The Mattechi Reader

I Chased an Ambulance Tonight

2009-11-23T17:33:17Z

My colleague and I had been walking around looking for some compelling footage to shoot for a documentary exercise for directing class. We captured a few things, not extraordinary we knew, but still, something. I was on my way back home crossing Tiong Bahru Rd, when I saw an ambulancing flashing lights toward the bus stop. I was going to ignore it, but I went out of my way to walk after it.

I'd just see what it's about I told myself. I'm just going to smoke my cigarette and wait a little I told myself. On the way to finding a good perch to watch things, I grazed the back of a passing field mouse with my foot, barely registering its little squeal.

I framed things up nicely: a descending staircase leading down to the empty orange stretcher, barely perceptible flashing lights seeping into the frame. Slow disclosure you see, I was going to hold this frame and let the drama unfold into it. I practiced a pan left and right so I knew where my end frame would be on the right with the ambulance flashing and hopefully exiting out. I was hoping also that the whole thing would unfold under ten minutes since that's all I had left in my Flip.

I had these great ideas in my head: I'd ride around in an ambulance and capture all this trauma around me for my doc. Compelling stuff. Real stuff. One more puff of the cigarette and I let it go since it'd served its purpose in getting me here to shoot this thing.

Soon I heard some sort of clanking and there was the first EMT bringing back the oxygen and setting the stretcher upright. I held the frame, and let him enter it. I looked behind him to see what I was waiting for. In another EMT's arms was a young boy, his mouth covered by a respirator, his legs dangling out and his mother walking beside him, her hand on his arm.

I shut off the camera. I turned and kept walking until I got home. I've never been so ashamed in my whole life. That was pure exploitation and dehumanization for the sake of what, homework? And even if it was for a film (whatever that is), for what purpose was I getting this image? Was this what I came down to? A fetishist for imagery without meaning?

There are people who say that you can't see what happened outside the frame. I refute this. If we are to judge a director's control of the medium and vision within the frame then I believe that same rigor must be applied to what comes before and after. We are responsible to the subjects we capture, the cast, the crew and the audience. If that frame hasn't been captured in good faith, then to me, it's tainted and worthless. If this is the callous kind of film I will be producing, may I have the strength to recognize this, to quit and to find an honest way to make a living instead.

Freewrite: “11”

2009-08-08T04:58:57Z

11. Two pillars standing on end. White bone, china, smooth, polished, smothered glass. A surface that swallows. White bellied little beasts. Inch in and baby’s breaths through their yellow beaks. A swallow’s call beckons visitors home. A stranger at the door, a burglar in the house. The whites of eyes navigating unlit hallways. The right hand nudges the door, wrinkled hands, silent feet. Hand on mouth, eyes through darkness. No laughter here, only shoulders heaving… Two pillars, two chains on a swing. The plank, the pendulum, slicing beneath. Bare toes fanned out, wind slipping in between… We are guests here. We are nomads with grit in our elbow crease. We shrug off baggage, our folded mothers, sisters neatly piled and packaged. Our footprints fathom threefold, our shadows engorge streets and climb the backs of anyone who flees.

“Paper Dogs” Showing at the Brooklyn Art Walk on April 25th, 2009

2009-04-24T05:31:45Z

"Paper Dogs" from Matte Chi on Vimeo.

It's looking to be quite an event. I'm honestly humbled that my short film is a part of this exhibition, but incredibly happy to have a chance to share my work with, well, whoever wants to see it.

There are a ton of other interesting artists exhibiting as well, so I'd definitely check out the Art Walk just for that, or if you've got the cash, I hear they're, um, selling some condos too. Hope to see you around this Saturday.

Check out the site:
http://www.brooklynartproject.com/events/art-walk-hello-living-vol-1

The DETAILS:

On Saturday, April 25th, the art world will intersect with the real estate world for a little joie de vivre. If Cannes and Art Basel had a Brooklyn outpost it would be the site of the very first Art Walk @ Hello Living (4.25.09 - 5.22.09).

24 artists and 10 filmmakers will showcase their curated works and short films along the luxe walls of Hello Living Condominiums and within The Theater Room respectively. The art walk will be the neighborhood's first event of this caliber -- a tour de force for Brooklynites within the art, design and business worlds.

If walking around in luxury condos while looking at arts and socializing with people doesn't spark your interest, how about 4 hours of FREE dessert and wine tasting? Our friends at Brooklyn Oenology and Patisserie Lafayette is offering some of their best selections to treat your appetite. What? You are trying to stay away from alcohol and sugar? Not a problem! We've got tons of fresh fruit baskets and SuNo Water lying around to keep you healthy and refreshed.

And yes, there is going to be A RAFFLE for some FABULOUS PRIZES:

- A gift card to Picholine ($50 value)
- A Social Club Wine Basket by Brooklyn Oenology ($75 value)
- A gift certificate to Enve Beauty Lounge ($100 value)
- A gift card AND a satchel full of goodies from Sephora ($125 value)
- A home accessory gift set by BoConcept ($150 value)

(Home buyers who are already pre-approved for a mortgage, the developers of Hello Living are offering $1000 off closing cost to those who make an offer on the same day and a signed contract within a week.)

Pretty sweet Art Walk, don't you think? It's not over yet. Triumph Property Group is hosting an AFTER PARTY @ 957 Pacific Street with OPEN BAR and LIVE JAZZ! So get there early and get on the list!

Last but not least, there is going to be a PING PONG TOURNAMENT held at the after party! The winners, of course, get A PRIZE! (I've already said too much, let's keep this one a secret.)

Guest and media check in @ 802 Dean Street 2PM - 5PM
Raffle drawing starts at 6PM (Must register through eventbrite to enter)
After Party 6:30PM - 10PM (21+, please bring a photo ID!)
RSVP http://artwalkhelloliving.eventbrite.com

Public transportation: A C S B Q 2 3

Featured Artists:
• Ai Campbell http://www.aicampbell.com
• Daisuke Kiyomiya
• Derin Thorpe
• Douglas Ljungkvist http://www.douglasljungkvist.com
• Grace Kim http://www.grace-kim.com
• Haksul Lee
• Hiroshi Nakamura
• Hisayasu Takashio
• Jason McKoy http://www.shadowplastic.com
• Jeffrey Shagawat http://www.shagawat.com
• Jim Mahfood http://www.foodoneart.blogspot.com
• Koh Murao http://www.koh-murao.com
• Kristen Martin http://www.kristenlmartin.com
• Margeaux Walter http://www.margeauxwalter.com
• Mary Zinn
• Max Jones http://www.maxtjones.info
• Miles Wickham http://www.flickr.com/photos/mileswickham
• Mireya Acierto http://www.mireyacierto.com
• Nicole Eckstrom http://www.flickr.com/photos/blinkonmynose/3257155392/
• Nina Norwood http://www.brooklynartproject.com/profile/Nina
• Ryan Dixon http://www.dixicon.com/
• Sequoyah Aono
• ShaNeace Sharpe
• Yoko Suetsugu
• Daniel Frei
• Dmitry Torgovitsky
• Haruhito Naka
• Hisayuki Sato
• Katsumi Funahashi
• Kelvin C. Bias http://www.formulaxfilms.com
• Kim Meijer
• Kunihiro Takase
• Matte Chi
• Takayuki Tanaka

Sponsored by:
• IKEA Brooklyn
• SoHo Reprographics
• Brooklyn Oenology
• City Frames
• Enve Beauty Lounge
• Cafe Patisserie Lafayette
• BoConcept
• Ortine Restaurant
• Pranayama Art
• SoNu Water
• Zank and Mars
• Ouchi Gallery
• Triumph Property Group
• Hello Living

Warmer Weather, Abundant Sound

2009-03-27T20:24:22Z

Well, not exactly more sounds, but it seems to me as the weather gets warmer, I can hear more sounds. I have my window open right now and I can hear the starlings in the garden below; the hiss of the buses as they lower their hulls for the elderly; the doppler of cars rolling by; the children screeching in the playground; the planes overheard, their engines thundering in descent; the rattle of some mechanical mishap... And on the face of it, it seems like there are more people outside now, but that's not all - the quality of sound is different. And when you think about it, it makes sense, there must be an effect on sound waves as they travel through molecules thick and thin.

Some quick Googling reveals that sound waves travel farther in warmer temperatures since the molecules are vibrating more. Sound depends on these vibrations to get from the horn on a car to the drum in my ear. This speed of sound calculator clarifies a bit: http://www.sengpielaudio.com/calculator-speedsound.htm

At 0 Celcius sound travels at 331.5 m/s / the impedance is 428.3 (not sure what measurement but we'll look a the number for now)
At 30 Celcius sound travels at 349.2 m/s / the impedance is 406.6

Intriguing. Not only does sounds travel faster in warmer temperature, but to me it looks like it might travel further because of the lower impedance! So there you have it, next time you wonder why it seems like things are louder in the Summer it may not just be because there are people around to enjoy the weather, but the molecules are partying it up too and they're relaying the message.

Free Panasonic Scene Files

2009-03-19T14:42:16Z

Looks like Panasonic's feeling the heat from the competition. They've released a whole bunch of Scene Files for their P2 cameras so you feel better about using their products. I will say that the FILMFPS and SHUTEFX scene files are pretty slick because they've configured it so you don't need to go back into the menu to change frame rates - you can use the function dial instead. The frame rates they've got set up are:
* (F1) 12fps
* (F2) 18 fps
* (F3) 24 fps
* (F4) 30 fps
* (F5) 48 fps
* (F6) 60 fps

As you know there are documented Scene File hacks that people have created already around, most notably the "P2 Scene File Hack" as they call it, which makes it easier to get 2fps if you wanted it using the scene file. This is just something else to add to the arsenal I suppose.

For SHUTEFX, they also play around with the shutter angle. According to Panasonic:
* (F1) 24-10 A frame rate for film that produces a very sharp image or can be used when more ND is needed.
* (F2) 24-180 The normal exposure for film use.
* (F3) 24-350 Will soften the image slightly, while increasing the exposure one stop.
* (F4) 60-10 Extremely crisp slomo, useful for motion analysis. Requires a LOT of light.
* (F5) 60-350 Smoothes out slomo, while increasing exposure to compensate for the light loss of the frame rate.
* (F6) 12-10 Useful for movies and music videos to produce that edgy effect that, when played at 12fps, allows frames to be up twice as long on the screen and small particles of explosions, dirt, liquid etc. to be clearly visible.

Now here's the breakdown of what's available:
AJ-HPX3000 - 33 scene files
AJ-HPX2000 - 31 scene files
AG-HPX500 - 16 scene files
AG-HPX170 - 18 scene files
AG-HVX200/HVX200A - 20 scene files

Don't take my word for it see for yourself: http://www.panasonic.com/business/provideo/scene_files_main.asp

AAFilmLab Relay 09 - Simon’s Short Film Underway

2009-03-16T17:38:16Z

We were on set yesterday on Simon Ko’s shoot. You may or may not know that the AAFilmLab is producing four short films with four directors right now and after all this thinking and talking, we’re actually on our way. I was Production Manager along with Hyunsuk Kim and basically having a blast. The crew was magnificent and most importantly, just a pleasure to work with. We give props to the cast for making time to work with us even though they have all kinds of other engagements to abide by. Because of the Relay rules, Hyun and I are Directors in the project so we couldn’t actually help out during shooting, but we lounged about and made sure we carried our load from location to location, and insured that the crew was as well nourished as our meager budget allowed. Right now, in the afterglow, I can’t tell you just how proud I am of our AAFilmLab right now.

More info here:
http://relay09.tumblr.com

Opt Out of Verizon’s Personal Info Sharing

2009-03-09T05:29:05Z

Verizon calls it CPNI or Customer Proprietary Network Information. If you've got online billing, you're not going to get the legal pamphlet that tells you that you have 45 days to tell them not to share your information. What kind of information? Stuff like:

"services purchased (including specific calls you make and receive), billing info, technical info and location info. They promise to only share this with 'affiliates, agents and parent companies.' It will definitely not be shared with 'unrelated third parties' ... unless, perhaps that third party pays Verizon to become an affiliate, whatever the heck 'affiliate' means," (hyperorg.com)

Very good stuff.

I just gave the 800 number (1-800-333-9956) a call and of course it's not working. Will try again tomorrow. Apparently it's somewhere in the online billing site, but I haven't found it yet.UPDATE 3/8/09: I just called and the phone number works. According to robo-voice, if you want to check your CPNI status you need to go to you account on verizonwireless.com then sign up for My Verizon - whatever that is. Just call.

REFERENCES:
Tales of data pirates: Opting out of Verizon’s open-ended sharing, http://www.hyperorg.com
Verizon Customers - Just Say No!, by LIDIJA DAVIS, NYT, March 7, 2009

My Left Hand Left Me a Message

2009-03-07T14:01:32Z

I have pieces of paper with notes hidden everywhere in my house. I find these little gems once in a while. When I found it I was particularly surprised by this one - It’s not my handwriting, but I know I wrote it. I’m not sure when, or what state I was in at the time, but I’m pretty sure I wrote it with my left hand. I use my left hand for quite a few things now, but my parents had me switch to my right when I was young. When I read the note, it felt like my Other was sending a message to me. I’m listening bro.

Finished Watching Korean Soap “Terroir” - Notes

2009-03-05T23:12:22Z

I don't watch too many soap operas, but I've watched a couple of Korean soaps and I admit I have a fascination with them. I came across a site called mysoju.com by way of a friend who also happens to be a Korean Soap-a-file. They've got a bunch. I landed on "Terroir" only because there was someone I recognized on the show (a friend of a friend type of thing).

The soap is about a young sommelier who wants to make it on his own because he'd rather not work for his grandfather's conglomerate. Kang Tae Min is his name. He goes off to France in search of a some hard to find wine for his boss at the wine import / distributing company he's working at. Tae Min finds it, then mixes up his wine with another woman's bottle of wine after a wild chase scene in the streets of France. This woman is Woo Joo Lee. She works at a traditional Korean winery, a place that Tae Min's uncle happens to own the lease to. Tae Min's uncle has a terminal illness, by the way. So the wine gets mixed up and well, long, long story short, Tae Min decides to start an appropriately named wine restaurant, "Terroir" on the land that the uncle owns - Yes, the traditional winery where Woo Joo lives and works. I think I gave some things away here, but you get the idea.

Some notes I jotted down as I watched it:
- The better the soap does in ratings it seems, the better their makeup, hair styling and clothes get.
- Deus ex machina is heartily condoned
- Women are taken down from their high horses, and taken in hand... by love
- Storylines can be diminished and removed completely without explanation
- It sucks being the female sidekick - unless your character is popular, you're gonna have to keep wearing those nerdy glasses
- Lives are saved and destroyed by cellphones: voice or text, potency of message not related to medium of delivery
- Men can try to destroy each other's careers, but in the end, all will be forgiven because it's just business
- Forgiveness is a given
- It sucks being the incumbent girlfriend/boyfriend - you're gonna get the ax
- Characters must secretly do some unexpected good deed, which is to be revealed later in order to sow guilt (and love) into the receiver of such benevolence
- People literally only "sleep" with each other in this world
- People drink a lot and wine people drink the mostest
- The old men are either tough and later soften up (even wearing nicely colored soft, cardigans) or are soft from the start and end up being all-knowing sages
- Everyone has a beautiful car
- Everyone has a beautiful house, even the small ones are charming and cute
- The music counts - see if those tears appear without it
- When it's all over, you either wish you could start all over again or wish you never started in the first place

My Oscar 2009 Pix

2009-02-23T00:29:57Z

Best Picture
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Director
Danny Boyle

Actor in a Leading Role
Mickey Rourke

Actress in a Leading Role
Anne Hathaway

Actor in a Supporting Role
Heath Ledger

Actress in a Supporting Role
Penélope Cruz

Original Screenplay
Happy-Go-Lucky

Adapted Screenplay
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Foreign Language Film
Waltz with Bashir

Animated Feature
Wall-E

Original Score
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Original Song
'Jai Ho'

Art Direction
The Dark Knight

Cinematography
The Dark Knight

Costume Design
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Makeup
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Documentary Feature
Man on Wire

Sound Mixing
The Dark Knight

Sound Editing
Wall-E

Visual Effects
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Film Editing
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Short Film, Animated
Presto

Short Film, Live Action
The Pig

Documentary Short Subject
Smile Pinki

LinkedIn’s NY Times Customized Industry News - FALSE

2009-02-21T20:11:20Z

First of all, I hardly use LinkedIn. But I felt like my so-called career might somehow depend on it, so I finally logged in and added some people to make it look like I have some kind of professional network - that I'm a part of this world. Then I took a look at who was peeking at my profile - people from the former company I worked at (in a long distant past life) and then I decided to forget about LinkedIn once again for a while.

Then I go to NYT to read something or another when lo and behold I see this:

For a second, I was thinking, how interesting, what a coincidence, and then I got a little freaked out when I saw the LinkedIn logo. What I don't like is that I never signed up for it and the information sharing without my knowledge is what surprises me. I get it, no personal information is sent along to NYT, but what if I actually don't want to read up on anything related to my resume? What if I don't want Skynet to wake up? Of course I promptly turned the option off on LinkedIn and promised myself to stay away from it even longer.

The Business of Headhunting

2009-02-18T16:35:31Z

That's what I'd like to know. I get a call from a headhunter who tells me he's got the perfect job lined up for me. He'd like for me to come in as soon as possible. He'd like me to meet with the "Creative Director." Creative Director of a recruiting firm, I wonder, but I think, Hey why not? Back to the call, Sure thing, I say. Day of, I even wake up early to pretty myself up. I go in and wouldn't you know it? They have about 10 forms for me to fill out. Some of which are credit check forms, some kind of tax form, an application to re-write my resume (a copy of which they would like for me to attach). I tell them I don't want to write down my social security number or fill out any tax or credit check forms until I hear about the position. A gregarious fellow, whom I know to be the person who called, pipes in and say, Oh those forms are necessary for the employers - they all want them. I say I want to talk to the recruiter first. They ask me to wait in another room, the guy who was standing next to me a minute before enters and says, I knew it was you. Big handshake. I don't bother getting up. He asks for me to wait a minute and brings in the lumbering Creative Director. She looks through my resume and quips, I have quite a varied amoutn of experience. Yes I do. She asks me what I want to do. I give her the spiel, I want to make films, but I happen to have a particular set of skills... and if the money is good I'll keep doing it for as long as I have to. Well I ask her about the positions, Can you tell me about the positions? She looks down and says yes, there's a Web Integrator position at an Entertainment company. Okay one job. One job which she's probably shopping to every freelancer out there. I ask her the rate. Naturally, it's half of what I usually charge - before taxes. I tell her my usual rate. She blurts out, That's not gonna happen. Caught you bridge and tunnel. At which point I tell her, well I'm better off finding work on my own, thank you. She's used to this, or gave up on me when she saw me. We simultaneously get up from the table and go separate ways, never turning back.

So I ask you. Why bother bringing me in? Why ask for my social security number from the start even if there's no job for me? Does the sales guy meet a quota if they sign me on? Why the push to have me fill out papers? I wonder things. I wonder what happens if they put me on their payroll or as part of their roster. Is all their money only made through commission? I wonder. In any case, the only good experience I had with a headhunter was my very first during the late dotcom era. She was amiable and actually tried hard to find a good fit for me. Ah the good old days.

You Eat 1-2 Pounds of Flies, Maggots, and Mites Each Year

2009-02-13T20:34:23Z

Charming Op-Ed in the NYT today about the acceptable levels of contaminants the FDA allows in our vittles. According to the author and in fact according to the FDA itself, it's truly possible that "you’re probably ingesting one to two pounds of flies, maggots and mites each year without knowing it." That's because there's a certain quantity of infestation or contamination which the FDA will allow per gram or what have you. You'll be happy to know that most of the contamination is only "aesthetic" in nature because really, what harm can come of eating an "average of 475 or more insect fragments [... or an ] average of 2 or more rodent hairs per 50 grams" of fresh pepper with your handmade pasta. Your pasta which may have fresh oregano containing an "average of 5% or more insect infested and/or moldy pieces by weight" and/or an "average of 1 mg or more mammalian excreta per pound." Not that you're counting.

REFERENCES:
The Maggots in Your Mushrooms, NYT, by E. J. LEVY, February 12, 2009
FDA Booklet The Food Defect Action Levels - Levels of natural or unavoidable defects in foods that present no health hazards for humans

Verizon Dry-Loop DSL Service, Mac OS X, Connection Issues

2009-02-13T06:53:36Z

I decided to get Verizon DSL dry-loop service. It's 29.95 without tax since it's not a phone service, only internet. Now on Verizon's website they'll try and sell you the phone service to get DSL. This is not necessary. You can call them and ask for the Dry-Loop service instead. I don't know what Dry-Loop means, but all you need to know is that it's purely the DSL service. They have the cheaper 768kpbs download service but I opted for something called the 3M service or 3000kpbs and about 700kpbs upload. It gets the job done.

I got the "nicer" modem with WiFi which I'll never use free (or so they told me) by telling them about the hard times of the Great Second Depression. They said they'd credit the $55 dollars back to me if I were to add on the "extras" (which you can cancel right away on the DSL account website). This credit did not happen and now I have to call them back to get the credit back on top of getting a credit back for the "extras" they charged me. These extras include $3 / month for insurance (for the cheapo modem) and something like $6 / month for access to Verizon online games and movies from Starz - which I'll never use because you need to download some software which only seems to work on a PC. They also told me that I couldn't pay for the invoice online because they'd send me a paper invoice instead and would have to sign up separately for the online billing service. Lies. You just need to go to http://www.verizon.net.

Now once you ask for service, some person will schedule to come by to install the line sometime between early morning and late afternoon on a rainy workday. They will be late and they will walk in with their boots as you pad around barefoot. The technician, nice fella as he is, will then hang around after doing some stuff in the telephone room in the basement, not knowing anything about how to set up the thing, waiting for a tip. You will euphemistically ask the technician if he needs to wait around for the whole thing to set up, since you can figure it out from the large pictures drawn out in the Setup Poster. The technician will say, "not really," and will create an awkward silence not realizing that his imaginary tip will not be forthcoming because you are poor and he was late. In any case, you somehow get him out the door once the DSL is up and resist the urge to even mention the idea of a tip or that he was late and you had to cancel a potential meeting for a freelance job which basically needed the DSL up in time in order for you to do the work anyway. Nice one guy.

So. Yeah. You try to get to a website and the browser redirects you to an Activate my DSL page. It asks for username and password. Well shit. You don't have none. At the same time, the browser will install a Firefox extension which will download some Verizon installation software which will never work on the Mac. You'll download it a couple of times, because everytime you try to get somewhere in Firefox or Safari, the extension will download the install software again, automatically mount it and you'll double click and let the thing run for an hour or so giving it the benefit of the doubt even though you sure as heck know it'll never get past that ominously blank incomplete screen.

Now you have to make a call and use minutes. Minutes you've recently reduced because you notice you never use all those minutes anyway, it's a recession baby and you think I never make any calls so let's save me some of that money. You call and the recorded operator is trying her damnest to get you to look up the information online. She goes as far as to spell out the URL when you know damn well... well, you get it right? The damned irony? You dial "0" at every opportunity or "1" whenever it makes sense to do it, because you do listen even if you don't want to and wait for a technician.

You get a technician. You've already logged into the modem control panel, the URL is http://192.168.1.1 - who the fuck doesn't know that? I'm a professional. But you pretend like you're following him one step at a time as he spells out "H-T-T-P COLON FORWARD SLASH FORWARD SLASH" you say "uh-huh" at the appropriate moments, all the while looking at the control panel and changing the admin password which clearly must be "password" to something much less insane.

Anyhow, he'll neglect to tell you that you need to go through the activation page to make a username. And in fact, as I write this I have no idea how I even got a username you know. Now I remember, it was in one of the multitudes of emails I received which let me "pre-register." But it does nothing really because even if you "pre" register, once you get your DSL up and running you have to activate the motherfucker again and you'll have to change your password a few times once everything is said and done. Remember this folks. Everytime you reset your modem you need to activate again.

Now, now I'm getting tired of even thinking about this again so here's the short and sweet. You need to pre-register (http://www.verizon.net/whatsnext/) and get a username and password. You'll need to use the telephone number they'll send you for your Dry-Loop service (yes, you get a telephone number and no, you can't dial it) in one of your emails. You go into the modem control panel and change the admin password. Login again. Now if the DSL like on your Westell 7500 is green and your internet light is green go to the main page.

In the modem control panel on the left there will be an Internet Status: Connected area. Click Connected, that will take you to the Broadband Connection area. There will be one connection, click on Edit. This will be where you will need to change the username and password to the one you pre-registered to. If you don't do this, your internet may work for some time and then it will stop suddenly when something jiggles in "Central Headquarters" as they call it and your credentials won't match. Change that shit, because the technician may not tell you that the "newdsl" account will tell your Netflix Watch Instantly that you have a "basic" connection and will consistently lower your bandwidth in the middle of a 30 Rock marathon until it eventually conks out. Let me save you the grief.

Wait. The activate software. Yes delete it and go to this address instead: 192.168.1.1/verizon/redirect.htm then click "disable." What the hell does that do? I don't think anyone knows except that you don't need to install no nonsense, non-working software and activate nada (you pre-registered right?). Now you should be able to go to any website. The technician will tell you to go to Google, but you can try Nyt.com, check your email, or do both like I did instead. That's why we have tabs folks.

If you got duped into letting Firefox install that unsigned extension which will now subsequently install that software everytime you open a browser, you do one of two things. Go to add-ons and install the "temporary DSL installer" or in your finder, go to Users/USERNAME/Library/Application Support/Firefox/YOUR DEFAULT/extensions/verizon_whatever_directory. There you go.

By the way, if your DSL goes down, and the Internet light is red but your DSL light is green, this username/password issue might be the problem. You can call tech support and ask them to reset your password, after which you'll have to change it in your modem control panel. When you login to verizon.net to look at your bill, they'll ask you to reset your password. After which you will eventually have to reset your password again on your modem. Good stuff.

State Secrets: Same Game Different Name

2009-02-10T16:22:23Z

I suppose it makes no difference who's sitting in the Oval Office, it's the office that reigns, not the man. After much talk of change jangling in the air, that talk has slowly dissipated into a hushed trickle seeping its way back into the warmest and furthest pockets of our atmosphere.

Take note: United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, Binyam Mohamed and four other detainees sued a subsidiary of Boeing for arranging flights for the Bush administration’s “extraordinary rendition” program.

The descriptions filed in court regarding the treatment under extraordinary rendition:

Mr. Mohamed claimed that during his detention in Morocco, “he was routinely beaten, suffering broken bones and, on occasion, loss of consciousness. His clothes were cut off with a scalpel and the same scalpel was then used to make incisions on his body, including his penis. A hot stinging liquid was then poured into open wounds on his penis where he had been cut. He was frequently threatened with rape, electrocution and death.”

Bush Govt' Argument: This case must be dismissed because discussing these matters in court will breach national security and cause harm to relations with other countries (apparently relations which even President Bush himself was unable to unravel).

Obama Gov't Argument: The same.

The exchange in court between the judge and the Justice Dept attorney:

“Is there anything material that has happened” that might have caused the Justice Department to shift its views, asked Judge Mary M. Schroeder, an appointee of President Jimmy Carter, coyly referring to the recent election.

“No, your honor,” Mr. Letter replied.

Judge Schroeder asked, “The change in administration has no bearing?”

Once more, he said, “No, Your Honor."

We are meant to trust them - that they will use the state secrets privilege "more sparingly." We are meant to believe that there are better places to discuss matters which affect the state than in open court, and certainly not in congress. Perhaps the only place to safe enough to discuss anything which affects our lives should be behind closed doors at the White House and as far from the ears of the unruly masses as manageable.

You see, just because we vote for them doesn't mean they work for us or anything. So don't get upset pals, don't let it get you down - it doesn't concern you and was never your business anyway. There are other things to think about: there are sales going on, Circuit City is going down, the new Kindle is out, there's talk of a $99 iPhone! You feel better now?

References:
Obama Backs Off a Reversal on Secrets - NYT, John Schwartz, February 9, 2009