No more cartoons for you!

Just saw this over at the Internet Movie Database:

China Bans Live/Animated Movies
Calling it "one of the more bizarre orders" from China's film and broadcast watchdog, Daily Variety reported today (Wednesday) that henceforth movies and TV shows featuring live humans together with animated figures are banned in China. The trade publication cited a report appearing in the government-operated Xinhua News Agency that referred to an order by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television issued on Feb. 15. The order stated that "human live-action, so-called animation pieces will not receive distribution or distribution licenses." The reason, the order said cryptically, was that such films jeopardize "the broadcast order of homemade animation and mislead their development."

Ummm, okay. Still not sure what all of that means. Except that the Chinese can say goodbye to such things as "Song of the South", "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?", and that perennial favorite, "Mary Poppins". Remember Gene Kelly dancing with Jerry Mouse? Not in China you don't.

So now they are changing the password at the Beijing Ink and Paint Club. Gotta tighten up security there, because you never know who might be knocking on the door. Some big guy with a gun saying that you are jeopardizing the broadcast order of homemade animation. Not only that, but you're misleading development. All because some humans and toons decided to hang out together.

Of course, there's the chance that this was all a big misunderstanding, and everyone will soon be back together singing "Smile, Darn Ya, Smile!" really soon. As soon as they all finish scratching their heads trying to figure out what this was all about...

The Olympic Race

Perhaps you heard by now Bryant Gumbel's grumble last week about the Winter Olympics. Part of his complaint was that the events are in no way related to the ancient Greek events. Which is true. But does that make them any less interesting as sporting events?

Except maybe for Ice Dancing. Nothing against the folks that worked their tails off - or the guys with their tails on - to get to the Winter Games. But that event, and really all ice skating, doesn't do much for me. Although it was very interesting, almost disturbing, to see how many people fell during Sunday night's competition. As someone who has fallen on the ice before, I know that ice doesn't have any "spring" to it at all when you hit it. Nothing at all like falling on the grass.

But my real beef with Gumbel was this quote:

So try not to laugh when someone says these are the world’s greatest athletes, despite a paucity of blacks that makes the Winter Games look like a GOP convention.

So Bryant is complaining about the number of blacks at the Games? I don't see him lacing up his skates, or hitting the ski slopes. It isn't up to the organizers to try to keep up with what percentage of which race competes in the games. Whoever participates and is the best gets a spot on the team, as it should be.

Perhaps everyone is smart like me and enjoys Summer Game sports so that we don't freeze our Bode off. Can't blame anyone for that.

And then a few nights ago in speed skating. Before the 1000m Speed Skating final, NBC ran a profile piece on Shani Davis, about his background and such. But they gave special emphasis to the fact that he could be the first African American to win an individual medal at the Winter Olympics, which he did do by winning the gold. I found the post-race interview with Davis to be quite interesting. It went something like this:

Interviewer: So how do you feel about being the first African American to win a medal at the Winter Olympics?

Davis: I feel happy. (Said with a completely straight, smile-free face)

Interviewer: That's it?

Davis: Yeah, that's it.

You could tell from Miss Interviewer's disappointed tone that she was hoping to pull more from Davis on the issue, but he avoided it. Almost as if to say - to me at least - race has nothing to do with it. I won the gold medal because I skated the fastest time, because I'm the best.

Do you get the feeling that often times the media tries to make a bigger issue out of race than most of us common folks make it? Sure, there is still some racial inequality in our country. I've seen that firsthand. And my family situation over the last few years has made me keenly sensitive to race issues.But often, the media does nothing to help it, even when they may think they are doing some good. Which I don't think Gumbel was thinking when he made his crack.

Hair today, gone tomorrow

I admit it - every now and then, I dream about hair. Nice long flowing hair. On my head. Which I don't normally have.

Sure, you've seen the bumper stickers and such: God only made a few perfect heads, the rest he covered with hair.

Whatever the reason, our society seems to be obsessed with hair. Don't believe me? Just look at William Shatner, Burt Reynolds, George Burns, Nicolas Cage, the list goes on and on. Hair Club ads are everywhere.

The message is clear and simple: If you don't have hair, you're missing out on life.

I don't quite buy that, myself. I have a good life, thank you very much. A little more hair wouldn't change that. Might keep me a little warmer in the winter, and provide a little shade in the summer. But that's about it.

Plus, showers in the mornings are a breeze! No need to run the hair dryer when you're done, either.

One of my follically challenged heroes of late has been Terry O'Quinn. Maybe you know him as John Locke on "Lost". I always enjoyed his guest appearances on "JAG". And he appeared on "Alias" more than a few times as well. Standing up for clear-headed guys everywhere!

So those dreams of hair are just that - dreams. Innocent fancies of a subconscious mind. No plans of hairpieces, hair plugs, hair clubs, hair dryers.

After all, why would I want to ruin a good thing?

Snow update

Perhaps you have been wondering about the snow from last Friday's post. If so, here you go. If you haven't been wondering but still don't have anything better to do than read some strange guy's blog, here you go. If you're wondering how you even got here in the first place, welcome to the club!

Anyway, soon after my Friday post, I hit the road, hoping to make it home before too many people got into too many problems. It ended up taking about 90 minutes, twice as long as usual. On the way, we passed one accident, and 3 cars in the ditch at various places. The drive really took longer than it should have, thanks to a couple of different cars that were going way slower than they needed to go. It's one thing to be cautious. It is another thing entirely to drive so slowly that you almost cause wrecks for all of those people stacking up behind you. Frustrating, to say the least. One guy in front of me was brave enough to pass the two cars in front of him on a snowy, icy, 2-lane road. Just as I was working up enough courage to do the same, the lead car turned at a driveway, and the situation improved greatly. At least for a few miles, until we got behind another horribly slow car.

Those wonderful weather forecasters predicted that the snow would last until 6:00 Saturday morning. But then it had all ended by about 10:00 Friday night. Oh well. We still ended up with about 3" on the ground.

And around here, 3" is more than enough to cause a panic. I purposefully avoided the grocery stores all day Friday, even before the snow started, knowing that it was going to be a zoo. A news story that night talked about how everyone was stocking up on everything. One lady they talked to said, "I'm stocking up, because we're going to be stuck inside for 3 days, at least." Not sure why she thought that, but apparently she hasn't listened to our local weather forecasters all that long. Take every snow prediction they make, cut it in half, and you usually have about 25% more than what we actually get.

Things started to clear up Saturday morning, but there was still some ice and snow on the roads. Gave us a good excuse to stay inside all day, watching the Olympics, movies, television, the backs of our eyelids, or anything else that caught our fancy. Days where we get to stay at home are pretty rare, so I'll take any chance I get.

Things are about back to normal now, with temperatures in the 50s. The remaining snow on the bush outside my office window will probably be all gone by the time I leave this afternoon. It was fun while it lasted.

Then again, they are predicting some snow and freezing rain again this weekend. Maybe I better go to the grocery store now, just to be safe.

Let it snow!

What is it about snow that is so interesting to watch?

Well, maybe whether you like to watch it depends on where you are from. If you are in one of those areas that gets lots of snow, maybe you don't think too much about watching the flakes come down. But here, where we see snow maybe on an average of once a year, it is fascinating to watch the stuff come down.

I have a hard time right now tearing my view away from the window to look at the screen so that I can type this. Our first real snowfall of the winter. And most likely our last, given the statistics, although there's still plenty of time for more snow.

And as I was driving back to the office a few minutes ago after running an errand, the snow was starting to appear in even bigger flakes. Combine that with some light classical piano which happened to be on the car radio, and it seemed very tranquil. Almost as though the snowflakes were performing a ballet on their way down in time to the music. Whoa! I'm starting to wax poetical again - gotta get my medicine!

Right now, it is still warm enough that most of the snow is melting when it reaches the ground, although the temperatures are dropping pretty quickly. And all the kids around town are saying, "Why does it have to snow on a Friday afternoon, when there isn't any school tomorrow anyway?"

Since I have started typing this, the snow has started to stick to the grass and the parking lot outside my window, although the roads are still clear. Hopefully, it will stay that way for a while.

So now I watch out the window, enjoying the serene scene of the snowflakes falling to the earth. Of course, it might not seem quite so serene when I have to drive home!

Privacy, please!

When we first moved to our current office 12 years ago, I was offended. At our previous place, I had my own personal office. A room all to myself. Just me and my computer. No phone, not that I really needed one anyway. And to top it off, I even had the office refrigerator in the same room with me. Ah, the good old days.

But then when we moved to our new space (which obviously isn't so new any more), I ended up sharing a room with my co worker Fred. I was aghast! Outraged! Incensed! Well, maybe not quite that angry, but I was a little less than pleased, for certain.

Nothing against Fred. He's a nice, quiet guy. Easy to get along with. Never very excited or animated. Nothing really to complain about with him. And we do break into conversation about whatever random topics might come up every now and then, without one of us having to walk into the next office as we used to do.

And not that I was ever doing anything that demanded any amount of privacy. Sure, I don't really care that Fred hears my half of whatever phone conversation I might be having (yes, I did get a phone when we moved, although I would usually rather do without it). And I wasn't in the habit of grunting or belching when I was by myself.

But I do enjoy a certain amount of privacy. I'm a pretty private guy, as it turns out, and I don't like someone knowing everything that I might do. Even if he isn't really paying that much attention to me, I still get the feeling that I'm being watched. I'm sure it's all in my head, though. And I don't really watch all that he does, or listen to his part of the phone conversations, either.

Fred did listen to CDs for a while. He still does on occasion, although it isn't nearly as often as it used to be. And while we may not share the same musical taste, his selections were allright, I suppose. Except for the Kenny G Christmas album. Every time he plays that one, I wish someone would put either me or Kenny out of our misery as soon as possible!

So I have adjusted to life in a shared office over the last 12 years. Not that it took all that much adjusting, you know. And I did come up with some things, such as turning my office furniture so that I almost have a cubicle without really having one. And, I got the space on the opposite side of the room from the door. So if anyone comes in, they get to Fred first. Which saves me a little bit of grief sometimes.

Makes me wonder if I was a hermit in some previous life. Or maybe I'm just crabby.