Mood: A bit sick

Outlook: enhh

News Link Monday:
The real story of 'Saving Private Lynch'
The first interesting news link I collected over the weekend is another example of how a sexy story isn't necessarily the entire truth. At the height of the Iraqi war the pretty, not-quite-20 Private Jessica Lynch was 'dramatically' rescued by special ops from the hospital where she had been held since being captured during an ambush. Now, the Toronto Star shows that the rescue wasn't quite as exciting as previously drawn by the various news media and in fact the Iraqi hospital staff had tried to hand her over a day before and had come under fire in the attempt.

William Bennett, gambling addict
William Bennett is the focus of the next article. Bennett was the former anti-drug czar during the Bush Sr. administration and now makes his living peddling books on morals and railing against the previous Clinton administration for its immorality. What isn't quite so up front about Bennett is that he is an A-class gambling addict who has lost eight million dollars in trips to Las Vegas and Atlantic City.

Horrifying veneral disease causes Baboon genitals to rot away
Finally, this horrifying report from the New Scientist indicates that a new veneral disease that is rapidly spreading among baboons is causing the male's genitals to develop lesions and eventually rot off. This is one disease I do not want crossing over to humans.

Media Links: The Cremaster Cycle, Tidal
Here are a handful of interesting links I've picked today in a kind of ennhh day for me psychologically. First, an interesting review of a new wunderkind in the art world, Matthew Barney. Besides being the husband of Björk he is known for his five-film epic "Cremaster" series 'exploring human relationship to space'. The synposis of the first one reads:

CREMASTER 1 (1995) is a musical revue performed on the blue Astroturf playing field of Bronco Stadium in Boise, Idaho - Barney's hometown. Two Goodyear Blimps float above the arena like the airships that often transmit live sporting events via television broadcast. Four air hostesses tend to each blimp. The only sound is soft ambient music, which suggests the hum of the engines. In the middle of each cabin interior sits a white-clothed table, it's top decorated with an abstract centerpiece sculpted from Vaseline and surrounded by clusters of grapes.

Official Cremaster site (trailers available) >>

"Tidal" is the title of a neat gothic fairy tale told by Zack Smith and drawn by Felipe Sobreiro. A short online comic about an earthly King who seals an alliances with an underwater race by taking with him an unwilling bride. Very well written and drawn. Read it here on Nextcomics >>

Canucks on the brink of making the conference final
A Brent Sopel blast from the point in overtime has given the Vancouver Canucks a commanding 3-1 lead in the best of seven series against the Minnesota Wild.

This was one game that the Canucks surely stole with a combination of timely penalty calls and great goaltending. Vancouver played well for most of the first period but a Marian Gaborik goal (one of his two from this game) game the Wild a 1-0 lead that they maintained into the third period. Although Vancouver tied it midway through the third, the Canucks were clearly not on their game for large stretches, giving up the puck on the second Gaborik goal that gave Minnesota the lead once again. Cloutier was the difference with everyone playing sluggishly in front of him.

The Canucks looked gone when Bertuzzi took a crosschecking penalty with four minutes left but an 'even up' hooking penalty called on the Wild made it a 4-4 situation. The Matt Cooke tying goal in the resulting wider space was a beauty. Once in overtime, the Canuck lapses were redeemed when another untimely penalty cost Minnesota. After Bertuzzi was high sticked, drawing blood, the Wild went down a man for a double. It was into the second penalty when Sopel, who had been the goat on the second Gaborik goal, fired the shot that stole this game for the Canucks. Throughout this playoff run Vancouver has shown that they can win in several different ways. Now they can say they have won a game they didn't really deserve to. The Nucks can close this one out by winning on Monday, always keeping in mind that Minnesota came back against Colorado when they were down by 3-1 in round one.

May 2/03                                                                            More in weblog archive

Taxtime: my media buying this year
As usual, I got my taxes done right on the buzzer with the help of my accountant. I'm the type of person who keeps all his receipts, even for items that cannot be written off. For me, these items include almost all my media items which, if I had been more involved in the video or film side of the industry, I might have been able to write off this year. I won't mention how much exactly I spent but have broken it down as a percentage. All I will mention besides is that I bought over 20 CDs this year.

	CDs	Books /Mags	Comics	DVDs	Software
% of media budget	40%	5%	3%	48%	4%
% of items	53%	13%	7%	25%	2%
My media buying breakdown

Still, it gives me an opportunity to examine my media buying behaviour for the entire year. What is interesting for me is how my media consumption has changed over the past three years.

Four years ago I was massively buying comics; I had just become interested again in the medium and I probably bought at least one mag a week. This is clearly not the case this year. I am just not interested in much that is coming out recently. However, CDs and DVD buying is going on strong. Although my music tastes change, there is always new music coming out that people recommend that I pick up. I read books and magazines for research and for current affairs, so that remains stable. And as a cinemaphile, there are always movies that are converted from existing catalogues that I want for my library. Finally, my software purchases continue to sink despite my purchasing a PS2 this year. I remain mostly a PC gamer but I tend to play one game into the ground rather than have several on the fly.

Andrew Dabb's "After"
Here's a good link to an online comic short that is quite effective and chilling. An excellent structure for the medium. The art by Sean Clauretie is quite effective. Read it here >>

Recent reading: The Cassell History of Warfare series
I've been pretty busy in my spare time the past few months so my reading has been sporadic.

An attractive, accessible historical series

Probably if I hadn't been downloading so many episodes of TV shows I haven't watched for entire runs (like Stargate: SG1) I might be reading more for entertainment. In any case, I've managed to feed my head with a recent historical series by the Cassell which combines consise information with an nice format.

The Cassell series is edited by John Keegan, probably the best known popular war historian since Stephen Ambrose died. The four in the series I've read, read like pocket overviews of different eras of warfare, giving you a general history of events as well as a nice (non-pedantic) summary of ideas: consequences for strategy, warmaking, technology, etc. What I like most about this series is the extremely readable format. The physical size of each book is in between a paperback and trade, making it easily packable in your day bag. The type is around 12 pt and in each of the books I've read the graphics such as the battle maps actually pertains to the body text rather than litters it. Well put together. Other general history pocketbook publishers would do well to take note of this handsome series.

Of the four I've bought, the strongest was the Napoleonic Wars by Gunther Rothenberg. Unlike a lot of histories of the Napoleonic Wars, this one was concerned more with identifying what was important about the various battles and campaigns carried out by Napoleon and his Marshals rather than be caught up in minutae. The format of the map graphics concentrate on telling a sequence of events in step-by-step fashion during the battle rather than lay out one snapshot of it. The clear writing combined with the graphics makes this a great quick reference.

'Battle Royale II' trailer
The trailer for the sequel of one of the most entertaining movies I've seen in the past two years is up (in Japanese). The original Battle Royale was about an island upon which a random high school class must battle until only one survives. This second one seems to combine Saving Private Ryan with the original concept. See it here (bottom WMP link) >>

Wild even things up
Last night the Canucks faced the same challenge as in game one but came up one short. Once again, the Canucks found out that the Wild had a potent offence if given opportunities going down 3-1 in the third for the second game in a row. This time, however, they couldn't muster the comeback that enabled them to win game 1 in dramatic fashion. While Vancouver seemed unable to gain many chances in the Minnesota zone in the face of the Wild's blanket defense, the same could not be said of the Vancouver defense's ability to deal with a very fast and well-coached Minnesota attack. Constantly it seemed that the Wild were able to feed a pass into the slot for a late man skating smoothly into the zone. Now with the series tied 1-1, the Canucks are in danger of digging themselves a larger hole in the next two games in Minnesota.

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