What's New With Mick

  • Jon Stewart and the Oscars

    Have I mentioned how much I like Jon Stewart of The Daily Show? The shows I missed the most when my Tivo was broke were The Daily Show and Countdown. Here’s a few random thoughts:

    • One of Stewart’s specialties is taking something a politician says recently and then going back through old footage and finding contradictions and straight-out lies. He makes it funny but why can’t the “real” news do this? It seems so obvious.
    • Jon Stewart himself describes his job as “making faces at the camera.” This may be true, but he is the best face-maker in the history of television.
    • It’s hard to decide which I like best: the fake news at the beginning of the show or the correspondent story in the middle. After Steven Colbert left, the new crop of correspondents they got seemed like they weren’t as good, but last night I saw a story about a women’s prison in Minnesota that was incredibly funny. The interviews with the ridiculous questions are enough to make anybody laugh.

    Sour PussBTW, despite the ill-humored Hollywood denizens (Joaquin Phoenix, I’m talking to you) there that obviously didn’t appreciate his humor, I thought Jon Stewart was really funny at the Oscars. I think they were expecting a bunch of Republican bashing and when he started tipping their sacred cows, they just didn’t find it funny for some reason. For example, he said Walk The Line was a remake of Ray with white people. Or that you normally have to go to a Democratic fundraiser to see so many movie stars. Comedy gold!

    For me, other parts of the program had negative entertainment value:

    • I counted at least three “reminders” about how the theatre-going experience beats watching movies in other venues. DVDs were specifically called out for their poor recreation of the theatre experience. Telling your audience how they are supposed to enjoy your product is condescending, but many would also argue that viewpoint is very flawed. Sometimes you just want to curl up at home in front of your TV and DVD player. Who the hell do they think they are to tell you that’s the “wrong” way to enjoy a movie? Total bullshit.
    • The film editing union must be very strong this year because the number of montage sequences was totally out of control. The worst was a montage about films that “change the world” (or something) which included The Day After Tomorrow. I liked that movie, but I don’t think it changed the world.
    • Aside from Dolly Parton’s performance from Transamerica, none of the other songs grabbed me. I thought they ranged from boring to over-the-top unbearable. BTW, how cool is Dolly? Despite the fact that she looks like total white trash, she’s got to be the coolest member of country’s “old guard.”
    • I’m a George Clooney fan and really dig when he sticks it to blowhards like O’Reilly, but his tirade about being “out of touch” early on was very self-righteous and hypocritical in the historical facts he mentioned. For example, he said Hollywood talked about AIDS when everybody was whispering about it, but Hollywood never made an AIDS film until 1992.

  • Vital Statistics


    From my desk at home


    Current reading: Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now by Barry Miles, 9-11 by Noam Chomsky
    Recent listening: Crooked Fingers, Before and After Science, Slip Stitch and Pass
    Recent viewing: Saturday Night Live, Ford Championship at Doral, Cash Cab, World’s Most Shocking Videos
    Imperative To Do: Rebates, renew prescription, recycle
    Cool link: The Simpsons come alive (link fixed)

  • First Place

    Yesterday was a great day in the history of Pinewood Derby cars at the Ring household. I knew it was going to be a good day after only two races when both Thomas and Graham came in first with a big lead.

    The track that we race on has four lanes with electronic timing. Each car gets to race on every lane in order to minimize the impact of slower/faster lanes. A computer schedules all the races and tabulates the time for each car. At the end of the round-robin tournament, each racer has four times that are added together. The two lowest total times are chosen as 1st and 2nd place for each of the four dens in our pack. These winners may all participate in the regional competition. The eight den winners then compete for the honor of best in the pack.

    After the round-robin, Thomas and Graham were both first in their den and participated in the pack championship round. Thomas took first in 3 out of his 4 races, but Graham didn’t fare as well in the stiffer competition. Graham finished 4th or 5th in the pack and Thomas finished 1st!

    I went to the post office in the morning to make sure that both cars were regulation weight (no more than five ounces), and so we had some last minute weight stuck to both cars. Both boys had two golf club weights on their cars because they are light enough to get you very close to regulation weight (more weight means more speed). In these pictures, they are the flat, rectangular weights that are light silver in color. On Graham’s they are mounted vertically (at his insistence) and on Thomas’ they are are flat against the body near the rear (by the fin):

    During one of the two races where Graham and Thomas raced against each other, all four weights came off their cars. Evidently, that had been happening to Graham’s car for awhile, so the race official just slapped all four onto Graham’s car where they remained until after the racing was all done. When I picked up Graham’s car after it was all over, I was perplexed to find the extra weights on the car. I couldn’t figure it out until I saw Thomas’ car without the weights and then it all became clear.

    I weighed Graham’s car right before we left and it said 5.4 ounces, which might have been a big advantage to Graham, but probably was also a disadvantage to Thomas. Or was it a disadvantage? Physics experts, please weigh in!

    There are more pictures here.

    Tina’s blog entry is here.

  • Vital Statistics

    Pinewood Derby is tomorrow and once again we’re down to the wire in finishing the cars. This year I had three months to get the job done, but that still was not enough. I am a lifelong procrastinator. Fortunately, we have Tina to help us with the finish, so the cars look really cool again this year. We’ll have to see how we do tomorrow.

    Current reading: Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now by Barry Miles, 9-11 by Noam Chomsky
    Recent listening: De-Loused in the Comatorium, 12 Songs, Dark Side of the Moon, The Beatles
    Recent viewing: Sportscenter, Attack of the Show, My Name Is Earl
    Imperative To Do: Rebates
    Cool link: State of Oregon Surplus

  • Vital Statistics

    Current reading: Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now by Barry Miles, 9-11 by Noam Chomsky
    Recent listening: Avalon/Roxy Music, De-Loused in the Comatorium/The Mars Volta, Frances the Mute/The Mars Volta, 12 Songs/Neil Diamond, DrugMusic
    Recent viewing: Sportscenter, Distraction, CSI: Miami, Olympics: men’s curling (medal round), closing ceremony
    Imperative To Do: Pinewood Derby: Finish and assemble, rebates
    Cool link: German Hissy Fit

  • Watch Keith Olberman

    Last fall while I was following the Hurricane Katrina disaster, I stumbled upon quite a few excellent resources for the liberal-minded thinker. One of these was Countdown With Keith Olbermann, a news and commentary show on MSNBC with a liberal slant. One of the features that attracts me is that the format is very Tivo-friendly.

    As the name implies, the show counts down the top five stories of the day, providing a summary followed by analysis by Keith, staff reporters and guest commentators. Each story is covered in one of the show’s six segments over the hour that it is aired (twice a night):

    • The first two segments are usually political stories and, although numbered “4” and “5” in the countdown, are generally the most important stories of the day.
    • The third segment is called “Oddball” and features quirky stories from around the world including the “Top 3 Newsmakers” for the day.
    • The fourth segment features the #3 story followed by the “Top 3 Soundbites” of the day.
    • The fifth segment has the #2 story followed by “Keeping Tabs” which features celebrity news and gossip. This is followed by the “Top 3 Worst Persons in the World.”
    • The final segment, which Keith often calleds “The story my producers are forcing me to do”, is usually about some lighter subject matter and often brings in a guest commentator to make funny for three minutes.
    • Keith signs off with “Keep your knees loose.”

    If I’m not in the mood for the political stories, I go right to “Oddball” in the middle of the show and then proceed to the “Worst Person in the World” award which very often goes to Bill O’Reilly. O’Reilly presumably has gotten sick of this and recently called for MSNBC to fire Keith and bring back Phil Donahue, who used to occupy the time slot on MSNBC. Although Keith does throw out an occasional reference to the sexual harrassment lawsuit against O’Reilly, mostly he merely quotes O’Reilly’s words in order to show how he is the worst person in the world for that day. I totally dig it.

    Olbermann was a favorite of mine when ESPN started out and now I often find myself in agreement with his political sensibilities. I recommend the show highly for all my readers, right or left, conservative or liberal.

    Here’s a few related links:

    Update 2/28/06: Someone started a petition to replace O’Reilly with Donahue. Here’s what bloggers are saying:

  • Vital Statistics

    As the week ends, I will note that I am done with the testing project that brought me to San Francisco last week and that I finally have my Tivo back after one of the hard drives crashed a couple of weeks ago. Not only does it have more space for saving shows, but a co-worker “hacked” it for me to enable network access, a web interface and the ability to pull content from it for burning to DVD.

    Current reading: Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now by Barry Miles, 9-11 by Noam Chomsky
    Recent listening: KBOO Bike Show, 12 Songs/Neil Diamond, Somewhere Far Beyond/Blind Guardian, Rid of Me/PJ Harvey, DrugMusic
    Recent viewing: Six Feet Under: Season Three, Olympics: women’s curling, men’s hockey
    Imperative To Do: Pinewood Derby: Sand and repaint, rebates, expense report
    Cool link: Top Ten Most Welcome Movie Deaths

  • The Problem with UAE Ownership of U.S. Ports

    If you’re like me, you might have wondered if the recent brouhaha over the Dubai ports deal was thinly disguised xenophobia or politically motivated Democratic bloviating. I’m just as jaded as most liberals when it comes to the Bush administration’s rejection of criticism, but I’m also a realist when it comes to the other side criticizing the administration. That’s why I was pleased to find this from CNN’s Lou Dobbs:

    “President Bush has put forth a challenge tonight that I simply can’t ignore. The president yesterday said he wanted those who are critical and questioning of this port deal to “step up and explain why all of a sudden a Middle Eastern company is held to a different standard than a Great British company.”

    Well, first of all, Mr. President, to equate any country to your principal partner in the coalition ignores that special relationship this country’s enjoyed with the United Kingdom for decades and decades. This also is not just a British company and an Arab company, as I think you well know.

    Peninsula and Oriental Steam Navigation is a British privately owned digital marketing agency . Dubai Ports World is a UAE government controlled and owned company. You see the difference, of course.

    And furthermore, the money used to fund the 9/11 attacks, most of it, in fact, was sent to the hijackers through the UAE banking system. In fact, two of the hijackers were originally from the UAE.

    The UAE stonewalled U.S. efforts to track al Qaeda bank accounts after 9/11. In addition, the Emirates does not recognize Israel as a sovereign state. And the UAE was a transfer point for shipments of nuclear technology to Iran, North Korea and Libya.

    And if those aren’t good enough reasons, I would just suggest I’m at a complete loss to offer what might be considered good reasons.”

    You can see the full transcript here.

  • Vital Statistics

    Did anybody else see the ice dancing fallathon the other night. I totally dug it when the Italians faced off at center ice and just stared each other down for 20 seconds. She was pissed! Unfortunately, the Canadian couple had to withdraw because her injury was too severe. You can read all about it in this search of Google News for “ice dancing”.

    Bike odometer: 5772 miles
    Current reading: Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now by Barry Miles
    Recent listening: New Roman Times/Camper Van Beethoven, Still Feel Gone/Uncle Tupelo, Coverville, Ebert & Roeper, DrugMusic
    Recent viewing: Olympics: men’s speed skating, ice dancing
    Imperative To Do: Pinewood Derby: Sand and repaint, rebates
    Cool link: Explanation of the Mac OS X “virus” reported in the news recently

  • Vital Statistics

    Thomas got his hand slammed in a neighbor’s car door on Friday and had to go to the doctor. All is well but dealing with the neighbors has been difficult. Tina talks about it here.

    Current reading: Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now by Barry Miles
    Recent listening: Zoe’s Radio Show, DrugMusic, Blast Tyrant/Clutch
    Recent viewing: Olympics: curling, ice dancing, men’s hockey
    Recent playing: Halo (finished)
    Imperative To Do: Pinewood Derby: Sand and repaint, rebates