Westward Ho

We'll be temporarily locating our base of operations to the west coast of California. More information coming tomorrow (we hope.)

A word of warning to all would-be suicide bombers

Be careful what you wish for.

Sigh.

Somewhere in the Sierra Leone, an entire village is clad in "Patriots: 2007 AFC Champion" T- shirts.

Stay Classy, Boston

The Mayor held a press conference Friday, warning people not to get out of control after tomorrow's Pats-Colts game.

At the conference, "City officials also asked bar owners not to allow live TV crews to film inside their establishments, saying that the cameras create chaos."

How did the media respond to this request? By filing their report … from inside a local bar. See below:



During the press conference the assembled media was aghast at the suggestion that the presence of TV cameras can actually escalate the behavior of a crowd: "So, are you blaming the media for the things that are happening on the street?” one reporter asked.

For an answer to her question, let's go back to the tape, from that very same 7 news broadcast:

You Always Remember Your First

The NFL Network right now is replaying Super Bowl XXXVI, and we’ve been watching it since about the 2^nd quarter. Right now, the Rams are down 17-3 in the 4^th, and Tebucky Jones just ran a fumble recovery the length of the field for a touchdown. .. until it's called back bc of a McGinest holding penalty. A Pats touchdown became a Rams 1^st down at the 2 yard line.

Wow. Takes us back. At the time, we remember thinking McGinest just cost us a SuperBowl - another Bill Buckner moment. Of course we all know now how that game turned out.

Watching the replay really brought us back. Like we were watching it live all over again. Exciting stuff.

Almost as exciting as the first time we saw Cube.

The Wicked Good Shepard

One of the Ten is involved in a project where we're filming oral histories of some folks who retired from our workplace long ago. Today's subject, an 84 year old man, went way, way, waaaaay off subject and began telling stories about when enlisted in the service during WW II.

Turns out he was recruited by the OSS, a subject we’ve recently taken an interest in.

He began telling a great story about how they interviewed him- cloak and dagger stuff, with burly 101sT Airborne Troopers showing up and telling him to "come with us," plane rides to bases across the East Coast for interviews, rides outside of DC in darkened tucks, orders not to talk to anyone, etc. (This story book-ended nicely with a similar tale told to us this weekend by a more recent applicant to the OSS's descendant.)

Some highlights:

• Jump school. After an initial jump in the US, they were sent to England for further training. There, they qualified by jumping out of a hot air balloon. And, of course, when it was their time to jump, the British instructor politely said "When you're ready." Which took the Americans by surprise. "We didn’t know what to do - we were used to people screaming at us and yelling when it was time to go thru the door."

• The difference between US and British parachutes. "The Americans gave you 2 chutes. One up front, one in the back. The Brits? They just gave you one" He shrugs his shoudlers. "Guess theirs were more reliable." But the Brit chutes worked better too. "When the American chute opened, you were slammed back up like nobody's buisnees." At which point he grabbed his midsection in memory of the experience. "But the British chutes? Opened up soft as silk, you never even knew you were stopping."

He then went on to detail his first few missions in occupied France. We were enthralled. After about 45 minutes of us gleefully listening to his OSS stories, we got a note slipped to us by the videographer reminding us to get back onto the fucking main topic.

Afterwards, we asked him if he saw The Good Sheperd.

"Oh, yes” he said. “I took my daughter with me. When the words came on the screen- 'OSS'- I slapped her on the knee. 'That was me! That was my outfit!' I told her.”

"What did you think of it?" we asked.

"Hated it."

"Oh."

"But I loved the wardrobe. The long coats and the fedoras- it was like I was right back in there again."

"Disrespect?" Or is there something else at work?

This whole "I've been disrespected" foolishness has become tiring. LaDainian Tomlinson's misguided tirade is the latest example, but we’ve seen a lot of these stupid arguments over the years. Our opinion? Lurking behind all of those claims about inadequate respect being paid is another word that begins with the letter 'r': resentment. He who claims Disrespect is usually resentful over something they didn’t get, be it a contract, a win, an endorsement, or a stretch Hummer limo filled with crazy mad 'hos.

On 2nd thought, we’re not so blown away by the i-Thingy

After some further reading we're now underwhelmed with it. Here is what was presented at Macworld: a cell phone bigger than the biggest PDA, branded with a name that is currently owned by someone else,and is not yet a finished product- as a NY Times reviewer wrote: "As I tapped my way into obscure corners of the phone, Mr. Jobs pointed out a couple of spots where only a placeholder graphic was available." And if you think Apple offers an improvement over your current suck-ass phone, ever seen the line at your local the Genius Bar?

The more we look at this thing, the less it looks like a revolutionary phone, and the more it looks like one of those cool concept cars unveiled every year at an auto show, only to never be seen again.

We're not sold on the touchscreen dialing, either. We’re 72 hours away from purchasing a new phone, and at this point it looks like a 3 way tie between the BlackJack, the Q, and the Blackberry. The i-ma-whats-it's not worth waiting for. (Anyone use either of the 3 phones just mentioned? We'd love to hear from you.)

We stand by our original assessment, however, that the touchpad is a remarkable breakthrough in computing.

*An interesting thing happened as soon as we posted this. Our Blog got spammed. We can only assume that the i-You-know-what is a magnet for spam bots, and hence it shall not be named on this site.

Are you kidding?

For people who are interested in such things: ESPN’s Uni Watch column rated Boston the #1 City for best looking sports uniforms. Among the reasons: The Boston Bruins, who received 4 out of 5 stars for their uniforms, which are “speaking of the universal language of aesthetic excellence.”

Please. The Bruins have been a disgrace ever since they decided to abandon thier old-school uniforms in favor of emulating the Winnipeg Jets. and we can’t wait for the day when go back to the traditional uniforms that served them so well during the 80’s.

Interestingly, the Uniwatch author leaves off his own hometown of New York. The reason? The Mets black alternate jersey. Hmmmmmmmm. If an alternate jersey is enuff to disqualify an entire city, then again we must ask: has he seen the Bruins uniform?

A year from now, we might be using one of these.

Provided it gets a little smaller.

Our take? Still looks terribly fragile for something that gets banged around as much as a cell phone. But the button-free, changeable touch screen interface? That’s the future of all computers someday. (and we love the intuitive “typo-free” interface.)

Here’s a good question we didn't think of: "How can you dial the iPhone without looking at it?"

Photo via NY Times

When a review says more about the reviewer than it does about the movie being reviewed:

From Slate’s review of Idiocracy by Mike Judge, we find this nugget:

“Mike Judge could have gone the easy route. His last movie, Office Space, became a smash hit on DVD because the frat boy douchebags he mercilessly mocked became its biggest fans.” Slate.com

We thought Office Space mocked the cubicle lifestyle and the facism of corporate middle management types, but okay.

Pop Quiz: Answers

A few days back, we asked if the below names belonged to a villain bent on world domination, or a local New England newscaster. Answers below.

Jeff Glor. 7 News anchor.

Solomon Grundy. Founding member of the Legion of Doom.

Matt Lorch. 7 News anchor.

Ra's Al Ghul Batman villain.

Mario Hilario. Hilariously-named RI news anchor.

Lauren Przybyl. 7 News weekend anchor.

Mr. Mxyztplk. Annoying little Superman villain.

Hugo Strange. Batman villain, no relation to Marvel's Dr. Strange.

Hector Hammond. Green Lantern nemesis.

Sonia Baghdady. CT news tomato.

And finally, this guy's a news anchor who just looks like he's plotting world domination.

When Fake Worlds Collide

What happens when the real life Soup Nazi takes the real life Kramer's reality tour?

They take a photo.




We took the Kramer Reality Tour back when Seinfeld was still on the air. If you’re a Seinfeld fan, we highly recommend it. The Soup Nazi's kitchen is one of the stops on the tour (although it was closed when we took the tour. It was November and the Soup Nazi apparently closes down for the winter, so he can travel the world in search of soup recipes.)

Pop Quiz: Villain bent on world domination ...

... or local New England newscaster? Match the name to the profession.

Jeff Glor.
Solomon Grundy
Matt Lorch
Ra's Al Ghul
Mario Hilario
Lauren Przybyl
Mr. Mxyztplk
Hugo Strange
Hector Hammond
Sonia Baghdady

Answers posted Saturday

What if everything we’ve been told was a lie?

via Laboratory101.com

Ten Men and a Movie: The Good Shepherd

We caught "The Good Shepherd" this weekend while vacationing on Cape Cod. We attended the 3:30 PM showing on New Year's Eve, a much better option than the "Chatham First Night: The 50's thru the Centuries" celebration that was going on all around us. Curiously, we were joined by the only Chatham residents who actually remember the 50s; the theater was wall-to-wall with blue hairs and elderly folks, settling down to watch a ripping cold war spy thriller. (As we are now much closer to 2010 then we are to the year 2000, it occurs to us that WW II is as remote to a 20 year old today as the Civil War was to us when we were 20. This bothers us, but we digress…) This provided us with our Number 5 Funniest Movie Theater Incident of All Time: 45 minutes into the movie, we hear this from the back row, loud enuff to be overheard in all but the biggest Bingo halls:

"DOES ANYONE ELSE FIND THIS TO BE CONFUSING?"

To someone who’s not paying close attention, the Good Shepherd can be confusing. One of those movies that rewards close attention. After the film, we spent a good 20 minutes trying to figure out how some of the pieces fit. (note: be sure to remember the scene involving the 'Cardinal' at the beginning. It becomes important 2 hours and 45 minutes later.) It jumps around in time- the Bay of Pigs invasion, then 1939, then 1945, back to 1961, and so on. In between, they sprinkle little clues that will have huge implications later on, and Russian names are thrown at you with no regard for your safety.

Good shepherd tells the tale of one of the founding members of the CIA, from his recruitment into the Skull and Bones in 1939 to what happens in the weeks following the Bay of Pigs Invasion of Cuba. In between, he becomes a deadly efficient counterintelligence officer, but not without cost. The movie spends a lot of time on his private life (or lack thereof.) We liked it. Almost 3 hours long, but worth it.

Remember that scene in Good Will Hunting when Matt Damon's character interviewed for a job with the NSA? This is the story of what would have happened if Will Hunting prepped at Phillips Academy instead of Southie High. The NY Times tells us

"(Damon's character) seems largely based on the fascinating, freakishly paranoid James Jesus Angleton, a Yale graduate and poetry lover who served in the Office of Strategic Services during World War II and ran CIA. counterintelligence from 1954 to 1974. Mr. Angleton cultivated orchids; Wilson builds the more prosaically symbolic miniature ships in bottles."

Some more observations:

• Matt Damon did a good job. Hewas understated throughout the entire movie; we're sure this is a lot harder than it looks.

• It was an ugly movie. Characters meet all sorts of terrible ends.

• All the names were changed to protect the guilty, but history buffs will have fun guessing who the real-life counterparts were for each of the characters. (We think the guy who, um, went R. Kelley on Matt Damon's character is supposed to be George Bush. Whether its true or not, its fun to imagine) Wikipedia gives a good breakdown of the real-life story behind the movie.

• We're not sold on DeNiro's role as the founder of the OSS who showed up from time to time to give short speeches and warn Damon about what would happen next.

• The guy they cast as the grown up son of Matt Damon and Angelina Jolie looks EXACTLY like what you’d expect their spawn to look like.

• He's also the gayest, most effete-looking thing to walk on screen in a long time, so it was tough to buy one of the key plot points. Suspension of disbelief was required.

We recommend it, but be warned. This is no Casino Royale.