11.30.2004

Funniest thing you'll read all day.

BRITNEY!: "What was I talking about again? Oh right. Y'all keep talking about how I look crummy when I leave the house but that is totally unfair y'all. Y'all, I am in love. I am married now! I am a married lady! This is how I look, for reals, y'all. "

Drive-By Reviews

I watched a few movies this weekend:

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban: Best of the 3, I think. LOVE Gary Oldman and David Thewliss. Should have included origins of Marauder's Map. Need to watch again.

Win a Date with Tad Hamilton: Couldn't sleep so watched a late night showing. Glad I did - it was sweet and not the least bit annoying. Gopher Trace or Topher Grace, whatever his name is, is adorable.

The Day After Tomorrow: Eh. Reminded me of the great disaster films of the 70s, but without the high drama, camp and cheese that made them great.

Secret Window: One and only reason to watch this movie: Johnny Depp.

Christmas is coming...

...and Gina's getting fat. God, I think I ate everything in sight this weekend.

I hope everyone had a lovely holiday. Thanksgiving has always been a low-key holiday for us, and this year it was pretty much the same. I cooked way too much food for 5 adults and 2 kids, the 4 dogs were surprisingly well-behaved and the weather was downright balmy. It would have been a perfect Thanksgiving in another time and place; for now, though, it was the first without Daddy and thus a relief to have it done with. I don't think I'll ever understand why God took him when he did, but I do give thanks for the time that he was here.


11.24.2004

Happy Thanksgiving!



Go Go Gadget!

"Oh my God, Inspector Gadget, I can't believe it's really you!"

Catorce!!

New U2 Album Melodious, Without Surprises: "The soaring melodies on 'Bomb' sometimes reveal Bono's vocal range is not what it used to be when he belted the high notes in his 20s. But overall the renewed emphasis on anthems suits the material and makes for the most vivid and passionate U2 album since 1990's masterful 'Achtung Baby.' "

God, I can't get that new song out of my head! I bought the "Bomb" last night, and I'm looking forward to listening to it.

Oh, and I would have killed to have been able to see them at one of their surprise NYC shows this week!

Ask the pilot.

Salon's flight expert nitpicks LOST: "Pilots don't watch these sorts of shows for entertainment; they watch them because they have a sardonic infatuation with crash depictions. It's a kind of self-affirmation therapy. They sit back, scornfully and contemptuously pointing out the numerous errors and impossibilities, then switch off the remote before the show is half over. "

While nitpicking usually bugs the crap out of me, I kind of enjoyed this. Plus, he admits that the mysterious force(s) surrounding the island may be responsible for the inconsistencies:

"Word has it that upcoming episodes will attempt to justify the strange circumstances of the crash. Stuck on this eerie haunted island, the castaway cast has clued in to the fact that their jet's death plummet should not have been survivable. What's going on here?

For pilots, of course, that takes away all the fun."

(viewing of ad required for day pass)

11.19.2004

Deathbed Confession.

Woman Confesses to Murder on Her Deathbed: "A woman dying of cancer confessed to her daughter that she killed her husband years earlier and hid the body, authorities said this week after finding the remains inside a storage unit. "

C-SPAN at 2:00 in the morning.

Pomp and populism: "By the time U2's lead singer, Bono, appeared onstage under a green umbrella, the spirit of bipartisanship had washed away in the downpour. Bono saluted Clinton for forgiving the debts of the poorest nations and for his involvement in the Northern Ireland peace agreement, before launching into a rendition of 'Sunday Bloody Sunday.' Bono's presence was part of the effort to combine humble talent and international sophistication."

I had a sinus pain/teeth flareup during the night that woke me at around 12:30. So, after taking a Claritin-D and some Advil, and while I sat on the couch waiting for the pain to subside enough for me to go back to sleep, I surfed through the TV channels and came across C-SPAN's coverage of the dedication of Clinton's presidential library. Actually, what I came across was the precise moment mentioned above: Bono singing an unplugged version of "Sunday Bloody Sunday" while the Edge accompanied him on acoustic guitar. Very bizarre to watch all the presidential types standing around in the rain looking in every direction but at the band - the Clintons seemed to be the only VIPs there who seemed to know there was a band on stage and who they were. However, it was pouring rain, so they all probably wished the whole thing would just be over with and they could get inside where it's dry.

I fell asleep while watching "Cold Case Files" on A&E, I think, and woke up about 45 minutes later, at 3:30, feeling well enough to go back to bed. I'm feeling much better this morning, except for the fact that I'm exhausted!

Spielberg coming to Connecticut

Naugatuck site picked for movie shoot: "Director Steven Spielberg and Tom Cruise are coming to the town to film perhaps the ending of the adaptation of H.G. Wells' interplanetary invasion classic 'The War of the Worlds.' "

They'll be shooting at the Uniroyal Chemical plant, which is just a couple of exits south of where I live. Hmm.

11.18.2004

More on Fallujah and the Media

Bono's New Casualty: 'Private Ryan': "As the crunch comes, we'll learn whether media companies will continue to test such Iraq war stories against 'reality-based' reportage, or whether they'll kowtow to an emboldened administration, spurred on by its self-proclaimed mandate and its hard-right auxiliary groups, that can reward or punish them at will. For now the most dominant Falluja image has been that of the 'Marlboro Man', the Los Angeles Times photo of the brave American marine James Blake Miller, his face bloodied and soiled by combat, his expression resolute. It is, as Mr. Rumsfeld might say, a slice of truth. But other slices, like the airlifting of hundreds of American troops to Germany to be treated for the traumatic fallout of Falluja's graphic violence are, like 'Saving Private Ryan' on Veteran's Day, missing from too many Americans' screens."

(registration req)

The heartbreak of war

How a single photograph brought home the horror of Iraq: "No, it is our dear leaders who must be held to account. They chose to fight a war of conquest -- a much more violent proposition than other types of war -- without good reason. They sold the war on false evidence and false assumptions about the effect on the civilian population. We will bring the shining light of democracy to the Iraqi people, they said. Americans were led to believe that only those who chose to fight would suffer. Never, ever should anyone try to sell a war by sugarcoating its realities, by implying that it will be an antiseptic video game of surgically precise weapons, that there will only be the most 'minimal' loss of innocent life. That is the stuff of Tom Clancy novels, not real war. I find it inconceivable that a man who professes to be 'pro-life' could so blithely commit so many others to die. Tonight, George Bush will go to sleep happy, comfortable in his electoral victory and looking forward to spending that political capital he says he 'earned.' Meanwhile a man and his innocent child lie rotting on a dusty Fallujah street. "

(viewing of ad for free day pass required)

Here we go again.

Powell: Intelligence suggests Iran trying to adapt missiles for nukes: "Powell partially confirmed claims by an Iranian opposition group that Tehran is deceiving the United Nations and is attempting to secretly continue activities meant to give it atomic arms by next year."

Sources also revealed that Iranian officials are hoping to acquire atomics legs by 2006.

Sorry, but if I don't joke about it, I think I'll cry.

11.17.2004

Wednesday is JJ Abrams Day.

"Alias" moving to Wednesday at 9:00: "In the most notable move, Alias will inherit the 9 p.m. slot after Lost on Wednesdays, starting Jan. 5. Alias had had trouble finding a wide audience, but Lost is the No. 6 most-watched series this season."

Taking FPS to a whole new level.

That moose may soon be just a mouse click away: "'We were looking at a beautiful white-tail buck and my friend said 'If you just had a gun for that.' A little light bulb went off in my head,' he said."

Yes, whenever I see a beautiful wild animal, I always wish I had my gun with me so I could kill it.

11.16.2004

Sorry, make that grilled cheese on white, don't hold the V.M.

eBay reopens Virgin mary cheese sandwich auction: "The Internet auction house eBay Inc. reversed itself Tuesday and is allowing bids for half of a 10-year-old grilled cheese sandwich that its owner says bears the image of the Virgin Mary."

Grilled cheese on white, hold the Virgin Mary.

eBay pulls 'Virgin Mary sandwich': "The people at eBay were no believers in this cheesy miracle: half of a 10-year-old grilled cheese sandwich whose owner claimed it bore the image of the Virgin Mary."

I can definitely see a woman's face, but it looks more like Marlene Dietrich than the Virgin Mary to me.

Like Steve McQueen.



If I could buy any car I wanted to, right now, it would be the 2005 Mustang GT. Damn, I want that car.

I'm not sure I'm diggin' the commercial for it, though. Have you seen it? They aired it during last week's "Lost". A voice whispers, "If you build it, he will come." The guy in the ad gets on his tractor and plows a race course through a cornfield. As he looks down the road he just made, a man walks out of the corn and starts toward him and the car. Close-up on the guy from the corn reveals him to be "Bullitt"-era Steve McQueen, in all his CGI-zombie glory. It's a cool ad, but creepy, you know?

Awesome, awesome car, though.

Hot British Man Sandwich.

I never thought I'd say this, but right now I wish I was Renee Zellweger.

Actually, this photo might scare me even more.

Mommy, the scary lady keeps staring at me.

Yikes!

God this picture scares the shit out of me.

I miss the good old days of streakers and soy bombs.

Fight at Vibe awards; one person stabbed: "'It's really important that we don't take a negative incident like this and do away with the awards,' Suge Knight told reporters."

Because we all know there aren't enough awards shows.

I'm just an EMT...

Famed Rocker Roth Goes From No. 1 to 911: "The singer, who spent a decade with Van Halen before embarking on a solo career, except a collaboration with the band for two new songs on a greatest hits album, has been riding along with crews in the Bronx, Manhattan and Brooklyn several nights a week."

Dam expensive wallpaper.

Beavers Make Dam Out of Stolen Money: "The third bag of cash couldn't be found, Martin said, so deputies started breaking down the beaver dam to drain the pond it was holding. That was when they saw the dam's expensive decoration. They eventually found the missing bag, which the beavers hadn't completely emptied."

11.15.2004

I can't say I'm surprised.

Colin Powell submits resignation: "Several officials said the White House bore no ill will toward Powell, but simply desired to move smoothly through the Cabinet transitions. One said that, had Powell stayed longer, it would have 'a ripple effect' on other planned changes."

Powell's performance and duties as Secretary of State under the Bush administration have left his reputation a bit tarnished, I think. I hope his new career proves more fruitful for him.

11.11.2004

Who is this man?

And what did he do with Ray Liotta?

Those Crazy Christians

Groups protest film about sex prof: "Focus on the Family, an influential Christian ministry based in Colorado Springs, Colorado, said in a review of the film that 'Kinsey' mocks Christianity and condones immorality...'To say that it is rank propaganda for the sexual revolution and the homosexual agenda would be beyond stating the obvious,' wrote reviewer Tom Neven."

They're going to give the rest of us a bad name.

Law & Order: Total Freak

'Intent' Star Faints on the Set: "'He is so hard to work with a total freak. He constantly complains about the scripts and has held up production a lot.' "

What are people so afraid of?

Gay activists focus on election results: "It is tough when 'the vast majority of citizens in your state not only do not understand you but take hostile steps to change the constitution to take away rights we never even had,' Foreman said. 'There's no way you can put lipstick on that pig.'"

11.10.2004

Did I mention "Lost" is on tonight?

How 'Lost' Careered Into Being a Hit Show: "The speed with which ABC's Wednesday night breakout hit drama 'Lost' went from a network executive's half-baked suggestion to one of the most elaborate and expensive pilots ever filmed was brain blurring."

Lemonade Out of Lemons.

Lemonade stands exceed $1 million for cancer research: "Alex was diagnosed the day before her first birthday with neuroblastoma, an aggressive form of childhood cancer. She set up a lemonade stand in 2000 in front of her suburban Philadelphia home. She took in $2,000 that first year, and $200,000 through 2003."

Britney vs. Chucky

Seed of Chucky Disclaimer: "In a tongue-in-cheek statement, a spokesperson said the studio's intent was to declare that 'no actual Britney Spears were harmed during the filming.' "

Watch Lost.

Watch Lost. Watch Lost. Watch Lost. Watch Lost. Watch Lost. Watch Lost...

11.09.2004

Pure Imagination.

Take a look at the poster for the new Tim Burton movie Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, starring Johnny "Yum-Yum" Depp.

Democrat = Heathen, Apparently

Liberals Dismayed by 'Moral Values' Claims: "Family values, traditional values and now, 'moral values.' Most American adults would say they have them, and yet that two-word phrase is the focus of an ideological tug-of-war heightened by President Bush's re-election, with conservatives declaring principal ownership and liberals scrambling to challenge them. "

Check out how this nutjob charactarizes the Democratic party:

"There is no reconciliation between good and evil," wrote Mary Ann Kreitzer of Les Femmes, an organization of conservative Roman Catholic women. "Voters rejected the party of gay activists, radical feminists, the Hollywood elite, pornographers, death-peddlers, anti-Christian bigots and apostate Catholics."

Talk like this scares the crap out of me.

Holly, This is Right Up Your Alley.

Debriefing: Working Stiffs: "It's been a bad few years for the economy, but with crime shows dominating the schedule, the market for corpses on television is in an extraordinary growth period. Now that murder victims are becoming television's most valuable role players, we asked this coming week's cast of stiffs what it's like to play dead. "

7 secrets of 'Arrested Development'

7 secrets of 'Arrested Development': "'They write past humor to comedy, and to the situation rather than the gag,' said the actor of the 'Arrested' writers, led by Mitch Hurwitz, who won an Emmy for his writing on the show. 'I don't think they come up with the gag first -- I think they come up with the dynamics of the family. I think it's character-driven.'"

(registration required)

100 Greatest TV Characters.

Bravo to salute icons of the television age: "Ready for an in-depth character study? Bravo will devote a week-long, five-part series to The 100 Greatest TV Characters. It begins Nov. 22 (9 p.m. ET/PT) and will use interviews to bolster its case. "

Who are some of your favorite TV characters (and by favorite I don't mean the ones you lusted after ;)? Among mine would be, let's see...probably Jim Rockford, Jamie Somers, Magnum, Mulder and Scully, Lucy, Frasier Crane, Buffy (including Scoobies and Giles and Spike)...I know there are many more, but those are the ones that come to mind quickly.

11.05.2004

Lost

OK, so let's talk Lost. I still haven't seen last week's episode (it's airing tomorrow night at 8:00), so I'm not sure what the dynamic between the Korean couple and the black couple is like now, or what's passed between them.

I liked Charlie's backstory, although there were really no big surprises, except, I think for the fact that he was very religious. I'd like to see that aspect of his personality emerge more as they start forming their society and community. He's felt as though he's been useless so far - maybe he could find a purpose in serving as a sort of spiritual leader for the group.

The theme of choices was a good one, although I found the whole moth bit to be a little heavy-handed. I wonder who hit Sayid? Who doesn't want them to be found? While Sawyer's been portrayed pretty much as a scumbag so far, I have a feeling he's going to end up being a tragic figure, for some reason.

What did you all think?


11.04.2004

Speaking of Hope...

Aides: Ashcroft Likely to Leave AG Post: "Ashcroft is expected to resign before Bush's Jan. 20 inauguration, said aides who spoke only on condition of anonymity. They said there is a small chance he would stay on, at least for a short time, if Bush asked him. "

(thanks, Jill)

Sore Loser.

That's me. I cannot be gracious about the results of this election, at least not right now. In the future? Maybe, but probably not. I have plenty of vitriol to spew, but I will refrain; there's enough of that going around as it is, and ranting will only make me feel worse right now. So, suffice to say, I am disappointed beyond words.

I will just have to look to the future and hope.

11.02.2004

Nobody's Monkey - Yet

Look out, Jon Stewart : "The paradox of a fake newsman becoming news himself is not lost on Daily Show executive producer Ben Karlin. It's very easy to go from media darling to media whore to media washed-up-on-the-street-corner. That's a path that we've seen many, many times, and one they poke potholes into on the show. We just want to make sure we embrace (the attention) so tightly, the irony is lost on nobody."

Vote!

Finally, one way or another it will all be over. Remember to get out there and vote today.

For your Election Day pleasure, something from my Indecision 2004 newsletter:

"Conspiracy theorists have been burning up the Internet with guesses about what the out-of-left-field October campaign surprise will be. We couldn't imagine a better use of the Election Decoder® than to fire it up to give us a few educated predictions.

Using a radical new mathematical formula where we took the inverse of an eigenvector, multiplied it by its own inertial frame and subtracted the median weight of the average obese American child, the Decoder was able to spit out the following predictions:


1. The Kerry campaign releases a statement that Alexandra Kerry, Vanessa Kerry, Catherine Edwards and Emma Claire Edwards are all lesbians.

2. George W. Bush announces that WMDs have been found hidden in an ancient tomb in Iraq and that Geraldo Rivera will reveal them to the world LIVE on November 3.

3. Ben Affleck threatens to make three to five more mediocre films unless John Kerry is elected president.

4. Donald Rumsfeld announces that chatter in the terrorist community reveals Johnny Damon of the Red Sox will be kidnapped unless all of Massachusetts votes Republican.

5. All Iraqi insurgents simultaneously drop their weapons, embrace and declare George W. Bush the "Granddaddy Peacemaker Forever and Always."

6. John Kerry is magically blessed with the power to make his health plan work for every man, woman and child in a swing state. He can also raise the dead.

7. Dick Cheney promises that if he and Bush are re-elected, he will support a constitutional amendment requiring Jude Law to bed every woman in America within the next four years.

8. It's revealed that flu shots mysteriously make the elderly in Florida write in Pat Buchanan on the ballot.

9. Osama bin Laden agrees to appear on Larry King, breaks down crying, asking, "Why can't we all just get along?"

10. John Kerry rips off his droopy mask, reveals himself to be Jeb Bush. "



11.01.2004

Where's the horror?

Be Somewhat Afraid; Tricks for Horror Fans: "...And I don't even like the Chucky movies much. It's just that the series' out-there gruesomeness and frank stupidity strike me as preferable to the more recent style of big-budget action/horror pictures like 'Resident Evil: Apocalypse' and the coming 'Blade: Trinity' (Dec. 8). The heroes and heroines of this sort of film do battle against traditional horror-movie threats - mutants, lethal viruses, vampires, homicidal computers and the like - but in a proactive, can-do sort of way that seems to negate the true power of the genre: the dire possibility that the malignant, irrational forces we struggle against may finally be stronger than we are. Who could seriously doubt that these sleek paramilitary operations, full of advanced weaponry and preening computer-generated imagery, will succeed in beating back the dark implacable enemy? There might as well be a 'Mission Accomplished' banner in the background of every scene."

I have to agree with this assessment. While movies like "Blade", "Resident Evil" and "Underworld" provide plenty of thrills, they really aren't scary at all. Scary is what I watched last night: George Romero's "Night of the Living Dead", in which those "malignant, irrational forces" actually prevail.

What are ya, blind?

Well, actually, yeah...

Blind car thief crashed into tree: "He told police: 'I just wanted to prove to myself that I could do anything I wanted - despite my handicap. I only crashed because I was not sure of the way home.'"

How sad is it that in order to prove he could do anything, he stole a car?

Lavigne on Simpson

Lavigne: Lip-syncing singers 'pathetic'.

So are pop singers who think buying clothes at Hot Topic makes them punk.