May 2002

With more than 375 Hemingway-related links organized into 23 categories, Virtual Hemingway is intended to provide persons interested in the author with links to scholarship and other information about Hemingway on-line as well as to selected manifestations of Hemingway’s appearances in popular culture.

There were two great links at The Shifted Librarian recently concerning the music industry. By some bizarre twist of the cosmos, both links are - at least obliquely - in reference to the “artist” Eminem. The first link is to an article at MTV.com about how Eminem’s new album, The Eminem Show, jumped to the top spot on the Billboard charts after being on sale for only a single day. The second link is to a link at LawMeme to an article on the NYTimes site about why the album went on sale so much earlier than projected. Apparently it had become a victim of widespread piracy long before it was scheduled to be released.

The articles, and The Shifted Librarian’s comments on them, and the essays in the links to the links to the articles, all make for some very interesting reading. I actually enjoy listening to Eminem, which is probably even scarier than the fact that I linked to a link to a link to an article.

Need custom designed blank CDRs and cases? Check out 5inch.com. This place looks like an excellent resource. They “offer pre-designed silkscreened blank cdr’s as well as regular 5″ and 3″ blanks, sets of cdr’s with cases, individual cases, dvd’s, storage items and wearables.” Very hep.

This month in Maxim magazine there is a special Anti-Terrorism section. One page details several excellent gadgets you can buy to protect yourself from … well … bad guys.

Check out some of the crazy stuff you can buy:

• SpySite: a ton of cool toys
• portableelectricgenerators.com: the URL says it all …
• Approved Gas Masks.com: Gas masks galore!
• Delta Scientific Corporation: Destroy a 15,000 lb truck at 50 mph!
• Sensar-Stellar: Put an invisible sense-field around your house!
• Pedsco Canada Ltd., makers of the Bomb-Disposal Robot
• SecurityPlanet.com, for all your stun-gun needs …

Music bosses have unveiled a revolutionary new recording format that they hope will help win the war on illegal file sharing which is thought to be costing the industry millions of dollars in lost revenue.

Nicknamed the ‘Record’, the new format takes the form of a black, vinyl disc measuring 12 inches in diameter, which must be played on a specially designed ‘turntable’.

The Daily Grill is one of my favorite restaurants in Los Angeles. It’s a bit pricey, but the portions are huge, the service is great, and the food is delicious. The night before I left for Ryan’s wedding, I visited the Studio City Daily Grill with my girlfriend and family.

It was the first night of their new “Summer Menu” and I bravely ordered the Chicken in a Bucket. I had eaten most of my mashed potatoes (a DG favorite), my cornbread, and my salad and was well into my third piece of fried chicken when I noticed something just wasn’t kosher. I was engaged in a fairly animated conversation and hadn’t been paying close attention to my food, but something tasted very strange. I inspected my chicken breast a bit more closely and realized it was raw!

I’m not talkin’ “a little undercooked”. I mean it was bloody! Gah! So of course we called the manager to our table and complained and such. I was quite scared that I would be knocked out with food poisoning the night before I was supposed to get on a plane to be the Best Man! The manager, Charlye Martin, was painfully apologetic and polite. He took my address and was honestly concerned; he made sure that I knew they were sorry and handled the situation very gracefully.

A few days ago I received a tremendously nice, personal letter from Charlye and the Daily Grill expressing their regret. He enclosed $35 worth of gift certificates, took full responsibility for the mistake, and in no way tried to make excuses. It was refreshing to see such a display of good customer service and I just wanted to make a note of it here.

Patriots VP Jonathan Kraft, on the new stadium:

“… People will look at the stadium when we have a big game and say, ‘Wow, they’ve got some empty seats today.’ They won’t be empty, really. People will just be walking around, enjoying themselves. We did this because we thought this would be great for fans. I’m a fan. I’ve been going to games here since 1971. And when I watch football, I don’t want to sit in a seat for three, three-and-a-half hours. I want to move around and see the game from all different angles. I think our fans will really enjoy this.”

“No one expects to find a giant hippo living in someone’s backyard.”

Blogging is on the verge of becoming a mainstream fad, and that fad will be exploited and commercialized. But blogging will not fade away when its faddishness passes, because it is built on the powerful code of written language.

This is part of blogging’s true power, the democratization of the distribution of information. Goldberg says that bloggers can only feed off the work of the mainstream press, but bloggers will lead, drive, and shape the news coverage of the major media, too.

from A Personal Look at Blogging

The Anniversary Party **
pedestrian writing, ho-hum acting, scenery: n/a, sound effects: n/a, no plot, ho-hum directing
Don’t bother.

Placing Ernest Hemingway’s To Have and Have Not in the 1930s - an essay by David Gagne
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Insomnia *****
superbly written, excellent acting, wonderful scenery, perfect sound effects, tremendous plot, incredible directing
Go see it.

Red Sox 4, Mariners 1
May 18

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John Lennon’s Revolution 9 - the tuneless dirge that drones “Number nine, number nine” - should have been blaring in the visitors’ clubhouse before last Saturday’s game at Fenway Park. The Mariners were facing Pedro Martinez, who in nine career games against them was 9-0 with an 0.91 ERA. Could they break their streak of futility? Pedro quickly made the answer clear: nein. In the first inning he struck out the side on nine pitches, a feat rarer than a no-hitter. Martinez became just the 35th pitcher in major league history to do it.

By the end of the day Martinez had thrown 99 pitches (73 for strikes) and struck out nine …

On Thomas Hardy’s “The Self-Unseeing” and “The Haunter”
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