This page contains all entries posted to Manufactured Environments in July 2006.

The Travels of Kari Rightfoot: An Alaskan Adventure

Every once in a while, I get an email from an old friend who goes by the name Kari Rightfoot. Kari’s been visiting her mom up in Alaska and has been dividing her time between Anchorage and the Midwest. She writes these road-poem emails that detail her experiences and what she’s seen. I received the latest missive from her yesterday, and this one was especially epic and well wrought. It even included some photos, which was a nice addition (scroll down for the photos). I hope Kari doesn’t mind, but I wanted to share with the readers of Manufactured Environments Kari’s tale of going north of the arctic circle. So without further ado, here is “Where the sun don’t not shine.” Update: I looked up Coldfoot, Alaska on Google Maps.

Where the sun don’t not shine
by Kari Rightfoot

preceding and during these early summer days,
there’s a land where it’s light all night—
someplace where the sun rises one day,
and stays in the sky for weeks!
it seems so distant…and yet,
part of this place is right here in this country….

for many—alaska, too, seems so far away
(though it’s more accessible than one might think),
but for some—it’s so close we can step out and breathe it in.
living in the northland at this time, now knowing how fleeting life is,
i intend to take every opportunity to explore this great land.
this piece details one of many intentional alaskan adventures.

so there’s an invisible line that crosses alaska
(perhaps you’ve heard of the arctic circle…),
and north of this border is the true land of the midnight sun.
recently i discover something:
you can drive there!
…now that’s accessible!
in this moment, my summer solstice plans begin to form….
referring to the official state of alaska highway map hanging above my bed,
the first dot i see located on the map north of the circle is called coldfoot.
somehow i feel drawn here…a familiarity….
i choose this place as my celebration destination.

about sixteen hours before the summer solstice moment—
i start driving north from anchorage at a leisurely pace,
making a few extended stops along the way.
by the time i get directions in fairbanks
(just past my halfway mark in mileage),
en route to the dalton highway,
it’s already approaching the midnight hour.
thus begins my night of racing the sun.
i set out again with determination that
tonight, for me, the sun does not set.
i drive for about 90 more miles to the dalton,
where the real adventure begins….

my first surprize on alaska highway 11 is the gravel,
along with the road sign that says 50 mph—
for the next 400-something miles….
what’s most shocking to me
is the thought of driving that fast on this road!
so i begin to wonder about this bright idea
as i realize why ‘they’ say to bring spare tire(s!),
not just the temporary tire like the one i have along….
the next sign i see says it’s 175 more miles to coldfoot—
yet i have 175 miles in my head from fairbanks,
thinking i now have only 85 miles left to go….
so reading this second sign really gets me having second thoughts,
emphasizing my doubts about going all the way.
175 more miles driving this slow into the sun
on this terrible road, sleep deprived and road weary?
maybe this is a little crazy…
(maybe?).

well i keep driving as i’m going back and forth in my head about it.
should i turn around now—after coming this far already?
maybe stop at the circle?
as i continue, i keep covering ground.
and after 20 miles or so, i hit pavement—hey, hope!
i pick up speed…
and rush upon the craziest potholes!
as though there were explosions in the road!
it’s common on roads in alaska and canada
to find frost heaves from the permafrost shifting.
however, the others i’ve encountered
are typically experienced as rolls in the road—
more like a roller coaster ride.
these on the dalton are erupted,
making for wildly treacherous driving conditions—
potentially detrimental to the health of your car…!
just as i think it’s safe to pick up some speed,
i discover the real threat of vehicle and tire damage!
here i remember that caution is a friend of mine
(and the car!) as i continue on—
getting further and further down this chosen path,
even as that doubtful part of me keeps debating the call.

i shoot a few photos through the windshield as i drive—
and as i stop for a view, i wonder:
why am i shooting through this glass barrier
when i can open the window for a shot?
i quickly find that there is reason to the reasoning,
when within seconds—with no time for the blink of an eye—
dozens of bloodthirsty mosquitoes are buzzing at the window,
darting (and surely plotting to dart) their way into the car!
and these are vicious #&%*^?! that give vicious itches!
so i quickly close the window,
and proceed to indulge in a massive killing frenzy
in an attempt to recreate a safe driving environment inside the car.
this murdering thing gives me something new to bounce around in my mind
as i continue on this northbound journey.
generally, i live my life being peaceful, nurturing, non-violent…
but when it comes to mosquitoes, somehow i can kill with no mercy
(and very little remorse)…how can this be…?

soon i notice i’m passing signs which foretell of nearby road construction.
i roll up to a stop sign.
it occurs to me that perhaps this is like a four-way stop,
as there’s no one in sight, so i begin to go again.
this does seem strange, as i notice there’s really only one stopsign,
so i’m not startled by the waving appearance of a reflective-vested man.
noticing my minnesota plates, the flagger walks over to chat with me.
i roll down my window—only to let in more buggin’ mosquitoes…!
i try rolling it up enough to keep out the pests while keeping a conversation going.
it just doesn’t work, so i jump out of the car.
now i’m compelled to keep jumping, as well as start my arms flailing,
in an attempt to shield myself from my attackers.
construction worker joe stands remarkably steady
as he waves his zap racquet through this insect cloud with an air of nonchalance,
shocking bug after bug with tiny electrocutions.
i cannot fathom such calm coexisting with these bloodsuckers.
i’m certain i’d hear the hum of the sum of millions of these tiny itchy beasts
across miles and miles of surrounding tundra—
if only i could hold still enough to listen….

as i jump back in the car, a pilot car approaches.
i follow silently as we slowly wind through the construction zone
where working ‘round the clock requires no artificial lighting.
when finally the lead car pulls over to loop back,
leaving me to face the open road alone again,
i feel a sense of sadness as i continue in solitude on this strange journey.
in this brief moment i experience an intense feeling of loneliness
which quickly subsides as i become centered in myself again.
i know i’m not alone.
along with this centering comes a certainty to complete my planned route.
there’s no turning back now.

at the moment of summer solstice, i remain on the road.
by now, however, i’ve reached the zone above the arctic circle.
i’m happy to have made it this far.
i stop at an access point to the alyeska pipeline,
a massive example of humans honoring the economy over mother nature.
i hadn’t realized i’d be driving alongside this major artery of the oil industry.
i realize now that the dalton highway wouldn’t even exist without the pipeline.
and without this road, i wouldn’t be road tripping to the arctic circle.
life is full of these logically counter intuitive opposites,
yet we can’t know the light without also knowing darkness.
we cannot exist in a world without shadows cast in relation to the sun.
i grab my ukulele and pluck out a few notes.
at coldfoot, in a drowsy half-awake moment,
this becomes a summertime lullaby.

my tripometer reads 620 when i arrive at coldfoot camp.
it’s the first morning of summer.
here there is a cafe/gas station, a post office (open 3 days a week),
and both short and longterm sleeping accommodations.
across the highway to the west is a visitor center and
the koyokuk river which winds around the foot of coldfoot mountain.
early in the day i take a walking (and talking) tour with a new local friend.
we try to move faster than the mosquitoes, and mostly we do.
they are a reoccurring topic of our conversations,
and a common topic in these parts—like the weather.
we share some songs as my eyelids finally begin to droop,
then i sleep on and off in my hot car for most of the afternoon.
the sun doesn’t set, yet it hides behind coldfoot mountain for a few hours.
i meet more locals—“co-workers” as they call themselves
(a clear distinction from the visitors, called “guests”),
and join them as they spark up a solstice bonfire down by the river.
this is exactly what i had in mind for a summer celebration,
though i didn’t know it, exactly.
i write postcards all night,
appreciating connections near and far—old and new,
appreciating this life and this light.
nighttime daylight.
summer in alaska.
love.

[click the thumbnails to view the photo]

photo 1 shows a rainbow (one of many), captured on film in nenana

photo 2 shows some strange trees along the dalton highway

photo 3 shows a wooden bridge crossing the yukon river (top) & a coldfoot camp’s co-worker hallway (bottom)

photo 4 shows trucks at coldfoot + just the foot of coldfoot mountain (right side) & yes that’s me + the guest residence—right side, white (bottom)

photo 5 shows coldfoot mountain behind a dark cafe (top) & the foot of coldfoot mountain (left side) at the koyokuk river

photo 6 shows the dalton highway and the alyeska pipeline (from the north)

Tags: alaska · alyeska pipeline · anchorage · arctic circle · coldfoot · fairbanks · kari rightfoot · koyokuk river · mosquitoes · solstice

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Billy Bragg fights Fox Interactive on MySpace TOS and wins!

Fox Interactive is a unit of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. that was created last year to manage Fox’s U.S. websites. You’ll note that this is the Fox of Fox News Channel and other media outlets. One of Fox Interactive’s big catches was the purchase of Intermix Media for $580 million around the same time last July that the Fox Interactive unit was created. Intermix Media is, or rather was, the parent company of MySpace.com and was swallowed whole into the belly of the voracious News Corp who by December of last year had spent $1.3 billion on web properties, according to BusinessWeek. Okay, now you know the lineage of MySpace.

MySpace started its trajectory towards the top of the web as a place to hear about gigs and bands. The music component is still a major part of the site. The terms of service that MySpace required you to accept if you wanted to use the site as a musician was that Fox Interactive had ownership of media loaded to the site. That means that musicians and artists did not have control over their own content. According to the TOS of MySpace, Fox could use that content for their own purposes without the consent of the artist.

Step into the scene, my favorite British singer/songwriter for Labour, Billy Bragg. I remember listening many times to my vinyl copy of Talking with the Taxman about Poetry back in high school. I still have that record by the way. Billy is one to bring up the topic of labor unions and has probably never voted Tory in his life. He’s a really cool guy, and he writes great songs.

It only seems appropriate in 2006 that it would be Billy Bragg who takes on Fox Interactive and their onerous MySpace terms. To make a long story short, Billy got Fox to change the terms of service so that artists and musicians now own the recordings that they upload to MySpace, and Fox’s rights are much more limited to use that content within MySpace and nowhere else.

You can read all about Billy’s battle with MySpace on his MySpace blog, which you can access from his homepage there. And while you’re there, add his as a MySpace friend.

Billy writes:

I am very pleased to see that MySpace have changed their terms of agreement from a declaration of their rights into a declaration of our rights as artists, making it clear that, as creators, we retain ownership of our material. Having been adopted by the biggest social networking site on the block, I hope their recognition of the right of the artist to be sole exploiter of their own material now becomes an industry standard because there is much more at stake here than just the terms and conditions of a website.

Here is some of the new language in the terms of service:

Proprietary Rights in Content on MySpace.com.
MySpace.com does not claim any ownership rights in the text, files, images, photos, video, sounds, musical works, works of authorship, or any other materials (collectively, “Content”) that you post to the MySpace Services. After posting your Content to the MySpace Services, you continue to retain all ownership rights in such Content, and you continue to have the right to use your Content in any way you choose. By displaying or publishing (“posting”) any Content on or through the MySpace Services, you hereby grant to MySpace.com a limited license to use, modify, publicly perform, publicly display, reproduce, and distribute such Content solely on and through the MySpace Services.

Way to go, Mr. Bragg! We salute you and the hard-won fight.

If you’re not familiar with Billy Bragg’s music, we can recommend the album we linked to above or his double-CD greatest hits package called Must I Paint You a Picture? The Essential Billy Bragg. Check it out!

For the completists in the audience, we also noticed that Billy has a huge box set released this year of remastered recordings of his albums. It contains nine CDs and is called Vol 1.

Tags: billy bragg · fox · fox interactive · fox news channel · myspace · news corp · tos

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OpenDarwin shuts down: Mac OS X still proprietary

When Apple first released Mac OS X in 2000, they had the goal of seeding the operating system in open source style. The Darwin project released, and continues to release, the foundations for Mac OS X under an open source license. Anyone can download the Darwin source code and build a Unix-like operating system on top of it.

There were rumors that when Apple switched to the Intel architecture that they were going to discontinue Darwin. Nonetheless, the release of source code continues for both PPC and x86.

But ultimately, the Darwin project seems to have failed to take flight. In 2002, a website was started to house Darwin-related projects called OpenDarwin.org. The website ending up being little more than a repository for Mac OS X projects.

Today the folks over at OpenDarwin announced that they are shutting the site down. They realize that the promise of Darwin remains unfulfilled.

With Apple’s proprietary approach to technology, it’s no wonder that Darwin didn’t take off. Who would want to build a Mac OS X-like operating system when you already have Mac OS X? Also there was no guarantee that Apple would continue the Darwin program. They could cut off the updates of the core system, and then anyone’s OS project would be stuck. With such uncertainty, it seems only natural that the Darwin “community” is shuttering its doors.

In the last paragraph of this blog entry from 28 June 2004, I suggested that Apple ditch the existing foundation and build Mac OS X on top of Linux. Of course that would never work for Apple because the Linux kernel is licensed under the GPL, and Apple would have to make their OS completely open source. I think it’s still an interesting idea though.

With key geeks defecting from Mac OS X to Linux, one wonders what the future holds for open source and proprietary operating systems. I think that as DRM matures that people will be increasingly fed up with it. As open source alternatives arise to the WinMac monopolies, defections will only increase (just think: Firefox). The hard line stance companies have taken towards intellectual property will probably push even further in the next few years, but ultimately I think the advocates for openness will win out.

Tags: apple · darwin · linux · mac os x · monopoly · open source · opendarwin · winmac

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An O’Reilly book on SUSE Linux? Indeed!

There are a variety of books out there for SUSE Linux, but it’s only just now that legendary tech publisher O’Reilly has chimed in with a title of its own. SUSE Linux: A Complete Guide to Novell’s Community Distribution by Chris Brown, PhD, was just released this month. Here is a blurb about the book:

This book will take you deep into the essential operating system components by presenting them in easy-to-learn modules. From basic installation and configuration through advanced topics such as administration, security, and virtualization, this book captures the important details of how SUSE works—without the fluff that bogs down other books and web sites. Instead, readers get a concise task-based approach to using SUSE as both a desktop and server operating system.

Amazon is carrying the book with a 34% discount. Here is a sample chapter from the book in PDF format.

A few other books you may want to compare it with are SUSE Linux 10 Unleashed, SUSE Linux 10 Bible, and SUSE Linux 10 for Dummies.

Tags: books · chris brown · linux · o'reilly · suse · suse linux

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Web Developer extension for Firefox

I do a lot of work on the web, and tools that make web work easier are great. Tools that are free and open source are even better. So this morning I thought I’d tell you about Chris Pederick’s fantabulous Web Developer extension for Firefox.

When you install Web Developer, it creates a toolbar and a menu under the tools menu. Both contain the same options. The Web Developer toolbar is great. It breaks its functionality down into 12 separate categories with many, many options within each category.

Basically, the 12 categories allow you to get at different aspects of a website that you’re viewing. For example, you can view all the JavaScript from a page, display <div> order, or outline all the table cells on a page. You can easily validate the HTML or CSS of any page, show HTML comments, or view the contents of cookies issued by a site. You can also display image dimensions, display title attributes, or view the page source.

That is just scratching the surface, which is to say that there is a ton of control and functionality in the Web Developer extension. It’s more like a toolbox of tools useful for web developers than just a single tool. I’ve found the extension to be very handy, and you might too. It’s freely available at Chris Pederick’s site or from the Firefox Add-ons site.

Tags: chris pederick · extensions · firefox · web developer

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One non-stop ticket to Iowa City, please

Despite reports to the contrary, Iowa City is still my home. My job request did not go unheard, and within a matter of days, the offers were rolling in. So I just wanted to post this update so you didn’t have pictures of Dan as a Cheesehead dancing through your brain. Things worked out here in Iowa City, and I’m glad of that.

Tags: cheesehead · iowa city · jobs

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Good things come in threes: Tweaking always

Manufactured Environments is an active, living site. I’m often looking for better and newer ways to code things on the site. I made three tweaks to the site today that I wanted to give you the lowdown (down low?) on.

1. tags: the functionality of the tags that you see at the end of most posts on ManuEnvi has changed. I decided to take advantage of some new Movable Type functionality in version 3.3. Previously, the tags were links to that tag’s page at Technorati.com. Now they are internal. Clicking on a tag will give you a list of posts here that are marked with that tag. You can also subscribe to an RSS feed of a given tag. So if you want to subscribe to all the entries that are tagged linux, you can. There’s also a compendium of all the tags used on ManuEnvi. It’s a long list, which is because I’ve used tags in the past to indicate what is unique about a post, rather than using it as a substitute for categories. That behavior may change.
2. archives: the extensive archives needed some simplification. There had been JavaScript drop-downs over in the right-hand column that allowed you to view the archives from various years by month. This has been eliminated in favor of a centralized archives page. Under the archives section there is only one link. The archives page has been enhanced—at the top, you’ll see a complete list of all the months that Manufactured Environments has been in action, going back to February 2000. Below that is a complete list of all the entries by title. So you have two ways of finding old entries: either by month, or by individual entry. Here is a link to the archives.
3. fonts: the display of the entire website on Linux has been improved. I wasn’t happy with the way the fonts looked on Linux. The fonts used in the CSS file had been mostly optimized for Windows. I made some changes including Andale Sans for sans serif areas, and Nimbus Roman No9 L for the serif blog text and comments text. That definitely improves the display of ManuEnvi on my SUSE Linux box, and hopefully those fonts will work for your Linux box as well. (You may want to install OpenOffice.org if you haven’t.)

Tags: archives · fonts · linux · rss · suse linux · tags · technorati

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Geeks Gone Bad: Switching from Mac OS X to Linux

You’ll first note my lengthy and highly entertaining post from December 2005 entitled Celebrity Deathmatch: Windows XP vs SUSE Linux. In that article, I talked about my switch from Mac OS X and Windows XP over to SUSE Linux 10.0. Mark Pilgrim, who you might know as one of the maintainers of the Feed Validator for Atom and RSS among other things, made his own switch to Linux last month from Mac OS X and wrote about his dissatisfaction with Apple. Cory Doctorow of bOINGbOING followed in short order and claimed he too was going to switch to Ubuntu Linux instead of Mac OS X, although it remains to be seen whether he will go through with it.

For Mark it makes some sense. He works for IBM for one thing, which has been a big supporter of Linux. Plus he doesn’t have an Apple logo tattooed on his body (as far as I know) like Cory. My own credentials for switching to Linux are as follows. My first computer was an Apple ][+ circa 1981, and I first installed Linux back in 1994 with the Slackware distribution, which was big at the time. I downloaded the entire distro over a 14.4K baud modem, and wrote it all out to about 70 or 80 3.5” floppy discs (this was long, long time before the advent of consumer-level CD burners). So I’ve paid my dues.

In 1997, I switched back to Mac OS 8 from Linux with the return of Steve Jobs to Apple. But in the past year I’ve gotten interested again in Linux. This past December, I tried Debian, which appeared to be stuck in an early ’90s timewarp, and a few others. I liked SUSE Linux 10.0, but I really love SUSE Linux 10.1, which was released in May. In my opinion it’s far superior to Ubuntu especially if you’re going to run it on a laptop. With Ubuntu it’s a lot more work because you have to go out and find drivers, but SUSE Linux has lots of that stuff built-in. Plus the wireless client in SUSE 10.1 is leaps and bounds better than the Ubuntu equivalent.

As far as the software goes, the difference isn’t big between, say, Ubuntu and SUSE. Ubuntu and SUSE are completely open-source. Ubuntu works on a model of a minimal initial download CD and then you install apps through a web-connected installer. SUSE has you download the whole kit onto either a DVD or 5 CDs. You also have the option with SUSE of downloading an additional CD of proprietary software including the Macromedia Flash player for Firefox and a few other things.

Ubuntu is okay. I ran it on my laptop okay (except for the mediocre wireless support), although it wouldn’t install on my desktop. But once SUSE Linux 10.1 came out I’ve been using that as my primary operating system on both my laptop and my desktop. It’s very slick and has everything you’d expect of a modern operating system.

I’ve been singing the praises of Linux again and to me that feels good. I tried KDE for a while, but I much prefer Gnome. KDE and Gnome are different window managers. KDE is to Windows, as Gnome is to the Mac OS X. If you’re going to run KDE, you might as well run Windows because there’s little difference. Gnome though feels more unique and a lot better designed. A lot of thought went into making it a good user experience.

So six months into my switch to Linux, I’m still using Linux on a daily basis and loving it. I’ve switched all of my web development, writing, and other project work to Linux. It gets the job done. But after six months I’ve backed away from my December claim that it’s a good choice for most people. I think for the mainstream user, it’s still too technically oriented. For me, I use and enjoy Linux, but I think if you get off the beaten path or have to install drivers, than having technical knowledge will greatly enhance your Linux experience. With Linux though I feel more invested in the operating system, and I tend to use it in very different ways than I use Mac OS X or Windows. For one thing, I use the command line a hell of a lot more. It’s just a good way to get stuff done in Linux.

There’s a lot to love about Linux, and I have suggested Linux to a lot of people. Ultimately though I don’t think it’s an appropriate choice for non-technically oriented people. So I think the man or woman on the street will still run either Mac OS X or Windows. But if you’re at all technically inclined, I would highly recommend Linux, especially SUSE Linux 10.1, which is available for free download from openSUSE.org. Ubuntu Linux is available from Ubuntu.com.

Tags: linux · mac os x · opensuse · suse · suse linux · ubuntu · windows xp

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A fight to the death! Grammar errors and non-errors

Paul Brians, a professor of English at Washington State University, wrote the book on Common Errors in English Usage. He also maintains a website that contains the contents of the book, featuring hundreds of common misuses of English. It’s a handy resource if you have a question about usage—especially when you’re looking for just the right word.

Even more interesting is his list of Non-Errors. It’s basically a list of words and usage that uptight grammarians stick to, but Prof Brians offers some insight into why these supposed errors are actually okay and are standard English. An example:

Momentarily
“The plane will be landing momentarily,” says the flight attendant, and the grumpy grammarian in seat 36B thinks to himself, “So we’re going to touch down for just a moment?” Everyone else thinks, “Just a moment now before we land.” Back in the 1920s when this use of “momentarily” was first spreading on both sides of the Atlantic, one might have been accused of misusing the word; but by now it’s listed without comment as one of the standard definitions in most dictionaries.

Tags: english · grammar · language · misuse · paul brians

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Dooce has cancer?

Everyone’s favorite narrative blogger la femme, that is, Heather Armstrong of dooce.com, has cancer. She broke the news on Thursday. Apparently it’s a skin cancer called basal cell carcinoma that’s very treatable. Our thoughts are with Heather and hope the best for her.

Tags: cancer · dooce · heather armstrong

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About Last Night

Abigail and I met up with Amy and her now husband in DC for dinner at Straits of Malaya. Had a nice time. I was interested to learn that Amy’s friend Melanie who I had met on my trip to DC last year was writing a blog/column for the Washington City Paper. The City Paper is a huge compendium of all the stuff going on in the city that week. It’s like what Time Out is to the London set, but more like a tabloid-sized alterna-newsweekly rather than a magazine-styled format. Anyway, Melanie’s blog is called About Last Night on the City Paper’s website. It’s mostly about sex and relationships, and she does a good job with it.

Speaking of DC, if you’ll be in the city anytime from July 20-30th, you’ll definitely want to check out the Capital Fringe Festival. There’s a ton of stuff going on then.

Tags: about last night · capital fringe · city paper · fringe festival · time out · washington dc

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Washington DC trip photos

My photos from this year’s trip to Washington DC are posted online now. You can find them in the Washington DC 2006 gallery over on the photography area of Manufactured Environments. Enjoy!

Tags: 2006 · fotos · photo gallery · photography · photos · washington dc

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1,500 Reasons to Love ’80s Music

Saw this link on MetaFilter the other day, and wow, what a link! It’s a site that contains 1,500 music videos from the ’80s. The catch is that it’s 1 song each by 1,500 different artists. It’s amazing the stuff they have on there—songs I haven’t heard since the ’80s are there ready to be played and viewed. If you grew up in the ’80s like I did, you’re bound to find something of interest. The range of artists is stunning. So check out 1500videos.com and jam the freak out.

Tags: 1500 · 80s music · music · music videos · videos

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A Prairie Home Companion: The Movie

Whilst in Alexandria, Virginia, we took a little time out to see A Prairie Home Companion: The Movie. As a listener of the excellent radio show of the same name, I had high hopes. Well, okay, I sort of didn’t because Garrison Keillor is an odd looking man, and I seriously wondered how he would make the transition to the big screen. On that count, Mr. Keillor made the transition wonderfully. Unfortunately he seemed to have left his stories and his wit back on the radio.

If you had watched the film and had never listened to the radio show, you would have three misconceptions:

1. the radio show is a music show entirely
2. the radio show is a Christian show
3. the radio show has shut down and is off the air

None of these are true of course. The radio show has a lot of skits and dramatic pieces. It is also very funny. The humor and wit hardly appeared at all in the movie. The movie made a big thing about having a Christian singing troupe and praising the Lord in song and speech. This is nothing like the radio show. Keillor does make jokes about his familiar Norwegian Lutherans and of course the Unitarian Universalists, but he never hits you over the head with it. And finally, the show is still running, unlike the radio show in the movie, which was dismantled in the end.

I got Mr. Keillor’s point that corporate forces are taking over radio (and other areas) and shutting down well loved shows that don’t figure into the profit motive. It was a good point to make. But I found myself repulsed by the movie. First off, it was all music. Non-stop. There were snippets of dialogue in between the music numbers, but it was like watching a concert video. Because the movie was all music all the time, there was little or no story.

The thing that got me though was that I found some of the humor in the movie retrograde. I expect Keillor’s humor to be witty and funny, but the various jokes about women being “cows” had neither wit nor humor. We just shook our heads at those—the “G.K.” of the movie seemed a sexist jerk. Sure, Mr. Keillor makes jokes about men and women from time to time, but they usually have some redeeming quality or are inherently funny. The jokes in the movie were mean-spirited.

And of course Mr. Keillor’s finest talent, telling stories, made no appearance in the movie whatsoever.

The final scene with Lindsay Lohan as a busy, corporate type coming into the diner was one of the most poorly acted scenes in any movie I’ve seen for a while. That scene was horrible and an awful way to end the film.

So I still love A Prairie Home Companion: The Radio Show, but the movie was a total bust in my opinion.

Tags: a prairie home companion · garrison keillor · lindsay lohan · movie · radio

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Back from DC

We’re back from our jaunt to Washington DC. Had a nice time on the beach in Ocean City, MD, watching the fireworks. I’m sifting through my photos and will post a few choice ones to the photography section in the next day or two.

Oddly enough, our blogmate Faust happened to be in DC at the same time quite unexpectedly. Abigail and I met Faust and T at Zed’s in Georgetown for Ethiopian along with Kirsten and her husband + child. We’re hoping that Sir Faust posts his camerafone take of the city.

There were, happily, lots of East-Coast-meets-Midwest moments on the trip, and it was great to see all our DC friends. We miss you already! (A special shout-out to Letts Hall on the AU campus!)

In other news, as President Bush toured Graceland with the Japanese Prime Minister, the Bush twins were apparently having a toga party at the White House. We got to see many young people getting photographed and strolling into the White House wearing togas that night as we wandered the perimeter of Lafayette Square. There’s fun to be had when the cat’s away.

Tags: dc · east coast · georgetown · midwest · ocean city · toga party · washington · zeds

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