At LAX

At LAX. The crushingly emptiest of feelings. I am in the loneliest herd of cattle. Woman at fast food counter arguing that their medium isn't medium enough. I exist solely to keep an eye on my bags at all times.

Radiohead's "Let Down" plays in my head, a perfect soundtrack. "Someday I am gonna grow wings, a chemical reaction, hysterical and useless..."

Two pornstars in short shorts spice up the scenery. I neglect to mention how I know them.

Health reform opponents threaten to kill children

Some opponents of health care reform are threatening to kill the children of lawmakers who voted for reform.

"Assassinate is the word they used…toward the children of lawmakers who voted yes."

Repo Men

Repo Men is worth the ticket price for Forest Whitaker, whose performance is better than the movie itself.

That said, it's not a bad flick. I saw all the plot twists coming a mile away, but it was still fun getting there, and in addition to Whitaker's fantastic performance, Jude Law and Liev Shrieber are very good too.

It's basically a very good B-movie elevated by the actors. In a future world, your failing organs can be replaced by "artiforgs," artificial organs that are efficient, dependable,  guaranteed... and expensive. But the interest rates are killer. Fall behind on your payments, and The Union sends the repo men to repossess your organs, and they're not very careful whether you're alive or dead when they do so.

The action sequence at the end is a bit too cartoony and over the top compared to the grittier sequences that come before... but without giving it away there's a reason for that and it does serve the plot.

There's one gut-busting laugh out loud bit involving a medical procedure that's so funny it almost seems out of place... but only almost.

All in all, not a bad way to spend a Saturday afternoon with a bucket of buttery popcorn, perhaps giving some new business to The Union.

Jon Stewart gets inside Glenn Beck

Part 1:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Intro - Progressivism Is Cancer
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Reform

Part 2:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Conservative Libertarian
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Reform

The particles of the future

The particles of the future
are in constant random motion
until we meet them.

The particles of the past
move in memories, refracting
when we look back.

Only the present
is deathly still.

Earthquake

Something woke me up before it hit. I don't know what.

But the next thing I knew, it felt like my bed had run over a huge pothole at 65 mph. It was a pretty big jolt, followed by two or three seconds of a slight rolling.

The USGS says the epicenter of the 4.4 magnitude quake striking at 4:04am was in Pico Rivera, a few miles away from my apartment.

I got out of bed and got dressed just in case it was a foreshock. And because this is the 21st century, the first thing I did was log on and tweet it. It was fun seeing which of my friends had also been jolted out of bed.

Cecil the cat was pretty relaxed through the whole thing. His main comment seemed to be, "Now that you're up, feed me."

Car batteries and James Thurber

Had to get a car battery today, so I went to Sears, inside a mall. While they worked on the car I decided to waste some time walking through the mall, something I haven't done in about three years.

No bookstores. There used to be two in that mall, but they're gone. Apparently they both closed and moved out a couple of years ago.

So I went across the street to Borders, to do some browsing and waste some more time.

There was an appalling lack of Arthur C. Clarke in the science fiction section.

I was thinking about Keith Olbermann's dad passing away, and Keith talking about how he read James Thurber's short stories to him. So I decided to hunt a good Thurber collection down. Couldn't find anything on the shelves, so I went up to the pretty young thing behind the counter.

"Do you have any Thurber collections in stock?"

"I'm sorry, who?"

"Thurber, James Thurber."

She looked confused. "And how do you spell that?"

I did a silent facepalm.

But she was hot, so who cares.

A corporation is running for Congress

The recent ruling by the Supreme Court seems to reaffirm this idea that corporations are "persons." And if they are, can't they run for office?

Why not?

A corporation is deciding to do just that. Murray Hill Inc. has filed to run for Congress as a Republican to make the point.

The future of communications

Broadband Internet is becoming the country's primary telecommunications medium, and the FCC wants to widen it. The big corporations, of course, will fight this to the death, and warn us that it will cause the universe to explode and turn your neighbors into brain-eating zombies.

The Federal Communications Commission is proposing an ambitious 10-year plan that will reimagine the nation’s media and technology priorities by establishing high-speed Internet as the country’s dominant communication network.

The plan, which will be submitted to Congress on Tuesday, is likely to generate debate in Washington and a lobbying battle among the telecommunication giants, which over time may face new competition for customers. Already, the broadcast television industry is resisting a proposal to give back spectrum the government wants to use for future mobile service.

The blueprint reflects the government’s view that broadband Internet is becoming the common medium of the United States, gradually displacing the telephone and broadcast television industries. It also signals a shift at the F.C.C., which under the administration of President George W. Bush gained more attention for policing indecency on the television airwaves than for promoting Internet access.

Cat

Cat: "Watcha doin?"

Me: "Working on a show concept, about a future with an alternate history and I Love Lucy being used for mind control."

Cat: "Yawn. Bored."

Me: "Okay, what if I write a part for Megan Fox?"

Cat: "Hello! Kitteh's home!"

The Promise of Living

This is absolutely marvelous.

Aaron Copland is my favorite composer. His piece, "The Promise of Living," has been set to clips of old 8- and 16-mm films of Americans doing what they do... Living.

Gorgeous.

Aaron Copland's music, especially "Appalachian Spring," would be the closest thing to God I could think of, if I believed in gods.

People want to be unemployed

Former GOP House Majority Leader Tom Delay says that unemployment benefits keep people from getting a job -- that people are unemployed because they want to be unemployed.

"You know," Delay said, "there is an argument to be made that these extensions, the unemployment benefits keeps people from going and finding jobs. In fact there are some studies that have been done that show people stay on unemployment compensation and they don't look for a job until two or three weeks before they know the benefits are going to run out.

Host Candy Crowley: Congressman, that's a hard sell, isn't it?

Delay: it's the truth.

Crowley: People are unemployed because they want to be?

Delay: well, it is the truth. and people in the real world know it. And they have friends and they know it. Sure, we ought to be helping people that are unemployed find a job, but we also have budget considerations that are incredibly important, especially now that Obama is spending monies that we don't have.

Her Sweater

I was oh so young and felt oh so old
a rebel looking for just the right place
to fit in
like
so

My grandpa warned me
that Satan’s voice hid backwards in my music
and each erection brought me
a mile closer to the lake of fire
but I didn’t care
I was ready to burn

And suddenly she was there
queen of queens, and
cheerleader of cheerleaders
all oval face and long straight hair
and me entranced with
the topography of her sweater.
and then we kissed, hard,
like our kisses could kill zombies

And I ruined it, oh yes I did
I tore it down with gusto

Now years later
encased in the weight
and the wait of middle age
where’s that young man
who is this bitter Frankenstein in my mirror
All flesh, dead and stolen

Look upon this, youngster, and despair
this grain of sand
used to be my beach.

But save your eulogies and bite your tongue
there is still blood in this statue
my dead heart still beats
and my ghost still
moves
   the
      dust.

Masseuse Kitteh