Dogged Blog

Buh bye!

I'm off to Lompoc, CA for the 2008 Scottish Deerhound Club of America National Specialty! More details over on Pet Connection -- and I'll see you when I get back!

The film fest problem

Over the years, I've seen a lot of films at film festivals -- some crappy, but some very, very good. Many of these films never make it into general release, or if they do, it's months or years later. Although most eventually come out on DVD, that, too, can take, well, forever.

I saw a handful of music documentaries at SXSW in the last two years that I'm jonesing bad to see again. One is Stephen Kijak's Scott Walker: 30 Century Man, which I saw and reviewed last year, and the others are Grant Gee's Joy Division and Julian Schnabel's film of Lou Reed's Berlin, both of which I saw this year.

Joy Division is fortunately out on DVD, and I just ordered it from Amazon. I'm not absolutely sure how this film would come across to someone who didn't live through the Joy Division years, but it's unquestionably one of the best music docs I've ever seen. It was directed by Scott Walker alum Grant Gee, one of the other best music docs I've ever seen. Although the two are stylistically worlds apart, they do share intelligence combined with heart but without sentimentality -- trust me, a very rare combo. It contains footage I've never seen before, and in-depth interviews with the late Joy Division founder and lead singer Ian Curtis' wife, girlfriend, bandmates, managers, and friends. I just checked my notes on the film, and I'm somewhat surprised that I never reviewed it at Club Kingsnake; I meant to. I guess I'll just wait until the DVD gets here, and do it then.

But speaking of DVDs, for the other two films I'm SOL. I know Scott Walker is supposed to be in the works, but I emailed filmmaker Stephen Kijak the other day asking for an update on that, or a theatrical release, and he hasn't gotten back to me. The film's blog hasn't been updated since January. Update: Fall '08 theatrical release in major cities!

Of course, I doubt the fact that I'm in agony will make this process move any faster, but I decided to post this and see if I could turn up the heat.

Which brings us to Lou Reed's Berlin. Supposedly it had its theatrical release last week, but I can't find show dates and times for it anywhere, and the film's website is crazy hard to figure out. And the DVD is due out in September. I realize that's just a few weeks away. But it feels like forever.

I'm not actually willing to stop seeing movies at festivals just to avoid this problem. At least I've seen these films, which is more than most of my friends can say. It's just... having had them... I miss them. Hurry up, everyone!

Credit card fraud?

I'm getting kind of freaked out.

A month or two ago, someone tried to use my ATM card to make a purchase of around $400 from gamestop.com, a site I've never visited. Gamestop apparently thought it seemed fishy, and called me, and I told them it wasn't me. I immediately called my bank, who checked all my transactions -- that was the only fraudulent one, and it didn't go through because Gamestop had caught it. But I had them close  my account anyway.

The other day, a fraudulent charge appeared on my PayPal account, which I virtually never use. I reported it, PayPal put me through their fraud process which included changing my password, and they reversed it out right away.

This morning, someone tried to charge over a thousand dollars on an airline miles credit card I have. The charge was declined and the credit card company called me with a fraud alert.

I confirmed it was not my charge, reviewed all my other charges with them (they were fine), and canceled the card.

I never enter my credit card in public computers or my laptop. I have a router, a firewall, and spyware, adware, and antivirus programs -- Norton 360, Spybot, Adaware -- and run them all frequently, with Norton running in the background at all times. All of them are on auto-update or I update them manually every week. I have had computer techs tell me I have the cleanest machine they've ever checked. I don't even accept COOKIES except manually, even though I know they can't "do" anything to my computer.

Of course, I do use my credit cards and debit card in real life -- at restaurants, airlines, the vet, whatever. I hand them to waiters and they bring them back, and I never think about it.

The PayPal incident freaks me out, because how could someone have had my account password? It's not an easily guessable one. I've never given it to anyone, no one shares my computer, and I have never logged into PayPal from anything but my desktop at home. And like I said, I almost never use PayPal. I've never used EBay or any auction sites. I don't buy stuff online from individuals. I just don't use it much.

I have been changing and mixing up my passwords all over the web, I have checked and re-checked with my anti-spyware software and nothing comes up.

I'm seriously starting to freak out, though.  If it weren't for the PayPal incident, which for all I know was  some kind of computer glitch and had nothing to do with my account being compromised, I would feel sure this was a "real life" credit card theft... but now this one involves TWO cards, my debit card and my airline mileage card.

I'm not sure what to do. Eeek.

Editing to add: I did obtain my credit reports, and there are no incorrect addresses, no unexplained inquiries, and no accounts that aren't mine.

Something unexpected from me

I've already blogged about this on Pet Connection, so I'll do the short version here:  I wrote something I'm really proud of in my pet column for SFGate.com today... and it's something unusual for me. I hope you'll read it.

On a related note, I have two incredible books to recommend, also somewhat unusual for me:

Mean and Lowly Things: Snakes, Science, and Survival in the Congo
By Kate Jackson

Biologist Kate Jackson spent much of 2005 in the flooded forests of the northern Republic of Congo, searching for new species of reptiles and amphibians. While there she faced government hassles, bad weather, disgusting food, and seemingly insurmountable cultural barriers -- and she can't wait to go back. "Mean and Lowly Things: Snakes, science, and survival in the Congo" is a fascinating glimpse into the world of a field biologist in one of the least-known ecosystems in the world. Read this book before you tell your little snake-crazy daughter that reptiles are "icky."

Snakes: The Evolution of Mystery in Nature
by Harry W. Greene

Author Harry W. Greene is the former Curator of Herpetology at the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology at UC Berkely, and currently a Cornell University professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. His book "Snakes: The evolution of mystery in nature" tells the compelling story of the role this species plays in the natural world, and is full of some of the most beautiful and unusual photographs available. If you read only one book about snakes in your life, it should be this one.