advancing smartly to the rear

AlterNet: DrugReporter: Dressing Up Failure

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use the technology, Luke!

In Angel episode 4:8 “Habeas Corpses”, there’s a long scene where Our Heroes have to fight off a horde of zombies with nothing but their fists. It’s twice as tricky as it might be, because one hand is busy holding a sword or axe.

I guess it’s expensive to film multiple decapitations.

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yah-oops

Ah, hell. Suddenly my Yahoo password doesn’t work, and I can’t recover it — because I never told Yahoo my true birthdate, and of course I’ve long forgotten whatever bogus birthdate I filled in way back when.

I much prefer sites that let you choose your security question, e.g. “your first pet’s name” or “the street where you lived at age 7” — oh, wait, that’s how to get your stripper/dragqueen name. (Mine is Smokey Florecita: not bad eh?)

Later: networking works for me, for once: my mole inside Yahoo promises to look into it.

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watching the talkies, 1954-6

Mister Roberts (1955) is the dullest movie I’ve sat through in some time. I did not turn it off because the characters have enough potential that one keeps thinking something might happen.

I was mildly surprised to find that To Catch a Thief (1955) is in color; I must have seen part of it before 1981. — The phrase cat burglar is never used in the film; how old is it?

Samurai Trilogy (1954-6) might make more sense if the subtitles covered more than half of the dialogue.

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movies rented recently

Simple Men (1992), recommended on an INTP list. Extremely indie. I abandoned it, bored.

Les diaboliques (1955), a murder story with a twist. From a novel by Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac; when they heard that Hitchcock had sought the rights, they wrote one with him in mind, and it became Vertigo.

Guys and Dolls (1955), a musical about gamblers, based on a story by Damon Runyon. The characters are quite engaging, and the songs amusing. Frank Sinatra sings, and as usual I wonder why.

Du rififi chez les hommes (1955). The title means either “Some violence among men” or “Of the violence in men”, I can’t say which. An impeccable suspense picture.

Funny Girl (1968). An unknown becomes a Ziegfeld Follies star through chutzpah; after that the plot gets boring, but the songs are still enjoyable.

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if the shoe were on the other foot, it would be a glove

Worth a giggle: What if Scientists Behaved Like Fundamentalists?

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wouldn’t want to give anyone ideas

Justice Department Censors Supreme Court Quote

The mind reels at such a blatant abuse of power (and at the sheer chutzpah of using national security as an excuse to censor a quotation [from a Supreme Court decision] about using national security as an excuse to stifle dissent).

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