movie done so surprisingly well (I suppose it's that I dislike the title, which, notice, I'd like to leave unsaid -ehsisterhood -ehtravelling -ehpants) I thought book would not be as good. but it is quite good. and after reading it, there are two differences I would like to have seen in the movie:

-----a dark good-looking Eric. he did not strike me in the movie at all, so I was happy to find his very different description in the book as part Mexican, with longish dark hair. With a different actor as Eric, Bee's interactions with him could have interested me much more.

-----a stronger actress as Lena, more depth, more solidity so that you can see her as the mother figure going to Bee at the end of the book. Alexis Bledel (Rory) seems weak and timid rather than inward and careful. and not beautiful. she's the weak element in this as in Gilmore Girls, both otherwise so excellent that I love the idea of how good each would be with a great actresses in her role.

all the girls are pleasing to watch _except Alexis_! Blake Lively as Bee was quite striking, charismatic on screen; Amber Tamblyn might be the one I find actually the prettiest, as well as most likeable; America Ferrara was good, believable.

I guess I'd like Tibby the best of the characters and oh Bailey. but the stories of Bridget and Lena especially in the second book are the ones I most...these are where heartbreak...

Bridget gorgeous and bold with the faultlines/breaks of loss, Lena inward and lovely (inthebook -darnitRory), Tibby smart and witty, and Carmen emotional and vibrant (least apealling to me in book and movie, but because of my leanings, not because of any weakness or less likeability in the character)

a group gives you relative identities. "she's the rebel / she's the sporty star / she's the artist / she's the livewire." ah relation. community.
comparison, contrast <- variation, versions.

so of course I have no general idea that movies should avoid changing source material.

but I am with this commenter on IMDB:
-I was wondering why they changed things that didn't need to be changed. Like Kostos lived in New York and not in Chicago. And Lydia's mom died not her dad and the place there were going to have the wedding double booked their water main didn't break. I don't know why they changed this kinda stuff.
right, why bother? I wonder.
and a more pointed alteration - the moviemakers must have had an actual motivation, a line of reasoning for this, right? Why change the Lena/Kostos story into one of forbidden love? made it more a cliche, made this part of the movie less real-seeming and more comic. seems to me it would have played better as it was written in the book: the encounter at the Olive Grove, the misundertanding, the next encounter. they could still have written in additional screentime of scenes with Lean and Kostos together... ?
let's see if I can find any information..

also on IMDB:

-Special recognition should be given to Jenna Boyd as 12-year old Bailey, who believably transforms one teen from misogynist to humanist. This little actress has the chops to win the Oscar someday.
- I live in Bethesda(well Kensington, but I go to school in Bethesda so it's like 8min away) where the book was placed . sweet Kensington...

When People Were Shorter and Lived By the Water
____________________________________
(Best, Band, Name. Evar | MetaFilter)

GoogleBase = an Online Database Application = what?
"Google Base is Google’s database into which you can add all types of content. We’ll host your content and make it searchable online for free. "
Google Blogoscoped -> perhaps the highest number of users of any site + a free place to keep everything you want to share or get attention for + puchase/accounts system for micro payment -> How many websites are not much more than really big databases? eBay. Craigslist. Mobile.de. Google could be competing with all of them at once. Combine Google Base, the fact that Google Base content will show up in the search results and the upcoming "Google Wallet" and what you get might be serious trouble for some large companies. - Base + Froogle + Wallet == Yahoo Stores or Amazon Sellers. Google is putting all the pieces in place to compete with Amazon and eBay. - I personally created a few database systems where you can easily add custom fields to store any type of data. - It’s live right now (13:22 CT Tuesday 10/25) – you should be logged into your personalized Google home page, then type base.google.com into your browser and you will be there. Looks to be a generalized system for posting items (text, ads, jobs, merchandise, calendars) on Google. -> All your base are belong to us!
seweso blog - There is much more to this than an ’ebay/craigslist’ killer. This is the first part of Google putting all your information on line that you currently have lying around on your desktop. Before there was no way of doing this other than creating a website which most people are too lazy to do. Oh, and once you have your documents uploaded on Googlebase, in a few months they’ll roll out Google Office and you’ll be able to edit them right there...
google-blog.dirson - Google wants to become a meeting-point where users share their information, instead of crawling it with their robots by accessing webpages. A Google spokesperson claims that today's webpage is "en early-stage test of a product that enables content owners to easily send their content to Google, but we don't have anything to announce at this time".
Businessweek-Google Base A Rival for eBay and Craigslist? good comments:-Just like Paypal is to payments, and eBay to auctions, and Skype to VoIP, Google is to search and Yahoo to content and email.-Their strength is search, and revenue source is ads. Anything else they do, will just enable them to broaden their ad base, without having to pay a percentage to 3rd parties. Gmail, maps, talk, everything they do, is in line with their mission, "Collect as much of the available content as possible" [ so they can advertise on it].
Google Base and Google's Better Late Than Never Arrival Into Real EstateThere has been some talk this morning onto what will actually be included into Google Base, there are some nice screenshots that have come live this morning. Giving us a little glimpse of how Google thinks the world's information should be organized. Here is a shot where you can post your items to Google Base and another shot where you need enter in some information about a house.

Boston Legal
Denise just gave a Kick.Ass.opening. really really great. it worked. they got a settlement of 1.4 million (the previous offer was like 2ooo). at the table, her 1st yr associate Sara saw the number and said Ohmygod. then, as if just to Denise, that's too low. Denise said to the client, I think there's more. He said, this is good. She said, ok. // then quick to the opposing counsel: so we go back to court. he said, ok 1.7 million that's as high as I am authorized to go. she said, paid tomorrow? he said, yes. she said, Done.
the client - a man whose wife of 37 yrs died because of a car defect (in the garage it ignited a housefire without being on at all)- started to thank Denise then said he had to go to the bathroom. she said, I would never have let the 1.4 go. he said, I don't want to cry in front of you.
Denise said to Sara, if you ever want to join my weekly poker game, you are welcome.
Sara: I just want to say... / Denise: you have other work to do? go do it.
because she was starting to cry also.
--
closing scene:
Alan Shore (James Spader) : Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote that a friend is the masterpiece of nature. marooram: ...I don't think I understood that until I met you, Denny.
Denny Crane (Wllm Shatner) : I am not going to sleep with you.
Alan: Just the same.
always this formula but they get me every time.

gilmore

TWoP Forums -> 6-7:"Twenty-One Is The Loneliest Number" 2005.10.25
-Was this even the same show that gave us last week's crapfest? This was tremendous.
I almost tripped and fell on the ground when Luke was playing with Lorelai's hair on the porch. And I was lying down in bed. HOT.
Yay Luke and Lorelai affection! Yay "my stepdad-to-be"! Yay mighty reactions of Kelly Bishop! Yay Lauren Graham shelling out 45 emotions in 3 minutes and still not overdoing it! Yay previews!
-Lauren Graham WAS amazing tonight. Her tones and looks were dead on in many scenes.
-Lorelai watching as everyone crowds around Rory as she cuts her cake. Then, Luke coming over and putting his arm around her. LG owns me and many people on this board, I'm sure.
-Luke and Lorelai knocked it the f-- outta the park.
-Well. Day-um. My show is back.

From Flock - slackermanager.com October 21, 2005 . I'm typing this from the blog editor in Flock. Very cool. Flock has lots of very cool things. I've only spent three minutes on it, but if it keeps going like this, it'll replace standard Firefox in a heartbeat. Get yours here.
comments -- - wbloggar is a lot better. -- -I am by no means a blogger, or one of those "Social Web" types (the percieved demographic) - I only got my del.icio.us account because of Flock, and I don't feel very comfortable sharing my bookmarks with the world. However, Flock has a lot of neat stuff besides the blog integration - that is the Big Thing about it. The bookmark managing and the RSS aggregation handling is truly excellent. The "star" button is a great idea, so are tags, and I just dig the bookmark manager. I recently found myself trying to bolt on that functionality to Firefox via extensions (Sage for RSS and Bookmark Tags for, well, bookmark tagging), but it's not the same - it feels just that, bolted on.
on flock.com faq: We have currently implemented del.icio.us and Flickr because they are the two services that we are most familiar with (and we like them), so we figured that they would be a great starting point. We plan to always offer choice so that users can connect to any service they choose. We will continue integrating services as time permits and hope to engage the community to help with this effort.
“what’s the business model for Flock?" Creating sustainable value

Twin Falls Idaho -AZdvd

Meditations on Quixote AZbooks

10/22/05 to del.icio.us and 10/20/05 to google search history (on purpose, to remember)
deleting both. and the question is: which web service shall I use for this kind of thing?
first, define which kind of thing..? book, movie I may want to look at...

I just started playing with personalized google search history, maybe using it for
-searches to come back to...

I use del.icio.us for
-convenient favorites I can access from anywhere
- sites to explore or that have links that might lead to exploration
more recently, for -*item*s to look at, read later...

and then there's this dayislikewidewater = 'weblog' = notes of things online that I like and/or want to arrange-edit

so? for now, note this movie and this book here.

ok yeah google search history is experimental, playing around. but, yeah, searches I could return to. anything of distinct note would also be put to del.ico.us = marking pages for whatever... can be random.* I do have tendency to clean up. like to clean it up.eg delete things IF - have now put sth of it on weblog (here)AND - not thinking that I will be wanting to return to it repeatedly (in near future).

*random goes under z, along w/ anything without another tag. and things to explore -add a z with other tags if want to explore..._ item is for finite things to read / look at (of finite interest) - once looked at, delete or put z [now - x] if want to keep. * find is if main interest is in using to identify (finite task) other blogs/ sites of interest WHEREAS links is for linklogs= continuously updated sources of links to articles / items
*Later started using x for done-items, may as well keep, but do not esp expect to uses as jumpoff points in future (=z).

a is for the first ones I posted and any that are also regular 'favorites'. - my is of personal interest. - bks, song, tele-v are duh categorical, except tele-v is also pop-culture generally. psy for schools, maybe anyth of ~profssnl interest. fxn is for things I would know I wanted (Southwest, ISPS) to use.

and mainstream and web are blogosphereish and technical-how-to/techno-interest (~webdev really) respectively.

LATER 11/08ish STUMBLEUPON, a system on its own for marking. on its own=marking things found there. (I would not Go Into Stumbleupon in order to mark, that is. will that change?) described as delicious+myspace. Spurl-like? I do like having comments from others about any webpage (well most /many), might go into Stumbleupon n order to look at a particular review page.

Nik- Obviously the winner. So you know she won't win.
Nicole- Could be a true working model at this very moment. So you know she won't win.
Kyle- Boring, but I think a genuinely sweet, caring girl. Could be a very good model with a little practice. So you know she won't win.

Ranking the Season 5 Girls

in full:
Lisa- If she was younger and more stable, she would OWN this competition. She will get booted for being too old/chemically unbalanced eventually, but I shall enjoy every moment of her on screen 'til then.
Bre- Rose in my ranks because she was really nice tonight. Pretty, but doesn't scream, let alone whisper, MODEL to me. She has a good chance.
Kim- I think this is the first time she has not been at the bottom of my list. So you know she won't win.
Jayla- Bitchy? Check. Hideously deformed body part? Check(ears). Check(teeth). Blah in person and photographs?Check, check. Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner.

two later opinions 10/27 and 10/28:
1) Nicole: Tyra, just listen to me. This girl will actually succeed in the modeling world, therefore, giving your show lots of credibility. You already f'ed it up with Kyle, but Nicole is definately a viable option.
1. Nicole. Easy? Check. Breezy? Check. - - -I think we've got our CoverGirl.

Mows's beeg lest ef SKIRRY THENGS

Dir reeders,
A lat ef yew hef gud daggs and I went 2 hilp yew 2 bi a bitter unner 4 thim. Hallween s uvver bet mebbee yew dunt no thatt allat ef theengs R stil viry skirry 4 yor dagg! So I putt tugeter thees lest ef thengs thatt yew shul no SKIR DAGGS ALLAT. I hup yew wil tra nat 2 espose yor dagg to this skirry theengs.
Seerly,
Mos.

Cleek hir 2 see thi skirry theengs **WERNEENG! THIS THIEENGS R VIRY SKIRRY!!!**

Illivetters FRIK MI OW. Leefs bluw aroun an tra 2 git mi. Peffy leetel daggs berk an skir thi crapp owd ef mi. Skirry Ovin. I kin sii anether dagg en thir. Hi luks lak mi an winivver I muv hi muves 2 cappy mi. Thatt is virry freekii! Dunt put anather dagg 2 liv in thi ovin!

Dove

Why the Campaign for Real Beauty?
The Campaign for Real Beauty includes the following initiatives:
blblblbl...
* Establishment of the Program for Aesthetics and Well-Being at Harvard University, through a grant from Dove, which will continue to examine the way we think and talk about beauty in popular culture and the effect that this has on women's well-being
* Creation of a global touring photography exhibit, Beyond Compare, Women Photographers on Beauty, showcasing diverse images of female beauty from 67 female photographers, and demonstrating that beauty is about much more than stereotypes
not bad.

million.faces =>Add your photo: the million faces of beauty
then saw the album.
and the million faces home. I love the dove.

(oh but rg it was already your idea. that's why I was googling -faces anyway.)

To Get Away From The Really Real World: Portraying advancing age has helped Unilever Group’s Dove soap. About 18 months ago, Dove market researchers suspected that advertisers were stuck in the old habit of presenting only youth and slimness as attractive. To confirm that idea, they pored over video clips of commercials and leafed through pages torn from magazines, pasting them up into photo collages. And indeed, the result was a shrine to the slim, the full-chested, and the young.
Then, because Dove is a global brand, the researchers trekked across the U.S., South America, Europe, and Asia to ask thousands of women of all ages what they thought of the portrayal of beauty in advertising. No matter the country, they repeatedly heard the gripe that “the images of beauty in ads are unrealistic and unattainable,” says Dove marketing director Philippe Harousseau.
Capitalizing on that sentiment, Dove turned industry tradition on its head last October with print ads using ordinary looking women instead of glamorous models. Two of the six shots in the ad exult in advancing age. One shows a 46-year-old woman with deep lines around her jaw and eyes and a full mane of gray hair. The caption: “Why aren’t women glad to be gray?”
The payoff so far: In the nine months following the launch of the campaign, sales of Dove rose 3.4% from a year ago. That uptick sounds small, but it’s huge for the static soap category, and it exceeds the growth in soap sales as a whole, according to Information Resources Inc., which doesn’t include sales at Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE:WMT - News) in its data. Why is the campaign working? “As you get older, fantasy and idealization are out, and reality and authenticity are in,” says James J. Gilmartin, president of ad agency Coming of Age Inc. in Lombard, Ill.

sarah's journal -...and the Horse You Rode in On: I love the campaign. I have absolutely no desire whatsoever to run out and buy their firming cream, but I love that someone is finally designing advertising with women I can relate to, rather than women who look so inhuman that I'd never buy the product anyway because the models call serious doubt into my mind that their product is actually designed for my species.
Well, apparently Richard Roeper doesn't agree. Nor does Lucio Guerrero, also of the Sun-Times. Or CBS Chicago's Entertainment reporter.
Jaquandor, Lynn, and Wendy have already weighed in (no pun intended) on the matter. And they all make wonderfully valid points. Some of which I may be repeating, because now it's my turn.
------------
sars express: I stumbled across an article on the Washington Post written by Robin Givhan (Sorry, Dove: Bigger Isn't Necessarily Better) about Dove's "Campaign for Real Beauty".
What a load of shit.
Let's see some real health. Thinness alone means nothing. Eat healthy, non-processed foods. Hit the gym and do some cardio. Lift. I can't emphasize the last one enough. Let's see some muscle, so you can do something about the rapist in the parking lot. Strive to become a doctor, lawyer, scientist, or athlete, so you can contribute to our society.
Are these standards unrealistic? Absolutely. Are people who achieve them statistically aberrant? Yes. Median income in this country is $24K/year; doctors, lawyers, and executives are as statistically improbable as the "prettiest girl in town".
There's nothing wrong with having a Superman and Wonder Woman as a role model. And there's nothing wrong with destroying the self-esteem of those who can't live up. It's called motivation. As long as the role models are actually healthy and inherently valuable, society is on the right track. huh.
------------
Erin’s PRblog » Dove :: Redefining “Real Beauty”: I have been intrigued with the Dove campaign from the get-go for many of the same reasons others have mentioned — it’s a new and original approach. It was the topic of one of my final projects last semester, so I’ve researched it extensively and also kept an eye on the campaign’s impact. Yes, it seems to have potential to serve as a phenomenal marketing campaign (the sales should be pouring in), but I can’t help but be impressed by the positive message it’s sending. As for me, I have made a complete switch to Dove. Everything from shampoo to eye cream to body wash … it’s all Dove, now. I’m doing it more for political reasons -) rather than the fact that it appeals to me as a woman. I want to support that shift to a more healthy ideal, so that by the time I have a daughter, she’ll have healthier images to aspire to.
------------
I See Invisible People >> 6 Chicks Sums It Up : I’m officially changing my position on the Dove Real Beauty advertising campaign. As positive as I thought the initial launch was–shots of women of all ages and many sizes with no product push–the ads that have followed that first “public service announcement” style spot have been striking a progressively dischordant note with me.

Character: Stephanie Zinone.
Best scene: Cool Rider. The untouchable camp high of her career.

General Response & Career Impact: The movie is generally considered blasphemous because the original (only 4 years prior) was so enthusiastically received and the sequel considered to be so uninspired. Travolta and Olivia were nowhere in sight. Pfeiffer's career was jeopardized in much the same way that Jessica Lange's was after King Kong.

-She has a sullen quality that is more fitting to a Grease character than Miss Newton-John's sunniness was. Also, though she is a relative screen newcomer, Miss Pfeiffer manages to look much more insouciant and comfortable than anyone else in the cast. *Janet Maslin -The New York Times*

-It's her utter lack of mind-body coordination that makes "Cool Rider" one of the high-lowlights of the entire film. *Michael Dequinda* !!?

Grease 2
reviews at screenselect UK
-This is the story of Rydell High School some years on from those halcyon days of drainpipe trousers and stiff petticoats. The problem is that director/choreographer Patricia Birch tries to bring those high steppin', arm-waving innocent production values to an altogether grittier era of emerging 1960s liberalism.
-I actually enjoyed this one more than Grease, which admittedly was a better film. It needs to be seen for what it is a low budget rip-off of a classic cinematic event !! It is pure camp class.

what made Grease 1 a finer movie? acting, dancing, higher budget?
Olivia Newton John and Travolta dancing together- - -

Grease (1978) imdb
Grease 2 (1982)-This movie is appalling in nearly every respect, but there's just something about it--perhaps how brazenly appalling it is--that gives it an almost hypnotic fascination.
what specifically is appalling (and not so in Gr 1)?
As for the sets… I don't think I've ever seen such low production values in a movie released by a major studio. ok. does that show up as... cheap-looking? fake? (but they're all about to break into major song and dance moments, so why have the scene look realistic?)
I love how the producers made only the most surface-level attempt to even appear 50s. The clothes, hairstyles, sets songs, and ways of speaking all scream 80s. kinda great. 80s piece as a.
I haven't the slightest idea why they decided to dress Michelle Pheiffer in things that essentially look like sweatshirts for the first half of the movie. And she's got on those huge dark glasses all the time… making her look like early Debbie Harry. she looks Cooool.

To kill time on a long trip, playwright Harold Pinter & 2 friends set themselves this task: pick the 100 most representative poems written in English. Az: : 100 Poems by 100 Poets: An Anthology
As idiosyncratic as this anthology is, it is also a testament to the broad tastes and deep appreciations of its editors. Could you have done better?"
--
They apparently argued heatedly, but eventually arrived at a unanimous decision for each poet selected.
I was disappointed that Pinter, Godbert, and Astbury did not share their discussions and arguments. How did they select the 100 best poets? Who was 101?

Sweet BillClinton anecdote(s) (blog via sGuerr) /rw

WORDS AND PICTURES -Graphic novels come of age- by PETER SCHJELDAHL

...A painfully humiliated hero is essential even—or especially—to “Superman” and its vast spawn.Disregarded Clark Kent is the figure readers identify with; his transformation into the Man of Steel nurses the hopes and fulfills the rage of all underestimated boys, but it can’t cure his loneliness. “Spider-Man” twists the knife by making Peter Parker’s superpowers an added torment to him: he’d rather be an ordinary guy. The theme of a publicly misjudged character’s private anguish has grown, in comics history, to dominate the form. Who today still relishes the pure ridicule of “Li’l Abner,” or the convivial folk wisdom (brilliant wordplay aside) of “Pogo”? Both were immensely popular before the ascendance of “Peanuts,” the most important comic strip of the past half century. Charlie Brown is Clark Kent without the colorful underwear, and with all the possibly compensatory qualities split off and given to other characters, mainly Snoopy. Jimmy Corrigan, in turn, is Charlie Brown without the eternal childhood in an Arcadian neighborhood. Ware teases out a nightmarish aspect of “Peanuts” that Charles Schulz cushioned in whimsy: Charlie Brown is incorrigibly mediocre, incapable of satisfactory relationships or achievements, doomed to obloquy. His generous and trusting heart sets him up for mishap and betrayal—which, in his little four-panelled world, where nothing changes, he meets with a sigh. Jimmy’s world is big—Chicago’s Sears Tower looms in misty silhouette outside his window—and events in it have consequences. They give him nosebleeds. They make him cry.

The influence of “Peanuts” pervades one variety of graphic novel, the influence of the early MAD magazine another. Cartooning acquired a new, prevalently drug-enhanced function configuring madness as entertainment. Its new paragon—a writer-artist whose greatness still defies conventional description—was R. Crumb, who inaugurated “Zap Comix” in 1968 in San Francisco, at the center of a countercultural circus that was going rancid around the edges. Crumb’s contributions to the physics of comics recall Giotto’s (yes, Giotto’s) to Western painting: acknowledging material mass and the force of gravity. In a Crumb, when something or someone falls the occasion doesn’t require a helpfully lettered “thud,” though he might provide one; feeling the weight, you register its impact.

excellent.

The New Yorker: The Critics: Books - Issue of 2005-10-17. Posted 2005-10-10.
"Peter Schjeldah's harsh review of graphic novels" via K.
to item books ... and 12 other people ..

huh. I don't find it harsh. quite even, I think. and likely astute:
Nearly all art movements are launched by work that, when the dust clears, turns out to have been their definitive, peak contribution. “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon” looms over the busy ramifications of Cubism as “The Waste Land” looms over the modern poetry that it inspired. Accordingly, there may never be another graphic novel as good as “Jimmy Corrigan,” even by Ware himself—whose current serial in the Times Magazine, though tangy, bespeaks a style on cruise control. But if the major discoveries of the graphic novel’s new world of the imagination have already been accomplished, its colonizing of the territory, like its threat to foot traffic in bookstore aisles, has only just begun.

that's hardly saying all the good stuff's over. just: the great beginning.

Do you ever read Peter Schjeldahl? He writes "The Art World" in the New Yorker...

Categories: On the Beauty of Physics: Essential Physics Concepts and Their Companions in Art and Literature AZ-now due Feb. 15, 2006. John Katzman, Founder, The Princeton Review:
'Everyone talks about the beauty and elegance of physics, but this is the first beautiful and elegant physics book.' that's what I thought it would be. (good!)