At least they stopped talking about Michael Jackson

Yahoo's front page news story right now is titled "America's Most Endangered Malls."

Won't someone save the majestic suburban mall!

Quotes from this weekend

(on mile 20-something)

John: I think I'm losing a toenail.

Heather: That's okay. They're toe-tally overrated.

John: Man, you nailed that pun.


(later, at dinner)

John: A salad sounds good.

Mike: They don't have salad.

John. Oh, just get the Doritos then.

A little good news

So, celebrities seem to be dying today, which is always a strangely sad event. Not because we relate to them in any meaningful way, but because they are a constant, ubiquitous presence in our culture, which makes their sudden and unexpected absence, in some sense, a loss on a personal level. Or something.

Anyway, here's something a little more cheerful: an (encouraging) update on the Michael Vick dogs.

Some light plagiarism

I don't know if anyone, anywhere, ever, will top this simple Cracked.com portrait of the Palin family.

Happy weekend!

Powered by iSOUND.COM

Quote of the Day

"A month to celebrate gay, lesbian, transgender pride month?"

-Pat Robertson

In out defense, Mr. Robertson, we once tried to celebrate gay lesbian, transgender pride month in the space of a week, but that led to severe chafing.

Random Thought

Remember that movie “Seven Pounds” with Will Smith? Maybe? Good. When it came out six months ago, I had a few things I wanted to say about it, but I didn’t because I didn’t want to give away the “twist ending.” I fell that now that the movie is not in theaters, talking about it is no longer a dick move.

Anyway, my main argument is: surprise is not your friend. This is a movie about a man donating all of his organs while he is alive for…some reason I don’t remember (it was 6 months ago) and which is really not that important. That is an intriguing story! That is an emotional arc I would like to see unfolding, because I have not really heard that story before. But that is not how this story is told. Instead, we get 2+ hours of “Will Smith has a secret,” and then a reveal that ultimately does not explain the action that precedes it in any meaningful way because it’s too busy being clever. What a waste of a very rich premise!

That is all.

This is not what I meant by "outrage"

Start the (justified) outrage

From the Huffington Post:

South Carolina GOP activist and former chairman of the state elections commission Rusty DePass has apologized for saying a gorilla that escaped from a zoo was an "ancestor" of Michelle Obama.

Normally I am not one for the huge public reaction to bigoted gaffes. I thought the Don Imus and Isaiah Washington "scandals" were ridiculous, and here's why: people (even the best of us) are often bigoted (sorry, true), and sometimes they accidentally let that slip. While I believe in correcting people when they speak without thinking, I don't believe attacking them after the fact and demanding a perfunctory apology serves any purpose. But, Rusty DePass did not accidentally say that an escaped gorilla was an ancestor of our (hugely popular) first African American first lady; he published it on his Facebook. He sat down, thought of the "joke," typed it in, clicked "share," and then left his message out in the open, for everyone to see. There was nothing accidental or impulsive about it.

And now, he deserves the huge shitstorm he's (hopefully) about to get. Whatever career he had, I hope it ends immediately. We have too many serious problems to solve to be allowing people like him any place in our political arena right now. Also, Glenn Beck.

Time to relax

A whole week with no big work/school/training appointments? Yes, please.