And give music, free expression, YouTube and the power of the masses a chance.

OK?

I’ve never embedded a YouTube video on this blog, simply because I was afraid that YouTube would go away, be sued and clips removed and so on.

However, this clip was pointed to on Groklaw.net, and – to me – clear winner.

Terra Naomi – a wannabe musician with a huge online following – solicited input from the world for three words that spell out what, basically, they’d do with a magic wand – videotape same and send to her.

She got buttloads of replies, and embedded a bunch into her music video.

Again, my first YouTube embed, but because this is what YouTube etc. can do that can’t be done elsewhere. Here, it’s the power of the community. And a really well-done piece by Terra; powerful.

With Amazon, it’s the warehouse in the sky.

Neither would be possible without the internet.

You know Amazon; enjoy Naomi:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qo8-NlgRa4]

This “tubes” things just might catch on…

I picked up and read – for reasons I don’t recall – Mahfouz’s Palace Walk – sometime before he won the Nobel Prize for Literature (1988).

So, quite a spell ago.

It was nice when Mahfouz – an Egyptian whose literary influences reflect Dostoevsky and Dickens – was awarded the Prize. Sorta a “hey, I read him before people thought he was hot shit.”

But the book – part of his Cairo Trilogy series (nope, haven’t read others) – was a great insight for me.

I’m a Westerner, and this was a great glimpse into the Mideastern world – how (why) women are veiled, about the same hypocrisy that goes on in the West goes on (in a different guise) in the Middle East, the power of Islam and so on.

Eye opener.

Today – with the Middle East a tinderbox (not assigning blame, just reporting the facts, ma’am), this book – or others of his – should move up my reading list.

On everyone’s reading lists.

OK?

WATCHING:
Departed, The
Martin Scorsese, director

One of the better movies I’ve seen over the past couple of years.

What a cast – Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Martin Sheen, Mark Wahlberg, Alec Baldwin – and they all mesh to make this tale of the two(?) sides of the law work, and work well.

Filled with trademark Scorsese elements (apeture fade in out; killer soundtrack), the movie – while longish by today’s standards (2.5 hours) – goes along at a good clip and you almost wish it would never end.

Highly recommened

All movies

At my best, I’m quite the boring boy.

But recently, I have exceeded that label – I am now Uber-boring boy!

Really, not much going on here. I had hoped to go to a friend’s gallery opening last Friday, but the work week was so hellish that I had a rough time getting through the work day Friday, much less driving to Chicago for the main event that evening.

Man, I suck.

This weekend – a little yard work, some work work, watched a great movie (see Watching box) and … and now it’s almost Sunday evening and, WTF? The weekend has evaporated.

Have I become the Happy Idiot?

And go to work each day
And when the evening rolls around
I’ll go on home and lay my body down
And when the morning light comes streaming in
I’ll get up and do it again
…
I’m going to be a happy idiot
And struggle for the legal tender

— Jackson Browne, The Pretender

Unfortunately, this means there is little excuse to not drag my butt away from the computer and get some yard work done.

Damn!

Actually, it was nice to spend a couple hours outside doing something more physical than depressing keys on a keyboard. I actually had to use my legs and my non-mouse arm! How revolutionary!

Today was a perfect yard-work day: In the low 70s and sunny; slight breeze.

Tomorrow is spoze to be more of the same, but I will be doing more bits & bytes work than horticultural efforts.

Very tired. In a terminal manner.

Few (recent) posts.

Understand?

A co-worker is currently appearing in a community theater production of Guys and Dolls, so I went to see it yesterday evening.

Opening night – on Friday the 13th – what could possibly go wrong?

How about the building losing power less than two hours before curtain?

Yep.

But they were able to get power (a generator) out there fairly quickly, and the curtain only rose about 30 minutes late.

And it was a great production – some really good voices in the leads, and a fun story, overall. I had no clue about what the play was about going into it (yes, I had heard of it; I’m just not a big musical guy); very enjoyable.

A good time was had by all…

Kurt Vonnegut died yesterday (announced today, I believe).

I worked in a library all through high school, and – while a fiendish reader – never touched Vonnegut. Breakfast of Champions was big then – I remember shelving it in the New Fiction section.

A book named after the Wheaties tagline? Sounds dopey to me…

My roommate in college – sophomore year – had a copy of Slaughterhouse-Five. I read it, as I’d read anything.

I was captivated.

Read a bunch of Vonnegut – not all, but a bunch.

Yes, the comparisons to Twain do hold up, yet he also divined basic truths – hard truths – more straightforwardly than Twain, who just used humor and juxtaposition.

“You’re still in touch. I guess that’s the test.”

“Barely–barely.”

“A psychiatrist could help. There’s a good man in Albany.”

Finnerty shook his head. “He’d pull me back into the center, and I want to stay as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all kinds of things you can’t see from the center.” He nodded, “Big, undreamed-of things — the people on the edge see them first.”

— Kurt Vonnegut, Player Piano

Is there a better succinct comment on genius, and the madness that is often part and parcel of this brilliance? Probably, but this is damn, damn good.

I know you’re an atheist Kurt, but: God bless you, Mr. Rosewater Vonnegut.

Once again, burrowed into that “no time to do anything worth doing” mode.

Bleh.

On the plus side, I gots somes ideas…….

Just need the time, the space and inclination to execute same.

Hello 2010!

Dave Winer’s Scripting.com blog turns 10 today.

Winer claims it’s the longest-running blog currently active; I don’t think there is any one who disputes this.

In terms of Internet Years, where one year on the Internet is like 5/7/10 whatever years due to the rapid advances in technology and the overall nimble and disruptive nature of the ‘net, that’s damn impressive.

I think one of the things that’s remarkable about Winer’s blog is that it has pretty much stayed the same over a decade – and I mean that in a good way. It shows the basic premise he developed – the whole blog concept – can endure.

Happy birthday, scripting.com

Dear Internet:

Please stop this crap.

Via Tim Bray.

I’m not for curtailing free speech, and I don’t question your right to write/Photoshop what you want; but this sort of targeted venom, is just, well, pointless.

For the appropriate venues (chat rooms, sites devoted to X or Y and so on), well, knock yourselves out.

Really – please knock yourselves out.

Otherwise, have some balls and do it in a very public, accountable (not anonymous snarks) manner. At the very least.

But you’re hurting the Internet (yes, I capitalized on purpose for effect).

Please stop this crap.

Update 3/29/2007 Dave Winer has the best overall take on the issue that I’ve read so far.