RandomCha

 This’ll knock your socks off:

HITCHCOCK PORTFOLIO

Lord love a duck! What the hell is it going to take to get DSL again? Yup, you guessed it, our line was not activated last night as scheduled. I called tech support, spoke with a very intelligent (and frankly, very hot-sounding) guy who basically told me, “Yeah, you’ve definitely set up your wireless router correctly, but for some reason your line has not been provisioned yet. The provisioning department is only open from 7 to 7. I suggest calling them first thing tomorrow and complaining because it’s totally inexcuseable.”

Yes. It is. And I did. This morning they said they are looking into why it hasn’t been provisioned on time and will get back with me. When they do, I’m quite ready to give them a piece of my mind and demand some kind of compensation for time lost.

It’s now been 2 weeks without DSL at home.  One week of Earthlink screwing up around, and now it looks like it’s AT&T’s turn.

Zelig [1983]

1. Mae Questel singing “Chameleon Days.”
2. The airplane flying upside down across the Atlantic.
3. Zelig blends in at a Greek restaurant.

The Savages [2007] 

1. “Your brother will not marry me, but when I cook eggs for him he cries.”
2. MCU: a paper Thanksgiving decoration is taken down from a wall and a paper Santa is put in its place. A hand puts a staple through Santa’s head.
3. The thick, heavy fingers lying on top of the sheet the morning after Lenny dies.

Looks like the AT&T DSL is up and running, and tonight I’ll be able to surf online at home for the first time in two weeks. Wild!

The Bob Balaban interview went really well. It was surreal to answer my cell phone and hear, “Hi Rob, Bob Balaban here.” He called me while stuck at O’Hare waiting for the fog to clear and we talked for about twenty minutes. Should have the interview posted on Friday.

The Democratic race is so exciting, whilst the GOP race is kinda like “Bob Dole” pt. 2: old guy set up to lose. Let us hope.

Another Country [1984]

1.  When Cary Elwes sits down to dinner, the look on his face: equal parts excitement, fear, shyness, lust.
2. The little bust of Lenin that Guy carries around with him.
3. One of the younger boys emptying a can of beans into a black pot. The boy next to him preparing a plate of bread and butter.

Bluebeard’s Castle [1964]

1. The silver twig in Judith’s hair.
2. Shimmering patterns of paint slowly morphing, floating on the surface of Bluebeard’s jet black pool.
3. The slow tracking shot at the beginning, a gradual reveal of the grotesque sculptural forms that decorate the castle. Reminded me of “Night Gallery.”

Should I feel guilty for calling in sick today? We have about a foot of snow and it’s still coming down. And it’s Friday.

Well, last night I made the calls: AT&T DSL is on its way and buy-bye Earthlink. It was almost touching how the Earthlink customer service agent tried talking me out of the decision, first offering to cut my bill by $30 a month, then offering to “expedite” the repairs of my line outage. I was cordial but firm. Umm, no. It’s kind of sad. I’d signed up with Earthlink in December of 1999. Too bad they eventually started to suck.

I sincerely hope the switchover is painless and rapid. By next Thursday we should be up and running. Till then, I guess it’s gonna be WiFi at Argo or Latakia.

Bad day.

This morning I discovered that, somewhere, somehow, I lost my debit card. Because of the terrible weather last night I skipped out on going to the Chicago Film Forum screening, which has made me grumpy. We have been having DSL problems since last Thursday, and because of Earthlink’s utterly crappy service have been unable to get it resolved. Work is the usual deadening buffet of inanity, absurdity and stupidity. And, try as I might, I can’t even seem to get an interview for a new job elsewhere.

On the other hand, this morning I ordered this … which will make me really happy, providing of course that it actually gets here okay.