In Absentia

Lauren and I have had a Netflix account since we moved, and I can't recommend it highly enough. One thing it has led to, though, is me reading a lot more movie synopses than I ever have. The more you read them, the more you realize how truly ridiculous it is to try and summarize a movie in a sentence or two. Is Jaws really about a fishing trip? What if I said a movie was about "two friends and their wacky hijinks involving a corpse with a mind of its own?" Am I talking about Weekend at Bernie's or a faithful adaptation of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus, one that incorporates the Clerval storyline?

I also found this site called Ruined Endings. I realize it's stupid, but I get the idea of wanting to know the endings of movies that you'll never see. At the same time, is the ending of Hitch so unpredictable? (SPOILER ALERT: He gets the girl!) Most of the "Ruined Endings" give no background on who the characters are or the main plot points, so it seems more targeted at people who walked out of, say, Home Alone, and are now wondering if Kevin's parents ever return home (SPOILER ALERT: They don't. Kevin dies and the house goes into receivership.)

Perhaps the best spoiler is for Pearl Harbor: "The Japanese lose the war." Shut up, I haven't seen it yet!

T-giving

A fan of the whole brevity thing, I'm wondering what the Slush heads think of the impending holiday of T-giving. Specifically, what's your favorite dish served at the holiday? For me, its definitely the side dishes, particularly the mashed potatoes and the stuffing (or dressing, depending on your culturally adherence). Turkey's turkey, but a truly good mashed potato or stuffing can be transcendent.

Thoughts?

Please Respect Us

Have you seen this commercial on TV yet? The Dept. of Homeland Security issues a heart-rending plea to have its color code system taken seriously, but the whole thing plays like a Daily Show segment. Definitely worth watching.

Same Intelligence?

Yesterday, the White House brought an interesting charge against many Congressional critics of the war in Iraq: you saw the same intelligence we did, what are you complaining about now? I don't think the partisan attacks by either side on this issue is constructive, but I think the White House's assertion of "same intelligence" is laughable at best.

Our national legislature, unlike our executive (which has several), doesn't have an intelligence agency. Congress can only evaluate the intelligence given to it by executive agencies. Now, I have no doubt that in the run up to the war, the White House gave Congress all information it believed was necessary. But it is a stretch to say that Congress had all the information that the White House did. First of all, the White House is a natural filter between the intelligence agencies and Congress. Second, and I'm no expert, most Congressmen are not privy to the full extent of intelligence that the White House does pass on. The intelligence committees get the big picture and then decide what to pass on to the full 535 members. Now, I don't know, for instance, what committees Rep. Mertha (D.-Penn) sits on, maybe he is on intelligence. However, that doesn't negate my basic point: there simply isn't any way that every member of Congress receives the exact same intelligence briefing as President Bush. The offensive argument that the White House is using now doesn't hold up to even basic examination.

Fear Of Needles

Here in Massachusetts, the House on Monday passed a bill that would legalize the sale of syringes through pharmacies without a prescription. Gov. Romney is opposed to the bill, and has not announced yet whether or not he would veto the bill if it passes the Senate. The story is here.

I don't understand the opposition to this bill, though I do like how it comically takes the argument against condom distribution or marijuana legalization and mercilessly stretches that logic beyond the breaking point. Laws like this already exist in 47 other states. They have been proven in states like Connecticut and Rhode Island to dramatically reduce the transmission of diseases like AIDS and Hep. C. So where is the problem? Does anyone really think that readily available hypodermic needles will create even one more new drug user? Give me a break. The drugs people use needles for are hard drugs. No one decides to become an addict, or dust off that old heroin habit, just because clean needles are available. The idea of a drug addict refusing to use a dirty needle, holding out for a clean one, would be funny if there was anything funny about a destructively powerful physical and psychological compulsion. But there isn't. If this country has a problem it's a drug problem, not a needle problem. So the least we can do is prevent the transmission of deadly diseases while we figure out how to get these people the help they need.

McCartney: Cute Beatle, Knight of the Realm and Space Explorer?

Paul McCartney self-invited himself to perform minor Beatles' classic "Good Day Sunshine" as well as his new track "English Tea" for the crew of the International Space Station this morning. The publicity stunt, hailed as the first-ever concert linkup to space, served as the two-man crew's wake-up signal.

The AP-wire had this to say:

"The performance was beamed from the West Coast to the space station crew 220 miles above Earth and broadcast on NASA television, which showed live feeds from space.

[Astronauts] McArthur and Tokarev bobbed up and down and sipped from squeeze pouches through the show, getting a rousing cheer from the audience."

'I can't believe that we're actually transmitting to space!' McCartney said. 'This is sensational. I love it.'"

McArthur, who did a couple flips, noted McCartney's creative achievements and thanked him for playing the songs."

"'That was simply magnificent,' McArthur said. 'We consider you an explorer just as we are.'"

Putting aside Paul's traditional puffery, I'd like to focus on Astronaut Bill McArthur's decision to declare Paul McCartney an "explorer." The comment reads like the typical unfortunate exaggeration that someone not used to dealing with the press comes out with. I'm sure that McArthur felt the need to say something either quotable or profound and somehow found himself placing Paul McCartney on the same pedestal as John Glenn and Neil Armstrong. One wonders if he later slapped his forehead and said, "D'oh."

Still no word on which McCartney thought was more "sensational": the transmission or the sippy squeeze pouches.

Dover, PA Sleeps With The Fishes

Pat Robertson has apparently appointed himself God's mafioso lieutenant, a sort of St. Luca Brasi.

“I’d like to say to the good citizens of Dover: if there is a disaster in your area, don’t turn to God, you just rejected him from your city,” Robertson said on his daily television show broadcast from Virginia, “The 700 Club.”
“And don’t wonder why he hasn’t helped you when problems begin, if they begin. I’m not saying they will, but if they do, just remember, you just voted God out of your city. And if that’s the case, don’t ask for his help because he might not be there,” he said.

Indeed, as it says in Mario 1:15, "God never asks a second favor once he's refused the first, understand?"

Like a lot of things Pat Robertson does, trying to threaten and intimidate voters is beyond ridiculous. If God really wanted those candidates to win, he should have done more than quietly endorse them. Did he do any phone banking? Voter targeting? Where was his GOTV operation?

Happy Birthday

I'd like to give a shout out to St. Mose on this anniversary of his birth....