Tuesday, January 29, 2008

It was solace to see you


Sorry for the lack of blogging of late, but I've been pretty bloggered. Here are a few short items for now. Perhaps we'll try something more ambitious later in the week.

We saw Duran Duran up close and personal on Saturday night. I'll post some more pictures on Flickr later. Jenn almost lost her mind. (That's John and Simon, looking pretty good for old geezers, in the pic.)

U2 is more my kind of band. I've noticed, somewhat surprisingly, almost universal praise--even by people, like Andy, who aren't huge U2 fans--for the new U23D extravaganza. We'll have to go see it when it gets to Beantown next month.

Belated thanks to Raphy for sending me the link to an awesome parody about the name of the new Bond movie. Quantum of Solace? That's hilarious.

I sometimes wish Buzzy could talk--he's a little inscrutable at times--but having seen what talking Golden Retrievers might be like, I think I'm glad that he can't. (Don't click through if you have a low cuteness threshold.)

UPDATE: Zut alors!!! I see that that Bond story wasn't a parody. They've got the poster--which is actually pretty cool--here.

Posted by jwb at 1:00 PM  · 3 Comments   

Friday, January 11, 2008

Books I Will Not be Reading in 2008


So I just started reading Pierre Bayard's How to Talk About Books You Haven't Read and am a little perplexed. Will I discover on having read it that I need not have done so? If so, will I feel a deep sense of regret about the hour or two of my life--it's short book--that I have wasted? For the moment, I shall read on, though I feel as if I am betraying some kind of principle here, though I am having trouble enunciating what that principle might be. I am not unaware that this seems very po-mo (and, worse yet, that postmodernism is so uncool). Perhaps we'll revisit this topic when--or if--I finish reading How to Talk About Books You Haven't Read.

In other news, I recently finished reading Michael Chabon's Jews with swords book, Gentlemen of the Road. During the first few pages, I felt like I had gotten lost in the Sunday Times crossword puzzle. (Chabon is an obscure word junkie.) But once I got my bearings, I really enjoyed it. It had me hoping that he might publish more such books--what might be described as genre books that manage to transcend their genre. (In my mind, Alan Furst is an exemplar of this.)

Lots of new books coming out in 2008. Among the books I will be reading are: Furst's The Spies of Warsaw, Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food, and the new Inspector Montalbano mystery.

Among the many books I definitely will not be reading in the new year are: the $7 million doorstop from Tom Wolfe, Jonah Goldberg's Liberal Fascism, and anything by Jodi Picoult.

What books will you not be reading in 2008?

Posted by jwb at 9:43 AM  · 5 Comments   

Tuesday, January 08, 2008

Lying

So I'm watching the teevee tonight and everyone's wondering what happened with the polls (the polls, not the Poles). (In case you were in Arizona or at the movies or something, Obama was supposed to win and he didn't. News at 11.)

I will now put on my "professional political scientist" hat and offer some serious analysis in order to shed some light on this mysterious question.

The answer is, in a word: lying.

Thank you very much.

(If it helps, imagine me bowing, though I am actually sitting at my desk a little tipsy after drinking a few too many beers while watching the results come in.)

Also, Lou Dobbs yammering on about "savants" was pretty hilarious. What a douchebag! Lou, you should definitely run for president. Go for it!

Seacrest out!

Posted by jwb at 11:55 PM  · 5 Comments   

Monday, January 07, 2008

The balcony is open


I'm going to stop blogging about this Bond 22 business for a while. Its getting kind of annoying. Today's news is that the new "Bond Girl" is not Gemma Arterton but rather the heretofore unknown to me Olga Kurylenko. (However, I see that she was the vampiress--Is that a word?--who falls for Frodo Baggins in the sometimes interesting Paris je t'aime, which we watched over the weekend.) Arterton plays MI6 Agent Fields. I've posted a sexier picture of her for Raphy and Marty, who think I am being unfair to her. (And more ici.) I'll probably have to watch CR again one of these days. It seems that 22 is a continuation of events from that movie.

While were on the topic--of movies, that is--my second favorite childhood comic hero was Asterix the Gaul. (The first was Tintin, mentioned here before and the subject of another forthcoming movie--or three.) The Asterix books are great fun, but I've managed to avoid the movies until now. (Mainly because they're in French, though I'm not sure how I've missed this one--with Bellucci, who's pretty much the hottest woman on earth.) Perhaps I'll have to check out the new one. Cinematical reports that it's one of the most expensive European films ever made--which means, at the very least I suppose, that it'll be visually very interesting. There are a bunch of trailers and such here that--despite the presence of Gerard Depardieu--would seem to confirm my hunch.

Has anyone else out there seen Paris je t'aime? Some hits and some misses, but overall kind of interesting. I loved the bit with Nat Portman. I'll note that, while the bit from the Coen Bros. was kind of funny, methinks their heart wasn't really into it.

Posted by jwb at 1:19 PM  · 2 Comments   

Friday, January 04, 2008

What's it called? While Nietzsche Slept?


So Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and all that. Sorry for lack of posting. We drove to The D and back for Christmas and it was exhausting. Buzzy had a medical emergency while we were out there, but everything is fine. We followed the Christmas festivities with a very a nice New Years with H&M. I made a white chocolate creme brulee that was, if I may say so, completely awesome.

Congratulations to Senator Obama. It must have been Scarjo that put him over the top. The next few weeks ought to be very interesting. Speaking only for myself, it'll be fun to watch Mayor 9/11 and Saint John McCain continue evolving into a parodies of themselves.

It seems that Gemma Arterton is indeed the new Bond girl. Erik at Cinematical asks: "So, does Gemma have what it takes to become a successful (and memorable) Bond girl?" Now lets not get carried away.

Marty recommends When Nietzsche Wept with sexy Canadian Kathryn Winnick.

Apparently perpetual crossword puzzle answer Kahlil Gibran was kind of a dick. Who knew?

George Macdonald Fraser, RIP. As a fan of adventure stories, I feel like I should be much sadder about this then I am. But, to be terribly honest, the Flashman books weren't very funny and weren't very bawdy either.

More anon.

Posted by jwb at 2:00 PM  · 7 Comments