…in a made for tv movie.
Arts
21
Nov 05
McRib Challenge Video
Jeff posted his video from the McRib challenge to Google video. He did a great job with it: added a soundtrack, edited it up real nice, and added a McRib progress bar as well as cool opening and closing animations. Be sure to watch it. I’m even in it for a few short seconds clowning around.
Coincidentally, my friend (who apparently doesn’t read this site) emailed me this weekend to tell me the McRib was back for a limited time and looked to be talking about another shot at eating ten McRibs. He is obviously non compos mentis since when he last polished off eight of them he suffered big time.
Related: The McRib has claimed another victim November 11, 2005
20
Nov 05
La Strada
I got a chance to watch La Strada this weekend. It’s a sad, beautiful film. I’m not even sure how I would describe it, not that it’s indescribable just that I don’t think I could convey anything about it sufficiently except in my typical all-thumbs narrative style. I now want to watch every other Fellini film since this was my first, I am ashamed to say.
Lord. I have to wake up in a few hours to give a short speech at Toastmasters. I am completely unprepared so it should be either a train wreck or a miracle. I did finally decide on a topic on the drive back from Dallas, which I will attempt to talk about without notes or preparation of any type. I’m thinking something to do with all the bad advertising I have seen lately like the billboard for Amdecon (“We clean up suicides, so you don’t have to.”) I spotted on the way into Dallas. Is that really the best use of your marketing budget?
15
Nov 05
“Women are still a closed book to men”
I found this article interesting, although not surprising. Any guesses at the reasons why men don’t read novels by females?
But a gender gap remains in what people choose to read, at least among the cultural elite. Four out of five men said the last novel they read was by a man, whereas women were almost as likely to have read a book by a male author as a female. When asked what novel by a woman they had read most recently, a majority of men found it hard to recall or could not answer. Women, however, often gave several titles. The report said: ‘Men who read fiction tend to read fiction by men, while women read fiction by both women and men.
Out of the recent eighteen or so books I have mentioned here on my site (not even including audiobooks), only three have been by women, and two of the books were by the same woman, Margaret Atwood.
15
Nov 05
Weird McRib Promotion
On the way home from work yesterday I heard a bizarre McRib promotion on the local hip hop radio station. It was a man with a stereotypically black accent who went on about how even though the McRib is always only available for a limited time, this time it was going on a farewell tour because McDonald’s was thinking about shelving it forever, and if you wanted to save the McRib be sure to sign the petition at McRib.com. There are a couple things wrong with this:
- It’s obviously a McDonald’s advertisement. Why would McDonald’s ask people to sign a petition to fight their own decision to 86 the McRib? They don’t expect their customers to be very sophisticated.
- The idea of a farewell tour for the McRib is retarded. If you go to the website, you’ll see young people with tattoos and McRib t-shirts partying up at the McD’s with boneless pork sandwiches, showing off their saucy fingers and edgy tattoos.
- Oh, wait, the petition is on behalf of the Boneless Pig Farmers Association of America. McRib is not made of mechanically separated pork like other pork products. No way. McRib comes from “Grade A” Sus Domesticus Nobonius, otherwise known as the boneless pig.
Totally weird. On the other hand, I noticed so maybe it was effective, although I am attuned to all things McRib. They also provide several t-shirt designs for the prospective McRib supporter: no bones logo (a bone with a line through it), McRib farewell tour, and a diagram of how a McRib is composed.
15
Nov 05
On the importance of language
Notice how the following statements differ in meaning. This has bothered me.
- Know thyself. Okay, the classic admonition to know thyself.
- Know, thyself. A call of responsibility for your own understanding.
- Know thy self. Consider the nature of self. Awareness of ego is fundamental to understanding.
15
Nov 05
Good thoughts on getting older
” When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced. Live in such a
manner that when you die the, the world cries and you rejoice.”
“Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back,
you’ll enjoy it a second time.”
09
Nov 05
A Feast for Crows
George R.R. Martin’s A Feast for Crows is now on sale after a long wait. Amazon’s got it for $18.48. Dang. I need to read this. Is Santa Claus listening?
On a related note: Caught with my book pants down
08
Nov 05
Book reviews for people with gnat-sized attention spans
I’ve been reading a lot lately, although I should probably be doing a lot of the things on my to-do list.
Deliverance 
This is the 1970’s answer to Fight Club. Modern man in a search for meaning, what’s real and vital. The desire for meaning and the brutal force of the reality they find. The book is so real it makes you wonder if James Dickey had the experiences described in the book. The book is fast-paced and full of action and violence, and of course, the whole backwoods sodomy thing the movie is well-known for. I’d be curious to hear thoughts from a female reader.
Blind Assassin I gave this four stars too. Margaret Atwood makes me ache. She is able to reach inside and touch that quiet center we all have. Her metaphors are delicious and the depth of the story is meticulous. It’s one of those time machine books where you travel into the story. It did leave me feeling wistful and sad, but not in a bad way. More like a lingering sigh.
Day of the Locust This book is depressing. It’s the literary equivalent of watching a “Cops” marathon. It’s got a gritty all-too-real thing going, but after a while you want to go home and take a shower so you can forget about all the cockfighting (literally), midgets, and human misery.
Neuromancer 
This could have been written yesterday and it stands up amazingly well for 1981. For a book about the future it’s remarkably relevant despite the obsolete references to “RAM”, dot matrix printers, etc. A great story, very Phillip K. Dick in so many ways, despite it’s more pronounced techno-fetishism.