Bumper Taxis

I was riding the bus yesterday morning down Adams from State Street to Union Station (it's only five blocks, but I'm lazy). I was the only person on the bus. Canal Street, which is where the buses turn past Union Station, is one-way going north, but there is a single lane where only buses can turn south. Despite this, a cab driver screeched across two lanes of traffic to cut us off, and then he parked his cab right in the middle of the bus-only lane, blocking the bus from leaving the intersection.

I was feeling brave, and I asked the driver whether he ever wanted to run cabs down. He got a wistful look in his eyes and said, "All the damn time. I want to hit 'em like those bumper cars. I'd crush those things flat, like an accordian. I could shove them onto the sidewalk out of the way." Then he laughed, a long, crazy laugh. He was still laughing when I got out of the bus. I think I made his day.

Blackhawks 3, Predators 1

I went to see my hometown heroes the Chicago Blackhawks face off against the Nashville Predators last Sunday night, the night before my first day at my new job. It was me, my friend Steve, and his friend, whose name I can never remember. Several of my friends couldn't make it, and I forgot to call Shawn and invite him. He was probably busy anyway.

They have a cool program at the United Center where if you buy your tickets less than two hours before the game starts and you have a student ID, you can get a $15 cheap seat for $8. I still have mine from college, so I use it.

The Blackhawks don't have much of a team. They have one good defensemen (Jon Klemm), one decent center (Alexei Zhamnov, who never lives up to his potential), a good right wing (Steve Sullivan), and a big guy who is hurt all the time (Eric Daze). They also have one of the most overworked and underappreciated goalies in the league, Jocelyn Thibault. They have some talented younger players (Tyler Arnason, Kyle Calder, and rookie Tuomo Ruutu). That's about it.

The United Center is cavernous, and it is really obvious when not many people show up. The place was about half empty. It's a feeling not unlike the three survivors defending the shopping mall against zombies and bikers in Dawn of the Dead.

The emptiness of the arena made it possible for just about everyone there to hear the loud and drunken bellowing of the fans in our section, who hated defenseman Alexander Karpotsev with a consuming passion. Every time he touched the puck, they would boo (this was really funny when he didn't keep it very long: "Bo-"). During breaks in play, if he was on the ice, this one guy would scream "I hate you Karpotsev!!!" I asked why they hated him so much, and they replied that he was the worst player on the ice.

At least they were having a good time, and they made enough noise to compensate for some of the missing fans. However, I think it's going to be a long season, for fans and for the Hawks.

Elliott Smith, 1969-2003

http://www.salon.com/ent/music/feature/2003/10/22/smith/index.html

One of my favorite musicians, singer-songwriter Elliott Smith, committed suicide. He was 34. He wrote some of the most raw and honest and painfully sad music I have ever heard. Lots of people write depressing music and don't kill themselves, but I guess you never really know an artist simply by listening to their songs.

My favorite album by him was XO. You might have heard his song "Miss Misery" in Good Will Hunting, or his song "Needle in the Hay" from The Royal Tenenbaums.

What can I say? I'm sad that there won't be any more music from him. At least he left five great albums for us to listen to.

Does R.E.M. Suck?

http://slate.msn.com/id/2089925/

Slate.com's Chris Suellentrop on whether or not R.E.M. are turning into a Rolling Stones for the new millenium.

I am torn. I think that their last good album was Monster. I disliked New Adventures in Hi-Fi, which I thought was bloated and monotonous. Up, the first album after the departure of drummer Bill Berry... I don't think I can remember a single song off it, even though I own it. I was a little upset that they said they would break up if one of them quit and then they didn't, but I never really believed that they would. Their last album, Reveal, had one glimmer of greatness, the song "Saturn Return," which sounded like a new and interesting direction. Sadly, the rest of the album was like an outtakes album from their previous three.

I really don't know what they should do. I want them to make a great album again, and it doesn't have to sound like their old stuff. I would rather it didn't. It might not sell many copies, but it wouldn't be treading water. I'll still buy the album planned for 2004. Here's hoping.

Free Speech Cages

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2003/10/16/secret_service/index.html

The Secret Service has been ordering local law enforcement officials to remove protestors from Bush's sight and pen them up in so-called free speech zones. In the example cited in the article, this was a remote fenced-in baseball diamond. Protestors who refused to be put in the paddock were arrested and charged with disorderly conduct. There are photos of one such area in an ACLU article here.

That sounds like a contradiction in terms: free speech zone. I thought that everywhere was a free speech zone, as long as it's public property and your speech is not threatening toward anyone. Apparently, though, in the US under the current administration (which looks more and more like a proto-police state), free speech can be caged up and hidden from view.

If you value your remaining freedoms, please give to the ACLU, write your representatives and senators, sign petitions, anything that gets your voice heard.

"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." --Ben Franklin

Dress Code

I was talking to my friend Brian at work about the new job, and he asked me if I would have to "dress up." I started to say no, it was just business casual... Then I looked down at myself. I was wearing a purple t-shirt with a big cartoon cow on it, jeans with a hole in the knee, and no shoes. "Yeah, I'll have to dress up," I said.

I don't know what "business casual" means. Are polo shirts ok? Are short-sleeve button-up shirts ok? Can I wear a Hawaiian shirt, as long as it's tucked in? When I worked at Radio Shack, business casual meant we could take off our ties, except at our store we didn't because we wanted to look nicer than the mismatched geeks at the other stores. I'll do what I have done for every job I've ever had: go in on the first day wearing exactly what I wore to my interview.

I do know that business casual means no more jeans, except on Fridays. It's funny how we fiercely independent Americans get so jazzed up because our autocratic bosses deign to let us wear jeans one day of the week. I guess we get to feel rebellious that day, like we just climbed off our Harleys. I'm making fun of the practice, but I bet in a month I'll be longing for Fridays.

New Job

Sorry I haven't been writing much lately on either this blog or my movie review site. I've been a little stressed out trying to prepare for...

My New Job!!!

Yes, that's right. Goatdog is employable. I got a really great job at the American Dietetic Association editing their journal. I get an office and a big fat raise, and I get to work downtown, and, most importantly, I get to NEVER EDIT ASTROPHYSICS AGAIN!!!

I'll be working in a building right on the canal in downtown Chicago, right next to Union Station. I don't have to drive to Hyde Park anymore. Have I mentioned that I don't have to edit astrophysics anymore? I want to make that clear. I will miss my friends at the press (you know who you are), but I won't have to edit astrophysics anymore.

Hit the Ice

Hockey starts tonight!!! I have meaning in my life again! I have something to keep me busy at work, and something to watch other than movies. This may be the last season in a while, since the players' union and the league are miles apart on a new collective bargaining agreement to replace the one that expires next September.

The season starts under another ill omen, too: rising star Dany Heatley of the Atlanta Thrashers faces vehicular homicide charges after causing a car accident that killed his teammate Dan Snyder. Even if Heatley recovers from knee surgery and escapes jail time, will he ever be the same player again?

Things look bad for my hometown Blackhawks, too. They have made no real effort to fill the scoring drought caused when Tony Amonte exited a couple of years ago. The debacle of last season, which went to hell after a much-publicized incident at a strip club in Columbus effectively put recovering substance abuser Theo Fleury back off the wagon, is fresh in the minds of fans. I'll still go to games, but I will choose them according to which opposing teams I want to see. The Hawks have little more to offer.

Recently, Dan Snyder's parents said that they forgive Heatley and that they don't see how putting him in jail will do anyone any good. I think they're right.

Ahh, the Glory Days

http://www.salon.com/ent/movies/feature/2003/10/01/seeking/index.html

Salon.com author Laura Warrell wishes for the glory days of the 1980s, when such interesting and sexy stars as Debra Winger, Kathleen Turner, and... Molly Ringwald (!?!?!) lit up the screen.

I think this article is a load of crap. You have to be careful looking back at any "glory days" of film when things were better and they didn't make as many shitty movies and the stars were brighter and whatnot. People get all rosy thinking of the past, but they forget that things were just as crappy back then as they are now.

There were 1980s versions of Sara Jessica Parker (like Sara Jessica Parker — people seem to think she sprang full-formed from the early 1990s or something, but she was in freaking Footloose), or Sarah Michelle Gellar (pick your 1980s TV blonde cutie — there were dozens), or Kate Hudson. Cameron Diaz is a great comedic actress — I don't think There's Something About Mary was a fluke. Karen Allen? There was nothing special about Karen Allen. Wishing for the days of Molly Ringwald and Ally Sheedy? Oh man. Sure, Debra Winger was a hell of a lot sexier than Julia Roberts, but Julia Roberts was present in those glorious 80s too. Comparing Kathleen Turner in Body Heat to the cast of Sex and the City? Um, let's compare apples and Chryslers. They aren't trying to be the same damn thing, so why say that one is sexier than the other?

And then the author starts contradicting herself. At the bottom of page 2, Angelina Jolie is listed as someone whose attractiveness is "as common as it is replaceable." Then on the next page she has all this potential, if only she'd get the right roles. You can paint any decade as the glory days of film as long as you have your confirmation bias in full effect.

Winter Coat Pockets

I wore my winter coat for the first time since last winter. It's always nice to dig in your pockets to see what you left in them. Sometimes you find money. Sometimes you find moldy candy. I found neither. This is what I found.

December 19: Depressing statement from my student loans

January 23: Chicago Blackhawks ticket vs. St. Louis Blues (they won)
January 31: Receipt from Pockets, Hyde Park

February 2: Receipt from some gas station in Sawyer, MI
February 15: Receipt from Mellow Yellow, Hyde Park
February 17: Receipt from Einstein Bros., Andersonville
February 23: Receipt from Middle East Bakery on Foster in Andersonville
February 23: Ad for "Interfaith Public Witness for the Casualties of War" at Holy Name Cathedral on State (I didn't go)
February 25: Receipt for unidentified movie ticket at Century in Evanston
February 28: Ticket stub from Cradle 2 The Grave (Evanston)

March 1: Einstein Bros. receipt
March 4: Pockets receipt
March 9: Einstein Bros. again
March 14: Myopic Books (I wonder if I have read any of the books I bought?)
March 14: Flower Bucket receipt (flowers for Rebecca congratulating her on her job?)
March 18: Facets Videotheque receipt. I wonder what I rented?
March 22: Receipt from Shell station at Hollywood and Broadway
March 29: Specialty Video receipt (Sherlock Jr.)
March 30: Specialty Video again (Femme Fatale)

Unidentified:
Subway Sub Club card, empty
List of 12 Best Picture nominees. I wonder which one I rented? Crossfire, I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang, In Which We Serve, The Ox-Bow Incident, Pride of the Yankees? I ended up seeing them all.
Ad for protest the day the attacks on Iraq begin (I didn't go, but I went to one the next weekend)

What does this tell you about me? I was taking my filmmaking class in Andersonville a block away from Einstein Bros. Bagels. We used to go to Pockets a lot for lunch at work. I get in ruts. This year I'll be sure to do more interesting things so my pockets make better treasure troves next October.

Appearing for the Defense

http://www.cnn.com/2003/LAW/08/18/defendant.lawyer.ap/

This story has been making the rounds; it appeared recently in the Chicago Reader, where I noticed it. Over three months earlier this summer, a 34 year old Philadelphia ex-convict and high-school dropout named Johnathan Harris was acquitted on a capital murder charge and several unrelated charges—while representing himself in court. He compiled a record that some established DAs might envy. When the prosecutor said that he would retry Harris for some charges related to the murder, Harris taunted him, saying "Are you sure you don't want to quit while you're ahead?" You have to admire the noive. Does anyone know what happened on the other charges?

Oh, My Dear Independent

Earlier this year, I reviewed Oh, My Dear Desire, an independent feature film by Chicago-area filmmaker Frank V. Ross. This past summer, I interviewed him. His movie is now available for purchase through his website.

Lots of artists talk about a DIY (do it yourself) ethos; Frank lives it. He wrote, directed, photographed, and edited the film, and now he's distributing it himself. Do yourself a favor and buy a copy of his film. I can think of a lot of worse ways to spend twelve bucks. In a few years, when people are calling him the next Cassavettes or Sayles, you can resent them all for jumping on the bandwagon.

Open Mouth, Insert Ditto

Have you been following this? Rush Limbaugh, the conservative blowhard radio commentator, was hired by ESPN to give the "layman's" commentary on its Sunday morning NFL pregame show. Limbaugh, who recently didn't go deaf, actually boosted the show's ratings. However, Rush will be Rush, and he said something stupid and potentially offensive. Here's a timeline:

9/28: Rush opens his big stupid mouth and says Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb is being hyped because he's black.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2003/football/nfl/09/30/bc.fbn.mcnabb.limbaugh.ap/index.html

9/30: McNabb responds, saying he doesn't want an apology, but we should be past all of this.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2003/football/nfl/10/01/mcnabb.reax.ap/index.html

10/1: Limbaugh resigns after luminaries including Howard Dean and Al Sharpton call on ESPN to fire him.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2003/football/nfl/10/02/limbaugh.resigns.ap/index.html

10/2: Peter King of Sports Illustrated describes Rush as stupid, not evil.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2003/writers/peter_king/09/30/mcnabb_limbaugh/index.html

10/2: King Kaufmann of Salon says that Rush sucked at his job of football commentator anyway, and ESPN should be ashamed of hiring him in the first place. They got exactly what they should have expected.
http://www.salon.com/news/sports/col/kaufman/2003/10/02/thursday2/index.html

So Rush lasted just over a month without offending anyone. That's pretty good for him. I personally think that he is both stupid and evil, and I'm glad he resigned, not because I watch the show, but just because I think he should stick to radio.

With this firing and the recent allegations of drug use, it will be interesting how the king of loudmouths will recover.