The House Next Door

1. "CIA admits destroying tapes of interrogations": From the International Herald Tribune.


["The Central Intelligence Agency in 2005 destroyed at least two videotapes documenting the interrogation of two Al Qaeda operatives in the agency's custody, a step it took in the midst of Congressional and legal scrutiny about the CIA's secret detention program, according to current and former government officials. The videotapes showed agency operatives in 2002 subjecting terror suspects — including Abu Zubaydah, the first detainee in CIA custody — to severe interrogation techniques. They were destroyed in part because officers were concerned that tapes documenting controversial interrogation methods could expose agency officials to greater risk of legal jeopardy, several officials said. "]

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2. "Portrait of the critic as a young man": Edward Copeland recollects his formative years.

["Once ensconced at the college paper, I continued to do my best to review EVERYTHING. Along the way, I got to experience things such as having a small child vomit on me during Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I also had my first encounter with someone in a theater with a cell phone. It came when I went to see My Left Foot. I heard the strange sound of the ring, somewhat normal compared to the multiple ringtones now, and the idiot woman answered, saying, "Nothing. Just sitting here watching a movie." As you all know, it got worse from there."]

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3. "Aside: Changing": After re-reading Liv Ullman's autobiography Changing, the Self-Styled Siren has a moment of reflection.

["Under the very best of circumstances the Siren might be able to write two or three things a week. Mostly the Siren doesn't have the best of circumstances. Rather than boring her patient readers with her domestic travails, the Siren thought she'd let Liv explain things for her."]

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4. "Nosferatu, Arschloch der Nacht: Vampire's Kiss": Film Freak Central's Ian Pugh just loves him some Nicolas Cage.

["It may seem like a matter of putting the hopelessly-crazy cart before the socially-integrable horse to start off a Nicolas Cage retrospective with Vampire's Kiss, but it may be the film that best represents my intentions in starting this little project: the exploration of Nic's routinely over-the-top acting beyond giggling face value. In a wonderful feature-length commentary for the film with director John Bierman, Cage mentions that "over-the-top is one of those things that doesn't work with me, 'cause I don't believe in such a thing. I feel that it's just stylistic choices--and this was obviously a choice to use grand gesture and go bigger." A reasonable enough explanation, because a deeper look validates his performance here as something more than just madness for madness' sake--it may be hilarious when the actor flails his arms and screams the alphabet, but realize that this occurs upon the slight suggestion that his character has committed a misdeed and you'll find that pinning everything down becomes a lot more difficult."]

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5. Some articles in remembrance of Pearl Harbor: "Pearl Harbor lives in the hearts of its vets" (from the Los Angeles Times); "Alameda to dedicate Pearl Harbor plaque" (from Inside Bay Area); "Survivor will never forget day of infamy" (from Daytona Beach News-Journal Online); "Recordings give life to infamy of Dec. 7, 1941" (from Pittsburgh Post-Gazette).

["Sunken ships, fires, devastation and loss of life at Pearl Harbor on a date that lives in infamy -- Dec. 7, 1941 -- flash across George Crippen's mind every year."]

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Quote of the Day: Lance Mannion, from his article "Yak yak yak YAK yak yak YAK!". Illustration by Mother Angel of Life of a Mother Artist.

"Never underestimate the role of vanity in people's judgments about how the world works."

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Image of the Day (click to enlarge): Visitors admire Albert Bierstadt's "Among the Sierra Nevada, California" at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. (Photo Credit: Ken Rahaim, Smithsonian Institution.)



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Clip of the Day: Some Vampire's Kiss love, with Duran Duran accompaniment.


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"Links for the Day": Each morning, the House editors post a series of weblinks that we think will spark discussion. Comments encouraged.