A Sinking Ship: April 2007

Monday, April 30, 2007

Dissent in Romer v. Evans

This Court has no business imposing upon all Americans the resolution favored by the elite class from which the Members of this institution are selected, pronouncing that "animosity" toward homosexuality is "evil."

The Court's disposition today suggests that these provisions are unconstitutional, and that polygamy must be permitted in these States on a state-legislated, or perhaps even local-option, basis-unless, of course, polygamists for some reason have few constitutional rights than homosexuals.

Friday, April 27, 2007

Hooray for Frank Tenaglia

The greatest thing about youtube is not the videos, but rather the music you can listen to. It's kind of like having your own radio station because you can hear practically any song you want to at any time because some loser out there has made his own video using it.

Anyway, this week I have shuffled between a few videos, including "Someday I Suppose" by the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, "Take on Me" by A-ha, and "Man in the Mirror" by Michael Jackson (I know, random). Anyway, here's my favorite video of the week (doesn't this guy look like a guy you would want to hang out with on the weekend?):

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

My hero

The smartest man in America.

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Football

I don't like football and I really never have. I enjoy playing it, but I've always thought it was a brainless sport for athletes who weren't really coordinated enough to be good at sport that required real talent. That being said, I know a bit about football (I mean, I check out cnnsi.com and espn.com ten times a day) and I know who is good and who is not.

This clip was emailed to me yesterday by a buddy and I laughed so hard that I thought my wound was going to rip open (I still have nine staples to hold it there thankfully). When I showed it to the Mrs., I had to walk away because I didn't want to be in pain again. This video gets funnier the longer it goes on and is definitely better the second time around. Enjoy.

Friday, April 20, 2007

I'm so beard

So, I've been pretty much sitting in bed now for four days and I am pretty bored. So bored, in fact, that I decided to take a picture of my awesome facial hair (actually, it looks more like I have a hairy, swollen knee).

I've always been disappointed in my facial hair. Being a big fan of "90210" I thought it would be awesome to sport some Dylan/Brandon sideburns. I've finally come to the realization that that will never happen. Oh well, maybe in another lifetime.

Thursday, April 19, 2007

Stay off "The Road"

I subscribe to Entertainment Weekly and I have done so now for about five years. For some reason, when people find this out, they are somewhat surprised that I would be interested in the entertainment world (like it's gay or something). I mean, it's not like I subscribe to US magazine. Anyway, Stephen King has been writing for EW for a couple of years now, and at the end of each year he does a top ten list of his favorite books. Last year he picked "The Plot Against America" by Philip Roth, so I decided to read it. It was an interesting concept.

"The Plot Against America explores a wholly imagined thesis and sees it through to the end: Charles A. Lindbergh defeats FDR for the Presidency in 1940. Lindbergh, the "Lone Eagle," captured the country's imagination by his solo Atlantic crossing in 1927 in the monoplane, Spirit of St. Louis, then had the country's sympathy upon the kidnapping and murder of his young son. He was a true American hero: brave, modest, handsome, a patriot. According to some reliable sources, he was also a rabid isolationist, Nazi sympathizer, and a crypto-fascist. It is these latter attributes of Lindbergh that inform the novel."

I read it, but I thought it was just ok. This year, Mr. King picked "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy (Oprah subsequently picked it for her book club pick, but let's ignore that). Well, I decided to read it and sitting here in bed all day gave me the opportunity to devote some time to it.

Here's the description of the book: "A father and his son walk alone through burned America. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind. It is cold enough to crack stones, and when the snow falls it is gray. The sky is dark. Their destination is the coast, although they don't know what, if anything, awaits them there. They have nothing; just a pistol to defend themselves against the lawless bands that stalk the road, the clothes they are wearing, a cart of scavenged food-—and each other."

Sounds interesting, right? Well, it really wasn't. In fact, it was pretty boring. And I'm still not really sure what the whole point of the book was. The book is about 250 pages long, but it's written in blue-hair font, so it's really only about 150 pages in a normal font size. I think this was the first time that I have ever read a book where I thought the movie version would probably be a lot more interesting.

My definition of a good book is a book that I think about long after I have finished reading it. Recent examples of "good" books include "The Prestige" by Christopher Priest (don't see the movie) and "Lonesome Dove" by Larry McMurtry (tv miniseries was great). Examples of "bad" books include "Tuesdays with Morrie" (way too cheesy and boring) and "Hannibal Rising" (probably the worst book I have ever read). I haven't thought about "The Road" at all. So...two guys walk around looking for food. Zzzzzz.

I'm well-aware that many media outlets have called "The Road" the best book of the year. Fine. Maybe I have bad tastes in books. Instead of hopping on the bandwagon and professing my love for this "literary masterpiece" I will disagree and say "The Road" is poorly-written and ultimately pointless (much like this review). If a dystopian view of the future is what you are after, I would recommend "Farenheit 451" or "1984."