I woke up from a dream this morning where I went to visit the doctor. I was rotting away. I couldn't really see it though. I only had some vague idea of what was going on with me. It was so horrific that the nurse gasped in shock when I took off my clothes for the doctor. I don't remember his reaction. In the dream I thought it must be really bad if it elicited a reaction from the nurse.

I woke up thinking this is the end of my life. It was a mix of fear and calm resignation.

What rose colored glasses do you have on? They are a company. They do whatever they want, when they want if it improves their bottom line. If they violate some law, I have to litigate, or convince a state/federal (whoever made the law) attorney to prosecute. Only if they are convicted do they have to pay a minor fine. Most likely it wouldn't even go to trial as they'd just settle and continue the offending behavior.

In a state where there is no competition for individual health insurance they don't have to worry about people going elsewhere. The fact that they didn't care about a certificate of continuous coverage should be all the proof you need of that. Sounds like Bush brain rot syndrome is getting to you. Move out of this state before the Christian conservative diesease infects you further.

The southeast is a cesspool of ignorance and hate that should just be flushed into the Gulf of Mexico. I should probably go with it because I feel it infecting me too. The southeast is a blemish on an otherwise great country.

Emily saw a picture I took of a brick wall in Huntspatch. Someone wrote "Beauty is all around, waiting to be found" and I was trying to explain what I thought it meant and the importance of seeking beauty in everything. Without missing a beat she added "One thing's not beauty: killing."

She was really down on the killing thing all weekend. She didn't like that "Kill Bill" had kill in the title. She was bothered by the cartoons that have shadows, and darker colors but admitted that they are sometimes better than the ones with the light colors and no shadows. I was surprised by how often killing came up.

Here I am all excited by the new Death Cab For Cutie CD, Transatlanticism. I was wondering who else rivaled Ben Gibbard for emotional sincerity in lyrics and naturally Elliott Smith came to mind. Apparently he died at 34 this week. Pitchfork has an obit to Elliott Smith. While I was not a great fan of his music I certainly acknowledged his tremendous talent.

"To vanish into oblivion It's easy to do And I tried to leave but you know me I come back when you want me to."

A friend of mine from Dallas is in Zambia on a fellowship reporting for the Dallas Morning News. If you did the CD mix of the month thing you probably remember him. He gets some plum assignments like traveling to Pitcairn Island and covering the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake. Thankfully he's keeping a blog up to date while he's in Zambia and it has some great stuff in it.

I gotta figure out a way to make my job more exciting.

I moderate a mailing list for Dallas movie geeks and the question came up as to whether anyone nowadays can match someone like Rita Hayworth in Gilda for sexiness and charm. I got so caught up in my response I wanted to document it here.

I recommend Gilda and The Lady from Shanghai.

I think part of the Rita Hayworth mystique comes from these two femme fatale roles. In my opinion the role she played has helped cement her as an icon more than any of her natural talents. Look at the list below and I think you'll agree that all these women meet or exceed the Rita Hayworth standards for sexiness and charm. And I think the reason for that is due to the femme fatale roles that enhanced their popularity.

Gilda is an essential film noir, but why settle for Rita Hayworth. 1946 was an exceptional year for hot actresses in femme fatale roles. What about Veronica Lake in The Blue Dahlia (Who had helped pioneer the femme fatale type in 1942's The Glass Key)? Ingrid Bergman did Notorious (although not typical femme fatale), Lana Turner did The Postman Always Rings Twice, Lauren Bacall did The Big Sleep and Ava Gardner did The Killers. Just staying inside the film noir genre you also get incredibly performances from Barbara Stanwyck in Double Indemnity (1944) or the long suffering Maxine Cooper from Kiss Me Deadly (1955).

By the way, I highly recommend Kiss Me Deadly. In my opinion it's one of the highlights of the genre. It's influence on the French New Wave, in particular Godard and Truffaut, lives on as a testament to its excellence. An excellent primer on Kiss Me Deadly can be found here:

http://www.bighousefilm.com/reviews/kiss_me_deadly.htm

Heck you can look at film makers today and see the influence. That suitcase in Pulp Fiction sure looks and acts a lot like the suitcase in Kiss Me Deadly.

Oh and since I brought up all this film noir stuff, Coen Brothers fans should watch The Glass Key and Miller's Crossing, The Postman Always Rings Twice and Man Who Wasn't There and The Big Sleep and The Big Lebowski. It's a fun way to deepen your appreciation of the Coen Brothers movies.

Howard Zinn delivered a speech on Confronting Government Lies at the Unitarian Universalist Association in Boston. The Alternative Radio project broadcast it. He has a certain clarity with points like this:

Zinn warned against being fooled by the preamble to the Constitution, which says “We the People.” It was not a group of farmers creating the constitution for all; it was 55 rich white men. These rich white men wrote the Constitution to protect rich white men.

His speech lingered quite a bit on our recent actions in Iraq and while I cheered his kowtowing to a liberal audience I think his speech would be that much more powerful with less humor and more of his keen historical perspective.

Hearing him speak makes me wonder what happened to the 10 part miniseries Matt Damon and Ben Affleck were working on of his book A People's History of the United States: 1492 - Present. He is certainly a powerful, engaging and hopeful voice.

Talk about fireworks on the radio! Fresh Air has an interview with Bill O'Reilly [RealAudio] that rivals her interview with Gene Simmons of KISS for tension and spirited, verbal intercourse. Bill took umbrage with Terry's questions and accused her of being harder on him than she had been in her interview with Al Franken [RealAudio].

In particular she gave Bill a chance to defend himself against negative remarks made by others. She asked Al Franken similar questions about negative remarks about him made by others.

While the tone is more light-hearted with Al Franken it's clear that Bill came in with a chip on his shoulder. Al Franken is a comedian and Bill O'Reilly is not. Naturally Al's is lighter.

I ran around downtown Huntsville and Monte Sano and Green mountain taking pictures today. It was a really great day. I do have one picture that I thought was particularly funny and important to share.

Apparently the Madison Count Schools CARE Project bought lots of billboards promoting abstinence and marriage. Uhh why? Teen pregnancy was already declining without this ham handed ad campaign. During the Reagan 80s teen pregnancy increased 27%, during the Clinton 90s teen pregnancy dropped to record lows, according to this report. The highest rates of teen pregnancy came during the sexy Eisenhower administration in 1957. Personally I credit the emphasis on personal responsibility that secular humanism promotes versus the bacchanalian folly/guilty purges that Southern christians promote. Is it just me or are Baptists just shy of porn stars when it comes to being obsessed with sex?

Now lets talk about some of the design choices here. It's got a big blue A. Hmm, a big letter A branded on something sure reminds me of "The Scarlet Letter." Not a really positive association to create. I can hear the high school english students now "So she was kicked out of the town for being abstinent?" Oh and they've cleverly co-opted the word "choice" from the "pro choice" movement. There again a confusing association to make regarding abstaining from sex. I suppose their use of "The choice of a new generation" is meant as satire towards Pepsi and therefore indemnifies them from lawsuits. What's up with all the different type faces and text treatments? Did someone just get Print Shop? You've got two slogans here, simplify and pick just one. I've also got issues with the yellow/white backgrounds.

I'm working on a new billboard with stick figure cartoons to illustrate the message here. I'm driving 70 miles an hour I don't have time to read. Give me pictures. We'll see if I figure out a way to get my sketches scanned in.

I went to a wedding last weekend. I had a really great time, with my pants on thank you very much.

When I got back to Huntsville I still had a post-wedding buzz going on for a couple days afterwards. I think it was around tuesday or wednesday that the not so fresh, next day, emotional hangover settled in and cleared out. I definitely want to be a best man at more weddings. Now I know the secret handshakes and stuff that go along with it. I'd never participated in a wedding this much before and it was much better than just being a spectator.

I am grateful that was there and ready to take pictures with my camera because I was indisposed.

The bachelors of the csbgroup cling together. Who's next?

Michael and Maria had three readings during the ceremony. I got to read a poem. embarassing disclosure I've discovered since July that I really like reading poetry out loud. Rilke has probably been the most fun.

The money shot. I got a feeling this kiss won't end.

It's the wedding party. We looked damn swass in our duds.

The location was great. Right as the ceremony began a great wind kicked up and lightning began coming down around us. It was a righteous, powerful moment. I thought it was going to rain but it didn't until the last few people left the wedding site. Jennifer captured the clouds crawling through the trees and mountains with a great shot here.

This is the crew with the cool cabin on top of ol' Smokey. I almost died coming down the mountain the day of the wedding as my car skidded for the edge of the twisty mountain road. Since the road didn't have a guard rail I was hoping I'd hit a tree but luckily the tires caught about ten feet before the 90 degree turn and jerked me away from the edge. It had rained that morning.

I'd never believed in weddings or ceremonies before. I'd only been to three that I can remember and I was never part of the wedding party. I was really swept up in this one. I felt a part of something much bigger than me. I don't really have relatives outside immediate family so that might be weird. But I can fondly imagine my friends wishing me well as I walk into the sunset with my bride. It was certainly a powerful experience for me and has made me appreciate the ritual a great deal more.