Arts-&-Literature

Hmmmm…while I’m a firm believer that people can become addicted to pretty much anything, I’m having a hard time believing this story, where a couple in Reno, NV, are saying their Internet and online gaming addiction caused them to starve and otherwise horribly neglect – c’mon, let’s call it what it is: abuse – their very young children. Viloria said the Reno couple were too distracted by online video games, mainly the fantasy role-playing “Dungeons & Dragons” series, to give their children proper care. “They had food; they just chose not to give it to their kids because they were too busy playing video games,” Viloria told the Reno Gazette-Journal. ...

We went to see Knocked Up the other day. I didn’t think it was the instant classic A. O. Scott called it, but it was funny. (I liked The 40 Year Old Virgin a bit more, partially because the lead was a lot more charming and the story had more focus, but in both cases I kind of like Judd Apatow’s approach to romantic comedy: If two flawed people get together, romance isn’t going to suddenly make them better. As a result, in both films don’t end with “Happily Ever After”…more like “We’ll Give It A Good Try!”) ...

Just to show I’m a huge nerd, when I saw this news about Seth Adams being the likely starting quarterback for the University of Mississippi, I read it as Teth-Adam. Not too bad, but then I was unreasonably intrigued by the idea of a killer supervillain/hero with the power of seven ancient gods playing in the SEC. “The line collapses and Dempsey’s getting a free shot at the quarterback…OH…Oh my! Teth-Adam just threw Dempsey’s head to the receiver! The receiver drops it!” ...

We saw part of the Concert for Diana yesterday, and it looked like it went pretty well, given the difficult nature of huge live events. I had a few thoughts run though my head while watching, though, and figured I’d share them with an interested audience: Realizing they weren’t promising music Princess Di liked, I still found it interesting that several of the acts weren’t known ten years ago. The list might have reflected the princes’ musical tastes as well, but I kept thinking it partially looked like the artist list you would get automatically from the BBC and VH1 for any concert. Speaking of which: Fergie? Really? And she didn’t do London Bridge? When is a better time? I didn’t catch this part, but why would English audiences care if Ryan Seacrest and Randy Jackson were there with Simon Cowell? Josh Groban did a remarkable job fighting off Sarah Brightman during their duet. Oh, Rod Stewart. That’s why they didn’t fill the entire concert with acts Diana liked. In case you were wondering about Donny Osmond and dozens of kids wearing Chickenshed shirts, here you go. Drop It Like It’s Hot. Pharrel Williams, everyone! A big round of applause! He’s really captured the spirit of the event! Oh, good, Kanye West is here. He’ll straighten it all out. “Now I ain’t saying she a Gold Digger, but she ain’t messing with no broke…” Oh, that’s not good. For the first time in my life, I felt sorry for Ricky Gervais. And Elton John was finally able to take the stage to finish off the concert – he opened as well. This time he’ll do Candle in the Wind for the first time since Diana’s funeral, right? Nope. Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting. Wait, when did Diana die? Oh yeah, Saturday night. Anyway, I’m kind of picking on it, but like I said, it worked well. Much more smoothly than Live 8. I just wonder if everyone was told what the concert was for? ...

Prepare for a dip in the global economy: Sid Meier’s Civilization Revolution. On a side note, I’m going to be really busy next spring doing…ah…stuff…so don’t bother me. Link courtesy of Too Many Topics, Too Little Time.

Just in case you don’t know what I look like, I offer here an accurate representation of myself: Handsome devil, that. All yellow and…ahem…a few pounds less heavy than I would have thought. It’s from the Simpsons Avatar Creator, on The Simpsons movie site. Their application works even better than the one for South Park, but South Park’s does let you become a pirate, which is cool. Link courtesy of Best Week Ever, which tries for Paris Hilton, but I think this might work better as Paris in the Simpsons universe: ...

So far, I’ve seen one news outlet after another talk about the disappointing opening weekend for Evan Almighty: $32.1 million. That return might not be so bad for a comedy, except this one cost anywhere between $175 million and $220 million to make, according to the same outlets. Now, personally, I have almost as little interest in seeing Evan Almighty as I did Bruce Almighty. The only difference? I’ll see most things with Steve Carell in them, but I avoid movies with Jim Carrey in them. So, for me, spending that much money on the movie doesn’t seem like a good decision. However, maybe that’s just me? ...

We went to see Nancy Drew last weekend, partly because we were curious what Hollywood might do with the character, and partially because we weren’t quite in the mood for seeing another comedy or comic-book action blockbuster on opening weekend in a crowded theater. You know what? It was good. Not one of the best movies of the year – well, I shouldn’t say that, the year’s been moving a little slow so far – but a good story that conveyed what’s appealing about the novels. It also would have been a good movie for parents to take their kids…as opposed to Ocean’s Thirteen, where we saw several children getting dragged. ...

I love the Akismet integration in WordPress. It does such a great job of protecting me from comment spam I barely have to moderate anymore. 9,048 spam comments and counting. However, sometimes I do wander into the spam room to see what’s popular lately, and this time one particular entry struck me: Thanks for the good site and usefulinfo. I found amanda bynes feet That’s good, Spam. You found her feet. I hope the rest was still attached, and no tragedy has befallen Ms. Bynes. ...

Hmm, looks like Maxim came out with its Hot 100 (supposedly straight), and AfterEllen.com responded with a lesbian version. Let’s see how they match up with a…uh… “random” list of five women. List**Maxim rank****AfterEllen rank**Alyson Hannigann/a74Jenna Fischern/an/aKristen Bell4656Sarah McLachlann/an/aShakira38n/a Yep, looks like my interests aren’t well-represented on either list, but more closely on the Maxim side based on the numbers. However, I was surprised at how much easier it would be to pick a second five from the AfterEllen list. C’mon, Maxim, you seriously listed Lindsay Lohan (#1, no less), Fergie (#10), and Shanna Moakler (I’m not going to bother looking that up) in your top 100? Combine that with Second Life avatars, and it’s just wasted space. ...