Quickly Noted

Small items of interest that caught my eye.

• Our dinner conversation tonight briefly noted that alcohol does not magically turn you into an anti-Semite, despite protestations and defenses to the contrary. A columnist in today's Wisconsin State Journal gave Mel a pass, basically saying that anybody that thinks that Mel Gibson hates Jews doesn't understand the nature of alcoholism. I've known a few alcoholics. None of them ever said anything like that. Perhaps they just weren't drinking the right things. Or rather, the wrong things.


• Jo. Kill him. While Stephen King's invocation of Reichenbach Falls is apt, you could very well cement your place in literary history by doing What Needs To Be Done. Besides, the last two books were kind of lame.


• I have just one word for the producers who apparently thought that Heath Ledger would make a good Joker: ohmyfuckinggodareyoustupid? I grant them this: that's the same thing a lot of people said about Michael Keaton in Tim Burton's Batman, and he was actually really good. Still...that's just lame.


• Play Poom. My best was 9 bounces, but I blame the fact that using a trackpad is not as good as using a real mouse. I'll try again at lun-chow-wah tomorrow.


• The story from CNN about a waitress who had a customer, trying to buy alcohol, present her with her own stolen ID reminded me of the time I was in the store and saw someone present a Hawaii State ID. The kid sure looked underage to me, and he looked as if he had never been in the sun. I really wanted to bust him, maybe just ask the classic Hawaii question, "What school you went?"

That's it. Have a nice day.