The Fate of gmane.org

As previously discussed in this embarrassing saga, gmane.org was bought by Yomura Corporation, and they have now let the domain expire.

The domain went to the normal Namesilo auction process, and I was waiting for it to appear there so I could buy it back. I didn’t check often enough, and before I was able to put in a bid, somebody else had put in a max bid, and I was unable to buy it.

I’m assuming it’ll now be taken over by spammers or somebody else? We’ll see.

But here’s a call for action: Yomura, the previous owners, have 22 days to renew the domain, get it back, and hand it off to somebody else. Does anybody know anybody there they can prod? Mark? Eden? Sam? Whoever? It would be a shame if all the gmane.org links out there end up pointing to some scam or malware site.

[Update 12 hours later: I just got a message from NameSilo saying that the domain has, indeed, been renewed, so perhaps somebody did some poking? Or something? But I guess the domain is safe from malware squatters again.]

*sigh*

OK, here’s the longer story about the expiry process, because I knew nothing about what the process was like, and you may be as confused as I was.

So: A couple of weeks ago I noticed that the domain, set for expiry on Feb. 17th, had switched to a different set of name servers:

The gmane.org domain now pointed here:

A nice blank page with just the following JS:

Kinda invalid:

But I figured that it was just some holding page.

But they got a new certificate from DigiCert?

Uh-oh, I thought.

So the expiration date is now in 2021…

The IP address points to an IP range owned by SEDO. But… Who is SEDO, anyway? It turns out that it’s a domain name auction site. And I knew nothing about domain name auctions.

It turns out that most of the bigger registrars, upon domain expiry, put domains up for auction, usually for a month. In this period, the original registrant can still renew the domain and get it back, so it’s an auction during the grace period.

The rules vary between auction houses, but NameSilo will typically put older, attractive expired domains (and gmane.org is from 2002) up for auction with a max price of $1K. If somebody bids the max price, they’re ensured winning the action, so I thought I’d just sit still here, not calling attention to the situation and wait until it comes up for auction, and then bid $1K.

But I didn’t reload the page often enough, and somebody else bid $1K, so I’m locked out.

… and somebody bid $1K.

I’ve been looking at this page for days now, and these other five-letter .org domain names have been there with bids for, like, $1 all this time. And then gmane.org shows up, and somebody immediately bids $1K.

*sigh*

Well, I have no idea who that is, so for all I know, it’s somebody nice? If so, please get in touch: larsi@gnus.org.

OTB#67: Vivre sa vie

Vivre sa vie. Jean-Luc Godard. 1962. ⚅

Godard movies of this era are such a delight to watch. He’s having so much fun, being all mischievous and stuff. Like filming the actors from behind for the first five minutes, and fading the music in and out at seemingly random. He’s so punk.

Every single scene has a new thing going, like the bar scene where he shifts the camera, seemingly at random, and thereby focusing our attention not at the people talking, but working behind the bar (cleaning cutlery and stuff).

There’s not a single pixel of a single frame of this movie that I don’t adore.

It’s just a marvel. Every scene, every camera movement makes me go *gasp*.

I think the movie is basically Godard saying “yeah, fuck you” twenty-five times a second.

Oh, and the 2K restoration (by the wonderful BFI) is beautiful. And it has a bunch of Godard shorts as extras, and a long, interesting interview with Karenina.

Another cocktail to get rid of Benedictine: Cunningham.

It’s OK.

This blog post is part of the Officially The Best series.

OTB#67: Sunset Blvd.

Sunset Boulevard. Billy Wilder. 1950. ⚄

It’s a Billy Wilder movie, so I assumed that this was a comedy. It’s not, and I’m a moron.

That’s some supporting cast.

This is one of three Billy Wilder movies on this “best of” list, and the only one I haven’t seen recently. (Or… ever? But it does seem somewhat familiar.) It’s about the movie business, which is a favourite subject of movie directors, of course.

Gloria Swanson is glorious here.

[lots of time passes]

OK, this is a pretty thrilling movie, but the central conceit here feels rather weird. It’s about William Holden, 32, becoming a kept man at Gloria Swanson’s (51), and it’s understood that we’re supposed to feel immediately squicked at even the concept of Holden having sex with Swanson. But… I mean… she’s even prettier than he is! She’s fabulous! I guess this was more of a thing in the 50s, but… it’s… not convincing? I guess that Swanson is playing somebody older than she is, and Holden is playing somebody younger than he is, but they basically look the same age. (Holden has one of those meat-fed faces that could be anything between 30 and 60 and I would have guessed 45.)

So that’s a thing to get past: I have to remind myself that he’s supposed to be all horrified that Swanson in lusting after him, because I’m just not.

And it’s rather misogynistic in the way that it’s alluding to him being feminised by Swanson holding the purse strings.

ANYWAY. The performances are so wonderful. Erich von Stroheim, Swanson, Holden… it’s such a pleasure to watch them. The cinematography is noir-er than noir, even if this isn’t much of a noir. Such fun.

The last quarter of the movie does kinda drag. As if they ran out of steam. Or perhaps it’s just because there’s not enough Swanson in it.

Oops! I forgot to make a cocktail.

This blog post is part of the Officially The Best series.

OTB#67: Journey to Italy

Journey to Italy. Roberto Rossellini. 1954. ⚅

This 2K restoration looks great:

Another class release by the British Film Institute. Your tax money at work, for some values of “your”.

But… “English version”? Oh! They seem to be moving their mouths in a slightly English-looking way? Did Rossellini film several versions of this? (As usual with Italian movies of this era, no sound was recorded when the video was filmed.)

Right; It was in filmed as an English-language movie:

Although the film was an Italian production, its dialogue was in English. The first theatrical release was in Italy under the title Viaggio in Italia; the dialogue had been dubbed into Italian.

It’s a pretty odd movie, and was apparently not a success at the time. The befuddling thing is that it’s not clear at all just what the movie is about: Even a half hour in (one third of the movie), there doesn’t seem to be any structure or … plot…

So I love it!

Bergman is so wonderful here; little comedic touches here and there, and a face that’s a magic display for All The Emotions. The cinematography is totes gorge, and it’s just engrossing.

Part of the fascination with this movie may be just with the fantasy of an unspoiled tourist Italy, and being able to travel around like Bergman, and having old Italian men explain everything to you.

As a bonus, the My Dad is 100 Years Old short (by Isabella Rossellini) is included. It’s just as weird as you’d imagine: Roberto is represented by a talking stomach.

Anyway, I looked up who voted for this movie, and among the nine directors is Joanna Hogg, who voted like this:

I think she has like the best taste in movies ever! That is, I haven’t seen all of those movies (Midnight, Portrait of Ga and Taipei Story), but the ones I have seen are wonderful. So I guess I should get the remaining three after I’m done with this series… Hm… Oh! I’ve got this movie directed by her, but I haven’t seen it yet.

Well, I tried to make the Brass Rail with this very odd rum instead of Bacardi…

… and it wasn’t very successful.

I think I have to give up on that rum for cocktails. It’s just too too.

This blog post is part of the Officially The Best series.