Published on Tue, 2005-02-01 15:52

Chairman Dean

The buzz around the water cooler is that Howard Dean has basically locked up the Chair of the Democratic Party. That's cool. I would have preferred him to be president, but given how things went down this is a good thing. It means, at the very least, that the Ass party is going to re-orient itself, hopefully significantly. My hope with Dean is that he's got the wherewithal to restructure the party, and to not make doing so an occasion to consolidate his own power. That's not a faint hope either; I actually believe he will do it, but I don't know any more than you about what he actually plans on doing.

One thing that occurs to me now is that the kids from Gen Dean might be ripe to drive a revitalization of the Young Dems. We need some action for the youth. The kids voted well, but there are ominous winds blowing in many parts of the country.

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politics

Published on Tue, 2005-02-01 11:41

Good TV Exists

You know what's good? The new BattleStar Galactica. I snagged some of it online (no cable or TV for the Koenig) as I've been looking for entertainment and Zephyr mentioned she liked it. It's pretty decent. I have a giant soft spot for good sci-fi but most everything I've seen coming out lately has been dreck. This is the best stuff since Star Trek w/Patrick Stewart (which is the current high water mark for televised sci-fi content).

I also have the benefit of no commercials, watching a rip off SkyOne (UK TV), but I think the cutting may have removed a few scenes. Either that, or the producers are playing with the form of a serial television series by inserting information into the "previously on BattleStar Galactica" bits that wasn't actually in the previous episode. I actually kind of hope it's that, because it works as long as you roll with it, and it would be a novel use of the form, which I'm all about.

UPDATE: Mike comments in from the offices of the Hearst corporation with this resource for anyone looking to catch up, a television without pity recap. It does appear they pull some content from the miniseries into (which I'm also downloading now), but it's also clear after watching four episodes that they're also playing with the dimension of time in telling the story. In particular, the opening introduction always features a fast-cut montage of images from the episode to come, and there are also other elements of foreshadowing that let the viewer in on certain plot elements the characters themselves are ignorant of. Quite interesting.

It's my kind of show; heavy on character, psychology, metaphysical and philosphical themes -- the true value of science fiction -- and the production and acting are mostly above average. Edward James Olmos is approching old master status, and it's nice to see him get a chance to play a leading role that doesn't revolve around him being Latino. The rest are up-and-comers. This Katee Sackhoff (from Oregon) stands out w/sass and unconventional good looks, but the whole ensemble seems to know what they're doing.

I never saw the old shows or movie, just a memory of the faded '70s video box at the rental place from when I was a kid, but this seems to be a worthy ressurection.

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General

Published on Tue, 2005-02-01 01:16

Sundry

Asshole bastard motherfucker net-vandals have decyphered how to spam trackbacks, wanting to advertize poker. Or maybe that's a front; seems an awful lot of trouble to get people to play your version of Texas Hold'em online. Well, it is the new American obsession. On the other hand, it could be an identity theft scam.

Other than that, people are milling about El Rio after dollar drink night, so I won't get to sleep yet. It's a weekly ritual to overhear 10 to 50 boozy conversations on Mondays.

For my part, I'm feeling pretty good. Joe's giving me a little padding time in the apartment so I can pack and plan in a more leisurely fashion.

I'm starting to think things might work out yet. I'm starting to feel my cultural sense returning; the tingling tickle of creativity on the rise. I've got plenty of stabs to make. Hunter didn't get on the trail of the Hells Angels until he was 27 -- and then it was another year before anything Really Big was published. There's time.

You see, in this country we creative types are conditioned a bit to expect (or shoot for) some kind of great success pretty early on. It can feel like a dissapointment when you're 25 and you feel you haven't "made it." Of course, that's just our great cult of youth at work. In reality, very few people amount to much at a tender age, and many of those who do are warped by their success. My own ambition is far to weak and diffused to give me anything more than the occasional throb of worry over missing some kind of boat. Truth is, I don't see anyone doing something Big that I feel I could have done, so I'm not really worried about it. My day will come, or else I'll just be happy and productive. Either way, I'm on a decient trajectory.

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General

Published on Mon, 2005-01-31 11:45

British C-130 Down In Iraq

I've been following this story with some interest, and this worries me:

An Arabic television channel aired a videotape Monday purporting to show insurgents firing a missile that downed a British transport plane in Iraq, and London said 10 people were missing, believed dead.

My closest personal attachment to the war at the moment is my friend JD from high school. He flys as a Loadmaster on a C-130. He's supposedly on his last tour in the Middle East (number 7 if you can believe it) before being re-stationed stateside to do training. I hope those orders hold up. If the latest scuttlebutt about how they're dealing with troop shortages holds any water it looks like my man might get a reprieve from the front lines -- someone will need to train those desk-jockeys -- and by the looks of it not a minute too soon.

So this doesn't bode well for my friend, and it doesn't bode well for the rest of our people over there either. Whatever else you might call them, the Insurgents aren't stupid. They've been attacking suplly lines since day one, and from what I can gather, the air link -- largely supplied by C-130s -- has grown in importance as there are no truly safe truck routes in many areas. If the Insurgents have found access to a steady supply of SAMs, things are going to get much tighter over there. Here's hoping it doesn't.

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