Tue, August 31

KamiKarli, Meet MorganPaul

Olympic Fever hits fever pitch, Joe Schmo 2 wraps up, and The Amazing Race sights the finish line. Is it just me, or is the reality starting to feel realer? (Read more.)

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Hurricane Freedom—1:46 PM

Golly I hope everything's going to be okay. Did I leave any important papers there? (Nope, just my USC diploma. Whew, close one.)

1 comment

Mon, August 30

TiVo me, Jody me, List me, 'Porter me—11:47 PM

Just a quick update upon my return from Vegas. Hopefully I'll have much more for you tomorrow, when I have a few hours to really devote to my personal projects on company time.

I know I rave about TiVo pretty much nonstop, and how great it is and how everything should be more like TiVo. ("The sun should be more like TiVo. Raisinets should be more like TiVo. Wouldn't you be happier if Sam Kinison had been more like TiVo?") But this weekend I was struck by this particular way in which life would be better if it were more like TiVo: the pause button. Every so often, I'm presented with a moment in which I must make a decision. I know what all the variables are; I know the reasons why to decide one way and why to decide the other – I just don't have enough time to weigh them. I wish I could press Pause, walk away for a minute, pull out a scrap of paper and work some numbers, then press Pause again and render my decision.

Moving on.

In my Garden State review I mentioned that Sam (Natalie Portman) has the ability to "very simply change your outlook on life."

I know people like this, and I'm eternally in awe of them. She doesn't go around making grand statements and gushing some sort of dogma; you just look at her and the way she thinks about things and the way she views herself, and you're changed.

My friend Jody is one of these people. (She doesn't read this site, so if you see her tell her I said something nice about her.) She has plenty of opinions she'll tell you about, but sometimes you learn the most by just watching her. I learn a lot about her, and a lot about myself. I couldn't have picked anyone better to spend the weekend with in Sin City.

Also, as a result of my enthusiasm for Jurassic Park and my stated lack of enthusiasm for lists (like Top Ten Dinosaur Movies, or whatnot), I've been sucked into a war of lists lately among some of the more prolific readers of this site. (Am I allowed to talk about this in public? I hope so.) Over the weekend, my list of Top Ten Funniest People Ever was due, and I thought my submission might be worth sharing, since it took so much time to do.

(Don't worry, it's already been decided that we all have to start all over and this time do Top 25, so all the people who you're appalled that I left off will get another chance.)

Finally, I've been sitting on this line for a week or so, figuring to work it into tomorrow's reality column. It's not super-original, but it tickles me. It's this: Who else besides me wants to see Paul Hamm marry Mia Hamm, so that her last name won't change but the pronunciation will? However, I knew I shouldn't wait around so long: in the time it took me to get to press, Arksie has already taken us down the Hamm/Hamm route: Paul Hamm Keeps Gold Medal; Mia Hamm Gives Hers To That Korean Guy. Ah, well.

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Fri, August 27

A System for TV Premiere Season

My mental illness is no secret. In this case, it expresses itself in a giant, time-wasting TV grid project when I should've been packing for a road trip. (Read more.)

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Vegas (Baby?)—5:33 PM

So, this is what I'll be doing this weekend. Hopefully they eventually get out of that latex because 1) I bet it's hard to breathe and 2) it's making it hard to see the boobies! I hope to have a full report next week (plus thousands in blackjack winnings!) – try not to miss me too much.

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Billbored—3:07 PM

(Ha! Get it?)

I spend a lot of time driving around in Los Angeles, and you have two choices: concentrate on traffic and avoid accidents, or look around at all the pretty billboards. I choose the latter. Unless there are hot girls to look at.

I was looking at the billboard for Alien vs. Predator the other day, and it seemed odd to me that while the Predator is looking straight at us, the Alien is in profile. Is he about to attack the Predator? Shouldn't the Predator be looking? Heads up, dude! Then I realized, as impressive and eerie as the Giger-based Alien design is, it's pretty much only effective in profile. See? You never really see it looking right at the camera in the movies. At least not in Alien or Aliens. At least not the very few scenes I actually remember from those films.

The other one that gets under my skin is the billboard for Joey (also seen as a bus ad, which is generally wider). There are basically four or five elements in this picture: Joey (good), a beach, a palm tree, a convertible, and a surfboard. The point is that Joey lives in LA now. Well aren't the beach and the palm tree enough to communicate that? I mean the convertible is a nice touch, I'll go with that. It's got a certain Cali hipster flair to it. But a surfboard? Joey Tribbiani does not surf. He would never surf. This is what's wrong with marketing departments. They're full of idiots who have no idea what is really going on. (I'm reminded of the brilliant Bob Odenkirk, pitching sitcoms to network executives. Them: "We love it, but how do we sell it?" Him: "Don't you have a marketing department for that?!") NBC is building an entire show around this character Joey Tribbiani, a character that we've all had ten years to get to know, and they don't even know enough about him to realize that he doesn't surf? It's their show! The beach and the surf and the palm tree and the convertible: we get it. He's in LA now. He doesn't need to be driving around with a surfboard he'll never use. (Watch him surf in the pilot episode; boy will I ever feel dumb.) Thankfully, in the narrower version of this ad, the surfboard is cropped out. (Besides, only a dumb marketing department would say, "I know this show is based on a popular character from one of our longest-running best-rated series that just finished a decade-long run. I know his character was the funniest and most interesting for the entire last two years, while everyone else was marrying off and kidding up. But the real selling point of this show is that he's moving!" Don't play up the LA angle, idiots. Play up the Joey!)

Another billboard I saw last week on Overland (and elsewhere since) is for Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends on the Cartoon Network. It airs tonight at 7:00 Eastern (and again at 10:30, that's 7:30 for you west-coast DirecTV households). I checked it out last week and it was pretty cute. It's a kid's show, no question, but plenty of those are good. The character Bloo (he's a little blue guy) is awesome, and I like the main little boy, Mac, also. The opening music is excellent, really unparalleled in recent memory. (Speaking of cartoon music, did you know that the theme to Duck Dodgers is by Tom Jones and the Flaming Lips? You can believe I'm TiVo'ing the next episode of that!) It's a little irresponsible as far as kids' vocabularies go, because the imaginary friends in the show aren't actually imaginary. Everyone can see them and talk to them; they're like pets. Still, great concept (thanks again, Craig McCracken), really nice look, fun show. Check it out tonight!

I also noticed a sign on the back of a bus saying "the street is not your ashtray" and attempting to curb (ha) the practice of smokers who toss their spent cigarette butts out of their car windows. This is one of the most infuriating asshole things that people in LA (or smokers in general) do, so I am totally behind this campaign. Of course, nobody will pay any attention to it. Advertising never works in those rare cases when you actually want it to. Still, it infuriates me the sense of entitlement: it's not enough that they're polluting our air, but when they're done with that, they've got to chuck that butt in the street like, "It's not my problem." That's why your car has an ashtray, you despicable shit! The whole process of holding the cigarette out the window all the time is just an admission that it's disgusting. ("I don't want it near me, I'm holding it out here!") So, why not just quit? Instead of inflicting your horrible habit on others, just stop it. The thing that kills me is these same people would probably be really offended if you threw a styrofoam cup out of your window. But the cigarette butt feels like nothing to them. Oh, that doesn't count as littering. Savages.

Finally, two bus ads did exactly their job for the upcoming film Team America: World Police. The first one did the part where it establishes the product in my consciousness. Zipping by it I was like, "Hey, animated Thunderbirds take-off. Good idea. Certainly better than a live action Frakes-helmed Thunderbirds movie. I wonder if it's ironic (which would be funny) or serious (which would probably be just for kids)." Then I saw it again today, and I had a chance to read the "From the creators of South Park" part. Well that answers that question. (Then I just wondered if it was CGI or actual marionettes, and the trailer answered that.) Looks like fun. Alec Baldwin as Alec Baldwin should be a riot. Also, "Freedom hangs by a thread" is an awesome tagline.

(And, by the way, speaking of movies for kids, isn't it time we stopped insulting them? Because, Baby Geniuses 2? Really?)

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Tales of TiVo—10:26 AM

Wow, I thought I was a crazy hacker for bumping my storage space up to 179 hours. (Actually, I didn't think that. I really didn't. Still, 179 hours is a lot of Corey and Topanga.)

TiVo Hackers Tweak Together [KTVB]

(Free reg req'd, unless you can hit the Stop button before it redirects you to the register page.)

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Wed, August 25

Dancing About Architecture

The working title for As Good As It Gets was "Old Friends," changed as soon as someone realized that nobody in the movie is old friends with anyone else. Playing By Heart went the other way – its original title, "Dancing About Architecture," was at least spoken by someone in the film, whereas Playing By Heart means nothing whatsoever. (Read more.)

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Kerry on The Daily Show—8:37 PM

I hope everyone caught this, it was pretty good. Those who know me know that I'm no fan of Kerry, but I think he did a great job of keeping the discussion light while maintaining a focus on his ideas and the issues that he feels should be important in this campaign. (So many political figures skew too far in one direction or the other, taking the show way too seriously, or trying so hard to be funny that they seem frivolous.) Jon Stewart was pretty soft on him (we'll see if Ed Gillespie brings that up on tonight's episode), but I believe Jon when he says he's not partisan. In his own way, I think all of his easy questions for Kerry weren't intended to make Kerry look good so much as to give him a real opportunity to respond to the issues that are currently getting so much airplay and so little real thoughtful debate.

The Colbert story was hilarious (and chilling) also. Is that really his daughter? Does anyone have info on this?

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Reap THIS, Manny!—4:58 PM

Defamer has finally had it with Manny Perry and they're ready to do something about it. Hear, hear! I'm ready for Gene Hackman to roll a truck over on that guy's head.

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Politics and Humor—2:15 PM

Worth a read:

The State of the George W. Bush Joke [NYT]

It's interesting how much things have changed since the last time around:

The Stiff Guy vs. The Dumb Guy [NYT Mag]

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My TiVo Dilemma—1:29 PM

As you may recall, my TiVo had a drive crash one Saturday morning in the middle of June. Fortunately (thanks Google, thanks TiVoCommunity.com), I was able to get it back up and running by Monday evening by pulling out both hard drives and replacing them with a new, larger drive (thanks WeaKnees.com). Originally, in the fall of 2001, I had inserted a new 70-hour drive shortly after purchasing TiVo, increasing the total recording time to around 105 hours. This was the first and last time I'd ever opened up my TiVo and hacked around inside it, and all I did was screw in a new drive and plug in a few wires.

Well, in the last two months, I've been sliding around on the guts of my TiVo considerably more than I ever thought I would! The extremely abbreviated version of the story is that the original, factory-installed 35-hour drive has failed and damaged itself beyond repair. The bonus 70-hour drive is presumably in fine condition with approximately two-thirds of my recordings on it (who knows which two-thirds), but because of something in the TiVo software, there's no way to make the new (June 2004) drive recognize the existence of this previous drive.

Now, we come to today. The two-month-old drive (approx. 105 hours) has been keeping me in shape for the last two months, recording The Daily Show and Letterman and whatever else, but it doesn't have anything on it that I can't live without. The 70-hour drive has stuff on it that I wish I could get back, but I don't know exactly which recordings are stored there and which were stored on the broken 35-hour drive. As far as any expert can tell me, my only option to get any use out of the 70-hour drive is to forfeit all the recordings, then set these two drives up to recognize each other – which will deliver to me a powerful 175+ hours of TiVo capacity. (That's almost enough for a whole Ken Burns special!) However, there's this teensy possibility that if I bought a new 70-hour drive, I could maybe copy the recordings from the existing 70-hour drive onto that and install the two 2004 drives into TiVo for lotsa capacity plus some of my old recordings.

So, my dilemma is this. (Not that you have the answers; it's just part of the story.) Do I forfeit all the recordings, get this process overwith tonight with one final hack into TiVo and one final mess of cables and parts of old PCs strewn across my kitchen table, then just start life new? Or, do I buy a new drive, wait a week (leaving town this weekend, so no time to play with the new drive until sometime next week), and go through all this craziness and expense just to preserve a list of shows I'm not even sure of? With the fall season starting in a week or so, it seems like a critical juncture. If I could just get a list of the recordings I might be losing, it would really make this easier!

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Tue, August 24

Bowling for Kilimanjaro

Comedy superstar John Heffron takes home the gold, presumably administering many noogies to his younger siblings in celebration. Camel-riding supervillians Mirna and Schmirna are sent packing. The nation rejoices. (Read more.)

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Mon, August 23

"...but have you read my book ON WEED?"—11:41 PM

In which we watch The Daily Show in case you're not a Vikings fan.

I admit, I always love The Daily Show. But tonight's piece on the ongoing Swift Boat Veterans for Truth controversy is an especially spectacular coordinated attack on so many of the weaknesses of the current state of journalism. Stewart and correspondent Rob Corddry hit it all, and manage to stay funny while doing it. Incisive, critical, brilliant television. Stewart's next gig shouldn't be taking Letterman's chair; he should be stepping in for Brokaw. How is it that nobody in the "serious" press is asking these questions?

It's all outstanding, but this is probably my very favorite exchange:

Stewart: You've seen [Kerry's military] records, haven't you? What's your opinion?

Corddry: I'm sorry, my opinion? I don't have "o-pin-i-ons." I'm a reporter, Jon. My job is to spend half the time repeating what one side says and half the time repeating the other. Little thing called "objectivity." You might want to look it up someday.

Stewart: Doesn't objectivity mean objectively weighing the evidence and calling out what's credible and what isn't credible?

Corddry: Well, well, well. Sounds like someone wants the media to act as a filter! [...] Listen, buddy. Not my job to stand between the people talking to me and the people listening to me.

The chilling thing is that there are huge portions of our so-called "press" who really believe in Corddry's "equal time" definition of objectivity. You can see it in how many news shows consider the debate of a particular issue complete if they have one person on from each side and let them holler until the commercial break.

Also, Drunken Stateside Sons of Privilege for Plausible Deniability is pure genius. Someone should name their band that.

Update: Enjoy this rebuke from the New York Times:

[A]nchors do not referee - they act as if their reportage is fair and accurate as long as they have two opposing spokesmen on any issue.

Golly, that's exactly what Corddry had to say! (Also in the article, CNN's footage of "[Sen. Bob] Dole complaining that it was hypocritical of Kerry, a former opponent of the war, to run now as a proud Vietnam veteran." What? This is just more of that "if you disagree with the Iraq war it means you hate our troops" hogwash – Kerry can legitimately feel like the Vietnam War was a bad idea and still be proud of the courage and leadership he displayed over there.)

4 comments with related links

Not merely famous...—1:39 PM

I'm linking to this item in Defamer about the life of the celebrity business manager – a life about which we all suddenly realized we were curious after watching HBO's Entourage – for one reason only: the use of the device "[INCREDIBLY FAMOUS CELEBRITY]". I need to start working that into this site, and my general conversation, as much as possible. Is there an "air-quotes" analogue for square brackets?

Maybe I should just change the "Anonymous Coward" designation in the comments to "[INCREDIBLY FAMOUS CELEBRITY]". That'd raise some eyebrows! Plus, I shamelessly ripped off "Anonymous Coward" from Slashdot, so it's time to trade it in for a term shamelessly ripped off from the considerably hipper Defamer.

0 comments

This Made My Monday—9:59 AM

It's no secret that I can't stand Michelle Malkin. This clip of her on Hardball with Chris Matthews (and accompanying analysis) is priceless. Do people take her seriously? God, I hope not. Because implying that Kerry shot himself on purpose to win a Purple Heart based on an unfounded rhetorical speculation in a muckraking anti-Kerry book... why, that's the sort of verbal trickery that Michael Moore is always getting called out for!

Michelle Malkin [Oliver Willis]

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Sat, August 21

Jurassic Park—10:47 PM

I just finished watching Jurassic Park on DVD. It's maybe the twelfth time I've seen it. I'm not sure exactly, but it's something lowish like that. I remember thinking when they (finally) announced the DVD release that I would probably just watch it once a week. I'm contractually prohibited from ranking movies on a list like "top five" or anything, but I'm sure it's number one or two. Sometimes I'll think that's a bit frivolous, there are so many more complex films more worthy, but then I'll watch it again and I'll remember. It's damn worthy.

It reminds me why John Williams is simply a genius. His score gives me chills right when I'm supposed to get chills, and it even works just listening to the CD. It reminds me why I wanted to make movies in the first place, and why someday, goshdarnit, I still just might. It reminds me why I love Spielberg. And most of all, it reminds me why I love Jurassic Park. This is what separates excellent movies from truly spectacular ones. All your top-tier movies give you something to think about, give you a thrilling experience, and immerse you in another world. The really amazing ones add one more thing: when I'm watching Jurassic Park it makes me want to watch Jurassic Park.

And, heavenly God that DTS mix is superb!

Also, after the film wrapped up I still had to have something on TV while I ate dinner. Olympic diving was on, but tonight's competition didn't feature my darling Anna Lindberg, so I found Lingo on GSN. Chuck Woolery is as batshit as ever. He's resurrected his "Two and two" catchphrase, and the show has added a sidekick for him since I last watched. The easiest game show hosting gig in history, and he's got help. Some cheap Pam Anderson clone with a British accent and a short skirt now handles the lingo board responsibilities and sets up new words for the puzzles. Plus, there's neon everywhere. It's a crazy scene, man!

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Thu, August 19

More Saving TiVo—3:37 PM

For whatever reason, the "Business 2.0" column that was referred to in a PVRblog entry linked here previously is now available as full text. If you're interested in this sort of thing, it has exciting implications for the future of TiVo.

Saving TiVo [Business 2.0]

Even if you're not interested in techno-geek stuff like Strangeberry, surely (like me) you're happy to see anyone actually referring to TiVo as having a "future."

"We really liked TiVo. Great product. Good karma. Great engineers." (See? See?)

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Wed, August 18

Boy Meets World

What happened this Sunday? I had minor plans to accomplish something or write something or even just wash some dishes. But instead, TiVo lured me into a few hours of Boy Meets World. Just another reason TiVo is better than anything. (Read more.)

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Mon, August 16

Verbatim from Defamer—12:09 PM

Bruce Campbell, Lynda Carter and Dave Foley join the cast of Sky High, a teen comedy set in a high school for superheroes. This movie is going to make a mockery of Fantastic Four on the power of the casting alone. [THR]

***

So perfect. I'm glad I'm not the only one mystified by FF's casting. (Michael Chiklis? In your summer tentpole?) Sounds a tad more like Watchmen (or The Incredibles), but still a delightful idea – based on the cast alone, which also includes Mr. Goldie Hawn and Mrs. John Travolta.

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iPod Fireball—10:02 AM

You may not care about arcane Mac news and punditry. You may not have an iPod (maybe your wife does). Still, this is a highly entertaining read, if only for the joy of watching Gruber so deftly invalidating point after point of Kevin Maney's hilariously dopey USA Today column.

Why 2004 Won't Be Like 1984 [Daring Fireball]

I wish we had someone fighting as diligently against the cavalcade of "analysts" predicting TiVo's demise. (I enjoyed doing it to Christopher Hitchens's take on Fahrenheit 9/11, but apparently that was unnecessary.)

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Sun, August 15

"Dammit, The Poky Little Puppy helps me think!"—9:19 AM

Our president explains his decision to remain in a second-grade classroom for seven minutes or so after being informed of the terrorist attacks in New York City.

"I was collecting my thoughts."

And that took seven minutes? It seems like collecting his thoughts couldn't take more than 15 seconds. (Ha!)

3 comments

Fri, August 13

It Takes A Gay Twist Ending

M. Night Shyamalan's The Village brings up some potentially interesting ideas, but does so in such a contrived and silly way that it's hard to really take it seriously. (Read more.)

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Breaking my TiVo-lovin' heart—10:42 AM

I'm really really tired of the doomsday predictions about TiVo. Everybody just stop it! It's like every business analyst wants TiVo to fail, just 'cause it'll make a great story. But if TiVo's chief problem is losing mindshare, it's because of dour articles like this one:

A Murkier Picture for TiVo [BusinessWeek]

We don't need any more of your smug negativity, thank you very much! Fortunately, PVRblog is there to brighten my spirits. (Not that I think we should play their game by implying that TiVo needs to be "saved," but at least it's an upbeat post.)

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Late-Night News—10:15 AM

This came as a bit of a surprise: Craig Kilborn has announced that he's leaving The Late, Late Show, no word yet as to why. I can't imagine it's movies – as great as he was in Old School. This removes one from the stable of slim-but-possible possibilities for replacing Letterman when he finally steps down.

Also, for those of you who enjoyed the Homestar Runner video for "Experimental Film" (I think there may only be one), you have a chance to see John & John perform the song tonight on Conan. Be there!

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Thu, August 12

Reality Sets In

Where have I been? What's been going on? Who's president? I'm deeply sorry (allow me to pretend you missed me terribly) for the delay in the reality recap. I promise it isn't laziness – it's nothing a little electroshock therapy can't fix. (Read more.)

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Go, Gerry, Go!—11:05 AM

We may have dropped off the top ten Google results for "Maggie Haskins" (snif), but on a whim I googled Gerard Mulligan – and, we're #4!

Now, the readers will come pouring in! Well, first we have to figure out a way to get people to google Gerard Mulligan. Then the readers will come pouring in!

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Sun, August 8

My kind of 'Porting—10:30 PM

Just a quick note that Arksie's making fun of NBC's Olympics coverage (and sports coverage in general, by extension) in a way that I wholeheartedly support, so you should check it out.

Life of US Olympic Swimmer... [Athletic Reporter]

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Fri, August 6

"Don't cancel Once and Again!"—11:22 PM

This Thursday night, The Late Show with David Letterman bid a fond farewell to retiring writer and long-time colleague Gerard Mulligan. Woe be I, the world-weary time-shifting TiVophile, eternally behind the times and out of the loop. I wouldn't have found out for another whole week if I hadn't happened to catch the synopsis on my way to a Seinfeld rerun.

I'll miss Gerry Mulligan. I'll miss his flinty-eyed smile and his salt-and-pepper beard. Where Seinfeld is a comedy engineer and Norm MacDonald is a comedy alchemist, Mulligan is like a late-career comedy pharmacist – experienced enough to know what goes with what, even if he's not particularly proud of the combination. (I guess that makes Letterman the kid goofing off in the back of comedy shop class.) I'm reminded of this passage from Marshall Sella's exploration of comedy's impact on our last presidential election. Mulligan and the reporter are talking about how political figures are fitted into comedic archetypes by writers and late-night hosts:

Just then, a writer popped his head around the door to mention a news item of the day; he was wondering which way to go with it. Mulligan rolled his eyes. "Add the word intern and we're home."

This, of course, is the house joke: the staff has been sick of Monica jokes for ages. "Interns still kill," Mulligan said in the jargon, "and it's a shame."

It's hard to say whether Mulligan's writing will be specifically missed, but I'll really miss his appearances on the show, pretending to be dressed up as various figures ranging from politics (Janet Reno) to world events (Hussein) to nature ("Gerry the Cicada"). He was such a hoot. Thankfully, many of these appearances (and quite a few from the years before my viewership) were recapped in a commemorative video montage on Thursday's episode. I was delighted to see that my favorite moment – the Raëlian house party in which Gerry played every part – was lovingly featured. Now, the show is in the chubby hands of the Brothers Stangel; we'll see how they do on their own.

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Seinfeld on DVD this year—1:49 PM

I've been softly weeping with joy ever since the Seinfeld DVD release was teased on the DVD for 50 First Dates. Now we finally have some deets!

Gang's all here [THR]

The beautiful part is that we get the entire first three seasons, no waiting. This beats the one-season-at-a-time Simpsons model, and makes sense with such abbreviated freshman and sophomore seasons.

(Also: He's dead, bitch!)

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Thu, August 5

kerry me—10:01 PM

Yowza. Did everybody see Natalie Portman on Thursday's Daily Show? Her earrings were a little more jangly than they needed to be, but she looked delightful in her spaghetti-strapped "kerry me" tank. She was touting him on Letterman last week as well. (And by the way, people, see Garden State. Really.) Although, to be precise, she wasn't so much praising Kerry as elucidating the importance of everyone – particularly young people – voting in this fall's election. I get the feeling she's more of an Anybody But Bush voter than a Kerry devotee, per se. Still, if anybody could get me fired up about Kerry, perhaps it would be she.

Also, she pronounced the title of her upcoming film Closer like the noun and not the comparative adjective. When we saw the trailer, I made the joke to Arksie that it was "clozer" and not "closer" as a reference to his "spank bank/bullpen" analogy and the fact that Portman plays a stripper in the film. But it turns out it actually is? Are they onto the bullpen thing?

5 comments with related links

Wed, August 4

Bad Beat

Anyone who says "It's not whether you win or lose" isn't talking about poker. That's for sure. I wasn't exactly outplayed tonight, but drawing the wrong cards for about an hour feels just as bad. (Read more.)

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Tue, August 3

All the President's Spin—12:17 PM

The gi-normously tall Ben Fritz is one of the honchos over at spinsanity.org, and he's also one of the group that I regularly beat at poker. (He beats me with greater regularity, but that isn't the point.) Anyway, he and the spinsanity gang have a new book out today. I haven't read it yet, because nobody gave me a free copy. Maybe we can rectify that...

It's called All the President's Spin and it "unmasks the tactics of deception and media manipulation that George W. Bush has used to sell his agenda to the American people." (And claims to do so in a non-partisan fashion! Read more information like the quote above at spinsanity's page for the book.) Ben has written for Salon and Variety, so you know he's a pro. I don't know the other two co-authors, but if Ben chose them to be on his website, we can assume they're pretty good.

I figure all but one of you might be interested, so I'm posting a link at the left to help you find the book on Amazon. I'll leave it up until I get tired of looking at it. (Book review forthcoming, as soon as someone gives me a copy!)

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Mon, August 2

Garden State

Garden State is a showcase for two of Natalie Portman's many talents: her ability to inhabit any character perfectly, and her uncanny ability to pick a winning script. There are many other reasons to see it, but she's plenty on her own. (Read more.)

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"They're pirating our Buccaneers game!"—12:31 PM

WP's Rob Pegoraro on the battle that football and the MPAA are waging against TiVo:

[The NFL] is asking manufacturers and viewers to further subsidize team owners who are already gorging themselves at the public trough.

Exactly. The point is, TiVo isn't trying to implement free file-sharing of TV shows willy-nilly. TiVo's files are encrypted, and contain digital rights management technology to keep unauthorized users from opening them. (Otherwise, how would they sell TiVos? One person could just upload every show to the Internet and undercut the TiVo market.)

Sounds like perfect fodder for an Average Mulder column to me.

1 comment

"You ruin everything, ruiner!"—10:07 AM

NYT on Nader's refusal to get out of the way. Egad! The massive ego on this guy. He says he doesn't even care if he costs Kerry the election. That's just stupid. I'm with Arianna Huffington: "My main message is that when your house is on fire, it's not time to talk about remodeling. First you put the fire out." (Huffington/Dean '08!)

An unrepentant Nader voter: "If they don't keep that door open for a third party, some day the ballot is going to say 'yes or no' and it's going to be one name, and that's my fear if we limit our choice now." This is exactly the kind of idiot lunacy that is incredibly difficult to argue against. One candidate? I'm pretty sure that's unconstitutional. Unless she's speaking metaphorically about the homogenization of the two parties, but even that isn't a fight worth fighting this year. Save it for when the stakes are lower. I'm glad people hurl epithets at her for her Nader bumper sticker.

If he's just hanging around, hoping to get into the debates, fantastic. More power to him. I'd love to see him make both candidates more accountable. But if he stays in after that, he's just needlessly spoiling things to make himself feel important. (The Times says he'll need 15 percent to get into the debates, which itself is a pipe dream.)

If the polls were 60/40 (in favor of either Bush or Kerry) I'd be fine with Nader; but not if it's going to be close, and it's going to be.

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