Thursday, April 17, 2008

Email: Professional support [ML]

Information (with action) is everything.

Email: Did you hear this about Obama ? [EH]

Obama’s statement [on a teen girl being “punished with a baby”] is mindful of lower-class culture where teen girls often accidentally or even intentionally get pregnant (become someone’s “baby mama”) to have someone to make them feel needed. Rather than make something of their lives or get off welfare, to them it is a “punishment” -- though I thought he meant it more like “consequences” -- a responsibility for the rest of their lives. Remember — because rich married Republicans do not think this way -- these girls are not married and will probably never have a loving husband to support them. Unwed teen pregnancy and the welfare culture are not Republican values and I do not understand why ‘pubbicans would make them sound as if they were (by obverse implication) just to cast imprecations at Obama!

Email: Test [SD]

“Did you get that thing I sent ya?” (Peter Potamus on Harvey Birdman Attorney at Law)

Email: Netflix Support

Title request: Coyote Funeral (2006)

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Press: Pope expected to stress traditional worship - WP/MSNBC

Pope expected to stress traditional worship - Washington Post- msnbc.com:

"In an era saturated with entertainment and politics, a key question looms as Pope Benedict XVI leaves here [Rome] Tuesday for Washington: Is his style too dense to get Americans' attention?"

Weblogs: Dude has over a thousand Netflix friends!

Netflix Fan:

"I just made Robowriter a Fave, which means I'm a Fan, not a Friend, since he's a stranger to me. [...] His reviewer rank is an astonishingly low 14. My favorite thing [...] is his exhaustive lists in which he categorizes movies very specifically."

Imagine *my* surprise in following a link from Hacking Netflix to here and finding your post -- about *me*! Well, I am a diligent kind of person. I've read the reviews by everyone I've faved and I'll only fave them if they have written at least 18-24 reviews and I like them. (About one-third of my faves have faved *me*.) There are people who have rated more movies than I have (the bulk of which are Not Interested, which at least clears the wrestling and NASCAR stuff off my plate). The review and list count you cite is from last week; I've, uh, added some more... and risen to #12. But ranking is not so important when you're above #50 because it's all relative and everyone is contributing to a moving and dynamic target. It's a fun and vibrant community and I appreciate reviews from some members who joined last month and have already written 3-18 reviews.

I'm trying to find time to finish some lists of hundreds of Saved and Unavailable titles so members can either click Not Interested (to easily boost their ratings count) or better yet, submit title requests so Netflix will replace movies it seems to be decreasingly restocking. I suggest that members save the Web address of lists they like as favorites in their browser or better yet, click the RSS feed icon at the bottom of any list you like to subscribe to additions as they occur. Cheers, gang!

Email: Netflix Support

Title request: They Wait (2007)

Email: Netflix Support

Title request: Finlandia (2005)

Email: Netflix Support

Title request: Joshua [the Black Rider] (1976)

Email: Netflix Support

Title request: Thunder in the Pines (1948)

Email: Netflix Support

Title request: Sweet Nothing In My Ear (2008)

Email: Next best? [KD]

No matter what they say, chocolate is an insufficient consolation for celibacy. (Only an abundance of the spiritual can compensate for a paucity of the natural.) [It makes a good mantra though: Cho-co-late!]

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Press: Physicist John A. Wheeler dies at 96 - HC

Physicist John A. Wheeler dies at 96 - Houston Chronicle:

"In his 1998 autobiography, 'Geons, Black Holes & Quantum Foam: A Life in Physics,' he wrote that the black hole 'teaches us that space can be crumpled like a piece of paper into an infinitesimal dot, that time can be extinguished like a blown-out flame, and that the laws of physics that we regard as 'sacred,' as immutable, are anything but.'"

Monday, April 14, 2008

Email: Chat a bitsy [KD]

([The word bitsy always reminds me of] Gollum in The Hobbit, schizophrenically muttering to himself, "Bless us and splash us, my precious. P'raps we sits and chats with it a bitsy.")

I think it's entirely appropriate that tax filing season falls largely during the season of spiritual desolation and deprivation that we call Lent.

If it weren't for cell phone batteries and poor signal strength in certain locations (like where I work all day), I'd rely on a cell phone exclusively.

Email: Netflix Support

Title request: The Metrosexual (2007)