Posted 7/11/2003 09:38:57 PM by Edward Driscoll
QUOTE OF THE DAY is by Robin Roberts, who really nails it:

Notice...that the Democrats are trying to make hay about a single sentence in the state of the Union speech which occurred many months after a bipartisan vote in Congress to authorize the President to act in Iraq.

Clifford D. May has more.

Posted 7/11/2003 01:11:35 PM by Edward Driscoll
LUMPING, THEN AND NOW: James Lileks does a thorough job of explaining who the "lumpers" are, and gives some current examples. Meanwhile, the Washington Post places lumping in a historical context.

Posted 7/10/2003 08:19:42 PM by Edward Driscoll
SORRY FOR THE LACK OF POSTING TODAY: I seemed to have gotten several article assignments simultaneously, and I spent the day cranking out material for dead tree publications. But I did have a couple of short posts (each with a 1970s sci-fi theme) on Blogcritics.

Posted 7/10/2003 08:17:12 PM by Edward Driscoll
DOES DUSTY BAKER'S RACIAL GAFFE SIGNAL A NEW ERA? Fascinating article by Matt Welch, which ends on this quote:

"[T]his witch hunt has to stop somewhere," wrote TCPalm.com sports columnist Ray McNulty, who was critical of Baker's comments. "And this is as good a place as any. This is where the revolution begins. This is where we overthrow the Political Correctness Police."

Read the whole thing. And then check out John Hawkins, who also has some thoughts. UPDATE: As does Jonah Golberg, in his latest syndicated column.

Posted 7/9/2003 03:26:41 PM by Edward Driscoll
IRAN: Michael Ledeen weighs in on its future, while Glenn Reynolds and Andrew Sullivan have lots of links.

Posted 7/9/2003 01:51:21 PM by Edward Driscoll
WHEN WILL CALIFORNIA DO THIS? The British government announced the biggest road-building project in a decade today, "a move that enraged environmental groups but pleased business interests", CNSNews writes.

Posted 7/9/2003 01:39:55 PM by Edward Driscoll
"THE GREAT MEDIA MELTDOWN, And What Lies Beyond: Open-Source Media"--Evan Coyne Maloney really gets it. So RTWT, as the cool TLA-users say.

Posted 7/8/2003 05:23:13 PM by Edward Driscoll
THE JOYS OF PITCH CORRECTION: Thanks to both Glenn and Eric for linking to my yesterday article in Tech Central Station on pitch correction and home recording. And thanks to Nick Schulz for running it! For more of my lugubrious ponderings on the joys of home recording, click here and here.

Posted 7/8/2003 04:19:25 PM by Edward Driscoll
HOLLYWOOD SUICIDE: The Internet Movie Database's "Movie/TV News" page has this today as its lead story:

Forget Nemo! Find the Audience Analysts were still scratching their heads Monday, puzzling over the lackluster performance of the box office over the past four weeks. Despite featuring some of the most expensive films ever produced, ticket sales for the summer are off more than 7 percent from a year ago. "We've had four weekends in a row when business was down from the year before," Exhibitor Relations chief Paul Dergarabedian told today's (Tuesday) New York Post. "Every week, we're looking for a film that will pull us out of the slump." The Associated Press observed today that the box-office picture is in an even worse state if the increase in ticket prices is taken into account. Nevertheless, the box office has seen one stand-out performer. Disney/Pixar's Finding Nemo has now earned $274.9 million and appears set to surpass the $312.9 million earned by the The Lion King, which currently holds the record as the most successful animated film of all time.

"Analysts were still scratching their heads Monday"? Well, let's try to help them out before their supplies of Neutrogena T-Gel run out. The Hulk got terrible word of mouth, as did Hollywood Homicide and The Matrix Reloaded. And it's word-of-mouth that ultimately drives summer movie business. A film can have a blow-out first weekend, but it won't have "legs" unless those audience members tell others that "you have to see this movie!" In contrast, the Pixar movies, with their combination of 15-minutes-into-the-future computer technology and family friendly plots, have built up an enormous amount of goodwill among audiences. But it didn't help matters that beginning around January of this year, the rest of Hollywood began what seemed like a systematic effort to alienate 80 percent of its audience. The Oscar ceremony only reinforced how out of touch Tinseltown is. Going to the movies, with its ever-increasing amounts of screaming children, ringing cellphones, and talking audiences, and films with soundtracks pumped ever louder to drown them out isn't much fun. And at eight or nine dollars a ticket, plus three dollars for a large bag of popcorn, or a large soda, the cost of a night at the movies is greater than purchasing a DVD for keeps, with all its ancillary material, audio commentaries, and other bells and whistles. Is it any wonder that the average man looks at all this, and decides, "the heck with this--I can build my own home theater, rent DVDs, and see what I want, when I want it, without all the hassle?" Or I can buy a DVD--for less than it costs to take my family to the movies?

Posted 7/7/2003 01:15:27 AM by Edward Driscoll
WELCOME BACK, PROFESSOR! Nice secondhand Instalanche reflected on the stats page today.

Posted 7/6/2003 10:42:28 PM by Edward Driscoll
ROLLING BLACKOUTS: Coming soon to England?

Posted 7/6/2003 09:54:41 PM by Edward Driscoll
BUT WHERE'S SPOCK'S BEARD? Andrew Stuttaford explores multiple parallel universes. Start here, then scroll up.

Posted 7/6/2003 09:44:33 PM by Edward Driscoll
MAYBE BELGIUM SHOULD BE IN THE AXIS OF EVIL: The US has suspended military aid to 35 nations for refusing to sign agreements promising not to bring American citizens before the International Criminal Court. Meanwhile, Steven Den Beste writes that Donald Rumsfeld, "has now said that the US won't provide any funding for a planned project to build a new NATO HQ in Belgium until Belgium repeals the law. Modification ain't good enough; he wants the law completely repealed". Meanwhile, he "also said that it might be necessary for NATO to find a new location for its HQ, perhaps one more central to the expanded alliance."

Posted 7/6/2003 05:40:49 PM by Edward Driscoll
THIS SHOULD BE FUN TO WATCH: MTV Political Death Match 2003: In this corner, Howard Dean. In the other, Terry McAuliffe. Have at it, boys!

Posted 7/6/2003 02:51:09 PM by Edward Driscoll
NEW POST ON BLOGCRITICS: "...And Starring Sylvester Stallone as Woody Allen".