Everything's finally back up and running after Typepad crashed for a full frickin' day. Not that it helps all that much, as I'm just about to embark on a full-scale Christmas panic in which I will try to buy all gifts, bake all cookies, address all cards and finalize all travel plans over the course of this weekend, in between playing league tennis and having Cavin's nieces over for spaghetti and Disney movies. The cards are the easy part, I think -- it's the shopping I most dread. So much for getting ahead this year.
Anyway, given the schedule, all I can do is skim over a few things:
--Watched A History of Violence on Thursday night. I generally like Cronenberg films -- I even liked Existenz -- and although Violence was part of the apparent trend away from his earlier works, the clinical detachment with which he approaches his subjects still creeps me out. And I love that. One observation: William Hurt is totally morphing into Dennis Hopper, and I don't really mean that in a good way.
--This is my favorite lede thus far in a story about Brokeback Mountain. Generally, I stay away from any gay movie that gives off the vibe that I have to see it in order to be a socially responsible gay man, but it is an Ang Lee film, so in that case I have no choice. I'm scheduled for Monday -- here's hoping my high hopes aren't dashed.
--Speaking of Brokeback, out of all the stupid posts and comments I've seen about the movie, this one from Jeff Gannon has to be the stupidest. Then check out his dismissal of Ron Reagan Jr. as a "nancy boy" and "Twinkle-toes." Project much? Yes, this is the guy that one paper claims needs to heard by the gay and lesbian community.
--Microsoft finally makes a product that I actually want to own (as opposed to being forced to use by monopolistic ubiquity), and they can't make/ship/supply enough of them for me to buy one. Nice work, Microsoft! I'm so glad they managed to have all those units available for a failed Japanese launch. Slate has an interesting take as well on the economics of the Xbox 360. But academic theories be damned -- I just want to play some frickin' Project Gotham Racing 3, dammit.
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