November 2010
1 post
Fixing the Deficit →
Very solid, thoughtful game that puts various efforts to fix the budget into perspective: note how little getting rid of earmarks actually saves us. Seems like there should be more options on the table, including repealing Obama’s health care plan for the crazies, especially since many of these proposals have just about as much chance of happening, but still a nice dose of reality, and a...
September 2010
3 posts
Big Love Season One
Me and Caree have been watching this. Caree had seen it before (but only the first season). It’s good. The standouts are Jeanne Tripplehorn as Barb, and especially Chloe Sevigny as Nikki. Nikki starts out as one of the most annoying characters on television, but through sheer force of will Chloe Sevigny makes us like her, so much so that things tend to be a lot less interesting when she or...
The Hangover
Watched this the other day. It was solid, but kind of forgettable. So much of cinematic comedy is so dreadful these days, that when something comes along that is at least fitfully amusing and not embarassingly bad it’s easy to overrate it (for instance, the work of Apatow and friends, and Anchorman, and Tropic Thunder, none of which are bad, but none of which are The Jerk or Monty Python,...
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
So I finally got around to watching the most recent Harry Potter film. As far as the previous films go, my favorite is still the third which was stylish, fun and inventive, but I thought the fifth film was also pretty outstanding, elevating one of my least favorite books in the series. 1 and 2 were middling kiddie fare, and 4 was solid, but not particularly distinguished as a film. And...
August 2010
2 posts
The Shop Around the Corner
I’ve decided to start keeping track of what me and Caree watch. Today we watched The Shop Around the Corner.
It was Caree’s first time watching this. She gave it 4 out of 5 stars.
It was, I don’t know, maybe my 4th time seeing it. I’d give it a Top-Notch. Lubitsch was the goddamn master. He doesn’t underline his jokes, just trusts the audience to keep up, and can...
July 2010
9 posts
"Don't Worry. Bill Murray." →
I just love the guy. This interview left me with a big smile on my face.
This Really Makes Me Want to Visit Amarillo →
Back to Metafilter, this one has some great links in the comments, too.
Review of The History Channel's WW2 program →
Just way beyond a normal person’s suspension of disbelief.
Why Google Can't Build a Social Networking Site →
Way too many buzzwords and metaphors, but there are some really interesting ideas in here. Ideas that tie in to some dissatisfaction with the internet in general and Facebook in particular that I’ve been pondering… more later on this.
Why Parents Hate Parenting →
Studies consistently show that parents are less happy than non-parents; this article considers this (surprising?) result.
Video Interview With Stephen Fry- "What I Wish I'd... →
This one is a little overlong, and I don’t agree with all of his points, but the guy is always fascinating and check out this choice quote, with which I couldn’t agree more:
“I suppose the thing I’d most would have like to have known or be reassured about is that in the world is what counts more than talent, what counts more than energy or concentration or commitment or...
Interesting Profile of Penn and Teller →
Gonna be posting a bunch of cool articles I’ve read recently, this is one of them.
Auto-Tune the News →
June 2010
1 post
May 2010
8 posts
69 Love Songs at the Grey Eagle
Hey, I wrote some notes on the concert Caree and I went to on Saturday (umm, Saturday, February 13th, that is. It took me this long to post it. Whatever). It was a blast.
Disc 1
The Electric Owls
Absolutely Cuckoo-The Luckiest Guy on the Lower East Side
An altogether solid set, which really set the pace for the rest of the show. Lovely, energetic arrangements, and with three or four of the...
The Swingifyer →
This is ultimately a silly little ephemeral thing (like, say, Auto-Tune should have been), but indicative of the interesting ways that computers are changing music and how music is created and how we think about music. And music.
Whatever.
How to Stop Worrying and Love the Internet →
Over ten years ago, Douglas Adams looked at the internet and was exactly right.
Lovely Graphic Novel: The Clouds Above →
by Jordan Crane. In the perfect format to read online.
April 2010
5 posts
Pictures of Beautiful Libraries →
I am drooling.
Mitch Hedberg doing promos for a sandwich place....
March 2010
9 posts
Fixed: The rise of marriage therapy, and other... →
Interesting New Yorker article about Paul Popenoe, one of the fathers of marriage counseling and a eugenics advocate.
WatchGorgeous piano cover of the Pixies’ “Where is My Mind”
A Closer Look at "She Loves You" →
You know it can’t be bad.
Emmy the Composing Computer →
Fascinating, troubling, inspiring article about David Cope and his experiments with AI musical composition.
February 2010
3 posts
Review of God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater by Kurt...
God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater by Kurt Vonnegut
Typically humane Vonnegut farce on capitalism. It’s not among the top tier of Vonnegut’s fiction, though it is the origin of my favorite piece of Vonnegutian wisdom: “Dammit babies, you’ve got to be kind.” And it made for a pleasant and diverting companion on my Greyhound trip home from Chicago.
The ideas are a little...
Review of Danny, the Champion of the World by...
Danny the Champion of the World by Roald Dahl
An almost surprisingly cheerful outing with a moral that you must suspect was dear to Dahl’s heart. It would be nice to think that there are a few “sparkier” parents thanks to this book. (Everyone who was ever a child must long for moments like the one when Danny’s father almost blows the whole adventure because of...
Review of Wise Blood by Flannery O'Connor
O’Connor, Three by Flannery by Flannery O’Connor
One of only two entries that I am aware of in the genre of darkly comic, grotesque Christian novels, and the superior one, as far as I’m concerned (the other being the still-interesting Miss Lonelyhearts by Nathanael West).
O’Connor doesn’t really tip her hat as to which side she comes down on in the actual text...
December 2009
9 posts
Some Good Advice for Readers →
And justification for some of my habits, as well.
Stereotyping Readers By Their Favorite Author →
For my favorite author, it says “People who move to Thailand after high school for the drug scene.” Which is about as inaccurate as you can be. Other contenders for my favorite author lead to results of “People who played Creep by Radiohead while having sex or smoking pot” and “People who took care of their dying grandparents.” and “Men who can’t lie but...
The Fall of Mince Meat Pies →
From the (surprisingly fascinating) article: “Imagine, by way of analogy, that Americans abruptly and collectively lost their taste for cheeseburgers. Imagine the cheeseburger demoted to the same rank as eggnog, ritually consumed only on, say, July 4th. Suppose furthermore that the vestigial cheeseburgers served on America’s birthday were prepared without meat. Now suppose that a...
Jane Austen →
One last interesting link, but it ties into the previous two by being about diaries of a sort, or the sharing of personal journalism. The link will lead you to two articles. The first is about Jane Austen’s letter writing to her sister, and how that activity is not so different from Facebook and Twitter of today. Mail in London and it’s environs was delivered five times a day, and Jane...
Carl Jung →
Another interesting review, this one of Carl Jung’s Liber Novus. Jung was really fascinating to me when I first became acquainted with his ideas, which perhaps unfortunately for me was also when I became acquainted with the refutation of his ideas, and was discouraged from studying him further. But this touches on some ideas I find especially potent, particularly the importance of symbols to...
Sofia Tolstoy →
Interesting review of Sofia Tolstoy’s diaries, the lives of the wives of great men are always fascinating to me for some reason.
