December 31, 2007
Recap
All bloggers are mandated to post some kind of end-of-the-year list. Bloggers who don't comply risk ostracism and snarky, veiled put-downs from their peers. Since my need for approval can politely be described as "all-consuming", here's my obligatory list:
Best Movie I Saw in A Theater: The Lives of Others At a time when Americans are becoming ever more complacent about daily intrusions into our privacy, this brilliant film is a devastating study of a total surveillance society and its effects on both the watchers and the watched.
Best Movie I Watched at Home: Pan's Labyrinth This fairy tale for adults is a powerful reminder that fantasy doesn't have to be about boy wizards or talking lions with messiah complexes.
Best Book I Read: Spin by Robert Charles Wilson Anyone who says that science fiction can't rival the artfulness of mainstream literature needs to have this book shoved into their faces. I'm anxious to see if Wilson can deliver another bravura performance in his sequel Axis.
Best Album I Heard: Untrue by Burial I didn't know this artist until a few weeks ago, but his ghostly electronica is enthralling.
Most Disappointing Political Trend: The Democratic Congressional Majority that Wasn't Yes, they raised the minimum wage, but that doesn't excuse all the other times they allowed the Republicans to bend them over the table.
Biggest Thrill for Me (Not Involving Fishnet Stockings): Blogging for the BBC Any other media outlets interested in my services?
Happy New Year, Constant Readers. Here's hoping 2008 brings me lots more fuel to feed the blogging fires.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 10:11 PM | Comments (0)
December 30, 2007
Swag
One of the gifts that elicited the most enthusiastic response from me was the Blade Runner Collector's Edition DVD set that I received from my brother. Its five discs contain every version of the film ever released, along with with a three-hour making-of documentary. Three hours. I haven't watched the doc yet, but I'll be very disappointed if it doesn't include footage of Dick discussing how his story ideas were beamed into his head from space. This should tide me over until the day arrives when I can purchase my very own replicant that looks like Darryl Hannah. Of course, I'd only use it for polite dinner conversation and light housework.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 05:49 PM | Comments (0)
December 28, 2007
Kill, Kill, Kill!
When my brother arrived last weekend, he told me in no uncertain terms that he wanted to spend a week vegging out and playing computer games. Always one to oblige my guests, I downloaded a copy of BioShock. It's been years since I've played a first-person shooter, but comparing this game to earlier standards of the genre is like comparing a Lamborghini to a Big Wheel. Yes, it's a shooter and the primary goal is still to blow stuff up, except that you get to blow stuff up in a beautifully realized undersea city with an unfolding story that is equal parts James Bond and 1984. It's the kind of game that helps me justify the money I poured into my new system. I don't know if we'll reach the game's end before my brother leaves next week, but we'll have fun trying.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
December 27, 2007
Diplomatic Mission
According to Sitemeter, someone from the State Department spent a half hour on my site. Had I known I was going to have such high-ranking visitors, I would have posted my insightful position paper on America's role in promoting disability rights around the globe. Maybe I'll just FedEx it to Secretary Rice tomorrow.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 11:32 PM | Comments (0)
December 26, 2007
Show-Offs
If you're coping with dyslexia, take heart. You could one day become a successful business magnate, thereby mocking all of us part-time bloggers who have deluded ourselves into thinking that we're making good use of our English degrees.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 11:14 PM | Comments (0)
December 25, 2007
Make Merry
Happy Holidays, everyone. Now, get off the computer and go talk to someone. And consider sending a little something to charities like Second Harvest, which provide food to people in need during the holidays and throughout the rest of the year.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 05:23 PM | Comments (1)
December 24, 2007
Gadget Envy
My brother is staying with me for the next week and blogging might be more sporadic until the end of the year. Incidentally, I had the opportunity to mess around with my brother's iPhone. I'm normally indifferent to cell phones, but I could probably be convinced to give up my landline in exchange for one of these at some point. The storage capacity needs to increase and it needs to be provider-neutral before I'll seriously consider it. Still, I felt a goofy smile spread across my face as I admired the touch interface and the purty display.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 10:04 PM | Comments (0)
December 23, 2007
Tick Tock
The Strib has a Flash-based overview of the installation of the new clocks atop the Minneapolis City Hall. I drive past the clock tower during my commute and it's good to have the time pieces in working order after a months-long absence. They add a touch of analog charm to our PoMo neighborhood.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 03:10 PM | Comments (0)
December 22, 2007
Critic At Large: I Am Legend
I Am Legend, based on the Richard Matheson novel of the same name, tells the story of Robert Neville, a military scientist who is the survivor of a lethal manmade plague that has killed off most of humanity. Neville continues to live in New York City and works diligently in his private lab to find a cure. While the virus almost always kills its host, it also has the unfortunate tendency to turn a small but significant percentage of victims into your typical post-apocalyptic homicidal mutants. His only companion is the family dog and he is beginning to show the psychic trauma of three years of without human contact.
I've been looking forward to the this film for a while and it mostly lived up to my expectations. Will Smith gives a strong, nuanced performance as a man trying to carry on after the unimaginable has happened. The story is gripping and provides several genuinely frightening moments. But the movie does collapse towards the end, descending into hokey spiritualism and giving the viewer cause to wonder whether Neville found his science degree at the bottom of a cereal box. It's a letdown after the virtuosity of the film's preceding two-thirds. Still, I Am Legend is infinitely better than The Omega Man, that cheese platter starring Charlton Heston.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:43 PM | Comments (0)
December 21, 2007
Ad Lib
The Daily Show and The Colbert Report are returning on January 7 sans writing staffs. I'm curious to see how the content of both shows will be affected. Stewart's review of the headlines and Colbert's "The Word" segment are heavily scripted, but these guys should be clever enough to fill the time with improvised off-the-cuff remarks. I still hope the writers can negotiate a fair deal and return soon. The upcoming primary season demands to be satirized and it would be a shame to miss out on the opportunity.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 07:58 PM | Comments (0)
December 20, 2007
Holiday Greetings
The only people who have sent me Christmas cards are my friends who work in law firms. It's comforting to know there are people I can call if/when I ever get busted for some indeterminate offense. Not that I'm guilty of anything. I'm just saying.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 09:22 PM | Comments (0)
December 19, 2007
Eyes Wide Open
I hosted a holiday party for my co-workers in my building's community room and I took some of them on a brief tour of my place. I've lived here five years and I've grown habituated to my admittedly spectacular view. A sharp intake of breath usually accompanies a visitor's first glance at the panorama beyond my windows and this serves as a reminder for me to never get to so accustomed to something that you stop seeing it.
One of my colleagues watched the big clouds of steam from the local energy plant blot out the silhouettes of the nearby buildings. He remarked that it looked like a scene out of Blade Runner.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 09:16 PM | Comments (0)
December 18, 2007
Death Ray
The universe is a weird, weird place. Take, for example, the recent discovery of a black hole at the center of a distant galaxy that is firing an enormous stream of lethal radiation at a neighboring galaxy. The creators of Star Trek never thought up anything this cool. I'm betting that these kinds of findings begin to reveal only the slightest hint of the universe's deep and abiding strangeness.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 06:11 PM | Comments (1)
December 17, 2007
Pwned
I just signed up for the Internet Chess Club, in case anyone out there is also a member and wants to humiliate me. I signed because my dad has an account and he's been wanting to play me on-line. I played a few blitz matches with random strangers over the weekend and cringed at my performance. I've never been very good at planning my moves in advance and that weakness becomes only more pronounced in blitz games. If you're looking for a quick and easy way to boost your ego, my ICC handle is "mcsiegel19".
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 07:20 PM | Comments (0)
December 16, 2007
No Mention Of Fishnet Stockings
The latest Disability Blog Carnival is now live and its theme is "A Few of Our Favorite Things". Go check it out while I finish my gift shopping.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:42 PM | Comments (0)
December 15, 2007
You Are There
Google Street View just went on-line for the Twin Cities. Street View provides photographic views of locations throughout the metro area. At the risk of assisting my many stalkers, here's a shot of my building (it's the one on the left):
And here's where I spend my workday:
View Larger Map
I should add that these pictures aren't entirely accurate, as the streets are now lined with foot-high snowbanks.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 05:45 PM | Comments (2)
December 14, 2007
The Great Cave-In Of 2007
As the Christmas recess approaches, Congressional Democrats are folding like cheap furniture. They've backed down on pledges to expand children's health care, to require utilities to meet renewable energy milestones, and to attach withdrawal deadlines to continued funding for war in Iraq. It absolutely kills me when I read news stories referring to Democratic "negotiators" trying to work out a deal with Republicans. If this is how Democrats negotiate, I'm terrified to see what surrender looks like.
I put a lot of blame for this embarrassment on old-guard Democrats like Harry Reid and Steny Hoyer. They're committed to keeping themselves in power, keeping their hands in the till, and not much else. I don't think either one of them has one shred of a vision for this country, much less a progressive vision. They--and the rest of the Democratic leadership--need to start leading as if they only have another year in power. Because if this kind of political cowardice keeps up, I'm not sure they deserve another chance.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 06:49 PM | Comments (0)
December 13, 2007
Snippets
When I'm aimlessly surfing (which is often), I sometimes pay a visit to Overhead in Minneapolis. I have no idea if the content of the posts were actually overhead, but it amuses me to think that people really are capable of saying some truly bizarre things. And if the posts are to be believed, I'm missing out on a substantial amount of free entertainment by not riding the bus.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:49 PM | Comments (2)
December 12, 2007
Death, You Bastard, You Can't Have Him Yet
Well, fuck. Terry Pratchett, the author of the renowned Discworld series and whose books I discovered not too long ago, has been diagnosed with an early form of Alzheimer's. His open letter to his fans is a more whimsical take on the typical British stiff-upper-lip regard for bad news and I truly hope his cautious optimism is justified. Everything I've heard about him indicates that he's as brilliant and humane in real life as he is on paper. There's an alarming shortage of decent, brilliant people in the world, so I'm going wish him the best and add more of his books to my reading list.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 07:00 PM | Comments (1)
December 11, 2007
Stuff I Don't Need
Time for my annual list of things I could easily buy for myself but that I'd much rather get from you:
- Blade Runner Final Cut: Because I could watch that scene where Darryl Hannah puts Harrison Ford in a headlock between her spectacular thighs over and over over...
- The Name of the Wind: Because I need something to tide me over until George R.R. Martin releases his next book.
- XtremeMac Tango Studio: Because weekend mornings are the perfect time to listen to all the episodes of This American Life stored on my iPod.
- Darth Vader statue: Because it seems almost criminal that Star Wars isn't represented among the idols of the expanding geek shrine on my desk.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 07:26 PM | Comments (1)
December 10, 2007
In Limbo
The NYT reports that the the Social Security Administration's overwhelming backlog of disability appeals is forcing people to wait years before they can get their appeals heard. The delays can be so severe that some people lose their homes or even die before they can get a hearing. The article points out that approximately two-thirds of appeals result in the awarding of disability benefits, which makes the initial review stage seem more like a bureaucratic hoop rather than a meaningful assessment process. A substantial number of those waiting for a hearing date are individuals with mental illness, which raises questions about how disability examiners treat such claims on first blush. These examiners do play a crucial gatekeeping role, but the extraordinarily high rate of successful appeals indicates that the system seems to err on the side of denying benefits and hoping they'll go away. We should be able to do better than that.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:56 PM | Comments (2)
December 09, 2007
Rankings
As he does every year, Rex at Fimoculous is compiling the various end-of-year lists that are beginning to appear in the media. It's a good source of gift ideas for the pop culture aficionados in your life. It also makes for good lunchtime surfing.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:16 PM | Comments (0)
In Demand
Today's posting was delayed because of an uncommonly packed social calendar. And it continues tomorrow. By then, I might even be thawed out from tonight's polar expedition (actually, just a walk to the cinema, but I still a want a medal for valor).
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 12:22 AM | Comments (0)
December 07, 2007
They Mean Well
A colleague sent me an e-mail pointing to AccessibleEmployment, a new website intended to match job seekers with disabilities and employers looking to hire people with disabilities. I haven't signed up for an account yet so I can't comment on the number of employers or the kinds of jobs available. The front page design is slick but generic in a corporate kind of way. And some of wording is kind of odd, like "Disabled Talent". It makes it sound like they're holding auditions for a Hallmark Channel movie of the week. The site also claims that employees with disabilities will "earn tax advantages" and "lower health care costs" for companies. Wow, way to sell it. Why not just say that we'll work for free?
I shouldn't review stuff like this on a Friday night when I'm kind of tired and grumpy.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 10:25 PM | Comments (0)
December 06, 2007
Why Do Today What Can Be Done Tomorrow?
I have a bad habit of putting off holiday shopping until a worrisomely late date. I don't like simply buying things that are on people's wish lists or giving gift cards if I can avoid it; I guess I'm old-fashioned in that respect. But the thought of trying to find suitable gifts for everyone has a certain paralyzing effect on me. Fortunately, I don't have many people to buy for.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 09:37 PM | Comments (0)
December 05, 2007
Speaking To The Choir
I have to do a little paperwork, but I thought this statement on Obama's campaign site observing International Day of Disabled Persons was interesting. He says all the right things about strengthening the ADA and--gasp!--signing the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. He promises to follow up with a more detailed position paper on disability issues and I'm sure the other major candidates will do the same. Or have they already? I haven't looked closely. Once they do, I'll try to do aa quick compare-and-contrast.
Thanks to my friend Amy for the tip.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 09:39 PM | Comments (0)
December 04, 2007
Who Hearts Huckabee?
One of the most interesting presidential candidates to watch at the moment is former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee. Not too long ago, he was considered an also-ran, something which puzzled me. The combination of his likable personality and conservative Christian street cred should have made him particularly appealing to the evangelical wing of the GOP, but he hasn't caught on until now. Huckabee is now rocketing towards the top of the Republican pack, both in Iowa and nationally.
Huckabee could be a formidable candidate for the Republicans. Many conservative Christians seem to view him as one of their own and he has that Southern good-ol'-boy charm that seems irresistible to so many American voters. But the presidency can't be won solely on the backs of evangelicals and this is what could cause Huckabee difficulties. The anti-tax fanatics in the Republican party don't look kindly on some of the tax hikes he implemented as governor. Huckabee needs to convince the big-business donors to open their wallets for him and this hasn't happened yet.
Of all the Republican candidates, Huckabee strikes me as the most, well, daft. His proposal to enact a fair tax is deeply flawed and his denial of evolution, while predictable, demonstrates a kind of zealotry that has no place in the White House. The odds are still pretty good that Huckabee will flame out, but he shouldn't be discounted yet.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:51 PM | Comments (0)
December 03, 2007
See You In The Funny Papers
A friend of mine e-mailed sent me this Pearls Before Swine comic that takes a not-so-subtle dig at bloggers. I still laughed, but I want to be clear: I'm not under the delusion that I'm a published author. I'm under the delusion that this blog is the precursor to my work as a published author. There's a difference.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:35 PM | Comments (0)
December 02, 2007
Reinventing Myself
I'm going about this all wrong. I've been watching the media's adoring coverage of Diablo Cody, the former Minneapolis blogger and stripper who landed a book deal and then wrote the screenplay for the buzzworthy indie movie Juno, and I've concluded that no literary agent is going to be interested in a blogger whose preferred topics are health care reform and fishnet stockings. What I need is a compelling personal narrative; something with more pizazz than "attorney/government bureaucrat". Maybe I should put an ad on Craigslist advertising my services as an exotic performer. Which means I need to change my name. Something that rolls off the tongue and carries a certain sense of menace. Got it: Twitch McGimpy. I'll start blogging about my experiences performing at bachelorette parties and offering witty insights on the topics of human frailty, lust, and my frequent sexual encounters with bored suburban housewives.
It occurs to me that I have absolutely no right to make fun of Ms. Cody. She's out in Hollywood, living the dream, while I'm sitting here in my condo trying to decide what I'll watch on my TiVo.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 07:05 PM | Comments (1)
December 01, 2007
Professional Responsibility
I've been giving some thought to doing some pro bono legal work. Minnesota attorneys are ethically bound to perform at least fifty hours of pro bono service and I haven't even come close to meeting this obligation. My hesitancy stems from the fact that I don't practice in the traditional sense and I'm not sure how useful I would be to individuals who need pro bono representation. I do serve on the board of a non-profit, but I feel like I should be doing something that uses whatever legal skills I have. I'm going to pick the brains of some of my friends in the legal aid sector, but I'd welcome ideas from my readers as well.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 03:56 PM | Comments (3)