This week’s Onion A.V. Club has a tremendous interview with John Landis, director of many, many great things (including one of my most favorite movies, An American Werewolf in London). There are so many great bits that it’s hard to choose a proper one to excerpt, but here’s a delightful quote: When we made The …
Category Archives: General
Got to pay your dues if you wanna sing the blues
Another event we missed while sequested deep in our home-renovation efforts: Ringo Starr has turned 64. (Many link thanks to Syntax of Things.)
I’ll take “Quiz Show Phenoms” for $1000, Alex
Not being a dinner-hour TV viewer I’ve missed the controversy surrounding Ken Jennings, the current ‘Jeopardy’ champion, who is on a 26-show winning streak. Jennings, who in last night’s airing admitted that “being a nerd really pays off sometimes,” is the first contestant to go on a long winning streak since the show scrapped its …
Continue reading “I’ll take “Quiz Show Phenoms” for $1000, Alex”
Pennies from heaven
Jim Munroe of No Media Kings makes a case for arts grants: Don’t think of them as free money, think of them as the R&D budget for our cultural future. I explain it this way: arts grants fund the R&D wing of our cultural operations. Just like research and development in the scientific community, this …
We are on the track of something absolutely mediocre.
And you thought your household budget was a challenge to manage: the Guardian presents a breakdown of the expenses accrued in making a blockbuster Hollywood film such as Spider-Man 2. In brief: Script & development: $10m Licensing: $20m Producers: $15m Director: $10m Cast: $30m Below the line (physical production expenses): $45m Special effects: $65m Music …
Continue reading “We are on the track of something absolutely mediocre.”
Yer Blues
Serendipity: My iPod starts into playing the album Band on the Run just as I discover a light article/interview in which Paul McCartney explains that you can’t please everyone, so he’s decided to please himself.
The toughest receiver in football
Yeah, it’s a fluff piece, but this article about Hines Ward at the Steelers training camp still makes me happy. Look at that smile! So best.
And now a word from our sponsor
As you will have noticed, I have added advertisements to My Brilliant Mistakes. It’s an experiment: I’m curious whether any revenue will result. But I find I’m now more interested to see what ads Google selects to display. As they describe the service: Google uses search-based technologies to match advertisements to the content and context …
A change in service
Over at Fat Plum, my colleagues and I have been running a new blog, Sticky Notes. In keeping with Fat Plum’s mission of providing “juicy solutions for today’s writer,” we’re posting information and links related to writing and publishing. Sticky Notes is my first adventure in co-blogging, so I’m eager to see whether sharing the …
Goldman Sachs has a no good, very bad day
Public relations teams at Goldman Sachs offices worldwide will be working late tonight on spin control. First,