Been traveling, still alive. In Dallas, visiting with people here. Houston tomorrow.

The worst kind of insomnia is when you went to bed and fell asleep, but then something woke you up, and you know you won’t sleep again for another 18 hours at least.

Approve.

When I read this news, I think we might actually end up with the President from ‘The West Wing.’ Total lefty red meat: “Using forceful, but not angry, hand gestures, Obama literally backed up Lieberman against the wall, leaned in very close at times, and appeared to be trying to dominate the conversation, as the two talked over each other in a few instances.”

Which reminded me of this:

Approve.

Bill Moyers rules.

Also, like Obama, Moyers comes from a Christian background, and while Moyers might also express this sentiment:

Approve.

…Only Obama can deliver it in this way.

Matrix Revolutions…. Yeah, just like the only other time I saw it. Spectacle and lameness. There is, however, one reason to watch this film. It’s the one transcendental moment for all the Matrix films. It’s the moment when Neo and Trinity are in their ship zooming toward the machine city, and they go up to avoid being destroyed. They break through the clouds and the sun is shining above, and we know this is the only time either of these characters has seen it. Neo has been blinded, so he can’t see this, but Trinity says, “Beautiful…” And then the ship arcs back down into the dark melee of the terrestrial conflict.

There Will Be Blood… Wow. Just wow. Just…. I mean…. what can I say? P.T. Anderson channels Stanley Kubrik. A work of art. Someone’s academic career will be made by spending years dissecting this movie. But watch it because it’s beautiful and haunting. I had to pause it a few times, it’s so engrossing.

Garbage Warrior…. Documentary about the architect who invented the Earthship housing design and concept. Battles with New Mexico legislature, trips to disaster-torn areas, lectures on sustainability that don’t seem like lectures. If you’re a greenie and you want your friends to understand, this is the movie.

Those Daring Young Men In Their Jaunty Jalopies…. Just out on DVD, rolling in from 1969. Annakin Skywalker was named after the director of this film. Silly road race movie set in the 1920s, with the proverbial all star cast. I wanted to see much less Tony Curtis and Terry Thomas and much more Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, but o well. It’s the ‘sequel’ to ‘Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines,’ which is by far the better movie. Get ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’ instead.

Update:

Warning… It’s a spoiler.

A friend of mine tells me that her email updates of my site contain ads.

Big, honkin’ ads.

Around *my* content.

Posted on a lifetime account, that is also ‘true,’ whatever that means.

I don’t get to choose what the ads are, and I don’t get a kickback.

So tell me again why I should be helping Xanga make money?

A podcast (and transcript) by LL team leaders on education.

So there it is. A big ol’ half-hour of arguments in favor of using Second Life for educational purposes.