Last week I got to go to the Thursday Thinkers Program with Professor John Michael from University of Rochester (River Campus Map) . His speech was titled Hear No Dissent, Speak No Dissent but it was more about what individuality means in the context of community. One of the things he said was to paraphrase the writing of George Steiner with "Cultural sophistication did not stop the Holocaust."

As an added bonus, I picked up some flyers from the library so now I know some of the things going on ... despite their website.

On Saturday was init.two at Rochester Visual Studies Workshop (31 Prince St.) In some was it was really really boring, but taken as a whole, it was wicked cool. They had videos playing all over the place ... some on little TV's, most projected on walls, several multi-TV installations, a room with floor projection, and some video projected on the wall of the adjacent building. Everything was experimental ... I saw a couple of the bands-- Chuck Miller was an interesting combination of video and turntable work ... similar to Joe+n which was as-always experimental, and Rick Hill which although not being particularly experimental, was excellent guitar-based low-fi and pretty far from mainstream. I took about an hour of video and pulled a couple frames for your amusement. I believe the first is Mariam Ghani's video (on the left) and Lindsay Sampson's video (on the right.) On the bottom is Rick Hill ... both pictures are actually in the same main room, but there was so much more. It's just that the rest of the video pretty much sucked.

Er ... my video sucked. My video, not the videos in the show.

Gosh ... what else. I'm trying to get the hang of using the term "deus ex machina." First, just pronouncing it without sounding like the dysfunctionally literate academic I think I am. Next, using it in sentences properly ... now if only we had one for the state of America today.

Maybe I'll just start with paragraphs.

Oh, one more thing. People are really slacking off on updating their blogs and such. I mean, the holidays are over and yet it seems I'm the only one deriving satisfaction from my perceived loyal percieved readership. Every week here I am, but other sites like Wil Wheaton's site, this guy at work's site, Mise en Place, Smash, and the blog at MyBarBack.com. What gives?

• Biker Boyz - Yet another white collar motorcycle gang story.
• Final Destination 2 - I guess the first one was just a layover.
• The Recruit - Old cop, new cop ... blah blah blah.

This Pulitzer Prize winning book is a bestseller that gives an explanation for the rise of civilizations based on geography and environmental factors. Why did the European culture come to dominate so much of the world and not Asian or some other culture? Diamond provocatively argues his case for timing and the role of guns, germs and steel. Reviewed by Liz Patton, Retired Eastman Kodak scientist.

• Cosmic Ray
• Thigh Line Lyre Triangular
• Castro Street
• Hold Me While I'm Naked
• Wavelength
• Metanomen

How does massive corporate fraud occur and how do the perpetrators get away with it? Learn from Rochester CPA James Marasco how executives of Enron, Global Crossings, MCI and the rest of them stole millions. How do forensic accountants identify fraud? Will anyone go to jail? Was there anything illegal? Was the Government complicit or powerless? Are there still more accounting scandals to be revealed?