And the nominees are… (original) Biggies (i.e., the ones I care about): Best Actor Johnny Depp — Pirates Of The Caribbean: The Curse Of The Black Pearl Ben Kingsley — House Of Sand And Fog Jude Law — Cold Mountain Bill Murray — Lost In Translation Sean Penn — Mystic River Depp is the surprise nomination here. I still think he was better in Once Upon A Time In Mexico, but what do I know? Bill Murray would be my pick for the Oscar. ...
Westwood One Radio Network is owned by Infinity, a subsidiary of Viacom. Viacom’s other properties include CBS. CBS just refused to run issue advertisements during the Super Bowl. Oddly, on the Westwood One pregame Super Bowl show, I just heard two advertisements for LDS Family Services. I didn’t find either of them objectionable; they were both pro-adoption ads designed to encourage people to give unwanted children up for adoption. I’m pretty sure they both counted as issue ads. ...
Suicide bombers killed or wounded 200 Kurds today in Arbil (original). The targets were the headquarters of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and the Kurdistan Democratic Party. No news yet on the affiliation of the bombers. This represents a significant step towards civil war. The question is whether or not the Kurds get to run Kirkuk and Mosul, the big northern oil cities. The Kurds would like to be in charge of these important resources; the Sunnis tend to disagree. ...
Warning: this link contains flash animation and punk rock kittens.
I fought the law, and the law won. The new Pepsi commercial, featuring illegal downloaders. The kid with the speaking role can’t act, but I like it anyhow.
“I can’t refuse to read things because the author is an asshole. I hate people; I wouldn’t get to read anything.”
Every time things calm down for the Celtics this season, I get ready to write down my thoughts on the team and then something huge happens. Screw it. Here’s my snapshot of the moment; next month, when Pierce is traded to Indiana for O’Neal, I’ll revise it. This is why Jim O’Brien was fired, except the personal issues were more important than the writer thinks. As were the trades. That’s all I’m gonna say about that. ...
If the base political form of mockery known as fisking was generally of this quality, I’d be all for it. James Fallows, a former presidential speechwriter, goes over the State of the Union line by line. He’s partisan, but it’s not a partisan set of annotations. He’s coming at it from the point of view of a craftsman. (Via ceej (original).)
It’s a brand-new server! ( See here (original) for details.)
Monday Mashup number 25 is late; I just noticed that I hadn’t posted it from last night. Ooops. Well, here you go anyhow. Today’s ingredient is the musical Chicago. I’m assuming the Catherine-Zeta Jones version, but any version is good. It’s glitz, it’s glamour, it’s crime, it’s the desirability of fame. In particular that last. The musical aspect is certainly optional, and when I say “optional” I mean “I’ll be really impressed if anyone manages to work it in.” Kitchen Stadium is open. Start your mashups.