Month: April 2002 (Page 2 of 4)

Scott Adams is an interesting fellow. After making millions with the Dilbert cartoons, he now has enough clout to get them to publish pretty much whatever he wants to write or draw. And that’s led to some fascinating stuff, like the philosophical mind experiment “God’s Debris,” which I recommend to anyone wanting to expand their mental horizons.

I was leafing through his pseudo-futurist book, “The Dilbert Future,” and came upon something that fascinated me. He calls it “affirmations.” You pick a goal, no matter how outlandish. Then every day, you visualize attaining that goal, and write down the goal 15 times. According to Adams, he has achieved amazing results from this technique alone. Coincidences begin to pile up that lead him straight to the goal.

Normally this type of thing would make me groan, with its new-agey “aligning your chakras” sensibility. But then I thought, what can it hurt? Even if it just gets you to focus on the goal a little bit each day, it’s a good thing.

I’m actually thinking about doing this. Now I just need to pick a goal. What would yours be?

“Kissing Jessica Stein” has some problems, mostly in the last 20 minutes. But with my current anti-Hollywood mood, that almost made me like it more.

As with most interesting movies, the basic concept (straight perfectionist Jessica decides to try dating women) isn’t really what the movie is about. It’s about trusting your instincts, taking risks, not taking life so seriously, and being true to yourself.

And before you go away thinking this is some sort of Lifetime movie starring Lindsay Wagner, I should also say that it’s funny and sweet and has sharp, naturalistic dialogue. In addition to the two great leads, there are knockout supporting performances by Jackie Hoffman as Jessica’s pregnant officemate and Tovah Feldshuh as her meddling mother.

Not for everyone, but it’s well-written and smart and has some food for thought, without banging you over the head with it. A good combination.

First we had snow in April, and now the temperature is what, 80? Something is seriously messed up with the climate.

Since my brother was coming in from Florida for a visit, I got to be impressed again with a little web application that the little Madison airport has running on their web site. Any time you want, you can call up the same arrival and departure information display that they have on the monitors at the airport. This is incredibly useful, and saves a lot of calling and running around.

Do major airports have this sort of thing? I looked around O’Hare’s site and couldn’t find it. I know big airports have a lot more arrivals and departures than what used to be known as Madison International Airport (!), but it’s still a great idea, and more airports should be copying it.

I’m not usually that affected when celebrities die. Dudley Moore? Not that big a deal. The Queen Mum? She had a good run. But for some reason, hearing that Robert Urich died made me sad.

Found “Excalibur” on the DVD bargain shelf at Shopko, and I couldn’t resist. It even has a second audio track commentary by director John Boorman.

So I sat down to watch it. It’s been many years since I’ve seen it, and I was struck by the beautiful, dreamlike, jewel-toned photography. But what kept me from really enjoying it, I think, is that all kinds of Monty Python imagery kept running through my head. Boorman’s film is something you really need to buy into to enjoy, since everyone is so sincerely overacting in order to evoke that “long ago and far away” atmosphere. (Nigel Terry as Arthur best managed to carry this off without seeming foolish, I think.) And you can’t buy into the serious side of Arthurian legend when clomping coconuts keep appearing in your brain.

Bedevere: What makes you think she’s a witch?
Peasant: Well she turned me into a newt!
Bedevere: A newt?
Peasant: …I got better.

“If I may venture to say so, rather a burning question in my mind at present is, well, what about breakfast and all that? I mean, what are the meal-times, if you understand me, and where is the dining room, if there is one?”

–Pippin Took (who knows how to keep his priorities straight), Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

Disturbing pop culture fact of the week

When “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” went off the air in 1977, the six actors collected a combined salary for the final episode of $100,000 ($300,000 in adjusted dollars). When “Friends” ends in the spring of 2003, the combined salary of those six actors will be $6 million.

I love Amazon – I think they have the best customer experience on the web. But this blurb on my empty shopping cart page sort of disturbed me:

Your Shopping Cart lives to serve. Give it purpose–fill it with books, CDs, videos, DVDs, toys, electronics, and more.

Went to see “Monsoon Wedding” last night, and I’ll admit, I was doing it mostly to prove to my friends that I’m flexible in my movie choices.

Turns out, I really liked it a lot.

I don’t have any idea if this movie is an accurate portrayal of upper-middle-class Indian society – it’s probably the first Indian film I’ve ever seen. But what struck me most is how relaxed everyone was. They seemed to move to a different rhythm than Americans. They danced and laughed and related to each other in ways that seemed all the more foreign to me because it seemed so natural and unforced. It’s like the difference between a clenched fist and an open hand.

Recommended as a tonic for these overstressed times.