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31 March 2002  

Panic Room Ending

I saw Panic Room last night. Not bad at all — 7/10 (and bonus points for the cool opening credits). However, I have a problem with the ending that seems obvious to me but which I haven't seen mentioned anywhere. If you've seen it, maybe you can help.

Why do the police show up at the end? Jodie Foster gave them no clue when they arrived at the door and no other explanation is given. I suppose they could have been suspicious anyway, but you'd think that would be mentioned. The number of officers is unbelievable, too, especially without a reason given. The place was completely surrounded.

Did I miss something?

11:07 AM |

Calvin on Cognition

Calvin and Hobbes on the results of willful ignorance.

10:38 AM |

29 March 2002  

Rosie's Riveting

Reason #327 why I like Rosie:

PlanetOut: What do you make of gay journalist Michelangelo Signorile's assertion that it was your desire to silence your gay critics that made you come out?

Rosie: He is a moron. His idea of gay America consists of only those he deems worthy enough. I do not enjoy him, his point of view or his rhetoric. (He isn't even funny.) One reason I did not come out sooner, I didn't want anyone to associate me with Signorile in any way. Same goes for Musto (Michael Musto, Village Voice gossip columnist).

08:22 AM |

28 March 2002  

Levant Listens

I'm pleased to report that Ezra Levant has yielded to my arguments and agreed to step aside for Stephen Harper. OK, OK, maybe it wasn't me who convinced him. It might have been Damian.

11:17 PM |

Ezra Deserves a Pounding

Re: Maverick candidate defies Alliance leader, I emailed the following this morning:

Dear Mr. Levant:

As a Canadian who is desperately hoping for the Alliance to become a viable, long-term, and national right-wing alternative to the Liberals, I am extremely disappointed in your actions in preventing your leader, Mr. Harper, from gaining a seat in the House of Commons.

I am all for personal ambition, but it seems very clear that you cannot ignore the fortunes of your party in calculating the best course for your own benefit. Gaining a seat as an MP for a laughingstock party in disarray will, I suspect, be a very hollow victory. On the other hand, stepping aside to give your party leader a place in the House, and thereby bringing much needed stability to the Alliance—a requirement for the party's growth—seems like a far better bet for your own long-term interests as someone who supports the CA's principles and goals.

I hope you will reconsider your decision.

Sincerely,
Mark Wickens
Toronto

11:35 AM |

26 March 2002  

Custom-izing My Vocabulary

Here's an item from the you-learn-something-new-every-day department. I was reading about the imminent launch of the New York Sun over at SmarterTimes and happened across this sentence:

Now I am writing to offer Smartertimes.com readers a special opportunity to get in right at the start of the new newspaper — and to ask you for your custom.

custom (n.) 3 a: business patronage

(On the topic of words, the entertaining and enlightening Evan Morris has posted a new issue of his excellent The Word Detective. This month we learn about the origin of "conniption fit," "mollycoddle," "tidbit," and "white paper.")

10:54 PM |

24 March 2002  

TNT Shrugged

The tnt mini-series version of Atlas Shrugged, first announced over two years ago, has been cancelled. But...

...a spokesperson at Ruddy Morgan Productions also said that the company hasn't given up on Atlas. The script has been rewritten as feature motion picture and is currently being circulated in Hollywood with the hope of attracting leading players.

12:35 PM |

23 March 2002  

Thatcher Quote

The new Quote of the Moment is in honour of Lady Thatcher's retirement from public speaking. For more wit and wisdom from the Iron Lady, see The Margaret Thatcher Site.

07:38 PM |

22 March 2002  

Moulin Rouge

Objectivists are all crazy for Moulin Rouge? Well, I'm no exception to that rule. Loved it. (Via Kevin.)

02:54 PM |

Date with Death

I'm going to die on Friday, July 7, 2051 at 2:31:09 PM. At least according to this. (Probably an old link, but I missed this meme the first time 'round.)

02:23 PM |

20 March 2002  

Stephen Harper

It looks like Canada might finally have a political leader I won't have to hold my nose to vote for. Stephen Harper was elected tonight as the new leader of the Canadian Alliance Party. Harper believes in lower taxes, limited government, and opening up health care to the private sector. He is opposed to introducing any legislation on abortion. And he is a past president of the National Citizen's Coalition, an organization that consistently supports freedom and individual rights.

For the uninitiated, here is a quick summary of our political landscape in Canada: We have the ruling Liberals who are ideologically to the left of the Democrats in the US. Then there is the New Democratic Party, which is radically left-wing (think Nader, or worse). The Progressive Conservatives are conservative in name only and are indistinguishable from the Liberals. In fact, some PC supporters are to the left of many Liberals, as was the recently deceased Dalton Camp. Finally is the Canadian Alliance, the Official Opposition in parliament, which for the last several years, after the ignominious meltdown of the Conservatives, has been the only hope of right-of-center voters. Unfortunately, the previous leader was religious (and a complete loon) and the one before him was a populist who thought we should have referenda on issues of fundamental rights.

It remains to be seen how Harper will act once he's leader, and it's far from clear whether he can do well at the polls, but I'm glad to have some hope for once that there's a politician on the national stage worth rooting for.

09:44 PM |

Bye-bye MeFi

MetaFilter is gone from the Sites of Note listing. It seems they reopened membership a few weeks ago, and as a result, a fresh new crop of cynical, sarcastic, irony-drenched leftist invective has been released into an atmosphere that was already only marginally bearable. It's really too bad, because I really liked the format there, and much of the discussion. Here's hoping someone will come up with a rational alternative to it.

09:28 AM |

18 March 2002  

Multimedia Monday

I'd been noticing the music on a new Mitsubishi commercial and decided to track it down tonight. Two minutes on Daypop led me to this video for "Days Go By" by Dirty Vegas. Very nice. There's also a Flashified version of the song on the Dirty Vegas website. And the CD is available from Amazon (where both customer reviews refer to the Mitsubishi commercial). I love the Internet!

And speaking of multimedia goodness, if you haven't seen the Nike commercial debuted during the Olympics, just do it.

10:26 PM |

National Post Letter

Last week, the National Post published a commentary page piece by Jonathan Kay on why the case for gay male adoption is weak. Today, they published my letter responding to it.

10:55 AM |

12 March 2002  

Amazon Dating Service?

I love the new Just Like You feature on Amazon. It finds a person who's bought several of the same things you have and shows you what else they bought. Of course, it's all anonymous, to protect privacy. But I really wish they had a way to send a request to get in touch with your retail doppelganger. How frustrating it is to find a person who likes all the same books, movies, and music you do and not be able to get in touch with them! Hey, maybe they could even make some money on this. I can see it now, the Boyfriend Store™ at Amazon.

10:22 PM |

Fight Injustice in Florida

Soon, a 10-year-old boy will be taken away from the only family he has ever known solely because the parents in that family are two gay men. The reason is a Florida law that forbids gay people from adopting. This is the issue that Rosie O'Donnell will be talking about with Diane Sawyer on Primetime this Thursday and she has written a piece on the topic. It appears on an aclu-sponsored website devoted to the case.

As outraged as I am by the injustice, I feel a bit helpless to do anything on this issue. Though correct in this case, the aclu has a very inconsistent record, so I would never send them a contribution unless it could be earmarked — which it appears you can't do. And as a Canadian, writing to us politicians is a waste of time since I have no vote to back the opinion up with.

So I ask my American visitors, regardless of your opinion of Rosie O'Donnell, if you agree that gay people should not be prohibited by law from adopting, please let your representatives know it. Thanks.

09:39 PM |

11 March 2002  

Never Forget

Never forget.

08:45 AM |

9 March 2002  

Hurd on CFR

Michael Hurd expands on a point about campaign finance reform I mentioned in a previous post:

"Soft money" means money spent by non-establishment organizations; "hard money" means money spent by established organizations (CNN, The Washington Post, etc.)

Anyone who reads these established newspapers or watches these established networks knows their slant towards Big Government, paternalistic liberalism. The reason that smaller, less known publications, websites and media outlets exist is because they offer alternatives to this typical way of thinking. If one of these smaller entities or organizations wants to support a candidate with less well known and (at least at present) less popular ideas, then it will be restricted from spending; if NBC or CNN or ABC want to broadcast an hour long interview of, say, Hillary Rodham Clinton (when she runs for President in 2004 or 2008), there will be no such restriction. It's considered free speech.

06:26 PM |

I'm Coming Out -- As a Rosie Fan

Yep, she's gay. [Update: Another link.] To be honest I was a bit surprised to find out that Rosie O'Donnell has been out to her friends and family for over 20 years. I'd had her pegged as more or less asexual — confused and uncomfortable with the whole topic. I'm glad I was wrong. It sounds like she's happily partnered and very secure with her orientation.

As for the question of whether she should have come out publicly earlier, I'm firmly in the "It's none of our business" camp. She certainly doesn't have any obligation to the "gay community" (whatever that is) as some argue. The main good reason I can see for her not doing it earlier is the distraction factor as she's had to do a daily TV show. Being gay is still odd. It's true that more celebrities like her coming out may eventually make it an unremarkable attribute, as exciting and buzz-inducing as being Canadian, but it's her own life and career she has the first responsibility to, not making the world a more tolerant place for gay people. Now that she's leaving her show, and the career disruption factor is greatly reduced, it makes sense she'd choose this time to make the move.

Many in my general area of the political spectrum will wonder what possible interest I could have in Rosie O'Donnell. Her views on gun control, her support of Hillary Clinton and Janet Reno, etc., make Rosie a much-derided figure in many circles that I'd normally count myself as part of. And it's true that I disagree with a big percentage of her political views. But Rosie is hardly a left-wing radical. After September 11, she came out in support of Bush and Giuliani and was unrepentant in her wish to see a strong military response. Though usually non-confrontational, she unapologetically stated her support for the war in interviews with decidedly anti-war guests Phil Donahue and Susan Sarandon.

Anyway, who knows all the little non-essential character quirks that figure into the equation of liking or disliking someone? I doubt it can be fully explained rationally. But one big factor in this case is Rosie's refreshing authenticity. There is nothing fake about her. She says what she thinks. (Call me gullible, but I think even her fascination with Tom Cruise is genuine.) Another big attraction is the passion she has for her values, from her Barbra Streisand obsession to her tireless support of adoption, foster parenting, and children's causes in general. Rosie knows what she likes and believes in and goes all out to pursue those things. Of course, there's a host of smaller things, too, like a shared affinity with 70's pop-culture and a mutual enjoyment of Anne Rice novels.

Whatever the reasons, I'm a big Rosie fan. I wish her the best with her life and I'll miss her when she leaves the air in May.

11:02 AM |

6 March 2002  

Rall's Ruin?

Steven Den Beste on that slimebag Rall's newest low:

Rall has a First Amendment right to be a jackass. But he doesn't have a First Amendment right to have his material carried in major newspapers. I think that he's going to be deeply damaged economically by this, and that is as it should be.

01:11 PM |

5 March 2002  

Fountainhead 'Filching' Featured

The LA Times has picked up on the "stolen" Ayn Rand manuscript pages controversy I mentioned a while back.

Update: Looks like ari is going to bat on this one. They've just sent out a press release headed: "LIBRARY OF CONGRESS TRAMPLES PROPERTY RIGHTS: Bureaucrats Seize Framed Papers from Ayn Rand Heir’s Office Wall." From the release: "Dr. Leonard Peikoff is available for interviews. Video of the seizure is available." Go get 'em, guys!

02:25 PM |

One More Chance

Lileks, who has been in the wickens.ca doghouse lately, redeems himself (somewhat):

I [bought] two Pet Shop Boys remix albums, marveling, again, at the canny nature of modern music marketing. When my dad bought “Opus #1,” it stayed bought. That was it. There wasn’t an “Opus #1 (Super Orchidilicious Master Bowser Deep Dub Choco-Mix.)” I’m not complaining, and in fact I like this; I like having ten versions of every song, listening to the basic item get run through the grinder and reconstructed upside down. And I don’t care who knows it; I love this PSB stuff. Anyone who thinks it’s all twee “West End Girls” stuff never heard the remixes. I was particularly happy to find “Where the Streets Have No Name,” which segues into “Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You” - a great joke, a sweet tweak at U2’s Big Serious Music.

01:35 PM |

Kreskin's Kin

Patricia Pearson of the National Post writes of the Miss Cleo escapade:

Shocking news alert! A psychic is being sued for fraud! How is this possible? What is the world coming to when you can't trust some loon with a pack of Tarot cards and the ability to take cash, or VISA?

(At the end of her article, Pearson notes an interesting fact: James Randi is still waiting, 183 days later, for famed psychic Syliva Browne to deliver on her nationally-televised promise to submit to a controlled test of her "powers.")

08:50 AM |

4 March 2002  

BusinessFans.com

Fredrik Norman thinks there's something missing from the web:

Search the web, and you will find them everywhere. Sportspeople have them. Actors and actresses do too. Singers and bands, painters and sculptors, writers and dancers. And especially supermodels. They all have fan pages dedicated to them; websites that appreciate their excellence. So why are there hardly any fan sites of business leaders and outstanding companies?

09:06 AM |

3 March 2002  

Supersoft Money

From Andrew Sullivan's Letters page comes this observation on campaign finance reform:

Remember Rosie O'Donnell's "interview" of Hillary Clinton?

Where is the ban on "supersoft" money, the literally millions of dollars of free airtime donated to one candidate in a Senate race, designed specifically to soften her image? Restricting anyone's right to respond to this nonsense concedes to Rosie-media-types the right to pick the next senator.

10:57 PM |

The Splendid Silent Sun

The new Quote of the Moment is presented in honor of the arrival of March to these frigid climes. It's my annual signal to begin the active anticipation of warmer weather — which invariably arrives only in late May.

12:39 PM |

2 March 2002  

Little Caesar Syndrome

Robert Tracinski writes about the Little Caesar Syndrome in us government:

A 'little Caesar,' before it referred to a pizza delivery mascot, used to refer to a petty official...with delusions of grandeur, the type who seeks power for the pleasure of abusing it. The Enron investigation is making it clear that the Senate is full of these characters.

06:38 PM |

Up Yours, Monsieur Thibodeau

From today's paper comes this inspiring story of an oppressed soul fighting courageously for his inalienable right to... order a 7-Up in French.

A federal government employee is suing Air Canada for more than $500,000 because he could not order a 7-Up in French.

Michel Thibodeau, a 34-year-old computer technician with the House of Commons, filed the lawsuit in federal court yesterday. The lawsuit asks for a public apology from Air Canada and regional carrier Air Ontario, plus $25,000 in damages and $500,000 in punitive damages....

The Commissioner of Official Languages has already investigated Mr. Thibodeau's complaint against Air Canada and ruled in his favour in January. The commissioner investigated for 16 months before ruling Mr. Thibodeau, who is fluently bilingual, was unable to use French to order a 7-Up while he was a passenger on a Montreal to Ottawa flight on Aug. 14, 2000.

05:18 PM |

Googlewhacking

Yay! I found a Googlewhack! Just one page on the whole world-wide web, according to Google, contains the words "placid interrobang". It's kind of an oxymoronic Googlewhack, isn't it?

You do not want to know how much time I wasted coming up with this. Stupid memes.

03:50 PM |

Forced to Volunteer

I just found out that my home province of Ontario has a program that requires students to "complete a minimum of 40 hours of unpaid community involvement activities before graduating from high school." These activities must take place on the student's own time. Ironically, this program is listed under the Volunteerism category of the Government of Ontario website. This description of the program is interesting.

Many gifted high school students express deeply-felt concerns about social justice issues.... [T]he current Ontario legislation provides an additional motivation for them to become involved in community service work....The community involvement requirement is designed to encourage students to develop awareness and understanding of civic responsibility and of the role they can play in supporting and strengthening their communities.

Completely aside from whether you believe we have a moral duty to serve others, government should not be in the business of teaching it. That's what religion is for. Guilt is a much better motivator, too. You know the old saying: Force a student to volunteer and he'll sacrifice himself for 40 hours; teach him the ethics of duty and he'll sacrifice himself for a lifetime.

01:49 PM |

Art Deco

This story on the Chrysler Building (via ALD) got me thinking about Art Deco and reminded me of my trip a couple of years ago to South Beach. If you are ever there, make a point to visit the excellent Wolfsonian museum. I partictularly enjoyed their collection of industrial design pieces. (While we're on the topic, Streamlined looks to be a good source for art deco/streamline prints. And Art Deco World has all kinds of cool stuff on offer.)

11:33 AM |