Monthly Archives: March 2002

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31 March 2002
1. Last week’s This American Life was the “hoaxes” one, the first which (in its description of someone who had a fake British accent as a teen) really caught my ear.

2. A pair of “follow the consumer good through the industrial capitalist system” articles in this week’s Times Magazine: beef and used clothes. “And yet the further you follow [the rational logic of industrializing agriculture], the more likely you are to wonder if that rational logic might not also be completely insane… how cheap, really, is cheap feedlot beef? Not cheap at all, when you add in the invisible costs.”

3. Other hidden costs: raising the cost of driving in NYC, to reflect the real costs of public space.

4. The advent of abusive spam: received an email today with the subject line “Stop Fu$%#ing around and fill it out.” Well then.

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25 March 2002
Phrase of the day: “snark-infested homosexuals,” from Cintra Wilson’s shockingly embittered review of the Oscars. Sample: “Let’s stop treating our citizens of color like they are a separate people from us… our black friends are just as excellent at being overprivileged celebrity fuckwads as anybody else.”

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24 March 2002
Woo hoo! I rode a vintage high-wheeler bicycle today. For a while there, I actually felt kind of tall. Thanks to Carey Williams of the Illinois Wheelmen for showing me the ropes. Sorry, no photos of the momentous occasion, since all hands were busy trying to keep me from falling over.

New depths of stupidity: the latest testosterone trend: SUV-sized watches. Not far behind: our fabulous President.

Where to move to: Travel & Leisure magazine rates the locals in Honolulu not only the most attractive, but also the friendliest and most laid back.

CTA guys

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Today’s Chicago Reader reveals that the cyanide stashed by “Dr. Chaos” in a Blue Line tunnel couldn’t have killed anyone… because the tunnels are so darn drafty. Oh well. And I respectfully disagree with Ms Burch on the identity of CTA’s mysterious spokesman; rest assured that the man she’s describing (early 30s, blond, muscular, average height, cheerful, gay, independent) would not sound like that. Personally, I wish they’d chosen someone less excitable with a deeper voice, either a countertenor or a baritone.

hipster history

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[Feedmag and Suck] were “built almost exclusively on the intellectual capital of those who ‘wasted’ their college years and their parents’ money on things like semiotics and indie rock and high modernist literature and so on and so forth. Certainly they didn’t celebrate the mediocre or the risk averse in culture or education or lifestyles, and both had a certain air of entitlement.” — anonymous poster at plastic, wondering how people can get so damn self-righteous about others’ self-righteousness. Anyhow.

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20 March 2002
I punched someone’s car today. The guy turned right in front of a crowd of pedestrians (including me) who were starting to cross the street. Had he turned a second or two later, and he would have hit several people. I instinctively hit the car as it drove off, and he stopped, opened the door, and started yelling. Had there not been traffic cops and witnesses around, he might’ve pulled fists or a gun out as well I yelled something back (“don’t run red lights,” even though he hadn’t, but I was distracted as usual – which makes me a rather poor choice for extemporaneous speaking), which caught the attention of the cops. But anyhow, I’m beyond sick and tired of drivers bullying other road users with their size and speed.

“Capitol Fax” reports that a group called “Family Taxpayers” sent out a “Jim Ryan is too liberal” campaign piece. That name’s a disgustingly double-speaking attempt to cloak neo-Fascism in softer, “how can anyone be against…” tones.

Wearing a “REPUBLICAN” badge yesterday wasn’t that intimidating, though I did get a few strange looks from voters (particularly acquaintances). Dealing with the circus that is Chicago ward politics, though, was quite entertaining.

Kinkade sprawl

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“I arrived at [Thomas] Kinkade’s Village [at Hiddenbrooke, a subdivision “inspired” by his paintings] expecting to be appalled by a horror show of treacly Cotswold kitsch; I was even more horrified by its absence… no matter how gauzy Kinkade’s vision, there is no question that the current suburban aesthetic makes us want it — bad.” Janelle Brown in Salon.com

Cheap

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After I brushed him off, a beggar on Dearborn called me “you cheap Chinese.” How should someone respond to that? (Besides “fuck you, you lazy-ass racist,” my coarse, off-the-cuff response.) It’s frankly hard to give a damn about poor people when even a few are so appallingly abusive. Sure, I give money to the food bank and Red Cross, but beggars don’t care. (One even told me so, saying “well, you didn’t give me any money.”) And, of course, why did my race get singled out for ridicule? The veneer of “proxy white privilege” can be awfully thin sometimes…

Populism

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From today’s Times: “Somehow, the visual arts have resisted the American democratic impulse to recreate Europe’s loftiest traditions as vernacular entertainments. Here, the opera became the musical, and ballet the Ice Capades. The didactic sermons of Jonathan Edwards are now op-ed pieces. The high art tradition of cinema, mainly a French confection, survives in the ghetto of college film courses, having been overwhelmed by the popularity of Billy Wilders and Steven Spielbergs.”

Oh, I get to be a Republican judge of election on Tuesday. How exciting!

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16 March 2002 Fed up with “dog nuisance”? Try the Poop Flag on your next walk around town. Self-righteous yet cheeky, strident yet meek. I don’t quite know how to react to this form of civil disobedience.

Oh, it’s Spring Pledge Drive over at BEZ. I’m not holding up very well even after only a few days without NPR. Next time, I’ll be sure to renew during pledge drive instead of by mail, what with the wonderful contests and all.

Nonsense security

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“At the John Hancock Center, handbags are carefully scrutinized in the lobby, but cars are admitted to the adjacent parking lot with barely a second look… Let’s turn our lobbies back into public spaces. Let’s stop scaring the daylights out of people and stop telling people that they’re coming to work in a dangerous place.” Developer and building manager J. Paul Beitler on ill-advised security measures taken at downtown office buildings since September. Making someone sign in before getting into an elevator won’t stop a dedicated thief or assassin, and cafe bombings in Jerusalem notwithstanding, automobiles generally pose a greater security risk than pedestrians or bicyclists. So why scrutinize backpacks but not trunks?