Legendary actor Paul Newman dies at age 83.
Wow. I didn’t know the man personally, but growing up in Westport – his home for many years – he was certainly well known around the town. And he and his wife, Joanne Woodward, would pop into various establishments around town, so I did get to see him. He seemed like a nice enough guy, especially with regards to the whole “Hole in the Wall Gang” charities.
Commentary: Sexist treatment of Palin must end
Oh PLEASE. They’re not being sexist – they’re just afraid of what she’ll say when she opens her mouth. Why else have they been so controlling about her public appearances?
I think that at this point in the campaign – especially with McCain now “suspending” his campaign to worry about the economy – we’re all past Caribou Barbie and pitbulls wearing lipstick. She gives bad interviews. Deal with it. Let’s move on to our failing economy, shall we?
In case you don’t know about my love of the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy 
30 years and still going strong…
Maybe it’s Brockian Ultra-Cricket….
HHGTTG Movie update
My daughter is AWESOME
Coming eventually, to a theatre near you!
friday five: words
Wonderful Birthday gift!
Don’t Panic
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: coming on DVD!!!
HHGTTG: More casting
Now comes news that Eoin Colfer 
Today, I had a chance to read Eoin Colfer’s thoughts on the new HHGTTG book. I have to say that I’m impressed. Yes, he’s taking it seriously, but it seems to me that he has a better understanding of the book than, say, some ghost-writer picked off the street might. He’s read, and probably re-read, each of the books. He’s grown up with the characters, like many people have. It’s become a part of him. So the fact that’s approaching this task and is a bit daunted by it means, to me, that he knows that it’s not just the fans – of which he is one – that he needs to make happy. It’s going to be his goal to make the fans AND Douglas Adams (aka DNA) happy. Oh, and Arthur Dent as well (just click and listen to the MP3 – they did a good job on that, I think). Yes, I know that Arthur isn’t real, and that DNA is hitchhiking in another part of the galaxy, but I have a feeling that, if done right, this (hopefully final) novel will be something akin to what the man himself had planned.
I just wonder if Eoin has plenty of baths and other bits of procrastinating planned (for those that don’t know, DNA was famous for taking baths as one of many ways of procrastinating). It seems to me that if the book is going to be written properly, it should be written by a rather rushed – and pruny – author.
If you haven’t seen it yet, go over to NBC and watch the SNL skit with Tina Fey as Sarah Palin and Amy Poehler as Hilary Clinton. Go on, I’ll wait.
You liked it, right? Funny stuff. I’ve said for a while – although apparently not here – that I think that Palin and Fey look alike. Especially when Jen and I watched “Baby Mama
In other TV news…. The BBC has an article about how the current campaigns between Obama and McCain seem to mirror those found in the sixth season
I wonder if the McCain camp has watched the West Wing
Barack Obama recently described McCain’s gum-flapping about how he’s different from King Bush II as “Putting lipstick on a pig” – it may look better, but deep down, it’s still a pig. See the Urban Dictionary definition if you’re not sure I’m right. Or any of the thousands of pages that come up when you search the phrase.
The problem is, as CNN points out….
Sen. Barack Obama’s reference to “lipstick on a pig” has Republicans demanding an apology and Democrats accusing Sen. John McCain of a “pathetic attempt” to play the gender card.
McCain’s campaign said Obama’s remarks were offensive and a slap at Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin — despite the fact that the Arizona senator himself used the phrase last year to describe a policy proposal of Hillary Clinton’s.
So if McCain says it, it’s ok, but if Obama says it, then he’s insulting Palin apparently – but mostly due to Palin’s recent remarks about Hockey moms and pit bulls.
Whatever. The campaign should be about the issues, not the personalities. I look forward to the first – possibly only – Vice Presidential debate, if only to see just how much new knowledge the Republicans have managed to cram into Palin since they chose her….
Like many people, I have multiple email addresses. I’ve been having a small problem with one address – it’s apparently tied to some demographic profile of my wife and I, so I occasionally get crap sent to it. It’s one thing when it’s a local car dealership – at least it’s quasi-local, and makes some sense.
But how is it that I am getting emails from the John McCain campaign, asking me for money? Technically, I’m an Independent voter – perhaps that’s why?
I’ve commented before about the junkmail before, but this is the first time it’s invaded my Inbox. And I have to say that opening an email titled “57 Days Until Election Day” that allegedly comes from John McCain, and then finding his lying face in the message – that was a bit of a shock.
Click here to donate to Barack Obama…..
Since it was such a lovely day for driving today, I decided to go take care of a customer in New Haven. Initially I didn’t want to go, but they were having problems with their router since yesterday afternoon and were rather anxious to get online – a feeling I know all too well.
Traffic was pretty light, considering Tropical Depression Hanna was on the way to destroy life as we know it. I had also just had the struts in the car replaced to alleviate a very expensive sound coming from their general vicinity, so I felt that I should do what I could to pay them off somehow.
About half way through West Haven – ironically near the location of the “Vagina” billboard * – I was passed by an SUV.
As you can see, it’s a Hummer H3, one of the more fuel efficient vehicles in the Hummer line. Normally, the black ones don’t look to bad, but there was something different about this one. I don’t know if it was the brush guards, the “lived in” look that it had (like it had actually been driven off-road), or the vague sense that whoever was driving it had actually served their country and had spent more than a few months behind the wheel of a military Hummer. What I do know is that it stood out – more than a vehicle that gets approx. 14 mpg doing 70+ down the highway does. What you can see in the photo is an arrow pointing to where their lone bumper sticker is.
What does the bumper sticker say?
Now, I shouldn’t have been surprised that the person driving the fuel-inefficient vehicle on the road was a Republican, but somehow, I still was. From what I understand, a rather large percentage of the people serving in the armed forces are Republican, despite the fact that their Commander In Chief keeps putting them in harms way. Guess I still hold out hope for some people out there to have a decent head on their shoulders…..
* When the “Vagina Monologues” came to New Haven, they paid for a billboard along I-95 in West Haven that said VAGINA in huge letters, and monologs much smaller. Obviously done to get attention, it made headlines across the state, and, to some extent, across the region. Panty-twisted conservatives across the nation got their panties twisted even more tightly, and there was much griping, complaining and gnashing of teeth. Jen and I went to the show and had a wonderful time. (top)
movie fan 00:26 on 2008/10/17 Permalink | Log in to Reply
it’s hard not to admire Paul Newman for putting his money to work in such productive ways, such as his Newman’s Own line–high quality stuff and the proceeds go to good causes… very smart.