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Friday, December 03, 2004From the e-mail bag:'Master/slave' Most Politically Incorrect PhraseLet's just hope they weren't niggardly in their purchasing practices (remember when a government employee got accused of racial insensitivity for using the word niggardly?). This is from a Reuter's article, but I haven't found a working link. 
posted by gbarto at 11:38 PM Thursday, December 02, 2004Barbarism, pure and simple...Hugh Hewitt has been spreading the word on the Groenigen protocol. This is the latest from the Netherlands, and it's a doozy. At issue is protocol for euthanizing people - including newborns and children - that can neither ask nor consent. As Hugh says, it's death by committee, with experts who know best deciding which lives are worth living. Libertarian in outlook, I have mixed feelings on euthanasia. Specifically, I think that folks of sound mind and decidedly unsound body can make that decision for themselves. I'm more nervous about somebody asking for euthanasia in, for example, a living will, because it's hard to say whether the person might not change his or her mind, such as it is, once circumstances warrant dealing with such questions. On abortion, as Hugh notes, there are a lot of questions. The TurkeyBlog is - shamefully - resolutely irresolute on this one. However, there is no need to debate fine lines, slippery slopes, etc. with Groenigen. This is not about a person who wants to die needing help. Or about when the stuff of human DNA becomes fully and completely human. This is about a person or group of people deciding to snuff out a human life that is, in fact, existent in our sphere of life. Where I come from, it's referred to as murder-one. Hugh is right to be pushing this issue, and right to call for people to take a position on a very serious question - what life is worthy of being lived? Right now, there are certain elements in the Middle East that believe that the only life worth living is a Muslim one - of a particular variety. This belief equates the extinction of Western lives with spiritual cleansing. While the Dutch may have come up with reasons more pleasing to our aesthetic sense of life, they're in the same biz, picking which humans are and aren't worthy of life. In both cases, it's ugly, evil and to be stopped.
posted by gbarto at 10:00 PM Wednesday, December 01, 2004ReviewsRecent listening experiences... Music from a farther room This is one of the latest violin crossover albums - is it pop? is it classical? is it tolerable? Glad to say, this is one album that mostly works. Lucia Micarelli has a nice touch and does what you are supposed to do with a violin: communicate emotion. In several of the pieces, Micarelli's violin wails along less like a stately old classical instrument than the voice of a tired bluesman. The effect is charming, particularly on "She's like a swallow," a duet with Leigh Nash in which the violin truly sings along. However, the "Nocturne/Bohemian Rhapsody," though nicely arranged and very well done, may try those who remember the original Bohehian Rhapsody. Love Angel Music Baby Here it is, the debut CD from Gwen Stefani of No Doubt. How is it? Umm... The biggest problem with this album is that you are constantly reminded you are listening to Gwen Stefani - by name, by in-jokes, by recurring themes that don't quite measure up to being called motifs. There is, in short, a self-congratulatory air, most likely the result of nerves about whether there'd be anything anyone else would offer congratulations for. Now, an artist - one who brings imagination and innovation to craft - doesn't need this shtick. The product should stand on its own. What's unfortunate is that parts of the album do stand on their own - at least until they're undermined by the "look at me" factor. On the up side, the first track, "What You Waiting For?" is sharp, sassy and refers back to the artist as she lives, not as a pop-culture figure. And it works. As does "Rich Girl," a send-up of "If I Were a Rich Man." "Bubble Pop Electric" - "Tonight I'm gonna give you all my love... in the backseat" is as delightfully ridiculous a bubble-gum pop take-off as one could hope for. But throughout the album, we run across a few bits - "Vivian Westwood," "L.A.M.B." (the album title's initials) and the "Harajuku Girls" who even have track 7 devoted to them that turn this techno-pop album (there's nothing quite as wild as "Trapped in a box," nor as raucous as "Just a girl") into... a rap album? That's the feel I get. Sure, she's not from the 'hood, but this CD is less a musical experiment than a vehicle for creating and playing off a persona. If all you've got is rhymes and attitude - Eminem, call your office - that's fine. But both her past work and the best moments in this album show that Stefani ought to have something better to offer. Abii ne viderem Granted, this is a 1995 album. But the first piece, "Morning Prayers" has been floating through my mind for the last week or two, so I pulled it out. Kancheli is one of those composers who, left to make sense of the disappearance of the Soviet Union and the reappearance of hope for their native lands, produced something, alas, far better and more beautiful than what history brought to their new countries. Kancheli, from Georgia, moved to Germany and created these three alternately meditative and frenzied pieces - Morning Prayers, Evening Prayers and Abii ne viderem. The experience is somewhat like watching a Buddhist monk resting calmly, till unable to take it he suddenly rises up and tries furiously - but fails - to strike the fly which has been walking across his nose. If you're the Buddhist monk. If you're in the mood for something light, something tranquil, something oh-so-classical, this isn't quite it. But to experience the hoping, praying mind as it vacillates between divine inspiration and mortal care, have a listen. Symphony No. 3 - Sorrowful Songs by Gorecki This is a beautiful, terrible, marvelous and mammoth piece. One sometimes hears discussion of an architecture to music. Listening to the opening movement of Gorecki's 3rd, one can see a cathedral being erected, stone by stone, till it shimmers before you, an edifice of sound. And then things quieten, and a soft voice comes in with the first story, a woman asking after her son, surely lost in the war. The second and third movements, too, create walls of sound, walls within which two more stories are told. The stories - the texts - are proper to Gorecki's Polish heritage - a 15th c. lamentation, an inscription found in a Gestapo cell and an old folk song - but go beyond to the universal themes of suffering and oppression. This particular recording is the first I heard of Gorecki's 3rd. Dawn Upshaw is, as always, superb, and her performance makes the album worth buying. The conducting, by David Zinman, is appropriate to the music and makes this probably the recording to have of this piece.
posted by gbarto at 11:12 PM Welcome back to Day by Day, one of the best darn cartoons out there. You can see it again at the bottom of the page, but also be sure to check out Chris Muir's site for other cool Day by Day stuff.
posted by gbarto at 9:12 AM More Target/Salvation Army... None of my opinions about the Target brouhaha have changed, but I would like to remind everyone that if they really want to give to the Salvation Army, they can go here and find out what they can do to help here in the U.S. all the way down to their own communities. And here's a note from the TurkeySis (edited for publication) about that good and worthy organization versus Target: [My boyfriend is] pissed about that because the Salvation Army is one of the groups that helped his family upon their arrival [from Laos], no questions asked obviously about their thoughts on Jesus, no requirements to pledge faith, just help when it was needed and no request for thanks or anything in return. So if a non-practicing Buddhist appreciates the mission of the Christian organization, to what degree is he obligated to show tolerance to Target?Nice point, though my own view remains that if you're upset with Target and want the kettles back, write Target and let them know. Shop somewhere else if you please. But please avoid the demonization bit and, if you're concerned, focus less on getting Target and more on what you can do to help the Salvation Army.
posted by gbarto at 8:41 AM Monday, November 29, 2004The two articles about Mozilla Firefox that I mentioned below are here and here. Not a lot of surprises. Indeed, the major focus was on security issues, of which Mozilla has fewer. The article suggests that Internet Explorer's dominance makes it the logical target for hackers - is there a Willie Sutton joke somewhere in here? - but does not address whether Firefox would become just as big a target if it gained dominance.Probably the most striking thing to come through - especially in the second article - was not so much the passion for Mozilla, though it is there, but hatred for Microsoft. This, to me, is in the same category as hatred for Wal-Mart. Microsoft, for all its flaws, made reasonably powerful computing accessible to people of relatively ordinary means in the same way Wal-Mart made lifestyle items accessible to people in the lower economic strata. Why this engenders such animosity eludes me, unless the elites are that insecure about the bumpkins catching up (do the techno-snobs of geekdom have that much in common with the urban professional of liberal sensibilities? - it seems, yes, they both look down on everyone else and disparage those who help others get what they have). Let's hope Mozilla man (from the second article) and others finally latch on to the real truth of this: Microsoft dominated because it made the best product for people of ordinary means. Mozilla Firefox is gaining because it is making a product well suited for people of ordinary means. It is not open source versus locked up code, non-profit versus money-grubbing capitalism, love of computing versus love of shareholders. What makes the difference is whether your product benefits consumers. May the growth of Firefox lead to a Mozilla-Microsoft showdown of the best kind - in the market place. That would be the best outcome for us all.
posted by gbarto at 11:01 PM Sunday, November 28, 2004Hugh Hewitt is writing about reading and re-reading novels and wondering just what books get read twice and wondering if it's a reliable indicator of quality, of what makes a good gift, etc.I tend to re-read alot, but not usually the "great books." These, like the Wolfe book alluded to, I tend to read once. My "great books" are those which I found not so much moving as entertaining. If you wish to become a better person, there are lists for that. If, however, you wish to keep discovering little touches that remind you why a book was fascinating, delightful or delightfully nasty, may I suggest the following: Stranger in a Strange Land by R.A. Heinlein. In many ways, an update of Voltaire's L'Ingenu, this delightful fairy tale, complete with a "Once upon a time..." beginning, shows how backward civilization can become when it takes itself too seriously and, with its new-age mumbo jumbo, suggests how far we might go. To be re-read for: Jubal Harshaw's comments as he tries to remain sarcastic and jaded but winds up giving a damn what happens in the world after all. Number of the Beast by R.A. Heinlein. A superior work, in fact, a rambunctious work, in which four very sharp people set out in a time machine to save the earth from green men and discover that if a universe can be thought, in a way it probably is. By this device, Heinlein draws in the best of fantasy writing from earlier days that inspired him and creates a wonderful multiverse where the bad guys really are the bad guys but everything else is up in the air. To be re-read for: The curious places our heroes and heroines go and the bit about bathbuns. Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams. Everybody knows the Hitchhiker "trilogy," but the first detective novel forced Adams to move from stringing together gags to writing an actual book. In this wonderful story, we find out what the Ancient Mariner is really about, why the poem Xanadu stops so abruptly, and what it is like to feed a dodo bird. What more could you ask for? To be re-read for: Discovering new parallels with the poetry of Coleridge and the strange way it all makes sense in a world where people like Dirk Gently exist. Thank You for Smoking by Christopher Buckley. A delightfully nasty look at politics and morality with a tobacco lobbyist for the hero. The more ridiculous things get, the harder the laughs come. And with a bizarrely sweet love story thrown in. To be re-read for: belly laughs. Very healthy. The Code of the Woosters by P.G. Wodehouse. Sure, you've read it before and know what's coming next. But the gags are so great as Bertie and Dahlia purse the mystic cowcreamer. How can you resist? To be re-read for: The Rise and Fall of Roderick Spode. J.R.R. Tolkien Boxed Set (The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings). I'll give Hugh this one. A classic story of good, evil and in-between. To be re-read for: The glorious battles, glorious locales and the nameless dread Tolkien can inspire when writing about evil. The Ground Beneath Her Feet : A Novel by Salman Rushdie. Do we include audiobooks we pop in multiple times? Christopher Cazanove's performance of this title is a masterpiece. But so is the story, one of Rushdie's best, for its strangely personable narrator and its amazing heroes. Vina Apsara and Ormus Cana are the rock and roll legends of their time till everything starts going to hell. The whole thing is chronicled by Rai Merchant, photographer and lifelong companion of the two. A must listen, or, as the audio is hard to come by, a must read. To be re-read for: Taking it all in. There are three life stories told here, each with a wealth of revealing details. Once through is not enough. Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco. What if you made up a ridiculous story about Templars, Rosicrucians and the secrets of the Holy Grail, only somebody thought you actually knew... and was prepared to kill you for your knowledge? Dan Brown offered some snappy reads with the DaVinci Code and Angels & Demons, and left more than a few of the unschooled going "Wow! I never knew that." - about things that weren't really there to be known. But Eco created a serious work about what can happen when you take serious subjects seriously enough to look for the truth, not just what people want to believe. To be re-read for: A thousand missed details about Templars, Rosicrucians and, most especially, the strange fraternity of Causabon, Belbo and Diotallevi and how they gradually drag each other into the madness.
posted by gbarto at 11:01 PM Instapundit has some observations on Wal-Mart and Target. I don't know much about shopping at Wal-Mart anymore: Here in the Bay Area, they're few and far between. But we have a half-dozen or so Targets in the neighborhood, from the one in Campbell that's a bit trashy - almost Wal-Martish! - to the Target at Westgate, which is pretty nice to the one in Cupertino, which has the best selection of ordinary household products. Not that those place names will mean anything to the typical reader, but I want to make clear: Target is the Wal-Mart of this neck of the woods. Like Instapundit, however, I don't get the hatred of Wal-Mart. Where I come from, they're a big business, and they give jobs to a lot of people who would have a hard time getting hired anyplace else. They also sell the bottom end of lifestyle items that a lot of folks otherwise couldn't have. While I don't fall all over myself to shop at Wal-Mart, I do get irked when there's news of a new one that would be built except that the activists are getting in the way again. What really gets me is it's usually the same good liberals forever championing the poor who so readily go against this source of jobs and shopping options for those at the bottom of the economic ladder.
posted by gbarto at 9:38 PM On the front page of today's (Sunday's Merc): Why you should care about Firefox Web browser My own particular answer: It's what I'm using to type in this blogger interface. I suspect others will too, in time. It's a pretty good browser. Sturdy, fairly user-friendly. The Tools menu seems particularly transparent compared to Internet Explorer. That said, I like Internet Explorer. It may still be the best browser out there. It certainly does a better job with things like layered iframes (those little windows Amazon ads are in, for example) and figuring out what to do with complicated tables. But spyware, adware, etc, however well they exploit Windows, do so especially well with IE, hence my shift to the Mozilla browser. Which leads to one question: Are the viruses, worms, etc, aimed at Microsoft the result solely of the animosity that company has engendered? Or does IE's place as the king of browsers just make it the logical target for punks with too much time on their hands? That is, if Mozilla does replace IE as the standard - or the two become increasingly indistinguishable as they come in line with W3C standards - will Mozilla become as much a target as IE is today? By the way, no idea what the actual story is... it's not posted yet.
posted by gbarto at 9:09 PM |
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