Riba Rambles:
Musings of a Mental Magpie

Posted by Lis Riba at 11:40 PM

We saw Bourne Identity tonight. It's rather disturbing to realize, but Ian pointed out that it's the same plot as Lilo & Stitch.
Also, though I know that movie theaters make most of their money from concessions, they're on the verge of killing the goose that lays their golden eggs. The price of popcorn has gotten so high while the portion size has shrunk, that I may stop buying popcorn altogether at the movies. I've already stopped going to some theater chains because their popcorns are so tiny, and now the chain I liked seems to be doing the same. Oh well; their loss.

Independence Day was okay. Way too hot (heat index 101 degrees). We drove down to the John Adams historic site in Quincy and toured his house. We'll go back sometime when it's less crowded and take the full tour (we missed seeing his birthplace). Besides, I want to ask lots more questions, and didn't want to hold up everybody else there.

In the afternoon, I retired back to our (air-conditioned) bedroom to read David McCullough's biography of John Adams. I bought it ages ago, but never had a chance to read it. In the evening, we listened to some excerpts from C-Span's American Presidents, listened to the Pops on the radio and watched the fireworks on TV. It was still too hot to go out.

Posted by Lis Riba at 8:40 AM

Review: Men in Black II

We went to see MiB2 during a matinee yesterday (hey, it was hot and the movie theater was air-conditioned). Although it's been getting poor reviews, it's not actually a bad movie. The problem is, there's really nothing in there that wasn't in the first movie. [Since the room with the TV is our only air-conditioned one, we rewatched the original on video last night.] MiB had some great talent and great ideas, but MiB2 was thoroughly a C effort on behalf of all involved.

Part of what made the first movie so fresh was that it was all new, and Will Smith's newness with the agency provided a certain gee-whiz-ness to remind us of how cool it all is. Well, in 2, he's become a jaded veteran, so all the gadgetry is just taken for granted. And the original had such a perfect, sweet ending to it, bringing back K (and the resolution of his outside life) does diminish the first story. Otherwise, there's really nothing special here, good or bad. It's a pure rehash -- mind you, a rehash of something that was really good to begin with -- but still just a rehash.

Also, a thought on movie trends. Before MiB2, they showed a trailer for I, Spy starring Owen Wilson & Eddie Murphy. Wilson plays a secret agent, who has to hire boxer Eddie Murphy in order to get close to some supervillain who happens to be a boxing fan. In many respects, it looks similar to Bad Company, a recent film starring CIA operative Anthony Hopkins who has to hire Chris Rock in order to get close to supervillains. Heck, even the original MiB had a pre-existing white agent paired with a new, off-the-street black partner, the all-knowing white man bringing the wisecracking black man up to speed. Why can't somebody reverse this, and make the black man the more knowledgeable. Heck, I never really watched the original I, Spy, but according to this site, that was the pattern of the original -- Cosby was the more studious, experienced spy with Culp as his playboy partner. So why'd Hollywood break the pattern to rehash something that's been done a million times before? [Oh, wait, I think that repunctuating that sentence gives the answer: Why'd Hollywood break the pattern? To rehash something that's been done a million times before.]

On Independence Day (the holiday, not the movie)

I feel like I should write something stirring and patriotic for this Independence Day, but right now this article from the Christian Science Monitor (which I linked to earlier this week) seems to say it best.

Propelled by the attacks of Sept. 11, we are rightly engaged in a war against terrorism in order to protect the freedom central to our independence. We should rightly take precautions against further attacks, but we do not want these precautions to undermine core American values.

With so many American flags and bunting in the neighborhood, I wish I thought ahead of time to buy a "Don't Tread On Me Flag" to hang from our balcony to express both our patriotism and our unwavering support for continued civil rights.

The day after I wrote here about the Pledge of Allegiance, David Brudnoy wrote an editorial on the subject which Ian feels makes my points more succinctly than I did -- I guess that's why he gets paid to express his opinions, while I'm merely writing in this journal. And this piece in the Christian Science Monitor also makes some good points, as does Brooksmoses. I wish that the sentiment expressed by Ayesha's coworkers is a minority sentiment -- love Gd or leave America? That's not the country I grew up in!

Anyway, (for the Americans reading this) today let's celebrate the freedoms we do have in this country.
Or, as the ACLU says in their new ad:

We celebrate our right to live in freedom, embracing our differences and the values we hold dear. In these difficult times, we must stay true to who we are ? a mosaic of individuals, cherishing liberty. Happy July 4th to U.

Have a safe and happy holiday, everyone!

Posted by Lis Riba at 12:50 PM

Okay, after some thought, I've changed my plans for the next two semesters. I'm now considering the following:

As much as I'd like Computers in Society, the other courses really do line up with my career goals. I can always audit it sometime after I graduate, maybe. Also, this minimizes the amount of time I'd actually be out of the office during regular business hours.

Posted by Lis Riba at 10:05 AM

Hey, Buffy fans, did you hear this? That really stinks.

Posted by Lis Riba at 9:31 AM

A couple useful websites for Bostonians this 4th of July week:

• Boston Harborfest lists most of the happenings around the area for the entire week.
• July4th.org is devoted strictly to the Pops concert -- including the score for the fireworks afterwards. [Keith Lockhart's program isn't posted yet, but they do list the guest performers.]
• John Adams' house in Quincy has its own site, which lists a few goings on four the Fourth. I think we'll be going here, which I've always wanted to see, followed by the fireworks downtown. Then again, we might also do some of the morning festivities in Melrose so Ian can finally enter his cranberry pie in the local pie contest. [Unfortunately, the rules don't allow cream pies, because Ian's chocolate pie is heavenly.]
• Finally, not part of the Independence Day celebrations, but possibly worth seeing nonetheless, the Commonwealth Shakespeare Company will be putting on free performances of Henry V at the Boston Common (bring your own beach chairs & picnic baskets) in late July & early August. I want to see this at some point, so anybody else in the Boston area interested, that we should get a group together?
  And, I'm not sure what their Apprentice Company is, but they're doing a half-dozen performances of Much ado about nothing over the month of July.

That's all from the entertainment director at the moment.

Added later:

For those readers who are in the U.S., [Yes, I've noticed I've got a core of readers in Europe and Asia.] let's take a few minutes this week and think about what we're actually celebrating and how.

Posted by Lis Riba at 3:51 PM

I'm joining several professional associations for networking purposes and to gain access to members-only job posting sites (among other reasons). Women in Technology International and Association for Computing Machinery (particularly SIGCHI (Computer-Human Interaction) and SIGIR (Information Retrieval) are among the groups I'm considering.

I know that there are IBM-ers reading this journal, and that IBM has a certain presence in these organizations. I was hoping that folks with some knowledge about these groups could contact me, either through the comments box or via e-mail, and give me some insight as to how helpful these groups are for job-hunters.

Posted by Lis Riba at 10:05 PM

Well, it's time to consider what courses to take for next year. With every course catalog, Simmons very considerately provides a tentative schedule for the following semester, so one can plan ahead, if one likes.

As I've said before, I'd like to get my degree in May. [Assuming I pass all the classes I'm taking this summer,] I need 14 more credits in order to graduate. Here are the courses I'm considering taking; I've linked the course numbers to more detailed descriptions of the classes. Let me know what you think:

Feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Posted by Lis Riba at 5:11 PM

Well, the year is now six months over, and I've read 88 books to date. The breakdown goes something like this:

Just to explain some of the timing, I was told of my impending layoff the end of February, but didn't actually leave work until the end of April. Although I was applying for jobs and such, that left two months where I had to put in facetime at work, but didn't have any assigned duties. Thus, the huge bulge over March and April.

At any rate, I'm quite pleased with my accomplishment. Now onto homework and housework.