Wednesday, July 30, 2003 ::: So, I was talking about a recent issue of the new yorker (july 28) and the excellent articles contained therein, although most of them were not available online.. and then I got distracted. So to begin again: There is a very detailed and researched and informative article by Seymour Hersh about the Syrian government and the administration and so on. Followed by a somewhat less informative but nonetheless enjoyable article about the three-hundredth anniversary of St. Petersburg and the celebrations that accompanied it. The next article is simply amazing - Oliver Sacks writing about blindness and internal visualization, and how the experience of blindness and the methods of experiencing, processing and imagining the world vary with each and every individual. Followed by an article about Australian Aboriginal artists, accompanied by a vivid photograph of the artists sitting atop an immense collaborative painting. There is also thoughtful piece by Louis Menand concerning dictatorships and those who desire them, who often veers toward insufferable pretentiousness, but this time stays fairly down to earth.
Tuesday, July 29, 2003 ::: So I'm going up to NYC this weekend, and kottke.org has been so kind as to guide me to the free store which I may pay a visit while I'm up there.
So I got my new computer, and it's a G4 powerbook - I ended up spending more than I thought I would, but that sort of things tends to happen. I also got Civ III, which the real reason why I haven't been posting very much.
This week's New Yorker (July 28) is jam-packed with good articles, the best of which aren't linkable. Which I will discuss at length when I have the time.
Tuesday, July 22, 2003 ::: so it looks like the old computer is dead. Or, it would cost so much to fix it that I might as well buy a new computer. The old one, an iMac, I had had for five years, so its time had come, I guess. Luckily, the hard drive is still ok and I should be able to retrieve whatever I hadn't backed up. It also looks like a new computer won't be too expensive, either - I just have to decide what I'm going to get. Probably another Mac since I'd like a place to put all my old files, although if it weren't for that I'd probably switch to PC.
The computer is also in Baltimore right now. Long story. But hopefully I'll have it back soon enough.
Friday, July 18, 2003 ::: so my computer at home has died which means less posting owing to limited time at work. Lots going on though. Found out my cousin is in Iraq. War is terrible.
a schematic of the paris opera house. There's a movie in the works of the (alw) phantom of the opera, and although filming hasn't started so it may very well never see the light of day, it will supposedly star alan cumming and minnie driver (wtf?). I have some difficulty wrapping my mind around the idea of such a film ever coming into existence.
Sunday, July 06, 2003 ::: Oy, it's been a lazy lazy weekend. I lounged around for the most part and didn't really go outside very much since it was so damned hot. Hung out with Alex a little despite his overwork from summer classes. I did make it down to the mall with a couple of other folks. My parents came back from their posting in Central Asia and are about to enjoy a little vacation before they settle into their suburban American stylings.
Bought some DVDs - Run Lola Run (Lola Rennt), in which sexy Franka Potente and her sexy cherry-red hair run and run and run through the streets of Berlin to save her scruffy little boyfriend from his own ineptitude which has gotten him in bad with the Berlin criminal world. All set to thumping dance music with Franka chanting overtop.
I also got Waiting for Guffman, which I have never seen, but since I liked best in show and it's supposed to be funnier (if much much crueller) I figured I couldn't really go wrong. Plus it was cheap cheap.
and the older stuff I've been meaning to post for a while:
