Bruner Blog
All Bruner, All the Time
Their Sense of Humor Is Different
Reuters reports: "Beijing's most popular newspaper [Beijing Evening News] has unwittingly republished a bogus story about U.S. Congress threats to skip town for Memphis or Charlotte unless Washington builds them a new Capitol building with a retractable dome. The source? America's celebrated spoof tabloid, the Onion."
Source: NPR & Haas
- 6/7/2002
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Good Find
I just discovered FreeFind, quite a good little search utility for web sites (see it in my navigation menu to the left). One advantage to FreeFind over other utilities I played with (notably Google) is that you can have it immediately index all the pages in your site, while Google doesn't make any promises that it will index your pages anytime soon (at least not for free). The results with Google were all pointing to my homepage, where blog entries had once lived, not my blog archive pages, where the entries now live. The trade-off with FreeFind is advertising on the results pages, of course, but they don't seem too disruptive to me.
- 6/7/2002
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Racial Profiling on Visas
This is disgusting. The Bush administration is now proposing to get fingerprints for visa holders, but spefically from Muslims and Middle Easterners. I have no problem with fingerprinting visa holders (although my wife, a Hungarian citizen, may not be thrilled to hear me say it). What's the big deal about fingerprints? If you're law abiding, why worry about it? Back when I was a temp in college, I had to get fingerprinted to work for an afternoon at Bankers Trust, so somewhere the FBI has my prints on record (tho how they could find them without computers I'd like to know).
I lived in Hungary for five years, and true enough, I was at best semi-legal the whole time, due to a number of factors, including youthful expat-arrogance, an immigration bureaucracy that made the INS look like a walk in the park, and the fact that it was so easy to cheat the system there back then. But had it not been, and had I really wanted to stay in the country badly enough, I would have done what it took to be legal, including fingerprints. My father has just moved back to Hungary (no, we're not Hungarian, we just like the place), and the hoops they're having him jump thru to get legal are incredible.
But my point is, finger prints are not the objection, despite what my privacy-phreak friends might believe. Hell, I don't even strongly object to the idea of national identity cards, seeing as we already need official IDs to drive a car or even be a passenger on a plane (the only difference being you can forge a drivers license at a Times Square gift shop in five minutes).
The outrage is the blatant racial profiling being proposed. Aside from the fact that it goes so obviously against our sense of civil liberties and fair play, it's so narrow minded it is stupid in the extreme. Does this administration really believe that Muslims and Middle Easterners are the only groups of people in the world that are angry enough with U.S. policies to resort to terrorism? I'm not saying anyone is justified in doing so, but it's absurdly niave to assume Middle Easterners are the only threat we face in the next 50 years. When some environmental extremists from New Zealand blow up a dam or whatever, then we'll finger print New Zealanders, too? It's like the foolishness that we all have to have our shoes examined at the airport b/c one guy tried to bring a bomb on-board that way. When the "hat bomber" strikes, then they'll examine everyone's shoes and hats, at least until the "belt bomber" strikes...
I'm all for keeping better tabs on foreigners in this country. Obviously, I don't want to see a police state where IDs and retina scans are demanded of anyone on a regular basis, but enough (if not "everything") has changed as of September 11 that I don't think fingerprinting visa applicants is asking too much. This administration, however, seems determined to flush America's "moral authority" down the toilet with assine, indefensibly racist policies like this one.
- 6/7/2002
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Can't Win for Losing
Being described as a plague of "biblical proportions," Afghanistan is currently battled an infestation of billions of locust that are desimating its crops.
- 6/6/2002
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O Dee Dee
Dee Dee Ramone is dead. Sad. I spent a lot of time listening to these guys in high school. But there is some irony that he ODed. I mean, given his name and everything. Off to join fellow band member Joey Ramone in that great garage band in the sky. Gaba gaba hey!
Tributary samples:
- 6/6/2002
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Truth, Beauty and PowerPoint
NBA finals? World Cup? Bah! I am looking so forward to the 2002 PowerPoint Competition between West Coast contender Michael Sippey and Leslie Harpold for the East.
- 6/6/2002
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Real Reality TV
I saw an episode of ABC's new series Boston 24/7. I'm impressed. Running every night for the several days at 10pm on ABC, each episode is a short documentary featuring three or four real people -- a new principal at a struggling inner-city vocational high school, a lesbian cop, the city's mayor, Thomas Menino. The episodes follow the subjects closely over the course of a day, poignant vignettes that make up a riveting hour of TV.
Real people we can accept as everyday heroes. Not even especially attractive people. None of the subjects apparently seeking celebrity or looking to get rich off the show. No glamour. During a child rape trial, the camera shows a stream of people coming into the courtroom late just behind the frumpy D.A. as she makes her opening arguments for the case before a jury -- honest, ineligant distractions that would never make it on "The Practice" or "Law & Order."
Documentaries in prime time on network TV. I like it. I hope it's a trend, and I suspect it is. ABC supposedly has two similar documentary series in the works, and next week NBC will be showing a similar documentary-style twist on their Law & Order franchise with "Crime & Punishment." I hope NCB doesn't win the PR battle with what to call this new genre: they propose the awful "drama-mentary."
Boston.com's review of "Boston 24/7"
CNN's coverage of the new style of show.
- 6/6/2002
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'Insomnia' Keeps My Eyes Open
I saw the new film "Insomnia" a few days ago, but hadn't gotten to mentioning it here yet. It was pretty good. The script was quite good. Yes, ultimately it is a "game of wits" between an evil psycho and a down-on-his-luck, soon-to-retire detective that pretty much defines the psycho thriller genre, but the plot also hinges on a compelling moral dilemma that the cop, Al Pacino, faces. I won't go into it, but Pacino's character must pick between two bad options. Pacino gives a strong performance as an LA cop out of his element in small-town Alaska while trying to catch a killer and save his career. As if that weren't enough to lose sleep over, the 24-hour sunlight of an Alaskan summer is unrelenting and adds something (tho not really that much) to the suspense. The scenery is also pretty incredible. Alaska is just damn photogenic. There are also at least a few good nerve-wracking scenes (notably including the shoot-out in the fog and real heart-stopper when Pacino falls into the water chasing Williams across a river sending hundreds of logs down stream.
I was particularly disappointed, however, by Robin William's performance. I thought, here's a great chance for him to break character and play an evil psycho, and he really did little with the opportunity. True, he wasn't being his usual moronic self, but he played it very straight, taking no risks, arguing his case so calmly and rationally it would have been more suited for a courtroom drama than a thriller. Hillary Swank was also pretty flat as the innocent young backwater detective star-struck by the big city cop whose cases she studied in school. She played it by the numbers, bringing out nothing very interesting about her character.
I like a good thriller, and this was a decent one. Only after I left the theater, however, did I realize that the director, Christopher Nolan, was also responsible for the brilliant "Memento." This new film was good as your typical thriller goes, but it certainly was nothing like Memento in really breaking new creative ground in filmmaking. Here is "Insomnia's" official site.
Films I'm interested in seeing next include lots of summer blockbuster goodies:
- 6/6/2002
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Well, the Nets could have done a lot worse. Those uniforms, tho, were so dorky. Grey suits and black socks and shoes? Does their mom shop at Wal-Mart?
- 6/6/2002
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Ugh. I'm a New Jersey boy. Reporting at the first commercial break of the first game of the NBA finals at just over six minutes into the game, looks pretty bleak for the NJ Nets: LA lakers lead 19-8. A person might as well watch the World Cup.
- 6/5/2002
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USA!! USA!! USA!!
Nick, gimme a break. You spend a whole day rubbing the Saudis' noses in their defeat (deliciously humiliating as it was), but for the U.S.'s amazing upset victory, all you can offer is that you think we should have the "decency to lose" because we prefer basketball? (At least in basketball, exciting games score points like 85-83, not 0-1.)
(And you can't convince me that you actually like "football" any better than I do, save the opportunity the World Cup provides for ironic/snide remarks about international affairs.)
 Your anti-American piece the other day really was rather patronizing and facile. Dubya may have put it a bit to simply with "you're either with us or agin' us," but couldn't you give us a little better cheer for KICKING PORTUGAL'S ASS, the 5th best ranked team in the world? Your cynicism is getting a bit too predictable.
How ironic would it be if we actually won the championship this year. :-)
- 6/5/2002
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Build a Mosque on Ground Zero
I love this idea. Daniel Brenner, writing on BeliefNet, suggests that we use Ground Zero in part to build an inter-faith center, featuring a mosque, a church and a synagogue. Personally, I'm an athiest, or agnostic at best, but I can't think of a better message to send to Al Qaeda and their like than to demonstrate the openness of our society with action. Thanks to Nick Denton for pointing this out.
- 6/4/2002
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2-bedroom $1,900, 1-Bedroom, $1,2000
If anyone knows of an apartment seeker, there's one available in my buidling, apparently. The sign has been up for more than a week, which is unusual. It's a great neighborhood: 45 Tiemann Place, just south of 125th Street between Broadway and Riverside Dr. Right up above Columbia University. Highly diverse neighboord with lots of students (Barnard, Columbia, Union Theological Seminary, Jewith Theological Seminar, Bank Street College and Manhattan School of Music all within eight blocks). Private security patrols, old-time neighborliness. Elevated subway can be a bit loud, depending on how the windows face, but it's very urban chic.
Best of all, no broker fee. You deal straight with the superintendent and his wife (nice people) for a small fee. If anyone's interested, call 212 865-8001.
- 6/3/2002
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I've Got Moxie!
 I've recently had the pleasure of drinking the original Moxie, supposedly America's oldest soft drink soda, which continues to be made today in Lisbon, Maine. I discovered it because my friend Mike, who I mentioned recently, drove up from DC to see our old college buddy Dan, who moved to nearby Lisbon Falls last year from Nashville, TN. One his way back from Maine, Mike stopped in again and brought me a six-pack of Moxie.
Maybe it's just Mike and me, but we had never heard of the stuff before, which apparently shocked them up in Maine, where the stuff is legendary. For anyone who liked the movie "The Coca-Cola Kid" or enjoys the taste of Zwack Unicum (Hungary's national aperitif), run, don't walk, to Maine or your nearest online soda distributor to get yourself some Moxie.
I don't know if it's always done so, but today the stuff comes in a bright orange can, so I asked Mike if it was orange soda. (Notice the eerie glowing orange aura around the Moxie Boy in the logo above -- his inner Moxing shining through. The can is that same color.) But no, it's not orange soda, and according to Mike that question really annoys Moxie-lovers in Maine. In fact, it is a brown soda, with a hearty flavor and slightly bitter aftertaste, something like fermented tamarind or Jagermeister. Quite tasty, really.
 As far as I can see, there is no official Moxie web site, which is a shame, because I'm curious about the actual company that still makes this stuff. Most of Mike's education about Moxie seemed to come from a guy who identified himself to Mike only as the Moxie Man (who I think might be the guy pictured here; he fits Mike's general description of a Moxie-obsessed old guy). According to the Moxie Man, Moxie's distinctive bitter aftertaste comes from its extremely high caffeine content. Mmmmmm, caffeine. The stuff does seem to pack a bit of a punch that way.
From my subsequent web investigations, I've learned that Moxie was first sold back in the 1870s as a patent medicine (an honorable industry pursued by my own great-grandfather Edgar Bruner). It later was marketed just as a refreshment drink (the can claims "since 1884"), becoming the nation's favorite soft drink through aggressive advertising (lots of collectors of Moxie memorabilia out there) until the 1920s when it was eclipsed by Coca-Cola.
Of the two slogans they've used along the way that I came accross, I prefer "Make Mine a Moxie!" to "Moxie Makes Mainers Mighty." The latter is hard to say and just a lame knock-off of "Guiness is Good for You."
Most interesting in my research was learning that the drink did not get it's name after the colloquialism meaning something along the lines of chutzpah, pizzazz or gumption (e.g., "I'll tell you one thing, buddy, that gal's got moxie!"). Rather, it's the other way around. Here's Webster.com on "moxie":
Pronunciation: 'mäk-sE
Function: noun
Etymology: from Moxie, a trademark for a soft drink
Date: 1930
1 : ENERGY, PEP
2 : COURAGE, DETERMINATION
3 : KNOW-HOW, EXPERTISE
Mike's Moxie Man is not alone in his passion for this tangy antediluvian refreshment. Moxie has quite a passionate following around the web, as well as on the streets in Maine, particularly in and around Lisbon. Have yourself a glass, today! Here are several links to Moxie-related sites:
- The Moxie Festival -- The official page for the annual Lisbon hoopla, something akin to Mardi Gras, according to Mike. He was there for the Memorial Day parade, which lasted for 5 minutes. But apparently the Moxie Festival is non-stop partying for 3 days. Here are pictures of recent Moxie Festivals (looking like stills from or ).
- MoxieWorld.com -- The work of a true Moxie devotee. Quite similar to his other sites MoxieLand.com and Moxie.info. Lots of links, history, products, how to buy, etc.
- Maine Farmhouse Journal -- A well-written loving tribute to Moxie.
- The Moxie Collectors Page -- Various Moxie-related info and jive. The online embodiment of an annual (?) meeting of Moxie product collectors.
- Another Moxie Collector -- WARNING: this page tries to install some software on your hard-drive. I just clicked "No" and had no problems. It's worth checking out. The guy really looks the part (see his photo above). I think he's Mike's "Moxie Man." A HAM radio nut, he identifies himself here only as "WR4B"
- Moxie Lovers Place -- A Yahoo! Groups email discussion list dedicated to the topic of Moxie, with over 100 members.
- Online Soda Distributors -- Several
distributors carry Moxie online. See Moxie fan sites above to find more links. (I chose to link here to SeattleBev.com only because I saw their text ad on Google. See, online advertising does work. ;-)
 Incredibly, in all this online searching, I couldn't find any good clear shots of the type of cans Mike brought. Too bad, as it's stylish in its way, with a guy on the front who bears a resemblance to Bob Dobbs.
I did, however, find several other sites with "Moxie" in the domain that have nothing to do with the soda (hey, if you're going to waste time, why do it only half way?), including:
- MoXie Magazine - "A magazine for the woman who dares"
- Moxieball.com -- A new sport that, as best I could make out, uses a tennis ball to play basketball. Sheer genius, fellas. Although it appears to have nothing to do with Moxie soda, the background color of the homepage is suspiciously similar to the bright orange of the Moxie can. There are apparently four guys in the entire Moxieball league.
- Moxie Pictures -- A film production company whose logo also uses the same bright organge. Coincidence? You tell me.
- Moxie Design -- A web design company with a very ugly site for a web design company.
- Big Moxie -- A band.
- Moxie.nu -- A blogger.
- Moxie.com -- The guy who actually owns this much coveted domain brazenly declares on the spartan homepage, "I got Moxie!" Yes, he certainly does, both in the metaphoric sense, as evidenced by his very audiacity in claiming as much, considering that's he's effectively squatting on a trademarked brand, and also in the domain registration sense, which is just a statement of fact. Sadly, he uses the domain to promote nothing but a Macintosh flip-book software program and the Fort Point Stage theater in Boston, the schedule for which promotes a film festival running from June to September that thus far appears to feature only one movie: "A Night at the Opera." It's a good film, but hardly a three-month festival in itself. Steve, try a little harder.
Truth is, I'm not much of a soda drinker, so all this is kind of lost of me. I was just intrigued (obviously) by this strange little brand's ability to survive for almost 120 year, the last 80 of that under the shadow of its archrival, Coke. That takes moxie! I hope it manages to survive to our grandkids' generation, but I fear that like the frog, it might not make it. But we can hope so. (If anyone reading this knows any Moxie executives, if there are such things, have them give me a call if they want ideas on how to build back their brand on the cheap.) All hail Moxie! Long may it reign!
Shout out to Dan, Tinsley and Tommy: this Moxie is for you!
- 6/2/2002
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NYC Bloggers Unite!
If you're an NYC blogger, you must already have heard about NYCBloggers.com, but just in case you're slow up on the up-take, let me introduce you. It's a pretty frivolous but fun site that let's bloggers in the Big Apple identify themselves by their subway stop. Happy to report that Harlem is well represented. In fact, there are four of us at the 125th stop of the 1 train (okay, two of them are actually me, but still, I'm not alone up here). Expect knock-offs from other cities shortly.
- 6/2/2002
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