Coming on DVD in 2003: Animatrix. That’s 7 directors (presumably anime directors) doing shorts in the world of the Matrix. Funky. I dig the trailer.
Author: Bryant
Jeff Cooper is an actual law professor, and so much more qualified than I to discuss the legalities of declaring war on Iraq sans Congressional approval. He read the Security Council resolutions I referenced earlier and reports that their goals have been achieved. So there you go.
Parenthetically, and I mention this because it’s been brought up from time to time, Clinton also used the 1991 Security Council resolutions as justification for military action against Iraq. So it’s not as if Bush doesn’t have some precedent. Clinton’s stance was that enforcing the no-fly zones was a means of preventing further Iraqi aggression against neighboring states, which was in fact mandated by the UN. Although the UN didn’t approve the no-fly zones. Muddy waters.
KCRW has a live Aimee Mann performance available via RealAudio; the date is 8/27/2002. It’ll probably stick around for a while — they’ve got a 3/4/1996 performance archived as well.
Won’t you join me in my quest to convince WizKids Games to release a Grant Morrison miniature for HeroClix DC? Grant’s a legitimate character (with superpowers) in the current DC continuity, having appeared briefly in Suicide Squad Volume 1, issue 58. Thus, he’s appropriate fodder for a HeroClix minature.
I encourage you to write support@wizkidsgames.com politely registering your interest in such a figure. It’s probably good to mention that Morrison exists in continuity, as per my geekish notes above.
I got back a nice response to my email:
Dear Bryant,
Thanks for your email. I’m glad you are enjoying HeroClix. We do appreciate hearing from our fans about what they would like to see in future expansions, even if we can’t always accommodate the request. I have no idea what characters will be included in any future expansions. Game Design likes to keep the figures a secret until they are announced.
Best Regards,
Heather
So there you have it. You’ll be appreciated. How often do you get the chance to be appreciated just for writing an email?
Cory Doctorow’s got a story in Salon: “0wnz0red.” Cute title, yes. A sort of amusing story, layered over with a political agenda. The Honorable Computing gimmick is pretty close to Microsoft’s Palladium technology.
Target demonstrated a remarkably clueless attitude recently by selling various white-supremacy branded clothing. Fortunately, they’ve since pulled the clothing from shelves. Good for them. I’d like to know who designed the stuff; apparently it was Target’s house brand.
I’m among the top ten Google results for google://aimee+mann+lost+in+space. I didn’t do it on purpose, I swear! But since it’s done, I suppose I ought to be providing the poor seekers some sort of a review.
It is moody, even for an Aimee Mann album. Where Bachelor No. 2 was infused with a rather Paul Thomas Andersonesque sense of wistful hope, or at least the willingness to take chances, Lost in Space is sung from the perspective of someone who’s taken the chances and fallen hard. In that sense, it’s a return to the bitter pessimism of I’m With Stupid.
Not, mind you, that it’s an uninterrupted sequence of angstful love songs. I find myself listening to “Guys Like Me” a lot, which is a paean to the kind of guy who gets told “We’re such great friends.”
The music itself, however, continues in the stripped down mode of Bachelor No. 2. It’s gentle, without the heavy production of I’m With Stupid. At times I miss that era, but it’s hard to begrudge Aimee Mann her shimmering rhythms, and she finds more than enough variance to keep my interest.
In short, it’s not the same as any of her other albums while still being very much an album by Aimee Mann. You’ll find what’s probably a better review here.
I always think I know so much. By way of Patricia Nielsen Hayden’s Making Light, I found an absolutely fascinating paper on a nineteenth century “online community.” It had all the features one expects from an online community, except of course the actual online-ness. But — flame wars, people masquerading as another gender, and identity slippage. Yeah, yeah, Bryant. It’s a new and unusual concept. Tell it to your ancestors.
Just tagging the BlogMD Initiative for later contemplation. MD stands for metadata, not for doctor.
I don’t really have any objection to Bush announcing that his lawyers believe he has the authority to attack Iraq without a Congressional vote. I don’t know about the de jure, but I’d bet he has authority de facto.
The legal argument rests primarily on this Congressional resolution, passed last year, which authorizes the use of armed forces against those responsible for 9/11. They’re also citing H.J. Res. 77, a Congressional resolution passed in January 1991 which authorized the invasion of Iraq.
The argument there is that the resolution is still in force; one must admit, reading the resolution, that there was no time limit involved. I have not exhaustively determined whether or not Security Council Resolutions 660, 661, 662, 664, 665, 666, 667, 669, 670, 674, and 677 have been implemented — said implementation being the specific end for which the use of armed forces was authorized. The Security Council Resolutions are available in PDF, if you want to do your own research. Most of them appear on a quick read to be quite specific to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, which had ended the last time I looked. However, there’re also a couple of explicit injunctions requiring Iraq to fulfil its obligations under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations and while a first glance at those shows no obvious current transgressions, this is about where I remember I don’t get paid for researching these things.
One counterargument may be found in the form of H.J Res. 109, Proposed House Resolution on Use of Force Against Iraq. Amusingly, it also cites the 1991 resolution. Unsurprisingly, since it predates today’s announcement from Bush, it doesn’t specifically address Bush’s claims.
Anyhow, as I said, I don’t object to Bush issuing press releases about what is in the end just the opinion of one set of lawyers. We’ll see what the judges say, I imagine. I just think if he’s going to make an announcement every time his lawyers back him up on a proposed plan of action, he ought to make an announcement every time his lawyers say “That’s not legal, George.”