Flip

Jeffrey Lee Parson gets made fun of by the NYT for not disguising his identity when he launched the Blaster worm:

"As a byproduct of each infection, every victim's computer sent signals back to the 't33kid.com' Web site that Parson had registered in his own name, listing his home address. The computer bug also included an infecting file called 'teekids.exe' that experts quickly associated with Parson's Web site: Hackers routinely substitute '3' for the letter 'e' in their online aliases."

Congrats to the Paper of Record for being hip to l33t-speak. The editor of Virus Bulletin further ribs Parson for being so conspicuous, "I guess we should praise the Lord for stupid people, right?"



Or blame them for leaving easily-exploited security holes in their software.

Fairest

From Nelson's blog, I learned the State Fair's this weekend ... home of many fine attractions, including:

B.J. the Goodwill Ambassador

Look for this charming puppet in his Coca-Cola Model-T meeting and greeting guests and handing out souvenirs to his new friends!

Speaking of Big Fun, I watched the commentary to Heathers last night and learned many fun facts.

• There's a lot of Kubrick infatuation: director, Michael Lehmann made everyone watch Full Metal Jacket before the shoot - hence, the ultra-wide angle lens look.




• Writer, Daniel Waters, also loves Kubrick. Originally, the movie ended with the death of Winona. In one version, she was to have watched Christian Slater explode, give the kiss-off to Shannon Doherty and then siddle up to Martha Dumptruck ... who pulls out a gun, says "Fuck you, Heather" and shoots Veronica in the mouth. As Veronica lays dying, Dumptruck rises from her motorized wheelchair and exclaims, "I can walk!"




• Kubrick love notwithstanding, Lehmann and Waters ... really never did anything ever again. Waters next wrote Ford Fairlane and then Hudson Hawk. Lehmann last directed 40 Days and 40 Nights. Sad, really.

AskuWedding

There's no reason for high school reunions - just wait for your friends to get married. Last weekend, Andrew & Hallie got hitched in St. Louis, and I got to hang out with a whole bunch of old-timey friends. It's funny talking about home ownership with a bunch of folks you used to trash homes with.



Not that we were punks or anything, but there sure were a lot of "remember when we broke that lamp / wall / turkey dinner including the plates" stories.



.:more:.

Word

Fox Loses Bid to Stop Sale of Franken Book:

"There are hard cases and there are easy cases. This is an easy case," said U.S. District Judge Denny Chin. "This case is wholly without merit both factually and legally."

Dastardly

I shoulda known better when Steve gave me all his skee-ball tickets.

Van Photos

Today's the last day of my vacation. I feel great, simultaneously much vacated, and yet also full of many new seen sights. Herewith I present the photographic record of said sights. If you're looking for hints on what to do in Vancouver, I highly recommend the Lonely Planet guide.



.:more:.

Everything looks beautiful when you're young and pretty

The first time I heard Birdhouse in Your Soul was on a mix tape of Aaron's sister. Because it came right after It's the End of the World as We Know It, for a long time I thought REM sang Birdhouse as well. I had a troubled youth, in many respects.



Just got back from seeing the They Might Be Giants documentary, Gigantic, and it was a rockin', dorky good time. I've never had a stronger mimetic experience than watching high school debaters argue over the meaning of Particle Man.


But the most impressive thing to me was what was left out. Somewhere toward the end, there's footage of the two Johns doing a release show at Tower Records for Mink Car. The card reads "September 10, 2001 - Midnight in Manhattan." And you're just like, "Oh, man here it comes - time to make contact with the great touchstone of national tragedy." Instead, you've got TMBG singing New York City, and the film simply transitions from the record store appearance to a stage performance of the same song. And that's it. No falling towers - no channel-flip style news footage.



In talking about the happy-sad mix of most their songs, John Linnell says something like "It's not really interesting just to watch someone's heart break." It's much more interesting to wrap despair in this complex wrapper of accordion punk rock.

Light Quality

Back at home and there's no place like it.



Before heading out this morning, I zipped around the Vancouver Art Gallery. Got to see one of the Lombardi conspiracy maps up close ... damn you Henry Kissinger!



And I saw Danica Phelps' work which consists of an obsessive, beautiful record of the transactions and events in her day-to-day life. My first thought was "Wow! This is what a blog looks like put up on the walls of an art museum." But maybe that's not quite right.

You shoulda been a clerk

Not much time left on vacation, so I've been doubling up. Yesterday was the Day of the Two Formal Gardens (one japanese one chinese). Well, it was also the day of dropping a bunch of loot in Zulu Records which has the same kind of well written reviews you find in SF's Aquarius and a wider selection of Anticon stuff than I've seen anywhere.



Today I hit up both Pacific Spirit Regional Park and Queen Elizabeth Park - one very treeish with a bit with a bog, the other more flowery. And then I had to eat dinner in three different places to squeeze in the remaining restaurants I wanted to try.



Nothing can stop the Blob.

Slash death

Thanks to Sutter I'm now rocking out at goldtoe.net. I feel all grown up.

Eh

After walking to a lighthouse surrounded by an old growth forest, I decided to do my Zelda: Wind Waker imitation today. I rented a motor boat from up in Horseshoe Bay.


I was a little worried that since I lost my driver's license a while back, I might have some trouble. Turns out there aren't many rules up here in regards to renting a boat. You don't need to actually know how to drive one. You don't need to wear a life jacket. Basically, you just get in the thing and point it at the pretty stuff.


And, man, is it fun. Howe Sound is dotted with islands you can zip around, some of them peopled by lazy sea lions. I was amazed by the distance I covered in 2 1/2 hours.



Having spent the afternoon communing with marine life, I decided to spend the evening eating it. Whole mess of oysters, whole mess of trout. Good times.



Oh, and then I saw Northfork which is a really fine looking movie that may or may not be about something. God, maybe.

Been here 4 hours

My first day in Vancouver has been pretty amazing. This morning, I saw a crazy clock that runs on a combination of steam and the dropping of stainless steel balls.


I walked all over Stanley Park which, I feel, is better than NYC's Central and SF's Golden Gate if only because there's an unlimited number of places where you can stop and eat salmon.



But the real kicker was the all-you-can-eat japanese restaurant. In some ways I feel I'd been waiting for that meal all my life. 12 dishes later I stumbled back to my hotel.


Tomorrow I predict there will be more eating.