Detective Yeti has written a wickedly funny (if incredibly geeky) satire of this whole sale-of-the-ports-to-Dubai kerfuffle. If you don’t get the joke, you’re obviously not familiar enough with the films of the incomparable Jeff Bridges:
Feb272006
Monthly Archives: February 2006
Feb232006
Musical Meme
Here’s a quickie musical meme, courtesy of Scalzi:
Using this site, find and reveal the song that was #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart the day you were born.
Feb222006
My Enneagram
The Puffy Bird strikes again with her strong Internet quiz-style kung fu! This time, she’s got me taking the Enneagram test. Frighteningly close-to-the-bone results appear below the fold…
Feb222006
My Take on the Port Controversy
As much as I hate to admit it, I think President Bush made a good point yesterday when he suggested that there’s something wrong with opposing an Arab-owned company operating U.S. shipping ports when a British-owned company has been doing the job for years. He’s right, there is a double standard at play in this debate, and it is tinged with an uncomfortable hint of racism, or at least of playing favorites with our allies and business partners.
But the president, in his usual zeal to support corporations and big business deals above any other concern, misses the very important question at the heart of this matter. It isn’t, “Why is it okay for a European company to operate our ports but not a Middle Eastern one?” The actual question is (or ought to be), “Why in the hell are we allowing any foreign company to operate our ports?”
Now, I don’t believe that I’m especially xenophobic or isolationist, but, at risk of sounding like one of them totalitarian, anti-capitalist types, I do believe that certain industries and activities are so intimately connected to our national security that we should restrict them to home-grown companies only, if not outright nationalize them. Transportation is the obvious (and pertinent) example. Communication is probably another. How is it that a president who has built his entire reputation on the rubric keeping the nation safe from outside danger doesn’t seem to see this?
(I’ll give you a hint: the answer is in the second paragraph…)
Feb212006
Crimson Tide
As far as I’m concerned, there are few things as sad-looking as a book that has been under water. The pages swell but the more rigid binding does not, so the book fans itself open and loses its nice, compact form-factor. Sometimes, especially in older paperbacks, the ink will run or bleed through from one side of the page to the other. The cover boards turn queasily flexible, transforming hardcovers into softcovers. Then, as the pages dry, they get crisp and wavy, taking on the texture of autumn leaves instead of actual paper.
Ordinary printed volumes, novels and such, at least remain readable, if no longer pleasing to look at or handle. But what happens to expensive coffee-table books is downright tragic: the glossy coating that makes photographs and art reproduce so wonderfully gets sticky when it’s exposed to moisture, and it effectively glues the pages together into a solid, useless lump.
I’ve just learned these things the hard way, through first-hand experience. The legendary Bennion Archives, which have been referenced often on this blog and which reside in the basement of my ancient farm house, flooded four days ago. I’ve spent the whole weekend and this Presidents’ Day holiday on damage-control and clean-up duty. And I have to tell you folks, it’s been a rough handful of days for a sentimental old pack-rat like me.
Feb162006
William Hootkins, Too?
Ah, man, it just keeps getting worse. I was following some links related to Phil Brown’s death and stumbled across a little blurb that mentioned that William Hootkins — a.k.a. Red Six, a.k.a. Porkins, a.k.a., “the fat X-wing pilot” in the original Star Wars — died way back in October of last year. Another cancer victim, he was 58. At this point, I’m wondering how many cast members from the original trilogy are gone. I know Shelagh Fraser (Aunt Beru) passed on awhile ago, and of course Peter Cushing (Grand Moff Tarkin) and Sir Alec Guiness (the original Obi-Wan, a.k.a. “Old Ben,” Kenobi) have both been gone for several years. I may have to do some research on this subject…
Feb162006
Phil Brown
Oh, man, the news about Andreas Katsulas was sad, but this is downright depressing: Phil Brown, the actor who played Luke Skywalker’s Uncle Owen, has also died. He was 89.
Feb162006
Andreas Katsulas
Well, this is a bummer: Peter David is reporting that Andreas Katsulas has died of cancer at the age of 59. Katsulas is one of those terrific character actors whose name you probably don’t know, but whose face ought to be instantly familiar. He’s done dozens of film and TV roles over the years, usually playing a heavy of some kind. Genre fans will remember him as Ambassador G’Kar on the cult-fave series Babylon 5, as well as the recurring character of Romulan Commander Tomalak on Star Trek: The Next Generation, while more mainstream movie-goers know him as the dastardly One-Armed Man in the Harrison Ford version of The Fugitive.
I wasn’t a regular viewer of B5, but I caught it frequently enough to be impressed by Katsulas’ talent. The character he played was a reptilian alien, requiring him to all but bury his distinctive features under make-up appliances, but his great power as an actor shone through all the latex, making G’Kar, curiously, one of the most sympathetic and emotional characters on the series. The character was tragic, filled with frustration and rage at the fate of his species but essentially noble and haunted by the things circumstance forced him to do. Katsulas was utterly convincing in the part, and that’s saying something; not many actors are that good in extensive make-up, and most aren’t any good at all.
I haven’t found much in the way of official obituaries for him, but his B5 co-star Bill Mumy has a brief, fond note on his website, and Peter David’s wife Kathleen tells a heartwarming tale that I think explains what kind of man he must’ve been as well as anything could.
Feb152006
Cheney Takes the Blame
“It was not Harry’s fault. You can’t blame anybody else. I’m the guy who pulled the trigger and shot my friend.”
Frankly, I’m stunned. I’ve been working off-and-on all afternoon on a ranty post in which I excoriate Darth Cheney for his stubborn silence on this shooting incident and the Bush White House in general for being so pathologically dead-set on never, ever admitting any kind of mistake whatsoever, and now the guy’s gone and accepted responsibility for something. All the wind has officially left my sails…
Feb152006
Ruthie Wins an Award!
You may recall back in August when I announced that my friend Ruthie Ellenson’s first book had just been published. Well, there’s been further news regarding Ruthie and her book. I’ll let the message I just received from her husband, the irrepressible Cranky Robert (as he’s known in these parts), speak for itself:
Hi everyone,
I’m very happy to announce that Ruthie’s book *The Modern Jewish Girl’s Guide to Guilt* has won the *National Jewish Book Award* for women’s studies!!!!
I’m sure everyone joins me in wishing Ruthie a very *big congratulations* on a truly great achievement!!
All the best,
Robert
So now not only do I know a published author, I also know an award-winning author. Props to me! Oh, and, of course, to Ruthie…
Seriously, this is a very cool development. I’m sure the rest of my tiny little following here at Simple Tricks will join me in giving Ruthie our most sincere congratulations.