Conversation

On the bus.

"Starbucks!"

"That the one you hang out at?"

"No, that's Grand and Otis."

"Mmm."

"This one has a fireplace."

Products placement

Final James Bond comment. In "Casino Royale" there's an exchange mentioning two watchmakers within seconds of each other.

It goes something like this:

"Do you wear a Rolex?"

"No. Omega."

I don't think either watch is shown.

I'd bet both Rolex and Omega paid to be in the conversation. Probably Omega paid more.

Practice

In the new James Bond movie, "Casino Royale," the bad guy tortures Bond in a complicated manner. Throughout the scene, I thought, "That guy is certainly accurate with his rope flinging. He must practice."

Louise Lasser is back!

I've been a big fan of Louise Lasser since she was in "Bananas" with Woody Allen. She was also in the comedy soap opera "Mary Hartman Mary Hartman." A funny lady with a distinctive look.

I recently saw "Just Like Heaven," the Reese Witherspoon movie. One of the players is Ivana Milicevic. Looks alot like Lasser. Seems to have some comedic ability, too. Milicevic is a bad guy in the new James Bond movie.

Nitpick

The Internet, bless it, has room for every last nitpick and quibble. I present to you, a blog that comments on silent panels in daily cartoon strips:

The Silent Penultimate Panel Watch.

Personally, I love a silent panel. Rhythm. But if two people find a need to point out whenever a silent panel is used -- and judge whether for not it was needed -- have at it.

Whiine

The Wii controler is very light. But after a half-hour of swinging it around all over the place it seems very heavy.

It's like carpal tunnal syndrome for your entire body.

Thank

Thanksgiving and the big shopping day after it are only in the USA, right?

'Cause the Canada-based cartoon strip, "For Better Or For Worse" is ignoring the holiday today.

Thankful for that.

Bob

I remember being really disappointed and confused about the 1977 Robert Altman movie, "3 Women." I'd read lots of very favorable reviews and was excited to bask in the genius that is Altman. I liked "M*A*S*H" and I liked "The Long Goodbye" -- this would be more of the same, right?

Then I saw the movie. It made no sense to me. I laughed when Shelly Duvall closed the car door on the hem of her dress and drove off with that little piece of fabric hanging out. That was the highlight of the movie.

But what was with Sissy Spacek acting all weird and putting on all that make-up? The woman in the pool? Didn't get it. Still don't.

Dream logic doesn't work for me. I need awake logic.

Mongolia

New publication in town. Name doubles as Web address.

Vita.mn

Like "vitamin," I guess, with the two-letter Zip Code-style "Minnesota" tossed in.

It's a youth-targeted weekly publication of a daily newspaper, the Star Tribune. (It uses the Star Tribune's typefaces.) (It republishes Star Tribune movie, music and, cough, art reviews.)

Back to ".mn", though.

Kinda cool that it completes a word with the Web address and that it stands for Minnesota.

But what, really, does the .mn domain stand for?

Mongolia.

Worn

I have an iPod. It's a couple years old and it's scratched.

I don't mind that it's scratched. I'm not proud that it's scratched.

It's my machine. I made all the scratches. The machine still works.

Coincidence

An eclipse is featured as a letter in the logo for both the tv show "Heroes" and the movie "Apocalypto." As an "O" in the first and as a "C" in the second.

Thud-thud-thud

The New York Times takes a serious shot at PlayStation 3.

Wonder what's gotten into that reviewer guy (Seth Schiesel)? Is there that much to hate about the new console?

The reviewer puts a big emphasis on PS3's network play capabilities, I guess they are not as smooth or nice as XBox360. At the moment.

And the reviewer discounts the potential of the PS3 hardware.

Seems a little much.

I understand wanting to review the thing first and fast, but for me, personally, I'm not going to buy either an XB360 or a PS3 until the new "Grand Theft Auto" comes out around a year from now.

I would guess that lots of the kinks will be worked out of PS3 by then.

One flew over

Saw "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest" (1975) this weekend. Hadn't seen it since it first came out in '75. Remembered it as a depressing movie. And it still was depressing.

It was fun, however, to see the movie because so many of the players are now famous. Spot the future star.

Danny DeVito. Christopher Lloyd. Scatman Cruthers. Brad Dorif. Vincent Schiavelli.

All have gone on to bigger things.

There are also future connections in "Cuckoo's Nest."

DeVito/Lloyd in "Taxi."

Nicholson/Cruthers in "The Shining."

Nicholson/DeVito in "Hoffa."

And according to Internet Movie Data Base, "Goin' South" (1978) had Nicholson, Lloyd and DeVito.