Something In The Air
So since The Mrs arrived, one topic has occupied more thought time than most others, and oddly, it's not how pleased he is to see me. It's when exactly Apple's 'flagship' store in downtown San Francisco is going to get its stock of Macbook Airs in. After all, if he's going to travel all the way to the home of the Mac, you'd think they'd have the decency to have one sitting here waiting for him.
So far, no sign, but with the people who pre-ordered mailorder kit starting to receive them, it surely can't be any later than tomorrow....
Company’s Coming
Well, company's here actually. The Mrs arrived here on the West Coast for a visit of around a month yesterday and is so far bearing up better than expected in the face of letlag, which usually he's a martyr to.
We're going to take some trips out of town while he's here (including a trip up to Seattle to see a couple of people) , and I'm going to get to do the tourist thing which I haven't done in this town for years. It's so nice to have him here. He may even find teh time to do some of his own blogging for the first time in ages while he's here. Hint.
The State Of The States
Last night was GW Bush's last State of the Union speech - for those who don't know, this is the event once a year when the President presents himself to the collected Senate and the House of Representatives and talks about, well, the state of the Union. Saw some of it and was struck by how terribly sycophantic is all is, with various members (and I use the term advisedly) leaping to their feet to give him an ovation at the drop of a hat.
It reminded me very much of those West Wing episodes which focused on the event, especially the post-speech analysis, with the focus group results and the counting of the number of ovations. Because outside the UK you tend only to see clips, I'd always thought that the dramatised versions were exaggerated.
Now I know better.
Overheard/Witnessed
In the drugstore today: A man buying three twelve-packs of Magnum (large-sized) condoms and asking the check-out assistant how long they were good for.
I mean, come on - if you're not planning on using them within a reasonable period, why bother stocking up in the first place? It's not like there was a three-for-two offer...
Enough?
Dave pointed me at enoughsenough.org, which seems to be a clearing house for right-on campaigns that I for one find somewhat sinister.
The campaigns themselves seem mostly to be climate change-focused, but actually, there's a solid bias among the ads they showcase towards reducing air travel and airport expansion, which looks like either an agenda or just lazy bandwagon-jumping.
And who is/are enoughsenough.org ('a solar powered website' - oh please)? Well apparently, it "was founded by a group of individuals, is completely independent and has no affiliations whatsoever to any political party or business interest".
Says them.
Nowhere is there any indication of who any of these 'individuals' are, so their claim to be unconnected is vague at best, and untestable by any ordinary measure. They've even hidden the details of the domain registrant. I'm automatically distrustful of people who are unwilling to put their names to their causes, except where there's a real danger of violent reprisal, and while Britain's getting worse, it's not there yet. I'm particularly distrustful when they encourage other people to 'join' them without any real undertaking about what they're getting into, or what their details will be used for. Yes, that's right - no privacy policy, despite the fact that they're collecting email addresses. Though a privacy policy provided by a shadowy, anonymous, and unaccountable group is obviously not worth the pixels it's dispayed on. Via a hotmail account, by the way, not even through their own domain, which looks even more dodgy. I wonder if these are 'individuals' who would add objections to identity cards and abuse of personal data to their non-specific area of concern?
And apropos of nothing in particular - the whole site is built in Flash, which given its unfriendliness to assistive technology, is a strange decision for a right-on campaigning group to make. And there isn't even any reason for it to be in Flash - the whole thing could be done in good old-fashioned HTML and look utterly identical.
This all probably sounds like I'm over-reacting, and it's possible that this is just a well-intentioned but dumb effort on the part of some legitimately well-meaning 'individuals'. I have a lot of sympathy with the cause of combatting climate change, and wholeheartedly approve of drawing attention to the general antipathy among governments worldwide towards actually doing anything about it.
But this - I just can't shake my innate suspicion, or that feeling I mentioned up top, that its lack of accountability makes it all rather sinister.
“One Day You’re In…”
Completely against my will or better judgement, I've found myself curiously absorbed by Project Runway (fifteen amateur designers compete against each other for a chance to win a photoshoot in Elle magazine, plus have their line of clothes sold, a car, and some cash). And look, I know: It's fashion. It's the least consequential subject in the entire world with the possible/probable exception of its Bravo stablemate Make Me A Supermodel (which is just people wearing the clothes that designers have at least had to put some thought and creativity into - highlight of the three minutes of that I inadvertently caught: "My back hurts from this really heavy necklace I'm wearing!" That's a man talking, by the way.). But it(Runway)'s oddly entertaining.
It's in its latter stages now (there are six of them left), and I'm beginning to realise why I've been watching it (apart from the fact that there's not another thing on worth having burbling away in the background of an evening) . Of all this type of programme, it's the one that does the best job of actually making a rollercoaster of the event. Because each of the designers has a different approach or experience, some of them do better at certain challenges than others, but each week's elimination is only based on that week's challenge, so someone could win five weeks out of six and then be ousted because they fuck up their 'Avant Garde look based on your model's hairstyle' (no, I'm not kidding). And because the decisions are made entirely by the judges, not the audience, there's none of that thing where someone crap but likeable can unexpectedly keep getting through. Plus, it's designers, so there's loads of scope for people to get into "what was s/he thinking????" mode, which is always good for a laugh. Check out the episode summaries on the Bravo site: "The crew bids a farewell to Chris March, whose mistake with shoulder-pads sends him home from the competition." You couldn't make it up.
Actually, there's another reason to watch Runway, and it's Tim Gunn. I don't know where they found him, but he's brilliant. He's the mentor, and calm voice of wisdom and authority while the contestants are working on their projects, and he's just a STAR. The devastated looks on their faces when he eyes what they've proudly done and says "It worries me" in his sincere, slightly odd, slightly fey drawl can reduce me to hysterics. And it's clearly not just me, as his Wikipedia entry relates that he was voted the reason why people watch Project Runway (and let's face it, it was never going to be for the drab, personality-free zone that is 'host' Heidi Klum).
He also has quite the way with words: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uP7zGF6orAI
I think Tim Gunn is my new hero.
*That* Inquest
You've got to love Al Fayed's tenacity and sheer bloody-minded bonkersness. He's now decided that the one survivor of that crash is part of the conspiracy because he doesn't remember what happened (which he must therefore be faking). Trevor Rees could easily have been killed in the accident himself, and it supposes an utterly superhuman loyalty on his part to suggest that he's covering up for some shadowy figure who must have been willing to see him killed as no more than collateral damage.
Meanwhile, in the other most entertaining development of the inquest, how completely destroyed is whatever shred of credibility was left to Paul Burrell? The idea that he was the last keeper of Diana's secrets is trashed comprehensively, and if not actually a liar, he's very plainly exposed as a fantasist at best over his much-vaunted journals. I suppose it's too much to hope that this will finally put the nail in his ability to capitalise on the death of someone he supposedly respected and admired.
Heath Ledger, RIP
According to various reports, the circumstances sound a little weird, but regardless, a damn shame. It's going to make seeing the new Batman film slightly odd.
What Holiday?
Today's one of those odd public holidays the US has which not everyone regards as a holiday. So one of our US offices is closed, but the other isn't. It's Martin Luthor King Day, which I'd tend to think was one worth marking. I'd certainly rather mark the achievements of a real human being of such distinction than either the religious nonsense that's the basis for so many British holidays, or the lives and achievements of either fictional or largely fictionalised characters like our 'beloved' national saints.