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"Huh?" might be the best reaction here. I've always wondered who the hell votes for the People's Choice awards. Presumably, it's a public thing, but I never knew how the voting was done. I just knew that they were usually abysmal choices, with the most obvious—and ofttimes least deserving—nominees winning. Turns out, according to this story , that up until this year, the awards were run by the Gallup organization. No wonder I've never been in on the voting… I've never been contacted for a Gallup poll on anything. This year, however, Entertainment Weekly has taken over the show (assuring us that the People's Choice will remain firmly ensconced in the safe zone of pop culture, I'm sure). And they've got their list of nominees here . I'm not entirely sure how they determine their categories, nor why there's a category for "Favorite Movie" if there's a category for "Favorite Movie Drama" and "Favorit...

God, what an inane lead-in. Twain's probably spinning in his grave over this kind of crap. Or not… more likely he'd be cynically unsurprised by it all, judging from his later writings. Well, the reason Twain rocks (notice how it's not nearly as "effective" if you don't put it in 'all caps', like you're shouting it?) is the quote from today's A.W.A.D. email : Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on or by imbeciles who really mean it. —Mark Twain, author and humorist (1835-1910) More Twain here: BrainyQoute.com Bartelby.com Because he ROCKS! ;-> (god, then I go and add a smiley! I'm going to have to work on my blogging, if this is what I'm reduced to.)

Bush Signs Intelligence Bill The jokes just write themselves, don't they?

Ok, I figured I'd just get that out of the way, right off the bat. If you haven't seen Dodgeball and are interested in watching it and, perhaps more importantly, enjoying the end of it… don't read any more. Can't say I didn't warn you. I'm a sucker for the extras on DVDs… blooper reels, deleted scenes, alternate endings… I love to see what "might have been". So getting all three on the Dodgeball DVD was like hitting paydirt. (You'll also want to check out the featurettes for some great slapstick as well.) But the "alternate ending" option on this one was a little different than most. The director's commentary explains that this is the original ending that they'd shot, that he, Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn thought it was the perfect ending and it was only after test audiences balked at it and the studio demanded changes that they went back and reshot the ending. Usually I side with the director/actor side of things ...

FCC to investigate the Summer Olympics opening dance Michael Powell should rot in hell.

Nativity Scene Attacked in London Because, obviously, God teaches us to attack and destroy that which differs from our religious convictions. Funny, I think I missed that in my catechism classes. (This is, of course, a follow-up to " I REALLY thought they were kidding ". So, still not kidding, and now they're getting vandalized for it.)

God cut from Dark Materials film "The director and screenwriter of the film adaptation of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials is to remove references to God and the church in the movie." According to Weitz, New Line expressed concern over the topics. Here's the problem… "The books tell of a battle against the church and a fight to overthrow God." So if we take God, and the Church, out of the story for fear we'll offend someone, can someone please tell me WHAT THE HELL IS LEFT!?! This reminds me of Exit to Eden , where someone obviously bought the rights to the book because Anne Rice was a hot property at the time and didn't realize it was a bondage novel. They ended up getting Garry Marshall to direct and turned it into a "wacky" spy comedy. But at least they kept SOME aspects of the sex storyline. For the record, it was still a god-awful movie. (Oops. I said "god"—twice now, AND didn't capitalize it! Someone som...

I heard this on KROQ this morning, and thought it was a joke… Christian Leaders Balk At Celebrity Wax Nativity Scene Apperntly not. But George W as one of the three wise men? Gotta love it!

High School Teacher Facing Child Porn Charges He was found out when he brought his computer in for repair and the shop found child porn on the computer. Communion Wafer Shuts Down Prison Someone put a communion wafer inside the envelope with their job application—looking for a little divine aid, perhaps? People REALLY don't think, do they?

Third of Americans Say Evidence Has Supported Darwin's Evolution Theory Sadly, I have no comment but to shake my head in sorrowful disbelief (or some such over-the-top expression of my incredulity.)

I often say I don't understand studio marketing departments. It's usually after I've seen a movie on DVD that tanked at the box office, only to find that, not only is it a pretty good film, but it's also nothing like the film I expected from the trailers. ( Dead Presidents and The Order are two films that immediately come to mind in this category.) It's the slavish devotion to the opening weekend box-office receipts that apparently drives this marketing technique… the theory that it's better to get a bunch of bodies into the seats opening weekend, even if they're going to hate the movie they didn't want to see, rather than have a modest opening and let the people that might be interested find out about the film. But, as I blogged the other day, I couldn't really buy into the idea that ABC had decided on the Desperate Housewives opening, despite knowing that complaints were likely. I didn't see the point in stirring up controversy to get rat...

My first reaction to the ridiculous uproar over the Desperate Housewives opening to this week's Monday Night Football was, "oh god, the morons are at it again." Don't get me wrong, I still think the Coalition of Assholes Determined to Inflict Their Morality on Others (CADITMO, for short) are knee-jerk reactionaries best relegated to the fringe of public opinion. And I think the FCC is WAY too inclined to listen to said a-holes, but that's kind of beside the point. (There's an interesting article on this guy's blog showing that the last round of big fines doled out to Fox for Married by America were generated by a grand total of… 23 complaints, 20 of which were simply copies of a form letter complaint. So much for the millions of people who watched that show—admittedly, probably to their great detriment—and weren't offended.) But I started thinking about it and realized that, much as I disagree with this whole mess (it was the lead freaking story o...

Don't get me wrong… I don't think Colin Powell's going to go down in the history books as a great statesman, or even an adequate Secretary of State. (I don't think that's entirely his fault, as it's been pretty obvious that no one in the Bush administration's been particularly interested in his point of view on, well the State. But then, maybe that IS his fault, as he certainly doesn't seem to have done much to assert his point of view. He's been a very good soldier , but not much of a leader.) But his has been the only voice in the Bush administration that seemed to think that diplomacy had any value and that cooperation with other nations (and even—mock shudder here—the UN!) wasn't a bad idea. Now he's gone and we get Condoleezza Rice. Look out world, diplomacy has no place at the table now! Meanwhile, we get quotes like this from his son over in the FCC: " I still am having fun . There are still things that are really significant...

Ok, so I recognize that I now live in a predominantly Hispanic neighborhood and that Jesus (pronounced semi-phonetically Hey, Zeus!) is a common Hispanic name. So I wasn't terribly surprised to see on the big display at a local car dealership that their salesman of the month was Jesus Maldonado (or something like that… last name changed to protect the innocent and because I can't remember it exactly). But I had to laugh when the sign changed to the next screen and, sure enough, it said: "Congrats Jesus!" 'Cause really, how often DO we give Jesus his props like that, you know?

Ok, I'm really looking forward to the new Batman movie, Batman Begins . I like Christopher Nolan, I think Christian Bale's a great choice for Batman and it's got a great cast. Having said that, the pics of the new Batmobile leave me woefully unimpressed… Batmobile front view Batmobile rear view Call me a purist (as well as a comic geek, nerd or whatever mildly-deprecating term you may choose to describe my affinity for the Batman) but what the hell is up with this Batmobile? It looks like a stripped-down Hummer or something. Shouldn't the Batmobile somehow tie in to the whole "bat" motif? I know every version I've ever seen has. If this is some indication of the way they're reimagining the Batman universe, I'm suddenly worried.

Just this week, I discovered blogdex , a "research project of the MIT Media Laboratory tracking the diffusion of information through the weblog community", as they so blithely put it. It's an interesting site, as it tracks the most "popular" blogs of the day, based on the links to those blogs (kind of like the Google method, as I understand it). As should surprise no one, election fallout is high on the list right now. My favorites right now are these two sites, in heated competition for the most buzz… Sorry Everybody -- How Can We Make It Up To You? and We're Not Sorry These are both photo-based sites, pictures of people with signs either apologizing for the results of the election, or stating that "we're NOT sorry" about said results. Not surprisingly (to me), the "we're not sorry" crowd tends toward the "f you!" attitude, trumpeting the themes of freedom & democracy and the idea that voting...

I had a couple of hours to kill the other day while I was waiting for Dani to get off work and figured I'd go catch a movie. Turns out that I'd just missed showings for films I really wanted to see and was left with the choice of killing time at Best Buy/Frys/Barnes & Noble (and I've got MORE than enough books, games & DVDs to occupy my time already) or go see something not necessarily on my "must see" list. So I ended up seeing Birth . I like Nicole Kidman (especially in recent films) and figured that, while it sounds kinda creepy, there's the possibility it could be good, or at least interesting. Well, interesting it was. And creepy in spades. Just not in a terribly good way. The interesting part was the director's style. Jonathan Glazer almost single-handedly gives new meaning to the term "leisurely". Long, slow tracking shots, leisurely scenes of minimalist conversation… it's like he set out to make the antithesis to t...

I had to start there, simple because it'll start my more conservative friends foaming at the mouth. 4 years ago, it was Florida, hanging chad and misleading ballots. Whatever. This year, it's Ohio and electronic voting machines with no paper trails… Kerry Won By Greg Palast TomPaine.com I'll go ahead and say it now (and attempt to beat you guys to the punch). Whatever. It doesn't matter that the polls showed Kerry winning in key states, it doesn't matter that votes haven't been counted, it doesn't matter that the election's been stolen once again… even if you believe all these things are true, it doesn't matter. We're tired, no one wants to hear it and I sincerely doubt that any legitimate challenges will come out of these allegations. Bush is President for 4 more years and those of us bothered by that fact are going to have to get over it and move on. What DOES matter, and is vital to understand, is that this is not a partis...

A Blue City (Disconsolate, Even) Bewildered by a Red America By Joseph Berger The New York Times Of course, some of their comments sound damn elitist, even to me (but then, they're well aware that they're being elitist, so I guess that counts for something). And, of course, they come off as self-involved and self-important, but then, they're New Yorkers… it's kind of redundant to accuse a New Yorker of being self-involved. But that whole "out of step with the rest of the country" feeling? I'm right there with them on that.

But a couple of interesting editorials from today's New York Times. Living Poor, Voting Rich This one takes a pretty good look at what went wrong and why Democrats keep losing "the heartland". Waiting for a President And this one, sadly, makes some really good points about what we need from our President now (and makes some pretty good points about both Bush and Kerry). But if this IS what's needed, we're in deep trouble… we've already seen that Bush has neither the ability nor, apparently, any interest in balancing "his enormous self-confidence with a large dose of humility." ( ibid ) It's going to be another long four years.

A couple of election day laughs (at least for some of us)… Since I was discussing the President's intellectual capabilities (or lack thereof) a few days ago, when I saw these last week I had to laugh and then share them: a Kerry/Edwards button: "Bring back complete sentences" (Equally amusing here is that, gramatically speaking, I don't think this IS a complete sentence.) and bumper sticker: "Somewhere in Texas, a village is missing its idiot." I haven't seen any funny Bush stickers, but then, we all know Republicans don't have a sense of humor, so that's not a surprise. Sometimes, you just have to laugh at it all, right? (envision the smiley emoticon of your choice here, to convey me smirking at my own wit, as I refuse to use those damn things here!)

I got hooked on Eminem's last CD (The Eminem Show) after one of the DJ's on KROQ raved about it being "the best album ever" and hearing the few tracks KROQ played. "Best album ever" might be a bit hyperbolic, but it was an incredible album that lived in my CD player for months. He's just released his first single off the new album, Encore, which drops on the 16th and, true to form, he's stirring things up. He made it quite clear on "Show" that he's no fan of the President's, and the new single, Mosh, is no departure. A friend of mine sent me the link to the Mosh video … it's a very cool bit of animation, and another powerful Eminem track. (Those of you that, inexplicably, think that artists shouldn't voice their political opinions might want to avoid this one.)

I came across this endorsement last week and had to share. Not because it comes from The American Conservative , though that DID get me to read it. And certainly not for their reason for endorsing Kerry (the prospect of an ineffectual Democrat President hamstrung by an antagonistic Republican Congress is far too possible a scenario). No, it's really because of the way it slams the President for all the things I've been talking about for, what seems like, ages. Kerry's the One By Scott McConnell The American Conservative Or course, once I read it, I had to click the "go to original" link at the top and find out who the hell "The American Conservative" really is. Imagine my surprise, when I clicked on their "About Us" link to find that The American Conservative is Pat Buchanan's magazine/website! I think it's probably safe to assume that this may well be the first time I've ever agreed with Buchanan about anything. Lo...

Sure, why not. Those of us unimpressed with the Pres are quick to suggest that he's… shall we say, not the sharpest tool in the shed ? (Maybe a little slow on the uptake ? WOW, you really CAN find anything with Google.) But most of us are aware that he's probably not dumb, per se … more likely simply "intellectually challenged". I came across this editorial after the first Bush/Kerry debate and I think the author does a really good job of nailing what's up with the way the man thinks. Is He a Dope? The Los Angeles Times | Editorial The gist of this is the question of whether or not the President's actually "a dope"… is he as dumb as we joke/sigh/agitate about. The answer he comes up with is, not too surprisingly, no, not really: " The issue might better be described as one of mental laziness. " (The link above, once again, is to the article on Truthout , since that link remains live long after the LA Times link ends up...

Fun, but evil… TV-B-Gone Designed by a guy that hasn't owned a TV in something like 20 years and noticed how many times he'd go into a public place and see the TV on with no one paying any attention. They've received thousands of orders already and he said on KROQ this morning that he hopes people don't "abuse it". Apparently, he never went to movies when everyone was fascinated by laser pointers either.

In a surprise announcement on the Kevin & Bean show earlier this month, Felt Tip, their football prognosticating writing utensil, decided the 2004 Presidential election, alleviating election concerns throughout Southern California. A little background on Felt Tip… Last football season, Kevin decided to make a point about their sports guy, Money, and his football picks by showing that he could do as well dropping a felt tip pen from head height onto the sports page. This season, Felt Tip has beaten Money 2 or 3 times, has a better overall record and, as of this last weekend, has even won the KROQ football pool, TWICE. With his latest victory this past weekend, Felt Tip's predictive powers are beyond question. Recently, after a spot on the various, rather ludicrous, "polls" that are cropping up before the election—like the 7-Eleven coffee poll, where the vast majority of participants are, apparently, undecided, or the Halloween costume poll, in which the candid...

For the last few years, the hands-down winner for the most overused and abused tool in movies has got to be CGI effects. One only had to watch this year's Van Helsing or the last Charlie's Angels movie to realize just how pointless these effects can be in the wrong hands. Not that I think CGI is inherently bad… without it we wouldn't have great films like the Lord of the Rings Trilogy or the (perhaps less great, but equally anticipated) Star Wars prequels and countless other really good movies. It's just that, far too often, as with most new toys, they've taken over the movie as if a few minutes of good CGI can replace story, character or any idea of storytelling. (Yeah, I know, it's Hollywood, how can I be surprised. And yes, I'm aware that the Star Wars films can get slapped around for wooden characters and clunky screenplays as well. Bear with me… there's good storytelling behind all that clunky dialogue.) But, though I mention Van Helsing,...

I don't get it this time. Dani and I saw Shark Tale opening weekend and found it mildly amusing (visually amazing, of course, but we've come to expect that from Dreamworks and Pixar, so it almost goes without saying). But the story simply didn't impress… the jokes were obvious and tired, for the most part (I mean, come on, how long has DeNiro been riffing on his gangster shtick now?) and lacking in the wit that, I think, has been the strong point of most of the CGI animated films we've been seeing lately. But 48 million the first weekend , 31 million the second and another 22 million this past weekend is huge, especially for the fall. One can argue, I suppose, that it's the only "kids" movie out there, with things like Ladder 49 and Friday Night Lights the other big releases those weekends. But that's kind of ironic, since Shark Tale seems to be one of the least kid-oriented animated films I've seen recently. I mean, I'm sure the kids ...

But then, I'm not writing for the New York Times , either. John Kerry for President The New York Times | Endorsement (This link is to Truthout a news clearinghouse for those of us unwilling to even type the Fox News URL. There's a link from that page to the original, if you're a NewYorkTimes.com registered user.) Of course, judging from this article , that endorsement doesn't really count for much of anything. I just want to know what they're all smoking, you know? Cause if this holds true, I'm going to need to lay in my own supply, just to get through the next four years. (Meanwhile, since I was talking the other day about how ugly this election's become… maybe I can blame it on Bush after all: Scary Ads Take Campaign to a Grim New Level. But I guess I'd have to put some of the blame on Kerry too. Oh well.)

Maybe the mean-spirited cynic in me was right when I last posted about NASA's Genesis mission. It's interesting, though. This is from a report on Friday's Channel 4 News site: "The NASA spacecraft that smashed into the Utah desert last month while bringing home fragile samples of the sun may have been doomed by engineering drawings that had been done backwards." NASA spins it a little differently in their report : "The Mishap Investigation Board (MIB) has identified a likely direct cause of the failure of Genesis' parachute system to open… The MIB said the likely cause was a design error that involves the orientation of gravity-switch devices… 'This single cause has not yet been fully confirmed, nor has it been determined whether it is the only problem within the Genesis system,' said Dr. Michael G. Ryschkewitsch, the MIB chair. 'The Board is working to confirm this proximate cause, to determine why this error happened, why it was not...

From vandalism and childishness, to possibly violating Federal laws and maybe even trashing the Constitution, DAMN is this an ugly election! Earlier this week Kevin & Bean did a segment on people who've had their cars vandalized or been threatened because of the bumper stickers on their cars. (For a sample of really obsessive blogging—and to read about the segment—you can check out I'm Just Saying: A Kevin & Bean Blog .) Stories abounded, from people getting run off the road and guys tearing down Bush signs and peeing on them, to a woman getting flipped off for having "Libertarian" plates because the moron flipping her off confused that with Liberal. My favorite of the day had to be the guy that got his car keyed for having a Bush sticker on it and went out and got a shirt that had a picture of a scratched-out Bush bumper sticker and the slogan "A person of conscience and tolerance keyed my car". (Great shirt!) One day he couldn't find the shi...

But didn't know who said it and couldn't remember the phrasing well enough to actually find it. But I've always liked the sound of it… A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. —Ralph Waldo Emerson, writer and philosopher (1803-1882) (from, of course, today's A.W.A.D. email )

I was never a big Howard Dean supporter when he was running, but it's kind of sad to hear him now. This morning I heard an ad with Dean shilling for Yahoo. (You know the ad campaign… it ends with a yodelling "ya-HOO!"). Dean's talking about using Yahoo to keep in touch while he was campaigning (or something like that) and, as he'd say the name of each state he visited, he'd shout it out in this hoarse, kind of manic sounding voice… you KNOW, the voice that lost him any chance at the nomination when he got a little too excited during one of his speeches. The one that ended with him screeching "yeehaw" (or something along those lines) like some escaped mental patient (or rabid sports fan—they're interchangeable sometimes, I think) at the mention of heading to DC. So now he's playing off that supremely embarrassing (not to mention potentially career destroying) moment to shill for Yahoo (and, of course, make a few bucks). It's almost...

'Cause really, these have gone beyond random. "It never rains on the Moon". A remnant from one of last year's office Christmas parties, I've got this "page a day" calendar with the endearing title " Fact or Crap ". Each date has a statement which carries the implied question of whether or not it's "fact or crap". "It never rains on the Moon" was today's question. I'm really hoping no-one missed that one. But I have my doubts. Single ticket wins this weekend's $215 million dollar Powerball Lottery. Every time the Powerball or California lottery gets up into monster amounts, it gets mentioned on KROQ (usually as the morning show figures out how to get a hold of their tickets for the lottery). What I can never understand is why it is that, whenever you get a really large jackpot in California, there's always multiple winners. But when the Powerball—which runs in 29 states—get's into the $200...

Last week, thanks to too many people checking their web-mail and downloading viruses to the servers, work decided to block our access to web-based email. That means no more checking my Hotmail, Yahoo mail, Netscape mail during work hours. (And that's not ALL the freaking email addresses I've got, either. It's scary.) No big deal. I'd open them, look and see if there was anything interesting, then hit the delete key for most of it. But it was a way to kill time when I'd find a few minutes on my hand. What's interesting is I had NO idea how often I'd find myself with those "few minutes" on my hands, especially in the morning (for some reason, things don't seem to blow out of control here till the afternoons. Usually.) So now I find myself looking for ways to kill that suddenly free time (I'm sure management would love to know that!) which seems to mean more time for blogging. Judging from reactions to yesterday's post about the ...

Last year it was 28 Days Later , a creepy little zombie thriller that was way too much fun. It also, arguably, had the best scary zombies ever, since you couldn't actually outrun these things! This year we get Shaun of the Dead … one of the best movies I've seen all summer and, quite possibly, one of the best this year--certainly one of the funniest. As the title suggests, it sticks to the George Romero, Dawn of the Dead style zombie… slow, shambling creatures that overwhelm you with superior numbers rather than speed. What's cool here is the witty way it's all handled, from the slow shambling humans in the very beginning of the film to the winking reference to 28 Days Later at the end (make sure you listen to all the "chatter" from the TV throughout, if you want to catch all the humor). One of the best moments early on is when Shaun's channel surfing and, as he changes stations, he gets the whole story of what's going on outside his windows… he ju...

I'm sure I'll get slapped around for this one, but hey, I'm used to it! Loved this article on Slate today about GW's reaction to Kerry's comments in last week's debate: The Global Test—It's called reality. Next to a pic of the Pres, this quote: "We've just reached the crux of the presidential campaign—the moment in which one candidate, purporting to expose the other's fatal flaw, has instead exposed his own." How could I not want to read this one!

And I'm not just talking about this election, either. Over and over and over, I've heard politician harp (that's definition #2, if you're actually looking) on their opponents for being wishy-washy, for "flip-flopping" on the issues, on and on and on. But I've always felt that I WANT the guy that's willing to look at the facts, especially when he's presented with new ones, and change his mind. To acknowledge that he was on the wrong side of the issue, or that recent facts have caused him to change his position, or whatever. It shows signs—at least to ME—that there's an actual thought-process going on here. That I'm seeing a reasoning individual, capable of informed judgment, giving consideration of the topic at hand. Maybe I'm naive. But I'll stick with the guy that's willing to change his mind, rather than the one that says "I'm right, I've always been right, and I know I can't have ever been anythin...

Just a brief thought here… I am constantly fascinated by the subject headings in spam emails. Since most of my email programs now provide filters and all the spam ends up in one place, all I've got to do is occasionally browse through to make sure there isn't something there that does belong in my inbox and then hit delete. But while I'm browsing, I do, of course, end up reading a lot of spam subjects. For a while there, they all seemed to be using some kind of random word generator, one that would capture your first name, or the first few letters of your name, and then throw your name (or one that started with those first few letters) into the subject along with a random grouping of words. Yeah, like "combat tunafish Larry superstar beefcake" is going to make me want to open your email. Lately, most of the spam I see is just a string of characters that are either from foreign alphabets or scientific or mathematical symbols, or just plain gibberish. Whe...

A friend of ours (let's call her Jane, for simplicity's sake) does stand-up here in LA and occasionally invites us to catch her at one of the local clubs. Last night she invited us to one of those shows, what she calls "a bringer"… the club provides the space and lets the comics come in and do their bits—they just have to provide their own audience. I assume there's some minimum number requirement or something, but it may just be that, if the comics don't bring anyone, there won't be an audience. It's a very casual set-up and it provides the comics a chance to test out their new material since it's a "friendly" audience and, aside from the 2-drink minimum, it's not costing anything to go. Last night had a small crowd (not that it's a big room) and there couldn't have been more than a couple of dozen people. Jane's husband said that there's no telling from night to night how big the room's going to be… sometime...

It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried. — Winston Churchill (With thanks to Quentin for bringing this one to my attention!)

I love this word! Schadenfreude "Pleasure derived from others' misfortunes." It appeals to my cynical nature, I guess. (from, once again, Wordsmith.Org 's A.Word.A.Day email list. Always fun and interesting.) And, while I'm on the subject of the AWAD email, some recent quotes I liked… The folly of mistaking a paradox for a discovery, a metaphor for a proof, a torrent of verbiage for a spring of capital truths, and oneself for an oracle, is inborn in us. — Paul Valery , poet and philosopher (1871-1945) I distrust those people who know so well what God wants them to do because I notice it always coincides with their own desires. — Susan B Anthony , reformer and suffragist (1820-1906) In America, anybody can be president. That's one of the risks you take. — Adlai Stevenson , statesman (1900-1965)

Farscape was, as far as I'm concerned, one of the best SF series on TV in a long time. Smart, really funny, great characters, a fascinating storyline… it was one of the few shows I'd go out of my way to watch every week. Of course, since it was on the Sci-Fi Channel , figuring out when to watch it was often problematic. (I was never entirely sure whether they ran the episodes in order, nor when a season REALLY started and really ended. It seemed like they started each season sometime in March then, about 4 episodes from the end of the season they'd go into repeats, then show those last 4 episodes in November or something, then back to repeats. It was a confusing schedule to say the least). One of the things I like best about the series is the lead character, John Crichton. He's smart, resourceful, funny, blah-blah-blah—all the standard characteristics of a lead SF character—but, by sometime in the third season, they gave him an edge that I'm just not used to se...

You know, I'm a big fan of NASA. I honestly think that space exploration is a great thing and we need to do more of it in the future. So it's really depressing when something like this goes so horribly wrong… NASA Genesis Mission Info "The Genesis sample return capsule entered Earth's atmosphere at 9:52:47 a.m. MDT… However, the Genesis capsule, as a result of its parachute not deploying, impacted the ground at a speed of 311 kilometers per hour (193 mph)." The big question, of course, is whether or not the samples Genesis collected survived the impact. Considering this quote: "The shell had been breached about three inches and I could see the science canister inside and that also appeared to have a small breach", it sounds doubtful. (Of course, the mean-spirited cynic in me is screaming to point out that, if I REALLY believed in space exploration, then maybe being a NASA fan is my mistake, but hey, I'm not feeling that cynical or mean-s...

I consider myself a writer. (One of these days, maybe I'll finish one of the many stories, scripts, book ideas and screenplays sitting on my computer and in my head and get published/produced and I can dump the qualifying "consider", but for now, I'm kinda stuck with it.) One of the things I've embraced, as a writer, is the concept of drafts & rewrites. NOTHING I write is done on the first pass. I always have to do at least one or two revisions on anything I write… hell, that's probably the reason I hate writing notes in birthday cards (note to self, try drafting those notes first!). One of the good things about this, though, is it frees up my writing on that first pass… I'm less inclined to edit myself and just let things get on the page, knowing I'll come back later to clean it up and get rid of the junk. For the longest time, I actually wrote my longer blogs in a separate doc (where I could do my spell check and review what I wrote before po...

So it's been a busy month and I haven't had much time for blogging… doesn't mean a few things haven't crossed my path that I haven't had thoughts on. So, am I supposed to respect Dick Cheney now? Early this week, Cheney "broke ranks" with the Pres to say that he doesn't support a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, that it should be a state-by-state decision and that he's always felt that " freedom means freedom for everybody ". The backstory here is that one of Cheney's daughters is a lesbian (who happens to work for the Bush/Cheney campaign— my comments on revising posts after the fact, here ) and he's very familiar with, and apparently sympathetic to, the debate because of this. So here, all along, while I've been assuming Cheney's one of the "bad guys" it's really been Bush and Ashcroft (and, presumably, other members of the Bush team) that have decided the Constitution's "not ...

As I left the theatre after seeing The Village , all I could think was that M. Night Shyamalan is his own worst enemy. A few years ago he did The Sixth Sense , which had the best twist ending EVER, and every movie since all people can think are "what's the twist in this one" and, even worse "was it as good as the one in the Sixth Sense?" SO, first off… NO . It doesn't matter which of his film's we're talking about, it's never going to be as good as the one in the Sixth Sense because you didn't expect it in the Sixth Sense. The ending came out of left field and, even if you thought you might have figured it out (I have friends that say they did—I'd never call them liars, but I'm dubious), it still was gratifying to have that twist confirmed. But now, every time you go to see one of his films, you sit there through the entire film wondering what he's going to do at the end. And it distracts you from what might be a really go...

I haven't posted in over a week. I've been kind of busy. Last week I got sent to a national doll convention near Chicago. Those of you who know where I work will know WHAT doll convention. (The convention was billed as taking place "in" Chicago… don't believe it for a second. Rosemont IL is NOT Chicago. More on that later.) Now, before I DO get to the joys of Rosemont and the Hyatt Regency O'Hare, let me make an observation… They sent ME . To a Convention . Let's see if I can convey my complete lack of interest in this proposition. I don't like crowds. I don't mingle well. I SUCK at small talk. I don't do conventions. My hobbies include movies, books and computer games. My interests are science fiction, fantasy and horror (I'm not limited to these, but they're the top three). There's a lot of overlap in those interests and hobbies. There is NOT a lot of overlap with the world of doll collecting. Did I mention I don...

Or a depressingly obvious comment on the state of contemporary politics… take your pick. Never vote for the best candidate, vote for the one who will do the least harm. — Frank Dane (culled, once again, from Wordsmith.org .)

Schwarzenegger Calls Budget Opponents 'Girlie Men' I don't know what's more annoying here… the fact that Governor Arnie is resorting to childish name-calling (and continuing his annoying 'quote the Arnold reference' game) or the fact that the morons in Sacramento are getting all up in arms over this one! The sound bites on the news are all about Democrats up in arms, calling Schwarzenegger homophobic and demanding apologies. The quote at the end of the article above is more what I'm looking for from these guys, as Fabian Nuñez, the Democratic speaker of the Assembly says "I don't have any insecurities about myself. I don't take that stuff personally." Let Schwarzenegger rant and rave and quote movies & SNL all he wants… the Senate & Assembly needs to embrace Mr Nuñez' reaction and tell the Governator to grow up and get back to business. (Dani's upset because she finds it demeaning to women, an implication that wo...

Last week it was Whoopi Goldberg fired by Slim-Fast for her comments about Bush at a recent political rally. This week Linda Rondstadt gets fired from the Aladdin for calling Michael Moore a patriot and stirring up the locals. I'd like to thank Bush and the the boys in Washington, Fox News and Bill O'Reilly (who apparently believes the only loyal American is a silent one) for promoting a mindset that accepts and embraces this kind of behavior.

So Dani slapped me around yesterday for my last post , telling me I was being an elitist snob (an accusation I really couldn't argue with, unfortunately). And that very day I get this word from the A.Word.A.Day email… philodox Someone who loves his or her own opinion; a dogmatic person. Now, while I might dispute the dogmatic part, I do have to acknowledge that I could be accused of loving my own opinion. This, of course, could stem from the fact that I so often know that my opinion is the correct one, but hey, what can I do about that? (insert annoying smiley emoticon here to signify irony.) Security And, while I'm on the topic of AWAD, a quote from one of last week's emails , just 'cause I like to share the ones that resonate with me. If you want total security, go to prison. There you're fed, clothed, given medical care and so on. The only thing lacking… is freedom. —Dwight D. Eisenhower, U.S. general and 34th president (1890-1969)

And by that, I do mean anyone. I just discovered that there's a setting that let's me allow comments by anyone, not just registered Blogger users… so, being the brave soul I am, I went ahead and enabled that option. Of course, this opens me up to comments from every moron out there with an internet connection and too much time on their hands, but who knows, it could be fun. Or at least mildly amusing until I get bored with the stupidity. We'll see.

Thumbing through this week's Entertainment Weekly, I came across an article about the wave of movie musicals coming, thanks to the success of Chicago a couple of years ago. Should be interesting to see how many of these actually succeed (and how many of those conform to my own personal theory on why contemporary movie musicals do and, more often, don't succeed). No big surprise to hear that The Producers is being made into a movie (a movie, based on a musical, based on a movie—does it get more incestuous than that?). And I'd already heard about Phantom of the Opera coming out later this year. But the "big" news, the one that leaves me falling on the floor laughing is Rent , apparently due out sometime this year, directed by the inimitable Chris Columbus . That's right, the uber-hack, master of such subtle emotional fare as Bicentennial Man & Stepmom is going to tackle Rent—a modern day retelling of La Boheme with AIDS subbing in for tuberculo...