Mark Roseman's Blog

Simpsons Movie!

We went and saw the Simpsons Movie this weekend - very very highly recommended. Pauline's had the operatic version of "Spider Pig" playing in a loop here way too much since then...

End of an era - very sad.

After 28 years, the Weekly World News is shutting down. Taking tabloid silliness to a new level, beyond celebrities and other limitations of reality, it had a certain something about it that will be missed. During grad school, most of the many presentations I gave weren't complete without at least one (and often many, many more) headline or image clipping from WWN.

Energy Savings.

Was finally able to power down my old server machine here, having moved the last couple of things onto the Mini. In moving it elsewhere, I had a glance at the sticker on the back saying when it was manufactured - Oct/1999. Yikes!

Cover-up-a-day.

All the recent Whitehouse-based scandals that are coming out now make for somewhat amazing reading. The conspiracy theorists would probably have some ideas why so many are happening right now; I'm just more curious about how an entire nation has become so disengaged from its "elected" leaders and accountability that these things don't cause much more than a "yeah, business as usual" reaction from the population.

It just seems to me that firing judges who push too hard against people in your own party, silencing public officials about serious worldwide issues like global warming, repeated lies about foreign policy issues and all the rest are greater grounds for impeachment than lying about a blowjob.

Kicking lukewarm passions to the curb.

One blog I do enjoy almost all the time is Pam Slim's Escape from Cubicle Nation. The name does indeed say it all. A recent article gives the "I'm just not into you" treatment to work you're no longer excited about. Yes, it can be hard to give things up, but sometimes it's for the best. Also the topic of Seth Godin's newest book, "Dip".

Sicko.

It seemed fitting on Canada Day weekend that we went out to see Michael Moore's Sicko. I'm an unabashed fan of his movies, even with the over-the-top one-sidedness. This one was actually better than most in that regard, and in parts funnier than most as well, but very very well done. Letting the material speak for itself rather than him antagonizing on its behalf was certainly appropriate given how egregious said material is. Through his discussion of the French political environment and many other topics, this film provided more of a call-to-action on the broader issues underlying his films, the ruthless concentration of power in the hands of the elite.

The rose-colored glasses are obvious from the start... for example, nobody in Canada thinks we've got a perfect healthcare system by any stretch of the imagination. I think it emphasizes though the difference in underlying and foundational principles, even though the management and bureaucracy that infests any large system makes the management of the system suboptimal at best.

Making Time for the Important.

Steve Pavlina's recent post on the urgent vs. the important is yet another useful reminder of putting things in perspective. His blog focuses on personal development, and while I find you have to be in the right mindset to actually want to read most of what he says, it's a good blog to have around when you are.