The House hearings on rescission – the retroactive cancellation of individual health insurance policies – were over a month ago, but after its initial run through Daily Kos it seems to have waited a bit before popping up on Baseline and Slate. James Kwak at Baseline described the practice as rare, affecting only 0.5% of [...]
Archive for the ‘Movies’ Category
Unconscionable Math
Posted in Corruption, Health Care, Labor Policy, Meltdown, Movies on July 28, 2009 | 187 Comments »
Good To Be the King
Posted in Inspirational, Miscellaneous, Movies on July 18, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Yes, it’s ten days old; still have to post the Guardian’s explanation of Megan Fox’s casting in Transformers: Talking to Megan Fox who was in town for the Transformers 2 premiere, I found her more forthright and intelligent than her performance in the mega-hit would suggest. The role demands that she drapes herself over motorbikes [...]
Trek
Posted in Movies on June 5, 2009 | 2 Comments »
Finally got around to seeing the highly-rated new Star Trek movie in IMAX. Terrible movie. Spoilers, if such a thing is possible, to follow:
Ambition
Posted in Inspirational, Miscellaneous, Movies on June 4, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Over at the Idea Locker, Dodson asks whether “ambitious” is a compliment or an insult, and quotes Lyndon Johnson: Ambition is what makes a creature of a man. There are two models of success: James Bond and John McLane.
You Dick
Posted in Dick Cheney, George W. Bush, Movies, War on Terror on March 15, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
“Attacks since 9/11″? Did you guys get sworn into office on September 11? Why does the clock start then? Did Emperor Hirohito claim to be undefeated in battle after 1945? Since Cheney does not explode with shame at the thought of criticizing someone else’s handling of national security, I can only imagine he has managed [...]
Smoking Gun
Posted in Corruption, Meltdown, Movies on March 9, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Finally, thanks to Calculated Risk, we have the AIG document that put the fear of the apocalypse into Washington. It is worth reading the whole thing, but here are a few selections: [P]ermitting AIG to fail would be even more serious today than in September, especially in view of the support of the U.S. government. [...]
This Works?
Posted in Foreigners, Movies on March 9, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Reads like one of the deleted scenes in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels: The gigolo lover of Germany’s wealthiest woman – the owner of a large chunk of BMW – goes on trial today, charged with trying to blackmail her out of millions of euros of her family fortune. He first met Ms Klatten in the summer [...]
Auction Management
Posted in China, Miscellaneous, Movies on March 2, 2009 | 2 Comments »
The buyer of two bronze animal heads at the Christies auction of Yves Saint-Laurent’s estate now says that he will not pay, and indeed that he made the bid in protest to break up the auction. I can understand that the auction touches on some raw nerves in China; the pieces were looted from the [...]
Offscreen Voice
Posted in Movies on February 26, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Freakanomics is asking why animated movies use famous actors to voice the parts. Levitt’s guesses are: Stars are better at speaking than non-stars; Stars don’t charge much for their voices; People like to hear the voices of stars (a variant of #1); Expensive stars are a credible signal of confidence in a movie. I don’t [...]
Mean Girls
Posted in Drugs, Movies on February 24, 2009 | 1 Comment »
What were the odds that five years on, five members of the Mean Girls cast would have more promising careers than Lindsay Lohan? Rachel McAdams, Tina Fey, Amanda Seyfried, Lacey Chabert…even Amy Poehler. Would make a compelling commercial to keep kids off drugs.
