News: March 2005 Archives

I'm sure, or I would have thought, that people would have notices the irony of something. That Bulimia is about control, often a reaction, probably from early on, to family, and their desire for control, for dominion - such that I've ever written about it as the familial expression of civil disobedience. And the irony therein.

If you saw some silly fucker in Burger King pissing himself, that was because after playing Britney's 'Do Something', the silly woman on the radio couldn't help but unconsciously follow the inflection of the song when saying the title. So yes, pissing himself.

I keep thinking I need to remember to even just mention it, so that people on the way to Coventry can step the fuck off. The leader (subscription) and the article (not).

Hands Wringing

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I refer you to this.

There will be no proselytizing here, it'd be just too silly to say too much, go find a news service worth a damn and read it. Get it here - live torrent link - ed2k link - another ed2k link. None of these are verified yet, I'll correct the post as necessary.

I'm ashamed by the fact that apparently it leaked since the beginning of the month, so I'm just another johnny-come-lately, but whatever. The torrent file is intact, but the sound quality isn't spectacular, I'm wondering if the donkey links are better. I'm now wondering how I missed this on isohunt. Ok, the second ed2k link completed, and the sound quality is *much* better - it's all in 192kbs.

After getting all of them, you'll realise that the second ed2k link is the best - the torrent is awful, the first link is of variable quality, the second has them all at 192. The "bonus" track with the first ed2k is just the alt mix of Better Version of Me - not worth it, though get both, since, well, it's free.

Just because I keep seeing things talking much alarmist about what's happening with China's anti-secession law to stop Taiwan from declaring independence - I point you to the arbiter of all meaning. It's a law enacted mostly to appease the nationalists - meant to leave the administration with plenty of wiggle room with regards to what actually warrants what and what actually counts for what. Move along, nothing to see here.

Titties and Beer

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I can't seem to keep the break of Innocent Man by Billy Joel out of my head - 'I am, and innocent man, oh yes I am, an innocent man'.

I really like the recent episode of the Eric Rice Show - honestly, if I might be so bold: yes, no doubt your advertisers like short packaged shows that are about something etc. but the show is at it's best when it's flabby and you're just hanging out, messing about. It's not about whether or not you're pimping something - though I'm sure the act of pimping affects things regardless - it's just the feeling of people being themselves and goofing off around stuff. There's an accompanying video, which you can find here. They look like it tastes like ass.

So yes, they can be entertaining as they once were, but not a post will go by about them that I don't mention the absence of Esto-Jen, who is now knocked up Rice's fuckbuddy-child, locked in a basement, doing nothing but getting baked.

Anyone who can recommend me a podcasting tool that doesn't suck (iPodder was just pointless) will have erected for them bonkers scaffolding. But honestly, just having the feed on Klipfolio seems to do me pretty well - it's only a minute or so away once the headline shows up. I don't listen to them on the move because I don't move, so it's all on my spacious sound system - and if I do move, that's what the Economist is for.

Fire. And please, if you want to watch the series, just go here and get it, since it's aired on Sky in the UK already. Though the HRHD rips might be nice.

Amy Acker and David Mamet

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Promising casting, despite Scott Foley, for a new pilot developed by David Mamet. The show's called The Unit, it'll be about a special forces unit - I hope Amy's not just one of the family members. Apparently Mamet's writing the pilot, which should be good. He's working with some guy from the Shield, which I've never really watched, but never found terribly impressive.

I watched the episodes Mamet directed, and the ones with Rebecca Pidgen; again, it's difficult to transcend the series - hopefully it's better when he's the one starting it all off. It wasn't till recently that I found out that he had written for TV earlier, for Hill Street Blues (well, one episode) - though he did start out in theatre like I thought, but was confused about for a bit. His IMDB page is more informative in that respect. Rebecca Pidgen's quite comely. His films are really rather good, so here's hoping. I've always thought Amy Acker flitted about particularly well, so promise all round.

I Am Not A Blog

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Breaking news everyone, apparently, I, subtitles, am not a blog. Well yes I do refer to myself as a bog, or the act of me as boggling, but now I've heard it from a higher power. The almighty BlogExplosion. This is what I sent back to them, what they sent me is below:

Below is the mail you sent me telling me my blog is "not a blog". Well, it uses Movable Type, and the top post is the latest, so I don't see what you're going on about. If the top few posts were there mocking your service, well, that's not unearned now is it? Kindly look at my not-blog again and get your editors to stop smoking crack on the job.

This was what I recieved from you:

Your site was denied for not being a blog. We only allow blogs or
blog related services to be added to blogexplosion.

Site reviewed:
subtitles
http://newblog.fallingbeam.org/blog/

Sincerly,
BlogExplosion Team

This is the link to my trouble ticket. So what? Even when they cut and paste their responses they can't type properly? Sincerely is spelt with and 'e' (well, more than one). I get the feeling they were right, and BlogClicker *is* better.

It's nice to have a Mariah single out - not exactly like Christmas, but it's fun. The video isn't bad - she looks good in it, though my only complaint is that excessively straightened hair isn't exactly the way I'd go. Very flattering shots of her though. This is what i got, there's another version I saw, but the quality's not quite as nice.

Mariah_Carey_-_It's_Like_That SVCD (tulare).mpg

If you want, I also saw a bunch of Making The Video bits floating about, so that might be fun for you, I'm just not that in to the process as I would have been. It's in SVCD, so if you're like me and your WMP keeps locking up - I advise you to play it in powerDVD or whatever DVD software you have. I also wonder where they're releasing all this - and where the torrents are - it's likely that video releasing has stuck to using ed2k, since with smaller files the wait isn't that much longer than with a torrent, especially when people are swarming.

Yeah, and also wanted to get rid of that god-awful banner at the top of the page.

In many ways I treat American Politics the way other people might treat Sports.

So it's only right that I provide a primer of sorts for some of the issues - and I say provide, rather than write, since that's what the Economist is good for. I mean, honestly, I didn't even know the difference between Medicare and Medicaid till I read the article. It's pretty short, and is just an incidental piece on the likely upcoming battle over the the Medicaid Budget - but it serves well as an informative piece on the principal political and economic issues.

I sometimes wonder if I should refer to myself as subtitles - as in 'when subtitles was young', or some such - much as the Economist does; particularly their columnists. Now if you learn anything from watching the West Wing, it is that referring to yourself by something other than your proper name is a distancing gesture - put simply, you'd sometimes be better off thinking of yourself as the office or the function or the magazine or the column, rather than the person.

The Economist does not tell substantive stories about individuals - they leave that to the hacks at the BBC and those other rather disreputable organisations. There is an obsession with the particular that can move to the point of being inaccurate. People who are more willing to tell you stories of people they've met than to, at least part of the time, tell you about statistics of change, can and should be subject to the phrase caveat emptor - buyer beware, be careful of what they are selling. The individual at many times can be subject to so many tugs and pulls and can with such finality be swayed by something other than what is right - which is why at times being a person is just less than helpful. If you can help more people than you could before, that has to be a good thing, especially if you otherwise do no harm to anything except people's predjudices.

Perhaps it's not the best idea to blog policy - but again, that's what the Economist is for. I'm reminded of the image of the ship in Golding, and the mast, dipping sometimes into darkness. As Mr. Clements said.

Which my way of delaying you reading the article till I post the link at the end - Narratives, Stories, The Particular, are things that can affect us to an undue extent (take it from someone who watches as much television as I do), and I'm not one to romanticise the aggregate, the mean, the statistical and mathematical - it can only truthfully be thought of as dismal. But the will to move contrary to instinct and at least some of the time to be rational and detached, is, and you would think, has always been, a force for material progress, for general wellbeing, the inching towards less bad.

It takes great mettle to write communicative prose about subjects that are otherwise dismal, arcane and inflammatory. I'm not saying this is the acme of that, I'm just feeling the need to tell you why this won't be the last time I link to articles like this.

Save Estro-jen

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Ok, so maybe the EricRice show doesn't suck so bad. I think it helped that he wasn't being podcast crazy. Did I just miss these the last time? This one was the one before the latest one. Really, I'm not really that in to some of the things he talks about, like cars right now, but he's got a pretty good radio voice. Yeah, now getting the past episodes, and I'm getting pretty into it, so here's me biting it. I'd want to write more, but I'll save it for later. Still wish Estro-jen was back.

Most likely the Democrats decided that they had to see what their opponents did well, compromise, and try at least some of it. Think Ten Words/Game On. Hence Anti-Abortion Democrats getting more play.

That's one of the softenings that Dean's been bringing up again and again when he was stumping for DNC chair, and now you know why. I think it was a good-ish move - your core base is just going to have to trust you that you're not going to sell them out (and you won't) but it gives you a national profile of compromising on the issue - though really only allowing a few to go off the leash if their conscience wants them to.

I think it's an effective way of stopping the Democrats from being seen as the party of abortion. And me, I'm a sucker for Howard, so when he says that he respects Pro-Life Democrats, and that there are ways to bring them into the party, I believe. He talks about them being people of conviction, which I think he believes.

And he's got a good line to sell it, that these are people who want to look after the children after they're born as well as before. He wants the message to be more on the Democrats terms - talking about health care, social programs etc. Makes me wonder if a big Medicare overhaul push is going to be part of the mid-term blitz - if only to counter the Social Security thing they're fighting against.

All this reminds me of what I said when I first saw the ad for the birth control patch. 'Yeah, I've really got to quit that bad habit - babies'.

Ricecast

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There's a new Eric Rice show, actually the first I've heard, and instinctively it's probably not as good as BuffyRadio, but just remember that he's much better on the air than he is writing. Evangelising shouldn't be just so much about blagging. podcastpodcastpodcast. I'm still holding out till he manages to get Estro-jen back on, but so far 'it doesn't suck'. High praise huh? It's just that the slickness of the show (and the set pieces) betrays a desire to approach a kind of professionalism that is a bit distancing if you're looking for sincerity.

Part of me thinks that his site/content is too much weighed down by the industry and commericial side of things and cuts out the 'him' in all of it, which is what I was lauding in some other places. Too much pimping. And it's not even about the commercialism (I'm me after all), it's just that the almost unseemly enthusiasm makes people look at you funny. Much like Scoble going on about RSS feeds - I know he doesn't mean it, but it makes him sound like a crank.

Spatula phone is fun though. And the flickr splicing thing on his feed was what really got me to stop subscribing - annoying as fuck. When you get a new headline you expect there to be content, not piccy-snaps. That's what convinces me that advertising on the feed proper is desperately unwise - the feedburner amazon links at the bottom thing is okay, but it only works in IE, and as I said before, boo-yah be-atch.

Just so we're clear about this - I'm Nobody.

Found this on Mariah Daily.

teom_pic1.jpg

Oh, and mugsy's back on Alias, for all of one shot. Wonder if she'll be back.

The lovely Katherine Heigl is gonna be in this new series that's coming out soon, supposedly premiering on ABC on March 27. Read more about it on TVTome, the ABC site, and Katherine Heigl Online - where you can find all things Katherine Heigl. The image below is provided courtesy of them, you can find more in their gallery for Grey's press kit.

presskit1.jpg

If you notice, the tags they wear all say SGH, but, well, probably for Seattle General Hospital. Mmmm... Katherine Heigl... in a labcoat... Is anyone else wondering why her name in this series is so similar to the one in Roswell? From Isabel Evans to Isobel Stevens. Inventive.

Pimpy McPimp

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Economist seems to really know how to pick their cover pictures. Personally they seem to be able to be particularly wry and particularly evocative. Not to mention their writing manages to discuss things that good prose sometimes finds difficult to discuss. I think the shirt says "Betty Boop".

cover

As a headline though, I must say this one was particularly good, as I mentioned previously.

cover

If I'm not wrong, most (perhaps all) off the stories they post on their RSS feed should be free to ether.

New Beta of MSN Messenger, build no. 7.0.632, you can find it at the usual locations. It's another leaked beta, and mastaline's patch apparently still works with this one.

For those who missed it, I've got a rather informative ICQ patch posting on how to get rid of the ads in the new ICQ/ICQLite. Also I've noticed people are actually downloading/trying out the proxo/opera/economist stuff I've been uploading - unless that's just the search bots.

Charlie Sheen and Denise Richards getting divorced - looks like no more cameos. I must have forgotten that Sheen was in Ferris Bueller as the punky guy in the police station who hooks up with the sister.

Got Krista Allen?

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Something must have stuck in watching Unscripted - and by the way, what I said about Peep Show applies to that as well, only less funny - that I'm now rooting for Krista Allen having gotten, well, another pilot. It's not like Unscripted wasn't going to launch careers yes/no?

What's more interesting is that she was in 2.5 Men, as Olivia during an episodes with one of my favorite titles. Did You Check With the Captain of the Flying Monkeys? Hopefully 2.5 Men can keep from sucking for what's left for a season and never let the first half of this season ever happen again.

Is it just me, or do the Fantastic Four trailers look pretty damn shite? The Human Torch bit was okay, but please, the Michael Chiklis (Thing) being funny? That was just wrong. Even Reed Richards looked pretty off - and while I had thought that Jessica Alba would be okay in it, it's starting to not look so good. For the record, The Hulk is still be best film of the genre to date - this looks incredibly potboiler.

Broken inside.

This rather warmed my heart when I read it, so I thought I'd point you to it. If you subscribe, you can read it here. Or else you can get this nicely produced pdf. And yes, printing to pdf from Firefox is still the prettiest, even more so than using the Adobe IE toolbar.

It's on Higher Education, and it appeals to the lash not-in me. But nonetheless incredibly sensible, and should make the mortified chew hard.

Anna Paquin in Steamboy

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I've never watched Akira, but apparently this is by the same guy who did that. Steamboy has Anna playing the main character from what I can see. Apparently all Japanese boys are necessarily effeminate sounding. As always, this is where I get all my Anna updates. I'm just wondering if I'll end up being bothered, and really whether it'd just be too weird. Alfred Molina and Patrick Stewart are in it too.





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This page is a archive of entries in the News category from March 2005.

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