While I am a complete amateur at political wonkery, I will nonetheless offer a quick prediction for the evening's debate.
W will be incredibly smug, glib, will laugh at everything Kerry says and will make at least one major verbal faux pas, and yet will win the debate handily, making Kerry look like a dink. Bush will have a stock line prepared for when Kerry spends 5 minutes answering a yes/no question. Kerry will attack Bush for his grip on reality, but I suspect Rove and company are waiting for this and will have a line prepared there too. In general, the debate will be controlled by W and Kerry will look like an afterthought.
So we will see how incredibly wrong I am soon.
First, In case there's any confusion:
For Further Information (Let's me know how well investigated my links are.)
Secondly, another plug on behalf of Chuck and Clif's show at the Improv Inferno in Ann Arbor. It's a fun night, drink specials, and an opportunity to see an artform you may not be familiar with.
Chuck and Clif were really rolling last Thursday when I was there, it was a great show. But still, I think they've totally got the ability to get even better. So if you can get a chance one of the next 3 Thursdays then head out to see them, you won't be dissapointed. Already seen the show? Go back, it will be completely different.
One critique: While I dig the whole "cat fight" competition thing, 2 half-hour performances is a bit short for a night of entertainment. And given the skills of the players involved, it seems like it would be really easy to add a half-hour to 45 minutes of short-form gamey stuff to round out the night, using the two teams together. It's only $5, I know, but if the place is gonna stay open until bar close, but the entertainment is done in less than an hour it seems a waste, what with the stage in the middle of the place and all.
Anyway, go.
Just wanted to make a quick announcement. I might be out of touch for a little while. Maybe a long while.
I've had a long week, and have been thinking about this for a while, and I've decided to quit my job and join the Drepung Loseling Buddhist Monastery in Karnataka, India.
It might seem sudden, but I've actually been considering it for a while. And after the boat sank, it just seemed like it didn't make sense to keep fighting so hard against the universe. So I might not be able to update very often, in fact even less often than I have been lately, since I don't think I'll have regular Internet access.
I've never been a regular practitioner of Tibetan Buddhism, but I have always respected the faith and its goals of compassion and simplicity. So I'm ready to take the Bodhisattva Vow and surrender my self to the dharma.
I will be able to get to email now and again, though, after I leave this Sunday. So keep in touch, and I'll do my best to do the same. Thanks to all.
Notes:
Information on the oppression and religious persecution of Tibet
Along with the Chinese side of the story
While I've linked to it several times, I've never spoken directly about Wikipedia, which is one of the most important sites on the net (and with the greatest potential). It also could use your help.
If you're not familiar with Wiki it is at its most basic a system for creating user-controlled collaborative webpages. In some ways it is similar to a discussion board, wherein anyone who visits can post a topic and then other people can reply. However, wiki uses this same idea for actual content, where the pages that are viewed on the website are created and continuously updated by the users. It is really an extension of some of the best parts of the web (democracy of ideas, real-time information, ease of use and access, flexibility) taken to its logical extreme into a free-for-all of information.
I first became aware of the concept through work, where a cow-orker and friend created a wiki site for our Engineering group. Really, an intranet wiki is where this environment really shines, as you are dealing completely with trusted users who are collaborating toward the same goal. So while usage isn't 100% and I'm still trying to get some people on board, most of what you could want at work (this document, that study, these specifications, those schedules, and etc.) can be found on our wiki site, and new stuff can be added by anyone at any time, with full text description. This is a far more elegant and intelligent solution than one gigantic "share" drive where the information owners often have cryptic and bizaare folder organization and its hard to tell what is useful and what isn't.
However, the Wikipedia is a far more ambitious effort using the wiki model. I'm hoping by this point you got an idea of what it is, but if not I'll explain anyway. It is a massive, collaborative, user-created storehouse for human knowledge.
Already, I find it to have some of the best information on the web. It's rarely been stumped when I was looking for something, and is starting to become my first stop when I'm looking for information. Understandably due to its current contributors, it tends to have computer-age scientific bent to it, but it gets broader every day. And while it was started by a few people, it is essentially self-organizing at this point, as there are more people trying to make it better and improve it than there are people posting articles that say "skjlsfj" or "Mark Johnson drinks pee".
In any case, despite this level of anarcho-synidcalist (or perhaps libertarian socialist) policing, there is still cost involved for bandwidth and server space and everything else that goes with hosting a storehouse of human knowledge. So my suggestions are:
1) Go to wikipedia.com and check it out. Try it out right now, and the next time you're curious about something, go there and see if there is an article, and see what you think of it.
2) If you're an expert or have some degree of arcane knowledge about something (anime, science fiction writing, fish, carpentry) consider creating or adding to existing entries.
3) Think about donating to keep the project alive.
Notes:
They also have a "random page" link (Try it!), which brought up the following five in order.
1
2
3
4
5
I honestly don't think it will translate very well, but I hope I'm wrong.
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6019003/
If you've never experienced Longform Improvisation, you really should get out and do so. And look at this, here's your chance:
Quoted from Chuck:
Starting Thursday, Sept 16th, Men in Shirts will be debuting their new, two
man longform "The Abyss" at the Improv Inferno's (www.improvinferno.com)
"Cat Fight" in Ann Arbor. They spent the summer working on their deepest
and darkest improv in preparation for this show and they are now ready now
to unveil it to you, their favorite fans and audience members. They will be
pitting this new form in a competitive format against T.P.R.O.F as Improv
Inferno's first guest competitors.
Men in Shirts based this format on the idea that only by looking into the
abyss of ourselves, do we reveal our true desires, fears and secrets. And
of course, they want to share it all with you.
Who: Men in Shirts (Chuck Charbeneau and Clif Highfield)
What: The Abyss at the "Cat Fight"
When: Thursday nights at 8 pm. (Sept 16th - Oct 14th)
Where: Improv Inferno
309 S. Main St
Ann Arbor, MI
(734) 214-7080
Tickets are $5 at the door, and there are nightly drink specials (often
times listed on the Improv Inferno Website). And don't forget, this is Ann
Arbor, so there are a multitude of places to eat and drink within easy
stumbling distance of the performance space, so it is easy to make a single
improv show into a night on the town in A-Squared. The show starts at 8 pm,
but get there early for a good seat.
"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a
monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into
you."
--Friedrich Nietzsche
If you're not particularly familiar with Longform, let me try to fill you in (and reassure you that it has little in common with "Whose Line Is It Anyway?"
There are lots of great resources that can educate you better than I, so I'm going to do my best whet you appetite and then provide a mess O'links.
Longform as it is commonly understood was "started" by Del Close sometime in the 60s. It was essentially an effort to take what had long been regarded (and still is to a large extent) an acting exercise or series of games and turn it into a dramatic experience in its own right. Of course, to say that you can "start" an artform that is really about making up a situation and characters on the spot is slightly ridiculous, as surely this method is the birth of theatre. But "The Harold", the form created by Del and codified in the book he co-wrote with Charna Halpern and Kim Johnson, "Truth in Comedy" was a method to tap into the immediacy of Improvisation and extend it as a story and a dramatic experience rather than just a collection of jokes.
Seeing longform in performance is often an amazing thing. Essentially you give the performers a small suggestion and then before your eyes they create a world. Many refuse to believe that what they are watching is not previously designed or rehearsed, especially when watching the best. Moreover, much of the emphasis in longform has been on honest character relationships, rather than jokes or sketch comedy types of situations. So while it can be quite funny, it can be heartbreaking too.
It ocassionally suffers from an overtly avant-garde attitude (as in, "screw you if you don't get it, I'm an artist"), which is pretty common amongst most new fields. It ocassionally suffers from a desire to be more about jokes than truth (as in "I can't wait until I get on Saturday Night Live"). But when it finds that middle ground and is about telling a good story and being honest, it is transcendent.
I find longform to be a very beautiful, intimate, and immediate experience, and I would highly recommend you check it out for yourself rather than just reading about me talking about it. I expect to be there on the 16th, join me if you can.
Note: I'm sure there are plenty of people waiting in line to correct me on my characterization of the birth or development or the true nature of what longform is. Take a break. The resources of defining how this came to be are scarce surprisingly. Sadly, I spent 45 minutes looking at websites all of which talked about the Longform and the Harold and none of which included a "What the hell is Longform and how did it start?" page. Which seems to me to be the first thing you should put on such a page. In any case, I put up my version as I didn't have a better one, and if you'd like to improve it, don't do it on my site, please please please put up a webpage instead.
Yes, And ... (General Improv Info Site)
Improv Olympic (Chicago Improv Theater founded by Del Close and Charna Halpern as a home for the new longform (and still going strong)
Improv Inferno (New Improv Theater in Ann Arbor opening mid September)
The British Version of course:
Jeff: "I'm very tense around apples. Actually, I'm very tense in general, I think I've just fallen into the trap of blaming it on fruit."
Only one more week of pointless crappy football before the real thing starts. Hooray! It's about time.
I've never really had the patience for Baseball. For me, as a Detroiter, Baseball means turning on the radio and listening to Ernie Harwell while you sit on your porch and drink lemonade, or beer or your beverage of choice. You probably would want a book too. It certainly doesn't mean paying attention to what is actually going on with the team. 162 games? Who has that kind of time? Is this a hobby and diversion or a part time job? And why aren't I getting paid for it?
So summer is always low sports time. The Olympics provided a bit of a diversion, but really were little more than that. So the end of the annoying preseason is welcome, because by August you've been long enough without football that even pre-season games seem interesting, which is more a sign of just how far my definition of interesting has slipped.
I'm going to discuss something now that may be a Detroit phenomenon. In general, people support their home teams and remain home team fans do or die. This is as it should be and I support it. Ocassionally you will find the lone dissenter, of the kid from Texas that roots for the Redskins, but it generally remains the same. But as a Detroit football fan, almost everyone I know who is one is a simultaneous fan of one other team. I think this is a direct result of how incredibly inept the Lions have been in my lifetime. Its possible that a similar situation exists in Cinncinati, but I have observed very strongly in Detroit. For me, it was the Eagles. Between Dick Vermeil and Randall Cunningham, I was hooked. Not to mention the best cheerleaders in the game. My cousin was always a Steelers fan. I know others that follow the Redskins, Bolts, and Dolphins. They are all Detroit fans, and their first loyalty is to the Lions, but somewhere deep down they all know that nothing good will happen, so they'd better have something good to root for in the meantime. Non-Detroit people, do you see this too? Detroit people (football fans), do you do the same thing?
My Eagles look pretty good this year. T.O., punk or not, should make an impact since Philly's receiver corps is not quite up to High School quality without him. It's a shame to see Staley go across the state to Pitt, but it will probably be better for him over there.
The Lions, well, I'm cautiously optimistic. They have what could be a better than bad first team, but 2 or 3 injuries and they're back to cellar-dwelling. The defense doesn't look to be much better, with Bailey out and the line still pretty patchy.
But time will tell, and finally after this weekend they start playing for real. If Hockey gets locked-out like all the experts say it will, Football season will be that much more essential for my weekly diversion.
Two men are walking their dogs down the street and decide to stop into a bar.
...
The man looks puzzled and says, "What? They gave me a Chihuahua!?!"