A friend e-mailed me from London yesterday alerting me to the existence of The West Wing on DVD. All 22 episodes of Season 1 area available on a set of Region 2 discs, which of course are intended to play only on units in Europe, the Middle East and Japan.

It was the first I knew that the Wing was available on DVD, but I’ve long been aware that Europe is the place to go for American television on disc. For further examples, see Friends (US: through Season 2; UK: through Season 8), Ally McBeal (US: Season 1; UK: through Season 4), and South Park (US: Season 1; UK: through Season 4).

Now it does make a certain amount of sense that these shows would be more widely available in the countries that they’re not (prominently) shown on TV. While Friends is syndicated to the United Kingdom, the re-runs clearly don’t have the same value as they do here.

The nefarious part is when the studios try to maintain fat profit margins through artifical barriers erected to prevent interested customers from buying the discs. Region coding is an obvious example of this trend, but it’s only the most recent one. The technical differences amongst television standards in the U.S. (NTSC), most of Europe (PAL), and France (SECAM), is also something that was pushed for by “content providers” to make it much more difficult for an American to buy and play tapes from another country. With the advent of HDTV, the cycle is repeating itself.

I can (and do) bypass the region coding/television standard difficulties by using a DVD-ROM with modified firmware. Here again the entertainment industry pushed for draconian measures, advocating the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to prevent anyone from thinking that one can use purchased items in any manner (s)he sees fit.

Somebody needs to stop ’em.

Well, the turkey’s finished. (As any sane American would do, I stuffed myself. That was hours ago, though, so now I wait for the soothing finishing touch: a little Ben & Jerry’s Triple Caramel Crunch.)

The idea of “giving thanks” doesn’t sit so well with me as a non-theist, so I think of today as BAD — Be Appreciative Day. (Yeah. Sad.) Lately, it seems tough to find things to appreciate. The slow-motion trainwreck that is this administration has brought us any amount of bad news, from pretend commissions to environmental insults to domestic spying.

That’s why, especially today, I’m thankful for those organizations that are fighting to preserve what’s left of our liberties, most notably the ACLU for civil liberties and the EFF for online freedoms.

I’ve already put my money (ACLU, EFF) where my mouth is on this issue, and I hope you will too.

Today and every day.

First, Happy Thanksgiving. Or whatever. I’ll maybe work that theme more a little later in the day.

Until then, something for all those TiVo owners who enjoy varied programs.

Did you know that tonight is the biggest club night of the year? No, forget your New Year’s Eve… apparently nothing goes with turkey like a hangover.

Those crazy Napervillians are hosting “Safari Jungle Night” at Zero Gravity. Mr. Radio Voice urged me to get down with “a 700 pound lion”, monkeys, “exotic birds”, and “exotic snakes.” The idea of dancing around caged animals is too hilariously stupid to contemplate. I guess I would spend all my time at the free bodypainting.

Schaumburg’s Alumni Club has another kind of animal to offer: “spinning live tonight… DJ Psycho Bitch!” (I think she was our next door neighbor a few years ago.)

I’m off to Chicago at about 10 to pick up my sister and brother (for T-Day, of course.)

I’d put in some sort of “miss me” message but I’ll be back Wednesday. So there.

Well, that was interesting. A few minutes ago a box popped up that looked very much like this (the number has been cropped out):

Note it’s a Windows dialog box, not a Web ad. Apparently, Windows Messenger spam like this is rising. I don’t really know how prevelant it is, because my router at the apartment would block this sort of garbage. If you don’t have a router/firewall, follow these instructions to prevent this lame message from interfering with your work day…or your whatever day.

(And if you find yourself hunkering for a diploma from a non-accredited university, ask somebody who has a laser printer to save you the trouble.)

Got a cable modem? Me too. How fast is yours? Mine is on the AT&T Broadband Internet backbone and the maximum downstream is 1,500 kbps — 1.5Mbps. Not bad.

But for $60/mo, certainly not great. That’s why it’s such a shame that Michael Powell‘s FCC is working to roll back the open access requirements for the copper wires your local telephone company currently controls.

Consider Japan. On that island, this company (classy photo, eh?) offers 8 times the downstream speed I get, for less than half the price. (That’s 12 Mbps for $26/mo.)

So-called “platform competition” (i.e. cable v. DSL v. satellite) is not going to do it alone — how many markets have just a cable company and a disinterested telco? We need legislation to force telco companies to provide non-discriminatory access to all comers at a reasonable rate, then watch the cost of bandwidth fall.

[This post was inspired in part by the almighty Lessig.]

Adam is in high dudgeon. Perhaps, in retrospect, it was to be expected.

Frankly, I’m already bored by the thing, and thus I offer the reader a choice. Choose either coddling JSP or smackdown JSP.

May the best page* win.

* Note to those on red alert: here, “page” refers solely to the two choices above.

In the spirit of the public autopsy recently performed in Great Britain, let’s dissect a blog entry. Our specimen:

So I’m driving home from the Springs tonight, smoking some Private Reserve black cavendish (that I had procured from the Stag Tobacco shop in the Springs earlier today) in my Danish-made “freehand” style pipe (approximately 2/3-bent), listening to John Coltrane, at 80 miles per hour up I-25 just outside of Denver. It occurred to me that this was who I was. All I needed was a glass of 17 year-old Scotch or a 16-ounce bottle of my pale ale and you’d have me to a tee. Just thought I’d share that with you. — a_blog

Before we delve deeper, what does the text tell us after a cursory read? It’s clear our subject is attempting to impress his audience, or at the very least engaging in some significant ego stroking. The subject is defining himself as:

• a pipe-smoker (of supposedly premium tobacco)
• a speeder
• a jazz enthusiast
• a drinker (of supposedly premium alcohol)

Note the subject attempts to equate his own homemade brew with a premium liquor, further reinforcing his delusions of grandeur.

Though the text supports a reading of the subject as wanting alcohol while driving, we’ll put that down to generally poor use of language. We have additional evidence of this: from a casual, conversational “So” beginning, it takes just a few words to hit a horribly convoluted and pretentious segment (“that I had procured.”) There’s strange use of tense (“It occurred…that this was who I was”) and inconsistent detail (“the Springs” (Colorado Springs) and “home” (Fort Collins) are presented without explanation, yet it’s somehow necessary to name the highway and general position.) Other details, such as the make, model, and condition of Mr. Refinement’s vehicle, are conveniently omitted.

Still deeper: what’s going on at a psychological level? Scientific research has shown that addicts refuse to give up their drugs of choice because they define themselves by them. (“Smoking is part of who I am.”) Intensely materialistic individuals feel the same way. Could both be at work here?

Knowing all this, let’s edit the passage to better reflect the writer’s goals:

I drive fast, so I’m cool. I smoke fancy plants in a fancy pipe, so I’m cool. I made beer plus I talk about stuff that’s old, so I’m cool. I listen to hip music, so I’m cool. Just thought I’d share that with you… because I can’t yet blow myself. That would be cool.

As everyone expected, MGM‘s latest Bond film stands at the top of the heap this weekend, with many noting it’s the largest opening for a Bond film ever. The 20th movie in the blockbuster franchise grossed an estimated $47m from around 3,300 theaters.

Few point out that while The World is Not Enough made the most money in absolute terms (Die Another Day surpassed its opening), the real Bond sensation was Thunderball, the 1965 release that scored over $425m in current dollars. (That’s for 75 million admissions, another figure Bond 19 and 20 won’t top.)

Back in the present, more competition: there’s still a chance Mr. Potter will pull out the weekend when the actuals are released on Monday. (Bond was actually the #2 film for Saturday.)

And in other news, Eminem took another tumble in his third week, down nearly 55% with $8 million.

In an ever-changing world, sometimes it’s nice to know that there are certain things that never change. Demi Moore, for instance.

In Fort Dodge, one institution stands above all others: the Fort Dodge Messenger. It is a paper of such awe-inspiring suck that it defies all description. The (mostly) good people who put out this bad paper have managed to maintain a consistently low level of quality even as the future encroached: a switch to QuarkXPress for page layout, an all-digital darkroom… none of these impeded the paper’s steady journey to the bottom. (Proving once again that it’s the artisan and not the tools that make the project.)

I was worried that perhaps in my absence this semester the Messenger might secretly have gotten better. The days of a headline advising of Chinese “ware games” or box scores noting a certain player “sucks dick” might have come to an end.

I had nothing to worry about.

I have a certain amount of tolerance for the incredibly stupid. A low tolerance, but it’s still there. When I see Olive Garden commercials that purport to show some woman in Italy who creates their dishes and supposedly teaches their cooks — err, chefs — how to make food, I try not to think of the fact that this is the same chain owned by a company based in Orlando that also brings you Red Lobster and Bahama Breeze (which is of course genuinely Caribbean. Now hiring in Cincinnati, Detroit, Cleveland…)

But I have my limits. Take this banner ad:

A chance to own authentic items from the movie? Wow! Except… wasn’t that a fucking animated movie? A computer-generated animated movie? Why yes, yes it was. The items that Yahoo! assures us “come directly from the making of Ice Age” include: a book, a t-shirt, a finger puppet, and a “pencil kit.” Own a piece of history, kids.

Someone said this film would have been better titled Buy Another Day. I don’t know if the joke works, but the sentiment sure does. From when I purchased my ticket (and received a 40 in. x 6 in. Omega watch brochure, with special edition James Bond/Barbie Giftset $5 off coupon) to the moment I left (and was handed a sample stick of new longer-lasting Juicy Fruit gum), it was an orgy of product placement.

I counted 9 brands being hawked. Sony gets tops marks for variety (a surveillance camera, flat-panel PCs, and VAIOs all around) but the real winner would have to the Ford Premier Auto Group. James drives an Aston Martin again (Q is even considerate enough to name the make and model) and the baddie drives a tricked-out XKE. (BMW is moving on to be the star of its own movies.)

But what of the film? Well from the start, the sense was a little different. When The World is Not Enough was shooting, there was controversy over whether Bond should ski or snowboard during some scenes. One faction wanted to play to the youth market, the other the martini crowd. Bond skiied, but post-XXX, it seems the debate is settled: here he is first seen surreiptiously surfing in to a rendezvous, and a bit later we find him doing something else even more ludicrous. So, the kids won. With a vengeance.

Also: The title sequence is I believe the first ever to actually have plot action take place during the credits. There’s a fair amount of camera moves a la Danel Mindel. And the plot? Hmmm. That I can’t remember.

Thus far:

1 am – 4 am. Talk to B online, do other non-paper stuff.
4.15a – 5a. Do some writing. About two pages.
5a – 9.10a. Sleepy time.
9.30a – 11.15a. Jl MC 521: interesting because a group presented on the ISUAA web site and what it “meant” — that was out their ass, believe me.
11.15a – 11.45a Various fucking around: loiter, talk to Debbie, check e-mail, etc.
11.45a – 12.45p Buckle down. Current count: page 6, 1.3″ — surprises even me. Of course I devoted 4 pages to Section I…
12.50p Journalling break. Will continue to update. But perhaps now a turkey dog…
1.45p 7 at 3.3″ — We’ve hit a patch of rough sledding, and time is beginning to become a factor (deadline is 6).
1.50p Yeah, it’s definitely a block. A short interlude seems called for. Perhaps a little ice cream.
1.50p – 2.50p Hmm. A bit longer than planned? That’s okay. Had some munchies and a nice conversation with the sister. Ready to get back on task.
2.50p – 3.30p Picked up again at 7/3.3″ and got to 8/6.6″. Bib is now 13, unintentionally surpassing Debbie (12) and Jesse (8).
3.45p 9/4″
4.00p 10/1.3″ Now it’s just getting silly. I always get this way when I’m writing for length. My most recent sentence:

Most important, for members of low educational attainment groups and/or lower socioeconomic strata (i.e., the groups that are usually left on the wrong side of the “digital divide”), to what extent does the Internet provide a vehicle (or impediment) to the closing of the gap and (the presumably concomitant) increased level of participation in the political process?

Yeah, I threw in “concomitant” for all you haters out there. Now for a shower I think.

4.40p Ahhh, there’s nothing quite like a slow wank hot shower to relax you when a deadline looms. Follow that up with a pair of lucky boxers, 3 Double Stuf Oreo cookies, and a playful call with Debbie, and I’m ready to put this bitch to bed.
5.20p By Georgia, I think we’ve got it! Added a few more paras, plopped on the bib at the end (it counts toward length), and we’re up to 13/3.4″ Of course, that’s due in no small part to our fonty friend Georgia. We love you baby! And why? Simple:

5.31p Look, I’m Pretentious Title Man: “Internet-Mediated Minority Group Participation in the U.S. Political Process.” Now off to print.

Tonight’s agenda: the class, 6-9; eating, after; barhopping?

Paper due tomorrow. Starting now. Assignment at a glance:

• Section I. Describe the communication problem you wish to investigate.
• Section II. Search the literature — books, journal articles, papers, proceedings, etc. to find what has already been written about your particular problem area.
• Section III. Present a proposal for a thesis research project you might undertake to shed further light on the problem area you have selected.
• Section IV. Provide a complete bibliography of sources used for this paper.

“However, an absolute maximum limit of 20 pages typed double-spaced will be enforced for this assignment.” Let us all laugh loudly and gaily.

P.S. Library closes in 75 minutes.