i m N s h o

The horrible grammar of "it's the most longest lines of the year" or the fact that, everytime the latest UPS ad plays, I end up with "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" (or whatever that freaking Christmas carol is called) running through my head for hours. All I know for sure is that, today at least, I hate UPS.

L.A. Wants to End 'Master' and 'Slave' Equipment Some idiot working for LA filed a discrimination suit because they found a pair of videotape machines labeled "master" & "slave" so now, the County is renaming all their systems and asking all their vendors to stop using the terms. Never mind that this has been industry standard for years. Never mind that the master & slave designations actually make sense when you're talking about computer & electronic equipment. And never mind that we're NOT TALKING ABOUT PEOPLE HERE (or, for that matter, any other type of sentient being that might get offended by that concept, just in case there's any AI or non-human alien types listening in here. *smirk*). God, I hate political correctness. And, since I can't seem to stop posting about this… It occurs to me that I mispoke yesterday when I posted this: "…worst case scenario, Jackson IS a pedophile, mom IS simply out f...

Five Wasps I'm thinking primarily of the godawful background, but the content's a good reason to no longer be associated with the whole "ranting & raving" concept, too.

Michael Jackson turns himself in, to be paraded past news crews in handcuffs for the dread perp-walk, causing his brother Jermaine to cry racism. Note to Jermaine as well as Benzino from The Source—when you get to Michael Jackson’s level of fame, this kind of thing has more to do with celebrity than it ever will with race, so cut the “racism” argument. (Besides, have you SEEN Michael lately? Hell, I’m closer to the black experience these days… at least I still live in the real world.) This isn’t to reject the idea that dragging him past news crews in handcuffs wasn’t overplaying things for the media, but don’t try and tell me it’s racism. But, aside from that, reports are coming out that the alleged victim's father claims there was no abuse and that the mother only got lawyered up when Jackson said he had to stop giving them money and buying things for the family. (He had, apparently, been paying at least some of the boy’s medical expenses and had bought the family a hou...

Attorney: Michael Jackson Will Surrender Ok, first off, if Michael Jackson is the pedophile that he's accused of, I hope the Santa Barbara DA actually has the case to prove it this time and he's not just operating on his own agenda here, but that's beside the point. The warrants have been issued, Jackson's supposed to surrender today (if his attorneys and the DA can work out the details so he can avoid a "perp walk"), but none of the details of the charges against him are supposed to be revealed for something like seven weeks. This, of course, does not spare us from speculation, leaks, news breaks or the amazing coverage last night on Channel 4 , when they followed some plane that landed in Santa Barbara for over an hour (according to the reports I listened to on KROQ this morning). But here's the best part of that… at one point, after the plane's been sitting on the ground for something like 45 minutes, they go to the news guy in the chopp...

If I didn't at least mention this one. Massachusetts court strikes down ban on same-sex marriage Need I mention I'm glad to see this? Naw, I didn't think so. (Of course, this is just kicking the argument about a "Federal Marriage Amendment" into high gear, so it's going to get ugly. But at least we've got the Courts siding with personal freedom over the morality police. At least in this instance." And, if you feel like voicing your opinion about said Federal Marriage Amendment, here's some info from the ACLU and a link to let Congress know what you think… Oppose Writing Intolerance into the U.S. Constitution OBVIOUSLY, since it's the ACLU, you know which side of the argument said letter's coming from, so if you support the FMA, you'll have to find your own links, or go straight to the Senate website to voice your opinions.

Ok, so maybe I’m NOT out. (And, while I tried real hard not to give anything away in my last post, if you haven’t seen Matrix Revolutions yet, and plan on seeing it, and don’t want to take a chance on finding things out you don’t want to know, well, this IS your SPOILER ALERT! Just in case you were wondering.) One of the biggest disappointments for me in both Reloaded and Revolutions was the apparent loss of the unique vision the Wachowskis showed us in The Matrix and Bound (the low budget, lesbian/gangster flick they did to prove to the studios that they could direct). One of the things that really drew me to Bound was the fascinating way they constructed each of their shots. There’s one scene where Gina Gershon and Jennifer Tilly are having a phone conversation and the camera follows the phone cord from Tilly’s phone, across the floor, through the wall, up the cord on the other side and into the headset Gershon’s using. I loved that shot. And there were countless others in th...

So my first reaction to seeing Matrix Revolutions was that, if I were the Wachowskis, I’d be wondering “what the hell do you people want from us!?!” Because, frankly, I found Revolutions to be a much “cleaner”, more focused film than the tediously overstuffed Reloaded. After a few conversations about the movies, I still prefer Revolutions to Reloaded, but I can see some of the other side as well. So here’s my take on it all… Things that worked for me: First off, as I said, I found this one more focused than Reloaded. As the brothers W had said, this one’s all about the war, and there’s really very little deviation from that path. (That’s also part of the reason people disliked it, I know. More on that later.) But, where Reloaded felt overstuffed and desperately in need of some editing, Revolutions never lagged for me. Sure, the final battle with Agent Smith might have been a little long, but hell, it IS the final battle between these two—they’ve kinda earned it, yo...

Ok, two new “products” from the Word Spy newsletter … On 10/30/03, we were introduced to the nicotini: nicotini (NIK.oh.tee.nee) n. A nicotine-laced martini. Larry Wald, the owner of the Cathode Ray Club, came up with the homemade brew as he searched for ways to help smokers cope with the new smoke-free atmosphere Florida voters ordered last fall. Soak tobacco leaves in vodka overnight, deaden the juice’s harshness by adding a couple other liquors and voila: the nicotini of Las Olas. --Scott Wyman, “As smoke clears, club mixes tobacco, vodka,” Orlando Sentinel , August 31, 2003 Then, on 11/14, we learned about the tomacco: tomacco (tuh.MAK.oh) n. A hybrid created by grafting a tomato plant onto the roots of a tobacco plant. Rob Baur of Lake Oswego, Oregon, dreamed of bringing to life his favorite The Simpsons episode, one from 1999 in which Homer grows “tomacco,” a combination tomato-tobacco plant. Baur grafted a tomato plant onto tobacco roots, and vo...

Back in Action So, let me get this straight… the only thing the suits at Warner Bros. learned from the debacle that was Space Jam was to cast actors instead of basketball players? You've got one of the most recognizable stables of animated characters in Hollywood (arguably, second only to Disney's) and all you can think to do with them is put them in live action films? How about doing what they did best in the past? ANIMATED FILMS! God, what an incredible idea! How did no one ever think of it! (Of course, judging from the abysmal Duck Dodgers on the Cartoon Network , maybe they're right in staying away from animated movies these days.) Not that it's impossible that Back in Action might be worth seeing… I've just got my doubts. I mean, have you SEEN the trailers? Yeah, that's what I thought.

…since I haven't posted much lately. Dani and I were driving in today and she told me that the word "mcjob" is going into Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary—defined as a low-paying, dead end job (and McDonald’s is NOT happy ). And we’d both heard recently that “ bling bling ” is being added to The Oxford English Dictionary. We talked about how, despite McDonald’s annoyance with the whole process, that’s how language grows… words enter into the language as slang, get accepted and eventually end up in the dictionary. So, from today’s Word Spy mailing list: "Slang… is the wholesome fermentation or eructation of those processes eternally active in language, by which froth and specks are thrown up, mostly to pass away; though occasionally to settle and permanently crystallize. —Walt Whitman, American poet, "Slang in America", 1892

Alabama chief justice removed from office

On the PATRIOT Act and it's opponents—on the Left AND the Right: The Anti-PATRIOTs

How the hell did I get stuck with the Democratic Party? Frankly, I can't stand "political correctness" and the knee-jerk reaction to do everything one can to distance oneself from anything that smacks of controversy. And I've got to wonder at the mindset of political candidates who, during the primary, smack each other around, doing their damndest to get the nomination… and then have to do damage control for the rest of the election to counter their campaigning from the primary! As I mentioned earlier, when Al Sharpton is the voice of reason in the debates (reminding the other candidates to keep focused on having to beat Bush, instead of beating each other up) we're in serious trouble. And I'm really fed-up with the Democratic Party in its most recent incarnation. From the completely spineless campaign of Al Gore in 2000 to the absolute cluster-fuck that is this year's campaigning, I simply have to shake my head and wonder what the hell they're ...

Good News: Court Won't Enter Ten Commandments Fight Thank god (pun intended) the Supremes decided to just let this one stand. Good to know someone still believes Separation of Church & State is a good thing. Especially since it's the Supreme Court doing it. and Bad News: Bush Signs Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Well, no surprise here… Bush and his pack of Ravening Righties have been salivating over this one since the millennium. (I do love alliteration!) I also love reading stuff like ' "This right to life cannot be granted or denied by government, because it does not come from government - it comes from the creator of life," the president said ', considering he's from Texas, a state that's put more people to death than any other in the country in recent years. Not that I'm opposed to the death penalty, mind you. I'm just opposed to BS statements like this one.

PFE: Purpose For Existing. "This purchase aligns perfectly with the company's PFE." From BuzzWhack.com . The cynical applications for this term are truly limitless.