i m N s h o

So the reviews are in and the ranting, both online and off is in full swing. Tolkien purists bitching about the things left out/glossed over/(gasp!) changed… those that just don’t get it wondering what all the fuss is all about (“it’s got elves and magic in it, right? Can’t be any good then!”)… and the cinephiles analyzing every moment and pointing out where it comes up short. I don’t think I’m going to go there yet. We saw the movie last week and I thoroughly enjoyed every moment. The epic’s done, finished up in fine fashion. Peter Jackson and his team did a fabulous job of realizing onscreen the characters, places and events of Middle Earth and I applaud the lot of them for it. Are there flaws? Sure, there must be. But there was nothing in that 3½ hours that was so glaring as to pull me out of the movie and frankly, that’s good enough for me right now. Maybe when I go back and see it a 2nd or 3rd time I’ll find those flaws and think of ways I’d rather have seen things handled

Still advertising the RNC and stuff. Guess the Lord of the Rings people don't feel quite the need to flood banner space as the RNC. Oh well.

…and watch what happens! I go on vacation and don't post for a few days (okay, maybe a week or more!) and today I got an email from a friend, telling me that they're advertising Bush '04 junk and the Republican National Committee on my blog site! Normally, I don't even pay attention to banner ads, so, I check it out and, sure enough, as I hit refresh, up come the RNC ads, Bush in '04 ads, Ashcroft vs. Greenpeace ads… and, underneath the ads is a line for related searches and "ads powered by Google". So what I assume is happening is Google (which now owns Blogger) does a keyword search on the contents of the blogs it's hosting. Then it displays ads based on these keywords. So, every time I mouth off about Dubya, the current administration, the political right and other such things that annoy my liberal heart (I tried real hard there not to include any obvious keywords for Google to work off of!) I could end up promoting the very thing I'm ran

Anyone else ever notice that Dubya's drawling mispronunciation of the word "terror" sounds a lot like the Latin word for earth, "terra"? A lot of SF authors use the word Terra for Earth in their stories… presumably to either impart some "classicism" to our home planet's name, or simply because they can then refer to denizens of our world as "terran" instead of "earthling"… arguably, a more euphonious name. So Bush's War on Terror becomes "War on Terra". Or simply "War on Earth"… a sadly fitting name for the multi-generational conflict he's envisioned for us all. I love word games.

Bush Overruled on 'Dirty Bomb' Suspect First off, let me just say that I don't give a damn about Mr. Padilla and that, if he did do (or was planning) what the government says he was, then as far as I'm concerned he can rot in jail. Having said that, it is gratifying to see that the Court's not buying the argument that you can negate a citizen's rights (to a fair and speedy trial, to confront your accuser, to representation by an attorney, etc.) by simply declaring him an "enemy combatant". (Don't let the name change fool you… that's basically the same as labeling him an enemy of the state—that old stand-by of totalitarian regimes everywhere. ) Because if they can get away with it for this clown, they can do it to anyone. That, folks, is a police state. You're not doing anything to "make the world safe for democracy" by turning us into one.

So last week I heard that, in reaction to CBS's failed Reagan "biopic", Republican congressmen decided to draft a bill to replace FDR on the dime with Reagan's face. Now, aside from the fact that it would mean an entire denomination that I would have to refuse to use… come on! A Reagan dime? Please. (A little commentary on the Reagan dime, just for fun.) And then, in today's news I hear that Republican Rep. Doug Ose from California (I'd be ashamed that he's from California, but he's a Republican, so I can just reject him entirely) is upset because Bono got away with saying "Fuck" on an award show recently. So he's introducing a bill with a list of 8 words (sorry George !) that, free speech be damned!, you CANNOT use on the air. The article in today's LA Times doesn't list the eight words, but then they couldn't, could they? Apparently there's nothing of any real importance going on in Washington these days.

3 days sick last week and the rest of the week spent catching up. And, worst thing of all (for my self-involved vanity) I haven't found time to post about anything for more than a week! Damn, and there's so much to talk about! Good movies, bad politics, stupid people on & off the internet... *sigh* Guess I'm just going to have to find some time this week!

PLANNED SPONTANEITY: Dubbed a trend by Trendwatching.com and aided by wireless phones, PDAs and a host of ways to make instant reservations, consumers are intentionally planning to make last-minute decisions with their entertainment dollars to add a little excitement and spontaneity to their lives. All I can say is that if this is the only way to get excitement spontaneity into your life… well, you're just doing it all wrong. (from today's BuzzWhack.com email)

Well, actually, it's a TV ad, so I'm kind of on a run here. I've heard the opinion that the sitcom is dead as an art form (that, of course, presumes that the sitcom was an art form in the first place, but that's beside the point). This may just be proof of that: They've been running an ad for the new Tracy Morgan show all day. And, as is the norm with sitcom ads, they're playing a clip of one of those "wacky" sitcom moments guaranteed to make you want to tune in. (Yeah, right.) The set-up is Mom telling the kids that their aunt (or some such female relative/friend of the family) is coming over to babysit them. The kids complain because she's got a lazy eye and one of them remarks that they never know who she's looking at (or something similar. Remember, think wacky!). Dad then jumps in and tells them not to make fun of her eye, that she lost her husband because of that eye. He thought… wait for it… she was seeing someone on the side! (Se

KFC's Christmas "bucket", pronounced "boo-ket" (a really lame play-on-words version of "bouqet"). All I can say is BLOW ME, KFC! God, I'm really beginning to hate marketing/ad people and what they're doing to the language. Leave it alone, you morons! Average Joe does enough damage to English without your help!

It's not just that I've got that damn Christmas carol running through my head, but I've got it running through my head with those damn ungrammatical lyrics! Right now, I just hate UPS.