Sunday, July 15. 2007
Alistair's review at Flares of this German movie, The Lives of Others, is lengthy but fascinating. I want to see the movie - and I do not particularly care for movies.
Saturday, July 14. 2007
 You are an artist. You buy the paint, then what? A piece by Daniel Kunitz in the NY Sun about a new show at the MOMA titled "What is Painting?" - a quote:
Once upon a time, we knew what painting was. As recently as the 1960s, there was, if not a single consensus, then at least several broad and overlapping consensuses about what constituted a painting: It was two-dimensional and used pigments on some type of support, like a canvas; it was abstract, or it was representational; it was defined by its medium and sought to exclude the influence of all others, or it was defined by how prettily or truthfully it employed its medium, etc. The delightful proposition of "What Is Painting?" — a broad survey of art from the 1960s to today, drawn from the Museum of Modern Art's contemporary collection — is that we have utterly lost our way: We no longer have any idea what painting is, and we are much better for it. Loosely chronological and with an equally relaxed thematic structure, the show makes its argument largely through the variety and quality of the work on view.
Read the whole thing. Image: A 1969 painting by William T. Williams in the MOMA's show, from the NY Sun article.
Many remain blithely unaware, and many remain in denial and therefore unconcerned, despite sightings around the world. Story here. (h/t, Tim Blair). Rumors that Dick Cheney is behind all of this cannot be confirmed as yet, but Congressional hearings will surely be scheduled soon, with a flurry of subpoenas for the White House. But I suspect that this may be the result of an experiment-gone-wild, performed by the crazed biologists at Ducks Unlimited. 
Friday, July 13. 2007
A Luis Moro movie, set in Cuba. Love and Suicide. I recommend it.
Tuesday, July 10. 2007
 Drove down to JFK on Saturday to put the youngest pup on a plane to spend a while in Barcelona to soak up some Spanish history, literature and culcha. Yes, and to perfect her Spanish too.
For me, the highest points of Spanish culture are El Greco and Cervantes - but probably not the astonishing Gaudi. Words like "ugly," "strange," and "hallucinogenic" do not do justice to how interesting his buildings are to look at, though. Here are some Gaudi buildings. Photo is Gaudi's Casa Batllo in Barcelona.
Monday, July 9. 2007
 Today, one of the Bird Dog litter began her first big job in NYC. She was appropriately apprehensive. More accurately, scared halfway out of her mind. I sent her an email this morning: "Be brave and strong, honey. You can do it!"
While chatting with Mrs. Bird Dog tonight, she told me that she had sent her an email too: "Are you going to wear the pearls I gave you?"
John Leo on good writing. h/t, Ed Driscoll. Good reminders in there for me.
 A new weekly feature at Maggie's Farm! Ask Dr. Bliss!
Dr. Bliss can tell you how to be happy, healthy and wise. She knows the Meaning of Life, the Purpose of Existence, the True Nature of God, whether human relationships are worth the bother, which of your sexual and violent fantasies are sick and which are wholesome, how to please a man, what your mother really thought about you, and where to find the best prices for Manolos.
Photo: Our Dr. Joy Bliss in a pensive moment, contemplating the mind-brain problem, the mysteries of counter-counter-transference, and wondering what shoes to wear tomorrow. (Yes, it's a friendly spoof of our blog friend Dr. Helen, who has begun an Ask Dr. Helen feature at Pajamas Media - an excellent idea, and we are chagrined that we did not think of it first.) Editor's Note: Check the comments. Wiseacres abound around here.
Check out the "Dreamliner"
Sunday, July 8. 2007
The neighbors down the road have some nice ones this week: 
Friday, July 6. 2007
 At 247', Mirabella V is the world's largest single-masted sailboat. She can do 20 knots under sail: that lengthy waterline helps with boat speed.
Best of all, you can lease her, with crew, by the week - but it's a bit pricey for the average workin' stiff at $300,000 per week. Summers in the Med, winters in the Caribbean. Details and great photos at Mirabella V.
Thursday, July 5. 2007
 It's a trite old slogan now. You all know where it's from. But like most things that are truly useful, they fade into the background until they are essentially invisible, a plain sort of wallpaper perhaps; and people only point out whatever shortcomings such things have. Only Europeans are bigger ingrates than Americans. We seldom appreciate anything we have; they don't appreciate the things they have, and don't appreciate us, either. An example: I could search the internet for half a second and come up with millions of documents, scholarly and rant-like alike, telling us all how bad the Interstate Highway System is. All the evils it generates. Try finding out the sum total of what it's added to the betterment of our country, and by proxy, the world. I submit to you that no one bothers to even attempt it, because the benefits of the thing are so enormous and so far-reaching that you couldn't even begin to quantify it. So everyone just takes the benefits of it for granted and rails about a swamp that got filled in, or pollution - a little real, mostly imaginary. But then, it's much easier to complain about your cable bill than to turn the TV off, ain't it? I want you to read an entire blog. You heard me, the whole thing. William Kamkwamba's Malawi Windmill Blog I'd like to think that guy is just like me. But it would be presumptuous of me to claim it. But I'd be proud if someone said it about me, that's for sure. I'm going to head a lot of people off at the pass right now. His accomplishments have nothing to do with Gaia-love windpower one-world eco-blathering World Bank recumbent bicycle Earth Day carbon footprint nonsense. A man, aided by friends and family, is able to use his active mind and his efforts to improve the quality of his family's life through his own exertions. That, and he is able -- and allowed-- in a small way to lay his hands on the things he needs to do it. It boggles the mind what that man could do with access to a library and a Home Depot. Please take heed: I said library and not university. A university is now generally simply an intellectual bootcamp, where you are taught that no one needs what William, and many like him, desperately and manifestly do need; things that you take for granted because you have the dough for a 600 dollar phone toy with no inkling of how it, or anything else for that matter, gets to you. They talk a good game about helping people like William in the abstract, as part of a faceless horde. Reality intrudes quickly, though, and they don't do much of anything that helps any individual like William, and generally do a great deal to harm or hamstring him. I fear many might be sanguine about returning such as me to the local equivalent of where William is now -- reading a dogeared book in the dark, slapping at the malarial mosquitoes -- as long as they can call it "progress" on the trust-fund circuit. Also take heed: I said Home Depot and not an Al Gore celebrity self-congratulation extravaganza. They fly over people like William and me, look out the private plane's window and say: No one needs what they want. Please have my concubine feed me another lotos blossom.
I feel better about the world because William Kamkwamba's in it. You want to help him? Start by getting out of his way.
Monday, July 2. 2007
Beverly "Bubbles" Sills died at 78. Una Voce Poco Fa (1976), from the Barber of Seville.
Sunday, July 1. 2007
Earl Scruggs, with Joanie Baez doing Dylan's Love is Just a Four-letter Word Don Ross, guitar-picker extraordinaire, at LGF. Today, Maggie's Farm has warned ya, informed ya, fed ya, entertained ya, and provided holy inspiration. Now I am off-duty, with tennis, smoking a nice pork butt, and some outdoor jobs. See y'all tomorry.
 We have written many times about how using ethanol (alcohol, aka moonshine) as a gas additive is a scam, and nothing more than a massive farm subsidy which is raising the cost of food.
But I just learned more. When you use gas with ethanol, it can destroy your gas-powered power tools and mowers. I just had a conversation with my local Stihl and Scag dealer yesterday - my Stihl hedge trimmer needed a new carburetor. Guy said the ethanol kills these machines - their lines, their carburetors, etc. He says it's also murder on outboard engines. He explained that it's less of a problem for pros who use their tools daily, but if you use your tools occasionally, the alcohol - being water-soluble - separates from the gas and makes a mess. The new carburetor cost me $97. His advice: Run the machine down to empty if you aren't going to use it for a while, and always use fresh gas - don't use two-month-old gas. If you are like me, you have five gallon containers of vintage gas-oil mix left over from last fall. Get rid of it, somehow. Here's one article on the subject.
Tuesday, June 26. 2007
 Her farewell ABT performance yesterday, in Romeo and Juliet - video clips here. (You have to click on the Alessandra Ferri photo link.)
How does that look, for a retirement performance? You could mistake her for a 20 year-old. "A kind of fierce love" from her audience for this passionate prima ballerina. Photo: Alessandra Ferri. Not sure what dance that photo is from, but will try to find out.
Because she smells like a new truck.
How can I instruct someone to be truthful when taking a Moral Sense Test? Anyhow, you can try the Harvard test here. (h/t, Drezner). Then you can lie about your test results.
Monday, June 25. 2007
Inspector Dan seeks the villainous cause of the missing millions of CBS viewers. Iowahawk
This week it's La Crosse, Wisconsin, a nice little town on the Mississippi River along the border with Minnesota. As the story goes, the site got its name when explorer Zebulon Pike witnessed local Indian tribes playing a game with sticks that resembled a bishop's crozier, or crosse, in the language of the French fur traders who, as usual, were the first Europeans to establish themselves in the area. In the late 1800s, thousands of Norwegian and German settlers moved to the area, lending it a character which remains to this day.  The town was the beneficiary of plenty of that distinctively American "main street" style architecture during the 1880s and 1890s, as can be seen in the old postcard above, and to the town's good fortune most of it has survived to the present day. Through a city-wide master plan for redevelopment La Crosse has managed to renovate and refurbish over 100 historic buildings while attracting cutting-edge technology and communications firms to the town. The entire riverfront has been developed as well and outfitted with walking paths and recreational boating areas, making the downtown an even more attractive place to live. The main downside to the place? It's too darn cold for a lot of folks, though the Norwegian settlers didn't mind too much, as this excerpt from an 1854 letter written by a Norwegian immigrant to his relatives back home shows:
"When you wrote about some coffee beans, it is impossible for us to obtain them. They grow in South America under sunshine and a warm and unhealthy climate. Here the climate is cold, healthy and fresh. . . "
The Dylanologist would have to agree, though of course it's true that there's an awful lot of coffee in Brazil.
From Cynopsis: It looks as though MySpace isn't the only major media site attracting phishers. Malware in the form of Zlob adware has been discovered embedded in YouTube videos. Attackers are using a fake video link to initiate a p#rn adware program that results in the installation of data-stealing code. Zlob Media's spyware codec was the most prevalent threat to PC users in the month of May, according to Sunbelt Software's Threat Research Center.
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