URLs du Jour

2010-01-20

  • You can read the 2010 Index of Economic Freedom here, and an accompanying WSJ op-ed here. It's depressing news for USAians:
    The United States is losing ground to its major competitors in the global marketplace, according to the 2010 Index of Economic Freedom released today by the Heritage Foundation and The Wall Street Journal. This year, of the world's 20 largest economies, the U.S. suffered the largest drop in overall economic freedom. Its score declined to 78 from 80.7 on the 0 to 100 Index scale.
    We're now in eighth place, behind Canada, for goodness' sake.

  • Consider the ratio:
    Number of people who have watched a Downfall parody
    Number of people who have watched Downfall

    … that has to be in the thousands. Maybe tens of thousands?

    Anyway: two that came to my attention today:

    If you've seen one, you know pretty much how these will go. Still funny, though.

  • Do you have one or more cats? You might want to check out How To Tell If Your Cat is Plotting To Kill You. In my case:

    Is your cat plotting
to kill you?

    That's it! No kitty treats tonight!


Last Modified 2018-04-01 7:11 AM EDT

The Book of Eli

[3.0
stars] [IMDb Link]

[Amazon Link]
(paid link)

If you're in the mood for a post-apocalyptic thriller with religious overtones, with some good acting, in theaters right now… well, then, this is not a bad choice at all.

Approximately 30 years previous, some sort of war/environmental catastrophe killed off most of humanity and other living things. The remainder live in the world envisioned by Hobbes, the life of man being solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short. Eli, played by Denzel Washington, is a pilgrim on a mission to transport a valuable cargo west (no spoilers here, sorry).

He's taking his time, obviously. (But the Israelites also took an inexplicably long time getting from Egypt to the Promised Land, so I guess it's an occupational hazard.) Eli has developed survival skills that serve him well against the ragtag gangs of thieves, murderers, and rapists he runs into. But then he happens across a town run by strongman "Carnegie" (Gary Oldman), and that's a bit more of a challenge.

Of all the kids on That 70's Show, I would not have guessed that Mila Kunis would wind up being the most versatile movie actor. She's pretty good here.

Of course, when you go to the movies you get previews. My impression was that there are a lot good actors appearing in a bunch of upcoming cheesy movies.

  • They are remaking the (British) Death at a Funeral, moving it to America, and making the cast mostly Black. Except Peter Dinklage, the amazingly good, albeit height-impaired, actor will reprise his role.

  • Jake Gyllenhaal is the hero in Prince of Persia.

  • Liam Neeson is in both Clash of the Titans (playing Zeus) and The A-Team (playing George Peppard). In one of them he actually shouts "Release the Kraken!"

  • Mel Gibson is going to kick some ass (and, apparently, have the worst Boston accent ever) in Edge of Darkness.

… nothing that can't wait for DVD.

Last Modified 2024-01-30 3:56 PM EDT