Well, no sooner did I comment on the basketball fiasco at St. Bonaventure University than the inevitable rolling of the heads began, starting with the resignation of SBU's president and the placement of the athletic director and men's head coach on "administrative leave" (which we all know is a bureaucratic euphemism for, "Get your resumes updated, fellas, 'cause you're done").
The personal blog of author Kelly Sedinger, chronicling the adventures of one overalls-clad wanderer.
Monday, March 10, 2003
Sunday, March 09, 2003
St. Bonaventure University is world-renowned for, among other things, its stunning mathmatics department. (This is chiefly because of my father's presence on the faculty of that department, ahem.)
SBU's "jewel-in-the-crown" has been its Division I men's basketball program, although frankly it's been mainly mediocre with occasional flashes of talent most of the years since Bob Lanier played there. Every few years or so they get good enough to make the NIT, and even more rarely they actually get into the NCAA tournament, to an invariable first-round exit. SBU is located in rural Western New York state, tucked immediately between the towns of Olean and Allegany. It's not a big school -- roughly 2,200 students -- but it's a pretty good one, although over the last decade it's become something of a party school. The lack of size coupled with the school's rural location has pretty much put it in semi-permanent "also-ran" status when it comes to the all-important recruiting of basketball talent. It's simply very hard to get top-flight talent, coming usually from urban landscapes, to come to a rural program that's a 90-minute drive from the nearest large city and play for a program that's been in the doldrums for years. Nevertheless, SBU continues to spend large amounts of money on its basketball program, mainly to keep the alumni happy.
Now, I wonder if that might be in jeopardy, after the current train-wreck winds its course.
Basically, a player who was ineligible according to NCAA rules was allowed to play, after the head coach somehow strong-armed the kid through the admissions process. The NCAA found out and required the Bonnies to forfeit six of the games they've already played this year, the effect of which is to basically ruin the season. That's bad enough, but it got even worse when the players themselves -- absent any leadership or discipline from anyone in a faculty position at all -- decided that they were simply not going to show up for their last two games of the year, either. That's right: the players, in a fit of pique, threw in the towel on the season. I envision them saying, en masse and in their bast Cartman-from-South Park voices, "Screw you guys, I'm going home."
And the SBU administration's response to all this? Variants of "Huh-whuh?", "Not me!", "Duh..." and, most endearing of all, "No comment because I'm in California on 'University Business'." Now the Atlantic-Ten conference is justifyably angry; Bonnies ticket holders are justifyably angry; the teams who were supposed to play the Bonnies in those games are justifyably angry. The whole business may well cost the SBU president, athletic director, and basketball head coach their jobs.
Good.
(Frank admission: I don't really care much about NCAA basketball in general or March Madness in particular -- it's my least favorite of the year's major sporting events. But this whole business is disgraceful.)
SBU's "jewel-in-the-crown" has been its Division I men's basketball program, although frankly it's been mainly mediocre with occasional flashes of talent most of the years since Bob Lanier played there. Every few years or so they get good enough to make the NIT, and even more rarely they actually get into the NCAA tournament, to an invariable first-round exit. SBU is located in rural Western New York state, tucked immediately between the towns of Olean and Allegany. It's not a big school -- roughly 2,200 students -- but it's a pretty good one, although over the last decade it's become something of a party school. The lack of size coupled with the school's rural location has pretty much put it in semi-permanent "also-ran" status when it comes to the all-important recruiting of basketball talent. It's simply very hard to get top-flight talent, coming usually from urban landscapes, to come to a rural program that's a 90-minute drive from the nearest large city and play for a program that's been in the doldrums for years. Nevertheless, SBU continues to spend large amounts of money on its basketball program, mainly to keep the alumni happy.
Now, I wonder if that might be in jeopardy, after the current train-wreck winds its course.
Basically, a player who was ineligible according to NCAA rules was allowed to play, after the head coach somehow strong-armed the kid through the admissions process. The NCAA found out and required the Bonnies to forfeit six of the games they've already played this year, the effect of which is to basically ruin the season. That's bad enough, but it got even worse when the players themselves -- absent any leadership or discipline from anyone in a faculty position at all -- decided that they were simply not going to show up for their last two games of the year, either. That's right: the players, in a fit of pique, threw in the towel on the season. I envision them saying, en masse and in their bast Cartman-from-South Park voices, "Screw you guys, I'm going home."
And the SBU administration's response to all this? Variants of "Huh-whuh?", "Not me!", "Duh..." and, most endearing of all, "No comment because I'm in California on 'University Business'." Now the Atlantic-Ten conference is justifyably angry; Bonnies ticket holders are justifyably angry; the teams who were supposed to play the Bonnies in those games are justifyably angry. The whole business may well cost the SBU president, athletic director, and basketball head coach their jobs.
Good.
(Frank admission: I don't really care much about NCAA basketball in general or March Madness in particular -- it's my least favorite of the year's major sporting events. But this whole business is disgraceful.)
The Buffalo Bills have been pretty aggressive so far this offseason, even since my last update on them, two days ago. Now they've signed Cincinnati Bengals free-agent linebacker Takeo Spikes, who is apparently one of those really good players who has had the misfortune of playing his first four years in the NFL on one of the worst teams, so nobody's heard of him yet. I remember listening to the Bills game last season against the Bengals on the radio -- it was the last game of the year, the Bills were already out of the playoffs, and it was against the Bengals, so it didn't come anywhere near a sell-out for TV -- and the Bills' radio announcers were gushing about this Spikes guy. The Bengals have made him their "transition" player, which means they can match any contract offered to him and he has to stay put; but the Bengals have already signed his apparent replacement, so it looks very much like they're letting him go.
Also, the Bengals' most recent head coach, Dick LeBeau, has joined the Bills as assistant head coach. Even considering the Bengals' woefulness the last few years, I can't think this is anything but good. LeBeau's resume is very impressive, as a defensive mind, and he should be a big help to Bills head coach Gregg Williams.
And lastly, the Bills apparently are close to signing Tennessee free agent receiver Kevin Dyson, to be their third wide-out after the former number three, Josh Reed, moves up to Number Two following the Peerless Price trade.
I still have questions about Gregg Williams as a head coach -- even on a rebuilding team he's been outcoached and embarrassed too many times for my tastes -- but the Bills' current braintrust is, to my mind, putting on a clinic over the last few years of how to rebuild a team quickly.
Also, the Bengals' most recent head coach, Dick LeBeau, has joined the Bills as assistant head coach. Even considering the Bengals' woefulness the last few years, I can't think this is anything but good. LeBeau's resume is very impressive, as a defensive mind, and he should be a big help to Bills head coach Gregg Williams.
And lastly, the Bills apparently are close to signing Tennessee free agent receiver Kevin Dyson, to be their third wide-out after the former number three, Josh Reed, moves up to Number Two following the Peerless Price trade.
I still have questions about Gregg Williams as a head coach -- even on a rebuilding team he's been outcoached and embarrassed too many times for my tastes -- but the Bills' current braintrust is, to my mind, putting on a clinic over the last few years of how to rebuild a team quickly.
Friday, March 07, 2003
If Science Fiction has an all-time greatest cheerleader, his name is Forrest J. Ackerman. This man's dedication to SF, Fantasy, Horror and all the related stuff throughout the years is legendary, as well it should be. Sadly, Ackerman's recent history hasn't been particularly good -- he's had to sell off chunks of his collection; he's had health problems; and he's been involved in a nasty set of legal problems with an opportunistic lower-life-form named Ray Ferry.
Well, on that last front, apparently Ackerman (a.k.a. "Forry", a.k.a. "The AckerMonster", a.k.a. "Dr. Acula") has finally gotten some very good news.
Well, on that last front, apparently Ackerman (a.k.a. "Forry", a.k.a. "The AckerMonster", a.k.a. "Dr. Acula") has finally gotten some very good news.
I've been watching occasional reruns of Star Trek: Voyager lately; it's the only incarnation of Trek available in Syracuse on a broadcast basis. I'm finding that Voyager, while still not being all that compelling, isn't as bad as I remember it being. It's pedestrian but entertaining -- all the annoying technobabble of The Next Generation, with less of the good characterization of Deep Space Nine.
What's really catching my attention, though, is the Seven-of-Nine character. Could the producers conceivably have been any more blatant in their intention with this character to capture the loyalty of the "Basement-dwelling SF-nerd onetime-Trek-fan-who-has-now-discovered-anime and yet has never seen a real live female" crowd? Yeesh!
What's really catching my attention, though, is the Seven-of-Nine character. Could the producers conceivably have been any more blatant in their intention with this character to capture the loyalty of the "Basement-dwelling SF-nerd onetime-Trek-fan-who-has-now-discovered-anime and yet has never seen a real live female" crowd? Yeesh!
Time for a Buffalo Bills offseason update: the Bills have already signed a free-agent linebacker from Houston, and are in the market for another; and today they pulled off their biggest deal yet this offseason. They traded receiver Peerless Price, who in his fourth year had a breakout year last season, to the Falcons for a first-round draft pick. This way they avoid having to pay Price a huge amount of money on a one-year contract -- he was a free-agent, but the Bills had placed their "franchise" label on him -- and while they lose one of the league's best young WR's, they still have second-year man Josh Reed to pair with Eric Moulds. Reed showed a lot of promise in his rookie year, most of all in his precision on his routes, which calls to mind another great Bills WR named Reed. Also, the Bills get a pick in this draft's first round, which they needed. (They traded their own first-rounder to the Patriots a year ago, for Drew Bledsoe.) The draft this year is said to be especially deep on defensive linemen, and that is a huge area of need for the Bills.
I think the Bills also signed a tight end, although I'm not sure. They do need a good TE, after releasing Jay Riemersma a few weeks back. Riemersma was always a strange case: the Bills gave him a big contract a few years back, despite the fact that his production really didn't warrant the dollars he was given; and it was standard procedure to watch a Bills game on TV and have the announcers say that Riemersma was one of the league's top tight ends, even though he often didn't have a catch until the third quarter. Seems to me when you've got one of the league's top TEs, you throw to him once in a while. Anyhoo....
(Oh, and former Bills QB Rob Johnson will now be taking sacks and getting injured for the Redskins. I'm sure he'll work his way into Dan Snyder's heart really quickly....)
I think the Bills also signed a tight end, although I'm not sure. They do need a good TE, after releasing Jay Riemersma a few weeks back. Riemersma was always a strange case: the Bills gave him a big contract a few years back, despite the fact that his production really didn't warrant the dollars he was given; and it was standard procedure to watch a Bills game on TV and have the announcers say that Riemersma was one of the league's top tight ends, even though he often didn't have a catch until the third quarter. Seems to me when you've got one of the league's top TEs, you throw to him once in a while. Anyhoo....
(Oh, and former Bills QB Rob Johnson will now be taking sacks and getting injured for the Redskins. I'm sure he'll work his way into Dan Snyder's heart really quickly....)
If you're anything like me, you've got a crapload of chicken in your freezer. Despite the approzimately eight billion ways of cooking chicken that have been invented since the beginning of time, chicken still gets pretty boring after a while.
Anyway, if you have to cook some chicken and you want a fast recipe that makes for some really flavorful eating, just marinate your chicken for several hours in equal parts honey, soy sauce and sesame oil. How much marinade you make will depend on how much chicken you use -- for a couple of good-sized pieces, I typically use one-quarter cup each. Just whisk those three things together, and soak the chicken in it before baking or grilling. Use the remainder to baste the chicken while it's cooking. Easy, and delicious.
(Oh, and don't salt your chicken at all. The soy sauce will make it plenty salty enough.)
Anyway, if you have to cook some chicken and you want a fast recipe that makes for some really flavorful eating, just marinate your chicken for several hours in equal parts honey, soy sauce and sesame oil. How much marinade you make will depend on how much chicken you use -- for a couple of good-sized pieces, I typically use one-quarter cup each. Just whisk those three things together, and soak the chicken in it before baking or grilling. Use the remainder to baste the chicken while it's cooking. Easy, and delicious.
(Oh, and don't salt your chicken at all. The soy sauce will make it plenty salty enough.)
President Bush said nothing at his press conference last night that he hasn't (a) already said, most recently at the State of the Union, and (b) said better, in such prepared-text settings as the State of the Union. I think that if he wanted to make his case to the American people one last time before the bombs start dropping (and dropping and dropping and dropping, if that "Shock and Awe" business is really the way they're going to do it), a speech from the Oval Office might have better served the purpose. (Of course, then he'd likely end up seeming redundant when he gives the inevitable Oval Office speech upon the commencement of hostilities.)
This news conference was, simply, useless. Nothing was said, whatsoever, that would sway persons opposing the war to the President's side; nothing new was offered, no new information came out, and the case as it exists (which I support) was simply not helped. If anything, I think Bush may have hurt things a bit, because as far as I could tell, the news conference did nothing to address my biggest beef -- that Bush and his administration, while having given all manner of thought to the upcoming war itself, has not given much thought at all to what happens after and even less thought to any of the pressing problems elsewhere in the world.
And I'm frankly confused as to why Bush's political team, which is usually very effective, would choose to go the route of a formal press conference when everything is coming to a head, given that Bush is simply not very effective "off the cuff", as he showed last night. He hems and haws, at times he looks bewildered by the very format of the event (actually saying at one point "This thing's scripted" being a key indicator), and at other times he resorts to his trademark smirk as he repeats himself.
Basically, I found the entire thing....odd.
(Some folks have speculated that he looked "medicated". This could be; the possibility reminds me of the second campaign debate in 1988, in which Michael Dukakis answered one question after another in as robotic and pasty a fashion as was conceivable -- including the infamous opening question, "If your wife were raped and murdered...." Turned out that Dukakis was fighting off a bad cold and was likely shot full of NyQuil and Contac.)
This news conference was, simply, useless. Nothing was said, whatsoever, that would sway persons opposing the war to the President's side; nothing new was offered, no new information came out, and the case as it exists (which I support) was simply not helped. If anything, I think Bush may have hurt things a bit, because as far as I could tell, the news conference did nothing to address my biggest beef -- that Bush and his administration, while having given all manner of thought to the upcoming war itself, has not given much thought at all to what happens after and even less thought to any of the pressing problems elsewhere in the world.
And I'm frankly confused as to why Bush's political team, which is usually very effective, would choose to go the route of a formal press conference when everything is coming to a head, given that Bush is simply not very effective "off the cuff", as he showed last night. He hems and haws, at times he looks bewildered by the very format of the event (actually saying at one point "This thing's scripted" being a key indicator), and at other times he resorts to his trademark smirk as he repeats himself.
Basically, I found the entire thing....odd.
(Some folks have speculated that he looked "medicated". This could be; the possibility reminds me of the second campaign debate in 1988, in which Michael Dukakis answered one question after another in as robotic and pasty a fashion as was conceivable -- including the infamous opening question, "If your wife were raped and murdered...." Turned out that Dukakis was fighting off a bad cold and was likely shot full of NyQuil and Contac.)
Thursday, March 06, 2003
ATTACK OF THE PRESIDENTS, part two....
INTERIOR: The Great Throne Room, Rigel IX.
Enter HSUB EROG, Emperor of the Nine Stars, and WEHTTAM SENOJ, his Grand Councilor. EROG is very annoyed.
EROG: I can't believe you let that happen.
SENOJ: I told you the microphone was on, Sire.
EROG: Who let that reporter in, anyway? Haven't I said repeatedly that I don't like him?
SENOJ: Yes, Sire, but I confess I did not think that you would refer to him as a "posterioric aperture" while the microphone was on.
EROG: Well, I'll wear the darker-colored robes in public for a while. They look more casual; that should calm everyone down.
SENOJ: I'm sure….(but he rolls all eight of his eyes)
EROG: So where were we?
SENOJ: Well, your Campaign Minister—
EROG: Not that. The Presidents of the United States, Earth.
SENOJ: Oh. Well, I think we left off with Presidents Mitchell and Nance.
EROG: Yes. Who came after them?
SENOJ: After them came President James Marshall. His administration was notable at first for having the nation's first female Vice President, a woman named Kathryn Bennett. But then the President took a diplomatic trip to another Earth nation, called "Russia". There he announced a broad-sweeping shift in policy toward terrorists.
EROG: To give in to their every demand?
SENOJ: No, that's your policy.
EROG: Yes….I've been meaning to rethink that; it doesn't seem to be working….
SENOJ: Uh-huh. The strange thing is that President Marshall's aircraft was actually highjacked by terrorists while he was on his way back to the United States.
EROG: Oh, no!
SENOJ: Oh, yes.
EROG: Did he get to his escape pod in time?
SENOJ: Yes, but he didn't take it.
EROG: What?
SENOJ: He stayed on board the aircraft to fight the terrorists.
EROG: You're joking.
SENOJ: No.
EROG: Amazing. That's the kind of thing we need here!
SENOJ: You don't have to tell me…
EROG: What?
SENOJ: Nothing.
EROG: So did his military send other aircraft to blow up the President's plane, since such a vital piece of technology should not be allowed into enemy hands?
SENOJ: Fighters were dispatched, but they didn't shoot down the plane. Strange.
EROG: Very. Did the Vice President at least seize power, as the President was under extreme forms of duress?
SENOJ: Strangely, no. Despite the fact that a Defense Minister pressured her to do just that, nothing of the sort was done.
EROG: That seems reckless, doesn't it?
SENOJ: Well, no more reckless than your attendance of that nightclub last week—
EROG: I told you not to bring that up again.
SENOJ: Yes, sire.
EROG: So, what happened to Marshall? Did the terrorists kill him?
SENOJ: No, they failed to do so – despite the fact that they killed a whole bunch of people on that plane. Very bloodthirsty, and yet when they had the President in their grasp, they talked and babbled until he was able to free himself and kill them.
EROG: You're joking.
SENOJ: Not at all. The President actually threw some of them out the plane's back door. Very impressive performance, almost as if he had acted in what the Earthers call "action movies".
EROG: I imagine the Americans would like that in the President.
SENOJ: (under his breath) Wouldn't hurt here, either—
EROG: What?
SENOJ: Nothing. After Marshall got the terrorists off the plane, it turned out the plane was mortally damaged, so a mid-air rescue was attempted. But that's when a traitorous security agent tried to kill the President one last time, but the President managed to get off the plane at the last possible instant, leaving the traitor aboard to die when the plane went down into the water. Strangely, the plane's crash was caught on film, but it looks very fake. Some think it was actually a visual effect, and not a very good one.
EROG: Interesting. So what happened to the President? I imagine he was re-elected in a landslide. A President who killed terrorists with his own hands? He'd win for sure!
SENOJ: He was actually defeated, sire.
EROG: NO!
SENOJ: Yes….it was a very close election, but President Marshall was undone by three scandals. The first one came when he spoke before a meeting of what the Earthers call "The United Nations" – it seems he wanted to go to war against some country, no one else wanted to, and he said at one point, "I'll kill them the way I killed the terrorists on my airplane! I'll kill anyone who gets in my way!"
EROG: The Americans didn't care for that kind of political rhetoric?
SENOJ: Well, it made him look a bit unstable. The second scandal came when it was revealed that before becoming President, Marshall had had an affair with an Amish woman named Rachel. Marshall denied it, but Rachel had pictures of herself with a man who looked very much like a younger President Marshall.
EROG: Wait. The Amish took pictures? I thought—
SENOJ: She painted them, actually. Very talented woman.
EROG: I see….and the last scandal?
SENOJ: Ah, that involved Vice President Bennett. Six months before the election, she decided to legally change her name to Alex Forrest. All this allowed Marshall's opponent, a kindly widower from the enclave known as "Wisconsin", to win the election.
EROG: These Earthers are very strange.
SENOJ: Yes. Do you want to hear about Marshall's successor?
EROG: Tomorrow. Right now I have to go meet with our Minister of Linguistics. It seems that an amphibious subspecies on Deneb III is using verbal constructions like "Mesa okeyday" and "Ex-squeeze me." We may have to dispatch the fleet to bomb them, if they don't knock it off.
SENOJ: You wear a heavy crown, Sire.
EROG: Very heavy….
To Be Continued….
INTERIOR: The Great Throne Room, Rigel IX.
Enter HSUB EROG, Emperor of the Nine Stars, and WEHTTAM SENOJ, his Grand Councilor. EROG is very annoyed.
EROG: I can't believe you let that happen.
SENOJ: I told you the microphone was on, Sire.
EROG: Who let that reporter in, anyway? Haven't I said repeatedly that I don't like him?
SENOJ: Yes, Sire, but I confess I did not think that you would refer to him as a "posterioric aperture" while the microphone was on.
EROG: Well, I'll wear the darker-colored robes in public for a while. They look more casual; that should calm everyone down.
SENOJ: I'm sure….(but he rolls all eight of his eyes)
EROG: So where were we?
SENOJ: Well, your Campaign Minister—
EROG: Not that. The Presidents of the United States, Earth.
SENOJ: Oh. Well, I think we left off with Presidents Mitchell and Nance.
EROG: Yes. Who came after them?
SENOJ: After them came President James Marshall. His administration was notable at first for having the nation's first female Vice President, a woman named Kathryn Bennett. But then the President took a diplomatic trip to another Earth nation, called "Russia". There he announced a broad-sweeping shift in policy toward terrorists.
EROG: To give in to their every demand?
SENOJ: No, that's your policy.
EROG: Yes….I've been meaning to rethink that; it doesn't seem to be working….
SENOJ: Uh-huh. The strange thing is that President Marshall's aircraft was actually highjacked by terrorists while he was on his way back to the United States.
EROG: Oh, no!
SENOJ: Oh, yes.
EROG: Did he get to his escape pod in time?
SENOJ: Yes, but he didn't take it.
EROG: What?
SENOJ: He stayed on board the aircraft to fight the terrorists.
EROG: You're joking.
SENOJ: No.
EROG: Amazing. That's the kind of thing we need here!
SENOJ: You don't have to tell me…
EROG: What?
SENOJ: Nothing.
EROG: So did his military send other aircraft to blow up the President's plane, since such a vital piece of technology should not be allowed into enemy hands?
SENOJ: Fighters were dispatched, but they didn't shoot down the plane. Strange.
EROG: Very. Did the Vice President at least seize power, as the President was under extreme forms of duress?
SENOJ: Strangely, no. Despite the fact that a Defense Minister pressured her to do just that, nothing of the sort was done.
EROG: That seems reckless, doesn't it?
SENOJ: Well, no more reckless than your attendance of that nightclub last week—
EROG: I told you not to bring that up again.
SENOJ: Yes, sire.
EROG: So, what happened to Marshall? Did the terrorists kill him?
SENOJ: No, they failed to do so – despite the fact that they killed a whole bunch of people on that plane. Very bloodthirsty, and yet when they had the President in their grasp, they talked and babbled until he was able to free himself and kill them.
EROG: You're joking.
SENOJ: Not at all. The President actually threw some of them out the plane's back door. Very impressive performance, almost as if he had acted in what the Earthers call "action movies".
EROG: I imagine the Americans would like that in the President.
SENOJ: (under his breath) Wouldn't hurt here, either—
EROG: What?
SENOJ: Nothing. After Marshall got the terrorists off the plane, it turned out the plane was mortally damaged, so a mid-air rescue was attempted. But that's when a traitorous security agent tried to kill the President one last time, but the President managed to get off the plane at the last possible instant, leaving the traitor aboard to die when the plane went down into the water. Strangely, the plane's crash was caught on film, but it looks very fake. Some think it was actually a visual effect, and not a very good one.
EROG: Interesting. So what happened to the President? I imagine he was re-elected in a landslide. A President who killed terrorists with his own hands? He'd win for sure!
SENOJ: He was actually defeated, sire.
EROG: NO!
SENOJ: Yes….it was a very close election, but President Marshall was undone by three scandals. The first one came when he spoke before a meeting of what the Earthers call "The United Nations" – it seems he wanted to go to war against some country, no one else wanted to, and he said at one point, "I'll kill them the way I killed the terrorists on my airplane! I'll kill anyone who gets in my way!"
EROG: The Americans didn't care for that kind of political rhetoric?
SENOJ: Well, it made him look a bit unstable. The second scandal came when it was revealed that before becoming President, Marshall had had an affair with an Amish woman named Rachel. Marshall denied it, but Rachel had pictures of herself with a man who looked very much like a younger President Marshall.
EROG: Wait. The Amish took pictures? I thought—
SENOJ: She painted them, actually. Very talented woman.
EROG: I see….and the last scandal?
SENOJ: Ah, that involved Vice President Bennett. Six months before the election, she decided to legally change her name to Alex Forrest. All this allowed Marshall's opponent, a kindly widower from the enclave known as "Wisconsin", to win the election.
EROG: These Earthers are very strange.
SENOJ: Yes. Do you want to hear about Marshall's successor?
EROG: Tomorrow. Right now I have to go meet with our Minister of Linguistics. It seems that an amphibious subspecies on Deneb III is using verbal constructions like "Mesa okeyday" and "Ex-squeeze me." We may have to dispatch the fleet to bomb them, if they don't knock it off.
SENOJ: You wear a heavy crown, Sire.
EROG: Very heavy….
To Be Continued….
I have perhaps discovered something that Syracuse has that Buffalo does not (besides a decent college men's basketball program): a Chinese restaurant that serves dim sum. Of course, being a small town, this place only serves dim sum for three hours on Sundays; and of course, it could very well be lousy. I'll find out sometime in the next few weeks. (While in Buffalo, we had to travel to Toronto's Chinatown for our dim sum needs.)
A couple of writing-related notes are on tap for today.
:: I discovered a blog about writing, Write This Way!, a little while ago. It looks potentially interesting, though I haven't dug much into it yet. Of course, it seems that I'll have plenty of time to do so because apparently the author -- a writer named Karen Hall, with whom I am unfamiliar -- has given up blogging for Lent. (One of these days I'll have to learn what that means. I know it has something to do with the impending Easter....)
:: I finished typing in the second draft of The Promised King, Book One: The Welcomer a couple of days ago, and I am now doing what I plan to be the final round of edits before I start sending it to publishers. This process should take a couple of weeks. I am also editing a new short story, "To Weep When I Am Glad", that I also hope to have ready for submission somewhere in a week or so. (As usual, my latest attempt at writing a true "short story" -- under 7500 words -- resulted in yet another "novelette", with a rough draft of 16,500 words. I am almost incapable of writing short.)
:: I finally got back to working on "The Baseball Gods" (provisional title), a first draft of a story about, well, the Baseball Gods.
:: Now that Matt has a blog, you can all go bug him about how he's coming on a little writing project of his own. Heh heh heh....
:: I discovered a blog about writing, Write This Way!, a little while ago. It looks potentially interesting, though I haven't dug much into it yet. Of course, it seems that I'll have plenty of time to do so because apparently the author -- a writer named Karen Hall, with whom I am unfamiliar -- has given up blogging for Lent. (One of these days I'll have to learn what that means. I know it has something to do with the impending Easter....)
:: I finished typing in the second draft of The Promised King, Book One: The Welcomer a couple of days ago, and I am now doing what I plan to be the final round of edits before I start sending it to publishers. This process should take a couple of weeks. I am also editing a new short story, "To Weep When I Am Glad", that I also hope to have ready for submission somewhere in a week or so. (As usual, my latest attempt at writing a true "short story" -- under 7500 words -- resulted in yet another "novelette", with a rough draft of 16,500 words. I am almost incapable of writing short.)
:: I finally got back to working on "The Baseball Gods" (provisional title), a first draft of a story about, well, the Baseball Gods.
:: Now that Matt has a blog, you can all go bug him about how he's coming on a little writing project of his own. Heh heh heh....
Wednesday, March 05, 2003
Courtesy MeFi: Author Michael Chabon, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for his wonderful The Amazing Adventures and Kavalier and Klay (which I reviewed in this space), has a pretty neat looking website. I haven't delved much into it yet, but I just love his main navigation page: the Web meets the phrenological head.
Well, I think SDB won. It's hard to tell, under the weight of 5600 words.
Lordy....I think SDB is more in the right than D-Squared, but yeesh....and that's not all, he went to the trouble of setting up a mirror site to document the entire thing!
Someone needs to watch some more DragonballZ, I think....
Lordy....I think SDB is more in the right than D-Squared, but yeesh....and that's not all, he went to the trouble of setting up a mirror site to document the entire thing!
Someone needs to watch some more DragonballZ, I think....
INTERIOR: The Great Throne Room, Rigel IX.
Sitting on his throne, looking bored while reading reports on the state of his empire, is HSUB EROG, Emperor of the Nine Stars. He looks up as his Grand Councilor, WETTHAM SENOJ, enters, holding a sheaf of papers.
EROG: What is it, Senoj?
SENOJ: New reports from the team on Earth, sire. It seems they have collected information on the last seven Presidents of the political unit dubbed, "The United States of America".
EROG: Oooh, more Presidents! Wonderful. Tell me about them.
EROG leans back in his chair, getting ready to hear about his favorite subject. For some reason he's fascinated with Presidents of this tiny country on this puny planet.
SENOJ: Keep in mind, sire, that the humans' calendar still defies our best efforts at translation. We cannot determine with precision the dates that these men served as President.
EROG: Fine, fine. Get on with it.
SENOJ: Yes, Majesty. (He holds up the first piece of paper and starts reading.) First is President Bill Mitchell. He was a fairly nondescript leader of his nation, following what was called a "conservative" agenda.
EROG: Conservative?
SENOJ: Yes, Majesty. It's rather like when you bombed Altair IV without asking the Milky Way Governance Council's position.
EROG: (shaking fist) Stupid galactic peace advocates, I hate them so much….
SENOJ: Umm…yes. Anyhow, in the third year of Mitchell's Presidency, something strange happened: he began to exhibit signs of what the Earthers call "liberalism".
EROG: Liberalism?
SENOJ: Yes, Majesty. Something like the time you raised the taxes on all members of the Royal Class in the Nine Stars and cut funding to the Starfleet so you could pay for all those schools and finance your decree that all citizens shall have equal access, without cost, to our Medical Dispensation Units.
EROG: Oh, yes…(smiles, remembering)That really made Duke L'mbaw angry, didn't it?
SENOJ: He's still not speaking to you.
EROG: (waves hand, dismissively) Go on.
SENOJ: Yes. President Mitchell's first sign of "liberalism" came when he suddenly discarded the agenda of a meeting of his top advisers and began cutting funding from obscure government programs to preserve funding to a program for children that he had visited the day before. Then, he announced an initiative in which any citizen of the United States who wanted a job could get one.
EROG: Oh, yes, I remember that! When he announced it, didn't that woman news agent roll her eyes?
SENOJ: Hmmmm? (checks the report) Oh, yes, Helen Thomas. She rolls her eyes at everything. No one on earth pays it any mind.
EROG: Very good. Go on.
SENOJ: President Mitchell's chief-of-staff had a disagreement with the President and resigned, but he later announced his own bid for the party's nomination and, in so doing, provided the Earth press with information on a number of illegal activities perpetrated by the Mitchell Administration.
EROG: Did Mitchell have him executed?
SENOJ: No, Earthers don't do that, except for in the Earth enclave called "Texas".
EROG: Remind me not to visit that enclave.
SENOJ: You would die there, Sire. Their average ambient temperature would kill you.
EROG: So what happened to Mitchell?
SENOJ: Interestingly, Mitchell provided evidence before a grand conference of the United States Legislature – "Congress", actually – that implicated the chief-of-staff. And then, President Mitchell suffered some sort of medical emergency while speaking.
EROG: Like the one I faked last week?
SENOJ: (scowling) His was real.
EROG: Ah, yes……
SENOJ: In any event, President Mitchell lapsed into a coma and later died. His Vice President, a man named Nance, took office and completed Mitchell's work.
EROG: Hmmmm. Anything else?
SENOJ: Well, this is curious. A year later, Mitchell's wife – now free to marry another – joined a man who bore a very striking resemblance to the deceased President, and she eventually became his wife. And this too is odd: a filmmaker named Oliver Stone speculated publicly that for some time before his death, President Mitchell had been "substituted" by someone of like appearance.
EROG: Like the time my twin brother and I—
SENOJ: (getting annoyed) Yes, just like that. Stone's theories were judged so laughable that Stone himself was forced out of the entertainment-centered city called "Hollywood". He later moved to a place called "Europe", where he made a film called "Any Given Sunday", about a game the Earthers call "football" – except for the citizens of the United States, where the word "Football" refers to a completely different game. "Any Given Sunday" became the most successful film in Earth history, and yet when it played in the United States, it strangely did very little business.
EROG: Strange people, these Earthers.
SENOJ: Indeed. President Nance, by the way, served out Mitchell's term and decided not to run for re-election.
EROG: He gave up power? What a fool!
SENOJ: It happens.
EROG: Not here, it doesn't. Well, we will finish this later. I have that new Star Carrier to dedicate. Biggest ship we've ever built, and it's guaranteed not to be lost in interstellar space. We're calling it the Titanistic.
SENOJ: A fine name, sire. Later, then.
To Be Continued….
Sitting on his throne, looking bored while reading reports on the state of his empire, is HSUB EROG, Emperor of the Nine Stars. He looks up as his Grand Councilor, WETTHAM SENOJ, enters, holding a sheaf of papers.
EROG: What is it, Senoj?
SENOJ: New reports from the team on Earth, sire. It seems they have collected information on the last seven Presidents of the political unit dubbed, "The United States of America".
EROG: Oooh, more Presidents! Wonderful. Tell me about them.
EROG leans back in his chair, getting ready to hear about his favorite subject. For some reason he's fascinated with Presidents of this tiny country on this puny planet.
SENOJ: Keep in mind, sire, that the humans' calendar still defies our best efforts at translation. We cannot determine with precision the dates that these men served as President.
EROG: Fine, fine. Get on with it.
SENOJ: Yes, Majesty. (He holds up the first piece of paper and starts reading.) First is President Bill Mitchell. He was a fairly nondescript leader of his nation, following what was called a "conservative" agenda.
EROG: Conservative?
SENOJ: Yes, Majesty. It's rather like when you bombed Altair IV without asking the Milky Way Governance Council's position.
EROG: (shaking fist) Stupid galactic peace advocates, I hate them so much….
SENOJ: Umm…yes. Anyhow, in the third year of Mitchell's Presidency, something strange happened: he began to exhibit signs of what the Earthers call "liberalism".
EROG: Liberalism?
SENOJ: Yes, Majesty. Something like the time you raised the taxes on all members of the Royal Class in the Nine Stars and cut funding to the Starfleet so you could pay for all those schools and finance your decree that all citizens shall have equal access, without cost, to our Medical Dispensation Units.
EROG: Oh, yes…(smiles, remembering)That really made Duke L'mbaw angry, didn't it?
SENOJ: He's still not speaking to you.
EROG: (waves hand, dismissively) Go on.
SENOJ: Yes. President Mitchell's first sign of "liberalism" came when he suddenly discarded the agenda of a meeting of his top advisers and began cutting funding from obscure government programs to preserve funding to a program for children that he had visited the day before. Then, he announced an initiative in which any citizen of the United States who wanted a job could get one.
EROG: Oh, yes, I remember that! When he announced it, didn't that woman news agent roll her eyes?
SENOJ: Hmmmm? (checks the report) Oh, yes, Helen Thomas. She rolls her eyes at everything. No one on earth pays it any mind.
EROG: Very good. Go on.
SENOJ: President Mitchell's chief-of-staff had a disagreement with the President and resigned, but he later announced his own bid for the party's nomination and, in so doing, provided the Earth press with information on a number of illegal activities perpetrated by the Mitchell Administration.
EROG: Did Mitchell have him executed?
SENOJ: No, Earthers don't do that, except for in the Earth enclave called "Texas".
EROG: Remind me not to visit that enclave.
SENOJ: You would die there, Sire. Their average ambient temperature would kill you.
EROG: So what happened to Mitchell?
SENOJ: Interestingly, Mitchell provided evidence before a grand conference of the United States Legislature – "Congress", actually – that implicated the chief-of-staff. And then, President Mitchell suffered some sort of medical emergency while speaking.
EROG: Like the one I faked last week?
SENOJ: (scowling) His was real.
EROG: Ah, yes……
SENOJ: In any event, President Mitchell lapsed into a coma and later died. His Vice President, a man named Nance, took office and completed Mitchell's work.
EROG: Hmmmm. Anything else?
SENOJ: Well, this is curious. A year later, Mitchell's wife – now free to marry another – joined a man who bore a very striking resemblance to the deceased President, and she eventually became his wife. And this too is odd: a filmmaker named Oliver Stone speculated publicly that for some time before his death, President Mitchell had been "substituted" by someone of like appearance.
EROG: Like the time my twin brother and I—
SENOJ: (getting annoyed) Yes, just like that. Stone's theories were judged so laughable that Stone himself was forced out of the entertainment-centered city called "Hollywood". He later moved to a place called "Europe", where he made a film called "Any Given Sunday", about a game the Earthers call "football" – except for the citizens of the United States, where the word "Football" refers to a completely different game. "Any Given Sunday" became the most successful film in Earth history, and yet when it played in the United States, it strangely did very little business.
EROG: Strange people, these Earthers.
SENOJ: Indeed. President Nance, by the way, served out Mitchell's term and decided not to run for re-election.
EROG: He gave up power? What a fool!
SENOJ: It happens.
EROG: Not here, it doesn't. Well, we will finish this later. I have that new Star Carrier to dedicate. Biggest ship we've ever built, and it's guaranteed not to be lost in interstellar space. We're calling it the Titanistic.
SENOJ: A fine name, sire. Later, then.
To Be Continued….
Tuesday, March 04, 2003
OK, maybe this explains the difficulty that they've had in getting a script ready for the fourth Indiana Jones movie...and maybe it's behind the somewhat mixed critical reception that AI received....hmmmmmm....
A Coffee-All-Over-the-Monitor Moment, courtesy AICN.
In the AICN Talkbacks, some people have taken to referring to 24 as the "Jack Bauer Power Hour", which struck me as pretty clever wordplay. (By AICN Talkback standards, that's quite a thing.)
So, in the Talkback for the recent announcement that the show has been renewed for a third season (although Keifer Sutherland's participation was neither confirmed nor denied, preserving the possibility that Agent Bauer might kick the bucket this season), someone suggested this possibility for next year's version of 24:
(wait for it)
The Kim Bauer Power Shower.
I wish I'd have thought of that myself....
In the AICN Talkbacks, some people have taken to referring to 24 as the "Jack Bauer Power Hour", which struck me as pretty clever wordplay. (By AICN Talkback standards, that's quite a thing.)
So, in the Talkback for the recent announcement that the show has been renewed for a third season (although Keifer Sutherland's participation was neither confirmed nor denied, preserving the possibility that Agent Bauer might kick the bucket this season), someone suggested this possibility for next year's version of 24:
(wait for it)
The Kim Bauer Power Shower.
I wish I'd have thought of that myself....
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