Last night I got the rare opportunity to see a Broadway show (thanks to the Big S). Anyway, it was a great play - I just can’t say enough good things about it. The play is named “Retreat from Moscow.” Three actors, sparse set but really well written. If you get a chance, it’s well worth seeing - definitely worth standing on TKTS line to get a deal.

Check out this review:

The best word to describe The Retreat from Moscow might well be "succinct." William Nicholson's new play at the Booth is succinctly written, succinctly (but superbly) acted, and succinctly designed. There's almost nothing about it that isn't concisely measured and well thought out, from the impact of a couple of well-placed laugh lines to the dispensing of an expected profundity or two.

The Wizard of Oz...

...was on TV tonight. I watched a bit of it and then I remembered about the whole thing about watching it while having Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon on. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, check out this link for full instructions. I have to admit, the thought of doing it appealed to me — it’s a pretty wild movie in any event.

They just flashed this site on the TV and I couldn’t resist:

Looking for that special someone to share your life with? Been looking for love in all the wrong places? Worried that the special someone in your life is up to no good when you’re not around? Look no further.

Of course, you will probably wind up on a future episode of the Jerry Springer Show.

Hey look, it’s a woman in her underwear with wings!



Yeah, Victoria’s Secret makes nice lingerie (spoken as an appreciative observer not a wearer folks) but, can you say pretentious?

A life lived in the public gaze.



Do we really even need to talk about Michael Jackson...

Jackson Urged to Surrender on Warrant

In the press conference, the district attorney also stressed that the issuing of a warrant made the new case different from the 1993 probe. "There is a warrant outstanding and I can assure you that in a very short period of time there will be charges filed against Mr. Jackson, multiple counts," Sneddon said. This time, he added, there has been no civil case filed and none is expected, unlike 1993.

...I guess so since it’s the lead for all major news outlets today (and yesterday).

A friend called and commented on it. It made me remember getting an email from someone a few months back with an attached QuickTime movie that had pictures of Michael Jackson morphing into one and other through the years. It was sad and painful to watch.

Until someone shows a picture of the guy in flagrante delicto with a kid, it’s really all speculation (we are innocent until proven guilty in the court system, just not in the court of public opinion).

I’m not defending Jackson’s behavior and if he is guilty he should be rightfully punished but, at the same time what good is sending this guy to jail going to do?

There was no surprise when I heard the news.

The guy is definitely sick and if he didn’t have money, he probably wouldn’t have the access to children he has (the way things are going for him it sounds like he won’t have money for very much longer).

Also, the question I posed to my friend was this: under the circumstances, what parent in their right mind would even expose their child to Michael Jackson and even chance the possibility of something happening?

It’s interesting to note the family of the boy were seeking out a lawyer to sue Jackson — so, what is it? Expose your child to a potentially dangerous situation in the hopes of securing money? If I had a kid there’s no way I’d let them be around Jackson, much less “sleep over” the guys house. Isn’t it somewhat disingenuous to pretend there wasn’t the chance something like this could happen?

Anyway, he’s a freak (watching his bizarre transformation over the years) but, is all just very sad to watch someone who was so talented just self destruct (and in the process ruin the lives of children).

Watching his strange metamorphosis, I was reminded of
The Talking Heads song Seen and Not Seen:

He would see faces in movies, on T.V., in magazines, and in books... He thought that some of these faces might be right for him... And through the years, by keeping an ideal facial structure fixed in his mind... Or somewhere in the back of his mind... That he might, by force of will, cause his face to approach those of his ideal... The change would be very subtle... It might take ten years or so... Gradually his face would change its' shape... A more hooked nose... Wider, thinner lips... Beady eyes... A larger forehead.

He imagined that this was an ability he shared with most other people... They had also molded their faced according to some ideal... Maybe they imagined that their new face would better suit their personality... Or maybe they imagined that their personality would be forced to change to fit the new appearance... This is why first impressions are often correct... Although some people might have made mistakes... They may have arrived at an appearance that bears no relationship to them... They may have picked an ideal appearance based on some childish whim, or momentary impulse... Some may have gotten half-way there, and then changed their minds.

He wonders if he too might have made a similar mistake.

The Lower Manhattan Development Corp. opened an exhibition today of eight finalist designs in the World Trade Center Site Memorial Competition at the Winter Garden.

Check out the site! All the designs have their good points and some of them are truly ingenuous and beautiful.

From the Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Microsoft fires worker over weblog Many people post work-related entries on personal blogs, but they don't expect to be terminated.

So, Michael Hanson has become a bit of a folk hero (to me and I’m sure many other bloggers). The guy made an innocuous posting which some suit saw and took exception to.

This is akin to killing a fly with an a-bomb.

Of course, in the unforgiving world of corporate politics where ethics are rarely heard of, just sitting down with someone and telling them they’ve transgressed and giving them a warning isn’t a possibility.

No, it’s off with their head!

Now, if you’re VP level or above, they probably do just that (sit you down and ask you to watch yourself in the future) but, worker bees don’t get that kind of consideration (especially not temp worker bees).

Just another thing that let’s you know the American worker is taking it on the chin.

I can’t speak to the whole thing as eloquently as the man himself could so, click on the links, read the article and read the man’s blog.

The day started like any other day; get up, dink around for a bit, bus into work, and start working through the stack of jobs. Just shy of an hour after I got in, my manager came in and asked me to step into his office when I had a chance. Sure, no biggie, and I headed over as soon as I finished the job I was setting up.

"Okay, here's the first question. Is this page," and here he turned his monitor towards me, letting me see my "Even Microsoft wants G5s" post from last Thursday, "hosted on any Microsoft computer? Or is it on your own?"

Do ethics really matter?

FORMER GREY GLOBAL EXEC SENTENCED TO 70 MONTHS Mitchell Mosallem Must Also Pay $247,000 Fine November 13, 2003 By Lisa Sanders NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — A federal court judge today sentenced former Grey Global Group executive Mitchell Mosallem to 70 months in prison...

So, back in the early to mid 90’s I had a few year stint at Grey Advertising.

Round about the middle of ’96, I was downsized out during a shakeup of the department I worked in. The months leading up to my departure were hectic to say the least. Grey was pitching for quite a bit of business as the industry was undergoing dramatic change.

The agency was still structured along the lines of old modes of doing business. The days of Darren Stevens and Larry Tate were long gone and with them the incredible markup that large agencies enjoyed were disappearing with the advent of the desktop publishing revolution. It wasn’t easy to bury costs and pass the markup along to the client anymore.

The few years I was at Grey we had had a particularly good run going something like 14 out of 16 on major pitches (things like Sprint, House of Seagram, Brown and Williamson just to name a few). Every one of those pitches came through my department. While we weren’t the only reason the agency was successful in their endeavors, there’s no question if the people in the studio hadn’t been good at their jobs, Grey wouldn’t have had such a high success rate, particularly when the studio was called upon more often than not to diffuse a disaster in the making.

One of the reasons I was brought in and one of the “unwritten” responsibilities of my job was speccing out equipment for our department, instituting standards and practices for workflow, maintaining the equipment and training the staff (previously board, read that as paste-up people) in the use of the computer.

My direct boss was a guy named Peter Abbey. Peter was a likable guy, he was fair with people and while he wouldn’t take a bullet for any of his underlings, he wouldn’t throw someone under the wheels of the train either.

Peter had been with the agency for a little over 25 years (at that point) having worked his way up in the department from being the guy who mounted ads for people to the manager of the department. His longevity was due in large part to being a company guy and knowing better than to make waves. He had his own corner of the agency and did his best to keep it isolated from a lot of the intrigue going on in other departments.

Try as he might though, the guy who he answered to was a very political beast and was determined to stick his nose into every cranny he could exploit. Consequently, there were lots of “office politics” and even if you wanted to, you couldn’t easily escape them.

Now, I don’t like that crap... never have.

I’m not a political animal and don’t see much good in glad-handing some incompetent in the cause of furthering my own ends. It doesn’t seem right and it’s an affront to my sensibilities. I don’t think it’s something that’s good for a business either. So, it’s no surprise when I one day found myself in the office of my bosses’ boss having a meeting about equipment requisitions and was pointedly told I should bypass Peter and come directly to the convicted felon above it didn’t rub me the right way. It struck me as something that was both smarmy and unethical so, two months later when I got downsized I can’t say I was totally surprised.

Other people I liked working with were forced out too, some people more willing to “play ball” were moved in (the better to keep an eye on Peter) and that was that.

I still had a few friends at Grey and would always marvel at the continued intrigue and be thankful and relieved I was no longer party to it. I can’t say I’ve ever done worse since my days at Grey and I’m thankful for that. Considering what wound up happening in the ensuing years (this investigation has been going on for some time now), I can safely say I’m happy with the decisions I made.

As the friend and former co-worker who emailed the news to me noted, it couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.

Friday was my whirlwind social day, after being a hermit for the better part of the week, I had a jam packed day.

First there was lunch with my sensei.

I’ve never been particularly close to sensei M (Madame M to the uninitiated), taking a more voyeuristic approach in getting to know her by reading her blog (the inspiration for my own).

Still, the last two times I’ve seen her, I’ve come away realizing how much I enjoy her company. Lunch was mainly an exercise in conversation while walking among the windy (and chilly) streets before and after waiting on a long soup line at the infamous Soup Nazi’s stand. Even I was surprised by how long the line was but, the soup was good and so was the conversation.

Madame M toils away at one of my previous places of employment and of course it was one of the subjects that our chat touched on. It’s always interesting to get someone else’s take on a situation, if only to find out how their experience differs or is similar to your own.

I got a chance to briefly visit my former haunts.

I was struck at how odd it always is to revisit the places one has worked. It is at once a both familiar and alien experience. Familiar in the surroundings and alien in the changes that have occurred since you’ve been there. There’s also this weird feeling of being something of an outsider (or maybe pariah) now that you’re no longer there.

You’ve left!

You’re no longer part of the drama of the everyday existence of the workplace! Because, of course, work is so, so important.

It’s how we define ourselves today. (typing never accurately conveys the dripping sarcasm of the statement)

I have to laugh at it. I walked into the place and truth be told, wasn’t really affected one way or the other, no sadness, no great joy either. It was just interesting watching the worker ants toil away until the next flood comes and washes everything away - time is good in that it gives you perspective.

I realized also, I’m not fond of the stupidity and desperation of the workplace. The jockeying that goes on or the struggle for power.

Fortunately, I get the sense Sensei M is not so fond of it either and that’s a comforting thing to be sure.

Afterward, I got a chance to finally see Kill Bill.

Another thing I am thankful for in regard to my current situation is that I can indulge myself by taking in an afternoon film with a friend. The movie was pretty good - I wouldn’t say it was overwhelming (it actually was kind of all over the place in terms of story structure) but, there was still a lot of interesting things going on.

I really like the opening in the House of Blue Leaves, the music is almost enough to make me check out the soundtrack album. I also was impressed with some of the choices Quentin Tarantino made shooting the sequence in black and white or blue to downplay the goriness.

The truth is though, Tarantino’s masterpiece was Pulp Fiction and he may never make another movie that matches it. Watching Kill Bill made me think of Spike Lee’s 25th Hour starring Ed Norton which didn’t get the promotion but was one of the most beautifully shot movies I’ve seen this year (and worth checking out).

After the movie and coffee it was out with Irene for a wedding rehearsal dinner with friends of hers. Really nice people and the groom was another mad e-bayer, lots to chat about.

Today the power went out.

We lost electricity for about four hours. There were a couple of “pops” this morning where the power would intermittently blink out (for a few seconds or a few minutes). Finally around 11:30, it just gave up the ghost and everything went blink.

It’s not a big deal in the summer when it happens but, in the winter it means losing heat which is never fun. Living out in the ’burbs, you get used to things like losing power on a semi-regular basis. We have bad weather (rain usually) and a tree or line will go down and that’s it, you lose power.

Today, I was working on the computer when it happened but, since I was working on the laptop, I didn’t experience the sudden catastrophic loss of work that normally accompanies the power outage event. It did manage to put a monkey wrench in my plans for the day though.

I’ve been playing hermit lately, to use the dumbass Godfather analogy - going to the mattresses, so to speak. It’s the combination of not having a lot of cash (since I’m waiting to be paid) and not wanting to spend anything. I can be amazingly frugal by locking myself in the house. The days go by with amazing speed anyway and believe me there’s an abundance of things for me to do around here.

I’ve spent a lot of time avoiding dealing with certain things (cleaning up, sorting out papers, throwing stuff out) and when I lock myself in what a friend once referred to as “PJ’s Fortress of Solitude” the piles slowly get smaller and things get crossed off the big to do list.

Right now, I’m doing my best to make the house less of a haven for dust that it has managed to become — it doesn’t bother me so much but if your susceptible to allergies don’t ever visit. Also, the incredible volume of paper I’ve managed to avoid confronts me daily forcing me to make inroads to diminishing it’s size.

Trips into the city take about 2 hours each way door to door (never mind train fare and parking) so, if you’re one of those many people I’ve put off over the last week or so, please don’t be offended. Poverty makes me into a recluse.

Also today, I got off my lazy ass and finished working on the GIF logo for my ebay auctions. I’m pretty pleased with it although I know I have to make the damn thing smaller (file size wise that is). Part of the whole clearing out the house means making money off the electronic flea market that is ebay. I’ve done it before and done pretty well, I just want it to be a little bit less labor intensive than it’s been in the past.

I like reading tabloids as opposed to broadsheets.

In New York, it means I prefer the Post or Daily News over the Times or the Wall Street Journal. I like the Times on Sunday and the Journal has proved to be a good read any day I’ve picked it up but, I always shied towards the tabloids.

The Post has always seemed to have the better sports section and I found over the years I liked the metro coverage and editorial side of the News (and it has a good slew of comics which I’m basically a sucker for).

Newspapers are great, I’ve worked at a few throughout my life and I have to say that there was always something pleasing about working at a newspaper. You just felt a lot more “plugged in” because of the nature of the job and newspapers also have a great, broad mix of people from the spectrum of economic and ethnic backgrounds.

Lately though, I find there’s little that holds my interest in either the News or the Post. I don’t know if it’s entirely the papers fault though. A lot of popular media today focuses on the “story of the moment.” In many cases this could be a entertainment based non-feature (think Ben and J-Lo, Brittany or the insipid Paris Hilton) which is run to generate readers. It seems though, these features are run at the expense of hard news or investigative reports.

I like to read the paper every day (currently the Post is delivered daily but, it isn’t much of a read - unless of course you’re in kindergarten) — I get the feeling though it may wind up being a habit that falls by the wayside as I seek out better sources of news.

The big news is Planetary and Wildcats came out today! On top of the new that Global Frequency is supposed to have been optioned by Mark Burnett for the WB.

Here’s a little tidbit for you from the current Popular Mechanics on the August Blackout and the possibility of it having been a terrorist attack:

According to Charles E. Noble, head of Information Security for ISO New England, a NERC member that operates transmission lines, some sort of probing attack may have occurred during the appearance of the so-called "SQL Slammer Worm" that disrupted many Internet services. It also affected two unnamed utilities. "Both entities lost their ability to execute bulk electric system control from their primary control centers for several hours," Noble says.

My catalogs are done and I’m waiting on checks so, I can now actually kick back for a little bit and start writing again... you have been warned.

From Yemen to Egypt, ordinary Arabs struggled on Monday to understand how Muslims could perpetrate such an act against fellow Muslims even if some sympathized with bin Laden's war on the United States and its regional allies.

In Yiddish the word they use for people like this is Schmuck.

Talk about the chickens coming home to roost. Excuse me while I suppress a wry smile, all those people jumping up and down in celebration while the Twin Towers were burning are now shocked over this latest development. Think the Saudis are going to be holding anymore of those telethons like they did shortly after September 11th? Get with the program people, hello! Terrorists, root word being terror and implying indiscriminate violence. I’m not turning a blind eye to the f**k ups of our own society but the people of this country are not your enemy.

On another Middle East note, I was reading this article on Iraqi reaction to dropping 500 pound bombs the past few days:

The Jawal family was one of the few in this flashpoint town who liked the Americans — until U.S. F-16 jets dropped 500-pound bombs near their home.

When reading the article, a funny thought occurred to me that had to do with the recent spate of articles on Americans and obesity:

About 40% of Americans, or 68 million people, will be obese by 2010 if people keep gaining at the current rate, government researchers predict.

or:

Ranks of Severely Obese Quadruple

or:

In America, the Very Fat Are Getting Fatter

In conjunction with the article about the F-16s dropping 500 lb bombs, I had an image of planes dropping morbidly obese Americans on Iraqis. That’ll learn ’em.

Other news this week:

Sympathies out to Charlie on his mom’s sudden passing.

Get well wishes for Paul (the Weiner Man) who is struggling with really bad back problems.

Today, I finished up the bluelines on Little Boy, Phew.

There’s good and there’s bad with these things. On the good side, there’s the money. Also, there’s the fact I’m not putting big amounts of face time in the office or getting up and rushing to get out of the house and into an office by a certain time.

On the bad side, these things are for the most part, all-consuming. I get stuff from my client sometime after 7 in the evening and I turn it around by early the next day. I stay up real late working, and then catch a few hours sleep, email a note and materials to the client and then I’m available for most of the day in case there are changes or something is happening with the project.

Sleep is usually an afterthought and most of my personal life suffers. Anyway, I started these things back in late September and now I look up and it’s November?! Where did the month go?

I did a good enough job on these things the client ripped of my design for one of their other books - I wouldn’t mind as much if I had gotten the actual work but, what are you going to do?

Now, it’s time to look around for the next meal. There are a couple of leads so I’ll just have to see what pans out.




On other fronts, I was watching Georgie Jr sign this bill into law about PBA (partial birth abortion). This is a touchy subject for lots of people.

Now, I’m not a woman though and I don’t think it’s the place of a bunch of men to legislate a women’s body (funny how there aren’t any women in that picture, isn’t it?). I have some moral concerns about the whole thing yet, it’s not my place to enforce my moral code on anyone else and truthfully the whole subject falls into one of those gray areas. I can understand both sides of the argument but, I can’t see where outlawing abortion and setting up situations where it’s a “back alley” procedure would do anyone any good.

During the signing of the bill, President Bush made the following remarks (you can see his remarks in their entirety by clicking on the quote):

Our nation owes its children a different and better welcome. (Applause.) The bill I am about to sign protecting innocent new life from this practice reflects the compassion and humanity of America.

I only caught a snippet of his remarks and easily could have taken them out of context.

They got me really angry though...

What bothered me more than anything was the government was so determined to legislate this. What happened to the child after it was born, really isn’t as much of a concern. It bothers me we can send money overseas ($87 billion to Iraq and Afghanistan) but, we have trouble raising the standards of education in our country, protecting the rights of children in foster care, and making college (or any kind of secondary education) affordable for the majority of Americans without burdening them with prohibitive debt.

There just seems to be something very wrong with that equation.

Today, I feel like a man awakening from a hangover.

It’s the seven year hangover but, a hangover nonetheless. The alcoholic, treats a hangover by going out the next morning and getting drunk again. I know that’s not the answer.

If that were the case, I’d be out there getting drunk again.

Of course, I’m not talking about drinking even so please, don’t confuse me with a problem drinker - I’m using the analogy to describe the situation I’m currently in. The woman I shared the last seven years with moved out last week.

It was awhile coming.

Things didn’t work for awhile and were stagnating and both of us could feel it. Nothing nasty, not a whole bunch of bitterness, just a good helping of sadness to go around for two people caught up in a situation they don’t know how to fix together and hope they can fix by being apart.

I don’t think it makes much sense but, hey, what do I know, I’m a guy and all of us men are put together pretty much the same when it comes to the whole relationship thing.

Women are much better about communicating things than men are. Now, I think I’m a good communicator but, I don’t know if I’m such a great listener. Listening means keeping your mouth shut and having an open mind and while I’ve tried to correct the tendency to shift from having an open mouth and a closed mind to having a closed mouth and an open mind the transition hasn’t been easy and like most other men, it’s contrary to my nature.

So, I find myself in a place where I can’t blame anyone but, still I can’t be happy with the result.

I figured something out though - I like being part of a couple. I don’t think I was bad at it either. I worked at it (which is more than what can be said for many of my brethren).

Here it is a Sunday, I feel like letting loose with a big exhale. I finally have finished a first pass at everything on Little Boy and Fat Man bluelines are due back tomorrow.

Phew!

Add to that there’s been some rather dramatic personal upheaval in my life as well - isn’t it funny how stuff like that always happens when you’re really, really busy. I’m not going to elaborate on it now (the upheaval) except to say it doesn’t seem to have elicited what I would have expected (emotionally from me) so, I’m curious to see how everything will pan out. Is it denial (not just the river in Egypt - I couldn’t resist)? Or is it just a better, more healthy way of handling things?

Speaking of which, I’m still coming to grips with myself (which sounds a little odd and implies self abuse) - trying to understand the machinery of my personality and how I operate in the world. I still haven’t figured that out yet and it causes me problems often. To cop to more cheesy song lyrics, “oh please, don’t let me be misunderstood”

Over the last few years, I find I’ve been struggling mightily with the things life has thrown at me. There’s been a bunch of job changes, some deaths in the family, a major illness, injuries, all kinds of things. I never feel absolutely comfortable with the things in my life or how I’m handling them - I always think I should do better. I am doing better than I would’ve years ago but, caught up in the bubble of the present, I lose my perspective.

I’ve been real bad about blogging lately.

I don’t like to let that long a time pass but, I’ve been doing some other writing and also getting the catalogs done has really kept me busy. The big book went out on Tuesday and I shipped drafts of the smaller book yesterday.

Bluelines come in tomorrow for Fat Man and Little Boy should get one more round before shipping early to mid next week.

Phew! Now, shark like, I have to keep moving and look for my next meal.

There’s been a bunch of other things going on both good and bad lately. Surprisingly, some of the stuff (which could be viewed as very, very bad) doesn’t seem to have the same kind of impact on me as it used to. I don’t know why. Maybe, it’s age.

The funny thing is there also seems to be a fair amount of good stuff happening too (people calling, getting referrals for work from friends) it makes a big, big difference. There is some kind of big balance which is going on right now and all in all I am grateful for it.