Jan
12
2006

URLs du Jour

2006-01-12

  • Would-be playwright Roger L. Simon pens a brief Beckettesque scene inspired by the Alito hearings and the generated headlines.
  • The always-perceptive Ann Althouse points to a New York Times article about "indigo children" which—literally—must be read to be disbelived.
    Indigo children were first described in the 1970's by a San Diego parapsychologist, Nancy Ann Tappe, who noticed the emergence of children with an indigo aura, a vibrational color she had never seen before. This color, she reasoned, coincided with a new consciousness.

    Oh. Sure. Are you sure "reasoned" is the right word to use there?

  • The Pun Daughter is a Serious Reader, and had read the best-selling, but factually-challenged, A Million Little Pieces by James Frey. She loved it. I'd rather not think too hard about why. So I pointed her to the (by now well-known) Frey exposé at the Smoking Gun website to her. She was outraged! But at the Smoking Gun. ("I had to stop reading," she said. "It was so mean!")

    And she's apparently not alone. Andrew Sullivan watched Frey on Larry King last night, and deemed it "the best television I've seen in forever." The Oprah called in! Andrew's brief one-paragraph take on the utterly bizarre experience is much worth reading.

    In related news, asking the Google about the Oprahfication of America gives 224 hits as I type. This number will only go up.

    Freakonomicist Steve Levitt also comments on Frey:

    My suggestion is that the next printing should just call it fiction. It is a great book, it just isn't non-fiction. I still will make my kids read it when they are 15.

    15? OK, then!

  • But never mind that, because my close personal friend Dave Barry has posted a quick refresher on what happened last season on 24 and speculation on what's in store for this season. The phrase "hot new girlfriend" is key.

    All true geeks know, however, that it's extremely unlikely Jack's new girlfriend will be as hot as Chloe.