Social Meta Science

Ever hear something that says that if one thing is true then another must be true? People often make a big deal that just because the two things are always paired it doesn't mean that one causes the other. While that's all well and good I think that the coincidental, but consistent pairing of things could be useful. For instance, I think that the world can tell the eventual success or failure of a political movement, or of a nation, through observation of some fairly inconsequential behavior.

Like this... If the people in your movement often gather around firing guns randomly into the air, it seems that history argues that you and your compatriots will ultimately fail.

With telltales like this, the UN Security Council or some other group could be in charge of monitoring and then ultimately stifling or bringing down groups that will in the end just be a waste of time for the world.

Any government who's leader is referred to as "supreme" anything. Supreme Commander, Supreme Leader, Supreme Dude, whatever - ultimately bound for the trash heap of history.

I like the idea because it divorces the intervention from any real political issue. It doesn't matter whether you agree with them or not, you just know that because they are doing this thing that before the final words are written they will fail. Could make the decisions quite a bit easier, more like medicine. Nobody ever cares if you like the wart or not, when you have a wart you get rid of it. We so often get bogged down internationally over ideology. This way the ideology is moot. Who cares if they are right or wrong? Eventually they fail and we'll all be better for simply fast forwarding past the experiment.

If in your cities, or in parades there are often larger than life pictures of your leader (I just bet he's called the "supreme" something) your movement or government is doomed.

Think of it as international ideological euthanasia. Its not ending the movement, its ending the inevitable pain of a protracted death. Maybe we could get Kevorkian to head up the committee.

Life Imitates Art

`Apprentice' figure Carolyn Kepcher axed - Yahoo! News: "Carolyn Kepcher, who sat by while her boss Donald Trump dismissed one would-be apprentice after another, has now felt the full force of his iconic phrase: 'You're fired.'

Kepcher, a co-star with Trump from the start of 'The Apprentice' in 2004 and a long-time employee of the Trump Organization, has been let go."

Those Aren't Stitches

For the better part of a week now I have been walking around thinking that the sharp pain in my mouth was stitches from my surgery poking my tongue. I have been waiting and waiting for the stitches to dissolve and the pain to end. Today I went back to the surgeon for a follow up and explained my ordeal. He said I was probably right and it would likely stop soon. Then he took a look to verify the work. My mouth is doing great, healing very nicely. But the paint is not from stitches.

Its from tiny little bony spurs.

Well, that's no fun at all. Seems that typically when a tooth is removed the remaining jaw bone collapses in. In a very few cases - like on both sides of my mouth - the bone collapses out forming little tiny pain monsters. Eventually the bone loses the blood supply and chips off. At least that's the plan. Otherwise I have to go for follow up work in another week.

I hope it happens soon. I am not sure if I will last a week with this, and with all those power tools down stairs in the shop I might have to get into a little dental work.

I wonder which Dremel bit you use on bone?

First Day Ellipses...

We're back. I'm not ready... Stitches in one's mouth get old very quickly... Why on Earth do people spend any of their time on that guy being extradited from Thailand (he made them look foolish, didn't he)... There's a new burger place at work, with the same fries as the O had... I thought I had a long syllabus, then I saw Doc's. I've got some writing to do... It took less than 30 minutes for the course scheduling to fall apart, of course it used to start that way. Baby steps... You shouldn't have to explain to a class that your mouth might start gushing blood at any moment... If you aren't going to get the Emmy, it might as well go to the Simpsons... My boss's welcome back reception got rained on something fierce... I hope, really hope this storm stays small and stays away... What a slow news day... I believe Technical Direction will be a whole new formula this year, seeing as how there are nearly no TDs in the class... My friend the rock star just had a birthday... Some things are going to change around here... No matter how sure you are that they are wrong, the mortgage company is still going to insist they are right... If we had a labor day party would people come??? Brey'tak really needs a day of beauty, even if it isn't something normally associated with a Jaffa Master... I wonder just how long it will be until a NASA launch is as simple as the Falcon blowing out of Mos Eisley. Somehow I think Han would have got her off the ground even if it were raining... All things being equal I would rather have Mitch's Mobile Bar-b-que... Students have no business asking for a key by code. that'd be a trophy, not a key... I wonder which threat carries more angst: an academic honesty tribunal or accidental death... 1, 2, 3 what comes next? Wrong. 33... I believe there is little to celebrate or commemorate on the one year anniversary of Katrina, hopefully there will be something for the next anniversary... If Kenyans could vote in US elections, Barack Obama could be President... I'm not really a fan of 24 or The Office, but then I didn't get to vote... I think the recuperation from this surgery would be just fine if I didn't have to talk. Perhaps the first week or two of class should be interpretive dance... Let's all be sure to remember we can surely do better than another term for Rick Santorum...

An Inconvenient Sketch

Special Meaning

Do you have a secret code with the person or people you live with? I don't mean something that has one time pads or word or letter transposition. More I am thinking about individual terms of art, expressions that have no real meaning without being part of the club.

For instance, when Mrs. TANBI comes home this evening I am going to have to explain that I mistakenly did the unfortunate thing with the water.

Now, in and of itself that could really mean anything, yes? Perhaps I left the sink on and it overflowed, or maybe I took too long a shower and ran all the hot water out, maybe I left the garden hose on and flooded the yard. The point is that without being a full fledged member of the TANBI clan you wouldn't really know what's going on.

I think sometimes parents develop this sort of code for talking in front of their children. I know that at work some co-workers and I share language that predates any of the students - all of the people that were there at its inception have graduated. So we have a choice, we can either explain the terms to the current students or we can have secret conversations in clear text right in front of people. Fairly useful actually.

The use of language that is otherwise understandable for a purpose which no layperson can possibly understand is pretty neat. I remember another instance of this too. Way back in the day when I worked at K-Mart there were things people would say over the P.A. that were obviously codes. Like when the carts had to be round up rather than saying "I need a stock guy to go get all the carts" you would hear "711c." But there were other things people could say that would mean the store was on fire or someone was stealing something that were just other words. I guess its not exactly the same instance, as this case is devised, but the concept is similar.

The unfortunate thing with the water? In our home this means that you shut the refrigerator door without completely pushing the water purifier in. The door presses the handle, and while you are blissfully watching Collateral in high definition and five channel surround sound the entire reservoir empties out onto the kitchen floor. Usually your first indication is either a wet sock or a damp cat.

This time it was a sock. I have to go find some towels.

Second Anniversary Post

So it is a little bit late, but I think that just reflects that there is so much more to go over, yes?

The second year of There Are No Bad Ideas saw a pronounced shift away from politics and more to life and work. I think the absence of a national election is partly to blame there, although it is difficult to stay engaged all the time. Perhaps with a meaningful Senate race here in PA this fall we will see more political content return. Or maybe every post will simply also say:

Please do not vote for Rick Santorum.

Which I think could also be effective and somewhat easier to read. Now, as they say on Marketplace: Let's do the numbers:

TANBI 05-06:

Total entries: 344

Total ellipses: 32

Total memes: 70

In retrospect I would have thought it was more ellipses. I feel like I do that almost once a week. It turns out to be pretty much twice a month with a few extras thrown in. I do believe I will try to get that number up next year. Mrs. TANBI will be happy to see that I am still averaging less than an entry per day. Early on in year one there was real worry that I would become a multiple time per day poster and that that said something about my quality of life. I think the clearance sale entries skew the number of memes, as there was one post with over 20 this year.

Some highs and lows...

Most Pictures:

Who Cares What They Say - You Look Marvelous!

Jessica's Broadway opening.

Most Comments:

Fall Semester Review Shoe Finals

Hotly contested shoe competition.

Cutest Picture:

Not Rain, Nor Snow, Nor Tons of Work

Can't really beat baby pictures.

Worst Pic:

Sunday Scanning

With the lovely picture of my cousin Dana.

Which brings us to David's Top 10. Input from readers was small, so we won't have a reader's top ten this year - maybe next time. I tried to actually rank these. It's pretty hard as they are so different. Here they are:

#10 "Maybe Not So Much For You With The Talking..."
#9 Hajj
#8 God Bless Family Guy
#7 Safety Net?
#6 Post-Its

#5 Jobs Americans Don't Want

#4 Common Sense Items

#3 Congratulations Sis!

#2 End of The Affair

#1 Insomnia

All in all I think a decent year for the blog. I'm looking forward to even better things in the next year!

I Just Lost Four Teeth

Although my dad is the one that looks like he lost a fight yesterday, I'm the one that lost four teeth. Who would have thought I would have four teeth come out? I didn't even know they were gay.

For what has been more than a decade, various dentists have been telling me "well, there don't seem to be any problems with your wisdom teeth, but you should probably have them out anyway." I have to say that to me, sitting there in the office, when they say there is nothing wrong, but that you should still have the procedure all I can think is "I wonder if he is installing a pool" or something.

Anyway, at the last checkup the dentist made the unprecedently clear statement "Out! Out! Now!" Clearly she is in the wrong field. And so, at risk of losing my wisdom, I have had my wisdom teeth removed. Only time will tell I guess if I have become somewhat more naive.

I've got my vitamin I and prescription pain relief, and Mrs. TANBI bought ice cream and popsicles and I am taking lots of naps. But I think it will be nice to rejoin the world tomorrow.

And I want pizza! Who would think that would be my craving. Oh well, maybe this weekend.

You Should See the Other Guy

The elder sends this image with the caption "I coulda been a contender." Although he's always been a contender in my book, and the house isn't really on the waterfront I guess it is funny enough.

He had to know that sending such a photo would result in web posting, didn't he?

05-06 Links of the Day

The Rasterbator
The Daily Kitten
Gizoogle
Speegle
The PTM NewsBeat
workingfortheman.com Archives
Flash Earth
Tower of Goo - Unlimited
Who Got Shot by Dick Cheney
The Real Live Simpsons
Creative Home Engineering
Long Reach Long Riders
13 Minutes of Goldberg Machines
Stephen Colbert @ The W H C A D
Cublo Games - Gems
I Miss Monica
65 Optical Illusions & Visual Phenomena

Just Like a Man

It seems I got a little to distracted by myself and missed the blog-a-versary. It's 12:10 on the 19th and the anniversary was the 18th. Just like a man, ten minutes late and a dollar short. I do hope you can forgive me. I'll make it up to you.

So, you know the routine. If you would like to participate in anniversary celebrations, I need you to go on a stroll down memory lane. Go back through the archive and find your nominations for best and worst post. There's also been many more images this year, so lets do best and worst images too. Nominations by email to me or as comments.

I'll go through and come up with my own list as well as some other end of the year stats.

Let's say we'll take submissions for a week and I will post the anniversary post next weekend.

Really I would not have thought I would have kept this up for two years. Its a blast though. Even more fun when the people out there in cyberland have something to say. So speak up.

Ellipses...

Cats love empty boxes... Trying to come up with acronyms can make your head hurt... And just when I was sure I didn't really care who killed her... So far I have killed two complete ink cartridges on my renewal binder - and I have no idea how much paper... Playdates never start as being something for the person that has to go... I would not have believed that the guy that wrote it feels the same way about the song "Cherry Pie"... Looking at the news today you would have thought nothing happened in the world... Looks like the party is ending for the executive branch. As if any statement including "almost unlimited powers" would ever be taken seriously... Now that the old top floor is the second to the top floor it doesn't feel nearly as outrageous to have to park there... I think it may be possible to discern the ultimate good, and success, of a movement just be looking at the nature of the the things they carry in parades... Have you heard that S.O.S. song? Excellent idea to riff over Tainted Love... A theatre in Pittsburgh I barely knew existed just got $100,000 in grants. Maybe I should look them up... I think I will have to catch up on The Wire before it starts next month, else I will repeat my confusion like with the season premiere of Weeds... There is never enough money, ever... Would you have thought you could drive a speaker with a car engine? Me either... Looking for work is really just no fun... Global warming, along with a bunch of other inconvenient things, is real... Asking people to do your homework for you is bad enough, paying a stranger online to do it is just plain awful... I hope it doesn't take too long for the house across the street to sell... Tina's back and her cat is alive, huzzah... Gifts not given "solely out of affection, respect or similar impulses" are taxable income? Now how are you supposed to know what the person that gave it to you was thinking??? I wish school would start so I can stop working this hard (wait, there something profoundly wrong with that)...

Pack Rat

It is nice to be both somewhat tech savvy and a bit of a pack rat. It allows strange things like this to happen. Tonight, while trying to make space in a closet I found an old video tape. I grabbed a VCR we weren't using, some coax, and hooked it up to a free port on my video card (the one I bought so Civ wouldn't crash). Launched an app I hadn't been able to previously figure a use for and: PRESTO! more pics for the renewal binder...


In 1996 I did a set for ABC News. It was pretty cool. The tape was 3 hours of election coverage. Strangely enough, in three hours there are only a few distinct camera angles, so I could scan through the tape pretty quickly.

I was thrilled to discover the little camera on the video window was a capture feature. Sometimes these things come off like you almost plan them.




Brinkley looks bored. This is the night when at the end he went on about how boring Clinton was. Doesn't Anderson Cooper look young...


Looks like I have some more output to run (oh, and Dad, I found that tape I was looking for).

Do Over

I was on campus this Sunday and it was deserted. Today, today I got the distinct impression that the first of the students who have been away for the summer are starting to return. This, plus many other things have led me to the conclusion that we all desperately need a do over.

I'll be speaking to the UN and to various world governments as soon as is possible to arrange for us to do August again.

My summer has been way too short. I haven't gotten anything done I was supposed to, including get any kind of a vacation. I am sure many people had their travel plans gacked up last week. More certain, am I, that people in Israel and in Lebanon wouldn't mind getting some time. So with evidence coming in strongly in both a personal and international scope, I believe my conclusion is well supported.

So here's the plan:

Take the next two weeks off!

Whatever you were supposed to do, you can do in 31 days time. When we get to the end of the day on August 31 we will simply restart the month of August. If you feel like you botched something in the first half of the month, at your own option, you can redo that thing. Or, if living with the botch is ok with you, then leave it as is and take the full 31 day break.

To make up for this, we will add one minute to each day for the next 123 years. It will probably screw around with the seasons a little and with the whole "daytime" thing, but at the end of the make up period everything will be right back on schedule. All things being equal, I don't think people will really notice that much.

So, everyone take a deep breath. Whatever you had on your damn list - let it wait. Sleep in, do whatever you like. August 2006 is a do over.

Meme

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the next 4 sentences on your LJblog along with these instructions.
5. Don’t you dare dig for that "cool" or "intellectual" book in your closet! I know you were thinking about it! Just pick up whatever is closest.
6. Tag five people.Not tagging. Just do it, already!

"The ship moves at eighty percent of c and-"
"So it isn't coming here," Jake said, relief in his voice. "After all, Captain, when the Ariel reached ninety-nice percent plus of c, we immediately had to start decellerating. This ship, if it's two hundred AUs out, can't possibly decellerate from eighty percent fast enough to stop at Greentrees."

Not My Day

Went clothes shopping today.
Up a shirt size, up a pant size.

And tonight I broke my office chair.

Today was going so well.

Ugh.

I Love My Country, I Love My Country...

Think Progress: "U.S. lags behind world in evolution acceptance.

“A comparison of peoples’ views in 34 countries finds that the United States ranks near the bottom when it comes to public acceptance of evolution. Only Turkey ranked lower.” One major factor: politics. “Major political parties in the United States are more willing to make opposition to evolution a prominent part of their campaigns to garner conservative votes—something that does not happen in Europe or Japan.” "

Life's Little Reminders

Just been one of those days where you remember that no good deed goes unpunished. Things being what they are that's all I should probably say here, but oh what a ride I am on!

And yes, as per Peg's comment yesterday, anyone with emailable photos from Wilmette Starlight, ATT, CMU (1), Northwestern, CSSI (1), YRT, NJSF, MSMT, YSD, CSSI (2), O, TEN or CMU(2) from when I was there, I would love to have them.

And yes, that means to all of you on the front end of your lovely entertainment career: PHOTOGRAPH EVERYTHING!!!

Monster Scanning

So, while I have been scanning my entire career into my computer at home, some talented people across campus have been scanning some of my pre-CAD draftings for me. These things are C-Sheets and D-Sheets, way way bigger than I can fit on my glass - and an absolute nightmare to tile. They actually photograph rather than scan as even they don't have a scanner that big. "Who would?" you ask, well, Kinkos can scan that big but they charge you as if there is no place else you can go (perhaps they know).

I think it will be real nice to have some of the draftings digitally to put into assignments or into a book if I ever buckle down and start writing. In a true random convergence we just added digital projectors to all of our classrooms, so I will be able to use these as part of lectures as well.

First up, the Hall of Mirrors from a production of Phantom at Maine State Music Theatre:

Irregularly framed theatre flats. I love to lay things out on construction drawings like it is still a marking sheet. Doing the blank outlines for the reverse and repeat items really dresses up a plate - at least I think so.

Next up is the staircase from the MSMT production of The Will Rogers Follies:

Studwall construction and a marking sheet for unit assembly. I wound up doing another marking sheet that had its own full page, but I think having the use of the piece on this plate makes it somewhat more informative too.

When they built this piece for me I had the unfortunate but necessary lesson in what having stoned crew members does for shop efficiency. Still came out well though.

Next is what Kevin called just today "a really nice drawing of a great lift that we had to cut up while we were building it." The truss platform system for the lift in Antigone in New York at the Yale Repertory Theatre:

To my recollection this is the only exploded isometric drawing I have ever done for actual use on a show. I also believe that I completed that part of the drawing 10 minutes after I learned that the platforms were being reconfigured in plan and that we would not be using this plate. It's pretty though.

Last up, the first 3-d CAD model I did. This is from the set design of Lucky Guy at MSMT:

I put the set into CAD when I got back to school in the fall. It isn't really finished, most of the things are just wireframes without surfaces, and there's no materials or lighting. But its not bad for ACADR12, you can definitely tell what everything looked like. In the CAD file, which has long since disappeared, there were views set up from House Right, Center, and House Left in the front row of the orchestra, back row of the orchestra, front row of the balcony, and back of the house. They all ran in a little slideshow.

I had one more I was going to show. I have this crazy drawing of the integration of the armor plating for the handrail of the podium I did for the DNC many years ago. Then I decided in this day and age that putting that on the internet would be inviting a visit from friends at the Department of Homeland Security. So if you want to see that drawing you'll have to come visit, and pass some sort of security clearance, and sign a non-disclosure agreement as well as a loyalty oath. Might not be worth it.

Designers, should you be curious: Chuck Kading, Chuck Kading, Daphne Klein, Chuck Kading (and Rene Lagler, but you can't see it).

Ellipses...

They raised the price of a soda in the machines in my building, rrr... Lots of interesting stuff on the other page yesterday... There's some sort of important basketball tournament happening, and yet I have almost no perception of it... There are no Israeli civilians... I wish it weren't so humid, really the people in Vegas don't know how good they have it... Pre-college is all over but the paperwork. I better remember to do the paperwork... The Mrs and I are fairly sure our mortgage company is jobbing us, now we just have to figure out how to deal with it... Really, if I don't get around to making that summer list soon, there won't be any summer left to do it in... Can a cat go insane? What are the symptoms??? Coming up on time to do the year in review post, start thinking up favorites... Peg is getting married. Woohoo!!! I wonder where she is registered??? April is engaged, but its not like we know or anything... Sometimes the prospective students are down right logical... I culled half of the blog posts I had pulled for my binder. I think its likely that before I am done they will all be in the recycle bin... Diet Black Cherry French Vanilla Soda just has too much going on. They need to learn that design is taking away... When you allow a private army to hide and operate within your midst, you are complicit. Do something or stop complaining... We're almost through my first summer with no frisbee in quite a long time. Fairly sad occurrence... I'm really quite tired of hearing how good the economy is. People who govern should make less money, if only to understand how the economy really is... Don't go to Ikea on Saturday if you really do plan on buying something... Perhaps August isn't a good party month for your house if you have no A/C. Think October... Can you use the same discipline on children as on cats? After being locked in the basement for three days Ro Laren seems downright pacified... I wonder if Tina's house is completely flooded, and if you can tell behind the jungle of a lawn... Just when you thought gas couldn't get worse you find out that they haven't cleaned the pipelines in a decade. Well done boys... Sometimes, when he's talking in public, the President is downright embarrassing... I start work in three weeks. It hurt to type that...

Well, This is Depressing

David Byrne Journal: 8.2.06: American Madrassas

Portfolio Scanning Continues

I think I am just about done. Unless I can find some things that have been lost in my folks house, or if people send me more, its about finished. Here's some of what we discover in the "portfolio" box tonight...

A white model from drafting class...

...that's exciting.

A picture from the premiere production of "Lucky Guy" at Maine State Music Theatre...
... I wonder what ever happened to that show?

Here's an initial schematic of the parts for a stage lift from "Antigone in New York" at the Yale Repertory Theatre...

... it change substantially before construction was completed, oh well.

Here we have a lovely photo of the fans we built for the Shoji Tabuci show in Branson MO when I was working at Chicago Scenic Studios...

... someday it would be nice to see these. I wonder if they are still in the show.

Back to CMU for a picture from "Absurd Person Singular"...

... we did like 3 kitchen sets for something like $300, not bad.

Then, the pick of the litter. I have had these eight photos tiled in my portfolio for years. Tonight I finally scanned them all and stiched them together digitally...


... I think it came out quite nicely.

If the scanning is done, I guess I actually have to start composing the submission. Or maybe I will come up with some other way to delay the inevitable. There is always hope.

Unintended Consequences...

... or, where are the freelancers?

I was hoping to share with you two wonderful things we have done at the Drama School for this season, and then ask if you could possibly help with the unfortunate unintended consequence of our efforts.

Wonderful Thing #1: The End of the Service Posture

Over the past several years we have been doing a top to bottom review of what we do. One of the final phases of this navel gazing was to really look at why (pedagogically) we do shows. Toward the end of that discussion we arrived at the notion that production needed to be much more closely tied to class, instructors, and curriculum and that being faithful to that notion meant two things: 1. that someone ought not get the “sink or swim” experience of having an assignment prior to the corresponding class, and 2. that a student should never have an assignment just because we have an assignment that needs to be filled. An artifact of this by the way is that we shouldn’t have any assignment that is not associated with a class, a condition we have unfortunately had in the past.

So any assignment a student will get in the future is one that they are both ready for and will benefit from.

Wonderful Thing #2: Co-Producing with the School of Music

There is a history of Drama supporting Music’s shows informally. Our students have typically been their designers, managers, and technicians as side jobs. This has often lead to some unfortunate circumstances: people taking gigs they aren’t really ready for or aren’t really available to do, people working and not being paid, people doing very little and being paid enormously, students having problems and not having any support, and an incredible decline in the Kresge facility and equipment among other things. For the following season, the heads of the schools have decided to do a swap of sorts. In exchange for Drama providing design and production support for both SOM shows, the School of Music has agreed to provide Drama with a much higher level of orchestra than we have become accustomed to for our Musical. In addition to that, it inserts Drama staff and Faculty into the process to hopefully correct many of the above problems.

So, School of Music show positions go on the grid just like Drama shows and are evaluated for assignment under the terms listed above.

The Unintended Consequence: Real Need for Many Freelancers

The school has historically hired guest directors. More recently we have overhired occasional technicians and even freelanced in a designer from time to time. This coming season is more complicated by more than an order of magnitude. It will see hiring at Director, Designer, Technician, Manager, and even Actor.

What we have discovered in this process is that the freelance pool appears to be unexpectedly shallow, and by removing our own students, staff, and faculty it appears downright dry.

And yet there is quite a bit going on without us. So, the point, we need to know about any available freelancers in Pittsburgh or people with the means and availability to come to Pittsburgh and crash (it appears that while we can probably swing transportation, housing is likely beyond our means). If any of you are available, please let me know. If you know of anyone suitable, please let me know. And if you could please pass this solicitation on to contacts in your address book that might be able to help – either with work or the search – we would really very much appreciate it. Spread the word.

It would be very depressing to see such a no-brainer obvious good educational initiative defeated by a lack of available professional participants.

Link of the Day

Got to get through the backlog before the summary post.

Here's an intellectual time waster.

65 Optical Illusions & Visual Phenomena

I found this through stumbleupon, of course. It's pretty neat. Have fun.

I Shouldn't Care

I tend to think that as a nation we spend way way too much on celebrity news. Really I think that the majority of what we see as news is really meta-news. It's not about the guy's opinions, its about how the guy's opinions will poll. It's not about the athlete's performance, its about the terms of his contract. It isn't about the actor's performance in the piece, its about their behavior on the street. Somewhere along the way the news people got the idea that we were actually more interested in the backstory than we were in the story.

All in all this is a real bad thing. We are pretty much a nation of people missing the forest for the trees. Really, it is the fast food of news, and what a weekend it was for the high fructose corn syrup pulp providers.

I can't help it, the Lindsay Lohan story and the Mel Gibson story are just totally compelling.

I loved that a movie exec would take a star to task for blowing off work. Having exactly one 10th of one toe in that business I have some small appreciation of what it must cost a film maker if a star doesn't show up. Money down the toilet. Did you see the letter he wrote and had messengered to her room - atypically bypassing her "people?" If not, you can here.

Excellent job sir. I hope it works.

And then as if that wasn't enough for the celebrity sweet tooth to be satiated Mel Gibson goes and loses his mind. Then we get story after story about whether the man's career is over. I have news for the newsies, with like a bizzillion dollars in gross sales accumulated for his Hollywood movies and then a respectable showing for a film he totally financed himself I think there is very little Mel Gibson could do to end his career short of retiring. The people that produce movies worship money and for a long time Mel Gibson has been the Karl Malone of movies - he delivered.

Come to think of it, Karl Malone didn't do too poorly for himself after the gross mistake of saying he wouldn't play with Magic once he announced he was HIV positive.

So, there will be hemming and hawing. People will threaten boycotts. And his next film will have the highest grossing box office of any September release. No such thing as bad publicity right?

He apologized for the tirade. I think this commenter on another site had the best possible spin, too bad he didn't use it:

Actually, he was misquoted in his tirade. He was so drunk he mistook the officer for a Mexican border control guard (I know, that sounds like an oxymoron, but he WAS drunk) and began trying to imitate a Mexican accent, doing his best Speedy Gonzalez: "Joos are respunseebul for all dee wars in dee worl. Joos are a boonch of borda huppas...

I guess given a choice a little celebrity news is a nice change of pace from Bush, Afghanistan, Hezbollah, Iraq...