Month: October 2004

AND a lunar eclipse?

Old Man
Threescore and ten I can remember well:
Within the volume of which time I have seen
Hours dreadful and things strange; but this sore night
Hath trifled former knowings.

ROSS
Ah, good father,
Thou seest, the heavens, as troubled with man’s act,
Threaten his bloody stage: by the clock, ’tis day,
And yet dark night strangles the travelling lamp:
Is’t night’s predominance, or the day’s shame,
That darkness does the face of earth entomb,
When living light should kiss it?

Old Man
‘Tis unnatural,
Even like the deed that’s done. On Tuesday last,
A falcon, towering in her pride of place,
Was by a mousing owl hawk’d at and kill’d.

ROSS
And Duncan’s horses–a thing most strange and certain–
Beauteous and swift, the minions of their race,
Turn’d wild in nature, broke their stalls, flung out,
Contending ‘gainst obedience, as they would make
War with mankind.

Old Man
‘Tis said they eat each other.

ROSS
They did so, to the amazement of mine eyes
That look’d upon’t.

—Macbeth, Act. 2, Scene 4

Which is my roundabout way of saying, “Congratulations to the Boston Red Sox for winning the 2004 World Series.”

“Be prepared for sudden cardiac arrest. . .”

I’d really like to know if everyone’s getting a link to this $1,500 home heart defibrillator on their Amazon front page, or if there’s something about my buying history that makes them think I’m a prime candiate for a heart attack. Maybe it’s something in my wish list . . .

Boulevard to Hell?

Presumably, this is a two-way street.

[There’s some problem with Blogger this morning, and it zapped my previous post, which congratulated the Boston Red Sox for their victory over the Yankees. I swear I didn’t delete it myself.]

You stupid, yellow-toothed pansies

The Guardian, a left-leaning paper in London, started a project where its readers could request the addresses of registered, undecided U.S. voters in Clark County, OH, so they could write the voters about their election opinions.

The Guardian operation has, um, received some reactions from Americans.

Update

Many apologies for not keeping up with Virtual Memories, but this Yankees-Red Sox series has just been draining the heck out of me.

It’s kinda silly for a sporting event to take on that sorta ongoing significance in a person’s life. I mean, I was up till 1:30 am last night with game 4, and blew off much of a friend’s party on Saturday night to watch the blowout of game 3. But it’s a game that I love.

I promise to get my blog on more often after this series ends.

It’d be funnier if the site was slightly crooked

Ikea’s launched Elite Designers, a guerrilla site, goofing on itself. Doesn’t get around to mentioning that the furniture’s not very comfortable, or that there’s typically a part missing from assembly, but hey.

Speaking of science fiction

Alien Loves Predator: In New York, no one can hear you scream.

Many kudos to the official VM girlfriend for this one.

Science Fiction Double Feature

There are times I feel like I’m living in a science fiction world. This morning, I turned on ESPN during breakfast. The Houston Rockets and Sacramento Kings were playing an NBA preseason game in Shanghai. The crowd, of course, went crazy when Yao Ming was introduced. But earlier, when the team rosters were introduced, I was amazed to hear sudden surges of applause when the announcer called out the names of Peja Stojakovic and Dikembe Mutombo.

I thought, “I’m watching an NBA game, from Shanghai, on a satellite dish, TiVo’d [I paused live action while I was making breakfast], and I just saw a Chinese crowd go nuts when a Serbian and a Nigerian were introduced.”

Yer goin’ to hell if you laugh at this

Thank/Blame our Australian correspondent for this one.

Yanking Chains

Yes, I know it’s infantile, but I laughed my ass off, listening to tens of thousands of Yankee fans chant, “Who’s your daddy?” to Pedro Martinez.