Not a lot of surprises, but I thought that was kind of fun

So...um...was it me, or were the Oscars kind of wonderful? Not just because "my" Katie finally won, (tho it is great to see her with one in her hand...as the bishop said of the actress).

On a more serious tip, her asking her dad to whistle so she'd know where he is, and then him doing it immediately, was both touching and funny.

Sean Penn for Milk, you gotta love his speech's opening line: "You Commie, homo-loving sons-of-guns..."

It was just, for once...a pretty darn good show, I thought. There were some shaky moments, but on the whole I found the evening quite charming.

One shaky moment: The idea of having the acting nominees saluted by five actors who had previously won in their category. These came off best when the speaker had some personal connection to "their" nominee, and could speak as a friend.

Again, Milk seemed to bring out the best in people. I also loved Robert DeNiro's line: "How did Sean Penn ever get all those roles as straight men?"

When there wasn't such an evident connection, this seemed just an opportunity for some actors to choke up some "emotion," (which actors need to be kept from with a whip and a chair). Or to remind young folks that they had once won the Oscar, their subsequent careers notwithstanding.

(Aside to Cuba Gooding Jr: "Brothers" don't need to work. You need to work. Don't think we don't know what you were saying.)

And the montages of previous winners were clearly unnecessary. Especially when they were followed by a second montage just to introduce the presenters. One or the other, please.

Another jarring moment: Bill Maher reminding me why I've never warmed to him or given him much credence as a political commentator: He just cannot seem to get his own dick out of his mouth.

Let me explain what I mean. Maher gave the award for best documentary, which was scheduled right after best supporting actor which, to the surprise of absolutely no one, went to the late Heath Ledger. Ledger’s father, mother and sister had accepted on his behalf.

It was a genuinely lovely moment, even if you're not deeply familiar with Ledger's work, which I'm not. So then Maher walks out and passes a remark about how "Everybody's crying and now I have to come out. Great."

Hey, Bill: IT'S NOT ABOUT YOU!

Oh, and speaking of non-surprises, Wall-E won for best animated feature.

This means that the Academy of Motion Pictures now has a better sense of the art than the "Annie" awards.

(Kung-Fu Panda, for cripes sake...)

Can we talk about the musical numbers? How they were--again, for once--sort of a joy to behold? I enjoyed Hugh Jackman's "homemade" opener (methinks I heard the voice of Vilanch) maybe even more than he clearly enjoyed performing it and yes, Anne Hathaway's turn "as" Richard Nixon.

Even if I am filled with a deep and abiding hatred for Hugh Jackman when I look at the below photo.



If Nixon had looked like that, David Frost would be a tea boy today.

I also liked the tribute to musicals--but wish Jackman hadn't seemed so desperately to be trying to justify it.

You're a gifted singer and dancer, Hugh, and you had others such with you. That's all the justification you needed.
None of this nonsense about how, "The musical is back."

Anyway, surely that happened when Chicago won for best picture...I'm not saying I agree with that win (I don't), but you'd think...

And Will Smith? Your little crack about action movies having something films in other genres do not--"Fans"--made no sense. If you'd said "ticket buyers," maybe. But every kind and style movie has fans. Tyler Perry has fans, animation has fans, romantic comedies have fans.

Hell, even a movie as thin and unfunny as Wild Wild West has fans...I assume.

As long as I'm being a complete bitch here, I'd like to ask a question about Robert Pattinson. This question is for the prepubescent girls of the world, and the question is: Seriously? This, by you, is a hunk?

I mean, I've gone for the pretty ones in my day, too, but at least Jamie Lee Curtis seems to have a definite personality and can actually, y'know...speak words. Hell, even Sharon Stone...but I've drifted from my original question, which again, was: Seriously?

Speaking of those we'd like to see naked, I haven't seen Penelope Cruz's now Oscar-winning performance in Woody Allen's Vicky Cristina Barcelona, but I liked what she said about roles for women.

It gives me hope, I tells ya--at least a very little bit. Sometimes that's all you need, to get up in the morning.

BTW, it's Cruz I'd like to see naked, not Woody Allen (but you got that, right?).

Mentioning Woody Allen brings me to Jerry Lewis. I have no problem with his winning the special Oscar, but I just wish they'd shown more of the entertainer alongside the Great Humanitarian stuff.

And one last observation, at least for tonight: Natalie Portman's gown was hot. But she didn't know how to move in it.



PS: That was the last observation except for this--I thought Tina Fey and Steve Martin were sexy and funny...respectively.

For all I've said about Summer Glau, it's time she spoke for herself

Summer Glau probably won't see this entry...



...as according to this interview she doesn't follow what people say about her online. But her mom, she says, does email her nice things that she finds. Excuse me for a moment.

(Clears throat)

Mrs. Glau? Your daughter is not only lovely, she is kickass in Terminator. She makes Cameron both strangely beautiful--ok, maybe not so strangely--and mechanical, which is as it should be. Plus if I wasn't already a fan, her coming out to support the writers during the strike would've sealed the deal.

Please feel free, Mrs. Glau, to pass this on to anyone you might think of, this person or that...

Good lord, lady...just walk away.

Sigourney Weaver says she'd be willing to make another Aliens film.

FWIW, as far as I'm concerned, the only way this could possibly work is if they do some sort of "retcon" so that Alien3 and Alien Resurrection never happened, and most specifically: Newt didn't die.

There's no other way of getting back from that "JTS" moment.

20 80' s-Liede (Videos) in 2 Minuten

How many can you name?

This means something

Good Lord, I'd almost think you were listening to me

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and Friday Night Lights were both up in the ratings last night.

Now that's more like it!

Gee, what do you suppose they're trying to sell this film on?

Honestly, I don't know which I find more offensive. That a film with this poster is rated PG-13...

...or that according to this review, the name of the bitchy cheerleader squad in this rather obvious knockoff of Bring It On is "The Panthers."

Damn it, the Panthers is the name of the best damn high school football team in Texas...

John Mayer is a funny, funny guy

And yes, that's irony.

Oh, yikes

Do you ever get the feeling that Jessica Simpson died a long time ago and now only her boobs are keeping her from falling down?

This joke writes itself, so just, you know, have fun

Senator Chris Buttars from Utah is infamous for his racially-charged, hateful and insensitive remarks, but he's really gone overboard this time.

He's featured in a new documentary about Proposition 8 entitled 8: The Morman Proposition and spews discriminatory slime the entire time.

"They're [gay people] probably the greatest threat to America going down I know of."

!!

Like I say, have fun...

Just as a test: Please tell me in comments which of these videos you watch, if any.

Friday the 13th jigsaw Part III: A New Dimension In Terror...

The missing pieces...

2. We see a detective in a vicious fight with a killer's helper, a woman, who leaves him for dead until he angrily shouts after her and she turns and walks back to him...

...is a scene from Saw III.





For a flick which includes clockwork racks that slowly twist people's limbs off, it's saying something that a woman simply tilting her head may be the most chilling moment.

The detective, BTW, is played by Donnie Wahlberg, the then once and future; now present New Kid on the block.

4. The evil killer is ambushed by the FBI and exploded into many parts...and that's the first thing that happens.

...is the opening scene from Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday. It's the first and last (at least, intentionally) fun thing that happens in the whole picture.

But it is kinda fun. It starts out looking like a scene that could've come from any of the first fistful of Fridays:

Young woman, lights go out, takes shower. Jason attacks, chases her through the woods. Then when they reach a large clearing, suddenly flood lights go on--and Jason is surrounded by FBI sharpshooters who open fire, dropping a bomb on him from above just to be on the safe side.

As I say, it's kinda fun. Unfortunately, the movie is 87 minutes long.

5. A woman who, as a child, played in one of the only later parts of a thriller series worth a damn, plays a girl almost half her age in a remake of the first.

...is a fun fact from Halloween (the 2007 version). The woman is who was in 4 and 5 as a child before returning to play in Rob Zombie's adaptation as an adult.
She'll also be in Zombie's sequel, which unlike his Halloween has a chance of being greater than its source. It being not exactly difficult to be a better movie than Halloween II, which brings me to:

6. A nurse is drowned in a (scalding) hot tub.

...would be a scene from Halloween II (directed by Rick Rosenthal).

Fun facts: Lance Guest, seen a few years ago on an episode of House, but known to fans of silly, enjoyable Sci-Fi as the lead in Last Starfighter plays a hapless would-be savior in this movie. How hapless? Well, he's taken out of the picture when he slips on a pool of blood...

The director of Last Starfighter played The Shape in the first Halloween movie.

Unfortunately for Guest, this would not be the worst horror sequel in which he would appear...

7. An actor who will go on to be a star in a popular television series is about to kill a man. Asked why, he answers, "It's the rules." And then another man, despite having been shot recently, beats him to death.

Is a scene from Saw ; the actor in question is Michael Emerson, now better known for starring on Lost in the role of Benjamin Linus. You gotta love that character name--part mine, part that of my favorite blanket-clinger.

I don't watch Lost, which may be for the best because at this point, I still can't look at Emerson without hearing "It's the rules." See for yourself. Oh, BTW, as ever:

If you haven't seen Saw and think there's a chance you ever might, don't watch this clip.

9. A magic ritual is disrupted when the virgin recruited for it turns out to be, well, not so much of a virgin as she at first said...

...is a scene from Monster Squad.

11. A cherished boyhood icon is raped.

Well I'm not surprised you didn't get that, it was in fact a trick question.

12. A dapper movie star spanks a woman in public, in order to create a distraction so another woman and a baby can hide.

On the director's commentary it says that actress was calling up all her girlfriends and telling them:

"I'm going to be spanked by Clive Owen!"

And:

13. You know all those movies and television shows you've seen where a character is locked into a room with the walls closing together? They always manage to stop the walls or get out before being crushed, don't they? ...Not this time.

Bye...

Boiling down the numbers

Shorter version of a new poll via Talking Points Memo-DC:

Those friendly Canadians

They sure know how to give A President a warm welcome.

I mean, now that we have one.

For once, a post on Kate Winslet that isn't all about her running around buck naked and curvy

Because Time, you see, has an article about her. Excerpts:

If she is fatigued, she never betrays it. An eager, insistent clot of people pushes toward her, and somehow she manages to greet each well-wisher with a fractional recalibration of body language that suggests a wordless surge of elated surprise on her part: Oh, it's you! You're the one I've been most hoping to see, and how wonderful that we share that secret knowledge! To achieve this effect, Winslet must appear, at every minute, to be not only the most interesting person in the room but also the most interested. This is not easy, and she does it very well. People walk away feeling glowy, sated and privileged. She has made them feel that way, and not out of actressy affectation, but because right now, it's her job.

Movie stars have projects built around them; Winslet seeks out movies in which she can serve a director or story by becoming an essential support beam in the film's overall architecture. Movie stars usually want more — more words, more screen time, more veto power; she wants less. When the playwright and screenwriter Doug Wright worked with her on Quills in 2000, he recalls, Winslet told him "with great tact, 'Doug, I'd never say a word against your writing, but this line? This one here? ... I don't have to say it. I can do it with my eyes.' It was the best lesson in screenwriting I've ever been given."

For any actors who may be looking in: This is precisely the right way to start a conversation with any writer...

Shawnee Smith: I've run out of reasons why.

I hate to do this so soon after chiding Eliza Dushku for pandering, but...

Y'know, not only is Friday Night Lights a really good show which you should be watching anyway...but, it does have some of the sexier ladies on television, too.

So, watch. If you do, Minka Kelly will cheer you on.*












*Minka Kelly is not actually guaranteed to cheer you on.

Well I'll be damned

Ok, so sometimes I'm slow. You're all well familiar with the fact I think two of the best TV shows of the past couple years are Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and Life, yes? Fine.

(Although actually...the second season of Life has me about ready to throw up my hands and give up on it. It's not a swan dive as bad as Huff's second season, but...however, I digress.)

Anyway, I only just now realized that Garret Dillahunt, the actor who plays the Terminator-turned-supercomputer (if you watched the show, you'd know what that meant) on TSCC...

...also played Roman, a sociopathic, human trafficking and murdering villain who recurred on Life.

Go figure.

What I'm saying is, he's good.

(Though what's weird is, he actually seems more trustworthy as the cyborg...)

These pictures of Eliza Dushku in her underwear for Maxim leave me feeling oddly cold

Lord knows, it's not that I have anything against Eliza's skin, I don't (all together now: More's the pity). I just think these pictures look too "posed" for cheesecake, lacking playful or light-heartedness, a sense of mischief.

Also, I kinda hate to see someone who I actually think is capable of being a good actress when she has good material reduced to this kind of pandering.

But that's just one fella's opinion.

The face of the uninsured.

Dear John McCain...

When you're being booed at sporting events in your home state...maybe it's time to retire.

Do you know how you turn an unremarkable romantic comedy into my new favorite film...ever?

You cast as your male lead, a "Bronx baker with an explosive temper," one Costas Mandylor.

Who was then just a couple of years away from playing Detective Hoffman, Jigsaw's apprentice in the latter half (so far) of the Saw franchise.

You have no idea how twisted a film can become when seen from that point of view.

Or maybe you do.

Further:

Via TPM, CNN seems to think it's news that GOP Senators would say Obama is "Off to a bad start."

The rest of the country, meanwhile, just insists upon continuing to like Obama. And they don't like the GOP.

Just so we're clear.

I like what Obama has to say...

...in this interview with the National Journal Magazine.

He was insistent that a president's responsibility is to resist the daily (if not hourly) scorekeeping of the modern political and media system and keep his eye on the horizon. "My job is to help the country take the long view," he said. Obama portrayed himself as willing to consider a broad range of perspectives for responding to the country's daunting problems -- "We're going to... work with anybody who wants to work with us constructively," he said at one point -- and open to adjusting his own course to bring others along or simply to respond to evidence that his ideas aren't working. But repeatedly he declared that no one should interpret that to mean he lacks any clarity about his goals: "My consistent bottom line is: How do we make sure that the American people can work, have a decent income, look after their kids and we can grow the economy." Any compromises or course corrections, he argued, must serve those overriding priorities.

Let's kill 'em.

Those gay folks sure do sound scary. They must go around making all sorts of wrongheaded claims without a shred of evidence.

Oh no wait...

A song, a scene, and a submission

This is the song. It was a hit single, and so you've probably heard it before, (but) in this case I was reminded by something you're about to see in a minute of the lyrics:

Politician grannie with your high ideals
But you've no idea how the majority feels
So outlawed in the promised land...

This is a scene from The West Wing. It's just fantastic.



And this is an entry from Huffington (by Jane Hamsher of Firedoglake) about the mainstream media and how they seem much more intent on--what they only think is--"bipartisanship" than do, say, the rest of us.

There appears to be a pretty big gap between what DC journalists think Americans think, and what Americans actually think. No better example of this can be found than the "winners" and "losers" that DC media are proclaiming in the wake of the passage of the stimulus bill, and what DailyKos/Research 2000 polling on the subject indicates.

The people who live in DC, who pretend to speak for the rest of the country, have no direct experience with what is happening there -- and their attempts to handicap DC politics have more to do with the inside baseball games that seek to protect their own interests above all else.

That's going to be one beautiful-looking man

Anne Hathaway is turning into a man! Don’t jump off your seats, for the actress is just doing an open-air production of Shakespeare`s play ‘Twelth Night’, in which she cross-dresses as a male.

The ‘Princess Diaries’ actress has taken up the role of Viola, who spends most of the play disguised as a man.

The actress will make her debut on June 9 in the month-long production at Central Park`s Delacorte Theater in New York, reports Contactmusic.

Oh, to be in New York, now that the Theater season is here.

Oh, this looks (potentially) great...

Not to say: Awesome.



Then again, so did the Prequel Trilogy.

Guess I'll just have to wait to see the final product.

There's presidents worse than Bush!

Take heart, Bush Republicans. Turns out, you still have something to be proud of after all.

Quoted in full from Think Progress:

Today, C-SPAN released its second Historians Survey of Presidential Leadership, in which “65 presidential historians ranked the 42 former occupants of the White House on ten attributes of leadership.” Coming in first was Abraham Lincoln, followed by George Washington, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt, and Harry Truman. Finishing last was James Buchanan. George W. Bush came in 36th, just beating out Millard Fillmore, who ranked 37th.

Looks like Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) was wrong when, in 2007, he predicted that Bush’s “ratings among the historians will be greater than his ratings in the polls today.”

Legends From the Cellar: For Valentine's Day

Renee Zellweger to star in big-screen treatment of "Little Jack Horner" nursery rhyme

She'll play the plum.

If only the show were still good

"The Simpsons" revamped opening title sequence.

Alright, people, I'm losing my patience with you...

Nielsen Rating Overnights.

Wife Swap and Howie Mandel beats Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles? Supernanny beats Friday Night Lights?

Bad TV is driving out the good.

For Corey

Because every man should have a stalwart young woman sing a song with his name in it at least once in his life.



Just try not to think about the fact that this one is less than half your age.

(And because I missed his birthday)

Uh-oh.

You know what's a slightly worrying feeling? Finding out that somebody from a U.S. Government domain in Sacramento, California has found your blog via googling your name.

On a completely unrelated matter, I'd just like to take this opportunity to mention my top five favorite Arnold Schwarzenegger films. Terminator 2: Judgment Day, The Terminator, Predator, Total Recall...

The choice is clear.

Well. I had been going to give Dollhouse a try tonight--even though it's only gotten "mixed or average" reviews. I mention that (the reviews) because, if/when the show is cancelled, you can count upon a lot of whining from the Whedon zombies that a Great Work Of Art has been cut down in its prime.

Nevertheless, I had been going to give it a try. However. That was before I realized it was going to be on opposite Friday Night Lights, which as we know is one of my favorite shows and needs as many fans as it can get.

Friday the 13th jigsaw Part III: A New Dimension In Terror...

I have here a lettered list of 13 thriller/horror/action/slasher/mystery/monster/epic space opera movies, followed by a numbered list describing scenes from those movies-often but not always of killings. Your job: Fit 'em together.

A. Body Double

B. Halloween II

C. Saw V

D. Friday the 13th (the 1980 version)

E. Shoot 'Em Up

F. Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday

G. Saw

H. Resident Evil: Extinction

I. Halloween (the 2007 version)

J. Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith

K. Monster Squad

L. Saw III

M. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

1. A thriller's rather stupid alleged hero, an actor, takes a job on a porno to investigate a killing. The "porno," somehow, turns out to be at least as much a video for Frankie Goes to Hollywood as a porn film...

2. We see a detective in a vicious fight with a killer's helper, a woman, who leaves him for dead until he angrily shouts after her and she turns and walks back to him...

3. A future genuine movie star gets an arrow through the neck from under the bed in which he's laying.

4. The evil killer is ambushed by the FBI and exploded into many parts...and that's the first thing that happens.

5. A woman who, as a child, played in one of the only later parts of a thriller series worth a damn, plays a girl almost half her age in a remake of the first.

6. A nurse is drowned in a (scalding) hot tub.

7. An actor who will go on to be a star in a popular television series is about to kill a man. Asked why, he answers, "It's the rules." And then another man, despite having been shot recently, beats him to death.

8. A man stands above a woman and roars "I am the future!"

And she replies: "No. You're just another asshole."

9. A magic ritual is disrupted when the virgin recruited for it turns out to be, well, not so much of a virgin as she at first said...

10. Not even the younglings survive.

11. A cherished boyhood icon is raped.

12. A dapper movie star spanks a woman in public, in order to create a distraction so another woman and a baby can hide.

13. You know all those movies and television shows you've seen where a character is locked into a room with the walls closing together? They always manage to stop the walls or get out before being crushed, don't they? ...Not this time.

Do you ever get the feeling that Karl Rove really, really wants to be punished?

I think he does--he keeps doing things that remind me of nothing so much as the spoiled child acting out. Who does so because even if he's not concious of it, on some, deepest level, he really wants his mommy to step in and set boundaries.

(I know something about such children)

Most recently, he said,

"Secrecy and confidentiality are necessary for every government, especially when you're at war."...

"I love how the last eight years, this White House, the Bush White House, was criticized for being tight-lipped. We didn't leak."

Via Christy Hardin Smith. If you need any reminder of why this has about as much relation to the truth as Fat Tony and his goons on The Simpsons have to legitimate businessmen, follow that link.

Otherwise, reflect on those comments. Is he asking for anything other than to be arrested in as rough a manner as possible--you know, where he "trips and falls" two or three times on his way to jail?

Are you listening, Eric Holder? It's not just what the country wants--and they do--it's what Rove himself wants. Do us all the favor.

Somebody pinch me

Let me get this straight. A synth-pop song, performed by an a capella group made up of female college students. And as if that weren't amazing enough, they didn't even change the sexual pronoun of the song.



This makes stupid amounts of sense to me.

Jest a gorgeous picture

From Lou in Art&Ghosts:

Dragons.

I like 'em.

Ahem.

As we know, this blog (and this blogger) is very pro-gay.

Also, I am a bit of an "anglophile," some of my favorite music , from Kirsty MacColl to the Human League, with too many others in-between to mention, is UK. To say nothing of a little show called Doctor Who. Plus my friend PJ comes from there.

And, as evidenced by the name of this blog itself, I like dragons. As I've oft-times said, they are my favorite mythological beastie.

So, here we are, then. Pro-gay, pro-the English, pro-dragons.

Nevertheless...this worries me.

You know...I know almost nothing about Twilight. But somehow, I have no trouble imagining it's exactly like this.

(click to read)

On second thought...

There is still some reason to think that Barack Obama is the Luke Skywalker we've been waiting for to take down the Republican Empire. Per Think Progress:

According to a CBS poll, 81% of the public understands Obama “is trying to work with Republicans in Congress in order to get things done.”

--and---

A new Gallup poll reports that the GOP is "taking the hit" for resisting the recovery bill.

Oh, joy!

Oh, this is wonderful. I just found out (via Pam's House Blend) that the latest way in which good "Christian" folk like the National Review Online and American Family Association refrain from saying...

"Look, we just don't like queers! Allright?"

...is by perverting the English language to come up with a completely bullshit word.

"Homosexualists."

"Homosexualists."

I love it.

What we have here is an example of how to have a good thing to say, and then kill it by playing it to death

In The Huffington Post, a man named Drew Westen has a piece called

Change vs. Bipartisanship: What Happens When You Throw a Bipartisan Party and Half the Guest List Stays Home?

And as that sounds, it's another piece expressing the frustration of Democrats who don't understand why Barack Obama insists on refraining from opening fire on Republicans.

You know, the Republicans. The ones who got us into this mess. And have shown by their words and deeds that they have no intention of helping us get out.

Westen writes:

The problem with a message of bipartisanship is that it makes it very difficult to tell the story of why things are so bad that we need dramatic change.

These are good things to say, and Westen has more of them. Unfortunately they get completely lost in his almost 35, 000 word mess of an essay. Ironically, at one point he chides The White House for

[sending] out surrogates like Larry Summers, who understands economics but not how to talk to the public about economics, against well-coached, media-savvy Republicans like House Minority Leader John Boehner, who demolished Summers on Meet the Press with well-crafted lines mixed with economic nonsense.

You're not a man who should be chiding anybody on not being able to talk to the public, Drew.

But I'll tell you when I bailed out. It was when he said this:

I would not presume to put words into the mouth of a man who can use the English language as well as anyone alive [Obama], but something like the following might have been appropriate...

And I would not presume to tell a Psychologist; neuroscientist; Emory University Professor and published author he should keep his damn hands off the keyboard, but...

Jedi Ewoks!

Ewok Jedi by ~Shadowbox on deviantART

Coraline is awesome animation.

I mean really awesome. Just on a technical level alone it demands and earns your applause (which it won at the show I attended). As a showcase for animation...things like this should remind those who don't already know it that well, there's animation and then there's animation.

(Technically, the dragon in Dragonheart was animation. You see what I mean?)

I don't know enough about the differences in technique between stop-motion and CGI to say why this is, but there's something about the way the stop-motion figures move which seems more...human. I love what CGI can do in a movie like The Incredibles but sometimes it's missing a beating heart, which Coraline has.

Yet it's an utterly fantastic world, absolutely gorgeous.

I think it'll also prove to be the kind of movie which lingers in the memory: I'm already anxious to see it again on DVD--and wondering about extras--on my own. When I can think about it a little more deeply and not be keeping one eye (at least mentally) on the nephew.

From one viewing I can say this thing: It's smart and funny and...nightmarish. And beautiful.

(That all goes for the score by Bruno Coulais, about which I wanted to be sure to say a special word, too.)

Fair warning if anyone reading this has young children they're thinking of taking: It is a little scary in one or two places. But I think not intolerably so, as long as they can close their eyes when they want to and there's a grown-up nearby.

My nephew is seven now and he was a little scared, but I think he also had fun. Consider the child in question and act appropriately.

Perhaps you shouldn't know much more about the story than you can get from the trailer,

...but I will say this: The cat is alright!

Reportedly the film's done very well for its opening weekend, which doesn't really surprise me. There was a line at the box office and the theater was almost full on a Sunday afternoon.

You want to see this one, you really do.

See, this is why Republicans shouldn't be trusted with computers

Via Think Progress:

Rep. Pete Hoeksra (R-MI), the ranking member of the House intelligence committee, revealed classified intelligence information on Twitter when he reported on his “congressional trip to Iraq this weekend that was supposed to be a secret.” “Just landed in Baghdad,” messaged Hoekstra, who was part of a delegation led by John Boehner (R-OH). CQ reports, “Before the delegation left Washington, they were advised to keep the trip to themselves for security reasons. A few media outlets, including Congressional Quarterly, learned about it, but agreed not to disclose anything until the delegation had left Iraq.” Hoekstra not only revealed the existence of the trip, but included details about their itinerary. In a May 2006 op-ed in the Los Angeles Times, Hoekstra wrote:

But every time classified national security information is leaked, our ability to gather information on those who would do us harm is eroded. … I regret that I see little sign of intolerance for unauthorized disclosures of intelligence to the media from some of my Democratic colleagues today. … We are a nation at war. Unauthorized disclosures of classified information only help terrorists and our enemies – and put American lives at risk.

Hit that man with a shoe.

Just checking in...

...you are all watching Friday Night Lights now, right?

Good.

Anybody remember my old blog?

...this is the song from which I took its name. I'm still weirdly proud of what you find if you click on that.



And it's still a nice song. These are fantastic visuals (by "shum65"), too.

I agree with this idea

From "oleeb" at TPM:

The President should get rid of ALL of the foolish tax cuts in the bill, do the things he knows are right, make no compromise with those blithering idiots and demand that they support the bill as he wants it.

What I want to know is, how many of these hot chicks who kick ass is he going to kill this time?

Joss Whedon on Dollhouse.

This made me smile.

Not as much as seeing him do at least a couple years in jail...but it made me smile.

A Dallas hardware store has offered George W. Bush a job as a "greeter."

Can't stop writing them Amazon reviews

This one's of Gary David Goldberg's memoir, Sit, Ubu, Sit.

Random weirdness

When Andrew Sullivan is right, he's right.

And he is right about this:

It has taken Obama two weeks to say something that George W. Bush couldn't manage to say in eight years: "I screwed up." This is change we can really believe in.

It's just that as always with the (generally) conservative Sullivan, you have to take into account the many years he spent believing Bush thought he was a human being. Although he's a hell-bound homo fag.

Information that should be passed along

From Pam's House Blend:

According to final tallies, donors on both sides on Prop. 8 gave more than $83 million. To put this in perspective, here is what $83 million dollars will buy:

Health insurance for 7,000 families for one year;
1628 kidney transplant surgeries;
4.3 million school lunches;
2733 college educations at 4-year private schools;
6486 college educations at 4-year public schools;
Funding for 692 small homeless shelters for one year (10 person capacity); or
Food for 22,800 families of four for one year

Memories.

Remember when the GOP's big strike against Obama was that he didn't have expertise or credibility and so therefore, nobody should listen to him? Boy I miss them days.

Because right now, the GOP's most popular; prominent media spokespeople are Sarah Palin...and Joe the Plumber. Two people so lightweight in the experience department they make Obama look like he was carved out of Mt. Rushmore.

And of course, two people we have John McCain to thank for inflicting on the American Public.

Way to talk straight, John.

What a novelty: Justice in the Justice Department

From TPM Muckraker:

Remember Leslie Hagan, who last April was dismissed by Monica Goodling from the Justice Department's Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys because she was rumored to be gay?

Well, the Obama administration has righted that wrong, giving Hagen her job back, reports NPR, which broke the original story of her dismissal.

Dear Anne...

Sweetheart, you know I love you, but we have to talk about that dress.

Ooh!

Say, you know who I like? George Clooney. I like him as a filmmaker. I like him as a movie star. And not to put too fine a point on it, but if I were a girl, I totally would. So I like him.

You know who else I like? Aaron Sorkin--the president of smart, witty, dense dialogue; the romantic language of entertainment.

And now you know what's coming, don't you?

Aaron Sorkin, the creator of The West Wing, is to collaborate with George Clooney on upcoming courtroom drama The Challenge.

Variety reports Clooney's production company Smoke House is to develop the film, based on the trial of Osama bin Laden's driver Salim Hamdan.

The Burn After Reading star may direct the film and is likely to play Navy lawyer Charles Swift who worked with law professor Neal Katyal to ensure Guantanamo Bay detainee Hamdan received a fair trial.

Things you do want to know.

Just a quick follow-up on this post:

When 2-year-old Riley Ann Sawyers' badly decomposed remains were found inside a plastic box in October 2007, investigators promised they would do at least one thing for the toddler.

"That we would find the people responsible for her death and bring them to justice and we did," said Galveston County Sheriff's Sgt. Michael Barry.

A jury on Monday convicted Riley's mother, Kimberly Dawn Trenor, of capital murder for the little girl's death. The child had been whipped with belts and flung across a room like a rag doll before her body was dumped in Galveston Bay. Until her remains were identified, she was dubbed "Baby Grace" by investigators.

Jurors deliberated less than two hours before reaching a verdict. The conviction brought an automatic sentence of life in prison without parole.

That's the least she deserves.

I can't very well disappoint the boy, now can I?

Social Seppuku linked to this blog today, saying:

For a trip in the Wayback Machine
with beautiful women, I go to:
A Dragon and Buddha Dance

Didn't get the title quite right, but who's gonna blame 'him? And--

a trip in the Wayback Machine:



beautiful women:

Dear Republicans...

...I mean, I'm 99% sure there are no Republicans reading this. But nevertheless: Dear Republicans...

...it's going to get worse before it gets better.

Poll: Republicans Want Party To Be Like Palin

Emma Roberts has her eye on the sparrow

Her role model? Anne Hathaway. Lindsay Lohan? Not so much.

ETA images.

Dude, you're making Terminator 4, ok? Terminator 4. Maybe you want to lighten the fuck up just a little bit.

OMG, Christian Bale is fucking nuts.

Joe Lieberman: Proof positive that all Jews are not funny

Via Think Progress:

Lieberman jokes about waterboarding at black-tie dinner.»

At last night’s black-tie dinner at Washington’s Alfalfa Club, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) couldn’t resist cracking a joke about torture.

More from Senator Lieberman: ‘We had hoped Vice President Cheney would be here tonight. I hope it’s not his back injury that’s keeping him away. Apparently, he hurt it moving some things out of his office. Personally, I had no idea that waterboards were so heavy.'

Last year, Lieberman, who has voted against banning waterboarding, “reluctantly acknowledged” that he doesn’t believe that waterboarding is torture. “It is not like putting burning coals on people’s bodies. The person is in no real danger. The impact is psychological,” he said.

Réutilisant

Des cabines de téléphone (comme aquarium)

Nice one, Mr. Daschle.

Way to embarass the President.

"Are we more homophobic than we are racist? Or more racist than we are homophobic?"

On an early episode of the Michael J. Fox-led sitcom Spin City, there's a joke where Michael Boatman says to Alan Ruck something along the lines of (this is from memory and approximate),

"I know what your problem is, Stuart. See, I'm a black man, but I'm also gay, and you don't know which of your prejudices should win. It's dueling stereotypes."

When I saw this news about the current state of the Republican Party...

David Duke loses it over Michael Steele at RNC

...I thought of that scene.

Between the panda, the dog, and the robot, who would you bet on?

You know...there are animation fans (and professionals) who wonder why the art form is seen in such a negative light in the US. Which it is, or at least, it's seen as being "just for kids."

Well, this is why:

Animated hit Kung Fu Panda was the toast of the 36th annual Annie Awards on Friday (30Jan09) night - triumphing in 10 categories.
The 2008 picture, starring Angelina Jolie and Jack Black, took the top gong for Best Animated Feature beating out competition from fellow Oscar contenders Wall-E and Bolt, as well as Waltz With Bashir and $9.99.

The film also picked up gongs in the Animated Effects and Production Design categories amongst others, while Dustin Hoffman was presented with the Best Voice Acting prize for his role as red panda Shifu.

Now: In the interests of complete fairness it should be pointed out that I have not seen Kung Fu Panda, and so I suppose I should say it is possible it will stand up through the years as a great achievement in films animated or otherwise, as Wall-E almost certainly will.

It is also possible that Jessica Simpson will have her own exhibition in the Smithsonian.

Sheesh.

It pains me to say this, given how much I love his music, but it's true:

Joe Jackson blatantly "borrowed" the melody for his classic "Breaking Us In Two..."



...from "Day After Day" by Badfinger.



You've broken my heart in two, Joe...

Psst...just between you and me...

...that darned actress/writer Amber Benson (perhaps best known as the late, lamented Tara) has hersself a blog.

Yo, Jason...you out there, buddy? This one's for you.

Jennifer Aniston with members of the Marine Corp. More here. The pictures are a few years old, but do you care? I thought not.

If this is any indication, what I like least about the new "Witch Mountain" movie may be the fact it's got the words "Witch Mountain" in the title*

Because otherwise, this looks like it might actually be a movie I'd rather like to watch...

Movie Trailers - Movies Blog

*It's a personal thing. I had my first kiss at the school where they filmed the orphanage scenes in Escape to Witch Mountain, see, and...

For the record, I liked most of Buffy, most of Angel, bailed on both in their final years; think Firefly is ridiculously overrated by Whedon fans.

Ok. As I think most of you know by now, I am something of a...iconoclast, shall we say, when it comes to Joss Whedon and his various series.

It's not entirely--or even mostly--his fault. It mainly has to do with my perception that too many of those fans are quite zombie-like in their devotion to their idol.

The man wrote a musical episode that was merely pretty good for someone who'd never written a musical before, and you'd think he was Stephen Sondheim from the way some of them carried on.

(I also think that every single thing regarding the decision to kill Tara on Buffy was a terrible mistake, and that is his fault--but neither here nor there for the purposes of this discussion)

No doubt you're wondering: Why does he tell us all of this, much of which we already know?

Because:

Say what you will about Joss Whedon (and I have), but...the man knows a good TV show when he's paired with one.

What are your thoughts on [new series DOLLHOUSE, starring Eliza Dushku, pictured] being paired with TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES on Friday nights?

I love being paired with THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES. I love that show, so it works for me.

Ok, Joss, I'll give you that one...

Times like this, you can either write a long, angry post...or you can just fucking bounce. Guess what I've decided to do.

Times like this:

Shocker (not): Rove has no intention of obeying Conyers' subpoena

Just fucking bounce:

Go!

VH1 TV Shows Music Videos Celebrity Photos News & Gossip

(sorry about the fucking ad you might see)

I was worried recently that Carter might prove to be the model for Obama in the worst way...now I'm not so sure he shouldn't listen to him

Dick, don't let's be L7...

You may have seen this elsewhere, but if not, it's definitely worth seeing. Now, I have to warn you, it involves watching more of Chris Matthews, who I generally think is dumb, than I would normally ask.

But in this case it's worth it, because by the end of the clip, you get to see Dick Armey prove himself to be a classically sexist Republican man. It's pretty cool.



Armey, BTW, is the onetime Majority Leader from Texas who decided to announce Bob Hope's death on the house floor five years before Hope actually died.

That has nothing to do with this...I just think it's the sort of thing which shouldn't be forgotten.

Yes!

Judge: Anti-gay marriage donors must be public

Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha!

A federal judge denied a request Thursday to keep secret the names of donors to California's anti-gay marriage initiative, saying the public had a right to know who gave money to state ballot measures.

Supporters of the Proposition 8 initiative, which overturned a state Supreme Court ruling that allowed gay marriage, had sought a preliminary injunction to remove the identities of those who contributed to their campaign from the secretary of state's Web site.

They also had asked U.S. District Judge Morrison England Jr. to block the Monday release of the names of donors who either gave money two weeks before the election or shortly afterward. Those names will be publicly released in postelection campaign finance reports.

Suck it, you bigots! You don't get to deny people their human and civil rights and then scurry away under a stone like a spider. We're gonna see you, and we're gonna know what you are.

Own your homophobia, bigots. You might just sleep better at night.

Things I've found in books

So yesterday I'm reading From Earth to Heaven by Isaac Asimov, a collection of his science essays. Tucked between the last page and the back cover is a page ripped from a bible.

Specifically, it's

Genesis 40 & 41: In prison, Joseph interpreteth two dreams & Pharoh's dreams, Joseph interpreteth them.

I have no idea what whoever had this book before me was trying to put forth. I thought it might be an attempt to answer Asimov's known atheism, but he doesn't speak of that in the book. And I don't see anything in the page to answer it in any case.

I do, however, know a song cue when I see one.

The possibility that Obama might actually know what he's doing

...is considered here by Bob Cesca.

That's preposterous, of course. For one thing, Stokely Carmichael never had a booty like that*.

During the January 26 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, NPR news analyst and Fox News political contributor Juan Williams again baselessly attacked first lady Michelle Obama, claiming that "her instinct is to start with this 'blame America' ... stuff." Williams asserted that "[i]f you think about liabilities for President [Barack] Obama that are close to him -- [Vice President] Joe Biden's up there -- but Michelle Obama's right there." Williams continued: "[S]he's got this Stokely Carmichael-in-a-designer-dress thing going. If she starts talking, as [Townhall Magazine contributor and Weekly Standard contributing blogger] Mary Katharine [Ham] suggested, her instinct is to start with this 'blame America,' you know, 'I'm the victim.' If that stuff starts to come out, people will go bananas, and she'll go from being the new Jackie O to being something of an albatross."

*I say this with all the respect in the world for our new First Lady, but: Damn, she looks good in a dress.

Oh yes...have I harassed you people about watching Friday Night Lights recently?

If not, consider yourself harassed. It's one of my favorite shows and, like most of my favorite shows with only a few exceptions (House, maybe Bones), that means it needs more people to watch it.

So do, already. Watch a few episodes, see if you don't love it. If you don't, I respect that.

(I don't understand it, but I respect that.)

Oh, man.

If I hadn't already stopped watching The Simpsons (because it hasn't made me laugh in years), this might do it: Nancy Cartwright is using her Bart Simpson voice to push Scientology.

BTW, on a related note: I read an unauthorized biography of Tom Cruise (this one) recently. You know the two biggest rumors about Cruise are that he's secretly gay, and not-so-secretly a batshit nuts scientologist.

Well, if what this book says is factual, the gay thing actually may not be true. But the batshit nuts Scientology thing...is worse than we ever imagined.

How did I not know about this?

Robbie Williams does Stephen Duffy a la Howard Jones.

Things you don't want to know

GALVESTON, Texas - A slain toddler tried to stop her mother and stepfather from beating her to death by reaching out to her mother and saying, "I love you," a prosecutor told jurors Tuesday. The pleas from 2-year-old Riley Ann Sawyers didn't stop her mother, Kimberly Trenor, from continuing to brutalize her, assistant district attorney Kayla Allen said in her opening statement at Trenor's murder trial.

"To the very end, Riley said, 'I love you' to her mom. She's reaching out," Allen said. "That's her lifeline, to her mother. What does Kim do after hearing her say I love you? She starts beating her."

Oh, I don't feel good about this.

NBC's drama pilot "Lost in the '80s," originally picked up as director-contingent, has firmed up its order with the hire of "Confessions of a Shopaholic" helmer P.J. Hogan.

"Lost in the '80s," from Sony TV and Tantamount, is considered an '80s version of "The Wonder Years" and described as "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" meets "The Ice Storm."

Bob Brush penned the script and is executive producing with Eric Tannenbaum, Kim Tannenbaum and Mitch Hurwitz.

In addition to the upcoming "Shopaholic," CAA-repped Hogan directed the hit romantic comedy "My Best Friend's Wedding."

Trust me, if you're a Saw fan--which I'm reasonably certain none of you are--this picture is tragic with irony.

Tragic, I say.

Dear Ms. Deschanel...

There is such a thing as overdoing the babydoll bit, you know...

The good news is, I no longer have to even try to remember to watch "Big Bang Theory"

Now that they've cut down Sara Gilbert's part.

A wonderful moment

...marred slightly by the dubbed voices, but those go away for the number itself.



FYI this is from the 2000 film of Love's Labour's Lost.

And now for a pastoral interlude

Jessica Simpson's career is going down for the third time

She's doing state fairs, for god's sake...

You know how I say: Don't mess with my wolves?

This is what I'm talkin' 'bout.

Another one of my Amazon reviews

This for the book: Street Gang: The Complete History of Sesame Street

Ever notice how some girls can just pull off the slutty and some girls can't?

Can't.

Barack Obama hasn't.

Republicans already seem to have forgotten just who won the election. And, by extension, who didn't.

Sock it towards them, baby.

I'm reliably informed that there are some sane people in Tennessee.

This would seem to support that.

Tennessee and Texas were safely in John McCain’s column on Election Day, but over two months later views of the new Democratic president and his agenda are surprisingly high in the two reliably Republican states.

In a snapshot look at attitudes in McCain country, Rasmussen Reports finds that concerns about the current economic situation appear to override traditional political considerations.

Sixty percent (60%) of Tennessee voters approve of Obama’s job performance, including 39% who Strongly Approve. Thirty-five percent (35%) disapprove, 21% of whom Strongly Disapprove.

I never thought anybody could make "the schoolgirl look" undesirable to me

But damn if Katie Price isn't bombing with it here.