April 30, 2010

Civic Duty II

Some of you may remember that I was recently summoned to jury duty. Nobody was more surprised than me when I found myself serving on a jury for a homicide trial. Now that the trial is complete, I can say that the experience was both a challenge and a privilege. It also served as a good reminder of why I chose not to practice criminal law. I make a much better policy wonk than I would a litigator.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 06:18 PM | Comments (0)

April 29, 2010

Spelling Doesn't Always Count

The Times has an amusing story about how self-appointed grammar police are patrolling the Twitterverse for blatant violations of proper spelling and usage. It probably wouldn't surprise most of my readers if I told you that a screeching, knuckle-rapping grammarian lurks just beneath my calm and affable exterior. My teeth involuntarily grind together when I encounter a sentence that uses "your" when the author really means "you're." A little vein in forehead pulses whenever I encounter the word "irregardless." In another era, I might have been a much-despised bachelor English teacher at a grim English boarding school.

This is all to say that I have some sympathy for the cause of these grammar cops, even though I think their efforts might be needlessly confrontational. Our national literacy levels won't plummet if someone posts a badly written tweet. There are enough really talented writers on Twitter to keep the general readability of the format pretty high.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:41 PM | Comments (1)

April 28, 2010

For Meritorious Achievement In Fragging

Back when I was younger and far more adorable, I was in a Cub Scout troop for kids with disabilities. I looked quite debonair in my cap and yellow neckerchief, but I can't remember much about the actual scouting experience. The only vague recollection I have is that of my dad building one of those pinewood cars and both of us being completely bored with the process. If the younger me had grown up in today's world, he would have taken great satisfaction in earning the merit badge for videogames. Seriously, videogames. It's only a matter of time before they introduce merit badges for bittorrenting your first porn video and cracking your parents' banking password.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 07:47 PM | Comments (1)

April 27, 2010

The Prius Is Next

People with disabilities who are in the market for an accessible vehicle are limited to a couple choices: a minivan or a full-size conversion van. But what if you're really a pickup truck kind of person? Until recently, you would have been out of luck, but entrepreneur Steve Kitchin is opening a small factory that only makes accessible trucks. Kitchin, who has a spinal cord injury, built the prototype truck for himself with the help of some friends and he eventually decided that this was something he could sell to people with disabilities. His factory has also brought some much-needed manufacturing jobs to the Fort Wayne, Indiana area.

These accessible trucks probably won't be any cheaper than similarly equipped vans, but additional choice in accessible products is always welcome.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:14 PM | Comments (0)

April 26, 2010

They Won't Be Playing This On MTV

If South Park has taught us anything, it's that ginger kids are a persecuted and oppressed minority. M.I.A. must harbor similar sentiments because a similar theme runs through the video for her latest single "Born Free." Be advised: the video is absolutely NSFW and will probably upset more sensitive viewers. But considering that Arizona just passed a law that gives the police the power to stop "suspicious" persons on the street and demand to see their papers, the video is a timely reminder that xenophobia can single out any easily identifiable group. And the song itself  is probably M.I.A.'s most bad-ass effort yet.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:53 PM | Comments (0)

April 25, 2010

Prophet Of Doom

Stephen Hawking is warning that humanity should keep quiet and not seek out contact with extraterrestrials because they might be more interested in plundering our planet than having a symposium on the meaning of life. Of course, this is utter nonsense. My Altairian overlords assure me that, once they arrive, they first thing they will do is provide guided tours of their mothership (kids under 12 get in free). Oh, sure, they might help themselves to a few resources that we're not using, like manganese and a few certain subspecies of the earthworm. I mean, does anyone even know what manganese is? They also mentioned that they had some ideas on the whole overpopulation thing, but when I asked them for details they just changed the subject. Altairians can be kind of scatter-brained.

I also promised them that nobody would mind if they "borrowed" Hawking for some medical experiments as soon as I'm done kicking his ass in our zero-g deathmatch. It would serve him right for being such an alarmist.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 12:53 PM | Comments (1)

April 24, 2010

No, Not That Way!

The Germans have developed a technology for steering cars based on the direction in which the driver's eyes are looking. And they've even tested it on my vehicle of choice, a Dodge Caravan. I may soon be able to realize my dream of getting behind the wheel of a shiny, tricked-out, cherry-red minivan and cruising down the main drug on a Saturday night with Jay-Z thumping on the stereo. Until I glance at a cute woman in a halter top and wrap myself around a tree. But sometimes increased independence requires assuming a little extra risk.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 12:30 PM | Comments (0)

April 23, 2010

Bringing Back The Good Old Days

Some of you have probably already heard about Republican Senate candidate Sue Lowden and her brilliant proposal that people should barter for their health care. She suggested chickens as one form of currency. Naturally, I started wondering how many chickens I'd have to have on hand to pay for my 24-hour nursing care. My condo isn't that big, so I'm not where I would put the coop. And what if one of my nurses is a vegetarian? How many eggs equal one chicken? And can I pay for my ventilator on the chicken-installment plan or is it going to set me back a couple goats?

Keep thinking those big ideas, Republicans.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 06:03 PM | Comments (2)

April 22, 2010

For Your Viewing Consideration

A new documentary entitled See What I'm Saying tells the story of four aspiring deaf artists (an actor, comic, drummer, and singer) and their struggles to break into the mainstream. The trailer is great and accomplishes what every good trailer should: it makes me want to see the movie. It's also worth noting that this is the first American theatrical release that is open-captioned for the entire audience. The deaf community probably knows all about the film already, but it deserves to be seen by us hearing folks, too.

Thanks to Pop Candy for the tip.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 09:12 PM | Comments (0)

April 21, 2010

Critic At Large: Oryx and Crake

Margaret Atwood is one of those authors whom I've long wanted to read but never got around to actually picking up her books. That oversight was corrected when my book club selected Oryx and Crake as our monthly selection. The book tells the story of the friendship between Jimmy and Crake, a couple of privileged kids who grow up in one of the heavily guarded corporate Compounds that dot the near-future American landscape. The world beyond the Compound walls is a grim one. Climate change has ravaged the planet and most people live in the blighted urban centers known as pleeblands. Genetically engineered pathogens run rampant in the pleeblands and sometimes infiltrate the Compounds. But the corporations that operate the Compounds are also engineering new plants and animals that might prove commercially successful in this rapidly changing world.  Against this backdrop, Jimmy and Crake grow up, drift apart, and reconnect just before the world ends. They also both fall in love with a beautiful and secretive woman named Oryx.

Atwood's dystopia contains a lot of familiar elements: megalomaniacal corporations, a privileged elite living in isolation from the suffering masses, science run amok. While these elements are a little well-worn, her characters are nuanced and complicated; especially Jimmy. Jimmy yearns for the approval of both Oryx and Crake, but he can never quite get beyond his own narcissism, not until the world ends and even then it's a struggle for him. Without Jimmy, this book would just be another stroll through Armageddon. Jimmy acts as our guide and our imperfect voice of conscience as we travel with him through his broken world. His presence elevates the book from mediocre to something pretty great.

Incidentally, Atwood just published The Year of the Flood, which tells a parallel story set in the same world. It's definitely a must-read for me now.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:35 PM | Comments (3)

April 20, 2010

Repair Request

Do you like free beer? Are you handy with a soldering iron? If you answered "Yes!" to both of these questions and live somewhere in the Twin Cities, send me an e-mail as I'm in a bit of a fix. My adaptive p-switch for the computer has a red wire and a black wire that run to a connector head for a 9-volt battery. The black wire has pulled out of the connector and the red one is barely hanging on. I managed to jury-rig the connection with some tape, but I don't think this will last.

The switch is nearly 15 years old, so I'm not surprised this happened. However, this switch is no longer in production and I'd like to keep it in working order for as long as possible.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 07:31 PM | Comments (0)

April 19, 2010

Critic At Large: Kick-Ass

Kick-Ass is a violent and funny examination of why more regular people don't appointed themselves as superheroes and defenders of the innocent. As the movie graphically depicts, being a superhero isn't all that glamorous. You might get lucky once and manage to take down a few petty thugs, but most of the time you will be woefully outnumbered and outgunned. But even that knowledge doesn't stop high school outcast and comic aficionado Dave Lizewski from creating a goofy costume and taking to the streets as a masked vigilante. He nearly is killed in his first attempt to mete out justice, but he soon gains a kind of celebrity status on the Internet after one of his more successful forays is captured on a phonecam. He also discovers that he's not the only costumed avenger on the streets.

The movie has generated some controversy for its portrayal of Hit Girl, a crime-fighting 11-year-old girl who brutally dispatches her opponents while swearing like a character straight out of Tarrantino's oeuvre. And sure, it's a bit discomfittig to hear a little girl say "cock" and get viciously punched in the face, but it's consistent with the movie's over-the-top tone. The movie is in love with the idea of regular people as superheroes, even if those regular people are kids. Most comic book movies are carefully formulated efforts to cash in on known franchise. Kick-Ass, based on a more obscure series, is profanely endearing and one of the better examples of the genre.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 07:01 PM | Comments (1)

April 18, 2010

Too Soon

A while back, I wrote about Keith Hogan, the subject of a YouTube documentary entitled The Lucky Mutant. The film describes Keith's life with spinal muscular atrophy and his efforts to live an independent life. Keith and I exchanged a few e-mails and and followed each other on Twitter. Keith was also a fellow blogger. He was an outspoken advocate of Democratic policies and he had an obvious love for his hometown of Austin, Texas. It deeply saddened me to learn that Keith passed away a few days ago at the age of 45. He will be missed.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 11:12 AM | Comments (2)

April 17, 2010

My Next Toy

I'm not in the market for a new computer right now and probably won't be for at least another year, but I spent a little time pricing out components for what could be considered a mid-range system. I wasn't particularly surprised to see that the price came out to be the same as my last build, but with a significant boost in raw power and storage. My current rig is no slouch and can still handle just about everything that I throw at it, although it is beginning to gasp a little when I go crazy with the multitasking. That was difficult to imagine a few years ago when I was amazed at just how snappily it performed.

And there's no way I'm getting a Mac. The additional cost is considerable and I can get just as much performance for several hundred dollars less, not to mention the fact that Windows 7 is just as shiny as OS X.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 01:31 PM | Comments (0)

April 16, 2010

Never Mind

It looks like the workplace block on my blog might have been a fluke. And just as I was starting to enjoy my self-appointed status as a cultural iconoclast. Now I'm once again just some guy with a blog. I was counting on my newfound notoriety to land me speaking gigs that would help me pay for my elite squad of Amazonian security guards.

I guess I'll just have to work harder at making this blog filthy enough to merit permanent blacklisting.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:32 PM | Comments (1)

April 15, 2010

NSFW

A colleague informed me today that this blog is now blocked by the web filters at work. I checked for myself and, sure enough, I received a warning message stating that the site was blocked under the somewhat curious category of "Message Forums". I'm guessing someone finally got fed up with my frequent critiques of the governor, my obsession with fishnets, or some combination of the two. While this move may slightly affect my hit counts (a few of my co-workers would check out the blog over lunch), I view as a kind of affirmation of my corrupting influence. I'm now an official malcontent whose efforts to speak truth to power are threatening enough to merit censorship. Today, it's just the Minnesota state government, but soon it might be the whole of China. I'll be the Salman Rushdie of the digital age.

I'd better start hiring my security team of Amazonian women whose uniforms will consist entirely of fishnets and Lycra. I've already done the sketches.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:52 PM | Comments (1)

April 14, 2010

Safari

I've always wanted to trek across the grasslands of the Serengeti, but my minivan probably wouldn't get very far on that terrain. But maybe I can hire out the Wheelchair Accessible Van for Expeditions (WAVE), a highly customized 4x4 van that is equipped with a wheelchair lift, a rugged suspension system, and various other amenities such as a sink and refrigerator. The WAVE is operated by Disabled Explorers, a one-man nonprofit that was founded by a nurse who is also an amputee. Disabled Explorers takes people with disabilities on off-road expeditions that would previously have been completely inaccessible.

The article doesn't say whether the WAVE can withstand an elephant charge, but I intend to find out.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 06:34 PM | Comments (1)

April 13, 2010

Distant Cousins

Andrew Sullivan points out that the Tories, the British conservative party, would be considered a hotbed of radical socialism in American politics. They fully support their single-payer health care system, marriage equality for gays, public transit, and moving away from a carbon-based economy.

Meanwhile, American conservatives are currently obsessed with reviving Confederate pride, removing all references to that humanist pansy Thomas Jefferson from history textbooks, and repealing most or all of the Affordable Care Act.

The fundamental difference between these two movements is that the Tories are looking to the future through a moderately conservative lens; American conservatives are fixated on a sanitized past as viewed through a glass darkly. If the Tories do win next month's election, perhaps their sane counterparts here in the States will be a little bolder in confronting the babbling fringe that is currently holding a gun to the head of the Republican Party.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 09:53 PM | Comments (1)

April 12, 2010

Don't Call It A Comeback

Conan O'Brien will make his much-anticipated return to television on...TBS? Is that before or after the Home Improvement reruns? Perhaps this makes sense, given that cable networks generally allow more creative freedom and they are home to an ever-increasing number of quality shows. Of course, I'll watch (once I figure out which channel is TBS), though I fear things just won't be the same without the Masturbating Bear.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 10:42 PM | Comments (0)

April 11, 2010

Calamari

I'm a sucker for violent footage of the natural world and this clip of a sea lion making a meal of a squirrelly octopus is pretty spectacular. The octopus makes a few valiant attempts to get away, but the sea lion will not be denied its seafood snack. The fact that the sea lion managed to so agilely pursue its prey with a camera strapped to its back is also worth noting.

Somewhere in western Minnesota, cephalopod lover PZ Myers sheds a single tear while watching this video.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:14 PM | Comments (0)

April 10, 2010

My Conscience Is Clean

I recently purchased the e-book versions of the first two volumes in George R.R. Martin's epic A Song of Fire and Ice fantasy epic, even though I already own them in paperback. I wanted to re-read them on my PC and Amazon was selling them for a reasonable price. I paid for the same material twice because the cost of the electronic versions was more than offset by the convenience of owning that format. And it's perfectly legal. According to NY Times ethicist Randy Cohen, downloading a  pirated version of the book would have been just as ethical because I had already paid the author for his work. So I shouldn't feel too bad about downloading the pirate scans of some comic books that I had also purchased in print form and wanted to read again. It may have been technically illegal, but the NY Times says I'm still a good person.

If publishers would simply make all of their content available in affordable, open digital formats, there's no telling how much additional money they could wring out of me.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 01:24 PM | Comments (0)

April 09, 2010

It Took Them Long Enough

It looks like the alien-invasion movie Independence Day is not going to get just one sequel, but two. I couldn't get to a theater fast enough to see the original, but left feeling a little disappointed. The script was all kinds of silly and I had been hoping for something a little more grandiose. Something tells me the sequels will be even sillier, but I'm still enough of a geek tool that I'll probably see both of them.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 09:47 PM | Comments (1)

April 08, 2010

Cold Turkey

This won't be much of a blog post. I spent most of the evening working on a rush assignment and my brain is already lounging on the sofa in front of the TV. But check out this Slate article written by a man who's preparing to walk away from the Internet for a few months. I admire his determination, but not the goal itself. Sure, I've spent countless hours in front of my computer, but I'm more often than not having a good time doing whatever it is I'm doing. The severity of my disability has probably made the Internet even more attractive to me than it might otherwise be; I don't need any assistance when I'm at my computer, which can't be said for most of my other daily activities (except maybe for sleeping and being a smartass). My life would definitely be poorer if I suddenly had to give up the Internet and the independence that comes with it .

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 10:36 PM | Comments (0)

April 07, 2010

Defenders Of Freedom

Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann, the twin muses of modern know-nothing conservatism, were in my neighborhood today to spread their peculiar gospel of white exurban rage (mixed in with a healthy dose of Christian exceptionalism). If these two become the right's standard-bearers for the next few years, I'm completely fine with that. Thanks to her burgeoning media empire, Palin is making too much money to be tempted by another run for political office. And Bachmann's antics have robbed her of the credibility she would need to rise above her current status as an eccentric backbencher. Of course, some disaster could strike the country, elevating Palin to the presidency and Bachmann her minister of propaganda, but it's more likely that they will both be historical footnotes soon enough.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 09:08 PM | Comments (2)

April 06, 2010

Faraway Voices

One of the truly wonderful things about the Internet is its ability to foster collaboration without regard to traditional notions of "place". Some of you have probably already seen the YouTube video of the virtual choir singing "Lux Aurumque." Nearly 200 people separately recored their individual pieces, which were then combined into a single choral piece. I'm sure that some technical wizardry was necessary to clean up and mix the various audio tracks, but I'm not sure that's any different than what happens in a recording studio. We probably don't need to see video of the conductor mugging for the camera, but otherwise the result is lovely.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:22 PM | Comments (0)

April 05, 2010

A Capitol Idea

When people with disabilities--particularly cognitive disabilities--are ready to start thinking about finding a job, they are usually presented with a severely limited range of career choices. Many are sent to sheltered workshops where they perform repetitive tasks for subminimum wages or they are sent to various work sites as part of a crew of people with disabilities. Most of these jobs aren't in office or professional settings, but MinnPost describes a new internship opportunity that places people with disabilities in the offices of state legislators. The interns (who have a range of physical and cognitive disabilities) perform tasks such as running errands, responding to e-mails, and organizing files. Even better, they get paid a wage that is more than pocket change. One of the senators who hosts an intern commented on how the program is changing how legislators and staff perceive people with disabilities:

They're challenging our assumptions. We're all finding that they can do more than we thought — much more.

Of course, not everyone can do this kind of work, but people with disabilities can and do thrive in any number of jobs that might seem beyond their capabilities at first blush. As the service and knowledge economies become more firmly entrenched, people with disabilities risk being even further marginalized if they aren't given opportunities to learn the skills that might eventually help them land jobs in these sectors. Internships like this are excellent opportunities for people with disabilities to begin thinking about careers and to push themselves outside their comfort zones. And at a time when legislators are contemplating human services cuts, the presence of people with disabilities in and around their offices might cause them to more carefully consider the impacts of those cuts.

Thanks to Allie for the link

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 06:37 PM | Comments (1)

April 04, 2010

Critic At Large: Clash Of The Titans

I went to see Clash of the Titans because I was in the mood for some rampaging CGI monsters. And I got about thirty minutes of that, but I also got about an hour of expository padding that slowed the film's narrative pacing to a crawl, particularly in the first half. Things start with momentum; we learn that the Greek gods are irked with humans for thumbing their noses at Mount Olympus after putting up with the gods' immortal shenanigans for millennia. We're also introduced to Perseus (Sam Worthington), the product of one such shenanigan that Zeus perpetrated on a mortal queen. Perseus is left for dead as an infant and rescued by a kindly fisherman. Perseus comes of age in unremarkable fashion until his family is killed in the crossfire of a skirmish between the god Hades (Ralph Fiennes with a creepy beard) and the uppity citizens of Argos. Perseus then decides that Hades needs a good ass-kicking.

But the ass-kicking takes its own sweet time in getting set up. We have to sit through a lot of male bonding and listen to some skinny prophet of doom blather on before the giant scorpions start hitting the fan. And then it's more exposition until Medusa shows up to do some ass-kicking of her own. I don't have a problem with the film's by the numbers approach or its cardboard characters, but it would have been nice if the movie had streamlined the distance between the numbers. Still, it's got giant scorpions.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 04:34 PM | Comments (0)

April 03, 2010

Ready, Set, Implement!

iPad hype took over the Internet today and I won't be complicit in that. Instead, here's an interesting post about the pivotal role states will play now that the health care bill has passed. The Minnesota Legislature has already introduced several bills to implement provisions of the federal law, but I'm not sure that Pawlenty will go along with this full-steam-ahead approach. The politics of rolling out health care reform haven't received much attention, but that's where the ultimate success or failure of the whole shebang will be determined.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 03:39 PM | Comments (0)

April 02, 2010

Critic At Large: Hot Tub Time Machine

As you might expect from the title, Hot Tub Time Machine is a goofy but entertaining move that doesn't aspire to be much more than a foul-mouthed ode to youth and the Eighties. Three friends and a geeky nephew go on a weekend trip to a winter resort where they hope to briefly recapture the invincibility of their high school years. The resort is now a dilapidated mess, but a bromantic romp in the hot tub adjoining their room somehow hurls the foursome back in time to 1986 to relive the sundry youthful indiscretions they committed during another weekend at the same resort. And from then on, it's pretty much all leg warmers, feathered hair, time travel clichés, tits, drugs, and nostalgia set to the beat of Eighties cock rock and New Wave.

The script doesn't do much that's fresh or outrageous, but the leads (John Cusack, Rob Corddry, and Craig Robinson) play well enough off of each other and bring a certain amount of charm to a plot that is patently ridiculous. Things get a little creepy when we watch these thirtysomething (in the eyes of the audience) guys moon over girls who are supposed to be in high school, but that could be part of the movie's whole gross-out strategy. And speaking of gross-outs, I'm still cringing at the memory of a certain scene involving a catheter. So very, very wrong.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 10:54 PM | Comments (0)

April 01, 2010

Write What You Know

Starting today, The 19th Floor is changing formats. From now on, I'll only be posting photos of women in fishnets. I've given this much thought in recent weeks. I mean, the health care bill passed. Battlestar Galactica is over. Brain-computer interfaces aren't worth writing about until I actually have one implanted in my skull. What else really interests me?

Answer:


But not to worry. The pictures will be tastefully done and accompanied by trenchant social commentary. Or something.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 09:57 PM | Comments (3)