Go figure.

There's a band called "My Friend Ben." Sounds pretty right-on, too.

my 'tronic ineptitude is showing

With any luck, the changed layout will be back sometime in the next 24 hours.

Who do I root for in a case like this: James Bond 007

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen vs. Terminator Salvation.

Ok, maybe, maybe the Transformers--but only because John Connor is Thomas Dekker, dammit.

(and by implication, not Christian Bale).

It's not nice to fool with mother nature

Remember ol' "Heckuva Job" Brownie?

Sure, that's right: He was that way-in-over-his-head guy who was the head of what Bush sniggeringly called his "emergency management" program, when Katrina happened.

As such, he is remembered as one of the symbols of the Bush administration's criminal incompetence alongside such jokers as the vile Don "Fight with the army we have" Rumsfeld.

Been wondering what Brownie's up to these days?

Michael D. Brown, former director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, was among those forced to flee his home by the Olde Stage Road Fire.

"We never think of the fact that something like this can happen," Brown said. "One minute I'm sitting in my office and the next there is a deputy in my driveway telling me I have to leave.

"We never think of the fact that something like this can happen."

Again: Michael D. Brown, former director of FEMA.

"We never think of the fact that something like this can happen."

Nice.

Priorities.

Never mind the weather, there's a cat to be petted!

I'm in love.

Excellent.



This is really, really nice.

So you meet this guy...A regular galahad. A real house-trained barbarian! So you drop him, Like a bad habit, anything that comes along, You grab it!

ABC faking to the whimsical "15 Story Halo."

Although it mentions her, there are no pictures of Anne Hathaway in this post

Because I figure if you've been reading any of my blogs for even a day you know what she looks like.

As opposed to Holly Hunter and Kate Winslet, who are practically obscure around here.



Ahem. Now: As much as Saving Grace w/Holly Hunter has become one of my favorite television series, I can't help wishing Hunter had made (another) Oscar-hyped movie last year.

Because if she had, I might have been in for The Best Oscar Night Of My Life with nominations for Holly, Kate, and Anne.

As it is, at this point it'll be more surprising if Annie and Kate aren't nominated than if they are.



But, maybe god will "Grace" me and Holly will be a presenter.

Yes, I hate myself for that play on words too.

How you know that Keith Olbermann is on the side of good.

Sarah Palin says he's evil.

Almost exactly.

Rep. Bobby Rush, the South Side congressman who has injected racially charged language into the {Burris] appointment, said on MSNBC that the sight of Burris holding a news conference in the rain after being refused admittance to the Senate floor Tuesday was akin to "the dogs being sicced on children in Birmingham, Ala."

You go, girl!

Anne Hathaway was asked how she thought our soon-to-be-President would do. She replied she was sure he would do great things...but only after she mentioned the horrendous Rick "God is hate" Warren mistake.



It's times like this I think I should be building a shrine to her in my basement.

(However, I still deny that rumor completely)

I just thought this was kinda cool

It's an illustration (by Rob Kelly) of X-Men, Goldeneye and Nip/Tuck star Famke Janssen that ran with this article. The article is nothing to write home about--I just liked the illustration.

Just a reminder, Jason:

Dakota Fanning is growing up.

'He grew bogus; hence Dicky'

(It's an anagram I love, brought to mind by this via Think Progress:)

In December, President-elect Obama asked the White House if he and his family could move into Blair House — the White House’s guest house — a week early, so that his daughters Malia and Sasha could start school. The White House rebuffed them, saying the house was already booked for another guest. A White House source added that “Blair House was appalled” by the request.

After weeks of speculation, the mystery guest that trumps the President-elect and his family has finally been revealed. The White House offered the house to John Howard, the former Prime Minister of Australia who is set to receive a Medal of Freedom. Instead of arranging other accommodations for Howard’s one-night stay, the Bush administration told the Obama family to stay in a hotel for two weeks. (Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Colombian President Álvaro Uribe, who are also receiving the Medal of Freedom, opted to find other accommodations.)

Last night on MSNBC’s “Countdown,” Bloomberg journalist Margaret Carlson revealed that when the White House turned down Obama’s request in early December, it had not yet even invited Howard to stay at the Blair House:

I reported…on December 11 and 12 that there were no foreign dignitaries booked into Blair House during that period of time. … I have the feeling they asked him [Howard] to come and stay so that there might be some plausible reason for not letting the Obamas stay there.

Dear President-Elect Obama

I don't mean to dis Jimmy Carter, he is an honored elder statesman.

But please, don't follow his advice.

I'm just sayin'.

Alan Moore notwithstanding, maybe this is going to be good

If it ever gets released, that is.

Watchmen Japanese Trailer.

Good kitty!

Oh sure, now you have a spine.

Harry Reid says that he isn't going to bend over and take it up the ass screaming "More! More! More! Harder!" for Obama, the way he did for Bush.

I'd say this was cheesy...but I like some things that many consider cheesy

Married...with Children, for instance. Queen's score for the Flash Gordon movie. The Flash Gordon movie itself. The Archie comics of my youth. Saw IV & V. Many great '80s hits (But if you call those cheesy around me, you better be prepared for a fight). The Back to the Future movies.

You get the idea. All (arguably) cheesy to greater and lesser degrees, but I like them all, to greater and lesser degrees. So, faced with the supposed lyrics to a song John Mayer wrote for Jennifer Aniston...

You’ve brought luck to love/ I’ve been hit by a truck in love.”

"Cheesy" doesn't quite cut it.

This just stinks.

Okay, it just turned sad

Would somebody please get granma, here, a quilt?

Dude.

Ok. We've already established how nerdishly anxious I am to see the upcoming Tron sequel, yes?


Well if you're like me, you might want to read this short talk with co-star Olivia Wilde. Quotes...

Wilde: Jeff Bridges is going to be in this one, too.

And Bruce Boxleitner?

Wilde: And, yes, Bruce Boxleitner. He's so fantastic, Bruce. He's been telling us all about the process of making the first one. And it's just great. Like, they were on an entirely black velvet set, wearing white bodysuits that they weren't allowed to sweat in, even though there was a bank of lights so powerful that they caused a brownout in Burbank. So they weren't allowed to sweat. They're running around in white suits on black velvet with these lights. And they were saying terms that for the time had no meaning for them. They didn't know what a "program" was. Bruce was saying they were ... pulling these things out of, like, sci-fi dictionaries. I mean, they had no idea. And actually, they were saying a lot of the technology now that is going into the new film and going into films of today, to them was like a dream at the time, was sort of complete fantasy while they were making Tron 1.

Will you be shooting against green screens?

Wilde: They're going to build a huge amount of the set. The director, Joe Kosinski, has made some unbelievable commercials. People can check out his Web site. He's just a really talented guy. And he's a really big fan of using as much sets as you can, because he's an architect as well, so he likes to build these worlds. And with something like Tron, I think it helps to create the environment as much as possible without too much green screen so that these characters can exist within this world, ... with the feel ... as real as possible.

Updates

...on a couple of stories I've been following.

Two men and a teenager were charged Tuesday in the alleged gang rape of a lesbian in the San Francisco Bay area.

Humberto Hernandez Salvador, 31, and Josue Gonzalez, 21, were charged with kidnapping, carjacking and gang rape in the attack last month in Richmond.

They face a maximum sentence of life in prison if found guilty, prosecutors said.

Darrell Hodges, 16, was charged as an adult with similar offenses Monday. A 15-year-old boy whose name has not been released was also arrested last week on suspicion of participating in the attack.

And:

The nation's largest government-run utility ignored two small leaks that could have provided a warning years before a coal ash pond collapsed, flooding a neighborhood with a billion gallons of sludge, a former federal regulator contends.

Three homes were destroyed and 42 parcels of land damaged when one such pond at the Tennessee Valley Authority's Kingston Steam Plant collapsed Dec. 22.

Also on Tuesday, a coalition of environmental groups including the Sierra Club notified TVA it plans to sue the utility on behalf of 40 families, arguing TVA broke federal law by not fully disclosing the extent of spill contamination. A TVA spokesman said the utility would respond in court.

Ok, the Panetta thing

What Art Brodsky said.

Obama comes into office with a clear election mandate, and the last thing he needs is the public view of a bunch of squabbling Democrats (see: Burris, Roland) doing the GOP's work for it.

Once you're born, you're on your own

It seems that the "pro-lifers" are concerned that Barack Obama will not be forwarding their-- entirely humane--agenda.

Two things. First of all, here's 10 minutes of George Carlin (RIP) on the inconsistency of "pro-life."



And second, the GOP thinks--they actually think...they're going to back Obama into a corner by pushing the Terry Schiavo thing again.

Good luck with that.

Do they really not remember what a mess that turned into for them?

This may be the most adorable, coolest thing I've ever seen

"We like to be the strangers at the party, two rebels in a shell."

I'm 60% freak!!

This just in...

Apparently, Hooters isn't very feminist.

Yes, I was shocked, too.

Bill Cunningham is a sore loser

Cunningham, a b-list radio host, said this yesterday:

"poor people were not and are not poor because they lack money. They're poor because they lack values, ethics, and morals."

Found via Media Matters. Where one poster calling themselves "shadow8pro" wrote in a comment:

because obviously Paris Hilton is among the most moral Americans, and say, Mother Theresa (though obviously not an American) is among those lacking morals, values and ethics.

Suck it up, Bill. Obama won. Stop being such a sourpuss and accept it gracefully.

This is an interview with Sean Penn...

Which suggests to me that Mickey Rourke is full of shit.

Then Again, Maybe I Won't

Funny--just the other night I was saying to my friend Jennifer on the phone that I thought I was pretty much done with "Scrubs." Over the years it's been very spotty, to me--sometimes I'll catch an episode that I think is really good, sometimes I wonder why anyone ever kept it on the air.

So I wasn't all that hard over its switch to ABC. After reading this Q & A with series creator Bill Lawrence, though, I'm not so sure. I like the way he describes the end of the series.

Exclusive: 'Scrubs' boss (sorta) spoils series finale!

I may give it one more chance after all.

What could you do with $235 k?

Take a second. Really think about it. Think about the health care visits that could pay for, the education.

Or hell, think about the new car that could buy you, or if you already have a good car, the work you could have done keeping it up. Got it? Fine.

Now think about this.

Via Think Progress:

The Washington Post’s Al Kamen reports today that outgoing Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne recently spent about $235,000 in taxpayer funds to renovate the bathroom in his fifth-floor office. The renovations included “installing a new shower, a refrigerator and a freezer and buying monogrammed towels.” An internal investigation by the department’s inspector general, however, found no wrongdoing on Kempthorne’s part “because the GSA had approved the project“:

The General Services Administration approved and partially funded the project, an Interior Department official said. The GSA paid about half the cost to refurbish aging plumbing, which needed to be replaced within four years.

But department officials say much of the money was spent on lavish wood paneling and tile.

You know...I was gonna toss this one away with a little "It's too easy...make up your own joke here" thing.

I was thinking, something about Kempthorne having misunderstood the meaning of Secretary of “the Interior,” ha ha, ha ha, ha.

Then I took a second look at the numbers.

$235 k on a bathroom in an office.

Are you kidding me?

I feel a really childish joke coming on...uh-oh...

Kate Beckinsale shows the range of her talents.

A question.

Am I the only person who wants to see Kate Winslet in a live show version of Grease 2?



Apparently, I am not.

This is one of the Looney Tunes that just missed my list of the 10 Greatest

It's so funny that if you don't laugh, it's your failure, not the cartoon's.

GHWB, master of understatement.

Via The Washington Monthly..

George H. W. Bush, after conceding that he'd like to see Jeb run for the Senate, added, "I'd like to see him run, I'd like to see him be president someday." After Fox News' Chris Wallace expressed some surprise, the former president added, "I mean, right now it's probably a bad time. We've had enough Bushes in there."

Ex-President Bush...remember Nixon's "You won't have Nixon to kick around any more" press conference? That's where your clan should be taking it's lead from right now. Yes of course, Nixon eventually made a comeback--and look how well that worked out for him.

You've done all the damage you can do. Either volunteer to put the whole family into one of those charity booths where people can line up to hit you in the faces with balloons filled with white paint...

Or better still, just go. The fuck. Away.