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Lost in the Redwoods

Archive for the rants category

December 10th, 2006

On being ornery

Posted in music, rants, movies by P

I have just returned from the much-vaunted The Queen, which I decided to see after spending a remarkably rainy day in doors working. N just left for the East Coast last night, leaving me and the cat with each other for entertainment. So off to the movies. The choice was a bit tricky, given that it seemed a bit unfair to see something both of us wanted to see (such as The Queen), but in the end the current crop of movies left only Apocalypto, which I only wished to see for the language and really think will be best watched on video, in installments.

So I saw The Queen, and have returned rather puzzled by the all hubbub. It’s a tame film, scrupulously acted, if not especially brilliantly. And therein lies the puzzlement. More

October 24th, 2006

Privacy policy?

Posted in rants by P

Today in the mail a true delight — an update on the privacy policy for my Chase credit card. The policy comes (refreshingly) in the form of a FAQ. Here’s a paraphrase: More

October 24th, 2006

Why people buy Dells (or why they used to)

Posted in rants, computers by P

I have been having terrible luck with computers for the past, oh, two years of my life. First, my desktop at home died a sudden heartbreaking death (the kind where it suddenly, one morning, simply won’t get up), effectively forcing me to write my dissertation on my laptop (which, incidentally, has led to a rather bad space bar problem with this machine). More