The International House of Bacon

Books:

A Shadow in Summer - Daniel Abraham: This is probably the first fantasy novel in a while that I thought I’d really enjoy and just couldn’t get into. It’s a short book, and I kept waiting to care about what was happening and it just wasn’t coming to me. I don’t think it was a bad book, I just couldn’t find much to like for myself in it.

Ex-Machina: March to War/Smoke Smoke - Brian K. Vaughan I’ll say it again - Brian K. Vaughan is probably my favorite comic writer, and I think if I had found Ex-Machina years ago, I would have gotten into comics a lot sooner. The Smoke Smoke arc was a bit off for me, but that’s still better than, I dunno, the latest Ultimates arc to this point?

Teen, Inc. - Stefan Petrucha: Too often, books get so bogged down in their messages that the narrative suffers a bit. While Teen, Inc is a well-written book with a fun concept (a child whose parents are killed by a defect in a product is adopted by the corporation that produced it, and now he’s a teenager), but goes knee-deep into the typical stereotypes about corporate America, and not in a humorous way. Message books are fine, and I expect them in young adult books, but this one was a little too overboard for me at some points.

Things I’ve Learned From Women Who’ve Dumped Me - Ben Karlin A fun set of essays about break-ups by famous people. As with any book of essays, there are good ones, bad ones, and weird ones. A fun bathroom read for me.

Do the Math: Secrets, Lies, and Algebra - Wendy Lichman: A cute, if not a bit overly light and fluffy, YA novel/murder mystery/concept book. A very quick read, but still pretty enjoyable on a whole - the quirk is that the girl loves math (not in an Abundance of Katherines way for those who are familiar) and it influences things with her a bit. I dunno - it was almost too light to leave a noticeable impact, honestly. Which isn’t bad.

The Nine - Jeffrey Toobin: It’s interesting, reading this account of the Supreme Court in contrast to Supreme Conflict (my review here). In the latter, an appreciation for what the “conservative” wing of the Court brings plus an even-handed account of the political battles makes for a read that’s markedly different from Toobin’s view, where O’Connor is almost a martyr for the cause and where Souter is the thoughtful one while Scalia is the abrasive jerk. In reality, the “true” story likely falls somewhere between the two, but the more political tone of The Nine really drags it down a bit, especially when you know of more sober takes on the Court are available.

Civil War: Young Avengers and Runaways: I probably shouldn’t have read this a) out of order from where I was at the time w/Runaways, and b) without reading the establishing Civil War graphic novel. Oops.

Bones of the Earth - Michael Swanwick: All while reading this, I was chuckling a bit, as the book had a really Crichton-esque pop sci-fi feel to it and I was struggling to take it seriously. I didn’t really like it overall, just to learn that it was Nebula-nominated and Hugo-winning. Was 2002 a weak year or something? Compared to The Accidental Time Machine, the time travel aspect seemed forced and ended up awfully confusing, the characters were only marginally interesting, and I just really didn’t care much for it. I dunno - this was my first encounter with Swanwick and he’s apparently a pretty well-known author, so I’m not sure what to make of it.

Ultimate Spider-Man: Double Trouble/Legacy/Public Scrutiny - Brian Michael Bendis: I’m shocked I’m enjoying Spider-Man as much as I am. Absolutely shocked.

Stardust - Neil Gaiman: Neil Gaiman is good, but very hit-or-miss for me. This wasn’t quite a hit, but wasn’t a miss, either.

Apex Hides the Hurt - Colson Whitehead: I hate when I write a name of a book down in summer of 2006, pick it up in 2008, and just hate it. Sigh.

Movies::

Semi-Pro: After Blades of Glory, I was afraid that I was getting tired of the whole Will Ferrell shtick. The reality is that I’m not, and Semi-Pro was a very funny film, even if it wasn’t one of the better ones he’s done overall. You know what you’re getting with Will Ferrell, and that’s essentially what this is.

No Country for Old Men: Okay. Excellent movie, really one of the best of the year, and is generally deserving of all the awards it got. I still think There Will Be Blood is a better movie, and that has nothing to do with my being a Paul Thomas Anderson fanboy - the flaw in No Country is that the pacing, while deliberately so, really brings down the ride that the movie presents. That’s not to say it’s bad as an artistic choice, but as an entertainment one, I do prefer the slow burn of There Will Be Blood, which is very similar in pace but moves better as a whole. Also, the ending, while not Hollywood at all, didn’t bother me in the least. I thought it was a good ending and an interesting choice in what was ultimately an interesting film, and I’m glad I saw it.

* Chrono Trigger a better investment than Apple. I was amused. And rightfully so, actually - Chrono Trigger is much better than anything Apple put out.

* I thought you couldn’t disown a crazy uncle?:

White House hopeful Barack Obama suggests he would have left his Chicago church had his longtime pastor, whose fiery anti-American comments about U.S. foreign policy and race relations threatened Obama’s campaign, not stepped down. “Had the reverend not retired, and had he not acknowledged that what he had said had deeply offended people and were inappropriate and mischaracterized what I believe is the greatness of this country, for all its flaws, then I wouldn’t have felt comfortable staying at the church.”

So after two weeks, the story doesn’t fade (and why should it when more comments such as the “bombs were built to kill blacks” and “garlic noses” come out), and Obama has to change his tune again. His numbers have gone to hell against McCain, the only polls he’s showing no harm on the Democratic side is a barely-reliable Gallup and a Wall Street Journal/NBC poll that has, for some points, a +/-7% margin of error in the oversampled groups that favor him the most. This is getting craaaazy.

* New Hampshire has its cake and eats it, too. Congrats to being one of the few states that refused to comply with Real ID and still got an “extension” from the Department of Homeland Security.

* What is with the Los Angeles Times? For those not aware, the Times published a story about Sean Combs (Puff Daddy, P. Diddy, etc) being linked to the Tupac Shakur murder. The problem? It was based entirely on fabricated documents. You’d think the media would learn after the Rather debacle in 2004.

* Obviously, they’re an advocacy group, but a study published at NORML notes that 70% of people who are getting treated for marijuana addiction do so through court-mandated programs. This means that we’re seeing people take treatment as opposed to prison time, and seeing the anti-legalization forces point to the treatment number as if it means something. Sigh. I made a prediction in 2000 that marijuana would be legal by 2010 - that ain’t happening.

* Also, The New York Times sorta gets RickRolled. Hoaxes are fun. Radly Balko linked both of these earlier, always worth a look.

* An interesting situation might be cropping up in Pennsylvania, where gun control may become an issue in the upcoming primary. Especially with the Supreme Court opinion on the Washington, DC gun ban coming up, this could cause some further pain to the eventual Democratic candidate against McCain if it comes up.

* Barack Obama’s doing some more detailing of his economic plan, and you know it’s rough when a guy who says he needs to learn more about economics has a much more sustainable plan than a guy who’s at least acting as if he has a clue. A capital gains tax hike (which would negatively impact investment, which is already hurting in the current climate), more regulation in banking (not that, you know, regulation isn’t part of what’s causing the credit crunch right now), and handouts for those who signed bad mortgages they can’t pay are all things that won’t address a single issue we’re facing, and could very well make things worse long term. This isn’t to say that Clinton or McCain are adequately addressing the problems in the economy right now (our uncompetitive corporate tax rates, the straight costs of doing business, etc), but Obama’s looking at sending us down a potentially hazardous path.

The speech in full is here, and the almost immediate praise of Alexander Hamilton should set off huge, huge warning flags to anyone with knowledge of Hamilton’s role in the formation of this country pre-Federalist papers. Economic populism like Obama’s spouting ends up benefiting no one except the person spouting it, and the worst economic situations that we’ve ended up in have, in part, stemmed from policies that grow from those areas. Obama should know better, but he, of course, does not. Example? “If we can extend a hand to banks on Wall Street, we can extend a hand to Americans who are struggling through no fault of their own,” was a line Obama put out there. Is he really taking the position that those who signed and initialed the 40-odd pages on their mortgages that they now can’t pay aren’t at fault? Really? Besides that, he’s on the opposite side of public opinion when it comes to the Dodd-style bailout program that Obama’s endorses, and that’s not even covering the fact that the rough draft we’re seeing probably won’t work. Mistake after mistake after mistake.

As a humorous aside, Obama went to a fundraising event, $1000 a plate, following the speech. Where was it held? Credit Suisse’s building, one of the top ten subprime lenders in the United States. Disconnect much?

* Children of Men as a television show? On one hand, the movie (which I thought was phenomenal) worked because it was a crazy ride through a bizarre setting, and didn’t let up. I’m not sure a serial television show will work quite the same way. On the other hand, one of the co-creators of the Battlestar Galactica reboot is behind it, so it’s likely worth a shot.

* More stupidity from Obama. The National Review notes the problems inherent in the IRS doing your taxes for you. I’ve probably had a more visceral negative reaction to this proposal than much else on Obama’s platform.

* Linked everywhere, a horrible b-movie waiting to happen comes to life in Mexico, as vigilantes storm cities and towns looking for emo kids to kill.

* The US media doesn’t have a huge presence in Iraq. Then we wonder why the negative stories are the ones that gain traction.

* What’s the proper response when people are leaving your state in part because of taxes and regulations? If the answer is “spend more money, and then propose to fill the gap via tax hikes and regulation,” your name must be Massachusetts. And Hillary Clinton wants to expand MassCare-style health planning nationwide?

* Finally, my new favorite blog? Photoshop Disasters, which is exactly what the name implies. My personal favorite examples? Lady Guenivere’s mutant hand and Imagine Watermarks.

Have a good weekend.

Gah!

* Michael Barone breaks down the superdelegate issue. I think it’s going to be impossible for the Democrats to finish up things before the convention - either they’re going to go with a known commodity in Clinton or an unknown in Obama, and if they’re leaning toward the unknown, they’re going to wait until he’s as fully vetted as possible - the Democrats can’t afford for Obama to have another Wright skeleton in his closet, and I’d imagine that fear is palpable, if not unspoken. That’s what the superdelegates are for, right? Don’t buy the Politico hype - the superdelegates have a role, and never underestimate the ability of the Democratic Party to shoot itself in the foot.

* QandO on why Glen Greenwald is a hack.

* Patterico had two excellent posts this weekend: First, a little straight talk on McCain and the whole Saddam/Al Queda thing that the Los Angeles Times decided to hammer home. Even I didn’t know of many of the quotes coming directly from the 9/11 Commission. Secondly, a great takedown of an Obama endorsement from a so-called Republican. Makes me wish I didn’t have such a visceral reaction to John McCain.

* Massachusetts schools aren’t failing, they’re simply “Commonwealth priorities.” I hate self-esteem sugarcoating.

* Many of you were right: Albany’s screwed. Spitzer’s replacement may have to step down for his own corruption issues, and the next guy in line is close to being indicted as well? Yikes.

* The Washington Post on a possible reality of an Obama presidency. I must say - calling your allies “so-called” won’t help matters, he’s right.

* My favorite story in ages: red light cameras are being shut down in some places because they’re too effective and end up being a drain on revenues as a result. Again: why do people wonder why I don’t trust law enforcement?

* Heavy but cool if you can parse it: a look at a possible fall in oil prices. Lots of stuff on petrodollars and investment and peak oil and on and on.

* Hugo Chavez moves to shut down the last remaining critical news outlet. That’s what you get when you try to stand up to a coked-up dictator.

* Bill Richardson endorsed Obama last week. I’m disappointed, but not shocked.

* A great story from inside the organ donation market. An interesting note from the piece - if every cadaver had its organs harvested and handed out, we still wouldn’t have enough. As creepy as it sounds, selling organs still seems like a better idea all around.

* GraniteGrok on how John Sununu’s challenger is completely stupid when it comes to oil prices. Shaheen is typical of the current Democratic/liberal mindset on economic issues right now - no forward thinking, and no clear progress on ideas that can solve the problems we’re facing.

* A pretty great story about how one of my favorite films, His Girl Friday, only found an audience after it slipped into the public domain. It’s somewhat presented as anti-copyright extension limits, and while I appreciate the public domain and the benefits it gives people on a whole, I’m also very pro-getting-people-compensated for what they do. It’s a very hard line to draw, especially in a situation that is inherently arbitrary, but I’m not convinced Disney should have to worry about losing Mickey Mouse while it’s still around, nor am I necessarily convinced that, say, Mark Twain’s great-great-grandkids are entitled to money for copies sold of Huckleberry Finn (note: I know Twain’s work is in the public domain).

* Are burglaries declining because of cheap imports?

Whew. That should do it for now.

* We’ve started watching The Return of Jezebel James, because my famous girlfriend Parker Posey is in it and we’re not quite over our Gilmore Girls fix. It’s amazing how jarring a laugh track is after not experiencing it in a comedy for a while, and, while Posey’s trying a wee bit too hard to channel Lauren Graham, it’s…well…not horrible. I won’t say it’s great, or even all that good, but it’s a quick 30 minute shot in the arm as something mindless to keep on the DVR when we don’t want to watch an hour of something.

* Another show we’ve been going through is Quarterlife, which spent an evening on NBC before getting cancelled days later. Bravo aired the remaining pieces, which we’re watching - it’s essentially what I expected from Tell Me You Love Me, except that I feel like it’s it’s a better show. It’s a shame NBC didn’t give this one a better shot.

* Also on the DVR as we wait impatently for the shows we like to return (and baseball, and Battlestar) is Tim and Eric Awesome Show, which succeeds in ways that Wonder Showzen didn’t, in my mind. It’s completely bizarre and makes no sense, but, well, I kind of like it that way.

* Michael Cera = awesome. Michael Cera + Edgar Wright = more awesome. Michael Cera + Edgar Wright + a story about a guy who has defeat his girl crush’s seven ex-boyfriends video game-style? = the most awesome. Please let this happen.

* Also, Jason Segal doing a Muppet movie? Really? This is also exciting. Please let this happen.

* DMX, the rapper, apparently didn’t know that Barack Obama was running for President. Or that any black man was. Or that anyone actually has the name “Barack.” Or, we can deduce, that there was even an election happening.

* A crazy episode in Red Sox Nation today as they nearly boycotted their final spring training game and the trip to Japan over a dispute with Major League Baseball over their coaches getting paid a stipend for the trip. I’m with the Sox players on this one, way to stand up for a coaching staff that too often gets shafted by baseball and fans alike.

TGIF indeed.

* From Southern Appeal, McCain has his own preacher problem - John Hagee is a bigoted, offensive mess of a human being, but since his ire is toward the Catholic Church, no one seems to care much - surprise surprise. Still, McCain shows the right way to distance yourself from an offensive minister you’re close to: “I categorically reject it, and I repudiate it. And we can’t have that in this campaign. We’re trying to unite the country. We’re uniting the country, not dividing it.” Compare that statement with Obama’s campaign statements on Rev. Wright - “Sen. Obama has said before that he profoundly disagrees with some of the statements and positions of Rev. Wright… Sen. Obama deplores divisive statements, whether they come from his supporters, the supporters of his opponent, talk radio or anywhere else.’’ This isn’t even Obama coming out and saying it, but having one of his campaign people make the statement for him. When Obama has the opportunity to repudiate the statements, he passes it off as a guy “on the brink of retirement” and can’t write him off completely. This is not good for Obama, and not good in a general election race the longer this simmers. Melvin Udall said it best in the comments earlier today:

Obama is an inhumanly charismatic man who is preaching a message of hope and change. Yet the two people closest to him in the world by his own admission, his wife and pastor, are angry, bitter, divisive, resentful, America hating, and certainly the latter, racist. If the two people closest to this man, who preaches hope and change, spread the message they’re spreading, this man shouldn’t be made leader of anything. He either can’t influence those closest to him with his message of optimism, or his message is entirely a fabrication.

* The Volohk Conspiracy on whether Article V makes it too hard to amend the Constitution. Uh, wasn’t that the point?

* An interesting story on the BBC’s blasphemy guidelines.

* An ahead-of-its-time astronomical calendar. Built between 150-100 B.C., the technology was better than anything that would be developed for more than a thousand years, including some parts that weren’t developed in the Western world until the 1700s. Absolutely incredible stuff.

* From Reason, random drug testing for high school athletes shot down due to a stronger-than-the-federal-government privacy law. Nice.

* The top 10 most edible Pokemon.

* More problematic earmarks for Obama. Remember, the problem isn’t the earmarking, it’s that Obama claims to be above all of this, not be influenced by lobbyists, and be different from the Same Old Washington Politics. The more we learn, the more it becomes evident that Obama is one of the firmest examples we have of being more of the same.

* This also ties into comments from this morning: Tom Coburn (writing in National Review) on the Founding Fathers and earmarks:

* The Democrats: for strengthening the middle class except when it’s time to act. Also, thanks for that tax increase, guys. There’s still time to reverse it, thankfully.

* This is kind of cool - a series of images from Enchanted alongside the Disney animated films that inspired the scenes.

* Shame on you, Sen. Gregg.

* Radley Balko reports on the ups and downs of RateMyCop.com. And then people wonder why I don’t trust the police. Also from Balko, MADDness.

* I love this - during the marathon voting session yesterday, Sen. Wayne Allard, Republican from Colorado, essentially put Barack Obama’s campaign platform up for vote. The result? Soundly defeated, including a nay vote from Obama himself. Pretty hilarious.

Have a lovely weekend.

* The Wall Street Journal examines Barack Obama’s tax plan to “save Social Security.” The result? A 13% tax rate increase for people making over $200m a year (more than what a reversal of the Bush tax cuts would be, and this number doesn’t factor in that probability, either) in exchange for keeping Social Security out of the red for a whopping three extra years. Removing the wage cap cannot save a program that is a failure to begin with. Barack Obama: Same Old Washington Politics as Usual.

* More on Obama and taxes from the Obamology blog: an unsigned but honest examination of proposed taxes if one of the remaining three candidates wins. Not surprisingly, Obama comes out furthest ahead, and his per-year spending increases are just as staggering. Same Old Washington Politics as Usual.

* I’ve been a big fan of David Mamet’s plays since I was first exposed to him in college. He was the first “adult” playwright I really encountered (not counting Rent, which is an absolutely “adult” production but was all the rage amongst teens in my theatre hangouts) and I always found him to be interesting. The big blogswarm today is about Mamet’s political change of heart following writing a production about “a president who is self-interested, corrupt, suborned, and realistic, and his leftish, lesbian, utopian-socialist speechwriter.” Mamet knows his way around the English language anyway, and reading about his journey into what sounds like a conservative point of view on many important issues is really incredible. A few choice parts:

I found not only that I didn’t trust the current government (that, to me, was no surprise), but that an impartial review revealed that the faults of this president—whom I, a good liberal, considered a monster—were little different from those of a president whom I revered.

Bush got us into Iraq, JFK into Vietnam. Bush stole the election in Florida; Kennedy stole his in Chicago. Bush outed a CIA agent; Kennedy left hundreds of them to die in the surf at the Bay of Pigs. Bush lied about his military service; Kennedy accepted a Pulitzer Prize for a book written by Ted Sorenson. Bush was in bed with the Saudis, Kennedy with the Mafia. Oh.

I still get blank stares when I point out the resemblences between FDR and Bush.

I’d observed that lust, greed, envy, sloth, and their pals are giving the world a good run for its money, but that nonetheless, people in general seem to get from day to day; and that we in the United States get from day to day under rather wonderful and privileged circumstances—that we are not and never have been the villains that some of the world and some of our citizens make us out to be, but that we are a confection of normal (greedy, lustful, duplicitous, corrupt, inspired—in short, human) individuals living under a spectacularly effective compact called the Constitution, and lucky to get it.

This piece resonates with me a lot, as I was convinced of plenty of what are considered liberal ideas until the Clinton impeachment proceedings, where I then got more involved, more exposed, and figured out what I really believed. I didn’t have decades to turn back on, but I can absolutely relate to the realization aspects of his story. It’s long (and the Village Voice site has been up-and-down all day, allegedly due to the linking of the piece - a mirror of sorts is available here), but worth reading, especially if you want to try and understand where I come from politically.

* Libertas wonders what might be making the film Vantage Point more successful than the other war movies we’ve seen in 2007. They’ve been hammering home the concept that people don’t want to see “America is evil and corrupt” films, and I wasn’t really ever sure I could buy into the theory - none of those movies have been appealing to me regardless of politics - but this is an interesting note about it, nonetheless. The greater question remains, however - why doesn’t Hollywood go for more, for lack of a better term, “red state” movies?

That’s all I’ve got.

Look at me, being all pro-active.

Books:

The Somnambulist - Jonathan Barnes: I wanted to love this fantasy/mystery hybrid, but I only liked it, and it left a few too many questions unanswered than conflicts resolved, IMO. It’s a really interesting read, and I can’t say I disliked my time with it, but it felt like a chore a bit too often, which was frustrating. I’d say give it a shot, but be wary.

The Testament of Gideon Mack - James Robertson: Sometimes books are like movies - if they were a hair shorter, they’d be perfect, and this book was one of them. It’s about an atheistic preacher in Scotland who encounters the Devil, and the general reaction to it. The beginning is killer, the middle plods until the juicy bits, and then it sails to the finish line quite nicely, but the fact that I had to sift through 100 pages of stuff that could have been cut in half or more dragged the whole thing down. The worst part is that it’s a neat treatise on the whole “what if an atheist encountered God” question, but in a really unique and different way. It’s worth your time, though.

The Dark Knight Returns - Frank Miller: I’m starting to think I don’t like Frank Miller all that much, although I was annoyed more by the artwork in this one than anything else. I understand how Important this one is, but either it just didn’t do the trick or it’s just that I’ve never much enjoyed the Batman mythology much.

Beginner’s Greek - James Collins: This book achieves the unexpected by presenting the expected. Perfectly written, well-executed, and really a great diversion. I’ve been down on realistic fiction a lot as of late, but this book really did it for me.

Marvel 1602 - Neil Gaiman: Another one that I thought I’d love and simply didn’t. Interestingly, the conceit (Marvel characters in Elizabethan England) was what I struggled with more than anything. I appreciate the effort, I suppose.

Ex-Machina: Fact v. Fiction/Tag - Brian K. Vaughan: I don’t know what I can really say about Ex-Machina without gushing like a schoolgirl. I love everything about it.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules - Jeff Kinney: That this guy is fast becoming the next big deal in children’s books couldn’t happen to a better human being, and the fact that the books are completely awesome and really capture what it’s like to be a 10 year old boy stumbling through life only helps things more. So fun - every guy my age needs to make it a point to grab these two books and spend an afternoon with them.

Supreme Conflict: The Inside Story of the Struggle for Control of the United States Supreme Court - Jan Crawford Greenburg: A really interesting look at how the Court has been assembled post-Roe v. Wade. An essential book in a lot of ways - it made me like Eisenhower less, respect Clarence Thomas more, and put me at peace a bit with John Roberts. I have The Nine sitting in my book bag next, so it’ll be an interesting contrast.

A Drowned Maiden’s Hair - Laura Amy Schlitz: This is one of those books that reminded me that kids books don’t have to be all kiddish to make sense and speak to a certain concept. A child is adopted for the sole purpose of defrauding rich people using seances, and it’s a really strong story with really sympathetic characters. The ending was a bit of a letdown, but only because the ride to get there was so really great. Amanda, I really think you’d enjoy this one if you haven’t seen it yet.

Movies:

There Will Be Blood: Quite simply the best movie from 2007 I saw. I still haven’t seen No Country, but I can’t imagine this not surpassing it. I’m a total Paul Thomas Anderson fanboy, true, but the performances were incredible, and the story really nailed it for me, and it’s really an amazing masterpiece.

Sydney White: I don’t know what’s worse - that I’ve become a complete Amanda Bynes fanboy, or that I really loved this movie a lot. It’s a teen flick at its heart, and it has your typical South Park “I think we all learned something today” ending, but it’s less than 90 minutes long, the pacing is pitch-perfect, it’s funny in all the right places, and it’s just a really great ride. I’m 14 years old.

The Ten: Now, for something I thought would be a lot of fun, but really wasn’t. A kind of goofy series of vignettes inspired by the Ten Commandments, of varying humor and point. That so many good people (Michael Showalter, Paul Rudd, Winona Ryder, etc) were involved and it was this underwhelming was somewhat of a disappointment.

The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters: What a wild documentary, all about a guy who challenges the long-standing record score in Donkey Kong and the internal political strife that goes along with it. Absolutely crazy documentary, the fact that this wasn’t nominated for anything big is criminal, IMO.

…have a new album out. Here’s a link to one of the songs, “Hot Corner,” which I love.

Ann’s not a fan.

Ann: “Is this that band that did “Love Shack” and the song we heard yesterday (”Planet Claire”)?
Jeff: “Yeah!”
Ann: “Oh, God, I hate them. So annoying. That song they did, ‘Stayin’ Alive…’”
Jeff: “Huh?”
Ann: “Oh, no, that’s the Bee Gees! It’s similar, they both have ‘B’.

Later…

Ann: “The B-52s are like the John Waters of music.”
Jeff: “So you think they’re awesome.”
Ann: “No, it’s that they might be awesome, but I just don’t understand them.”

I’m so happy that the duo for Once won an Oscar last night. I call them “the duo for Once” because I don’t know how to spell Marketa Irgosloveta. See?

* Bookseller has announced the shortlist for oddest book titles.

* Saturday Night Live came back this week - one funny bit with Mike Huckabee, one “would be funnier if it weren’t so true” bit about Obama.

* Is there any piece of populism that Obama won’t embrace? I worked in textbooks for years, it’s no more a racket than any other form of bookselling.

* I loved this story: Minnesota bar patrons become actors in theatrical productions to retain their right to smoke. Any way to poke holes in ridiculous anti-smoking laws, I’ll support.

* Meet the new Florida Marlins cheerleaders: the plus-size male group, The Manatees.

* QandO has an amazing takedown on the ethanol movement. Required reading.

* Barack Obama, funded by corporate interests. Same old Washington politics as usual.

* PowerLine posts the response from Rep. John Shadegg about his changing his mind over retiring following a large groundswell of support for him staying in Congress. I’m pleased.

* Female readers, do you agree that you “wake up every morning wondering how on earth I am going to pull off that next minor miracle to get through the day”? Are you “struggling to keep her head above water?” Exactly how out of touch is Michelle Obama? Do we assume that her husband is this out of sync with the rest of us, too?

Non-political in nature.

1) Rock on, Red Sox. I’m a big Francona fan at this point - hell, he’s only 8-0 in the World Series - and I think he’s the best guy to run what is essentially a very difficult team in a very difficult market. This is where Rick chimes in with Francona’s record in Philly or the 2006 All-Injury All-Stars or something, but I don’t care much. 3 trips to the playoffs with 2 World Series trophies is enough for me to want to see him handed a blank check.

2) ABC plans to air the Wizard’s First Rule television series starting this fall. Talk about weird - the rumors of a television something based around Goodkind’s novels have been floating since at least 2005, and Sam Raimi got involved, and this is apparently a go - 22 episodes based on the first book in the series. I’m a little stunned by it, frankly, and I can’t imagine how they plan on translating what’s essentially 100 pages of S&M into a syndicated program (believe it or not, it’s somewhat important to the plot), but hey. I just hope with Raimi involved, it won’t be too cheesy, but fantasy on film can go so wrong so quickly…

3) So I ended up popping for Team Fortress 2 on PC so I could play with extra maps and not be monopolizing the television 24/7 when I need my fix. I have to say, while being able to use the 360 controller with it works wonders, I still suck. I’m usually pretty good on the 360 matches, but I’m just consistently destroyed by people on the PC. It’s crazy. I do need to get my headset to work better, though. The drivers didn’t make the mic pick up sound any easier, but I’ll figure it out.

More later on.

* I have lots of reasons to like Mike Lowell, but this doesn’t hurt, either. A class act through and through, he’s the type of guy you want to root for. I’m so excited for this season.

* My conspiracy theory as to why Obama’s largely masking his platform with inspirational quotes that belong on pictures of kittens? the fact that he’s probably the most liberal candidate to come this close to the Presidency in my lifetime. That doesn’t jive with the center.

* I’m glad that the New York Times was able to take some time out of their busy schedule to go after Obama’s economic hypocrisy. Oh, wait, they didn’t - they were too busy implying McCain’s having an affair with a staffer/lobbyist. Bang-up job there, Grey Lady. Great sourcing, too, really.

* Two movie notes:

a) Not a huge fan of Where the Wild Things Are. I skipped the picture book phase of my learning to read portion of the program, and so I never got to read it when it might have made any sort of lasting impression. With that said, I wasn’t at all interested in the Spike Jonze film interpretation until I read how poorly it’s testing. It seems like he’s either missing the boat and making an adult film, or (my broader suspicion) Warner Bros. forgot that the book isn’t 100% for kids anyway, and there’s no way not to make a book that ends with the monsters yelling “Oh please don’t go–we’ll eat you up–we love you so!” This could end up being absolutely phenominal.

b) A World War Z movie? While I always harbored a desire to film this myself someday, I’m pretty excited by the prospect.

* Via Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist, someone’s gonna be getting fired over this one.

* If I only had about $5m in expendable cash….

* Required reading alert: The Impossible Dream of Energy Independence at Reason.

* An interesting story making the rounds is that Lawrence Lessig, lawyer and copyleft pioneer, is considering a run for Congress. I’m not really a big proponent of copyleft/Free Software Foundation positions, and I think that having a person with those points of view in power could seriously undermine our ability to keep innovative technologies and ideas in the United States. With that said, it would be a very interesting campaign, as Lessig could quite possibly become the first true internet candidate in the sense that he’s well-known around tech circles and the types of philosophies he pushes garner quite a bit of enthusiasm. Then again, he could be the next Ron Paul.

* Gov. Lynch makes his case against re-election in November. God, if I didn’t know of Deval Patrick, I’d say that New Hampshire has one of the dumber governors in the nation.

* What does it say about me that I’m seriously considering this for myself?

* This is an interesting wrinkle: If the Supreme Court somehow rules against individual gun rights this spring, it’ll break a compact with Montana. That’s crazy stuff.

* I agree with this.

* Mark Cuban is awesome.

‘Tis all for now.

* Depending on who you talk to, the Boston Public Library DRM protest was either a complete flop or an interesting diversion. I’m still of the position that the old way of protesting (marching, waving signs, etc) is dead in a nation with a 24 hour news cycle and an up-to-the-moment blogosphere, but this was destined to fail to begin with. After all, do most people who use a library know what DRM is anyway? And if they do know, do they really care? Probably not.

* Go figure, the New York Times of all publications prints an interesting look at the American Middle Class.

* If there’s any evidence that regulatory measures have gone completely haywire, here’s a story about a topic dear to my heart: the right of Los Angeles vendors to sell hot dogs wrapped in bacon.

* At Cinematical, a cool collection of photographs celebrating Alfred Hitchcock films. I love stuff like this. Also, a while back, they posted Disney animated recreations which are pretty cool.

I’ll never find time for everything I need to say, I swear.

Books:

The Princess Diaries Volume 9: Princess Mia - Meg Cabot: The latest in the long line of Princess Diaries books - this one did very little for me until the very end. So much of it involved Mia moping about her boy troubles and it seemed amazingly out of character and just didn’t work for me. Regardless, the way it ended left a great setup for the final book in the series.

Ultimates 2 - Mark Millar: I can’t say I loved this the way I loved the first set of Ultimates, but it’s still a really interesting perspective that I never expected.

Born Standing Up - Steve Martin: Steve Martin could write about paper and I’d likely be entranced. A really neat memoir about his rise as a stand-up comic, very fun and enlightening.

Size 14 is Not Fat Either - Meg Cabot: I can’t say I’m a huge fan of the Heather Wells mystery stuff anymore, but that’s probably less about Meg Cabot and more about my natural aversion toward mystery novels in general.

The Opposite of Invisible - Liz Gallagher: An interesting read, for sure. It took me a while to get into, as the narrative on this one was very unique, but it roped me in soon enough where I pretty much couldn’t stop until I finished this shortish YA novel. It’s not perfect, but it’s really a great, interesting story with good characters, which is not something that always happens in YA lit these days.

Love is a Mixtape - Rob Shefffield: I wanted to love this book for obvious reasons, but, at the end of the day, it really came down to the fact that mix tapes matter, but only to a) you, and b) the person you made it for. You’ll never truly understand the impact of a tape for anyone seeing it from a third party perspective. So maybe I did love this book. Hm.

Ultimate Spider-Man: Power and Responsibility/Learning Curve: God damn it, you guys. I guess I’m a Spider-Man fan now. I’m really enjoying this.

Unruly Americans and the Origins of the Constitution - Woody Holton: “Hey, I have an idea, I’ll write a 200+ page history of the Constitution using only debt and money as the basis.” Maybe the whole Ron Paul thing has really made me overly sensitive to money policy lately, but this got very tiring very quickly. An interesting premise that would have worked better in a compilation of ideas around the Constitution rather than a full-length work.

Ex Machina: The First Hundred Days - Brian K. Vaughan: Vaughan is probably my favorite comic writer at this early stage of things. This is really one of the most fascinating concepts for a comic I’ve seen since Y: The Last Man, and he wrote that, too. I’m excited to keep going with this series.

Liberal Fascism - Jonah Goldberg: An Important Book in every sense of the word. I never expected Goldberg to have this sort of book in him - it’s well-researched, well-written, and presents a concept that everyone on the right has felt like they’ve known, but had nothing to back it up. My only complaint is that this book needed to come out 8 years ago, not today. Highly recommended for everyone, really. Ignore what you know about his sometimes abrasive writing for the National Review, this is a very good read.

Movies:

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street: Essentially, mostly what I expected from a film version of this, although it’s cut in a lot of weird ways. Worth seeing, definitely, but yeah.

Cloverfield: I still think this was perfect for what it was - a Big Monster Movie. That time away from it has only improved it in my mind says a lot, I think.