Beltmann

I remember this story... and just now I read your post to my wife, who replied, "I think I remember you telling me that story." Once I wore a Wilco shirt to another concert, and afterwards I had the good fortune of running into the drummer. All he wanted to talk about was Wilco. (I don't remember which band it was!)

I'm confused. So when someone posts an entire article on a discussion board, readers shouldn't bother to respond? What's the point of posting the article on a discussion board if you don't believe discussion should follow?

I think Clinton does bring in votes (probably substantially more than any other potential choice), but it still comes at a very large cost: Selecting her would undercut Obama's entire reason for running in the first place. I'd be shocked if Obama agrees to this particular political calculation rather than take his chances without her, even if they are slimmer chances.

Nifty. Thanks!

I confess that as a kid I loved Max Headroom. Later, I really liked Frewer in Doctor Doctor. That was a funny show.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TG!

I think Obama has been painted as a far-left wacko, and McCain as a "maverick" moderate. I'm not convinced either label is anything but a cartoonish reduction. Here's an interesting link: Liberal-Conservative Rankings Done Right "By this method, Obama is liberal, but not that liberal. He was the 21st most liberal senator in the 109th Congress and has been the 10th or 11th most liberal thus far in the 110th. The surprising result is John McCain, who rates as the 8th most conservative senator in the 110th Congress, the 2nd most conservative in the 109th, and the 5th or 6th most conservative

No disagreement, but I guess there are worst things for a movie to be than a B-/C+ diversion. Sure, I'd like DreamWorks to aim for the heights of Pixar, but it could be worse. It could be worse.

I don't think this is a pipe dream. This article at Belief.net suggests Obama has a chance to snag 30-40% of the evangelical vote. It might be an outside chance, but wishful thinking? I'm not so sure. Anecdotal note: Even my mother, who is a church secretary and a lifelong staunch Republican and conservative warrior, intends to vote for Obama.

This strikes me as the kind of political fascism that I often face within Christian circles, where political divergence is too often considered a form of heresy. The problem with calling Obama and his evangelical supporters "untrue" Christians is that it requires us to assume, wrongly, that all "real" Christians must share an identical political and social agenda. It is true that Obama subscribes to a more progressive political system than the version espoused by most members of the Religious Right. Obama's views on, say, homosexuality and abortion, may not be majority Christian opinion, bu

Agreed. One of the most formulaic (and dull) kids' movies in recent memory. Kung Fu Panda was no great shakes, but it does have visual imagination and the story is at least mildly engaging. It also doesn't rely on the same degree of hipster irony that most other DreamWorks crap does.

I'm a fan of Kon Satoshi, so I wanted to take a look at his 2004 TV series Paranoia Agent. Compelling stuff, but not my favorite work of his--that would probably be Millennium Actress, or maybe Perfect Blue. This week I also spent a little time brushing up on my early John Wayne Westerns. Obviously these B-movie cheapies aren't very good films and have only historical interest, but sometimes small hints of inspiration sneak into the rigid formulas. For example, The Desert Trail presents two bickering cowboys always undermining each other--usually over a girl--but underneath the discord li

I'm increasingly convinced that it's a hoax. Here's an interesting piece, by a blogger at the National Review Online, no less: Why Does the Michelle Obama Tape Rumor Match a 2006 Novel?

I am downloading this from eMusic right now.

I'm annoyed that the Brewers are on a 9-1 stretch and haven't even gained a SINGLE game on the Cubbies. That's baseball, I guess.

I do, and I do it more than I don't. I'm by no means a Luddite or anything... I just enjoy buying something (whether in a store or online) and being completely surprised by the contents. I don't know why, exactly, but I always feel more attentive to, and invested in, the music when I've paid money to hear it. The sense of ownership, and the corresponding investment, is part of the overall pleasure for me. (I'll concede that this is a luxury that I have been able to afford only in recent years.)

There's no way to change rules mid-stream without invalidating the entire process. You can't play an exhibition game, and then near the end of the regular season somehow claim that your exhibition win ought to count towards your record. It doesn't compute. Besides, neither election in FL or MI were truly representative, and not just because Obama wasn't on the MI ballot and not just because no campaigning occurred in FL. The real problem is much larger: Since voters in each state knew the primary wasn't going to count, many voters stayed home who might otherwise have participated. (Can we blam

Right now I'm very interested to see The Last Mistress. Catherine Breillat directing Asia Argento... who could pass that up? Also high on my list (although it's unlikely all will be released this summer): Fatih Akin's The Edge of Heaven Yung Chang's Up the Yangtze Ari Libsker's Stalags Errol Morris' Standard Operating Procedure Roy Andersson's You, the Living

There are countless people here whose taste I trust, but off the top of my head I'm thinking especially about Kidsmoke, MattZ, TheMaker, and solace.

Marx Brothers double feature: Monkey Business (1931) and Horse Feathers (1932). Two of their better ones.

Eaxctly. I wasn't upset about the assassination reference, because even though it was ill-judged, it still was a comment more about timeline than about potential violence. I was much more insulted by the fact that she's trying to sell the 1968 timeline as somehow analogous to the 2008 timeline.