Friday Fives

A day late but nonetheless:1. What was the last song you heard?
Rhett Miller “Point Shirley”

2. What were the last two movies you saw?
Home video – “Barbershop.” At the theater: “Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers.” I don’t do many theater outings. I almost always months behind.

3. What were the last three things you purchased?
Since I am unemployed, purchases aren’t happening at an alarming rate. Easter candy, recent Rolling Stone issue, Warm Mist Humidifier.

4. What four things do you need to do this weekend?
Sunday is Clean Sheet day! Run to hardware store for new handle for tea pot. Empty out the cat box. To the zoo for a picnic!

5. Who are the last five people you talked to?
Julie, Shelly, Ed, Mark, Sage

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Smile!

Back to my fascination with dead things (I don’t understand it either – celebrity dead pools, subscriptions to online obituary services, afternoons whiled away at cemeteries – it is a sub culture that for some reason fascinates me.) I present you with this A small collection of pictures of people who are all dead already. Notice the lack of smiles on these gentlemen’s faces.

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Thank You Mr. President

I noticed that when President Bush gave one of his rare press conferences on Thursday, that it all seemed very scripted. The order of who would ask questions was laid out for him on his lecturn and he even joked that the affair was to go to plan. But the dean of the Washington Press Corps, Helen Thomas wasn’t accorded the chance to ask a question. Apparently it was the first time in 40 years that she didn’t put a question before a president in a press conference. And with the way the current White House works to control the media, (every White House does, but this one seems very good at it.) I wouldn’t be a bit surprised that the questions were submitted in advance, judging from the way that Bush – not known for his great extemporaneous speaking skills – answered those put before him.

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Why You Should Love Mozilla

I first started trekking around the internet using Netscape Navigator five or six years ago. Netscape, back then, was cool. It was a finger-poke-in-the-eye to Internet Explorer and seemed to work very fast. Then Microsoft finally decided to take the internet seriously and advanced its Internet Explorer browser to a great application – IE6. But last summer and fall there kept popping up another story in the news about a security breach that was open in IE5 and IE6. I hunted around and moved over to Opera. A great browser with lots of toys but it was kind of buggy using Windows 2000 and not real friendly to broadband (I am told it is great with dial up users because of the way it does stuff on the back end.) Soon I came to Mozilla. The open source brother of Netscape. Mozilla looks and acts like Netscape. In fact Netscape 7.0 is basically an offshoot of Mozilla 1.1 or something or other. But it is so cool. It has lots of add on thingies, like mouse gestures you can add and skins to change the way the face looks. It has the all the cool functions of IE and Opera but best yet it is totally free. It can be modified, using a few points and clicks in the prefs section to avoid pop up and pop under ads and even to get rid of banner ads. That’s right, make those pesky x10 camera go away!. Yeah.
I could go on and on, but Matt Haughey, owner/operator of Metafilter says it all so much better here on his personal blog. Give it a read, install and use Mozilla and make Bill Gates even angrier.

  • Mozilla – THE killer app.
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    And I Can Even Stand Doug

    I can only imagine that this book will be come a huge seller. Who do you know that isn’t at least secretly, if not openly, addicted to Trading Spaces! Via my Amazon.com recommendations list. Sigh! They have me pegged.

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    Will The Real Iraqi Please Stand Up

    This should be offensive, but instead I find it amusing and sad that CBS news would go to this length to make it Suddam Hussein interview seem more legitimate. If the softball questions weren’t enough, we now have fake accents. God Lord.

  • CBS used actor to fake translator accent
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    If You Are Following UN Resolution Debates . . .

    France has been in the headlines of late for threatening to veto any UN Resolution that authorizes use of force against Iraq. But yesterday, Russia has also said it would do everything in its power to block a use of force resolution. A set back for the United States and more importantly perhaps, a ripple in the international community as two major US allies have banded together to oppose the Bush administration plans. Germany, while not weilding veto power, has a seat on the council and has pledged to fight to the resolution. So has Belgium. Can the United States and its sole European powe allyr, Great Britain, fight this fight alone? Latest reports are that the US has already set a confidential date for invasion, based on a night manuevers when there is no moon over the desert. That being said, is a resolution even necessary at this point? The U.S. is going this alone and I am dismayed at the next steps. Remember all of this in the 2004 elections as we prepare for a post war America.

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    Current Read

    Confessions of a Dangerous Mind. I haven’t seen the movie yet. But I did pick up Chuck Barris’s book. This is a funny read. Written in 1982 but basically forgotten by everyone, except perhaps George Clooney, Barris’ book aged well as it tells a fanciful account of his life as TV host, producer, author and CIA assassin. Too early into the tale to see how far Chuck takes it, but it is a fun read. Like Marsha Willis, Barris interweaves nonfiction bits of his life with fictional accounts to keep the story going. Unlike Willis, Barris takes it to the bizarre and plays for laughs as we try to understand the mind games of the creator of the dating game. Did you know he wrote the 1960s pop hit Palisades Park? Anyway, Barris was a hero for me as a kid when I would watch the Gong Show. If you can track down any episodes of the original Gong Show on the Game Show network try and watch them. Barris is really funny and certainly way ahead of his time. This book is like that as well. Funny, and for 1982 at least, ahead of its time.

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    The Ethan Chronicles

    Well, I finished Marsha’s book. It is the story of a mother and her family as they deal with the sudden loss of the 21-year old son Ethan after a car crash in Douglas County 1996. This is a first book by author Marsha Willis and weaves between fiction and non fiction as she tells the story of her alter ego – Ann Williams and how Ann dealt with the death of her son. We meet the Felton family, Willis’s ficticious creation for the family whose 18-year-old son Matt crashed into Ethan whiel speeding down a quiet country road. We see the trial and the legal process that stumbles along while trying to do justice. And we experience the emotions everyone who has ever lost a love one has experienced while dealing with the many stages of loss. A good read, well crafted and perhaps, in this age of road rage and litigious justice, a nice reminder to remember those we lost and deal with anger and sadness in positive ways.

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    It’s Election Time In The City

    I don’t know if the “strong mayor” form of government, as it is termed in this Westword article, is necessarily a good thing for Denver, but it does make watching local politics more fun when, as they say in the article, the only celebrity in town is the one running the show. And with term limits, Mayor-for-life Wellington Webb must step down after 12 years at the helm. That brings on a host of hopefuls and gives this spring and summer some fun. Many years ago, Denver, in a smart move, changed its city elections to an odd numbered year and schedules the races in the summer hoping to attract more attention to the issues. And if history is any indication, these races always have something talk about. Webb became famous for walking every neighborhood in town, wearing out a pair of shoes. Federico Pena became famous for his breakfast fests all over town as he hustled to get the new airport built. What is in store for us this summer?