The Pendulum Swings

What was once old is new again.

In the last half of the 19th century, and for nearly twenty years into the 20th century, the Democratic Party was the party of states' rights. Since Woodrow Wilson, the party gradually morphed into the federalist party we recognize today. And, as one would expect, the Republicans stood for everything that the Democrats were not. Now, with the marriage amendment controversy and, to a lesser extent, the Schiavo case, we may be witnessing the first stirrings of a change in the parties' stance. Now that the religious right dominates the Republican party, they are willing to embrace federalism in order to consolidate their gains and impose their ideas upon all of the states. And the Democrats are screaming about leaving the states alone, particularly those states that favor gay marriage, and about a Congress meddling into the private affairs of a poor woman on the brink of death.

Now that a new century is upon us, the parties are once again changing sides on several important issues. My advice to anyone dissatisfied with their political party: wait a hundred years.

Happy Anniversary!

Today is the 3rd aniversary of my marriage. My wife is a wonderful, beautiful woman and I am amazed that she managed to stick around this long! If you see her, shake her hand.

We watched House last night and it was pretty good. The human drama stuff creeped in and took over the episode. House told his three minions that one of them was going to be fired at the end of the week. The three young doctors began bickering and jockeying for position. As always, I leave the medical stuff to Polite Dissent (link at right). I maintain that this show does an excellent job with its characters and delineating the relationships between them. Last night's episode was no exception.

Alas, Poor iPod


My iPod is soon to be an ex-iPod. This process is slow but inexorable. I first noticed something was wrong about a week ago. The MP3 player began to "freeze" in mid-song and only came back to life after protracted attempts to revive it. The time between such incidents are growing shorter and shorter and the efforts to fix it take longer and longer.

I am no expert but I think it is the disk drive. As you may know, most iPods store MP3 files on a miniature hard disk drive. And hard disk drives are sensitive to jolts and shakes. Given the fact that iPods are meant to be carried around and are subject to he vicissitudes of the traveling life, the device is pretty darn sturdy. Nevertheless, it is only a matter of time before the thing gets one bump too many. I think that is the case with my device. When it freezes, I can hear the disk skipping and stuttering.

I love my iPod and I am loathe to give up on it. They are also expensive and therefore hard for me to replace. But I think it is inevitable: I do not think that replacing the hard drive is either easy or cheap. I lack the skill to do it myself (assuming a replacement hard drive exists) and I suspect that I'd pay nearly as much to have it replaced by someone else as I would spend on a new player.

But I hope that it can hang on long enough for a new version of the 20 GB iPod, one that uses flash memory instead of a hard drive. I know that the iPod shuffle uses flash memory but it doesn't have enough storage space to carry all the songs I want near me at all times.

Does anyone know if Apple plans on doing this?

Currently listening to: Hayseed Dixie, A Hillbilly Tribute to AC/DC.

And check this out!

My Dog is a Complete Geek

I am so embarrased for my golden retriever. She came home from work last night with a copy of Star Wars: The Clone Wars DVD and made me watch it. I mean it: every time I tried to get off the couch, she'd growl and show me her teeth. I had to pee in a cup. Anyway, the animation was pretty lame but the story was packed with action. Obi-Wan Kenobi seemed kind of gay to me, though. And how does Anakin Skywalker's duel with the evil Jedi (not Sith because there can only be two and those slots are filled...stupid rule!) bring him closer to the Dark Side? What is he doing that no other Jedi is doing (which is to say, kicking butt and taking names)? And I think I see a way for the good guys to win the Clone Wars: just send Samuel Jackson in by himself. His character takes on an entire robot army by himself, without his lightsaber. I am not sure Mr. Lucas can sell me on the idea that Darth Sidious can take Samuel Jackson in a fight. Oops...did I spoil something here?

The dog brought a couple of comics home and left them on the coffee table. Desperate for a diversion during the cartoon, I read them when the dog wasn't looking. Grant Morrison's The Guardian, which is part of his massive Seven Soldiers project, was a lot of fun. Subway pirates? Sweet! I read Runaways as well but there wasn't much to it.

I added a little program to my Firefox browser that updates me on Abe Vigoda's health. I am not kidding. You will be glad to know that he is alive and well as of this writing.

I also have a weather update program for my browser. It is cloudy right now but will turn mostly sunny later.

I am going to take a page from my good friend Mad Science (over at the Grinding Metal blog, which you see to the right) and mention something that really gets my knickers in a twist. Apparently, IMAX theaters in Texas are not running a film entitled "Volcanoes of the Deep Sea" because it suggests a link between human DNA and microbes that live in these deep sea volcanoes. That smacks of evolution, son! Here's a link to the story.

What gets my goat is the fact that my local IMAX theater is apparently one of them. This theater is in Austin and is located right across the street from the university. It should know better! I despair for our youth...

Wow, That's Amazing.

I learned a valuable lesson this past week: the USPS sucks. I pre-ordered The Incredibles in late February but foolishly chose three day delivery. This meant I was at the tender mercies of the Postal Service. I was promptly informed the night before the DVD was scheduled for release that the package left the warehouse but then I didn't receive it for five more days. Attempts to ascertain its location via the internet failed utterly (until the day it arrived, the DVD sat in some way station in Kansas, as far as I can tell). I went a little crazy trying to figure out what was going on. But I am a sensitive fellow. I did get the thing in the end.

And what a great movie it is! The best comic book film ever! I read recently that Brad Bird, the film's writer/director, had no plans for a sequel. But Pixar would be foolish to let this potential licensing bonanza fall by the wayside. I've been reading The Big Picture by Edward Epstein and it tells me that movies are little more than loss-leaders for the home video market and toy licenses. Pixar devoted too much money and time to turn off the money spigot so soon. And if the quality of the sequel is as good as the original (no small feat, I grant you), then I say: "Bring it!"

Oh, and I saw House last night. Please refer to Polite Dissent for the medical review. I note that the show is ratcheting up the human drama element by adding yet another conflict, this time between House and his staff. Who will he fire? Then again, our hero is known for thinking "outside the box", so he may turn the tables on his new antagonist, the hospital CEO. We'll just have to wait and see.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Lake Isle of Innisfree

by William Butler Yeats

I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made:
Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honeybee,
And live alone in the bee-loud glade.

And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,
Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;
There midnight's all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,
And evening full of the linnet's wings.

I will arise and go now, for always night and day
I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey,
I hear it in the deep heart's core.

If The House is A-Rockin', Don't Bother Knockin'

I wonder if the producers of the show House read this blog. If so, then they are extraordinarily spry in making changes within a single week. Last night, the show introduced some changes to its basic formulae. A new character, the new CEO of the hospital, was introduced and instantly became Dr. House's foil. The conflict between these two characters will add a much needed new dimension to the storyline. As much as I like the "disease-of-the-week" (more on that at the estimable Polite Dissent, link at right), it was stretched thin. I like the show and I like the characters, so I am all for any attempts to keep them fresh.

And I just learned that yesterday was the anniversary of H.P. Lovecraft's death. He was only 46 when he died. To mark the occassion, here is an essay about his work (and, in particular, the recent Library of America omnibus edition of his work) for your perusal.

Links and Things

You may have notice the ranting post below. Our good friend Mad Science is our first guest blogger. Please excuse the formatting; I haven't worked the kinks out of the system yet. As for the spelling, you are on your own.

Now for a few links:

1. Comics as a way to learn about the Federal Rules of Procedure.

2. Need a vault door?

3. A review of the World of Warcraft game.

4. May the pants be with you. (via Darren Barefoot)

5. The largest database on Islamic terrorists is built for and maintained by American tort lawyers. (via Marginal Revolution)

Currently listening to: Mosquitos' Sunshine Barato. Brazilian-American pop. If listening to this album doesn't make you feel good, then you are probably dead.

This is Mad Science of Grinding Metal with a special announcement:

"Stop watching House! The show you should all be watching is The Ultimate Fighter (Spike TV, Monday nights at 10:00)."

While House is somewhat entertaining in a grumpy, snide, disease of the
week sort of way, the Ultimate Fighter kicks the ass of every other show
on TV. Literally.

Some of you are already asking: "But Mad Science, the Ultimate Fighter is
but one show against many. How can it possibly kick the ass of all the other
show on TV?"

The answer is simple grasshoper. All the other shows on TV are made up
of actors, or whiny "real" people. The Ultimate Fighter is made up of 16
professional cage fighters who are cooped up in one house 24x7 with nothing
to do except train, eat, and fight as they compete to win a UFC contract.
There is not a single real person on this show. Everyone is a mixed martial
arts combat mutant who's pain receptors have been carefully removed by the
judicious application of blunt instruments.

If the producers of the Ultimate Fugger told the contestants "Today's challenge
is to see who can kill and eat the most members of the cast of House." Then the
Ultimate Fighter contestants would ask if they could have some catsup with their
Hugh Laurie because he looks "a little Chewy".

Real human drama. Real human pain. Real human blood. You want it. You need it.
The Ultimate Fighter has it all.


Your regularly scheduled House blogging will resume next week provided the cast
of House is not consumed by ravenous cage fighters in the interim.

When she sits around the house, she sits AROUND THE HOUSE...

Did you know that Hugh Laurie is a published author? I recalled today that I read a novel of his a few years ago. I looked it up on Amazon today: The Gun Seller. The story concerns an ex-soldier who runs afoul of the international illegal arms trade. If I recall correctly, it is pretty funny and a little outlandish in an action-movie sort of way. Not a bad way to spend one's time.

My wife and I saw Constantine last night. The comic bloggers are all over the map on this movie: some love it, others hated it. I read the comic upon which the film is based in college and enjoyed it (despite its graphic depictions of various forms of depravity) but I am not so loyal to the original concept that I found this adaptation untenable. Changing the location to LA and the nationality of the hero to American did not detract from the story. Keanu Reeves did a decent job, as did the rest of the cast. It hit the right notes and kept a good pace.

Upon reflection, I think what suffered in the translation was the tone of the original comic. Constantine is a smart-ass, but he's also a more-or-less regular guy thrust into the biblical struggle between good and evil. Despite the fact that he deals with angels and demons on a pretty regular basis, his world is shabby and threadbare. He shambles through a London worn down by years of corruption and complacency. The comic dealt with social issues and social commentary as much as it dealt with sorcerous cabals. Like the best fantasy, its fantastic elements are a fun-house reflection of real world themes and problems.

The movie did not deal with anything more than the conflict between otherworldly forces. The LA in the movie lacks character and context. The characters simply move from one room to another, rushing to right the big wrong. This was fine - so far as it goes - but it suffers a bit in comparison with the comic. And the gun was a bit silly.

Always a bridesmaid...

My crazy friend over at Grinding Metal (link at right) is handing out awards like red pills in a Hunter S. Thompson novel. But does Humid Cedar get an award? Nope. Humid Cedar loses to Tom DeLay, of all people. I admire Mr. DeLay's, er, pluck as much as the next backwoods intellectual but the man has never had to put up with said crazy friend's ferret.

You might be asking yourself: "What's the big deal about a ferret?" Two words: musk glands.

Of course, Mr. DeLay might have gotten the award simply on the basis of his own distinctive musk glands. But still...

Despite what has happened, I will not stoop so low as to call Grinding Metal out on this glaring oversight. I am not a petty man. I am not a pretty man, either.

No More Words

Last night's episode of House didn't do much for me. Once again, I refer you to Polite Dissent (link at right) for the medical stuff. I am afraid that this episode shows that the series' formula is stretched to its limit. In previous episodes, the emphasis has been on the medical mystery, with a hefty dose of characterization (masterfully performed by Hugh Laurie but also very well done by the supporting cast). The medical mysteries involve some bizarre malady or series of maladies that take some intellectual legerdemain to conjure up and then solve. I am cool with that; I don't think I am interested in a series that focuses on stomach flu and the common cold - even if Mr. Laurie put on his famously rubbery, vacant smile and wore a Prince Regent outfit while he treated said sickness. But last night's disease du jour was odd even by the standards set in previous episodes.

And there was way too much of the personal stuff. I don't have a problem with a show focusing on Dr. Chase but I don't like how his story detracted from the medical mystery he was supposed to solve. I didn't appreciate the ham-fisted way the episode forced its theme (relationships between fathers and sons) into every aspect of the story. Dr. House even played the wise curmudgeon, prodding the sons and fathers into dealing with each other in a meaningful way. This is totally out of character for him (even if it does prompt some questions about his character - why would he be interested at all? - that are more interesting for being unanswered). In short, this episode did not live up to the standards set in previous episodes.

Am I giving up on the show? Not at all. Everyone is entitled to slip up now and again. Heaven knows there are few television shows that are worth one's time and House is one of them.

I realized last night that I am no longer a writer. It is a funny thing. In my head, I think of myself as a writer. I imagine being a writer, I think about writing. But few words fill the paper anymore. And the rubber hits the road only when a writer writes. My current job is very demanding intellectually and (it turns out) emotionally. I find myself too tired to give my writing the time and attention it deserves (if I want to get any better at it, anyway). Although I receive virtually no satisfaction from my job, it pays the bills. Something had to give, I suppose. I suppose I find sufficient creative outlet in games (and criticizing other people's work, see above), which do not require the mental investment that creating something from scratch demands. But I no longer write. That rather sucks, actually. But I realized last night that until other things in my life calm down, I must focus on other things.