Ernie the Attorney made an offhand comment about programmers as artists (original) the other day, which got me thinking, although I half suspect it was meant to be tongue in cheek. Still… artists? I’m not sure; I think the various tribes of computer professionals (programmers, system administrators, network administrators) are more akin to court wizards. We are comfortable and fluent with devices that almost everyone’s forced to interact with every day. It’s a prestigious position; the unwashed are constantly reminded how much they need us. It’s also a set of occupations that until fairly recently has been taught in the medieval style. All the best sysadmins I know learned from other skilled masters. We have no formal apprenticeship system, but the trappings are all there. ...

Giving into temptation, Popone now has a stats page. I mention this because it led to an important Weblog discovery: you aren’t a real weblog until you’re getting more hits from Googlebot than from Netscape browsers.

Simone is a pretty good science fiction comedy, and I’d recommend seeing it before it leaves the theaters. I’d been looking forward to it for a while; Andrew Niccol directed Gattaca, which was one of the better SF movies of the 1990s. Since then, he wrote The Truman Show, confirming my belief that he has an understanding of deep SF themes. One big difference between Simone and Gattaca is that Simone’s a comedy. Niccol had trouble getting into the rhythm of comedy early on, but fortunately he had Al Pacino (as Viktor Taransky) and Catherine Keener (as Elaine Christian) to smooth over those rough bits. The pair of them carry the movie over the early awkwardness, and the core themes of the movie take us the rest of the way. ...

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.

Jeff Cooper is an actual law professor, and so much more qualified than I to discuss the legalities (original) 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 (original) 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 (original) 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 (original) archived as well.

Won’t you join me in my quest to convince WizKids Games (original) to release a Grant Morrison miniature for HeroClix DC (original)? 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. ...

Cory Doctorow’s got a story in Salon: “0wnz0red.” (original) 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 (original). Fortunately, they’ve since pulled the clothing from shelves (original). 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. ...