Perch
When asked about the best moment of his presidency, President Bush responded that it was when he caught a 7.5 pound perch in his lake at the Crawford ranch. The problem? (If that response wasn’t one already.) The largest perch ever caught was under 5 pounds. As Bill Maher said on his show last Friday, “He lied about a fish, during a time of war.”
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The LA Times gives general praise to writer Charlie Kaufman. He’s currently working on “a new project.”
(0) #5/13/2006
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I feel like posting a rumor. The word is: Karl Rove will be indicted within a week as part of the CIA leak investigation, and he will soon thereafter resign.
(0) #5/12/2006
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My FLDS hatin’ ain’t done yet: here’s the LA Times on the culture of child abuse that exists in Jeffs’s Fundamentalist Mormon compound.
Update: Here’s part two of the story. (double thx, lorelei)
(0) #5/12/2006
What is the best work of American fiction in the last 25 years?
The New York Times Book Review asked hundreds of prominent writers and critics to name the best work of American fiction in the last 25 years. Here are the results. And here is A.O. Scott’s column about the process. I’ve only read one book among the winner and runners-up: Underworld. Of the remaining, I really only desire to read Blood Meridian , although I do feel pressured to read Beloved. (I wish I had never watched the movie version.)
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4th Circuit judge J. Michael Luttig resigns, reportedly because of fustration with the Bush administration (and a high-paying job at Boeing). We’re talking Federalist Society here, people. Who does Bush have left to turn to? Oh yeah, Utah.
(0) #5/11/2006
Eno v. Simon
With Paul Simon’s new album Surprise being produced by Brian Eno, allmusic.com takes the time to present a strangely irrelevant Brian Eno/Paul Simon timeline. E.g.,
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Holy shit. I knew the NSA had some advanced stuff going on, but for some reason I didn’t expect it to be all stored at once. Everyone: switch to Qwest if you can.
(0) #5/10/2006
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Slate asks: Is J.J. Abrams a hack? Like the article writer, I enjoyed M:I:III on a basic level, finding it to be far superior to M:I:II (but not better than M:I:I). But I see her point: Abrams’s techniques are becoming less like a trademark and more of a crutch.
(0) #5/10/2006
Direct Democracy for Congress
Daniel Rosen is running for Congress in Nevada with the following pledge:
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A guide to mob hits in Vegas. Map included. Hey, a mob hit happened less than a mile from my home! (via jk)
(0) #5/10/2006
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The dangers of “rockism” and the perils of “poptimism”. Is it strange that I find these music critics’ self-inspection more interesting than the criticism itself?
(0) #5/9/2006
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Space Colony Art from studies conducted at NASA Ames in the 1970’s. Awesome pictures, and indicative of how much our expectations and funding of NASA have changed over the last thirty years. (thx, m1cr0naut)
(0) #5/9/2006
Fundamentalist Mormon Edition
crazymonk.org: Fundamentalist Mormon Edition. Local writer Richard Abowitz blogs about Fundamentalist Mormon leader Warren Jeffs being on the FBI’s top ten list and links to an article he wrote describing his investigations of Jeff’s community on the Utah/Arizona border. The Phoenix Times writes about the abundance of children in that community being born with severe physical maladies and acute mental retardation due to massive in-breeding.
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jbg from Boston has, through various channels, procured a copy of the agreement made when the Red Sox handed Babe Ruth over to the Yankees for a tidy sum in 1919 (for selfish reasons). The curse is still reversed!
(0) #5/9/2006
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The NYT investigates whether friendships can survive when strained by divergent finances and class status. Is this situation urban- and NYC-centric, i.e., mostly a product of gentrification? Or is it more widespread? (via kottke)
(0) #5/8/2006
G-stung boys and girls
The blow-job filled G-Sting case in Las Vegas has ended (pending appeals) with two convictions – for two county commissioners who took bribes from a strip club owner. One of the commissioners received oral sex at a strip club as part of the bribe. But even crazier: another commissioner who took bribes performed oral sex on the strip club owner – perhaps he kicked in a little extra that week? In any case, for those readers not from around here, this case has been dominating the newspapers for quite awhile now.
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Women and girls aren’t usually G-rated. I’d like to see a similar study for R-rated films.
(0) #5/6/2006
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Italy and Sicily now have their roads marked on Google Maps. The link goes to a map centered on Pezzolo, the village where my parents grew up. (thx, jmay)
(0) #5/5/2006
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Washington Monthly editor Amy Sullivan points out that Democrats are not as lame as you think. Hmm, I didn’t know that the Contract for America was announced merely six weeks before the midterm elections in 1994.
(0) #5/5/2006
