Apple is displaying their notebooks in front of a lifesize wallpaper of a library shelf, with the slogan “the only books you’ll ever need.” What a load of crap. John Resig at Flickr has more photos.
Hat Tip: Virginia Postrel
This Hollywood bigshot’s name was unknown outside the business until columnist Sidney Skolsky linked him with Katharine Hepburn in 1934.
…Is just as good as last season – if not better.
Please present your response in the form of two questions…
The path that led these brothers to this 1977 box-office smash started at Criterion Studios in Miami.
Firefly: Serenity (2) is on right now on SciFi:
“Firefly.” Joss Whedon’s underappreciated, and certainly underviewed, 2002 sci-fi series gets an encore run on the Sci-Fi Channel beginning tonight. Some episodes won’t be encores, but rather “originals” because Fox didn’t broadcast all the shows before canceling the series. Nathan Fillion stars as the captain of a crew of misfits in a futuristic world that feels a lot like a space-bound Western. Morena Baccarin co-stars. With this series preceding runs of “Stargate SG-1,” “Stargate Atlantis” and “Battlestar Galactica,” SCIFI is shaping up as the destination for Fridays.
Why they are starting at the end of the regular broadcasts, rather than the beginning, escapes me.
In the most recent TNR, J. Peter Scoblic takes a basically profound concept, that democratization should not be the be-all and end-all of anti-terrorist foreign policy, particularly when it comes to nuclear weapons:
The war on terrorism is, at some level, a war of ideas: To the extent that we can substitute democracy and liberal values for autocracy and Islamic fundamentalism, we will probably improve our security–and we should therefore try to do so. But freedom–as Richard Haass, Bush’s former director of policy planning at the State Department, has written–is not a doctrine. That is, the spread of freedom cannot be our guiding principle in the war on terrorism, because the spread of freedom cannot protect us from all terrorist threats, particularly the immediate ones. In fact, in the short term, democratization appears to exacerbate, rather than ameliorate, terrorism. The case in point is, of course, Iraq, which, according to the National Intelligence Council, now serves as a training and recruitment ground for the next generation of jihadists–its popularly elected government notwithstanding. Even nations that successfully transition to democracy can breed terrorism: As former counterterrorism czar Richard Clarke has written, “In Indonesia, which just achieved its third democratic transfer of power since Suharto’s rule ended in 1998, the jihadist movement is growing stronger, as it is in other Asian democracies. In Algeria, free elections in 1990 and 1991 resulted in victories for those who advocated a jihadist theocracy.” Even if the president’s assumptions about the pacifying effects of representative government are correct, democratization is a long-term process, taking years, decades, even centuries. Bush doesn’t dispute this; in his second inaugural address, he said that spreading freedom would be the “work of generations.”
Unfortunately, we don’t have that kind of time–not when the next terrorist attack could be nuclear. According to a recent survey conducted by Senator Richard Lugar, proliferation experts believe on average there is about a 30 percent chance of a successful nuclear attack somewhere in the world within the next ten years. Former Secretary of Defense William Perry has put the odds of a nuclear attack on U.S. soil by 2010 at 50 percent. Graham Allison, author of Nuclear Terrorism: The Ultimate Preventable Catastrophe, has put the odds at better than half within ten years. Unlike an attack with a conventional weapon–or even a chemical, biological, or radiological weapon–a nuclear bomb has the potential to radically alter the U.S. economic and political landscape. Although we think of the September 11 attacks as having “changed everything,” they did not. Nearly 3,000 lives were lost, but the political and economic fabric of the country was not torn apart. Clearly, our foreign policy underwent a massive shift, but day-to-day life in the United States proceeds much as it did on September 10, 2001.
And then he turns it on its ear, in an idiotic, three-page diatribe against the Bush administration, mistakenly categorizing democratization as a central tenet of “conservatism”.This is absolutely incorrect. As TNR’s own Martin Peretz has commented on in the past, democratic evangelism has traditionally been the province of liberals (who took us into Korea? Vietnam? Somalia?).
The fact is, this issue is on a different plane than traditional liberal/conservative differentiation. I certainly know this, as the issue of Iraq has cleaved myself, and my fellow libertarians into opposing factions. The situation has been deftly explained in this OpinionJournal article by Charles Krauthammer::
The post-Cold War era has seen a remarkable ideological experiment: Over the past 15 years, each of the three major American schools of foreign policy–realism, liberal internationalism and neoconservatism–has taken its turn at running things. (A fourth school, isolationism, has a long pedigree, but has yet to recover from Pearl Harbor and probably never will; it remains a minor source of dissidence with no chance of becoming a governing ideology.) There is much to be learned from this unusual and unplanned experiment.
The era began with the senior George Bush and a classically realist approach. This was Kissingerism without Kissinger–although Brent Scowcroft, James Baker and Lawrence Eagleburger filled in admirably. The very phrase the administration coined to describe its vision–the New World Order–captured the core idea: an orderly world with orderly rulers living in stable equilibrium.
I think Krauthammer’s only error is that he fails to give credence to the strength of isolationist sentiment, as evidenced by Pat Buchanon, and my friends at CATO.
Ok, as promised before, here’s an easy one: The format is Jeopardy; please present your response in the form of a question…
While these two Texas siblings have enjoyed a great deal of fame and success over the past decade, their older brother, Andrew, hasn’t fared so well.
Liz Phair’s next album, Somebody’s Miracle, is scheduled for release Oct. 4th.
I must say, after hearing Exile in Guyville, I had not been more excited by a new act since Arrested Development’s 3 Years, 5 Months & 2 Days in the Life Of…. But since then, while Arrested Development has blazed new trails (I have yet to hear Among the Trees, but understand it’s great), Liz has failed to impress. But, with the “unplugged” format, and Shanks and Alagia on her team, I have high hopes.
David at Oxblog is skeptical about WaPo’s prediction of a massive draw-down in Iraq next year:
There are some huge ‘if’s. I am fairly confident that the political process will head in the right direction, but the Iraqi security forces have a very long way to go. The question then is why the WaPo bothered to make such a fuss over Casey’s statement. This sentence from the Post provides the answer:
Rumsfeld and other officials have rejected making a deadline [for withdrawal] public, but a secret British defense memo leaked this month in London said U.S. officials favored “a relatively bold reduction in force numbers.”
In other words, this is supposed to be a story about hypocrisy in the White House, courtesy of yet another British memo. I have to admit, I was a little nervous when I saw that the supposed pullout had briefly become the top story on the WaPo homepage. But now it seems pretty clear that the headline writers were jumping the gun.
I could see us having somewhere just north of 100K troops in Iraq by the end of next year. But I would think that if any “secret” plans were afoot for a large-scale draw-down in force level, somebody in the milblogosphere would know about it.
This is via Glenn Reynolds, who wonders where our troops will go from here. It looks to me as though the political ground is being softened for a possible move against Syria.
Just a reminder: Steven Bochco’s Over There pilot episode airs tonight at 10 EDT (with encores at 11, and 1am), on FX. Between Bochco and FX, I’m expecting a high standard of quality. Bochco promises to stay out of the politics of the Iraqi campaign (and I doubt Murdoch would buy his show if Bochco wanted to), and concentrate on the personal stories of his fictional platoon, and their families back home.
Update: Well, the reviews, the real reviews, from real service people, are coming in on this, and just about every other milblog on the planet. And, as in this Seattle Post-Intelligencer story, are running on the negative side of mixed.
A lot of the criticism centers around the details: The Taster’s Choice slam, for instance, was excellent. Other details, like the buried IED, with a little flag on the trigger, where down-right idiotic. Bochco certainly needs some qualified technical consultants involved in production.
The most prevalent negative opinions though, seem to center around the stereotyping of the characters, and the matter of good taste, over producing an entertainment program while people are fighting and dying.
I’m a bit more philosophical about it. I mean, during WWII, Washington actively encouraged and supported Hollywood’s production of war movies. But, because of that, there was a massive propaganda factor. As far as being true-to-life goes, relative to the war movies produced from 1942 to 1945, Over There is a newsreel. Further, anyone that gets there bustle in a bunch over the stereotyping simply doesn’t understand the realities of producing series television. It takes time to flesh-out a character; if this squad is as cartoonish at the start of season two as it is now, that would be a problem. But, for a pilot, this is pretty much par-for-the course.
Could it be Carol Lynley? The movie is The Pleasure Seekers (1964). How do we know?
Oh, BTW, this is movie trivia question for 7/27/05: While we all know what Ann-Margaret looks like, and can identify her at a glance, How do we identify Carol Lynley from the other ravishing beauties in this film?
Update: Gawd: All I can say is, I hope I’m never the victim of a crime with you guys as witnesses – you would have a police sketch artist pulling his hair out. Ok, so one of you got the distinctive lip-curl right, and another (vaguely) got the eyes. But you missed the #1 point – the prominent, rounded cheekbones. This was a feature she shared (to a lesser degree) with her other blond, “wholesome and fresh-faced” predecessors, Debbie Reynolds and Doris Day.
Anyway, if you are interested, here’s some other Carol minutiae: Any movie trivia buff will tell you that it was actually French vocalist Renee Armand singing The Morning After on The Poseidon Adventure, with Carol lip-syncing. But, did you know that Carol actually recorded the number herself, and the final result was a mix of their two voices?
Ok: next one, I’ll go easier on you. 🙂
AMC is currently playing Suddenly, Last Summer, a film that has long been on my “must see, but never have” list.
Dammit, I’m too worn-out to stay up for this, and too drunk to appreciate it if I did. I must get TiVo.
Oh, but it’s AMC, and they have commercials. Those blighters!
Update: Just a hint at how drunk I am: To get at what is perhaps Kathy’s greatest role, along with this and The Lion In Winter, I first had to reference the cast of Star Trek: Enterprise, which, via Scott Bakula, lead me to Quantum Leap, and Dean Stockwell, who, of course, starred, along with Kathy, in Eugene O’Neil’s unforgettable Long Day’s Journey Into Night..
Later with this: I’m off to bed.
Update II: Still can’t sleep. Man, I still can place this. And could I, were I sober? I’m at the human sacrifice scene. And tell me, folks,: can you tell me Liz’ state-of-mind here?
Update III: It’s over now, and way more questions than answers. C’mon, chime in.
Coca-Cola is sponsoring a commercial program featuring various souls humming the tune to Donovan’s There Is A Mountain. Oh, please, spare me the grief! This purveyor of mindless tripe has become some sort of central ’60s touchstone. I can still recall one of our elementary-school parodies on one of his songs:
Jennifer, juniper, stuck up in a tree.
Jennifer, juniper, has to take a pee.
Watcha’ doin’, yes you know it.
To release it, you must show it.
Watcha’ doin’ Jennifer my love?
This is like, 5th grade. And are not these lyrics better than the original?
Most of you know I am a regular viewer of several “ambush” reality shows, including Discovery’s Overhaulin’.
But I have to make this observation: It seems as though these are taking on a “Queen For A Day” (whether or not the show is Queer Eye for the Straight Guy) bent. This is to say: the producers seem to be gravitating toward subjects with increasingly heart-rending back-stories. Case-in-point: tonight’s Overhaulin’ trickee was a kidney donor for one of the “insiders”.
This is all well-and-good; I’m happy to see such deserving souls get rewarded for the sacrifices they have made. But, eventually, the well will run dry. As it did in the early ’60s, with Queen for a Day, so it will today. The public’s fascination with the “Queen for a Day” format will wane. And then such shows as Overhaulin’ and Queer Eye will be up a creek without a paddle.
Foreign Policy’s Failed State Index is a must read.
Failed State Index map
It is alarming, particularly in light of the success of some nations in the post-colonial world, that so many nations are either “failed” or “at risk”. These failures are, virtually without exception, due to failure to institute proven political and economic reforms. And, as James Bovard of CATO writes, increased, or even continued foreign aid is not the answer.
Correlate these three names with one movie title:
Sinclair Lewis
John Steinbeck
George Clooney
Update, 7/31/05: Oh yeah; Sullivan’s Travels is on TCM right now. 🙂
Veronica Lake – Yum-yum. 🙂
Oh, here’s some interesting trivia, dcourtesy of TCM’s Robert Osbourne: Sturgis originaly wanted to use Barbara Stanwyck (not a bad choice). But the studio insisted he use Veronica (a better choice).
Lance Armstrong wins seventh Tour de France:
Stage 20 results
1. Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz), T-Mobile
2. Bradley McGee (Aus), Francaise des Jeux, same time
3. Fabian Cancellara (Swi), Fassa Bortolo, s.t.
4. Robbie McEwen (Aus), Davitamon-Lotto, s.t.
5. Stuart O’Grady (Aus), Cofidis, s.t.
6. Allan Davis (Aus), Liberty Seguros, s.t.
7. Thor Hushovd (Nor), Credit Agricole, s.t.
8. Baden Cooke (Aus), Francaise des Jeux, s.t.
9. Bernhard Eisel (A), Francaise des Jeux, s.t.
10. Robert Förster (G), Gerolsteiner, s.t.Overall
1. Lance Armstrong (USA), Discovery Channel
2. Ivan Basso (I), CSC, at 4:40
3. Jan Ullrich (G), T-Mobile, at 6:21
4. Francisco Mancebo (Sp), Illes Balears, at 9:59
5. Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz), T-Mobile, at 11:01
6. Levi Leipheimer (USA), Gerolsteiner, at 11:21
7. Mickael Rasmussen (Dk), Rabobank, at 11:33
8. Cadel Evans (Aus), Davitamon-Lotto, at 11:55
9. Floyd Landis (USA), Phonak, at 12:44
10. Oscar Pereiro Sio (Sp), Phonak, at 16:04
This from Rachel Lucas:
HOUSTON (AP) – Like a scene from the horror movie “The Birds,” large black grackles are swooping down on downtown Houston and attacking people’s heads, hair and backs.
Authorities closed off a sidewalk after the aggressive birds, which can have 2-foot wingspans, flew out of magnolia trees Monday in front of the County Administration Building.
“They were just going crazy,” said constable Wilbert Jue, who works at the building. “They were attacking everybody that walked by.”
The grackles zeroed in on a lawyer who shooed a bird away before he tripped and injured his face, Jue said. The lawyer was treated for several cuts.
It appears that the birds are protecting their offspring. On Monday a young grackle had fallen out of its nest and adult birds attacked people who got too close, Jue said.
Another bird attacked a deputy county clerk.
“I hit him with a bottle,” said Sylvia Velasquez. “The other birds came, and one attacked my blouse and on my back.”
Two women came to help her after she fell to the ground, and the birds attacked them as well. The group escaped by running into the building.
A little research on this phenomena indicates that blackbird infestation seems to be a problem all over the US, east of the Rockies. Here in California, we thankfully experience these loud, annoying birds only occasionally. But, when they move in, they seem to displace about every other bird in the area – save for the equally aggressive seagulls, and the hawks, which likely find them rather tasty.
I can’t believe I’ve missed this for over a week. From Conn. Senator Joe Lieberman’s office:
Congress, to the officials of the Bush Administration, and to all Americans to build support for an increase in the size of our army by an additional 80,000 soldiers over the next four years to an end strength of 582, 400. That is what the “United States Army Relief Act of 2005” will do. We take this action because:
We believe that the current pace of troop deployments to Iraq requires too much of the men and women of our Army. Too many of them have been sent there too often and stayed too long and that has had an undesirable affect on their families, their communities, and the capacity of the Army to meet recruitment goals.
We believe that greater Army end strength will give our war fighting commanders in Afghanistan and Iraq the capability they need to surge the number of troops on the ground there if facts on the ground require that.
We are concerned that if other crises occur elsewhere in the world in the years ahead we won’t have the appropriately sized Army trained and ready to go there to deal with these other crises.
And we are concerned that too much of the experienced institutional Army, that part that raises, trains, and supports the combat forces, is being reduced to make up for this combat troop shortage, depriving today’s soldiers of the highest level of training and education and support, and threatening to deprive tomorrow’s soldiers –including particularly tomorrow’s officers–of the knowledge and experience they will need to fight the wars of the future.
Indeed.
I really don’t know enough to make a qualified argument here, But, as I own the soapbox, let me make the initial assertion, and then yield such time as any qualified commentator might wish, to make their point:
Resolved: As evidenced by the mischief they have caused, the Archangels Gabriel and Satan are one-in-the-same.
Joe, as our resident lay-authority, I invite you to take the first stab.
In response to the almost off-the-cuff response of my readers/contributors to my previous movie trivia puzzles, I have decided that the best way to “kick it up a notch” is to invoke a “Six Degrees of Separation” format; while, albeit, tonight’s puzzle does not involve Donald Sutherland, Stockard Channing, Will Smith, or even Kevin Bacon. 🙂
So, first, a dip into the wading pool (especially for this readership): Correlate these two names: Harrison Ford, Raymond Loewy?
Oh, and like I said: This is but a wadding-pool gig. We are only at one, or perhaps two (depends upon where you draw the line) degrees of seperation.
I absolutely can’t believe the domestic MSM hasn’t picked-up on this:
A senior Chinese general has warned that his country could destroy hundreds of American cities with nuclear weapons if the two nations clashed over Taiwan.
Major general Zhu Chenghu, a dean at the National Defence University, said he was expressing a private opinion, but his comments, the most inflammatory by a senior government official in 10 years, will fuel growing concerns in Washington about the rise of China.
I was sort of sleeping through tonight’s rebuild on a ’68 Satellite convertible, until I saw the crate motor they were putting in – A FUCKING HEMI!
OH-YEAH BABY!
Dude – you idiot: I am currently watching tonight’s episode of Blow Out. And Jonathan Antin’s innocence has me sort of taken aback.
He’s just done his QVC bit, and talking to his “Jonathan Product” people, is wondering how they can be “sold out.” He’s wondering “why can’t we just make some more?”
Dude, it’s a fucking commodity product. Of course you could kick the plant up, and double production. But it’s all fucking hype. Why do you think Ferrari is not going to build any more 575 SuperAmericas, even though their whole production run is sold out?
This innovative director set Hollywood’s infamous Production Code on its ear with his artful circumvention of the “three second” rule in this movie.
Judging by her comment on my earlier post, this AP report from Brian Murphy should make reader Kayse quite happy:
BIRMINGHAM, England — Ten days after Islamic radicals carried out deadly attacks on the London transport system, Britain’s largest Sunni Muslim group condemned the bombings.
On Sunday, the group issued a binding religious edict, a fatwa, saying the July 7 suicide bombings were the work of a “perverted ideology.”
The Sunni Council denounced the bombings as anti-Islamic and said the Qur’an, the Muslim holy book, forbade suicide attacks.
“Who has given anyone the right to kill others? It is a sin. Anyone who commits suicide will be sent to Hell,” said Mufti Muhammad Gul Rehman Qadri, the council chairman.