Pun Salad

I try to keep things light and smart-ass around here, even when a particular topic shocks and disgusts me. That's my comfort zone.

But the news today just doesn't fit with that.

MOGADISHU, Somalia — Gunmen killed an Italian nun and her bodyguard Sunday at the entrance of the hospital where she worked, officials said — an attack some feared could be linked to Muslim anger toward Pope Benedict XVI.

The nun, who has not been identified, was shot in the back four times by two gunmen armed with pistols, Dr. Mohamed Yusef told The Associated Press.

Animals. Cowards. Barbarians.

Here's a clue: stop flying airplanes into buildings, stop shooting nuns in the back, stop setting fires everytime your itty bitty wittle feewings are hurt over the slightest of slights -- and we'll stop with the "demonising", m'kay?

Good performances from Pierce Brosnan, Greg Kinnear, and Hope Davis save this movie from total dreckdom, but, really, what's with the movies' fascination with hit men? Especially when, as here, they spend most of their time yakking? Especially when, as here, the yakking has an astronomically high "wit"/humor ratio. I hate that.

You, dear reader, might like this better than I; certainly the professional critics did. But (probably unlike most professional critics) fell asleep for numerous stretches, and I don't seem to have missed much besides more I'm-the-clever-screenwriter dialog.