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From today's Word-Spy mailing list: "In the end, language changes because of the people who use it, not by appealing to any external factor, like spelling or history. People criticizing "NOO-kyuh-luhr" should also condemn "CUMF-ter-bull," yet they don't. Merriam-Webster's form letter about "nuclear" spends only two sentences discussing the word itself: most of the letter is an explanation of why spelling is not a valid basis for determining pronunciation. …In other words, "NOO-kyuh-luhr" is a lost cause, and no amount of pleading on the grounds of technical context or historical novelty can expunge its use." — Jesse Sheidlower , American lexicographer, The New York Times, October 13, 2002 And I really liked bitching about that one, too! (Not that I'm going to let the Pres off the hook for it… I'll just have to acknowledge that I'm simply whining to hear myself whine.)

I've always liked Demolition Man in one of those guilty-pleasure, "this movie thinks it's a lot smarter than it really is" kind of ways. I like the way they play with names and ideas (to some extent) from Brave New World (The main character in the book is John the Savage, here it's John Spartan , who's often referred to as "Savage"; and Lenina Huxley who's name merges a character from the book with the Author's name). It's been a LONG time since I've actually read BNW, so I'm not sure how much deeper the movie's homage really runs, but it's still fun. I also like Stallone, who's pretty charming and amusing when he doesn't take himself too seriously. (Note that this is not the same as thinking he can do comedy. He's shown just how adept he isn't at that often enough). And, let's face it, Sandra Bullock is always fun to watch—even in some of the turkey's she's been doing lately. The most fun in

Was it simply 4 years of Bush’s born-again presidency? A Clinton-Lewinsky reaction? Newt’s cynical “Contract with America”? Twelve years of “compassionate conservatism” under the Alzheimer Kid and GW Sr.? Or have they simply been there all along and we’ve all been lulled into some mistaken belief that we’re becoming a more mature and open-minded society? ‘Cause this whole ‘clamp-down on the media’ thing by the FCC & Congress has gotten WAY out of hand! In the wake of the SuperBowl fiasco, the FCC is falling all over themselves trying to appease the knee-jerk conservatives out there that are convinced that the country's going to hell in a handbasket because there was a flash of nudity. Their first reaction was to change the fines from $27,500 per incident to $275,000 per incident. This was enough to scare the big conglomerates that own most of the national media in this country to start backpedaling and pulling content off the air for fear of being fined. Now Congress is

Ok, so there's a delicious irony to the fact that the remake of Dawn of the Dead bumps The Passion of the Christ from the top spot in this weekend's box office. I've got to think that even Mel Gibson can appreciate that one! And, since we're speaking of movies—and I haven't been to a movie in weeks, damnit!—it looks like I'd better rush out this week and catch Eternal Sunshine if I'm going to see it in the theatre, since it just barely made the #6 slot for the weekend. Sure, it's on half the screens that Dawn of the Dead opened on, but still… that kind of opening can't bode well for it's theatrical release longevity. Thinking about Eternal Sunshine—talk about reinforcing bad behavior! Jim Carrey does wacky over-the-top comedy hi-jinks in Bruce Almighty… big hit! Jim Carrey does subtly whacked-out Charlie Kauffman script—one that might actually entail some, I don't know, ACTING!—surprise! Can't even break the top 5 for the weeke

Have a look at the quotes here: Fish. Barrel. Boom. By William Rivers Pitt t r u t h o u t | Perspective Those of you fed up with my consistent harping on politics will probably want to skip it. The rest of you, as you read these, might want to keep in mind that these are the same people who are (in all likelihood—let's face it, I'm not going to track down all their comments) falling over themselves to attack John Kerry's inadvertent "they're all a pack of liars" quote. (As if any Democrat in 2004 doesn't look at the Republican "win at all costs" election machine and think the same thing.) Welcome to the 21st century conservative mindset. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Timely, huh? It's only been a couple of weeks since the Awards and I'm just now talking about them. But really, what was there to say? Lord of the Rings swept everything it was nominated for (deservedly so). Charlize Theron, Renée Zellweger, Sean Penn, Tim Robbins… the biggest surprise of the evening was that there simply weren't any surprises. (There's usually one award that just seems to come out of nowhere—well, as "out of nowhere" as an award can be when you already know the 5 nominees. But this time the favorites seemingly took them all.) But I'm thumbing through the wrap-up on the Awards in Entertainment Weekly and discover that the incredibly annoying Billy Bush—the clown in the Kodak theatre annoying all the celebrities with some of the most aggravatingly pointless pre-show filler ever—is the President's freaking cousin! Jesus, can't this family do ANYTHING that doesn't piss me off? (Sorry, Jeff, I know you thought this was a m

The brilliance of movie marketing will never cease to amaze me. There’s a mindset that seems to say, “as long as we get people out that first weekend, we don’t care what happens after that.” I’m beginning to believe that, even more than fighting for final cut on their films; directors are going to have to start fighting for final cut on the trailers! We watched The Order last night. And I was amazed to find that it’s not the fairly standard issue thriller that it looked like in the trailers I’d seen. What I remembered from the trailers, and what I expected to see, was your run of the mill religious-themed thriller—a “lone wolf” priestone with “special powers of perception” or some such uniqueness, on the trail of a mysterious Order, seeking to corrupt the noble works of the Church to fulfill it’s own (presumably) twisted agenda. The movie we saw, however, was much more complicated and interesting than that, all tied up in questions of redemption, betrayal, notions of sin and pow

Woman Thought $1M Bill She Used Was Real "A woman who tried to use a fake $1 million bill to buy $1,675 worth of merchandise at Wal-Mart said it was all just a misunderstanding - she thought the bill was real." Come on… she's shopping at Wal-Mart and thought her million dollar bill was real? She got it from her ex, who's a coin collector? She started out using a couple of gift cards that only had $2.32 left on them? Where to begin mocking this woman?!? It's overkill, I tell you!

…and I know it sounds like I'm being really flippant here, but until Fox stops showing crap like "The Littlest Groom" and "My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiance" I'm not taking anybody seriously who talks about "protecting marriage".

Well, sort of… The penalty that good men pay for not being interested in politics is to be governed by men worse than themselves. Plato, philosopher (427-347 BCE) I just thought I'd pass that thought on today.

I've joked often enough in the past that the one sure way to guarantee that a bill will get passed or a candidate get elected was for me to vote for them. Then I donated money, for the first time in my life, to a candidate last year, and the next week his small plane crashed, killing him and his wife. I stopped joking then. Now comes the 04 California primary. I'm not particularly passionate about anything on this ballot. Kerry's the front-runner for the Democratic nomination, Edwards' is right behind. Clark & Dean have dropped out and no one else is a serious threat to these two, and I'm frankly fine with either one as the Democratic candidate for President. I'm voting for Kerry because I've been following his campaign and I like what he says, but I'm comfortable with Edwards as well. Propositions 57 & 58 have me on the fence. On the one hand, we're talking about amending the state's constitution and buying into a HUGE bond initi

Ok, so last week I went off on the Passion of the Christ and closed with this brilliant remark: "Mel's passion, his crisis of faith, has led him to make an aggressive, angry film that succeeds only in preaching to the choir… those who will see it and embrace it are those who already share his beliefs. Maybe that's enough for him." At $125 million the first weekend and counting (it is the beginning of Lent, after all), I'd guess that yeah, that's enough for him.