Paul Murray's weblog, with news you may have missed and my $0.02 worth on a number of topics.

"You can't make up anything anymore. The world itself is a satire. All you're doing is recording it."
- Art Buchwald

I bet you don't have a friend who's an acupuncturist

E-mail me: pmurray63 [at] hotmail.com (Be patient, I don't check it often.)

Fundamentally overused. I read about this a few weeks ago but didn't have time to post it. As a writer, I know it's easy to fall in love with a few words and overuse them. Someone should point this out to Newt Gingrich (who is, at least in theory, also a writer).

By now, we've all become familiar with Newt Gingrich's habit of using a few choice adverbs to make the things he says sound just a bit more intelligent to his listeners. Profoundly. Deeply. Frankly. But none of them are as vital to the Gingrich lexicon as fundamentally (along with its cousin, the adjective fundamental). While this appears to be Gingrich's favorite word in the English language, you could also argue that he uses the word so often, and so reflexively, that it's become virtually meaningless to him. In a single 2008 address to the American Enterprise Institute, he used the words fundamentally or fundamental a total of eighteen times.

Using Nexis and news accounts, New York magazine's Dan Amira found more than 400 occasions from 2007 to the present where Gingrich used a form of that word.

If Gingrich's campaign actually goes anywhere (which I doubt), perhaps this should become the basis for a new drinking game.

Labels: Newt Gingrich, politics, writing

posted by Paul Murray at 1:26 PM | permanent link |

One good reason I don't have cable or satellite TV. The New York Times has a story on one of my pet peeves:

Although “sports” never shows up as a line item on a cable or satellite bill, American television subscribers pay, on average, about $100 a year for sports programming — no matter how many games they watch. A sizable portion goes to the National Football League, which dominates sports on television and which struck an extraordinary deal this week with the major networks — $27 billion over nine years — that most likely means the average cable bill will rise again soon.

These companies always demand to be included in basic or enhanced basic packages. If these channels are as well-liked as their executives insist, what would be the harm in making them optional?

Failing that (and the networks will fight it tooth and nail), here's another idea: itemized cable and satellite bills. How does the expense break down each month? It doesn't seem unreasonable to ask for this information. But again, they'll kick and scream.

This won't be fixed because FCC has no jurisdiction over cable and satellite. Maybe the FTC could do something?

Labels: pet peeve, sports, tv

posted by Paul Murray at 11:56 PM | permanent link |

Today's essay question. Which are you more tired of: vampires or zombies? Explain.

Labels: essay question

posted by Paul Murray at 10:27 PM | permanent link |

Libby. On Tom Lehrer's album That Was The Year That Was, this is the beginning of how he introduces his song Alma:

Last December 13th, there appeared in the newspapers the juiciest, spiciest, raciest obituary that has ever been my pleasure to read. It was that of a lady named Alma Mahler Gropius Werfel who had, in her lifetime, managed to acquire as lovers practically all of the top creative men in central Europe. And among these lovers -- who were listed in the obituary, by the way, which was what made it so interesting -- there were three whom she went so far as to marry. 

I was reminded of this yesterday when I stumbled across a short biography of Libby Holman at the Internet Movie database. I had never heard of her before; once I read about her, I struck by the thought that her life could be the subject of a juicy biographical movie -- one that couldn't have been portrayed accurately during her lifetime. (The author felt the same way; his biography begins, "Libby Holman's life was one of early poverty, extraordinary talent, scandal, fabulous wealth and tragedy. She's the stuff books and movies are ripe for.")

In case you're wondering how this all happened: We watched Sunset Boulevard again Saturday night on TCM, and host Robert Osborne mentioned that Montgomery Clift was supposed to play the male lead, ultimately played by William Holden. Osborne observed, and I would agree, that Clift wouldn't have been as good in the part as Holden was. As I frequently do, I looked the movie up at the IMDb to see if they had any more details, and they did. It seems Clift bailed out on the role a mere two weeks before production started, at the urging of his middle-aged actress lover ... Libby Holman. I followed the link to her entry, and it turned out she only made one movie. So I clicked on the link to her bio and -- well, here we are.

You may also be interested in her Wikipedia entry.

Labels: biography, movies, theatre

posted by Paul Murray at 3:17 PM | permanent link |

Barnes & Noble and my horrible customer experience. I've been skeptical of iPad-type devices, at least at the price points they're asking. For $500 I can have a complete laptop, for crying out loud. But I've been slowly warming to the idea that lower-priced options may have some value.

HP's decision last week to kill off its seven-week-old TouchPad (among other things ... their idiotic management is a topic for another post) raised the intriguing possibility of a fire sale. And sure enough, $99 for the 16GB TouchPad. Deal! It got so-so reviews at $499, but at 80% off, it's a whole different story. TouchPads vanished from physical stores quickly, so the challenge became to find one online. And I did, at Barnes & Noble. Or so I thought.



As it turns out, a lot of people were in the same boat. The problem is, this wasn't just a "well, I'll just have to wait until more come in," because HP isn't making any more. But because B&N didn't figure that out right way, now we can't find them anywhere else, either. (HP now seems to think they have some more becoming available. We'll see.)

But really, Barnes & Noble dragged out and multiplied their failure, and that's what I'd like to document here for the record.

August 22, 9:19 am - I place my order for the 16GB TouchPad at the Barnes & Noble website. There's no indication that quantities are in any doubt.

August 23, morning - 24 hours later, I've heard nothing from B&N. But I've read about sites being swamped with orders, so I'm patient.

August 23, late evening - Having heard nothing for about 38 hours, I go back to the B&N website to check my order status. It displays a message that I can't remember precisely, but it does not say "order canceled" or "out of stock" or anything like that. It indicates that there's some problem and I should call them. I do, but they're closed. Which is okay; I don't expect 24-hour-a-day human assistance. The recording says their hours are 8:30 am - 11:00 pm Eastern time.

August 24, 8:47 am - After punching in my order number and zip code, I get the same "currently closed" message ... 17 minutes after they're supposed to open.

9:17 am - Call again. Same "currently closed" message ... 47 minutes after they're supposed to open.

9:43 am - Call again. Good news: they're actually open. Bad news: due to high call volume, please call back later CLICK.

10:20 am - Barnes & Noble officially cancels my order. I discover this when I check back at the website around 11:10.

1:26 pm - Barnes & Noble e-mails me to tell me my order has been canceled ... 52 hours after I placed it.

I want to be clear: I know the item was flying off the shelves. If I had learned that promptly, I would have been disappointed but not angry. But Barnes & Noble thoroughly compounded their mistakes:

• Why didn't I get any e-mails?
• Why did I have to pursue them?
• Why did it take them 49 hours after the order was placed for them to figure out that they didn't have one to sell me?
• Why did it take them another 3 hours after that to finally e-mail me and tell me that?
• CNET published the story documenting customer complaints at 7:00 pm Monday evening -- only about 12 hours (depending on their time zone) after I had placed my order. So B&N knew they had problems before that. Why didn't they tell me?

Why should I ever try buying anything from Barnes & Noble again?

Labels: Barnes and Noble, retail fail

posted by Paul Murray at 11:46 PM | permanent link |

How it really happened. When Raiders of the Lost Ark was first released, I had several people rave about it to me. Virtually all of them said, "I don't want to spoil it for you, but there's this one scene ..." Whereupon they would invariably describe the famous scene in the marketplace where Indy fights off several sword-wielding locals, eventually confronting a huge bad guy wielding a huge sword. Exhausted, Indy sighs, pulls his revolver and shoots the guy. It was a huge crowd-pleaser.


The story has always been told that Harrison Ford was ill that day and feeling exhausted, inspiring him to improvise his reaction. Not quite, according to a new book by Vic Armstrong, Ford's stuntman on that film and many others. Everybody was miserable in Tunisia, and looking forward to getting out -- including director Steven Spielberg, who was also determined to finish on schedule to redeem his reputation after 1941.

Originally there was an elaborate fight sequence planned and a stunt team went up to the coast for two weeks working it out. [... Stunt coordinator] Peter Diamond ... showed Steven the fight routine. Big Terry Richards played the Arab and he swished his sword about and then the fight carried on through the whole of the Casbah.

Steven watched and said, “Look, I’m going to shoot whatever I can until three o’clock because then I’m getting out of here.” Peter Diamond was dumbstruck: “You can’t do that, it’s gonna take four days to film this fight. It’s a huge fight and the guys have been rehearsing it for weeks.’ Steven said, ‘I’ve got a plane coming at three, I’m out of here, I’ve got enough, I don’t need any more here.’ [First Assistant Director David] Tomblin butted in, ‘For Christ’s sake Steven, you’ve got to do this.’ But Steven was standing firm, “No, I’m out at three.” Tomblin said, “Well, it’s stupid doing this whole routine, you might as well just shoot the guy with a gun.” “Don’t be facetious Dave.” Then Steven paused. “I’ll tell you what, let’s try that. Yes, let’s try just shooting him.” And the rest is history.

This looks like it will be a fun, easy book to read. (via kottke.org)

12/17/2011 Update: In interviews conducted this year, Steven Spielberg and Harrison Ford both stick to the familiar version of this scene, that Ford wasn't feeling well and thought that yet another sword fight was a bit much. When compared to Vic Armstrong's story, the two versions appear quite contradictory. Someone's memory isn't right. Unless somebody goes and digs up the logs that must have been kept during shooting -- assuming they still exist -- we may never know for sure who's right.

Labels: book, film, Raiders of the Lost Ark

posted by Paul Murray at 10:30 PM | permanent link |

Random facts. Another collection of unrelated facts that I've stumbled across in my recent reading:

• "Nearly 900 feet long and 15 stories tall, the 67-year-old [U.S.S.] Iowa is one of the biggest and most powerful battleships ever built. It also is the only Navy vessel with a bathtub — a feature installed for Roosevelt when he was shuttled to the Middle East to meet with Churchill and Stalin at the Teheran Conference in 1943." (L.A. Times)
• "In recent years, according to Disney research, the average [Orlando] Magic Kingdom visitor has had time for only nine rides — out of more than 40 — because of lengthy waits and crowded walkways and restaurants. In the last few months, however, the [one-year-old Disney Operational Command Center] operations center has managed to make enough nips and tucks to lift that average to 10." (NY Times)
• "Television is a vast wasteland. The mighty words came down like a thunderbolt 50 years ago, from Newton N. Minow, then President Kennedy’s impishly eloquent chair of the Federal Communications Commission. In a May 9, 1961, speech to the National Association of Broadcasters, Minow singled out “The Fred Astaire Show” and “The Twilight Zone” for praise, but condemned most TV as a tiresome march of “game shows, formula comedies about totally unbelievable families, blood and thunder, mayhem, violence, sadism, murder, western bad men, western good men, private eyes, gangsters, more violence, and cartoons.” ... Minow’s speech had “ruined television,” declared Sherwood Schwartz, the TV producer, who promptly created a formula sitcom with totally unbelievable characters called “Gilligan’s Island.” In an inside joke that Minow came to relish, Schwartz named the show’s doomed ship after him." (NY Times)
• "William H. Parker, L.A.’s greatest and most controversial police chief ...  arrived in 1922 from Deadwood, South Dakota, an ambitious 17-year-old. He became a patrolman in the LAPD. Coldly cerebral (Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, a onetime LAPD officer and Parker speechwriter, reputedly based Mr. Spock on his former boss), intolerant of fools and famously incorruptible, Parker persevered—and rose. (L.A. Noir book excerpt in LA Times Magazine)

Labels: random facts

posted by Paul Murray at 1:04 AM | permanent link |

Wait what? So Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the head of the International Monetary Fund and likely Socialist Party candidate to be President of France, is accused of sexually attacking a maid in his New York hotel room. This case raises a lot of big issues that can (and are, especially in France) being debated. I have a smaller question to raise:

The Socialist Party candidate-to-be lives in a $4 million house in (or near) Washington, D.C., and stays in $3000-a-night hotel rooms?

Title stolen from a regular segment on Norm MacDonald's weekly show.

Labels: politics, wait what

posted by Paul Murray at 12:28 AM | permanent link |

E-mail change. If you e-mailed me using the despammed.com address previously listed in the left column, I didn't get it, because that service doesn't seem to be working. So I now list my Hotmail address ... but be aware that I only check it once a week or so. I don't want to publish my primary e-mail address.

Labels: administration, e-mail

posted by Paul Murray at 12:31 AM | permanent link |

There's nothing new under the sun, example 413. This week's New Yorker magazine has an article ("Confounding Fathers") by Princeton history professor Sean Wilentz that provides an interesting look at the roots of today's far-right "tea party" types and their relationship with the Republican party:

[C]alling Obama a socialist in the tradition of Woodrow Wilson is audacious enough to seem like the marker of a new movement—or, at least, a new twist in the nation’s long history of conspiracy-mongering. In fact, it marks a revival of ideas that circulated on the extremist right half a century ago, especially in the John Birch Society and among its admirers.

[Glenn] Beck’s version of American history relies on lessons from his own acknowledged inspiration, the late right-wing writer W. Cleon Skousen, and also restates charges made by the Birch Society’s founder, Robert Welch. The political universe is, of course, very different today from what it was during the Cold War. Yet the Birchers’ politics and their view of American history—which focussed more on totalitarian threats at home than on those posed by the Soviet Union and Communist China—has proved remarkably persistent. The pressing historical question is how extremist ideas held at bay for decades inside the Republican Party have exploded anew—and why, this time, Party leaders have done virtually nothing to challenge those ideas, and a great deal to abet them.

Highly recommended. You can also listen to Prof. Wilentz being interviewed by Terry Gross on today's installment of "Fresh Air."

And for about Glenn Beck's bizarre ideas of history, read Washington Post reporter Dana Milbank's essay "Glenn Beck is obsessed with Hitler and Woodrow Wilson. (I'm just saying.)"

I hate to say it, but this upcoming election makes me recall the words of H.L. Mencken: "Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard."

Labels: Glenn Beck, history, right-wing nuts

posted by Paul Murray at 10:21 PM | permanent link |

A small musical gem. It's unfortunately rare to hear composer Leroy Anderson's works played anymore. So why not take two minutes to enjoy a live performance of one of his most famous pieces.


via Best of YouTube

Labels: music, YouTube

posted by Paul Murray at 6:45 PM | permanent link |

I'm back (sorta). While I wanted to maintain the previous structure, I wasn't entirely sure how to do it, and I finally decided to cave and do it the way Google wanted me to. Which I'm not really happy about, but so it goes.

It looks like I still have a lot of cleanup work to do. Sorry for the mess.
At least I can resume posting again.

Labels: announcement, apology, housekeeping

posted by Paul Murray at 7:25 AM | permanent link |

Please stand by. Google is making some behind the scenes changes at Blogger. (They're eliminating publishing by FTP, because they claim to have all kinds of problems with it.)

They describe the necessary changes as simple ... and they may be for a lot of people, but not me. So I need to sit down and figure out what I'm going to do about it. And in the meantime, I won't be able to post.

Back soon, I hope.

Labels: announcement, housekeeping

posted by Paul Murray at 8:40 PM | permanent link |