I hate that stupid commercial for the oil and natural gas industry, in which a bunch of people say “Tell me about this, tell me about that, tell me the truth.” It makes them sound like idiots. It also makes whoever came up with the ad sound like idiots. I don’t expect an industry to tell me things–I expect an industry to provide me with what I need at an affordable price.

What is the point?

I’ve never been a big fan of In’n’Out Burgers, but perhaps some of my readers are. And more importantly, Patricia is. She makes a point to go there whenever we go “home” to LA.

My major memory of them is all the corporate bumper stickers I used to see when I first move to LA, when many had removed the “B” and the “rs” from the name.

Anyway, one of the co-founders of the chain has died.

DeBeers won’t be happy to hear about this:

Diamonds are no longer a girl’s best friend, according to a new U.S. study that found three of four women would prefer a new plasma TV to a diamond necklace.

Works for me–I think that diamonds have been one of the biggest scams ever foisted on mankind. But how about an LCD?

Lileks reviews it as only Lileks can:

The length. Any movie that seeks to immerse you in the wonderful world of insects yet makes you yearn for the exterminator to show up has gone on too long. And not just because you know that

They say that artists suffer for their art.

What deranged notions would possess American actors to take part in a film like this one? What’s next? A film version of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, starring Barbra Streisand?

Maybe there’s a good reason that these particular “artists” should suffer for their art. Help them along, and fulfill their destiny, by refusing to pay money to see it.

Another conference break, for Lileks, from yesterday:

…we had a Road Runner marathon. I was heartened to see that she didn

My webmaster, Bill Simon, is coach of a Chinese dragon-boat team, based in Long Beach, CA. He sends link to a video of a close race in Vancouver last month:

Here is the 500M race for the medals in the Comp C division of the 2006 Vancouver (ALCAN) Dragon Boat festival that was held on June 18, 2006. Now you can actually see how close this race was.

LARD (Los Angeles Racing Dragons, our local rivals) came in first (in the lane 4th from the top). We, the Los Angeles Killer Guppies, (in the 3rd lane from the top) came in about 3/4 boat behind them–and that put us in 9th place! We were separated by less than 2.5 second! Our time was 2:09.

I know how intense this was for us on the boat. But now I know what the crowd experienced. This is the closest Dragon Boat race I’ve ever seen. Awesome! Congrats to LARD! But just wait till next year…

This is my kind of multiculturalism.

Just how badly will Hollywood screw up Atlas Shrugged?

As I recall, The Fountainhead wasn’t bad, but those were different times.

Some amusing comments. I don’t mind clowns all that much, myself. But mimes–that’s a different story. I’m not a violent person, generally, but they make me want to take a bat to them.

Lileks is kind of tough on the politically correct naifs who castrated the most recent Superman film:

“We were always hesitant to include the term `American way’ because the meaning of that today is somewhat uncertain,” said co-writer Michael Dougherty. “I think when people say `American way,’ they’re actually
talking about what the `American way’ meant back in the ’40s and ’50s, which was something more noble and idealistic.”

Ah. Of course. Well, in the ’40s, the American Way included incinerating German cities, nuking Japan, installing occupying armies with remnants to this day, and imposing our form of government — all the while referring to the enemy with hurtful ethnic slurs. All this plus forced relocation. If these actions are deemed noble and idealistic now, it’ll be a handy sentiment the next time the U.S. gears up for total war.

But the inconstant left doesn’t believe any of this is permissible in the service of a noble goal. The right, after all, can’t lead the war on terror because they don’t “walk the walk” on human rights: witness those POWs slaving away in the cane fields of Gitmo. Unless we lead by example, no one will choose the American Way. Never mind that the internment of the Japanese didn’t keep the Germans — or the Japanese, for that matter — from following our example after World War II. (Note to the dense: The above is not an endorsement of internment. Just a reminder of which party has more practice.)