Call the Doctor
Wax Banks on Garden State: "Braff will make better movies someday, perhaps, but he needs a collaborator who can take his talent for capturing mood and couple it to a plot that's actually, um, a plot."#
Imagine that America had a Chief Justice of the United States who actually believed in enforcing the Constitution and, accordingly, issued an opinion that the war in Iraq was unconstitutional because Congress did not fulfill its constitutional duty in declaring war. Imagine also that the neocon media, think tanks, magazines, radio talk shows, and television talking heads then waged a vicious, months-long smear campaign against the chief justice, insinuating that he was guilty of treason and should face the punishment for it. Imagine that he is so demonized that President Bush is emboldened to issue an arrest warrant for the chief justice, effectively destroying the constitutional separation of powers and declaring himself dictator.
I read the essays of Paul Graham's book Hackers & Painters that are not available online.#
Chapter 4: Good Bad Attitude
Hackers are unruly. That is the essence of hacking. And it is also the essence of American-ness. It is no accident that SIlicon Valley is in America, and not France, or Germany, or England, or Japan. In those countries, people color inside the lines.
I lived for a while in Florence. But after I'd been there a few months I realized that what I'd been unconsciously hoping to find there was back in the place I'd just left. The reason Florence is famous is that in the 1450, it was New York. In 1450 it was filled with the kind of turbulent and ambitious people you find now in America. (So I went back to America.) [p. 53]
This is great as well:
When you read what the founding fathers had to say for themselves, they sound more like hackers. "The spirit of resistance to government," Jefferson wrote, "is so valuable on certain occasions, that I wish it always to be kept alive."
Imagine an American president saying that today. Like the remarks of an outspoken old grandmother, the sayings of the founding fathers have embarrassed generations of their less confident successors. They remind us where we come from. They remind us that it is the people who break rules that are the source of America's wealth and power.
Those in a position to impose rules naturally want them to be obeyed. But be careful what you ask for. You might get it. [p. 55]
Mark Bernstein: "If you write down a list of hypermedia pioneers, how many software engineers do you find? If you write down a list of topflight Web designers, how many software engineers do you find?"#
Faré links to an awesome study of the Fibonacci sequence calculator in Lisp.#
Michael Willaims fscks.#
Ask links to Zach Braff's weblog.#
Also, many of you have commented that I seem like a normal, down to Earth guy. This is true. But it got me thinking of ways that I could become more of a Hollywood dickhead: Starting tomorrow, I will only drink milk from Doves. If it turns out to be true (as some have said) that Doves do not indeed produce milk, then I will move onto Eagle Milk. But not before we get to the bottom of this whole Doves pretending they don't produce milk thing.
Also...
Some of you have been asking about the rating. Just so you all know, your government doesn't believe a 16 year old should hear the word "fuck" more than twice in a 2 hour period. The second you say "fuck" twice in a movie your film becomes "R". No exceptions. Pretty crazy, huh? You can blow someone's head off, but 2 fucks makes you unwatchable for someone under 17. Unless they have their parent there to explain it to them. "Mom, I understood the first use of the word fuck, but what's with the second - give me guidance please. I've heard one fuck before, but ever since I heard the second one I've had this insatiable desire to rob a liquor store and refer to all women as "ho's".