More on the Monorail fire

by

Earlier today, I linked to a breaking story about a fire on the Seattle Monorail — at the time, it was only an hour old — in my linklog.

Now that I’m home, I took some time to go through the various stories on the local news sites: KOMO’s story has been updated, plus KING5, an AP story printed verbatim in both the Seattle Times and the Seattle PI (I found it quite odd that the two competing local papers, rather than doing their own reporting, ran the identical AP story), plus one from CNN that Prairie pointed out.

Sounds like quite the freaky event, there — and, unfortunately, one certain to be hounded upon by the anti-monorail crowd in town, especially combined with two monorail stalls earlier in the year. (Ahem, and ahem.) Me, I’m somewhat amazed that there are as few problems as there are, considering how much mileage is put on those trains!

Amusingly enough, while talking with Prairie about the stories, where her reaction was to be a little freaked out and quite glad she wasn’t around, my first reaction was, “Well, no-one got hurt. Wish I’d been there with my camera!”

I’m such a boy sometimes.

iTunes: “Starsign” by Apoptygma Berzerk from the album Welcome to Earth (2000, 5:35).

Memorial Day

by

To dad, any of my relatives living or deceased that served, and to all those serving now…

Thanks.

And now, while the rest of you enjoy your holiday — I’m off to work.

Whee.

Can Bush do anything but lie?

by

The Washington Post takes a look at the slew of false advertising coming out of the Bush administration:

It was a typical week in the life of the Bush reelection machine.

Last Monday in Little Rock, Vice President Cheney said Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kerry “has questioned whether the war on terror is really a war at all” and said the senator from Massachusetts “promised to repeal most of the Bush tax cuts within his first 100 days in office.”

On Tuesday, President Bush’s campaign began airing an ad saying Kerry would scrap wiretaps that are needed to hunt terrorists.

The same day, the Bush campaign charged in a memo sent to reporters and through surrogates that Kerry wants to raise the gasoline tax by 50 cents.

On Wednesday and Thursday, as Kerry campaigned in Seattle, he was greeted by another Bush ad alleging that Kerry now opposes education changes that he supported in 2001.

The charges were all tough, serious — and wrong, or at least highly misleading. Kerry did not question the war on terrorism, has proposed repealing tax cuts only for those earning more than \$200,000, supports wiretaps, has not endorsed a 50-cent gasoline tax increase in 10 years, and continues to support the education changes, albeit with modifications.

Of course, as Tom Schaller points out on Daily Kos, it would be pretty damn difficult for Bush to run any campaign ads that actually told the truth about what he’s done for this country.

iTunes: “Ship Song, The” by Concrete Blonde from the album Still in Hollywood (1992, 4:20).

On motivating your actors

by

While filming the new Harry Potter film:

…during filming, when [director Alfonzo] Cuaron needed [Daniel] Radcliffe to convey the proper look of astonishment, he took his young charge aside and coached: “Pretend you’re seeing Cameron Diaz in a G-string.” (Cuaron: “It worked. I’ll let audiences guess what shot it is. I don’t want everyone thinking about Cameron Diaz in a G-string.”)

iTunes: “Dance or Die” by Dance or Die from the album German Mystic Sound Sampler Vol. II (1989, 4:05).

Bush displays Saddam’s gun as trophy

by

Bill Clinton got his rocks off in the Oval Office and lied about it to the American people. He [nearly]{.underline} got impeached.

George Bush got his rocks off in Iraq and lied about it to the American people. He got a souvenir.

A handgun that Saddam Hussein was clutching when U.S. forces captured him in a hole in Iraq last December is now kept by President Bush at the White House, Time magazine reported Sunday.

[…]

Bush shows Saddam’s gun to select visitors, telling them it is unloaded, both now and when Saddam was captured, Time reported.

“He really liked showing it off,” Time quoted a visitor who had seen the gun as saying. “He was really proud of it.”

Sick and wrong.

(via Daily Kos, with thanks to 60s Reloaded for the initial 2-line summary)

Folklife 2004

by

A few shots from wandering around the Folklife festival at Seattle Center today, since our “mostly cloudy” day soon turned into “mostly sunny” and it seemed like a good way to spend a sunny Sunday afternoon.

Folklife 2004 #1

Gold old down-home Americana — The Kitchen Syncopation.

Folklife 2004 #2

What’s quickly becoming a cliché in my photo subjects: children playing in the International Fountain.

Folklife 2004 #3

Two little girls learning how to dance (or if not actually learning, having a lot of fun doing their best).

Folklife 2004 #4

He was just sitting on the bench, watching the world go by. I’m guessing his owner was somewhere in the vicinity.

Folklife 2004 #5

Lots of creatively dressed punk/alternative teens were collected on the lawn by the International Fountain.

Folklife 2004 #6

And one last “playing in the fountain” photo to wind things up.

Old friends

by

Got to hang out with Rebecca and her husband Gary and their friends Karla and Jeremy at the Vogue tonight. Was great to see Rebecca again — we got to talking about it, and we figured that the last time I saw her she wasn’t even old enough to vote, let alone get into a bar! Too funny.

Bounced around and caught up with each other at the Vogue, then we all grabbed breakfast at IHOP, drove around for a bit chatting and listening to Plaid (a group that she wanted to introduce me to), and then it was off to our respective homes.

All in all, a good night.

iTunes: “Hothead (La Langue d’Amour)” by Anderson, Laurie from the album United States Live (1984, 4:47).

We Interrupt This Broadcast

by

Mom and dad sent me a wonderful present for my birthday that just arrived in the mail a couple of days ago. It’s a book called We Interrupt This Broadcast, a collection of news events that shocked the world. In addition to essays for each event looking at the events of the time that influenced what happened and the details of each event, from the Hindenburg explosion to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11th, 2001, the book comes with two audio CDs with the actual radio and television broadcasts that went out over the airwaves. Wonderful, fascinating stuff.

Reading through the introduction by Walter Cronkite, I was struck by his description of his on-air announcement of the death of President John F. Kennedy…

As is the nature of many events which warrant interrupting broadcasts, I also was there to report on the terrible tragedies.

Our flash reporting the shots fired at President John F. Kennedy’s motorcade was heard over the “CBS News Bulletin” slide and interrupted the soap opera As the World Turns.

For the first hour, I reported sketchy details to a nation in shock. Then came the report from Eddie Barker, news chief of our Dallas affiliate, and Bob Pierpoint, our White House correspondent. They had learned the President was dead. We were still debating in New York whether we should put such a portentous but unofficial bulletin on the air when, within minutes, the hospital issued a bulletin confirming the news. It fell to me to make the announcement.

My emotions were doing fine until it was necessary to pronounce the words: “From Dallas, Texas, the flash — apparently official. President Kennedy died at 1 p.m. central standard time — a half hour ago…”

The words stuck in my throat. A sob wanted to replace them. A gulp or two quashed the sob, which metamorphosed into tears forming in the corners of my eyes. I fought back the emotion and regained my professionalism, but it would be a few seconds before I could continue: “Vice President Johnson has left the hospital in Dallas, but we do not know to where he has proceeded. Presumably, he will be taking the oath of office shortly, and become the thirty-sixth President of the United States.”

Reading that, and remembering other accounts of how the nation reacted to the news of his death, it hit me that I can’t think of a single President since JFK who would inspire such loyalty and love in the nation. I wonder how long it’s going to be before we as a nation are able to respect our leaders, our nation, and ourselves like that again. For the curious, here’s a complete list of events covered in the third revision of the book:

  • The Hindenburg Explosion
  • Pearl Harbor Under Attack
  • D-Day: The Normandy Invasion
  • President Roosevelt Dies
  • V-E Day: War in Europe Ends
  • Truman Defeats Dewey
  • General MacArthur Fired
  • Sputnik Launched by Soviets
  • John Glenn Orbits Earth
  • Marilyn Monroe Dies
  • Cuban Missile Crisis: Nuclear War Threatened
  • President Kennedy Assassinated
  • Lee Harvey Oswald Assassinated
  • President Johnson Declines Reelection Bid.
  • Martin Luther King Jr. Assassinated
  • Robert Kennedy Assassinated
  • Apollo 11: Man Walks on the Moon
  • Apollo 13: Astronauts Escape Disaster
  • Kent State Massacre
  • Munich Olympics Tragedy
  • Nixon Resigns
  • Saigon Falls
  • Elvis Dies
  • Iran Hostage Crisis
  • John Lennon Assassinated
  • President Reagan Shot
  • The Challenger Explodes
  • Berlin Wall Crumbles
  • Operation Desert Storm Begins
  • Rodney King Verdict Incites Riots
  • Waco Standoff Ends in Disaster
  • O.J. Simpson Saga
  • Oklahoma City Bombing
  • Flight 800 Explodes Over Atlantic
  • Atlanta Olympics Bombing
  • Princess Diana Dies
  • The Impeachment of President Clinton
  • Tragedy at Columbine High School
  • John F. Kennedy Jr. Dies
  • The 2000 Election
  • America Under Attack

Also possibly of interest: Where Were You?, a post where I look back on what I remember of historical events that have occurred in my lifetime, and encourage readers to do the same.

iTunes: “Sad and Damned” by Nymphs from the album Earphoria (1991, 2:59).

Trailers that caught my eye

by

Three trailers caught my eye today while I was waiting for The Day After Tomorrow to start.

Collateral: Tom Cruise finally loses the floppy in-the-face haircut, gains a more hard-edged look, and becomes a bad guy. Not sure one way or the other right now, but it didn’t get dismissed immediately.

Alexander: Oliver Stone biopic of Alexander the Great. I waffle back and forth on Oliver Stone’s films, but I’m betting that at the very least, he’ll be able to churn something out that’s both more entertaining and more accurate than Troy ended up being. Besides, the cast list (Colin Farrell, Jared Leto, Anthony Hopkins, Angelina Jolie, Val Kilmer) looks pretty decent, and I’m just happy about seeing Val Kilmer showing up in something again.

The Stepford Wives: Sure, this one’s been on my radar for a while now, but this is the first time I’d actually seen a full trailer. Having done so, I have to admit, I’m a lot less trepidatious about the film than I was before. Not only does presenting it as a comedy rather than as a thriller look more likely, but I noticed quite a few shots in the trailer that look to be practically lifted directly from the original movie, so they’re apparently making an attempt to respect the original film version, rather than just reworking the original novel entirely from scratch. Definitely encouraging.

iTunes: “Burn the Beat” by Jams, The from the album History of the Jams, The (1987, 6:31).