Monday, October 30, 2006

Page 1 Consider (10/30)


  • Boom Boom Room: I've never been a huge fan of blond guys -- let alone strawberry types. Yet for some reason I've always had a thing for six-time Grand Slam winner Boris Becker (he's just so big). Boris was photographed in San Antonio at Friday's Spurs game and even just shy of 40 he's still got it. (If only I could get him alone in a restaurant coat closet for 30 seconds.) (WFAA)

  • Iraqi Dance Troupe: And you thought the kids in "Footloose" were daring. (NYT)


  • Serial Monogamy: A raft of television dramas -- "Lost," "24," "Heroes," "Prison Break" -- demand total commitment from their viewers. Who has that kind of time? (NYT)

  • Falling on Deaf Ears? The governing board of Gallaudet University revoked the appointment of the school's incoming president Sunday, giving in to the demands of students, faculty and others whose protests have kept the nation's premier school for the deaf in turmoil for the past month. Now I don't know all the facts about this particular woman, but for the life of me I cannot understand this overall movement/controversy. Students at the university accused Jane K. Fernandes of not being "deaf enough" for the job (even though she was born deaf!) and are also angered at technological advances like cochlear implants and more effective hearing aids that they feel are an assault on deaf culture and deaf identity. They feel correcting deafness is akin to saying there's something wrong with being deaf. Um, I understand what you're getting at, but ears are designed to serve a purpose -- and deaf people's ears are not serving this purpose. If you don't want to hear then I certainly don't think you should be forced to. But is it wrong for people who want to? I try to look at it this way: Being deaf and being gay are hardly comparable, but if there were suddenly technology that allowed gay people to become straight and if someone wanted to do this, would I be think it's wrong or insulting? I honestly would say no. (And if they're unattractive, so much the better.) (WP)


  • Movie Night: Michael and I saw "Running With Scissors" on Saturday. Having heard so many negative things about the film adaptation of Augusten Burroughs' bizarre memoir of the same name I was pleasantly surprised by how entertaining it was. Annette Bening is terrific as his delusional slash psychotic mother, and Joseph Cross does a great job as Augusten, never coming across as a complete victim or hero throughout this harrowing tale of abandonment and mental illness. Adaptations are never easy, but in some ways I liked the film better than the book. By having to edit the story down to make it work as a film, it got rid of a lot of the repetitive things from the book, which in turn made a single Bible dip and a single hair trauma funny and fresh. The reviews are all over the map, but I enjoyed it. (WP)
  • 4 comments:

    Anonymous said...

    Boris Becker looks horrible in that picture. Are you kidding me?

    Guess Who

    Kenneth M. Walsh said...

    Oh, Bernard!

    Anonymous said...

    Hmmm....I wasn't so sure about "Running". I was excited when I first found out it was coming out, but every review I have read or heard made it sound horrible. Not that I place a ton of stock in reviewers, but reading your synopsis made me think I'll at least give it a try!

    P.S. - I always had a thing for Boris Becker too, and I think he looks GREAT now. It is funny because I generally have a visceral dislike (physical) for strawberry blondes or readheads. Go figure!

    Anonymous said...

    I saw Running with Scissors this weekend and I thought it was one of the better movies I have seen this year. After this performance, Annette Bening just replaced Glenn Close as my all-time favorite actress.