Have you guys checked out IAO yet? That's the new Information Awareness Office, complete with freakin' illuminati logo and a globe focusing on north east Africa, and mid to east Asia. As if those countries didn't have enough to be paranoid about already? But that's not the funny part, they picked John Poindexter to head the thing. (Remember him, he was convicted of lying to Congress and illegally funding a war, but that's not important now.)

It gets funnier though. This is the same government that already has more information than it knows how to handle. So they build this new thing to gather even more data, except it's not limited by stupid fourth amendment rules about going after US citizens because a special secret court that is not accountable to anyone said "It's okay." Who installed these fascist assholes into power? Oh that's right, the Republican Supreme Court, because Bush lost the popular vote.

What's disappointing is that a lot of the technologies are kinda cool and have non-military uses. The government should fund the general development of these technologies and let the military adapt them for their specialized needs. That's what a reformer with results would do.

[And breathe.]

Dear Mr. Lynne,

Is it okay if I call you Jeff? I've derided Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) since my late teens. I always felt vaguely pissed off that ELO had a box set and Rush didn't. Although, most of my derision was aimed purely at ELO's music. I only heard the two songs that were (over)played on classic rock stations. Perhaps it's wrong to condemn an artist's complete oeuvre for just two songs, but I did it.

I was wrong. I just watched the new VW commercial with your song "Mr. Blue Sky" and really enjoyed it. However, most of my praise is reserved for the clever direction by Mike Mills. Bravo Jeff.

A people that wants to be free must arm itself with a free press

The FBI issued a detailed bulletin on May 22, which was delivered to state and local police agencies via the National Law Enforcement Telecommunications System. In it, the FBI warned that al-Qaida might be planning to use shoulder-fired missiles—formally called MANPADS, for man-portable air defense systems—against commercial aircraft within the United States.

MANPADS? Bwaahaaha. That sounds like a defense against male incontinence. What self-respecting terrorist would use MANPADS?

January 10th, 2001 Lunar eclipse triggers Nigerian Muslims to riot attacking mainly Christian targets. They blame the eclipse on the preponderance of sinful activities in the city. BBC article

November 22, 2002 50 killed, 200 wounded, 4 churches burned by Nigerian Muslims who claim Miss World pageant promotes sexual promiscuity and indecency. They were baited by a local newspaper editorial. Yahoo AP article

Where are the moderate Muslims? Why don't they get any press? I'm so incredibly thankful that "What Would Jesus Drive?" is a burning question among moderate Christians in this day and age.

I went to a FOUND magazine event tonight. Davy, the force behind FOUND magazine is making his way to the west coast so go see him when he's there. You will not be disappointed. He collects found notes, journals, letters, tapes, art work, business cards or whatever and publishes his favorites in a magazine. I bought a couple issues to send out west to hopefully motivate people to see him.

I picked a letter from one of the issues I have. I should have scanned it but I decided to just reproduce it as best I could in HTML. Here's an example of the stuff you find in FOUND.

When I get home after a workout at the YMCA I really like pushing on my belly. It doesn't jiggle like it used to. It softens up if I miss a day though.

It's those little pleasures that keep me going after things like spinning class kicked my ass and left me sitting on the floor light-headed and wanting to throw up.

This is the second night in a row someone has shown up at the front door of the house around midnight asking for help. Last night it was some guy looking for money to buy gas to pick up his girlfriend in Denton. Tonight it was someone new, who spoke only Mexican. He wanted my help to get food.

I see this getting old real fast if it keeps up.

Oh how I long for the days a week or two ago when a mysterious stranger taped a walkie-talkie to the front column and played static through it for a couple of hours while we wondered what the noise was.

I just saw Lost in La Mancha which showed during Deep Ellum Film Festival. It's a documentary about Terry Gilliam's attempts over the last decade to make a movie about Don Quixote. The documentary starts off with Gilliam and others gushing about how perfect Don Quixote is for a Gilliam film. His movies all contain some kind of dreamer who lives in a fantasy world, and doom awaits them as they gain their sanity and settle into reality. The movie seems cursed near the beginning of pre-production and "force majeur" settles in during shooting in the form of illness and floods to make things really hard.

What survives is a particularly effective document of the creative process, and a lot of the mechanics involved in making a movie. I would put it alongside John Sayles excellent commentary on the "Limbo" and "Secret of Roan Innish" DVDs for how movies get made. Gilliam's giddy, or is it deluded, determination to drive the project forward after calamity captures the chutzpah it takes to transfer images in your head to film. It's also in stark contrast to what you see from a director like say Darren Aronofksy who comes across as very technical and in constant consultation with his director of photography Matthew Libatique. Gilliam is much more about creating a canvas and letting chaos play out inside it.

Another point the documentary makes, which left me a bit melancholy, is how Adventures of Baron Munchausen has overshadowed Gilliam's career. It is the text book example of how not handle a production. It made him a bit of a pariah in Hollywood, despite the fact that his movies not only win critical acclaim but have all been hits (except Baron M). ("The Man Who Killed Don Quixote" is solely funded by European investors) I wonder what we might have seen from Gilliam if some movie making process could better handle Gilliam's chaotic visions.

A few years ago I setup an email address for Kathy, kathy@csbgroup.org. She never really used it and eventually I forgot it existed. Recently I changed csbgroup.org so all email went to me.

Now I get emails from Amazon, Namaste.com, Doctors Without Borders and a couple other online retailers for Kathy. It's weird. I've learned a few things that she liked that I didn't know. I haven't setup a filter to kill the emails yet because...well, I don't know why. I like getting them, especially the Amazon ones that say what she bought. With the ones from Doctors Without Borders it's almost like she's forwarding the email to me about issues that are important to her.

I sat one row back from the throw-in line at American Airlines center and watched the Mavericks school the Trailblazers. Josh, who scored the $1000 worth of tickets, took the front row. Sadly no basketball players fell on him.

Surprising observation: They looked really, really big that close. The basketball looked so tiny in their hands.

Sat next to a woman who had lived in Alabama and graduated from Emory. Went to school for engineering but Cal 3 made her decide to switch to accounting. Cute, and close to my age even. Her first Mavs game too. She had the same kind of tickets Josh had from Big Brothers, Big Sisters. I seem to find these sixty second love affairs more regularly than ever before. It's fun appreciating them for what they are.

Tides came and went as she got dressed and put on makeup. Once the metamorphosis was complete she emerged. The thought "You look like whore" came out of my mouth "You have on a lot of makeup...You look good. Sexy." The conventional wisdom goes girls dress to impress other girls. I think tonight's an unconventional evening.

I bet if I lived in San Francisco I could find a store that carried the bluetooth adapter (PN: DBA-10) for the Sony Ericcson T61d phone I have. What kind of freaking primitive cavemen live in DFW? I think the jump to horseless carriages came just a few years before I moved here.

Dear Fedex,

I recently went to a Kinkos and used your priority overnight service to ship two CDs to a friend in Vancouver, WA. (You know, where all the Portland wannabes live) I dropped the package off at 6:42pm. By 5:31am it had arrived in Portland after traveling through Memphis. I know air travel is not that efficient. Clearly, you have some sort of teleportation technology. Why haven't you made it available to the public? Can you imagine how the world would change if we had your teleportation technology? Please Fedex, think of the children.

Sincerely, Nester P. Hogsquallor III, Esq.

Michael Nyman's soundtrack to Wonderland (1999) is so warm, and passionate. Must have mp3s of it NOW!

I don't get it. I seem to be way off in left field in my high opinion of Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead (1995). I think it's easily in the 8.0 range. I don't think I've ever been so far off popular and critical consensus.

I like the first person and third person omniscient narration devices in the Afterlife tapes and the Jack Warden character, Joe Heff. I think the dialogue "Boat Drinks, "Give it a name", "Fishing for saplings", "It's an action, not a piece of work", "Buckwheats" and so forth is tight, snappy and original. I think the lighting and camera angles are pretty good. Easily the best performances Andy Garcia, Christopher Lloyd, Christopher Walken (including his performance the year before in Pulp Fiction) and Treat Williams have given in recent years. Maybe the story does stretch the credibility a bit thin, and maybe the Gabrielle Anwar relationship could be edited out. However, you are left with a really great story about a group of gangsters preparing for the end of their lives after they botch a job. It's compelling and told in an unusual way.