That's so meta.

- "I really like laughing. It just makes me happy."



- Also, I saw "Sweeney Todd" last night. It was not as bad as I had feared, nor as great as I had dreamed. Johnny Depp and Alan Rickman are great and Helena Bonham Carter is fine. Sacha Baron Cohen and Timothy Spall are very well cast. There are a few great sequences (especially the end), and a few that are too Tim Burton for my taste (notably the opening credits and the "By The Sea" number). But overall I enjoyed it, and would recommend it.


And now, here it is - your Holiday Moment of Zen:

Bury my heart at Wounded Knee.

- Today's top story: the Lakota Sioux Nation have withdrawn from all treaties with the United States and declared themselves a sovereign nation. No response yet from the US, and none of the big media outlets have picked up the story. But the Lakota have already entered into diplomatic relations with a number of foreign countries, especially Bolivia, whose president is also a member of an indigenous tribe.

- If you have friends coming to Chicago for the holidays, make sure they don't walking around holding maps or cameras, or the Chicago police might think they are terrorists.....

- "All women are whores, just set the price."

- Saw "National Treasure: Book of Secrets" last night. Big thanks to Liz for getting us passes to this sneak preview. Basically, it's the same as the first one.

And now, here it is - your last-minute Christmas gift idea Moment of Zen (only $908):

Vidiocy.

- My good friends at the Galileo Players are finalists in the Vidiocy short film competition. If you're interested in seeing all the finalists and voting for your favorite, the screening will be at IO (formerly Improv Olympic) on December 20th. Only $5 and sure to be a good time! I won't be there because I've got a show that night. : (

- Here's an interesting video: the opening credits of the movie "The Kingdom." Basically a four-minute summary of American-Saudi relations for the last century.



- And here's another: a video of the Beatles cover band the Beatnix playing a familiar tune, but shot to look like 60's archival footage.




And now, here it is - your Moment of Zen:

Rule of 3.

I've been taken to task recently for not posting often enough. So I will go back to trying to do more frequent smaller posts. Here is today's:

- This is technically illegal within the US, but man do I want one: It's a portable cell phone jammer! Charge it up, stick it in your backpack, turn it on at the theater, and no one within forty feet of you can send or receive calls. Awesome! They also sell a larger model that's designed to be plugged in and always on (ostensibly for classrooms).

- The Bears season finally died last night. I thought it was dead already, but then some wonk put together the stats showing that there still was a tiny possibility that if they won the rest of their games, and everyone else choked, they could nab a wild card slot. Not after last night. Once again, the offense could not move the ball down the field. And the defense, although they stepped up their game in the first half, was simply too worn down and tired to accomplish anything else by the fourth quarter. Sigh.

- Saw "I Am Legend" on Saturday. It was pretty weak. The acting's all right, but the pacing is painfully slow. There are a couple of interesting action sequences, but even those run out of ideas quickly. Part of that may be due to the fact that it's based on a book more than 50 years old that a multitude of other movies and books have stolen from. For example, this movie has approximately 80% the exact same plot as "28 Days Later."

And now, here it is - your Moment of Zen:




(Yes, that's a real arm. It belonged to his vet.)