Summary: iPhone/Sandra Lee/email mashup. Have a great summer -- tirrah!

If you're sick of the iPhone hoopla, here's a video not sanctioned by Sandra Lee from a website called Will It Blend?. (Via)

Speaking of Sandra Lee, I caught one of her newer segments the other day in which she made a post-modern gesture. At the beginning of the show she said she had something very special in store, and "I know some of you are probably thinking 'cocktail hour', but no, it's not that…" She did this in a jokey way, and it was a nice nod to the fans, aside from being quite funny.

I'm on email holiday right now -- enjoy the rest of the summer, everyone.

Review: Everything will never be ok - Fiction Plane

2007-07-05T07:38:00.000-07:00

Anger, fear, wanting to die and wanting to live: it's all here.

Fiction Plane has put together a jangly, power-gushing CD that's at once full of vitality and deterioration.

The hooky tunes are more immediately accessible, of course. After a couple of listens, "Cigarette", "Hate", and "I wish I would die" were my stand-out picks.

"Everything will never be ok" is ambivalent about the ways people frame their suffering, and seems to advocate temporary escapism ("It's just as real to escape as to suffer") instead of constant self-absorbtion. The power pop confidence of the song pulls it out of its introspection, though.

"Cigarette" has viscerally disgusting description of what its like to have a partner who smokes, not to mention the funniest use of "meth" I've ever seen:

Girl you smoking cigarettes
Rancid poison on your breath
Taste yourself you smell like death
To love you I must drink my meth

Kiss you is like lick the street
Tar and spit between my teeth
Heart attacks and sweet relief
Take your pleasures life is brief

"Fallow" takes a determined turn toward the sun, and includes some backing vocals which I really liked. "Real Real" annoyed me initially but then grew on me, especially with lines like, "A glowing hypnotist sells us a beauty we don't need" and "We give our days to nothing / But we're not prepared to bleed".

Real Real's first stanza reaches Radiohead levels of self-disgust, and indeed the following track, "Everybody Lies" has moans that sound a bit like Thom Yorke. The Radiohead vibe carries on into track ten, "Sickness", but we snap back to Fiction Plane with "Silence" and the claustrophobia of a character assumed by the singer.

Rating: 3/5

Highlights: "Cigarettes", "Hate", "Real Real"

Similar to: Radiohead, smidgen of Eels and perhaps We Are Scientists

Image: Photography by Perou, design by Chris Turner @ Dark Matter

New CDs to review

2007-07-03T09:57:00.001-07:00

I bought some CDs online and they arrived the other day, so I plan on writing a few reviews here.

The CDs shown in the photo are: Fiction Plane, Everything will never be ok, The Who, Who's Next, The Kinks, Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround (Part One), Tom Waits, Rain Dogs, and The Who, A Quick One.

Fiction Plane is completely new to me; somehow Lola and Rain Dogs were missing from my collection and I decided it's time they were added.

I'm familiar with some tracks off of Who's Next and A Quick One, but had never heard the CDs in their entirety. These two purchases were a direct result of my seeing The Who: The Kids Are Alright and Rolling Stones: Rock and Roll Circus.

The Who's performance in Rock and Roll Circus is absolutely stunning. It was recorded in London in 1968, but never released, because apparently The Rolling Stones weren't happy with their performance and thought The Who outshone them. I only know this because the KQED hosts discussed this during the break.

The Who's magnetic performance does undermine The Rolling Stones, but any band would've been overshadowed by The Who. Besides, you get to see a very good performance of "Sympathy for the Devil" so no complaints there. You also get to see John Lennon goofy as all get-out dancing in the audience, and the final closing singalong that starts with Mick Jagger and ends in a group chorus is fantastic.

Anyways Happy Fourth of July and hopefully I'll get some reviews up.

"Sugar Coated Iceberg" by The Lightning Seeds

2007-06-24T16:19:00.000-07:00

Too sweet? Nah.

Another recommendation for pop music fans: "Sugar Coated Iceberg" by The Lightning Seeds. This track is from their 1996 album, Dizzy Heights.

Sugar Coated Iceberg

I don't care what songs you sing
Or how you think of all those pointless things
Sweet nothing's what you bring
So fly away on sugar-coated wings

I'm sinking deep, I'm going under
That sugar-coated iceberg tastes so sweet
Until you tumble
Those sugar-coated lies!

All those tricky things you said
On angel wings they're flying 'round my head
You weren't cheap, but I was sold
I should forget you, but I won't be told

I'm sinking deep, I'm going under
That sugar-coated iceberg tastes so sweet
Until you tumble
Those sugar-coated lies!

Sweet and sour, as gold and coal
A sugar iceberg stole my soul
And hid it deep inside my heart
Threw it through me like a poison dart

I'm sinking deep, I'm going under
That sugar-coated iceberg tastes so sweet
Until you tumble
Those sugar-coated lies!

My little sweet sugar-coated iceberg
You melt beneath my feet
You shook me up, but then I tumbled
Those sugar-coated lies!

Sugar-coated iceberg
Sugar-coated iceberg

I don't care if it kills me,
'cause it thrills me

I disagree with the All Music Guide review of Dizzy Heights:

"[…] But guess what—this album sounds just like all of main man Ian Broudie's other creations; it has that same obsession with the perfect '60s melody, polite guitars, and saccharine vocals on an endless quest to rewrite 'Unchained Melody' for the '90s. Too many plays will send you running to the dentist, or back to your Iggy albums at the very least."

Although not my favorite Lightning Seeds album, Dizzy Heights boasts a tracklist that would make most artists green with envy: "Imaginary Friends", "You Bet Your Life", "Fingers and Thumbs", "Touch and Go", the aforementioned "Sugar Coated Iceberg", "You Showed Me", and my favorite, "Ready or Not". I'm having difficulty finding "lowpoints" to leave out!

And the sweetness of the vocals doesn't bother me as much as the reviewer. In fact, the "saccharine" works especially well on songs with an edge, such as the cutting profile drawn in "Imaginary Friends". Anyways Ian Broudie possesses one of the most distinctive and beautiful voices in pop.

The review goes on to say, "Too many plays will send you running to the dentist". Nope. I could listen to it twenty times in a row and not overdose on Broudie's sugary voice.

Play it again—I'm going under.

And the Butters of blogging is...

2007-06-22T18:31:00.000-07:00

I used to say I wasn't into memes, now it seems every other week I'm responding to one.

Why let the online equivalent of stadium waves set the agenda for what I write about? Because there's an appalling lack of posts in my Bloglines subscriptions today, and I'm hoping to break the lull.

I've checked the movie rating for this blog. This is one of those online gizmos that you type your blog url into and see what results pop up.

Something I'd always suspected:

I've sworn! I've used taboo words! I should get at least a PG ranking. But the movie rater doesn't agree with my self-assessment.

More Butters than Craig, it turns out.

"Aw gee, fellas…"

;) Have a great weekend, everyone.

Via I See Invisible People. Image: Wikipedia

I can has privacy?

2007-06-20T07:15:00.000-07:00

Still not entirely played out for me yet: lolcats. Here are some of my favorites, along with a special bonus link.

For me, the key to the enduring charm of lolcats isn't the pictures, but the captions. These can make or break a lolcat, shooting them into inter-stellar internet comedy, or plummeting them into rocky mundanity. A skilled lolcat captioner is worth their weight in gold.

On this first one, what's working for me is the caption, which did indeed make me lol:

1. I was waiting for you to call

This second one relies on your knowledge of the backstory:

2. O HAI GOOGLZ

And my all-time favorite, because of its ambition to be the War and Peace of lolcats:

3. srsly…

The photos are from an article that appeared in the Daily Mail about a cat that rides the bus:

"Driver Bill Khunkhun, 49, who first saw the cat jumping from the bus in January, said: 'It is really odd, the first time I saw the cat jumping off the bus with a group of passengers. I hadn't seen it get on which was a bit confusing.

'The next day I pulled up on Churchill Road to let a couple of passengers on. As soon as I opened the doors the cat ran towards the bus, jumped on and ran under one of the seats, I don't think any of the passengers noticed.

'Because I had seen it jump off the day before I carried on driving and sure enough when I stopped just down the road he jumped off - I don't know why he would catch the bus but he seems to like it. I told some of the other drivers on this route and they have seen him too.'

Since January, when the cat first caught the bus he has done it two or three times a week and always gets on and off at the same stops."

Srsly? Well, maybe a story manufactured for the Daily Mail, and maybe not.

For more on lolcats, see Anil Dash's post, Cats Can Has Grammar.

That's about all I have to say on lolcats.

KTHXBYE

........

Oh hai

I has memory lapse

Ur bonus link: Shocking Cats

Srsly bye

Mmmmm... latte

2007-06-19T10:46:00.000-07:00

Some personal minutiae about my day.

Went for a walk this morning along the public trails. It's really starting to heat up early now, and I was perspiring lightly towards the end. The sun was out and it's just beautiful weather this morning.

On the way home, I swung by Safeway for a Starbucks. The sugar in the latte probably offsets the exercise, but - aw, heck - today I felt like a treat.

This leads me to a related question I want to throw out there. The paint on my coffee machine's hot plate has started to chip. There are a few small patches now where the glass pot touches the metal directly.

Is this something to be concerned about, in terms of the heat cracking the pot?

1980s film revisited: The Big Chill and Crossing Delancey, Part 3

2007-06-18T09:34:00.000-07:00

This is the conclusion of a series examining why some movies age better than others. For previous posts, see parts one and two.

Use of music

The Big Chill uses music in what was a startlingly new way at the time: as mini-commentary on what events were unfolding on-screen, and as short MTV style music videos to provide respite from heavy issues in the story.

So, for instance, we get The Rolling Stones' "You Can't Always Get What You Want" during a funeral and prior to its reception. Later in the movie, there's an extensive scene of washing-up in the kitchen to a Motown classic that was very fresh and creative at the time. This approach to the soundtrack was fresh and creative at the time.

However, overall I think that the music acts as a crutch in the film, hastening us along when the story is thin or starts to feel leaden. While I admire the innovative approach, it comes at too high a cost. The characters and plot is subjugated to the rise of nostalgia and illusion of progression triggered by 60s classics.

So, instead of focusing on Kevin Kline's character, we forget about him as we watch him singing to Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Bad Moon Rising". You feel like you're being taken somewhere, but the destination, like his ride in the car, is forgotten and it only matters that he, and we, sing along. Yes, it is a great song. But what about the story?

In this way the film manipulates the audience's feelings for 60s classics while shortchanging us on the story.

As the songs progress, we too feel like there's a forwarding of the story. But it's an illusion: the only thing forwarded is that we get to re-live an old song. Any sense of progression is merely the emotional response as we move through the song to its completion.

Crossing Delancey relies on 50s style shoo-bop songs early in the film, but this quickly fades into the background as we become more involved in the story and characters. Instead of acting as a crutch, the music sets audience expectations that this will be a light, single-note comedy.

Once you have found him, never let him go

There's a remarkable scene in Crossing Delancey that I'd almost say was the pivotal scene in the film. Izzy is having lunch at a hot dog place (Papaya King?). It's crowded, the decor is bright and cheap, it's a place for a quick bite on the run. A woman walks in off the street—we know immediately she's slightly crazy because her makeup is theatrical and over-the-top. She ceremoniously drops a shawl and begins to sing "Some Enchanted Evening".

You remember how that song goes? It's by Rodgers and Hammerstein and appears in the musical South Pacific:

Some enchanted evening
You may see a stranger
You may see a stranger
Across a crowded room
And somehow you know
You know even then
That somewhere you'll see her
Again and again

Some enchanted evening
Someone may be laughing
You may hear her laughing
Across a crowded room
And night after night
As strange as it seems
The sound of her laughter
Will sing in your dreams

Who can explain it?
Who can tell you why?
Fools give you reasons
Wise men never try

Some enchanted evening
When you find your true love
When you feel her call you
Across a crowded room
Then fly to her side
And make her your own
Or all through your life you
May dream all alone

Once you have found her
Never let her go
Once you have found her
Never let her go

This scene is one of the most complex that appears in the movie. On the one hand, it's incredibly funny: the woman singing takes her performance very seriously, she believes she's giving something beautiful to the hot-dog patrons. And she is. On the other hand, she's obviously nutty, the patrons don't know what to make of her and stare at her, dumbfounded. It's one of those fantastic, quintessential New York moments.

More importantly, the woman's performance freezes Izzy. Something about the lyrics, or the woman, speaks to her. In fact, she seems to be singing directly at, and for, Izzy. The performance is at once pitiful and moving, funny and bizarre.

It raises larger questions for the audience: does this romantic schmaltz have relevance for the 80s career woman? Is this model working anymore for women, and if not, what is there to replace it? Isn't the discourse of love-is-everything now out-of-date for career women? And hasn't this sort of thing led to women being incredibly unhappy with their lives?

Another scene shows a salad bar in a grocery store during lunch-time. Each New Yorker moves in slow motion, and the use of music here provides another reflective moment in the film. We see New Yorkers picking over the salad bar, placing food in plastic trays for one. Everyone is separate. Izzy moves among them, and we can think about how her story is just one of many in a large city.

It's not an entirely sad moment, though. It does prompt us to wonder, does Izzy feel sealed off from others, able to see them but not connect, much like the food in her plastic tray? The scene also raises questions about the convenience of modern life and how it also enables continuous separation throughout the working day.

While the music in this scene tells us how to feel, there's reasoning behind it's inclusion in the film. It's important because it gives the movie depth, comments on the single life, questions modernity, and gives the audience a pause before resuming with the story.

Other trends: interior decorating, the literary scene

The Big Chill showcases the glamour of 80s yuppie lifestyle: the Georgian house, the Porche, the sunglasses and high-end sneakers, interior decorating with peach walls, framed art prints, and curved overstuffed sofas. The film is like a moving catalog.

In Crossing Delancey, there's a roach on the wall of Izzy's apartment.

Izzy aspires to a sophisticated—and perhaps more gentile?—lifestyle. She uses the rhetoric of "style" to distance herself from the lower east side and matchmaking. When she first meets Sam she tells him, "This isn't my style," a line that's repeated by Sam with a hint of faint disbelief.

What Izzy is so quick to turn her back on turns out to be not such a bad system afterall. The matchmaking system stands up pretty well against the yuppie dating scene.

What is her style? Literary discussions at the bookstore where she works. These take place after the bookstore is closed, giving them an air of elitism.

While Izzy's interest in a social literary gatherings is admirable, the events are shown to be one-way exercises in ego-worshipping. You may recall that in the 1980s there was a resurgence in bookselling, with literary blockbusters like Bonfire of the Vanities re-energizing the book market. Books were being marketed more aggressively, too. This changing sector is briefly alluded to in the beginning of the film, when the small independently owned bookshop holds a fund-raising party to help fight off chain-store booksellers.

The movie spends part of its time deflating the hype surrounding 80s literary sensations. The famous author Izzy is dazzled by turns out to be a jerk, and the literary gatherings are nothing more than one-way ego massages for the authors (leading to some funny scenes).

Conclusion

The Big Chill tapped into baby boomer nostalgia through it's use of music and college friendships reaffirmed. The movie acted as justification of yuppie lifestyles and values. In this way, it told audiences what they wanted to hear.

Crossing Delancey used the romantic genre to comment on the tension between 80s values and traditional values. It was a reminder not to forget family, religion, and community, nor the useful things that sprang out of these, like matchmaking. It saw cultural hype—such as literary blockbusters—as just that: hype.

Crossing Delancey also slips in subtle acknowledgement of emerging domestic arrangements, e.g., the woman who is raising a child seperately from the father.

I began this series in an attempt to dismantle each film with regards to aging: what elements age a movie while others don't, and why. Crossing Delancey has timeless themes set against a backdrop of 80s trends, issues and anxieties. The Big Chill substitutes this backdrop for the movie itself, so that, with the passing of time, it loses much of its relevancy and weight.

While The Big Chill attempts to address the themes of mourning and grief, it's understanding and handling of these themes is limited and superficial, undermined by the soundtrack and poor characterizations. It's main theme seems to be nostalgia, for a time before professionalism. But it never successfully grapples with this issue, because it doesn't distance itself from the 1980s.

Crossing Delancey distances itself from 80s culture, and that's why it's aged better than The Big Chill.

Mims' "This Is Why I'm Hot": Venn diagrams, anyone?

2007-06-15T10:47:00.000-07:00

An academic approach to "the number one song in America", Mims' "This Is Why I'm Hot".

The article, by Rob Harvilla in The Village Voice, starts out with simple Venn diagrams to explain the states of being "hot" and "fly". This is funny enough, but then it goes on to acknowledge that these may be "visually unhelpful" and offers us several more diagrams to explain a fairly-straight forward song.

I think my favorite is Figure 4, titled "Are you hot?".

All this is very amusing, as was no doubt intended, but the article really hits its stride when it addresses my pet peeve: calling San Francisco "Friso". That's only slightly worse than calling Northern California "NorCal".

My comments are inserted into the paragraph in square brakcets:

"Our quarrel lies with 'If you need it hyphy/I take it to the Bay,' an homage to the Oakland–San Francisco Bay Area's relentlessly knuckleheaded and sorta wonderful hyphy movement, with its proclivities for going dumb, making thizz faces, ghost-riding the whip, etc. (Yahdidabooboo.) [I have no idea what this means.] But unlike Mims's other geographical shout-outs, that's all he says here—'I take it to the Bay/'Frisco to Sac-town/They do it e'y'day.' [This is the part I love:] First of all, no one calls it 'Frisco' except rhyme-starved rappers, and the only worthwhile MCs living anywhere near Sacramento are in prison. But even worse, there's no style adjustment here—he just takes it to the Bay. This is wholly insufficient for hotness—several entities that take it to the Bay do not qualify…"

Another, more complex diagram follows. This is the climactic diagram to the whole thing.

And I thought I overanalyzed music.

More about Mims at All Music Guide.

Via Distracted

San Francisco Zoo unveils new bear habitat

2007-06-15T08:57:00.000-07:00

Here are a few local stories related to the Bay Area heat wave. And bears.

Sonoma County has ordered water rationing for residents.

Cal Fire is making fire awareness maps available to the public for the first time. Hopefully this will spread brush fire awareness and help homeowners take steps to protect their homes. You can look up your area by county or address.

The San Francisco Zoo unveils it's new bear habitat, "Hearst Grizzly Gulch". This particular press release doesn't say anything further about the Hearst name, but I'm assuming the Hearst Foundation had something to do with funding the Grizzly Gulch.

Further down the zoo's press release web page, a different entry explains the Hearst association:

"[The bear] Monarch's affiliation with the San Francisco Zoo began in 1889 when San Francisco Examiner media magnate, William Randolph Hearst, engaged one of his reporters, Allen Kelly, in a heated debate over whether grizzlies still existed in California. Hearst ended the argument by challenging Kelly to go out and find one. Photographic proof would not suffice; Kelly had to bring the animal back alive. After five months in the mountains of Ventura County, Kelly and the Examiner party lured an enormous grizzly into a catch pen baited with honey and mutton. A crowd of 20,000 were waiting at the Townsend Street station to greet the triumphant Kelly and his California grizzly."

Yanking a bear out of its habitat to settle a dispute is unbecoming to modern sensibilities; I suppose it was a stunt to sell more newspapers.

Getting back to the bear habitat story: they've included a pool containing live fish for the bears to catch. Fantastic.

Oh, and there's also an "herb garden". Bears appreciate good herbs.

Who knew?

Update: There's a MySpace page for Hearst Grizzly Gulch, with further information on the Hearst Corporation's involvement.

Blogging is about being clumsy. No, wait -- I meant...

2007-06-14T17:12:00.000-07:00

Blogging is about being clumsy. I need to remind myself of this once in a while.

That doesn't mean you shouldn't put effort into your online writings, and try to make your writing clear, and perhaps stylish at the same time.

But writing online is like real-life relationships: even the most conscientious person will find themselves in a mess, occasionally. That's the nature of relationships—they're not always clean and not always manageable.

As with relationships, so too with writing.

What do I want as a reader?

I want elegant writing that has a unique perspective, is clearly written, possibly with selectively chosen links relevant to the post.

So, in a blog post, I want clarity, richness of prose, and respect and consideration shown for the reader.

Except…

Except, I find there's something to be said for the clumsy post that runs on steam alone.

So I guess there aren't any hard and fast rules.

I think that's the great thing about blogging: it's an incredibly flexible platform that is shaped by the writer's needs.

There are other forms of clumsiness, which you probably know of, if you're a blogger. I'm talking about the clumsiness of human relationships. If you spend any time online you'll experience this to some degree or other. Through no fault of your own, of course. Or maybe entirely through your own.

Your thoughts?

A little nonsense

2007-06-14T06:36:00.000-07:00

"A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men." —Gene Wilder, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

Taking Willy Wonka's advice, here's The Big Chill performed by cartoon bunnies in 30 seconds. Sounds good, doesn't it?

I guess I should mention it's not safe for work (NSFW), but I don't think a two-second clip of cartoon bunnies having missionary-style sex is a sackable offense. Or maybe it is. Who knows?

Let's not split hares.

I'm also partial to the bunny version of It's a Wonderful Life. Don't miss the three extras at the end by clicking on the bunny silhouettes.

"And dance by the light of the moon."

How far are you willing to go for art?

2007-06-13T17:47:00.000-07:00

This is a post containing rough thoughts, originally written at 3:47 AM today, when I woke and couldn't fall asleep again. They were meant to build on a previous post.

Like all night thoughts, they seem more brilliant at the time. Still, I see no need to polish or extend this.

Thanks to Candace (Muse and Fury) whose almost poetic comment here at this blog prompted me to publish this draft.

(And now the preamble is almost as long as the post itself.)

-----

The re-occurring issue is: how to engage with art that propagates hatred of women.

The answer depends on 1) when the art was created, 2) how bad it is in it's attitude towards women, and 3) how good the art is.

The quality of the work determines to what degree I tolerate (2) in order to keep engaging with the art.

In some cases the trade-off isn't enough for me and I drop the art. For instance, with the TV show "The Sopranos", I hung in there until (2) tipped the scales of (3).

In Steinbeck's case, I'm not willing to miss out on the art, so I need to figure out how to deal with the misogyny. One way is to blog about it, and see if others feel the same, what their thoughts are, and what wisdom they might offer me as I progress through East of Eden.

Steinbeck's problem with women is now my problem with Steinbeck

2007-06-12T17:28:00.000-07:00

I'm reading John Steinbeck's East of Eden and enjoying it immensely. I say "immensely", what I mean is, its got an epic story that rolls along, there are some beautifully observed scenes between characters, and the passages about the landscape, rural life, and farming are superb.

Steinbeck keeps me flipping pages, no doubt about it. I even set it aside for a while, and when I picked it up again, I got back into it right away. It takes a special writer to do this.

Yet I can't help noticing one little thing in East of Eden. Not a big thing, just a little detail… Steinbeck appears to have a teensey weensey problem with women. Not a big one, just a small one.

Actually—no. Steinbeck's thing about women isn't teensey weensey, it's a bit of a whopper.

And pretty distracting. It's the reason I took a break from this novel in the first place.

I dislike bringing this up, because I'm enjoying the story and the writing so much. Can't I just ignore this issue?

If I could do that, I'd be an entirely different person. And I like who I am.

So, Steinbeck's problem with women is now my problem with Steinbeck.

UPS tracking with GMail

2007-06-11T11:45:00.000-07:00

Shelley Powers writes:

"We seem to feel 'flattered' when software remembers about us."

Yep. The other day my GMail flashed something at me from the toolbar: a UPS delivery number.

I was busy with something else, and my initial reaction was slight annoyance: "What's it bothering me about?"

When I clicked on the hyperlinked number, a new window opened at the United Parcel Service website, informing me that a package I'd been waiting for had been delivered. "What? No it hasn't… has it…?"

Opened the front door, and there it was sitting on the welcome mat. Oh joy.

Not only was I pleased that the package had arrived, I loved this new, undiscovered feature from GMail.

I assume that GMail spotted the order confirmation when it arrived in my in box, and tracked the UPS number for me via the UPS website. I hadn't asked GMail to do this, nor ticked any option (that I can recall) in my GMail settings. It just did this automatically.

As a user, I can sometimes lean towards the ooo-shiny side with regards to Google. For a more critical view from a techie, see Burningbird.

1980s films revisited: The Big Chill and Crossing Delancey, Part 2

2007-06-11T11:38:00.000-07:00

For Part 1, see previous post.

Success and climbing the career ladder

Most of the characters in The Big Chill have achieved success after graduating college [1], and it is understood that the characters who have fallen by the wayside have done so for psychological reasons. Alex, while a "scientific genuis", holds a number of jobs revolving around manual labor, and never finds success in the same way his college friends did. He suffers from depression and eventually takes his life.

Alex's example is joined by Nick, who is a drug addict. But theses are seen as unusual blips, individual problems that can be solved by doctors and professionals. The moral underpinning of The Big Chill is: if you have a problem, it's you, not the system. This is exactly the reassuring message the audience craved.

If The Big Chill broadcasts the message, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it.", Crossing Delancey sings, "There's a hole in the bucket, dear Liza, dear Liza."

We get a scene where Izzys' friends, mostly career women, complain about the lack of eligible bachelors, and a brief reference to the so-called "man shortage". Another one of her friends is challenging the nuclear family arrangement by raising a baby in a separate living quarters from the father. And the short clip of a Guerilla Girls piece we see on TV is a reminder of feminism and its impact on all aspects of American life (a rare nod for a mainstream movie). So there's an atmosphere of upheaval and change that's acknowledged.

There's a scene in Crossing Delancey where Sam Posner (played by Peter Riegert) confronts Isabelle (Amy Irving) about her career snobbery, and says something like, "I'm not good enough because I work with pickles?! Do you think this defines me?!" It's a moving scene because it's the one moment where 80s career obsession is directly questioned. Sam verbalizes one of the main tensions building in the movie: is a flashy career all that matters?

His speech is not only a critique of 80s careerism in general, but how men are traditionally defined by their jobs. This prompts a few questions:

If the roles can change for women, why can't they change for men, too?

Or are women simply working towards becoming exactly like men—and men will stay the same? Why should that be?

This is pretty challenging stuff for the genre of "romantic comedy".

The Big Chill largely ignores the tremendous upheaval to gender roles, beyond noting that women can now achieve as well as men (Glen Close plays a doctor; Mary Kay Place is a lawyer).

With regard to male characters, the film mistakes career for character. Harold Cooper (Kevin Kline) owns a sneaker company. Owning a shoe company isn't an aspect of his character—it is his character. [2]

[Continued in Part 3.]

--
Footnotes

[1] Six characters of the eight living characters are successful by external measurements. Karen is questionable. She's achieved traditional markers of success (house, husband, kids), but feels unfulfilled. She may pursue a writing career. Meg and Nicks' status is ambiguous. Although they're both mentally in dark places (she's mourning the loss of her partner, he's an addict), by the end of the film it is hinted that they will land on their feet.

[2] 1980s audiences would've immediately understood that Cooper's "Running Dog Shoes" was modeled on the real-life success of Nike and Reebok, both of which enjoyed an explosion in sales that decade. I prefer writing to be a bit more disguised.

You were the first one, you were the last one: Video Killed the Radio Star

2007-06-08T12:54:00.000-07:00

"We can't rewind, we've gone too far" - The technological dystopia of "Video Killed the Radio Star".

How to beat the mid-afternoon slump: "Video Killed the Radio Star" by The Buggles.

The narrator in the song mourns a musical hero who cannot survive the jump to a new medium: TV and the music video. The song obliquely draws upon our knowledge of film history and the silent era stars who couldn't adapt to "talkies". [1]

"Video Killed the Radio Star" is steeped in nostalgia, not only for a radio-driven music era, but for a less technologically dependent time. It's through technology that the modern music industry commits crass and bullying acts upon the artist:

"They took the credit for your second symphony / Rewritten by machine on new technology"

It's a song that's deeply distrustful of technology, which is used to erase the performer.

Of course, in a straightforward way, it's about the rise of the image and how marketing that image eclipses the music itself. In this way, "Video Killed the Radio Star" was incredibly prescient and anticipated the rise of MTV and its accompanying impact on the music industry. (Ironically, the song was the first video played on MTV when it was launched in 1981.)

For me, though, there's an unarticulated sub-theme at work in the song: the loss of being unselfconscious…

Video Killed the Radio Star

I heard you on the wireless back in '52
Lying awake intent at tuning in on you
If I was young, it didn't stop you coming through

Oh-wah-oh

They took the credit for your second symphony
Rewritten by machine on new technology
And now I understand the problems you can see

Oh-wah-oh

I met your children

Oh-wah-oh

What did you tell them?

Video killed the radio star
Video killed the radio star

Pictures came and broke your heart

Oh-oh-oh-ah-oh

And now we meet in an abandoned studio
We hear the playback and it seems so long ago
And you remember the jingles used to go?

Oh-wah-oh

You were the first one

Oh-wah-oh

You were the last one

Video killed the radio star
Video killed the radio star

In my mind and in my car
We can't rewind we've gone to far

Oh-wah-oh-oh-oh
Oh-wah-oh-oh-oh

Video killed the radio star
Video killed the radio star

In my mind and in my car
We can't rewind, we've gone too far
Pictures came and broke your heart
Put the blame on VTR

You are a radio star
You are a radio star

Video killed the radio star
Video killed the radio star
Video killed the radio star
Video killed the radio star
You are a radio star/ Video killed the radio star

Lyrics by Trevor Horn/Geoffrey Downes/Bruce Woolley

The reference to "VTR" may throw you. It stands from video transfer recorder, which is simply a tape recorder that can record video. They're for professional use—the more consumer driven version is, of course, VCRs. There's a detailed page with examples of VTRs if you're interested, and there's a glimpse of one in the video.

[1] A theme that is more explicitly played out in "Elstree", another song on The Age of Plastic.

Turning now to this meme:

"Video Killed the Radio Star" - The Buggles, The Age of Plastic

"Remember" - Air, Moon Safari
"More Than This" - Roxy Music, Street Life: 20 Great Hits

"Only Happy When It Rains" - Garbage, Best Anthems Ever!

"Big Iron" - Johnny Cash, American Dream IV: When the Man Comes Around

"Little 15" - Depeche Mode, The Singles 86>98

"Getting Better" - The Beatles, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart Club Band

"Whispers and Moans" - Crowded House, Woodface

"Ethnicolor II" - Jean Michel Jarre, Zoolook

"Really?" - The Guitar Orchestra, The Guitar Orchestra

I can't let it pass without saying that Jean Michel Jarre is not my cup of tea. The above is from a shared library. The Guitar Orchestra isn't my idea of a good time, either.

It's a frustrating game. I only just missed being able to include "Fool's Gold" by The Stone Roses. Ah, well.

1980s films revisited: The Big Chill and Crossing Delancey

2007-06-05T10:54:00.000-07:00

This is a post on why some movies age better than others. Two movies will be examined: The Big Chill (1983) and Crossing Delancey (1988).

Although separated by a five year gap, this isn't significant as both movies manage to capture the cultural zeitgeist of the time.

In order to find out why one hasn't aged better than the other, I'll examine each in detail. I want to begin with my personal reflections.

Personal remembrances

When I revisited these films, I was stunned by how different they were to how I remembered them. The Big Chill had seemed so adult at the time. What was once sophisticated, complex, and cutting-edge was now surfacey, empty, and dated. With Crossing Delancey, I was struck by how much I had underestimated it: it was a thoroughly enjoyable film, tightly written but not in a hurry, the characters were fantastic, and I didn't really mind that it telegraphed what was going to happen. The point was how it was going to happen.

I suppose if I had to choose one for a time vault, I would pick The Big Chill.

But for a movie night at home with a beer?

Crossing Delancey, definitely.

Overview - similarities and differences

Loosely, both movies examine human relationships and the daunting task of personal self-government. While The Big Chill was an unexpected box-office hit, grossing far more than the producers expected, Crossing Delancey was a more modest, though well-received, hit.

The Big Chill managed to break into mainstream consciousness partly because it incorporates themes appealing to both genders (and the soundtrack - see below). Crossing Delancey is concerned primarily with female subjectivity, and what are traditionally deemed female themes (relationships, romance, love, etc.).

Crossing Delancey centers on a Jewish community in New York, while The Big Chill is decidedly WASPy. For the most part, the characters in the former are struggling economically; and for the most part, the characters in the latter are doing very well, thank you.

Both films are driven by well-written scripts matched by outstanding ensemble casts, and both use humor to lighten the mood. The plots are like sharks that bump into serious subjects, then swerve away to comedy in order to discharge the audience's anxiety.

Lastly, both films prominently feature music. The Big Chill plays Motown hits and other songs from the 1960s such as "The Weight" by The Band. In fact, there was enough music used in the film to fill two albums, and the first album was "among the best selling albums of the year".

Crossing Delancey relies less on music than The Big Chill. It uses shoo-bop harmonization and, in one memorable scene, a Rodgers and Hammerstein song.

1980s trends, anxieties, and obsessions

While watching each film, what struck me was how one had managed to overcome it's quirks from the 80s, while the other was saturated with them to the detriment of story and character.

1980s concerns inform Crossing Delancey, but they do not dominate. They exist more as quirky post-it notes from that decade. The Big Chill takes it too far: 80s trends are an obsession in that movie, overwhelming the plot and characters, and fronting as substance.

Example 1: Babies and the working woman

In The Big Chill, Meg Jones, played by Mary Kay Place, is a successful lawyer who is afraid she's reaching an age where she won't be able to have children. With no suitable marriage partner available, she's investigating other options.

This plotline neatly combines two 80s phenomenon: the "biological clock" meme, and the recent success in the field of in-vitro fertilization.

Meg doesn't want to opt for in-vitro fertilization if she doesn't have to -- she'd rather simply skip the laboratory process by having one of her friends impregnate her. Determining a good candidate in Sam Weber (Tom Berenger), she tells him, "You have good genes." He looks puzzled and slowly looks down at his jeans. [1]

Little moments like this keep the audience from becoming too aware and uncomfortable with the threat to traditional ways of reproducing and living that this medical procedure poses.

Unfortunately, that's about all that character is about: getting pregnant. The complexities of how it feels to be a successful career woman, how she reconciles this with her desire for a baby, and plans on juggling child-rearing and corporate life are shunted aside.

Contrast this with the baby theme that hangs in the air throughout Crossing Delancey. There are several scenes that highlight babies: a Lamaze class files out of a building that Isabelle and her romantic interest enter, some of her friends are having babies (she attends a circumcision), and a guest tells her at the reception afterwards, "When I was her age, I had a husband and two kids, all my life was in order." (Or something to that effect.)

Although we don't know how Isabelle feels about them, it is a constant reminder of what she's turning away from.

During the 80s, if you recall, the media talked extensively about how "working mothers" were changing child-rearing, and whether kids were neglected, women delaying or choosing not to have children, etc.. Crossing Delancey references this without clubbing you over the head: these themes form the backdrop without detracting from the characters or plot.

Example 2: Technology is only as interesting as people's response to it

There are a few scenes in The Big Chill where the characters are playing around with what was then an emerging consumer technology: home video recorders. The characters film themselves and each other, then watch what they've filmed.

Only one scene almost works: when Chloe (Meg Tilly) talks frankly about a mutual friend's suicide, and asks the "interviewer" (William Hurt?) if he's is alright. He's off-camera so we have to imagine what's happening. This set-up challenges the viewer to imagine a side of the character we haven't seen yet.

But this sensitivity is undermined by the way the video camera enforces a reductionist view of another character: Chloe. She's being videotaped doing stretches in a leotard typical of 80s fashion. As the interview proceeds, it's clear that she's being filmed for her body's ability to bend and stretch, and not for what she's saying. It makes her less of a fully rounded character, and more of a sexual object. In an odd way, by the end of the scene, he's more human off-camera than she is on-camera.

For the most part, the video scenes come across as self-indulgent and shallow. [2]

This is how The Big Chill puts gizmos above the storytelling. The phenomenon of new technology -- personal camcorders -- is not more important than progressing the story or our understanding of the characters. The camcorder idea becomes an empty gimmick.

In Crossing Delancey 80s trends are light touches noted in passing: the new craze for jogging, off-the-shoulder tops, hair that the older generation mistakes for -- a mistake. And so forth. These little moments add to the storytelling in Crossing Delancey, but they never dominate or pose as substance.

[Continued in Part 2.]

--
Footnotes

[1] Whoever I see this with, this moment always gets a big laugh; of course, it has to do with the "click" that the word-play causes (genes/jeans). But there's something else going on here: the anxiety that if women become economically independent, men may need women more than women need men. Meg Jones is a successful lawyer who can afford to raise a baby on her own. Berenger's character is an actor, a vocation that emphasizes good looks. There's a power reversal here -- she's sizing up him.

[2] Unless the point was to showcase the characters as superficial and shallow, of course. But I don't think this was the case, partly because the rest of the film doesn't support this understanding of the characters. And partly because the monologues being filmed by the characters sets up the expectation that what we will see will reveal more depth to the characters. They don't. They reveal more shallowness.

Images: The Big Chill from Wikipedia; Crossing Delancey from BlockBuster Videos

Right, I can get silly with the best of them

2007-06-03T11:12:00.000-07:00

"I'm looking at you..."

I don't usually respond to memes but if Fiat Lux can admit to keeping a stuffed bear on her desk, so can I.

And I wouldn't ever sleep with it. Oh no.

New find: Literature Map

2007-06-02T08:31:00.000-07:00

New find: Literature Map. Type in an author and watch the names slowly disperse and adjust themselves in a planetary design.

It's one of the most poetic online tools I've seen.

Poetic, but not necessarily useful. I got some bizarre results and glaring omissions, leading me to wonder if the results are based on personal relationships between writers, or their writing styles, or their literary ancestors and influences, or a combination thereof.

For example, take a look at the result for John Steinbeck. At first glance, this looks like an accurate map—if one is expecting to see authors who write in a similar vein. But why is Oscar Wilde in there? Granted, he's on the outskirts of the planetary system, far away from Steinbeck's name in the middle, but Wilde doesn't spring to mind when you're thinking of Steinbeck. Wilde is more precious, fanciful, and witty. Steinbeck is more of an earthy documentarian.

The frontpage of the "gnook tool" doesn't shed any light on what the literature map does, although it points to another application that aims to locate literature you will like. Does that goal apply to the literature map, as well? That would very much change the purpose of the literature map.

At any rate, the prominent Amazon badge made me think this is just a thing to generate buzz and more commerce for Amazon. To which I'm contributing in my own small way.

In all fairness, gnook does bill itself as an "experiment", which I guess means "there are still some things to iron out". Perhaps providing a definition of the literature map is one of them.

Until James Bond, here's Robbie Williams...

2007-06-01T08:35:00.000-07:00

I'm toying with writing a post about Casino Royale, which I rented on DVD this week.

I seem bogged down by it, though. I can't decide what approach to take, nor how much I want to say, nor even if it's worth saying.

I've got more than a few barriers on this one but the most notable is that I haven't read the Ian Fleming books, and feel that I should before writing about Casino Royale.

What baloney. You don't have to read the book before responding to the film. Especially when writing on an informal platform like blogging.

The problem is I'm trying too hard. And when that happens, it stops being fun and starts becoming a chore.

Here's Robbie

This may not get resolved, because the moment for me to write on Casino Royale has probably passed. In the meantime, here's a video of Robbie Williams' "Millennium", where you can see Robbie mugging it up like nobody's business.

What sets Robbie Williams apart from his contemporaries is his ability to poke fun at himself. In the "Millennium" video, he uses humor to undermine both the arrogance of the 007 mythology and his own overblown masculinity.

It's a gutsy move and he pulls it off.

There's a pastiche of Bond scenes, including a speedboat ride with retro-Sean Connery clothes, a space-suited "Mr. Bond", and a failed jet-pack launch.

Other Bond paraphernalia twisted for comic effect: a steel attaché case opens to reveal nothing more exciting than lunch, and Williams walks towards an Aston Martin, but ends up driving away in the Robin Reliant parked behind it. (You can just catch glimpse of Williams hitch-hiking at the side of the road as the Aston Martin zooms past.)

At 2:24 there's a visual reference to the movie poster for Diamonds are Forever. The link may be tenuous, but the similarities are striking enough to warrant mention.

Williams alternates between playing it serious and smirking at his own Bond-posturing—which is incredibly fun to watch.

I assume you're aware of this, but in case you're not, the cascading violins are a sample taken from the Nancy Sinatra's song, "You Only Live Twice". It appears in the Bond movie of the same title. Taking this sample and running with it was not only quite clever, it pretty much makes the track.

That, and the thumping bass.

"If this is heaven, then send me to hell": the determined optimism of "Good Enough"

2007-05-30T19:04:00.000-07:00

A post about the song "Good Enough" from Dodgy's 1996 album, Free Peace Sweet.

Good Enough

I've got an aching in my bones
I've been exposed to what I want to see
The fuse is burning somewhere
It's drenched in heat
It's where I long to be

There's always two sides
You don't have to suffer
If this is heaven, then send me to hell
So stay in the light,
Don't take your eyes from the prize
Hey, there goes the bell

If it's good enough for you,
It's good enough for me
It's good enough for two
It's what I want to see
If it's good enough for you,
It's good enough for me
It's good enough for two
It's what I want to see

Sing a song
As the sun does rise
If you don't ask questions,
Then you don't know why
There's a bridge to the other side
Don't take your eyes from the prize

There's always two sides
You don't have to suffer
If this is heaven, then send me to hell
So stay in the light
Don't take your eyes from the prize
Hey, there goes the bell

If it's good enough for you,
It's good enough for me
It's good enough for two
It's what I want to see
If it's good enough for you,
It's good enough for me
It's good enough, it's true
It's what I want to see

[voices: doo-doo-doo]

[special effect: dewdrop noise]

There's always two sides
You don't have to suffer
If this is heaven, then send me to hell
So stay in the light,
Don't take your eyes from the prize
Hey, there goes the bell

You don't need to bother [about?]
A situation you may never find

If it's good enough for you,
It's good enough for me
It's good enough for two
It's what I want to see
If it's good enough for you,
It's good enough for me
It's good enough, it's true
It's what I want to see

Composers: Nigel Clark, Andy Miller, Mathew Priest

The opening stanza indicates that this song will be about a mental state.

More specifically, "Good Enough" is about conveying the state of euphoria that unbridled optimism releases.

The stratagems that allow for the euphoria are a series of liberatory realizations, revealed in the subsequent stanzas.

Stanza two is a string of non-stop, relentlessly chipper clichés: "There's always two sides / You don't have to suffer / If this is heaven, then send me to hell / So stay in the light, / Don't take your eyes from the prize / Hey, there goes the bell".

I'm always amazed at how well this stanza holds together, given that it's just a clump of half-baked sayings.

But I think that's the point. It's a comfort paragraph, something that serves as a reminder that there's an extensive arsenal of positive truisms with which to combat negativity.

The lead singer, Nigel Clarke, sings it with such verve, I defy even the most hardened cynic not to be moved by it.

And I love the irreverent humor in "If this is heaven, then send me to hell", which always makes me smile.

The bland truisms carry over into the fourth stanza ("If you don't ask questions, / Then you don't know why / There's a bridge to the other side", etc.).

Midway through the song, there's a neat little pause where the backing vocals sing a Beatlesesque dooo-dooo-dooo-dooo section. It shows off Dodgy's ability to do excellent vocal harmonization while providing a pause. It's topped by a highly stylized sound of a drop of water. One would think this would sound gimmicky ten years later, but no—it's a nice touch that has aged well. It underlines Dodgy's goofy, silly take on things, and gives the listener a tiny surprise.

Crescendo

After this slight breather, we get another repeat of "There's always two sides / You don't have to suffer", but with a difference: the horns are more noticeable, and we're well into the groovy, power-pop optimism of the song. It's brassy and full-on happy. The whole song has been building to this crescendo moment, and now that it's arrived, just let it wash over you.

If you're not a believer now, you never will be.

Conclusion

"Good Enough" gives you permission to let yourself off the hook. It's a perfectionist's nightmare: a reminder that, for most of the time, things are "good enough".

Wayward whales make it back to Pacific Ocean - almost

2007-05-29T22:34:00.001-07:00

More news about the "wayward whales" situation: both whales have been spotted near Tiburon, which is about five miles from the Pacific Ocean.

As for the wounds the whales suffered, some of those are improving, although scientists haven't been able to examine the gashes yet.

It looks like the mother and calf are back on track. Quite a long cycle for this news story, I'm still tentative about saying "yay team whales!" until they're safely back in the ocean.

These whales have been known to circle.

Update 05/31/07: The whales are now presumed to be back in the ocean.

Brain-eating zombies invade SF Apple store

2007-05-26T11:13:00.000-07:00

What, again?

Story at CNet:

"It may be worth noting that the Westfield Mall and Disney security tried to bar the zombies from entering, but Apple store security did not. In fact, salespeople were jostling one another for a position where they could take the best photo…"

Previous zombie flash in San Francisco.

Via Techmeme

More on debating

2007-05-26T08:15:00.000-07:00

Further to my previous post on the merits of evasion as a debating skill.

Actually, having never participated in a debating society, I have no idea what constitutes a "good debate", at least in the formal, we-know-debating-and-we've-got-an-official-society-to-prove-it kind of way.

I searched the term and clicked on the Yale Debate Association to find that Yale puts videos of their debates online.

I still marvel at this use of technology: that I, or anyone with a pc and internet connection anywhere in the world, can watch at any time, say, the Harvard Finals from 2006.

What's good debating?

2007-05-26T07:48:00.000-07:00

Is evading a point evidence of good debating skills?

I've read some brilliant debates online, but one thing I'm struck with is how many ways one can avoid addressing the issue.

For instance, someone says:

I think X, Y, and Z.

Another person says:

You're wrong about X and Y [gives reasons why].
Furthermore you haven't even considered the issue of A.

The original person responds with:

I'm not wrong about X and Y, and I'm giving a very detailed explanation of why, with some very snappy and yet elegant prose, all the while ignoring your point about A.

Another person says:

Oh, yes, I see your point, well made. But what about A, which is really very important to the issue at hand?

Original person:

[...]

Did I mention how important Z is?

There's a certain brilliance to being able to successfully deflect and misdirect in order to win an argument. Lawyers do this all the time. People in debating societies do this, in order to win the debate. And it's considered good debating, because you want to win at all costs.

But in an online context, is evasion a good debating skill?

Bubbles

2007-05-25T08:21:00.000-07:00

You may have been following the news story of two whales who took a wrong turn and swam from the San Franciso Bay up the Sacramento River. It's made international news.

Scientists are now trying a new, untested method to steer the whales out of the delta -- fire hoses:

"Sometime today the marine experts will try using high-pressure water from fire hoses to create a wall of bubbles, similar to what we see every Fleet Week when fire boats parade on the Bay.

"Four boats, including a Vallejo Fire Department vessel, will spray the water above and below the surface.

"Since it's never tried before on whales, experts aren't sure if the pair will swim away or toward the bubbles, but it's worth a try to encourage the injured mother and calf to break their circular swimming pattern and head back to the ocean after nearly two weeks away." (ABC7/KGO-TV)

As more time passes, the whales' situation has become increasingly serious, and experts are concerned both about the wound on the larger whale, and the amount of time the whales have spent in fresh water.

Let's hope they eventually find their way back to the Pacific Ocean.

It's never too late to sort things out.

2007-05-22T16:31:00.000-07:00

Bucking the Dominant Paradigm: "Arguments I am Tired Of"

Feline Formal Shorts: "I really shouldn't get into this"

The Kugelmass Episodes: "The Debate Over Jessica Valenti's Full Frontal Feminism"

Ilyka Damen: "What Silencing Is, and What It Isn't"

People can be very forgiving, if you'll only give them your time.

Goodness, all it takes is for Arrington to sneeze...

2007-05-22T13:31:00.000-07:00

...and the tech world hands out a hankie.

Fiat Lux reads Arrington's complaint as a kind of "hey kids! get off my lawn!" Nerd Meridian gives Arrington a dose of medicine. Harsh but fair, and he even has a kind word: "Good show to Mike for at least saying how he feels."

Robert Scoble shudders in empathy, and Kara Swisher voices what I was thinking when I read the post: just say no.

Dave Winer thinks it's cool that Arrington wrote that post, and I have to agree.

If you can't indulge a wave of nostalgia and bash it out in a post at your blog, where can you?

Hang in there, kiddo, summer's just around the corner...

When your day is long, and the night is yours alone... REM's Everybody Hurts

2007-05-18T14:13:00.000-07:00

Some thoughts on the video to R.E.M.'s song "Everybody Hurts".
I'm more of a fan of early R.E.M. than their later stuff, but this song, from 1992's Automatic for the People, stands out in their canon as one of their most moving.

The video's premise is simple: a traffic jam on a freeway traps people in their cars. It reminds me of Los Angeles, but it could be anywhere in the United States.

Because it's a showcase for Stipe's vocals, it doesn't need a lot of fancy visuals, which would only distract from the song. A rolling camera peers in at each car's occupants, and although they are silent, we can read what they're thinking in subtitles. Some of the passengers are obviously sick of each other -- one young boy thinks "Stop singing." as his grandfather sings away, oblivious. Another child thinks, "I'll talk when I want to." It's not so much "Hell is other people," as "Hell is other adults."

There's also a nod to other cultures, which I like. One car's driver thinks, "Vamos a perder toda nuestra dignidad", or, "We are going to lose all our dignity." His colleague thinks, "No tenemos mas tiempo." -- "We have nothing but time."

The glimpses into their lives seem to point to one common denominator: they're lost people who need comforting.

Meanwhile, Peter Buck and Bill Berry hang about like a couple of sullen CIA recruiters, and Michael Stipe tries not to look too silly in a hat that's a hangover from '80s fashion.

Just when you think nothing's going to happen, Stipe breaks out of his reverie and starts singing. It's a startlingly effective little trick that rewards you for being patient four minutes into the video.

Beautifully underplayed, and a great listen.

Techmeme's origins a yeasty starter

2007-05-17T15:33:00.000-07:00

In an oblique way, I recently puzzled as to why some posts got picked up by Techmeme, while others did not. Now I see there's a Wired interview in which Techmeme's founder, Gabe Rivera, explains more about how it works.

Apparently, the story selection is largely automated.

Sort of:

Wired News: According to a recent podcast, Techmeme may have a "white list" of sites it uses to determine the most newsworthy stories. Is that true?

Gabe Rivera: Although a bunch of people repeat that Techmeme uses a white list, it's not true, at least by the definition of white list that I understand. Every day my system posts things from sites I never "approved" or even heard of.

At this moment, for instance, there's a press release from a company called Clearwire on Techmeme. I hadn't heard of this company, nor did I do anything to flag their site as linkable.

I do use lists of sources to help my system determine which sources to monitor. Essentially, I'm telling it to "find more sites like these." These aren't exhaustive lists, or even close to exhaustive, and therefore not "white lists."

Although there's a human element at its roots, it sounds like an algorithm takes over to locate more sites for inclusion. The source list is a yeasty starter from which the Techmeme sourdough expands, I guess.

I think that's part of the fun of Techmeme, actually -- the unpredictable nature of inclusion. If you do get picked up, it's a bit like hitting the lottery. People, understandably, are chuffed.

Techmeme, if you're unfamiliar with it, is like a giant blog conversation aggregator. It carries stories that are considered "hot" or of special interest to the tech community, and those that are talking about the stories. This way you can track the "community of ideas" fairly easily.

There's a sister site for politics called memeorandum, and it looks like he's also experimenting with baseball and celebrity gossip.

How did I find out about the Wired interview?

Oh, Techmeme, of course.

HGTV, I love thee

2007-05-12T08:00:00.000-07:00

For the past three weekends, Home & Garden TV has almost completely my obliterated my Sundays. I tune in for one show, and find myself still parked in front of the TV three hours later.

HGTV is one time-sucking black hole of a channel -- but why?

For one thing, I get a voyeuristic kick out of watching people shopping for homes, negotiating the pitfalls of the real estate market, and, yes, making mistakes.

Additionally, if you're a lookee-loo, HGTV more than fulfills this urge without ever leaving your abode. (Or, as HGTV would have it "property").

But HGTV isn't all schadenfreude and voyeurism. There's actually quite a bit to learn about the real estate game. Curb Appeal is all about that first impression, and House Hunters takes the Goldilocks and the Three Bears approach to home-buying.

So I like to think it's educational.

Maybe I'm just kidding myself. There's a whole series based on nothing more than bald-faced consumerist greed. I Want That! has spawned I Want That! Kitchens, I Want That! Baths and I Want That! Tech Toys.

I think there's some American mythologizing going on here, that taps into the Henry Ford Model T story. This is America, damn it, and if you can't get hot dog toaster here, you can't get it anywhere. (British readers shouldn't feel smug; the Teasmade is merely a hot dog toaster with a timer. A bit more clever, but the same idea: take a culture's quintessential food and make it fast and convenient.)

We'll invent it first, and we'll mass produce it and make it affordable for everybody.

The pull of novelty also drives these shows, for this simple reason: the emotion of astonished delight is pleasurable. It's the "What-will-they-think-of-next?" factor. You can see at work online at a website like Engadget, and it's one reason it's become the most popular website.

Returning to the home shows: I don't own a home and yet I was glued to the tube to find out what the 20 Ways to Add Value to Your Home were. Would you believe number one was new siding? Okay, maybe you had to be there.

Some of the shows have a kooky element. I'm thinking of World's Most Extreme Homes. There's a high kook factor on that one, which makes for great viewing. But I also like how it acts as a window into non-normative ways of living.

The owners are happy, and they clearly don't care what anyone else thinks of their bizarre homes.

In fact, it's the occasional oddball program that keeps HGTV interesting. Decorate Your House Like the White House, anyone?

I switch over to A&E for Flip This House, which offers the spectacle of transformation. They take a shabby, often abandoned and absolutely filthy property, and transform them into a beautiful, saleable, and above all, clean home. There's a kind of negative awe going on for me, when I see the clutter and dirt that people are willing to live in.

HGTV, I love thee.

Cute. Super-Cute.

2007-05-08T18:20:00.000-07:00

Google's Desktop Theme: Tea Party.

This has been available for some time but I thought I'd mention it, if only for the cute factor: the Google homepage has themes now.

The one I've chosen is called "Tea House" and features a busy fox who fishes, hangs laundry, feeds ducks, and has dinner on a pier. There's a fetching Japanese tea house to the right of the screen, and an orange orchard.

Between the farming, fishing, domestic labor, and animal husbandry, that fox is more self-sustaining than I am.

When you choose your theme, Google asks you for your zip code, and adjusts the fox's day accordingly. A sun rises, moves across the screen, and sets in synch with your own timezone. Neat-o.

I've always wanted, bizarrely, to witness the changeover from one activity to another; I have yet to catch the switch.

The other option I've loaded is their quotes of the day gadget. Today's was a particularly good one:

"Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric." - Bertrand Russell

And if you were as colorful as Bertie you'd hold the same.

Anways I've got a post about HGTV in the works, and might blog about the Canadian How It's Made as well.

P.S. — A lowercase i has appeared before the word "Google" on my homepage. What's that about? Piggybacking on the iPod craze?

Conan O'Brien visits Intel in Santa Clara, CA

2007-05-08T12:28:00.000-07:00

Conan O'Brien, the latenight talk show host, visits Intel Headquarters in Santa Clara, California. It's part of his week in San Francisco -- normally his show is taped in New York -- and although I haven't been tuning in, I've warmed up to him from his shtick at Intel.

It's somewhat surprising Intel let him do the tour, but I suppose they knew he'd take the mickey out of them. And any publicity is good publicity, even if it makes your company appear to be a grim, dimly-lit mouse maze.

My favorite line occurs early on: "I think the grey works very nicely the with grey…"

Via Engadget: "Conan O'Brien visits, mocks Intel HQ"

Update: This video has been pulled, which is a shame. You may be able to locate it at other sites. I hesitate to link to those, because they'll probably be yanked as well. (Honestly, NBC, can you not see it's good publicity for the Conan O'Brien show?)

Gwendolyn Brooks reminds me of the pause

2007-05-08T08:00:00.000-07:00

A poet has just reminded me of the importance of the pause.

The Pool Players.
Seven at the Golden Shovel.

We real cool. We
Left school. We

Lurk late. We
Strike straight. We

Sing sin. We
Thin gin. We

Jazz June. We
Die soon.

I would bet a dollar that most every American student would recognize this poem, because it's been included in many school textbooks. Its simplicity and pared-down structure allows easy entry for a student new to poetry, and there are some neat things going on here that a class could discuss.

The poem is by Gwendolyn Brooks. I found an online recording of Brooks reading it, and she also gives a highly interesting preamble. She says, half-jokingly, she's glad this poem is frequently included in anthologies, but she wishes a few of her other poems were recognized as worthy for inclusion as well.

And here's something that really makes you conscious of the poem's era: the word "jazz" was interpreted by some to have sexual connotations. As a result her poem was banned. Not unilaterally, obviously, because of the texbook thing, but in some places.

She then jokes that she didn't intend this sexual meaning, but if people want to read sex into "jazz", she has no problem with it.

Then something remarkable happens. She reads it in a way I never realized I was resisting. She puts quite a pause between "we" and the following line. Looking at how the poem is set out, it's obvious that there's meant to be a pause, but for some reason I never heard it that way in my head. I think this is largely due to the mind wanting to read lines in poems as if they were sentences in a novel. My mind was shortening the gap between words in order to form what I had been taught was the default unit: a complete sentence.

That's why it's so vital that poems are read out loud -- it forces you to hear the pause.

And the meaning of the pause? It could be simply to emphasize the separateness and the cliquey element of the pool players. There's also a nice surprise at the end when death is introduced and the absence of the final "we", which you expect to appear by that point in the poem.

It also gives the poem a lurching, lopsided feel, but I'm not sure what to make of that other than it feels diagonal, much like the pool game within the poem. It feels slanted.

So Gwendolyn Brooks read it that way, with the pause, and she outta know, being the poet.

But I don't think she would mind people reading it any way they wanted.

As long as they read her other poems, too.

Pet peeve: blogs without an email address or contact form

2007-05-07T10:23:00.000-07:00

I'm trying to nurse a pet peeve about blogs. It probably won't bother me tomorrow, but with regular watering and care this baby pet peeve may just sprout into a full-blown grudge.

It's when the blog author doesn't have any way for a reader to contact them.

In the past month I've needed to contact three different blog owners to let them know I accidentally submitted a comment twice, or that there was some other problem with the comment function, and I haven't been able to because there's no email listed. Ocassionally, I've wanted to ask permission to use a photo.

The absence of an email address or contact form means there's no discrete way for me to "talk" to the author. A last-ditch option is to leave a comment on one of their posts, and I have gotten through to them this way. But I don't usually like to do that, because (1) it's off-topic and (2) it puts them on the spot, publicly.

I understand not every blogger wants conversation to flow both ways. And at worst, there's a duplicate comment left at a blog and it isn't a big deal.

Still, a part of me says: anyone can set up an email account through GMail or Yahoo! nowadays -- it's easy peasey. So why not create an email account solely for your blog to field any queries?

Whew. I feel better now.

In white light? I don't think so!

2007-04-30T17:50:00.000-07:00

Keane perform their song "Bedshaped" for AOL Sessions:

Notes:

The drummer gets an awful lot of video time, which is unusual in a music clip.

The lead singer, Tom Chaplain, looks like he either just stepped out of the shower or was running round the building first: he has the rosy red cheeks of a poet!

Chaplain does some extemporaneous "ahh-ahhh" sounds at the end, something not on the album version. A nice bonus.

What else can be said? For me, this is the topper of the Hopes and Fears album. It's a slow-burning, gut-wrenching track. Just beautiful.

Happy Friday. Yes, I know it's Monday.

No Orange Julius for Tish Grier

2007-04-29T13:34:00.000-07:00

Hello, is there anybody in there?
Blogger Magazine and Pink Floyd's 'The Wall'.

Tish Grier has written a very interesting post in response to the launch of Blogger & Podcaster magazine.

She presents her argument in an entertaining way, but I particularly liked her point about how it takes money and lots of schmoozing to rise in the online world: "It takes networking and making connections."

Tish Grier is a serial conference-goer and knows what she's talking about.

But there's another point she makes that I wanted to pick up on. She writes about Blogger & Podcaster:

"I can't say I wish them luck. I can't say I wish them anything. I feel kind of the same way I felt when I saw 'punk outfits' in Macy's Junior section at the local mall. Kinda sick. Kinda hysterical. Not in the mood for an Orange Julius."

It's that old, old story: the mainstreaming of DIY ethics and the professionalism of the genre presents a new set of problems and creative tensions, whether that genre is Indie music, painting, punk rock, underground comics, or writing.

Each artist, or to use a more utilitarian word, worker, has to make adjustments when he or she achieves a certain amount of success. And that new set of problems can be used in the work itself.

Pink Floyd's The Wall, anyone?

In a way, it's a problem we'd all like to have.

Why are there so few women on Digg?

2007-04-29T09:32:00.000-07:00

Academic Pointillism has written a fantastic post explaining the male-dominated culture at Digg, and how this reinforces itself, and why it matters.

If you're not familiar with Digg, it's one of those community sites where members nominate online stories, newspaper articles, and novelty sites. Other members vote on the submitted link's merit by "digging" the piece either up or down. There's a Usenet-like thread below each item for discussion. I've visited a few times, but from bloggers' posts who were linking to illustrate the very problem Acadmica Pointillism has written about.

Here's an excerpt from "Why are there so few women on digg?":

"I am bringing this up for several reasons. The first is that there seems to be this general understanding that there are more men than women on digg, but never have I seen an explanation of why that might be. Since this is something that is complained about by users, I assume that they would prefer it if this were to change. I assume this because being 'cliquey' and excluding women doesn't seem like a principle that a geek-culture community like digg would be proud of, especially since so many geeks know what it feels like to be harassed by their peers."

"Why are there so few women on digg?" both defines the problem and presents solutions. I hope this gets some play, it should definitely get Techmemed, because it's a great read and well-documented. Unfortunately the comments are closed.

Update: Shelley Powers expands the discussion on Burningbird.

Update 2: Readers might also be interested in Dare Obasanjo's "Incentives Matter: Why Comments on Digg Are So Bad ", which compares the quality of comments on Digg vs. Slashdot; incidentally, this piece triggered Techmeme's approval stamp. Or whatever it is they use.

No kittah, bad kittah! That's my pot-pie!

2007-04-23T18:37:00.000-07:00

A couple of good reads and an item of interest for 19th century literature lovers:

Anil Dash, Cats Can Has Grammar - Once he's warmed us up with background, we get the revelation that there is, in fact, "Incorrect kitty pidgin."; improbably, Dune comes into the equation. A cracker post.

Anne Zelenka has some interesting thoughts on productivity approaches in the workplace; much more interesting than I'm making it sound. I do wonder if this is more theory than reality, though. Via Amyloo

The Diary of a Nobody has been filmed for TV. I'm both excited and skeptical: much of the comedy relies on our imagination, and Mr. Pooter will lose his appeal if played too stiffly. Still, I look forward to seeing it.

Blog is the New Resume: kill the joy, why don't you?

2007-04-19T13:52:00.000-07:00

TechMeme drops an ice cube down the shirt of every blogger. Talk about taking the joy out of blogging.

But is this really news? We've known for some time now—at least three years—that employers Google applicant names. Even those employers not in the tech industry.

The real thrust of this meme is how the thinking regarding blogging is changing: that it is now considered a public activity.

Mark Evans' comment was probably left in earnest but it still made me laugh:

"I think blogs are the new business cards as well."

It's only a matter of time before the following filters in from my TechMeme feed: blogs are the new Kleenex.

Further reading: The Blog Is The New Resume by Adam Darowski

Dodgy, The Who, and Goldfrapp: musical mashup

2007-04-19T12:07:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking of writing an analysis of an album, as I did with Goldfrapp's Felt Mountain.

Candidates include Dodgy's Free Peace Sweet; the Stone Roses' self-titled album (although there's probably too much written about this already); something by The Who (this would require a purchase); or Squeeze's East Side Story. I'd like to do something on Tim Burgess' I Believe but there's not much ambiguity or scope for analysis: it's just a damn fine album.

I recently saw The Who: The Kids Are Alright and one of the songs featured reminded me of Dodgy's Jack the Lad three-part cycle. The construction of the songs and the subject matter makes me wonder if Dodgy were influenced by The Who -- it certainly seems possible.

Also recently, I discovered my piece on Felt Mountain has been referenced at Wikipedia, news I received with a mixture of exuberance and insecurity. It's very flattering and I'm thrilled that it's cited at Wikipedia; however, it makes me more self-conscious about the piece. Re-reading it, I'm proud, but also feel it doesn't quite get there. Part of me thinks I managed to pull on the rubber gloves and begin the autopsy, but never reached it's dreadful Frankenstein heart.

And indeed, reviewing my saved notes, there are about fourteen additional points I wanted to make and never did. I thought it was getting lengthy and would strain readers' concentration.

One point I left out is absolutely vital, and that is: the sense that there is only a binary way of being in Felt Mountain. It is this sense of a lack of viable options that became a piece of grit in my mental oyster, irritating me and driving me to write about the album. Perhaps I didn't produce a pearl; then again, perhaps I did. But I found it a worthwhile and fun exercise.

Where does this leave me, or you, reading this post? Nowhere particular, like many blog posts, but if you have an album that you never tire of, and yet still puzzles you in parts, feel free to leave a comment.

Liquid Paper for the soul

2007-04-17T16:45:00.000-07:00

I was filling out some official forms recently and made a mistake. The forms were not so official that they couldn't be completed by hand, but they did require a certain formality and neatness of script.

So I ran out and bought some Liquid Paper. Oh the joy of having a reason to use Liquid Paper. You see they've made an innovation: a spongey wedge-shaped tip. No more of those nasty bristles that deliver a white splodge on the paper. No, we have a neat, pizza-shaped applicator tip now; kind of like the beginning of Star Wars. But without the majesty.

And the smell! I always feel it's reassuring: I'm careful not to inhale too much, lest I get high and end up liquid-papering my whole form. Its toxic smell reassures me that this is The Real Stuff for the job.

Can you believe that someone can write four paragraphs on white-out? I can't.

Ah yes! My post title. Don't you wish you had some liquid paper for your life? But I'm afraid that didn't sound as catchy as "liquid paper for the soul". So there you are.

New blog finds

2007-04-17T16:18:00.000-07:00

Lately, I have mostly been reading:

Amyloo - tech, blogging, and other good stuff
Caveat Lector - academia, online worlds
Wonderland or Not - Maryland-based student blogger
Crimitism - Australian bloke based in Ballarat; writes on feminism and gender

Number one way to improve You Tube usability

2007-04-17T15:58:00.000-07:00

Do you know what You Tube needs? Other than better video streaming.

An email notification system. It makes perfect sense.

For example:

You're looking for "Change" by the Lightning Seeds. You find a clip of a 2006 live performance, which is great, but the audio is poor. You go to your account and type in a standing search for uploads with certain key words; in this case, "lightning seeds". You could narrow your search to include other key words, like the song title or album title, in this case, Jollification.

You can then forget about it until you're sent an automatic email notifying you when someone uploads a video with your search terms.

It would be like Lexis-Nexis for You Tube. Fantastic.

You listening, You Tube?

My baby -- Grrr! Grrr!

2007-03-09T14:49:00.000-08:00

It's Friday, it's still number one, it's top of the pops: "19-20-20" from The Grates.

A higher-quality version can be viewed at The Grates' website.

What impresses me is how much can be done with so little. The bright colors and kid's costumes provide plenty of visual interest, and the pretext of a children's party is a perfect excuse to run around on a sugar high. Cue bouncy-castle.

Too much party cake? Never!

It's surreal, uplifting, and loads of fun. Grrr! Grrr!

For an energetic live performace and glimpse of an Australian talkshow called "Rove Live", see this.

Links: Wikipedia, I Hate Macs, Starbucks and more

2007-03-03T15:28:00.000-08:00

A few random links. Enjoy.

Bullseye:

"WI-FI service is quickly becoming the air-conditioning of the Internet age…" (NYT via Techmeme)

Install personality:

"Ultimately the campaign's biggest flaw is that it perpetuates the notion that consumers somehow 'define themselves' with the technology they choose. If you truly believe you need to pick a mobile phone that 'says something' about your personality, don't bother. You don't have a personality." (I Hate Macs)

Wiki-lash:

"I am not blind to the faults of the great encyclopedia in the sky, but the current agreement on the uselessness of Wikipedia amongst anyone who knows anything on the Internet gives me a great ache in the balls." (Wikipedia Haters, Suck It)

Handshake with reality:

"Always remember: if blogging actually mattered, it would be called something far less idiotic than 'blogging'." (part of a comment left at Not a sandbox)

Just let your enthusiasm flow:

"Good God almighty. What a premise, and what a cast of characters, and what a story. Unbelievable!" (The feeling of being on the cusp of something immense, immeasurable.)

Going underground

2007-02-20T18:39:00.000-08:00

I'm shutting down the comments for a while. Blogging's an experiment and this is another one; that's part of the fun of it.

Alternative video: "Paul Weller looks cute &etc."

"Going underground"

Some people might say my life is in a rut
But I'm quite happy with what I got
People might say that I should strive for more
But I'm so happy I can't see the point

Something's happening here today
A show of strength with your boys brigade
And I'm so happy and you're so kind
You want more money, of course I don't mind
To buy nuclear textbooks for atomic crimes

And the public gets what the public wants
But I want nothing this society's got
I'm going underground (going underground)
Well let the brass bands play and feet start to pound
Going underground (going underground)
Well let the boys all sing and the boys all shout for tomorrow

Some people might get some pleasure out of hate
Me? I've enough already on my plate
People might need some tension to relax
Me? I'm too busy dodging between the flak

What you see is what you get
You've made your bed, you better lie in it
You choose your leaders and place your trust
As their lies wash you down and their promises rust
You'll see kidney machines replaced by rockets and guns

And the public wants what the public gets
But I don't get what this society wants
I'm going underground (going underground)
Well let the brass bands play and feet start to pound
Going underground (going underground)
So let the boys all sing and the boys all shout for tomorrow

We talk and talk until my head explodes
I turn on the news and my body froze
The braying sheep on my TV screen
Make this boy shout, make this boy scream!

Going underground
I'm going underground!

Lyrics: Paul Weller

Trivia: "Going Underground" was originally the b-side of a single, but due to a labelling error, was given a-side status, and received more air time than was intended; it entered the chart at number 1.

Little Hitler by Nick Lowe

2007-02-19T23:43:00.000-08:00

Little Hitler
What you doin'?
Is the passion inflamed again?
Little Hitler
Where you goin'?
Is it go-go night again tonight?

Ever searchin'
For the action
But the action don't want to know
I sit all alone you're a tough one

Little Hitler
What's the matter now?
Can't you settle for the center of attention?
Little Hitler,
Now I'm serious,
Let me guess while you knock me off the guest list.

As the world turns,
At the edge of night
And the seed all shot and sown
I'll make a little Hitler of my own

When the going gets tough, tough get going
Every now and then
I can see them running, running
You can talk to them
You can be short with them
But you'll get no change,
Only shootin' at 'em long-range

As the world turns,
At the edge of night
And the seed all shot and sown
I'll make a Little Hitler of my own

See you someday soon
Selfish pleasure, yeah
With the one I love

Little Hitler now

"Little Hitler" lyrics: Nick Lowe and Dave Edmunds. From Pure Pop for Now People. You might also recognize it as Jesus of Cool.

Reading a post is like making love to a beautiful woman

2007-02-15T10:10:00.000-08:00

This is why I keep reading Workbench.

Rogers Cadenhead:

"Techbloggers don't often attempt to channel Barry White. I know I'm being obnoxious, but I have to ask whether Scoble would whip out that metaphor for a male blogger of his affection."

I don't see it so much as obnoxious as a common sense reaction. I'd like to channel someone else. How about Swiss Toni?

Reading a blog post is like making love to a beautiful woman. First you have to click on the link and undress her, then you have to give her your undivided attention, read her words, linger over them lovingly and tenderly…

& Etc.

Special Delivery: Happy Valentine's Day

2007-02-14T16:05:00.000-08:00

As a Valentine's Day post, I was going to link to every post saved in my Bloglines subscriptions. But I became oddly paranoid. After all, some of those links led to sites with the f-word in them, some led to writings I didn't necessarily agree with but felt were stimulating reading nonetheless, and some led to frivolous sites.

I started picking and choosing who to link to, but then decided it should be all or nothing -- a gesture of goodwill loses impact when it is selective. I began diligently cutting and pasting links, but began editorializing next to each link. I was soon editing some out.

A phrase has been used in the past week: You are what you blog. It's a warning to people to think before they put their writing online.

I agree that people need to carefully consider the consequences of their words, and take responsibility for what they've written.

And yet -- something rankles.

You are what you blog.

No I'm not. I only share certain parts of myself, and even those parts are heavily edited. You are not what you blog, and to limit people that way is to induce fear, paranoia and further self-censoring. It's to assume we're walking stereotypes: you're the feminist blogger, you're the neoconservative, you're the Catholic blogger, you're the atheist, you're the progressive blogger.

People evolve in their temperament, knowledge, and experience over their lifetimes. If I've learned anything over the past six months, it's that...

The last paragraph of this post has been edited because it was unspeakably sappy. You can draw your own conclusions.

Happy Valentine's Day.

Shit! Shit! Damn! Oh Goddammit!

2007-02-07T18:14:00.000-08:00

Just covering my ass.

The Great Orwell

2007-02-06T08:59:00.000-08:00

How many of us write in order to create beauty?

The other day I read a post that made me pause because it had a beautiful quality to it. It wasn't a big production, just a small gesture that unfolded simply and made me feel good.

George Orwell had some thoughts on the matter. From "Why I Write":

"(i) Sheer egoism. Desire to seem clever, to be talked about, to be remembered after death, to get your own back on the grown-ups who snubbed you in childhood, etc., etc. It is humbug to pretend this is not a motive, and a strong one. Writers share this characteristic with scientists, artists, politicians, lawyers, soldiers, successful businessmen — in short, with the whole top crust of humanity. The great mass of human beings are not acutely selfish. After the age of about thirty they almost abandon the sense of being individuals at all — and live chiefly for others, or are simply smothered under drudgery. But there is also the minority of gifted, willful people who are determined to live their own lives to the end, and writers belong in this class. Serious writers, I should say, are on the whole more vain and self-centered than journalists, though less interested in money.

"(ii) Aesthetic enthusiasm. Perception of beauty in the external world, or, on the other hand, in words and their right arrangement. Pleasure in the impact of one sound on another, in the firmness of good prose or the rhythm of a good story. Desire to share an experience which one feels is valuable and ought not to be missed. The aesthetic motive is very feeble in a lot of writers, but even a pamphleteer or writer of textbooks will have pet words and phrases which appeal to him for non-utilitarian reasons; or he may feel strongly about typography, width of margins, etc. Above the level of a railway guide, no book is quite free from aesthetic considerations.

"(iii) Historical impulse. Desire to see things as they are, to find out true facts and store them up for the use of posterity.

"(iv) Political purpose. — Using the word 'political' in the widest possible sense. Desire to push the world in a certain direction, to alter other peoples' idea of the kind of society that they should strive after. Once again, no book is genuinely free from political bias. The opinion that art should have nothing to do with politics is itself a political attitude."

I'd love it if someone wrote a parody of the above for bloggers.

I find the list a little peculiar in that, although in the preamble he acknowledges that the writer develops "an emotional attitude from which he will never completely escape", he then dances around emotion in his list. While he acknowledges emotional drives, he really doesn't give them full credit. I think he's shying away from emotions. He emphasises desire, which is a brief handshake with emotions.

There is a sort of curt nod to pleasure, I guess, in (ii).

What about trying to gain a greater understanding of events/people/yourself/the world? Can that be inferred from (iii) above?

Jesus, I'm starting to sound like an Introduction to Eng Lit instructor.

What do you think of Orwell's list? Poppycock? Don't be afraid to disagree with The Great Orwell.

The Dark Side of Community

2007-02-05T11:20:00.000-08:00

Finding a blog community can be a thrilling moment, especially if it's a community that is edited out of mainstream media, such as TV and newspapers. But being part of a community can also have negative, unintended results; one of them is the pressure to conform.

The pressure to conform is the dark side of community, I guess, and not one that's talked about much. In fact, I forget about this until someone has the guts to say what she really thinks.

Anti-princess of I shame the matriarchy did this recently when she wrote a post that opened:

"I admire Ginmar - there, I said it."

I thought this was quite a humorous way of acknowledging that certain writers are so unpopular in some circles that to even admit you admire them can be risky.

Anti-princess sees a new intolerance emerging. She's referring to radical feminist blogs, I think, but this is relevant to more mainstream feminist blogs as well:

"I see a really unsettling precedent being set in the blogosphere—that it's only safe to comment in places where you agree 100% with what the blogger is putting forth. Consider what will happen in two months, in six months, in a year—eventually nobody's commonly-held myths will be challenged, nobody will be disabused of their preconceived notions—all of our emperors will run naked in the streets as all learning and growth comes to a screeching halt."

The core problem is how to handle conflict in a medium that enables rapid escalation of conflict. I'm not clear on what constitutes a full-blown "blog war", but I think the phrase isn't necessarily helpful when characterising disagreements between bloggers. It's inflammatory, for one thing; for another thing, it gets me into a mind-set where any disagreement is viewed as negative, wrong, and problematic.

The problem isn't disagreeing. The problem is when disagreement isn't tolerated.

Having pooh-poohed the phrase "blog war" and almost thrown it out the window, I'm now going to catch it mid-air and use it as a handy phrase.

I see several benefits to blog wars which are interconnected:

Blog wars can result in people to breaking out of their polite civility, that which restrains them from engaging critically with the work of other bloggers.

Blog wars challenge and upset unspoken hierarchies within an online community.

Blog wars can prompt writers to engage more critically with their own work.

I see all of the above as good things.

When I say "breaking out of their polite civility", I don't mean people using personal attacks. I mean, the kind of thinking that says to disagree with someone means you are reacting to them in a personal way, rather than with their argument or point of view.

Flame on

I don't want to romanticize blog wars (or flame wars, if you prefer—this is just a carry-over dynamic from Usenet). But I think there's also another unspoken thing that goes on, at least for me, and that is:

a good flame war is a beautiful thing to behold

Why? Because people stop self-censoring, and because it is a moment of intense engagement.

Queer Dewd unabashedly declares "I loves me a good flame war," and explains why this approach is productive for her:

"I like arguing because it forces me to formulate my thoughts, thoughts that may have only be inchoate thoughts circling me pea brain. Sometimes, I learn that they should have stayed inchoate thoughts; sometimes, I find myself writing something that resonates with other people. When I observe other flame wars, where I have no dog in the fight, I always learn a great deal. Or sometimes, when I do have an interest but don't get very involved, someone speaking up helps me see that I'm not the only one who thinks a certain way, and they add breadth and depth to the position I already held. Or offer a new way to critique the position from a sympathetic perspective."

These are just my own "inchoate thoughts" circling my brain regarding the new intolerance, blog wars and flame wars. I may have to reassess some of what I've said above.

That is, if someone would disagree with me.

Monday-Morning-Challenge-Authority Reading

2007-02-05T09:14:00.000-08:00

Workbench: Intel's New Chip: More Important Than Cancer

The Angry Black Woman: *whispers* the people over on Wikipedia is crazy, yo

My Private Casbah: Will The Real (Feminist) Women Please Stand Up?

One Salford Feminist: Oh PETA, you're so right…

The Big Switch

2007-02-04T17:01:00.000-08:00

I've switched over to the new version of Blogger, and this move has forced me to re-examine some of the staple parts of my blog.

About Me… or someone like me

I made several attempts at biography for the "About Me" section. Some involved mentions of fleeting fancies, like Ninetindo Wii or Stephen Colbert. I decided that was just too ephemeral for the "about me" section. Although, now that I think about it, ephemeral and blog aren't exactly antithetical.

I then decided I'd stick to a strict geographical description. I ended up with a dry, "I lived in the U.K. for some time but I'm now back in the East Bay, and loving it!" That last bit, "and loving it!", was just a smidge too self-satisfied. However, when I cut it, the para lacked any personality.

Maybe a straight bio on what I wrote about would be more useful to a fly-by visitor. But actually I haven't written in quite a while -- most of my stuff is linking out. I'm one of those linkers.

Sounds a bit Seinfeld.

I'm not sure if I want to stop being a linker, but it hardly warrants mention in the "about me" section.

Then I thought about bloggers I admire who don't bother with a bio at all. Maybe that's the way to go.

For now, I've bunged in a Mark Twain quote. We'll see how that feels after a week.

Another quote I considered that I really like:

"Literature is strewn with the wreckage of men who have minded beyond reason the opinions of others." — Virginia Woolf

Just change "literature" to "blogging" and it fits like a glove.

The Blogger Move

If any fellow Blogger users out there are curious about what the move is like: it went fairly smoothly and painlessly for me. Some of my pictures are cut-off by the decreased main body width, and there are some other minor things, but overall I'm happy with the move.

If you have a customized template, you can switch without changing the blog template. But when you go to the template tab you'll see an orange button that asks if you want to upgrade your template. If you do that, you'll lose all your customization, so save your template to a Word doc or Notepad before you click on the orange button. (Update: more information here.)

Once you've upgraded your template, you have drag and drop design and a number of other nifty features. I would recommend it, even if you love your template. A change is as good as a rest and all that cliche stuff…

Instant publishing!

The best aspect, by far, is the instant publishing. Before it would take a long time for my post to publish -- now it's hey presto! You're done. Very quick and whizzy. Well done Blogger team for improving the user's experience.

Dashboard: oranger, uglier

The main dashboard is even uglier, if that were possible. They've sort of added "Blogger Buzz" at the bottom. I don't want to see that, get it off my real estate! I experimented a little with WordPress last year, and it does have a more elegant dashboard to work from. But, as they say, meh; I can live with a clunky-looking dash.

Incidentally, I went a little label crazy; I'll probably prune some out. While it was initially fun to add labels to previous posts, it because tedious quickly, and I sort of gave up after a while. Probably best to tackle in stages.

Anyone else had a good Blogger switch?

Controlling the Message: on bloggers, transparency, and the John Edwards Presidential Campaign

2007-02-01T17:05:00.000-08:00

Hoyden About Town has written a post about, among other things, bloggers working for the John Edwards presidential campaign. Her post drew out my own thoughts, and as my comment lengthened, I thought I'd better publish it as a post.

I've left it written as a comment:

What I find more interesting is what was not said in both announcements. Neither Melissa McEwan of Shakespeare's Sister nor Amanda Marcotte of Pandagon said they were being paid for these positions.

No one seemed remotely curious at Pandagon. One commenter at Shakespeare's Sister did raise the issue, and Melissa left a comment to confirm that yes, she was being paid. But shouldn't that have been acknowledged in the announcement post, as a matter of fact?

Neither raised the payment issue because this would've undermined each blogger's backing for Edwards.

Additionally, receiving any kind of perk or reimbursement for blogging is a contentious issue amongst bloggers, and for good reason: often a blogger's authenticity can be bent, re-shaped, given the right perk. If revealing the perk or payment is handled clumsily, it can damage credibility and erode any trust a blogger has accrued with her readers.

I think more transparency was needed in both announcements. Because the money issue was covered up through omission, I felt more cynical about the bloggers' motivations for working for the John Edwards campaign.

As sincere as both announcement posts seem, I came away the sense that these bloggers are already deeply engaged in "controlling the message".

Feminist Parody of the Day: John Edwards

2007-01-31T08:17:00.001-08:00

File under "I love parody"

Pandagon's Amanda Marcotte has announced that she has accepted a position as "Blogmaster" for the John Edwards presidential campaign.

Cuntesnsquirten does a riff: Glorious News!

Rape in "A Clockwork Orange", and does the BBC = Ch. 4?

2007-01-27T09:31:00.000-08:00

Here's your Saturday morning roundup. We start with Newt In A Tea Cup, who writes in "Cinderella and Friday’s Word on Masturbation!":

"Watching the rape scene from A Clockwork Orange in our course on Shocking Cinema made me feel so very ill. Having people claim that some elements were humorous scared me even more. I found it completely terrifying and nauseating. But then what does that matter? I'm sick of all our classes dealing with rape cases and yet refusing to call them for what they are—Measure for Measure by Shakespeare, Phantom of Liberty by Bunuel both feature a scene where a woman is coerced for sex against her desire. That's called rape."

Fate is Chance. Destiny is Choice. details how to complain to the BBC about a program called "The Verdict' in "Is the BBC turning into Channel 4?":

"I've been keeping informed with emails from London Feminist Network Yahoo group about this programme 'Consent' which is being aired this week or next week at 10pm. **Amendment: this is in fact the wrong programme name. The programmed being aired on Channel 4 at 10pm Sunday 21st Jan is called 'Consent' and then the programme I am referring to is called 'The Verdict', which is going to be on BBC2. However, these two programmes seem remarkably similar. I'm wondering if they are linked in some way?***

"The problem with this programme, apart from the fact that viewers will be drawn in by the 'cliffhanger' idea of whether a rape victim is telling the truth or not, is that there has been no indication from the BBC that they have consulted the proper channels – so they have not sought information from rape crisis organisations or police units for rape victims and survivors and so on."

Woman of (an)other Color talks about how class participation isn't so easy at college:

"Many if not most women of color I know undermine their intelligence. Not out loud or very explicitly but there it is. I am one of these women. I sit in a literature class or history class, sometimes even a gender studies class, with something to say formulating in my mouth even before I sit down. And then as quickly as I've formulated the thought, doubt slips in,

"'I'm probably wrong. I don't know what anybody in the class is talking about. What I have to say is probably not related. I feel stupid. I am stupid. What am I doing here? …'"

Read the rest in "Undermining my intelligence".

Actual State of the Union, by the Numbers

2007-01-24T06:47:00.000-08:00

I don't usually do political blogging but I wanted to pass on some good links about the State of the Union address by President Bush last night.

it's probably me: Actual State of the Union, by the Numbers

Welcome to the Nuthouse: Shrub and the Shrubites speak again

Think Progress: VIDEO: The Annotated State Of The Union

Thoughts of an Average Woman: (Mis)State of our Union

Blood banks start filtering out women's plasma due to TRALI

2007-01-23T16:56:00.000-08:00

A lung injury called transfusion-related acute lung injury, or TRALI, which causes the lungs to fill with fluid, may be linked to certain immune cells that are carried by women who have been pregnant. For this reason blood banks are starting to separate women's plasma.

According to news sources TRALI hits a few hundred people a year and kills about 10 percent of them.

The Well-Timed Period has extensive details about TRALI.

I See Invisible People says don't let this keep you from donating.

And Shakespeare's Sister combines this story with social commentary:

"I can't help thinking of the plasma center my aunt used to manage, which was disproportionately populated with low income women who were selling their plasma to feed themselves and their kids. You can't sell your blood, you see; only your plasma."

Also posted at BlogHer.

Link Round-up: Blog for Choice Day 2007

2007-01-22T10:08:00.000-08:00

Highlights from the bloggers participating in Blog for Choice Day. I encourage readers to click through to read the entire post.

"I'm 32 years old. My whole life, abortion has been legal, but its legality has never been totally secure, predicated on the composition of the Supreme Court, on our political and cultural leaders' resolve to unapologetically support and protect it, on pro-choice women and men's determination to defend it. Nevertheless, there are an incredible number of women and men in my generation (and its youngers) who subscribe to the understandably appealing but erroneous belief that Roe will never be overturned, who fail to realize it matters not whether Roe is overturned, if anti-choicers are successful in rendering it an empty statute. Such widespread complacency and ignorance has created a void in which anti-choicers have been frighteningly successful at chipping away abortion rights and access on the state level, leaving many women across the nation with the legal right to get an abortion, but no means to do so." — Shakespeare's Sister

"I hesitate to say that having a baby right now, or on any of those other days, would ruin my life, because I know I would make a good mother and enjoy bringing up a child. But what I can say without a fraction of a doubt is that it would destroy my ability to control my own life, to determine my own future, to shape my own path, and that is not something I ever want to experience." — I'm Not a Feminist But…

"I, however, am going to be a contrarian asshole.

"I'm tired of giving the reasons why I'm pro-choice. I've been giving the reasons why I'm pro-choice for 30 goddamn years, and the thing is, reasons don't matter. Not to the people on the other side, the weepy irrational twit-headed godbags who want to extend full citizenship rights to 8-celled clumps and herd women into forced-incubation camps. They don't even understand reasons." — Reclusive Leftist

"All of my big kids have been pro-choice but anti-abortion and it's always bugged me just a little bit. OK it's bugged me a lot. I am pro-choice but not anti-abortion. As they have gotten older, they have become less 'anti-abortion' - the girls in particular.

"They've both had friends with unplanned pregnancies and watched as they made their choices. They both realize now that they can't say, without reservation, that they would not choose abortion if faced with an unplanned pregnancy. They have both come to appreciate the right to choose - not just as a general idea or a right they want granted to 'other women', but as a personal right." — Fast Times @ Homeschool High

"It is nice for you if your religion says that life begins at conception. Your religion is not the law, nor should it be. Your religion does not grant a zygote more rights to life than a living woman has. As a woman, I have a life. There are no debates about whether I am alive or not. As such, my rights always supersede the rights your religion grants a fetus." — CUSS & other rants

"If I got pregnant today, at this point in my life, I would have an abortion. I have that right to choose. And I will fight to maintain and extend that choice. To make that choice easier to access." — LonerGrrrl

"As a society, we do not elect legislators who make legislative decisions that demonstrate that we value human life and human autonomy. But, when it comes to women's bodies, legislators pull the morality card. Today, I'm pro-choice because I believe that you don't get to legislate selective morality." — Lingual Tremors

"I'm pro-choice because I have more empathy for the living than I do for zygotes… " — Kyso Kisaen, PunkAssBlog

You can see a full listing of participants at Bush v. Choice. See also my link roundup at BlogHer.

Kaiser Chiefs, "I Predict A Riot": the U.S. is a Graveyard for U.K. Bands

2007-01-19T16:49:00.000-08:00

Continuing my experiment with videos online.

I spent some time searching for a The Kaiser Chief's video for "I Predict a Riot" at three different online video providers.

I absolutely hated Yahoo video—the interface is awful, with a popup window for the clip once you get it, and there's an advert beforehand. I got one for toilet paper before their clip of Kaiser Chief's "I Predit A Riot". Nothing turns you off more.

So I turned back to You Tube for a video of the band playing what should be a top 20 hit in the U.S.:

Come on, America. You went all ga-ga over Arctic Monkeys, and they really weren't anything to get in a frenzy over; Kaiser Chiefs are.

Anyways. I still find the video quality disappointing.

Turning to Google video, this clip has commentary text superimposed over live footage of the band playing, and an interview with vocalist Ricky Wilson.

I liked this interface more, as it had the familiar elements from You Tube; a star ratings system, a button to email or blog, and you can add comments and appropriate tags.

There's also a description field where the person who uploads the video enters text.

Here's the description text for the link above:

"Kaiser Chiefs tried unsuccessfully for the second time to release 'I Predict A Riot' to U.S. radio hoping this time it would catch fire. After a modest dent into the radio charts, this week the song was not on the chart.

"The band remains as popular as ever in the U.K., Europe and other parts of the world. Kaiser Chiefs vocalist Ricky Wilson said that they fully realize that the U.S. is a 'graveyard' for U.K. bands.

"'America is kind of the graveyard for a lot of British bands who come over and put all their efforts in breaking in America, people forget them in the U.K. and people forget them in Europe. So we don't know what to tell them. A lot of British bands come over here as well, they have to start off, like we did, playing to rooms of 150 people in Missoula, right?—Big Hawaiian Reggae scene in Missoula, Montana by the way—But they… and their egos can't handle it because they go there… At home they can do four thousand capacity places, and they come over here, suddenly no one knows the words, no one gives a monkey's bum, people just look out [with their arms crossed and bands] can't handle it.'"

Who says feminists don't have a sense of humor?

2007-01-19T11:54:00.000-08:00

Quite separate from the issues being debated, this post made me laugh.

Context: Women's Space/The Margins & Taking Steps (and the follow-up)

Eric Cartman 2546 (Buck Rogers parody)

2007-01-16T16:09:00.000-08:00

Might as well go for broke on the South Park / You Tube thing.

The original:

And the parody:

Come on... come onnnnnnn!!!!

2007-01-16T16:03:00.000-08:00

Here's another South Park clip just for fun.

Cartman waits impatiently for a Nintendo Wii:

Science, reason: is that really all there is?

2007-01-16T15:41:00.000-08:00

I love the way the lead otter intonates "good science".

I know what faith is, and what it's worth.

2007-01-08T14:55:00.000-08:00

Another "how to beat the mid-afternoon slump" posts.

Step up, Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel:

Above is the heart-warmingly dated and yet still strangely mesmeric clip of the band performing "Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me)"; below is their 1975 Top of the Pops version.

The audio on TOTP is muddy, but still worth a look, if only for the new haircut and "I can't be bothered to spit out my gum for TV" attitude:

All Music Guide has a writeup of "Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me)":

"Steve Harley earned his biggest hit with this classic, a delightful love song that uses unique lyrical and musical hooks to freshen up the love song format in a glam rock-styled way. The interesting lyric subverts the love song by having its narrator pining for a girl that he knows is a heartbreaker and trying to affect an ambivalent stance: 'Come up and see me, make me smile/Or do what you want, running wild.'"

I had actually either read, or seen an interview with Steve Harley, where he talked about how the song was a veiled reference to the acrimonious split from his previous band. So I always regarded the love narrative as a cover story, allowing the writer to slip in a few pointed lines about his former bandmates.

The AMG passage continues:

"The music is just as clever, juxtaposing arty verses whose odd melodic twists give them a conversational feel with a soothing chorus built on ascending notes. Steve Harley's recording adds plenty of ear candy, including doo wop-styled backing vocals and a acoustic, flamenco-styled guitar solo that dances around the melody in all sorts of interesting ways (it was actually a soundcheck warm-up that was captured on tape and used when it was deemed to suit the song's needs). The arrangement also added frequent pauses in its melody to keep listeners on their toes. Harley tops it off with a vocal that balances its theatricality with a warmth that sells the lyrics' complex emotions in a believable way."

"Complex emotions" is spot on: it's not quite a kiss-off song, because it leaves the door open for reconnecting. And yet it's not willing to sugar-coat things either, with a number of lyrical jabs:

"You've done it all, you've broken every code / And pulled the rebel to the floor" (Mocking someone's puffed-up self-importance)

"You spoilt the game, no matter what you say /For only metal -- what a bore!" (Ouch!)

"I know what faith is, and what it's worth." (Implying: You, however, do not; you're soulless, morally bankrupt.)

"Resist, resist, it's from yourself you have to hide" (That stung!)

There's also a touch of rueful nostalgia in there. Fantastic song.

Steve Harley has an online diary, apparently; the latest entries talk about touring.

More on The "Ashley Treatment" -- Growing Up with Sky

2007-01-06T10:26:00.000-08:00

As a follow-up to my previous post, here is more commentary from feminist and disabled bloggers about The Ashley Treatment.

Earlebecke at Definition - a Feminist Weblog reminds readers that "People with disabilities are first and foremost people with rights."

She is also disappointed in the lack of coverage in the feminist blogosphere:

"I'm still disappointed that there's not more outrage in the major feminist blogs. (Amanda at Pandagon's response can only be described as completely bizarre. Piny hasn't made a post yet but he's been active on other threads so I expect to see something at Feministe soon. Feministing? Who the hell knows?) But if this whole matter has made one thing clear it's that I need to have more disability rights bloggers besides the Gimp Parade in my regular reading list."

She wasn't the only one; Sally vents her frustration in a comment at The Gimp Parade at the conversations taking place at two high-traffic feminist communities.

Definition also points to a post by Thirza Cuthand at Fit of Pique. It describes growing up with her disabled sister, Sky.

She discusses her sister's sexuality:

"Watching her sexuality develop has been pretty trippy too. She doesn't kiss or have sex obviously, but she's very boy crazy, at the dances for other challenged adults in Saskatoon she was known as the girl who steals people's boyfriends. She blushes when she sees a handsome man, jeez, I mean she's so heterosexual!"

She goes on to say:

"The whole concept of keeping her [Ashley] looking like a child disturbs me deeply. They say that since she has the mentality of an infant, it is grotesque to allow her to inhabit a grown 'sexualized' female body. Apparently females with sexual signifiers are only allowed when they are able to be sexual partners. A grown woman with intellectual disabilities is an abomination."

Her final paragraph reads:

"The last point I would like to make is this disturbing 'Pillow Angel' label they place on Ashley and anyone else with comparative disabilities. It refers to the fact that they can put her on a pillow and she stays there. I know they're trying to be cutesy, but it comes across as patronizing in the extreme and a damning assessment of her identity. I bet they even coochie coochie coo her. Bleh. And also, when I think 'Pillow Angel' I think 'Pillow Queen' which refers to a sexual partner who does nothing and lets the other one do all the work. It suggests complacency rather than disability.

"I think the 'Ashley Treatment' is barbaric. I'll go with the Sky treatment any day."

You must read the whole post, titled, "Growing Up with Sky".

Blue at The Gimp Parade has gathered some other posts from disabled and feminist perspectives, and I have a slightly different list at Sour Duck.

I also strongly recommend the following posts:

Did I Miss Something?: It begins with Ashley.

Wheelchair Dancer: Human Rights

Also posted at BlogHer.

Geek Love and The Ashley Treatment

2007-01-05T15:43:00.000-08:00

Have any of you read Geek Love by Katherine Dunn? If you haven't, don't read further -- I'm about to give some plot details away -- but if you have, you'll recall that a cult develops that requires followers to emulate it's founder, Arturo, who is shaped like a tadpole and has flippers for hands and feet.

Members of the cult have a series of elective surgical procedures in order to fulfill this requirement. First a thumb is removed, then more fingers, then a limb, then another limb, and so forth, until they require full-time care in a home. One of the horrific aspects of the story is how people are recruited, brainwashed, then calmly sign over their savings to the cult and voluntarily have the surgery.

How is this achieved? Via a number of strategies, but the key one, I think, is language.

The cult leader uses rhetoric that is highly sanctified and religious; through skillful use of language he is able to persuade people to join him. The language confers a degree of status to those who progress further along the path to "tadpoledom", creating a hierarchy for each stage of surgery.

This was kicking around in my head last night after I wrote this piece for BlogHer about Ashley. And now I come across a comment (sixth one down) by Sara at Women of Color Blog that resonnates with me:

"Where in the hell do they get off calling this 'medical treatment?' They're not 'treating' anything. This is dismemberment."

Here are some other links to feminist and/or disabled bloggers writing about this issue.

BrownFemiPower, Women of Color Blog: The "Ashley Treatment"

Blue, The Gimp Parade: "Frozen girl" discussed on TV tonight

Melinda Casino, BlogHer: The Ashley Treatment -- another Terri Schiavo case about to explode?

Disgruntled Ladye, Everything and Nothing At All: Ashley X

Did I Miss Something?: It begins with Ashley.

Wheelchair Dancer: Human Rights

Earlebecke, Definition - a Feminist Weblog: The "Ashley Treatment"

Heart, Women's Space/The Margins: The Ashley Treatment

Rachel's Tavern: The Ashley Treatment: A Feminist and Disability Rights Issue?

I encourage you to read the posts above and their comments, as well as the parents' blog.

Above all, think for yourself. Otherwise you might as well join the church of Arturism. ;)

The Cribs: You & I

2007-01-04T13:22:00.000-08:00

The Cribs' self-titled album cover

You & I
You & I

We should take the road less travelled
We should take the road less travelled

And we'll die
We'll die

You & I
You & I

You should always feel empowered
We should always feel empowered

And we'll die
We'll die

When you're feelin' low [laughter]
Let the feeling show
We all know what it's like to be left behind

Yeah, yeah yeah, huh-ohh
Yeah yea yeah, huh-aahhhh!

"You & I", from The Cribs.

A few notes about why I love this song so much.

There's an alternating dynamic between the singing flat and more "straight", and singing in a loose, faint and more improvised manner.

The loose lines include the chorus [And we'll die] and the Yeah, yeah, yeah / huh-ohh lines. The straight lines are You should take the road less travelled… / You should always feel empowered… / When you're feelin' low….

This dynamic creates some tension within the song, but it also creates a professional tension. Which way is going to win out and become dominant?

From a rock industry point of view, the straight singing style is more immediately recognizable and accessible. It's also far easier to market.

But… "you should take the road less travelled". The loose lines are a reminder that there's an alternative path. This path resists standard industry advice: don't let your voice become faint, don't let it wander, crack, or fade. And the reminder that "we'll die" is hardly conducive to a top 40 pop hit!

Just having fun.

The other interesting part occurs at these lines:

When you're feelin' low [laughter]
Let your feelings show

The singer over-emotes on "low", dropping his voice; the laughter seems to be another band member responding to his overly-dramatic delivery. It's a great moment that underlines how The Cribs give themselves permission to have fun even when they have a serious message.

The fact that the loose stuff was left in the song, and that the song wasn't cut from the album, shows how the band values "the road less travelled". This is one of those throwaway tracks that a more mainstream band, or their management, would've cut.

The Cribs decided to leave "You & I" on their album. And I'm so very, very glad they did.

Not a transgender war tonight, I've got a migraine

2006-12-29T22:23:00.000-08:00

Was going to write about the most recent controversy that took place at I Blame the Patriarchy, but reading the comment threads and posts has given me a migraine. Eyes hurt, light hurts, Blogger -- hurts bad, real bad…

So I leave you with these links. Click through, read, and return here to click through to the next one. Repeat until your mind goes numb or you get permanently turned off blogs.

I Blame the Patriarchy: Any excuse to denigrate lipstick

Woman of Color Blog: One more bitchy note before I put on my happy face and wish you a great holiday break…

Women's Space/The Margins: Are Feminists Allowed to Be Partnered with Transmen and Transwomen?

Tiny Cat Pants: I'm Left Twisting in the Wind

I've enjoyed I Blame the Patriarchy in the past, but it's like reading a J.D. Salinger short story. Sure, you enjoy the writing and unique voice, but there's a residual nagging feeling…

Like you're being toyed with.

Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks!

2006-12-28T16:34:00.000-08:00

I'm slowly getting back into blog reading post-Christmas. Here in Northern California we've had a blustery few days, with trees losing limbs, leaves and twiggy debris swooshing around, and power lines falling down.

There's also an online windstorm concerning Microsoft/AMD giving laptops to bloggers which has blown up the issue of disclosure (again). It's a debater's paradise so dive in these links if you're curious!

A good place to start is here. There are some useful updates at the bottom.

I found this fellow's comment making good sense; he's responding to a post called "Blog Mob Justice is Wrong":

"Blogs are about conversation, yes, but they are also about authenticity. The authenticity is what gives blogs credibility. Bloggers tell you about what they know, what they feel and what they believe. Consequently, they're believable and influential, even if we don't agree.

"Now I have to question how authentic it is when a blogger writes about an operating system that they otherwise wouldn't have used. The only reason they are writing about it is because someone gave them a high-end computer capable of running the pre-installed software. That's not authentic to the blogger's real world experiences. The experience is contrived by the company, in this case Microsoft. It's just not real."

He goes on to point out that "a $2,000 to $4,000 laptop for many bloggers is a BIG gift. It's not a free sample of Kraft Dinner or Tide or Obsession." All I have to say is: exactly.

There's some carnage in the comments thread over at MSTechToday, see "New Laptops from Microsoft - Yes, I got one" by Brandon LeBlanc.

Things get interesting when a "fly-by" reader questions LeBlanc's statements earlier in the thread; another reader points out what the blogger will not; and scathing responses follow. I particularly like this one, if only for the "boil and reduce" analogy.

Joel on Software points out that Scoble is reluctant to do the intellectual heavy lifting on this issue. Short quote: "The blogger will feel some obligation to return the favor to Microsoft." A very good read.

It's good to see people debating passionately about something. The issue of payola/bribes/freebies is always lurking in the background, even more so now that blogging has gone mainstream. I think the heart of this issue is admitting we're human, and subject to being manipulated, rather easily, by the gesture of a gift. That's a bitter pill to swallow.

King Lear stood in that storm for a reason. Rage on, bloggers.

Velocity Girl, Simpatico: Rubble

2006-12-27T19:22:00.000-08:00

"Rubble"

Spreading wallshine
Like that bad time
I couldn't see
Change for good then
Can't remember when
Put my hands away
Took my pains at baby's time
Bottled inside her
Made the same mistake again

[Chorus:]

If you have been falling from that ??
I'd knock you down anyway
If the ground was soft, we'd land
I'd stay right there and pave it all day
But you would break apart leaving rubble in the way
And I don't want to have to walk all over what's left in your place

Broken bottles
But my feel won't get cut up on the glass
With my mouth shut
Leave you in your rut again

[Chorus]

[a musical interlude, then repeat of chorus, then female/male lyrics overlapping]

[I just want to know if all this to the ground is wrong
?
I took everything, the sky
?? round into the sky
I took everything, the sky
Blame myself and you apologize
I'll knock you down anyway
I'll knock you down anyway
I'll knock you down anyway
I'll knock you down anyway

When you get what
Blame myself, and you apologize]

Lyrics

There's a cadence to the vocalization of the chorus that makes this an outstanding song.

The first two lines are sung in a "normal" fashion; that is, the range does not vary greatly and therefore the singing style can be easily anticipated:

If the ground was soft, we'd land
I'd stay right there and pave it all day…

But there's a surprise in the second and third line. The singer makes the lyrics "pop" by taking the note attached to 'But' up a few notes, outside the expected range:

But you would break apart leaving rubble in the way
And I—don't—want—to have to walk all over what's left in your place

The high note also marks a turn in the song: you're like something that easily shatters, and I don't want to deal with the mess afterwards.

In the lyric following this, she slows down, indicated above by dashes. Again, the slowing down comes as a surprise.

These two strategies—high pitch, slowing down—are a bit risky because they can dissipate the momentum of the song. However, the effect here is that they jolt the listener out of complacency. They also make the song more playful and memorable, and ultimately more satisfying to listen to.

Melody

The lyrics are sung by Sarah Shannon, and her voice has a tinny edge to it that works well with this jangling melody.

The song has a great rolling mechanism in it, and when the chorus repeats for the third time, if you're not swept up by then, you never will be. The lynchpin of the melody, though, is a four-chord guitar pluck that repeats during the chorus. It comes in high and falls with each successive note. The song understands emotional turmoil in physical terms, e.g., falling and breaking apart; these four notes mirror the "tumbling" going on in the song.

High and Low

This song plays with the dramatic impact that can be had from inserting high pitched notes into a stolidly middle-range song. I think it works quite well, both in making the song memorable, and in producing jouissance for the listener.

At least, for this listener.

Thanks to Ralph at There Is No Cat.

Feed me

2006-12-21T18:25:00.000-08:00

I've been culling out some of my feeds, and this made me curious about how many feeds other people have in their aggregators. So! Let's play the feed game. Highest one is the winner. Obviously, we're using the honor system here.

I have 111 feeds. How many do you have?

Remember that it's quality, not quantitiy. ;)

I'd also be interested in your feed reading habits, e.g., do you let them lie dormant, building up posts, or do you try and stay on top of all your feeds? How often do you subscribe and unsubscribe to blogs? And whatever else you feel like sharing.

29th issue of The Carnival of Feminists

2006-12-20T09:42:00.000-08:00

Pop over to the imponderabilia of actual life for the 29th issue of The Carnival of Feminists.

Thank you to whoever nominated me. There's lots of great reading in this issue so tuck in!

Two quotes…

"I have never dealt with such incompetence in a financial institution in my life and it is driving me to the brink."

it's probably me goes all Spider Jerusalem in I.hate.my.bank.

"…neither the club of hell nor the carrot of heaven is needed for humans to act morally."

Sherry Chandler explains why she is not… whatever.

Velocity Girl: Rubble puzzle

2006-12-19T18:50:00.000-08:00

Velocity Girl, Simpatico inside sleeve.

Any Velocity Girl fans out there? I'm having trouble deciphering the lyrics to one of my favorite songs on Simpatico, "Rubble".

Here's what I can make out:

Spreading wallshine
Flick down bad time
I couldn't see
Change for good then
Can't remember when
Put my hands away
??
??
Made the same mistake again

[Chorus:]

If you have been falling from that ??
I'd knock you down anyway
If the ground was soft, we'd land
I'd stay right there and pave it all day
But you would break apart leaving rubble in the way
And I don't want to have to walk all over what's left in your place

Broken bottles
But my feel won't get cut up on the glass
With my mouth shut
Leave you in your rut again

Soon as I get these sorted out, I'll write a piece on it.

New version of Blogger: Better templates, worse spelling

2006-12-19T18:06:00.000-08:00

Blogger Buzz announces that Blogger Beta has moved out of the beta phase:

"I am overjoyed to announce that today we have o'ficially graduated the new version of Blogger from 'in beta' to '.'"

O'ficially? Good, maybe it'll help you with your spelling. Or was that supposed to be a folksy touch to make you appear more accessible?

The announcement then segues into a Battlestar Gallactica analogy which probably loses some readers and possibly riles Lorne Green fans.

I've resisted switching over to the Beta version, partly because it's a pain to do the backup, although they keep shouting "EASY TO SWITCH!" at me.

While my inner curmudgeon resists, my outer conformist knows I'm just cheating myself. I'm missing out on "access control for blogs", whatever the hell that is (I thought I had that already), and "better input fields for post dates".

Whoa, better input fields for dates, you don't say? I must've died and gone to heaven.

The announcement goes on to state that Blogger "." is both reassuringly the same and significantly better. Getting mixed messages here people! George is getting frustrated!

Snarking aside, I look forward to playing with the new features. Which are… post labels, and drag and drop templates. Oh, and they got rid of your having to use word verification to leave a comment at your own blog. So, they got rid of something annoying to users.

/ Well done./sarcasm

Tripping wires

2006-12-19T10:02:00.000-08:00

Some links from around the net.

Terry celebrates her "blogiversary" this week by re-publishing posts from her archives. Today marks two years of blogging at I See Invisible People.

Shelley Powers writes about Natali Del Conte leaving TechCrunch. I'm not a regular reader of TechCrunch but I like to poke around every now and then. Comments are fairly acerbic over there, which is part of the fun of reading it, but that joke isn't funny anymore, if it ever was.

Suzanne E. Franks gets the meme bug and does a sort of "year in review": Looking Blogwards at 2006.

Congratulations to Fiat Lux.

And there's a pretty good piece over at Echidne of the Snakes about concern trolls in print media (this comment standing out).

The Feminist Way to "Download Britney Spears Sex Video - FAST!"

2006-12-08T16:07:00.000-08:00

Would you subvert community-agreed uses of technology for your political beliefs? Radical feminist bloggers have decided to rage against the machine by hyperlinking "Britney Spears' crotch" and similar text to sites which are either feminist or hostile to visitors.

Some would say that's one category, not two.

Either way, drive-by and search-engine visitors alike will be flummoxed when they click on Free Britney Spears Crotch Shots and end up at The National Organization for Women.

"How incredibly great would it be, for example, if we were able to make it really, really difficult for people to find pornography. Consider the possibilities!"—Heart, Women's Space/The Margins

Take a gander at Screaming into the Void's post if you want to see what this looks like in action. She has a lengthy list of porn-style phrases that she's linked to feminist organizations, educational pages, or simply hostile pages as a joke. I had the unfortunate experience of clicking through to the "Most Annoying Web Page", which I could only exit by shutting down my browser.

While Screaming into the Void does not allow comments, Women's Space/The Margins does, and it's also the origin of this radfem action. See background links below—there are some good discussions going on there.

I have no problem with Google bombing for Choice and combating anti-semitism, but this latest development presents a grey area for me.

While I believe that the porn industry harms women and perpetuates misogyny, I'm not entirely convinced that messing up the waterworks of Google, Yahoo, et al., is the best approach. If taken up by a number of causes, couldn't persistent use of this sort of online activism cripple search engines like Google and Yahoo?

So I reiterate my original question:

Would you subvert community-agreed uses of technology for your political beliefs?

Background links:

All links from the radical feminist blog Women's Space/The Margins.

"'Britney Spears Crotch'—Question"

"More Truth About Men: Britney Spears 'Crotch' Photos, Poetic Justice, A Proposal"

"Feminist Anti-Britney-Crotch-Shot Activism and Internet Search Engines"

Photo: Gawker. Also posted at BlogHer.

A study in masculine narrative: Transmetropolitan - Introduction

2006-12-07T11:53:00.000-08:00

See the Preamble for context.

A few details on the books examined, my history with comic books, and a disclaimer of sorts.

To date, I've only read two Transmetropolitan books, which consist of several numbered strips bound together to make one volume. Vol. 1: Back on the Street is comprised of strips 1 through 3, and Vol. 0: Tales of Human Waste is a sort of tear sheet of our protaganist-journalist's columns. The latter includes the strips titled "I Hate It Here" and "Filth of the City".

I don't know if I'll read the complete Transmetropolitan series, however, these two volumes provide me with plenty of material to write about.

Not a review

This is not a review, nor should my commentary on the kinds of masculinity Transmetropolitan portrays be mistaken as criticism of the work as a whole.

For the record, I unexpectedly enjoyed reading Transmetropolitan, and encourage others to investigate it for themselves. I found the visual storytelling much more sophisticated, dramatic, and clever than I thought it would be. The illustrations are extremely well done and it took me much longer to read the books than I'd anticipated because I spent so much time exploring each scene and admiring the artistic decisions.

I should also probably state that I'm not a comic book reader and I can't remember the last time I explored comic books, although I'm certain I must have in the past, probably in my teens, and rejected it as a genre. I do remember the critical acclaim and public embrace of Maus in the late 80s.

My main reference point for comic books is Superman.

Guilty pleasure

Transmetropolitan turned out to be a guilty pleasure, and proved to be a nice alternative to novels; in fact, I'm embarrassed that I enjoyed this comic so much. I plan to talk about why that would be, but part of it has nothing to do with this specific comic strip, and more with the stigma attached to the comic book genre.

If you don't immediately recognize what I'm referring to, see American Splendor or the comic book nerd from The Simpsons.

But leaving that aside, another aspect is directly linked with Transmetropolitan: the strip is obviously calculated to deliver periodic shocks that, whilst gratifying to the reader, are also heavily laden with taboo. I'll address this as well.

An Aside, and Some Throat-clearing

2006-12-06T18:33:00.000-08:00

~~[Probably not to be published.]~~

Aside

My other reason for picking up Transmetropolitan is to take a closer look at "the beast", so to speak. For some time now I've wanted to write something that engages directly with masculinity, but unable to find a subject. Or to be more accurate: unable to locate a subject I wanted to engage with.

I'm wondering if perhaps I'm so threatened and repelled by masculine narratives, which I can't define at the moment but if you think of Norman Mailer you're on the right track, that the only way I can expose myself to them is through a non-threatening cartoon. A series of blog posts on, say, An American Dream, would certainly be worthwhile. I suppose. But it means sitting down to a meal which I know will leave me feeling sick. I keep thinking to myself, "Brilliant writing, but can you stomach the misogyny?" It's not my idea of fun, but isn't that part of the point of fiction: to read and empathise with those who are not like yourself, who don't look or sound or act like you?

I also wonder how much I'm limiting my reading pool by abandoning the literary "greats". Am I poorer having jettisoned the Mailers, the Updikes? Last month I was in a bookstore and looked at a David Sedaris book; I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. I read a scene that I thought was pretty hateful towards women. The tone, I mean. It was merely a glimpse but gave me enough to get the general vibe. I put the book back and moved on.

I don't know if I'm close-minded, I don't know if I'm cheating myself and limiting my understanding; I only know, the mood I'm in, I'm willing to let a "Sedaris" go unread. And while I'm not willing to write a series of posts examining masculine themes in An American Dream, I am willing to write about Transmetropolitan, even though it's drawing upon some similar themes.

Afterall, Transmetropolitan has something An American Dream doesn't.

Pictures.

A study in masculine narrative: Preamble

2006-12-04T11:29:00.000-08:00

I was wandering the aisles of the public library last week when a row of comics caught my eye. The sheer bulk of the collection suggested that the library staff had deemed it worth purchasing, or that there was a demand for it from library patrons.

I already had Washington Irving in hand, but out of curiosity I idly flipped through a random issue. The very first page showed two characters half-naked in bed together, and the dialogue indicated they had just had a one-night stand, which one party was regretting.

Now, perhaps I'm naïve, but I didn't realize comic book characters could get naked and have sex, much less in the public library.

"Shock shock horror horror shock shock horror!" — Space, "Female of the Species"

If I had been a comic strip character, there would have been a couple of thick exclamation points stretching above my head.

I flipped to the introduction. The series centered on a Hunter S. Thompson-like character who roamed a futuristic decaying city. I gathered the story involved an alien riot, and that subsequent storylines involved political corruption, journalism, and a sort of general hatred on the part of the protaganist.

It looked like there was meat on the bone, but what I really I wanted to know was how the writer got those characters in bed together.

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow picked up a companion: Transmetropolitan. Strange bedfellows indeed.

Sylvia Plath's Blog

2006-12-01T17:02:00.000-08:00

Recently I read the journals of Ralph Waldo Emerson, and I got the eerie feeling I was reading blog entries. The voice I heard in his personal entries was much more engaging than the formal, elevated voice he used in his famous essays.

Now I see that someone has had a similar experience while reading The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath: see Clancy Ratliff's "Sylvia Plath's Blog" at Culture Cat.

Well I'll Go To The Foot Of My Stairs… has a great photo essay up at her blog about Reclaim the Night in London, including a small altercation with a group of men who spilled out of a pub. She had a great time and ends her post, "Can’t wait for RTN 07 now."

And lastly, Marian Douglas considers the impact of the loss of political figures on the American psyche in "The American assassinations, part 2—1964, 68: Malcolm, Martin and John's brother Bobby".

She writes:

"I started blogging this thread, 'the American assassinations', before reading that this week BBC News has alleged U.S. CIA involvement in the 1968 murder of Robert Kennedy. The report by Shane O'Sullivan appeared November 21, 2006 on BBC Newsnight. It is possible some in the US still really do not want to think of such things. The evening he was murdered Bobby Kennedy had just won California's Democratic Party primary and was on the verge of becoming the party nominee for president of the United States. How many of us ever stop to consider the implication of these multiple assassinations in the US?"

Image: Self-portrait by Sylvia Plath, from Wikipedia. Also posted at BlogHer.

One Cliché to Rule Them All

2006-11-25T19:36:00.000-08:00

The Primary Contradiction re-blogs an essay that talks about how the term politically correct serves those in power to make like the victim. This has been said before, but sometimes it's not what you say, it's how you say it, and the opening is particularly well-crafted and will draw you in: the blogger explains why clichés should be avoided, gives some examples of blog clichés, and then attacks one particular term.

The essay is written by Kai Chang (Zuky), and Y. Carrington liked it so much she posted it at her blog with the author's permission. Comment threads exist at both sites.

Studiously avoiding clichés is Blogger on the Cast Iron Balcony, who writes posts with such titles as "The Stinky Camembert of Multiculturalism meets the Whiskas of Wimminism". This is about "Australia's living treasure" Michael Leunig and how he has "lost the plot". I don't want to spoil it for you, just visit the blog and read the takedown.

Still in the "takedown" category is Sherry Chandler, who has a nicely biting one on Dr. Eric Keroack, the new head of family planning programs at the Department of Health and Human Services.

Chandler points to another blogger writing about Keroack, who in turn links to further relevant blogging. It's a bit like a cascading row of dominoes.

To use a cliché.

Hat-tip to Hoyden About Town. Also posted at BlogHer.

TechMeme vs. Megite

2006-11-15T18:04:00.000-08:00

Some items I found through Megite:

Who is America's Top Coffee Seller?

No. Nooooooo! My middle-class eyes are bleeding. Oh, my beloved Maple Macchiato…

Notebooks dropping to $99

I left a comment at Listics a while ago saying I'd only buy a laptop if it cost under $100. At the time, the only laptop that came close was the result of an initiative by MIT Media Lab called One Laptop Per Child, and it aimed to benefit underprivileged kids, not cheap bastards like myself.

However, I figured this development would have a knock-on effect on the wider notebook/laptop market. This Megite item links to two bloggers writing about this story from ZD Net.

The news is too good to be true, of course (the catch is you have to commit to a cable internet connection that costs upwards of $300), but hopefully this will influence the market.

I stuck that Listics mention in there because I thought it would tickle Mr. Paynter.

I might have been name-dropping as well. Hard to tell.

Couldn't care less about Borat, and this may prove I'm outside the cultural zeitgeist. Would suggest you rent or buy I'm Alan Partridge instead. (Ah-haaaa!)

Jeff wins "most creative and funny Megite title" with his "Most wikis only go to 10, mine goes to 11" post. However, I've lost the link.

I'm sure you've sussed out by now that I just can't deliver on the blog post title.

But it's a lovely eye-catcher, isn't it? Use it at your own blog and fulfill its promise.

"WH Smut", Tom Baker and the Cybersexism of Dr. Who

2006-11-15T11:13:00.000-08:00

Today's post has a UK theme, with WH Smith, Tom Baker, and Doctor Who providing the variables and feminist blogging acting as the common denominator.

I've previously written about how I like it when bloggers document their research and activism at their blogs. For one thing, it breaks down geographic barriers between communities of feminists.

So I was interested to read how Charliegrrl documents her activism against porn and lads mags at WH Smiths, which is a major newsagent in the United Kingdom. While I like the idea of visually disrupting people's routines in order shake them out of complacency, this approach isn't without its flaws. For instance, children wandering the aisle of "WH Smut" are exposed to these images, although I'm sure Charliegrrl would argue that they're being exposed to these images already due to how the merchandise is incorrectly stocked at Smiths.

I'm also ambivalent about taking people's snapshots; however, read her post, take a look at her photos, and see what you think: Porn Exposed in WHSmut.

A related post is WHSmut—pushing porn to kiddies at a new blog, Adhesively Challenged. There's a disclaimer at the blog that strikes me as disingenuous, but good luck to that blog nonetheless. The images are a great tool to raise awareness when applied—ahem—legally.

Besides being a wonderful alliterative phrase, the term "lads mags" functions as a cloaking phrase that hides what is really going on: mass-produced misogyny. I recall when I lived in the U.K. the adverts for one lad mag where Tom Baker did a voiceover, and his voice—which was also used for the introductions to Little Britain—lent the adverts a comedic air, making it all seem like the proverbial "bit of fun". It's only because of some of the posts at Blog of Feminist Activism Against Porn that I'm aware of how nasty that "bit of fun" is.

Speaking of Tom Baker, I've been watching the latest series of Doctor Who on the Sci-Fi Channel, and generally enjoying it, although I had just warmed up to Christopher Eccleston, who was excellent in that role, when they go and replace him with David Tennant. Anyhow take a look at Cybersexism at A Stormy Blog.

Photos: Blog of Feminist Activism Against Porn (top); A stormy blog (bottom). Also posted at BlogHer.

Google Blogoscoped: Contains 80% Sexism

2006-11-14T08:03:00.000-08:00

Shutting down a comment thread when the criticism gets too much for you is a pathetic move:

"Projecting whatever evil you see in the world (racism, sexism, homophobia, wars) on me/ this post is certainly an easier option than facing real issues. I'm only afraid it won't help anyone."

Using projection to deflect valid criticism is certainly an easier option than facing the real issue: your post acts as if women don't exist.

"I think everyone made their point by now, repeatedly, including me."

I've had enough of this. Will you stop reminding me I left women out of my survey?

"I'm closing off this thread (see the forum rules that state it's not OK to 'make the same point over and over causing constantly repetitive posts'),…"

God you're all boring me talking about sexism and demanding that I include women. Am I going to have to include women every time I write a post now? Look, we have guidelines here… (ducks)

"…but I invited Shelley Powers to write a guest post here on Sexism in Blogging, so expect this to be up in 1-2 weeks."

I can't be arsed to write about sexism. Besides, I'm not sexist, so how would I even be able to do that?

Chilling bloggers

2006-11-07T15:37:00.000-08:00

As we move from October into November, the fallout from several online incidents mirrors the sudden briskness I feel in the weather. Do you feel it too?

Recently, one weblogger declared he had figured out the identity of the tech industry blogger at Dead 2.0, who wrote under a pseudonym. As you may infer from the blogger's name, Dead 2.0 frequently critized Web 2.0 hype, and for this reason, there were a few people who wished he (or she?) would just shut up.

Rogers Cadenhead is being threatened with legal action for comments left by readers at his blog, Workbench.

Moving into feminist circles, Zuzu of Feministe, who also writes under a pseudonym, recently posted her concern about being involuntarily outted, and the possibility of legal action.

Zuzu's conflict was sorted out; the same can't be said of Dead 2.0, whose website contents have been removed, leaving only a graphic that cheerily states, "We'll be back!"

I won't hold my breath.

Here are a few more voices on what causes a blogging chilling effect.

Thus Spake Zuska:

"Why do you think that I am able to rant so freely, express the truth so bluntly, expose morons to the blinding light of revelation with impunity, all under my real name? It's because I have no job. And I'm not talking about how having no job gives me extra hours in the day to blog. I'm talking about something else that having no job gives me. It gives me no fear. I do not fear retribution. And I do not fear being censored."

She then cites an example of what she considers to be censorship, and points out the women in science on her blogroll:

"Look at the blogroll to the left. I have lots of links to nice blogs all written by actual women scientists. They write eloquently, poignantly on gender and science issues. Do they write under their real names? They do not. Why do you suppose this is?"

To find out, continue reading her post, "Censorship", at Thus Spake Zuska.

Alecto Erinyes has written a thoughtful and incisive piece about the nature of the internet and self-censorship. She uses a mainstream media story about Naomi Parry, a contributor to the popular blog, Larvatus Prodeo, as launching point for her thoughts.

Alecto makes several very good points in her post, which is mostly concerned with repercussions for public figures, or potentially public figures. But her points are also transferrable to bloggers in general.

Here's number 2, concerning the environment of the internet and how this influences blogging:

"2) The real role the internet played in this was not the preservation of Naomi's comments, but the atmosphere that encouraged her to make them in the first place. The internet is public—extremely public—but it feels private. You're posting from home, with a glass of wine by your keyboard. You're shooting the breeze with your cyber-friends. The context is relaxed, the tone casual. So what if you let down your guard and tell a few people what you really think about your husband, co-worker, factional master? So what is—you don't know who you're telling. One of my correspondents told me of a mortifying incident when he trotted off to the pub with friends on a Friday night, and let loose about his work, boss, frustrations—only to discover one of his friend's new partners, there that evening, was a political reporter—who had just scored the scoop of the month. The internet is like that every day."

She ends her post cautioning readers to "think carefully".

Read her points, some of which she says are "not all mine", at Sisterhood and Solidarity.

Image: Dead 2.0

The Michael J. Fox Effect

2006-10-30T09:59:00.000-08:00

My link roundup of feminist bloggers' commentary on the Michael J. Fox ad for Claire McCaskill and right-wing reaction to it.

Roxanne Cooper at Rox Populi, "You Know Why They're Going After Michael J. Fox, Right?"

Taylor Marsh, "Worth the Gamble":

"It's not about what we can prove today. It's about what we may learn and be able to do in the future. It is the very basis of technology and science, medicine and mining for cures, things that Democrats have championed for decades. It's also about The Common Good."

The Mahablog, "Shameless":

"I'm not talking about Michael J. Fox's television ad for Claire McCaskill. I'm talking about rightie reaction to it."

Jill at Feministe, "Michael J. Fox: 1, B-List Godbag Celebrities: 0":

"Let's get this straight: Because there won't be cures for 15 years, stem cell research is useless. Because fertility clinics can pay women for eggs (which they already do), stem cell research is bad. Because proponents of stem cell research spend a lot of money on ads, it's a lie. Because Movie Jesus tells you in a foreboding tone that 'You know now. Don't do it,' you shouldn't.

"Strong arguments you're presenting there, guys. Maybe next time you should just invite Rush over to give his two cents, and perhaps hear a little bit from Dr. O'Reilly."

Shelley Powers at Just Shelley, "Stem Cell Research, Michael J Fox, and Politics as Usual in Missouri":

"Watch this ad, then read the bill. Amendment 2 is not just a Democratic amendment. Our Republican governor supports it as do other government officials. Where the political aspect of this arises is that Jim Talent is a conservative Christian in a state where that should give one pause… a great deal of pause. When one thinks on what state legislature have tried to put through in the past, it should give Missourians a great deal more than a pause."

Egalia at Tennessee Guerilla Women, "Olbermann Blasts Limbaugh for Attack on Michael J. Fox (video)":

"Fortunately most of us are not strung out on hillbilly heroin and actually have something called compassion. Fortunately, Michael's ad is waking people up to the reality-based world, you know the world where people actually have real diseases that need real cures.

The Michael J. Fox Effect

'Republicans who indicated that they were voting for a Republican candidate decreased by 10% after viewing the ad (77% to 67%). Independents planning to vote for Democrats increased by 10%, from 39% to 49%.'

Photo: Debi Brooks, President & CEO, and Michael J. Fox, Founder, The Michael J. Fox Foundation For Parkinson's Research. Also posted at BlogHer.

This is the way I make my pie, and if the judges don't like it, they can go fuck themselves.

2006-10-27T09:17:00.000-07:00

On telling people to "go fuck themselves."

I'm a regular viewer of the Food Network, something I thought was neither here nor there until someone said to me, "Oh, someone actually watches that?"

If you're one of the uninitiated, the Food Network is just that: a channel devoted to food. The preparing of it, food contests (Guinness world record sugar sculpture! Giant popcorn Mickey Mouse!), documentary-style shows (Ace of Cakes). There's also a Food Network Canada.

I was recently watching a pie-baking contest, in which members of the public compete for a cash prize. One of the contestants, an elderly woman, was profiled for the show. She was really sweet, and seemed to get on well with her competitors, even sharing some of her pie-making knowledge with them.

The program showed her mixing her pie, and in a slow, deliberate voice she said, "This is the way I make my pies, I've been making them this way for 40 years…"

At this point I like to pretend she ended her sentence by saying,

"…and if the judges don't like it, they can go fuck themselves."

The internet, and blogging, is a lot like that: you can tell someone to go screw themselves. And, here's the shocker: they can say the same right back at you.

The inspiration for this post, such as it is, is from Rogers Cadenhead's "Mena Trott 1, Ben Metcalfe 0".

The Veil, UK Chemists refusing to dispense EC, and Women's Boxing

2006-10-26T23:17:00.000-07:00

An American post, and two posts from UK bloggers. With a cup of tea.

Oh, and for those of you wondering: yes, I will be writing something other than link roundups. Don't nod off, will you?

La Lubu has written an interesting piece on women's boxing at Feministe, interweaving her childhood memories of watching boxing on TV with her father with the latest story regarding Ann Wolfe and Mike Tyson.

She writes:

"It's a familiar story in women's boxing, one in which women had to continually fight for the right to fight. The stories of women boxers still aren't commonly known; every schoolgirl has heard of Billie Jean King, but how many know of Marian 'Lady Tyger' Trimiar, who went on hunger strike in 1987 for better money, conditions, and more recognition and opportunity for professional female fighters? or of Sue 'Tiger Lilly' Fox, creator of the Women's Boxing Archive Network?"

Pop over to Feministe to read the entire essay.

Blunt & Disorderly brings a couple of interesting angles to a news item in the United Kingdom and Europe: the Jack Straw/veil controversy. A lot has been written about this topic, but B&D's analysis is interesting because it brings a couple of fresh angles to the subject.

The blogger points out that, "It has always been about status and power," not religion.

The post also brings to light the fact that it is far easier for Westerners to point the finger than to look at their own customs:

"In the 1920's and 1930's when women gained more freedom, the corset went, so did the long skirts, the impossible hair styles and so on. It's depressing to notice that the corset is back, that women starve themselves and 1950's style clothes are fashionable. The idealised image of womanhood from the 1950's was extremely oppressive. Women were mothers and wives, beautiful and powerless. Strangely enough I haven't come across any comment on the corset. It's obviously easier to condemn what neighbours do."

See also "Lifting the veil" at Cruella-blog, where Kate Smurthwaite defends her position in the comments thread.

Lastly, Stormcloud writes on the worrying American trend of phramacists refusing to dispense emergency contraception in the UK in "USA—here we come!"

Her post is an excellent example of a piece of original feminist action documented at her blog:

"When I first looked at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain's website, and consulted the online document 'Code of Ethics and Standards', I could not find the 'religious/moral' opt-out clause for Pharmacists, and had assumed that perhaps this was an individual and isolated case (of either misinterpretation or 'bending' to suit the individual). Admittedly, I did not read the entire document, and just the introduction and Section 11 pertaining to EC.

I emailed Lynsey Balmer, Head of Professional Ethics, for clarification on the matter. Impressively, she emailed a reply back within the hour."

She shares the text of the email she receives from Ms. Balmer, and discusses the ramifications.

I really like to see feminist action like this recorded at blogs, because it shows what one person can do, fosters discussion, and inspires further action. Well done Stormcloud of A Stormy Blog!

Mmmm, TV: Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Prison Break, Lost

2006-10-24T14:44:00.000-07:00

Thoughts on some of the TV shows I've been watching this fall.

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip

Last night was a mixture of American comedy history, "soap opera", and race relations. The last subject was handled pretty well, I thought, for what is a contentious topic. And another sub-plot gave a nod to burlesque comedy, in which early American network comedy was rooted. References included Sid Caesar's Your Show of Shows, Gypsy Rose Lee, and Abbott and Costello, which of course I liked.

I don't think we should see the SNL-type sketches, if anything they should just be suggested visually. The main thing is the show behind the show.

The biggest surprise element for me is Mathew Perry's performance as Matt Albie. He's managed to shed "Chandler" and has emerged as a more significant actor. Just when you think you have someone pegged. Amanda Peet (Jordan McDeere) is also very good in a role that requires a tricky balancing act, and Timothy Busfield (Cal Shanley) is always welcome on the screen.

Is it me or is Christine Lahti's character distinctly C.J.?

Prison Break

I dislike shows set in prison. The harsh social systems, the claustrophobia, the cruelty, the dehumanising environment. I can only think of one prison story I really liked, and that's Shawshank Redemption.

So this one took me by surprise. The signature cliffhangers at the end of each show are hard to resist the charm of; you know they're coming, you know you're being manipulated, but you're enjoying it anyway. Like most good TV.

And there are just some great lines for the actors. They must be jumping up and down when they read the script. There was a very funny, very crude one in Series 1: when a prisoner is refusing to jump into a hole in the ground, another one says, "You mean there's one hole in this place you're not trying to get into?"

Besides Wentworth Miller, who plays the lead character of Michael Scofield, there are a number of actors turning in compelling performances. Lane Garrison, who David Apolskis, is particularly believable as the naive young snitch. He does good dense.

In this video clip from TV.com (short ad you have to sit through first), Robert Knepper talks about his character, "T-Bag". At the end he says "I play a lot of the humour" and that he tries to "stay away from the creepy" and just play it charming—really? Because he's definitely got the creepy vibe going (as well as the humour).

Excellent show, turned into "The Fugitive" in Series 2.

Lost

It's getting more surreal and convoluted. But they say that after every episode of Lost.

There aren't many TV shows that demand you pay attention and recall small details from the previous season, and that's admirable. However, there are so many loose threads at this point, I wonder when the payoff is going to happen for the audience and we'll start getting some answers.

I think, out of frustration, I've adopted a zen-like approach to Lost now: just accept whatever happens. You won't get answers.

I really like it when they inject humour into the show, as in last week's episode when Sawyer shouted to a guard that he could use an ottoman. It keeps the characters, and the show, from being completely pulled down by their dire situation.

One of the more interesting characters enjoyed some consensual sex and was promptly killed off; a common finger-wagging device used in TV shows. Tiresome.

Related links:

Wikipedia entry for Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip
Fox Network's Prisonbreak site
ABC Network's Lost site