Friday, March 26, 2004


In English (with Aromatic Subtitles)

A British film called "Sex Lives of the Potato Men" is also being called "a sump of untreated dung," a "master class in nauseous ineptitude" and many other fancy-pants insults you'd never be able to muster in a thousand years. The outcry from critics, editors and politicians alike has people debating if this comedy is the worst British movie ever made.

Why the furor? Seems they're upset that a movie featuring onscreen nose-picking, piles of dog feces and masturbation aided by edible spreads was given half of its budget by the U.K. Film Council, which is funded by lottery money.

From the International Herald-Tribune story:
Julie Kirkbride, the culture spokeswoman for the Conservative Party, told that newspaper that while "you can produce any old rubbish with your own money," members of the lottery-ticket-buying public "don't want to feel their money is being wasted."
Because when I think "highly concerned about smart use of money," I think "lottery ticket buyer."

Gee...

On facing pages of the LA Times from Sunday 21 March 2004:

Page A26:
Headline: "Carbon Dioxide Levels Rising Faster; Buildup Sets Record"
"Carbon dioxide... has reached record-high levels in the atmosphere after growing at an accelerated pace in the last year..."

".... mostly from burning of coal, gasoline and other fossil fuels..."

"... Asked to explain the stepped-up rate, climatologists were cautious, saying data needed to be further evaluated."

"... The United States, the world's biggest carbon dioxide emitter, signed the [Kyoto Protocol] agreement but did not ratify it, and the Bush administration has since withdrawn U.S. support..."

Page A27:
Full-page ad:
"AN AMERICAN REVOLUTION"

"... 2004 CHEVY SILVERADO 1/2-TON EXT CAB LS 2WD"

"... DO YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TRUCK?"

Today's FOCR: "Turn the Page," Bob "Like a Rock" Seger, Back in '72

Thursday, March 25, 2004


Five O'Clock Rocks

Today's LA Times was the first I'd heard of rocks being mailed back to Uluru, or The Australian Outback Monolith Formerly Known As Ayers Rock. (However, international news seems to have picked up on this a month ago.)

Souvenir chunks of the sacred Aboriginal site are now being sent back by tourists haunted by guilt or a perceived streak of bad luck. Newly respectful -- or fearful of the Aboriginal bogeyman* -- foreign filchers are forfeiting their forbidden formations.

So. Anybody got Donald Rumsfeld's email address? I've got an article I'd like to forward him... well, two, actually.

Today's FOCR: "Rock of Ages," Def Leppard, Pyromania

* Abobogeynal? Bogeymanimal?