Discovery

I think I’ve discovered one of the worst possible ways to listen to my .mp3 collection. I made a smart playlist in iTunes of the 25 least played songs in my library. So it goes out and makes a playlist of 25 random songs I’ve never listened to, or maybe only once. I think I just heard Sting, then Miles Davis, then The Descendents, and now The Get Up Kids. Then once it plays a song that one disappears from the list and is replaced by another mismatch. Puts me in a very odd mood.

Not Like Summer Camp

As reported by Yahoo! News, A North Carolina congressman who’s a member of a homeland security committee said that he supports the government’s decision during the second world war to intern Japanese-American citizens. I can’t believe (okay, well I can) that we entrust our well-being to people like this. I mean, after the Trent Lott thing, you’d think that our heads of state would be smart enough to pass easy tests. You know, questions like, “Is racial hatred a bad thing?” or “Should all innocent citizens be treated equally?” I guess it is at least good they’re not smart enough to hold their tongues so that we find out about this stuff.

Update

News Flash!

The Second Renaissance Part 1 is now up at theanimatrix.com.

Idiots Never Learn

Fark links to a Yahoo! news article containing the following passage:

Judith Levine, author of Harmful to Minors: The Perils of Protecting Children from Sex, said she, too, questioned using popular culture to convey messages.

“Did Shakespeare ever talk about safe sex? Do comic books?” Levine asked.”

Wow man. It upsets me (but does not surprise) that uptight people actually listen to people like Ms. Levine. Let’s assume that Yahoo! isn’t taking her quote way out of context and that this person really did say the above. Come on! I’ve read my share of Shakespeare, and I’m pretty sure that he was all about condom use and birth control. I’m also sure that he was an upstanding citizen whose work has become timeless because of his responsiblie commentary on society and morals. shakes head I’m also sure that Judith Levine is up on the world of comic books.

But seriously, how can she be opposed to using popular culture as a vehicle for social discussion? Obviously we’d like for all parents to set good examples for their kids, monitor their activities, and make sure that they’re knowledgable about important issues, but that hasn’t happened but like a dozen times, ever, in the history of parenting. So she’s rather Dawson’s Creek not remind kids to use condoms?

Oh I give up.

Animatrix

The first short from the Animatrix is supposed to go online today. They’re going to web publish four of them and then release those plus five more as a DVD before The Matrix Reloaded comes out. Look for it on the What is the Matrix? website.