Thinking Chaos, Thinking Fences

July 30, 2003

What a Waste of Gunpowder and Sky Right now I'm listening to the final moments of the first evening of Benson & Hedges Symphony of Fire. This runs for four evenings over the next week and a half, and brings much of downtown Vancouver to a standstill. Ever since 1984, I've never had much use for fireworks. I specifically remember being ten years old and watching the closing ceremonies of the Summer Olympics in LA. They offered something like 27 minutes of continuous fireworks. I was underwhelmed, and have been ever since. I know I sound like a curmudgeon, but I just don't see the point of this event. It's not bringing tourists to the city. It's not particularly benefitting the local businesses (regardless, they're business that don't need much help). It's certainly not earning the city international prestige. How many times have you said 'man, I really envy that Milan and its kick-ass fireworks'? Mostly it seems like a big tax write-off for a tobacco company. The title of this entry is from a great Aimee Mann song entitled 4th of July: Today's the fourth of July another June has gone by and when they light up our town I just think what a waste of gunpowder and sky 10:31:23 PM        Music The Arts Vancouver

Link Round-up It's that time again, dear readers. The big ol' link round-up: USB Vibe (includes a 6.5 ft cable) Disposable digital cameras. Live Norah Jones. She ain't no Ella Fitzgerald, but she'll do. A particularly fine trailer review of Tomb Raider 2, which reflects my comments. Donna (of Arwen.org fame), has started AskDonna.org, an 'advice column about sex, relationships and technology.' I await answers to my queries on single sign-on integration and popular opinions about doggie style. Please make it stop. 7:58:23 PM        Link Round-up Mixed Bag

New Movie Trend: Sell Crap for Cash In what can only be a preemptive strike against movie piracy, film and television studios are seeking new sources of revenue. As Slashdot reports, there's a mondo online auction starting tomorrow that features a vast array of sci-fi stuff. Buy Cyclops's visor, Battlestar Galactica costumes and (they've only got this priced at US $500 - $1000!) Rebecca Romjin-Stamos's 'breast appliances' and wig from X-men. You'd have to pay me US $2000 - $3000 grand to walk away with Dennis Hopper's outfit from Waterworld. This comes on the heels of the successful and opportunistic Buffy Auction. Three rubber stakes for a mere US $5600. Paramount recently had a massive costume and prop sale here in Vancouver. Why it was here, I have no idea. Things were pretty picked over by the time I got there, but I did get a cool CAN $7 shirt. 2:14:11 PM        Movies

Dirty, Dirty Hollywood Gossip I'm trying to consume as little celebrity-related information as is humanly possible, but the Geocities, homespun charm of the A List forced me to give it a read. I expect very little of it is true, but its so thorough that a bit of it must be. It reads like Satan's checklist: Bateman, Justine: Linked with Richard Dean Anderson and Leif Garrett. Bernsen, Corbin: Philanderer. Vain. Linked with Amanda Pays and Vanna White. Curtis, Jamie Lee: Pothead. Recovering drug and alcohol addict. Married to Christopher Guest. Linked with Adam Ant. Williams, Billy Dee: Abuser of women. Usher: Diva. I was going to quote the Warren Beatty entry, but predictably, it was too lengthy. Sticking with this week's sudden lesbian theme, I notice that this page's author uses L_____, B_______ and $cientologist to replace 'lesbian', 'bisexual' and 'scientologist'. Is this an anti-Google tactic? Does she not want to endorse those practices? What's up with that? I think this came from the excellent Tagliners.org, which also sends us to this excellent Onion article: 'Gigli Focus Group Demand New Ending In Which Both Affleck and Lopez Die'. Amen. 1:59:58 PM        Mixed Bag Movies