Art Machine
Just another former infatuation junkie

Interesting. Last post just happened to be post number 404.

So, I’ve been out of the loop for most of the day, today. Around about 8:30 in the morning, the big three went out – internet, cable, and telephone. Just a little while ago thanks to some dedicated technicians willing to come out at night, the service was restored.

And the world goes on…

I’m a book geek. So I know that (1) I can’t resist this latest meme, and (2) I am going to be thoroughly shamed by the time I finish going through this list that I found over at Mac’s place.

The ones in bold are the ones I’ve read.

1984, George Orwell
The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
Animal Farm, George Orwell
Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery
Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer
The BFG, Roald Dahl
Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks
Black Beauty, Anna Sewell
Bleak House, Charles Dickens
Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
Bridget Jones’s Diary, Helen Fielding
Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres
Catch 22, Joseph Heller
The Catcher In The Rye, JD Salinger
Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel
Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons
The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett
The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoevsky
David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson
Dune, Frank Herbert
Emma, Jane Austen
Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy
Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson
The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
The Godfather, Mario Puzo
Gone With The Wind, Margaret Mitchell
Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian
Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake
The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck
Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald
Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett
Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling
Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire, JK Rowling
Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone, JK Rowling
Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling
His Dark Materials trilogy, Philip Pullman
The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, Douglas Adams
The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien
Holes, Louis Sachar
I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith
Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte
Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer
Katherine, Anya Seton
The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe, CS Lewis
Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
Lord Of The Flies, William Golding
The Lord Of The Rings, JRR Tolkien
Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blighton
Magician, Raymond E Feist
The Magus, John Fowles
Matilda, Roald Dahl
Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden
Middlemarch, George Eliot
Midnight’s Children, Salman Rushdie
Mort, Terry Pratchett
Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman
Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck
On The Road, Jack Kerouac
One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Perfume, Patrick Suskind
Persuasion, Jane Austen
The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett
A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving
Pride And Prejudice, Jane Austen
The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot
The Ragged Trousered Philantrhopists, Robert Tressell
Rebecca, Daphne Du Maurier
The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
The Secret History, Donna Tartt
The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher
The Stand, Stephen King
The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson
A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome
A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
Tess Of The D’urbervilles, Thomas Hardy
The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough
To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee
A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
The Twits, Roald Dahl
Ulysses, James Joyce
Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson
War And Peace, Leo Tolstoy
Watership Down, Richard Adams
The Wind In The Willows, Kenneth Grahame
Winnie-the-Pooh, AA Milne
The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins
Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte

I can’t believe I missed this. Last Wednesday, Michael Moore endorsed a candidate. Yes, Mr. There’s-No-Difference, Let’s-Rally-Around-Nader-Because-He’s-Progressive has finally endorsed a candidate in the 2004 race.

And he’s a Democrat.

Will wonders never cease? Not only does he endorse Clark – the General – but then instead of tossing slurs and insults at the other candidates, he takes the time to explain his reasons for liking Clark and his objections to the other progressive leaders in the race.

Now, before those of you who are Dean or Kucinich supporters start cloggin’ my box with emails tearing Clark down with some of the stuff I’ve seen floating around the web (“Mike! He voted for Reagan! He bombed Kosovo!”), let me respond by pointing out that Dennis Kucinich refused to vote against the war resolution in Congress on March 21 (two days after the war started) which stated “unequivocal support” for Bush and the war (only 11 Democrats voted against this—Dennis abstained). Or, need I quote Dr. Dean who, the month after Bush “won” the election, said he wasn’t too worried about Bush because Bush “in his soul, is a moderate”? What’s the point of this ridiculous tit-for-tat sniping? I applaud Dennis for all his other stands against the war, and I am certain Howard no longer believes we have nothing to fear about Bush. They are good people.

Costume designers are some of the great unsung heroes of cinema and theatre. They add so much to the reality of the piece, and they so rarely get credit unless – like Julie Taymor – they can scrape together enough attention to direct their own designs.

That said, I’ve just seen Halle Berry’s costume for the new Catwoman movie. And I have to say – I hope she killed the costume designer.

Recent polls show that people feel Bush is strong on anti-terrorism and weak on the economy, suggesting that Bush’s best campaign tactic would be to play off of fear. And the National Ad Council has gotten a head start on that with their “Remember Freedom” PSA campaign, pulled directly from the pages of 1984.

And the Bush administration is no stranger to playing the fear angle. Remember when Saddam Hussein was “minutes” away from launching a major attack on the United States and/or its allies with horrible biological weapons of mass destruction? Or there was that time when Saddam was trying to buy the basic materials for nuclear weapons?

Well, remember when Bush was telling us that was going on? Yeah. Scary times. If you believed him.

And now, after blasting other airlines for participating in government attempts to curb terrorism, Northwest Airlines has admitted giving the government information on its passengers.

Northwest said in a statement Friday that it participated in the NASA program after the terrorist attacks to assist the government’s search for technology to improve aviation security. “Northwest Airlines had a duty and an obligation to cooperate with the federal government for national security reasons,” the airline said.

The carrier declined to say how many passengers’ records were shared with NASA from the period offered, October to December 2001. More than 10.9 million passengers traveled on Northwest flights during that time, according to the Transportation Department.

Well, yeah. All right. NASA wanted to develop technology to improve aviation security. Fantastic. So, that’s stronger doors, better locking systems, more bomb-resistant structures – what? What’s NASA’s technology to improve aviation security?

NASA said it used the information to investigate whether “data mining” of the records could improve assessments of threats posed by passengers, according to the agency’s written responses to questions.

All right. My puny mind has been blown.

But that’s what the Bush Plan is about – the whole idea that New Threats Require New Strategies. We can’t wait for people to actually commit crimes any more – or even for them to suggest that they might eventually be involved in the commission of a crime. We can’t even really wait for them to form the idea of the crime. We’ve got to nip it in the bud.

Screw that. We need to hit it before the seed even germinates.

But the Devil is in the details. Details, details, details. Northwest was the only airline to participate in the project. NASA didn’t share the information with anybody. NASA didn’t buy the information, it was donated. Northwest only assures its customers that their information won’t be sold for commercial use. NASA doesn’t have the project any more. And NASA contacted Northwest to offer to give the information back. So, no harm no foul, right?

Except that the lies are already so thick that we’re practically drowning in them.

“As you probably have heard by now, our ‘data mining for aviation security’ project did not receive any FY2003 funds. My interpretation is that NASA management decided that they did not want to continue working with passenger data in order to avoid creating the appearance that we were violating people’s privacy,” NASA engineer Mark Schwabacher wrote to Northwest Airlines security manager Jay Dombrowski. “You may have heard about the problems that JetBlue is now having after providing passenger data for a project similar to ours.”

...

On the same day as the NASA e-mail, news media quoted Northwest officials responding to the JetBlue incident. “We do not provide that type of information to anyone,” Northwest spokesman Kurt Ebenhoch was quoted as saying in the New York Times on Sept. 23.

You can’t separate the lies from the reality any more. The companies and the government agencies involved don’t believe in accountability, and people don’t hold them accountable. Why?

Because they’re protecting us from terrorism, of course!

Which justifies each and every invasion of privacy to ever come along.

I guess the jackboot’s on the other foot, now.

Look at that face. That’s just not a face that sells. Those shifty eyes, that creepy grin that makes you think he’s got something to hide. That’s the look of a man who wants you to drive your new car off the lot – so he can’t be held legally responsible when it falls to pieces five minutes later. The kind of guy who would pass on massive debt to future generations. Y’know what I’m saying.

Not exactly the best face to promote the sanctity of marriage.

Hey! I’ve got an idea!

“I do believe in the sanctity of marriage, I totally do!”

Um, yes. That’s a direct quote.

Whaddaya think? Is that a face that sells or is that a face that sells?

I said, is that a FACE that sells?

Thanks for the story, Mac. I think.

There’s good reason for celebs to get paranoid around the paparazzi. There’s a point where the constant scrutiny of the media becomse so pervasive that they’re no longer permitted anything resembling a personal life – and I’ve never bought the line that celebrities have sacrificed their personal lives in exchange for fame.

Even so, I think that this story from the (not-so) venerable New York Post is not a case of justifiable anti-paparazzi paranoia – but just more proof that P. Diddy is an ass. And considering that he was with J. Lo at the time, that’s saying something.

A woman who celebrated her 24th birthday Sunday night at Miami’s Opium Garden has filed a police complaint charging that goons protectingJennifer Lopez and Sean “P. Diddy” Combs snatched her digital camera and stole the memory card. Jacqueline Thomas Bishop, from Hollywood, Calif., said: “We were just taking a picture of ourselves. My boyfriend and I . . . the second the flash went off, these guys rushed us and snapped the camera out of his hand . . . we said what are you doing? They tossed the camera back at us and I was briefly relieved until I saw the memory card was gone.” Over 100 pictures from their five-day Florida vacation – some very personal – were lost.

I know what you’re thinking. It’s the same thing I was thinking. “You mean there’s actually a place in Miami called the Opium Garden?” Perhaps. I’ve never been there, personally.

Now, as I said, there’s a justifiable level of paranoia when it comes to the paparazzi. But the behavior of the “thugs” protecting J.Lo and P.Diddy isn’t a crack response from people doing their best to protect somebody’s privacy. It’s the behavior of bodyguards given orders by two people who honestly and truly believe that they’re the center of the universe.

Just because you have an album or two out doesn’t mean that every flashbulb in the world is meant for you. Leave the point-and-shoot cameras alone.

found via Mahablog:

What Famous Leader Are You?

Every now and then, I think I’m paranoid. Then I read something like this and realize that even if I am, it doesn’t mean they’re not out to get me.

Democrats used to anger him, Norquist said. He’s past angry now. “Do you get mad at cancer? We’ll defeat and crush their institutions, and the trial lawyers will go sell pizza. We’re not going to hang them. Most of the people on the left will be happy in Grover’s world. I feel about the left the way [Donald H.] Rumsfeld felt about the Iraqis.”

And after Norquist purges the United States, there is the rest of the world. He says this with the confidence of a man who uses a black laundry marker as a pen. He has helped start Wednesday meetings in Canada, New Zealand, England and Japan. He has learned to be patient: “I now understand you can’t just explain to the idiots how to do it and to see it your way, because they’re too foolish to see it.”

USA Today: Your Newspaper Lite^TM reports on Bush’s impressive plans for the space program. You know, the one that’s going to cost billions and billions of dollars to get off the ground, and doesn’t give us any clue where the money is going to come from? The one that space buffs like yours truly and Thud think is the sort of thing that NASA should have been able to do for year. But unlike Thud, I reserve some doubts. Yes, it’s a tremendous win for science. Yes, it means that NASA will, for once, be able to get something done instead of getting its plans constantly cut.

But at what price?

Among the points in USA Today’s article is a bulleted list (well, bulleted in the print edition – their webmaster must not have found out about the bullet list tags, yet) of the reasons Bush is supporting the space program. Sandwhiched in between “The president wanted to revitalize NASA,” and “a big goal would inspire and unite Americans, no matter their political affiliation,” is this little gem. Remember it well, kiddies.

Vice President Cheney persuaded Bush that there could be military benefits, such as space-based defense systems.

Hey, whaddaya know! It’s The Return of the Jedi! The third installment in every Reaganite’s wet dream, the Star Wars program. Now let’s just wait for the Bush administration to get re-elected, and they can get started on the cheezy prequels.

I’ve got a better idea. Let’s not.

For years, I’ve argued that the space program was an important and vital part of our government’s work – even as Gingrich fought to privatize it and the Republican administrations sought to slash its funding year by year. Even now, as multiple news sources report that this new move will “revitalize an agency that has been going around in circles for years,” I recognize that the only reason the agency has been chasing its tail is because every time NASA picks a direction, the legislature slashes its budget.

So, explain this to me – because I still don’t understand.

I’m the evil, tax-and-spend Liberal. Bush is the no-nonsense, no-tax Conservative.

Bush has created the Patriot Act, overseen the creation of the Homeland Security Council, overextended our military, and now is proposing multi-billion dollar goals for NASA – all without a word of how we’re supposed to pay for it.

And I’m the one asking to see the bottom line.