Below, Terry Pratchett on his newest book Making Money, which I quite liked. (It's not a financial self help book, it's a satirical fantasy novel about a mint.)
(His books sell 2.5 million copies per year! Holy mama.)
In it is one of the best lines I've ever seen quoted:
"Ingenuity gets you through times of no money better than money gets you through times of no ingenuity." - Terry Pratchett
(Beth informs me it is derived from "Dope will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no dope." — Freewheelin' Franklin of the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers. Although I suspect that may have come from something even earlier.)
Monday, May 12, 2008
Sunday, May 11, 2008
What does Paris do?
I've been reading Doonesbury collections for thirty years now. That strip rocks. I shudder to think how much it would mean to me if I were an American baby-boomer university graduate.
The strip below got banned by many, many newspapers because it used the word "masturbation". I'm still astounded at how little it takes to offend some people. Trudeau was interviewed about the incident.
Saturday, May 10, 2008
TC revisited
Tom Cruise on Oprah this week.
You could hardly find anybody more different from me than "TC", apart of course from our good looks. I'm the incarnate introvert, he is extroversion personified. But durnit, he is just too sincere and charming to keep hating, I give up.
(I'd like to watch the show where Oprah visits Tom's home. If anybody finds it online, please give notice.)
You could hardly find anybody more different from me than "TC", apart of course from our good looks. I'm the incarnate introvert, he is extroversion personified. But durnit, he is just too sincere and charming to keep hating, I give up.
(I'd like to watch the show where Oprah visits Tom's home. If anybody finds it online, please give notice.)
Friday, May 09, 2008
The pirates are out to get you
Which anti-piracy propaganda video is more stupid, dishonest, condescending, misleading, pointless, and irritating? This one or this one? (I just can't believe they actually say "the pirates are out to get you" and "don't let the pirates burn a hole in your pocket".)
"Steal This Movie" part II. The information about the history of control of (mass-) communication is fascinating, there is much I had no idea about.
I have to admit, though, that the film is very one-sided. It's not so much a documentary as an argument. I am mostly on the same side as the argument ("information should flow freely"), but I also have some questions. Like "will information and art flow so freely one day that it becomes nearly impossible to make a living from making or selling it?"
For example, it is very expensive to make a good movie or television show. Will the economy of this collapse? That is hard to imagine. But will payment still happen because of some remnant of technological control or herding of customers? Or will it happen because of the power of the honor system, because people want to give a monetary reward out of the goodness of their heart? "If you liked this episode of Eureka, which you got for free over bittorrent, please give a dollar to the studio so they can pay the actors and set builders".
"Steal This Movie" part II. The information about the history of control of (mass-) communication is fascinating, there is much I had no idea about.
I have to admit, though, that the film is very one-sided. It's not so much a documentary as an argument. I am mostly on the same side as the argument ("information should flow freely"), but I also have some questions. Like "will information and art flow so freely one day that it becomes nearly impossible to make a living from making or selling it?"
For example, it is very expensive to make a good movie or television show. Will the economy of this collapse? That is hard to imagine. But will payment still happen because of some remnant of technological control or herding of customers? Or will it happen because of the power of the honor system, because people want to give a monetary reward out of the goodness of their heart? "If you liked this episode of Eureka, which you got for free over bittorrent, please give a dollar to the studio so they can pay the actors and set builders".
More on Miley
"Fury rained down; former fans were suggesting that communities got together to bonfire her merchandise. And finally, she relented, saying: "I feel so embarrassed. I never intended for this to happen and I apologise to my fans." Never mind what a ludicrous system this is that chooses young women for their sex appeal and then expects them to act as role models for the chastity of the rest of the population. It's the insincerity of everyone concerned that really chokes me. Not one person involved can seriously think Miley Cyrus had any kind of influence over this, or any other, image-building decision."
Guardian article
Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange, Red
Painting by Ellsworth Kelly.
Title: "Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange, Red"
1966. Oil on canvas, Five panels, Overall: 60 x 240 inches. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.
If it were me, I think I'd have yielded to the temptation to give it the title "Blue, Green, Yellow, Blue, Red".
Popularity of the slut
My friend Richard told me:
I worked with a young college student (a black girl - a native of Ethiopia) who "moonlighted" as an exotic dancer in a town some distance from the city after her shift on the drug and suicide hotline (for which she was a volunteer along with me) was over. She was very modest in her regular role as college student and had very strict morals. When I was first introduced to her, I thought she looked familiar but could not place her. She had been wearing a large Afro wig and tinted contact lenses in her "act". Of course, she recognized me and knew where I had seen her before, but she didn't mention it initially until I had got acquainted with her to some extent and convinced me that she was a person of integrity and devoutly religious. My shift on the hotline was right after hers and I would usually go there a little early and chat as she was very personable and humorous, but one time I was late relieving her and she was a little perturbed and told me she was late for her gig. I asked her if she was a musician, and she then told me that she worked as an exotic dancer to help pay her tuition. I then remembered where I had seen her. She told me that she had seen me there and then told me she preferred that I not go there again on her nights to work and to keep her "occupation" under my hat -- which I did. However, her disclosure had an odd effect -- now that I saw her as an "innocent" my memory of her act was more titillating in retrospect than in had been at the time I witnessed it. As much as I tried to disassociate her role as exotic dancer with her role as innocent college girl and fellow worker, I found myself a little uncomfortable in her company and found myself measuring my words so that she would not think I was "hitting" on her.
Yes, that's an interesting thing. Judging from the number of porn sites on the web advertising their models as "sluts", the loose girl is attractive to many men. I never really got that. I wonder if most men has such a low self-esteem that not even in their imagination will a girl want anything to do with them unless she is a slut?
I worked with a young college student (a black girl - a native of Ethiopia) who "moonlighted" as an exotic dancer in a town some distance from the city after her shift on the drug and suicide hotline (for which she was a volunteer along with me) was over. She was very modest in her regular role as college student and had very strict morals. When I was first introduced to her, I thought she looked familiar but could not place her. She had been wearing a large Afro wig and tinted contact lenses in her "act". Of course, she recognized me and knew where I had seen her before, but she didn't mention it initially until I had got acquainted with her to some extent and convinced me that she was a person of integrity and devoutly religious. My shift on the hotline was right after hers and I would usually go there a little early and chat as she was very personable and humorous, but one time I was late relieving her and she was a little perturbed and told me she was late for her gig. I asked her if she was a musician, and she then told me that she worked as an exotic dancer to help pay her tuition. I then remembered where I had seen her. She told me that she had seen me there and then told me she preferred that I not go there again on her nights to work and to keep her "occupation" under my hat -- which I did. However, her disclosure had an odd effect -- now that I saw her as an "innocent" my memory of her act was more titillating in retrospect than in had been at the time I witnessed it. As much as I tried to disassociate her role as exotic dancer with her role as innocent college girl and fellow worker, I found myself a little uncomfortable in her company and found myself measuring my words so that she would not think I was "hitting" on her.
Yes, that's an interesting thing. Judging from the number of porn sites on the web advertising their models as "sluts", the loose girl is attractive to many men. I never really got that. I wonder if most men has such a low self-esteem that not even in their imagination will a girl want anything to do with them unless she is a slut?
Carlin, Stuff, Children
Apropos of diverse, Eric points to George Carlin on Stuff and on Children.
Couldn't agree more. Also about political correctness and euphemisms.
Couldn't agree more. Also about political correctness and euphemisms.
Thursday, May 08, 2008
Knocked Up
(Funny enough, this post is more about "skin", and more about copyright.)
Just watched Knocked Up. At first I was doubtful, but I ended up enjoying it. Beautiful women, great kids, decent story, and often quite funny.
Featured in the film was the famous web site Mr. Skin. It features scenes with actresses in the nude. It's amazing to me for two reasons: 1) apparently the guy has forty people working for him! 2) apparently the film studies leave him alone, despite him ripping all the nude scenes and putting them on a pay site! I'm pretty amazed by that. But I think the key may be that he is claiming the site is a review site, and the clips are put up as per the clause in copyright law which says you can feature bits of copyrighted works in connection with reviews. This would make it reasonably watertight, at least enough to not make it worth contending.
Just watched Knocked Up. At first I was doubtful, but I ended up enjoying it. Beautiful women, great kids, decent story, and often quite funny.
Featured in the film was the famous web site Mr. Skin. It features scenes with actresses in the nude. It's amazing to me for two reasons: 1) apparently the guy has forty people working for him! 2) apparently the film studies leave him alone, despite him ripping all the nude scenes and putting them on a pay site! I'm pretty amazed by that. But I think the key may be that he is claiming the site is a review site, and the clips are put up as per the clause in copyright law which says you can feature bits of copyrighted works in connection with reviews. This would make it reasonably watertight, at least enough to not make it worth contending.
Skins ad turn-off
From a Amazon UK DVD sales page:
"Skins - Series 2 - Complete [2007]
"Channel 4's critically-acclaimed drama follows the angst-ridden lives of its teenage characters, as they grapple with issues of race, religion, sexuality, drugs, and eating disorders. SKINS' portrayal of these characters as poster children of the hedonistic lifestyle is unflinching in its candour. Expect plenty more bitching, backstabbing, and general bad behaviour in this, the complete second series."
Is it just me, or is this the worst ad copy ever? It surely does not get me hot to buy this series.
"Skins - Series 2 - Complete [2007]
"Channel 4's critically-acclaimed drama follows the angst-ridden lives of its teenage characters, as they grapple with issues of race, religion, sexuality, drugs, and eating disorders. SKINS' portrayal of these characters as poster children of the hedonistic lifestyle is unflinching in its candour. Expect plenty more bitching, backstabbing, and general bad behaviour in this, the complete second series."
Is it just me, or is this the worst ad copy ever? It surely does not get me hot to buy this series.
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