i m N s h o

The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt. Bertrand Russell, philosopher, mathematician and author (1872-1970) (Thanks to Wordsmith.org's " A.Word.A.Day " for this particular observation.)

I saw an article a couple of weeks ago talking about how the traditional "summer movie season" keeps creeping earlier into the year. Traditionally, summer movie season—that time of year when style triumphs over substance and incidental things like coherent plots and meaningful subject matter give way to explosions, effects and bad comedy—starts Memorial Day weekend. But in the past few years these big, bad action films have escaped their cage and started showing up before the summer season's truly here. So after not making it to a single movie in months (I'm not kidding, either—the last movie I saw in a theatre was Along Came Polly !) we finally got out to the movies a couple of weeks ago. And what was our great choice for getting back to the movies? Freaking Hellboy . Understand, I wasn't terribly interested in the movie to begin with. I've never read the comic and there just wasn't anything there that hooked me. I like Ron Perlman and think i...

I bought a new Mustang Convertible last month (40th Anniversary in black, of course) and have probably driven with the top up maybe a half-dozen times since I bought the car. Let's face it, it's Southern California. If there were ever a place to drive a convertible, this is it. And what I've noticed in my 6 or 7 weeks of driving my new convertible is how many losers there are out there driving convertibles with the top up! I mean, what's the point of having this cool car if you're not putting the top down every chance you get? (I'll admit that I might take things a little to the extreme here… if the temperatures over 60 and it's not immediately threatening rain, the top's probably down.) But this morning, as I'm driving to work, it's a BEAUTIFUL day—7:30 in the morning, it's already over 70 degrees, crystal clear and you can't even notice the smog at this point. And STILL I pass 3 different people, driving their convertibles with ...

One of those inane "slice of life" commercials was just on with a guy rambling on about sitting in his big overstuffed chair with his son and how it's "just what he needed to be doing" right about then… holding his son, cuddling him, "sniffing his head". This was immediately followed by the commercial's message: " Jockey , What's in Your Comfort Zone". Doesn't anyone pay attention to these things? Hasn't anyone ever heard of the idea of juxtaposition ? I mean, come on, dad sniffing his son's hair immediately followed by the image of jockey shorts? Pay attention people. Really.

One of the good things about the KROQ Kevin & Bean morning show is their derisive appreciation for crap television shows. Basically, they watch the bad stuff so I don't get subjected to it. Last Sunday, the highest rated TV show among 18-49 year olds was The Nick & Jessica Variety Hour . Right off the top, I can't stand these two. Jessica Simpson is a brainless, self-centered pop princess and Nick Lachey is the has-been boy-band doormat of a husband to this vacuous blond, so I've got no time for either one of them. It stands to reason then, that I skipped this waste of time of a TV show. And I cannot tell you HOW glad I am that I did. KROQ's morning team couldn't fall over themselves fast enough to mock and abuse this show and, judging from the clips they played… DAMN, did it deserve the mockery! First off, there's the "heart of the 70's" guest star list (Mr. T? Johnny Bench? Kenny Rogers, Kermit the Frog & Miss Piggy?!?) Ne...

… I like this quote? The true danger is when liberty is nibbled away, for expedients, and by parts. —Edmund Burke, statesman and writer (1729-1797) (From today's A.Word.A.Day email)

I've got a couple of "word of the day" email newsletters coming to me and, when I got back from vacation last week, found some really fun ones, that I just feel I have to share… resistentialism The theory that inanimate objects demonstrate hostile behavior against us. (This one's from Wordsmith.Org's A Word A Day email list) God knows I've felt like this often enough! There are days I'm sure my computer hates me and stoplights are always waiting till I approach to turn yellow. Spinach Cinema Movies that are not very exciting or interesting, but that one feels one must see because they are educational or otherwise uplifting. (This one is from The Word Spy 's mailing list—They are "devoted to lexpionage, the sleuthing of new words and phrases." A fun site, with great words and phrases popping up all the time.) Really, how many examples of Spinach Cinema have you seen hitting critics lists each year? I know, I know, I'm...

Schwarzenegger Wants Part-Time Legislature Arnold says, "Spending so much time in Sacramento, without anything to do, then out of that comes strange bills." Predictably, Legislator's aren't impressed with his thoughts on the matter: ""While I'm out here working ... he's pontificating from Hawaii?" Senate President Pro Tem John Burton, D-San Francisco, said from Sacramento." Now, amusing as this whole debate COULD be, what really struck me about the article is this comment (apparently the headline from another article) that sneaked into the copy: "Trump beats chicken in casino game". Not sure what Donald Trump beating a chicken has to do with the California legislature's schedule, but it struck me as amusing. I have to look for laughs wherever I can find them now, I guess.

I mean, I've seen the trailers and posters and, while The Whole Nine Yards is one of my guilty-pleasure films, I've gotta say that The Whole TEN Yards (see how witty they are in that title?) just looks like a stinker. So I've got to wonder, would winning anything here really be considered "winning"? Win 'The Whole Ten Yards' Movie Prizes I'm just asking, you know? And let me just ask, could Bruce Willis look worse in those posters? He's got the neck of an eighty year old! (God, back to blogging after a week's vacation and THIS is the best I can do? Damn!)