4/25/2006

flashpoints and the threepenny opera

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Monday, April 24, 2006
Blogger.com will be down on April 24 2006 from 4 pm PDT to 4:45 pm PDT due to planned maintenance. We’re sorry about the one-two unplanned/planned outage punch today, but we need to do some database maintenance. You will still be able to view your blogs during the outage. Be assured that when Blogger.com comes back, it will be shinier and happier than ever.


if you're not pleased about the delay, blame blogger, not me. and let's note something else, this the 'unplanned' outage is why i had so many e-mails asking, 'what's the deal with the common ills?' the deal was c.i. did entries at the regular time. c.i. didn't check to see that they made it to the site (nor do i). c.i.'s working out when the cell phone rings and it's jess asking if he needs to do entries? c.i. says sure if there's something jess wants to note. then jess wonders if c.i. did entries? 'uh, yeah.'

at which point, jess went into the account and pulled them up 1 at a time. using 'preview' he copy and pasted each 1 into an e-mail thinking if he e-mailed them to the site they'd show up (they didn't at that time) and also copy and pasted them over at the mirror site for the common ills. this was a blogger program problem. and there's been no explanation offered for it, nor do i think the 'sorry' for the 'unplanned/planned' covers it, to be honest. when i couldn't find the entries this morning, i went to the mirror site and they were there. i then went to a google discussion page to see what was going on and people using blogger were pissed off. i don't blame them 1 bit. if i posted in the morning, i'd be furious.

robert knight does 'the knight report' on pacifica radio's flashpoints which featured a report on the immigration movement that you really should listen to as well as an interview well as a female journalist who reports on palestine (works for haaratz) and who made some strong points. she spoke of the discrimination and the dispossesion that goes in the united states as well and the importance of journalists using their monitoring power. there was also an excerpt of an interview with mumia abu-jamal which should air in full tuesday. mumia abu-jamal is another way you know you're not listening to the bland and boring npr because npr refused to air him in 1994. they were happy to tape him, you can read about this in amy goodman and david goodman's exception to the rulers, they just wouldn't air them and they wouldn't give the tapes to any 1. they locked them away to this day. npr is such chicken shit and that's why they bore the world with all their cute little stories about life in the latte lane.

i didn't blog friday night, no. people have asked about that in e-mails. fly boy and i went to see the threepenny opera in nyc. we stayed overnight in the big apple and i got back home around 3 pm saturday afternoon. that was a few hours before it was time to start working with every 1 on the latest edition of the third estate sunday review and i took those hours off. alan cummings is wonderful in the threepenny opera and the play's great. anna gasteyer, cyndi lauper, every 1 was great. go see the play if you're in the area and able to get tickets. this is a must see. the costumes are fantastic - really liked lauper's merry widow! and there's so much movement on stage. there's a plan behind that and i'll try to figure it out when i see it next (elaine and i are going to go see it, hopefully fly boy will want to see it again, but elaine and i are going to see it together regardless.)

it's just a really strong production and, i'd argue, a brave 1 because it's not just trying to toss out what's been done in the past and worked before. a lot of thought went into this production. a woman sitting near us kept mumbling (throughout the play) that it was 'shocking.' i didn't see her big ass get up and leave though. if it shocks any 1, other than shocking them with all the life pouring off from the stage, it is just a further sign of how badly disney has hurt the theater with all their lousy 'disney on ice' shows. that's what i call the disney 'plays' where they take their lousy, bland cartoon films and turn them into 'plays.' it really is like 'disney on ice' without the ice skating. so they start of trudge along and maybe you can enjoy, for instance, debbie gibson's singing, but you're never seeing a real play and you never forget it.

that's it for tonight. i'll note more tomorrow - provided blogger doesn't decide to go offline again.

check out c.i.'s "NYT: Tavernise is lost in Iraq and Weisman just lost period," cedric's "Hawaii and we're overrun with Fluff," and trina's "Cookie Marshmallow Cups in the Kitchen."