Hey you, don't watch dat, watch dis

This is the sound of a new generation. One. Step. Beyonnnnnnnnddd!

If you don't speak Madness, that means, I've moved, mate. Archives are still a bit of a waggle, but I'll have it all cleared up before you know it and Bob's your uncle there we are.

Academia, Schmacademia

In the book White Noise, Don Delillo invented a university with two strange departments - one was a Department of Hitler Studies, the second was the Department of Elvis Studies.

An absurd idea of course, unless you equate them with the nascent work being done in the field of Video Game Studies...

Comments?

So where did the comments go? Where are the archives?

I'm working on migrating this blog to Moveable Type on another domain. I tried a migration that ate my archives and comments. I'll try to get the rest over less mangled, but I apologize if I lost a particularly witty comment of yours.

I hope to have the other site up mid-next week.

Salsa is Terrorist Music

First the Bush administration denied visas to Cuban nominees for the Grammy, now they're cutting off the donation of pianos by a New York piano tuner.

I said it first in jest, but perhaps Ashcroft really is afraid the rhythm is going to get him... the rhythm is going to get him...

Or maybe it's a health issue. I've always felt a good beat is infectious. We don't want a repeat of the tragic 1980's outbreak of rockin' pneumonia and the boogie-woogie flu.

From Hubble, a Dying Star's Ring of Fire

But I didn't Order a Pizza...

The role of guy I most recommend not answer if an unexpected pizza delivery guy knocks on his door goes to Dubai based businessman Buhary Syed Abu Tahir. Tahir has confessed to Malaysian police that he helped Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan sell nuclear parts and secrets to Iran.

Tahir also named several businessmen from Germany, Turkey, Switzerland and the United Kingdom as part of the network of middlemen who helped proliferate atomic technology.

Khan himself was pardoned by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, but has been told to remain in his home where he is under guard. Both Tahir and Khan must now have an awful lot of enemies.

Unsafe in Any Election

Ralph Nader will announce on Sunday If he is happy George Bush got into the White House and wrecked the country with his help will run for President again in 2004.

Nader already passed up the Green Party's nomination for this year, so he'd be stuck running as an independent or perhaps on a new party's ticket.

If he needs a name, I suggest the "Stooge of the Republicans" party.

Enemy of the State

The Supremes are ready to consider the "Enemy Combatant" rule, as it relates to captured American citizen, Chicago gang member, and accused would-be-dirty-bomber Jose Padilla. Padilla's case will be considered alongside the case of Yaser Esam Hamdi

I fear this is the run-up to a Dread Scott-like miscarriage of justice. The conservative court will more than likely find a way to effectively grant dictatorial powers to the Executive to continue to deny Padilla and others like him their basic constitutional rights to counsel and to a swift trial.

How can granting the Executive the power to strip a citizen of his rights with no recourse or appeal be in the interests of the constitution or the nation? Padilla may very well have been planning to dirty bomb the very area where I work. If so it's a good thing for me that he was stopped. But think about the implications: what stops a future (or the current) Exec from using the powers granted by upholding the Padilla reclassification in a less ethical and more politically pointed manner?

There is hope that O'Connor will swing the court towards the notion that even bad guys' constitutional rights must be protected, but I'm not optimistic. I hope she proves me wrong. If she doesn't, then this may be an important milestone, marking the beginning of a true Imperial presidency.

Turnaround

Check out the latest polling news on CNN. Lead sentence - "Democratic presidential hopefuls John Edwards and John Kerry both hold leads of 10 percentage points or more in hypothetical match-ups against President Bush, according to a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll released Wednesday. "

Now the $200 million Republican sleaze machine has not kicked into gear yet, so these numbers will change. Hopefully, however, this will get us a big mea culpa from those journalists who proclaimed Bush "unbeatable" a year ago. It'd be nice to get some "Bush is done" stories to balance out the previous lopsided coverage.

Like father, like son.

At Least She Doesn't Have 100 Cats

An amusing link My Mother is Insane.

After she sees this, I hope my wife never claims I'm a packrat again.

Big Day

Dean ends his campaign, though he will leave his name on ballots.

Edwards nearly beats Kerry in Wisconsin.

Greg Maddux signs with the Cubs.

Best line in the last 24 hours - John Edwards, "The voters of Wisconsin have sent a message tonight and that message is... 'Objects in mirror may be closer than they appear.""

Second best - Rick Morrissey of the Chicago Tribune on the Maddux deal - "The starting rotation will be Prior, Wood, Maddux, Matt Clement, and Carlos Zambrano. What do you call that? Murderer's Throw?"

Yankees gone wild

Here's the potential lineup for the Yankees next year:

Kenny Lofton
Derek Jeter
A-Rod
Jason Giambi
Gary Sheffield
Bernie Williams
Jorge Posada
Hideki Matsui
Miguel Cairo

With the exception of Cairo and Lofton, any one of these players could be the franchise for most teams. If the Cubs somehow get lucky and make it to the Series, it's going to be a classic pitching versus hitting duel.

Nigerian Scammers Move and Get Religion

I got this message in the mail today:

From: Mrs. Serena Jones
Direct email address: serenajones04@excite.com

PLEASE ENDEAVOUR TO USED IT FOR THE CHILDREN OF GOD.
I am the above named person from Kuwait. I am married to Dr. Harry Jones who worked with Kuwait embassy in Ivory Coast for nine years before he died in the year 2001. We were married for eleven years without a child. He
died after a brief illness that lasted for only four days. Before his death we were both born again Christians.

Since his death, I decided not to re-marry or get a child outside my matrimonial home which the Bible is against. When my late husband was alive he deposited the sum of$13.2 Million (Thirteen Million two hundred thousand U.S.Dollars) with one finance/security company in Europe. Presently, this money is still with the Security Company.

Recently, my Doctor, told me that I would not last for the next three months due to cancer problem. Though what disturbs me most is my stroke sickness. Having known my condition I decided to donate this funds to church or better still a christian individual that will utilize this money the way I am going to instruct him or her. I want this funds to be use in building churches, provide foods, materials needs, shelter for orphanages and widows, propagating the word of God and to ensure that the house of God is maintained.

The Bible made us to understand that Blessed is the hand that giveth. I took this decision because I don't have any child that will inherit this money and my husband relatives are not Christians and I don't want my husband's hard earned money to be misused by unbelievers. I don't want a situation where this money will be used in an ungodly manner. Hence the reason for taking this bold decision. I am not afraid of death hence I know where I am going. I know that I am going to be in the bosom of the Lord. Exodus 14 VS 14 says that the lord will fight my case and I shall hold my peace.

I don't need any telephone communication in this regard because of my health situation and also because of the presence of my husband's relatives aroundme always. I don't want them to know about this development. With God all things are possible. As soon as I receive your reply I shall give you the contact of my Lawyer, who will issue you a letter of authority that will prove you as the original- beneficiary of this fund and all the necessary details as well.

I want you and the church to always pray for me because the lord is my shephard. My happiness is that I lived a life of a worthy Christian. Whoever that wants to serve the Lord must serve him in spirit and truth. Please always be prayerful all through your life. Any delay in your reply will give me room in sourcing for a church or christian individual for this same purpose. Please assure me that you will act accordingly as I stated herein. Hoping to hearing from you.

N.B-PLEASE I WILL ADVICE YOU TO GIVE THE LAWYER ALL THE FULL COOPERATION AND UNDERSTANDING AND I BELIEVE HE WILL LEAD YOU TO YOUR SUCCESS IN JESUS

Remain blessed in the name of the Lord.
Yours in Christ,
Mrs. Serena Jones.
Direct email address: serenajones04@excite.com

Amazon Pricing to the Moon

The new Norah Jones is being offered at Amazon, for ONLY $29.99. $29.99? I saw a coupon in the paper last week for $9.99.

I wonder if this is part of their "variable pricing" scheme. If so, I wonder why I've been marked as a sucker. No thanks.

Wolves Not Allowed

Lou Harrison, the late new music composer who combined classical and contemporary music, built a house of straw before his demise. The LA Times (reg required) has a piece on the beautiful home built near Joshua Tree National Park.

Franc-n-berries

I learned today from a friend in Paris that its almost impossible to get decent non-French wines in Paris. As part of its plan to preserve French agriculture, France slaps a hefty tax on any foreign wine sold in the country.

As a consequence, although French wine drinkers can enjoy French wine cheaply, they can't get any of the Australian, Oregon, California, Spanish, Italian, or Chilean wines that you can get here in the U.S. Your French wines will cost you a bit more here than in Paris, but I think that's worth the variety.

This leads me to the conclusion that serious U.S. wine drinkers should be more knowledgable than French wine drinkers. That's got to hurt French egos.

It's been hours

...Since Drudge put up his World Exclusive!! on the rumor that Kerry has a Monica problem. The more legitimate media aren't even nibbling so far. Not even Fox has reported the story yet, despite Drudge's assertions that ABC, The Washington Post, The Hill, and the Associated Press were working on the piece.

Drudge Retort (clever name) calls Shenanigans on the report and notes that WatchBlog talked about the rumor long before The Drudge Report.

Of course, WatchBlog wonders if this might be a Karl Rove push polling special. Push polling is when you essentially spread a rumor through your polling. An example might be "Who would you vote for if the election were today, Bush or Kerry? Now, if I told you John Kerry has a long face because he once had sex with a chicken held by Jane Fonda while spitting on George Washington's grave and was startled by the police, would that affect your vote?"

This was used by Rove's dirty tricks squad to help kill John McCain's candidacy in the Republican primary in 2000. It might be a disciple of Rove's, or even a former opponent (I'm looking at you Chris Lehane), but it sure smells like a dirty trick to me.

Why Do You Carry This Story?

Mattell issues a press release that says Barbie and Ken are splitsville and the media treat it like real news.

Ken is apparently being replaced by a doll called "Blaine" that's supposed to be an Australian boogie-boarder. Blaine.

The only "Blaines" I know are the chill blaines I get when I don't dress warm enough during a long cold Chicago winter.

My company writes this kind of stuff (though thankfully, not this one).

Direct Marketers are Scum

I know that's not the most startling revelation, but honestly, I'm rarely annoyed by an advertisement in print media or on television. I am always annoyed by ads that come via postal mail, e-mail (spam), and now blog spam. Yes, blog spam. Look at this page for an example.

Great googly-moogly, when will it end!?

The successful candidate will have a PhD in Astrophysics and 7 years experience with Windows XP...

I once came across an ad looking for a Cisco CCNE. The hours offered were long, the location incovenient, and the pay -

The CCNE is a difficult certification to get. Not only must you know switching and routing in depth, you have to know Security, IP telephony, be able to pass several written tests including one monster which qualifies you to pay $1000+ and fly to a practical lab test site after waiting months for a slot to become available. To get the experience necessary to pass these tests, you'd have to either already have access to or have to purchase or rent tens of thousands of dollars worth of equipment. There are no "paper" CCNE's. CCNE's are well rewarded for this work. In the mid-90's CCNE's were making $150,000-$200,000. After the bubble, a CCNE could still reasonably expect to make $100,000-$120,000 in an urban market.

The offered pay was $40-45,000/year.

I was so annoyed, I responded to the ad and told them they were making themselves look dumb. The poster responded to me and said "you do business your way, I'll do business my way".

There's a site up now that rips these sorts of ads apart. The name of it is F*** That Job!. If you've ever been looking for a job and been incensed by unreasonable base qualification demands or unrealistic salary offers, you'll enjoy this site.

Seven little, six little, FIVE little Indians

Wesley Clark has decided to call it quits after losing Virginia and Tennesee to Kerry.

So far, the process has claimed Carol Moseley Braun, Dick Gephardt, and now Wesley Clark. Clark stumbled with waffling statements about whether he'd have supported the war in Iraq (somewhat like Kerry) almost as soon as he entered the race, and didn't recover (unlike Kerry). Politics is hard. That's why there are professional politicians.

Here's when I think the rest will fall-

Dean - right after Wisconsin. Howard Dean declared he'd withdraw if he didn't win Wisconsin. He isn't going to win Wisconsin. He later tried to retract the withdrawal comment, but he'll be seen as even more dead in the water if he reneges and will be forced out by lack of funds.

Kucinich - I think Dennis will withdraw before the convention. He's not in this to win, but its expensive to run a race like this and I just don't think he'll have the staying power He'll wait until pretty late, though.

Sharpton - Won't withdraw. He has the same purpose (to deliver a message) as Kucinich, but he has Republican money and direction to last at least until the convention.

Edwards - Won't withdraw. He wants to be the alternative. First he was the alternative to Dean, and now to Kerry. Edwards can't do anything but help himself by continuing. His prize will either be a vice presidential nod or a chance to run in 2008 if Bush wins or in 2012 if he loses (by which time he'll be the alternative to Hillary, I'd guess.)

Kerry - uh, no. He's the nominee, barring anything incredibly stupid.

I could be wrong on Kucinich, but I'm pretty sure about Dean, Sharpton and Edwards. Only a precipitous nosedive by Edwards keeps him out. And he sure as heck should address the convention in prime time in July.

BONUS LINK: If you've been following the "Was Bush AWOL or not?" story, you should be reading Calpundit. As Eric Zorn points out today, CalPundit is covering the story better than the national media. The major news outlets ought to be embarrassed they're being so badly outdone.

It Still Looks Goofy to Me

Explainer at Slate explains why Poodles have that dumb haircut.

Latest Timewaster

This one is more for the angry females out there.

Get Out of Phone Jail Free

Next time you get stuck in phone jail trying to work through an unwanted maze of menus so you can talk to a service rep try screaming at the machine.

It might sound useless to scream at a machine, but Wired reports that Shrikanth Narayanan, professor in the Speech Analysis and Interpretation Laboratory at the University of Southern California has written software to detect the level of frustration of a caller. If you swear, scream or otherwise express your searing undying hatred for this PIECE OF CRAP SYSTEM WHEN I JUST WANT GO GET MY DAMN PHONE FIXED YOU STUPID- Ahem. It will transfer you to a live operator.

Seems to me this is going to encourage rudeness to people as well as machines. Are the machines being positioned as the opening act in a concert of rage? Maybe having adequate staff who are trained and competent would be a better idea?

Pan Review

I'm going to a dinner party this next weekend and I've been put in charge of the bread. As you may remember, I made some French bread that turned out pretty well. In retrospect, the crust was a bit too rugged and strong structurally, but it was OK. Of course, OK is not good enough, especially when sharing with friends.

So last night I searched the Internet again and found another recipe that promised Amazing French Bread. Well, with a promise like that, how can you turn it down? If you've clicked on that link above you'll notice its a more complicated recipe than the previous one I made.

I put the bread together, baked it up and it came out with a gorgeous crust. Unfortunately, the bread itself was too dense for my taste and had a slightly off flavor that I blame on using vegetable shortening. I think shortening is great for pie, but too strong for baked goods that don't have other flavors to offset its taste.

Tonight, I'm going to try to fashion a recipe from these two and from others that uses butter instead of the oil in the first recipe and the shortening in the second. Perhaps butter will be the Baby Bear to oil's Papa Bear and shortening's Momma Bear.

UPDATE: My friend in Paris (who berates me for not reading her messages more closely. Hi, Meg.), tells me her survey of true Frenchies reveals there is no fat in French Bread. No oil, no butter, no shortening. And then we got into an argument about the word "shortening". This is really why I love her like a sister. She makes me nuts.

It's not Tux, trust me.

And now a GREAT timewasting link. 578.1 is my personal best.

UPDATE - 593.5!

And the Winning Terrorist Is...



Buenos Hermanos and Ibrahim Ferrer won the Grammy for Best Traditional Tropical Latin Album (Vocal or Instrumental) last night.

As noted before, Cubans Hermanos and Ferrer were not present because the State Department deemed them people "detrimental to the interest of the United States."

Maybe John Ashcroft fears the rhythm is going to get him.. the rhythm is going to get him...

Nine Parts of Desire

I just finished Geraldine Brooks's book Nine Parts of Desire. Brooks is an Australian journalist who worked in the Middle East for many years. She found herself frustrated by her inability as a woman to get access to the peopel and places she needed to be to write in-depth stories about the Middle East. Wherever she turned, Islamic influenced rules and laws forbade her from participation. Finally, she realized there was a big story she could report on at a very personal level. She began to talk to the women in these societies.

What she found across many Islamic countries was a society that suppresses women in the name of glorifying them. The second chapter of the book sets the background with descriptions of genital mutilation in Eritrea and Palestine. Not all Islamic societies practice genital mutilation, or any of the various suppressions described in the book, but all the ones Brooks has visited practice some form of suppression.

Brooks explores the various body coverings required by these societies. Islam does prescribe loose-fitting garments that hide the shape from the opposite gender, but the Koran apparently also demands that men wear loose clothing, and Brooks wonders why this instruction seems to be ignored for men.

The answer is of course that Islam oppresses women because those in political power find it convenient and profitable to do so. Like Christianity or Buddhism, Islam can be interprested in ways that liberate or oppress. In fact, as Brooks writes, Mohammed himself had a first wife we would consider the model of a liberated woman. She was an international trader who asked Mohammed to marry her and who supported him, rather that the reverse. Mohammed took no second wives until after this first one had died.

Brooks does find that the particular instruments of oppression sometimes produce positive effects as well. A woman walking the street of Tehran (with the permission of her husband, of course), is safer from assault or rape than in any city of comparable size in the West. Because the women are kept dependent, their sense of connection to family is much more intense than in the West.

While laboring alongside a room filled with Islamic women making bread, Brooks writes that she felt the comradeship of working together and producing something worthwhile. That feeling was interrupted by a small boy who would steal bits of dough from the table after it was formed. "Why should he learn at such a young age that women labor for his benefit?" Brooks wonders.

What comforts there are, however, are minor compared to the intellectual starvation, dependence, and even threat of violence (either in corrective beatings or in the case of a "fallen" woman, in "honor killings") these women endure. In the final chapter, Geraldine Brooks calls on the West to resist the importation of oppression into our societies and to remember that though Islam has its beliefs, we in the West too hold cerain things sacred "among these are liberty, equality, the pursuit of happiness, and the right to doubt."

I would like to see a credible defense of Islamic treatment of women from a modern Islamic woman to contrast with this book. As Brooks writes, the practices current in many Islamic societies, particularly the fundamentalist ones, are wholly indefensible.

Sconeheads


Made my first scones EVAR yesterday and they were good. I burned the bottoms a bit, but the texture and taste were right on otherwise. The recipe is from Hannah's, which I link to over on the right side here.

Minor modification I made - put two teaspoons of sour cream in the measuring cup and then pour in enough milk to make 1/3 cup of milk/sour cream mix. The addition of the sour cream gives the scones a nice tang.

Orange/Cranberry Scones

4 C. flour
4 t. baking powder
3/4 C. sugar
1 t. salt
Grated orange peel from 1 orange
1 C. butter, room temperature, cut into small pieces
2 large eggs
1/3 C. frozen orange juice
1/3 C. milk (but see above for tip)
1/2-3/4C. fresh or frozen cranberries

Combine dry ingredients plus grated orange peel; cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

In small bowl, whisk eggs, orange juice and milk. (Save a couple of tablespoons of the mix to brush tops of scones before baking.) Stir into flour mixture, combining until dough is moist. If it is too sticky to handle, add a bit more flour. Mix in the cranberries.

Turn dough onto floured work surface; knead a few turns. Divide dough into two balls; pat each into a circle. Cut 6 scones (wedges) from each. Brush with reserved egg mixture.

Put on greased cookie sheets and bake at 375 degrees for 18 to 25 minutes. Keep checking until they are golden brown. Watch the bottoms.

Optional glaze: 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar mixed with 1 tablespoon orange juice (concentrated frozen orange juice yields the best flavor). Drizzle over cooled scones.

Is This the Face of Terror?



The State Department has denied visas to all five nominees for the Grammy for best traditional tropical Latin album. All five are Cubans and include such dangerous types as 77-year old Ibrahim Ferrer and 75-year old Guillermo Rubalcaba.

Apparently, according to a diplomat in Havana these successful and talented Cuban musicians are considered to be people "detrimental to the interest of the United States". Maybe all the Americans seeing these people on stage would be pushed to question why we keep up such a ridiculous regimen of sanctions and travel restriction on Cuba?

Commodore, Lionel Richie Not Included

Last night I finished the seventeenth Aubrey/Maturin novel, Commodore by Patrick O'Brian. In this volume Aubrey and Maturin have to contend with rumors of infidelity, a threat from a minor royal to Maturin's freedom and fortune, the slave trade, yellow fever, and the French support of a potential revolt in Maturin's native Ireland.

Really, it's difficult to review this book separately from the rest of the Aubrey/Maturin series which is splendid. This book moves a little more slowly at first than some of the others, but when it finally gets its feet under it, it trots along nicely. The depiction of the slave trade from a British perspective feels authentic, as do the usual forays into early 19th century nautical, medical, and naturalist life.

Once it got going, I quite enjoyed the book and recommend it. But don't read it until you've read the 16 before it. Ultimately, the books are one big story whcih deserves to be read in order.

Vegetarian$

It's been obvious to me for a while that vegan and vegetarian friendly products are big business. I didn't realize just how big, though. This link from Vegan Street shows that most of the familiar veggie-friendly brands are now the property of some enormous companies.

Among the highlights - Kraft owns Boca, Dean owns WhiteWave/Silk (who now supply soy to Starbucks), Kellogg owns Morningstar Farms, and M&M/Mars owns Seeds of Change.

The author thinks this is a development to be concerned by, but I think its a great sign. If vegetarian options are being produced by mainstream companies, they'll be promoted and distributed by these companies which will make them much more readily available everywhere.

Another Oscar Showtimes Update

Film Name	Picture	Director	Actor	Actress	S. Actor	S.Actress
City of God		X
Cold Mountain			X			X
The Cooler					X
House of Sand and Fog			X			X
In America				X	X
The Last Samurai					X
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King	X	X
Lost in Translation	X	X	X
Master And Commander: The Far Side of the World	X	X
Monster				X
Mystic River	X	X	X		X	X
Pieces of April						X
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl			X
Seabiscuit	X
Something's Gotta Give				X
thirteen				X
21 Grams				X	X
Whale Rider				X

Showtimes are not yet published on the Chicago Reader website. I'll try to update this entry soon after they are.

I saw an ad for City of God on TV this morning. It looks like its going to get a limited re-release to boost the chances of its director winning an Oscar. Also, Lost in Translation has hit on DVD. More later.

Satanic Faux Faux

...Or Seitan-ic Faux Pho, to be more accurate. Last night I pulled up the recipe for Vegetarian Pho. Pho Bo is by definition a beef soup from Vietnam, so you can't really make Vegetarian Pho, so much as you make Faux Pho. I made a big batch and it was delicious, nutritious, and filling.

The recipe here is adapted from the one at vrg.org. I like more greens and seitan in my soup so I upped the quantities and dropped the noodles which were excessive when thin rice noodles were substituted.

Faux Pho Bo

8 cups Vietnamese style broth (see recipe that follows)
1/2 pound thin rice noodles
Two 8-ounce packages seitan, drained
1/2 cup bean sprouts
1 cup shredded cabbage (such as Napa cabbage)
1 cup tender greens, torn into bite-sized pieces (I recommend arugula or baby spinach)
1/2 cup basil leaves
1/2 cup cilantro, coarsely chopped
3 scallions, thinly sliced (both green and white parts)
3 Tablespoons chopped, roasted, unsalted peanuts (optional)
1 lime, cut into wedges
2 fresh red or green chili peppers, seeded and cut into small slices
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Make the broth as directed. When broth has been simmering for about 10 minutes, soak the noodles as follows. Bring 4 quarts of water to boil in a large pot. Remove from heat, add noodles, and let soak around 10 minutes, stirring occasionally until noodles are pliable and easily separated.

Drain the noodles and divide them among six bowls. Simmer the seitan in the broth until heated through, about 4 minutes. Remove the seitan with a slotted spoon and slice thinly into six portions. Add to noodles.

Assemble the soup by placing the bean sprouts, cabbage, greens, basil, cilantro, scallions, and optional peanuts on top of the noodles and seitan. Ladle the hot broth onto the noodle mixture.

Serve with a plate of lime wedges, chili rounds, and salt and pepper for individual seasoning

Vietnamese Style Broth

8 cups clear vegetable stock
3 Tablespoons soy sauce
8 medium garlic cloves, peeled and chopped coarsely
1 small onion, diced
One 1-inch piece of ginger
Two 3-inch cinnamon sticks plus 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2-3 pods of star anise
2 large bay leaves

Put stock, soy sauce, garlic, and onion in a large stockpot and bring to a boil over medium heat.

Meanwhile, char ginger on all sides over an open gas flame or in a small skillet. Add to the stock.

Add the cinnamon sticks, star anise, and bay leaves to the broth. Reduce the heat to low. Simmer, partially covered, for 20-25 minutes.

Remove solids with a slotted spoon or strain the broth through a fine-mesh sieve. Adjust seasonings if necessary. Return to pot and keep hot until ready to use in soup.

Curse William Saletan

For coming up with the term "Joe-bituary".

Man, I wish I wrote that.

So Where Have You Been?


create your own visited states map
or write about it on the open travel guide



create your own visited country map

I took a trip on a train once that would knock out Utah, but I don't like to count it since we didn't stop moving.

What a pathetic countries visited map. I better get cracking on that.

How Now, Mad Cow?

Are we getting the truth about the Mad Cow killed in December? It was a downer cow and its meat was destroyed right?

Well, maybe not. The man who killed the cow denies it was a downer and is certain the meat was sold. Now he's being harrassed and called an "urban terrorist" by government agents. I'm glad my meat consumption is near nil these days. The scary story is in the New York Times.

Joe-mentum? Joe-momma.

Joe Lieberman reportedly will withdraw from the race for President if he is winless in the primaries today. It doesn't look like he will win anywhere, so it's bye-bye Joe.

I'm now convinced he was a drag on the ticket in 2000. I won't be surprised if he goes "Independent" soon, then ends up as a Republican if the Dems don't take the White House.

Will Clark soldier on if he loses Oklahoma? Edwards if he loses S. Carolina? Stay tuned.

Civilization

Via EricZorn's guest blogger Maureen Ryan, I learned of NiceCupOfTeaAndASitDown.com. The site discusses all things tea and biscuit/cake related (that's tea and cookies to us Yanks).

I passed the site on to friends in Paris including a tea-mad Brit who confirmed this site was indeed the schnizzle (for lack of a more refined term).

We may have the economic, military, and material advantage over the Brits, but I can't help feel that they live better and more gently than we do.

I Don't See an Entry for "Toby"

The Library of Congress is one of the true wonders of the modern world. Just recently they put this collection of recorded conversations with former slaves on-line. This is history you can almost touch.

And Now They Work for Dell

Wild article by William Safire in the NYT today. In the 1980's, The Soviets were buying chips and technology components on the black market that the U.S. had banned for export. The French turned an agent who had a shopping list from the Soviets. The Intelligence services decided to help the Soviets shop by providing chips that would pass inspection and QC, but fail in production.

This all led to a three-kiloton explosion as the chips were used in a pipeline the Soviets, Germans, and Brits backed but which was opposed by the French and the U.S.

ADDITION: Also in the Times today, Thomas L. Friedman coins a great term - B.M.D. or "Budgets of Mass Destruction".

From 1971

Well Kerry definitely was the first candidate of this year's crop to appear in a Doonesbury.

October 21, 1971:

thirteen

Had a late night last night as I watched thirteen right after the Super Bowl.

The movie boils down to this - parents suck, early teenagers are a nightmare, a good kid can turn bad almost instantly, and our culture is poisonous. How's that for an uplifting flick?

All the parents and adults in this movie (from the absent father to the clerk at the tattoo parlor) have abdicated responsibility for the children. Holly Hunter's Mel, the one exception, is a reformed substance abuser who ekes out a living cutting hair in the house she shares with her son and thirteen year old daughter. And even her character, while recognizing the changes happening in her daughter, refuses to confront her or to really lay down the law. As she says tearfully near the end of thirteen, "I didn't know it had gone this far."

And the changes this teen undergoes include a sudden ability to steal without a hint of remorse, use of many different drugs, drinking, smoking, body modification in the form of belly button and tongue piercings, and of course the beginnings of sex.

Maybe all the adults in L.A. really are this lame, but I doubt it. I wasn't the type of kid who got involved with drugs or smoking, but I knew some who did. I can buy trying out these substances at the age of thirteen, but I don't think I buy the star of this film getting away with it considering how badly she covers up.

Essentially, I think this is one of those Blackboard Jungle type movies that come out every so often. These movies sensationalize the trials and tribulations of a difficult time in a young person's life to the point where they send a certain type of parent into hysterics and cause most kids of that age to lament the lack of accurate portrayals of them in the media. I remember going through the same thing with the 'Dungeons and Dragons caused these kids to kill one of their friends' movies that came out when I was a budding geek.

I'm sure it's more dangerous to be a kid now, and I'm sure many do experiment with activities and substances that would make their parents blanch if they knew, but I just didn't buy the transformation here from good kid to hard case. It happened too fast and too firmly.

See the movie, but see it on disc and don't keep it an extra day.

Best ad on the SuperBowl

Shards o Glass

Into the Mystic

Saw Mystic River today. The acting is of course superb as was the writing. Tim Robbins made me believe he was a miserable scared messed-up South Bostonian. Sean Penn was his usual self and Kevin Bacon turned in a version of the cop character he's been working on for years. Marcia Gay Harden and Laura Linney have less screen time, but make the most of every minute.

Overall this is a subtle and beautiful film, but I have quibbles (SPOILERS BELOW)-

What is with the blast of music when young Danny escapes into the woods and the camera elevates to the sky? Awful. The music (by Clint Eastwood) is the primary weakness of the movie.

Why the "gotcha" or "you're next" finger gun at the end from Kevin Bacon to Sean Penn? And which was it?

The molester Danny (Tim Robbins) killed at the end came from left field. I believed Robbins's character would have whacked such a person, but a little foreshadowing or would have been nice. It's too "Surprise!" for me.


SPOILERS OVER

I nitpick because I loved the movie. From what I've seen so far (and I've now seen all the Best Picture nominees), Mystic River was the best nominated film of 2003. I like LOTR:ROTK a lot (I've read the books five times now), but if Graham Greene wrote both he'd have classified ROTK as an "entertainment" and Mystic River as one of his important works.

Clint Eastwood did a great job as did the writers, editors, and everyone involved with the movie. It tells a story that seizes the audience's attention and doesn't break believability or pace for 4/5 of the film.

The interrogation scene with Fishburne, Bacon, and Robbins is so strong, as is the scene with Robbins and Penn talking on the back porch. Even with all the star power in the cast, the story is king. Go see this movie.

Not Bitter

I see the adjunct wing of the Reelect Bush in 2004 committe has their website up.

Seabiscuit

Watched Seabiscuit last night with the Mrs. Quick plot summary - nation, horse, trainer, rich owner, and jockey are all little guys who are beat up but just need a second chance. They get it. Crowd goes wild. Disaster strikes. Everything falls apart. Everything comes back together. Crowd goes wild again.

Sounds dreadful, right? Actually, it was pretty good. It took a bit long to get going, and included some unnecessary "American Experience"- type footage, but the showdown with War Admiral was built up well. At first I thought the second comeback was unnecessary, but now I think they just built to the first climax too slowly.

Tobey Maguire, Chris Chandler, and Jeff Bridges are excellent, though Jeff Bridges ages seemingly twenty years in a six year timeframe. The script has a lot of humor and the music os Randy Newman's standard genius, but the real star is the cinematography. It's a beautiful film. That may be why the director fell in love with a lot of footage he could probably have trimmed. At 2 hours 21 minutes it's a good film. At 1 hour 45 minutes it could have been a classic.

Bad Day to Be One of These



-8 actual, -27 wind chill. Ouch.

Some thoughts from walking to work from the bus:

1. You need the whole schmear when it gets this cold - hat, gloves, scarf, and a good coat. You just need to keep your legs moving to keep them from freezing too badly, but I suppose some long underwear would help as well.

2. I'm always amazed that a good leather jacket with a quilted lining can see me through three seasons.

3. Scarf over the ears. The hat is just to cap the chimney. The scarf protects the ears and face.
4. I wonder if you could get a little light to bounce from side to side in that little space between the hat and the scarf where my eyes are. I'm pretty sure I'd look like a wooly cylon.

5. There's a certain scrunch of misery that you only see on people's faces when it's below zero and the wind gets them square on. You can't fake it.

6. Firemen who work in this weather should be given a big bowl of cash and cookies. Go out in the cold and spray water on a building? Forget it, bud.

7. You know it's cold when you blink and your eyelashes freeze together a little.

8. I'm really glad I got rid of my glasses in favor of contact lenses. When I was a kid and still wore glasses during the winter, they'd fog up, get thin sheets of ice on the lenses and worst of all, freeze the bridge of my nose where they rested giving me a horrible headache. Good riddance.

9. It's kind of nice to know you can survive something like this. People are nicer to each other, and with the exception of cabbies, drivers give way to pedestrians trying to get out of the cold.

10. Taxi drivers who cut off pedestrians in sub-zero weather should be pulled from their cabs and made to walk home.

11. A high temperature should only have a negative sign in front of it two or three days a year. This is why Celsius sucks.

Half a Trillion

The new Bush budget asks for a $500 million deficit. One-half a trillion dollars.

I don't care if you're a liberal watching the government be starved of tax revenue so it'll be forced to cut programs for people who need them in the future; I don't care if you're a conservative concerned that the nation is being fiscally irresponsible and that our credit and ability to sustain low inflation and low interest rates will be negatively impacted; I don't care if you're a libertarian upset that the government is going to have to take more taxes from you to pay for the interest from this deficit.

It's clear to me that from every perspective this is a bad budget from a fiscally irresponsible man who should be removed in November, and mounted on a wall as an example of just how bad a president can be.

To Market, to Market

Iowa Electronic Markets on the Democratic race for president:

Oscar Showtimes Update

Film Name	Picture	Director	Actor	Actress	S. Actor	S.Actress
City of God		X
Cold Mountain			X			X
The Cooler					X
House of Sand and Fog			X			X
In America				X	X
The Last Samurai					X
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King	X	X
Lost in Translation	X	X	X
Master And Commander: The Far Side of the World	X	X
Monster				X
Mystic River	X	X	X		X	X
Pieces of April						X
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl			X
Seabiscuit	X
Something's Gotta Give				X
thirteen						X
21 Grams				X	X
Whale Rider				X

Showtimes (Chicago, Oak Park, and Evanston only) from the Chicago Reader for the week of Friday, January 30 through Thursday, February 5th:

City of God - Not playing currently, on DVD now.

Cold Mountain - Davis 4614 N. Lincoln - Daily 4:00, 7:00, 9:50; Sa-Su also 1:00 pm;River East 21 322 E. Illinois St. - Fr-Sa 1:10, 2:10, 4:15, 5:20, 7:25, 8:30, 10:30; Su 1:10, 2:10, 4:10, 5:20, 7:15, 8:30, 10:15; Mon-Th 2:10, 3:45, 5:20, 7:00, 8:30, 10:00; Webster Place 1471 W. Webster at Clybourn - Daily 12:50, 3:50, 6:50, 9:50; Century 12 and CineArts 6 1715 Maple, Evanston - Daily 12:30, 3:50, 7:10, 10:30

The Cooler - Pipers Alley Wells at North Ave - Fr, Mon, Th 5:00, 8:00, 10:30; Sa-Su 2:00, 5:00, 8:00, 10:30; Wed 5:00, 10:30;River East 21 322 E. Illinois St - Fr-Su 1:00, 3:10, 5:20, 7:45, 10:10; Mon-Th 2:40, 5:20, 7:45, 9:50;Century 12 and CineArts 6 1715 Maple, Evanston - Daily 11:45, 2:20, 4:55, 7:25, 10:00

House of Sand and Fog - River East 21 322 E. Illinois St - Fr-Su 1:30, 4:10, 7:00, 9:50; Mon-Th 2:00, 4:50, 7:30, 10:10; Webster Place 1471 W. Webster at Clybourn - Daily 2:30, 7:40

In America - Pipers Alley Wells at North Ave - Daily 4:15, 7:15, 10:00; Sa-Su also 1:15;River East 21 322 E. Illinois St. - Fr-Sa 1:40, 4:10, 7:10, 9:30; Su 1:40, 4:20, 7:10, 9:20; Mon-Th 2:15, 4:50, 7:10, 9:30; Century 12 and CineArts 6 1715 Maple, Evanston - Daily 12:30, 3:00, 5:25, 7:55, 10:20

The Last Samurai - City North 14 2600 N. Western - Fr-Su, Tu 1:45, 5:15, 8:30; Mon, Wed-Th 2:00, 5:15, 8:30; Esquire 58 E. Oak - Daily 3:45, 9:30;Ford City 7601 S. Cicero - Daily 1:45, 5:00, 8:15

LOTR:ROTK - Chatham 14 210 W. 87th - Daily 12:50, 4:45, 8:30;Ford City 7601 S. Cicero - Daily 2:30, 7:30;River East 21 322 E. Illinois St. - Fr-Su 1:30, 3:30, 5:30, 7:30, 9:30; Mon-Th 3:30, 5:00, 7:30, 9:00; Webster Place 1471 W. Webster at Clybourn - Fr, Mon-Tu, Th 1:00, 3:00, 5:00, 7:00, 9:00; Sa-Su 11:00, 1:00, 3:00, 5:00, 7:00, 9:00; Wed 1:00, 3:00, 5:00, 9:00; Fr-Sa also 11:00 pm; Century 12 and CineArts 6 1715 Maple, Evanston - Daily 11:30, 3:45, 8:00

Lost In Translation - Esquire 58 E. Oak - Daily 1:25, 7:00; Landmark's Century Centre 2828 N. Clark - Daily 2:40, 5:10, 7:40, 10:00; Fr-Su also 12:20 pm; Century 12 and CineArts 6 1715 Maple, Evanston - Daily 2:55, 7:40 double feature

MAC:TFSOTW - City North 14 2600 N. Western - Daily 2:20, 5:20, 8:15; River East 21 322 E. Illinois St - Fr-Sa 1:15, 4:15, 7:30, 10:30; Su 1:15, 4:15, 7:15, 10:15; Mon-Th 4:00, 7:15, 10:10; Village 1548 N. Clark - Fr, Mon-Th 6:50, 9:40; Sa-Su 1:10, 4:00, 6:50, 9:40

Monster - Esquire 58 E. Oak - Daily 2:10, 5:00, 8:10, 10:40; Sa-Su also 11:30 am; Ford City 7601 S. Cicero - Fr-Wed 1:45, 4:25, 7:10, 9:50; Th 1:45, 4:25, 9:50; Landmark's Century Centre 2828 N. Clark - Daily 1:40, 4:10, 7:00, 9:30; Fr-Su also 11:15 am; Century 12 and CineArts 6 1715 Maple, Evanston - Daily 12:00, 2:35, 5:10, 7:45, 10:20; Lake 1020 Lake, Oak Park - Daily 12:00, 2:30, 5:00, 7:30, 10:00

Mystic River - Biograph 2433 N. Lincoln - Fr, Mon-Th 7:00, 9:40; Sa-Su 1:05, 4:00, 7:00, 9:40; Burnham Plaza 826 S. Wabash - Fr, Mon-Th 7:00, 9:35; Sa-Su 1:20, 4:10, 7:00, 9:35; Chatham 14 210 W. 87th - Daily 1:30, 4:10, 6:50, 9:30; City North 14 2600 N. Western - Fr-Su, Tu 1:10, 4:10, 7:00, 10:00; Mon, Wed-Th 4:10, 7:00, 10:00; Lawndale 3330 W. Roosevelt - Daily 5:00, 8:00; Fr-Su also 2:00; River East 21 322 E. Illinois St - Fr-Su 1:10, 4:15, 7:15, 10:10; Mon-Th 4:15, 7:15, 10:15; 62nd & Western 2258 W. 62nd - Fr-Su 12:45, 3:40, 6:35, 9:30; Mon-Th 4:00, 6:45, 9:30; Century 12 and CineArts 6 1715 Maple, Evanston - Daily 12:40, 4:00, 7:30, 10:30

Pieces of April - Not playing currently, on DVD Feb 24th.

POTC:COTBP - Not playing currently, on DVD now.

Seabiscuit - City North 14 2600 N. Western - Daily 7:00; River East 21 322 E. Illinois St. - Fr-Sa 7:30; Su-Th 7:00; Also available on DVD now.

Something's Gotta Give - City North 14 2600 N. Western - Fr-Su, Tu 1:30, 4:20, 7:15, 10:00; Mon, Wed-Th 4:20, 7:15, 10:00; Esquire 58 E. Oak - Daily 1:40, 4:20, 7:50, 10:30; Sa-Su also 10:40 am; 3 Penny 2424 N. Lincoln - Fr 6:20; Sa-Su 1:40, 4:00, 6:20; Mon-Th 6:00, 8:15; Fr-Sa also 8:45; Century 12 and CineArts 6 1715 Maple, Evanston - Daily 11:15, 2:00, 5:00, 7:55, 10:40; Lake 1020 Lake, Oak Park - Daily 12:50, 3:45, 6:40, 9:25

thirteen - Not playing currently, on DVD now.

21 Grams - Davis 4614 N. Lincoln - Fr, Mon-Th 5:00, 7:30, 10:00; Sa-Su 12:00, 2:30, 5:00, 7:30, 10:00; Esquire 58 E. Oak - Daily 1:50, 4:40, 7:20, 10:10; Sa-Su also 11:00 am; Landmark's Century Centre 2828 N. Clark - Daily 2:00, 7:30, 10:10; Fr-Su also 11:30 am; Century 12 and CineArts 6 1715 Maple, Evanston - Daily 12:20, 5:05, 9:50 double feature

Whale Rider - Not playing currently, on DVD now.

Whale Rider

Saw Whale Rider this evening. Much better than I had feared. Not at all the "feel good" Bend It Like Beckham-ish movie I'd expected.

The kid's great, but not Oscar great. The range of emotion she showed wasn't great enough and I don't believe her as a stick fighter (yeah I know I'm horribly mashing up the name of a Maori weapn, but I just didn't catch what the pool cue was called).

Worth a rent.

And by the way - Godfather of Soul or Maori Tribal Chief?

Google Gaming

My friend Bryan just turned me on to the best brain teaser ever. Pick two words that, when entered into Google, return one and only one hit. I haven't found any combinations yet, though "spork flamberge" came close with two hits.

Once you've mastered that, try this Google drinking game, that extends the concept.

UPDATE: "micture swingle", "flamberge barf". At least until this page gets indexed.

Challenge

RealityFuel has a challenge I first read about on bookslut's blog - read 50 books this year and blog about them.

So far, I've got Po Bronson's "What Should I Do With My Life" to write about. I read this in Cancun last week and it was a perfect beach book. Bronson's agenda, if he has one, is to encourage people to make the leap out of the dead-end or dissatisfying job they have now to a new and more fulfilling career.

The book is Terkel-ian in that it consists of the individual stories of many people and the changes these people made in their life. Not all worked out, and surprisingly few had a thunderbolt moment that caused them to change. Most worked hard at changing over from what was paying their bills. Some made less money by far than they had at their earlier career. Almost no one had freakish amazing success at first, but most of the people profiled and interviewed in the book found satisfaction in their careers and in their life by persuing a career or lifestyle more suited to their temperament.

Bronson includes anecdotes about his own switch in careers from Wall Street type to writer. These came across as a bit narcissistic, but were very relevant to me personally as I try to work out what comes after Information Technology for me. Most specifically Bronson's industry was "it" in the 80's and he had a chance to make good money in it. My industry was "it" in the 90's and served me well, but I now need a change.

Joe-mentum?

So what happened to the much vaunted "Joe-mentum" that Lieberman claimed to have in New Hampshire?

Kerry - 39%, Dean - 26%, Clark - 12%, Edwards - 12%, Lieberman - 9%, Kucinich - 1%, Sharpton - 0%

Kucinich and Sharpton are in the race make a statement, not to actually take the nomination. With the South and West ahead, Clark and Edwards are ready for some big showdowns. Dean has money to burn, and Kerry now has to be considered the frontrunner.

But what about Joe? Lieberman is in this to win, and it's becoming more and more apparent that he won't win. In fact, I think it's a question now whether he was an add or a drag on the 2000 Democratic ticket. I know he made me considerably less enthusiastic about voting for Gore than I would have been. Did some people stay home rather than vote for the crypto-Republican for vice president?

Clearly Lieberman must think he can finish high in Missouri or Arizona next week. I just don't see it. It's time for "Joe-mentum" to go into "Joe-tirement".

And the Oscar Nominations Go To...

Film Name	Picture	Director	Actor	Actress	S. Actor	S.Actress
City of God		X
Cold Mountain			X			X
The Cooler					X
House of Sand and Fog			X			X
In America				X	X
The Last Samurai					X
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King	X	X
Lost in Translation	X	X	X
Master And Commander: The Far Side of the World	X	X
Monster				X
Mystic River	X	X	X		X	X
Pieces of April						X
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl			X
Seabiscuit	X
Something's Gotta Give				X
thirteen						X
21 Grams				X	X
Whale Rider				X

The official list of all the nominees is here. One interesting note - to be nominated for best makeup you have to have two titles.

Every year I try to see all the nominees in the "Big 6" categories. The ones in yellow above are the ones I've seen so far this year. I've got a lot of movies to see between now and February 29th, obviously.

For Chicagoans (and for this purpose, Chicagoans mean Oak Parkers and Evanstonians as well since that's as far as I'm willing to travel to see a movie) - the Chicago Reader for this week shows you can see these nominees at the following theaters:

City of God - Nowhere. On DVD now. Actually made in 2002. What up wit' dat?

Cold Mountain - Davis 4614 N. Lincoln - Daily 4:00, 7:00, 9:50; River East 21 322 E. Illinois St. -Su-Tu, Th 2:10, 4:10, 5:20, 7:15, 8:30, 10:15; Wed 2:10, 5:20, 7:15, 8:30, 10:15; Webster Place 1471 W. Webster at Clybourn - Daily 12:20, 3:20, 6:20, 7:20, 9:30, 10:30; Century 12 and CineArts 6 1715 Maple, Evanston - Daily 12:30, 3:50, 7:10, 10:30

The Cooler - Pipers Alley Wells at North Ave. - Mon, Wed-Th 4:30, 7:30, 10:10; Tu 4:30, 10:10; River East 21 322 E. Illinois St. - Mon-Th 3:10, 5:20, 7:45, 10:00; Century 12 and CineArts 6 1715 Maple, Evanston - Daily 11:45, 2:20, 5:00, 7:25, 10:00

House of Sand and Fog - River East 21 322 E. Illinois St. Mon-Th 2:15, 3:50, 5:15, 7:00, 8:15, 9:50;Webster Place 1471 W. Webster at Clybourn - Daily 1:50, 4:40, 7:40, 10:40

In America - Pipers Alley Wells at North Ave. - Mon-Tu, Th 4:00, 5:00, 8:00, 9:30, 10:30; Wed 5:00, 8:00, 10:30; River East 21 322 E. Illinois St - Mon-Th 2:10, 4:40, 7:10, 9:20; Century 12 and CineArts 6 1715 Maple, Evanston - Daily 12:30, 3:00, 5:25, 7:55, 10:20;

The Last Samurai - City North 14 2600 N. Western - Mon, Wed-Th 2:00, 5:15, 8:30; Esquire 58 E. Oak - Daily 3:25, 6:40, 9:55; Ford City 7601 S. Cicero - Daily 1:45, 5:00, 8:15; Village 1548 N. Clark - Mon-Th 7:10; Sa-Su 1:30, 4:05, 7:10;

LOTR:ROTK - Chatham 14 210 W. 87th - Daily 12:50, 4:45, 8:30;Ford City 7601 S. Cicero - Daily 1:45, 5:00, 8:15; Lawndale 3330 W. Roosevelt - Daily 4:50, 8:40;River East 21 322 E. Illinois St. Mon-Th 3:00, 4:00, 5:00, 7:00, 8:00, 9:00;62nd & Western 2258 W. 62nd - Mon-Th 4:30, 8:30;Webster Place 1471 W. Webster at Clybourn - Mon-Th 1:00, 3:00, 5:00, 7:00, 9:00;Century 12 and CineArts 6 1715 Maple, Evanston - Daily 11:30, 3:45, 8:00

Lost in Translation - Esquire 58 E. Oak - Daily 2:40, 5:30, 7:00, 9:45; Landmark's Century Centre 2828 N. Clark - Daily 2:40, 5:10, 7:40, 10:00; Century 12 and CineArts 6 1715 Maple, Evanston - Daily 2:55, 7:40 double feature

M&C:TFSOTW - City North 14 2600 N. Western - Mon, Wed-Th 8:00, Tu 7:10, 10:10; River East 21 322 E. Illinois St. - Daily 7:15, 10:10;Village 1548 N. Clark - Mon-Th 6:50, 9:40

Monster - Esquire 58 E. Oak - Daily 2:10, 5:00, 8:10, 10:45;Ford City 7601 S. Cicero - Mon-Wed 1:45, 4:25, 7:10, 9:50; Th 1:45, 4:25, 9:50;Landmark's Century Centre 2828 N. Clark - Daily 1:40, 4:10, 7:00, 9:30; Century 12 and CineArts 6 1715 Maple, Evanston - Daily 12:00, 2:35, 5:10, 7:45, 10:20;Lake 1020 Lake, Oak Park - Daily 12:00, 2:30, 5:00, 7:30, 10:00

Mystic River - Biograph 2433 N. Lincoln - Mon-Th 7:00, 9:35;Burnham Plaza 826 S. Wabash - Mon-Th 7:00, 9:35; Chatham 14 210 W. 87th - Daily 1:15, 5:10, 9:15; City North 14 2600 N. Western - Mon, Wed-Th 2:15, 5:15, 8:15; Tu 1:00, 4:00, 7:00, 10:00;River East 21 322 E. Illinois St - Mon-Th 4:15, 7:15, 10:15; Village 1548 N. Clark - Mon-Th 7:00, 9:35;Century 12 and CineArts 6 1715 Maple, Evanston - Daily 12:40, 4:00, 7:30, 10:30;

Pieces of April - Nowhere. On DVD Feb 24th.

POTC:TCOTBP - Nowhere. On DVD now.

Seabiscuit - Nowhere. On DVD now.

Something's Gotta Give - City North 14 2600 N. Western, - Mon, Wed-Th 2:50, 5:45, 8:30; Tu 1:45, 4:45, 7:30, 10:15; Davis 4614 N. Lincoln - Daily 4:50, 7:20, 9:50; Esquire 58 E. Oak - Daily 1:40, 4:30, 7:30, 10:30;3 Penny 2424 N. Lincoln - Mon-Th 6:30, 8:45; Century 12 and CineArts 6 1715 Maple, Evanston - Daily 11:15, 2:00, 5:00, 7:55, 10:40; Lake
1020 Lake, Oak Park - Daily 1:10, 3:55, 6:40, 9:25

thirteen - Nowhere. On DVD now.

21 Grams - Davis 4614 N. Lincoln - Daily 5:00, 7:30, 10:00; Esquire 58 E. Oak - Daily 1:50, 4:40, 7:15, 10:10; Ford City 7601 S. Cicero - Daily 1:30, 4:15, 7:00, 9:45; Landmark's Century Centre 2828 N. Clark - Daily 2:00, 4:40, 7:30, 10:10; Century 12 and CineArts 6 1715 Maple, Evanston - Daily 12:20, 5:05, 9:50 double feature

Whale Rider Nowhere. On DVD now.

Four-Star Foreshadowing

Locussolus points to this entry on Braden's weblog that may ultimately turn out to be one of the most interesting stories of the new year. The U.S. Military is reorganizing the administration of the military in Iraq, and the implications are startling.

My Dreams Were My Ticket Out

Welcome myself back from Cancun. Why thank you, me.

Much to write about regarding Cancun. Later. I have to dig out from under 2500 e-mail messages (probably 80% spam) that accumulated while I was gone.

By the way, it's "e-mail", like "x-ray". The usage "email" is just goofy and looks like a Biblical name. You wouldn't use "xray", would you?

Potpourri

Daniel Gross at Slate says we shouldn't be so gloomy about corporate headquarters leaving Chicago. I think he misses a key factor - cascade. If there are corporate headquarters here, there are customers which moves other service and supply businesses into the local market, expanding the economy.

Mark Spittle in Salon examines the new meme "Don't be an asshole, vote Democratic". I hadn't heard of it, but I'm not part of the media elite.

Want to be a minister? I cancelled my subscription to Rolling Stone when you used to see their ads, but I found the ULC church on the web.

Also in Salon, Michelle Goldberg discusses the Super Bowl broadcast's rejection of MoveOn.org's elegant anti-Bush ad. As Alex Jones says in the article, "The rules are exactly what the owner of the news medium wants them to be, and they are not rules, they are simply choices...The long and short of it is they don't have to run any advertisement they don't want to."

This is the most despicable thing I've seen since the girl who begged for money to pay off her credit card debts. Thanks to ChgoRed:Girl Editor for the link and for the link to Going Bridal - a very funny site.

Think it's cold here? New England is getting punished. In fact, the lows in New England yesterday were lower than the daytime temperatures on Mars. It was 12° F on Mars yesterday, and -33° F in Watertown, New York. Of course at night on Mars it goes down to -130°, which is a bit nippier than anyplace in New England.

Me? I'm going to Cancun on Tuesday, where it's a pleasant 83° F today. Ahhhh...

The City That Works To Sell Off Its Assets

Bad news for Chicago today - J.P. Morgan Chase & Company is buying Bank One for $55 billion. Bank One is the company formed by the merger of the original Bank One and First National Bank of Chicago. First National's management team came out on top in that merger, but you can bet that won't be the case this time.

Headquarters will be moved to New York, and 10,000 jobs are expected to be lost at the senior and middle management levels - that means good jobs leaving Chicago.

In the last few years, we've lost Arthur Anderson and Fannie Mae and now Bank One. The only significant pick-up was Boeing, which keeps most of its employees elsewhere. Why is Chicago losing big businesses? Is it because we don't have the competitive edge, or is it because being competitive these days means selling out to another company?

Chicago's business future is not as bright as it was 48 hours ago.

New City? More like New Sh-

New City's cover story this week is "10 Chicagoans we Love to Hate" ("love" is spelled with a heart symbol on the cover).

I can't quibble with some of their choices but I take exception to a couple. Here's their list -

1. Mike Ditka
2. Former Sun-Times Owner Conrad Black
3. R. Kelly (Michael Jackson's future roommate).
4. Bob Sirott
5. Ira Glass, host of This American Life on NPR
6. Liquor commisioner Winston Mardis
7. Mary Schmich
8. Richard Roeper
9. Former Weather Underground radicals Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn who now teach at UIC and Northwestern, respectively.
10. Joan Cusack

OK, I can give them Ditka, Black, Kelly, Mardis, and Roeper. I think they're reaching on Ayers and Dohrn (Maybe someone got a C- in a class, hmmmm?) Situationally, I can even give them Sirott, who knocked Phil Ponce's screen time way down on Chicago Tonight and Cusack, who I've liked a lot in the past, but whose ads for U.S. Cellular make me really glad I'm not a Sox fan.

But Mary Schmich and Ira Glass I have to take exception to. Mary Schmich is one of the more entertaining columnists around, making a name for herself from that "Sunscreen" column she wrote a few years ago that everyone thought was Kurt Vonnegut. I'm always happy to read her. Maybe she's a little precious at times, but it's a matter of taste. Certainly, if I were picking a columnist at the Trib to declare MOST ANNOYING, I'd pick John Kass. He's no Royko, but he thinks he is.

Finally, Ira Glass is indisputedly one of Chicago's gems. If you've heard This American Life, you'll know that it's one of the most original shows on any medium. New City admits it may just be jealousy that leads to his inclusion, but pick on him because of his voice. I'll take Ira Glass's whine over the writing of New City any day.

Sample some of the best of Ira Glass's work here.

Mr. Greens Jeans

In my quest to cook with available fresh ingredients, I procured some winter greens from Whole Foods this weekend and adapted a recipe for them from Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking For Everyone. Give it a shot -

Ingredients:
Winter greens - I used a bunch of chard, a bunch of mustard greens, and a bunch of kale.
1 teaspoon garlic powder (not salt)
1 teaspoon onion powder (not salt)
1 tablespoon salt (yes salt)
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 tablespoons olive oil
additional salt and black pepper to taste


Pour 1 quart of water into a large skillet with tablespoon of salt. Bring to a boil.
Take any tough stems off well washed greens and cut into 1"-2" pieces, place in skillet, let cook until mostly tender (5-10 min)
Rip up leaves from toughest greens (kale in this case) into reasonable sized pieces (they will wilt and shrink quite a bit)- add to skillet. Cook until wilted.
Rip up leaves from next toughest green, add to skillet. Cook until wilted.
Rip up leaves from last green, add to skillet, cook until wilted.
Add cumin, onion powder, garlic powder. If you wish you can add red pepper flakes as well (1/2 teaspoon). Mix together.

Cook until all are tender. Remove greens, draining with tongs, into a large bowl.
Toss olive oil in, salt and pepper to taste.

It's not Boston Trading to get Ruth back, but...

The Cubs have expressed interest in signing Greg Maddux. One of the most infamous blunders the Cubs ever made was letting soon-to-be-multiple-Cy-Young-award-winning pitcher Greg Maddux go to Atlanta. Maddux is now 38 and sported a 3.96 ERA with the Braves last year. Of course, the Cubs are now interested in him.

If the Cubs signed Maddux they could have Wood, Prior, Clement, Zambrano, and Maddux in a five man starting rotation, or possiby push Zambrano or Clement back to middle relief, where they've been hurting. Maddux isn't a long-term solution for the Cubs, but with the Astros signing Roger Clemens, he could be Gandalf to Clemens' Saruman. It wouldn't hurt Wood or Prior to have a pitcher like that around to learn from.

Pettite, Clemens, Oswalt, and Miller versus Wood, Prior, Maddux, and Clement/Zambrano. Astros versus Cubs will be the race to watch if both teams can keep healthy and can close out games this year. 1-0 baseball every day.

Maybe by correcting the Maddux mistake we can reverse some of our Cub-karma. What's Lou Brock up to these days, anyway?

Supreme Court Wusses

The Supreme Court has ruled today in Verizon v. Trinko, 02-682 that you may not sue the local RBOC for providing poor service to your phone provider. As you may know, the RBOC's - what's left of Ma Bell - provide the last mile of service to rivals under anti-trust agreements. It was alleged that they provide poor service on the leased lines and last mile lines when they are leased by a rival phone company.

The Supremes agreed with the Bush administration that forcing the RBOC's to offer good service "could threaten substantial disruption of the telecommunications industry." Well so what? It needs some disruption!

Someone is going to figure out a way to get telco drops to every home in America. When that day comes, bye-bye RBOCs.

Guns for Buttermilk

Turkey and Israel have reached an agreement to exchange Israeli high-tech weaponry for Turkish water, shipped over in tankers.

This fascinating article in the Guardian outlines the importance of water in the region and how its scarcity and uneven distribution has historically led to conflict, and how that scaricity increases tensions today.

Interactive Map

I like maps. Try this one out on John Edwards' site. It shows you how if the Dems take the states they took last time plus Arizona, or plus New Hampshire and West Virginia, or plus Ohio (all very possible scenarios), The Dems end up beating Bush.

There's also good info on state voting trends. Illinois is marked as solidly Democratic. I like that.

State of the Candidates

Dean leads Gephardt in Iowa, with Kerry and Edwards right behind. Clark is hoping to do well in New Hampshire and win in South Carolina, but made an interesting gaffe this week when he implied that abortion should be completely unregulated.

Meanwhile Al Sharpton caught Dean off guard by attacking him on the lack of minorities in his cabinet. Carol Moseley Braun stood up for Dean saying, "Rev. Sharpton, the fact of the matter is we can always blow up a racial debate and make people mad at each other."

Right now, I think you'd have to say the race is between Dean, Gephardt, Kerry, Edwards, and Clark. Lieberman, Braun, Sharpton, and Kucinich are pretty much out of it already. Lieberman is the only one of that bunch who doesn't think he's done for.

Dean has the commanding lead, but Clark is coming on strong. I watched the candidates speak on C-SPAN this weekend while I took the lights down from our tree, and I have a new favorite if Dean should falter. I had been hoping for Kerry, but he's just not getting it done.

The new man of the hour is John Edwards. He can talk the talk when he's at a dais. I only wish he'd hired some solid political help to raise funds and run his campaign. Dean has benefitted from Bill Bradley's team from 2000.

I also note that within the context of debate, Edwards and Dean have been pretty cordial. Edwards' only sharp criticism of Dean is that he can't win in the South. I'm not sure any Democrat could win in the South, but a Dean-Edwards ticket looks pretty strong regionally, doesn't it?

Pulling Mussels from the sh- I said pulling ugh, pull- ow!

When not boiled up and coated with butter and lemon, mussels are able to stick to ship bottoms like Colin Farrel sticks to strip clubs. Scientists at nearby Purdue University have figured out how. It seems that the mussels are using iron from the surrounding sea water to create their own super glue.

Details and links at Roland Piquepaille's Technology Trends.

French Bread

I've been playing with bread the last week or so. First I built a fort, then a boat, then a crocodile, then a moon lander. Then I decided I should stop playing with my bread and learn how to make it.

After much scouring of the Internet (aka two Google searches), I found several recipes that I've sythesized into one. You can play with the ingredients a bit here. I upped the salt from the ones I'd seen, added the proofing stage, and have played with a couple different fats. The results from this recipe are very credible. The bread is soft and well textured with an extremely crispy crust.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups warm water (hot from the tap is fine)
pinch of sugar
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
3 tablespoons oil (I've used olive and vegetable - I intend to try butter next time out)
2 teaspoons kosher salt
4 cups AP flour

1. Dissolve the yeast and pinch of sugar in the water. Let stand five to ten minutes. If bubbles are appearing at the top, proceed. Otherwise, you've got dead yeast, man. If the yeast is dead, stop and go get good yeast - you'll just bake a brick otherwise.

2. Add oil and salt to yeast water.

3. Stir two cups of flour into the liquid mixture. Add rest of flour slowly until dough is formed. You can do this in a mixer with a dough hook as well.

4. Flour work surface lightly, and knead dough against it 5 to 8 minutes, working it hard with the heel of your palm. I use an X motion - my right hand pushing it to the left and forward followed by my left hand pushing it right and forward. The bread hook in most mixers will form the dough nicely, but I think the kneading really has to be done by hand. The idea here is to form gluten and smashing the bread-i-cules together helps to form these long chewy strands of protein.

5. Put the dough in a greased bowl in a warm place (if you're not cooking anything else, the top of a gas range is good). Cover with towel and let rise until it's twice it's original volume (45-90 minutes).

6. Punch the dough down and let it rise again until it is twice its original volume (45-90 minutes).

7. Punch it down again and divide it into thirds. Roll each third out into an oblong shape, 1/4" think or so. Roll the loaf up like a rug, long end back on itself. Pinch the ends closed. Place on a lightly greased or nonstick baking sheet. If you have french bread forms, which look like a rounded "w" when seen on edge, use these instead of the baking sheet. Make sure to grease it down lightly.

8. Make several shallow parallel diagonal cuts in the top of each loaf. I add another lengthwise shallow cut. Brush the top of the loaf with water. Let rise until doubled again.

9. Fill a pie pan with water and place on lower rack of oven. Preheat to 375. This will help the crust by keeping the interior of the oven moist. Place the loaves on the middle rack of the oven and bake for 30 minutes.

10. If you wish, about 20 minutes into the baking time, brush the tops of the loaves with a 50-50 mixture of water and egg white to get a browner top. You can also use 50-50 milk and water instead.

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Baby It's Cold Outside

I once attended a conference in Bloomington, Minnesota on the coldest day in Minnesota history. It was so cold you could toss a cup of coffee in the air and the drops would freeze, the insides still hot, which would then burst through the ice shell in a frozen fireworks fest. A guy on TV showed off this trick.

We all ran outside to try to duplicate it, but just ended up with frozen sidewalk patches in front of the hotel. I guess I should be glad I wasn't in the coldest town in America, which is -

Well, that's the question. International Falls, MN has long claimed the coldest in the lower 48 title, but Embarrass, MN is now challenging that claim. Read it in the New York Times, as they say.

I wonder how the residents of Prospect Creek, Alaska feel about this whole debate. The coldest temperature recorded there (80 below, if you're curious) is 20 degrees Farenheit below Minnesota's worst. If I lived there I'd name my firstborn Kelvin.

Algerie Francais

The late 1950's and early 1960's were a tough time in France and Algeria. France held Algeria as a colony, but an Algerian independence movement had begun to make gains and was inflicting real damage on the French.

Algeria, alone among French posessions was in the same category of land as mother-France. While Tahiti, French Guyana, and other French colonial posessions might be liberated and released by France, it was unthinkable to many Frenchmen that Algeria would ever be separated.

It was equally unthinkable to Algerian separatists that they should remain bound to a European colonial power. A dirty war ensued, on a par with Chile under Pinochet.

In Paris in 1961, a peaceful crowd of 30,000 Algerian protestors in Paris was attacked after a rally by upwards of 20,000 police. More than 200 protestors were killed by police - their bodies dumped into the Seine. News of the killings was suppressed by deGaulle and his government. Issues of newspapers containing accounts of the massacre were siezed by French authorities and destroyed.

It's in this Algeria that Saadi Yacef produced The Battle of Algiers, a ficitious but historically appropriate film. Salon interviews him today and Yacef compares what is going on in Iraq now to what Algeria went through then.

Battle of Algiers is playing this weekend at the Music Box Theatre at 3733 N. Southport at 2:00, 4:30, 7:00, and 9:40.

Hey Apartment Hunters

Looks like Waveland and Halsted is getting a Whole Foods. Cool.

By the way, I hate Hard Rock Restaurants, but I have to give them massive kudos for their remodelling of the Carbon and Carbide building at South Water (Wacker Place) and Michigan. The old black and gold building has revealed itself after much scrubbing to be a beautiful dark green and gold.

I may be annoyed by the interior when it opens, but so far, it looks like they preserved a gem of a skyscraper.

Houses of Cards

Two stories grabbed me this morning - the first is that the IMF issued a report that called U.S. deficits a global timebomb. The IMF worries US debt may end up pushing up interest rates and eliminate the dollar's status as a safe haven currency.

The second is a story on the prospects of rebuilding the mud city of Bam in Iran where 35, 000 people were killed in the recent earthquake. They're seriously contemplating rebuilding the city in mud bricks again because of the heritage implications.

Now color me crazy, but isn't an earthquake that kills 35,000 people God's way of telling you to use rebar?

Dean, Again

Yes, I'm posting a lot of Dean stuff lately, but hey, I'm into the guy for $150 already.

What media pundit wrote this little gem? "He could be intemperate and impulsive ... the image of wrath -- his forefinger pointing, his fist pounding his palm, his eyes ablaze." Sounds like any of a number of Dean naysayers describing Howie the Guv, eh? Nope, it's Theodore White on Bobby Kennedy during the 1968 campaign.

Arianna Huffington has a great piece in Salon comparing Dean's 2004 candidacy to Kennedy's 1968 run. She includes a nice little slap at crypto-Republican Joe Lieberman.

Howard, you might want to skip any LA hotel campaign stops.

Dean Confusion

I see two interesting things this morning. One is the Newsweek cover story on why Democrats are trying to stop Dean and the other is the endorsement of Dean by Bill Bradley. This follows a previosu endorsement of Dean by Al Gore.

So is the party for or against Dean? Terry MacAuliffe is clealry not a Dean supporter, but Bradley and Gore were the two major candidates in the last presidential primary.

It's clear the Democrats are divided. Will this mean weakness in the party or is it a sign that more liberal times are coming?

Religion and Politics

I came across a comment on a site about the vast religious left that got me thinking. In the 1960's and 1970's, the religious figures in the country seemed to be all left leaning. In the 80's and 90's, the fundamentalists took the media by storm.

But did they ever really supplant the left leaning Christians? By Christian, I don't mean the Bible-thumpers like the Evangelicals or hard-core Baptists, but the Lutherans, American Catholics, Episcopalians, and Presbyterians and the like who make up a majority of the believers in this country.

You can separate them for my purposes into the Old Testament Christians and the New Testament Christians. Both sides believe in both testaments, but the Old Testament Christians in my definition hold with the God of fire and brimstone and punishment eternal. The New Testament Christians are the ones who focus more on Jesus and his one Commandment - "A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you." John 13:34

I'm not so sure they ever were supplanted in numbers, just in volume and shrillness. I have friends who are religious and friends who are athiests. I even have friends I respect very much who are a couple that are one of each.

I'm not a very religious person myself. At best, I'm a post-Lutheran Agnostic, and at worst a lapsed-Catholic Atheist. I have mixed feelings about my disbelief, however. I mourn the loss of a connection to a greater being and a larger community while celebrating the freedom from what I'm prety sure is superstition.