2/21/00 - Greetings from Chesapeake, VA. Elaine and I came down to my folks' place for the weekend for a little Presidents' Day R&R. We should be back in Alexandria in time for the Democratic debate tonight, though, so that I can scream at the television in relative solitude.
Just when I thought my home state might represent, we floundered. Bush by 11. Here's hoping McCain pulls it off in Michigan on Tuesday, but not so much so that he puts Dollar Bill back in media limbo.
Even though South Carolina played to form, I am nevertheless somewhat miffed over this Plotz Assessment in Slate. He's basically on point, but something about the tone just irks me. I was much more inclined to enjoy this liberal take on Bradley v. McCain in the Boston Globe. And, I was pleased to read that The Nation thinks my decision to vote for Nader in a potential Bush-Gore matchup may mean more than a simple abstention.
In case that's still not enough political coverage for you this morning, this historians' survey of the Presidency is rather interesting. Bill Clinton came in 5th in economic management and dead last in moral authority. Eep.
The ending may have been a cop-out, but last night's X-COPS was a guilty pleasure.
Darth Legion?
*******
2/19/00 -
It's game day in South Carolina - might want to keep an eye on the exit polls.
The good news in Iran so far only slightly mitigates my distress at the deteriorating situation in Northern Ireland.
Ugh. The ridiculous amount of attention and copy being devoted to the Powazek/Scripting News "controversy" by the weblog nation of late only underscores the aptness of Wetlog's junior high metaphor. And to prove it, I'm going to throw in my overopinionated, underinformed two cents. Not knowing either of these guys, I'd say the aggressor comes off looking mean-spirited and kinda arrogant, while the victim seems remarkably thin-skinned and not a little pretentious. At any rate, I'd think all parties involved should take a moment to contemplate the Chinese Rule: No matter how triumphant your victories, agonizing your defeats, or bitter your confrontations, there are approximately 1,000,000 Chinese people who don't give a damn.
2/15/00 - I don't know what's funnier about CNN's IRC foul-up yesterday: the actual prank or the ensuing HACKERS! media hysteria.
The Oscar contenders were announced this morning: American Beauty leads the pack with eight, followed by The Insider and The Cider House Rules with seven each. Malkovich got nods for best director and best supporting actress (Catherine Keener) - I was hoping that John Malkovich - who purportedly was on the short list - would get a nomination for playing himself, but no such luck. The best supporting actor category looks to be the most interesting toss-up - in the mix are Michael Caine (Cider House), Tom Cruise (Magnolia), Haley Jo Osment (The Sixth Sense), Michael Clarke Duncan (The Green Mile), and Jude Law (The Talented Mr. Ripley).
My biggest beef: Where are Fight Club and Three Kings? Both are far and away better films than the schlocky, overlong Green Mile. To my mind, Kings, Fight Club, and Malkovich should have replaced Cider House, Green Mile and Sixth Sense in the Best Picture Category.
While I normally hate linking to the NBA Pravda site, Vinsanity's dunkage this past weekend was just too masterful to be ignored.
This Drudge-discovered piece on Salon v. Slate smack-talk makes for an interesting inside baseball read. Although I very briefly wrote the Pundit Central column for Slate a year ago, I have to admit that these days I usually prefer Salon, for its broader content, stranger pieces, and less smarmy tone. Slate's Ballot Box (Jacob Weisberg) offers the best political analysis overall, but I'll take Salon's Jake Tapper any day of the week over Frame Game (William Saletan) and Chatterbox (Timothy Noah).
*******
2/14/00 - Sally over at Bloat was kind enough to list me as No. 8 (of 8) in the Best New Weblog category. She penciled the following caveat-laden endorsement: Fine links that are occasionally a little mimetic, there is promise here. Murphy's wide-ranging interests and unassuming attitude make Ghost in the Machine a decent if uninspiring weblog that could either rise to mid-level prominence or sink into oblivion. Decent if uninspiring? Mid-level prominence? Well, shucks, don't get all gushy on me. My only real question is, given that the column was meant to be the top ten new weblogs, should I be encouraged that I'm the last of eight cited? Somehow I doubt it, but thanks for the ostensibly kinds words anyway.
ABC's insurers seem to be pissed that Millionaire is so easy. Also, film critic Rex Reed got busted ganking a Mel Torme CD. Folks, I couldn't make this stuff up.
Barbelith seems to want to talk weblogger stats. Well, ok Tom, I get between 15 and 30 hits a day, 25-33% of which are me or my wife (Sad, no?). However, my pro-Bradley/anti-Gore site picks up around 200 hits a day, thanks to the good folks at Yahoo.
On Hit or Miss's suggestion, I took a Keirsey personality test and discovered I'm an Inventor. Then again, last time I took it I was a Champion, which seems to indicate that I fluctuate along the Thinking-Feeling axis. Or perhaps I'm schizophrenic. One of the two...I guess I'll have to ask Kevin what I really think.
Huzzah and Kudos to Gen. Colin Powell for calling out the Confederate Flag for what it is.
Happy Valentine's Day to y'all and yours. Elaine and I went to a Middle-Eastern restaurant for the second year in a row. It was interesting to watch various couples interact completely differently to the stimulus of a belly dancer (who for some reason, looked to me like the quintessential French teacher). In other Valentine's news, Salon has an intriguing and sadly true article on why we Americans suck at flirting.
My guitar playing is entering its third week and going surprisingly well. I can now play a mean "Country Feedback" (by R.E.M.) My next target: Elvis Costello's classic slow burn, "I Want You."
*******
2/13/00 - R.I.P. Charles Schultz 1923-2000. I remember checking out 5-10 Peanuts books at a time from the public library when I was a kid. He will be missed.
Eatonweb and Wetlog both pointed out this Salon article on Dopewars from a few days back. I'm a big fan of the Palm V version - so far my record's $10,413,359, amassed with the considerable aid of the Bolivian Marching Powder.
In regards to the Variety story I commented on earlier, the official Star Wars site had this comment: "The Variety article was completely false...In
addition to the fact that we won't have character descriptions until the script is finished, the descriptions reported would never be appropriate for a Star
Wars film. The diversity of actors who have appeared in Star Wars such as Pernilla August (Anakin's mother), Hugh Quarshie (Captain Panaka), Dhruv
Chanchani (Kitster), and Kristina DaSilva (Rabe) were chosen for the talent they brought to their roles--not because they were Swedish, Ghanaian,
Indian, or Brazilian." So there you have it. Sadly, they've still offered no explanation for Mistah Binks.
Caught The Beach last night. It's being completely housed by the critics, but I thought it was an admirable take on the Garland novel, the gratuitous hanky-panky notwithstanding. Definitely better than Boyle's last outing, A Life Less Ordinary.
Elaine gave me the three existing Harry Potter books in hardcover this weekend for Valentine's Day, so if I don't update for awhile y'all will know the reason.
2/11/00 - I was scrounging around the web for tablature last night and was pleased to discover that not only does Matt Johnson of The The have a spiffy looking site up, but also a new album due out February 29. Boo, yah!
Interesting...it seems that Bjork (the other white meat) has been given her own island by the government of Iceland. If you visit, be aware of the hungry teddy bears and lascivious robots.
Reports indicate that the ubitquitous Julianne Moore may well suit up at Clarice Starling for the Silence of the Lambs sequel. Which reminds me, I forgot to give a big fleshy, bulbous, pulsating thumbs up for David Cronenberg's Existenz yesterday. Cronenberg, in his own initimably disgusting fashion, offers his take on the whole virtual reality/video game kaboodle, and it runs pretty much in direct contrast to the Matrix aesthetic. It's not for everybody, but I do highly recommend it as food for thought for techies and gamers, particularly those of you who like me may have been spending entirely too much time lately in Simsville. On that last note, the Sims site has added two suspiciously Harry Potter-like skins.
*******
2/10/00 - Michael Jordan is lacing up for Bradley!
My innate distrust of law enforcement officials - and of the LAPD in particular - really didn't need this kind of reinforcement.
/Usr/Bin/Grl has unearthed the IF A Minute Page, for those of you who prefer one-minute summaries of old school adventure games to the real deal. Some of the old Infocom bits are right on the money (e.g. Zork II Baseball and the end of Infidel), but how come there's no mention of the $#%#* Babel Fish?
*******
2/9/00 - Patrick Warburton as The Tick? That's just too perfect. (via Metafilter.) Also, Harry's got pics up of Jim Carrey as the Grinch and the Ash action figure. What a great time to be alive.
In other movie news, this tidbit on multiethnic casting for Episode 2 is making the rounds today. As Coming Attractions points out, though, the descriptions included of a "forceful, spiritual" Native American and a Asian martial arts expert are about as stereotypical as Jar Jar Binks' and Watto's suspect accents and - more damning, to my mind - the Fu Manchu stylings of the Episode 1 Neimoidians. Get a grip, George.
So long, Steve Forbes. It's been real, it's been fun, it hasn't been real fun. I suspect Slate is on the money when they note Forbes is probably quitting because he hates John McCain even more than he did Dubya. In the end, let's face it - I know they like to tell you that anybody can be elected President, but in the Age of the Media Deluge, nobody as charismatically challenged as Mr. Forbes is ever going to get out of the starting blocks.
Lots of crazy news out there today. A Jamaican woman threw her neighbor's baby in a croc-infested swamp, Florida legislators are trying to ban elephants from circuses, and the ASPCA honored a chicken who works with abused children. Dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria.
Drop Dead Gorgeous was pretty awful. There were a few laughs, but they came real cheap. I'm sitting down to watch Existenz now...
[Main Page][Contact Me][Archives][Other Weblogs][My Epinions/GitM][My Links][Bio][Bradley][Library]
Conjuring Up Cinematic, Political, Athletic, and Cultural Arcana Since The Final Moments of the Last Century
2/9/00 - Patrick Warburton as The Tick? That's just too perfect. (via Metafilter.) Also, Harry's got pics up of Jim Carrey as the Grinch and the Ash action figure. What a great time to be alive.
In other movie news, this tidbit on multiethnic casting for Episode 2 is making the rounds today. As Coming Attractions points out, though, the descriptions included of a "forceful, spiritual" Native American and a Asian martial arts expert are about as stereotypical as Jar Jar Binks' and Watto's suspect accents and - more damning, to my mind - the Fu Manchu stylings of the Episode 1 Neimoidians. Get a grip, George.
So long, Steve Forbes. It's been real, it's been fun, it hasn't been real fun. I suspect Slate is on the money when they note Forbes is probably quitting because he hates John McCain even more than he did Dubya. In the end, let's face it - I know they like to tell you that anybody can be elected President, but in the Age of the Media Deluge, nobody as charismatically challenged as Mr. Forbes is ever going to get out of the starting blocks.
Lots of crazy news out there today. A Jamaican woman threw her neighbor's baby in a croc-infested swamp, Florida legislators are trying to ban elephants from circuses, and the ASPCA honored a chicken who works with abused children. Dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria.
Drop Dead Gorgeous was pretty awful. There were a few laughs, but they came real cheap. I'm sitting down to watch Existenz now...