Day: August 11, 2004

Watching this really interesting Great Performances on local PBS (official link not up yet on PBS’ national website) – the world’s greatest living classical musicians playing loads of pianos at once, on the same stage – weird. And they all look so pleased and having fun with each other. Cool.

“Flicks you’re embarrassed to love…” – I haven’t watched most of these (not very good) movies in this posting, although, curiously, local UPN did recently broadcast the weird 1980’s summer volleyball movie, “Sideout” (I watched parts of it, because I had no life that weekend) very B-level kind of odd crap – definitely guilty pleasure stuff for someone out there (no, not me). Oh, and so pleased that someone in this article mentioned “Flash Gordon” – seriously guilty pleasure crap (Channel 11 used to have an annual showing of it at one point – I think people just enjoy it for the Queen soundtrack so you can sing along… “Flash… Ah-aahhh savior of the universe…”). Not that I love “Flash Gordon,” but it is one of those movies which sucks you in when it’s on.

A heart-warming story of… the drunk driver who tells the cops to arrest him. My goodness, I had no idea that CNN.com had these kind of little stories linked.

Umm, some stuff:

Empire State Building did tribute to Fay Wray, most known for her King Kong fame. Of the obits I’ve read, I liked the NY Times one – it made Wray’s life and thoughts interesting. This quote from the NY Times obit:

“‘When I’m in New York,’ Miss Wray wrote in The New York Times in 1969, ‘I look at the Empire State Building and feel as though it belongs to me, or is it vice versa?'”

It’s both Ms. Wray – you and the Empire State Building made each other.

The Associated Press obit was also nice, even if less wordy.

This NY Times article on the inequities of internships is not news to me; if you can afford it and tolerate it, sure, go for the unpaid internship for the opportunities and experiences. But, it ain’t a fun thing when you’re not earning money and need a living or else trying to justify a living without that feeling of being exploited. To me, unpaid internships are just part and parcel of the haves vs. the have-nots. Take them or leave them, I guess.

Boy, this NY Times editorial on the selection of Alan Keyes as the Republican candidate in Illinois’ US Senate race is just a tad harsh. Just a tad. And, really, how many editorials refer to… Mighty Mouse and Obi Wan Kenobi in the same sentence? –>

“In the noble tradition of the Marquis de Lafayette, the Seven Samurai, Mighty Mouse and Obi-Wan Kenobi, Alan Keyes is leaving home to go to the aid of a pitiable band of outgunned, hopeless supplicants: the Illinois Republican Party.”

Umm, ok. Whoever in the editorial board thought this up gets extra credit points for ingenuity.

Associated Press, via CNN, reports of cannabilism at a wedding banquet in the Phillippines. Guests were too drunk to realize what was happening… oh, good grief, where do these news guys get this stuff?

Tonight (8/10/04) Charlie Rose on PBS doing an interesting profile of Japan, coinciding with the anniversary of the WWII nuclear bombing – touching on politics and cultural topics. And, I’ll end on that positive note.