Sunday, February 27, 2005

It won the Best Movie Title of 1946 Oscar

And the winner is the 1946 20th Century Fox film Home, Sweet Homicide, whic is featured in the current newsstand issue of Films Of The Golden Age, a swell magazine. The link goes to the magazine's website.

Thursday, February 24, 2005

It's hard to goosestep when you are a duck

Too hip for their own good kids would probaby be convinced that Donald Duck is a fascist. Kathy Shaidle has the skinny.
Feed adult version of cute baby here

The Ambler could use your help.

If I posted cute baby pictures of myself, could I get more hits? Might be worth trying, someday.

Wednesday, February 23, 2005

E-mail Gestapo

Sound Politics is reporting that politicians in Washington state are considering a bill to regulate high school students' e-mail and Instant Messaging. Even after school content, as school districts will be obliged to pass stringent anti-abuse rules covering students 24 hours a day, if the bill passes.

Before we fear that those wacky so-cons are at it again, the bill's sponsors are all Democrats.

Monday, February 21, 2005

"My son, the library"

Jordan Bateman announces a laudable plan to read a book a month, and then briefly discuss what he reads, online.

If only I could finish one book per month...

I would try this idea as well. However, when I read a very interesting book on listening prayer (Rivers From Eden by Eden and Brad Jersak) and then follow that by reading Mick Foley's Foley Is Good, I would suspect that the idea wouldn't go that far on my weblog. ("Mrs. Jersak's ideas on listening prayer are much more spiritually edifying than a steel cage match...")

Good luck to Jordan though. He seems like a reader.

Thursday, February 17, 2005

Happy Blog of the day

Things I hate about my Flatmate, in which an anonymous blogger posts once a day about things his roommate does to annoy him.
A post that I wish I had written

Anthony is bang on in his point that the phrase "How are you?" is really overused:

"How are you," "How's it going," and the like, have become clausal synonyms of words like "hello," "what's up," "hey there," and so on. Wouldn't it be awesome if we lived as a community of Jesus followers that honestly answered the question when we saw each other because we were honestly asked?

In my job, I am continually talking to people who use the phrase "How are you?" as something to say when pursuing business. I know that as my job includes a lot of customer service, so I put up with it when I know full well that they don't want to know how I am really doing.

There goes my career in sales, I guess.

So, as a small gesture, I only ask how people are doing when I don't mind hearing how they really are doing, or I really want to know. So, Anthony's further points in his post are well taken.
On an unrelated matter, Swim Fan is available at video stores near you...

Kevin Michael Grace warns Jason Kenney about a certain lady who may be setting her cap for him.

Wednesday, February 16, 2005

And I *want* to dream about Pat Sajak?

I really like Jordan Bateman's blog, but I think that I got up on the wrong side of bed before reading the post below this morning.

Mr. Bateman dreams about Johnny Cash and Pat Sajak and the following happens. Emphasis mine:

In the days and weeks that have followed that dream, something miraculous has happened. My writing has accelerated. In Journalism School, I was always the fastest in every assignment; at the paper, I was quick as lightning. It never occurred to me that there was the possibility of a higher speed.....

[1)On behalf of those of us writers who grind out words as if we are passing kidney stones, I'd like to note that his modesty here is very becoming.
2)If he writes "as quick as lightning", and then writes even faster, does that mean that now Jordan fiinishes his assignments before they are given to him by his editors? :) ]

But things that took me a month before the Johnny Cash dream are now taking me a week. Things that took weeks are now taking days. Things that took days are done in hours. It's bizarre. And the quality of the writing hasn't slipped---in fact, I'm getting better feedback than ever before. That dream upgraded my gift.....What else can I say? God is too good to us. I've blogged this not to brag but to encourage you to ask for the impossible. It could happen to you!.

1) And what if it doesn't "happen to you" because you are a more useful writer for the Lord's purposes if you write slowly? Does that mean God is bad?
2) My crankiness aside, wouldn't be be appropriate for Jordan to pray for those of us not blessed with his writing speed?

It's a neat story though, and I shouldn't pick on him for sharing it. I will now return to bed and get up on the right side now. :)

Tuesday, February 15, 2005

"For me, personally, I don’t feel that I need the sanction of the state to affirm my relationship with someone that I love....

The Ambler discovers that newly lesbian MP Libby Davies is indulging in some biographical sleight-of-hand.

This sort of undercuts her case for governement-sanctioned gay marriage. Can't she call her lesbian partner her "wife" without a government certificate, in the same way that her old partner,the late Vancouver alderman Bruce Eriksen, was her "husband" for years?

Friday, February 11, 2005

Reader e-mails

I'm amazed that I got reader e-mails recently.

Andrew Krupowicz amiably replies to my recent posts on the CUP conference. He notes that sponsors underwrote the Lewis Lapham speech fee, which is good.

He also writes that CUPies now meet in January because hotels and flights are cheaper. Meeting then is not a big deal, he argues, as CUPies have access to lots of donated Macs and other computers.

As someone who had to eat at Tortellini's (aka "Plastic Pasta") or the UBC student pub in order to get a free meal on the nights that we put out The Ubyssey, I can empathize with CUPpies' efforts to save a buck or two. That said, unless these computers have Internet connections that allow the student journalists to not miss class lectures (which I sincerely doubt was the case), CUPpies are missing their first responsibility, attending classes. Saving money is a good thing, but classes are important too.

I'll stop writing like an old crank now. :)

Perhaps other bloggers would have something to say about another e-mail that I received. It is in French, from a recently divorced lady in France, who seems to be looking for a romantic relationship. A photo is attached to the e-mail.

It's only a generic e-mail which does not mention my weblog. I am curious to know whether other bloggers get fan mail like this: "Oh Instapundit, I love you, I want to marry you..."

If that sort of thing can happen to rock stars or actors, can it happen to bloggers too?

My goodness, I'm not hoping. Just asking.

Sunday, February 06, 2005

Are Christian ladies sexually agressive?

Blogger Anthony, at The Institute, suspects, based on a post in his comments, that young are sexually voracious, bouncing from bed to bed:

I'm pretty sure this is something that your church does not talk about. There was a guy at my church that had a girl actually break into his apartment just seduce him into having sex (I'm not sure where she was spiritually, but I know that this is not an isolated case).

What I would like to see is some polling and surveys. I think that perhaps you might see sex amongst the engaged, but rampant casual sex in Christian environments is something that I would not suspect is happening. I sympathize with Anthony's moral watchdog stance, but in the various church circles that I have frequented, I don't see a lot of evidence of this. (Granted, I go to morally conservative churches. If we are talking about the U.S. equivalent of the United Church of Canada, all bets are off.)

Not to be unkind, but this scenario reads like something that one would read in a porn magazine. "I attend a small mid-western church. I thought that everything that I read in your magazine never happened. However, after a Bible study last week, I...."

Anthony is right that we should consider this issue, but I would like to see more evidence before deciding that we have a problem.

Saturday, February 05, 2005

Tonight on CSI:Lubbock...

I like this spoofy post on the recent trends towards stupid TV.

And I can hear the poster I link to say "Recent?!?!" and raise his eyebrow. Yes, even over the Internet. :)

I also know that "spoofy" isn't a word. Should be, though.

Wednesday, February 02, 2005

At least it's more than 30 pieces of silver

Michael Graham, Washington D.C. talk radio host, has sold his opinions on an issue on eBay. The lucky winner seems to be that ubiquitous Golden Palace Casino.

Hat tip:Recovering Liberal.

Speaking of which, my mother jokes that I should sell advertising space on *my* forehead online, following the example of that fellow on eBay. At least that would be better than my current job, she says.

I don't know. Maybe I could trade even up for a Virgin Mary grilled cheese sandwich maker.