May 25, 2005 - Saturday Garage Sale

Summer is here, and it's time to clean out the closet!

I'm holding a One-Day-Only Garage Sale on Saturday, May 28, 2005, from 9 - 4,
at 53705 River View Drive, La Pine [Map].

There will be absolutely no junk - only really nice stuff that I simply have no use for anymore. Most of it is new or almost new or in very good condition.

Here's a list of all the stuff I will have for sale (more items and photos will get added as the week progresses!).

Come and see!

May 20, 2005 - Film Review: Kingdom of Heaven

While light sabers savagely clashed and Jedi warriors tried to save the Empire from a budding Darth Vader, in a galaxy far far away, I sat in a theather and watched a "real" movie. One with a tru(er) story, good dialogue, and actors that actually know how to act.

Since missing Ridley Scott's Gladiator in the theater (but later adoring it on DVD over and over), I was determined not to let Kingdom of Heaven slip by me - seeming as it was doomed to suffer the fate of being a movie playing opposite "Star Wars" and land on the theatric chopping block within days, no doubt (yes, there were exactly 7 people in the audience, including myself).

I did not get disappointed. Ridley Scott is still the master of cinematic grandeur - and no one has a knack for historical accuracy and can direct a battle scene quite like him.

Most impressive however was the delicate manner in which he handled the politically highly-flammable historic theme of the Crusades - Muslims and Christians facing off in battle over the city of Jerusalem. His solution was not to take sides at all.

The New York Times called it "curiously disengaged" in their review - but one could argue that in reality, the word "diplomatic" would have been more appropriate. In fact, I found myself at times even sympathizing with the Muslim warriors, for it felt like the European Christians (and especially the Knights Templar zealots) were definitely the ones intruding on this dusty patch of soil. Which explains probably why the movie is not filling any seats in American theaters ...

With all the visual grandeur and a finely told story, there were still a few problems though - consisting mainly of a sappy Orlando Bloom (another disappointment after Troy). This could have been the role of a lifetime for him - maybe doing for Bloom what "Gladiator" had done for Russell Crowe. Yet it became apparant quite quickly, that Bloom lacks a few crucial character attributes to make this role work for him - one of them being passion. That fire, that raw anger and brutish physical prescence that made Crowe such a captivating Gladiator, is completely lost on Bloom. He looks mostly lost, sheepish and sad, with his sleek physique seemingly more attuned to surfing that medieval sword fighting. Even when he has scenes of authority and dialogue of power, he cannot pull it off. That face the camera and fans so love, leaves you completely cold in this movie. But when that face also becomes the visual focal point of a good 30% of the movie, it becomes a problem.

That being said though - there are other fine performances, such as by Liam Neeson, who I wished would have had more screen time. Edward Norton surprises as the masked King of Jerusalem - and while you don't see his face once, he still does a better job with his voice and body language alone than the hopelessly wooden Bloom. The actor playing the moderate Muslim Saladin is perfectly cast due to his strong and noble Arab face and authentic accent. Jeremy Irons is fine, as is Marton Csokas (who adds this movie to his impressive work line-up of LOTR, Star Wars, and The Bourne Supremacy), but Eva Green as the mandatory love interest is stupendously superflous (aside from providing opportunity for the camera to linger on her huge, coal-rimmed green eyes).

Overall, there is much that could have been improved upon in this movie - the lead role for one - but as it stands, it is a great tale of a time and age not many Americans know much about or have a connection to (except maybe history buffs). So if they were to watch it, it might actually enlighten them about a different time, a different culture, and the fact, that 1000 years later, Christians and Muslims still have exactly the same problem with eachother.

None of the wars, none of the bloodshed, persecution and violence has made any difference at all.

May 19, 2005 - Crushed in TV Land

I love a good story.

Unfortunately, aside from incessantly reading books, it's hard to get my fix. There are only meager offerings of the kind on TV these days - and most of it is crap.

So when for once a good show like Carnivale comes along with a riveting story to tell, its cancellation by the producing network just seems senseless and unfair. Never mind that it won 5 Emmys last year and had developed a cult following amongst its watchers (yes, I'm one of them...).

One of the reasons HBO cited for folding up Carnivale's tent was that "the drama did not increase its audience in its second season". With a plot so intricate, so convoluted, that literally every frame, every scene counts, it's honestly beyond me how they could expect people to jump in during the second season and still pick up on the overall story line.

Most infuriating though is how they left the end of the last season so wide open (will Hawkins die? Will Crowe live? What about Sophie?) and can still claim that "we feel the two seasons we had on the air told the story very well". Sure it did - but it didn't *finish* it.

I think it's probably only the second time I've felt this let down by a story - the shining award of First Place of course goes to Mr. Stephen King, who decided to torture us with his "The Plant" story, but never finished it.

In yet another stroke of brilliance by a TV network, CBS has decided to cancel "60 Minutes Wednesday" (thank you, Mr. Bush) - in favor of such no doubt spellbinding crap like "Mandy Patinkin and Thomas Gibson as FBI profilers pursuing the country's most twisted criminal minds" and - wait! it gets better - "Jennifer Love Hewitt as a woman who speaks to the dead".

::Shudder::

If it weren't for "Survivor" and "Deadwood", I think I'd cancel my DirecWay subscription and sustain myself on movies from Netflix and the library ...

May 17, 2005 - Health Insurance Woes

[Note: this is a regurgitation of the post about health insurance over at the Emerald Bay Photo blog.]

Today, I'd like to address an issue that a lot of freelance photographers (and other self-employed people) face: The task of buying individual health insurance.

Like so many of my peers, I want health insurance, but cannot afford the premiums even my husband's employer wants from me (something like 250 bucks a month). So I've been on the lookout for good, affordable health insurance by a reputable company for a while now.

A few months back, a fellow freelancer warmly recommended Pacific Source, an Oregon-based company with terrific rates and a very high consumer satisfaction rating. I instantly downloaded their lenghty application, filled it out and sent it in. 3 weeks later, I get a letter of rejection.

Now, I'm one of those blessedly healthy individual who doesn't see the point of going to the doc unless something seriously traumatic happens (like I'm suddendly missing a limb, or the like - for which I *do* would like to be insured though). But apparently the fact that I was honest and told Pacific about a rotator cuff injury I sustained (and healed out) last winter while shoveling snow, was enough for them to turn me down. I was bummed.

Suddenly though, my mailbox filled with ads for health insurance for the self-employed. I didn't bother to take a closer look, until today, when a lady named Sally Hite called me and wanted to set up a meeting to "customize a quote" for me. I indulged her for a bit, telling her about my Pacific Source experience (she didn't seem too concerned with my rotator cuff problem), trying to glean as much info as possible from her through her hard sales pitch about the company she represented . She told me she worked with/for Mega Life & Health Insurance, but upon requesting she'd send me some information about the company prior to the meeting, she told me she'd rather not send anything because "most consumers don't understand the information anyway, and I'd rather not get you confused". Aha. I'm an idiot. News to me. But hey. She fussed even when I asked for a website URL.

So while still on the phone, I pulled up the company's website - where I found no information of any use, except the impression that for a national insurance company, they sure didn't splurge on web design costs. I finally hung up, and smelling the rotting fish from a mile away, went looking online for more information on the company.

Of course what I found was less than encouraging: The Texas Dept. of Insurance had a lengthy profile of the company, complete with a history of fines Mega had incurred in the past years for "market conduct". Selfemployedweb.com had an interesting article on deceptive practices some health insurance companies employed to get people to sign up - with Mega Life and its parent company, UICI, highlighted as an example for just such practices.

And then there was this interesting note in the article, saying how insurance companies employed associations and other similar groups to help them sell insurance. That's when I remembered that Sally had mentioned that I would need to sign up with the NASE (National Association for the Self-Employed) to be eligible for her insurance. And looky here - the NASE wants $96 just for their basic membership, with "benefits" that seem only a thinly-veiled list of companies that just love to market to the self-employed.

Add to that this fascinating thread in the Google Answers forum - and I swiftly cancelled my appointment with Sally. This little gem from a PR Newswire report in particular did it for me: Since late 2002, UICI has been beset by lawsuits alleging the company sold insurance policies through business associations without properly revealing close links to those organizations. The associations, including the National Association for the Self-Employed and the Alliance for Affordable Services, were managed by executives with direct ties to UICI.

So what's the moral of this rather lengthy post? Fellow freelancers out there beware - there are insurance companies on the loose with less than stellar morals, trying to take advantage of you. If you can, instead sign up with the AMSP, and get insurance through them. Of course the hang-up here is that their conditions specify you need "three or more consecutive years of substantial publication experience" and you need two ASMP members to sponsor your application...

I'm not quite there yet, so I'm still looking for insurance. If any alert readers come up with any bright ideas, email me or post in the comments over at the Emerald Bay post.

May 5, 2005 - Housing Boom-Zoom-Zoom

::rubbing my eyes::

Have I been in a coma over the past year?

I mean, I knew that Central Oregon is growing like mad, but *that* mad? Ever since Barney has moved from Bend.com over to Z21 (and since freaking DirecTV doesn't carry any local channels on its feed), I've felt like I've been deprived of good-quality local reporting.

Luckily, however, transcripts of Barney's reports are available on the station's website now. And this one was particularly enlightning (sidenote: why the heck aren't there any hard links for this stuff??):

"In just the past year, Bend's average home sale price has jumped 20 percent, to $296,817. That's up 45 percent since 2001."

and ... "Bend, for example, expects to issue building permits for a record 2,000 homes this year. Robert Mathias, city Building Division manager, said that would rank Bend No. 6 in the country, in total numbers, amid big cities like New York, Los Angeles and Phoenix."

Ick. And there I thought I had fled the Bay Area to get away from massive development and sky-high housing prices...

On the Bright Side: Happy Cinco De Mayo, folks! Eat, drink, eat beans, and be merry today.

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