Pun Salad

True story: I rented this movie with the much-honored Sideways. I handed both to the video store clerk at the counter. She looked at them and said, "Oh, this is a great movie. I love The Rock."

That aside, it is an enjoyable action flick with some clever dialog, and a funny performance from Christopher Walken as the villian. The Rock is a better actor than you might expect.

• I haven't mentioned my beloved Red Sox yet this year; as I type they're tied with the Yankees for last place in the AL East. I suppose it's unlikely either team will stay there.

  But I'm not a Yankee-hater. Just One Minute has a great post pointing out a kind of sweet NYT story about Joe Torre calling Tim Wakefield after the Sox won the ALCS last year.

  On the Yankee-hating issue: Soxblog calls the Yankees "annoyingly classy" for their behavior at Fenway's home opener. But Jonathan Last isn't fooled, and has a lengthy quote from Tom Boswell as to why you shouldn't be either.

  But, God help me, I find myself sometimes kind of liking Hideki Matsui. Must … resist …

• Eugene Volokh notes that at Iowa State, the cops are more respectful of the First Amendment than the students. Toto, I've a feeling we're not in the Sixties anymore.
• But at UCLA, as Prof Bainbridge points out, the kids score high in (almost certainly unintentional) irony.
• Which reminds me: not that it matters, but I'd love to do a job interview with a UCLA grad so I could say, in my best Steve Buscemi imitation, "I never heard of it! I've heard of Pepperdine! Why didn't you go to Pepperdine?"
• And, oh yeah, I almost forgot: we're all gonna die!