Joe Scarborough was just on MSNBC, discussing the Arlen Specter hubbaloo, and confessed to Andrea Mitchell that he thinks the root of the GOP's woes can be found in the fact that it has become a southern regional party. I'd say good for him, but I know that tomorrow he'll call for Janet Napolitano to be hanged or something.
I still look forward to Ross Douthat, but, as Yglesias notes, this debut column for the NYT is kinda whatever.
Sex and the City, the film, is totally underrated. A bit long, but it really has some snazzy dialogue. Just caught it again on HBO and ended up watching all of it. However, I also picked up on a bit of an interesting thing. It goes as such: Black people don't watch HBO. Ergo, there was no need for "Sex and the City," the show, to have any black characters. So it didn't. But black people do watch movies. So that's why they got Jennifer Hudson for the film. Pretty cynical.
I'm not scared of heights, but this picture still freaks me the fuck out. That's two guys working on the tip of the antenna on the Empire State Building. Maybe that means I am scared of heights.
I'm reading Dave Eggers' What is the What right now. Not that far in yet. It's great thus far. Really yanks you in and, while it is obviously the African dude's story being sifted and filtered through the voice of Eggers, it has a certain earnestness that is both revealing and refreshing.
Good -- well, depends on your definition of "good" -- piece on OMB head Peter Orszag in The New Yorker by the Obama administration's favorite pet journalist, Ryan Lizza. Worth a read, albeit with a shaker of salt.
Camera Obscura's "French Navy" is rolling around in my head like a pinball. I feel like skipping down the street while whistling it out loud, except not really, since it's 185 degrees outside and I feel like that kid with asthma in Honey, I Shrunk the Kids.
Apropos of this Timespiece, I must predict that Avatar will be an abysmal fail. The thing is that, for me, predicting this is win-win. If it sucks, I win, because my prediction proves true. If it is great, I also win, because nobody will remember this prediction, and because it, well, will be an awesome movie. There really is no possible middle ground as far as I'm concerned. This is either Iron Man or Delgo. There's no possible in between here, given how ridiculously far-fetched and overwrought the whole production is.
As for the news of Specter leaving the GOP, I must echo the point that everyone and their mother has made already: R-E-T-I-R-E. You are old. Just throw it in. Easier said than done, of course, and one can argue that its the voters' choice (in 2010), but it takes a massive fail to lose as an incumbent, let alone as an incumbent with Specter's tenure.
One listen of Black Eyed Peas' new #1 hit, "Boom Boom Pow" (Jesus Christ) should make any person with any music taste start crying. BEP's early work was pretty much mainstream boilerplate, but it wasn't offensive. Even "London Bridge" had some comical and catchy attributes to it. This -- this everloving piece of dog shit -- is just a disgrace. Will.I.Am needs to wrap himself in an Obama campaign poster and swandive off the Golden Gate Bridge. Fergie looks like a quadruple-surgery transexual crossbred with a Schnauzer. One of the random dudes looks like a Last of the Mohicans reject. The other looks like a Michael Pena stunt double. None of them has a shred of talent. There is no fucking hook in this song. How is this #1? At least "Right Round" has some interesting shit going on. My God...
This Vanity Fairpiece from 2006, where Todd Purdum repeatedly strokes Karl Rove off, is worth a read for purposes of reflection.
I caught Jurassic Park on HBO this past weekend. It's really amazing how well the special effects hold up. There are movies from 2002 that don't look half as good. The raptors in the kitchen is still one of the freakiest scenes ever. I wish I could time travel back to when I saw that in theaters as a 7-year-old. I must have been terrified. Maintenance Shed scene...
