May 31, 2010

Lonely Mountain Will Have To Wait

I'm going to have to wait a while longer to see the screen adaptation of The Hobbit. The project has experienced several delays and now director Guillermo Del Toro has announced he's departing because of scheduling conflicts. I was really looking forward to seeing how Del Toro would filter Middle-Earth through his own steampunky, slightly off-kilter aesthetic, so this news is pretty disappointing. I'm sure the movie will get made under the guidance of another director (maybe even Peter Jackson himself), but it probably won't hit theaters until I'm on the other side of 40. But if this means Del Toro might helm another Hellboy movie, I'd consider that an acceptable trade-off.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 05:25 PM | Comments (0)

May 30, 2010

Activation Day

Here's a short Youtube video of baby having his cochlear implant turned on for the first time, allowing him to hear sound. The baby's reaction is pretty adorable, but I imagine that a substantial number of deaf people might find this video troubling. Deaf culture is premised on, well, deafness; sign language and the entire cultural ecosystem surrounding sign language is a response to the inability to hear and communicate in the traditional sense. Introducing an artificial means of hearing to this kid at an early age is going to short-circuit his introduction to and immersion in deaf culture. Whether that's an objectively bad thing is difficult for me to say. While no particular culture is associated with my disability, I'm pretty confident that technology will make people like me historical curiosities in the next few decades. Deafness probably has a similar fate awaiting it and, given rapid advances in implant technology, the timeline might even be shorter. I'd be curious as to whether the deaf community has considered how to respond to families and medical professionals who are going to find such technology irresistible.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 03:03 PM | Comments (1)

May 29, 2010

Frank Booth Haunts My Dreams

First Gary Coleman and now Dennis Hopper. These things always seem to happen in threes, which probably means that a few dozen somewhat notable character actors are cowering in fear behind the walls of their Malibu homes as they desperately hope that the Reaper will ignore them and choose someone else down the street.

Farewell, Mr. Hopper. You really freaked out my 15-year-old self when I watched Blue Velvet and I never fully recovered, so thanks for that.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 01:43 PM | Comments (0)

May 28, 2010

Missing In Action

One of my favorite disability-related blogs was The Gimp Parade. Its proprietor, fellow Minnesotan Kay Olson, always had something interesting to say about her own experiences as a person with a disability, as well as the intersection between disability and feminism. But Kay hasn't posted anything in over a year and I often wonder if she's okay. The disability blogging community is a small one and it's a loss when one of us goes silent. Kay, if you're reading this, drop me a line so I can convince you to return to blogging.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:04 PM | Comments (1)

May 27, 2010

Celebrities Behaving Badly

I hate it when artists I like do stupid, narcissistic shit. The singer and mix artist M.I.A. apparently didn't think much of a profile about her that appears in this week's Times Magazine. Her displeasure led her to tweet the journalist's phone number. Not cool, M.I.A. I love "Born Free," but the song's awesomeness is somewhat diminished now that I know you're kind of a bitch.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 07:03 PM | Comments (1)

May 26, 2010

Out Of Proportion

My employer is back in the news today with the Strib reporting that personal care agencies are still submitting fraudulent claims that are being paid by the Department of Human Services. This news comes about a year after a legislative auditor found numerous instances of fraud committed by PCA agencies. This might seem like a black eye for the agency, but a closer look at the numbers reveals that the paper might be engaged in a little hyperbole. The Strib, according to its own data, looked at 4,000,000 PCA claims. It found about 580 instances of PCA agencies billing for too many hours. That's an error rate of about .01%. We launch space shuttles under a bigger margin of error. And yet the article's tone implies that my colleagues are borderline incompetents who can't do simple math.

Of course, government agencies should do everything within their power to eliminate fraud and abuse. But until PCA services are administered and delivered by robots (sexy, highly compliant robots), the human factor is going to introduce some element of error and fraud. And based on these numbers, government workers are doing a pretty good job of keeping the human factor in check.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:54 PM | Comments (0)

May 25, 2010

Running To Stand Still

Like a lot of other people, I'm going to have to wait another year before seeing U2 in concert here in Minneapolis. My friend and I were lucky enough to score tickets when they first went on sale and we were both looking forward to the show, but one of the benefits of getting older is that a year doesn't seem like such a long time to wait. These things happen and it's certainly not the band's fault. And I can still look forward to seeing my other favorite band, The New Pornographers, at First Avenue in a couple weeks.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:29 PM | Comments (0)

May 24, 2010

Junk Food

I'm not sure if I have any readers in Singapore, but in case I do:


I will totally make it worth your while if you can get me any of the exotically-flavored Pringles pictured above. From left to right, they are Seaweed, Soft-Shell Crab, and Grilled Shrimp. I didn't know these flavors even existed ten minutes ago, but now I am filled with overwhelming desire to try at least one of these flavors before I die. For some reason, I find the soft pink of the shrimp Pringles can especially alluring.

Make it happen, people.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:35 PM | Comments (2)

May 23, 2010

Hurley Better Not Die

I'm not even going to attempt a guess at how Lost will end tonight because a) I'd probably be wrong and b) I don't want to raise my expectations only to have them dashed in the finale's closing minutes. The far-from-satisfying Battlestar Galactica finale is still fresh in my memory and I'm hoping the Lost writers can do better, but the current season's meandering plot has me prepared for an ending full of ambiguity and unanswered questions. And perhaps that's the point. The show has sometimes been obtuse, but it's never tried to beat viewers over the head with obvious and simple metaphors. Instead, it's preferred to let us assign our own meaning to things. And so even when I've been frustrated with the show's slow pace, it's always been interesting to watch.

I'm going to miss Lost when it's gone, but my TiVo will still have plenty to keep its hard drive spinning: Breaking Bad, Mad Men, True Blood, and Fringe. Especially Fringe. That show has quickly matured into the best science fiction drama on television with a tremendously fun story about parallel universes. I just hope the Fringe writers have a plan for keeping the story moving forward.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 11:32 AM | Comments (0)

May 22, 2010

Everyday Heroes

Ask Metafilter, sister site to the always interesting Metafilter, is one of my favorite sites to peruse when I'm idly surfing. Anyone can ask a question on any topic and other community members will respond with smart, thoughtful answers and opinions. I've asked a few questions there myself and I've always been impressed with the community's knowledge and insight. MeFites (as members of the community refer to each other) may have had their finest hour a few days ago when one member posted a question requesting help for a couple friends recently arrived from Russia who may been about to become victims of human trafficking. Within hours, the community mobilized to find resources that could help these women; one Mefiite even went so far as to meet the women when they got off the bus in New York and keep them out of harm's way. The whole thread makes for gripping reading and is worth checking out. It's a great illustration of how the Internet can be a force for good and not just a giant repository of porn and cat videos.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 05:30 PM | Comments (0)

May 21, 2010

"Never Tell Me The Odds."

The Empire Strikes Back, one of the bestest movies ever, was released thirty years ago today. That made me about six when my dad took me to see it, which now seems like an impossibly long time ago. For my money, the battle on Hoth remains the gold standard in science fiction action sequences. What it lacks in fancy CGI it more than makes up in the sheer awesomeness of giant dinosaurish-looking tanks shooting lasers. The lightsaber battle between Luke and Vader ranks a close second.

I didn't fully appreciate how great this movie was until my twenties, but it now resides in a high place of honor in my personal pop culture canon. I may have to watch it again this weekend to commemorate the occasion.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:47 PM | Comments (0)

May 20, 2010

Like The Gods Themselves

A team of scientists have successfully implanted a synthetic genome into a bacterial organism, creating the first synthetic life form. Start buying your surgical masks now because the first rogue superplague should make its debut in the next 12-18 months.

Seriously, this is a major advance, but I'm not sure we'll be seeing smart vaccines or petroleum-devouring bugs any time soon. It usually takes several years for the gee-whiz laboratory innovations to make their way into the commercial market. But I'm sure the cable news outlets will, over the next few days, gleefully explore how this technology will turn the entire planet into a ball of gray goo.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 07:25 PM | Comments (0)

May 19, 2010

Antique

Check out this Army training video of a very early-generation fire control computer. It's got actual gears. Gears! I think I hear my computer snickering in amusement, but I bet it secretly wishes that it had a few cogs and bronze dials. It's a sucker for the retro look.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 09:13 PM | Comments (1)

May 18, 2010

Like Father, Like Son

News outlets are reporting that Tea Party candidate Rand Paul beat out the establishment Republican candidate in the Kentucky GOP Senate primary. Paul is the son of Texas Representative Ron Paul, who made a brief run for the White House back in 2008. Paul Jr. seems to have inherited his father's dim view of civil rights legislation, as evidenced in these comments he made in opposition to the Americans with Disabilities Act:

You know a lot of things on employment ought to be done locally. You know, people finding out right or wrong locally. You know, some of the things, for example we can come up with common sense solutions — like for example if you have a three story building and you have someone apply for a job, you get them a job on the first floor if they’re in a wheelchair as supposed to making the person who owns the business put an elevator in, you know what I mean? So things like that aren’t fair to the business owner.

Paul's Tea Party vision of America would require people with disabilities to depend on the good graces of others to determine whether they will be accommodated. Of course, the whole premise of civil rights legislation is that the oppressed group cannot reliably depend on the good graces of a frequently indifferent or hostile majority.

Paul and his ilk are deeply fond of portraying themselves as defenders of liberty, but theirs seems to be an exclusive brand of liberty that leaves out s many of the ordinary people they claim to represent. It's just the kind of mentality that deserves to be called elitist.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:45 PM | Comments (1)

May 17, 2010

"Oh. My. God."

This eerily beautiful bit of tornado porn was recorded by a couple sitting in their car as a twister forms in front of them. It looks way too much like some nightmares I've had. But the video's ominous imagery is somewhat offset by the comically frantic exchange between the increasingly freaked-out woman and the forcibly calm dude. I like to think that, in a situation like this, I'd be Mr. Calm Dude, but only after a mighty struggle with my inner hysteric.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 07:52 PM | Comments (2)

May 16, 2010

In Bloom

May is the month in which we Minneapolitans fall in love with our city all over again. The days grow longer, the sun is warm on your face, and the world is a pageantry of green. I followed my favorite walking path earlier today: over the Stone Arch Bridge, across Nicollet Island, and then along the river towards the mill ruins. It was like rediscovering a forgotten room in your house.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 07:34 PM | Comments (1)

May 15, 2010

Critic At Large: M. Butterfly

M. Butterfly is loosely based on the true story of a French diplomat who became involved with a male Chinese opera star and was eventually convicted of spying for the Chinese. The Guthrie production presents the narrative in a series of flashbacks as told by former diplomat Rene Gallimard as he wastes away in a French prison. He summons for the audience his memories of his time as a junior officer stationed at the French embassy in Beijing. We observe his budding infatuation for Song, a Chinese opera star who plays the lead role in a production of Puccini's Madame Butterfly. They eventually form a relationship, but Gallamard somehow never realizes that Song is a man. He also fails to recognize that Song is manipulating him into passing secrets to the Chinese government.

The play is a funny and insightful study of romantic love and the extent to which we will sometimes lie to ourselves and others in order to protect our idealized image of a lover. The cast is uniformly great, but Randy Reyes deserves special mention for his portrayal of Song. He's been in several Guthrie productions, but here he finally brings his wit and wry delivery to a leading role. The scene in which Song finally reveals his true identity to Gallimard is one of the most intense and well-executed I've seen at the Guthrie.

As an aside, I heard several older ladies gasp at the full frontal male nudity, so keep that in mind when deciding to take your grandmother to this production.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 03:39 PM | Comments (1)

May 14, 2010

Into The Wilderness

I'm off to a play shortly, but I wanted to be sure to link to this off-road wheelchair designed by a U.K. grad student. Its hand controls wouldn't work for a disability as severe as mine, but it seems ideal for someone who possesses upper body strength. I'm still waiting for someone to build me a hoverchair (with heated seat) so I can finally scratch "Climb Mount Everest" off my bucket list.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 06:20 PM | Comments (1)

May 13, 2010

Fingers Crossed

One of the major issues to be resolved in the final days of the legislative session is whether the governor would agree to an early Medicaid expansion. You may recall that the recently enacted Affordable Care Act gives states the option to expand Medicaid to adults without children as soon as this year. Hospitals and other medical providers are pushing for this expansion because it would replace the the very fragile General Assistance Medical Care program, the health care program for Minnesota's poorest citizens that is currently being held together with little more than paper clips and string. Moving these individuals into Medicaid would ensure them better access to medical care while also guaranteeing that providers would get paid.

As late as yesterday, it looked like the governor would refuse to go along with this plan. He vetoed the human services bill containing such a provision and proclaimed that the dollars just don't exist for an expansion. But today, he seemed to hint that he might agree to such an expansion if the financing method can be negotiated. The expansion would help tens of thousands of people, so I'm hoping that the spirit of compromise eventually carries the day. Pawlenty has the opportunity to end his last legislative session on a somewhat positive note,  which would be a welcome change from so many past sessions.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:37 PM | Comments (0)

May 12, 2010

They Can Have My LP-10 When They Pry It Out Of My Cold, Dead Hands

I tried out another ventilator today. It's incredibly small size and LCD screen just screamed "Sexy!" It felt more natural than the last vent I tested out, but it still requires a few tweaks to ensure I can speak with the same facileness that I have now. Fortunately, my medical supplier isn't rushing me into a switch and I still have plenty of time to use my current model. That may or may not be a good thing. Left to my own devices, I'd probably keep using my current vent until it was a steaming, duct tape-covered mess.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 07:56 PM | Comments (0)

May 11, 2010

Been Here Before

I'm really trying to understand the DFL's endgame now that the governor has done what everyone knew he would do: veto the DFL budget bill that included a tax hike for the wealthy. I understand the impulse to paint the governor and Republicans in general as friends of the rich, but this whole exercise seems pointless when less than a week remains in the regular session. And most voters don't care about politics; they want results. As much as I respect what the DFL leadership is trying to do, I'm not sure they appreciate that this kind of gamesmanship only fuels voter anger.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 09:57 PM | Comments (0)

May 10, 2010

Mothers And Sons

This would have been more appropriate to post yesterday, but this animated rendering of an interview between a mother and her son (who has Asperger's) is lovely without being schmaltzy. The kid has a naive but searching intelligence that results in some difficult questions ("Have you ever lied to me?"). The mom is just as genuine in her answers ("Probably"). It's only four minutes in length, but it's enough to give us a meaningful peek into a complicated and loving relationship.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 09:17 PM | Comments (0)

May 09, 2010

Critic At Large: Iron Man 2

Here is my review of IM2 in bullet format:

• Can Robert McDowney, Jr.'s smugness switch ever be turned off? What he start weeping uncontrollably if it was?
  
• Scarlett Johannson is way hotter than she was in Ghost World. It's like she's been on a steady diet of hotness over the past several years. 
  
• More superhero movies should allow their main characters to fuck shit up in a drunken rage. 
  
• I could barely understand a word that Mickey Rourke's character said and he wasn't much of a supervillain. But he gets an A in Badass Russian Gulag Tatts.
• The evil robot drones in the movie bear a suspicious resemblance to my own design.
• Scarlett Johansson. Damn.
  

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 02:18 PM | Comments (0)

May 08, 2010

Eye In The Sky

The criminal trial on which I was a juror was interesting on many levels, but one thing that really caught my attention was how much surveillance occurs as we go about our daily business. The prosecution introduced several video clips acquired from cameras in apartment buildings, stores, and on the street. Cell phone records were also introduced and cross-referenced with the video footage. It's one thing to understand at an abstract level that technology has greatly diminished our anonymity, but an actual demonstration of the fact is both impressive and a little unnerving. Of course, we are all complicit in this trend. We're more than willing to post our whereabouts on Twitter and Foursquare for everyone to see, so complaining about cameras watching us seems beside the point. Whether all this surveillance measurably increases our safety is another matter, though, and one on which I still need a good deal of persuasion.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 06:50 PM | Comments (1)

May 07, 2010

Reading Is Fundamental

According to Maclean's, Braille is a dying form of communication. Its decline is attributed to the twin force of strained public budgets and technological innovation. Braille materials are expensive to produce and schools and libraries simply don't have the resources to convert every book into Braille format. And new technologies like audio readers are cheaper and can be used without any prior instruction. The article points out that people who learn Braille do better on reading comprehension tests and are more likely to find employment. Braille advocates also point out that to not teach Braille to blind kids is to leave them functionally illiterate.

Without learning Braille, most blind people would be living in a strictly oral culture. Is that a bad thing? I'm not sure. Technology that can scan and read printed materials will only get better. These devices will offer a versatility that Braille simply can't match. At the same time, technology can create unnecessary dependency. Take away the technology and the person truly is illiterate. A familiarity with a written language might not make us better thinkers, but it does fundamentally alter how we perceive and describe the world around us. And it doesn't require batteries.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 07:06 PM | Comments (2)

May 06, 2010

J.D. Stands for Job Deprived

When my sister graduated from law school in 2008, job prospects for new attorneys were already beginning to dim. Things got worse in 2009 and, according to the Wall Street Journal, the job market for new attorneys in 2010 is nothing short of atrocious. Couple uncertain earnings potential with ridiculously high student debt burdens and the whole notion of going to law school starts to seem like a risky venture. Even the American Bar Association is telling potential attorneys to reconsider their career choice. I'd probably offer similar advice. A legal education is wonderful for teaching one to think and write critically, but odds are that it won't land you a six-figure salary and that it won't help you argue away your student loan obligations. Of course, there are plenty of other ways to earn a six-figure salary without ever having to remember the elements of negligence.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:07 PM | Comments (0)

May 05, 2010

Gridlock

The major topic of discussion at work today was the Minnesota Supreme Court's decision invalidating the governor's unallotment of several social service and health care programs. With only two weeks remaining in the legislative session, this decision complicates efforts to balance the budget. The legislature can and probably will pass a balanced budget, but Pawlenty can still veto bills. One side will probably have to cave because the likelihood of a negotiated compromise seems remote. The only other option is a government shutdown, which wouldn't accomplish much except to fuel voter anger in an election year.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 09:23 PM | Comments (0)

May 04, 2010

This Has All Happened Before. It Will All Happen Again.

The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is indeed an enormous tragedy, but it's worth remembering that it pales in comparison to previous spills. From the Times article:

The ruptured well, currently pouring an estimated 210,000 gallons of oil a day into the gulf, could flow for years and still not begin to approach the 36 billion gallons of oil spilled by retreating Iraqi forces when they left Kuwait in 1991. It is not yet close to the magnitude of the Ixtoc I blowout in the Bay of Campeche in Mexico in 1979, which spilled an estimated 140 million gallons of crude before the gusher could be stopped.

This spill happened close to our shores and so it's a given that it will receive copious amounts of coverage in the domestic press. But when the next spill occurs off the Brazilian coast or in the waters surrounding the Horn of Africa, I'm not sure we'll take much notice. 

As long as we continue to rely on fossil fuels, spills like this will continue to happen with some regularity. I had hoped that this disaster might focus legislators' minds on passing a comprehensive energy bill that puts a price on carbon. Pictures of oil-covered beaches provoke a much more visceral reaction than computer models showing rising sea levels over a span of decades. But as Ezra Klein points out, this disaster will probably cause supporters and opponents to dig in their heels and make any compromise far less likely. 

I heavily depend on petroleum-based plastics in my daily life. Any move away from fossil fuels is going to be hugely disruptive, but our present course simply isn't sustainable.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:35 PM | Comments (0)

May 03, 2010

Another Potential Recruit For The Revolution

Daniyah Manderson, a young teacher in New York City who also happens to have spinal muscular atrophy, is profiled in yesterday's Times. The article and accompanying video provide an unflinching look at the challenges in her life that are both mundane (a broken elevator in the school where she teaches) to the deeply personal (an abusive husband). She is also raising a young daughter. The piece manages to capture Daniyah's independent spirit as well as the reality of her limitations without falling into the trap of supercrip worship. It also makes me think that New York City is probably more inaccessible than Minneapolis by several orders of magnitude.

The article includes some details that made me wince. Daniyah doesn't eat or drink anything during the day because nobody is available to help her use the bathroom at school. While the school isn't obligated to assist her with her personal needs, it's also not great policy to let one of your employees starve and dehydrate herself each day. It's stories like this that remind me how ridiculously spoiled I am when it comes to having my own needs met.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 06:48 PM | Comments (0)

May 02, 2010

People Power

I'm just back from this year's May Day Parade and Festival. All my old friends were there: the dreadlocked neo-hippies, the gray-bearded old-school hippies, the Anonymous guys in their V for Vendetta masks, the Hare Krishnas, the eco-warriors, the socialists, the puppeteers, and even a smattering of Republicans. Best of all, I didn't get scorched with sunburn this time.

Happy May Day from my quiet little corner of the revolution.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:03 PM | Comments (0)

May 01, 2010

Look Out Below

It's so windy today that one of my neighbors' windows just popped out of its frame and shattered on the deck a few floors below. This seems to happen at least a couple times every spring and it poses a significant hazard to anyone who might happen to be on the deck. High-rise living is not without its hazards. I'm guessing that our building association will soon assess us for new windows for the entire building rather than risk a lawsuit from someone who gets boinked on the head by a freefalling pane of glass.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 02:31 PM | Comments (1)