a fond farewell to a friend
over the past six or so years, i have listened to no one’s voice more than elliott smith’s. his music has spoken to me more than girlfriends, parents or friends. he’s always been there for me — i wish i could have been there for him. elliott died tuesday. he stabbed himself in the heart with a steak knife.
elliott had his problems, obviously. alcohol. drugs. depression. he was fragile, uncomfortable with fame. i’ve seen him in concert several times. and after each one, i always thought the same thing: “i hope elliott is ok.”
10.25.2003, 12:35 AM · Music · Comments (3)
add my name to the list!
Film Actors Join the Fray Against ‘Screeners’ Ban (news.yahoo.com)
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Several top actors and past Academy Award winners are joining the battle against a controversial ban on Oscar movie “screeners” by voicing their opposition in a newspaper advertisement, a film industry source said on Tuesday. …… The ad will ask the Motion Picture Association of America, which represents Hollywood’s major studios, to reverse their decision to issue screeners to Academy members who vote on the awards.
The ban on “screeners” — videotapes and DVDs of movies vying for awards — has raised a major outcry by filmmakers, directors and now actors who say it will limit the number of people who will see contending films and discriminate against smaller independent studios.
The MPAA instituted the ban out of concern the videos and DVDs will be illegally copied and sold on black markets or distributed for free over the Internet, which happened last year.
why i care: now i, obviously, have different reasons for opposing the screener ban than the “top actors and past academy award winners.” in addition to being a big-time supporter of independent film, i am also a big-time supporter of the black market here in asia. i rely on illegal copies of these screeners. they keep me sane. please jack valenti, don’t make me wait until next summer to see lost in translation! please! lift the ban! if you don’t do it for me, do it for the orange street oscars.
see also: What’s the big Oscar DVD ‘screener’ flap?
10.16.2003, 11:28 PM · Movies · Comments (1)
blame china: part 473
Commission: China’s manipulation of its currency hurting US economy (news.yahoo.com)
WASHINGTON (AFP) - An independent review panel has determined in a report sent to the US Congress Wednesday that China is manipulating its currency, to the great detriment of US industry.The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission, after hearing the testimony last month of economists, academics business and labor leaders and lawmakers, determined that “China, in violation of both its (International Monetary Fund) and (World Trade Organization) obligations, is in fact manipulating its currency for trade advantage.
The panel recommended in its report to the US Congress that the Treasury Department “immediately enter into formal negotiations with the Chinese government” over its currency the yuan, which the commission estimates is undervalued by between 15 and 40 percent.
Meanwhile a US lawmaker introduced legislation Wednesday calling on the George W. Bush administration to repeal permanent normal trade relations with China, saying the policy is destroying US manufacturing and threatens to eliminate US service industry jobs as well.
the gut reaction from a close friend: “so it’s ALL china’s fault. can you imagine if suddenly things from china started to cost 15-40% more? or if we just stopped receiving their exports at a large scale? what happened to all the economists who would say that just revaluing the yuan isn’t likely to help america’s manufacturing sector, because there are other problems at the heart of the job losses? argh.”
10.16.2003, 11:02 PM · News · Comments (1)
muslims, raisins and knives … oh my!
yes, i’m back from xinjiang. yes, it was a great trip. yes, i will write about it soon. yes, i will post photos soon, too.
but i’m suffering from a cold and a slow internet connection. i hope to have both problems remedied by mid-week.
until then, please enjoy this sampling of photos i culled from the hundreds i still need to sort all the way through.
oh, if you were wondering, the name “good cheap tent” only proved to be two-thirds correct.
10.14.2003, 12:29 AM · Photos, Xinjiang · Comments (2)
qualifications: being white, a certain whiteness, having white parents, etc.
UPDATE: click here to see photos from the shoot!
now you can finally say you know someone who was in a chinese bus commercial. i’m the, um, white guy. don’t blink, though. most of my brilliant moments were left on the editing room floor. click here to watch the the entire 60-second television ad. (you will need quicktime to views this .mov file.)
10.14.2003, 12:12 AM · Observations, Video · Comments (1)
‘i think we should be slaves’
so my students are giving mid-term presentations now. the topic: any story about something they experienced over national day holiday. basically, my students are a boring lot … and they readily admit it. i heard over and over again how they slept, watched tv, played computer games, surfed the internet and ate “some delicious foods.”
a few students stuck out, though. one in particular. her father is a history professor, so she spent part of her time reading chinese history books that were lying around her house. her presentation was about the fact that she couldn’t trust anything in those books, thanks to the chinese government’s habit of rewriting — or just erasing — messy bits of history.
10.13.2003, 11:33 PM · Observations, Politics, School · Comments (1)
lost in translation
click here if you would like to see the shanghai diaries translated into chinese, korean, japanese, italian, german, french, spanish — hell, even portuguese. someone is trying to sell me this service … but i’m not buying. have a feeling there would be lots of “super karate monkey death car”-type stuff in there.
don’t get that reference? well, you need to watch more newsradio, one of the best television shows — ever.
10.13.2003, 1:07 AM · Site News, Television
california goes commando
it’s times like these that i’m glad i don’t live in america.
10.08.2003, 11:28 PM · Politics · Comments (3)