In the future, everyone in Boston will have parasols for fifteen minutes. There are many more vintage Boston postcards here (original), and I suppose some might want postcards from elsewhere.

Blah blah Tom Wolfe writes bad sex scenes (original) blah. Well… I Am Charlotte Simmons is not a great book. It’s not a lousy book either. In any case, though, there’s nothing wrong with the sex scene in context. It’s written as clinically and as awkwardly as it is because Wolfe is using Charlotte Simmons’ voice in that scene, and from the first time we meet her it’s exceedingly clear that she uses dry, clinical language to separate herself from aspects of her life which make her feel awkward. It’s not Tom Wolfe writing uncomfortably about sex, it’s Charlotte Simmons thinking uncomfortably about sex.

Robin McKinley’s Sunshine is much like a Laurell Hamilton book, except that it’s suitable for people with good taste. The territory is familiar: more or less modern day, except there are creepy-crawlies (including vampires) running around and everybody knows it. Sunshine is set right after the war that occurred when that particular fact became public knowledge, I think — the timing is never made clear. There’s a young spunky heroine, there’s a vampire, there’s romance (not necessarily with the vampire), and so on. ...

In a futile effort to save Chris, show off for Brant, and feed my own ego: Texcatlipoca Has Come From The North: a companion game to Huey Long’s Men of Action (original), set in AD 1000 or so in the Yucatan. Brave Byzantine warriors and their Viking allies battle the hordes of the god-king Quetzalcoatl. It uses D20 psionics rules, either Mindshadows or the WotC offering, depending on which is better. No magic. Plenty of Cathars. ...

Happiness is 300 megabytes of cult, SF, fantasy, and horror movie posters thanks to, um, sources. Samples inside, cause I can’t resist the pretty pictures.

The Golden Globe nominees have been announced. Is The Passion of the Christ anywhere in there? Nope. Probably should have been; it’s a spectacular movie with a questionable message, but I don’t think I want award shows to be in the business of judging messages. That’s the kind of thing that leaves Crash without an Oscar. (It did, however, win Best Alternative Adult Feature Film in the Adult Video News Awards in 1998, despite being released in 1996. I don’t know how that works. For some reason the award wasn’t blurbed on the DVD box.) ...

In SI today, Peter King asks (original) “How lucky are the Patriots to have Troy Brown (third interception vs. Cincinnati) to ride to the rescue of their secondary?” Not lucky at all. The Pats have Troy Brown in that position because Bill Belichick has a policy of taking advantage of his best athletes whenever possible; this is why Mike Vrabel caught a touchdown pass in Super Bowl XXXVIII, and it’s why you see Richard Seymour lining up as fullback from time to time. Thus, Belichick asked Troy Brown to play a little defense during the pre-season this year, way before there was any hint of trouble or injury in the secondary. People thought it was a risky idea at the time. You’d think we’d have learned not to try and outthink Belichick by now.

Whatever happened to Bernard Kerik? Well, it wasn’t just his nanny problem (original). Josh Marshall has the lengthy summary (original) of Kerik’s issues.

So we’re gonna do the elections differently in 2008. I’ve been thinking about it. I have a plan. We’re not going to vote for candidates. We’re going to vote for parties. You’ll cast one vote for a party, and you’ll be done. That will simplify things. Every party puts together a list of candidates, with their top candidate at the top and so on. Individuals can run too, but as you’ll see in a moment, it’s not a very good idea. ...

For the curious, the Butt-Numb-A-Thon schedule this year as of around 3 AM in total: Willy McBean & the Magic Machine A Series of Unfortunate Events The Black Swan Blonde Venus Miss Sadie Thompson Phantom of the Opera (2004) The Mutations Toys Are Not For Children Layer Cake Ong-Bak Kung Fu Hustle Can’t say I’m kicking myself for not trying to make it this year. Decent program, but perhaps not worth the physical cost.