I suspect we'll be hearing more about this in the days and weeks ahead...
UPDATE: and two tabs later in my daily blog reading, more about this.
I didn't really know anything more about Nero other than that he (ahem, alledgedly) fiddled while Rome burned, so I did a google search. Turns out those may have been rumours planted by enemies, and while he was on vacation when the event happened, he came back right away to help with rebuilding, etc. Here's a summary, and here's a more thorough description of Nero's entire career. Oh, and after he was deposed by the Senate he committed suicide. Now that's integrity. Who'da thunk it that comparing W to Nero would be giving the Lettered One too much credit?
Billmon astutely points out the shared enthusiasm for the Iraq Constitution, but I like my Ayatollah Bush picture better.
Rejected again (and again the passive rejection, what's up with that?), this time from the Coney Island Film Festival. I can just feel the character building inside me.
Thank you. I'll be here all week. Try the shrimp cocktail.
Well, not ever, but the first rejection for "A Civil Discussion" from a film festival. Of course, they weren't as direct as all that. Instead of a rejection, they just sent a link to a web page with a list of folks who did make it in. Kind of like calling up a sweet thing and instead her saying, "Omigod, no I won't go out with you!" she instead says, "Aw, that's sweet! Tell you what-- give me about 15 weeks, and then take a look at my calendar and see if you're there."
Saw "The Aristocrats" yesterday, and it was every bit as filthy and funny as I had heard. Unfortunately, now my mind is preoccupied with generating its own version of the joke. I feel like I need to shove a soap dispenser nozzle up my nose and pump it a half-dozen times to clear the filth out of my brain. Anyway, I do recommend the movie if you're not afraid of a dirty (and I do mean dirty) joke or twenty.
Oh yeah, and they showed the trailer for "Jesus is Magic," which looks to be a hoot as well.
The good folks at the rome International Film Festival have updated their web site, so you can take a look and see what's going to be playing this year (besides my humble entry). I checked things out last night, and was surprised to see that Bill Plympton has an entry in the festival (along with a whole lot of other animators who I'm not familiar with). He's also not an award nominee at the festival, and neither am I.
This is a nifty tool-- a Dashboard app that lets you send text messages to someone's cell phone.
Straight from the web site:
Where will you be this September 11th?
The tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001, left an indelible mark on the American consciousness. This September 11th, the nation will gather in Washington, D.C. to remember the victims, honor our veterans, past and present, and celebrate our freedom with the America Supports You Freedom Walk, organized by the Department of Defense.
That's right. A parade and concert to mark 9/11 and simultaneously honor the troops. Because there's no better occasion to have a parade and drink beer at a country music show than the anniversary of the death of thousands. Why, just last weekend we cracked open the party favors to celebrate the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and I can hardly wait until December 7 so that we can break out the tiki torches and grass skirts for "Pearl Harbor Night." Yee-ha!
An open letter to the Kansas School Board. I strongly advise you swallow any beverage you may be imbibing before reading this, lest it find its way into your nose.
We don't get Current TV, but I submitted "A Civil Discussion" to it a few months back (they didn't bite), which got me on their email list. That's given me a tiny taste of the network, so I was interested in seeing James Wolcott's reaction to it. Sounds like their broadcast is a lot like the email messages, which have always felt as if they were working way too hard to be hip. In the end they just became annoying, and now they're just part of the background of spam in my inbox that get deleted every day.
Anyway, I'm not surprised at the description James gives, but the heavy rotation of a few blocks of videos is a little unexpected. I find it hard to believe that they haven't received enough programming to provide a little more variety. I'd be curious to know what's up with that.
Never thought I'd see this-- Apple's coming out with a multibutton mouse. The scroll wheel is what has me intrigued, though-- I can't count the number of times Ive wished I could scroll sideways with my Logitech mouse here at work.
So apparently Homeland Security is starting a test program where they are going to make foreign visitors carry radio tags with identifying information. This is great, but I don't think it goes far enough. First, apparently only HS folks will be able to read the tags. I think we should all know who the damn furriners are. Second, they can only be read from about 12 yards or so out. This seems awfully close to me. If there's a furriner around, I want to be able to keep him a good 100 yards or so away from me at all times. Rather than a RFID tag, I think they'd be better off strapping on one of those blue light special lights from K-Mart so that we can all see them coming. I figure if the pole stuck up about 10 feet in the air, that should be good enough.