Office awkward moments...

It's a well known fact that people waste a lot of time browsing the web while at work. Everyone does it, (I often catch my manager on MySpace) but we all pretend that we don't. Whenever a coworker approaches, we all switch over to Excel or Lotus Notes or some other work-related program. It's not so much that we're doing anything wrong, (we don't really take breaks, so the internet is like a cigarette break) but we don't announce the fact that we're not working.

Ok, so anyway. Today I was browsing the web like any other day when my senior came over to my desk to talk to me. I quickly alt-tabbed to switch back to Lotus Notes, but I miscalculated the order of my windows and my browser popped up. So instead of LN, excel, word, or even a tab of my browser that was being used for research, this popped up front and center:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,342099,00.html

Yeah, now that's just awkward...

On Sale

I went to Barnes and Noble today and, browsing the various tables looking for something good, I spotted this gem. It was even on sale. Hmm...I wonder why they'd be trying to get rid of their stock of this book.
The description on the back of the book ends with, "And in a new afterword, she chronicles his ascension to New York's highest office and opens a window on what comes next for this ambitious and determined public servant."

I think she's going to need a new, new afterword.

On second thought, maybe I won't complain

I was looking into how to open a dispute on paypal when I came across this ominous message. On second thought, maybe I'll just let it go...

Improv Everywhere is great

Improv Everywhere, the New York-based guerrilla improv group, performed a spur of the moment musical in an LA shopping mall. Check out their site for more of their "missions."

In Bruges

Saturday night we went to see In Bruges. It was really good and I wanted to recommend it, but Molly wrote a review, so I'll just post that instead...

BOTTOM LINE: It's a movie written and directed by Tony nominated playwright Martin McDonagh and it's brilliant; it's just as good his stage plays. Also, I am excited to say I have a newfound respect for Colin Farrell.

I love Martin McDonagh's work. The Pillowman and The Lieutenant of Inishmore are two of my favorite plays of all time. McDonagh's ability to tell a story and give it substance and humor is unparalleled, especially because he mostly writes about ridiculous characters in inane situations...with lots and lots of violence and name-calling. In Bruges is no exception.

Ray (Colin Farrell) and Ken (Brendan Gleeson) are hit-men who, after a botched job in London, flee to Bruges, Belgium to hide out. They are to wait there until further instructions from their boss back home in England. Bruges is apparently a pretty lame town with a few tourists and little to do. After arriving, Ray says "if I'd have grown up on a farm...and was retarded...Bruges might impress me, but I didn't, so it doesn't." It's an underlying theme as the plot unfolds and both Ray and Ken begin to question what's right and important in their lives. Sounds existential, but it's much funnier and bloodier than all that.

McDonagh's use of violence and bad words is Quentin Tarantino-esque, but with much more comedy infused through the characters. And that's McDonagh's trick; he turns the lowest, least sympathetic characters into people you'd want to invite over for dinner. Colin Farrell is the perfect Ray. He is a completely insensitive hit-man who, through the course of the movie insults midgets, black people, Belgians, retarded people, Americans, and fat people...to their faces. But there's an ownership of these remarks on Ray's part that is kind of charming, and Colin Farrell brings out a twisted naiveté underneath it all. I had previously considered Farrell to be a one-dimension actor with multi-dimensional eyebrows; now, I've come to appreciate him as a talented guy. But I digress. In Bruges is an enjoyable ride that employs witty banter and smart humor in the quintessential McDonagh style. It's a compelling story that's both absurd and endearing.

In Bruges is a wonderful script and is comparable to McDonagh's stage plays, although it's necessary for the set to be the city of Bruges, and therefore works much better on screen than it would have on stage. The cast is perfect and also includes Ralph Fiennes, Zeljko Ivanek and Jordan Prentice.

Check out In Bruges while it's still playing in theatres and enjoy some ridiculously inspired storytelling. And then check out his first film Six Shooter which won him the 2006 Oscar for Best Short Film...it's a must-see for any McDonagh fan. (via theatreiseasy.com)

CNN: The best political team on television...not the internet

We're in the middle of the most heated presidential primary in our country's history. Millions of otherwise apathetic Americans are suddenly interested in politics. And where do they turn for coverage? Well, a lot of them turn to CNN. And anyone who's watched even 5 minutes of CNN's political coverage lately has heard them plug their website - cnnpolitics.com

So in times like these, one of the stupidest moves CNN could make would be to let the cnnpolitics.com domain expire. And that's just what they did. Their registration expired yesterday and now cnnpolitics.com points to a parked GoDaddy page. They realized their mistake at some point and re-registered, (but only for a year - the GoDaddy whois information says that it will expire again on March 6, 2009) but the DNS entry isn't updated yet, so their page is still parked.

Way to go CNN...

The Iraq War

A great comic explaining the situation in Iraq.
From http://www.cagle.com/