Wednesday, January 31, 2001
Dilbert.com apparently unveiled a new design for their home page sometime during the last month. I like it, but I wish they'd move all the interior pages over to the new format.
PW Blog: I just suddenly remembered the craziest dream I had last night. The Weasels (including me) were playing interhall football against Siegfried (who are now male, in case any alumnae don't know) in my high school gym. The stands were full and there was a solid division down the middle between the sea of purple on the left and the sea of red on the right. (Are Siegfried red? I have no clue.) Anyway, the Weasels were winning 20-7 and the crowd was going nuts. Our side kept repeating this cheer that went something like, "We are the Weasels, and you can kiss our ass! Yes, you can kiss our ass!" Lizzie was quarterbacking and the Siegfried defense had pushed us back to one corner of the gym floor, and our backs were literally against the wall. So we were huddled up trying to figure out a play to call. I was in favor of a Quarterback Draw (or as we used to call it, "Get the Fuck Out") where the line would push everybody to the left and Lizzie would scamper down the sideline (i.e. the front of the bleachers). But we were also debating whether we could protect her long enough to throw a long bomb down the floor to Kel, who then needed to scamper to the out-of-bounds line to score the touchdown. Faced with this quandry... I woke up.
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PW Blog: The Observer officially sucks today and I refuse to link to a single article. And they didn't print my letter yet. Bastards.
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Matt at Scrubbles links to an excellent article by Christopher Kelly of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram about the "herd mentality" of most movie critics when it comes to picking the best films of the year. After reading it I immediately went back to read Ebert's Top Ten list, and I was disappointed to see that his choices mostly lined up with everybody else's. He does mention some more obscure and interesting titles in his "Special Jury Prizes" and "Honorable Mentions," though. I still like the Eeb... His taste in film, while perhaps sometimes pedestrian, is very similar to my own and I always enjoy his sense of humor, especially in his Movie Answer Man column.
Brigita found a kickass website from the "Society of Kabalarians" that purports to analyze the influence of your first name. I ran my name through it, and the report it generated seems amazingly accurate. It even guesses in what kind of ailments your stress manifests itself! (For the record, mine is and has always been the stomach.)
Remember that Republican ex-boyfriend I mentioned? In a stunning example of Conservative smugness, waste, excess, and hubris, he spent nine dollars Fed Ex-ing me a stack of pro-Bush articles he printed off the Internet. In color. All the way to London. And he prefaced it with the letter he received from Jeb Bush thanking him for his support. Can you believe that? (Don't worry, Mark. Liberals like me are usually very forgiving, so you may be able to atone for this crime someday.)
Praise Jesus! Matt Ashford returns as Jack Devereaux on Days of Our Lives February 5th. I haven't been a fan of recent storylines, but bringing back the One True Jack could very well change all that. (The One True Jennifer's been back for a while now.) If you're not a fan, you can't possibly appreciate the significance of bringing back one of the most popular daytime supercouples of the 80's. The banter, the adventures, the romance... You know, they remind me a lot of Joey and Pacey, but without all the psycho-babble.
Since I missed the Superbowl (I think France is the last place on Earth one could expect to find such an American spectacle), I've been reading reviews of the commercials on the Internet and watching them on Adcritic. So far I think the funniest part have been the repeated slams on Andersen Consulting Accenture. My friend Kel works there, and I have to kid her about the completely cheesy name. And what is that ">" above the "t"? You can't even reproduce that in HTML! I went to their corporate site, and the only place they properly spell their own name is in the gif image on the front page! I also found a story on Slate in which Rob Walker details the story behind the name switch and the split with Arthur Andersen. *snicker* Ah, bitchy I.T. gossip. I love it.
Tuesday, January 30, 2001
This editorial from my alma mater's newspaper about President Clinton made me so angry that I actually wrote a letter to the editor for the first time in my life. I'll let you know if it gets published.
PW Blog: This editorial about Clinton made me so mad that I actually wrote a letter to the Observer editor. I'll let you know if it gets published.
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PW Blog: The "Medoza College of Business Gigot Center for Entrepreneurial Studies" on campus is hosting a contest that will award $20,000 to the student or alumni that comes of up with the best business plan. That's right, girls. We're all eligible! I wonder how I could turn PurpleWeasels.org into a money-making venture? :)
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PW Blog: The new ND Performing Arts Center, which is already, like, 12 years behind schedule, is being postponed for several more months while they re-design it a bit. When it's done in 2003 it "will complete the DeBartolo quad, and contain a 900-seat concert hall, a movie theater, an organ and chorale hall and a studio theater." Sweet.
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PW Blog: According to the cops, only 18 students were busted at Benchwarmers... not the 50 previously reported. Which sort of answers my question about why so many students were at a crap bar on a Wednesday night.
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As I was explaining to a friend last week, Britain's stand on women's reproductive rights kicks ass. Just yesterday some Conservative Baroness tried to ban over-the-counter sales of the morning-after pill, which has been available here from pharmacists since January 1. The motion was soundly voted down 177-95. The Conservatives were claiming that by making the pill available they'd be giving teenagers a license to have unprotected sex. The Labour government pointed out though, that Britain currently has the highest teen pregnancy rate in all of Europe. The availability of this drug will hopefully help a large number of young girls who would feel uncomfortable to their family doctor for treatment. The real kicker? The teen pregnancy rate in the U.S. is still higher than the U.K.'s.
Monday, January 29, 2001
I'm back! The weekend was great... I'll put photos up as soon as I get 'em developed. And hey! Blogvoices is back! Check out my stylish new design.
PW Blog: BLOGVOICES IS BACK! That means that we can have our little discussions again! Just click on the little "discuss" link to join in the fun.
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Friday, January 26, 2001
No more posts til Monday... I'm off to Paris and EuroDisney! Have a great weekend.
Thursday, January 25, 2001
PW Blog: Kel just IMed me to let me know that the Progressive Student Alliance is coordinating a "Speak Out for Vaginas" soon. I only hope they know that the perfect Crotch Queen and Emcee is our very own Kelly McMahon. I mean, check that out! I'm sure she could perform some inspirational speeches in those pants! Alumni will be quaking in their boots.
(Kel, consider this retribution for that little hacking incident a few weeks ago. Revenge is sweet.)
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 This one's for my sister Amy: The Very Best of Daryl Hall and John Oates was released this week! Come on, who doesn't love "Maneater"? Although personally I think my favorite is "Kiss On My List." (Because your kiss, your kiss is on my list...) As I was posting this though, I suddenly realized that I had no clue which is Hall and which is Oates. So I went to their official site, hallandoates.com, and clicked all over the damn place. But it doesn't say! It wasn't until I found my way to a British fan club site that I found an interview with Daryl that solved my dilemma. He (Hall) was the white guy. I can sleep now.
PW Blog: Another Bar Bust! The South Bend Police Department raided Benchwarmer's last night and busted 50-60 underage college students. My thoughts upon reading this article:- Benchwarmer's??? Who the hell goes to Benchwarmer's? And furthermore, who goes to Benchwarmer's on Wednesday night and stays out til 1 a.m.?
- The kid who said "I was just getting my groove on and they hit me on the dance floor" was definitely still drunk.
- Some students "express[ed] shock that two bars were raided in the same school year." Well, duh. But what the hell did they expect? Did they think that the cops had already fulfilled their quota for this year?
I'm probably supposed to feel all outraged that "The Man" is raining on our fun and all, but by senior year all the underage assholes just annoyed me. Yeah, sophomore year I used a fake a couple times, but I didn't act like it was my friggin' right. And for God's sake, drink good beer in a decent bar! I can't give respect to people who willingly drink American light beer (unless they're tailgating Weasels).
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PW Blog: Heh. Apparently there's been some SMC resistance to hosting the Keenan Revue this year. When the director and producer found the BOG were reluctant to cooperate, they took it upon themselves to hand out 235 surveys to SMC Chicks. Cheeky buggers.
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PW Blog: I'm sick of reporting on ND Basketball. This will be a sport-free day of posting!
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I was reading Salon's article on dotcom layoff horror stories and feeling pretty smug. I mean, I'm in a great company that pays me well and hasn't done anything but grow and succeed for the entire time I've been there. Those poor people out in Silicon Valley, I thought. What waste and excess and screwups. And then I read the phrase: "a liberal arts major who got a groovy job just out of college and then lost it all of a sudden and gosh doesn't that really suck." And the smug feeling disappeared. That's me. That could be me. I just happened to be very, very lucky with my choice. And the stories that follow are so... tragic. I don't think that's hyperbole. A lot of people define their lives by their jobs, and the way that they lost them was really ham-handed and brutal. There but for the grace of God...
More juvenile fun at Bush's expense – apparently when you type "dumb motherf***er" into Google, you get a (legitimate) site about Dubya!
Yay! New Dawson's Creek recap at MBTV! Not one of my favorite episodes ever, but I did laugh when Doug said, "I loooove chipped beef on toast." And even though Pacey didn't get nekkid, he still looked sufficiently tortured that the fan fic writers should have some good material to work with. (Yes, I know the show sucks. That's why I watch it. Don't bother e-mailing to tell me why.)
Sorry about the lack of posts today. Er, yesterday. Whatever. It was a time of crazy working-ness. (Can you tell I'm at work til 1 a.m.?) Here's a great time killer for when you've read all the PaceyPorn and you're still waiting for some content you need: Martin's Java Applet Anagram Generator. I found out that my name is an anagram for "Danish I.T. Worker." Huh. Danes must work their ass off.
Wednesday, January 24, 2001
Heh. More details are emerging in the case of the stolen W's... At least one was found in the bathroom. I laughed like a 10-year-old when I read that.
PW Blog: ESPN reports that the West Virginia spitter has apologized and left the team. They've got some funny quotes from WV students who're worried that he made them look bad. "We're already considered to be rednecks and drunks anyways, then he goes and acts like a redneck," said Dutch Underwood, a freshman from Summersville, W.Va. There's also some concern about whether "the bad blood between the schools could resurface" when our women's team plays them tonight.
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PW Blog: EXCELLENT! I posted that bit about "The Vagina Monologues" too soon. In the Viewpoint section of the paper, Colleen McCarthy has an excellent and scathing piece entitled, "Can You Say Vagina?" She even uses the phrase "vagina prohibition", which has to be some sort of record on our campus. Sweet.
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PW Blog: Apparently a performance of "The Vagina Monologues" was staged at SMC last year, and it was so controversial that it's been banned from being performed this year. Supporters say that it created more positive discussion on women's sexuality than anything they've experienced in college, and opponents claim that "issues of lesbianism and explicit discussions of sexuality" aren't appropriate for a Catholic school. *sigh* That's right idiots. Because it's always better to ignore and deny reality than to educate and inform.
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PW Blog: Semi-good news... BlogVoices, who provided us with our discussion system, might have somebody else lined up to take over the service. If that's the case, we should be back up and running very soon. I'm still looking for alternatives though, so fear not, Sex Camels. :)
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We had a gas leak at work last night and to evacuate the building! It was fun. They had it fixed within two hours, but it still made me feel like I was in a TV movie. I had a little fantasy about arriving at work this morning and turning the corner to find a smoking crater, but alas everything here is buzzing along like usual.
Tuesday, January 23, 2001
PW Blog: is there a Vanna in the house?: i know i'm jumping on the 'blogwagon again with this one, but you have to hand it to 'em—this was a pretty good prank to play on Dubya's new drones. (Posted by Brigita.)
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Attention BlogVoices Users: The service is shutting down permanently. *sniff* And right after I reinstated it! Do you know of any other similar services I could use? Let me know.
PW Blog: ATTENTION SEX CAMELS! Unfortunately BlogVoices, who provided us with our fun little discussion area, is closing permanently. I'm looking for an alternative solution right now. Stay tuned for further details!
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New song I'm obsessed with: "Sitting Down Here" by Lene Marlin, an 18-year-old Norwegian girl. Great voice, nice poppy melody, and a sort of almost country twang to it, if you can believe it. And it's got lyrics that are fun to sing. British radio is great.
If you're interested in Sundance or independent film at all, you should check out Roger Ebert's dispatches from the Festival. His latest, relating a confusing encounter with Daphne Zuniga while under the influence of horseradish cream, is not to be missed.
PW Blog: Josh Kirley proposes a "Thug League" for all the college football players and teams that don't care about classes or education. He thinks this is the only way that schools with student-athletes (like ND) can compete with each other fairly. Pretty funny and sarcastic.
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Salon wonders when Japanese "dancing" videogames will finally strike it big in the States. They've actually got them here in the UK and they're amazing to watch. Every time I go in Funland in the Trocadero, the same two Asian kids are there in the middle of a circle of admirers workin' it. They've even got extraneous bits worked out to dazzle the crowd – touching the floor, leaping over the bar, and spinning on the buttons. I don't think I could ever do it myself though. Way too embarrassing. I did play Parappa the Rapper on Playstation though, which was fun. I lived with a guy from Hong Kong who had all the best bootleg Japanese games. Too bad all Americans want to play is Quake and Super Tecmo Bowl.
AICN reports on the "Harry Potter" movie and the rumored regional differences. Basically, the original book was called "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone," but we Americans are dumb and don't like to buy books with words like "philosopher" on them. So they changed it to "Sorceror's Stone" and switched a few references in the text for the U.S. version. The movie will also go by the two different titles, but it will be the exact same film and use the word "philosopher" in the dialogue. Get it? Whew. As long as they get everything else right, I don't mind.
Lots of people are up in arms about Bush's immediate foray into anti-abortion tactics, but for me, his shoddy HTML is the real reason to panic. Even Jakob is dissing the White House site!
Monday, January 22, 2001
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 Noooo! Say it ain't so! Converse has officially filed for bankruptcy. Another integral part of my alterna-teen image bites the dust. R.I.P. good friend.
A theology professor from my University wrote an article examining SUV's (sport utility vehicles, or "utes" as my Aussie would call them) from a Catholic moral standpoint. This is the sort of thing that I really LOVED about going to a religious school. Even though I didn't share their beliefs, I still got to look at issues (even mundane ones!) from an entirely different perspective.
PW Blog: Attention all SUV owners: Todd David Whitmore examines them in relation to Catholic social tradition and comes to the conclusion that they're all about image and not about safety. Which isn't exactly a genius concept or anything, but I liked the unique approach. Ahhh, Notre Dame.
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PW Blog: Huh. Not only is the University gearing up to make significant repairs to the Stadium, but they're also suing the architect and engineer to try and get them to foot the bill. I guess that water leak at the first game was more serious than we thought...
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I agree with all of Max's comments about teachers having favorites, and I'll just add one more thing. I've got several friends who currently teach high school, and I get the impression that "favorites" are sometimes the only thing that keeps a teacher going on a bad day. When my buddy Andrew is struggling through another freshman Geometry class with a room full of obnoxious 15-year-old boys, it's vital that there's at least one student in the room who can be counted on for a smile of commiseration and an answer to keep the discussion going. It's got nothing to do with the student's grades or athletic ability and everything to do with their attitude and respect for the teacher.
Oh all right. I couldn't resist. Ironminds' reactions to the inauguration were just too funny. My favorite: "I hear we’re now 4 1/2 point underdogs against Iraq."
As you might have noticed, I have resisted the urge to comment on that fiasco... except to say that I think blocking all Clinton's last executive orders is a damn dirty trick. The man hasn't even been in office for a week and already he's pandering to corporate interests at the expense of America's natural resources.
I enjoyed Gina Arnold's Salon article about "Badass girls on film", but I thought that the comment about "latent lesbianism" on Buffy showed her ignorance a bit. There's actually explicit lesbianism in the show in the form of Willow, but she was never the ass-kicker that the article describes. Arnold wants to claim that by labelling tough girls like Xena and Gabrielle "dykes", it makes their feats seem less threatening to men. But she includes Buffy in that group, who (while SMG might well be attractive to women) has always been 100% boy crazy. In fact, I think Buffy (the character) is so popular because she's this tiny little heterosexual waif that defies convention and kicks ass. Willow's relationship with Tara is completely different, though, and neither of them look anything like the stereotypical "dyke" that Arnold presents. It's like she read an article somewhere linking "Buffy" and "lesbian" and just threw that little comment in without bothering to check with anyone who actually watches the show.
Whoa! Some guy has a million Atari games to sell! If only I had managed to save my aunt's console from the family garage sale...
Sorry about the lack of updates. An old friend was in town, and (as expected) my sniffles finally developed into a full-blown cold. All in all it was not a weekend conducive to blogging... I'll make up for it today. :)
Thursday, January 18, 2001
I applaud Miramax for trying something new, but I don't really think they're giving the "movies-over-the-Internet" thing a fair trial. I mean, Guinevere???. I don't even wanna think about Sarah Polley gettin' it on with Stephen Rea, let alone spend half an hour downloading 500MB of it to my computer. Yuck.
Sorry, Max. I hate Andy Dick. The only time I ever found him funny was when Chris Kattan was impersonating him on Saturday Night Live. (Andy himself apparently didn't see the humor.)
The only thing worse than finding out that a good friend is a closet Republican, is finding out that an ex-boyfriend is a closet Republican. Excuse me, I'm off to get some mouthwash...
R.E.M. Score! My excellent sister (who's in the process of setting up her own website) jumped on Napster for me and managed to find both of the new songs R.E.M. performed in Rio! They're called "She Just Wants to Be" and "The Lifting". I like them both... They sound more New Adventures than Up to me. Lots of guitar and slightly more conventional song structure. If you liked what the band did for Man on the Moon, I think this sounds like the natural progression from that. (There's clearly a real drummer playing along. I wonder who they drafted for that?)
 R.E.M. News: The official band website has been re-designed, and though it does look a lot prettier, I have to say FLASH SUCKS. (Hey Bertis! You know why the fan club succeeds? Because it's lo-tech. Figure it out.) The merchandise store will be open next week, but for now you can read a news update about the Rock in Rio concert where they played two songs from the new album.
Perhaps I found this satirical essay about Dubya's "South Will Rise Again!" inauguration so funny because I'm re-reading "Gone With the Wind." Or perhaps it's just because it's ridiculously close to the truth. Maureen Dowd is a goddess, and I can't wait to see what kind of material the next four years will provide her with. (Link courtesy of Ghost in the Machine.)
PW Blog: I think this reference to the "Viper Room" is in poor taste. Isn't that, like, where River Phoenix DIED?
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PW Blog: Holy cow! I actually agree with one of Charles Rice's columns! Hell must have officially frozen over. In this one, he talks about yet another ridiculous rise in tuition. I know I'm not the only one looking down the barrel of a 20-year student loan... so why doesn't ND do something about it?
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My University newspaper includes a great article this week about incredibly high (and still rising) tuition costs. I knew what I was getting into when I chose to go there, but still, facing 20 years of debt puts a severe damper on your post-college career enthusiasm.
PW Blog: The Observer is back! Thank God, I was really digging the bottom of the Blog Barrel there for awhile. Top story: break-ins at College Park and a fire at Castle Point. I can't believe the College Park building manager said that the robberies were "unusual"... Everybody knows that student apartments are prime targets over the winter break.
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PW Blog: NDToday.com has finally unveiled their new design. Unfortunately there's still not much going on on campus, but the polls are always entertaining.
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Reason #1 I Wish I Didn't Live in London Though: It's now the most expensive place to live in Europe.
Reasons #125 and #126 I'm Glad I Live in England: John Ashcroft's violent anti-choice stance and his hardline drug criminalization policy. Because I think people can make mistakes, and Ashcroft's methods of "helping" them are, to my mind, the worst possible solutions.
Wednesday, January 17, 2001
PW Blog: I just found out that the Red Cross is now refusing to accept blood donations from anybody who's lived in Western Europe (including the UK) since 1980. They're worried you might carry mad cow disease. This affects a hell of a lot of us who studied abroad...
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I just found out from Max's site that I'm not allowed to donate blood! Apparently anybody who's been to Western Europe in the last twenty years will be turned away over fears that they could carry mad cow disease. That sucks. The last time I tried to donate at school they turned me away because I'd had my ear pierced in the last year. And now this... *sniff* I'll just have to keep my B-positive to myself.
I'm fascinated by Survivor, but unfortunately I just can't get it on television here. This article on Survivor 2: The Australian Outback talks about the ecological impact the show had on the area of northern Queensland where it was filmed. I can't wait til Snookums and I take our holiday Down Under so I can finally see some of the stuff I've been hearing so much about – goannas, dingos, monkey puzzle trees... Stubbies.
Still laughing... Salon's InBox points to Things to Say When You're Losing a Technical Argument. If your job is anything like mine, you're gonna love these. My personal favorites:
1. Can you generate some USE CASES that would justify the change?
2. Jakob Nielsen wrote an interesting hit piece on that.
3. Yes, but we're standardizing on XML.
4. I believe that's the approach Windows NT is taking.
HA!
Tuesday, January 16, 2001
PW Blog: ESPN is taking a poll on whether ND should be #1 in the Women's Basketball poll next week. We're currently winning, 88.2% to 11.7%.
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AHHHHH! Roald Dahl's BMW is for sale! Willpower, don't fail me now!
Wow. Just came across some great new LOTR images that somebody found hidden on the site...
This mad cow thing is getting out of control. Now they've found it at an Italian slaughterhouse that supplies beef to McDonald's restaurants all over Europe. Ugh. I suppose this is why Mickey Dee's has the McChicken sandwich on special this month.
PW Blog: I found this really cool website called the Urban Explorers Network where people can send in maps/photos/logs of their expeditions through campus steam tunnels. Notre Dame has an entry, but so far it's just rumors of places on campus that supposedly contain cool stuff. Anybody ever been anywhere they shouldn't have been?
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Ooh, Kim at Fresh Hell links to a story about the failings of Dawson's Creek. I agree with all of them, but I don't agree with the conclusion. I watch the show because it sucks. It fulfills the same purpose for me that cheesy romance novels do for other women. There are only so many good programs out there, and if you're gonna watch crap, you might as well make it good crap. And besides, a sucky show just makes for more prolific fan fiction writers!
British Telecom is urging Britons NOT to use cellphones. No, not because of cancer or anything semi-serious like that. BT is pissed that they're earning less and less money from payphones. Well, they should be. Americans think that the red London phone box is quaint and fun, but in reality they're dirty, expensive, and broken half the time. Most of them are also covered inside with flyers for prostitutes and escorts, which makes using them a rather uncomfortable experience (for me anyway). And besides, using a "mobile" is damn fun. I'm a text-messaging fool.
PW Blog: ND BEATS UCONN! HOLY COW, WE BEAT THE #1 TEAM! Riley played with a sprained ankle, and Siemon played with a broken hand. That big #1 will be going up on Grace, just wait! :)
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Monday, January 15, 2001
PW Blog: Overheard in a chat room five seconds ago...lizziemckillopie (21:00:55): You guys, I had so much fun on Sat night - me, court, Jack, Abby, and my neighbor a super fun guy and these friends of Jacks went Bowling - we got ABSOLUTELY WASTED and ended up taking our shirts off and bowling in our bras This from a CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL TEACHER. (Love you Pants!)
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PW Blog: Here's an interesting article from InfoWorld Magazine about Notre Dame's ResNet infrastructure. Yeah, yeah, I know it sounds boring. But for anybody who graduated before 1996, it's probably going to be an eye-opener. The one statistic that really surprised me was that supposedly 95% of student body brings a computer to school. Can that possibly be true? I'd guess maybe 95% of dorm rooms have a computer, but not students. I graduated less than two years ago and I wouldn't have placed it higher than, say, 60%. Can any current students verify?
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 Now that I have an iMac, my desktop environment is very important to me. I need it to look pretty all the time. I can't stand looking over at someone's PC and seeing an ugly wallpaper covered by 600 jumbled icons. That's why I looooove this site: Kaliber10000's desktop gallery. Now you can see what real web designers look at when they fire up that G4. Ultimate nerd voyeurism...
Jeez. How much would I have loved to see David Wells as a Met? Enough to fly home to see the first Subway Series, that's for damn sure. I wanted see the big guy take on his former team and the spawn of Satan known as Roger Clemens. Unfortunately my man Piazza will have to go on fighting the good fight by himself.
Modern Humorist has thoughtfully provided a resumé for "unemployed" Phish fans. Spot on. I especially liked seeing Nader's campaign in the job history. Reminds me of a few people I graduated with. :)
I just posted something pretty interesting at my Dahl site: an examination of the controversy surrounding different versions of his first published story. Well, I think it's interesting, at any rate. :)
Obviously I didn't make it out to the cinema (what with working all weekend and such), but I did manage to download an extremely crap quality version of the LOTR Trailer. I wouldn't bother downloading it unless you're a desperate nerd like me.
Ooh, Dave Matthews Band has a new single that you can download. I hope it's good. UPDATE: It's okay. I never like the first single they put out from any DMB album. I mean, "Don't Drink the Water"? The best songs (i.e. "Say Goodbye") never get any radio play. Hmmm... I'm liking this less and less the longer I listen to it. Ugh.
Sunday, January 14, 2001
Today's example of New Economy Excess: I just successfully won an eBay auction for a children's book... for almost $400. I know, I know. But the jewel in my Roald Dahl crown is finally within my grasp!
Roger Ebert has updated his Movie Answer Man column. Topics covered include Adam Sandler, Paul Thomas Anderson, "On the Ropes," "Pearl Harbor," and inappropriate laughter. And he even manages to work in a Brew & View shoutout! Damn, that makes me miss Chicago.
Okay, so I know that every other blogger in the known universe has done this in the last two days, but I can't resist. Check out Mini-Me and Mini-Snookums! Aren't we cute? You can make your own at Stor. I made ours there and then made a few modifications in Photoshop to make them look more like us (hair/eye color, breasts for me, etc.). I also had to lighten my skin color, because after a year in England I'm so pasty white it's frightening.
Saturday, January 13, 2001
Happier. You know how you feel bad when people that were important to you drift away? And yet, it makes you feel great when you randomly (cyber-)bump into each other and it seems just like old times again? Living over here, I tend to get these moments a lot...
Yes, I'm working on Saturday. The most beautiful Saturday in recent memory. The ONLY beautiful Saturday we've had in this bloody gray winter. But I'm not bitter or anything. No. I mean, I am sick, and I did have a fight with the bf this morning, and I do hate the world, but I'm not bitter. It's impossible to be bitter when MightyBigTV has a new Dawson's Creek recap up. But seriously, that's, like, the only silver lining of this day so far. And it's not even 3 o'clock yet.
Friday, January 12, 2001
'Ginger' may be a motorized scooter. How DUMB is that? Every kid on the planet got one of the non-motorized versions for Christmas this year, and by next year they'll all be forgotten. And most grown-ups who jumped on the bandwagon have hopefully managed to figure out that they look like complete assholes on them. What a letdown.
 Max is gonna love this: "Nudist 'not a public nuisance.'" This is why I love British people. This guy's been going around naked for, like, a year because he wants laws against public nudity to be changed. Every few months there'd be another newspaper cover story about him, along with an image of him riding the Tube or perched on a lamp post outside the Courts of Justice (seriously). He's been in jail for the last five months, and they had to put him in solitary because he wouldn't wear clothes and they were worried the other prisoners would beat him up. His court date finally came up yesterday (he showed up naked, of course) and the jury found in his favor. So what's the first thing he did when he stepped outside? Put on some clothes. England is friggin' COLD this time of year. :)
Wow. Apparently that error in "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," where James came out of the wand before Lily, has been corrected in recent editions. I tried to find information on this in the various HP Yahoo clubs, but most of them are just filled with hundreds of kids squealing "Sort me PLEEAZE!". I finally found HPforGrownups at egroups, but you've gotta subscribe to see their message board...
Roger Ebert reviews "Antitrust", an intelligent and exciting thriller about open-source software... starring Ryan Phillipe. *pause* Uh-huh, riiiiight. I can't wait to see the scene where he logs on to slashdot and posts Natalie-Portman-covered-in-hot-grits trolls. (For the record, Ebert thought it was goofy. Oh, and there are no boys on slashdot that look remotely like Ryan Phillipe. Except for my adorable boyfriend.)
I'm not a fan of excessive punishments for minor drug offenders, but I do think that if a politician is gonna push the conservative "War on Drugs" agenda, he should be prepared to accept all the consequences of that. So why did the nephew of attorney-designate Ashcroft only get probation after major pot bust? Was it because his uncle was state governor at the time? Hmmm, let me think. *frown* The hypocrisy of the Republican party really pisses me off.
Ugh. I can't believe I'm actually going to sit through "Lost Souls" this weekend just to get a glimpse of the "Lord of the Rings" trailer. At least all of you in the States will be able to make fun of Kevin Costner's Bah-ston accent. Meanwhile I'll be yawning and trying to pinpoint the exact moment Winona Ryder jumped the shark.
PW Blog: oh. my. god. this internet version of Colorformstm could very well be the biggest source of potential timesuckage (?) on the web. i can't stop making the little troopers! i promise to put some of them up just as soon as i can find a way to get them up somewhere. my yahoo! photo album, perhaps? for some reason i think it doesn't accept bitmap images. thoughts, anyone? (Posted by Brigita.)
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PW Blog: PurpleWeasels.org has been hacked. The offending person was, of course, Kelly McMahon. Please disregard any offensive posts she may have made, and may God have mercy on her soul. (And have you seen that picture of her crotch from the tailgater? Red underpants are only for Valentine's Day, Kel.)
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Thursday, January 11, 2001
"Scientists Genetically Engineer a Monkey." They named it ANDi, which is a backwards acronym for "inserted DNA". I don't like that name. It reminds me of "D.A.R.Y.L.", that movie starring Barret Oliver as a "Data Analyzing Robot Youth Lifeform" that I was obsessed with back in 1985. I think both cloned monkeys and android boys need real names if they're gonna grow up with their self-esteem intact.
I got e-mail from R.E.M.! Their new album's coming out in May and it's gonna be called "Reveal." Bertis says: "It is difficult to describe in words the sound of this record, but I'll stick with my original thoughts of 'lush, atmospheric, and melodic.' After repeated listenings I would add things like 'layered' and 'dynamic.'" I say: "Um, okay. That sounds like another "Up" to me. Which isn't necessarily bad, as long as it's more 'Daysleeper' and less 'Airportman.'"
 As if I needed another reason to hate the Bushes... one of them is after Prince William. All I got to say is: Watch your back, beeatch.
Reform Jewish leaders in New York have urged parents to sever ties to the Boy Scouts. Good for them. I'd proud to say that the Girl Scouts have included sexual orientation in their non-discrimination clause for years. Brownies rule.
I don't get this whole business about employing illegal aliens. I mean, do all wealthy/powerful people do this? Where do they find them? Both Chavez and Whitman claim that they were just being compassionate and helping them out... but, what, the people just showed up on the doorstep one day? Portuguese immigrants are roaming New Jersey looking for shelter and assistance? It all seems very dodgy. (Sidenote: What's with Salon calling her "Christie Whitman"? I thought her name was "Christine Todd Whitman." When a woman keeps her maiden name, she intends for you to use it.)
Wednesday, January 10, 2001
I like the idea of BlogVoices... but the current implementation is pissing me off. It's slowing down the site too much, and I'm looking at it from a fast connection! Thus the "discuss" links are now dead. If you wanna talk, you gotta use the e-mail or IM.
PW Blog: ND Basketball Update: Our women are ranked 3rd in the nation and won their 15th straight game against St. John's Tuesday night. On the 15th, the Irish face number one ranked UConn.
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Wow! Some woman in my home town delivered pot-laced brownies to firemen. I'm wondering how "ill" these firemen got, and what kind of hospital treatment was required. How many did they EAT?
 Omens and portents. Yeah, so I missed the damn lunar eclipse. It was cloudy here, but I'm told you could still see it pretty well. Unfortunately I was sick as a dog and hurried home without even looking at the sky, thinking only of ibuprofen, a hot bath, and curling up in the fetal position. How very like me, to miss a semi-global event of mass significance because of personal issues (i.e. New Year's Eve 1999).
I used to be all worried about the new Bridget Jones movie, because I really liked the book and I really hated Renee Zellweger. But based on the possible movie poster, I'd have to say things are looking good. She's even wearing my boots! And that business about Harper's Bazaar kicking her off the cover for being too fat both pleases and annoys me. It pleases me because apparently little Renee is embracing Bridget's weight-loss battle, and it annoys me because a stupid magazine can't see fit to put a woman "10 pounds overweight" on the cover. A lot of people wrote off Bridget Jones as vacuous, but the truth is I'd rather associate myself with that kind of feminism than what passes for it in popular culture. (Dear Lord, did I just DEFEND Renee Zellweger? What's next, an ode to Jewel??)
Fametracker analyzes the balance of starpower in the Kate Hudson - Chris Robinson union. Best line: "When your husband owns more hair brushes and fine washables than you do, you know there's going to be trouble."
I have no willpower when it comes to Star Wars. None. I just spent 15 minutes reading the most complete spoiler plot synopsis, including mock-ups of what crucial scenes might look like. I'm terrible, Muriel.
Lots of new content additions to my Roald Dahl page, if you're interested.
I knew Steve wouldn't let me down. Mac OSX in March, and these babies right now. Ooh, I likes.
Tuesday, January 9, 2001
The UK will be able to see a lunar eclipse tonight. Or rather, we would, except that the bloody weather sucks and I consider myself lucky to catch a glimpse of the moon on a regular night. Oh well, I'll probably try anyway. And my friend Kel's gonna see if she can get some pictures with her new digital camera, so maybe I'll post one if I can.
What the...? When did Fritz Holtznagel's name get taken off The Lycos 50? And who is this Aaron Schatz? I've been away from my search engine gossip for too long.
I really, really want a one-handed keyboard. Preferably mounted on the arm of a big ergonomic work chair, with a joystick/trackball on the other. It would have two big benefits: A) I could work with as little actual movement as humanly possible (yes, I'm a big lazyass), and B) I could pretend to be on Star Trek.
Dream Log: Between snooze alarms this morning, I had a crazy dream where I sorta became Ralphie from "A Christmas Story." (It's not as random as you think; the copy my mom sent me is sitting out in our living room.) It's not like I was an 8-year-old boy; I was me but I was in the Ralphie role. You know what I'm sayin'. So it was Christmas morning and I got to play Santa for the family. My brother Anthony was in the Randy role, and he was squealing with excitement and Mom kept telling me to find a present for him. (My sister wasn't in the dream, perhaps as punishment for leaving me yesterday?) And so I was digging through this massive pile of presents, but I just couldn't find any for him. Or for me, for that matter. There were lots that weren't labeled, and there were also lots from random aunts and uncles but never addressed to us. And my Dad just kept sighing and rolling his eyes, and Antny kept squealing, and Mom kept telling me to hurry... and I woke up.
Wow, Max gave me a shout out! But how the hell did he hear about the site so quickly? I'm guessin' he saw a referral to his site from this one. Or else my alternate personalities are sending out promotional material that I don't know about. :)
Monday, January 8, 2001
PW Blog: Speaking of basketball, you can head to this page to see a video clip of ND's Ryan Humphrey doing an alley-oop slam, and vote for him to be "Dunk of the Week."
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PW Blog: ND Basketball News: Troy Murphy had a career night against Rutgers on Saturday, leading the Irish to a 87-80 victory. The team play Seton Hall tonight, who recently announced that two players are suspended for violating "team standards." Read the story; it sounds pretty dodgy. Looks like the guys mighta gotten in a locker room brawl...
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Dream Log: (I stole this idea completely from brigita.) I dreamt I was home in the U.S. and just about to return to London. My sister was coming with me too, for a visit or something. We were getting a ride to the airport (on a Greyhound or something?) when I suddenly remembered that I hadn't packed. So I ran back into the house and finished throwing stuff into my bag. By the time I got outside again, my sister was gone. (This parallels an actual incident in life where she got on the school bus and let it leave without me.) So I jumped in the car and prepared to drive to Chicago when I looked at my watch and realized it was 6:15 and I'd never make it for my flight at 7:00. Mom suggested I go to South Bend instead and then catch a flight to Chicago. I agreed, but I didn't want to park in the longterm lot. So reluctantly Mom agreed to drive me. As we were pulling out of the driveway, I was on my cellphone trying to get a flight that would get me there in time. As I was double-checking my tickets, I discovered that my Chicago flight didn't leave til 8:00. Relieved... I woke up.
If possible, Mighty Big TV's recaps of "My So-Called Life" are even better than the original shows.
The Harry Potter movie is looking good! I like the new production still of Harry holding Hedgwig, but the teaser poster is even better. I can't wait for November 21...
Sunday, January 7, 2001
I honestly don't know how England can consider itself a civilized nation when it's impossible to BUY ANYTHING past 6pm on a weeknight and 4pm on the weekend. In America, retail businesses realize that most people actually shop when they're not at work, which means that they're open at hours when people can potentially visit them. For example, today Snookums and I headed out to look for coffee cups, bookshelves, and new winter coats. We managed to make it into one shop before they all closed. What's up with that?! We had money to burn! And we were denied by the arcane belief that every worker needs to be home and clustered around the telly by 6:30 every night. And don't even get me started on New Year's Day – this place was DEAD! I crave the convenience of America's 24-hour consumer culture. I guess all that's left is the Internet...
I'm in the process of making some significant updates over at Roald Dahl Fans.com, so stop by if you've got time. I've got some new wallpaper for you to download as well as some more short story plot descriptions. Enjoy!
PW Blog: At long last! My new personal site, web-goddess.co.uk is up and running. (Yes, I know there's a broken link for the portfolio, but I can't fix it til I get to work Monday.) Is anyone else noticing a very, uh, PURPLE trend in my personal websites lately? *grin* And as long as you're checking mine out, visit brigita's too. We're bloggers. We crave constant approval. Love us.
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It's 2:30 in the morning and I'm officially making the call that the text size shall remain unchanged. The only place it looks too small is on my iMac, and if I hit the "larger" button it's fine. So screw it. I just noticed, though, that I'm missing an HTML document (my portfolio). Drat. It's on my machine at work. Okay, so the site won't be officially done til Monday. But I'm through fiddling with it, which is cause for at least a small celebration. :)
Saturday, January 6, 2001
Okay, the permanent links should now work. I'm still fiddling with the text size though. Almost done.
Friday, January 5, 2001
Hooray! Everything's up and working! This weekend I'll figure out the permanent blog linking scheme. And probably change the design four more times. And change the home page 10 more times. And curse Blogger 100 more times. *sigh* But at least it's up now!
PW Blog: AHHHH! Blogger is driving me crazy today! There might not be any posts for a while because all the errors are pissing me off.
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PW Blog: Whoa! This news story about the Ku Klux Klan first caught my eye because it was written in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where my sister lives. And then when I read it I found out the shocking news that the largest KKK group in the country is located in Butler, Indiana, where both of my parents grew up! This is very disturbing.
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Thursday, January 4, 2001
PW Blog: confidential to Howie (and any other weasel living overseas): it looks as though the UK site of eToys is going under. get all of your Lego and Lincoln Log needs met at 50% off! {courtesy of /usr/bin/girl} (Posted by Brigita.)
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Inaugural post. Just testing.
Wednesday, January 3, 2001
PW Blog: Apparently there's a story in the new Marie Claire that asks famous women whether they'd prefer to be described as "smart" or "sexy." Salon reports that Cindy Crawford prefers "smart" while Jennifer Lopez prefers "sexy". Okay, A) BIG surprise there with those answers. NOT. And B) what the HELL kind of story is this? Are we still so un-enlightened that we think it's not possible for a woman to be BOTH sexy and smart? Stories like this just perpetuate the myth that a girl has to choose between brains and a man. And lastly C) I previously thought I had lost all respect for Jennifer Lopez back during the Puff Daddy thing, but somehow she's managed to lower herself even FURTHER in my estimation. Congratulations, Jen.
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Tuesday, January 2, 2001
PW Blog: rather than torture myself with the second half of last night's fiesta blow-out, i flicked between a program about baby giant pandas and the apparent breeding problems that are had by the adults and some documentary about a state-of-the-art prison in colorado. (Posted by Brigita.)
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PW Blog: As I reported before, Channel One's flannel-shirt-wearing journalist extraordinaire, Anderson Cooper, is going to be hosting that new reality game show, "The Mole." This article about him has all sorts of interesting facts for us Cooper Fans, including that his mother was millionaire heiress Gloria Vanderbilt! Who knew? Also, you don't have to worry about our man selling out (i.e. Jeff Probst). He says: "If I had to claim tribal council was a sacred place or hand a tiki torch to someone, I knew I'd shoot myself in the head."
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PW Blog: And it's back to the fun links! This in-depth comparison of various anti-perspirants and deodorants is not only informative, it reminded me a lot of Kel's sister Kristy and her troubles with "Righty." I also liked all the trouble the woman went through to devise the rigorous testing procedures. It looks like Secret Platinum is the way to go, girls.
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PW Blog: "The Irish have lost five straight bowl games." Ouch.
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Monday, January 1, 2001
PW Blog: Happy New Year, everyone! I'm celebrating 2001 by making my first ever post FROM HOME! That's right, now I got Internet in my bedroom, baby!
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archives
You can search through the archives by post keyword using the form on the left, or you can browse by month using the links at the bottom.
"Moblog" refers to posts and images posted directly from my mobile phone.
"PW Blog" refers to posts recovered from my very first weblog, which dealt with news related to my college dorm.
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