The 19th FloorMark Siegel's Desperate Plea for AttentionBlathering- July 9, 2008 It's late and most of you have probably gone to bed. I should probably do the same, but a busy evening has kept me from my blogging duties. I don't consider myself to have an obsessive personality except when it comes to this blog. I'm staying up past my bedtime because I feel compelled to say something. My attention-seeking behaviors know no bounds. I'll try to be more interesting tomorrow.http://www.the19thfloor.net/archives/2008/07/blathering.html After Hours- July 8, 2008 I've visited Gold Medal Park plenty of times, but until recently, never at dusk. The view from the top of the park's sculpted hill is even more dramatic as night approaches. The lights under the Stone Arch Bridge cast small pools of radiance on the river waters below. The nearby Guthrie is illuminated in subdued blues, golds, and reds. And on the other side of the river are the neon signs of the businesses lining St. Anthony Main. For a place that is nearly smack dab in the middle of downtown,..http://www.the19thfloor.net/archives/2008/07/after_hours.html Critic At Large: WALL-E- July 6, 2008 Pixar's first foray into science fiction is a dazzling combination of charm, style, and pathos. Seven hundred years in the future, WALL-E is the last sanitation robot on an ecologically devastated and depopulated Earth. WALL-E spends its days clearing away the heaping trash piles that cover the grimy landscape, methodically stacking cubes of garbage that have been processed in WALL-E's internal compactor. He (it's difficult not to anthropomorphize the little guy) also collects various objects...http://www.the19thfloor.net/archives/2008/07/critic_at_large_39.html Strange New Life- July 5, 2008 I've been having fun messing around with the Spore Creature Creator. For those of you who actually have lives, Spore is a forthcoming computer game that lets players guide a race of beings from single-celled organisms to a starfaring civilization. The Creature Creator provides gives you the opportunity to try your hand at creating your own custom-built species.This was my first attempt. I call it a Tarffel. Here it is going all discoFor my next effort, I decided to try for something a little...http://www.the19thfloor.net/archives/2008/07/strange_new_lif.html True Patriot- July 4, 2008 Happy Independence Day, everyone. I wonder what the Founding Fathers would make of their political experiment after 232 years. The notion that a man of color has better-than-even odds of becoming president would probably give them a good jolt. But I like to think that, on the whole, they'd be pleased to know that the country they founded still endures. I've never bought the "city on a hill" metaphor for America. That kind of exceptionalist thinking glosses over our many flaws and shortcomings...http://www.the19thfloor.net/archives/2008/07/true_patriot.html |