Award shows are usually pretty awful, but each year I enjoy watching the Grammy's. It's one of the few opportunities to catch live music on tv. This year the Joe Strummer tribute made it all worthwhile. Springsteen, Steve Van Zandt, Elvis Costello and his drummer Pete Thomas, Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters, and bassist Tony Kanal of No Doubt did a great job with London Calling.

While searching for a reference to that appearance I came across Burning London, which is next on my CD wish list.


posted by Bruce Wright at 9:57 AM #

   Spring must be getting close; the first big European road race, Omloop het Volk will be held this weekend in Belgium. The USPS team will be there.
posted by Bruce Wright at 9:46 AM #

   It's amazing to see some business people dressed in a suit and tie regardless of the weather. Today when the temperature is about 25 degrees and it is snowing, there were two people waiting for the subway, freezing their buns off, dressed that way. They will probably be sweating in the same outfits in August.
posted by Bruce Wright at 3:49 PM #

   Here's a recent sketch from the open life drawing class:


posted by Bruce Wright at 8:15 PM #

   Getting a little stir-crazy, being cooped up inside much of the time over the past week. The trails are mostly snow and ice covered, and I don't feel like riding in the roads that are filled with melting snow/ice slush, sand, and irate motorists. I've even resorted to joining the mall-walker set, going to the Tysons Corner and Fair Oaks malls in the evening to walk a few miles. I put the Rans recumbent on the stationary bike stand which helps me keep in shape, but it can be so boring...
posted by Bruce Wright at 8:19 PM #

   Rumsfeld is getting a little carried away. An article in The Observer details a plan to retaliate against Germany because of their lack of support for our war-mongering.

“The US will withdraw all its troops and bases from there and end military and industrial co-operation between the two countries - moves that could cost the Germans billions of euros.”

At least the State Department doesn't appear to be going along with the plan:

“The Pentagon plan - and the language expressed by officials close to Rumsfeld - has horrified State Department officials, who believe that bullying other countries to follow the US line will further exacerbate anti-Americanism and alienate those European countries that might support a United Nations resolution authorising a war.”

posted by Bruce Wright at 12:02 PM #

   Because of the snow storm, the student show at The Art League in Alexandria. The Patron's show was supposed to be held on Sunday and was postponed for a week, which bumped the student show. I just framed the figure study that I planned to enter. Guess I'll use it for the next League of Reston Artists show next month.
posted by Bruce Wright at 2:50 PM #

   Steven Levy wrote an article on a new application by Microsoft aimed at the 13-24 year old crowd. Sounds like an interesting application for sharing songs, pictures, and instant messages with a group of friends. It shows how the next generation is influencing how we will interact in the future. The article describes how the software was developed, by a group of recent college grads in a setting removed from the main Microsoft Redmond office.
posted by Bruce Wright at 2:45 PM #

   It was another great day for cross-country skiing. There was a light power over a base of about 24 inches. Because there was sleet on top of the base, it held well. One false move and you would sink about a foot into the snow, but most of the time you could glide along on the powdery top layer. Great fun.
posted by Bruce Wright at 2:40 PM #

   Jessica Mathews, president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, wrote an excellent piece in the Post a few days ago entitled Is There a Better Way to Go?, about alternatives to war with Iraq. Her suggestions could be implemented in a short period of time, and could lead to war, but could also accomplish the main goal of disarming Iraq:

1. Put the right people in the field.


2. Get the U-2s flying.


3. Enforce "no-fly" and "no-drive" zones.


4. Destroy any site being sanitized.


5. Don't let lethal items slip away.


6. Put troops on the ground.

posted by Bruce Wright at 9:07 PM #

   Now that Google has purchased the company that produced and maintains Blogger.com, I hope the basic service doesn't change. I've gotten good response times in the past, and you can't beat the price.
posted by Bruce Wright at 8:33 PM #

   Saddam hopes to make it as difficult as possible for the U.S. to occupy Iraq. According to the Times,

Iraq's strategy to thwart a United States-led attack calls for slowing advances by American troops toward Baghdad and then confronting them with the prospect of a bloody street battle in the Iraqi capital, according to American intelligence.

posted by Bruce Wright at 8:21 PM #

   The Post has a great, irregular feature in which they ask musicians to describe their 10 favorite, most influential songs. This week Frank Black of the Pixies chose an eccletic selection that includes Melanie's “Brand New Key”, Donovan's “Mellow Yellow”, and Bob Dylan's “The Mighty Quinn”.
posted by Bruce Wright at 8:18 PM #

   The snow keeps falling, with about two feet on the ground already. It was great cross-country skiing, mostly because the trails had been plowed and there was only about 6 inches of light, powder on the ground. Skied about five miles, then came home and soaked in a hot bath.
posted by Bruce Wright at 8:12 PM #

   No wonder I've been waiting so long for DSL service from Verizon. It seems odd that it's not available in this high tech area so close to DC. According to the latest Cringely column in Infoworld,

“Another of my spies said that Verizon Communications is holding up widespread offering of DSL over fiber, or at least on the East Coast, until after Towson/Dingle is passed. The equipment has been bought, the technicians trained, but no DSL if they have to provide facilities to the competition. Depending on how long, if ever, it takes Towson/Dingle to pass, those not on copper may never see DSL.”

Given that Towson/Dingle should be Tauzin/Dingell, I wonder about the rumor, but it makes sense to me.
posted by Bruce Wright at 8:35 PM #

   Commuted by bike today, the first time in a while since the recent snow. It was an adventure, especially on the W&OD Trail. It's unfortunate that the trail isn't plowed. I understand all the arguments against doing it; it's too expensive, plows will tear up the trail, the cross-country skiers will be upset, etc. As it is, it's amost impassable since the snow is now compacted by all the walkers and runners. Now it will be weeks before the ice will melt. Time to take to the streets.
posted by Bruce Wright at 5:10 PM #

   Richard Cohen summarizes why so many people, including most of the rest of the world, oppose the U.S. march to war, in his column in the Post today, The Crude Crusader.

“It's not that I don't think he is right about Saddam Hussein and, if need be, the necessity to deal with him through war. It's rather that I see America going to war; he [Bush] sees us embarking on a crusade.”

posted by Bruce Wright at 4:58 PM #

   The Sharp Zaurus C700 is getting real close to the form factor and functionality of my dream PDA/computer.
posted by Bruce Wright at 10:06 AM #

   Also watched “The Matrix” over the weekend. It wasn't nearly as good at “Minority Report”, but the special effects were pretty entertaining.
posted by Bruce Wright at 9:55 PM #

   It looks like some lessons must be learned the hard way, as the chinese take to the road in their new cars:

"Sometimes, the building of new roads only stimulates a greater desire for cars"

posted by Bruce Wright at 9:51 PM #

   Watched the excellent movie Minority Report last night. Nearly jumped out of my seat a couple of times. Highly recommended for those few people who may not have already seen it.
posted by Bruce Wright at 11:05 AM #

   There is a review of W.G. Sebald's latest book, “On the Natural History of Destruction” in the NYT. It's a collection of essays on the effects of the Allied bombing of Germany in World War II.
posted by Bruce Wright at 11:02 AM #

   Looks like it will be very difficult to find out who wrote the energy policy, now that the Government Accounting Office decided to abandon their lawsuit to force Cheney to reveal which energy companies were involved. The Natural Resources Defense Council filed suit and won in Feb. 2002, but the energy task force documents they received were heavily censored.
posted by Bruce Wright at 10:46 AM #

   Haven't heard much about the Tablet PC lately, other than that it's selling well in Europe. I asked about them at CompUSA, and they said their first units sold out and they were waiting for new stock.
posted by Bruce Wright at 8:37 PM #

   Felt like I needed a shower after watching the Michael Jackson interview last night on ABC. There is something morbidly fascinating about the man/child.
posted by Bruce Wright at 8:28 PM #

   Spent some time cross country skiing in what I thought would be great, powdery snow. The wax I used, a blue Swix wax, recommended for new snow below freezing, didn't quite cut it. It was good snow, but it turned wet quickly and I had no kick. I did see a Pileated Woodpecker normally found in more remote areas. I heard a very loud drumming sound and the big bird was easy to spot.
posted by Bruce Wright at 8:22 PM #

   For some reason the encoded email address that I referenced below isn't working with Blogger. I pasted in the result from using Enkode Tool 1.0 into my Blogger template and it worked fine the first time. Once I edit the template in Blogger it breaks...
posted by Bruce Wright at 6:21 PM #

   It looks like Segways are for real now. I came across two references to them in weblogs today. Dan Bricklin mentioned their use in Atlanta by the Atlanta Ambassador Force. Read his article about them at Segways in Atlanta. Jason Kottke points to an article by a guy who has been using a Segway for over 100 miles.
posted by Bruce Wright at 6:17 PM #

   Started reading Saving Faith by David Baldacci, taking a break from The Life of Samuel Johnson. I needed some light reading after getting halfway through Johnson. Saving Faith is a mystery that takes place in the DC area and it's fun reading about familiar places.
posted by Bruce Wright at 4:49 PM #

   Used the email encoding tool Enkode Tool 1.0 to attempt to hide my email address from spam bots (“Send a note” above). Maybe I'll avoid being on the next generation of spam lists. The address is generated by javascript code, which would require the spam bots to execute the code in order to extract it, and that would take too much time and effort. At least for now. No doubt someone is working hard on figuring out how to defeat the enkoder.
posted by Bruce Wright at 10:46 PM #

   Had a great ride on the tandem recumbent, finally getting outside after the stretch of cold and icy weather.

Submitted 3 artworks to the local art league show. The bad news was that the two watercolors were rejected. The good news was that the selected work, a simple pen and ink gesture drawing of a standing nude, was given an Honorable Mention.
posted by Bruce Wright at 9:46 PM #

   Did some museum hopping the other day and saw some good shows at the National Gallery and the Corcoran:

• Édouard Vuillard at the National Gallery - Unlike most artists, he pursued various styles. I enjoyed his small watercolors.


• An Artist's Artists: Jacob Kainen's Collection from Rembrandt to David Smith - Also at the National Gallery, a show of prints and drawings, mostly in black and white. I've seen it several times and never tire of viewing these detailed etchings and lithographs.


• The 47th Corcoran Biennial: Fantasy Underfoot - I'm not a big fan of most modern, conceptual art, but there were some exciting pieces in this show, including an eerie film experience by Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller and a rhythmic dripping sculpture by Tim Hawkinson.


• In Process, celebrating the 25th Anniversary of the BFA Program - A show of alumni work at the Corcoran .

posted by Bruce Wright at 12:24 PM #