When I purchased my new car, I didn't bother getting a CD player in it because we all know how crappy factory sound systems are in most cars (exceptions for some high-end vehicles). Instead, I wanted to go the after-market route, get some decent speakers and an MP3 player (if they made OGG players, I'd have bought one in a heart beat).

The purchase was fraught with difficulties. Sounddomain.com lead me to believe the head unit had better FM mono reception than it does. The particular unit in question does not let me manually flip to FM mono to reduce signal crossover -- and this was a primary reason for choosing it.

Further, I only checked my car's (year/make/model) speaker sizes online, and it turns out that both the two sites I saw, *and* my local dealer's book ALL gave incorrect stats -- so on the day I went to install (and after waiting 2 weeks b/c the speakers I wanted had been out of stock at the manufacturing plant), the service guys tells me the speakers he ordered do not fit.

Why was I having someone else do my work? Well, having taken apart the dash in a previous car, I knew I did NOT want to do it myself. I would much rather work under the hood than in the dash. IMO, the hell of replacing radiators is minimal compared to the hell of working in the dash.

To make a REALLY long story short, after hours of frustration (4PM to 2AM), the guys convinced me that it was better to NOT void my new car warranty by cutting holes into the vehicle, or to do a bunch of other questionable things, but to instead buy some random speakers they had on hand (that were not already reserved for other customers), and let them finish up.

End result, I know have 5.25 in. Visonik speakers in front, and 6.5 in. Power Acoustic speakers in back. The Visoniks would do better if I had an amp -- they're too much for my system -- but I don't want to go deaf any faster, so I'm sticking with what I've got.

I'm all about performance, so the MP3 player is a bit flashier than I need (though not nearly as flashy as the top of the line ones). It is really distracting to set the display to cycle through background colors, but it is so pretty I can't resist doing that. Oh, and I gotta remember to NOT program in 8-digit names for CDs while driving. It takes longer to set than your average stop light.

Originally, I just went to see two movies this weekend. I didn;t anticipate the hell that was my stereo install leaving me stranded for hours, and getting me to see an additional THREE movies at the local mega-plex. As always, slightly more complete reviews are at my movie page, but to sum up:

1) If you like the band "Happy Mondays", see the movie "24 Hour Party People". Otherwise, skip it. The narrative isn't quite strong enough, and the few seconds of Sex Pistols, Siouxsie, and (more, but not enuf) Joy Division clips only happen early on.

2) "Lovely and Amazing" was a significantly better than the average chick flick. Worth the watch.

3) If you want, you could see "The Good Girl", but PLEASE don't generalize the movie or its message to apply to all people.

4 & 5) Avoid "Serving Sara" and "Blood Work". Both are predicable, unimaginative, and dull, dull, dull.

I really do need some logic in my movies, and this flick had logic holes so big you could fly planes through 'em.

I did like the double entendre in the movie's name -- but thats about it. Perhaps the world would be a better place if we replaced all Producers with Engineers.

Directors and Writers need to be creative, but somewhere along the line, SOMEONE wth a background involving logic should spend a few minutes with the artists. Wouldn't that be better than letting such implausible crap make it to the screen?

Honestly, I don't kniow how the masses can stand such garbage. I know that my friend -- heck, even my folks! -- groan and complain every time we see a movie where the plot gives a premise, then completely disregards itself so it can get to the desired, predictable ending.

The worst bunch is where the Hero faces insurmountable odds, then has to break common and obvious laws of physics to 'win' ("Signs" is not exactly in this category, though). I think it would be MUCH better to either have the odds surmountable, but extremely difficult. Or even better, have odds that SEEM insurmountable, but have give the Hero a clever, but logical means of bypassing some super-obstacle. What does NOT work is the "Nine Queens" approach -- where the (ahem) 'Hero' wins by uninteresting, and plausible but ridiculous means.

Anyway, to ruin your enjoyment of the movie, you might choose to visit my: anti-"Signs" rant with gobs of spoilers page. Yes, I bitch about it for far too long.

This weekend, he told me a recent copyright escapade. I'll paraphrase as if he were the one writing it so it as to be as close to his words as possible. Oh, and I'm omitting his name to protect his privacy.

• ... So I'm doing research, and I go to Kinko's and ask them for a color copy of a page from one of the source books. The kid at the counter says that they cannot make a copy of any bound material because it would infringe on the copyright.

  I say, "I don't want the whole article -- just this page."

  He's shaking his head and blowing me off, so I say, "Look. I have the right to copy it under the terms of Fair Use".

  He says he can't.

  So, I pull one of my books out of my briefcase and show him the copyright page.

  I said, "See that? Copyright © 2001 [First Name Middle Last]. I AM [First Name Middle Last]. Look! Here's my I.D."

  And I pull out my driver's license and show him. And my social security card, and my credit cards.

  "Now will you make a copy of that for me?"

  He says, "No, we can't copy anything like that."

  "But I OWN the copyright. "Look! [First Name Middle Last]; [First Name Middle Last]. Copyright. Copy. Right. The United States of America grants ME -- and me alone -- the RIGHT to COPY this book. I own it. I want to exercise my legal right to copy MY book. Will you make me a copy?"

  He says, "Ah-uh n-no. We can't copy it. Its against the rules."

I watch too many movies. To make it feel like less of a waste of time, I've been writing mini-reviews of them whenever I get around to it. This year, I'm finally getting more diligent about doing so.

As such, this entry is just so I can link to my mini-reviews. Vanity, I know.

Most the flicks I see are indie/art-house/festival types. Since anyone can find scads of reviews everywhere, I try to limit my comments to how I felt about each film, and what I found interesting in any Q&As there might have been.

As an aside, Minority Report bothered me so much I had to write a big criticsm of it. It will ruin the movie for anyone who hasn't seen it, so please don't read it unless you want spoilers.

Abdullah Al Muhajir was arrested May 8th, 2002 after disembarking from his flight from Zurich to Chicago.

Would someone please explain to me why we're bothering to confiscate tweezers and fingernail clippers at airport security here in the U.S. if we're going to KNOWINGLY let terrorists fly in?

Admittedly, the NY Times reports that FBI agents did secretly board the plane before it left Zurich, and did ask that airport security carefully check his luggage... and shoes (a la Richard Reid). This, however, does not give me a much higher sense of security, as this was simply the one guy they _knew_ was working towards terrorism.

Lesson for all terrorists: board overseas! No one will stop you, and you'll only get picked up if we are already looking for you. Sure, you won't have a full tank of fuel when you *first* get near the U.S., but remember: you can change planes without going through security.

Thanks for the mail -- long time no talk! How've you been? Cutting to the chase, here's my long tirade of recent events:

I went to D.C. this weekend to see "Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds" in concert. The bastard won't play Philly. Grrr.

The show was awesome. One of the best live shows I've ever seen. I brought [friend] (in tow), and he agreed with that assessment. More on that later.

The Smithsonian's Natural History Museum was awesome, too. We only had a few hours there (got into D.C., checked into the hotel, did the museum until it closed, ate, and saw the show). We covered the things *I* wanted to see: Cambrian fossils, ice age skeletons, meteorites (chondrites, iron, and tektites), vulcanism, and a teeny amount of insects.

We'd have stayed longer and seen more, but they kicked us out around 5-something. So, it was off to find dinner.

We then went to an Ethiopian restaurant near the club that a barrista recommended. The food was simply outstanding. I was very hungry, so that may have influenced my take on the meal, but even [friend] agreed that -- despite too much incense in the air, and music that was too loud -- it was better than any other Ethiopian restaurant we've tried.

I've only had Ethiopian food at three other places, but the one in D.C. (on U St. between 13th and 14th) was hands down the best I've ever had. The only sticking point was the utter lack of communication between us and the staff. They didn't seem fluent in English, and the menu was not descriptive. Despite trying to order two vegetarian entrees, we received a single sampler platter. Luckily, it was huge -- big enough for two people to split -- and every single thing on it was fantastic.

Next, it was off to the club. I'd heard that there are a few stools at the upper bar, so I wanted to get there early to avoid hours of standing during the show. Unfortunately, it was raining. I'd left most everything at the hotel -- including the car -- and was unprepared for the weather. I knew a storm front had gone past on Friday, but hadn't noticed that D.C. was going to get rain on Saturday from a different front.

After an *hour* of standing outside with no more protection than a T-shirt and slacks, I inherited an umbrella from a guy who went to get beer. About 5 minutes later, the rain stopped. We got to go in after being queued up for 90 minutes. Sure, I could have arrived later, but I really wanted to get a seat, and the house was sold out, so I didn't see a late arrival as a particularly valid option.

The line started moving. Most folks headed for the stage, and I headed up the stairs. On the first balcony, there were no chairs, so [friend] suggested we head up to the second balcony. Dripping wet, chilled to the bone, and feeling very tired, I immediately agreed. We went up, and found the barstools. Yay!!! I told [friend] to hold the seats while I looked for earplugs (in case of deafening volumes). As I turned my back on [friend] to ask the bartender for ear protection, [friend] seems to have been aimlessly looking around.

As the bartender almost instantaneously replied that earplugs were only sold on the 1st floor, I turned to see that [friend] was not only *not* saving me a seat, but absently looking PAST a couple who were taking the stools I had waited so long to attain. I snapped at [friend] for the negligence, and he took it badly. There were exactly two stools left -- far from the center (unlike the ones we could have had), and crammed uncomfortably close together (as everyone else had already spread themselves out).

I took one, and [friend] decided he'd rather not sit with me. I didn't mind. I was too wet, cold, and annoyed to care. That turned out to be a really good decision. The first band was very bland ("Neko Case and her Boyfriends"). I don't think I would have been in the right frame of mind to enjoy the headliners if I hadn't had the chance to sit. As it was, I got to enjoy a couple drinks and some cigarettes while chatting with the folks sitting next to me. They'd driven SEVEN HOURS to get to the show. As much as I wanted to see the band, you probably couldn't get me to go THAT far.

"Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds" took the stage and proceeded to impress the hell out of me. Nick played with the audience -- pointing out individuals and making faces at them, shaking hands with those down in front, etc. They did highs and lows, did fast and slow tunes -- did tracks ranging all over the band's almost-20-year span, quiet numbers, and hard ones that shook the whole damn house.

I have never been to a show with such clear vocals. Given that Nick is a balladeer, the well mic-ed sound let him really shine. I was also impressed that I could hear him so clearly *even* from my remote seat.

Now, the club is not so big that the upper balcony is that far away. I rejected going to the NYC shows because the only available seats were for the upper balcony -- but that was at the Beacon Theater where everyone has to sit, and the seats go faaarrrr back. The D.C. club (named "9:30") is fairly squat in its design. There aren't any places where you're that far from the stage.

However, according to [friend]'s report, the lower balcony is the worst place for audio. The problem is that the lower balcony is narrow -- little more than a cat-walk for the section parallel the stage -- and has a 5ft wall that is the bar to the upper balcony at its end. The effect is to create a flat space where the audience member is stuck between noise coming from the speakers and an immediate reverberation directly behind them. There is no space for a die-off echo, it just hits you front and back.

[friend] stuck to that location (standing) for both bands, and reported that it did funny things to his insides. He claims standing there was close-to-but-not-quite a 'brown note' location.

Others suggested that up front can be bad if you happen to be in front of the speakers, but: 1) I wouldn't take such a spot, and 2) I'm sure they're just complaining about volume -- not low frequency reverberations that mess with the body.

Anyway, the show was wonderful. As noted earlier: one of the best either of us have ever seen. We were wiped out by the time it ended, but still so excited about it that we walked the mile-or-so back to the hotel.

We got to bed around 2AM, woke at 8:30, and had a crappy breakfast at the hotel before taking off. We went back to the same museum around 9:15 because I wanted to do the rest of the minerals, and insects, but the doors don't open 'til 10AM, and we didn't want to wait, so we just took off.

Getting back to Pennsylvania, we stopped off at a mega-movie complex and caught Spider-man. The movie was pretty danged good. I mean, it was exactly what you'd expect from a Hollywood Super-Hero movie, but for what it was, it was way better than Superman, or the Batman sequels. When the initial Batman came out, I did enjoy it more than I enjoyed Spider-man, but now that so MANY movies have had that 'Batman-esque' look/feel, it doesn't seem as special as it did at its debut. I doubt Spider-man will age any better, but it truly is a decent movie if you go in understanding the inherent limitations of such a genre flick.

Afterwards, we went into Philly, had dinner, and caught a benefit for ActionAIDS. It was a so-so torch-song singer with a single pianist for accompaniment. Not horrible, but nothing I'd see if it weren't for charity. I made it home by 10PM, and was in bed by 11.

I've no idea why I overslept on Monday morning, but I did. Stayed at work late last night to make up for it, and will probably do the same a couple more times this week. Now, I am wanting to take a day trip back to the museum. Maybe have dinner at the Ethiopian place again.

Let me know if you end up heading down that way any time this summer ... and let me know if I can tag along :-)

> It's been a awful week. After I had a foot of snow last Friday, my
> driveway turned into a slush mess. It got too heavy to shovel, and I
> needed 4 wheel drive to get in and out until it had melted down
> sufficiently on Wednesday. Then, on Thursday, it was snowing again.
> Today, we seem finally to be entering spring. It's now mud-heaven here.
> Chile [the dog] is getting pretty dirty, as is the house. I am exhausted.
>
> There is nothing else to report. If I have energy, I may start getting
> stuff ready to oil the house. I need to get the roof reshingled on the
> house. I got the garage done last year.
>

Well, my week has been pretty excellent.

I told you about last week in NYC -- Surrealism, Tibetan food, and all.
I wanted to go back up to NYC again tonight to see the band "Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds" play the Beacon Theater. Unfortunately, the only seats left as of Monday were the Upper Balcony. Not Balcony seating, mind you, UPPER balcony seating. I'm told those seats are so bad that you hear the echo before you hear the sound system.

So I scrapped that idea, and cursed the band for not playing Philly at all -- not ever (okay, at least not in the years since I've been back on the East Coast). I don't know if they've ever played here, but if so, it hasn't been for at least a decade. This is especially irritating to me because the lead guitarist is the front man for another favorite band, "Einstürzende Neubauten". THEY play Philly on every tour, and the house is always packed. You'd think the guy could talk Nick Cave into giving us a shot. I gather Nick would rather tour as little as possible. It is a shame, too, as everyone who's seen any of the shows all say he's got a great stage presence.

So.... I decided to check around to see if Nick was playing anywhere else that was close enough to attend. YES, he IS! He's playing D.C. tomorrow night. I bought tickets Monday, and reserved a hotel room Tuesday after realizing that I would be too tired to drive home after the show.

I have never driven to D.C., but I'm told it takes about 3-4 hours (depending on traffic -- which is supposed to get horrendous around the Beltway during rush hours). The band won't go on until after 10, they're supposed to play for more than an hour, bands are notoriously late for everything, and I figured that there was no way I'd be awake enough to be driving from, say.... midnight to 4AM on a Saturday night.

But now that I have a hotel room, I think it behooves me to visit the Smithsonian Institute's Museum of Natural History either Sat. before the show or Sun. before I go home. http://www.mnh.si.edu/

I am very excited.

I also succeeded in FINALLY mowing my lawn for the first time since last fall. It rained each time I was free to do it for the last few weeks, and I was not home before dark until Wednesday this week. I got it mowed, and it promptly stormed most all day Thursday -- meaning it would have had to wait ANOTHER week or so if I'd missed that single opportunity.

I may be adopting an 11 year old Siberian from a man whose wife just died. He's got 3 dogs, and is unable to afford his mortgage without his wife's income. He expect he'll either have to get roommates ASAP, or sell his house and move into an apartment. Either way, he expects he'll have to give up the dogs -- that he's raised since they were puppies -- to accommodate housing needs.

Last thing on my list of positive events: one of the guys I met at the Film Fest called me and we went to see the AWFUL movie, "Kissing Jessica Stein" together. We get along well, and plan on seeing more movies together. We are very compatible in our criticisms of movies, and I think we both enjoy that about each other. Between the two of us, we cover VAST quantities of film history. :-)

Back to work for me -- I've got a project here that's been kicking my arse for weeks, and I've finally got it hammered down, on the ropes, and on the verge of giving in.

I hope you can find someone else to oil the house for you. It sounds like doing it yourself is more painful than the cost of getting it done for you. No snow here. May your break-up be quick and painless.

On Sat., Oct. 13th, a friend and I decided to go up mostly just to buy things in lower Manhattan -- Chinatown in particular. There'd been reports on the radio about how the local economy was taking a serious hit these days, and I figured that it was the least I could do. We also walked around for miles and miles. The most impressive part was the long walk from Chinatown down past the Brooklyn Bridge, and into the financial district. Most of the area is still closed to vehicular traffic. As we got closer to where the WTC had been, we found ourselves in a growing throng of like-minded people who felt a need to honor the sight with a personal visit. Crowds of people from all over the world were walking en masse to see the ruins, and polite -- even friendly -- police and National Guard members covered the area.

As the air became more filled with lingering dust, sediment, and the distinct smell of powdered concrete and drywall, the places where foot traffic was allowed became constricted with barricades. People were given a set path to follow around the eastern side of the financial district, then down to the south. No one complained about being wordlessly herded between the dust covered blocks. No one complained about the opportunists silently hawking memorabilia by means of their silent display of merchandise.

We moved along the sidewalks under metal scaffolding -- frequently draped with dropcloths to keep debris created during cleaning off the crowd coming to pay their respects. Invariably, the cloth was covered with messages of support, love, and loss. Dying flowers and spent candles crowded the corners.

We never got closer than two blocks from the disaster site, so what we could see was always framed through street intersections. We walked down Wall Street and it athletic clubs and broker offices, read notes on doors stating closure, saw workers cleaning, and piles of scrap waiting to get hauled away.

Finally, as the throng moved as cattle through the restricted blocks, we began to get glimpses of the disaster sight between the dust covered buildings. Even the tiny bits that could be seen were...impressive. The most open view was from the south. From that vantage, there was more room for people to take a moment and reflect. A National Guard solider stood at the front and conversed with people. Someone had spray-painted a message to the effect of, "No photos! No videos!" on a sheet of plywood that was part of a makeshift barricade across the street from where visitors could walk. Despite the admonition, many people were doing both. I heard a group asking the Guard about that, and caught the part where he replied with a shrug, "What are ya gonna to do?" His attitude seemed to imply that other than beating countless people senseless (which he'd find inappropriate), there wasn't a lot he could do about it, and he seemed to understand that some folks would have a need to document what they were seeing -- a bombed out war zone sitting in the midst of too familiar buildings.

We paused there for a while. I felt a deep sadness, but didn't quite cry. I felt a need to 'fix' everything -- help clean up, wash some windows, anything! ...but there is so little firsthand action anyone can take. The average person isn't given a way to directly help, but instead is left with donating money and blood to the Red Cross and other charitable organizations. We do what we can, but we want to do more.

Quietly, we walked around to the west side of the financial district -- not realizing it was completely closed, and we had to go back the way we came. After we realized we had to turn around, we stopped in the park just west of Battery Park at the southern tip of Manhattan, and rested under an arbor of weeping willows. The sun was bright, a cool breeze blew the scent of fresh marine water at us, and Monarch butterflies flitted between the undulating fronds of the trees. The Coast Guard patrolled the waterway, and the Statue of Liberty -- "Liberty Enlightening the World" -- looked out, undaunted, across the ocean. I couldn't help but think of her message to the world.

"Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me. I lift my lamp beside the golden door."

Who could find fault with a country who iconizes such sentiment? Even our landmarks entreat acceptance of all. An overwhelming gratefulness that I'd been lucky enough to be born American filled me. It wasn't that I was proud to be an American (our founders have more right to be proud than I), but intensely thankful that of all places on earth, I was born in a country with such heart and compassion.

Okay, I'll admit that I do find fault with the U.S. on quite a number of things, but I do not see the country as evil, or deserving punishment. I see it as a work in progress -- and consider it likely that such will always be the case. There is always room for improvement.

The question becomes how to achieve change. I have no solid answers for that, but I feel pretty confident that terrorism will never move a country towards the goals of terrorists.

I wrote these 2 posts on banjo, and am reposting on the new system just because.

My Vacation? I'm testing ./ !!!
Sat 04 Aug 01:42AM

So here I am on my Alaska Vacation. I could be fishing for salmon, panning for gold, hiking, fossil hunting, bunny hunting or any number of wholesome outdoor activities. The weather is almost perfect here in the Fairbanks region (I'm closer to North Pole as I type this -- but I don't expect anyone outside the state to know where North Pole, AK is). It was a balmy 53F today, but it was marred by a light rain. The rain would not normally bother me, but it led
to my father constantly asking if I wanted a hat or rain gear. Other than that, the weather is great.

So what do I do? I ignore the beautiful, long summer days, and the raspberries going unpicked in the yard, and instead turn my attention to my father's PC. It is a Compaq, and he's foolishly left their proprietary crap on it. Since the machine is old and full, I give up trying to convince him that we could make it better, stronger, and faster with a few uninstalls, and head over to /.

What's this? A beta-something? Beta are my life!!! The best job I ever had was getting paid to beta-test CAD software. Heck, I'm good at bitching, and while most people want me to cork it, they were PAYING me for that skill. I still work for the same company now, but they've moved me to a better paying position. I long for the beta testing. I'm happy to beta test.

Still, I do think I want to spend more of my vacation away from keyboards than in front of them. If anyone wants details on what a psuedo-techie female does on Alaskan vacations, let me know.

Vacation: Day2
Sat. Aug. 4th, 10pm : Fairbanks, AK.

Sun is still a little bit up, but is setting in the NW. As always, it will look dusk for most the night. At 1AM last night, it was still fairly bright out. If I could tell toursits one thing, it would be to come to Fairbanks in the winter so they can see Auroras. That's the thing I miss most about living here: gazing up into a glow of green dancing overhead.

The rain finally cleared out for the afternoon, and we packed the Ranger for our rafting trip. This will not be a Colorado river sort of event. We will have a float plane drop us off on a small lake, and then take the raft down a river made of glaical run off to a main river for a total of about 70 miles -- then we reach a town (Talkeetna). We're driving down to Talketna tomorrow, spending the night there, then flying out Monday.

That means I'll be computerless for about 5 days. I will not miss it at all :-).

10:05 - this Henry Wienhard's Blackberry Wheat beer is pretty silly. Not as bad as, say Bud Light, but NOTHING compared to a good stout. If this is the trip that kills me, blame the beer.

-- mina

Saw the re-release of Apocalypse Now, and liked it better than the original. Having a bizarre scene before the boat got very far up river helped on two points. For the scene following it.

1) It gave Chief (boat's capt. a reason to be pissed at Willard), and
2) It gave Willard more reason to think our troops were .... well, foolish.

While I think the original would have been enhanced by it's inclusion, I would have cut it when the crew started unloading fuel. It drags after that point. Granted, there are nice things to look at in the rest, but it doesn't add to the story.

The additions to the Kilgore related scenes were alright, but (again) didn't move the story much. I read a review that complained that that section detracted from the movie because it makes Willard seem more like a class clown, bt I disagree. I thought the point was to show Willard's objection to Kilgore's emphasis on recreation, and to a lesser extent, to show that Willard would determine his own standards for justice (in this case, by stealing).

The French scene didn't do much for me. It seemed that a better edit could have done there, but since the point of the re-release was to include additional footage, it wasn't unacceptable.

Additional gore was limited, and oddly beautiful. I approve.

The additional scenes with Kurtz were great. I've no complaint with seeing Kurtz in full light. I did not think it diminished his dark, and shadowed aura. In fact, I thought it showed the character's (and the actor's) intelligence better than the brief scenes where he's partially obscured.

In short, I recommend it to anyone who liked the original. Depending on your interpretation of the original, you may find that the new version has a different tone. Regardless, I think it is more solid, and better.