Two reporters from the McClatchy newspaper group fact check George W. Bush's statements about his veto regarding the State Children's Health Insurance Program. I don't know if Bush is lying or just misinformed but neither reflects well on the guy.
Finally solved my computer network problem. After trying 7,378 other possible solutions, I found the right one. I installed a piece of software two weeks ago and its makers don't tell you that it has an unadvertised networking component that runs continuously in the background and is of no use whatsoever to me. I found a website where someone divulged the tip-top secret method of uninstalling it and when I uninstalled it, my computers suddenly began speaking directly to each other. Whew.
I have to tell you: I'm getting really sick of software that adds in all sorts of extra, surprise components. Anyone here install the current Nero Burning Rom? Or the software that comes with new Hewlett-Packard printers? I just want the thing I bought to work, people. I don't need your bonus image library software or your desktop (or Yahoo Desktop or Google Desktop) or your search engine or — especially — your memory resident networking and updater software. At the very least, you could tell us about these things before we innocently slap them onto our C Drives.
As you may have heard, there's a movie coming out this Christmas based on the musical play by Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. That's great timing because when I think of Christmas, I immediately think of a serial killer slashing throats. Johnny Depp has the title role and Tim Burton directed and though I like (not love) the stage version, I find myself curiously unexcited about the film.
That may change but it isn't changed by a two and a half minute trailer which can be viewed here. You can also view it via the film's website where you can also download Sweeney Todd wallpaper and Sweeney Todd buddy icons. And aren't there enough sickos prowling our chat rooms without people identifying themselves via Sweeney Todd buddy icons?
The trailer, as you'll see, does its best to hide the fact that this is a musical. There's very little singing, no mention of Broadway and even Evelyn Wood couldn't read fast enough to see Mr. Sondheim's name. It will be interesting to see if the marketing folks maintain this approach as they get closer to the release date.
I'm also curious if Sondheim has written any new tunes for the film, particularly with an eye on the Academy Awards. As you may know, it is not uncommon when a musical is adapted to the screen for new songs to be added. The old songs are not eligible for the Best Song Oscar but a new one is. Sometimes, a composer who'd like to win one will make that a condition of the sale; that he must be engaged to write a couple of new ones so he can maybe score a statuette. Sometimes, the producers want it because they think it a new song or two will enhance their soundtrack sales and also, of course, a Best Song Oscar wouldn't hurt the film's box office. And sometimes, of course, new tunes are introduced for creative reasons.
This is why you got "Mean Green Mother from Outer Space" in the film version of Little Shop of Horrors. It's why Marion the Librarian sings "Being in Love" instead of "My White Knight" in the movie of The Music Man and why Adelaide sings "Pet Me, Poppa" instead of "A Bushel and a Peck" in the film version of Guys and Dolls. It's why the film version of A Chorus Line, along with doing almost everything else wrong, replaced "The Music and the Mirror" with "Let Me Dance For You" and it's why Dolly Parton wrote new songs for Best Little Whorehouse in Texas even though she didn't write the show when it was a stage musical.
One might note that when a stage song is replaced by a new song, the new song is inevitably inferior and it usually doesn't win an Oscar. ("Mean Green Mother" is probably the best of the ones mentioned in the above paragraph...and I don't think it's insignificant that it didn't replace a song in the original show. It was just an add-in.) If anyone can improve on a Sondheim score though, it's Sondheim. It'll be interesting to see if he tried.
Recently, for no visible reason, one of my computers decided to stop talking to another of my computers. I have three here and they're all networked. C can connect to A and B. B can connect to A and C. A can connect to C but cannot connect to B. When I attempt this, I get a message that says it is not accessible and adds, "You might not have permission to use this network resource. Contact the administrator of this server to find out if you have access permissions." Since I am the administator of it all, I have no idea what to ask myself or how to answer me.
But it's weirder than that. I have a program called Network Magic installed on my computers. It's a utility that comes with DLink routers and it monitors your network and allows you to tinker with settings, and you can even network your computers through Network Magic. A can connect to B that way but not via the standard Microsoft Windows Network. This would make everything fine except that I can't run my sync/backup utilities through the Network Magic network. They only run through the Microsoft Windows Network where A can't connect to B.
Last evening, a gent who knows more about computers than I will ever know was here for four hours, tinkering and trying to make things right. I was disappointed that he couldn't fix things but I also had that quirky bit of pride that he didn't do any better at solving the problem than I had.
I spent another hour or two this morning, playing with settings and trying odd things. I'm down to, "Well, there's no earthly reason why this should make a difference but I'll try it anyway." And now, I'm going to make a concerted effort to forget about it for a while and turn my attention to deadlines and work that must be done. That may be the hardest part.
October 5, 2007
