Category: words mean things (Page 103 of 223)

The jury is still out, but I seriously think “The Truth About Charlie” may be one of the 10 worst movies I’ve ever seen. Jonathan Demme should be ashamed. In the first hour I repeatedly thought, while huffily checking my watch, “This is the most boring movie I’ve ever seen.” The ludicrous image of Mark Wahlberg wearing, variously, a beret and a fedora didn’t help. Then things got seriously stupid, random, insane and meaningless. The direction, the acting, the pacing, the script itself were all mind-blowingly horrible.

The luminous Thandie Newton deserves much better, and Marky Mark should rethink doing romantic parts – there was absolutely no chemistry between them. (Maybe he should just break down and do a romantic comedy with George Clooney.)

For some reason this experience reminded me of another one of the handful of times I contemplated walking out of a movie (I’ve never actually done it): “Ricochet,” where Denzel Washington tries to catch John Lithgow before he kills anyone else with a power drill.

“Ricochet” was better than this.

Nik was “infinitely intrigued” that I had Dolly Parton on my 10 People list (see below). Well, for all you doubters out there, I offer this MP3 (4.25 MB file). Just listen and see what you think. That is all.

Saw a book on the Borders sale table today, “Joe DiMaggio: The Hero’s Life.” I can’t for the life of me understand why a baseball player would be called a hero, but I know he and many other sports figures have been called that. My favorite was Dale Earnhardt, who was called a hero because he died driving too fast. I’m fascinated that sports figures get this treatment (there’s even the phrase, “sports hero”), while movie stars and other pop culture figures don’t.

What does it take to make a hero?

I think I need to recommend “Savoring the Journey” again, now that Amanda’s really gotten started. She’s managed to create one of the most literate and thoughtful weblog startups I’ve seen. Bookmark it, put it on your links list. You won’t be sorry.

RUSS FEINGOLD IN ’04!

“Actually, the Democrats have been rather impotent for the last two years. They should have at least been able to stall the President’s idiotic agenda. Instead, they chose to cave to Bush’s asinine claims to a mandate by the people, and did exactly what he wanted. Which left them completely incapable of running against the Republican platform since, hey, they supported it.”

-Jaye B., guest poster on Useless! Worthless! Insipid!

10 famous people I’d enjoy having over for dinner
(aka the Desert Island 10)

-Allison Janney
-Steve Wozniak
-Jamie Lee Curtis
-Jon Stewart
-Dolly Parton
-John Sayles
-Molly Ivins
-Russ Feingold
-Julia Child
-Gene Hackman

Feel free to make this into a meme, should you so desire.
(Ed note: living only)

Word of the day: neologism

I guess because John blogged Salon, it’s OK for me to as well.

I actually like Keith Olbermann’s idea where people can vote for “none of the above,” and if that candidate wins, the election is scrapped and held again. The hosers who were actually on the ballot are prohibited from competing in the recast election. “We could make the politicians afraid of the voters again,” says Olbermann. Bravo to that, say I.

Sort of hit a wall with “The Game Neverending.” It’s relatively easy at this point to amass wealth and experience, and I’ve pretty much exhausted all the locations in the prototype game. But I think it has tremendous potential – it’s much more community- and people-oriented than other online games I’ve experienced, and it’s simple enough in structure that you don’t wander around for very long having no idea what you’re doing. It’s clever and makes you smile, and the graphics are a 2-D breath of fresh air. Once some of the endless possibilities are opened up when the actual game goes live in the spring, I think it’ll be the first online multiplayer game I’ve ever seriously considered playing.

If you play, let me know your in-game handle so I can say hello. (Mine is “Padre Denny.”)

Anyone who thought their vote didn’t matter got an education on that topic two years ago, when literally a handful of votes separated Gore and Bush.

Every. vote. matters.

My friend Susan was saying the other night she remembers how many people were saying in 2000, “There’s no difference between Gore and Bush. They’re two halves of the same bad coin. It doesn’t matter.” Well, I think few people on either side of the political spectrum would agree today that things aren’t fundamentally different because of that outcome.

I just want to encourage everyone out there to vote tomorrow. Take a little time and just do it. The defenders of the status quo want people to be apathetic and stay home, because then they control the agenda. Voting matters. It’s the first and most important step toward taking back a democracy that’s gotten seriously out of hand.

Votes mean things.