I Blew Up the Bread Again
Yes, despite my best efforts, the bread exploded from the bread machine again. We think it might have something to do with the difference between liquid measures and dry measures, but I can’t find any corroboration for this theory
I used a liquid-measure cup for the water, and a dry measure cup for the flour…exploded bread.
Dina uses the dry measure cup for both flour and water, and the bread doesn’t explode.
What’s up with that?
Awright, now I’m mad!
I just checked my referrer logs. One of the queries spoiled the upcoming season finale of Buffy for me. ARGH!
Inside Steve…Pt VI
Blogger Insider questions from Rich at Netdork. Thanks, Rich!
1. Where do you live & why do you live there?
My wife and I live in a great 7 1/2 upper duplex (working fireplace, huge deck, large front balcony) in the NDG district of Montreal. The area is fairly green and tranquil, and is only half an hour away from downtown. We found the place through our friend Dave–it’s the apartment where he grew up, and his mother is our landlady.. Given the tight housing market in Montreal, we were extremely lucky to have found such a nice place. We don’t plan to leave for a good long while.
2. How many different colors has your hair ever been?
Aside from Hallowe’en ventures into indigo, my hair’s always stayed fairly brown. An ex-girlfriend’s friend (who never like me), once called me a “dirty blonde” which caused me no end of confusion, and my ex no end of amusement
In the future, there will be more gray…
3. If the story of your life had a soundtrack, what would be your theme song?
If I cut the album right this minute, that song would be “Good to be Alive” by DJ Rap.
4. What was the silliest thing you believed when you were a child?
I believed that the loading area of the grocery store is where they made the groceries. I imagined gardens conveyor belts and canning machines and people putting labels on jam jars.
5. What is the strangest/most embarassing thing you have done in public?
I often fear that my wedding toast is the most embarassing thing I’ve done in public, only because I can’t remember what I said, and there’s no videotape footage to confirm/console those fears.
There was applause, but it could just as easily have been polite applause.
6. If you could choose your means of death, how would you go out?
Quietly, after having said “I love you.”
7. Do you prefer microwave popcorn, or the stuff you get at the movie theater?
Microwave popcorn. Dina’s completely addicted, and I can quit anytime I want. Really!
8. What one blog will you always read no matter what (not including your own)?
I’m always up for a little Bill. Hers is actually the blog I’ve been reading the longest. I’m amused, appalled, or intrigued after reading her posts…usually all at the same time!
9. Who, what, when, where and how would you do what ever it it is that you’ve always wanted to do?
Right now, I want to visit New Zealand with Dina. We’d find a nice beach, a hut, some sheep, and write that book we’ve always talked about.
10. What would you say is your worst vice?
Collecting. I’ve collected comics for the last fourteen years or so, and I’ve started collecting games, and I can be very single-minded in my pursuit of complete/unique sets.
11. What was the last good book you read?
Ice Lake by John Farrow (Trevor Ferguson). I raved about this Montreal-based crime thriller because Ferguson had returned to his literary form.
12. Do you blog because you feel compelled to, or just because it’s something fun to do?
I feel compelled to keep a journal of some kind. The blog is the latest medium I’ve tried. I like the instant gratification of online publication, and hearing from people who’ve read my blog, but maintaining the audience isn’t my main motivation.
Blogging is also a great way of keeping track of my distractions, and preventing me from boring my co-workers with stories about things that don’t interest them.
13. One thing that you regret having done, or not done in your life?
I regret spoiling Elaine and Wayne’s wedding announcement. I had heard about it earlier in the day, and then when I picked up the phone and heard Elaine’s voice, I blurted “Congratulations!”
14. What do you consider your greatest accomplishment in life?
Finishing university with my sanity intact. I had worked and studied full-time through two degrees and a qualifying year, for a total of seven years. The relief was palpable, and the concept of a sabbatical finally made sense to me.
15. What was the first album you bought that frightened your parents?
My Dad found a copy of a Dayglo Abortions cassette that I bought in high school, which raised an eyebrow and earned me a lecture on the evils of punk rock and funny hairstyles. Of course, now that power-punk album is pretty tame compared to a standard Blink-182 release.
Justice League
When Grant Morrison revived the JLA for the comics, he chose to set up the series with an invasion of White Martians. The producers of the Justice League cartoon have chosen the same route, except that these Martians, much like the rest of their geometric-jawed vision of the DCU, bear no resemblance to existing continuity.
Of course, it’s no less cool because of that.
These version of the Justice League is a hodgepodge of pre- and post-Crisis characters: Martian Manhunter, Superman, Batman (an auxillary member, naturally. He’s not a people person.), the Wally West Flash, the Thangarian version of Hawkgirl (where’s Hawkman?), the John Stewart Green Lantern (they still call him GL), and a newbie Wonder Woman. They’ve even gone back to the satellite base, but they call it the “Watchtower” as in the current comics. The White Martians aren’t really Martians, but they did invade the planet in HG Wells-inspired tripod vehicles, they did adopt the shapeshifting powers of the Green Martians, they are telepathic, and they did attempt to convert Earth’s atmosphere more to their liking. They aren’t afraid of fire, but they do die in ultraviolet light. They may not the be the classic White Martians, but the parallels are there.
Despite the continuity jumble (and, really, only long-term comics fans would notice…the cartoon is it’s own continuity, after all), the characterizations are dead on. I was particularly pleased with the jocular Flash and the Batman/Superman banter. And how can you not love throwaway “Super-Friends” jokes?
. If only more episodes were available on DVD!
Winning Weekend
A winning weekend in every possible sense. Not only did I win back the cost of my lottery tickets for the $20 million Super 7 draw, but I also won a raffle for an unlimited ultra-rare level 3 Master (now on sale at ebay. Bid early! Bid often!), but Scott also made a profit at his first trip to the Montreal Casino. And not only did my fantastic brother come over for a weekend visit, but Jon came over on Saturday to play games (he kicked my butt at Warlord with great wit and style), I watched the Samurai Jack DVD twice, I got unexpected presents (Dina bought me the Justice League DVD, and Scott bought me a copy of Railroad Tycoon II for the PS-One), and I went to a houseparty at Adriana’s.
I spent a weekend playing games, watching cartoons, sharing comics (Scott was in the house not five minutes before I brought a stack of books over to him), drining good wine (okay, all the wine) and meeting new people. Truly, a trio of red-letter days! It’s enough to make me forget about the snow!
Comics!
Avengers #53: The invasion isn’t going well for Kang. Not only did his giant space hologram get its butt kicked by Captain America’s giant space hologram, but the Avengers have finally broken through the shields surrounding his Damocles vessel, and sent hit plummeting to Earth. It’s a good space battle, Kang appears to welcome the opposition as worthy of his full attention. When his son, the Scarlet Centurion, suggests retreating to the future and returning with a new force, Kang makes a startling admission: “Time is our canvas, not our weapon.”
The whole gimmick about Kang is that he’s a warlord from the future who’s obssessed with invading the past. Theoretically, he can always return to the same battle until it’s won, but he neverr does. After all, he has the limitless resources of the future to bring to bear at any given moment, and there’s no reason for him not to…not even a convoluted comics-quantum-mechanical reason. Kang’s admission reveals the real reason.
He thinks time travel is cheating.
If he can’t win a battle within a single timeframe, there’s no point in returning to the past. He can always pick another battle, at another time. Thankfully, he has some sort of chronal amnesia, so he never remembers which battles he has yet to fight (and presumably lose) in the past.
Presumably, Scarlet Centurion has no such compunctions about hitting the reset button on the timeline, eventually undoing a year’s worth of issues on this title. It’s a decent story, but it’s too big to fit into regular continuity. It would have been better served as a limited series, such as Avengers Forever, where we’d know from the start that the stories take place outside of the continuity. If this was a DC book, this storyline would be a perfect fit for the Elseworlds imprint.
Just Imagine Stan Lee’s Aquaman: He’s brash! He’s guilt-ridden! He’s a genius! He shoots liquid projectiles from his hands! He has powers beyond those of ordinary men! He’s got a danger sense! But he’s not Peter Parker…he’s Stan Lee’s version of Aquaman!
But really, who are we kidding? This is Spider-Man.
Thanks to a series of fish DNA injections and the mystical Green Mist that has granted most superheroes their powers, Aquaman is no longer just an ordinary environmental activist. Now, he can transform into a being of pure water, shoot streams of water from his hands (great for knocking out bad guys, or slicing through steel bars), and propel himself through the air in a jet of water. It’s a simple concept for a set of superpowers, but one with a lot of potential (remember the Acts of Vengeance epilogue issue of Avengers: West Coast? Hydro-Man never looked so powerful. Well, if you don’t remember, Scott does.)
It was good to see Stan Lee writing Spidey again, even if it was through a different character.
There are only three more issues left in this series: Catwoman, Sandman, and Crisis.
Lone Wolf and Cub #20: A Taste of Poison: If you thought that Retsudo Yagyu was the opposite of Ogami Itto, you learn the truth in this issue. Retsudo and Ogami are enemies, but they are cut from the same cloth. The Emperor’s poison master and food taster, Abeno Kaii, is Ogami’s true opposite. Where Ogami lives in the otherwold of meifumado, of Buddhist conceptions of spiritual hell, Abeno Kaii is very much of this scatological earth. Not only is he the Emperor’s food taster, but he is also in command of food trade, the drug trade, and a good number of prostitutes. He is the fat spider at the center of the web, using people’s appetites and weaknesses to further his own ambitions. And if we’re the least bit uncertain about his villany, he’s always laughing “Bweh-he-he-he-he-he.”
The Emperor , who is seemingly unaware of Abeno’s ambition to become the power behind the throne, has loaned Abeno’s services to Retsudo in pursuit of Ogami and Daigoro, with a command that the whole affair should conclude within ten days. Immediately, Abeno recognizes that Ogami uses his son as a shield. Hardened, honourable warriors flinch at the prospect of attacking a child. Being a poisoner, Abeno has no such qualms. Immediately, he sets out to attack Ogami on the basis of his humanity: Ogami must buy food, so all grocers and restauranteurs must report his movements to Abeno; Daigoro must have a sweet tooth, so he has prostitutes ply the child with poisoned cakes; Daigoro must defecate, so Abeno sends another stranger to proffer poisoned toilet paper! When all else fails, Abeno even tries to poison the river where Daigoro swims, but miraculously, the child escapes. Bweh-he-he-he-he.
Retsudo doesn’t trust Abeno, so he has one of his ninja follow the poisoner, with order to kill him as soon as he kills Ogami. Abeno plans to kill Retsudo once Ogami is dead, therby consolidating his power under the protection of the Emperoro. Abeno captures the ninja, addicts him to narcotics, and turns the ninja into a double-agent. He thinks that appetite trumps honour.
He’s mistaken.
The ninja returns to Retsudo, offers a report on Abeno’s plans, and then commits seppuku. During the ritual, he advises Retsudo to stop Abeno for the sake of his remaining honour…resorting to the services of a poisoner is profoundly dishonourable.
Ten more days. Eight more issues.
Scott\’s Coming to Visit
He’s got a bachelor party to attend this weekend, and we’re happy to provide some recovery space. Oh frabjous day! Calloo! Callay!
Orientalism, by Edward W. Said
This is one of those post-colonial theory books that I happily evaded during my university days. At the time, I went out of my way to avoid anything that reduced the complexities of human existence to that iron trinity of race-class-gender. Within that crucible of P-C theory, everything is reduced to inflexible essentials in a way that permits a simple accounting of, and restitution for, historical grievances.
My initial impression of Said’s work, an impression based largely on the heavy-handed wielding of his arguments by my classmates, was that “Westerners Don’t Know What They’re Talking About.” Any opinion expressed on the subject of the Middle-East, Islam, Turkish economics, or anything else considered within the scope of area studies could be automatically discounted if the speaker was from the West, or –horrors!–a WASP, in which case any statement at all was an affront against all decency and humanity.
(University is a place where one can experiment safely with zealotry.)
So I disregarded Said as a matter of conscientious objection–not necessarily of Said, but of those who would quote him at every occasion. Now that I’m at a safe remove from those university days and cliques, I can read the book and reach a more informed conclusion.
Orientalism isn’t a heavy-handed, anti-Western hachet job. In fact, Said explicity disclaims the notion that only those from a specific race/class/gender/sociological denotation are qualified to write about themselves–all other opinions on the subject are verboten simply because of their otherness. The otherness of Westerners isn’t the problem, according to Said; the problem is how their writings on the Orient place otherness on the “Orientals”, and how these writings are subsumed, propagated, and justified by Western political, artistic, and economic systems. Initial misreadings–or straightforward political misreadings–become accepted truths, influencing future readings and policies.
In short, Colonialism is caused by Orientalism, not the other way around.
Orientalism is Said’s term for Western studies of the Orient, with a particular focus on the heavily-colonized Middle-East. First, he debunks the notion of Orientalism as a legitimate field of study by showing how it oversimplifies its subject matter. Geographical boundaries are certainly not the best way to study entire peoples. Then, he provides a history of Orientalism, and traces the influence of Orientalism in current (circa 1970) writings and political acitivities. But his book really isn’t about the history of the relationship between the West and the Orient, but a study in representation as power–the ways in which that relationship is founded and maintained. The manner in which the Orient is described by the West, no matter how erroneous, provides the foundation for future actions which will in turn justify the initial mistaken assumptions–this is rhetoric on the scale of nations.
The strategy of Orientalist rhetoric, according to Said, is simple: the West strategically denies the vitality of the Orient through a combination of mockery and nostalgia: mockery of different cultural mores, and nostalgia for the past, which suggests that the best days of the Orient are long gone. These characterization of Oriental cultures has foolish has-beens in turn justifies colonial expansion, which is adopted for the “own good” of the colonized. In this way, the feared Muslim empires of the past can be reduced to a collection of listless villages ripe for colonization.
Of course, it was the military and economic might of the West that made colonization technically feasible, but Orientalism was necessary to justify the action. The systems of justification are Said’s interest, and in reading Orientalism, it’s easy to see how these systems can be used to support almost any ideological position. Orientalism is but one example of such a system. Said himself employs these same strategies in the book to mock the Western ideas of the Orient. His book embodies the strategy, and the strategy is, I believe, the real subject of the book.
Call it “Occidentalism” if you like, but that’s not the whole story.
One Ring!
Salon.com Arts & Entertainment | One ring to rule them all
Hilarious! (TLC, not Tolkien.)
Passing Encounters
This has been a week of chance encounters. On Monday, I ran into Rhett at the local grocery store. We pushed our carts and chatted like little old ladies. It was disconcerting and amusing and a sign of our advancing years. On Wednesday, I met my co-worker, Mary, at the Longueuil bus stop, which was unusual because she normally drives to work. So we, had a nice chat while waiting for the bus. This morning takes the cake…I met Ramsay at the Berri-UQAM metro…we had both left the same train!