Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Katie’s long goodbye

Regular readers know I’m a Katie fan; unfortunately I was en route home from Prague so I missed it:

Throughout her record 15-year tenure, Ms. Couric was easy to love and at times fun to hate, but she was always the most vibrant personality on network television. Her popularity helped keep NBC’s “Today” the top-rated morning program for more than a decade, and it is still the most profitable show on television. NBC, a network that has no shame when it comes to milking finales and farewells, pulled out all the stops yesterday. The three-hour Katiefest, which even she described as a “celebration of moi, ad nauseam,” was by turns maudlin, mocking, touching and over the top.

I hold out hope that she’ll do something great at CBS.

Lessig on Free Use again

I’m listening to a podcast of the Princeton University - Microsoft Intellectual Property Conference panel on Creativity and I.P. Law: How Intellectual Property Law Fosters or Hinders Creative Work. In it Larry Lessig discusses, again, the demise of Free Use. 

The freedom to read - in a library; from a borrowed book or from a book you bought - is a “free use.” In the digital realm, he explains, because every use requires a copy, every time we engage in any use it must be justified as either a “licensed use” or a “fair use.”

Once there were three kinds of uses: “free use,” “licensed use,” and “fair use.” If the content industry’s view prevails, in the world they’d like to construct, one day soon there will no longer be “free use.” There will only be “licensed use” or “fair use.”

This, I agree, is a serious, significant and culturally tragic loss. I urge you to hear his message too.

Batwoman comes out

I’m at a T-Mobil Hotspot in the Frankfurt airport; I’ll be home later today. Here I happened upon an International Herald Tribune
article reporting that the new Batwoman ain’t what she used to be:

Batwoman was introduced in 1956, but she was one of several, often silly additions to the Bat family, including Ace the Bat-Hound (1955), Bat-Mite (1959) and Bat-Girl (1961). In her latest incarnation, Batwoman is a wealthy, buxom lipstick lesbian who has a history with Renee Montoya, an ex-police detective who has a starring role in “52.”

Could Batman and Robin be far behind?

LATER: More from the BBC.

Thursday, May 25, 2006

Scribble, scribble, scribble!!

On the occasion of Lloyd Bentsen’s death, Libby Copeland looks at snappy comebacks.

When Bentsen told a baby-faced Dan Quayle, “Senator, you’re no Jack Kennedy,” he was following in the tradition of expert quipsters Oscar Wilde, Dorothy Parker and Winston Churchill, whose lines are still remembered. Perfect put-downs transcend their settings. In politics, the successful put-down supersedes any issues of substance, just as on the playground. There are certain yo-momas from which no one can recover.

Ronald Reagan was good at these.

“There you go again,” he said in a 1980 debate with Jimmy Carter, accusing the president of misrepresenting his record. The line was accompanied by a smile and a patronizing shake of the head, and the audience laughed, sealing the deal. Reagan: 1, Carter: 0.

Those of us who rely on reason to vanquish our opponents find the perfect put-down infuriating. The put-down changes the terms of the debate; it replaces sober analysis with humor. It makes things personal. Anyone who was given a cutting nickname in seventh grade knows you can’t argue with the perfect put-down. It’s not a matter of what’s right; it’s a matter of perception, and you’re stuck with it now.

Two of my favorites:

• “Another damned, thick, square, book! Always scribble, scribble, scribble! Eh! Mr. Gibbon?” (William Henry, Duke of Gloucester, upon receiving the second volume from the author, 1781)

• “Every word she writes is a lie, including ‘and’ and ‘the.’” (Mary McCarthy on Lillian Hellman.)

X-Men 3: The Last Stand - Gay Colossus?

Guest post by Augusto

I am so excited about the big release tomorrow.  I can’t wait to see the third installment of my favorite comics based movie, X-Men.  I don’t read comic books but I love and watch pretty much every movie that is based on one. 

Because of this post (which was published at Queer Beacon and at aTypicalJoe) Alexander, from In Newsweekly, let us know about Prism Comics, which—among other great things—works like a Queer Beacon for comic books, talking about the gay content in the comic world.  If you are into comics, you must check out Prism. 

Alexander also let us know about this great interview with Danielle Bunten Berry (who was an accomplished game developer and a M-to-F transsexual—pic on the left), and that a character from X-Men supposedly came out of the closet a few months ago.  I can’t believe I was unaware of that.

The gay character is Colossus, who had a big cameo on X-Men 2, and I wonder whether he’ll show up on X-Men 3 as a gay man now (his character is listed in the credits - YAY!).  I can’t wait!  Colossus is played by Canadian hottie Daniel Cudmore (seen below rescuing kids on X-Men 2).  His superpowers?  Bitch can convert body tissue in a steel-like substance.  Again, he can convert body tissue in a steel-like substance.  Honestly, those comics people like to play serious mind-games with us gays.

Unfortunately, Colossus’s wiki only tells us about his many straight relationships.  I found quite a bit of discussion on the gay matter here, here, and here.  In the comics world there is even indication of a possible relationship between Wolverine (Logan, played by Hugh Jackman) and Colossus. 

Watch the trailer one more time.  My review for X-Men 3 will be out on Saturday morning!

(crossposted at QueerBeacon)

Speeding Up Your Blog (Revisited)

Guest post by Basil

Back in February of this year (2006, for those of you from the future), we covered a topic over at my little blog and at the Alliance about speeding up your blog. Lots of people found it useful ... which means perhaps I’m not totally useless. Despite what the ex- says.

It seems that, as useful as it appears to have been to some people, others didn’t see it, and have inquired about ways to speed up the loading of their blogs. We could point them to the original posts. Or we could write a brand-new post about the same thing.

Guess which way we chose? Yep, we’re doing a re-write. And calling it a new post. We’re plagerizing ourselves. But we’re not pressing charges.

Instead, we’re pressing forward with a discussion about speeding up your blog.

Read the rest of "Speeding Up Your Blog (Revisited)" in the extended entry.

Wednesday, May 24, 2006

Separated at Birth: Mary Cheney - Dana Carvey Edition

Guest post by Augusto

Mary, this is so not enough. 

With respect to the Federal Marriage Amendment, now she’s all like "President Bush obviously feels very strongly about this issue ... Quite honestly, it was an issue I had some trouble with, as I talk about in the book. I came very close to quitting my job on the re-election campaign over this very issue."

Get it?  "Some trouble with."  "Came very close."  Whatever Mary.  Whatever.  We’re waiting for much much more (while you’re at it, do you have to look like Dana Carvey?).

(crossposted at Queer Beacon)

Monday, May 22, 2006

Czech pols duke it out

After clawing and squeezing my way through a medieval silver mine whose slimy walls were both reminiscent of the inside of Sigourney Weaver’s Alien AND poisonous (I can’t imagine that such a tour would be legal in the U.S.) I sat in a hillside restaurant eating something akin to Czech BBQ (don’t ask) when the bartender changed the channel and those gathered turned their attention to the television screen to watch this:

Czech Health Minister David Rath has been in a punch-up with his right-wing rival, Miroslav Macek, during a meeting of disgruntled dentists in Prague.

Mr Macek, a presidential adviser and former deputy PM who is also a dentist, broke off an address to slap Mr Rath hard on the back of the head.

Mr Rath responded by calling him a coward and the two men traded blows.

This rare case of violence in Czech politics comes two weeks before highly anticipated parliamentary elections.

As you might imagine I’m very interested in the political situation here. But the focus of our trip is music and theater so I have learned little so far. I do find that the people have a deep antipathy to George Bush without even realizing their apparent fondness for all of his policies except the war. We go to Prague at the end of the week, maybe I’ll learn more there.

The iPod of its time

On our way from Hradec Králové to Olomouc we stopped at a castle in Litomysl. There we saw one of the Czech Republic’s two Music Boxes from Vienna, this one from 1826. It stands over six feet tall and comes with sixteen thirty-inch cylinders that can play a whopping eighteen melodies.

Confused is welcomed in GA

A friend sent this from home:

Dear Abby:

I have never written to you before, but after reading the letter from “Confused in Georgia,” the 23-year-old young man saying that he is gay, I felt compelled to respond. Your advice to him was great, but I would like to offer some of my own.

Like “Confused,” I am also a homosexual in south Georgia. Because he is having a difficult time with the church in which he was raised, my advice would be to run - don’t walk - from this “house of worship.” If attending church is important to him, then I suggest he visit the Episcopal Church, where I found solace and a warm and comforting family.

VALDOSTA, GA., reader

Dear Reader:

After that letter was published, I was inundated with mail from readers - gay and straight - from all over the country encouraging the writer to stop being afraid of rejection and to come out already. Read on for a sample from Georgia alone.

Sunday, May 21, 2006

The Da Vinci Code - No Gay Content

Guest post by Augusto

Good movie.  Initially, I had high expectations for it, but then I learned about the bad reviews and my expectations were lowered.  I guess my low expectations allowed me to actually enjoy the flick.  Watch the trailer here.

Here, Tom Hanks is a professor who gets sucked into this mystery which is protected by a secret society.  As you should know by now, the revelation of the mystery would shake the foundation of Christianity.  Audrey Tatou plays a French agent in the movie and Ian McKellen plays a super rich old friend, they both are out to help Tom. 

I guess you could read gayness into Ian’s character and you could even believe he has a thing with his kinda-hot-daddy butler, played by Jean-Yves Barteloot (pic on the right). But there’s no hard evidence of any of that in the movie, it’s all just my wishful thinking.

I read the book a while ago and I had imagined a cast lead by Harrison Ford and Julie Delpie.  I think Harrison would have been more suitable to the plot and would have certainly lowered the standards and expectations for the movie, and everybody would have been able to enjoy it.  People would not expect an Oscar movie if Harrison was leading, and I guess they did expect just that with Tom Hanks in the lead.  And Tom is not good in it.

Oh, I also liked Paul Bettany as a crazy monk.  He shows quite a bit of skin in some eerie and disturbing scenes.

If I remember correctly, the book did not have any gay content, and the movie reflects that flaw.  A movie almost entirely based on Leonardo Da Vinci, a notoriously flaming ‘mo, with no gay content is rather upsetting (consider this great discussion about the lack of gay content in The Da Vinci Code).

I saw the movie in Brazil, a deeply catholic country, and I actually saw people praying in the theater.  With a rosary in hand.  I kid you not.

Some in the blogosphere loved the movie, others were disappointed.  I liked it.  See it and decide for yourself.

(crossposted at Queer Beacon)

Thursday, May 18, 2006

Big surprise

Are you Addicted to the Internet? Guest post by Rachel 62% Hardcore Junkie (61% - 80%) While you do get a bit of sleep every night and sometimes leave the house, you spend as much time as you can online. You usually have a browser, chat clients, server consoles, and your email on auto check open at all times. Phone? What’s that? You plan your social events by contacting your friends online. Just be careful you don’t get a repetitive wrist injury… The Are you Addicted to the Internet? Quiz at Quiz Me!

Judge strikes Georgia gay-marriage ban

I’m in an Internet Cafe in Hradec Králové, a beautiful Czech city. My trip is going well but posting is virtually impossible. Maybe late next week when I arrive in Prague it will get better.

But here today Doug sent news that a Georgia judge struck down the ban on gay marriages. Old news for all of you no doubt, but good news from home for me here:

ATLANTA - A judge has struck down Georgia’s ban on same-sex marriages, saying the measure that was overwhelmingly approved by voters in 2004 had violated the state constitution’s single-subject rule for ballot questions.

“Procedural safeguards such as the single-subject rule rarely enjoy public support,” Fulton County Superior Court Judge Constance C. Russell wrote in her ruling. “But, ultimately it is those safeguards that preserve our liberties, because they ensure that the actions of government are constrained by the rule of law.”

Activists had long awaited Russell’s ruling in their court challenge, which was originally filed in November 2004, soon after the constitutional ban was approved in that year’s general election. [...]

In her ruling, Russell said before the state’s voters can be asked to decide whether same-sex marriages should be banned, they must first decide whether same-sex relationships should have any legal status before the law.

“People who believe marriages between men and women should have a unique and privileged place in our society may also believe that same-sex relationships should have some place - although not marriage,” she wrote. “The single-subject rule protects the right of those people to hold both views and reflect both judgments by their vote.”

I’d love to see it on the ballot again. I’m betting that even if we lose again, it would be by a smaller margin.

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

X-Men 3: The Last Stand - a Trailer and a Question

Guest post by Augusto

Some of my favorite bloggers had taken notice of the 7-minute long preview for the new X-Men movie, which will be out on May 26, 2006.  Here’s the trailer, you must see it:

Joe asked the question which is certain to arise and intensify once the movie is out: Would you submit yourself to a cure for homosexuality if such a cure was available?  The trailer above compels you to think about such question because the parallel between the X-Men mutants and the gays is both remarkable and inescapable.  In the movie, it appears the mutants will either be forced to be “cured” or will be offered a chance to be “cured.”

So, here’s my answer to the question: A long time ago I would have submitted myself to such a cure.  I just wanted to belong, I just wanted to walk hand-in-hand with a boyfriend, kiss a guy at the movies, make-out at parties, not have to use gender neutral language to refer to my relationships, you know, the usual.  But now, I am very comfortable and happy in my own, very gay, skin.  I even have a loving husband.  The oppression from society certainly made it hard for me to accept myself, but I did it (do I hear a “you go girl!”?). 

What say you?

(crossposted at Queer Beacon)

Tuesday, May 16, 2006

Immigration Man

(Guest post by Harry)

Let me in, immigration man
Can I cross the line and pray
I can stay another day
-Graham Nash

I have to say up front that I don’t have an answer to the immigration question(s). I’m not even sure what the questions are. Not that I haven’t read enough about it, but the issue seems to change the harder I look at it. There are facts, figures, opinions, and tales of woe coming from all points of the political compass on this one. And I began to wonder - where did it all come from? What made immigration suddenly become Topic Number One on the national political scene? There has been talk about immigration for years, but in the past six months it seems to have exploded.

I have a theory.

One of my favorite lines from a political movie comes from “The American President”. Yes, I know it’s more of a romantic movie than a political movie, but it does have a political undertone. But in the movie, the President, speaking about his opponent in the election, says “He is interested in two things, and two things only: making you afraid of it, and telling you who’s to blame for it.”. I think that’s what has happened here. Somewhere deep in the Republican political advisor bunkers, someone had an idea. Make immigration the central issue in the 2006 elections. George Bush’s approval ratings, and those of Republicans generally, were plummeting like the proverbial stone tossed in a lake. US soldiers were still dying in a war that had yet to be justified by any explanation that wasn’t proven false or trumped up. The Federal government had bungled Katrina and Rita, gas prices were rising, and it was beginning to look like 2006 could possibly become a Republican nightmare. So they reached down into the bag of tricks and pulled out the bottle with the immigration genie inside, and decided to pop it open, thinking they could make people afraid of immigration and blame it on the Democrats, thereby insuring the continuance of Republican control of the government.

Then something unforeseen happened. The Republican Party had two great camps within it that saw immigration differently, and were, apparently, diametrically opposed. There were those that wanted to bring legal status to the millions of illegal immigrants already here, bring them out into the open so that they could continue to work and raise their families, contribute to society openly and perhaps get on some sort of track towards citizenship. And there were those who wanted to get rid of all illegal immigrants. The middle ground between now seems vacant and wide.

But why such a huge miscalculation? Why the inability to put the genie back into the bottle (other than the fact that genies, once out, tend to love that freedom and resist being re-bottled). I think it has happened because both sides tried to take a comples issue and reduce it to simplistic talking points. There are too many things we don’t know. What would be the effect on the economy if we suddenly removed a significant part of the lowest rung of wage earners? Which industries would be most affected, how, and for how long? Why do we have so many illegal immigrants, and why aren’t we catching them?

Why do we have so many illegal immigrants, and why aren’t we catching them? That last one bears repeating. I thought of an analogy, perhaps not a great one. Think about drivers on the highway. How many are exceeding the speed limit? Just based on my daily commute, I’d say somewhere between 35% and 50%. Why do we allow this? Mostly because we don’t want to invest in the vast numbers of police and highway patrolmen it would take to apprehend all the speeders, and we don’t want to pay for all the traffic courts that would have to be set up. Certainly there would be a benefit - safer roads, and less stressful commute - but of course, it would also mean that for many of us, that commute would take longer. We aren’t catching all the illegals because we don’t want to pay for the immense number of immigration officials it would take to find and detain all the illegal immigrants, and the immigration courts, and the vast detention centers required. Many businesses don’t want to lose part of their workforce. Nor would we really want to see the sort of armed border that would be necessary, harking back to the Soviet style of border control. If we become sufficiently concerned about illegal immigration, that could change. But for now, we’re treated to the spectacle of a political talking point that turned into a heated national debate, and a President desparately trying to reconcile two irreconcilable parts of his party. If he ever needed Karl Rove, he needs him now. Karl, unfortunately, may have other things on his mind.

(crossposted at Kudzu Files)

Now I’m insulted

Guest post by Rachel

Dear Spammers,

For years I’ve been beseiged with offers of laptops, widescreen TVs and iPods if I would just click to complete the survey. For a gal like me who’s always believed that she could get something for nothing, it was hard to resist. But resist I did.

How could you even think I would click on the link for a dozen Dunkin Donuts or--worse--a case of Snapple?

What kind of a girl do you think I am?

Sincerely,

Tinkerty Tonk

I’ve never heard of a pink taco

Guest post by Rachel

But some citizens of Scottsdale, Arizona have. And they don’t want a second restaurant by that name--the original is in Las Vegas--opening up in their city.

Nearly half a dozen people in the upscale city recently expressed their objection to the name, claiming it’s a derogatory slang term for a portion of the female anatomy.

In late April, the city received four e-mails, three of which bore no names, objecting to the restaurant’s name.

One of those e-mails stated: “The City of Scottsdale has a very fine reputation around the world. Let’s keep the standards high. Let’s let what plays in Vegas stay in Vegas.”

Checking Your Blog’s Appearance

A guest post by Basil

This topic has been covered before over at my little blog, but I think it needs repeating. And I’m repeating it there. And here.

Two Browsers Are Better Than One

Some time ago, we talked about the need to check out your site in multiple browsers. Some of you do check your blog in more than one browser, but so many of you don’t. And it shows.

How does it show? Well, think about it for a second.

How many times have you gone to a blog and it just didn’t look right? It happens to me about once a day. Sometimes more.

Wonder why that happens? Simple. The blog owner isn’t checking out the site in multiple browsers.

Here’s the deal. You probably use Internet Explorer. Most people do. According to W3C Schools, 62.3% use IE 5 (4.5%), 6 (56.7%), or 7 (1.1%).

But a large number prefer to use Firefox (25.7%). And even others use the Mozilla Suite (2.3%), Netscape (0.3%), and others (1.5%) such as Safari, Konqueror, Opera, and such.

Get To It Already!

It goes without saying (although we’re going to say it anyway) that a blogger checks out his (or her, but we’re going to say ‘his’ from here on out) blog after he posts something.

But most just use the browser they normally use themselves.

That is, if they use IE, they look at their blog in IE and only in IE. If they use Firefox, they look at their blog in Firefox and only in Firefox.

Bad idea.

Because despite IE’s and Firefox’s ability to follow standards, they both treat Website code differently. And that can cause a problem.

Sometimes something looks just fine in IE, but looks all screwed up in Firefox. And sometimes something looks just fine in Firefox, but looks all screwed up in IE. Not always, but sometimes. And when that sometimes happens, it can really cause a headache.

So, to keep that from happening, always use both IE and Firefox to check out your blog. At a minimum.

But I Don’t Want To Use Two Browsers

Last time, I got some emails saying they didn’t want to use two browsers. Well, then don’t. But you run the risk of having display issues.

Quite honestly, you have a decision to make: You either care how your blog looks to your visitors ... or you don’t.

If you care, you need to know how it looks in different browsers. And that means you either need two browsers (IE and Firefox) on your computer.

Or you need two computers, one with IE and one with Firefox. (Hint: Two browsers on one computer is a heckuva lot cheaper.)

Or you need a friend that has the browser you don’t have.

Or you need a service that checks this for you. (Hint: doing it yourself is cheaper.)

But that’s only if you care.

When To Check

Should you always check in two browsers? Well, you should check under certain circumstances.

You should ALWAYS check in two browsers whenever you make a change to the style of your blog or blog template. For instance, when you add something to the sidebar. Or when you change the colors. Or change the layout. Or make any major change.

Always.

Now, you should PROBABLY check your blog in two browsers when you post something that has other-than-text in it. Like a picture. Or a Flash object. Or a YouTube item. Or anything that’s not text.

Probably.

Summary

Simply put, it’s a good idea to check your blog in two browsers, so you know how your visitors see it. That way, if something suddenly changes, you can undo it and try again before the problem gets worse and worse and worse.

Why do I strongly believe this? The same way I learned fire was hot. I’ve been burned before.

Friday, May 12, 2006

The NSA papers

Guest post by Rachel

Transcripts from the Tinkerty Tonk dossier:

March 22, 2005

TT: Hello.

Son of TT: Mom, are you going to stop at the store on your way home?

TT: Why?

SOTT: I need batteries.

TT: I hadn’t planned on it.

SOTT: Please!!

TT: (Sigh) What kind?

SOTT: Triple A.

TT: All right.

**********************

Hello. You’ve reached XXX-XXX-XXXX. We can’t come to the phone right now. Please leave a message.

Eileen’s Mom: Eileen? It’s your mother, sweetheart. How was your trip? Please call me.

March 29, 2005

TT: Hello.

Son of TT: Mom, are you going to stop at the store on your way home?

TT: Why?

SOTT: We need milk.

TT: OK.

SOTT: And can you pick up some noodles?

TT: Jesus! More noodles? You know those noodles have absolutely no nutritional value.

SOTT: Please!!

TT: (Sigh) We’ll see.

**********************

Hello. You’ve reached XXX-XXX-XXXX. We can’t come to the phone right now. Please leave a message.

Eileen’s Mom: Eileen? I still haven’t heard from you. Are you OK, darling. Please call. Kissing sounds.

April 5, 2005

TT: Hello.

SOTT: Mom? Can I borrow some money.

TT: I don’t have any cash on me.

SOTT: Please!! You can stop at the ATM on your way home.

TT: (Sigh) How much?

SOTT: $20? I’ll pay you back Monday.

TT: I suppose.

**********************

Hello. You’ve reached XXX-XXX-XXXX. We can’t come to the phone right now. Please leave a message.

Eileen’s Mom: Eileen? Eileen, are you there? I’m worried about you, darling. Please call your mother. Eileen? Eileen?

Thursday, May 11, 2006

Dean should have been in the Czech Republic with Joe

Guest post by Augusto

Seriously.  It must be so hard to be honest and consistent, and to remain within high standards.  This is the deal: Howard Dean was courting Evangelicals and incorrectly stated that his party’s platform declares that “marriage is between a man and a woman.” Next thing the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force is returning some much needed money that had been donated by Dean’s party.

The whole info is here.

Call me a crook, but I kid you not, I would have kept the money.  What could have possibly been more irritating to the far right and Dean himself?  So, here’s a draft e-mail for the NGLTF to send next time around:

“Dear (pretty much anybody, perhaps except Feingold):

Thanks for the backstabbing.  We’re keeping your money anyway.

”

The emoticon at the end is paramount.  It indicates you’re not angry.

While I’m at it, check out a list of gay friendly candidates at The Victory Fund.

Wednesday, May 10, 2006

Bi-lingual Potato Chips?

Guest post by Basil

Met the Wife for lunch today. There’s a new restaurant that the city of Columbus gave a couple of thousand to so they could upgrade the front door, or something.

Anyway, we heard it was a good place to eat, so we gave it a shot.

It was okay. Not great. But good. We’ll go back.

But this isn’t a restaurant review. Heck, my idea of a good place to eat has a clown on the door.

Instead, I noticed something really odd. The potato chips were bi-lingual. They were in English. And in another language.

Miss Vickie’s Potato Chips had everything in two languages.

Now, Miss Vickie’s, in case you didn’t know, is owned by Frito-Lay, Inc. Out of Plano, Texas. That Frito-Lay.

You remember Frito-Lay, don’t you? Of course you do. You see their stuff everywhere you go. And it looked to me like they’ve jumped on the bi-lingual bandwagon.

So, who’s surprised that the company that got into all kinds of trouble several years back over the Frito Bandito now does the bi-lingual thing?

Well, I was.

“Why?” you ask. No, really. Go ahead and ask.

I’m glad you asked.

Because the second language wasn’t Spanish.

It was French.

Yes, it’s true. Miss Vickie is French.

I mean, who knew?

She has a drawing of a farm on the front of the bag. Nothing to indicate it’s a French farm. Except for the fact that you don’t see anyone working. But then, again, it’s just a drawing of a farm. Nobody lying around or anything.

But, it turns out she’s not French. Just French-Canadian.

Of course, if you’re Canadian, you knew that. Or perhaps if you’re from the States near Canada, you knew that all along.

But I didn’t.

See, I never claimed to be all that smart. As you can obviously tell by now.

Anyway, Miss Vickie’s, originally a Canadian company located in Quebec, was bought out by Frito-Lay in 1993, as it turns out. And Frito-Lay has kept the Canadian feel to Miss Vickie’s chips.

Depsite the fact that they offer the chips in Jalapeno Flavored and in Mesquite BBQ Flavored. So it turns out that the French maid has gone to bed with the Frito Bandito.

I’m not sure what that tells me. Other than I’m wondering what they’ll do when they’re required to print their bags in Spanish also. Will the French get dropped? Or the English?

Or will the cover of the bag just get crowded? Like the restaurant we ate at wasn’t.

Tuesday, May 09, 2006

Headline News 2006-05-09

Guest post by basil

Joe’s away and said I could post here. What was he thinking?!?! He did ask me to do a couple of things ... and I will. Eventually. But in the meantime, I’m not sure just how much news Joe will be able to catch while in the Czech Republic. So, Joe, here’s the news:

From ABC News:

Marley Still Jammin’ 25 Years Later

Still not responding to requests for interview

From ABC News:
Ga. Student Suspended for Threatening Song
Song sues, seeks damages

From ABC News:
Ga. Woman Collects Outhouses for Backyard
Tried to interest backyard in stamps or baseball cards to no avail

From ABC News:
Owners Get $1,300 in Dog’s Python Death
John Cleese appeals verdict

From ABC News:
Ala. McDonald’s to Display Reagan Bust
Nancy still in good shape after all these years

From ABC News:
Iowa City Fines People Who Feed Stray Cats
Brian Setzer calls city rules ‘inhuman’

From ABC News:
Status-Conscious Monkeys Shed Light on Celeb Obsession
People magazine subscribers respond to survey

From Fox News:
New York City Fires Man for Surfing Web at Work
NYC’s Webmaster tries to explain, boss won’t listen

From Fox News:
New Jersey Schools Get Radios For Faster Response to Crises
Next school shooting, teachers will immediately tune to Paul Harvey

From Fox News:
Gallaudet Univ. President-Elect Draws Fire
Adds clouds, smiley-face sun to picture

Cross-posted at Basil’s Blog

Oh, don’t worry Joe. I won’t simply cross-post everything. You’ll have to come over to my little blog for Columbus Catfish updates.

When The Joe’s Away

(Guest post by Harry from The Kudzu Files)

Joe, preparing to go walkabout, has foolishly left open a window in the cellar - you know, the one behind the large Formosa azalea, which he’s forgotten about because the azalea is overgrown - that window, he has left unlocked.  When that happens, sometimes someone will sneak in.

Me!

And just inside the cellar window, I found a License To Post.  Convenient!  And so, here am I.  What shall I do with this License To Post?  I think.....  West Wing.

I’ve been a devoted West WIng watcher since about midway through the second season, when I decided to set aside my preconceived notion that there was no way you could make a television series about the Presidency, and watch an episode.  The addiction was immediate.  And very soon, Wednesday night became Date Night for my wife and me.  We set every Wednesday night during West Wing as our time.  Friends and family learned soon enough that there was no point calling during WW.  We didn’t answer the phone.  If permanent damage can result from ignoring your child for one hour a week, then our daughter has permanent damage.  Even through seasons 5 and 6, when the writing stumbled, we stayed with the show.  Then came season 7, the current, and last, season.  Whether it was an infusion of old blood, and writers finally hitting their stride, or just better ideas, the result was a markedly better story line.  It helped than Alan Alda and Jimmy Smits were brought in, and having them run against each other to succeed Jed Bartlett in the White House made for a great season.  I haven’t looked at the ratings, but they have to be up.  (OK, I just looked, and according to a blog I hadn’t found previously - West WIng News - they are indeed up.) The writers have done something in this, the final season, that rarely happens in the world of television dramas - they have crafted a scenario that could give West Wing a totally new start, with fresh faces, fresh story lines, fresh everything.  And they didn’t even have to switch Darins to do it.  But I guess it’s too little, too late.  Sunday night is the last episode.  I hate that. And what I hate most is that we’ll probably see it replaced by yet another reality show, something like “Survivor Americal Idol Chef”, in which singing cooks will run around a tropical island trying to set up their portable Viking ranges and produce a seven course meal before another singing chef throws them off the island.

Anyway, Joe, have fun in the Czech Republic.  I’ll set the garbage can in front of that window when I leave.

Marginalizing our media

A friend sends this article from the New York Times about “a gender-bending camp, low-budget soap opera” on the Public Access channel in the Bronx called “Strange Fruits.”

Given what Congress plans to do, this may be the last of the genre of MSM stories that define Public Access Television as irrelevant hokum but it is not the first.

In 1991 I was the Executive Director of a Community Television Center (my preferred term) and I reviewed a couple of stories on Public Access, one from Entertainment Tonight and one from MTV. I’ve posted them on YouTube because I note that we’re beginning to hear the same kind of commentary on the citizen-produced media of today.

Here’s Nicholas Carr on the User Generated Wasteland (note again the terminology, we’re all “users” like drug-addicts or parasites; I prefer citizen produced media) explaining that because he doesn’t see a business model for this stuff, it’s illegitimate.
Here’s Slate, more lovingly but still inherently condescendingly, in an article titled The Fab Four Million on how we’ve revived the art of lip-synching. There are more of these kinds of stories everywhere, I should start a category to track them.

Meanwhile, here’s a sample of the kind of crap the cable networks fill their time with, then mock us for watching. Someone please tell them that we know the local church choir is not the technical equivalent of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, but that does not stop us from appreciating the joy, and artistry, of a community coming together to raise its voice in song.

They may stop us again this time, but I for one am confident that one day one way or another we will find a way to have our non-commercial, non-mediated voices heard.

Happy birthday Dianetics

Guest post by Rachel

L. Ron Hubbard’s book is 56 years old today.

Some readers hailed Hubbard as a visionary and an innovator. Others reacted more skeptically. Many reviewers, particularly those trained in medicine, were appalled by his ideas, which one critic called “abortions and monstrosities of theory and practice.” But Hubbard was launching an ideology that would gradually move from the edge of American culture into the center of the public eye.