Selfish Crab

Been procrastinating some more. But it’s been healthy procrastination, cuz I’ve been reading the Times some more. I found this article about graffiti culture in New York City in the 1980s. In it, I found this particularly inspired passage about hip-hop culture:

Brandishing cans of stolen paint, the new vandals sprayed cryptic messages on trains, spun on their heads and rapped over stolen beats in the parks. … The art of rap depended on the deft appropriation of pre-existing beats, capped by the lyrical flow of the rapper — who appeared to improvise incandescent rhymes on the spot, just as the quick, fluid movements of the graffiti writers suggested that the artists were being chased by the cops. Furies of invention, the city kids who bombed the trains and scribbled over beats pushed themselves to ever-greater heights of innovation, out of a thirst for local fame and for the pleasure of communicating in a code that moved too fast for outsiders — especially adults — to break. Rap was a form of aural graffiti, just as the graffiti style wars were the visual counterpart of the fevered sonic competition among rappers and D.J.’s.

Wow, I feel the exact same way about calculating chi squares and hacking the linux kernel. And by “exact same way” I mean “not at fucking all”. (sigh) Back to the books

# 2003 May 13    {rompin' years}    #

Britney dances in Japanese drink commercials. drool.Google Hiring Engineers for a New York Office. double drool!!!

# 2003 May 12    {Links, nerd, rompin' years}    #

I got into the habit of reading the New York Times Correction section because of this extra credit assignment where I have to find logical or mathematical errors in articles. Most of the correction the Times prints sound like:

The Streetscapes column last Sunday, about the Serbian Orthodox Cathedral of St. Sava ? built in the 19th century as Trinity Chapel ? misstated the location of another church criticized along with it by Clarence Cook, an architecture writer of the 1850’s. That second church, Grace, is at Broadway and 10th Street, not Eighth Street.

Yesterday, the Times dropped this 10-page bomb of a correction about the work of one of their reporters Jayson Blair, detailing years of plagraism, falsification, and sheer lying. The corresponding Corrections entry went like this:

“Ten days ago, Jayson Blair resigned as a reporter for The New York Times after the discovery that he had plagiarized parts of an article on April 26 about the Texas family of a soldier missing in Iraq. An article on Page 1 today recounts a chain of falsifications and plagiarism that unraveled when The Times began an inquiry into that Texas article. At least 36 more articles written by Mr. Blair since October reflected plagiarism, misstatements, misrepresentation of the reporter’s whereabouts or a combination of those. An accounting of the flaws will be found on the right side of this page, as the first headline under “Related.”

Today’s article and the accounting result from a weeklong investigation by five Times reporters and a team of researchers. The newspaper organized it in the belief that the appropriate corrective for flawed journalism is better journalism ? accurate journalism.

The reporters have telephoned news sources cited by Mr. Blair and have interviewed other journalists who worked with him. Executives have read them summaries of telephone records and expense documents. To examine the newsroom processes that went awry, they have had unrestricted access to other Times staff members, including top editors, involved with Mr. Blair’s copy and the management of his career. Within the limits of laws and ethical codes governing health and employment records, Times managers have described documents for the reporting team.

The reporters’ examination has centered on the last seven months, a period in which Mr. Blair increasingly received assignments distant from the newsroom, which allowed him wider independence. His earlier work, done under closer supervision, will be spot-checked. If another major examination appears warranted, it will be carried out. Readers and news sources who know of defects in additional articles should send e-mail to The Times: retrace@ nytimes.com.

In online databases that include copy from The Times, cautionary notices will be attached to the faulty articles in coming days.

The Times regrets that it did not detect the journalistic deceptions sooner. A separate internal inquiry, by the management, will examine the newsroom’s processes for training, assignment and accountability.

For all of the falsifications and plagiarism, The Times apologizes to its readers in the first instance, and to those who have figured in improper coverage. It apologizes, too, to those whose work was purloined and to all conscientious journalists whose professional trust has been betrayed by this episode.”

# 2003 May 11    {rompin' years}    #

I didn’t know it until I saw this news post, but Bill Gates spoke at Columbia recently about philanthropy and his intents to eventually give away nearly all of his fortune to the cause of global health. 40 billion minus nearly all of 40 billion dollars still equals a cushy life, so good for him for realizing this.

Y’know, cruising through a lot of nerd communities and reading a lot of nerd websites, you definitely get the feeling that a number of people out there dislike Bill Gates and Microsoft. They believe Microsoft is pure evil and amoral and everything that is wrong with the world. And these people are idiots.

Shrug off your naivety, for crying out loud, you nerds. You know why the view of “Microsoft is evil” has not entered the mainstream? Because most people have some sense of fricking perspective. We’re talking about software here. Yes, Microsoft has some very aggressive business practices. Yes, sometimes they act like a big gorilla.

I suspect the reason some people get so irked by Microsoft’s behavior is because these people have internalized the engineer’s Code of Right-ness to the point where it’s almost intertwined with their sense of Moral Good. Right-ness is doing things the most correct way, the most efficient way, the most beneficial way. From afar, this looks like having a stick in the butt. Well, I think it’s ennobling to have this quality. (huff). Anyway, so these people get so riled up because they look at what they believe to be sloppy, poor work on the part of Microsoft. And i’m going to stop writing… now.

# 2003 May 8    {nerd, opine, rompin' years}    #

So I got a chance to see Better Luck Tomorrow. It was so-so. I definitely was not blown away, like I was for, say, City of God. And I was really looking forward to seeing this movie. I thought it was slick for an indie movie, with some cute, but not super-cool, effects and visual tricks. Some of the editing was suspect. And I disliked the pacing at the end of the movie. I would like to say, all in all, that it was a nice movie, because I’m eager to give it “support” from yellow to yellow.In terms of Asian-Americans in media yadda yadda, the movie never promises to be the quintessential Asian-American movie that encapulates all that it is to be Asian-American. Instead, this is a movie with its own themes and ideas, where the characters just happen to be Asian-american.

Ok, so maybe it’s not as innocent as that. Did the filmmaker purposely choose a minority often viewed as model to highlight what he was trying to say about modern values and the suburban wasteland and the failure of ultra-goal-oriented society? Well, maybe.

Nonetheless, it was fun to watch Asians be on the big screen for a non-Asian reason. That is, no one was a waiter or a delivery boy or a martial arts expert. They were real roles.

But I don’t know if I would go all the way to say they were full three-dimensional breathing growing characters. Most of the roles were single-minded. In the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, one was the leader/responsible one, one was the smart one, one was the party animal, and one was the radical. Categories fell just as easily here. The movie advertisements themselves labelled the characters: The Mastermind, The Overachiever, The Muscle, The Boyfriend, The Beauty, etc. They were one-faced roles, but I wouldn’t fault them for having it that way. It’s hard to have real characters.

Anyway, my less serious “I like shiny things” analysis: It was fun watching smart people get away breaking the rules in the beginning. Although, I would have enjoyed seeing more petty crimes, because the descent into madness was quick. I mean, they went from making cheatsheets to dealing cocaine in no time. Where was the gradient, the transition? Christ, where was the marijuana?? Cocaine is a hard drug.

Lastly, I stumbled upon these links to these websites “belonging” to the movie characters. It’s cute publicity. Each homepage is tailored to each character’s personality, whether it be “estudious” or “sweet but edgy”. My favorite is Han’s, whose theme is “I don’t give a shit about my webpage”.

# 2003 May 7    {opine, rompin' years}    #

Whoops, it’s May. In May, I have a drink of water. May I have a drink of water? May, you crazy bitch, I have a drink of water. would you like some?

Also, sorry I haven’t posted in a while. I had forgotton how to be Interesting… or Funny… or Charming. On the other hand, if you are need of someone Stressed, Fretful, or Uncertain, I am very caught up on those skills and would be happy to help you.

We now return you to your reguarly scheduled blogging.

# 2003 May 7    {rompin' years}    #