August 19, 2004
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August 18, 2004
And we could even try it with Ana Marie Cox, while we're at it. No linkage, no WaPo mag cover reproduction = no buzz, no nothing.
I'm just sayin'.
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August 17, 2004
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Even the most passionate Bush-haters are becoming concerned.
(Yeah—I know I said I wouldn't link the Globe any more. But this was compelling, so I made an exception. Too bad, since the Attila Girl boycott had almost brought them to their knees.)
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I keep wondering what's in those medical records he won't release about the 1st/3rd Purple Hearts. Paper cut? Nicked himself while shaving? Tummy ache?August 15, 2004
It increasingly appears that one of the few of the fellow vets who have been publicly supporting John Kerry may never have served with him at all.The media blackout on Kerry's Vietnam record is really quite stunning. I've never seen anything quite like this. We know for a fact that 80-90% of working reporters and editors vote Democratic in every election, but this is simply unreal. As John Rosenberg notes, even so respectably mainstream-left a paper as the Washington Post, on its front page no less, is continuing to gush about Kerry's fantastic Vietnam record and the support of his fellow veterans, while saying not one word about any of the Swifties' allegations or the recently uncovered evidence of Kerry's possibly false claims about Cambodia. Or about a man who served on his boat saying he's a liar and a sleaze.
The Post didn't put the gushy praise-sans-criticism in an editorial either. It was there as front page news.
I would have to ask why a single 20 year old drunk driving charge made screaming national headlines four years ago, but none of this is making it into the mainstream press, except on the editorial pages of a few small newspapers.
I am honestly stunned. This isn't bias. This is... it's... I don't even know the word for it. It's obviously not a conspiracy, and people who think it is one should take off their tinfoil hats. But what do you call it? Groupthink? Mass delusion? Blind spot? You cannot gush praise at a guy's military record and then just ignore the fact that he has heavy duty critics. Even if all of those critics were right-wing Republicans, that doesn't make it less of a story.
At this point it is becoming a bit shocking. But look at the polls: Kerry and Bush appear to be in a dead heat, statistically. No liberal editor wants to run a story that might influence a single swing voter in the "wrong" direction.
What's especially hilarious is that a lot of my liberal-left friends maintain that the media bias is in the other direction. Amazing, that.
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"I thought I was the world's oldest teenager," I remarked.
"No," my friend corrected me. "You're the world's oldest child."
Glad we got that straight.
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Sa'ang-Fori.
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August 14, 2004
I'm supposed to send him a birthday card. Looking through my records, I realized that I never did write down his birthday—and I've managed to space two others this very week. Obviously, I need a new tickler system that can help me practic assholism-avoidance.
I don't think I've known many people who were in prison. For years I believed my father had been in prison a couple of times, but it turns out it was only jail. (Once, Mexican jail—which probably means a shakedown, but I don't think my mother or either set of grandparents knew that at the time. They were all good Methodists, equally ill-equipped to deal with either my father's shenanigans or corrupt Mexican officials.)
Let's see. Before I turned 18 I was caught shoplifting, but let go without any charges being pressed. I got arrested at the age of 15 for being drunk in public: a friend of mine and I had gone off with a couple of guys we thought we knew, who plied us with cheap wine. I'd always been light, and it didn't take too many to send me into a blackout. My mother took it out on me for a few days, and then she took it out on my brother, in a series of events that ruined his emotional life. Of course, his realization of my mother's rage-aholic nature helped him to see that our mother-daughter conflicts weren't always my fault, and I had an ally after that.
I've always related to my young cousin, in a certain way, when he started rebelling against authority. I've always wished I could help him somehow. He's never been good in school, but I don't set too much stock in that. He's not an intellectual, but he's reliable, steady, and a sensitive kid. (Yes: in a kiddie prison, that last one has me worried.)
And now he's somewhere where I can't reach him, at a juvenile facility where he's potentially being taught how to be a criminal. And there's nothing I can do, except to send him a birthday card that isn't too "cutesy." (Apparently, they have to open their mail in front of the other juvenile offenders, and he got teased because one of us sent a card with bunnies on it.)
I could make one by hand, I guess--
The cover: black background, saying "ANYONE WHO FUCKS WITH YOU"
Inside: "will find themselves ventilated like Swiss Cheese by 40-caliber bullets."
Signed: "Love, your Glock-packin' cousin."
I dunno. It's a bit butch. Might even set a bad example. I don't want my niece, my young cousins, or my younger sister to have to carry—or even necessarily own—firearms (other than the .22 target pistol every person, no matter how liberal, should own). I only want them to let me know who is messing with them. I will buy the appropriate plane ticket, take care of the situation, and either extract a promise of good behavior or dispose of the body.
Civilization and its discontents, huh? Well, we can deal with my anger— and my budding sociopathy—later on. So far, no bodies in the backyard, since my husband doesn't want to have to buy lime. He's so narrow-minded. But, you know: everyone has his little peculiarities.
So why my macha swaggering, here? It comes from a sense of powerlessness and fear. I understand that I'm supposed to surrender, but I have no talent for that. At this moment it's impossible to assimilate the notion that my cousin is almost certainly going to get beaten up at some point over the next nine months, and might get raped.
Given that I'm not going to do any of the things that would serve those kids right if they touched a hair on his head, I'll just ask for you to pray for a scared kid in a Northern California juvenile facility who might come out of this okay, and might become a genuine criminal when all is said and done. I believe in redemption. I believe this could "scare him straight." But my fears go in the other direction. If you believe in any higher power, intervene on his behalf. If you don't, send him good vibes: that can't ever hurt.
He's a good kid who's made some bad choices. Let's call him "William." Do what you can for Will, okay?
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I wonder what they do with all these copies once they buy 'em. Make a big pile and set it afire?
Please, please. Think carefully before you vote for this guy.
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August 13, 2004
1) The Democratic Party is, at this moment, the party of dirty tricks.
2) Any newspaper that takes the bait the Kerry campaign is giving out—the "brown books"—should not be supported, either online or offline. Cancel your subscriptions, and stop linking any news organization that runs negative biographical material about the Swift Boat Vets, rather than investigating and discussing their actual charges. This is beyond the pale. I will no longer link to or read on paper:
The New York Times;
The Boston Globe; or
Media Matters.
3) Any campaign that addresses a book that factually disputes a candidate's war record, on which he rests his claim to the office of President by threatening a lawsuit has lost its right to anyone's vote. John Kerry has said, regarding his record in Vietnam, "bring it on." Now that someone has, he might consider discussing the actual facts, rather then engaging in the politics of personal destruction.
I haven't been this angry in a long time.
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Says Burnt Orange:
He's a dirtbag for misappropriating funds and cheating on his wife, but until November 15 America has its first openly gay governor.
But BoiFromTroy points out that his homosexuality is not the reason he's stepping down:
OMG! The Governor of New Jersey just came out on national TV. Jim McGreevy (D) has left the closet and cited his homosexual relations as the reason he is unable to continue as Governor. Bullshit.
The virtue of having a gay governor is far outweighed by the fact that he's dirty. And it's shameful that he's exploiting his minority status to provide cover for his misallocation of funds. Furthermore, as Sean Hannity—and others—have been pointing out, the delay in his resignation is a naked power grab by the national Democratic Party, which clearly doesn't want a Republican on the ballot this November, because it would enhance GOP voter turnout and transform New Jersey into a swing state.
I also think that it's illuminating that Hannity himself—an obnoxious social conservative a lot of the time—dismisses any idea that the voters really care about a public official being gay. "Most of us are libertarian on that kind of thing." Wish he asserted things like that more often.
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I can't refer to Mr. Hired Gun as a such anymore, since he's been with the same company for a while. He's now working as a programmer in a company famous mostly for its hardware, and what he does relates more to what he did in the past (while he was doing special effects for movies) than I had realized. He's the Effects Master now.
Mostly I hung out with Scanman, who can be hard on salespeople, because he appears to be very interested in everything. And he is interested in everything, but buys as little as he can get by with (Scanman is a small businessman). The hapless salespeople seem to get their hopes up sometimes, talking to him. Of course, at some of the booths he just explained to me what any given technology does, leaving the salesmen and -women to look helplessly on.
"Did he get it right?" I'd ask sometimes. And they always said "yes."
After looking over the whole floor we went back to Effects Master, and asked him if there were plans for the evening. There were, so we invited ourselves along. We ended up at Ciudad restaurant, where the Punk Poetess eventually caught up with us.
I love these guys. They are smart and nerdy and subtle and funny—but a different kind of funny than my husband and his friends. (In fairness, Attila the Hub can be absolutely any kind of funny he chooses to be.) Naturally, there are a lot of technical issues I can't understand, but people stopped to explain some of the things that were explainable.
We did not sit around all night and regale ourselves with tales of the Old Days, which is a relief, since I have no desire to do that again. It was just a good, civilized meal.
And then we walked back toward the Convention Center, losing Professor Fractal and Effects Master along the way until we got to the cheap lot where I'd parked my car.
Tonight, a few people were walking in L.A.
My swag so far: a DVD for my husband of a small film that was part of the Electronic Theater; a pin that blinks on and off and requires no pin to secure it (it's held in place by a strong magnet); a walking wind-up teapot; a visor; two small models made by the 3D "printer"; a couple of pencils from Mr. Math's company; some "silly putty" from Disney.
Most precious moment: we mention two old friends of ours who ended up going into financial analysis—and both at the same company.
"What is it about these science women going into financial management companies?" mused Professor Fractal.
"Do we know any others?" someone asked.
"I feel like we do. Maybe they aren't scientists."
"But I can't remember any females other than The Chemistry Lady who are doing that type of work," I told him.
"Maybe it's just someone who changed their worldview, so it's more . . . corporate," he suggested.
"You're thinking of me," I told him.
He was clearly mortified, of course. For I was right.
Be safe. Make sure your motion-captures are lifelike.
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Juliette was right; I got a good one!
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Via Dean Esmay.
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August 12, 2004
Could Kerry have been marketable? I kind of think so, had the Democrats used the same strategy with him that they did with Clinton: what's past is past. Vietnam was over 30 years ago.
But by making "Vietnam war hero" his middle name, they have destroyed the possibility of Kerry winning.
NZ Bear maintains that the Swift Boat Vets issue will kill the Kerry campaign:
Up until now, Kerry has gotten a pass on his Vietnam time: the general impression has been "He talks about it too much, but he was some kind of war hero back in Vietnam". Now, there's an alternate perspective: "Not only does he talk about it too much, but he's actually a liar." From the 10,000 foot view of the average voter, the Swifties don't have to prove their case in a court of law for Kerry to take damage: they just have to throw a bit of doubt onto the lily-white image he's portrayed thus far. In that, they've already succeeded.But it's not that bad: it's actually much worse. The biggest problem for Kerry is that the Swifties' attacks confirm what we really want to believe about him anyway. He's been so damned annoying about his Vietnam record that we secretly want to think the worst of him, and now the Swifties have provided a rational basis for that gut-level irritation that Kerry inspires when he blathers on about his war record. This isn't just bad for Kerry, it's disasterous: the amorphous negative that normal people have when exposed to Kerry's "leadership, courage, and sacrifice" / "three purple hearts" mantra now has a core of fact -- or at least, alleged fact --- around which to crystalize.
And there is the not-uncommon feeling that "real heroes don't blow their own trumpets."
But the Swifties are only part of it. The entire campaign appears to be predicated on the idea that military people are stupid, and you can flip them off, if you do it subtly enough. No Vietnam vet is going to find it easy to support a guy who came back and accused them of war crimes—and the more Kerry brags about his mini-service, the more people are going to be reminded of this.
And then the sloppy salute at the convention. The "reporting for duty" line. Very distasteful to veterans, current members of the armed forces, and their families. (Civilians are not supposed to salute, and even soldiers, sailors and marines don't do this out of uniform.)
Now we have the Swift Vets story, which as NZ points out doesn't have to be proven—their account simply has to be strong enough to create doubt in people's minds. NZ again:
Unless Kerry's campaign manages to completely discredit the Swifties --- which seems increasingly unlikely --- the campaign is over; Kerry is done. And after Election Day has passed, I expect that anyone looking backwards will wonder why in the world the Democrats ever thought making Kerry's Vietnam service a centerpiece was a good idea in the first place.
It wasn't a good idea at all. No matter how weak his Senate record—or his record as Lt. Gov.—marketing him on the basis of four months in Vietnam three decades ago was a terrible strategy.
There are a lot of people out there, many of them working-class and blue-collar folk, who would have loved to vote for practically any sentient being with a "D" after his/her/its name. And they are going to sit this one out.
It's not enough for people to hate Bush; you have to give them a positive reason to pick your guy.
It is over.
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August 11, 2004
All of you who wanted for Annie to be the problem are just going to have to deal.
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Therefore this is at least being published closer to real time. Who knows?--next time I go to an event like this I may have WiFi, and be able to live-blog the action.
Professor Fractal works at a college in Georgia, and they have a party every year. I was at their event last year in San Diego, and it was there that I finally got to see the good professor. This year they had their event at the top of the Hyatt tower in downtown L.A. I drove in just for this.
I forgot to mapquest the Hyatt, but I figured it was on Hill street, not far from the convention center. How bad could it be? I got off the 110 at the west end of downtown, which is closest to the Staples center (our new mega-ampitheater for sports and music) and the convention center. It's also not too far from skid row. As I got off the freeway, just before the high rises began I saw a row of motels there: low-cost alternatives to staying in the pricey hotels that dot the nicer part of downtown. But why would you stay downtown if you didn't have to? I thought. Don't people realize that the real culture in L.A., the action, is not downtown at all? We never come here unless there's some reason.
And then, driving along eighth or whatever, I saw people. Human beings. Walking around downtown Los Angeles on a Tuesday night. Whaaaaaa . . . . ? All became clear, however, when I saw the red ribbons hanging down from their necks and I realized they were Siggraph attendees. Wow. For a moment I thought downtown had developed a night life; I wasn't prepared to have the world come to an end.
The lovely thing about the Hyatt tower is that it's a large circular room with 360 degrees of view. When I got to the top I tried to get my bearings, but it was harder than I had imagined, since a lot of the buildings I see from the freeway aren't as visible when you're among them: the tops with the logos were too high to see, or they blocked the view of each other. But I figured out which was was West, of course: it's away from the tall buildings—the architecture slopes downward toward the water.
And when I was there I got a chance to ask Prof. Fractal's lovely young student what the current technical challenges are in computer graphics. From having seen the Electronic Theater, I got the feeling that fur is still cutting edge, even after Monsters and the Shrek movies. After all, the Pixar short featured two different kinds of fur. Long hair appears to be very tough as well. And the new badass project seems to be cloth.
"Cloth is still really hard," she told me.
"So the current Harry Potter movie is something of an achievement?" I ask, thinking of how the dementors—and their robes—were highlighted in the HP segment of the Electronic Theatre.
"Oh, yes. They did a nice job."
Apparently, the other type of project considered cutting-edge is to create large crowds of people who all appear to move independently of one another (without having to write programs that dictate what each and every tiny little virtual extra is going to do). Think the Lord of the Rings battle sequences, or the crowd scene in Shrek II. Apparently, if done badly, these scenes can look like there are detectable patterns in the behavior of the crowds—and one can see the hidden hand of the programmer. This is bad.
I still have lots of things I want to ask my friends, but it can wait another day. I'm taking the day off to catch up on some things around the house, and I'll be hitting the exhibits tomorrow. I'm not going to see papers presented, since I wouldn't understand the math/CS therein anyway.
And one more word on Professor Fractal: I spent a couple of minutes listening to his students praise him and talk about what a nice guy he is. They knew I'd known him since high school, and I said I couldn't contradict them—but I know his family,and they are all nice.
"Even so," one of his students pointed out, "some people come from nice families and they are still bastards."
"Fair enough," I replied. "So we may be back to genetics, and nurture vs. nature."
Another student related that when he was deciding where to do his graduate work he had several options, and mentioned to those advising him that he'd like to work with Professor Fractal. "You absolutely can't go wrong with him," he was told.
So he's doing good work, sending bright young people out into the world to make interesting patterns and pretty pictures.
And I remembered when he himself was an undergraduate, and wasn't accepted into the math program at UCLA for some arbitrary reason. A mutual friend fretted on what a crime this was: "he's going to have to go into computer science. And he just won't make the kind of contribution in computer science that he might have in math."
The things that strike us as most fucked-up about the world when we're young sometimes seem to be the things that redeem us—or they unfold like a blooming flower as we move into middle-age.
We talked about that, too—the forty-something elephant in the room—once the youngsters had gone away and it was all just us, former students of Santa Monica High: I'm the only one who doesn't show much sign of aging, so perhaps it's easier on me than on the others. I tried to show them that I have two grey hairs, but I got, "oh, please."
"It's like a second adolescence, though, isn't it?" I asked. "Except that this one is bittersweet, because we're closer to death and we know it."
I got the look, then: wow; we'd forgotten how weird you are.
"I'm just waiting for you to look like you're older than twenty," ventured Scanman.
"Thank you," I responded.
And I came home. Washed my face, looked in the mirror, saw all the fine lines around my eyes. Oh, come on, I thought. It's there. You just have to look close.
I'm a lucky girl with lucky friends. No doubt about that.
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Meanwhile, my friends from Siggraph are expecting me to provide more convention coverage from my party-hopping tonight. I'm thinking a little sleep first would be terrific, since I have to get up early in the morning to leave some donations on the front porch for Vietnam Veterans of America.
Here's the short story: Party 1 at the Hyatt, Party 2 at Ciudad. Some spirited discussion among computer graphics people on whether it's better to go into industry (as 3 out of 4 of my friends did), or to pursue an academic career (that's one of us, plus another friend who's an academic in another field—note that I say "us," though I've never written a computer program that actually got run on a machine, not ever).
And by far the grooviest thing: there are now plenty of young women who are studying computer graphics. Things aren't as they were 20 or even 10 years ago, when most of the women present were there through an interest in art, and had little or no handle on the technical angles of how to make the pretty pictures happen. There's a whole new crop of whip-smart computer science students who are tackling the complex problems this field represents right now, and a decent number are from my side of the sex fence.
I sat with one of the more talented young women studying at Georgia Tech, and realized that at least one of my friends--and possibly another acquaintance of his--was intensely interested in what she had to say. I tried to tell myself it was because of her mental acuity, but who knows?--she was a stunning and poised young lady.
A good night, all in all. Details later.
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