Altman passes

I was thinking of posting my thoughts on the Kate Winslet film "Little Children". It's been really growing on me since I saw it a few weeks ago. Sometimes a film grows as it settles in my unconcsious, and sometimes it just sits there (like "The Departed").

Anyway, Robert Altman just passed away, and that seems a bit more important. Altman has directed a number of my favorite films, including most memorably M*A*S*H, The Player, and Gosford Park. (I'm going to skip quotation marks from here out of laziness.) M*A*S*H is his most famous, and it was quite a good film, but it was one of the few films in history that was completely outpaced by the TV show spun out of it. (In fact, I think it was the only film to suffer this fate that I can think of.)

The Player was a delicious dark comedy starring Tim Robbins as a film producer who finds new verve in his life after he kills somebody and realizes he can get away with it. And Gosford Park is IMHO the best ensemble film in the new century. I remember when I rented the DVD I watched it about five times. (Part of the justification for the multiple viewings was the assorted commentaries by actors, producers, and Altman himself.)

Altman directed a lot of films, and some were not as well received. Sometimes it seemed like he was over-dependent on the gimmick of having people talk over each other. Still, he should have won the Oscar for Best Director (over Ron Howard for A Beautiful Mind? Puh-leaze. Gosford Park was MUCH better.)

Altman's IMDB page here

sportswriter grammar

Don Banks:
"Ben Roethlisberger helps put the Steelers in a 13-3 fourth-quarter hole at Cleveland -- throwing three interceptions, including one for a Browns touchdown -- before he mustered a pair of scoring passes to spark a 21-point final quarter in Pittsburgh's 24-20 comeback win."

I'd never before seen the present tense and the past tense used together in the same sentence in quite this way.

Bow down!

You are The Hierophant

Divine Wisdom. Manifestation. Explanation. Teaching.

All things relating to education, patience, help from superiors.The Hierophant is often considered to be a Guardian Angel.

The Hierophant's purpose is to bring the spiritual down to Earth. Where the High Priestess between her two pillars deals with realms beyond this Earth, the Hierophant (or High Priest) deals with worldly problems. He is well suited to do this because he strives to create harmony and peace in the midst of a crisis. The Hierophant's only problem is that he can be stubborn and hidebound. At his best, he is wise and soothing, at his worst, he is an unbending traditionalist.

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You are Hulk

Hulk 85% The Flash 70% Spider-Man 70% Green Lantern 65% Superman 65% Robin 58% Supergirl 53% Iron Man 45% Wonder Woman 38% Batman 35% Catwoman 20%

You are a wanderer with amazing strength.

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TMQ continues to spread bad science

Today's gem:

For instance, the Michael J. Fox ad attacking Republican Maryland senatorial candidate Michael Steele makes it seem Steele opposes all stem cell research. Steele opposes research on embryonic stem cells, not on other types of stem cells; there's a big difference, and surely Fox knows that well.

Surely Fox also knows that embryonic stem cells offer far more promise to researchers than any other type of stem cell. Most people with more than a casual understanding of this subject understand this point.

Gregg Easterbrook: mauling science understanding in the popular culture through inappropriate comments in a football column.

Here come the girls

We're wild girls walkin' down the street.

Wild girls and boys going out for a big time.

Anyway we can

We're gonna find something

We'll dance in the garden

In torn sheets in the rain

We're the Deadbeat Club!

election eve

Go team, go!

Red sharks

Koi!