One of the things that disturbs me the most about the current “Damn You, Saddam!” culture is its incredible hypocrisy. (link stolen shamelessly from blee bloo blar BLOG!)
Month: October 2002 (Page 4 of 6)
Words mean things.
One thing the world needs is a really good online reverse dictionary. I would funnel U.S. weapons development money into this effort. Today, when I was trying to think of the word that meant “person who flees political persecution to another country,” I tried Casey’s Snow Day Reverse Dictionary, which didn’t work. If anyone knows of a good reverse dictionary out there, please clue me in. Thanks.
Things I Learned Watching “The Transporter”:
1. Security in French hospitals is incredibly lax.
2. If you need to get on top of a speeding semi truck, a crop duster is just the ticket.
3. Pepsi can save your life. Seriously.
4. It’s OK for a man to kiss another man, provided he’s already dead, you’re both underwater, and you need to suck the air from his lungs to survive.
5. Cotton sweaters aren’t strong enough to strangle someone. Go with synthetic.
This is a fun, energetic and action-packed movie – everything that “XXX” wanted to be but couldn’t pull off. John nailed it when he said star Jason Statham is “what Bruce Willis thinks he sees when he looks in the mirror.” Recommended – just check your brain at the door.
I’m enjoying the new season of “Alias,” but mostly for Lena Olin and in spite of the rest of it. I’m loving the Lecter-like scenes between Sydney and her mother, and I could watch that steely stare of Olin’s for hours. But the rest of the show just seems way over-the-top for me. Was it always like this and I just didn’t notice? The Siberia snow caves stuff from this week was just too much – with Syd in a stylish parka, her lipstick impeccable and a few stray ice crystals adhering daintily to her cheek. (Falling through the ice is one of my phobias, too, so that didn’t help.)
My other main problem – and I know this is stupid because, after all, it’s episodic TV about spies – is Sloane. After about the 15th time that Syd appeared to be a traitor to SD-6 but was exonerated at the last moment, I think he would have caught on. He is a smart guy – he’s the head of a giant crime syndicate, after all. And if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck… It’s just getting to be too much. She doesn’t have to be almost exposed every week in order to make the show exciting.
Whatever happens, I’ll still be watching, as long as Lena Olin is staring back at me.
Sat out on the patio of my building for a large part of the afternoon today, reading Bill Bryson’s “The Lost Continent” (thanks to John’s recommendation). It’s funny and wry and biting, and while it takes some on-the-edge-of-cheap shots at small-town America, they’re mostly of the “it’s funny because it’s true” variety.
“I never felt insulted when he came to europe and made fun of Europe, because he was write!”
-from an Amazon comment on the book
I realized I don’t talk about books much, if ever, on this page. I want to read more this fall and comment about it here. A man does not live by Anna Nicole alone. What books have you all read recently? Looking for some good recommendations.
I’ve just learned that someone has created something called “Jackass: The Movie.”
I give up.
I told myself that I was not going to buy any software, computer or DVD, until after the end of the year. But along comes the “Beauty and the Beast” DVD and I’m standing in line. So much for resolutions. It’s not my favorite modern-era Disney by any means (that would be “The Little Mermaid”), but there’s some fantastic art and music in it. The extras seem a little thin for a two-disk set, but a lot of space has to be taken up by “games” and such that irritate more than entertain me.
I want some real meat in the extras about the animation process, and in the ones I’ve seen so far it’s been really fluffy. While computer animation like “Monsters Inc.” fascinates me, I’m even more in awe of the artists who sit down and draw these complex characters frame by frame. “Beauty” got a Best Picture nomination, and I still think animation shouldn’t be in its own category. If it holds up, it holds up. And I’d rather watch this movie than most of the Best Picture winners of the last few years.
Well, at least Russ Feingold voted against the “U.S. Does Whatever It Wants” resolution. (Feingold in 2004!) I’d love to write some long eloquent post about how insane this whole thing is, and how I’m stunned how little reaction there has been over it. Bush wants war, ho hum. But I’m exhausted. All my outrage and anger is played out. I’m empty. Sometimes the tide is just too strong. I want to be more like Arthur, but even he is feeling a little overwhelmed. Of course, this fatigue just plays into the hands of those who would turn this society so fully into “1984” that we wouldn’t be able to tell the difference. But I don’t know what else to do. I just don’t.
Wondering
Why are socks always softer on the outside?
Continuing to enjoy the “Election 2000 revisited” plotlines on “The West Wing.” Tonight they dealt with a third-party candidate who threatened to siphon votes away from the President, and debates where the unschooled Republican challenger would triumph just by being able to form recognizable English words.
Any of this sound familiar?
Except in the West Wing Universe, the third-party candidate gracefully bowed out, and no doubt the lovable egghead President will find a way to triumph in the debate.
Fiction can be comforting and hollow at the same time. Know what I mean?