Thursday, January 29, 2009

So Mark Madden Has A SuperFan





Big thanks to Kevin at [Barry Melrose Rocks] for finding this one.

Mark Madden is either running a blog about himself, or well, we don't even know.

[MrFridayAfterNoon] apparently follows everything Mark Madden does.

For example here are a list of Blog Titles from Superfan the past few days--

Oct. 22

That’s Mark or Mr. Madden to you Jerky!

Oct. 21

Mark Madden Haters United on Gay Message Boards

Oct. 20

Mark’s name evoked at show this weekend

Oct. 20

Mark Madden compared to Bubba the Love Sponge?


Madden is whatev at this point, but are we really at the stage where someone is tracking every mention he gets?


Charlie was going to comment on how gay this is, but he is on a direct flight to Sweden to "look into," this whole Dildo thing.


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Wednesday, January 28, 2009

MAD MONSTER PARTY?



One of my alltime favorite Halloween treats when I was a kid was when local channel 9 WOR in New York would broadcast MAD MONSTER PARTY? (the question mark is part of the title-who knew?) on their 4:00 MOVIE.This wonderful Rankin/Bass "Animagic" feature was released theatrically in 1969-but really found its legs when it was syndicated to local stations in the 1970s. It's cast boasts a who's who of movie monsters - Count Dracula! The Wolf Man! The Mummy! The Invisible Man! Frankenstein's Monster! Dr. Jekyll! Mr. Hyde! The Creature (from the Black Lagoon)! The Hunchback of Notre Dame! It! (aka King Kong) and Phyllis Diller! The only one missing was John McCain.Boris Karloff voices Baron Von Frankenstein - who assembles these characters (The Worldwide Organization of Monsters) to announce his retirement - and introduce his nerdy nephew Felix and shapely new creation Francesca to the group. Even as a gay kid, I knew Francesca was HOT! I wonder if Francesca was the visual inspiration for MAD MEN's? Hmmm...With character designs by the great Mad Magazine cartoonist Jack Davis, and some of the best stop-motion imagery ever, MAD MONSTER PARTY? is an absolute must-see for animation lovers. While the story may now be a bit slow-moving, and not as clever as I remember it from my childhood - I'd rather sit through this than the more recent "monster mash" called VAN HELSING any day of the year.MAD MONSTER PARTY also features some great musical numbers...and come on, you gotta love Phyllis Diller - here a pic of me and my parter John with Ms. Diller at her lovely Brentwood home last year. She's 91 and still a hoot!
For more info about Rankin/Bass visit Rick Goldschmidt's enchanting blog.

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Monday, January 26, 2009

This year's most expensive colleges



This is timely, in light of this morning's post on paying for private university: CampusGrotto has a list of the most expensive colleges for the 2008-2009 school year.

Here's the top 10 for tuition only:
  1. Bates College - $43,950
  2. Middlebury College - $42,910
  3. Colby College - $42,730
  4. Union College (NY) - $40,953
  5. Connecticut College - $40,900
  6. George Washington University - $40,392
  7. Vassar College - $39,635
  8. - $39,450
  9. Bucknell University - $39,434
  10. Colgate University - $39,275

And here's the top 10 for tuition plus room and board:
    - $53,166
  1. George Washington University - $50,312
  2. New York University - $50,182
  3. Georgetown University - $49,689
  4. Connecticut College - $49,385
  5. Bates College - $49,350
  6. Johns Hopkins University - $49,278
  7. Skidmore College - $49,266
  8. Scripps College - $49,236
  9. Middlebury College - $49,210
Here's a list of the 100 most expensive schools by tuition. And here's a list of the 100 most expensive schools by total cost.

In case you were wondering, the school my dentist's daughter is attending is not in the top 10, but is in the top 25. Yikes!

Via The Consumerist.


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Sunday, January 25, 2009

Dear Nielsen Families: If You Guys Don't Watch 30 Rock, I Will Hunt You Down



Tina

(Tina says: Pwitty pweeeeaze watch 30 Rock!)

If you have watched TV at all these past few months you have probably seen 30 Rock's one-woman PR firm, Tina Fey. She has taken just about every air-time opportunity, be it on SNL, Late Night With David Letterman, or even the Emmys (where 30 Rock won Outstanding Comedy Series, Outstanding Lead Actor and Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series, and Best Writing in a Comedy Series), to implore American TV views to please, for the love of God, watch 30 Rock.

SIGH.

Yet again, a comedy I adore is not doing well in the ratings. Yet another sharp-witted, outstandingly written social commentary/satire is a hit with critics, but a complete flop with the Nielsen familes. Why does this always happen to me? Why must I relive the death of Arrested Development again? Why do you Nielsen families want to ruin my television experience all the time?

The deja vu is seriously heartbreaking. While 30 Rock has always had its share of celebrity guest stars and cameos, due to being about a variety show produced at NBC Studios, this year they are pulling out the big guns. For crissakes, OPRAH is guest-starring. Unfortunately, star-studded sitcoms are very often a telltale sign of a sinking ship. Arrested Development made the same desperate attempts at attracting new viewers in its third season, and we all know how helpful that was, now don't we?

I love Tina, and adore pretty much every moment she spends onscreen, but I am starting to get unbearably sad and panicked every time I hear her beg us all: "Watch 30 Rock! Please! PLEASE, WATCH MY SHOW!" I feel hopeless, too, because while I watch her show religiously, I don't have one of those boxes in my house that gets to help decide what we watch. If people like me got Nielsen boxes, we would all be watching the fifth season of Arrested Development, the sixth season of Firefly and the tenth season of Sports Night. Instead, we have the eleventy-hundredth season of ER and, for some reason, Two and a Half Men?

I really want to know, who are these people with these little boxes that tell the Powers That Be what to renew and what to shitcan and then convert months later to DVDs they will market to loyal suckers like me who will snatch them up and watch all the episodes in rapid succession every six months or so, until reaching the last last episode, when they will then cry tears of mourning because there will never again be another episode of that show, ever? If you know any of these Nielsen families who steal my beloved shows from me, can you please send me their home addresses? Because I am sick — SICK, I TELL YOU! — of suffering this indignity.

I am gonna hunt you down, Nielsen families. And once I find you, I am gonna strap you Nielsen moms and dads down and make you watch 30 Rock until your sides ache with laughter. And if, after this, you do not tune into your local NBC affiliate every Thursday at 9:30 p.m. (8:30 central) and watch 30 Rock, I will do much worse.

I will hack your Tivo so it erases all your shows and records over them with 60 Minutes and reruns of 7th Heaven. I will make it so every channel you flip to is C-SPAN or the Home Shopping Network. And then I will put all your toilet seats up and leave the cap off your toothpaste. I will not wipe my feet before entering your house, either, and may leave your refrigerator door open. I will also feed your cat the really expensive cat food, so that he will snub the cheap stuff you buy him and perhaps barf it into your favorite shoes, and then you'll have to go buy the fancy cat food to keep him from barfing in your shoes. I am so serious, Nielsen families. Do not fuck with me.

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. Watch 30 Rock ... or else.




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Saturday, January 24, 2009

TV Tuesday



"Heroes" has become the new "My Three Sons". We've got Robbie (Nathan), Chip (Sylar), & Ernie (Peter).These three boys are a handful, and now Dad Petrelli has to take care of them. Linderman must be the lovable Uncle Charlie! Let's make the jump.......

My Three Sons

Can I just say this one thing? I'm telling you that "My Own Worst Enemy" is fun to watch. Edward & Henry fighting in their own mind. They scream at each other all the time on their cellphone video camera. Henry's a penny-pincher & Edward's always spending all his money. So Henry retalliates by giving away all Edward's prize possessions. The spy bullshit is just an aversion for the real battle & that's who is real and who is not.

"Dancing with the Stars" had one really awesome moment last night. Carrie Ann said aloud what I've been saying for weeks. It's time for Cloris to go. Her performance was a complete disaster & Carrie Ann pointed out that it was too bad Toni Braxton went home last week so we could watch Cloris' trainwreck this week.

ABC's "Opportunity Knocks", that game show Ashton Kutcher dreamed up & usually airs on Tuesday night, has been cancelled. (All those families lost their homes to foreclosures and had to sell the prizes they won.)

"Pushing Daisies" which airs on Wednesday nights, is in serious trouble. With weekly rating falling, it may be the next show to be cancelled. ( Maybe Ned can touch it and bring it back from the dead, but another show would have to die in it's place. Hey, maybe "Desperate Housewives". Those hags could go to the grave!)

FOX definitely cancelled "Do Not Disturb" after only two episodes. Does anyone remember what this show even was?

CW has cancelled "Valentine" which aired on Monday nights and is considering taking "Easy Money" off the air too.

Tonight's the night for what?

ABC:
"It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown" at 8pm. (special)
"Dancing with the Stars: The Results" at 9pm. The RiverDance Judge is gonna riverdance for us tonight. Edyta will replace Julianne as Cody's partner. Julianne is having her appendix removed today.
"Eli Stone" at 10pm. (new) I just found out that Eli was Angelina Jolie's first husband. No wonder his mouth has that permanent downward frown.

CBS:
"NCIS" at 8pm. (new)
"The Mentalist" at 9pm. (new)
"Without a Trace" at 10pm. (new)

NBC:
"The Biggest Loser: Families" at 8pm. (new)
"Law & Order: SVU" at 10pm. (new)

FOX:
"House" at 8pm. (new)
"Fringe" at 9pm. (new)
CW:
"90210" at 8pm. (new)
"Privileged" at 9pm. (new)

BRAVO: "Real Housewives of Atlanta" at 10pm. (new)
FX: "The Shield" at 10pm. (new)
DSC: "Dirty Jobs" at 9pm. (new)
MTV: "Paris Hilton's New BFF" at 10pm. (new)
SciFi: "Scare Tactics" at 10pm. (new)

While I'm writing this schedule, I'm watching "Tin Man" on USA. They are showing all three parts of this mini-series this morning. I know that doesn't help you guys. By the time you read this, it will be over. It's a really good version of the "Wizard of OZ" with a twist ( and I don't mean like that stupid movie with Diana Ross & Michael Jackson) If you would like to see it or watch it a second time, set your DVR's.
USA is airing "The Tin Man" again:
"Part One" at 2am Wed. morning. (10/29)
"Part Two" at 2am Thurs. morning. (10/30)
"Part Three" at 2am Fri. morning. (10/31)

One movie that I recommend: "Sunset Boulevard" the 1950 classic starring Gloria Swanson & William Holden playing on TCM at 8pm.

love
chooch

"GHOUL GUIDE"

FMC:
4pm: "Omen IV: The Awakening" (1991)
6pm: "The Mephisto Waltz" (1971) Alan Alda
*pm: "Alien: The Director's Cut" (2003)

FX:
5pm: "Alien vs Predator"
7:30pm: "The Omen" (Remake 2006)

SciFi:
11pm: "Reign of the Gargoyles" (2007)
1am (wed): "Gargoyles: Wings of Darkness" (2004)
3am: "Maneaters" (2007) Gary Busey

AMC:
8pm: "Jeepers Creepers" (2001)
10pm" (1998)
12am (wed): "American Werewolf in London" (1981)
2am: "The Dark Half" (1993) Stephen King
4:30am: "Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster" (1965)
6am: "The Mummy's Hand" (1940)
7:30am: "Psycho" (Remake 1998)
10am: "Pet Sematary" (1989) Stephen King
Noon: "Pet Sematary II" (1992)

My Pick for the wee hours is". I love Jennifer Tilly. She's a real "doll" in this film!

love
Big Booty


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Friday, January 23, 2009

Pajiba Love 10/28/08



presidentwhore.jpg


What's Even More Annoying Than Sarah Palin and Smells Like Whore?

Pajiba Love / Stacey Nosek

Remember how Paris Hilton did that video on Funny or Die with Adam McKay and it was self-aware and snarky and hilarious? Yeah, well she had to go and ruin it. Of fucking course. (WIMB)

And it other Paris Hilton news, they are literally putting her into a rocket and sending her away from the Earth. I am not making this up. (Celebitchy)

And here are ten other whores porn stars who have run for public office. Really? Ten? (YBNBY)

Oh man... Poor Chris O'Donnell. But this is fuckens hilarious. (It's Chris!)

It's a little known fact: I am actually trained to immobilize a man using nothing but a spork and good old fashioned moxie. (QuizLaw)

Since there was a base stolen during the World Series last night is giving away free tacos today from 2-6PM. (FreeTacos)

Was there a conspiracy involving the weather situation for the World Series? I've got a conspiracy for you: how 'bout God is pissed off because he doesn't get a free taco? (Galley Slaves)

You know have exactly one week to go find one of these fantastic signs to display in your yard. (Deus Ex Malcontent)

Gwen Stefani has egg all over her entire body. (IDLYITW)

Recently Dustin was inquiring about toddler Halloween costumes. What better way to show off our little bundle of joy than to dress him or her as something that you throw in boiling water or something that makes fart noises? (mental floss)

MTV has launched a website where you can watch nothing but music videos. I can't believe people didn't think of this like 25 years ago. (SlowlyGoingBald)

Cindy Crawford totally nails Amy Winehouse. But not in the way where she walks away with a contact high and Staph infection. (Yeeeah!)

Curse you, Stuff White People Like Guy! Once again you have made me feel like a chump for liking something that I like. (STWPL)

Remember the Budweiser "Wazzup" guys? Well, the years haven't been kind to them: (Thanks, Pissboy!)

Pajiba Love brought to you by Stacey Nosek, who can be reached via email here.


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Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Fields for ITA Indoor Nearly Set after Completion of Regional Play; Aggies Pollock and Krajicek Play Golden Set/Match




The last ITA regional champions were crowned today, with only a few at-large bids remaining to fill the singles draws of 32 at the National Indoor next month in Charlottesville, Va. I'm told the complete fields will be announced on Friday, when, by my calculations, five men and four women who have otherwise not qualified will be extended invitations (there is one more man because the defending champion, Somdev Devvarman, is not eligble to return). It actually may be six men, since Texas A & M's Conor Pollock qualified two different ways.

Here are the regional results and the explanation of other qualifiers:

Regional Women's results:


MIDWEST: Samantha Murray of Northwestern over Kelcy Tefft of Notre Dame

EAST: Ragini Acharya of William & Mary over Bianca Aboubakare of Brown

SOUTH: Chelsey Gullickson of Georgia over Marritt Boonstra of Florida

WEST: Maria Sanchez of USC over Alison Ramos of USC

SOUTHEAST: Josipa Bek of Clemson over Laura Gioia of Furman

SOUTHWEST: Nina Munch-Soegaard of TCU over Taylor Ormond of Baylor

CENTRAL: Wiveca Swarting of Nebraska over Anouk Tigu of Arkansas

NORTHWEST: Melanie Gloria of Fresno State over Bojana Bobusic of California

Delia Sescioreanu of Auburn-Montgomery (Small College Champion)
Aurelija Miseviciute of Arkansas (defending Indoor champion)
One wild card to host UVA

All-American qualifiers:
Kelcy McKenna Arizona St
Fani Chifchieva Auburn
Maria Coussou Cal
Maria Mosolova Northwestern
Laura Vallverdu Miami
Amanda McDowell Georgia Tech
Ani Mijacika Clemson
Georgia Rose Northwestern
Amanda Fink USC (consolation winner)

Regional Men's results:


CENTRAL: Arnau Brugues of Tulsa over Matt Hogan of Arkansas

NORTHEAST: Chris Clayton of Harvard over Bogdan Borta of Columbia

MIDWEST: Bryan Koniecko of Ohio State over Justin Kronauge of Ohio State

MIDEAST: Dom Inglot of Virginia over Cory Parr of Wake Forest

SOUTHEAST: Nate Schnugg of Georgia over Bruno Agnostinelli of Kentucky

MOUNTAIN: Clancy Shields of Boise State over Martin Zimmerman of Denver

SOUTH CENTRAL: Connor Pollock of Texas A&M over Bruno Rosa of Rice

WEST-SOUTH*: Bassam Beidas of over Omar Altmann of

WEST-NORTH*: Alex Clayton of Stanford over Bradley Klahn of Stanford
*Only winner advances from these regionals

Fabio Silva of Fresno Pacific (Small College Champion)

One wild card to host UVA

All-American qualifiers:
Michael Venus LSU
Oleksandr Nedovyesov Okla St
Robert Farah USC
Enrique Olivares East Tennessee St
Conor Pollock Texas A&M
Blake Strode Arkansas
Michael Shabaz Virginia
Steven Moneke Ohio St
Guillermo Gomez Georgia Tech (consolation winner)

There are many new faces. By my count, only nine men and nine women who competed in singles last year have qualified this year. I'll link to the ITA list of all competitors, including doubles, once it is available.

For those of you not familiar with the terminology, a golden set refers to a set in which the victor wins every point. According to Wikipedia, it has happened only once in professional tennis when Bill Scanlon did it back in 1983.

As amazing a feat as that is, Conor Pollock and Austin Krajicek exceeded even that, playing a golden match in the first round of the South Central Regional doubles. Although a college doubles match at the regional level is only one eight-game set, it is hard to imagine winning 32 points in a row. But that's what Pollock and Krajicek did against Prairie View A&M's Jose Garcia and Kudakwashe Nyatoti last week. Pollock and Krajicek went on to win the regional title, beating three different Texas Longhorn teams en route.

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Monday, January 19, 2009

In Which My Experience from 2006 Colors My Opinion of 2008



In 2006, I wrote a couple of blogposts that gathered a good bit of attention. They both turned out to be completely and totally mistaken. In the first, written in February, I argued that the Republicans would actually gain seats in 2006. (Yes, I was serious.) In the second, written on the night before election day, I argued that while the GOP would lose a little ground, they would maintain control of both houses of Congress. That post included the line "I know 1994. 1994 was a friend of mine. And 2006, you're no 1994." Oh well.

I give you that background to explain what I'm feeling about next week (and to have one more helping of crow). It's commonplace to call an election "the most important of our lifetime." But this one really is. We're on the brink of making major negative structural changes to the framework of our government that won't be easy to undo. We're still living with the fallout from FDR and LBJ. Once those massive programs are put in place, they don't go gently into the night. And BHO is a more radically committed big government guy than those two put together.

So is there any room for hope? (Keeping in mind who's saying it...)

Short answer: I have no idea.

Long answer: Today Gallup's traditional voter model (they have no idea either; they're issuing three sets of numbers!) has the race at 2%. Today Pew (the second most accurate poll in 2004) has it at 15%. Obviously they can't both be right. Take your pick.

There are so many straws floating in the wind that it's simply impossible to know which one to grab. You can read stories on blogs across the Internet of Democrats who have never voted Republican doing so this year...and vice versa. Will those groups cancel each other out? How big are they really? Does the parity in early voting indicate a close race? Will the Democrats really outnumber Republicans by 15% on election day (as Pew shows)?

I want John McCain (though he was my fifth choice among the Republican candidates in the primary) to win so badly that it's hard to be objective. I look for hope where there may be none. The odds were always long this year. Only 4 times since 1880 have we elected a new President from the incumbent President's party after eight years or more in office (Taft, Hoover, Truman). The war and the incumbent are both wildly unpopular. I would like to think that I live in a country where a man who attended a church that hates our country for 20 years would not be elected our leader. I hope the PUMAs really are prowling; that the Shy Tories are lurking; that election night will cause Keith Olberman's head to explode.

I was sadly and badly mistaken in 2006 in what I convinced myself would happen. And yet...

Hope springs eternal in the human breast;
Man never Is, but always To be blest:
The soul, uneasy and confin'd from home,
Rests and expatiates in a life to come.


-Alexander Pope,
An Essay on Man, Epistle I, 1733
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Thursday, January 15, 2009

Hana Bank/KOLON Championship Sunday: Candie Kung Does It!



Hound Dog's final-round recap and the LPGA.com notes and interviews from the Hana Bank/KOLON Championship announce the news: Candie Kung has won for the 1st time since her 3-win season in 2003. Congratulations to Kung, whose resurgence I had hoped for but not predicted back in January. More later.

[Update 1 (8:54 am): The #2 rivalry on the LPGA just heated up. With Kung's win this season matching's in 2007, and Gulbis's injuries limiting her schedule almost as much this season as Kung's did last one, Kung's $250K+ lead on the road to the $4M mark in career earnings should motivate Gulbis when she returns to the LPGA in 2009.]

[Update 2 (11/3/08, 1:16 am): The Florida Masochist congratulates Kung and points out an odd moment in the post-round interview.]

[Update 3 (1:25 am): Ryan Ballengee remarks on Kung's resurgence.]

[Update 4 (3:10 am): Here's Hound Dog's epilogue.]
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Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Fletch's Film Review: Passengers and Pride and Glory



On the surface, it wouldn't seem as though Passengers, a psychological thriller centered around a crashed airplane, and Pride and Glory, an NYC Irish Family Cop Drama (capitalized because it deserves it, damnit), would have much in common. That surface would be right. But there's a twist...

Passengers may be trying to give off that Lost vibe, but it reminded me more of the 2004 film The Forgotten, which is more than ironic because I really don't remember much about The Forgotten at all. What I do recall is that Julianne Moore played a mother whose child went missing; it co-starred Dominic West and featured a pretty cool effect where people got sucked off the screen into who-knows-where. The rest of it was garbage, so Passengers shouldn't be flattered by the comparison. Thankfully for the film, it's not nearly as bad as that movie I forgot about, but it does feature a few things in common: a female protagonist, characters that go missing without explanation, and, well, I'll probably forget about it shortly.

Anne Hathaway plays a shrink that's assigned to help the few remaining survivors of a plane crash cope with the tragedy they've just endured. The most interesting person to her, for a few reasons, is a man played by Patrick Wilson that's showing no symptoms common to post traumatic stress syndrome. He's happy as a clam, and no one knows why.

As the film plays out, Hathaway makes nice with Wilson, trying to get inside his head while he tries to get her into bed. David Morse enters the picture as a mysteriously (and possibly nefarious) airline employee, as Hathaway begins to suspect some sort of cover-up. Andre Braugher spends a couple days on set as her superior. Dianne Wiest spends even less time on set as a nosy neighbor who seems just a bit too interested in Hathaway's affairs. I'm curious as to what got left on the cutting room floor - I realize Wiest and Bruagher aren't the biggest of names, but their roles are throwaways that could have filled by just about anyone. By the time the "shocker" ending comes along, the only thing you'll be surprised about by it is how little how you care. Though I admit that I hadn't come up with what the twist was, it still remains one of the least surprising twists ever, no doubt because the audience is left sitting and waiting for the other shoe to drop the entire time.

Fletch's Film Rating:

"Whatever."


Pride and Glory, meanwhile, is the polar opposite. Ed Norton, looking Russian, plays an Irish cop with a Tortured Past who is forced to choose between his family and his integrity when rogue brother-in-law Colin Farrell threatens to tear the whole damn world apart with his ne'er-do-well tendencies. Noah Emmerich lends a bit of German to the cast as Norton's brother, with Jon Voight (and whatever nationality he brings to the table) filling out the cast as their father. So to recap, that's one authentic Irishman playing the in-law to an Irish family - but they're all cops. Got it? Good.

Here's where you might wonder what's wrong with film critics, or maybe just with me: while on the one hand I'm quick to deride Passengers for being so obvious about its forthcoming shocker ending, I have no problem on the other for panning Pride for being too straightforward. It plays out like the least interesting, longest, and most violent episode of Law & Order that you've ever seen, with bigger (and mostly better) actors filling in. So little changes from beginning to end that I was left wishing that the film was 30 minutes long rather than the 130 it ended up being.

And somehow, I just gave a spoiler for a film that has nothing to offer in the spoiler department.

Fletch's Film Rating:

"Whatever."


Some final thoughts:

* Daniel, I offer you a mea culpa. Maybe it's just coincidence, but ever since your post, I've been seeing answering machines all over the damn place in movies. I caught Michael Clayton on HBO yesterday, only to see George Clooney leaving a message for Tom Wilkinson. Passengers, meanwhile, features answering machines prominently as well, as one of the subplots is Hathaway's deteriorated relationship with her sister. How does she end up communicating with her? You guessed it.

* While I didn't enjoy Pride and Glory overall, I have to give it up for Voight. I haven't seen the man give a good performance in a long time, and that's no different here. Why'd I like it, then? He's in prime Anaconda and Pride director Gavin O'Connor for criminally underusing FF-UN vet Rick Gonzalez. He shows up briefly as a menace to Farrell's livelihood and steals the scene, only to never be heard from again. Still waiting for him to get a better role - he deserves it.
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Tuesday, January 13, 2009

My Show Off: Gangtey Couple



Photograph © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

Here's a photograph of an elderly farming couple at the Gangtey Goempa monastery, who were quite excited to attend the festival's rehearsals. It was rumored that the would be attending the actual festival the following morning. The valley of Gangtey is one of the most beautiful in Bhutan, and the Gangtey Goempa monastery is the only Nyingmapa monastery on the western side of the country's Black mountains.

While I like this photograph for its humanity, I wish I had the presence of mind to move to the right of the couple to avoid having the wisp coming out of her head. In the heat of photographing, one frequently misses seeing extraneous background stuff. I don't think it spoils the photograph, but just one step to the side would've made it better.

In any event, I photographed the husband and wife for a few minutes and they were stiff as boards. However, once I relayed to them that they had to look at each other as if they were still both in their twenties, this is the result. It didn't take much to persuade them...the affection that these two Bhutanese farmers have for each other was immediately obvious.

For the techies: 50mm, f5.6, 1/250th, 100iso. Click to enlarge.
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Monday, January 12, 2009

Quote Back: Charles Hamilton



This quote is from an AIM interview I did with Charles a few months ago. I came across it on someone else's blog and decided to repost it also:


"The things that make you laugh were dying points for me
the things that make you cry was a light day for me
the things that creep you out give me peace of mind..."


Check out the full interview HERE.

Since you should have already downloaded the L word mixtape. Download this new track "Change Gon Come" with and BOB.

click HERE.

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Friday, January 9, 2009

Marketer of the Year? Whatever.



While brainstorming in our “brilliance pit,” I stumbled across an issue of Ad Age from a couple weeks ago. For those even more behind the times than I am, the Association of National Advertisers named Barack Obama Marketer of the Year for 2008. The Top 5 were rounded out by Apple, Zappos, Nike and Coors.

There’s no argument. All of those companies have marketed themselves well and experienced great success because of it, but seriously, did these guys really have the toughest product to market? There was presidential buzz around Obama the night he was elected to the Senate in 2004.

Apple’s been cool since the iPod was released six years ago. And Nike? Michael Jordan strapped on his Airs back in 1985, and no sneaker has been more recognizable over the past 25 years. Kids literally line up outside shoe stores when a new pair of Nikes comes out. These were not difficult products to market.

Let's talk challenges. You know who I think had to work a political miracle? The people behind David Duke. A former Grand wizard of the freakin' KKK and considered by many to be one of the most detestable political wannabes in America, he ran for office half a dozen times! He was a State Representative for Louisiana, and even ran for President in 1988, receiving more than 47,000 votes. Now, that was a guy who needed some serious marketing help.

A shoe company that’s done some great work—Crocs. They’ve convinced people to buy footwear, which the first time I saw I thought were disposal shoes. Sure, they have minimal support, are made of the same material as hot glue sticks, and have been known to get caught in escalators. So buy two. Buy three. There’s a good chance you’ll need a new pair provided your foot doesn’t get taken off along with the Croc.

You want to talk about technology? Let’s talk Blu-ray. These days you hear an advertisement for Blu-ray discs with every movie coming out on DVD, but do you actually know anyone with a Blu-ray player? Probably not, because people don’t want to pay for a DVD player that’s more expensive than their entire entertainment center. Yet some marketers convinced studios that during a recession was the perfect time to heavily market movies on Blu-ray, even though no one owns something to play them on. Nice work.

And beer? Maybe Coors has done some great advertising, but when it comes to beer, where’s that going to get you—other than reminding Coors drinkers to drink Coors. When it comes to beer, I’ve had so many different kinds, from Meister Brau and Busch to fancy IPAs and Stouts served in wine bottles. And with beer, you’re not going to sway someone’s opinion on whether a beer is “good” or not. People like what they like, and that’s it. You want to talk about a little beverage that could—how about? The refreshing combination of tomato juice and reconstituted dried clam broth. It’s like V8 mixed with just a hint of the Dead Sea.
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Did they do some brilliant, head-turning advertising? Absolutely, but it’s easy to market products people already like. How about next year we dig a little deeper and look for products that were actually difficult to market—poison, evil, beating up puppies (Michael Vick will be looking for some new representation), and how about a nice Kaczynski/Gargamel ticket in 2012?

My point is, advertising can be pretty hard, and most companies and agencies aren’t advertising products that are all peaches and cream. Why not acknowledge the marketers who turn a tricky product into a success? Like in one year taking the Renegade Agency Confessional inside the Internet’s 767,444 most popular sites (according to Alexa), to the Top 600 of Ad Age’s Power 150, and making us the 69th most popular agency blog in all of the UK.






You know, sometimes I really love me.


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Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Barack Obama - Change Gonna Come




So I decided to take off yesterday, most of all because I have just a lil' bit of a lazy side, but I honestly couldn't believe that Obama is our new President, and the news just looked so amazing at the top of the page. Well it's back to work. Let's start out with a fan-made video tribute to Obama's victory, along with the new Charles Hamilton, & B.o.B. song, Change Gonna Come.
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Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Thursday Night Football



We are sitting here at the international headquarters of OffshoreInsiders.com watching the bets looking good at least early on. We have the on one TV, CBS College Sports on the other, and ESPN HD completing the Thursday Night Football.

With two games at the half and another on a commercial, I check out the headlines. Some guy named David Booth donates $300 million dollars to a Chicago college. That's as much as people who bet on their own donated to sportsbooks in October.

So Hulk Hogan's son is in jail, but he's finding comfort in the arms of Christiane Plante. I guess he can go on Larry King's show and cry that she was planted. That will do a world of good.

So how many times have Kendra Wilkinson and Hank Baskett gotten engaged?

First the Texas Longhorns lose to Texas Tech—an easy Wise Guy winner from GodsTips, the top football betting service in the world. Now word is that Mack Brown has kicked backup center Buck Burnette off the team was kicked of the team because of disturbing Facebook post about Barack Obama.

He should have done it to Sarah Palin and he'd have been promoted for first team. Oh well, all three games are on, so back to the winning and sports handicappers.


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Monday, January 5, 2009

More Jurassic and Cretaceous Reminiscences



Another passage about the Jurassic oolite from Simon Winchester's The Map That Changed The World.

Within the oolitic horizon there are countless variations-of color (gray, orange to ochre to pale scarlet) and fineness of texture, size of oolith, and width of banding and bedding plane.

I chanced during my journey upon a roadside quarry near the village of Northleach, and the ebullient owner happily showed me around, pointing out with delighted pride the different colors and thicknesses of his rocks, and the uses he could make of the various types.


That triggered a lot of memories for me. Not of the Jurassic but of the Cretaceous of south India. I had just started to take geology seriously and a bunch of us outdoor enthusiasts decided to go on a fossil hunting trip to the continental-marine Cretaceous sedimentary basin of southeast India.

These basins formed in the early Cretaceous as India which was part of the southern hemisphere super continent Gondwanaland broke away from Australia and Antarctica. The map below shows the paleo geography of early Cretaceous. Notice the southern hemisphere location of India at that time and that India has rifted away from Australia and Antarctica and now has a distinct eastern continental margin.



A number of NE-SW trending basins formed on this rifted continental margin of eastern India. The map below shows these eastern Mesozoic-Cenozoic basins. The Cauvery basin which I visited is the southern most of the basins.

Source: Geotimes

All these basins have offshore extensions in the. Today these Cretaceous eastern basins have acquired an economic importance with the potential of hydrocarbon deposits especially in the offshore portions of these basins. Reliance Energy recently discovered oil and natural gas from the deep water Cretaceous section of the Cauvery basin and more discoveries of oil and gas are likely.

But in those early college days my interest was palaeontology and fossils. We had discussed the trip with some palaeontologists from the graduate geology department in Pune and so had all the good fossil bearing localities on map. Every day we explored the terrain around the village of Ariyalur which was our base and is located in a rather remote rural portion of Tamil Nadu. One afternoon we got a bit frustrated trying to find a quarry. As we walked on a man on a bicycle approached. Seeing we were distant city dwellers he stopped and started chatting to us proudly in English, eager to show off his vocab. We asked him about fossils and he replied grandly:

Yes Yes, just two miles down this road, there is quarry which is notorious for fossils!

Now as far as I know these long dead Cretaceous beasts entombed in clays and marls have never harmed a human. I guess he meant famous, but maybe the man was indicating to us that the quarry owner is a psycho?

That made our day. With much merriment and anticipation we reached the quarry and found a not so notorious but like Simon Winchester's quarry owner a rather jovial and ebullient personality. He showed us around and gave us samples of claystones from the early Cretaceous littoral facies which contained plant fossils. These were in the form of delicate impressions pressed on clay and you could see clearly the structure of the leaf. A rare treasure which I promptly lost somewhere by the time I graduated.

Geology field trips often throw up these kind of special moments.

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