Friday, July 27, 2007
Lightning in a Bottle
Last night I watched a total surprise on DVD. Lightning in a Bottle (exec producer -- scorcese). It is a live onstage (radio city music hall) documentary of the Blues. It is the best music based movie I have seen since the Buena Vista Social Club. The performers list is astounding -- bb king, buddy guy, the nevilles, bonnie raitt, robert cray, keb mo, natalie cole, india.arie, solomon burke, gregg almond, . . .
Cruelty to animals
This is an extremely difficult area, even for a libertarian -- perhaps moreso. In the end, I believe the conflict boils down to the individual rights and responsibilities of the owners vs the rights of any free assembly of people to decide and codify what is right or wrong. The evidence is overwhelming that people, in their various governmental schemes, will make cruelty against the law. As long as there is wisdom in implementation, the libertarian has no quarrel with any law given that he can choose to live in or out of its jurisdiction. This does overlook the idea that one onerous law within a collection of good laws may be preferable to a good law among deplorable ones. I think this has more to do with why 1 person will live in l.a. while another lives in kansas than with the distribution of natural and economic resources. See the red states and the blue states.
This is the classic issue where local decisions are best, and the more local the better. This is within bounds, however, as 1 man cannot make himself a governmental unit. So the decision should be pushed down to the level at which the process most closely matches group desires with the consensus of individual sentiment. Then birds of a feather can flock together.
I don't know enough about the michael vick case to say whether he is being held up to local law or to federal strictures. If the former, I am ok with it and its outcome.
As a farmer, I tend toward being the animal lover. My farm is posted, and abounds with turkey, deer, hawks, geese, raccoons, and songbirds by the throngs. I will not kill a deer to save a tomato. As long as I have forage for my horses, the wildlife can eat all they wish. Most of my neighbors are practicing hunters, so when the wildlife overflourishes it is usually taken care of in the vicinity.
This is the classic issue where local decisions are best, and the more local the better. This is within bounds, however, as 1 man cannot make himself a governmental unit. So the decision should be pushed down to the level at which the process most closely matches group desires with the consensus of individual sentiment. Then birds of a feather can flock together.
I don't know enough about the michael vick case to say whether he is being held up to local law or to federal strictures. If the former, I am ok with it and its outcome.
As a farmer, I tend toward being the animal lover. My farm is posted, and abounds with turkey, deer, hawks, geese, raccoons, and songbirds by the throngs. I will not kill a deer to save a tomato. As long as I have forage for my horses, the wildlife can eat all they wish. Most of my neighbors are practicing hunters, so when the wildlife overflourishes it is usually taken care of in the vicinity.
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
I'm Dumping on the iPhone
I told you so! Well I didn't really, but I would have if you had asked.
I'm Dumping the iPhone by Chris Case
The telephone world (particularly at&t) has such a disdain for information and usability. I suppose it is because obviously you can sell anything as long as you take plastic. I blame george steinbrenner for this.
Someone who was not standing en queue to buy this stoopid thing said something like, "I just want a phone that doesn't drop calls."
Yeah, folks. Let's get a few gewgaws that do 1 job well, first.
I'm Dumping the iPhone by Chris Case
The telephone world (particularly at&t) has such a disdain for information and usability. I suppose it is because obviously you can sell anything as long as you take plastic. I blame george steinbrenner for this.
Someone who was not standing en queue to buy this stoopid thing said something like, "I just want a phone that doesn't drop calls."
Yeah, folks. Let's get a few gewgaws that do 1 job well, first.
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Forelle's Book Findings
Playing God: Seven Fateful Moments When Great Men Met to Change the World, by Charles L. Mee.
Mee is a playwright and a historian, among other things, and I found his view and dramatic, descriptive powers to be very useful in re-enacting these events.
I bought the book because of a debate with an intellectual friend about the aftermath of wwii in eastern europe, thus I was focusing on the conference at yalta. It is particulary interesting that Mee subtitled this chapter with reference to the problems of unintended consequences (the inevitability of which is the foundation of the libertarian tendency toward minimalism in government -- and in foreign policy, for that matter).
Not only did the yalta chapter teach me much more about yalta than I expected, each of the other 6 crucial moments were richly rewarding.
The only two quibbles I have are with the sub-title. Being a zeitgeist believer, I don't believe out-of-hand in "great men," even when churchill and roosevelt are involved. Somewhat contradictorily, I don't believe in the idea of "fateful," so much as crucial. And from reading Mee, I believe he would let me edit the sub-title accordingly, once he got to know me better.
Amazon Review Page
Mee is a playwright and a historian, among other things, and I found his view and dramatic, descriptive powers to be very useful in re-enacting these events.
I bought the book because of a debate with an intellectual friend about the aftermath of wwii in eastern europe, thus I was focusing on the conference at yalta. It is particulary interesting that Mee subtitled this chapter with reference to the problems of unintended consequences (the inevitability of which is the foundation of the libertarian tendency toward minimalism in government -- and in foreign policy, for that matter).
Not only did the yalta chapter teach me much more about yalta than I expected, each of the other 6 crucial moments were richly rewarding.
The only two quibbles I have are with the sub-title. Being a zeitgeist believer, I don't believe out-of-hand in "great men," even when churchill and roosevelt are involved. Somewhat contradictorily, I don't believe in the idea of "fateful," so much as crucial. And from reading Mee, I believe he would let me edit the sub-title accordingly, once he got to know me better.
Amazon Review Page
Monday, July 9, 2007
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Top 50 (or so) Forelle Flicks
A developing list:
rank, title, (rotten tomotoes %)
Anybody can go with GWTW, Citizen Kain, Lawrence of Arabia, Sound of Music, Clockwork Orange, etc., but they don't need me for their place in the pantheon.
rank, title, (rotten tomotoes %)
- Amadeus (97%)
- Sling Blade (95%)
- Longitude (80%) kf mini-review
- No Country for Old Men(94%)
- To Kill a Mockingbird (100%)
- Seven Samurai (100%)
- Breaking Away (94%)
- Fargo (92%)
- Ghost World (92%)
- Pulp Fiction (96%)
- L. A. Confidential (98%)
- Bang the Drum Slowly (95%)
- The General (81) -- severely underrated
- The Maltese Falcon (100%)
- The Big Sleep (94%)
- Silence of the Lambs (95%)
- Frida (75%)
- Shackleton's Antarctic Adventure (not rated)
- Dr. Strangelove (100%)
- The Misfits (100%)
- Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels (71%) -- severely underrated
- Irma La Douce (88%)
- Lonesome Dove (100%)
- Being John Malkovich (92%)
- Ran (95%)
- Hi Fi (91%)
- Lonely Are the Brave (100%)
- It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (72%)
- Some Like It Hot (97%)
- The Player (100%)
- Risky Business (100%)
- The Invasion of the Bodysnatchers (100%)
- Gandhi (85%)
- Red Rocks West (100%)
- Magnolia (86%)
- The African Queen (100%)
- Hear My Song (91%)
- The Gods Must be Crazy (94%)
- About Schmidt (85)
- Amelie (90%)
- House of Flying Daggers (88%)
- Raise the Red Lantern (96%)
- Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (97%)
- Once Were Warriors (94%)
- Defending Your Life (96%)
- Breaker Morant (100%)
- The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (84%)
- Cat Ballou (100)
- The Unforgiven (96)
- The Spanish Prisoner (89)
- Psycho (98)
- Little Big Man (95)
- The Dish (96)
- The Informer (89)
- The Night of the Iguana (88)
- Zorba the Greek (the other movie in the Dr. Strangelove year)
- Zulu (100)
- About a Boy (94)
- Men in Black (90)
Anybody can go with GWTW, Citizen Kain, Lawrence of Arabia, Sound of Music, Clockwork Orange, etc., but they don't need me for their place in the pantheon.
Kucinich - Gravel 2008 . . .
The landslide winners of the white house after dubya's incredibly ill-considered libby leniency.
Why not? The same kind of deal let jimma carter into the white house.
bush has totally diddled the gop for 2008, which leads me to revisit my suspicion that the racketeers currently in the wh plan on holding it by coup. Occam's Razor: The simplest answer that fits all the facts is most likely to be true.
Note: dubya couldn't even do this on the up-and-up. libby still has a quarter-million dollar fine and a criminal record.
Political Asylum
Why not? The same kind of deal let jimma carter into the white house.
bush has totally diddled the gop for 2008, which leads me to revisit my suspicion that the racketeers currently in the wh plan on holding it by coup. Occam's Razor: The simplest answer that fits all the facts is most likely to be true.
Note: dubya couldn't even do this on the up-and-up. libby still has a quarter-million dollar fine and a criminal record.
Political Asylum
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