I really can’t think of much more to say about this. It is pretty disturbing. I still want to know what the sudents actually said though.

This is soooo wrong…
Secret Service Questions Students

Teacher Larry Felson says, “What we’re concerned about is academic freedom and that students have the right to free expression in the classroom.”

Even worse, they say, is the fact that the students were grilled by federal agents without legal counsel or their parents present, just the principal.

“When one of the students asked, ‘do we have to talk now? Can we be silent? Can we get legal council?’ they were told, ‘we own you, you don’t have any legal rights,’” Felson says.

[via Follow Me Here…] [ via jenett.radio]

Last night I was talking to my friend Ellen about the differences between Japanese animation and American animation. So finding this article on sfgate.com seemed fitting.

Cartoons To Ignite Your Id
Can animated gems like “Spirited Away” save the ravaged American imagination?

And then along comes one of those extraordinarily rare and shimmering hunks of gorgeous pop-culture art/entertainment to make you rethink everything you thought you believed and about which you were sort of comfortably sad and bitter and resigned.

.You know the ones. Those astonishing unexpected gems that somehow manage to break through your thick wall of bitter media-numbed ennui and slip right around your fine-meshed bullshit filter and hit you right in the solar plexus of hope and enchantment and maybe humankind isn’t so utterly savagely doomed after all even though it probably is, but oh well.

Because this is when you finally catch the animated Japanese masterpiece “Spirited Away” on DVD. This is when you finally find a pop-culture art piece that speaks to multiple levels of human creativity and divine imaginative power, which you want to champion and cheer and exalt and bow humbly before and say to the jaded world hey, you know what? [sfgate.com]

While I think at times the author gushes a little bit too much about how good “Spirited Away” is, I think he does make some good points about how US animated films do tend to be a bit dumbed down (though I don’t think things are as bleak as he makes it seem). I find that in general I think anime (both movies and tv shows) tends to have more complex plots. Oh there are definitely shows that are mindless entertainment, but most shows there are produced to tell a single story. Look at shows like Cowboy Bebop, which has been experiencing a growth in popularity over here. It’s a single season show, there’s a movie to accompany it, and that’s it. The creator of it has no intentions to do anything else with it. This is much different from the US model where they hope to get at least a few seasons out of a show so they can pass it on into syndication.

The hope I have is that with the growing anime audience American animators will take notice and start producing more complex things. I’d love to see someone produce something like Voices of a Distant Star, which is due out on DVD here next month.

After being offline I’m back! It seems that my cable modem died a horrible death sometime yesterday. The Comcast guy came by this morning, plugged in a new one (even smaller than the last one), and everything was up and running in moments. I was a bit wary of that old cable modem anyways. It was a used one when they installed it and it died once before, though it came back to life that time. So, I’m back. I’ll have more to post about later after I catch up on email.

Whatever it is I’m already feeling better. Which is good. I’ve got a bunch of stuff I need to get done this week. Now if I can just find some time to make an appointment to get my hair done. Things are looking a bit shaggy. I wonder what I should do with the color this time.

There have been a growing number of sites out there for networking. Joi Ito recently posted about the most recent one to show up: LinkedIn. I’m already on Ryze and Friendster, so I need another one? Friendster is a fun diversion, I don’t really pay attention to it much unless someone sends me a friend request. I’m not using it as a dating service or anything, I actually think that aspect of it is kind of silly. On the other hand. I like what I’ve experienced with Ryze. There is a real sense of community there. It doesn’t feel overdone. I’m waiting for the next get together of people from the Boston network on there.

I actually like the idea of things like Ryze and LinkedIn the best though. Friendster is a little bit too open. There’s a fair amount of noise (even though I have found some cool linkage between people I know). The audience for the others is much more targeted, it isn’t trying to attract the world. Which means you get people who are there specifically to network, as opposed to seeing how many friends they can get linked to.

Scorpio (October 23-November 21)
Scorpio actress Rachel Ticotin has appeared in many movies, including “Con Air,” “Natural Born Killers,” and “Full Disclosure,” but my favorite is “Total Recall.” Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, it’s a science fiction thriller that largely takes place on a human colony on Mars. Ticotin plays a sleazy but demure hooker who is secretly a rebel freedom fighter plotting to overthrow the corrupt, oppressive government. Can you imagine any better role for a Scorpio? It’s a perfect example of how your tribe’s dark side can be expressed constructively. I suggest you find or create your own equivalent in the coming weeks. [Free Will Astrology]

Can you imagine the lines that a game like this would cause (quicktime movie. Here’s a link to a Windows Media version)?[via www.ludology.org]

Antoine de Saint-Exupery: “If someone wants a sheep, then that means that he exists.” [Quotes of the Day]

Well, I didn’t sleep much last night because my head and chest were all congested. I’m not sure if it is allergies or a cold though. I took a claritin yesterday and it really didn’t seem to do too much. Bah.

BoingBoing got me pointed over to Death to the Extremist. It’s a wonderfully minimalist comic about the life of two dots.