A Dog's Life

Statistics for April

The latest statistics are now available at Canine Chronicle. In all-breed competition, Lacey is currently second with 738 points, just behind Blackjack (Ch. Po Dusham Blackjack) with 762. In breed competition, Lacey is currently sixth.

She is very unlikely to be Number 1 in breed competition this year, but may back into Number 1 in all-breed. We have heard that Blackjack might not be shown any longer, in which case there's a long drop to Number 3. Lacey's totals are well behind last year's, but so far she's only been in 22 shows in 2004 versus 39 at this time in 2003. Extrapolating her current performance to 39 shows, she's doing about the same in both breed and all-breed.

An Odd Coincidence

The link in a previous post on the Halifax harbor disaster mentions that one of the ships damaged in the explosion was the cruiser HMS Highflyer.

In another harbor disaster thirty years later, the SS Grand Camp exploded at dockside in Texas City, Texas after a fire ignited its cargo of ammonium nitrate. The blast and subsequent tidal wave killed nearly 600 people. A ship in a nearby dock, also loaded with ammonium nitrate, was set ablaze and hours later blew up with even greater force. The name of the ship? The SS High Flyer.

It's Class Intent That's Important

Headline: "German film's political message sets Cannes abuzz"

A German film about a group of young people who dream of changing the world has won a 10-minute standing ovation at the Cannes film festival, making it a frontrunner for the Palme d'Or best film award.

Director Hans Weingartner's film, The Edukators, adds to the strong political current running through this year's festival, from US director Michael Moore's documentary Fahrenheit 9/11 to striking workers in the streets.

The 28-year-old director and cast pulled up in the beat-up blue van that features in the film, before dancing their way up the red carpet. Inside, a rapturous reception awaited them.

"It's incredible," gasped actor Daniel Bruehl of Good Bye, Lenin! fame, as he lapped up the applause.

The first German film to compete in Cannes in 11 years, it tells the story of three idealistic youths who break into rich people's villas and move their furniture around, leaving behind notes with messages such as: "You have too much money."

Their aim is not to steal from the rich to give to the poor but to make their targets question their privileges.

Afterwards, the audience drove off in their chauffeured limousines to dinner in fashionable restaurants where, strictly enforced by clipboard Nazis, non-A-list people were kept behind velvet ropes.

It's Only a Little Bastard

Now that a sarin shell has gone off in Iraq (story in the New York Times, so you know it's true), expect to hear the following explanations from the pro-Saddam Bund:

- There wasn't enough of it to justify overthrowing Saddam.
- It was a CIA plant.
- The story was intended to divert attention from the Abu Gharib massacre.
- This is George Bush's "May Surprise."
- But Hans Blix inspected that one personally!
- It was a Halliburton sarin shell.

Curioser and Curiouser

Seismological data indicate that the force of the train station explosion in North Korea was considerably greater than originally thought:

Japan's Kyodo News, citing numerous diplomatic sources in Vienna, reported Saturday that the force of April 22's train explosion at the North's Ryonchon Station was about that of an earthquake measuring 3.6 on the Richter scale, which would have required about 800 tons of TNT -- about eight times that officially announced by North Korea.

The sources referred to earthquake figures gotten by the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization.

The North's official Korean Central News Agency had previously reported that the destructive power of the blast was that of 100 tons of dynamite, and explained that the accident was caused by "the electrical contact caused by carelessness during the shunting of wagons loaded with ammonium nitrate fertilizer and tank wagons".

The CTBTO feels that the cause of the explosion may differ from the North's explanation, and noted the explosion might have been caused by highly-explosive materials like military-use fuel going off. Officials at the CTBTO plan to look into the causes of the accident.

The CTBTO said the explosion at Ryongchon was observed using seismological observation stations in Korea, Japan, the United States and Russia. The stations were built to detect nuclear tests.

The NK story was too preposterous to be believed anyway. Sure, a train filled with ammonium nitrate just happened to run into a train filled with fuel oil and a spark just happened to set it off.

The magnitude of the blast has precedent, however. On December 6, 1917 the freighter Mont Blanc - carrying 2,300 tons of picric acid (2,4,6-trinitrophenol), 200 tons of TNT and high-octane fuel - detonated in Halifax harbor after a collision with another ship. 1,500 people were killed in the explosion, the largest before Hiroshima.

Guys I Could Like

I have never seen "South Park" and have no intention of doing so. However, its creators and I seem to have something in common:

Though "South Park" has lambasted everyone from Ben Affleck to Steven Spielberg, there's only one celebrity who should take it personally: "Barbra Streisand we pretty much hate," Stone says.

He explains the disliking for Babs goes back to 1993, when the singer said she would never perform in Colorado - where she has a mansion - if a controversial ban on gay rights was passed by that state's legislature.

"We're both from Colorado and it was like, '[Bleep] you, lady! Who the hell do you think you are that you're gracing us with your presence?' She is the worst example of a celebrity who should just keep her mouth shut. She sounds like an idiot."

They haven't done any Streisand-bashing on "South Park" in a few years but, says Stone, "Maybe we should come back to it. People do want it."

"People do want it." Barbra Streisand: a uniter, not a divider.

A Big Mistake

The great and good Chuck Simmins informs me that he now has comments available on his fine blog. I wrote back telling him he was making a big mistake.

Apart from my one moment of weakness, this poor little blog has not had and will not have comments available. How shall I put it? It's like inviting a bunch of strangers into your house and having them raid your refrigerator. Is my bandwidth to be consumed by every passing stranger who has diarrhea of the keyboard (to use my lovely bride's felicitous phrase)? Just look at some of the nut-cases and obsessive commenters on other blogs and you may understand, while still not approve, my stance.

Besides, almost all the posts would read "Comments (0)." Too humiliating for words.

News From the Show Scene

Lacey, Belle and my lovely bride traveled to Kokomo, Indiana this weekend for three days of shows. Lacey was Best of Breed all three days; she got a Group 2 on Friday (Northeast Indiana KC) under Ralph Lemcke and a Group 4 today (Kokomo KC) under Dr. Donald Sturz.

Belle wasn't entered in any shows; her trip was mostly for socialization. She was entered in a match on Friday night and came away as Best Adult in Match. A nice award to a very nice girl.

Oak Ridge, Tennessee next weekend, then shuttling between St. Louis and Corydon, Indiana on Memorial Day weekend. Hey, wasn't Lacey supposed to be semi-retired?

Congratulations

... To Smarty Jones, who won the Preakness just now. If he can win the Belmont Stakes in three weeks, he'll be the first Triple Crown winner in 26 years. What makes it interesting is that the Triple Crown consists of three very different races, from the short (1 3/16 mile) Preakness to the long (1 1/2 mile) Belmont.

By the way, there's also Triple Crowns for trotters - the Hambletonian, Yonkers Trot and the Kentucky Futurity - as well as for pacers - the Cane Pace, the Little Brown Jug and the Messenger Stakes. And if you think it's been a long time between drinks for the thoroughbred Triple Crown, trotting hasn't had one since 1972!

Gratuitous Dog Picture

The lovely, if slightly muddy, Belle (Soyara's Southern Belle) taking her first point at the Lexington KC show. The judge is Mr. Michael Canalizo.

A Hoax Exposed

The American Assembler thought it would be funny to post “a bit of amusing banter” on a correlation of IQ and presidential voting in 2000. Much excitement on the left side of the blogosphere, from Preparation H alumnus Matthew Yglesias (proving that a $30,000 a year education doesn’t impart wisdom) to one Jan Herman, a microcephalic version of Frank Rich but with worse hydrophobia.

Steve Sailer has blown this “study” into tiny pieces. So destroyed, when will it show up in Doonesbury?

The Jungle Conquered

The lawn has been subdued. Between a bent axle on my riding mower, the bloody National and a solid week of rain, I was unable to mow for the first time this year the grass on our three and a half acres. It grows quite symmetically, so I was horrified a couple of weeks ago to see that the Borzoi in the exercise paddock were in deep clover up to their elbows.

Axle repaired (with great difficulty) and belts, air filter and spark plug replaced, it took a solid week of mowing at the slowest possible speed just to shorten the grass crudely. Had I waited another few days, there would have been no way at all to get through it. Once finished, it had to be mowed a second time just to make things look presentable.

It’s done now, praise God. My lovely bride was industriously working outside around the house as well, so Stately Hlatky Manor no longer looks like Hillbilly Hollow.

No, no shows this weekend. It was the Cincinnati KC shows close by and a good panel. We were so wrapped up in the bloody National we forgot to make our entries. Right now we're so wrapped up in trying to recover our poor neglected house that spare time for posting is non-existent. Please be patient.

Worst Economy Since Hoover

The growth in jobs continued in April with 288,000 added onto the revised figure of 337,000 in March. The unemployment rate fell to 5.6 percent, exactly the same rate it was in April 1996 during the “Clinton prosperity.”

Hmmm, incumbent president running against a lugubrious senator during a period of sustained growth. How’d that turn out the last time?

Nameless No More

Yesterday, we sent the AKC the registration papers on Possum’s last litter, a mere two and a half years after they were born. A dispute with the co-breeder was the reason for the delay but there was an amicable resolution in March. They’ll now be shown under the following names (Esar is the name the co-breeder uses):

Alan: Soyara Singer of Songs Esar
Belle: Soyara Southern Belle Esar
Honey: Soyara Magnolia Honey Esar
Faith: Soyara Faith Tis Herself Esar

We look forward to successful show careers for all of them.

Passing The Poseur Test

James Lileks asks, “Want to stump a classical music poseur? Ask them how many symphonies Bruckner wrote.”

The answer, of course, is 11. Nine – in C minor, C minor, D minor, E-flat (“Romantic”), B-flat, A, E, C minor, and D minor - are numbered. The ninth is unfinished. Bruckner worked on it until, literally, the last day of his life. Knowing it would never be complete, as a desperate expedient he suggested that his Te Deum be used as the fourth movement, but the incompatibility of keys (D minor and C) make this impossible. While Bruckner couldn’t imagine a symphony ending any other way except with a statement of power, the end of the third movement is almost the perfect “farewell to life,” wistfully quoting from the Seventh and Eighth.

It was once thought that the sketches for the last movement were too fragmentary for any elaboration like that Deryck Cooke did for Mahler’s 10th, but this isn’t the case. Indeed, the finale is almost complete up to the coda and it may well be that the remaining sketches are missing rather than non-existent. There are recordings with realizations of the fourth movement realized by William Carragan and by a collaboration among Nicola Samale, John Phillips, and Giuseppe Mazzuca.

Bruckner also composed two early symphonies. One in F minor, known as the “Student” or “No. 00” Symphony, was the product of his studies with Otto Kitzler in orchestration. Bruckner never regarded it as more than an exercise, but even though it doesn’t begin to compare to the later symphonies it deserves a hearing. There’s a fine recording by Georg Tintner.

Between his First and Second Symphonies, Bruckner wrote a symphony in D minor. He showed it to a conductor, who caustically asked, “Where’s the first theme?” Bruckner took criticism badly: Hermann Levi’s rejection of the Eighth caused a nervous breakdown and years of pointless revisions. He crossed out the “Symphony No. 2” on the first page and wrote “Totally Invalid.” The work survived and is known as the “No. 0” or “Die Nullte.” Again, Tintner has recorded it coupled with the 1887 version of the Eighth.

Lilek's poser is the inverse of Lawrence Gilman on the Tchaikovsky symphonies: "Tchaikovsky wrote three symphonies, which he inexplicably called Numbers 4, 5 and 6."

Fat Lying Liar Lies Again

Porcine (though that insults the pig) filmmaker Michael Moore accused Disney of censorship in refusing to distribute his latest pack of lies Fahrenheit 911.

Yesterday [emphasis added] I was told that Disney, the studio that owns Miramax, has officially decided to prohibit our producer, Miramax, from distributing my new film, "Fahrenheit 9/11." The reason? According to today's (May 5) New York Times, it might "endanger" millions of dollars of tax breaks Disney receives from the state of Florida because the film will "anger" the Governor of Florida, Jeb Bush. The story is on page one of the Times and you can read it here

But the fat faux prole is lying: he knew a year ago that Disney wouldn't distribute his film:

Almost a year ago [emphasis mine] after we'd started making the film, the chairman of Disney, Michael Eisner, told my agent that he was upset that Miramax had made the film -- Disney owns Miramax -- and he will not distribute this film.

Miramax said don't worry about that, keep making the film, we'll keep funding it. The Disney money kept flowing to us for the last year. We finished the film last week, and we take it to the Cannes film festival next week.

Moore has now been accused by that member of the VRWC - The Independent - of creating a controversy to publicize the film before Cannes. Moore is the cinematic equivalent of the collegiate jerks who fake hate crimes. Fat bastard.

It's All Right To Have an Opinion

David Hurwitz, writing in Classics Today, suggests that we’ve been bludgeoned into believing that all classical music consists of masterpieces. To challenge the greatness of any of the works of Mozart, Beethoven or Bach is to commit heresy. Says Hurwitz:

I propose a radical new idea: Tell the truth! Stop insisting that the classics consist of an unbroken chain of perfect masterpieces of equal worth, and let people compare, judge, and even (gasp!) dislike some of them. After all, huge crowds go to the movies every week and nine times out of ten hate what they see. But they still go back, time after time. This must be, at least in part, because they feel comfortable about that fact that they are free to like or dislike the film, as they chose. The lesson here is clear: the exercise of choice enhances, rather than diminishes, the general attraction of the medium.

There’s some merit to this. For example, even though it opened my eyes to the power and beauty of classical music, I no longer “get” the last movement to Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, which sounds more like disjointed chunks instead of a whole. Even the greats didn’t compose at a consistently high level; after all, Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony and Wellington’s Victory have adjoining opus numbers.

For me, I can’t stand Debussy and Stravinsky, don’t care for a lot of Mahler, think Mendelssohn and Ives are overrated while Weber and Barber are underrated, prefer Webern to Schoenberg (the pieces end quicker) and curse Ravel daily for composing Bolero. Only now, after over 30 years, am I warming to Brahms.

Hurwitz puts forth classical music’s ten dirty secrets. My read on them:

1. Only superficially true. But are you willing to make the long-term investment to disprove it?

2. True.

3. Those days are dead and gone.

4. True. The last two movements are so shocking - even today – that the first three sound sort of pale by comparison.

5. True.

6. True.

7. True, actually. My ardent Brucknophilia aside, his allegros are really speeded up adagios.

8. True, except for the late piano works. But I divide music into “good” and “boring.” Lizst is never boring.

9. The jury’s still out.

10. I don’t think we can have too much Bach.

(Tip o' the hat to Aaron Haspel)

The Evolution of a Theme

The Democrats’ view on the economy:

January, 2003: Worst economy since Hoover
January, 2004: OK, we’re recovering, but there are no new jobs.
May, 2004: OK, jobs are being created, but they’re not good jobs.
January, 2005: There’s no good job for John Kerry.

"It's All About Me!” by Me!

The perfect headline: “Clinton Writing Book Around the Clock - Vanity Fair” Yes, “Vanity Fair” would be the perfect title too.