April 30, 2007
Word Balloons
I was long overdue for a comics fix, so I paid a visit to the good folks at Big Brain yesterday and they gladly supplied me with an oversized bag to contain the surfeit of reading material I had purchased. I'm looking forward to checking out the first few issues of the new Dark Tower and Buffy the Vampire Slayer series, as well as the three new issues of Astro City that have appeared since my last visit (Kurt Busiek is a genius and finding new material of his on the shelves is always a treat, albeit an irregular one). I thought about picking up the first volumes of Fables and Runaways, but I exercised judicious restraint and deferred those items for a future binge.
What are my fellow geeks reading?
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 06:51 PM | Comments (1)
April 29, 2007
Critic At Large: Hot Fuzz
After poking good-natured fun at the conventions of zombie films, the creators of Shaun of the Dead have targeted the action/buddy cop genre for their next cinematic deconstruction. The story follows an ace London cop who is transferred to a sleepy English village because his superiors fear that he's making the rest of the force look bad. Naturally, a series of grisly murders commences soon after he arrives. Many of the genre's staples are sent up here, including its penchant for hyperkinetic editing, the cheesy acrobatics of chase scenes, and the climactic gun battle (although I'm not sure if the creators intended their gun battle to seem as bloated and drawn out as those in the films they are mocking).
I still prefer the more arch humor of Shaun, but Hot Fuzz is a fine spoof and I'd love to see what they would do with a science fiction motif. In the meantime, I have a sudden hankering to add Point Break to my Netflix queue.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 12:40 PM | Comments (1)
April 28, 2007
Taunting
All the preparation in the world will not change the final outcome of our extraterrestrial showdown, Dr. Hawking. You can have your little joyrides on the Vomit Comet. As for me, I have myself on a strict macrobiotic diet and Kallie, my personal trainer, is here at 5:30 every morning to make sure I do my stretches and conditioning exercises. We also get into the pool three times a week to work on my roundhouse kicks and left jab.
The last time I checked, Vegas was giving Hawking 4:1 odds of taking me down, but I'm chalking that up to name recognition. Trust me, I'm the Rocky to Hawking's Dolph Lundgren. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm due back in the pool with Kallie. The woman is merciless.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 01:19 PM | Comments (1)
April 27, 2007
Decoy
Roger Ebert, the film critic who transformed the lowly thumb into a pop culture icon, is recovering from cancer of the salivary gland.
He has had several surgeries, including a tracheotomy, and still bears many visible signs of his recent illness. Many of his friends have advised him to stay away from an upcoming film festival because his unusual appearance might be become fodder for the gossip rags. Here's what he wrote in response:
Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn. As a journalist I can take it as well as dish it out. So let’s talk turkey. What will I look like? To paraphrase a line from “Raging Bull,” I ain’t a pretty boy no more.
Hell, he should have me accompany him. Next to my rather unconventional looks, he'll seem rather ordinary in comparison. I have Ebert beat both in terms of artificial bodily orifices and physical deformities, not to mention my assorted accoutrements like my wheelchair and vent. I'll happily vamp for the paparazzi while he sneaks into the festival relatively unnoticed.
I just have one question. Will Jessica Biel be there? I'll totally cover my own expenses if Ebert can score me some face time with her.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 07:52 PM | Comments (1)
April 26, 2007
Old-Timer
I spent yesterday evening at a dinner for alumni of the Journal of Law & Inequality. I was hoping to run into some of my friends and colleagues from back in the day, but no such luck. Most of the people in attendance were either current Journal staffers or recent graduates; I felt like that aging dork who goes back to his high school for homecoming weekend. The people at my table were all exceedingly bright and driven. The woman sitting to my right spoke enthusiastically about her sixteen-hour days at a major local firm where she works on commercial real estate deals. It's a good thing that there are people like her in the world because global industry would surely collapse if people like me were left in charge of stuff like that.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 07:20 PM | Comments (0)
April 25, 2007
Remembrance
I received some sad news today. Doug Friauf, a colleague of mine in the disability community, passed away this morning from complications related to pneumonia. Doug was a fellow geek and I admired his soft-spoken articulateness on matters of access and equality. He had been struggling with some health issues, but I saw him at a committee meeting not too long ago and he seemed to be doing reasonably well. Goodbye, Doug. I wish I had known you better.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 05:27 PM | Comments (0)
April 24, 2007
Free As In Beer
Baen, a major publisher of science fiction novels, is making its catalog of electronic books available at no charge to readers with disabilities. Individuals need to complete a short application to gain access to the books. Apparently, this policy was put in place a few months ago and I'd be curious to know what kind of response it has elicited. The catalog is a bit heavy on military SF for my taste, but I might take Baen up on its offer nonetheless.
Now, if only other publishers would make more of their back catalogs available in electronic format. I'm almost certain I would spend even more on books if the I could read them on my screen. Since the iTunes store came on-line, the amount of discretionary income I've devoted to music has shot up considerably. Come on, media empires, help me spend my money.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 07:34 PM | Comments (1)
April 23, 2007
Fox: Where Hacks Go To Die
When did I give up on this season of 24? Probably during the episode where Jack Bauer wrangles the developmentally disabled brother of a suspect into a rendezvous with armed terrorists. I could almost hear the producers saying, "Hey, remember that movie Rain Man? Wouldn't it be cool if we could work something like that into an episode?" It played out like a scene from a Lifetime movie--if Lifetime movies had more guns and terrorists in them. At this point, I don't even really care if Los Angeles gets nuked again. I can watch a show jump the shark only so many times before I start rooting for the shark.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:44 PM | Comments (0)
April 22, 2007
Small World
I've lived here long enough that it's becoming common for me to encounter people I know when I'm at this or that event. Maybe this is an experience that is unique to the inhabitants of mid-sized cities like Minneapolis. I don't know if these accidental encounters occur with the same frequency in places like New York or Chicago. I ran into a friend at the Guthrie last night and we chatted during intermission about nothing in particular. It's one of those moments that reminds me how much more at home I feel here in my adopted hometown than I ever did in Green Bay, where I spent over two decades of my life.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 06:39 PM | Comments (0)
April 21, 2007
On Demand
I experimented with Netflix's streaming video option this afternoon. For streaming video, the quality is surprisingly good. I watched a bit of The Matrix and a few minutes of an Outer Limits episode. I didn't notice any artifacting or skipping, and the image quality isn't much below that of a standard television. All of the video seems to be formatted for a regular 4:3 screen, which looks goofy on my widescreen monitor. And the content selection is not terribly compelling, but I'm sure that will improve in time.
I have tickets to The Merchant of Venice at the Guthrie this evening. I'm in the mood for some good old-fashioned analog entertainment. And it will be a lovely evening for a walk.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 04:59 PM | Comments (0)
April 20, 2007
Luckily, Nobody Was Watching
Last night, I spent over an hour trying to figure out why the display on my new universal remote appeared to be frozen. I was downloading firmware, scouring messageboards, and hurling insults at the infernal gadget--insults that would make a merchant marine's blood run cold. Just as I was about to abandon my efforts, I glanced once more at the thing. I realized that I hadn't removed the protective sticker covering the display.
My ability to outwit myself is one of my more charming attributes.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 07:09 PM | Comments (0)
April 19, 2007
Acting Out
My sister asked me to roleplay for her trial practice class, so I'm busy memorizing my script before I have to leave shortly. My memory is fairly good, so I should be able to get away with glancing at it only a couple times. That method worked for me pretty well in college. Not so much in law school.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 05:21 PM | Comments (0)
April 18, 2007
Rushing To Judgement
Over the coming days, there is sure to be a media avalanche of opinions and suggestions about "what to do" with people who have (or appear to have) a mental illness. We Americans are driven to do two things in the wake of a senseless tragedy like the Virginia Tech killings. We search for ways to assign blame and we search for ways to assure ourselves that something like this can't happen again. And I'm afraid that, at least for the next few weeks, people with mental illness are going to be a convenient punching bag for both the professional and amateur ranks of our national punditocracy. In the meantime, I wouldn't be surprised if our thoughtless overreactions have a chilling effect on college kids who may want to seek out counseling or psychiatric services, but don't want to be branded by their peers as the next campus psycho.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:34 PM | Comments (0)
April 17, 2007
A Pound Of Flesh
I've always considered myself a mainstream progressive in most regards. I think free trade is generally a good thing. I don't have a fundamental dispute with our market-based economy. However, it does seem as if the profit motive is creeping into our daily lives a little more each day and usually not for the better. The unfolding story of the improprieties in the private student loan market is a case in point. When I was a law student, I benefited greatly from the federal Direct Loans program. But restrictions on the amount of federal loans that an individual can take out force many students, like my sister, to turn to the private market. And because the private market is largely unregulated and because they are the source of last resort funding for many students, these banks can charge interest rates that will keep these students in debt for most of their working lives. When my sister graduates, she will have the kind of debt load that once could be only be acquired when buying a house.
A college degree is the most reliable guarantor of higher earning power and a life safely out of poverty. We should be encouraging every kid with the desire and the potential to continue their education. Instead, we expose them to the cold machinations of a banking industry that most definitely does not have their interests at heart. The federal government cannot do everything, but I trust it more than Citibank to provide students with loans that have reasonable rates and repayment schedules. We should be able to agree that corporations shouldn't be able to make a buck off the educational aspirations of our citizens.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:17 PM | Comments (1)
April 16, 2007
In The Know
A Pew Research Study reveals that regular viewers of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report are the most well-informed regarding world events. I'm not sure this is an example of cause-and-effect. If I use myself as an example--a dangerous thing, I know--then I suspect that much of the audience for those two shows consists of people who are already news/political junkies. In fact, a recent essay in The Economist on The Colbert Report (at least, I think it was in The Economist) pointed out that viewers of that show tend to be politically astute because it's a requirement for understanding the show's satire.
In other news from the Land of the Blindingly Obvious, viewers (or should I say minions) of Fox News are the least informed. Rupert Murdoch has turned millions of innocent Americans into squawking parrots mimicking the empty catchphrases of a collapsing ideology. Have pity on them.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 07:22 PM | Comments (0)
April 15, 2007
Working Up A Sweat
I participated in my second Race for Justice today, an annual race/walk that raises money to provide loan repayment assistance to attorneys who represent low-income clients. I completed the 5K course in about 48 minutes, but I'm fairly certain I could lower my time if I could figure out a way to boost the top speed on my chair. That was a simple task with my previous chair, but the manufacturers of this chair aren't so trusting.
Next year, I think I'll put together a team of racers. We'll call it something like The Official 19th Floor Groupies Club.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 04:36 PM | Comments (1)
April 14, 2007
Social Networking
I created a MySpace page today, mostly out of idle curiosity. The page itself is rather plain vanilla, which means no background images of puppies, no overly earnest emo soundtrack, and no videos of me dropping Mentos into a bottle of Coke. You can find my uber-boring MySpace page here. Start adding me to your Friends lists now so you can claim you knew me back in the day, before the fame and the drugs and the multiple paternity suits tranformed me into a recluse.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 06:40 PM | Comments (1)
April 13, 2007
Hippocratic Oaf
Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN's medical correspondent, on the lessons he learned while writing his latest book:
At the same time, I came to learn how much we do know about ways we can chase life every day to live longer, healthier lives. I learned that most people don't necessarily want to live longer, unless they are of sound mind and body, without terrible illness late in life, not confined to beds or wheelchairs. They want to live their lives like an
incandescent light bulb, burning brightly, until they suddenly go out. No flickering at the end.
The only thing in the above paragraph that offends me is the amateurish metaphor--it's like something you would find in an Expos Writing 101 paper. Gupta's lack of imagination when it comes to quality of life isn't surprising; it probably typifies the attitudes of much of the medical community. And he fits right in at CNN, where this sort of facile, vapid commentary is de rigeur. If Gupta wants to believe that life in a wheelchair is too terrible to contemplate, he can go right ahead. I have the same reaction when I imagine being forced to read his book.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 07:28 PM | Comments (1)
April 12, 2007
We Are Governed By Frat Boys
The Bush administration is finally starting to act with the spirit of the petulant, truculent C-minus student that this president embodies. How else do you explain the administration's revelation to Congress that it "accidentally" lost countless e-mails that could shed light on the dismissal of several federal prosecutors? The administration isn't even trying anymore to disguise its bad behavior. It knows as well as Congress that those e-mails were deliberately deleted, but Bush's operatives must be feeling too embattled to come up with a more plausible excuse.
Congress will almost certainly issue subpoenas for those e-mails and uncover at least some of them. I'm dying to read Rove's clumsy and repeated invitations to Harriet Meiers to come on over for a little Merlot and some Idol-watching.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 07:10 PM | Comments (0)
April 11, 2007
Teh Suck
I often forget that the mundane little details of my like must seem incredibly foreign to most people. One of my nurses just asked me if suctioning is uncomfortable me. Suctioning is the process by which a catheter attached to a vacuum pump is slid down my trach tube to remove excess mucous. It's something that I usually do one to four times a day; sometimes less and more if I have a cold. It certainly doesn't hurt, and it can actually feel good if I'm congested or if I've put off doing it for a long time. I still prefer to cough things up on my own if I can, but suctioning is so routine that I rarely give it much thought.
But don't try sliding a suction catheter down your nose. I've had that done to me as well and I can't say that it's a sensation I would recommend to others.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 09:28 PM | Comments (2)
April 10, 2007
Kaput
My trusty universal remote--the kind that can tame an entire entertainment system and creates an unholy bond with its unsuspecting owner--has died. My choices are:
- Cruise eBay for a replacement
- Dig out the four or five original remotes and give myself a migraine every time I have to walk my nurse through the multiple steps necessary to watch an episode of The Daily Show
- See how long I can resist the siren call of television and thus prove to myself that I'm not a slave to pop culture. And no, I don't know why there's an eBay window open in my browser.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 09:06 PM | Comments (0)
April 09, 2007
Mind Your Ps And Qs
Judging from an article in today's New York Times, the blogosphere is devolving into a forum for the rude, the hateful, and the obnoxious; so much so that some bloggers feel compelled to put forth a set of guidelines for proper behavior. This issue has never been much of an issue for me. Every once in a great while, a troll will leave a comment that is supposed to be insulting, but it usually just elicits my pity. The tranquillity in my little corner of the blogosphere leads me to think that I must be doing something wrong. Either that, or I have exceedingly well-behaved readers.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 07:55 PM | Comments (1)
April 08, 2007
That Teenage Feeling
When Neko Case sings, she throws her shoulders back and tilts her chin upward, like she's committing an act of defiance. Her big voice fills the room and demands attention without being flashy. Last night's concert featured a lot of material from her most recent album, as well as older songs like "Train from Kansas City". It's funny. A few years ago, I cringed at any sort of music that had even a little bit of twang. But now I actually like artists like Case, Lucinda Williams, and Kasey Chambers. Concern may be warranted, however, if I develop a chewing tobacco habit and a penchant for belts with oversized buckles that look like the state of Texas or a bucking bronco.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 04:35 PM | Comments (0)
April 07, 2007
Rumors Of Spring
I have tickets to see Neko Case at First Ave tonight, which means I'll get to venture out into subfreezing temperatures. In April. But sometimes, one must make sacrifices for the sake of art.
I'll post a short recap of the concert tomorrow.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 03:18 PM | Comments (1)
April 06, 2007
Finishing What I Started
I finished the first draft of my novel tonight. It clocks in at approximately 179,000 words and 589 pages. And at about 1-2 hours per page, that's...well, a lot of hours spent working on this thing. I started this project in May 2003 and I'm a little miffed it took me that long to finish the first draft, but I have only myself to blame. I'm reasonably certain that the novel isn't terribly good, but I'll try to rework it into something a little more compelling. After I let it sit for a little while. The last hundred pages or so was a real bitch to slog through and there were a few occasions when I seriously contemplated shelving the whole thing. I'll return to it before long, but I think my characters and I need some alone time. And there are some other stories that are beginning to unspool inside my head and I should probably put them to paper before they start cluttering up the place.
My book does have a title: State of Normal.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 07:56 PM | Comments (2)
April 05, 2007
Domestic Life
I was presented with an interesting question today. An attorney friend called me with the following fact pattern:
A private attorney represents a landlord who owns an apartment building where many of the tenants have disabilities. Some of the tenants have live-in attendants and the landlord has no problem with this. One tenant in particular has a live-in PCA who recently married. The spouse of the live-in PCA moves into the tenant's apartment and also gets certified as a PCA. The tenant with a disability now shares his apartment with a husband and wife, both of whom are PCAs. The landlord is not pleased with this situation and is considering bringing eviction proceedings against the tenant. The landlord's attorney is seeking policy arguments that could bolster her client's case in front of a judge.
I understand the landlord's frustration at having another person sharing this apartment without being on the lease. And living with a husband-wife team of caregivers could create some awkward issues of dependency for the tenant. But from a policy perspective, there don't seem to be many compelling arguments that could help the landlord. It's one thing if the tenant is violating the letter of the lease. But the state doesn't really care whether an individual lives with one PCA or four, as long as services are properly billed. It really isn't within the jurisdiction of a court to determine whether this living situation is unhealthy or creating a bad precedent. To do so would smack of paternalism and there's no shortage of that in the lives of most people with disabilities. While a policy argument might assuage this landlord's feelings of discomfort about possibly evicting a tenant, I don't think one is readily available.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 09:36 PM | Comments (0)
April 04, 2007
My Safe Word Is "Spongecake"
My friend has informed me that the only way we're getting tickets to the sold-out Amy Winehouse concert at the Varsity is to sell me into sexual slavery. *sigh* I guess I'll have to dig out the ball gag and sailor outfit again. But there are some things I refuse to do. I pimped myself out before for concert tickets and the sight of a garden hose still gives me night terrors. But maybe I'll get front-row tickets for my efforts and Amy and I will get into a full-on brawl in the middle of her set. She can probably take me, but I fight dirty.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:35 PM | Comments (0)
April 03, 2007
Not Worthy
Someone tagged me with a Thinking Blogger award. You do realize that most of my material is shamelessly cribbed from people who are smarter, funnier, and better-looking than me, don't you? Just so we're clear.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:17 PM | Comments (2)
April 02, 2007
Unshackled
EMI and iTunes are going to begin offering DRM-free, higher-bitrate songs for a slightly higher price (which means I may have to bump up my monthly music budget). It shouldn't be long before the other major record labels see the wisdom of this move and remove DRM from their own catalogs. The labels' insistence on DRM protection for digital downloads has never made much sense considering that the majority of commercial music is sold in a format that contains zero protection (namely, CDs). I put up with DRM simply because I like the accessibility of the iTunes Music Store (no more having to depend on someone to shuffle CDs for me), but I don't appreciate being regarded as a potential criminal by the very companies whose content I'm purchasing.
And a friendly reminder: don't believe everything you read on the internet. Especially on this blog. Especially on April 1st.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:50 PM | Comments (2)
April 01, 2007
Change Of Scenery
After careful and ample consideration, I've decided to decamp from Minneapolis and return to my childhood home of Green Bay. If I stay in this city much longer, my transformation into an effete, snotty urbanite who can't stop raving about that Hungarian period piece he saw at the Lagoon will be complete. I need to rediscover my roots; I need to be in a town where the living is simple and the air bears the faint tang of the paper mill. A town where the biggest musical event of the year is the Poison reunion concert at the county arena.
Of course, this means I'll have to change the name of this blog. It wouldn't be fitting for a town where the tallest building is eight or nine stories. I'll notify everyone of the new moniker once it's finalized. Right now, iheartthepackers.com is the leading contender.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:38 PM | Comments (6)