Steve McQueen. Jumping Fences at the Grand

I know a lot of people who will be excited by the prospect of seeing The Great Escape on the big screen at the Grand this next week.

My dad showed me this movie when I was young. We played a game where we each got to pick a character and see if he made it through the end of the movie. My dad chose Steve McQueen. I chose some sap who accidentally used English in front of a German soldier and got gunned down.

This game taught me a lot about movies. Always bet on the hero.

Obama and "Meet the Troops"

Since his trip to Germany, one of the big questions has been about a) whether Obama should have visited a base in Germany and b) why the trip was cancelled.

An egregiously unfactual e-mail has been circulating around the Internets (I was forward it myself actually) about Obama not taking time to talk to the troops that is so wrong the person who wrote it has recanted it and the military has also called it false.

McCain has also been making a lot of hay about Obama not going because he couldn't bring cameras in with him. If you're interested in getting to the bottom of it, a highly detailed article in the Washington Post examines the evidence. They write, pretty clearly: "In fact, there's no proof that Obama ever sought to bring the media or any entourage."

There's also this: "Gibbs noted that Obama had visited with wounded soldiers several weeks earlier at Walter Reed in Washington, D.C., and at a combat support hospital while in Iraq earlier in the week -- both times without reporters."

That seems to argue persuasively that Obama wasn't looking to bring cameras or reporters in with him.

Glass: the controvery lives on

Did you know that the whole thing about glass being a slowly moving liquid is bogus? Antique glass, which is frequently thicker at the bottom than at the top, has not sagged--as you might have heard--but was just made unevenly.

Since Tacoma's kind of a glass hub, you might enjoy this NYT article about the huge scientific controversy around glass (who knew?). Apparently glass is still very much an unknown, and maybe violates the third law of thermodynamics.

This reminds me of something else: we still don't fully understand why ice is slippery. The best theory involved stray hydrogen atoms skipping along the surface of the ice.

Let that be a lesson to you ... there's a lot of things we don't know about very common things. Science still has a lot to teach us.

This week in TV and Movies

Friday was supposed to be a night at the movies, but a last minute 24 bug slew me. We literally turned around in the parking lot, Mary drove me home, and I slept for 16 hours.

I was on the mend by Sunday afternoon, when we went to Ethnic Fest at Wright Park, but in between there, I got a lot of movies and TV watching in.

First, the TV. We finished Season 3 of The Wire and have been loving it. It's killer to know we just have two more season to go. The characters are so good we just don't want to leave them. We also watched the first hour of Planet Earth. Really really interesting stuff. The filming is top-notch and when it comes to amazing you, no one's better than Mother Nature.

We did get out to see X-Files, which felt like a pretty good episode of the TV show. But it also felt dated because of that. It was very 1990s. All in all, not too bad, but nothing really special either.

I also saw The Dark Knight again, this time with my dad at the Galaxy VIP theater. I knew it was there, but after hearing good things from some friends as well as on the local blogosphere, I thought it was worth a try. I saw it on IMAX last week but it was still good on a smaller screen, beer in hand. The theater is for the 21-and-older crowd who wants a glass of wine or a beer with their film. A very cool thing.

Movie I'm most looking forward to right now: Burn After Reading. Go Coen Brothers.

The Last Lecture: Randy Pausch

Somehow I managed to miss this, but a little while ago a professor at Carnegie Mellon named Randy Pausch gave his "Last Lecture." Dying of cancer he gave a lecture about achieving childhood dreams but really about how he lived his life.

It's an hour long talk, which is usually far too long for an Internet video. But on a sleepy Saturday, it was a very nice video to watch all the way through.

Pausch died yesterday ... very sad.



Randy Pausch on Wikipedia

Carnegie Mellon's press release

Mamma Mia! redux

So it's been three days since Mamma Mia! and the music's still stuck in my head. And I still think about the visuals of the movie when I hear the songs ...

Maybe I liked Mamma Mia! better than I thought. Maybe I just like ABBA better than I thought. But it's still stuck there. So I'm going to amend my previous review: the music is better in Mamma Mia! than Hairspray. But Hairspray is still a better movie.

Food in this week's Volcano

For your food reading entertainment ...

Before the Traveller piece last week, it had been awhile since I'd ventured past Spew to check out the Volcano. This week the thing that caught my eye were the two food stories.


Maxwell's is reviewed. I'm a big fan, like the writers, especially since I'm just a couple doors down. The other thing worth adding to the article--Maxwell's is starting a bar menu, plus outdoor dining. Sweetness!

And then there's the profile on Chef Gordon Naccarato. If you're a fan of Pacific Grill's incredible happy hour as well as the full meal deal there, you'll enjoy the article. He cooks up some mean meals out of that kitchen and he blogs fairly regularly too. Writer and chef ... is he Tacoma's Anthony Bourdain?

Makes me hungry just thinking about these two fine places ...

Mamma Mia!

Last night we headed over to Galaxy for Mamma Mia!, the movie version of the ABBA musical. I had never seen Mamma Mia! on stage, though I knew--of course--many of the songs.

The movie was surprisingly fun and I had a silly grin on my face for a lot of it. But if I had to recommend a movie musical to you that was surprisingly fun and silly-grin inducing, I would recommend Hairspray over Mamma Mia!.

Mamma Mia has light, fluffy, and without substance (Hairspray had at least a little substance). But what Mamma Mia! has is Meryl Streep. That woman can act. She was a perfect midwestern mom in A Prairie Home Companion; she was Ms. Torture in Rendition (similar to her role in The Devil Wears Prada, actually); and now she plays an overworked singing, dancing hotel-keeper on a beautiful Greek island. She is just plain good, and whenever she was on the movie was much better.

The men were good--Pierce Brosnan especially, although he's not exactly the best singer--and Colin Firth is good too, although his ending was not handled well, I thought.

Fun stuff for a Tuesday night, when it comes down to it. And now X-Files this weekend!

Your Happy Video of the Day

This is Matt Harding's third movie. It took 14 months and was filmed in 42 countries. One of the YouTube founders has said that Hardings videos were his favorite on YouTube (that seems like a good recommendation).

Truly, this is the kind of happy thing the Internet is great for.


Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

Here's a NYT article about the most recent video if you want to read more.

The Dark Knight

The new Batman movie "The Dark Knight" is an astoundingly good film. I was engrossed in the first film, Batman Begins, as it expertly created a world where the villain's decision to wear a mask made sense, Bruce Wayne's decision to wear a bat mask made sense, and the evil plot of the villains perfectly set up this film. But this film was--surprisingly better. It beat its own hype, a rare occurrence.

Heath Ledger shines as the Joker. Creepy and funny, but mostly creepy, he fully inhabits the character. If he hadn't died in January, we might hear more about the other good performances--Christian Bale and Aaron Eckhart notably. The movie is filled with good performances though.

I saw the movie on the really really big screen at the IMAX theater in Seattle. The director, Christopher Nolan, shot a few big scenes using IMAX cameras and the effect was immense. The quality of an IMAX film negative is still well ahead of the best digital projection out there.

I was really hooked. To close, I'll cite Roger Ebert, who starts his review with this:

“Batman” isn’t a comic book anymore. Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight” is a haunted film that leaps beyond its origins and becomes an engrossing tragedy.

Indeed it does. It's incredibly well done. Go see it.

Read of the Week

My hat is off to the Volcano's Matt Driscoll for the cover story this week on Robert "The Traveller" Hill. It's a well-written summation of a 2-hour interview with Hill (that, incidentally, took place at a strip club).

Matt pretty well balances between the question of asking, is Hill Tacoma's version of eccentric San Francisco icon Emperor Norton or is he a bigger problem? If you're not really sure who Robert Hill is, this article is as good of an introduction to the Traveller as you'll find.

Big kudos to the Volcano for the piece and the arresting cover design.

More books: Kunstler and the Long Emergency

On the subject of books, reader CA asked yesterday if I'd finished the Long Emergency by Howard Kunstler. I'd promised to read it and report back to everyone, but--alas--I couldn't take it.

My problem with Kunstler is that he is methodological in his reasoning, but apocalyptic in his arguments, if that makes any sense. In so many ways I think his assessment of the world and its oil consumption was right on.

But then he goes realllllly overboard. By his assessment, we're going to be living in 17th century England, because we won't be able to power our computers, planes won't be able to fly, and no one will ever go more than 3 miles from home.

I think the last few months have shown he's wrong. High energy prices change habit. Americans are driving less. Currently data only is good for April, but when we see the summer numbers I think we'll see an incredible drop in miles driven. Ben Bernake warned (correctly I think, that demand for oil will drop because of prices) as people make other choices. The cost of container shipping has risen 150% and--because of the global marketplace, some manufacturing jobs that were outsourced might come closer again.

And let's not forget that not everything comes from oil. Here's a site that estimates 24% of the world's electricity comes from hydroelectric power--one of those renewable energy sources that seems to get forgotten.

Bottom line: oil prices are going to be high and that's going to make oil alternatives more cost-efficient, thus giving them economies of scale and driving the cost down further.

Many people will be forced to change their habits, no doubt, but it's not a long emergency. So I gave up on the book. If someone else has read it and would like to suggest that my take on Kunstler is wrong, let me know what I missing.

Is this the Google Streetview van?

I think it is. But the website says Facet-tech.com. Theories?

Midnight's Children

Awhile ago I bought Midnight's Children by Salman Rushie.

I'd read The Satanic Verses but kept hearing that Midnight's Children was his great book. (Even though it was Satanic Verses that got him the death threats, it was apparently not his great book.) But after buying the book, it sat on the shelf for a little while.


Then last week, it won it's third--count it, third--Booker Prize. First, it won the Booker Prize in 1981. Then it won the "Booker of the Booker" Prize in 1993, as the best of the winners for the first 25 years. Then it won that again last week, as the best Booker Prize book of the first 40 years.

The only book to win more than one Booker Prize ... well, I had to dust it off and start reading. I'm just a few chapters in, but already enjoying it. It's a big dense book, but somehow Rushie has a very light touch. The mileage he gets from small touches, like the sheet with a 7-inch hole in it, is funny, intriguing, and endearing all at the same time. He has the same touch in Satanic Verses, actually, which started with two people falling from an exploding plane and transforming into a devil and an angel.



I'll report more on the book when I finish.

A new citizen?

Andrew Sullivan on last night's Senate repeal of the HIV travel ban:

I'm not exaggerating when I say that it's one of the happiest days of my whole life. For two and a half decades, I have longed to be a citizen of the country I love and have made my home. I now can. There is no greater feeling.

I am glad that after 25 years he is finally eligible to become a US citizen.

My list says I'm supposed to post today ...

Not that I usually need the help in posting; I've been getting up posts almost once a day for a few years now.

But I thought I would take the opportunity to mention that I've been reading "Getting Things Done," by David Allen. The book is supposed to help you be more productive, but it has a broader theme than just that. Allen believes that it's feeling stressed or overwhelmed is a result of the tiny little things that we're supposed to be doing bugging us from the corners of our mind. ie--it's not the big project at work necessarily, but the things that you keep forgetting.

I know the feeling. I can't tell you how often I would remember I was supposed to run an errand to X store, except I would always find when I was near X store, I didn't have what I needed. Allen believes we have a million of those things in our mind and "Getting Things Done" is about getting rid of them.

So am I more productive? Yes, undoubtedly. But it's not about more productive with work, it's about all those other things that I'm getting done that I never had much luck with before. Emotionally, it feels better, I have to say. Promises I'd made to others or myself are actually being met now. Tiny promises, sure, but they're getting done.

If you're even vaguely interested I would recommend reading an interview with David Allen in The Atlantic by James Fallows. If you're interested after that, buy the book, it's only $10. I don't want to be one of those guys thrusting the latest fad self-help books on you, dear reader) but I would say the article is definitely worth a read.

Local Memories of Griffey on CNN.com

My good friend Phil is mentioned in a story on the CNN homepage about recalling experiences with major league stars.

He has a fond memory of talking to Griffey in the Rainiers locker room when he was a bat boy for the Triple-A hometeam. More details of Phil's story here on the iReport site.

Very cool, Phil. Great story!

Big Movie Post

With my friend Joe in town last week, we saw a bunch of movies. Here's Erik's quick movie review on those, plus some he saw but didn't mention before.

Indiana Jones. I was disappointed. I thought the movie lacked humor and fun, and the sci-fi "Crystal Skull" was all wrong compared to the religious objects of the first three movies (the Ark, the Sacred Stones, the Grail) and gave the movie an X-files feel.

Wall*E. I thought this movie was good, though not as great as some Pixar films. The sci-fi element of the story actually hurt the rest of the movie. The world of the Axiom could be a great sci-fi story, if you were willing to ask questions like, How do these people die? How do the reproduce? If the computers have been told not to go back to Earth, why are they still sending probes? Wall*E, and the scenes on Earth, were great. But the Axiom stuff never worked that well.

Wanted. This movie had some good action scenes but some laughable plot points. I truly burst out laughing at the introduction of the "Loom of Fate." There were a lot of problems with the movie, but some actual strengths in there too. Definitely, from front to back, a guy movie.

Hancock. Surprisingly, I liked this movie. Will Smith was good, Jason Bateman and Charlize Theron were pretty good (note to Arrested Development fans--they are married in this movie). And the plot was a fun fresh take on a different kind of superhero. I thought it was a good summer movie.

This weekend: The Dark Knight on IMAX. I can't tell you how much I am looking forward to this movie.

Go to the Ram. Get free stuff.

On the last 3 out of 3 trips to the Ram, I have gotten something for free. 1/2 cost for food the first time; free food the second time; and free clam chowder and sodas tonight. All you have to do is be willing to put up with a really long wait.

I don't know what they have going on there, but whatever it is, the kitchen is not keeping up with the orders. All good meals, just some of them very late.

Sunday Improv Blogging

If you remember the "everyone freeze in Grand Central Station video," here's another fun bit of theatrical improv, this time on the subway. Enjoy

On Commenters

Mark Briggs, the online editor at The News Tribune put up a post last week asking for ideas dealing with commenters.

Unfortunately, many of the commenters on the Tribune site are either trolls, name-callers, or so crazily off topic it destroys the point of the conversation. Moderation would always help, but moderation takes time and money and can destroy the good conversations that going on.

I'd like to propose an idea that might help: Invite the people in the story to comment.

If the reporter got everyone's e-mail address that they interviewed, she could just input the e-mail address into the system. When the article gets published online (usually in the early morning) an automated e-mail would send those people the full text of the article with a special form at the bottom allowing them to add their own comment.

Their comment would be published above all reader comments, ideally, so that the casual reader got to see what the people in the article had to say about it before the random comments below. Perhaps the people interviewed or mentioned in the story want to clarify something, add on new information not mentioned, or thank the reporter for talking about the issue/event, etc.

This doesn't get rid of the bad commenters, but it increases the number of valuable people you want commenting and hopefully improves you good-to-bad comment ratio. By making it as easy as replying to an e-mail, they are much more likely to do it, and will really add something to the story.

4th of July in the Midwest

I missed all the Tall Ships fun here in Tacoma as I was in northern Wisconsin for the 4th, hanging out on Madeline Island, a small island in (on?) Lake Superior. Good times were had by all, and it was a great 4 day trip.

I'll try to get back into some regular blogging shortly.

Safe to say, the trip was mostly Internet-free and filled with outdoor adventure and lots of food, not to mention a 4th of July parade like no other.