One Reporter's Opinion

2008-01-22T18:10:00.000-06:00

For You Fred-Heads Out There

Now that you wasted your early vote on Fred Thompson, it's time to get rid of that Fred '08 sticker on your SUV.

Don't say you weren't warned.

2008-01-21T21:01:00.000-06:00

A Half-Assed Return to One Reporter's Opinion

Over the last couple of weeks, I have been pressed into service to help out with a couple of computer issues with members of my extended family. Not that I'm not happy to help out - I do know my stuff when it comes to navigating either PCs or Macs, and I give far, far better advice and support than your typical jamokes on first-level call at Dell or the Geek Squad.

But I had my first "opportunity" to mess with Windoze Vista the other day, and my curiosity got piqued. I can't help it. I'm inclined to try to figure these things out and work with them and massage them, make them a tall drink and get them all a' tizz... but I reveal too much.

I gotta say (and I say this as a former MCSE and reformed Windows bigot) that Vista is an ungodly godawful goddamned mess of an OS. It's klunky and bitchy and hypersensitive and far too boorish for words. It's fat and sluggish and pretends to be something that it's not. Vista is the beer-drunk of operating systems.

That didn't stop me from buying a copy at the CompUSA fire-sale and doing my best to set it up on my MacPro to run in Parallels. I got it to run, but it did involve a couple of gyrations that would be unseemly to admit to here. I'll let the guys at Daily Tech explain how I might have gotten this to work as an adjunct to my Windows 2000 emulator.

I mean, really, people. Does it take 10GB to run an Intel platform? My sources say no - Linux has been grinding happily at many Pentium-class processors for a half of a generation now. Mac OSX 10.5 is around 6GB at a full install; less if you strip out all of the languages you probably won't need (thank you, Monolingual).

But at least I'll be able to sit at my computer and figure out what my mom is talking about when she's trying to get her new laptop to talk to her printer over an ad-hoc wireless LAN. That alone was worth $120 to me, even if it was for this PO/S that will see maybe five hours usage in the next 12 months.

2007-12-11T19:53:00.001-06:00

The Random Facts meme...

I'm taking this one upon myself, as I feel a common sense of detachment from blogging, a la Hayden Childs. I have not been tagged, but this seemed like an interesting exercise in introspection - or at least a chance to talk up my brushes with fame.

1) My first meeting with anyone famous was with Bobby Short - he'd been a student at the primary school that I had attended, and he was still close friends with the principal of said school. She'd invited him to play at a school assembly at which I was named "Best Boy Citizen," so it was my privilege to get to shake this man's hand, even though I had no earthly idea who he was (other than being a formidable singer, amply demonstrated by his rendition of "White Christmas" moments before I was introduced to him). To my 5th grade mind, this was all but a matter of course. Now, I would have truly appreciated the opportunity.

2) I think every male of the human species remembers when he was first smacked, flicked, kneed, swatted, punched or had otherwise had his genitals violently treated. Mine was during same 5th grade year, when I was a member of the Triple-A Safety Patrol. I don't know what the big deal was, but it was supposed to be some sort of honor to be chosen to arrive super-extra early and to don a reflective orange belt, for the sole purpose of blocking traffic while other students used the crosswalk. I was at the corner of English and Gilbert in Danville, IL and another member of the Elite Traffic Squad put hands on my shoulders and raised his knee square into my crotch. I don't remember what I said to him to precipitate this sequence of events, but I do remember the shuddering pain - as well as the black bruise on my glans. Yeee. Ouch.

3) My first big rock concert was seeing Hall & Oates on the Big Bam Boom tour. General Public was the opening act, and I had traveled to Tulsa, OK to see this show. I think I was the only person who came away more impressed with General Public than the main act. To this day, of everyone involved in that tour, I would have loved to have met Dave Wakeling.

4) My biggest fear is needles. I suppose that this qualifies as "white coat syndrome," but as the 5th grade seems to inform most of my adult life today, I had received a measles booster in school. I remember really having a lot of anxiety about it, and when I finally got to the front of the line to get the shot in my left arm, I vaguely recall thinking, "Gee, that wasn't so bad." From what I recall, I was able to walk from the basement of the school all the way back into my afternoon class before I was completely overcome by swirling black & yellow spots. I remember the look of my canvas shoes and being asked, "Where are you going?" before passing out cold. I hold the scent of smelling salts in my nose to this day - and I still can't get so much as a finger prick before displaying signs of shock. I can't even watch other people being poked or prodded, and seeing an IV is about enough to send me back on my heels. I pray I never develop insulin-dependent Type I diabetes.

5) If I could do any single one thing, irrespective of my physical condition, it would probably be to trek from Lukla along the Dudh Khosi to the south-route Everest Base Camp on the Khumbu Glacier. No matter how many times I see stuff about Everest expeditions, I am always enthralled by the stories of the people who choose to put their lives on the line for a chance at the summit. Perhaps George Leigh Mallory was onto something when he quipped, "Because it's there." Now, I wouldn't ever dream of climbing the mountain itself - I think that would be absolutely beyond my ability or ambitions... but I'd at least like to see the sumbitch up close, and with my own eyes, and on the power of my own two feet. (After the bout of altitude sickness I had at 10,000 feet this summer, I think that's about all the ambition that my alveoli can handle.) And if I could ever meet David Breashears or Ed Viesturs or Jon Krakauer or Jamling Tenzing Norgay or Araceli Segarra or Sir Edmund Hillary, well, I'd about be overcome. Fat chance of meeting them here in the relative flatlands.

6) I get a lot of compliments from total strangers about my hair. Right now, it's a mess of salt-&-pepper curl, and it hardly reaches my collar. Think Help!-era John Lennon with a Jew-fro. I am, however, not Jewish - and I had stick-straight hair growing up. I kinda don't get what the fuss is about, but the positive reinforcement has me holding off a wig-busting for the time being. I've long wondered how I would look with longer hair, although I still think that it's more likely that I'll wind up looking like Buddy Miles rather than Eddie Vedder.

7) I met the governor of Tennessee - Phil Bredesen - at a local McDonald's. I was sorely tempted to deal him a cockpunch. Sorta like an inverse meaning of "shaking hands with the governor."

8) The most wealthy person I've ever eyeballed at an arms' length is Rupert Murdoch. I had been working for this little startup company called America Online as a temp, and he'd come to this little corner of the Chicago Tribune tower to see these piddling things called The Internets. His cologne bore the faintest strain of sulfur.

2007-06-26T19:35:00.000-05:00

Of Reunions and Blog Tag

Courtesy of this post, which was a bit of a shaming after my promise in comments related to this post, I am catching up in my all-too-typical very-remiss fashion. Mea culpa.

And your post comes at an interesting moment in time, Mr. Childs. This nostalgia jag is at a crossroads with this year, 20 years from when I turned 18, which is coincidentally the year of my 20-year high school reunion.

I'm not going. I haven't been to Coffeyville in nearly that long, and I'm thinking that it's not nearly long enough. I have tried a few paths to nostalgia, from being involved in the class reunion page at Yahoo! Groups to penning a few letters to former classmates. I am not exactly sure who remembers the years between 1983 - 1987 in Coffeyville, KS with much fondness, but I will readily cop to disaffection for much of the experience. The times in that interval which I do remember fondly often has strong connections to music, but seldom any of the #1's to have hit the charts. I recall having a class notebook which had better cover-art detail than the notes kept within, and I similarly recall that 1987 was the year I discovered Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables, Psychocandy, Big Lizard in My Backyard, and got into Never Mind the Bollocks for the first time.

As regards the reunion of the class of 1987: One of the central events planned is a large-ish tailgating event for a football game with still-traditional rivals from nearby Independence. I don't know exactly how that idea got developed, but that sounds like the sort of thing that would set the Wrong Tone for the entire weekend. No thank you. I never liked the whole sports scene much in the first place, so I can't imagine being whisked off into some positive frame of mind. Being surrounded by modern-day high-schoolers in close proximity to the people with whom I'd gone through the "high school experience?" That sounds like a recipe for the sort of dysphoria that might take me four or five years of electroconvulsive therapy to overcome.

Case in point: The number 1 song when I turned 18 was January 24 - February 6: At this Moment - Billy Vera and The Beaters.

Having completely forgotten what this song must have sounded like (and I know that I knew it, since all that was available in a 4-state region was AOR or Top 40 radio), I went to the iTunes Store for a refresher, if you could call it such.

Oh, dear God. Maudlin, blue-eyed "soul." I remember that now. I'd tried to shut it from my consciousness, but now I am recalling slow dances at the local VFW for the senior prom; me, resplendent in full-white tux with black tie & cummerbund. Guh.

Well. With that setting the tone, let's dive in and see what else we have. Following Hayden's example, I'm going to investigate from the bottom up on this page.

68. Why Can't I Be You - The Cure. OK, now this isn't quite so bad. Boy, did I ever like The Cure. That seems like a guilty admission by my current standards, but by my lights at the time, The Cure was something of a revelation. I think this was the first "new" album they'd done since I'd purchased Standing on the Beach/Staring at the Sea on cassette from a Camelot Records in Topeka. My wont was to peruse the cassettes in alpha order. I just stopped anywhere I saw a name that sounded interesting, and "The Cure" sounded interesting. For the price, this comp was a natural. Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me was their foray into Top 40'dom, and this was the first single. If I listen to anything by The Cure these days? It's more likely from Faith or Seventeen Seconds (which I had known as the Happily Ever After release).

61. Touch of Grey - Grateful Dead. This was more or less my introduction to The Dead. I didn't get it then, and I still don't get it to this day. Hippie-dom was rampant in the years to follow, and many people have come and gone who've tried to convince me of the genius of Jerry Garcia, and I have yet to have the epiphany. Still - cool video.

32. Where The Streets Have No Name - U2. Although The Joshua Tree was the high-water mark for U2, I didn't quite know it at the time. I still recall splitting the wrapper off of this release on the day that it came out, and I spent a lot of time with it in the coming months (that is, when I wasn't wrapped up in Rodney Anonymous and his skewed take on human existence). Still, I listen to the chugging, soaring, heavily delayed guitar of The Edge which opens this track, and I can vaguely see Bono's supercilious mug taking front stage atop that Los Angeles building, and I can't help but smile. I don't recall ever loving big-time rock stars like I'd loved U2. To this day, though, I have yet to see them in concert.

24. Brass Monkey - Beastie Boys. I didn't like this song in high school. I thought Beastie Boys were awful, unserious, and one-hit wonders. I didn't pay attention until Ill Communication. So the relationship I have to the BBoys has always contained an element of lost time for me.

7. Oh Yeah - Yello. The theme to Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Ah, John Hughes movies. Lighthearted, hackneyed romps through the world of teen alienation, reaching embarrassing levels of both phony and maudlin - and I have seen them all. What more need be said about 1987?

2007-05-15T22:22:00.000-05:00

Regarding the Death of Jerry Falwell

A charlatan is dead.

I will take this as an opportunity to commemorate his death with more anger than sorrow -- and for a man who heaped scorn upon the least of his brethren at every opportunity, this seems at the very least to be consistent with the man's example. Not that his is an example that I would take as commandment to follow, mind. You get the point, I hope, dear readers. (Job 4:8)

It is without the least twinge of irony that I make the following disclaimer:

Speaking ill of the dead was Jerry Falwell's stock in fucking trade, so anyone with a pious instinct upon reading this is officially required to spare me the outrage.

***

I've heard much about divine reward and divine punishment, and I've read that people reserve the judgment of Falwell to his Creator. If there's justice to be meted out, the argument goes, then let it be so. He'll get his now, if he didn't get his before his death. And deserved or not, he's gone on to a better place.

I say, "Fuckabuncha that otherworld nonsense."

Falwell had every opportunity to direct his earthly energies into making this a more accepting world, a more humble world, a world more in awe of The Divine Truth. But did he? No. He fearmongered, and wagged his pudgy fingers in our faces, and callously dismissed the legitimate suffering of thousands (AIDS pandemic, 9/11 to name a couple) to push his narrow interpretation of a Bronze Age text on a largely credulous public. He was a criminal, unfairly and unrepentantly abusing his tax-exempt status as "holy man" to pour dollars into a coordinated campaign to blur the distinction between *his* church and *our* state, vandalizing the very notions upon which the latter was founded.

And now we have power-brokers of all stripes sucking up to the many who follow in his wake, each trying to out-capitulate and out-pander the other, each drooling at the prospect of tapping that ample voter file.

The well is deeply poisoned.

***

Of course, the litany goes, how dare any of us who were offended by this man's mission dare utter an unkind word about all of that. He leaves behind a family, suffering a loss.

To this?

He got to die with his "reputation" intact, such as it is. The only time you see these scumbags humbled and repentant is when they're caught and exposed for the hypocrites that they are. Ted Haggard. Jimmy Swaggart. Jim Bakker. That's the only justice we ever could have hoped to have, and now that opportunity is gone forever. His legacy of creeping theocracy remains, however.

I would have rejoiced if he'd been reedemed in life -- the only life that any of us can ever know.

A charlatan is dead.

His family is suffering now? You ask me, he got off easy.

***

There are those among you who would say that I celebrate this man's death. Far from it.

There's nothing here to celebrate.

2007-03-06T17:51:00.000-06:00

From an unidentified right-wing apologist, shedding crocodile tears for the now-convicted felon, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby:

I am so sad today. This is utter madness.

No, utter madness is a sham perjury rap for getting a consensual blowjob while in office.

I know that there are those who would liken US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald to the rogue Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr (and we can all thank David Souter for usurping Starr's once-intended federal appointment), but to me, that's comparing Elliott Ness and his techniques of law 'n order to Tomás de Torquemada.

Oh, there are those who'd still have you believe that Fitzgerald is bent on destroying Republicans, what with his "wanton prosecution" of disgraced IL governor George Ryan, but then they'd be left to puzzle over why Fitzgerald had pursued prosecution of IL governor Blago's (D) benefactor Antoin Rezko or his "partisan pursuit" of Mayor Daley's jobs chief James Laski in the Chicago "Hired Truck" scandal.

No Saturday Night Massacres forthcoming in this case, I'm afraid.

However, I assume, as do many others, that the ink was dry on the pardon paperwork this afternoon before you could say "Elliott Abrams."

Justice by the half-measure... guess I'll settle.

2007-03-01T19:13:00.000-06:00

Tourette De Force

Shit. So some fuckin' cunt is getting all pissy because some cocksucker swears like a motherfucker?

That really gets on my tits.

2007-03-01T18:26:00.000-06:00

Completism

Typically, when I get into something in the way of music, I tend to want to hear every note of every recording ever done by said artist.

My latest completist jag - the music of Jorge Ben Jor. Most of what he's done is rare, out of print, and foreign to boot.

The penultimate was The Kinks. Gee, they only had, what... a couple dozen studio albums?

Oh, not to mention Guided By Voices and assorted side projects of Robert Pollard, Tobin Sprout, and the Tobias Brothers (Keene Brothers, Lifeguards, Go Back Snowball, Airport 5, Cobra Verde, Doug Gillard, Acid Ranch, Hazzard Hotrods, etc. etc. etc.). Only about a metric ton of stuff there.

Why don't I ever do this the easy way?

2007-02-28T21:56:00.000-06:00

Good Habits Are Hard To Start

Get me on a bad habit any day.

Awright. One Reporter's Opinion, part trois or so.

Hey... didja know that Al Gore has a big house? And that this house uses electricity? And that this is news?

Sheesh.

So, let me get this straight.

When Democrats are wealthy, they're not supposed to talk about poverty if they live in a big house. When Democrats live in a big house, they're apparently not supposed to use public utilities to heat it or to provide light.

However, when you're a Republican, you can talk about restoring honor and dignity to the White House even if you allow male escorts in the press pool, you appoint people to rig federal procurements, you destroy the careers of US covert assets, you pay journalists to pimp your policy agenda, or you waste billions of borrowed dollars and thousands of lives on a lie.

This is simply the pearl-clutching Republican version of class warfare. Any person who lives in a mansion who doesn't vote Republican is a "wealth traitor" and these blibbering bumblers of the punditocracy can't help but tut-tut and tsk-tsk and scream "hypocrisy."

(Which is ironic in and of itself, since hypocrisy is oxygen in the GOP political biosphere.)

2007-02-23T22:56:00.000-06:00

Continuing the pay-it-forward meme scheme developed by Leonard Pierce, here's my capsule interview with Hayden Childs...

1. What's your favorite show you've seen at the Ryman?

Oooh, you are already establishing yourself as a tough interviewer. I would have to say the 2004 show featuring Elvis Costello and the Imposters, where they were touring behind their release of The Delivery Man. Costello really showed up for that show, which he so often does when he's in Nashville. One of the most memorable moments was when he sang "A Good Year for the Roses" without any amplification. I was sitting in the rear of the balcony and heard every note.

Runners up would include Wilco in 2003, Steve Earle & the Original Dukes 25th Anniversary of Guitar Town reunion/concert, Merle Haggard in 2002, and the Johnny Cash public memorial.

(There's a quick top five instead of one. I love many of the shows there for many reasons.)

2. What was the point of telephone deregulation with the benefit of hindsight? Does it have a future?

Well, the point of it was to provide universal, cheap access to communications and information services. At least, that was the public face of the Telecommunications Act of 1996. There were some positives there, including the establishment of the Universal Service Fund and of e-Rate, so that schools could take advantage of the emergent Internet. That, in and of itself, would have been enough.

However, the point was not as dramatic as the outcome. The outcome, of course, was the re-consolidation of big incumbent local exchange carriers. That was helped along greatly by the robber baron philosophy of Bernie Ebbers -- and as the robber that he was, he wound up being sentenced to 25 years in prison for fraud.

Now, what we are witnessing in the industry today is the death of long distance and the emergence of IP. The two most lucrative markets left: 1) wireless, and 2) broadband access.

This is a much abbreviated history.

But in answer to the second question, the short answer is "yes." I think that regulation has a future, and its name is "net neutrality." I don't think that it has much of a future, but I must commend Commissioner Adelman and Commissioner Copps for standing up to AT&T and making sure that NN provisions were attached to the BellSouth merger as a precondition.

3. Do you have a favorite place to take photos?

I try not to limit myself, but I find myself taking most photos when on hikes. Trees, flowers, birds, sunsets, landscapes. I probably don't take as many pictures of people as I could, unless I'm at a concert.

As far as a single favorite, I'd have to say that Alaska has really captured my imagination. This year's vacation will be to Galápagos, however, so we'll see if that remains at the top of the list.

4. Mike Watt & The Pair of Pliers (Watson/Meghrouni) or Mike Watt & the Black Gang (Baiza/Lee)? Why?

Black Gang -- but the version of the Black Gang that I saw (on the "puttin' the opera to bed" tour) was Bob Lee and Nels Cline.

And now that you know that, I think the answer should be obvious. That's the show that made me a Nels Cline fanatic.

I'd still probably lean towards Baiza & Lee if that was my only choice. As long as Watt's in the mix, though, it's all good.

5. Will the Dems take Tennessee in 2008? Which Presidential candidate has the best shot and why?

Depends on what the Dems are attempting to "take" in Tennessee. The senate seat, currently held by Lamar! Alexander is going to be tough to take back. Right now, the D's have a majority in House seats (5 of 9 of TN's districts), they hold the governorship (nominally, since Bredesen is such a sellout), they continue to hold the TN House, and are within a couple of seats of taking back the Senate. Since the governor's office isn't vacated until 2010... I'd say they hold 5 seats in the House delegation unless Davis (TN-4th) runs for Lamar's seat.

Among presidential contenders in TN... hm. Let's just go with who I think will win the prez primaries, given who's in right this moment: McCain (R), Obama (D). I don't think there's much chance for Hillary to win here unless she is riding a huge wave, and even then, it'll be tough.

2007-02-19T19:52:00.000-06:00

Growing pains?

This year, I have come to be acquainted with two people who've gone to prison.

Having gone almost 40 years in my life, I don't think I've ever really even tangled with anyone who went to jail, much less prison.

(That time that my dad got busted for fireworks possession hardly counts.)

2006-09-11T22:25:00.000-05:00

Semi-Obligatory 9/11 Post

If you came here to check in, just let me say, "Hey, I'm great." Aside from having a cold, that is. I had a great time on this year's vacation in Alaska.

I learned something about myself, too.

As I was sitting on a ridge watching and photographing a sunset that would last for the next couple of hours, I thought to myself how fortunate that I was that I had a job that would allow me the freedom to enjoy moments like this every now and again.

Whoa.

Anchors like jobs don't "allow freedom." Jobs give you an opportunity to make money, which you can exchange for goods and services.

Can you say "Stockholm Syndrome?"

Freedom is what you sacrifice to take a job.

This is something I'm contemplating today, when I hear a lot of hollow talk about "the price of freedom" that we pay as citizens, or that we ask of others to pay on our behalf.

And I can't get around the idea that freedom and security are at self-devouring ends of a bitter cycle.

2006-08-16T22:41:00.000-05:00

Nineteen and ninety fucking two...

Was this really 14 years ago?

I'm sitting here watching VH1 Classic and Eddie Vedder is belting out "Evenflow."

I remember trading my copy of Material Issue's International Pop Overthrow for a copy of Ten. I still think I got the better end of the deal, all things considered... but damn, "grunge" seems so dated now.

In 1992, I was just out of college, living in Chicago, going door-to-door for Greenpeace, making subminimum wage, and I don't think I'd ever had a bite of sushi.

[edited]

And now it's Morrissey singing "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out."

Maaaaaaaaaaaaaan. I liked The Smiths so much more before I'd ever seen a single video of theirs. From 1988 until 1997, I didn't have cable, so seeing all of this stuff is all pretty much new to me.

I don't think I really missed all that much.

2006-07-14T18:46:00.000-05:00

You Tubin'

You can't go wrong with Dave Edmunds or Nick Lowe.

Lo and behold, they recognized this themselves, and took it on the road.

So, here's a vid of one oft-overlooked supergroup, Rockpile. On American Bandstand, no less.

2006-07-11T22:22:00.000-05:00

Corrupting Youthful Ideals of Weirdo Music

Recently, my wife posed a challenge for me - come up with some of the music which warped the sensibilities of my 16-year-old mind.

I came up with the following suggestions for a possible soundtrack:

(1) Cream Corn from the Socket of Davis EP, Butthole Surfers (1985). The song list is short: "Moving To Florida," "Comb," "To Parter," and "Tornadoes." And each one is exquisitely strange, especially the first track, with its non sequitur references to "sausages which dance like Ray Bolger on the hood of a car in a traffic jam" and "potty train the Chairman Mao."

(2) Psychocandy, Jesus & Mary Chain (1985). When the feedback kicks in, more akin to a Hoover vacuum than a Fender Twin Reverb, you know you have something different going here. This band never quite captured this sort of ambience again, and it's a shame. The last thing these guys needed was more production.

(3) Sonic Youth, Sonic Youth (1982). The album which started it all. Originally on SST, recently re-released on Universal.

(4) What Makes a Man Start Fires?, The Minutemen (1983). "Our band is scientist rock." One cannot underestimate the impact of this band, nor overlook this album, and it is decidedly not mainstream. Angular lyrics, chunking guitar noise, dynamic and fast interplay.

(5) Frankenchrist, Dead Kennedys (1985). Probably the most intriguing Dead Kennedys project, at least over time. It's a departure from the short form punk style of hardcore (see In God We Trust, Inc.) and brings in much more instrumental focus. Jello Biafra is all over the map on this one, lyrically, but once you actually sit down and decipher what's being said, you'll find a lot there that still applies today. I went and picked this up just for "Hellnation" after the 2004 election.

(6) Like Flies on Sherbert, Alex Chilton (1980). Not what you'd expect to follow from Big Star. This takes various stylings in Memphis R&B, soul, blues, and disco -- and shakes them all up in a bag, scatters them on the floor, and the result? Well, it is what it is. A self-conscious turn towards self-alienation in the career of a complex character.

(7) Damaged, Black Flag (1981). Returning again to West Coast punk (and yet another entry from SST Records), this marks the debut of Henry Rollins behind the mic. With Greg Ginn's signature guitar backed by Chuck Dukowski's boundless energy on bass, this is a centerpiece of not just punk, but rock music.

(8) Zen Arcade, Husker Du (1984). Aw hell, let's just continue the SST kick. Reportedly recorded in one take, this double album is a masterpiece of midwestern psychedelia-cum-punk.

I guess the only things missing here might be Meat Puppets II and Bad Brains' I Against I. OK, and Saccharine Trust. Sheesh! What a bogart!

2006-06-18T22:55:00.000-05:00

YouTube Find:

Hell yeah. Booker T & the MG's in 1967:

2006-06-13T22:46:00.000-05:00

In its third year or so of existence, The Hight Hat Magazine has put out six outstanding (if irregularly released) editions.

The magazine covers film, music, comics, celebrities, art... and nearly any sort of marginalia with a sterling combination of scholarship and fanatic geekdom. The Sam Peckinpah edition (HH #2) is a particularly good primer to the work of this legendary director. And this may well be one of the finest comic deconstructions of the rock crit persona ever written. The writers come from many walks of life, but are united in their deep appreciation of art, culture, as well as other fulfilling human endeavors.

The sixth edition of this webzine came out just a few weeks ago.

If you have yet to be exposed, I'm not particularly surprised. But check it out. You will most probably find something worthwhile therein.

2006-06-13T18:46:00.000-05:00

A Word on the Creative Process

I don't know if anyone out there reading this spends considerable time and capital to create stuff. And by "create stuff," I don't mean cobbling together some ideas that someone else came up with and posting it on a weblog with some snarky commentary attached.

I mean someone who paints. Or who creates art of of scrapyard metal. Or writes original prose or poetry. Or plays and records music. Or someone who takes pictures.

I make no complaint of the investment I've made, or of the return I've made thereto, either (the former is substantial while the latter, well, not so much) -- I do photography because I enjoy it. While I don't want to get overly precious about it, I share my work because I enjoy communicating what it is that I see in the universe. My pictures are my artistic voice. As such, I like being properly credited for what I've captured, and I am an unapologetic control freak about how my own work lives out in the world once I let someone in on what I see in the viewfinder. This craft is not merely a hobby for me.

To give some meager idea of what this journey has been for me, personally, in the last few years... I invested in a high performance computer platform which would help me render my art in Photoshop, and I have upgraded in that span. I have invested in three camera bodies in under two years time, I've bought lenses and tripods and digital memory and glass filters and Photoshop plugins and tripod heads and color calibrators and USB tablets and scanners and printers and ink, I've spent money on classes and magazine subscriptions, I've invested in my own website, I've spent money to take trips just so I could get up at 5 in the morning to catch the golden rays of the sunrise, and countless other hours have gone into shooting and post-processing.

And all of that before I even made a dime from my work.

Honestly, though, I couldn't care less about the money. What I care about is how my voice is represented.

Ultimately, it doesn't matter if you take your pictures with a pinhole camera or a Canon Snappy or a Minolta X700 or a Holga or a 2.0 megapixel Kodak or a Hasselblad with a Leaf Digital back or a Linhof 4x5 direct view camera. You, the artist, own the vision which went into creating that image, you own the time which went into creating that image, you own the discipline which was involved in developing that vision and skill, and thanks to international standards of copyright, you also own the right to display that work as you please, to control the context in which that work appears, and you own the right to say "no" if someone insists on appropriating your original works. It also doesn't matter if the photograph in question is a piece of crap or a candid party pic. You don't cede your right to control your copyright once you reveal your work to the public, and nothing says you have to play nice if someone doesn't respond to a completely reasonable request to stop infringing your creative rights.

What constitutes sufficient grounds to say, "You can't use my picture," you might ask? Just because I say so. There need be no other reason. Even if I put a picture out there on the Internet for all in the world to see, my exclusive rights are not ceded until I say they are.

Am I guilty of running afoul of others' rights in my own lifetime? Yes. I'd be a liar if I said I'd never taken illegal dubs of songs or committed other acts of "unfair use." However, I am sensitive enough to respect the wishes of others when it comes to their original works, and beyond that, I'm smart enough to know when to stand down.

Now that I'm trying to get established, it's becoming a really tough call. The minute you start to share is the minute you open up the possibility of getting ripped off or misrepresented. I learned that one the hard way when I trusted a local journalist to use some photos I'd taken as collateral for his column -- and while they indeed appeared under his byline, there was no compensation and there was no credit given, despite assurances to the contrary. And this was, I thought, someone who would appreciate what it means to create something.

Once burned, twice shy. It's just easier not to share at a certain point.

Isn't that why copyright exists in the first place? It gives the creator of original works some discretion as to how their ideas are contextualized and represented, at least for a time.

I typically choose to allow casual, non-commercial uses of my work, so long as attribution is carried and no derivative works are made of my photos. I'm seriously beginning to reconsider my definition of "appropriate." I can scarcely afford to feed my avocation, much less pay lawyers to defend my right to render exclusive jurisdiction over my stuff once I choose to share it.

It's a tough call. I'm all about "sharing," but I'm really not jazzed about the idea of someone using something I brought into the world in a context I don't feel right about.

2006-06-08T21:55:00.000-05:00

This Just In From the "Colossal Waste of Time" Division

Tumblebugs. I don't know what it is about these "connect three" type games which is so addictive, but there it is.

My only beef is that the soundtrack isn't varied.

2006-06-07T21:58:00.000-05:00

A Word to the Minority in the Senate FMA Vote

In the words of Justice Scalia,

"Vaffanculo!"

2006-06-05T21:36:00.000-05:00

Echoing Tom Tomorrow

Re: Haditha.

Either you're completely appalled by the slaughter of children, or there's something seriously wrong with you.

End of story.

2006-06-02T19:11:00.000-05:00

KEEP WATCHING THIS SPACE.

In the event anyone's out there, that is.

Just FYI, I got pretty frustrated with trying to customize my blog skin, and there's some unrecoverable booger in the system which is preventing my archives from auto-generating.

I'm going to be switching to WordPress at another location and starting a photoblog. As for this blog, well, it may be about time to burn down and start over. Or something.

Just keep an eye out, if anyone still does.

2006-01-04T21:05:00.000-06:00

In memory of the Sago 12:

In the town of Springhill Nova Scotia
Late in the year
The day still comes and the sun still shines
But it's dark at the graves of the Cumberland miners

Listen to the shouts of the black-faced miner
Listen to the call of the rescue team
We have no water, light or bread
So we're living on songs and hope instead

In the town of Springhill Nova Scotia
Down in the dark of the Cumberland mine
There's blood on the coal, and the miners lie
In roads that never saw sun or sky

In the town of Springhill Nova Scotia
Often the earth will tremble and roll
When the earth is restless
Miners die

Bone and blood is the price of coal

U2, "Springhill Mining Disaster"

2005-12-18T11:41:00.000-06:00

[tap][tap] Is the NSA in the House? Good. Now listen up...

It should now be obvious to anyone paying attention that our President has promised to continue to violate his oath of office.

"I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."

I refer, of course, to the 4th Amendment thereto, which stipulates that there are limits to the power of the state, and it makes no exceptions for time of (undeclared) war.

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Congress should move immediately to require that this President cease and desist these questionable activities forthwith, or to bring them in compliance with the federal standards set forth in FISA. Given, also, the seriousness of the charges being assessed, Congressional oversight is now mandatory.

If the White House fails to comply, an article of impeachment should be drawn up and executed, and should include both the President and the Vice President as particulars.

I suppose that if this opinion makes me an enemy of "the state," then so be it.

If this state continues to support a renegade executive, and continues to support invasions of personal privacy in matters of life and death, and continues to wage a war based on admittedly faulty intelligence, then this state deserves to fall.

If the NSA is listening, I'm confident that they can establish my "true identity." My number is in the book.

(And given that my wife & I use the phone to coordinate grocery runs, for the most part, wotta riot that would be for you all.)

cc: Senator Bill Frist, Senator Lamar Alexander, Rep. Marsha Blackburn

2005-12-13T20:03:00.000-06:00

Some good discussion today, with various online compatriots.

I'd like to refine what I said earlier, based on some of that discussion.

1) Tookie Williams is not an ideal case to discuss on the basis of redemption. To me, the question of redemption is irrelevant.

It is ineffective to argue that someone redeemed deserves life, for that implies that anyone unredeemed deserves death. Also, when you're talking about "redemption," you're really crossing over the line from the secular to the spiritual, and I don't believe that this Republic was constructed to support that. There is, however, rehabilitation. And there is reparation. Those things make more sense, especially when we are discussing universal human rights, irrespective of religious background.

2) I must conclude that the only viable option for our country to pursue, today, is to abolish the death penalty. Immediately.

Anything like a moratorium, or tinkering with the mechanisms, or fiddling with exceptions, and deciding who deserves what and when -- that's all just rationalizing a practice which is inherently flawed, as human perception is inherently flawed itself. I can no more assume that the government can decide rightly whether I live or die than I can assume that they will correctly settle my next income tax statement.

While I'm on that topic, what's up with mainstream, anti-big government, capital-R republican support for the death penalty? Here, you have the party which proclaims that big government can fuck up a two car parade, yet you can count on them to invest 100% fealty to a system which determines who lives and who dies. Maybe I didn't get the memo, but last time I checked, the courts were something that they didn't trust at all. Why suddenly do they get it right when it comes to disposing of criminals?

3) It was Damien Echols birthday on 12/11. This year marks his 11th in custody since his wrongful conviction (and death sentence) in 1994.

Here's hoping Arkansas can get it right...

2005-12-12T19:30:00.000-06:00

Could You Pull That Switch Yourself, Sir?

Sometimes it takes a bit of doing to get me to post around here. For the regulars, no surprises.

Um... I'm in a thoughtful mood tonight. Heartsick, really.

Governor Schwarzenegger, in denying Stanley "Tookie" Williams' clemency petition, had this to say in justifying his action:

"Is Williams' redemption complete and sincere, or is it just a hollow promise? Without an apology and atonement for these senseless and brutal killings, there can be no redemption."

Frankly, I don't believe Williams was looking for absolution from the Governor. Perhaps "The Terminator" is feeling his oats. Or perhaps he's too damned stupid to know the difference between a life sentence and a life sacrificed.

Now, I'm no religious scholar or anything, but it seems to me that apology and atonement and "complete and sincere" redemption (whatever that means to Gov. Jingle All The Way) becomes impossible after the actions with which he refuses to interfere. And as a self-described Catholic, maybe Gov. Kindergarten Cop missed out on the Evangelium Vitae of 1995, delivered by Pope John Paul II:

"This is the context in which to place the problem of the death penalty. On this matter there is a growing tendency, both in the Church and in civil society, to demand that it be applied in a very limited way or even that it be abolished completely. The problem must be viewed in the context of a system of penal justice ever more in line with human dignity and thus, in the end, with God's plan for man and society. The primary purpose of the punishment which society inflicts is "to redress the disorder caused by the offence." Public authority must redress the violation of personal and social rights by imposing on the offender an adequate punishment for the crime, as a condition for the offender to regain the exercise of his or her freedom. In this way authority also fulfills the purpose of defending public order and ensuring people's safety, while at the same time offering the offender an incentive and help to change his or her behaviour and be rehabilitated.

"It is clear that, for these purposes to be achieved, the nature and extent of the punishment must be carefully evaluated and decided upon, and ought not go to the extreme of executing the offender except in cases of absolute necessity: in other words, when it would not be possible otherwise to defend society. Today however, as a result of steady improvements in the organization of the penal system, such cases are very rare, if not practically non-existent.

"In any event, the principle set forth in the new Catechism of the Catholic Church remains valid: 'If bloodless means are sufficient to defend human lives against an aggressor and to protect public order and the safety of persons, public authority must limit itself to such means, because they better correspond to the concrete conditions of the common good and are more in conformity to the dignity of the human person.'"

No, I'm not saying that Tookie Williams was an angel in his life. He is certainly not without his faults. He may deserve to spend the rest of his natural life in prison. He may be factually guilty, and if so, I'm good with that.

I'm not the one to say who lives and who dies. Even as a non-believer, I fully acknowledge that this is out of my control, and neither would I empower anyone to make those decisions for me, and if I could, it would certainly not be the co-star of Twins. No, not even Danny DeVito should be given that sort of authority.

I know that Governor The Kid & I has seen a lot of death in his movies, I hope he realizes that those were stuntmen.

Steve Earle speaks often of his opposition to the death penalty, and in his song "Billy Austin," he wrote a pertinent question about our society's demand for revenge. As a man who has been condemned to die, his character asks his executioner...

Could you pull that switch yourself, sir? With a slow, steady hand?
Could you still tell yourself, sir, that you're better than I am?

I know I don't speak for everyone, and that this is highly personal for many, but this ongoing American travesty has got to end.

2005-11-09T20:14:00.000-06:00

Contemplating The Lock

Blue heron, perched atop the lock on Barkley Lake Dam.

2005-11-01T19:31:00.000-06:00

"There is a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can't take part; you can't even passively take part, and you've got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you've got to make it stop. And you've got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you're free, the machine will be prevented from working at all."

Thank you, Senators. This is the leadership many have been awaiting.

2005-10-28T17:36:00.000-05:00

A Fitzmas Address

Eleven score and nine years ago, our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a frivolous foreign war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met in a press conference, made necessary by that war. We have come to indict a portion of the cabal in whose tortured efforts in order that this war might proceed, they would divert, distract, and obfuscate the course of Justice. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we cannot indict... we cannot convict... we cannot incarcerate this cabal.

The gutless men and women, living and dead, who struggled to fabricate this war, have indicted their own cause far above our poor power to add or detract.

The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what was done here.

It is for us, the living, rather, to be dedicated to the unfinished work which the diligent US Attorney's Office has thus so far nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us... that from these dishonorable cretins, we recapture our devotion to that cause to which they paid the fullest amount of lip service; that we here highly resolve that these hucksters efforts to corrupt America shall have been in vain; that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom; and that government of the PEOPLE, by the PEOPLE, for the PEOPLE, shall not perish from the earth.

2005-10-26T18:44:00.000-05:00

Private Pyle, College Republican

What's your name fat-body?

Sir, Daniel Schuberth, sir.

Schuberth? Schuberth what? That name sounds like royalty! Are you royalty?

Sir, No, sir!

Do you suck dicks?

Sir, No, sir!

Bullshit. I bet you could suck a golfball through a garden hose.

Sir, No, sir!

I don't like the name Daniel, only faggots and sailors are called Daniel. From now on you're Gomer Pyle.

Student's deployment brings home Iraq war to Bowdoin College campus

BRUNSWICK — On Dec. 1, Alex Cornell du Houx, a 21-year-old Bowdoin College senior from Solon will head to Iraq for approximately 10 months as part of the Alpha 1st Company Battalion of the Marines.

Instead of staying up late to finish off college papers and cram for finals, Cornell du Houx will use his training and experience as a 0351 Assault Man to shoot rockets, deal with demolitions and work the Javelin Missile System.

"I am not nervous whatsoever. We are well trained and we're ready to go," Cornell du Houx said about the news of his unit's impending deployment to Iraq.

......................

While Cornell du Houx has actively rallied against many of President Bush's policies, he feels that his involvement in the Marines is not a conflict of interest.

"Regardless of my opinions regarding the war in Iraq, it is my duty as a U.S. Marine to serve and I am ready and willing to do my job to its fullest extent," he said.

Others on campus, particularly his political opponents in the Bowdoin College Republicans, feel differently about his service. Daniel Schuberth, a leader of the Bowdoin College Republicans and College Republican national secretary, said, "I applaud Mr. Houx for his service, just as I applaud any other soldier who is brave enough to take up arms in defense of his country. I find it troubling, however, that one of the most vocal opponents of our president, our country and our mission in Iraq has chosen to fight for a cause he claims is wrong. Mr. Houx's rhetoric against the war on terror places him in agreement with the most radical fringes of the Democratic Party, and I am left to question his logic and motivation."

Were you born a fat, slimy, scumbag, puke piece a' shit, Private Pyle, or did you have to work on it?

2005-10-25T17:50:00.000-05:00

On the Passing of Rosa Parks

One of the silliest comments I heard today regarding Ms. Parks' demise came from Randi Rhodes:

"[After the Montgomery Bus Boycott] Northerners saw what was going on, and said, 'This isn't good!'"

Then she went on to insist that it was because of Northern intervention that segregation ended.

A pleasing fable, perhaps, but inaccurate.

I observe that it was Martin Luther King, a Southern minister and black man who took a leadership role in a movement which sought to demonstrate that it was near-universal apathy to the plight of the African-Americans in the South which allowed Jim Crow to go unchallenged.

(And it was Associate Supreme Court Justice Henry Billings Brown who wrote the majority opinion in Plessy v. Ferguson, the case which held that "separate but equal" was not only OK, but natural...

A statute which implies merely a legal distinction between the white and colored races -- a distinction which is founded in the color of the two races, and which must always exist so long as white men are distinguished from the other race by color -- has no tendency to destroy the legal equality of the two races...The object of the [Fourteenth A]mendment was undoubtedly to enforce the absolute equality of the two races before the law, but in the nature of things it could not have been intended to abolish distinctions based upon color, or to enforce social, as distinguished from political equality, or a commingling of the two races upon terms unsatisfactory to either.

...and this 'enlightened' soul was from Massachusetts. Let it never be said that idiocy adheres to boundaries demarcated on a current electoral map.)

It was also Dr. King who wrote to an amalgamation of clergy (and, I suspect, to fence-straddling liberals) when he penned his missive from the Birmingham jail:

My friends, I must say to you that we have not made a single gain civil rights without determined legal and nonviolent pressure. Lamentably, it is an historical fact that privileged groups seldom give up their privileges voluntarily. Individuals may see the moral light and voluntarily give up their unjust posture; but, as Reinhold Niebuhr has reminded us, groups tend to be more immoral than individuals.

We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. Frankly, I have yet to engage in a direct-action campaign that was "well timed" in the view of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation. For years now I have heard the word "Wait!" It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This "Wait" has almost always meant 'Never." We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that "justice too long delayed is justice denied."

We have waited for more than 340 years for our constitutional and God- given rights. The nations of Asia and Africa are moving with jetlike speed toward gaining political independence, but we stiff creep at horse-and-buggy pace toward gaining a cup of coffee at a lunch counter. Perhaps it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging dark of segregation to say, "Wait." But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate-filled policemen curse, kick and even kill your black brothers and sisters; when you see the vast majority of your twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society; when you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six- year-old daughter why she can't go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in her eyes when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children, and see ominous clouds of inferiority beginning to form in her little mental sky, and see her beginning to distort her personality by developing an unconscious bitterness toward white people; when you have to concoct an answer for a five-year-old son who is asking: "Daddy, why do white people treat colored people so mean?"; when you take a cross-county drive and find it necessary to sleep night after night in the uncomfortable corners of your automobile because no motel will accept you; when you are humiliated day in and day out by nagging signs reading "white" and "colored"; when your first name becomes "nigger," your middle name becomes "boy" (however old you are) and your last name becomes "John," and your wife and mother are never given the respected title "Mrs."; when you are harried by day and haunted by night by the fact that you are a Negro, living constantly at tiptoe stance, never quite knowing what to expect next, and are plagued with inner fears and outer resentments; when you no forever fighting a degenerating sense of "nobodiness" then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait. There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over, and men are no longer willing to be plunged into the abyss of despair. I hope, sirs, you can understand our legitimate and unavoidable impatience.

Had Southern men and women not taken matters into their own hands (and those people include Rosa Parks, Dr. and Coretta Scott King, Ralph Abernathy, James Lawson, Mary McLeod Bethune, Ella Baker, James Meredith, Medgar & Myrlie Evers, and Fred Shuttlesworth), I suspect that progress would have been subject to more and more insistence on waiting for the right time -- whatever that means.

Northerners did not intercede -- they were shamed into action.

I also observe that it was Lyndon Baines Johnson, a Texan, whose political savvy and courage led to the passage of both the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act, even though he risked alienating his own party. "We just lost the South for a generation," he was said to have remarked after passage of the Civil Rights Act.

But some of the most salient remarks would have come in the preamble to the Voting Rights Act:

"At times history fate meet at a single time in a single place to shape a turning point in man's unending search for freedom. So it was at Lexington and Concord. So it was a century ago at Appomattox. So it was last week in Selma, Alabama. There is no Negro problem. There is no southern problem. There is no northern problem. There is only an American problem."

And lastly, an observation from my own life: My dad took me into a hotel which had been closed for a number of years, but was being reopened for renovation. He walked me around to the public facilities and showed me the FOR WHITES ONLY and FOR COLOREDS ONLY signs, still intact from the days when Plessy was settled law.

This was in Danville, Illinois.

**** **** **** **** **** **** ****

Those of you that know me? Well, you already know that The South is my adopted home. I'm not even a damned Yankee -- I'm a goddamned Yankee. (Translated: Not only did I move here, I married a Southern woman.) So I've lived on both sides of the Mason-Dixon. I don't pretend to have every answer, but I have some experiences as a traveled American resident which inform my opinion.

With that disclaimer in place, let me just pass along this bit of analysis: It may feel good to pretend that "the North" (or blue America, whatever) is the center of all that is good and right in American history, but it's just not factual. We all have our shortcomings, we all have our failings, and the perpetuation of myths (which say that one is morally superior to the other, out of some history or some religious practice, e.g.) is tantamount to preserving long, and potentially violent, cultural divisions running the length and breadth of the land.

If you believe there's a blue America, you've been had. If you believe there's a red America, you've been bamboozled.

It's that simple. There are no WHITE seats on the bus and there are no BLACK seats on the bus. There's just the bus, and we're all trying to get where we're going on time.

The only thing that keeps these divisions alive is that people insist on believing that they are real.

And Sister Rosa took a seat in order to make that stand fifty years ago this December.

Godspeed.

"Memories of our lives, of our works and our deeds will continue in others."

--Rosa Parks, 1913 - 2005

2005-10-05T21:44:00.000-05:00

SNAP Pushpin Show

It's the moment few have anticipated (but only because they didn't know about it)...

SNAP is the "Society of Nashville Artistic Photographers." It's a good bunch of independent artists, and from what I've seen of what's being offered, it's going to be a wide variety of styles and substance. If you're in Nashville while it's open, go check it out. And support local artists (hint, hint) by purchasing something. (My prints will all be available as demand allows; 11x17 prints on archival matte or archival glossy medium. $50 per.)

I have six entries in the show. Rather than steal the thunder of the presentation, I'll defer posting them here for the moment. After the show closes, I'll post samples.

2005-09-25T16:31:00.000-05:00

It's Great To Be Here Again!

The Posies, 9/23/05 at Exit/In:

2005-09-22T23:36:00.000-05:00

Newer New Look for ORO

Not that it matters, but I am again trying my hand at customizing a blog template. The initial outline courtesy eris.

How we lookin' now?

Oh, P.S. Katrina movie is back online. Figured out a way to carve out some more disc space at Comcast...

2005-09-01T23:36:00.000-05:00

You Don't Need A Weatherman...

Let's dispense with the notion that no one knew that this disaster was coming.

Bienville himself was warned that settling the drained swampland between the Gulf of Mexico and Lake Pontchartrain wasn't wise. That doesn't excuse the complete bungling and bobbling and continuing incompetence on the part of the leadership involved.

Let's not confuse knowledge and certainty with preparation.

The feds were unprepared. The feds appeared unaware for days. And now that there is an actual emergency, the reaction is still pitifully, pathetically, and dare I say, pathologically inadequate.

There is no "better late than never" option today. Late is never for the dozens of people dying on the streets.

Remember the warning that went out on Sunday from NWS? Some thought it might be an overreaction.

I put together a little video montage. Watch and draw your own conclusions. Warning: Requires Quicktime. 10MB and graphic in spots.

If you like it, feel free to distribute.

EDIT: The QT video has been taken down because it's taking up all of my available file space. If you want a copy, contact me in comments and we'll work something out.

2005-09-01T23:30:00.000-05:00

CNN is Regaining Respectability

Anderson Cooper may be my new hero.

Senator Landrieu repeatedly told him tonight that there would be plenty of time for anger, and there'd be plenty of time to ask questions, and there'd be time for people to take responsibility "later." She then proceeded to take up valuable minutes of airtime thanking seemingly everyone in the Bush administration for doing an admirable job.

With all due respect, which is damned little, Madam Senator, there'll be plenty of time to suck Republican ass later.

Right now, you look like a cheap suit and a fucking sellout to your own hometown.

2005-08-31T17:34:00.000-05:00

When The Saints Go Marching Out

Godspeed, New Orleans.

2005-08-30T22:29:00.000-05:00

I'm Ready for My Close-Up, Mr. Rove!

Tuesday -- CORONADO, Calif. - President Bush couldn't be bothered to return immediately to the job of president, opting to take a leisurely path from his vacation home in Texas to yet another photo op in the continuing War of Error, rather than proceeding immediately to The White House.

It has been 72 hours since it became apparent that there would be a major disaster and humanitarian crisis in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, and since then, the President of the United States has placed a higher priority on posing in front of the camera rather than doing substantive work to aid relief efforts.

He has only just returned to Washington.

A grateful nation sighs as President Bush makes the supreme sacrifice of cutting his five-week vacation down to four and a half weeks.

Bush will apparently take time out of his busy schedule to visit on Friday.

Presidenting, now as ever, remains hard work.

(The Yankee Nero, trying out his new fiddle.)

2005-08-30T16:55:00.000-05:00

When The Levee Breaks

There has been a lot of press coverage about the breaks in the levee system throughout Orleans & Jefferson Parishes in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. They've been talking about rising floodwaters and how much damage potential this has in the days and weeks to come. They've even been so kind as to provide some photographic evidence.

Now. Notice anything wrong with this picture?

Last time I checked, a lift bridge would span a body of water. So I looked around, and, sure enough, this appears to be a view of the Claiborne Ave. bridge on the Inner Harbor Navigational Canal, facing north.

And water is spilling into it from the east, not out from it, which would be expected if the water from the canal was flooding into regions adjacent.

Which means that the residential neighborhood to the east of the IHNC was already under at least 15 feet of water before the levee was compromised. Keep that in mind when people are blaming the levee breaks for all the flooding in the days to come. (UPDATE: Emphasis on *breaks*; the NOLA killer will come from 17th St, apparently, so long as the western levee on the IHNC remains intact.)

Given what Mayor Nagin said about how St. Bernard Parish was in a bad way, and how both airports were under water, and how large segments of the twin-span I-10 causeway were gone, and how Slidell was now indistinguishable from Lake Pontchartrain (click for larger image)...

It's not unreasonable to conclude (click for larger image)...

...that the storm surge took out huge portions of the east long before the levees were compromised.

UPDATE: If this report on WWLTV is accurate, this is not good.

****ALL RESIDENTS ON THE EAST BANK OF ORLEANS AND JEFFERSON REMAINING IN THE METRO AREA ARE BEING TOLD TO EVACUATE AS EFFORTS TO SANDBAG THE LEVEE BREAK HAVE ENDED. THE PUMPS IN THAT AREA ARE EXPECTED TO FAIL SOON AND 9 FEET OF WATER IS EXPECTED IN THE ENTIRE EAST BANK. WITHIN THE NEXT 12-15 HOURS****

They are referring not to the levee break on the Industrial Canal, but rather, the break in the 17th St. Canal at Old Hammond Highway.

And guess what -- the funding that had been earmarked for reinforcing that levee and finishing the Old Hammond Highway bridge project? It went into a rathole because the Bush administration had other priorities; i.e. fighting the war in Iraq.

Now we're looking at a natural disaster which will cost untold billions, when a couple million might have sufficed.

Pound foolish, for sure.

UPDATE II: Apparently, according to Ed Reams from WDSU-6 (live on CNN now), the helicopter that was supposed to be sent to drop those 3000 pound sandbags in the breach at the 17th St Canal was "diverted for search and rescue."

Which would be all well and good -- if THE WHOLE GODDAMNED EAST BANK WASN'T GOING TO FLOOD IF THEY DIDN'T GET THAT HOLE UNDER CONTROL.

Sitrep as of 9:30 CT -- the pumphouse at 17th St has been submerged, the pumps have stopped functioning, and there hasn't been a single sandbag airlifted even to attempt to block the flow of Lake Pontchartrain into Lakeview.

FYI, the East Bank is all of the stuff that you probably know as greater New Orleans. Via answers.com:

East Bank

The "East Bank" is home to the majority of the City of New Orleans and the most densely populated portion of Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, as well as many of the region's major suburbs. The many of these suburbs includes Metairie, Kenner, Jefferson, and Harahan on that side of the river.

Further down the river the much smaller suburbs of Arabi, Chalmette, Meraux, Pointe a la Hache, and Violet. All of St. Bernard Parish and the eastern portion of Plaquemines Parish is located on this bank. Most of these suburbs and parishes make up the southeastern portions of the Greater New Orleans area.

Visually:

Do you know what it means to miss New Orleans?

2005-08-25T20:24:00.000-05:00

Friday Bird Blogging

One of the best subjects in the lower 48, the bald eagle at LBL's Nature Center:

(click to make it big!)

2005-08-23T22:53:00.000-05:00

Everybody Thinks I'm a Raincloud (When I'm Not Looking)

From the wayback machine: GBV at Uptown Mix last year...

2005-08-22T23:08:00.000-05:00

Summer Daisies

You know how to tell that it's just unholy hot outside? You know it's really hot when even the daisies are wilting.

2005-08-22T20:11:00.000-05:00

A New Look

I'm trying a new look here at One Reporter's Opinion. I've been doing more photoblogging than anything, and I reckon it's time to get a format which is a little more user friendly for those whose monitors don't have the resolution of an Apple 20" Studio Display.

Feel free to comment. Or not. I still don't quite have the hang of all the HTML, but I figure I can meld a new look in gradually once I've worked out what all the $VaguelyDocumentedEnvironmentVariables$ refer to.

Don't Need Him Around, Anyhow

2005-08-22T09:44:00.000-05:00

Don't Need Him Around Anyhow

[Edited to make this much shorter and to redact a considerable amount of wankery.]

Because Jonantan Demme's film crew wanted to place so many cameras in The Ryman, and because the whole event was an industry insider circle jerk, and seeing as how I'm not an industry insider, I was unable to attend the Neil Young love-in last weekend. I hear it was fabulous. And I wish dearly that my wife and I could have been there -- for her more than me. I've always been more or less ambivalent about Neil Young ever since high school, as I was forced to listen to Trans repeatedly by my then-girlfriend. Anyway. I won't begrudge anyone else the experience, as I understand that it was sublime, but I do hope that Neil Young will remember... to come back to Nashville to play for an audience who actually paid to get in.

This being Nashville, however, at least I got the opportunity to see Dave Alvin, John Doe, & Exene Cervenka as an alternative -- and Grimey's even provided free tickets to 75 people to go.

Thanks, Doyle.

Dave Alvin -- monster. Buy the new Knitters CD next time y'all think to.

2005-08-19T17:38:00.000-05:00

Friday Bird Blogging

Ruby-throated hummingbird, the bird of summer:

2005-08-09T21:14:00.000-05:00

Me, The Man in the Moon, and a Magazine Rack of Issues

Y'know, I once confessed the weight of my problems to the man in the moon.

In return, the man in the moon said not one goddamned thing.

2005-08-06T18:07:00.000-05:00

Drop & Give Me One Hundred!

Here's the "I'm Damn Sure I Missed Some Without My Record Collection Handy" 100 LPs list. In lieu of being able to put this in any coherent order of preference, I'm listing them alphabetically. (If an artist had more than one entry, viz XTC, I'd forgotten to do a two-key sort, so they appear in the order I entered 'em into Excel.)

AC/DC - Back in Black
Alex Chilton - Like Flies on Sherbet
Bad Brains - I Against I
Beastie Boys - Check Your Head
Beatles - White Album
Beatles - Revolver
Beatles - Abbey Road
Big Star - #1 Record
Black Flag - Damaged
Bottle Rockets - 24 Hours A Day
Buddy Miller - Cruel Moon
Butthole Surfers - Rembrandt Pussyhorse
Camper Van Beethoven - II & III
Can - Tago Mago
Charles Mingus - Mingus Ah Um
The Church - Heyday
The Clash - s/t
The Clash - London Calling
Dead Kennedys - Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables
Descendents - Liveage!
Dirtbombs - Ultraglide in Black
DJ Shadow - Endtroducing…
DJ Spooky vs. Matthew Shipp - Optometry
Dwight Yoakam - Hillbilly Deluxe
Dwight Yoakam - dwightyoakamacoutsic.net
Echo & the Bunnymen - Heaven Up Here
Elvis Costello - My Aim Is True
Emmylou Harris - Spyboy
Feelies - The Good Earth
Flaming Groovies - Teenage Head
Flatlanders - More a Legend than a Band
Geraldine Fibbers - Butch
Gilberto Gil - 1969
Gram Parsons - GP
Guadalcanal Diary - 2x4
Guided By Voices - Isolation Drills
Guided By Voices - Alien Lanes
Hoodoo Gurus - Mars Needs Guitars!
Hoodoo Gurus - Stoneage Romeos
Hot Club of Cowtown - Dev'lish Mary
Husker Du - New Day Rising
Iggy & the Stooges - Raw Power
The Jam - All Mod Cons
Jesus & Mary Chain - Psychocandy
John Coltrane - A Love Supreme
John Coltrane - Giant Steps
Johnny Cash - Live At Folsom Prison
Los Lobos - Good Morning Aztlan
Lucinda Williams - Car Wheels on a Gravel Road
Lyle Lovett - I Love Everybody
Meat Puppets - Huevos
Meters - Look Ka Py Py
Meters - Cabbage Alley
Mike Watt - Contemplating the Engine Room
Miles Davis - Birth of the Cool
Miles Davis - Kind of Blue
Minor Threat - Complete Discography
Minutemen - Double Nickels on the Dime
Minutemen - What Makes a Man Start Fires?
Minutemen - Buzz Or Howl Under the Influence of Heat
Mission of Burma - Vs.
Nels Cline - The Inkling
Nick Lowe - Jesus of Cool
Nick Lowe - Party of One
Nirvana - Nevermind
Paul Kelly & The Messengers - Gossip
Pixies - Come On Pilgrim
Posies - Frosting on the Beater
Public Enemy - It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
REM - Murmur
REM - Chronic Town
The Replacements - Pleased To Meet Me
Robbie Fulks - Country Love Songs
Rolling Stones - Sticky Fingers
Rolling Stones - Let It Bleed
Rolling Stones - Exile on Main Street
Screaming Blue Messiahs - Gun Shy
Sex Pistols - Never Mind the Bollocks
The Smiths - The Queen Is Dead
Son Volt - Trace
Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation
The Star Room Boys - Why Do Lonely Men & Women Want to Break Each Other's Hearts?
Bob Wills & The Texas Playboys - For The Last Time
Steve Earle - Guitar Town
Steve Earle - Transcendental Blues
Steve Earle - I Feel Alright
Television - Marquee Moon
U2 - The Joshua Tree
Uncle Tupelo - Still Feel Gone
Wadada Leo Smith/Henry Kaiser - Yo Miles!
The Who - Quadrophenia
The Who - Who's Next
Wilco - A Ghost is Born
Willie Nelson - Red Headed Stranger
World Party - Private Revolution
XTC - Wasp Star
XTC - White Music
XTC - Black Sea
XTC - English Settlement
Yo La Tengo - Fakebook

2005-08-06T15:10:00.000-05:00

Friday Bird Blogging

A day late, but perhaps not a dollar short.

Doubtful that my absence has been much noted, but anyway. I'm around.

Here's the first post of something taken with my most spendy rig to date... a vulture at work.

2005-07-19T17:37:00.000-05:00

Stunning Silence

Y'know, I am still at a loss for words upon seeing that the venerable South Knox Bubba has decided to hang up the keyboard.

Not so much that he gave it up, I guess. More how he hit the self-destruct button and ran.

I suppose that's one way to start off a clean break.

Maybe I'll have more to say later. Right now, I'm a bit gobsmacked.

Crap.

Crap.

Crap.

Crap.

Crap.

Crap.

Crap.

Crap.

Crap.

Crap.

Crap.

Crap.

Crap.

Crap.

Crap.

Crap.

Crap.

Crap.

Crap.

Crap.

Crap.

Crap.

Crap.

Crap.

Crap.

Crap.

Crap.

Crap.

Crap.

Crap.

Crap.

Crap.

Crap.

Crap.

Crap.

Crap.

2005-07-11T21:32:00.000-05:00

Bluebird Monday

Feeding time for the nestlings. From my front yard last weekend.

I set myself up with a Nikon SB600 and started playing with the Creative Lighting System -- to decent effect, I think.

2005-06-23T21:30:00.000-05:00

Friday Bird Blogging

Add another to the life bird list...

Polioptila caerulea, the blue-gray gnatcatcher.

The bird is a little bit bigger than a hummingbird -- I think this is a breeding female. Well, in fact, I'm pretty certain it is, because my wife & I stumbled upon its nest...

(Note the beak of the nestling. There were three by my count.)

Gear: Nikon D2H with 70-200VR AF-S, 1.7x teleconverter, on Sandisk digital film.

Bonus:

A downy woodpecker, cropped and coverted to B&W:

2005-06-22T14:09:00.000-05:00

Sit Down & Stay Awhile!

I doubt that this was the sort of courtesy for which the South is so famous, but there are big doin's over at Capitol Hill today. See Sharon Cobb's running account. She's even nabbed the attention of Michael Moore, who's working on a documentary about healthcare, so I imagine Governor Bredesen is understandably worried.

Hey, speaking of which, I ran into him on Sunday at the Green Hills McDonalds, lookin' a little peaked. Ironic that his 2-cheeseburger combo was brought to him and prepared by people about to be hard hit by his proposals, but then, I suspect that he knows that his constituents don't necessarily know what their best interests are nor who best represents them. Fact o' business, I think that's how he figures to stay in office.

Anyway, I recall ol' Phil is not a Nashville native. Neither am I, but I have been learning gradually about its rich history.

He might do well to remember...

...Nashville pretty well invented the sit-in right here.

2005-06-21T17:25:00.000-05:00

Terms of Endurance

Wow, is this ever rich:

Condi Rice, on Fox News Sunday, June 19, 2005:

"The administration, I think, has said to the American people that it is a generational commitment to Iraq.

(source)

And this little nugget:

From the ashes of abandoned Iraqi army bases, U.S. military engineers are overseeing the building of an enhanced system of American bases designed to last for years.

Last year, as troops poured over the Kuwait border to invade Iraq, the U.S. military set up at least 120 forward operating bases. Then came hundreds of expeditionary and temporary bases that were to last between six months and a year for tactical operations while providing soldiers with such comforts as e-mail and Internet access.

Now U.S. engineers are focusing on constructing 14 "enduring bases," long-term encampments for the thousands of American troops expected to serve in Iraq for at least two years. The bases also would be key outposts for Bush administration policy advisers.

(source)

Generational commitment? Enduring bases? Whuuuuuuuuuuuuuh???

What happened to...:

George W. Bush, May 1, 2003:

What happened to elections being an important precursor to the transfer of power to the Iraqi people? What happened to that civilian police force that was coming along so well?

Oh, right. They weren't being honest.

They lied us into getting involved in a war, and now they're lying to us about getting us out.

No small coincidence, I think, that they use the word "enduring" to refer to the major combat operation itself and their new plan to build 14 permanent bases on Iraqi soil.

Don't bother talking about democratization anymore. It's just bullshit. Democracy does not exist at the point of a gun.

That Which Makes Music City Worthwhile, Vol. I:

2005-06-20T11:49:00.000-05:00

Outside the Bound'ry…

The Rose Pepper Cantina (1907 Eastland Ave., 615-227-4777). The lynchpin in the redevelopment of commerce along the Eastland corridor, the Rose Pepper sports an ample outdoor covered deck, quirky yet authentic southwestern recipes, and a Mexican martini which is about the best this side of Austin, TX. You get a selection of three salsas as you're seated (mild, spicy, and verde), and all of the concoctions on the menu which my wife & I have tried are excellent -- both for value and for whallop. The décor is tasteful and modern, with understated lighting and ample seating throughout. Live bands appear occasionally, and its state is normally best described as "packed," especially on weekends. Long-time Nashvillagers will remember this location as Joe's Diner, but it's come a long way since (as has the neighborhood). I believe that the restaurant is the upscaled counterpart to Inglewood dive Es Fernandos (4704 Gallatin Pk., 615-227-3060), which is always worth a stop for massive portions at minimal price.

While you're around East Nashville, and you're in the mood for bar-hopping, check out the Family Wash (2038 Greenwood Ave., 615-226-6070) for excellent crudites and a good, unpretentious selection of beverages. I have yet to visit the 3 Crow Bar (1024 Woodland St., 615-262-3345), as it supplanted the legendary Slow Bar, but it gets a lot of buzz. I don't know if it's well deserved. The buzz about Margot (1017 Woodland St., 615-227-4668), however, is richly deserved. Intimate, upscale, and -- yes -- a bit pretentious, but nothing that they can't back with the menu. Creative, sumptuous specials always available, but expect to spend some money. It ain't food; it's COO-zine. Reservations strongly recommended.

2005-06-19T22:41:00.000-05:00

Celebrating Father's Day

From an article my dad penned the Thanksgiving after he'd been diagnosed with the cancer which would eventually take his life two years later:

Robert H. Wilson, (c) Danville Commercial-News, Nov. (?) 1988:

---------------------------

Life has never seemed sweeter.

You see, I wasn't supposed to be alive this Thanksgiving -- much less be looking forward to Thanksgivings, Christmases, birthdays and other anniversaries yet to come.

So what if I have to walk around with a tube strung through my chest and medicine trickling into me from a battery-powered pump? It beats dying.

So what if the medical bills are piling up? They'll get paid -- eventually.

"Eventually" was a word that dropped from my vocabulary for a while. It feels so good to have it back again.

Five months ago, my death sentence was delivered by the surgeon who opened up my innards to see what was going on in there.

"Your husband is full of cancer," he told my wife in the surgery waiting room. "If I were you, I'd get in the car and take a long vacation."

The exploratory surgery found a mess of small tumors all through my abdominal area and a bigger one partially blocking my colon.

How long did I have? The surgeon said anywhere from days to weeks. (To borrow an old vaudeville line, "Doctor, you've got to be kidding!")

The surgeon's prognosis scared even him -- seelng that he was about my age.

My wife and I -- to say the least -- were devastated. We had so much going for us up until then.

We were expecting our second child in about six weeks. Now the doctor couldn't guarantee I would live to see it born.

Our first child was about to turn two. I was shattered by the thought that this light of my life would grow up without her dad -- without having any memories of me except old pictures.

My first-born son was finishing his freshman year in college. My oldest daughter had just graduated from high school. Now I wasn't likely going to be around to see them finish college, start their own lives.

I had always planned on spoiling grandchildren of my own someday. Oh well, so much for that.

To top it off, my wife and I were in the process of buying a new house -- an old house, that is, that we fell in love with as soon as we saw it.

Everything had seemed so bright. Then life for me fluttered away like a house of cards in a hurricane.

Forty-one is not a ripe, old age -- especially when it's you who is 41. I cried a lot -- especially when I thought of leaving my wife and kids behind.

But then the good things started to happen. Enter my oncologist, Dr. Ken Rowland of Carle Hospital, the first person to cast a little optimism over the gloom. He told to me to ignore what the surgeon said and to keep in mind that people a lot sicker than I was have survived. He talked me into going on chemotherapy.

Enter my parents, who headed for the hospital as soon u they heard and who convinced me they were not about to outlive any of their children.

Enter my siblings, who phoned, wrote, visited from their far-flung homes and offered their moral support. One brother even sent me not one but two copies of Dr. Bernie Segal's book, "Love, Medicine and Miracles," which extols the importance of attitude in surviving so-called "terminal" illness. (I guess my brother thought if one copy would help, two would help even more.)

Enter my in-laws, uncles, aunts, other relatives, friends and colleagues -- who urged me to get well, brought over meals for us after I got out of the hospital, helped us move into that new old house.

Enter those fellow cancer patients -- some of whom have died since then -- who told me I could make it.

All these people helped me remind myself that we are all in this together -- that, indeed, no man is an island even in the depths of despair.

And, of course, enter that new daughter, Emma, who is now almost four months old. Not only did I live long enough to find out if No. 4 was a boy or girl; I was right there in the delivery room to snap her picture as she joined the human race.

I have stared down the gullet of The Beast, and I'm still here.

I'm back on my feet, back to work and back in the swing.

I have always been a big fan of wildflowers, autumn leaves and the other beauties of nature. But never have they seemed so beautiful as this year. Never have I taken them less for granted.

The sunrises and sunsets have never been more awe-inspiring. The rivers and lakes have never sparkled more brightly, piggybacking a child at bedtime has never been more comforting. Thanksgiving has never seemed so aptly named.

I can't just stop and smell the roses anymore. I revel in them.

---------------------------

One of the few articles I kept.

You know, those things never seem really important when you're aged 20 years, but knowing now what I know then, I'd sure enough have collected a lot more than I did.

That said, hope everyone had a good Father's Day. I celebrate with my memories.

2005-06-18T18:16:00.000-05:00

SKB Placeholder

I don't know if I'm getting hits thanks to the flap about the coerced outing of South Knox Bubba, but I thought that I would leave this space as an accomodation to Brian Conley, Ellen Mallernee, Molly Kincaid, or anyone else interested in taking any personal stuff with me where it belongs: to me. I am in SKB's blogroll and I do leave my blog in my signature over there, so logically, maybe someone will saunter over here and decide to leave a comment.

I'll offer a weak apology here: I'm sorry if you were offended by my (admittedly pointed) remarks. Seems like I hit a nerve, otherwise you wouldn't worry about being called "skeeze" or "skanks" or "Buffys" or "overindulged" or whatever it was that I said. Seems hardly to matter now.

All this aside, your depth of offense gives you no right to conduct a campaign to destroy someone's career, or to shut them up, or to embarrass them -- especially since your primary beef, Brian, was with the things that I SAID which Bubba let stand. Heck, that'd be like me signing off on an expense report where I knew that my employees were on assignment and driving drunk at the time. I can only assume what your staffers' thoughts on the matter are, since you seem bound and determined to shield them from criticism. Maybe I was overly frank with my thoughts on the quality of that article, but I took some offense of my own. Apparently you're the only one in the universe that has the right to act on that, however.

If you're considering widening your campaign of personal destruction, don't bother. The details of my life are shamefully boring by Knoxville standards, as it were. I'm a photographer by hobby and a sales engineer by trade. I brew my own beer. That's about the most edgy thing I'm into these days.

Thankfully, while I'm not always proud of the things I've said, I have no regrets to follow me through this debacle. While I may have come off like a reactionary, bloviating asshole, at least I've spared myself the indignity of looking like a world-class borderline personality case.

2005-06-17T12:01:00.000-05:00

Friday Fledgling Blogging

Very juvenile (2-day fledgling) cardinal.

My wife had noticed this bird coming of age in the nandina bushes around the house. After we had a scare with the bluebirds, we were happy to find this guy flitting around the parking lot. Not one bit afraid of us... this shot taken from about 3' with a Nikon 24-120VR.

Comparison shot for scale purposes:

That's a pickup truck tire below, just to give you some idea of how little this creature is.

2005-06-16T13:50:00.000-05:00

One! One Public TV Network! Tw... Wait, There's Only One.

I've been following a number of developments leading up to the announcement that the Bush Administration is cutting funding to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting by 25% this year. For all of their vitriol aimed at the unabashed liberalism of Bill Moyers, and their frustration with the actual reporting happening on Frontline and the McNeill News Hour, I think can pinpoint the real target of the Republican campaign to cripple public television:

Sesame Street.

Now, as I think about this -- what other non-profit company has been as committed and as successful as the Children's Television Workshop in promoting child social, emotional and educational development? What other concern addresses children's motivation and interest in the arts, or pre-school literacy, and introduces concepts in math and science as well as CTW? All noble aspirations, right? So why take them on? What makes them a target?

Well, in order to send a message to "liberal" news organizations, that's why. To wreak revenge on the perceived political enemies of the state. And in order to bust a cap in Bill Moyers absent butt, they're willing to scrap the network which has brought real value and continues to demonstrate real value to our society. To our CHILDREN. These family values hypocrites seek to destroy the medium which has taught three generations of children the honest community values brought to you by Elmo, the letter Q, and the number 8.

What am I talking about?

Self-esteem. Sharing. Co-operation. Tolerance. Pluralism. Imagination. Creativity. Love. Innocence. Friendship. Communication. Multiculturalism. Integrity. Honesty. Coping with loss (remember when Mr. Hooper died and someone had to explain that to Big Bird?).

Sesame Street communicates all of these things on a daily basis to millions of children here and around the world, and all without a single mention of GOD or THE BIBLE or JESUS.

Sesame Street represents a secular culture that teaches all of the things that you're supposed to learn in Sunday School, and all without indoctrination in the Scriptures or instilling fear or shame in our children as a means to control them throughout their lives.

You know that has to scare the living crap out of the prime Republican movers in the wingnut Christian community.

Think I'm off base? Who lost their mortal cool about the purported sexual proclivity of the Teletubbies? Jerry Falwell. Who had public conniption fits about the perceived flamboyance of a cartoon sponge? James Dobson. You think for a second that they really have any love for Elmo, Grover, or Kermit? I'm sure they've also expressed grave reservations about the sinful nature of the cohabitation of Bert and Ernie.

The coordinated Republican campaign for "fairness and balance" in media is so reckless and so shameless that they're willing to kick Wishbone, Reading Rainbow, The Electric Company, ZOOM, and Clifford The Big Red Dog to the curb. But I don't believe in coincidences. If this administration is willing to lie about terrorism in order to establish control over oil, then it's not so much of a stretch to believe that they'll carp about Bill Moyers when what they really want to do is take Big Bird away from your children.

Oscar may be a Grouch, but he's a paragon of virtue compared to these power-mad, lying schmucks running our country and dominating our discourse.

This madness must stop.

Support your local public broadcasters. In Nashville, WPLN 90.3 FM/1410 AM on the radio; WNPT on UHF & cable.

2005-06-10T08:07:00.000-05:00

Friday Flower Blogging

Found outside of a K-Mart in Hopkinsville, KY.

2005-05-27T00:01:00.000-05:00

Friday Bird Blogging

Pileated Woodpecker, near the primitive Methodist Church in Cades Cove:

Eastern Meadowlark, in Cades Cove near Myatt Lane, sunset:

[EDIT: Whoops! Almost forgot one!]

A Canadian gosling, stretching out by the side of the road in Great Smoky Mountain National Park.

2005-05-26T21:39:00.000-05:00

Thursday Landscapes

At Roaring Fork:

At Cades Cove, sunrise:

2005-05-24T09:43:00.000-05:00

Not Dead

Here's a little placeholder for visitors to this site. I have not sworn off blogging, nor am I going on a deep dive from which I will never surface, to become a curiosity viewed best from the keel of a glass bottomed boat.

No, that is not my fate, nor is that the fate of One Reporter's Opinion. However, life has managed to intervene most successfully in my erstwhile Blogerian efforts.

So, that said, here's my shortest short list:

* The "nuclear compromise" is a colossal ripoff in the ascendant tradition of Democratic BOHICA.

* Digital Landscape (http://www.digitallandscape.org) is a worthwhile way to spend a few days, even if you come back with a serious grocery list for photographic goodies. Anyone wanting to know, I'm in the market for Nik software, a Wacom Intuos3 6x8 USB tablet, and an Arca B2 ballhead.

* Integrity on Survivor is about as worthwhile as bringing a bucket of saline water to camp for drinking. That was a disappointing end to what have should have been one for the books.

* New releases from John Doe, the Go-Betweens, Robbie Fulks -- all on Yep Roc Records. (And it looks like they've signed Bob Mould. Good stuff.)

* Check out the Flaming Lips Fearless Freaks DVD. More good stuff.

Look here in the next few days for some posts from DLWS. Turks & Caicos to follow in mid-June.

Peace.

2005-05-08T17:44:00.000-05:00

A couple of days after Friday Bird Blogging

A pair of bluebirds in the front yard. We have hatchlings on the way. The first one is already out:

Bonus:

Black vulture on the wing...

2005-05-04T00:01:00.000-05:00

Lest We Forget

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

It is altogether appropriate that we remember and honor *all* those who died to protect our freedom.

Kent State, OH 5/4/70

2005-04-28T22:24:00.000-05:00

Friday Bird Blogging

I don't think this can be topped, really.

(Photograph of a pair of stuffed ivory billed woodpeckers at the LSU Natural History Museum.)

Congratulations to Cornell University, The Nature Conservancy, the Fish & Wildlife Service, and the yeoman efforts of all those who made the (re-)discovery of this bird possible.

I'd say welcome back to the land of the living, but that's a totally selfish and anthropocentric point of view, innit? Fact is, they've never left the world. They simply had the sense to find somewhere on the continent that we were not. The fact that they've managed to stay in self-obscurity for so long is a testament to their adaptation to human encroachment and their innate drive to survive.

Let's not screw this up for them a second time, 'k?

If you're looking for somewhere to cast a few dollars, you could do much worse than The Nature Conservancy.

2005-04-20T23:57:00.000-05:00

My letter to the editors of Time "Magazine."

Editors:

I am deeply offended by Time Magazine's decision to run a cover story about Ann Coulter on the 10th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing.

As a major media outlet, I would like to think that your company had more sense than to write a puff piece on Ms. Coulter, especially given her animosity to mainstream media in general. She is a partisan demagogue devoted to destroying the great democratic tradition of this country by being a tireless advocate of single-party Republican rule. Her "humble" beginnings as one of "The Elves" -- a band of neo-conservative idealogues bent on the destruction of Bill Clinton's presidency -- should give anyone pause when assessing her journalistic credibility. Her role in the "new media" was to spread misinformation about the political positions of the American left as surrogate for the Republican Party in general, and Richard Mellon Scaife in particular.

Her vile invective against people with whom she does not agree has no place in the public discourse. Comments like "my only regret" about the people that perished in the Oklahoma City bombing "was that Tim McVeigh did not go to the New York Times building," even with the shoddy disclaimer that she only wished that reporters and editors had been killed, is simply beyond the pale. Not only does it dishonor the memory of the senseless murder of 168 innocent people, the fact that a bastion of American journalism would glorify the career of a woman who advocates the murder of journalists -- even in "jest" -- disgraces, debases, and dishonors the practice of journalism.

There is a long tradition in the journalistic craft within my family. My grandfather worked for the Chicago Daily News and the Chicago Sun-Times, my father worked for the Danville Commercial-News, and my step-father works for the Battle Creek Inquirer. I shudder to think that anyone would find her comments about murdering journalists "cute" or "part of the agitprop" were some terrorist bomb to have blown up one of these institutions of the Fourth Estate in lieu of destroying the Murrah Building.

And as far as the notion that she is merely being provocative? Please. Lenny Bruce, she is not. Bill Hicks, she is not. H.L. Mencken, she is not. Hunter S. Thompson, she is not. She is neither comedienne nor journalist, nor is she possessed of any special insight or genius. She is a sorry footnote to a sorry campaign to destroy American progress in the name of conservative hegemony.

Has Time Magazine sunk to such depths of self-loathing that it feels it must demonstrate kinship with one of the most disgusting practitioners of right-wing conservative advocacy, even at the expense of whatever shreds of journalistic integrity that your institution still might pretend to hold?

Sincerely,

[Andy Axel]
Nashville, TN

2005-04-20T23:09:00.000-05:00

Live in Memphis

The new DVD of Elvis Costello & The Imposters, Live at the Hi Tone in Memphis, is outstanding.

The concert keeps the small-club feel of the show intact, and has several listening options (Dolby stereo, Dolby 5.1, and DTS). The set list is very much in keeping with the recent show at the Ryman, including a mini-set with Emmylou Harris.

The extras include a cultural tour of Memphis.

I have got to get back in West Tennessee sometime soon.

Check it out.

2005-04-20T22:25:00.000-05:00

Outrage Overload
-- or, "Justice Scalia, you'd have to answer that question in Texas in order to adopt, buddy..."

The Texas House of Representatives just approved a measure 135 to 6 which would (a) require people to declare a sexual preference in order to become foster parents, (b) if they admit to being homosexual, they are immediately disqualified, and (c) if they are already foster parents when this bill becomes law, Child Protective Services will immediately disrupt foster families if the foster parents are known to be gay.

These foster families below are at risk...

...because these dipshits below (Rep. Suzanna Gratia Hupp, R-Kempner, left, and Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Lewisville)...

...think that how people reach orgasm has something to do with their fitness as parents.

(Maybe the problem is that those two frigid dipshits have forgotten what an orgasm feels like.)

2005-04-20T20:00:00.001-05:00

Time was, I didn't know the meaning of risk. I can remember pulling up stakes from an increasingly comfortable situation in Chicago and moving to Boulder, CO with little more than an instinct that I needed to get away from the insanity of big-city life.

Did I have a job? Nope. Did I have prospects? Nope. I had a few cats, some meager possessions, and available credit on my Discover card. And I had the idea that no matter what happened, it couldn't be any worse than my situation was in Chicago.

Things have wound up pretty good in the intervening decade. While I've bounced around more than some, I've made more money year over year, I've landed in Nashville, got married, I've had steady work, I have a good life overall, and I really don't need for anything.

Except a willingness to risk.

Wow, what a subtle trap. And I walked right into it.

2005-04-19T17:46:00.000-05:00

Marla Ruzicka

I had no idea who this woman or her organization was until I heard a broadcast on NPR this morning. (Yeah, now that Air America has put Jerry Springer up in what used to be Lizz Winstead's time slot, I've gone off the XM Radio for my morning commute.)

Apparently some people have little sympathy for her, for her friends, nor for her family because her politics weren't correct. And for those who don't know the story, she founded a group called CIVIC which is dedicated to assisting the human "collateral damage" of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. They do this through documentation, advocacy, and actually walking on Middle Eastern soil to demonstrate a genuinely American commitment to help the innocent victims of warfare.

I know a lot of Bush's apologists don't want to examine that dimension of the conflict; they'd rather slap a "Support Our Troops" magnetic ribbon on their SUVs and bitch about high gas prices. But real people are subjected to real harm here, and if our national commitment is indeed to alleviating the suffering of the people of Iraq, then we could do worse than to honor this woman's service to humanity.

It brings to mind these words:

...this is why we are drifting. And we are drifting there because nations are caught up with the drum major instinct. "I must be first." "I must be supreme." "Our nation must rule the world." And I am sad to say that the nation in which we live is the supreme culprit. And I'm going to continue to say it to America, because I love this country too much to see the drift that it has taken.

God didn't call America to do what she's doing in the world now. God didn't call America to engage in a senseless, unjust war as the war in Vietnam. And we are criminals in that war. We’ve committed more war crimes almost than any nation in the world, and I'm going to continue to say it. And we won't stop it because of our pride and our arrogance as a nation.

But God has a way of even putting nations in their place. The God that I worship has a way of saying, "Don't play with me." He has a way of saying, as the God of the Old Testament used to say to the Hebrews, "Don’t play with me, Israel. Don't play with me, Babylon. Be still and know that I'm God. And if you don't stop your reckless course, I'll rise up and break the backbone of your power." And that can happen to America. Every now and then I go back and read Gibbons' Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. And when I come and look at America, I say to myself, the parallels are frightening. And we have perverted the drum major instinct.

But let me rush on to my conclusion, because I want you to see what Jesus was really saying. What was the answer that Jesus gave these men? It's very interesting. One would have thought that Jesus would have condemned them. One would have thought that Jesus would have said, "You are out of your place. You are selfish. Why would you raise such a question?"

But that isn't what Jesus did; he did something altogether different. He said in substance, "Oh, I see, you want to be first. You want to be great. You want to be important. You want to be significant. Well, you ought to be. If you're going to be my disciple, you must be." But he reordered priorities. And he said, "Yes, don't give up this instinct. It's a good instinct if you use it right. It's a good instinct if you don't distort it and pervert it. Don't give it up. Keep feeling the need for being important. Keep feeling the need for being first. But I want you to be first in love. I want you to be first in moral excellence. I want you to be first in generosity. That is what I want you to do."

And he transformed the situation by giving a new definition of greatness. And you know how he said it? He said, "Now brethren, I can't give you greatness. And really, I can't make you first." This is what Jesus said to James and John. "You must earn it. True greatness comes not by favoritism, but by fitness. And the right hand and the left are not mine to give, they belong to those who are prepared."

And so Jesus gave us a new norm of greatness. If you want to be important — wonderful. If you want to be recognized — wonderful. If you want to be great — wonderful. But recognize that he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. That's a new definition of greatness.

And this morning, the thing that I like about it: by giving that definition of greatness, it means that everybody can be great, because everybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. You don't have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve. You don't have to know Einstein's theory of relativity to serve. You don't have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace, a soul generated by love. And you can be that servant.

--MLK, Feb. 1968

Thank you for having the courage that so many of us -- me included -- don't have, Ms. Ruzicka.

You were a servant.

Ken Schermerhorn

2005-04-19T12:33:00.000-05:00

Condolences to the close friends and family of Kenneth Dewitt Schermerhorn (1929-2005), long-time conductor of the Nashville Symphony Orchestra and patron of the fine arts.

I pass by the shell of the as-yet incomplete Schermerhorn Center about every day. It would have been nice if he'd lived long enough to lift his baton at least once in the facility named for him.

Pick up a copy of Beethoven's Missa Solemnis or one of the many recordings of the NSO under the capable hand of Mr. Schermerhorn.

He will be missed.

2005-04-18T18:03:00.000-05:00

Bird Blogging A Dollar Short

Maybe it was worth the wait.

OK, everyone. Grab your Sibley books and give me some help:

Blue Winged Warbler? (spotted on the banks of the Big South Fork River, Scott County, TN.)

Friday Invertebrate Blogging

2005-04-15T13:20:00.000-05:00

(Apologies to Dope on the Slope.)

This week, no photography. Just a number of links...

Estate taxes set to be eliminated, so the mega-rich can secure the blessings of their liberty to themselves and their immediate family in perpetuity:

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050413/ap_on_go_co/estate_tax

The bankruptcy bill passes, with much fanfare and support from "New Democrats" (read: pussies) in the House:

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=512&ncid=1278&e=6&u=/ap/20050415/ap_on_go_co/bankruptcy

Welcome to the ownership society. Your ass is owned. Next, I suppose your serfdom will become an asset protected by the "Fantastic Wealth in Perpetuity" giveaway, meaning that your children will be indentured if your debts are not settled by the time of your death.

I've read a bit about how the NDC in the House believed that their symbolic support for this bill was acceptable -- the reason being that the Republicans had enough votes to pass the bill, so why not hop on their gravy train to show "support" for an ostensibly popular piece of legislation allegedly necessary to encourage personal responsibility (while registering no opinion on the responsibility of ridiculous usury laws in states like Delaware and South Dakota). Apparently, the symbolic appearance of having a conscience and a backbone have gone out of vogue.

(Note to Nashvillagers: The bill was passed with the support of Rep. Jim Cooper.)

Washington D.C. Office
1536 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
Phone: 202-225-4311
Fax: 202-226-1035
Hours: Monday to Friday, 9am-6pm ET

Nashville Office
706 Church Street, Suite 101
Nashville, TN 37203
Phone: 615-736-5295
Fax: 615-736-7479
Hours: Monday to Friday, 8am-5pm CT

The GOP circles the wagons to protect the deeply corrupt Tom DeLay:

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=512&ncid=1278&e=4&u=/ap/20050415/ap_on_go_co/delay_ethics

For those with no memory, the equivalent sort of shit that Dan Rostenkowski pulled got him run out of town on a rail. And we all know how much hell that Bill Clinton caught for a few "ropy jets of jism" landing on a cheap blue dress. How about paying your immediate family $500,000 from campaign funds?

The AP reports, and the punditocracy dozes.

Watch the filibuster fall next:

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1803&ncid=1278&e=1&u=/washpost/20050415/pl_washpost/a54661_2005apr14

This story ends with, I believe, "…and Jesus wept."

2005-04-11T19:52:00.000-05:00

Worth The Wait

Been waiting a couple of years for this one, too. The iris beds had been inactive due to inattention of previous owners of our house.

Another view, Keefe-esque detail exaggerated by crop & color manipulation:

2005-04-11T19:50:00.000-05:00

High Flippin' Time

Been waiting 2 years for this azalea to blossom.

2005-04-07T22:29:00.000-05:00

Phriday Photoblogging:

Spring perennials have arrived.

This here's a hellebore from my backyard.

Bonus:

Wildflower of some sort. Too lazy to look it up.

2005-04-06T08:18:00.000-05:00

The Buds of April

Pickin's have been pretty slim lately, but there's still food to be found if you're willing to work for it.

2005-04-04T22:58:00.000-05:00

Left out of Roy Williams thank you speech:

Brad Kampschroeder, Kurt Sinnett, Freeman West, Todd Alexander, Terry Brown, Rick Calloway, Alonzo Jamison, Adonis Jordan, Pekka Markkanen, Macolm Nash, Kirk Wagner, Doug Elstun, David Johanning, Patrick Richey, Richard Scott, Sean Tunstall, Steve Woodberry, Lane Czaplinski, Ben Davis, Greg Gurley, Greg Ostertag, Eric Pauley, Rex Walters, Darrin Hancock, Sean Pearson, Calvin Rayford, Blake Weichbrodt, T. J. Whatley, Scot Pollard, Nick Proud, Robert Reed, Jacque Vaughn, B. J. Williams, Joel Branstrom, Jerod Haase, Raef LaFrentz, C. B. McGrath, Scott Novosel, Billy Thomas, Travis Williams, Paul Pierce, T. J. Pugh, Steve Ransom, Ryan Robertson, Nick Bradford, Terry Nooner, Eric Chenowith, Lester Earl, Kenny Gregory, Jelani Janisse, Chris Martin, Jeff Boschee, Jeff Carey, John Crider, Ashante Johnson, Marlon London, Luke Axtell, Nick Collison, Drew Gooden, Kirk Hinrich, Brett Ballard, Lewis Harrison, Todd Kappelmann, Mario Kinsey, Bryant Nash, Chris Zerbe, Keith Langford, Michael Lee, Aaron Miles, Wayne Simien.

Only five of them called to wish you luck? Wow.

"New Dean" of college basketball indeed.

2005-04-02T01:05:00.000-06:00

Life isn't fair.

I figured that out in 1990 when my dad died of terminal cancer.

He was 43.

Had things been different, he'd have been 58 tomorrow.

Happy birthday, Dad. I miss you.

2005-03-31T19:20:00.000-06:00

Friday Bird Blogging

Canadian honkers, paddling idly on Radnor Lake.

BONUS:

Oh, deer.

2005-03-30T17:21:00.000-06:00

I (heart) American jurisprudence today.

"Any further action by our court or the district court would be improper," wrote Judge Stanley F. Birch Jr., who was appointed by former President Bush. "While the members of her family and the members of Congress have acted in a way that is both fervent and sincere, the time has come for dispassionate discharge of duty."

Birch went on to scold President Bush and Congress for their attempts to intervene in the judicial process, by saying: "In resolving the Schiavo controversy, it is my judgment that, despite sincere and altruistic motivation, the legislative and executive branches of our government have acted in a manner demonstrably at odds with our Founding Fathers' blueprint for the governance of a free people — our Constitution."

Couldn't have said it better.

Now that the ice is broken, will a fucking DEMOCRAT stand up and say the same thing??? Just one? Please?

UPDATE: Thanks to Rachel Maddow on the final broadcast of Unfiltered on AAR this morning, I was directed to my answer (sorta):

Two Democratic senators who have thought [the Schiavo issue] through, Tom Harkin and Ron Wyden, took very different positions. Harkin, of Iowa, was a prime mover behind the Senate decision to join with the Republicans to urge federal judicial review. Harkin is close to the disability community, which worries about "right-to-die" issues, and Senate Democrats deferred to him on Schiavo. He forged the coalition with Republicans Frist, Santorum, Martinez and, according to two sources, had the support of former President Clinton for his actions. While Mr. Clinton apparently didn't talk to Harkin until after the vote, one source described Mr. Clinton as "egging him on."

SOURCE

Someone please remind Harkin that in his time as president and consiglieri, the Democrats show net losses in (a) state Democratic governors, (b) state Democratic legislators, (c) Democratic House memberships, (d) Democratic Senate memberships, (e) registered Democratic voters, (f) Democratic Party identification, and (g) 0-2 versus the GOP nationally since he was term-limited out. He even managed a net loss in the 1996 midterm elections, which was nigh unprecedented.

Whether or not you like Clinton, and whether or not you thought we were better off under Clinton, that's food for thought.

You keep doing what you're doing, and you expect different results.........

2005-03-28T22:00:00.000-06:00

"Predictable... if Ghoulish"

Remember this next time someone says that the Schindler family are a bunch of innocents caught up in a desperate bid to prolong their daughter's life:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/29/politics/29donate.html?oref=login

The parents of Terri Schiavo have authorized a conservative direct-mailing firm to sell a list of donors to their legal expenses, making it likely that thousands of strangers moved by her plight will receive a steady stream of solicitations from anti-abortion and conservative groups.

"These compassionate pro-lifers donated toward Bob Schindler's legal battle to keep Terri's estranged husband from removing the feeding tube from Terri," says a description of the list on the Web site of the firm, Response Unlimited, which is asking $150 a month for 6,000 names and $500 a month for 4,000 e-mail addresses of people who responded last month to an e-mail plea from Ms. Schiavo's father. "These individuals are passionate about the way they value human life, adamantly oppose euthanasia and are pro-life in every sense of the word!"

This seriously undermines their claims of non-involvement. These people are conservative activists, folks. That's why they openly associate with terrorists like Randall Terry.

I wonder when they ink their first book deal with Regnery.

2005-03-28T20:45:00.000-06:00

Self-Confessional Housekeeping
.....or, "You Goddamned Kids Get off My Lawn!"

Greetings, to those of you reading this blog from here and from afar. Whether you found your way here from PF or from SKB's blog or Bubba Blab, I genuinely welcome your visit.

Despite the overall irksome tone, I do value my readership, such as it is. Granted, I often have little to say, other than to post the odd photo or "what's playing" list.

That, and political rants.

And herein lies the self-confessional stuff.

I've been reviewing the length & breadth of my own output in the wake of the fifth installment of The High Hat. I find myself in some ways awed to be in this company, and in other ways dismayed because lately I've found I haven't written much other than pissed-off-ness because it's one of the few things that gets my blood coursing these days. It's mostly residual disgust with the complacency of our populace in the face of tyranny (and in some measure, active disgust with my job situation, but that's a longer story than I care to tell here).

While my patience with the morbid stupidity that is modern conservatism has worn my nerves threadbare, I recognize how embittered that this confluence of events has made me appear. Um, "humorless prick" might about characterize the general gist of it -- at least that's my inner critic talking to me upon a second reading of some of my output here on One Reporter's Opinion. If that's the vibe you're getting around here, my apologies. Well, unless you're one of those asshole Republicans who really deserve it, and you know who you are, you flaccid, fatuous denizens of conservabot twitdom. I'm an unapologetic lefty, and if that's not in keeping with your tastes, I'm sure you can find the BACK button on your browser.

Sorry -- it really has become a conditioned response, even without much more than imagined stimuli.

Anyway, I'd like to believe that I wasn't scaring people off with my escalated rhetoric of rage and occasional fits of barb.

If you're still interested in hanging, genuine thanks for your patronage. I'll endeavor to make this more joyful encounter, as joy is something I think that I need to seek more actively, both online and off. I have added comments and an RSS feed to streamline, modernize, gadgetize, hippify, and otherwise "encoolen" the blog microclimate.

Oh, by the way -- I figured out my Javascript woes vis-a-vis the Blogger upgrade. Anybody using Mac should be warned that Allume's Internet Cleanup 2.0.3 (specifically NetBlockade) can interfere with your blog's behavior. NetBlockade selectively targets JavaScript actions as popup advertising and blocks them. The only fix I've found is to turn off NetBlockade, and I'm less than impressed so far with Allume's technical support.

2005-03-28T19:56:00.001-06:00

The Wu-name generator has spoken:

...from this day forward you will also be known as Violent Prophet.

2005-03-28T19:46:00.000-06:00

In Praise of the iPod Shuffle

This very well may be the gee-whiz device of the young year.

My wife gave me one of these for a Valentine's Day gift. I've been an iPodder for some time now, and I didn't immediately appreciate how cool this concept really was. I thought, "Yeah, well, it's an iPod that you can use to get a random bunch of songs out of iTunes. Big deal."

Well, I was wrong.

Having several thousand songs ripped from my CD library, it is often difficult to quickly pick and choose among songs. I often find that I wind up listening to the same tracks if I'm selecting manually. This little shuffle function is darned swift. I should have known, really. I use iTunes shuffle mode all the time to broadcast music out onto the back porch, as well as playing my 300-CD carousel on full random. I'm continually amazed by the variety and depth of my collection, and especially when I'm at the mercy of the shuffle algorithm. "I own that???" is a common response. The only drawback to the shuffle is that it doesn't have a display. Well and good, though. It is genuinely much slicker than I had thought, conceptually speaking.

Not to mention that this device includes a battery, up to 1GB flash memory, a battery indicator, volume, play/pause and track controls, a three position shuffle switch, a USB connector, a headphone amp, and all in less than a one-ounce package in approximately the same dimensions as a pack of Wrigley's.

Holding this little stick in my hand, I'm struck by the technological marvel that it is. This much computing power five years ago was inconceivable for $149, even using state-of-the-art ASICs. The flash memory alone would have put it out of commercial reach, even if it had been small enough to fit in the Shuffle's tiny profile.

If you're even thinking about getting one, I wouldn't hesitate. This is a killer little device.

2005-03-28T10:25:00.000-06:00

Face Down in My NCAA Pool

Congratulations to this year's Final Four, Michigan State, Louisville, Illinois, and yeah, even North Carolina.

This year, I should have gone with my instincts. Looking at the brackets, I thought that there was no way to avoid suffering through yet another Duke-Kentucky regional final, and the Spartans managed to exceed my lowly expectations, taking out both Kentucky and Duke to reach the national semis. It's a welcome outcome. It's always good to see Coach K splashing tears of defeat at the press table rather than that wincing grin of his (sorry Hayden). Yet I had Duke going out against MSU, if only on principle.

Those boys from East Lansing are lookin' mighty tough this year. Reminds me of another NCAA tournament, where Lute Olsen's Arizona Wildcats knocked off North Carolina, Kansas, and Kentucky in successive games to clinch the national title.

Yep, I sure do recall that year. March Sadness. To watch the mighty Kansas Jayhawks steamroller through the regular season, stacking up 29 wins and 1 loss, and yet they still managed to fall in yet another post-season choke, and that year to the (admittedly talented and eventual champion) squad from 'Zona. Still, you had to see it coming from the opening moments of that game -- Bibby was unconscious, and combined with the 'Cats off-guard counterpunch of Miles Simon, their guard tandem made hash out of Jacque and the Beanstalks. That vaunted KU inside game couldn't make up for the FGs raining into the bucket from downtown. (Eventual NBA recruits) Pollard, LaFrentz, and Pierce were neutralized as a defensive force. And if their defense was stalled, their offense was positively in the ditch. I watched helplessly as the Jayhawks fell to a 19-5 deficit early in the game. Once you see that, you know that the rest is pretty much academic. Granted, they wound up losing by a mere 3 points, but one thing I know about KU basketball is that they're not a team that ever plays well from behind.

Well, there's always next year, right?

Roy Williams brought the Jayhawks to the threshold against Maryland… and Syracuse… only to lose each time. Now he stands at the precipice yet again, only this time, at the helm of another program.

The difference between you and me, Roy, is that I still don't give a shit about North Carolina.

Thankfully, I don't have to root for Duke to whoop your backside to a bright shade of KU crimson.

I'm taking the Spartans to win the Championship.

(edited for clarity)

2005-03-24T20:09:00.000-06:00

Friday Bird Blogging

A very busy yellow-bellied sapsucker (note the damage in the trunk). This is on a maple tree of which this bird just can't seem to get enough. I understand they're accidental/migratory in these here parts, so I guess I don't mind him taking up residence in my tree.

2005-03-21T12:58:00.000-06:00

Final Wishes

Y'all, no matter what your final wishes are, be sure to communicate them clearly to your loved ones.

I'll go one better here: If heroic measures are required to prolong my life, I do not want them. If by contemporary medical standards, there is a diagnosis of less than six months to live, and if that life means significantly diminished quality or reliance on artificial means to survive, I do not want my life prolonged by such means. If in such time that I am attached to supplemental support and my diagnosis up to that time was grim and I experience a life-threatening attack, seizure, or critical complication, I do not wish to be rescusitated.

If you want to be hooked up to machines, please let me know. (You'll be the first.)

Oh, if you really want to make a difference? Get off the keyboard and get onto your phone. Hospice needs your help.

In and around Tennessee: http://www.healthcarehiring.com/hospice_tennessee.html

Pick one and call. Most take donations and volunteers.

2005-03-18T12:01:00.000-06:00

Hey Bill! Why Don't You Subpoena Their Dog?

Partisan quack Bill Frist, in a fit of Republican desperation, has issued a subpoena ordering a vegetable to testify before Congress.

More evidence that these people, rather than advocating smaller government, are most interested in interfering in the most private moments of your life. This is hideous micromanagement at its most base, and it's an obvious bid to entrap Michael Schiavo into an obstruction of justice rap.

Forget his senate credentials -- just how does Bill Frist get off calling himself a Doctor of Medicine?

I fully expect that Frist will next call upon the family dog to testify before Congress, and if the animal doesn't find a way to speak somehow, that he'll subject that poor animal to the sort of experimentation which would be barred by the Geneva Conventions if performed upon human subjects.

Oh wait, maybe they'll just hold Rover Schiavo as an enemy combatant.

These are the actual values that these proto-Maoist jerkoffs hold? Horrible. Unspeakable. Craven. I can't describe how disgusted I am, especially since that helmet-headed talking anus is my supposed representative.

2005-03-17T19:10:00.000-06:00

Friday Bird Blogging

Rufous-sided Towhee.

2005-03-16T16:08:00.000-06:00

Wankers of the New Millenium

Daniel Akaka

Daniel Inouye

Mary Landrieu

These, ladies & gents, are the Democratic Senators who made drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge possible.

To make matters worse, seven Republicans voted with the Democratic minority, and if just two of these three had any conscience, the Senate Concurrent Res. 18 would have been amended to protect one of the last vestiges of wild lands in our country.

Gutless, spineless, stupid, myopic, cowardly excuses for legislators.

If I ever get so much as a phone call from the DNC, they're getting the riot act from me. This is the sort of worthless logrolling brinksmanship bullshit that is going to leapfrog us all down the path to ruin.

Once all the wilderness is gone, who will rescue our Damnation?

Behold the faces above and know that these are the people that I've cast my lot with, the guardians of the public trust, the loyal opposition.

Way to man the barricades, assholes.

***

"From the redwood sawmills to the toxic landfills, this land is owned by industry."

2005-03-15T20:07:00.000-06:00

The Picks of Hump Day

Grimey's run this evening...

1) Roxy Music -- Avalon (6ch/2ch SACD).

2) Hoodoo Gurus -- Stoneage Romeos (remastered and expanded)

3) Superdrag -- In the Valley of Dying Stars

4) Stiff Little Fingers -- Your Head is Full of Ideas that Don't Mean a Thing

5) Nick Lowe -- The Wilderness Years

2005-03-15T19:56:00.000-06:00

The Books of 2005:

1. Fear & Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72, Hunter S. Thompson. (Finishing a book started in 2004.)

2. Learning How To Die, Greg Kot.

3. Perfectly Legal, David Cay Johnston.

4. Get In The Van, 2nd ed. Henry Rollins.

5. The Race to Save the Lord God Bird, Phillip Hoose.

6. Guide to Wildlife Photography, Moose Peterson.

2005-03-15T18:15:00.000-06:00

One Count Fraud, One Count Conspiracy to Defraud, Seven Counts of Filing False Securities Information

It doesn't make up for this completely...

...but it helps.

I always believed that Bernie was a fraud, but now it's official.

Today, I'm surprised. I'll wait for the sentencing phase to figure out if I'm "pleased."

My sympathies to his wife and family, although none were extended to me when they terminated my employment. Hell, I didn't even have the courtesy of a merged document.

2005-03-14T21:56:00.000-06:00

The Recommending Ear

And goddamnit, if you don't already have it, go buy a copy of New Pornographers' Electric Version. Now. Go. WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR??? Buy! Listen! Dance!

2005-03-14T17:51:00.000-06:00

What's the Opposite of Damning with Faint Praise?

There are a few bands that I keep coming back to, year after year, to find solace, inspiration, or a good soundtrack for a long lonely drive.

No surprises among a number in this bunch... The Beatles are perennial favorites. I return to the Descendents every few years for a good high-tempo shakeup. Elvis Costello & The Attractions are popping up higher and higher in my playlist as time goes by. And XTC, what can I say? If there's nothing else to listen to, a good time can be had from anything from Black Sea to Drums and Wires to Wasp Star.

Then there's this little Aussie combo who call themselves Hoodoo Gurus.

I was fortunate enough to catch one of their shows stateside circa 1988. This was after a friend from the dorm flipped me a dubbed copy of Mars Needs Guitars! b/w Stoneage Romeos. Straightforward as it gets -- 3-chords, 2 guitars, no waiting. The songs are mostly intelligent pop songs about girls and good times, minus twee pretensions or skull-thumping rock-star 'tude. Dave Faulkner and Brad Shepherd are the formidable front of this quartet, having put forth about 10 studio albums and a scattering of live recordings, EPs, and impeccable singles.

I lost track of them somewhere around the release of Kinky, but like I said, I keep coming back to them time and again over the years. Unfortunately, they haven't done much touring stateside since being dropped from US distribution.

I caught up again in 2003 when I went to Sydney and talked shop with the bloke behind the counter at Red Eye Records off King Street. He (whoever he was) tipped me off to the newly reformed incarnation of the Hoodoos, called The Persian Rugs. They were credited with one EP and one full length CD, which I happily snapped up and wore thin over the next month. News had it, also, that they were reforming the band to do the 2004 Big Day Out tour in support of the forthcoming Mach Schau. As timing would have it, I missed that. But I did catch up with Mach Schau, which is as fine a record as anything they've ever done. Import only, alas. Doesn't seem like the US market caught up to them along with me.

And here in '05, there's more new Gurus goodness to be had -- the DVD retrospective, Tunnel Vision. Region 0 PAL encoded, so it'll play OK in many computers, but not so much in every TV configuration (unless you have multiscan). If you're not a Gurus fan, I don't know if this will win you over to them, but if you are, this is a "gotta getcha one." Even with the tanking dollar, there's still a favorable exchange rate with Australia, so find a copy if you're so inclined.

The set includes vids from their entire career, some live footage, and even a bonus documentary.

Get while the gettin's good, as this may be the last new output from the Gurus for some time. The rumors indicate that the Gurus are on semi-permanent hiatus.

Then I guess I'll have to discover what I can out of Paul Kelly's back catalogue -- another Aussie fave around the house here.

2005-03-10T19:18:00.000-06:00

Glossy

And one from the archives:

Been playing with the Intellisharpen and Velvia Vision PS plugins from Fred Miranda. It looks way better at full res, but this still gives you some idea. You want richer color and selective sharpening? This works as well as some of the Nik products that I've demoed, and for a lot less.

(Oh, that's a glossy ibis, by the way. Taken last summer at Assateague Island NWR.)

2005-03-10T17:17:00.000-06:00

Cultural Ephemera

Haven't made many new music purchases lately. My last swag bag came from the Hastings store in Tullahoma, TN. I found a used copy of Quadrophenia and I've been wearing it out.

At least I was until I went to the Elvis Costello & The Imposters show last night.

Wowza. I believe I'm going to have to revise my list of Top Concerts now. Maybe I didn't have the proper appreciation for Elvis the C. last time I saw him play the Ryman, but nah... well, actually, I didn't, but being as objective as possible, the Imposters blew it out. I had already amassed most of the Rhino 2-disc reissues of the back catalog, but I think I'm looking down the barrel of dangerous monomania. I get this way sometimes when I see a live show I really connect with.

On TV: Mostly it's been standard TiVo fare. A couple of recent discoveries: The "Henry's Film Corner" on IFC. I hadn't pegged Rollins as a movie buff, but his half-hour dedicated to film reviews & entertainment industry agitprop is fun, if nothing else.

Nights before bed I've been winding down with Henry Rollins spoken word and Monty Python eps from the A&E box set. I need the humor and the oblique approach to a world otherwise swirling with much absurdity these days.

Photography: I'm booked to go to the Smokies this May for the Digital Landscape Workshop Series. I found it through Moose Peterson's website, which was a site that a friend of mine showed me when I was contemplating some photo equipment purchases.

Work: Please. Nothing to report.

Life events: This week, I was diagnosed with my first cavity. Dammit. My mouth hadn't been bothering me until I went to the dentist. During the exam, though, it was POKE POKE POKE on the ol' dental surfaces, and I was subjected to a sensation I'd never felt before -- a stainless steel pick poking a hole in the weakened enamel of one of my molars and a "zing" to the nerve beneath. The dental tech called it a zing, anyway. If that was a zing, I don't wanna EVER feel a "zang." Now my upper jaw just aches dully like it used to when I'd had orthodontics.

Otherwise, I'm kinda suffering from a potent combo of stultifying boredom and spring fever.

March Madness usually provides the cure.

2005-03-10T16:41:00.000-06:00

Wheeling

Last weekend, I spent a good bit of time just watching the gulls at Centennial Park wheel around in the sky, trying my best to capture the action of birds in flight... just to get more of a feel, and to be out and about actually getting some time to myself with some new gear.

This one, I think I was following one gull along in the viewfinder and snapping shots in an arc, and the other birds happened into the frame.

Happy accident, I think.

(Hm. Let's look at the EXIF... this was a D2H, f12, 1/500, 105mm micro AF lens.)

2005-03-08T20:22:00.000-06:00

Bad things are not the worst things that can happen to us.

"Nothing" is the worst thing that can happen to us.

--Richard Bach