Overheard

"It doesn't matter how good or bad the product is, the fact is that people don't read anymore."
Steve Jobs in the New York Times Bits blog on January 15, 2008.
Maybe he needs to leave Apple and work in a library.

Mission Accomplished

After 4 months and close to 10 hours of work in the last 24 hours, I finished my final project (a Guide to the Works of Jane Austen) for my XHTML/CSS class and turned it in an hour ago.
My treat, a large french fry, grilled cheese and banana/vanilla shake.
Now I get to enjoy the new BBC version of Sense and Sensibility tonight.
Here is a clip I used on one of my final websites:

Brit Best

My son and I enjoy watching British TV and watched back in 2006 as a young receptionist from London won The X Factor (a British "Idol" style show). This week she became the first British woman to top the Billboard Charts in America in 20 years. The clip below is Leona Lewis singing her hit Bleeding Love at the Brit Awards in February. She's singing live and it's perfect. What singer can do that anymore? And I love that she performs barefoot.

Sicko

I just finished watching Michael Moore's controversial documentary about the US health care system Sicko. The film received a 20 minute standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for an Academy Award in 2007 and for good reason. It's everything a documentary should be. At times I was laughing hysterically (sexy Hillary), crying (families denied medical treatments) and pissed off (patients who can't pay their hospital bills getting forced into cabs and dropped off at homeless shelters). Is everything in the documentary absolute? I doubt it. Is is appalling, shocking, upsetting and just sad that anything in this film is accurate? Absolutely. At times I was so angry at what I was watching that I wanted to grab my family and my passport and move to France or England. But then I also wanted to pick up the phone and call every Senator in my state and find out who is in the pockets of the insurance companies.
Watch it. Get angry. Try and protect yourself and your family from the health care system. Before I went to bed last night I made sure my life insurance policies were in order and fell asleep thankful I do have insurance with a respected PPO (fingers crossed).
http://www.michaelmoore.com/sicko/dvd/

Phone call from my Kid

Got this voice message today:
"Hi Mom, it's me. I've got my cell phone on.
I'm going to the ghetto to buy some pirated DVD's.
Call me later."

Chatter Box

So I love AM radio. I got hooked back in the late 80's when I was on monthly weekend road trips looking at colleges. I drove throughout the Midwest and finally found the college I would attend in Southwest Ohio at Ohio University. During the years I was there I wasn't home much except during holidays, but the 6-7 hours each way from Chicago to Athens provided lots of radio time (this was before cars had CD players). Back then you could still find an occasional AM station in the middle of nowhere that was playing the audio of the days soap operas. I don't know how many times I drove across Route 70 in Indiana and Ohio listening to the drama on All My Children and General Hospital.
Chicago has some decent AM stations, I have on 720 and 780 daily in my car depending on the host. WGN 720 "The Voice of Chicago" is good, except the morning "Girlfriends" Kathy and Judy can be a little too female for me. 720 can be found here:
http://wgnradio.com/
My AM of choice is WBBM 780, "Chicago's Newsradio" which can be found here: http://www.wbbm780
.com/ I really like to just listen to the news, Pat Cassidy is my morning guy and Kris Kridel is the voice in the afternoon.
Back in college a girlfriend and I had a radio show on campus, we played dance tunes (Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Cure etc.), we were on in the middle of the night, mainly because my friend liked the boy who ran the station. I think my cheesy on-air radio name was Vivienne. LOL, nice hooker name AKA Pretty Woman.

Like Steve McQueen all we need's a fast machine

I just finished a terrific book for the 2nd time.
Steve McQueen: The Last Mile by Barbara McQueen & Marshall Terrill is a beautiful memoir of the last years of Steve's life written 25 years after his death. The coffee table book is a collection of hundreds of private photographs taken during the couples 3 year relationship from the time of their first meeting in 1977 until his death in 1980. The story of their courtship and relationship is fascinating, she was a world class model almost 25 years younger than him and he was the legendary actor who liked Old Milwaukee beer, motorcycles and fast cars. But it's the personal photographs taken almost from their first date until he became gravely ill with cancer that make this book a glimpse into a fairytale relationship of true love gone too soon. It's also a beautiful tribute to the ultimate "Mans Man", an iconic figure who has inspired a generation of men since his death.