Salam is back, in self-deprecating mode. Also, he’s risking his life to tell people what’s going on in Iraq, which is somewhat more than you can say for most bloggers. Via Jim Henley (original).

Bush really nailed it in his tax relief speech (original) yesterday: “And in our society, when somebody demands a good or a service, somebody is going to produce that good or a service…” Not bad. Now, apply that logic to abortions and drugs.

Last Life in the Universe is exactly as good as everyone says (original) it is (original). I’d compare it to Lost in Translation, but then I’d have to get into saying which one is better, and neither of them is: and the expectations might be wrong, of course. So just take a taste of that sad meeting of two divergent people, and move on. Tadanobu Asano’s Kenji is tired of life. Sinitta Boonyasak’s Noi doesn’t know what she wants out of life. It would be cliched to watch them find each other and come out of their shells, except that the story is punctuated with the unexpected, constantly cutting across the cliches. I went in knowing a little too much about the movie, but even knowing what was coming I was startled by the eloquence of the reveals. ...

I just wrote up a little fictional piece, but it sucked and while I know what I need to write, I don’t currently have the brainpower to write it. So here’s the straight dope. Jerry Russell is a right-wing talk radio host at KTLK, in LA. He has a medium-sized and devoted following; he pushes the talking points of his ideological friends and runs down the opposition like any good talk show host on any side of the political spectrum. He rules the airwaves from midnight to 4 AM, and has always been a little nervous about trying to go daytime. In fact, he’s turned down opportunities more than once because he’s afraid he couldn’t compete with the big boys. ...

CNN: President Bush wants to work with Sen. John McCain to take legal action against “shadowy” outside groups that have been spending millions of dollars on ads criticizing the president and Democratic rival Sen. John Kerry, the White House said Thursday. Pesky free speech. What are you gonna do? The thing is, Bush doesn’t get credit for the moral argument against 527s. It is possible to argue that 527s are bad because they tilt the political playing field towards the people with the most money, which of course they do. However, Bush has demonstrated that he doesn’t care about that principle, insofar as he opted out of the public financing system in the primaries. If he cared about an even playing field, he wouldn’t have done that. The same applies to the schedule of the RNC; it’s unusually late so that Bush has more time to spend the money he’s already collected before public financing laws kick in. ...

Hillside Strangler was pretty much blah. If you’re in the market for fictional Hillside Strangler stories with semi-pro acting and over-used looping camera work, you’re good; otherwise it’s worth missing. In short, Samantha Stone is a psychologist who uncovers the truth behind Angelo Buono and Kenneth Bianchi’s killings by finding out what Kenneth is hiding. It’s ploddingly predictable. Also, the subplot — Samantha breaking up with her drug dealer husband Jack — is pointless other than as an excuse for a lot of breasts. It doesn’t go anywhere and it doesn’t particularly reflect the main plot. Chris Fisher’s movies aren’t going to pass as an art film as long as there’s so much pointless exploitation riding shotgun. ...

A number of GenCon pictures, at varying levels of amusement value, can be found here.

From time to time, people talk about Mitt Romney running for President of the United States. For those uncertain, Mitt Romney is the Republican Governor of Massachusetts; he also ran the fairly successful (if you ignore the scandals) Salt Lake City Olympics a few years back. He is a Mormon. (Yes, Massachusetts has a Republican Mormon Governor. Please don’t let that shake your belief that Massachusetts is some kind of a Communist protectorate, though; it’s always fun watching people underestimate Massachusetts and its politicians.) ...

In case anyone’s missing my vital GenCon posts and wants to know where they are, they’re over at The 20’ by 20’ Room as follows: Wednesday night (original), Thursday (original), Friday (original), and Saturday (original). If you don’t care about gaming, don’t bother.

I just unloaded a bunch of FanTasia pictures from the camera in preparation for GenCon; my blog is the beneficiary of this wealth. It wasn’t a heavy picture-taking trip for me but I got a few good shots. Please keep in mind that Montreal is much prettier and funkier than one might think from my photography.