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Saturday, September 16, 2000

These boots (in crinkled patent leather) may or may not be made for walking. But I got 'em on sale so I could find out. I've not worn boots since last winter, heels in a long while . . .
posted at 1:17 PM Central Time <link>

Of course, even though I'm not reading as many webpages as I used to, I still manage to visit The Onion once in a while, for a good laugh. And yes, I laughed out loud at this recent headline:

Seemingly Shy Woman Really Just Stuck-Up, Friends Say

Yeah, you guessed it, I've had a few people think I was stuck-up . . . only to find out I'm shy (at least under certain circumstances). And I've found out the same about others. So this bit of news is refreshing, yes, that's it . . .

posted at 1:01 PM Central Time <link>

Thursday, September 14, 2000

Look ma (actually, my Mom doesn't have web access), ClutteredGuy noticed Windowseat Weblog is back. Cool. I'm an evil bad person who knows people more often by their domain name or weblog name than their actual name. Bad on me. But if you want to call me WindowseatWoman or something, that's fine.

Honestly, I'd thought about using a different font for the graphic on this new simple weblog design, but didn't have the heart to ditch good old fontdinerdotcom. Threw in a bit of fontdinerdotcomsparkly for good measure, too.

Yes, I've been poking my way through some of the weblogs listed on my portal page. I wish I had more time to read other weblogs, I've missed it.

Besides, it did my heart good to see that both The Other Side and Cluttered linked to The Force is a Tool of Satan webpage. That's a link I've had in my bookmark file for years and years, which I used to email to folks fairly often. I'm sure I must've put it in my weblog way back when, too.
posted at 5:56 PM Central Time <link>

When I first heard about this, I assumed it was a joke. But I guess it's not . . . it's Moodwatch for the Eudora email client. Eek!
posted at 4:53 PM Central Time <link>

Martha Soukup posted three more fab stories re Big Brother on salon last weekend, she's one of the few people writing about the show who is following the real story.

On Saturday, she reported on the second proposed walkout by the houseguests (if you remember, she broke the story on the first almost-walkout back in August).

And she wrote about why the show is failing:

The television show is generally boring. The live shows have been astonishingly lame. The producers have over and over shown they aren't really paying attention to the people they have under their cameras 24 hours a day: Paul Romer told reporters he was certain someone would walk for $10,000; no non-professional watching the Internet feed would have thought so. (Ultimately, of course, the residents turned their noses up at five times that amount.)

The producers seemed surprised and a little hurt that the houseguests took exception to their having Eddie call three of his housemates 'bitches' in a pre-scripted joke.

The fascinating thing about Big Brother is only available to those who watch the Internet feed and see how the television show reveals the producers' misunderstandings, if not distortions.

And on Sunday, she reported on how CBS put down the revolution:

At 9:30 last night, the group went into the Red Room en masse to announce their intention to leave. An hour later, CBS had apparently decided that two and a half weeks of dull 'Big Brother' -- that's how long the show is scheduled to run -- was better than half a week of exciting 'Big Brother,' and Big Brother went into full throttle to quash the rebellion.

A producer who introduced himself as John talked to Jamie alone in the Red Room. She told the group later that she suggested that he talk to everyone together through the microphones in the living room. But John flattered her by talking to her alone and having her pass his 'thoughts' on to the others.

Jamie passed on his line of thinking (that was tailor made to convince her, of course), and then each of them was encouraged to talk to this guy in the red room and they were each convinced to give up revolution. Of course he knew which of their buttons to push, of course they're isolated.

Of course, if you just watch the show and don't watch the feeds, you were led to believe the houseguests just kinda chickened out . . . you weren't told they were talked to in this way . . .
posted at 10:38 AM Central Time <link>

Jon Carroll is a fine columnist, he's also a regular in the Big Brother discussion topic on the Well, so it's no surprise he gets what's really going on:

The real story springs from the essential question posed by the show, almost lost in the lubricity -- what happens when you put 10 people in a house with no privacy? There are all sorts of answers to that question, but here's what happened on national television: The houseguests became protective of one another.

They formed a functional and cheerful alliance. They found ways to take the sting out of the brutal necessity of the game, the 'nominations' of two guests to be 'banished.' They were like people in a prison camp making the best of a bad situation.

In a way, it was heroic. When the producers tried to persuade them to speak ill of one another, they were reluctant. When the producers pressed, they became angry.

posted at 10:25 AM Central Time <link>

Tomorrow night I'm going to see the director's cut of The Abyss on a big screen! Whee! I can't wait! It's one of my favorite movies and while I've seen the director's cut (have it on tape), I've never seen it in a theater. I saw the original theatrical cut in theaters 3 or 4 times when it was out (one of the few films at that time that I saw more than twice. The only other film I think I've seen more times (apart from Star Wars and Star Trek movies) in a theater is Glory).

Anyway, this is part of MISFITS' movie night, a fundraiser for a new science fiction club based in Minnesota. If you're in the area, there are showings on Friday night, Saturday night, and Saturday and Sunday afternoons.

posted at 10:10 AM Central Time <link>

Realized upon having a phone conversation with a friend last night that I'd forgotten about a couple of other DVDs I have: The Princess Bride and Three Kings.

At the top of my Want List?
Living Out Loud
Out of Sight
L.A. Confidential
The Usual Suspects
The X-Files - Season One
The X-Files - Season Two
From The Earth to the Moon

(If I started talking about what tapes I have, we'd be here all day . . . )
posted at 9:50 AM Central Time <link>

Wednesday, September 13, 2000

I updated the About the Author page a couple of months back, but I don't think I mentioned it here.
posted at 6:03 PM Central Time <link>

The Confessions of St. Ace is the new album from John Wesley Harding and it's really wonderful. More poppy than he's been in a while.

The songs make me smile, but the liner notes cracked me up (click on the "open the tome" link).
posted at 5:56 PM Central Time <link>

bodyperks.com could very well be a warning sign of the apocalypse. (Someone on the Well posted this URL, I merely looked on in horror or something . . . )
posted at 5:52 PM Central Time <link>

I've been buying DVDs occasionally for a while now. Here's what I own, thus far:

The Negotiator
Zero Effect
North By Northwest
The Sound of Music
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
Galaxy Quest
Rushmore - Criterion Collection

And I recently ordered The Abyss - Special Edition and Charade - Criterion Collection.

And then in a weak moment I broke down and bought a piece of junk DVD player for $69 (at Best Buy, after rebate). Eventually I'll buy a better player and then give this one to my parents or something.

I've found that bargainflix.com is a great place to look for deals on DVDs and to compare prices. If you know of other cool sites, by all means recommend 'em! I'm only starting to realize the value of pre-ordering movies at a steep discount from amazon et al. And the use of coupons is key, too.

I used an online coupon to sign up for a free month's worth of service from netflix.com and I was amazed at how very fast my first four DVDs arrived. Now if only I had time to watch them! (Current rentals: Magnolia, The Blues Brothers, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and Time Bandits - the Criterion Collection edition.

Between DVDs and my Tivo I'm liable to turn into a couch potato, yes indeed. But the weather's too gorgeous and my apartment's too messy for that to happen quite yet!
posted at 5:50 PM Central Time <link>

Wonder why I don't spend as much time as I once did poking around websites?

It's because I got a Tivo, which has caused me to watch more TV than I was for a while there. It's so so so cool! I could gush, but I'll spare you (for now). Suffice to say it's the best purchase I've made since I got my Palm Pilot.

If you're a Tivo user or someone who wants to find out more about them, be sure to visit www.tivofaq.com which has useful information and links to other useful sites.
posted at 5:37 PM Central Time <link>

Yesterday I posted about how I thought maybe it was time to go on hiatus or simply call this whole thing off, but as usual . . . right after I posted that, I got the urge to post links and commentary again. And posting to my journal simply ain't enough.

So I'm back, more or less, with a new design that's kindof old, in it's way. Who needs fancy sidebars that take up too much time? I'm gonna make this as simple as possible so I can babble about whatever whenever with as little work as possible. And maybe I'll even get back in the (almost) daily habit, even if it's only a link each day or so.

If you're a longtime reader or a reader who really likes what I do here, I'd love to hear from you about any of your own web projects, what you like or dislike about my webstuff, etc. I really need recommendations of cool links (or weblogs) these days as I don't look at much stuff otherwise.

posted at 2:22 PM Central Time <link>

This weblog is by Laurel Krahn
laurel@windowseat.org
Minneapolis, Minnesota
AOL Messenger: lakrahn
ICQ:
509473

Got suggestions? Comments? Let me know what you think would improve this page. Don't hesitate, just write. Feedback keeps me going. I read all feedback and do my best to respond with, at the very least, a thank you. If you'd like to email or snail mail me cool stuff (for this weblog or not), I'd love that.

This page created and maintained by Laurel Krahn who can be reached via email to laurel@windowseat.org.

Copyright ©2000 Laurel Krahn unless otherwise noted. May not be redistributed without permission.

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