John Turturro has acted in over 70 movies in his career, making a huge impression in some memorable films with the roles he's played by the Cohen brothers: Barton Fink, The Big Lebowski, O Brother Where Art Thou?, various Spike Lee films, The Luzhin Defense, and Quiz Show among others.

Mr. Turturro has that illusive trait common only among great actors. He always plays distinctively autonomous characters yet retains a powerful essence that marks each of them. There is a consistency to his ability to embody vulnerability and openness in a way that allows us as viewers to gain revelation and insight into the mind and actions of the person he's portraying. There is always a richness behind his movements.

Of course what I like best about watching him in films is that he knows how to pick good roles. That means when his name is on the cover of the DVD, I know most likely I'll enjoy the film itself. He likes complex characters, and it's obvious that he populates their world with even more nuances, making it a rich exeperience for me to watch him in action. Turturro is a part of my filmic litmus test for weeding through the millions of films available to screen.

If you haven't seen Barton Fink lately, rent it - it's worth watching again.

Chanteuse

It's Friday and it's a Nina Simone kind of night. I still regret missing her Seattle concert in 1998 - I often hit myself over the head for that serious lapse in judgement and obvious brain fart. Now I'll never get to see her expressive face in person - the legend behind that soulful voice - as she pelts out bittersweet songs that ride human passion between their tremolo notes and make you glad to be alive. Sigh.

There's a great quote from Nina, "Jazz is a white term used to define Black people. My music is Black Classical Music". Whether jazz or black classical music or something else, for me her music transcends definition - it's soulful, passionate, and timeless. I hear stories in her voice beyond the words - layers of emotion like colors that weave through the notes. When I listen to her sing it's like listening to that inner voice, the part of my conscience primordially connected to my soul, like hitting the note whose vibration makes glass hum.



I have two favorite Nina songs - one of them is Mississippi Goddamn and the other is Ne Me Quitte Pas, a cover of the Jacques Brel song.

300 reasons why you shouldn't feel bad about skipping the film 300

Or at least my opinion why you shouldn't bother.

My full review of this can be found on blogcritics.org:

Zack Snyder's adaptation of Frank Miller's graphic novel about the Battle of Thermopylae is a real snoozer. Let's talk about the cinematography first. Everyone seems to have good things to say about the look of this film. My opinion is whatever hype you've heard about the stylistic phantasmagoria of 300 is seriously overrated. First off, the desaturated, high contrast, high speed film stock look has been around forever (films like LORD OF THE RINGS, MATRIX and GLADIATOR come to mind, but really they were talking about it being an established style when I started film school in 2000). So what made this film so unique? The whole film had a enclosed cheesy set sort of feeling to it, and even when they were outside defending the Hot Gates and facing the massive Persian army, I kept wondering if somewhere out there, Captain Kirk was waiting to get his Star Trek set back.

And for those of you who really liked the oracle scene with the girl swimming in the air. I'll concede that it was a nifty effect. My only problem with it was the pained look on her face. She was obviously holding her breath (they shot her underwater) but she was trying hard to appear as though she wasn't. She could have used some lessons from Miss Tyra Banks - from that episode of America's Next Top Model when the challenge was underwater photography. Even I found myself prefering to watch her boobies than her eyes popping out of her head like a drowning squirrel.
And when Zach slowed down the action to show the full effect of the fighting, I know he was going for something special, but I don't think he achieved his desired results. Cause he slowed them down to such an extent that I wanted to kick the projector to get it going again. It was like listening to a scratched record that just keeps repeating. repeating. repeating.

And what was with all the bad guys being black or having fake-and-bake tans, while all the Greeks were so white, and many of them had Scottish or English accents. That was kind of rude. And last time I checked, Most Greek guys are hairy. These guys were smoother than a babies butt. I mean, is Zack trying to reach the twenty-something gay demographic or what??!!? Speaking of what he's trying to accomplish, there's a great article in the Toronto Star by Ephraim Lytle, assistant professor of Hellenistic history at the University of Toronto, called Sparta? No. This is Madness. He talks about the gross historical inaccuracies of the film, if you're interested. Remember folks, Titanic did well at the box office too and it was a huge piece of shite. So no matter what a movie grosses, just because a bunch of us wasted our money on it doesn't make it good.

Perhaps, we'll need to look more in depth at the story because it just oozes political rhetoric. The only problem is, the story isn't deep enough to analyze. So the only thing I'm going to say about the theme is I had a severe headache from getting pounded over the head with the message that 'we're in a fight for Western Civilization here folks'. Gee, when every other word they yell is "free" or "freedom", when Queen Gorgo tells us "freedom isn't free" (there's a funny reference to this line in a review in the NY Times by A.O. Scott where he says "Another movie — Matt Stone and Trey Parker’s “Team America,” whose wooden puppets were more compelling actors than most of the cast of “300” — calculated the cost at $1.05.")

But by far, the worst thing about this movie, was the gay Mr. Clean. Sorry, but all of you Rodrigo Santoro fans out there get ready for a shocker - he kind of sucked in this movie. He had more make up on than a two-dollar whore, and whoever applied the gold rings to his face did such a fabulous job that you could see the clear demarcation between the fake bronzer and the fake skin itself. Yuck!

And when Xerxes puts his hands on King Leonidas' shoulders, everyone in the audience laughed. It was moronic. I got so bored by this movie that I started to count the Star Wars rip offs: there's Jabba the Hut. And those guys in the masks sound like Darth Vadar. That little guy on the top of the hill looks like Yoda. But it seemed like Zach was throwing in a little bit of everything, cause even Frodo was there.

As the credits rolled, I turned to my friend and said "300 was brought to you this evening by the US Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines" and that's exactly how it felt - a poorly made propaganda film. Stupid, stupid, stupid. By the end, I was half expecting the national anthem, so I held my hand over my heart, just in case.

God Bless America.

There are things I know I know, things I know I don't know, and things I don't even know I don't know....

But the worst is there are things I don't even know that I've forgotten...

And that's where Amazon comes to the rescue.

We love Amazon for a number of reasons: like other sites, it offers many sellers under one roof so you can comparison shop (though I dislike the additional shipping charges which really add up). and let's not forget their customer feedback, which is so pervasive, that even when I'm purchasing from other sites these days, I cross-check Amazon for reviews. And last but not least, if you like a particular book or CD, there's the section entitled "Customers who bought this item also bought..." which has, over the years, revealed a labyrinth of musical discovery, though I have a sneaky suspicion everything leads back to Coldplay, but that's another story.

But the best thing about Amazon is by far one of its least used features: the wish list. Sure, you can stick a book or two in there and your family and friends can find an easy gift, but I've found a better purpose. Whether or not Amazon intended it, it's become an extremely handy cache to offset my increasingly lazy memory.

For example: one list is entitled "Newbies". It includes bands I've just discovered that sound pretty good, but I don't them like enough to want to commit to buying an entire CD. On the other hand, I don't want to forget them either if they came to town, or maybe they'll come out with something else that I'll like enough to buy, so I keep them there.

Then I also have a list called "Fluff" - which is filled with all of the crap novels I'd like to pick up at second-hand stores, borrow from the library or buy at the airport to read when I'm on the road working.

Lastly, I need a list for all the books I encounter in my day to day life that capture my attention for one reason or another. This list is the most important...I can't live without it! Do you know how long I've lived on this planet wishing I could just remember the name of that book I read about by that guy...oh, what was his name - you know the one - the one with the guy who has that amazing thing happen to him, and, you know! Yeah. It sucks! So now, whenever I read something and I think I might want to read it or I need to remember it, I just pop over to amazon, and throw the book in my wish list.

And if it's there, I can relax, knowing that someone else is storing part of my memory for me. Currently that list is over seven pages long and growing.

And for movies....I do the same thing - but with Netflix. It's the part of my brain that stores all the hundreds of movies I want to watch. Currently there are only 448 films in my queue, but I haven't been keeping up with it lately. It's about time to refresh my list.

So here's a tip for today. If you've got a bad memory like me, and you read a lot or you like lists - try utilizing Amazon and Netflix. And when you try to find the name of that author who wrote that book about the juggling monkey - and you remember his name, you'll have me to thank!

There is one secret though - you have to have enough short term memory to store the name of the book till you can go to Amazon's site, put the book into the search box, and then add it to your wish list! Good luck!

"Remember, there are always other fish in the sea. Not as pretty, nor as rich, but fish nonetheless." - Ancient Cookie Wisdom

Every once in awhile I get totally obsessed with baked goods. Don't ask me what causes it, I don't know. But this week, the objects of my desire definitely seems to be the fortune cookie. Partially it's because I keep getting dragged to the Dragon Buffet during lunch where I've been o.d.ing on them lately, but it's also because they're really yummy with tea (which I drink a lot of) and they're really simple in design... but I think the main reason is I often find myself thinking that my sage waitress is watching me during lunch while I eat to ascertain my true nature and then she quickly writes up a personalized message and sticks it into the fortune cookie just for me. Like this one:

Among the lucky, you are the chosen one

I mean, that's creepy, isn't it?!?

Though sometimes I get a snooty one, and I really don't appreciate the tone:

Do not let ambitions overshadow small success

Small success? Listen, sweetie cakes, you don't know who you're talking to. Nobody puts Baby in the corner, nobody.

Am I the only nutter out there who can't stop thinking about CFCs? I hope not. I'm going to have to do a little more research and find some blogs that specialize in this particular fetish. Oh, and don't forget to click on the oracle below who will enlighten you with your fortune for the day.

Here's one good site you can check out about the history of fortune cookies, and of course, as always, the best place to start for all facts is wiki. Who would have thought that the CFC was invented in California? No wonder I like them so much!

Dark Days

Watched a good documentary this weekend - Dark Days (2000) by Marc Singer. It's a film about the mole people (homeless heroin addicts) who live in the tunnels underneath New York city and their lives underground: how they build homes for themselves, and the simple acts that give them power over their lives and also emphasize the universal need we all share for a sense of home.

As we shift through the dark space of their world that is at once claustrophobic and cavernous, we see the mundane rituals of ordinary life play out: cooking, raising pets, cleaning, showering. The men (and one woman) of this film speak of a life lived autonomous from societal intervention. One senses that the filmmaker, and more adamantly the homeless themselves, are trying to convince us that here in the subterranean garbage disposal of life, their needs are being met by the trash of the world that is chewed up and spit out. In the film, these leftovers become a metaphor for the people themselves - as they revel in finding a treasure of discarded donuts left in a trash bin or show their opportunistic nature by collecting cans for cash to buy heroin. So our waste turns into their livelihood. We see them cook cornbread as they settle down for the night in front of their TV, radio or space heater. "We're not homeless," one man tells us, "homeless is when you don't have a home." But then his friend corrects him. "Nah, you're still homeless. You just ain't helpless." But as the film progresses, we start to perceive something in the darkness, something invisible around the edges that keeps them buried underground; it's their addiction to drugs, and the memories of past lives that are fraught with anguish and suffering. They are lost souls - shadow people moving through an ethereal, timeless landscape. I won't tell you anything else about the film, so in case you haven't seen it yourself, I won't be spoiling it for you.

One note though, I didn't love the ending - but I forgive Mr. Singer who, after all, had never made a movie before, and lived underground for years while shooting this documentary and used the homeless people around him as his film crew. I can't blame him for needing this ending, nor am I sure I would have chosen differently. See what you think.

To read more about Marc Singers experience while making his movie check out Austin Chronicle article with director Marc Singer.

Scambaiters

he wanted this............................he got this

btw, I wasted the better part of the day today catching up on Mike Berry's site 419 Eater. The first time I happened across it was a couple of years ago after reading an article about the Powerbook Prank, a hilarious account of an eBay scammer who got his comeuppance. (see pic above) Click here for the article. It made me feel slightly better about all of those thousands of annoying emails I get every year from spammers. Oooh, I just hate these guys!

Here are two that were in my inbox this morning. The first one, Tina, is all business. She/he doesn't even bother to fill in my name - instead she/he leaves it "Dear," - I mean, where's the love "Tina"?

FROM TINA JAME.
LOME TOGO WEST AFRICA.

DEAR,

MY NAME IS TINA JAME. THE ONLY DAUGHTER OF LATE MR AND MRS KOFFI JAME, PLEASE AND PLEASE DO NOT BE EMBARASED,I AM SEEKING YOUR ATTENTION TO HELP ME TRANSFER THE SUM OF ($4.5,000,000,00 US DOLLARS) FOUR MILLION FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND UNITED STATE AMERICAN DOLLARS. IN YOUR ACCOUNT PLEASE IT IS MORE THAN URGENT.

MOREOVER, DEAR, I AM WILLING TO OFFER YOU 15% OF THE TOTAL SUM AS COMPENSATION FOR YOUR EFFORT/INPUT AFTER THE SUCCESSFUL TRANSFER OF THIS FUND INTO YOUR NOMINATED ACCOUNT OVERSEAS.

Then there is Mrs. Destiny Henry. Someone put a little thought into this one. Course, I upchucked at "Dear Beloved in Christ", so I didn't read it, but I'm sure it's a heart wrenching tale:

DEAR BELOVED IN CHRIST,
IT IS BY THE GRACE OF GOD THAT I RECEIVED CHRIST,KNOWING THE TRUTH AND THE TRUTH HAVE SET ME FREE.HAVING KNOWN THE TRUTH I HAD NO CHOICE THAN TO DO WHAT IS LAWFUL AND RIGHT IN THE SIGHT OF GOD FOR ETERNAL LIFE AND IN THE SIGHT OF MAN FOR WITNESS OF GOD´S MERCY AND GLORY UPON MY LIFE.

I AM MRS.DESTINY HENRY FROM GHANA.I AM MARRIED TO DR.FRANK HENRY WHO WORKED WITH CHEVRON/TEXACO IN EGYPT FOR TWENTY YEARS BEFORE HE DIED IN THE YEAR 2002.WE WERE MARRIED FOR TWENTY-SEVEN YEARS WITHOUT A CHILD, HE DIED DURING ONE OF THE RIOTS IN THE EGYPT .HE WAS HELD HOSTAGE AND SLAIN TO DEATH BY PROTESTING YOUTHS OF THE REGION IN EDO STATE BEFORE HIS DEATH WE WERE BOTH BORN AGAIN CHRISTIANS.

SINCE HIS DEATH I DECIDED NOT TO RE-MARRY.WHEN MY LATE HUSBAND WAS ALIVE HE DEPOSITED THE SUM OF (US3.5M)WITH A BANK IN THE NIGERIA AND NOW THE MANAGEMENT OF THE BANK HAVE JUST WROTE ME TO COME FORWARD TO RECEIVE THE MONEY OR RATHER ISSUE A LETTER OF AUTHORISATION TO SOMEBODY TO RECEIVE IT ON MY BEHALF IF I CAN NOT COME OVER BECAUSE OF MY CONDITION AT HAND.I AM PRESENTLY WITH MY LAPTOP IN A HOSPITAL WHERE I HAVE BEEN UNDERGOING TREATMENT FOR CANCER OF THE LUNGS, I HAVE SINCE LOST MY
ABILITY TO TALK AND MY DOCTORS HAVE TOLD ME THAT I HAVE ONLY A FEW MONTHS TO LIVE.

IT IS MY LAST WISH TO SEE THAT THIS MONEY IS INVESTED AND AT THE END OF EVERY YEAR DISTRIBUTED AMONG CHARITY ORGANISATION. AND FOR YOUR COMPESATION, AS SOON AS THE MONEY ENTERS YOUR ACCOUNT TAKE 30%OF THE TOTAL MONEY, WHILE 70% WILL BE FOR THE WORK OF GOD.

I TOOK THIS DECISION BECAUSE I KNOW THAT THERE ARE ALOT OF POOR PEOPLE SUFFERING FROM DIFFERENT KIND OF DISEASE AND NOBODY TO COME TO THEIR AID.WITH GOD ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE. AS SOON AS I RECEIVE YOUR REPLY I SHALL GIVE YOU THE CONTACT OF THE BANK IN NIGERIA WERE THE MONEY IS BEEN DEPOSITED .I WILL ALSO ISSUE YOU A LETTER OF AUTHORITY AND CERTIFICATE OF CLAIM THAT WILL PROVE YOU AS THE NEW BENEFICIARY OF THIS FUND. GET BACK TO ME AT ASAP I AWAIT YOUR URGENT REPLY.
YOURS IN CHRIST,
MRS.DESTINY HENRY

Needless to say, it's a good idea to never respond to these people. I just hit the spam key and send them away, without even opening them.

Anyway, Mike's got a great site dedicated to wasting the time of these Internet slugs. He has found creative (and oh-so-amusing) ways to mess with their minds, and you can spend hours there, checking out the forums of baiters discussing tactics, reading pages of correspondences back and forth between Mike and his scammer 'victims' - there are even audio files and wonderfully photoshoped pics to laugh at. If you've never read his site, check it out. You'll feel like a million bucks when you're done, like you've run a marathon, or helped a little old lady across the street, or gotten your tires realigned. It's just the world, balancing itself out a little.

Oh, and Mike spoke with Xeni Jardin on NPR's "Day to Day". Click here for a link to that article. There's one particular scam he did that involves the email crooks acting out a Monty Python sketch - you wouldn't believe how stupid these guys are! Unbelievable!

Beverly Hills Hippie

I'm getting really tired of hearing people around the office call me a hippie. Look, just because I don't eat red meat, consider myself a liberal who supports environmental causes and yeah, so what if I believe in strong social institutions that benefit all Americans, that doesn't mean I don't shave my pits and play the damn didgeridoo in the park! Okay, so I went to India. Fine. But I hate the smell of patchouli and I'm pretty sure I'm allergic to tie dye. I don't know how many other hippies these days shop at Barneys and love to gab about the amazing powers of restylane. And let me tell you, if I could afford it, I'd run out and buy a puggle, name him Channel and I'd carry him around in the sickest Luis Vuitton carrier you ever did see.
And honestly, the closest I've ever wanted to get to a commune was the Farmers Market on the 3rd street promenade in Santa Monica.

And while I'm at it, when my friend V and I relax on the weekends with our lattes, tofu scrambles and organic fruit, we like to read US magazine, In Touch and Ok! and talk smack about Paris Hilton's dead-eyes, so there. I think I've made my point. I don't really have a funny way to end this ranting and raving, so how about just another suggestion for a good blog. If you like celebrity gossip, here's a great one: Celebitchy or Perez Hilton's site Celebrity Juice, Not from Concentrate.

Sarah Silverman as Miss Borat?

I really like Sarah Silverman - I even liked some of her movie Sarah Silverman: Jesus is Magic. Okay, I liked the standup part of it. The rest was boring. But the article below from Der Spiegel compares her to Borat and I guess in a way, I can see why. Their controversial style is political and social satire meant to reflect back to us the continued prevalence of bigotry in our society. Baron Cohen explains his work best when he says it is a 'dramatic demonstration of how racism feeds on dumb conformity as much as rabid bigotry'. With Sarah, I think she just likes poop jokes. And let’s face it, who doesn’t? I mean, potty humor is funny. But she admits to admiring Sasha's work, and there's a quote from her in the article below, where she says that Borat "was the most intellectually backwards and yet most important films that I've seen in years." The fact that she thinks his work is intellectually backwards and doesn't recognize her own propensity for scatological humor is slightly amusing.

The interesting difference between Sarah and Sasha comes down to how they've decided to play their characters and how we identify with them. Sasha makes his social commentary by acting like a clueless dumbass, thus allowing the people around him to feel comfortable enough to drop any social niceties they use as a veneer to mask their true feelings; such as their bigotry, racism, or homophobia. And many people who watch his movie and are unfamiliar with Sasha Baron Cohen and the fact that he is in character really hate him, because of course Borat is as bigoted as everyone else in the movie, and that's the point. But even when we're in on the joke, how do we identify with the character Borat himself? Yes, he is obliviously offensive and crude (not to mention oblivious), yet Borat is also from Kazakhstan and Sasha has intentionally kept up an ambiguity as to his character's religious identity – is he Christian? Muslim? Just what is he? If he's Muslim, what is he saying about Muslims? And what does that say about us that we're laughing at him with such ease? The only thing we can discern for sure is that he is anti-Semitic. J. Hoberman from the Villiage Voice writes, “Borat is also a non-Christian other who—by virtue of his primitive nature—ridicules the hypocrisy of the dominant social order.” Hoberman goes on to quote the sociologist John Murray Cuddihy in his The Ordeal of Civility – where he speaks of the newly enlightened Jewish thinkers assimilated into the modern world, Marx, Freud, and Claude Lévi-Strauss all being similarly obsessed with "the raw, the coarse, the vulgar, the naked" and exposing the way in which these things were sublimated by the civil "niceness" of Western culture. (http://www.villagevoice.com/film/0644,hoberman,74897,20.html)

According to Cuddihy’s definition, Sarah Silverman fits the pattern of enlightened Jewish thinker – she is just as obsessed with the sublimation of the “vulgar, the coarse, and the raw”. But Sarah doesn’t have to expose the hypocrisy in others because she embodies both the western i.e. modern and the vulgar i.e. primitive within her own character. She is hypocrisy, all wrapped up in a cute little girly package. Borat's just too hairy to pull that off. But in his own way because Sasha intentionally neutralizes some aspects of the nature of his character he has created comedy that makes us think. And that in and of itself is enough of a reason to watch him.

Miss Borat

Von Marc Pitzke , New York

Pupsen ist noch harmlos: Die US-Komikerin Sarah Silverman schockiert mit Witzen über Vaginas und Flatulenzen. Jetzt wird sie salonfähig: Der TV-Kabelkanal Comedy Central hat ihr eine eigene Sitcom gegeben. Vor Tabubrüchen schreckt sie trotzdem nicht zurück.

Sarah Silverman liebt Fäkalwitze. Zum Beispiel übers Furzen. Dazu erfand sie gerade einen ganzen TV-Sketch. Der ging so: Silverman sitzt mit Freunden beim Brunch in einem Restaurant. Einer nach dem anderen lässt lachend einen fahren. Als Silverman dran ist, drückt auch sie fröhlich - und erstarrt dann entsetzt zur Salzsäule. Die Kamera zoomt auf ihr Gesicht. Sie flüstert: "Ich hab' in die Hose gemacht."

Tabubrecherin Silverman: Meisterin des Fäkalwitzes

Doch damit nicht genug. Nahtlos geht die Szene in ein Musikvideo über. Silverman in einem weißen Wallekleid bei Sonnenuntergang am Felsenstrand, den Weltfrieden besingend: "Ich wollte doch nur sein wie die anderen", flötet sie verträumt, "but I pooped instead".

Man merkt schnell: Sarah Silverman, 36, ist keine normale Komödiantin. Sie schreckt vor nichts zurück: "Silverman bricht Tabus, von denen die meisten nicht mal wissen, dass sie sie haben", schrieb die "New York Times". Ein Pups ist dabei noch harmlos: Er ist, sagt sie, "die universelle Zeichensprache der Comedy".

Männer dürfen so was ja. Die Schreckensherrschaft des flatulenten Macho-Witzes ist ungebrochen: im Kino, in der TV-Late-Night, in Comedy Clubs. Frauen dürfen allenfalls platte Parodien wagen. Erst recht, wenn sie so lieblich sind wie Silverman mit ihrem unschuldigen Engelslächeln. Das setzt sie auch nicht ab, wenn sie Autogrammkarten unterzeichnet - mit "Vagina Silverman".

Die Geräusche der Vagina

Sarah Silverman kommt gerade zur rechten Zeit, denn die US-Comedy steckt in der Sinnkrise, im Niemandsland zwischen politischer Korrektheit und Anarchie, und Silverman ist der weibliche Borat - ein Vergleich, den sie selbst ermutigt. "Borat", sagt sie über den erfolgreichen Film ihres britischen Kollegen Baron Cohen, "war der geistig zurückgebliebenste und doch wichtigste Film, den ich seit Jahren gesehen habe."

Denn auch ihr eigener Witz gärt in den Grenzgefilden des guten Geschmacks. Sie macht sich über Schwule, Schwarze, Juden, Behinderte, Obdachlose und Leukämie-Patienten lustig. Sie wirft mit Sprüchen um sich, die den Zensurpäpsten die Galle aufkochen lassen. Und trotzdem hat sie jetzt den Sprung in den Mainstream geschafft - mit einer eigenen Sitcom im Kabelkanal Comedy Central, Heimat von "South Park" und Jon Stewart.

"Hey", trällert sie in einem Promo-Trailer, gekleidet in einen blütenweißen Tennisdress. "Für die meisten von euch, die Comedy Central gucken: Näher an eine Vagina werdet ihr nicht kommen!" Ja, vor allem die weibliche Anatomie hat es ihr angetan: Eine ganze Folge des "Sarah Silverman Programs" widmet sich diversen Geräuschen, die selbiges Organ machen kann.

Ihr Aufstieg, der sich 2005 mit einer Schock-Szene im Comedy-Untergrundfilm "The Aristocrats" manifestierte ("der erste aus Kot gemachte Wohlfühlfilm", lobte "Newsweek"), ist bezeichnend: Lange fristete Silverman mit ihrem Humor und der Miene einer frommen Klosterschülerin ein Schattendasein am Rande der Standup-Szene. "Stille Verderbtheit", so nannte es ihr Kollege Michael McKean, mit dem sie für "Saturday Night Live" Sketche schrieb.

"Juden lieben Antisemitismus"

Doch stille Verderbtheit ist heute salonfähig geworden. Selbst vor den Anschlägen vom 11. September 2001 macht sie nicht mehr halt, auch das ein Zeichen der Zeit: "Die waren verheerend, mehr als verheerend", sagt sie tief betroffen. "Besonders für mich, denn es war derselbe Tag, an dem ich herausfand, dass der Soy Chai Latte 9000 Kalorien hat. Ich habe den jeden Tag getrunken. Du hörst Soy, du denkst gesund. Und das ist eine Lüge!"

Oder Schwarze: "Jeder gibt den Juden die Schuld am Tod Christi. Und die versuchen es den Römern zuzuschieben. Ich bin eine der wenigen, die glauben, dass es die Schwarzen waren." Seit dem rassistischen Live-Ausbruch des früheren "Seinfeld"-Stars Michael Richards, der seine Club-Zuschauer im November 2006 als "Nigger" beschimpfte, fasst die gesamte Entertainment-Branche der USA Schwarze mit Samthandschuhen an. Nur Silverman nicht.

Oder war das doch eher ein Witz über Juden? "Juden lieben richtigen Antisemitismus", sagt Silverman, jetzt plötzlich völlig ernst. "Denn das ist etwas, was man fassen kann, um zu zeigen, wie real es ist. Es ist nicht nur Gas in der Luft." Silverman selbst kommt aus einer liberal-jüdischen Familie in New Hampshire. Ihr Vater brachte ihr schon als Dreijährige bei, "Bitch-Bastard-Damn-Shit" zu sagen. Als sie sechs war, ließen die Eltern sich scheiden. Silverman wurde, wie sie sagt, zur "knallharten Bettnässerin".

Blutfleck im Schritt

Den Rest ihrer Kindheit beschreibt sie so: "Ich würde es nicht noch mal machen wollen." Sie war schwer depressiv, landete bei einem Psychiater, der ihr das Antidepressivum Xanax verschrieb und sich dann umbrachte. Damals begann sie mit Standup-Comedy. Schmerz nährt bekanntlich den Humor.

Sie zog nach Manhattan, besuchte kurz die New York University und juxte sich durch die einschlägigen Clubs. Schließlich wurde sie von "Saturday Night Live" entdeckt, wo sie in der selben Saison arbeitete wie Mike Myers und Adam Sandler, einem alten Schulkameraden. Ihr einziger Sketch, der es bis zur Kostümprobe schaffte, wurde jedoch kurz vor der Show "gekillt", und zum Ende des Saison wurde sie wieder gefeuert.

Es folgten lange Jahre in den Comedy Clubs, Gastrollen in TV-Shows, Filmklamotten, in denen Sarah schockieren durfte. Einmal malte sie sich einen "Blutfleck" in den Schritt und tat ahnunglos, um die Reaktion des Saals zu testen. Nein, sie habe nicht ihre Periode, sagte sie am Ende: "Ich hatte heute zum ersten Mal Analverkehr." Ihr Konzertfilm "Jesus is Magic" brachte ihr 2005 erstmals ein breiteres Publikum - auch wenn die Kritiker ihn freudig verrissen. "Das verletzte meine Gefühle total", sagt sie heute noch. "Es war wie ein Tritt in den Magen."

Dann kam "The Aristocrats", ein Film, der einfach nur daraus bestand, dass eine Reihe von Komikern den selben sämigen Witz erzählten. Silverman gab ihm ihren eigenen Dreh: Sie erzählte von Joe Franklin, einem alten TV-Talkmaster. Und dann, ohne Vorwarnung, sprach sie in die Kamera: "Joe Franklin hat mich vergewaltigt." Franklin fand das gar nicht komisch und drohte mit Klage. Silverman schlug ungerührt zurück: "Der hat nicht den Mumm, zu klagen."

Fürze ziehen immer

Im vergangenen Jahr wurde sie eingeladen, die Spirit Awards zu moderieren, die Underground-Oscars am Tag vor der eigentlichen Oscar-Verleihung, zu der die Stars in ein Zelt am Strand kommen. Auch dort plapperte sie wie üblich von ihrer Vagina. Der Unterschied zu früher: Dieses Jahr wurde sie erneut als als Zeremonienmeisterin eingeladen. Die Zeit ist endlich reif für Sarah Silverman.

In ihrer Sitcom spielt sie ein Zerrbild ihrer selbst namens Sarah Silverman: rücksichtslos, arrogant, selbstverliebt, manipulativ. Das Debüt lockte 1,8 Millionen Zuschauer vor die Mattscheibe - die beste Serienpremiere auf Comedy Central seit 2004. Zahlen, die ihr langsam zu denken geben: Kann etwas noch subversiv sein, das solchen Erfolg hat? "Ich weiß nicht, wie lange es noch rebellisch ist, wenn jeder meinen Standpunkt vertritt. Es wird abgedroschen und irrelevant."

Nur die Fürze, die ziehen natürlich immer.

Rishikesh Part 2

The continuing saga of two women, one camera and a seemingly endless supply of footage of myself. Here's some more - oh, and I threw in some shots of India too. There's even a tribute to Bollywood in this one.

This is still in Rishikesh, at the ashram we visited called Phool Chatti. I haven't digitized any more tapes, so until I do, I kind of have to use up the footage I digitized.



By the way, if I haven't said it before, I really appreciate Vidhu letting me join her on her trip. She's a great friend, and even more so because she agreed to spend a month with me traveling. Only the closest of friends can go through such an experience with their friendship intact and I have to thank Vidhu for that. She is an excellent traveling companion and so much fun to explore with!!

Get Involved!

When I was in India, I saw so many dogs and cats (and cows) living on the streets and except for the cows, who were for the most part well-fed and looked after, no one takes care of the dogs or cats. They don't usually keep them for pets. And so most of them are in horrible condition, with mangy fur, most starving, many with open wounds, limping or dragging limbs. I saw things there that made me want to cry, really. The worst I saw was at a temple in Goa, where a small group of emaciated puppies, just large little heads and protruding bones - as they teetered on weak limbs, wandering aimlessly. They looked so hungry it just broke my heart. And of course those animals that survive for any length of time aren't neutered, so the cycle begins again, with more being born every day to live and die in these abject conditions.

In third world countries, money, food, and resources are needed to take care of people. Anyone who has been to Mexico, knows what I'm talking about. We've all seen those strays wandering about. I really want to encourage everyone to get involved. We can help here and abroad, because there are abandoned and unwanted pets everywhere. And only by the grace of those people willing to donate their time, energy and money can we lessen the suffering of creatures unable to take care of themselves. Because they are living in our world. So they are our responsibility.

Being a firm believer in getting involved in ways that draw on our own personal interests, I've created a list of various organizations, both here and abroad, that deal with shelters, animal care and animal rights. Because even if you believe in helping animals, simply wanting to help may too broad in scope to nudge you into action. Hopefully you'll find something that sparks your interest and something that speaks to you personally, and we'll all be better off for it. I hate suffering. It sucks.

VSPCA is a home for dogs, cats, turtles, monkeys, cows, birds, etc. The number of animals that are treated and rescued is increasing every year ever since the shelter was founded.

United Animal Nations is a national non-profit animal advocacy organization whose mission is to protect animals in danger or need and to focus global attention on their plight to create a more humane world.

Rolling Dog Ranch creates a sanctuary for disabled pets.

Companion Animal Welfare Council conducts and publishes independent research and studies studies into the welfare, care, and treatment of companion animals and their role within society.

Wild Life Rescue Center rehabilitates injured wildlife back to nature.

Care for the Wild is an international wildlife charity dedicated to protecting animals from cruelty and exploitation. Includes fact sheets, news, information about current projects, and an online shop.

Tails of Hope helps assisted living candidates and the terminally ill place their pets through foster care and adoption.

United Pegasus provides a haven for doomed horses.

Born Free is an international wildlife charity working to prevent cruelty and alleviate suffering. News, educational materials, photos, FAQ, and information about ways for individuals to become involved.

Green People is a portal for animal sanctuaries state by state. A great resource if you're looking for a way to get involved with animals locally.

The Trust is one of the top animal rescue and re-homing charities in England, and runs rescue and re-homing centers across the country.

The Animal Welfare Institute has sought to reduce the sum total of pain and fear inflicted on animals by people. In the organization’s early years the emphasis was on the desperate needs of animals used for experimentation. In the decades that followed they expanded the scope of their work to address many other areas of animal suffering.

Animals Without Frontiers is an international animal and nature organization. News, petitions, campaigns, and an Internet based animal identification system.

Humane Society and Animal Welfare Ring offers links to animal shelters, humane societies, rescue and animal welfare organizations.

Another Cool Design Website

I was reading the German magazine der Spiegel today, they have a site set up for design professionals working in photography, architecture, graphics and illustrations. It's called Design Klicks. The work is great, I highly recommend you check out the site (whether or not you're interested in that kind of stuff, everyone needs some inspiration).

Boggle Blog

I love web boggle , just type in your name and pick your chooser (4x4 or 5x5)- it's a lot of fun and highly addictive. The only drawback is it slows down sometimes when there are a lot of people playing at the same time, but it's free and there are no ads or pop ups, so I don't really care. I get a kick out of the names people pick for themselves - often related to the most recent news item, or statements of faith or beliefs (like Former Fetus, who plays a lot and has provoked others to respond with names like Former Feces) and some names are very clever.

Anyway, check it out if you like Boggle. I usually go by Clinton 08, who by the way, everyone should vote for. Go Hillary!

** UPDATE - I now go by SLO ANNE, if you're looking for me.

Next installment of India Video

In India, while we visited Rishikesh - a small city that straddles the Ganges river along the foothills of the Himalayas - we met an American named Steve (if you've read my India journal, I've mentioned him before).

We met him on the train and ended up visiting him at the ashram in which he stayed, called the Phool Chatti Ashram. He returns here every year to this ashram, and has done so for the last fifteen years, in search of enlightenment and inner peace.



If anyone happens to notice how plump I look in India, I just want to say we stuffed ourselves silly all day long, every day. The food was heavenly and it's considered rude not to eat (yeah. Right.)

Did you know?

Ever heard of the word floccinaucinihilipilification? It's so long, it might seem German, but I assure you, it's not. What it is however, is the longest non-technical word in the english language (so says Wikipedia and the Guiness Book of World Records).

It is a noun, and it means: "the act or habit of estimating or describing something as worthless, or making something to be worthless by deprecation".

For example. My blog is a flocci-nauci-nihili-pili-fication that I just can't stop.

Second longest word? Antidisestablishmenttarianism.

Censorship in India

There is an article today in the New York Times called
"In India, Showing Sectarian Pain to Eyes That Are Closed" By Somini Sengupta. The article talks about a new film by Indian director Rahul Dholakia called"Parzania". The film deals with the disappearance of a child during the Gujarat riots of 2002, when violence escalated after a train fire caused the death of 59 Hindus and was blamed on Muslim extremists. The retaliatory riots resulted in the deaths of over 1,1000 Muslims. The article hits on a topical point of film and free speech in this age of terrorism, and on the barriers that exist for political films that explore the Hindu-Muslim conflict in India. In a country weary of resurrecting the simmering tensions between these two factions, problems of distribution have been compounded by self censorship by theatre owners.

Added to this issue is an already rigid mandate of film certification, based on the Indian Supreme Court ruling, which states the position of film's influence on Indian society. This ruling allows for a broad control of film content by the CBFC branch of government:

"Film censorship becomes necessary because a film motivates thought and action and assures a high degree of attention and retention as compared to the printed word. The combination of act and speech, sight and sound in semi darkness of the theatre with elimination of all distracting ideas will have a strong impact on the minds of the viewers and can affect emotions. Therefore, it has as much potential for evil as it has for good and has an equal potential to instill or cultivate violent or good behaviour. It cannot be equated with other modes of communication. Censorship by prior restraint is, therefore, not only desirable but also necessary." (Supreme Court of India, http://www.cbfcindia.tn.nic.in/backgroundpage1.htm)

Certification is thus often used to force filmmakers to alter their narratives - not just for sexually explicit or violent content, but for political content as well. For a detailed set of rules, click here.

And since the Hindus in India have been living side by side with a sizable Muslim population for decades, and the tensions between the two groups have vacillated from extremes of terrorist attacks to the brink of nuclear war, India offer us a unique empirical perspective on conflict between Islam and the West. And with the recent train bombing in India that killed another 68 people Monday, (click here for developing news on that story), the response by both the Indian and Pakistan Governments to continue their peace efforts offers us hope. I think that only when terrorists no longer achieve the results of chaos and disruption that they desire will the attacks stop.

For more information about the Hindu-Muslim conflict and India's political past, I'd like to suggest a great book called "Temptations of the West: How to be Modern in India, Pakistan, Tibet and Beyond" by Pankaj Mishra.

Middle Eastern Reality Show Explores America

Here's another great NPR report - this one on a MTV-style series called "On the Road in America" that documents America from a Middle Eastern perspective. The title is linked to the transcript of the coverage. Check it out.

Monkey Sites

Inspired by Chives - this blog entry goes out to you, my little buddy.

Check out these great monkey sites:






Live and up close - a great place to see dem monkeys:

• San Diego Zoo

A monkey with one cool website:

• Hi Monkey!

Adopt a monkey! You can't take 'em home, but you can help care for these rescued mammals:

• Paws

Cool monkey animation:

• Dance Monkey Dance!

This is an interesting web journal with essays on culture, technology and politics and it has a cool monkey name to boot:

• Monkey Fist

Email Correspondence

Always down thinking never or doing full like not when trying the plane flies, do you ignore see it closed following hiding from the annihilation sound, the weak shadow or lose it’s shape everything?

From: Collin
very strange. neither sentence makes much sense and combine they say nothing clearly.

From: Anne
Isn't that weird?

From: Collin
what did you intend with that weird sentence?

From: Anne
I thought we were just pontificating. When I went rollerblading earlier that day, I watched a plane fly past and thought about perception and reality and how I could define the plane and its position in my reality in many ways, such as, I could use the sound to locate it, or I could look down at the shadow the plane threw against the ground, or I could also look up and see the plane against the backdrop of sky. Each of these are clues as to the reality of the plane and all of them existed in that moment, but each revealed something different about my experience of the plane. And then I thought about negative words, and negative thoughts, and how my use of them affects my perception of reality and so I wove negative words into the other words and then struck them out. I guess what I am constantly trying to change is my own attitude in my life that feeds my perception and my experiences. I know that I am the conduit of my reality yet I constantly take a passive stance in controlling the valve.

From: Collin
wow. the thing about the presence of the obscured words is that it took effort not to try and read and incorporate them into the sentence. they definitely had emotional impact, though. makes me think that to much time with those thoughts will taint even the most confident mind. come to think of it this might be an interesting study of content and affect...

From: Anne
exactly. I don't want to be 50 years old and look back on my life with the perspective of a fifty year old and say to myself, my life wasn't that bad. I just continually tainted it with my negativity. I guess what I'm realizing is that I want to enjoy my life. I want to be happy. I want to be fulfilled. After coming back from India, I realized that all of these pressures I put on myself are so ARTIFICIAL! Why? Why do I put up with these unrealistic expectations - some measurement of happiness and success that is on a time line I am constantly revising anyway? And I get stuck because I'm in this same rut picking at the open wound of my ego because it feels better to think I'm a failure and feeling sorry for myself then thinking that I actually control my situation and my life to a certain extent, because that's a fucking scary thought.

Leaving for India Video 1

I went to Target today to buy a new scale, and ended up in the greeting card section somehow. I am not a woman who sends out greeting cards for holidays. I didn't send any out this year for Christmas (I did buy one, but never sent it) and since I can never remember anyone's birthday, I'm not known for that either. But I do like cute visually aesthetic things and today the greeting cards caught my eyes. I've been into monkeys lately, ever since my trip to India, and they had a bunch of cute monkey cards that say things like, "I'm thinking about monkeys" and when you open it up it says, "now you are too". That's like, right out of my freaking head, man! So can you blame me when I walked out of there with eight of them? But, boy, was I surprised at how incredibly expensive they were! They were like $2.25 each! What a rip off! Nevertheless, I am now determined to send them to unsuspecting friends. So beware.

One thing I noticed when I got down to writing something on the cards, is that my handwriting sucks. I skip letters all the time. I often write the wrong letter. And my handwriting is shaking and all over the place. I don't think I've seen it this bad since first grade. And that really sucks because in second grade I always won the prize for penmanship - a brand new pencil. My handwriting was always the best in the class - by the end of second grade I had over a dozen pencils. It was the only thing I could do really well. I've treasured that memory my whole life and now I know I no longer deserve those pencils. I am a failure. But really it's the computer's fault. I print very infrequently. Matter of fact, I can't even remember the last time I wrote something down, like an entire paragraph. And so the inside of the cards look like they were written by a first grader. So I hope that when my family and friends get their cards, I hope they appreciate my work, money and effort.

Because it's the last time I'm doing it.

79 Protons and Counting

Today on All Things Considered in the Krulwich on Science section, there was a great little piece on gold; what it is and where it comes from. I was amazed to learn that gold is created in the center of stars - in supernovas to be exact, and that for every gold atom that exists in the universe there are over one million iron atoms! The analogy they use to describe how atoms resist each other until their environment gets hot enough that they can't stay apart reminds me of some of my better relationships. Attraction, repulsion, these are powerful things for both humans and atoms! And though I hate to ruin the great ending of the piece for you (as I think everyone should read or listen to it), the end result is that gold travels through the universe an amazing 3 million light years to get to our fingers. I might never look at gold the same way again...

Now the only question is how far did the atoms in my diamonds travel and more importantly, when will someone give me some more gold and/or diamonds? I say give those poor, tired, beautiful little gold atoms a break and give them to me, thus saving them from further travel!

To read the article yourself, click on the title of this entry, it'll take you right to NPR's site...

(photo: Library of Congress, American Memory, http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/jan24.html)

Human Monkey

In India at the spice farm we visited, we recorded footage of a guy jumping from tree top to tree top. He was hard to follow with the camera, but Rohit did a pretty good job. I was hoping he'd fall, but he didn't.
I'm just kidding. Of course I wouldn't want him to fall, we were standing right underneath him!

New India Pics

Roh, V's brother, sent me some of the pics he took while we were in India. Thought I'd post them:

Rollins Parties

I've ended up making a few good friends here in Orlando. Most of them are junior faculty members at Rollins College. Over the weekend, I got invited to a Mardi Gras party that one of them was throwing in Winter Park.
The party was pretty standard and consisted of the usual standing around, nibbling on chips and dip while listening to discussions on faculty meetings, recent conferences, students and all the other stuff I find incredibly boring but I tolerate because most of the time the Rollins folks are creatively wacky. Case in point, V had a brilliant idea to play charades (which I suck at since I'm usually shaking so bad from stage fright that I can't remember what movie I'm supposed to be acting out), and we played for a good couple of hours. Then we listened to some old-school Michael Jackson and discussed various dance moves that he made famous while he was still black and still cool. We also tested out our pop and lock moves while a couple of people bragged about how famous their 'worm' had been in high school, though the results left a lot to be desired and were followed up with some surprised, "gee, I used to be really good at this"...did you? Did you really?
When Thriller came on, we realized how many of the dance moves we still knew (many of us have also seen 13 Going on 30) when our friend Julian called. He just flew in from a conference and wanted to know if we were still going to be there if he drove over. After he hung up, we tested out our Thriller moves and then changed the music to wait for Julian's arrival. After he arrived, the song come up in rotation again and when it did, everyone except Julian stood up and went in to full Thriller MODE! It was AWESOME! Julian didn't know what hit him. Oh, yes he did - a bunch of middle aged goofballs! HAH!
The evening was a great success. Like I said, though they may talk a lot of shop, even so, I just love me some Rollins wackiness!

(This picture is from last halloween)

This makes me happy

From the New York Times :

• In Niger, Trees and Crops Turn Back the Desert

Food Makes Friends!

So John and I have been working on our Carribean themed cooking show "Food Makes Friends" and we've finally finished the website!!! It's not extensive in its content, but you can watch a short clip of one of the dishes and check out our graphics for the sizzle reel (the pitch tape we shot this summer that we'll be pitching to the networks soon). Give me feedback on what you think, and any suggestions to improve the look or design are also welcome.
Thanks!

• Food Makes Friends series

Hypertext, Cross-reference, Hyperlinks, Oh My.

I was thinking today about the hypertextuality of my life. Having TV for a babysitter in my youth really helped shorten my attention span for any given subject while heightening my ability to contextually jump around in a wholly passive, willy-nilly way. That served as the perfect breeding ground for the internet - a world in which each and every whim I can think of must be googled, blogged and links explored. Someone wonders aloud, "where did the word willy-nilly come from?" and off I go, searching through philological sites, doing a google 'define: willy-nilly', and checking out wikipedia (oh wikipedia - I heart you). I spend countless hours doing this. The great thing is I do it on every subject that catches my fancy - and any one who catches my fancy. With my big ego, part of my routine is to google myself. It's a total disappointment. I think perhaps I should change my name to Fransiskanna Herberta Von der Gruenenhinterlaender just so that my name is distinct enough to match only my own small entries. I mean really, what was my mother thinking naming me Anne C. Russell? It's so WASPy I think I throw up a little in my mouth each time I have to say my own name. And there's like a million Anne C. Russells, so that really helps too.
But it's funny, because I just love to sit hours in front of my computer, jumping around willy-nilly as I explore the wonderful world of the WWW. I don't do anything with my gained knowledge except annoy strangers at parties. Especially since I have the retention of a sieve. But I can't even imagine a world anymore without this info highway only a few taps away on my keyboard(which, by the way, serves the function of my brain sometimes, allowing me to put absolutely no thought into 'thinking'). And who knows, maybe someday I'll retain something I've learned and use it for the good of mankind. And maybe, just maybe, someone someday will ask me if we're 'planning on reading the Old English text of Aelfric, Lives of Saints' And I'll say, "oh, you mean wille we or nille we? I think nille, ha ha ha."

Website link of the day: A tee-shirt store where people can design their own logos and then the designs get voted on. If you win, you make some cash and people can then buy your shirt on the site. I think they're tres cute. Thanks Marcela for showing me the site.

• threadless

Why is Man Different?

Ever read any of Oliver Sack's books? He's the neurologist/author whose work include the highly engaging books The Man who Mistook his Wife for a Hat, Awakenings, and An Anthropologist on Mars: Seven Paradoxical Tales.

• Oliver Sacks Link

Anyway, an article I read today in the New York Times got me thinking about him and others like him who write about fascinating aspects of our brains. Another thing I started mulling over was a conversation I had years ago with Ben (a computational neuroscientist and former boyfriend) about what differentiated man from other animals. When I asked Ben this question he told me that every time scientists try to define that difference, new research comes along that refutes existing hypothesises, blurring the line that separates us from other mammals. Obviously we're different, right? In what way are humans different? At first we thought it was because we have emotions. Then they discovered that other animals have emotions too. We thought it was because we use tools - but some animals do too (there's a type of monkey that uses sticks to pull ants out of anthills) - language? Nope. Speaking of ants, they build cities too.
Frankly I don't know what separates us (apart from our stunning good looks) and I do wonder if by setting ourselves apart it sanctions us to feel entitled to do what we will with the planet. If we categorized ourselves as having more in common with animals, recognizing the validity of their needs and wants, would we be so quick to dismiss our effect on our environment? Probably.

Anyway, getting back to the New York Times article, it's subject was the insula, a portion of the brain that seems to serve as a link between the body and mind. It serves in part to structure our emotional landscape and helps to explain how the brain reads the sense receptors of the internal organs and skin and then processes them, creating subjective responses that motivate us to react to our environment. And the insula offers an enticing clue to qualify the distinction between humans and other mammals, who also have an insula and emotions but are not thought to have subjective feelings in the same way humans do. The article talks about two particularities that distinguish the human insula. So this article offers another context for understanding what it means to be human.

• New York Times Article

G4 Rocks!

Since I got another short term gig in Florida, I've been staying with my peep John in Kissimmee (kiss-a-me? Kiss-is-a-me-e-e...something like that) and it's been an eye opening experience. The man has a 54 inch TV (it may be smaller, men always lie about size), TiVo and at least a million cable channels. Before I got here I had been living without cable due to my horrible and debilitating TV addiction (fully justified of course by the fact that it is after all, my job). I also had some quaint notion of taking up some serious reading in preparation of further grad school. I have to admit, I quickly grew accustomed to the quiet, Netflix and books. Needless to say since having TV at my beck and call, I've been catching up with the latest and greatest TV channels,. I'm sure everyone already knows this channel, but for those of you who are cable-challenged, I'd like to take a moment to recommend one to you. It's G4 TV, a network started in 2002 and it's geared towards the world of technology, popular arts, music and all things trendy. What is particularly interesting about it is that they broadcast viewer content and the whole model for programming is unique and interactive. To give you a taste, here's a short quote from an article they ran yesterday on their website http://www.g4tv.com - you gotta love them.

Heroic Astronaut Shoots For The Stars!

Posted by sjohnson - Tuesday, February 06, 2007 3:00 PM

Oh, brave NASA Astronauts, how will you fill us with wonder next?

First you orbited our world, the only people ever able to see England and America at once; then you took Man's first halting steps on the moon, (and the first steps into our future); and now you've driven over 900 miles with a BB-Gun, a roll of duct tape and a hunting knife in a quest to kill your romantic rival. Fly on, brave space flyer!