Affirmative Links

Best Subtitle for a Blog...

Via Austin's own M1EK, I ran across a Penn State football blog titled "Run Up The Score".

I don't know how long the blog has had this under its name, but the currently "disgruntled" fan has subtitled the blog...

We Put The Turd in Saturday

Priceless.

First MacBook Pro Post

OK, OK...technically this is my second MacBook Pro post, but I'm talking about the first one.

Just now trying out a Mac (I've been a PC guy for...well, forever really) as far as posting in Typepad, and I already see a difference.

MS Word is infamous for its problems with cutting and pasting into other programs, especially non MS programs.

Well, apparently they fixed it in Word 2007, but I didn't have that yet, and as you can see from some of the previous posts, which were composed on a PC in Word, and then cut and pasted over to the type WYSIWYG editor, I was having real formatting problems.

Opened TextEdit, which I believe is the default like Notepad in Windows, typed a few lines, and they came out perfectly.

This should renew my blogging, now that I can do it my easily.

Just bought a MacBook Pro

test saving in text edit

gonna try to make a desktop folder

UFC: Ultimate Fighter Reality Show

Now that they have the beaten team members staying in the house, why do they show the guy walking to the car with his bags and driving off...Apprentice "You're Fired!" style?

Looking forward to the finale.

Other recent UFC bloggers: UFC Junkie, Concepts Marketing, Formosa Neija, UFC Mania.

Bill Maher: Real Time May 18th 2007

Not the greatest show for Maher this time, although, it’s very guest (as opposed to host) dependent.

Bradley Whitford: Hey, if you’re gonna make a fool of yourself stammering and stuttering (“uh, uh, uh”) try not to complain to the resident conservative about the 20 million uninsured in this country – because you might sound foolish when he jumps in to correct you.  It was pretty clear Whitford came with some pre thought out 30 second sound bites, and then just tried to ram then in for applause, whether they were appropriate or not.

Loretta Sanchez: a bit touchy feely, grabbing the other guests, didn’t do much for me.

John Fund: Wall Street Journal-ist with the creepy grin, actually was much better spoken than Whitford, but of course resorted to Republicanisms such as “rising tide lifts all boats”…etc.

Best Line of the night came during the Russell Simmons portion.  Simmons is proselytizing for yoga as the cure for insomnia, clearing your mind, etc., when Bill asks:

How do you have a completely empty mind and not be George Bush?”

Biggest laugh of the night too.

Best Pun title for a New Rule: the Romney should wear a funny hat segment called “Top O’ the Mormon”

Michael Moore, Ben Afleck and P.J. O’Rourke should make for a better panel next week.

[See also: Free Association, The Dupont, and the last new rule]

Why I’m Glad I’m not a Teenager (anymore)

Wow, if I try reeeeeeeeally hard… I can almost remember being this angry.  (Or maybe half that angry.)

Google Tweaks Itself

Jason the Content Librarian reviews some important changes in “All Things Google,” particularly the new Universal Search and Google Experimental Tools.

Gotta thank him for pointing me to the experimental stuff like map views. 

Check this out: let’s say you’re interested in ZZ Top concerts?  OK…  Map View

Definitely has potential…

Louis Armstong: First Man to Walk on the Moon

Americans For The Arts is advertising on Instapundit with an ad that runs:

When people think Louis Armstrong was the first man to walk on the moon, there’s not enough art in our schools.  Art.  Ask for More.

I agree, but I’d hasten to add this: when people think that Louis Armstrong was the first man to walk on the moon… there’s not enough education in our schools either.

(and Professor Reynolds, if you're reading this and want to insta-launch me, check out my real blogs: Criminal Defense and DWI Lawyer.)

Adding a Nice Touch to Your Blog Post

Great example of "adding a nice touch" to your blog post done by Brett Duncan.  I thought about posting the image he uses here, but I think it'll have more effect if you click through to his post.

The post is subtitled "The Pitfalls of a Blog," and it's from his 90 Days of blogging series.  Yes, I suppose you have to be of a certain age range to appreciate it, and perhaps being an old Atari 2600 fan would help too, but it works even if you don't get the joke... and, again, it's just a "nice touch" for those who do get it.

Taking some time to make a post "just right" can add alot of effectiveness to your blogging, and of course, the ultimate goal, increase your blog readership.

Poker Writer Gary Carson

Blog of the Day: American Tradition

Poker author Gary Carson’s American Tradition blog gets the nod for Blog of the Day.

Gary has been very generous in linking to my other blogs, and anyone interested in poker (as I am) should check out his poker books, The Complete Book of Hold ‘Em, and The Complete Book of Casino Poker (as I have).

Is the War on Drugs a Complete Waste of Time?

"Is the war on drugs a complete waste of time?" someone googled, and one of my other blogs popped up at #7.

Keeping it short and simple, the answer is a resounding "YES".

You know you've hit middle age...

...if someone asks you how old you are, and you have to struggle (if only slightly) to figure out what year it is now, so that you can work your way back from there.

California Appelate Law Blog

Ventura California lawyer Greg May has recently started an Appellate Law Blog that looks very promising, and has been added to my RSS reader.

HIs latest posts asks whether Wiki's may soon be cited in legal opinions (since blogs have already made their way in).

Citations to blogs should not be too surprising.  Most are, after all, commentary.  While not as formal or thorough as a law review article (to put it mildly), the principle behind citing a blog is not, to my mind, much different than citing a law review article, at least where the blog is well-reasoned.

Is similar treatment in store for the legal wiki?  A wiki is different from a blog because virtually anyone (though that can be restricted by registration) can edit, add, or remove content, often anonymously — as anonymously as the Internet allows, anyway.

Well written blog.  Blogging lawyers would do well to keep track of this new 'blawg'.

Rambo 3 vs. Spiderman 3

In 1988, Rambo III was the most expensive movie ever mad with an estimated budget of $63 million.  Nineteen years later, Spiderman 3 has an estimated budget of $350 to $500 million.  (Add the extra $150 mil if you want to count marketing.)

Other Bloggers, Similar Subject: The Movie Blog, Meaninglis, Liz & Darrow, The Moviezzz Blog.

This Film Is Not Yet Rated: Movie Review

Netflix recommended that I queue Dick Kirby’s documentary “This Film Is Not Yet Rated,” and I obliged.  I do tend to gravitate towards non-fiction after all.

And I think everyone has sometimes wondered why “This Movie” got a PG-13 rating, when it was much more bloody, violent, foul mouthed and had sooooo much more nudity than “That Movie,” which got an R. 

Well, it’s the Motion Picture Association of America that decides, and this documentary wants us to know more about the process and the members themselves.  The MPAA is the secret governing body that determines when X number of thrusts in a sex scene is OK, but X+1 isn’t.  Unless, it’s a female, or a gay scene, in which case you can have fewer, or is it more, or…well, nobody really knows what the ‘or/or else/or’ is.

We hear from various directors that were shocked to find that their film received an NC-17 rating, when they know good and well that the Studio expects them to put out an R feature.  What’s worse, the Studios basically can’t market an NC-17; it will end up as a direct to video flop.

Kirby generously provides many scenes that had to be cut to make an R rating, so of course, when he submits his documentary, it too gets an NC-17.  After all, if ‘they’ have objected to these scenes in other films, certainly they can’t let Kirby get away with showing us a montage of them.

But who are ‘they’?  Well, we’ve never been allowed to know.  According to several clips of Jack Valenti, their anonymity protects the process.  But isn’t their something offensive, almost fascist to this secret body? 

And in some ways, Kirby’s eventually successful attempt to unmask the MPAA member’s secret identities provides the film’s most satisfying moments.

I struggle with a rating for “This Film is Not Yet Rated,” because it is one of those pics where intense interest in the subject matter itself would exponentially increase enjoyment of the film. 

Hollywood

has always been in love with movies about movies.

Personally, I enjoyed the film, but perhaps my obsession with the subject matter is not as high as those directly involved in film making: two and a half out of four stars.

Other Blogs with reviews: Resist Media, E Marketing Performance, Green LA Girl, DV Guru, And Now For Something Completely Different.