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This is why the Hulk rocked in the Avengers, and has sucked in every other movie

<p> Between Ang Lee directing one, and Edward Norton starring in the other, you&#39;d have thought <em>one</em> of the Hulk movies would have been great. Or at least really good. But they both fell somewhere between boring and tedious—even while being well acted and well directed.</p> <p> Because, I would suggest, they didn&#39;t understand the character&#39;s value. I have a vague memory of a review—I thought it was Roger Ebert, but a quick check suggests not—that suggested that watching a guy who feels like he can&#39;t get mad get chased around was going to be fundamentally boring.</p>
2 minutes to read
Michael Alan Dorman

Happy Birthday, Debian!

<p> <a href="http://debian.org/">Debian GNU/Linux</a> turns 19 today.</p> <p> I estimate that I did my first install some time in late 1995, perhaps early 1996. I haven&#39;t really used anything else as my day-in-day-out OS since. I&#39;ve never had a Mac of any stripe, and haven&#39;t used Windows with any frequency other than for World of Warcraft since &#39;99.</p> <p> I can pin my first contribution to Debian with far more accuracy: September 3, 1996. That&#39;s the date on the first Debian changelog entry in the <code class="verbatim">libwww-perl</code> package, which was, I believe, the first package I ever made. It still exists in Debian and Ubuntu (and other derivatives) and if you have it installed, you can look at <code class="verbatim">/usr/share/doc/libwww-perl/changelog.Debian.gz</code>, and right down there at the very end, you&#39;ll find my grubby little fingerprints.</p>
4 minutes to read
Michael Alan Dorman

Buffalo Stance

<p> So twice in as many days I&#39;ve found myself channel surfing to the video for Neneh Cherry&#39;s &#34;Buffalo Stance&#34;—a song I hadn&#39;t heard in at least a decade:</p> <p> <div style="position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden;"> <iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" loading="eager" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/JWsRz3TJDEY?autoplay=0&amp;controls=1&amp;end=0&amp;loop=0&amp;mute=0&amp;start=0" style="position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; border:0;" title="YouTube video"></iframe> </div> </p> <p> Incidentally, did you know <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neneh_Cherry#Other_work?">she underwrote <strong>Massive Attack</strong>&#39;s first album</a> I didn&#39;t.</p> <p> Anyway, that reminds me of one of my few regrets from college—the time I didn&#39;t go see Michael Hedges. This would have been in 1990, right after the release of Taproot—my favorite of all his albums.</p>
2 minutes to read
Michael Alan Dorman

This guy makes beautiful guitars

<p> I have to say, I also agree with his tagline <a href="http://crimsonguitars.com/">redefining custom</a>—some of his guitars are pretty damned strange, though still beautiful.</p> <p> But what I really like is that he&#39;s done a series of videos on youtube taking an absolutely beautiful guitar from start to finish. It is fascinating.</p> <p> <div style="position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden;"> <iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" loading="eager" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/WkYYOAXW9Mk?autoplay=0&amp;controls=1&amp;end=0&amp;loop=0&amp;mute=0&amp;start=0" style="position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; border:0;" title="YouTube video"></iframe> </div> </p>
One minute to read
Michael Alan Dorman

If only there was a transcript…

<p> Some days I forget how strange Frank Zappa was.</p> <p> <div style="position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden;"> <iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" loading="eager" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/3YnGeqi4XRg?autoplay=0&amp;controls=1&amp;end=0&amp;loop=0&amp;mute=0&amp;start=0" style="position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; border:0;" title="YouTube video"></iframe> </div> </p> <p> &#34;From Bavaria.&#34;</p>
One minute to read
Michael Alan Dorman

Tosin Abasi

<p> Mostly, I&#39;m having one of those, &#34;How have I not heard of this guy?&#34; moments.</p> <p> Anyway, I was, no kidding, looking through some Guitar Center catalog I got in the mail, and saw an Ibanez 8-string guitar being endorsed by this guy whose name rang absolutely no bells at all. And I kind of wrote him off, because it seemed like senseless &#34;more is better&#34;-ness.</p> <p> And then he, and his band, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/animalsasleaders">Animals as Leaders</a> started showing up in my YouTube feed.</p>
2 minutes to read
Michael Alan Dorman

New X-Men

<p> I sold off my copies of Grant Morrison&#39;s run of <em>New X-Men</em> from 2001-2004 in a big purge a couple of years ago, thinking to get the Omnibus to replace them…only to find out that it was out of print. I dragged my feet on picking up new copies in trade in the intervening time, until I found out several months ago that they were going to re-print the Omnibus—which I had understood never to happen, so yay procrastination.</p>
3 minutes to read
Michael Alan Dorman

The Disappearing Spoon

<p> There are, broadly, two categories of science books; those that focus on one thing, with only enough digression to perhaps explain background or competing theories (I&#39;m thinking of <em>The Elegant Universe</em>, for instance), and those that have a theme that try to tie together many disparate bits of scientific knowledge or history.</p> <p> Sam Kean&#39;s <a href="http://samkean.com/disappearing-spoon"><em>The Disappearing Spoon</em></a> is definitely in the latter camp. Though it certainly takes the periodic table as its jumping-off point, it&#39;s really a broad overview of the formalization of chemistry and physics as their own, separate disciplines in the 19th and 20th centuries, seen through the lens of our relationship to the not-as-fundamental-as-we-think (or, for that matter, most of the scientists being discussed thought) components of our universe.</p>
One minute to read
Michael Alan Dorman

This is how it begins…

<figure> <img src="../chili.jpg" alt="../chili.jpg" title="../chili.jpg" /><figcaption> With a lot of peppers and chilis </figcaption> </figure>
One minute to read
Michael Alan Dorman

These are the most ridiculous and disturbing commercials I've ever seen…

<p> <div style="position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden;"> <iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" loading="eager" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/erh2ngRZxs0?autoplay=0&amp;controls=1&amp;end=0&amp;loop=0&amp;mute=0&amp;start=0" style="position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; border:0;" title="YouTube video"></iframe> </div> </p> <p> <div style="position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden;"> <iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" loading="eager" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/j0_fVzTJO-8?autoplay=0&amp;controls=1&amp;end=0&amp;loop=0&amp;mute=0&amp;start=0" style="position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; border:0;" title="YouTube video"></iframe> </div> </p> <p> In fact, I assumed that they were a joke, they were so weird and creepy. I assumed that the web site would be a big put-on.</p>
One minute to read
Michael Alan Dorman

It's probably not fair or appropriate…

<p> to suggest that it&#39;s ridiculous to learn to play &#34;Flight of the Bumblebee&#34; at 600bpm. And yet, I cannot escape the sense that it is just that.</p> <p> <div style="position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden;"> <iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" loading="eager" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/6cGTsX3O-2E?autoplay=0&amp;controls=1&amp;end=0&amp;loop=0&amp;mute=0&amp;start=0" style="position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; border:0;" title="YouTube video"></iframe> </div> </p> <p> The payoff, such as it is, is at 5:23.</p>
One minute to read
Michael Alan Dorman

Erik the Viking (and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen)

<p> I&#39;m not sure <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erik_the_viking">Erik the Viking</a> necessarily counts as a great movie by any metric, but when I noticed <a href="http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Erik_the_Viking/70006905">it had appeared on Netflix</a>, I immediately dropped it in my queue.</p> <p> I remember having a great deal of affection for it a couple of decades ago, when it first came out—though I probably haven&#39;t even thought of it since college—so it seemed worth watching.</p> <p> It&#39;s certainly not without some virtues; the story isn&#39;t as quite as fluffy as you might expect (however you might regard the Pythons, they&#39;re not intellectual lightweights, just silly), and the actors do what they can with a script that is certainly geared for laughs—the moment when Erik and company are trying to take in the differing notion of life on Hy-Brasil is played a little broadly, even though the point it&#39;s making about cultural assumptions is pretty funny.</p>
3 minutes to read
Michael Alan Dorman

Given sufficient time…

<p> I&#39;m sure I could come up with a jazz cover of a rock song that seems more unlikely than this cover of <em>Queens of the Stone Age</em>&#39;s &#34;Hanging Tree&#34;. But it might take a while. Of course I&#39;d be lying if I said I didn&#39;t like it, especially as the saxophone is stating the vocal line in the first verse.</p> <p> <div style="position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden;"> <iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" loading="eager" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/4uXNtbCreNM?autoplay=0&amp;controls=1&amp;end=0&amp;loop=0&amp;mute=0&amp;start=0" style="position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; border:0;" title="YouTube video"></iframe> </div> </p>
One minute to read
Michael Alan Dorman

TV on the Radio

<p> I am, at this moment, kicking myself for not having made the time to go to Moogfest so I could see them live.</p> <p> When I have five minutes, I sit at my drumkit and play <strong>Golden Age</strong>, because it is currently my favorite song in the whole universe:</p> <p> <div style="position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden;"> <iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" loading="eager" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/2wTHxUl9WdQ?autoplay=0&amp;controls=1&amp;end=0&amp;loop=0&amp;mute=0&amp;start=0" style="position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; border:0;" title="YouTube video"></iframe> </div> </p>
2 minutes to read
Michael Alan Dorman

Being Elmo

<p> Definitely a movie worth your time. Kevin Clash&#39;s story is wonderful to witness, the way his obvious passion took him to exactly where he wanted to be. If you&#39;re like me, the insight into the backstage part of how Muppet productions work is intensely interesting.</p> <p> But none of that is really what stuck with me.</p> <p> The idea that a large percentage of make-a-wish children want to meet Elmo makes perfect sense to me–if he&#39;s so firmly associated as a source of gentle, physical, unconditional love, and you&#39;re sick and in pain and everyone around you seems unhappy, <strong>of course</strong> that&#39;s what you would wish for. And yet the idea of doing that even once would terrify me for reasons that I suspect many could understand: what if I couldn&#39;t provide what a child needed? How could I stand knowing that this child will be gone before his or her time, and soon at that?</p>
2 minutes to read
Michael Alan Dorman

Redshirts by John Scalzi

<p> If the title carries meaning for you, you are, arguably, the intended audience.</p> <p> I found the main story to be a fun little meta-fictive romp, and not a lot else. In tone it very much reminded me of his earlier novel, <em>Agent to the Stars</em>–deeply aware of, if only to have fun with, genre conventions. As utterly unconcerned with the &#34;science&#34; part of &#34;science fiction&#34; as its purported source material.</p>
2 minutes to read
Michael Alan Dorman

First taste of Intelligentsia Black Cat Organic

<figure> <img src="../black-cat.jpg" alt="../black-cat.jpg" title="../black-cat.jpg" /><figcaption> First taste of Intelligentsia Black Cat Organic </figcaption> </figure>
One minute to read
Michael Alan Dorman

On the impermanence, and importance, of things

<p> This is one of those infinitely digressive posts.</p> <p> I refrained from using a metaphor about the induction of <em>Guns &#39;n&#39; Roses</em> into the <em>Rock and Roll Hall of Fame</em> as an avenue for exploring Patanjali&#39;s Sutra 1.9 in class this morning.</p> <p> But, of course, I mentioned that I had thought about it–because I think people should laugh in yoga class, and think in yoga class and connect with one another in yoga class, because hell, you&#39;re going to have to try and do all of those things at the same time under even more stressful conditions outside of yoga class–which led someone to ask, as we were heading into the home stretch of the practice, how, exactly I had intended to do that?</p>
5 minutes to read
Michael Alan Dorman

Thank God they at least got rid of the commas

<p> Someone created a bestiary of <a href="http://kazimirmajorinc.blogspot.com/2012/03/few-examples-of-lisp-code-typography.html">List Code Typography</a> and my immediate gut reaction upon seeing the earliest possible examples was that the only thing that could ever have been more confusing than all the parenthesis in the world was if you had to put commas in-between every goddamned thing.</p> <p> The language I&#39;m currently learning, Haskell, has its roots in the Lambda Calculus as well, but goes entirely in the other direction–no punctuation at all.</p>
One minute to read
Michael Alan Dorman

On becoming more mainstream…

<p> I&#39;m realizing that 17 years ago turns out to be a pretty pivotal time for me professionally. In addition to being the time period when I found what has been my primary programming language ever since, it is the time when I threw caution to the wind and embraced Linux as my primary desktop OS.</p> <p> As out-of-the-mainstream as that decision has been–and it was far more radical back in the &#39;90s before KDE, Gnome, Ubuntu and what-have-you–I have often constructed my desktop out of components that were considered outre even by Linux standards. I ran FVWM 2.X when people were still thinking that 1.x was the way to go. I ran IceWM when a lot of people were embracing Enlightenment or one of the NeXT-step based WMs. Even when I was using components of Gnome on a daily basis, and even trying it out from time to time, I never committed to it, figuring out how to use those components from within whatever unusual setup I was using.</p>
3 minutes to read
Michael Alan Dorman

Choosing a new language

<p> I have been programming primarily–for long stretches, almost exclusively–in Perl for the last 17 years or so. I seem to remember starting to use it around mid-1995, with 5.001–during that long, awkward time between when Perl 5 came out and when the 2nd edition of Programming Perl finally arrived in late 1996.</p> <p> I&#39;ve kept with it because I&#39;m fluent in it, I am productive in it, and at this point, I can make it do some fairly absurd things (ask me about writing event-driven servers in Perl, I dare you). In fact, I like the language. I understand the complaints people have about it, but the subset in which I write these days is pretty clear while remaining concise and expressive, and the ecosystem that exists around it is simply unparalleled.</p>
3 minutes to read
Michael Alan Dorman

Jeff Beck, Live at Ronnie Scott's

<p> I&#39;ve just TiVO&#39;d and watched this for a second time in about nine months.</p> <p> I have to admit to knowing a fair bit <em>about</em> Jeff Beck, while knowing almost none of his music.</p> <p> The performance here convinced me to pick up some of his best-known albums…which mostly disappointed. I guess part of my mistake was getting some of the &#34;Jeff Beck Group&#34; albums, because while those are certainly well known, I wasn&#39;t particularly interested in his work with Rod Stewart. But even with the solo instrumental work, it seemed sometimes a little sterile.</p>
One minute to read
Michael Alan Dorman

Midlife crisis?

<p> <img src="../drums.jpg" alt="../drums.jpg" title="../drums.jpg" /></p> <p> I am fully expecting to suck at this for months if not years. But boy, there is something inherently fun in hitting things with sticks as recreation.</p>
One minute to read
Michael Alan Dorman

Jason Segel makes me laugh

<p> <div style="position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden;"> <iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" loading="eager" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/9bZF6Kx88LM?autoplay=0&amp;controls=1&amp;end=0&amp;loop=0&amp;mute=0&amp;start=0" style="position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; border:0;" title="YouTube video"></iframe> </div> </p>
0 minutes to read
Michael Alan Dorman

Anne's Carrot Cake

<p> This started life as the carrot cake recipe from <em>The America&#39;s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook</em>, Revised Edition. And then Anne tweaked it. Heavily.</p> <div id="outline-container-headline-1" class="outline-2"> <h2 id="headline-1"> Carrot cake </h2> <div id="outline-text-headline-1" class="outline-text-2"> <div id="outline-container-headline-2" class="outline-3"> <h3 id="headline-2"> Ingredients </h3> <div id="outline-text-headline-2" class="outline-text-3"> <ul> <li>2 <sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>2</sub> cups spelt flour (all-purpose flour is acceptable)</li> <li>1 <sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>4</sub> teaspoons baking powder</li> <li>1 teaspoon baking soda</li> <li>1 <sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>4</sub> teaspoons cinnamon</li> <li><sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>2</sub> teaspoon fresh grated nutmeg</li> <li><sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>8</sub> teaspoon ground cloves</li> <li><sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>2</sub> teaspoon salt</li> <li>4 extra large eggs</li> <li>1 <sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>4</sub> cups light brown sugar</li> <li><sup>3</sup>⁄<sub>4</sub> cup granulated sugar</li> <li>1 <sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>2</sub> cups coconut oil (melted)</li> <li>1 <sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>2</sub> cups walnuts, toasted and chopped</li> <li>1 cup raisins</li> <li>2 pounds carrots, washed and grated (use a food processor, seriously)</li> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="outline-container-headline-3" class="outline-3"> <h3 id="headline-3"> Recipe </h3> <div id="outline-text-headline-3" class="outline-text-3"> <ol> <li>Make sure the oven rack is in the middle position and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.</li> <li>Lightly coat a 9x13 cake pan with butter then line the bottom with parchment paper.</li> <li>Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices and salt together in a large bowl and set aside.</li> <li>Whisk the eggs and sugar together in a <strong>very</strong> large bowl until frothy and the sugar is dissolved, 1 to 2 minutes with an electric hand mixer.</li> <li>Continue whisking the eggs and sugar as you add the oil, until the mixture is completely emulsified, about a minute.</li> <li>Gently whisk the flour mixture in until there are no streaks left.</li> <li>Stir in the carrots, walnuts and raisins. This will be an upper body workout.</li> <li>Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top.</li> <li>Bake until a wooden skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean, assume a minimum of 50 minutes. Rotate the pan halfway through baking.</li> <li>Let the cake cool in the pan on a wire rack, about 2 hours.</li> <li>Run a paring knife around the perimeter of the pan, invert the fake onto the rack, peel off the parchment paper, then invert the cake again onto a serving platter.</li> </ol> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div id="outline-container-headline-4" class="outline-2"> <h2 id="headline-4"> Icing </h2> <div id="outline-text-headline-4" class="outline-text-2"> <div id="outline-container-headline-5" class="outline-3"> <h3 id="headline-5"> Ingredients </h3> <div id="outline-text-headline-5" class="outline-text-3"> <ul> <li>8 oz cream cheese, softened</li> <li>5 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened</li> <li>1 tablespoon plain yogurt</li> <li><sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>2</sub> teaspoon vanilla extract (you can be liberal here)</li> <li>1 <sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>4</sub> cups confectioner&#39;s sugar</li> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="outline-container-headline-6" class="outline-3"> <h3 id="headline-6"> Recipe </h3> <div id="outline-text-headline-6" class="outline-text-3"> <ol> <li>Blend the cream cheese, butter, yogurt and vanilla until combined, 5 to 10 seconds.</li> <li>Add the confectioner&#39;s sugar and continue to blend on low until smooth, scraping the bowl as needed, 15 to 30 seconds.</li> <li>Spread icing on cooled cake.</li> </ol> </div> </div> </div> </div>
2 minutes to read
Michael Alan Dorman

Black Sabbath press conference video

<p> There&#39;s really not much of particular substance here, but I just wanted to call out that when you see the table with Sabbath and Rick Rubin, against all odds, Rick Rubin is the oldest looking guy there.</p> <p> <div style="position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden;"> <iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" loading="eager" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/bneH3WLW7aE?autoplay=0&amp;controls=1&amp;end=0&amp;loop=0&amp;mute=0&amp;start=0" style="position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; border:0;" title="YouTube video"></iframe> </div> </p>
One minute to read
Michael Alan Dorman

Treat your cast-iron right…

<p> and it will be kind to you.</p> <p> Sheryl Canter has <a href="http://sherylcanter.com/wordpress/2010/01/a-science-based-technique-for-seasoning-cast-iron/">a very specific technique for seasoning cast iron cookware</a> that is supposed to produce amazing results. Like all the best techniques, it&#39;s grounded in science rather than hearsay.</p> <p> But don&#39;t take her word for it–Americas Test Kitchen tried her technique, and found that after treating a cast-iron skillet based on her technique, you could send it through a commercial wash cycle–with degreasing agent–and the finish was undamaged.</p>
One minute to read
Michael Alan Dorman

Kim Kardashian

<p> Oh, pop culture, why would I care?</p> <p> In fact, I don&#39;t–other people&#39;s marriages are of interest to me only to the extent that some people are unfairly excluded from it on the basis of their sexual orientation–but this does seem an opportune moment to make an observation.</p> <p> Kim Kardashian&#39;s mockery of a marriage seems to me less about the failure of morals in a liberal society–a subject upon which I would not be surprised to hear many pundits bloviate in the coming days—and more about the allure of money and the type of action to which its pursuit often leads. Kim Kardashian was simply doing what was necessary to make sure she was one of the 1%. It seems worthwhile to consider whether others, too, might have fallen into immoral behavior in its pursuit.</p>
One minute to read
Michael Alan Dorman

Stanley Fish's Life Report

<p> I understand Stanley Fish is a controversial character. I don&#39;t rightly know why–I gather something about academic politics and maybe being on the wrong side of people who like to call other people fascists or something–and I&#39;m pretty sure it doesn&#39;t concern me.</p> <p> What I do know is that I find <a href="http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/31/my-life-report/">this essay he wrote about the things, in retrospect, he wishes he had placed more importance upon during his life</a> to be compelling stuff.</p>
One minute to read
Michael Alan Dorman

Thor

<p> …was never one of my favorite characters. Still, I had read some favorable comments about the movie, and Hell, it was directed by +Henry V+Kenneth Branagh, so it should be OK, right?</p> <p> I think Kat Dennings was probably my favorite part of the movie, really–cute, sassy and way more interesting than either Jane Foster or muscle-boy.</p> <p> Yeah, that&#39;s right, the two-dimensional sidekick was way more interesting than the main characters, who managed roughly 1.5 dimensions.</p>
One minute to read
Michael Alan Dorman

Children of the Sky and Snuff

<p> Two of my favorite SF novels are <em>A Fire Upon the Deep</em> and <em>A Deepness in the Sky</em>, by Vernor Vinge. So when I heard several months ago that there was a sequel to the first being released this month, I felt both excitement and deep trepidation.</p> <p> My experience of the book, <em>Children of the Sky</em>, falls somewhere in the middle.</p> <p> In a way, I guess you could say the scope of all three books has been narrowing–<em>A Fire Upon the Deep</em> being a no-holds-barred Space Opera, <em>A Deepness in the Sky</em> being a first-contact novel, while <em>Children of the Sky</em> is a political thriller that happens to have aliens. It does a good job at what it is, but I found myself missing the sense of wonder that the first two books provoke in me even after numerous readings.</p>
2 minutes to read
Michael Alan Dorman

My Chai recipe

<p> I knew that I had posted &#34;my&#34; chai recipe at some point in the past, but when I found it, I discovered that it was an old version. Time to update it, especially since as I&#39;ve been getting more and more requests for the recipe of late. Something about cold weather.</p> <p> The single biggest difference between the version I posted before and this one is that I&#39;ve been using rooibos (aka redbush) tea for the last several years. This started because I was making it for a bunch of yoga practitioners, some of whom had sworn off caffeine. The unexpected benefit was that 1) rooibos is very tasty, and 2) unlike black tea, rooibos doesn&#39;t get bitter if you steep it more than a couple of minutes. This means it&#39;s possible to steep it for a long time and make a strong tea that stands up well to milk or milk-analogues.</p>
3 minutes to read
Michael Alan Dorman

As always, slacktivist has a way with a turn of phrase…

<blockquote> <p>This is the sort of inhuman behavior that clarifies that, regardless of what five Supreme Court justices may say, corporations are not people. They have no soul to save, no body to incarcerate, no heart to break and no ass to kick.</p> </blockquote> <p> <a href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/2011/10/25/no-real-than-you-are/">Also includes graph as to why the 99% might be justified in being a little peeved</a>.</p>
One minute to read
Michael Alan Dorman

10 years gone

<p> <a href="http://arstechnica.com/">Ars Technica</a> has <a href="http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2011/10/ten-years-of-windows-xp-how-longevity-became-a-curse.ars">a retrospective about Windows XP&#39;s long life</a> that I found very interesting.</p> <p> Until reading it, I couldn&#39;t have told you when XP was released. I was out of the Windows biz by then—all of my personal work machines had been running Linux for two or three years by that point, and I had given up all but the most peripheral contact with Windows when I left the University of Miami in &#39;99.</p>
2 minutes to read
Michael Alan Dorman

The Hunger Games

<p> Yeah, so I started it on my fathers Nook while we were visiting with them in Panama City, FL, early last month. When we got home, I put it on my list of things to get at the library, and then prepared to wait.</p> <p> However, the Sunday morning yoga class I teach has also taken on something of a book-club character—really, I guess you could say it&#39;s taken on a circle-of-friends character, as we often end up talking about one thing or another, books and food are just persistent topics.</p>
2 minutes to read
Michael Alan Dorman

Stations of the Tide

<p> I have a hard time even describing this book. I guess it reminds me most of something Gene Wolfe might write. You come to distrust the narrative, feeling it&#39;s leading you astray even as it tells you the truth.</p> <p> I don&#39;t know that I would recommend it, and I don&#39;t know that I would re-read it, but it was worthwhile to have read the once.</p>
One minute to read
Michael Alan Dorman

Unfolding

<p> Slowly we unfurl<br> As lotus flowers</p> <p> – Radiohead - <em>Lotus Flower</em></p>
One minute to read
Michael Alan Dorman

BSG S1:E3 - “Water"

<p> What do you do when you don&#39;t remember what you&#39;ve done?</p> <p> There are real incidences of people committing murder while in a somnambulistic state. Can you imagine what that would be like, to wake up and find that you&#39;d done something you had no memory of, that you would never have chosen to to? Even in the world of BSG, your first thought would not, could not be, &#34;I must be a Cylon.&#34; To doubt your own identity at that level seems unthinkable. In a way, I think Boomer (and the Chief) don&#39;t go quite crazy enough.</p>
2 minutes to read
Michael Alan Dorman

He even has a book.

<p> Good Lord, Maru is adorable. I am quite loyal to Siamese as a breed, but the Scottish Folds are so charming they should be illegal.</p> <p> <div style="position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden;"> <iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" loading="eager" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/z_AbfPXTKms?autoplay=0&amp;controls=1&amp;end=0&amp;loop=0&amp;mute=0&amp;start=0" style="position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; border:0;" title="YouTube video"></iframe> </div> </p> <p> And now <a href="http://www.amazon.com/I-Am-Maru-mugumogu/dp/0062088416/">he has a book</a></p>
One minute to read
Michael Alan Dorman

This could not be more brilliant

<p> <div style="position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden;"> <iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" loading="eager" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/U5X4N2exOsU?autoplay=0&amp;controls=1&amp;end=0&amp;loop=0&amp;mute=0&amp;start=0" style="position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; border:0;" title="YouTube video"></iframe> </div> </p>
0 minutes to read
Michael Alan Dorman

BSG S1:E3 - "33"

<p> Way to ratchet up the tension.</p> <p> If the second half of the mini-series seemed like a little bit of a let-down (and I&#39;ve not yet got my commentary on it up, so this is a spoiler), this first episode of the actual series kicks things right back into high gear.</p> <p> Even if I find it implausible that the Colonials are able to even pretend to function after 130+ hours, medicated or not, the actors do their considerable best to give the impression that these are people who are beyond even working on autopilot. Even the best of them have moments of staring off into nothingness as their minds are unable to keep going.</p>
2 minutes to read
Michael Alan Dorman

The truth isn't always what you want it to be.

<p> <div style="position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden;"> <iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" loading="eager" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/ZyAueltLsa4?autoplay=0&amp;controls=1&amp;end=0&amp;loop=0&amp;mute=0&amp;start=0" style="position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; border:0;" title="YouTube video"></iframe> </div> </p> <p> So, there&#39;s this video going around of Al Franken (whom I truly admire as one of our more sensible-seeming Senators<sup class="footnote-reference"><a id="footnote-reference-1" href="#footnote-1">1</a></sup>) taking Tim Minnery–who services in some sort of capacity with the anti-gay Focus on the Family organization–to task for misrepresenting a study about the correlation of the well-being of children and the type of family they come from.</p>
One minute to read
Michael Alan Dorman

Getting a good copy of the org-mode refcard on two-sided Letter paper

<p> Dear lazyweb,</p> <p> Perhaps this was just an oddity of my printer, but here&#39;s what I had to do to get a good print of the org-mode refcard onto Letter paper. From within the org-mode sources, I did:</p> <pre class="example"> make doc/orgcard_letter.tex cd doc tex orgcard_letter.tex dvips -O &#34;-.5in,.25in&#34; -t letter -t landscape orgcard_letter.dvi </pre> <p> This got me a .ps file that seemed well-centered on the page. To print it, I did:</p> <pre class="example"> ps2pdf14 orgcard_letter.ps evince orgcard_letter.pdf (print, duplex flipped on the short side) </pre> <p> I probably could have done (using lp directly, but since I was also using evince to eyeball the layout first, it was easiest to do it from there):</p>
One minute to read
Michael Alan Dorman

Continued hilarity in Transformers reviews…

<p> <a href="http://www.tor.com/blogs/2011/07/driving-your-brain-off-a-cliff-transformers-dark-of-the-moon">This one</a> from Tor.com:</p> <p> On it&#39;s 3D-ness:</p> <blockquote> <p>Weirdly, because it&#39;s exactly the same as a normal Michael Bay movie, the 3D camerawork seems almost understated, because there&#39;s none of the usual “wooooooo, look at the threeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-deeeeeeeeee” foolishness. It actually makes his visual compositions a little more legible; being able to see what&#39;s going on in a Michael Bay action scene is a novel experience, even if what you&#39;re seeing confirms your prior thesis that what&#39;s going on is giant robots beating the crap out of each other.</p>
2 minutes to read
Michael Alan Dorman

BSG S1:E1

<p> This is some insanely taut storytelling, and while it tries to be clear what is happening at any moment–it&#39;s only about the jump cuts during space battles, which is probably an appropriate place to do that–it&#39;s happy to wait until later to reveal to you the implications of what you saw. Which I regard as a good thing–not assuming your audience is stupid is still refreshing.</p> <p> As an example, we see Six on the space station, seemingly destroyed, and then we&#39;re shown the same person with Baltar, and although we get that this is a signal that she is probably not one of the good guys (not to mention the incident with the baby–which I still can&#39;t decide whether to interpret as mercy or as the equivalent of pulling the legs off a spider<sup class="footnote-reference"><a id="footnote-reference-1" href="#footnote-1">1</a></sup> just to see what happens), they&#39;re happy to wait half an hour to let us know that they can upload their consciousness–and we&#39;re <strong>still</strong> not told whether the one on Caprica is the same one as on the space station.</p>
3 minutes to read
Michael Alan Dorman

The funniest line out of a movie review I've read in a while…

<p> From <a href="http://www.bleedingcool.com/2011/06/28/transformers-dark-of-the-moon-review/">a review</a> of <em>Transformers: Whatever the Subtitle Is</em> on <a href="http://www.bleedingcool.com/">Bleeding Cool</a></p> <blockquote> <p>The main action of the film revolves around the good guys slowly coming to understand the monstrous improbability of the villains&#39; plan while Bay smashes all his action figures together and makes the smaller ones say annoying Jar Jar Binks stuff.</p> </blockquote> <p> Heh.</p>
One minute to read
Michael Alan Dorman

TV on the Radio

<p> So, I posted about my feeling that <a href="2011/05/13/the-pop-music-of-my-youth-isnt-getting-rehashed">pop music today was a retread of stuff that wasn&#39;t even the best there was the first time around</a>. I got some pushback on that, to the effect that I, being over 40, would have to be an exceptional specimen to appreciate music that wasn&#39;t of my youth, and of course I thought things might sound like other stuff, but that was just a natural consequence of having listened the first time around (tell me if you think I&#39;m mischaracterizing your argument, Chet).</p>
2 minutes to read
Michael Alan Dorman

I hate Cook's Illustrated

<p> OK, so that&#39;s not actually the whole story.</p> <p> In fact, I <strong>love</strong> the magazine <em>Cook&#39;s Illustrated</em>. I learn all sorts of stuff, they have great recipes, good reviews–on all technical fronts, it&#39;s a winner.</p> <p> But there are few organizations that make me regret being their customer as much as <em>Cook&#39;s Illustrated</em> does. In fact, I can&#39;t think of any. Charitable solicitation annoys me, but I&#39;m not their customer, so it&#39;s sort of a different thing.</p>
2 minutes to read
Michael Alan Dorman
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