02.27.06
Posted in politics at 6:15 pm by mridley
I feel compelled to comment about this tempest in a teacup. So much is being made of the fact that a Dubai-based company is attempting to purchase the UK-based company responsible for terminal operations at several United States ports. Yet all the security experts I’ve seen interviewed have said there is no additional risk from this transaction. And the Coast Guard and Customs are still actually responsible for security. And the real port security issues are at foreign ports, long before the cargo gets to the US.
Yet Congress seems all worked up about this. I saw a press conference the other day with Chuck Schumer and Hillary Clinton where they were lamenting how dangerous this is and pointing out that we don’t let foriegn owned companies own US airports. I know it’s great politics to call the White House out on this. But let’s be realistic for a second. First of all, it would be entirely within Congress’s power to change the law to prevent foreign ownership of ports. So instead of critisizing of the executive branch for not enforcing a law that doesn’t exist, they should legislate if they so choose. Of course in the interest of a fair playing field that would mean that all foreign port operators would need to be kicked out and their interests nationalized. Oh…that’s not politically palatable? Yeah…how about that.
Second of all, on the subject of Bush not being up to speed on the issue quickly enough. I’m not a big fan of George Bush. Having said that, there are many many international business deals going through every day. It is not part of the President’s job description to monitor and individually approve or disapprove of each one. Nor should it be. Remember that whole capitalism/free market thing? And for business transactions that do raise special national security implications, such as the DPW deal, there is a process in place for experts to assess the risks and make a determination. That process most often does not involve the President. Is the President an expert on port security and operations and the implications of a UAE versus UK company as terminal operator? I would imagine not. How about we let the people who know what they’re talking about work on that one.
Tags: DPW
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02.26.06
Posted in books, life, music at 10:06 pm by mridley
I was sitting at Starbucks yesterday reading Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom
. I don’t normally pay attention to the music playing in Starbucks, but I remember thinking to myself, “Hm..this melody sounds so much like a Sisters of Mercy song” but the vocals were a woman and the style not at all the Sisters. I got to a chapter break in the book and set it down to take a sip of my coffee. And not being focused on the book any more, what did I notice? The song was in fact a cover of Marian by Sisters of Mercy.
I can’t be 100% sure since the music was not very loud and there were people talking. But I’m pretty sure there was some Lilith Fair girlie band playing Marian on the Starbucks speakers. How odd. I couldn’t tell if they sang the German verse or not. I’m curious who the band was (or if I’m even right)…so if you know about this cover, let me know who did it!
Tags: Starbucks, Sisters of Mercy
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02.17.06
Posted in entertainment at 7:18 am by mridley
This may be a bit of a non-sequitor, but I was watching one of those personality profile shows on E! or something about Cameron Diaz the other day. I suppose I’ve always been a fan of hers, although not rabidly so. But some of the comments made on the TV program about her career choices struck me as a bit…off. So I thought I’d share my take, since I know you are all leaning precipitously on the edge of your collective seats to hear it.
Of course everyone knows, or at least everyone who cares, that Cameron Diaz’s first movie role was starring opposite Jim Carey in The Mask. A pretty big movie, and certainly got her noticed by a lot of people. The TV show I was watching made it sound like after The Mask, she didn’t get any more big offers and got stuck with parts in small independent movies. It’s always been my understanding that she had plenty of major motion picture options, and chose to go the independent route to get a little more experience before trying to get lightening to strike twice.
Regardless of reasoning, her second movie was the Last Supper
. The television show portrayed this as a good role, but not seen by many people. Well, it was an independent film and I don’t think it was released all that widely, but plenty of people saw this movie. Including me. And if you haven’t, you should.
Frankly the Cameron Diaz independent and quirky fare is a lot more interesting than Charlie’s Angels. Some critics didn’t like it, but for my money A Life Less Ordinary
is what the romantic comedy genre should be. Dark. Funny. Often mean. Yet with the payoff at the end that keeps you coming back for more.
And of course who couldn’t love Being John Malkovich
. Every time I pop that movie in the DVD player I find myself totally surprised that Cameron Diaz is in it. Certainly not the stereotypical Cameron Diaz character. But then again, Charlie Kaufman is the most original and inventive screenwriter to hit mainstream Hollywood in quite a while.
And of course if you do like the more accessable lighter Diaz fare, you really need to see The Sweetest Thing
. It’s sort of like Something About Mary - only set in San Francisco. And with glory holes.
I’m not sure what the point of all this rambling is…I suppose just to point out that I don’t think it was ever the case that Cameron Diaz couldn’t get roles or was stuck in indie-land. I think those role choices were conscious decisions and good decisions in my opinion. Hot blondes are a dime a dozen, but pulling off those off-kilter roles shows some real talent.
My two cents.
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02.09.06
Posted in entertainment, media at 7:45 pm by mridley
I haven’t had a chance to listen to this at all yet, but the Silent Universe is billing itself as the first interactive podcast drama. I don’t know if it’s good or not, but I mention it because it shows the power of the podcast format beyond the initial “talk radio neaveu” format that has been popular up until now.
Of course, these days I’m more fascinated by video…but there’s a lot of cross-media idea germination.
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Posted in amuse, entertainment at 7:42 pm by mridley
There is a parody of the Joss Wheden television show Angel, produced by a fan and distributed online. I haven’t had a chance to check it out yet, but the trailer is available for download. I have high expectations. Will update more after I actually, ya know, watch it.
Cherub: The Vampire with Bunny Slippers
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Posted in life at 12:15 pm by mridley
There has been some discussion on the podcasting and videoblogging mailing lists of late about “podfading”. It would seem this is a new term for the rather obvious eventuality that people will lose interest in their podcasts (or vidcasts or blogs or whatever) over time, and they become abandoned. I’m not sure we need a new term for something that’s pretty obvious, but whatever.
Anyway it has made me think about my poor neglected Showbiz News - Online. Of course that hardly counts as podfading since I never even got off the ground with it. But for the record, it’s not abandoned. I just have had no time lately at all.
Once my job situation settles out I do intend to get on the ball with that. But in my fits and starts of trying to get a second episode out I have realized that it’s going to be a ton more work than I had initiall expected. Still that raises the point that was brought up on one of the mailing lists - the key in their opinion, and I agree, is not to rush a product out. Better to have a high quality program than something shoddy that’s rushed.
Ah well….one of these days….
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02.02.06
Posted in life at 1:49 pm by mridley
Since I am apparently in the habit of commenting on the Dreamhost monthly customer newsletters, I thought I’d mention that this month’s witty communique was in the style of a State of the Union address. A very fitting choice, as was expected.
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Posted in business at 1:10 pm by mridley
I changed some of the advertising space on shownotes.info to a ClickGrid space several weeks ago. I was contacted by the guy behind ClickGrid who wanted to use some ad space on shownotes.info to help get his service off the ground. At first I was a little skeptical, but I decided that since I wasn’t exactly raking in the big bucks at present I may as well try something new.
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