Wow, a terrible, terrible local tragedy. Inexplicable. An outrage. How could this possibly have happened? What are we supposed to do now? Life will never be the same again.

Incubus is a pretty crappy movie, but Esperanto is actually pretty interesting. Mi amas vin.

Overheard at the SFMOMA, at the new (and impressive) Gerhard Richter exhibit (the specific painting in question is one of his blurred-motion pieces of people riding in a speedboat): “That’s just like Ya-Ya.”

Overheard at the same exhibit by my wife: “I don’t know what the big deal is. He’s just copying photographs.” You give it a shot, lady.

How far has CGI come? Take this quiz (actually a vendor promo site) and see if you can pick the CG pics from the real photos. I actually got all 10 right on the first try, but then again, I tend to do pretty well on those “real or fake” quizzes… You know the ones I’m talking about.

The Bachelor and his bimbettes are total tools. I love how this guy is supposed to be so sophisticated, but when he and his bimbette-of-the-moment are taken behind the scenes at a Napa Valley winery and allowed to partake of barrel samples, you don’t drink directly out of the “wine thief” (a glass siphon) like it’s a beer bong! You pour it into a glass and then drink it, you idiots. Disgusting. And now they are going to sell that wine that you slobbered all over.

They never showed the labels or name of the winery, but I’m pretty sure that was Clos Pegase — having toured those caves myself. I will never buy your wine again — who knows what those nasty nasty people are getting in the juice!

I got an enormous laugh out of this would-be art critic’s evaluation of the K-8 set and couldn’t resist posting it. Link courtesy Neil McAllister.

There was a nasty wreck along my route to work today, at a poorly-designed intersection which I sit through almost every day. Ambulances, cop cars, traffic being directed… when they cart someone off under a yellow plastic tarp, that’s not good, is it? If only I’d left 15 minutes earlier that could’ve been me… This seems to happen all the time, at least twice since I started this blog. Maybe I’m far more fortunate than I think and I should stop cursing the constant pain in my jaw.

This amuses me greatly. Somehow my novel is “closely related” to The Lord of the Rings on DVD! I hope this link works.

If you liked the TV stand, you’ll love the in-dash CD changer!

I was going to write about how annoying a whole bunch of Sunday drivers were (and this being Friday, they have no reason to be on the street), but I got an email which really got me going. To wit:

Subject: IMPORTANT CHANGES AT ZAGAT.COM

P.S. – To learn more, visit: http://zagatnews.zagat.com/cgi-bin4/flo?y=eI8I0EaOEz0DAn0BjJ30A4

If Zagat’s content was better — and if it wasn’t generated by people like me — I might be more inclined to subscribe. But as it stands, Zagat is just not interesting enough to merit a subscription. So long, Tim and Nina. Incidentally, I interviewed Nina Zagat last year and she didn’t mention anything about going subscription. I’d link to that interview, but Ziff-Davis — being the ridiculous company that it is — has deleted all the archives for Smart Business. Oh what a beautiful morning!

I have the urge to update this site daily but in the absence of any amusing anecdotes to tell or links to share, I fear that simply typing something for the sake of typing something would be conceited and boring. Yet oblivious people do this all the time. So I’m coining a term to describe this behavior: blablogging.

I interviewed Kevin Mitnick a few months ago — he didn’t mention he was going to sell off his equipment on Ebay! Great idea, I gotta say, though I’m dying to find out what the reserve is. Link courtesy CNet.

I had the good fortune to see two recommendable movies over the last few days. Check out reviews of Red Dragon and Far From Heaven here!

Some nitwit crashed on the Bay Bridge, taking out four of the five lanes and causing havoc with Bay Area traffic. Cars were gridlocked deep into San Francisco. I realized I have completely lost my patience for road traffic today when I could actually see my office building only three blocks away but knew it would be another 15 minutes before I got there. I started sweating I was so upset. I don’t need this kind of aggravation, I’m tellin’ ya.