The USC men's basketball team, coming in with an 11-16 regular season record, came within a couple of bad three-pointers of making the NCAA tournament but in the end couldn't overcome Oregon's two Lukes. Props to Henry Bibby, Desmon Farmer, Rory O'Neill, the Craven twins, and all the players for nearly becoming the second team with a losing record to make the Big Dance.
Today is the second anniversary of blogging here at BillSaysThis. Whoopee. In case you were watching. As opposed to the 2047th anniversary of the assassination of Julius Caesar.
Pakistan, supposedly our ally, still hosts Al Qaeda terrorists, albeit two less than yesterday.
USA Network to show final 'Robbery Homicide Division' episodes late night April 7, 14, and 21.
CBS News asks Was Atkins Right After All? and gives a qualified ("so far...") yes as the answer. Reading the article, I asked myself if these researchers are today's equivalent of 19th century physicists, insisting on the unseen, undetectable ether even though all the evidence argued against them. As one poster in the Active Low Carter Forums pointed out, the establishment is stuck in a Kuhnian paradigm shift. Meanwhile, TS1 and I are losing weight and recent blood tests show good cholesterol results.
For this picture alone, I am really sorry to have missed Wednesday night's Google / Blogger Party
I think congratulations are in order for Dawn, though not for surviving root canal.
From New Zealand, 2001's Stickmen shows that no budget and no access to fancy digital effects doesn't mean no movie. Like many an independent movie, it's quite good even though it wasn't made in Hollywood.
The central plot revolves around pub pool and a high stakes tournament sponsored by the local mobster. We know who Daddy is because he owns the escort service and because he cuts people up when they don't repay the loans he's made them. And Daddy isn't too happy when Jack, Wayne, and Thomas, our heroes, turn out to be quite the players after the three are assigned long odds in the tournament.
In the middle of the movie, the two main female characters Karen and Sara are talking in a bar. Karen tells a story about a man and says, "The moral of the story is that men are stupid." Sara responds, "That's the moral to a million stories." I suppose they're right, though it was the accents that made it sound so hot. These two are quite integral to the ending, in a surprising way.
I was quite surprised to find that this is the first film Hamish Rothwell directed and the first screenplay Nick Ward wrote, not to mention the first starring/significant roles for most of the cast. The script has very few obvious flaws, coincidences, or bad choices--as I wrote this sentence I checked IMDB and found out, sure enough, that it won a bunch of the top prizes at the 2001 New Zealand Film and TV Awards: Scott Wills (as Wayne) for Best Actor, Ward for Best Screenplay, Rothwell for Best Director, and Luanne Gordon (as the honest prostitute Lulu) for Best Supporting Actress in her first feature film
According to the film's website, Stickmen (the name under which our boys team for the tournament), was one of the half dozen most profitable movies made in NZ in the past 20 years, as well as one of the first NZ-produced films to merit a DVD release.
Definitely recommended, cheers for Tivo!
The central plot revolves around pub pool and a high stakes tournament sponsored by the local mobster. We know who Daddy is because he owns the escort service and because he cuts people up when they don't repay the loans he's made them. And Daddy isn't too happy when Jack, Wayne, and Thomas, our heroes, turn out to be quite the players after the three are assigned long odds in the tournament.
In the middle of the movie, the two main female characters Karen and Sara are talking in a bar. Karen tells a story about a man and says, "The moral of the story is that men are stupid." Sara responds, "That's the moral to a million stories." I suppose they're right, though it was the accents that made it sound so hot. These two are quite integral to the ending, in a surprising way.
I was quite surprised to find that this is the first film Hamish Rothwell directed and the first screenplay Nick Ward wrote, not to mention the first starring/significant roles for most of the cast. The script has very few obvious flaws, coincidences, or bad choices--as I wrote this sentence I checked IMDB and found out, sure enough, that it won a bunch of the top prizes at the 2001 New Zealand Film and TV Awards: Scott Wills (as Wayne) for Best Actor, Ward for Best Screenplay, Rothwell for Best Director, and Luanne Gordon (as the honest prostitute Lulu) for Best Supporting Actress in her first feature film
According to the film's website, Stickmen (the name under which our boys team for the tournament), was one of the half dozen most profitable movies made in NZ in the past 20 years, as well as one of the first NZ-produced films to merit a DVD release.
Definitely recommended, cheers for Tivo!
Of course we're all very sad that David Letterman is stuck at home recovering from shingles but Elvis Costello was really good subbing for him last night. Very funny, topical monologue, showing that good writers can make anyone with a little smooth funny, and a terrific vamp on Allison with the lyrics changed to be "I Want to Be a Talkshow Host." Catrell, strapless dress, va-va-va-voom! Mitch Hedberg: stoner? Fer sure, dude! Then, when Elvis and the Imposters played, what else but my favorite Power Pop tune ever, (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding, total happiness.
Got Motes?
Stomach virus really sucks when you're planning to go to the Blogger Blowout!
Mama always told me not to look into the sights of the Sun, Oh but Mama, that's where the fun is....
You have to think that Guy Ritchie appreciates this kind of flexibility!
Should a congressperson resign after saying things that are out and out anti-Semitic? "If it were not for the strong support of the Jewish community for this war with Iraq, we would not be doing this. The leaders of the Jewish community are influential enough that they could change the direction of where this is going, and I think they should." According to Marc Fisher, writing in the Washington Post, Sorry, Mr. Moran, You're Not Fit For Public Office, the answer is yes. Apparently this is not his first really outrageous act. Get this moron out of our government!
TV addicts: a mailing list just for you
For the last couple of months I've been subscribed to Tom Heald's Remote Patrol. I get it as a daily newsletter but you can also read it on TV Barn or subscribe to the RSS feed. Oddly, even though the thing features Tom Heald's name in the title, it seems to be written by Jon Delfin.Regardless of who does the writing, I like it. The newsletter/column is snarky and wacky, just the way I would do it. For example, sampling from today's installment:
- "Mysteries of Noah's Flood" (9 p.m., TLC) reveals that Ham just left the faucet on.
- A Roman catapult is created by a team on "Building the Impossible" (10 p.m., TLC), and then snuck into Iraq to try to convince France to approve the current U.N. resolution.
- "Wild Kingdom" (8 p.m., Animal Planet) suggests that meerkats aren't as sarcastic as Nathan Lane made them out to be in "The Lion King."
Gibson's Passion: Is a storm coming?
I received an excited email, apparently circulating widely in the Jewish community, worked up about a film Mel Gibson is directing and producing called The Passion. The primary concern of the email's author is that this film portrays the Jews (of his time) as responsible for Jesus' death. No small accusation since in the past this canard was responsible for centuries of oppression and murder of my people.But since no one who knows what the film shows just yet is talking, the furor is a little ahead of itself. All Gibson will say in interviews is that his film is accurate according to what's in the Bible. He's a deeply religious man, but a Catholic who worships at his own church, separate from the official hierarchy. Apparently he (and his family) never accepted the changes of Vatican II and went their own way. One of the key elements of that monumental change in the Church was an official acknowledgement that Jews, as a group, were not responsible for killing Jesus.
Get a sampling:
From the Wall Street Journal: The Greatest Story, Newly Told
Weblogger 1: Yourish in response to
Weblogger 2: Cut on the Bias
All launched by the New York Times: Is the Pope Catholic...Enough?
and an LA Rabbi: LA Rabbi Asks Mel Gibson to Reconsider Jesus Film.
If the film, which uses dialog in Aramaic, Latin, and Hebrew but no English (and no subtitles), really does try and turn the clock back, this will be a bad thing at a bad time.
For some reason Postmodernism is a topic that has been catching my eye a lot lately. garret pointed to a very interesting Daniel Dennet essay today, Postmodernism and truth, and I recommend it to any of you interested in a contrast of scientific and philisophical truth or, rather, Truth.
Entertainment, violence, and consequences
For awhile now I've been wondering about the appeal of ultra-violent video games, especially since I found that one of my closest friends loves nother better than a few hours of going toe to toe with Quake 2. So many of the bestselling games are wrapped up in violence, though my cursory attention has also noted a few that offer sexual titillation as well--I've really been confused about where the out and out pornographic games are hiding, to be frank--that I wonder about the appeal of such a high level of violence.We do get fairly explicit violent movies and TV shows, and rap music indulges quite a bit of it too, but nowhere near the level of games like Grand Theft Auto, Halo, or Quake. Why is this difference so substantial? I played Quake a few times at my friend's house but to me there is no thrill in shooting at his character or playing in team mode and shooting monsters the game serves up. Violence is, to me, in nearly any form a terrible and undesirable thing. Necessary at times to defend oneself but always unfortunate. So why do so many people get such a thrill from the game version.
And can the players ultimately separate the pretend from their reality or will it seep through in the long run? I was not surprised at all to read this morning's paper and see that a study has been released correlating quantity of violence seen on television with violent behavior. The researchers interviewed hundreds of children ages six to ten, waited 15 years or more for them to grow up, and went back and examined their behavior. The key findings:
"Men who really liked such television shows as children were much more likely to have pushed, grabbed or shoved their spouses, shoved someone who insulted them, been ticketed for speeding or convicted of another crime.
Women who enjoyed violent shows, including Charlie's Angels, were four times more likely to have thrown something at their husbands, shoved or punched someone else, or been caught speeding or committing another crime."
So what are we letting ourselves in for in another decade or two when today's six to ten year olds grow up and the destruction they craved and learned in Resident Evil and Master of Orion seeps into adult behavior?
Plain old feed...
