That would be cool. I might even go to a game.
Category Archives: Popular Culture
Matt Damon Movies
The five most destructive ideas in them. I liked this review of Elysium in comments:
Spoiler alert:
The liberals win and create a future society that makes the entire Earth into Detroit. Obamacare is in full effect and as a result — shock — there is a shortage of doctors, medicine and advanced medical equipment.
The conservatives leave the Earth (kinda aka Atlas Shrugged) and build this magnificent Space Station with all the trappings of a productive and prosperous people — replete with advanced medical technology.
Since they cannot build and create a similarly advanced and prosperous society, the liberals decide that they will take what they did not earn and ultimately (through violence and magic of course) heal everyone in the world — especially the babies.
I’ll wait until it’s on free television. I don’t really like to put any money in the hypocritical moron’s pocket.
The Game Of Monopoly
It’s an indictment of statist interventionism, not free-market capitalism.
Amazon Local, Los Angeles Edition
Every day, I get offers for: acting classes, teeth whitening, massage packages with reflexology and aromatherapy, microdermabrasion facials, tanning salons, exfoliation…
It’s like they’re trying to live down to the expectations of the rest of the country.
[Update a few minutes later]
Are you the kind of person likely to be suckered into a conversation with a Twitter-bot?
I’m not.
Hipster Buddhism
A lesson on the nature of souls.
Nostalgia
Hail Hillary!
Get ready for the disgusting biopics:
What did surprise me was that the series will cover none of her life before the Monica Lewinsky scandal, which took place five years into her husband’s second term as president and when Hillary was already 51 years old. It’s as if her first half-century will be airbrushed away, along with the many scandals that dogged her in those decades.
Oh, John, didn’t you hear? That’s old news.
And Hillary Clinton is no Diane Lane.
As Glenn says, maybe we should take a page from the Left’s playbook, and do a sponsor boycott.
[Update a while later]
Suggestions for the mini-series title.
Extrasolar Space Law
Transterrestrial reader (and occasional commenter) Laura Montgomery has what appears to be an interesting new SF book
She writes:
I noticed that you’ve mentioned an independent author from time to time at Transterrestrial, and thought I’d let you know about my own attempts along those lines. I’ve published on Kindle and other ereaders The Sky Suspended.
It’s bourgeois, legal science fiction with a hearty helping of space policy wonkery.
The short version of the blurb is:
A generation has passed since asteroid scares led the United States to launch its first and only interstellar starship. The ship returns and announces the discovery of another Earth. People are star-struck, crowds form in Washington, DC, and a boy from Alaska and two lawyers grapple with issues surrounding the question of whether ordinary people will be able to emigrate to the stars.
I haven’t read it, but the few reviews are positive. You might want to check it out and add your own.
Destination Moon
On the set, in 1950.
Hyphens
Is the Internet killing them? This is the problem:
“People are not confident about using hyphens anymore, they’re not really sure what they are for,” Shorter OED editor Angus Stevenson told Reuters at the time.
It’s part of the continuing breakdown of the educational system. Hyphens are important, primarily for disambiguation of modifiers. There is a difference between a light brown suitcase and a light-brown suitcase. The former is a brown suitcase that doesn’t weigh much, and the latter is a suitcase (of unknown weight) that is light brown. It’s that simple.