Friday, May 28, 2004

The world is doing that thing again.

NPR's automotive advice show, Car Talk, may be coming to PBS.

As an animated series.

I can't decide if this idea is brilliant or unspeakably stupid.

This much I do know; it's bound to be a hundred times better than Father of the Pride.

Posted @ 1:19 PM

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Two dear friends (who both live in the San Fancisco area but are completely unknown to each other) blogged about people named Fred yesterday. One wrote about a friend from childhood, the other about her brother.

An odd coincidence to be sure. It's particularly notable to me because I'm not real fond of the name Fred. I've had bad experiences with Freds in the past. The notable exception to this is my Uncle Fred; I hold him in the highest regard. But after him, it's all downhill for Freds in my life.

Posted @ 7:49 AM

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Thursday, May 27, 2004

As he does with alarming frequency, today John Scalzi makes an excellent point about the writing life and blogging in particular:

...blogs and Journals to a very great extent are descended from the epistolary impulse. This is a consistent flaw in reporting about blogs and Journals: Reporters tend to think about them as mini-newspapers or magazines, but they are equally open letters to friends and strangers (who often then become friends).

Sad to say, I think I'd begun to lose sight of this truth. It's part of the reason posts here of late have been sporadic. My hit numbers are down slightly, which has caused me to wonder if it's worth it to blog.

I've also been second-guessing myself quite a bit recently, deleting posts before publishing them because they didn't seem important enough. That's a legitimate reason if I subscribe to the "mini-newspapers" view of blogging. But if I go with the more valid "open letter" idea, I have to ask myself what isn't worthy of blogging?

Bottom line: I'm inspired again to blog. If the inspiration sticks, this could be a very bloggy summer, folks. I hope you, my family, friends and friends-to-be, enjoy the ride.

Posted @ 7:45 AM

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Monday, May 24, 2004

Lucky, lucky me! I am now the proud holder of a coveted gmail account. And I got it just for being a good, loyal Blogger user.

Please don't let the good folks at GoogleBloggerConHugeCo know that I've been slacking off lately, huh?

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Washington continues to be firmly in the grip of Cicadamania! And even if it weren't a hot topic of conversation, the little buggers would still be top of mind. You can't walk anywhere without seeing dozens of cicadas, be they living or dead.

What's most incredible about them is the noise. I don't remember them being this loud back in '87. Maybe there's a difference between the cicadas of Southern Maryland (where I lived back then) and their Montgomery County brethren.

I heard today that we've got at least three more weeks before Brood X, as this batch is called, runs its course. I think I can hold onto my sanity for that long.

Posted @ 7:09 PM

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Saturday, May 15, 2004

Listening to Wait Wait Don't Tell Me just now, host Peter Sagal mentioned a great new word: millihelen, which is defined as "the unit of beauty required to launch one ship."

Posted @ 11:15 AM

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Thursday, May 13, 2004

Feeling a little punchy and listless tonight. I figure it's all part of the decompression process now that Anything Goes is over. I always forget that it takes me a few days to get back to normal after a production closes.

Speaking of the closing of the show, my wonderful cast and crew got me the perfect director's gift: the superhero costume for my new secret identity, Directorman! As soon as I get a copy of one of the pics of me sporting my yellow t-shirt and purple cape of theatrical justice, I'll post it here.

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A little online confirmation that I'm just evil enough:

Posted @ 10:32 PM

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There's a good article on global dimming in the New York Times today (registration required, or try BugMeNot.com if you really don't want to).

This is a phenomenon I've been waiting for someone to talk about for some time. Several years ago, I realized that the world was literally less sunny than it was when I was a child. I have distinct memories of intensely bright sunshine being the norm in the early 70s, light much more potent than it is today. For a while, I chalked this up to a trick of memory, but now I've got some scientific backing for this perception.

The article concludes with a prediction that visible light reaching Earth has increased again recently. I sure hope this is correct; I'd love to feel like a kid again.

Posted @ 7:48 AM

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Wednesday, May 12, 2004

Saw my first cicada of 2004 while I was out for a little walk yesterday. Man, those things are ugly. It's hard to believe that people can look at one and think, "Hmmm... I bet that bug is tasty!"

Yet cicada recipes abound. One thing's for sure - I won't be snacking on any of these nasty critters. I refrained from doing so in 1987, and I'll continue to pass on them in 2021, 2038, 2055...

Posted @ 7:28 AM

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Thursday, May 06, 2004

If there were any doubts about how much of a West Wingnut I am, they were dispelled today. I was looking for a quote from the first year of the show, and Googled the fragment I remembered to see if I could find the exact wording.

One of the sites near the top of the search results was a LiveJournal community called West Wing Quotes. All these folks do with this journal is post their favorite quotes from the show. No rhyme or reason to their posting; they simply throw up whatever lines hit their fancies.

My reaction: awesome!

Am I crazy fanboy for this show? I'll let Toby Ziegler answer that for me (from the episode "Game On"):

"No. No. No. A little bit. No. Look, he's... brilliant, he's respected... If he's crazy, then I don't want to be sane."

Posted @ 1:27 PM

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Monday, May 03, 2004

The fanboy in me is very excited today. The first photos of Christian Bale as Batman have finally surfaced, and all I can say is "Wow!" This is what the Dark Knight should look like.

Do I really have to wait another whole year for this movie? Well, at least I'll have Spider-Man 2 to help tide me over.

Posted @ 1:21 PM

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