The computer and console game commercials are out in full force for the holidays (perhaps only with the TV shows I watch). I’ll see one and think “Ooooh that is SO COOL! I want that!” and then they will show the Diablo II ad and I realize “Oh yeah. Everyone’s probably just showing their cut scenes” and calm down. Not that Diablo II isn’t amazing anyway — it’s just that the commercial does not show any of the actual game play, just the movies.

Here is a lengthy essay on “The Oddness of Oz” by Alison Lurie. It delves into the background of L. Frank Baum, including his exposure to women’s rights through his wife. Supposedly that explains why there were good witches in Oz along with the bad ones, and why there were many female rulers. It also accounts for Dorothy’s strong and independent personality. Lurie uses specific quotes from the books to back up her statements. She reveals the oppressiveness of housework evident in the series, an unusual viewpoint at a time when heroines in other books were learning to sew and cook. There are all-girl armies and a chicken who insists on being called “Bill”. She pulled out details from books that I barely remember reading, but I was nodding a lot, recalling certain plots that had stuck in my head, like the Tin Man returning to his fiancee, despite knowing that he had been given a kind heart, not a passionate one, and therefore couldn’t love her anymore. Sad, strange stuff. (via Feed)

You know Silicon Valley real estate prices are bad when you start looking at private islands for sale that are more affordable than anything in the local papers. This one acre island in New Jersey includes a 3 bedroom, 2 full bath house. Asking price is $599,900. And they throw in four boats and two boathouses. Of course the realities of owning your own island probably are not as romantic as the dream. And the desirable tropical islands are pricier. But it’s got to be a better investment than the overpriced cottages going for bundles in this area.

Delta has a PowerPuff Girls plane. How neat! I’d love to see one of those fly by. But I think it’s being used only in the east coast. Airliners.net has more photos of it in action.

I was recently reminded of the Freddy the Pig series by Walter R. Brooks. I read many of Freddy and his farm animal friends’ adventures over and over when I was about his height. The stories and characters were marvelously crafted. There is now a Friends of Freddy organization and a 1994 New York Times article reminisced about the books. I remember being disappointed that Jinx the cat didn’t have a more appealing personality and being upset at the stupidity of one of the cows.

Government in Ancient Greece (written by 5th graders): “If citizens (of Athens) did not care for a politician, when they voted, they wrote on a clay tablet which person they wanted to leave Athens. If one person got more than 6,000 votes against him, he couldn’t come back to Athens for 10 years.” So bad politicians got deported, eh? I wonder how often that happened. A “citizen” in Ancient Greece was itself a priviliged office. Each city-state had its own requirements for citizenship (the common prerequisite being that you had to be male). Spartan citizens had a strict life of training and were often off at war, which, interestingly enough, meant that the women of Sparta actually had more freedom of movement than women in other more cultural city-states like Athens.

Here’s something to add to the ol’ resume. You can actually get certified as a fragrance sales specialist by The Fragrance Foundation. Specialists have to work in fragrance sales for at least two years first. The site has images of many gorgeous perfume bottles, which I will never hope to own, even though I claim to collect them (but I find them too frivolous and breakable).

My memory span no longer encompasses my life on the Internet. Vanity web searches turn up my name on the contributor list to an old rec.pets.cat FAQ and I have no idea what I did for the honor. I barely remember reading the Usenet group to begin with, though it certainly sounds like something I would have done. I must be on my fourth incarnation of using the Internet. Do I have nine Internet lives?

Here’s a great CNN article on the Blue Man Group. It concentrates on their music and instruments, which, because they don’t speak (though I think they do communicate quite effectively with their eyes), are quite, uh, instrumental to their performance. Their various PVC tube instruments are tuned specifically for each song, so they are “the world’s least-versatile instruments”. But certainly the most offbeat. (OK, no more music puns.) When I last posted about the Blue Men, I wondered when they would be coming to San Francisco, and since then I have read a rumor that they are looking at a theatre in SF which is being refurbished. However, I have no confirmation of that, and there were other prospects for that space. (article via Follow Me Here)

The Online Journalism Review has an interesting behind the scenes look at the Seattle Union Record, the alternative paper created by the striking Seattle newspaper workers. Chuck Taylor, managing editor of the strike publication, reveals how competing reporters and photographers have adjusted to working together and with the differences of online media. Getting Internet access and computers was of course a high priority. They do want the Union Record to have a “short and happy life”, but they aren’t skimping on creating a viable source of news.