'Bred Crumbs

02:45 PM I keep meaning to link this just because I think it's neat: Utne Reader's report on bad state-flag designs. Make sure to check out how your state or province ranks in a design survey.

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02:33 PM Perhaps never has a fortune cookie been more wrong:

You are a bundle of energy, always on the go.

On top of that, the cookie was stale.

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12:04 PM Webbys be damned; Blogger kicks LiveJournal's ass.* Not to mention (or link) Dancing Paul; how do the judges pick this trifle over two great services that help tons of people harness the Web? I guess maybe the Webbys have come of age after all; give them just a few years, and the winners may reach the level of absurdity of the Emmys. Maybe even the Grammys.

Now I feel bad for not voting in the "people's choice" race. Why didn't I vote? Because the process took too many steps and required registration. But at least the outcome doesn't really matter. It's not like it's a presidential election. Oh, wait, that's right -- the voting didn't matter in that one, either.

* OK, maybe that's getting a little carried away; sorry, LiveJournalers. I just think Blogger's more flexible, useful and open.

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01:03 PM Lord of the Rings merchandise I'm hoping to see in stores this winter:

• Rings of Power (Collect All Nine!)
• Hobbit Meals (formerly Oscar Mayer Lunchables)
• Quenya cereal (part of a linguistically precise breakfast)
• Silmarils (no longer in stock)

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07:04 PM While Robbie and I waited for the start of A.I., I pondered the future of Haley Joel Osment, whose full-length work I had not yet seen. (He was, as all have said, excellent.) Robbie persuaded me that he would not go the traditional robbing-convenience-stores route, and I've heard nothing about him that suggests a McCulkinesque screwing-over by his family.

Then, it occurred to me.

Haley Joel Osment -- or, as he'll insist on being called by then, Joe
Osment -- will co-star with Dennis Franz in the 25th season of NYPD Blue.

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By the way, if you're considered seeing A.I., it has much to recommend it. But please, please heed this key to viewing enjoyment:

When you get to about the two-hour mark of the movie, and the camera is pulling out big-time, and it's feeling like an ending, and at the end of a long spiel the narrator says, "... and the next day ... and the next," immediately leave the theater (or stop the tape or DVD). Really. If you do this, you will have seen a quite-good movie, which much to mull over and recall fondly. The film will go on another 20 minutes without you, but that's OK. What you're missing only mars what came before. Trust me.

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