{"id":3171,"date":"2008-09-27T17:25:33","date_gmt":"2008-09-27T21:25:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/?p=3171"},"modified":"2008-09-27T17:28:45","modified_gmt":"2008-09-27T21:28:45","slug":"saturday-various","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/?p=3171","title":{"rendered":"Saturday various"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><font face=\"Verdana\" size=\"2\"> <\/font><\/p>\n<ul> <font face=\"Verdana\" size=\"2\"><\/p>\n<li>I may be one of the few people who didn&#8217;t actively dislike the second season of <em>Heroes<\/em>. But even I have to admit, judging by the two episodes that aired this week to open season three, it really does look like the show is creatively bankrupt. I share a few of <a href=\"http:\/\/sleepingjpb.livejournal.com\/112319.html?view=250303#t250303\">Jeremy<\/a>&#8216;s problems with the premiere, but mostly I was just immediately bored with it. There were a couple of minor flashes &#8212; I&#8217;m still sort of interested in Kristen Bell&#8217;s character &#8212; but I&#8217;m seriously thinking about quitting on the show.<\/li>\n<p><\/font><font face=\"Verdana\" size=\"2\"><\/p>\n<li>I&#8217;ve never even seen <a href=\"http:\/\/www.tvsquad.com\/2008\/09\/25\/everybody-hates-the-hills\/\"><em>The Hills<\/em><\/a>, and <em>I<\/em> hate it.<\/li>\n<p><\/font><font face=\"Verdana\" size=\"2\"><\/p>\n<li>Oh, and hey, here&#8217;s <em>another<\/em> reason <a href=\"http:\/\/eco-chick.com\/2008\/09\/17\/mtv-trashes-rainforest-for-road-rulesreal-world-challenge\/\">to hate MTV<\/a>. [<a href=\"http:\/\/gerrycanavan.blogspot.com\/\" title=\"Gerry Canavan\">via<\/a>]<\/li>\n<p><\/font><font face=\"Verdana\" size=\"2\"><\/p>\n<li>Okay, virus writers, <a href=\"http:\/\/xkcd.com\/481\/\">get cracking<\/a>.<\/li>\n<p><\/font><font face=\"Verdana\" size=\"2\"><\/p>\n<li>&#8220;People are amazed that with something as simple and inexpensive as a Sharpie, you can <a href=\"http:\/\/www.kentucky.com\/181\/story\/532854.html\">decorate a whole basement<\/a>. Provided you have some artistic talent, that is. Nobody, including me, wants to decorate a room with my doodling. [<a href=\"http:\/\/www.cynical-c.com\/\" title=\"Cynical-C\">via<\/a>]<\/li>\n<p><\/font><font face=\"Verdana\" size=\"2\"><\/p>\n<li>I must admit, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.dcexaminer.com\/opinion\/blogs\/YeasandNays\/Homeland_Security_Sesame_Style.html\">a team-up<\/a> between <em>Sesame Street<\/em> and the Department of Homeland Security sort of scares me a little. [<a href=\"http:\/\/gerrycanavan.blogspot.com\/\" title=\"Gerry Canavan\">via<\/a>]<\/li>\n<p><\/font><font face=\"Verdana\" size=\"2\"><\/p>\n<li>Meanwhile, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2008\/09\/21\/movies\/21barn.html?_r=1&amp;scp=1&amp;sq=muppets&amp;st=cse&amp;oref=slogin\">the <em>New York Times<\/em> reports<\/a> the equally disturbing news that &#8220;recent focus groups indicated that some children could not even identify Kermit and Miss Piggy, much less ancillary characters like Fozzie Bear and Gonzo the Great.&#8221; How can that be?<\/li>\n<p><\/font><font face=\"Verdana\" size=\"2\"><\/p>\n<li>Richard Gere and Diane Lane &#8212; &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-admin\/%3Cbr%3E%3C\/a%3Ehttp:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/apps\/pbcs.dll\/article?AID=\/20080925\/REVIEWS\/809250307\/-1\/RSS\">together again<\/a>.&#8221; Was the first time around really so great? And even if 2002&#8217;s <em>Unfaithful<\/em> was a classic (or even just mildly popular) movie, reuniting starts to recapture that lightning in a bottle rarely works. Just ask <a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0163187\/\">Richard Gere<\/a>.<\/li>\n<p><\/font><font face=\"Verdana\" size=\"2\"><\/p>\n<li>If George W. Bush really wants to throw a $700 billion Band-Aid on Wall Street&#8217;s gaping wounds, maybe he can fund it with <a href=\"http:\/\/thinkprogress.org\/2008\/09\/21\/bush-legacy-taxpayer-funds\/\">all the money<\/a> that&#8217;s gone missing or been spent on failed projects during his presidency. [<a href=\"http:\/\/www.newsfromme.com\/\" title=\"Mark Evanier\">via<\/a>]<\/li>\n<p><\/font><font face=\"Verdana\" size=\"2\"><\/p>\n<li>And in light of that proposed bailout, it&#8217;s interesting to note the following from the <a href=\"http:\/\/politicalwire.com\/archives\/2008\/09\/23\/extra_bonus_quote_of_the_day.html\">2008 Republican Party Platform<\/a>:<br \/>\n<blockquote><p>We do not support government bailouts of private institutions. Government interference in the markets exacerbates problems in the marketplace and causes the free market to take longer to correct itself.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Ah, irony. [<a href=\"http:\/\/www.newsfromme.com\/\" title=\"Mark Evanier\">via<\/a>]<\/li>\n<li>And still on the bailout (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.newsfromme.com\/\">via Mark Evanier<\/a>) <a href=\"http:\/\/krugman.blogs.nytimes.com\/2008\/09\/24\/a-sneaking-suspicion\/\">Paul Krugman<\/a> writes:<br \/>\n<blockquote><p>My sneaking suspicion is that they started with a determination to throw money at the financial industry, and everything else is just an excuse.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>His and mine both. Especially when I read <a href=\"http:\/\/www.forbes.com\/home\/2008\/09\/23\/bailout-paulson-congress-biz-beltway-cx_jz_bw_0923bailout.html\">how they arrived<\/a> at that $700 billion figure:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s not based on any particular data point,&#8221; a Treasury spokeswoman told Forbes.com Tuesday. &#8220;We just wanted to choose a really large number.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>I guess they figured $700 <em>kajillion<\/em> might not fly. [<a href=\"http:\/\/www.cynical-c.com\/\" title=\"Cynical-C\">via<\/a>]<\/li>\n<li>Look, I&#8217;ve said before that <em>I Am Legend<\/em> was actually one of my favorite movies of last year. And I stand by that &#8212; even if I don&#8217;t expect lots of other people to share the opinion. But <a href=\"http:\/\/www.scifi.com\/scifiwire\/index.php?id=60517\">a prequel<\/a>? I won&#8217;t be standing in line for that.<\/li>\n<p><\/font><font face=\"Verdana\" size=\"2\"><\/p>\n<li>I probably <em>will<\/em> line up for a copy of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.guardian.co.uk\/books\/2008\/sep\/17\/douglasadams\">a new <em>Hitchhiker&#8217;s Guide to the Galaxy<\/em> sequel<\/a>, but again, I really wish they wouldn&#8217;t.<\/li>\n<p><\/font><font face=\"Verdana\" size=\"2\"><\/p>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2008\/09\/21\/books\/review\/Handey-t.html?partner=rssuserland&amp;emc=rss&amp;pagewanted=all\">Jack Handey<\/a>:<br \/>\n<blockquote><p>Because of its remoteness, it is a good idea to make a lot of noise when you approach the Humor section, to avoid surprising people engaged in a sex act. More prostitutes are arrested in Humor sections than in any other part of the bookstore.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>[<a href=\"http:\/\/www.newsfromme.com\/\" title=\"Mark Evanier\">via<\/a>]<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.periodicvideos.com\/#\">The Periodic Table of Videos<\/a>. A really cool and simple idea: click on an element and it launches a short video about it. [<a href=\"http:\/\/mightygirl.com\/\" title=\"Mighty Girl\">via<\/a>]<\/li>\n<p><\/font><\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I may be one of the few people who didn&#8217;t actively dislike the second season of Heroes. But even I have to admit, judging by the two episodes that aired this week to open season three, it really does look like the show is creatively bankrupt. I share a few of Jeremy&#8216;s problems with the &#8230; <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/?p=3171\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[238],"class_list":["post-3171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3171"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3171"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3171\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}