Gavin’s Blog reports that not only is a new Star Trek movie in development, but that William Shatner has finally agreed he’s too old and portly to play the role of Captain Kirk. Instead, Matt Damon will be donning the oh so easily-ripped yellow captain’s jersey.
What are the odds on Ben Afflek playing Spock?
Michelle Malkin, along with a number of others on the slightly frothy right fringe of US politics, proves yet again, that she doesn’t understand British humour, nor the role it has to play in both boosting morale and free speech.
The BBC comedy show Time Trumpet (which I’m quite sure is – in the time honoured British comedy fashion is absolutely rubbish) have produced a satirical sketch called the Terrorism Awards.
Note to BBC: Notice, you arbiters of cultural sensitivity, that we Americans will not be burning down the British embassy or calling for your beheadings or forcing your news hosts into hiding in fear for their lives.
That is the difference between us and them. But it’s all a joke to you.
It is all a joke to us British. It’s how we get through life in the tough times. We make fun of it – preferably in the most tasteless and ridiculous way possible. We look hard to find the humour in every situation. Because, if something is made to be funny, it’s just that little bit less scary.
This is possibly the best news I’ve heard in a while to come out of the whole cartoon saga. An Egyptian newspaper has run a cartoon contest in direct response to the Danish ‘anti-Islamic’ cartoons of a few months ago.
Rantings of a Sandmonkey has copies of all the cartoons, plus translations. This is my favourite:
Many of the cartoons, like the one above, focus on the pen is mightier than the sword theme – the pen often committing physical violence upon the (always peaceful) people of Islam. A few have anti-semitic themes.
What’s so good about this series of cartoons isn’t their content, though. It’s the very fact that cartoons are being used to get a political message across, rather than violence. Whether we agree with that message is, at this stage, neither here nor there.
Tim Newman is blogging up a storm at the moment, including this particularly entertaining piece on train travel in Russia:
If any budding writer was stuck for material for a new book, he could fill volumes with what he saw whilst riding Russian trains for a month. Lacking fancy Western gadgets like iPods, the entertainment is laid on for you. Watch the people, watch the scenery. Look on with amazement though grimy windows at the surreal scenes unfolding before your eyes as the train pulls into a station.
I remember it well… the drunken conversations with sailors on their way home to visit their wives and families, the lovely old babuskas with breath that could kill an elephant at 20 paces, and the enterprising Chinese and Mongolian shuttle traders, who can cram the contents of a small warehouse into one tiny train compartment. Every aspect of human life, alll cooped up in a kilometre long by three yards wide tube of metal, chugging its way through the rolling hills of Russia.
And while you’re at Tim’s blog, check out this absolutely ruthless dissection of George Clooney’s new film, Syriana, by a man who actually works in the oil industry.
Just in case you are in the UK, and can receive More 4 – the final series of the West Wing starts on Friday night.
Just thought I’d mention it.
Having a bit of a gay-themed day here at Taking Aim. Parents in Missouri are up in arms about male penguins that might be gay because they looked after an egg together. The horror!
A book about two male penguins that raised a baby penguin has been moved from the children’s section to the non-fiction section of two public library branches after parents complained about homosexual undertones.
The illustrated children’s book, “And Tango Makes Three,” is based on a true story of two male penguins in New York City’s Central Park Zoo.
The penguins, named Roy and Silo, adopted an abandoned egg in the late 1990s.
Presumably, the ‘non-fiction section’ the article refers to is in the adult section of the library. Which begs the question – what kind of library doesn’t have a children’s non-fiction section?
Stonewall, the lesbian, gay and bisexual rights group turns its withering eye on the homophobic Auntie Beeb:
We monitored 168 hours of peak time TV on BBC One and BBC Two: during that time, lesbian and gay people and their lives were realistically and positively portrayed for just six minutes.
Still, that’s six minutes more than the heterosexuals of this world got.
Yes, we’ve all seen the intro to The Simpsons many many times. But with real live people instead of cute yellow cartoons?
Most cool. And, if you look closely, you’ll see that it was filmed in England. Yay!
Yep, I’ve been tagged to do another of those ‘revealing’ meme things – this time by both Tim Newman and Sean Guillory. So here goes:
Four jobs I’ve had
Plus many many others that I’m far too embarrassed to admit to.
Four movies I can watch over and over
Four places I’ve lived
Four tv shows I like
All of which I tend to watch on dvd rather than tv these days.
Four places I’ve vacationed
Four of my favourite dishes
Four sites I visit daily
Four books I’ve read this year
Four bloggers I’m going to tag with this
OK, that’s it. We’re done. Back to business.