Archive for 'The Offical Record' Category
COMICS I’M READING.
13 November 2002Here are some of the comics I read every month (or whenever they come out), along with some notes. This list is certainly not complete. I always read all the comics written by Brian Michael Bendis. That includes Alias, about a detective who explores the dark underbelly of the Marvel Universe, in which superheroes have […]
BOOK REVIEW: TRUER THAN TRUE ROMANCE: CLASSIC LOVE COMICS RETOLD! (2001) * * * (3 stars out of 4).
13 November 2002I read a lot of comic books, usually about 10 to 15 a week, so I don’t usually bother to review them. But I really want to say something about Truer than True Romance by Jeanne Martinet. It’s not that it’s so great or so entertaining, though it is very good. But it’s just so […]
BOB K. REVIEWS MY REVIEWS.
13 November 2002Bob K. says that I just spout out about my personal views in my reviews too much, and don’t spend enough of my time explaining, say, why a movie got three and a half stars instead of four. I explained that the point of the blog, as far as I was concerned, was for me […]
UNIVERSAL TRANSLATOR.
12 November 2002Hey, this has been bugging me for a long time. We have the following four things already: 1) Voice recognition software that converts speech to text. 2) Translation software that translates from English to almost any language or vice-versa. 3) Speech software that converts text to speech. 4) Small hand-held computers that can run all […]
BOOM.
12 November 2002I was in the bathroom this evening, and I heard some explosions. They were continuing for a while alternating between loud and less loud, and occasionally shaking my building. I got kind of nervous, pulled up my pants, and went toward the window. I could see smoke, and everything was glowing in flickering green and […]
BOOK REVIEW: THE MIND’S SKY: HUMAN INTELLIGENCE IN A COSMIC CONTEXT (1992) * * (2 stars out of 4).
11 November 2002This book by Timothy Ferris is exactly the book I would write if I wrote a book. So why should I read it? It meanders from one scientific or philosophical topic to another, without breaking any new ground or drawing any real conclusions. While I’m sure it was at the cutting-edge at the time it […]
MOVIE REVIEW: BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE (2002) * * * 1/2 (3 1/2 stars out of 4).
11 November 2002This new Michael Moore movie was as devastatingly funny as it was deeply disturbing. The central question of the movie, which is never really answered, is this: why is America so violent? Why does America have about 100 times the per capita gun deaths of other free countries? Our violent movies are seen all over […]
BACK TO SCHOOL.
11 November 2002I’m taking an improv class at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater for the first time in about six months, and the second time in about two years. I had my first class Friday. I felt a little rusty, but it was fun. My teacher is Kevin M., who I’ve had before and who I think […]
WELCOME.
11 November 2002My friend Graham M. is in town, staying with me for about a week or so. Luckily, I have plenty of room, so it’s no imposition at all, and it’s nice to have his company.
JAPAN AND BANGKOK.
9 November 2002Okay. I’m back from Japan and Bangkok, and I’m a little bit caught up with work, well enough to sit down and write some. Japan is very clean and very colorful and very customer-service oriented. There is no tipping in Japan, and yet the service everywhere is excellent and very professional. When I arrived on […]
I’M BACK!
6 November 2002I’m back in the U.S. More on my trip to come shortly.
IS BUSH’S 9/11 AURA WEARING OFF?
23 October 2002Comedy Central is running a marathon of episodes of “That’s My Bush!” on November 3, the Saturday night after next. The popular show mysteriously disappeared right after 9/11. Is it finally okay again to acknowledge that the unelected ruler of America is an idiot?
ASHITA TOKYO E IKIMASU.
23 October 2002I’m going to Tokyo Thursday morning to visit my friend Andy M.. I’ve been really busy, since I just got back from a business trip to Las Vegas last Thursday night, which has been keeping me from blogging or doing very much else besides working the last few days. I probably won’t be blogging much […]
“TOBACCO IS WHACKO … IF YOU’RE A TEEN”, IS, ITSELF, WHACKO.
23 October 2002What is up with that ad campaign, “Tobacco is whacko … if you’re a teen”? I see it a lot in comic books, and occasionally on TV. If the goal of this campaign is to encourage young people to smoke more, then I think it’s an excellent commercial. But the idea that such a slogan […]
BOOK REVIEW: E=MC²: A BIOGRAPHY OF THE WORLD’S MOST FAMOUS EQUATION (2001) * * * (3 stars out of 4).
23 October 2002This is a really fun and accessible book. It’s sort of two books in one. First, it’s a history of the various pieces of the equations and the science that led up to it as well as the people involved. Second, it’s a history of the development of the atom bomb, and the people involved […]
INDIAN POINT NUCLEAR POWER PLANT.
22 October 2002I saw this commercial on TV. It starts with an aerial view of Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant and starts panning back. A woman’s voice says, “American nuclear power plants are potential terrorist targets. Millions of us around the Indian Point Nuclear Plant live in the rings of a bulls-eye. Within ten miles, the evacuation […]
I’M BACK.
19 October 2002I was in Las Vegas from last Friday until Thursday night. I had a business meeting that went well, and I saw a hypnotism show in which my brother’s girlfriend, Rachel, got hypnotized on stage. I also gambled a bit. On Friday night, I lost $265. On Saturday, I was down another $8. On Sunday, […]
GIVE PEACE A CHANCE.
10 October 2002Yesterday was John Lennon’s birthday, so I went to Strawberry Fields in Central Park with Bryan C. There were about 30 people there, singing Beatles songs and such-like. Just as we got there, a woman was straightening a piece of paper that was on top of the “Imagine” mosaic, and this not-well-dressed hippie guy started […]
MOVIE REVIEW: THE TRIALS OF HENRY KISSINGER (2002) * 1/2 (1 and a half stars out of 4).
9 October 2002The premise of this movie is that Kissinger, the mastermind behind the war in Cambodia, and an influence in extending the war in Vietnam, the overthrow of the Chilean government, and the invasion of East Timor, should be tried for War Crimes for his role in those events. While I am no Kissinger fan, I […]
THEATER REVIEW: THE EXONERATED * * 1/2 (2 and a half stars out of 4).
9 October 2002The Exonerated features an all-star cast (most notably including Richard Dreyfuss) reading the exact words of several falsely convicted former residents of death row. It’s certainly a compelling argument against the death penalty. But it’s not very visually apealing. The actors all sit in chairs the whole time, and just read their lines off a […]
AUDIO BOOK REVIEW: THE CODE OF THE WOOSTERS * * (2 stars out of 4).
7 October 2002This is another recorded farsical play, and not to be confused with the book of the same name, upon which it is based, which is one in P.G. Wodehouse’s popular “Jeeves” series. It’s silly and sometimes amusing, but it ultimately left me unimpressed.
AUDIO BOOK REVIEW: FORTY-TWO STORIES * 1/2 (1 and a half stars out of 4).
7 October 2002This audio recording of the play, Forty-Two Stories is available for online download at audbile.com. Set in Chicago, this farcical tale of love and loneliness is extremely trite.
BOOK REVIEW: THE BONFIRE OF THE VANITIES (1987) * * * (3 stars out of 4).
7 October 2002This Tom Wolfe book suffers from being a little longer than it needs to be. Written just before the rise of the P.C. movement, it raises some very interesting and difficult questions about race which today seem in some ways very sophisticated, but in other ways very very naive. I guess my main problem is […]
CIVILIZATION III.
7 October 2002I haven’t blogged in almost a week for one reason, and one reason only: Civilization III, the new sequel to the classic computer strategy game. I got it at the new Yahoo Games on Demand. It’s actually a pretty great deal. For $14.95, you get up to 10 games for up to 30 days each, […]
WORKING OUT MONTH-A-VERSARY.
2 October 2002I think Tuesday was my four month anniversary of going to the gym. I say that I think it was, because I started May 31, and there is no 31st of September, so I’m not really sure when it falls. I wasn’t really counting, but I think that in the past month, I went to […]