A little bit of raving about movies

[we seriously didn’t have a movies category on here?]

Three movies in one weekend. That doesn’t happen very often, but we’ve decided to catch up on our movies. So, onward to thoughts about Lord Of War, The Prestige, and 300. (more…)

March 20th, 2007 - Posted in Movies | | 0 Comments

A rare political post

[update: i’m not alone in my thoughts on this]

No one blinked when Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was proclaimed to be the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks. It seems as though half a dozen people, at one time or another, have been claimed to be “masterminds” on this, but maybe my memory just isn’t very good. However, I felt that a huge red flag went up when Mohammed further claimed to be behind the murder of Daniel Pearl, the Bali nightclub attack, the 1993 WTC attack, and even the shoe bomber (seriously, the shoe bomber?).

So while I admit i’m not really qualified to comment, here goes: I have serious doubts that Mohammed committed even half of the crimes he’s “confessing” to. I think he knows that he’s not going to ever see the blue sky again regardless of what happens. I think he’d like people to remember his name. I think he’d like to take as much credit as Osama or anyone else for Islamic radicalism (and it’s not as if Osama is in any position to challenge him about it).

On top of all that, you have to consider the US government’s point of view. I don’t think there’s a conspiracy afoot to make this guy look worse than he is. But at the same time, if the public decides that he’s single-handedly responsible for a lot of the terror in the world, then the government has has very little incentive to disabuse us of that notion.

After all, this is a guy we’ve been holding on Guantanamo. He’s a living symbol, both of the danger we face in the modern world and of the alleged value of secret prisons and extraordinary rendition and our other shameful policies.

So what it comes down to is that KSM will probably continue to confess to all manner of things. I won’t be surprised if he confesses to killing JFK, bombing Hiroshima, sinking the USS Maine, and leaving Pedro Martinez in to pitch the 8th inning of game 7 of the 2003 ALCS.

The administration seems to be trying to have its cake and eat it, too. If Mohammed really masterminded all of this, then it appears that Al Queda isn’t nearly as decentralized, compartmentalized, and all-fired dangerous as we’ve been led to believe. It appears that we’ve spent hundreds of billions of dollars and thousands of American lives on a global war against one guy, whom we now have in custody.

If, as seems more likely to me, Mohammed didn’t actually have much to do with most of these things, then terrorism is still a very real threat, and all we have to show for the war effort is a lackwit braggart who has little intelligence value beyond headline-grabbing.

So which is it? Are we still fighting a war we’ve already won, or are we fighting a war in which we’ve made essentially zero progress? And which of those is supposed to make me feel better about the conduct of my government?

March 16th, 2007 - Posted in Politics | | 0 Comments

The “ease” of the online bracket

Yakko wants to fill out a tournament bracket online. He sees the ad that you can do it for free on SportsLine. He even works hard to get ready for school early so we have about 20 minutes extra. It turns out that signing up for the bracket is “easy.” All you have to do is:

1. Go to sportsline.com
2. Click twice for the same action (the link on the front goes to a page that contains nothing but a link to the actual game).
3. Enter your sportline ID
4. Except you don’t remember your sportsline ID, or even if you have a sportsline ID, so sign up for a new one
5. Except the username you chose is already in use, more or less confirming that you have already signed up at some point
6. Search gmail for your welcome email from sportsline. Fail to find it.
7. Go back to the sportsline tab, and have them send you the password, which apparently you didn’t get to pick because it’s not something you would ever have purposefully made your password.
8. Finally get signed up and go through to the bracket (interesting to note that you can’t continue signup without inviting at least one other email address to receive unsolicited mail from sportsline)
9. The text says you won’t get a “save” button until after the entire bracket is complete. But then after you fill out the whole thing, you find from reading the info box at the top that it doesn’t think you’ve filled out the first region, even though you have. Thus, no save button.
10. Take your son to school, hoping you can get it figured out when you have more than 20 minutes to spare.

This is why there will always be a demand for paper copies of tournament brackets.

March 12th, 2007 - Posted in Homelife | | 0 Comments

Spring is here

My phone rang in yesterday with the glorious tone that can only mean one thing: my first Braves score notification of the year from the AJC.

The problem with blogging about the Braves is the same as with blogging about much of anything: if you care enough, you probably already know as much as I do on the subject. But as anyone in Braves Nation knows, the big questions this spring are with the revamped right side of the infield and the impossible-to-project starting pitching.

While the first official game of the preseason isn’t much to base an opinion on, the box score from today’s 7-2 win over the dodgers is pretty encouraging. Infield question marks Kelly Johnson and Scott Thorman each had a hit and an RBI, and Kyle Davies threw two scoreless innings.

There’s also the slightly heretical question that no one is asking: whether adding Soriano and Gonzalez to the bullpen will make the team overconfident in their ability to stay in games. But I don’t want to rain on the one parade everyone seems to be universally happy about.

March 1st, 2007 - Posted in baseball | | 0 Comments

Close call for Gardner

2000 Olympic gold medalist Rulon Gardner (This was going to link to youtube of his big moment, but all i found was the NBC fluff piece that no doubt aired 16 times during Sydney) has survived a near-fatal accident. AGAIN.

I swear, this guy got his gold medal by using The Numbers.

February 26th, 2007 - Posted in Uncategorized | | 0 Comments

The Trip

We spent Thursday in the sprawling metropolis of Pierre, SD, our state capital. The State Heritage Museum and the Capital Building were the main itinerary. Click below for images:

Pierre Trip 2007

February 24th, 2007 - Posted in Parentgeekness | | 0 Comments

If I stared at it long enough, that dog’d get up and run

Reason To Believe - Bruce Springsteen

February 22nd, 2007 - Posted in songsinmyhead | | 0 Comments

Random 10

Shakespeare’s Sister - The Smiths
I am trying very hard to like the smiths. Most of the time, they bore me. But they definitely have some gems, like this one.
Crying Shame - Jack Johnson
Jack Johnson usually makes me smile, but this song is a little more meditative and reflective. Sounds a scary amount like a modern Red Hot Chili Peppers ballad, actually.
Banging Camp - The Hold Steady
Punks channelling Springsteen (and maybe Vic Chesnutt) and singing drug songs that aren’t really about drugs. With horns. What’s not to like?
Runeii - Talk Talk
“Fragile” is the first word i think of to describe late-era Talk Talk. Fragile, and utterly unique.
Broadway - The Clash
Not one of the Clash’s finest moments, but all of Sandanista is a mixed bag. The little kid singing “Guns of Brixton” at the end of the track is brilliant.
Things you do to me - Hank Williams III
It’s a testament to how good a songwriter Hank3 is that he can seemingly create a radio-friendly nashville-ready tune like this in his sleep. It shows that he’s rebelling by choice, not due to a lack of chops.
Case In Point - Andrew Bird’s Bowl Of Fire
Just recently started listening to Bird. He’s definitely the most musically interesting guy in my current rotation.
Sea Of Heartbreak - Don Gibson
A song i’d known for years from the Johnny Cash version. Wonderful. Part-country, part-doo wop, part Elvis.
Another Place To Fall - KT Tunstall
Like Dave Matthews, only with a more manly voice. Kidding aside, though, smart head-bobbing music is always welcome in my life.
Trompe Le Monde - The Pixies
The Pixies would have changed my life if I’d heard of them sooner. It might have saved me from the years of hair metal that I put up with as a youth.