| |
| March 11, 2008 |
-
Ten
Brilliant Complete Movies Online -- tragically,
these don't include the little full-screen icon-toggle
on each YouTube window's menu bar, but still, a great
selection. All b&w classics except for the unexpected
bonus, "1984".
- More YouTube goodness: three music videos from the
mid-60s, all lip-synch but so what. The Beach Boys,
Don't
Worry, Baby; the Jimi Hendrix Experience,
Hey
Joe, from a Belgian TV show in early 1967; and
the
Beatles on Ready Steady Go, in 1964, which includes
the great opening with its theme music by Manfred Mann.
More about
Ready
Steady Go at Wikipedia.
- The Guardian ranks the
world's
50 most powerful blogs. Somehow, the venerable Rash.log
didn't make the cut. I know of eight on their list,
have in the past followed just four of those, and now read
only one,
Jason Kottke's.
|
| March 6, 2008 |
- In his latest column Paul Krugman
holds
forth on Barack Obama:
Some progressives are appalled by the direction their party seems
to have taken: they wanted another FDR yet feel that they're getting
an oratorically upgraded version of Michael Bloomberg instead.
Others, however, insist that Obama's message of hope and his
personal charisma will yield an overwhelming electoral victory, and
that he will implement a dramatically progressive agenda. The
trouble is that faith in Obama's transformational ability rests
on surprisingly little evidence.
Count me among the skeptical. And since Hillary's just too
annoying, I may wind up voting Libertarian again, just as
I did in '92 and '96.
- Also
in the NY Times -- predictably, he's
popular in the small town of Obama, Japan.
|
| March 2, 2008 |
- In Wired, how
High-tech
Cowboys of the Deep rescued the Cougar Ace,
an enormous automobile transport ship carrying a cargo of
4,703 Mazdas, which due to a ballast tank malfunction wound
up listing 60° off the coast of Alaska. Also, at English Russia,
Abandoned
Frozen Ships.
- The so-called
Moon
Museum contains doodles by Rauschenberg, Oldenburg, Warhol
and three others, baked onto a ceramic chip and surreptitiously
installed on one of the
Apollo
12 lunar lander's legs by an un-named Grumman technician.
Blogger Greg Allen's source is a November 22nd
1969 NY Times article. He also mentions "lunar nudity"
in the form of a crude reproduction of a Playboy pin-up; perhaps
Greg is unfamiliar with Tom Hank's
That's
All There Is which features actual naked astronauts. Mission
Commander Dick Gordon allegedly insisted that after they returned
from the moon's surface, Alan Bean and Pete Conrad had to strip
completely before reentering "his" command module.
- A series of photos:
another
ordinary day at the beach, in China.
|
| February 29 - Leap Day |
- Urban
and Urbane: the New Yorker in the 1930s and
early 40s, apparently a project by three American Studies
students at U-VA, interesting but at times annoying
due to illiterate spelling errors. At least check the
war-time covers.
|
| February 28, 2008 |
- A new weapon for law enforcment: the
LED
Incapacitator, a super-flashlight.
- At the ever-reliable Dark Roast Blend,
Rare
& Beautiful Vintage Visions of the Future. Many
tasty images from the Soviet Union, and don't miss
parts 2 and 3.
- Addressing
the didn't-see-'em factor is a pre-Oscar rant directed
at movie buffs like me who avoided last year's crop since
they were all too violent and depressing (except for "Juno"
which was merely bogus). Reminds me of the advice I used to
hear quite often, that one should see a film because it
was "well done" -- bah. Fortunately I have no trouble
catching quality pictures -- new but obscure, as well as
great stuff from the past, hitherto unseen.
|
| February 24, 2008 |
- Initially apprehensive about my upcoming trip
into India, been avoiding thinking about that part of
the journey, but of late, I've grown quite enthusiastic.
Part of the fun will be experiencing amusing sub-Continental
twists of English, and their term wallah tickles
my fancy -- I want to include it in my everyday vocabulary,
but don't since hardly anybody'd understand. Always
preceeded by an identifying prefix, it's used as a title
for workers, street vendors & etc. Apparently
the most ubiquitous is the venerable chai-wallah, who
dispenses little cups of tea for a rupee apiece.
The
Wallahs of Mumbai describes many others, including the
doodh-wallah who sells drinks of milk. Of course,
I think of him as the dude-wallah.
- A great YouTube source for those mainstays of 1970s
late-night syndicated TV, the complete
first
season of Star Trek with links to pages of the other
two, as well as samples from "The Twilight Zone"s first
two seasons. Although the latter is only logical on this
CBS site, why are they hosting the NBC Captain Kirk?
|
| February 20, 2008 |
- 22
film remakes dramatically different from the
originals. A cardinal rule of mine: the
original version is the best; a remake should
almost always be avoided.
- Scientific American presents:
A
Solar Grand Plan. Using compressed air to store the
energy? And -- direct current?? Edison would be
delighted.
- In 1973, Chairman
Mao
offered the US 10 million women, in a conversation
with Kissinger. A co-worker of mine, back when I first
moved to California, would've been infuriated, had this
offer been accepted -- he was always railing against those
"damn ornamentals" while driving. The stereotype wasn't
familiar to me, but since then I've had some observational
confirmation. Those who're oblivious or too cautious (of
any persuasion) are the most annoying... but,
why
are Asians such bad drivers? Scroll down for
some plausible explanations, from a Vietnamese.
|
| February 17, 2008 |
Experienced a great concert today, a Lunar
New Year's performance by the local
Firebird Youth Chinese
Orchestra. I've been wondering about some of these
Middle Kingdom instruments they're playing for a while,
now; at last, enlightenment via the program notes and
multiple solos. The big round wooden
ruan
wich reminds me of the banjo are more like guitars
(but with only four strings). Completely new to me,
and very peculiar, is the set of tubes called the
sheng
(inspiration for the harmonica and accordian,
apparently). The lute-ish stringed instruments they're
playing in the foreground is the liuqin. (In
the full-size photo [as ever, click the thumbnail], you
can also see the larger version called the pipa.)
The two-stringed, bowed stick I occasionally see an old
guy playing on a streetcorner in Chinatown is the
ehru,
and and their hammer dulcimer (both familiar from the
soundtrack of "The Last Emperor") is the yangquin.
The kids were talented, enthusiastic performers, and
the music was all very pleasant, to my surprise.
|
| February 12, 2008 |
You can find me studying at the local library almost
every day. (They have good Japanese-English
dictionaries in addition to their quite adequate
Internet access, which features free printing.) Ten
years ago next month, I met the girl I call the Swiss
Miss at this same library, and ended up showing her
around town. Later that year, our roles were reversed
when I visited her small town in Switzerland, on my way
back from Slovenia. Our communications have by now
become very infrequent, but last summer she emailed
about how an acquaintance/neighbor traveling 'round
the world would be passing through San Francisco at
some point, and could I repeat my hospitality? A
couple weeks back, she finally appeared, very briefly,
and in addition to the usual tourist activities like
the Golden Gate Bridge and a cable car ride, we were
on top of Twin Peaks -- my first time up there. (Photos
by Geoff.)
|
| February 5, 2008 |
|
Speaking of the holidays...a little late with this one, but Lunar
New Year starts Thursday, so we're still within range. Back when
it was the other superpower I remember hearing about how they
celebrated in the Soviet Union, where the godless commies had
banished Jesus, St Nicholas and Santa Claus. Instead,
Grandfather Frost brought the presents, on New Year's
Day. Discussing the holiday with a Russian student yesterday, I
learned that although nowadays he's almost like Santa, he's
always had a sidekick, his grand-daughter -- Snow
Girl! The name makes me picture a super-hero, like
Saturn
Girl, with a snowflake in the center of her blue-and-white
tunic. Grandfather
Frost's wikipedia entry has lots of interesting details, like
decorating New Year Trees, but only a passing mention of the
Snow Girl. Here's more: a retelling of her
original
folk tale as well as an actual
photo
of the dynamic duo.
|
| January 28, 2008 |
Most detailed true-color image to date:
|
| January 20, 2008 |
- Appearing suddenly at the top of my Get List, a new
(and at last, complete) "Fahrenheit 451" soundtrack -- and look,
mp3s
for seven of the tracks!
- YouTube: Acker Bilk and band furiously performing
In
a Persian Market -- 'Trad' music from early 60s
England, popular just before the guitar bands
changed everything.
- Good
photo of the mostly-dark lunar disk lit by earthshine,
in Texas. The moon only looked like that in pictures until
moving to LA where it's the normal appearance in the early
evening, due to the still-shining sun reflecting off the
Pacific Ocean. Back East, the land to the west hasn't enough
albedo to illuminate the moon’s dark side.
|
| January 9, 2008 |
 Cream Puffs
I've seen these stores but never paid any attention, too
outlandish. But a student brought me some of his cream
puffs today and they were incredible! Also, how can we
resist the kawaii logo of
Beard
Papa's? The Japanese chain now has competition, of
a sort, from South Korea:
Deli Man Joo.
Those puffs are much smaller and their deal is being
served warm from a
machine. I had some in NYC and much prefer Papa's.
|
| January 3, 2008 |
It's pouring here in Silicon Valley, a
regular deluge, but I'm warm and snug inside,
listening to jazz and working on various projects,
like some needlewoork.
This temari ball is my first in ages. Also made the requisite
modification to any long-sleeved shirt entering my wardrobe,
since I got a new striped button-down yesterday -- show you
what I mean.
Off-the-rack sleeves' default button configuration is
unappealing visually and unworkable for me (skinny
wrists, but not that skinny) so I always
remove both buttons and then restore one, in-between,
that's just right.
|
| December 31, 2007 |
Safely home from my 16th transcontinental sojourn
Back East for Christmas, attending the family
gathering just outside DC, in Maryland. Yesterday's
Virgin flight west was hellish, two hours late due
to tarmac holds both at IAD and SFO, with a dozen
assorted babies and crying toddlers among the
passengers, but the earplugs made things
tolerable. Brand-new humans must find flying
so weird -- how life is usually active, people kinda
spread out, but here's a time where everybody's
all crammed together, essentially sitting still. For
hours! Extra-curricular highlights this trip included
a hike along the Appalachian Trail with old chums;
and at the East Wing, the
Hopper
Show (although that visit was too brief. New discovery:
Summertime.)
-
Remember his listing from a couple years ago;
well worth reading
the
Beast's 50 Most Loathsome People in America,
2007. Note to self: check his site more
often than biannually.
- In the news, unbelieveably,
smoking
bans are going into effect in France, starting
tomorrow. Also, revealed:
the seven great Medical Myths. That water business
has always seemed excessive, to me -- if you drink that
much, you're in the restroom way to frequently.
- A common gift among Asians seems to be
Ferrero Rocher, those crunchy chocolate truffles
individually wrapped in foil. I've received some
this season from a student, re-gifting perhaps
but who cares, they're quite tasty. Their
wikipedia
entry reveals an unexpected humorous aspect,
due to advertising in the UK: "With these Rocher
you're really spoiling us" but I'm still unclear on
the pronunciation of that 'ch' -- my inclination is
to rhyme it with crochet.
|
| December 22, 2007 |
Out of all the pictures Roger Ebert mentions on his
2007
best-of page, I haven't seen a single one -- not
even among the genre films at the bottom! Since I may
see his ichiban today ("Juno") I'll post my
own top ten now -- the best movies of the year, in
the order screened:
- Children of Men
- Letters from Iwo Jima
- Venus
- DOA 1950
- Gwoemul (The Host)
- Das Leben des Andern
- Paris jet'aime
- Destry Rides Again 1939
- Outsourced
- It Happened One Night 1934
Those marked with years are oldies caught at the ever-blessed
Stanford.
More lists:
|
|
