Earlier this week Alfons recalled Edie Brickell’s ‘Good Times’ video, which was included with the Windows 95 installation (or better yet, it was optional).
Apparently the Windows 95 release threw Edie Brickell (literally) in the spotlight, where forums and newsgroups where flooded with questions who the performer was of that video. The answer was actually simple (says Andrew Chen 1): right-click, properties.
Today it would have been Raymond Scott’s 95th birthday.
If you’re not familiar with the name, picture the Looney Tunes cartoons without the music. It’s practically impossible. And although Scott never intentionally wrote music for cartoons (he may not even have liked them), listening to his music instantly reminds us of Wile E. Coyote, Daffy, Porky and even the Simpsons.
I had a hard time getting up: dizzy and completely sick. The morning was OK, I managed to get some food through, but by noon I could hardly get around without throwing up. That hurt quite a lot too, since I didn’t have anything in my stomach.
By evening, I came around a bit, and currently I’m only a bit light-headed not sure if I’m actually better, but at least I’m ranting again.
In other news (beside the upcoming 9-11 memorials), tomorrow it’s also Raymond Scott’s birthday, which I will honour with a couple of profound and appropriately named entry titles.
Can you make a good movie without any blood, screaming people or flashy effects? Apparently you can as Alan Pakula’s ‘All The President’s Men‘ shows. The movie is carried by two of Hollywood greatest actors, Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman.
The story is well known: two reporters investigate the ‘Watergate break-in’ and find out that the White House is deeply involved in this incident. From their frustations with authorities and law enforcement to the involvement of the secret insider (the mystery of American history), all things eventually add up resulting in the fall of President Nixon.
Must see for people interested in American history and cinema.
News? The new (Arafat) appointed prime minister of Palestine. I thought it was nice of him that he said the following to the media:
“I want to see the Americans, what kind of guarantee they will (give). I’m not ready for failure – I want to see whether peace is possible or not. I want to see Europe, what kind of guarantees and support they will (give). I’m not ready for failure. I want to see whether peace is possible or not.”
But I keep wondering: how do you spell the new minister’s name? Even the media isn’t sure: Qurei, Korei, Qureia or Qorei?
Over at Asa’s blog, I noticed that most of his bordered CSS-boxes had rounded corners. I was surprised to see that these rounded corners weren’t done by positioning small images: browsing through Asa’s stylesheet, I noticed that one of his CSS objects had the following entity: -moz-border-radius.
Which is a specific Mozilla extension to CSS, as we learn over here. There are plenty of moz-extensions too: Pretty cool stuff. I hope some of them will make it in CSS-3. And if not, well, they don’t harm and it looks neat to have a banner on your page ‘Best viewed with Mozilla’.
update: a link to CSS-3’s Border working draft (thanks Jan!)
I have a deep respect for news 
photographers. Where ever there’s suffering there’s one of them around. No matter what circumstances, their pictures and photos always say a lot more than thousands of words of CNN and FOX reporters.
To get to the topic: over at Reuters an item about British reinforcements for Iraq. However, the first picture shown there is ultimately cynical and surreal, picturing an Iraqi man held prisoner while US soldiers cast their shadows on the wall. Naturally the picture has nothing to do with the reinforcement, but it sends a powerful message to us mere mortals who read the news at home.
Ang Lee’s ‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden dragon’ earned two Oscars in 2000: one for the best original sound, and one for the best foreign movie. Although by many viewed as a martial arts flick, Crouching Tiger offers a lot more than that synchronized squirting kung-fu fights. It’s actually more or less a magical, romantic, mythical and oriental movie where martial arts are shown as the means in the whole story. Literally.
The fights are literally choreographies with mind-dazzling use of tricks, most of them set in front of pretty backgrounds. Acting is not important in the whole movie, since the story is clear: an apprentice is to make a choice and when she apparently has chosen her fate is clear. In these kind of mythologies there is no room for happy ends nor is their room for a long goodbye-kiss. There are strong women playing strong characters in this movie though, but unlike most Hollywood movies, they set their marks convincingly in Crouching Tiger. Watch the fight between the sisters almost at the end.
So, even, if you’re not into martial arts, the choreography (particularly the ‘Tree fight’) is still worth the watch and literally stunning. Add to that the beautiful scenery, the music and the storyline and you’ve got a movie for your VHS/DVD selection.
Half-Life 2 is on its way, according to the BBC. And according to makers (and so many trailers on the Net) it’s worth the wait: the game is to be shipped the end of September.
“We’re confident that we haven’t wasted the last five years”
The first installment, released 5 years ago reaped in so many awards that the expectations are high.
Norwegian scientists say that millions of dollars are wasted on blood pressure pills. They argue that vast amounts of that money could have been saved if doctors prescribed thiazides (commonly known as diuretics), the cheapest and most recommended drugs.
“Our calculations are based on conservative estimates. The potential for saving is likely to be considerably higher, and may be over US$1billion per year in the US,”
I managed to change the layout once again, basically to reflect the ‘No-Nonsense’ feeling. Additional changes are yet to come for the categories page and other archiving matters. It did cost me time to get this layout right, and I wasn’t sure if it was actually possible.
Two Singapore inventors (and their company) say that they have created an OS that is able to run both Windows and Linux applications. Better yet, it apparently is capable of running Palm OS applications too.
The company (Radixs [Flash!], formerly Intramedia) plans to release the MXI-OS this month. Mobile hardware (like phones and other gadgets) are planned for the end of the year.
Hailed as one of the best movies of the year 2000, Sonderbergh’s ‘Traffic’ has the Douglas couple playing (Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones) the main characters. Douglas plays a conservative judge who spearheads a new Anti-Drugs team only to discovers that his own daughter is an addict. Jones plays a homemaker who finds out that her beloved husband is nothing more than a drugslord. Additionally, Del Toro (won an Oscar) plays a Mexican police officer who is caught in a web of corruption and friendship.
