Probably the last good sci-fi movie of the summer. Sigh.

Fie on the critics who called the third X-Men movie, X-Men: The Last Stand flawed.

It delivers everything you loved about the previous two X-Men films:

• Awesome visual effects.
• Teenagery outsider/rebel angst. Loved the tatooed, gothy mutants in Magneto's army. The rebel mutant convergence space looked like an anti-globalization protest in Seattle.
  
• Allusions to social and political battles over race, sexual orientation, and other xenophobic concerns that would seem heavy-handed if not delivered via a live action comic book. ("Yeah, I remember that conversation," said a gay friend of mine as we watched the scene in X-Men United when Bobby comes out as a mutant to his parents.)
• Patrick Stewart.

The problem is that movie critics rarely seem to take comic book adaptations in the spirit in which they are intended.

Your summer drink has arrived

Check out the kick ass martini I just invented. Cool, refreshing, and chock-full of antioxidants, so really it's a wash.

Kick ass ginger martini (serves 4)

juice of 1 fresh lemon
2-3 tsp finely chopped fresh ginger (watch out, it has a kick)
6 oz. very awesome vodka (I recommend Belvedere)
2 oz vanilla vodka (Stoli Vanil or similar)
2-3 tablespoons simple syrup*
a crapload of ice

Pour the vodkas, lemon juice, and syrup over the ice in a cocktail shaker. Put the ginger in a garlic press and squeeze the gingery juices into the shaker too. Shake the hell out of it until the shaker frosts. Pour into four chilled martini glasses. You could probably also do fancy things with lemon peels and candied ginger...

*Plain sugar syrup. Either buy it somewhere, or make it by boiling 1 part sugar and 2 parts water together until it reaches a syrupy consistency. You can keep it in the fridge in a jar or tupperware--make a bunch because it also comes in handy for mint juleps and other summer drinks.

Justice served

When the crimes of which you have been found guilty can be represented as a bar graph.... *shaking head*

Guy Coma. Bullshitting rock star.

As cited by John Tierney in the NYT this past weekend:

IT dude named Guy Coma arrives at BBC studio for job interview. Is mistaken for a different Guy--editor Guy Kewney, who was scheduled to appear on-air to discuss the Apple/Apple Corps trademark dispute verdict. Is ushered onto live, national TV and asked his opinion about the verdict. And what does he do? He rolls with it. Awesome.

You can see video of the interview here.

Congressional casting call

While we're on the topic of dramatizing the Congressional Record.... here is a quiz. Please cast the following actors in the roles of current House members. I'll look forward to your comments.

Exhibit A: Jack Black.








Exhibit B: The young Harrison Ford.

Relive the drama

I am planning a staged reading of the Congressional Record for the 109th Congress. In this scene, the part of Rep. Don Young (R-AK) will be played by Alan Rickman. The part of Rep. David Obey (D-WI) will be played by George Clooney.

House of Representatives chamber, U.S. Capitol, Interior.

Mr. OBEY. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself 2 minutes.

Mr. Chairman, I knew we still had charter members of the Flat Earth Society walking around this country. I didn't realize there were quite so many in the United States Congress.

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. (Sneering) I am just curious, were you referring to yourself?

Mr. OBEY. The rules don't allow me to say who I was referring to.

The gentleman says we should have studies, we should have hearings. Your party has controlled this Congress for 14 years. The time for studying is over. The time for studying is past... He may be right, and you may be right. If you are right, then moving to deal with this problem costs us very little. If he is right, not moving costs us everything. The gentleman refers to an ice age.

(voice rising to a crecscendo)

If you shut down the ocean currents' conveyors, you are going to have an ice age in one heck of a hurry. So I would suggest the gentleman has committee responsibilities. If he does not want this committee to meet our responsibilities, as we have tried to do, then it is about time you meet yours and actually do something about it rather than denying that this is a real problem.

(with authority) Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

(Congressional Record)

Death by Sunny D

Ummm...gross.

"Eight thousand litres of brightly coloured liquid used in the manufacture of Sunny Delight leaked into a tributary of the river Parrett in Somerset. Environment Agency officers were called to Gerber Foods after a local drainage board reported that a nearby drainage ditch had turned bright yellow...Checks by the Environment Agency showed dissolved oxygen levels in the drainage ditch had dropped to 8 per cent compared with the usual 60 per cent. Officers saw fish in distress on the surface. Low levels of dissolved oxygen suffocate fish." (The Independent [UK])

LET'S GET READY TO RUMBLLLLLE

Last night, as the House of Representatives considered the Interior Appropriations bill, the environmental community scored a huge pile of victories.

In fact, it would be fair to say that the enviros completely rocked it, contributing to wins in a series of votes that point to some shifts in the political landscape. A couple of highlights:

1. Passed: Amendment to end "royalty relief" to oil companies in a time of record profits.
2. Passed: Amendment to restore the moratorium on oil and gas drilling on the Outer Continental Shelf. The ocean and its critters thank you.
3. Passed: Amendment to end subsidies to support clearcutting in Alaska's Tongass National Forest.

I smell fear...the good kind of fear. Bad guy fear.

Collaborator!

Interesting article in the NYT yesterday about the trend towards collaboration between environmental groups and industry.

While I'm certainly not going to write off the possibility of productive collaboration between conservationists and industry...in some instances we may need to reclaim the word "collaborate" a little bit here.

col-lab-o-rate
intr.v.

1. To work together, especially in a joint intellectual effort.
2. To cooperate treasonably, as with an enemy occupation force in one's country.

Boy genius

"Rove Blames Iraq War for Low Bush Numbers" (AP): Noting that Bush's likeability ratings are much higher than his approval ratings, Rove said today that "People like this president...They're just sour right now on the war.''

The war...the banner policy of Bush's presidency.

This is sort of like saying, "my ex still likes me...she just disapproves of my performance as a boyfriend, and that's only because she caught me in bed with her best friend right after I totaled her car."

The real sadness and irony here is that Rove is probably onto something when he suggests that likeability matters more than job approval.

A rare blog post on personal stuff

Ladies--

Have you ever woken up one day and had an "aha" moment like I did this morning? Maybe it is more of an "uh oh" moment. A moment when it becomes clear that one is in the midst of a tectonic shift, wardrobe-wise. A wardrobe shift that is indicative of broader psychosocial change. A change that may not be good. You may notice the following Habits of Concern:

-The frequent carrying of canvas tote bags with the logos of charitable organizations
-The wearing of "fun" glass bead necklaces in a professional context. The wearing of pearls in a non-professional context.
-One word: flats. (maybe that's just something about this season, though)
-Three words: Ann. F'ing. Taylor.
-Borrowing your mother's clothes when you visit, not out of necessity, but because you think some of her stuff is pretty cute (!!!!)
-Less tanning, more floppy brimmed hats and sunscreen
-No more funky star- and flower-shaped barrettes

I'll let you know when I start wearing seasonally-themed sweaters. Thanks. Carry on.

The white people affinity group

Why, I'd do just about anything for a first-of-its-kind, GOP-edition Ipod.

OK, anything except this:


In further checking out the GOP houseparty organizing effort, I discovered that one of the "GOP teams" you can belong to--like "farmers and ranchers" or "fiscal conservatives" or "veterans"--is "European heritage." Granted, there's also "African American" and "Hispanic" too, but still...

They do say that Bush uses "coded messaging" to communicate with some of his hard-line right wing followers...

Why I love the Washington Post style section

The following story was highlighted on the front page of the style section, above the fold, in the Sunday edition of the Post today. As it clearly deserves.

Cupid's Broken Arrow
Performance Anxiety and Substance Abuse Figure Into the Increase in Reports of Impotence on Campus (link)

Parents of college-aged men everywhere are certain to be concerned about this trend.

Green Liners finally get their due!

WMATA is extending the Yellow Line up to Ft. Totten.

The most effective third party you've never heard of

What if there was a progressive third party that slowly built lasting momentum and power at the state and local levels before attacking the national scene? The Green Party's scattered 2000 presidential effort was clearly not the answer to this question.*

The New York based Working Families Party, just profiled in The American Prospect, is another story.

*Really pulled the national Democratic Party over to the left, didn't they?