Austin

In the mid 20th century, George Orwell visited the English mining town of Wigan. He witnessed and wrote about the difficult lives of the coal miners. In The Road to Wigan Pier, local writer and critic Robi Polgar brings Orwell's experience to the stage.

There are two ways you could make this into a play. One would be a terribly depressing melodrama. The other is a comedy, song, and dance revue. Polgar does the latter. It's a curiously odd piece, sometimes moving, and often funny.

The highlight of the play was a trip down a coal mine, narrated by George Orwell. My friend Buffy Manners did a great job on costumes, which played a big role as the actors slipped in and out of various characters (and...ahem...outhouses). The songs were pleasant enough, with a 12-string acoustic and Rickenbacker electric giving them a jangly Beatlesque feel. The play, unfortunately, leaves with a one-too-many-endings feeling, as Polgar struggles to give the tragedy an upbeat finish.

Unless you are a Thatcherite, I would recommend seeing it. Only problem is it's closing weekend. Tonight is your last chance. If you do go, I recommend you get there early. Last night was a full house. More info here.

This Saturday marks the grand opening of the Daniel E. Ruiz branch of the Austin Public Library. The festivities begin at 10:00 on January 31. The official press release notes:

This new 16,000 square foot library will replace the existing 5,079 square foot leased space of the Riverside Drive Branch at 2410 Riverside Drive. The new $6 million library at 1600 Grove Boulevard will be the largest library branch in the system and will serve the growing populations of the Riverside and Montopolis neighborhoods.

I wasn't sure this day would ever come. This represents the culmination of events set in motion back in 1997. During that pre-boom budget cycle, the city went looking for cost saving measures, and selected the Riverside Drive branch for closure. Riverside was a small, storefront library, which made it an easy target. There was vociferous opposition to the closure, in which I participated.

The City Council voted to restore funding to save Riverside. Then, the following year, Austin voters approved a bond package that would fund permanent locations for the last three storefront branches, including Riverside.

The site selection was a tad controversial, because both the Riverside and Montopolis neighborhoods were vying for it. The City Council appointed a citizen's committee to oversee the bond measures. The committee proposed to build a large branch--the largest branch in the system--on Grove Boulevard, where it would be accessible to both neighborhoods.

I've already toured the new branch and it is great. The location is wonderful, between a wooded lot and a natural golf course. It is easily accessible, just down the road from ACC and along a bus route. Congrats to the APL facilities folks for a job well done.

The Internet Training Center at the old Riverside library has been relocated to Ruiz. Our classes start up again next month. If you stop by Saturday, check out the Training Center. I'll be hanging out there giving demos.

If you shop at H-E-B (and if you're a Texan, you probably do) you may have noticed the EZ-Ds (link to Flashturbated website omitted) display at the checkout. These are the "48-hour DVDs" that self-destruct upon exposure to air.

Wired News is reporting that H-E-B is terminating the EZ-Ds experiment early. Good riddance, I say.

There was significant concern about the environmental impact of the use-once-and-discard discs. The EZ-Ds manufacturer tried to fight some of the backlash by setting up a return program for the expired discs.

I'm also concerned about what the EZ-Ds represent with respect to our ability to own and use digital media. The manufacturer, a division of Disney, tried to position EZ-Ds as an alternate to renting. The studios, however, would love nothing more than a video scheme that offers them complete control over use. Imagine how much happier the entertainment industry would be if all CDs and DVDs self-destructed within a few days. EZ-Ds represent a step in that direction.

This isn't the first time the entertainment industry has tried to place stringent controls on the use of video media. Several years ago, the industry tried to push the DIVX video disc over the then fledgling DVD standard. They liked DIVX because you had to keep paying fees in order to use their discs. Video fans, fortunately, saw right through it, and that scheme died.

The EZ-Ds are still available around town. Hopefully the other sellers will follow suit. This is just a bad idea that should be scrapped like a 48-hour video disc.

Link: Austin tests desktop Linux waters.

Two words that make any technology manager tremble: software audit. These audits examine every computer with a fine-toothed comb, ensuring every installed program is properly licensed. It's tough to assure absolute compliance across hundreds (or thousands) of desktop machines, and the penalties for unlicensed software can be severe.

Over a year ago, the City of Austin encountered this nightmare. Microsoft held out the threat of a software audit. Some cities, such as Houston, have responded to the threat by switching to another vendor. Austin, instead, ponied up for a pricey enterprise license.

Open source advocates, myself included, were disappointed by this move. It turns out, maybe it was a shrewd step. The enterprise license allowed the city to buy compliance and breathing room. The city has been using that time to evaluate open source alternatives. Their finding: many desktops could run just fine on open source software.

When Microsoft came to the city, there was little choice: either pay through the nose or enter a protracted battle. When the current enterprise agreement terminates at the end of 2004, the city will be in a much better position. Even if there are only nominal open source deployments, the city is in a significantly stronger position to negotiate better license terms with Microsoft.

That's open source at its best: restoring competition to the software marketplace.

Last week, I was disappointed to see that Lost in Translation had left the Alamo Village before I had a chance to see it. I was quite pleased, however, to see that Bubba Ho-tep continues its run.

Bubba Ho-tep explores the musical question, "What would happen if Elvis and JFK were alive today and living in a retirement home haunted by an Egyptian soul-sucking monster?" It's a smart and clever movie. It has, however, been unable to get distribution, so few places outside Austin have been able to see it. The people in Austin who have seen it seem to like it.

While in New Orleans, we saw that Lost in Translation was still playing at the Canal Place Cinema. This is a Landmark Theatre, the art-house chain that also owns the Dobie. After walking the French Quarter a few hours, we thought it might be nice to take a load off and watch a movie.

Lost in Translation was nice and the New Orleans movie audience was staggeringly awful ("Hey Louise! Keep shaking that bag to smear that butter all over the popcorn."), but what I want to tell you about is the trailers. We're watching the screen and suddenly it's Bruce Campbell and Ossie Davis up there. Yes, Bubba Ho-tep is on the way.

It's nice more people will be able to see it. I'd like to think the Austin reception helped launch the movie into theaters.

It's been ages since I've listened to radio for long periods of time. Maybe I'll catch ten minutes here or there while driving around town. When I'm at home, I tend to listen to my own music or Internet streams. Lately, I've been working a lot at my girlfriend's house, away from my CDs and MP3s, on a laptop with tinny boppa-boppa-boppa speakers. For a while I kept KGSR on in the background. Now, I'd rather have silence.

You can't tell how inexorably bad KGSR has become from brief commute-time snippets. If you listen for any extended period, the blandness becomes stunning. Edie Brickell, Warren Zevon and John Hiatt--some of my favorite musicians--all have new albums out. Thanks to KGSR, I'm sick to death of them. KGSR picks one track and plays the bleeding thing into the ground--while completely ignoring the remainder of the album. KGSR has taken some great musicians and spun, folded and mutilated them into a Top-40 format.

It's fashionable to bash Clear Channel Communications over the state of broadcast radio. If KGSR is any indication, the smaller owners aren't doing much better.

The little red brake light was going blinky, blinky. Last time I saw one of those it involved pads and turned rotors and hundreds of dollars. I was getting the cold sweats over this.

Late night carousing can wear a person down. I'm not looking for the rarefied atmosphere of some swanky Warehouse District martini bar. I just don't want to be completely grossed out by a night on the town.

I've written before about my support for a no smoking ordinance. I still like that idea, but I'm beginning to think what this town needs more than anything else is a no barfing ordinance. What's the deal with all the Sixth Street and Red River bars that smell like you're sitting in a puddle of stale vomit?

I heart trashy instrumental guitar music. Now, I can get a weekly dose, at the Hot Rod Surfin' Party every Monday night (9-12) at Beerland, Texas.

This surf showcase is produced by Burnin' Mike Vernon, and features Mike's band Three Balls of Fire. Last night's show was great. Mike played several songs off his latest disc.

Up before 3 Balls was The Undertakers. This was the first time I've heard them, and they knocked my socks off. They played some of their own compositions, some classic surf, and even a bit of nasty metal.

So remember to put down Monday night in your Daytimer. And don't forget Freddy Steady's Midnight Howl continues on Tuesday nights.

Link: Legislation signals round one in the battle of spam. (News 8 Austin)

In the linked story, I talked to News 8 Austin about the impending Texas spam law. Regular readers of this blog (Hi mom! Hi sis!) may be bemused to see me playing the role of supporter. I've been quite clear about my displeasure with this law. They, however, already had somebody for the opponent, and, by the calculus of TV journalism, the opening they had to fill was for somebody in favor.

I'm glad I was able to make the point that this law does not prohibit spam, but actually legalizes it. That's some consolation. That, and the fact they spelled my name correctly.