Author: Aaron Weber

It’s not just TV: It’s HBO shows from several years ago on DVD

Since we’re caught up to real-time on The Wire, Bookdwarf and I have been watching Rome, which we’ve rented from Netflix. Both shows are excellent– plenty of intrigue, good acting and strong production values.

On the other hand, I’m confused by the way that all of Rome seems to speak with a British accent, and you definitely don’t have the same feel of suspense wondering whether Marc Antony is trustworthy and what will become of young Octavian.

You Stay Classy, Blogosphere

I’m running the Top 10 for the ’06 elections, and I have to say it makes my tummy hurt. People are so mean!

Those of you old enough to remember welfare queens and Willie Horton will recognize the rhetoric coming out of the right today. Here’s someone complaining that Mexicans are destroying our economy with their social dependency. She also claims that “Muslims and Islam have a propensity for violence. It is no accident that it is called The Religion of Death. It is tantamount to death worship.” Plus, here’s Michelle Malkin calling Muslims animals. Classy.

Do people really have such short memories? Or do they remember it, and agree now just like they did back then? Maybe that’s it. Already today I saw someone claim that Iraq is just like Vietnam, in that we’re not killing and torturing enough. If the left would just let us fight that war to the hilt and flatten the country, we’d win the hearts and minds of the surviving rubble.

Next, let’s rehabilitate Joe McCarthy and Richard Nixon and blame the queers and commies for whatever’s wrong.

Central Square is for Lovers

Today we are installed in our new office in Central Square.

I can’t find a picture of the old “Central Square is for Lovers” t-shirt that portrayed a man on a park bench, vomiting. But I can tell you that there was one homeless person carted off in an ambulance today. Still, I love this place. Better, cheaper food than Harvard, for one. And fewer tourists. (And, yes, I’ve become a total neighborhood snob. I don’t know when this happened, but I just can’t be bothered to get out of Somerville and Cambridge. Hell, it’s rare that I’ll leave my little triangle of Davis, Central, and Inman squares.)

To-do list for this week includes editing a manuscript, getting more exercise, and getting over myself.

The Times Writes About Stuff You Should Already Know

Hey, those adjustable rate mortgages that seemed like such good ideas three years ago don’t look so good now.

Every couple years they do something on intersexed children. Every time I wonder why people keep freaking out and picking surgery if their children look funny down there. Apparently for many many years it’s been the official standard practice. “Huh, this organ looks a little funny. Let’s remove it.”

Idiots. And they wonder why people don’t trust them on immunizations?

Zillow Zestimates: Zimproved Zaccuracy Zcoming?

I mentioned the other day that housing problems are especially noticeable in my neighborhood– that there’s a house on Wallace Street with an asking price of $789k and a Zestimate of $532k.

Well, that discrepancy isn’t because the house is overpriced– or at least, not all of it. Part of the issue is that Zillow’s got old data. Zillow’s description shows a 1365 sq-foot, three-bedroom, 2.5-bath. In contrast, the listing on Somerville.com shows that the seller has turned it into a 1500-sq-foot with three full baths and the requisite granite countertops. I saw the place at an open house and it really is an impressive renovation.

(An aside: Granite is going to be this decade’s avocado green. Sadly, if Somerville’s ongoing love-affair with vinyl and aluminum siding is any indication, it’ll be the hot thing around here for at least another fifty years.)

I don’t know if fancy counters, a stainless fridge, and a new tub are worth enough to explain the difference in price, but they justify at least some of it.

Zillow is now accepting homeowner updates and corrections, so we’ll see if that has any effect …