Lessons in getting along with people, courtesy of “Boy on a Stick and Slither.” Have I mentioned in the last five minutes how much I love this strip? (Fortunately I have few strong feelings, pro or con, for mongooses.)
Category: words mean things (Page 33 of 223)
iTunes
In my ongoing struggle to continue to think of myself as a Mac person, despite not having owned one for years, I downloaded the new Windows iTunes the moment it was released.
I haven’t bought any music yet, but just looking at the interface is a calming experience. It’s elegant and simple and beautiful, like Macs themselves. It instantly replaced the RealOne Player I had been using to listen to music on the computer. The RealOne is a Kia to the iTunes’ Mercedes.
I think if I actually bought a Mac and switched back, I’d be so mellow people wouldn’t recognize me.
So many things wrong with this spam e-mail subject line, I don’t know where to begin:
“Show your women a 3-inch increase!”
“Liberals don’t want to fight terrorism. You want there to be lots of 9/11’s.”
Read this jaw-dropping transcript from Hannity & Colmes on Fox, and try to suppress your instinct to press Ann Coulter and Sean Hannity to death between large stones. (via This Modern World)
How long has it been since I’ve urged you to visit lies.com? It’s one of my daily stops for political news and views in these insane times, and if it’s not one of yours, you should give it a try immediately. John Callender does an outstanding job of bringing together links with common-sense commentary – the site is one of the yardsticks I use to judge my own stuff.
I love the site so much I just bought my very own lies.com coffee mug. You should too.
Mystic River
This movie, a sort of neighborhood revenge fantasy, has been getting glowing notices. So I’m swimming against the tide yet again when I tell you it stank on ice.
There’s some good acting, if you can get past the “I want to thank the Academy” taint most of the emoting has, especially from a grimacing Sean Penn as the reformed-but-not-really father of a murdered teenage daughter.
But the dialogue is alternately tedious and laughable – some of the worst in years, especially in a “prestige production” like this one. Also, characters go wildly out of character for no reason, and its ultimate extreme amorality is jarring in a movie that asks you to care for a group of damaged boy-men (with Kevin Bacon and Tim Robbins as the other points of the triangle).
To me, the fawning reviews for this movie are a classic case of being taken in by the markers a movie puts forth, without actually watching the movie. It’s directed by Clint Eastwood! It has Sean Penn! It’s about childhood trauma! It’s atmospheric! So it must be good. That’s the only explanation I can come up with for all the positive reviews for an overlong teeth-gnasher with about as much suspense as an episode of “Murder She Wrote.”
After a guy deflected a foul ball in the Cubs/Marlins game Tuesday night, he had to be escorted out of the stadium by security. Then, police had to guard his house. Then, the Chicago Sun-Times printed the man’s name, employer and alma mater, assuring that he will most likely have to change his name and move to Guam.
We live in a sick, sick society.
“The person who’s in charge is me.”
It took a while, but George W. Bush is finally imploding. Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy. (thanks to John Callender of lies.com for the link) Reading this story, I got the mental image of Bush’s forehead veins growing more and more prominent, his face redder and redder, until his head just exploded, like in “Scanners.” All I know is, something’s gotta give.
All the latest news (infighting, leaks, musical chairs, evangelical generals, the Kay non-report, Halliburton, and on and on) has me deeply ambivalent. As I said in an e-mail to John C. after he sent me the above link, on the one hand this stuff has me on the edge of my seat, excitedly wondering what the next massive blunder will be.
But on the other hand, it has me melancholy that fundamentally, the President could still stab a six-year-old girl on national television and virtually no one would care.
Margaret Cho has a weblog. This is a very good thing.
Intolerable Cruelty
This movie exists almost completely at the edges. The main story of divorce and prenuptial agreements is broad and predictable, despite all the “twists.” But being a Coen brothers movie, there’s all kinds of stuff going on in the margins that’s fantastic – little throwaway lines, visual jokes, peripheral characters. There’s also quite a few big laughs, especially if your sense of humor is as off-center as mine.
Award this movie should win at the next Oscars:
Best use of “Pilates instructor” as a punchline.
The biggest surprise here is George Clooney, who does amazingly well with the broad comedy of hotshot divorce attorney Miles Massey. He grabs onto the part like a bulldog and never lets go, never pulls back from the edge. He’s still not much of an actor overall, but not everyone could pull off this part, either. He can get a laugh with just a shift of his eyes.
Another plus: Catherine Zeta-Jones wasn’t quite the pop culture kryptonite she usually is for me. And that’s saying something.
My favorite character is Massey’s adoring law partner, Wrigley. He has a huge unrequited crush on Clooney’s Miles, and it plays out in some funny and sweet exchanges between the two that probably most people will miss. Maybe I just identify with Wrigley, since I have a crush on Clooney too.
Recommended.