Game of 100...

I've been tapped... I can only hope H5N1 doesn't spread at the same rate...

Game of 100

100 Jobs I've Had in My Life:
001- Golf course groundskeeper
010- Tire Testing Engineer
011- Project Engineer
100- Intellectual Property Attorney

100 Movies I Could Watch Over and Over:
001- Apocalypse Now
010- Clockwork Orange
011- Fight Club
100- Unforgiven

100 Places I Have Lived:
001- Akron, OH
010- Toledo, OH
011- Rochester Hills, MI
100- Pemberville, OH

100 Places I'd Like To Live, if only for a little while
001- Ohio
010- Cancun, QR, Mexico
011- Las Vegas, NV
100- Munich, Germany

100 TV Shows I Love To Watch
001- Family Guy
010- Simpsons
011- South Park
100- Rocky and Bullwinkle

100 Places I Have Been On Vacation
001- Las Vegas, NV
010- Orlando, FL
011- Cancun, QR, Mexico
100- Munich, Germany

100 Websites I Visit Daily
001- Yahoo
010- Ucomics
011- Google
100- Dilbert

100 of My Favorite Foods
001- Smoked Salmon
010- Gorgonzola, sharp
011- My wife's roast beef
100- Bombay Sapphire Martini, Up

Lying to me vs. Lying to others

Dr. A. Nonymous recently commented on the entry "Don't Lie to Me". The heart of the comment was a single question, "Were you equally appalled by the plethora of lies that Clinton voiced? Just curious." Even if I accept, for the sake of discussion, that Clinton voiced a "plethora of lies" we are still left without any leads as to which statements the doctor is referring to as "equally appall[ing]". As such, I will assume that the good doctor was implicitly referring to the most popular of Clinton's class-four screw-ups: The Lewinski Matter.

The short answer to the question is, "No". I was appalled in both instances but not equally. No American politician has any business lying to any of the people he has been granted the privilege to represent. This is especially so for a leader in a position of great prominence such as the US President. Even if we allow a President some leeway for the "little white lies" of diplomacy, the President still has a responsibility to avoid even the appearance of impropriety because, as the face of America to the World, his indiscretions give the whole country a black eye. By lying, Clinton did something shameful and appalling. He deserved his impeachment.

Having said that, I will observe that there is a very important difference between Clinton's statements and Bush's statements when we consider the "to Me" part of "Don't Lie to Me". The scandal that enveloped former President Clinton was a sex scandal. Unless your name is Hillary, your interest in the matter was voyeuristic at best. When Mr. Clinton lied about the matter, he lied to Hillary and a bunch of slack-jawed peepers more interested in titillation than Presidential integrity. Few, if any, Americans I know were real parties in interest regarding the President receiving oral sex. As such, I (like most people having a modicum of pride) ignored the matter almost entirely: I didn't then and don't now consider Mr. Clinton's lies to have been directed to me… Mr. Clinton lied, but he didn't lie to me or anyone I know.

On the other hand, questions of wiretapping, domestic spying, and failure to observe the authority of the FISA court are matters of national import that concern every American. As such, every American is a real party in interest and President Bush's remarks affected every American. Bush's lies were misrepresentations targeted to deceive every single one of us: Mr Bush didn't just lie, he lied to me and everyone I know.

Movie Theatres

Lately I've heard several sources comment on the recent slump in ticket sales at Movie Cinemas around America. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000082&sid=aqJbx1pRLJ9g&refer=canada
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060104/BUSINESS07/601040431/1020/BUSINESS
http://www.cbc.ca/story/arts/national/2005/12/30/Movies-Yearend.html

The reporting seems to treat this as unexpected or bad or both. I have to say I'm neither surprised nor disappointed at such news. Movie Cinemas have been going from bad to worse for years. Theaters are not only terribly uncompetitive from a financial standpoint but the experience of going to the cinema has also declined. These clowns really need to have some bad years in order to shake enough sense into them that they'll want to improve the current experience.

The current experience includes standing in line to buy an overpriced ticket, optionally standing in line to buy overpriced comestibles, dirty theaters, impolite audiences, unhelpful ushers, and questionable quality movies. Ticket prices in the US in 2004 averaged $6.21. http://www.natoonline.org/statisticstickets.htm. By way of comparison, Netflix will send you three DVD's at a time for about $19 a month. With any care, the exchange rate is high enough that each movie averages less than a dollar for you and your friends to watch. The condition of theatres has been and remains one of disrepute, while feeling your shoes stick to the floor because of soda spills is no longer as common as it once was, there is still much improvement to be done before seating can be considered "clean". For $6.21, I don't think expecting the arms of the seats to be at least as clean as the floor is much to ask. Further, there used to be a convention amongst audiences to be quiet during movies. The idea here was that disrupting your fellow movie-goers was inconsiderate. As such, the most disruption tolerated was an occasional crinkling of a popcorn bag or candy wrapper. Even standing up to leave was done quickly, quietly, and with several hushed apologies to inconvenienced neighbors. Any disruption was dealt with swiftly by flashlight swinging ushers who politely but firmly would eject an offender. Today's audiences are totally unconcerned with their neighbors. They talk loudly, laugh loudly, answer ringing cell phones or (worse) place calls, shine laser-pointers at the screen, clap (For whom? It's a movie, stupid. The actors can't hear you.) and generally ignore the fact that anyone else might have their experience diminished by their behavior. Such a change in audience behavior is disappointing but considering the change in behavior of the ushers, not entirely unexpected. Ushers used to be people who would escort you to your seat, sometimes going as far as to hold the arms of ladies or elderly gentlemen. They were very much like the ushers at weddings- they ushered people: thus, the name. Today, they stand at a little podium, rip your ticket in half, and mumble something like, "fird door on da' lef'". They're not even really "ushers" anymore, they're just "rippers". The real change is their general attitude toward making the theatre comfortable for everyone- I can't recall the last time I saw one even look into a theater much less come in to address a problem.

If you're really gung ho to see any of the tripe that Hollywood pawns off as entertainment these days, just wait for the DVD. It's cheaper, the food at home is better, and the people around are at least more familiar if not better behaved…