Michael Braun's Blog

Wow, what a whirlwind last few months it’s been for her. She returns to Pakistan after exile for 7 years. Her first appearance back in the country is met with a bombing that kills some 140 people. Now earlier today in Pakistan, after a political event, she is shot and suicide-bombed ending in final peril. Benazir Bhutto, dead at age 54.

I’m sure we’ll hear more details emerge as they become available. But nevertheless, it seems quite likely that a lot of blame will be thrown around, especially towards Musharraf, who may be seen as unable to secure the country. With elections coming soon, another State of Emergency could delay them indefinitely. And those people who were looking to Bhutto to lead Pakistan out of the dark cloud it’s been under – I doubt they can be feeling too cheery right about now. It’s definitely a sad day.

In other news, I had a wonderful Christmas vacation! On the 23rd, I drove up to Mishicot to see my dad. We drove down to Milwaukee on the 24th, where I stayed until the evening of the 25th. On the 26th, I went to my mother’s parents’ house to celebrate with that side of the family. Back to the grind on the 27th and 28th, but I’m looking forward to New Years and another 4 day weekend.

How was your break? Did you do anything fun?

Lauren and I watched a VH1 show recently counting down their top 100 songs of the ’90s. We missed most of the tracks, which was okay, as the end was the most interesting. Their #1 song of the ’90s was, if you can guess from the title of this post, ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ by Nirvana. So, when Amos came over yesterday to trade some music, I grabbed Nirvana’s album Nevermind.

I have never listened to this album before, nor have I ever consciously listened to ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’. But in the spirit of (not teens but) the holidays, I decided to give Nirvana’s critically acclaimed album a chance. I’m thru 6 or so tracks now, and I am not impressed. To me, it sounds like Nirvana owes a lot more to bands before them than they have given to bands after them. Not that, to me, their influences are that apparent. I tend not to listen to alternative music, especially not grunge music. But tuning into the radio today, you are sure to hear bands like Nickleback distorting their vocals and yelling their choruses, much like Cobain and crew.

When Nirvana strips down their sound to undistorted guitars, I think they’ve really got something. But then Cobain comes in with his terrible vocals. He sings like he’s twisting his mouth up so he sounds real weird. Then the chorus comes in and he starts screaming. I’ll give him credit for one thing: his songs definitely sound like they come from a troubled, bipolar mind, which is where they came from, of course.

I should have listened to the whole album before writing about it, but halfway through, I really have gotten no pleasure from their music. Maybe I have to be an angry, disaffected youth, but even if that was the case, I still don’t see how distorted guitars and screaming would adequately express what I was feeling. In my case, when I’m angry, I like to listen to some political Hip-Hop. What about Dead Prez? Now there’s some dudes who are angry, but they take it out on the source of their anger (government, racists, et cetera) rather than screaming about how disaffected they are.

Anyway, I will finish the album and maybe have more positive things to say. I like the Foo Fighters, in some cases, whose David Grohl was drummer for Nirvana, so maybe I can like Nirvana. I doubt it, but now is the season for Christmas miracles.

I really like reading gossip news. Why?, you ask. I don’t know. I guess because it shows, all at once, how celebrities’ lives are as troubled as many of ours, but also that they really do live in a world of irreality. And as I read gossip news, I get annoyed with the people who get angry at gossip news. I agree with them to a degree: real news organizations reporting gossip news as if it were real news is irresponsible. If CNN wants to report on celebrities, they at least need to label it as entertainment news. But when it’s a tabloid reporting what tabloids do, I am sick of people complaining about that. Where there is money to be made, it’s an opportunity. So cheers to the tabloids for taking advantage of it and making money. However, just as there are people who hate all entertainment news, there are also people who are a little weird on the other end.

I was reading a gossip page from magazine Us Weekly on their website about two characters from popular MTV show, The Hills, which documents the lives of some snooty So Cal girls and their lame friends. The show is truly terrible, but it’s quite fascinating to watch them make bad choices and live thru everyday drama, as it’s broadcast for the world to see. Then, as the cameras watch, you get to see the characters change their lives to create entertainment. It definitely blurs the line between the camera and real life, even as it can sometimes be dreadful to watch. In the comments on this gossip page, I noticed someone who demands journalistic integrity from Us Weekly!

1:04 AM Juliana Says:

And US keeps reporting on these two losers because…why? I’m still trying to figure out who gives a rats behind what either of these imbeciles do or think or say? They’re not contributing anything of value to society, nor are they entertaining in any way, so I ask again, why are they constantly popping up in US all the time?

Juliana, whoever you are, it’s people like you who keep Us Weekly’s standards so high! Way to go!

My post on Mike Huckabee has generated 3 comments from people I’ve never heard of. Thus is the political climate around here. At least one of them is clearly paid by the Romney campaign to refute posts who support Huckabee. Let’s get one thing straight – I do not support Huckabee. Nor Romney. Nor any of that bunch. I think that Bill Richardson is the best candidate, though he bragged about being supported by the NRA, so maybe he’s not even that good. I will vote for Democratic nominee in the general election whomever he or she may be. Huck’s a bit of a nut, as far as I am concerned.

Anyway, in other news, Christmas is rapidly approaching! I’m pretty much done with my shopping, though still want to get a few more little things, including print out some pictures. I need to get that done quickly, as I’m planning to head up to Mishicot on the 23rd, then down to Milwaukee on the 24th. Both those days will most likely be out as far as serious shopping goes. I guess that leaves me just the 22nd to get shopping wrapped up, and gifts wrapped as well (though I could easily do that on the 23rd or 24th). Still, pretty crazy! Without being at home, with a mother who actually decorates for holidays, there is most definitely something lacking in my holiday cheer. I get more excited for the time off from working than I do for the holiday itself.

I went out snow shoeing on my own on Tuesday. Without Lauren there to keep my pace at a reasonable level, I was exhausted by the time I finished. Halfway thru the walk, I had to take off my hat because I was so hot. Snow was melting on my jeans making them wet. But wow, what a rush! You’re not going that fast, but it feels like you are flying over the snow. And each step seems more rewarding, as there is no glide, like there is in cross-country skiing. You put in work for those steps. And my arms were more sore after snow shoeing than they have been lately from lifting weights at the gym.

Also, I’m planning to see No Country for Old Men tonight with Tony. Finally!

I recently stumbled on an interesting website – http://www.hsx.com – Hollywood Stock Exchange. Here, you sign up, are given $2,000,000 Hollywood dollars, and encouraged to buy shares in movies and stars. The theory behind it, no doubt, aims to make predictions about stars and movies, but also to collect data for advertising. Overall, it’s a great system and a lot of fun. I would highly encourage you to check it out.

So far, I’ve learned a few lessons.

1. A stock is much more likely to rise in price than to drop. As more and more money pours into the market, there is a lot of reason to invest, not much to sell. Thus, stars like Rupert Grint, of Harry Potter films fame, has an extremely high price. While I bought stock in him believing he has real talent as an actor, his price has remained artificially high because of the last Harry Potter film, which has done very well on the exchange (as well as at the box office). So, while I may make more money on him, he’s not as likely to earn me dough as someone like, say, Mos Def, who is trading very low and is about to star in a movie with Jack Black (Be Kind, Rewind), which looks quite funny.

2. Because of point 1, short-selling on a movie you think will flop is not a good way to make money. I am pretty certain that ‘P.S. I Love You’ will do poorly at the box office. I also think it’s a bad career move for Hilary Swank. Thus, I short sold 1000 shares for both Hilary and the film. But as the film is an upcoming release, more people are buying it. I covered my short sell and took the loss. I will short sell again come the weekend, when I think the movie will do poorly. But until then, I expect to see the price rise.

3. It’s not a real market, but there’s plenty of activity. Sure, it’s not as busy as the NYSE, but I’ve kept my eye on the changes and noticed some serious trends. There are enough people out there trading on this stuff that it can be a lot of fun. So, if you decide to sign up, refer me! You can input my email address (michael.braun@mac.com) when signing up. It’s definitely a fun thing to do.

Here’s a poem for your pleasure!

Sheep and Lemmings
By Michael Braun

I watched your musical chair charade
and felt a trillion needles stabbing,
piercing with the indoctrination
to end the rabble-rousing.

I stood, “what a farce!”, yet silent,
stepped down to fill your desires,
the whims which steer this sinking ship,
the snaps which plough it down.

Somehow, you imagine leadership
a picture of your edictful style,
as if you are creator and enforcer,
not a visionary guide.

I doubt it ever rings strange to you,
your bumbles, burbles and needless commands,
but living the rules is a study in mindlessness.
Your school is one of sheep and lemmings.

Okay, so the actual snow shoeing wasn’t that much of an adventure, but purchasing the snow shoes is a bit of a tale, which I will relate below.

Saturday, Lauren and I set out, convinced that we were all set to purchase snow shoes and hit the slopes (or flats, anyway). As we had previously looked at REI, we headed there first, fighting off the insane holiday traffic around the mall. But once we got to REI, we found ourselves disappointed. Not only did their selection look quite picked over, all their staff seemed extremely busy, certainly with no time to help two young people purchase snow shoes. So, after standing around for 5 minutes, trying to catch someone’s eye, we left. Maybe they had some in the back, maybe not. We never found out. We walked over to Kohl’s, to see about a gift for Lauren’s dad, then across the way to Dick’s. But there too, we struck out on snow shoes. Lauren tried on some snow boots, but they didn’t fit. Lauren did find a gift for her dad in the mall, but we headed back home, resolved to purchase snow shoes after Christmas. So sad!

But soon came Sunday morning and Lauren suggested calling Fontana Sports. Lo and behold – they had snow shoes! The ones we wanted were at the downtown branch. We left at 11, had our snow shoes by 11:30. Then, we went to DSW, where Lauren found some great snow boots. Everything was falling into place. Aside from one minor issue (my snow shoes were the model up from the one I thought I needed, meaning they could hold more weight and were a little longer), everything seemed perfect. We hopped in the car after a quick lunch and hit the snow-covered greens of Nakoma Golf Course.

The powder was thick, making the feeling of floating over the snow all the more exciting. You don’t stay completely over the snow, but with the further area of your foot, you don’t sink as much as you would. It’s a lot like cross country skiing, especially using the poles that came with our shoes. And it’s a great workout. We walked for around 50 minutes, both of us ending up more tired than we had expected.

The investment was absolutely worth it, and I cannot more highly recommend that you (yes, YOU!) go purchase some snow shoes as soon as you can. Lauren, normally one who is quite sensitive to the cold, found only her legs to be chilly, even though the high temperature for the day was only 20 degrees. Plus, if you do live in the Madison area, or somewhere else with a similar snow covering, you should get a lot of use out of the shoes. Next up – more cross country skiing! We went last year, with Lauren renting skis, and I think we will do the same thing this year.

Wow, Former Arkansas Governor and current Republican Presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee is surging in the polls! What does this mean?

1. There is a real chance that Huckabee can steal the momentum that Romney was depending on – winning in Iowa and continuing to build thru the rest of the primaries. Even with a loss in New Hampshire, he can do as Bush did and dominate in South Carolina. Because he is quite conservative, religiously, he appeals to those values voters. His only risk is that his more moderate positions (some truly “compassionate conservative” views, especially on raising taxes on business and helping the poor) will make him unpopular with bread-and-butter Republicans who are not evangelicals.

2. If he wins the nomination, we may see a real fracture in the Republican alliance – where religious evangelicals united with economic conservatives to sweep the Republicans into power back in ’94. Huckabee may get the vote of the evangelicals, but he’s not exactly business friendly. But with no Ross Perot out there to steal votes, we may instead see lower voter turnout.

3. Evangelicals are still a strong voting bloc. Despite early hesitations, threats of a third-party candidate, and talk of the Bush days being completely over, Huckabee is propped up on their shoulders in Iowa, whereas just weeks ago, he was nobody. What a rise!

4. There’s still danger a-lurking. We can’t stay complacent that someone like Giuliani has a chance. He will not win the nomination. We will have a social conservative running on the Republican ticket. While Huckabee has some nice talk about immigration and war, he will still appoint judges seeking to overturn Roe v. Wade and try to amend the Constitution to ban same-sex marriage. Not too good at all. But hey, I don’t think that Huckabee can beat the Democratic nominee, so maybe there is less to fear than I’ve imagined.

It’s a slow week, this week, I guess. There hasn’t been much inspiring news that has prompted me to write anything. Nor has much been going on in my life. I must apologize to all you faithful readers. Hopefully, you all have RSS feeds of my blog setup such that you do not spend time refreshing constantly my page in hopes of a new post.

Some general reporting: Lauren started lifting weights as part of her workout routine. Last Saturday, I killed myself working 30 minutes on an exercise bike. Feeling like I couldn’t continue to do anymore cardio, I decided to join her on the weights. I had not lifted weights since ninth grade (as evidenced by my skinny arms) and did not have pleasant memories of those gym classes. So I didn’t know what to expect. But, to my surprise, I really enjoyed using the weight machines! And aside from being sore the next few days, I’ve noticed only upsides. Why, just yesterday, I lifted a car! What progress! So, if you need anything crushed, let me know.

In other news, I’m done with my Christmas shopping! Okay, I do have to print out some pictures to be used as gifts, but that’s really quite minor. I am very pleased with my purchases, despite having gone above my budget. Ah well, I must do my part to keep the American economy going, especially with sales predicted to be down (or not up as much) this year. It’s nice to have a girlfriend to shop for. Lauren and my sister were the two easiest people to shop for, though we’ll see how successful my gifts are. For those of you with shopping still to do, I must suggest Barnes and Noble. Perhaps you’ve already been there, but go back! Then, spend some time in sections you might not normally. The cooking, exercise, art, and current events sections are excellent places to find books for those tough people on your list. Magazines are also an excellent place to look. Then, it’s a gift you can give every year!

Finally, Lauren and I are about to make a very exciting purchase – SNOW SHOES! Tired of being cooped up all winter, but annoyed with the cold weather making walks downright unpleasant, we thought that snow shoes were ideal. They get you outside, but moving well enough that your generated warmth should be enough to keep you comfortable. Plus, snow shoeing is darn good exercise. REI seems to be the place to go, though perhaps we might check out other sporting goods stores. Sunday also looks like a beautiful day to go. I am also hoping to get out skiing this weekend. First, I need to get my skis from Lauren’s mother’s garage. But then, it’s off to the trails. Cross-country skiing is perhaps the best winter sport, but maybe snow shoeing will soon take a special place in my heart.

Have wonderful weekends, all!

You need to see the movie ‘Once’. If you are in the Madison area, it’s still playing at Market Square (just $3 for an evening showing, can’t be beat). It’s funny, touching, and filled with great music! Lauren and I say it on Friday night, returned home, and immediately purchased the soundtrack.

It’s a quiet story that takes place in Dublin. A street musician/vacuum repair person meets a young immigrant who happens to play the piano. They hit it off, performing some music together. The plot revolves around their relationship, which leads them into a studio together to record a demo. Pretty neat, as the music is good and watching them perform is exciting. It manages to keep a lot of freshness in a potentially tired drama – melancholy/musical/romance – and makes it all very realistic, something often lacking from musicals. And romances for that matter.

The movie was highly praised by critics, earning a 98% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. I will guarantee your enjoyment! When it comes out on DVD, I recommend buying (not renting) it. You will not regret it.

How in the world did it end up just two weeks until Christmas? I’m not nearly done with my shopping! Just two more weekends (not counting this one) to complete it. The weekend before should only be used for those last minute purchases, and I’m not a last minute kind of guy! Anyway, I seriously need to get down to business and wrap up my shopping. I don’t believe I’ve finished up shopping for anyone just yet, so I really need to snap to it.

I’m glad it’s the weekend. Even though I was sick on Monday, the week seemed especially long and annoying. I think I need a week long vacation about every 2 months. I wonder if there’s a place out there that would give me that kind of freedom? Wait! What about school? If UW had a fall break, it would be the perfect place to make all my wildest dreams come true. How can I become a full-time student? How’s this for a dream – using my free time to research for an academic paper? Oh, what heaven that would be! Spending time in the library taking notes, assembling sources, gosh golly, what wonder!

Lauren and I are currently at a coffee shop that is quite bustling. There is a pink-coated child at the table next to ours who seems determined to cause a mess. She’s already destroyed her mother’s newspaper by spilling soda on it and has been instructed to cap her bottle. Perhaps the toy helicopter she fetched from a nearby toybin will keep her busy hands satisfied while her mother finishes her coffee. Or disaster will strike again, with the helicopter flying thru the screen of my laptop.

How are you? What have you been up to? I haven’t heard from you in forever!! Bye now!

Reminder: for those of you reading this on facebook, remember that these “notes” are auto-imported from my blog. You can read the posts at their original source by navigating to http://blog.thebriz.org.

Here are some haikus. They are all along the same theme, but aren’t meant as a single poem. Enjoy!

Thinks Man’s World ideal.
You question White Male Power?
Bend and face his scorn.

Victim laughs along.
Plays his games, takes his blame, grins.
Sex ends, rape begins.

I question: frowned at,
cock-eyed scowl. Now I’ve found that
my ‘buts’ – unfounded.

It’s never fun to be around someone who can trigger these kinds of thoughts, but sometimes that’s how things work.

A while back, some tech website/magazine wrote off Zuckerberg, saying MySpace had won. But MySpace’s popularity got the better of it. The prevailing membership groups of MySpace (teenage girls, sex predators, big corporations) made it seem less cool the larger it got. And who on earth would deny the cool factor of a website with an original membership of college students only? Suddenly, Zuckerberg seemed WAY cooler than that lame guy who started MySpace and then sold out to News Corp.

But he now had to perform. Microsoft seemed to think Facebook was indeed way cool (and everyone knows Bill Gates is quite the purveyor of cool; Vista is this year’s biggest fashion accessory), so they invested some $300 million in it. Now the pressure was really on to Zuckerberg. If his site was really worth $15 billion, he had to show that it could actually generate revenue. So he put his head together with his other 23 year old buddies, and they came up with a super cool idea! When a friend tells you about something he or she bought, you are more likely to buy it yourself. So they figured sites would pay more to be allowed to publish a Facebook user’s purchase on that user’s Facebook news feed! How convenient!: users don’t have to go thru all the trouble of telling friends what they purchase, and advertisers don’t have to actually think of marketing campaigns that are compelling. Who in the world wouldn’t like such a system? In fact, Zuckerberg was SO confident of the system that he trumpeted it as a change in media that occurs only once every one hundred years. Never mind the fact that advertising isn’t exactly media… and that the internet happened just a few decades ago… and that television fully propagated in the 1950s…

As it turns out, a surprise to many of you, not a lot of people liked Zuckerberg’s idea, which he coined ‘Beacon’. So many, in fact, that Facebook faced backlash not just from users, but also from the media and even government! So, while the user revolt over news feeds produced groups with hundreds of thousands of members, and while users often didn’t understand Beacon or make purchases to be affected by it, the outcry was still much more rampant for Zuckerberg and crew. And thus, this week, he added a new feature allowing users to completely opt out of the feature. I did so immediately.

Where did this well-intentioned and ambitious young man go wrong? Ummm… let’s see… maybe by creating a feature that was unlikely to produce advertising revenue for customers and sketchy in terms of privacy violations? Or by not making it secure enough to actually work the way they promoted it (sometimes users were not given the option to opt out at the site they were buying from; sometimes the external sites published stories even when a user was not logged into Facebook)? Or maybe by not thinking about a real to reach out to both users and to advertisers? Maybe the real problem is that being a 23-year-old whiz-kid doesn’t automatically make you a genius when it comes to the real world.

Overall, we, the users, should chalk this in the win column. But in terms of the future, who knows how much we will keep winning? Facebook is rapidly turning from a friendly, hip, and cool way to keep up with your friends into a vehicle for money-making. I don’t want to deny Zuckerberg the ability to make money on his site, but expecting it to generate enough revenue to actually be valued at $15 billion – he’s got a long way to go before that happens.

Mitt Romney spoke today on religion, though not specifically on his Mormon faith. One of the things he said has me puzzled. He said that freedom needs religion and that religion needs freedom. I understand his latter statement. Without freedom, religion cannot grow and change to reflect changes in people’s faiths. You can understand this by looking at the higher rate of non-religious people in Great Britain, which has an official church. Not only are many people there turning away from religion, there is also a higher rate of atheism.

But why does freedom need religion? For boundaries and rules? Morality and law exist outside of religion, so that seems like a weak argument. For purpose? Again, making your eventual goal in life something that occurs after your death certainly has some downsides. For meaning? Without religion, freedom is empty, just ask Sartre, the depressing French philosopher (who favored the nothingness over a god). But this too seems quite abstract and not likely to produce a solid argument.

After some thought, I think that Romney was depending on the rhetorical skills of his speech writing staff. Any time you can take a phrase and reverse it, you sound pithy and cool. But this can backfire. Character Michael Scott from popular NBC sitcom ‘The Office’ once said, “You’ve got to play to win. And you’ve got to win to play.” So if religion needs freedom (true), then it also sounds plausible that freedom must need religion (questionable). Romney scores points for sounding hip and for tying his decision making to religion.

And maybe Romney does need religion in his freedom. Maybe for him, the thought of freedom without religious boundaries is quite scary! Perhaps he would fall victim to his most base desires if he didn’t have the guiding rails of his religion and faith. But if that is the argument he’s trying to make, it seems like his statement actually makes him less desirable as a leader. If he’s frightened of what he might do were it not for his religion, what would happen if his faith was shaken? What if another 9/11 occurs while he’s president, and it was so terrible that it made him question the higher power he believes in? Would he be likely to order unforgivable actions to seek revenge against those who attacked us? Could this lead to another Iraq, or even worse, a nuclear war?

In the end, I don’t know what Romney was attempting to argue during his speech. But it sure left me with a lot more questions than answers.

Once again, Office Max and their copy service, Copy Max, have disappointed me. The first time, I was trying to make a brochure for a job interview presentation. I went in there and they told me it would be 24 hours before they could churn out my 10 simple brochures. I left and went to Kinko’s, where they did it in four hours.

Today, though I am sick and stayed home from work to rest, I ventured out as I had some things to print. I thought Office Max was a good place to try, as this time it was just some plain documents on a flash drive. But when I got in there and up to the counter, I was told the same thing – 24 hours. I said, it’s just 6 things. The guy said that they only had one machine running now. I didn’t even try to argue. I said, I’ll go somewhere else, and left. I went to Kinko’s and everything was great.

So COME ON!, Office Max – what is your problem? I had everything all set. You had to take my flash drive, plug it in your computer, open the files, and click print. There’s no formatting. There’s no trouble. There’s only me wanting to give you money for doing something very easy. And even if they only did have one machine running, whatever that means, WHY DO YOU HAVE 10 EMPLOYEES STANDING AROUND IN THE BACK? Yah, I don’t know either, so maybe you should get on that.

Double kudos to Kinko’s for coming thru for me. I think you’re overpriced, but when it works, it works, and you rock on that account.