Monthly Archives: September 2005

Quote of the day

An inch of progress is worth more than a yard of complaint.
— Booker T. Washington, address before the National Afro-American Council , 2 July 1903

History Reading List

Jeff Soyer wants his readers to make recommendations for readings in American History, so here are a few of mine. Be it noted that I’m a bit of a history buff, but most of my selections are ecclectic and a mite obscure.

Hollywood Party by Kenneth Lloyd Billingsley.
The ugly truth behind Hollywood guilds and the [...]

Come and watch a preview with us. For ever… and ever… and ever!

In the wacky tradition of Author! Author! and Irreconciliable Differences comes a new, heart-warming family comedy from acclaimed director Stanley Kubrick — Jack Nicholson and Shelly Duvall in Shining. (þPejman)
(Whoever put this together is one sick bastard. )

Quote of the day

No place is as poorly guarded as a harem. And no women more accessible than the king’s wives.
— Vatsyayana, Kama Sutra

Top 50 SF shows ever? What were they smokin’?

Boston.com has posted its “Top 50 Sci-Fi Shows of All Time“, and I, being geek, have some… issues… with it.
Since they make you click for each and every entry, I’m sparing you the trouble and presenting the ranking below, sans their (lame) commentary:

Star Trek (Original)
Battlestar Galactica (New)
Star Trek: The Next Generation
The X-Files
Babylon 5
Stargate SG-1
The Twilight [...]

Quote of the day

I’m retired and if you offer me a lot of money I’m not retired.
— the ever-snarky Richard Dreyfus (before playfully throwing iced coffee in his interviewer’s face).

Super cool

Finally caught sight of a living Architeuthis:
This is the first ever photograph of a giant squid in the wild. Japanese researchers snapped the eight-metre monster as it attacked their bait in the inky blackness almost a kilometre below the waves.
The giant squid, Architeuthis, is the largest invertebrate in the world. More than 580 individuals have [...]

I am Oliver Twist(’s great-great-great grandson)

Fascinating.

Honor requires it

I’m not an expert on Japanese film.
I am knowledgeable, especially on well-known directors like Kurosawa, Mizoguchi, and Ozu, not to mention modern Japanese comedy-dramas and anime. And, of course, I loves me some samurai hack-n-slash.
So it sounds like I really, really need to get acquainted with the work of Hideo Gosha (þFred Blosser):
I loved [...]

Quote of the day

And there we have it. We have located the distinction between the judicial approach, as advocated by John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, Howard Dean, and the Democrats — and the military/intelligence approach, advocated by Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Condoleezza Rice, Paul Wolfowitz, and a cast of thousands of neocons… and of course, the president: the United [...]

Heh!

And people say we atheists are humorless:
Can you believe how [intelligence-denigrating adjective] people who believe in [name of religion] are? Just look at what [name of religious leader/blogger] said [or did]:
     [Fill in objectionable claim or conduct of religious leader/blogger]
What a [expletive] moron! Doesn’t he know that [fill in scientific evidence refuting leader’s claim or rationale [...]

Gunga Dan, bless his heart…

…still thinks there’s a Texas Air National Guard story to pursue. (þJeff Goldstein)
In a televised interview with former CBSer Marvin Kalb, retired CBS anchor Dan Rather stated that his network will not allow him to continue to pursue the story of President Bush’s Air Guard service.
“Straight-up, no chaser, no,” the exiled anchor said when [...]

Next stop: Little Sister!

Sadie’s getting a mei mei!
Woo hoo!

Quote of the day

Sometimes I go into my own little world… but that’s okay, they know me there.
— Joel Hodgson

I am an expert! I watched a bad movie about it once!

Oh, lordy (þJay Tea):
It may be the oddest tale to emerge from the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Armed dolphins, trained by the US military to shoot terrorists and pinpoint spies underwater, may be missing in the Gulf of Mexico.
Experts who have studied the US navy’s cetacean training exercises claim the 36 mammals could be carrying [...]