Tara D finally has her pictures from the Madonna concert up. I especially like the last one, where her view of the stage is obscured by a glittery silver cowboy hat. (TD – What, did you guys sit above the stage or something? Those give me vertigo!)
Roger Ebert’s reaction to Pauline Kael’s death is up now. He makes me want to go buy all of her books.
Some people get “squicked” by the idea of Harry Potter slash (i.e. fan fiction that involves same-sex romantic episodes). I’m not. After you’ve sampled some fan fic, you realize that using well-known characters is just a handy shortcut for the writer to dispose with introductions and get on with other things (be that plot, humor, or sex). In grade school, I used to write tons of stories that involved my friends and classmates. No, nothing sexy, but just adventures and things. Instead of spending my time thinking up names and describing my characters, I could just say “Erin and Seth” and everybody knew exactly who I was talking about. Then I could get on with the plot and illustrations, which were my favorite part. That’s all fan fic writers are doing, and I wish the original artists wouldn’t get so upset. These writers aren’t debasing Harry Potter. If anything, they’re acknowledging the fact that the characters are more well-written than anything they could come up with themselves. If a couple people want to fantasize about Harry and Draco gettin’ it on in the Forbidden Forest (and they’re not making any money off it), who cares? Last I heard it wasn’t illegal to have an imagination. And besides, Harry Potter takes place at an English boarding school! Considering some of the stories Alex has told me about his formative education, I don’t think that slash stuff is far off the mark. (Link courtesy of Meg.)
Changes
A few minor changes are at w-g. First, I’ve removed the links to my CV and Portfolio. I’m not looking for a job, and having them there just makes me worry that somebody from my office could see it. Things in the tech industry aren’t so hot right now (there’s the understatement of the year), and if I wanna talk frankly about my job I should at least not make it obvious which company I work for. (Bad news of the week: my good friend eMan, the french guy I went to EuroDisney and Paris with, has quit. He’s moving to Canada with his girlfriend. Very sad.) In other news, I’ve updated the StorTroopers on my About Me page to more accurately reflect Snookums’s and my current appearance. My hair is redder and skin paler, and his hair a bit bigger.
Kael
Wow. Pauline Kael has died. She was probably one of the best film critics America has produced. I had to read some of her work as part of my Film Theory class senior year. I’ll be monitoring Ebert‘s site for his response.
Snookums and I have been amazed at how frequent Google‘s been indexing this site. If I mention Paris Hilton one day, the pervert influx begins the next. We figured they must’ve just decided that I’m an authority on the entire Internet. Unfortunately I’ve just learned that that isn’t quite the case. Instead, Google is now indexing weblogs every day. So it’s not just me; it’s everybody! We all get more hits from pedophiles looking for naked pictures! Hurrah!
Embarrassment. I overheard a few of my co-workers in the bathroom today talking about a new dance class they might attend that the New York Ballet is teaching. As I was washing my hands, I said, “Wow! That sounds amazing! Where is the class being taught?” Lyn, the HR lady, looked at me in confusion and replied, “Um, at our gym.” *Horrors!* As in, the one we both belong to. As in, the one I haven’t been to in weeks. So not only do I have my own personal guilt to contend with, but now Lyn knows I’m a big lazy slacker as well.
When the wild deer population in Britain gets out of hand, they put the deer on birth control. Geez. You know, they’d save themselves a lot of trouble by just doing what we do in Indiana (i.e. put my dad in a tree with a gun). The problem would be fixed in no time.
According to this story on Slashdot, “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” has won the Hugo award for best sci-fi/fantasy novel this year. The nerds are, as expected, up in arms. Everything popular must be derided. “Lord of the Rings” didn’t win, so no other fantasy book ever should win. Whatever.
Goran isn’t the only asshole playing tennis, it looks like.