Archive for June, 2007
June 30th, 2007 by Eric
In case your television went out last week and your newspaper deliverer has been sick and unable to do his job, Apple released their iPhone yesterday. This cell phone/web browser/personal desktop assistant/calendar/email machine/camera/mp3 player/satellite navigation system/video conference caller/instant messenger/pizza cooker (I'm not 100% certain about that last one) had people lined up outside Apple Store doors for hours before it officially went on sale on iDay.
These people are affectionately called the iCult. While I am a big fan of Apple products as well as their business practices, I don't consider myself a member of this group. I was not in this line and will probably not own an iPhone for a couple of years; I simply don't need it.
But I have always and will always use an apple computer and support them over just about any other corporation. To me, they represent what capitalism should be.
I believe capitalism has two purposes: to create an opportunity for personal financial betterment, and to drive innovation through competition, to move society forward. Unfortunately the free market has rendered each of these nearly obsolete. It has allowed the few to absolutely control the financial wellbeing of the many, and rather than a push toward new innovation, companies in this country have reverted to making products cheaper instead of better.
Apple is one of the few exceptions to the second rule. Instead of putting an electronic terd in a box and selling it for 15% less, they aren't afraid to offer a high-quality, innovative product at a reasonable price. They push the technological envelope and are one of the last to represent capitalism as it should be.
If you want to see what will become industry standard tomorrow, just take a look at what Apple introduced yesterday. If all corporations took the approach that Apple takes, the United States might not lag so far behind the rest of the developed world in every field other than national defense.
Speaking from pretty vast experience, their products almost always work as advertised. I'm not the only one who thinks so either. I leave you today with two quotes about Apple from none other than Microsoft CEO, Bill Gates:
-The next generation of interesting software will be done on the Macintosh, not the PC.
-To create a new standard, it takes something that’s not just a little bit different; it takes something that’s really new and really captures people’s imagination – ” and the Macintosh, of all the machines I’ve ever seen, is the only one that meets that standard.
Photo c/o this lucky iPhone owner
June 30th, 2007 by Matt
For my money, Tim Seibles is one of the greatest living American poets. I’ve just recently cracked into his latest book, Buffalo Head Solos, and I wish I’d started it sooner. It’s one of those books that you realize you didn’t realize you were waiting for. Also, it must be said that his book Hurdy-Gurdy is absolutely masterful. If you’re looking for accessible, heart-aching and heart-lifting art, well, that book doesn’t make a misstep. (Just as an FYI, I’ll be reviewing Buffalo Head Solos in the not-so-distant future.)
I came across a poem of his the other day that just needed to be shared, that I think folks will be able to relate to quite easily, that jacked up the endorphins going to my head, or heart, or head-heart, whatever it is that makes us love anything in this world. And frankly, this poem is so kick-me-in-the-keister good, I wanted an excuse to type it. I hope you dig. Reading it is three minutes well spent.
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FIRST KISS
Her mouth
fell into my mouth
like a summer snow, like a
5th season, like a fresh Eden,
like Eden when Eve made God
whimper with the liquid
tilt of her hips –
her kiss hurt like that –
I mean, it was as if she'd mixed
the sweat of an angel
with the taste of a tangerine,
I swear. My mouth
had been a helmet forever
greased with secrets, my mouth
a dead-end street a little bit
lit by teeth — my heart, a clam
slammed shut at the bottom of a dark,
but her mouth pulled up
like a baby-blue Cadillac
packed with canaries driven
by a toucan — I swear
those lips said bright
wings when we kissed, wild
and precise — as if she were
teaching a seahorse to speak –
her mouth so careful, chumming
the first vowel from my throat
until my brain was a piano
banged loud, hammered like that –
it was like, I swear her tongue
was Saturn's 7th moon –
hot like that, hot
and cold and circling,
circling, turning me
into a glad planet –
sun on one side, night pouring
her slow hand over the other: one first
flying like the kite of another.
Her kiss, I swear — if the Great
Mother rushed open the moon
like a gift and you were there
to feel your shadow finally
unhooked from your wrist.
That'd be it, but even sweeter –
like a riot of peg legged priests
on pogo-sticks, up and up,
this way and this, not
falling but on and on
like that, badly behaved
but holy — I swear! That
kiss, both lips utterly committed
to the world like a Peace Corps,
like a free story, forever and always
a new city — no locks, no walls, just
doors — like that, I swear,
like that.
June 29th, 2007 by Matt
The Queen loosely tells the story of the death of Princess Diana, the reaction of Queen Elizabeth and the royal family, and the ways in which newly elected Prime Minister Tony Blair at first uses the media to help his popularity, and then to help the crown. There you go. That’s the Cliffs Notes version of the plot. And like Cliffs Notes, the plot here is secondary to the ways this film functions as a piece of art.
First, I can’t write a review of this movie without mentioning the complete shape-shifting done by Helen Mirren as the Queen. While her role might not be flashy and splashy like previous Oscar winners, but she was spot-on in terms of tone, and she never, as they say, “broke character.” She pulled off stoicism, quiet bitterness, and brief moments of heartache with a subtly rarely seen. In an odd way, she reminded me of Bill Murray in Lost in Translation. I’m not sure how else to describe her masterful turn other than to say it was delicately human, as close to nonfiction as a fiction can be. If nothing else, I’d recommend this movie just to see what she manages to pull off in 90 minutes. It’s reminds me of the realism paintings from the 18th century.
But for me, this movie was really about the absolute ridiculousness of royalty, the bizarrely ominous power of the Queen, and the way her family has a vice-grip on her country. The film begs the question: why on earth should one person bow to another? There is no answer other than one should never bow to another person. While it might seem like a necessary bit of courtesy and protocol, it’s actually an exercise in dehumanizing absurdity. We’re left thinking — because it’s probably true — that the royal family of England lives in a fantasy land of pomp, rules, and a self-imposed sequestering.
And for me, this movie was really about the rise and fall of Tony Blair. When the film opens, he’s just been elected as a maverick, a modernist and reformer, ready to turn England into a more progressive country. After Diana’s death, he becomes even more popular. All this seems to link to his current fall (which is absent from the film). These days, as his tenure comes to a close, he is leaving his post in disgrace, having embroiled his country in a war of choice, in a war of the kind of imperialism his initial election seemed to reject.
If you’re a fan of pitch-perfect acting, of smart editing done for the sake of delicate tension, of politics and cultural criticism, then this is a must see.
See for yourself…
June 29th, 2007 by Eric
In 1956, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the National Interstate and Defense Highways Act into law, establishing the system of high-speed roads to go between the states. The idea had begun in 1921 and had been hatched from a need for quicker deployment and movement for our nation's military, to boost the automobile business, to make it easier. In other words, our federal government had the foresight and the usefulness to spend a little money in order to improve our country.
Those same benefits could be, and to some extent have been, greatly enhanced again today by another highway system: the Information Superhighway. As the Care2 Campaign so eloquently put it:
High speed Internet means more than smooth web videos or fast downloads. Advanced high capacity communications networks can increase democratic and civic participation, improve the delivery of health care, education, job training, public safety and other vital services.
The problem is that, like with so many other things, the United States lags behind the rest of the developed world. We pay much higher prices for Internet services that offer half the speed and reliability of those in other nations, and many rural areas around the US of A don't even have access, regardless of how much they would be willing to pay.
The Care2 Campaign has put together a petition to tell Congress to get off their 9,600 bps-asses and catch up to the rest of the world. It is vital that these services be available to every American if we are to keep pace with the rest of the world. They have almost 11,000 electronic “John Hancocks,– but that's still short of their goal of 15,000.
So, if you have a high-speed Internet connection, zoom on over to the petition's website. If you don't, then definitely dial your way to the site; it's you who stands to benefit the most. Well, you and every American who needs better health care, a more level global business playing field, a better education for their children– ¦ you get the idea.
Photo taken by this traveler.
June 28th, 2007 by Eric
Last Wednesday we gave you our take on gun control; you can read all about it here. When this one popped up on my “electronic newspaper– I had to file it in the “I told you so– drawer. Here's the skinny, from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer:
A woman held on a gun charge claims she accidentally shot her husband in the head after becoming startled when the couple’s burglar alarm activated, authorities said Wednesday.
April Moylan, 39, was charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and ordered held Wednesday on $75,000 bond, according to the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office.
Miraculously, the husband who was shot was not killed, and had the bullet removed later that night. He is one of over 200,000 people injured every year in this country as a result of an accidental gunshot. Add this to the 1,000 fatalities each year and guns have a pretty big accidental impact, though it's hard to call any gun-related incident “accidental.– That is the purpose of a gun.
This one gets even better though, and by “better– I mean “much worse.– You might ask how she could accidentally mistake her husband for an intruder if he was in the bed with her. Well, Ms. Moylan actually sleeps with a loaded firearm under her pillow. When the burglar alarm went off, she instinctively grabbed for it and it went off.
Now, I know that this is a more extreme case than many others. Most gun owners are not convicted felons, nor do they substitute their Temper-Pedic with a .32 caliber revolver. It is not our goal to rid the country of any and all firearms, but it seems to me that passing laws that make it more difficult for a convicted felon to shoot her husband in the head while sleeping is not beyond the boundaries of reason. You can check out our recommended actions here.
This photographer might have the solution
June 28th, 2007 by Progressive Wednesday
If you’re like the staff at Progressive Wednesday, you find yourself wanting to read newspapers and databases like The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, and Internet Movie Database with some regularity. The hitch with these sites and others is that, in order to get the full experience, you’ve got to log in. Most of the time this requires submitting an email address or other personal information. At best, this step feels like a royal waste of your very progressive time.
The solution? Please allow us to introduce BugMeNot.com, a site which helps you and me and everyone in between to “bypass compulsory registration” on a vast array of websites, news and otherwise. If you stumble on a site you’d like to access but come upon a registration, all you do is head on over to Bug Me Not and type in the web address. What you’ll get is a list of publicly-submitted user names and passwords. Sometimes it can take a bit of trial and error to find ones that still work, but the payoff is worth it: privacy and simplicity, two things we dig as much as the Buffalo Sabres and sugar cookies, as cheese steak subs and “Everybody’s Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey” by The Beatles.
I’ve used this resource for years now without regret, but you still might want to take a gander at Bug Me Not’s terms of service.
June 28th, 2007 by Progressive Wednesday
Editor’s Note: This is the fourth and final best photo of the week for the month of June. And we picked this one because, well, because it’s just too damned cool to ignore.
Our weekly winners get highlighted right here and on our MySpace page, and they also receive a special prize in the mail. If you’re a photographer and you’d like to be considered for our daily, weekly, and monthly photos, just click on the Flickr icon on our right sidebar (or right here), and sign up (which you can learn about by clicking here).
You can check out other pictures by this fantastic photographer by clicking the photo below.
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This Week’s Best Photo of Our Beautiful World
(as featured on June 26, 2007)
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