Roger Simon remembers a friend, and a brave and articulate fellow Hollywood apostate.
Category Archives: Popular Culture
When Waxing Is Outlawed
…only outlaws will wax:
Cherry Hill salon owner Linda Orsuto said that women would “go ballistic” if the proposal passed. She said that some women would resort to waxing themselves, visiting unlicensed salons or traveling to other states, including Pennsylvania, in a quest to remain bare down there.
“The clients are going to freak,” said Orsuto, who owns 800 West Salon & Spa, on Route 70. “It’s a hot issue, and we’re going to have to do something.”
Isn’t it wonderful to have a government so solicitous of our welfare that we (well, they) are driven to back-alley waxing?
And as Jonah notes, it is interesting how many people didn’t want to discuss it.
Why Jon Stewart Attacked Jim Cramer
Pethokoukis explains. This really appears to be part of a government/media war on investors.
[Update a while later]
More thoughts on the matter from Mark Hemingway:
Anyone who has tuned into his show and seen Cramer strutting around a soundstage that looks like the helm of the Starship Enterprise as envisioned by the Teletubbies’ set designer and pushing buttons that make wacky sound effects could tell you that Cramer is to stock-picking what The Daily Show is to TV news: something not to be taken too seriously.
Ouch.
Not-So-Big Love
Some thoughts from Orson Scott Card on HBO and anti-Mormon bigotry.
A random thought: will Ender’s Game ever be made into a movie?
A Great Weekend Coming Up
Today (the second Friday the 13th in a row) is Iowahawk Day. And tomorrow is Steak and BJ Day (Valentine’s Day for men). And unlike Valentine’s Day, it doesn’t require much in the way of planning or dinner reservations. What’s not to like?
[Update a few minutes later]
It gets better and better. In addition to Steak and BJ Day, tomorrow is Pi Day as well. So have a slice with your steak. And BJ.
Orbital Torts
Some thoughts from sometime space lawyer Glenn Reynolds.
Twitter, Explained
As only Lileks can:
A local columnist decided to go after Twitter today. (h/t Julio, via Twitter.) Now, we all love Joe around here, and his afternoon talk show is a ratings powerhouse that stands as the last remaining local example of how you create, build, and keep a radio audience without resorting to sports. No small feat, and detractors are advised to try it themselves before pitching rocks.
Now and again, though, even the zestiest observer of the scene can slip into onions-on-the-belt territory. I’ve come to expect two kinds of Twitter stories: one written for a mass audience by someone who gets the medium, like the Strib’s Randy Salas, and one written for people who still think the Morse Telegraph ruined the lovely art of hand-written letters.
You see any sealing-wax salesman downtown lately? ‘Course not. I remember when they’d come by with their cart, and you’d pat old dobbin on the nose while discussing Teapot Dome, and ‘ventually you’d get down to whether you wanted the new-fangled smokeless sealing wax or the old bituminous variety. I didn’t like the smokeless style – time was, a man felt his letter was done when the room was full of choking fumes, and when you wiped down the walls a few times a year with a real sponge, not one of those cellulite monstrosities, you felt like you were gathering up the spirits of all the letters you’d sent. Then Tony – that’s what we called him even though he had some other name – would offer to regrind your seal so you’d get a nice imprint, and he’d do it there on the spot. Kids today with their beep-beep-beep telegrams – what can you say in a medium that’s made up of long and short, and charges by the word? As the man said about the telegraph, “What hath God wrought?” Someone said that about the nuclear bomb, too.
Read the whole thing (because it really does describe Twitter and its utility better than I’ve ever seen it). I love the way he assumes that his readership will get the onion-on-the-belt reference. Not to mention five bees to a quarter.
[Mid-morning update]
I should note that one key point he makes that I hadn’t considered is that Twitter is a digital communications channel that hasn’t (yet) become spammified beyond recognition.
Obama Cult Reports
I particularly liked this one:
“My wife has a friend who has a license-plate holder that says ‘Change Has Come,’ plates that read ‘PEACE4U,’ and a bumper sticker that shows a picture of Obama, with rays sticking out on either side of his head.”
I wonder if her friend is Chris Matthews?
If these people could only see themselves through our eyes.
Cruel And Funny Punishment
Some meditations on mugshots. Of course, without them, one of the most popular features of Iowahawk’s web site would disappear.
Watchmen Watched
I have pretty close to zero interest in and, prior to the current movie hype, zero knowledge of The Watchmen. But for those less apathetic than me, WIll Collier has a review. He’s not impressed.
[Early afternoon update]
Heh.