A Bowl of Stupid

I’m thinking maybe I should see a doctor – it’s been 3 days and I still feel like crap. In the meantime, have a peaceful, happy, and prosperous new year. Cheers, mates! Now let’s dance! C’mon, … S…. A…. F…. E….

During my three day stint with stomach flu (from which I’m just now recovering), I had a whole bunch of “down time.” Due to the combination of my fever and low blood sugar, any attempt at reading made my head spin at intolerable speeds.

As a result, I was left only with the option of watching my 55″ TV, which didn’t cause my head to spin at such an intolerable pace. However, I bought my TV before I knew the contents of the Miami basic cable market. As aptly described by Votar:

Thanks to COMCAST Cable, the bulk of the bandwidth available for basic cable service in South Florida is dominated by variety shows populated with old hispanic men in bee costumes and skinny hispanic underage dancing girls dressed like prostitutes.

For that reason, I gave up on Miami television about 2 years ago. Instead, I order from Netflix copious amounts of movies, television shows, and virtually anything else on DVD other than “Sabado Gigante.” The catch to this plan is that I must leave my couch to insert and remove said DVD’s. This is typically not a problem, however I was not really capable of moving more that 2 inches at a time yesterday.

Solution, my friend and neighbor is away on vacation, so I crashed on his couch for about 20 hours watching and sleeping through what felt like every movie and discovery channel special ever produced.

(There’s a point to this, I swear…)

The 2 movies that I was semi-conscious through were Serenity (it’s the law, I had to stay awake for that), and for some reason, The Chronicles of Narnia. With Narnia, I was in and out throughout the movie (my sincere apologies to the family of C.S. Lewis), but I woke up just in time for the end credits.

As I have mentioned before, I am a fan of Kevin Smith. (trust me, I’m going somewhere with this …)

At the end of his movie Dogma, Alanis Morissette gave both a cameo appearance (portraying God) and an accompanying song for the film’s end credits, called “Still.” “Still” is a great song in its own right, however, Alanis also wrote and performed a song for the end credits of Narnia.

Turns out, she was nominated for a Golden Globe for the song. I stumbled across a performance of the song that she gave on Jay Leno. It’s not a video, per se. However, the lyrics reach into the fabric of the movie (as did those of “Still”); it’s a great showcase for her voice; and she, as always, looks spectacular (even with blond hair).

Alanis Morissette – Wunderkind

Once again, YouTube has removed this original video — taken from a goddamn television show — for alleged copyright infringement. Don’t they realize this simply reduces public exposure, and therefore … their profit margins? Whatever. Just for consistency, and in case anyone ever reads this buried post, I’m replacing it with a homemade video of the same song. Sans Alanis.

P.S. Even with a lingering fever and low blood sugar, I still made it out into the water today to surf for a bit (it was chest high and it’s Miami Beach, c’mon!)

I’m not sure how they do this, but it’s a good piece of programming!

When you move the mouse around, the avatar’s eyes follow the pointer. When you write something in the left space and then click on “Say it,” she says it! You can also change persons doing the talking and the language they speak.

Technology, it’s wonderful!

Maybe he’s a grandmother in the Ukraine.

 
As you may recall, when President Bush’s invasion of Iraq, codenamed “Operation Iraqi Freedom”, officially began on March 20, 2003, the three (3) stated objectives were “to disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction (WMD’s), to end Saddam Hussein’s support for terrorism, and to free the Iraqi people” (emphasis supplied).

Well, we all know about the non-existent WMD’s (via BBC), and that Hussein had no ties to Al-Qaeda (via WaPo).

Now, it seems that the death toll from “Operation Iraqi Freedom” may, in fact, be more than in 25 years of Saddam brutality.

Several weeks ago, research published in the respected medical journal, The Lancet (pdf file), suggests that an estimated 655,000 Iraqis may have died since the 2003 Iraqi invasion. The survey compared mortality rates before and after the war from 47 randomly chosen areas in Iraq. The overall fatality figure is far higher than estimates by official sources or the number of deaths reported in the media and by other lobby or academic groups. (via BBC News)

Strike three? Not so fast.

Earlier today Saddam Hussein was executed by the Iraqi government. The execution came 56 days after a court convicted Saddam and sentenced him to death for his role in the killings of 148 Shiite Muslims from Dujail. Iraq’s highest court rejected Saddam’s appeal Monday and ordered him executed within 30 days.

President Bush said in a statement issued from his ranch in Texas that bringing Saddam to justice “is an important milestone on Iraq’s course to becoming a democracy that can govern, sustain and defend itself, and be an ally in the war on terror.”

The irony and the hubris is incredible.

At this point, U.S. soldiers continue to be killed in droves, with December being the deadliest month in Iraq for U.S. troops. (via Yahoo). Who here thinks that number is going to go down because Hussein was executed?

I shed no tears for Saddam Hussein, but the taking of one despicable life is rarely justification for the almost guaranteed loss of many other innocent ones.

UPDATE: This is another interesting analysis of the execution by Josh Marshall over at the Talking Points Memo — “I just find it embarrassing. This is what we’re reduced to, what the president has reduced us to. This is the best we can do. Hang Saddam Hussein because there’s nothing else this president can get right.”

In honor of the stomach flu that ambushed me this afternoon, I’m posting A.C. Newman’s “Miracle Drug.” It’s not the actual video. In fact, I’m not sure what the fuck it is. But considering the room is spinning – it’ll have to do.

Entangled on the huge morass of the annual “year-end reviews” is this snippet from Tony Hung at The Blog Herald, discussing the phenomena of online video that has occurred over the past year. He notes that:

While privacy advocates complain that making everyone a video publisher is a quick ticket to privacy disasters, I think the flip side is that it creates a sense of accountability on behalf of people who need it the most — politicians. And they need to be aware that you can’t change the nature of this ‘reality’ any more either. More than blog postings, viral video has the potential to circle the world many times over, and its just in its infancy.

However, the phenomena does not live in a vacuum. And what sounds good in theory does not always present itself in the real world. Just look at what has occurred with respect to YouTube’s own internal policies since being purchased earlier this year. Not everyone is Craig Newmark, including me.

As an attorney, one of the biggest issues I see with this type of public hosting of proprietary media is the one the RIAA has been facing for years – the unauthorized use and/or copying of content that has been made public (in this case, on YouTube and others) under a proprietary license. In other words, the price for posting your videos for the world to see is that you essentially lose your rights to capitalize on that video, if possible (unless you chose to remove it). It’s a double-edged sword.

It will be interesting to see if the full force of the “digital rights management” measures, such as those the recording industry has pushed for, will eventually make their way into the arena of “user-generated” media as well. For now, most users seem content to simply get their voice heard, but how long will that last when those same users attempt to make money off of their content?

Don’t get me wrong, I think there can be, and NEEDS needs to be, a happy balance struck between getting paid for practicing your craft while allowing your fans the ability to enjoy same relatively unfettered. If not, we’ll continue to be stuck in the shallow end of the “arts” gene pool – with Britteny, Kevin and Jessica.

If anyone knows anything more about this issue, please let me know. I’m curious to see if anyone has already addressed the matter in further detail.

For anyone without electricity … well, you’re not reading this anyway, so I’ll move on.

Okay, for anyone else still playing along, chances are that you’ve at least heard of Gnarls Barkley, a “group” essentially comprised of DJ/producer Danger Mouse (Brian Burton) and rapper/singer Cee-Lo Green (Thomas Callaway). They released their first album, St. Elsewhere, in April 2006 and have been pretty-much everywhere ever since. They were nominated for a Grammy, they won Best Song for “Crazy” and the Future Sounds award at MTV’s European Music Awards, and they’re one of the trippiest psychedelic pop, hip-hop, soul, rock “groups” that have come out lately.

In my opinion, they fully acknowledge the ridiculous “carnival-like” nature the music scene has taken on and, as such, don’t seem to take themselves too seriously. To wit, they have a propensity to appear in costume. For each live performance, as well as for photo shoots and interviews, they dress in a different set of themed costumes. When performing live, they often open with a cover suited to their particular costume. For example, when they appeared as chefs in San Francisco, they opened with a cover of Duran Duran’s “Hungry Like the Wolf.”

Or they could just be a bunch of loonies.

Anyway, although I typically shy away from remakes and covers (especially if they’re of punk icons like the Violent Femmes), this is one of the few I actually like. Mostly because the video is really, REALLY, REEHEAL-LY trippy (and it’s one of the only videos I can remember referencing David Fincher’s classic sex scene from “Fight Club”).

Gone Daddy Gone – Gnarls Barkley

As you may recall, last week the L.A. Times reported that, after years of diligent work by the U.S. government to eradicate drugs, the No. 1 cash crop in America is … wait for it … Marijuana. (via L.A. Times and William K. Wolfrum)

Now the kicker. A study says 94 percent of all euro bank notes currently in Spain have traces of cocaine on them because of their use in drug trafficking. This follows a 2003 survey found that most Euro bank notes in Germany showed similar traces of the narcotic, and a 1999 report in London found that 99 percent of all 5-Pound notes had cocaine traces. (via UPI and Crooks and Liars)

Now I guess the real question for New Years Ever is: “Do I relax here in the U.S. and eat a truckload of Twinkies watching Pink Floyd’s ‘The Wall’ for the 100th time, or do I go to Europe and stay up partying for 3 days straight?”

I know, it’s a conundrum.

Arctic Monkeys is an indie/punk band from Sheffield, England, that carries a sound quality well beyond their relative youth. They have achieved some recent success only through fan-made demo tapes and online file-sharing, with fans singing along at gigs of songs which had never been officially released (think Clap Your Hands Say Yeah).

Although the band initially resisted signing to a record label, they eventually signed to independent label Domino Records, releasing their first album Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not earlier this year.

The album charted at number one and broke the record for the largest first week sales of a debut album in UK history. The band subsequently won several major music awards. They have also been awarded Album of the Year in a variety of music forums.

Given their reluctance for self-promotion, most of their best songs are available on video only via live performances.

UPDATE: I wasn’t aware of this when I posted this yesterday, but in the latest issue of Time Magazine (where I was named person of the year, thank you very little), this Album was named the number one of the year. Go figure.

Arctic Monkeys – From The Ritz To The Rubble (Live)

An Iraqi appeals court today upheld Saddam Hussein’s death sentence for crimes against humanity. The Appeals Court ruled that Hussein should be hanged within 30 days. Via Reuters:

“The appeal court has approved the death sentence. They (the government) has the right to choose the date starting from tomorrow up to 30 days. After 30 days it will be an obligation to implement the sentence,” the head of the Iraqi High Tribunal, Aref Abdul-Razzaq al-Shahin, told a news conference.

Saddam, 69, was sentenced to death on Nov. 5 for crimes against humanity over the killings of 148 Shi’ites from the town of Dujail after he escaped assassination there in 1982.

Saddam’s half-brother Barzan al-Tikriti and former judge Awad al-Bander also received the death penalty for their part in the incident. The court also rejected their appeals.

The court recommended toughening the sentence on former Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan, who had been sentenced to life in prison over the Dujail killings, saying he should also be executed.

“Amnesty International is very disappointed about this decision,” a spokeswoman for the human rights organization said.

“We are against the death penalty as a matter of principle but particularly in this case because it comes after a flawed trial.”

Saddam’s chief defense counsel Khalil al-Dulaimi told Reuters from Amman: “If they dare implement the sentence it will be a catastrophe for the region and will only deepen the sectarian infighting.” (emphasis supplied)

As Hussain’s attorney, al-Dulaimi may be saying this in an attempt to obtain a reduced penalty or some other sort of reprieve for his client. However, given the current state of affairs in the region, there is also some validity to his point. Other commentators have also pointed out that the entire region is dangerously close to an full-on sectarian blow-out. Hussain’s death could be just the factor that tips the region into overall chaos.

I wonder if the Bush Administration factored this little nugget into their post-invasion “plan” as well. What a jackass.

I’m going to start looking for a real job again.

I’d prefer to do something outside of the law (over the 10 years I practiced, I did all types of law – from real estate to corporate to litigation). However, lately I have been reminded that, despite my contempt with much of the practice of law, it may still be possible to get a legal job that may not turn my stomach and/or ruin me financially. Unfortunately, at this point, all I know is that I don’t think I can continue as a strict “entrepreneur,” nor do I want to go back to the traditional practice of law.

That being said, I’m starting to become a real advocate of the whole “blogging community” idea. As aptly noted by my new blog-acquaintance Cooqy: “Blogging in isolation is rather pointless.”

Indeed. The number of people I have met – in the past month alone – by way of blogs, either mine or theirs, has been awesome.

And they have been most gracious.

Upon rethinking my position on employment, I’ve had offers of guidance and/or assistance from several of these new acquaintances. For example, Stephanie Green over at The Dishalicious kindly suggested that I consider looking into positions with the ADL, EPA or ACLU, all of whom do great work. She also suggested attempting to integrate my desire to read/write/edit with my legal experience, perhaps as a literary agent or libel lawyer (getting to read books all day!)

These are all great ideas I probably would not have thought of on my own. And I’m looking for more. If anyone else has any ideas, I would be eternally grateful for any comments, suggestions, or connections (ahem) you may have in this regard.

But who knows, there’s already been one Hunter S. Thomson, and the world needs its janitors too.

I’ve not been much of a fan of most organized sports ever since I turned in my football pads for surfboards, skateboards, and snowboards about 20 years ago. That being said, having grown up in Philadelphia, I still have a place in my heart for Philly sports teams – but only when they’re winning.

Please don’t take that the wrong way, that form of “fandom” is a long-standing tradition with Philly fans.

I remember once when I was a kid, at a game where Mike Schmidt hit 3 home runs, he was actually booed off the field after striking out in the 9th inning. I also remember the team had to suspend for several years the service of beer at The Vet (Stadium) after a particularly ugly “bat night” event (where they give away free bats to the first 1000 visitors or so). After that, they set up a free-standing courtroom in the stadium to handle any “issues” that came up during games. Nice, huh?

Anywho, back to the subject at hand – not that I’ve watched one game this season, but it turns out that yesterday the Eagles beat one of their traditional rivals, the Cowboys. As noted by Yahoo Sports, the Eagles denied Dallas the division crown and wrapped up a playoff berth of their own with a dominating 23-7 victory over the Cowboys in Irving, Texas.

Yea! Way to go – good job getting to the Playoffs! Don’t fuck it up.