From the mouths of world leaders

An anecdote from Barack:

"I was up at the G20 -- just a little aside -- I was up at the G20, and some of you saw those big flags and all the world leaders come in and Michelle and I are shaking hands with them," the president said. "One of the leaders -- I won't mention who it was -- he comes up to me. We take the picture, we go behind.

"He says, 'Barack, explain to me this health care debate.'

"He says, 'We don't understand it. You're trying to make sure everybody has health care and they're putting a Hitler mustache on you -- I don't -- that doesn't make sense to me. Explain that to me.'"

With a name like Honeysuckle Weeks, she should have been in a James Bond film by now.

Yeah, I've been blogging a lot about stuff I'm buying. Just call it my little contribution to helping the economy.

Soon to be deposited it our mailbox is the DVD box set "Foyle's War: Series 1-5 - From Dunkirk to VE-Day". Mrs. Mosley is eagerly anticipating its arrival, but in the meantime she can read today's DVD Talk review of the set.

A little Fiona is better than none.

I've been missing a lot of new releases lately. First, I'm blindsided by a new Wallace and Gromit short. Now, I find out that Fiona Apple contributed a few tracks to an album just released last week (entitled "The Best Is Yet To Come: The Songs Of Cy Coleman"). Needless to say, I'm ordering both of these this week.

Here's a nice little slideshow a Youtuber put together to the track "Why Try to Change Me Now":

"High-Resolution Graphics": Try not to laugh.

A little story for those of you who can remember back far enough.

It was determined one Christmas that my parents were getting me a Commodore 64 for my big gift that year. Whether they told me early or I just weaseled it out of them I can't recall. At any rate, I convinced them to take me on a trip to the Orange Park Mall before Christmas so I could get my first game to play on the Commodore. So off we went to the "Electronics Boutique" (what an awesome store) for me to do some shopping.

What I ended up getting was "Adventureland: Saga #1"!

Now here's the thing. This post isn't so much a fond remembrance of my Commodore 64 in general or this game in particular (I remember a lot of my games fondly, but this one barely registers). No, this post is to demonstrate how much of a computer-ignorant dumbass I was.

When we got back to the car, I sat in the back seat and opened the thin plastic package holding the manual and the 5 1/4 floppy disk. Having not even gotten my hands on an actual computer yet, I didn't know how disks worked. Seeing the black plastic covering for the actual disk, I thought the purpose was to remove the covering to get at the disk. I recall being in that back seat at night with my parents driving home up Blanding boulevard and using my fingernails to pry at the tiny flaps and rivets that held the plastic case together.

Fortunately, I eventually discovered the true nature of floppy disks before I succeeded.

Ah, memories. Anyway, in case you're interested, there's a Javascript version you can play online (minus the graphics). The simulation is pretty good and downright fool proof... even for this fool.

Wallace and Gromit in 'A Matter of Loaf and Death'

How did I miss this?


The damn thing was released in Britain last year and I had heard nothing about it. Now it's coming out on DVD in the States next Tuesday. I only have a handful of entertainment sites that I monitor, but a new Wallace and Gromit short should have come across my radar on at least one of them by now.

Suffice to say this is getting purchased next week, post-haste.

Glen Beck's own "Little Red Book"

Sunrise confession time, folks.

This past weekend, Mrs. Mosley, CC and I took a trip to Tallahassee to see some old friends and visit some old haunts of ours. It was a good weekend up until our final stop at Barnes and Noble before leaving town. This was the spot Mrs. Mosley and I first met, so it should have been a nostalgic reverie. Instead, I walked past a display featuring Glen Beck's latest book: "America's March to Socialism : Why We're One Step Closer to Giant Missile Parades".

Heaven knows I come across enough of this type of bile through my hours on the Internet, but somehow this singularly absurd and offensive title (that will none-the-less probably sell quite well) was the straw that broke the camel's back. It nagged at me all the way back to Jacksonville and really put me into a depression by that evening which lasted all the way to the following night.

I suppose the real reason why this title (and it's author) did this when the Coulters and the O'Reillys before it only annoyed me, is because that he fancies himself the head of a movement. It doesn't matter that the movement is minuscule compared to the force that elected Obama. As the summer's protests proved, decibel level sometime matters more than actual numbers. Beck considers himself some sort of modern day Howard Beale, and 50% of ad revenue be damned, he isn't going quietly.

Then I read an article over at Salon titled, "Meet the man who changed Glenn Beck's life". I urge you to read it now as it delves into the ten tons of crazy that Beck has immersed himself into. It's the McCarthy era all over again, folks, as Beck has patterned himself after a Red scare relic named W. Cleon Skousen. The man became so vilified in his time that even J Edgar Hoover and mainline conservatives couldn't stand him, yet Beck has taken up his banner and made his life's work his own.

Why did this cheer me? Perhaps because McCarthy's movement eventually fell to common sense, so history may repeat itself. Perhaps because, like I said about Dubya five years ago, this linking of the Republican party with Beck's movement will become an albatross in time. Perhaps I just want to see possible Republican front runner Mitt Romney asked about the movement and Beck's inspiration since Romney's own church has definitively rejected him.

Things will get worse before they get better, but they will get better, folks. Hang in there.

Once bitten, Twice shy.

I just saw a banner ad for the release of the seventh season of CSI: Miami on DVD. Wow. That show has shown remarkable longevity. There will come a time, however, when David Caruso is going to have to pack it in and quit the show. When that time comes, I would hate to be the interviewer who asks him, "So, what are your plans? Spend more time on your movie career?!?!"

Housekeeping

As you can see, Acrentropy has undergone yet another cosmetic change. Everything else will be staying the same.

In related news, I have finally ceased publication of the "Diesel Powered Nuns" blog. After not posting in over two years, I decided it needed to give up the ghost. My lack of attention there is mirrored in the La-La Land site, however that one is not being deleted. I have plans on going back, changing those final four pages to the new design, update all the links and then call it done. I'll keep you posted.

Turnover

When the Sears "Blue Team" commercials first aired, Mrs. Mosley and I (and I'm sure many geeks) got a kick out of seeing Felicia Day in them. They recently continued their trend of great casting with this latest spot:



Though it works even if you have no idea who the customer is, it's just oh-so-much better if you do. Here are the outtakes:

Tarantino's head just exploded

Ladies and Gentlemen: Black Dynamite:



That's a thin line this film is trying to tread, but it looks like they might pull it off.

Soaring Sidney

Weezer's new album is going to feature a photograph that recently won a National Geographic photo contest.


What's even cooler is that I know the photographer. Before he moved up North, Jason Neely was a librarian at JPL. I worked with him for several years and found him to be an awesome librarian as well as an awesome person in general. Jason, my hat is off to you, my friend.

Obviously, he's not a golfer.

So there were two big finales in my TV universe last Spring: Lost and Supernatural. On Lost, the big reveal was that we finally met Jacob, a shadowy presence ever since his name was first mentioned way back in season two. At the end of the finale, Ben is convinced by Locke (who is actually an entity who has had a long rivalry with Jacob) to kill Jacob, though it remains unclear if Jacob is really dead and what will result from Ben's actions. Though their actual characters are still up in the air, most fans believe that Jacob is God and the entity that took possession of Locke's body is the Devil. Lost comes back in January and hopefully we'll learn more then.

On Supernatural, the boys were conned by Heaven and Hell alike to bring about the Apocalypse. As the finale ended, the portal that would allow Lucifer to enter this realm was just beginning to open. On the season premier last night, he gets through (though we don't get to see him). We're later informed by one of the angels that Lucifer has to take possession of a body in order to get things started. The person he chooses for this is a man who is very distraught at the recent loss of his wife and child. By the end of the episode, Lucifer's silver tongue along with the man's grief convinces him to allow Lucifer to take possession of his body. We'll find out next week what he does with it.

What is all this TWOP-light banter leading to? Just that Jacob on Lost and Lucifer on Supernatural are being played by the same actor: Mark Pellegrino. The man really struck gold by getting to play such important characters on two popular shows. Add to that the fact that the characters are God and the Devil and you have a very impressive resume (Only Max Von Sydow comes close).

Congrats, Mark. You've come quite a long way from once playing "Blond Treehorn Thug".

"I love hugs"

Yeah. New father. Busy. All that.

So here's the mandatory baby picture in lieu of post. Enjoy!

I think we're going to need a bigger house.

Neil Gaiman, I want your house (via Boing Boing):

Best. YouTube Comment. Ever.

Well, best ever for one of my videos, anyway. This was posted by YouTube user cokittedelarge on my original video 100 Movies, 100 Quotes, 100 Numbers:

"Over two years ago a man posted this video in my MySpace. I thought it was brilliant so I paid attention to him since he had such good taste in youtube videos. We met in person and bam, we have been married for over a year. I hold you accountable! Great great job :)"

Roscoe Lee Browne Quote of the Month: September 2009

Babe: Pig in the City is a vastly underrated sequel. Most of the people who went to see it in the theaters expected a rehash of the original film. What they got was a much darker story with those same characters we had grown to love (which made it all the more effective). I won't say much more about my admiration than this statement: It's a testament to it's craft when one shot of an orangutan putting on a jacket strikes more emotion than many human acted dramas.

As with the first film, Roscoe does service as the narrator. Whereas his voice was kindly and sage in the first, it takes on new qualities with this much different material:

The Narrator: "Something broke through the terror - flickerings, fragments of his short life, the random events that delivered him to this, his moment of annihilation. As terror gave way to exhaustion, Babe turned to his attacker, his eyes filled with one simple question: Why?"