CHARLES BRONSON DEAD AT AGE 81: I'm sorry to read that Bronson has passed away. But every time I passed by a supermarket checkout in the past couple of months, the National Enquirer or The Star had cover stories that he was in bad shape.

Those magazine are certainly full of hype, but over the years, I've noticed, if they report a celebrity is ailing--he's a goner.

I once read an interview with Brian Garfield, the original author of Death Wish. Ironically, he wanted a liberal milquetoast actor--specifically Jack Lemmon(!) to play the Paul Kersey character when it came time to shoot the film. And I can't say I blame him; you're too busy waiting for Bronson to go nuts, instead of watching this timid, urbane architect being transformed his wife's death into a vigilante.

But the film's timing was perfect, the script and direction by Michael Winner surprisingly good, and it properly made Bronson into a legend. (Neat score by Herbie Hancock, too.)

Good actor--great persona. He'll be missed.

SPAM, SPAM, SPAM, SPAM: Having gotten more than my share of penis enlargement, Viagra, gambling, refinancing and Nigerian money laundering ads, I'm experimenting with Matador, a spam-blocking program. If you've written me before, and you're either in my inbox or address book, you should be A-OK. But otherwise, don't be surprised, and try not to be too upset, if you write me, and you receive an email that looks like this. Assuming you're not trying to spam me, or you're an email 'bot, just answer the challenge, and email will flow freely to me.

SUMMER BOX OFFICE FLOPS: Some studio executives think that it's all your fault, if you used a text-enabled cell phone to instantly tell your friends the film was bad!

HERE'S ANOTHER QUESTION that Katie will, never, ever ask Bustamante about.

Fortunately, it may be academic.

UPDATE: By the way, check out MEChA's logo.

IS KYOTO TO BLAME for France's recent wave of heat-related deaths? Very, very interesting article by Patrick J. Michaels of the Cato Institutute:

European cities are virtually devoid of air conditioning in large part because the energy to run them is so expensive. And why is that? Pressured by vocal environmentalists, European governments have levied energy tax after energy tax, with the latest excuse being global warming.

The mathematics of this problem are terribly transparent. In order to meet their self-imposed targets from the Kyoto Protocol on global warming, European nations already have taxed energy, but they have not done enough. Consequently, even more restrictions are being proposed, especially by the German government. Unaffordable air conditioning will become even more expensive, killing more and more Europeans the next time the temperature reaches what passes for a few degrees above what is normal in Dallas.

Europe has effectively imposed a continuous blackout on air conditioning, and now it is paying the price.

Some people will point to the hundreds of people who died in the infamous July 1995 Chicago heat wave and wonder how we could have ignored this obvious tragedy. We didn't.

Normally many more die on the poorer South Side of the city, but not in 1995. A power outage hit the affluent North Side early on and the air conditioning went out. As they say, Q.E.D.

And as for the heat-prostrated people of Europe, it's too bad that the Kyoto Protocol will do nothing measurable about the Earth's mean temperature for the forseeable future. But it will kill thousands and thousands more in France, Germany and England, where energy taxes are enormous, creating an invisible blackout of lifesaving air conditioning.

SPEAKING OF WIRED: Don't be surprised if "Foxanoia" pops up in a "Jargon Watch" column soon.

Back around 1996, Wired magazine coined (or at least helped popularize) the term "Salinger Syndrome" for someone who believes everything he reads on the 'Net. The term came from Pierre Salinger's infamous press conference, where he claimed to have found a report on who shot down TWA Flight 800 in 1996 via the 'Net.

Douglas Brinkley is a historian who seems to have the same syndrome in reverse:

One of the hardest parts of being at a university is constantly telling students anything you read on the Internet is worthless, it's not factual.

HOW THE DVD WAS WON: Ever wonder how your DVDs ended up with the features they have? Things like chapter encoding, programmable menus, letterboxing? And those bonus features like movie trailers, still photos, directors' commentaries, and the like?

No? OK, you're forgiven. But the million or two of us who owned laser disc players in the 1980s got to see a sneak preview of what 57 million people in the US and Canada take for granted these days.

In the summer, for my bi-monthly column at Nuts & Volts, I wrote an article called "How The DVD Was Won". (Why yes, I did have the name of a certain new Led Zeppelin CD going through my head when I titled it. What can I say? Pop culture R us.) It details how the Criterion Collection, which still exists, and is a major player in the DVD market, virtually singlehandedly invented the DVD format--except that they used 12-inch double sided laser discs.

And they did it in 1984.

It's a fun article. It's even got photos of a few actual Criterion laser discs! Taken from my actual collection! Photographed on my actual living room carpet! (Sorry--I realize that's just too much excitement for the average person to take. Rest assured, those with weak hearts should avoid this thrill packed journey into 1980s American ingenuity at its finest! But for everyone else, it's the "it" article of the year. Particularly if you like DVDs, or were among the handful of film geeks hip cognoscenti who owned a laser disc player.)

My copy arrived today. Yours should be available at your local Borders or Barnes & Noble any day now.

Or you could subscribe, via the handy box on the right!

MEGAN'S LAW IN ACTION:

[Campaign Chairman Marc] Racicot's e-mail attributes quotes to several Democratic presidential hopefuls criticizing Bush. Among them, Racicot says former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean stated that Bush might suspend the 2004 election, called Bush "reckless" and "despicable," compared him to the Taliban and said Bush was trying to destroy Social Security, Medicare, public schools and public services. "This ugly, overheated rhetoric shows Democrats will say anything and stop at nothing to defeat this president," Racicot wrote.

NICK SCHULZ WRITES that for Bjorn Lomborg, every day is Groundhog Day.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GLENN!!

LIFE IMITATES SCRAPPLEFACE: All I can say is...Heh.

UPDATE (8/28/03): This is pretty heh-worthy as well...

Life imitates George Orwell:

Pacifism is objectively pro-Fascist. This is elementary common sense. If you hamper the war effort of one side you automatically help that of the other. Nor is there any real way of remaining outside such a war as the present one. In practice, 'he that is not with me is against me'. The idea that you can somehow remain aloof from and superior to the struggle, while living on food which British sailors have to risk their lives to bring you, is a bourgeois illusion bred of money and security. Mr Savage remarks that 'according to this type of reasoning, a German or Japanese pacifist would be "objectively pro-British".' But of course he would be! That is why pacifist activities are not permitted in those countries (in both of them the penalty is, or can be, beheading) while both the Germans and the Japanese do all they can to encourage the spread of pacifism in British and American territories. The Germans even run a spurious 'freedom' station which serves out pacifist propaganda indistinguishable from that of the P.P.U. They would stimulate pacifism in Russia as well if they could, but in that case they have tougher babies to deal with. In so far as it takes effect at all, pacifist propaganda can only be effective against those countries where a certain amount of freedom of speech is still permitted; in other words it is helpful to totalitarianism.

--George Orwell, 1942.

The man who helped mix the deadly one-tonne Bali nightclub bomb Sawad, alias Sardjiyo, yesterday said he wanted to thank the Australian people who had supported his cause during recent Australian anti-Gulf War protests.

And fellow bomb-mixer Abdul Ghoni urged Australians against forming friendly alliances with America.

The pronouncements of the two Bali bombing suspects came as they and the evidence against them was handed from Bali police to prosecutors.

"I want to thank the Australian people who supported our cause when they demonstrated against the policies of George Bush. Say thank you to all of them," Sawad said.

--Found by Tim Blair.

IT'S LIVE...OR IS IT? Interesting debate on the subject of pitch correction in music by Jim Carruthers in Blogcritics.

Carruthers is largely against pitch correction, especially on the professional level. Be sure to read the comments (including several by me), and my recent article in Tech Central Station for some arguments in its favor.

It always amazes me how music--even popular music--brings out the Luddite in people. Go back and read articles from the 1960s--the electric guitar was damned for making things too easy for the performer. In the 1980s, the synthesizer and the drum machine received the same argument.

Today it's pitch correction. And yet, as I said in TCS, if used sparingly, it's a great tool, especially for musicians recording at home.

The other argument I find curious about pitch correction is that it seems to be an either/or proposition. Scott Chaffin seemed to think I'm nothing but a geek, creating twelve tone Schoenberg synthesizer music in my white labcoat and bowtie.

And yet, I love raw, unadulterated, live music performed by musicians who can play. One of my favorite recordings is Miles Davis at Carnegie Hall, recorded in 1964 (by Teo Macero, Miles' longtime producer, but without Miles knowledge) on 1/4" mono reel-to-reel tape. It's got numerous flaws--at several points, Miles hits notes so loud they oversaturate the tape, and the timing of several musicians in Gil Evans' orchestra on their loud opening blast is suspect. But the music overall is sublime, magical and astonishingly tight. The last track is a majestic song from Miles' classic Sketches of Spain, recorded, like the rest of the albumm, in one shot with no overdubs.

There's no way modern technology can recreate a performance like that. But that doesn't necessarily mean that technology is bad, either: the automobile has made horses obsolete, and their role in the great moments of history--Joan of Arc, Lady Godiva, Paul Revere's ride, etc., etc, just that: history.

Want to trade your SUV in for Secretariat?

THE MAN WHO MADE THE STONES: Eric Olsen has a nifty new interview with Andrew Loog Oldham, the Rolling Stones' original manager, producer, and Svengali.

WAITING FOR THE LAMENTATIONS OF THE OPPOSITION: When will the negative campaigning start in California?

A SHORT COURSE FOR ACTORS: Stuff like this, and this, alienates at least half--and probably an even greater percentage--of your audience.

A SHORT COURSE FOR JOURNALISTS: Soldiers, militants, and terrorists. Confused? Not sure which noun to use? Donald Sensing can help!

(Sensing's course should be audited by all members of the BBC, Reuters, AP, AFP, etc.)

ON BEING BORKED: Daniel Pipes writes, "Etiquette called on me, as a nominee of the president of the United States, not to talk about my nomination to the board of the United States Institute of Peace while it was in process. Although the nomination was contested, I found myself having to remain mute as opponents said what they would about me."

He's talking now, however--and well worth reading.

THE MAN WHO WOULD BE LIMBAUGH: The left's answer to Rush Limbaugh "flips out on CNN", as the guest-host of Crossfire.

UPDATE: Kevin Holtsberry has an interesting recent discussion with Tucker Carlson, the regular co-host of Crossfire, over at Blogcritics.

EXPOSURE: My review of Robert Fripp's 1979 solo album is online at Blogcritics.

FROM THE HOME OFFICE IN SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA: Human Events magazine has "Ten Good Reasons To Recall Gray Davis".

SECURITY FAILURE: Rachel Ehrenfeld writes that "Almost two years and approximately $2.5 billion later, America's airports are practically as vulnerable as they were on September 11":

It takes an expert like Isaac Yeffet, the former El Al airline-security chief, to highlight the depth of U.S. airport-security problems. Recently, while traveling in the U.S., Yeffet was randomly chosen for special screening. After the security agent had swept his body with a hand-held metal-detecting wand and declared him "clean," Yeffet pulled a cell phone from his pocket — to the agent's amazement. A second screening also detected nothing. At this point, Yeffet suggested that, if the screener were to turn the device on, he might be able to detect suspicious objects. Needless to say, the agent was unsettled, but Yeffet was even more upset. "How many similar incidents happen every day in our airports?" he asks.

The U.S. leads the world when it comes to investigating accidents and mishaps, but it's performing rather poorly in trying to prevent terrorist attacks. It needs to adopt a proactive security system that would save citizens' lives as well as protecting infrastructure.

THE PERFECT TARGET: Dave Barry asks, "Can California out-doofus Florida? Let's wait for the recount":

I came out here to California because I've been reading disturbing reports that my state, Florida, is about to lose the coveted title of "The Doofus State," which we Floridians worked so hard to win following the 2000 presidential election by not being able to figure out whom we voted for. We have been the Doofus State for just two lousy years, and now these greedy Californians, who had the title for decades, are trying to get it back.

I regret to say that they have an excellent shot. The political situation out here is very bad.

Q. How bad is it?

A. One of the saner-sounding people involved is Larry Flynt.

LANDSCAPE LIGHTING: My article on the subject, from the March 2003 issue of Home Automation, has been reprinted online--there are some pretty nifty photos accompanying the piece.

There's a detailed mini-review of Diane Ravitch’s new book, The Language Police by Jonah Goldberg in NRO's "The Corner" Weblog.

DAMNING: From the top down, Michael Ledeen believes that US intelligence efforts in the Middle East stink. There's too much truth (aimed at all the major players) in this piece to single out any one quote, so read the whole thing.

UPDATE: And then check out this piece by David Bedein, who is none too happy about the State Department.

Remember the "News On The March!!" segment at the beginning of Citizen Kane? It follows right after the endlessly aped vertical tracking shot through Xanadu and Kane muttering "Rosssssssebuddddddd", dropping his small snow filled globe", because, as it must to all men, death comes to Charles Foster Kane. (To this day, my dad misquotes that line as "Death comes to Charles 'Citizen' Kane". Play it again, dad!)

During the "News On The March!!" segment, there are man in the street shots of men (in the street) reacting to Kane.

"Charles Foster Kane is a fascist!" one MITS shouts. Cut to another MITS, who shouts:

"He's a Bolshevik!"

That same sort of reaction is happening to Arnold Schwarzenegger. The day after he announced he was running for the governorship of "Collyvornia", Jamie Lee Curtis (his True Lies co-star) described Arnold has "a social Democrat" in Republican clothes, even as Katie Couric was breathlessly mentioning that Arnold's father was a Nazi. (With no mention of Arnold's grandfather-in-law's sympathies towards the Reich.)

And while there's no doubt that while Arnold will have an (R) next to his name on October's ballots, he's an awfully squishy Republican. Which, as a post on Dean Esmay's Weblog notes, is leading towards all sorts of unintended consequences:

Along with Hanks, pot-loving actor Woody Harrelson is set to join the fight against Schwarzenegger. "Woody is diametrically opposed to Arnold Schwarzenegger's political positions," a spokesman for Harrelson told PAGE SIX. "He does not support the candidacy."

Probably that's he's in a Xanadu-like fog of his own.

BECAUSE FOGDOG WORKED SO WELL: "Amazon Testing Online Sporting Goods Store".

SIMON SAYS SAYONARA: "GOP Candidate Simon Quits Calif. Recall".

JUST LIKE "DOONESBURY". BUT FUNNY: Finally added Day By Day to the Links page. For those new to this insightful (and very, very funny) cartoon, here's an interview with Chris Muir, its artist, by Dean Esmay.

GOOD NEWS OF THE NIGHT: President Bush signed the recess appointment of Daniel Pipes today.

THE BRUTAL GALLIC SUMMER: Mark Steyn writes that "Iraq may be on the edge but France has hit rock bottom abyss".

UPDATE (8/23/03) Glenn Reynolds has more on France's clusterfrog.

THE OUTRAGE OF THE NIGHT, as spotted by Charles Johnson. Utterly astonishing. I used to think that AP was a notch above Reuters.

I was wrong.

UPDATE: If you ever watched PBS's Ethics in America series of (literally) roundtable discussions in the late 1980s (please tell me you did--I have a feeling I'm the only person in America who ever watched this show, which is probably still rerunning to this day), you may have seen the 1989 episode where the host asks Mike Wallace and Peter Jennings if they would take sides in a war against America. Foreshadowing precisely CNN's role in the first Gulf War less than a year later, both said not a chance: we're reporters; we're neutral. (As Charlton Heston once famously asked CNN, "Who do you think you are? Switzerland?")

Ironically of course, like CNN, the BBC, and Peter Jennings, AP has a unique, and rather slanted definition of "neutral".

If I was Fox, I would repeat the clusterfarg that Johnson documents over and over and over.

THE POWER OF THE PLEDGE: John Fund says that for Schwarzenegger, merely saying "no" to tax hikes isn't enough.

THE WRIGHT STUFF: He may be dead for over 40 years, but Frank Lloyd Wright may yet get to build in Iraq. The plans are already drawn--wouldn't it be great to see them implemented?

I TALKED TO R2-D2 TODAY: Yes, just another day in the Galactic Empire, talking to everyone's favorite astromech droid.

Err, actually, I talked over the phone with Don Bies, who is Lucasfilm's chief droid wrangler, and the man who operates R2-D2's radio controls, when actor Kenny Baker isn't actually inside R2. (Basically, whenever R2 rolls, he's radio controlled by Bies. When he walks, it's more likely to be either be Baker, or increasingly, digital animation.)

The interview is for the debut issue of Servo, a magazine devoted to robotics. The article will be about robots in the movies, and I wanted to find out the details behind what makes Artoo tick. Incidentally, Bies mentioned that there is an R2 builders' club on the 'Net, if you need someone to co-pilot your X-Wing.

(Why yes, it was hard keeping my inner Star Wars geek under wraps. But fortunately, Bies says he's used to that when he does interviews.)

Here's the Servo Website; I'll let you know when the issue actually debuts in your local galaxy.

AND NOT EVEN SUSAN OLIVER FOR COMPANY: According to The New York Times, beginning on September 5th, magician David Blaine will spend 44 days alone in a cage:

a Plexiglas box, 7 feet long by 7 feet tall by 3 feet wide, suspended over the Thames River in London. He will have just a set of clothes and a blanket, no food, and will receive only water via a feeding tube. He will have pens and paper to keep a journal (perhaps to be published later) and very little else to keep his mind occupied. His bodily functions will be handled with a small backpack containing diapers and a tube to urinate in.

Less than three weeks before his highly publicized deprivation begins, Mr. Blaine sounded confident, if a little biblical.

"I believe it is completely possible to exist peacefully with absolutely nothing, as it was in the beginning and as it will be in the end," he said. "It will be a public isolation that I will have to endure by adapting and surviving as an animal would. On instinct."

And of course on television.

PABLUM: I haven't seen the actual ad yet, but the text of Arnold Schwarzenegger's first television ad is online.

It's pure pablum, without an ounce of substance. But given Arnold's enormous stardom, and the simple fact that he's not Gray Davis or his lieutenant, it may be enough, especially if Arnold can convince his Republican challengers to drop out and (ideally) endorse him.

SURREAL QUOTE OF THE DAY:

Occasionally, we are forcibly reminded that human beings have created an environment in which, in some ways, we have less control than ever before; after all, the lack of power is, by definition, powerlessness. Meanwhile New Jersey, the most densely populated state (in case you hadn't noticed), wants very much to allow the hunting of bears. No one seems to have considered the obvious alternative: instead of issuing hunting permits, call a moratorium on building permits. Permanently.

I HAD HOPED that with the unfortunate passing of Art Cooper, GQ might have moved at least a little to the center with their politics, rather than staying firmly in the camp of Manhattan-based liberalism.

I was wrong--but I'm not very surprised.

IS SOCIAL SECURITY WELFARE? Good post, (with a link to an even better essay on the Ludwig Von Mises Institute Website), on Reason's "Hit & Run" blog.

LOSERS: If you have to go to these extremes to make your point, you've already lost the argument.

(If I see foie gras on the menu tonight, I'm tempted to have it merely to spite these criminals.)

WHOSE NEWS: Charles Paul Freund of Reason asks (rhetorically), "Is the BBC reporting breaking stories? Or telling morality fables"?

QUOTE OF THE DAY:

Art Laffer, the supply-side economist who's "Laffer Curve" helped Ronald Reagan craft his tax-cuts, is similarly ambivalent. Last Sunday, he flew to Los Angeles and met with Mr. Schwarzenegger and his policy team. Mr. Laffer says he was "tremendously impressed" with the actor, but without seeing specific policy proposals will not lend any support to his candidacy. Mr. Laffer jokingly told Arnold that he was thrilled that Mr. Buffett was picked as an economic advisor, that is until "I learned that he meant Warren instead of Jimmy."

MICHAEL POWELL OF THE FCC has unusually terse words for AOL today.

THE GREAT BLACKOUT OF 2003!!! Rich Galen steps back, runs the numbers, yawns, shrugs, and declares, "it was the equivalent of a snow day", despite of how the media tried to spin the story.

UPDATE: Speaking of spinning, now Al Qaida is claiming they were responsible!

Nice try boys, but our fuses can blow without any outside help.

UPDATE (8/19/03): James Robbins writes:

Claiming credit for what appears to have been the product of a fluke equipment failure in Ohio is a sensible move for al Qaeda. The communiqué is a psyop, aimed at the United States to some extent, but more importantly, at the faithful abroad. Al Qaeda needs to show that it is still relevant and can mount significant attacks on the Crusaders, and claiming credit for the largest power outage in U.S. history is as good a way to demonstrate puissance as any.

BUSTA WHINE: "Bustamante claims sabotage by Davis".

UPDATE: Meanwhile, Matt Welch has a tale of two Ariannas. (Not to be confused with Mark Steyn's recent "confusion" over Arianna and Angelyne. Or was it Angelyne and Arianna? I'll have to consult with Tiki and Ronde Barber.)

SHADES OF THE PEPSI SYNDROME: Scott Ott "reports" that "Expert Traces Path of Blackout Surge".

THROUGH 2008: Yahoo reports that "Despite a two-year playoff drought, the Denver Broncos and coach Mike Shanahan agreed Monday on a three-year contract extension through 2008."

JOHN PODHORETZ: "Bloomberg has done just fine during this crisis. But that's because he had Rudy's plans to work from".

DOUG FLUTIE: Age 40 and still going strong.

CAN THE POSTAL SERVICE SURVIVE? Probably--it's long been a financial sinkhole, and will continue to suck up taxpayer support for a long time. But James Gattuso has some suggestions on how to move it beyond the Cliff Claven era.

ECONOMIC MUSCLE BUILDING: Larry Kudlow writes:

Not one in a thousand media commentators recognize that the big-bang bond sell-off in the United States is actually an international phenomenon, one that signifies the potential for an economic growth recovery throughout the world.

UPDATE (Monday 8/18/03): The Washington Post reports, "Dow at 14-Month High; Nasdaq Up 2 Pct".

ANOTHER UPDATE: "Somebody please take away Tom Daschle's belt & shoe laces".

DE-SADDAMIZING IRAQ'S TEXTBOOKS: "It's a big job", writes Joanne Jacobs, whose blog is newly on Movable Type.

TOTAL RECALL: Forget Gray Davis. Is it time to recall the state of California itself?

VICK BREAKS FIBULA: Michael Vick, star QB of the Atlanta Falcons, fractured his right fibula during tonight's preseason game against the Baltimore Ravens, and will miss up to the first four weeks of the regular season. Don Banks of Sports Illustrated has some thoughts on how Vick's injury impacts the Falcons' season.

A FEW CHOICE WORDS: Jerry Lawson would like to share them with Dick Gephardt.

NICE SATURDAY: My wife and I spent much of the day getting errands done--not the least of which was dropping my 15 year-old Fender Telecaster off at the shop for a refret and 500,000 mile tune-up. It's an amazing guitar--the first commercially produced solidbody electric, and in commercial production since 1950. It's basically a hunk of wood with strings, two pickups and a quarter-inch jack, but it's been played by everybody in rock, country and blues: Bruce Springsteen, Jimmy Page, Pete Townshend, Merle Haggard, Albert Lee, Eric Clapton, etc., etc. You name the guitarist--he's probably played a Tele.

I played mine in college, in my old rock group. I can't wait to have it back for another 500,000 miles of service.

Last Sunday, we mentioned Cruz Bustamante's collegiate ties to Moviemiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan. Tacitus has more details.

But those crickets on the set of the Today Show are still chirping.

UPDATE: Instalanche!! Thanks Professor!

ANOTHER UPDATE: John Fund has some additional thoughts on Bustamante, who is ahead of Schwarzenegger in at least one poll. As Andrew Stuttaford writes, "The damage caused by the Rob Lowe appointment (which is just a nod to Hollywood orthodoxy) shouldn't be overstated but the arrival of [Warren Buffett] looks like a major blunder."

The former despot, long given sanctuary by Saudi Arabia, died of "multiple organ failure", according to Reuters, the "news agency", which drops this classic howler at the end of the article with a surprisingly straight face:

He was driven from Uganda in 1979 by forces from neighboring Tanzania and Ugandan exiles, and was given sanctuary by Saudi Arabia in the name of Islamic charity.

A Muslim, Amin had lived quietly in Jeddah on a government stipend with four wives.

But of course.

JURASSIC RINO: Orrin Judd looks at Herbert Hoover, the Republican-in-name-only warm-up act for FDR.

WHAT BLOGGING IS ALL ABOUT: It's important for blogs to shine a light on topics the media refuses to discuss. To look at things in a way that the "politcally correct" can't. To see things in a new way.

This is one such post, and it truly is...what blogging is all about.

DALLAS STAR: Nice profile of Bill Parcells by Paul Attner of the Sporting News.

IT'S A LINK FEST over at Across The Atlantic! This site, because of their external links policy, is the target.

"Link early. Link often", says Shell.

Good plan!

QUOTE OF THE DAY:

As they do not see, behind the benefits of civilisation, marvels of invention and construction which can only be maintained by great effort and foresight, they imagine that their role is limited to demanding these benefits peremptorily, as if they were natural rights.

Too bad the guests Larry King had on last night don't understand this.

ADVANTAGE INSTAPUNDIT! I was watching Fox News on TV while eating lunch, and was about to post that New York and other eastern cities are suffering a blackout. Naturally, Glenn Reynolds is already on the case.

One of Glenn's readers, who is in the midst of the blackout himself, asked if terrorism was involved. But both Glenn and Neal Cavuto of Fox are stressing the heat.

Speaking of heat, James Taranto does a little speculating about what's behind France's claim that its recent heatwave has killed 3000.

It is an interesting and politically loaded number, that's for sure.

GETTING STARTED ON GUITAR: A new review of mine on guitar instructional books is up on Blogcritics.

(Amazing how much writing is possible on a five hour plane fight!)

HEY, I'M JUST HAPPY HE'S EATING MEAT: Cheesesteak flap "Raises Stakes for Kerry in Philly".

I guess Kerry can forget South Philly and PETA...

Apropos of absolutely nothing, if you can't make it into South Philly, when I lived in NJ, Big John's in Cherry Hill made a pretty darn good cheesesteak themselves.

TONY BLANKLEY: "Californians: There are some of us here in Washington's own la-la land who wish you well".

Unlike George Will.

GOOD NEWS IN THE GRAND CANYON, according to Dennis Prager.

SUPERFLY! Caught it on one of the movie channels on DirecTV tonight. Here's an interesting look at the making of this blaxploitation classic, and how Curtis Mayfield came to do the soundtrack, which a well-known blogger once described as:

truly the best part of the film. Clearly working on a limited budget, the filmmakers somehow were precient enough to spend this portion of their funds very, very wisely. Mayfield's music is part Greek chorus, part counterpoint to the action on the film, some of the best music of the 1970s, and the only sense of morality in the film. I'd love to know at what point Mayfield discovered he would be writing music for a film glorifying drug dealers, and decided to insert his own morals into his lyrics. His music makes an otherwise forgettable movie electrifying. Shaft may have had the bigger budget, and was better directed, but Mayfield's score, throughout the entire film, far surpasses Isaac Hayes' soundtrack efforts in Shaft: only Hayes' theme song can stand on equal footing with all of the music that Mayfield wrote, and Johnny Tate brilliantly arranged, for Superfly.

Unfortunately, to borrow a phrase from Les Paul, it seems like a good chunk of Superfly's audience "listened with their eyes", and ignored Mayfield's warnings: visually, Superfly is ground zero for "gangsta rap": huge Cadillacs, even bigger lapels and Fedoras, black gangsters "with a plan to stick it to the man", white policemen pushing drugs themselves (paging Maxine Waters!)--so much of rap culture begins here. (And I can't help but wonder if O'Neal's flowing locks were the inspiration for Al Sharpton's impressively coiffed hair.)

OF COURSE WE'RE IN FAVOR OF GREEN ENERGY, BUT: And there's always a but, which Jane Galt fills in the details of.

L5, S1: That's the location of the bulging disk in 49ers' QB Jeff Garcia's spine that prevented him from playing in Saturday's pre-season game against the Chiefs--and could possibly sideline him much longer than that.

CATS AND DOGS: Rich Lowry is praising Dick Gephardt.

BLOGCRITICS IS CELEBRATING ITS FIRST ANNIVERSARY, and they have exceptional taste in their musical artist of the month!

QUOTE OF THE DAY: "Everyone knows that the majority of Californians are upset with Davis because he' s too conservative."

-- Arianna Huffington

Oh, and "Dukakis was no liberal and neither was Mondale", according to former NBC and CNN political reporter Ken Bode on the Chris Matthews Show over the weekend.

Gee, I keep missing Gray and Mike's columns in National Review. Are they available online?

UPDATE: But wait, there's more! Thomas Hibbs writes, "a caller to C-Span's In Depth on Sunday, August 3, accused the show's guest, Camille Paglia, of being a reactionary conservative and wanting to take us back to the days of 'lynching.'"

(Incidentally, for my review of Hibbs' Shows About Nothing, click here.)

GREGORY HINES, the multi-talented dancer, actor and comedian died of cancer on Saturday, at a far too young age 57. Natalie Davis has lots of details, thoughts and links at Blogcritics.

UPDATE: Here are some further thoughts.

JOE BIDEN SAY HE WILL NOT RUN FOR PRESIDENT: In a prepared statement, the senator said:

"With America's sons in the fields far away, with America's future under challenge right here at home, with our hopes and the world's hopes for peace in the balance every day, I do not believe that I should devote an hour or a day of my time to any personal partisan causes or to any duties other than the awesome duties of this office--as senator from Delaware. Accordingly, I shall not seek, and I will not accept, the nomination of my party for a term as your President."

WHEN LIFE IS ABOUT NOTHING: For some unknown reason, I pulled Marion Meade's The Unruly Life of Woody Allen off my shelf a few nights ago, which I bought a few years ago to read on a plane, and began casually thumbing through it again. Woody was an idol of mine in my late teens and early 20s, and every now then, I'll pull a movie of his off the shelf and pop it into the DVD or laser disc. Meade's book isn't great, but as a "warts and all" portrayal of America's favorite pedophile, it's definitely an emphasis on the former.

I did a quick Google of "Woody Allen Interview", just to see what the Woodman had to say recently, and came across this piece from England's Guardian, less than three weeks after 9/11:

[Question from audience]: How have the events of the 11 of September changed New York?

WA: I don't think that they've really changed New York. Every country, every city, has its tragic events - there are floods and fires and murders - and of course you grieve and its traumatising, but, you know, time passes and you rebuild and you move on with your life. Even before I left New York last week, people were starting to very slowly get back on track, and that's what will happen. The same thing happened in Oklahoma City after the terrible terrorism there. It's traumatic for a while but they'll either rebuild the twin towers as a symbolic gesture, or build something comparable in its place.

They'll be a cosmetic change - airport security will be much more severe and the government will get into the business of protecting the country in a more dedicated fashion - but I don't think anything will really change. The Yankees are playing their baseball games, the Mets are playing their baseball games, people are going to the movies, the theatre will build itself up and the nightclubs, and it will just take a little while to rev up after an unusually traumatic event. I believe that the people who perpetrated it never believed that it was going to succeed as fortuitously for them as it did.

I realize that Woody believes that it's cold, empty, meaningless universe out there, and that people are cold, empty and meaningless themselves. But why perpetuate that belief in yourself?

A BOOK ABOUT SHOWS ABOUT NOTHING: I have another review online at Blogcritics, this time about Thomas Hibbs' 1999 book.

SCRAPPLEFACE "REPORTS" that Schwarzenegger wants to "give back California".

Apparently, so does Cruz Bustamante. Will Katie get around to asking him about Moviemiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan?

[crickets chirping]

Nope, didn't think so.

ARNOLD'S MOST SERIOUS COMPETITION may have just entered the California race.

OK, THE GUY IS DEFENDING HIS BROTHER, and personally, I think I'd use the word "leftist" rather than "liberal" myself, but there's much truth here.

Jonah Goldberg wrote one of his syndicated columns on a similar theme earlier this year, which is also well worth reading.

CHILLY SCENES OF DYSTOPIA: My review of a trio of early 1980s soundtrack albums is up and online, over at Blogcritics. It's doubleplusgood!

WKRP IN KABUL: uBlog has details of the first radio station to broadcast live 24 hours a day went on air in Afghanistan.

It makes for nice listening, while surfing the 'Net from here.

MEMO TO AMERICAN WOMEN: Just because they worked for Mary Tyler Moore, doesn't mean they'll work for you, writes Liz Khalil in Flak magazine.

MEMO TO DICK GEPHARDT: "Just because it worked for Herbert Hoover doesn't mean it will work for you", writes Steve Chapman in The Washington Times

BACK TO THE FUTURE: Michael Valdez Moses of Reason looks at the continuing popularity of the Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, and Harry Potter franchises.

ONE WORD, IF IT'S TRUE: Oy.

On the other hand, he has pretty much lost all credibility, right?

IT'S LILEKS-A-GO-GO over at John Hawkins' site, where he assembled the best quotes from James Lileks' Newhouse columns.

NBC was forced to cancel all news shows, after Katie Couric violates Godwin's Law.

Orrin Judd notes that for Arnie, Nazism really is a family affair. (Scroll down if link does work--the Blogspot archive bug may be at work again.)

UPDATE: Here's more on Arnie's family affair with Nazism.

GET GOVERNMENT OUT OF GDP: Too many good points to single out and quote in this article on economics by Stephen Moore and Phil Kerpen--so RTWT, as the hip supply siders like to say.

"OPEC IS A CRACK DEALER"..."Windmills, solar power, horses, rickshaws, these are the power sources of the future!"

Scott Ott and John Hawkins provide IM-based Fisking of Al Gore's latest speech.

LIFE IMITATES WOODY ALLEN: In Sleeper, there's a hilarious scene when Woody's Miles Monroe character, defrosted 200 years into the future, is shown a clip of an endlessly droning Howard Cosell:

Historian: We weren't sure at first what to make of this, but we developed a theory: we feel that when people committed great crimes against the state, they were forced to watch this.

Miles Monroe: Yes. That's exactly what it was.

By the way, there's a great comment to Matt Welch's post, about 14 comments down, which has a bit of fun with one of Derrida's typically portentous statements:

Only in retrospect will we be able to understand if the symbolically suffused collapse of the capitalistic citadels in lower Manhattan...

Would it ruin his day to know they were socialistic citadels?

CPO SPARKEY NOTES that some lessons are never learned.

Boy did I fumble the ball:

Tuesday, February 04, 2003

Posted 11:12 PM by Edward Driscoll
I DOUBT THIS WILL AMOUNT TO MUCH, but Gray Davis is the target of a California recall effort, according to the Washington Times.

UPDATE: Speaking of which, AP reports that Darrell Issa, "the millionaire congressman who largely funded the effort to recall Gov. Gray Davis abruptly pulled out of the race to replace him Thursday, a day after actor Arnold Schwarzenegger jumped in."

ANOTHER UPDATE: California Supreme Court declines to intervene, thus clearing the way for an October recall election.

Hey, would you want to stop the Terminator??

DID ARNIE HANG DICK RIORDAN OUT TO DRY? Matt Welch poses the question on Reason's Hit & Run Blog.

It would explain why this headline was visible on Drudge:

Speculation: Arnold will run on a ticket with Riordan as Lt. Gov.

HEY, MAYBE IT REALLY IS MORNING IN AMERICA: Back in late February, I posted:

It's waaaaaay too soon to say this with any certainty, but there's a very good chance that it's Morning in America for George W. Bush. Unlike his father, who inherited an astoundingly robust economy that was coming to the end of its (to coin a phrase) seven fat years and whose long overdue, and extremely mild recession occurred just as he was running for reelection, Bush 43's timing could be spot-on perfect: a quick victory in Iraq, followed by overwhelming proof that Hussein really was the Stalin-like tyrant he's been accussed of being all these years, followed by a long overdue rally in the stock market, and several years of growth whose peak coincides perfectly for Bush's reelection, made all the easier because of Al Sharpton's corrosive presence, either in some prominent role with the Democrats, or as Sullivan speculates, a third party, Nader-like spoiler.

This is all pure speculation on my part, and a lot could happen to make 2004 a very, very different scenario. But Bush is in the driver's seat here.

Fortunately, he knows it. And unlike his father, he knows what to do with it.

No matter what Mr. Bush's prospective challengers may say about the state of the economy, people can read the economic indicators. They saw their 401(k) and other stock portfolios rise in the last quarter. They know an economic turnaround is in progress.

And Mr. Bush, his chief advisers and Republican leaders are not going to play into the Democrats' hands in the months to come. They are going to be on the road talking up the economy and promoting their growth agenda. "Morning in America" ads are being prepared for the coming campaign.

Meantime, House Ways and Means Chairman Bill Thomas has drafted a bill to cut the corporate income tax from 35 percent to 32 percent. It's aimed at small businesses with $10 million or less in taxable income who produce most of the jobs in this country.

In short, the once-sputtering economy is showing signs of new life, as it did in 1983, just before the 1984 election when President Reagan buried Walter Mondale in a 49-state landslide.

"THE TRASH NANNY": Has a meme just been born...?

HE'S IN.

As James Lileks recently wrote:

If he runs, he will get ten bazillion Jesse voters. First-timers - only timers, really - who will vote for Arnie because it?’s fun to vote for Arnie. This is not a constituency Schwartzenegger would feel compelled to court after the election, incidentally. They?’re like bee stings. You can only use them once, then politically they?’re dead.

UPDATE: Lileks, whose Website is back from a Benthic Petroleum tanker truck-sized crash, has much more on Arnold.

"PLAYING DIVERSITY FOOTBALL": John Leo of USA Today and David Harsanyi of the Wall Street Journal each have some thoughts on the NFL's recent $200,000 fine against the Detroit Lions for hiring Steve Mariucci, the best available coach, without first talking to black candidates.

For our previous coverage on what Rich Lowry once dubbed "racial parody" in the NFL, click here.

ARIANNA HUFFINGTON IS PLANNING TO RUN FOR GOVERNOR in California. Virginia Postrel, typing with stylish blue nail polish, has some thoughts, writing:

This is what you get when you combine the Progressive faith in unmediated democracy--which, in this case, includes mass candidacy--with a state in which "rational ignorance" has reached an all-time high (except on the passionate fringes, including mine): a high probability that Californians will elect a joke candidate or, the next best thing, a celebrity with a lot of glib opinions and minimal nuts-and-bolts knowledge. Yikes.

JOHN HAWKINS HAS A FEW PET PEEVES with the media--and he's not afraid to share them with you.

WHOOPI GOLDBERG, LIBERTARIAN: Well, at least when it comes to smoking!

"THE REAL INTELLIGENCE FAILURE": Francis Fukuyama looks at who dropped the ball, if it turns out Saddam didn't have weapons of mass destruction.

Fascinating article, which I read on dead tree while waiting for the plane yesterday. I'm glad to see it's online as well.

GOIN' BACK TO CALI, TO CALI, TO CALI: Well, actually I'm back. LL Cool J (remember him!?) was the celebrity on the cover of the American Airlines magazine, so now I've got that song stuck in my head. Oh well.

MUGGERIDGE'S LAW* IN ACTION DEPARTMENT: This quote from the Times is a classic. There's no way any parody writer (well, maybe Tom Wolfe on a very, very good day) could make stuff like that up.

READY, AIM, DESTROY: James Bowman reviews Buffalo Soldiers and eviscerates it, as only he can.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN: I'm in the Big Apple this weekend--blogging will be sporadic, and even occasionally intermittent.