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directorcommentary | jasonbentley.org

Jason Bentley, Santa Clara, California: writing, photography, graphic design, music, audio, video, technology, life

December 10, 2004

Jason's Just-Right Gift Ideas, Volume I

I was racking my brain, trying to think of thoughtful but frugal gifts for my parents. It's a lean Christmas this year, and I'm trying to keep things on budget. Well, I think I found the perfect gift for my mom, and I thought I'd share it with y'all.

Don't worry -- there's no chance this blog entry will spoil my mom's Christmas. She's a sweet 65-year-old and definately of a different generation. To her, a blog is something you might cough up from your lungs. It's odd how technology forces some compartmentalization in my life. I know I'm not the only one.

Anyway - the present. At left is the DirtDevil stick vacuum. They have it at Amazon.com for $49.99 but I'm sure you can find it cheaper somewhere else. I have one, and I love it. My apartment's pretty small, so I don't really have a need for a big, industrial vacuum. It keeps both my carpet and floors clean, and it's bagless. It folds in half for storage and charges on a base, so it's cordless.

Getting my mom...a vacuum? Well, yeah. For one, she's 65, and she still has the same giant, unwieldy Kenmore vacuum she bought in 1985. The DirtDevil stick vac is so light, it's barely there. Plus the handle swivels in all directions, so it's totally ergonomic. It's super easy to get under and on top of furniture. Plus, my mom ripped up most of her carpets to restore the hard wood floors, so something of this size is perfect for the floors and what little carpet she has left to regularly clean.

So if you're looking for something for your parents, a new college student, or new homeowner, this is pretty cost-effective, cool, and useful.

Oh! And it's blue. Things are always sexier when they're blue. :-) I'll post more fabulous gift ideas when I think of them.

jb | | # |  

Simbattack...caught on tape!

A ferocious housecat attacks his owner...starring Simba as the cat, and me as the owner. Send children out of the room and turn up the sound. The attack is fierce and relentless! Watch it here!

Well, yeah, ok...so it was an attack of love. But oh so fierce!

Music by Klaus Doldinger.

jb | | # |  

On the same page

I couldn't have said it better myself. At least I'm not the most acerbic one on the block. Once again, a clip of The Daily Show, courtesy of onegoodmove.org.

My mom's at Disney World and I'm jealous.

jb | | # |  

Argh! He did it again.

In his review of Le Petit Lili, published today, Roger Ebert once again avails one of the more tired clichés in the critic's bag o' phrases:
The third act departs from Chekhov and is original with Miller; it not only makes a nicely ironic point, but, because he takes his time with it, allows for a meditation on the distance between art and life.
If you're wondering what the hell I'm talking about, I've called him on this before. One can only guess at why he hasn't heeded my advice, what with the international attention that my previous critique brought unto Ebert and his overuse of some tired maxims. If I may quote Joaquin Phoenix in Gladiator, arguably the most overrated movie in recent memory..."I'm vexed! I'm terribly, terribly vexed!"

In other news, the White House is trying to get some mileage out of the revelation that the junk-yard armor question posed by Army Spc. Thomas Wilson was prearranged with a reporter from the Chattanooga Times Free-Press. It doesn't seem to be sticking much, but it's too early yet to make a clear determination. I think Rumsfeld's discomfort spoke for itself. John McCain didn't express his confidence in the Defense Department for reasons that are becoming more evident with each day and every casualty of this war.

In the mean time, damage control continues. As always, in such cases, the President turns to his trusted advisor Karen Hughes for her often blunt assessments unheard among Bush's more dedicated yes-men. Mrs. Hughes doesn't disappoint, as indicated by this off-camera sound clip captured by an open microphone in Austin, Texas:




jb | | # |