Category: words mean things (Page 70 of 223)

“Why are you wearing that ring?”

J.J. Abrams renewed his platinum-card membership in the Evil Genius Club again tonight with the “Alias” season finale. It was just January when he turned the show on its ear by getting rid of SD-6, and now he does something just as devilish. How many soap opera cliches can this man trot out while still making it interesting? Long-lost parents, evil doubles, and now amnesia. I’m in awe. Abrams even put poor stabbed Will in the bathtub, the same place Syd found her doomed fiance. Brilliant and painful. Plus, there was the drug Faux Francie had to take – shades of the Jaime Sommers double from yesteryear. Great trashy fun.

If anyone ever suspects I’ve been replaced by an evil genetically-engineered double, just show the double a photo of japanese carp and judge his reaction. That should clear things up.

Watching “Fight Club” again with Mike Friday night, I was struck this time by how genuinely funny it is. The humor had never really struck me in the many times I’d seen it before. Helena Bonham Carter’s role, for one example, is primarily hilarious, when you look at it under a certain lens. I would quote lines, but her humor comes mainly from her oddball deadpan, and I just don’t think it can translate.

It’s the mark of a true masterpiece that you see something different, and new, in it each time you look. “Fight Club” has that.

X-Men 2

It was OK. Too many plots going on at once, and sometimes it felt like Byran Singer tossed as much up on the screen as possible, hoping some of it would stick. Lots of new mutants and tons of action, so those bases are covered. Still, just OK in my book. The best moment came near the end, when I had a conversation with my movie-chatty friend Susan.

ME: So Jean Grey has to choose between Cyclops and Wolverine. Like *that’s* a hard decision.

SUSAN: Yeah. Cyclops is like the Frank Burns of the X-Men.

Bill Bennett, former drug czar and author of “The Book of Virtues” and several other self-righteous screeds, apparently is quite the gambler. The Washington Monthly says his losses (at things like the $500-a-pull slots) over the last 10 years are in the neighborhood of $8 million.

As I’ve said many times before, I believe most of the world’s problems are caused by people who think they know what’s best for someone else.

Confidence

This caper drama wants to be “House of Games.” Well, I know “House of Games,” and “Confidence,” you’re no “House of Games.” (If you haven’t seen HoG, see it.) Still it’s a capable diversion, with Dustin Hoffman’s creepy/funny turn as a kingpin the highlight. When Hoffman’s onscreen, the movie wakes up.

Recommended, if you’re just looking for something to pass the time.

Does anyone ever ask to borrow one of your CDs so they can burn a copy of it, or ask to install some of your software on their computer? It’s a weird situation because on the one hand you’re not losing anything, and your friend is gaining something they want.

But I find myself thinking, “I paid for that. Why should they get it free?” Does that make me a bad person? It’s not even the piracy thing, which I’m also against, although I have been guilty of it a few times myself. It also seems different somehow from loaning something to a friend. Does anyone know what I’m talking about here?

Sometimes I think it’s irrational for me to be irritated and conflicted. But if someone’s asking for a copy of software that cost me several hundred dollars, it gets my back up.

Saw Angelique Kidjo at the Barrymore last night. What a fantastic concert. She is so infectiously joyful, and the music is so wonderful, you can’t leave without a smile on your face. She sings mostly in a couple of African languages, so you really focus on the music and how it makes you feel. By the end of the concert, about a third of the house was on their feet, huddled close to the stage, dancing. Her albums are great, but nothing prepares you for the live experience – her voice has extraordinary power.

If you want a taste, here’s an MP3 (2.8 MB). Let me know what you think.

You Didn’t Ask, Part Deux

My former colleague, John Mosey, in an e-mail to me about something else, said,

BTW did you just out yourself or did I read it wrong?

I assured him that he didn’t read it wrong. I also said I was a little surprised at the lack of comments on that post; when I posted photos of myself for the first time, I got 19 comments. I thought maybe I was being too oblique about it, based on Mosey’s reaction. But I guess it just means it’s a non-story.

Mosey also asked, in his inimitable fashion, if I was going to “go all militant” now and make every post about being gay. I assured him that I wasn’t. Other people can and do write more cogently about gay issues, so I leave it to them. But I just wanted to be able to write honestly and personally about gay topics when they come up in the larger culture.

OK, back to our regularly scheduled programming.

Questions for pro-war people

1. If we don’t find any WMD in Iraq, and the chances dwindle with each passing day, why did we go to war? Wasn’t Saddam’s imminent threat to the world the reason? Let’s cut through the posturing and historical revisionism. Aren’t you even a little bit skeptical of the administration’s case for war?

2. Would you be OK with the U.S. installing Ahmed Chalabi, a man who left Iraq at age 11, was convicted of embezzlement in Jordan, and has no support within the country, as the new president of Iraq? Shouldn’t the Iraqi people themselves choose their own leaders?

3. What about the money we’re spending – $75 billion initially, for a war and occupation/rebuilding effort that could cost $550 billion over the next 10 years. Is that money well spent? Gulf War I cost $80 billion, but we only paid $9 billion of that. We had allies then.

4. How do you feel about the possibility of moving on to Syria, and then possibly to Iran? What justification will you require before supporting military action against those countries?