Enthusiastically Ambiverted Hopepunk
(Just after a customer picks up a job…)
“That guy looked familiar.”
“Yeah, I had the same thought.”
“I think he was in a band.”
“…wasn’t everyone in Seattle in a band at some point?”
“Good point.”
(A few minutes later…)
“Ha! I was right!”
“Really?”
“Yup — he was in the Murder City Devils.”
“Good eye.”
It’s plug time!
I’ve been hanging out on the TypePad User Group for a while now. It’s a great little resource for TypePad users — entirely unofficial, but a good place to go as a first resource for figuring out issues with coding and maintaining TypePad weblogs.
We’ve noticed that while there are a lot more TypePad weblogs popping up, it’s lost some of the “community” feel that it had in the beta test days, and it was suggested that…well, I’ll let authenticgeek speak for himself:
I think this forum is an awesome place to get info about TypePad.
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There is just one small problem, TypePad is growing at such an huge rate and we’re not getting as many new users as we should be. Sure, it’s not a requirement to show up here if you’re on TypePad but I think there are people out there that should know about this place that don’t.
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Any ideas for how we can better get the word out to new TypePad users? We could even talk to Ben/Mena about possibly getting an official link here from the TypePad site since I’m sure they don’t have the time to answer so many little questions about CSS and whatnot.
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I’m going to make another post on my blog to remind people (the few who read) about this place. I urge other members (especially people with massive hits ahem djwudi…) to do the same and submit any other means for spreading the word.
See? They just want me for my potential hit-generating ability…;)
All joking aside, it is a good place to go for information, questions and answers. Feel free to drop on by.
This may seem a bit off, this time of year — more appropriate for Halloween, perhaps — but the story fascinated me…
Closed-circuit security cameras at Hampton Court Palace, the huge Tudor castle outside London, seem to have snagged an ethereal visitor. Could it be a ghost?
“We’re baffled too — it’s not a joke, we haven’t manufactured it,” said Vikki Wood, a Hampton Court spokeswoman, when asked if the photo the palace released was a Christmas hoax. “We genuinely don’t know who it is or what it is.”
Wood said security guards had seen the figure in closed-circuit television footage after checking it to see who kept leaving open one of the palace’s fire doors.
In the still photograph, the figure of a man in a robe-like garment is shown stepping from the shadowy doorway, one arm reaching out for the door handle.
The area around the man is somewhat blurred, and his face appears unnaturally white compared with his outstretched hand.
“It was incredibly spooky because the face just didn’t look human,” said James Faukes, one of the palace security guards.
“My first reaction was that someone was having a laugh, so I asked my colleagues to take a look. We spoke to our costumed guides, but they don’t own a costume like that worn by the figure. It is actually quite unnerving,” Faukes said.
(via Prairie)
Well, it’s done. Prairie and I just got back from seeing The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King at the Cinerama.
I read something earlier this week on the ‘net. Unfortunately, I can’t remember where, so I can’t give attribution — but it’s a statement that I can now say quite safely that I wholeheartedly agree with. Until this year, had someone mentioned The Trilogy in conversation so that you could hear the capital ‘t’s, it would have been fairly understood that they most likely were talking about Star Wars.
Not anymore. LotR:TRotK caps off the new reigning champion of popular cinematic trilogys in grand style.
Prairie and I had tickets to the 7:45pm showing, but we knew that this being opening weekend we’d want to get there fairly early to ensure good seats. So, after an early bed last night and a good night’s sleep, we packed up our supplies (books for each of us, an umbrella, and two collapsible chairs from the trunk of her car), we headed down to the Cinerama at 4pm. We weren’t sure at first whether that might have been a bit too early, but as it turns out, our instincts were right on the money, as we ended up about 15 people back from the front of the line (in fact, we realized that we’d ended up waiting at almost exactly the same spot for all three weeks of our LotR experience), and it wasn’t more than about five minutes before more people showed up and took the spots right behind us.
Luckily enough, it turned out to be a nicely mild evening, without the wind and drizzling rain of last weekend. We’d each bundled up for the wait, and ended up spending a very pleasant three hours kicked back in our spot, chatting, reading, and watching the line grow behind us as more and more people appeared. About ten minutes before the doors opened I took a few minutes to stretch my legs and went off to find the end of the line…which had wrapped down from the Cinerama to the corner, around the corner, and then halfway again down the length of the block. We were quite happy we decided to come out as early as we did!
About the only downside was that when we arrived, there was one guy just ahead of us in line — but by the time the doors were about to open, he’d been joined by five of his friends (and this had also happened with a few other people ahead of us in line, and just behind us as well). I can certainly understand holding a spot in line for one friend, but it’s nothing but annoying when someone holds a spot at the beginning of the line for groups of people, who can then show up not more than ten minutes before the doors open and slide into line in front of people who’d been waiting there for hours. Very rude, and quite aggravating — luckily for them, I didn’t think my umbrella would stand up to smacking all six of them around, so I kept my peace.
Still, once the doors opened and the line surged forward, we made our way in and managed to snag good seats yet again — dead center, six rows back on the lower level (just one row closer to the screen than last week, and two rows closer than we were for Fellowship — thank goodness it’s only a trilogy!). After that, it was just a matter of waiting for everyone to fill in and find their seats, until eventually, the lights went down, and applause and cheers filled the room.
We were treated to three trailers before the show started. The first was for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, which got applause and cheers from the audience. Next up was a trailer for The Mask is Back, which had the audience in dumbfounded silence until the end, when the auditorium was filled with a resounding chorus of boos and catcalls (which did something to restore some of my faith in the intelligence of the moviegoing public — or at least that section of the moviegoing public crazy enough to stand in line for LotR:TRotK on its first weekend). Last up was a trailer for The Butterfly Effect, which didn’t get much of a reaction at all (the trailers don’t impress me much, but I am interested in the premise of the film, so we’ll see how that goes once it opens).
Finally, the lights went down all the way, and the movie began… Rather than jumping straight into the action as was done with LotR:TTT, LotR:TRotK starts off with a look back long before the events of the trilogy, fleshing out Gollum’s background and showing the discovery of the Ring and the tragic events surrounding Smeagol’s acquisition of his “birthday present” from his brother Deagol. A marvelously creepy sequence shows us Smeagol’s deterioration into Gollum under the influence of the Ring, until we finally cut forward to hear Gollum muttering to himself as Sam and Frodo rest on their journey into Mordor.
(Note: much of the following text is “spoiler” information, which I’ve hidden for the time being — just swipe the blank areas of the text with your cursor if you’ve already seen the film….)
This is by far the most intense of the three films, moving back and forth among multiple storylines, hardships, moments of despair, and sudden triumphs. As jaw-dropping as the assault on Helms Deep was in LotR:TTT, the assault on Minis Tirith puts it to shame. There were so many wonderful (and wonderfully horrible) moments in the battles, from the Orc commander’s call to “release the prisoners” (at which point the severed heads of fallen Gondorian soldiers were lobbed into Minas Tirith), to the appearance of the giant war-Olifaunts, to Eowyn’s stand against the Nazgul king — “I am no man!” — (which got one of the loudest cheers from the audience) that I’m going to have to see it at least once more in the theaters just to start to take it all in. One amusing side-note about the Orc commander, though — I’d always wondered just what happened to Sloth after Goonies ended…and now I know!
Shelob was everything I’d been hoping she’d be, marvelously frightening and menacing. Her sudden appearance from the hole in the cave wall just when you think that Frodo made it through her lair safely got a wonderful gasp, and the scene where she hovers over Frodo was perfectly done! Everyone in the audience was on the edge of their seat, with nervous laughter filling the room from the tension of the moment…and when she finally strikes, everyone gasped and laughed with the sudden release of that tension — until the sudden realization hit that Frodo had been stung, when the entire auditorium fell dead silent.
I loved, loved, loved the look of the army of the dead that Aragorn confronts.
The interaction among Gollum, Frodo and Sam, as Gollum uses the effects of the ring to aid him in his own treachery was handled perfectly, so much so that it almost hurt to watch as his efforts took hold.
All in all, a truly masterful achievement. But, as the saying goes, all good things must come to an end, and — save looking forward to the release of the Extended Edition on DVD next November — the journey is finally finished. The credits rolled, the lights came up, and we left the theater, at first with little more than “Oh, wow,” on our lips. Next out from Prairie was, “I want to go back to stand in line and see it again!” I can’t really argue with that!
Congratulations, Peter Jackson (and everyone else involved) — you’ve filmed what was commonly held to be an unfilmable work. Now, would someone please release the rights so that he can do The Hobbit?!? I want to see Smaug on screen!
More good news from the legal front: the US 2^nd^ Court of Appeals has just ruled in Jose Padilla vs. Donald Rumsfeld (188k .pdf) that Jose’s dentention was unconstitutional.
From the introduction:
We also conclude that Padilla’s detention was not authorized by Congress, and absent such authorization, the President does not have the power under Article II of the Constitution to detain as an enemy combatant an American citizen seized on American soil outside a zone of combat.
As this Court sits only a short distance from where the World Trade Center once stood, we are as keenly aware as anyone of the threat al Qaeda poses to our country and of the responsibilities the President and law enforcement officials bear for protecting the nation. But presidential authority does not exist in a vacuum, and this case involves not whether those responsibilities should be aggressively pursued, but whether the President is obligated, in the circumstances presented here, to share them with Congress.
And from the conclusion (emphasis mine):
In sum, we hold that (1) Donna Newman, Esq., may pursue habeas relief on behalf of Jose Padilla; (2) Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld is a proper respondent to the habeas petition and the District Court had personal jurisdiction over him; (3) in the domestic context, the President’s inherent constitutional powers do not extend to the detention as an enemy combatant of an American citizen seized within the country away from a zone of combat; (4) the Non-Detention Act prohibits the detention of American citizens without express congressional authorization; and (5) neither the Joint Resolution nor 10 U.S.C. § 956(5) constitutes such authorization under section 4001(a). These conclusions are compelled by the constitutional and statutory provisions we have discussed above. The offenses Padilla is alleged to have committed are heinous crimes severely punishable under the criminal laws. Further, under those laws the Executive has the power to protect national security and the classified information upon which it depends. See, e.g., 18 U.S.C. app. § 3. And if the President believes this authority to be insufficient, he can ask Congress—which has shown its responsiveness—to authorize additional powers. To reiterate, we remand to the District Court with instructions to issue a writ of habeas corpus directing the Secretary of Defense to release Padilla from military custody within 30 days. The government can transfer Padilla to appropriate civilian authorities who can bring criminal charges against him. Also, if appropriate, Padilla can be held as a material witness in connection with grand jury proceedings. In any case, Padilla will be entitled to the constitutional protections extended to other citizens.
Charge, try, and convict Padilla. But do so under the same rules and protections as are accorded any other citizen of the United States.
Thank you, Judges Pooler, B.D. Parker and Wesley.
(via Al-Muhajabah)
The American Family Association is currently running a poll to determine how people feel about the legalization of marriage between people of the same sex. Apparently, before the poll was made known to the world at large, it stood at 93% opposed to marriage or civil unions, 3% in favor. By the time I heard about it and voted, it was standing at 46% opposed, 53% in favor. I’m sure they’re interested in hearing from as many people as possible, though!
(via Mahalie)
I had no idea this was even in the works, but it appears that Walmart has an online music store now. 88¢ per song, and it looks to have similar rights and restrictions to the iTMS. I’d poke around more, but something tells me my Mac-lovin’ self isn’t terribly welcome there…
(via AndrewBlog)
Pump up the volume, pump up the volume, pump up the volume, dance! Dance!
This was the first single I ever bought. I had no idea what a ‘single’ was until that point, and didn’t even realize I was buying one until I got home. I’d just heard the song on the radio and seen the video on Friday Night Videos, saw the cassette while out shopping, and bought it. I was really confused when I got home and the ‘album’ I’d just purchased had four versions of the same song in a row, plus one other song, and the same thing was repeated on side two. I thought it was a mistake of some sort.
Put the needle on the record…put the needle on the record…put the needle on the record, put the needle on the record, put the needle on the record when the jump beats go like this!
Wandering randomly through the Seattle Weblogs Portal, I stumbled across a wonderful little story. A girl and guy meet, and as they don’t live terribly close together, rather than exchanging phone numbers, they exchange blog addresses. Later on, she has some time to kill…
From reading his blog, I’ve learned my nice guy is a heavy drinking angsty insecure agoraphobic cross-dressing DJ who watches too much television, writes poetry, and wants to be a philosophy professor when he grows up. :) But he is funny, and he did quit smoking.
Reading through that took about as long as your typical first date, but I learned a lot more than I would on the typical first date, during which everyone is on their best behavior. Much more efficient.
I wonder what sort of conclusions he’s currently drawing about me. :)
I like her sense of humor — and the gentleman in question responded quite well in her comments, too.
I have to admit, though, I do think that my favorite part of the whole post may be the comment likening exchanging blog addresses to “intellectually sleeping with one another on the first date.”
Nothing wrong with a little mental nookie!
