The Hunger (1983)
10 August 2008 09:24 PM
Do you remember this film? Tony Scott’s first feature film starred David Bowie, Catherine Deneuve and Susan Sarandon in an otherwise “non-traditional” vampire flick.
Flashing cinematography, special effects and an incredible score kept this film going, even if it was largely panned by the critics. In later years, The Hunger would become a cult classic. Based on the novel of the same title by Whitley Shrieber, The Hunger follows an ageless female immortal who is perhaps several thousands of years old if not as old as time itself.
Probably not defined as the classic vampire, Miriam Blaylock (Catherine Deneuve) exchanges her immortal blood with that of the few select humans she takes as her companions. For a few centuries, at most, these humans will live with youth and vitality. Eventually, however, this “gift” wears off and the human body begins to age rapidly. The price Miriam’s companions pay is an eternal of unending life as an aged immobile corpse living, breathing, seeing and feeling in their coffins.
Miriams companion John (David Bowie) is featured in the story. Early on, he begins to age rapidly until he looks like the picture above. He pleads with Miriam for more time - a request she cannot honor. Following John’s “death”, Miriam takes Dr. Sarah Roberts (Susan Sarandon) as her new companion, until Sarah decides she doesn’t want to live as a vampire and takes her own life.
Miriam is grief stricken, but is powerless to bring Sarah back from a certain death. Somehow, Sarah breaks the link between Miriam and her past loves - almost at the end of the film, Miriams past loves encrouch upon her pushing her to her death many floors below the attic. Miriam, of course, is not dead - she can’t die, but now she will live out her unending existence confined to a coffin as Sarah starts a new chapter as the next grantor of eternal life.
A Veritable Virgo Makeover?
10 August 2008 03:08 PM
Where will Veritable Virgo truly feel comfortable?
Recently, I have been playing around quite a bit online to determine how my internet presence should look. Following the acquisition of my first Mac, I started a website using iWeb and hosted it on my .Mac account. This all seemed acceptable at first, but I am quickly starting to outgrow the capabilities of iWeb. I then stumbled upon RapidWeaver and realy like the features it offer - this post was written with the program. The downside is that the program costs $79, and while I will probably end up purchasing a license, it wasn’t something I had planned to do. Of course, I purchased an AJAX-enabled them from www.robbie-white.com for $20, which has some incredible animation and the theme only seems to work with RapidWeaver.
There is this program (and add-in) for iWeb called iWeb Enhancer (a 10 use trial is available at www.iwebenhancer.com) written by Chad B. I plan on testing this program as well, and hopefully it will give me editing control of my posted RapidWeaver site material. Of course, that may be nothing more than a pipedream at this point. I guess we’ll just have to see it for ourselves.
iTunes Problems Persist
10 August 2008 12:37 PM
I couldn’t help but think that maybe I was just having this unending string of problems with iTunes. I’ve used iTunes for a couple of years on the Windows platform, and had recently added a Macintosh platform computer to my network. The new Mac Mini was added largely as a test to see if those annoying “recovery mode” iPod errors would go away, as well as for better experiences with video, audio and naturally podcasting.
While using iTunes with Windows XP, I found that periodically the software would view my 30GB fifth generation iPod as if it had never been connected to it before. I was presented with one “recovery mode” error after another. A few times, I could reboot the PC and the error would go away, but then even that workaround stopped helping.
Convert over to a Mac, add a new iPod nano, and (crossing-my-fingers here) no errors. Amazing isn’t it. (actually, not all that surprising to me). I think the Windows version of iTunes is just more buggy and far more unstable than its Mac OS counterpart.
In recent weeks I have been getting a disturbing connection error (called Unknown Error -3256). Each time this error occurs, I lose access to my remote speakers which are connected to an AirPort Express device and my BOSE 3-2-1 stereo. A Google search of this error message seems to point to some bug that is affecting the AirTunes portion of iTunes. Apple doesn’t seem to have a fix, but that isn’t a surprise. In one forum, it was recommended to use a connection between the AirPort and the PC, but this was mostly on a large network of more than 15 computers - which doesn’t apply to me.
Another suggestion was to use AirFoil from Rogue Amoeba. I tested the free version (which adds noise to any sound file or stream longer than 10 minutes) and I have to say I was wonderfully impressed; so much so that I purchased a full license for $25. I have AirFoil running now, and it is streaming my iTunes flawlessly over AirPort to my remote speakers. The beauty of AirFoil is the flexibility of streaming to multiple speakers/devices at one time. While iTunes allows this too, the process in AirFoil is as simple as a click on the programs GUI.
One caution - I think you need to turn off “AirTune remote speaker search” in iTunes preferences page (iTunes>Preferences in Mac OS X, and Edit>Preferences on the Windows XP version). My copy of iTunes kept dropping the speakers and was interferring with AirFoil. Once I shut the feature off, AirFoil was able to connect without any issues so far (the past 30 minutes or so).
AirFoil will tell you it needs to close and relaunch iTunes in order to “HiJack” it. Don’t worry, this is normal. Once “HiJacked” AirFoil will be listed in your Firewall security window if you are selecting which devices have access to the firewall.
While using iTunes with Windows XP, I found that periodically the software would view my 30GB fifth generation iPod as if it had never been connected to it before. I was presented with one “recovery mode” error after another. A few times, I could reboot the PC and the error would go away, but then even that workaround stopped helping.
Convert over to a Mac, add a new iPod nano, and (crossing-my-fingers here) no errors. Amazing isn’t it. (actually, not all that surprising to me). I think the Windows version of iTunes is just more buggy and far more unstable than its Mac OS counterpart.
In recent weeks I have been getting a disturbing connection error (called Unknown Error -3256). Each time this error occurs, I lose access to my remote speakers which are connected to an AirPort Express device and my BOSE 3-2-1 stereo. A Google search of this error message seems to point to some bug that is affecting the AirTunes portion of iTunes. Apple doesn’t seem to have a fix, but that isn’t a surprise. In one forum, it was recommended to use a connection between the AirPort and the PC, but this was mostly on a large network of more than 15 computers - which doesn’t apply to me.
Another suggestion was to use AirFoil from Rogue Amoeba. I tested the free version (which adds noise to any sound file or stream longer than 10 minutes) and I have to say I was wonderfully impressed; so much so that I purchased a full license for $25. I have AirFoil running now, and it is streaming my iTunes flawlessly over AirPort to my remote speakers. The beauty of AirFoil is the flexibility of streaming to multiple speakers/devices at one time. While iTunes allows this too, the process in AirFoil is as simple as a click on the programs GUI.
One caution - I think you need to turn off “AirTune remote speaker search” in iTunes preferences page (iTunes>Preferences in Mac OS X, and Edit>Preferences on the Windows XP version). My copy of iTunes kept dropping the speakers and was interferring with AirFoil. Once I shut the feature off, AirFoil was able to connect without any issues so far (the past 30 minutes or so).
AirFoil will tell you it needs to close and relaunch iTunes in order to “HiJack” it. Don’t worry, this is normal. Once “HiJacked” AirFoil will be listed in your Firewall security window if you are selecting which devices have access to the firewall.
What was John Edwards thinking?
10 August 2008 09:31 AM
So the news is out - John Edwards cheated on his wife. Wonderful!
Could this news be any more troublesome for the Democratic party? While no politician is immune from the allure of infidelity, it just seems that the news media has such incredible timing as to bring this dirt to the surface just months before Americans head to the voting booths.
Sadly this all feels like a coordinated effort by the folks at the National Inquirer and ABC News to derail the Democratic momentum which is likely to place Barack Obama in the White House. I could be reading too much into this, but this IS how it feels.
With Edwards admission that he had an extramarital affair with staffer Rielle Hunter, the information has become fodder for newscasters, and pundits around the world. Edwards is said to have hoped to keep this information out of the public spotlight - something that almost any politican simply cannot do. Of course, we have a much harder time, in this country, getting to the facts of most government operations but as soon as some politician involves his penis such news is splashed everywhere. It really is a sad commentary on where our collective consciousness is in this nation.
Whether Elizabeth Edwards had knowledge of her husband infidelity is a moot point; this doesn’t change the fact that the senator violated the sanctity of his marriage. Now, don’t go on reading into this that I am just another “pro-marriage” zealot; I’m not. As an unmarried gay man, I am all for marriage equality, but I don’t hold too much value in the institution if only because so many people (married people) seem to take it for granted and a growing number of people seem to believe they can cheat on their spouses without repercussion. This is presumably true for gay and straight couples alike.
What is perhaps most troubling is that in 2008, with a robust estimate of over 1 million domestic HIV cases and untold prevalence of non-HIV STDs in this nation, that John Edwards would choose to have sexual relations outside of his marriage to Elizabeth - without a condom. That is just truly a very stupid move on the part of the former senator. Does he believe that HIV and STDs are just for fags and junkies?
The news media, however, only highlights that Edwards believes he cannot possibly be the father of Hunter’s six-month old daughter “because of the timing of the pregnancy”. No one mentions the possibility that Edwards or Hunter could have passed a communicable sexual disease to the other. This people of this nation truly needs to wake up to the real prevalence of HIV and STDs and start to take responsibility for theirs actions. OK, so a tiny tangent there, now back to the story.
I’m not at all surprised about the senator’s indiscretions. These types of things seem to happen with increased frequency these days, adding a layer of validity to the old adage of “Men Are Pigs!”. Perhaps it should be “Humans Are Pigs”, mostly because women cheat too. No one is immune to the biological drives that often result in the transgressions of infidelity.
Could this news be any more troublesome for the Democratic party? While no politician is immune from the allure of infidelity, it just seems that the news media has such incredible timing as to bring this dirt to the surface just months before Americans head to the voting booths.
Sadly this all feels like a coordinated effort by the folks at the National Inquirer and ABC News to derail the Democratic momentum which is likely to place Barack Obama in the White House. I could be reading too much into this, but this IS how it feels.
With Edwards admission that he had an extramarital affair with staffer Rielle Hunter, the information has become fodder for newscasters, and pundits around the world. Edwards is said to have hoped to keep this information out of the public spotlight - something that almost any politican simply cannot do. Of course, we have a much harder time, in this country, getting to the facts of most government operations but as soon as some politician involves his penis such news is splashed everywhere. It really is a sad commentary on where our collective consciousness is in this nation.
Whether Elizabeth Edwards had knowledge of her husband infidelity is a moot point; this doesn’t change the fact that the senator violated the sanctity of his marriage. Now, don’t go on reading into this that I am just another “pro-marriage” zealot; I’m not. As an unmarried gay man, I am all for marriage equality, but I don’t hold too much value in the institution if only because so many people (married people) seem to take it for granted and a growing number of people seem to believe they can cheat on their spouses without repercussion. This is presumably true for gay and straight couples alike.
What is perhaps most troubling is that in 2008, with a robust estimate of over 1 million domestic HIV cases and untold prevalence of non-HIV STDs in this nation, that John Edwards would choose to have sexual relations outside of his marriage to Elizabeth - without a condom. That is just truly a very stupid move on the part of the former senator. Does he believe that HIV and STDs are just for fags and junkies?
The news media, however, only highlights that Edwards believes he cannot possibly be the father of Hunter’s six-month old daughter “because of the timing of the pregnancy”. No one mentions the possibility that Edwards or Hunter could have passed a communicable sexual disease to the other. This people of this nation truly needs to wake up to the real prevalence of HIV and STDs and start to take responsibility for theirs actions. OK, so a tiny tangent there, now back to the story.
I’m not at all surprised about the senator’s indiscretions. These types of things seem to happen with increased frequency these days, adding a layer of validity to the old adage of “Men Are Pigs!”. Perhaps it should be “Humans Are Pigs”, mostly because women cheat too. No one is immune to the biological drives that often result in the transgressions of infidelity.
© 2008 Veritable Virgo