America, China, Japan, Russia and South Korea resumed talks with North Korea in Beijing after a gap of more than a year. The discussions are intended to bring an end to its nuclear-weapons programme—North Korea carried out a nuclear test in October.
All the senior economic officials in George Bush's cabinet joined Hank Paulson, America's treasury secretary, in Beijing for the first meeting in a new twice-yearly “strategic economic dialogue” with China. The two sides haggled inconclusively about trade and exchange rates.
The fragility of the Democrats' hold on the incoming American Senate was thrown into sharp focus when Senator Tim Johnson, from South Dakota, suffered a brain haemorrhage. Mr Johnson is said to be recovering after surgery, but if he dies, South Dakota's Republican governor will appoint someone to fill the remainder of his term. A Republican replacement for Mr Johnson would upset the new Democratic majority of one in the chamber.
The death penalty in two states was more or less put on hold over concerns that executions by lethal injection had been botched. Florida's governor, Jeb Bush, ordered a halt to executions after a convicted killer took 34 minutes to die and a judge in California ruled that the state's method of administering the injections was cruel and therefore unconstitutional.
Two of the oldest Episcopalian parishes in the United States, with roots in the colonial era, voted to break away from the national church to protest against its growing acceptance of gays and the ordination of women. Located in Virginia, the parishes aligned themselves with a conservative Nigerian church. The debate over homosexuality and the role of women in the church threatens to produce a schism in the worldwide Anglican communion.
President Mahmoud Abbas called for a general election in the Palestinian territories, as violence between the ruling Islamists of Hamas and Mr Abbas's secular Fatah party increased in the Gaza Strip.
Supporters of Iran's populist president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, did badly in elections to local councils and to the assembly of experts. The assembly can choose Iran's supreme leader, who has more power than the president.
A Libyan court sentenced five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor to death after they were found guilty—on flimsy evidence—of deliberately infecting hundreds of Libyan children with AIDS.
Robert Mugabe, who has run Zimbabwe since 1980, won his ruling party's backing to postpone the next presidential election from 2008 to 2010.
Some 250 foreign aid workers left the Darfur region of Sudan after some of them were shot at and their vehicles stolen at gunpoint. The government in Khartoum continued to refuse to accept a hybrid peacekeeping force from the African Union and the UN.
Tony Blair became the first British prime minister ever to be questioned by police during a criminal investigation. He was questioned as a witness in an inquiry into alleged cash payments from party donors in return for peerages in the House of Lords. Mr Blair said it was “perfectly natural” that he should assist.
Silvio Berlusconi, Italy's former prime minister and the current centre-right opposition leader, went to America for health checks. Mr Berlusconi, who is 70, collapsed at a political rally last month.
Tuesday, December 26, 2006
The Good Gnus
I've been an avid reader of The Economist for about 3 years now. From what I've seen, it's the best news-journal out there. I like it's style- no bylines, no editorials, no rock-star columnists. All articles, including the massive surveys, contain no authorship details. It's about the news, stupid. It approaches major world events from a liberal, market friendly political viewpoint, but refuses to endorse one particular party in the UK or US. It even contains in-depth analysis of books, arts, films, tech and games, especially in their relation to the market. And on top of it all, I've never seen a single grammatical error. That's a big deal to me.
So why tell you this? It's certainly not to boast. I always get a bag when I buy it, because when people see it around the office, they decide to ask questions about it, which can be a real pain in the ass. I don't read it because I'm smart- I read it because I want to be informed.
ANYWHOOO...I thought I'd use the online version to include news snippets ever monday. Starting today (which isn't a monday). For now, I'm gonna just copy and paste them in, until i work out how to use RSS feeds. Enjoy.
PS. I'm only gonna include bits I think are interesting. Don't like it? Go buy the full edition, Complainy McGee.
So why tell you this? It's certainly not to boast. I always get a bag when I buy it, because when people see it around the office, they decide to ask questions about it, which can be a real pain in the ass. I don't read it because I'm smart- I read it because I want to be informed.
ANYWHOOO...I thought I'd use the online version to include news snippets ever monday. Starting today (which isn't a monday). For now, I'm gonna just copy and paste them in, until i work out how to use RSS feeds. Enjoy.
PS. I'm only gonna include bits I think are interesting. Don't like it? Go buy the full edition, Complainy McGee.
2006- a look back on a year that were
Like most people, I take the time during the holiday period to look back on the year and allow myself to get thoroughly depressed by my lot in life. So here's a summary.
1. I'm still fat. Fuck me, you'd think I'd have buckled down and lost the weight by now.
2. Still poor. Money avoids me.
3. My career is going roughly nowhere. The one project I was working consistently on, Omega Team, is in limbo. And I barely care.
4. My bike got ripped off. Mostly. I left it outside my office after the tire blew, and when I went to pick it up a few days later, the back tire, and all the gears, had been taken. I hope the guy who stole them is currently wrapped around a tree, with his jawbone clattering around his ankles. I have no problem with that sort of person being dead or grievously injured. Frees up space in major shopping centers.
5. My relationship with my on again, off again girlfriend is as complicated as ever. For the uninitiated, I've been seeing this girl for nearly 2 years now. She's sweet, and pretty, and we have some excellent fights and disagreements. But it won't go further, because there's some incompatibilities- she's Vietnamese, and catholic, and my (Jewish) mother is a horrible bitch.
6. My career aside, my regular day job situation is grim. I'm working for a website tech support team, and the hours/pay sucks. So I'm slinging pizzas at night. I have more fun with the pizzas. But I'm 26.
So what's to look forward to? A few things.
1. Planning on moving to New York. Was hoping for April, probably gonna be May or June at this point. But it's something to work towards.
2. I've taken up Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. It's fun, and a good workout. And what red-blooded man doesn't like grappling on the floor with other men, with the objective of getting a frontal mount?
3. I have a purim spiel to direct in March. That oughta be fun.
4. Something may still happen with Omega Team. Stranger things have happened.
5. The Precinct, a nakedfella project, is coming along, with me playing a minor role.
6. Can't get worse.
I know my grievances are minor- I still have my health, I'm getting laid every so often, and I have friends. Oh, and I also live in a peaceful, beautiful city and have no big dogs in my neighbourhood. I have a big computer and bigger TV, an iPod, a Nintendo DS, and lots of books and DVDs. And y'know what? Those things do bring me some happiness. Not true happiness, but why split hairs? I don't use real butter on my toast, why should I have real happiness in my life?
1. I'm still fat. Fuck me, you'd think I'd have buckled down and lost the weight by now.
2. Still poor. Money avoids me.
3. My career is going roughly nowhere. The one project I was working consistently on, Omega Team, is in limbo. And I barely care.
4. My bike got ripped off. Mostly. I left it outside my office after the tire blew, and when I went to pick it up a few days later, the back tire, and all the gears, had been taken. I hope the guy who stole them is currently wrapped around a tree, with his jawbone clattering around his ankles. I have no problem with that sort of person being dead or grievously injured. Frees up space in major shopping centers.
5. My relationship with my on again, off again girlfriend is as complicated as ever. For the uninitiated, I've been seeing this girl for nearly 2 years now. She's sweet, and pretty, and we have some excellent fights and disagreements. But it won't go further, because there's some incompatibilities- she's Vietnamese, and catholic, and my (Jewish) mother is a horrible bitch.
6. My career aside, my regular day job situation is grim. I'm working for a website tech support team, and the hours/pay sucks. So I'm slinging pizzas at night. I have more fun with the pizzas. But I'm 26.
So what's to look forward to? A few things.
1. Planning on moving to New York. Was hoping for April, probably gonna be May or June at this point. But it's something to work towards.
2. I've taken up Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. It's fun, and a good workout. And what red-blooded man doesn't like grappling on the floor with other men, with the objective of getting a frontal mount?
3. I have a purim spiel to direct in March. That oughta be fun.
4. Something may still happen with Omega Team. Stranger things have happened.
5. The Precinct, a nakedfella project, is coming along, with me playing a minor role.
6. Can't get worse.
I know my grievances are minor- I still have my health, I'm getting laid every so often, and I have friends. Oh, and I also live in a peaceful, beautiful city and have no big dogs in my neighbourhood. I have a big computer and bigger TV, an iPod, a Nintendo DS, and lots of books and DVDs. And y'know what? Those things do bring me some happiness. Not true happiness, but why split hairs? I don't use real butter on my toast, why should I have real happiness in my life?
Monday, December 18, 2006
Bruised
I have a mate, Jake, whom I've known for many years. He's been doing Brazilian Jiu Jitsu for a few years now, which is basically like wrestling, only far more caliente or something. It's not that capoeira, dancing around, "not really a martial art but a lifestyle" sort of thing.
So he convinced me to come to a class to give it a shot. For 2 and a bit hours last night, we rolled around, trying to pin one another and get a leg over each other in a way that was totally not homo-erotic. I woke up this morning, almost completely unable to move, with bruises all over my body.
Awesome. AWESOME! Like Fight Club this is. So I'm gonna get myself a dress (or Kimono, or Gi, whatever one wants to call it) and start going to classes. Up with bruises.
So he convinced me to come to a class to give it a shot. For 2 and a bit hours last night, we rolled around, trying to pin one another and get a leg over each other in a way that was totally not homo-erotic. I woke up this morning, almost completely unable to move, with bruises all over my body.
Awesome. AWESOME! Like Fight Club this is. So I'm gonna get myself a dress (or Kimono, or Gi, whatever one wants to call it) and start going to classes. Up with bruises.
Friday, December 15, 2006
The Life and Times Of
My name's Adam Wajnberg, and I'm 26 years old. I was born in Cleveland, OH (where the ladies are so nice! No, seriously, Cleveland has no catchy motto, and the ladies are nothing special).
When I was 7, my family moved to Melbourne, Australia. So I grew up in Australia. I still have, for the most part, a pronounced American accent. It goes more Australian when I'm in the US. Fascinated yet? Yeah? Fuck me, get a life.
Growing up, I was short, fat and unathletic. So I gravitated, as so many of us C.H.U.D.S do, towards the arts. I did acting, creative writing- that sort of gay pap.
I wasn't a bad actor. I did some stage plays, some with semi professional groups, and was well received. But, lacking the confidence to pursue acting, I made the decision in my early 20's to switch from being a lazy actor who rarely auditions, to being a lazy writer who rarely writes.
In 2004, I applied for, and got accepted to, the Professional Screenwriters program at RMIT (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, for the uninitiated). There I quickly made myself a standout as a disruptive wiseass with negligible talent, who undermined the kind professionals who gave their time to be teachers. Even with that sort of record, I still feel I was one of the better writers in the program.
In late 2005 I was an intern at The Wedge, a sketch show on Channel 10. I never sold a single sketch. I was told, in these exact words, that my material was funny, but not appropriate for the show. The show, I was told "is for 14 year old girls". This is by the show's creator, you understand. It wasn't a sigh of admission.
If you've seen it, then you'll know that it's being directed at particularly mediocre and unimaginative 14 year old girls.
So anyway, my current projects include Omega Team, which I'll go into detail on later. Briefly, it's a cop show satire, about an elite team of public transport ticketing inspectors. It is not currently gaining any interest, anywhere. Speaking subjectively, as the man who writes a good share of the gags, I'd say it's better than almost anything being done right now in Australian television.
And it's not exactly stellar. In fact, it's downright amateurish.
In other news, I'm working on my first actual paid writing gig. I'm writing and directing my synagogue's Purim spiel, which is as auspicious a start as any, i suppose.
Coming up in future posts- ideas I've got battering around the wheelhouse.
When I was 7, my family moved to Melbourne, Australia. So I grew up in Australia. I still have, for the most part, a pronounced American accent. It goes more Australian when I'm in the US. Fascinated yet? Yeah? Fuck me, get a life.
Growing up, I was short, fat and unathletic. So I gravitated, as so many of us C.H.U.D.S do, towards the arts. I did acting, creative writing- that sort of gay pap.
I wasn't a bad actor. I did some stage plays, some with semi professional groups, and was well received. But, lacking the confidence to pursue acting, I made the decision in my early 20's to switch from being a lazy actor who rarely auditions, to being a lazy writer who rarely writes.
In 2004, I applied for, and got accepted to, the Professional Screenwriters program at RMIT (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, for the uninitiated). There I quickly made myself a standout as a disruptive wiseass with negligible talent, who undermined the kind professionals who gave their time to be teachers. Even with that sort of record, I still feel I was one of the better writers in the program.
In late 2005 I was an intern at The Wedge, a sketch show on Channel 10. I never sold a single sketch. I was told, in these exact words, that my material was funny, but not appropriate for the show. The show, I was told "is for 14 year old girls". This is by the show's creator, you understand. It wasn't a sigh of admission.
If you've seen it, then you'll know that it's being directed at particularly mediocre and unimaginative 14 year old girls.
So anyway, my current projects include Omega Team, which I'll go into detail on later. Briefly, it's a cop show satire, about an elite team of public transport ticketing inspectors. It is not currently gaining any interest, anywhere. Speaking subjectively, as the man who writes a good share of the gags, I'd say it's better than almost anything being done right now in Australian television.
And it's not exactly stellar. In fact, it's downright amateurish.
In other news, I'm working on my first actual paid writing gig. I'm writing and directing my synagogue's Purim spiel, which is as auspicious a start as any, i suppose.
Coming up in future posts- ideas I've got battering around the wheelhouse.
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Regrets
I just read over my first ever post, from this morning. Some notes. For me.
1. You forgot to change the font size to normal. Dickhead.
2. You stated that ROFLMAO...stood for Rolling On the Floor Laughing My Head Off...when that A probably stands for 'ass'. Dickhead.
3. Too long. Dick. Head.
Dave Blumenstein (mentioned above) is making a new animated series, called The Precinct. We recorded some voices today, with the help of Adrian Calear and this guy Kynan, who is a writer for Rove Live and a decent bloke. He brought with him a very nice young lady named Anna Grace. I left after I did my few lines, mainly because the room was very crowded. Katrina Mathers, who contributed to Dave's last animation, showed up just as I was leaving. Bummer, because she's fun and I've never had a good chance to chat with her.
The Precinct will be funny. If you're a greenlighter at a network reading this (and if so, get back to work), then I urge you to buy it. And shit, that's coming straight from the internets.
Next post, I'm gonna shed some light on who I am, and what I do, because why not?
1. You forgot to change the font size to normal. Dickhead.
2. You stated that ROFLMAO...stood for Rolling On the Floor Laughing My Head Off...when that A probably stands for 'ass'. Dickhead.
3. Too long. Dick. Head.
Dave Blumenstein (mentioned above) is making a new animated series, called The Precinct. We recorded some voices today, with the help of Adrian Calear and this guy Kynan, who is a writer for Rove Live and a decent bloke. He brought with him a very nice young lady named Anna Grace. I left after I did my few lines, mainly because the room was very crowded. Katrina Mathers, who contributed to Dave's last animation, showed up just as I was leaving. Bummer, because she's fun and I've never had a good chance to chat with her.
The Precinct will be funny. If you're a greenlighter at a network reading this (and if so, get back to work), then I urge you to buy it. And shit, that's coming straight from the internets.
Next post, I'm gonna shed some light on who I am, and what I do, because why not?
ROFLMAOTNTGMBPWMK!*
*Rolling On the Floor Laughing My Head Off Trying Not To Get My Balls Poked With My Keys
Good morning internets. This is the first of what I hope will be oh...at least 13 or 14 posts before I lose interest.
My name is Adam Wajnberg. I'm 26. I live in Melbourne, Australia, which is currently blanketed with a fine, grey ash, due to the bushfires in Victoria's north-east.
I was born in Cleveland, Ohio. That's the US, for those who don't know, yet are still canny enough to turn on a computer. I came here just before my 7th birthday, yet I still have mostly an American accent. It makes the chicks go crazy with the vaginas already.
United Zinc? There's a small, not terribly interesting story behind that.
See, I'm a writer. Well, no, I want to be a writer. Specifically, for film and television. This is known in "the industries" as a screenwriter.
Dave Blumenstein, my closest mate since high school, is an animator and writer. We were at dinner a few months ago, when I told him I wanted to reserve a name in my head, should I ever own my own production company. I told him I wanted something industrial, with one of those bland, shadowy, menacing names. I love those names- stuff like IBM (International Business Machines) and Amalgamated Tobacco. For me, it conjures up images of fat, white, powerful men, standing around, smoking cigars, looking over the smoking remains of a crater they just gouged into the virgin earth, filled with precious borons with which to render into paint to coat the houses of the poor.
Which of course, makes such a name funny for a company that will, i imagine, write teh funny. (More on this "irony" thing later).
So anyway, I wanted a name to conjure up the mining industry, so I made a quick leap to Zinc, probably inspired by that episode of the Simpsons where they watch an old-timey video extolling the virtues of zinc. Also, 'zinc' is a hell of a lot snappier than 'tellurium'.
From there, I had options. What word to smack in front of it? You need words that conjure up the end result of a bunch of small companies being eaten up by a major corporation. So there's-
United
International
Conglomerated
Amalgamated
Consolidated
and others besides. But I liked United. Dave suggested Consolidated was better, but as it turns out, there was a Consolidated Zinc.
Other ideas were floated around. Why zinc? Why not Boron? But yeah, if you picked the simpsons reference, than you can probably identify the influence of another Matt Groening creation at work.
"Amalgamated Zinc and Shotgun" had actually been my original idea for a company name, But I found it way too much of a mouthful. So I wasn't going to go back to using "Amalgamated". Look, the point of the story is, that by the end of the meal (which was barbeque steak sandwiches by the way), I had decided I liked "United Zinc".
Now, I'm not so sure about it. But fuck it, I couldn't think of anything else to call this blog, right? Chances are, the name of this blog will change (who knows, you could be reading this in my archives, the year could be 2021, and the name of the blog right now could be "Brainflushings: The Inchoate and Frankly Frightening Ramblings of Adam Wajnberg, Master Plumber").
Okay, so now you know. I bet you feel good enough to reward yourself with that half finished, 600 mL bottle of coke that your girlfriend left in the fridge, because girls never fucking finish the bottle, they always have to put half of it back so it can go flat and lousy- They even do it with cans! CANS! Also, another difference between men and women is how they use the remote...
Good morning internets. This is the first of what I hope will be oh...at least 13 or 14 posts before I lose interest.
My name is Adam Wajnberg. I'm 26. I live in Melbourne, Australia, which is currently blanketed with a fine, grey ash, due to the bushfires in Victoria's north-east.
I was born in Cleveland, Ohio. That's the US, for those who don't know, yet are still canny enough to turn on a computer. I came here just before my 7th birthday, yet I still have mostly an American accent. It makes the chicks go crazy with the vaginas already.
United Zinc? There's a small, not terribly interesting story behind that.
See, I'm a writer. Well, no, I want to be a writer. Specifically, for film and television. This is known in "the industries" as a screenwriter.
Dave Blumenstein, my closest mate since high school, is an animator and writer. We were at dinner a few months ago, when I told him I wanted to reserve a name in my head, should I ever own my own production company. I told him I wanted something industrial, with one of those bland, shadowy, menacing names. I love those names- stuff like IBM (International Business Machines) and Amalgamated Tobacco. For me, it conjures up images of fat, white, powerful men, standing around, smoking cigars, looking over the smoking remains of a crater they just gouged into the virgin earth, filled with precious borons with which to render into paint to coat the houses of the poor.
Which of course, makes such a name funny for a company that will, i imagine, write teh funny. (More on this "irony" thing later).
So anyway, I wanted a name to conjure up the mining industry, so I made a quick leap to Zinc, probably inspired by that episode of the Simpsons where they watch an old-timey video extolling the virtues of zinc. Also, 'zinc' is a hell of a lot snappier than 'tellurium'.
From there, I had options. What word to smack in front of it? You need words that conjure up the end result of a bunch of small companies being eaten up by a major corporation. So there's-
United
International
Conglomerated
Amalgamated
Consolidated
and others besides. But I liked United. Dave suggested Consolidated was better, but as it turns out, there was a Consolidated Zinc.
Other ideas were floated around. Why zinc? Why not Boron? But yeah, if you picked the simpsons reference, than you can probably identify the influence of another Matt Groening creation at work.
"Amalgamated Zinc and Shotgun" had actually been my original idea for a company name, But I found it way too much of a mouthful. So I wasn't going to go back to using "Amalgamated". Look, the point of the story is, that by the end of the meal (which was barbeque steak sandwiches by the way), I had decided I liked "United Zinc".
Now, I'm not so sure about it. But fuck it, I couldn't think of anything else to call this blog, right? Chances are, the name of this blog will change (who knows, you could be reading this in my archives, the year could be 2021, and the name of the blog right now could be "Brainflushings: The Inchoate and Frankly Frightening Ramblings of Adam Wajnberg, Master Plumber").
Okay, so now you know. I bet you feel good enough to reward yourself with that half finished, 600 mL bottle of coke that your girlfriend left in the fridge, because girls never fucking finish the bottle, they always have to put half of it back so it can go flat and lousy- They even do it with cans! CANS! Also, another difference between men and women is how they use the remote...
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