A Lost Cyber-Soul's Only Refuge

Once there was a smart, discontented lady who watched a silly movie that had scruffy knights battling scruffier barbarians, all set to heroically swelling music. The lady judged it entertaining, but not very well done - the most enjoyable thing being able to decide which knight she found most appealing. The dvd was sent swiftly back to Netflix from whence it had come. The movie though, had insidiously planted itself in her daydreaming/romantically mushy/adventure and passion starved psyche. Like a zombie, she was drawn to the nearest Best Buy, in need of owning the movie to better differentiate the knights' characters on re-watching.

And re-watching she did. It took only one new viewing to cement which heroic yet human knight would win her irrational obsession. Every subsequent re-watching (of which there were many, many) was to drink him in - his physical presence, his voice, his reactions, his words, his humble heroics. Times not spent watching the move were often filled with Google searches for the actor, the historic character, the historic events so crappily portrayed. Then one such search led to a website devoted to fans of the movie. For the inappropriately devoted lady, opening the link to that website was akin to finding the Holy Grail. Here resided like-minded fools who discussed the movie in detail familiar only to those who had become as lost in it's world as she had. There was actually a forum - a place where people (mostly females, of course) talked about the knights they favored, made artwork about the characters, wrote their own stories based on the movie, and took on the characters in role-playing exercises. And most amazing of all - the quality of all the creative work inspired in those kindred souls was very fine. It was a community of rather crazed intelligent obsessive people, inspired to stimulating, at times, witty interaction by a silly film. The lady of our story jumped into this cyber-land without a moment's hesitation.

TBC

A Final Word on NPR Pledge Drives

No, they didn't get any of my money. Each time I'd tune in during the pledge drive for desperately needed money to "balance the budget", it would be 5 minutes left in the current challenge segment. "We still need $6,000 dollars in the next 5 minutes in order to meet our goal of $10,000 for this hour." The phones would not be ringing in the background. The hour would end, with no mention of what the total raised was. No way could they have made that $10,000 goal. Another listen, and again they'd be short by thousands with 2 minutes left. So I speculated "Good. They won't "balance the budget" and maybe they'll come up with a better way to get their money." But at the end of the whole pledge drive ( which by the way seemed pretty morally conflicted as they kept going while the ravages of Hurricane K were constantly in the news ) there was the inevitable message "Thank you for your generous pledges, which enabled us to exceed our goal and balance the budget." Yeah, sure. I figure they were lying all along about how much was needed from the lowly listeners (as opposed to how much they knew could be kicked in by corporations and charitable trusts). At any rate, it's over for now. I had saved my money which I then was able to contribute to New Orleans hurricane relief. I know - they are a public station with no real commercials, and they have a right to raise funds via pledge drives, but it's still annoying. Just wait until I get going on the non-public, commercial "fine arts" radio station in this area that also runs long obnoxious pledge drives as though they too need "listener support" to survive in addition to all the commercials they play.

NPR - Begging Update

Well, now the local Public Radio station has done it. Just as I was seriously considering a donation in appreciation of the 30 second "pledge money now" spots, they've gone into full throttle gab-fest beg-athon mode in a push to "meet their fiscal year end budget". They only need about $500,000 in the next 4 days. Each time their regular programming is interrupted by a pair of jabbering, phone number repeating, guilt inducing hosts, I get furious. The station is immediately switched - the only problem being I then am 70% likely to land on an annoying commercial, and 20% likely to land on a tune I have heard way too often and never liked in the first place. So here's my latest plan. I'll call the NPR station during the pledge drive and tell them just why I am NOT donating as long as they're asking me to. Then maybe I'll go to their website after the end of the fiscal year and donate. Except for the begging, they're better than commercials and stale music.

NPR - To Give or Not to Give - Suggestions Welcome

As always, the local Public Radio station is desperate for money to "balance the books by the end of the fiscal year". At least they're not inflicting us with an all-out pledge drive, but 20 or 30 second begs played at every program break opportunity.
I listen to NPR most every day while commuting, on Saturday morning for Car Talk and Wait, Wait - both of which I really enjoy, and Sundays for good jazz. So do I feel guilty for not "giving" to receive this free service? Not much. I hate being asked for money. If they never asked, it just might some day occur to me that here's something I enjoy, and it would be nice to give them some support or form of appreciation. Chances are I'd only think about it - but at least I'd have goodly intentions. But as soon as I'm asked for donations, and within a set time frame, I balk - probably it's a control thing. At any rate, since this is a pretty unobtrusive pleading, and since I need to charge more money this billing period on my Discover Card in order to keep my super low interest rate, and since the NPR station is giving away a new Toyota Prius to a lucky donor ......

Robin Cook - A Small Tribute

As a surly, often non-empathetic type, I'm not usually touched by the death of newsworthy personages. But Robin Cook's death at age 59 saddened me, because I admired the man. He was the Leader of the House of Commons in Great Britain, until resigning in 2003 in protest over the wrongfully justified and hastily pressed War on Iraq. I happened to be watching BBC at the time, and was able to see his entire resignation speech. It was very eloquent, civil, and to the point: There was no real evidence of a threat from Iraq, no proof of weapons of you-know-what, and no consensus in the rest of the world to join the vile neo-con rush to glory, riches, and a re-configured Middle East. (My words, not Mr. Cook's.) At the time of his speech it was inspiring to hear one voice of some authority stand up against the unstoppable stampede of fear-mongering and flag waving. It was also depressing since it clearly was unstoppable. A few months back I thought about that speech, and was able to find and read it. Here's the link.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/2859431.stm