- Monty Python’s Life of Brian recreated for BBC comic drama. This could be interesting.
- Wendell Pierce, of ‘The Wire’ and ‘Treme,’ to open groceries in New Orleans ‘food deserts’. Good for him! [via]
- Thudfactor in defense of parental leave:
Finally, complaining that parental leave is an unfair “benefit†because not everyone has or wants children is a like complaining psychological medial coverage is unfair because not everyone is insane, or permanent disability coverage is unfair because not everyone is guaranteed to have their legs chewed off by mechanical equipment while on the clock.
- Of course, along the same lines, the sad news that Women have to have a Ph.D. to Make As Much As Men With a B.A.. [via]
- And finally, the trailer for Francis Ford Coppola’s new movie, Twixt is just bizarre. His plans to “exhibit [it] as a road show, re-editing the movie after every screening based on audience reaction” sounds almost normal by comparison:
labor
Thursday various
- Today is Harry Houdini’s birthday. In honor of that, here’s a look at his Scene and Prop List. [via]
- I don’t know… ordering the removal of a mural depicting your state’s labor history from the lobby of your state’s Department of Labor seems like kind of a dick move. [via]
- As, frankly, do these new farm “protection” bills discussed by Mark Bittman — although, there, there’s some dangerous precedent being set:
The Florida bill would require anyone wishing to photograph a farm to first secure written permission from the owner. And what if they don’t? First-degree felony. The implicit goal here is to deter and criminalize damning undercover exposés….The bill would also make it illegal for an agenda-less passerby to snap a picture of a farm from the side of the road, but my best guess is that those “crimes†might not be prosecuted quite so diligently.
- The Phantom Menace in 3-D? Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me…oh, god, what is this? Like the at least the sixth or seventh time? Shame very obviously on me, George Lucas, but I will not be going to see this. [via]
- And finally, an interview with Terry Jones. He discusses, among other things, Monty Python‘s less than certain start:
I mean, even right up until the middle of the second series John Cleese’s mum was still sending him job adverts for supermarket managers cut out from her local newspaper.