Wolfgang.
Amadeus was directed by Miloš Forman and written by Peter Shaffer (adapted from his play). F. Murray Abraham stars as Antonio Salieri and Tom Hulce as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.This film is a classic. What more can be said? The court composer Salieri is so jealous of Mozart's talent that he may have destroyed Wolfgang's career.
The Director's Cut restores an extra 20 minutes, and fleshes out some of the subplots.
Ludwig.
Immortal Beloved was written and directed by Bernard Rose.Gary Oldman stars as Ludwig van Beethoven, Jeroen Krabbé plays Anton Schindler (Beethoven's secretary and lifelong friend) and Isabella Rossellini is luscious as the Hungarian countess Anna Marie Erdödy.
Suppose a letter is found after the mighty composer's death, a letter in which Beethoven refers to his "immortal beloved." Who was Beethoven's real muse?
LvB's music is the real star here. Discovering possible inspirations for his music is an unexpected bonus.
Freeway party: 2 of 2.
As mentioned yesterday, Anikó and I went to the Loop 202 opening event on Tuesday night. We were impressed with the organizers' attention to detail: parking was on one side of the freeway, booths on the other. They expected thousands of idiots and, sure enough, thousands of us showed up.
Of course, one of the major sporting activities at a party like this is to see who can collect the weirdest free stuff. We gave it our best shot:
1) DVD from azdot.gov (detailed here) - "Modern Roundabout, Innovation in Traffic Management"
2) Map from azdot.gov - "Regional Transportation Plan Freeway Program 2006-2025"
3) Yellow plastic hat from azdot.gov - Construction hardhat w/ADOT logo
4) Mousepad from azdot.gov - "Slow Down, My Mommy Works Here"
5) Keychains from azgohs.gov - "Buckle Up" detachable + "Please Watch Out For Motorcycles" black cycle
6) Plastic sports bottles from az511.gov - "Arizona Travel Info"
7) Bottle of water from Chandler-GilbertYMCA.org and statefarm.com - "I'm There"
8) Pencil from cgc.edu college - "Career & Technical Education"
9) Triangular mini-toolkit from CityOfMesa.org - "Mesa, The Perfect Location For Business"
10) CD cleaner from MesaAmp.com - "Mesa Rocks!"
11) Rubber squeeze toy from ? - wedge of cantaloupe: orange center, green rind, brown skin - "Eat Well, Be Well"
The rubber cantaloupe wedge is my favorite. I'm sorry I can't remember who gave it to us.
The organizers were careful to provide many bottles of water. Since the party consisted mostly of walking long distances on virgin black asphalt--smoking hot and shimmering under the summer sun--water was a must for survival. We were most impressed by the guys who scooted around with little red wagons full of ice-cold water bottles. They moved quickly when dazed partygoers stumbled off into the freeway ditch, faint with heatstroke.
Freeway party: 1 of 2.
Anikó and I went to the Loop 202 opening event last night. It was pretty much as stupid as expected, but in wonderfully silly ways. We collected tons of cool free stuff, which I will enumerate later, but the most surprising piece of free crap was a DVD, entitled "Modern Roundabout, Innovation in Traffic Management."
When I was growing up in Massachusetts, a million years ago, we called these types of intersections "traffic circles," and they were considered to be deathtraps. Everybody, including the state's public roads department, wanted to replace the traffic circles with a less dangerous design, but it was an expensive proposition. The roads in Massachusetts had evolved gradually over hundreds of years, from horse paths to automobile routes, and getting rid of the traffic circles was a long-term project.
Now that I live in Arizona, it looks like state officials construct new traffic circles/roundabouts ON PURPOSE. And they spend millions of dollars handing out free DVDs, trying to educate Arizona motorists on how to use them, and to convince us that roundabouts are GOOD.
Most of the DVD is reproduced on the Arizona Department of Transportation's website. Notice how they have to explain the use of roundabouts with videos, diagrams, scripts, animations, graphics, etc. In other words, using a roundabout is not intuitive. This is a bad sign. If a driver can't figure out how to negotiate a traffic intersection just by looking at it, there will be accidents. Many accidents.
I plan to carry my DVD in the car with me at all times, so I won't get confused...
Freeway jumps on Giant Red Nipple bandwagon.
The Arizona Department of Transportation has just erected its own cute and perky logo, adding to the Mesa Giant Red Nipple series (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7).This coming Tuesday, July 15, at 5pm, ADOT will host the Roundin' Out the Red Mountain Opening Event, celebrating the completion of Loop 202.
When we bought a house in this area, during March of 2007, we were at the end of a freeway. Now we're in the loop. During the last couple of years, ADOT has provided us with some mystery (H-O-V... P-I-R... M-O-U-S-E) and excitement (our own little neighborhood bridge collapse).
And now they're throwing a party on the freeway? I'm there.
A new way to play golf.
Anikó and I like to go hiking up in the Las Sendas community, just a few blocks away. The desert landscaping is spectacular, and many trails branch off the public sidewalks. In fact, "las sendas" means "the footpaths" in Spanish.
One day, we started hiking up a hill, and soon realized that the other side of the hill was right next to their golf course. It was the tricky 11th hole, and we couldn't believe the number of golf balls that had been abandoned, just off the fairway. We started enjoying our new game, out amongst the cacti and palo verde trees: "Look! Another one! Over there!" It was tons of fun, sorta like a treasure hunt.
That first day, we rescued 17 balls. Since then, we've gone back many times, accumulating dozens more. It doesn't seem to matter how often we return; there are always new balls to rescue. Although we once tied our high score of 17, we haven't broken the record.
Yet.
Jolie/Kidman Deathmatch.
| Round | Nicole Kidman | Angelina Jolie | Winner |
| 1 Personality | Spoiled, self-absorbed | Charitable, humanitarian | Jolie |
| 2 Tattoos | 0 | A jillion | Jolie |
| 3 Awards | Oscar: 2003; Golden Globes: 2003, 2002, 1996 | Oscar: 2000; Golden Globes: 2000, 1999, 1998; SAG Actor: 2000, 1999 | Jolie |
| 4 Spouse | Keith Urban, ex-drunk redneck shitkicker | Brad Pitt, enlightened sensitive hunk | Jolie |
| 5 Spouse Awards | Grammy: 2006 | Golden Globe: 1996; MTV Movie Awards: 1996, 1995 | Jolie |
| 6 Offspring Name | Sunday, silliest name since Morticia and Gomez Addams named their girl Wednesday | Unborn twins, as yet unnamed | Jolie |
| 7 Offspring Pix Worth | $5 million | $25 million | Jolie |
July 4 is hot dogs, beer, barbecues, Will Smith...
...and a revolutionary document signed by a few very brave men...
IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America
When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.
— John Hancock
New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton
Massachusetts:
John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery
Connecticut:
Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott
New York:
William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris
New Jersey:
Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark
Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross
Delaware:
Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean
Maryland:
Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia:
George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton
North Carolina:
William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn
South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton
Georgia:
Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton
Milestones.
Don't get me wrong. The news about my right shoulder is not all bad. I **am** making some gains in mobility, but the progress is so hard-won, and so painful, that we celebrate each tiny victory. Today, there were three reasons to rejoice:
1) I can now comb my hair, and
2) I can now brush my teeth, and
3) I can now wipe my ass.
It was a big day.
Haven't got time for the pain. (Re: Carly Simon)
An offhand comment from my primary physical therapist (a/k/a The Dominatrix) the other day led me to a disturbing realization. Yolanta mentioned that one of her shoulder-operation clients finished his physical therapy in a week or so. Her intern and I both looked at each other in astonishment, because I've been banging my head against the wall for five weeks, with several more months of painful rehab projected. Yolanta explained that the other client had a simple rotator cuff surgery, and that my repair was a whole lot more complex.
This was confirmed during my last visit to the doc: he said that my surgery was not your run-of-the-mill rotator cuff repair, which is why I have all this extra pain. He also admitted that he did a "tight" repair, because everything inside my shoulder was so loose before. Which means--you guessed it--even MORE pain!
Several old friends have come out of the woodwork, to share their rotator cuff stories. A couple of them have had both shoulders repaired, and both of them quit the second round of therapy. Each decided that limited mobility and strength was preferable to the continued regimen of pain. And they both had simple rotator-cuff surgeries.
I do have pain pills, but they're not very effective. They also have long-term drawbacks, so I resort to them only when my internal angst starts impinging on other people, like poor Anikó. And the recent cortisone shot helped... but only for a couple of days.
Long story short: I visit my physical therapists twice a week, 7am. They prod me into a killing round of exercises for a couple of hours. Then The Dominatrix devises some fiendishly-personalized torture for my shoulder that lasts several years (approximately twenty minutes in real time), and I drive home in a daze. For the rest of that day, I can barely complete the simplest task, because I can't remember anything for more than ten seconds. My body stays in shock for the next 24 hours, then I gradually come out of it. But when I wake up the next morning, I'm faced with a difficult choice: do I continue to self-administer the unimaginable pain of these (supposedly) three-a-day exercises, or do I put a gun to my head?
The gun is still in the nightstand. So far. ;-)
Update from the peanut gallery: Kevin S. from Colorado Springs writes, "It may be necessary to continue the PT at least until you can lift the gun to your temple."
Trente-deux films brefs sur Glenn Gould.
Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould is actually one docudrama directed by François Girard, from a screenplay by Girard & Don McKellar.Colm Feore plays the eccentric Canadian master pianist with gusto.
The structure of this film is based upon the structure of the composition that Gould is most famous for playing, Bach's Goldberg Variations: 32 short pieces of music that are usually performed together.
Teensy-weensy countries of Europe.
Province of Åland 5,267 square miles (8% more than Connecticut)
Principality of Asturias 4,094 sq mi (15% less than Connecticut)
Grand Duchy of Luxembourg 998 sq mi
Principality of Andorra 175 sq mi
Republic of Malta 122 sq mi
Principality of Liechtenstein 62 sq mi
Republic of San Marino 24 sq mi
Principality of Seborga 1.5 sq mi (Prince Giorgio is known locally as Sua Tremendità - "Your Tremendousness")
Principality of Monaco 0.7 sq mi
State of the Vatican City 0.17 sq mi
Principality of Sealand 0.0002 sq mi
Impromptu.
Impromptu (1991) dramatizes the seduction of the gentle Polish composer and pianist Frédéric Chopin (Hugh Grant) by the cigar-smoking, cross-dressing French writer George Sand (Judy Davis).Meanwhile, Marie d'Agoult (Bernadette Peters) is obsessed with providing the inspiration for Hungarian cult figure Ferencz/Franz Liszt (Julian Sands), the Mick Jagger of his day.
Emma Thompson plays the rich, vapid hostess for these farcical shenanigans.
The film was directed by James Lapine and written by his wife, Sarah Kernochan (who also collaborated on the movie adaptation of 9½ Weeks).
Adhesions + scar tissue = bad. Cortisone = good.
I was a serious runner for 25 years (Boston & NY marathons). We used to chant: "Run through the pain."
I was a serious weightlifter for 5 years. We used to chant: "No pain, no gain."
I was a serious Marxist for about 5 minutes. We used to chant: "The only antidote to mental suffering is physical pain." Looking back, it wasn't that catchy.
The point is: I'm no wimp. I eat pain for breakfast.
Especially when the oatmeal's too hot.
But the physical rehab torture regimen for my shoulder surgery was making me suicidal. I went to the doc, and said, "Give me better drugs, dammit." He prescribed an ultrasound--which evidently shows some pretty spectacular adhesions (below)--and then shot me up with cortisone.
Life seems worth living again.
Seeking inspiration in writer's homes.
Links researched from the IHT article, plus a few extras:
http://www.dickensfellowship.org/
http://www.marktwainhouse.org/
http://www.marktwainmuseum.org/
http://www.harrietbeecherstowecenter.org/
http://www.edithwharton.org/
http://www.hemingwayhome.com/
http://www.eugeneoneill.org/
http://www.landmarktrustusa.org/naulakha/
http://www.landmarktrust.org.uk/availability/
http://www.jane-austens-house-museum.org.uk/
http://www.paris-france.org/musees/Balzac/
http://www.emilydickinsonmuseum.org/
http://www.bronte.org.uk/
http://www.hemingwayhomeweddings.com/
http://www.zanegreypueblohotel.com/
The desert inn where Lorne Michaels took magic mushrooms and came up with the ideas for Saturday Night Live: http://www.joshuatreeinn.com/
The desert inn where I couldn't find any magic mushrooms, yet started writing Merlinsky anyway... quaint little bungalows and cabins: http://www.29palmsinn.com/
UPDATE: There are several dozen treasures in this guardian.co.uk list of writers' rooms. For example, after clicking on Charles Darwin's name, you will see a photo of the room where he worked, just above an essay with details like these: [...] The room was his refuge - and also an intellectual powerhouse. This was where he wrote On the Origin of Species, the controversial book that transformed the way scientists think about nature. It was here that he received the shocking news that Alfred Russel Wallace had independently arrived at the same theory of evolution by natural selection, and here that he encountered the storm of criticism when Origin of Species was published in 1859. Although it was the most private of places, hidden away in a village in Kent, Darwin's activities made it the centre of a global movement for scientific reform. [¶] Darwin researched and wrote 10 substantial books at Down House. He sat in the high-backed leather chair by the fireside, with a board balanced on his knees, his papers and notes close to hand in the alcove behind, surrounded by portraits of his wife and closest friends, the door ajar so that the children might run in. He was a warm-hearted husband and father, and let his children play on the round-topped stool, punting it around the room with his walking stick. At regular intervals he would pick up his hat for a brisk walk around the garden. [...]
Midsummer solstice tomorrow.
Last Saturday here in Phoenix, it was 110°F (43.33°C).
Sunday was 112, Monday was 112, Tuesday was 113, Wednesday was 112 and today it's 111 (headed for 113, they say).
Tomorrow is the first day of summer.
Thank gawd.
Maybe it'll start warming up, for a change.
Scorpion Map of Greater Phoenix.
Our zip is 85215, bottom right. The light pink shading indicates the lowest density of scorpions. And yet, the following conversation took place in my home last night, just prior to Sleepytime:
"Alan!" screamed my lovely bride, her voice betraying only a slight hint of fear/panic/terror.
"Yes, my sweet?"
"What is THAT?!" By the hysterical edge in her voice, I suspected that she already knew.
"Oh, look! Isn't he cute?" I squatted down to examine the two-inch scorpion in the hall outside her bathroom.
"Killhimkillhimkillhimkillhimkillhimkillhim!"
"Are you sure you want me to squash your Zodiac symbol? Doesn't that lead to seven years of bad luck, or something?"
"Killhimkillhimkillhimkillhimkillhimkillhimkillhimkillhim!"
So I eased the little guy's transition into a better life.
I hope he's found a place where scorpions can scurry around without the Damoclean threat of size-11 moccasins hanging over their heads.
Monsoon starts now, weather you like it or not. From 12 News:
After decades of using dew point readings to mark each year's monsoon on the calendar, the National Weather Service has changed the rules. Starting this year, the monsoon "season" will begin and end on firm dates, much like hurricane season on the Gulf Coast.
The Weather Service decided that the monsoon "season" will start on June 15th and end on September 30th, regardless of weather conditions. In years past, the first three consecutive days with average dew points of 55 degrees marked the beginning of the monsoon—typically in early July. And the monsoon ended with the last string of three days with such damp dew points--usually in September.
NWS Monsoon Tracker
Using your iPod to write screenplays.
[You can also use your thumb/flash drive, mp3 player, or favorite USB storage device.] It's a snap:
A) At the bottom of your iPod's "Summary" tab in iTunes, check the "Enable disk use" box, and click the "Apply" button.
B) Download and install the latest free OpenOffice.org Portable suite on your iPod.
C) Download and install this free scr2.ott template on your iPod - I put mine here:
X:\OpenOfficePortable\App\openoffice\share\template\en-US
When we stay in Tucson with my wife's friend--who has a Windows computer, but no Internet connection--I keep myself entertained by working on my latest screenplay or just kicking back and listening to some music (perhaps Mark Knopfler's Screenplaying). I can also use the iPod to revise my script on the public computers in: (1) my local library, (2) London's Heathrow airport, (3) Beijing's cyber-cafés, etc.
PS: My iPod is one of the smallest models, an old 2GB Nano. I had already loaded nearly 18 hours of music (201 songs) and 33 photos onto it. Now that it contains the OpenOffice.org software and my screenplay, it still shows over 606MB (33%) of free space.
Kicsi kutyus.
A very special member of our family passed away today: a tiny Welsh terrier named Jennike. She lived in Budapest with my stepchildren, Anita and Jenc. Jennike's horizons became more and more limited, as she gradually lost her hearing and most of her sight, but she truly enjoyed being a loyal companion, right up until the end. She had a good long life (18 years), and she will not be forgotten. Condolences to the surviving family members who knew her since she was a puppy: Anita, Jenc, and their mom, Anikó, who lives here in Arizona with me.
My S&M Dominatrix From Poland.
I recently began a program of physical rehab for the surgery performed on a particularly nasty shoulder injury. My physical therapist's name is Yolanta. She was born in Poland. She's a formidable woman, with a deceptively sweet smile. She is quite capable of inflicting some of the most intense pain I have ever experienced, while smiling beatifically. It's all part of her determined effort to break up my scar tissue.
It seems that scar tissue is one of the unavoidable--and yet desirable--byproducts of arthroscopic surgery. After you rip your shoulder apart, by doing something stupid, the scar tissue from the surgery knits everything back together.
The problem is, your body has just experienced an extremely invasive procedure, and it wants to protect everything that was touched by the surgeon's tools. So it goes nuts with the scar tissue.
As a result, I have scar tissue in places that should never see scar tissue. And I've spent the last month keeping my arm very, very still, so my body was able to grow all sorts of scar tissue, good AND bad.
But now, I have to rip apart the bad scar tissue, while leaving the good scar tissue intact. This is where my Polish S&M Dominatrix Goddess comes in. She knows the best ways to break up that bad scar tissue, while inflicting the maximum amount of pain. Sometimes, when she is twisting my shoulder into a position that it has not been able to approach for the last three months, I look up through a haze of barely-repressed tears and notice her beatific smile. She's enjoying this.
The thing that worries me is: because she is helping me regain the use of my shoulder, I am also enjoying this.
Physical therapy is kinky as hell.
Google rips off Guardian.
Google recently changed its uppercase "G" favicon to a lowercase "g."
The Guardian website, which has been using a similar lowercase "g" favicon for quite a while:
, just noticed the change.
Google is now accepting open submissions to replace the lowercase "g." The entrant is responsible for making sure his/her entry "does not infringe any third party rights."
8 years ago today.
On June 6, 2000, Anikó and I took a ferry out to Catalina Island, and got married at the former Avalon home of America's preeminent writer on western lore, Zane Grey. Originally built in 1926, Grey's pueblo was designed to serve as a haven for his prolific literary efforts. It features extraordinary views of the ocean, as well as the surrounding hills of Catalina. Twenty-odd miles offshore, this island really lives up to its reputation as a romantic getaway.
BTW, we were each married twice before. None of the four marriages lasted this long, so we're still in shock.
There's a Porsche in my shoulder!
Evidently, the bill I received on May 15 was for hospital charges only... yup, I just received another bill, from the surgeon:
Scope Shoulder Bancart - $3,000.00
Shoulder Debridement - $3,000.00
Decompression Shoulder - $3,000.00
Scope w/Rotator Cuff Repair - $3,000.00
Subscapular Nerve Block - $1,000.00
TOTAL SURGEON CHARGES - $13,000.00
If we add this to the previous bill:
TOTAL HOSPITAL CHARGES - $29,642.25
, we end up with a truly appalling figure:
TOTAL HOSPITAL + SURGEON CHARGES - $42,642.25
For that amount of cash, I could buy a Porsche Boxster. Next time, I'm taking the car.
Eroica.
This BBC film (directed by Simon Cellan Jones, written by Nick Dear) recreates the drama--mostly wordless--surrounding the first dress-rehearsal performance of Beethoven's Third Symphony. The music is played by the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, conducted by John Eliot Gardiner, and the actual musicians, not actors, perform the music on period instruments. The "audience" includes top-flight actors like Jack Davenport, Tim Pigott-Smith, Anton Lesser, Claire Skinner, Lucy Akhurst and Fenella Woolgar - who dramatically show that accomplished thespians need not always rely on the crutch of dialogue.Some of the invited guests cannot understand what they are hearing; others are delighted by the novelty of a symphony that does not conform to the accepted musical conventions of their time. Later, when the aging Franz Josef Haydn (Frank Finlay) stops by to listen, he comments, "Everything is different from today."
Beethoven (Ian Hart) originally dedicated the symphony to Napoleon Bonaparte... but changed his mind after learning of Napoleon's accession to Emperor.
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