At last, better cover art
Sex and the City - The Complete Series
So I head on over to Amazon to see what the prices are like. Upon landing at the above page, I'm chided not to buy it, because, you see, HBO is going to release a premium edition. What makes the premium edition so shagadelic? Quoth a reviewer:
According to the New York Daily News: Rhea said HBO is planning a "super-premium" set of "Sex and the City" to hit stores before Christmas. "I think there is absolutely a super-premium collector's market," she said about "Sex and the City." Though all seasons have been released in separate installments, Rhea said the complete collection, including additional content and DVD extras not available on the originals, is being developed with "an eye for the collector," including new disc art and lavish packaging. "It'll be kind of showpiece that you might want to own and preserve, and not use as your everyday set," Rhea said. "I guess it would be kind of like the good china. Or the good shoes."So you can have your DVD set that you use and the special one for show. The difference, friends, is that the packaging is nicer. I'm sure the superior DVD art makes the jokes much funnier.
It was the pom-poms I tell you, the pom-poms
Texas house to ban "overly sexual" cheerleading
Social Conservatives (who can apparently be democrats now) are very worried about sex, it seems. From homosexuality to pregnant teens, some people seem to be really worried about our kids and the sex they're having. We have a lot of rules about sex in our society. Certainly we wouldn't want kids to, I don't know, figure stuff out. Most social conservatives seem to be in general panic that a human being with functioning reproductive organs would go ahead and reproduce without getting anyone's permission. I know, it's crazy. Everybody knows you fill out a WW-869 to get permission from His Majesty's Government when having sex with someone you like. But apparently some scalawags insist on just doing it, perhaps even doggy style.
At last, however, we've discovered the cause of this nightmare of depravity: Cheerleaders. Particularly erotic cheerleaders.
Edwards argued bawdy performances are a distraction for students resulting in pregnancies, dropouts and the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. Ribald performances are not defined in the bill. "Any adult that's been involved with sex in their lives, they know it when they see it," he said.That's right, friends. Pregnancies, dropouts, and STDs are the fault of those damn bawdy cheerleaders. Clearly, this must be stopped. Otherwise there might be dancing! Or Pool! Right here in river city!
I can just imagine an interviewer sitting down with a pregnant teenager.
"Tell us, dear. What led you to this state of affairs?"
[Cries]. "It was the cheerleaders. They led me down the path of moral depravity."
Side note: Apparently, during the debate, many representatives waved pom-poms. One hopes this did not result in makeout sessions on the house floor.
I was thinking today...
My girlfriend seems to know my moods before I am even aware that I am feeling them.
Those darn Jews
Yesterday was Good Friday in the christian church, the time when christians commemorate Jesus' execution. Having a somewhat progressive bent, I've come to find good friday a trial of my patience, not because I see no value in the rememberance, but because I can hardly stand the incessant harping on what the day is supposed to mean. A particular version of christianity is so prevalent that most mainline protestants (my people) would literally blink in bewilderment if you suggested that such views are one interpretation, and not The Way It Is.
I was planning on skipping Good Friday services this year, but sadly, I agreed to do the bidding prayers, so I had to go. I didn't preview them before going, (I know, bad Andre), so I got some little surprises. The bidding prayer is a sort of dialogue between the presiding minister and an assistant (me). I would give a little introduction, then the minister would give a sort of followup, then the congregation would say "amen", and then we would all think for a bit. Repeat.
One of my favorite little lines that I ended up reading was to pray for the jewish people, who are great and all, but we really hope they'd come around and accept christ.
Darned Jews, going around being god's chosen people but not accepting god's chosen Messiah. Oh, if only they'd get with the program, the jesus-equals-messiah program.
This is an aspect of christianity I find almost bizarre. Here it is, 2000 years later (give or take) and Christians are still really pissed about this. I mean, I don't know anyone from the time, nor do I know anyone who knew anyone. Yet it is extremely common in the christian realm to evaluate the value of a person's christianity, and too often, humanity, by the extent to which they believe one claim about one person who lived millenia ago is true.
This is not to suggest that one person who lived millenia ago can't be important. Obviously not. But deciding whether someone is "good" or "bad" because of a single factual judgement about said person is really strange. It's like having a group that believes a particular turtle is actually a fish, and you can only be in their group if you agree. Which is only two steps from viewing those who disagree as enemies. You're either with us, or you're with the terrorists, after all.
Which brings us back to those pesky jews. As a service to Judaism the world over, I bring a message to my christian brethren: You are actually jews yourself. Your leader was a jew, all his friends were jews. Every book you've read in your bible was written by jews, and not only that, but by people who, if you asked them, would tell you they were jews. Indeed, they'd find it quite puzzling you thought there was a difference.
Good Friday services really hammer home the atonement concept that Paul gave us, namely that jesus died "for your sins." Leaving aside the theological questions, I find it interesting that we can't just let something be what it is. We have to find a meaning, an explanation. Jesus was a guy who walked around saying we make ourselves unhappy being greedy and mean, and he offered a sort of imaginative alternative where you could be friends with the people you think you hate, but are actually just like you. He said people with power weren't really powerful, because they're just like you, and for that, he was executed. It was not an entirely surprising turn of events.
All in all, it makes me sad. I don't need a meaning to understand that. It makes me sad, because it still happens. People who say the sort of things jesus said get in trouble for it all the time. Some of them get killed. A lot are thought of as crazy. "Can't change the world," people will tell you. It's just really, really sad.
Of course, easter is coming, the great saving grace of the faith. It's in our nature to take something sad and convert it into something else, be it the atonement of mankind, or an event that, in our modern enlightenment, has no meaning whatsoever. But the claim of christianity is that you can get past all that crap, all the bullshit that people attach to pain, and cross over into something better. It's a beautiful message. I just wish christians would take their own good advice.
An Open Letter to the Apple Powerbook Team
Dear Powerbook Folks,
I know you hear this a lot, but I'm one of your biggest fans. I own two Apple laptops, a 15" Powerbook G4, and a 12" iBook G4. I love them both. They are self-marketing items. People come up to me and ask me about them. I have persuaded my friends and coworkers to consider, and often carry through with, becoming Apple customers. I'm a loyal fan, and I bring money to your honey pot. It's my pleasure to do so.
So let me offer a simple request: Make me the Perfect Portable. No biggy, right? Note that I didn't say the perfect laptop. The perfect portable would be a laptop, but I really want to emphasize the portability aspect, because it seems to be a decreasingly important feature. See, of my two beautiful laptops, the one I use the most is the iBook. This is because I spend a lot of time running on a battery, and when it comes to battery duration, the iBook wins hands down.
It saddens me, because I want to use the Powerbook. That screen, you see, is amazing. Breath taking. It swallows you in. The keyboard is a delight. And of course, power to spare. But there I go, rhapsodizing about the Powerbook again. Nonetheless, I rarely use the powerbook anymore. Because no matter how awesome a computer is, when it runs out of juice, nothing else matters.
So here's my wishlist: A big screen with a big battery. Everything else is secondary. Sacrifices would be necessary. Powerbooks currently prioritize being small, thin, sleek. That's fine by me. What I'm seeking is an option with the big screen and the awesome keyboard, but sleekness less valued. One option would be a retro option: external optical drive. For the amount of space my combo drives take up, they rarely get used. I burn a CD once in a while. I install an OS upgrade here and there. But mostly, I just download everything I need. Sure, a lot of people want, love, need that optical drive. But their options are plentiful. Mine is non-existent. With the space saved by having an externally attachable drive, we would have room for a great big battery.
Additionally, we don't need much in the way of horsepower. I've used G3's, G4's, and G5's. I'm a programmer, so I spend most of my time manipulating text. In my usage, I rarely run into a processor that underperforms. No, most of my problems are solved through generous memory allotments. I don't really need a G5 in my powerbook. I doubt I even need a G4.
Of course, if you kept the machine mostly as is, and simply made it thicker to hold more battery, I won't complain one bit. Sleekness is cool, but not nearly as useful when it results in a loss of functionality, indeed the ultimate functionality: turning on. Imagine a 15" laptop that lasted all day. Now that's a portable.
Sincerely, and with hope,
Andre Behrens