the pod bay door

:: The US political system is not something to be understood easily. For example, the Iowa Caucuses. Whatinhell are they? I found explanations on the ‘net, but after reading them, I have a headache. You may fare differently. Try Jim Morrill’s description from the Charlotte Observer, or another take from MSNBC. There is also a detailed explanation on CNN’s site, but it’s a java pop-up window, so I cannot link to it. As of today, it’s on this page, in the “Related” box, about a third of the way down the page.

:: As if we need more proof that banks like CIBC are cold-blooded, heartless behemoths that care nil about their lunch bucket customers, I experienced more of CIBC’s slow but steady withdrawal of basic services today. While driving home from dim sum, I stopped at a Shell station to get cash, only to discover the CIBC machine there had been pulled and replaced by a Scotiabank machine. Undaunted, I drove further down Calgary Trail to a Petro-Canada station, only to discover that its CIBC machine had been swapped for a PetroCanada quick cash machine – you know, the generic kind, where the machine tells you that to withdraw any money will cost you an additional $1.50. Disappointed but not surprised, I drove to the local 7-11, which, thankfully, still has its CIBC bank machine.

But don’t let CIBC tell you otherwise. From their Public Accountability Statement 2003 web page, under “Affordable Accesible Banking”: In 2003, CIBC took steps to make banking more accessible to Canadians by enhancing products and services and upgrading delivery channels. Eh? From the same accountability statement: “CIBC offers customers a wider choice of banking services through Amicus Bank, a member of the CIBC group of companies.” Well, the two Amicus Bank machines I tried to use this afternoon aren’t there anymore.

CIBC over the years has pulled seven of its eight bank machines from my university campus. Now they are pulling machines from retail locations as well. “Enhancing products and services?” “Upgrading delivery channels?”

Er, no. Oh, SBT? Sucks Big Time.

:: In my short lifetime, I cannot remember a US presidential campaign with so many anti-incumbent movements before the election. George Soros and Michael Moore were on Charlie Rose last night, both speaking out against Bush, with Soros essentially dedicating the next year of his life to ending the Bush doctrine, which he believes to be a “temporary abberation.” Soros continues to provide leadership for an open society on this planet, with his Open Society Institute and Soros Foundation Network. Moore’s next movie, Fahrenheit 9-11, will examine the links between the Bush and bin Laden families.

Tonight I learned of the contest, Bush in 30 Seconds, in which contestants were asked to create a 30-second ad to explain and expose the failure of Bush’s policies. Of more than one thousand ads submitted, 26 were chosen as finalists. The five winners are here, and the overall best ad, “Child’s Pay“, is absolutely devestating, frightening, in fact, in its power and imagery – an ad with no dialogue, proving that pictures are indeed worth thousands of words.

Then check out Billionaires for Bush – “Because the deficit isn’t growing fast enough.”

:: A visit to my doctor yesterday confirmed that I have a flu bug, which, oddly enough, may have been the cause of my eye problem last week. I picked a lousy time to get sick, during one of the two busiest teaching weeks of the year at work. I feel like I’ve abandoned my colleagues. It feels more like a head cold than anything else, but I am bored and it is hard to concentrate on anything other than watching tv. So the only time I’m venturing outside is to rent movies. I watched Out Of Time last night, and thought it was quite good, a decent thriller involving arson, murder, and coverup afterwards. Denzel Washington continues to make good movies. Also, it’s nice out – 7C today (44.6F), and sunny (in contrast to the Eastern half of the continent, freezing in sub-zero tempertatures right now), and I’d rather be outside than inside.

:: The Edmonton Journal today published a letter written by my pal, Georges Giguere. The “friend’s automated Telus voice mail” of which he writes, was mine. While I never thought the sound of the voice was that bad (and has been changed, anyway), the letter is a good one, and sums up how he and many others, including myself, feel about the continuous and unabated assault on our senses by All Things Technological in today’s world. Sadly we must get used to it, because it will never subside. Fascinating then, that the cassette recently celebrated its 40th anniversary of existence, and despite all rumours to the contrary, is still going strong in most parts of the world. I bought my first cassette recorded in the late 60s, and cassettes I recorded then are still playable today. Can’t say the same for 5 1/4″ floppies, can we?

Back to bed…

:: The Los Angeles Film Critics Association announced its 2003 LA Film Critic Awards. Best Picture went to American Splendor, Director to Peter Jackson, Actor to Bill Murray, and Actress to Naomi Watts. The Triplets of Belleville picked up two awards, for Best Animation and Best Music Score. Leonard Klady offers these observations on the awards and their impact, if any. Further award details here.

:: Movie City News maintains a 2003 Awards Scoreboard, where you can see statistics by individal film in categories of Best Picture, Actor, Actress, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress and Screenplay. In addition, this nifty online publication, edited by David Poland, gathers together critics’ top ten lists. There are at least 275 Top Ten Lists provided. You can also see the films of 2003 assembled in a Big Chart based on top ten lists, or view by Point Total or Title. Not to be missed: The Big Scoreboard of Bad, and yes, Gigli was the winner. Some of the Top Ten Worst Films of 2003 lists are also provided.

:: Wired offers 101 Ways To Save The Internet. Among my favorites:

1 Unleash vigilante justice on spammers: One activist has proposed filters that launch distributed denial-of-service attacks back at spammers. Great. Just make sure we have the right addresses first.
2 Slash song prices charge 29 cents per download. You”ll make it up in volume.
3 Quit already, Jack Valenti
9 Hands off Internet phone calls: Just because the creaky old phone system was regulated to death doesn’t mean VoIP should suffer the same fate.
10 Free the handsets: We should be able to buy any cell phone and match it with any service plan.
24 Release Episode III on the Net: It’s going straight to video anyway.
30 Scramble archived addresses: Online archives of mailing lists are a treasure trove for spammers. Give members the option to have their addresses scrambled in posts.

Read more »

:: As a frequent movie goer, I tend to sit through a film until all the credits have appeared. All too often, there will be extra stuff like outtakes, or an extra scene when the credits have finished. There was an interesting article in the Sunday NYTimes (ID and PW: podbay) on how film credits are taking increasingly longer times to scroll because of the many categories and job titles listed. The article notes that in the credits for Master and Commander: The Far Side Of The World, 16 alone were assigned to people working for Russell Crowe only: costumer, two hairstylists, makeup artist, two special makeup artists, stunt double, stand-in, dialect coach, trainer, swordsmater, three violin coaches, two assistants, as well as a company that provided his personal security. Credits for Star Wars in 1977 listed 143 people. By contrast, Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, listed 559 names, Finding Nemo had 642, and The Matrix: Revolutions, listed 701. The article doesn’t list the number for the final LOTR movie, but notes that the credits take 9 minutes and 33 seconds to scroll. Be sure to check out the graphic that shows the difference in the length of credits between LOTR: TROTK and earlier films, such as Star Wars.

:: I’m still under the weather, fighting a cold and sore throat.