Sugar & Splice - Film Editing in LA.

WE'VE MOVED!!!!

2005-06-20T15:32:00.000-07:00

SugarAndSplice.com

Testing others

2005-06-17T16:19:00.000-07:00

Blogger doesn't play nice with my isp. grrr!

Avoiding blogger burnout

2005-06-17T09:59:00.000-07:00

"about blogs, the way I see it is this. Blogs are online 'columns'. The big issue is that since we are not subject to editors or newspapers/magazines, we have no given 'subject' to work on. Entertainment columnists work the gossip, critics-food, movies, etc. Politics, etc. either we give ourselves a topic and slavishly stick to it, or we hit ennui as the posts get more and more vague. Finally we stop, wondering why we're posting in the first place..."

Many of my colleagues as well as I are encountering the dreaded 'blogger burnout'. What to write about? If there is no definitive point to be made every week, why would you type unless you like the look of your own words (which is usually enough for some people). There are some who write what happens to their day-to-day lives. I guess that hits the voyeurism aspects of some people, but when you're writing it, you encounter the 'what about my life is so interesting to other people?' question. This blog started as a film industry blog. I was working on a reality show and thought the daily struggles involved in putting it together and dealing with the politics would serve as good fodder. As I went along, I realized a lot of it wasn't interesting even to me. Why relive it by blogging it again? Also, there was the issue of the politics being, well political.

So I changed the focus. It went from "Film Editing in LA" to "Surreal LA". I'd document the strangeness I saw in this patchwork of a town. It went ok for a while, but the photoblog aspect collapsed under it's own weight (and a crappy camera phone), and again the experience of not finding enough to write about.

It really comes down to two factors: the setting of a bar that's unable or unwilling to be kept; and the constant vigilance needed to contribute. When you start a blog, you're making a promise to deliver, day in and day out. It's great practice for writing as that is what you'll be doing. You're required to deliver witty prose at least once per week or else your readership will decline. With the advent of Sitemeter, Blogshares and other such services (see the side bar), blogging took on the aspects of a competitive sport. Who has the most hits?

Blogging is a job. Plain and simple. And for 90% of us, it's an unpaid job that fights for the author's mindshare alongside his real job, life and family. So maybe Sugar & Splice needs another reinvention. A redefinition of what it's purpose is. We'll see as the days develop.

Blogging. Try it sometime.

Technorati Tags: burnout

Recurring Dreams

2005-06-07T10:33:00.000-07:00

Taking inspiration from Brother Jones, who, in addition to naming me "raconteur and gadabout", recently espoused on the topic of recurring dreams. It got me thinking, so here's mine.

I've had a few recurring dreams in my time, the one I remember the most is quite unremarkable, except that I've had it before. Sometime in pre-adolescence...... (cue dream music)

I'm on a large boat, traveling through one of those strange lands.. It's a wet place, with scattered villages. Then the scene changes to outside one of those houses and I'm talking with those people. I actually don't remember much more beyond those two images right now. I know there's more, it's just been a while.

The recurring part happens when 6 months later, I dream of the same setting, except that 6 months have passed in the dream as well. Nothing crazy, just the people I talk to in the dream refer to it. That I haven't been back in 6 months, and I know that's true. I look around, and the settings the same, it's just....later. If I recall correctly, I've returned there three times in my life. And it's one of the most 'realistic' dreams I have (no purple monsters, etc). Time just moves there as in the waking world.

This probably explains my fascination with the sometimes overwrought prose of H.P. Lovecraft. Lovecraft was fascinated with dreams, often the darker side of them. My favorite stories of his are collectively known as his "Dream Cycle". While not a cohesive cycle of continuos stories, a reading of them gives the impression of a definitive world, populated by various creatures and minds, that exhibit a curious conformity to the rules set out by Lovecraft. I found much similarity between "The Dreams in the Witch-House", and "The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath" even though the characters are different. They both inhabited the Lovecraft realm of 'dream as another viable reality', and one could easily connect the methodology from one story to the other. "Kadath" was Lovecraft's finest work, in my opinion. A sprawling visionary piece, it followed the adventures of one Randolph Carter as he 'descended the thousand steps of sleep' into a land he traveled frequently, in search of meaning for an earlier dream of a glorious sunset city with no inhabitants. Interestingly, Lovecraft proposed that the Earth had it's own dreamworld, governed by it's own gods, that differed from the dreamworlds of other planets. One could travel from one dreamworld to another, but the way was often perilous and populated with all manner of beings and minds most terrible. Of course, if you made it to another dreamworld. Who knew what you would find, or comprehend? Who know what other beings dream of? ( A recurring theme of Lovecraft was the human encountering 'outside' intelligence, and being driven mad by it.)

Kadath, The Silver Key, Behind the wall of sleep, and Celephais all deal with Randolph, his friends, and adventures in that dream world. A land fully formed with sentient citizens of it's own. Connected to all of us by the threads of dream and sleep.

Technorati Tags: lovecraft, lucid, puppy

Hell froze over?

2005-06-06T15:18:00.000-07:00

Well, not exactly. While it seems as if the faithful have been given a shock, consider this: The G4's in Powerbooks are STILL at 1.67 ghz. G5's are too hot for portable use, and Apple can't break the 3 GHZ barrier. Something had to be done. This is all about laptops, Pentium M's and the such. Remember, Apple is the OS. OS X.4 is the bomb, and i'll run it over windows anyday.

though my linux portable dual-booting into tiger seems pretty cool a concept, no?

To end, here's some recent Spametry (Spam-Poetry)

"
Man Every man is an impossibility until he is born.,
The world will not help, the people must help themselves. Its own strength is the source of life. That strength the Almighty has given us to use; that in it and through it, we may wage the battle of our life The others in the past years have not had the blessing of the Almighty - of Him who in the last resort, whatever man may do, holds in His hands the final decision. Lord God, let us never hesitate or play the coward,
If life were predictable it would cease to be life, and be without flavor.,
Change occurs in direct proportion to dissatisfaction, but dissatisfaction never changes.,

which is so full to overflowing
Man i:lah They know enough who know how to learn.,
It seems to me that sorrow must come sometime to everybody and those who scarcely taste it in their youth, often have a more brimming and bitter cup of drain in afterlife.,
Don't go through life, grow through life.,
Fashions, after all, are only induced epidemics,
When you are aspiring to the highest place, it is honorable to reach the second or even the third rank.,
It is easy to be brave from a safe distance.,
Great and good are seldom the same man.,
A true friend is one soul in two bodies.,
It is difficult to know at what moment love begins it is less difficult to know that it has begun.,
Suffering becomes beautiful when anyone bears great calamities with cheerfulness, not through insensibility but through greatness of mind.,

"

Apple to Use Intel Microprocessors Beginning in 2006

2005-06-06T11:24:00.000-07:00

Apple to Use Intel Microprocessors Beginning in 2006:
Apple to Use Intel Microprocessors Beginning in 2006

WWDC 2005, SAN FRANCISCO—June 6, 2005—At its Worldwide Developer Conference today, Apple® announced plans to deliver models of its Macintosh® computers using Intel® microprocessors by this time next year, and to transition all of its Macs to using Intel microprocessors by the end of 2007. Apple previewed a version of its critically acclaimed operating system, Mac OS® X Tiger, running on an Intel-based Mac® to the over 3,800 developers attending CEO Steve Jobs’ keynote address. Apple also announced the availability of a Developer Transition Kit, consisting of an Intel-based Mac development system along with preview versions of Apple’s software, which will allow developers to prepare versions of their applications which will run on both PowerPC and Intel-based Macs.

Secularism Vs. Christianity?

2005-06-02T18:05:00.000-07:00

From www.AndrewSullivan.com - Daily Dish:

CONTRA CHARLES:

There are many disagreements I have with

this column

by Charles Krauthammer. But let me just point out one. Charles posits two forms of "imposition of values" on society. One is by secularists; and one by Christians. Here's a quote that suggests the dichotomy as he sees it:
It seems perfectly O.K. for secularists to impose their secular views on America, such as, say, legalized abortion or gay marriage. But when someone takes the contrary view, all of a sudden he is trying to impose his view on you. And if that contrary view happens to be rooted in Scripture or some kind of religious belief system, the very public advocacy of that view becomes a violation of the U.S. constitutional order.
It seems to me that this is the wrong formulation, and already concedes something that should not be conceded. Christianism - politicized Christianity - argues for the imposition of one religion's values over the entire society. So, in this context, it would forbid gay couples from getting civil marriages or unions and prevent pregnant women from seeking an abortion. Secularism is not the polar opposite. Secularism allows Christians, and any other religious faith, to affirm religious values, live exactly as they see fit, and avoid such moral outrages as abortion and gay civil unions in their own lives, if they so wish. All secularism does is say that as a political matter, there will be as much government neutrality as possible because the government should represent

all

citizens; that the Church and the state shall coexist, but independently of each other. Secularism is not only compatible with aggressive and proud Christian faith; in practice, secularism has fostered that faith. The polar opposite of Christianism, in contrast, would be a government that actively suppresses religious faith, discriminates against Christianity and forbids Christians from practising their way of life. No one is proposing that. I'm really concerned that secularism is slowly becoming tainted with the same brush as "liberalism." But secularism is the great modern achievement of Christianity and of Western freedom. It is an honorable tradition, integral to the entire concept of Western liberty. The difference between secularism and Christianism, to put it bluntly, is that one side is happy to let people make their own moral choices; and one side isn't. So who exactly is imposing on whom?

- 11:36:00 AM

Oasis, R.I.P.

2005-06-02T08:51:00.000-07:00

This is truly a sad day. The Oasis was never a great restaurant, and the bar was ok. But what it had in spades was a view. You'd take your margarita to any of the seats, tables, booths, or outdoor tables and watch the sun set in glorious waves of yellow, orange and amber over the whispering gleam of Lake Travis. Set on a hillside overlooking Austin's most famous reservoir, the oasis at its best lived up to it's name. An Oasis of calm and peace, relaxing with friends or by yourself. Just sit back and enjoy the show. Rest in Peace.

San Francisco Carnaval 2005!

2005-06-01T14:59:00.000-07:00

Ahh, Carnaval. This is two for me this year. First it was with Mangueira in Rio, now with Sambao Para o Povo in San Francisco last sunday.

I had attended last year, but only as support. This year Mrs. Splice and I paraded with Sambao, and got to dance and drum in front of over 100,000 people in the Mission District of San Francisco. It was great, we got on the air, made people move, played to more folks at the NBA stage at 3pm, and...went home and slept. Parading is Tiring!!! But the music was great, and the costumes, as you can see, were mahvelous. (Thanks to Ms. CY for her smile.)

Tech post: Encryption is a Good Thing...

2005-05-28T19:11:00.000-07:00

Some of my friends know that I'm a bit of a crypto-buff. I consider myself a regular-guy crypto buff. That means that I care strongly about my privacy, feel that my email and instant messages are my own, and cringe whenever I hear about unscrupulous companies or governments intercepting and reading the emails and messages of their private citizens. What I don't know is the technical aspects of computer-based crypto.

In short, I use encryption, just don't ask me how it works.

For those who wonder why I care, consider this. It is a felony to open another person's US Mail. That's right, a felony. Not a misdemeanor. Felony means you can serve jail time, it stays on your permanent record. But if you open someone else's email, nothing. Nada, Niente. If I'm enterprising, I can intercept your email, read it, and even alter it and send it on. You'd have to catch me altering it, AND prove that you suffered monetary damage from my altering. But at that stage, the legal costs would be too much. In short, email and instant messaging have NONE of the protections standard snail mail does. In this day and age, much information is passed electronically, and much of the information is sensitive. So why does the average American put up with this, knowing full well that Verizon and Comcast can read your email to Aunt Melba complaining of their service and act accordingly?

Because the average American doesn't care.

"Why encrypt it? Do you have something to hide?"

Well, if that's the way you feel, why don't you parade naked around the house with all your windows open? What, you have something to hide?

So, I like encryption and I'd like others to use it. Since others do not (yet), the least I can do is digitally sign my emails. This proves that the email actually came from me, and not, for example, Dr. Svavimbi from Nigera (you all know him, right?)

There are a variety of programs out there that allow you to encrypt, sign and decrypt content, messages, and emails. The most popular is PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) and it's open-source cousin, GPG (Gnu Privacy Guard)
Better pages exist that describe the full process, but here's the short end: PGP/GPG uses shared keys. Each person has their own key, that exists in two parts. A secret/private key and a public key. I give the public key to you, and you use that key to encrypt an email addressed to me. I receive that email, and use my private/secret key to decrypt it. Only messages encrypted with my public key can be decrypted with my secret key. But no messages encrypted with my public key can be decrypted with the same public key. The same process occurs with each message recipient I want to securely email. Therefore, I can freely give out my public key, and receive any encrypted emails I want.

PGP was the originator of the whole shebang, and they've since become a private company, selling PGP Desktop to the masses (both corporate and individual). It is a nice, integrated program with neat GUI visuals and easy to use documentation and features. It also costs money.

GPG is the open-source spinoff, fully compatible with PGP Desktop. Not as integrated, not as fancy, but containing all the pertinent functionality. It costs nothing.

I've decided that free is better at this point, so GPG is my choice. MacGPG more to my point, as I interface with the matrix through my Powerbook. It took installing a few packages, but really had little setup time, and I'm able to integrate it nicely with Mail or Entourage. I don't have the PGP Disk feature, that encrypts folders/disks, but it's not available for Tiger anyway, so I'll make do.

Overall impression? I like it. You should too.

Here's my Public Key. Send me an email and welcome back to privacy!

Technorati Tags: puppy

Taking a chance on Broadband...

2005-05-24T16:26:00.000-07:00

It's official. We've left the bonds and chains of conventional telephony and taken a bold leap into digital future.

Well that sounds corny, right? What we really did is sign up for Vonage and tell Verizon to stick it.

I am pleased to report that the first few days have been wonderful. The quality is fine, no dropped calls, and the web-based dashboard appeals to a geek like me. Any service that emails me WAV's of my voice messages as they happen has my vote. Thankfully, Verizon completely disconnected our service instead of leaving a carrier signal. This allowed me to plug Vonage into the wall and repeat the signal to the entire house. So really, there's no perceivable difference, which is what I like. (And Mrs. Splice. She's fine with newtech in the house, as long as she doesn't have to do backflips in order to operate it. My Modded-Xbox was significantly modified until it performed as a home entertainment center first, and geekdom-toy second.)

The reasons for our jump were two-fold. One, we were paying upwards of $70 to Verizon per month for "Freedom Unlimited", which means free calls anywhere in the US and Canada, and Voicemail, 3-way calling, yadda yadda.

Seventy bucks is a lot of money.

Comcast serves our cable modem, and that's close to 60 bucks a month, so combined, that's a lot of money. Vonage offered essentially the same deal for $25 a month, and even went down to $16 a month if we did 500 minutes or less. Mrs. Splice spends most of her speaker-ear time with the cell-phone and I communicate largely in text, so 500 seemed a good spot to start.

The detractors would say "Why not kill the cable modem and sign up for DSL with Verizon? They charge $30, versus the $60 you're currently paying. Average it out and you're paying the same price." Treu, Treu. We actually tried that. And what happened forms the basis for Number Two.

4:30AM. Los Angeles Time. The phone rings. The Splicehold growls unintelligibly in bed. Ringer vibrations invade our dreams, but our autonomic systems refuse to wake us from our slumber. The voicemail takes it. Later on, we discover that no message was left.

4:43AM. Los Angeles Time. The phone rings. This time we wake up. We can't believe anyone we know who loves us would call at such ungodly an hour. So we let it go. Again, no message is left.

This pattern continues for a few more days as we go through the emotional landscape of anger, denial, fear, and finally more anger as we realize that whomever is calling simply isn't getting it.

So on the last day, Mrs. Splice picks up the phone to tell whomever is calling off.

It's Verizon customer service! They have a question concerning our upcoming DSL Installation and have been trying to contact us.

You're kidding me.

Nope, they're cheerfully serious, and little despondent that they've had to call multiple time to reach us. My wife explains that it's 5:30 in the morning, and since 80% of the western half of the USA is still sleeping, Verizon should not expect us to be any different. Verizon explains that while it's 5:30AM in California, it's actually 8:30AM in Florida, where the call center is based, and therefore, is perfectly within normal business hours.

Wrong Answer.

Let me rephrase that. After initial disbelief in this answer, Wrong Answer. This is before the service is even turned on!

The Verizon representative proceeds to quash any attempt my wife has in explaining that while it's business time in Florida, it's not in California, it never will be for us, and they should not expect to contact us at this time.

The Verizon rep then says that the person opening the account was actually MR. Splice, not my wife, and could she please speak to me.

Unbelievable. Mrs. Splice explains that Mr. Splice can't come to the phone as he is currently sleeping! She tells them to call back after noon and then we can talk.

2 Hours later they call back. I'm up now and I pick up the phone. Verizon sounds happy to hear me. I tell them to cancel the order. It's just not going to work. I don't care that they're 30$ a month cheaper. If this is the way they treat customers, then I want nothing to do with it.

So there is no love lost on Verizon and the Splicehold.

Goodbye Verizon, hello Vonage. Treat us right and don't call before 9am, and we'll be loyal customers for life.

Back again

2005-05-20T12:21:00.000-07:00

Apologies for the delay....

It seems that blog entries come in waves for me. Sometimes I have words that are dying to get out, sometimes I have commentaries I feel like sharing. I don't often have the discipline to comment on the ephemera of Pop Culture like some of my peers, or the mentality to hold a continuous discourse on subjects far and wide. So my posts often come scatter-shot. So keeping in the tradition of not being present or prescient, here we go again.

FAVORITE BOOKS OF THE MOMENT

I'm reading Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials saga currently. (The fansite is better than the official site). I'm in book two, The Subtle Knife, and so far they have been brillliant. A fantastic tale set in the kind of world that differs from ours in every enchanting way. Everything makes sense and his treatment of morality and religion pose brilliant questions to the reader. The series has taken a lot of flack for the apparent atheism of its author, but I've never felt my faith to be in question in enjoying the series. Although I disagree with Mr. Pullman on theological matters, I feel his depiction of a religious magisterium gone mad, to be a thoughtful rebuke and sounding point on matters where this world's religions have used and been used for ill rather than good. It forces me to question, and I like that in a book. Also the economy in which Pullman tells his stories is a welcome refresher to the often overwrought prose of current fantasists. Overall, a thoroughly enjoyable series I recommend to anyone who've enjoyed Tolkien, Lewis, Eddings, Jordan, et. al.

Laziness

2005-05-17T14:45:00.000-07:00

New stuff to report, just lazy.... Enjoy.

The Raw Story | Rep. calls for deeper inquiry into secret Iraq attack plan

2005-05-09T09:41:00.000-07:00

The Raw Story | Rep. calls for deeper inquiry into secret Iraq attack plan:
SECRET PLANS
Eighty-eight members of Congress call on Bush for answers on secret Iraq plan

RAW STORY

Eighty-eight members of Congress have signed a letter authored by Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) calling on President Bush to answer questions about a secret U.S.-UK agreement to attack Iraq, RAW STORY has learned.

Advertisement
In a letter, Conyers and other members say they are disappointed the mainstream media has not touched the revelations.

"Unfortunately, the mainstream media in the United States was too busy with wall-to-wall coverage of a "runaway bride" to cover a bombshell report out of the British newspapers," Conyers writes. "The London Times reports that the British government and the United States government had secretly agreed to attack Iraq in 2002, before authorization was sought for such an attack in Congress, and had discussed creating pretextual justifications for doing so."

"The Times reports, based on a newly discovered document, that in 2002 British Prime Minister Tony Blair chaired a meeting in which he expressed his support for "regime change" through the use of force in Iraq and was warned by the nation's top lawyer that such an action would be illegal," he adds. "Blair also discussed the need for America to "create" conditions to justify the war."

The members say they are seeking an inquiry.

"This should not be allowed to fall down the memory hole during wall-to-wall coverage of the Michael Jackson trial and a runaway bride," he remarks. "To prevent that from occuring, I am circulating the following letter among my House colleagues and asking them to sign on to it."

The letter follows.

###

May 5, 2005

The Honorable George W. Bush President of the United States of America The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20500

Dear Mr. President:

We write because of troubling revelations in the Sunday London Times apparently confirming that the United States and Great Britain had secretly agreed to attack Iraq in the summer of 2002, well before the invasion and before you even sought Congressional authority to engage in military action. While various individuals have asserted this to be the case before, including Paul O'Neill, former U.S. Treasury Secretary, and Richard Clarke, a former National Security Council official, they have been previously dismissed by your Administration. However, when this story was divulged last weekend, Prime Minister Blair's representative claimed the document contained "nothing new." If the disclosure is accurate, it raises troubling new questions regarding the legal justifications for the war as well as the integrity of your own Administration.

The Sunday Times obtained a leaked document with the minutes of a secret meeting from highly placed sources inside the British Government. Among other things, the document revealed:

* Prime Minister Tony Blair chaired a July 2002 meeting, at which he discussed military options, having already committed himself to supporting President Bush's plans for invading Iraq.

* British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw acknowledged that the case for war was "thin" as "Saddam was not threatening his neighbours and his WMD capability was less than that of Libya, North Korea, or Iran."

* A separate secret briefing for the meeting said that Britain and America had to "create" conditions to justify a war.

* A British official "reported on his recent talks in Washington. There was a perceptible shift in attitude. Military action was now seen as inevitable. Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy."

As a result of this recent disclosure, we would like to know the following:

1) Do you or anyone in your Administration dispute the accuracy of the leaked document?

2) Were arrangements being made, including the recruitment of allies, before you sought Congressional authorization go to war? Did you or anyone in your Administration obtain Britain's commitment to invade prior to this time?

3) Was there an effort to create an ultimatum about weapons inspectors in order to help with the justification for the war as the minutes indicate?

4) At what point in time did you and Prime Minister Blair first agree it was necessary to invade Iraq?

5) Was there a coordinated effort with the U.S. intelligence community and/or British officials to "fix" the intelligence and facts around the policy as the leaked document states?

We have of course known for some time that subsequent to the invasion there have been a variety of varying reasons proffered to justify the invasion, particularly since the time it became evident that weapons of mass destruction would not be found. This leaked document - essentially acknowledged by the Blair government - is the first confirmation that the rationales were shifting well before the invasion as well.

Given the importance of this matter, we would ask that you respond to this inquiry as promptly as possible. Thank you.

Sincerely,

Members who have already signed letter:
Neil Abercrombie
Brian Baird
Tammy Baldwin
Xavier Becerra
Shelley Berkley
Eddie Bernice Johnson
Sanford Bishop
Earl Blumenauer
Corrine Brown
Sherrod Brown
G.K. Butterfield
Emanuel Cleaver
James Clyburn
John Conyers
Jim Cooper
Elijah Cummings
Danny Davis
Peter DeFazio
Diana DeGette
Bill Delahunt
Rosa DeLauro
Lloyd Doggett
Sam Farr
Bob Filner
Harold Ford, Jr.
Barney Frank
Al Green
Raul Grijalva
Louis Gutierrez
Alcee Hastings
Maurice Hinchey
Rush Holt
Jay Inslee
Sheila Jackson Lee
Jessie Jackson Jr.
Marcy Kaptur
Patrick Kennedy
Dale Kildee
Carolyn Kilpatrick
Dennis Kucinich
William Lacy Clay
Barbara Lee
John Lewis
Zoe Lofgren
Donna M. Christensen
Carolyn Maloney
Ed Markey
Carolyn McCarthy
Jim McDermott
James McGovern
Cynthia McKinney
Martin Meehan
Kendrick Meek
Gregory Meeks
Michael Michaud
George Miller
Gwen S. Moore
James Moran
Jerrold Nadler
Grace Napolitano
James Oberstar
John Olver
Major Owens
Frank Pallone
Donald Payne
Charles Rangel
Bobby Rush
Bernie Sanders
Linda Sanchez
Jan Schakowsky
Jose Serrano
Ike Skelton
Louise Slaughter
Hilda Solis
Pete Stark
Ellen Tauscher
Bennie Thompson
Edolphus Towns
Stephanie Tubbs Jones
Chris Van Hollen
Nydia Velazquez
Debbie Wasserman Schultz
Maxine Waters
Diane Watson
Melvin Watt
Robert Wexler
Lynn Woolsey
David Wu
Albert R. Wynn

Brazil rejects U.S. AIDS cash over policy

2005-05-05T12:54:00.000-07:00

Good. Although abstinence does prevent all STD's, the fact is you cannot get humanity to stop having sex. The best thing to do is to educate totally. In the event some one does have sex, they should know how to protect themselves.

Gus Cairns, Gay.com U.K.
Wednesday, May 4, 2005 / 05:39 PM

SUMMARY: Brazil has become the first country to turn down grants totaling $40 million from the U.S. in protest against U.S. demands that the funds be used for abstinence education.

Brazil has become the first country to turn down grants totaling $40 million from the United States, in protest against U.S. demands that the funds be used for abstinence education, not outreach to sex workers.

The $40 million was the bulk of a $48 million grant which was due to run till 2008.

Brazil can afford to turn down the Bush dollars. Unlike some poorer countries, it has an anti-AIDS program that is largely self-financed, and less than 2 percent of its money comes directly from the U.S. government.

The U.S. money was originally supposed to include $190,000 for eight sex workers' support groups. Gabriela Leite, co-ordinator of the Brazilian Network of Sex Professionals, said that they had hammered out a 50-page agreement with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) that the money would go only to AIDS education and prevention, but the deal fell apart when they refused to include a written clause condemning prostitution.

Brazil's anti-HIV program is seen as a model for the developing world. It has kept its HIV rate down to about 0.6 percent, when it was widely expected to be at least double that by 2005. It's success has been attributed to a combination of free anti-HIV drugs for everyone who needs them, widespread condom distribution and open and accepting communication with prostitutes, gay men and drug users. Prostitution is legal in Brazil, and the age of consent for everyone -- regardless of sexuality -- is 14.

"We can't control HIV with principles that are ... theological, fundamentalist and Shiite," said Pedro Chequer, director of Brazil's AIDS program. He condemned "interference that harms the Brazilian policy regarding diversity, ethical principles and human rights."

Brazil's former Health Minister Paulo Teixeira told the United Nations Commission on Population and Development that the United States' preferred policies of sexual abstinence until marriage and fidelity in marriage were less effective than condom distribution.

"Based on international experiences, today there is no evidence whatsoever that moral recommendations, such as abstinence and fidelity, have any impact that might prevent infection and curb the epidemic," he told the U.N.

In the United States, Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., has condemned the Bush government requirement that any AIDS organization receiving U.S. federal funds sign up to a written pledge opposing commercial sex work, even if the work it does in developing countries has nothing to do with prostitution.

Waxman said such a declaration was against the constitutional right to free speech. But Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Ill., urged a tightening of U.S. policy. He said that one-third of the U.S. Presidential Executive Provision for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) was supposed to go to abstinence programs, yet the money mainly went not to faith-based groups but to "organizations long-associated with the social marketing of condoms. This must not continue."
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Happy Texas

2005-05-05T12:46:00.000-07:00

Count on a Texan to give this a little spice. I don't condone his actions, as everyone has a right to speak, even Ann Coulter.

Another Counter-Coulter Bust - May 4, 2005:

Another Counter-Coulter Bust

Lewd heckler arrested at conservative's Texas college lecture

MAY 5--Months after members of "Al Pieda" marred a campus speech by Ann Coulter, another appearance by the controversial conservative commentator has been disrupted by a protester. During a speech last night at the University of Texas in Austin, a 19-year-old UT student was busted after asking Coulter a lewd question, which he followed up with equally inappropriate hand gestures, according to the below police affidavit. The student, Ajai Raj, was arrested by campus police and hit with a misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge. The police affidavit notes that Coulter's lecture was attended by "several children under the age of ten," which probably made them particularly sensitive when Raj queried Coulter about the sexual proclivities of certain right-leaning men. Raj is pictured at right in an Austin Police Department booking photo. (1 page)

"IDOL" CHATTER: Bo blows away past, Scott beati

First Blog using DASHBlog in Tiger!!!

2005-05-04T13:30:00.000-07:00

Whooo hooo! New OS!

My "Taste" in music. Courtesy of blogthings

2005-04-30T21:56:00.000-07:00

Your Taste in Music:

Alternative Rock: Highest Influence

Heavy Metal: Highest Influence

Progressive Rock: Highest Influence

Punk: Highest Influence

80's Alternative: High Influence

80's Rock: High Influence

90's Alternative: High Influence

Classic Rock: High Influence

90's Hip Hop: Medium Influence

Adult Alternative: Medium Influence

Dance: Medium Influence

Gangsta Rap: Low Influence

Hair Bands: Low Influence

Old School Hip Hop: Low Influence

Ska: Low Influence

How's Your Taste in Music?

Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger : Page 1

2005-04-29T10:50:00.000-07:00

John Siracusa has another excellent review and indepth discussion of Mac OS X Tiger, which was released today. Head over to the equally excellent Ars Technica to read.

Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger Reviewed

Pop Culturecrash

2005-04-28T15:47:00.000-07:00

Sigh...

On Kitty Psychology

2005-04-26T15:33:00.000-07:00

Cats are crazy.

Let me rephrase; Cats make me crazy.

Last night was the Splicehold's first real evening together. Mr & Mrs Splice, Musik the Kat and new arrival Noiche the Kitty (Noiche is "Night" in Portuguese), spent the hours in an elaborate dance designed to introduce the cats to each other and avoid such bad things as hissing, clawing, and for the humans in the house, stay up all nighters.

We were mildly successful.

I do believe that having one cat or dog is the standard "Pet" situation. But having two is rehearsing for children. Mrs. Splice and I would alternate - I play with Noiche in the bedroom, she plays with Musik on the balcony. 20min rolls around, DING, tag team switch. Repeat, rinse, lather etc....

The good news is that Musik hissed only rarely. The bad news is Noiche whined every time we left him alone. This was also emotional loneliness , as he would whine if I did something that did not involve staring at his little kitty body while in the same room.

Mrs. Splice says 'A little time this week will pay off big later on'.

I agreed with her.....

But Noiche still walked on my head at 5am this morning.

On Negative Ebay Feedback

2005-04-25T10:53:00.000-07:00

Ever take a glance at the feedback forums on eBay? Feedback provides both buyers and sellers a chance to comment on the way a transaction went down on the virtual auction house of eBay. If everything went well, then a positive feedback tells other potential partners that the person in question is trustworthy and good. The opposite holds also true, in what sometimes is the only way to warn fellow eBayers of a bad apple in the bunch.

What is interesting is how the feedback forums have become the online equivalent of grade-school playgrounds. eBay restricts comments to 80 characters or less, presumably to save on space and force users to be succinct, what results is often a succinct example of name calling and one-upmanship. For example,

"NEG: SELLER ALERT! DID NOT SHIP ON TIME!!
Reply: DUMBASS ALERT-5 DAYS SHIPPING FROM US TO YOU ,STUPID"

And so on.... Now I understand that negative feedback can effect a bottom line, but wouldn't answering in such an immature manner only serve to turn more people away? I certainly thought twice about doing business with sellers that treated criticism in such a way.

This topic came to my attention because I recently placed, and received, negative feedback on an auction.

I recently purchased a Toshiba Libretto 50 from an eBayer who claimed to service and sell many such models. The tiny computer was shipped to me US Mail, and was expertly packed in layer upon layer of bubble wrap. All the parts were in order and after plugging in, the toshiba started up to Windows 98 perfectly.

But the keyboard wasn't working right. The the space bar would not space unless another key was pressed. This was odd to me, as the computer was packed very tightly and well near the center of the box, why would shipping hurt it? Also, after extensive cleaning and retesting of the keyboard, I determined that it would space if ANY key was pressed, and would not change it's behavior under any other wire configuration . I guessed that a short was present in the keyboard preventing it's use. Now, if a keyboard cannot space, I consider it unusable. That, and the expert packing job led me to believe that the unit was shipped this way, and thus was DOA (dead on arrival).

The shipper and I exchanged numerous friendly emails as I tried to troubleshoot the problem to no avail. When I said that I was giving up, and requested a refund, I received no further emails. None whatsoever. I offered to pay shipping back, taking the $50 combined hit, and offering the seller a chance to fix the problem from his 'extensive experience and supply' and resell again. I would be out $50, he would have the chance to sell it again.

No emails. Not even a 'No".
I did not purchase insurance, which was my bad. Since I did not have insurance, I attempted to settle with the seller instead of filing with the US Post Office. What was at stake was what I felt was a dishonest shipment, and I was proposing a chance to do right by everybody.

And being ignored was pissing me off.

After waiting for a good time, I sent a final email expressing that if I did not receive a reply, I would be forced to leave negative feedback, a step I did not want to do. In my original request for refund, I stated that I would leave glowing feedback, as the seller's demeanor was superb, up to that point.
Alas, nothing again.

So with regret, I posted my first negative feedback to the eBay feedback forum.

"Caveat Emptor. Shipped a defective item. No replies after return asked for."

And that was that. Simple, to the point. I explained what was wrong: the item was defective, and I received no more replies. Caveat Emptor means "Buyer Beware", and is a much-used term to tell they buyer to be sharp and aware when they deal with this seller. Whenever I go to a farmers market, a haggling bazaar, or anyplace NOT governed by your usual WTO rules, it's Caveat Emptor. You should be a 'smart' shopper, because this person is a 'smart' seller. Simple and businesslike.
I knew I would be receiving a reply, and in time, I did.

"Item shipped PERFECT! Didn't file w/shipper! No ins! Read the terms- NO REFUNDS!"

My word against his. And I just don't like CAPS LOCK text. Who likes being yelled at? Also, even if you say no refunds, that does not give someone the right to ship shoddy merchandise. I give him the right to abide by his policy, but my right is to warn others that he could be selling cracked unusable goods and then brook no complaints by pointing to his no refund policy. Good business? No.

My reply was also succinct:

Reply by dloyd76: Good businesses don't drop conversations. That's why neg posted. It's too bad...

And it really is. I like the guy up until the point where he ignored me. The lesson I learned here is to always, always buy insurance. And before you buy, read the Feedback forums. If I had, I would have read this:

WANTED REFUND ON AS/IS SALE BECAUSE WIFE GOT MAD? HE OVER BID AND THATS MY FAULT
Reply: Nice bid retraction # LOSER! CLEARLY misrepresented! Check your old email ass!
DID NOT READ AUCTION !! / WAITED 45 DAYS 2 CONTACT ME BY LEAVING NEG FEEDBACK !!
Reply: I can read Jerk! You lie! What, cant find the reply button on your email? LOSER!

"Jerk", "LOSER!", ""ass!", and another "LOSER!". Ahh, feels like 5th grade all over again. Would you do business with that?

SouthernAngel's Ode to Bacon Grease

2005-04-22T18:30:00.000-07:00

The part of me that is intrigued wars with the part of me that is horrified.

SouthernAngel's Ode to Bacon Grease:
Ode to Bacon Grease

By: Angela Gillaspie Copyright (c) 1998, 2000

Ham hocks just don't do justice to my home cooking, and salt pork doesn't either. The only seasoning to give that delicious, salty, sultry, wonderful, smoky flavor is bacon grease.

Off to San Fran...

2005-04-22T15:37:00.000-07:00

Leaving after the traffic....and in the rain. Joyous.

Well, SF should be cool. Samba, and drums, and a new cat for the Splicehold.

See you next week!

On Long Distance Relationships

2005-04-21T15:04:00.000-07:00

It's truly a hallmark of our modern world when the trappings of business can happen in so many disparate places. In the last century, we mastered the art of the deal in far away lands. Air travel and telephone had become cheap enough to allow people to make the deal and keep contacts through well-meaning correspondence and frequent travel.

Today, we can do that without leaving home.

Yes, yes, telecommuting has been 'about to explode' for years. But in many cases, it already has. I offer myself as example.

I have my day job, which we'll talk about later. In addition to that, I'm editing a feature film for my friends Counselor and Alistair. Alistair lives 5 hours north of me in San Francisco, and Counselor resides in Beaumont, Texas. We email discussion as well as entire cuts across the wires.

I'm also working on a recording project with my friends Señor Frog, Galante, and The Duncan. The Duncan is in Illinois, Galante in Maryland and the Frog is in Austin, Texas. We each record ideas on our nefarious computers and post them to Frog's website. We're trying to give The Postal Service a run for their money. I'd call the project "The Internet" if that didn't sound so 1991. As it is, we're calling it Radiophonic, and we expect to start recording in Dallas (yes, ANOTHER city) sometime in August 2005.

(Though now that i've said it, we'll see. Isn't that how it works?)

And for the day job, even though I'm staying in LA, my director is flying on monday to London to do re-shoots with the star of the film.

It truly is getting international around here.

let's hope in 10 years I can phone in my cuts from Bahia brazil, meet the band for rehearsals in Dubai, and pay my taxes in China.

Fun, huh?

On New Beginnings...and shorter hair.

2005-04-21T00:05:00.000-07:00

I've done it. I've sliced the hair again. This time I went from bushy to Bruce Campbell as the former: hair to the shoulder and beard all around, to the current. hair ala Vig and a goatee sculpted like Bruce in Hercules.

i'm not jiving the goat so much, but heck. Beards grow back and it's good to experiment.

On writing and writers...

2005-04-20T16:06:00.000-07:00

Writing is hard.

Well obviously for many, writing is easy. But for me it is hard to do. Specifically fiction writing. I've spent the majority of the last 15 years engaged in two types of creative wordsmithing: Poetry, including song lyrics, and screenwriting. Both forms strongly suggest brevity and economy as the rules of the day. Poetry almost seems a contest as to how vivid a scene you can paint with a little words as possible. While there are poets whose lines overflow with every adjective and noun in the Oxford Dic, by and large I find it to be a lesson in word economy.

Screenwriting is power of suggestion encapsulated. Every word will eventually be translated into a visual scene. Since so much information will be carried by the camera and performances, economy again is the key.

Hence when I write out the 'treatment' for my full-length fiction novel. I tell the whole story in less than 20 pages. My first chapter clocks in at a page and a half. I'm learning that you have to describe your description, but the initial attempts are clunky at best.

But like all things, try and try again....

On Pope Benedict XVI

2005-04-19T11:15:00.000-07:00

Well, Ratzinger won it. He was the early favorite and that has borne out. I for one, am wary. I am sure he is a pious man, but for his career he has represented the most conservative policies of Catholicism. While I do not count myself among those 'dedicated to a doctrine of ego and relativism', I do think the church is behind on many matters that do not concern God, but concern Humanity. I do not believe that contraception, if used correctly, is a barrier to the will of God. I believe that it is an effective tool against the spread of infection and unwanted children in a world fast becoming overcrowded. I also believe it to be a valuable tool in expressing love between married couples who know they cannot raise another child with the proper amount of care, attention and expense. I do not believe that the bible clearly states that women cannot partake in the priesthood. I also believe that celibacy of priests was ordained by a pope in the middle ages, and was NOT required in the original testament.

Thus, I guess I am a protestant. We'll see if Benedict follows in the footsteps of John of Vatican II or John Paul II of recent times.

God Bless.

On Golf and stretching

2005-04-19T10:21:00.000-07:00

How do you know when you are 'getting old'? When you really have to stretch. No really, you HAVE to stretch. Now I know many people in the world have ingrained in them a physical education regimen that dictates proper posture and muscle pulls on a daily basis. Heck, I was awake during that Phys Ed class, but for reasons futile, it never became a daily fact of life for me. So for most of my twenties, I would get up, get in the shower, and just go. Stretching only after such strenous activities as sitting in a chair watching a movie, or napping. (Hey, I DO work in the film industry...)

But recently I took up the game of Golf. It was largley on the spurring of my friend Jones, who had noticed a flyer for monthly golf lessons at an affordable price. What followed has been a deepening appreciation of the sport and a genuine enjoyment. For someone who spends his working life in small rooms staring at computer screens (very similar to what you're doing now, only for hours on end), the concept of walking 5 to 7 miles on pristine grounds, enjoying the sun and air with fellow human beings - some of them friends even - is grand indeed. As my addiction deepens, I've been surprised to find how many people I know who also play. And I've since enjoyed many a game with friends I have not seen regularly in over a year.

But last week we hit Rancho Park. Rancho Park is the premier public course in LA, once the busiest in the nation, and is a beautiful and challenging course. Many hills and valleys combine with the pristine fairways and sloping greens-forcing you to think about where you're going to put that ball. And last week, I tried too hard.

Yep, too hard. Evidently, the secret to golf - how all those grandparents in their seventies can play perfect games without collapsing into a heap of calcium and fibertabs on the fairways- is to do nothing at all. At least it feels that way. The golf swing explained to me is like a pendulum. Staying on the correct path, you move the clubhead up, and then in the same manner, you move it back down again. No strain, no "pushing", no trying to hit the ball. And that's where I'd go wrong. Faced with a 548 yard hole, I'd try to hit that damn ball as hard as I can. And when you strain like that, you lose control. And when you lose control, you do either of two things. You either swing up and miss the ball entirely - providing a satisfying "swiiish" sound for your chums to chuckle at. Or you swing down and hit the ground. You hit the ground.....with a steel pole....as hard as you can.

Now repeat 80 times.

Oh, and carry a bag of similar steel poles on your right shoulder.

Oh, and walk 7 miles up and down hills, wearing cleats.

When I finally entered my living room, a full six and one half hours later, my wife remarked that I looked like a train ran over me. I didn't immediately reply, I was too wrapped up in sucking 32 oz. of Gatorade as fast as I could. The next day the back pains began in earnest, and two weeks and two chiropractic appointments later, I am somewhat back in the saddle. Though I can't golf or even start something vital like yoga or pilates for a few days more.

How embarrassing; I'm an invalid because I twisted wrong.

I have learned lessons from this. Golf is athletic, no matter what others want you to believe, and you need to prepare for it before you tee off. Stretching is good for the body. And I need to take care of myself better. I'm not 21 anymore, and I can't 'bounce back' the way I did in college. I'm signing up for a Yoga course soon, as I need to work out the 'core muscles' (the ones that actually hold the bones together. I never knew that was an issue!). And I will practice better body management on the course.

So hopefully, by the time I turn thirty, I won't walk up to the tee, hit a grand 320 yard driver, and then promptly collapse into a pile of calcium and fibertabs.

Yuck, right?

Sideways, eh?

2005-04-18T12:26:00.000-07:00

I finally saw "Sideways" this weekend. And yes, I did enjoy it. But not as much as I thought I would. It was neat to see our favorite wine trip played out on the big screen, but something kept me from being truly involved with the story. After thought, I decided it was the characters. Though I eventually rooted for the Paul Giamatti character, both of them were so deeply flawed that I had difficulty caring. Thomas Haden Church did a great job with a character who is basically a fraud. He's only pursuing the instant gratification in front of him, and does not care what his actions do to those around him. Not his wife, his best friend, or the woman and child he is romancing. Giamatti's character is also wonderfully played, but is a man so deep in his negativity that half the time you WANT him to hit bottom and go home. Yes, I caught that he's distraught at his friend for basically fucking up what Giamatti desperately desires, i.e. family. But the movie also quickly mentions that Giamatti HAD that, and lost it by cheating on his allegedly verbally abusive wife. These are two tough characters to love.

I wanted more of the wine tour, more of the quirks of those truly devoted to wine, and more of the romance between giamatti and Mya. I didn't get that, and so was disappointed even if the ride was fun.

And heck, I live in California, so I can go to Santa Barbara County anytime.

Insane Gas Prices

2005-04-12T14:52:00.000-07:00

I saw this at my local 76 station. Why why why?!

Bloggle: The Coffee Odyssey

2005-04-08T11:54:00.000-07:00

Bloggle: The Coffee Odyssey:

Put in your Zipcode and find an independent Coffee shop to cater your un-corporate taste.

"Cafe's are vital social outposts that have historically provided subjective, social, local, and at times, irrational interaction, inspiration, and nourishment to artists, hipsters, musicians, activists, intellectuals, radicals, and others alike. Currently, independently owned cafe's around the world are under aggressive attack; and their numbers have been sharply decreasing for many years. delocator.net is a means to preserve these local businesses."

Riposte - Tjahjono

2005-03-26T18:36:00.000-08:00

What is the total amount of music files on your computer?

On the Powerbook: 1643 (Trying to keep it down for space)

On the iPod: 3925 (20GB 4G iPod. I traded down from a 30GB 3G because of the size, weight, and battery power. Also having less room forces me to be proactive towards what music I carry with me.

On the MP3 Server: 11415, though all my AIFF sound EFX are not in the library.

What is the last CD you bought?

Mmmm. "Yeah yeah Yeahs - Fever to Tell". I still buy CD's because I like to encode them myself (AAC 192k is current fav). And I like the hardcopy being somewhere.

What was the last song you listened to before reading this message?

"Seasons in the Abyss" by Slayer. I acquired it today for nostalgic reasons. It's 6 hours old in my collection.

Write down five songs you often listen to, or that mean a lot to you.

1. "Cores" by Da Lata. British-based Brazilian dance/techno group. This is the most beautiful song I have heard in the last 12 months.
2. "Still Waters" by Jim White. Southern Gothic Alt-Country on Luaka Bop. Genius, pure genius.
3. "The Earth is not a Cold Dead Place" by Explosions in the Sky. Yes, the ENTIRE album is that good.
4. "New Drifters 1" to the end of the album. by The American Analog Set. I love AmAnSet truly, madly, deeply. "The Golden Band" is a classic album.
5. "These Days" by Her Space Holiday, performed by The American Analog Set ("Updates" CD by AmAnSet. Yes, another one. It's lyrics and arrangement speak to me.

Honorable Mentions:
1. "Go On" by Clarke Nova. Yes, I love the music my old band played. Nostalgia for a special time in my life, the memories surrounding it, and the fact that I think the song is a damn good song.
2. "Addiction" by 3 Shot West. Yes, the next band by my old drummer. I think 3SW were criminally overlooked, largely due to the fact that the music scene in Dallas was too stupid to recognize genius in their midst. Their album "Radiophonic" would be on my 'best of list' even if I didn't know them personally. I recommend picking it up if you love Jeff Buckley, Daniel Lanois, Mother Love Bone, and tall skinny white guys playing guitar.
4. "Eyes and Ears" by Lila. This song got me through a difficult time in my life. Even though the singer is from LA, it reminds me of New England and the 1990's that never were, for some strange reason.
5. Many many other songs mean a lot to me so here's a short list:
-"Revolta Olodum" by Olodum. Official Site. USA knows them as the drums behind Paul Simon's "The Rhythm of the Saints" do yourself a favor and learn more.
-"Straight to the Heart" by Carol Howell. Another artist criminally overlooked. I saw his show at the old Antone's in Austin back in the early 1990's and never heard from him again. I had to find his album "Mercy Dance" on ebay from an obscure German Label. Criminal.
-"Star Shoes (Love is everything)" by Darling Violetta. I auditioned for these composers of the "Angel" soundtrack (and didn't make it). Nice guys and I love their slick music.
-Anything by dada>.
-Anything by Fugazi, et al. Right now anything by Rites of Spring and Minor Threat is also there.

Who are you going to pass this stick to (three persons) and why?

Like RHPT, I know little who can publish their findings. So I won't stick it to anyone else.

Weird - The Burj Al Arab Hotel

2005-03-22T13:11:00.000-08:00

Weird - The Burj Al Arab Hotel

Wow!

Deadbeat Blogger Bender

2005-03-19T18:13:00.000-08:00

In an effort to not get awarded 'Deadbeat Blogger Status' by Counselor's incorporated, I shall tell you of my big bender last night.

I got drunk.

Thanks!

Yahoo! News - Writer Hunter S. Thompson Kills Himself - Police

2005-02-20T21:21:00.000-08:00

Yahoo! News - Writer Hunter S. Thompson Kills Himself - Police

RIP

More Rain

2005-02-20T17:10:00.000-08:00

It's now the wettest season on record in Southern California. I'm enjoying the pitter-patter that lulls me to sleep, though I do not own a house near a hill. Many people unfortunately have experienced flooding and slides, and it proves how natural phenomena can be both blessing and curse....

Three day weekends are also fun. I can't think of much else to do, which is great.

Going to a seminar on string theory tonight.

cool

2005-02-17T10:29:00.000-08:00

Scenes 67-75, Annapolis.

There we go. Film in the bin. Old Skool style. My 2nd conformed scene. What that means is that the editor finished editing these scenes on the Avid computer, the 1st assistant printed out a list of each shot in the scene, and my job was to pull the film from the rolls in which they lie, then assemble them using sprockted scotch tape.

Old skool.

Mule Design Feed Store | CephaliPod

2005-02-17T10:23:00.000-08:00

Mule Design Feed Store | CephaliPod

Squidpod!

Back in the USA

2005-02-13T12:04:00.000-08:00

Splice with Pandeiro

Well, I'm back and I brought back a nice chest-cold from South America. Thankfully this isn't one of those flesh-eating kind you always hear about from the movies, so I lucked out this time. The jury is still out on whether any super-spiders or anacondas stowed away, but if Counselor declares me a deadbeat blogger, you know who - or what - to blame.

How was Brasil? How can I begin to describe it? I started to take a travel diary as I did for China last year, but after the first day in Rio de Janeiro, I literally lost track of the days. Brasilians have a preference for partying all night long (at least during Carnaval) and our 'days' did not get going until 11pm at least. One night I found myself at the "Terreraio de Samba", i.e. 'Sambaland' the open air concert-fairground next to the Sambadromo stadium with about 4,000 of my closest friends and we decided to leave at 4am. There were still 3 acts to go and it took us about 30 minutes to completely find our group.

Party-Hardy indeed.

Carnaval was intense. Parading with Estacio Primera de Mangueira Samba School, the first established, was an honor and the parade itself chaotic and full of adrenaline. There's nothing like wearing spandex and gold foil and singing and dancing for 50,0000 people or so and millions more on TV. And apparently, Mr. and Mrs. Splice made it on OGlobo TV! I'm trying to acquire footage of that, so I'll report if so.

After the parade, we collapsed into our beds and slept until 5pm the next day.

That kinda encapsulated my experience in Rio. Lots of amazing people, BEAUTIFUL landscapes, warm rich culture, amazing music and one hell of a Party. Mrs. Splice had spent the prior week in Bahia, so she had more culture than I, but Brasil is a vacation place I highly recommend to anyone. And it has two more things that appeal to the average American: You can drink the water, and EVERYONE takes Mastercard/Visa.

Beijos!

Carson, Fantasia, Rumpole, Clinton, Precinct 13, and shopping carts - Uncle Orson Reviews Everything

2005-02-02T00:06:00.000-08:00

From Carson, Fantasia, Rumpole, Clinton, Precinct 13, and shopping carts - Uncle Orson Reviews Everything: Review of Morris "Because he could", book on bill clinton.

"....The remarkable thing about Because He Could is that at the beginning, Morris does what I would never have thought possible: He actually makes a convincing case for Clinton having been responsible for some real achievements during his years in the White House.

At the same time, Morris also lays out Clinton's most disastrous mistakes and shows why Clinton did what he did -- and failed to do what he failed to do.

There's nothing in this book for a diehard Clinton supporter to like. But it brings some needed perspective to people like me, who recognized his deep dishonesty and detested his smarminess long before he locked up the Democratic nomination in 1992.

I spent the 90s barely watching television news, because I got nauseated -- or maybe just sick at heart -- whenever I saw his face on the screen as President of the United States.

Morris doesn't change my mind -- I still see the fact that he was elected twice as a permanent black mark against American civilization. But he does make it plain why good and intelligent people served this man, and continued to serve him even after his (and his wife's) utter selfishness and dishonesty were fully exposed."

Well, Card again displays a deep outporing of emotion and stance, without conceiving that the other side could share the same feelings and position about the current president. I expect that sometime in 2013 we'll see a similar book on GW Bush and read the same kind of reviews from a 'blue state' person.

I do give Card this: he perfectly explains the position of a republican-voting person living through the Clinton years. And the marvel of his writing is that, word for word, you can say exactly the same thing about a democrat-voting person today.

In preparation..

2005-01-29T11:31:00.000-08:00
Well, I feel like a deadbeat blogger these days. I'm suffering from the malaise that hits many bloggers in that either 1. what's happenin to me isn't interesting enough to post, or more likely 2. i'm lazy. Either way, I've learned not to post promises I may not keep anymore!

The good thing is that life is getting somewhat back on track after the meltdown of 2004. I'm shipping off to brazil to meet Mrs. Splice on wedesday, and I hope to keep a daily log of my travels as I did in China. And if time permits, post them here. I realize that my weekley postings of photos and stuffs stopped due to various reasons last year, so to make up for it, here are two links for those interested in Sugar & Splice's travels to the east:

Photos!
China Photos!

And finally, the travelog in it's entirety.
The China Chronicles!

I know it's long and incomplete pic & link wise, but well, you can put together the rest.

Enjoy!!! and wait for fun news from Brazil!

Oh! Mangueira!

2005-01-26T23:29:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow, Mrs. Splice boards a plane for a day-long journey to Salvador, Brasil. Next wednesday, I board a plane to meet her in Rio de Janeiro for both of us to participate with Mangueira samba school in Carnaval 2005.

I have no idea what I'm getting into....

4 More Years

2005-01-20T10:08:00.000-08:00
My Way News

I'm a believer in democracy and America's republican system. So I hope in 4 more years, we can try again. But I know this country is very divided. More so than I have ever known in this lifetime. I would say this even if the Democrats had won with the same numbers.

53% Win does NOT a majority make.

I implore those in power to remember that. There is no sweeping mandate, there is no political capital. There is merely a win by a margin, a small one at that. Those in power, try to govern wisely for 100%, not only the ones that put you in power. For if you do that, you are no better than those who forced the American Revolution. If you do govern for all, then you fulfill the American ideal, and the promise of the constitution AND the bill of rights.

You have four more years. The World is watching.

Off to Santa Ynez

2005-01-15T08:03:00.000-08:00

We're going to brave the roads and make it to Santa Ynez for a day trip with Mother-in-law. SY is a great central coast winery destination, and as long as the roads haven't washed away, a great day trip. It's nice to let off some steam this way, though I should not have stayed up so late the night before!

Happy Wednesdays

2005-01-12T16:47:00.000-08:00
Life at Editorial moves along nicely. I saw Sandra Bullock yesterday and David O. Russell's parking place has been replaced by someone named DOMINO. Mark Wahlberg's is still there, however since they have yet to remove our director's 2nd spot, I can't guarantee that he himself is still here.

The work has been the good manual hand work kind. I go home knowing what I accomplished. Also, cutting on film has given me a whole new appreciation of how they did it back when. Splicing is an acquired skill. So even though I can cut 6 ways to saturday on the Avid, or Final Cut, throw an inviso-splicer in front of my and I amass a considerable stack of discarded splicing tape. Joyus.

But it's good. It's filling in tons of gaps in my knowledge and there's nothing like making vague intangibles tangible. "Key code and Ink code/ daily rolls are always on your tape. What's Ink code? Oh, THAT in my HAND is ink code. Nice."

Small, but important.

Meanwhile plans continue for the upcoming Brazil trip. As promised, Angela and I are to dance with Manguiera Samba School in Rio de Janeiro's annual Carnaval. 500,000 people and yours truly, bangin on a drum.

nice.

we are a part of the 'fire' portion. Here's our costumes:

Tights are tight, you know, yo?

Raining Cats and Dogs

2005-01-10T22:45:00.000-08:00

This is what I'm living under right now. Most of LA is shut down due to closures and floods on all the major canyons, only the freeways are working and even those by the hills have been mudded out. Wow.

New Year's Hay

2005-01-02T12:47:00.000-08:00
Ahh! 2005! A new year, a new start. Happiness.

On Monday the third, I start my new job as a member of the editorial crew for the feature film "Annapolis". It will be very different from what I'm used to. I've been editing various DVD and TV projects the past few years, and all of that has been non-union. This is my re-introduction to the Union sandbox, and a chance NOT to be in the hot-seat for a while. A break so to speak.

so we'll see. Maybe I'll get to meet Donnie Wahlberg?

AULD LANGE SYNE

2005-01-01T01:35:00.000-08:00
Happy New Year!!!

Hello 2005.

Life Part 3

2004-12-29T08:01:00.000-08:00
I realize the last few posts may have been hard to read. The time was certainly difficult for me, and I have used this avenue to express my feelings about them. I thank you for allowing me to do it. I assure that happy times are indeed ahead, as these posts took longer to create than the events that inspired them, and life has moved on for the better in the interim.

Again, Thanks
-daniel

--
Life, Part 3.

It was sunday, November 27th. A bright shiny day, the kind California is famous for. I woke up to my wife's agitated yells from the bathroom She was bleeding.

When you are pregnant, you are not supposed to bleed. It does happen, and sometimes it's ok. Mostly, it's bad. I rushed to the phone and paged the nurse on call. As we lay on the bed waiting, huddled against each other, we encountered a wave of sadness and doubt that i have ever experienced.
"Is this it? Is it happening?"
"I don't know?!"
"Oh God."
We cried in each other's arms. We told each other that if it was the end, we still loved each other, and that we could try again.

The nurse called, I gave the phone to Angela and she explained the situation. The nurse told us that, although it could be the "M", it could also be a myriad of other things. She told us to watch and wait for an hour, if the bleeding gets worse, come in to the hospital. But until it does, we would be more comfortable at home.

Great, more waiting.

We spend the rest of the day waiting in a zone of numbness. The bleeding actually trickled off and we felt a sense of maybe dodging a bullet. Angela called her boss and arranged to stay home until our wednesday appointment. I would go back to work, but be 'on call'. And that way, Monday began.

And ended in a blur. During this entire process at home, I was finishing an episode of my forensic show at work. By chance or by unconscious design, i was due to finish tuesday afternoon, with a co-worker to handle last minute notes on wednesday if they arrived. I spent the day in a disconnect, I simply would not think about what was happening at home, and focus on shaping the tragedy in front of me. It was a rape/murder case, but at least the guy was caught, so there was a happy ending. Still, the subject material doesn't exacty lend itself to cheering. I only told my producer about our vigil. She and I are close, and she has been very helpful during the entire process, handling my communications when we first had our ultrasound so I did not have to call multiple co-workers.

Tuesday went by quickly as well. Happily, the show as put to bed, and it looked like there would be no need for my or another editor on wednesday. Gladly, I went home and after dinner, Angela and I went to bed for our early morning appointment.

2am came and Angela shot awake with stabbing pains in her abdomen. I made ready to go to the hospital, but she stopped me. She said the pains were managable and she didn't want to wait for hours in an emergency room chair, we'd hang out until our 8am appointment. But the pains got worse and we packed it up for the emergency room. By 7am it was over. My wife was ok, but the baby had miscarried.

Now you can say that it was a natural thing, that the body knew something was wrong and took steps itself. Indeed it is almost overwhelming to see and experience your body working entirely of it's own accord. But still, we had made a place for our child, and now that place was unfilled. We said goodbye to the baby and held each other close. One day, we'll try again. Until then, we mourn the child that almost was.

Part Two

2004-12-20T07:21:00.000-08:00
In my last post, we left off in the Ultrasound room of UCLA Medical center, where the High-Risk pregnancy doctor has told us that there are anomalies with our baby, though they can't get a good enough look to determine exactly what. We are told to come back in 3 weeks so they can look again, and in the meantime, it's not anything we did wrong, go home and act normally.

Yeah, Right.

Now talking about children is a very different thing from actually having one. Growing up, my wife and I have always wanted children. And we used to joke with one another about the impending day when we would be parents. However, once we discovered that children was no longer "some day", but "9 months", things started to change with us. On the outside, we prepared the home for a child. From small things like buying electrical socket protectors to silly new-age things like cleaning the counters with vinegar (no chemicals!) In the words of Billy Cosby, we also began to study how to do 'Natural Childbirth', (Bill Cosby Himself, the classic stand-up, now has an entire new appreciation by us). Angela was bequeathed a bevy of baby bibles from her best buddies, and I - not wanting to be left out of the fun - purchased my own book The Expectant Father, an excellent book by Armin Brott that truly is one of the few, and only, books on the subject for men.

More importantly, we began to create a space in our lives for the child. Angela and I have always been a happy couple. Sure, we have our ups and downs - heck, we argue constantly - but all in all, we were content with what we had in our lives. Now we had to make space for another, and we dove into it wholeheartedly. We would talk to the baby, ask it questions trying to find out by telepathy what sex it was, what name it wanted, whether it liked chinese....we'll maybe not that. But along with the baby's physical growing came an emotional growth into what we thought of as a family. We were creating our own, and we liked it. Angela began to feel a connection with the passenger in her womb and as she began to show, I knew the glow was not all from horomones. One of my most magical moments was seeing our baby kick its legs around in the ultrasound. We joked that it was already a dancer, having learned rhythm and dance from Angela's samba dances.

And now that was in danger.

Most writers will tell you there are two distinct fears: Fear of what's known and Fear of the unknown. Terror versus Dread. That day we experienced both. The terror of knowing that something was wrong, and the dread of not knowing what it was. And although knowing that 'there's nothing we did, or can do' makes us blameless, it also makes us helpless as there's nothing we can do.

We took the rest of the day off to ride the emotional roller coaster. We'd read of complications, even heard about them, but this was not a lottery we thought we'd win. The next three weeks went by in a tense daze. There were good days, where the roar was kept shut out of our minds, and we could forget by throwing ourselves into our work. There were bad days where my wife would cry from nowhere and I would just shut down. I played the 'strong family male' type. 'Defending the cave' is how I would describe it to friends. Basically by making sure my wife had a secure place to be, I could move on with life. I'd deal with the emotion later, once the danger had passed. I'm sure some ancestor years ago survived a wolf attack because of this, but the only teeth were in my head and I was not a happy person. (My boss's boss commented that I was 'distracted' around the office. Well, wouldn't you be?)

Thanks to the glories of the internet, we researched every possible angle. Hoping to discover what it could be, and very thankful for what it was not. One of our symptoms was a low level of amniotic fluid, (the 'water' in the womb) and possibly a lack of fetal nutrition. On the advice of a family friend nurse, Angela began downing 4 liters of water per day, restricting her activity, and eating upwards of 60 grams of protein per day. All the hopes that it would find its way to the life inside.

Support began to pour in from our friends and family. Everyone we told was praying or sending happy thoughts our way. One of Angela's dance instructors, a very spiritual woman, told us to make a place for focusing on our child, a place to pray for it and to it. We make an altar near our bed where we placed the ultrasound pictures, a candle, and a book to write to our baby. We were waiting till we learned the sex to finalize a name, but a pet name was had was 'Charis' (karis), which is Greek for 'Grace'. Thus we would light our candle every day and talk to the baby. Hoping and wishing it to be safe. And in the tradition of every Religious dark comedy, we came back to church, looking for guidance and hope in this.

Back in life, the clock was ticking as 12/1/04 was the day we both feared and anticipated.

Life, Part 1: Ups & Down

2004-12-02T11:23:00.000-08:00
There has been a lot going on these past weeks at LoydLand. So much in the last 4 that I've often been stuck deciding where to begin in posting them. That's probably a reason why I never posted before and now have to start at the beginning, where it all began.

My wife Angela and I traveled to China in August for two weeks. I've posted some of my daily journal entries here, and continue again. Soon after we returned to the States, we found out that we brought a souvenir back with us. We were pregnant! Made in China, born in the USA. Needless to say, we were thrilled. We had also wanted children, and were somewhat 'planning' to try in 2005. We figured God and/or the body decided to up things a bit, so firmly registered in the 'pleasant surprise' category, we dove head first into becoming parents.

Various books suddenly appeared at the side of my wife's bed. From the 'manuals' of 'What to expect when you're expecting', to more esoteric tomes like 'Birthing from Within'. Not wanting to be left out or thought uninterested, I bought my own copy of 'The expectant father', and 'Father for Life'. To paraphrase Bill Cosby, my wife and I were intellectuals and we were going to study as much as we can how to do something that is going to happen anyway.

We decided to try being as natural as we could. C-Sections were frowned upon, Episiotomies something to be feared. Epidurals only if truly necessary, and I wanted to catch the baby. Yes. Not only did 'Male' want to be in the delivery room, I wanted to squat with a medical catcher's mitt and catch the kid as he came out. We found a program we liked at UCLA Medical Center, locally in Westwood that combined a midwife program within the support of a medical hospital. We could have it both ways. We had a great initial consultation with the midwives who answered nearly every question we had with the answers we wanted to hear - the initial consultation is part consult, part interview. They scheduled our 1st trimester ultrasound and screening for 13 weeks. A tad early, our best friends Joe & Aimee had theirs at 15 weeks, but UCLA is a teaching hospital, and their Ultrasounds look newer than the 'scrubbers' in 'minority report'.

The ultrasound practitioner was sick the day of our appointment, but we came in to meet with the midwife anyway, rescheduling our ultrasound for the next morning. The appointment went swell and after a scary moment where they couldn't find the heartbeat on their walkman-sized 1986-era fetal heart monitor, they drafted the doctor on call to operate the ultrasound for us. There, in GE glory, was our baby. He/She (too early to tell) looked happy, bundled up in a ball, actively kicking his legs around for the delight of all of us - Angela is a dancer, so to see her baby dancing already! The heartbeat is beating happily away, and we get to see and hear it go.

(I had a geek moment here. Unhappy with just receiving one printout of the ultrasound, while everyone left the room for Angela to dress, I start fiddling around with the machine, discover that it records the last 30 seconds of every scan, and in a few minutes, start manipulating the trackball to choose 4 shots I was really happy with. Yep, editing on an Ultrasound. All hail, King of the Geeks!)

Thrilled with multiple pictures of the baby, we go back to work and spread the happy word. The next day, we go back to the hospital for our true ultrasound checkup. The nice practitioner starts the ultrasound and begins to measure the baby from multiple angles, comparing the relative size of the head, abdomen, femur and humorus (thigh and upper arm) to statistical counts in the computer.

There's a problem.

The head and femur are registering at 13 weeks, but the abdomen and arm is not. They're registering around 11.5 weeks. Well, can it be late? Probably not. The head and abdomen need to be developing at the same time and not, it's an indication that something is wrong...

Something is wrong.

She starts looking for the problem.
"It usually is a defect in the abdominal wall." She says.
"What's that?"
"It's where the abdomen has a hole in it and all the insides are outside."
"That can happen?"
"Yes, but it's not happening here."
"Oh, thank god."

Meanwhile, my wife gets to lay at the mercy of the machine as more time passes and more horrible things are described, then ruled out. The practitioner finally says that she's not qualified to interpret, and makes an appointment for us to meet the High-Risk pregnancy doctor.

High-Risk Pregnancy Doctor.

Can we come back, today, in 4 hours?

Phase 2 of our pregnancy has begun.

Need an East Coast Editor?

2004-12-01T14:46:00.000-08:00
Jeffrey Turboff is your man. This guy is way cool and it's good to feel the family growing from coast to coast. Check out his site for some great visual stimulation. And if you ever need professional storytelling from coast to coast, now you know who to call....

Jeff's Site
Jeffrey's Blog

Surreal LA

2004-11-24T16:56:00.000-08:00
Any Pharcyde fans out there? Know the song “Quinton’s on the way”?

I know Quinton.

BACK

2004-11-14T21:10:00.000-08:00
Ok. Back in town from a quick jaunt to San Francisco over the weekend. There has been ALOT GOING ON IN THE LOYD HOUSEHOLD these last weeks, and I know I've been so bad updating that no one reads my blog anymore. I don't care. I'll keep it up and start posting immediately!!!!

1st off: Ultrasounds of my baby!!!

Note the legs, hands and feet! Very active this baby is, kicking around even so small. It's still less than 20cm in length!

yay
!

From AndrewSullivan.com

2004-11-06T02:41:00.000-08:00
HIS FIRST MOVE: Not too encouraging:
The Bush administration announced Wednesday that it will run out of maneuvering room to manage the government's massive borrowing needs in two weeks, putting more pressure on Congress to raise the debt ceiling when it convenes for a special post-election session.
Oh, well.

Repeal the 22nd Amendment?

2004-11-05T09:50:00.000-08:00
Interesting viewpoint on a topic long discussed. What do you, faithful reader, think?

Silflay Hraka: 22-Skidoo!: "22-Skidoo!

Finished the second volume in the Ambrose biography of Eisenhower over the weekend. One of the things that struck me was the attitude of the Republican leadership in 58 and 59 towards the 22nd amendment to the Constitution, the one limiting Presidents to two terms in office.

They more or less admitted to themselves that 22 was the stupidest thing they could have done. By the time they realized it, it was too late to pass a repeal of 22 in time to allow Eisenhower to stand for re-election in the 1960 election.

Ike would have won, too. Easily. The Republicans kicked themselves in the rear for years afterwards over what might have been--in private.

22 has hurt the Democrats as well, as was its original intention, of course. Does anyone doubt that Bill Clinton would have served at least three terms in office? In all likelihood he'd be looking forward to a fourth term now, heart attack or no.

22 needs to be repealed, but it won't happen unless there's a bipartisan effort to do so. Given the current state of the electorate, that means that the party that needs to bring up repeal of 22 is not the Republicans, but the Democrats. Any attempt by the party of W to jumpstart a repeal would engender a strong backlash against repeal on the part of the Left, and would likely fail, or require so much amount of political capital that the attempt would simply not be made.

The Democrats would face no such protests from the Left--though they would inevitably be accused of selling out by the unstrategically-minded fringe. The reflexive reaction on much of the Right would undoubtedly be along the lines of 'Please don't throw me in dat dere briar patch,' and it's that reaction that would allow the repeal attempt to be bipartisan in nature.

Then in 2008, W can stand for his third term--and so can Bill.

Won't that be fun?
Posted by Bigwig at November 5, 2004 10:48 AM | TrackBack"

Disagreeing with the States

2004-11-03T21:47:00.000-08:00
Ok. I'm glad its a state's rights issue. But I whole-heartedly disagree with legislating hate and discrimination in America. What's next? Keeping Spics, Niggers, Wops and Kikes from reproducing or Voting? This is one angry Dago.

From Life in the Pink
"We Tried

So, I'm a little disapointed and angry about the election. Okay, I'm a lot disapointed and angry.

Do you all realized that Oklahoma elected a senator who said that abortion doctors should get the death penalty? And South Carolina elected someone who said that single mothers and gays shouldn't be allowed in schools?

The anti-gay marriage amendments passing in eleven states also filled me with a warm fuzzy feeling. Hey, America, thanks for voting to hate me.

Has anyone else noticed that between the anti-abortion stuff, and the anti-gay stuff, the Republicans just seem to really want to control what goes on with the vagina? They don't want girls going into it, they want to make sure babies come out of it . . .

Well, sorry, guys, but your right to swing your fist ends at my face, and your right to legislate based on your religion ends at my cunt."

Turnout Blues

2004-11-03T21:46:00.000-08:00
Ok, now I’m angry. I heard that although this was the largest turnout in US History since the 1960’s, only 1 in 10 voters were ‘young people’. College voters, first time voters. I had hoped that this election would go lengths to dispelling the voter apathy that has settled in our young generation. I’m no pundit, I’m not even Counselor, but I’ve voted in every election I could because that’s what makes the USA the USA.

The Election

2004-11-03T21:39:00.000-08:00
Darnit. Ah well.

www.AndrewSullivan.com - Daily Dish

2004-11-01T22:53:00.000-08:00
www.AndrewSullivan.com - Daily Dish: "After the election results are in, I promise to:
: Support the President, even if I didn't vote for him.
: Criticize the President, even if I did vote for him.
: Uphold standards of civilized discourse in blogs and in media while pushing both to be better.
: Unite as a nation, putting country over party, even as we work together to make America better."

Annual West Hollywood Carnival 2004

2004-11-01T11:29:00.001-08:00
What a way to celebrate Halloween! Santa Monica Blvd from La Peer to La Cienega was blocked off for the annual Carnival, which has been an institution in LA for much longer than I've been here. It was miles of food, music, dance, and mostly fun as everyone was here to see and be seen. Best collection of good vibes in this city. I've posted a webpage of all our photos here

The Photos

and here's some highlights.

Once bitten....

Maynard!!!

Red

My fav's

Scariest D&D Monsters

2004-10-28T09:55:00.000-07:00
From Slacker's house of Funt, a list of monsters for halloween.

A slice:

#2-The Lich...The Lich...

In all its various forms (be it psychic, arch, or larch) the lich is always a sad sight for even the most intrepid of adventurer. Liches are the powerful undead versions of really evil wizards. Lichedom is a strenuous and arduous (and let's not forget tenuous) process that only the most determined and high level of bad guys can hope to achieve. They make really complex tombs, filled with hoary hosts of undead...most of which are powerful in their own right. While Mummies try to touch and rot, Liches cast spells at your face. While vampires drain blood, Liches take levels...and not just a few. Wights, Wraiths and Death Knights are pretty spooky, but they usually end up as upper management for the liche's Slave Department. Lichedom: So undead, it hurts.

Yeah!

2004-10-27T23:07:00.000-07:00
Either no one got it or no one read it, but for those who do, last weeks post of a picture only is of an EPT, Early Pregnancy Test.

The result is positive.

My wife and I (Mrs. Sugar & Splice) are having a baby! She’s 2 months now, and I’ve been sitting on it for about 2 weeks. Now that’s it out, expect some ‘journey to fatherhood’ posts in the future. If that bores you, check out anime instead.

As it happens, this baby was conceived during our recent trip to China. So, yet another product Made in China and developed in the USA.

We’re extremely happy and crazed. Life is very very different now!

Cheers!

2004-10-22T20:41:00.000-07:00

Behind 'o the times

2004-10-22T20:16:00.000-07:00
Not much to report. I know I’m behind on my China Chronicles, and for that I apologize. I’m not good with deadlines apparently, I will continue to do them, but many things have made life a little bit crazier.

Nuke'em till they glow, then shoot'em in the dark!

2004-10-19T16:32:00.000-07:00
I'm tired of North Korea and Iran flapping their purple lips at America's ass.

I think it's time we did something about that.

They want a Nuclear Program? Let's give them a REAL Nuclear Program. We have the tools, we have the technology, all we need is the will.

Let's Bomb them into hell.

While we're at it, let's take care of the Isreael/Arab conflict and bomb them both. BOTH of them. Enough scorched earth and there will be nobody wanting it anymore. Right?

I mean, come on! We're AMERICA! That's what we do now! Let's bomb them until nothing is left, and THEN we can get some peace and quiet.

-
This message brought to you by the influences and desires of the Glorious Right Arm of the Republican Party (Media Division) and the Christian Coalition. Because remember, if they ain't glowing with God, they'll be Glowing anyway.

Surreal LA

2004-10-13T09:55:00.000-07:00
I purchased a new/used Bass amp for myself yesterday. An Eden Navigator Preamp. The joy of LA is that I bought it off Mr. Mick Mahan, currently the bassist for Pat Benatar. He’s finishing the tour this week and managed to get home for a few days off. Yes, this amp that currently resides in my bedroom was christened by “Love is a Battlefield” and “Fire and Ice” before it got to me.

Los Angeles can be a crazy place..

2004-10-12T14:26:00.000-07:00
A beautiful eulogy for a Superman, courtesy of YAP.

"
In Memoriam Superman

So many people have been asking me “why?”

I’ve actually received gawping open-mouthed stares. “You? But…but…you! YOU, dude!”

I didn’t want to, okay? What’s the point? Other writers have waxed eloquent…far more eloquently than I, I might add…on the subject and they’ve said all that can be said. We’ve seen the retrospectives, we’ve heard the eulogies and we’ve sung his praises. What more can be said, ultimately? What will my voice joining the chorus do?

What’s the point?

Superman is dead.

The posters all said “You WILL believe a man can fly!” I was seven…maybe eight years old. I believed, man. I believed. Superman was real and he flew and lifted helicopters and there was a powerful force for what was good and right in the world. He was right there! I believed, man, with all my heart and all my soul.

I grew up, of course. We all do. Well…let me amend that. I grew older. I grew older and life kicked me in the teeth a few times, just like everyone else and I acquired some hardness, some cynicism, some “cool” exterior pretensions. Some affectations of disaffection.

But deep down inside, past the biker leather, the Camel Filters, the coffee by the gallon, the beer and the sneer…I believed a man could fly. I believed there was a powerful force for what was good and right in the world.

I believed in Superman.

It actually hurt when Christopher Reeve broke his neck. Intellectually, of course, I knew that the man was not the Superman. That he was mortal…vulnerable. Just like us.

But it stuck in my heart like a little shard of hurt. The disappointment on a cellular level that you can only truly feel as a child. It hurt when Chris Rock reminded us “Superman can’t walk!”

And that’s when the man became the Superman.

Everybody talks about Christopher Reeve’s determination, his indomitable will. His unbending conviction that he would walk again. Not only would he walk again, but everybody afflicted with this sort of grievous injury would, by God, walk again. The word “inspiration” is being tossed about willy nilly these days, but that man inspired me in ways that the “S” shield never could. It was real, man. He was right there, telling me he would walk, telling me it could be fixed. He was a powerful force for what was good and right in the world.

I believed, man.

Well, now the man is dead. His dream, I should hope, shall live beyond his time here with us. He leaves behind his family, his friends and little children like me who believe.

You will believe a man can fly.

I believe a man can walk.

http://www.apacure.com/"

2004-10-12T14:06:00.000-07:00
Ok! I admit it. I hate america. After reading countless articles by respected republican and pro-bush writers I've come to the conclusion that I've been deluding myself and my country. I hate america. I am a terrorist and most likely, I deserve to die. I wish to cast my vote for Kerry, who is obviously a deeply stupid man who only wishes America to destroy itself in the flames of Islamist hatred that currently consume the middle east. He hates the US military and wishes it destroyed. He only is concerned with what our enemies abroad think about the US. He wants to give North Korea what it wants just as he gave the North Vietnamese what they wanted. So obviously, for me to vote for him shows the fact that I am a Godless flag-burner who doesn't deserve to walk on this land that my forefathers shed lakes of blood for. If Kerry were to win the democratic-party-rigged election, then within 3 years America would be gone, split up by the invading forces of socialism, islamism and france. This would happen while Kerry sit idly by, concerned that fighting back would piss off Poland.

So I finally admit it. As countless pundits have reminded me, this isn't a case of different opinions, not a place for dissent or arguement. A vote for Kerry is a vote against america. And I should be burned at the stake along with all those copies of Farenheit 911 and Gore Vidal.

But maybe I should instead adopt the views of those same pundits. Maybe I should come to see Counselor and Ian as objects of vile vile hatred, instead of dear friends whose differing opinion I rely upon to constantly question my own convictions and keep my senses sharp. Maybe I should think that if Bush won 4 more years, it would be cause for revolution. Maybe I should look at that map of blue and red and mark in ink all the cities full of people I should HATE HATE HATE HATE.

Because nothing is ever personal in this race, isn't it?

Or maybe I should do what most of America probably will do, and rely on mass media to make up my mind for me. So I ask you, my faithful viewer, to tell me. What should I do? Should I hate all who oppose my views with the vile vitriol espoused by both sides of this debate? Or should I continue trying to believe that dissent can co-exist and create real progress, that 4 more years of anything is 4 more years of trying the great experiment of America.

Tell me, because in this day and age, anyone who listens to the media has a hard time defining what it means to be American.

2004-10-11T00:03:00.000-07:00
Superman is Dead.

RIP Christopher Reeve. I met you once, when I was 5 years old. You were nice, and I asked you if the baby in your stroller was "Superbaby".

I remember it today.

2004-10-10T23:43:00.000-07:00
Yay! the server is up again. Thanks to the technological day and age in which we live, my neighbors had two CRT monitors sitting next to the trash.
"They were from one or two tenants ago. Dunno if they work, worth a try...?
Well, grunge-monkey that I am, I borrowed the 14" and the crazy thing worked on first try. Worked well actually; it's one of those old NEC monitors that have all the calibration controls as knobs in the bottom of the monitors (unlike todays On screen display buttons, which really do more harm than good by obscuring the display you're trying to correct. And we all know they make them that way only to save costs on cheap components)

So I re-fired the server and discovered the single reason why it has not loaded the entire week.

"Non-system disk, please remove and press any key"

A frickin floppy disk in the drive was holding up everything. I curse myself for not seeking the simplest solution first, then curse PC's for STILL hanging on an issue like this. Please tell me if there's something I missed in the new BIOSes that make the computer act like a macintosh and do the right thing: if there isn't a system disk in the floppy, then move on to the next disk and load it!. Well, I can't fault myself entirely on that note. I am the 'power user' who knows how to upgrade a motherboard BIOS, but that falls in the realm of 'no casual user ever does that', which is what I always try to be- a casual user. And this is another thing about PC people I enjoy. They, (being the geeks, not the 89% of the world that just uses a computer), always bitch about how Mac's aren't 'customizable' enough, and how with PC's they can tweak and upgrade and fix anything. Now most of them NEVER DO THAT, BIOS upgrades included. My Mac can do a command-line unix and that's more customizable than any WinXP installation, thank you. More customization than I need actually. I subscribe to a simple analogy most of the time. My computer is like my car- i prefer to get in, turn the ignition, and just go.

So the point of this long wind is that the server is up, so my photos on this blog are also up. If any of you had not read the China Chronicles posts, the pictures are restored. The last edition will be re-uploaded with pics of Hangzhou in a matter of days.

Cheers
-d

2004-10-08T15:08:00.000-07:00
China Chronicles 8/16

My webserver is STILL down, so I have no way of posting pictures. Which sucks because Hangzou is beautiful. I promise to repost this once everything works again. In the meantime, here's the text dump. Not as pretty, but put the xbox down and use yer imagination. enjoy!

-
Hangzhou

The day started piss and ended vinegar, (which was a good thing). Angela and I got into a spat over the possibilities of working in China. I'm for, she's against. That put us both in a mood that continued in me. Next we were too late in packing to grab a bite to eat before leaving the hotel, and we were out of money. The 24 hour, all convenience Bank of China ATM's were out of service, for the second day in a row! and the hotel apparently only exchanges money from a Mastercard once. A cash only economy is a good thing, but come on! Rick graciously offered to cover until we could get some more, so we heading out into the hot humid air to meet our bus.
Our taxi driver was insane. He was pissed because the head bellhop is friends with a rival taxi driver, and skipped his friend over to get the fare for Pu Dong airport, an easy ride 40 KM east, with maximum fare potential. Our driver was stuck with us. 3 americans with large bags and one chinese woman to hear the vent. he took us to the bus terminal, narrowly meeting death numerous times for ourselves and passerby, and still managed to hock 3 balls of mucus out the window. i was in the front seat and had great difficulty deciding which danger to shy away from.
We make it into the bus terminal, successfully ignoring the legion of entrepreneurs demanding they drive us to hangzhou. 20 minutes to departure and we're hungry. rick is going lo-carb, so he has jerky. angela and i hit the concession stand. Hmmm, do we have the boiled hotdogs on a stick and throw up later, or the boiled bean curd and throw up on wednesday. Angela settles on some pistachios, and i spend more useless minutes trying o decide if the pretty pink packages contain meat or insect or both, and if meat, is it meat i'd want to consume?

7-up and pringles. breakfast of champions.

lucky us, we get front row on the bus and it's not that bad. pretty good actually. good a/c, quiet (everyone was watching the karaoke on the TV) and smooth comfy seats. I'm still brooding over the spat with angela, and that turns into a heated, hushed conversation that colors the first part of the trip. we finally make up, and by this time I'm exhausted, letting the jet lag in. I sleep intermittently, awakening to close my mouth and notice that the countryside outside of Shanghai looks like southeast texas.
we arrive in hangzhou, exist the bus, then walk to the opposite side of the tarmac to await Krista, as she tries to get us tickets to Wenzhou (our destination tomorrow). As is becoming the norm, we attract a crowd by our very anglo-prescence. I'm still sore inside, so i shoot dirty looks at every local in his 20's who decides to stand by my luggage, and i end up holding all of them in stacks. The tickets are no dice, wrong station for Wenzhou, so we exit into a parking lot that is part lot, part bazaar, part human stock exchange. people can't stop staring or demanding we sign up on thier all day Hangzhou tour. After waiting while krista negotiates with numerous would-be's (have i mentioned that krista is amazing?), we pick a guy and start following him and his umbrella towards his car. out the lot, across the sidewalk, across the freeway, weaving and stepping through 11 lanes of both-ways traffic. ("stop for the bus, the bus always wins"). We make it to the other side, and miraculously, so does our luggage. more hasty negotiation as the driver realizes stupid americans brought house in luggage, and it al cant fit in his trunk. Well, it can't with the trunk closed, but it will fit with the trunk wide open. Solution! Next! we pile in and drive off through blast zone hangzhou. During the course of our day, we will see 6 separate Hangzhous. The one containing bus station #1 looks like Saigon, circa Stanley Kubrick. There's rubble in the streets, buildings will be half collapsed, with fronts blown out and walls hanging in shards while the other half is open for business. Cars and mopeds play chicken with bikes and pedestrians. the air is oppressively hot, near 100 with 100% humidity and no breeze.
As we near our hotel, progress begins to rear. Entire buildings are now being reworked, their inner spines intact while workers scrape off the skin of an old building and begin to build anew. Hangzhou is apparently next on the next great leap forward, and everything older than 1972 (which is a lot) is falling under the pickaxe.
we arrive at the Jin Lin hotel and check in. it's not as fancy as the equatorial (gui du!)! but the price is right: 248 RMB or about 30 bucks a night, breakfast included. the room is somewhat clean, and the shower is futuristic, so we're happy. we throw down, clean up and regroup outside to head off to hangzhou's main attraction, the west lake. it's decided to get cash at the spot, as the bank around the corner did not accept mastercard.
we arrive at the lake and i hit a 24 hour atm. card declined. i hit the other machine, card declined. i try another card, declined. angry, (this better not be MBNA fucking with me!) we decide to hit the lake, and get money later. by now I'm jet lagged, angry, and slowly starving as my pringles and 7up is quickly being eaten away by the heat and humidity, which by now is visible by a foggy cloud laying over the entire lake. Houstonians willl know: if it's 100 degrees at noon and it's foggy, you're in trouble.
thankfully, here's where the fun began. we embarked on a bamboo boat, facing each other, two on each side, and the driver gets out a paddle and starts to row. this single large plank of wood will ferry us in our small craft out into the middle of the lake, where it is absolutely gorgeous. apparently those ink and silk paintings of chinese landscapes are not imagination. west lake has been a spot for generations, the imperials court once having resided in Hangzhou after the mongols kicked them outta bejing. we stopped at the island of the three moon pools: a man-made island in the middle of the lake that was constructed by 200,000 workers in 800 ad by order of the emperor. I say, they just don't make islands like this anymore. the walk around the thru takes 45 minutes and is filled with picturesque views, tranquil pools of coy and pagodas of peace. oh and cold tea, immediately cook coffee. on the return trip, we practice english with a teenage group from another boat. by this time I'm enjoying the breeze on the lake, the views of the antediluvian pagodas on the shore and the gentle lull of the rowing boat, but i'm not showing it as I'm totally without glucose in my overheated body.
we walk the streets looking for a atm to no avail, apparently we're in the third part of hangzhou, the art district as we pass the prestigious school of fine art (where krista studied) and numerous galleries. we find an ATM, but alast, ncad declined. starving, we ask for advice and are directed to a hotel restaurant where we are the 2nd table seated and the only foreigners. next to us is a big table of loud, boisterous men, and in the corner a mother with her child, watching chinese tv.
life is now great. a/c, food on the way, and Sijo beer, smoooth and icy. they bring big bottles and small cups, and smaller cups of good tea. hangzhou is famous for it's dragon well tea and it shows. the food arrives and it's simply marvelous. jelly fish salad, picked cabbage, stir fried chicken and vegetables, marinated lotus root, soup with baby lotus leaves, fresh tofu in spicy oil, whole shrimp-on-a-stick (heads will ROLL!) and my coup-de-grace, a sweet and sour fish, turned inside out, deboned and with head looking straight to god. devouring occurs to all.
sated, the owner of the hotel comes over to practice her english, and gives us her number and card, thanking us for coming to her hotel and offering to teach angela chinese! (krista surmises they mistake us for students from the international art school). we thank her, and make our way to the road, where we are almost run over by a marauding audi. from fame to splat, if you're not careful. we hail a taxi and ask him to take us to a bank of china, which i have used before to exchange money and i feel will be a good bet. we then drive through part 4 of hangzhou, 1950's land. small streets with shops and boutiques that smack of 50's communist architecture. even the women are wearing old-style sundresses. we pass a clothing store called "to live in the U.S.", we don't stop. By now, glucose is coursing thru my veins and I'm feeling a lot better. Until we get to the bank, in the middle of Hangzhou's 5th area, the commercial district (currently being rebuilt). the atm's are out of service (same message i got in shanghai), i go inside the bank, it's closing early. fun though how everyone looks shocked to see a daniel in shorts, walking quickly around the room looking for exchange. there's another bank around the corner, so we walk for 5 minutes, find another one, ATM is still offline!! My god! we go inside and take a number, and find another atm that seems to be working. it does, and we get out cash. valuable lesson: acquiring funds the american way doesn't always work in the 2nd world.
with that done, the two big pisses of the day have ended. we're tired, we decide to go back to the hotel to relax and regroup.
now the jin lin hotel offers their guests a variety of ways to relax. the 4th floor holds a huge restaurant, as well as private rooms containing majjohng machines and poker, open all nigh. in addition, a discount coupon for their inhouse foot massage services is offered. not being the gambling type angela and i go in search of the foot massage. and we can't find it. every room is either blocked or contains various people gambling. we go down stairs to get directions...ok we'll try again. we peek thru a window at a what looks like a massage-doctors office, in construction. a guy on a phone notices our coupons and waves us thru, as his assistant un-barricades the door. he leads us down a back stairwell into a hidden level where construction and painting is going on at a feverish pace. paint and drywall chips are everywhere. we are led to a room, where two teenagers are talking and smoking on comfortable chairs, they jump up at the sight of us, hastily put out the cigarette and start cleaning up the chairs. this must be the place. we sit down and are brought dragon well tea and nuts from a very nice teenager who giggles in that teen ohmigosh way every time we speak after a few minutes of waiting, a man and a woman enter the room with big buckets of tea we think, the feet go in and for next hour we're in heaven, foot and e.g. massage, they worked out every muscle and i didn't want to leave. when it was over, we walked back up the stairs and i got a peek outside the window at the courtyard of a high rise apartment, and was reminded of how close packed this country can be. after regrouping with rick, krista and some former students of krista's, we headed out o Hangzhou and found ourselves in number 6, the third street promenade, hangzhou style. great avenue walk street filled with shops of every description. the high light were the woodcarving stores, old antiques and the traditional herbal emporiums. those were cooool. drawers reaching to the sky filled with all matter of herbs and rhizomes. krista bought some herbs for her father, a mixture incased in round balls of white wax for freshness. i dug the tobacco store, and bought a neat looking pipe, some tobacco, and of course, a cuban cigar (I HOPE IT'S CUBAN. it says it's habana, but the price was much much lower than the others. monte cristo, so we'll see. we ended the night in a delightful restaurant second story overlooking the traditional architecture. the manager was pleased to have us there, and even went to another restaurant to get us dumplings (my fault, dumplings are breakfast food only. next i'll be ordering cappuccinos in rome at 5:30 pm.). they bent over backwards and made us wontons of good fortune (speciality of the house ( THE tea was great too.)

oh and the vinegar? served with the dumplings of course. what's soy sauce?

"Ed Gein at the The New York City Horror Film Festival!!!

2004-10-06T19:22:00.000-07:00
The New York City Horror Film Festival

I'm happy to report that "Ed Gein: The Ghoul of Plainfield," produced for New Line's "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" DVD, is playing at the NYC Horror Festival on Sunday, Oct. 24th. Produced by Automat Pictures, directed by Michelle Palmer and edited by yours truly. Amazing artwork by Rafael Ruiz.

Please see their website for more details.
It's good and gross...

NYC Horror Film Festival

My political post of the day.

2004-10-05T18:13:00.000-07:00
No war against terrorism can be won by the barrel of a gun.

It can be fought, surely. But it cannot be won. Northern Ireland and Palestine are examples of this. Because terrorism is not a disease than can simply be 'stamped out'. You cannot kill every terrorist because military actions can only create more. Irregardless of who is 'right', for every man, woman and child killed, there is a bystander or relative who will take arms to avenge. America is not immune to this phenomenon as military recruitment spiked after the massacre of September 11th.

The only way I see to 'win' this war is by ideology. By winning minds and hearts. Not necessarily to convince everyone that America is the saviour, but at least to convince the next generation that the path of terror is wrong. That disputes should not be solved with bloodshed, that more honor comes in valuing life than in taking it.

Therein lies the difficult path, the essential path, the path I feel the world must take.

Bear with, and back to the Surreal LA

2004-10-04T21:18:00.000-07:00
Hello again. I ask my faithful readers who have not yet digested my China Chronicles to bear with me as my server is down. Moving to a new place is stressful, and my creaky old frankenstein PC server doesn't like to move at all. Last check it turned on, but was not responding to any requests. I hope to have it troubleshot in the next day or so.

I plan to migrate my entire webserver and FTP prescence over to a Macintosh platform from the current Windows 2000 server configuration. Why? Well, Win2K is great, and the best Windows distribution I've used (I've not used XP), but every so often, it just clogs up and forces me to manually restart the machine, log in, and restart all non-automatic services. A pain, and not the unattended device I need it to be. Macintosh OS X, as you may or may not know, is based on FreeBSD, a variant of UNIX. UNIX is the standard OS for the majority of servers on the internet and is designed exactly for this kind of thing. There are people out there with Mac Laptops running OS X to do all sorts of everyday things like webbrowsing and email and graphics and word processing and CAD etc, with uptime in months. That means no restarting - ever. The uptime would be longer if you realize the only time these guys restart is to install software updates. The rest of the time they close the lid and put the computer to sleep. Now I just want to run the industry-standard Apache Webserver (which runs over 66% of webservers worldwide, and is built into the OS) and a simple FTP (also built into the OS). So I run the mac, turn on both services in the network control panel (yes, that easy) and leave it alone. I'll periodically post my uptime stats. When I migrate it of course.

Surreal LA.

back to the grind, I'm working late tonight. My current job is an infomercial to fill the time between now and Trace Evidence. Extreme Dental Makeovers. Sounds exciting, but this is an informercial with a soul. My good friend Kathy has been editing and supervising them for some time and they go like this: The team goes to town and advertises that two people will receive a complimentary complete dental makeover. Scores turn out and ten finalists are selected. of those ten, two win and are given the works. The before and afters are amazing, and the receivers are duly thrilled that something that caused them much emotional stress throughout their lives has been changed for the best. We're talking hollywood teeth here. These procedures routinely cost in the 10-20 thousand range, and all chosen are people in need. The entire procedure is taped, with interviews before and after from the doctors and the chosen. The infomercial part is that this becomes a half-hour 'show' that advertises the expertise and work of the local dentist performing the makeovers. the soul part is that people's lives are changed for the better. So I'm happy to do it. It's also a good gig in all the usual places (not to mention close to home. I'm in Santa Monica, and can feel the water!)

The surreal part is that Gary Coleman is working a few doors down and David Duchovny pops in from time to time. Oh the joys of local post houses!

2004-10-03T22:09:00.000-07:00
Moved!

Ahh, the feeling....in my heels. Argh! The old place was a 4th floor walkup and the new has 1 inside. At least now I have a ground floor, where ALL of the boxes went. We hired movers, but anything not insured-therefore all the computer and musical gear- went into my car. Today we spent in the old place, cleaning up the dregs in an attempt to get our deposit back. I am thoroughly destroyed, exhausted and sore in places I didn't know I could be sore in.

But the new place rocks. and the Cat is already accustomed, laying as he does on his back in the middle of the hardwood. It was funny to watch him get used to it, sliding when he expected a stop.

Design Redesign Design

2004-10-01T23:42:00.000-07:00
Yes, it's different..again!

I love the dots, but NONE of my browsers displayed it correctly. So back to minima while I debate an alternative. At least it will display quicker.

2004-10-01T23:07:00.000-07:00
Tomorrow is the big move. I've been throwing things in boxes for almost a week and a half now-which is huge lead time over our other moves- and now the day has come.

finally!!!!

I'll give more reflection later, it's been a tiring day.

Heathers, then and now.

2004-10-01T22:57:00.000-07:00
From Horizon.bloghouse.net

http://horizon.bloghouse.net/archives/000233.html

Big Important Fads

Just saw the dark teen comedy Heathers again for the first time in, like, a decade.

For those who haven't seen it, Heathers is about a high school couple who kill off students who bother them. To cover their tracks they invent elaborate backstories for their prey which lead, inevitably, to said prey's unfortunate suicide.

In hindsight the most interesting element of the film is how, by taking their lives, the two teenagers are somehow magically given the opportunity to write a new (secret) life for their victims that transforms them retroactively in death and in the eyes of the other students. In one case they stage the double-suicide of two football jocks and contrive for the police to find them naked with a bottle of mineral water (realizing that, ironically, everyone will think they were gay on account of the mineral water--this is the 80's, remember). Later, at the funeral, the two "gay lovers" in matching caskets with football helmets on, one of the fathers screams pathetically, "I love my dead gay son!"

But Heathers is not as funny as it used to be and I was surprised when I realized why.

When the movie was made the big hot-button Issue of the Day was, of course, Teen Suicide. It was all over the news, every fresh suicide reported with a grim and proper but also unintentionally morbid air. Teenagers at the time were submitted to a pervasive propaganda blitz designed to "raise consciousness" of the issue. Several pop songs pretended to address the problem, including the outrageously idiotic "Teen Suicide: Don't Do It" which I feel confident in asserting never helped anyone.

It was mass hysteria. Teens were offing themselves left and right, they said. One almost had the feeling that we were on the verge of a new society bereft of teenagers altogether. Statistics were cooked up, support groups formed, teachers trained, and a new social disease was born. Like all social diseases it was So Serious that no one could be suffered to question it; so serious that it merited only the most quiet, most respectful, most concerned tones. It was a good time for platitudes and sham solemnity. It gave everyone's life that little extra gravity which we all appreciate now and again, gave us something to be serious about. Any questioning of the idea or use of less than a reverent tone would immediately spark indignation, or course, this being interpreted as showing insufficient concern for the dead and suffering.

Everyone knew it, no one had to say it, that this epidemic was merely a symptom of our sick society. No one was quite sure what this sickness was, but no one could doubt it was there, and of course it would be the teenagers, those most vulnerable of people, who would be our canaries. The cult of the martyr-teen was born.

Yes, these were heady times to be a teenager. Now that I'm reminded of it, it all seems so strange, like the memory of a dream, triggered by some random smell or shade of blue. I readily forgot that I'd ever experienced it until I saw this movie again.

But, really, this happens all the time, doesn't it? At what point, in the past two or three decades (or five, or six), has American culture not been gripped by some overblown fear, some obsessive fixation, some grand theme, some fear of itself, of some inner corruption that will bring us all to ruin? We certainly are not free of it now.
Posted by Alan Hogue at October 1, 2004 03:24 PM

2004-10-01T15:54:00.000-07:00
Apologies!!!!!

This friday's episode of The China Chronicles has been preempted by my move into a new apartment. Aplogies for any inconvenience this causes, we will pick up next Friday with the exciting adventures of Team Loyd in the Orient!

Thank you!

2004-09-29T13:07:00.000-07:00

Hurricanes as WMD?

This is rich:

http://www.rense.com/general57/wmds.htm

"What the masses of human beings all over the world have not been told is that it is possible to control and manipulate weather with a technology called "SCALER WEAPON TECHNOLOGY" These weapons have other major capabilities that are even more dangerous than atomic weapons. Scaler Weapons could literally destroy the world and it is of the utmost urgency that human beings all over the world must be told of the existence of this devastating technology!"

2004-09-24T16:09:00.000-07:00

The China Chronicles: 8/15/04

Sunday morning found us enjoying the weird mix of Asian and Western influences at the hotel buffet breakfast. Angela opted for the breads and fresh fruit, I went for the steamed buns and my new favorite porridge, Congee. Congee is a liquidy rice porridge that is hopelessly bland by itself, but you spice up with the addition of various flavors and pickled vegatables, meats or tofu. I'd usually go for the roasted peanuts, some tofu, pickled vegetables and some soy sauce or soy vinegar. I soon discovered that vinegar is actually the condiment of choice here, not soy sauce. The dark tea is great, and I sip Angela's coffee. I finally realize that even with all our Starbucks and Coffee Bean & Tea Leafs-or Peets for the true believers-the USA still has some catching up to do in the realm of coffee. Our hotel brew is damn good. Damn good for hotel brew.

Krista met us at the Hotel and we walked to the Shanghai Subway system. The station had a gorgeous fountain and was at the bottom of a deep open place that reminded one of a theater proscenium rather than a subway station. Inside looked very similar to the Washington DC and San Francisco subways, clean, open and quick.

Rick takes us today to Zhongshan Road, known to us anglos as "The Bund". the Bund was the center of western culture in old Shanghai, and it's many old buildings are designed in the styles of colonial powers. It miraculously survived WWII and the destruction of the Japanese-rare in Shanghai-and now is a popular tourist stop for its various shops and night lives as well as it's walkway mall on the banks of the river.

The ride was a blessing as on our day, it's ribald with humidity that fogs my sunglasses as I emerge from the station in front of our first destination, the Peace Hotel.

Founded by an influential Jewish couple at the turn of the century, the hotel was once the only place non-chinese visitors could stay in Shanghai, and its jazz band was the toast of the infamouse Shanghai of the 1920's. Today it retained it's
Art Deco dignity with grand archeitecture and a quiet beauty during the morning even in the face of tour groups. The famous bar was silent with "Shanghai Jazz Band" emblazoned on the wall waiting for the first tip of the evening.

Rick saying "No".

We walked on the riverside of the Bund and took in the sights of a busy river in the third largest harbour in the world. Lots of traffic clogged the river and it was amusing to see the heavily laden barges chug by with parts of their hulls underwater from the weight of their loads.

By this time I am officially sweating like a pig again. I'm still wearing pants, but have discarded my standard undershirt. I'm slightly cooler, but now my short sleeved button down shirt has islands of perspiration and I realize my fear of old sweaty men.

Rick and Krista

Among a section of barking megaphones we choose a river cruise. Up and down the river for mere 25 quai. The boat is nice, filed with foreigners seeking our same goals. Judging from accents, our companions are Australians, Frenchmen and Ger-men. (I actually see very few americans on this trip, but tons of austrailians and germans.)

The tour is relaxing and breathtaking. Shanghai is a big city getting bigger. the Pu Dong industrial area is highlighted and I got plenty of great footage of container cranes and ships ( a pocket fave of mine. I think any crane 4 stories tall with a 4 room control center that rides on rails is coool.) The suspension bridges here are also cool. Most (I think all) that i've seen in china have the suspension cables linked in a line running down the face of the supports, instead of joining a big cable like the golden gate or brooklyn bridge is.. All of them have their name in metallic chinese script over the arch. I realize what strikes me the most about it is the newness. Most great bridges in the us were built during the 20's and 1930's. These are new.

Krista sees me watching her unwrapping her lunch and graciously offers me half. The heat actually takes my appetite away, but I don't want to hurt her feelings and as she expains, she has too much anyway. I later learn that she always has too much and is always ready to share. something else I love about her.

This is my first expeirence wwith what I will later learn is called zong zi; glutinous rice and meat, wrapped in bamboo or lotus leaves and steamed. (this differes from Zhang Ziyi, who is a woman). it's stained brown from the bamboo and sticky as glutinous rice eaten out of a leaf can be. the meat is pungent, and I hope it's lamb in origin, which I could take. my mind closes against the possibilities. It's a bit heavy for for the heat, but it's good.

The tour ends and next we taxi to the Jinmao tower in the Pu Dong New District. JInmao has an observation deck 88 stories up and is the highest point in shanghai Currently the 4th talest building in the world. I never made it to the top of the WTC, and was eager to, ahem, top my empire state experience.

It's tall up there, and cold. which was a relief. I looked out the bright windows and saw city from horizon to horizon. The phrase "Shanghai covers 245 square miles" is made vivid from up top. And everywhere were construction cranes. Most were in the Pu Dong area. I began to understand Shanghai's position as the metropolis of china, and the sweeping changes that cut deeper than a facelift.

55 floors up, the Jinmao hosts a marriot hotel and the cloud nine bar. From the observaion deck, you can peer down ward into the open space, feeling vertigo for 45 floors down. (I have video, but sorry, no pic.)

Rick wanted to hit the cloud nine and we regrouped there, drinking strong alcohol and having desert for lunch, while looking at shanghai from way up. Krista had a cosmopolitan and we watched her flush. i ordered coffee after my blue flame and marked again how goood the coffee was. I came to china for tea but was rediscovering coffee.

We walked the streets to our next destination. most of the streets were wide boulevards, filled with one or two skyscrapers, a direct contrast to shanghai's crowdedness. The pearl tv tower was even cooler close up, as you could see how the archeitecture worked with a tripod branching out from the last globe (what was in the tripod?). what little two story buildings remained were actually being demolished. Progress progresses.

We took the sightseeing tunnel back to the mainland. Now, THIS was a trip. a glass enclosed tram, underground, pulled on a track. the walls flash a multitude of lights and patterns with footage over music. Think a cross between Disney's space mountain and a pink floyd laserlight show those without such cuultural touchstones....well...it was just weird. cool, but weird.

Next was the famous Shanghai friendship store. Set up by the party as a 'showplace for the cultural delights of China', it's a big department store that carries everything the tourist could want to buy. No bargaining allowed, but the prices were good, the selection grand, the antiques guaranteed, and the staff...friendly. It even had a starbucks on the first floor, next to the ginseng and herbal sexual health section. (now why can't they duplicate that in the states? screw my frappucino, i want sexual health!)

We actually made out quite well here. Picked up some tshirts and a great silk robe. While finding my pattern and color in the correct size (this is China, and I'm much arger by their standards,) i amused the help by parading around in the pink robe that did fit: Size XXL, baby. ( I hope to never reach the american counterpart.) Angela found a robe in a beuatiful blue and scored big with ink paintings. i watched the jade and realized that every objet d'art purchase i considered was now made with my cat in mind. "Oh this is gorgeous. Hmm, Musik would topple and break it in...oh, 5 seconds. Ok, now this one is gorgeous...." No jade was purchased, you get what you pay for and the breathtaking pieces carried equally breathtaking prices. Rick found some great antiques and krista some vases as well.

An aside, i had to use the bathroom, but made a hastily retreat when the bathrooms contained not only no toilet paper, but no place in which to put it. (!)

we went to a great shangai restaurant that krista knew and she picked (again) food that we would never have ordered, but after eating will order again.

We then spent some time with more of Ricks friends from the show. Roy was great and taught me how to write chinese! He's a great inferno artist, so if anyone is hiring....

Fully sated and exhausted from the day, we went home and crashed.

View from the Hotel Room, Night & Day.

2004-09-23T22:46:00.000-07:00

"As one ends, the other begins..."

The past weeks have been a flurry with trying to book my next gig. Being freelance, you go from job to job with healthy points of unemployment between. After returning from China, I booked anything I could get. I did two nights on "Carmeggedon" for Film Garden/Spike TV, then a story pass on "Eminem A.K.A." for Xenon Entertainment. The next 14 days found me at Route 66 productions, editing a catalog 'sizzle' reel for New Line. That went well, but tired me out.

During all of this I was held in wait by the prospects of working on a Union feature again. My good friend Greg is the 1st Assistant for "Annapolis", an upcoming Disney pic starring James Franco of Spider-man fame. Greg and I had been trying to work together since I assisted him on "The Sweet Spot", a short film by Victoria Foyt and Jagtoria Films. 'Annapolis' had a spot for an apprentice editor that was mine if they could swing it.

Now in the grand scheme of things, Apprentice Editor is the starting point on the career ladder of an editor. Going from Editor back to Apprentice would mean halving my pay and really starting over. Why would I do such a thing? Because the entertainment business is really a bunch of sandboxes. No matter how high you climb in one, you're an unknown to another. When offered a chance to play in the feature film sandbox, I expected to take a step back in order to pay my dues and prove my worth. As it was, taking a step back on 'Annapolis' would involve a big step back. The benefits would be new networking opportunities, and after a good show of work, future employment- i.e. Welcome to this Sandbox. Also, working guild means full medical and pension benefits. Something I have not enjoyed in the non-union world.

At the same time Greg offered 'Annapolis', 'Trace Evidence' called and asked for me back. Now this is an entirely different situation. 'Annapolis' I would start at the bottom, and strive to prove my worth by working hard doing thankless organizational work, one step above a grunt, and most likely that because of my relationship to the 1st. 'Trace Evidence' was where I cut two episodes that were wonderfully receieved, pulled ratings highest in its time slot (basic cable), and now they were asking if would come back - offering 3 more episodes at my full editors rate.

Interestingly, the schedules would coincide. My usual freelance gigs run 2 to 6 weeks at a time. 'Annapolis' would be from October to June. 8 Months. 'Trace' would be from November to June. 7 Months. This is huge. To book most of a year is monumental. Not only in the financial stability that affords you, but in the careful political maintaining of relationships with all your other clients. If you're going to be out of the game for 8 months, you need to be cool with everyone so they're there when you get back.

Now I was ready to do 'Annapolis'. Give up $$$ in the five figure amount to start at the bottom of the big sandbox. One catch: The crew situation had not been finalized. If it was up to Greg, the job is mine. But it's not up to him, not %100 at least.

'Annapolis' is shooting film, and there were three scenarios proposed on how to handle the film in post.

1. Print film Dallies and sound dailles separately on Magnetic tape stock 'Mag'. This is how it was done in the old days and it rock solid works. It allows for the most comprehensive organization and control as all elements go through the editing room first. I would sync the mag to the film dailles, build daille rolls by breaking down the lab roll order into scene roll order, then send the synched, built rolls to the lab to be telecined onto video tape. Then I or the assistant would digitize the daillies into the Avid for the editor to edit. During this time, a codebook would be built and maintained by myself and the crew. This allows the director and producer to screen film daillies on a big screen. ( All you film buffs know that an eye guesture is more powerful when it's 20 feet tall than 20 inches. Grand decisions are made on that.)
But this method is also time consuming, expensive, and really out of date.

2. Print Magless daillies. This means the audio is sent on DAT tapes or other digital media (depends on the sound mixer). Sometimes this is delivered on DVDs that I simply copy onto the Avid. The film is telecined separately and I digitize into the avid. Then I sync the audio in the avid. It's now ready for the editor to edit with. For screenings, I build audio sequences that match the daillie rolls, and export to Protools onto a removable harddrive. This harddrive is sent to the projection room where it is synched to the projector. Screening ensues. Everyone happy. This scenario keeps me on an Avid- my strength, not film- and gives me the job.

3. They do this locally in Philadephia where they are shooting. I do not have the job.

(Yes, 90% of editing is bookkeeping. I say this sincerely. Because when I started editing I hated it, and now that I'm older when I don't see it done properly - I hate that.)

Greg and the editor proposed these scenarios and were awaiting the word from the executive producer. Being prudent, I delayed my acceptance of 'Trace' until I heard. This is the golden rule of freelancing that I was testing: "Go for the Job on the table, not in the air". Keep in mind that if neither happened, I'd have a nice gaping 8 month hole to fill.

Days turned into a week. A week turned into two. I had at this time pushed back 'Trace' three times. I was very unhappy. The length this was taking forebodes ill, and I like the people at 'Trace', I did not want to give them the run around. Greg is also unhappy because we like each other, and the start date was nearing - decisions needed to be made based on this.

Finally, after some more frantic calling, the execs returned an answer. They will take neither scenario, but will set up a separate crew at the lab in new york to handle everything. The job was not mine.

Disappointed, yes. But mostly relieved. Now I could go on with my life! I told Greg not to worry about it, if this one didn't work, we'll try again next time. After all, I don't mind working with good people on a top-rated Tv show after all.

So now I start on November the 14th. I'm to work on a variety of shows throughout the period. I'm happy. And for now, I pack!

2004-09-23T20:09:00.000-07:00

Ughhhh...

Feeling bad. The garage sale took the wind out of me, and I've been fighting a cold since. Need to pack...

Ahh, theraflu

2004-09-22T11:07:00.000-07:00

The Lord of The Rings Symphonic Premiere

Last night I was treated to a wonderful show as a belated birthday present by Raf and David. It was Howard Shore's music of the Lord of the Rings, performed by the Hollywood Bowl orchestra, featuring John Mauceri, conductor; Susan Egan, vocalist; Carolyn Betty, vocalist; Eugene Olea, boy soprano
Chapman University Choir & Hollywood Bowl High School Honor Choir, William Hall, director; Los Angeles Children's Chorus, Anne Tomlinson, director.

From the program: "Howard Shore's epic score realizes the saga of Middle-earth in a grand six-movement symphony presented with original art by Alan Lee and John Howe."

It was truly sublime. Complimenting the music was the fact that we somehow had scored 3rd row box seats -seats so close I could see the sequins on Ms. Egan's dresses. It was a great piece of music and it a grand illustration on how music for movies can be readapted to stand on its own merits without the aid of the screen. Please note that the entire 6 movement piece was around 2 hours in length, so detractors of the length of the films cannot complain..

2004-09-22T00:32:00.000-07:00

History of the Transformers

The last we checked Optimus Prime had some Dinobots and they totally took him down but didn’t finish him off like Megatron told them too. Since then we haven’t kept up with the Transformer universe, but luckily someone has put together a 68 page history. Jeez, there really is more than than meets the eye.

http://www.engadget.com/entry/1375152272761463/

2004-09-20T11:24:00.000-07:00
Baby Names

The names in my kid’s kindergarten class: Brennan, Edinah-Rose, Fionnuala, Gabriella, Isaiah, Isaiah, Jacob, Joseph, Hennessy, Michaela, Nicolas, Noah, Patrick, Ronan, Sam, Sean, Sophie, Sophie. That’s poetry of a kind, written in the language of parents’ dreams. Sitting down together to start the day, still unsmudged for a few quiet minutes, words can’t describe their beauty. Think you might be able to match ethnic groups with names? Forget it.

From http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2004/09/19/Fionnuala

2004-09-20T02:26:00.000-07:00
Mac Programs I'm digging....

KisMAC
http://binaervarianz.de/projekte/programmieren/kismac/
“KisMAC is a free stumbler application for MacOS X, that puts your card into the monitor mode. Unlike most other applications for OS X we are completely invisible and send no probe requests. KisMAC supports third party PCMCIA cards with Orinoco and PrismII chipsets, as well as Cisco Aironet cards. “
Stumbler means that your airport card will scan for and detect ALL WiFi networks within range with details (encrypted or not, etc). Perfect for being on the road (wardriving).

Jbidwatcher
http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/9068
Auction tracking and sniping for ebay. Java-based so fast and cross=platform. And FREE!!

PGP
http:// Www.pgpi.com
Of course..The free version lets you encrypt and decrypt with your own keys. Since the government gave ALL ISP’s the right to look at our email without court order (it’s a felony to do the same with snail mail), I recommend everyone look at encryption for privacy. My public keys are on the keyserver for those who desire it.

Firefox
Www.mozilla.org
The new preview release seems faster than Safari, definitely more customizable.

DEVONthink
Www.devon-technologies.com

Now my mac-based standard knowledgebase. A collector for all my ideas and writing. Shareware, but looks worth it, tons of features. This replaces mybase from wjjsoft, which I used extensively on the windows-side. Worth a look if you’re tired of too many stickies and huge MS word files.

NetNewsWire
Www.ranchero.com

Screw the web for reading blogs and news. NYTimes has RSS, even I do on my blog. Get this. It works.

Zinio
Www.zinio.com

Came with the powerbook. Now I can read my magazines on my computer and stop killing trees. (At least the ones that don’t deserve it. Now that damn Western Cedar.....)

Skype
Www.skype.com

I spoke with a friend in Osaka Japan for an hour for free. She sounded like she was on a mic in the next room. She called her family’s landlines in oklahoma for an hour and a half. Cost her $2 Euros. Nuff said.

Abiword
Www.abisource.com

Free word processor for all platforms. The Mac client is alpha, but I know the windows one well and it’s a great MSWord replacement. Of course, if you’re using Devonthink, then you can already read and write Msword docs...

Pathfinder
Www.pathfinder.com

The finder on steriods. Preview anything, terminal anything. Process end anything. The drop box alone is great.

2004-09-19T21:35:00.000-07:00
Selling the House

We had our yard sale yesterday. But to tell it's story I need to go earlier.... (groans)

The Wife and I have moved together 3 times, this will be the fourth. Each time we have used the situation to whittle down the accumulated dross of our lives. Super spring cleaning you might say. The first time was the most painful, as the Wife cleaned out all my old Hawaiian Shirts (handmedowns from my father, threadbare) and most of the flannel I used to so-desperately align myself with the grunge movement. (Hey, to a color-blind-typical-male like myself, plaid goes with everything. But we were able to rent the UHaul with the money and made it out to California alive.

We stayed on couches for a month, so the second time was from the Uhaul storage center to our first apartment. The third move happened so fast we didn't even have time to properly pack. Most of the crap in our office went into boxes and the perennial project was to go through and organize those boxes. This took a year.

Which leads us to this move. As I'd mentioned previously, we were in the market for a new place as the current building has been showing its age in various ways (plumbing not working, some kinda wood eating bug showing up....). We're also looking for places to be loud. Angela dances and I play music, so together, there's a lot of noise going on. Noise that cannot go on with a child living directly downstairs. So we found the great townhouse we've moving into on May 1st, and keeping in form, we had the yard sale.

I've been working every day and night this week, so friday night we got together to really pull everything off. We finished at 1:30 in the morning, woke up at 5:30 in the morning and had most of the stuff downstairs by 6:30am. Our ad in craigslist said 7am-1pm.

The DVDs went at 6:45am. All of them. To a single lady. Apparently people in LA troll for discs, as I had received multiple emails prior to the sale about them. But heck, it's not 7am and we already made $100 bucks.

nice...........

The day went too quickly. And we did very very well. Which is suprising. Most of our prices were between 25 cents to 5 dollars. We had a few big-ticket items (TV, Computer monitors), but even those went quickly. Aside from the 60$ for the 30" TV (plus stand), nothing we had was over $30 dollars. After the monitors sold, nothing we had was over $20. All books were 25c and frames were a buck.

We did very very well. I won't say the $, but I will say that for this move we are hiring movers, we get 4 guys for $100 an hour, and I think our total cost will be covered by what we got yesterday.

Which makes me very very happy.

And now, this week? I pack!!!

China Chronicles: 8/14/2004

2004-09-17T13:12:00.000-07:00
"The force at the core leading our cause is the Chinese Communist Party."

I'm writing this as I sit on my bed at the Hotel Equatorial, Yanan Road, Shanghai. Chinese TV is on, and on my

right is my copy of the little red book, "Quotations from Chairmain Mao Tse-Tung".

The day has been a blur. A very sweaty, hot, fragrant blur. Searching for metaphors, I've landed on this: If Chinatown took over New York and moved the whole city to Houston, Texas., you'd have Shanghai. Oh, and tell London to move in too. Shanghai is packed with people and is always moving. You literally can be run over if you stand still too long and our taxi rides were intermittently nail-biting as residents would step directly in the path of our speeding VW Santana
.
But we made it alive. "Xie Xie!". (Thank you!)

After our plane arrived last night, we were too late to meet with friends. Restless, we went out for a drink and hit two great spots,

The Long Bar and

Malone's. Both spots are fairly foreigner friendly, with plenty of advertisements in english and plenty of english-speakers to read them. Actually, pretty good introductions for a couple of greenhorns like ourselves. The Long is semi-famous (great t-shirts) and a part of the Portman Ritz-Carlton (fastfact: say "Portaman" to any taxi driver and he'll take ya there") Moving on to Malone's, the party really started. There was the best cover band I have ever heard. Three chinese guys and two girls played every 80's cover song note-perfect, slam-bam after the other. Women were dancing on the table, and since the water in China is suspect...

"Tiger Pijou (Beer), Xie Xie!" So to the strains of "Oh! Tainted Luvve..." and "Come on Eileen", Angela and I danced our first night away in Shanghai.

We slept like logs and awoke around 8ish. Rick met us in the lobby with his friend Krista. (A note about Krista: She worked with Rick on Flatland and now is teaching English in Shanghai. She has acted as surrogate translator, sometime bargainer, and language teacher teacher for us. She ROCKS. )
Rick and Krista

Rick took the lead. Our search, a certain street vendor for breakfast. We passed many alleys and crossed many streets until we came to the place Rick remembered. It's one of those alleyways you always read about, but were glad you didn't encounter yourself. It was great, a slice of real china. people going about their business crowded together with clothes hanging overhead , bikes and mopeds roaring thru and the occasional auto and foreigner. We found the family and asked them to prepare the breakfast for us. The father took out a ball of dough that seemed to be made of rice, he spread some oil on his countertop and kneaded the dough into a log, then pinched off 4 small balls, one for each of us. He flattened the ball, added some chopped greens, pinched, and rolled again with a little more oil. He then turned the heat up on his charcoal kettle and added fresh oil to the griddle on top. Each ball went into the oil to fry and was flattened by an iron tool that spread the dumpling to a perfect circumference. After frying lightly on both sides, he cracked an egg into the oil, let it cook for a second, then moved the dumpling on top of the egg, pressed and finished cooking, removing the dumplings to a plate, where he dabbled on two kinds of sauce, folded and placed in plastic bags for us. the cost was 15c for a fresh meal. it was greasy, and goood.

Now the treasures of shanghai street food are not without their dangers. There are no department of health signs here, and cleanliness is often an option not exercised. I loved the food, and the people were sweet, but for the gorehounds, here you go: The street had vendors selling meat and fish outside, so that smell, along with various human effluvia haunted the senses (People would brush their teeth on the sidewalk, using the gutter as a spitoon- I can only imagine the rest). The workspace for our cook was a cart containing an iron round firebox and griddle, then a metal countertop with plastic. the oil was definitely not new and bits of old foodstuffs was scattered throughout the counter top. He took out various bowls and plates to work with that looked like only a quick wipe was applied to them. He wiped his hands on a rag before working and I'm not sure i felt better about that after seeing the condition of the rag. I'm convinced that the only reason i didn't get sick afterwards was that everything was fried, killing off anything that could be hitching a ride into my body, (I attribute my survival of the dumplings i purchased afterwards to an Act of God.) But this is only my western-fed stomach talking. We of the USA have been spoiled with the hygienic nature of our food, and our immune systems are unable to cope with the bacteriums present in foods around the world, (How many non-americans do you know who get Monteczuma's Revenge while traveling?) But overall, the breakfast was amazing, and is something I will try to recreate in my own kitchen. After I wash my hands of course, three times, with soap.

--
"CD! DVD! WATCH!" say three times fast, repeat.

Sated, we took a taxi to our next destination: Xiangyang Market.

This is an open air conflagration of stalls and booths off the main drag. Even befiore we entered the market we were assaulted by hordes crying out "CDDVDWATCH!" and pushing laminated sheets of different watch brands or business cards under our noses. This is usually not a recommended avenue, as the goods are not only illegal, but almost always copies or bootlegs. We cruised the market and did a bangup job Xmas shopping. China has something I wish was more standard in America: Bargaining. After a shakey start, Angela and I have taken to this very well. The transaction would go something like this:

"You like? "

"Shi De, Duoshou qian? (Yes, how much?)

Then the proprietor would take out a calculator (standard equip for international trade) and type in the price. (China uses arabic numerals as well as chinese numerals, but the names and sign language are not the same). For example, the proprietor would type 200 ¥ (Yuan).

"No,no,no,no", I say. And i type 100¥

"Oooohhhhh!" They say, rolling eyes and having a consterned discussion to their friends. We go back in forth and setting on a price more than 100, but less than 200 and we're both happpy. Of course, I got taken more than a few times, but I was learning. (And that serves me right, stupid american!) Definitely look at this blog entry. He gets it right.

Over time, our bags got bigger and the heat got worse. I've been sweating like a stuck pig throught this trip and I hope to lose 10 lbs by the time I'm done. Rick takes us by the bar district

( I see a pattern beginning to form). We find a table at The Blue Frog .

We have a beer and lunch, mainly a western lunch because that's what the bar serves. The blug frog is cool though, they have a 100 shot challenge to get your name on the wall. Next time, perhaps.. Next we take a taxi to the treasure trove of the day, the Dongtai Road antique market.

Similar in structure to Xiangyang, here we have one long road with shops and carts in the street. It's very quiet and everywhere are vendors and residents playing checkers or majjhong. The houses are very old, and you start to get a sense of China before modernization. I'd rather have gone here first as they have stall after stall of amazing antiques and, of course, knockoffs. I realize knocks offs as I buy a chess set, that I discover exists in the next 10 stalls. Oh well, we got some amazing things though: Mao watches, Mao plates, and even my own copy of the famous "Little Red Book", and here, from which the quotation at the head of this blog came from.

Evidently the revolution can be bought, and at a good price too if you bargain well.

After browsing and shopping for most of the day, we went home to rest, utterly destroyed, before meeting two more of Ricks friends for dinner. Natalie and Marilyn showed up about an hour later to take us out for real Shanghaiese food.

We had eveything from jellyfish salads, to baby octopus to steamed Mandarin fish, and it was all amazing. The beer flowed well too. Later we walked to a chinese coffee house where a small dessert came out larger than we expected!

We were supposed to get caffeinated for the rest of the evening, but we were all wiped, so we went back to the hotel. All in all, an amazing intro to a great city.

Chinese Communist Political History

China Chronicles: 8/12-8/13

2004-09-16T23:29:00.000-07:00
China is Coming....

Hey guys, my second installment of the China Chronicles is almost completed. look for it around midday (pacific time).

Thanks!

2004-09-16T11:01:00.000-07:00
A DAY IN THE LIFE OF JOE REPUBLICAN

Joe gets up at 6 a.m. and fills his coffeepot with water to prepare his morning coffee. The water is clean and good because some tree-hugging liberal fought for minimum water-quality standards. With his first swallow of coffee, he takes his daily medication. His medications are safe to take because some stupid commie liberal fought to insure their safety and that they work as advertised. All but $10 of Joe's medications are paid for by his employer's medical plan because some liberal union workers fought their employers for paid medical insurance - now Joe gets it too. He prepares his morning breakfast, bacon and eggs. Joe's bacon is safe to eat because some girly-man liberal fought for laws to regulate the meat packing industry. In the morning shower, Joe reaches for his shampoo. His bottle is properly labeled with each ingredient and its amount in the total contents because some crybaby liberal fought for his right to know what he was putting on his body and how much it contained.

Joe dresses, walks outside and takes a deep breath. The air he breathes is clean because some environmentalist wacko liberal fought for laws to stop industries from polluting our air. He walks to the subway station for his government-subsidized ride to work. It saves him considerable money in parking and transportation fees because some fancy-pants liberal fought for affordable public transportation, which gives everyone the opportunity to be a contributor.

Joe begins his work day. He has a good job with excellent pay, medical benefits, retirement, paid holidays and vacation because some lazy liberal union members fought and died for these working standards. Joe's employer pays these standards because Joe's employer doesn't want his employees to call the union. If Joe is hurt on the job or becomes unemployed, he'll get a worker compensation or unemployment check because some stupid liberal didn't think he should lose his home because of his temporary misfortune.

Its noontime and Joe needs to make a bank deposit so he can pay some bills. Joe's deposit is federally insured by the FSLIC because some godless liberal wanted to protect Joe's money from unscrupulous bankers who ruined the banking system before the Great Depression. Joe has to pay his Fannie Mae-underwritten mortgage and his below-market federal student loan because some elitist liberal decided that Joe and the government would be better off if he was educated and earned more money over his lifetime.

After work this evening, Joe plans to visit his father at his farm home in the country. He gets in his car for the drive. His car is among the safest in the world because some America-hating liberal fought for car safety standards. He arrives at his boyhood home. His was the third generation to live in the house financed by Farmers' Home Administration because bankers didn't want to make rural loans. The house didn't have electricity until some big-government liberal stuck his nose where it didn't belong and demanded rural electrification. Joe is happy to see his father, who is now retired and lives on Social Security and a union pension because some wine-drinking, cheese-eating liberal made sure he could take care of himself so Joe wouldn't have to.

Joe gets back in his car for the ride home, and turns on a radio talk show. The radio host keeps saying that liberals are bad and conservatives are good. He doesn't mention that the beloved Republicans have fought against every protection and benefit Joe enjoys throughout his day. Joe agrees: "We don't need those big-government liberals ruining our lives! After all, I'm a self-made man who believes everyone should take care of themselves, just like I have."

2004-09-16T08:51:00.000-07:00
Whoops! In my haste to launch the new template of this blog, I neglected the sitemeter code, so the last month or so, I've watched my readership fall to a flat zero. Encouraging, huh? Thanks to Molly, I've fixed the oversight and now feel back in the game.

of course, my readership may still be zero, but at least that would be wholly my own fault.

Johnny Ramone of 'The Ramones' Dies at 55

2004-09-16T08:30:00.000-07:00
Yahoo! News - Johnny Ramone of 'The Ramones' Dies at 55

Gabba Gabba Hey

2004-09-15T23:14:00.000-07:00
"It's gonna be hothothothot!"

Famous words, from my producer, at 9:30pm. Ahhs, the joys. Well, it is going to be hot hot hot, just another day to go for it.
Its been harder than I thought, I've been rusty on sizzle reels. For everyone else, a sizzle reel goes like this: Marketing department of major studio desires 1-3 minute video that shows off: How cool the studio is, How cool the movies they have are, How cool the new movies are going to be. Basically a "This is why you: Do business with us/Want to do business with us".
For our reel, said studio wants to show that before they had their current amazinglysuccessfullneverhappenagainmovie, they were very cool to begin with. (Another reel will show how cool they're going to be after the amazinglysuccessfullneverhappenagainmovie.)

Our reel goes like this:
1. Music Bed: "Let's get it started" by Black Eyed peas.
2. 40 Trailers from their best films of the last 20 years.
3. Selected clips from DVD's of their best films of the last 20 years (often overlapping the trailers).
4. Scripted Voiceover outlining how cool everything is. ("Ass-kicking, heartbreaking, kung-fu fighting, pipe smoking, rumpshaking, tearjerking, moneymaking, oscarwinning....etc.)

My job is to take all the elements, use the script as a guide, and forge my own audio/visual journey. Total running time (TRT)? Around a minute and a half. Make sure there are recognizable stars, and that their screen time is recognizable. Generally no less than 20 frames on screen, but to keep the energy up, no more than 2 seconds. You can do more, if there's a great line said (but a few words only), or less if you want that frenetic MTV flash-frame effect. Effective, but an effect nonetheless. Brad Pitt, yes. Gwyenth Paltrow, yes. Christian Slater no, he's over. Geena Davis no, over. Dustin Hoffman, yes, but he's old, so don't put him last or first. And don't repeat if you can. Yes, they made seven installments, but we really only need to see the bad guy once. Show how diverse they are, add minority stars liberally. Add some sex, add some drama, add some comedy. Keep it to the beat. Make sure the aspect ratios are in sync, keep it to the beat, make your cuts on the downbeat of the drum, start that VO 6 frames later, so it doesn't fight the vocal. Having a hard time transitioning from one defined section to another, use a swish sound effect, and add a white flash (6 frames, 100% white, centered on the cut.) Even though each section is 15 seconds long, it has a beginning a middle and an end. You're telling a complete story, in a minute and a half.
For this work, I will work standard 10 hours, occasionally 8, more likely 12. I will have in my 'office' (small room, ok AC, no windows) a $50,000 dollar tape deck, a $2500 dollar Computer, a $2000 dollar TV, a $1000 harddrive, two $100 dollar Monitors, a $200 desk (too small), and I will sit on a $20 office chair (back broken).
I will get paid handsomely for it (Form 1099), but the whole job will take 14 days, and then you're done. Have a week off, pack the house, get another gig. Wash, Rinse, Repeat.

Fun, huh?

2004-09-15T11:08:00.000-07:00
me.

Found this program a while back, and it looks like it's getting some press (NYTimes, baby). What it is is free telephone, anywhere in the world, from you computer. It's by the same guys who wrote Kazaa, but so far I haven't been telemarketed by a porn site. I tried it out with Raf and Ian locallly, and the quality was as good as my GSM phone (with the same number of drop outs). I'd love to try it out with friends out of state or country.

Skype me at theregent76

2004-09-15T10:21:00.000-07:00
Trying out the weblog editor in NetNewsWire. Apparently the blogger API doesn't allow titles or URLs to be transmitted, so I'll be pronouncement-less for now.

Life is starting to settle down a bit. It helps to be only working one job. The cut is going well, fitting a lot of movies into one place, and we hope to output today. yay! Though at this point I want to murder final cut pro.

Don't get me wrong, I've loved the program in the past and have been a staunch evangelist for its features and price, but lately, it's been annoying me for two reasons.
1. Output. It takes nearly a day to output complex and long sequences. You have to render to disk a complete movie of your show, reimport, then output that. Combined render time on a mixed, color-corrected 60-min show is in the hours. FCP's main competition, the venerable Avid, has an output tool that just works.
2. This latest edition of Aurora Pipe and Final Cut Pro HD has been crashing over 70 times for me in the last 3 days. Trust me, I've tried everything I can think of to get it to work. FCP 4.5 HD is a dog anyway that has many many bugs. The unforgivable part is that it is nearly 9 months old, it's numerable bugs are well documented and Apple has yet to release a bug-fix update. For MS word, that would be ok, but for mission-critical applications like Television and Film, where deadlines are a constant worry, it's inexcusable to have a program broken for so long. I know many people who have returned their softwares and bought competing systems in the lag. Apple needs to wake up and realize that if you service a high-tech industry like the media, you can't force us to rely on yearly updates. Do that for features, for functionality, fix it now.

2004-09-13T10:44:00.000-07:00
Monday starting a new week and a lot has happened. Today I finished work on the "Eminem A.K.A." documentary. I had been doing a story pass on the doc during the evenings the past week and over the Labor day holiday. I am glad it's finished, as now I'll have my nights back again! Daytime I've been editing a sizzle reel for New Line Pictures. We're doing two: 1 on their catalog, and one on the upcoming slate. Basically "We were contenders before Lord of the Rings, and we're contenders after Lord of the Rings." Of course, we're very happy to show LOTR in the meantime...

And today I'll start the packing and the selling off of stuff in prep for our move. Anyone want a studio-grade rack? 30" tv? DVDs?

China Journal: Traveling Part 1

2004-09-09T23:52:00.000-07:00
Welcome, dear readers, to my first blog entry of my recent trip to China. I blogged everyday and my wish is to make this a weekly post that can hopefully bring some of the journey to you. Or at least a good laugh.
The trip really began a day earlier. True to form, Angela and I were not ready, and were facing a day/night of last-minute packing and haranging. I had planned to get up at 6am and start the final loads of laundry, a plan that never happened. The laundry got pushed further and further back, and finally we realized it was 10pm and it wasn't done yet. After a quick brainstorming session, AND furious driving by yours truly, We settled in the Launderland on Motor, up the block from a bar. Most laundromats in our neighborhood close by 9:30 (heathens!) and this was the only one, though they said they closed at midnight. 11:30 and 4 loads are spinning away. Our dear friends Eric, Tye, and Brad wanted to send us off with a goodbye nightcap. And there is nothing quite like a merlot with snickers over a spinning maytag.
The closing cleaners kicked us out at midnight, so we travelled to Eric and Tye's to use their dryers and playstation. 3 hours later the laundry is finished and I'm up three points on Jedi Knights. We dash home to finish packing. We actually did pretty swell in the packing department. This is the longest trip and the furthest distance I have ever been on, and we packed the smallest ever.
Four hours later, we awaken and depart for the airport. Upon arrival we discover two things:
1. Security is a loooong line.
2. Our flight is delayed 4 hours.
Four Hours......I miss my bed already. We meet up with Rick and after getting our bags repacked by security (thank you TSA quicklocks!), we have bad airport chinese food and check out the terminal.

I had my first encounter with a duty free store today. I had visions of a modern pirates paradise, but to my dismay it was little more than Macy's with a liquor store added. Every type of hard liquor, tobacco, Gucci and fragrance was to be found, and i reminded myself that duty free meant tax free, not discount. trust me, the Scotch selection was great, but I can get better prices at my local Trader Joe's. But, if I was getting last-minute gifts, I understand the attraction. And I did get to see the largest box of cigs I'd ever seen.
Four hours of chilltime later, and we board the plane.
(I should mention at this point that I've had a chronic back ache. The following was written while uner the influence of such pain. The week prior I had my birthday party at Sambala. Although it was a blast and I got to play surdo for everyone, I held the drum wrong and pretty much banged my lower back out of alignment. It was so bad that I even went to a chiropractor before the trip so I could walk! Chiropractor was great, but my back was (and is today) still touchy. After dragging bags through the airport, I was in need of lying prone, which I did on the floor until we boarded. Once we boarded, well, that's another story.)
.....Time Passes.....
Well, it's 9:30 PM West Coast time, and the trip so far has been interesting. I am reminded how people over 5'7'' should not travel. or rather, cannot. The seats on this Airbus 337 are generous enough in their legroom, realizing correctly that a raising of the forward seat height will allow the legs to fully extend. However, any gains are offset by the reduction in horizontal space. The next time I fly, I need to be 20 lbs lighter, at least. All controls are on the inside edge of the right seat rest, and when i plug in my headphones, my hips grind away at the connection. Sleep is difficult for me, I never could slumber while seated, unless I had plenty of alcohol coursing through my veins. It's a tantalizing option, but as i need to deal with hotels, taxis and Chinese cash soon after landing, hitting the martinis is not a good idea. (And besides, who enjoys a martini in a plastic cup?) I also have my bladder to consider. I will share only this: I went to the bathroom in the back of the aircraft and I had to be acrobatic.
But, that's only the usual encumbrances when flying coach. Upgrades were available, but for an extra $1000. Today's aircraft give the flyer a variety of entertainment options. The seat controls give you multiple channels of audio; music from country's greatest hits to top 40's greatest hits. Often a movie is shown. The joys I find are in discovering how each country takes this basic paradigm and alters it for their cultural identity. Watching the Chinese in-flight entertainment was a trip. First there was French gags and pranks. Montreal's own funniest home videos.. Tom and Jerry also took a turn on the small screen. I realize both work because there is no dialogue, anyone can watch and laugh. For the expat's returning home, there's been a chinese drama for the last 3 hours, and I can't tell if it's changed topics. Every so often i look up and its either a guy/girl looking deeply into the eyes, or a martial arts exhibition that too closely mirrors anime.
So that's my reflections on China: travel stage 1. the damn sleeping pills aren't working and i know it's going to hit me (3 hours of sleep and all) when i get off the plane.
.....Time Passes.....
I just experienced a bit of reverse cultural-ism. You know how kids outside America know the culture from watching TV? I think i just recognized Tokyo bay from all my geek post-apocalyptic anime viewing. I think so. There was a lot less development than there was in Patlabor 2, and oh yeah, no robots.

Damn.

TV says we're flying over Osaka. Hi, Molly. I waved. Old Nippon is definitely an island; lots of lights then...black.

.....Time Passes.....
It's now 13 and a half hours since I left the states. Crossing the dateline, I've lost a day. The good news is that I'm still alive. after nearly 7 hours of fitful tossing and turning mixed with killing time, I finally fell asleep lying against the bulkhead. (all other available lay-down seats have long since been claimed. I had one, but gave it up to cuddle with the missus. Such are the sacrifices for love.) I awoke to an announcement that we'll be landing in another couple of hours (!Aaargh!) and that dinner will be served.

Lunch: "Pork Rice or Chicken Noodle?"
"Chicken" I said.
45 minutes later, "VACANCY" I read.

Dinner: "Beef Rice or Pork Noodle?" "Beef, please."
"To drink?"
"Hot Tea please."
"mmm...Sprite?"
"Yeah, Sprite's great."

We're were supposed to go out for dinner in Shanghai with friends, but that possibility was lost. Our flight, already delayed from a 1:30pm departure to 3:30pm, was delayed even further before we finally left the ground. (My favorite: "We will now be boarding all rows for China Eastern Flight 586"........Standing in line 15 minutes later, "We will now be boarding business only, everyone else please sit down until your row is called." 5 minutes later.."We will now be boarding all rows, please have your passport and boarding passes ready."

Hey, the hot tea does rock. this being China and all.

Angela has finally slept as well. I declined to wake her for dinner, as we both got next to no sleep the night packing previous. But now I'm trapped against the bulkhead. Hmm, better slow down on that tea. Hmm, maybe it won't make a difference. The air in here is quite quite dry, and has been making my nose and ears difficult to work with. Moisture is good. Ironic that I've been reading the dune series. My kingdom (well, seat 48a) for a still suit!

They're playing the tom and jerry reel for the third time. gets better every time.....
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And that's my grumbly travel blog for the first day. Tune in next week for Shanghai: Day One, Plus more pictures!