Dependable? or Predictable?

I'm a fan of CSI: Miami, even though it can be hokey and David Caruso can be wooden. But somehow, the hokey-ness (a word?) and wooden delivery of cheesy one-liners is comfortingly predictable. And I find him strangely sexy, even though he's kind of weird-looking.

I never look at YouTube, but I found this link on a blog, and it's too hilarious to pass up:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sarYH0z948

Enjoy!

The Spy Who Came In From The Cold

What is with all the poisoned Russians lately? Can some of my Brit-friends comment further, since all that radioactivity seems to be in your neck of the woods?

I'm feeling so Cold War Revisited. We're already having an 80s fashion revival (which I totally dig, with a few reservations, even though I'm not much participating beyond a striped cardigan and some big hoop earrings--though I do have some electric blue mascara). Is it in the wind?

I mean, poisoning anti-Putin dissidents (in London, no less) seems a little extreme, even when the dissident in question is a former spy. But then, when was the KGB (hello, Putin, ex-KGB) ever particularly reasonable?

But you know--we're having a lot of weird Cold War era-echoes happening these days. A lot of things remind me of the era: McCarthy-esque paranoia in various places, serious militarism, curtailing of civil liberties, general anxiety--not to mention shallower cultural revivals such as fashion, music, and movies. We're also suffering the consequences of decisions made during the Cold War (hello, Iraq? Afghanistan? Practically every rogue state and every nation who's merely annoying us?). Maybe the Russians are feeling the drama, too, but are filtering the meaning through their own peculiarly Russian viewpoint and acting accordingly. Bizarrely. Or maybe it's just a Putin thing.

I wonder what Gorby would say to all this.

What Kind of Reader Am I?

There is an Anthony Newly/Leslie Bricusse song from Stop the World, I Want to Get Off called "What Kind of Fool Am I?". The title popped into my head when I saw this quiz. Note that I am very close to being a Book Snob as well. No surprise, since my answer to the Cliff's Notes question was "Those things are crap." I did, however, use SparkNotes once when I had 24 hours in which to read (for the first time) and do an hour-long presentation--complete with PowerPoint--on Siddhartha (by that time I was actually teaching, so my student days were behind me).

That was the day I discovered a frightening talent for BS. I'd be a brilliant politician, if only I had the stomach for it.

What Kind of Reader Are You? Your Result: Literate Good Citizen You read to inform or entertain yourself, but you're not nerdy about it. You've read most major classics (in school) and you have a favorite genre or two.
Dedicated Reader
Book Snob
Obsessive-Compulsive Bookworm
Fad Reader
Non-Reader
What Kind of Reader Are You? Create Your Own Quiz

An Open Invitation

"The merciful love of God, who invites us to return and is ready to forgive, knows no limits of time or place."

--Pope John Paul II

In Honor of My Oldest Brother

Because I think he has started writing for The Onion:

Spaniards Vow To Once Again Decimate Population Of New World

Ha!

Armistice Day

I don't have time to write all I would like to about November 11, but I would like to mark the day nonetheless. It is Veterans' Day in the US, but because I am such a World War I buff I always think of it as Armistice Day. I think all veterans should be honored and remembered. But on this day, I think particularly of all those who fought, suffered, and died (or survived, forever scarred) by that epic war.

The Great War brought the world into the modern era, and it set the stage for even bigger horror a heart-sickening twenty years later. Americans, particularly, don't grasp the relevance of World War I, but its importance really can't be over-estimated.

Spare a thought today for those who fought and died "over there", and for those for whom "over there" was home.