tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-72260842024-03-07T03:59:45.898-05:00Confidential ReportTrailblazer stay ballin' with vengence, my arts is crafty darts while y'all stuck on Laffy Taffy...Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger236125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7226084.post-1154414038408547592006-08-01T01:29:00.000-04:002007-02-15T03:01:25.300-05:00After all they've done for truthiness...On this evening's Colbert Report (yeah, that's what I do when Lady C is out of town, watch recently Tivo'd shows at 1:30 in the morning), Colbert asked his viewers to revise entries on African elephants to say that the population of African elephants have grown in the last decade or so and I notice that if you search for "African elephants", all the initial entries are currently under Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7226084.post-1154115784019198082006-07-28T15:33:00.000-04:002006-07-28T15:43:04.816-04:00Cruel SummerLady Crumpet is away, leaving me here on my own. I've been extremely lax this month with regard to the blog. I haven't even checked in on the CR in a week or so and have left two or three posts languishing after just a few minutes of work. My ADD is deepening, I fear. I'll try to do a bit more core dumping and less dissertating, maybe that will increase my output.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7226084.post-1151614667741630572006-06-29T16:22:00.000-04:002006-06-29T17:00:49.580-04:00Fashion industry professionals unsatisfied, film at elevenJust spotted this review of the fashion on display in The Devil Wears Prada. As Ruth La Ferla (isn't that the name of a show on Univision?) reports, fashionistas who have seen advance screenings of the movie give it low marks for verisimilitude and understanding of the industry it purports to depict/satirize. Apparently, hold your breath, a Hollywood movie doesn't present the fashion industry in Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7226084.post-1151504349021990082006-06-28T09:18:00.000-04:002006-06-28T10:21:00.520-04:00The Will to Power-ShakesNew Woody Allen piece in the New Yorker. It's mildly cute, but nothing more. If anything, it inspires you to recall earlier, funnier Woody stuff like the "Fabrizio's" restaurant piece in Side Effects and "The Metterling Lists" from Getting Even. I Tivo'd Love and Death last week and watched most of it over the weekend. I've probably seen it 100 times since I was a kid and it's still pretty funny.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7226084.post-1149701405586948982006-06-07T12:53:00.000-04:002006-06-12T17:47:39.396-04:00You know they got a hell of a band...I've been neglecting the blog recently for no good reason, so I won't offer excuses, although I will note that the end of the Supreme Court's current term has produced more whimpers than bangs. The legal cognoscenti have been straining to drum up some sense of moment or outrage at the mostly trivial decisions handed down recently, especially Garcetti v. Ceballos and I'm reluctant to join in. Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7226084.post-1148650827516882112006-05-26T09:38:00.000-04:002006-05-31T16:07:08.206-04:00Somebody set up us the bombI was thrown out of my office in downtown Atlanta yesterday afternoon by the sounding of a fire alarm that eventually was revealed to have been prompted by a bomb of some type. Persistent rumor among those milling about on the street held that a device was discovered in the third floor men's restroom. Explosives teams were present along with about 50 different jurisdictions of law enforcement (weUnknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7226084.post-1148476652074648792006-05-25T13:45:00.000-04:002006-06-07T10:05:22.313-04:00Never Dreamed You'd Leave in SummerI wasn't sure what to think while reading this article in the NYT this Sunday about people's relationships with television shows. Although saying that I couldn't even imagine this kind of commitment to a television show could (and possibly should) carry an air of superiority, I genuinely didn't feel superior at the thought. I can't help wondering how nice it would be to have something in your Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7226084.post-1148571415227209982006-05-25T10:20:00.000-04:002006-06-07T09:58:38.523-04:00Do I have a dog in this fight?Scanning the NYT this morning, I spotted this article from Kelefa Sanneh about the Dixie Chicks' new album and its predictable reception from the country music establishment. Now, I should say up front that (like Sanneh, I've gathered from reading him for some time now) I don't listen to a lot of country music. This is true despite the fact that I grew up with it in a lower middle class suburb ofUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7226084.post-1148519837382256602006-05-24T20:53:00.000-04:002006-05-24T21:17:17.470-04:00Lusty smatteringsSo, I saw these reviews of Sofia Coppola's new movie, just screened at Cannes, on the NYT front page. In it, Manohla Dargis describes the film's reception as a theater filled with "lusty boos and smatterings of applause." It was a memorable phrase, so it wasn't hard to spot when I checked out J. Hoberman's Cannes dispatch filed yesterday at the Village Voice. Hoberman describes Richard Kelly's Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7226084.post-1147789265002386162006-05-16T09:42:00.000-04:002006-05-18T14:21:22.220-04:00President Bush to send National Guard to Florida to Combat Alligator MenaceFollowing his proposal to enhance security on the border with Mexico by adding up to 6,000 National Guard troops, President Bush announced a plan today to send up to 1,500 Guard members to Florida in response to the recent string of alligator-related deaths in the state. "This is a national of laws, and we must enforce our laws," the President said in a press conference this morning. "Even Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7226084.post-1147363082981393292006-05-11T11:55:00.000-04:002006-05-11T11:58:02.983-04:00Update to the last postHoward Kurtz apparently agrees with me. Kurtz also has a lot more details from the Dallas Business Journal story and responses from several outlets.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7226084.post-1147358835717474222006-05-11T10:50:00.000-04:002006-05-11T11:53:06.696-04:00"Americans... need to watch what they say" - Ari FleischerSpeaking of questionable things said in public, another strange controversy is hitting the Bush administration. HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson apparently told attendees at a real estate forum in Dallas that he didn't give a contract to a deserving bidder because the bidder said he didn't like President Bush. His attributed quote: "Why should I reward someone who doesn't like the president, so Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7226084.post-1147358433350205382006-05-11T10:18:00.000-04:002007-02-19T23:06:07.390-05:00Star crosses the line, againTroi Torain, Star of the Star & Buc Wild Morning Show on 105.1 in New York, was fired yesterday for some stupid shit. The story at the link has the details. I used to listen to Star and Buc Wild on Hot 97 sometimes when I lived in NY, despite the fact that Star said some offensive things and some really stupid things (there was a great deal of overlap). Sometimes, he was really funny, but Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7226084.post-1147273504087343122006-05-10T10:55:00.000-04:002006-05-10T11:05:04.106-04:00The Onion crosses the lineAmong this week's news briefs on The Onion, I find this story:Senator Fucks Own Wife Out Of Political NecessityWASHINGTON, DC—Seeking reelection in 2008, Senator Gordon Smith (R-OR) will limit himself to sexual activity with his wife, Sharon. "I love my wife and would never do anything that would weaken our sacred bond of marriage, or reduce my constituent's faith in me," said Smith, who faces Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7226084.post-1147120348355703702006-05-08T23:23:00.000-04:002006-05-09T15:25:55.716-04:00Bruce Willis as a "rebellious raccoon"?As the Summer movie season sorta begins, Sunday's NYT had a Summer movie release schedule section. More coverage of the season can be found at IMDb. Theater attendance has been declining, so it's said, and formerly secure strategies for producing hit movies appear to have become less secure. This weekend's lackluster performance for Mission: Impossible: III (for the sake of accuracy, I note that Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7226084.post-1147101587024957282006-05-08T10:53:00.000-04:002006-05-08T11:19:47.096-04:00Weekend - Busy not gradingI was supposed to finish grading students' exams this weekend in preparation for giving my other exam today, but I found I was far too busy. I did get some grading done, but my time was full with engagements, like a Kentucky Derby party hosted by Andrew and Mary (whose book is coming out later this year!) My wife continued her uncanny winning streak, co-winning the pool (with Scott Strader, who Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7226084.post-1147063850910368752006-05-07T23:58:00.000-04:002006-05-08T10:06:47.410-04:00Entering the FrayHeadlines in the mainstream media address vital questions and important issues raised by current events to be sure, but sometimes they neglect stories that fail to conform to their preconceived notions of what is news. Fortunately, the blogosphere is here to draw our attention to the inconvenient truths conventional journalists are afraid to touch. Last week we saw another instance in which a Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7226084.post-1146947397994523762006-05-06T16:21:00.000-04:002006-05-06T16:29:58.020-04:00Schedule to Clear Your ScheduleIf you'd like a trip to Orlando in mid-July, you might want to attend this conference on conferences. Allegedly, "participation in conferences is one of the means of knowledge communication" and you can learn all about it at the International Symposium on Knowledge Communication and Conferences. One cause for skepticism, perhaps, is the following sentence, found on the above site: An increasing Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7226084.post-1146861122328131282006-05-05T17:28:00.000-04:002006-05-05T17:28:09.313-04:00Shoulda been major, Part 2When I was in 3rd grade, I caused something of a scandal in music class when I chose Hall & Oates' "Kiss on My List" as my favorite song. The music teacher asked, so I told her. As I recall, the modal answer that year (I think it was 1980) was "The Devil Went Down to Georgia". Apparently, a song about the devil was nothing to raise an eyebrow about in my suburban Atlanta elementary school (as I Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7226084.post-1146692451769695632006-05-03T17:08:00.000-04:002006-05-03T17:41:58.533-04:00When I Click Post, I Feel GuiltyI keep thinking of things to post about, then fail to do so or start something and never finish. It's not that I'm lazy (or just that I'm lazy), I also feel genuinely guilty when I'm writing on the blog. I always feel like there's something else I should be doing instead. That's basically true, but after too long without a post I feel guilty about having a blog and never providing any content. Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7226084.post-1141077997643987982006-04-28T17:05:00.000-04:002006-05-01T12:39:01.156-04:00Shoulda been major, Part 1Some weeks/months ago (who can remember) I accidentally read a book when I was supposed to be grading exams or something. I'd stopped over at some friends' place to sit down with whatever I was supposed to be working on (had to be grading exams; nothing drives me to distraction like grading) and discovered the book, Lost in the Grooves, a nice little collection that unearths some overlooked Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7226084.post-1146172842041996622006-04-27T16:57:00.000-04:002006-04-27T20:24:49.666-04:00Life changed, more to comeMy wife and I installed Tivo last night. I've been a Tivo resister for awhile, but we're giving it a try now. I buy lots of DVDs and have a Netflix account, so I don't see a lot of use in watching programming that you have to plan for, shown according to someone else's schedule, so you'd think that Tivo would be perfect for me. However, when I do watch TV, I tend to enjoy the search as much as Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7226084.post-1146057549347915622006-04-26T09:03:00.000-04:002006-04-26T17:03:12.930-04:00Currently on the CR Wishlist...The Complete Mr. Arkadin. I'll definitely pick this up really soon, so it won't stay wishlisted for very long. Three discs, three different versions of one of my favorite movies. I'm thinking that I'll write a comparison of the three versions (two of which I've seen before, albeit in poor transfers) here after I've acquired the set.I don't have a lot of Criterion discs, owing mainly to the fact Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7226084.post-1144849039745176312006-04-12T09:19:00.000-04:002006-04-14T20:05:00.250-04:00Progress, Regress, EgressI've been preparing for a conference and trying to get some other things done recently, so I've had little time or attention for the CR. However, I will get a few things down here just to keep track of what I'm up to.I started a post last week about the release of Ghostface Killah's new album Fishscale and the show he performed at the Roxy on the 6th. The album is fantastic, "best since SupremeUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7226084.post-1143555809275123482006-03-28T09:17:00.000-05:002006-04-02T00:30:47.263-05:00A little more on LemHere's a piece from the Times on Lem that treats his work in much better context than most of the things I've seen. It also serves to remind me of The Mind's I, the anthology where I first read Lem (although it's co-editor's name is Daniel C. Dennett, not Bennett.)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0