First of all, let me state for the record that I’m not a fan of the Three Stooges. I liked them when I was about ten years old, but lost early my taste for slap-in-the-face, poke-in-the-eye humor (I got plenty of that in real life).

But there’s been talk lately about a new Three Stooges movie, which is supposed to star Benicio Del Toro as Moe, Sean Penn as Larry, and Jim Carrey as Curly (!). It’s not supposed to be a biopic, but a new work in Three Stooges idiom, sort of a live-action pastiche.

That reminded me of a story I discovered while noodling through Wikipedia one sleepless night. I’ve always been fascinated by early Hollywood, for some reason, and this was a very odd story I’d never heard of before. Continue reading Apropos of nothing: the father of the Stooges →

Here’s a somewhat technical article on disappointments in Mr. Obama’s temporary (I think) appointments to federal positions in arts and humanities. Apparently, one of them is liar and the rest have little arts experience.

Why would anyone want a cabinet level office on American culture? I didn’t think people wanted government in their lives.

I think this comparison is horrendous. Actor Edward Norton says the upcoming Earth Hour, where participants will turn off “non-essential lighting” for an hour for the sake of saving energy and saving the planet, is symbolic just like the march in Selma, Alabama, in 1965, where participants were beaten by police, was symbolic. I wonder Norton thinks the student who stood before the tanks in Tiananmen Square were standing symbolically too.

Got this from our friend Roy Jacobsen, of Writing, Clear and Simple, who lives in Fargo:

If you decide it’s not appropriate for Brandywine Books, I understand; however, if you’d post a request for prayers for the safety of people in the Red River Valley, I’d greatly appreciate it.

They’re predicting a 41 foot crest on Saturday—that’s a foot higher than our last big flood in ’97, and the highest on record. We’re cautiously optimistic, but it’s a near run thing.

It’s appropriate, all right.

From what I hear, they’re having trouble getting volunteers to help with sandbagging up there. I can’t help wondering if that’s partly a result of one of the “lessons of Katrina”–that the federal government is responsible for everything.

For the record, Roy isn’t one of the shirkers. He’s been out filling sandbags, and the weather’s pretty nasty.