Sentences that offend me both morally and from a linguistic POV.

I regret all the tragedy that has surrounded Phil [Spector] in recent years.

From:

Paul Shaffer's memoir, pp 275

Why it offends me morally:

Because Phil Spector was the tragedy.

Why it offends me from a linguistic POV:

"Surrounded" makes it sound like he was fallen on and acted upon by outside forces; we're talking about a convicted murderer here.

Dude, you cannot possibly be serious

Via the TP Wonk Room:

Orrin Hatch: If Republicans Controlled Government, We Would ‘Get This Country Under Control’

!

Is it any wonder I've gone totally mad?

Which character from Alice in Wonderland Are You? Caterpillar The Caterpillar is very laid-back and calm. ...How doth the little crocodile improve his shining tail. And pour the waters of the Nile, on every golden scale. How cheerfully he seems to grin, how neatly spreads his claws. And welcomes little fishes in, with gently smiling jaws!

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As god is my witness, I have no idea how I feel about this either

Disney is going to "reboot" The Black Hole.

Few would confuse the original with the best of what Disney or the science fiction genre has to offer. Robots on strings, hammy actors, and a script that didn't know where it wanted to go. But it is the kind of movie which has lodged in the brains of those of us who were about eight years old when we first saw it.

Largely because of those robots (strings, schmings, they sure were cool-lookin') and hammy actors (Roddy McDowall chews the most scenery as a bitchy robot who makes C-3PO look like a Brooklyn car salesman, even though he's only a voice).

And because when you're a kid, you don't care as much about where a script is going, as long as you have a good time in the getting there. (Or not getting there...)

And personally, I'm a big fan of John Barry's music for this film--maybe the most phenomenal he wrote for any non-Bond flick.

So as I say, I have no idea how I feel about this.

I will admit upfront, however, to absolutely loving this sentence in the item to which I've linked above:

The details of the update are being kept secret, though the take does involve grounding the story in the science of a black hole, much more so than in the original.

This will not be difficult...

There's nothing like a Tennessee public official making an ass of himself to put a smirk on my face...

Arlington Mayor Russell Wiseman posted a racist rant on his Facebook page about President Obama -- apparently triggered by President Obama's Afghanistan speech interfering with the annual broadcast of the "Peanuts" Christmas Special.

Oh, there's more.

Nooooooooooooooo!

Why...why, god...

You know how Marilyn Manson is insane, and thinks Evan Rachel Wood is his clone?

Well, apparently, that's what she likes.

She's back with him.

Nothing much to add to this, but good on 'er for courage

Meredith Baxter, familiar as the mom on Family Ties, has come out of the closet.

Oh, now that really hurts.

If you were reading this blog earlier this year, you know how often exciting and sometimes brilliant I thought Terminator: the Sarah Connor Chronicles was.

I suspect the fucking Terminator: Salvation movie that followed was pretty weak and charm-less, esp. in comparison.

But I must be fair and admit I didn't see it. I have very little interest in seeing it, except maybe to mock that self-important nutball Christian Bale.

I mention the film here now only for reasons that will become apparent shortly.

I'd more-or-less "come to terms" with TSCC having gone away.

I'll admit I had some residual resentment that Joss Whedon's Dollhouse remained on the schedule (albeit only for a while). Rightly or wrongly, I have it in my head that Fox chose between the two.

(I feel the same way about Jay Leno taking up five hours on NBC a week with his no-longer-funny simpering, when I could've had a third season of Life.)

(Whether that's true or not isn't the point.)

But I digress.

I accept the reality that TSCC never got the House-like ratings it deserved. That's the way it works: People don't watch show, show go 'way. When this show was on, though, I joined a message board or two to talk about it. I'm still on at least one mailing list.

...which is how, this evening, I received a message offering me a chance to enter into a competition to win...a DVD of Terminator: Salvation.

Irony is really kicking my ass tonight.

I can't accept that.

Lady Gaga's "Poker Face" has received a Grammy nod for "song of the year."

This is obviously some strange usage of the word "song" I was not previously aware of.

("Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car"...now that was a song...)

Dude!

Ok--you know how my feelings on Natalie Portman are, shall we say, a tad mixed? Sometimes I think she doesn't really try as an actress (the Star Wars movies), but she can also be really good (Garden State).

Based on her public statements and such I suspect she's really a very silly person, but that's not a crime (or even rare) among actresses and anyway, I may be wrong.

But what's long been undeniable is that she was cute as a button with a curvy bod of the kind that makes men want to father children.

Even if she mostly chooses to keep it covered (which is certainly her right).

So I'm left to wonder: HTF do you conspire to make her look as creepily photoshopped as she does on this cover?

A good thing to read if you're worried about recent "revelations" that global warming is a fib

Climategate (or "Swifthack").

Not that anyone asked me, but...

...for the record (?) I would describe my reaction to President Obama's newly-made plan for Afghanistan as "apprehensive...but not without hope." I think he's trying to be all things to all people, and this may be a laudable goal, but I fear it's going to leave him ending up nothing to nobody.

Dear Rupert: Shut the fuck up, won't you, there's a good chap.

You may have noticed that one of the things with which I really have a problem is people who don't...heh, I think I just realized another reason why I'm in love with the Saw movies...don't appreciate their blessings.

Men who have beautiful girlfriends and treat them like shit (emotionally and/or physically).

Filmmakers who make Academy Award-winning and/or box-office blockbuster movies and still stamp their little feet and throw temper tantrums if anybody doesn't like them.

People whose circumstances of life make available to them chances that I and most likely anybody reading this (sorry) will probably never, ever get and use them to keep themselves stupid.

And most recently: Shallow actor/writers * with 40+ films to their credit (and who are even on the masthead at Vanity phucking Fair, forcrissake), complaining that coming out has just ruined their career.

Any actors and/or writers out there (straight or gay, closeted or open) who, like me, would be willing to open a vein for a career as "ruined" as Mr. Everett's?

*I feel justified in the "shallow" tag, being as I've read his memoir.

I could die from all this irony, again

You know who the only people that still believe the Democrats in power have any interest in advancing "the homosexual agenda"* are?

The KKK connected, anti-gay Family Research Council, that's who.

*This "agenda" consists of the radical notion that homosexuals are people.

From the place and date stamp, there's a chance that I was in the audience at this

I honestly don't know which I find more insulting

That this blog is the 81st answer (only 81st?) if you do a Comcast Web Search for "nubileteen?"

Or that in the entry which comes up, I'm not talking about Emmy Clarke or Evanna Lynch like a normal person.

No, I'm defending Jigsaw from the charge that he "luridly dismembers" young girls like them.

I think I have a problem...

Very well, if you insist, I will imagine her in the costume

Rumors swirl that Anne Hathaway may have been approached to play The Black Cat in Spider-Men 4.