Tuesday, July 22, 2008
I thought that Pierce Brosnan had been dragged to the edge of endurance by North Korean sadists in his final Bond film, “Die Another Day,” but that was a quick tickle with a feather duster compared with the agony of singing Abba’s “S.O.S.” to Meryl Streep through a kitchen window. Somebody, either a cheeky Swede or another North Korean, has deliberately scored the number a tone and a half too high, with visible results: swelling muscles along the jawline, tightened throat, a panicky bulge in the eyes. There is no delicate way of putting this, but anyone watching Brosnan in mid-delivery will conclude that he has recently suffered from a series of complex digestive problems, and that the camera has, with unfortunate timing, caught him at the exact moment when he is finally working them out. What has he done to deserve this? Anthony Lane, review of Mamma Mia!
Friday, July 18, 2008
The Republican Song. I’m not at all sure this is sincere, but if it is, it’s priceless. As a friend of mine observed, it certainly was thoughtful of him to post his IQ right there on his baseball cap. (And, uh, why does he use a Union Jack guitar strap?)
Wednesday, July 16, 2008 Thursday, July 10, 2008
From the flap copy: “Politicians tell us constantly that they trust the wisdom of “The American People.” New York Times best-selling author Rick Shenkman explains why we shouldn’t—at least when it comes to politics.
Levees break in New Orleans. Iraq descends into chaos. The housing market teeters on the brink of collapse. Americans of all political stripes are heading into the 2008 election with the sense that something has gone terribly wrong with American politics. But what exactly?
Democrats blame Republicans and Republicans blame Democrats. Greedy corporate executives, rogue journalists, faulty voting machines, irresponsible defense contractors—we blame them, too. The only thing everyone seems to agree on, in fact, is that the American people are entirely blameless.
In Just How Stupid Are We?, best-selling historian and renowned myth-buster Rick Shenkman takes aim at our great national piety: the wisdom of the American people. The hard truth is that American democracy is more direct than ever—but voters are misusing, abusing, and abdicating their political power. Americans are paying less and less attention to politics at a time when they need to pay much more: Television has dumbed politics down to the basest possible level, while the real workings of politics have become vastly more complicated.
Shenkman offers concrete proposals for reforming our institutions—the government, the media, civic organizations, political parties—to make them work better for the American people. But first, Shenkman argues, we must reform ourselves.”
I’ll put this one in my to-read list.

From the flap copy: “Politicians tell us constantly that they trust the wisdom of “The American People.” New York Times best-selling author Rick Shenkman explains why we shouldn’t—at least when it comes to politics.

Levees break in New Orleans. Iraq descends into chaos. The housing market teeters on the brink of collapse. Americans of all political stripes are heading into the 2008 election with the sense that something has gone terribly wrong with American politics. But what exactly?

Democrats blame Republicans and Republicans blame Democrats. Greedy corporate executives, rogue journalists, faulty voting machines, irresponsible defense contractors—we blame them, too. The only thing everyone seems to agree on, in fact, is that the American people are entirely blameless.

In Just How Stupid Are We?, best-selling historian and renowned myth-buster Rick Shenkman takes aim at our great national piety: the wisdom of the American people. The hard truth is that American democracy is more direct than ever—but voters are misusing, abusing, and abdicating their political power. Americans are paying less and less attention to politics at a time when they need to pay much more: Television has dumbed politics down to the basest possible level, while the real workings of politics have become vastly more complicated.

Shenkman offers concrete proposals for reforming our institutions—the government, the media, civic organizations, political parties—to make them work better for the American people. But first, Shenkman argues, we must reform ourselves.”

I’ll put this one in my to-read list.

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

The First Annual "Robbed!" Film Festival

The other day, I was watching the movie Boiler Room, and thought to myself for the 40th time, “Ron Rifkin really should have had the Oscar for this role, or at least a nomination.” So it occurred to me that you could make a pretty good film festival out of movies where the actors were robbed of either nominations or maybe of wins, if they were actually nominated. These are the ones I came up with for the First Annual Robbed! Film Festival (actors who were robbed are in parentheses). There are probably several dozen I’m missing:

Boiler Room (Ron Rifkin)
Two-Lane Blacktop (Warren Oates)
Gods and Monsters (both Ian McKellen and Lynn Redgrave)
A Simple Plan (Billy Bob Thornton)
Being There (Peter Sellers)
Dr. Strangelove (Peter Sellers again)
Crimes and Misdemeanors (Martin Landau)
Citizen Kane (Orson Welles)
The Manchurian Candidate (Angela Lansbury)
A Streetcar Named Desire (Marlon Brando)
Pan’s Labyrinth (Ivana Baquero)
Full Metal Jacket (Vincent d’Onofrio)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (Brad Dourif)
Mrs. Brown (Judi Dench)
The Station Agent (Patricia Clarkson and Bobby Canavale)
Cutter’s Way (John Heard)
Sunday, July 6, 2008
You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life. Winston Churchill
szymon:

Show us your desktop, and we’re tell you who you are
submit your desktop: informationisart.com/desktop (please reblog me :#)

szymon:

Show us your desktop, and we’re tell you who you are

submit your desktop: informationisart.com/desktop
(please reblog me :#)

Friday, July 4, 2008
Joe Cocker, simplified. Ok, because I am 12, I cracked up at “All I need is my butt and I.” That and “Oh hey hen, I’m gonna pat all eggs.”  (Nope, those phrases won’t make sense to you until you watch it.)
Best book title EVER. And judging from what little I read of the galley, it’s pretty damn funny, too. If you’re in the US, it’s coming to a book store near you in November 2008. (Of course, it won’t get reviewed in the New York Times, unless they manage to use one of their clever circumlocutions, like, “The title of the book, which asks in colorful language whether everything is as bad as it seems….”)
Best book title EVER. And judging from what little I read of the galley, it’s pretty damn funny, too. If you’re in the US, it’s coming to a book store near you in November 2008. (Of course, it won’t get reviewed in the New York Times, unless they manage to use one of their clever circumlocutions, like, “The title of the book, which asks in colorful language whether everything is as bad as it seems….”)