Archived entries for
Andromeda Strain
Watched the four-hour “Andromeda Strain” remake on A&E last night. It was somewhat difficult to believe Eric McCormack as a hard-bitten by-his-own-rules reporter, but I think that had less to do with “Will & Grace” as it did with the stupidity of the character stereotype overall. Other than that, it was a workmanlike, at times mildly entertaining shaggy dog story, as pretty much all “the world is ending and only X can save it” movies are. Because let’s face it, if Demi Moore is the last best hope for humanity, we might as well pack it in right now.
Even at four hours, the script doesn’t do anything with the interesting bits scattered throughout, like making Rick “Ricky” Schroeder into a closeted gay Army Major, or casting the movie President as a young, telegenic guy with an equally young, telegenic wife and daughter. So you’re left with the cast of people we don’t know who die horribly, and the cast of middling stars impersonating the “last best hope” scientists.
My recommendation? Rent “The Core.” Seriously.
Upgrading
I’m thinking seriously about moving Mighty Forces to WordPress. I’ve never really liked Movable Type; I think it’s too complex for its own good, and the design templates available for WordPress are much more numerous and way better looking. I’ve managed to import the Mighty Forces content into WordPress, and now I’m in the process of tweaking everything.
Any thoughts on the two systems would be appreciated.
UPDATE: Impulsively I decided to go ahead with the switch. Styles may be a little wacky around here for a while. But the change is exciting.
UPDATE II: With this template, in order to make a comment, you need to click on the post title to go to the post detail page. Please let me know what you think of the new design (until I change it, that is 
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I wrote a letter to Rick Santorum
I can’t believe we’re still debating this. But in response to his sneering, hyperbolic column, I felt the need to trod these well-worn paths one more time. Here’s what I wrote to Rick:
Mr. Santorum:
You hit the nail on the head when you said that (civil) marriage is “a license granted by the government conferring certain governmental benefits.” It’s a shame that civil marriage and the religious sacrament of marriage share a name, because they really shouldn’t. Civil marriage should not be subject to a religious test. For example, Catholics don’t sanctify divorced people getting married again. If the majority of the population was Catholic, would it be OK to codify in law that divorced people couldn’t remarry? No.
I don’t support any church being required to marry anyone it doesn’t want to. But I also don’t support churches telling the state who they should be able to marry. That’s what the separation of church and state (something I believe strengthens religion) is all about.
Best,
Adam.
Racism is a form of idiocy
I don’t think I’ve linked to Rude Pundit on this site before. I did it a lot when I was writing Utopia, but The Rude One doesn’t really fit with the non-angry, more-apolitical focus I’m trying to attempt around here. Still, there are times when RP really gets to the heart of things. His latest piece on Clinton and Appalachia does just that (WARNING: harsh language). A little bit of truth-telling is bracing in the middle of a season of mendacity and spin.
As sad and angry as I am at the state of this country, I still have some hope left. A little bit.
Spock was a smart guy
After waiting a month, my repaired Xbox 360 finally came back on Friday.
“After a time, you may find that having is not so pleasing a thing after all as wanting. It is not logical, but it is often true.”
-Spock, “Amok Time”
The Mumble-Something Act
More Hillary humor, from Fafblog (via Balloon Juice).
Because it’s better to laugh than cry. So much better.
Is it November yet?
FontStruct
My latest online obsession is FontStruct, a free online font editor from FontShop. I love typography and fonts, but font design programs have always been expensive and complex. Not so for FontStruct, which is actually fun in addition to being free. For some reason I enjoy making the punctuation the most.
My first attempt at designing a font is called dottie: