Now, Apocalypto

Following his debut as an Aramaic devotee, Mel Gibson's next pet project will be in a Mayan dialect. The plot details of Apocalypto are secret (a Delphi-like spokesperson said only that Gibson "lets his work speak for itself.") But hmmmm... it's set 500 years ago, the dialogue is in Mayan, and it's called Apocalypto. An homage to de las Casas, perhaps? Offering the natives humanity, "civilization," and La Virgen de Guadalupe?

Significantly, the dialogue is not set in Nahuatl, so at least (fingers crossed!), the film won't be a tale of Cortes vs Quetzalcoatl --I'd shudder to imagine how a Catholic traditionalist would portay that!

Then again, Gibson's anti-Vatican II stance makes him rabidly attached to Latin. There is some redeeming quality in these pseudo-scholarly endeavors. The Passion of the Christ (which I have no interest in seeing) demonstrated his fascination and obsession with linguistics (Aramaic, Latin, Hebrew). And now Mayan!

Waiting for the films in Coptic, Sumerian, and Mohegan. . .

It's Whose Store?

So speaking of food, one place where I will not be buying my groceries is Albertson's. The "Everybody Loves Raymond" co-star who peddles their brand is also the Honorary Chair of the pro-life "feminist" organization which used to have a certain Supreme Court nominee's wife as its Vice Prez.

Plus, they ran out of Honey BBQ sauce on the 4th of July! By 2pm, too! What kind of grocery store doesn't prepare for that daylong onslaught of patriotic cookouts???

An Act

Resolved: to eat lunch away from the computer, outside the office, at least three times a week.

Motion proposed, seconded, adopted by committee with no amendments, passed unanimously, signed, effective date 21 July 2005.

Food, Glorious Food

The past three weeks have illustrated the biological necessity to eat. Not eating can very likely lead to the following, in chronological order:

• Getting hit by a car while crossing the street
• General lethargy, laziness, and a deliberate middle-finger gesture in the direction of the gym
• All-around crankiness and irritability with friends and family
• Random spacing out
• Forgetting how to spell the name of a good friend's wife in the Congratulations-on-the-New-Baby message
• Blurred vision while conducting interviews with bright young people
• Not caring about SCOTUS nominees
• Leaving a debit card at the ATM machine (ironically, on the way to get food)

"Please, sir, I want some more."

Taking a line from Oliver (or the other Oliver), however, leads to:

• Love for all
• Exclamation points in emails
• Better karaoke performances
• Laughter
• Ability to recite Presidents for a trivia night with strangers
• Chair-bopping

'Nuff said.

We regret to inform you ...

Arrrrgggghhh. Why don't alumni Career Services offices have sample resignation letters? This is a lifeskill that everyone needs to learn, whether it's for pulling out of a coalition or withdrawing from a public board!

Awww...

Really cool idea: hospitals having message boards for folks to congratulate new parents. As an unnamed source emailed, "born 7:41 p.m. Friday (7/15) as the Sox were blowing out the Yankees. 21 inches long, 8 lbs. 13 oz." Awww.....

\(^_^)/ \(^_^)/ \(^_^)/

Hope it wasn't de rigeur for me to post a longer message for the baby than the congratulatory note to the parents!

Big Brother is Everywhere

Last week's Opus comic is suspiciously similar to the ACLU's "Pizza" privacy ad.

Even Corrie Aquino wants Arroyo to resign!

So post-Marcos, democracy still doesn't exist in the Philippines. Protestors are calling for President Arroyo's resignation following Florida-like electioneering.

The Economist even made snide references to her legal wordsmithing, comparing her ambiguous admittances to those of fellow Georgetown Law graduate Bill Clinton.

Of course, now that the Philippines is no longer strategically important in the Cold War, this barely makes news in the American media. Noooo.... we only care about "democracy" and "freedom on the march" when it's beneficial. Like Manila in 1986. Or Baghdad in 2005....

Get thee to a nunnery!

NARAL's chastity belt campaign is hilarious. Participants really do send a snide letter to the President. I have my doubts, though, that he'll understand the sarcasm. What if there's magically funding for it in the next health appropriations bill?

Ursa Major

Hmmppph. What with O'Connor and Rehnquist, London, ignorance, LAPD killing children, Karl Rove likely escaping reprimand, PATRIOT Act reauthorizations, and Seattle's unusually gray summer, a 4-year hibernation seems really tempting right now. Might be nice to simply wake up in 2009 and see how the world has changed!

To sleep --perchance to dream ...

Breaking the Boycott

Starbucks is set to debut its Green Tea Creme Frappuccino to the American market sometime this week. According to one source the new drink premieres on the 13th, according to another on the 16th (these information discrepancies happen when you're tabling at an event and have to keep sending an emissary to the back of the Starbucks van to get you the free samples every couple of minutes).

The Panama Hotel Teahouse (which I am glad to hear is finally, finally, finally serving coffee!) serves a heavenly green tea latte with little nori sprinkles on the foam. The new Sbux drink reminds me of it. Except that it's cold. And blended. And has whipped cream. And isn't anything like the Panama Hotel Teahouse green tea latte, really. But it's the closest commercial substitution.

The new Frappuccino (if the free small samples are any indication) is definitely inferior to the Panama Teahouse drink. However, it will soon be available on every corner starting July 13th. Or 16th. Whatever.

Apparently the drink has been on the market in Asia and Australia for a while. It might prove to be the opiate that lures me to the Gospel of Starbucks! (See funny animation regarding Starbucks' coffee language revisionism.)

Wishful thinking

The Onion's latest funny yet hearthbreaking and tragic "news":

Bush Regales Dinner Guests With Impromptu Oratory on Virgil's Minor Works

Counting down the months until Season 7 of The West Wing...

Comfort food -- we need it now!

Maybe the fact that A.A. Milne's poem was my favorite when I was four has something to do with the fact that sometimes (just sometimes!), in addition to all lemon- or raspberry-flavored desserts, Thai black rice pudding can make a stressful week almost disappear. Hell, it can even temporarily alleviate panic attacks brought on by Supreme Court resignations. (If you focus on the swirlies and the coconut sweetness, the world really does go away for awhile...)

And I never could figure out why Thai restaurants on the east coast don't serve it!