remarkably astute observations of the world around me
Kicking A Swede When He’s Down
Ingmar Bergman is dead. And even though I was a Cinema Studies minor at university, I never much understood all the Ingmar love. Woody Allen said Ingmar was, “probably the greatest film artist, all things considered, since the invention of the motion picture camera.” Well, if you ignore Griffith, Lang, Murnau, Ford, Welles, Kubrick, Kurosawa, Leone, Peckinpah, Godard, Eisenstein, Bresson, and that Hitchcock fellow, then Woody might have a point. As far as I’m concerned, however, Bergman is the Kafka of the cinema.
The Last Great American Novelist?
So Kurt Vonnegut has ascended to the big slaughterhouse in the sky. I hope it’s one of the Temple Grandin variety. Wouldn’t want Kurt to be uncomfortable.
There’s been a lot written already about Vonnegut’s passing, much of it of the “OMG!!!” and “Vonnegut changed my life” variety. You won’t find any of that here. Nor will I be poorly photoshopping Kurt Vonnegut into some semi-but-not-really wacky location. He deserves better than that. Instead I’m going express my thoughts on his death in a simple and efficient fashion that even dullest of you idiots can comprehend.
Vonnegut > Pynchon
Bill Laimbeer: Usability Pioneer?
By now all of you have probably heard about the fancy new iPhone, which apparently will feature only one button and use a touch screen for everything else. Apple really seems hardcore about reducing the number buttons in their products. The iPod’s click-wheel is nifty and everything, but I actually enjoy all the buttons on my iriver player. I can toggle shuffle mode and switch between MP3s and FM radio, all without having to look down at a screen. That’s pretty handy, if you ask me. But Apple doesn’t seem to think so.
Democracy Inaction
After you get done chuckling in response to the oh-so-clever wordplay in the title of this post, I’d like to talk about the election for a moment. As some of you idiots might know, today is Election Day in the US. All day, it’s been the only thing people can talk about. There have been reports of technical glitches, long lines and sorts of other wacky electioneering shenanigans. But what I’ve failed to see are accurate depictions of the average polling place. Now, I didn’t vote today (I’m not registered in Arizona and my beliefs as a Calvinist strictly forbid any participation in the democratic process) but I was at a polling place for over 10 hours today.
I ♥ Beef Fried Rice
Beef fried rice rocks my world. If Jesus, Ichiro! and Christopher Lee were each a type of fried rice, they’d all be beef fried rice. If Ben Affleck, Derek Jeter and Zombie Hitler were a type of fried rice, they’d all be pork fried rice. Pork fried rice can kiss my ass.
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