I believe it does star Jamie Foxx. He was on the Daily Show last week or was it Colbert?

I believe it does star Jamie Foxx. He was on the Daily Show last week or was it Colbert?

I saw that Jamie Farr was a star of the movie, because my brain short-circuited and I thought they meant Jamie Foxx.

Strike that; reverse it.

Ack, you're right, Sara K! My brain short-circuited again as I was typing that up. I've swapped the names so now it makes sense.

Ack! It's too late for me to redeem myself from double posting.

The opportunites to fix mistakes are as frequent as mistakes made. Or something profound like that.

>Farr has played an Arab sheik before!

And here I thought you meant that episode of M*A*S*H with the imaginary camel!

I suspect that the Kingdom graphics come from the same shop that did the PNAC video. And the recent Casino Royale opening. Again, mere suspicion. Could just be the same school.

To throw in a video you might enjoy: Will Franken's skit "Loneliness." NSFW.

I have seen that Code Monkey dance video. And I thought, right, with ki projection like that she's going to either be an actor someday, or the world's most worrying aikido black belt.

Also, my friends went to a Coulton concert a few months ago. They reported that when he did that song, half the audience did the dance. That dance. Because fandoms are about each other.

(Has anyone done a study of fandom starting with the root concept "extremophile"?)

The book on the big picture regarding oil is The Prize by Daniel Yergin. It's pretty much the whole story from Pennsylvania and Spindletop to Sumatra, Baku and Persia all the way through to Bush I and the Gulf War. The prize of the title is, in Churchill's words, "mastery itself."

I have seen that Code Monkey dance video. And I thought, right, with ki projection like that she's going to either be an actor someday, or the world's most worrying aikido black belt.

Emily (for that is her name) is indeed a drama student.

P.S. What is ki projection?

Ki is the akido life force that flows through us. It's generated by single celled organisms in our bloodstream. You can project your ki and it can be felt by others as a presence, sometimes one they haven't felt in a long, long time.

Greg London in #12:

FTW!!!

Gosh but the Sellers was sweet. Dinosaurs walked the earth in those days. The video is just barely good enough to watch some of the facial changes that go with the accents (advice from a performer friend: hold your face and body the way someone from a particular place does, and you'll end up talking like them automatically).

Let me know how Bronson's book is.

There was a very fractious debate about The Kingdom over at Matt Zoller Seitz's The House Next Door a few days ago, complete with new commenters throwing around hackneyed right-wing talking points like "moral equivalence" and "anti-Americanism" and, I think, a link to the old "Flamer Bingo" thread here:

http://mattzollerseitz.blogspot.com/2007/09/they-do-it-with-love-kingdom.html

Well, Jamie Foxx is a really great actor, too, not least for channeling Ray Charles from beyond the grave.

And on the sidebar of the Sellars accents video was a link to one of my favorite scenes from "The Muppet Show"--where Kermit tells Peter that, backstage, he can just be himself, and Peter replies...

"There used to be a Me, but I had it surgically removed..."

Thank you!

Flippanter@16: There was a very fractious debate about The Kingdom

Hm, fractious isn't what I'd call that. More like a cage match to the death.

Greg@12:

Yes, and they're called "midichlorians". You've got to be kidding me.

Gag, ki (alt. spelling: qi, chi) is one of the many, many names for "life force"; this name is generally used by martial artists (and masseuses) in the Japanese or Chinese traditions.

Almost all scientists who've looked at the subject seriously agree that there is no basis to it in fact. I've also never heard of anyone claiming that it is generated by single-celled organisms in the bloodstream (aside from George Lucas).

I'd missed the Code Monkey dance the first (or second, or third, or...) time around. As someone who's taken advantage of Jonathan Coulton's use of CC licensing, it makes me happy to see what people are doing with his music, and that he both allows and encourages it.

This thread sort of partakes of the open-thread nature, right? And everybody here will greatly appreciate Bookhunter, a hard-boiled tale of the Oakland Library Police.

It's here. Go read it.

Michael Roberts @ #22:

That's great!

Malthus @ 20: I think it's fairly clear that Greg was, indeed, kidding you. You even got the joke.

With that said, there's as much argument for ki's existence in fact as there is for, say, scansion. Attempting to measure it is missing the point, because (at least with regards to things like the video in question) it's fundamentally just a matter of doing the art well, not of having some mystical shortcut to having the effects of good art without the work. And, like scansion, it's useful to have terms to describe the pieces of the art.

Michael Roberts @22:
Fantastic!

(Though the book structure terminology is not so much wrong as wildly clueless.)

Michael Roberts @ 22... Thanks. And there are dinosaurs too. Yay!

abi, I knew you were into bookbinding -- it's a shame the terminology was wildly clueless, because it had me totally convinced.

As soon as I got a few frames into it, I knew y'all had to see it. I'm just surprised you haven't already; now I feel all cool 'n' stuff.

The is the one I first saw. The whole thing takes place inside a buried phone booth.

But to really kill an hour or two, Read this one. Whew.

Serge -- there may well be sodomy somewhere on that site as well.

Malthus@20: You've got to be kidding me.

That was the idea.

Having spent a good chunk of time training in aikido and bo-kens in my way-back days, I actually am familiar with ki. And it's about as easy to explain as "the force".

Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side.

And all that.

Jediism is one of my favorite non-parody religions these days. One could do a whole lot worse than to choose it.

There are several quite "successful"* religions these days that started out either as cons or as jokes. If anyone wants to list them, go right ahead; I'm not in the mood for a religious flame session tonight.** Maybe tomorrow.

* For values of success I don't much find appealing.

** But I will recommend reading John Barnes' "Jak Jinnaka" trilogy: The Duke of Uranium, A Princess of the Aerie, and In the Hall of the Martian King. I won't spoil it; trust me, there is a relation to what I'm talking about, and you will very likely enjoy finding out what it is. Of course, YMMV.

There's something odd about the lyrics of Code Monkey. If Boring Manager Rob said the monkey's code was "not clear and maintainable", or "not commented sufficiently", or "too cryptic and mysterious", or "not documented properly" I'd recognize Code Monkey as a sympathetic character: the serious, creative programmer being oppressed by bureacracy, which is how the song seems to think I'll react.

But Boring Manager Rob says the Monkey's code is "not functional or elegant". The type of programmer who works diligently yet produces code which is neither functional nor elegant is another recognizable character; I've worked with lots of them, and I don't sympathize with them at all.

So are the lyrics a bit off? Are we meant to identify with the Monkey and assume Rob is just being an arsehole? Or is the Monkey really in the wrong business?

Niall,

I wondered that about the lyrics, too.

I guess we're meant to identify with Monkey and yet recognize his flaws, too. He probably is in the wrong business; he's probably pursuing the wrong love interest; he's probably never going to rise above it all. He's deluding himself, in a kind of sympathetic way. But then, aren't we all?

I had just assumed Rob was a jerk. How functional or elegant can a goddamned login screen be, anyway? The point (to me) is that Code Monkey is in a bind -- he can either be functional or elegant, or he can crank through the output quickly, and either way, it doesn't really matter because a login screen is about four function calls and a variable, or something, so really, Rob is just an asshole.

That's my take. And I just can't get the "Code Monkey not crazy, just proud" out of my head. It's so true.

Another video, though you've probably already seen it: Dove's "Onslaught", a sequel to "Evolution."

Niall:

I always assumed that Rob was wrong, and applying some wrongheaded standard of elegance or "functional" style (as opposed to procedural, OO, whatever). But maybe Code Monkey really is in the wrong business and Rob is right.

Has anyone in the trade ever heard a manager use the word "elegant"? I sure haven't. The very idea that the aesthetics of code mattered would give most of the managers I've known hives. I assumed that Rob was an ex-Code Monkey himself, who bought into the "us vs. them" management philosophy and used whatever BS excuse he could think of to denigrate C.M.s work.

OTOH, Code Monkey needs to quit drifting and go after the things he wants, something that a lot of us have failed to do during times of bad stress/cess on the job. I can be sympathetic to that.

Hm. For them as into books and binding, "Open as You Would Your Own Rib Cage" sounds interesting, tho it's all four years ago now. 'Red' magazine included articles like this. Reached by following up an interview of Jason Shiga from links to shigabooks above. (Thanx guys.)

Following up on the ki thing:

Ki is, of course, mystical bullshit. That's why it works so well, both as a teaching idiom and a tool of practice in martial arts. It's as nonexistent as charm, leadership, or acting. Humans are all about bullshit.

If anyone is interested in what a (hand) bookbinder's hands actually look like, we have:
- very smooth skin on the back of the left hand, from putting Vaseline there and dabbing it off with cotton wool to convey gold leaf to the finishing tool
- nine short fingernails, to prevent little half-moons in the damp leather as we work it onto a book
- a left thumbnail that extends past the end of the thumb, to position the hot finishing tool before lettering in gold

Clumsy bookbinders, like me, may also have small cuts (paper, thread, or knife) and burns, or the scars from them.

Also, having been the object of the affections of a Code Monkey or two in my time, I find my sympathy for him comes and goes. Not all CM's really know how to express their affection...appropriately. Or even, in some cases, tolerably.

#38 Andrew Plotkin
Following up on the ki thing:

nothing else needs to be said on that topic

abi @ 39: Clumsy bookbinders, like me, may also have small cuts (paper, thread, or knife) and burns, or the scars from them.

If bookbinding is anything like metalworking in this regard, the adjective "clumsy" in this sentence is redundant. Of course clumsy bookbinders (metalworkers) will have cuts, burns, and scars — so do the non-clumsy ones.

Or maybe I'm just trying to make myself feel better, she says while looking at her own hands...

Here's an animated rendition of Sibelius's "Valse Triste". Be warned. It deserves its title, especially if there is a cat in your life.

Lexica @41
If bookbinding is anything like metalworking in this regard, the adjective "clumsy" in this sentence is redundant. Of course clumsy bookbinders (metalworkers) will have cuts, burns, and scars — so do the non-clumsy ones.

I've seen some very nice-handed binders, particularly the professionals. Much of this is necessity - although it is possible to get blood out of many types of paper* and cloth**, it's darned difficult to completely clean the stains off of many types of leather.

-----
* use saliva† on a Q-tip
** cold water‡
† many binders say one's own saliva is best††
‡ test for colourfastness first ‡‡
†† though since one is fairly dry-mouthed after cutting one's self, this particular set of binders often get into ways to milk and store one's own saliva against the eventual need §
‡‡ Well, duh...
§ Which is yet another reason not to raid the fridge at your friendly local bookbinder's place§§
§§ if the wheat paste preserved with clove oil wasn't bad enough...

Niall@32: Boring Manager Rob says the Monkey's code is "not functional or elegant".

I'm with the "no manager would realistically use 'elegant' as a code metric" crowd. If the manager said 'it isn't elegant', then he's just looking for somethign to bust his b@!!$ with.

Yes, Code Monkey needs a life coach, or some thing that would get him into going after a life he actually enjoys living. But, then, I think it's probably safe to say that serial TV fiction* is based far more on people being miserable than being happy.

(*) other types of fiction as well. Peter Parker is always struggling to keep a job and keep his girl. And whatnot. But TV seems to be the misery machine.

How many footnote dimensions will Abi be able to put in a post before she rips a hole in Reality?

abi (43): many binders say one's own saliva is best

That's the advice from/to quilters, as well. Something about enzymes in one's blood/saliva, as I understand it.

Mary Aileen @ 46.. Or, as Doctor Frankenstein would have said:

"It's saliva! Saliva!"

Saliva had a fairly compelling song in the movie "The Fast and The Furious", titled "Click, Click, Boom". The music video featured the transfiguration of a mosh pit hero.

Serge (#42), avoiding it because it hurts too much, I assume this is from Allegro non Troppo, discussed at the start of the year in the Pitch Bitch thread (warning: 1001 comments) starting here.

There are more fun parts of that film, too.

But speaking of pain, I saw the Sydney production of the opera Dead Man Walking this week. It was pretty good. At the moment I prefer it to A Streetcar Named Desire, seen a month ago. They used the same bloke (Teddy Tahu Rhodes) to play the main male protagonist — he can successfully pull off the scene where Joe is doing & counting push-ups bare-chested, then sings quite a bit. (There's also an odd little cameo by Alan Jones (check his cast listing to see why it's odd).) Anyway, the show might 'make one to think' as well as feel.

Serge @ #47: Ouch.

Lexica # 41

Just be glad you're not a machinist ...

abi @ 43

You also need to be careful when looking for a pitcher of cold water in the refrigerator of someone who does black and white film photography. Stop bath is a weak solution of acetic acid; drinking vinegar at 5 in the morning when you expected water is not fun.

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