Or clam chowder, maybe. Today, I was explaining to my students that considering the authoritativeness of a source can be useful. There’s no reason to quote a magician on science, or a priest on biochemistry, because usually they don’t have authority in these areas. And then, via A pair of ragged claws scuttling across the floors of silent seas, I discover that among the sary, sad, freakish twits of American TV and film who’ve Found the Lord and Taken Up Ministry, we can find not only that annoying guy who played the brother on Growing Pains, but also… yes… Chuck …
Category: ASIDES
Syriana
I just watched Syriana, and found, well, entertaining enough. There were lots of plot threads running at once, and while they all kind of came together, I could see where they were headed, mostly, about halfway in. Still, some of the ideas bandied about in the movie were interesting, if a bit disturbing. How do people deal with crippling loss? How do people deal with hopelessness? How do people deal with their own guilt? And what might the Middle East look like in a century? All interesting questions. Unfortunately, the answers to most of them, as offered in Syriana, were …
Pyongyang Comic
I just finished reading Guy Delisle’s Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea. Its a graphic novel about the comic artist’s stay in Pyongyang in the mid-nineties, supervising an animation outsourcing project in Pyongyang. Fascinating.
혈의 누
혈의 누 (Blood Rain), directed byKim Dae-sung, was a film that I once told Lime I wanted to watch, and she said she’d already seen it and didn’t wish to re-view it. At the time, she told me it was about a “serial killer” or “a murder mystery” (I can’t remember how she put it) “in the Joseon Dynasty”. Which, to me, sounded fascinating, but I bided my time, until today. Well, I watched it tonight, and have to admit, I indeed did find it quite fascinating. It reminded me of nothing more than the film version of The Name of …
On the Goooo-oo-oood Ship… Neocon…
This is a musical number I’d love to see that little brat Shirley Temple sing.
Suspicious Signup
A new user registered on my blog today. He gave the email address , and for his username and nickname, he used a freakin’ script! The hosting for uscs.us has been suspended so I couldn’t even find out what the script was supposed to do. But it definitely looks not cool to me. His ass is BANNED.
The Ajumma
For those of you who don’t live in Korea, here’s a hilarious article explaining what an ajumma is. In the sauna, should the ajumma let out a fart and people stare at her, she will just leave without saying sorry. Ladies show respect to everyone, even their juniors. They are well aware of etiquettes in public places. They tend to be strict with themselves and generous to others: with ajumma it is the other way round. Really, so very bizarre, and yet sort-of-right, one has to admit sheepishly. At least, right in terms of the Jeonbuk ajummas I encountered on …
The Point of Depression
This transcript explores the possibility that like most things in humans, depression has an evolutionary basis, and that it was actually selected for in our ancestral habitat. (via who knows?)
Ozone Hole Double Record Breaker This Year
Yup, we have been decreasing our use of ozone damaging stuff — at least on paper — since 1995, but the hole is at a record size now, and we’ve got another 29 years of most of this stuff floating around leftto go. Scary pictures here. And Greenland’s looking kind of apocalyptic (to me, anyway) too.
On Foley
This is such an obvious ploy that it’s embarrassing. Come on, rehab and a history of abuse? Eh? Well, now we know what kind of defense Clinton should have used. “I’m a marijuana addict and some older girl molested me in high school, so… uh…”