In Which I Steal Things And Do Not Care

I'm currently gathering together my Xmas harvest (along with less interesting things, like clothes) in preparation for my return to Durham, so I'm a little pushed for time.

With that in mind, I hereby swipe a bunch of links from other blogs, thus meaning today I am the unrepentant purveyor of third-hand material.

First off, swiped from Lawyers, Guns and Money (link on the sidebar) is Michael Tomasky's Worst 19 Americans of 2008. I'd quibble a little on the specifics (Cheney is and always will be too low, and I'd leave out the Campbells; calling your child Alolf Hitler Campbell is mainly just guaranteeing your son will get repeated kickings), but it's nice to see how many people on that list got their just desserts, or seem to be heading for them. Plus, more lists should contain a prime number of elements. Primes are important. Just ask Optimus.

Next up, and stolen from the same source (layer upon layer of flagrant laziness, though since LGM was linking to one of it's own staff, I don't feel bad) is a brief but interesting dissection of the resolutely pro-Israeli stance of American politicians across the board. The best part is this comment on the word "terrorism":

"Terrorism," in the context of Middle East politics and warfare, has come to mean something very close to "violence targeted at people with whom I sympathize."

Finally, a clip from Gilmore Girls I lifted from Mighty God King (link again in sidebar). I include this mainly as part of my ongoing fascination regarding the dynamic between writers and actors. Every clip I've seen of Gilmore Girls suggests the writing is of the kind that I adore, the swirling fast-paced sparkling type Aaron Sorkin seems to have more or less mastered. In this video, though, it seems like the actresses (both of whom, to be fair, have given much better performances elsewhere) are pretty much eating it. Is this a reminder that a script is only as good as its actors? Or that no matter how good an actor you are, there's only so much density a script can hold before it just sinks your performance? Come to think of it, we may as well call this the Babylon 5 dilemma, and leave it at that.

I now desperately want to call my first child Squeegy Beckenheim Crossman. Does that make me worse than the Campbells?

Update: Also stole this from Obsidian Wings (guess where the link is), who stole it from Balloon Juice, who stole it from Youtube. It is, in fact, awesome beyond belief. Some songs were destined to be played on the ukelele. I'm not sure Theme From Shaft is the first one to spring to mind, but there you have it.