It was Phil's Big Weekend At The Movies.

Since Liz was out of town, my entertainment options were limited. I won't go to restaurants or bars by myself, and I don't relish the idea of spending all my evenings at home with the cats, so that left me with the movies as a relatively cheap way to pass the time. Unintentionally, I went to the same multiplex three days in a row, and while it wasn't all bad, I don't want to be a regular at the AMC Empire in Times Square. So I won't be going back there for a few weeks. Anyway, here are my reviews of the two new movies I saw, and a few comments on the movie that I saw for the third time.

Friday night: Frida, starring Oscar nominee Salma Hayek --

Frida was better than I expected from the reviews. Hayek and Alfred Molina are excellent as the leads, and the director does a great job integrating Kahlo's artwork into the movie. I don't feel like I have the complete picture of Kahlo's life after seeing this movie, but I've got a decent idea. Hayek's Oscar nod for this role is well deserved, but even though the Academy tends to like roles where the actor has an affliction or handicap, she's not going to beat Nicole Kidman.

Saturday night: The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers --

I'm a geek, so I had to see this film one more time in the theater. The orcs still lose the battle of Helm's Deep if you see it more than once, and I didn't see anything new this time around. But I did notice more of the film's emotion than on the previous two viewings. The theater got a little dusty when Theoden visited his son's grave. I think that Arwen's departure from Rivendell can be seen ambiguously; we're led to believe that she's leaving Middle-earth, but I think we'll find out in Return of the King that she's defied her father and gone to Gondor instead. Since that book ends with their marriage, unless there's a radical departure from Tolkien's story, she's got to end up there anyway. Besides, she has to bring Aragorn his sword (I'm still upset that they didn't give him a re-forged Narsil before the Fellowship left Rivendell). Also, at one point in TTT, Aragorn embraces Arwen and caresses her ears with his fingers. I mentioned this to Jess, and she suggested that he has a fetish. Finally, at one point in TTT when Gollum is screaming and howling, I wanted to turn to someone else and say, in my best Graham Chapman voice, "What an eccentric performance!" But no one I knew was there to hear my witty remarks.

Sunday afternoon: The Pianist, starring Oscar nominee Adrien Brody --

I've seen several movies about the Holocaust, and I knew I wasn't ever going to be in the mood to see another one. And for the first half of this movie, I questioned my need to see any of the events depicted. We know that the Germans are going to humiliate the Jews in the streets. Then they're going to start shooting them randomly. And now they're loading them onto trains for Treblinka. Having seen all of these things in Schindler's List and other movies I saw back in Sunday school (yes, Jews have Sunday school, at least in my community growing up), I knew exactly what was going to happen before it showed up on the screen. But then the movie takes a different turn, as the lead character avoids Treblinka and ends up hiding out in a series of apartments in Warsaw, watching through window cracks events like the ghetto uprising and the eventual defeat of the Germans. Adrien Brody is fantastic as the pianist who goes from playing on the radio to combing through bombed-out buildings for scraps of food. His performance is every bit as good as Daniel Day-Lewis' in Gangs of New York or Jack Nicholson in About Schmidt. But I think an Oscar for him would be an upset; Day-Lewis is the clear favorite here.

I'll write an Oscar picks entry in a few weeks. Clearly that's something much on my mind at this time of the year, and unusually enough I've had the chance to see most of the nominated films and roles of 2002. Liz and I aren't doing our usual Oscar picks bet this year, so I need some way to express my views on the nominees. Damn, I'm excited about writing that one.

The passing of Mr. Rogers is a sad occasion in my household. Like millions of people, I grew up watching Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. I hadn't thought about the show for many years, in the same way that I'd forgotten about Sesame Street or The Electric Company. But last night we watched a 1990 documentary on the show and it brought back all sorts of good memories. Characters like King Friday, Daniel, and Mr. McFeely who came into my house every afternoon and made my day a little better. Even as a child, I thought the shoes-and-cardigan routine was goofy, since I didn't have to change shoes when I came home, but it was just part of the show's charm. I always wanted to know how that trolley got from the house to the Neighborhood of Make Believe, and I wanted one in my house (the trolley, not the Neighborhood). I clearly remember watching the episode with Yo Yo Ma, though I think it aired when I was past the age of watching the show regularly. And I'll have to check with my mother, but I think I met Mr. McFeely when I was a child, but I don't remember that as well. Finally, I hated the ending of the show, because that meant that I had to wait until the next day for another visit from Mr. Rogers and his friends. I love reading all the tributes to Fred Rogers in newspapers and on websites. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has some especially moving coverage. I can't write anything more eloquent about the man, so I will just say that Fred Rogers will certainly be missed.

I've uploaded a few pictures from the blizzard to my photos page. Check them out here.

Slashdot posted this article yesterday, titled "Why Nerds are Unpopular." As a one-time nerd and full-time geek, stories like this strike close to home. The author makes a number of valid points about the plight of the smart kid in today's American school system. He says that the years between 11 and 17 are the worst for the smart students, with 11-14 being the worst of the worst. I can relate to that: Seventh grade was the worst year for me in school. Other kids picked on me for years, starting well before 11, but in seventh grade, the torment reached its peak. I was chubby, unathletic, played a weird musical instrument (the viola), had geeky glasses with large plastic frames, my clothes were out of fashion, and I was among the smartest kids in the school. So I was teased mercilessly all year. I don't have any fond memories of that year, except maybe for my bar mitzvah. He argues that smart kids, given the option of being popular but losing intellect in the bargain, would choose to remain smart but unpopular. That's true too. I realized early on in school that I was smarter than most of those around me, and I wouldn't have dumbed myself down for any reason, not even to alleviate the teasing. He argues for a long stretch that American schools are micro-societies along the lines of Lord of the Flies or adult prisons, where the teachers are wardens and the students are inmates. Many schools are suburban and sterile, so the students have to create their own society and order so that they can have a frame of reference. When you get out of high school and into the real world, you have a society to belong to, and you finally recognize that the social order of your school years was an illusion, an artificial construct created for the survival of the group. That sounds about right to me: how else can anyone explain the cliques of students that cannot be transcended under any circumstances?

But I disagree with some of the details. The author argues that the nerds want to be popular, but instead of devoting time to figuring out how to be popular (as if it's a game or a school assignment), they're too busy doing their schoolwork or working on hobbies to try to be popular. I don't think that's true. First of all, I don't think I ever wanted to be popular. I would have settled for any outcome of events whereby I wasn't tormented as badly as I was at the time. For me, it wasn't about working too hard on other things to worry about becoming more popular. No matter what I would have done at that age, I would have been teased and ostracized. The other students had prejudged me a nerd, and there was nothing I could do about it. Eventually, I outgrew my awkwardness, as did many of the students around me. By the time I was a junior in high school, I had learned how to deal with the teasing (don't take it personally, something my parents had told me for years, but I hadn't believed until then) and I found some activities that broadened my circle of friends. The point is that it was a stage in my life that I don't think could have been avoided by my working harder at being popular.

He also brings up suicide, and suggests that it's the result of keeping students in prison-like schools and treating teenagers as if they don't belong in the adult world any more than they belong in a child's world. I think he's got this one wrong too. I considered suicide a few times growing up, at my most depressed moments. But I knew that it wasn't the solution to any of my problems. It would have been a cry for attention, but it wasn't attention I was lacking. It just wasn't the way out of the hole I was in, and somehow I knew that I just had to give things time and they would eventually improve. And they did, since I'm still here. The sad thing is that in my high school, we had a few suicides and several more failed attempts. But the kids who were trying to kill themselves were the popular ones! How much sense did that make to anyone? How could an attractive cheerleader with lots of friends decide to hang herself in her closet? What drove other students to overdose on pills? Even the popular kids had problems, just like the nerds. There wasn't any real difference among any of us; we were all tormented in one way or another. Some people chose the wrong solution to their problems.

The more I read the article, the more garbage I find. I think the author is trying to make a good point, and for the most part he succeeds, but he rambles too much and brings up too many points that aren't further developed. And he doesn't have any solutions to offer. Kind of like me sometimes. It's an interesting read, but I think that there are child psychologists out there who would be able to offer much better insight into the issues of today's teens.

Yesterday was quite a holiday in New York. Liz and I both had the day off, so we spent it relaxing at home and playing in the snow a bit. Around 3:30 PM we went out to see what stores were open in our neighborhood. Starbucks was closed, but Xando was open, so we enjoyed mint mochas and watched what little traffic there was go by. Liz pointed out that trudging through the snow was a good aerobic workout on a day when the most work we had to do was get out of bed. Even though I'm no stranger to large snowfalls, as you probably read below, I hadn't previously been in New York for a blizzard. So I took some pictures of buried cars and kids romping through Washington Square Park. I'll post a link to those later tonight, when I have a chance to upload them.

We watched with great interest as Evan chose Zora on Joe Millionaire. As Lisa De Moraes pointed out in her Washington Post TV column today, it was almost like FOX wanted us to root for her from the beginning. Gee, FOX wouldn't do that. I'm glad the show didn't end with a wedding, or the revelation that Evan was really a millionaire after all, or that Zora was. But the "mind-blowing" twist that the producers gave the happy couple a million dollars to split was anything but. The reason that most people were suggesting outlandish scenarios (like the women getting to choose Paul over Evan, or that Evan would choose one of the women he dumped earlier) was that giving them any amount of money was an obvious ploy and thus not the way the producers would go. But we are talking about the FOX network, after all, so the obvious choice was the only thing they could come up with. I would have preferred something like this:
Before Evan reveals his choice to anyone, Paul tells Evan that the show's producers have just given one of the women a large sum of money, like $1 or 2 million. Or after he picks one, they tell him that the other one suddenly has lots of money. Now Evan has to choose between love and money. That would have been more interesting than the lame stunt they pulled last night.

Still, it was a fun two hours. The first hour wasn't the stale clip show review I expected; I guess they got that out of the way last week. Instead, we got a closer look at some of the women, including Heidi. Wasn't it amazing that the man she's currently dating is even dumber and shallower than Evan? I wasn't sure that was possible. And Evan's friends that turned up as character witnesses were just as meat-headed as he is. In the second half of the show, Evan did a good job of keeping the audience guessing, even as he gave Zora what seemed to be the brush-off speech. When he gave Sarah the real farewell address, I would have enjoyed hearing him say, among his other platitudes, "...and I really enjoyed banging your rocket body." But that wouldn't have been too prime-time friendly, even for FOX. I'll have to put off recovering my dignity for another week, since I won't miss the "reunion" show next Monday night. I forget who said it, but someone on TV either last night or this morning (it might have been Mark Consuelos subbing for Regis on "Live") suggested that FOX is looking high and low for people dumb enough to fall for this stunt again, since it was such a ratings bonanza. I'd love to see the kind of people, male and female, that would appear on that show.

At the moment, somewhere between six and twelve inches of snow are falling on New York City. I always love the tranquility of falling snow. It silences even the most bustling of cities, and if anything can quiet New York, snow is it. Granted, I stepped outside at 11:40 PM on a holiday Sunday night, during a terror alert, but there are few people on the street and even fewer cars. There's not a police siren to be heard anywhere. I think it's fantastic. I'm growing tired of winter and temperatures below 20 degrees (and I can't believe I'd ever have that thought), but a quiet snowfall is always welcome. We're well-stocked on food and water, just in case we can't get out to the store tomorrow, but I'm not at all worried that this latest blizzard will be a problem for the city. If anything, I'm upset that the only day this week that the snow would be severe enough to close schools and cancel work is the day that I have off for the holiday anyway. I've missed the last few big snowstorms in New York, so I'm glad to be here for one. Maybe we'll go out tomorrow and have a snowball fight in Washington Square Park. This assumes that I can get Liz to leave our cozy apartment. I like to think that since she grew up in Mississippi, she probably doesn't have much experience with snow. Then I remember that she also spent a semester in Russia during college, where she lived a lifetime's worth of winter in six months. I guess I can't blame her if she wants to give this storm a miss and stay inside.

On Monday night, we finally learn which woman Evan chooses on Joe Millionaire. FOX promises a twist that will "blow your mind!" If it's anything like last week's twist where he didn't choose anyone, they can keep it to themselves. I've read the news reports about people who will boycott the final show because of FOX's bait-and-switch las week, and I think those people are full of it. If you've stayed with the show this far, how can you pass up finding out how it ends? I'm as upset as anyone else about last week's lame clip job, but I'll still give my conscience the night off and tune in tomorrow. Then on Tuesday, I can go about regaining my self-respect.

I would have written earlier this week, but it was another busy week at work, and this level orange terror alert had me spooked for a few days. On Thursday morning, I got up to go to the gym as usual, and put on the "Today" show. The first three news stories were the tensions with Iraq, North Korea has a missile that can reach the western US, and al Qaeda is ready to attack. My first thought was "can I just go back to bed?" To ward off the fear, I reminded myself that my chances of being a casualty in a terror attack are far smaller than my chances of being hit by a car on any given day. And I stocked up on food and water, just to be safe. We've got enough tuna, soup, and peanut butter to last a few days if there's any unpleasantness.

Liz and I continued our run up to the Oscars by seeing The Hours on Saturday. It was good, but I didn't get into it like other movies I've seen this year. The acting was spectacular all around, which was good, since that's all there is to the movie. It's not like an action picture that distracts you from subpar performances with special effects and explosions. But Chicago is still the best movie I've seen in the past few years, and that includes the Lord of the Rings trilogy. I saw it again last weekend, and tapped my feet and sang along (quietly, of course) throughout the film. It just makes me happy in a way that few movies ever have. I can't wait to see it one more time.

There's lots of good stuff over on Slashdot today. There's a story about the future of space exploration, another about Dell's proposed elimination of the floppy disk drive from new computers, and one about discovering how many real devices are behind a NAT router/firewall. If it weren't so late and I weren't so tired, I'd read more of the comments. There was a comment in the NASA story linking to this article by Gregg Easterbrook (aka ESPN.com's TMQ) on the funding and construction of the Columbia 23 years ago. It's amazing to me the way the government conducts its business and the way contracts are fulfilled. Based on this story, it's a real wonder the shuttle flew at all. I can't believe NASA once predicted there would be 50 shuttle flights a year. As far as I can remember, the best NASA managed was about 8-10 a year. And I hate to imagine the costs of launching a satellite with the shuttle today, if they predicted it would be well over $65 million in the 1980s.

On to other things. I bought some new CDs on Tuesday. Two were a two-volume set of the complete Beethoven concerto repertoire. I can't believe I lasted this long without owning at least a few of the piano concerti and the violin concerto, but I didn't have any of them until this week. I debated over several different recordings, and I even spent most of Sunday evening reading reviews of various sets on different store web sites. Finally, I decided on the Philips two-volume set, both of which were bargain-priced at $16 each. Since I had a $50 gift certificate from my wife's parents, that left me with another $14 and change to spend.

On Monday morning at work, I was listening to WQXR as usual, when they started talking about their CD pick of the week. It's a new three-CD set of Bach's Goldberg Variations, played by the late Glenn Gould. Those who know about Gould will recall that he recorded the Goldberg Variations twice in his career: in 1955 and again in 1981. Both recordings have been reissued many times, but this one combines the two (1955 on one CD, 1981 on another) and adds a third disc of 1955 recording session outtakes and an interview Gould gave to music critic Tim Page in 1982. WQXR has been playing the Variations all week, alternating between the two recordings: first, several variations from the 1955 CD, then the same variations from 1981 for comparison. And on Monday and Friday, they have another expert on the air discussing the differences between the two recordings. As soon as I heard the first few variations on Monday, I had to have the set. So that's where the rest of my gift card went. The Goldberg Variations has been one of my favorite pieces of music since I was in ninth grade, still learning about musical forms, and devouring anything I could get my hands on by Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Handel, Haydn, and anything else my parents or the library had. I borrowed an Anthony Newman recording of the Variations on harpsichord many years ago and copied it to tape, and I've been carrying that around for a long time. I'd always thought that Bach's keyboard music made the most sense on harpsichord. After all, it's what Bach played and wrote the music for, and he predated the piano by at least fifty years. But after hearing Glenn Gould's recordings of the Variations, I'm not sure I ever need to go back to a harpsichord version. His performance gives me everything I've ever wanted to hear in this work.

I found out about the Columbia tragedy at the gym on Saturday afternoon. Liz and I usually don't watch much TV on Saturday mornings, so we hadn't tuned in when we got up. And I only checked my e-mail; I didn't make my usual rounds of the big Internet news sites, so my first exposure to the news was when we walked into the gym and saw the upstairs cardio machine/tv area crowded with people working out and watching. I listened to Queen II while working out, but I don't remember hearing a note of the music. I was too busy following the news.

I clearly remember watching the Challenger explosion 17 years ago. I was in sixth grade, home from school that day because of snow. I didn't watch the launch live, but whatever I was watching at 11:38 AM on NBC was interrupted by the news of the disaster. It was just unbelievable, that something like that could happen. And now it's happened again. I've always been a fan of astronomy and science fiction, so the losses of two shuttle orbiters and their crews hit me in a tender spot. They are reminders that space exploration is a dangerous endeavour that will claim more lives in the future. But it's an effort that must continue. There are no frontiers left on this planet, and as humanity expands, we will need to look for new frontiers in space. NASA should take the necessary time and effort to fix the problem that destroyed Columbia, and then we need to resume shuttle flights as soon as possible. And then we need to give NASA the money it needs to develop a replacement vehicle for the shuttle fleet. Then let's go to Mars already.

It's extremely late (or extremely early, depending on your perspective), but I had to write about this now.

I'm reading Thomas Mann's Doctor Faustus, based on Liz's recommendation, which was "you'll like it; it's all about music." I'm not that far into the book, but tonight I read a passage where the narrator describes a lecture by the town organist and piano teacher. The lecture is on Beethoven's Op. 111 piano sonata, which has only two movements, and the pianist plays the work and talks about why Beethoven only needed to write two movements. The description of the music, and the pianist's performance, steered me right onto the Internet, where I had to download an MP3 or some form of this sonata, so I would have a musical frame of reference. As good a job as Mann does describing the music, I had to hear it. After some time on Google, I found the sheet music in PDF format, but my skills at hearing printed music in my head are not what they once were. And this is late Beethoven, so it's especially difficult. After some more searching, I came across a "scriptorium," which had MIDI-like downloadable files of Beethoven's works. One quick plug-in for Winamp 2.x later, and I'm listening to Op. 111 and following along with the sheet music. But I had other things to do earlier tonight, so I didn't get around to listening to the piece until a few minutes ago.

While listening to the magnificent second movement (a theme and variations), about halfway through, the music sounded familiar. I'd heard it before. It's weird enough that I can't imagine once hearing it on the radio, so I struggled to remember the situation when I'd first heard it. All of a sudden, the music turned jazzy, like Beethoven in the 1820s had channeled Scott Joplin in the 1920s. And it came back to me, mostly. I think Anthony, a pianist friend of mine at Georgetown, had played a CD of it one night when we were studying. Either that, or Professor Philip Tacka, the music guru at Georgetown in the mid-1990s, had played it in a music history class I took. I'm fairly certain Anthony played it for me first, though, and he was as amazed by it as I was. It really took me back.

Hearing it again tonight blew me away for a second time, and reminded me of my youth, when I would discover new music like this all the time. I spent hours listening to my father's record collection and following the music with his orchestral scores, most of which my brother and I appropriated for our own. Then I'd stand in front of my stereo and conduct my own imaginary orchestra. Damn, I was a geek. But I had such a good time doing it. I miss those days: not a care in the world, all the possibilities of life open to me. Ehh, it's not that bad now, but I don't have those moments of discovery anymore. I think that's what I miss more: the sense that I'm learning something new, that another view of something I already knew has appeared. Occasionally, I get bursts of this kind of learning at work, when I'm playing with a new product, but it's just not the same. This would seem to be another indication that I need to revive my dormant musical skills. And that I need to get some sleep.

According to this editorial by Howard Fineman, we're invading Iraq on March 3. Set your countdown clocks accordingly. I also liked this column on ESPN.com last week, where Dan Shanoff argued that the US wouldn't invade Iraq prior to the Super Bowl, in case said invasion led to a cancellation of the game. I like the idea that Super Bowl Sunday has become an unofficial national holiday, and that it's just as important to the economy and national well-being as Thanksgiving or Christmas. All that's left is for the greeting card industry to sell Super Bowl cards, and the circle would be complete. The only problem with that idea is that most guys don't want to send "Happy Super Bowl Sunday!" cards to their buddies. Guys don't send cards to other guys, except for their fathers.

Jimmy Kimmel Live has turned out to be rather funny in its first few outings. Kimmel seems to be a different guy on ABC than he was on FOX or on the Man Show: he seems more confident and in control, while maintaining the same self-deprecating sense of humor that works for most late-night talk show hosts. Maybe it's his wardrobe; I'm used to seeing him in football jerseys or untucked shirts, looking more like a schlub than a star, and on JKL he's wearing a jacket. That makes me feel stupid. He's not really a different guy, but he just looks like it because he's cleaned up for the network. I like the fact that the show is live. The idea that anything can happen, that the whole production could come unhinged at any moment, gives it a freshness that the other talk shows lack. I'm getting tired of Jay Leno, I haven't watched Letterman much since he went to CBS, and I've never gotten into Craig Kilborn. I love Conan O'Brien, and overall I think he's funnier than Kimmel, but it's refreshing to have something else to channel-surf through late at night.

I left yesterday around 2 PM, for those who are interested in that sort of minutiae about my life.

Super Bowl XXXVII was entertaining for most of the game. I got bored when the Buccaneers took a 34-3 lead but got back into the game as the Raiders did. 5 INTs for Rich Gannon is a record I'm sure he doesn't want. I'm happy for Tampa Bay: they've finally shed the loser tag they had for so many years. Unfortunately this means we'll get to hear more from Keyshawn Johnson about how great he is. Why do the jackass players tend to win championships, while the nice guys like Tim Brown of the Raiders can't get a ring?

The commercials weren't as memorable as the ones in past years, but I did like the zebra referee, the guy wearing his dog as a rasta wig, and Terry Tate, Office Linebacker. The last one was by far the best ad during the game, and those who enjoyed it as I did can go to the web site to see more of the same. The four minute film expands on the ad, with much hilarity. I want Terry Tate working in my office.

Now I'm watching Alias and waiting for Jimmy Kimmel Live to premiere later. I have no idea what's going on with Alias, since I've never watched the show before. What is the Alliance? SD-6? And why did I let my wife program the VCR during the opening two minutes, when Jennifer Garner was in her underwear? Previously I hadn't thought of her as being attractive (her face is too angular) but she seems more rounded lately. The airplane sequence strongly reminded me of a similar bit in the video game No One Lives Forever. At least this particular show has Rutger Hauer, who's never gotten the best Hollywood roles but always gives a good performance. I might have to break out my DVD of Blade Runner after this, for some more Rutger Hauer action.

At the moment I'm sitting in my firm's midtown office, waiting for a phone call from my boss telling me it's OK to go home. Earlier this morning, my office, like the rest of the world, was hit with the latest Internet worm, disrupting most of our systems. At least it's not that early, I got a good night's sleep, I have Internet access here, and no one's dead because of this. (Maybe I should have put that bit first.) And in an amazing bit of luck, I had absolutely nothing planned for today. My Saturday was a tabula rasa, if you will. Liz is volunteering at the cat shelter this afternoon, so I have the rest of my day open, assuming I'm not here much longer. The weather's even warming up a little, to the point where it's not unbelievably uncomfortable to be outside.

More movie reviews:

This week, we watched Mulholland Drive on DVD. For most of the movie, we talked only about how neither of us had any clue what the hell was going on. The more we watched, the more confused we became. I spoiled the movie, but enhanced my comprehension, by looking at the cast list on imdb.com while the DVD spun. So when the story switched approximately two hours in, at least I was able to follow who the characters were supposed to be at that point. After the movie ended, we read more reviews online which helped to explain just what David Lynch was going for. The more we thought about it, the more we both loved the movie. I wish I'd hung onto it for a few more days, because I'd love to watch it again and see if I could catch more of the clues to the mysteries in the story. And for those with more prurient interests, Naomi Watts and Laura Harring are both easy on the eyes (as David Letterman used to say), and the lesbian subplot plays out in extremely steamy fashion. If you don't know it's coming, it's a little unexpected, but it fits into the story the more you think about it.

We also watched Orange County, which we rented as much for Jack Black as for anything else in the movie. It's got made-for-future-MTV-showings written all over it (it's short, it's easy to follow the plot, and it's not what I think of as "cinematic") but I think that helps more than it hinders. Surprisingly for a teen movie, there isn't much potty humor and no nudity, unless you count Jack Black in "skeevy" underpants in either category. He's easily the best thing in the movie, but Liz and I agree that he really can do no wrong. We've loved him in every movie we've seen with him in the cast, and still get laughs from the Tenacious D debut album (I can't believe I missed their HBO series -- must check iMesh when I get home). The rest of the cast is also fantastic: Colin Hanks is great, Schuyler Fisk (his girlfriend in the movie), Catherine O'Hara, John Lithgow, Lily Tomlin... it's a great cast.

Next up on my movie schedule is the extended version of Das Boot. After reading John Keegan's The Price of Admiralty, which included a lengthy description of life aboard a German U-boat, I thought it was time to watch the greatest film ever made about the subject. I just read the comment on the movie's imdb page, and I'm excited. I've enjoyed Wolfgang Petersen's other movies, and my friend Jon highly recommended the long version of Das Boot when it was in theaters a few years ago. Maybe that's how I'll spend my Saturday afternoon, if I ever get to leave.

I've been meaning to post several observations this week, but it was a busy one. I was in a training class for Sniffer Wireless LAN troubleshooting for two days, and even though I had Internet access, I had to pay attention to the class material, so posting from class wasn't really an option. And at home, I've been playing through Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast, so instead of posting in my free time, I'm playing a game.

Anyway, in no particular order, are some of the thoughts I've had this past week.

On Pete Townshend's arrest on suspicion of child pornography possession: I hope his name is cleared eventually, but I'm not too confident. After all, how much research do you need to do on child pornography online? I think the stuff is like nuclear waste: sometimes you have to work with it but you never want it near you or to handle it personally. The farther away the stuff is from you, the better off you are.

Yarrhh, matey! Avast, ye scurvy dogs! Ye'll walk the plank next Sunday! The Super Bowl will be an all-pirate affair, as the Buccaneers and Raiders advanced to the championship game. Or, if you prefer, it's Jon Gruden vs. his old team, one year later. I like the pirate angle, but I bet the networks will play up the Gruden story instead. Too bad. I'll be rooting for the Bucs, as they have the longer history of mediocrity, and I just can't root for the "hated Oakland Raidaz," as Myron Cope would put it.

Liz and I saw About Schmidt yesterday afternoon. Jack Nicholson just won the Golden Globe for Best Actor for his performance in this movie, and I can't disagree with that choice. He was outstanding, as usual, and I thought the screenplay was also exceptional (it won a Golden Globe as well). I think that the Oscar for Best Actor will be a two-man race between Nicholson and Daniel Day-Lewis, who was amazing to watch in Gangs of New York (which I saw on Friday night). Speaking of Gangs, the opening was my favorite part of the movie. It combined elements of Braveheart and Saving Private Ryan (and others I can't think of right now) into a great tense battle scene that set the tone for the rest of the film. I thought the music for the opening, just drums and tin whistles, was especially effective. I want that music playing the next time I'm going into a difficult meeting or facing a tough problem. Kick that door open and go face Daniel Day-Lewis' gang for supremacy. Damn, it was cool. I still think Chicago will win Best Picture at the Oscars, but both of the movies I saw this weekend would be worthy choices as well.

I watched the Steelers lose their playoff game against the Titans earlier this evening. Strangely, I'm not that upset about it. Maybe it's because I didn't expect the Steelers to get this far in the playoffs, or maybe it's that I'm getting used to the idea that it's just a game and not worth moping over for hours or days. Either way, it's over for Pittsburgh for this year. They need to improve their secondary for 2003 and maybe look for a rookie quarterback for Tommy Maddox to tutor. I'll say this for Maddox: he's the first Steelers quarterback since Terry Bradshaw that doesn't make me nervous every time he drops back to pass. It's been that long since I've felt this comfortable watching a Steeler throw the ball.

Before the game, Liz and I saw Chicago. We agreed that it was one of the best movie musicals we'd ever seen. It keeps the stage feeling of the musical while successfully translating the story to the big screen. The illusion that I was watching a stage musical was so effective that at the end I had to remind myself that there were no curtain calls so that I could applaud the stars' performances. Every time I hear the music from this show, I enjoy it more, so I'm definitely adding this film to my growing DVD collection when the time comes.

Over at theonering.net I found this link to an editorial by the online editor of the Weekly Standard where he argues why The Two Towers will lose Best Picture to Chicago. I don't care. TTT is a great movie, but I don't think it deserves a Best Picture Oscar and that it will be lucky to get a nomination. Chicago, on the other hand, is a great movie that should get the Golden Globe for Best Musical already (no need to wait until next Sunday), should get a Best Picture nomination, and I wouldn't be upset at all if it won. Fellowship was Peter Jackson's best chance for the BP Oscar, and I think his movie was better than A Beautiful Mind last year. The Academy will probably look at TTT and argue that it's more of the same, so if FOTR didn't get an Oscar, why should TTT? I doubt Return of the King will win the award next year either. Sequels never do as well as the original at the Oscars, unless it's The Godfather II. It's OK that the Academy doesn't recognize the LOTR films with awards. Twenty years from now, people will remember LOTR much better than they'll remember last year's Best Picture winner, the John Nash biopic A Beautiful Mind. I've already forgotten most of it.

I'm not ashamed to admit that I watched Fox's new reality show Joe Millionaire on Monday night. While some people choose to see this show as further evidence of the downfall of old-fashioned romance in the 21st century, or as the latest and sleaziest in a line of exploitative TV programs, I choose to look at it as entertainment. I don't have anything else to watch on Monday nights, and I'm usually busy getting ready for the next day anyway, so it's not as if I have something better to do. And it is an entertaining hour, at least as much fun as MTV's Real World or even The Osbournes, now that they've become more conscious of their media image. To those who argue that the women or the man are being exploited, too bad. They agreed to be exploited the minute they signed to be on the show. At least they're not on Fear Factor eating animal parts. I'm curious how the producers will sustain the tension of the show for another six episodes: since we've already seen the way people play reality show games, there's nothing new they can show us about women cat-fighting over a man that we haven't seen already. The real treat at the end is not who wins, but how the winner reacts to the news that the guy doesn't have the money, and I hope they can keep the show interesting enough to make me watch every week, not just the finale.

I don't have any plans to watch ABC's Bachelorette show. Trista Rehn is attractive enough, but, as Tony Kornheiser said on PTI, 25 guys and one girl sounds like a bad party. Maybe I'll check out the last few shows, when the numbers thin out.

I was going to write something on Saturday about watching the Miami-Ohio State game, and how fantastic the game was, but then I watched two amazing comeback games on Sunday. First I had to live and die and live again with the Steelers, then I saw the 49ers stage an even more astounding resurrection against the NY football Giants. I can't handle this kind of excitement anymore; it's taking years off my life. Next weekend, if the Steelers are going to lose, please let them lose early, so my poor heart can be spared. The same goes if they win.

There's an article over at IGN.com that combines observational and nit-picky e-mails from viewers of The Two Towers. I must see the movie at least one more time to try and pick out some of the funny things others have noticed. I agree with some of the detractions, but most of them are things that I think are purely stylistic decisions that keep the movie at a viewable three hours. I think that those who found TTT wanting in some areas will be satisfied with an extended DVD edition next fall. Certainly the FOTR extended DVD restored many things that fans thought were missing from the theatrical release. I definitely don't agree with the people who suggest that these films should be labeled "Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings" or that the movies are garbage and that "at least we still have the books." If you're that much of a purist that you can't overlook theatrical considerations in moviemaking, then you're never going to be happy with the adaptation and you should probably just stay home. PJ is doing an excellent, admirable job in bringing these books to the big screen and I would rather applaud his efforts than pick them apart for inconsistencies and errors.

I don't usually make New Year's resolutions, but I've been looking for some direction in my life lately, so a new year seemed like the time to start finding it. To that end, I've made one significant resolution for 2003: get my Novell certification. I've been working with NetWare, GroupWise, ZENWorks, and other products for almost eight years and while I've learned much over that time, I'm always conscious of how much I don't know about Novell products. Also, I've always had this geeky idea that having a CNE (Certified NetWare Engineer) certification is like being a Jedi Knight. And it should be clear to anyone who knows me well that I've always wanted to be a Jedi. For years I've felt like a Force adept who pretends to be a Jedi without knowing everything there is to know about the Force and the ways of the Jedi. This year I aim to get that certification and feel completely confident when using the Force (managing the Novell directory) or building a lightsaber (installing a server). (I told you it was a geeky idea.)

New Year's Eve at Cafe Wha? was more fun than I expected it to be. The band played rock, funk, pop, and R&B for hours, and they were excellent, even the guy with the weird Kato Kaelin hair. No man in 2003 should wear their long and teased like that. The crowd was a mix of young and old (mostly young, especially the two kids under 12 at the table next to ours) so there was a lot of illicit activity on dance floor. Nothing too family-unfriendly, since most of the people seemed to be coupled. I'd definitely go back next year, though Liz insists we're going to Beale Street in Memphis next New Year's Eve, something we've been talking for a long time. From what she describes, it's the big crowd of Times Square but with open containers allowed and sobriety discouraged. I'm all for that.

It's 3 PM on New Year's Eve. I've been enjoying the top 40 classical countdown on wqxr.com all morning, including Mahler's Fifth Symphony, among the other highlights. It's quite a hit parade over there. It continues until midnight tonight, then resumes again tomorrow at 9 AM. I'll probably skip tomorrow's performances in favor of televised gridiron contests, however.

Liz and I spent a relaxing week in Mississippi, visiting her family and friends. We found out that her parents have substitute grandchildren: they know another couple that has two young girls, whom they babysit and lavish attention on, so it looks like we're off the hook for a while, which is fine with us. I also got to meet and spend time with Liz's high school and summer theater camp friends, all of whom I'd known only via e-mail until last week. And I got to see The Two Towers and Star Trek: Nemesis again. Nemesis wasn't any better on the second viewing, but it wasn't any worse. I enjoyed TTT even more the second time. I approached it as a war movie, along the lines of the great black & white WWII epics of the 1940s and 1950s, and that made it even more impressive than before. I agree with some of the critics who say that Peter Jackson has sacrificed the hobbits' stories for the sake of the Aragorn/Legolas/Gimli plotline, but who can blame him? A three-hour characters study of the hobbits would be mildly interesting but audiences want to see the depiction of the Helm's Deep battle, and on that score, Jackson does not disappoint. Even knowing what happens to the Elves durign the battle doesn't detract from the thrill of seeing them when they arrive at the fortress in their armor and marching in formation. The battles of the Pelennor Fields and the Black Gate in ROTK should be unbelieveable, if Helm's Deep is any indication.

In case this is my last entry for 2002, have a happy New Year. See you on the other side in 2003.

Yesterday was my birthday. I’m 29, so I’ve only got one more year in which I can identify myself as in my twenties. After this, I’m well on my way to being a dull old fogey. Let the thrill-ride begin.

I’m well past the age at which birthdays are a day-long celebration of myself. So instead of Liz and I having dinner alone together, we had a free meal courtesy of her office Christmas party. I was certain her coworkers would serenade me with “Happy Birthday,” but thankfully, they held back. One of them noticed the horrified look on my face when the party next to us sang it for someone in their group and I thought it was for me. I don’t mind so much when my family does it for me, but I’ve always despised a large group of friends (or in this case, relative strangers) sing “Happy Birthday” to me. What am I supposed to do while they sing? Who or what do I look at? Is it acceptable for me to stare at my plate and wait for it to be over? It’s a little better if there’s a cake with lit candles in front of me; at least then I can watch the flames and think of a wish.

Earlier in the day, at lunch with my colleagues, I started feeling introspective and brought up childhood, comparing my years of teasing and torment at the hands of other students with the experiences one of my work friends had. Then, to make matters worse, for some reason I brought up the girl I dated briefly in high school. I was trying to make some point about how it would have been impossible for me to be attractive to anyone for dating purposes until I learned how to react maturely to the taunts and jabs from the other students. And I was trying to show how I thought this girl was out of my league, until she somehow became interested in me at the same time I was interested in her. (Believe me, those who knew me in high school will attest that I was no one’s prize catch, so for anyone to want to date me, let alone this girl, was quite an achievement for me.) Instead, by sharing this pointless story with my coworkers, I ended up looking foolish. Who talks about their love life at work, especially stories from high school? I was definitely feeling reflective, but I didn’t have to share that much.

The biggest problem with my birthday this time around is my current obsession with age, aging, and the passage of time. I’m having trouble articulating just why I’m always thinking about how old people are, or when events happened, or how different events affect someone at a particular age. But I’m particularly bothered by my own aging process. Frequently, I wish I could pause time, savoring not just a moment, but days and weeks of experiences. I’m really enjoying this particular time in my life: great job, wonderful wife, enough disposable income to enjoy Manhattan’s restaurants and bars, the freedom to work late, stay out late, or stay up late playing computer games if I want. I know that all of this is going to change in the next few years, with kids, a mortgage, and life in the suburbs ahead. I know that I’m not always going to be as physically fit as I am now, that my body will eventually start breaking down no matter how much I exercise or what I eat. I don’t want these things to happen. I want to enjoy this life as long as possible. But I can’t pause time and just live forever in my late twenties. So for me to have a birthday now, and with a milestone one coming in the next year, put me into a most unusual mood yesterday.

I read somewhere recently that a person always needs to have a challenge ahead of them, a project or something to work on, lest they become complacent and stop growing intellectually. I need a new challenge in my life. Maybe that’s my resolution for 2003: to find something with which to challenge myself. Can that be a resolution, or is the challenge itself a resolution?

It's really late, and I need to get up for work tomorrow. But I wanted to write my first impressions of The Two Towers while they're fresh in my mind. Spoilers abound, so don't read on unless you don't care about that sort of thing.

It's a great movie, at least the equal of the first one, and sometimes better. They've taken a lot of liberties with the text this time around: Faramir intends to take the Ring to Gondor, and only changes his mind when he sees Frodo's temptation to use it himself. Elrond and Arwen appear and talk about how she should leave Middle-Earth and Aragorn. Merry and Pippin have to show the Ents the destruction of the trees at Isengard before they decide to attack. I'm sure there are more. But those are all OK with me, though I thought Faramir was a more upstanding character in the book than he was in the movie. Merry and Pippin don't have much to do in the book, so letting them show the Ents the way gives them some depth. And there has to be a little romantic and dramatic tension in the love story.

Helm's Deep was every bit as amazing as I thought it would be. Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas all get the chance to show their skills in battle. The Ents attacking Isengard was good, but I missed the horns and drums that Tolkien mentions repeatedly when describing the Ents' language and battle songs. Gollum was fantastic. I hope he does get some Oscar consideration, because his performance is probably the best acting job in the movie. I hated him and loved him at the same time, which is just how the character is supposed to make you feel.

The movie has no beginning and doesn't have much of an ending. It throws you right into the story and leaves you anticipating the ending. I can't wait to see The Return of the King next year. I'd go get in line now, if it weren't so cold and late.

I'll probably make this into a bio of some kind later, but for now, I'll just post it as a regular blog entry. Yesterday, a friend sent me one of those questionnaires that asks for all sorts of innocuous information as a way for a large group of people to get to know each other, or, in this case, to know each other better. Here are my responses written yesterday afternoon.


1. What time is it? 3:33 PM
2. What color pants are you wearing right now? Gray.
3. What are you listening to right now? WQXR.com - classical music radio
4. How is the weather right now? Colder than a witch's teat.
5. Name as it appears on your birth certificate? Philip Edward Catelinet. Note the rare spelling of Philip with one L.
6. Nickname(s): Phil, Philly Beef 'n Cheese (not used for many years)
7. Parents' names: Barry and Rebecca.
8. Number of candles that appeared on your last birthday cake: 28.
9. Date that you regularly blow them out: December 20.
10. What are the last four digits of your phone number? Which phone? I'll pick one. 9313.
11. Last person you talked to on the phone? Someone from work.
12. What is the last thing you ate? Turkey sandwich, pretzels, Snapple iced tea.
13. Pets: three cats
14. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Purple
15. Hair color: Brown.
16. Eye Color: I liked Jess's answer, but I'll just say brown.
17. Tattoos: none.
18. Piercings: none.
19. What's the first thing you notice about the opposite sex? Legs.
20. Do you like the person that sent you this? yes.
21. Favorite colors: Blue and purple.
22. Hometown: Johnstown, PA. Near Pittsburgh.
23. Current Residence: Manhattan.
24. Favorite food: I'll eat anything. Pizza, or a chicken parm hero.
25. Been to Africa? Not so far.
26. Been toilet papering? No, but I do have an ill-gotten STOP sign.
27. Loved somebody so much it made you cry? More than once.
28. Been in a car accident? One. I totaled the other car.
29. Croutons or Bacon Bits? Croutons.
30. Current car you drive? The NYC Subway.
31. Do you wear contacts? Yes.
32. Favorite month? December.
33. Best job you ever had? the one I'm in now. It leaves me with the free time to answer silly questionnaires.
34. Do the dishes right away or leave them in the sink? Leave them. I cook, my wife does the dishes.
35. Summer or winter? Winter. My wardrobe is better suited to cold temperatures.
36. Chocolate or vanilla? Chocolate.
37. Favorite Movie(s): Almost Famous, Lord of the Rings, Star Wars
38. Favorite Holiday: the ones when I get a day off. There's nothing like a three-day weekend.
39. Favorite day of the week: Friday.
40. Favorite word or phrase: I say "absolutely" a lot lately, as an affirmative response to a question. I don't know why.
41. Favorite toothpaste: Mentadent
42. Favorite Restaurant: Virgil's BBQ in Times Square
43. Favorite Flowers: what guy has a flower preference?
44. Favorite Drink: Coffee, diet Vanilla Coke.
45. Your favorite alcoholic drink? Maker's Mark bourbon. Thanks, James.
46. How do you eat an Oreo? The way it comes out of the package.
47. Favorite sports to watch: Football.
48. Preferred type of ice cream: Ben & Jerry's Mint Chocolate Cookie.
49. Favorite Sesame Street Character: Oscar the Grouch.
50. The last book you read? "The Two Towers" to refresh my memory. The last great book was "The Brothers Karamazov" earlier this fall.
51. Favorite fast food restaurant: McDonald's.
52. When was your last hospital visit? When I was three, someone kicked me off the slide in nursery school, I hit my head, and needed stitches.
53. What color is your bedroom carpet? hardwood floors.
54. How many times did you fail your driver's test? One. Don't hit the curb when you're parallel parking.
55. Where do you plan to go, or did go on your honeymoon? Memphis, TN, for a few days, then Ireland a year later for a real vacation.
56. Who is the last person you got e-mail from before this? My father, about his side business providing video services to hospitals.
57. Do you want your friends to write back? Go ahead.
58. Have you ever been convicted of a crime? No, not even a parking ticket.
59. Which single store would you choose to max out your credit card? Amazon.com. J&R in Manhattan, if I can't shop online.
60. What do you do most often when you are bored? Play computer games.
61. Name the friend that lives farthest away from you: My friend Carol, who lives in Chicago.
62. Most annoying thing people ask you: "How do I get to [fill in the location]?" Why do I look like someone you'd want to ask for directions?
63. Where do you currently work? Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen, & Hamilton (law firm, but I'm not a lawyer)
64. Who will respond the quickest to this e-mail? no idea; I don't recognize most of the e-mail addresses on here.
65. Who is the person you sent this to that is least likely to respond? Kristen Chapman, but I removed her address so as not to annoy her further.
66. Favorite all time TV shows: "The Simpsons," "Curb Your Enthusiasm," "Monty Python's Flying Circus"
67. Last person(s) you went out to dinner with: my wife, Liz, and two of our friends, to a Mexican restaurant.
68. What's in your CD player right now? nothing, but I've got Brahms symphonies on my desk.
69. What's the next CD you're going to get? Audioslave.

I'm counting down the hours until tonight's showing of The Two Towers at the Loews 34th St. here in Manhattan. I'm not a "puddle" of giddy anticipation, as I thought I might be by now, but I'm too excited to express myself eloquently. My biggest fear is that I won't be interested in watching my DVD of the first movie after seeing the new one tonight. I've barely scratched the surface of the extras on the four-disc set. I'll try to post my review of TTT tomorrow, or late tonight if I'm still coherent when I get home in the wee hours.

No strike yet: the two sides are still talking. My office holiday party is on, so I'll be enjoying the libations and victuals this evening.

I came across the following in a strike-related news story on 1010 WINS:

Some New Yorkers said they altered their travel plans in preparation for a strike.
Michael Recca, an investment banker from Westchester County, said he parked his car at Grand Central Terminal on Sunday so that he could drive from midtown to his Wall Street job. He was unhappy that he had to ride the Metro-North train into Manhattan Monday morning.
"This is for the public," Recca said.

Indeed, the trains are for the public. I bet he hated having to ride in with the riff-raff, or the rabble, or the commoners. I'll add him to the list of people who don't get any sympathy from me. It would probably take less time for this guy to ride Metro-North to Grand Central and then take the 6 train to Wall Street than it does to drive in from Westchester each day. If I lived in the suburbs, I'd take that in a heartbeat over driving in each day. But I guess if you can't show off your Benz or Lexus or Rolls, then you don't get the joy of showing off how much better you are than the rest of the people who live and work here. Thanks for your insight, jackass.

I got to see Star Trek: Nemesis one day early, on Thursday night at a special screening for Network Associates employees and clients (of which my employer is one). I thought it was a good movie, with great special effects and action sequences. It's a rehash of the Wrath of Khan plot, this time with Picard facing himself as an adversary. It's not as good as First Contact, but it's better than the two-hour episode Insurrection. I'm not sure this movie saves the Trek franchise, but if it's the last voyage of the Next Generation crew, it's a good ride. I'm definitely looking forward to seeing it again in two weeks when we're in Mississippi. With movies like this (Star Wars, Star Trek, etc., my old favorites) I need two or three viewings to make a decent evaluation.

Right now New York City is anxiously awaiting word of a transit strike for tomorrow. As with all labor negotiations, both sides waited until the last minute to start talking seriously about the issues, forcing the rest of us to sweat it out. Neither side in this dispute gets much sympathy from me. I'm a lifelong Democrat, traditionally the party of labor, but I've never been a fan of unions. I endured three school strikes when I was growing up, the last one during my senior year, which postponed graduation until June 30 and disrupted classes all year long. After that, I lost all respect for unions. A transit strike in New York would be beyond devastating. Aside from the problems it would cause for residents, it would be a shattering blow to tourism and businesses. I can walk to work, but what about the family of four who came to New York to see the sights at Christmastime? How are they expected to get around? What about the ambulances and fire trucks? What about food deliveries to groceries and restaurants? It would be a complete mess, and it would do irreparable economic damage to a city that's already in the red. I hope that when I wake up later this morning, both sides will have found something they can agree on and keep this city moving. Plus, my office's Christmas party would go on as scheduled. (I'm allowed to have a selfish reason to oppose a strike, right?)

In a story that will surprise no one, Guns N' Roses has canceled the rest of its US tour. Ten years ago, this would have crushed me, but now I just have to laugh at it. I still love Gn'R's old albums, and I've recently gained a new appreciate of Appetite for Destruction. I even saw the band on its 1992 tour with Metallica, and it remains one of the greatest live shows I've ever seen. But I never had any interest in seeing the band that Conan O'Brien refers to as "Fatty Magoo and the Guys Who Aren't Slash." Ever since Axl Rose fired the rest of the band in 1994 (or thereabouts), I've given up hope that anything resembling the old sound would ever come out of his studio. And that was borne out by the new band's performance at the MTV VMAs in August. Seeing Axl and some nameless weirdos playing my old favorite songs confirmed that the old Gn'R is long, long gone. Although I have hope for the new album that may be forthcoming from the rest of the original group. I heard some of the album that Slash put out in 1995, and it wasn't too bad, so maybe this new effort will bring back some fond memories of my late teens.

I spent Wednesday traveling around the New York City area with my father, assisting him with his side business of providing educational video programming to hospitals. The work we were doing (installing/replacing laserdisc players with DVD players) wasn't that interesting, but we did have some fun trying to find the hospitals. We took private taxis to all our appointments, and while some of them knew where to go, one driver in particular had no idea where our Bronx hospital was. Dad and I had each been there before, so we had a vague idea where it was. But the cabbie had no clue, and even when I told him we were going in the wrong direction, he didn't turn around. Twice we drove out of our way on a congested Cross Bronx Expressway, and if I never see that road again.... I had my new iPaq handheld and a wireless Internet connection, so I kept trying to look up directions to the hospital, but every time I entered our current location, we'd pull away before I could get the directions from Mapquest. Finally, we asked a gas station attendant where to go, and while we waited, I got the right directions. With the attendant's help, and my online searching, we finally found our way. The next cab ride was less of a puzzle since the driver knew just where to go, but he was talkative and shared far too many details of his life story as he drove us from the Bronx to upper Manhattan. We heard all about his son who was born out of wedlock, his daughter who he abandoned at the age of two because of his drinking problems, his subsequent attempts to rekindle the relationship with his now-grown daughter and her family, and his uncle (wait, it's now his uncle-in-law; I'm still trying to figure out how that works) who's a doctor but can't afford to retire. I'm glad I had the chance to spend time with my father, but I could do without all the cab rides. Along those lines, we took him on the subway later that night, and it was the first time he'd been on the NYC subway in almost 40 years. He was on some of the "redbird" cars when they were new!

I spent this past weekend in Pittsburgh, at the Steelers-Texans game. Photos of the game are available at my photos page. The game was terrible, but I had a good time. I got to enjoy a Primanti Bros. sandwich, which has meat, cheese, french fries, and cole slaw, all between two slices of white bread. It's a heart attack in your hand! And I got to see Myron Cope up close, though I didn't get to meet him. But it was worth sticking around after a dismal game in cold weather to see a local broadcasting legend in person.

On Saturday night my mother and I went to the Pittsburgh Symphony concert at Heinz Hall, and it was like a trip back in time for me. I hadn't been to a concert there in 10 years, but the place hadn't changed. It's just as elegant and opulent as I remembered. The orchestra was, as always, the best I've ever heard. The brass section in Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique was crisp and clear, and the percussion rumbled and crashed with precision. And I always love watching the string sections' bows moving in unison, everyone playing the notes with the exact same touch and motion. It made me want to go home and practice.

Once again, too long between entries. We had a quiet, uneventful Thanksgiving in the city.

Thanks to Chad Pennington's performance against the Raiders on Monday night, I snuck into the playoffs in my fantasy football league. I'm still not sure how that happened. Even if I don't win another game this season, I'd consider my efforts a success, and I've learned a lot for next year.

My archive seems to have been screwed up somehow. I still have all the files in my FTP directory, so I haven't lost any data, but none of them have an .html extension, and the Blogger javascript seems to be working against me. For now, if you want to see a previous post, e-mail me and I'll send you the file.

Now for the political stuff.

I saw this story in the Washington Post this morning. I guess I haven't been following the debate about the idea of a commission to investigate the 9/11 attacks. Is this really necessary? What are we going to learn from this commission that hasn't already been published, discussed, or otherwise disseminated to the Bush administration and the general public? We know all about how the CIA and FBI sat on terrorist threats and warnings, how lapses in air security going back years allowed the terrorists to carry deadly weapons onto planes, and how previous administrations' policies towards earlier terrorist acts probably encouraged al Qaeda to try this one. The terrorist network responsible for 9/11 is still functioning, though the Bush administration continues to clamor for war against Iraq, so far not directly linked to al Qaeda. I don't suppose Henry Kissinger is going to come back to Bush and tell him 18 months from now that war with Iraq is a waste of time? Certainly not if the commission's report comes back in the summer of 2004, in the middle of Bush's re-election campaign.

On a personal note, lately I've found that assigning blame for misfortunes at work is a waste of time. Generally speaking, it's a good idea to know who made a mistake when you're trying to fix a problem, but in most cases it seems that people are more interested in finding out who did what than they are in fixing the problem and/or making sure it doesn't happen again. I'd rather work toward prevention than punishment when I have the chance. Applying that philosophy to the 9/11 commission, it doesn't seem that important to know that Agent X of the FBI didn't pass along the flight school inquiries, or that immigration officer Steve approved the visa applications of the hijackers. I hope that the commission spends more time investigating why these issues led to the attacks than it does finding out who was ultimately responsible. You can fire people or charge them with crimes, but if you don't close the loopholes or change the policies that allowed people to circumvent the rules, bad things willl happen again.

I'm not sure whether I love or hate the day before Thanksgiving. it's one of those few workdays during the year when there's not much actual work to do, since most people have already left for the long weekend. On the other hand, since so many people are gone already, there are only a handful of us tech support types around to do the work that comes up. So on a day when I should be stress-free and bored, instead I'm swamped because so many people have left things for me to do. But this only happens two or three times a year, and always during the holidays. I'm hardly ever around on Christmas Eve, but New Year's Eve is usually dead in terms of people. And I usually end up fending off a few minor crises at those times. I'm a hardy soul; I think I can manage.

I've signed up for a free trial of Netflix, partially out of curiosity but also to help out the good folks at Penny Arcade. I just got my first three movies today. Initially I had them sent to my office, thinking that they'd come in bulky boxes that wouldn't fit in my home mailbox. To my surprise, they come in flexible red paper envelopes, with the return mailer inside. No DVD boxes to be found; apparently, if you want to see the original packaging, you're better off renting from Blockbuster. The packaging also explains why multi-DVD sets are rented one disc at a time: there isn't room in the mailer for more than one disc. Anyway, now we've got some movies to check out this weekend, and I've got a long list of things on tap that Netflix will send me when we return these. It's not that we live so far from a Blockbuster, but it is on the other side of the Village, it's not convenient to either of our work commutes, and we've been burned by the late fees a few times. It's not even an easy thing for me to ride over there on my bike: with all the one-way streets in New York, I have to go several blocks out of my way to avoid riding against traffic. Compare this with $20 a month, and all I have to do is drop movies in the mailbox when I'm done with them. It's hard to beat that.

There's an interview with Ellen Feiss over at Brown U.'s web site. Here it is. I'm not a fan of hers, but I never link to anything on the Internet, and this was mildly amusing, especially the editor's comment again about Janie Porche. I find her ad particularly annoying, possibly for her hand gestures and enthusiasm about “saving Christmas.” Ye gods. It's great that she got the pictures into her PowerBook; I'm so happy for her. Now they've got one of these ads with Yo-Yo Ma, the world-famous cellist. This whole series of ads isn't quite as bad as the fellows at Penny-Arcade would have us believe, but I tend to agree with their sentiments.

I've been using Red Hat Linux on my laptop and a PC at my office for a few weeks now. I'd like to say that the experience has convinced me to give up Windows for good, but that's just not the case. Aside from the gaming (most of my newer games don't have Linux versions, so I'd have to run utilities like Wine to try to get them to work, which is way too much trouble), the desktop manager is so much like Windows that it's just as easy to use Windows as Linux. That's not a dig, really. I like the KDE interface, but when it's easier to boot to Windows to watch a DVD, check my office e-mail, or dial into my office network (the VPN dialer doesn't come in a Linux flavor), it's just easier to use Windows. I do appreciate the ability to compile programs on my own, and tweaking them is easier in Linux than Windows has ever been. I guess it comes down to this: most computing pundits predict one of two things for Linux: that it will gain ground on the server OS side, or that it will gain acceptance as a desktop replacement for Windows. So far, I'd have to come down on the server OS side of things. Windows is so entrenched in so many companies and homes that it would be financially and logistically impossible for businesses to switch from Windows to Linux (or to Mac, for that matter). No matter how many improvements and bundled programs Linux developers throw into their distributions, Windows will still be the dominant OS. Small companies might be able to start up with Linux everywhere (if you don't have much money, you can't beat a free OS), and maybe the odd school with older hardware, but for the most part, Windows has won the desktop OS battle.

However, on the server side, there are plenty of reasons to look at alternatives to Windows NT/2000/.Net. A virus or trojan on your desktops can be difficult to eliminate, but for most businesses, as long as your servers are up, you can still conduct your day-to-day transactions. But a virus outbreak on your servers can be catastrophic. I only have to remind people at my office of “Code Red Tuesday,” when a trojan brought down all of our servers (and some of our PCs, but that's a different matter). After that day, my boss suggested that we might be able to make better use of non-Microsoft OS choices on the server side whenever possible. So far, we've deployed one Linux web server instead of a Windows one. Considering that I've spent a lot more time with Linux lately than when we first rolled out this server, I'd feel more comfortable recommending this option in the future. And there's always NetWare, my old favorite.

OK, I'm done ranting now. I did write this whole blog entry in Linux, using OpenOffice and KDE. But I'm going to need to boot to Windows to post it; the Javascript controls in Blogger seem happier in Windows and IE than in Mozilla under Linux. And as it has turned out, the only things I lost in the Linux-to-Windows transition were the hyperlinks, which were easy to redo. Still, the whole thing would have been done faster had I just used Windows after all. Am I proving anything? Maybe. Am I rambling? Definitely. Signing off now....

As usual, I had all sorts of thoughts over the weekend, but didn't bother to go online to post them. Liz and I saw Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets on Friday night, with an enthusiastic crowd of Potter fanatics. Luckily, none of them were in full wizard or Quidditch costumes. The movie itself is much better than the first one: scarier, funnier, more exciting, better effects, and so on. The Quidditch match was particularly good, and I'm not the first person who thought it reminiscent of the speeder bike chase in Return of the Jedi. It's a long wait until the next movie comes out, so I'll have to be satisfied in the meantime with LOTR. That's not a bad thing.

I've been getting more and more into this whole Linux thing. I've installed Red Hat Linux 8 on a desktop PC at work and now on my laptop (dual-boot with Windows XP), so I can take it home with me. I've even recompiled the kernel to enable NTFS support, so I can mount the XP partition and access my MP3s and other files in Linux. I wish I had more ways to use Linux, instead of just as a substitute to Windows. It's great, and I enjoy having the chance to "roll my own" programs and setup, but Windows does so much out of the box, while Linux needs to be configured, that it can be a pain sometimes. It's definitely an OS for geeks, even with RH 8's ease of installation and Windows-like interface. At least I'm learning a new skill set that might come in handy someday. If enough of us get behind the idea, we could migrate some of the more exposed web and e-mail servers here at the office to Linux. That would certainly give me a chance to apply what I've learned so far.

My Attack of the Clones and Fellowship of the Ring DVDs arrived yesterday. I've only watched a few scenes of each so far, but I like what I've seen. The AOTC transfer is unbelievably clear on my PC monitor at home, and the audio in the headphones was almost as good as it was in the theater. I almost hate to watch either movie on my TV and old, non-surround-sound stereo system, but that can't be helped right now. Liz wants to see Yoda go all saber-wacky at the end of AOTC, and I won't disappoint her. The FOTR DVD set has so many extras that I can't imagine ever watching all of them. It has four commentary tracks! I can see listening to the ones with the director and the cast, but the producers and crew don't interest me as much. You might be asking why I bought this version of the movie, since I could have had the theatrical version three months ago. It's because of the 30 minutes of new footage, which I reviewed earlier this week. That alone makes this set worth buying, and unless Peter Jackson unearthes some Tom Bombadil footage for an ultra-special extra-extended edition, it's the last one I'll buy. And only 34 days until TTT opens...

Oh boy, I forgot I haven't posted anything since last Thursday. Philly was a decent trip. Smith and Wollensky makes a good steak, but Morton's of Chicago is much better, IMHO. I had the $10 carrot cake for dessert, and it was 7 inches tall and 4 wide. I ate two inches off the bottom and took the rest home to share with Liz, who is a carrot cake fiend.

I listened to the Steelers-Falcons game on the Internet radio on Sunday. I guess it was a great game, but the tie was just disappointing. If you're going to play a game, you need to have a winner and a loser at the end. I'd feel better if the Steelers had fought back from a 17-point deficit, but since they're the ones who blew the lead, it's almost as bad as a loss. At least the Falcons are an NFC team, so this game shouldn't count against the Steelers in AFC playoff positioning.

I got spanked in fantasy football this weekend. My team sucks, no matter what I might have said previously. Daunte Culpepper is out as my QB, Trent Green is in. It's not much of an improvement, but I can't do anything about that now.

I'm in Philadelphia today, at my office's disaster planning/recovery site. I'm missing my usual Thursday workout, but I get dinner at Smith and Wollensky for my troubles. And I can always work out tomorrow. Too bad I don't have friends in the Philly area anymore; I could have brought them along.

On Tuesday night, James and I attended a free screening of the extended version of The Fellowship of the Ring in glorious digital format. Moviefone selected me as one of the lucky winners of a pass for two to attend the screening at the Loews Theater on 34th Street. I posted a review of the film on theonering.net, so go there if you'd like to see what I had to say. It's not my best work, but so far I'm the only one who reviewed the NYC show. I'll have this version on DVD next week so I can enjoy it again and again (and subject Liz to it again and again).

Liz and I saw Red Dragon this weekend. It was much better than Hannibal, not quite as good as Silence of the Lambs. Ralph Fiennes doesn't seem to have any body issues; he's been nude or mostly nude in several movies now and he appears quite comfortable with himself. Ed Norton was great, but he'll always have the problem that he looks too young to be playing experienced, older characters. I haven't read the book, but Will Graham seems like he should be a grizzled, older FBI veteran, not quite as old as Harvey Keitel, but older than Ed Norton's early thirties. It was odd hearing stories about old cases coming from a guy who looks barely old enough to shave. Still, Norton is a great actor, and I found his performance, like the others, engrossing and believeable. Anthony Hopkins was great one last time as Lecter, but I don't blame him for saying that he wants to do something else now. Three times to the well for one character is enough for just about anyone, especially with an Oscar winner for the same role in another movie.

I got spanked in fantasy football this weekend, in possibly my worst showing ever. No one on my team scored a touchdown, and the only player that scored in double figures was the Steelers defense. I'll just write off the week and try to find enough points to win next weekend. At least the Steelers beat the Browns again. That makes them 4-0 in the division and 5-3 overall. If nothing else, they should win the division and get a decent seed in the playoffs now.

I need to remember to write things here when I think of them, not three days later. I had some other things to write about, but now I can't remember them.

A few thoughts while I was watching the Halloween parade from an extremely crowded streetcorner outside my apartment:

First of all, I'm getting too old for this shit. After an hour standing in the crowd, my back was starting to hurt and I was just anxious for the whole ordeal to be over so I could go back inside. And getting pressed into total strangers isn't much fun anymore, if it ever was.

I don't think that walking down the street pretending to use a cell phone or wearing a FedEx envelope on your head constitutes a costume.

I nearly saw two punks come to blows less than two feet from me. One guy with a skateboard in his hand had a problem with another guy and they shouted at each other for a few minutes before enough people came between them to keep them apart. But for a few minutes, I was trying to figure out where to go in case they started punching each other, since the crowd was too thick to make a quick getaway. There were plenty of cops nearby, but they were on the other side of wooden and metal barriers, and I'm sure they wouldn't have been able to get near a fight if one broke out. At least not before someone got seriously hurt.

I guess I missed most of the good floats and costumes. I came inside just after the parade started so I could eat dinner, then went back out about 30 minutes later. By the time I got back outside, the parade had devolved into thousands of people in costume walking up Sixth Avenue. I could do that if I wanted, but I don't need to see other people doing it. I tried to get some pictures but none of them are clear enough to keep.

The whole problem I have with the parade is that if it were in another neighborhood, I'd avoid it entirely. I have little desire to see the Macy's Thanksgiving Day or the St. Patrick's Day parades, but since this one is right outside my door, I feel an obligation to watch it in person. Next year, if we're living elsewhere, there's virtually no chance I'll subject myself to this punishment again. Geez, now I'm avoiding large crowds. I'm turning into my father.

I wrote this blog entry on the train last night, in an attempt to justify bringing my laptop on this trip. I guess it worked as planned.

I spent the whole weekend at my dad’s house, except for sleeping at my brother’s apartment. My grandmother was in town from England along with my cousin, and this was my only chance to visit with them. She’s 90, and while she’s in great health and spirits, there’s no telling how many more visits there will be. It was also a chance for me to see my parents and my brother, none of whom I see as often as I like. So I didn’t get out and see any new movies or enjoy the cultural highlights of the Washington, DC suburbs. My brother earned his private pilot’s license on Sunday, after a little more than two years of flying lessons. Mazel tov!

On the other hand, I did explore my brother’s small book collection and pick up some ideas of things to read in the future. In particular, I borrowed from him a book entitled The Price of Admiralty, by John Keegan. In college, my brother took a class on the history of modern warfare, and he kept all the books. He had two other Keegan books, one on land warfare and one on the leadership styles of Alexander the Great, Wellington, and Hitler, among others. While that one really tempted me, the one I took instead is all about sea warfare, starting with Trafalgar and progressing through Jutland, Midway, and the Battle of the Atlantic in WWII. I’ve always had an interest in naval battles (they’re one of my favorite parts of Empire Earth) and I’m hoping I can learn some strategies from the masters that will help me defeat the computer. And if I like this one, I can always borrow the others later on.

One tidbit about my fantasy life in the navy: my online handle for many years has been “Admiral” in a variety of forms, usually in computer games. Except for Star Wars games, where I’m Cathol Lyn-Ayt, Jedi padawan (the name came from a SW RPG that I played with some friends a few years ago), or in Battlefield 1942, where I’m Bobby Shaftoe (a character in Neal Stephenson’s novel Cryptonomicon. The other night, while playing, another player msg’ed me and said he was Goto Dengo, which gave me a laugh. (That’s another character from the same book. I love geek humor.)

I'm going out of town again this weekend, back to Washington, DC to see my family. Unfortunately I'm taking the train, which was the subject of an FBI terrorism warning yesterday. They catch the sniper, eliminating one source of anxiety for me, but now I have to worry about someone blowing up the train or a bridge while I'm on it.

Things here have been fairly mundane lately. I just haven't had much to say. Maybe I'll come up with something fantastic while I'm on the train.

Just in case anyone is paying attention: I'm still alive. Nothing new or exciting happening this week. Liz has been out of town all week, so I haven't seen any new movies or done anything out of the usual. I did see Insomnia at a friend's house on Saturday night; it's a good movie. My fantasy football team lost this weekend, and I had the lowest point total in the league for the week. I get some players back from injury and byes this week, so my prospects should improve a little.

Quick fantasy football update: I'm on a three-game winning streak, during which I've beaten two previously undefeated teams. I'm due for a letdown, though. And I can't find anyone who needs one of my spare quarterbacks. Maybe I can trade one of them after this weekend's games. Who wants either of the Trents, Dilfer or Green?

I had dinner with Rudy Giuliani last night. Not just the two of us, of course, but a large group of Novell networking professionals and the former mayor. OK, he wasn't at my table, and the extent of my interaction with him was the five seconds when I shook his hand and we had our picture taken together. But it was still cool. Our local Novell sales rep invited me to this dinner at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel where Giuliani was scheduled to speak. I had a few free drinks and canapes, then waited in line to get my picture taken with the mayor. He had on a ton of makeup and reminded me of the wax figures I've seen at Madame Tussaud's, except he was moving. I didn't even get to say my name to him, just a quick "nice to meet you" to which he said "thanks for coming." I'm not even sure I looked at the camera. I'll have the picture in a week or so, and we'll see if it's worthy of putting up in my cubicle or if it's going in the trash. I ran into a few old friends in the consulting business that I'd worked with while I was at Proskauer two years ago. Dinner was prime rib, garlic mashed potatoes, and greens, but I was starting to think they weren't serving anything other than salad when Rudy got up to speak right after they served the salad. 45 minutes and a glass of wine later, Rudy finished up (an interesting speech about his principles of leadership) and they brought out the main course. Dessert was a fruit tart served with cinnamon ice cream. On the way out, everyone got a free copy of Giuliani's new book, the aptly named Leadership. Normally I'd pass up that kind of book, but it was free and it actually looks intriguing, so I'll read it eventually.

I had something to rant about earlier, but now I forget what it was. Damn.

Liz leaves for Anaheim tomorrow morning, so I'm on my own for the weekend and most of next week. Due to unfortunate (for me) scheduling, most of my New York friends are out of town for the weekend as well, so I'll have to find my own fun. I think I'll devote Sunday afternoon to seven glorious hours of football, followed by the Sopranos and Curb Your Enthusiasm. Other than that, maybe I'll find a movie Liz doesn't want to see, and I can always use the free time to watch DVDs that I haven't seen lately, like the Star Trek: TMP disc that I need to watch again with the visual commentary. The biggest problem for me will be deciding what to eat for dinner. Unless I have a craving for something, I can't ever make up my mind about take-out or carry-out meals. I wander my neighborhood checking out my usual restaurants, considering and rejecting different cuisines, until it's 9 PM and I just pick whatever place I'm closest to at the time. I need to make a list of restaurants I haven't been to lately and just work my way through. I'll probably cook once or twice, but it's just too much trouble to cook for one, and too tempting to make more than I should eat. I'm surprised that I'm more concerned about what I'll eat than I am about entertaining myself. I know I'll be sitting at home on both Friday and Saturday nights, and while that thought should depress me, it doesn't. It's the eating alone that makes me feel a little sad. What does that say about the importance of mealtimes to my psyche?

Photos from the Gala have been added to my Yahoo! Photos page in the GTA Gala folder. At the size Yahoo! uses, you can't see the red-eye effects. I thought my camera had red-eye reduction, but it never seems to work. Maybe it's because I'm usually taking pictures in a darkened room? Anyway, enjoy.

This past weekend Liz and I were in Washington, DC for a reunion/anniversary celebration of Georgetown theatre. We had a great time catching up with old friends, making some new ones, and enjoying way too much alcohol. I haven't felt the glorious pain of a hangover for a few months, at least. We also got to see the first show of Mask & Bauble's new season, Picasso at the Lapin Agile, by Steve Martin (yes, that Steve Martin). While it's not quite the same caliber of performance as the shows I'm used to seeing here in New York, it was well done.

Someone on the Georgetown alumni e-mail list sent this article to the list this morning. I think the most appropriate comment about it is that the Jesuits make bad businessmen. Perhaps the recent choice of a lifelong Georgetown administrator and layperson as the University president will lead to better business deals for the school.

I did purchase Battlefield 1942 on Friday, and I've spent my gaming hours since then exploring the virtual battlefields of the game. One of my favorite sites is Midway island, which is a mostly aerial and naval combat environment. I've gotten the most fun out of spawning on the submarine and trying to sink enemy carriers and battleships with it. I haven't had any luck so far, but driving the sub reminds me of one of my favorite games from my early computer experience on my Commodore 64. I had hours of fun playing a game called Silent Service where you commanded a US sub in the Pacific during WWII, and you had to sink enemy merchant ships while avoiding depth-charge-wielding destroyers and battleships. The sub in BF1942 is similar, but easier to jump in and operate. I also love flying the planes, but I'm not good at bombing things yet. Basically, the game is a great time, and like most games with me, hard for me to tear myself away to go to bed. My only complaint is that the game sucks up unbelievable amounts of virtual memory, so I really need more RAM to get it to run faster. And a better video card. Obviously, I have my holiday shopping cut out for me.

I've installed Red Hat Linux 8.0 on one of my spare PCs at work. I'm really impressed with this release. The installation is easier than in the past, and the interface is so similar to Windows that if it weren't for the missing Windows-only software that I use for work, I'd swear I'm working in Windows. There are some minor annoyances, like getting Java apps to run in Mozilla, but otherwise it's a great OS. If only I had the spare hardware to try it on a laptop and see how the wireless networking fares. That's the mark of a true geek: taking a Linux laptop on the road. Of course, the best part about Linux is that it's free, if you have the fast pipe to download it. I'd tell you where, but my loyal reader probably already knows where to find it.

I've been writing here for a few months now, and it's fairly boring stuff, I admit. I don't link to many sites or express controversial viewpoints, so I'm not surprised that I haven't attracted much attention with this blog. That's OK by me. But today I feel like stirring the waters a little.

One of my wife's best friends is a playwright here in New York. She's written several one-act and ten-minute plays and had them produced at various New York drama festivals as well as elsewhere in the US. Last night, she had one of her short plays produced as part of the 2002 Chip Deffaa Invitational Theatre Festival. Her play was well done and extremely entertaining; I'd seen it several times before but I think this may be the best production of it yet. Unfortunately, her play was third on the program, and before hers, I had to sit through one of the worst pieces of theater I've ever seen (and with the many drama festivals I've attended, I've seen some bad things). The first play on the program was something called "Three Clowns on a Journey," which for me too closely resembled Samuel Beckett's masterpiece Waiting for Godot. If you read the play (found here) it almost (to me, anyway) reads like a cheap imitation of Godot. On his web site, the playwright describes his work as an absurdist piece he wrote in 1968, when he was in a graduate theater program. Maybe it played better 34 years ago, or maybe better actors would have made it watchable, but last night it brought the entire event to a crawl. No one in the audience seemed interested, the house had no energy at all, and I thought I was going to fall asleep. If it had gone on five minutes longer, I was ready to pull out my Palm and start playing games, breach of etiquette be damned. When it was finally over, there was a long pause before the applause started. Liz and I both wondered if anyone was actually going to clap for this waste of time. Mercifully, the audience did, the actors came out for bows, and it was over.

Usually, in situations like that, where I have such a strong negative reaction to something, I'm afraid to share my opinion, fearing that I'm the only one who didn't like it and that I'll be branded a Philistine. Luckily for me, Liz agreed with me that this play was a complete waste of time and energy. Our playwright friend said that she was thinking of asking the producers to change the order of the program, to move this show away from the beginning of the evening, where it's just bringing the whole event down. The other three plays in the first half of the show (we left at intermission), including our friend's, were engaging and entertaining, and the first one just didn't work at the beginning.

Anyway, I've gone on about this long enough.

I've agonized for a few days about my next computer game purchase. While the Empire Earth expansion pack keeps me entertained, I like to balance my strategy gaming with some good old-fashioned ultraviolence, first-person shooter style. I played the demo of Battlefield 1942 for a few weeks and decided to buy it when the full version came out. But the Unreal Tournament 2003 demo came out a few weeks ago and the resulting hype had me thinking I should get that instead. I played the original UT for most of 2000, only stopping when my old PC's hard drive got corrupted and couldn't read the game files anymore. But the UT2003 demo made the game seem just like the original version, only with better graphics and a new gameplay mode, the football-style "Bombing Run," which was the only part of the demo I found worth playing. On the other hand, BF1942 is team-based, set in WWII, and lets you drive vehicles as well as run around on foot shooting things. I'm drawn more to the original concept of BF1942, rather than UT2003 mostly rehashing the last version of the game. But UT2003 is going to be more popular over the long run, given the draw the previous version had. (This is the argument I've been having with myself for the past few days.) This afternoon, I bought BF1942, figuring that I'll get UT2003 at holiday time. If I'm right, by December there will be a huge UT2003 community up and running, and BF1942's hard-core players will still be out there. So tonight I'll be busy fragging the smacktards online again. And in a few short weeks, I'll frag them again in UT2003.

More Linux learning today. I figured out how to run telnetd so I don't have to sit at the server console to configure the box. I'm actually getting into this Linux thing again. I'd love to download RedHat Linux 8.0, but I can't get to any of the mirror sites to get the ISO files. Eventually...

Last night I downloaded a bunch of Uriah Heep songs, trying to find the one that Drake and Zeke have been playing as a joke. All the songs I got were good, but not the right one, so in desperation I e-mailed them. They read my e-mail on the air, and the song is in fact "Bird of Prey." As soon as I get home, I'm pulling that one down. It has a cool operatic-style opening, then the lead singer comes in and hits this off-key high note. It's really cheesy in a Black Sabbath-Judas Priest-vein, so I can't wait to hear the whole thing.

Somehow, someway, I won my fantasy football matchup this week to even my record at 2-2. I've still got a crappy team, but at least they managed to win by a point and change. I don't know if I can pull off another win this week, but I'm not playing as good a team, so there's hope.