I'm wearing this pair of linen pants I bought yesterday. I've never owned a pair of linen pants. I feel the impulse to head down to the yacht club for a game of bridge, followed by a jaunt to the polo grounds.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 04:19 PM | Comments (0)

Gore Verbinski, the director of the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy, is going to direct a film based on the videogame Bioshock. If there can be such a thing as a film adaptation of a videogame that doesn't suck, this could be it. The game's plot is already cinematic in scope and the underwater Deco vibe would make for great sets. If the project can attract some recognizable talent, it might actually be worth seeing.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 10:13 AM | Comments (0)

I love it when cool things happen to cool people I know. Mike Phillips, who is 27 and has spinal muscular atrophy, is featured on the season debut of Ira Glass's This American Life. I know Mike mostly through his writings on various Mac-related websites (yes, I read Mac sites even though I don't own a single Mac; me=sad poseur) and I'm also Facebook friends with Mike's girlfriend Sara (who totally owned me on Scrabulous). The episode, which is centered on the theme of "Escape", details Mike's efforts to live independently after years of depending on his mom for his daily cares. A short clip is available here and more details on the episode can be found here, including a great picture of Mike and Sara.

Since I don't get Showtime and the episode isn't yet available on iTunes, I'm forced to obtain it through less scrupulous methods. Legal niceties won't stand in the way of me supporting a fellow member of the SMA clubhouse.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 01:11 PM | Comments (1)

It's costing me close to sixty dollars to fill up my van's gas tank. My driving habits consist of little more than trips to and from work, so I'm not feeling the same hurt that's being inflicted on so many suburban commuters. Still, I wish I could do something to ease my own dependence on my admittedly gas-guzzling vehicle. I don't think a Prius can accommodate my wheelchair and walking the ten miles to and from work is not a realistic option. It might be time to take a cue from Inspector Gadget and invent that personal propeller-based flight system that is powered solely on my excess charm.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 07:38 PM | Comments (0)

I have some appointments tonight, but it's worth noting that this interminable primary season might, at long last, be coming to a close. Obama's big win in North Carolina and narrow loss in Indiana could be the turn of events that forces Clinton to acknowledge the futility of continuing her quixotic campaign. I don't put much stock in the persistent conjecture surrounding a possible Obama-Clinton unity ticket, but for the good of the party, the two of them need to do one more joint television appearance and hug it out.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 05:11 PM | Comments (0)

Around these parts, we mark the approach of summer with the usual indicators: blooming flowers, the fishing opener, women in short skirts. For me, it's the smell of cigarettes permeating my condo. It shows up every year around this time. I have no idea if it's wafting through my windows or coming up through the vents, but it seems to be concentrated in the immediate area around my desk. And I'm not going to try to cover it up with one of those scented candles. The smell of cigarettes is somehow more tolerable than the smell of cigarettes intermingled with apple cinnamon. I suppose this could be categorized as one of the many hazards of the blogging lifestyle.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:22 PM | Comments (1)

Just when I think that able-bodied couldn't do anything that surprises me anymore, I come across something that makes me think that the most prrevalent disability is the chronic failure to get on board the clue train. A South African woman was unable to get an ID because the local bureaucrats told her she would need to submit fingerprints, despite the fact that she had no arms. I'm having flashbacks to all those times when physicians asked me to take a deep breath. Or the time when I had my own challenges getting an ID card.

To the able-bodied people of the world: your collective ignorance and bias is starting to bore me. I debated even blogging about this story. In the future, you're going to have to try a lot harder to get my attention.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:42 PM | Comments (0)