AI Addendum
 

only 3 Hours?

the FAT, HAPPY GUY

a "WOMAN OF COLOR"

and the HOMO

Sounds more like the makings of a 24 episode sitcom.

not7y(get Norman Lear on the phone)S

One American Life
 

For those of you who grew up in a matching-bicycles, vanilla upper-middle class hamlet, does Annie Dillard's "One American Life" catch the feel? My rule of thumbe would be whether you went though high school without having any friends that smoked crack.

One American Life
 

Rather inapt rule if you're looking for inclusiveness.

Now, if you had said laudanum . . .

One American Life
 

Golly gee, I didn't know anyone who smoked crack OR laudanum.

I must have had a super duper vanilla child hood.

AI Results
 

Bye bye Kim. Not at all unexpected, but still a damn shame. Don't know how she could sing like that with the tears welling up. Clay was more than a little teary, too.

The group numbers sound great with this year's finalists--they're on the whole way better musicians than last year's crop. Speaking of which, Tamyra Gray sounded way worse than I ever remember her sounding last year--what's with the quaver? Justin Guarini had a waaaaayyy better arrangement of Unchained Melody than they saddled Clay with last night. He was weak on the low notes, and doesn't have the beautiful tone of either Clay or Ruben, but he's still a great performer.

My favorite moment of the whole evening was the shot of Clay almost losing his arm to the helicopter rotor. That and the way he threw.

tm

Singh apologizes to Sorenstam
 

Actually, I think women perform better than men in sport shooting because they have lower heartrates (which supposedly is a benefit in sport shooting). I tried to back this claim by comparing world records, but as I am not a sport shooter, I can't really read the world records, so I don't know if you want a high or low score. By the way, I'm going to say that shooting is a sport because their official governing bodies call it "sport shooting." Plus, sometimes you run in some sport shooting events (why, I dont know, I've already told you I'm not good at this stuff. I would get frustrated by that duck hunt game on Nintendo that Colin Farrell apparently excelled at.)

Maybe Eagle Scout earned his Rifle and Shotgun merit badge and can help resolve this matter. (Not surprisingly, the Rifle and Shotgun merit badge is a bullseye.)

Edited to add the part about shooting being a sport after reading a couple pages of posts about a debate topic that should only be debated, beer in hand, in front of a television during halftime.

Matrix Reloaded
 

I saw the sneak preview of Matrix Reloaded and have a few thoughts:

First, if you're a man, and you're thinking about wearing leather pants in public, here's a quiz...

Which one of the following best desribes you?
(a) Lead Singer in Rock band
(b) Biker Gang Member
(c) Pale, Scrawny Guy

If you answered (a) or (b), feel free to wear leather pants. If you answered (c), I'm allowed to laugh openly at you.

As for the movie, it's good. Reviews have been mixed, although I don't remember loving The Matrix when it first came out. I think reviewers might be making too much out of the first one, so that the second one inevitably suffers by comparison.

The special effects carry the day here. Even those who think the movie had too much expository dialogue can't deny that there are two set pieces that are worth the price of admission. The first is "The Burly Brawl." This is a fight scene between Neo (Keanu Reeves) and Agent Smith 2.0 (the excellent Hugo Weaving). The twist here is that Agent Smith has figured out how to copy himself, so it's Neo versus about 100 Agent Smiths. As Keanu would say, "Whoa." The computer programming and digital artistry required for this battle are just as revolutionary as "Bullet Time" was in the original.

The second main battle is a 14 minute fight scene that was staged on a 2 mile loop of highway that was built in Alameda for the film. You have bullets, two semi trucks, 'splosions, ninja swords, kung fu, twin albino ghost cyborgs (seriously), and a motorcycle stunt by Carrie-Anne Moss that must have happened when her agent was not on set because she's driving a bike, without a helmet, with a passenger, into hordes of oncoming traffic. I know stunt people were used, but Carrie-Anne apparently did most of the driving herself.

There are a few new characters, some plot twists, and a whole layers-upon-layers thing going on in this one. The Wachowski Brothers were smart enough to have most of the ponderous dialogue and plot points spoken in the butter-soaked voice of Lawrence Fishburne.

They're also smart enough to add Monica Bellucci to the cast as a temptress (big stretch for her) and to have one of the villains adopt a French accent. I would have thought that last one was a cheap shot at pleasing the NASCAR set, but production has been going on for years, so that decision must just be based on latent, ongoing hatred of the French.

Anyway, much better fight scenes and special effects than X2, probably not as good plot-wise as X2 (unless you're deep into the philosophy of the Matrix, in which case you were probably the guy wearing leather pants to the sneak preview), but much more impressive.

Helpful Hint: Stay after the credits for the trailer to Matrix Revolutions.

Pubic timmy
 

Aesthetician. And the Salon thing sounds about right. My late great friend used to call that line the "hairway to heaven" and I have seen it on chicks. It is not a good look- like a mustachioed chick (and I know one but would have no idea how to say anything to her).

Brazilian
 

I think this has finally killed my longstanding Ollie cybercrush. Baby, how could you do this to me? Now I have two posters who I will think "ass" when I see them.

One American Life
 

I know two chicks that smoked crack and apparently one was still struggling with it more than ten yeas later. The poor dear was a girly girl who used to sew her own dresses with her mom. No idea how that happened. The other gal was a year older and totally had the lopsided haircut and took the train into the city on weekeends and shopped at Flip. I guess they were trying to be different.

Which brings me to a question I pondered yesterday on my walk home. Why do people die their hair blue, pink, yellow, orange, whatever? It is never attractive and I woudl hardly say it makes you a punk or a rebel. What's the point?

AI Results
 

I loved the montage of Clay's visit home (almost as good as the Survivor montages of people voted off which I sadly missed this round). He was so the gay kid who never played sports. When he comes out I wonder if the Durham Bulls will have an issue with the fact that a gay guy, or HOMO, was pitching for them. Too funny.

OREO Cookie Suit dropped
 

From the SF Chronicle.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...814EDT0162.DTL

A quote from the article:

"We have received thousands of e-mails expressing support for what we have done in advising the public of this problem," Joseph said. "But it's no longer necessary to continue the lawsuit because at the time the lawsuit was filed nobody knew about trans fat. Now everybody knows about trans fat."

aV

One American Life
 

That's your distinction? :eek: In my town the distinction was whether you thought a drink was a bloody mary or a pastel confection with a paper umbrella in it.

"Crack" is only in neighborhoods where everyone goes to buy their coke, doofus. ;)

Matrix Reloaded
 

Apparently his voice wasnt the only thing soaked in butter -

as almost every review has noted, Fishburne really "packed it on" between films. One reviewer even noted "they must get really good eats in Zion"

not7yS

One American Life
 

How does that work for people who went to high school before the advent of crack, which is probably most people over the age of 30.