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contours provocations
journal - 2002-0319 - tue 2000 Breathing Flour; Seeing Ear Theatre; Probatio; "Citizen of the Evening" Mid March, and the pollen dust is here. And here. And here. And everywhere else. A thick coating of white-yellow powder over everything. It's like breathing flour. And it will stay like this until it rains for a day or so. Last week, I updated to Netscape 6.1 and discovered in the process that some audio options no longer worked. Such as anything using Live365. This morning, I got one of those pesky little pop-ups that said I needed to upgrade my Real Player to Real One. Which then created some additional problems. So I decided to conduct a search for some new sources. And I stumbled onto Seeing Ear Theatre at the SciFi channel. I listened to several hynotic, visceral and SCARY stories. It's definitely weird to hear a tale in the middle of the afternoon that SPOOKS you. I tried episode 6, "MCSD 00121J" from "The City of Dreams." Then went on to "Neil Gaiman's Snow Glass Apples." And ended with "Neil Gaiman's Murder Mysteries." These are three incredible stories that provoke you as much as they frighten you One of the nice features of caller-id is the ability to screen calls. I must get at least a dozen calls a day from someone wanting to sell me something or wanting a donation. So anything that says "Out of Area," I ignore. But early in February, in a moment of utter stupidity I answered one. And fifteen minutes later found myself agreeing to try a discount buying card for 30 days. The very nice grandmotherly-sounding lady said I could cancel at any time within the 30 days without being charged. Well, I looked in the mail for more info, but nothing arrived. Then I got my credit card bill, and there was a bizzare charge from something called Probatio. The notation included a line indicating the conversion from euros to dollars; the first time I've ever seen that. Even odder was the lack of a phone number. I called the credit card, and they were not even sure what it was, or where it was! I explained I'd never received anything. So they took the charge off. Next I did an Internet search and discovered its an adult verification service. Hmmmmm! Then I began to think that the nice grandmotherly-sounding lady said the card would include $50 credit. BUT she never actually said what the card was. Later, I remembered she didn't ask for my credit card number. She said if I didn't cancel, they would charge my account. So she already had my account number! Jeezzzzzzzzzeeee! So my credit card number is floating around out there in some electronic cloud. If anyone should be alert for cases of "social engineering," I'd think it be me. But nope! Speaking of things European. Saturday, I bought another novel, "The World of Night," by Alan Furst which takes place in WWII Paris. He has written six or seven books that center on Europe at the start of the war. There always a strong element of espionage. But these are not narratives of James Bond derring-do. The characters are flawed, and frequently scared, individuals caught up in the vagaries of point counter-point. These are among the most evocative of stories. They unfurl in your mind like an old monochrome movie. You can feel yourself waiting and watching in the dark streets. What is the Gestapo car doing stopped in the snow? You climb the stairs to the private bar in the converted apartment. "What is it you want me to do?" You slip into the role of a "citizen of the evening." PAX!
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