October 31, 2003
Say It Ain't So
Microsoft has done some scary stuff, but it would all pale in comparison to their acquiring Google. Despite the possibility of a lucrative IPO, Google leadership has at least considered an overture from the evil empire. Fortunately, they seem disinclined, for now. In which case watch for Microsoft to reverse engineer Google technology and incorporate it in the next-gen Longhorn operating system. They won't tolerate an ascendant Google, not with a friendly administration in Washington. Our attorney general is too busy chasing shadows to worry about anti-trust abuses on an historic scale.
October 27, 2003
New in CIPHER SONGS
See the CIPHER SONGS sub-blog for info about Vernam's sessions in progress and gigs on the horizon. He may be coming to an Opera House near you . . .
October 21, 2003
Rudeboys Cannot Fail
It's the thirtieth anniversary of "The Harder They Come." I haven't seen the movie in years, but the CD is never far from my rotation. Today NPR will run a feature, including video/audio clips and links to related material. One thing about the Web is that it's doing away w/ some of the great mysteries of life, including what's going on in Reggae lyrics. You can get words to the soundtrack itself or dig deeper at this great site explaining biblical references in Reggae. "Rivers of Babylon" is taken verbatim from a couple of psalms explained here.
October 17, 2003
The Darkness
Can these guys be for real? Consensus seems to be: Yes, sort of. The video is brilliant -- watch for the Marshall stacks rising to infinity.
Be sure to read the bio section. Classic stuff, in every sense. Thanks to Scott for the link. Check out their offizielle Deutsche site, too. It's apparently true that they've been touring w/ the Stones. Wow.
October 16, 2003
Curse of the Scapegoat
My heart goes out to die-hard Cub fans today. Some of my best friends, as the saying goes . . . They probably wonder how some White Sox fans can take such glee in their neighbors' misery. Peter Gammons of ESPN made an interesting comment after Game Six. He was repulsed by the over-the-top hand wringing about this latest manifestation of "the curse." Forget about the billygoat -- the sportswriters (who should know better) found a scapegoat in that poor sap who did exactly what almost anyone would do in reaching for the ball. Gammons bemoaned how Cub fans' well-documented miseries through the years have become a bigger story than the games and players themselves. The guy is from Boston, so he knows whereof he speaks. All month HBO has run the self-pitying and shoddy "Curse of the Bambino," narrated gravely by Ben Affleck, who has suffered through, oh, 20 years or so of agony in following a team that has been pretty respectable, lack of world championships notwithstanding.
It's the old people whom I feel for, following bad teams for year upon year. When their club implodes as the Cubs did, they know time could literally run out before they get to see a World Series win. In the grand scheme, it doesn't matter, I know. But an undeniable emotional investment results from living in the same city your whole, long life and never getting the kind of gratification that Yankee -- hell, Marlin and Diamondback -- fans can take for granted. It all boils down to class for me, I guess. I empathize with the working stiffs whose hearts broke this week, and I'm pitiless where the fat cats are concerned. Their number is many at Wrigley, and you can spot them as the tv camera pans across the crowd. Elitism is what's ruined baseball, or sports in general, or the whole damn country. A winning team's bandwagon is inviting to people who think nothing of dropping a few grand on tickets or, worse, have corporate contacts to take the tickets as a write-off we all pay for. (I'm going all Molly Ivins here, without the humor . . .) An average blue-collar worker can't afford to take the family out to the game anymore, blah blah.
Anyway, that class consciousness is key to understanding why some of us don't identify as strongly with the Cubs as the Tribune and WGN would indicate. Sure, it's petty as hell. But the media's soft-pedaling of death threats directed at Steve Bartman contrasts with the ridicule directed at White Sox fans after a couple of incidents involving drunken fans in the past two years. To the rest of the country, the Cubs may look like underdogs. But in Chicago, they're the Establishment. Imagine being a fan of the White Sox, a team that plays second fiddle to the worst sports franchise in history. We don't complain as loudly or have such a compelling mythology as Cub and Red Sox fans. We also don't have the studied self-pity. Unfortunately, on rare occasions when the White Sox play in October, you'll see nearly as many rich, scene-making faux fans at Sox Park as at any other winning team's park. And I loathe them even more than I do the Wrigley scenesters, lest you conclude I'm biased.
October 08, 2003
Homestarrunner
You don't need to have kids to enjoy this site, but it definitely doesn't hurt. Thanks to my pal Charlie, who is truly a kid at heart.
Faves: Dancin' Bubs (pick song 3), Strong Bad emails (anything w/ SB, in fact -- he's got scroll bars like the day is long), and Teen Girl Squad (under "Features" -- all four episodes, mandatory viewing).
Maybe it's true you can't be popular AND smart, but being unpopular doesn't mean you're smart.
October 06, 2003
Uh-Oh, Holy Mackerel
For an affirmed Cub-hater, the worst part of their seemingly destined run to the World Series is that my White Sox won't be there to derail them. If the Cubs do win it all -- and right now they're the hottest team -- this year will be remembered by Sox fans as the great lost opportunity for a city series. Last time we had one was 1906, when the White Sox "Hitless Wonders" beat up on their local rivals. Wrigley Field didn't yet exist, and Comiskey Park has come and gone in the years since.
I desperately wanted the Sox to win one while my father was around to enjoy it, but that didn't happen. Now I pray they'll win before either the Cubs or Red Sox make it. Between these three teams, 286 years have passed since one of them won a World Series. The Red Sox and Cubs have their respective curses to blame it on -- it's the trade of Babe Ruth, or the fact that old man Wrigley barred restaurateur Sam Sianis and his goat from the '45 series -- but the Sox fan has no such delusions to distract from all those years of failure. Instead, we have nothing but reality, whether it goes by the name of Jerry Dybzinski, Buddy Bradford or D'angelo Jimenez.
Living here in Chicago again amidst pennant fever, I find it awkward to tell people I'm rooting against the Cubs. Good friends who love the North Side team react like I'm a killjoy or fanatic. Instead, I'm just honest. Part of me would like to root for them, but I just can't. It'd be like a lifelong liberal voting Republican. It's dispiriting that the 2003 White Sox had more talent than all but one team still in the playoffs. But they did so little with it because they had less heart than practically any team in baseball. That they beat the Cubs four times out of six games this year will be a permanent reminder of what could have been. Instead, Sox fans have to remain the losers among losers, somehow less cute or noteworthy than the other historically inept franchises in Chicago and Boston. Not that I'm complaining . . .
October 02, 2003
Time Will Tell on You
Vernam was lucky enough to visit Edinburgh this week, the first time I've been to Scotland. Had a spectacular view of the castle from my hotel and drove to Sterling and Glasgow through bucolic countryside. Almost as good is that I was far away from Chicago when the Cubs won the first game of their playoff against the Braves. And even sweeter was returning to the U.S. and learning that uber-blowhard Rush Limbaugh has got himself in a mess o' trouble. I'd hate to have missed this.
My first overseas trip was in '92, and the brief Perot mania (the media's and not his, which is permanent) broke out in my absence. It was weird being away when something so singular was happening -- a legitimate third party candidacy for president. (Be careful what you ask for, you third party types!) That was the same spring when Johnny Carson went off the air. I was never a fan, but it just felt wrong to be away when he stepped down. This is an odd form of nationalism, where you don't want to miss out on big, communal events, no matter how silly.
So what a privilege to share the guilt-free schadenfreude prompted by Limbaugh's apparent junkiedom. It will be fun watching him blame the liberal media for his downfall. What a self-pitying ass.
Before it gets lost in the shuffle, his comment about Eagles QB Donovan McNabb should be noted as the ranting of a paranoiac. The trouble with this country is that black folks get all the breaks: R-i-g-h-t. C'mon, take two athletes of equal ability, one black and the other white. Which one will the media promote? Who has more disposable income to buy magazines, black fans or white fans? I like how McNabb said no apology from Limbaugh would be sufficient, because the statement obviously expressed the bigot's true feelings, as anyone who has listened to his show could attest.
Limbaugh and Karl Rove both having to lawyer up . . . Yes, a very good week to be American.