Laura Bush Grows a Spine

Laura Bush actually had the gall to call out the leader of the military junta in Burma! Wow, who knew?

Of course, she did it through the op-ed pages of the Wall Street Journal...there's no way she'd do it through the hated New York Times right?

Sadly, the New York Times is reporting that things have gone back to the way they were in Burma. That flickering little flame of democratic hope seems to be fully extinguished with the help of China and...wait for it...India!

That's right, India is building a natural-gas hub worth $103 million. So, wait, India supported Iraq during the first Gulf War and is now supporting Burma for a measly $103 million?

Way to go guys, way to go...

Links:

Laura Bush WSJ Op-Ed
NYT Story on Burma

Those Crazy Europeans

My peerless colleague Tiffany Bowers (she "discovered" Gnarls Barkley and Amy Winehouse way back when) brought this to my attention.

In the proud tradition of "Barbie Girl," "Axel F" (the Crazy Frog cover), "The Ketchup Song (Asereje)", and (going back many years) "D.I.S.C.O." and "Hands Up (Give Me Your Heart)" comes "The Fast Food Song" by Fast Food Rockers.

Inane? Sure. But da*n if it isn't the catchiest thing you've ever heard.

Sing with me now: "A Pizza Hut, a Pizza Hut, Kentucky Fried Chicken and a Pizza Hut..."

In Rainbows


That's right, I named my own price, and I finally got my unique activation code to download the new Radiohead album.

Oooooh...can't wait.

It's not often you get to be there at the beginning of a revolution...

That's Right...I went to Film School


The other day, we were driving to our friend Ben Lauter's birthday party when we saw a billboard for the new Christina Applegate show Samantha Who?.

I turned to The Better Half and remarked that it looked like a rip-off of Overboard.

"What's that?" she asked.

I was shocked. Shocked!

I turned to her.

"You've never seen Overboard?"

"Nope."

"Dude..."

She turned to me.

"This from the guy who's never seen The Seventh Seal...or any Ingmar Bergman film for that matter."

I think I was silent for the rest of the drive.

Black Watch


I cannot remember the last time I went to a play and felt something...literally.

Lighting effects, sounds effects, multimedia, cool transitions, a non-linear timeline, breaking the fourth wall...all very, very cool.

And, as can be expected, it was The Better Half who found out about this and made me go.

You should too...before it leaves for New York and becomes completely sold out.


Links:

UCLA Live
Preview Video
The Black Watch [The actual Scottish regiment]

Eric Bana is the Man


Not only does the once (and future...Edward Norton is a poser) Hulk have a couple of literary best-seller adaptations in the works, The Other Boleyn Girl (with...Geek Alert...Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansson) and The Time Traveler's Wife (with...another Geek Alert...Rachel McAdams) but now comes word that he is going to play the villain in the reboot of the Star Trek franchise that J.J. Abrams is directing/writing/producing/doing a kick-a** job at (if his great handling of Mission: Impossible III is any indication).

With the great Leonard Nimoy on board, I can't wait...

Of course, there is that little detail that is still outstanding: They have yet to cast Captain James T. Kirk.

The Next Time Your Flight is Delayed...


A great article in The Times (of London) talks about how a retired Indian Airlines engineer has turned an abandoned passenger plane into a "virtual" journey for those not lucky enough to be able to partake in air travel.

According to The Times, "passengers" go through the whole procedure (pre-flight announcements, safety demonstration, "in-flight" announcements, "in-flight" meals, etc.) without actually going anywhere.

Here is more from the article:

As for the passengers, they are too poor to afford a real airline ticket and most have only ever seen the interior of an aircraft in films.

“I see planes passing all day long over my roof,” Selim, a 40-year-old tyre mechanic was quoted as saying. “I had to try out the experience.”

Jasmine, a young teacher, had been longing to go on a plane. “It is much more beautiful than I ever imagined,” she said.

So, think about that the next time you get snotty with an airline employee (as I do all the time...tsk...tsk...)

Poetry in Motion

Sachin Tendulkar plays one off the back foot, India v Australia, 4th ODI, Chandigarh, October 8, 2007

You could literally take photographs of Sachin Tendulkar playing cricket and turn that into a text book on batting. No posing, no re-shoots, no nothing...just purely in the heat of battle...

Actually, probably not heat of battle...because like A-Rod, our own S-Ten tends to fade in the heat of battle...

Still, it's a pretty picture isn't it?

Political Catch-22


The New York Times is reporting that candidates like Joe Biden, Chris Dodd, and Bill Richardson are having a hard time attracting news coverage because of their low poll numbers...but less news time means lower poll numbers...but lower poll numbers mean less news time...but less news time means lower poll numbers...but...

Don't Blame A-Rod


I know the Yankees got bundled out of the first round by a team with a third of the payroll. I know that $25.2 million-man (and future $30-$35 million-man) Alex Rodriguez will get all the blame.

But what about our vaunted King of New York Derek Jeter?

The "Great" One batted a spectacular .176 with 0 walks and 0 home runs. A-Rod at least put up .267 with 2 walks and 1 home run (to be fair, he was batting about .167 before his one hit and home run in the fourth game after the result had been all but determined). But, it'll still be A-Rod's fault.

Oh well, at least he will that future $300-$350 million contract to lean on for support.

Stanley Kubrick Bloopers


Hilarious animated video of bloopers from Stanley Kubrick movies.

I got this off Anne Thompson's excellent blog (a must-read).

Unexpected People


If I've said it once, I've said it a hundred times: It's always the unexpected who pleasantly surprise you.

I learned this way back at the USC School of Cinema-TV (before it was renamed to the very futuristic sounding "School of Cinematic Arts") when some of the people I knew/was friends with showed up to help me with my thesis...but it was the people who I never expected who showed up almost every day.

And now, it's happening again. I had sent out a call for $5 sponsorships after I got bamboozled into captaining the AIDS Walk LA Team for our four regional offices (I signed up to be part of the team...but since I was the only one that responded, the next thing you know...BAM! I'm the captain!). Since participation was abhorrently low (after all, we are talking rich Orange County folks here - the only charity they do is if a celebrity is involved, or if their bosses are part of the event), I figured I'd reach out to the people I know and see if they could each spare about $5. Most people don't mind giving $5, thanks to my company's matching gift program this turns into $10, and if you add it all up, it ends up being a nice little sum of money that goes to AIDS charities.

Surprisingly enough, the people that I expected to "sponsor" me did...but only some of them. And, again surprisingly, it was the people I never expected to respond either sponsored me, or gave much more than I had any right to expect.

At this point I really should be carefully about judging people too quickly. The ones you think very highly of end up disappointing you, and the ones that you either write off or don't think about at all are the ones that end up pleasantly surprising you.

On the other hand, I managed to compel six people from the four offices to actually walk with the team. That's six out of approximately 300...about 2%.


Links:
AWLA Team

New Bloc Party Single



The boys are back with "Flux"!


Here is the video of their performance on Late Night with Conan O'Brien (terrible sound mix):



Here is a link to streaming audio of the song from the world premiere on a UK radio station (much better sound): We Were Rockstars.

India Beats Australia!

And, waddya know, it's the old guys Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar who lay the foundation for a thrilling win in the fourth ODI. Perhaps more surprisingly, we actually won the game defending the total, which means our bowlers actually won the match for us.

That's not a misprint, I said the bowlers defended our very makeable total.

It's now 2 - 1 in favor of Australia with three games to play. India needs to win out to take the series.

At the very least it won't be a white-wash.




Here's how The Guardian saw it:

Australia needed 24 off 20 balls with five wickets in hand following a brutal run-a-ball 92 from Matthew Hayden and yet more fireworks from Andrew Symonds.

But RP Singh bowled Symonds for 75 and then ran out Brad Hogg next ball as the batsman failed to recover his ground after heading off in search of a quick single.

The left-arm spinner Murali Kartik conceded only two singles off the next over, the 48th, and when Singh gave away a mere six singles in the 49th, Australia were left needing to take 16 off Zaheer Khan's final over of the match. James Hopes hammered the first ball down the ground for four, but Zaheer held his nerve and India celebrated their first one-day win over Australia in nine completed matches.

Links:

Cricinfo
The Guardian
Sydney Morning Herald
International Herald Tribune

Hal Holbrook in Into the Wild

Old pro Hal turns his small role into the emotional highlight of the movie.

That moment where he says good bye to Emile Hirsch...sniff...sniff...full-on tears...

Catherine Keener in Into the Wild

CK turns a small-ish role into a heartbreaking one. That moment where she says good bye to Emile Hirsch...sniff...

The Great Roger Deakins

At work during the filming of In the Valley of Elah.

Ashraf Barhom in The Kingdom

Steals the movie from all the stars on display.

Susan Sarandon in In the Valley of Elah

Mrs. Tim Robbins is not in the movie all that much, but pretty much single-handedly forms the emotional backbone of the whole movie.

Just goes to show that there are no such things as small parts when it comes to great actors.

Maid Marion Not So Pretty Anymore


After years of belligerent, holier-than-thou denials, Marion Jones finally admitted to using steroids (well, not technically, she did one of those Jason Giambi I'm-sorry-for-something-I-did-but-I'm-not-saying-what-exactly type apologies/admissions...she plead guilty to lying to Federal officials).

I admit I was a fan...until that CJ Hunter press conference and the way Jones continued to behave after that. At this point everyone is waiting for that other shoe to drop (Barry Bonds); me, I'm waiting for that other shoe to drop (the insufferable Lance Armstrong).

Links

New York Times
ESPN
The Times