http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp12012009.shtml

If there are any problems with the comic or website, or if you have any questions, comments, or complaints you would like to address directly to Randy, please email him at choochoobear@gmail.com.

To all writers, and especially TV writers, just thought you should know that the riff where someone says, “I have something important to tell you,” and then gets interrupted before being able to tell it, is now played out.  In fact, it was played out the first time it was used.  If your goal is to make me think, I guess it works; but what I think is, “Geez, what a lousy writer.”

Maybe you can come up with some clever twist on it, where that is what happens, but it doesn’t seem to be what happens, so that the audience doesn’t realize that you’re pulling that stunt until the reveal.  If you can do that, fine.  If not, I think you ought to take that gimmick and put it into the bag next to woman-who-kicks-ass-because-her-kid-is-threatened and drop it into Lake Michigan; with all the pollution already there it’ll hardly be noticed.

Thank you.  That is all.

Originally published at Words Words Words. Please leave any comments there.

[Mr. Spatch]: ugh, icecrown dailies got to feel like a job
[Mr. Spatch]: once more unto the zombie viking village
[Mr. Pin0r]: dots to the left of him
[Mr. Pin0r]: aoes to the right of him
[Mr. Spatch]: we happy few, we band of tauren
[Mr. Spatch]: For he today that's pwned in pvp / Shall be my guildie, be he ne'er so pubby
[Mr. Pin0r]: Ours is not to reason why
[Mr. Pin0r]: Ours is but to pull -- and die
[Mr. Spatch]: You're a better orc than I am, Grom Hellscream!
[Mr. Spatch]: (you sorta hafta say it "grom'll scream")
[Mr. Pin0r]: auuuugh
[Mr. Pin0r]: you're a horror, Mr. Spatch
[Mr. Spatch]: Well, you know what the music means.

Thanks to Adam Israel for fixing the problem that was preventing me from crossposting to LJ.  As I was holding off Wealth Of Nations posts until that worked again, you can blame him for their reappearance.

Originally published at Words Words Words. Please leave any comments there.

Patrick Stewart speaks out against domestic violence and shares his personal experience with it.

jason237 and dietrich (among others, but especially them) be sure to check it out for the Winter's Tale bit.

In observance of the 10th anniversary of the Worcester Cold Storage Warehouse fire and in memory of the six firefighters who lost their lives in the line of duty, I am sending out selected dispatches from the official radio logs of the event, at the time they were transmitted, to my Twitter acount. It starts at 6:13 pm.

Afterwards I will probably talk about the fire here.

I don't "think" this sign "succeeds".





This one, on the other hand (for a German art song cabaret by one of the local music schools) wins.

http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp11302009.shtml

If there are any problems with the comic or website, or if you have any questions, comments, or complaints you would like to address directly to Randy, please email him at choochoobear@gmail.com.

Here we begin what seems to be Smith’s major campaign: to prove that anything that restrains trade (with a very few exceptions) is bad for society as a whole.  The difficulty with this proposition appears in the very formulation: society “as a whole” consists of divisions whose interests are opposed to each other; thus to prove that something is bad for society “as a whole” is, to say the least, ambitious.  Let’s see how he does.

This chapter focuses on laws that restrict the importation into a country of goods that can be produced in that country.  He makes the point, on page 349, that “The general industry of the society never can exceed what the capital of the society can employ.”  This is obviously true, though it is worth bearing in mind that this amount of capital is constantly changing–to be precise, it is generally growing–so we ought not to treat it as a fixed sum.  Further down the page, he observes that anyone with capital to invest is always looking for the most profitable way to invest it.  “But the study of his own advantage, naturally, or rather necessarily leads him to prefer that employment which is most advantageous to the society.”  He then goes on state that home-trade is more profitable than foreign trade of consumption, and that the latter is more profitable than the carrying trade (ie, investing in ships, rather than in their cargo).

On page 350 he observes that those in the carrying trade, in order to have greater control over the goods they transport, tend to establish markets in their home ports.  “…and it is in this manner that every country which has any considerable share of the carrying trade, becomes always the emporium, or general market, for the goods of all the different countries whose trade it carries on.”  This makes sense; I wonder to what extent it is still true.

Page 351: “But the annual revenue of every society is always precisely equal to the exchangeable value of the whole annual produce of its industry, or rather is precisely the same thing with that exchangeable value.”  And so each person attempts to maximize the profit of his capital.  “…he intends only his own gain, and he is in this, as in many other cases, led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of  his intention.”  And here we find the famous “invisible hand” which, I have no doubt, Mr. Smith would have preferred to amputate if he knew the use to which it would later be put.

How true is it?  I think there is certainly an element of truth here–human beings are forced by their own self-interest to move in certain directions that will have a profound effect on the nature of their society; this is part of what Marx meant when he said, “Men make history, but not just as they please.”  I think Smith’s confusion comes, in part, from failing to understand the nature of the State as the servant of a definite class.  When he objects to government passing laws in the interest of manufacturers at the expense of  “society as a whole” he is not seeing that this government is, in fact, the representative of the manufacturers, and thus the laws in the interest of manufacturers are in fact a very part of that same “invisible hand” that he opposes to them.

Page 353: “The industry of the society can augment only in proportion as its capital augments, and its capital can augment only in proportion to what can be gradually saved out of its revenue.”  Unless I’m missing something, he is observing that the development of capital comes from a portion of the surplus value created by production.  If so, it seems hard to argue with.

My argument above, about Smith failing to understand the nature of the State(which, really, he couldn’t given that he lived in a period where the State was in the process of transition), is bolstered by a comment on 358, comparing the country gentlemen to the manufacturers: “Country gentlemen and farmers, dispersed in different parts of the country, cannot so easily combine as merchants and manufacturers, who being collected into towns, and accustomed to that exclusive corporation spirit which prevails in them, naturally endeavor to obtain against all their countrymen, the same exclusive privilege which they generally possess against the inhabitants of their respective towns.  They accordingly seem to have been the original inventors of those restraints upon the importation of foreign good which secure to them the monopoly of the home-market.”  The point is, after cutting off the head of Charles I and politically emasculating Charles  II (in spite of promises to the contrary), the bourgeoisie had gone a long way toward taking power from the landed aristocracy.  To be sure, not fully: the corn-laws weren’t settled for most of another century, and the House of Lords retained some power even later than that; but the balance had been tipped.

On page 361-62 he contends that taxes on the necessities of life, by raising the cost of labor, raise the cost of all commodities.  He is correct, I think, in objecting to taxes upon necessities of life because they hurt the most those who can least afford them; but they do not raise the cost of labor; at least, not in the direct manner he implies.  The cost of labor is determined socially, in the constant struggle between employer and employee for how much of the surplus value each will get; it doesn’t simply rise (unfortunately!) as the cost of living rises.

I rather enjoyed seeing M. Colbert discussed on page 364, as he’s in important character in The Vicomte de Bragalonne by Dumas.

Also delightful and interesting is this comment on 364-365: “To judge whether such retaliations are likely to produce such an effect, does not, perhaps, belong so much to the science of the legislator, whose deliberations ought to be governed by general principles which are always the same, as to the skill of that insidious and crafty animal, vulgarly called a stateman or politician, whose councils are directed by the momentary fluctuations of affairs.”  Now there is a distinction I’ve never come across before.  I wonder if, at one time, there was truth in it.

On page 367 he compares the habits of the soldier with those of the manufacturer (by which I believe he means laborer in this context), which ties in nicely to some of my own theories about peace-time or professional soldiers, but I don’t think has anything to do with this investigation.

Going back to my earlier criticism of Smith, I have to mitigate it at least somewhat because he, himself, clearly recognizes it to at least some degree.  On page 368: “To expect, indeed, that freedom of trade should ever be entirely restored in Great Britain, is as absurd as to expect that an Oceana or Utopia should ever be established in it.  Not only the prejudices of the public, but what is much more unconquerable, the private interests of many individuals, irresistibly oppose it.”  True; and it also goes a long way toward undermining the latter-day beliefs (not Smith’s) about the “invisible hand.”   It leaves open the question of whether that mythical beast, completely free trade, is even something to strive for.  In my opinion, it is silly to even address the question before defining what “completely free trade” even means.  It would seem to mean free from interference–but doesn’t every individual “interfere” with free trade according to his own needs and to the extent of his influence?  If what is being traded is private property, then this implies a State controlled by the property owners (there can be no private property without a State to define and defend it), and how can there by a State controlled by property owners without it exerting it’s influence in their behalf; it is as absurd as to suggest that a fish, in order to preserve it’s body of water, refrain from swimming.

Originally published at Words Words Words. Please leave any comments there.

I've just recieved word that the first part of my play, A Rain of Seagulls (being a parody of The Seagull by Anton Chekhov), will be performed as part of the New England Russian Theatre Festival being produced by Lau Lapides Company in February of 2010.

EDIT: I've just found out that Partisans will also be part of the festival.

MOVIES I WATCHED IN THE THEATER: 11

"Coraline"
"Watchmen"
"Star Trek"
"Drag Me To Hell"
"Up"
"Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince"
"Julie & Julia"
"Inglourious Basterds"
"District 9"
"Zombieland"
"Paranormal Activity"


( MOVIES I WATCHED ON TV, DVD, OR ON-LINE: 198 )
"20 Million Miles to Earth"...a Ray Harryhausen classic I've never actually seen in its entirety. I think I've seen the last 15 minutes dozens of times, but almost none of the rest of the movie
"Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgandy"...Steve Carrell was funny. Almost nothing else was
"Pigs"...a woman molested by her father snaps, kills him, and runs off to a small town haunted by a mad pig farmer who feeds his swine human flesh. As stupid as it sounds, and some of the worst editing I've ever seen
"Dracula A.D. 1972"...Cushing and Lee together again! Woo!
"Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day"...is Amy Adams ever NOT adorable?
"The Brides of Dracula"...a lesser Hammer flick with no Dracula at all. Lame
"The Curse of the Werewolf"...another movie I've only seen the ending of a bunch of times. Oliver Reed's werewolf design is still one of the coolest ever


TV ON DVD I WATCHED: 5

"Robin Hood" - season one
"Robot Chicken" - season one
"Robot Chicken" - season three
"Stargate SG-1" - season one
"Human Weapon" - season one
"Red Dwarf" - season one


TV ON DVD I'M WATCHING:

"Fraggle Rock" - season three
"The Tick" - season two
"Spaced" - season one
"Red Dwarf" - season two


BOOKS I READ: 13

I Hated, Hated, Hated This Movie - Roger Ebert
Vicious Circle - Mike Carey
The Graveyard Book - Neil Gaiman
More Information Than You Require - John Hodgman
Rebel Without a Crew: Or How a 23-Year-Old Filmmaker With $7,000 Became a Hollywood Player - Robert Rodriguez
Crooked Little Vein - Warren Ellis
Empire of Ivory - Naomi Novik
Snuff - Chuck Palahniuk
Victory of Eagles - Naomi Novik
Fragile Things - Neil Gaiman
The Best of H.P. Lovecraft - H.P. Lovecraft
Warped Factors - Walter Koenig
Gentlemen of the Road - Michael Chabon


BOOKS I'M READING:

What Are the Seven Wonders of the World? and 100 Other Great Cultural Lists - Peter D'Epiro and Mary Desmond Pinkowish
The Transition of H.P. Lovecraft - The Road to Madness - H.P. Lovecraft
The Complete Manual of Things That Might Kill You: A Guide to Self-Diagnosis for Hypochondriacs

Y'know what's really nice? When you show someone your work and they say "I see what you're doing there." That's really nice.

I shall always be grateful to the person who introduced me to the works of S.J. Perelman, and you know who you are.

"Everything good that happened to me happened by accident. I was not filled with ambition nor fired by a drive toward a clear-cut goal. I never knew exactly where I was going."

Jack Benny

http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp11292009.shtml

If there are any problems with the comic or website, or if you have any questions, comments, or complaints you would like to address directly to Randy, please email him at choochoobear@gmail.com.

hello my genius friends....
if i wanted to buy a web site, or a domain name, what is the easiest best way to do it?

thanks!

EDIT: coolness. looks like godaddy has the site i want for $10/yr. i take it thats pretty standard...

thanks all!!

When: December 16th, 2009, 8:00 p.m. (doors are at 7:00 p.m.)

Where: Xscape Lounge, 814 W. Grace Street, Richmond, VA

What: Winter Wonderland!

Cost: $15

Carnal Carnival's very first, full-length production will not only feature the lovely dancing girls you've come to expect from us, but several new variety performers who will delight and astound.

Bring canned goods to be donated to the Central Virginia Food Bank and get $2 off your ticket price! Please visit their website for an up-to-date list of foods they urgently need.

I have been meaning to write this rant for years now. I think of it every time I'm driving in the rain, but never when I'm sitting--safe and snug with no oncoming traffic--in front of my computer.

When you turn on your wipers, turn on your lights.

Your lights are only secondarily on your vehicle to illuminate your path. They are there to make you visible to other drivers. When you are driving up Route 2 on a dark, rainy day without your lights on, you are as close to invisible as makes no nevermind. This is especially true for the very popular silver and taupe cars on the road, but I've nearly creamed more than one big black SUV that couldn't imagine how I might not have seen it. Visibility is low, people. Turn on your lights.

This applies to all conditions of precipitation, fog and twilight. It doesn't matter that you can see fine--if I can't see you, we're all doomed. Turn on your lights.

Mr. Clarinette by Nick Stone. A detective story, set in Haiti, during the American occupation. Good story, nicely paced. I know little, or nothing about Haiti. The author paints a very vivid picture of the people, locales, and the struggles of life, in Haiti. I believe the author has written a second book, with this protagonist. ( a former police officer, recently released from jail. He was convicted of killing three drug dealing child killers) I will definitely pick up the next one.

Fool by Christopher Moore. The story behind King Lear, as told by Pockets, the fool. Moore, hilariously, place fast and loose, with the plot and characters. (especially the ending!) Anacrhonisms abound, and the curse words fly. I really enjoyed this one!

http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp11282009.shtml

If there are any problems with the comic or website, or if you have any questions, comments, or complaints you would like to address directly to Randy, please email him at choochoobear@gmail.com.