Stat

On the Niners defense:

The Saints run the ball well and have gotten better in that area as the season has gone on. Darren Sproles, Pierre Thomas and Chris Ivory bring a nice mix of speed and power. I think we could see more of the Saints' running game than usual in this one.

Mike Sando: The 49ers will welcome the challenge. Arian Foster, Felix Jones, LeGarrette Blount, Jahvid Best and Montario Hardesty are among the NFL backs the 49ers have injured since preseason. They roughed up LeSean McCoy, too. Unless Marshawn Lynch suddenly shows up in this game -- and, hey, the Saints wouldn't want to see him, either -- the 49ers' run defense should be OK.

Yowza.

Worse

So much media focus was on waterboarding, but the worst element of Gitmo is described here. We held innocent men for over 7 years and for no intelligible purpose. The media focused on waterboarding, but fail to mention for the most part, it was only done to 3 people. That doesn't justify it, but it certainly puts it in perspective.

Logging

Film: Carnage

I wish more great directors would try projects like this -- small project that test their basic skills. I'd almost watch this a second time just to watch the blocking. Polanaksi is so clever. The movie doesn't feel "stuck" in the single apartment, even though the whole thing takes place there. He does this by clever blocking, arranging the characters physically in the space where they are emotionally at the moment and then just picking the right angle to shoot. I'd have to watch again to understand all the subtleties. The performances are great. Christoph Waltz is fantastic. There are a few writing things I "bumped" on, but I was forgiving because the essential ideas in the play-turned-movie were compelling enough for me so say "fine, that didn't pass the smooth, real life test, but I'm willing to go along for the ride for the sake of the story." Movies can get away with a little of that. Less than plays and sitcoms, but a little.

I'd don't want to spoil anything, but there is one moment in the film that for me, tops the list of moments-like-that in movies. I suppose this makes no sense, but I'd rather not ruin it for anyone else.

Ha!

Livescience: unconsciously, everyone wants to date a hottie, which is why online dating fails.

I can't come up with a better response than Instapundits: Un-consciously?

New Orleans-San Francisco

What a great build up to this game. This game can go so many different ways.

Pro-49ers point of view: The Niners have come to play in every single game this year. They simply do not have major letdowns. There is a reason they went 13-3 and secured the number 2 seed. Jim Harbaugh has them prepared for every single game. He is going to bring some trickery to the play calling. Their three losses are as follows - Cowboys in overtime that required a major comeback and some crazy plays by Romo. A Ravens Thursday night game where the Ravens D was possessed, the Niners had injuries on the O-line, the subplot of coaching against his older brother, and the game still hinged on two weird penalty calls that overturned a long bomb and an interception. The closest thing to a let down was the Arizona game where the Niners still only lost by 2 points, but gave up some big plays in the secondary and failed to convert in the red zone during the first half. Halftime score of that game - 9-0.

The Niners have the best defense in the league and a surprisingly good ball possession offense. They are built to keep the Saints offense off the field. They can run on the Saints all game long with the tandem of a rested Gore and Hunter. They have the best special teams in the league, they force turnovers, they are rested and relatively healthy, they have home field advantage and the Saints are not going to be as unstoppable on grass. We've seen teams like this win over and over in the playoffs - the Jets beating New England, the Giants beating New England, the Ravens beating New England, Seattle beating New Orleans, the Saints beating the Colts.

Another factor - consider the Niners almost beat the Saints last year in a Monday Night game that was blown by dumb play calling by Singletary. That won't happen with Harbaugh. Also consider, the Niners provided the blue print the Saints used to beat the Colts in the Superbowl - that year - the Niners lost to the Colts 18-15 in a weird game. My point - the Niners have experience playing in these games from the past and this year are much, much better.

Lastly, the Saints can make mistakes and the Niners live off other teams mistakes. You saw moments when Brees made some bad plays against Detroit and Detroit could not make the turnovers and make them pay. The Niners will make those plays. The Niner defense is the best in the league and will be pumped out of their minds. New Orleans has not faced a defense this good.

Pro-Saints point of view: The Saints are the hottest team in the league. They did not punt against Detroit. No matter how good the Niners defense is, they will not be able to stop the arsenal of the Saints. The Saints will wear down the Niner defense, who does not substitute very much, and will expose their secondary. The Niners have not faced a single top offense this year - New Orleans, New England, Green Bay, or Carolina. The Niners got beat long by John Skelton and Larry Fitzgerald - a much weaker set of weapons the Saints are going to be able to throw at the Niners. The Saints have an awesome tight end and Sproles. As good as the Niner linebackers are, they will not be able to stop them all day.

Also, the Saints killed the Niners in pre-season. They are going to pressure Alex Smith all game and force him to make plays. Who thinks Alex Smith can outduel Drew Brees? No one. The Niners have no deep threat. The Saints will gear up to stop the run and force the Niners into 3rd and longs all day like the Ravens and then blitz Smith, who will eventually make a mistake or take sacks. The Niners cannot blow out the Saints, so even if the game is close at halftime, New Orleans still feels like it can win because the Niner d will get tired in the 2nd half and the Saints can light it up quick like they did against Detroit.

Sean Payton will also come up with some good play calls. They are going to go for it on 4th and short to lengthen their possessions and wear down the defense because he has so much confidence in his offense.

Keys to the game: The Niners need to win the turnover battle to win and need to run the ball effectively. Alex Smith must make a few plays. The Niners have done this all year, so it is not outside the realm of possibilities. The Saints need to tire out the Niner defense in the first half with long drives and no huddle and making fourth down conversions.

Anything is possible in this game, except for a 49er blowout. History suggests, the Niners could be in for a huge letdown as they are new to this situation and New Orleans is playing at such a high level, and have so much experience. But the Niners haven't had a huge let down this year and Harbaugh has had his teams prepared for big games - remember how Stanford played in recent bowl games.

Should be a fun game.

College Football

I dvr'd the game last night and watched it in like 45 minutes. For games one doesn't passionately care about, this is the only way to watch. You realize what a time suck and how many stupid commercials you waste your time sitting through. The BCS is such a stupid system. They basically gave away the national championship by scheduling this year. Think about this - LSU had to play 14 games - and since week 1 were the number 1 team in football. Meaning every single game, the other team was geared up to play them. They had to play an extra game, the SCE title game against a very good Georgia team. They had a regular SEC schedule (the hardest in college), played Oregon in week 1, and played the SEC title game and then were rewarded with a rematch against Alabama. Are you kidding? Of course they are going to lose at some point. If Alabama and LSU played 10 times, they'd split 5-5. So what is Alabama the national champion? Because they won the rematch? Dumb, dumb, dumb. A very good example of the NCAA system that found a worse solution to a non-problem.

China

Curbs movie ticket prices.

Good move by business, bad move by government.

Best Blog Entry 2012!

An ode to Miami Vice, the tv show. I think we have a frontrunner.

Oh, Language

A Madonna interview with Hungarian newspaper translated back and forth between Hungarian to English to Hungarian back to English.

Logging

Film: North Dallas Forty

Moreso than any other sports movie, I actually felt the physical pain endured by athletes in this film. I was wincing at times. Very much a spiritual ancestor to Bull Durham. Not quite as funny and definitely more dark.

Words With Friends - 655

I must record this as I don't think I'll ever score this many points again. 655 against a stranger. I don't know how to make a screenshot from my ipod.

Bummer

Tony Blankley died. He was easily my favorite contributor to Left, Right, and Center.

Tebow Magic!

So those two pass plays for long yardage and a touchdown where nice and lucky and all the stuff of Tebow magic. But let's not forget the play before where Tebow totally puts his receiver Decker in a vulnerable position to catch that ball and he gets injured by Harrison's hit. I'd hate to be one of his receivers. You never see Brees put his receivers in those positions.

Good

Actress is suing IMDB for posting her age without her consent.

All this online information is out of control. Nowadays people think they have a right to all sorts of information about others and these online sites like Facebook, Google, IMDB, etc, sloppily use whatever information they can gather to enrich themselves. I myself had a problem with IMDB when they linked by common name to some other person suggesting I wrote all sorts of cartoon episodes for some random shows. In one meeting, someone asked about it. It took them forever to update it. What right does IMDB have to publish this information? And what obligation do they have to ensure it is correct? These are important issues as it affects people with reputations and careers. I've noticed the folks that are flippant about these issues are ones without reputations and without careers -- sort of like not caring about property rights until you've got some property you want to protect.

Logging

Film: second half of Broadcast News

There was literally nothing on TV - no sports I wanted to watch after working out this AM, so I watched it again. It isn't transcendent art, but it is the best Hollywood can do. The New Beverly would be brave to schedule a Broadcast News and Working Girl double feature and title it single working women in the 1980s series or something. The studios cannot make a movie as good as either of these films right now - why is that? Their comedies are not as funny and their dramas are not as substantive. Albert Brook's speech to Holly Hunter about why William Hurt is the devil should be taught in screenwriting classes. If you're going to do a speech, here is the standard you need to get up to.

Logging

Film: The Big Lebowski

Imagine if the Coen Brothers had only made this one movie. We'd still remember and talk about them. Now consider they also made Raising Arizona, Miller's Crossing, and the Man Who Wasn't There -- three movies which - if they were their three best movies - would put them up there among the most important working directors. But of course, these aren't their three best movies, these are their second tier because they also made No Country For Old Men and Fargo. I don't even need to mention their other good, but what I consider minor, work. Let's put it another way - I've never felt like anyone has heaped too much praise on the guys. I'm not sure I can say that about any other working filmmakers.

Sacrilege

Tonight, I go mad. I was watching some of the Laker-Warrior game at a bar and paying mild attention to Kobe. He is old. He lost the ball a couple of times - something he does quite a bit since he often forces the issue on offense - but I had a thought -- perhaps it is because the Lakers are clearly past their prime, and Kobe is past his prime, and the Lakers are obviously underdogs in the West - but a thought occurred to me -- is there still hope for Kobe becoming something worth rooting for. Sacrilege? Just wait until later in the post...

It is about grit. Kobe has always been a weird dude. An unlikeable teammate, a guy who always needed more help than he let on. A bad shot taker. A guy with an overblown reputation for being clutch. An unremarkable defender. A mediocre passer. A guy was always much more fun to root against than to root for. But there is a version of all these negative traits becoming something else in older age. That thing is grit. Imagine Kobe playing 5 more years. Imagine the Lakers not getting Howard (I don't think they will). Imagine Kobe just showing up every night until he is 38 years old, playing the same old style he's always played, taking too many shots, trying to do things his body won't allow him to do anymore, chucking up ridiculous 3's. Imagine his teammates. Guys like Ariza, Barnes, Gasol, Artest, maybe a maturing Bynum. Imagine them not making the playoffs one year. Imagine them losing in the first round to superior teams like the Clippers, the Trail Blazers, OKC, etc. But then imagine this team 4 or 5 years from now, where these other teams have matured into the veteran teams, mature teams, and then you have this Laker team, with a few newer guys around, and this aging relic, this guy, Kobe who still takes the shots at the end of the game. And it's almost like a joke, like no one even recognizes him as a top 10 player anymore, but he figures something else out, like he finally comes to understand his skill set and his mental toughness somehow becomes transcendent and he can still get off his shot and realizes the value of the people around him, and becomes this guy who brings a toughness to his team, who still yearns to win. Imagine this version of Kobe, the beaten down veteran, the guy other teams don't even worry about anymore, imagine this version going for his 6th title to match Jordan. Maybe this becomes someone we can root for.

Of course, the more likely scenario is the shitheel requests a trade next season.

Onto other things...and as long as I'm committing sacrilege, let me offer another thought: the first season of Cheers might be better than the first season of Seinfeld. A younger version of myself just tried to break into my apartment and stab me. But seriously, I just got finished watching Cheers season 1. That is a mature show. It is like Tim Duncan showing up in the NBA ready to play and win an NBA title. Seinfeld is like watching a young Jordan play. You can sense potential - almost infinite potential - but it is unformed and unruly and not mature. And you have to take away the future achievements - the future greatness - and view it for what it is - and it isn't genius. Not yet.

Nice

A brilliant defense of the liberal arts major by the great Virginia Postrel.

The argument that public policy should herd students into Stem fields is as wrong-headed as the notion that industrial policy should drive investment into manufacturing or “green” industries. It’s just the old technocratic central planning impulse in a new guise. It misses the complexity and diversity of occupations in a modern economy, forgets the dispersed knowledge of aptitudes, preferences and job requirements that makes labor markets work, and ignores the profound uncertainty about what skills will be valuable not just next year but decades in the future.

Pundits are entitled to their hypotheses, of course, and if they’re footing the bill they can experiment on their children. But they shouldn’t try to use the rest of the population as lab mice.

Ouch.

Hat tip, Naveen.

Equal Opportunity

If you really wanted to go crazy with the equal opportunity, you would force highly educated people to marry less educated people.

I would expect the household to try to achieve the level of education of the highest parent. This should increase the education level and life opportunities outcome for double the amount of families.

On the downside, the highly educated parent would probably get annoyed at explaining movie plots.

Good Article on Supporting Ron Paul

Really good article.

Several major points:

1. On the charges of Paul being "crazy"

Labeling people “crazy” as a means of dismissing their views — basically depicting political disagreement as a mental illness — is one of the oldest and stalest means of discrediting people who dissent; it’s basically the prime weapon used to enforce mainstream orthodoxy and punish dissidents.

He goes on to fairly discuss "Bush Derangement Syndrome" and other ways people simply resort to the crazy label to demonize opponents. Obviously, Sarah Palin comes to mind. In fairness, the only person I've referred to as crazy is Michelle Bachman and that's not because of her policies, but rather because of her eyes.

2.

Consider what happened in 2007 when a conservative blogger and law professor, Glenn Reynolds, suggested that the U.S. begin assassinating Iranian scientists. Numerous people — such as Law Professor Paul Campos and myself — pointed out how warped and criminal that idea was. One of those most vehement in expressing horror and disgust at this proposal was none other than Kevin Drum, who went so far as to denounce it as Terrorism:

I imagine a lot of people agree with [Reynolds], but his recommendation really demonstrates the moral knot caused by George Bush’s insistence that we’re fighting a “war on terror.” After all, killing civilian scientists and civilian leaders, even if you do it quietly, is unquestionably terrorism. That’s certainly what we’d consider it if Hezbollah fighters tried to kill cabinet undersecretaries and planted bombs at the homes of Los Alamos engineers.

Fast forward three years. Iranian nuclear scientists are actually being murdered. That is almost certainly happening through some combination of Israeli and American actions — at the very least with the approval and complicity of the Obama administration. Where is the outrage and denunciation that was spewed at a mere blogger for suggesting on the Internet that this should be done? Now that it’s actually being done, doesn’t it necessarily mean — using Drum’s reasoning when aimed at Reynolds — that President Obama is a “terrorist”? And if so, isn’t it understandable how eager some people are to find means of doing something other than steadfastly devoting oneself to this politician and working for his re-empowerment by, for instance, changing the terms of the debate?

His major point is that progressives don't really believe in the major criticisms they forwarded during the Bush Administration, especially since they are silent on many of the same issues now that Obama is in office and following those same policies related to detentions, assassinations, civil liberties, etc.

Portland Trail Blazers

Who is this Raymond Felton? Jamal Crawford? Gerald Wallace? Did I totally miss something in the NBA the past couple years? These guys are ballers. And they have LaMarcus Aldridge and gotta-be-about-to-retire Marcus Camby. But man, what a fun team to watch. Making the Lakers looks like old men in this second half. The only place where LA seems to have an advantage is Bynum, who outweighs everyone on Portland by 50 lbs.

They also have this French guy off the bench who looks pretty good. I like teams like this - teams with a mix of players with different skill sets - they can play inside, they have dribble penetrators, slash style players, a few shooters, a few long guys on defense, and look to go about 8 guys deep. Mavericks had this last year. Only thing Portland seems to be missing is "the man," the guy everyone else knows is getting the ball toward the end of the game - the Nowitzki, Kobe, Wade, Durant type of player. Maybe someone will emerge this year. But teams lacking this type of player often end up like the Atlanta Hawks of the past couple years, out of the playoffs pretty quickly. Then again, the Chauncey Billups Pistons were kind of like that and still won.

Good For Target

Target features an ad with a Down Syndrome kid without making a big deal about it.

Good for them.

Bag Law

I continue to be discouraged by the total and utter hypocrisy of the Santa Monica bag law. I go to the grocery store, they charge me for bags, and yet they have this ridiculous McDonalds-Monopoly style game for which they give me like 20 little cards and a game board and all this paper nonsense that will basically go straight into the trash. So let me get this straight - Santa Monica charges consumers for bags for "environmental" purposes and yet allows advertisers to create all sorts of wasteful products to help sell their bullshit? What a joke. Especially since I reuse those grocery store bags for garbage and recycle bags. So annoying.

Logging

TV: Cheers, finished full 1st season

What stands out to me in this show is how adult the whole thing feels. While watching, it feels like adults are manning the store. They have Tip O'Neil as a guest star in one episode. As much as I love 30 Rock, the whole thing feels youthful to me. Cheers seems to have a wisdom and melancholy that comes with age. The irony, of course, is that I loved this show as a kid.

Irony

The Arab League puts the Sudanese Intelligence Officer who oversaw the genocide in Darfur in charge of overseeing the Syrian protest crackdown.

I know the Arab League isn't the UN, but it kinda makes you wonder about these international organizations.

Krugman on Debt

On why government debt is different than personal debt.

Fair enough. To be fair, liberals tend to worry about debt when it comes to things like defense spending and war, but seem to find it less important when it comes to unemployment benefits and healthcare.

Sold

I'd buy one - the best map of the United States.

Inequality or Poverty?

Obviously poverty is a worse problem than income inequality -- arguably, income inequality isn't even a problem at all.

Google Sucks

Forget all these internet companies. Google is becoming just as bad as facebook. First, this past weekend, it asked me to enter my birthdate so they could better target ads. More info on me out there in the world? No thanks. So I lie and tell them I am a 10 year old girl. They immediately disable my account and force me to enter my credit card information before restoring it. Because I need my email for work, etc, I of course do it. So in an effort to restrict my information on the internet, I end up giving them more. Then, they switch the gmail "look." Why? I'm fine with the look. Just leave it, for godsake. If I want to change it, I'll change it myself. In conjunction with the same bullshit they pulled with blogger a few months back, I've had it with Google. If I find a thing to change to, I'm going to do it. Maybe even set up my own domain. I don't like being beholden to these ridiculous internet companies - I know this free stuff is too good to be true - and it was only a matter of time before they start charging us or stealing our information and selling it. They need to make money somehow - it can't all be speculation.

Flight Attendants

Remember when they used to be hot, agreeable women back in the 60s and 70s? I don't, because I wasn't alive yet, but I've heard. Now, flight attendants are petitioning to get 30 Rock removed from flights because of Baldwin's Words With Friends incident.

Also, they protested Jodie Foster's Flightplan because it portrayed them poorly. What happened to these people? They are becoming among the most obnoxious profession, if you can even call it that.

Idiocy

From an article about cool aps.

SproutSocial
Platform: iPhone/Android

What I like best about the new SproutSocial app for iPhone, which ties into the subscription-based SproutSocial service on the Web (sproutsocial.com; $9 a month), is that I can post status updates to Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn at the same time. That's a real timesaver, especially from my iPhone. The app does not have the extensive reporting features of the Web version, which shows you daily progress on finding new followers, but can be used to search for posts, read direct messages, and scan other feeds.

I've got a timesaver: don't use Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn at all. Look at that magic - I just saved you even more time. The very existence of such an ap is all the proof you need that this stuff is all nonsense, just like the pop up guy that needs to explain the football rules to the average joe watching the game at home. If a guy like me, who has consumed a disgusting amount of football games in my life, doesn't understand the rules properly, there is a good chance there are too many rules and too much of this instant-replay nonsense.

Logging

Film: Ides of March

Afterwards, the person I watched the movie with asked me "what do you think was the worst part?" My response, "Worst how? Like worst technically from a craft perspective or worst from a 'most tasteless perspective'?"

If there was a subconscious contest going on between Brad Pitt and George Clooney to see who could better use their movie star status to make great films, Pitt devoured Clooney this year. Ides of March is a negative point for Clooney - a really tasteless, borderline repugnant film that casts an eerie cloud over Clooney's intellectual chops. Is it possible the guy is not very bright? His early directoral efforts were impressive - Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, and Good Night and Good Luck. Both modest movies, smart test-the-water-see-if-i-can-do-this-directing-thing efforts. Then comes Leatherheads and Ides of March. Leatherheads was just forgettable and lazy, but Ides of March is unskilled, tasteless, and faux intellectual. Clooney is not a writer, that is for sure. And he and Heslov don't have a very good track record of producing - look at this list since 2005 - Men Who Stare at Goats, The Informant, A Scanner Darkly, Syriana, Leatherheads, Ides of March - these are really, really bad movies - like terrible movies. I left off Michael Clayton, which they did produce, and is an excellent movie, but that's hitting 1 for 7.

On the flipside, Pitt obviously had a hand in getting Moneyball and Tree of Life made this year. And although I'm not a fan of Tree of Life, it is hardly an embarrassment, and Pitt's performance is quite good. I hate to link to this article, because I don't like it, but I got a kick out of the Tree of Life section (from Grantland).

Under the section -

Successful movies we will be embarrassed that we liked in five years

Amos Barshad: It's Malick so no one will actually turn on it, but I nominate The Tree of Life. At some point in the middle of this (was it the 100th shot of Brad Pitt clenching his handsome jaw? The 1,000th of sunlight breaking out from behind leaves? Maybe just that one of Jessica Chastain floating?) I had resigned myself to the fact that this movie would never end, that I would live out the rest of my life in that theater, watching pretty scene after pretty scene that I did not understand. More dinosaurs plz.

Nevertheless, other films Pitt helped get made or produced: Assassination of Jesse James, Kick Ass, Eat Pray Love, Benjamin Button, The Private Lives of Pippa Lee, A Mighty Heart, Babel.

Note: I'm not counting movies like Burn After Reading, Inglorious Basterds, Up in the Air, Fantastic Mr. Fox - all pretty good movies - but clearly filmmaker stuff that could have gotten made without Pitt or Clooney.

In any case, Pitt's movies in the past six years or so, seem to me, much more respectable than Clooney's. Even his failures like Benjamin Button are respectable failures whereas Clooney's are more pie-in-the-face failures.

Movies

Ebert on why the box office is down.

The movies stink, man. I know the studios think to themselves, we can only make 5-10 really good movies a year and the rest we have to rely on tricking the audience to go see. How stupid and cynical is that? Once you hold that belief, it becomes a self fulfilling prophesy. Also - I know there is an anti-trust thing with the theaters being owned by the studios, but it seems to me no longer applicable. If I were super rich, I'd buy a studio and a theater chain, merge it, keep popcorn prices and ticket prices reasonable, and commit to making only quality movies with budgets under 50 mil. I know people think this is a preposterous goal - but I actually think the competition is so low - it could actually be accomplished. HBO essentially does it on TV and succeeds. It'd be like the Devil Rays or the OKC Thunder of the movie world.

Logging

Film: Mission Impossible, Ghost Protocol

Here was my logic - I wanted to see a movie. Girl With A Dragon Tattoo was the obvious choice, but I looked it up and it was 2 hrs and 40 minutes long. This, for a story I've already read, already seen a previous version of the movie, and don't really care for. There are no actors in the film that make want to go see it - the only reason to go to this film, for me, is to see what David Fincher was able to do with the material. I love Fincher. He might be the best working filmmaker in Hollywood, but he is fundamentally, a technician, a visual master, and not someone with something vital to say about the world. I couldn't imagine really enjoying myself while watching this film. I already know what is going to happen and I already know it is not a masterpiece just by the reviews and word of mouth, etc. So what is the point?

Instead, I decided to see Mission Impossible, figuring lower expectations, maybe I'll actually enjoy myself. I was sort of right. The movie had some good wide shots. A few good action sequences in the first half of the movie. But ultimately, it was just exhausting. It felt like they tried to cram in 4 heist movies into one. The entire last act is simply a repeat of the second act. The stakes are preposterous and make ZERO sense. The movie was totally bereft of any ideas. Strange, considering Brad Bird did The Incredibles, a cartoon which was rich with ideas about middle aged angst, impotence, recalling past glory, rising above the crowd, all sorts of good stuff. To like this Mission Impossible is to accept such a narrow and small concept of what a movie can be these days. Non-stop nonsensical action. By the end, when the nuclear missile is flying around the world, not for one second am I thinking "Oh, no, don't let it explode." Stupid. Totally tension-less in the 3rd act.

The only thing worse were the previews. I believe I saw three movies where the "stakes" were the world was going to be destroyed. Is this the only goal that the studios think will get the audiences out of the house? Must the world be actually destroyed for people to go and see a movie? Whatever happened to just a bad guy killing someone or stealing some money? Isn't that enough to root against? Is it really that the entire world is going to be destroyed by some sort of creatures from another dimension or the past or some crazy technology? These plots strike me as "little man's" syndrome, excessive overcompensation for lack of story telling ability.

Logging

Film: Due Date

The theme of my Christmas break seems to be mediocre comedies from on demand. I laughed during Due Dute. It was no Hangover, but it wasn't that bad. A very funny line from Zach G. "When he was alive, he enjoyed coffee and when he died, he was enjoyed as coffee." I suppose it only makes sense if you've seen the movie.

Book: The Tao of Warren Buffett

Just simple investing and life advice that took 1 hour to read. When Buffett is about to buy a stock he thinks if the stock market closed tomorrow for 10 years, would he still feel comfortable about owning the company before he purchases. This keeps him away from weird tech stocks and other stuff. Smart.

Writing Advice

Of course the best one comes from Mark Twain.

"Write without pay until somebody offers pay; if nobody offers within three years, sawing wood is what you were intended for." ~ Mark Twain

Yikes

9 foot tall super soldier mourns Kim Jong Il.

File that one under headlines I would have never anticipated.

Social Media: Too Much Buzz

More like too much bullshit.

Social media is a party that the cool folks left a hour ago.

Logging

Film: Dinner For Schmucks

So I only made it about halfway through before falling asleep. Strange movie. I was actually enjoying the tone until Steve Carrel showed up. His character made almost zero sense. I want to see the French original on which it is based. Another plotting point that made no sense was his girlfriend's strident reaction to Paul Rudd going to dinner. Very strange and obviously just some obstacle the screenwriters needed to come up with. Not character based or realistic. A plotting hiccup.

Brilliant Article

Shareholder value: the dumbest idea in the world.

A scathing article on the retarded practices of the business world. One pretty startling point - it all started with creating a problem (principal-agent) that didn't really exist -

The article performed the old academic trick of creating a problem and then proposing a solution to the supposed problem that the article itself had created. The article identified the principal-agent problem as being that the shareholders are the principals of the firm—i.e., they own it and benefit from its prosperity, while the executives are agents who are hired by the principals to work on their behalf.

The principal-agent problem occurs, the article argued, because agents have an inherent incentive to optimize activities and resources for themselves rather than for their principals. Ignoring Peter Drucker’s foundational insight of 1973 that the only valid purpose of a firm is to create a customer, Jensen and Meckling argued that the singular goal of a company should be to maximize the return to shareholders.

I call these people "Tinkerers," the types who are always trying to fix problems that don't really exist and in doing so, often create larger problems. Examples: fans of instant replay in football, drunk driving laws, health care regulations, rewrites on movie scripts, etc.

Jack Welch puts it well -

“On the face of it, shareholder value is the dumbest idea in the world. Shareholder value is a result, not a strategy… your main constituencies are your employees, your customers and your products. Managers and investors should not set share price increases as their overarching goal. … Short-term profits should be allied with an increase in the long-term value of a company.”

Logging

Film: The Artist

After watching this movie, I had an urge to re-watch Miller's Crossing, which I did via on demand. This is maybe the first time I've used on demand. It cost $3 - just as good as going to blockbuster (except that blockbuster now charges only .99). I was impressed with the number of movies available. I love Miller's Crossing. It might be the best written movie of the Cohen brothers - or at the very least - some of the best dialog. People always talk about Sorkin being the successor to Ben Hecht and Preston Sturges, but I don't see it. Miller's Crossing is much more in that vein than Social Network - truly witty dialog, full of flair and panache. Example:

Tom Reagan: All in all not a bad guy - if looks, brains and personality don't count.
Verna: You better hope they don't.

Come on. That's better dialog than anything Sorkin's ever written.

The Artist was enjoyable. Clever. A nice reminder of the basics of movie going. Some very good moments. Every year, someone still manages to make a movie that makes you go "Huh. Good idea." I probably won't watch it again, but was glad I saw it in the theater.

You Don't Say

Affirmative action does not work.

Racial preferences, says University of San Diego law professor Gail Heriot , have backfired. She is one of three members of the civil rights commission urging the Supreme Court to recognize the damage it unleashed when it allowed racial “diversity’’ to trump the Fourteenth Amendment’s guarantee of equal protection of the laws. Skin color was always an ill-contrived proxy for diversity of experiences and beliefs. What more than 30 years of race-based admissions have made clear, Heriot argues, is that “even with the best motives in the world, race-based admissions do far more harm than good.’’ Especially to the students they are supposed to help .

I think sport provide a pretty good example of why affirmative action is a bad idea. Imagine tossing in a few token Asians into a basketball game simply because they wanted "diversity" on the field. Whatever it's original purpose, this example shows how it's more outdated than an Apple IIe.

You Don't Say

Affirmative action does not work.

Racial preferences, says University of San Diego law professor Gail Heriot , have backfired. She is one of three members of the civil rights commission urging the Supreme Court to recognize the damage it unleashed when it allowed racial “diversity’’ to trump the Fourteenth Amendment’s guarantee of equal protection of the laws. Skin color was always an ill-contrived proxy for diversity of experiences and beliefs. What more than 30 years of race-based admissions have made clear, Heriot argues, is that “even with the best motives in the world, race-based admissions do far more harm than good.’’ Especially to the students they are supposed to help .

I think sport provide a pretty good example of why affirmative action is a bad idea. Imagine tossing in a few token Asians into a basketball game simply because they wanted "diversity" on the field. That's how stupid an idea affirmative action is.

Showbiz Analysis

Pretty interesting.

He likes IMax and not 3-D. I was at Best Buy the other day and the sales clerk says next year, they are going to be pushing 3D TVs and phasing out everything else. Really? Who the hell is going to watch 3D TV? What is it going to even look like? What if you have people over - is everyone going to bring their own glasses? This entire concept is absurd. No one wants this crap.

Also was thinking about Avatar -- by the far the best example of 3D movie making. Question: imagine Avatar NOT in 3D. Do people still flock to theaters? I think so. I think the movie is visually spectacular WITHOUT the 3D. Sure, it made it more of an event, but I still don't believe there is a rich future in 3D. People don't care about this crap. They care about seeing good stories well told. And I think the comparisons to sound cinema are not relevant. Or color. Sound and color are obvious game changers. You could take the dumbest person off the street and they can see the immediate difference and be like: I get it. With 3D, the immediate reaction is sort of like "whhaaaaaa????," and people aren't sure whether they like it better or not. I imagine the majority of people are annoyed with it. With color and sound, you always had purists who though, oh no, this is going to change things for the worse, but the average lay person I'm sure was like - "oh cool, what is this." Not so for 3D. The average lay person is like "$4 more for tickets? I have to wear these stupid glasses to get like 3 feet of depth? Not for me. I'll stream a movie on Netflix."

NFL Week 16 - What We Learned

1. God was apparently busy preparing for Christmas the last two weeks because Tebow played awful again. 4 interceptions today. I wonder how much longer this nonsense will last. The Broncos can lose to anyone in the league. And seriously - isn't it the job of a reporter to question Tebow - if God is responsible for your good luck, isn't he also responsible for your bad luck? I don't think this is being anti-religious, just a decent reporter. Religious people can't seriously think God would spend one ounce of energy on football of all things.

2. I doubt we will see Adrian Peterson play football again. A torn ACL and MCL in mid-career for a running back. It takes a year to recover from an ACL and this was a particularly bad one judging by the replay and the fact that both the ACL and MCL are torn. I always thought AP was going to get a nasty injury, just by the way he runs. Tom Brady returned after a year off from an ACL, but he's an immobile QB, whereas AP is a violent runner. Also, remember, AP tore an ACL in college. I just don't see him playing again, even though he is a young man. Turning out to be just like Gayle Sayers.

3. Marshawn Lynch is one of the best running backs in the league. The man is a beast. The Seahawks are a QB away from having a legitimate playoff team.

4. Alex Smith is actually a good quarterback. I'm riding this guy. He isn't flashy, he isn't getting on ESPN, but he simply does not make mistakes. All of a sudden, I have confidence in the guy. And I think the Niners are better off so long as the rest of the football world snickers about Alex Smith. Let all the degenerate gamblers outthink themselves and bet against him in the playoffs. He is legit, especially if you consider the Niners are depleted at receiver and Gore isn't running the way he was early in the year.

5. Mark Sanchez and Rex Ryan are in a really strange place. I assume the Jets aren't making the playoffs this year. Where does this leave the team? Their aging defense is no longer dominant and their running game is no longer strong. Sanchez is unmasked as the lousy QB he's always been and clearly cannot carry the team. They are in a tough spot. Rex deserves it for being such a blowhard.

6. What is Colin Cowherd going to say when the Jets and Cowboys don't make the playoffs? I think the Giants are beating the Cowboys this week and Cowherd is always fellating Sanchez and Romo for being good when it counts. So what happens when both teams don't make the playoffs? I wonder if he eats his words.

Playoffs are going to be fun this year.

Logging

TV: Hung, rest of season 3

Felt unfinished. I guess they thought the show would keep going. It seems HBO is moving away from their experiment in the 25 minute dramadies - Hung, Bored to Death, and How to Make It. Smart move.

Take Your Time

It is okay by me if they keep the shadow inventory of foreclosed homes. Maybe by the time they release the inventory, me and my peer group will be ready to buy -- and it'll be as cheap as can be.

Logging

TV: Hung Season 3, Ep. 2-8

Yes, I gorged on six episodes of Hung last night. Figured since the show went off the air, I was 2/3 through and might as well finish it off. Interesting, how the cancellation of the show actually prompted me to watch (and the fact that my parents don't have Showtime and I can't gorge on Homeland). The thing that I can say about Hung is essentially a back handed insult - that it is good because the episodes are 25 minutes. They require very little investment of my attention or time. And for that investment, there is some fun payoff, a few good lines here and there, some good sex scenes. I'll give the show credit for exploring the range of female sexuality and at least poses interesting scenarios in that department. But it falls short of being great. Great stuff is inspiring and Hung is much closer to soft core porn than inspiring drama. Charlie sums it up best, "Ray, you just a stubborn middle aged ho who don't do dudes."

Parenting

Interesting thoughts on why parenting needn't be so hard.

I actually think this about a lot of things - that there is a culture of stress and anxiety about all sorts of marginally relevant things (NFL football, getting into college, petty problems at work, dating, etc) - that we end up making things that ought to be fun into real chores that sap valuable energy for what otherwise might be spent on productive activity.

Logging

Film: Hall Pass

There were multiple cock shots in this movie for like 20 seconds. I couldn't believe it. Other than that, it was very very ok.

Growing Up Poor and Black

An incredibly good analysis of why it is so hard for people to move out of poverty. They have a lot of things going against them.

Public Pension

A teacher/administrator gets a public pension of $174,000 a year.

I've got plenty of beef with corporate CEOs and their exorbitant salaries, but let's be honest, there are very few of these jobs and they are being paid by supposedly what value they bring to their companies as deemed by the market. I fail to see how we can afford pensions funded by taxpayers at this high a level for people who ARE NOT WORKING. I mean, this seems insane to me. Every single hardworking 30 year old I know would fall over backwards for a job paying that amount of money - and that money would go towards starting a family, buying a house, saving for retirement, you know, good things for society...

Logging

Film: Revenge of the Nerds

"Poindexter, are we going to fuck or not?"
"AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"

Fun Game

Supervillain or Newt.

This Doesn't Seem Right

A women bumps up from a 25K a year job to a 35K a year job and yet, has less disposable income.

Iraq

When did it become commonly accepted the Iraq war was a failure? More and more, I read the MSM simply refer to the war in terms like these (re Hitchens position):

"it must not be forgotten in mourning him that he got the single most consequential decision in his life horrifically, petulantly wrong"; indeed: "People make mistakes. What's horrible about Hitchens' ardor for the invasion of Iraq is that he clung to it long after it became clear that a grotesque error had been made..."

Really? You're that sure? After the fact that Iraq is now a democratic state, the US troops are gone, the Arab spring, and OBL is dead, you are really positive that Iraq is a grotesque error?

Let me put this another way - the people who beat drums about the "grotesque failure" of the Iraq war hang their hats on the weapons of mass destruction argument. They call it a lie, when in fact, it was a mistake. But why is there not a similar outrage to the intelligence failure of 9/11? Why is there not the same incessant revisiting of this "grotesque failure?" Why not demand heads roll at the CIA and so forth? And also, what about the gross failure to protect the Kurds from Saddam's retributions after Gulf War 1?

I do think, if America had the ability to see into the future back in 2003, there might not have been the same support for the Iraq war. But who cares? What a pointless way to think about things. I still think the overall logic for the invasion was correct and the outcome, at this particular moment, unlike in 2006, doesn't seem all that bad, especially in historical terms.

Death

They say it happens in threes. Hitchens, Havel, and Kim Jong Il. Imagine that conversation at the pearly gates.

Peyton Manning

To the 49ers?

Boy, is that tempting? Would have never thought this could possibly happen in 100 years, and all of a sudden, it is the leading possibility. Especially with the way the Niners have been playing, they are looking like a 1st round exit in the playoffs, and plus, Green Bay seems set for several years to be tops in the NFC and for a team to get over that hump, they need to be great, not just good.

In the other scenario, where Peyton ends up in Dallas, the Niners might be smart to pick up Romo in a Drew Brees to New Orleans style move. I'm not a huge fan of Romo, but he is certainly an upgrade from Alex Smith.

Here is a strange scenario: what if the Niners, led by Smith, get to the NFC Championship and barely lose to the Packers? How can you NOT bring Smith back next year? The guy has played pretty out of his mind this year. Then again - you get a chance to land a superstar, you land a superstar, right? There is also the injury factor - who knows what Peyton will be like - the guy isn't exactly young. And maybe Smith would even stick around as a back up. Learn from 2 years behind Manning. Is that crazy to go from a starter to a back up midcareer then back to a starter. I don't know...

No Big Surprise

Article: Facebook is Making Us Miserable.

Here is his conclusion:

So, what should we do to avoid these three traps? Recognizing that "quitting" Facebook altogether is unrealistic, we can still take measures to alter our usage patterns and strengthen our real-world relationships. Some useful tactics I've seen include blocking out designated time for Facebook, rather than visiting intermittently throughout the day; selectively trimming Facebook friends lists to avoid undesirable ex-partners and gossipy coworkers; and investing more time in building off-line relationships.

Wait, wait, whaaa? Why is quitting facebook in quotes and unrealistic? He acts like it is living on the streets or not drinking alcohol. I'm still not on facebook and despite all the people who said it would cause me to fall behind, become a dinosaur, and not be in contact with anyone, somehow I've managed to find a job I really like and still maintain a pretty good social life. In other words, I'm doing very good without it.

Basketball

Will I be buying a Clippers tee shirt this year? You bet. What is there not to like about this team? It's going to be fun, I just hope Paul or Blake don't get injured.

Listening to the radio the other day, someone made a good point about why the Miami thing last year was so offensive to so many people. They likened the situation to a 3-on-3 game where the 3 best players all decide they want to be on one team and play the other 3 guys.

But let me say this - I don't think LaBron is entirely at fault here. I think this idea of "winning is the only thing that counts" has morphed expectations of these athletes into a strange brew and LaBron's decision was a reaction to this culture. Prior to going to Miami, the word on the LaBron was always - "he's great, but hasn't won anything." And the "but he hasn't won anything" cry became louder and louder, repeated on ESPN at all hours of the day. And if you think about it, this claim is ridiculous. He was playing in Cleveland, who literally had no one else good on their team the entire time he was there. Never another all star even. And LaBron, at age 26, is considered a failure? For taking nobodies to the finals twice? A young guy like LaBron can't help but listen to the people and think to himself - "gosh, I gotta win, else these vultures will never get off my case. What is the best way to to do that?" So he goes to Miami and then everyone gets on his case about being uncompetitive and a betrayer and this bullshit. I didn't like the move, and I won't defend it, but I definitely think the "winning is the only thing that counts" culture of sports - which is a new thing - is partially to blame.

Logging

Film: Young Adult

Boy, are there few movies I actively root against. So many bad films are made, it is a wonder when anything good is made -- regardless of how insufferable or unpleasant the filmmakers or actors may be. Let's put it this way - Roman Polanski is wanted for statutory rape of a 13 year old girl, but if a new movie of his comes out, I hope it will be good. Which brings us to Jason Reitman and Diablo Cody...why do they both annoy me so much? Jason Reitman hasn't made bad movies. I rather enjoyed Up in the Air and Juno. But there is something about his demeanor in interviews and overall disposition that in the words of Alexander Payne, "just makes you want to punch him in the face." And then there's Diablo Cody, who is clearly way worse and way more insufferable. At least Reitman is somewhat disciplined. Cody is a mess. Why does she spend so much time creating this public persona? Why not try to become a better writer? Her work gets worse and worse. There is no reason to think she will ever write anything as good as Juno again. She is a one hit wonder. She's like a sports star who had one good year and then was absolutely terrible for the rest of her life, but everyone keeps thinking she'll be good again. So...going in, I was rooting against Young Adult, and on that level, it succeed. Massively.

This movie is bad. Really, really bad. As in, the characters don't even make sense and behave in strange, incomprehensible ways. It is also heartless and manipulative and totally predictable. A steaming hunk of dogshit. There were moments when it almost veers into holy-fucking-shit territory. Spoiler alert!!! There was one opportunity for a saving grace moment in the film and it would have involved the handicapped character banging Charlize Theron with his crooked cock, but of course they didn't have the balls to actually show it. Glad I watched it as a screener and didn't spend money.

Going to Get Ugly

When the Tebow goes bad in Denver - and it will go bad at some point - it is going to get ugly. Just like the disappointment in Obama, the Tebow people have irrational faith in the guy and are going to resort to insane arguments to keep the guy playing. Heads will roll at some point. I just hope the forces of rationality win in both the short and long run..they inevitably win in the long run, but there can be many short run casualties.

Infinite Stupidity

This really cool article isn't really about stupidity - here is the brief:

A tiny number of ideas can go a long way, as we've seen. And the Internet makes that more and more likely. What's happening is that we might, in fact, be at a time in our history where we're being domesticated by these great big societal things, such as Facebook and the Internet. We're being domesticated by them, because fewer and fewer and fewer of us have to be innovators to get by. And so, in the cold calculus of evolution by natural selection, at no greater time in history than ever before, copiers are probably doing better than innovators. Because innovation is extraordinarily hard. My worry is that we could be moving in that direction, towards becoming more and more sort of docile copiers.

Well worth reading the entire thing. One interesting point he makes about innovators -- back in the days when we were organized by tribe, we needed a couple innovators per tribe, so 2-3 for 150 people or so and the rest of the people could copy the good ideas of the innovators. Nowadays, since our societies are so much larger and better connected, we really only need 2-3 innovators per 100 million in order to survive and get by because information can be shared so quickly and easily. This rewards smart copying rather than doing the hard work of actual innovation.

Defending Walmart

I could not have put this better myself:

I find that, as little as I like excess and overconsumption, voicing that dislike gives power to people and political tendencies that I consider far more dangerous than overconsumption. I’d rather be surrounded by fat people who buy too much stuff than concede any ground at all to busybodies and would-be social engineers.

Yeah. People who complain about Walmart are snobs. Not that I'm against snobbery - about certain things - but snobbery against people less fortunate than oneself, it's very unseemly.

Logging

TV: Luck

I don't really understand what HBO is doing. They just premiered Luck, but then it says it will be starting at the end of January. Boy...am I excited about this show. I don't know entirely where to begin, the audience is playing catch up about what is going on, but I got enough to understand the essence. The show is about gambling. And I find some incredible emotion with these characters pinning their hopes on different things. This idea of hope, as put together by Milch and Mann, is going to be much more interesting than the Obama message about the same. Mann and Milch's hope is a tragic and beautiful thing.

49ers

Trouble on the horizon. I'm glad we lost today because it will not sugarcoat the issues our team is facing right now - we cannot score in the red zone, we cannot protect the passer, we cannot get open downfield and connect passes, and biggest problem of all: we cannot run well. Actually, there is one other problem: our play calling has gotten a lot less creative. We deserved to lose today. I was watching most of the game with dread. How do you intercept the ball, end up first and goal on the five yard line, with a 3-0 lead in the 2nd quarter and not turn that into a 10-0 lead? Especially with our type of team. Horrible. And then allowing John Skelton to complete these long passes over the middle. We do not look good right now, I'm pretty concerned about a first round playoff exit. The team, without a doubt, has taken several steps backwards. Partly due to injury, I suppose, but there are some other indications of problems: dumb penalties, lame play calling, no one stepping up, type of stuff.

Luckily, there was a distraction during the game - Tebow mania. I'm going to church next Sunday.

Logging

Film: I'm Going To Get You Sucka

Rewatched yesterday afternoon. Didn't enjoy as much as I did when I was 10 or whatever.

Logging

Film: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

Going in, I figured it had a chance to be the greatest movie of all time, so perhaps my expectations were a bit high. In retrospect, the story does not lend itself to a 2 hour film. There is simply too much story, too much time, and too many characters to elegantly weave into a coherent movie. But goddamn, what a pleasure to look at. The style - from cinematography to production design to costume to the faces of the actors is absolutely amazing. Imagine if they went the way Assayas did the film Carlos, and just went all out...it really could have been something. Fans of the mini series and/or the book, know the story works and there is no doubt, Alfredson captures the mood and tone (perhaps the greatest challenge for a director) - of the book. The story simply couldn't fit in 2 hours and so the story is impenetrable to those who don't know it already, and even for those who do, totally lacking in rhythm.

I don't think there is an answer. Economics demand the movie be 2 hours (even 3 would not have been enough), but the story demands more. I suspect, however, this film will age well, and will be worthy of film school study for the composition of shots and cinematography. I could see a class where this is shown right next to The Conformist, another spy film dealing with similar themes, albeit with a much easier to understand plot.

Law and Order SVU

Occupy Wall Street crashes SVU set saying "they are a movement, not a tv plot."

There is some genius in that, they get it exactly wrong: Occupy IS a tv plot, not a movement.

Actually, I Agree

Normally, I am not quick to accuse folks of actual racism or actual homophobia since nowadays a harmless gay joke gets considered homophobic. But watching this Rick Perry ad - he is basically coming out against gays in the military - and slips it non-sensically into this idea that Christians are persecuted in this country. The guy is appealing to homophobia. I suppose this isn't new to politics - the Clintons went racial against Obama - but it is pretty revealing and I dare day, actually homophobic.

Forte

Will Matt Forte rush back from his knee injury?

Jon Gruden says he can't imagine any player not rushing back to play because of a contract dispute. So let me get this straight - a guy gets a career threatening injury (knee) - where he is a vital element to a team who will not sign him to a long term contract because they know the diminishing value of running backs in this league. And you expect this guy to rush back and risk his career to play? What happens if he's lost a little burst? His value just went way down. The Bears won't sign him and he'll lose millions of dollars.

They treat these guys like pieces of meat in the NFL and then expect them to be warriors. They expect them to be all about the team, but them cut them and toss them the minute they can be replaced. They demand loyalty and give none in return. One day, it is all about sport and pride, the next day, a cold hard business. The NFL is the only sports league like this. NBA and MLB - those guys get guaranteed contracts and are way overpaid. Not so in the NFL. Forte makes like 600,000 a year. I'm sure he pays an agent and a lawyer. This guy is a top 10 offensive player in the NFC.

Nakedness

The psychology of Nakedness.

Logging

Film: The Expendables

I turned this one off also at the 35 minute mark. Something about the Netflix streaming makes it easier to stop watching things. I'm not sure if this is a good or bad thing. I suppose because I'm not paying per view, it makes it easier than if I had bought a movie ticket or rented the DVD. The quality - I reiterate - is absolutely awesome on the Netflix stream to the TV. Nevertheless, the movie was terrible. What was the deal with the Arnold Schwarzenegger bit? It was literally as if Arnold showed up on set one day and they were like, well, we gotta write something for him. His presence in the scene made absolutely no sense whatsoever. The movie almost could work on a comic level - hey guys, guess what, I got Dolph Lundgren playing a drug addict - that alone might be worth checking out. But I'm growing a bit old for the whole laughing at or celebrating holy-fucking-shit movie stuff. I dunno, doesn't hold the same appeal as it once did. Maybe as more time passes, one realizes these things aren't worth it.

On a side note, I've been watching a lot of Seinfeld recently. I got home tonight, dead tired and wanted to watch something. Expendables didn't work out and re-runs were on. Man, the show is so great. I'm beginning to rethink it might be the best show of all time, ahead of The Wire and Sopranos. There is something amazing about the old-fashioned TV structure, where you can literally enter the universe of the show on any given episode, not need to be briefed about what happened before or later, and simply enjoy the world for that 1/2 hour. It really is a brilliant structure and totally unique to television. Serialized dramas like The Wire or Sopranos, while perhaps more "sophisticated," in the thematics, but are more rigid in their structures and almost more like televised novels than true television with the commercials and everything. Also, Seinfeld seems to grow with age and capture new, young fans who weren't even alive during the heydey of the show. Can one say that about The Wire or Sopranos? Are those shows for only a niche, sophisticated audience? Doesn't it seem like all the people who will watch The Wire or the Sopranos have already watched the shows? Seinfeld, you get the feeling, will be watched 25 years from now and enjoyed just the same.

Ouch

A blog on how to ruin your life.

First, enroll in a college that you cannot afford, and rely on large student loans to make up the difference.

Second, spend the next four years having as good a time as possible: hang out, hook up, and above all, take plenty of “awesome” courses.

Third, find teachers and role models who will encourage you to develop an attitude of enlightened contempt for ordinary American middle class life, the world of business, and such bourgeois virtues as self-reliance, thrift, accountability and self-discipline. Specialize in sarcasm and snark.

Fourth, avoid all courses with tough requirements, taking only the minimum required number of classes in science, math and foreign languages.

Fifth, never think about acquiring marketable skills.

Sixth, when you graduate and discover that you have to repay the loans and cannot get a job that pays enough to live comfortably while servicing your debts, be surprised. Blame society. Demand that the government or your parents or evil corporations bail you out.

Seventh, expect anyone (except for other clueless losers who’ve been as stupid and wasteful as you) to sympathize with your plight, or to treat you with anything but an infuriating mixture of sorrow, pity and contempt.

If you follow this recipe faithfully, Via Meadia promises that you will achieve all the unhappiness you want. And don’t worry; anytime you feel sad and blue, just read some “lifestyle” journalism in the Boston Globe. It will be sure to cheer you up.

Sounds eerily close to what many young folks do...

Tebow

Klosterman asks "why do people hate Tebow."

I stopped reading. Boring article. Thing is, I suppose if anything, I'm anti-Tebow, only because his style of QBing is a gimmick. A gimmick we've seen before. It takes a little time for teams to adjust and walla, he's completely ineffective. Eventually it'll be - remember when that guy Tebow...

That said, I love the Tebow-mania and the chance to watch this guy play because everyone puts so much more into his successes and failures. It IS more dramatic right now. And we might as well ride that wave of drama and enjoy it while it lasts. Because I predict it won't.

UPDATE: God, I wish they sold stock on NFL players, I'd short Tebow so fast...

So Many Interesting Scenarios

For a Chris Paul and/or Dwight Howard trade.

It'd be pretty crazy to see Paul throw on a Celtics jersey for one year and those guys make another run for it. And how cool would it be to see Paul as a Clipper? Or a GS Warrior? But neither of those teams can sign him for the long term, I don't think.

Income Inequality

An interesting take.

Their long preoccupation and lately all-consuming obsession with inequality expresses itself almost entirely as zeal to raise taxes on the rich. In that regard, as I say, the US is not much out of line by international standards--and higher taxes on the rich anyway do nothing to relieve poverty, where the US really is out of line.

One thesis could be the preoccupation with income inequality isn't about helping the poor, but rather a class war between the top 2% versus the top 10%.

Yikes, Rudin is Right

A published email exchange between Scott Rudin and David Denby who reviews Girl With A Dragon Tattoo early.

In the scheme of things, these are small issues, I think Rudin is right, the guy got to see the movie on the condition it wouldn't be reviewed until the 13th, so he went back on his word. Plus, who wants to read a movie review three weeks before a movie opens? This seems stupid. Why can't the New Yorker publish multiple reviews at the end of the year Christmas issue? It's when people have the most time to read reviews and go see movies anyway. Strange.

Movies

If you want to understand why the movies seem lame of late, you need to look no further than this interview on CNBC.

The vice chair of Lionsgate seems like a really nice, smart guy - someone who is good to do business with. But it case it isn't completely and utterly obvious, he is not a "movie guy." He obviously went to business school and simply sees the easiest way to make money is to brand movies and make franchises and turn the whole thing into a McDonalds like operation. We get boring movies because we have boring people running things. Boring people make investors and stockholders feel comfortable. I know I like to invest money into boring companies who pay dividends and who don't risk the house on gut impulses. But of course, this makes for bad filmmaking. Just like it would make for bad football or bad war fighting or bad writing. In any case, this interview sums up why so many filmmakers and writers and movie fans get so frustrated with the business - because we are almost IN different businesses. We care about making movies. They care about protecting the brands, which they consider the golden goose.

Where Is Sci-Fi Now?

An interesting article discussing it.

Sci-Fi

Neal Stephenson presses sci-fi writers to help scientists by coming up with big ideas.

Best quote:

“We can’t Facebook our way out of the current economic status quo.”

Indeed we can't.

Logging

Film: Limitless

Turned it off. Tedious. Made it 45 minutes in just because I told myself I'd wait until DeNiro showed up. Couldn't stand one more second of Bradley Cooper's voice over. Combine this movie with In Time and what is it about the studios where they simply cannot make an original action movie? Maybe it is the filmmakers, I don't know...

Logging

Film: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Swedish Version

Kept hearing how good the first film in this series was, so decided to check it out. Pretty good, not great, movie. Serviceable thriller. Compelling character, that Lizbeth Salander. I'm just not a big fan of the story itself (including the book), but it provides some cheap thrills. Am skeptical the American version will be good, despite bringing out the big guns - Zalian and Fincher. We'll see.

Debt to Income Ratio

A study based on law school earnings vs. debt.

This is a good way to evaluate what kind of debt to take on, whether it be for school, home, car, whatever.

Good Preview

Of a long form interview with Victor David Hanson.

Longing For Ancient Virtues

VDH discusses candor, irony, physical strength, memory, and the mechanical mind.

Appropriate.

Movie Previews

Is it just me or are movie previews getting worse? Last night, three stood out. The Madonna-directed movie about the British Prince who gave up the throne. A boring idea to begin with, but the real senselessness is the modern day parallel story line with Abby Cornish. It makes no sense. Maybe I need to see the movie to figure it out. Number 2 - Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. I don't understand the story. A kid's father dies in 9/11 and then he finds a key and starts visiting diverse people around NYC to figure out what it unlocks? Kid - it is probably just your dad's porn collection in his desk. Relax. I suppose I'll have to see it, but the use of 9/11 in this movie could potentially be quite offensive - as a way to mask weak or no emotion - let's use the biggest, most tragic, horrific event of our lives to make people feel sad. A sort of horrific pedophilic distant cousin to the non-linear storytelling device used by Guillermo Arriaga to mask lame melodrama. But both pale in comparison to Albert Nobbs. I can't say anything about this trailer, I must let it speak for itself:

Enron

Interesting alternative narrative on Enron.

I don't know what to believe, but it is becoming more and more apparent with our media culture, the masses are easily stirred up into temporary fits of outrage that result in quick, undisciplined means of punishment.

Eagles

A good breakdown from Grantland of why the Eagles didn't meet expectations this year. Interesting section:

Problem 3: What Happened to Nnamdi Asomugha?

There is nothing that Nnamdi Asomugha could not do as a cornerback for the Oakland Raiders. He tackled well. He read plays well. He played effectively in both man and zone coverage. He basically played like he was on a higher level. Notably, though, the Raiders only occasionally moved Asomugha around to follow the opposing team's top receiver, and they almost never put him in the slot. Most of the time, they just kept him on one side of the field and let him do his thing with great success.

Once Asomugha got to the Eagles, things changed. With such a versatile skill set, it seemed logical to turn Asomugha into a defensive Swiss Army knife, but the move failed. What we forgot is that Asomugha's rise from good cornerback to transcendent defensive operative came when he learned to use the sideline like an extra teammate. When the Eagles turned him into Charles Woodson lite and moved him into the center of the field, he lost his extra teammate and, with it, his effectiveness as a cover corner. After years of avoiding him like the plague, teams were comfortable going after Asomugha throughout the year with lesser entities like Victor Cruz. Before suffering a knee injury in practice last week and a concussion last night, even Asomugha couldn't help from expressing his frustrations with the new role.

This makes a lot of sense to me. When I was in college, I played marking back on my soccer team. My first two seasons, me and the other marking back, were one of our teams strengths and we were one of the better defensive teams in the league. My junior year, the other marking back graduated and so we were going to inevitably have a drop off at the position. Our coach tried a new plan, moving me to sweeper and bringing in two new marking backs, thinking that as sweeper, I might be able to compensate for the drop off at the other positions. It didn't work. I was a worse sweeper than marking back and the other guys were worse than what we had the other year. We ended up fiddling around with the line up a lot of the year, but for the most part, I returned to marking back, and got first team all league and 2nd team all far west, (although, I'm not convinced I was substantially better than in my first two seasons, but those awards tend to favor guys who have been around and teams with winning records). Basically, I was a very good D3 marking back and only a so-so sweeper. Why?

I've bounced around theories in my head. On the one hand, I only played sweeper for a few games and didn't have any experience at the position, so perhaps, given time, I could have learned. But that theory doesn't make complete sense, because before playing marking back in college, I had never played that position either and I jumped right in. Another theory is that my particular skill set as a player was suited to marking back and not to sweeper. Another theory is that I could have been a very good sweeper with other strong marking backs.

I tend to think it is the 2nd theory. I had played a lot of left wing throughout my soccer career before being a center midfielder in high school. But I was very familiar with playing along the sideline and the spacing on the side of the field (similar to a CB in football). Playing sweeper, the spacing is totally different and if you aren't familiar with it, easy to get out of position. Trying to adjust to new spacing in real-time (ie a game) is impossible. You cannot just jump right in and expect to know it.

I imagine Asomugha's skills as a corner were the result of years and years of practicing, trial and error, understanding his own strengths, and perfecting a very specific craft. Asking him to do an entirely different thing, although seemingly similar, is a tall order -- especially if you expect the same high level of excellence.

Renter Nation

Will America return to renting? I didn't know this:

America is going back to being a renter nation. Up until the 1950s, the percentage of homeowners stayed at 40 percent. Aggressive government subsidies drove the percentage in recent years to above 65 percent. The housing “industry” ran out of buyers. A good 35 percent of Americans prefer the freedom of movement and lack of responsibility that comes from being a renter. We will likely return to being maybe a 55 percent homeowner nation.

We got the home ownership thing backwards. Home ownership is desirable because it is the result of middle ethics - work hard, save, provide for a family. So the government says, let's get more people owning their own homes, which will make them middle class. Lower interest rates, regulations, etc, etc. They wanted to skip the important steps: working hard, saving, providing. Oh well, live and learn.

Logging

Film: My Week With Marilyn

Not a good movie. Strangely amateur filmmaking. Looked it up on IMDB and the director is a long time British TV-movie director, which makes sense after seeing the film. A steaming turd of an actor is the main character. Every time the guy comes on screen, I'm thinking, "get this guy OFF the screen for chrissake." He was student film quality. So it was strange seeing him there with Michelle Williams, Kenneth Branagh, the hot young girl from Harry Potter, Judy Dench, Julia Ormond, and all these super talented people. That said, there were some elements of the film I found interesting, most notably Branagh playing Lawrence Olivier and his objection to method acting (used by Marilyn). But let's get to the point - Michelle Williams as Marilyn - I simply assume she will get an oscar nomination and I suppose it is deserved -- my only comment would be she didn't really ooze sexuality and hotness the way Marilyn did. I'm no Marilyn aficionado, but her basic allure was her bonability, wasn't it? Williams plays it fragile, which to me, sort of misses the basic selling point. One final screenwriting note - great example of terrible voice over and various side characters who for no apparent reason offer our main character unsolicited sage wisdom throughout the script. What a remarkable guy this Colin Clark must be for every single goddamn person who interacts with him from Lawerence Olivier to the driver to the wardrobe girl to Judy Dench must offer some sort of pithy life wisdom like "first love hurts the most," "being careful about getting in too deep," and other such ridiculous platitudes.

A Start

Obama calls beer conference for college administrators to discuss affordability.

Good idea. They ought to talk about sticker price vs. actual price as well. It seems to me college shouldn't be like buying a car where you're simply a sucker for paying the sticker price and not dealing with the game of financial aid and scholarships, etc. In grad school I remember the week of chaos around scholarship application time where everyone was hustling to put together reels, etc. I suppose it wasn't so bad and I can't think of a better system for how film school merit-based scholarships ought to work, but as a general thing, there is a limit to the good of everyone paying different price points.

Some Cultures Are More Equal Than Others

Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s pardon of a rape victim —she had been imprisoned for adultery —came with a serious catch: pressure to marry her attacker. The woman, Gulnaz, was imprisoned on charges of adultery after she was raped by a family member. Her plight came to light when it was depicted in a recent documentary commissioned by the European Union, and then again when the EU blocked the film’s release for fear of hurting relations with Afghanistan. Because of the attention brought be the controversy, President Karzai’s government offered a rare pardon. But announcement made it clear that there was an expectation that Gulnaz would marry her attacker. Afghan officials deny it was a stipulation of her release saying it was Gulnaz’s own decision.

Sigh.

$3 Coffee

What happened to the price of coffee? Suddenly, two places I frequent, Thyme and Huckleberry, both charge over $3 for coffee. Coffee was already overpriced at $2 per cup, but what is the meaning of this 50% price jump? Are places struggling to make money? Did coffee bean prices go up? Are they manufacturing more expensive beans? I will admit - the coffee quality at both these places is excellent. But $3 a cup makes me feel like a fool, especially when I can make Peet's French Press (pretty damn good) for less than a $0.25 per two cups. I think they've just priced me out.

Cain

Well, he wasn't qualified to be President because he's never held elected office. Now, it is clear, he is kind of stupid as well.

Paying a woman for years who isn't his wife...I actually prefer the guy DID have an affair with the woman. If he wasn't, then he's just a sucker and I'd rather have a scoundrel for a President than a sucker.

A Shame

If the Mavs don't resign Chandler it would be a real shame for this shortened NBA season. The best story of this upcoming season will be seeing whether Dallas can repeat with their aging team.

Adaptability

Virgina Postrel and Glenn Reynolds talk about college and the skills you ought to learn to get jobs.

The lessons: adaptability, critical thinking skills, and low debt. These tools make you flexible in the labor market, which will inevitably change either in the near or long term.

I Don't Like The Articles, Either

A Brit questions the American obsession with single women.

Clearly, Vows is no more representative of New York – let alone America – as a whole than Bridget Jones's daily life was of Britain, but it does reflect an attitude that plays into the fascination the American media has in single women. Such is the popularity of investigations into the enthralling mystery of single women that these articles are pretty much their own genre of journalism in America, characterised by gloomy warnings about the dangers of feminism, cod anthropological claims, regrets about leaving a nice man because the writer wanted an unspecified "more", self-flagellation dressed up as "honesty" about feminism and they are always – always – written by a woman.

Yeah, I fail to see how this stuff isn't just a choice of a couple of gals and a bunch of their friends living in fabulous NYC, as opposed to some sort of significant statistical or cultural thing.