It's Monica White's new blog. That's right, kids, THE Monica White. Yes, I said it once and I'll say it again, speaking truth to power, Monica White has a blog!
You might remember Monica White as the... uh.... errr....
Hmmm.
Well, she's tall and she's Aussie and she lives in London and she's smart and she has even less patience for idiots than I do.
You should go say hello. Unless, of course, you're an idiot.
Why, it can get you all the way to 114 years of age:
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) - Ramona Trinidad Iglesias Jordan, who at age 114 was recognized as the world's oldest person, has died after a bout with pneumonia, her family said Monday...Brings a tear to the eye, no?She enjoyed a beer with meals, Matos [a great nephew] said.
"Even when she was over 100 years, every time we took her out to a restaurant, she always like to have a beer, a small beer, a seven-ounce beer with the food," he said. "That was the first thing she asked for when she got to a restaurant."
Cheers!
Swimming Pool: Saw it coming mile away.
Odd how five words or less can turn a movie review into something a Native American, or perhaps Japanese tourist, might say. Of course, I could just add an "s" to the word "mile" and then it would be proper - but not quite fitting, as there were some elements of the story that still caught me a bit.
Also, Jeff's review:
Boobies boobies boobies boobies! Twist....has some truth to it as well.
Day-trip out to Rocky Mountain National Park. Much fun was had, until driving up Trail Ridge Road it went from being 65 and sunny to being 35 and blizzardy. Actually, that was rather fun too.
Enjoy your weekend - back later...
Finally feeling almost back to normal after recovering from the liver-blasting, memory-swiss-cheesing event that was the Rocky Mountain Blogger Bash III. Slept until 1pm, went out to get my RDA of grease, and took Fiona to the park to go on the swings - no matter how sad, angry, or just plain crappy I feel, one smile from my wee lass and the world is, however briefly, perfect.
Anyway, about the party. Much fun was had. Many bloggers were in attendance.
First, a huge thanks to Denver Press Club President John Ensslin and Chef Daniel Young for allowing us to hold the event at the club, and for making the motley bunch of bloggers feel welcome.
Second, an equally huge thanks to the Oskar Blues Brewery for their very kind donation of beer for the event. It's not often that free beer is good beer, but this was one of those precious, cherished moments where the stars aligned themselves in the third house of Mercury with Venus rising and Mars going down. Mmmm, beer.
If you want the big scoop, the full story, the honest-to-God truth of what happened last night, you can find it all right here. Sort of. More or less.
I'm off to be immobile on the sofa as my brain tries to turn over and start up again. See you all at the next blogger bash next year whenever the mood to drink it up strikes one or more of us.
I hope not! Otherwise the Rocky Mountain Blogger Bash might be a death trap for us all!
The FBI office in Denver has received "numerous" calls about the seven people believed to be associated with al-Qaeda pictured Wednesday in newspapers.But, you know, even if they ARE in Denver and ARE targeting downtown for a massive attack sometime tonight, I feel safer just knowing that our astute, dedicated, and priority-focused FBI is working it big time.
Samuel Mac, manager of the Denny's in Avon [where two of the suspects might have dined Wednesday], isn't happy with the response he got from the FBI when he reported that two of them ate at his restaurant Wednesday.Yep, feeling safer already.When he called the FBI in Washington, D.C., Mac said the man who answered the telephone said he had to call the Denver office and declined to take down any of the information.
When he called the Denver office, he was shuttled to voice mail because the agents were busy, Mac said. It was five hours before a seemingly uninterested agent called back.
Kelso said the Denver FBI office has received at least a dozen calls about the pictures. The calls are all taken seriously and "we follow up on every lead," she said.Um, right, except that maybe they are and maybe they ate at a Denny's in Avon, Colorado.But she said the FBI has no reason to believe any of the seven are in Colorado or traveling through.
God* save us from ourselves.
* Not to be construed as an indication that I have found the Baby Jesus. To my knowledge, he is still very much missing, although I've yet to check between the sofa cushions. So, you never know.
Ricky is asking Atrios how his crow tastes.
Atrios apparently doesn't want to share.
Those of you who are making death threats against Michael Moore, stop it.
You are all bigger idiots than Mr. Moore could ever hope to be.
Last night was movie night at the World Wide Rant household, courtesy of our friends at Netflix and the $20 a month I send them for the honor of their friendship. Here are the less than helpful reviews:
Kill Bill: Vol. 1: Enjoyable. Fun. Cartoonishly violent, so I don't understand all the hubbub about the blood. Uma, who I don't normally find attractive, suddenly looks good when pissed off, bloody, and sword-wielding. A film noir that easily moves between live action, anime, color, and black and white, with a bizarre soundtrack of such gems as 70s Shaft-inspired Mexican music. Ending was a bit anti-climactic, but that could have been the beer.
The Muppet Movie: Shut up, you - it's a likeable musical of a movie with all its Muppety goodness. Notably absent are blood, explosions, and naked people (or puppets, if that's more your speed).
Next up on the list? Swimming Pool, which apparently is chock full of naked people, but not puppets.
They always come back.
Oh no, say it ain't so!
BERLIN (Reuters) - The universe looks like the Eiffel Tower topped with a never-ending spire, a German physicist said Wednesday.I suppose this means that all of us (aliens included!) have to find a fear of regular bathing, a love of cheese and surrender, and an inexplicable Jerry Lewis fetish.Researchers in Ulm, birthplace of Albert Einstein, have developed a model of the universe as an elongated triangle like the Paris landmark, but with a spire going on and on.
On the bright side, we all get to seductively rub up against Laetitia Casta (or, for the ladies, perhaps Marcel Marceau).
Following up on the mention of a high threat of terror attacks, the FBI is asking everyone to be on the lookout for these seven people. Go on, have a look.
Notice anything about them? One looks white, one looks of Indian descent, and two look black. As I've said, if we start looking for Arabs only, we're looking for trouble. The idea seems to have finally dawned on Ashcroft too:
He also warned that terrorists may not have a typical look and that "the face of al Qaeda may be changing."Or as Americans. Or who ARE Americans. Religious fundamentalist lunacy of any kind is not going to be bound by the color of one's skin or the country of one's birth, but by the weakness of many human minds. And, trust me, I've talked to plenty of humans in my thirty-two some-ard years, and weak minds abound (but not YOU, dear reader, YOU are superdoubleplusgood special and delicious like a solid milk chocolate bunny!).Ashcroft said the group adapts quickly to new security measures and may be recruiting operatives in their late 20s or early 30s and "may travel with families to lower their profile."
"Our intelligence confirms al Qaeda is seeking recruits who can portray themselves as Europeans," he said.
An attack is coming. Hopefully far, far away from Denver (although, if they ask nicely, perhaps we could let them just annex Boulder in order to avoid the attack altogether).
Uh, anyway, I believe it's coming. I believe it will be big. I believe many of my countrymen, maybe even me if God decides to aim for atheists for once, will perish in the attack. And I believe our nation will weep. We will be shocked. We will be angry. We will ask "How could this happen?" We will demand revenge. We will demand action and justice and blood for blood.
And we will go after it. And we will grow complacent. And we will forget. And we will decide that, hey, it's been a while since we've been attacked, let's forget about this silly homeland defense thing, bring the troops home, hugs and bunnies in the Middle East. And we will bicker like children and worry about which candidate fell off a bicycle and who made more money for their campaign this month. And we will wonder if American Idol voters are racist, if Harry Potter's new book is a tool of the devil, if Michael Moore really can eat an entire buffet in one sitting.
And then more shit will blow up. More Americans will die.
Lather, rinse, repeat.
Unless we, as a nation, wake the hell up.
So says the chatter:
U.S. officials have obtained new intelligence deemed highly credible indicating al-Qaida or other terrorists are in the United States and preparing to launch a major attack this summer, The Associated Press has learned...Summertime, and the terror's easy...FBI is jumping, terror alert is high..."There is clearly a steady drumbeat of information that they are going to attack and hit us hard," said the official, who described the intelligence as highly credible.
There also is concern terrorists might try to mount an attack to coincide with the November election.I might be wrong, but I am inclined to think that another attack would make Bush a sure thing in November. But then, perhaps most Americans aren't like me and when they think "Kerry," they think "tough on defense." I shudder to think. I still shudder to think about where the hell to cast my vote, given that I'm a walking enigma to the parties that call our political spectrum home.
The political fallout from the March 11 train bombings in Spain taught al-Qaida that an attack timed to an election can have a major impact. Spain's former ruling party was ousted in the voting that followed the bombing, which killed 191 and injured more than 2,000.Muchas gracias, nuestros amigos!
I'm pretty sure another attack is coming, but no idea when or where or how. The why is all to clear: "Allahu Akbar and death to the infidel!" Al Qaeda is patient, if nothing else. America exists in the "I Want My MTV" space-time continuum, while Osama and Company think, plan, think some more. You'd have thought that September 11, 2001 would have been a wake up call, but it seems largely forgotten when it comes to the political landscape.
So, let's see what summer brings. Here's hoping it's a safe one.
Watch as offended Catholics bravely defend the faith against a popular work of fiction.
Stay tuned next week as a dazzling line-up of pagan witches get their panties in a twist over Harry Potter.
Ooh, ahhhhh!
For those of you who might have forgotten, my daughter is absolutely adorable:
Told you so.
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Uh, help me out here.
Kerry's campaign said Bush's mishandling of the war in Iraq (search) has contributed to the increase in gas prices.So the "war for oiiiiil" has resulted in higher gas prices?
What's the next chant going to be, "Dubya can't even get his selfish misguided wars right! Ha ha smirk smirk smirk chimp bicycle wreck abu-gha-rape?"
As my grandmother would say*, "Andy, people so dumb."
* To my knowledge, my grandmother never actually said that. But since I can't know everything she ever said, there exists the possibility that she did say it, somewhere, at some time, in this big universe of ours. So, you can't prove she didn't say it - thus there's no reason for you people who believe in God believe she said it to stop believing so just because some atheists a-she-said-it-ists said so. You go on with your bad self. This ramble brought to you by the letter "47."
You know what this means, don't you?
Bacteria in the mouth can latch onto the AIDS virus and prevent it from infecting cells -- which could help protect infants from catching the deadly virus from their mothers, researchers reported on Tuesday.More anonymous oral sex with beautiful women lurking in local men's rooms, that's what! Oh yeah!
Well, they did have dresses on and they did say "No, no, call me Betty." Beyond that, yeah, it's kind of a crapshoot.
So to speak.
No offense to my gay friends and readers.
"None taken, Andy!" - Andy's gay friends and readers.
Aw, thanks!
Avril Lavigne could use some in the "personal assessment" department:
Avril Lavigne knows her image: a moody, teen rock star with an acidic tongue, steely stare and tough-girl attitude.Acidic? Tough? Rebel? Punk? Like, did anyone who, like, had to endure the 14 bazillion hours of airtime her last album got think she was any of that? OK, did anyone who knows who the Sex Pistols are think any of that?"I have been labeled like I'm this angry girl -- I'm like, this rebel, I'm like, punk, and I am SO not any of them. It's so funny, and I'm actually really shy," the petite, Canadian-born Lavigne says in typical teenspeak.
This world is simply spiraling to the deepest pits of Hell, clearly.
Rocky Mountain Blogger Bash III is almost upon us.
When: May 28, 2004 - 7pm or whenever
Where: The Denver Press Club, 1330 Glenarm Place, Denver, CO 80204
Cost: Only whatever you eat and drink, or however much you pay Jeff Goldstein for his "special services"
Walter's is the place to RSVP,
if you feel so compelled
I'm off to bed, but I thought I'd direct you over to the Atrios Fun House to read the deep, cutting commentary provided by his commenters.
No, no, wait - I'll save you the trouble and paraphrase:
dummy smirk chimp drool abu-gha-rape? abu-gha-rape! abu-gha-rape! idiot drool abu-gha-rape! abu-gha-rape! abu-gha-rape! smirk Halliburton abu-gha-rape! bicycle accident smirk abu-gha-rape! heh heh smirk smirk abu-gha-rape!Powerful insights to be found over there. I'm in awe.
I'm no huge fan of the Bush administration (as anyone who reads this site AND who has more than three operational brain cells knows), but if Atrios' popularity is a sign of the new face of powerful political discourse, someone tell that ugly mug to look away.
Oh yeah: None of the smugly superior commenters noted that Bush said "calvary" instead of "cavalry." They're sooooo dumb! Idiots! Smirk smirk!
Update: Jeff Goldstein, knowing a good thing when he sees it (although, to his credit, he has rejected the many saucy advances of Steve Green), decided to emulate his favorite blog here. Imitation. Flattery. Copycat. Whatever, traffic is cool, baby, cool.
Lying seems to be a pathological problem for Michael Moore:
Dressed in a T-shirt promoting his own Kill Bill films, which screened as a four-hour whole on the final day of the festival, Tarantino said: "I made a statement early on that I didn't want politics to be involved.Or, if you wanted to make political statements, you might turn the Oscars into your soapbox:"All that mattered was the reels of film. I told Michael Moore last night we all agreed that Fahrenheit 9/11 was the best feature in competition."
Moore's response, according to Tarantino, was "that means more to me than anything. If I wanted to make political statements, I would have run for office. I want to make movies".
Whether it is the fiction of duct tape or the fiction of orange alerts, we are against this war, Mr Bush.Or perhaps at Cannes itself:Shame on you, Mr Bush. Shame on you.
"We had a president who was asleep at the wheel," Moore said.Now, perhaps it's just me, but when one criticizes a standing President, his administration's policies, and makes movies about the same, to say that one has no interest in making political statements is just so much - oh, what's the word - merde?"I do think it is important to care at times like this. This time I was the straight man and Bush wrote the funniest lines," he added of a film that constantly mocks the president. "The fish rots from the head down."
It's no myth - I've read all of the books below in bold, from College Board's 101 Great Books list.
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A well-respected psychologist - who oddly resembles me and isn't really a well-respected psychologist, but plays one on his blog - has come to the conclusion that terror victim Nick Berg's father, Michael Berg, is a raving kook of the highest order, and is thus eligible to receive the whenever-we-feel-like-it World Wide Rant "Raving Kook of the Highest Order" award.
My son, Nick, was my teacher and my hero.Although, judging from what follows, you paid about as much attention to Nick's lessons as Alan Neese did in Mrs. Burrough's 4th grade class at Oak Hill Elementary.*
People ask me why I focus on putting the blame for my son's tragic and atrocious end on the Bush administration. They ask: "Don't you blame the five men who killed him?" I have answered that I blame them no more or less than the Bush administration, but I am wrong:I'll use my creative blockquoting to pause here and say that, yes, Mr. Berg, you are wrong. Also a wee bit on the dopey side.
I am sure, knowing my son, that somewhere during their association with him these men became aware of what an extraordinary man my son was. I take comfort that when they did the awful thing they did, they weren't quite as in to it as they might have been. I am sure that they came to admire him.Yep, I know that when I think of people I admire, my first inclination IS TO CUT THEIR GODDAMN HEAD OFF!
No, dumbass, you see, murder is what you do to people you don't particularly care for - and your son, an American Jew, fit the bill. His generosity didn't matter. His stoicism didn't matter. His screams as they began to slice into his neck didn't matter. He was the enemy - the infidel - that mattered.
And I am sure that these murderers, for just a brief moment, did not like what they were doing.Uh, yes, that would explain all the hoopin' and hollerin' as your son screamed and breathed his last agonizing breaths.
So what were we to do when we in America were attacked on September 11, that infamous day? I say we should have done then what we never did before: stop speaking to the people we labelled our enemies and start listening to them.And I say you're a damned fool of a man. If you want to listen to Al Qaeda, here's what you'll hear: "become Muslim or die, infidel pig dog, Allahu Akbar!"
Now, maybe it's me, but I don't see a whole lot of wiggle room in that for understanding or active listening and hugs and bunnies and puppy dog tails and lord you are about as thick as they come, aren't you?
The greatest tragedy in all of this, Mr. Berg, is the loss of a good man, your son, at the hands of murdering terrorists. The second greatest tragedy is that it's given you a global soapbox for your mad, far-lefty kook incoherence and insanity.
Someone let me know when his fifteen minutes are up.
* Alan Neese had some sort of attention deficit disorder and had to wear ear plugs during class so that the talking of other students would not destroy his focus. He was strange, but this other kid - Michael White, I think his name was - was even more annoying in that, because he was completely anti-social and engaged no one in conversation, he never had to write out his spelling words 20 times as punishment for too much talking like the rest of the class. Yes, I still remember that sort of stuff. How sad is that?
Wait, sorry, that should be religion of "grease."
A woman is accused of pouring boiling oil on her boyfriend's face in an argument over a Bible verse...Kind of gives anointing with oil a whole new meaning. Ouch.The two were reading the Bible at the boyfriend's apartment May 13 when Morris went to the kitchen to prepare french fries, police said.
Morris told police that they continued to argue and that her boyfriend grabbed her from behind. Police said he then went to his bedroom to lie down. Morris followed and threw the oil on him, police said.
Mulholland Drive (2001) Directed by David Lynch. Stars Naomi Watts and Laura Harring.
Five Words Or Less Review: What did I just watch?
Or: Hot women kiss each other.
There are two camps on Andy Kaufman: those who view him as a brilliant performance artist who took entertainment to new levels, and smart people. Personally I consider him a masturbatory no-talent horse's bum- I even thought Latka was one of the most annoying characters never to have sprung from the minds of hack creators Miller & Boyett.
But one part of the "Kaufman Legend" that was remotely intriguing was this: he always swore to friends and family that one day he would successfully fake his own death and reappear twenty years later to tell the tale.
So is he back?
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In the Middle East, it's apparently to be found by the Palestinians embracing Arafat's bold leadership, blowing up innocent civilians, and remaining in a political and economic Dark Age. So sayeth The New York Times.
In an imaginative effort to bolster the coffers of the U.S Treasury, the government on Tuesday announced the sale of a new game for kids and adults of all ages: Threat Condition Twister!
Just imagine the wacky and compromising positions in which you'll find yourself when you spin for "right hand - Guarded" and your friend gets "left leg - Severe!"
Tom Ridge is standing by to take your order! Don't delay!
World Net Daily lets its readers know about this:
Muslims have slaughtered an estimated 600 Christians this week in Nigeria, according to the Christian Association of Nigeria.What this internet mouthpiece of the uber-conservative, religious right leaves out is that the "Muslim deaths hundreds of miles away" were at the hands of (drum roll, please!)... CHRISTIANS!The carnage in Kano, in the country's mostly Muslim north, began with a protest in retaliation for Muslim deaths hundreds of miles away in Yelwe, said the British-based monitor of persecution against Christians, Barnabas Fund, the Assist News service reported.
Yeah, minor detail when your agenda is an anti-Muslim smear campaign, huh fellas?
Dishonest pricks*.
* Ed: My, my, such language, Andy lad.
Aw, to Hell with the lot of ya.
Most celebrity deaths don't bother me, but this one did. Eighty-four certainly is a respectable run, but growing up a lil' queer boy in Weokahatchee, AL I always felt a major bond towards Felix and later towards Sidney Shorr (while he was gay- they later changed him to Felix with a different name and more Jewish).
I met Tony a few years ago and was surprised that he was super-nice in person. Of course at the time he was 76 with a 26 year old wife who had just learned she was pregnant so he was pretty happy, but even so I would have expected arrogance and pomposity on epic scale and instead he was extremely courteous, jovial and personable.
It'll be odd for his kids (7 & 5 years old respectfully) to grow up with their father's very long life caught on video*. Perhaps his widow will do the right thing and marry David Hyde Pierce so it'll be as if nothing ever changed. (Odd that Tony, a rabid non-smoker and exercise freak, died before Jack Klugman, the former 5 pack a day smoker who by his own admission never did a push-up after WW2 basic training.)
In any case, we'll always Love Sidney.
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London, fully prepared to readily deal with terrorists who are not the least bit creative.
Terrorists target London with multiple attacks. It's a nightmare scenario devised by Panorama with the help of security experts to test how well Britain would cope. But the government condemned the exercise as "irresponsible" and refused to co-operate...Were I a Londoner, I'd feel safer already.We said that a fictional terrorist attack warranted "thinking out of the box" and that it would be a good thing to examine the civil contingency efforts of government since the shocking events of 9/11.
Our scenario centred on a series of suicide bombs on the London Underground followed by a chlorine tanker exploding in the east end of London.
However, they said they were unlikely to help us if we insisted on this "irresponsible" scenario.
They said it would give ideas to the terrorists because terrorists watch television.
Or not.
Clearly, the way to win the war on terror, then, is to let UPN take over all television programming worldwide, since nobody watches that crap.
(found via Dial M for Max)
Laurence Simon has moved homes. No worries, he's still full of it. But not so much as, say, Ted Rall.
Sigh. Everytime I start to think that I'll cast my vote for Bush, he has to open his mouth*:
"The sacred institution of marriage should not be redefined by a few activist judges. All Americans have a right to be heard in this debate," the president said in a written statement.The need is urgent? We're fighting a war against terror, effectively occupying two foreign countries, trying to maintain the momentum of an economic recovery, and stopping two adults from committing their lives to one another is urgent?"I called on the Congress to pass, and to send to the states for ratification, an amendment to our Constitution defining and protecting marriage as a union of a man and a woman as husband and wife. The need for that amendment is still urgent, and I repeat that call today."
I swear, some days I think Kerry is the sensible choice**.
What is a pro-choice, pro-gay marriage, pro-war on terror, anti-war on drugs, privacy advocating, atheist, libertarian with neocon highlights supposed to do?
* OK, so it's a written statement.
** Note: "days" is probably an overstatement. It's usually more like "some nanoseconds." And I realize Kerry is against gay marriage, but he's not endorsing an amendment - yet. He probably will next month, and then deny he ever did the month after that.
I'm positively dreamy. And enjoy talking to myself by the looks of things. Aw, to Hell with the lot of ya.*
* This will soon rival Jeff Goldstein's "that's really freaky, man" as the catch phrase of some woefully under-represented corner of the blogosphere. Probably a corner that does itself in with Tylenol, Diesel 180, purple shrouds and white Reeboks. I swear you always were a bunch of right fuck-ups.
Oliver Willis says it isn't pictures with black folks.
Of course, if Bush just had pictures of himself helping white people, it'd be "Racist Good Ol' Boy Stops for Photo Op." And if Bush had pictures of himself helping a mixed-race crowd of individuals, it'd be "Bush Being All Things to All Races."
The man can't win. Unless, of course, he does come November.
And, for the record, no, I don't know for whom I am going to vote yet.
I say "sign."
An hour before a huge girder collapsed onto I-70, killing a family of three, a motorist called 911 warning that the girder appeared to be unstable...Um, no, he said there's a "new I-beam girder" that has "rolled" and looks "structurally unsafe over the freeway." Lo, he was right.The caller said, "The bridge over C-470 and I-70 looks like they hung a new I-beam girder in the last couple of days, uh, it's rolled and it looks like it's structurally unsafe over the freeway."
The dispatcher responded, "So there's a sign actually hanging down?"
I realize that hindsight (hindhearing?) is 20/20, but having actually heard the conversation that was recorded, I still can't figure out where the dispatcher got the word "sign" from - but, regardless, a family of three is dead, and they didn't have to be.
Sometimes this ol' world just sucks.
It works a little too well:
A German couple who went to a fertility clinic after eight years of marriage have found out why they are still childless - they weren't having sex...I'd say this couldn't possibly be true if I didn't know a particular young woman who got pregnant because the guy told her it couldn't make a baby if he only "put it in halfway." She wasn't retarded either - just woefully and religiously ignorant.A clinic spokesman said: "When we asked them how often they had had sex, they looked blank, and said: "What do you mean?".
"We are not talking retarded people here, but a couple who were brought up in a religious environment who were simply unaware, after eight years of marriage, of the physical requirements necessary to procreate."
Update: Great minds, yada yada yada.
Michael Moore is throwing around allegations:
The White House tried to halt the making and release of Michael Moore's new film Fahrenheit 9/11, the film-maker alleged in Cannes on Sunday.He then told the audience that he isn't overweight, he's undertall.The director told a Cannes audience the Bush administration wanted to keep the film off screens in the run-up to November's US election.
The most frightening thing is that the French will probably believe his nonsense. This would actually matter if the French were half as important as they believe themselves to be. Or if, uh, Michael Moore was.
CONKER: LIVE AND UNCUT - XBOXAs an "action adventure platform cum shooter," I doubt that quality is all it reeks of.
An action adventure platform cum shooter, featuring a rodent, hardly seems to have the makings of a classic game.Yet the title by developers Rare has exuberance, a visual flair and sheer energy unmatched by any other game. An online blaster, the game reeks of quality.
Look at that. In one sentence I was both laughingly immature and grammatically murderous. That felt good.
Why is it that some Christians, the followers of a supposedly loving Christ, a Savior who freely associated with so-called sinners rather than mocking them, have cornered the market on being mean-spirited hatred?
Was I really this big an ass when I was Catholic? Go on, be honest.
Oh, and I should point out that another Catholic ass thinks it's a hoot too.
And, no, Mark, I won't be apologizing for the name-calling this time. You've earned it.
* Edited for moral and linguistic clarity. New sections are italicized. God bless.
Just a few notes on the movies we've watched this weekend, courtesy of our friends at Netflix. Well, not so much "courtesy of" - more like, "in exchange for our $22 a month." But I digress.
"Lost in Translation" - we loved it, and not just because Oscar said we should. I consider a performance to be great when I am able to forget I'm watching Actor X portraying Character Y, and instead only see the character. Bill Murray pulled it off on this outing - a remarkably subdued performance that is perfect for the character. Additionally, you can see through the backside of Scarlett Johansson's panties in many a scene. Booty call! Seriously though, do rent it, do watch it, and if you don't like it, you're a shmuck.
"Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" - you might think the story is a bit out of date, but then you've probably never lived in Alabama. Also, how could you not love a movie with "Weezy" Jefferson? And did Katherine Hepburn really look that old in 1967? (quick IMDB check) - crikey, she was already 60? Wow. I feel young.
"Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World" - enjoyable, albeit predictable. I swear, reading all these screenplay-writing books has damn near ruined the movies for me. Lots of cannons and blood and one shot of a cute monkey. Still want to know what happens after the final shot - did they get the bloody Frenchmen or not? I suppose that's left to us - or the sequel writers.
OK, back to our weekend. Enjoy yours!
Thankfully, no, the Clan WorldWideRant was not caught in the overpass collapse in Denver this morning.
A 40-ton steel support girder on an overpass west of Denver, Colorado, collapsed onto Interstate 70 on Saturday, killing three people and blocking eastbound traffic on the interstate, a state official said.A tragedy, to be sure. Up until I heard about this in the middle of the afternoon, I was actually thinking what a lousy day we had had at a group yard sale where we made all of $1 (but that one dollar was pure profit, baby!). Odd how life can put things into perspective for you.
"So far we have no idea what caused the collapse, whether it was the result of some sort of collision with a vehicle or not, but it is under investigation," Stegman said.My unscientific vote goes to "gravity" as the cause of the collapse, but then again, I'm just a blogger. Anyway, our thoughts are with the family and friends of those killed - and with the insurance company of the contractor who installed that girder, 'cause they're about to be hurting.
Pope John Paul II has a message for the European Union:
Pope Says Enlarged EU Needs ChristianityThe pontiff went on to say that the EU would then need "a hole in the head." He continued, "...and it needs Islam like a hole in the head AND a swift kick to the groin. Repeated kicks at that."
A new report from Emory University suggest that, with regard to money, "It's nicer when you actually earn it."
Lottery winners, trust-fund babies and others who get their money without working for it do not get as much satisfaction from their cash as those who earn it, a study of the pleasure centre in people's brains suggests.I say let's put this to a rigorous, strict test right here on the World Wide Rant. All you have to do is click on that PayPal link to the left and give me money for no particular reason. After a few days, I will count up the money and provide - free of charge! - my subjective analysis of how I feel about having your money in my possession in exchange for absolutely nothing.Emory University researchers measured brain activity in the striatum - the part of the brain associated with reward processing and pleasure - in two groups of volunteers. One group had to work to receive money while playing a simple computer game; the other group was rewarded without having to earn it.
The brains of those who had to work for their money were more stimulated.
Got it? Good! OK - who's with me? Do it for science!
From CBS News:
U.S. officials say the FBI questioned Berg in 2002 after a computer password Berg used in college turned up in the possession of Zaccarias Moussaoui, the al Qaeda operative arrested shortly before 9/11 for his suspicious activity at a flight school in Minnesota.Very odd indeed. Make of it what you will, but I hope this isn't the part where we find out that Nick Berg was a traitor - or, worse, that his family is less than patriotic (what with the senior Berg's anti-Bush and anti-Rumsfeld rantings, rather than blaming those who took the head of his son).The bureau had already dismissed the connection between Berg and Moussaoui as nothing more than a college student who had been careless about protecting his password.
But in the wake of Berg's gruesome murder, it becomes a stranger than fiction coincidence -- an American who inadvertently gave away his computer password to one notorious al Qaeda operative is later murdered by another notorious al Qaeda operative.
Berg's body was found Saturday in Baghdad. Two e-mails he sent to his family and friends show he traveled widely and unguarded throughout Iraq, an unsafe practice rarely done by Westerners.
Bizarre. This is one to watch.
Update: Wizbang is watching it.
Update 2: From the comments -
Berg Senior may be a crackpot, but "anti-Bush and anti-Rumsfeld rantings" hardly qualify one as "unpatriotic."Quite right, and not my intention to portray anti-Administration comments as unpatriotic. I was merely hypothesizing based upon this new twist, Berg's death, and his father's reaction, taken as a whole - granted, assuming the worst. I sincerely hope this is all nothing but a strange twist of fate.