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Atari Forever

Atari ArtAtari is going to live forever. At least in the hearts and minds of Eighties kids who continue to fetishize everything associated with that videogame pioneer. Case in point: these lovely and sometimes brilliantly optimistic conceptual drawings from Atari’s arcade division. I defy anyone who attended high school at any time during the Eighties to remain unimpressed by them. Jeez, I sound so old.

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Park Life

Gosford ParkGiven the films he’s made lately, it would be hard to blame anyone for giving up on director Robert Altman. But his latest, “Gosford Park,” is assured and deftly-made enough to reaffirm his reputation as one of the greats, and certainly as the master of nuanced ensemble pieces. In fact, “Gosford Park” is a complete delight, as comic and touching as any film from the past few years, and filled with terrific, minutiae-filled performances from some formidable performers.

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VeriScam

I got an invoice from domain registrar VeriSign (formerly Network Solutions) to renew Subtraction.com. The invoice reads: “Amount Due: $70.00 US Dollars.” It makes no mention of the fact that a one-year renewal costs US$35, and that really only one year is due — which to me adds up to a kind of dishonesty. So I’m giving Capital Networks’s TotalNICa try. They’re an ICANN-approved registrar that will allow me to transfer my registration for just US$9.95 for two years.

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The Corporate Messiah Complex

In an interview on NPR’s “Fresh Air” New York Times investigative reporter Kurt Eichenwald comments on the Enron debacle:“Basically what I write about is corporate scandal and I have noticed time and again, you have the same underlying themes in almost every scandal. First, a group of executives who believe they are changing the world. Second, a level of arrogance and a level of greed that you don’t see in other corporations. Third and probably most significant — lack of adequate compliance procedures.”

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