propaddict

Please, someone, explain to me why I would ever want to pre-order a digital download copy of a new release movie.

I mean, is Amazon.com or iTunes store gonna run out of downloads and I won't be able to get my movie if I don't queue up in the digital line?

I wasn't aware that's how copying a bunch of digital 0's and 1's worked.

Repeat after me: "skeuomorphism is not my friend."

From this week's Sunday NYT Crossword (it comes in Stars and Stripes' Sunday edition, anyway):


Clue: Garrison in Minnesota

Answer: Keillor

My Response: Groan


(This is now my least favorite xword puzzle clue of all time, having displaced my previous choice, the following Shortz "gem":

Clue: Stick in the fridge

Answer: Oleo )

Quadafi should have taken his $2B and retired to a nice place in France's Elysian Fields years ago.

Instead, he'll cudgel the tiger at his gates a bit longer and likely end up in Hades (surely not Fiddler's Green). I suspect Junior will join him in short order.

You can't bomb your own people and expect to get away with it. Not in the age of Twitter.

Tyran, descends du trone et fais place a ton maitre.-Pierre Corneille

Or, similar sentiment in English, if you prefer:

The world will know that free men stood against a tyrant, that few stood against many, and before this battle was over, even a god-king can bleed. -Leonidas, from the motion picture 300

I've made a few "Wow!"-inducing character cakes in my day, but never would I have devised such a masterpiece as this:

Playable Angry Birds Cake

Watch the video for the full effect.

I wonder if anyone's made a Plants vs. Zombies cake yet. Then, I could have both of my electronic gaming addictions in delicious confectionery form.

Huh. I just realized that during the party scene in the first act of Romeo and Juliet Lord Capulet and Romeo are both ready and willing to ignore their familial feud. I find that significant in ways I had not realized before.

In fact, the whole play might have ended right there, if the two had just sent thank-you cards the next day.

Or maybe I get a little touched in the head when I go running and Queen Mabe prances heavily through my consciousness.

On the same run, I did also realize that I save about and hour per year by having velcro running shoes rather than lace ups.

Your Inner Fish is a fantastic book by University of Chicago paleontology professor Neil Shubin, in which he recounts his discovery of a key transition animal in the human evolutionary history. Shubin was fortunate to discover a largely intact fossil of Tiktaalik, a primitive air-breathing fish that provided an insightful look into the water to land transition experienced by human evolutionary ancestors some 350 million years ago. Part travelogue, part scientific thriller, part introduction to evolutionary paleontology, and part textbook on key human evolutionary features, this book is a solid page-turner.

If you've ever been enthralled by scientific discovery, or attracted to the allure of an arctic fossil-hunting expedition: you'll love this book. I especially enjoyed Shubin's clear (and nicely illustrated) explanations of the development of bodily structures like hands and ears. He has a way of making learning absolutely riveting, and if you weren't already a believer in divergent evolution: this book will certainly make you reconsider your position.

It's 210 pages (with pictures!) and while the material is erudite, cutting-edge science, it's presented in a manner that anyone with even a basic understanding of biology can understand and enjoy.

I shot through it in about 2 weeks, during which I spent over 100 hours flying.

So, one of the "benefits" I've convinced myself that I get while being deployed is that people send piles of packages to our camp, addressed to "Any Soldier."

The packages are opened, inspected, contraband (i.e. all the "best stuff") removed, then they're put in a central location in camp where everyone can file by and take what he/she needs/wants. I usually let the stuff sit out a day or two, before I pick through it. Only seems fair to let the troops get to it before their officers, although there really is a ton of the stuff coming in, so nobody goes wanting.

What kinds of things are sent to us?

Toothpaste, soap, and razors are all common.

Today, we got 2 big boxes of new, white athletic socks. It was "Happy Free Sock Day", and it brightened everyone's spirits (not least of which was due to our collective chagrin at noting that the receipt of a free pair of cheap socks enthused us, but that's another story). A little non-standard, but still very welcome.

Last month's magazines and once-read paperbacks are more popular inclusions. The magazines are almost always good (thanks!), and really, nobody cares that they're a month old or that they've been read. They're new to us. And free.

Let's talk about the paperbacks. If a book sucked and you didn't finish it, or you couldn't bring yourself to even read it: we're not gonna read it, either.

Actually, and here's a little secret: most soldiers don't, as a habit, read. We recreational readers are a small band. And we usually read good books (you know: the kind YOU like to read). Just any old piece of 10 cent pulp crap you found in the supermarket clearance bin is probably not gonna get read over here.

Nice thought, sending stuff to us, but crappy books are just a waste of everyone's time. And space.

So, to all the church groups, classrooms, and thoughtful citizens who send stuff to us: Thanks!

(Yeah, I know: I'm checking the teeth of the proverbial free equine here, but if nobody says it, it's never gonna end. And it's never gonna get better.)

It's settled: Arab tailors are the best in the world.

$120-$150 for a bespoke suit made entirely of Italian silk. And it fits like a glove.

I almost wish I had more occasions to wear suits, so that I could justify buying another one.

Almost. Even a nice suit pales in comparison to nice board shorts and comfy slippahs, on a regular basis.

Better to save my shekels for a samurai sword in Japan, I suppose.

"Zack and Miri Make a Porno"
and
"Almost Famous"

Both chronically under-rated movies, IMO.

"Zack and Miri" might stand out so much because it was not the movie I thought it would be. I thought it was going to be another "Forgetting Sarah Marshall"-esque, Apatow-ian, comedic tiptoe on the edges of the fields of unfunny. The kind of thing only made worthwhile predominantly through its inevitable quotability at work (, but aided mightily by partial female nudity and Russel Brand).

This movie, however, was not that. It turned out to be a love story (!), tinged with Apatow (mainly for using Seth Rogen. . .), but flooded with the kind of witty, combative dialogue and the plausible, yet absurd plot turns you expect from Kevin Smith. Lo and behold: it is a "View Askew" picture. K. Smith directed it! And it was funny. Very funny. (Jason Mewes, why the hell aren't you making more movies?) Also, it is the second best romantic movie of all time. That's right: cover it in Astroglide and it slides in squarely between "The Notebook" and "Far and Away."

"Can you believe THIS $#!t? That chick frosted me like I was a fcuking cake!"

Hey, look: it's quotable, too.


"Almost Famous"

I missed this movie when it came out. I watched having NO idea what it was about. It was a complete surprise, unfolding before my eyes.

And it's a seriously-fun movie.

It's a bird's-eye view of a few weeks in the idealized misspent youth touring with a 70's rock band that we all wish we had. I mean: what 15 year old didn't want Rolling Stone to pay him to ride on the tour bus of a great rock band instead of going to school for last month of the year. The main character is an awkward, dweeby, misanthrope who has insane adventures beyond his wildest dreams (and nightmares) while trying to wriggle out from under his mother's oppressive thumb. It's a fun movie, with an awesome soundtrack. Definitely worth your time.

Freebie:

I also saw "Dazed and Confused" this week. Another movie with a great soundtrack and an awesomely fun plot that transports the viewer into the over-idealized, high school past he wishes he had (survived). It's only a little better than "Waiting for Godot" in terms of the actual action occurring (99% of the film takes place in a high school on the last day of the year and at an illicit high school kegger), but it never lags for even a second. It's pure voyeuristic fun; bubblegum for the eyes and mind.

Movies to watch every Christmas season. Racked and stacked, so you don't have to.

1. Christmas Vacation
2. Elf
3. Christmas Carol (George C. Scott)
4. Bad Santa
5. Home Alone
6. A Charlie Brown Christmas
7. The Grinch Who Stole Christmas
8. Die Hard