stop fooling around

weird dream this morning, in between alarm snoozes.

Liz and I are pretending to be evangelists, trying to make up names for ourselves as we wait at the door. Azriel, I think. No. Gabriel. I choose something, the door opens we are invited in and sit down. I've forgotten my fake name already. There are a bunch of old people there. We sit in old chairs, or an old sofa. No one seems comfortable. Liz whispers, "give them the crackers." We've brought some, but no one is interested.

Another family enters, and things liven up a little. They've brought better gifts. I end up talking to this kid, 5 years old maybe. I'm trying to show him pictures from a trip. I'm having difficulties getting to the pictures I want to show him, and the kid is being horrible. I end up biting him in the arm, my hands being busy with the camera I guess, and after that he is much better behaved.

The pictures are cool, various metal statuary in some Chinese part of a city. Nice lighting and intracite metal work.

But biting, what's that all about?

eden again?

holy mother of environmental crimes. marshes larger than the everglades drained and turned into salt flats. they were apparently big hideouts for anyone trying to escape the regime. someone referred to them as the "statue of liberty" for iraqis. now there is a chance for them again. but it will be an uphill struggle against oil interests, agriculture, and turkish control over a good portion of both the tigris and euphrates headwaters.

Look for the eden again project a project of the iraq foundation (link did not seem to be working for some reason. alas)

second flashes

was thinking that there is something about flash mobs that is good -- this world needs a little fricking levity not to mention silliness that is not organized by some corporate conglomerate, and not requiring a bribe of the possibility of millions of dollars (aka reality tv) and shakes things up on the street a little bit.

a magazine that finally tells the candid truth

crappie world!

flash in the pan

Today at 6:23 I walked out of Left O'Douls with a pile of other people, and then walked over an piked into the Westin Saint Francis.

This was my first flash mob. The first thing I noticed was that Mob's don't read too well. It clearly said, at 6:30, to start treating everyone around you like long lost pals, but people started it up as soon as they got in, meaning that everyone lost a little steam for a minute or two. But for a minute or two the lobby was a pandemonium of "Hey! how are you?! you look great!" with hugs and backslapping all around.

The next stage was to fall to the floor of the lobby and pretend you were dead asleep for several minutes. It was crowded on the floor, people packed in like rats really, someone was on my foot and I was squished between a couple of other people as well. There was a crowd of somewhat stunned, bewildered hotel guests. Security, according to a friend, were in the process of freaking out.

Several minutes up though, everyone stood up, yawned, stretched, and walked out.

It was fun, but a little wierd and against my better instincts of hanging out with a mob of people.

I have to wonder, is there a limit to these, what happens when they get to big and a particular event becomes unmanageable. It will be interesting to see. It would also be interesting to see if they can be hacked, passing out alternate routes as they do for critical mass -- the prototype flash mob if there ever was one. Of course, they could be hacked for ill as well.

A fascinating little cultural phenomenom.

honestly damned

"I would sooner be honestly damned than hypocritically immortalized"
-Davy Crockett
His political career destroyed because he supported the Cherokee. He left Washington D. C. and headed west to Texas

sidewalk hunting

a couple weeks ago two friends of mine organized a brilliant scavenger hunt -- in honor of another friend's birthday. It was a four hour traipse through the Mission District and attuned us to the streets and buildings that many of us walk by every day and never notice. I'm so attuned now that I now walk around neighborhoods and imagine how signs, street names, buildings, whatever could be turned into an insidiously clever clue.

another friend of ours mentioned the same phenomenom. ah games, puzzles, I love 'em.

What's at the end of bay and near the bay, but across another smaller body of water?

movie review: gunman and cattle

open range
Kevin Costners new movie is a grandly shot film. The scenery is marvellous with constant thunderstorms rolling through and over a little town and the valley it resides in.

Charlie, Kevin's character, is a cowboy riding with Boss, a big guy and a little italian. They live a simple life, "free-grazers" pushing their cattle along, setting up camp, waiting out storms, chasing after lost cattle and horses.

Naturally they wind up in some trouble. Which is all fine and good. The movie is your pretty typical Western in setup. Man with a troubled past, but with good intentions saves the day.

The trouble isn't even really that Costner can't really act. He's okay. The villain, Michael Gambon, is well played, but is perhaps too much of a cliche. You never quite understand why he is so passionate in his hatred for "free grazers." It doesn't quite seem to be just about cold hard cash.

But the real trouble is the romance. Mainly I can't quite see what she sees in the guy. Sure he's sweet to those he likes, but she didn't see that much of that, she saw more of the fact that he was pretty quick and ready to kill. But hey its a movie.

The violence in the movie tends towards the violence of unforgiveable. Short and brutal. Only a little bit of quarter is shown.

What stood out the most was Duvall's performance as the older, wiser cowboy, somewhat of a hardass, but a sweetheart underneath.

There were also some some really good humor, nothing overt, just small little things here and there. Charlie getting all anxious about the mud he's spreading on the parlor carpet after he has been there a couple times. A great line by as they are burying a companing, "You might say some words if you feel like it, but I ain't going to speak to that son of a bitch for what he's let happen"

Anyway, it's a good movie. Not great. But good.

book review: harry does it again

harry potter and the order of phoenix

This is the first harry potter where I had difficulty getting into the story. Not because it is poorly written or the plot and characters weren't interesting, it's just that Harry is so darned annoying.

Frankly, the boy inside of me finds it hard to be symapthetic towards someone who's doing things I've always dreamed of doing - i.e. saving the world. So I was a little tired of his complaining.

Of course, it does show that the author has some talent -- it seems a pretty accurate depiction of the angst of a kid his age who is being neglected in one way or another. it's not just something I'm interested in.

I did find it interesting, having returned to Hogwarts, the students and teachers find themselves under the thumb of a ministry appointed official, intent on making sure people toe the line, and don't stir up any nonsense about the Dark lord Voldemort having made a return.

At first I thought it might be a sly pick at our current regimes in the US and Britain, but in thinking about it, it is pretty much exactly the opposite of what are governments are doing. If it was the US government, they would have had Hogwarts on Orange alert, arrested and registered every pure blood wizard, and developed new magical eavesdropping abilities.

Speaking of the US, it is interesting that the US is not even mentioned in passing. The world seems to consist of Europe primarily, with a couple mentions of China (well a chinese firebolt), and some asian (east asian and indian). It would be interesting to know what wizards in africa, the US, south america and asia are like, and their reaction to Lord You Know Who's Rise.

That digression over, I don't have too much more to say. The book reads like the others -- a similar structure (hints of what is to come while at home, the ride to school, a burgeoning mystery of some sort, the usual red herrings, the usual villains at school), with a deepening darkness and sophistication in vocabulary and themes. Which is to say that it is a fun ride and interesting read.

I'm keen for the next book, but will not hold my breath. Any bets on how many years?