"I had quit everything in my life up until that point... and here I was in the middle of something that I really wanted to quit and I couldn't quit."

-Ken Finkelman on directing Airplane 2

Well, I guess I know how he feels.

Apparently, the entire Today Show is about Johnny Carson. That is, except for a segment on Donald Trump's wedding. It's comforting to know that we live in a world where the lives and deaths of entertainers are the most important topics an ostensible news program can discuss. War? Poverty? No longer an issue. Oh, brave new world!

So who's got Johnny Carson in the death pool?

I learned three important life lessons on Saturday:

1) You can dance like The Pips (of Gladys Knight and The Pips) to any song.
Although there are tempos that make doing so cumbersome.

2) It is never too late for pancakes. If I may paraphrase Lyle Lovett:
Look, I understand too little too late
I realize there are things you say and do
You can never take back
But what would you be if you didn't even try
You have to try
So after a lot of thought
I'd like to reconsider
Please, If it's not too late
[Bring me some pancakes!]

3. I hate Lincoln Ave. I've had this enmity smoldering within me for a few months
and now I feel comfortable fully embracing it.

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to Justice everywhere."
-MLK



(I always forget to do that.)

Whoa. I kind of went incommunicado for a while there, didn't I? All work and no play make alpha charlie bravo something... something...

I joined Netflix last week. I have a problem with video stores. I never return videos on time. Never. I have an irrational aversion to returning rented videos. So receiving them in the mail and returning them through the mail is a nice convenience for me.

This week I received my first group of movies. I watched Lost in Translation and Day For Night. But this is what makes Netflix potentially great: Somewhere in my queue is The Five Obstructions. I challenge you to find a chain video store that carrys "The Five Obstructions."

Now, you may be aware that I have started a little digital discussion group: The North Occidental Symposium. I find it a bit disappointing that there are only five registered members. Especially considering that two of those members are me. Nevertheless, there has actually been discussion taking place. You are invited, welcomed, encouraged to participate. If you didn't receive an invitation email me.

The North Occidental Symposium debuts today. Of course, it was supposed to debut on Monday when I was supposed to come back from hiatus. Anyway, if you didn't get the email let me know, I'll add you to the group.

I was watching Nightly Business Report on PBS on Monday, and they made two glaring errors completely destroying any confidence I may have had in that program. During a report about how the S&P 500's performance in the month of January predicts with 90% accuracy the market's performance for the year, (which would be complete nonsense if it weren't for the reflexivity of the market. see: Soros: The Alchemy of Finance) the reporter mentioned that 2005 should be a good year because the market does well in the fifth year of every decade. I did have to count on my fingers, but I believe that this is the sixth year of the decade beginning with year 2000.

Then shockingly, their wacky "Hey Martha!" story at the end of the broadcast was a building attempting to celebrate the new year by displaying "2005" in lights. However someone must have been working late in the office that night because the lights displayed "3005" instead.
"Looks like someone added an extra century," the anchor quipped.

Hmm...no.