THX 1138

"Buy more. Buy more now. Buy. And be happy."

Or so Robert Duvall's character is admonished, by the state, in THX 1138. Notable as Lucas' first feature-length film (and the first film produced by Francis Ford Coppola's American Zoetrope studio), the movie demonstrates Orwell's 1984 had some influence on Lucas, as the script appears a loose, modern adaptation of the famed paranoia-is-justified work.

Set in the future, sexual relations are forbidden and humans required to maintain pharmaceutical sedation. The state runs every aspect of citizens' lives, constantly admonishing them to maximize efficiency and production. "Remember, thifty thinkers are always underbudget" and "Let us be thankful we have an occupation to fill. Work hard, increase production, prevent accidents and be happy" stand out as two blatant examples of Lucas' leveraging dialogue to convey the theme. In fact, the very cost of recovering Duvall's character, when he goes astray, plays a critical role in the film's outcome.

Although filmed in 1971, the effects are pretty well done, especially considering the production must have possessed a minimal budget. With ever-timely themes of government control of citizen behavior, mass production for the good of the people and substitution of religious beliefs with patriotism for the state, I'm suprised I hadn't heard more about this film in the past. While no masterpiece, or even a remote visual equal of 2001: A Space Odyssey, the themes explored are intriguingly portrayed if not unique.

Also in my Netlix queue: Wallace and Gromit: Three Amazing Adventures and The Day After Tomorrow. I just returned A Lot Like Love, which I thought was rather well written and produced, and Jackson Pollock: Love and Death on Long Island, which I also found well produced but too brief and a trifle depressing.

Distributed Versus Linear Reading

Do you read more than one book at a time, or do you force yourself to first finish a title you've already begun before starting another?

My reading habits seem to have exceeded an invisible threshold this summer, when I found myself invested in seven or eight titles simultaneously. And, I do mean invested. Time is the most savored commodity I have. Between a career, family obligations, home maintenance, exercising and the like, what precious leisure time I possess is very carefully rationed.

In fact, I sometimes find myself quite anxious when I'm not doing anything, as I'm fearful I'm foolishly squandering valuable free time. It's almost as if my subconscious has developed a Puritan work ethic dedicated to maximizing the productivity and quality of my leisure activities. That makes it hard to just relax.

Which brings me to my question. Is distributed reading, in which you read multiple books at once, a bad idea? Should one focus on a single title at a time and enjoy the subtle issues short stories raise, give a novel's themes time to gel and resonate and reflect upon statements and discoveries uncovered in non-fiction works, which linear reading seems to birth? Or should one plow through multiple titles - mixing shorts, fiction, history, career topics and other subjects - as feels appropriate?

I'm not sure there's a correct answer. It may depend upon the person, the season or some other circumstance. But for me, where I find myself right now, consuming a single work at a time is working best.

Bengals, Fever Pitch And 1982

The Cincinnati Bengals, the National Football League franchise to which I birthed my loyalty in the 70s, are 5-1. After the last 15 tiresome, troublesome and frustrating years, in which the Bengals failed to post a winning record, the games now matter. They're competitive. They're leading their conference.

Sure, there were naysayers along the way. During the long dark 90s, especially after the Sam Wyche years, family and friends urged me to move on. Get behind the Eagles, some suggested. I'd briefly met David Akers, then placekicker for the University of Louisville Cardinals,
by virtue of having worked with his fiance (at the time-they're now married). An all around good guy, he was a perfect match for his fiance, who was always a joy to work with. So I had a link. I could jump on the Eagles' bandwagon.

But I didn't. Don't get me wrong. I want Akers to make all his kicks and I pulled for him to win a ring last year. The Pro Bowler deserves all the accolades he earns. But the Bengals were my childhood team, the club I pulled for with my dad. Just as I'll be a Reds fan until I die, so too with the Bengals.

And now they're winning. I've been to every home game this year, and I even thought about making the drive to see them play the Titans. It's been so long, and as I always told everyone, "Someday the Bengals will start winning again, and when they do, it'll mean all that much more." That day appears to be here. And it feels real good.

Friday night I finally got around to watching Fever Pitch (the Farrelly brothers' version with Drew Barrymore and Jimmy Fallon). There's a scene in which Ben (Fallon) is defending his love of the Boston Red Sox. Lindsey (Barrymore) wants him to go to Paris, but Ben resists as he doesn't want to miss an important Red Sox homestand. They have an argument, and Ben asks an important and compelling question. He asks her, exasperatedly, if there's anything she's cared about for 15 or 20 years, the period of time he's been following the Red Sox. She, of course, says no.

I'd alway warned the wife she didn't know what it was like to be married to a real football fan, as the Bengals rarely proved worthy of actually traveling 180 miles in order to attend a game. That's all changing now, so household talk has turned to coordinating the logistics required to finance ticket purchases (all the games are sold out, so brokers -thank goodness for the Internet - are the only resort) and coordinate travel schedules. Unfortunately, just as Ben had to break it to Lindsey, I'm having to explain that traditional holiday plans may have to be changed this year (the Bengals host the Bills on Christmas Eve). That's not going over well, though, so here's hoping the Bengals lock up a playoff spot before Week 16.

We're off to our best start since 1982. That's a long time. Reagan was in office. The USSR was still a political entity. Gas was a buck a gallon. The Berlin Wall still stood. The Internet hadn't been invented. IBM's first 5150 desktop PC boasted 16 kilobytes of RAM and ran at all of 4.77 megahertz. Let's just hope the Bengals can make a run to the post season without having to endure another such drought. Who knows what news will transpire by 2028?

The Jeep Wave

I'm driving home Wednesday and catch myself returning the Jeep wave the second or third time of my commute. The experience triggered the thought: "How does such a grassroots practice begin, catch on and maintain hold among a diverse and geographically dispersed population of drivers?"

Jeep doesn't advertise the decades-old practice. The owner's manual contains no mention nor instruction. Neither does the accompanying safe-driving video delivered with each vehicle cover the topic. Yet it persists, stronger than ever. Jeep owners, particularly those who pilot the makes (CJ, YJ and TJ - the Renegades and Wranglers) that trace their ancestral descendence directly to the military MB models of '41, all become members of an unofficial fraternity.

However it began, it's an incredible phenomena. In the several years I've owned my Wrangler, I can't count the number of times I've been greeted cordially by complete strangers. It's a hospitable practice, and it's a tradition that leaves you with a pleasant sensation.

Why? Maybe it's in sharing the knowledge with another driver that you needn't travel through life driving boring beige boxes, but instead a vehicle credited with helping the United States win WWII, something dependable in the day of disposable autos, a vehicle that will get you through thick and thin to your destination. Only in a Jeep can you remove the doors. Even if you're not that adventurous the top is easily removed to provide the open-air driving experience in which so many convertible owners rejoice. Maybe it's just the quick revelation, shared with a stranger, that even as an adult you needn't conform to conventional standards but instead can cut your own, adventurous path.

Is it a Jeep thing others don't understand? I doubt it. I suspect it's a mentality others unknowingly misplaced. A part of themselves lost along the way. That may be why the Jeep wave continues: to remember and recognize that all our days need not be filled with homogenous motorized cages, standardized cubicles, crappy franchised food and focus-group approved pop music.

Zinio's First Class Service

Last week I downloaded Zinio Reader, the page-turning software that brings current popular magazines right to your desktop. I've been using the program on my Windows machines for years, now, but I was trying it on a Macintosh for the first time. Zinio had just released a new version, 2.0, but unfortunately I encountered errors.

After troubleshooting the issue for about an hour, I gave up and e-mailed Zinio's customer service department. I didn't really expect to hear much back. However, I received a detailed e-mail message pretty quickly recommending several steps I take to try resolving the issue.

Unfortunately, the proposed solution didn't work. So I responded to the customer service message I received, noting the recommendations didn't get me up and running. I quickly received another message directing me to a more stable release (1.4). I followed those instructions and was able to install the Zinio Reader and Zinio Download Manager without trouble.

It's refreshing, in the Internet age when so many e-mail messages seem to enter black holes never to return (particularly customer service messages), to find a techcnology company that doesn't just respond with canned autoreplies, but instead takes the time to review a customer's question and help identify a solution.

Was I slowed down by Zinio's technical issues with its Mac release? Yes. Did they help me solve the problem? Yes. Will I continue using Zinio? More than ever. And, if you haven't checked the software out, give it a try. Free sample magazines are available and it's an excellent way to pack an archive of information on just a few sectors of your hard drive.

Vonnegut: NOW

Kurt Vonnegut, the man who gives English majors-turned-PR-flacks everywhere hope, recently appeared on David Brancaccio's NOW program on PBS. I've always enjoyed Brancaccio's reporting, and I've always been a Vonnegut fan. So it was particularly satisfying to come across the interview while channel surfing. Plus, I was spinning away on the exercise bike, which made the distraction that much more pleasing.

Vonnegut's an outstanding artist. He draws. He writes. He was even one of the nation's first Saab dealers. He attributes his criticism of Saab automobiles -- he describes them, simply, as weird -- to costing him consideration for a Nobel prize. Of course, he's jesting, as is usually the case.

His latest work, A Man Without A Country, is earning outstanding reviews. What's particularly intriguing is not his pessimism that the Earth's immune system has kicked in and is trying to eliminate humans (although you have to wonder if that's not correct, what with all the H2s around), but the praise he accords Christ. Here's a man who describes himself as a Humanist reading and celebrating the Beatitudes on PBS! Good for him.

What really caught my interest was a story Brancaccio asked him about and characterized as one of hope. He referred to a passage Vonnegut included in the new book in which Vonnegut is headed out the door to buy a single envelope. Vonnegut's wife, author and photographer Jill Krementz, asked him why didn't he just buy a box of 100 on the Internet and keep them in the closet? And Kurt answers something to the effect that he wouldn't have had a chance to venture out on the street, ask that woman what kind of dog that is, see a few cute babes (his words), see a fire truck pass by and give it a thumbs up and talk to people. He suggests maybe the reason God put us here is just to "fart around." Maybe that's our purpose, he posits.

I wasn't in the mood for a depressing book, but now I'm thinking maybe the new title isn't all bad. I've added it to my Amazon list and I'll give it a go.

I've read many Vonnegut books, probably a dozen of them or more (and some novels multiple times). My favorite to date remains Bluebeard. It's been a good fifteen years since I read it, but I still remember many scenes vividly, and I recall the ending as bringing a few important elements together nicely. It's worth a read, especially for the twelve bucks or so you can get it for new off Amazon.

The Randy Moss Mask

Smorty is slipping. I can't believe the Woot master, the man-in-the-know, let himself get beat on this post. Moving will do that to you.

Just what the world needs now: Get your Randy Moss mask, just in time for Halloween. No word on whether it comes with a meter maid.