Ka-ching

Time to cough up for the Nawlins folks.

The Red Cross.

Operation Blessing.

Salvation Army.

Not like I have a readership, but anybody who comes across this page: Donate, then put a link of your own up on your blog, if you have one.

Protesters 'N the Hood

Great. Apparently my 'hood has become -- as my friend who emailed me about this piece on today's "Morning Edition" -- a "hotbed of Muslim extremism."

Clearly, I've missed this: Either I'm not getting out enough on Sunday afternoons, or these guys haven't been nearly as visible as the piece indicates they were.

I love this neighborhood; it's such a wide mix of cultures, and the Indian food is spectacular. I'd hate for it to be considered some kind of ghetto for extremist ideas. Or worse.

Open up your arms and breathe

The fedora is cocked thusly, the white capezios must be on because .... I missed just one (the last one) on this quiz. Scary, yes, my pet.

And today, while making my mp3s, I came across some relatively obscure stuff. So for at least now, here's one song not everybody has (though if you're gonna pass the quiz, you better give it a listen): "To the Shore".

Elsewhere, I'm being amused by fans considerably more obsessed than myself (that used to be a small number, now it's probably most of them):

"What I hate about the band: Simon can't figure out his hair."

And what would a link list be without an Evil John Page?

Yes, I am a geek

But I'm also Jean-Luc Picard, apparently.

The only downside to this is it means I'm not Q.

Rats.

Ciara Hearts NY

Don't dress your cat in an apron
Just 'cause he's learning to bake.
Don't put your horse in a nightgown,
Just 'cause he can't stay awake.



Don't dress your snake in a mu-mu,
Just 'cause he's off on a cruise.
Don't dress your whale in galoshes,
If she really prefers over-shoes.



A person should wear what he wants to
And not just what other folks say.
A person should do what she likes to,
A person's a person that way.*



Woof!

* Billy DeWolfe

Nice timing

Oh, yeah!

I'm out in El Lay the week of September 12, and what should I learn? Namely that my favorite living artist, Luke Chueh, will be having a solo show on the 15th. I am so there. I already have three prints, and three is really enough, but this might be a chance to buy some original artwork and meet the man. Maybe. His pictures can be sick and twisted, but there's a humanity in them, even when they're sad-eyed bears. And I like that his "self-portrait" (above) finds him in the bear suit.

Get the black towels, honey

Bringing new meaning to the "Beyond" of "Bed, Bath & Beyond."



A hearty thanks to the great and greatly cranky James H. Kunstler, who has one of these horrorshows every month.

This is my home, I'm coming home

Welcome home, folks.

****

In less happy, but kind of weird news, there's now an answer to the "Where is he now?" question we've all spent many an hour pondering about "Walking in Memphis" one-hit wonder Marc Cohn.

I can't decide what's the bigger surprise to me: What happened to him, or that he's married to ABC's Elizabeth Vargas. Clearly, I need to get out more.

Anyway, hope he gets to go home safe and sound soon too.

****

And in other ABC related news, but something I should have written about sooner: Farewell, Mr. J. It's much sadder when one of the good guys leaves us.


Off to Maryland for the rest of the week!

Party Pictures: The Awakening

Yes, I'm slow. But here are the pix from the fantastic party Jonathan and Lori threw at Scott and Rachel's in July. Enjoy! Wish I'd taken more....

Oh, btw: Best baby ever (above).

Mile high

I stumbled across Ben Saunders' web site sometime last year, when he was hiking the Arctic.

Yeah, hiking it. Alone. And blogging it, with photos, nightly.

For a somewhat-world-traveler like myself, I have to say: That rocks. There is nothing cooler. (No pun intended.) I've never met the guy, never even sent an email, but I love the notion of his devoting his life to just doing way cool adventure things, and doing it with a real love, not mindless ambition or clueless commercialism. (There is some sponsoring going on, as this kind of trek isn't free, but it's fairly unobtrusive and even a little exciting itself.)

Ben, I have since learned, is the youngest person ever to reach the North Pole, and holds the British record for longest solo Arctic trek.

Anyway, he's going to do something like that again -- only this time, head South. The project is called South.

And the sponsors are ... all of us. Anyone. You can buy a mile. Among other things, your name will be on a flag he'll plant at the South Pole. I'm trying to decide if it's a complete idiocy to throw money into buying him a mile, or not. But if I do pick, I've already got my number chosen. I'll be amused by the person who buys mile 666.

Because, you see, there are 1800 to choose from.

Go Ben!

Get outta town

"Best-Selling Book Names New Yorkers As Among Those Harming America

BY JACOB GERSHMAN - Staff Reporter of the Sun
August 3, 2005

New York City, the center of commerce and culture in America, also happens to be home to a plurality of the country's most caustic, destructive, and dangerous citizens, according to a bestselling book.

Columbia University president Lee Bollinger, Columbia history scholar Eric Foner, presidential candidate Al Sharpton, and inveterate political adviser Robert Shrum are among the New Yorkers who show up in Bernard Goldberg's "100 People Who Are Screwing Up America (and Al Franken is #37)." The polemic is no. 3 on the Book Standard's list of nonfiction best sellers, and rising."


Look, folks, we're ready to leave when you are. Secession anyone?

Your right to be entertained shall not be infringed upon

Hmm.

"A judge approved an agreement calling for Sony Pictures Entertainment to pay $1.5 million to settle a class-action lawsuit accusing the studio of citing a fake movie critic in ads for several films, an attorney said Tuesday.

Moviegoers who saw the films "Vertical Limit," "A Knight's Tale," "The Animal," "Hollow Man" or "The Patriot" during their original theater runs must file a claim to be eligible for a $5 per ticket reimbursement, said lawyer Norman Blumenthal, who represented a group of filmgoers who sued Sony Pictures in 2001."


Frankly, I'm torn. I went with my friend Lynda to see "The Patriot" and we have to admit, it was a craptacular piece of history drama -- but it was a freakin' funny comedy.

And it reminded us of one of our favorite "Simpsons" episodes, where Mel trashes the Senate in his remake of "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington."

Of course, the "Simpsons" episode came out in 1999, and the film in 2001. Who's zoomin' who?



NOTE: Tonight (8/4/05) our local Fox affiliate showed this particular episode. Coincidence? I think not!

Been caught stealing

I ranted this morning. Kind of made me feel good. Mid-email I decided to post the rant. My friend Anne emailed me this link:

http://www.robinhobb.com/rant.html

And I replied back.

For what it's worth, a defense of fan fiction:


Anne --

She's definitely a little ... strident.

Of course, she's entitled to her opinion. But I think the primary flaw in her argument is that you can all but see that little person on her shoulder going "It's mine! It's mine! It's all mine!" And because it is hers, it is inviolate.

What she doesn't seem to have is perspective: On writing, on what it contributes to the culture, and what the purpose of art is in all forms. This is also the narrow view that's making copyright law more restrictive rather than less: It's the heirs or the creators of the works going "Mine! Mine! Mine! Forever and ever amen!"

Well, no.

I'm all about a writer or artist getting his or her due, financially and credit-wise. I'm not all about a writer or artist taking sole and complete credit for his or her work ad infinitum, and in all permutations forever and ever amen.

Robin Hobb was inspired by someone to write, consciously or subconsciously. She didn't wake up from a 20 year coma with her ideas and characters fully formed. In some sense, we are ALL fan fiction writers, because what we see and absorb filters through us and becomes our creations. Some are more literally chosen, and some are not.

In Hobb's view, using someone else's work without permission -- that's the part that makes me grin, which I'll get to in a minute -- to create new work is fan fiction, and is bad for many many reasons. (Mine! Mine!) But that means if someone does an all-girl version of "Macbeth" it's just as wrong as if someone writes a story based on her characters. If we take themes from "The Odyssey" and use them in modern fiction, or if Humphrey Bogart as Sam Spade shows up in a Woody Allen film, it's stealing.

It's not. It's what art does. Good art lives, breathes and continues on to infiltrate and influence the next generation. An artist who truly believes that someone will feel differently about the original work having read the deritivate "illegal" versions doesn't have much confidence in her work -- and also has little sense of the real purpose it has out there in the world.

Someone needs to tell Robin Hobb that the purpose of art is not to make her money. It is not to solidify her reputation and name through the eons. The purpose of art is to edify us all, to rise up humanity in whatever small ways there may be, to make us think differently. It is an education. To be miserly about it makes the author that much smaller. Sad.

And if there was any question about Hobbs' miserliness -- let's return briefly to that "it's only bad if permission wasn't given." This just proves the point that she's not in it for art. She's in it for control, and a paycheck.

In the end, I think it's unlikely we'll hear from Hobbs the way we hear about Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Woody Allen, The Odyssey. In part because of her talent's size, but more likely because of the smallness of her heart.