Month: March 2003

Next stop, Room 101.

It came out yesterday that two suspected Al Qaeda operatives held in US custody died from “blunt force injuries” during interrogations. Even if these wounds were perpetrated before their capture (which is a big if), it’s utterly dismaying to read where the line is being drawn by our government between “stress and duress” and out-and-out torture. Equally stomach-turning is that we apparently subcontract out the tough nuts to crack to those nations even less perturbed by the ethics of torture than we are. What have we become?

Berk earns his keep.

So I just got back from a rather lucrative 1-hour “dog psychology” marketing session in Uris Hall (a.k.a. the Columbia business school), which I signed up for after seeing a flyer earlier in the week. For one hour of hypothesizing what Berkeley would say in various situations, I got a free lunch, $50 in cold, hard cash (we’re going to have to make a trip to the pet store), and a coupon for a free (and somewhat goofy) $120 Bowlingual dog translator, to be redeemed when they arrive Stateside in August. Apparently they’re trying to come up with a stock of English phrases for the US release. So, if you happen to buy one of these and it tells you your canine is saying things like “I defy you,” “The madness has come upon me,” and “Your coming here is as the footsteps of doom,” you’ll know why.

Subways and Synonyms.

Two random and unrelated links for your perusal – First, What NYC Subway are you? (Via Fair Play and Substantial Justice.) Despite wanting to be the A-C-E or 1-9, since those are the ones I use, I kept getting the J-M-Z…Sigh.) Second, the Plumb Design Visual Thesaurus, which offers a spinning and strangely captivating wordweb for each entry you choose. It’s neat (syn.: peachy, keen, interesting, boffo…)

Grimm Amusements.

Terry Gilliam fans take heart: Although Don Quixote may be dead and buried, it looks like The Brothers Grimm has now secured funding from a parnership of MGM and Dimension. The film currently stars Heath Ledger and Matt Damon as the eponymous brothers, with Robin Williams and Jonathan “Sam Lowry” Pryce as the villains. Dimension, the senior partner, has a pretty lousy track record with regard to burying films they don’t have control over (Re: Existenz and Below), but hopefully Gilliam can buck the curse this time around.

Mall of America.

Regarding the Give Peace a Chance mall arrest everywhere on the web today, I concur with Genehack and Pigs and Fishes. Absolutely ridiculous…as if mall rent-a-cops weren’t annoying enough, now they’ve become self-appointed defenders of the pro-war faith. I guess they couldn’t they find any teenagers fooling around in Spencer’s Gifts or doing donuts in the parking lot.

Flights of Imagination.

The Science Fiction Book Club picks the 50 most significant science fiction/fantasy books of the last 50 years, although after the top ten they’re listed alphabetically (Via Lots of Co.) I’d say I’ve read about half of these, and the choices seem pretty legit. No surprise who‘s at the top of the list, but otherwise it seems like the fantasy side got short shrift. I guess the Narnia books (and for that matter Animal Farm and 1984) are over 50-years-old. Speaking of which, I can’t say I’m a very big C.S. Lewis fan (particularly as compared to Tolkien), but nonetheless – the Narnia film site is now live.