Brian Sawyer

Updates from September, 2003 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts

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  Brian Sawyer 3:15 pm on September 23, 2003 Permalink | Log in to leave a Comment  

  Happy Birthday, Bruce(and Many Happy Returns … to SF) 

  Just allow yourself a moment to let this sink in: Bruce Springsteen turns 54 today.

  It’s no surprise to me that his current run with the E Street Band is on its way to becoming one of the highest grossing tours of all time. I saw the PacBell show just over a month ago (his first performance in San Francisco in 25 years), and it was certainly the best rock concert I’ve ever seen. I’m in awe of the intensity that Bruce can give for almost 3 hours straight–shouting, running, sliding on his knees, jumping up on the piano, hanging from his microphone stand–the guy just gives it everything he’s got.

  I’d pay to see them again if they decided to return. I only wish I could have been in Boston to see them play Fenway (sigh):
  

  Springsteen and the E Street Band stopped there for two nights–playing the only rock shows ever held at the ninety-one-year-old ballpark. “The stadium is so low that the surrounding areas could hear the show like they were listening to the radio,” says Boston-born E Street guitarist Steven Van Zandt. “If there were 35,000 people inside, there were 35,000 outside. There was an element of hysteria that was rather fun. We’ve never heard a reaction like that in the United States.”

  If you have the chance to catch one of the final shows of the tour, don’t pass it up. There are still a couple more shows before the tour wraps up at Shea Stadium during the first week of October.
   

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  Brian Sawyer 5:30 pm on September 22, 2003 Permalink | Log in to leave a Comment  

  The Public Domain Goes to the Public 

  Remember the bookmobile? Well, it’s back in a new high-tech incarnation, and it’s on a mission:
  

  In a celebration of the Public Domain, the Internet Archive’s Bookmobile will be coming to a town near you, bringing with it the ability to access, download, and print one of the almost 20,000 public domain books currently available online.

  Sounds like fun, right? So, what’s the mission? The Public Domain is in trouble:
  

  Over the past forty years, Congress has extended the term of existing copyrights 11 times, thereby stopping the flow of creative material into the public domain. The biggest supporters of these laws are individuals and corporations with extremely valuable copyrights that are about to expire (for example, Mickey Mouse). The biggest effect of these laws is to make unavailable an extraordinary range of creative material for next generation’s creators. Just as Walt Disney used the works of the Brothers Grimm to produce some of the best of the Disney stories, so too should the next Walt Disney be able to build upon the stories told by Disney.

  To learn more about the Internet Bookmobile and the importance of the Public Domain, check out Richard Koman’s article for the O’Reilly Network. To learn more about the legal fight, check out the site for The Eric Eldridge Act. If you’re particularly motivated, you can support the cause by signing the Reclaim the Public Domain Petition.

  If you just can’t wait for the Internet Bookmobile to come to your town, you can still access the wealth of publicly available texts online at Project Gutenberg, the Internet’s oldest producer of free electronic books.
   
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  Brian Sawyer 8:48 pm on September 21, 2003 Permalink | Log in to leave a Comment  

  Hacking: It’s Not Just for Techies Anymore 

  Many people who know that my primary professional work is now focused on O’Reilly’s new Hacks series often ask me to define the word “hack” and then describe the purpose of this series. If you’ve been disappointed in my responses to this question, or if you’re simply looking for a more detailed explanation, check out Peggy Rogers/Ms. Computer’s article, “Hack your system: It’s a good thing,” in The Miami Herald:

  Why on earth promote hacking? It seems like such a dirty, secretive practice. The reason is that many hacks are actually good, permitted and useful, some for even computer newcomers.
  …
  But many hackers . . . operate on the up and up; they go under the hood of tech products, legitimately experimenting to add features and expand the capabilities of digital hardware, search engines, games, other software and websites. They find or create features that are not obvious, not included in official manuals and help files, or not known even to product creators.

  If this whets your appetite and leaves you wanting a more in-depth account from the series editor for the O’Reilly Hacks series, check out Rael’s email interview with Ms. Rogers:

  We’re 20 years into the PC era. Even non-technical people are getting pretty used to dealing with, troubleshooting, and fixing digital devices, so hacking born of necessity means it’s not as scary as it used to be.

  He shows why hacking has become so popular and why it just might be right for you, regardless of your technical skill level.
   
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  Brian Sawyer 4:27 pm on September 19, 2003 Permalink | Log in to leave a Comment  

  Sedaris Fix 

  For those of you, like me, who are wondering about the status of David Sedaris’s forthcoming Untitled Collection (until recently, Amazon.com listed it with a June 2004 pub date, but it’s since vanished), fear not. October will see the release of Live at Carnegie Hall, a live recording of Sedaris reading passages from the rumored book. If you’ve only read his work so far, you owe it to yourself to hear him (as well as the rest of his This American Life cohort) read his own work. His delivery is hilarious, and my only warning is to refrain from operating heavy machinery while listening (as I have in the past, almost crashing as I drove through the tears).

  If you need a fix sooner than October, or if you simply prefer to read than to listen, check out “Our Perfect Summer” (I prefer the author’s original title, “The Ship Shape”) and “The Girl Next Door” (both published by The New Yorker), which may or may not appear in the forthcoming (we hope) Untitled Collection. These pieces are a little darker and sadder than you might expect, but they’re still quite good, as you would expect from Sedaris.
   
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  Brian Sawyer 2:00 pm on September 19, 2003 Permalink | Log in to leave a Comment  

  Angels on DVD 

  All of you Wim Wenders fans out there will no doubt already know that his spectacular Wings of Desire is finally available on DVD. I highly recommend you run out and get yourself a copy today. Though most of the special features don’t really add much to the movie (hearing Wenders rhapsodize on the fall of Potsdamer Platz wears a little thin after about 15 minutes or so, and his commentary on the silent, wisely deleted scenes is pretty uninspired), there’s a short documentary that does provide some insight into the writing, filming, and development of the project.

  Don’t let the black-and-white, deeply philosophical tone fool you. This movie will make you glad you’re alive.
   
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  Brian Sawyer 12:14 pm on September 19, 2003 Permalink | Log in to leave a Comment  

  Talk Back 

  Have a comment on an entry on this page? Unfortunately, my blog does not support comments, which makes the site quite the monologue. That said, I’d like to turn it into a dialogue as much as possible. So, if you have anything to add, suggest, or correct, please contact me and I’ll either implement your suggestion (with credit) or add your comment to the entry.
   
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  Brian Sawyer 7:30 pm on September 18, 2003 Permalink | Log in to leave a Comment  

  Johnson’s Dictionary Revisited 

  Though at heart I’m strictly an OED man, and at work I tend to use the more practical Merriam-Webster’s, I’ve always had a special place in my heart for Samuel Johnson’s masterpiece, and I’ve cherished my facsimile copy (never had the $10,000 an original copy would set me back).

  I’ve just learned from Slate that a new edition just came out, and I’m all giddy just thinking about it. You have to love a lexicographer (“a writer of dictionaries; a harmless drudge”) who had the courage, interest, and patience to write an entire dictionary by himself but also had the modesty to admit that any mistakes were due to “ignorance, Madam, pure ignorance.”
   
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  Brian Sawyer 1:19 pm on September 18, 2003 Permalink | Log in to leave a Comment  

  Everyday Stoicism 

  Last week, while enjoying The Magic Flute, I found myself sitting behind the most fidgety woman I’ve ever seen. In addition to her hair flipping, bottle fumbling, binocular craning, and boyfriend necking (as well as, finally, sleeping), I suffered ringing cell phones, loud ushers seating patrons during the performance, and many other common distractions.

  But I was prepared, because I remembered the insights of Epictetus:

  When you are going about any action, remind yourself what nature the action is. If you are going to bathe, picture to yourself the things which usually happen in the bath: some people splash the water, some push, some use abusive language, and others steal. Thus you will more safely go about this action if you say to yourself, “I will now go bathe, and keep my own mind in a state conformable to nature.” And in the same manner with regard to every other action. For thus, if any hindrance arises in bathing, you will have it ready to say, “It was not only to bathe that I desired, but to keep my mind in a state conformable to nature; and I will not keep it if I am bothered at things that happen.”

  This advice also works quite well at the movies. I consider this passage with many deep breaths at almost every movie I attend.
   
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  Brian Sawyer 4:07 pm on September 17, 2003 Permalink | Log in to leave a Comment  

  10-Year Reunion 

  Boy, do I feel old today. It has just come to my attention that my 10-year high school reunion will commence precisely one month from today, on homecoming weekend (quite a big deal in Texas). Of course, I will not be “coming home,” so to speak, so the Fighting Mustangs will have to fight without me.
   
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  Brian Sawyer 12:14 pm on September 17, 2003 Permalink | Log in to leave a Comment  

  Thanks to Rael for convincing me to start my own blog. In addition to his many other accomplishments, Rael literally wrote the book on blogging.