Greece is the word

So here's our take on the Olympics, then.
Synchronised swimming? We approve of fit young women in swimsuits any day of the week, mind you, and we kinda get it when there's more than one person in the pool, and they're all doing roughly the same thing. But individual synchronised swimming? Who on earth is the lass with the plastic smile synchronising with, fercyrinoutloud?
Hm, is it my overheated middle-aged imagination working overtime, is it just packaging, or are women athletes getting better looking?
Doordarshan's commentary. Shut Urrrrp! 'Twas ok when the feed kept the commentary that one assumes came with the feed. The Kiwis seemed to know what they were talking about. But when events of "national importance" came around, you'd get a couple of DD's finest bellowing over the airwaves, the brief being, from the evidence: Imagine This Is Radio And The Audience Needs You To Spell Out Everything. Camera zooms in on anguished Anju George (BTW, good on you, lass! You bettered your previous best. No more can be asked of you.] who has not been able to improve on her first jump: "She is looking disapointed." And that's not counting the bloopers - at the start of the 4x400 relay: "And representing Ukraine, [quickly reads out names from screen, only first names, because there isn't time], all from Ukraine!" - and, er, witticisms - during the closing ceremony as fireworks go off and music plays [roughly, from the Hindi] "Diwali is being celebrated in Athens too!"
The victory wreaths: lovely idea.
Oh, are we done yet with the One Billion People And Only One Medal essays in the papers? Well, actually, carry on. It makes for a change from the bloody cricket and what Sachin Said Next.
Right, now we shall go see if we can find you some funnier Olympic roundups.

They'd love him in New York

We didn't underestimate them, they were a lot better than we thought.

Nay, not W. That be Bobby Robson. Two more:"He never fails to hit the target, but that was a miss." "There will be a game where somebody scores more than Brazil and that will be the game they lose."

(: 30/08 :)

The problem with trying to do that connected-yet-disconnected intro thingy is every now and then, you want to link to a cartoon, but can't think up something snappy enough.
Yeah, you gotta talk to them first, and if they still don't listen...
Gotta show you guys some of our poetry some time.
In the city where we live, most everybody won't get this 'un.
Shudder. Been there.
Ooh, i lurhve my room.

Cover story

Something that's always bugged us: seeing a reprint of an old favourite book with a scene from a TV show or movie adapt on the cover. It somehow seems to take away from the book, shoving actual faces into the mind's eye. And this is true even of film versions we loved, like Yes Minister and Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry in Jeeves and Wooster, and Jeremy Brett in the Sherlock Holmes stories.
What say you?
Oh yes, the article that got us on to this mini-rant - well, more a grumble than anything, really: at The New York Times, Verlyn Klinkenborg notes that "The Penguin edition of William Makepeace Thackeray's Vanity Fair has a new cover. It shows Reese Witherspoon, who plays Becky Sharp in the new film version, staring balefully at the reader." Klinkenborg reread an old copy of the book with the illustrations intact, and concluded that "...compared with a comedy as rich and sprawling as 'Vanity Fair,' a movie nearly always shows us too much of the world and not enough of the story. Compared with the way we moderns get to read 'Vanity Fair,' with an almost puritanical lack of ornament, the Victorians may have been better off."

Moore fire

I have written some new ads you can use on TV. People will soon tire of the swift boat veterans and you are going to need some fresh, punchier material. Feel free to use any of these:
ANNOUNCER: "When the bullets were flying all around him in Vietnam, what did John Kerry do? He said he leaned over the boat and 'pulled a man out of the river.' But, as we all know, men don't live in the river -- fish do. John Kerry knows how to tell a big fish tale. What he won't tell you is that when the enemy was shooting at him, he ducked. Do you want a president who will duck? Vote Bush."
ANNOUNCER: "Mr. Kerry's biggest supporter, Sen. Max Cleland, claims to have lost two legs and an arm in Vietnam. But he still has one arm! How did that happen? One word: Cowardice. When duty called, he was unwilling to give his last limb. Is that the type of selfishness you want hanging out in the White House? We think not. Vote for the man who would be willing to give America his right frontal lobe. Vote Bush."

Pop over to Michael Moore's blog for his letter to Bush.
And Moore is going to be covering the Republican convention for USA Today, so watch this space. Unless you're the GOP's candidate, in which case Mike has volunteered: "If you don't want to read it, you and I will be in the same building so maybe I could come by and read it to you? Lemme know..."
p.s. Pictures of of the anti-Bush march in NY.

We like. We can't do, but we like.

Craig Newmark, of Craigslist.org fame, talks to Wired: "I admit that when I think of the money one could make from all this, I get a little twinge. But I'm pretty happy with nerd values: Get yourself a comfortable living, then do a little something to change the world."
It almost, almost makes us remember we were a flower child once.

(: 29/08 :)

"Those?" We have them every day.
On the other hand, we do have the rare day when we wonder whether we shoulda quit the cubicle scene.
For the Alien in Noo Yawk, for when the TV ceases to enthrall.

(: 28/08 :)

As long as Roaming works.
They told us that about blogging...
...but we'd need a new phone.
Will blogs count?

We can help you find interesting sites! Mail now!

Spamusement: "Poorly-drawn cartoons inspired by actual spam subject lines!" Makes you look at your junk mail folder in a whole new light.

Going once...

Drop by Disturbing Auctions, which is "dedicated to the research and study of the most bizarre items found for sale on internet auction sites. Not the obviously fake auctions, like the infamous human kidney, but truly tacky stuff that people really, honestly, believed that someone would (and in some cases did) buy."