Southwest Gardener

My friend Lynn and her illustrious partner Amy run Southwest Gardener, the coolest garden shop in Phoenix. It's just south of Thomas on 15th Avenue. They have great stuff and it's very reasonably priced. Here's some pics - Lynn, the shop, and some of my stuff in the shop.

You should go there, you will not be able to resist buying something.

Contract adventures

So, as I expected it would, the contract job slowed to a complete stop and should be revived soon, just timing, and not worrisome. In the meantime, I have some blissful time off, and have been working on the house (concrete is really fun and versatile by the way) and may even clean out closets and the car. Eventually. Maybe.

But as one applies for unemployment (and gets it, by the way, eventually, through persistence and stamina), one must seek out new fortunes and prove, in writing, that those fortunes are being sought. So Kevin sends me a gig off Craig's List yesterday, and I dutifully submit my resume and hope for the best, which is that no one calls. Because seriously, I love Interactive Alchemy, and I love vacations.

Alas, someone called, and right when The Office was starting, no less. This is the only show I stay home for (see previous anti-Tivo blogs). When the caller ID was unidentifiable I should have known better, but sometimes answering the phone is just a reflex.

This very nice gentleman, who is apparently a big mucky muck in corporate America, (I won't mention his name b/c he seems like the type who would constantly google himself) called me personally for a phone interview. The interview, per se, went well, and it looks like I will be doing some technical writing in support of procurement software in the near future (stop my beating heart) but then the phone interview was apparently over, and Mr. Muck spent approximately 45 minutes telling me about his intimate relationship with Jesus Christ. And by the way, I did not ask any questions about his intimate relationships with anyone, including JC.

He also let me know that he has a much younger wife, she looks 30, and he is almost 60. I know how much his house cost, and that it has doubled in value since purchase. I know what he has done professionally for the past, oh, 15 or so years. I heard that I don't need organized religion, just a personal relationship with Jesus.

What I don't know is if someone is talking to me on the phone at 8 at night about all this, ad nauseum, how does one become a mucky muck? And would this person talk to his clients, those multimillion dollar entities for which he seeks talent and drones alike, does he talk to his clients about his intimate relationship with said deity? Do I get special treatment b/c I am, somewhat, a captive audience? Because I am a woman? I could not ask these questions, although Zoe could not believe I did not just hang up on him. Or counter with, "Let me tell you about my personal relationship with Shiva, The Destroyer."

To be honest, I was curious as to what he might come out with if I just let him keep talking. And it gave me a newfound appreciation for all my horrible former bosses, who while they may have been neanderthalean in their management skills and insight into human behavior, did not proselytize me as part of my wage, and definitely not as part of my interview process. This really seems to be inappropriate to the point of being illegal, no? Yet he did not ask me to put my hands on the radio or require in any way that I would have to have this same relationship with Christ if I wanted to write about proprietary procurement software.

Thank God for that. And also, for iTunes, so I can still see the Office.

Music news

Arcade Fire will be on SNL this week. Yea! New album. Yea!

Chris Cornell left Audioslave and is hooking back up with Rage Against the Machine.

Lucinda Williams' new album West came out Tues but it was trashed in the New York Times.

Sufjan Stevens is playing at my 'alma mater' on March 30, which means it is the first concert there I would have actually gone to see. Ever.

Rush has a new album coming out in May. Go Ryan, it's your birthday.

Bonnaroo announced the 2007 lineup. If you care, click here: http://www.kxvo.com/entertainment/5836256.html

Pitchfork is starting a 24/7 news service.

Wilco! New album! May!

New stuff

I've been making pavers and stepping stones and will post them as they dry... also some new birdbaths.

Make your own candy hearts

Click on the title for the site - you can make your own candy hearts for Valentine's Day, or for Anti-valentine's day, whichever you prefer.

C'mon

I have finally sworn off morning news - I refuse to pay for the level of cable that would provide BBC, and watching anything else just makes me embarrassed for the "journalists."

It was this week that did it. Anna Nicole Smith - her death a "tragedy"???? Really? We hit 3118 dead soldiers this week in Iraq, many many more dead Iraqi citizens, for what? THAT is a tragedy. The death of a very stupid, perpetually drunk, self-indulgent golddigger is not.

And the astronaut "love" triangle - seriously, this was on for an hour straight the other morning on CNN. What is the fascination? Do people really believe that intelligent, well-educated people can't be mentally ill? All of us working in corporate america know that mental illness is quite common among 'achievers.' And why is it a "love" triangle - sounds pretty much like a one-way obsession to me. Love and obsession - completely unrelated - but a lot of people make that mistake. Still not worth covering. Leave that sensationalistic crap reporting to Nancy Grace and her fellow wackos on Fox, et al.

It snowed something like 150 inches in Oswego, New York since Sunday - that I had to find out by going to the website. It's possible that they covered this on CNN - but it's really hard to get to stuff that is actually important and newsworthy when you just have an hour to watch and there are things happening in celebrityworld.

Sad

Cartoon of the Week

Inspirational posters

Click on title for more.

E-Z Things to do to fight Global Warming

1. Change 5 lights - Replace the conventional bulbs in your 5 most frequently used light fixtures with bulbs that have the ENERGY STAR label. If every household in the U.S. took this one simple action we would prevent more than 1 trillion pounds of greenhouse gas emissions.

2. Look for ENERGY STAR labeled products -When buying new products, such as appliances for your home, get the features and performance you want AND help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution. Look for ENERGY STAR-qualified products in more than 40 product categories, including lighting, home electronics, heating and cooling equipment and appliances.

3. Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle - Recycle your newspapers, beverage containers, paper, and other goods. Use products in containers that can be recycled and items that can be repaired or reused. In addition, support recycling markets by buying products made from recycled materials. Reducing, reusing, and recycling in your home helps conserve energy and reduces pollution and greenhouse gases from resource extraction, manufacturing, and disposal.

4. Use water efficiently - Everyone can save water through simple actions. Municipal water systems require a lot of energy to purify and distribute water to households, and saving water, especially hot water, can lower greenhouse gas emissions. Do not let the water run while shaving or brushing teeth. Do not use your toilet as a waste basket for toiletry items - water is wasted with each flush. And did you know a leaky toilet can waste 200 gallons of water per day? Repair all toilet and faucet leaks right away.

5. Drive smart - To improve fuel economy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, go easy on the brakes and gas pedal, avoid hard accelerations, reduce time spent idling and unload unnecessary items in your trunk to reduce weight. If you have a removable roof rack and you are not using it, take it off to improve your fuel economy by as much as 5 percent. Use overdrive and cruise control on your car if you have those features.

6. Tune your ride - A well-maintained car is more fuel-efficient, produces fewer greenhouse gas emissions and is more reliable and safer! Keep your car well tuned, follow the manufacturer’s maintenance schedule and use the recommended grade of motor oil.

7. Give your car a break and combine your trips - Use public transportation, carpool, or walk or bike whenever possible to avoid using your car. Leaving your car at home just two days a week will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by an average of 1,590 pounds per year. When running errands, combine trips. Several short trips taken while your car’s engine is cold can use twice as much fuel and produce twice the amount of greenhouse gas emissions as a longer multipurpose trip covering the same distance when the engine is warm.

8. Manage office equipment energy use better - Office equipment and electronics use energy even when idle or on stand-by. To save energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, always activate the power management features on your computer and monitor, unplug laptop power cords when not in use and turn off equipment and lights at the end of the day. Consider using a power strip that can be turned off when you're done using your computers, printers, wireless routers and other electronics.

Take the survey to both determine your impact on the environment and see what you can do about it:
http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/wycd/calculator/ind_calculator.html

Favorite flicks in January

Children of Men
Pan's Labyrinth
Sherrybaby
Boondock Saints
Spike Lee's When the Levees Broke
AB FAB Season V

Unwatchable:

Celestine Prophecy
oh, and Zoe reminds me... Borat

Photo of the Week

Carolyn Ryan English

Mollie Ivins 1944-2007

From her last column, on Jan 11, 2007:

We are the people who run this country. We are the deciders. And every single day, every single one of us needs to step outside and take some action to help stop this war. Raise hell. Think of something to make the ridiculous look ridiculous. Make our troops know we're for them and trying to get them out of there.

Quotes:

• It is possible to read the history of this country as one long struggle to extend the liberties established in our Constitution to everyone in America.

• The first rule of holes: when you're in one, stop digging.

• What you need is sustained outrage...there's far too much unthinking respect given to authority.

• Think of something to make the ridiculous look ridiculous.

• The thing about democracy, beloveds, is that it is not neat, orderly, or quiet. It requires a certain relish for confusion.

• Satire is traditionally the weapon of the powerless against the powerful.

• The United States of America is still run by its citizens. The government works for us. Rank imperialism and warmongering are not American traditions or values. We do not need to dominate the world. We want and need to work with other nations. We want to find solutions other than killing people. Not in our name, not with our money, not with our children's blood.

She will be missed.

Affluenza: Rampant consumerism erodes us

British psychologist, broadcaster, and author Oliver James just published a book called Affluenza. His stance is that an epidemic of mindless consumerism is sweeping the world. The pursuit of money and possessions is making people richer yet sadder. The goal of having bigger houses, more cars, larger televisions, and younger faces is pursued by middle-class workaholics afflicted by this 'virus.'

Here are some quotes:

"We have become addicted to having rather than being and confusing our needs with our wants."

"Studies in lots of different nations show that if you place high value on those things, you are more likely to suffer depression, anxiety, addictions, and personality disorders."

"People in English-speaking nations are twice as likely to be mentally ill as people living in mainland western European nations."

"Always wanting bigger and better is an emotional cul de sac."

What do you think?

What CAN'T Google Do?

Google Labs is introducing a web accelerator. What is it? It's an application that uses Google's global computer network to make web pages load faster. All you have to do is download and install it, and from then on many web pages will automatically load faster than before.

How does it work? To make your web pages load faster it sends your requests thru machines that are dedicated to handling accelerator traffic, it stores copies of pages you look at a lot, it only downloads updates of pages you have visited, it manages your internet connection to reduce delays, and it compresses data before sending it to your computer.

Alas. It's only for Windows right now.

http://webaccelerator.google.com/

Joost (click on title for link)

I have a few friends who are pretty obsessed with TV and can't figure out why I don't pay for DVR or TIVO to watch what I want when I want. Here's the deal. I spend $20 a month on cable - YES. That's IT. I spend an additional $25 or so on Netflix, b/c what I really want to watch is movies. I would like to watch whatever little TV I want more efficiently, and not have to rush home to see, for example, my beloved Earl, as 7 p.m. is impossibly early to watch a show.

I ask the obsessed, do you watch more TV b/c of video recording, and they answer... Honestly, yes. I do not want to watch more TV. So, to spend more money to watch more TV seems to be counterproductive.

And now the people who brought us Kazaa and Skype are bringing us Joost. First, free music, then free phone, and now free TV.

Joost will let viewers watch TV for free over the Internet. The service will feature channels that users can flip between to find shows and a keyword search function so viewers can pull up programs on demand. Joost will also let users chat among themselves as they watch Internet TV. Joost says it wants nothing less than to merge the best of television with the best of the Internet.

Not as great news for people who do not want to watch tv on their computers - BUT, Joost promises to eventually move this service to TV sets through set-top boxes. Apple TV is already doing this, but the programs have to be on iTunes to be on the TV.

Joost works on a peer-to-peer basis like Kazaa, so it will take some time to get the shows you want when you want them, and it will still be easier to watch TV during "prime time". But it is a step in a positive direction.

Want a fortune cookie?

My Fortune Cookie told me: Where there are visible vapors, having their prevenance in ignited carbonaceous materials, there is conflagration. Get a cookie from Miss Fortune

Most exciting discovery in ages

Click on the title to go to a program that lets you save and convert any YouTube video to 8 different formats, including MP4 video for your iPod. YES. That's RIGHT. And I just tested it and it works.

You just put in the URL for the video you want to download and convert, select the format you want to use it for, and click Start. It does all the steps for you. AND it downloaded automatically to my desktop, then I just dragged it over to the iTunes library, and then into the iPod.

Seriously - that's IT. It took about 4 minutes for a 10.5 mg video, which happened to be Marah playing with Bruce at Giant's Stadium. A grainy video, still looks good.

Message from God?

I have been getting these at work. It only happens when I'm in certain programs.I suspect human intervention.

Snow in Phoenix (click for article)

Teresa's daughter Tara during a snowfall in East Mesa, last night.

Last reported snowfall at Sky Harbor:
Dec. 6, 1998

Last measurable amounts of snow recorded at Sky Harbor:

0.4 of an inch

Dec. 21 and 22, 1990

Total official snowfall in Phoenix from 1896 to 2007:
3.7 inches

The Nasty Bits

Thanks to whomever sent me Anthony Bourdain's new book!

Music

"Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life."
-- Berthold Auerbach

"If you learn music, you'll learn most all there is to know. "
-- Edgar Cayce

"You are the music while the music lasts."
--T. S. Eliot

"We need magic, and bliss, and power, myth, and celebration and religion in our lives, and music is a good way to encapsulate a lot of it. "
-- Jerry Garcia

"Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossile to be silent."
-- Victor Hugo

"Music is spiritual. The music business is not. "
-- Van Morrison

"In music the passions enjoy themselves."
-- Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

"Music should never be harmless."
-- Robbie Robertson

"The best music... is essentially there to provide you something to face the world with. "
-- Bruce Springsteen

"Most of us go to our grave with our music still inside of us."
--Unknown

"I believe in the power of music. To me, it isn't just a fad. This is a positive thing."
-- Eddie Vedder

Another photo of the week

Ryan Malone

Stats and a List

I really want to blog about why certain companies don't celebrate Martin Luther King Jr Day in Arizona. Did you know that Super Bowl XXVII was originally scheduled to be played at Sun Devil Stadium but that the NFL yanked it because our illustrious then-governor Evan Mecham had rescinded the holiday? Yup. It didn't pass as a holiday here until - check it - 1992 - even though the majority of states had passed it in 1986.

So now it's a holiday. But is it really a holiday when we are still required to work? But I'm not going to blog about that because I am trying to learn not to bite the hand that feeds me. However shaky that hand is.

And another thing people are writing to me about today is the Time magazine article about the majority of women being unmarried. I have a lot of issues about this reportage, and want to blog about it, but because most people realize that these are government stats, are all self-reported, and are massaged according to the mood of the analyst that day, I won't bother. And are we ever going to evolve in this country to a point where we don't categorize people? Like I said, another time, another blog.

What I really feel like doing is making a list of my favorite songs released in 2006. So here we go. No particular order, b/c obsessions depend on the day.

Oh Mary Don't You Weep - Bruce Springsteen and the Seeger Sessions Band
This River is Wild - The Killers
When You Were Young - The Killers
Doesn't Remind Me - Audioslave
Worldwide Suicide - Pearl Jam
Steady as She Goes - The Raconteurs
Stadium Arcadium - Red Hot Chili Peppers
Tell Me Baby - Red Hot Chili Peppers
Something by Gomez - can't remember the name (helpful huh)
Chasing Cars - Snow Patrol
Crazy - Gnarls Barkley
Supermassive Black Hole - Muse
Chicago - Sufjan Stevens

Perhaps Muse and Stevens came out in 2005. Oh well.

Photo of the week

Pan's Labyrinth (click for site)

After seeing this film, even hearing a little bit of the soundtrack (a wordless lullaby hummed to the young girl who is the center of the tale) is enough to make me incredibly sad. At the same time it brings to mind some of the most imaginative and incredibly rendered imagery I have seen in a long time.

"Pan's Labyrinth" is the story of a young girl who travels with her pregnant mother to live with her mother's new husband in a rural area in northern Spain, 1944, after Franco's victory. The girl lives in an imaginary world of her own creation, but this world is so vivid and so seamlessly interacts with her real world, that part of you wants to believe it's true. It is easy to suspend disbelief when a grasshopper is sentient, and then changes shape. First you are drawn in by the magic of it, and then you want it to be real because certainly no child's life is so fraught with such dark anguish. You WANT her to be a reincarnated princess whose time on earth has returned.

This story is what Anne Frank's would have been if she had used allegory to describe her situation to the world. The young girl in the movie even looks like Anne Frank. I'm not sure if that's intentional. She lives in a world that despite her seeming freedom to walk around and to explore, unlike Anne, she is trapped in a tiny crawlspace.

The director manages to sustain a level of anxiety throughout the entire film. You have no idea what will happen next, you just know it's not going to be good. My only problem with it was the antagonist's 'monsterhood' - but if he were less violent and more subtle in his hatred of her and her mother, the girl would not have been forced to develop a second reality. And the violence... well, I didn't see a lot of it but it was constant.

There are so many themes and echoes of various cultural myths that I'm still unraveling them. It deserves its accolades and will win many prizes. But be warned, it is going to haunt you for a long time.

A common cultural currency (click here)

This was just posted on my David Foster Wallace list - it's a list put together by Roger Ebert last year, of the 100 movies one should have seen [in his words] "to have any sort of informed discussion about movies. They're the common cultural currency of our time, the basic cinematic texts that everyone should know, at minimum, to be somewhat "movie-literate." I hope these movies are experiences we can all assume we share."

Now, I haven't bothered with a Roger Ebert review in a long time b/c I think he has grown more conservative and more enamored of mainstream blech as he has aged. But I am curious to know what people think of a list that someone else has put together to let you know what you need to see in order to discuss movies intelligently. I don't doubt that film is a common cultural currency, I just feel somewhat hinky about having an OWG (old white guy) tell me what I need to be seeing to participate in that cultural conversation.

And if you're sensing sarcasm you're right. On the other hand, he has the movies on that list that have most informed my sensibilities, and ones that I think are better than any. On the OTHER OTHER hand, E.T.? Halloween? So you see the problem.

So 2 questions: 1. Can someone else, esp an OWG form a list like this and claim to set a standard and 2. How many do you have to go???

No wait - 3. - What's missing from this list???

OK, I have seen 71 of them. There are some I know I "should" see but not b/c Ebert told me to. That's for another post.

iPhone

OK - we have been having this conversation for a while - well, Claudia and I have been anyway - coming close to placing bets on when a newer bigger wider video screen would appear on the iPod, especially one with invisible buttons. I even posted a pic of a fake one a couple months ago. She went with a smaller video iPod, I popped for the big one. (Ok, it was a Christmas present, but I still fronted the cash...)

And of course, it's not just a newer better iPod, but the long-awaited iPhone. I just have to say super duper iPhone. It's so super you can't even take a screen shot of it. It's so duper that I have received no fewer than 7 separate emails telling me about it, none yet from Apple.

But here's the rub, or several rubs. Not out til June. Only on Cingular. The biggest one is 8 gig. AND - it's $600 w/ a two-year contract. Sure it's pretty (click on title link) and it's small, and when someone at work gets one I will feel the pull... but until then, I will just have to be happy with mine...

Ring tones (click on link for abstract)

I stumbled across this essay on ring tones, which starts off with an abstract, b/c this person is seriously studying ring tones as a cultural phenomenon. It's pretty fun actually. But what I want to know is, what ring tones do your co-workers use? Do you have phone etiquette at work?

Where I work there is a predominance of funky ring tones - a couple disco, a Stevie Wonder (Superstition, I think), and even (not at all funky) The Macarena. It doesn't bother me - it cracks me up. I have to have a subtle, sort of slowly appearing (hearing?) ring tone or I jump every time. I recently switched from "New Slang" by the Shins, which slowly builds, sort of saying, "you know, you have a call, but it's no big deal, and really, you can just go on with whatever you're doing" to "Yellow Ledbetter" by Pearl Jam, which has been mistaken for The Stones, Stevie Ray Vaughn, and "some guy who's practicing guitar". Yellow Ledbetter's opening notes sound like a guitar being played underwater at the South Pole. Perfect.

So anyway, here's the Abstract. The link to the whole paper is at the top. Just click on the title. Fun, huh?

Abstract
This essay attempts to provide a description of the global ringtone industry, to determine and assess the numerous cultural consequences of the ringtone’s appearance and development, and to situate the ringtone within the context of contemporary capitalism. At its broadest, my assertion is that the development of the ringtone is a powerful lens through which we might clearly view some of the dynamics of present day (or “late”) capitalist cultural production, including the development of new rentier economies within oligopolistic sectors of production and consumption, and a long–term shift in global productive dominance from North America to the Pacific Rim. The ringtone is also a remarkable cultural phenomenon that is demonstrating a high degree of popularity and is undergoing rapid transformation; therefore, its short, continuing lifetime already needs to be assessed historically.

Favorite flicks in 2006

What a great year for films. I still have a list to see, and would love it if I missed anything great that you would forward me those suggestions as well...


So here's the list - not really in order but The Fountain was my favorite of the year.

The Fountain
The Science of Sleep
An Inconvenient Truth (should be mandatory viewing)
Clerks II
Tristram Shandy
United 93
A Scanner Darkly
The 3 Burials of Melquiades Estrada
Babel
The Proposition
Little Miss Sunshine

Still want to see
Volver
Pan's Labyrinthe (got a 99% on metacritic - unheard of)
The Painted Veil
The Departed
Island Empire
Children of Men

Merry Christmas!

So This Is Christmas

So this is Christmas
And what have you done?
Another year over
And a new one just begun

And so this is Christmas
I hope you have fun
The near and the dear one
The old and the young.

A very Merry Christmas
And a Happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear

And so this is Christmas
For weak and for strong
For rich and the poor ones
The road is so long

And so Happy Christmas
For black and for white
For yellow and red ones
Let's stop all the fight.

A very Merry Christmas
And a Happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear

So this is Christmas
And what have you done?
Another year over
And a new one just begun

And so Happy Christmas
I hope you have fun
The near and the dear one
The old and the young.

A very Merry Christmas
And a Happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear

War is over!
If you want it
War is over!
War is over, Now!

Could it be karma? Part I

The first time it happened, in Dublin last year, I just counted myself really really lucky. Having arrived at the Croke Park general admission line about 2.5 hours before the doors opened, we were waaaay behind people who had begun to 'queue' 2-3 days prior. The line itself was a thing to behold - people snaking through a poor neighborhood in North Dublin, from whence the U2 boys originally hailed. When the gates opened and the people poured through them, I expected to see at least half the GA section - on the pitch, as they say there - filled with people, and I would still be able to see from the back, considering the rising stage and 90-foot video screen...

But no - we walked/ran right up to the stage. Apparently security made a mistake in the order they let the different sections in. So I was in front of those poor peeps who had waited days. And I smelled a lot better.

And then, it happened again at Aloha Stadium (Honolulu). We got there dead last, there wasn't even room in the 'cages' for us to stand. We were to wait outside the cage and then enter it to follow the crowd in, sure to be behind the other 14,000 people who were obviously MUCH better fans. Now, we suffered a bit, walking back and forth being told different things by different security-type folk - all the while being serenaded by Pearl Jam doing their sound check - but that's another story. In fact, if we hadn't gotten the runaround, we would not have been dead last.



After escorting a crowd that obviously was led into the circle (done by first come and not the usual lottery), our wonderful security guards made a mistake and started with our little crew outside the cages. Yes, we were let in essentially, first. Still didn't realize it - that couldn't possibly happen again. But as we entered the stadium ("where are all the people?") - the people were almost ALL behind us.

Yes, we were right up by the stage again. In hour 3 of 12...

Part Deux later.

Light of Day benefit (click)

The Light of Day fundraiser benefits Parkinson's Disease. Michael J Fox has become involved - in a weird circle of events, he was in the movie Light of Day, which was named for said Springsteen song (and written by a guy who went to my college- Paul Schrader). "Just around the corner to the light of day..."

Last night the show was in Sayreville, N.J. - Marah and Bruce both showed up. Sigh.

Yeah, Anna, go ahead and tell us how great it was.

Favorite flicks in November

The Fountain
Running With Scissors
Sex and Lucia ( may move into my Top 10 )
Wordplay


Bleahhh

Nacho Libre

Photo of the Week

Midnight at MIT
Ryan Malone

All things must pass

February 25, 1943 – November 29, 2001

Does money buy happiness? (click)

Interesting article. Here's an excerpt:

Considerable evidence suggests that if we use an increase in our incomes, as many of us do, simply to buy bigger houses and more expensive cars, then we do not end up any happier than before. But if we use an increase in our incomes to buy more of certain inconspicuous goods – such as freedom from a long commute or a stressful job – then the evidence paints a very different picture. The less we spend on conspicuous consumption goods, the better we can afford to alleviate congestion; and the more time we can devote to family and friends, to exercise, sleep, travel, and other restorative activities. On the best available evidence, reallocating our time and money in these and similar ways would result in healthier, longer– and happier–lives.

We have a winner

So if you see this pic can you tell what it is??

It's the U2 stage configuration for the stadium shows.

Congrats to John K of Boston for his I.D. Your DVD is in the mail...

Contest

Do you know what this is?



The first person to post the correct answer gets a free DVD of An Inconvenient Truth.

Too close for comfort (click on title)

Stephanie Coontz, a history and family studies professor at Evergreen College in Washington, wrote a very interesting op-ed piece in the NYTimes a few days back. Now that the census bureau has published figures about the decreasing percentage of "married" households, apparently people are once more freaking out about the institution of marriage.

As the article points out, our "tradition" of modern marriage has a very short history, and is obviously very troubled. And we all know people who completely focus on their marriage, and then when it goes south they have absolutely no contacts or close friends and no idea how to build a full, well-rounded, community-oriented life. We are so brainwashed about marriage and relationships - and seriously, it's just one path. What a breath of fresh air to read this article.

Almost all marriages fail even if they don't end in divorce, and this has been true for many years. What the article doesn't mention is that not only are married households the minority, but married households with children number less than 20%, yet from all we see in the media about the most important thing being a relationship and family you would think it was 98%.

The truth is that most people are just not cut out for this type of marriage - making it the be-all and end-all to our emotional lives. I know I wasn't. And even if you think you love non-stop intimacy, if one bases one's emotional health or self esteem on this relationship, or defines their happiness based on inherently fragile ties with one other person, then what happens if/when it goes south, or you never marry?

The only time I feel really myself and content is when I'm involved with circles of friends, some family, engaged with work, volunteering, and just dating casually. And I tried - over and over - including being married twice. Not everyone is the same, and I get really tired of being pressured into acting and wanting the same as everyone else.

Less independent-minded individuals are made to feel sad, or less somehow, when they are constantly bludgeoned with the societal stereotype about wanting to be married. It's too bad, b/c marriage is the hardest, most frustrating thing most people have to go through in their adult lives, even if it begins well and has many good moments - still super hard. People shouldn't feel bad about themselves b/c they won't settle or just don't want somebody living in the house with them for the rest of their lives, or worse yet, made to feel bad b/c they haven't met someone they care enough about to take the biggest risk ever. Like that's their fault! Not wearing the right makeup now? Not skinny enough? There are entire industries focused around this perception, that there is one path, and you better follow these rules and get on it or you'll be miserable. Guess what? You fall for all this marketing and you'll be miserable either way.

And pressure to have kids when the planet is already over-populated beyond any sustainable point, no matter how generous the markers? Don't get me started.

Most people certainly won't let people bully or brainwash them into joining other social institutions they don't feel an affinity for. It's a weird thing.

Local B.S.

It only takes a few propositions to remind us how entirely red this state is. And not the kind of RED that is going donate money to fight poverty and AIDS in Africa.

While I'm sure many people were relieved that Prop 107, "Protect Marriage Arizona" did not pass, the margin was so narrow (15,000 in this county) that you know you are surrounded by people who not only hate gay people, but they are also too stupid to realize that this proposition would have negated domestic partnerships, affecting elders and others. Gay marriage is already illegal here. And if you need a proposition to protect a bedrock institution, perhaps you should realize that this institution is on its way out.

Sure, we elected a Democratic governor with 65% of the votes. We also passed 4 (count 'em - FOUR) propositions that in one way or another further punish illegal immigrants for being here just because all of us immigrants got here first and stole everything from the natives. They sure don't want that happening again.

OK, More than 65 percent of the voters approved a minimum-wage hike. About 62 percent of us approved a ban on small cages for pigs and calves. (SHOCKING!!!) But they (and I mean they) also voted an $.80 hike on the cigarette tax to fund an early childhood program that claims to be able to provide state-wide, regionally based program services for at-risk preschoolers for 10% administrative costs. This is just wrong on so many levels that it is worth a post by itself. For now, let me say that the government, any locale at any time, cannot provide anything for less than 37% admin costs - it's just not possible for them. And the only reason that cigarettes should be further taxed for preschool programs is if the preschoolers are smoking.

And perhaps the voters should have paid attention to the fact that if they ban smoking everywhere and raise the tax on each pack by almost 50%, that is not going to provide a lot of funds for their program. And why cigarettes? The so-called sin tax? How about taxing SUV's or other items that are actually increasing the rate of global warming, or a tax on beef for helping destroy the rainforest to similar effect (if you don't know what I mean you need to go read some stuff), or... and I know y'all think I've totally lost it - an additional tax on gasoline? You wanna get moral about it? There are many many non-smokers carting around 20 lb preschoolers in 3-ton SUV's - they need to pay for their own life choices.

Think it through, people.

Voting Sucks

The voting process is ridiculous. It's already proven to be wrought with fraud (see GAO Voter Fraud Report if you think I'm exaggerating), and ways of turning voters away or just eliminating their vote altogether are getting more sophisticated and numerous every election. Voter turnout falls when it's raining, or even when it's cloudy. The lines get longer (well, if you're in a certain kind of neighborhood) and don't even get me started on the people who stand out front thinking that you're undecided and if they just get in your face the right way you'll vote for their [candidate] [proposition] [new hairstyle].

It took me 4 times longer to drive the extra 5 blocks past home to the polling place than it did to vote - 7 stoplight waits? Come on. It was either that or get up at 5 and stand in the cold and the dark. And I'm pretty motivated - if I'm not, moveon.org will keep reminding me that I need to be, or I'm a p.c. criminal. Who makes the computer-less feel guilty? Did you know that more people vote on any one American Idol show than in any national election EVER? That's because A. it's easy and B. they're comfortable with the process. Not to mention that they actually feel like they have a stake in something, that their vote will be counted.

This year there was a huge focus on producing ID's. The latest trick in the disenfranchisement franchise is punishing the transient, the car-less, or the simply disorganized for not having proper ID with them. Who are the transient and car-less? Yup. Poorer people who overwhelmingly vote Democrat.

Way before Diebolt guaranteed the Bush election and delivered, people couldn't even get the hang of paper ballots. Can you imagine deciding something REALLY important, like the new American Idol for example, by driving somewhere you may never have been, in the dark, waiting in line, punching holes in paper, and then having the 95-year old volunteers count them up by hand (when it takes them 5 whole minutes to find your name in an alphabetized column) while you rush home to watch the results on TV?

Sure, I can get an absentee ballot and mail it in, but I am not likely to find the ballot, or do it in time, or have a stamp (see above: disorganized). And if ID's are so important, than why don't you need one to mail something? If I am driving to a polling place through traffic, parking and walking a mile, waiting in line, and having the voting process explained to me by someone who thinks Jon Stewart is a 16th century philosopher, why would you need my ID? WHO ELSE IS GONNA DO THIS FOR ME?

But dude, I am almost ALWAYS near a computer. Sure, I may not remember my PIN, but if you compliment me by letting me vote the way I feel most comfortable, I will show up every time, and vote in every single election. I know this is scary for you, what with all the accountability and everything, but if the banks trust online transactions, you should too.

Favorite flicks in October

Lucky enough to see these before wide release:

Babel
Stranger than Fiction

both, excellent

The Proposition


Ick:

Beowulf and Grendel (Toronto version) - cannot say enough bad things about this movie, but Stellan Skarsgaard was really really good as King Hrothgar
The Puffy Chair (sundance liked it why?)
The King (Gael Garcia Bernal has been cloned and he and his double are in 60 movies this year alone)

The Road

I have a thing for end-of-the-world novels and films. Part of it is a hangover from studying sociology, seeing how the author sets up communities or relationships after whatever disaster has caused the end of the world as we know it. Another part is just that it's a stretch to try to imagine letting go of everyday comforts, losing all your friends and family, seeing if you have it in you to operate on a survival level.

There are many lame stories, not thought through well or that rely on happy endings. But there are great ones - Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood, On the Beach by Nevil Shute, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, by Philip K Dick (which became Blade Runner).

But I have never read one as disturbing, as haunting, and finally as devastating as The Road by Cormac McCarthy. You can almost feel the physicality of the disaster, and the emotional and spiritual repercussions just rip through you every few pages. Despite the horror though, and there is plenty, I could not put it down. There is no way to predict what will happen, either on the next page, or at the end. And the writing - it's incredibly spare, but the imagery is abundant.

Stephen Schenkenberg (see blog on right) wrote me just as I was writing this, here is part of his reaction from his blog:

"Never before have I been this devastated by a book. I felt gutted as I read it. If you desire art that affects you physically, apocalyptic visions described with crushing beauty and masterful economy, I know of no other book to point you to."

The story centers around a man and his boy making their way south years after an apocalyptic event which is not described in detail. Here is an excerpt:

"In those first years the roads were peopled with refugees shrouded up in their clothing. Wearing masks and goggles, sitting in their rags by the side of the road like ruined aviators. Their barrows heaped with shoddy. Towing wagons or carts. Their eyes bright in their skulls. Creedless shells of men tottering down the causeways like migrants in a feverland. The frailty of everything revealed at last. Old and troubling issues resolved into nothingness and night. The last instance of a thing takes the class with it. Turns out the light and is gone. Look around you. Ever is a long time. But the boy knew what he knew. That ever is no time at all."

Ever is no time at all.

Let's get rid of the bastards

Click on this link to read the NY Times Sunday editorial about the Republicans' behavior over the last two years and why this election is so crucial for the country's, and even the planet's, future. What a Difference Two Years Have Made

Baaaaa

Taking a break

Taking a break for a while...

Photo of the Week

Ryan Malone - The Artist Lies.com

Red Nano

Is there a red nano? Oh right, sorry, a RED nano. I tried to avoid hearing about the Bono/Oprah thing but it's almost impossible. It would be interesting to watch though - someone who never finishes a sentence with someone who never lets anyone finish one.

Sooo.... the RED Campaign. I tried to get some Red converse shoes a few months back, spring I think, but they were only available in europe. I don't know why it took so long to get the Red campaign here, but the iPod is a fairly obvious choice to launch the stateside bonzo (or is it gonzo?) marketing campaign.

What is Red? Here's the short answer: Product (RED), founded by Bono and Bobby Shriver in 2006 to engage consumers and the private sector with its marketing prowess and funds in the fight against AIDS. Money raised from (RED) Products goes to the Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB and Malaria.

Here's Bono's (surprise) longer answer: Oh sorry, have to link to it, it's too long to put here. ;-)

People are still asking me, what's the white bracelet for? The bracelet is for the One campaign - see the diagonal banner to your right?

Here are the other campaigns Bono is involved in to fight poverty and disease in Africa:

One.org
The ONE Campaign to Make Poverty History was founded in 2005 and is now 2.3 million members strong representing Americans from all 50 states. The goal of this movement is to persuade the US government to spend an additional one percent of the federal budget on tackling AIDS and extreme poverty
Data.org
DATA (debt, AIDS, trade, Africa) is an advocacy organization founded in 2002 by Bono, Bobby Shriver and activists from the Jubilee "Drop the Debt" campaign to fight extreme poverty and AIDS in Africa. DATA's mission is to tackle the three issues that most adversely affect the African continent -- unpayable debts, the spread of AIDS and unfair trade policies – by raising public awareness and working with leaders in the U.S. and throughout the G8 to bring more resources to the region.
Edun.ie
EDUN, which has just produced a One Campaign t-shirt raising money for AIDS drugs in Lesotho, is an ethically-sourced high fashion clothing company that was created in 2005 by Ali Hewson, Bono and designer Rogan Gregory in an effort to increase trade opportunities and sustainable long-term employment in developing nations. With factories located in Africa, South America and India, EDUN believes in respect for and investment in the people and places where its clothing is made.

New vocabulary

Is it real? or Photoshop...

wireless, virtual pinwheel ipod


a car the color of a smurf, rolled in glitter

hydroplane car

Quotes of the Week

"When I get really pissed off, my inner white girl comes out." - Jamaal

"Target is like Disneyland to me... all the bright colors and everything." - Fran

"I really like it here- people have technology... and teeth." - Zoe

"Come say Howdy to Gaudi." - ad for trip to Barcelona

Favorite flicks in September

Suicide Kings
The Big White
Friends with Money


One of the worst movies ever:
The Protector

You may say he's a dreamer... (click here)

I love October. The weather gets better, the pollution lessens, it's my birthday, the Scottsdale Film Festival starts, (still the best one in the valley) and the movies start getting better. Because what a wasteland the past few months have been for flicks. I have not even bothered to list September favorites, it's almost a waste of time.

But last week Science of Sleep finally started and we went to see it last night. It is so much better than the trailer, better than I imagined. I loved Michael Gondry's Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, but this one is even more insightful, about dreams, about "love, friendship, relationships, all those ships"... and it's set in Paris, and stars Gael Garcia Bernal, has fabulous art direction and animation... it's a perfect film. Really, the only thing that could have improved it is if Mr. Bernal had come to the house personally with a bottle of wine, wearing that outfit he wears in the hallway scene, to present it.

There are a few flicks that try to capture the surreality and evanescence of dreams, Kurosawa's Dreams and Linklater's Waking Life are two of the better ones. But Gondry's pulls you in and makes you feel like you're IN the dream, and that maybe you're not sure when the dream ends, and you're not entirely comfortable either way. Gondry says, "I just wanted to see how I could make a movie about my dreams and still be entertaining. There's a lot of movies about dreams. If you just go in a dream and then you come out, those are some of the best movies; sometimes you're sleeping in the middle because you need to merge back, to come back to reality before you dive again. So I'm not saying I did better, but it was my goal to do a movie with dreams, how they interact and to work with real life."

The best part about it tho, is the art. Stephane, the dreamer, is an artist who is trying to get his original work published as a calendar, with each month highlighting a disaster that has lasted in the international psyche - he calls it Disasterology. And he invents things, like a time machine that only goes backward and forward one second. When he meets up with a fellow artist, who is also stuck in a menial job and almost scared of real people, you think you can predict the ending, but you can't. You can't even really predict what is real and what isn't.

There are several scenes that I know I will just play over and over but before it hits the shelves, I am going to have to see it again in the theater.

And this weekend - finally - the film festival. I just love October.

Photo of the Week

By Carolyn Ann-Ryan English, called Horsey.

For Sam's last week at Interactive Alchemy - we'll miss you, girl.