Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"The endless modern laments about how texting and emails are shortening the attention span go back to Plato, who deplored writing as a destroyer of memorizing." - Matt Ridley

"You scullion! You rampallian! You fustilarian! I'll tickle your catastrophe!" - William Shakespeare

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." - George Santayana

"What's in the box? WHAT'S IN THE BOX!?!" - Brad Pitt

"Silence is a lesson learned through life's many sufferings." - Seneca

"How quickly you unlearn what you think you know often determines how far you go. A lot of adults think they know the answer so when the world tells them they're wrong, they dismiss it. And that is the moment they stop getting better." - Shane Parrish

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Netflix reveals its 9 government take-down requests.

- Perhaps the best graffiti ever!

- Brad Pitt set to produce Chris Cornell documentary Like a Stone.

- Heh Heh

- Democrats claim real impeachment has never been tried

- Too perfect!

- CNN excludes Tulsi Gabbard from New Hampshire Town Hall broadcasts. If I were Tulsi's campaign manager I'd try to get time on a competing network scheduled at the same time at the Town Hall's.

Killing Them Softly

Saw the movie Killing Them Softly last Friday and to say it was a disappointment would be an understatement. The movie, it seemed, tried to be one part Trainspotting, one part crime documentary and one part political commentary and when put together - it just didn't work.

I had read the book the movie was based on - Cogan's Trade by George V. Higgins - so I had no trouble following the plot but the person I was with had not read the book and was thoroughly confused. I liked the book and was looking forward to the movie but there were certain aspects and dialogue from the book that never should have made it to the screen but there it was.

Then you had the political commentary. Speeches by George W. Bush, Senator Barack Obama and others were cut into the film or playing in the background for what purpose I couldn't tell you. George V. Higgins' main message from the book was that criminals are stupid. The movie seemed to try and make some sort of metaphor between crime and the banking crisis.

My recommendation for this movie is simple - if you haven't read the book - save your money. And if you have read the book - save your money.

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Brad Pitt's mom writes anti-Obama editorial. What I love about this story is the idea that Brad Pitt's mom's vote will basically cancel out her son's vote in November but since she's from a battleground state (Missouri) her vote actually carries more weight (Brad lives in California which is sure to go for Obama)... Seth MacFarlane is making it possible for Carl Sagan's paper to be donated to the Library of Congress. Nice job Mr. Family Guy... I thought last night's Louie was pretty funny but I'm still haunted by the fact that the woman who played Louie's girlfriend last week was the little girl from Field of Dreams. I know Gaby Hoffman is now 30 but she'll always be little Karin Kinsella in many ways (I also find it creepy that Louie was college aged when Field of Dreams came out)... How all 57 50 states got their names... Tom Glavine had a career batting average of .186. Meanwhile Richie Weeks of the Brewers is hitting just .192 (and it was .182 last week)... Sam Trickett won $10.1 million for coming in second place in the WSOP One Drop Million Dollar Buy-in event but later that night gets beat up by six guys. I'd love to know the whole story on this...

Cogan's Trade by George V. Higgins

Recently I read the book Cogan's Trade by George V. Higgins. Even though I am a life-long resident of Massachusetts, I was unfamiliar with the work of Higgins. He was just before my time I guess.

I was compelled to buy and read the book by two unrelated issues. First in a Boston based episode of No Reservations - Anthony Bourdain said that The Friends of Eddie Coyle was the basis for the best movie on crime ever made. The I saw that Brad Pitt is planning on taking the title role and making Cogan's Trade into a movie. Cool. I figured I had to get into Higgins' work.

First I read Cogan's Trade. The book was a quick read - almost like one long series of conversations. You could see how this could easily could be converted into a screenplay. I recommend the book and look forward to the movie. Which leads me to The Friends of Eddie Coyle.

I was intrigued to see the movie and tried to find it on Netflix. It wasn't there! Strangely enough the movie is available on YouTube.  Worth a watch if you haven't seen it already.

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

New Gingrich released his taxes last night in an attempt to redirect attention from his ex-wife's allegations that he wanted an open marriage. Pure and simple. If I was Mitt Romney I would be more than a little bit upset over that piece of politics. If I was Mitt - I'd have his wife Ann tape a spot talking about how when she was diagnosed with MS her husband stood by her. Newt may have gotten a good reaction to slamming John King for asking the question but he's done irreparable damage among women voters across the country (and they make up 50% of the electorate - making Newt radioactive in a general election)... According to a Tweet by Darren Rovell - the new Bud Light Platinum will be 6% alcohol while Bud is 5% and Bud Light is 4.2%. That just doesn't seem right to me that Bud Light is less alcohol than Bud. If that's really the case then I might have to switch back to Bud (or to the new Bud Light Platinum)... So Newt Gingrich supposedly converted to being a Catholic. I guess the 6 years of living in sin and the divorcing of two women doesn't mean as much to the church as they taught when I was a kid. The hypocrisy of the church is as big a story here as Newt's serial infidelity if you ask me... Who knew? Supposedly Brad Pitt was offered the role of Jason Bourne but turned it down to do Spy Game instead... Compare Rick Perry's fanfare entrance into the Presidential race with whimper of his exit. If Rick Perry was a month - he'd be March coming in like a lion and leaving like a lamb... Sherlock Series 2 won't air on PBS Masterpiece until May 6th, 13th and 20th? That's crap!... I bet secretly Newt Gingrich would like a much grander title than President. He might he happy being known as his Excellence the King of Bohemian Life and Ideas...

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting and thought I'd share.

Graham Yost explains the season premiere of Justified

Acting is hard (Moneyball out-take)

17 of the most bizarre, obscene, or pointless entries on Wikipedia

Awesome Q&A w/ Teri Garr (it may be old but it was new to me)

Rob Gronkowski’s Friend Bibi Jones To Perform At Stoughton Club (what a great potential Super Bowl promotion)

World War Z

I was given Max Brooks' book World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by one of my kids at Christmas and the book languished on my bookshelf for months before I picked it up. But when I picked it up - I couldn't put it down. The book is a series of interviews of survivors of the Zombie War and if that sounds like a silly concept for a book I guess I wouldn't have disagreed with you. That is until I started reading the book.

The book is geared to read like a Studs Terkel book (it was modeled after The Good War: An Oral History of World War II but I kept thinking of Hard Times: An Oral History of the Great Depression which I think was the original best selling oral history by Studs Terkel).

The book was entertaining and disturbing to the point that I'd find myself daydreaming about defending my family against zombie hordes and the best ways to do so. While waiting at stoplights in my mind I seriously debated the merits of aluminum bats over wood bats and finally finding a use for my 1-iron. Crushing zombie brains needs forethought you know.

While reading the book I couldn't help but think that it was tailor made for a HBO series. Each chapter in the book deals with a different interview with a focus on different stages of the Zombie War. Perfect for HBO! I was disappointed to learn that the book supposedly be made into a movie. That doesn't mean I wouldn't go see the movie. Brad Pitt's Plan B Entertainment secured the screen rights to the novel and now that the ill-conceived adaptation of Moneyball has been shelved - maybe World War Z can move to the front burner for production.

OK - I'll Say It

Chelsy Davy (maybe the future Queen of England) looks like Brad Pitt with tits.

There I said it.