Okay, the "Kagan gay" thing (or, If I'm a fair judge...)

Sigh.

Today on ABC/Washington Post’s “Top Line,” Richard Socarides – a prominent Democratic gay-rights advocate who worked alongside Kagan in the Clinton White House – said the White House appeared “flat-footed” at the beginning, but appears to have gotten its messaging under control.

“I think the whole conversation now is probably more silly than anything else, and is probably mostly about bloggers trying to drive traffic to their blogs,”

That's preposterous. I remember I was talking about this just last year. Let me set the scene for you.

I was attending the Golden Globes, my date was Scarlett Johansson.

(To be honest, first I called Jennifer Lopez.)

(But try getting that girl's ass out of a hot bath.)

We walked past Gwyneth Paltrow and Leslie Bibb on the way into the auditorium.

Gwyneth and Scarlett took turns giving each other feeling looks (Gwyneth never has liked sharing); Leslie busied herself by making sure all her right places were seen in all the right places.

But her naked desire to look as cute or cuter as America Ferrera...


--had in Maxim, was apparent to all.

After watching Tina Fey win, we decided to slip out for a bite to eat.

On the way, we came on Rooney Mara

We asked her to join us and make this a threesome. She said yes, and the three of us decided to go down to a diner I knew with kick-ass hamburgers on delectable buns.

As we walked into the diner, Rooney whispered to me that she couldn't wait to suck down an ice-cold Coke.

To our surprise, who should be there but Kristen Wiig! She was playing with a doggie; styled like a trucker-chick, and eating a pickle.

However, I digress.

My point is I remember, while all that was going on, turning to Kristen and saying that this blogger, for one, would never go so low as to write provocative things into his blog, merely in hopes of driving his traffic up.

And I never will.

Oh, and Connie Britton is having an affair.

Now that I've gotten that out of my system, back to the story at hand.

Socarides said Kagan will be able to fairly judge all issues that come before the court. That includes those touching on the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy banning gay and lesbian service-members from being open about their sexuality – a policy Kagan spoke out against as dean of Harvard Law School.

All jokes aside...this is what really made me want to talk about this. The argument some are making that Kagan's sexuality is a real issue in whether or not she should be confirmed. Or that if she is, and indeed also a lesbian, she should recuse herself from any issues involving gay people.

The answer to that seems so obvious. What about all the issues involving straight people the rest of the court rules on all the time? Why would one think they can judge issues involving their sexuality fairly, but Kagan--again, if she is indeed gay--cannot?

Roger Ebert's writing a memoir

And I can't wait to read it.

Don't worry, be oily

I don't sleep well. I know this mostly because every night I make my bed, and every morning the sheet has been pushed off. I can only assume that if I were subject to one of those sleep studies where they film you during the night, you'd see a great deal of tossing and turning. I also usually have pretty vivid dreams.

I'm mentioning all this, because I have a terrible sick certainty that all the people who ought to be held to account for the oil spill, from the oil companies to the white house, sleep just fine.

Case in point:

Don't worry about that pesky oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, BP CEO Tony Hayward says: It's "relatively tiny" compared to the "very big ocean."

Hayward launched this novel defense of the worst spill in U.S. history during an interview with the Guardian that deserves a full read, especially with BP fighting the Obama administration's push to make the company pay the full tab for cleanup costs. The BP chief executive acknowledged for the first time that he expects his future with the company to be "judged by the nature of the response" to the current crisis; this may help explain his stream of delaying tactics and excuses.

"We will fix it. I guarantee it. The only question is we do not know when," Hayward told the Guardian. "The Gulf of Mexico is a very big ocean. The amount of volume of oil and dispersant we are putting into it is tiny in relation to the total water volume."

To paraphrase Jon Stewart: You're not helping your case!

GodDamnit!

The Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission plans to at least double the number of gray wolves hunters can kill this year

.

The proposed quotas would reduce the state's wolf population between 8 percent and 20 percent from last year's minimum count of 524 wolves, according to state wildlife computer models.

The proposed quotas do not include wolves killed by wildlife officials responding to complaints of attacks on livestock. Some 145 wolves were killed that way in 2009.

Thank You, Aaron

Aaron Sorkin, that is:

First things first. An actor, no matter which sex they're attracted to, can't "play" gay or "play" straight. Gay and straight aren't actable things. You can act effeminate and you can act macho (though macho usually ends up reading as gay), but an actor can't play gay or straight anymore than they can play Catholic. The most disturbing thing to me about this episode is that the theater critic for Newsweek didn't know that. Of COURSE gay actors can play straight characters -- it's impossible to believe that Mr. Setoodeh would prefer if Ian McKellen would stop doing King Lear.

(The third story on my homepage yesterday was that Britain, our closest ally, has a new Prime Minister. The first story was about Justin Bieber. Unless the new Prime Minister is Justin Bieber, something's obviously gone wrong.)

Haven't done this for a while...

...sometimes rather than send you to a particular item, I like to recommend an entire website. In this case, it's the H-Post, where you'll find more than a couple good stories about the Gulf oil spill today...

Oh, son of a bitch

Tyler Lambert, son of Diff'rent Strokes star Dana Plato, committed suicide last week, reports PopEater. He was 25.

The Tulsa, Okla., office of the Chief Medical Examiner told PopEater that Lambert died from a self-inflicted shotgun wound to the head on May 6, almost exactly 11 years after his mother ended her life.

To describe my feelings at this event, I need a word that means both sorrow and disgust. Also, I suppose, marvel, because that I do, at how a family could go so wrong.

I also think, and this is an odd thing to think but I do think it, one of the more tragic things about it all is that...well have you looked at a Diff'rent Strokes rerun recently?

Dana Plato couldn't act; she had no business being a star of a television series. And I don't see that it did much for her but help shorten her life.

I guess what we can learn from this...which is what we're supposed to do with tragedy, as humans...is that someone nearly always has it worse than us. I don't use the word tragedy lightly (in this instance); BTW, I actually do think this whole family was a Greek play unto themselves.

Or maybe some Scotch-Russian plays (which is my derivation, if you get the point).

The Usual Suspects

Which philosopher are you? Your Result: Sartre/Camus (late existentialists)   The world is absurd. No facts govern it. We live well once we truly accept the world's absurdity. YOU give our life's meaning, and YOU control your world. (see Nietzsche for very closely tied beliefs) --This quiz was made by S. A-Lerer.
W.v.O. Quine / Late Wittgenstein	 
Early Wittgenstein / Positivists	 
Nietzsche	 
Immanuel Kant	 
Aristotle	 
Plato (strict rationalists)	 
Which philosopher are you? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

Could be worse--I could've been the Marquis De Sade.

(Or Joss Whedon)

For pete's sake, I'm straight, and my friggin' gaydar goes ping ping ping just by looking at 'im...

Or, "Okay, the FRC founder caught with male escort thing."



You've probably heard about this.

I hadn't said anything about it yet because...Anti-gay Christian turns out to be closeted homosexual?

I'm sorry, that's just not news anymore.

It's as much of a sureity as temperature rising in the summer.

The only thing I could think of to add was, looking at the picture above that's been all over television...Who could've possibly known this man was gay?

However, today, I realized that the anti-gay group of which this "not gay, never have been" chap was a member is one that I blogged about four years ago.

At that time, they'd attracted my attention by a member of their "Science Advisory Committee"* saying that black Africans who were taken from their homes and made slaves were better off.

In other words, this is just a real good group...and I'm kinda proud I was taking the Mickey out of them before it was popular.

*I don't think they're using any of those words right.

From an MSNBC story...

Oil companies pass the buck for Gulf spill:

President Barack Obama, after being briefed on the latest developments Monday, directed that more independent scientists get involved in seeking a solution to the spill.

Oh, so now you want to listen to the scientists.

Fuck you.

Scientists will tell you we need to update the pollution laws. A majority of "laymen" will tell you that too. Our best scientists have been warning us for years that we need to make the transition to renewable energy.

On the other hand, before this spill, you favored (and still favor) offshore drilling.

All due respect, Mr. President Obama, but fuck you.

(For that matter, scientists told you not to clone dinosaurs, but did you listen? No!)

Oh, you have got to be kidding me.

I'm beginning to think that Anne Hathaway may be somewhat careless in her choice of lovers...

Someday before I die, I have to visit Yellowstone.

Worth a read (edited w/addition)

Kagan in Context: Shafting Progressive Values

Excerpts to whet the appetite:

For more than 15 months, evidence has mounted that President Obama routinely combines progressive rhetoric with contrary actions.

The corporate-military centrism of the Obama administration has demoralized and demobilized the Democratic Party's largely progressive base - the same base that swept Nancy Pelosi into the House speaker's office and then Barack Obama into the White House.

And, now, if the president's nomination of Kagan is successful, the result will move the Supreme Court to the right.

Progressives should fight the Kagan nomination.

I don't know if I agree with every word of this from beginning to end, but it's definitely worth a read.

ETA: Another look at Obama's choice of Kagan, by Glenn Greenwald. Excerpt:

...Our politics is nothing if not tribal, and the duty of Every Good Democrat is now to favor Kagan's confirmation. Conservatives refused to succumb to those rules and ended up with Sam Alito instead of Harriet Miers, but they had a much different relationship to George Bush than progressives have to Obama (i.e., conservatives -- as they proved several times late in Bush's second term [Miers, immigration, Dubai Ports] -- were willing to oppose their leader whey they disagreed). The White House knows that progressives will never try to oppose any important Obama initiative, and even if they were inclined, they lack the power to do so (largely because unconditional support guarantees impotence).

หมู่เกาะพีพี - muu gaw phee phee

หมู่เกาะพีพี - muu gaw phee phee
Originally uploaded by s+AT

Wait'll we get rolling, Silv.

Seriously...Rush Limbaugh is a dick.

And not in the good way.

I know this isn't exactly news to most if not all of us here, but clock his latest outbreak of dickishness:

Limbaugh: Obama won't talk about Tennessee flood because "he doesn't have any constituents there to speak of"

From the May 7 edition of Premiere Radio Networks' The Rush Limbaugh Show

First of all...

"The federal government has moved quickly to assist Tennessee, and I appreciate the quick action by President Obama to declare the first of what I expect will be many counties authorized for federal assistance," Gov. Phil Bredesen said in a statement.

Second of all, and this is from a story headlined "Bredesen loving response to floods,"

Bredesen, a Democrat, said he’s been in regular contact with White House staff. In fact, he had just ended a long conversation with Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.

And third...obviously, all Americans are constituents of the President of the United States.

That should go without saying.

But even if we grant Limbaugh his stupid premise (that the President only cares about people who voted for him)...it's still a stupid premise.

President Obama received 1,087,437 votes from Tennessee in the presidential election.

Well, it's official: We are living in the future.

Actual US News headline:

Robots position giant box over oil-spewing well

These days aren't anything like the way Thompson Twins told me they would be.

For Cal.

Nice try though, chick

The problem with trying to spoof songs from the '80s, which is what Kristen Wiig is trying to do here with a song from the MacGruber soundtrack...is that you're never going to do it better than "You Got the Touch" in Boogie Nights.

And of course, the dirty little secret about that is, although you could be forgiven for thinking it was written as a satire of bad '80s rock, it actually, just...is bad '80s rock. From the animated Transformers movie, yet.

You know what surprises me?

About the whole "David Boreanaz had a mistress" thing, I mean?

Certainly not the fact of his having one. I've had my suspicions, albeit with no evidence till now, about him for a long time. But...you'd think you'd see more headlines playing on the name of his current TV series, Bones.

(I haven't even seen one that says "Turns Out, He's No Angel"...)

If it's all the same to you, I'd much rather see a sequel to "Labyrinth."

But instead we're getting Dark Crystal Two.

Aaaaaaaggggggghhhhhhh!!!!!!!

Jen o 'th Blag Hag is going to be published. How great for her. And why? Because at a certain publishing company...

one of their editors stumbled upon my blog and said they loved my writing and sense of humor. ...

It's been a goal of mine to get my creative work published ever since I was a little kid. I've been writing fiction stories since second grade, have a novel fairly far in progress (and other ideas that are less developed), have taken creative writing classes whenever I can, and absolutely love writing (which hopefully you can tell from my blog). I always said I wanted to be published before I graduated college, and there was that nagging cynical voice in the back of my head that said it wouldn't happen. But now due to the bizarre circumstances of an offhanded joke becoming internationally popular, my dream is literally coming true.

Excuse me, I have to go and bang my head against a desk now.

I have no idea what this is a sign of

I mean, I figure it's gotta be either maturity or depression.

But I never in my life thought that I would ever look at pictures of Madonna in her underwear and feel...nothing.

No one sees and no one cares What gets broken Not for rhyme and not for reason

(Retitled & revised version of earlier post)

Update:

Obama shelves new offshore drilling

But...

Mike Brewer, 40, who lost his oil spill response company in the devastation of Hurricane Katrina nearly five years ago, said the area was accustomed to the occasional minor spill. But he feared the scale of the escaping oil was beyond the capacity of existing resources.

"You're pumping out a massive amount of oil. There is no way to stop it," he said.

First post: Just when I didn't think I could get any more pissed at our bastard government.

About that oil spill (which, BTW, as of last night was so big you could see it from space)...

The Institute for Marine Mammal Studies in Gulfport has surgery, necropsy and exam rooms, walk-in freezers full of frozen fish for food, X-ray and ultrasound machines and plenty of medicine. The nonprofit facility also has eight large pools, which have been cleaned and prepared to handle sea turtles, manatees and dolphins.

Center director Dr. Moby Solangi said Friday the site will be "ground zero" for injured marine mammals.

Solangi said there are roughly up to 5,000 dolphins in the Gulf area between the Mississippi and Louisiana coasts and the oil rig, many giving birth right now.

"It's very bad timing," Solangi said. "We're going to have a lot of babies here. We're looking at a colossal tragedy."

Baby dolphins. Do you hear me? Baby dolphins!

(Not baby dolphins...)

God forbid...

Yahoo! News asks: What would have to happen for Arnold Schwarzenegger to be able to run for president of the US? (Rather a lot, really). But you know what?

If this were to happen, I am absolutely sure that every one of the "birthers" would be all for it. Every. Single. One.

Lego genius.

This is via the Total Film Facebook page.

I never warmed to Joss Whedon's Dollhouse...

Creatively it just didn't set my tail a-wagging, plus I'm convinced (justifiably or not) that Fox renewed it at the expense of Terminator: Connor Chronicles. However, this ad, which I don't think I'd seen before, is both pretty cool and pretty hot.

One thing I cannot abide is a disorderly rampage

(credit)

If only.

White House advisers acknowledged on Thursday that a massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico could force the president to reconsider plans to open coastal areas to offshore drilling. But they suggested that no revision in policy would be announced in the immediate future.

In a briefing with the press, key members of the Obama energy, homeland security and press team stressed that their focus remains, at this point in time, on blunting the impact of the BP oil spill -- which was designated with the label: of "national significance."

I never in my life thought that I would...

...ever, ever feel sorry for anyone from the KKK-connected, anti-gay, conservative Family Research council.But the guy interviewed by Jon Stewart tonight was such an idiot I did feel bad for him, if only for a moment.

It was just so obvious that Jon could've, were he not such a gracious host, beaten this guy up and taken his lunch money, intellectually...

Oh, happy day.

Courtney Love is back on the Letterman show tonight...this should be fun (ooh, mama).

BTW, Dave's other guest tonight? Michael Caine. Now that's must-see TV.

Calvin and Hobbes: Black and White

Calvin and Hobbes: Black and White
Originally uploaded by m3lbatoast

One of my favorites of the Calvin and Hobbes strips.

'80s toys were the best

(Of course, this isn't actually one. It's a viral ad for Toy Story 3. You gotta love how much they made it like a commercial from "my" decade, though--right down to giving it the look of having been transferred from old video tape. With tracking problems, yet.)

You have to wonder how Tennessee missed out on this one

Per The Rachel Maddow Show...

...state and local offices in Florida, Mississippi, Georgia, Alabama and Texas are closed today for Confederate Memorial Day, marking the South's surrender to Union General William T. Sherman in 1865

Okay...as posters go, this is sorta not bad

Ho-ly shit

'Scuse me...Sawgasm.

After spending the last five Saw films wondering whatever happened to Cary Elwes' character Dr Lawrence Gordon, it looks like Saw VII will finally give us our answer.

Ohboyohboyohboyohboyohboy...

Lionsgate has revealed that Elwes will be starring in the seventh instalment of the horror phenomenon, and fans will finally learn just exactly what Dr Gordon has been doing all this time.

Actually "fans" know that it hasn't really been that much time...the Saw installments, taken together, add up to less than a year of "in-world" time. But that's neither here nor there...ohboyohboyohboyohboyohboy...

Thank goodness for John A. Lasseter

Some traditions should not be forgotten. Fortunately Lasseter, who is chief creative officer both at Pixar Animation Studios and Walt Disney Feature Animation, agrees.

And by green-lighting The Princess and the Frog; handpicking Ron Clements and John Musker to direct and write it, and giving them their heads, he gave the rest of us animation lovers a gift.

I used to say The Iron Giant was the last great traditionally animated movie. I'm not sure I can say that anymore.

Disney's had a lot of shots taken at it over the years for playing it too safe with their films; at least some of those shots were deserved. So it's always refreshing when we get one that takes a risk or two.

Yet at the same time as it takes risks, The Princess and the Frog feels like it could have been made nearly at any time from the '50's onward. It's as magical to look at as Sleeping Beauty, with a better story and characters than Beauty and the Beast.

And a new Disney "Princess" who's notable for more than one reason. As was much talked about in publicity during the making of the film, Tiana is Disney's first African-American star character and yes, it's about time.

But if that were all she was, this could've been a Ralph Bakshi movie. Better yet, with both a good side and faults, she's a more well-rounded character than we've seen in a Disney heroine since at least The Little Mermaid.

And Ariel, fun-loving and sweet as she was, was also a girl willing to give up virtually everything in her life to marry her handsome prince.

To coin a phrase: Tiana does not play that.

The movie has its faults as well as its good side too, even if you can't tell from everything I've said so far.

For one thing, John Goodman has probably done three or four too many cartoon voices at this point.

And the villain is not as frightening as he could've been--even in a children’s' movie.

But on the other flipper, Goodman's role is really only a side character in the movie. And the villain is actually more of a middleman--he has "friends on the other side," who are scary.

The movie owes a debt to more than one Disney classic. The Jungle Book is one such acknowledged, especially in its music, which is jazz, and the swamp settings reminded me of The Rescuers (that was the first Disney animated film I remember seeing new, in the theater).

I do not consider these flaws, however. Where jazz in the Indian jungle was an anachronism (don't get me wrong, Jungle Book is one of my very favorite Disney movies), Princess and the Frog is deliberately set in 1920s New Orleans.
I think its Randy Newman's most inspired score.

As for The Rescuers, the new film is not imitative of that fond memory of my youth, but evocative of it. From the ads, I admit, I was afraid Ray the firefly might be a clone of The Rescuers' dragonfly Evinrude.

But Ray's role in this story is, I think, another Disney first.

I can't say more for fear of spoilers. But suffice it to say for now he reminds me of the famous Oscar Wilde quote:

We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.

That's right-I just equated an Oscar Wilde quote with an animated firefly.

That's just how I roll.

Another nice twist on expectations comes when we meet what we assume will be the hero's funny sidekick ("Dance with me, fat man!")--and we're wrong.

(Not about him being funny)

When I said this movie feels like it could've been made in the '60s, '70s or '80s (etc), I meant that as a compliment, but it also may be why it wasn't as big of a hit as it flipping' well should've been.

Can a general audience just not tell a good movie from shiny SFX anymore?* I'm used to wondering that about movies like the frickin' Clash of the Titans remake (grumble, grumble, grumble) but I guess, maybe without even realizing it, I thought a classic piece of Disney animation would be immune.


This is traditional, hand-drawn, Disney animation, and it's fucking gorgeous.

This is the kind of movie they mean when they say, "They don't make them like that anymore."

*Yeah, I know, I know...could they ever? See Batman & the Hook of the Crystal Skull (Prince of Thieves).

The Across The Universe movie is less than the sum of its parts...

...but this is a good one.



(And in case you didn't know, that's Joe Cocker singing most of it)

Eurofag as genre.

Get it? Gay it? Good.

There are certain immutable rules of life. One of them is that once something societal reaches the pages of an Archie comic, it can no longer be considered "cutting edge," or in fact, "edgy" at all.

I refer you to the precedents of Betty and Veronica go Goth or, going back a little further...

Now Archie has put a gay character into their comics. This is unquestionable proof positive that being gay is not only acceptable in mainstream America, but it's actually a bit passé.

Riverdale High School, the stomping grounds of comic books' favorite teen and his friends, is opening its doors to an openly gay student - a first in the 69-year history of the character.

Sigh...in the what-year history of the character?

You keep loading those fish into the barrel while I go get my gun, ok?



"Nothing against her." Yeah, that's one way of putting it.

(Get it? That was a double!)

Because seen through these eyes, We lead a double life. No one will know, So check it out, steppin' out, here I go: Are we, are we ourselves?

It's not uncommon for movies to be promoted with a line like "No one is who you think they are." The twist Dare puts on this is that most of the people in it aren't who they think they are.

I was surprised to read on the Rotten Tomatoes reviews page for Dare that at least a couple of critics took it as a comedy (and that's two of the ones that liked it). I didn't get that. To me, at least, it's a drama, probably even a melodrama.

It seems to have aspirations to be a kind of a psychological (psychosexual) horror story in a teen setting (or The Breakfast Club gone wild).

The story of three high school seniors, who reach out to define, or redefine themselves, on reflection it reminded me of a Mark Evanier line I quote a lot:

"We all do childish and insensitive things when we're 17. There are no exceptions to this rule and if you think you're one, you probably did more than your share."

But, it's a movie that knocks at your mind and never quite gets into your heart; never makes the leap off the screen. So we are just as happy to leave it there.

It is helped immeasurably by a trio of young star actors, two of whom were known to me previously. Emmy Rossum shows that she has it in her to grow beyond eye candy.

Zach Gilford, likewise, shows that he has the equipment for the long haul by rocking a character completely unlike his Friday Night Lights persona.

Ashley Springer completes the leads. New to me (and apparently to the screen), he allows humanity to shoot through what was in danger of being a caricature of the repressed gay.

Ana Gasteyer leads the older supporting players as his mother; there are surprising (in good ways, meaning they show parts of their craft I haven't seen before) cameos by Alan Cumming and Sandra Bernhard.



A young woman named Rooney Mara also bears watching as an up-and-comer. Though her part is hazily written, she succeeds in making us--me, anyway--want to get to know her better, and it isn't only because she's sexy.

Emmy Rossum is sexy, and I wouldn't want to get to know her character in this movie any more than I do at the final blackout, thanks.

This is one of those movies that it's hard to say what makes it only good, not great. As I say, it isn't the acting. And nothing really stands up and yells "BAD" about the script (by David Brind), either.

My best bet is that it's the direction (by Adam Salky), which is notably "stage-y" on a couple of occasions. Not always, however. A lot of this movie is told through looks, and a lot of the time, the director dares to get us right up close.

You know you're a nerd when...

...Rachel Maddow says something sounds "1970s-era; Tron style"--and you immediately think "Tron was early '80s, Rachel!"

I just posted a new Amazon review of a recent book

Molly Ivins, A Rebel Life, by Bill Minutaglio & W. Michael Smith.

Ho-ly mo'fucking shit....

You know how I've blogged before about Scott Baio being a Republican tool whose life of rich reward says all that need ever be said about how an entire generation lost their mind in the '70s?

You might notice that I've never said anything about his wife. This was because I'd only ever seen her on his uncommonly boring "reality" show, where she seemed like a perfectly nice young woman; maybe one who deserved something better than being paired with this asshole.

More fool I. Cupid's arrow really hit right on target with this one. She's if anything, even more offensively idiotic, anti-gay and anti-woman (!) than he is. I quote:

You bunch of FAR LEFT Lesbian s--tasses!!!!!!! No wonder you're all lesbos because what man in his right mind could put up with your c--tness? Scott Baio has more class in his piss than all of you all!!!"

Yes you can, Mr. President. When will you?

So there's an item going around about how President Obama "snapped back" at some hecklers who were protesting his glacier-like pace on repealing "Don't Ask. Don't Tell."

I first saw it last night, but didn't think of this until just now: Does anyone remember Obama ever...I mean, ever, "snapping back" like this at oh, say, anti-gay bigot homophobes?

No. People like that, he invites to deliver the invocation at his inauguration.

You know what I was just thinking of?

All those great top 10 hits we've had from "Kat" McPhee, these past few years.

Not that she isn't a supremely talented artist in her own right.

(Jest a bit of old point-scoring, folks, ignore it and go on about your day.)

'scuse me...someone needs to say this

Attn, pundits who are having difficulties pronouncing the name of the volcano the eruption of which is stranding would-be travelers across Europe.

A modest proposal: Try "Buttafuoco."

Thank you.

Curses!

Never mind.

ETA: Belay that curses and never mind, the Dragon's still on top!

Preach, Brother Roger!

Ebert returns to the argument of whether or not videogames are art.

Does art grow better the more it imitates nature? My notion is that it grows better the more it improves or alters nature through an passage through what we might call the artist's soul, or vision. Countless artists have drawn countless nudes. They are all working from nature. Some of there paintings are masterpieces, most are very bad indeed. How do we tell the difference? We know. It is a matter, yes, of taste.

This is the kind of thing on which intelligent people can disagree. Surely another definition of art is simply whether or not a particular entertainment is meaningful to its audience. Whether or not they recognize their own aesthetic philosophy within the work must also be relevant.

That said, Roger is completely right about this, and those who are reacting against him are completely wrong.

Go, Dragon!

Here's something no box office analyst was predicting headed into the weekend : How to Train Your Dragon 3D was number one at the box office. How the hell did that happen?

Seriously, this almost never happens. Can you name me another movie that opened at number one, dropped down to number three in succeeding weeks, then went back up to number one?

The Dreamworks Animation family film trumped [Kick-Ass] the power of excessive violence and dirty words with theater-goers this weekend, pulling in an impressive $20m haul in its fourth week of release.

I really like this.


Not because I particularly care if Dragon throws Kick-Ass to the curb or not. Kick-Ass has gotten mostly good reviews, but I've heard both bad and good things. I haven't seen it, though, so I have no right to an opinion.

Not because of dragons being my favorite mythological beastie either or because I saw How To Train Your Dragon last week and really enjoyed it.

No, I think I like this because I feel it's more a triumph of simple word-of-mouth than of family film over dirty words. People saw How To Train Your Dragon, thought it was cool and funny (which it is), and told their friends.

More of whom chose to see that than the latest ginned-up "controversial" movie. That's kind of the way it's supposed to work, or at least the way I (and maybe you) often wish that it would work.

Holy crap...

Looks like Big Brother was about 25 years late. A school district used computers loaned to students to watch them, without their knowledge, on webcams and to read private messages they sent to their friends.

I have a feeling I'm going to be talking more about this. Stay tuned.

It is an illusion that women in Hollywood have power

I don't know why this should surprise me...but it does, and saddens me too.

In the "Summer Movie 10" double issue of EW, they talk about Angelina Jolie's upcoming action film, Salt, which was originally written for a man.

But the process was a bit trickier than just changing the hero's name and adding high heels.

"In the original script, there was a huge sequence where Edwin Salt saves his wife, who's in danger," says [director Phillip] Noyce.

"And what we found was when Evelyn Salt saved her husband in the new script, it seemed to castrate his character a little. So we had to change the nature of that relationship."

In the end, Salt's husband, played by German actor August Diehl (Inglourious Basterds) was made tough enough that he didn't need saving, thank you very much.

Because god forbid a woman should ever save a man. Even if that woman is played by an Academy Award winner whose movies gross millions, to say nothing of the fact that she's broadly considered to be in the first rank of sex symbols.

So, proposed: It is an illusion that women in Hollywood have power.

Discuss.

A modest proposal to my friends in the mainstream media...

...would it be possible in the future to limit your coverage of Sarah Palin to just the one sentence, "And somewhere in America, Sarah Palin said something stupid today"?

Thank yew.

Proof yet again that no matter how mainstream it's gotten...

...the internet was made by nerds for nerds.

The "spell your name with Empire Strikes Back stickers" generator.



t/y, Becca

Families.

You know how when a politician's name appears in the press, they'll put a letter next to it so you know what party they're from? In the case of the R's, I'm no longer prepared to accept that this means "Republican."

I've decided to start assuming that "R" stands for "ridiculous." To explain why, let's take a look at some things that good-humored elf Mike Huckabee had to say last week, shall we?

Huckabee, a former Baptist preacher, remains in favor of keeping in place ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell,’ the policy that requires the military to expel openly gay service members. “I wouldn’t support a repeal if I were commander-in-chief,”

Welcome to the 21st century, Huck.

Huckabee went on to draw parallels between homosexuality and other lifestyles that are considered by some to be morally aberrant. “You don’t go ahead and accommodate every behavioral pattern that is against the ideal,” he said of same-sex marriage. “That would be like saying, well, there are a lot of people who like to use drugs, so let’s go ahead and accommodate those who want to use drugs. There are some people who believe in incest, so we should accommodate them. There are people who believe in polygamy, so we should accommodate them.”

Yes, all those things are exactly the same.

He also affirmed support for a law in Arkansas that prohibits same-sex couples from becoming adoptive or foster parents. “I think this is not about trying to create statements for people who want to change the basic fundamental definitions of family,” Huckabee said.

Ah yes, the "basic fundamental definitions of family."

You mean these?

Family:

1 : a group of individuals living under one roof and usually under one head : household
2 a : a group of persons of common ancestry : clan b : a people or group of peoples regarded as deriving from a common stock : race

A group of individuals who share ties of blood, marriage, or adoption; a group residing together and consisting of parents, children, and other relatives by blood or marriage; a group of individuals residing together who have consented to an arrangement similar to ties of blood or marriage.

Don't fuck with the fundamentals, fundamentalist.

“And always we should act in the best interest of the children, not in the seeming interest of the adults.”

Yes, let's do act in the best interests of the children. If the entire country were to prohibit same-sex couples from adopting or fostering, it

could displace 9,000 to 14,000 children

Q & A

Two connected stories. One:

What kind of investigation will the Obama administration Department of Labor conduct into the Massey Mine Disaster?

The answer, BTW, is secret ones, to protect the corporate criminals.

And two:

Senate will hold moment of silence for victims of deadly mine explosion

I'm sure the knowledge that Senators are thinking about them will be a great comfort to the families and friends of the victims. That's much better than oh, say, having the investigation out in the open air for everyone to see.

Having run a classic Colbert clip a couple of days ago, here's some equal time for The Daily Show

Samantha Bee MILF

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

Finally, another good movie dragon.

I enjoyed How to Train Your Dragon much more than I thought I would. Maybe not as much as most people (The script was quite predictable in one or two places); definitely not as much as my nephew, but still, I enjoyed it.

(Enjoyed the heck out of it, as a matter of fact.)

The reason why I didn't want to see it was because I didn't like the designs of the dragons as I'd seen them in ads. As you may know (from the name of this blog if from nothing else), dragons have long been my favorite mythological beastie.

As a result, I'm a bit snobbish about their depiction in films. Hundreds have tried but to my mind, maybe a handful has succeeded.


The dragon in Dragonslayer, that's my idea of a great cinema dragon. The movie wasn't so great last time I checked it out, but the dragon is awesome.

Literally. As in, it inspires awe. No one's topped it in live action for nearly 30 years.

Pete's Dragon is even more flawed as a picture, but the dragon is truly magical to the six-year-old boy I was when I saw it.

And from the 1977 TV-movie version of The Hobbit

Smaug. Now there's a dragon for ya.



Falkor in Neverending Story is exceptional; the dragon in Knighty Knight Bugs is great too.

Free Video Hosting

(Do not get me started on Reign of Fire, which was just stupid, or Dragonheart, which was fucked up by its director. And don't mention H.R. Pufnstuf to me or I'll simply have no choice but to bite your head off.)

The How to Train Your Dragon dragons looked to me like they were the "wrong" sizes and/or shapes. Silly me, I should've known: Wait until you get a good, long look at them animated.

A few of them still don't meet my ridiculously high standard, but the "star" dragon takes the movie and all but flies away with it. Watching the early "training" sequences in this movie, I was reminded of The Black Stallion, and if you've seen that movie, you know that's high praise indeed.

Directors Dean DeBlois and Chris Sanders have created a dragon that can stand right alongside all the others in my little "box," and maybe above more than a few.

Andy Dick remains proof that...

...whatever our problems, it could always be worse.

Well, that ought to do it, thanks very much Spec.

Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) issued a short statement this afternoon urging his colleagues to "put aside partisanship" during the confirmation of Justice Stevens's replacement.

“Justice Stevens has made an historic contribution to the Supreme Court. He will be hard to replace. It is my hope that the Senate will put partisanship aside in the confirmation process," Specter said.

Classic Colbert

The Word - Affirmative Inaction

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Fox News

ABC set out to make pop more ridiculous and less pompous without being any less emotionally engaging

How'd they do?

(sorry for any stupid ads you might have to watch)

You know how sometimes you see pictures that by most rights you should love and yet...no?

Apparently, "woman in jeans and T-shirt" = "gay."

I had no idea there were so many lesbians around...

Zoe Saldana wants to make one thing clear: She is not a girlie girl.

So much so, that she's not really surprised when someone thinks she might be gay...

"People have sometimes told my grandmother, 'Your granddaughter has a bit of lesbianism in her,'" Saldana says in the new issue of Siempre Mujer magazine. "It's that my sisters and I spent all our time among men. We were very popular with them. Our way of thinking is very masculine."

The 31-year-old Star Trek and Avatar star also says, despite her fashion-forward glamourista image, that she doesn't actually like getting dolled up. "If you want to punish me, send me to get a manicure or dress me in a skirt or shorts, and I would die," Saldana said. "But if you dress me in jeans and a button-down blouse, I feel very sexy, feminine and powerful."

For those of you that also watch...

...The Daily Show, and who may be wondering...oh yeh, I saw it.

I like this.

(You gotta click to see it full size, don'tcha know)

Thus endeth the lesson for today, ladies & gentlemen

Howard Jones was the best, but he was a weirdo. Or he was a weirdo, but he was the best...22 years ago.

Re: The ignorant doctor mentioned a couple of days ago...

..I was sort of wrong and sort of right: Keith Olbermann didn't make the bad dr one of his "worsts," but he devoted much of a segment to him.

What happened when the trombone player mistimed his acid

Let's get Zenical

From A Buddhist View of Easter

My feeling is that the real “resurrection” of Jesus does not rely on whether he rose from the dead or not. I would think that the real “resurrection” occurs when Christians receive the teachings of Jesus within their hearts and minds. When a Christian really and truly receives the teachings of Jesus in one’s heart and mind, then Jesus truly “comes alive.” From a Buddhist perspective, isn’t that the real meaning of “resurrection?”

In the same manner, for Buddhists, when we receive the Buddha’s teachings in our hearts and minds, then the Buddha comes “alive” for us.

Rev. Marvin Harada

Just because someone is a doctor doesn't mean they can't be ignorant.

Like, for instance, this complete ass of a "doctor" who is turning people away from his practice if they are liberal, progressive, and/or Democrat.

Nice, huh? I didn't know they could do that.

What do you want to bet this guy ends up on Keith Olbermann's "Worst Persons" next week?

Not good quality video, but still funny as hell

Mel Brooks on Mad About You.

All the better to creep you with, my dear...

HuffPo has an entry on what they're calling The Creepiest Children's Books Ever.

There are indeed many unfortunate titles there, but they missed two or three.

Almost 20 years ago when I was working in a bookstore, some things came in that I have always remembered for how strange it seemed that they were intended for children.

One was this edition of Little Red Riding Hood:

It ends with a full-page (possibly double-page), full color illustration of Little Red with the Wolf's jaws clamped around her face. Yes, with blood, IIRC.

Then there was a book which was supposed to teach kids about the order and names of our presidents (at that time, through Bush 1), via this poem (scroll down to 35).

Finally, one of the titles they do mention had a sequel with an even more unfortunate title. The follow-up to this book:

Was called--honest to god, I saw it once at the Wilbur Jr High library--Bigger & Better Boners.

Do you hate it when people talk on their mobile phones at the movies?

Then, you probably won't want to see this movie. It actually encourages them to.

One from on The Hill, and one from out West

Fifty-six percent of respondents said thay disapprove of the [Healthcare] bill, while 42% support it. But only 47% say they want to repeal the bill. Exactly half want the bill to remain law. (23% of respondents want to keep the bill in its current form, while 27% want to make changes to "increase the government's involvement in the nation's health care system.")

News in The Hill.

"There should be another box you can check for, 'I have utterly no idea what you're talking about. Please, God, don't ask for my input."

The West Wing, "Guns Not Butter," by Eli Attie & Kevin Falls and Aaron Sorkin

Demi vs. Kim

Who do you root for in a case like this?

Ever wondered what The Beatles' songs were really about?

Gotta love it.

Just 'cos I felt like watching almost 10 minutes of Monty Python...

I was going along fine with this...until...

Your result for The Nerd? Geek? or Dork? Test...

Pure Geek

48 % Nerd, 52% Geek, 43% Dork

For The Record:



A Nerd is someone who is passionate about learning/being smart/academia.

A Geek is someone who is passionate about some particular area or subject, often an obscure or difficult one.

A Dork is someone who has difficulty with common social expectations/interactions.


You scored better than half in Geek, earning you the title of: Pure Geek.



It's not that you're a school junkie, like the nerd, and you don't really stand out in a crowd, like the dork, you just have some interests that aren't quite mainstream. Perhaps it's anime,

And here's where I screamed. Anime is evil.

perhaps it's computers, perhaps it's bottlecaps, perhaps it's all of those and more. Your interests take you to events and gatherings that are filled with people you find unusual and beyond-the-pale, but you don't quite consider yourself "of that crowd." Instead, you consider yourself to be fairly normal.



Which, you are.



Congratulations! You're the one on the RIGHT!




THE NERD? GEEK? OR DORK? TEST

Darned if this doesn't take me back...

When I was five (I think), I had pretty much everything you see here, except for the extra outfits.

This could be the best idea Tom Cruise ever had

Brad Iron Giant/Ratatouille Bird to direct Mission Impossible 4?

FYI...

...Diary of a Wimpy Kid reviewed by Roger Ebert.

That brings to mind an unfortunate mental image

Found while looking for housing through Craigslist again:

Live in a tree house ...
...
No Plumbing

!

I defy you to find another blog post that mentions all four of these movies

Took the nephew to see Diary of a Wimpy Kid this afternoon (he's a fan of the book series on which it's based). He thought it was (his word) awesome, and I liked it too--likable is a good word for it, and funny.

And BTW, proving that all things come full circle to you-know-what, the actor who played the central character's older brother had a small but key role in...Saw VI.

Also saw a full preview for The Secret of Kells before our movie.
Watch The Secret Of Kells Trailer - Download the FULL Movie in Entertainment View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

After catching a glimpse of it on the Oscars (it was nominated for best animated feature), I had a pretty good idea that I wanted to see it; now, I'm absolutely sure.

It looks beautiful; a kind of animation they just don't do anymore-the kid didn't want to see that one, tho, so I guess I'm on my own. On the other hand, he wants to see How to Train Your Dragon, and I don't really much. I'm snobbish about dragons.

Cast your votes for who and what is the most evil, Round Two

This time my votes went to Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin, Blackwater and Joe Lieberman.

I know this is an edgy opinion, but...

Longtime readers: Remember about four years ago when a photograph of a woman breastfeeding a baby on the cover of a magazine got people all upset?
(Some were so uncomfortable they actually had to turn the magazine face-down rather than look at that).

Well, it's four years later now, and here we go again: Three out of the four US television networks have refused to allow a maker of tampons to mention the word vagina in an advertising campaign.

Wait, it gets sillier. After the agency was informed of this, they re-shot the ads with--they thought--the less daring "down there." And that was rejected. (What next, the Monty Python term "naughty bits?")

I don't know why vaginas should be so unacceptable. Personally, I've long thought they were a particularly good part of the female body (I mean, apart from the fact that they're all icky and everything).

Yes, I'm willing to go out on a limb to say that.

For that matter, I don't understand why more people don't just have...

Here's another question...

...who do I know in South Orange, New Jersey?

This is both fun and funny...

Think Progress has a little reminder of all the conservative folks who asserted that "Obamacare" was dead. Favorites:

– Fred Barnes, Fox News commentator, January 20: “The health care bill, ObamaCare, is dead

Well, maybe he left himself an out.

... with not the slightest prospect of resurrection.”

Nope.

– Robert A. Levy, chairman of the Cato Institute, January 26: “That’s why Obamacare is dead.”

Anybody remember when the Cato Institute was at least respectable? Yeah, me neither.

– Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA), Minority Whip [and Britney Spears fan], March 19: “[T]here’s no way they can pass this bill.”

– Rep. John Boehner (R-OH), Minority Leader, March 17: Health care reform will pass “over my dead body.”

I shall await Rep. Boehner's Hari kari ceremony with great interest.

And he's said to be a "media-savvy" Republican.

Well, if that doesn't say it all...

Republican Leader Actually Has to Tell Rank-and-File to “Behave Like Grownups”

This is the stupidest thing I've ever seen

And might I remind you, I lived through the Clinton/Lewinsky affair, John Kerry's run in 2004, and seasons six and seven of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

But on the level of "What, do you have a brain the size of a pea?"--this one takes the cake.

As you may have seen elsewhere, it is now believed that the Democrats will pass their health care bill.

In order to do so,

President Obama agreed to issue an order reaffirming a ban on using federal funds for abortion in the health care bill.

The thing is, as no one but no one inside the corridors of power have been willing to say...there's nothing in the bill about using federal funds for abortion. Nothing. Nada. Absolutely zip.

In fact, what there is already, is explicit language saying no federal funds shall be used for abortions.

So: In order to make this "victory," President Obama had to play pretend like a child, because poor lil' Bart Stupak stamped his foot and said he wouldn't come play ball unless they played it his way. Even though his way had absolutely nothing to do with the game being played.

(To extend that metaphor, it's like the president--and most of the country--were suited up to play basketball, when Bart Stupak ran onto the floor in a football uniform.

And instead of pointing and laughing, the president said "Ok, let's play basketball by football rules, to keep Stupak from feeling bad about himself.")

Un-be-liva-fucking-ble.